RELATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 
 
 FOR 
 
 FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 
 TO 
 
 SLAYERY. 
 
 1 
 
 By CHARLES K. WHIPPLE. 
 
 1 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 1 PUBLISHED BY R. F. WALLCUT, 
 
 No. 221 WASHINGTON STREET. i 
 
 1861. 
 
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 RELATION 
 
 AIEEICAN BOAED OF COMIISSIONEES 
 
 rOEEIGN MISSIONS 
 
 SLAYERY 
 
 By CHAELES K. WHIPPLE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY R. F. WALLCUT, 
 No. 221 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 1861. 
 
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 EELATION 
 
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 AMERICAN BOARD" TO SLAVERY, 
 
 At the Annual Meeting of the American Board of Com- 
 missioners for Foreign Missions in October, 1860, it was 
 declared by the Prudential Committee that the Cherokee 
 nation was " a Christian people." 
 
 When the Board commenced its missionary labors among 
 the Cherokees in 1817, they were a pagan nation, and also a 
 slaveholding nation. 
 
 The Prudential Committee (the managing power of the 
 Board) now declares these Indians to be changed from pagans 
 to Christians. But their habit of slaveholding remains 
 unchanged. 
 
 The missionaries of the Board strongly opposed some of 
 the vices which the Cherokees had been accustomed to prac- 
 tise, and constantly bore their testimony against these vices, 
 both by preaching against them, and by refusing church- 
 membership to those who continued to practise them. They 
 chose, however, not to preach against slaveholding, and they 
 openly declared slaveholders to be Christians, admitting them 
 to their churches indiscriminately with others. 
 
 The Prudential Committee now not only declare this 
 slaveholding nation to be " a Christian people," but they de- 
 clare the discontinuance of the missionary work among them 
 (first made known to the public at the meeting above men- 
 tioned) to have been decided on because they were Christian- 
 ized ; because the work undertaken by the missionaries was 
 satisfactorily accomplished, in regard to the Cherokees ; and 
 
4 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 because the duty of the Board was to send its laborers to 
 people who were not Christian. 
 
 The Prudential Committee further declare — tacitly recog- 
 nizing the fact that slaveholding existed, unrebuked, among 
 their Cherokee church-members — that the separation in ques- 
 tion was not made on account of slavery. 
 
 They also expressly declare — tacitly recognizing the fact 
 that many complaints had been made in regard to the com- 
 plicity of the missionaries with slavery — that the preaching 
 of those missionaries has been faithful, and their course of 
 policy satisfactory. 
 
 Here is the testimony of the Prudential Committee upon 
 these three points, from their Annual Report for 1860 : — 
 
 CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIANITY FOR THE SLAVEHOLDING CHER- 
 OKEE NATION. 
 
 " 1. The CheroJcees are a Christian people ." — Ann. Rep., 1860, p. 138. 
 ****** 
 
 " The mission is not abandoned ; but our appropriate work is done. 
 The Cherokee people have been Christianized, through the divine 
 favor, and what remains for building up and sustaining the institu- 
 tions of the Gospel — which is every where a work never brought 
 to a close — must be left to others; for the reason that our appro- 
 priate work is no longer there." — Ibid, p. 145. 
 
 CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIANITY FOR THE CHEROKEE CHURCHES 
 CONTAINING SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 " Our brethren declare, that no members have been received into 
 either of our own churches, without first giving what they deemed 
 to be credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ. In this, 
 there has been exact conformity to the principle recognized by the 
 Board ; — ' That credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ, 
 in the judgment of the missionaries and the churches they gather, 
 entitles professed converts from among the heathen to the ordinances 
 of baptism and the Lord's supper; those ordinances being evidently 
 designed by Christ to be means of grace for such.' Mr. Ranney 
 regards the members of his OAvn church, at Lee's Creek, as fur- 
 nishing the same evidence of faith and repentance as did the mem- 
 bers of a church in Vermont, where he labored as a minister of the 
 Gospel before going among the Cherokees." — lb., p. 140. 
 
 THE DISCONTINUANCE NOT ON ACCOUNT OF SLAVERY. 
 
 " The Committee have arrived at the conclusion, that it is time 
 for the Board to discontinue its expenditures among the Cherokees. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. O 
 
 To prevent all misapprehension, it should be stated at the outset ; — 
 First, that this is not OAving to the relations of our work among these 
 Indians to the system of slavery." — lb., p. 137. 
 
 CERTIFICATE OP CHRISTIAN FIDELITY FOR THE PRO-SLAVERY 
 
 MISSIONARIES. 
 
 "5. To prevent the possibility of misapprehension, it is farther 
 resolved, that the mission is not discontinued because of any unfaith- 
 fulness on the part of our brethren in that mission ; they having 
 been exemplary, so flir as is known to the Committee, in the dis- 
 charge of all their missionary duties." — lb., p. 142. 
 
 Mr. James Gr. Birney, a church-member in Kentucky, hav- 
 ing been converted by the labors of the Abolitionists, wrote a 
 tract, in 1842, declaring and proving that the American Church 
 is the Grreat Bulwark of American Slavery. This statement 
 is even more emphatically true of the Church now, than it 
 was then. And the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions is one of the most popular and influential 
 representatives of that Church. This last unequivocal and 
 emphatic uplifting of the voice of the Board in behalf of 
 slavery will help many Christians to realize how far different 
 is its teaching from the Grospel of Christ. He declared that 
 the Lord had sent him "to preach deliverance to the cap- 
 tives." The Board has not only refused to follow, in this 
 particular, him whom it pretends to call " Lord," but while 
 deserting and betraying the o.ppressed, it has welcomed the 
 oppressor as " a brother in Christ." And since now, while 
 dismissing churches of slaveholders from its guardianship, it 
 parades before this nation — now agitated as never before by 
 a sense of the guilt and danger involved in slaveholding — 
 its priestly assurance that slaveholding is not sin, it seems a 
 suitable time to trace back the connection of this Board with 
 slavery, and to show how, like the American Church, it has 
 silently acquiesced in that wickedness while silence was possi- 
 ble, has spoken of it, when compelled to speak, in a manner 
 often disingenuous and sometimes deceitful, and, when action 
 could no longer be avoided, has acted in support of slavery, 
 veiling its guilt by a profusion of pious words. 
 
 The first open action of the Board in regard to slavery — 
 the first direct reference, in their Annual Reports, to their 
 own complicity with it — is found in the Report for 1840, 
 
6 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 (pp. 63, 64,) under the head, " On raising funds from the 
 
 HOLDERS OF SLAVES." 
 
 It appears, however, from facts derived from other sources, 
 that the Prudential Committee had previously, and repeatedly, 
 been called to act upon this subject; that they had discounte- 
 nanced the mention of it by missionaries and others ; and that 
 they concealed the fact that remonstrances against slavery 
 had been made, both from the Board, at its Annual Meetings, 
 and from the churches, who read their Annual Kcports. We 
 know not how many such remonstrances were made, and sup- 
 pressed by the Prudential Committee, nor do we know when 
 they began to be made. That one was made as early as 1837 
 is shown by the following letters, and the action of the Board 
 in regard to certain printed documents, sent to this country 
 from the Sandwich Islands mission. 
 
 In the year 1837, several of the missionaries of the Board 
 in the Sandwich Islands became deeply impressed with a sense 
 of the guilt of slavery, the danger incurred by their native 
 country in supporting such a wicked system, and the respon- 
 sibility of the church for its removal. I have now before me 
 copies of letters from three of those persons, one from Rev. 
 Jonathan S. Green, dated at Honolulu, Oahu, in May, one 
 from Rev. Peter Gulick, from the same station, in June, and 
 the third from Rev. H. R. Hitchcock, dated at Kaluaaha in 
 November. They all breathe the same spirit; but to show 
 the strength of their sentiments and the vigor of their lan- 
 guage, I subjoin extracts from the last two : — 
 
 "Honolulu, June, 1837. 
 "Dear Brother "Wright, — I can hardly tell M-hether personal 
 regard, or the warm sympathy I feel for you as one engaged, heart 
 and soul, in the great, the blessed, the arduous cause of abolition, 
 has the greater influence in prompting me to address you. Ever 
 since I seriously considered the subject, my sympathies have been 
 with the Abolitionists, and those for whom the}' labor. It is, how- 
 ever, but recently I have become thoroughly convinced that the sys- 
 tem of slavery ought to be immediately abolished. And yet this point 
 seems now so clear and plain, that I almost wonder how any real 
 Christian could hesitate a moment in coming to a right conclusion. 
 Perhaps one of the greatest causes of delusion in this and similar 
 eases is, our proneness to look at them in what we call the liglit of 
 expediency. But what right have men, who have the Bible, to follow 
 any other light than of Revelation ? I believe, assuredly, that aboli- 
 tion is the cause of God, and must, therefore, triumph. The Lord 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 7 
 
 hasten it in his time ! I believe, too, that the reproach, abuse and 
 violence which the friends of the cause (and yourself among 
 others) are called to endure, in publishing the truth, -will tend pow- 
 erfully to accelerate the accomplishment of your desires. 
 
