Before Mr. Peters became a Jadge — indeed, 

 soon after the War closed in 1785 — he visited 

 England. Hi.s travels in that conutry and the 

 adjoining kingdoms under British rule were ex- 

 tensive. He had in charge, on this occasion, a 

 commission .somewhat of a public nature, and 

 which introduced him to the acquaintance of 

 the Primate and ])rincipal Prelates of the Kng- 

 li.sh Church. Before the Revolutiou, the Prot- 

 estant Episcopal Church in this country, of 

 which Mr. Peters was a member, was governed 

 by the Bi.shop of Loudon ; but when our i>oliti- 

 cal connection was dissolved, no Protestant 

 Chnrch here would consent to be regulated by 

 a foreign diocesan. Mr. Peters, therefore, was 

 commissioned to obtain the consent of the Brit- 

 ish prelates to ordain to the holy office of Bishop 

 three prices of the American Epi.scopal Clnu-ch, 

 and thus give to it a canonical succession. An 

 act of Parliament had already been obtained by 

 the Bi.shop of London, to enable him to dispense 

 with such of the usual requisitions as were in- 

 consistent with the engagements of certain citi- 

 zens of the United States who had applied to 

 him for ho/i/ orders ; and, about tlie time the 

 higher question of succession was agitated, the 

 same subject v^as brought before the Dani-sh 

 Government, in consequence of a conversation 

 between Mr. Adams, our then Minister to Great 

 Britain, and the Danish Minister to the same 

 Court, to which a favorable answer was given ; 

 BO that the Dani.sh Church stood ready, in case 

 of difficulty, to confer on our Church the neces- 

 saiy po\\'ei's of Episcopal succession. But it is 

 believed that this incident had no influence on 

 the conduct of the British Government or 

 Church, both of \\hic)i are repre.sented by Mr. 

 Peters, in a letter from England, dated Marcli 

 4th. 1786, as favorably disposed ; and subse- 

 quently confirmed by the courteous and friend- 

 ly recciition of Eight Rev. and venerable Bish- 

 op "White, and his colleagues, who found the 

 Archbi.shops and all the Bishops who were con- 

 sulted on the business, acting with the utmost 

 candor and liberality of sentiment ; .so that it is 

 obvious that the Engli.sh prelates were, from 

 the first, ready and desirous to convey the suc- 

 cession to the American Church ; and that the 

 only condition they made was, that there should 

 not he such a departure, either in discipline, 

 worship, or doctrine, as ^vould dcstro}' the iden- 

 tity of the two Churches in their spiritual char- 

 acter.* 



W"hile we admire the Christian feeling which 

 characterized the hierarchy of England at that 

 period, it may not be th.ought inopportune to 

 te.stify our regret at tlie prejudice which has 

 grown up since, among clergymen and theolo- 

 gical ^^■riters, when tiiey have occasion to refer 

 to the American Church. Catching the illiberal 

 spirit of the lay-jounialists, the conductors of 

 some of the British periodicals, devoted to 

 Church matt(!rs, speak of our country in lan- 

 guage coarse and unbecoming ; and one theolo- 

 gical journal, of wide circulation, and published 

 in London, reviews a sermon of the Bishop of 

 New- York, by denying to him, throughout tlie 

 review, the prelatic title of Bi.shop — as if too sa- 

 cred or of too high a dignitj' for a people whom 

 it purposely treats with disrespect. This critic 

 sneeringly calls the widely-extended and llour- 

 i.shing Episcopal Church of the United States, 

 governed as it is by ten Bishops, and moi'e than 



* This statement was furnished, in substance, by a 

 most respectable Episcopal clergyman 



1 470) 



fou!- hundred ordained clergymen. ])lantcd over 

 thousands of miles — .sneeringly calls it, I say, 

 "«7J obscure Church, on the borders of a wilder- 

 ness." 



Mighty as has been the growth of this empire 

 — prosperous as have been all its institutions — a 

 wilful blindness and inveterate prejudice — I liad 

 almost said, a propensity to falsehood — seize on 

 the minds of the writers of England, whenever 

 they refer to our happy land. ^Vlly are these 

 taunts so often the theme of their statesmen, as 

 well as theii- critics 1 Can they be aware of the 

 injustice they do us? — of the alienation of aflcc- 

 tiou and kindred feeling which they work here 1 

 Or, do they grieve and scold because we get 

 along too fast for th.em V If it be envy that ]jro- 

 duces this tone of sarcasm and contumely, I 

 know not when it will cease ; but if it arise from 

 pride of wealth and numbers, it must soon stop ; 

 for the day is near at hand v^•hcn an equality of 

 power in population and riches will place us on 

 a par. and then the}"may think us fit to be count- 

 ed "as of the same father's house."* 



We now approach, gentlemen, a period in 

 the life of our departed President, which brought 

 us into close intimacy %vith him. It ^^•as a long 

 period of wide-spread usefulncs.s, in which he 

 moved almost without a rival. As a practical 

 farmer, Mr. Peters had, from time to time, com- 

 municated the results of the experiments made 

 at Belmont to such of his neighbors as chose to 

 profit by them ; but he had not written much, if 



* Let us hope that this disposition to disparage our 

 counti-y — and which, truth requires us to admit, is 

 fully reciprocated — far from corresponding with, is 

 contrary to the general public sentiment of the two 

 countiies. Demagogues there will ever be, in all 

 countries, ready to excite and then pander to nation- 

 al antipathies. Let us hope that evil disposition does 

 not prevail, on oxvc side of the water, to a gi-eater ex- 

 tent or in higher circles than in England. The well- 

 infomied, the loyal, the patriotic, and the virtuous, on 

 both sides, sincerely wish for the maintenance of jus- 

 tice and of peace, and for the prosperity alike of both 

 countries. That England looks to us, through a di- 

 rect ti-ade, for the material of her great branch of na- 

 tional industry, implies that she is our best customer ; 

 and, the more she prospers, the more she can buy — 

 for the more she vriU consume. If, in some things, 

 we are rivals in foreign markets, let it be the fair riv- 

 alry of industry and enterprise. There will yet re- 

 main points of reciprocal interest-?, enough to main- 

 tain tlie interchange of good offices, and to beget that 

 desire, each for the other's growtli and welfare, 

 which is cherished— let lis hope — even on nobler 

 gi'ounds than self-interest, by the wise and the good 

 of both countries. 



In some proof of the existence of that feeling in 

 high quarters, we take leave to submit an extract 

 from a letter, with which we have ourselves lately 

 been favored, from a nobleman of the highest rank, 

 and, at the same time, one of the plainest, most prac- 

 tical and actively useful farmers in all England : 



[Ed. Farm. Lib. 

 WiSETON, August Olh. 1845. 



* * * "Anything which prove.i^a kindly feeling 

 toward me from" the citizens of the United States, al- 

 ways gives me great satisfaction — it being impos.sible 

 that any Englishman can desire more earnestly than 

 I do that the" friendly relations between ourtwocoun- 

 iries shall be pennanent." 



