RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1551, 21 September 1912, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

J.HE PUTUMAYO CRUELTIES. CANON HEXSOX'S SERMON. The following is the concluding portion of Canon Henson's striking .tcrinon in W estmnister Abbey- (referred to in a cablegram a week or two ago) regarding the Pulumayo cruelties :— I have dwelt at such length on the case of the directors because 1 desire in this church—the central shrine of Englishspeaking Christendom, where an ancient unci religious race preserves with jealous regard tho memorials of those whose s,crvico to tho poor, the suffering, and the oppressed has illuminated tho national history and exalted the national idcijl— (o express what is certainly in the mind of thousands of considering men and women throughout tho British Empire and the United States of America, that the time has come for such change, of commercial law as. shall render it impossible for thoso who make money by the oppression of native races to wash their hands of all responsibility for the crimes of their agents in those regions, however remote, where their wealth is gained. The . actual perpetrators of thoso foul deeds, which have destroyed so many thousands of Indians, are beyond our reach. They are'eontinuing, it seems, fairly certain, their abominable work. • They are well assured 'that, - even if the i slow action of the Anglo-Saxon Powers shall at length arrest their villainies, they will be suffered to escape with the rewards of iniquity from the scenes of then , -crime. But their employers, with whose guilfy—even if unknowing—connivance their crimes were committed, and who shared out the bloodstained gains which they transmitted, are hero among us. Is it not the irreducible demand of justice that those men should bo brought to public trial P'

But while these necessarv changes are being effected the miserable remnant of Ihe native population is being destroyed by the vile brutalities'which this Bluo Book has disclosed. Something must be (lone at orie'e if this great iniquity is not to be accomplished. The prompt action of the Governments of Great Britain and the United States might effect something (and that such action may bo ta'en there is urgent need that public opinion should show itself insistent on the subject), but political action must be slow, and can at best only be temporary. There is need of another kind of action if the hand of the oppressor is to be arrested and his victims relieved and res- ■ cued. Sir Roger Casement, who has fully earned the right (o direct us, holds that tho establishment of a Christian Mission in the Putumayo district would do this, and that, in the circumstances, that'mission must be organised and carried on by the Roman Catholic Church. "Xo other Church," he says, ' "is recognised in Peru, and the very constitution of the country declares this to be tho case ,in the most explicit terms. Other forms of Christian belief have no hold on the mind or feeling of the people, and no recognition could be accorded by the Government to anybody outside the Roman Catholic Communion." Sir Edward Grey supports this view, which is indral most self-evident,, It would seem, therefore, that the duty of attempting this work rests primarily with the Roman Catholic. Church, and : that- tho members of other Christian Churches will best fulfil their own duty in the matter by support-ine-.the efforts of that CnimU." T venture to hope that m.Mi.v English Churchmen will send contributions to the fund which has been opened.by the Duke of Norfolk and others, in order to Taiso without delay the sum (,£15.000) which is said to be required. It has been officially announced that the projected Mission is to be entrusted to the English Franciscms, anarramrement which willundoubtfilly prive satisfaction in this.'country. This is no time, when the Indians aro perishing, .to .debate.the merits of Cliur-.' dies, and to inflame the mind with tho recollections of ecclesiastical differences mid conflicts. ' 'For my part, I prefer In recall ( the ' glorious achievements of Roman Catholic missionaries in the past aiMrin?tlib;'pl , | !!^ii'.'V;, , 'l:;r'efnse to see in I bom ,'iiiy _ other character, than that of, fellow-Christinas called to'.an urgent and heroic work: I rejoice to , aid their effort, and I pray God to bless it.-