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THE REMEDY.-TWO EXAMPLES.

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land Constitutional State Convention, July 19, 1864, passed the following order, by a vote of thirty-three to

seventeen:

Ordered, That this Convention, representing the people of Maryland, hereby respectfully request the President of the United States, and the Commandants of Military Departments in which Maryland is included, as an act of justice and propriety, to assess upon sympathizers with the rebellion resident in this State, the total amount of all losses and spoliations sustained by loyal citizens of the United States resident in this State, by reason of the recent rebel raid, to compensate loyal sufferers.

It is as clear as the light, that these raiders in the loyal Border States are encouraged by the sympathizers with the rebellion therein; sometimes by secret organizations, which the President's Proclamation of Martial Law in Kentucky declares, upon the authority of military men and others, to exist in that State; sometimes by information given to them; and powerfully by the disloyal presses in the Border States. Through these means, the raiding parties, and especially those guerrilla bands that are nothing more than highway robbers and land pirates, are emboldened in their work. The Maryland Convention has expressed its solemn judgment, proposing a remedy. At the very time that State was thus suffering, and the national capital was threatened, raiding parties were laying waste Kentucky, through encouragement given by "their friends" at home. If the remedy suggested by a body of eminent statesmen, is "an act of justice and propriety" for the longitude of Maryland, it would be no less so for that of Kentucky. If the rule were applied there, many men, now rolling in wealth, who have aided John Morgan, and ladies who have kissed his hand and wept tears of joy over his photograph, would be made penniless. If, under this "act of justice," that quality were meted out in the manner proposed, and the guilty were rewarded "according to their works." the edi

tors, publishers, and correspondents of The True Presbyterian would be reduced to beggary.

Another example is found in what the papers state, that Major-General Burbridge, commanding in Kentucky, has lately issued an order similar in principle to that recommended by the Maryland Convention, and even going much farther in retaliatory measures. We have not seen it, and cannot speak of its provisions; but if founded on "justice and propriety," as we presume is the case, it may turn out that editors and others who are sowing broadcast those seeds which produce such a harvest of desolation and blood through the fair fields of Kentucky, may yet receive their deserts in the visitations which will be made upon their persons and property.

GOVERNMENT ORDERS VINDICATED.

It will be appropriate, at this point, to notice one of the grossest charges which the "religious" journal above named has brought against the Government, and against every branch of the Northern Church. On application to the War Department, by the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and by Missionary Boards of the Baptist, Presbyterian, and other churches at the North, for permission to occupy the pulpits and vacant neighborhoods of the Rebel States, that the Gospel might be preached, the Government granted these requests, regarding the commission given by these several Church authorities as a guarantee that the men sent South would be loyal, and imposing no other condition. Orders were issued to the different military commanders to give persons thus duly commissioned by the Church, all proper facilities for their work, and to put the pulpits at their disposal. The Generals in command issued their orders accordingly.

GOVERNMENT ORDERS VINDICATED.

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This proceeding on the part of the Government has been denounced by the above-named paper; and that the Church should seek such authority from the State, has been paraded as one of the conclusive proofs of its utter apostasy. At least one religious body, the Presbytery of Louisville, complained to the General Assembly of the Church that its Board of Missions should thus seek to have the commissions of its ministers indorsed by the State; and, in this course, it saw nothing but shame and "ruin" impending. It is in regard to these measures particularly, that Dr. Robinson speaks so contemptuously of the Secretary of War, and of the orders of certain military commanders. In the same number of his paper before quoted, he speaks of "Secretary Stanton's letter installing Bishop Ames as Military Pontiff in a vast district, and the infamous Norfolk order of Gen. Wild ;" and also has the following:

*

What though Methodist and Baptist Mohammedans grasp the sword offered them by that "eminent Father in God," Secretary Stanton, to drive back their Southern brethren into the fold out of which Northern faithlessness to covenants and semi-infidel opinions had driven them twenty years ago. We had fondly hoped that so far as Churches are concerned, this disgrace might be confined to Northern Methodists and Baptists. To our mortification, and the disgrace of our own Church, we find the (Philadelphia) Presbyterian, a journal that will be understood to speak for Presbyterians because it once did,-for the public at large will not understand its miserable fall,-proposing that the Presbyterian Board of Missions should apply to the War Department for an order similar to the Methodist order! We have little fear that this Board will adopt the suggestion. Even should it be so run mad, the Church would be apt to stop supplies till a saner Board were put in its place.

