The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-06-21

with it--having acknowledged the receipt of
| it in 1868. But in 1869, the Chairman of
your Auditing Committee at Mobile, the
Hon. Mr.. Gresham, pure and noble man,
who understands business, who loves the
Church, pleasantly twitted me aboutit. Well.
1 confessed there, as | confess here, that
knew it was not good bookkeeping; but
then l knew that "surplusage doth not
vitiate." 1t was not making false representa- =
tions; it was only making statement in
addition to what was required. 1t did not
in any way vitiate the truthfulness or the
accuracy of my account. Under the influence
| of this reasonable objection on the part of
Mr.. Gresham and the rest of the Auditing
| Committee, did things the next year in a
more rigid business manner-in such way
that any one except "Decem," "N. r"
"W. IT," or some Of them, would have fully
understood. Has the thousand dollar bond
disappeared? No, Moderator, it is in my
seea-yAsy safe. raesa; but l an so idoa-
tilted, Moderator, with you, that l cannot
think of you as different from myself in this
respect; and it is my safe for the time. The
two FIVE hundred dollar bonds are at this
moment in that safe; and if you will ex-
anime my books now upon your table, you
will see that | report regularly the revenue
received from those bonds. No! The bond
has not disappeared from the Foreign Mis-
sionary treasury" and trust that no man
living thinks that it ever will, SO long as
am custodian of the funds of the Church.
You have intrusted me up to the present
time with four hundred ard seventy.fve
thousand two hundred and seventy-fve dol
lars. This half million of dollars have
expended under your direction; and have
presented to you, through your Auditing
Committees, vouchers in full for every cent
of it.
Now, there was new item, new charge,
but let me again correct myself--not
charge--these are simply statements!"
mere Enquiries made yesterday with re-
gard to the church of which Mr.. Edwin
Cater is pastor--College Hill church. l
have to confess to little bad bookkeeping
there again. Thirty two dollars was the sum
sent by Mr.. H. A. Buford, Gf l have the
initials right; have to be very careful in
speaking of initials, for | have received at
least one scoring from Mr.. Edwin Cater for
making alleged mistakes in initials; think,
however, it was H. A., or, to be very par
ticular, possibly H. N. Buford, treasurer of
the church. l supposed from the words of
the letter that the amount was for Sustenta-
ton, and so entered it. So you will find it
in my books which rest upon this table. TINS
was in July. do not attribute any fault
to Mr.. Buford but in October Il had pub
ished that had received it for Sustentation
in August) received letter from Mr.
Cater, telling me that it was not for Susten-
tation, but for Foreign Missions. AS soon
thereafter as possible, I published that the
error had been committed. did not say
that had committed it, for l had not; but
l did not say anything to the contrary; and
SO perhaps left it to be inferred that had.
l published it as widely az 9my paper would
circulate. The amount was transferred to
the Foreign Mission treasury, But when
was making my account for the last General
Assembly, | forgot to put it in-e-the record
Of the change was in an unusual place, as it
was an unusual transaction. Dnr had pub,
lished to the world that / had the money,
and that it had been transferred. The
money had been put into the treasury. 1 did
not forget that! Finding that Ihad over
'ot7ed that transfer in the account that l
70 fSe last General Assembly, /
dill not ee,ieeal--I have moth
y published that !
seasaFy wijsh
was sticc 90 -,
note, as was correcH
I there said / would include it IN tnlss
report; and I did, as you viii see from ny
report before you l paid the money to the
Foreign Mission treasury; and then-what
else Moderator, am not in the habit of
speaking of myself, unless forced to do SO;
but 1 did not want to take thirty-two dollars
out of the Sustentation treasury and transfer
it to the Foreign Mission treasury; took
that amount out of my own pocket, and paid
it into the Foreign Missionary treasury from
that source, leaving Mr.. Caters church
credited for it both in the Foreign Mission
account and the Sustentation account; and
there it stands. gave Mr.. Caters church
| credit last year for the thirty-two dollars.
This, in addition to $15.15, the amount they
actually sent for Sustentation, makes $47.15,
which you see there recorded In this do
not think committed great crime. The
thirty-two dollars was mine if | have done
wrong, it was in leaving it to be inferred
that they gave thirty-two dollars which they
did not give. gave it.
You have been told in these articles, and
you have been told by DR.. Hill that he be-
lieves it to be true, that [ have too many
irons in the fire. Well, as you have seen, l
have good many First, | am a Professor
in the Theological Seminary. This venera-
Bile body did not elect me, but it adopted me.
1 was elected by another court of the Church.
When you took possession of the Seminary,
you adopted me, and by so doing said that
you approved of my being Professor in the
Seminary. l did not fix my salary; but
when l became your Professor in your Theo-
logical Seminary, 1 did not sell you all my
time, if did get three thousand dollars from
you. do not perform the work of my pro-
fessorship in that way. l do not work by
the day." l "work by the piece" You
did not buy all my time, and you know you
did not 1t is asked, How do you know it?
You appointed me, when was already Pro-
fessor, to be Treasurer of Foreign Missions
in 1861. Well, l did not want any more
money. 1 had enough. l had not very
much, it is true; for | had wife and some
children to support, and l had use for all the
money could honestly get. But did not
want any more from the Church. (You
have forced me to speak Of myself; l cannot
help, in vindicating myself, presenting these
personal matters When you call upon me