THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS.
[TO TH1 EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Permit me, as the only official representative in England
of the Parliament of Religions, to correct some serious errors into which you have fallen. In the first place, you say " The Anglican Church stood silently aloof." I think that I rightly express the views of the Anglican Communion when I regard the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States as indissolubly united to the Established Church of England; and I would point out that the Right Rev. T. U. Dudley, Bishop of Kentucky, and the Rev. Thomas Richey, D.D., of the Protestant Episcopal Seminary of New York, represented this Church; whilst one section, at any rate, of the Estab- lished Church of England was represented by the Rev. the Hon. Canon Fremantle and the Rev. H. R. Haweis. Your next error is in stating that Judaism was apparently not re- presented by a Rabbi. A reference to the " Table of Con- tents" in the volumes which have been supplied to you, will tell you that Rabbi E. G. Hirsch, of Chicago; Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, of Cincinnati; Rabbi Joseph Silverman and Rabbi G. Gottheil, of New York, were personally present, and de- livered addresses ; while valuable papers were contributed by Rabbi K. Kohler, Rabbi Kohut, and Rabbi H. Pareira Mendes, of New York.
The representation of Buddhism was much stronger than you say. There were five Buddhist priests from Japan, instead of four, and two laymen, while H. Dharmapala, general secretary of the Maha-Bodhi Society of India, was present as the official representative of the Southern Buddhist Church. Several papers were also sent, among these being one from H.R.H. Prince Chandarat Chndhadharn, a brother of the present King of Siam, upon "Siamese Buddhism." Islam was not represented in the sense of active participation by Mahommedans from India. There was one present on the platform on the opening day, but the argument on the faith of Islam was essayed by an American convert to that faith, Mahommed Russell Alexander Webb. You are again wrong in saying that there was no representative of Hindooism.
Swami Vive Kananda, a Hindoo monk, made the journey to Chicago to present the tenets of Hindooism ; besides which several voluminous papers were sent, notably one from the well-known Manila! N. Dvivedi, of Nadiad, a scholar well known to Sir Edwin Arnold.
I am convinced that the editorial sense of justice which has always marked the columns of the Spectator will secure the publication of these corrections from one who esteems it the greatest privilege of his life to have been associated with that remarkable gathering which will go down to history as the world's " Parliament of Religions."—I am, Sir, &c.,
WILLIAM PIPE.
[We meant by the Anglican Church, the Church of England. For the list of those present we trusted an apparently full list in the Daily News.—ED. Spectator.]
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