The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-25
SURPRISE AND SENSATION
THEY TREAD UPON EACH OTHERS
HEELS 4TlTHE CONFERENCE.
A General Revi, W OF the Work That Has
Thus Fas Been Done at Cleveland
Another Recoi Made ON a Memorable
Day.

Thus Fas Btsn Done Mt Cleveland
Another Recoi 4 Made on Memorable
Day.
Cleveland, o., May q.
To the Editor OF tbe JOURNAL AND COURIER;
Surprises am sensations tread upon
each others heals in this conference, so
fast they follow, 1t has been a record
! breaker from the start. Strange to
say, the first record it put up was in
the line of moderation. AT its conven-
ing, 1t was com nitted by the personnel
of its members zip and by the common
expectation of a vast constituency, to
radical action on the woman question;
yet, after a few days, it had been per-
suaded into a { ,mpromise Then came
the noisest and most unpleasant strug-
gle 1T has ever mad with one of its pre-
siding bishops.
Little less unusual was its action in
putting two bishops on the retired list.
All but five in /. committee of one hum
dred and thirt" voted to recommend
such action, an in a conference of five
hundred and ihirty-eight only about
thirty stood ut3 in opposition. 1t was
practically unanimous in this move
ment, yet the course taken was sur
prise to the chy.rch, and it broke, in it's
particular way, all previous records,
These, however, are trifies in compar-
| ison with developments which have oc-
Cured since pr. Hoss, the great edi-
tor of the Church South, who hap
pened to be present at the time, must
have looked or in establishment when
the conference committed itself under
DIR. Buckley's sidllful leadership, to a
colored bishop only in the abstract;
and so, doubtless, did many other peo-
ole, both south and north. But if the
4 camers nose vas an astonishing APP
partition what sf the camel itself? In
other words, w4at of colored bishop,
not in the abstract, but in the concrete
as he came into view on the first ballot,
throwing into tie shade his white COM
petitors, and on the second ballot,
plunging so fai toward the goal as to
put up against his name one hundred
and seventy-f1va votes? Not only was
this the incide 1t sensational in ITSELF
but it distinct1@ foreshadowed sensa-
tional results
A dreadful shock will be the sight of
this darby in tae Methodist Episcopal
woodpile, to the :prejudices of the M. e.
Church South, ind it will naturally re-
tard the mover sent on foot for a fede-
ration Of these two churches. On the
other hand, h5wever, the seventeen
hundred dolores ministers of this So
called northerll church, and the two
hundred and sixty five thousand mem
bers it has of tlat complexion will be
correspondingly ,elated, as they have
right to be; fol% surely it means not a
little in the way Of social and ecclesias-
teal recognition to be even entered as
a starter in a ri ne such as this espec-
tally when one mas, as DR.. Bowen had,
no less than fdrty-four distinguished
competitors, nearly all of them pale
faces And by tise way, when that ever
memorable frs ballot disclosed the
predicament of 10 many Of this number
as episcopal nspossibilities. how ex-
tremely pale sof5e of these faces Were.
Not a few haa been hopeful candi-
dates for dozen years, and the occa-
sion they had Itoked to for a corona
ton scarcely afforded them a decent
burial. Here attain were all records
broken, and yearly all forecasts
smashed Happily, however, not the
forecast of your correspondent, for his
first letter, foul weeks ago, distinctly
presented DR.. {yranston as winner
and admitted Tar McCabe to have a
good chance; while the gate was left
so wide open that without the least dis
credit to his for 7sight, both Buttz and
Hamilton might have cantered trium-
phantly into thel1a green pastures. But
the colored man, who started in at such
a leading pace, asnd D1. Nicely, VINO be-
gan with forty seven votes and got
down graduall!s to seventeen, then
jumping up again to his maximum of
one hundred aid seventy two-these
had not. four weeks ago, doomed UP in
any serious proportions before this
writer's vision. Thus far he pleads
guilty.
But what Of that bishop who had pre-
dicted two hundred votes on the first
ballot for a mas who got only about
thirty. and that tblossoming genius of
church officialis9n who felt sure this
same ballot would elect a certain good
brother who baltely received recogni-
ton in it? Evid, ntly this Is a bad year
for prophets; gteat record breaking
years always arh Usually in the vot-
ing of a general conference candidate
who begins to ALL keeps at 1t, with
plenty of generous help in his descent.
until he touches bottom and stays
there. But Chaplain McCabe, who
reached two hundred and fifty-two on
the third ballot and fell gradually to
two hundred ant; twenty-eight on the
sixth, rose agaiJ4 by degrees until, on
the eighth and iNinth ballots, he had
two hundred and seventy votes to his
credit; and his vtcissitudes did not end
even here, for hi fell again gradually,
before his final election. this time get
ting lower down than in his first fall.
DR.. Hamilton, tho, on a smaller scale
and with differ, ut 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 CT deepest
gloom,
Sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom,
BY waters still, 0 er troubled sea,
Yet it's Gods haitd that leadeth me-"
That all the candidates indorsed
heartily the sentiment of the last line
may be questioned. They were proba-
bly, biased in this matter by their par
e;+p al mr..