The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-11-22
WASHINGTON, d. C..
HUMANITY PRONOUNCED CRIME BY AN
ECCLESIASTICAL TRIBUNAL

on nv part, Dcch pltCeo Doioi0 '"O PuDhNf
avail myself-by advice of friends-of my brief
soiourn in your city, to offer you such state
lnent of facts as may place me in a right posi-
ton before the public; and | hope the mar
rative NAV serve to illustrate the bearings OF
Slavery upon the personal security of the citi-
zen of free State, and upon the civil and reli-
gious Liberties of the American people.
am native of Kentucky, and was educated
there; but, to the honor of my parents, who
were not Shareholders, my education was such
As to incline me against Slavery. About twenty
years since, | became minister in the " Cum
berland Presbyterian Church." This ecclesias
teal body is located at the Southwest, and its
members have been, from the beginning, with
few exceptions, decidedly in favor of Slavery.
Their General Assembly refuses to legislate on
the subject, on the plea that, as spiritual body
they have no cognizance Of civil matters
During the Six years of my ministerial labors
In Kentucky, / was known to be unfrendly to
Slavery, though favoring the scheme of Coloni
cation. Sometimes | preached on the subject
which made me an object of suspicion, anc
subjected me to some obloquy, but / met witt
no serious molestation. Yet NY removal from
nv native State was owing to my aversion t.
the practice of slaveholding. During my four
teen years ministry in Princeton, Indiana,
nsed my liberty to preach more freely agaiDs
Slavery than had done previously. l encoun
tered no serious opposition from my brethren
until the rise of the excitement growing out OF
the Nebraska question. Then they began to
cry out that it was a political question, which
ought not TO come into the pulpit. 1t was not
uaiil after this time that the events took place
which have involved me in trouble.
In Nav 1854 Thomas Brown, OF Henderson,
Kentucky, was arrested and imprisoned, on
suspicion Of aiding two female slaves, with
their children, to escape from Union county,
Kentucky, into Canada. An Indignation
meeting" WAS then held, and committee APP
pointed to notify his wife, with her two little
daughters To leave the State within a few DAYS,
which were specified, or abide the consequences.
She accordingly removed, with her children, to
Indiana. and came 10 Princeton, the place of
nv residence She was then a stranger 10 me,
but of course | befriended her. A knowledge
OF this fact was conveyed to Union county,
where had formerly resided, and where Brown
was imprisoned. This, as | soon learned, occa-
stoned suspicion that i was somehow con-
nected with the escape of the slaves.
The arrest of Brown, though of course it
had taken place in Kentucky, had been effected
by a Mr.. Gavit, sheriff of Indiana, without
any legal authority TO do so. To this person
the following note was now addressed:
"HESDERsoy, June 6, 1854.
"MR CAN'T: The citizens here have raised
for you and those who assisted you one hun
dred dollars, for the apprehension and lodging in
the Union county Jail, Brown, charged with
stealing negroes. The citizens here and in
Morganfield authorized Mr.. Harris to say to
Won, that for the apprehension and sending to
the penitentiary of Brown, who is thus charged,
Al IL ii Jol
be paid you. Should you produce against
Brown such testimony as will convict him Of
stealing slaves from this side of the river, you
may rely on getting this sum from the Cit
zens-say FIVE hundred dollars. less the one
hundred dollars now enclosed to YOU. Please
acknowledge the one hundred dollars enclosed.
Yours, respectfully, ARCH DIxoy,
A. J. ANDERSON"
This Arch. Dixon was formerly Governor OF
Kentucky, and was afterward the successor OF
Henry Clay in the Senate of the United States
This reward for testimony being offered, Mr.
Gavits associate, John Ward, marshal of Evans
vile, Indiana, succeeded in securing witness
one James Steele. who went to Kentucky, and
gave the only testimony upon which Brown was
convicted, though his testimony, in reality
amounted To nothing, and therefore was never
published.
Attic request of Mrs. Brown, previous to his
tSteele's) going TO Kentucky on this business
/ waited on him, and endeavored to dissuadC
him from going. This was another ground O
suspicion against me.
Another circumstance was the following
Some time in the ensuing autumn, (lS54,) g
citizen of Evansville, Indiana, Eli Bryant, q
native of Kentucky, being in Henderson, Ky.
was arrested, and, without even the formality
of an affidavit, was thrown into prison, and
detained there for more than half year, with
out right or justice, merly on suspicion, and
then discharged, without trial, on his signing
a bond, under penalty of two thousand dollars
never, during life, to come into the State again
where his relatives reside. While in coniine
ment he wrote letter to his wife, in which ht
advised her to consult with me, in respect t.
obtaining assistance for the family, as the
were poor. This letter was intercepted, broker
open, and copied, and furnished the fnal grount
OF proceedings against me. A reward of on,
thousand dollars was thereupon immediatel
offered, in private, to any person who woult
either decoy me into Kentucky, or take M
there by force.
"A little before this time. the Indiana Pres
bytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
TO which belonged, while in session at Wash
ington, Davies county, Indiana, resolved "Tha
1t is not expedient to discuss the subject G
American Slavery from the pulpit" Tn
resolution passed by a vote of seventee
TO three. This was Immediately after | ha
preached a sermon against Slavery before tn
Presbytery. Paying no regard to this actor
proceeded to preach afterward, as had former
ly done.
The Presbytery met again at Mount MORTAL
Gibson county, last April. A resolution wa
introduced by one of the members and second
ed BY myself, as follows:
Whereas 1t is the duty of every Christia
and ecclesiastical body, as such, to bear thei
testimony against all evil, and whereas Amel
lean Slavery is great moral evil
TINS freSuyrer Unasir--.vu,l-.- Al a. the sense
moral evil, contrary to the spirit Of the Gosp
of our Lord Jesus Christ"
This resolution, with the preamble. was r
jected by the Presbytery, in the adoption of
substitute endorsing the views of the Gener
Assembly, and dissuading from the agitation
the subject, as fraught with fearful cons
quences, and which, if persisted in, may resu
IN seyering the body of Jesus Christ"
Pending Mis action, a charge was preferre
against me by the Rev. j. ID. Cowan, former
of Texas, for uncbristian conduct"
=" FIRST specification: For associating himss
with an association known as the undergrour
railroad, whose avOwed business is to ASST
slaves from slave to free territory.
" SECOND specification: For actually eng
ging IN the business Of assisting slaves in m
king their escape from slave to free territor
which Is contrary to the laws of the Unite
States and statute laws of the State ofIndiana
Whether thus action of spiritual body
took "no cognizance Of civil Matters h
reader will judge.
The testimony consisted merely of Statement
of what | had myself said. But several of Il
statements were not true.
Upon this they proceeded to suspend N
Mfran, the functions Of The Gosz,ol