early day for our introduction. Accordingly, in the evening, we received a note from Mr. Eaton, appointing to-morrow morning for the interview. I have the pleasure of acquainting you, gentlemen, that we find from many, who had conversed with the archbishop before our arrival, of there not being the least doubt of our Church's having retained the essential doctrines of the Gospel, as held by the Church of England. These, gentlemen, are the particulars, which I have thought it important to convey to you. By the next packet I intend, if it please God, to acquaint you with any further progress that may be made in the business committed to me; and I remain, in the meantime, with my prayers for your health and happiness, Your affectionate brother, The Committee of the Protestant Episcopal Church P. S. I trust there will be no occasion, that my friends should write to me after the receipt of this. But they will not expect, that in the present stage of the business, I should fix the time of my leaving England. GENTLEMEN, Westminster, January 1, 1787. I embrace the opportunity of the packet of this month, to communicate to you the present state of the business, on which I am in England. Between the writing of my last and our hearing from the archbishop, there intervened about a fortnight: during which Dr. Provoost and myself had been informed by several who had seen his grace, particularly by the lord bishop of Oxford, that our papers were satisfactory. The delay was accounted for, by certain business that required immediate attention. At the end of that term, we received an invitation from the archbishop to dine with him on the 21st. We accordingly attended; and had every reason to be satisfied with our reception and entertainment. His grace did not introduce the subject of our application to him, until our leaving the company, when he stepped aside with us, and mentioned, as near as my memory serves, to the following effect-That having, from the beginning, consulted the bench of bishops on this business, he was desirous of taking their opinion, as to the manner of accomplishing it-That he had shown our papers to a few who were in town-That he expected to see more of them in a short time-And that he would then see us again. We have not heard from him since; for the greater number of the bishops are still at their respective dioceses, although expected to be in town soon. In my last I mentioned our intention of waiting on the lord bishop of London, as an instance of the respect which we thought due from us, to the successor of the former diocesans of America. We accordingly attended on the day appointed by himself, and were courteously received by this celebrated prelate, who expressed himself gratified by our waiting on him, and asked for our address, as intending to see us again; which, however, can hardly happen, as his lordship has been since taken extremely ill, and, I believe, continues in imminent danger.* I fully expected to have mentioned to you, gentlemen, by this opportunity, the time of the accomplishment of the purpose, for which you desired me to come. Although disappointed in this, I can express to you my full persuasion, that the delay does not arise from any cause, which can defeat our object. With my constant prayers for yourselves and our whole Church, I am, gentlemen, Your affectionate brother, WM. WHITE. The Committee of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania. P. S. January 2. This morning, the lord bishop of Landaff did us the honour, on his coming to town, to call on us, without waiting for our being introduced to him, and to desire us to appoint a day for our dining with him. I mention this, to enable me to confirm the sentiment already expressed; because his lordship, not only showed the utmost * We probably saw this eminent man on the last day on which our visit could have been received. His appearance was that of health, and he followed us to the head of his stairs, without any appearance of debility. We understood that he had a violent return of his disease (the stone) the next day; and he died very soon after our departure from England. In the conversation of about an hour which we held with him, he made various inquiries concerning America, and was the most pointed on the subject of slavery. On being informed of the then late act in Pennsylvania for the gradual abolition of it, he answered with strong emphasis―That is a very good measure. good will as to our business, but seemed surprised that it was not already finished, until we mentioned the reason of the archbishop, whom his lordship had not seen. I now address you, with the pleasing prospect of being soon able to re-embark for America, after the accomplishment of the business committed to me. It is possible, indeed, that I may arrive before the vessel, by which this letter will be conveyed. Even in that case, it may serve for a continuation of the narrative of the proceedings of my honoured colleague and myself. And as there is entire harmony between us, both of sentiment and of affection, I shall, for the sake of brevity, omit distinguishing between us in the following account; using the plural number, in stating any thing that was said by either of us on the occasion. After my last letter, we received from the archbishop, through a friend who had spoken to him on the subject, full satisfaction, that the delay arose from no other cause, than his grace's waiting for the arrival of the bishops; and that it was his intention to finish the transaction in time for our departure by the February packet; it being the opportunity, by which he had understood from us, that it was our inclination to return. The queen's birth-day, and the near approach of the meeting of parliament, have brought to town many of the right