officers and privates after surrender in at least two authenticated instances, hereafter "the members of any commando by which such an outrage is committed who may be captured, and, after trial, proved to have been present on such occasion, will be held guilty, whether they actually committed the deed or not; that the leader of the commando will be sentenced to death, and that the other members will be punished with death or less, according to the degree of complicity." English papers very generally condemn this measure, for two reasons: first, because it is not believed to be in accordance with the laws of war to visit the sins of the guilty on the guiltless in summary execution, and it is evident that such summary punishment might very likely fall upon soldiers or officers who had nothing whatever to do, directly or indirectly, with an act which might be committed, without orders, by a few men or even by one man; secondly, because it is considered that the measure will be totally futile, as, in the nature of the case, it will be impossible to produce the evidence called for by the proclamation. No important actions have taken place lately; the most sensational event of last week was Lord Kitchener's report that sixty-eight British soldiers had been captured by the Boers, and, as usual, disarmed and released. It is stated in the despatches that General French has columns closely following all the Boer commandos of any size.

in Manchuria

Conflicting reports have More Massacres arrived during the past week in regard to renewed bloodshed in Manchuria. One account states that several Christians have been killed by the Chinese; another asserts that two hundred peaceable Chinese subjects were lately killed by the Russians by mistake for Bazouk bandits, while a supplementary story asserts that, in addition, five hundred of the Bazouks were mercilessly put to death. It is doubtful whether the exact facts about these occurrences will ever be known, but there is some reason for believing that there are still serious disturbances in Manchuria, especially near the Korean frontier, where Russia, according to the Shanghai " Mercury," has now some twenty thousand men. That there should be uneasiness concern

ing Russian aggression in Manchuria is not to be wondered at when we remember the horrors of the Amur massacre of a year ago. That matter has never been fully explained, but Russian papers asserted that it was due largely to the misunderstanding of a telegram from St. Petersburg to the Russian general in command, General Gribski. It has been believed that General Gribski committed suicide on account of the serious reprimand received by him from St. Petersburg, but it is now stated that he was, in point of fact, banished to Kamchatka. Simultaneously comes the statement from Russia that the number of Chinese who were massacred at the Amur River, where men, women, and children were driven into the river to drown, was not five or six thousand, as previously reported, but only three thousand! Various reports come also from the interior of China to the Shanghai papers to the effect that scenes of disturbance and riot abound in the country, especially in northeast Shantung, and that anti-foreign placards are being posted even in Canton. These rumors must be taken with reserve, as reports from missionaries indicate that they are resuming their work in many places. Last week Prince Chung and Li-Hung-Chang notified the foreign Ministers that they were at last ready to sign the protocol for China, and by the time this paragraph is read the protocol, in all probability, will actually have been signed. Edicts have been received from the Emperor and Empress agreeing to the conditions of the Ministers in regard to the punishing of Chinese officials, the destruction of the forts, and the suspension of examinations for office.

Probably the Court will soon return to Peking. We can hardly take seriously the statement from Peking that Prince Chun, who is now in Berlin for the purpose of officially apologizing to Germany for the murder of her Minister, has asked by cable whether he is to comply with the demands of Emperor William that, when presented to the Emperor, the Prince must bow three times, while the Secretary of the Mission and other subordinates shall prostrate themselves and knock their heads nine times on the floor` before the Emperor. Certainly this would be a court ceremony which many would go far to see.

