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3

with the "A M E Z Church conference held at New Orleans last May, caused a feeling of hostility against them on this part of the Southern Ala Conference, and that the said conference, immediately presented their deeds to the church property aforesaid and demanded [[strikethrough]] demanded [[/strikethrough]] immediate possession of the same; that the said church property is valuable to them & worth twenty to twenty two thousand dollars; that they the said colored congregations are kept in possession of their churches only through the interference & aid of the military authorities; that if the military should be withdrawn in the present condition of things, they would immediately be dispossessed by the civil  authorities; that although they feel & know, they have the equity right to said property, and that by a long course of expansion & vexatious litigation they might by a final desision in the Supreme Court of the United States, secure the possession thereof; yet they believe that Congress has the power & right to secure them in their rights in a more speedy and effective manner by the passage of a special act or law applying to all such property as this, [[strikethrough]] by [[/strikethrough]]