Weekly Mississippi Pilot clipping
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Senator Revels Slandered.
One of the fearful signs of the times is the too general practice of the Democratic partizan press in defaming the character of the representatives of an opposite political party. When that representative happens to be a man of colored skin such zeal and determination is awakened, that were he St. John the Divine, they would present him to the public as a character only fit to grace the dens of an eastern city. This is strikingly illustrated in the case of Senator Revels.
We find his slanderers speaking in Democratic sheets published at Leavenworth, Kansas, Louisville, Ky., St. Louis, Mo., Wilmington, N. C., and through the creature who sends Washington gossip to the New York Herald. What are these slanders?
1st. It is alleged that as a pastor he was bellicose; that he did misappropriate, or colluded with those who did so, church funds.
2nd, That he was the subject of violence from his church-members on account of indignation which he provoked.
3rd. That he lived with a lady at St. Louis that some one thought might not have been his wife who they had supposed he deserted.
No other charges than these are preferred. Now let us examine. All this it is charged was done at Leavenworth and St. Louis.
As we had been from 1859 to 1867, a minister of the same church to which Rev. Mr. Revels belongs, and for some part of the time filled a position which made its whole territory our field of observation, being editor of their only church organ, the Christian Recorder, we claim to know all about his ministerial record.
He took charge of the colored church at Leavenworth when the congregation was deeply in debt for recent improvements, and at once displayed great energy to secure the liquidation. In his administration of church discipline there were malcontents who proved troublesome, and these were encouraged by a John Morris a barber of that city who is as zealous in his opposition to christianity, as was Tom. Paine, Morris being an avowed infidel.
But to the vital point, Mr. Revels served this congregation three successive years. Methodist ministers are stationed for but one year, at its expiration they go to their Annual Conferences. Their characters are subjected to examination, and they are either appointed to another charge or reappointed to the previous one. - By the discipline they are never continued in one charge more than three years. Now, why did the Leavenworth church petition the Missouri Conference each year that Mr. Revels served them, for his return? And why did they not present to the Annual Conference some complaints against him for misconduct, if the allegations of the Democratic editor and the infidel colored barber are true? The Bishops who may be referred to on this point can be consulted: they are Rev. D. A. Payne, D. D., one of the first divines of the nation, President of Wilberforce University, who lives at Xenia, Ohio; Rev. Bishop William Paul Quinn, Richmond, Indiana; Rev. Bishop Jaber P. Campbell, Trenton, N. J. Also these congregations and their officers.
At St. Louis Mr. Revels had a difficulty in enforcing church discipline. The Bishop of the District was present at the time of the settlement of the difficulty growing out of Church Government. He will testify that the opposers of Mr. Revels never then, when most excited against him, charge him with immorality, but with usurping authority which under the discipline did not belong to him.
In reference to the suspicion that the lady he brought to St. Louis was not his wife; suffice it to say, that every respectable colored person in St. Louis will testify that this lady lived with him the entire time of his stay there as his wife. The minister who performed the ceremony will testify that this identical woman was the one he lawfully married before he went to St. Louis. And no person in the United States, within reach of the law or corporeal chastisement, will dare say he ever lived, with any other. If so, we challenge him.
We have written this because it is due our race that these slanders, the fruits of prejudiced minds, filled with malignity, should not be accepted by the public.
The delight with which the Democratic press of this State rehash these puerile attempts at defamation is no new thing to us in this region. That which could call President Grant a butcher, a drunkard, an imbecile and thief; and to Gen. Alcorn impute gross crimes, finds very little difficulty in seeking to slime over a colored Senator.
JAMES LYNCH.
JACKSON, MISS., Feb. 17, 1870.
One of the fearful signs of the times is the too general practice of the Democratic partizan press in defaming the character of the representatives of an opposite political party. When that representative happens to be a man of colored skin such zeal and determination is awakened, that were he St. John the Divine, they would present him to the public as a character only fit to grace the dens of an eastern city. This is strikingly illustrated in the case of Senator Revels.
We find his slanderers speaking in Democratic sheets published at Leavenworth, Kansas, Louisville, Ky., St. Louis, Mo., Wilmington, N. C., and through the creature who sends Washington gossip to the New York Herald. What are these slanders?
1st. It is alleged that as a pastor he was bellicose; that he did misappropriate, or colluded with those who did so, church funds.
2nd, That he was the subject of violence from his church-members on account of indignation which he provoked.
3rd. That he lived with a lady at St. Louis that some one thought might not have been his wife who they had supposed he deserted.
No other charges than these are preferred. Now let us examine. All this it is charged was done at Leavenworth and St. Louis.
As we had been from 1859 to 1867, a minister of the same church to which Rev. Mr. Revels belongs, and for some part of the time filled a position which made its whole territory our field of observation, being editor of their only church organ, the Christian Recorder, we claim to know all about his ministerial record.
He took charge of the colored church at Leavenworth when the congregation was deeply in debt for recent improvements, and at once displayed great energy to secure the liquidation. In his administration of church discipline there were malcontents who proved troublesome, and these were encouraged by a John Morris a barber of that city who is as zealous in his opposition to christianity, as was Tom. Paine, Morris being an avowed infidel.
But to the vital point, Mr. Revels served this congregation three successive years. Methodist ministers are stationed for but one year, at its expiration they go to their Annual Conferences. Their characters are subjected to examination, and they are either appointed to another charge or reappointed to the previous one. - By the discipline they are never continued in one charge more than three years. Now, why did the Leavenworth church petition the Missouri Conference each year that Mr. Revels served them, for his return? And why did they not present to the Annual Conference some complaints against him for misconduct, if the allegations of the Democratic editor and the infidel colored barber are true? The Bishops who may be referred to on this point can be consulted: they are Rev. D. A. Payne, D. D., one of the first divines of the nation, President of Wilberforce University, who lives at Xenia, Ohio; Rev. Bishop William Paul Quinn, Richmond, Indiana; Rev. Bishop Jaber P. Campbell, Trenton, N. J. Also these congregations and their officers.
At St. Louis Mr. Revels had a difficulty in enforcing church discipline. The Bishop of the District was present at the time of the settlement of the difficulty growing out of Church Government. He will testify that the opposers of Mr. Revels never then, when most excited against him, charge him with immorality, but with usurping authority which under the discipline did not belong to him.
In reference to the suspicion that the lady he brought to St. Louis was not his wife; suffice it to say, that every respectable colored person in St. Louis will testify that this lady lived with him the entire time of his stay there as his wife. The minister who performed the ceremony will testify that this identical woman was the one he lawfully married before he went to St. Louis. And no person in the United States, within reach of the law or corporeal chastisement, will dare say he ever lived, with any other. If so, we challenge him.
We have written this because it is due our race that these slanders, the fruits of prejudiced minds, filled with malignity, should not be accepted by the public.
The delight with which the Democratic press of this State rehash these puerile attempts at defamation is no new thing to us in this region. That which could call President Grant a butcher, a drunkard, an imbecile and thief; and to Gen. Alcorn impute gross crimes, finds very little difficulty in seeking to slime over a colored Senator.
JAMES LYNCH.
JACKSON, MISS., Feb. 17, 1870.
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Weekly Mississippi Pilot, “Weekly Mississippi Pilot clipping,” Mississippi State University Libraries, accessed April 27, 2024, https://msstate-exhibits.libraryhost.com/items/show/2129.
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