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Description
Advice on a letter Chase drafted to George Marriott. Updates on the Memorandum given to Bishop Hobart. If the Convention of Ohio should not agree to the school being a Branch, then it should be a Diocesan school.
Date
2-19-1824
City
London, England
Keywords
England voyage, George Marriott, Bp. Hobart, Memorandum, branch school, General Theological Seminary, Appeal, Mr. Reade, Ohio, college
Recommended Citation
Pratt, Josiah, "Letter to Philander Chase" (1824). Philander Chase Letters. 278.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/chase_letters/278
Rights Statement
Transcript
Doughty Street
Feb 19th 1824
Right Reverend and Dear Sir
As you have been pleased to refer your Letter to Mr. Marriott to my judgment, I take the liberty of suggesting, that it seems to me advisable to reply to him with the kindness which you have adopted, and expressing your desire to do everything that you can, consistently with your sense of duty, to come to a full agreement and accommodation; but that you must both deliberate on the subject, and consult those friends who have taken the cause of Ohio in hand. Leaving it in this manner, you do not commit yourself, at the same time that you do not pass by the suggestions of Mr. Marriott’s Letter. He suggests your immediate return to London; but, while you are strengthening your interests in the north, I should think it best to wait a little before your [return]. In sending to Bishop Hobart a copy of the Memorandum which was drawn up between us, and a copy of which I sent you in my last, I told him that I thought an option must be given to the Convention of Ohio, as well as to the General Convention and the General Seminary, and that if the Convention of Ohio should not agree to the School being a Branch of the General Seminary, then it should be a Diocesan School, with the two-thirds and one-third as settled in the Memorandum; and I further added, that “should the Trustees of the General Seminary not agree to receive the said appropriation of a third of the fund, then that third also shall be at the disposal of the Convention of Ohio for the purposes of its Diocesan School.” In this case, if you and the Convention of Ohio see no valid objection to the School being a Branch of the General Seminary (under the securities stated in the Memorandum), probably all parties will agree: but if valid objections arise, then you will make it a Diocesan School, but one-third of the fund will be placed, for the benefit of Ohio or other parts of the Western Territory, in the Trustees of the General Seminary. If they dislike the [change], all will go to the Ohio Convention. But then I think a further stipulation necessary - that is, that if the fund should not amount to 15,000 dollars, the appropriation to the General Seminary can be only of any sum exceeding 10,000 dollars, as that amount seems requisite to ensure the efficacious commencement of your School.
Now if, by these or any other stipulations, the independence, as to all efficient purposes, of your Seminary, could be secured, I am sure, My Dear Sir, that you would most joyfully accede to them. But all this, after prayer for Divine Guidance, should be matter of discussion, first with you and your friends, then among the pious of both parties. Any agreement entered into here, must have respect to the probably views and feelings of all parties in America. I shall [?] your letter to Mr. Marriott till I hear from you.
I sent 100 “Appeals” by last night’s coach to Mr. Reade at Leeds, and I had before sent 100 to [?] at Hull; but shall not send any more till I hear from you.
All my family join me, Dear Sir, in best wishes and earnest prayers for your happiness and success - I am ever, your humble and affectionate servant
Josiah Pratt