The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-03

ihde hS is.d lio dpoloSy .to hidhe LOT tax ing such stand.'
 Must Bear in Mind.
 Now in order to understand the full meaning of these statements we must bear in mind this fact. The former b;sh- op of Mississippi had offciated at the marriage of a divorced sran and justified his course. You. as a presbyter, haa done the same thing and the standing committee had failed to present you for trial
 Insofar then as the bishop and stand ing committee represented that diocese, Mississippi stood before the church as en- dor sing eom SC which to the minds oi a vast majority of churehmen appeared to be a violation of thas canon or mar riage and divorce. In that respect the diocese Of Mississippi I think then stood alone.
 When, therefore Bishop Bratton de- declares that you violated that canon and adds in the same sentence, that your character is "unassailable" and later speaks of you as 6 clergyman in good standing in this diocese Mississippi there .'eerns to me to be ut one expla- nation of his words. viz: that in the diocese of Mississippi the violation of that canon was rot regarded as affecting the good standing of any of IS clergy.
 You charge me. in several places, with declaring officially ard dogmatically that on the 4th of October you were not a qualified clergyman of the church. I can rot recall a single sentence in which l said this, but rerfaps my poor memory Is at fault.
 In order. however, that there may be no mistake in regard to my words, make the following statements:
 affirm that NoI were charged bV two clergymen of the diocese of Missis- sippi with violating the canon of mar riage and divorce. See published report of standing committee of that diocese, journal of 1902.
 ?. affirm; that in that report there is not a word which speaks of your ac- quittal, or states flat the charge was withdrawn
 3 I affirm; that on October g. 1903 the standing committee of mat diocese de- clared. officially. that the charge had been considered upon It's merits, end you had been fully acquitted.
 {. I affirm; that during this entire in- terval you had been recognized as a clergyman In good standing in the diocese of Mississippi
 5. I affirm; that from October to the hour in which Bishop Beckwith received, through Bishop Bratton. the announce -nenI or your lOFIIldl dcqnlitdl, WHICH came to him in the form of a canonical letter dimissory. you were not recognized as a clergyman in good standing in the diocese of Alabama, and for proof of this statement refer to the fact that up to the hour named the bishop of this dlo- cese positively and persistently refused to give evidence that you were quail fled clergyman.
 6. I affirm; that since the reception of that letter dmissory in eanonical form. no clergyman in this diocese has refused standing.
 Personal Course.
 And this leads very naturally to a few words of pers Il character.
 Your words are ,ioulated to leave upon the public the impression that I have sought to reflect upon you and to lessen your influence as rector of the Advent. Such an impression youlG prove a very great injustice to me. Some weeks ago wrote to Col. Pearson that l was pre- pared to welcome you as a Christian gentleman and an able, earnest minister of Christ"
 You know, and every member of youi vestry knows, that l have been striving ever since the council to arrange matters so that, as secretary I could place you in the Journal as clergyman in good standing in this diocese and the rector of one of its largest parishes ] made to your vestry a proposition by the accep- tance of which this could be done. You of course, know that your yestry met on June 6, 1904 practically accepted my prop osition. formally elected you as rector, gave due notice to the bishop and thus complied with all the provisions of the canons.
 Rv a strict ccneiri1otion of the panons your election would date from June 0. At my personal request Bishop Beck with agreed to accept this action of the yestry as dating back 10 November D. 1903 the day on which the evidence in writing reached the vestry and thus au- thorized me to place your name in the Journal as rector of the Advent. As matter of fact this result is very largely due to my personal effor..
 I further declare most frankly and sincerely that in this whole matter I have had but one purpose, and that was to prove, If I could, that, In the eontro- versy between Bishop Beckwith and the Advent vestry, the bishop had been right, that his course had been consistent and just and that in every step he had beer sustained by the canons of the church, and am willing to let the public say how far you have succeeded in diverting attention rom these IHctS, Dy aSSallln5 me for the expression of an opinion.
 You published a certified extract from the minutes of the standing committee of the diocese of Mississippi. October g, 1903
 In regard to this 1 beg to say that this action seems to me a complete and hon orable acquittal of the cnarge or Yl-- lating the canon of marriage and divorce as that canon is construced in the dlo cese of Mississippi call attention tv the fact that this meeting was held on October g, 1903, and as the result ol this action Bishop Bratton wrote and Bishop Beckwith accepted the canonical letter by which you were transferred to this diocese.
 l regret that this action was not taken sooner, for l believe that If Bishop Brat- ton had received such information before the 4th of October he would have made his first letter canonical in form ane thus avoided all difficulty.
 You wax very warm in your defence of Bishop Bratton and charge me with refiecting upon his actions and his mo- lives. but your zeal in his behalf comes too late to be of much value. While find- ing fault with me you seem to forget that you have allowed your vestry to charge that bishop with agreeing to write letter which he intended to be un- satisfactory and which 1t is charged, Bishop Beckwith had agreed to decline. You allow your senior warden, over his cwn signature, to repeat in an open let ter, a statement which implies that charge. when you know, or should have known, that Bishop Bratton had posi- lively denied the charge in an autograph letter, and you permit that open letter to be reprinted and distributed through the mails. and all this without one word