430 History of Methodism 



British Conference, and was received by them with 

 the most marked expressions of respect and good-will. 

 After his return from England, he immediately re- 

 sumed his duties as presiding elder, and was soon 

 strongly solicited to enter the Baltimore Conference; 

 but believing that both his happiness *and usefulness 

 would be greater in South Carolina than in Maryland, 

 he declined the proposal. 



In 1829 three missions to the plantation slaves were 

 originated in the South Carolina Conference; and 

 Mr. Capers was appointed superintendent of them— 

 an office which devolved upon him no small amount 

 of labor, in addition to the duties of presiding elder. 

 He had always felt a deep interest in the welfare of 

 these people, and until the close of his life he was 

 ever on the alert to improve and elevate their condi- 

 tion. In 1831 he was stationed in Columbia, where 

 his eloquent preaching soon created the necessity for 

 a larger church. The two following years he spent 

 in Charleston, 



The degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon 

 him in 1818 by the South Carolina College; and the 

 degree of Doctor of Divinity, in 1829, by Augusta Col- 

 lege, Kentucky. In November, 1829, he was elected 

 Professor of Moral Philosophy and Belles-lettres in 

 Franklin College, Georgia. In September, 1832, he 

 was urged to accept the presidency of La Grange Col- 

 lege, Alabama; and subsequently that of the Uni- 

 versity of Louisiana, and also of Randolph-Macon 

 College, Virginia; but he felt constrained to decline 

 them all, from a conviction that his literary and scien- 

 tific attainments were not adeqiiate to such a position. 



At the close of the year 1833, a serious difficulty 

 arose in the Church at Charleston, of which Dr. 



