The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-06-21 00:00:00

A TRIUMPH IN THE CAUSE OF
HUMANITY.

Commenting on the encores which het rePulted from Sir
Bartle Frerel difficult rul,eloo, the Daily Nears a Ifond.y
oar

We have this morning the pleasnre of making the
welcome annonn,ement that the perseverance and tact
nf Sir Bartle Frere have been ern writ,' with success, a
Treaty pietism an end to the Slave Trade in the to.
niinioos of the Sultan of Zanzibar lsavM r been ritned
on the sth Met. The famous slave market of Zanzi-
bar, so well known from the frequent and vivid
descii,dione of travellers, was cluetd on the same ,
day. In goad time we shall know the precise
character of the influences which have brought
about this great triumph of humanity. That they
mwit have been potent may be interred from the
nature of the resistance which the Eug,ish envoy ori-
lethallY ,nrotinleted. When Sir Bole vere row the
Sultan of Zanzibar last February he was received with

a profusion of ceremony, but in the end be was told
that the abolition of the Slave Ttade was not to be
thouAtt of. Zanzibar, it was represented, had not
recovered from the effects of the recent dreadful
hurricane, and could not afford the logs implied in a
failure ot its supply of labour. Moreover, slavery was
a time-honoured institution, sanctioned alike by the
Mahometan religion and by ancient customs. the aboli-
tion of which woold lead to insurrecrion and disaster.
This who knew m:st of Sid Barghash were of
opinion that he bad in come way been imbued with the
notion that Great Britain was not in earnit-t in this
matter. Sir Bartle Freer saw him the day alter this
refusal, and pointed out the serious coast wiener's that
inigtt poseibly ensue from his resolution; but the
Sultan was not to be moved from his purpose. By
come means that exalted personage appears to have
been since convinced that he had taken an ill advised
course, and that the isolation in which he had been placed
by the subsequent successes of Sir Bartle Fftre would
give him an unenviable position. At any Tate, he has row
given way at all points. It will be for our country-
men now to take advantage of the opportunity open tc
them to introduce a better system. There in a modern
maxim that nothing is really destroys i until it has
been replaced. Slavery has been admirably replaced
on this same East African coast on the estate of
Kokotani, at the northern end of the island of Zanzibar,
where Captain Praiser has, in Sir Bartle Frere's j udg,
meut, solved completely and effectually the labour
problems of East Africa. It is encouraging to re-
member that our successful Envoy wrote only last
February: If the Slave Trade were abolished there
would be no difficulty in getting Indian and European
capital, and nothing is wanted here beyond what has
been done, and is done daily, by hundreds of Arabs in
Egypt."

"HOSPITAL SUNDAY" IN LONDON.
At some 800 c'unches and chapels of all denomina-
ti in the metropolitan district on Sunday sermons
were preached and collections were made, both morn-
ing and evening, in aid of thv hospitals of London
Their Royal Higlmeises the Prince and Princess of
Wales, with the Duke of Edioburgh, attended the mid-
day Communion service at St. Paul's, which was
crowded. The Corporation of London also atten led
the service in state, and, beaides, went to Weatmim
ater Abbey in the afternoon.

Referring to this great and sweet, fal effort In the mule of
humanity. he Times of Monday has the foliowing leader :

