Daily Republican., 1884-05-03
GENERAL CONFERENCE.
PROCEEDINGS-INTER
ESTING DISCUSSIONbAP
POINTING COMMITTEES

IfkIDAY'8 ROCEEDlN lSS-lN XE1t
EsTING DISCUssIONS-AP-
POINTING COMMITTEES.
The second days proceedings Of th,
General Conference Of the M. E. churcf
were highly interesting, and the advo
Gates of lay representation scored an i'm.
portant point.
Whether their success is due to the
favorable disposition of the body toward
such radical change in the church
polity, Or feeling of security in their
strength on the part of the opponents of
the proposed change, is difficult to de-
termine. The naked fact is, that prac.
tically, without opposition, a committee
of twenty-four, one layman and one
minister from each General Conference
District, was appointed to specially con-
slider the question of equal lay delega-
tions In the General Conference and
lay representation to the annual con.
ference.
On its face this would appear to give
the lay representation party a great ad-
vantage, and the general impression Is
that 1t does; but it is confidently as
serted by the conservatives that any
radical measure reported from this COM
mittee will be rejected by the Confer
ence. The Conferences agreement to
such committee, however, cannot fail
to place the whole question in strong
light before the Methodist world, with
which result every body appears to be
satisfied. The committee will probably
be announced to-day.
The unfinished business OF Thursday,
the proposition to limit the representa-
ton Of the annual conference delega.
tiOns on the standing committees 80
that no one delegate could serve on
more than two committees, was taken
up after complaint from the Northern
New York Conference delegation about
their seats had been satisfactorily dis
posed of. 1t had been decided by the
Chair, upon division on the question,
that the proposition had been adopted,
but the yeas and nays had been called
for, and thus the matter stood.
] General Clinton B. Fisk, who had on
Thursday voted for the limitation plan,
said that he had voted with his head
rather than his heart, and moved a
reconsideration, and his motion pre-
vailed. Thus the whole question came
up again Oh the original motion to
adopt, and long discussion followed.
The party which holds that some
scheme to make ont the committees
smaller and more effective is absolutely
necessary, claimed that two standing
committees are as much as one delegate
can properly attend to, and that it was
neither unreasonable nor illegal to re
strict the smaller conferences to only a
propOrtiOnate representation on the
committees, as they had only a proper.
tionate representation in the General
Conference.
On the other hand, it WAS asserted
that the annual conferences were in
tegral parts of the General Conference,
and no matter how small the one or
how large the other, each had a right
of equal representation on the commit
tees, as had been allowed since the for.
nation of the pOlity of tho church. The
advocates of the first agreement relied
upon the principle that no more rights
of representa- on on the committees
could be reasonably claimed by any
conference than could be asserted by
that conference in the proceedings OF
the conference itself. The friends of
the other side relied upon the long prac.
tice of the General Conference asserting
that thai which had always been agreed
to as proper and right must be the law
of the Conference.
DIR. Buckley, editor Of the New York
Christian Advocate" took a prOmi-
nent part in the discussion, striving to
sustain the former principle. He was
oppoSHi by Rev. T. B. Neeley, of the
Philadelphia Conference, and others,
and whatever may have been the COM
parative merits of the two principles, the
Conference finally voted to reject the
limitation plan, and to maintain the
old practice with one or two immaJerial
notifications. When this matter had
been settled d Judiciary Committee was
provided for, and committee of TWEEN.
ty.fve on Constitutional Prohibition
Of the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors
agreed to.
These matters out of the way, the ap-
pointment of the standing committees
on nomination of members by each of
the annual Conference delegations was
proceeded with, but only the Commit
tees on Episcopacy and the 1ntineracy
were completed.
The following will be the representa-
tion on the several standing committees
from the Wilmington Conference
Episcopacy, j. H. Caldwell Itine-
racy, j. B. Quigg Boundaries, Charles
Hill Revisals, j. B. Quigg Tempo
raj Economy, F. A. Ellis State of
A. G. Cox Book Concern, j.
II. Caldwell Missions, A. G. Cox );
Charles Hill !; Church Ex-
tension, f. A. Ellis Sunday School
and Tracts, A. G. Cox Freedman's
Aid and Work in the South, j. II.
Caldwell.
The Committee on the Episcopacy or.
yanized by electing Rev. Daniel Curry,
D. D., Chairman. During the ses.
'ions yesterday Rev. DR.. Cook, Of
France, and Revs. Messrs. Young
md Whitehead from England, were in.
reduced to the Conference.