The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-06-01
PEARSON SCORES
 BISHOP BECKWITH. Protests Against Bishops Atti- tude Toward Rev. Ewing WRITES AN OPEN LETTER Asks Why Bishop Waited Until coun- ell Adjourned Before Question
 ing Legality of MT. Ewins's
 Election as Rector.
WRITES AN OPEN LETTER


 Following is an open letter from R. H. Pearson to the secretary of the Epis- copal Council, protesting against a threatened injustice to the people of the Advent church:
 Rev. R. H. Cobbs Secretary of the Coun-
 ell, Greensboro, Ala
 Rev. and Dear Sir: I do hope that l said nothing in my short letter to you of a few days ago at which you could possibly be offended. If 1 did, 1t was not my intention and I herewith in advance apologize to you. I will not allow as far as I can help, any misunderstanding to come between us.
 What I intended and wanted to say to you as the secretary of the council, that l feared you were about to allow your self, as such secretary, 70 infilct great wrong, not only upon MT. Ewing person. ally, but upon the people of the Advent as we'll in that you had written that un- less the vestry would go back and re- elect MT. Ewing as the rector of the Ad- vent his name would not appear on the printed journal of the council as such rector. This same statement is made by the bishop by letter to the vestry bear tug date of May 20. 1904, in which letter he states that by reason of his certificate of qualification bearing date subsequent to the date of MT. Ewing's last election that his election is uncanonlcal and that unless the vestry conforms to the canons MT Ewing's name will not be enrolled as the rector of the Advent.
 l stated to you in my former letter that if you would allow yourself to believe that 1t was possible that the vestry of the Advent had not in the past and would not in the future violate any law or can on of our church, that then you would appreciate and better listen to a state- ment of the facts attempting to show that the vestry had in the election of MT. Ewing done all that the canons require of it to do.
 Attitude Not Understood.
 You will allow me to say in the be- ginning that the people throughout the diocese have totally misunderstood the attitude of the yestry in regard to this matter, as well as in regard to the un- pleasant controversy with the bishop. We have allowed ourselves to be misun- derstood and misrepresented in the hope that time would settle all these things, but we have been mistaken in this hope. But 1t is not for the special purpose now of removing this wrong impression that this letter is written except and in so far as the statement of the facts in relation to this particular transaction may do it. The special purpose of this letter is to give the facts in showing to you that If you carry out the intention as expressed by you as we'll as expressed by the bishop in his letter of May 20, that a great in- Justice will have been done and that we can only protest against such an injus- tice The vestry of the Advent has com piled fully and entirely, as they see and understand. with the requirements of the canon in the election of the Rev. Mr. Ewing as our rector. In trying to carry out the wishes of the bishop we have elected MT. Ewing three different times as rector of the Advent, and now 1t is in- sisted thatlwe must go back and go through the same ceremony the fourth time. You will remember that the GUS tom prevailing in the diocese for more than fifty years in the election of a rec tor has been to find a satisfactory man, and to elect him, after which we notify the bishop of such election. I do not be- 'lieve there is a clergyman in the diocese who has been elected in any other way, except 1t be the Rev. MT. Ewing. Thirty days before calling Mir. Ewing we had elected the Rev MT. Sears of Merid- ian, Miss, in this way and though the bishop was notified of his election, he made no possible objection to the mode of procedure, and when in August we came to elect Mir. Ewing in this manner and he having accepted the call and fixed the second Sunday in October for his coming, and the bishop notified of this by letter he took occasion to suggest to us that we had not conformed to section 1 of title 8, canon ?, and he insisted upon our con forming to the same Upon receipt of his said letter, in which nothing was inti- mated except desire to comply with the forms of the canon, the vestry at once met and had the secretary send to the bishop the following letter.