The Portland daily press., 1896-05-23

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PRESS.
Cleveland, o., May 81. Surprises and
sensations tread upon each others' heels
IN this Conference so fast they follow. 1t
mas oeen a record breaker from the star t.
o9range TO say, the first record it put
up was In the line of moderation. At
IFS converting. it was committed by the
person mel of its membership and by the
common expectation of q vast constitu-
ency, to radical action on the woman
ques1lon; yet. after few days, it had
been persuaded into compromise. TIL en-
came the noisiest and most unpleasant
struggle it has ever had with one of its
presiding Bishops.
Little less unusual was its action in
putting two bishops on the retired list
All but five in committee Of 1870 voted
to recommend such action. and in a
conference of 53S only about 80 stood up
IN opposition. 1t was practically unani-
nous in this movement, yet the course
taken was surprise to the church, and
it broke, in it's particular way, all pre-
vious records.
These, however are trif1es In COMPARE
son with developments since. DR.. Hoss,
the great editor of che Church South,
who happened to be present at the time,
must have looked on in establishment
when the conference committed itself,
under DIR. Buckeyes SIX illful leadership
| to colored Bishop only in the abstract;
and so, doubtless did many other people,
both North and South. But if the camel's
nose was an astonishing apparition, what
| Of the camel itself? In other words,
WHIT of q colored Bishop, not in the alb
stract, but in the concrete, as he came
into view on the first ballot, throwing
into the shade his white competitors,
and, on the second ballot, plunging SO
| far toward the goal as to put up against
his name 175 votes? Not only was this
incident sensational in itself, but it dis
tinctly foreshadowed sensational results.
dreadful shock will be the sight of
this darkey in the Methodist Episcopal
woodpile, to the prejudioes of the NJ. E.
Church South, and it will naturally re-
tard the movement on foot for a fedora
ton of these two churches. On the other
tiers of this so-called Northern Church,
and the 265, 900 members it has of that
complexion, will be correspondingly
elaled, as they have a right to be; for
surely it means not little in the way of
social and ecclesiastical recognition to be
even entered as starter in race such
as this, especially when one has, as Dr.
Bowen had, no less than A distinguished
competitors, nearly all of them palefaces.
And, by the way, when that ever mem
orable first ballot disclosed the predioa-
ment of SO many of this number as epis-
copal impossIbilities, how extremely pale
some Of these faces were!
Not few had been hopeful candidates
| for dozen years. and the occasion they
had looked to for coronation scarcely
Afforded them q decent burial. Here
again were all records broken, and near
ly all forecasts smashed. Happily, how
ever, not the forecast of your corresr ond-
emit; for his first letter, four weeks ago,
distinctly presented DR.. Cranston as a
winner and admitted Dr. McCape to have
good chance; while the gate was left go
wide open that without the least discred-
| it to his foresight, both Buttz an d Ham
| ilton might have cantered triumphant ly
| into these green pastures. But the
colored man, who started in at such q
leading pace, and DR.. n eely, who began
with AZ votes and got down gradually to
IL, then jumping up again to his maxi
mum of 172 these had not four weeks ago,
doomed up in any serious proportions be-
fore this writer's vision. Thus far he
pleads guilty.
But what of that Bishop who had pre-
| dicted 200 votes on the first ballot for a
man who got only about 30, and that
| blossoming genius Of church officialism
who felt sure this same ballot would
elect certain good brother who barely
received recognition in it? Evidently this
is bad year for prophets great record
breaking years always are. Usually in
the voting of General Conference a can
dldate who begins to fall, keeps at it,
with plenty of generous help in his des-
| SS-AA N-1S@A AO tOGOLCS pOuUoli hha quay .
there. But Chaplain MoCabe, who reached
252 on the third ballot and fell gradually
to 22S on the sixth, rose again by degrees
until, on the eighth and ninth ballots.
he had 270 votes to his credit; and his
viciss1tudes did not end even here. for he
fell again gradually, before his final
election, this time getting lower down
than in his first fail DIR. Hamilton
too, on smaller scale and with differ
ent ending, shared the same fate. No
wonder the Conference sang with feeling,
while these ups and downs of fortune
were in progress
Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom.
| By waters still, DER troubled sea,
Yet tits Gods hand that leadeth me-"
| That all the candidates Endorsed hearth
| ly the sentiment of the last line may be
| questioned. They were probably biased
| in this matter by their particular situa-
tion at the moment. DR.. Buttz, who
on the sixth ballot needed only 4s, in ad-
dition to his 291, to elect him. had fal-
len at that time to 1873: but DIR. Hamil-
ton had touched his highest notch Just
then, aving a poll of 19l votes. At this
|