 "You will perceive by the preceding printed resolutions, that 
 we, as a mission, do not forget our brethren who are in bonds. In- 
 deed, the situation of the mass of this nation keeps the subject of 
 slavery almost constantly before our eyes, and in our minds. The 
 condition of the laboring class (which is almost the whole nation) 
 is that of slavery, in its mildest form, however. No corporeal pun- 
 ishments are resorted to, to extort labor, nor are families broken up, 
 and the marriage relation disregarded, as in the slave States of my 
 beloved, tliough guilty country. Xor do the chiefs, who are the 
 o)ili/ masters, desire to exclude mental cultivation ; but rather endeavor 
 to promote its general diffusion ; still, with these and other pallia- 
 tions, the system tends strongly to idleness, (for who would love to 
 work without recompense ?) and is pregnant with evils ruinous to 
 all classes. From the bottom of my heart, therefore, I say, ' God 
 speed the Abolitionists, till every yoke of oppression is broken 
 throughout the whole earth.' Oppression has been greatly mitigated 
 here by the introduction of the Gospel ; but much remains still to be 
 done. 
 
 P. GULICK." 
 
 " KL\LUAAHA, Nov. 18, 1837. 
 " To THE Editor of the Emancipator : 
 
 "Dear Sir, — An accidental perusal of some of the numbers of 
 your paper induces me, though a stranger, to write you. I write 
 on a sheet containing a sort of circular to Christians, in the form of 
 resolutions ; not doubting that while you are engaged in the truly 
 philanthropic and Christian work of pleading for the oppressed in 
 the land of freedom, you have a deep interest also in the efibrts of 
 those who are laboring to break the bonds of pagan darkness. 
 
 " Though our fields of labor are at a great distance from each 
 other, and are different in some respects, yet I feel that our object is 
 the same, — that of breaking every bond, of letting the captives go 
 fi'ee. Be assured, sir, that in the prosecution of this object, you 
 have my pra^'ers and best wishes for your success. No intelligence 
 from my native land interests me more than that which announces 
 the progress of the cause of the slave. 
 
 "I write because it is a privilege for me (as I think it should be 
 for every Christian) to take an open and decided stand in favor of 
 those who are laboring to crush slavery. Especially is this a privi- 
 lege at a time when morbid prudence or time-serving policy is set- 
 ting afloat the sentiment that it is a subject with which the mission- 
 ary should not intermeddle. I must confess, that if the immediate 
 abolition of slavery is a subject in which Christians of every name, 
 circumstance or occupation, whether public or private, individual or 
 corporate, may not and should not take an open, undisguised and 
 active part, then there is no subject in all the wide field of benevo- 
 
8 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 lent action in wliicli they should do so. Of all the abominations 
 that have cursed the earth, where is there one more flagrant than 
 that of enslaving and crushing to dust our fellow-men ? Of all the 
 sins which Christians are called upon to oppose at the present day, 
 where is there a more heinous one than the one your society are 
 laboring to destroy ? The mere fact that insisting upon the imme- 
 diate abolition of slavery, and that describing in Bible language the 
 odiousness of traffic in human flesh, will disobhge a class of inter- 
 ested persons, however great, is no proof that either sound pru- 
 dence or the religion of Christ requires one to forbear. A neutral 
 position in reference to the immediate destruction of slavery can be 
 justified by the spirit of the Gospel no more than the same position 
 can be in reference to the destruction of intemperance, perjury, or 
 highway robbery. And there can be little doubt, that were those 
 sins as intimately interwoven with the worldly interests and profits 
 of so large a portion of the country as is the existence of slavery, the 
 same policy which now keeps so many aloof from those who are 
 laboring to put down the latter, would do the same in reference 
 to those who should strive to put down the former. Were the sin 
 of holding slaves confined to a few, and those few of little or no 
 wealth or influence, the neutrality which now exists in reference to 
 its immediate abolition would probabl}^ be unknown. How discon- 
 sonant to the benevolent, but uncompromising spirit of the Bible ! 
 ' Open thy mouth for the dumb, in the cause of all such as are appointed 
 to destruction. Open thj mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of 
 the poor and needy,' is a divinely inspired injunction, which no human 
 policy whatever can justify us in evading. 
 
 " I am happy to inform you of what I hope you may be officially 
 informed hereafter: that this mission, (so far as I know,) TO A 
 MAN, ARE IN FAVOR OF TPIE IMMEDIATE EMANCI- 
 PATION OF THE SLAVE, and that we of course, as a body, 
 are deeply interested in the success of the object to which your 
 paper is devoted. As we do not get the paper, or, indeed, any other 
 exclusively devoted to the interests of the anti-slavery society, you 
 would do me a favor, and perhaps promote the interests of the cause, 
 by sending us a file. I think good use will be made of it. 
 
 " As to the above resolutions, suffice it to say, that however they 
 may fail to recommend themselves to the Christian public, the}^ are 
 the unanimous sentiments of this body on the subjects to which they 
 refer. They were not adopted rashly, or under the impulse of con- 
 vivial excitement, but after a prayerful and serious discussion.. 
 They are sentiments, in the promulgation of which we all feel the 
 deepest interest. Should this strike you, sir, as just, you will do the 
 cause of missions a favor by giving them a place in the Emancipator. 
 
 " Let the importance of the cause, dear sir, excuse the obtrusion 
 of this letter upon you, and believe me, your cordial and respectful 
 friend and fellow-laborer, 
 
 H. R. HITCHCOCK." 
 
 These, and others of the Sandwich Islands missionaries, 
 feeling at once the atrocious character of slavery itself, and 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY, 
 
 9 
 
 its detrimental influence upon their missionary work, not only 
 wrote letters like the above to their other friends, but made 
 similar appeals to their employers, the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions, sending them, among 
 other things, two anti-slavery documents printed on the mis- 
 sion press, one a tract, and the other a series of resolutions, 
 printed on a letter sheet, referred to in the two preceding let- 
 ters, both making a very earnest and affecting appeal to 
 American Christians to apply themselves at once to the work 
 of overthrowing American slavery. 
 
 How were this appeal and these documents received by the 
 Board? 
 
 They referred the whole matter to a committee, consisting 
 of Drs. Fay and Skinner, Rev. Henry Dwight, and John 
 Tappan and Zechariah Lewis, Esqs., who reported the fol- 
 lowing resolution, which was adopted in September, 1837, 
 and, after discussion, reaffirmed, September, 1839, and which 
 still remains in force : — 
 
 "In general, the sole object of the printing establishments con- 
 nected with the missions of the Board shall 1)e to exert a direct in- 
 fluence upon the surrounding native population, and no mission or 
 member of a mission may print any letter, tract or ap- 
 peal, at these establishments, at the expense of the 
 Board, with a view to its being sent to individuals, or 
 
 COMMUNITIES, IN THE UnITED StATES." 
 
 This prohibition of the diffusion of such humane and 
 Christian sentiments as, being contained in the preceding 
 letters, we must suppose were repeated in the tract and the 
 printed sheet of resolutions, is discourteous to the missiona- 
 ries, and shows a despotic style of administration in the Pru- 
 dential Committee; but the clause, "at the expense of the 
 Board," is a cruel addition of insult to injury, if we remem- 
 ber that the persons thus rebuked had given themselves, with 
 their small worldly possessions, to the Board, and thus had 
 no means of uttering the honest convictions of their hearts to 
 friends at a distance, except by using the paper and ink pur- 
 chased by the Board with the funds entrusted to them by 
 Cliristians for the diffusion of Christian light and knowledge. 
 If the missionaries found a fire opened in their rear by the 
 shameless extension of heathenism at home, under the eye, 
 and with the sanction of the Board, why should they not use 
 1* 
 
10 THE AMEllICAN BOARD 
 
 the means furnished them by the Christian public to remon- 
 strate against it? 
 
 This rule may be seen on page 27 of the Annual Report 
 for 1837. No reason whatever for passing it appears in 
 that report. I know of no reason for passing it, except the 
 wish to prevent the missionaries from remonstrating with the 
 churches against slavery. 
 
 It is a significant fact that, two years before this prohibi- 
 tion of freedom of the press to the missionaries of the Sand- 
 wich Islands, the Board gave the following explicit testimony 
 in their favor : — 
 
 " Resolved, That this Board has entire confidence in the Christian 
 character, prudence and fidelity of their mission in the Sandwich 
 Islands — the unfomided reports occasionally circulated notwithstand- 
 ing; and that the success which has attended this mission, in the 
 conversion of the heathen, and the great good done to seamen from 
 Christian lands, calls for gratitude to God, and commends this mis- 
 sion to the hearts and the special prayers of all the friends of 
 Christ." — Ann. Kep. of 1835, p. 23. 
 
