Excerpt from Slavery and the Episcopacy: Being an Examination of Dr. Bascom's Review of the Reply of the Majority to the Protest of the Minority of the Late General Conference of the M. E. Church, in the Case of Bishop Andrew

As yet the north has spoken but sparingly, except through the medium of weekly sheets, whose records are necessarily fugitive and transient. Though pamphlets have been written and published at the south vindicating the cause of the minority, none have, so far as I am advised, been put forth at the north explaining and defending the cause of the majority. An imbodiment of the argu ment on our side is what is still wanting, and a desideratum which this effort is designed to supply.

I may say nothing which has not in one shape or another been said before. An extraordinary memory may be able to call up every important thought which I shall offer, either from the de bates of the General Conference or from the mass of papers which have appeared in our weekly journals; yet as but few are now able to collect, arrange, and digest what has appeared in detached portions and at intervals of considerable length, a review of the whole case - a sort of digest of the facts and considerations con cerned in the issue - is in a manner necessary to a right direction of public sentiment upon the points in controversy.

Besides, our southern brethren in their books and pamphlets have, as we conceive, done us great injustice by attributing to us designs and principles which present us in' an odious light, but which we do not acknowledge. In all this they may be honest, but their honesty does not lessen the amount of the injury. It is our right and duty to explain ourselves as often as may be meces sary to a full understanding of our true position. We may not, after all, satisfy our southern brethren but we should have a suffi cient amount both of respect for them and ourselves to repeat our efforts to do so, until we find it wholly impossible. Or if we effect no more, it is at least worth our while to let them and the world know, that their publications have not changed our views of the character of the emergency which brought on the collision, or of the results which have grown out of it.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.