The Board here referred to did "apply to the War Department for an order," and obtained it, and if not entirely "similar to the Methodist order," it is nevertheless based

on the essential principle which underlies the whole case as between the Church and the State; and it is in regard to that principle, chiefly, that we now refer to the case. It is in reference to this latter application that the Louisville Presbytery complained; and it need only be said here, in contradiction to the above prophecy, that the General Assembly, in May last, did not elect "a saner Board," but approved and sustained its course.

The order from the War Department to the Methodist Bishops, and that of General Wild, are before us. We see nothing "infamous" in either, although both are so styled. In the first, "transportation and subsistence" are to be furnished "Bishop Ames and his clerk, when it can be done without prejudice to the service." This is mostly an affair of the Government, and is of minor consideration. In that of General Wild, it was ordered that the Churches should be "open freely to all officers and soldiers, white or colored," &c. Perhaps the infamy is found in the hue of the skin. But these, as we have said, are subordinate matters. We only desire to look at the radical principle at the bottom of these cases, as furnishing or not a just ground of complaint, to say nothing of vile abuse, both of the Church and the Government.*

That the reader may see the two orders referred to, each of which is pronounced "infamous," we here insert them as found in The True Presbyterian of March 17, 1864:

"WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, "WASHINGTON, November 30, 1863.

"To the Generals commanding the Departments of the Missouri, the Tennessee, and the Gulf, and all Generals and Officers commanding armies, detachments, and corps, and posts, and all Officers in the service of the United States in the abovementioned Departments: You are hereby directed to place at the disposal of Rev. Bishop Ames, all houses of worship belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in which a loyal minister, who has been appointed by a loyal Bishop of said Church, does not now officiate. It is a matter of great importance to the Govern ment, in its efforts to restore tranquillity to the community and peace to the nation, that Christian ministers should, by example and precept, support and foster the loyal sentiment of the people. Bishop Ames enjoys the entire confidence of this Department, and no doubt is entertained that all ministers who may be appointed by him will be entirely loyal. You are expected to give him all the aid, countenance, and support, practicable in the execution of his important mission. You are also authorized and directed to furnish Bishop Ames and his clerk with transportation

CHURCH APPLICATION VINDICATED.

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What is here involved? Here is no union of Church and State, as some have pretended; no subordination of the Church to the Government, out of its proper sphere, nor of the Government to the Church; no "indorsing" by the Government of a minister's "commission to preach the Gospel;" no improper position for the Church at the North to take; and no injustice to the Church at the South, so far as it is in rebellion, as to rights of property, organization, or spiritual teachers.

CHURCH APPLICATION VINDICATED BY THE FACTS.

In regard to the action of the Church at the North, its several branches have applied to the War Department for a "permit" or a "passport," that their ministers might go within the lines of the army, and occupy the vacant pulpits of the South, from some of which disloyal ministers had fled within the rebel lines, and from others of which they had been ejected by the Government. In its essence, this is all that the application involves. And what is it? It is precisely similar, and nothing more, than the permission which is sought and obtained from the War, Treasury, Navy, and State Departments, for citizens to exercise their business, trade, or profession, of a secular character, and subsistence, when it can be done without prejudice to the service, and will afford them courtesy, assistance, and protection. By order of the Secretary of War. "E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General." "HEAD-QUARTERS, Norfolk AND PORTSMOUTH, "NORFOLK, VA., Feb. 11, 1864.

"General Orders, No. 8.-All places of public worship in Norfolk and Portsmouth are hereby placed under the control of the Provost-Marshals of Norfolk and Ports mouth respectively, who shall see the pulpits properly filled by displacing, when necessary, the present incumbents, and substituting men of known loyalty and the same sectarian denomination, either military or civil, subject to the approval of the Commanding General. They shall see that the Churches are open freely to all officers and soldiers, white or colored, at the usual hour of worship, and at other times, if desired, and they shall see that no insult or indignity be offered to them, either by word, look, or gesture, on the part of the congregation. The neces sary expenses will be levied, as far as possible, in accordance with the previous usages or regulations of each congregation respectively. No property shall be removed, either public or private, without permission from these head-quarters. By command of "E. A. WILD, Brig. General”

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