reverend bench. Accordingly, we received yesterday a note from the archbishop, desiring us to call on him this morning. We attended, and had a conversation of two hours; of which it is now my intention to give you the substance, as far as my memory serves, and as is connected with the affairs of our Church. His grace began with expressing his hopes that we had not thought him inattentive to our business. He said, that soon after our arrival, he had mentioned the matter to the king; that the necessary powers from government would be soon obtained; and that the consecration should be either on the 28th instant, or on that day seven-night; and that the latter day the best suited his convenience, and should be made the appointment, provided it were consistent with our intentions of returning by the packet. After making the suitable acknowledgments of his good ness, and declaring our full conviction that he had used all possible expedition, we said, that the day after the last mentioned Sunday was the intended time of our departure, in the event of our being ready for the packet; and that, therefore, we could not press for the matter to be expedited, sooner than was convenient to his grace. He then gently touched on the subject, in regard to which our last convention had not complied with the recommendation of the two archbishops. He said, that some were dissatisfied with the omission of the creed here alluded to; that, for his part, he was not uneasy on the head, being satisfied that the doctrine of the creed is retained in many places of the Prayer Book; but that, however, he did not like the manner in which it appeared on the minutes; preferred the mode of doing business used in all the bodies with which he was acquainted; among whom, it was customary to mention the business brought before them, and the result of the debate, without specifying the votes of the individual members. Whether his grace had here a view to the votes of those whom he was addressing in regard to the Athanasian Creed, we did not know; but the answer which he received was to this purpose-That if the convention had taken a wrong method in the above particular, it proceeded from their wish to show themselves open and candid; and that the Church in one of the states, had instructed their deputies to move for the so specifying of the votes. His grace then said, that in the beginning of the business, there had been many reports and apprehensions; that this required of the bishops to be circumspect; and that even when our proceedings arrived, there were some things, which they could not but wish otherwise. And here, said he, I am not alluding to the liturgy, but to the very easy manner in which the degradation of bishops seems allowed to be done. It was remarked to his grace, that the offensive article had been altered. He answered-Yes, and much for the better. From this, his grace passed to some remarks concerning the Psalter. He said, that whatever use there might be in leaving out some parts of the Psalms, he saw no propriety in altering the connexion, in the manner in which we had done it. He did not mean to undervalue the abilities of those employed in it, but thought it was a work of more time and difficulty, than they seem to have conceived. From a desire of taking his grace's meaning precisely on this subject, it was here mentioned to him, that if we understood him, he did not object to the omission of some portions of the Psalms, from the worship of the Church. The reply was-He had not fully considered that subject; and only meant at present to remark on the connecting of portions together, in such a manner as might break the connexion, and alter the sense of the original compositions ; especially of such of them as are prophetical. But his grace did not allege, that the sense had been actually altered, in any place. In speaking of the liturgy, the archbishop expressed his hopes, that it would not be a matter liable to alterations, at every convention. He was answered, that although it was still submitted to the Church as a proposed liturgy, so as to allow of the correction of any part of it, which might appear, on mature consideration, to have been hastily done; yet there were no description of men in this country, who would more object to the leaving of the liturgy in so fluctuating a state, than the great body of Episcopalians in America. The archbishop took notice of a want of formality, in our not having brought a regular instrument of our election: although he allowed, that our election was fully implied in the papers which had been produced; so as to leave no doubt of the fact. This naturally led us to speak of the forms of recommendation, prescribed by the two archbishops. In respect to these we ventured to declare, that the Church at large in America acknowledged great obligations; and would expect that their future bishops should make it a rule of their conduct. He replied, that the appointment of persons to the Episcopal character was of the highest consequence; and earnestly wished that it may be managed with great discretion in America; and that he thought himself obliged to use the precautions which we had mentioned. For, said he, gentlemen, you were strangers to me; although I had heard you respectfully spoken of. At the same time, there were some who apprehended, that persons of a very unsuitable description would be sent. I thought it improbable-he continued-that general and particular conventions would unite in recommending such persons; and yet it was my determination, that if such should be sent, and under circumstances carrying full evidence of the unsuitableness, not to have troubled the bishops with the affair, but to have taken the brunt of a refusal on myself. The answer was to this effect-That if |