Read Ebook: The American Missionary — Volume 33 No. 01 January 1879 by Various

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Was it wise to give the ballot to the ex-slaves? The answer that came in the hour it was given, from the Congress that gave it, from the Northern people that sustained it, and from the colored people that enjoyed it, was an emphatic and enthusiastic "Yes!" The answer that came at that hour from the Southern white man was in a suppressed voice, and was an execration hissed out between grinding teeth. Since that hour the voice of the Southern white man has grown firmer, and, as it came up from misgoverned South Carolina and Louisiana, has rounded out into a full-toned "No!" Nay, more, it has been re-echoed from the North, and recently with special emphasis from the lips of one of the purest Christian scholars on the heights of Christian learning in New England. What answer do I give? Unhesitatingly, "Yes!" I say nothing about the mere party reason given either then or since, for I do not write as a partisan. I put the wisdom of the ballot on more substantial grounds.

At present the black voter is politically conquered. The "white man's government" is established, and it is the purpose of the white man that it shall remain so. This has been easily attained in the States where the white majority is undoubted. In the few States where the blacks are in the majority, the white man is determined to rule, peaceably if he can, forcibly if he must. The Chisholm murder and the Hamburg massacre are but samples of the methods that will be resorted to if the effort is pushed persistently to restore the supremacy of the black man in politics. When we remember how that supremacy in those States was abused, how can we ask the restoration if the abuse must again follow? The problem is difficult. It can be solved only by one formula. The black man must be protected in his political rights, and he must be so enlightened as to use and not abuse those rights. There will be no permanent advantage from a mere partisan triumph of the black man. If achieved, as matters now stand, bayonets will again be needed to sustain it, and will become once more a source of angry discussion at the North and of concentrated bitterness at the South. The experiment may again be necessary; but a far better thing should be speedily, steadily and efficiently pushed forward--the training of the colored voter for an intelligent and responsible manhood and citizenship.

When the black man shall reach such a position he conquers caste-prejudice and wipes out the color-line in politics. Color is significant only as it represents condition. Change the condition and the color is of no consequence. With that change the white and black men at the South will divide on politics as white men do at the North, from differing views as to the best measures to promote public weal.

Look on this picture: An armed and organized mob is breaking up a political gathering of the blacks and their friends, and in the background are the overawed Freedmen retiring from the polls. Look, also, on this picture: A company of United States soldiers are keeping guard over a body of legislators, mostly black, who, with reckless rascality, are squandering the public funds, to the ruin of the State and the disgrace of the nation. Turn not from these pictures with indifference, for they are no fancy sketches; nay, face them, for the history of at least two States of this Union is liable to be a perpetual oscillation between the two. But now look on this picture: A colored man is tilling his land, adorning his home, and gathering around him the refinements of life. Near by is the school-house, where his children, with hundreds of others, are receiving the instruction of skilful teachers, and not far off is the church edifice where that man and his neighbors worship God under the ministration of a well educated and pious minister.

Which picture do we choose, not as a matter of artistic preference, but as the practical model for patriotic work? The only safety is to extend that last picture till it shall cover the whole canvas and blot out the other two. In that way only can a life and death struggle between two irreconcilable forces be avoided.

"THESE MY BRETHREN."

The intervention of organic efficiency greatly multiplies the duty and the privilege of the individual. The American Missionary Association, as has been potently said, is set for the care of the three despised races in our country. Though the Indian and the Negro and the Chinaman are the objects of prejudice and violence and injustice and hatred on the part of our people, nevertheless Christ speaks of them as among "these my brethren;" and the prayers and the sympathy, and the service and the giving of substance in their behalf He counts as rendered to Him. This organization cannot discharge any one's personal duty, but its instrumentality is offered to all who would use it in the discharge of individual obligation to Christ and to His brethren. Its opportunities belong to all who would use them, and by these a single Christian may reach not only "unto one of the least of these," but unto many.

FIVE TESTS OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.

Notes of an Address at the Annual Meeting.

