* * * * *

A bill for the removal of all political disabilities arising from the
Civil War, recently presented in Congress, has passed and is now a law,
as President McKinley has formally approved it. This bill refers to
Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

This amendment made it impossible for any person to hold a political
position in the United States who had taken up arms against the
Government, if he had previously held a political position and had
declared his allegiance to the United States. The law that has just been
passed declares that "disabilities imposed by Section 3, Amendment 14,
of the Constitution, heretofore incurred, are hereby removed."

* * * * *

Some of the survivors of the terrible massacre at Sierra Leone reached
New York during the past week. The story of their escape is a very
thrilling one. It seems that among the natives in that part of Africa
there is a secret society. When the natives feel that they have any
grievance against a particular tribe or people, they send word to all
members of the society that "pura" is declared against the offenders;
this means that they are condemned to death.

As a result of the hut tax, which we told you about in a recent number,
"pura" was declared against all English people in Africa. News soon
reached the different missionary stations that this had been done; but
the attack on the Rotufunk mission came almost without warning. Mr.
Ward, who is the only one of these missionaries left alive, went in the
latter part of April to Freetown for supplies, and at that time there