The Conference for 1855 was held at Racine on the 29th day of August, and was presided over by Bishop Janes. During the session I was quartered with Rev. Moses Adams, a superannuated member of the Black River Conference.

The business of the Conference was transacted with the usual dispatch, and there were only two items which engrossed unusual attention. These were the distribution of the missionary appropriations and the election of delegates to the General Conference.

As to the first, a new departure was made in the organization of the Committee on Missions. The Presiding Elders of the Conference had been hitherto appointed on this Committee. But now a few restless spirits, who fancied that, as seen from their limited opportunities to judge correctly, the appropriations had not been judiciously made during the past few years, determined to appoint this Committee from among the Pastors. The Elders, well knowing that the farcical proceeding would in time come to naught, concluded to offer no opposition to the movement. The Committee was accordingly appointed and proceeded to the discharge of its duties. At the first meeting, however, it was found that the Committee was unable to proceed for want of information. At the next meeting, to remedy this difficulty, the brethren who had occupied Mission fields the previous year were invited to be present. This measure was found to afford only a partial relief, as these brethren knew nothing of the border territory that ought now to be organized into new fields. The next move was to ask all the Pastors to meet the Committee at the next session. To afford room to accommodate the Committee and its invited guests, the audience room of the Church was appropriated for an entire afternoon. Here the great work of the Committee was entered upon in right good earnest, with the special champions of the movement as managers of the exhibition.

But now, alas! for the success of the meeting, there was too much light. At once a large number of fields that had been supposed to be self-supporting was brought forward, and their respective representatives were so successful in setting forth their feeble and helpless condition, that many of them were entered upon the list by the Committee as Missions. The question as to the number of Missions having been settled, the next thing in order was the amount of money that should be given to each.

From the information already received, the amounts were jotted down briskly until the entire list had been gone over. The footings were now made, and to the Committee the result was appalling. They had appropriated three times the amount of money at their disposal. Then came the rub, which had been so often experienced by the Presiding Elders. The Missions must be cut down in two ways. First, all that could possibly manage to get through the year without aid must be struck off the list, and then such as remain will need to be cut down to the lowest possible figure. But still brave, our Committee would not see their impending defeat, and proceeded at once to the labor of cutting down.

One of the champions had been a surgeon in his time, and had cut human flesh with becoming recklessness, but now he, as well as the entire Committee, struck a new experience. To strike Missions off the list, and cut down the appropriations to others, is comparatively an easy task in the quiet and secluded confines of a committee room, but to do either in the presence of the very men who expected to occupy those fields the coming year, and who knew the poverty of the people, was quite another thing. The flood-gates of speech-making had been opened by the Committee, and it was now impossible to close them. The balance of the afternoon was given to stormy debate, and into what disorder the meeting might have drifted, if the coming evening had not made its appearance, it 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 commercial affairs of the country, the cotton crop of the South began to find an increasing demand and appreciate in value, thereby giving an increased value to slave labor. With this change came at once the multiplication of slaves and large returns. To own slaves and cultivate cotton now became the ruling inspiration of the people.

At the first the Church stoutly opposed the insetting tide, but as the waves of commercial life grew strong and swept around her, the power of resistance grew more feeble from year to year, until finally some of her own people began to plead extenuation and even tolerance. The conflict was now open, and the result seemed questionable. With the conscience of the Southern portion of the Church asleep or dormant, the anti-slavery side of the issue came finally to depend upon the Church in the North for statement and defence.

At this stage of the conflict the controversy became sectional, the South upholding and the North seeking to remove the evil. Thus the contest raged for years, until the South, growing strong on her ill-gotten gains, and arrogant from her success with the supple-kneed politicians of the North, put the Church in the North upon the defensive by demanding toleration, if not actual adoption. The issue was made in trying to foist upon the whole Church a slave holding Episcopacy. This last act was the feather, if such it might be called, that broke the camel’s back.

The effort was thwarted by the North only through the timely aid of a few of the Central Conferences. At this the South took offence, as is well known, and seceded, carrying with them more than half a million of members and a portion of the Church property. To secure the latter, it is true, long and bitter litigations followed the separation. And it is generally accepted in the North that the decision which gave it to the South took its shape from the political complexion at the time of the Supreme Court of the United States.

It was now thought that the question of slavery was put to rest. But alas! for human foresight. It still remained that the General Rules, which permitted members to hold slaves, provided they did not “buy or sell,” had not been changed. And it was soon found that the awakened conscience of the North could not rest until the last vestige of the nefarious institution was swept from the Church. Agitations, therefore, followed, and each succeeding General Conference found this question to be still the troubler of Israel. Nor was the question left alone to the care of the General Conference. Each annual Conference was also agitated by it.

But it was evident to all that a serious embarrassment must be overcome to secure a change of the General Rules. The Constitution of the Church has a provision which, to effect a change, requires a two-thirds vote in the General Conference, and a three-fourths vote in all the Annual Conferences. To obtain the requisite vote with these provisions, it will be seen, can only be realized on such questions as can command great unanimity of sentiment. If the entire South had gone off in the separation, the trouble would have been at an end, but, as we have seen, the border Conferences remained with their brethren of the North, and aided them in fighting the first battle with the slave power.

