AGENTS AND AUXILIARIES.

JOHN GILL AND SUNDAY SCHOOLS. DURING a part of August and September Mr. John Gill has visited Nottingham, and has had an interview with a large number of Superintendents of the Sunday School Union, to whom he gave parcels for forty-eight Sunday Schools and adult classes. The parcels contained the HERALD OF PEACE, Report of the Peace Society, pamphlets and tracts for teachers, and illustrated tracts for the scholars. About 10,000 of such papers and tracts have thus been freely distributed in Nottingham. At several of the large and important schools J. Gill also gave addresses during his visit; he urged on them the importance of making the subject of Peace a part of their Christian teaching. Many of the superintendents promised to give an address to the school when the tracts are given. Several expressed their sympathy, and desire to promote "Peace on earth and goodwill to men."

LIVERPOOL PEACE SOCIETY.

The following resolution was passed at a recent meeting of the Committee of the Liverpool Peace Society :-"The Committee of the Liverpool Peace Society has heard with deep regret of the removal from earthly labours of Mr. William Jones. The Committee desires to place on record its high appreciation of the influence exercised and the great services rendered by him to the cause of Peace, and to proffer their respectful sympathy to the family in the loss they have been called upon to sustain."

MANCHESTER AUXILIARY.

Mr. Charles Stevenson reports :

The work at the Manchester branch during the summer has been more than usually interesting and varied. The John Bright League, which was formed as a wing of the Peace Society, held meetings on the 29th June, 28th July, and 1st September, all of which were very enthusiastic, resulting in good solid work in the interest of Peace. A letter was sent on the 28th July to Lord Salisbury, congratulating him on the general progress made by the Peace Congress at the Hague, and expressing the hope that the British Government will continue to uphold the principles of Peace. A protest was sent against the attempt of Lord Lansdowne to deal with the Ballot as regards the Militia, and the legal members of the Peace Committee are now studying Lord Lansdowne's Bill and the several Acts connected with the subject, with a view to further action. The unfortunate attitude of the Government on the Transvaal question has recently caused considerable feeling in Manchester, resulting in a most successful meeting at the St. James's Hall to protest against war with the Transvaal. A special Transvaal Committee has been formed, and Mr. Stevenson and some members of the Peace Committee are diligent workers on that Committee, which meets daily. The Peace Society is co-operating heartily with the rest of the Committee in organising meetings of protest on this vital question. Preparations are already being made for Peace Sunday. Mr. Stevenson has addressed the following meetings since last report :-Mill Street, Ancoats; Queen Street P.S.Ä., Chester; Hale Road Baptist Chapel, Altrincham (twice); Longsight Baptist Mission; Old Garrett Mission and Ivy P.S.A., Longsight; Russell Street; Chapel Street P.M.E.; Bramhall Baptist Chapel.

Since the Congress at the Hague, Mr. Stevenson has made, in conjunction with Dr. Darby, a collection of nearly sixty photographs, both of leading Delegates and views of the Hague, and next month a lecture will be ready, illustrated by lantern views, for which he is now booking engagements.

WISBECH LOCAL PEACE ASSOCIATION.

The Committee of the Wisbech Local Peace Association, held September 11th, unanimously adopted the following resolutions:1. This Committee enters a strong protest against any such thing as warlike coercion of the Transvaal Government, being persuaded that there is nothing in dispute which cannot be adjusted by fair and pacific means. They hold that a war with this small and independent State would be a blot upon England's honour."

"2. The Committee of this Association (including several thousand members) desires to enter an emphatic protest against the suggestions made by Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords,

proposing to enforce certain suspended Clauses in the Militia Act, with a view to the introduction of compulsory service. They further urge the repeal of these Clauses, which they regard as embodying a gross interference with the liberty of the subject and with liberty of conscience."

THE BERNE PEACE BUREAU.

WE learn from a letter received from Miss P. H. Peckover, President of the Wisbech Local Peace Association, that that Association "nominated Dr. Darby for the additional vacant seat on the Berne Bureau Commission."

The General Meeting of the Bureau took place at Berne on the 22nd and 23rd September, under the presidency of Mr. Frederic Bajer, forty-six Peace Societies being represented, and unanimously accepted the nomination and elected Dr. Darby as a member. The other new members chosen were M. Gaston Moch, of Paris; M. Kemény, of Buda Pesth; M. Baart de la Faille, of Holland; and M. Giretti, of Torre Pellice.