 The following testimony, on page 24 of the same Report, 
 is also highly significant, showing that, until the subject of 
 slavery was brought before them, the Board chose to counte- 
 nance and commend reformatory activities, at home as well 
 as abroad: — 
 
 '' Resolved, That this Board rejoice and give praise to Almighty 
 God for that increase of Christian activity which is seen in the 
 various institutions established during the last forty years for the 
 prevention of sin in all its forms, and for removing from our guilty 
 and suffering race the evils which sin occasions ; that they especially 
 rejoice in the progress of the temperance reform, and of the princi- 
 ples of peace among the nations of Christendom ; and that their 
 earnest prayer is, that all these associations may continue to labor 
 with wisdom and energy, and that others may be organized to coop- 
 erate with them, imtil the institutions of Christian benevolence shall 
 present a front as extended as the ravages of sin ; and, favored 
 with guidance and power from on high, shall press forward in their 
 joint labors to chase wickedness and misery from the earth." 
 
 That the Board then chose also not only to acknowledge, 
 but to cooperate with, reformatory institutions, appears from 
 this statement, page 33 of the same Report: — 
 
 " Among the donations from similar sources should be acknowl- 
 edged a valuable grant from the American Temperance Society, 
 
IN EBLATION TO SLAVERY. 11 
 
 embracing about eleven hundred copies of its annual reports. These 
 have been sent to the several stations occupied by the missionaries 
 of the Board, and circulated witli manifest good results, among the 
 settlers and travellers on the frontiers of our own country, and 
 among seamen and residents speaking the English language in for- 
 eign parts." 
 
 I have said that the vote of the Board in 1837 (forbidding 
 the printing, on the mission presses, of any remonstrance 
 against slavery from the missionaries to their brethren at 
 home) was rejiflfirmed in 1889. The manner and circum- 
 stances of this reaffirmation are significant and instructive. 
 The Prudential Committee chose again to veil this important 
 action in language so carefully guarded that no allusion to 
 slavery appears to the careless reader, either in the text or in 
 the Index. Indeed, without a knowledge, from some other 
 source, of that concerted and unanimous action of the Sand- 
 wich Islands missionaries which the votes in question were to 
 nullify, the reader of these Keports of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee for 1887 and 1889 would not discover that either of 
 them made the slightest reference to slavery. The passage 
 in the Report for 1889, in which the prohibition of anti- 
 slavery printing is deceptively placed under the head " Re- 
 turn OF Missionaries," is as follows (the italics are those of 
 the Report): — 
 
 "Return of Missionaries. Memorials from the Mahratta 
 mission, and from that to the Sandwich Islands, relating to the re- 
 turn of missionaries, were read and referred to Rev. Drs. Day, Ed- 
 wards, and Pond, Hon. Charles Marsh, and Rev. Messrs. Eli Smith 
 and Willard Child. This committee subsequently made the follow- 
 ing Report : — 
 
 " ' The committee to whom was referred memorials from the Mahratta 
 mission, and from the mission at the Sandwich Islands, have attended to 
 the very important subjects submitted to them, and respectfully report: 
 
 " ' That they see no sufficient cause for suspending or altering a rule 
 adopted by this Board two years ago, in words following, viz. : " No mis- 
 sion or member of a mission may jjrint any letter, tract, or appeal at these 
 establishments" [the mission printing establishments abroad] "at the ex- 
 pense of the Board, with a view to its being sent to individuals in tho 
 United States." Our brethren abroad have various modes of communicat- 
 ing with friends and the community at home; but tho Prudential Com- 
 mittee, obviously, are the proper judges of what ought to be printed, at 
 the expense of the Board, with a view to general circulation in tho United 
 States. 
 
 " ' In reference to tho other and principal matter complained of in these 
 memorials, viz., the return of missionaries, the following statements and 
 recommendations are submitted.' " — p. 38. 
 
12 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 These last lines (which are followed by a much more ex- 
 tended report really relating to the " return of missionaries ") 
 show that some "other" subject was contemplated in the 
 " Memorials from the Mahratta mission, and from that to the 
 Sandwich Islands." These Memorials are not given in the 
 Report. Wishing to ascertain how strongly and at what 
 length they had urged the subject of slavery upon the notice 
 of the Prudential Committee, I sent the following note, 
 through the post-office, to the senior Secretary : — 
 
 Boston, Dec. 31st, 1860. 
 Eev. Dr. Rufus Anderson : 
 
 Dear Sir, — Will you have the kindness to give me a copy (or 
 allow me to make a copy) of the '^ Memorials from the Mahratta Mis- 
 sion, and from that to the Sandwich Islands," respecting which a report 
 was made on the first half of page 38 of the Prudential Committee's 
 Annual Report for 1839 ? 
 
 Respectfully, CHARLES K. WHIPPLE. 
 
 To this note I have received no answer whatever. 
 
 In the Appendix to this Annual Report of 1839, we find — 
 " Instructions given by the Prudential Committee [Oct. 6th, 
 1839,] to the Rev. Sheldon Dibble, about returning to the 
 Sandwich Islands Mission." 
 
 Mr. Dibble was one of that body of Sandwich Islands 
 missionaries of whom Rev. Mr. Hitchcock asserted a unani- 
 mous desire for the immediate emancipation of the American 
 slaves, and a deep interest in the abolition movement. (See 
 ante, p. 8.) Of course, in his year's visit to this country, he 
 had seen the utter indifference of the majority of American 
 churches to this subject, and might be expected to speak of 
 the need of further appeals to them by the missionaries. The 
 Prudential Committee provide against this danger by saying 
 to Mr. Dibble (p. 171) — 
 
 " Bring not up an evil report of the churches of your native land, 
 in your communications with your brethren." 
 
 It must be remembered that this direction was given just 
 after they had a second time voted to smother the testimony 
 of those brethren against slavery, and against the complicity 
 of the churches with it. 
 
 It may be worth while to notice, in contrast with this sup- 
 pression of the testimony of the Sandwich Islands missiona- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 13 
 
 ries against American slavery, the fact that the Prudential 
 Committee have repeatedly aided the home circulation of 
 documents written by their missionaries, documents indirectly 
 as well as directly connected with the missionary work. 
 Besides their approving notice, heretofore mentioned, of " a 
 circular letter, printed at the mission-press " in the Sandwich 
 Islands in 1826, and announcing certain facts "to the 
 world" — they published, (p. 52 of the Annual Report for 
 1852,) a letter written by Mr. Wilson and four other mission- 
 aries of the Gaboon station, to Commodore Penand, of the 
 French African squadron, then on that coast, containing this 
 paragraph : — 
 
 " We would also express our hearty sympathies in the success- 
 ful eflforts you have put forth to prevent the natives of this region 
 of country from participating further in the foreign slave trade ; 
 and we hope they will not be suspended until this wicked practice 
 is entirely suppressed." 
 
 Moreover, in their Annual Report for 1818 (pp. 30-2) is 
 given an abstract of a pamphlet entitled " The Conversion of 
 the World " — "written by Messrs. Hall and Newell at Bom- 
 bay, and sent home in manuscript." The Report says — 
 "Though this pamphlet has been widely diffused, and will be 
 diffused still more widely, it may be useful to give an abstract 
 of its contents." 
 
 So also, in the Annual Report for 1845, (p. 75,) we find 
 mentioned the printing, by the Prudential Committee, of 
 3,000 copies of a statement and appeal from the mission in 
 Borneo. 
 
 It thus appears that the Prudential Committee's suppres- 
 sion of the appeal of the Sandwich Islands missionaries in 
 1837, and their adoption of a rule for choking oft' future 
 attempts at appeal on that subject, and their framing of that 
 rule in language so general as to give no idea to the ordinary 
 reader of the particular object of the prohibition, were parts 
 of a policy which has uniformly been pursued by this body, 
 the avoidance of practical discountenance to that system of 
 slaveholding in the United States in which their contributors 
 were concerned. 
 
 It will be perceived by the letters of Mr. Gulick and Mr. 
 Hitchcock, (ante, pp. 6-8,) that even the mild form of slavery 
 then prevailing in the Sandwich Islands was a serious hin- 
 
14 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 drance to their missionary labor, and that the publication in 
 this country of their resolutions in opposition to American 
 slavery would be (in their judgment) a benefit to the cause of 
 missions. 
 
 The very year after the Prudential Committee had smoth- 
 ered this testimony, and suppressed these resolutions, and for- 
 bidden the printing of any others, their report respecting the 
 Sandwich Islands mission contained a division headed " Hin- 
 drances TO THE Work." Slavery, however, was not men- 
 tioned among these hindrances ! was not mentioned at all ! 
 Romanism and want of funds were the only topics touched 
 under this head. — See pp. 117, 118, of Ann. Rep. for 1838. 
 
 The significance of this suppression of the testimony of 
 missionaries in regard to the hindrances to their work among 
 the heathen becomes very striking when contrasted with the 
 following declarations previously made by the Prudential 
 Committee : — 
 
 ^ "Resolved, That it is eminently desirable that the spiritual condi- 
 tion and necessities of the world be ascertained and spread before 
 the churches as soon as possible, and that a distinct presentation be 
 made of all the means which ought to be employed to publish the 
 Gospel to every creature." — p. 18, Ann. Rep. for 1833. 
 