BY PROF. C. D. HARTRANFT, D. D. HARTFORD, CONN.

It behooves us to inquire whether this precious right of asylum is to be denied to the weaker races; whether we are going to lose this peculiar feature of our nation, that throws its broad land open to the world. Is it not true now, as in the past, that this is a vast sanctuary, and that if a man lays hold of the horns of its altar, there shall be nothing to drag him from his possession of freedom? He stands on holy ground. In the British islands, the races that have appeared in its history have been amalgamated--welded by the mace and the battle-axe. In France, the various tribes and races that, one after another, possessed that land, were woven together, in warp and woof, by fire and blood. In Germany, the Prussians have brought together that great mass of people as one, through bitter and tremendous wars, the echoes of which have scarce died away. America proposes a far different solution. She recognizes the nobility of the characteristics developed by the various races. She wants the African, the Chinaman, the Teuton--all races--to labor side by side; to develop not only her wealth and prosperity, but, most of all, the typical American humanity.

American civilization can better endure the savagery of the Indian, the ignorance and brutality of the Negro, and the semi-civilization of the Chinese, than it can afford to fraternize with a civilization that is impregnated with a spirit of ecclesiasticism, or endure the philosophies of St. Louis or the Internationals. Rather is it for us to overcome these forces that are the outcroppings of centuries of Roman development, as well as those of Indian or Chinese or Negro semi-civilization.

As to the African, there are not a few Americans, even in this day, who think a righteous solution of the African question is to ship them all off to the dark continent. So far as the American Colonization Society keeps in view education and other Christian instrumentalities, I bid them God-speed; but if they desire to send the Negro out of the country, I say, No!--a thousand times, No! Let us solve the problem right here where God has placed them.

And we say to the Chinese, as he comes upon his ship, "Turn your prow back towards the Flowery Kingdom; don't touch our golden West." Is that the spirit that welcomes the Irishman, the German, the Italian, the Frenchman? Why not give as broad an opening to the Chinaman as to the Irishman?

And what is the agency--or one agency--by which that may be accomplished? The American Missionary Association, because it gives us Christian education. Because it brings together the college, the church and the home. And will not your devotion to a pure Christianity, free from the spirit of caste, and filled with the spirit of genuine love, manifest itself by your support of such an Association? May we not gauge your feelings in regard to these five principles by the support you give to such a society? May we not implore you that as you value the rights of property and free government you array yourself solidly against Communism and its ally--Romanism; because these are craftily working together.

Would you behold free Protestant Christianity established in this country? Then give your support to this Association, that these three races may prove us to be a people who love liberty in its deepest significance as liberty in Christ.

Just after the annual meeting we learned that the health of Mrs. Snelson was in such condition as to make her speedy return from the Mendi Mission, West Africa, a probable necessity. Her husband has arrived with herself, their children, and those of Dr. James, whose wife had died abroad. The change of climate and of occupation has already proved of great benefit to her. It is a great disappointment to us all to lose so soon the earnest and discreet service of the head of our Mendi Mission. Whether he will be able to return or not is still an unsettled question. But these experiences are teaching us some valuable lessons. First of them is this,--that we must send no men or women to the West Coast of Africa without submitting them to a severe physical examination, such as is required for enlistment into the army or as a prerequisite to a life insurance policy. For we find that upon those who went from this country in thoroughly sound health, with no weakness from previous disease or tendency to special complaints, the climate has had little or no bad effect; but where there was any such predisposition or impairment of physical vigor, the malarial heats of the West coast have hastened its rapid development. We send no more recruits, then, without medical attestation to their soundness of body, in addition to the testimony we have heretofore required as to their intellectual and spiritual health.

Mr. Snelson brings much valuable information from the field, which we hope to lay before our readers at an early day.

NEWS AND ITEMS FROM THE CHURCHES.

MACON, GA.--Rev. Stanley E. Lathrop, who was graduated eight years ago from the Chicago Theological Seminary, commenced pastoral work at Macon, December 1st. He writes: "I am quite agreeably surprised with everything thus far. I shall do the best I can for this people, with God's help."

