The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-04-12

just Rebuke of a SIander on the President
by u Religious Body.

just Rebuke of sIander on the President
by Religious Body.
There have been four occupants oil
the White House of recent years who
have not encountered in one form OF
another the .ealotry which gave a
curious exhibition of itself at the
Methodist Conference in Wilmington
last Tuesday. Even the late Ruther.
ford B. Hayes did not entirely escape,
although he deferred so far to the
notions Of the regulators of other
peoples conduct that water used to
flow like champagne, to use the pict-
uresque language of the Hon William
III. Evarts, at the state banquets he
gave to the astonished members of
the diplomatic Corps. Notwith-
standing his almost abject submis-
sion to the demands Of the teeto-
talism, poor Mr.. Hayes was more
than once accused, if we remember
rightly, of putting sherry into his
official Roman punch.
At the Wilmington Conference re-
solutions were introduced denoun-
cling President Mckinley for Tip
pling before the young and old of the
nation" This extraordinary charge
is said to have been based on the tes-
timony of one Samuel Dickie, who
has declared to q member of the COM
mittee reporting the resolutions that
he watched the President at public
dinner at st. Louis and saw him taste
-four different kinds of wine.n The
Rev. Ralph II. Coursey also informed
! the Conference that on June 8, 1899,
at Chicago, Mr.. Mckinley drank
wine
The resolutions reported by the
temperance committee were as severe
as fanatical indignation could make
them.
WHEREAS, We have learned with
humiliation and shame that our
Methodist Episcopal President has
seen fit, in the exercise of his person
al liberty, to so far ignore the public
good and his obligation to his church
as to indulge in the use of intoxicat-
ing beverages on several public occa-
sions, thereby setting q pernicious
example to the men in high places in
our land, who were waiting to see
him eXemplify the teachings of his
! church; and
"WHEREAS, Such action by a
Methodist in such high position will
naturally be quoted as the attituded
of our church, and will influence the
men and boys of our land according
/ ly; for if the light which has been in
us on this question becomes darkness,
how great will be that darkness;
therefore,, be it
"ReSolUed, That we condemn
this breach of our discipline and
Methodist propriety upon the part of
our Methodist brother President Nc
Kinley, in setting the example of tip
pling before the young and old of the
nation
1t does not appear that the we'll
meaning bigots of the Wilmington
Conference took ordinary precautions
to insure themselves against the sin
of bearing false witness. They seem
to have grasped eagerly at hearing
reports, and they were satisfied of
the alleged truthfulness of a person
who confessed that he had played
the part OF spy at dinner where
Mr.. Mckinley was a guest. So they
hastened to draft a resolution de-
nouncing, in their peculiar lingo, the
President of the United States as a
backslider and Il ''tipplern
L uo o6tllc lutu III GuC CONFERENCE,
including some ministers who are
prohibitionists in politics, made
themselves heard at once in opposi-
tion to the foregoing resolutions. 1t
was pointed out that the statement
that Mr.. Mckinley drank four kinds
of wine at the dinner in question had
been denied by the Ep1Oorth Herald,
temperance newspaper; that even if
the President were guilty of Tip
pling," it belonged rather to his own
pastor at Canton or to the Ohio Con
ference to rebuke and discipline him
than to the Methodists of Delaware;
that it was unwarranted presumption
for this Conference to inquire into
the Methodism or personal habits of
the President of the United States;
and, finally that their was a strongly
suspicious flavor of hostile politics in
the attempt to bring the subject up
at all. Indeed, the Rev. DIR. Compton,
the chairman of the committee on res
solutions, admitted that the attack
on the President originated, so far as
he was concerned, in political mo-
tives. Brother Compton said:
II did tell DR.. Adams that desired
to defeat President Mckinley.
tried to defeat him four years ago by
my vote, and will doubly try next
time now that he has openly defied
one of the most stringent laws of, the
discipline. told DR.. Adams that l
not only wished to assist in his de-
feat, but want this Conference and
the whole Methodist church to assist.
If we are not watchful, this skilled
politician will drive into the Presi-
Dental chair again, holding the reins
high, and with one foot on the Meth
odist doctrine and the other on the
Brewers Association. We want no
such man.
This open confession of the fact
that the Wilmington Conference was
used for political purposes by tho 70
personally opposed to Mr.. McKinley's
reelection seems to have disgusted
even the prohibitionists present.
After bitter debate the resolutions
were rejected by vote of SO to 47,and
thus a representative assembly Of a
great religious denomination escaped
a scandal Of narrow spite and hypoc-
risy.-New York Sun.
In almost every neighborhood there