 In the " Conclusion " of this same Annual Report, among 
 the " General Objects of the Board," occurs the following 
 passage, p. 141: — 
 
 "A joint and solemn responsibility does certainly rest upon the 
 several missionary societies of Christendom to lose no time in mak- 
 ing a full report to the churches of the condition of the heathen 
 world, and of all that is necessary for its spiritual regeneration." 
 
 That there has been (notwithstanding this general recogni- 
 tion of the duty of free expression in regard to the obstacles 
 to success in the missionary enterprise) a steady continuance, 
 by the Prudential Committee, of the policy of discouraging 
 any expression of opinion by the missionaries in regard to 
 slavery in the United States, appears from two letters from 
 missionaries of the Board, which aj)peared in The Independ- 
 ent of August 13th, 1857. 
 
 In that paper, the writers of these letters are editorially 
 designated as " two of the most able, devoted and successful 
 missionaries in the East," one " in Western Asia," and the 
 other "in a neighboring field." 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 15 
 
 The first of these letters, written from one missionary to 
 the other, is dated May 5th, 1857. The second letter, from 
 the second missionary, and enclosing the letter of the first to 
 some one in this country, is dated June 1st, 1857. We are 
 left in entire ignorance from what particular places, and from 
 what persons, and to what persons, these letters were sent. 
 Why is this reserve ? Is it because both letters express a 
 very strong and heartfelt opposition to American slavery ? 
 
 The Independent wished these strong expressions of anti- 
 slavery feeling to be heard and heeded, and called attention 
 to them in the following introductory paragraphs : — 
 
 "the testimony or missionaries against AMERICAN SLAVERY. 
 
 " The Christian sentiment of the world, in every form, is arrayed 
 against the system of slavery which exists in the United States. 
 But perhaps no testimony against that system is so strong and so 
 impressive as that which comes from American missionaries, who 
 from their distant fields of labor look back upon their native land. 
 Their love for their country would incline them to look charitably 
 upon her faults, while their relations to the Christian community dis- 
 pose them always to speak with caution upon liome atlairs. They 
 are removed from all party and sectional strife upon the subject of 
 slavery, and therefore look upon that subject, not with the excited 
 feelings of controversialists, but with the calmness of impartial ob- 
 servers. As a class, missionaries live near to God, and some of them 
 are eminent for holiness. They are accustomed to look upon every 
 institution, measure, or event, in its bearing upon the kingdom of 
 Christ, and thus their feelings become as sensitive to any thing 
 atfecting that kingdom as the barometer to changes of the atmos- 
 phere. The churches in this land, therefore, ought to give special 
 heed to the views and feelings of missionaries on the subject of sla- 
 very. They are not 'infidels,' 'radicals,' or 'fanatics.' 
 
 " Formerly, our missionaries looked upon slavery as an evil which 
 they had left far behind them, and with which they had no concern. 
 Kow, however, since communication has been so freely opened with 
 all parts of the world, they find the shame and scandal of American 
 slavery a positive hindrance to their work. Converted heathen are 
 amazed that slavery exists in this Christian land, and opposition to 
 the Gospel among the unevangelized is strengthened by this mon- 
 strous incongruity. The lamented Stoddard once said, ' We do not 
 dare to let our converts know that slavery exists in America ; for how 
 could we reconcile it with our professions as a Christian nation 1 ' " 
 
 The language of the second of the letters referred to is so 
 very peculiar and significant that I quote some of its first 
 sentences : — 
 
 "June 1st, 1857. 
 
 "My Dear Brother, — The groanings of the missionary over 
 his retrograding country ought perhaps sometimes to be heard. 
 
16 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 With this view, I send you the enclosed letter from Mr. to my- 
 self, which you are at liberty to publish just as it is forwarded, if you 
 think proper. Names need not be given; for the sentiment of the 
 letter probably represents the feelings of most of our missionaries in 
 these regions. It was of course not penned for the public eye ; but 
 the spontaneous gushings of an aching heart, poured into the ear of 
 a brother missionary, are at least as true an index of that heart as 
 any more formal expression could be." 
 
 Why is the strong protest against slavery (which is the 
 prominent point in both the letters referred to) thus anony- 
 mously written and published? Why does the missionary 
 say that his complaints upon this subject ought perhaps some- 
 times to be heard ? Why does he say, in giving permission 
 to publish the letter of his anti-slavery associate, " Names 
 need not be given " ? and why does he say, (as if it explained 
 the propriety of withholding the names of persons and places,) 
 "/or the sentiment of the letter probably represents the feel- 
 ings of most of our missionaries in these regions "? In short, 
 why must the anti-slavery sentiments of American missiona- 
 ries in foreign lands be sent to this country stealthily, and 
 published at second hand, with such precautions, instead of 
 being sent directly to the Board, and published, with their 
 other communications, in the Missionary Herald and the An- 
 nual Heports? The answer to these questions will require a 
 careful and extended examination of the past history of the 
 Board in regard to slavery, to which I now proceed. 
 
 In 1840, the Prudential Committee found it necessary to 
 make open mention of the subject of slavery in their Annual 
 Beport, to indicate this business, as others, by a heading in 
 small capitals, and also to refer to it in the Index. Their 
 action is recorded as follows, pp. 63, 64: — 
 
 "on raising funds from the holders of slaves. 
 
 " A memorial from sundry Congregational and Presbyterian minis- 
 ters in the State of New York, on the subject of raising funds for 
 missionary objects from those who hold slaves, and remonsti^ating 
 against the agents of the Board being sent for that purpose into the 
 States where slaves' are held, was laid before the Board by the Re- 
 cording Secretary, and referred to a committee consisting of Rev. 
 Drs. Hawes, and Tliomas DeWitt, Hon. Charles Marsh, Walter 
 Hubbell, Esq., and Rev. Messrs. Greene, Hamner and Meigs. This 
 committee subsequently made the report given below, which was 
 accepted and approved. 
 
 " ' The Committee to whom was referred the memorial of sundry Congre- 
 gational and Presbyterian ministers in the State of New York, respectfully 
 ask leave to report 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 17 
 
 " ' Your Committee have no reason to doubt that the memorialists are 
 sincerely desirous of promoting the missionary Avork, and think that their 
 opinions and feelings should be treated with great respect and kindness. 
 That the Lord will not accept the fruits of robbery for sacrifice, we are 
 assured ; nor do your Committee suppose that any gift obtained by means 
 known to the donor to be unrighteous, and in the use of which he still 
 perseveres, will be acceptable to God. Still, they think that much caution 
 should be exercised in judging concerning the character and motives of 
 men who profess to be engaged in the service of Christ, and whose general 
 character and conduct correspond with the profession, 
 
 " ' But without deciding in regard to the entire correctness of the prin- 
 ciples wliich are believed to constitute the basis of the reasonings of the 
 memorialists, your Committee are convinced, from a careful consideration 
 of the matter, that the attempt to apply these principles, as proposed in 
 the memorial, would be attended with practical difficulties so numerous 
 and great as to render it inexpedient for the Board to take any order on 
 the subject.' " 
 
 The Prudential Committee do not tell us who, and how 
 many, are the "sundry ministers," nor what reasons they 
 allege. They seem to hope still to stave oiF the subject by 
 treating it with slight regard. But in the following year, it 
 was found advisable and prudential to treat other remon- 
 strants more respectfully. 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1841, pp. 58 to 61, appears the 
 following Memorial and Keport of Committee : — 
 
 "ME3IORIAL FROM MINISTERS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 " The following memorial from ministers in the State of New 
 Hampshire was read to the Board by Mr. Greene : — 
 
 ArcusT, 1841. 
 To the American Board of Commissioners for Forei(/n 3Iissions : 
 
 Beloved Brethren, — The undersigned, ministers in New Hampshire, 
 and most of them honorary members of the Board, address you on a sub- 
 ject in which they feel a deep interest, and which they regard as of the 
 utmost importance to the cause of Missions. We address you as our fel- 
 low-laborers, and the especial agents of the church in this cause. And we 
 assure you that we have great confidence in you as such. But we think 
 the circumstances in which you are now placed require a modification of 
 the course you have hitherto pursued. We allude to what has appeared 
 to us a studied silence on the subject of American slavery. We know that 
 you have been goaded in unchristian methods, and have been censured for 
 not carrying out plans that were neither wise nor good. But we think you 
 may, and we frankly say you should, make known your views and feelinys on 
 the subject, so that you shall be recognized by all as symjiathising with those 
 Christians who deeply abhor that system nf abomination. 
 
 And in addition to the consideration that it is right, we say also a regard 
 to the pecuniary safety of the Board renders it expedient. There is a 
 deep feeling of disapprobation in the community in relation to the studied 
 silence above alluded to. Nor is it confined to those who have dealt in de- 
 
18 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 nunciation towai'ds all who did not conform to their precise method of op- 
 posing slavery. The sober and considerate ministers and members of our 
 churches, who have from the first been the firm and true friends of the 
 Board, are distressed. They love the Board, and have loved it long. 
 They regard it as foremost among the benevolent societies of the day. 
 They have paid more for its support than for the support of any other so- 
 ciety. And more than of any other, has its prosperity been the burden of 
 their prayers. But we greatly fear that their contributions must ulti- 
 mately, and that before long, be suspended, if the Board shall think it 
 their duty to observe such a studied silence on this great subject of interest 
 and responsibility to American Christians. 
 
