South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865 · scan page 144

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134  THE    EX-PARTE    COUNCIL,
The  petitioners,  of  course,  are  not  to  be  lield  responsible
for  the  action  and  finding  of  the  Council,  yet  the  unanimous
judgment  of  the  men  who  constituted  that  body,  represent-
ing Churches  in  every  part  of  the  State,  will  scarcely  be
over-ruled  in  the  opinion  of  thoughtful  and  impartial  minds,
by  the  assertions  of  those  who  refused  to  submit  the  case
to  a  tribunal,  half  of  whose  members  they  were  at  liberty
to  select.
The  petitioners  did  not  claim  before  the  Council  that  the
names  signed  to  tiie  Memorial  were  a  majority  of  the  breth-
ren of  the  Church,  but  that  they  represented  a  majority  of
them.  This  claim  was  grounded  on  the  following  facts,
viz  : — Mr.  Carroll's  official  returns  to  the  General  Associa-
tion of  Connecticut,  state  the  number  of  male  members,
January  1st,  1863,  to  be  44.  The  petitioners  knew  ot  but
six  male  members  who  had  since  been  received  up  to  the
date  of  their  memorial,  making  the  whole  number  50 ;  six
or  more  had  been  dismissed  and  imited  with  other  Churches
within  the  same  period,  leaving  the  number  of  male  mem-
bers at  44, — and  they  know  that  26,  including  the  memo-
rialists, sympathized  with  them.  If  then,  the  official  returns
to  the  Association  were  correct,  the  number  the  petitioners
claimed  to  represent,  was  a  majority.
It  may  be  proper  to  add  a  word  to  illustrate  the  views  of
some  of  the  members  of  the  Standing  Committee  as  to  the
treatment  which  an  unquestioned  majority  might  expect  to
receive  from  the  "rw^w^^jower*"  of  this  Church.  One  of
the  petitioners  in  conversation  with  a  member  of  the  Com-
mittee, declared  his  belief,  that  if  a  Church  meeting  was
called,  and  the  subject  fairly  considered  of  requesting  Mr.
Carroll  to  tender  his  resignation,  two  to  one  would  be  in
favor  of  the  motion;  and  furthermore  he  offered  if  his  state-
ment was  doubted,  to  give  the  names  of  those  who  he  had
reason  to  believe  would  vote  for  it.
The  reply  was  in  substance,  that  it  would  make  no  differ-
ence if  even  three  fourths  of  the  members  were  in  favor  of
the  motion;  so  long  as  Mr.  llallock  wished  Mr.  Carroll  to
stay,  ho  xcouhl  stay,  and  they  could  not  help  themselves.
It  hasbeen  often  admitted  by  members  of  the  Committee
and  others,  that  while  the  Church  is  sustained  as  it  now  is,

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Silent Grounds Collective, Church Burial & Death Records, CH-P004-0144. South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865, printed page not verified, PDF page 144. Hallock, Gerard, 1800-1866; digitized copy contributed by University of California Libraries https://archive.org/details/historyofsouthco00hall/page/n148/mode/1up Accessed September 8, 2026.

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