Autograph copy of a letter signed : Burlington, to Rev. John Williams, 1861 June 12.

Forwarding a "Protest" he received from Bishop Chase but to which he has not added his signature; detailing his reasons as they relate to the Convention of Alabama; saying that "this mournful civil war, even if it ends in the rupture of our political Union, ought not to divide the Church;" discussing the organization of the Church after the American Revolution; saying that he would be willing to consider "the declaration of our Alabama brethren as schismatical. But that is no reason why we should act upon it hastily....And it certainly becomes us to treat an illegal attempt at Schism, in which no bishop of Alabama has taken any part, with at least an equal measure of fraternal expostulation, before we afflict the poor missionary stations by a withdrawal of their support;" adding that "Brotherly kindness, patience, and an affectionate spirit of Conciliation seem to me imperatively demanded of us all, in these perilous and alarming times. I have no faith in the healing power of coercion nor am I an advocate for Coercion in any form which absolute necessity does not require. That necessity is the plan which seems to justify the defensive war of our Government, & I fully admit, as a citizen, the force of the political argument. But I do not perceive the same necessity for the preservation of the Church, because the organization of the Church depends not on the mutable shape of earthly constitutions, but on the abiding laws of spiritual truth and order."