The conduct of the clergy of South Carolina, may be inferred from the following account of a great pro-slavery meeting, held in the city of Charleston, to denounce in the most malignant spirit, the abolitionists of the North:
(From the Charleston Courier.)
GREAT AND IMPORTANT PUBLIC MEETING.
One of the most imposing assemblages of citizens in respect of numbers, intelligence and respectability that we have ever witnessed, met yesterday morning at the City Hall, to receive the report of the Committee of twenty-one, appointed by the meeting on the 4th inst. on the incendiary machinations now in progress against the peace and welfare of the Southern States. THE CLERGY OF ALL DENOMINATIONS ATTENDED IN A BODY, LENDING THEIR SANCTION TO THE PROCEEDINGS, AND AIDING BY THEIR PRESENCE, TO THE IMPRESSIVE CHARACTER OF THE SCENE!
After thundering forth the most violent threats against the discussion of the subject of slavery, the meeting closed with the following resolution:
On the motion of Captain Lynch,
"Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are due to the Reverend gentlemen of the Clergy in this city, who have so promptly, and so effectually, responded to public sentiment, by suspending their SCHOOLS in which the free colored population were taught; and that this meeting deem it a patriotic action worthy of all praise, and proper to be imitated by other teachers of similar schools throughout the State."
The following document will speak for itself. I commend it to the consideration of ministers of Christ throughout the world.
CHARLESTON PRESBYTERY ON SLAVERY.
Extract from the minutes of Charleston Union Presbytery, at their meeting on the 7th of April, 1836.
With reference to the relation which the church sustains to the institution of slavery, and the possibility of attempts to agitate the question in the next General Assembly, this presbytery deem it expedient to state explicitly the principles which they maintain, and the course which will be pursued by their commissioners in the Assembly. It is a principle which meets the views of this body, that slavery as it exists among us, is a political institution, with which ecclesiastical judicatories have not the smallest right to interfere; and in relation to which any such interference, especially at the present momentous crisis, would be morally wrong and fraught with the most dangerous and pernicious consequences. Should any attempt be made to discuss this subject, our Commissioners are expected to meet it at the very threshold, and of any report, memorial or document, which may be the occasion of agitating this question in any form. And it is further expected, that our Commissioners, should the case require it, will distinctly avow our full conviction of the truth of the principles which we hold in relation to this subject, and our resolute determination to abide by them, whatever may be the issue; that it may appear that the sentiments which we maintain, in common with Christians at the South, of every denomination, are sentiments which so fully approve themselves to our consciences, are so identified with our solemn convictions of duty, that we should maintain them under any circumstances; and at the same time, the peculiar circumstances in which we are placed, constitute an imperious necessity that we should act in accordance with these principles, and make it impossible for us to yield any thing in a matter which concerns not merely our personal interests, but the cause of Christ, and the peace, if not the very existence of the Southern community.