Bishop Moore's Letter of Introduction to Asia
At the late General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, David H. Moore was elected bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church for Eastern Asia. August 29 Bishop Moore sailed from San Francisco to Nagasaki, Japan. Before he started, he received the following letter of introduction:— To the Naval and Military Commanders of the United States in China or on the Asiatic Station: This will present the Right Rev. David H. Moore, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church for Eastern Asia. He is one of the most distinguished divines in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and worthy of the highest confidence. I bespeak for Bishop Moore any courtesy which can consistently be shown him. Upon this the Christian Advocate remarks: “One so occupied as the President—especially in times like these—must often have to avail himself of an amanuensis or typewriter. No doubt this accounts for a title in the letter which is unknown to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Moore we know, and love to honor; but Right Rev. Bishop Moore we know not.” The insertion of this title, unknown among Methodists, makes it certain that the actual writing of that letter was not done by William McKinley, who is a Methodist. The insertion of that title also makes it practically a certainty that the amanuensis or the typewriter who did actually write the letter is a Catholic. Who but a Catholic—one who from infancy had been trained to speak of a bishop as “Right Rev.”—could possibly have attached to a Methodist such a title? To one to whom the principal thing known of a bishop is that he is “Right Rev.,” it was easy to conclude, if he thought at all, that since Mr. Moore is a bishop, he must be “Right Rev.;” and to such a one it would be perfectly natural, if he did not think, to write inadvertently the phrase “Right Rev.” in connection with the title “Bishop.” And this almost certainty that the said amanuensis, typewriter, or secretary, who is so close to the President of the United States that he can frame for him the wording of his letters, is a Catholic, carries with it also some very important considerations. If that is a certainty, then it is also a certainty that the Catholic Church has, in the most inner circle of official confidence of the President of the United States, the means of knowing what is passing in that innermost circle. And if this is not the certainty that thus is caused to appear, then it is one of the most peculiar mysteries of the day how, in a letter from William McKinley, a Methodist, there could have been written concerning a Methodist bishop the words “Right Rev.”