Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-10-26
From the Memphis Avalanche. Episcopal Convention at Richmond, Va.


 Episcopal Church of the United States, is at present being held at Richmond, Va.[ Thirty. three Bishops are in attendance, be- sides some two hundred or more clerical and lay delegates. It has always been the policy of the Protestant Episcopal Church to select delegates from the most distin- guished men of the church, and the con vention at Richmond contains much of the first talent of the nation. From the pub lished proceedings of the convention, we notice that exGovernor Hunt, of \. York, is delegate Mir. Robert c. WinthrorIh for many years distinguished member ci Congress, and scholar and statesman of the rank of Choate and Webster, is one of the lay delegates from Massachusetts, South Carolina is ably represented by Hon. c. G. Memminger, perhaps the ablest and most distinguished lawyer of that State. California, our distant sister of the Pacific, sends as one of her lay delegates, the Hon. Edward Stanley, who was some dozen years ago flashing, fireeating member of Congress from North Carolina. He is now a successful lawyer in California, and takes the world more quietly than he did when a politician. Among the lay delegates from Virginia we can recall the name of but one, and that is Judge John Taylor Lomax, the Story of the South as a iurist, and valuable contributor to our legal li- terature.
 Mr. Calhoun, our readers will remember, in the last address which he delivered in the Senate of the United States, adverted to the fact that slavery gitation-that bane and curse of our country-had severed the bonds of fraternal union of three of the four principal religious denominations of this country. Of these denominations the Episcopal church, patriotic and conserva- tive, alone remains undisturbed by that ia natical rage and insane fury which has forced the faithful and loyal southern mem bers of other denominations to sever all connection with those who in the better days of the republic were their friends and brethren. The general conventions of the Episcopal church have never been disturb ed by discussion of sectional and political questions.
 In alluding to the fact that the E pisco- pal church alone remained unit upon the slavery question, MT. Calhoun said:
 "The first of these chords which snap ped under its explosive force, was that of the powerful Methodist Episcopal Church; the numerous and strong ties which held 1t together, are all broken, and it's unity gone. They now form separate churches; and, in stead of that feeling of attachment and de- votion to the interest of the whole church which was formerly felt, they are now ar rayed into two hostile bodies engaged in litigation about what was formerly their common property"
 "The next cord that snapped was that of the Baptist-one of the largest and most respectable of the denominations. That of the Presbyterian is not entirely snapped, but some of it's strands have given way IHat cf Me Episcopol church jS Me only one of the four grea Protestant denominations achjch remains un5rohcn and entire'
 In alludins to this fact, the Richmond Enquirer pays this church a just and truth tul compliment by remarking:
 "N hat a glorious tribute does the ita- lies pay to the c0nserrotisn of the conven- ton which assemblies to-day, in St. Paul'sl " Frenzied be the head, and palsied be the arm, that would disturb it's deliberations or destroy its integrity. High and holy should be the veneration and love of every Epis- copalian for church which, from the holy worship of Almighty God, excludes the disturbing questions of party politics. The exalted patriotism of it's members needs no surer eXemplilication than that borne in the recent action of the convention for eastern New lork. When man, without the lear of God, and pandering to the fanati- cism of the times sought to introduce into that convention this question of slavery, the effort was rebuked with the spirit its wick edness merited and the resolution tabled in contempt.
 "The patriot, John Jay, would have cursed the Lour that saw him the progenitor of one whose fanatical hand had sought to sever one of the bonds that unite these States. He would disown a descendant who could raise a parricidal hand against any bond of union; and yet, providence has so ordained 1t, that from the Joins of the patriot has come forth an enemy alike tc church and country. But the effort was unavalllng; the dlsorganlzer was rebuked, and to-day the highest ecclesiastical tribu- nal of the Episcopal church assemblies its delegates from every section, and free from the prejudices of all. Such body will find a cordial welcome to the home of Washington, and to the diocese of White and Moore. May the patriotism of the former, and the piety and christian virtues of the latter, ever mark the deliberations of the general convention; and, as long as such shall be the case, the whole (we hope united) country will hail with joy its trien- nial sessions.'