The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-08-20

Tho Evangcslcai Alliance In Kussin.
Our special dispatches from st. Petersburg,
published in Fridays HERALD, puts alto
| gether q new face upon the previously re-
ported interview between the American mem
bers Of the Evangelical Alliance and the Rus
sian government. The former, it will be
remembered, few weeks ago presented an
address OF petition to the Emperor Alexander
| H., praying Ia behalf Of American Christians
that he would grant religious liberty to his
own people. We believed at the time that if
such daputatlon with such document were
at all received it would be purely out of cour-
tesy to the land from whence they hailed.
But the Russian Prime Minister, it appears,
did receive the deputation and their address
at that time, and thus gave the religious
Journals OF this country ample cause, az
they thought, for editorial Growing over
| this fresh victory Of religious liberty.
What will they say now when they learn that
the deputation Was actually snubbed for its
unwarranted Interference with the internal
affairs of the empire, and that their address,
| or petition, whichever 1t might be called, was
| respectfully returned. While Prince Gortcha-
| kof desired TO be courteous and friendly
toward his petitioners, as Americans who
he believed to have only the lveliest interest
in the welfare Of his country, he did not want
to be bored and bothered with similar papers
sent by every little State and body OF Chris
tians in Europe who might think themselves
commissioned from God and fully justified in
thn Of oil uio IN oh
The Prime Minister saw that he must stop
somewhere, and be laid down the rule at the
beginning, and politely asked the Americans
to withdraw their paper, which they did.
Aud here ends, for the present ut least, the
Evangelical Alliances mission to the Gear of
Russia.
And now what are we to infer from this ?
Is there no such thing as religious freedom in
Russia, and is the imperial government deter
| mined that there shall not be :? We do not so
consider it, Notwithstanding many of our re-
ligous contemporaries will be so impressed.
Long before Christian America had abolished
''the sum of all villanies "-slavery-in our
midst, the Emperor Alexander had peacefully
and forever blotted out serfdom in his domin-
ion, and we believe religious liberty is safe
enough in the hands OF such monarch, albeit
we may affect to look upon his people as semi
civilized barbarians. 1t may be that the
remembrance OF this fact very sensibly directed
his action toward the American evangelical
population. Some of our religious contempt
raries look upon their reception at all as tri-
umph because it was like asking the Emperor
to sever his relation to bis people, he being
the recognized head of the Greek Church
But as Christian gentlemen we do not see
how the Emperor or his Prime Minister could
have acted differently. And in our opinion
their courtesy on this occasion stands out in
bold contrast to the demeanOr Of other rulers
and princes who lay claim to higher Chris
tian civilization.
Civil and religious liberty do not grow spon-
taneous from any soil, nor do they come forth
for the mere asking. The highest and noblest
and purest presentation thereof in the world
to-day is the outgrowth OF ages of moral and
physical struggles and the development of
education and literature through the press
and the railroad, the telegraph and the COM
mon schools. These agencies are being es-
tablished as fast as they can be throughout
the Cars vast territory, and we may conf
IDENTIFY hope that they will produce the same
results there that they have elsewhere. Let
the material resources of Russia be developed
and the comfort and intelligence of the people
be advanced, and there need be no fear but
religious and civil liberty will take care of
themselves. Even now Protestant missions
are being established in the Russian empire,
and where the people themselves do not OPP
pose, the government presents no obstacle to
the spread of their doctrines. But if our
Evangelical Christians desire to see Protes-
tantism spread more rapidly in that country,
let them aid the educational and commercial
interests Of the empire. This they can do
either with or without petitions to the En-
peror, and they can thus show, in very prac-
teal manner, their faith by their works.
Already there is a very large and enlight-
ened body of Christians within the pale of the
Greek Church in Russia who are preaching
and spreading abroad what may be termed
reformed Greek Christianity. They may be
aided in their work by Protestant Christians,
DuL III MlguL uOt NO ealc VI Wei just ptCscub
to supersede them in their work. We have
faith in the onward progress of liberty, civil
and religious, in Russia as elsewhere through
out the world.
THE EDITORIAL PROFESSION of the United
States aud the New Dominion have in larger
numbers and in more extensive excursions
this summer than ever heretofore been enjoy
ing themselves at the seaside and the springs
and among the mountains, and in doing up the