 Brethren, do not for a moment think that we are not your friends. "We 
 say this in love — love to your cause, and love with assurance of confidence 
 to you. We do think that American slavery is such, and brought in the 
 providence of God so distinctly into the notice of American Christians, 
 that no man or body of men can innocently maintain a doubtful position 
 in relation to it. 
 
 John M. Whitox, Antrim. S. "W. Clark, Greenlcmd. 
 
 Samuel Lee, New Ipswich. David P. Smith, Greenfield. 
 
 WiXTHROP FiFiELD, Epsoni. Jeremiah Blake, Wolf borough. 
 
 EuFUS A. Putnam, Chichester. R. W. Fuller, Westmoreland. 
 
 James R. Davenport, Francestown. James Tisdale, Dublin. 
 
 Giles Lyman, Marlborough. Saaiuel Nichols, Barrington. 
 
 Cyrus W. Wallace, Manchester. J. D. Crosby, Jaffrcy. 
 
 Horace Wood, Dalton. David Sutherland, Bath. 
 
 Jonathan Curtis, Pittsfield. 
 
 " The foregoing paper was referred to the Rev. Dr. Woods, Chief 
 Justice Williams, Rev. Dr. Hawes, Rev. David Magie, and Rev. J. G. 
 Haraner, who subsequently reported as follows : — 
 
 " 'The Committee to whom was referred the memorial of several minis- 
 ters of the Gospel in the State of Xew Hampshire, beg leave to report. 
 
 " ' In attending to the subject under consideration, your Committee no- 
 tice, with heartfelt pleasure, the candid and Christian spirit manifested in 
 the communication from the brethren in New Hampshire. We have 
 entire confidence in their attachment to the cause of foreign missions, and 
 in their disposition to do all in their power to send the blessed Gospel, 
 with all its healing influences, to the ends of the earth. It will ever be 
 our delight to act with such men as they are, in promoting the object of 
 this Missionary Board. And it is our earnest wish that every thing should 
 be removed out of the way, which would be likely, in any measure, to pre- 
 vent the accomplishment of this object, or to hinder the cordial and unin- 
 terrupted cooperation of its friends. 
 
 '' ' This Board was incorporated for the express "purpose of propagating 
 the Gospel in heathen lands, by supporting missionaries and diffusing a 
 knowledge of the Scriptures." In the language of the laws, " the object 
 of the Board is to propagate the Gospel among unevangelized nations." 
 The Board and its missionaries have taken care to confine their efforts to 
 this one object, — an object great and excellent enough to engage the labors 
 of angels and men. It appears to your Committee to be a duty of the first 
 importance, — a duty required by a conscientious regard to the sacred 
 trust committed to us, to continue to pursue our one great object with undi- 
 vided zeal, and to guard watchfully against turning aside from it, or mix- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 19 
 
 ing any other concern with our appropriate work, as a Board of Commis- 
 sioners for Foreign Missions. There are indeed many other works of 
 Christian benevolence to be accomplished. But the work of this Board is 
 one, namely, to propagate the Gospel among iinevangclized nations. To this 
 we are pledged. There are many forms of evil to be done away. But the 
 evil which it is our object to do away is the evil of idolatry, ignorance and 
 wretchedness among the heathen. And it is doubtless as true in regard 
 to these various objects, as in regard to any others, that a division of labor 
 is essential to the highest degree of success. As to the benevolent work in 
 which we are engaged, we have the happiness to be of one mind ; and we 
 have had the happiness, in all past time, of pursuing this work with 
 remarkable unanimity. And it is exceedingly plain to us, tliat we are 
 called by Divine Providence to adhere to the plan of operation which has, 
 from the first, been adopted ; and that the way, and the only way for us 
 to fulfil our sacred trust, and go forward harmoniously and prosperously 
 in our benevolent enterprise, is, to direct all our proceedings as a Board, 
 and all the labors of our missionaries, to the accomplishment of the one 
 specific object of our organization ; and that turning aside to any thing 
 else, how important soever in itself, would be a dereliction of duty on our 
 part, and would disappoint and grieve the great body of Christians who 
 patronize the foreign missions. 
 
 " ' Considering the character of this Board as a Christian institution, 
 and the momentous object which it is pledged to promote, we think it may 
 fairly be presumed, that the funds contributed from time to time to our 
 treasury are obtained in a proper manner, and given from proper motives. At 
 least, the principle is not to be admitted, that the Board must examine 
 into the motives which influence those who sustain its operations, or into 
 the origin of the funds which are contributed in furtherance of its object. 
 Such a principle would be highly invidious in its character, and altogether 
 impracticable in operation. 
 
 '"In regard to the particular object of the memorialists, that of obtain- 
 ing a formal expression of the views and feelings of the Board respecting 
 slavery, your Committee do not think that such a measure is called for, or 
 that it would be right and expedient. It is indeed perfectly evident, that 
 this Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions can sustain no relation to 
 slavery, which implies approbation of the system, and as a Board can have 
 no connection or sympathy with it. And on the other hand, it is equally 
 evident that the Board cannot be expected to pass resolutions, or 
 adopt measui-es against this system, any more than against other specific 
 forms of evil existing in the community. For we are met at once with the 
 question, why we should express and proclaim our opinion in regard to 
 one particular evil, in distinction from others, which are equally obvious 
 and prevalent. 
 
 " ' We beg leave to say again, — we do entertain a high respect for those 
 ministers of Christ who have addressed us on the siibject now under con- 
 sideration. The spirit which pervades their communication cannot but 
 excite within us feelings of love and esteem towards them. It is our ear- 
 nest desire and hope that this Board may give them entire satisfaction, 
 and enjoy their entire confidence. And we cannot doubt the continuance 
 of their benevolent efforts and their fervent prayers in behalf of that pre- 
 cious and glorious object, the conversion of the world, which they and we are 
 united in seeking. And we will only add an affectionate request to those 
 beloved brethren, and all our other fellow-laborers, that they would keep in 
 mind the great and only object of this Missionary Board, together with the 
 
20 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 untold labors, the perplexing cares, the burdens, difficulties and anxieties 
 which fall to the share of those who are called to perform the executive 
 business of the Board, and to direct its vast concerns, at homo and 
 abroad. Let them join with us in thanking the God of missions for the 
 unexpected and wonderful manner in which he has interposed to prosper 
 our labors. Lot them join with us also in endeavoring to avoid whatever 
 would divide the counsels and hinder the success of those who arc seeking 
 the enlargement of Christ's kingdom. And as the God of heaven and 
 earth is on his way to have mercy on all nations, lot our hearts be cheered 
 and animated with hope ; and let us abound more and more in our labors 
 of love ; waiting in faith and patience and joy for the coming of our Lord. 
 " ' In behalf of the Committee, 
 
 LEONARD WOODS, Chairman: 
 
 " After a brief debate, with some explanations, and parts of the 
 report having been again read, the report was unanimoushj adopted." 
 
 The italics in the above are those of the Annual Report. 
 I wish now to call particular attention to one feature in the 
 report of this Reverend and Honorable Committee, some of 
 whom afterwards distinguished themselves as bitter and per- 
 sistent opponents of all anti-slavery reform. 
 
 The Prudential Committee had, for several years, main- 
 tained a deceptive silence upon this subject. In 1841 began 
 a course, which has been continued to the present time, of 
 deceptive speech. 
 
 In the last paragraph but one of this report of Dr. Woods, 
 of Andover, after a verbal disclaimer of approbation of sla- 
 very — a disclaimer certainly not worth much after the per- 
 sistent suppression, by the Prudential Committee, of testimo- 
 ny from the missionaries against slavery, as a hindrance to 
 their missionary work — Dr. Woods says, p. 60 : — 
 
 " On the other hand, it is equally evident, that the Board cannot 
 be expected to pass resolutions, or adopt measures against this sys- 
 tem, any more than against other specific forms of evil existing 
 in the community. For we are met at once with the question, why 
 we should express and proclaim our opinion in regard to one partic- 
 ular evil, in distinction from others, which are equally obvious and 
 prevalent ? " 
 
 The report containing this statement was " unanimously 
 adopted" by the Board (p. 61.) The statement implies (and 
 uses the implication as a main argument against the remon- 
 strants) that no censure " against other specific forms of evil" 
 had been published by the Board. Let us look at the facts. 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1840, only one year before, I 
 find censure against the traffic in intoxicating liquors, (pp 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 21 
 
 37, 167,) against the use of intoxicating liquors, (p. 180,) 
 against the use of opium, (pp. 132 and 188, 130,) against 
 caste — in Siam, not in Massachusetts or South Carolina — 
 (p. 131,) and against the smoking of tobacco, (p. IGl.) 
 