THE ANGEL OF ARBITRATION.
SUFFER the wrong, and be as Christ!
Take up the glorious cross of scorn!
If self but first be sacrificed,

Go forth and champion the forlorn.
Stamp thou the features of thy Lord
On every instrument of war;
Success itself shall be abhorred,

If aught those sacred features mar. Though friendless, brave the holy strife, Though centuries and saints be blind; The lever of One lonely life

Has lift the standard of mankind.

Go, turn the water into wine

The weak resolve to godlike deed! New chivalry's fair contract sign,

Where the old knighthood's gone to seed.

Establish conscience on the throne
Alike of citizens and kings!
Let justice for the past atone,
Mercy unveil her shining springs !

'Tis conscience hands from soul to soul
The burning messages of God;
'Tis conscience reads aloud the scroll
That awes the breast long passion-trod.
Is there no sovereign voice to call
From wreck the nations panic-driven ?
Conscience, make heroes of us all!
Peace, bind afresh tossed earth to heaven!
Angel of Arbitration, stand,

And shining pierce, till realms beyond,
And earth's last proud reluctant land,
Shall own thy healing, hallowing bond!
Then gloriously to heaven upflee,
With all thy milk-white robes unbound,
Proclaiming time's new jubilee-
Bridal of nations garland-crowned.
Rev. CHARLES A. Fox,

In the Christian.

"Two dead Doones were left behind, whom I for my part was most thankful that I had not killed. For to have the life of a fellow-man laid upon one's conscience-deserved he his death, or deserved it not-is to my sense of right and wrong the heaviest of all burdens, and the one that wears most deeply inwards, with the dwelling of the mind on this view and on that of it."-LORNA DOONE.

CONTENTS.

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PEACE Sunday, which is always the Sunday next before Christmas Day, falls this year on the 24th December. The Committee of the Peace Society are again sending invitations for its observance to all beneficed clergymen and ministers in pastorates, to all P.S.A.'s, and to a number of Sunday School teachers. As usual they offer to forward information and literature free to all who intimate their desire to receive them, lists of publications being enclosed for this purpose. They will be glad to receive notices of sermons and addresses or other information of the observance of the day. The remarkable work of the Hague Conference, they urge, furnishes reason for special thanksgiving to the God of Peace; the actuality of war in the British Empire and the inflamed passions of the people are reasons for special prayer, and for Christian counsel and pacific advocacy.

IT is satisfactory to hear that Lord Pauncefote signed at the Hague, October 26th, on behalf of Great Britain, the two treaties concluded at the Peace Conference concerning the pacific settlement of international disputes and the codification of the laws and usages to be observed during wars on land.

To our deep regret and disappointment the red horse of war has begun his dread march in South Africa. We had a strong hope to the last that open rupture would be averted, and yet those who have followed the course of events could not help seeing that the whole quarrel with the Transvaal was being most assiduously worked up. That is undeniable. It is not at all astonishing that, under the circumstances, war, as Mr. Chamberlain has declared, was "inevitable.' But it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that it was

[PRICE 1d.

determined upon from the first, if not by the Government (which we will not believe), by those whose influence with the Government has proved all-powerful.

THE Daily Chronicle, in its issue of October 28th, supplies a very important piece of information which corroborates the above statement, and exposes one of the ways by which it was done. "The dispatch which we print below gives the entire text of an important message from President Steyn to Sir Alfred Milner, communicated at the most critical period of the negotiations. Only a portion of the dispatch was forwarded to Mr. Chamberlain by Sir A. Milner, who complained of its enormous length.' We are enabled to-day to publish the missing portions, which are distinguished from the actual dispatch as it appeared in the Blue-book. The introduction, which follows, was omitted altogether from the dispatch as received at the Colonial Office.

