I find that it destroys the establishment and asserts that "all property belonging to the said (Protestant Episcopal) Church devolved on the good people of this Commonwealth (i.e., Virginia) on the dissolution of the British Government here, in the same degree in which the right and interest of the said Church was therein derived from them," and authorizes the overseers of the poor of any county "in which any glebe land is vacant, or shall become so by the death or removal of any incumbent, to sell all such land and appurtenances and every other species of property incident thereto to the highest bidder"—"Provided that nothing herein contained shall authorize an appropriation to any religious purpose whatever."
I make no comments on the above. I believe no other State in the Union has, in this respect, imitated the example of Virginia.
I take the liberty to send you a few small tracts for your acceptance in token of my high respect for your character and services.
Believe me, sir, unfeignedly,
Your obedient servant,
J. MORSE.
December 26, 1806.
LINDLEY MURRAY ESQ.,
DEAR SIR,—Your polite note and the valuable books accompanying it, forwarded by our friend Perkins, of New York, have been duly and gratefully received.
You will perceive, by the number of the "Panoplist" enclosed, that we are strangers neither to your works nor your character. It has given me much pleasure as an American to make both more extensively known among my countrymen.
I have purchased several hundred of your spelling books for a charitable society to which I belong, and they have been dispersed in the new settlements in our country, where I hope they will do immediate good, besides creating a desire and demand for more. It will ever give me pleasure to hear from you when convenient. Letters left at Mr. Taylor's will find me.
I herewith send you two or three pamphlets and a copy of the last edition of my "American Gazetteer" which I pray you to accept as a small token of the high respect and esteem with which I am