Newspaper Page Text
June 30, 1909. TH
united in a Christian Unity Society.
The United Free Church of Scotland
supports three hundred and thirty-four
missionaries from Scotland in heathen
countries. A financial deficit of 3,008
pounds is reported. The number of congregations
on the roll of the Church at
December 31 was 1,620. The number of
members reported is 506,573, an increase
^e A or
UL tCO.
The Southern Students' Conference of
the Y. W. C. A., which met at Asheville,
N. C., closed June 20, with special devstional
exercises at the Elizabeth Boyd
Memorial Chapel, after being in session
for ten days. The last day's sessions
were of the usual routine order, with
addresses by Dr. C. A. R. Janvier, of
Philadelphia; Prof. J. L. Cunningham, of
Nashville, and Rev. R. W. Veach, of New
Y ork.
The State Convention of the Virginia
Sunday-school Association is to meet
in Charlottesville, June 29. The Men's
Bible Class Federation is engaged in
arousing local interest ir. the convention,
and it is probable that nearly every Sunday-school
in the city will be renresented.
World's Convention: Four representatives
of the International Sunday-school
Association are now making a tonr of
Great Britain in the interests of Sundayschool
work for the World's Convention,
which will be held in Washington in
May, lyiO. The deputation consists of
Marion Lawrance, general secretary of
the International Association; Philip E.
Howard, publisher of the Sunday-school
Times; Dr. F. M. Peloubet, of Auburndale,
and W. N. Hartshorn, of Boston.
At the Denver Assembly: At the invitation
of the West Jersey Presbytery and
the Olivet Church, of Atlantic City, N. J.,
it was voted to hold the next General
Assembly at Atlantic City, the meetings
to be held in the big music hall on the
Steel Pier.
Part of the Report referring to the recent
decision of the Tennessee courts,
that the property in dispute in that State
belongs to the Cumberland Church, says:
"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church recognizes the authority
of the civil courts in all matters relating
to property rights and submits to the
fiiial decision of the higher courts in determining
the ownership of property,
even when the grounds of the decision
may not be accepted."
Dr. Howard Agnew Johnston, of Colorado
Springs, made the report for the
Board of Foreign Missions, pleading for
greater assistance for that important
branch of Church endeavor. He said
that if the Chlireh fnrniahod nno ml?
8ionary for each 25,000 people, there
would still be 500,000,000 souls left in
darkness. He voiced the thankfulness
of the Assembly for the escape of the
Presbyterian missionaries in the recent
Turkish uprisings. "The fiercest foe to
Christianity is Mohammedanism," said
Dr
? .uuuduih. in me resolutions which
were adopted President Taft was urged
to further the interests of Rev. W. M.
Morrison and Rev. W. H. Sheppard, two
Presbyterian missionaries now in the
E PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU'
Belgian courts, oh a charge of libel. The
two men are alleged to have libeleJ the
Congo Rubber Company in their stories
of the atrocities committed by King
Leopold in the Congo, in his desire for
wealth from the rubber plantations. The
American government has already instructed
its representative to watch the
court trial, and President Taft is asked
to see that the two missionaries receive
a '"just trial and fair verdict."
RESOLUTIONS OF THE ALLIANCE.
At a meeting of the Council of the Alliance
of Reformed Churches throughout
the world holding the Presbyterian
System, held in Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church, l\'ew York Ciy, ou June
24, the following resolutions were unanimously
adopted:
Whereas, it has teen brought to the
knowledge of this Council, in sessiou
assembled, in the city of New York, that
two missionaries of the Presbyterian
Church of the United States, which is a
constituent part of the Alliance of which
this is the Supreme Council, viz.: the
Rev. Win. M. .Morrison, D. D., and the
Rev. Wm. Henry Sheppard, D. D., both
missionaries in the Congo Independent
State, have been indicted by or at the
instance of the Ivassai Rubber Company,
of the Congo State, on February 23, 1909,
on a charge of criminal libel, said to be
contained in an article published in the
Rassai Herald of January, 1908, describing
the unjust and cruel treatment of the
Bakuba tribe by that company; and that
the indictment concludes, among other
things, the infliction on the missionaries
of an exorbitant pecuniary fine, and that
me ociccicu puitt; oi meir trim on inai
charge is about nine hundred miles distant
from the place of residence of the
accused and about one thousand miles
from that of the .witnesses on whom
they would have to rely for their vindication;
and that the present (adjourned)
date on which they are cited to appear,
viz., July 30, falls within the season of
the year in which, owing to the lowness
of the River Kassai, a great part of that
distance must be traversed by land; the
time and place of this so-called trial thus
putting it beyond the power of these
missionaries to defend themselves; and,
Whereas, it is notorious that the accusations
alleged to have been made by
the missionaries aeainst the romnnnv nm
true, as the reports of four American con
suls and two British consuls, as well as
other independent and official evidence
in possession of the United States and
other governments, amply prove; and
and that these accusations were made by
the accused missionaries in the public
interest and in the interest of humanity,
civilization and Christianity; and that no
other count in the said indictment is relevant
or sufficient to ground any plea of
damage sustainable by the company by
reason of the article in question; and,
II ucicus, IV IB niDU IIUIUMUUH [QUI me
so-called trial to which it is proposed to
subject these missionaries is not a trial
in the recognized sense of the term, and
* 4 '
rH. 23
is unjust and oppressive to them, and is
calculated to serve no good end; and,
Whereas, the missionaries who are involved
are Amerienn nltliono'
Therefore this Council, before the'
whole world, appeals to the President of
the United States to insist upon the observance
of the Berlin and Brussels Acts
and of the provisions of the Treaty between
the American government and the
Congo Independent State so far as the
interests of these missionaries are concerned,
and protests for justice.
The Council further empowers and requests
the following gentlemen to act as
a deputation to convey in person the
foregoing action of the Council to the
President of the United States, with the
powor to secure the co-operation of others
us they may deem wise, viz.:
Rev. S. H. Chester, D. D.
Rev. Wallace Radcliffe, D. D.
Rev. J. M. Schick, D. D.
Rev. James H. Taylor, D. D.
I Inn Rlihu Pnnf
Hon. John B. Larner.
Hon. Stanton J. Teele.
At a meeting of the Council of the Alliance
of Reformed Churches throughout
the world, holding the Presbyterian System,
held in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church, New York City, on June
24, the following resolutions were unanimously
adopted:
Whereas, the governments of both
Great Britain and the United States declined
to recognize the transfer of the
sovereignty of the Congo Independent
State from the personal rule of King
Leopold to that of the Belgian government,
without proper guarantees of reform
in the administration of the State;
ana,
Whereas, we learn with profound regret
that the inhuman exploitation of the
Congo natives continues essentially unabated,
and that the guarantees demanded
have not been given;
Therefore this Council of the Reformed
Churches throughout the world,
holding the Presbyterian System, now
in session assembled in the city of New
York, respectfully appeals to the governments
of both Great Britain and the
United States to take such action as will
secure without further delay on the part
of the Belgian government the abolition
of forced labor, the restoration to their
natives of their rights in the soil and the
institution of these humane conditions
U'hlch micht tA occnmnonv oil
government.
The Council further empowers and requests
its president and general secretary,
and the American secretary, to
communicate this appeal to the governments
of Great Britain and the United
States, with all proper formalities on its.
behalf.
Jcg on, jog on the foot-path way
And merrily hent the stile-a;
A merry heart goes all the day.
Your sad tires in a mlle-a.
?Shakespeare.