And with this, agree in substance the Rev. Messrs. Pettee,and Story. Singular, and sad too, that these four gentlemen should fib so about this little matter, and yet agree so nearly; for no one can deny that Mr. Close, who was the gentleman that called Mr. Wilks out of the Church, must have known better than any body else, who sent for him, and where he was during that half hour. And Mr. C. declares that he was not summoned before the Committee, and had no interview with them; but was called out by him to converse with some one—stranger, of course, as Mr. C. "was not present at the conversation." According to the principle upon which this Committee have proceeded in making up their verdict in this case, we are bound to accept Mr. Close's positive denial of any interview between Mr. Wilks and the Committee, instead of the united testimony of the other gentlemen to the contrary.
Such is a brief history of this unpleasant affair from beginning to end—a history which I never should have thought of placing on record, had not the General Convention, by its unreasonable course in this matter, and its erroneous and unjust reports, clearly made it my duty to do so. I doubt whether so extraordinary an ecclesiastical proceeding was ever before recorded or even heard of.
It was said in open Convention at Philadelphia, that this was a disgraceful affair; and said, too, in such a manner, as to produce the impression that the chief disgrace of it rested upon Mr. Barrett. With equal justice might it be said that disgrace attaches to the man who pursues the midnight assassin, and braves difficulty and danger for the sake of seeing justice executed upon the offender. Undoubtedly all vile and criminal conduct is disgraceful. But on whom does the disgrace rest? On the innocent sufferers from such conduct, or on the evil doers? I have yet to learn that any disgrace really attaches to him who honestly endeavors to ferret out offenders, and to have inflicted on them the punishment which their deeds deserve. Much less is it disgraceful for ah innocent man, when an organized body seeks to injure
culty they found in understanding why he did not "take active measures to put a stop to a rumor,” the falsity of which he alone knew all about. He says, (and the Committee believe him) that the reason he did not, was, because "he did not understand the position of affairs, &c.! there would have been no embarrassing question here, had the Committee regarded the evidence in the case as more reliable than the declaration of the accused. The explanation would then have been easy; for a man does not usually “take active measures to put a stop to a rumor,” which is well known to have originated with himself.
