is impossible to conjecture.

The next day the Committee took another new departure, and invited the
Presiding Elders, who had studied these matters and looked the ground
carefully over for a whole year, before them. The Committee were now
able to complete their labors and make such a report as had usually been
presented to the Conference. But the Conference became fully satisfied
that this experiment needed no duplicate, and, for years after, the
mention of the "Committee of the Whole on Missions," did not fail to
excite mirth.

Early in the session, the election of delegates to the General
Conference occurred. As I was too young to be thought of in that
connection, I was permitted to sit quietly and take notes. The only
issue of any great importance in the election was the slavery question.
And as this institution had already been put in issue in the general
elections of the country, it could not well be left out on this
occasion. So it was made the chief subject of discussion. To be a
thorough-going anti-slavery man was the stubborn test of qualifications
for a delegate. And that there might be no mistake on this point, it was
deemed advisable to have an able committee present to the body as a
platform a report that should make the absolute prohibition of slavery
its chief plank. But before I make further reference to the report it
will not be amiss to refer briefly to the subject of slavery in its
relations to the Church.

At the organization of the Church in this country, and for years
thereafter, the testimony she gave against American Slavery was distinct
and unequivocal. Both the Ministers and people were agreed that the
Institution was, as Mr. Wesley was pleased to call it, "The sum of all
villanies." Agreeing in this, they further believed that, as a relic of
barbarism, it would soon pass away. Under this conviction they hardly
deemed it necessary to enter up any very stringent enactments against
it, save that it might be well as a temporary arrangement to provide
that there should be no traffic in slaves. Under such a regulation
matters passed on for a term of years. But in due time it was found that
the tendency of events was not altogether satisfactory.

At the outset, the Church had been planted in the central portion of the
Atlantic States, and had then grown rapidly southward, giving the
balance of power to the Conferences where slavery existed. At this
juncture, also, by a remarkable change in the c