The times., 1898-10-12
IGNORANCE OR MALICE.
An UnprOfessfOnnI Attempt to I'm
pIicate Bishop Williams.

Considerable indignation is being ex-
pressed among the delegates in the House
of Bishops and the House of Deputies of
the Triennial Episcopal Convention, at
the injustice done yesterday and on the
previous afternoon by local newspapers
TO the venerable Bishop Williams, of
Connecticut, the senior bishop of the
Episcopal church of America, in connec-
ton with the discussion of the canon OF
the church regarding marriage and di-
vorce.
In two newspapers a letter, giving very
pronounced views on the question, and
explicitly credited to Bishop Williams,
was printed. The letter was taken from
1.-The Living Church." well-known
church periodical, and was written by
the Rev. John Williams, of Omaha, Neb.,
on September %.
Mr.. Williams. who is a delegate to the
House of Deputies of the general tri-
ennial convention, announced yesterday
that he was surprised at the ignorance
or malice which prompted the newspapers
to substitute the name of Bishop VIII
liams for his own.
Bishop Williams is not in attendance
upon the convention, having been too
feeble for a number of years to assume
the arduous task of presiding over the
House of Bishops. which position his
seniority entities him to. He is a man
of very conservative views, especially
upon the subject which has caused so
much discussion of a more or less acrid
nature among the clergy for some time
past and. so far as known, has never
made public any expression of opinion.
The matter was the topic of general
discussion during the session of the two
houses yesterday and for a time a num-
Der of the deputies and bishops were mis-
led as to the real state of facts. The au-
thority for the letter was discovered in
the afternoon, however, and the matter
which had startled a good many of the
conservative members of both houses
was cleared up.
1t is supposed the letter was purposely
accredited to Bishop Williams for the pur-
pose of creating a sensation in Episco-
pal circles, but the fraud was too quickly
detected.
What made the matter worse, in the
mind of Bishop Doane and others famil-
lar with the facts, was that Bishop Will
1iams did write letter to Bishop Doane,
in which he expressed himself as holding
views directly opposite to those accredited
to him in the letter which was published
as his. While it was felt that it would
be impossible to fully repair the damage
| DONE Bishop Doane sent a copy of the
| letter which Bishop Williams did write to
the afternoon paper which had first made
| the blunder, and requested that it should
be published so that the true views of the
venerable bishop might be placed before
the convention. The paper contented
| ITSELF however with saying although he.
| it is said. supports the canon of marriage
reported by the committee on revision
number of bishops expressed themselves
yesterday as deeply regretting the injus-
tice done Bishop Williams. as it could
never be completely corrected. 1t was
also pointed out that the mistake could
| hardly have been one of ignorance, as the
| letter in the Living Church was plainly
dated Omaha, September %, and everyone
at the convention knew that Bishop Will
| Iiams has not left his bed in his Connecti-
| cut home for nearly three years. which
| fact has been repeatedly printed in the
Washington papers within the past five
or six days.