The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-24

W. Gbu&ncto4 WIEN ~ IA, - 43ete Ampslou
~ No &eh ace{<iol Beyond peaoeatls sab
&tlouB thX right suffrage, exercised b.
IN msi3ity, III esa D. submitted to BY thu
Suta. It &Xald and hht 10 denial OF eqaa
trac ighl and lisfranchisement OF ths
Southern ministry, an6could not be submitted
to without injury and degradation. 1t. then, ths
North is not satisfied with the negative right
conceded 10 the South by law in this matter, the
minority would be glad to know what principle
or policy is likely to introduce beyond the
existing provisions OF law
Impeled by conscience and principle to the
illegal arrest of a Bishop, because he has in
cdentaltv, by bequest, inheritance, and marriage
come into p,sSeHaian-cf slave property, in no
instance intending to possess himself Of such
property, how long will spnscisnce aud principle
leave other ministers, or even lay members,
category with Bishop Andrew! Will assur-
ances DO given that the lawIessnes Of expo
Jiency. controlled, ~ ia such cases it must be,
by prejudice and passnn, will extend 90 further
that there shall he no further ourtailment OF
right as it regards the Southern ministry! Yet,
what s'the security Of the South in the case /?
Is the public faith Of this body, rs instanced in
the recent Violations Of the compromise law, to
be relied upon as the guarantee for the redemp
ton OF the pledge? What would such pledge
or assurance be but tn remind the South that
amy departure at al'.from the great conservative
pledge of law, to which we appeal WAS much
more sffectualy guarded against originally than
it IL possible to guard against any subsequent
Infringement, and to make the Southfeei further
that disappointment IN the first instance must
compel distrust with regard to the future
D.. Ia, ,tol H..
the general conference, the power OF renewal
does not follow. Episcopacy, even in the
Methodist church, Is not mere appointment
to labor tits an official consrcrated station,
under the protection OF law, and can only he
dangerous as the law is bad Or the church
corrupt The power to appoint does not ne
cessariy involve the power to remove; and
whenthe appointing power is derivatiye, as in
the case of the general, conference, the power of
removal does not accure at all, unless by consent
Of the co ordinate branches Of the government,
expressed by law, made and provided in. the
case. When the Legislature Of State to ap-
peal to analogy for itustration appoint Judge
or senator in Congress- does the Judge or
senator thereby become the officer or creature
of the legislature or is he the offirer or sen
atorial representative of the State of which the
legislature is the mere organe And does the
power Of removal follow that Of appointment!
The answer il snegatvelyin both cases, and
applies equally to tho bishops Of the Methodist
Episcopal church, who, instead Of being the
officers and creatures of the general conference,
are de, facto the officers and servants of the
church, chosen by the general conference, ms its
organ OF action, and no right. .of removal ac-
crues, except as they fail TO accomplish the
aims Of the church in their appointment, and
then only In accordance with the provisions of
law. If a bishop Of the Methodist EPISCOPAL
church may without law, and at the instance
of mere party expediepce, be suspended from
the exercise OF the appropriate functions of his
Office for one act he may for another Admit
this doctrine, and by what tenure do the bishops
hold office! One thing is certain, whatever
other tenure there may be, they do not hold Office
according to law. ~
go request Bishop Andrew to resign, there
FORE in view Of all the facts and relation Of the
case, was, in The Judgment Of the minority,
to punish and degrade him and they maintain
that the whole movment was without authority
of law, is hence of necessity null and void, and
therefore not binding upon Bishop Andrew or
the minority protesting against it, -see
"We protest against thc act Of the majority.
instructing Bishop Andrew to desist from the
exercise of his Ollie, not merely on account of
the injustice and evil connecting with the act it.
self, but because the act must be understood us
the exponent of principles and purposes, as tire
CARDS the union Of the North and the South inI
the Methodist Episcopal church, well nigh de
stroying all hope of its pcrpetuity. The true
position of the parties in relation to a long-ex
listing conventional arrangement, on the subject
OF slavery and abolition, has been fully under
notice and when men of yearsand wisdom, ex
perience and lorning--men of no common weight
OF character, and with well-earned arstocracy
OF church influence thrown about hin3--assume
and declare, in action as we'll as deba'e, that
what a plain law of the church--the only law
applicable n-the case-sustxined aud enforced
too, by an explanatory decree Of this body, at
previous session-deeides shall net be adisoual.
ificntiou for office, in my grade in the ministry
when such men, the law and decision of the
general conference, notwithstanding, are beard
declaring that what law provides Tor and pro
tects nevertheless always has been and always
shall be Disqualification what further evidence
is wanting TO show that the compromise bash
Of union, from which the South has never
swerved, has been abandoned both BY the North
ern and middle conferences, with few exrep
tons in the latter, and that principles and pur
poses are entertained by,the majority driving
the South to extreme action, in defence both of
their rights and reputation Aud how far the
long train of eventfal sequences attendant upon
the Threatened result OF division. may be tfaceJ
able to the Northern and middle conferences, by
the Issue TINS provoked. Is a question to be set
tied not by US, but by our contemporaries and
posterity Ia. ll ssta 4,,....,4,.
at is matter Of history, with regard to the
past and will not be questioned, that now, az
formerly, tie South is upon the basis o. the dis
cpine, on the subject of slavery. The minority
believe it equally certqin that this is not true
with regard to the North proper especially. In
view, then, of the unity of the Methodist Episco
ppi church, which party has been, in equity, en-
titled to the sympathy and protection of the
middle and umpire conferences? those who
through good and evil report have kept good
faith and adhered to law, or those whose opinions
and purposes have led them to seek state Of
things in advance of law, and thus dishonor it's
forms and sanctions ,r.y.
81 he South have not been led thus to pro-
test merely because of the treatment received
bv Bshop Andrew. O the kndred action of this