The Missionaries and the Turkish Indemnity
By Editor
Thousands upon thousands are jubilant over the relief of Mafeking and the rescue of brave Baden-Powell and his little band of defenders. Thousands are cheering their loyalty to queen and country. Yet, after all, this deliverance is but temporal. Every one of that little company may meet a worse fate. We do not know whether Heaven rejoiced over the victory or not; we know it does not over the idolatry of men. But there is a deliverance over which Heaven rejoices, and that is deliverance from sin and Satan's power. Are you, dear soul, starved in heart, dejected, miserable, despairing, shut in by sin and Satan?—Well, there is deliverance for you in Jesus Christ. Do not endeavor to fight sin, surrender to Jesus Christ, and find in that surrender victory, and in the bondage of His love, eternal liberty. And all Heaven, as well as your own heart, will rejoice. The Missionaries and the Turkish Indemnity.
The New York Independent calls attention to the fact that it is not the missionaries who are making these charges for indemnity: "As soon as the losses occurred, the United States Minister, Judge Terrell, officially called for an itemized statement of all losses sustained. Lists were carefully prepared, which were subsequently revised so as to cover actual losses to property, real and personal; and it is this list alone which is under consideration. Thus $73,807 are asked for Harput. This includes $36,500 for the total loss of all the buildings of the female department of Euphrates College, and all but two of the male department, as well as the theological seminary of the mission and eight dwelling-houses. Other items were $6,695 for apparatus, libraries, etc.; personal losses of the sixteen adult missionaries, amounting to $24,467; losses by students and native teachers, $3,530, and consequent damages, $2,615. Very gross misstatements have been made with regard to the personal charges. Thus one charge of $3,674 has been exaggerated to $9,010; another of $25,000 to $72,000, and so on. The whole list has been carefully supervised by the United States legation, and represents not the claim of missionaries for damage done to missionary work, but of the United States Government for material losses to American citizens. It is in view of this that Minister Straus takes his stand so strongly in favor of pressing the claim against the Turkish Government." And yet it is true that the most insistent demands that the money shall be collected, by force if necessary, have come from professed Christians.