The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-03
BISHOP PoTTER,s LATEST


When Bishop Potter made his flying
visit to Manila 1t is fair to assume that
everything he saw and heard was in the
nature OF a revelation to him. He went
there In his capacity as dignitary of
the Episcopal church and with an imme-
dlate view to reaching conclusions re-
garding the prospect for effective mis-
sionary work on the islands. His views
on prevailing civil conditions, it has been
made very clear, were deeply colored by
his preferences and predictions as high
ecclesiashc of a given church. So radical
a change as appeared to have taken place
in those views in so brief a. time and
with such limited opportunities for inde-
pendent judgment could not In charity be
| explained in any other manner.
Evidently the bishops enthusiasm, or
his apparently preconceived views regard
ing missionary possibilities, have led him
farther than 1t was quite safe to go. He
has succeeded in reviving the charges
against the Spanish clergy in very Of
fensive form. and has fastened On him
self the serious obligation of making good
his sweeping condemnation.
The news dispatches In yesterdays
G o b make it plain that Bishop Pot
ter will not be allowed to get off so
easily in the matter of his assault on the
administration of sister church as he
did in his lapse toward imperialism
represented by his revised opinions on
civil conditions on the islands. He has
made serious charges. The Catholic
church in the Philippines is. according to
him, responsible for the general pre-
valence among the natives Of a state OF
concubinage. This condition he tells the
world is due to the excessive greed Of
the church authorities. who, according to
him, have robbed and are still robbing
the poor OF the islands. and are respon-
sible for the revelts against Spanish
authority which have taken place from
time to time.
All this and more we heard at the OUT
break of the imperialist craze. Our
sympathies were sought TO be arrested
for these unhappy people through that
agency. All the woes Of the Filipinos,
who, we were then assured, were very
superior race. were due to the robbery
and oppression of them carried on by the
-friars under the protection Of Spanish
civil and military authority. But when
A oil
rency to this belief, took up arms against
our own benign rule, this Wow Of the
situation was hastily dropped Civil ana
military authority had In the Interval
substantially agreed that the statements
regarding the Catholic clergy on the
Islands were grossly unjust, and that the
mass of tho Christian natives were
strongly attached to their religion and
to those charged with It's administration.
1t Is evidently in the cause of his re
ugion that Bishop Potter renews the
original charges against the Catholic
clergy. Their renewal would have come
with much more grace from almost any
body else who might have visited the
islands than the distinguished New York
divine. Sectarian prejudice and interest
Will naturally be regarded as underlying
the bishops charges, and the adherents
of the church which he attacks win
naturally turn to the reports of the vari,
Gus official bodies and public men of
eminence who during the past two years
have visited the islands, which, by their
siie1lce. may be with some reason regard
ed as giving the lie at least indirectly to
the charges Of Bishop Potter.
1t will require some further time to
enable the country to decide whether
there is anything more beneath the Won
derful attitude recently assumed by
Bishop Potter On the Philippine question
save ecclesiastical zeal and possibly sec
tartan ill will.