"THE effect of these omissions, which are given in full in the published dispatch, is thus stated:1. Parliament and the country have been prevented from taking note of the services already rendered by President Steyn as peacemaker and negotiator. It was he who brought about the Bloemfontein Conference at the request of the British Government. His influence weighed largely with the South African Republic in the subsequent negotiations and concessions. 2. The same with his declarations of unbroken friendship towards this country-a fact which enormously strengthens President Steyn's further offer of his services, but which is presumably set aside by Sir Alfred Milner as too lengthy for transmission. 3. Neither Mr. Chamberlain nor the country have had before them the circumstance that President Steyn was in a position to secure assurances from the Transvaal as to their unqualified acceptance of British paramountcy as defined by the Convention of 1884. This omission is of enormous consequence in face of Mr. Chamberlain's dispatch of September 8th, in which he declares that the Government can never recognise the status of the Transvaal as a Sovereign International State. President Steyn, as it turned out, was prepared to give satisfactory assurances on this point, and yet this vital fact was kept from Mr. Chamberlain's knowledge. So far as we can see, 'the gulf' which Mr. Chamberlain described as separating him from President Kruger would have been completely bridged if the offer had been made known and acted upon.'

THE following warning of what was termed "an infamous design" was given as long ago as last May : "We hope that the British public clearly perceives that it is being induced, with considerable art, to acquiesce in the perpetration of a crime. From time

to time Mr. Rhodes' instruments, who have one foot in South Africa and the other foot in the newspaper world of London, get up "booms or "scares" intended to produce in the mind of the British public a state of general inflammation against the Transvaal. The precise subject-matter of the scare is not of material importance. The need of the moment is that the public should be on its guard, so that it may take no step which it has not thought thoroughly out." It has been possible to follow the whole process; and we have done so with unspeakable sorrow and solicitude.

A STRONG point is made by the advocates of the present war out of the ultimatum presented by the Boers, which is described as a declaration of war. "We did not declare war," it is urged universally, "the Boers did; therefore they are responsible for the war." We may and do regret that ultimatum; but as a matter of fact no declaration of war has been made on either side; that untruth is exploded by the historic fact that point is, therefore, lost. There has been no declaration. The ultimatum stated that if the warlike action of Great Britain continued it would be considered as a declaration of war. The answer was what was anticipated, and war followed.

:

FROM the legal and military standpoint it is impossible "to see that Kruger was bound to wait until we declared war against him, if, by waiting, he would lose a military advantage. The last proposal of our Government was evaded and refused, and they then said that they should advance much more drastic reforms, implying that if these were not consented to we should enforce them (by war). If Kruger had categorically refused them, we should have tried so to enforce them, or we should not have made them, and the declaration-no doubt in very different language-would have come from the Imperial Gevernment. It suited the Transvaal, for some reasons, to wait a short time, and it would have suited us to wait a longer time." The Boers knew this, and when war became clearly inevitable, they accepted it-mistakenly as we think; but truth is truth, and truth is due even to enemies-to them most of all.

THE need of the hour is, for us, however, not so much to point out the mistakes and the crimes on either or both sides, as to enquire what our own duty is. Is there anything that we can do? Sadly, for the present, we must confess there is not. The "Peacemaker is for the moment powerless, and his best work is to recognise the magnitude and gravity of the existing state of affairs, and to seek in the present chaos any clues which may make for a just settlement hereafter." The time will come, and that soon, when the voice of reason will be heard. The terrible reality of war will soon temper the popular feeling. People rush into war with light heart, and with ringing of bells. Before long they will be wringing their hands, and the glad jubilations over Peace will rise as loudly as the clamour for its disturbance. Until that time comes it

is for the Peacemakers to be on the alert, and to keep their faith firm, their hearts calm, and, for the moment, their utterances also.

"IF," as says the Westminster Gazette," we look back on the past and criticise the course of the negotiations, it is for our own benefit and not for President Kruger's. By-and-by it may be for his benefit also, since a real knowledge of the causes which led to the present rupture must be helpful to a just settlement; but for the present we are thinking of ourselves. Are we in a strong position before the world? Can we afford to dismiss the violently hostile criticism directed at us from all parts of the Continent as merely jealous and unfounded? Can we regard it as reasonably proved that war was unavoidable, that it was all President Kruger's fault and none of Mr. Chamberlain's or the Government's? Unfortunately it is scarcely possible for a dispassionate man to satisfy himself on any of these points. Can any one say, after Lord Salisbury's speech in the House of Lords, that we are in a position which is easily defended on any principles, we will not say of private, but of international morality?" And if we are not, we should be the readier to listen to pacific counsels. It is a fundamental principle that we should keep our word not less to a weak country than to a strong one; it is another that being ourselves a strong country we are bound to treat a weak one with magnanimity and patient consideration. The English heart always responds to the claims of the "little" one.

