Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-06-11
The Church and the War;
Southern and Northern EPts-

The Church and the War;
Southern and Northern Epts-
eOPaffans.
The Mobile Tribune publishes the fol-
1Dwing extracts from q letter written to
Bishop Potter, Of Pennsylvania, by an
Albanian. The letter was called forth
by the circular to the clergy Of the do
csss, issued by Bishop Potter some weeks
ago:
3 II desire, most sincerely, to know how,
or what grounds, churchman-especlally
q Bishop Of the Church-and, beyond all,
q Bishop bearing the reputation for moder-
alton and discretion which belongs to you
can denouDce as Gin error" and in
arms against the constituted authorities of
the land !" these who are armed, as we are,
in obedience to the only de .tacto and, as
We firmly believe, the only de jlue authors
tiles Of our land, Tor the purpose Of defend
ing ourselves against an atrocious invasion.
"Two elergymen from my own imme
diate vicinity, have sent out their sons as
apriyates In the ranks of the volunteer
companies that have already gone forth
towards the Virginia borders, perhaps to
meet in battle some Of those who may be
encouraged to level their muskets and lift
their swords against them by the very Ian
guage that you have put forth. Night
reverend asd dear sir, there is some terri
hIe mistake here, on one side OF the other.
1t is moustrous. horrible, that such things
should be. / beg you 10 explain how it is
POSSIBLE that you could, under the eircum-
stances. give so much sanction and en-
lcoural ea ent to those who engaged in this
unholy, uprovrked, wanton attempt to de
stroy US and all that is dear 10 us.
eff you say anything that will tend to
q restoration Of that charity and confidence
go deeply wounded, if not entirely broken.
by the language Of the prayers attributed
70 yourself ard other prominent ministers
Of the Church, beg that you will do ;t.''
These, says the Tribune, were the mate
rial portions cf the letter. A postscript
was appended by the two clergymen men
toned above, respectfully uniting in the
request for an answer to the question pro
pounded, and an explanation OF the Bish.
ops extraordinary prayer.
To this communication Bishop Potter
replies in the following letter:
Philadelphia, May l3, 1861.
NV Dear Sir: You "beg me to explain
how il is possible that could, under the
circumstances, give so much sanction and
encouragement to those engaged in this IN
holy, unprovoked, wapton attempt to de-
stroy US, and all that is dear to u.s."
Your misconception is SO radical that
almost despair of correcting it. What
you regard as % attempt to destroy you and
all that is dear to YOU" is considered by
us as simply an attempt to defend our
selves and the capitol Of our country from
threatened invasion, our Constitution from
destruction, and even our Southern breth-
rem from that which is the surest protec
ton of themselves and their peculiar insti
tutions. From the secession of South Car
olina to the stormiDg Of Fort Sumter, the
general government remained all but pas
Eive.
1t then became indispensable that we
should know whether it was Government,
whether it could retain its hold on WASH
ington, and whether the whole system that
Washington and his compeers inaugurated
in 1889 was not q delusion aud impOsture.
This. nv dear sir, is the whole story
Your theory not only disregards your own
obligations under the Constitution, but il
leaves to US no government, except in
name-opening the toOr for perpetual dis
scTd, and for secession without end.
do not believe that at the north
enc man in fifty desire az invasion of your
soil or the destruction of your social sys-
tenn. They simply desire that you should
net break up the Union, by your method
Of leaving it, but refer all subjects of COM
plant to a convention of the States, which
will be competent either 70 redress all
grievances or to provide way in which
you can retire from the Union without dis
solving the whole fabric Of our General
Government.
Under the present exasperated state of
the sections, it is impossible to say to what
length this conflict may 90. But | assure
you that in the few lines above you have
the whole anImus Of the loyal States and
Of the Union men everywhere. Only the
smallest number of fanatics think or talk
of slavery. The whole question is one of
self defence, and Of Government or no Cor
erHment ALONZo POTTER