The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1907-03-21

mon EE ~ ID t&sS
Co, given duty. thai be feit ina, n
I'D rirhs 10 say what be did. M
ns Asd no apology 10 make. thai ais
charges a. 90 the inaaencs exefse
on The committee by Mr.. nals.s
we're hssed upoa . moral certainty
In nj. owu mind Of their truth ana
upon information impaired TO aim
~ . per~ou I'm cor6deucs. and tna-
ike Mr.. slmpson. be wcuid saneI
the penalty before he wouid diSa1s
the name OF his informant
II was hoped by the deienaah.
that the committee before making
II. report would examine Me
Iozsphus Daniels aud Henry rag
and a large number OF members o.
the General Assembly and prooe 10
the bottom If 10 took oil GUNNER
bot the committee presented 10 re-
nors on last Monday and asked 10 ce
discharged. 1t found, after exami-
nation of ell the members OF the
conference committee, that none Oh
them had been Influenced by MT
Daniels. IL contained IN exonera-
tion Of every member OF the con-
oarenca committee and Of Mr.. Dan
iels, and IL Ia not our purpose 70
criticise adversely this finding. But
we must say that the investigating
committee lost It's judicial temper
and went out or Its way, without
any evidence whatever, to depreciate
and castigate the gentlemen who
"wouldn't TELL" going TO the extent
of assuming that Mr.. Durham had
no "informant" behind him.
The report says: ave do not know
If Mr.. Durham was ever told this"
etc. Now the question Is: III the
gentlemen of the committee accept
each member of the conference com
mittee on the stand, why should
they refuse to accept the sworn tes
timony Of an honorable minister Of
the Methodist Church ? Does thii
look like jus tice aud fairness
THE INVESTIGATION FOOLISH AMI
FARCICAI..
"The whole matter of the investi
CATION proved unfortunate, foolish
and fafcical. The committee simply
marched up hill and down AGAR
without finding out "who strucl
Billy Patterson"
Mr.. Simpson can take care Of hi m
self. He has clearly shown his abil
ity to do this. But in Mr.. Durha M
case we feel that an expression from
the paper which represents thu
church of which he Is q minister
should be forthcoming In the frs
issue possible. In his case there wa
q calling to account Of minister
who had dared to express his viewi
in q sermon preached in the hous'
Of God and to maintain that righ
In his States capital. We stand fol
the right of minister of the Gospel
to express his views on any moral
phase, Of any moral or political
question. deny that he can even
seemingly be deprived Of this RICH,
without serious danger to those
principles Of freedom which have
been our safeguards In Church and
State during all our history as q
State.
AS to the sights and aspe,sions
cast by aome in connection with the
matter ON the name of Mr.. Durham,
including the statement In the re-
port Of the committee that he was
"unabls to justify or excuse his con.
duct" and the refusal on the part of
the committee to accept his words as
truth, we will say, and we are glad
to say, that he Is Christian gentle
man, brave minister Of the Gospel,
a member in good standing of the
Western North Carolina Conference
that while he Is fallible like the rest
Of us, he is too strongly entrenched
In the respect and confidence Of q
lgreat church, to be hurt by the ad-
verse criticisms of private individ-
uals, legislative body, or Q hostile
newspaper. As editor of the pape 1
which represents the great church of
which he is humble and honora BILE