 In the Annual lleport for 1838, I find censure against the 
 practice of marrying heathen wives, (pp. 01, 05,) against in- 
 temperance, (pp. 70, 123,) and against the action of the 
 United States government, in removing the Indians beyond 
 the Mississippi,^(p. 13G.) 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1836, (p. 86,) and in that for 
 1835, (p. 02,) are complaints of the demoralization produced 
 by gambling; and in the Annual lleport for 1830, (pp. 110, 
 112,) are strong statements respecting the pernicious influence 
 of theatres. 
 
 Some of the censures against " specific forms of evil " 
 above referred to were made hj the missionaries, and some 
 by the Prudential Committee. And probably every Annual 
 Report yet issued has contained some censure of this sort, 
 from the pen of one or the other (or both) of these two par- 
 ties, and formally " adopted " by the Board, against one or 
 more forms of vice or evil. 
 
 Even in the very Annual Report (for 1841) in which Dr. 
 Woods presents (as an argument against any direct rebuke of 
 slaveholding by the Board) the implication that they did 7Ujt 
 rebuke " other specific forms of evil," I find a statement of 
 church discipline inflicted for *' travelling on the Sabbath " 
 and for "playing at cards," (p. 155,) a complaint of the im- 
 proper food and the want of cleanliness of the Sandwich Is- 
 landers, (pp. 168, 160,) a censure of the use of intoxicating 
 liquors, (p. 186,) and on page 156, the following energetic 
 language against the smoking of tobacco : — 
 
 " In some villages, not one in a hundred had fallen under church 
 censure, and in others, considerable numbers had indulged in some 
 besetting sin. The direct occasion of the falling of nearly all who 
 had wandered was smoking tobacco. The passion of the natives for 
 this vile narcotic is exceedingly strong and almost universal; and 
 when this intemperate appetite has been indvilged for a considerable 
 length of time, it is about as difficult to eradicate it, as to reform the 
 confirmed drunkard. I need not, however, enlarge on this topic, as 
 you are already acquainted with the facts in the case. On visiting 
 the offenders, some appeared truly penitent, others indifferent, and 
 a third class, hard-hearted and determined in sin. However, God 
 •wrought, and he is now separating the precious from the vile, and 
 
22 
 
 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 giving US power to 'return and discern between the righteous and 
 the wicked.' " 
 
 The Annual Eeport containing these rebukes of '• other 
 specific forms of evil " was already prepared and ready for 
 printing when Dr. Woods read his report containing the ut- 
 terly erroneous implication above mentioned. The Prudential 
 Committee, who sat on the platform and heard it read, knew 
 not only that that statement was at variance with one of their 
 ordinary customs, but that this variance utterly vitiated Dr. 
 Woods's argument. Nevertheless, they allowed it to be read, 
 voted on, and " adopted," without correction, and they after- 
 
 wards printed it as sound and true ! 
 
 The unfair treatment of this Memorial in 1841 was made 
 the subject of remonstrance in other Memorials presented in 
 1842, which were again referred to a Committee of which 
 Rev. Dr. Woods was chairman. The Prudential Committee 
 avoid giving the language of these Memorials, and the names 
 of the remonstrants. This only is clear, that there were 
 " several memorials and other papers " in regard to slavery. 
 The Report of Dr. Woods replies to the exposure of his for- 
 mer misrepresentations by another misrepresentation, and tries 
 to veil the meagreness and insufficiency of its defence by ex- 
 panding into irrelevant pious talk, an example which was much 
 followed in subsequent years. 
 
 This Report, with the very brief prefatory statement of the 
 Prudential Committee, is as follows — pp. 44-46 of Annual 
 Reportfor 1842: — 
 
 " Memorials on Slavery. Mr. Greene read several memorials 
 and other papers on the subject of the connection of the American 
 Board Avitli slavery. Tliese papers were referred to a committee, 
 consisting of Eev. Dr. Woods, Chief Justice Williams, Kev. D. 
 Brigham, Eev. Drs. Hawes and Parker, Rev. D. Greene, and Rev. 
 Lyman Strong. The following Report was presented by that com- 
 mittee : — 
 
 " 'The committee to whom were submitted sundry memorials relating to 
 slavery; also, an extract from the will of the late Philander Ware; also, a 
 memorial respecting receiving donations from persons in debt, ask leave to 
 report. 
 
 " ' Respecting the bequest of Philander Ware, and donations from per- 
 sons in debt, your committee would not recommend to the Board to take 
 any action. 
 
 " ' The case of the Rev. John Leigh ton Wilson, a missionary of the 
 Board to West Africa. It is stated in a letter from Mr. Wilson, that six 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 23 
 
 years ago, and subsequently to his entering on the missionary work, he 
 sustained the legal relation of owner to a number of slaves, who fell to him 
 In consequence of a bequest made before his birth; that he had otfered to 
 emancipate them, either in this country or in Liberia, and had done all 
 which he deemed suitable to terminate a relation painful and burdensome 
 to himself, while they had steadfastly refused; and that he was, at the 
 time mentioned, desirous still to emancipate these slaves, if any mode 
 could be pointed out, which should be just and kind to them. Whether 
 Mr. Wilson has emancipated them, or what their situation has been during 
 the last six years, or what it now is, your committee have no information. 
 They understand, however, that the Secretaries of the Board have written 
 to him, making inquiries on these points. With their present want of 
 information, your committee deem it necessary to say nothing more than 
 that Mr. Wilson appears to have intended to act conscientiously and hu- 
 manely, relative to the slaves under his care. Still, if his relation to them 
 is not already tei-minated, your committee think it very desirable that it 
 should be with as little delay as circumstances will permit ; and they 
 cannot but think that he wull ere long be able, with sucla counsel and aid 
 as the Prudential Committee may give, to accomplish the object in a man- 
 ner satisfactory to himself, and kind and beneficial to them. More infor- 
 mation must be obtained before further action can properly be had. 
 
 " ' Your committee have no knowledge that any other missionary under 
 the patronage of the Board stands in a similar relation to slavery. 
 
 " ' This Board, at their last annual meeting, in reply to a memorial 
 from New Hampshire, endeavored very plainly to set forth the principles 
 which have governed their proceedings, and the views they entertain re- 
 specting the general object of these memorials ; and it was our hope that 
 the course which was pursued would prove satisfactory to all concerned. 
 And here your committee know not what better they can do than to advert 
 very briefly to the leading points contained in the report then adopted. 
 
 " 'It was stated that this Board was incorporated for the express "pur- 
 pose of propagating the gospel in heathen lands, by supporting missiona- 
 ries and diffusing a knowledge of the Sci-iptures ; " that the Board have 
 confined their efforts to this one rjreat object ; and that a regard to our 
 sacred trust requires us to pursue the object with undivided zeal, and to 
 guard watchfully against turning aside from it or mixing any other con- 
 cerns with it. We referred to other works of benevolence, but insisted that 
 mr appropriate work is to propagate the gospel among the unevangelized. It 
 was then, and still is, our deliberate conviction, that we are called by 
 Divine Providence to adhere steadily to the plan of operation which has 
 been adopted, and that the only way for us to prosper in our work is to 
 direct all our proceedings, as a Board, and all the labors of our missiona- 
 ries, to the one specified object of our oi'ganization. Wo think that our 
 Lord and Master, and the Christian world now and in after ages, will ap- 
 prove this our deliberate course of action, and that we could not be justified 
 in departing from it. 
 
 " ' In the report adopted last year, we moreover expressed our opinion, 
 that, considering the character of this Board and the nature of its object, 
 it may fairly be presumed that the funds contributed to our treasury are 
 obtained in a proper manner and given from proper motives, and that it is 
 at least manifest that we cannot examine into the motives of those who 
 sustain our operations, or into the origin of the funds which are contribu- 
 ted in furtherance of our object. We think no man, who well considers 
 the subject, can judge differently from us on this point. As to the methods 
 which the Prudential Committee are pursuing to secure funds, we know 
 nothing which any one could think exceptionable. 
 
24 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " 'From a hearty desire to satisfy the feelings of the ministers of the 
 Gospel who sent us the memorial from New Hampshire, we also said, Avith 
 perfect frankness, "that the Board nf Cominissioners for Foreign Missions can 
 sustain no relation to slavery which implies approbation of the system, and as a 
 Board, can have no connection or sympathy with it," plainly intimating, 
 also, that we consider it as one of the obvious evils which exist in the com- 
 munity, but the removal of which, though we regard it as an object of 
 fervent desire and prayer, does not fall within our province as a missionary 
 Board. These are our settled principles. 
 
 " ' It is alleged by the memorialists that the Board has departed from 
 these principles, and has expressed opinions relative to other prevailing 
 evils. Respecting intemperance, licentiousness, Indian oppression, and 
 some other hindrances to the progress of Christianity, as they prevailed in 
 the countries where the missions of the Board are established, and power- 
 fully counteracted the labors of the missionaries, and in some instances 
 subjected them to great peril, the Board has stated the facts as they 
 occurred, and in various forms, more or less explicit, has uttered the lan- 
 guage of condemnation. These evils, existing in the countries where the 
 missions are operating, and standing directly in the way of the Board's 
 accomplishing its object, were, of course, legitimate and proper subjects 
 for its animadversion. If it has at any time gone further than this, and 
 expressed opinions relative to immoralities or evils of any kind, prevailing 
 in this country, and not directly counteracting the labors of the missiona- 
 ries, your committee regard such action as a departure from the great 
 principles on which the Board was organized, and by which they think its 
 proceedings should always be governed. 
 
