New Hampshire Statesman And Concord Register

THE STATESMAN.

CONCORD, SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1828.

We give place to the following communication from our respected townsman, the Rev. George H. Hough, with mingled emotions of satisfaction and regret. Satisfaction, that he is able, consistently as it would seem with the facts in the case, to vindicate his character from charges improperly made against him : and regret, on the other hand, that the cause of missions, or the character of any of its servants, more especially any who, by reason of death, have rested from their labors, should suffer by a development of the facts connected with the transaction referred to. We would not judge rashly, nor censure indiscriminately---but from circumstances which have come to our knowledge, both in relation to the present and to a former difficulty between Mr Hough and the Baptist Board of Missions we are constrained to apprehend that the Board have proceeded, in both instances, in an ex parte manner, and dealt with him on too slight evidence, and with too little reference to that law of Christian charity which implies the going to, or at least the interchanging of communications with, a brother who is supposed to have offended. If we are incorrect in our apprehension of the true state of the case, we hope to be set right about it--and our columns may be considered open for any explanation or exposition, either in regard to our own views, or the subjoined statement from Mr Hough.

It may be proper to state, in this connexion, that we understand Mr Hough to have been discharged from the service of the Mission, soon after the receipt, and, so far as the public are apprized, on the strength of Mrs Judson's letter, and for the sole reason embraced therein, without any previous notice to him, and without affording him an opportunity to rebut or explain the allegations against him. A former discontinuance of his connexion with the mission, we also understand to have been brought about in a similar informal and ex parte manner.

To the Editor of the New-Hampshire Statesman & Concord Register.

Mr Editor.

In the American Baptist Magazine, published in Boston, by the Board of Managers of the Baptist General Convention, No. 5, May, 1827, is printed an extract of a letter from Mrs. Judson, containing the following :

Rangoon, March 13, 1826.

"My dear Sisters,

" We are more firmly resolved than ever, that our future employment shall be purely missionary.— Mr Judson was strongly urged to accept the appointment of Interpreter to Government, with a salary of about $3000 a year— But after Considering the subject, I trust prayerfully, we concluded it would occupy so large a part of his missionary time as to make him almost useless to the mission; he therefore declined. The situation was then offered Mr H, who has accepted it, and is about to accompany the new Embassy to Ava. So you see, my sisters, if we had a wish to accumulate property, what an opportunity we have had. it is true, something might be said about saving money for the mission in this way; but there is a much greater call for entire and exclusively devoted missionaries than for money. Our friends, we doubt not, will supply all our necessary wants, while we shall be able to spend our strength and our energies for the spiritual good of the Burmans, and avoid those temptations attached to a public situation in the world. It is our present wish to go down to Amherst in the humble character of missionaries, and know no other object but the advancement of the kingdom of Christ.

" Pray much for us.

"A. H. JUDSON."

As there is, in the foregoing letter, an evident allusion made to me, in these words, "The situation was then offered Mr H. who has accepted it," the meaning of which, not being easily misunderstood, I feel it to be my duty to make the following remarks.

Mrs. Judson's letter is dated "Rangoon, March 13, 1826." Mr and Mrs Judson did not arrive in Rangoon, from Ava, the place of his confinement during the war, until March 21st.

When Mr and Mrs Judson arrived in Rangoon, I had held the situation of " Interpreter to Government," a full month, and had acted as such : of course I did not accept of any appointment which Mr Judson declined. Mrs Judson could not have been ignorant of this fact.

It was not understood, that Mr Judson ever had the offer of an appointment as "Interpreter to Government," but to the Embassy then about to proceed to the Court of Ava. This appointment, "after considering the subject. I trust prayerfully," he did accept.

Mr Judson was not offered " a salary of about $3000 a year," but a certain allowance per month; and no engagements were entered into with him as interpreter to the Embassy, beyond the period of its return from Ava, which was expected to be not more than three months from the time of its leaving Rangoon.

Mrs Judson's letter represents me as accepting the appointment which Mr J. declined, with "a salary of about 3000 dollars a year." I never had such an offer made to me ; and I have strong reasons to doubt that Mr J's monthly allowance would have amounted to that sum at the end of a year.

I have also strong reasons for believing, that the Board, when publishing Mrs J's letter, possessed letters from me, to which, if reference had been made, the incorrectness of Mrs J's letter. in some particulars, would have been apparent. In what light. therefore, must the readers of the Magazine consider the editorial " Reflections," appended to the publication of that letter ?

I am fully convinced that the obvious tendency of the publication of Mrs Judson's letter is injurious to me, and perverts the views of those who read it, by the partial treatment of the subject to which it relates.

The remoteness of my situation from America, must be my apology for not being able to notice the publication of Mrs J's letter before.

G. H. HOUGH.

Calcutta, Bengal, India,

November 20th, 1827.

We think proper to subjoin that portion of the " Reflections." in the American Baptist Magazine, to which Mr Hough refers in the above communication. Although no personal reference is made to Mr Hough in the paragraph, it must be very obvious that the praise bestowed upon Dr Judson, for his " self-denying labors," is a virtual reproach and crimination of Mr Hough, who is represented, in the same connexion, as accepting and entering upon a secular employment, which Dr Judson thought inconsistent, and which the Board in Mr Hough's case adjudged inconsistent, with his missionary duties, and with the "noble determination of self-devotion to God's glory, and the salvation of the Heathen."

" What must be the reflections of the enemies of Missions, on the perusal of this [Mrs Judson's] letter ? What the conviction and self-reproach of those who have accused the Missionaries of mere mercenary motives in their self-denying labors! Had Dr Judson accepted the proposal made him, his cares and duties would have been comparatively light, and his means of personal and domestic gratification ample. His income, which now covers only his absolute frugal expenses, would have been trebled. But if false accusers here find occasion for shame, the friends of these devoted servants of Christ will feel that they have still more cause of thanksgiving to God, who inspired them with the noble determination of self-devotion to his glory and the salvation of the heathen, regardless of their own ease or emolument."