“The refusal of the Chattanooga University to admit the colored students who made application for reception into its halls has exposed them to severe criticism, not to say malediction. A reconstruction of its administration is loudly called for, more in harmony with the policy and principles of the Church. The suggestion that the great wrong done should at least be divided with another authority seems not to have occurred to any of the horrified accusers living a thousand miles away from the scene of trouble. Is this as it ought to be? Is it justice? Is it fair play?
“In this transaction two things claim attention,—the principle underlying it, and its application. As to the principle: The General Conference of 1876 indorsed the principle of separate conferences and societies. Is the principle of separation right in the house of God, and wrong in the house of learning? The General Conference of 1884 recognized the principle as appropriate also to our schools in the South. Was this done as an abstraction, with no expectation of a concrete application? If so, it ought to have been known. If the principle is wrong, it is but just that condemnation fall upon the General Conferences enacting it, and moral cowardice to visit such indignation on the Chattanooga agents of the Church carrying out a principle ordained by the highest authority of the Church—a principle to be carried into operation under certain contingencies.
“The application of the principle is the other matter to be considered. Who was to apply it? Somebody in Detroit or Boston, or the trustees and faculties intrusted with the care of the institutions? To ask the question is to answer it. A mistake in the application of the principle in a given case might be made, but are those making it to be adjudged worse sinners than those upon whom the tower of Siloam fell therefor? If those applying a principle mistakenly be worthy of death, of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy who gave them the principle to apply? But the General Conference of 1884 declared the policy of the Methodist Episcopal Church to be ... that ‘no student shall be excluded from instruction in any and every school under the supervision of the Church because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.’ What of it? Had that deliverance the force of an enactment? Was it true to history? Will any claim it to be history? Who have declared it? When and where was the declaration made? Had such a policy been carried into execution? When? By whom? Had it been at Athens or Little Rock, the only other schools established for whites at the South?
“The statement never ought to have been made by the committee, nor indorsed by the General Conference. The policy of exclusion had never been adopted, it is true, but the trend of the legislation of the Church since 1876 had been in the direction of separation in worship and education, under certain conditions. To institute such legislation, and then visit unsparing indignation on those whose duty it is to apply it, is neither just nor manly, unless the application has been made in a way faithless to a committed trust. I am not defending the principle of separation in conferences or schools. It may be wrong. If it is, let us say so and abandon it; but till we do abandon it, let us not blame those for whose benefit it was adopted for using it when the conditions for its use are present. Nor let us conclude that one of the qualifications for judging conditions is distance from the scene of action, and that competency is in proportion to remoteness. Let those of us who voted the principle, if it be blameworthy, bear our part of the blame, and not saddle it all off upon the Chattanooga authorities. Let us hold them responsible for a misuse of it only. To legislate a principle that was never to be used would be simply a mockery.”
March 9th the following contribution, which appeared in the columns of the Western Christian Advocate, was written by A. B. Leonard, D.D.:
“There appears to be no small amount of confusion in the minds of not a few, who ought to be perfectly clear, as to the action of the late General Conference on the question of caste in the Churches and schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The action of that body was of such a character as to put the whole question beyond the realm of doubt.
“On May 22, 1884, Report No. 3 was presented by the chairman of the Freedmen’s Committee to the General Conference, and was adopted with but little discussion, almost without opposition. The third resolution of that report was as follows:
“‘Resolved, That the question of separate or mixed schools we consider one of expediency, which is to be left to the choice and administration of those on the ground and more immediately concerned: Provided, there shall be no interference with the rights set forth in this preamble and these resolutions.’
“In regard to mixed schools and congregations the preamble said:
“‘To the question of mixed schools we have given our most serious and prayerful attention. It is a subject beset with peculiar difficulties. That the colored man has a just and equal right, not only to life and liberty, but also to the means of grace and facilities for education, we not only admit, but most positively affirm. We are in duty bound to provide for and to secure to every class of our membership, so far as possible, a fair and equal opportunity in Church and school accommodations. And in so far as this is done our duty is performed, and the equal rights justly demanded of us thus fairly and fully conceded. Mixed congregations and mixed schools may, in many places, be most desirable and best for all concerned. In other cases one class or the other, or both, may prefer separate congregations and separate schools. Equal rights to the best facilities for intellectual and spiritual culture; equal rights in the eligibility to every position of honor and trust, and equal rights in the exercise of a free and unconstrained choice in all social relations, is a principle at once American, Methodistic, and Scriptural.’