O'Regan, Bishop Anthony, Chicago, Illinois, to Archbishop Anthony Blanc, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1856 February 26

O'Regan should have acknowledged long before this Blanc's kindness in sending a copy of Bishop James Oliver Vandevelde's will and the attention to Father J. Larkin . A change of residence and other occupations have made him tardy. O'Regan regrets that he and Blanc are not of of the same way of thinking with respect to Mrs. Anne Lucas Hunt's donation ot Chicago diocese. The mere reading of the deed ought to have led Blanc to a conclusion the opposite of that at which he arrived. Blanc is to consider the following points and O'Regan will be surprised if he does not change his view and write to the Cardinal Prefect revoking all he has written. 1. There is the testimony of Fathers Francis Xavier Dahmen, C.M. and John Anthony Elet, S. J. proving that the donation was asked exclusively for Chicago City and made for that purpose. 2. The deed of Mrs. Hunt gives the property expressly and exclusively to Chicago. It in vests the trusts in the successors of Vandevelde. 3. This deed does not permit the property to be applied except for Chicago Diocese. 4. Hence the act of Vandevelde by which he wished to give it back to Mrs. Hunt is null and void. Also the act took place a full month after his connection with Chicago had ceased. 5. It is evident that Vandevelde did not and could not transfer to Mrs. Hunt any right or power of any kind. Her deeds to Naches and Quincy were so much wastepaper. By her first deed of 1851 she gave the Chicago Diocese all her rights to that property. It is strange that Blanc has overlooked these points. The moment it was known that Blanc was to act as arbiter in this case, many bishops and priests told O'Regan that his duty to his diocese would not allow him to accept the arbitration. Vandevelde left after him in this diocese, debts and troubles and disorders beyond number and apparently beyond remedy. Blanc consulted no reliable or disinterested testimony; he consulted one avaricious banker who has labored to give Mrs. Hunt a disgust to charitable donations and thereby that he and his children might inherit all her property. Blanc would not listen to the Jesuits who alone knew all about it; Blanc reproved Dahmen because he said Vandevelde had no right to that property. In order to give a clear title to that property, O'Regan had to get a deed from Mrs. Hunt; to set aside Vandevelde's deed before the civil courts and expose his conduct. The prevent the mistakes Blanc has made, O'Regan in a letter, stated these particulars to Mrs. Hunt. O'Regan must insist on the very evident rights of his diocese. :: VI-1-j L.S. 4pp. 4to.