French Alarm Over English Mission Work in Algeria
There is considerable perturbation among the French authorities in Algeria, owing to the work of the North African Mission, which is chiefly carried on by English young ladies. The general council of the department of Constantine has addressed a note on the subject of the supreme authority, in which it states that the safety of Algeria is menaced by the work of the English Methodists (sic). “The English danger becomes from day to day more serious in Algeria, as its agents become more numerous. The Methodists and soldiers of the Salvation Army work under the guise of benevolence and charity, and thus attract the natives. They distribute money, clothes, medicines, Arabic books (among others, translations of the Bible), and in appearance they only occupy themselves with proselytism; but in reality a vast net of espionage is being drawn around us, and a propaganda of disaffection among our native subjects is being carried on.” The council, therefore, petitions the Ministry of the Interior to put an end to these maneuvers.—Revue des Missions Contemporaines.