Morning journal and courier., 1884-06-02

the presiding bishop announcing at that time that the last report had been considered and acted upon. This was, of course, subject for congratulation, but one cannot help thinking that If some of the days wasted in fruitlsss talk at the beginning had been re- served for the more deliberate treatment of the important topics which engaged hurried and impatient attention at the close, not only might some of the decisions have been differ ent, but the church at large would have felt that the action of the body on these matters vas more worthy the respect and submission it will be required to give thereto.
 Contrary to expectation the conference did not succeed in lodging the troublesome color question. When the report of, the Freed mems Aid committee, leaving the matter of mixed schools and churches to be settled ac- cording to the sentiment prevailing in differ
 ent localities was adopted, it was thought that this bone of contention had been quietly laid aside for at least another four years. But, like Banquo's ghost this delicate matter would not down, and the body was forced yesterday morning to come squarely up to the scratch with reference to it, The vote was upon the report of the committee on the state of the church, declaring 1t to be the policy of the denomination to not exclude any person from it's schools or places of wor- ship on the ground of race, color or previous condition. The ordering of the previous question cut of debate, but it did not pre- vent the chairman of the committee, Cover nor R. E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania, from advocating the adoption of the report. This gentleman, who, though @ Democrat, had given the casting vote for the report in the committee spoke with considerable warmth, and was arplaHded. The equal rights of the colored and white races were, he said, the law of both the State and the church, and it would be cowardly in the conference to shrink from indorsing this principle. The greatest excitement prevailed. Many felt that the conference was on the verge of 8 calamity, but many more thought it was about to put itself on record in favor of one of the most righteous causes of the age. A substitute by Dr. Howes, of Kentucky, de claring that no action was necessary in the premises, was laid on the table, and motion for indefinite postponement met the same for vote by orders, but the call was not sustained. A minister from the same seo- ton, Rev. T. O. Carter, of Chattanooga, Tenn made a similar demand, saying with great warmth, that if the report was adopt
 ed ''the South would bleed" but this re- quest also failed. Amos Shinkle, Esq of Kentucky, called for the yeas and nays but as less than hundred rose to sustain this call, hand vote was taken, the result being the adoption of the report by large major ity.
 The colored delegates were in high glee over this action. One of them remarked to the writer that there WAS no disposition on their part to force themselves into white schools and churches it was the principle involved that they cared for. The white workers in the southern field were, on the other hand, greatly dejected over what had been done, particularly the leaders in that section. Dr. Rust, corresponding secretary of the Freedman's Aid society, pre-eminently the friend of the colored man, took very 5al~ ,So ,E kla TA fha siding bishop he was heard to remark at the close of the session, "We were getting along nicely down there, building up a nice work, and HOW, by this action, we are thrown back in our operations cannot tell how much. " The worthy doctor seemed utterly disconso- late. So also did Rev MT. Carter, the editor of one of the southern Advocates. ''To- morrow" said he, ''every daily in the south ern States will print the news, in glo wing headlines, that the northern Methodist church favors mixed schools and every form of social equality. How they will gloat over it The action of the conference will cause us no end of embarrassment" Other white workers in that section, it should be stated, treated the matter lightly. Dr. Ford, of Ar kansas, said it amounted to about as much ''as resolution declaring that the M. E. church was in favor of all its members regu- larly saying their prayers" Doubtless upon calmer reflection 8 more hopeful view will bs
 
 any case, these leaders of the hosts will not allow their feelings of Encouragement to lessen their zeal in that section, or to modify the devotion they have shown to the interests of the colored man. Whatever opposition they may encounter, they will still remain In the South and no doubt will still be success full in pushing for ward the work there. What has been accomplished in that section in the past will appear in strong light from the fol- lowing statement, taken from one of the re- ports of the Freedman's Aid committees statement which, in view of the friction and nneasiness now prevailing, will be read with peculiar interest
 the southern States since the close of the late is of the mArvels oi modern church history. Nine border States of MaTyI.nd, west ViIginia Kentucky and Missouri 352 efective preachers, 7l,o37 white the former slave States and tho District of oolumbiA she has twelve conferences among the whites with 693 effective preachers and 170,710 com municants; thirteen conferences among the colored people, with CTS preachers and 326 communicants velopment of our church in the South since the colleges and ssminaries have been ninety four instructors six thousand young men and women. Of these schools twenty four arc the white people These latter have bssn estsbiisbed almost entirely by our white members themselves. TheRe forty-eght institutions of learning peary onethird in number of all the institutions Of learn ing of the Methodist Episcopal Church and have in them twenty-five per cent. of all being taught by our Church.
 The movement for introducing lay repre- senkatives into the annual conferences came to grief The proposition was to send six laymen to these bodies from each presiding eIder's district, such delegates to be elected annually by the district stewards, and to have equal voice with the ministers excepting in three things, viz , the admission of young mea to the ministry the passage of ministe- rial character and the election of ministerial delegates to the General conference. The guards thrown around ministerial interests by these provisions, and the modest number of Iaymen it was proposed to admit to these bodies were points which should have com rnanded this reform to favorable considera- tiou, But the conference went back on it completely, and my candid opinion is that such change in the polity of the church will not be made for many quadrenniums to come, if it is ever made. Upon the propo- sition to equalizs lay and ministerial repre- sentatien in the General conference the body looked with more favor. It did not adopt the proposal. however, but ordered com mission to consider the matter and report four years hence. Closely related to this subjsct was the final act of the conference, by which the bishops were instructed to sub- init to the annual conferences during the quadrennium proposition to change the bai sis of ministerial representation in the Gene ral conference. Up to 1872 the annual bod ies sent delegates to the general body in the ratio of one for every thirty members and ber. At that time the ratio was changed to one for every forty five, as it stands at pres ent, Now. however, the annual conferences are to be asked to give the General confer | ence authority to ix the maximum at one for every ninety members, the minimum to be