I

WHILE the politicians are discussing the causes of the war in Parliament, the man in the street needs no discussion. His mind is made up, and he settles it dogmatically with even less wisdom than his rulers, and without appeal. Popular feeling is strong, but popular ignorance is amazing. Says a writer in the Lincoln Leader :-" I fell into conversation the other afternoon with a couple of well-known citizens, and our subject was the position of affairs in the Transvaal. challenged my friends to produce any two men in Lincoln who could absolutely agree upon the actual subject of quarrel. Oh! that's easy enough,' said one It seems to me,' he went on, that so long as England has the suzerainty she must make the Boers behave themselves.' I asked him to explain what he meant by that terribly long word 'suzerainty,' and hereupon his companion exhibited the depth of his wisdom. He very carefully assured me that 'suzerainty' meaut votes,' and that so long as England had the franchise herself she ought to give it to all her 'suzerains'!"

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THE usual ignorance sometimes visits the halls of discussion. A correspondent has been sending a

somewhat similar tale to the Daily News :-" I received a letter asking me to take the writer and an elderly gentleman to Cogers' Hall, just for once, to listen to the political debate. While excitement was at fever heat over the Transvaal question, the elderly gentleman whispered to me: 'But they have universal suffrage in the Transvaal, haven't they? I thought that was the custom of the Republic.' That gentleman takes in all the illustrated papers, Punch, and two daily papers." In the Church Debating Class, too, there is, as might be expected, quite as much dogmatism and as little reason. "The ex-President," it was said at one recently, "has declared from the platform of St. James's Hall that Mr. Stead used to agree with him, but that Mr. Stead has gone woefully wrong on this question." The ex-President must be right, Mr. Stead must be wrong, for the ex-President said so; so the question was, of course, settled for that class.

BUT one of the most remarkable instances of the partisan and popular war feeling inside a Christian church, which is supposed to be at any rate a small section of the Kingdom of Peace and Righteousness, occurred at Whitby. During a recent Sunday morning's service at Brunswick Wesleyan Church, in that town, the minister, the Rev. J. Hitchon, announced that a form of petition to the Government, urging a peaceful settlement of the Transvaal question on the ground that there was no reason for going to war, and a'so urging the Government to submit the whole of the matters in dispute to Arbitration on the lines suggested by the Hague Peace Conference, was awaiting the signatures of the congregation in the vestry. Thereupon a member of the congregation named Harrison Baxter, a wealthy managing steamship owner, rose, and in a voice heard all over the building, shouted, "You had better put it in the fire." At the close of the service some prominent members of the church gathered in the vestry and expressed indignation that such a petition should have been submitted to them. Mr. John Frank, County Councillor, made a speech expressing confidence in the Government, and recommending a spirited policy; and other gentlemen delivered like sentiments. The draft of the petition, which had only been signed by five persons, somehow or other disappeared in the excitement. So the loyalty due to the KING had to give place to that supposed to be due to the temporal sovereign, or rather to her Minister of State. Yet this Wesleyan Church hopes to "convert souls," and to "extend the Kingdom of Jesus Christ."

IT is refreshing after this to read the counsel of General William Booth to the Salvation Army. The "cold, hard, agonising fact" of the war, he says, is a great sorrow to him, for the following, among other reasons Because for the next few weeks-and no one

knows how much longer-Salvationists, of all people,

will be found in the ranks of both armies, not by their own desire (yet surely their presence is a voluntary one), but driven by a hard and cruel fate to the inhuman task of striving to take each other's lives; because of the evil spirit likely to be engendered; because of the suffering it will entail on multitudes; because of the great hindrance the war will be to their work (the work of the Kingdom of God), in this country by the preoccupation of men's minds and in

South Africa by the dead standstill therein which it will occasion. "But what can I do?" he asks painfully and pathetically, "my heart is torn asunder."

