Show A PERTINENT QUERY 1 r I thic THE church suits are actions in equity in ia this class of cases the aim is presumed to oe be substantial justice to sad aad the preservation of the rights of every party in interest for the attainment tain ment of these ends the court is allowed to exercise powers of a general and far reaching character and may even suspend la in respect to the case in aili lit gation tile the express provisions of a statute while equity is guided by law it is unfettered by statutory provisions to a great extent and rises rides superior to them in making and enforcing such orders and decrees as appear to the court to be requisite in order that justice may be done to all parties in interest in view ot of tue tae nature of the church cases in respect to the equities involved is them the query put forth by a correspondent relative to the rights of a class to chica chic a he belongs is pertinent and suggests ests an element of the whole question quest ioTa which is worthy of the deliberate consideration of the tae c courts arts the correspondent referred to is ia john T ot of 27 a west temple street he states that tor for many years he has paid tithing and other donations for the benefit of the poor and for such other purposes as those voluntary contributions are applied lie he is a subject of great britain and asks if the united states government is not infringing upon international law ain seizing alg upon the property of a citizen of another government wh which ich has haa been collected for tile the relief of the me poor some of the latter being the countrymen of the contributor and with the arbitrary hand of power devoting such means to other uses ali the correspondent correspond ept intimates that there is a purpose on foot in behalf of some of the foreigners whose property interests are involved in the church suits to lay the matter before the B british minister at washington with a view to ascertaining whether or not they cannot obtain relief under some principle of international law or coba comity had the property in question been contributed to the he furtherance of some unlawful work or its contributors could not expect their case to appear to be a very strong one in a light of equity but seeing that thai one ot ol the main purposes of the tithing fund to which resident foreigners in this territory have contributed freely was to feed the hungry and clothe the naked the most beneficent object to which wealth can be applied and that it is not even claimed by any one that there existed so much as a design to use that fund tor for unlawful purposes the correspondent thinks the class to which he belongs could make a strong case in respect to its merits in equity q ity we e yd do not not publish the letter in full as the substance of it is here given |