MARIETTA, GA.--The school prospers, and, with two other schools, is exerting a marked influence on the people. The Sunday-school and literary society are both doing good work.

MARION, ALA.--Rev. Geo. E. Hill writes: "Our church has received from the Sunday-school at Weymouth, Mass., Colton's large missionary map, and I have had the pleasure of introducing my people to a view of the world--the field of missions. They propose to contribute monthly to the cause. Our Sunday-school is filling up."

MONTGOMERY, ALA.--Rev. Flavel Bascom, D.D., who commenced work for the winter December 1st, writes: "My first impressions are very favorable. My heart is drawn out toward the people, and I expect to enjoy my work for them very much."

SELMA, ALA.--Rev. C. B. Curtis has gone from Burlington, Wis., to the charge of the church here.

SHELBY, ALA.--A Congregational church was organized October 10th, by Rev. G. W. Andrews, of the Theological Department of Talladega College, consisting of twenty-one members . Rev. J. D. Smith, a graduate of Talladega Theological Department, is pastor.

GENERAL NOTES.

The Freedmen.

--Over 3,000 people attended the Agricultural Fair for colored people held at Talladega, Ala., in November, under the auspices of the college. Stock, farm products, cookery, needle and fancy work, flowers and pictures, were brought in for exhibition. Contests were held in athletic sports, and in spelling, declaiming, etc., between students of the different schools. Several hundred white people attended, and showed their interest by acting as judges on the committees with the colored people. The fair was kept entirely free from all the objectionable features which so often mar our State fairs, and indeed was opened with prayer, and, after the addresses and award of premiums, closed with the Doxology.

--Dr. Rust, the Corresponding Secretary of the Freedmen's Aid Society of the M. E. Church, reports that its work during this year "has never been exceeded in any year of its history. It has erected more school edifices, more commodious and commanding; educated more teachers, prepared more ministers, led more souls to Christ, and set in operation more streams of elevating influence, done more and better work for Christ and humanity, than in any like period before." The financial statement for the year ending July 1, 1878, gives its total receipts for the year as ,403, and its expenditures, mainly for salaries and board of teachers and educational expenses, including ,000 paid on its debt, at the same. The society has aided in the establishment of five chartered institutions having full collegiate powers, three theological and two medical schools, also chartered, and ten other educational institutions.

--Dr. Ruffner, Superintendent of Public Instruction in Virginia, claims that 0,000 was collected from the people and set apart by law for the support of the common schools, and charges that this, with the interest, has been diverted from its proper use and applied to the ordinary expenses of the State Government.

--A national colored Baptist educational convention was held last summer at Nashville, Tenn. In an address published by them they offer heartfelt thanks to Northern Baptists, who alone have helped them to what educational facilities they have enjoyed. To the Southern white Baptists they are grateful for the "good resolutions" they have passed in favor of the black man. They urge the colored Baptists to support their own publishing house, newspaper, and the educational enterprises of the American Baptist Home Mission Society.

--Two colored students of Mr. Spurgeon's Pastor's College, Rev. Messrs. Richardson and Johnson, with their wives, have left England as missionaries to Central Africa. They were all freed slaves from this country.

--The Rev. Alfred Saher, English Baptist Missionary at the Cameroons, West Africa, has translated the Bible into the language of the people, and now reports upwards of 2,000 converts.

The Indians.

--Mr. Wheeler writes from Keshena Agency, Wisconsin, of the second successful Agricultural Fair among the Menomonees. About 200 entries of corn and potatoes were made, with other vegetables, grains and grasses in abundance. The displays of woman's work and of live stock were very fine. A ploughing match was held. About 0 was expended in premiums, voted from the tribal funds for that purpose. Advantage was taken of the opportunity for giving instruction in the arts of agriculture, and for exhorting them to keep their children faithfully in the schools. Such gatherings both prove and promote progress.