European Savagery

in Africa

Those who have read the story of Livingstone's Christian life and peaceful exploration in Africa, or the record of the achievements of Mr. J. Thomson, author of "Through Masai Land," in traversing unexplored African territory without arousing the enmity of the natives, will not admit that wholesale bloodshed is inseparable from expeditions of discovery in the Dark Continent. Yet that is practically the ground assumed by many leaders; the Germans and French more especially have a dark record of killing and devastation attached to their attempts at conquest and occupation in Africa. A striking illustration of this is found in an account of Major Marchand's famous march from the Congo to the Nile, lately written for "Collier's Weekly" by Mr. W. S. Cherry, a young American engineer and soldier of fortune, who had charge of a decrepit river steamer which followed Marchand as a basis of supplies. The object of the expedition is frankly stated to have been to strike a hard blow at British prestige on the Upper This effect of the Fashoda expedition was neutralized by the firmness of the British Foreign Office-firmness regarded by the French as brutal, and the retreat in diplomacy forced upon France did much to arouse in the French people the old, bitter anti-English prejudice. It may be doubted whether France gained materially in any way by Major Marchand's exploit, but personally he became a national hero. At what cost of life this honor was obtained may be judged from Mr. Cherry's narrative. He says that Major Marchand's name was a terror among the natives; above Brazzaville, on the Congo, in one preliminary campaign, two hundred native villages were burned, and the chief's head was cut off and brought in triumph to Brazzaville. Cumba, a populous native village, was surrounded before daybreak, a bugle-blast aroused the sleeping people, and as they rushed from their huts two hundred and fifty repeating rifles were turned on them, and the whole population-men, women, and children-were exterminated; "the wounded, appealing for mercy with outstretched arms, were finished where they fell." At another village, Mr. Cherry was informed, Major Marchand's Senegal soldiers wished to test the penetra

"Seven cap

tive powers of a new rifle. tives, their arms tied behind them, were placed in line, each with his belly to the next man's back. A corporal took the rifle; the officers looked on critically. The word was given, and the corporal fired straight at the breast of the first captive. All seven fell, pierced by the ball. The new rifle was declared a success." It is not surprising to learn that attacks upon the rear guard followed, but the natives had no modern arms or military efficiency, and so long as night surprises were guarded against the white men and their paid native soldiers had little resistance to meet in their "sport of shooting natives "-to quote one of the headlines of the narrative. From beginning to end the story as told by this American is one of death-dealing, cruelty, ravishment of native women, and wholesale burning of villages. Usually the excuse is made of some act of wrong-doing on the part of the natives, but it is impossible to decide who was the original aggressor, while it is not strange that the ignorant natives should take a hostile attitude to armed bodies of foreigners suddenly invading their country. That any serious attempt was made to. establish friendly relations or reassure the terror-stricken barbarians does not appear. Such tales of tracks of devastation left by advancing civilization may well suggest that the next International Peace Congress might properly consider the subject of the conduct of armed expeditions into uncivilized lands.

The Methodist Ecumenical

Conference

This great international gathering of the Methodist Church begins its session in London next week. The attendance of American delegates is large; among them are Bishop Hurst, Bishop. Vincent, Dr. A. B. Sanford, Dr. F. N. North, and many others of equal prominence in the Church. The Conference will be so large as to be unwieldy in a single body, and it will be divided, therefore, into two sections, one of three hundred and the other of two hundred members. The larger of these sections will be called the Western section, and will be composed of delegates from the United States and Canada, and the mission fields of these countries, while the

Eastern section will probably be composed of the delegates from Great Britain and from British missions. As the Conference is purely of an ecumenical character, it has, of course, no legislative functions, but will employ its energies in discussing important matters relating to the Methodist polity, doctrine, and discipline. The delegates will be about equally divided between ministers and laymen. The opening sermon is to be delivered by Bishop Galloway, of the American Methodist Church South, and all American Methodists are proud of the distinction thus conferred upon this country. A few of the subjects to be discussed at the Conference are formulated in the following titles: "Methodism and Education," "Biblical Criticism and Christian Faith," "Dealing with the Liquor Traffic," "Perversion of Wealth," "The Influence of Methodism in Promoting International Peace." The Outlook will, of course, give its readers in due time an account of the discussions in the Conference as viewed by representative delegates.

It was in April, 1899, that Mr. D. L. Moody accepted an invitation from the Presbyterian Social Union of Philadelphia to address this representative body of laymen of the Presbyterian Church in one of their monthly meetings. As one result of this address the Social Union appointed a committee of twelve men to consider the matter of summer evangelistic work. After a number of meetings of the committee, it was finally agreed to try one tent. This proved successful, and soon another was secured, and still later a third. During the first summer three tents were kept in use, with meetings every night except Saturday. The second year five tents were placed in operation. Tents have the advantage over church buildings or halls as places of meeting in that they are cooler, more attractive and inviting to the people who are not accustomed to attending church, and who, in some cases, could not be persuaded to enter a church. The tents are well lighted, have light folding chairs, and there is a platform large enough to accommodate twenty five singers, an organ, and the speakers, erected at the side or end of each tent. No col

