The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-01-30

TIE Northern, Methodist Church.
We publish in another column . comnu-
nicasion pufporsing to- DO defence Of the
northern Methodist Church from the charges
we made against 1t few days ago. We
would inform our correspondent that there
is 10 true statement In his letter which has
ever been "withheld from the men Of this
latitude
We meant to say that the northern Metho-
dist Church is essentially a political or
SANITATION; that il d Is q mere partisan
Church; that lie bishops, ninc-tenths OF
it's preachers, and nearly sill Of tho ls,'y'
are Radicals; that its bishops ane o'nea
preachers preach Radical politics IRON 'n0
pulpit On sundsy--not always, but wnen-
over shey choose to do so; and that it 10 80
we'll known to be 9 political Church ' thas
nearly ell the Democrats in tho North at
tsnd other churches than these Of this
grand partisan organization. If the Con-.
ferences In India, China, or Germany, were
to meddle with affairs Of State as those in
this country do. the ministers composing
them would seon be each head shorter
wedid not mean to say that that Church
had always been anti-elavery. On the con-
trary, it subordinsted that and every other
question to the paramount one Of success.
Its preachers in Maryland and Virginia,
ND 10 1860. denied that 1t regarded slave
holding as sin, and gathered into its fold
all the shareholders they could, and never
turned out a layman for that sin. 1t was
alwsys "politic enough to hide its anti
slavery foot in those two States and at
every session Of its General Conference
from 1874 to 1859 1t refused to make slave
holding o test of membership. 1t was too
foxy for that. We know all about your
Church, - You can't humbug US.
It is "politic" enough now to pretend to
have been consistently anti-slsvery hereto
fore. But that is done to deceive the ne
eroes. 1t knows that the southern whites
are opposed to political churches, and there
fore so demeans itself as to catch as many
negroes ss possible. And here we will tell
~ that his eighteen conferences"
his "rsine or ten hundred minister's" and
his 25o,0O0 MEMBERS" in the south
ern States, may have been |" most
~ to the manner born," but they
happened to be also born " mostly ne
groes." AS to the opposition of the Virgi-
mia Methodists of 1880, 1888, and 80 on, to
slavery, it is only necessary to say that oil
denominations were then equally opposed
to it, as were Mr.. JEFFERSON, General WASH
INaToN, and almost all our statesmen.
Virginia in 1887 desired to have the slave
trade prohibited at once by the Federal
Constitution, but the northern States 1--WE
had almost written, northern Methodists)
would not allow its abolition before 1908.
" For want of knowledge, no doubt" our
correspondent claims that as merit in one
denomination which it held in common
with oil other denominations, and would
have our readers believe that his Church is
descended from the Virginia Methodist
Church OF 1880. They are not soignorant
as to believe that story. . a.....
Our correspondent admits that the Su-
preme Court of the United States compelled
his Church to disgorge portion Of the COM
mon property of the northern and southern
Church and pay it over to the southern
branch. We do not deem it necessary to
defend Judge NELSON, or the Supreme
Court, from his attacks. That tribunal was
then pure and unsullied.
We said truly that "the court held that
"the plan of separation was binding in
s'law upon both the parties to Tive
added that "under this, plan Of separation
"the southern Church retained undisputed
"possession of the property and the terri
STORY which were entirely within the
"bounds Of the slaveholding States" We
did not soy the court made this latter asser-
ton. We added that ourselves. Our cor
respondent does not seem to be very
observant reader, or else he does not know
what full stop means. We stated this
Aotto1 90 ldCI, uot do pdIt VI tuo jung
ment Of the court. We know that the
northern Church agreed to leave all the
territory mentioned to the southern Church,
but We also know that q political preacher
Is the most untruthful and unreliable Of all
the sorry specimens of fallen humanity
that ever came within the range of our
knowledge, and therefore it is hardly to be
presumed that we would credit a body COM
posed almost wholly of them with any nice
sense Of honor or any punctiliousness in
meeting obligations which other men might
consider sacred. Therefore we are not sur
prised to find it claimed that the northern
Church is trying to establish itself over
territory which it promised to leave to its
southern brethren. The word "entirely {"
shows that our language excluded all the
border conferences, and shows also that we
know where the bubble is in our CORE
Bpondent's denial. ~ a6sE
The General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in 1914 did agree upon
plan Of separation. 1t is peryersion of
the truth to say that 1t soas not agreed upon
merely because it was not ratified by the
Annual Conferences. We fear that our
correspondent is q political parson.