Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1860-10-18
Hon. JAMES BUCHANAN.

BUCHANAN.
Hon. JAMES BUCHANAN,
President Of the United States
SIR There are times when the bumblest
citizen may and should approach the Chief
Magistrate with his cause. Such is the pres
eat and address you, not seeking any Of
fee, nor interfering with the ordinary ques-
tions which are thrust upon your attention.
/ write as member, minister, an officer Of
the Methodist Episcopal Church.
You, sir, are public functionary,"
charged with the highest responsibilities and
the weightiest duties. The matters design
10 lay before your Excellency affect the life,
the liberty, the property of our people. They
affect their rights in the new States and Ter
ritories; they affect the destinies of this
country; for they must lea1 to the practical
solution of this question Are the rights OF
tected, or are they held at the pleasures Of
the mob =?
The history of the people called Metho-
dists" is not unfamiliar to you, for it is part
of the history of the country. We have been
among the pioneers of civilization and Chris
tiaRity. Our clergy have beer among the
first in the wilderness. They have no. waits
ed until roads were made, bridges built,
houses erected, and disabilities removed -
Thou how NTH tbo,,
have camped with the hunter searched out
the cabin of the squatter followed the har
dy miners of the Pacific into their guches,
and gone after the lumbermen into the mex
haustible pineries. Sir, we have won the
right of existence, and come to you to day
demanding protection in the exercise of our
vested rights.
| regret, sir, that must write this COM
munication no,o. while the political excite
] ment unavoidably connected with Presi-
Dental election is upon US, but there is nc
alternative. 1t is a question of life and
death.
will state
/. THE GROUND WE OCCUPY.
l.. Tie Methodist Episcopal Church is nc
political organization. Its functions are
spiritual and ecclesiastical. Men Of all 30
litical shades are in its ministry, its officary
and It's membership Its papers lend no in
huence TO either political party, as such, mol
display the aames of any candidates at the
head of their columns Thus FIR, our peo
pie have never been consolidated into politi
cal organization, for no denominational in
terest has demanded it.
2. We have ever been loyal people. ",
have bowed to the majesty Of law, both fed
eral and state. We have counseled no resis
tance to unjust laws. There is nothing il
our doctrines or discipline calculated TO sti
up strife or sedition.
8. These things being so, we claim th
right to 60, under the constitution of ou
country, INTO any part of our domain. w
claim the right of free speech and free pr mt
ing. We cldim-mark, Mrs. President, d.
not say we ask, we solicis no, sir, we de-
mand-equal rights and privileges with 9th
er denomipations. If our people violate an,
law, let them be fairly tried, condemned anC
punished. Give them an impartial jury, al
uubribed judge, and competent counsel.
4. It cannot have escaped your attention
sir, that Methodsm was early remarkabl,
successful as 10 Southern States, but poss
bly, you may not have observed that it wa
thus successful as a decided and uncompro-
missing auti-slavery church. The presen
anti-slavery tone of our Discipline and lit
erature is no new utter ance. Our father
spoke warmer words than we, and the warm
eat came from slave territory. You will b.
struck, sir, with the remarkable agreemen
of their words with those of Washington
Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, and, if mis-
take cot, your own early spoken or writer
sentiments. It was known everyw here tha
John Wesley abhored slavery that he de
bounced the slave trade as the t sum of al
villainies," and slavery as :" complicated
crime;" and yet Southern conferences wer
organized under his direct supervision Il
1880 conference b ed, not in Boston, o
even in New York, but in Baltimore, on slay
soil, SAID Slavery is contrary to the Law
of God and nature, and hurtful to society,"
contrary to the dictates of conscience ant
pure religion You will be told that ou
church has become abolitionized. Open ou
Discipline and read it. 1t says nothin,
stronger thar was said by that Southern con
ference in 1880. In 1884 Baltimore agail
: spoke. saying, 1--WE view it slavery as con
trary to the golden law Of Goo, d,-the inaIien
able rights of mankind, AS WE'LL AS EVER,
PRINCIPLE OF THE REvoLUrIoN," &c.
These are mere specimen quotations, bu
{ they express the early sentiment of Metho
alsm. Slavery was wrong, and by religion
! agencies was to be extirpated. Holdin
these views, they spread everywhere throug
ths South. They encouraged no Insured
tisRs; they stirred up no violence; the