Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.
the Rev. Dr. Junkin.
Lexington, Va., April 22, 1861.
We see a paragraph in the Dispatch, dated Lexington, Va., in which notice is taken of the resignation of the Rev. Dr. Junkin as President of Washington College; and, as a somewhat wrong impression is calculated to be made thereby, we beg leave to say simply that it was mainly a question of discipline which was involved in the case.
The State had not seceded when Dr. J. ordered the secession flag not to be put up. It was put up, and because his authority was not regarded in the premises, he resigned — a thing, however, which his weariness of College life has led him to contemplate for several years.
Were it necessary, we could make appeals to individuals
and bring forth documents, to prove the firmness with which Dr. Junkin has ever stood by the South.
He has suffered personally in the defence of slavery what few men in Virginia have.
He has been hissed in a Cincinnati audience, (while President of the Miami University, near Cincinnati,) for his noble stand against abolition fanaticism — a course which obliged him to resign the Presidency of that institution.
John C. Calhoun tells him in a letter he had from him a year or two before his death, that his published pamphlet in defence of slavery, was one of the most perfect arguments he had ever read on that subject.
Dr. Junkin removes his residence at once to Philadelphia — a matter he had determined upon three years ago. This much is necessary, Messrs. Editors, to a removal of the impression the paragraph referred to above is calculated to make, although the facts in it are stated truly.
The Trustees of the College did receive Dr. Junkin's resignation at once, because he insisted upon it; and when they bade him adieu, there was not an unmoistened eye among them.
To say more is needless.
Justice. 