OUR LONDON LETTER, by M. Ellsworth Olsen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 11, 1903

OUR LONDON LETTER,

By M. Ellsworth Olsen

The Imperialistic Trend—Lessons from the Venezuela Trouble—Germany or the United States—State of Religion—Necrological—A Question of Diet.

LONDON is very quiet just now; so is the whole country. Parliament adjourned for the Christmas holidays, and will not meet till about the middle of next month. The last week or two of the session the interest waned decidedly, and the concluding portions of the Educational Bill were closured through in a very matter-of-course way. The bill has passed, and, according to present prospects, its enforcement will not meet with very serious opposition.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the present government is strongly reactionary and conservative, and in this attitude it is supported by public opinion. The Liberal Party was broken up by the divisions among its leading members growing out of the South African war. The predominant note in Great Britain is strongly imperialistic. And altho, as a result of the war, taxes have been considerably increased, and a debt has been incurred which it will take many years to pay off, the government is still popular with the people.

Gladstone, Bright, and Cobden who stood for broad principles and were more jealous of their country's honor than anxious to increase its dominions, are not so highly regarded in these days. The Cobden Club, to give an instance, has recently been held up to ridicule by one of the leading dailies, on the ground of its having a considerable number of members. The principle of free trade has also been attacked, and urgent pleas put forth for protection and enforced military service. If the reactionary current increases in volume and intensity in the future as it has during the last ten years, England will have become quite a different country.

The Venezuela incident has made one fact notably clear, and that is the strong feeling on the part of the general public against any course of action likely to endanger the friendly relations with America. England has lost prestige through the South African war; she has been humbled as a nation, but has not necessarily learned the lesson of humility. Nevertheless, this, together with the remarkable commercial development of her two chief rivals, America and Germany, has helped to lower the standing of England as a great world power. Naturally, under these circumstances, the mother country turns to its prosperous and powerful daughter. Mr. Carnegie in a recent address before the students of St. Andrews University, Edinburgh, stated that he believed it would be necessary for Great Britain, in the near future, to choose between the leadership of the United States and that of Germany. Of course, if it comes to this, there is no doubt as to the choice. Between the people of Germany and England, there is a deeply-rooted dislike, whereas the feeling toward America is continually growing more cordial. This is entirely in harmony with the prophecies of Holy Writ, which go to show that the United States will lead out in a world movement, imperialistic and arbitrary to the core, and calculated to give the final death blow to civil and religious liberty.

In my previous letter I mentioned the agitation in the church over the heretical teachings of the Dean of Ripon. It did not last long; now for two or three weeks the subject has not been mentioned at all. Dr. Cheyne's defense of his “advanced” views appearing in a popular review, proved to be a very weak thing, and did not awaken a great amount of discussion. In fact, business matters are far more interesting to the average Englishman than anything else except sport; the latter is the one subject really popular. As Mr. Stead well puts it in his recent annual, the English have “many religions, but not much religion.” A careful census of church-goers taken during the closing weeks of last year in Liverpool, and in different districts of London, shows a general falling off in church attendance except in the case of the Roman Catholics, who, at least in Liverpool, have made a slight gain.

The obituary list of the closing part of the year 1902 included some noted members of the clergy. First in order, Mr. Hugh Price Hughes, a very able and energetic Wesleyan (Methodist) preacher succumbed to overwork and severe mental strain, dying at the comparatively early age of fifty-five. Next followed Dr. Joseph Parker, by far the most powerful and influential of the Congregational ministers, and a really national character. For the last thirty years and more he ministered in the famous City Temple, in London, exerting a powerful influence not only upon the members directly which filled the Temple twice on Sunday, but indirectly upon the public through his one o'clock services on Thursdays, attended by numbers of clergymen. Both Mr. Hughes and Mr. Parker were believers in the inspiration of the Bible, and, in the main, simple and direct in their expositions of the Scriptures. Thus the cause of Bible religion has lost two able advocates.

Dr. Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Primate of all England, had been visibly failing in health, and so his death did not come unexpected. He was an ardent advocate of total abstinence, also a resolute opponent of the ritualistic party in the church, and in spite of his great age, an energetic administrator of his high office. His successor's character is not so well known, but he is highly esteemed in court circles, and this has doubtless been largely instrumental in securing his appointment. His attitude toward the Ritualists will be watched with some interest; but whether he is favorable or not, will not matter greatly in the long run. The Ritualists are strongly entrenched in the very life of the nation, and can well afford to bide their time. The main bulwarks of national Protestantism are largely beaten down already, and it will not require a great effort to finish the work.

To take up another subject, which has loomed large in the public mind during the last few weeks, mention must be made of the oyster scare. Following close upon a mayor's banquet at Winchester a number of the distinguished guests were suddenly taken sick. Investigation traced the difficulty to the oysters partaken of, which it was found came from beds infected with sewage. About the same time similar cases were reported from Portsmouth and other places. Several died, among them the Dean of Winchester, an able scholar and popular preacher.

The oyster market as a whole was affected very seriously, while it was absolutely impossible to sell any bivalves coming from the beds named as affected by sewage. The investigation is still going on, and recently several new beds have been condemned. The oyster scare, following so close upon the cases of poisoning from pork pies, has turned public attention to the matter of diet reform, and the Daily Mail, which has by far the largest circulation of any daily in this country, has recently published a series of articles on the subject of Vegetarianism, written by Mr. Eustace Miles, amateur champion for tennis and rackets and an enthusiast in food reforms.

M. ELLSWORTH OLSEN.

Jan. 14, 1903.