Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-11-17
Salem, Ohio, November ~, Is40.
Green Plain Yearly Meeting,
Editorial Correspondence.
Selma. Clark Co. 30 Oct. 1919.

~ AiSCthiS VI AllCiuS, VIII luNC utoltcu III
Congregational form of church government,
closed its sessions in this place yesterday.
The history and character of this organiza-
ton are well known to most of the readers of
the Bugle. It'll composed mainly, thoughn not
exclusively, of persons who were driven
from the Indiana Yearly Meeting QHicksite)
by the bigotry, intolerance, and hostility to
reform, which have so long prevailed in that
body. Thu new organization is numerically
weak,bu in devotion to principle, in enlight-
ened zeal, in firm reliance upon the Divine
Arm, strong enough TO cope successfully with
the rccreant body from which it separated
and with the whole army of corrupt sects
which infests the land. Recognizing the re-
ligious sentiment in man, it aims to furnish a
channel through which that sentiment may
manifest itself in works of practical right
eousness and benevolence. Its conventions,
therefore, are not designed for wordy dispu-
tation on questions of abstract theology, nor
for the observance of any outward ccremo-
MES, nor yet to build up a new sectarian or
ganization, but to investigate the whole sub
jcct of mans social relations and duties, to
disseminate the principles of Practical Chris
tianity, and to devise ways and means for the
removal of the great moral evils of our time.
The meeting opened on Saturday, at IL
A. NJ, and Mercy l.. Holmes and ]. A. Dug
dale were appointed Clerks. The number
of persons in attendance afforded cheering
evidence of the rapid progress of the new
movement, and of the hold it has already OBJ
tanned upon some of the most devoted and
earnest minds in the country. Quite q num-
Der came from a distance of more than one
hundred miles, ard some even further, TO
participate in the proceedings. Parker Pills
bury, Henry c.. Wright, and Samuel Brooke
were present, and their labors added much.
to the interest of the occasion. Jesse and
Mercy Holmes, formerly of Salem, Sarah
Joseph and Ruth Dugdale, Frederick Hoover,
Owen and Mary Thomas, Valentine Nichol-
son, William Anger, Abram Allen, Jonathan
Huddlcson, Henry ThoInburgh, William
Dugdale, (thc three last named from Indiana,)
and others whose names do not now occur
l W lhtJ ClC ulilOHS ulOSC WIN pOOh part III
the proceedings. Several Friends were pres
ent who are still regarded as members of the
Indiana Yearly Meeting; and here / may
remark that reports reached us of great dis
satisfaction on the part of many members of
that meeting with its recent proceedings. 1t
is believed that not a few are watching the
movement with friendly eyes, and that they
will be ready to join it on the first favorable
opportunity, unless the old organization shall
abandon its proscriptive and intolerant course.
Interesting epistles were received from the
Michigan Yearly Meeting, from the Yearly
Meeting of Congregational Friends in New
York, and from the New Garden Conference.
They were suitably responded to, and provi-
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other
Yearly Meetings.
On Saturday afternoon, an incident occur
red, which excited a very deep interest, illus
trating, as it did, the pro-slavery character of
the U. S. Government. Luther A. Donnell,
of Ducatur Co., Indiana, was introduced to
the meeting by Jonathan Huddleson, who
stated that he had recently been convicted in
the U. S. Circuit Court of aiding the escape
of slaves, and thereby subjected to legal pen
allies which if he did not obtain assistance,
would compel him TO sacrifice his farm, as
well as his property of every other descrip-
ton. Mr.. Donnell gave an interesting ac-
count of the case, from which it appeared
| ,l,t Ia ,,,oe cntuinta1 Inv fnlca tactit,npu
He did not violate the law in the particular
instance for which he was prosecuted, though
he had often done so upon other occasions,
and would do so again, whenever an oppor-
tunity should occur to aid the flying bond
man. lie confessed that, on the subject of
his duties in respect to the U. S. Govern
ment, he had heretofore contided in the opiD-
ions of a certain distinguished Liberty party
politician; but the issue of the suit in which
he had been involved had satisfied him of
the pro-slavery character of the U. S. Con-
stitution, and he did not think he should ever
again be found swearing allegiance to that
instrument. 1t was Judge M'Lean, the man
whom the majority of Western Free Sellers
wanted to support for President last year, who
charged the jury in Donnel's case, and UNI
der whose construction of the Constitution
the STAKEHOLDER obtained, in a Freeze State,
a Judgment for the full market value of his
fugitive chattels And yet the Free Sellers,
while they support for Office men who avow
their determination TO aid in capturing the
fugitive, and to assist, if officially required,
in furnishing all who aid his escape, have the
face to come into our Conventions and bore
ms with their senseless babble about the anti
sLa,.ernI character of the Constitution