The Gospel Tent Movement in Philadelphia

lections are taken in the meetings, as a rule. Everything is avoided that could possibly be misconstrued by the most skeptical. The cost the first year was about $9,000; the second, over $11,000, the entire amount being raised by individual gifts. Eight weeks have elapsed since the committee entered upon its present summer campaign, and the interest displayed in the movement is most encouraging. Doubtless many have been brought into touch with Christian workers who could have been reached in no other way. During one week alone 20,000 persons were in attendance at the various tents. Evangelists and helpers are endeavoring to enlist volunteer workers and are starting them over the community. During a single week over five hundred homes have been visited in this careful individual manner, and eleven cottage prayermeetings have been conducted. The committee now has in operation seven Gospel tents, and in addition is conducting noonday services in Independence Square and at the City Hall. Two churches are being built as a result of the tent work.

The summer assemblies Disciple Assemblies of the Disciples of Christ are growing both in number and in educational and religious significance. The oldest and most important of these is Bethany Assembly at Bethany Park, Ind., which occupies about three weeks each summer, and is devoted to the interests of the Disciples in Indiana especially, and to their work in general. Missionary conventions, Sunday-school conferences, ministerial associations, popular lectures on current religious and educational themes, Christian Endeavor rallies, and other like matters, constitute the programme. One of the best features of the assembly is the series of lectures given each year to the preachers by some strong educator. Eureka Assembly, at Eureka, Ill., is conducted along similar lines, but is more distinctly educational in character than Bethany Assembly. The second annual Assembly held at Gordonsville, Va., was more successful than the first, and the outlook for future summer gatherings there is bright with promise. programme at Gordonsville consists largely of popular lectures and preaching.

The

The South Kentucky Institute at May field was especially successful, considering the fact that it is new. The principal popular feature of this summer school

reading, and short addresses. The final meeting is a preaching service.

and revelation showing the compatibility between the two. This institute was largely attended by young ministers of the Gospel. The newest of all is the Bethany Beach Assembly, opened in July last at Bethany Beach, Del. Preaching services, popular lectures and entertain ments, comprised the essential features.

Ocean Grove Meetings

இ

Perhaps the most popular and largely attended summer services in the world are those annually held at Ocean Grove on the New Jersey coast, under the auspices of the Methodists. The summer gatherings at Northfield are more interdenominational, as they are more strictly educational in character and prove more attractive to preachers, Sunday-school teachers, and Christian workers in general. But Ocean Grove is attended more largely by the public in general, and the days of service on the beach are crowded full of varied religious interests, including even some features which have an over-sensational flavor. Eleven or twelve distinct services are held each day: an early consecration meeting at 5:45; an hour later, in the auditorium, family devotions, for the benefit of the families in the hotels, are conducted. This latter is a unique service and is largely attended. At 9 A.M. on Sundays three or four meetings are held simultaneously, consisting of young people's consecration service, evangelist meetings, testimonials, and love feasts. The great service of praise is held at ten o'clock; in this an orchestra of forty musicians and a chorus of two hundred voices leads the congregations, consisting sometimes of as many as twelve thousand people. This is followed by the preaching service. At 2:30 (on Sundays) the Sunday-school is held, succeeded an hour later by a meeting for children in the Temple. After this comes the service of exhortation, in which many ministers take part, followed by the great open-air service at the foot of Ocean Pathway, when thousands of people gather for this surf service, as it is sometimes called, which consists of singing, praying, responsive Bible

During the month just ended there. were in this country four lynchings in which the victims were burned at the stake. The details of the horrible scenes have been published far and wide, so that the whole country has been made to know the depths of the savagery to which our race, in widely separated communities, has reverted.

Ten years ago cruelty such as the mobs have exhibited sickened us when we read of it in Parkman's account of Mohawk wars, and we thought of it as showing how completely we had outgrown the instincts of barbarous races. To-day the communities where these horrors occur preserve as mementos the evidences of their savagery, and newspapers all over the country treat the details as sensation and not as a disgrace. There is, in fact, only one hopeful feature to the increasingly depressing situation, and that is that clear-sighted men at the South have begun to recognize that the horrors perpetrated by the mobs do not check the crimes against which they are directed; and there is reason to hope that in the North communities, if not newspapers, will soon begin to perceive that the detailed narration of these horrors simply demoralizes the larger part of the public which comes in contact with it. As to contact with physical evil we are all quite clear. No. one in his senses will touch physical disease unless his work is to cure. There is the same danger from contact with moral disease, and the same need of restricting it to those who have purpose to heal. Even these, unless they have the equipment of moral physicians, approach crime at their peril.