THE answer of this Christian leader we commend, at Jesus Christ. this juncture, to all who are seeking to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. "I may, however," he says, "indeed, I must, give a few counsels that may be of some little sershape or form, and to keep free from it, take a passing vice to my own people. Beware of the war fever in any counsel: 1. Don't take sides with either one party or the other, if you can help it. Remember, you stand in the place of Christ, and are the friends of both Boers and Britons, as you are of all other men. 2. Don't read or talk or hear more about the matter than you can help. 3. Be sure you keep clear in your own soul of every spark of the hellish fires of revenge, hatred, and malice, and all the other evil passions which will be raging in every direction. 4. Keep your own heart in harmony with the great heart of your Heavenly Father, and in love to all men. 5. Pray Pray. Pray. Live in the spirit of Intercession. Plead for a speedy termination of the horrid strife. Pray for your comrades the Leaguers and Reserve Men who are on the British side; and pray also for your comrades-the Transvaal Salvationists-who are on the other. Don't stop to quibble and argue as to how they got there, or why they should be there at all, but pray for them. 6. Give what you can to help the wounded and the suffering generally. 7. Go on with your own Salvation work, and go on with it in greater, deeper, truer earnestness. For Christ's sake, don't let the poor sinners suffer in one country because of this dreadful feud that is raging in another. Remember, all the time, that our God is over and above all, and is still able to bring good out of evil, as He has done so often before." These are wise and opportune words. It is the practical Atheism of the Church that renders such a war possible.

EXCELLENT Christian advice, too, is that given by The Neu's:-"We cannot attempt in these columns to describe the progress of the war in South Africa, or to discuss political considerations. Our thoughts centre on the sad lists of the slain and the wounded, significant to us all of smitten and sorrowful homes; and we can only trust and pray that in God's merciful Providence events may soon be overruled for future good to all in a lasting Peace. Meanwhile, from the Christian standpoint, we would urge upon all our readers the practical claims of sympathy with the suffering, and prayer for those who are engaged in conflict. The widow and the fatherless will not, we know, be forgotten by English hearts or hands; and we trust that a spirit of earnest prayer will be called into exercise throughout our land. In many a home hope the memory of the absent, in peril of life, may where prayer has not been "wont to be made," we be a call to that union in family desire and worship, which, if it were universal, would indeed be a pledge of national righteousness and national blessing."

THOSE who are moved by a true patriotism, and by a truly patriotic Imperialism, will not need our commendation of the following words, equally true, equally opportune, from the Baptist Freeman:-"The British

Empire can only accomplish its great mission in this world as it abides by righteousness, and carries Christianity to the regions beyond.' It has not been built by noisy clamour, nor by men whose greed for gold and hunger for land make them careless of anything else. Such men have no thought for the aboriginal tribes in the lands they covet; they are only concerned to exterminate them as quickly as possible. They look on missionaries as 'nuisances,' whose presence is a continual restraint and reproof. Their songs are those which may be heard through the swinging doors of public-houses, and their talk is of crushing, suppressing, sweeping off the face of the earth, men and women whose love of their Fatherland is thwarting their ambitions.

"BUT we have not so learned Christ.' In face of majorities, in face of popular frenzy, in face of the whole trend of national feeling, Christians have to remember that war means much more than can be covered by the word's three letters. It means death to brave fathers, death to innocent mothers and daughters; disaster to homes which are as dear to their owners as are our homes; devilry let loose on people who hardly know the bare reasons for the battle. Well may we pray that soon the strife may cease, and that men may learn the art of war no more."

ABOVE everything, as the Life of Faith counsels "Let us put far from us any thought that this war is of God. He is the God of Peace,' and, far beyond the men of Peace on earth, He has worked wisely and to the uttermost to prevent it. But if human history is not to cease to be moral, and become merely mechanical, there must be limits to His restraint of the passions and purposes of men. He will once more repeat the wonder of His pitiful mercy, and make the wrath of man to praise Him,' and 'restrain' the remainder: and we do well to plead earnestly that He will hasten the performance of His gracious Word." He will fulfil His own large purpose for humanity; but the method of love is of necessity slow, and men can learn to choose the way of life only through their own faults, follies, and even their disloyalties. It is well to remember that through the ages one increasing purpose runs, and that as the sea rises, notwithstanding the apparent retrogressions, so, spite of human greed, ambitions, and brute passions, His Kingdom shall come, His will shall be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Now is the time to rest in that certainty.

