I should have preferred passing over the question of religion in connection with politics, but the matter is of supreme importance in Nigeria and therefore I shall not mince words in dealing with the subject. An English friend in Nigeria has sent me a copy of the _Birmingham Weekly Post_ in which a letter appeared from a missionary, stating, apropos of the prohibition of conversionist activity among the Moslems of Kano Province: “... It will now be generally known that the Government have shown themselves in their true colours, and not only England but the whole Christian world will now see that the English Government in Africa, Egypt and West Africa especially is distinctly anti-Christian and pro-Mohamedan. In all the large towns in Northern Nigeria schools are to be opened by the Government, in which Mohamedanism is to be taught and fostered. We hear, too, that in Bauchi the Pagan tribes are being put under Mohamedan Emirs, which practically means that the Government intend to force Mohamedanism on the Pagans and compel their law Courts to be based on Mohamedan law.” My friend has asked me to write him what I think of the communication. As I have no time for private correspondence I sent a postcard saying, as comment on the missionary testimony, “The 9th Commandment.” It is distressing to find a gentleman who is a teacher of religion and an exponent of ethics delivering himself of half-truths mixed with facts in a way to give an entirely wrong impression.[2] Let the public at home understand the situation in all its bearings. Mohamedanism may sit lightly on a section of the population, but once allow the idea to take root with the inhabitants that this faith of theirs is being menaced and you produce the cohesive influence which will bind the population together in a resisting, very likely an aggressive, mass. Now the Government does no more than leave the people and their religion alone. There is perfect freedom of thought and practice. The native clerks and artisans from Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast and Lagos who are Christians can, and do, have their churches and chapels and worship as they please. To admit active propagandist methods in such a Moslem centre as Kano would be tantamount to waving a lighted torch in a magazine. Do not speak of its being done tactfully and without ruffling the susceptibilities of a population ever suspicious of interference with its national faith, the faith on which its laws are based. Picture the result of projecting among such a population a fanatic of the type of some missionaries. No doubt their intentions are good enough. These intentions put into practice at Kano would pave the way to making it correspond to a place the way to which, a proverb says, is also paved with good intentions.