But the awakening needed at the North. to check the brutalizing descriptions of brutality is apart from the purpose of the present article. That which now deserves attention is the awakening already begun at the South respecting the inefficacy of lynching as a deterrent for the crimes committed by the victims. Several Southern newspapers have recently given expression to this thought, which the

in the following striking terms:

An epidemic of the most horrible of crimes has swept over the country within the last few weeks. Following the triple lynching at Carrollton, Miss., came a series of crimes by negroes against white people, chiefly against white women. The same thing was noticed after the Sam Hose affair in Georgia two years ago. That "fearful example" was succeeded by a series of murders and assaults by negroes, leading to a series of lynchings, in some of which the methods then employed were imitated.

What, then, is the effect of lynchings? There is certainly no evidence to substantiate a claim that lynching serves as a deterrent, causing negroes to refrain from the crime or crimes for which it is employed as a punishment. News of such occurrences is gained from the gossip that is so rapid in its transit and in its exaggeration among the members of that race. By the time the subject has passed among a few of the negroes their characteristic ardor is aroused, and the victim, instead of being a brute properly punished, is in their eyes a hero and a martyr.

These are hard sayings, but every one who knows the negro knows they are true. And, knowing them to be true, it ought to be readily seen how impossible it is to expect lynching to serve as a deterrent of crime among the negroes.

The negro about to be lynched generally manages to retain his composure. The negro is fond of the spectacular, and if the choice of methods were left to him he would choose the death that would attract greatest attention.

Close students of history and all stu dents of criminology will agree that it is not merely the characteristics of negro nature that are noted here, but the characteristics of human nature., Booker Washington has shown that more than four-fifths of the negroes lynched in this country are not even accused of the crime of assault, and all negroes know that the victims in most cases are killed without trial, not because of their crime, but because of their color. When any man of any race is made the victim of hatred against that race, he is immediately exalted into a hero. Dreyfus and Kruger illustrate the principle to-day, and every international episode in the past furnishes other illustrations. Indeed, it is not necessary that the victim of obvious wrong shall appeal to so powerful a sense of sympathy as that which springs from race feeling. The men of every party who have been the victims of hostility against it have become party heroes. Charles I. in Eng

land and Louis XVI. in France show how royalist reactionaries have been ready to

their faction regardless of their personal qualities, while Wilkes in England and Marat in France show that radicals are dominated by the same sentiments. Few personalities have been more repellent than that of. Wilkes, yet his wrongful exclusion from Parliament not only made him a hero among Liberals, but, Cowper tells us, caused him to be the special object of prayers among people who cared nothing for his sentiments, and only knew he was wronged. Marat still better illustrates the universal human sentiment, since his murder by Charlotte Corday not only made him a hero among his fellowJacobins, who had personally detested him, but lifted into power the faction which Charlotte Corday sought to destroy. It is not, therefore, merely negro nature but human nature which exalts the victims of lynch law into positions of importance as representatives of their race.

In its effect upon the criminal, therefore, the result of denying a fair trial is to transfer him from an object of execration into an object of sympathy, and force the members of his race to become his partisans. The evil thus done is merely accentuated by the publicity of the execution, for the sudden importance of the victim is thereby proportionately increased. The theatrical instincts which are so strong among the criminals and egotists of all races are appealed to by publicity, and the lawlessness designed to put down lawlessness becomes a strong impulse toward its perpetration.

In its effect upon the community and the Nation the harmful results of lynching are of course still clearer, and this, too, is now being recognized at the South in a way that affords a hope of reformation. The savagery of last week's mob in Tennessee called forth this comment from the Nashville "American :”

The mob spirit thrives through suggestion. Lawlessness feeds on lawlessness. Formerly the mob was satisfied to hang its victim. When the Texas mob burned a negro, it was a shock to the country. The world regarded it with horror. But as crime becomes familiar, its

repulsiveness grows less. The first burning

of a victim by a mob suggests the crime to others, and it has been repeated so often that it has ceased to be more shocking to the benumbed public mind than an ordinary hanging formerly was. It has grown to be the common method of the mob. It will grow more