Year: 1877

Gov. Marye said he knew the Committee.
( On it was the first Auditor of the State, the
: cashier of one of the oldest banks under the
, old system, two of the Judges of the princi.
pal courts in Richmond and two lawyers !;
}. practical and sensible men were on that COM
mittee. Il is entirely legitimate to have the
most exhaustive examination of the subject.
: Some brother asked if this statement of as
Gets was purely copjeCtural. If that were 80
it would justify the opinions just offered
!, Of course these assets had been inventoried
honestly and fairly. l know the gentlemen
too we'll to suppose any one of them would
send q coDjectural list of assets.


Does this Assembly suppose that the Com.
mittee exercised the functions of challenging,
scrutinizing and inspecting the Secretary's
accounts lest there be fraud and forgery |?
They have not done that. They did not ex.
pect fraud. They accepted the monthly
statement of figures. Most mournfully they
found, in themonth of March last, that the
figures wer4 false. Mr.. Sleight and Mr..
Gennet are las Immediately honest men as
this CONTINENT affords. But the vouchers of
the Secretary were accepted, whereas it some
times appeared that the accounts for which
the vouchers had been given had never been
paid. Even banks are often overreached.


am not here to cay to this Assembly that
the salary paid to the Secretary was as mod
crate as it should be, or the additional sala-
ries to the book-keeper, store. keeper and
treasurer. But this work of the Church is
not to be looked at simply in its monetary
aspect. When the Assembly allows the
| 500, 900 that we lost on the sale of hymn
books, the present loss would not appear 80
great.


The amount paid for printing is as cheap
as it could be got in any city. He did not
come here to speak of the defalcation, but
that Committee in about three weeks had re-
paired DR.. Baird's losses-that is substract-
ing the amount to be saved from DR.. Baird's
assets.


Prof. Campbell said that the committee
took great pains to get all the facts of the
case; called in two witnesses who were sup
posed to have personal knowledge Of the af.
fairs of the Executive Committee. At first
the committee were widely separated in sen.
timent; some felt as our brother who spoke
first; others we're acquainted more intimately
with the affairs of our Publication Commit
tee. Every shade Of opinion was represent
ed. But little by little they came nearer
together. They were actuated by COM
promising spirit, that is they were willing to
listen one to another, and when they came
to put down their opinions in the form of
resolutions they found that they were not so
wide apart as at first Each member had
written out his own opinion. These were
compared, but they still differed widely
Finally, about halfway all came together.
Those resolutions are the result of the often
repeated discussions; and we finally got, with
one exception, the unanimous vote Of eleven
men. This view of the case is presented
that the Assembly may know that this report
is not the result of hasty action, and the AS.
sembly, it is to be hoped, will act in the same
way.


Gov. Patton said that we had anticipated
this as one If the most n(barassing rSatters
to come before the Assembly. The tfouble
was financial one, and we are to settle what
to do. 1t is for the Assembly to march
square up to these difficulties. He was in
favor of the course proposed by the Standing
Committee. Let us not be discouraged be-
cause we have lost little money in this
branch of the work. The Committee have
done well in getting so nearly out of their
embarrassments. Let US hold up our head
and feel that the Church will go forward in
its usual prosperity. By the aid of our all.
wise and good Saviour, good will come out
of these troubles. The strength of the Pres.
byterian Church is such that We are not 90.
ing to be discouraged by the deficiency.


Mr.. Sorley thought that the removal of the
Executive Committee was not to be thought
of. He heartily ooncurred with the instruc-
tions to sell the Publishing House. He ap-
proved of the proposition to have the pub
fishing done by contract. He approved also
of the removal of restrictions from the sale
of Books.


DR.. Woodrow asked DR.. Welch to state if
the committee had got business-like state
ment of the affairs of the Executive Commit
tee from it's books.


DR.. Welch replied that the committees
statements were made on the judgment of
others. The committee were able to give no
information Of their own knowledge.
DR.. Woodrow-That answer means that
although all of the books of the committee
were present, yet, with all these books, it
was impossible to get business statement of
the assets and liabilities of the ex-committee.
DR.. Hoge said that it was remarked by the
editor of one of our religious papers that if
volcano had broken out in the vicinity of
Richmond, there would have been no greater
surprise than when we found our Secretary
had involved himself and our committee in
this calamity. When We aseertained that
there was this deficiency, We felt that it was
not our affair alone. We are only an execu-
tive body, and We were greatly perplexed as
to our duty 80 We called in brethren from
distance, for the purpose of consultation
With men representing different parts of the
Church. Although they were invited by tel
egraph, simply informing them that matters
worthy of their consideration required their
presence in Richmond, they all came on the
day appointed-not knowing the nature of
the business, but we'll knowing that we would
not trife with them. We spent an entire day
in discussion. we saw then that this was a
matter which might greatly agitate our peo-
pie; that it might contain elements of dis.
cord and disintegration.


The first thing to be done was to repair
the material damage and provide for the
notes falling due. Accordingly, some mem
bers of cur committee went out for the pur.
pose of making appeals to the churches. DR..
Brown went TO the Valley Of Virginia; to
Georgia, to undertake the most distasteful
errand of my life; because, while had tried
to serve the Church in my humble way in