Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-05-26
The Present status Of the ohGrehss.
RFom the =. Z. Tribuno.

q, s From the y. Tribune. ~
The General Conference of the Metho:
dist Episcopal Church, which represents
the largest Protestant denomination of this
country, passed. on Tuesday, eresoIution
which will mark turning point 10 the
history of the relation Of the American
Churches to slavery. After a brief, aud, as
II seems, on the whole, dispassionRte die.
cussion, 1t was resolved, by 204 yeas to 8
nays, so to change the "Gsneral Rulep tas
to forbid slayeholding altogether. The
minority consisted of delegates from the
WestVirginia Conference, 2 from the Ken
tacky, 2 from the Baltimore, and Il from
the East Baltimore Conference. All the
delegates OF the Missouri and Arkansas
Conference, as we'll as the entire delegation
of the Philadelphia, Conference, which
comprises parts Of Maryland and Delaware,
voted with the majority. So also did the
majority of the delegates from the Balti-
more and East Baltimore Conferences.-
The delegates of those Conferences which
lie wholly within the free States showed q
very remarkable .unanimity In favor Of the
report, not casting a single vote against It.
Most of the speakers of the minority are
Antt-Slavery men,. aud announced them.
selves as such, and they only declared
themselves against the measure on the
SEounu OF eGpedlepcyse t75s5.. 81 sol
In order to become an obligatory law,
the resolution just passed must be pre-
scented to each Annual Conference, Of
which there are forty.eight within the
boundaries of the United States; and so
soon as three-fourths Of ali the members
Of all the Annual Conferences. who may be
present and vote thereon shall have CON
Cured, the proposed change takes effect.
As the vote of the General Conference in
dicates, this concurrence of the Annual
Conferences is not the least doubtful. II
may possibly be rejected by three, the
West Virginia, the Kentucky, and the Bal
timore Conferences, aud q few. votes may
be cast against it in two other Border Con
fereuces East Baltimore and Philadel-
phial; but all the others will pass it with
entire or nearly entire unanimity. A year
from to: day the vote of the Annual Con-
ferences will have been ascertained, and
then the Methodist Episcopal Church will
take her place at the head of the Anti;
Slavery churches Of the. United States.
The effect Of this change upon the Anti
Slavery sentiment of the country caunot
fail be marked. Hitherto only q num-
Der of the smaller denominations Of the
country had taken this position. Thus
among the Methodists only the Wesleyans
with a membership of about 81 900, the
Free 8 Methodists and the Independent
Msthodists, two small organisations of re
cent origin. had excluded slaveholdera
from their communion, while tho Metho-
dists Episcopal Church, with about 90o,.
600 members, only prohibited the buying
and selling of slaves, and the Methodist
Protestant Church (about 90, 900 members)
had no general law on the subject Of
slayeholding. Among the Presbyterians,
the United Presbyterians 49, 900 mem
hers,) the Reformed PEesbyterians. u.s.
000,) and the Presbyterian Synod 1000
members,) did not allow slaVeboldiug;
while no such prohibition was enforced
among the Old School Presbyterians 1900.
600 members.) the New-School Presby-
Ierians 1856 900 members,) or the Oum6er.
land Presbyterians (about los. 900 mem
berry, Among the other denominations
"the United Brethren in Christ, who mum
Der about loo, 900 communicates, and the
Friends, adhered to 9 Slavery .forbidding
policy, while the Protestant Episcopal
Church, the Roman Catholics, the Luther
ans, the German and Datch Reformed, aud
tho UaiVorsalist0 rsfrainsd from legislR-
ting on tho subject. )
The General. Conference ofthe Method.
ist Episcopal Church consists only of olsr-
ical delegates. But the laity, in this
question, are oy no means nehlnd the
clergy. At a General Conference of Lay.
men from ell parts of the country, which
met 10 the first days Of the present week 10
Philadelphia to memorialiEe the General
Conference for the Introduction of lay del.
egations into the church assemblies, reso-
lutions were introduced in favor of the
abolition of Slavery 10 Church and State,
and they passed without a dissenting
voice, although many members of the
Convention were kuoWnto have had here.
totore very conservative views on the sub
ieot of Slavery. 49,
Now that the most numerous tof the
American Churches has placed itself at
the head of the Anti-Slayery Churches Of
the country, We may expect that others
will speedily follow.
Ern,,, Crank am, EAr.r,,,.s rn-..,,-