The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-28
PEARSON WRITES
 ID REV. DR, COBB
SubmiIs Some Plain Remark,
 About Bishop Beckwith
THE ADVENT CONTROVERSY
Pearson Intimates That the Bishop Dictated or inspired a Letter Written By pr. Cobb to
 Rev. Mir. Ewing.

Col R. H. Pearson writes an open letter to the Rev. Dr. Cobb. secretary of the
 Episcopal council of Alabama. Colonel Pearson is senior warden of the Church
 of the Advent of this city, and he sub
 mits some remarks about Bishop Beck with. His Letter follows:
 Birmingham, Ala, July 26 1904
 Rev. Dr. R. H. Cobb. Greensboro Ala. Rev. and Dear Sir-I want to ean your attention to what seems to me to be an
 error appearing in your letter of June 20, l in reply to my open letter of May 90.
 l shall take occasion in the future to
 point out to you other errors in the
 same paper but for tho present only this
 one.
 It is this: In your reply to my open
 letter as well as in your recent published
 letters to MT. Ewing, you seek 10 iusti- | fy the bishop of the diocese, and you
 took the position that he was right. and l that he was consistent in his refusing to 1 certify to the vestry of the Advent that l Mr. Ewing was a qualified clergyman in
 the church. though the bishop had given
 us more than one unqualified promise so l to do. and that he was right and consis- | tent in refusing to accept MT. Ewlng's
 letter of transfer bearing date of De- l tober 3.
 Concerning Bishop Beckwith. You are pleased to base your opinion 1 and your justification upon the state
 ments contained In a letter of Bishop
 Bratton to Bishop Beekwith. to which
 you refer in your reply to my letter as well as you published the same in your | last published letter to Mir Ewing You
 would have your readers to believe, and
 you have left them for more than thirty days to suppose, that Bishop Beckwith | did act upon the statements contained in
 this letter, and that he was justified in | so doing. Now, it is a fact that Bishop | Beekwith could not, and did not, rely upon this letter of Bishop Brattons for
 a reason for his refusing to give the cer- | tihcate or in refusing to accept the let l ter of transfer. He did not for the plain | and simple reason that he had not re- ceived that letter at the time he acted | fully and positively upon both propo-
 sitions He did not receive this letter | from Bishop Bratton until ne arrived | in Mobile on or about the 9th of October. f He had in the meantime refused to give | the certificate as well as had refused to | accept the letter of transfer He refused
 on October 1 (before Bishop Brattons ] letter was ever written) to certify to | MT. Ewing's qualification by a letter to | the vestry from Selma He had refused l to accept Mr. Ewng's letter of transfer | on or about the 9th of October at Car | lowville, when a copy of the same was | handed him by the Rev MT Van Hoose, | and in so refusing 1t he had said to MT. | Van Hoose that the Morris marriage
 was a minor matter" Now, how could the l bishop, or how could you for him, jus tify him in this matter upon the basis of | this letter or the statements contained
 in this letter of Bishop Brattons when | he had not seen the letter or the state | me at ba Ina | both propostions2 l can understand how | you could have made so great a | blunder but l am at a loss to know how
 Bishop Beckwith could allow you to have
 made so great q blunder when he knew all of the facts; or how he seemed to be willing for the people of the diocese to | suppose that he had acted upon the state-
 1nents contained in this letter as his jus | tificaton.
 Question anI Answer.
 But you will probably ask why do you l wish to bring Bishop Beckwth into this matter and charge him with this error?
 l do not wish to bring him in. He has forced himself in It is this way: l un- | derstand that just before or about the
 time you rushed your reply to the press, | Bishop Beckwith made you a special visit; that he was in consultation with you in regard to your reply; that he furnished | you with all of the facts upon which | you based the same, and that it was sub mitted to him before going to the press | l am led to believe this visit resulted in your undertaking his defense in the press, or allowing him to use your name | for such. I am led to believe that up to the time of this special visit you had l fully determined not to publish any reply at all For not ten days before. I had received from you most friendly letter, l in which, if l remember aright, you ex- pressed to me your most perfect satis- l faction that the matter was closed and | ended, in that the vestry of the Advent had seen fit to substantially comply with | your suggestions, and had released you of all real or imaginary embarrassment in that they had gone back to please you and the bishop and elected MT Ewing for 1 the fourth time as our rector, and that you had thanked God that the matter was ended and closed. It seems. too, to be the consensus of opinion that your reply ! is but that of the bishop with your name attached to 1t. l am inclined to this opin- | ion, and if l am right in this, l am sure the facts will bear me out in saving that | it is the third time that Bishop Beckwith | has seen fit to open up and begin anew a controversy that had no reason for it's | beginning and less for its continuance l And it's continuance can result in nothing short of untold injury of the bishop and additional scandal in the church. l was not surprised at this. If you will refer to my letter of June 12 in reply to yours of June 10 in which you thanked God that the matter closed I stated to | you that while you and I understood it to | be closed, that the bishop of the diocese would not allow 1t to be closed. That he i was making good his reputation that had i preceded him to the diocese that he pre- ferred strife to peace.
 But there is one other thing about these letters of Bishop Bratton's I want to
 call your attention to, and then for the present, I will have finished. It Is this: | At the time Bishop Beckwith received the
 letter referred to from Bishop Bratton, he received another letter from Bishop Brat