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causes of dissatisfaction and to increase the prosperity of the Society, we request the President and Committee of the Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews to appoint four or five gentlemen, members of their Committee, to meet an equal number in Conference.
23. It is evident that such an enquiry cannot be satisfactorily conducted without full and free access to Official Documents. We shall, therefore, be prepared to furnish you, in due time, with a list of Documents in the Society's possession which are essential for the elucidation of the truth, in regard to the matters above mentioned.
On the 19th of March Mr. Goodhart wrote to the Bishop, stating that the Earl of Shaftesbury requested him to write at once and ask the Bishop who was the person intended in the nineteenth paragraph of the statement by the periphrase “their representative at Jerusalem.”
The Bishop, as had been previously stated to Mr. Goodhart, replied, “Dr. Macgowan.”
Mr. Goodhart answered, on 28th of March, that the statement contained some matter new to their Committee, and that without making further inquiries, it was out of the power of the Committee to reply.
At the request of his friends the Bishop reminded Mr. Goodhart that a friendly Conference had been applied for, and that any written answer that might be in the course of preparation would not meet their wishes. His Lordship concluded his letter, dated 31st March, in the following terms:—
“I beg, therefore, for an early answer to the query just stated; do your Committee entertain the request which has been made for a Conference ?”
To this Mr. Goodhart sent the following reply:—
My Dear Lord,
I received, on the 2d instant, your Lordship's letter of the 31st ult. The absence of the President of our Society, Lord Shaftesbury, in communication with whom every step in the matter has been taken, has prevented my writing to your Lordship sooner. Much of the matter in the statement received from your Lordship, as I believe I have before remarked, was quite new to our Committee. It was indispensable that we should communicate with some of the persons who may yet be living, as to the circumstances stated in the document, before we could hold any conference with the parties from whom that document originated. The President and Committee will, however, have no objection to meet the gentlemen your Lordship refers to, as soon as they are in a position to meet them, and of this I will duly apprise your Lordship, confiding, notwithstanding some parts of the statement, that your desire, as mentioned in your letter, is really to meet the parties who may be selected for the Conference, in a friendly spirit.
I remain, &c.
Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Rochester.
On the 19th April Mr. Goodhart applied for the names of those who would represent the Bishop and his friends in the Conference. Our names were accordingly sent, and on Saturday, the 28th April, the Conference met in the Society's rooms, 16, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