 " 'And now, what more shall we say? Should we undertake to do jus- 
 tice to our own views on all the particular subjects hinted at in these 
 memorials, it would occupy more time than can be afforded on this occa- 
 sion, and would naturally lead on to discussions in which this Board cannot 
 engage, and which must be left to those who may write and speak on their 
 own individual responsibility. 
 
 " ' It should bo kept in mind, that the work of this Board has not been 
 done in a corner. Its proceedings are open to the scrutiny of the public. 
 Any one who will examine the matter will have no need to inquire of us 
 what are our principles and our modes of action. They are written in our 
 various reports and other printed documents. They are exhibited in noon- 
 day light in the extensive fields we occupy, and in the success with which 
 the God of missions has mercifully crowned our feeble efforts. 
 
 " 'The difficulties which we have found it nect\sary to encounter have 
 been innumerable, and our hearts have many a time been ready to yield to 
 discouragement. Out of the depths we have often cried unto the Lord ; 
 and he hath heard our voice, and hath called forth songs of thanksgiving 
 and praise. 
 
 " ' And now, feeling ourselves bound for ever to this sacred and moment- 
 ous cause, and being resolved, in the best use of the powers which God has 
 given us, and with the cooperation of his people and the help of his grace, 
 to go straight forward in our work, we affectionately invite all who love 
 the cause of missions, and who can conscientiously assist us with their 
 prayers and their charities, to join with us in our undertaking, and to 
 share with us in our labors, our trials and our pleasures. But if any are 
 so dissatisfied with our principles or our proceedings, that they deem it 
 their duty to promote the spread of the Gospel through some other chan- 
 nel, we shall indeed be sorry to be deprived of the help they might afford 
 us ; but we do not wish to curtail their liberty." ' 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 25 
 
 In this Report, Dr. Woods repeats his statement of the 
 previous year, that " the Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
 Missions can sustain no relation to slavery which implies ap- 
 probation of the system." This disclaimer is not only worth- 
 less and empty, an offering of barren words when deeds were 
 needed, but it tries to turn the reader's attention from the 
 real point at issue. Nobody had charged the Board with 
 approving slavery ! The charge was that they had pursued 
 such a course of policy, partly by action and partly by silence 
 and inaction, as to give countenance and support to that 
 wickedness ! 
 
 But it is the paragraph following this, the one commenc- 
 ing, "It is alleged," &c., (p. 24,) that contains the chief spec- 
 imen of dishonest evasion and misrepresentation in this 
 Report. After referring to the numerous instances presented 
 by the remonstrants in which the Board had condemned 
 " other specific evils," (thus at once disproving the statement 
 and annihilating the argument which Dr. Woods had pre- 
 sented in 1841,) the Report takes new ground, as follows : — 
 
 " These evils, existing in the countries where the missions are 
 operating, and standing directly in the way of the Board's accom- 
 plishing its object, were of course legitimate and proper subjects for 
 its animadversion. If it has at any time gone further than this, and 
 expressed opinions relative to immoralities or evils of any kind, 
 prevailing in this country, and not directly counteracting the labors 
 of the missionaries, your Committee regard such action as a depar- 
 ture from the great principles on which the Board was organized, 
 and by which they think its proceedings should always be governed." 
 
 Both sentences in this paragraph show the guilt of the 
 Board, if they are examined in connection loith its action, 
 though, without such examination, the careless and confiding 
 reader might take them to substantiate Dr. Woods's argu- 
 ment. 
 
 If those evils which exist in the countries where the mis- 
 sions are operating, and which stand directly in the way of 
 the Board's accomplishing its object, are " of course legiti- 
 mate and proper subjests for its animadversion," then the 
 Board are verily guilty in not having spoken of slavery in 
 the Sandwica Islands as an obstacle to the Christianization of 
 that people, and in having suppressed and concealed the testi- 
 mony of their missionaries there to that effect. If they will 
 2 
 
26 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 bring out from their archives the letter-sheet of resolutions 
 printed on the Sandwich Islands mission press, in 1837,* (im- 
 mediately after which they voted that the mission presses 
 should no longer! be used to print matter for distribution in 
 the United States,) I doubt not it will be found to repeat the 
 statement made in Mr. Gulick's letter (ante, p. 6,) that the 
 situation of the mass of the Sandwich Islands people keeps 
 the subject of slavery almost constantly before the eyes of the 
 missionaries, and that the condition of the laboring class there 
 is that of slavery, though in a milder form than the slavery 
 of our Southern States. Since the missionaries wrote this 
 statement to the editor of an anti-slavery newspaper at that 
 time, no doubt they also wrote it to the Board, hoping that 
 it might receive the much-needed circulation in their Annual" 
 Report. But the Prudential Committee not only suppressed 
 the letter-sheet of anti-slavery resolutions, and such further 
 remonstrance upon that subject as the letters and journals of 
 individual missionaries contained, but avoided all spontaneous 
 mention of slavery as a hindrance, in that and the following 
 years, even when, in 1838, they made an express enumeration 
 of " Hindrances to the Work " — p. 117. 
 
 Thus the very statement made by Dr. Woods in defence of 
 the Board clearly proves the Board to have been in the wrong. 
 
 But, in the second of the two sentences above quoted from 
 this Report, it is implied that the slavery of this country, 
 however appropriately regarded as an evil or an immorality, 
 is not one " directly counteracting the labors of the mission- 
 aries." Let us look a moment at this point. 
 
 The following extracts, taken from a subsequent report of 
 a Committee of which Dr. Woods was again chairman, (in 
 18-15,) prove these three things : 
 
 _*In August, 1857, I requested of the senior Secretary permission to see 
 this document, but my request was not granted. 
 
 t Before the Sandwich Islands mission press was used to oppose slavery, on 
 page 95 of the Annual Report for 1827, is an account of " a circular letter, 
 printed at the mission press, dated Oct. 3d, 182G, and signed by eight mis- 
 sionaries," representing all the stations of that same mission, announcing 
 "to the world" what efforts had been made there against drunkenness, 
 gambling, and other vices, as well as the success of the technical preaching 
 of the Gospel. The prohibition above quoted seems to have been designed 
 solely to stop the mention of slavery, and the annoyance which this would 
 cause to the slaveholding corporate and honorary members of the Board. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 27 
 
 1st. That slavery was at the very time in question (1842) 
 existing in two mission stations of the Board within the ter- 
 ritory of the United States, namely, in the Cherokee and 
 Choctaw nations, as well as in " all the adjacent white com- 
 munities." 
 
 2d. That the missionaries at these stations not only counte- 
 nanced slaveholdhig, but authenticated and honored it by ad- 
 mitting slaveholders to their churches as Christians, indiscrim- 
 inately with others. 
 
 3d. That, when they were compelled by importunate and 
 repeated remonstrances to speak on the subject, both the 
 Committee and the Board (which " unanimously adopted " 
 their Keport, see p. 63 of Ann. Bep. for 1845) admitted 
 " the wrongfulness and evil tendencies of slaveholding," even 
 while determining to continue their allowance of it. Here 
 are the extracts : — 
 
 "Nep^ro slaves appear to have been introduced among those In- 
 dians by white men who removed into their country from sixty to 
 eighty years ago, and to have gradually increased in number till the 
 time when the missions of the Board Avere established among them, 
 in 1817 and 1818. By a census taken of the Cherokees in 1820, 
 there were found to be 583 slaves. The number among the Choc- 
 taws was probably smaller, though neither the missionaries nor the 
 Committee have the means of ascertaining it detinitcly. Since that 
 time, though the Committee are not aware that there has been any 
 census, the number is believed to have been somewhat increased, 
 almost exclusively, however, by births, as there have been few pur- 
 chases and little trade of any sort in slaves. The number now 
 owned by both tribes may probably be not far from 2,000 ; while the 
 number of Indians in both is probably about 38,000. These slaves 
 are almost exclusively in the liands of white men or their descend- 
 ants of mixed blood,' very few being possessed by full Indians." — 
 p. 58. * * * * * * 
 
 "But slavery had been introduced and was existing there, and in 
 all the adjacent white communities, when the missionaries of the 
 Board entered on their labors among these tribes. They were 
 strangers; no interest was felt in their work as missionaries. They 
 preached the Gospel to all whom they found willing to hear them, 
 whatever their complexion or condition. To the slaves and their 
 masters, both generally understanding the English language, they 
 had, at first, m'ore ready access than to the full Indians; and hence 
 from among these, when the Spirit of God gave eflect to the truth, 
 some of the earliest, most intelligent and most stable converts were 
 found, such as the Browns, the Lowreys, the Saunderses, and the 
 Folsoms." — lb. 
 
