1 See Annual Report for 1852, p. 55, and Missionary Herald for 1852, p. 239.
Execution of the sentence of banishment was delayed by a protest from Dr. King, in the name of the United States Government, indicating his intention to appeal to that government. The time had now fully come for extending to him the protection due to missionaries in their just rights and privileges. There can be no doubt, that missionaries have equal claims to protection with their fellow-citizens, in the lawful pursuit of their profession as preachers of the Gospel.1 In 1842, Daniel Webster, being then Secretary of State, instructed Commodore Porter, Minister Resident at Constantinople, "to omit no occasion, where his interference in behalf of American missionaries might become necessary or useful, and to extend to them the proper succor and attentions of which they might stand in need, in the same manner that he would to other citizens of the United States, who as merchants should visit or reside in Turkey."2 Happily Mr. Webster was again in the same high office. Twenty-nine years before, while the Greeks were fighting for their independence, he had eloquently pleaded their cause in the House of Representatives of the United States, and procured their recognition as a nation by our government. An appeal now came to him from an American citizen of the highest respectability, suffering oppression by that very nation which he had so befriended. There being no diplomatic agent of the United States in Greece, the Hon. George P. Marsh, the learned and able Minister Resident at Constantinople, was instructed to proceed to Athens in one of the ships of war, and inquire into the case, with one or more of the national vessels in that neighborhood subject to his order. Having a competent knowledge of the Greek language, Mr. Marsh entered upon his delicate mission in August, 1852, and prosecuted it till the arrival of his successor in the Constantinople embassy, late in 1853. During this time, Mr. Webster died, and was succeeded by Edward Everett; and he again by Mr. Marcy, on the accession of President Pierce. Mr. Webster's letter of instruction, dated April 29, 1852, states the case clearly, as it does also the rights of missionaries. Mr. Everett's letter, dated February 5, 1853, gives the opinion of President Fillmore, based on Mr. Marsh's report of the case. "Although the forms of the law may in general have been observed," Mr. Everett writes, "it is quite plain, that Dr. King was not tried for any offense clearly defined by the law of Greece; that his trial was in many respects unfairly and illegally conducted; that the constitution and laws of Greece guarantee a full toleration of all religious opinions; and that there is no proof that Dr. King has exceeded the just limits of the liberty of speech implied in such toleration." "Either the sound and safe maxims of criminal jurisprudence," he adds, "which prevail in this country, are unknown to the jurisprudence of Greece, or her tribunals were presided over by persons who entertained very false notions of the judicial character, or there are prejudices against Dr. King, which, in this case at least, corrupted the fountains of justice. It may have been in part produced by all three, and there is reason to suppose that such is the case. This state of things unavoidably destroys all confidence in the Greek courts, as far as Dr. King is concerned, and compels the President to regard their decision in this case as unjust and oppressive."3 He repeats the declaration of Mr. Webster, that missionaries are entitled to all the protection, which the Law of Nations allows to be extended to citizens who reside in foreign countries in the pursuit of their lawful business. Mr. Marsh was to communicate to the government of Greece the decided opinion of the President, "that Dr. King did not have a fair trial, and that consequently the sentence of banishment ought immediately to be revoked."
1 See Proceedings at the Annual Meeting of the Board in 1841, pp. 36-39.
2 See Memorial Volume of the First Fifty Years of the A. B. C. F. M., p. 201.
3 Congressional Documents, No. 9, Senate, 1854, p. 6.
The piece of ground in Athens purchased by Dr. King in 1829, was at that time little prized by Turks or Greeks. But after the capital became permanently fixed there, the land had become a most desirable part of the city, as it commanded an unobstructed view of many of the finest ancient monuments and interesting localities of Athens. For this reason it was early selected by the government as the site of a national church. The law required the value of all land thus taken, to be paid for before it was put to use. Years passed, and the government neither made use of it, nor allowed the owner to build upon it, and yet refused all compensation. This act of gross injustice—so gross that it even subjected the government to the suspicion of sinister aims in the prosecution of Dr. King,1—was one of the points referred to the President of the United States, and he declared his conviction, that compensation ought immediately to be made by the government of Greece.
1 Senate Documents, p, 184.
After some delay, this was done, but I know not to what extent. Mr. Paicos, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, objected, on purely technical grounds, to reversing the judgment founded on the charge of reviling the dogmas of the Greek Church; and as Dr. King very properly refused to receive a pardon, that judgment remained in force. It was never revived, however, and Mr. Pellicas, one of the counsel for the defense, having become Minister of Justice, a royal order was issued, revoking the sentence of banishment.
"Dr. King and his creed," writes Mr. Marsh to the Secretary of State, "have served as a convenient scape-goat, to bear maledictions intended for other teachers and other doctrines, as well as for himself and his faith; or perhaps as an experiment, to test how far the Greek government would sustain, or foreign powers permit, the encroachments of an intolerant priesthood upon the guarantees of the independence of Greece, and the solemn sanction of the constitution and laws."
A manifest change now took place in the popular sentiment towards the persecuted missionary. Many who had been bitterly opposed, became cordial. The preaching service had forty or fifty hearers, who were generally attentive. The "Exposition of an Apostolical Church" continued to attract notice. Dr. Barth's "Ecclesiastical History," translated by Dr. King, was extensively read; and the American Bible Society responded to an application for a new grant of ten thousand copies of the New Testament for the schools. Near the close of 1854, Dr. King placed at the disposal of the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Instruction for the use of schools, a thousand copies of "Chrysostom on Reading the Scriptures," printed with the sanction of the American Tract Society. The Minister replied, thanking him for the books, and sending him a copy of a circular he had addressed to the teachers strongly recommending the reading by the pupils, not only of Chrysostom, but of the Scriptures also. Several young men appeared truly converted, and a class in theology was formed, made up of two young men from Athens and four from Constantinople. These had been in the Greek department of the Bebek Seminary, and were sent to study with Dr. King in consequence of the death of Mr. Benjamin. After a year and a half he still had this class. To aid them he wrote a little work in modern Greek, combating the idea, prevalent with many, that nothing in the Word of God can be understood, except by those who have been enlightened by the study of the Fathers. In January, 1857, he finished correcting the fifth volume of the American Tract Society's publications in modern Greek. The first volume he printed in 1853, the second and third in 1854, the fourth in 1855. The five volumes contained more than two thousand five hundred pages, and were in an eligible form; but they were found to be in advance of the national taste for religious reading.