--Brig. Gen. Pope reports that the late outbreak of the Cheyennes was caused by starvation. He says of the Indians in general: "If they are left with the means to go to war, as is the custom, we simply sleep on a volcano. Unless, therefore, ample, and above all, regular supplies of food can be guaranteed to the Indians, I am compelled, in justice to the Government and the frontier settlers, to ask that more troops be sent to the agencies in the Indian Territory, and that at least two of the posts in Western Kansas be largely reinforced by cavalry. I have also to ask that any Indians sent from the North into this department be disarmed and dismounted before being sent here, so that they can be placed in the same condition as the Indians with whom they are to live."

--Major Mizener reports more in detail:--The causes which led to the leaving of the Northern Cheyennes may be summed up as follows: They were disappointed in the country. Their rations were poor and entirely insufficient. They were home-sick, despondent and disappointed, and were anxious to get back to a country better known to them, and where game was to be had, while here they did not have enough to eat.

--General Sheridan attributes our Indian wars to two classes of causes; the first being the constant encroachment upon the lands of the Indians, sacredly guaranteed to them by treaty, and the constant removal of the tribes to distant reservations, in which they are again troubled by the tide of immigration. He says no other nation in the world would have attempted the reduction of these wild tribes, and occupation of their country, with less than 60,000 or 70,000 men.

--Secretary Schurz affirms that the real cause of Indian wars has been the breaking of treaties. He recites an exhaustive history of Indian wars to show that this has been the case, and that very few of the wars have arisen from the maladministration of agents.

--Gen. Sherman, in his annual report, declares that many of the Indians prefer death to agricultural toil; that to convert them from a nomadic into a pastoral race is the first and fundamental problem; that each tribe must be dealt with according to its own nature; that whatever department of the Government is charged with this work, must be intrusted with large discretion to adapt its measures to emergencies. He traces the Indian wars generally to broken promises, insufficient rations and impending starvation.

--Of the joint committee to which the transfer of the Indians to the War Department is referred, the three members of the Senate are from Nebraska, Kentucky and Illinois; of the five members of the House, but one comes from as far East as this. The committee, therefore, represents communities that favor the army. It is understood that the Indians themselves do not desire the change; that the army does not want the responsibility; yet that it will probably be done, unless the President interferes, because the Indian ring desires it, and because the army makes it a point of honor.

The Chinese.

--The First Church in San Francisco, Dr. Stone's, has just opened a new and well-appointed room in the basement for its mission and Chinese Sunday-school. The Petaluma Church has also enlarged its lecture-room for the use of its Chinese school.

--As the Chinese children are not permitted to enter the San Francisco public schools, those who have embraced Christianity are taught in the Union Mission in the old Globe Hotel. The school has two sessions, one of which is conducted by an American lady, the other by Hung Mung Chung, who is a fine Chinese scholar and a man of much dignity and scholarly attainments, said to be a lineal descendant of Confucius. During the past year Hung Mung Chung was baptized and became a member of the Protestant Church for Chinese. He teaches the children the Chinese classics and the maxims and precepts of Confucius. Each session of the school is closed by singing and repeating the Lord's Prayer--in the morning in English, in the afternoon in Chinese.

--The San Francisco Chinamen contributed ,200 to the yellow fever sufferers of the South. The sand-lot meetings have not yet reported the amount of their collections.

--The Chinese Sunday-school in Chicago has been in existence nearly six months, with an average attendance of fourteen scholars. It is said that the number can be largely increased if teachers can be procured.

--Rev. W. P. Paxson, Superintendent of the missionary work of the American S. S. Union in their Southwestern Department, says: "One striking event in my missionary work has been the organization of a Chinese Sunday-school in St. Louis."

--Mr. Ha Shan Sin was baptized last Sabbath by Rev. E. D. Murphy at the Immanuel Presbyterian Chapel of this city. The young man is about twenty-two years old, was born in San Francisco, though he has spent most of his life in China. This is the sixth of the Chinamen that have been received into the churches of this city. Three have been enrolled among the members of the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Dr. Howard Crosby's.

OUR QUERY COLUMN.

TEACHER.

THE FREEDMEN.

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