(Incorporated in Hongkong)
The decision of the Episcopalian Church of Japan to break away from the Church of England, arrived at in Tokyo on Sunday was inevitable, following the action of the Archbishop of Canterbury in presiding over a mass meeting in the Albert Hall on October 5 to protest against Japanese aggression in that China. When it was announced that the Archbishop would preside, a protest was sent to him on October 2, by Episcopalian leaders in Japan, characterizing his decision as indiscreet, and, when the Archbishop persisted with his intention and did preside, a mass meeting was held in Tokyo on October 6 severely criticizing the meeting itself and the Archbishop's action. It was contended that the action of Dr. Long was "in direct contra vention of the principles of international justice and the traditional policy of the church to uphold peace." The decision to hold the meeting was the direct result of that type of sensationalism to which reference was made in this column a short while ago,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.