44 PROTRACTED MEETING. [CHAP. XXII. 



triennial conventions, which would be an. important 

 step towards raising the black race to a footing of 

 equality with the whites. In these times when many 

 here are entertaining a hostile feeling towards Great 

 Britain, and when the government is lending itself 

 to the excitement, I find the ministers of the Epis 

 copal Church peculiarly free from such a spirit, and 

 cherishing a desire for peace and a friendly disposi 

 tion towards the English. The Methodists had just 

 been holding a protracted meeting in Montgomery, 

 and such is the effect of sympathy and of the spirit 

 of competition, that the religious excitement had 

 spread to all the other sects. 



