Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II. The initial steps taken by Bishop Polk to create a church university for the Southern States, and the concurrent action of the bishops of the Southern dioceses in furtherance of his plans. 1856. In the year 1856 general prosperity prevailed throughout the South. All the Southern dioceses were organized and the church was rapidly growing in the Southern States. Their bishops were in the prime of life and were men of great and commanding influence. Louisiana, Bishop Polk's own diocese, especially was advancing rapidly in wealth. The immense State of Texas had been added to the area of the Southern States. Arkansas' rich cotton fields were being rapidly brought into cultivation, Florida was attracting much attention, and the Southern States were in a far stronger and more prosperous condition than ever before. The population of the Southern States, which in 1840 numbered five million, one hundred and nineteen thousand, had increased so rapidly that they numbered, in 1860, eight million and sixty-two thousand, with an immense capital invested in slaves, productive cotton and sugar plantations, and manufactures. Such was the condition of the South when Bishop Polk put forth, July 1st, 1856, his well known letter addressed by name to the Rt. Rev. James Hervey Otey of Tennessee, Rt. Rev. Stephen Elliott of Georgia, the Rt. Rev. Nicholas Hamner Cobbs of Alabama, the Rt. Rev. George W. Freeman of Arkansas, the Rt. Rev. Francis Huger Rutledge of Florida, the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Davis of South Carolina and the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Atkinson of North Carolina. Bishop Polk begins his letter by referring to the condition of the church in the South and the duty of its chief ministers to promote its welfare and to overcome the obstacles which...