But now, when the question of a change of rule was brought forward, they took the other side, and in doing so were able to furnish enough votes to defeat the proposed measure. And the question, which was now agitating the Annual Conference, was the framing of such a rule as would meet the approval of the great body of the Church, and pass it along the line of the Conferences to secure their favorable consideration before taking it to the General Conference.

At the preceding session of the Wisconsin Conference such a rule had been framed and sent on its way to the several Conferences to obtain their approval. This was called the “Wisconsin Conference Rule,” and read as follows: “The buying, selling, or holding of a human being as a slave.” This rule received very general favor among the Northern Conferences, but was rejected of course by those lying along the border.

At the Conference now in session in Racine, as before stated, a report was submitted touching this matter. And it was intended to so set forth the sentiment of the Conference as to make it a test of eligibility in the election. I subjoin an extract from the resolutions adopted:

“Resolved, That we contemplate with feelings of deep humility and sorrow before God, that the M. E. Church has any connection with the system of American Slavery, and that we will not cease our efforts for extirpation until the last ligament is severed.”

“Resolved, That we record with gratitude, the favor with which the ‘New Rule,’ proposed by our Conference at its last session, has met in so many of the Conferences in which it has been acted upon, and we believe that the principle involved in it is the standard at which the Church should and will soon arrive.”

“Resolved, That whether or not the next General Conference adopt it as a substitute for our present General Rule on Slavery, we earnestly request that body to so modify the Chapter on Slavery as to prevent the admission of any slaveholder into the M. E. Church, and secure the exclusion of all who are now members, if they will not, after due labor, emancipate their slaves.”

This report was adopted with remarkable unanimity, but when the vote was taken for delegates, it so happened that at least two of the men who had been most clamorous in its support, failed to secure an election. This result, however, did not come from a real difference in sentiment on the main question, but from a desire to send to the General Conference a delegation that would not defeat the desired end by a manifestation of zeal without prudence. The Chairman of the Committee, however, was elected to lead the delegation. The Delegates were P. S. Bennett, I. M. Leihy, Edward Cooke, Elmore Yocum and Chauncey Hobart.

During the session of the Conference, a meeting of the principal members of the Church and congregation at Racine was held, to take into consideration the condition and wants of the charge. The deliberation had resulted in laying before the Presiding Bishop a request for the appointment of the writer. The appointment was accordingly made. But a removal to the charge was attended with no little difficulty.

During the latter part of the spring term of the Lawrence University, the typhoid fever appeared among the students, and in several instances proved fatal. To prevent the like result in other cases, the inhabitants opened their doors to receive sick students who could not be suitably cared for in the dormitories of the College. Four of these were taken by Mrs. Miller, and, in every case, it was believed that their lives were only saved through her kind intervention and care. This kindness to others, however, proved disastrous to her and the family. Before her charge was well off her hands, she was herself attacked by the same malignant disease. Then followed weeks of suffering on her part, and not a little interruption of my work as Presiding Elder, especially unfortunate in the closing part of the year. She passed down to the borders of the grave, and on two occasions the beating of the pulse seemed to cease, but in the good providence of God she was spared. Her return to health, however, was slow, and meantime her sister, now Mrs. Gov. C. K. Davis, of Minnesota, who resided with us at the time, was taken with the same disease. This latter case was also a severe one, and for several weeks delayed our removal to the new charge. But as soon as it would do to attempt the journey, we were on our way. Unable to walk, I was obliged to carry the invalid from the house to the carriage, and from the carriage at Menasha to the steamboat. We reached Fond du Lac in the evening and tarried for the night. The following morning we took the stage for Sheboygan. The roads were excellent and the coach comfortable, but it was necessary to carry the invalid literally in my arms the entire distance. On arriving at the shore end of the pier at Sheboygan, the steamboat, at the other end, gave a signal for her departure. Hastily leaving the coach and sending the family forward with all possible dispatch, I chartered a common dray, the only conveyance at hand, placed a trunk upon it, took the invalid in my arms, seated myself on the trunk, and bade the driver to put his horse on his best speed. The race was a most creditable one, and before the boat had time to get under way, we were nicely on board, to the great merriment of all concerned.

But out of one trouble, we were soon into another. We had hardly reached the open lake before the boat encountered a heavy sea, which brought sea-sickness to all of the company for the balance of the journey. But in this misfortune we were not alone. Rev. E. S. Grumley, the newly appointed Presiding Elder of the Racine District, and his family, had also come on board at Sheboygan, and were now our companions in travel, as also in misery. Tossing amid the waves, the progress of the steamboat was slow, and we did not reach Racine until after midnight. We were happy to gain a landing, but we found ourselves without a conveyance to the hotel. Not even the common dray was at hand. But, nothing daunted, we groped amid the darkness until we came upon the buggy of the Presiding Elder, which fortunately had been landed from the same boat. The invalid was soon placed in it, and, adopting a style of travel that might have seemed unusual by daylight, in due time we were at the hotel.

The following morning we were sought out by the good people and kindly cared for, being assigned to quarters with my late host and his obliging family.