The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1865-08-02

ped, hung TO tree until dead, Wnen ms
body was torn open, his entrails given TO the
dogs, and his heart and other portions to his
executioners. After dining ON this meat, they
washed il down with his blood, and then cut
OF his head and bore il about the leland in
triumph. Such is the substance Of the hor-
rible affair as we get it from our latest Eng
lish newspaper files, and il 10 probably true
in the main. as the cot was witnessed by
other mission aries who afterwards made their
escape. Il may be added that immediately
after the conclusion of this atrocious affair,
eli the christisnized natives rose 10 revolt and
drove the last vsstige of Christianity from
their midst.
Turning from the sickeniug details of this
affair, one ~ compelled to fiud ia ID some
thing besides a mere occurrence which freezes
the blood with horror. The very people who
committed this atrooity are men who long
since renouncrd paganism and gave their ad
hesion and faith to the teachings of christi
anity. ln the appeals for help TO sustain the
New Zealand missions. tho English people
for years have been led TO believe that the
conversion of the New Zealanders was both
sincere and wide spread. 1t has been given
q liberal support, has always been regarded
as one of the most triumphant evidences of
the success of missionary effort, and the is
land has been the residence OF the most en-
tsrprising and able of the colonial bishops
And yet after all this labor of years, these
asserticn ms of success, and these bright pros
poets, every white missionary has been oblig-
ed to fly for his life, and the New Zealanders
have, in q moment relapsed into barbar-
ism as bloody as that in which they were
when first discovered
This occurrence is only al additional link
to a long chain of evidence establishing the
fact, chat missionary effort now, as it always
has been, is in a vast majority Of instances a
failure, and especially so when directed for
the conversion of what,in begging pulpit par
lance, IS denominated the heather" In
tracing the progress of missions among the
Pagans, from apostolic ages down to the pres
emit, we find scarcely permanent success,
but any number of results of an opposite
character. In the earlier history of christi
anity, its spread was owing much more to
Roman legions than to missionary effort. In
extending Christianity northward from Italy,
there was no lack of missionaries but these
were usuallE msrtyred by the northern bar.
barians, whose conversion was only effected
by the free and continuous use of carnal
weapons.
Some six or seven hundred years ago, the
task of converting the heather became, as it
now is, work in which the sword was not
the main argument. A careful perusal of
theefforts OF several succeeding centuries, tells
us of an almost indefinite number of attempts,
OF which the aggregate were q partial success
In the beginning, but which almost always
ended in she determination of the christian
missionaries and the relapse of the converts
to paganism. 1t was so in japan in the six
teenth centuary; and in Ably ssinia, in Cochin
China, in Morocco, and in Madagascar. In
the case of our own Indians, the attempt to
chistiauize them from the DAYS of Brebeuf
down to the present has been 9 complete, un-
mitigaIed failure. The entire number of
Indians converted on the western continent
does not equal the number of missionarie
who have given their services, and not unfre-
qnently their lives, to this department of
effort.
History shows us that almost universally
where civilization has obtained foothold
among savage peoples, ut has been by their ex
termination, and not by their conversion to
Paganism takes as kindly 70
christianity as the North American Indian
does to the Anglo-Saxon. After the most
strenuous efforts, we have christanized the
Sandwich Islands, and rescued few other
small areas from the grasp'of paganism but
yet, continued through nearly nineteen CEN
tuarles, eight twelfths of the human race are
heather, or not chistianized, and the same
proportions, in all probability. will exist for
all time
The practical bearing of all this NAV be
summed up in an inquiry as to whether mod
srn philanthropists would not do humanity
more good by abandoning foreign mission en- |
'erprise ami combining their benevolent efforts |
10 the relief of home evils and to the advance |
nent OF the interests of the Scientific races.
As every one familiar with the workings of |
oreign missions knows, they are accompan.
ed Dy vast amount OF swindling and hum
bug, OF every dollar contributed by Law re-
eilgionlsts for the benefit of the heather.
rot more, on an average than one cent is ap-
'lled to the purpose for which the whole " as
stensibly raised. The other ninety-nine
ents are stolen outright. or are expended in
he salaries of mendicant peripatetic agents. in
recting agencies and supporting officials
nd ofhclal literature. But were every cent
the dollar applied directly to the protested
bject. there would be an equal barrenness
q conversions, for the reason that Papans
Arely eyer become merged into but general
: disappear before, or else exterminate chris
anity.
Foreign missionary enterprise is a good
cal like the freedmen's bureau in this conn
y. 1t aecomplishes little practical good bu.
as constructed to satisfy prevalent species
theoretical philanthrOphy and is contipu-
ID obedience to the demands of that feel
g. and also to furnish employment and sal. r
ies Tor vast number of otherwise idle and q
eiess dependants.- Chicago Times. d
From the Atlanta In eIIig.car Tn,,-