CHAPTER XV

ANTI-CHRISTIAN FORCES

The Drink Traffic-Degraded Womanhood-The Ancient Ethical Systems.

The Drink Traffic as an Anti-Christian Force

REV. JOHN G. PATON, D.D., New Hebrides, Missionary, Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Australia.*

After we give the Gospel to the heathen, and life and property are safe, trade follows us, not to uphold the work of God, but to give the natives rum and brandy, which ruin both their bodies and their souls. I have been sent to remonstrate with the traders' agent not to give to the young men, the natives, this maddening liquor, and he would stop it for a short time, and then return to it again. At last we sent a deputation to him, but he said he could not help it, he could not stop the business; to do so would ruin himself, his wife, and his children. On the west side of our island, three years ago, a missionary was placed. At the time he did not know a word of the language. He labored hard, and he succeeded in converting many of the people. After the chief of the natives there had embraced the Gospel, this chief came one morning to the missionary and implored him to go with him to the American traders and beseech them not to give his men the "white man's firewater"; for, he said, "When their reason is dethroned by it and they are brought under its influence they commit shocking crimes, and I have no power to prevent them. It is working havoc here among my people. I have wept over it. When you come to give us the Gospel, why do your countrymen come with the white man's firewater to destroy our people?" These natives eagerly desire to embrace Christianity, but when they are under the influence of liquor they shoot each other, and they shoot themselves. Even a white man sometimes, under its dethroning influence over the reason, shoots his friend, and not a few of them have fallen victims to their own madness. We grieve over this, my friends. The Australian churches support that mission, and the mission sent me to America eight years ago to appeal to the American people, and to the President of the United States, and to the Congress of the United States, to place American traders under the same prohibition that England has placed her traders under in regard to the sale of intoxicating liquors, and ammunition, and opium. At that

*Carnegie Hall, April 30.

time, when I came here, I spent several months in America pleading with God's people, and thousands sent in petitions to the President and to Congress, beseeching that this foul stain upon America's honor should be wiped off, and that the traders of the United States Government should be placed under the same prohibition that Great Britain has placed hers under; but somehow, though President Harrison was eager to join the prohibition, and President McKinley, following him, was equally eager, yet the documents were not sent out, and the object I had in view was not accomplished. I tell you, my friends, we have suffered a great deal during these eight years by the influence of intoxicating drink, and I am sent again to America to renew the plea that Christian America may do what Christian Britain has done in the interests of humanity, to prevent the mischiefs that have taken place every now and then by men under the influence of intoxicating liquors. I have appealed to the President, and I have appealed to Congress through the President, but it all seems of no avail-at least it has not accomplished anything up to this time. Week before last I went to Washington and had an interview with President McKinley. He received me very graciously, and promised that he would do what he could. I also had an interview with the Secretary of State. They both heard what I had to say, and they seemed to sympathize with me, and they said: "We will look into this question, and we will try, if possible, to do what you wish." Since then we received a letter from the Secretary of State saying that they can not interfere without an act of Congress. Certainly we never expected they could interfere without an act of Congress. We appealed to Congress through the President. Now, however, the Secretary of State tells us that they can not do anything for us unless there is an act of Congress passed. Surely there are some congressmen in America who, from the love of God and the responsibility of their positions, will take up such a question as we contend for and get the act passed. Surely, surely, America will unite and try to drive out from the Philippine Islands, and from every other island where it has acquired possession, the influence of this terrible curse.

We appeal to every Christian in America, and to every association in America, to try, if possible, to bring this about, and to try to get this Government to place its traders under the same prohibition that England places hers. It would not cost America one cent if she would only do this. France and Germany would almost surely follow. Then we would get this terrible hindrance to the work of God forever removed. We are doing all that is possible, and we hope, with God's blessing, that you will be led to act with us before God and man.

I return to the islands in a short time, and I shall be exceedingly grieved if I have to go home and report that we came again to America and appealed to get American traders put under the same prohibition that English traders are, and failed. Our missionaries have done, and are doing, all they can to Christianize those poor cannibals and teach them to serve the living God; and yet our own countrymen come there and undo the work we are doing, and fill

these people with liquor, and cause them to commit crimes while under its maddening influence.

C. F. HARFORD-BATTERSBY, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., Hon. Sec'y Native Races and Liquor Traffic United Committee, England.*

I do not think there can be two questions here as to the awful wrong of civilized nations taking strong drink to lead to the demoralization of the weak races committed to our care. The only excuse by which the stronger nations have gone into such countries as Africa and the islands of the sea is, it is said, that we believe these nations are too weak to protect themselves, and they need to be protected; and yet we know the awful history of this terrible curse of strong drink, and the way in which whole races have been almost exterminated by means of the traffic which has been carried to them by so-called civilized nations. I do not need to deal with that to-night, but I should like to tell you of what has been done to deal with this question. We have heard a great deal of the unfortunate divisions between Christian peoples; of the need of co-operation in different questions. Thank God, on this great question it is possible to have co-operation; and I am thankful to be able to say that the Committee with which I am connected is representative of every great missionary society in Great Britain, and also of almost every great temperance society. We have formed a federation of all these societies to deal with this question of the protection of the native races from the liquor traffic. It was formed in 1887. In three years' time the subject of the liquor traffic was brought before the great conference of the Powers of Europe in Brussels. That conference was glad to deal with the slave trade, but at the instigation of the British Government, acting under the influence of this Committee, this subject was dealt with by that conference, and regulations were made in regard to Africa by which the liquor traffic has been prohibited from entering the greater part of the Congo Free State. It has been prohibited from entering the great territory in the upper waters of the Niger, and in that recent conquest of Great Britain in the Egyptian Soudan we know that Lord Kitchener has declared that liquor shall not be allowed to be given to the native races. This is of very great importance. But something more was done. The principle was established at that time of international agreement on this question, and a small duty was put down as a minimum which should be recognized by all the civilized nations. Last year the conference of the Powers of Europe met to consider this one question alone. As someone has said, it was the most remarkable temperance meeting ever held in the history of the world, when the Powers of Europe sent representatives to meet together to consider a great temperance question. I think this is a great encouragement. It certainly is not any reason for us to rest upon our oars, however. We must never be satisfied until the same regulations are applied to every land, and until better regulations are established among all the weak races of the world.

