Ganilh, Father Anthony, Natchez, Mississippi, to Bishop Anthony Blanc, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1841 January 28

Ganilh has just received Blanc's letter of January 21; it was balm to which he has long been a stranger. He came to Natchez only as a last resort. Previously he had tried to start a school in several places and had not succeeded. He had hopes of obtaining some pupils for French and English here but what can he do in this cruel situation? He did not leave Kentucky gladly. The college became unbearable because of the rebuffs and the unruliness of the young people in his classes. Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget offered him another place but then did not wish to give it to him. Ganilh solemnly declared that nothing happened on his part, from the moment Flaget made the offer and Ganilh's departure for Kentucky that would make him deserve the letter in which Flaget told him that he had changed his decision. Also there should be some indulgence for a weakness which amounted to hypochondria before age dimmed his imagination. After his return to Kentucky he believes he acted with great caution; he bore many humiliations and affronts and suddenly comes this new storm. In a cold climate he suffers from rheumatism. The North would be fatal for him. Blanc spoke of retirement. He can catch only a glimpse of Blanc's plan; if he would explain further Ganilh could make a decision. He could not retire to a house where they would treat him scornfully. This is what he suffered at the College at Bardstown for two years. It is not his fault that he is in his present state; he asks only to do what is right. :: V-4-l A.L.S. French 4pp. 4to.