Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-10-22
William /, Yancev,

70 persist in error when conscious Of having com
mitled wrong, and we are not astonisbed that Mr..
YAEoEY repeats his misrepresentation. Fearing
that The impudenoe Of his assertions may perceived
IS evidence Of their truth we win present the facts
which Mr.. YANCEY has perverted and leave the read
er to determine whether we have done him any in
justice in denial Of the allegations contained in
his letter to Mr. PRYoR. Ia that letsrhe expresses
the opinion that the State Of Tennessee is unwor-
thy Of confidence where the interests Of the South
are involved This proposition is 50 palpably alb
surd that We should have regarded it unworthy Of
serious controversy, if the facts upon which Mr.
YAEoEY relied to sustain his opinion, had been cor
rectly stated Our prompt contradiction Of his err
roneOus statements has elected from him second
letter addressed to the Editors Of the Richmond En-
quirr in which he says: ,s.sl1 s.5raH
I should not again have taxed your courtesy in
reference to this matter, it not for the ueeuiE
cal denial BY the Nashville UEIoE AND AMERIoAs Of
the fact which had asserted relative to Tennessee
contained in the following extract from my letter to
Mr. Pryor:
s'In the Methodist Conference her delegates voted
against striking ont the antisavery clause in s dis
oipiine-while she maintains on her Supreme
Court Bench, and the chair of Law prOessorship in
her University one who openly declares slavery to
We met the FIRST of these allegations with an I'M
qualified denial to which Mr.. YAEcEH replies:
do not pretend to be familiar with the history Of
the Methodist Church. had heard the fact stated
as have stated it. aud the authority for the state
ment was handed to me by sR eminent Methodist.
have it before me now. 1t is The Southern Chris
tian "Advo,ate" Of 29th October, 1857. 1t seems
that there was among the general rules of that
church one fOrbidding the buying and selling Of
slaves, and one Of the venerable Bishops Of the
church had been privately ceDsured fer an alleged
violation If that rule. The Alabama Methodist
Conference had adopted resolution in favor of eI
punging the rule. The vote Of the various annual
conferences taken at their several meetings In
the Advocate, now before me, is account of the
meeting Of the Tennessee Conference at Murfrees-
bOro on the 9TH October, 1857 Bishop Early presid-
ing. The following is an extract from its proceed
ings, viE
1.-The proposition of the Alabama Conference to
strike out from the general rules the rule on the
slave trade, not concurred In, by vote Of 81 to
10 p" This is my authority fer that statement. and
aPprehend that such publication in an organ of
that church, will hardly be set aside as naught ever
by such vehement and ill-naured assertions as the
above from the sUEIoE AND American"
The authority to which Mr. YAECET refers does
not sustain the charge contained in the first para.
graph quoted sbOve he states that the Delegates
from Tennessee voted against striking out the anti
given from the Advocate has reference to rule pro-
hibiting the African Slave Trade. The Conference,
whose action is condemned by Mr.. YAEcEY, embra-
ces Middle Tennessee and q portion of Northern
Alabama, while the sweeping allegation that the
delegates from Tennessee had voted against expuug-
ing the anti slavery clause in the discipline was
intended to reflect unjust and peculiar Odium upon
Tennessee.
We have before us q full and authentic history Of
the action Of the various Conferences on this subject
which we lay before readers in order to vindi-
cate the Methodist clergy from the injustice Of Mr..
YAEoEY's partial and perverted statement Of the
facts In the General Conference of the Methodist
Church South held at Columbus, Georgia. in May,
1854, (see Journal page 1861 report providing for
the ezpunction of the general rule Slavery, was
presented and read, and after being amended was
laid on the table by vote Of 81 10 46. So the
General Conference, at Augusta, refused 70 expunge
this rule, which Nh. YANoEE charaoteriEes as the
anti-savery clause of the dicipIine and Of course
incurred the censure which Mr.. Y. bestows on
Tennessee alone. But this same Conference ex-
planned this rule by resolution which we copy from
the Journal, page 800.
RssolUed, That the General Rule on the subject Of
'lue Dug anu b64luE Alt hpLlFA anu N4LlAIANs
with an intention to enslave them,' is understood
referring exclusively TO the slave trade, as pro-
hibited by the Constitution and laws Of the United
States.
The yeas and nays having been called for by G
W. Langborne, the vote stood ayes 81, nays 10.
So the resolution was adopted.
The Rule as qualified by this resolution only gives
the sanction of the church to the laws of the United
States on the subject of the African Slave Trade,
- a.. H.. IL,
freesboro conference refused 10 expunge The sub
sequent action of that body with reference to the
subject is studiously suppressed by Mr.. YANCEY,
and we are justified in the belief, inasmueh as he
had the proceedings of the conference before him,
that he has perpetrated intentional injustice
against its members, IN order to sustain himself in
the false position which he had assumed II he had
published the passage following the sentence which
he quotes from the Advocate would have disclosed
the fasehood of his statement that the Delegates
from Tennessee voted against striking cut the anti
slavery clause Of the discipline. 1t reads fol>
lows:
1.-THE following resolution was adopted, viz: That
instruct d. legates TO the next General Con
ference to use their influence TO have the action of
the last General Conference. page 800 JOurna) APP
pended to the general rule on slavery as explana
tory of its nature. The substance of that acicn is
that the general rule sis understood as referring
elusive to the Slave Trade prObibie by the
Cons tuition and laws Of the United States"
Had Mr. YANoBY been disposed to let the facts of
the case appear he would have pub ished this para
graph with the additional fact that the Delegates
from Tennessee at the General Conference held in
this city in May last, voted unanimously to e1Punge
that rule. But we do not expect either truth or
justice from who will assai the patriotism of
an entire state on such pretences as these.
In reply TO Mr.. YANCEYs statement that Tonnes /
see ''msintains on her Supreme Court Bench and in
the chair Of law IrOfessorship in her University
one who openly declares slavery to be moral, so.
cisl and political evil" we stated what Mr.. YAM. /
oEY should have known to be fact that there is no
such man on our Supreme Court Bench. This we
thought sufficient to relieve the State from the cen~
sure implied in this assertion, and we had alresdy
published in our columns fun explanation Of the
circumstances under which the obnoxious expression
was used. But Mr. YANCEE admitting that he was
mistaken in his "deserp,iO psrsonde," as be classi-
cslly expresses it, admitting that he was in
with reference to the fact which We denied charac-
terizes our declaration ''mere trick "a sup
prsssO VerI," SC. We can dispose of Mr. YAvCEr
without resort TO Latin. The obuseness Of intellect
which this rare specimen Of logic displays can