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London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews.
At a Meeting of the Committee, held at the Society's House, 16, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 24th July, 1866,
Read letter from the Rev. C. F. S. Money, dated July 21, forwarding copy of resolution passed at a meeting held at the Bishop of Rochester's, 20th July, 1866.
Having also read letter from the Rev. Joseph B. M'Caul to the Editor of the “Standard” newspaper, published July 19th,
Resolved—That this Committee having been informed of the last proposal made by their side of the Conference, and accepted by the other side, were desirous of carrying into effect any recommendation of their section of the Conference, and were really anxious to bring the inquiry, if possible, to a speedy and satisfactory termination ; but that they felt the utter hopelessness of proceeding by any form of Conference, and therefore superseded, as they considered they had a perfect right to do, the proposal referred to above, and proposed in lieu of it a reference to one legal arbitrator, which has been declined by the Bishop of Rochester and his friends.
That what has transpired since then,—especially the publication, in the newspaper, of the letter of the Rev. J. B. M'Caul, so directly counter to Mr. Money's desire, expressed in his letter, of avoiding publicity, and giving so unfair and inaccurate a representation of what actually occurred at the Conference,—compels this Committee to state, with much reluctance, that they must decline a Conference as proposed to be renewed; and that they feel that there is no other alternative than to leave each side to pursue its own course in the matter.
The Right Rev. the Bishop of Rochester.
To which Mr. Money answered :—
Dear Sir,
In reply to your letter of 27th instant, sending Resolution of your Committee, I must beg you to inform the Committee of your Society that Mr. M'Caul's letter to the “Standard” was written without the cognisance of his colleagues, but after having seen a pamphlet which Lord Shaftesbury has printed and circulated. I retain in common with my colleagues the desire to which you refer to avoid publicity, and deeply regret that this pamphlet should have been circulated in violation of the understanding upon which our Conference was constituted. We do not therefore see how Mr. M'Caul's letter can be adduced as a reason for not carrying out the arrangements come to at the last meeting of the Conference, inasmuch as his letter was elicited by Lord Shaftesbury's previous publication entitled “Conference on the case of the Rosenthal Family.” We are further informed that this pamphlet is being widely circulated without the replies which were made to the noble Earl's speech, although the publisher states that he is instructed not to sell it.
