The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-29

weekly, 81 Z square.
RSSpcclal notices Is cents line
ImPortant Letter from Bishop Elliott,
OF Georgia.
A remarkable letter from Bishop Ell
lott, of Georgia, touching the possi>
ble reunion of the Episcopal Church,
appears in the New York Church .Jou,.-
nal, to a letter from the editor of
which it is a rejoinder. The letter is
dated Augusta, August 1st, 1865.
After expressing an opinion that re-
union of the Episcopal Church, North
and South, will soon take place, Bi-
shop Elliott remarks:
II think it our duty to guard the
memory of our deceased Bishops
Meade, Otey and especially our be-
loved Polk. Not that we should ex-
Pect any endorsement from the Gene
raj Convention of their views and
actions, but that we should feel as
sured that no reproach, either direct
or implied, will be cast upon their
graves. About ourselves living
we care but little; we are here, and
can defend ourselves; but the reputa-
tion of the dead is in our keeping, and
we can fraternizc with nobody who
would willingly disturb their ashes.
They have lived and died for us, and
however wrong others may think
them, we revere their testimony and
weep over their graves. Nor q frankly
say it, do I anticipate, when recalling
the worthy, high-toned men who once
action that would be disparaging to
them or painful to us; but yet I feel
it to be the duty of the church over
which have been called temporarily
to preside, to guard against any such
possibility. Silence, if you please,
but let it be distinctly understood
that there shall not he u word of OBJ
loquy or dispraise. Let them stand
Or fall to their master and our master;
one far more competent to Judge of
them and us than we are of each other
In pursuance of these preliminary
views, my opinion is, as [ have already
expressed to Bishop II. Potter, in re-
ply to the letter to which you make
allusion in yours, that if, at the
meeting Of the General Convention in
October, that nobody was to pass q
joint resolution returning thanks for
peace, expressing the hope and desire
that it might lead to a -c-union of the
diocese, and appointing committee
of bishops, clergy and lsity to meet a
like committee from our own council
who sits in November, with full power
to conclude an arrangement, there
will be no further difficulty
God knows that /, for one, desire
nothing more heartily than peace, but
then it must be peace which is pure,
sincere, and without hypocrisy. (
have been, probably, as earnest as q
Southern man as anybody, and yet I
never found any fault with the church
up to the moment Of our secession.
What has happened since, on either
side, has not arisen from the moral
action of our organization, but from
e1traneous Influences, which have now
partially ceased, and will soon entirely
cease. X X
It is very. easy for you, sitting in the
midst of plenty, with everything flou-
.rshing about you; with q world fawn-
ing upon you because of success, with
future seemingly as bright as pros.
perlty can make it, to wonder at ou,
backwardness in acknowledging the
blessings Of peace and reunion; but
the case is very different with us
whose homes are desolate, whose
friends and relatives and children are
utterly impoverished, whose socia
order is totally s1rhyerte1 whoae f,