To Vermonters & CT R V Lists: very little of this chapter pertains to this region, so am posting but little. If anyone DOES want the full chapter, please let me know. thanks, Harriet hatchase@uswest.net | (continuing Bishop Chase's struggle for assistance for his Diocese) | | CHAPTER XX TO ENGLAND FOR AID | | At this time letters from Bishop Ravenscroft of North Carolina and Bishop | Bowen of South Carolina cheered the Bishop's fainting spirits by their | expressions of ardent approval and earnest encouragement in his plan. These | good men knew and realized the needs of the West, and were generous enough | to help instead of hinder in this great work. | | During the days of waiting, young Philander, summoning all his remaining | strength, came on to New York to bid his father at last farewell. Before | sailing, Bishop Chase wrote a letter to Bishop White on the subject of going | to England for the relief of the Church in Ohio, and this letter was | unhesitatingly approved by Bishop White, who advised its immediate and | general circulation. It gave reasons which, to a generous mind, could not be | disputed with any show of honor and justice. The Bishop, many years after, | says of this letter: | "It was written in a sick room during intervals of great sorrow and | suffering, opposing friends about me, a wide ocean before me, and beyond it | scenes as untried as those in another world, and withal a portentous cloud | ready to burst upon me. Under such circumstances, I asked the 'prayers of | the Church for persons going to sea.' In this I was denied." With all the | evils of the twentieth century, it is scarcely to be believed that such an | instance of utter heartlessness could occur now among Christian gentlemen. | | The ship Orbit was to sail on the 1st of October. But one clergyman in New | York accompanied the Bishop tpo the ship. The invalid son rode to Whithall, | and there bade his father his last farwell.. Soon the anchor was up and the | ship was out at sea. The Bishop reflects: "I left behind me my dying son, my | suffering diocese, my anxious wife, helpless children and angry friends. Who | was to welcome me across the wide and weltering sea? None whom I knew; but I | well knew who would attempt to drive me from the English shores, for from | this person's lip's I heard the promise." | | .............. | *** Barauch Chase, an older brother of the Bishop, had married an | English woman, a sister of Timothy Wiggin of Manchester (England). With Mr. Wiggin at this time resided the Bishop's nephew, Benjamin Chase. Therefore to | Manchester the Bishop repaired to visit these friends. He found a most | generous and kindly welcome,--- even more, immediate approval of his plans, | most encouraging to his sore and burdened heart. These kind friends took | counsel together. Mr. Wiggin became deeply interested, and from his precious | sympathy the Bishop drew encouragement and strength to go forward. | | The Bishop was advised by Mr. Wiggin to remain some days in Manchester, | where he met with two clergymen who were much interested in his plans, and | from them he learned that the threats made in New York had been carried out | to the utmost. "Notices" against him had been made public; even handbills | had been circulated. | | *******Henry Clay and Lord Gambier had been joint commissioners, | representing the United States and England at the Treaty of Ghent, and had | become fast friends. When Bishop Chase went to England, Mr. Clay gave him letters toLord Gambier, and also to Alexander Baring. These were duly forwarded; both received an invitation to visit Lord Gambier at Platt Hall, his home. | ...................., Your introduction to me | from Mr. Clay forms your introduction to the Church Missionary Society, at | hehead of which as President stands my name. to the Secretary, the Rev. | Josiah Pratt, I shall give you a letter which you will present with my | compliments; and be assured you have my good wishes." | | "With what anxious steps I was the bearer of Lord Gambier's letter to this | good man need not be told. With books and papers all around a well-lighted | room, warmed by a cheerful fire, sat the Rev. Josiah Pratt, as I suddenly, | perhaps unexpectedly, entered the room. Turning around and facing the door | he saw a man approach, of no ordinary size and evidently no inhabitant of | London, and against whom, as he has since remarked, he was very much | prejudiced. A civil bow was inter-changed and the letter from Lord Gambier | presented, He read the letter and received me very kindly. | | I made a summary of my affairs and left with him some papers. He told me | that -------- had not only published notices in handbills and sent them to | him, but caused them to be inserted in the"Remembrancer", a work very much | read in England. | | "The Rev. Mr. Prat observed when I came away that even as far as he had gone | in considering the case, he had no hesitation to assure me of his good | wishes and of his endeavor to accomplish what I wished, meeting of some | influential persons to take into consideration of the whole matter." | | End Chapter XX Harriet M. Chase hatchase@uswest.net | | | | |