The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-05
OLD WAR CRY
OF mo POPERY'
Religion is Nov Dominating
English Politics.
THE PEOPLE WROUGHT UP
BaIfour HoWIed Down Because
He Refused to
DECLARE HIMSELF ON QUESTION
Names of Lord Salisbury and Arch
bishops Kissed by Mass Meeting.
HIGH CHURCH CONSERVATIVES
Have Issued Black List of Sixty Par
liamentarians, Appealing to the
Voters to Defeat Them
at the Polls.
Names of Lord Salisbury and Arch
bishops Kissed by Mass Meeting.
HIGH CHURCH CONSERVATIVES

London. February 4.-The British poll
tics on the eve of the reassembling of par
ment show that the old war cry of no
popery" so long silent has suddenly
usurped first place. 1t is overriding party
programmes and forcing leaders who pre-
fer to divorce the church from parliament
tary strife to declare themselves.
The movement was started last summer
by a then unknown book seller named John
Kensil, whom Englishmen rated as Amerl-
cans did Coxey. 1t gathered momentum
through the low churchists agitation until
it now dominates public attention. News
papers are swamped with communications,
mass meetings are being organized every
where and the voters are insisting that
their representatives answer their views
How fiercely the people are wrought up
is hardly realized until Mr.. A. ]. Balfour,
government leader in the house of COM
mons and first lord of the treasury perhaps
the most popular publicist, addressing his
constituents at Manchester on Monday last
endcavored to ignore ritual and rethresh
the stock themselves of politics. He was
fairly howled down.
Would Not be Slenced
His auditors would not be silenced when
in his suave, diplomatic manner, he at
tempted to slide around the subject by re-
marking that no violations of church law
had come to his attention. The audience
insisted that he should declare himself and
the meeting broke up in manner very like
a state of anarchy.
On Wednesday an influential delegation
called on Mr. Balfour and arraigned him
for advocating the establishment of
Catholic university in Ireland. He replied
that the statement did not represent the
party. but only personal views, and said:
''It is a matter of indifference to me
whether l remain in public life. 1t is not
: a matter of indifference if l am prevented
from expressing, even against my own
interests, the views l conscientiously hold"
The mass meeting of Wednesday, which
was not representative, save in the numbers
attending, hooted the names of Lord Sails
bury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and
the Bishop of London. and demanded that
ritualstic clergymen be driven from the
church.
The Non-Conformists
curiously leading part In the agitation
Is borne by the non-conformists, and it is
also noticed that party lines do not hold
though the majority of the anti-ritualists
are liberals.
The high church conservatives have Is
sued black list of sixty parlamentarians,
appealing to the voters to oppose them IL
they support anti-ritualistic legislation
The bishops bill, recently framed at
Lambeth palace for over 900 years the
London residence of the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Irish university pro-
posal, furnish the bones of contention. The
latter had the misfortune to be brought
1rd yunn 1;rr,0
heated and is likely to have a hard road
to travel.
The recent speech of General Stewart L.
Woodford, former United States minister
to Spain, before the Army and Navy club at
New York has been applauded by all Eng
lishmen and has provoked divers comment
The moral most of them draw is the friend
ly understanding between the two coun-
tries.
Tho Saturday Review, which is always
sneering at America, says:
"It shows President Mckinley in an un-
favorable light since he posed as the friend
of peace while really playing a cat and
mouse policy to exhaust the arts of peace
until he could get ready for war;"
Something More Precious
1t adds: ''Englishmen cannot take pride
in the knowledge that the cat on the pounce
was successful because of the loyal friend
ship of England. Such loyalty comes near
precious than American friendship"
The Globe says "Our moral support of
the United States has been of incalculable
value to them by their own admission. In
return we require something more than
Admiral Dewey's platonic approval of the
civilizng mission of England"
The paper then proceeds to demand more
assistance in China than heretofore and
that British commerce should not be ex-
cluded from territories whose acquisition
has been facilitated by Englands action by
tariffs.
Judge David ]. Brewer, associate justice
of the United States supreme court, who IL
returning home after his first visit abroad
to attend the meeting of the Venezuelan
arbitra tion commission, said to repre-
tentative of the Associated Press;
Most Cordial Feeling
From the public men I have met here
and from others l have heard only the most
cordial feeling existed toward the United