THE following recently appeared in a morning. paper:

But yesterday the world gave willing ear

What see we now?

To the Peace Rescript of the Great White Tzır; While some with joy uplifted, near and far Proclaimed the advent of the Golden Year, Foretold in divers songs of bardic seer. Once more the demon War Afflicts Humanity; his blazoned car, Propelled by the twin steeds, Passion and Fear, Has passed the door. So do the fitful dreams Of bliss halcyon swiftly pass away, Or thus to man's distorted gaze it seems. Yet why despair? Amid the frenzied play Of factious speech, Faith Godward looks. His promise true, and patient waits His day.

She deems

ARBITRATION JOTTINGS.

DELAGOA BAY ARBITRATION.

In reply to a question by Mr. Weir, in the House of Commons, Mr. Balfour said the award in regard to the Delago Bay Arbitration has not yet been given. It is expected to be given shortly. It will doubtless be given—some day.

THE COLUMBIA ARBITRATION AWARD.

On October 25th the Court of Arbitration established at the instance of the Governments of Great Britain and the South American Republic of Columbia, to decide the differences which have arisen between the Government of the Departinent of Antiognia, in Columbia, and the Government of Columbia, on the one hand, and the British Government on behalf of the firm of Punchard M. C. Taggart, Lowther & Co., of London, on the other, with regard to the construction of a railway from the town of Medelin to the Magdalen River in Columbia, at Lausanne delivered its judgment, which was laid before the President of the Swiss Confederation for communication to the parties concerned. The Columbian claims of 800,000 francs from the British are dismissed, and the British firm is awarded upwards of a million francs. The inatter has dragged on for years, and after the failure of one arbitration held on Columbian soil, it was finally submitted to the Swiss Government. It is a moral victory of the most substantial kind.

GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA.

It has been arranged between M. de Giers, the Russian Minister, and Mr. Bax Ironside, the British Chargé d'Affaires, to submit to Arbitration the difficulty arising out of the declaration of Russia that the title of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. to the property held by them in the Russian concession at Han-kau is not valid. The Novoye Vremya states that the Russian Government has thought it proper, in accordance with the general principles advocated by it at the Hague Conference, to submit the purely legal side of the claims of the firm mentioned to the decision of an Arbitration Court. This Court will have to examine from the strictly legal standpoint the degree of legality possessed by the documents produced by the British firm, to inquire how far legal formalities bave been observed in the matter, &c.

THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA.

It is announced that Russia has at last agreed to arbitrate with the United States on claims resulting from the seizure of sealers in Behring Sea, which have been pending for about eight years. A protocol between the two Governments has been drawn up, and the final formalities are expected to be concluded next month. The claims on which Russia is prepared to arbitrate originated in the Russians seizing three scalers of an aggregate value of $150,000. In each case the largest items in the accounts are for the sufferings of the officers and crews while they were detained. The cases differ from the claims presented by the British sealers and settled by the Behring Sea Arbitration in that, while the British vessels were seized by American cutters on what the Arbitration Court declared to be the high seas, the Russian warships seized the American sealers within seven miles of the Asiatic coast. Russia contends that the marine jurisdiction of a country extends to at least this distance. There will be but one Arbitrator, Dr. Asser, the Dutch jurist.

THE VENEZUELA ARBITRATION.

The Venezuela Arbitration Tribunal met for the last time at noon, October 3rd, at the Quai d'Orsay, to hear the award of the Arbitrators. Only five days had elapsed since the close of the oral argument, so that, unlike the proceedings of the Delagoa Bay Tribunal, the Arbitrators reached their decision very speedi'y. It is also a matter for congratulation that the decision was unanimous. The award, which is somewhat technical, and needs a map for its elucidation, was signed by "F. de Martens,” “Russell of Killowen," "R. Henn Collins," "Melville Weston Fuller," David J. Brewer." The award is fair to both parties, although slightly in favour of Venezuela; the frontier practically follows the Schomburg line, but Great Britain loses the mouth of the Orinoco. It has been favourably received by both parties.

At Caracas, Reuter reported, the arbitration award of the Paris Tribunal was received with satisfaction, the intelligent classes considering that the possession of Barima Point is of great advan