*Carnegie Hall, April 30.

I have come here to-day as a representative of that Committee to plead with you, the people of the United States particularly, to join us in this great movement. We want you to co-operate with us. know something of the ardent spirit of those who feel in this matter. In Sierra Leone, where I have many times been, I remember there was one factory alone which did not sell strong drink; and the fact will interest you very much that the reason that strong drink was not sold in that factory, which was an American factory, was that the ladies of America had prevailed upon the heads of the company not to sell strong drink in connection with their trade. Now, then, what are you going to do?

We

I propose that there shall be formed in this country just such a committee as has been formed in England on this subject. We have representatives in Belgium, and in France, and in Germany. We want to make a great international committee on this subject. want representatives from all the Christian nations. We want them to stand shoulder to shoulder, that we may be able to keep one another informed of what is happening; that we may be able to do something to avert this terrible curse.

We appeal, then, to America to take up this question. I appeal to all the men and women workers represented here to see to it that there may be co-operation in this regard. I appeal to the temperance workers in the United States to deal with this matter fairly and brotherly, and with real common-sense, because we can do harm if we do not deal with the subject in a fair and common-sense way. We want to deal with this question as a serious one, in a serious way. I appeal to the statesmen of this country. This is a matter in the interest of commerce, because a people that are demoralized by rum are not a commercial people. I appeal to the press of this country-the press that wields such a powerful influence-to take this matter up and to agitate it, and see that the right opinion is formed on this important subject, and that we all co-operate as Christian men and women, as those who are interested in missions, in seeing that, whatever nation we belong to, our flag shall never be stained by the fact that we have helped demoralize the weaker races of the world.

What the United States Might Do

REV THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D., Brooklyn.*

Although it is not permissible to present resolutions to this Conference, if I were to do so I would frame one something like this:

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WHEREAS, One of the most serious obstacles to the spread of the gospel is the exportation of alcohol into heathen countries by Christian nations;

"Resolved, That our Christianity needs a little more christianizing at the core."

When ex-President Harrison gave the keynote to this Conference at its opening, he uttered these words: "The missionaries who go out from Christian lands go out as the pioneers of civilization, to unlock the treasuries of knowledge, and to bring the heathen to a *Carnegie Hall, April 30.

knowledge of Christ; and not to acquaint them with the vices of civilized peoples."

I am sure that the history of foreign missions has been a confirmation and a corroboration of his words; for think of the many years that ships from Christian nations have carried to heathen ports missionaries in the cabin and rum, firearms, and opium in the hold. Even such advanced nations as Great Britain and America have gone out to the heathen nations holding a Bible in one hand and a bottle in the other, and the bottle has sent ten men to perdition for every one that the Bible has brought to Christ.

Four years ago a Christian chieftain in Bechuanaland, converted under David Livingstone, went to London on the extraordinary mission to tell the Christian people of London that he had made a prohibitory law for the protection of his subjects, who were negroes; but he said the chief difficulty that he had to contend against was the smuggling in of liquors by British subjects, and he implored Her Majesty's Government to second his efforts to make prohibition successful. Think of it, a converted African savage on his knees before the Queen, imploring her people not to poison his nation!

Well, we have something nearer home than that: among all the honored heads that have been on this platform, not one has been looked upon with more reverence than the good, gray head of the veteran, Rev. Dr. John G. Paton, of New Hebrides. Since Livingstone went from his knees in Africa to God's throne, and the eloquence of Alexander Duff died away from the echo, no one has done more than Paton.

Now, my old friend, Dr. Paton, came here a few years ago to implore the American Government-yours and mine-to prohibit the importation of firearms and whisky among his Christians of New Hebrides. The grace of God had saved them from cannibalism, but the problem was whether they could be saved from the importations of Christian America. Now, you can not get anything closer than that.

You may be certain that I am not going to handle that hot potato of Philippine politics in a political way, but whatever may be the future relations of our country there, and whatever may be the attitude of our country to the millions of those human beings, we are now, before God and before Christendom, responsible for their morality as much as any mother is responsible for the morality of her child. They are under the flag. That means authority, opportunity, responsibility. Under the flag! It is a most terrible truth that that flag, our "Old Glory," as we call it, floats to-night over American drinking-dens and American slaughter-houses of body and soul in Manila. (Cries of "Shame!") Yes, shame! Shame! Oh, if it must hang above those drinking-hells, then, for Heaven's sake, hang it at half-mast! The flag that we love better than anything else except the Bible!

Well, the highest authority in reference to what the native race. has suffered comes from my friend Schurman, of Cornell University, who, you know, was the president of the commission that the President sent to the Philippines; and President Schurman says