-
The Metropolis has jest witnessed the success a an
undertaking withcut parallel in the social and religious
history of modern times. The congregations of the
great majority of the places of worship in London and
its suburbs, reinforced, moreover, by many who do not
habitually attend platys of worahip at all, were united
in the pursuit of a common object and in the acknow-
ledgment of a common oltligat ton. The claims of the
sick poor were urged from several hundred pulpits, not
on any ground of expediency, or of economy, or even of
benevolence, but mainly on the broad principle that
their recognition forms an essential part of the life
dictated by every form of Christianity. The appeal
had one borne to the hearts of all classes of the com-
munity, and in the Metropolitan Cathedral the eye
ranged easily from the Heir Apparent, and fr im the
representatives of civic wealth and munificence to an
assemblage largely composed of persons manifestly of
humble station, but who were neither less devout nor
less liberal than those whom fortune had more highly
favoured. The several preachers, as far as the nature
of their sermons has at present been made known to
us, descanted more or less eloquently upon the beauty
of Charity, and upon the sufferings of those whom the
organization of the day was intended to relieve ; and,
as merely ordinary liberality would be inadequate to ,
the occasion, we must hope that the responses made to
them by their hearers will be found to surpass even
the anticipations of the sanguine. So far, everything I
is well ; and there can be no doubt that Hos-
pital Sunday will from this time. forward be an
established institution. It is possible that it may lead
to many indirect advantages, and that the bond now
for the first time established among the Charities to
be assisted may ultimately produce beneficial changes
in various points connected with their management.
Hospitals have hitherto been in some sense rival insti-
tutions; and their rivalry has been a prolific source of
wasteful and unnecessary expenditure. Every step
which tends to place them upon a common basis, and
to unite instead of dividing them, will increase their
means of doing good to the sufferers who are admitted
within their doors.
There can be little doubt that many of the Ministers
of religion who made collections yeaterday will already
be looking with some complacency at the result of their
work. But to a non-clerical mind almost the first re.
lie :Hon that will be suggested by the events of the day
will be surprise that the various preschera have been so
slow to recognize the power of the lever which has been
placed, mainly by lay agency, within their grail). On
all-sides there are complaints of the difficulty 01 doing
spiritual work among the mrseees, complaints f modern
indifference and scepticism, complains; of thy slow pro-
gress( of Christianity, and painful looking') back
towards the traditicns of more primitive anti more
enthusiastic times. It is manifest that the true
remedy for these complaints might be found liy
careful study of the ideas which now predominate
among the people, sod that the human mind would
respond as powerfully and as promptly as at any
former period to teachers who would be at the
pains necessary to discern the key-note they should
strike. In the cage before us it is well-known that
the proposal to establish a hospital Sunday in London
was at first positively discouraged by ecclesiastical
dignitaries ; and that even when seen to be inevitable
it was accepted with a certain degree of coldness or
reluctance. When the occasion comes, we hear and
read of a style of preaching essentially similar to that
in which it is customary to bring the wants of some
single Charity before some single congregation, and
we look in vain for any adequate recognition of the
significance of the combined action of the day. It
hag often been said that in dealing with the poor
and the uneducated it is necessary to do god to
their bodies in order to benefit their souls ; and we
must for the future admit the Dower of a common
object of human sympathy in bringing the maeses
within the reach of spiritual influence and of spiritual
instruction. We hear alrest iy of the great.diseatiafac-
lion felt and expressed by the attendants at the few
churches and chapels where the officiating ministers
have refused to take part in the proceedings, and
we cannot but feel that three ministers have lost
something of sheir hold upon the intelligence and
the affections of their people. But we look in vain
for any indications that the preachers by whom
the cantle of the Hospitals was advocated have
seized upon this opportunity of at, ngthening their
hold, of pressing hones the influence that Gospel
teaching would exert upon many other of the more
dark and cheerless aspects of life, and of convincing
those who beard them—perhaps for the first and last
time—that Coristianity is something higher and better
than a system or • creed. This is a practical age, in
which the estimation of professors by their fruits is the
daily habit of many who are ignorant or regardless of
the divine sanction which may he pleaded for the custom.
Among the operative classes especially, whose Sunday
hisure often teems to them too precious to be given up
to Churches or chapels, and who in many instances listen
eagerly to the professors of very shallow forms of dis-
belief, the spectacle of this union of all denominations of
worshippers in the performance of an act of Charity
would exert a most powerful effect. The overflowing
congregations of yesterday must have included hun-
dreds—nay, thousands—of persons to whom the in-
terior of a church would be unfamiliar, and who
would be attracted thither by blended feelin_s of
curiosity and kindliness—feelings eminently helpful to
any preacher who could pier ie through the crust of
habitual apathy in others by some loosening of the
chains of convention from himself. If the oppor-
tunities thus afforded were neither perceived nor
utilized, a chance which has seldom before prevented
itself to ministers of religion has been not so much lost
as.thrown away.
.

-111-eo-p-ify," it is one which may return, and, as
regards the classes which are the despair of the
religious, it may even return with greater ad.
, vantages in its; train. The organization which
worked so well yesterday was the result of the
labour of only two or three months, and the cir-
cuaistances of the Metropolis differ so widely from
those of even the largest provincial towns that the
experience gained in them would saarcely solve a
' single doubt or remove a single difficulty. Next
year the experience of London itself will be brought
, to bear upon every part of the arrangement., and the
Committee will have ample time at their disposal. The
plan, pursued With advantage elsewhere, of in Dimling
1 a Saturday collection in shop, and warehouses will
almost certainly be followed ; imd ealleavours will pro-
, hably be made to induce Clubs and kindred societies
, of working men to ;Wend Divine Service in their oar-
' ',orate capacity, and thus to bring even the Saturday
, gifts within the range of the religious element in the
appeal. Aheru can be little doubt that, as far as
places of worship are concerned, the codectione will
next year be universal ; for the difficulty interposed
by prior arrangement.; will then, of coinse, be wildly
removed, and the feeling of congregations upro
the matter will plainly be ton strong for even
unwilling ministers toe, filet. Before Hospital Sunday
comes round mow more, we trurt that the leaders of
thought among the clergy ef all denominations will
have token the tine measure of the maguitnde sod the
advantages of the occasion. It should prove to them
that sympathy with suffering and distrefs is a power
by which, even in them latter days, th; y may sway the
minds and confidences; f men with a (meet° which
no other is eves remote-1y comparable ; and it will
certainly bring to them, in a mood open -to the recap-
tion of their teaching, a cleat of hearers whom it should
be their first object to win and to retain.
The Lord Mayor of Loudon has received the follow-
ing communication from the geeen in relation to the
Hospital Sunday :
Buckle:hem Pala-e, June 16th, 1873.
"My L,r,1,-.--1 an, commanded 7 the Qieeti— witaie Oi-
lmen', from Len ten prevented tier M jesty tram contrita Ittypg
pesennally tither. 11,-ettne made ye etleFti. In sit 'he chtlrehes
and dived* In the me,r poop In aid of the humph al, end dui
penis:les—to toisvvrd to your lorpship a etc iae for one
lani,red Rennes, as e. donee:on fr un her Maj sty to the toad.
—I hdve the hartour to be, my Lord, roar obe,tiettt bauble
servant, 1. M. ItIvOCLPH.
I ho hipht Hon. Ht. I orl Mayor."