THE REV MR BEAUMONT'S RETIREMENT.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 605, 4 December 1869, Page 2

THE REV MR BEAUMONT'S RETIREMENT.

(To the Editor of the Qrey R\ver Argw.) Siß^-It was with mingled feelings of regret and indignation that I perused the letter signed " K." in your issue of the 2nd inst.— regret, that any professing of the Anglician Church should endeavor to strengthen a malicious attack on a minister of his Church by statements which he must have known to be grossly untrue ; and indignation, that one b.o.universally beloved and respected (as Mr ' B.eaumont undoubtedly was and is) should have been so villified. "K." sets out by stating -thai " white there was yet time (i.e., for Mr Beaumont to stay in Greymouth if he so wished) he coquetted with his congregation to such an extent that they really did not know his wishes, he having within the last six months changed his mind about as many times, until the people were tired of waiting his final decision,'* &c, &c. The whole of the paragraph quoted from o,bove is a gross and deliberate — well, miss,tateuierit, the simple fact being that the congregation have repeatedly requested Mr Beaumont to remain permanently in Greymouth as, their pastor, which he as repeatedly decliued ; and as. late as last April a requisition signed by a la.rge majority of his congregation was presented to Mr Beaumont, asking him to alter his determination and remain with them. This was declined, as all prior ones had been also, when it was finally settled that the Bishop should be requested to obtain a clergy man from England. No further steps were taken by the congregation until the receipt of a telegram from the Ei3hop of Nelson stating that if Mr Beaumont would consent to remain in Greymouth the clergyman who had arrived from Englaud would be stationed at Westport. Then, and not till then, did Mr Beaumont change his mind. He immediately telegraphed to the Bishop that he would remain if unanimously requested by the congregation, to do so. An immediate decision being necessary, a meeting of the congregation was called by advertisement, signed by the only Churchwarden in Gruymouth. Short notice was all that could be given. At the meeting so called a resolution was unanimously passed requesting Mr Beaumont to remain. If " K." was present he must/ have voted for it. That resolution was forwarded by the Vestry both to the Bishop and to Mr Beaumont. The very next day it was publicly known that a petition was being hawked about the town for signature, the object beiug to call another meeting of the congregation to reconsider the decision of the previous meeting. The very men who were interested in getting up this petition being those who had joined in requesting Mr Beaumont to remain 'with them, what wonder, then, _ if Mr Beaumont, feeling naturally hurt at the way in which this was done (and also, I liaVe ho doubt), with men who could say one thing to his face and another behind his back, should retract his conditional promise to the Bishop, and refuse tie request conveyed to him by the Vestry... " K." gbps on to. say that "had .Mr Beaumont visited his parishioners personally," &c, "that he would not have had to complain of the objectionable way in which they expressed their nmv'LUinguess t*>. retain him, though he would have fouud that unwillingness far more deep seated thin he was aware of," «Kw. Certainly" if "K." is correct, the congregation must have disguised their feelings so. well that they deceived themselves. "Requests' to remain repeatedly proffered, both in public and private, are" surely a sufficient answer to this misstatrfinent, and I unhesitatingly . assert that no such unwillingness ever existed among the congregation as a whole, though a small, very small, secii ai of tlieni, of whom "K." would ba a fair sample, may have felt unwilling "toretain the services of a man whom they had neither brains, nor huart enough to appreciate, and perhaps: because he could not be * ' all things to all men.' " No mortal can hope to pleaso everybody and still do his duty. I now come to that portion of " X.'s" letter where he makes so coward'y. an attack on Mr Beaumont, for an attack is necessarily cowardly which commences directly you have disarmed your opponent, and this " K." most effectually does by attacking where no minister of the Gospel could reply— that work and its results v is ! not for us to judge of. Mr Baaumout'a, sphere of duty lay (where it would dp "K." no harm to visit occasionally), and that is among the poor, afflicted, and sick, ' a larger class amongst us than most are aware of, and that this duty was strictly and cheerfully carried out is known to dozens, aye, I may say hund:eJs of all creeds, both in this and all. other districts | where Mr Beaumont has so long and j faithfully fulfilled lm a.duoaa duties? > "K." may (and does) misconstrue the rev. gentleman's meaning if he thinks fit, bnt that meaning is as clear as noonda- . ' Mr Beaumont's reg.et is the natural (though fallacious) first thought and legret of all, on finding that length of services and a s!r .it and impartial fulfilment j of the duties allotted to us, will not pievent one's actions being misconstrued ai d words misrepresented. Such regrets will ' last as long a3 the world, and men in it ' like " K.", endure. ';.,:■ That Mr Beaumont's ministrations have been con-ined to a "select circle" outside of which he was unknown a* a minister of the Gospel is so grossly and palpably false that I shall pass it by without comment. That gentleman's name is a household word in too many homes aud tents in Westland for the above piece of petty malice to have any effect. Lastly, I shall also pass by the concluding assertions of "K.," wishing utterly to ignore his pretensions lo represent the bulk of the congregation—pretensions that must have taken their origin in the same prolific brain that engendered his letter and its assertions. The bulk of the congregation took the liberty (without '-' X's" consent, I have no doubt) of expressing at a parish : meeting their esteem and regard for Mr Beaumont as well as their appreciation of the services he had rendered the church in Greymouth. • I can only rogret .that one man's perverseness should have necessitated this long letter, written as a protest against the black ingratitude which is sought to be fixed on the members of our church in Greymouth. In conclusion, I would advise "K." not again to ERR. [We have published the above letter in order that both sides of the question may be fairly placed before the public. Any further correspondence on the subject must take place through our advertising columns. — Ed.}