tement
made by Dr. Porter.

"We can, on this point, only express regret that there should have
been either seeming or real difference. But as Brother Talmage
confesses that our report correctly represents him as having said,
that

"'Although the Synod had not arrived at the best decision, yet
perhaps it was the best, under all the circumstances,'

"We therefore suppose that the report of verbal differences--if the
spirit of the remarks be anything--between him and the gentleman to
whom he refers, cannot be accounted as very serious.

"2d. As it respects the opening of these columns to a fresh
discussion of the matter relating to the Amoy Churches before
Synod, we have simply to say that we dare not give consent, for the
following reasons: The Synod is the legislative body for the
Church. The documents and statements respecting the Amoy Churches
were full and thorough in the information imparted. Four sessions
and more of the Synod were occupied with a careful preparatory
hearing and final adjudication of the matter, and it is not the
duty of the _Christian Intelligencer_ to allow itself to be used as
the agent of dissension among the Churches, and of opposition to
the constituted authority of the Synod."

Whether my views were _misrepresented_, and whether I was charged with
seeking a different object from that for which I had asked--I had not
asked that the columns of the paper be opened for a fresh "_discussion_
of the matter" which had been "_before Synod_," but "for a _full
statement_ of the views of the Amoy Mission," because of "_mistaken
impressions_" in "_our Churches_"--the Church will be able to decide as
accurately as myself. But I wish to say this much. Your Missionaries do
not consider that by becoming Missionaries they lose their rights as
_men_, and _Ministers of the Dutch Church_. They have the right to
expect that, when away from home, their reputation will be protected.
When mistaken statements concerning their views get abroad in the
Church, there should be, and we believe there is, a responsible party
whose duty it is to correct such statements. At any rate, a paper which
professes to be the organ of the Dutch Church, has no right to refuse to
the Missionaries themselves the privilege of correcting mistaken
statements of _their own views_ and _their own language_, that appear in
its columns.