THE -KING’S BUSINESS
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cern in g th is .in cid en t, a s a case of b ru ta l “m arty rd om ,” w ill n o t sta n d ex am in a tio n á t all. W e h av e m ad e full en q u iries-as to th e alleged b a d -tre a tm e n t of th e p a rty of dep o rted m issio n aries on a rriv a l in Liverpool. T he circum stan ces o f th e ir -recep tio n an d conveyance from th e ship w ere q u ite d ifferen t from w h a t is sta te d , a n d w e can find no gro u n d fo r th e alleg atio n th a t th e y w ere m o lested an d badly treated . T h ere can b e’ no d o u b t th a t th e m issio n aries an d th e ir w o rk in C am eroons suffered tro u b le an d sorrow an d loss th ro u g h th e w ar. T h a t is inevitable, an d n o t confined to them . U ndoubtedly th e ch ief p a rt of th e ir tro u b le w as b ro u g h t upon th em by th e fa c t th a t som e of th e ir n um b er com prom ised th e w hole p a rty by th e ir a c ts of m ilitan cy ; b u t th e re stra in t, an d care, a n d co u rtesy w ith w hich th ey w ere tré a te d by th e B ritish a u th o ritie s deserv es to be recognized. Som e of th e m k lo st th e ir bqggage, bu t, a s one of th e tw o frien d s w ho w as w ith m e h e re (to w hom I h av e re fe rre d above) rem inded th e o th er in m y presence, th e loss of b aggage w as n o t confined to th e G erm an m issionaries, as som e of th e B ritish officers lost th eirs, too, an d h ad to tra v e l to E u ro p e in th e ste am e r w ith o u t any. I hope, m y d e a r D r. T o rrey , th a t you w ill n o t im ag in e fo r a m om en t th a t I an i a tte m p tin g a g en eral an d com plete ju stificatio n of ev ery th in g th a t h a s tr a n spired in th e w ar, upon th e side of th e allies. T he tr u th m u st com e to be know n —-God w ill judge, an d p o ste rity w ill judge. You h av e re fe rre d in y o u r p a rag rap h to th e se ries of atro citie s com m itted by G erm an soldiers on th e C o n tin en t of E u ro p e an d to th e sin k in g of th e “F a la b a .” I w ill n o t go on to ad d to th e list, of h o rro rs p e rp e tra te d by th e G erm ans, b u t you m u st allow m e to ex p ress m y v ery stro n g d issen t a n d p ro te st a g a in st th e sto ry of th e d ep o rtatio n of th e G erm an m issio n aries from C am eroons bein g placed alongside th a t list a s in an y sense com p arab le w ith it, o r to be ju d g ed in th e sam e category. I t is alw ays difficult, if n o t im possible, to o v ertak e a p rin te d sta te m e n t th a t-h a s been circu lated as y o u r m ag azin e is circu lated in m an y lands, b u tT do v e n tu re to ex p ress th e hope th a t y o u r rea d e rs m ay a t le a st h av e th e o p p o rtu n ity of know ing th a t th e G erm an sto ry th a t you h av e so pointedly alluded to in th is Ju n e n um b er is challenged an d denied by u s as th e re su lt of carefu l in v estig atio n w e h av e m ade, an d evidence w e h av e collected. v This letter should have appeared a month ago, but was unavoidably held over. In the meantime the editor has received official notice that a lady mis sionary of a society of which he is president, working in British East Africa, has been arrested simply because she is of German parentage, and has never (being a woman) taken out American naturalization papers. After arrest she was sent to a concentration camp and*was later deported to a camp in India. She is a faithful, hard-working missionary, an intimate personal friend of the writer’s daughter. Of course, to deport a woman working in a very high altitude in Africa to India is atte'nded with great peril to that per son’s health. The effect of this war on missionary enterprise, and the hardships it has wrought for the consecrated men and women in the missionary field, form one of the appalling features of the war. Haw it is necessary to be slow in fully believing what is written about what is .actually done and written, even by earnest Christian men and women who claim to know the facts, is illus trated by Secretary Wilson’s letter, when compared with another letter pro testing against the same editorial, by another English minister claiming to know the facts at first hand. He says that the missionary who is alleged to have been caught in an attempt to blow up the British gunboat was a Lutheran minister. The Secretary says, “A lay brother of the Catholic Mission. Which was it? Was it either? But it is only natural that the British should be suspicious of all Germans, even Christians and ministers and missionaries, when one remembers that the worst atrocities have been defended by German ministers of the Gospel (e. g., in letters.to the writer). But while it is natural, it is not right.
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