The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1860-02-01
From the New York Times.
SHAM PHILANTHROPY.
A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION OF TIE SIN
cERITY OF ApoLITIoNIsTs.
New YoRK, January ~, 1860.

cERITY OF ADoLITIoNIsTs.
New YoRK, January ~, 1860.
The following incidents which occurred
last Sunday morning in the church of Rev
DR.. Cheever which stands upon Union
Square, in the heart of the City Of New
York, and which arrogates TO itself mo.
nopoly of Christian charity, sympathy
and philanthropy, so far as the enslaved
negro is concerned, will be of peculiar in.
terest at this present time to your readers
A European gentleman, high in rank and
titles, and connected with the English
service, visited DR.. Chcever's church on
Sunday morning last, accompanied by
his wife, and attended by a female ser.
want and colored man in livery. His
attendants followed him up the aisle OF
the church and seated themselves, accord
ing to European custom, in the pew be-
hind him. The audacity Of the negro
servant, exhibited by so cool and unpar-
donable an act, aroused the Christian SEN
timents and philanthropic feelings of the
Abolition representatives of the congre-
cation. The two young men, of high
promise in the community, who have here
tofore been actively identified with the
Anti-Slavery designs of the church, re-
quested the sexton, very politely, to sug-
gest to the colored gentleman the practi-
cabiity of his taking n seat in the gallery
reserved seats for negroes, of course, in
the dress circle, being necessary con-
comtant of Abolition theatrcals. This
request the sexton (being doughface, l
expect, and "sold TO the South') refused
TO acquiesce in. One of the Trustees Of
the Church then called upon the gentle
man, whose servant had committed a
breach of the Abolition peace" and in
formed him of the habits and customs
of Union Square. The gentleman very
specifically and emphatically inquired if
abe was in DR.. Cheever's Church-thc
Church that was soliciting British aid ?"
Also, "whether colored men are not allow-
ed there? He was told that they did not
mingle pronaiscuously with the audience
the audience, | suppose, not being en-
titled to reserped seats. The gentleman
then inquired (which door the colored
people could go out OFF" and on being
informed he arose and left tie Church,
accompanied by all the party. At the
d9or he hnudvrl ruJ h;s card, s.ssd ,zIuvst-
ed that it should be sent to the pastor.
The same day he inquired of a colored
man at the Metropolitan Hotel, "if he
could direct him to a church which he
could attend without being insulted !"-
He was referred to the Shiloh Presbyte-
rian Church, corner of Prince and Marion
streets, of which Rev. Henry Highland
Garnet is Pastor. In the evening he
went there with several of his attendants,
was politely seated, and engaged in the
devotional exercises without being dis
turbed, or requested to take seat in the
gallery.
This, Mr.. Editor, is very short and
simple story, but full of meaning, and
precisely to The point. A church which
claims TO be par excellence, the friend of
the negro, and which is soliciting foreign
aid to sustain itself in pharisaical cru
sade, insults foreign gentleman, and
points the finger Of scorn at his negro SER
want, in the presence of whole congre-
CATION. Would such thing have hap
pened in the churches of DR.. Spring, or
DR.. Tying or DR.. Potts? We pause for
a reply. G. E. Ii.
The above is from the N. Y. Times, of
the 14th inst. We had the same narra-
tive from private sources during the week
preceding their publication. 1t is said
that the stranger, whose servant was thus
virtually driven from the Church of the
Puritans because he was "guilty of a skin
not colored like" that Of DR.. Cheever, is
German Prince, relative of Prince AL
bert, consort of the Queen Of England,
where the Church of the Puritans have
been begging aid on the ground that it
was the only church in America that con-
sistently befriends the colored race. We
have before exposed the hypocrisy Of this
pretence, but the people of Great Britain,
and the people of America can now sec
it for themselves.
IL will be said by the friends of DR..
Cheever that this was not his act, and that
he cannot be held responsible for it. But
here again we have DR.. Cheever in the
same dilemmo. About two months since
we published, circumstantialiy, the state
ment that DR.. Cheever had had, for long
time, large STAKEHOLDER, as member oi
his church, in good and regular standing
who upon leaving received regular Ger.
tificate, and that DR.. Cheever was well &C
ouainted with all the circumstances Of the
case, and on intimate terms of social in
tercourse with the person alluded to; o.
all which facts we had been certified il
writing by one who was well acquainted
with them. A week or two afterward
DIR. Cheever said in the Independent thai
some one had told him of such state
ment in the Observer, and if it were true
the Church must have been unacquainteC
with the fact. But we do not say The
| Church knew it; we said that we haC
authority for stating that for years Will,
/ n