 ****** 
 
28 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 "Strongly as your Cominittee are convinced of the Avrongfulness 
 and evil tendencies of slaveholding, and ardently as they desire its 
 speedy and universal termination, still they cannot think that, in all 
 cases, it involves individual guilt, in such a manner, that every per- 
 son implicated in it can, on scriptural grounds, be excluded from 
 Christian fellowship." — p. 59. 
 
 Thus, by the subsequent admission of the same Dr. Woods, 
 fortified bj the unanimous adoption of the Board, that is 
 proved to be true which the Board are refusing openly and 
 formally to state, namely, the injurious injiuence of Ameri- 
 can slavery 2ipon their missions. 
 
 Since the Report of Dr. Woods on the Memorials on Slavery 
 presented in 1842 represents that compliance with the prayer 
 of the petitioners would be a turning aside from the " one great 
 object " for which the Board was incorporated, namely, 
 " propagating the Gospel in heathen lands," (p. 45,) it may 
 be well to quote some passages from a document further on 
 in the same Annual Report, which provides for just such a 
 turning aside from the " one great object " in matters other 
 than slavery, as is here refused on the subject of slavery, and 
 refused because it is a turning aside. 
 
 These extracts, from a document introduced by Rev. David 
 Greene, one of the Secretaries, entitled — "The promotion 
 
 OF INTELLECTUAL CULTIVATION AND THE ARTS OF CIVILIZED 
 LIFE IN CONNECTION WITH CHRISTIAN MISSIONS" are aS fol- 
 
 lows : — 
 
 " The course which a missionary adopts in prosecuting his work 
 must be decided very much by the view wliich he takes of the great 
 object to be accomplished. If he aims exclusively at being the in- 
 strument of immediately converting as many souls as possible to the 
 Christian faith, he will devote himself AvhoUy to what is more strict- 
 ly termed preaching the Gospel; while, if his object is to have the 
 Christian system embraced most intelligently by a people, most fully 
 developed, and most permanently established, he may not confine him- 
 self so exclusively to that one kind of labor. Doubtless, both these 
 objects ought to be embraced in the plans of the intelligent mission- 
 ary. He should take into view both the immediate and the ultimate 
 results of his labors — those which are to be seen principally in the 
 individuals whom he may directly instruct, and those which are to 
 affect the community for which he labors for coming ages." — pp. 
 68 69. ******* 
 
 " 3. The missionary may labor to reform what in the habits and 
 condition of a people tends to immorality. Of nearly all the domes- 
 tic habits of imevangelized nations, it may be said that they are 
 adapted to a corrupt state of morals, and nearly inconsistent Avith any 
 other." — p. 72. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 29 
 
 " 4. Those measures which promote the puritj^ and permanent in- 
 fluence of Christianity in a nation, fall within the sphere of a mis- 
 sionary's labors. Converts from paganism are, from the nature of 
 tlie case, and must for some time continue to he, in a state of pupil- 
 age. Their knowledge, even of the Christian doctrines and duties, 
 is very limited and imperfect ; and they are so unaccustomed to in- 
 dependent, conscientious moral action, and so incompetent to found 
 and conduct institutions for their OAvn intellectual improvement, 
 that, notwithstanding all the eflfbrts which can he made in their 
 behalf, they must remain, for no short time, morally, in their minor- 
 ity. Still, the aim and effort should be to teach them, as soon as 
 practicable, to bear these responsibilities. The missionary's work is 
 not finished till this point shall be attained." — p. 73. 
 
 The document containing these recommendations by a 
 Secretary of the Board was referred to a Committee, who 
 reported that they " heartily concur " in the sentiments it 
 contains, and who " recommend that it be published and cir- 
 culated under the direction of the Prudential Committee." 
 (p. 75.) But these very considerations demand what the 
 Board refused to give, direct and constant attention to the 
 subject of slavery. 
 
 AVe now come to the Annual Report for 1843. All it 
 contains in regard to slavery is the following brief abstract of 
 a Memorial, and brief Report on it: — 
 
 "Memorial on Slavery. Mr. Greene read a memorial from 
 a Committee of the Second Evangelical Congregational Church in 
 Cambridgeport, Mass., requesting the Board to pass resolutions to 
 the following effect: '1. That they M'ill not send agents to solicit 
 funds of slaveholders, nor of churches having slaveholding members. 
 2. That they will not send slaveholders as missionaries to the hea- 
 then, nor employ them as agents or secretaries at home." 
 
 " This memorial was referred to Chancellor Walworth, Dr. 
 Hawes, Eev. David Greene, William Page, Esq., Dr. Hay, Dr. 
 Abeel, and Hon. William Darling. This Committee subsequently 
 made a Eeport, which was concurred in by the Board, and is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " ' That they see no reason to depart from the principles sanctioned and 
 adopted by this Board at its two last annual meetings, and which were 
 fully made known to the Christian public through its published proceedings. 
 In the language of the reports of the former Committees on this subject, 
 while we declare, that the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
 can sustain no relation to slavery which implies approbation of the system, 
 and, as a Board, can have no connection or sympathy with it, we distinctly 
 avow our determination to adhere to the sole purpose for which this 
 Board was organized, the propagation of the Gospel in heathen lands by 
 supporting missionaries and diffus^ing a knowledge of the Scriptures ; and 
 that we cannot allow ourselves to be turned aside from this most sacred 
 trust by mixing it up with any other concerns j nor does it belong to ua 
 
80 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 to question the motives of those who thinlc proper to contribute of their 
 substance to aid the operations of the Board in fulfilling the command of 
 our divine Master to preach the Gospel to every creature. 
 
 " ' In relation to slaveholding agents and missionai'ies, the Committee 
 are not aware that any are in the employ of the Board.'" — p. 67. 
 
 Here the answer to the prayer of the memorialists is the 
 same talk about "turning aside" which had been shown to be 
 disingenuous, inapplicable, and nugatory, by their own admis- 
 sions (above quoted) in the previous year. 
 
 Yet, in this very Annual Report, (in a place where it can 
 be mentioned without interference with slavery in the United 
 States,) the slave trade is spoken of as an " obstacle" to mis- 
 sionary labor. This occurs in the statement respecting the 
 Gaboon mission in West Africa, as follows : — 
 
 " Indeed, it seems to be a part of God's -wise j)Um, that his people, 
 in spreading the Gospel over the world, shall not go on without 
 obstacles of some kind, to try their faith and zeal, and compel them 
 to trust his power and grace. Here tliey are likely to be found in 
 the form of the slave trade, intemperance, and popery. On the 
 south of the Gaboon river is a large Spanish slave factory, of which 
 Mr. Wil§on has given an appalling account ; and nearly all tlie towns 
 on that side are engaged in this horrible and suicidal traffic. In 
 conducting it, an indispensable agent is intoxicating liquors. When 
 one of the missionaries lately visited George's town, six slaves had 
 just been sent from that place to the Spanish factory, and six hogs- 
 heads of rum received in return, (for that, in African barter, is about 
 the worth of a slave,) and this the i)eople w^ere consuming as com- 
 mon property." — pp. 87, 88. 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1844, the Prudential Committee 
 inform us that three memorials on slavery were presented a 
 the Annual Meeting in that year. One of them is quote 
 entire, and all are referred to a Committee of which I 
 Woods is again chairman. The proceedings and the Report 
 are as follows : — 
 
 " Memorials on Slavery. Three memorials on the subject of 
 slavery were presented ; having been first read, they were referred 
 to Dr. Woods, Dr. Tyler, Chancellor Walworth, Hon. T. W. Wil- 
 liams, Dr. Stowe, Rev. S. L. Pomroy, Rev. D. Sandford, Dr. Tap- 
 pan, Rev. J. W. M'Lane, and Rev. D. Greene. One of these memo- 
 rials is in the following language : — 
 
 " ' Whereas, the Gospel of Jesus Christ recognizes the common hrother- 
 hood of all men, and justly regards oppression not only as a grievous 
 wrong to a fellow-man, but as a heinous sin against God ; and whereas, 
 the providence of God, iu the severe judgments which he has brought upon 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 31 
 
 men and nations, most clearly corroborates his word, and proves that he 
 holds this sin in utter abhorrence ; and whereas, American slavery is a 
 system of oppression, so unjust and so grievous that we have reason to 
 " ti'emble when wo reflect that God is just, and that his justice will not 
 sleep forever," — a system whose unhappy subjects are as ignorant and 
 degraded as many heathen in foreign lands ; and whereas, Christianity is 
 reproached, and the Gospel hindered, both at home and abroad, because 
 many Christians and Christian institutions appear, by their action or their 
 silence, to approve or tolerate this iniquity without rebuke ; and whereas, 
 your memorialists are informed that slavery is actually tolerated in tho 
 churches under the patronage of the Board among the Choctaws and other 
 Indian tribes, by the admission of slaveholdiug members, and has most 
 evidently interposed an obstacle to the missionary cause ; and whereas, for 
 these and other reasons, many liberal and devoted Christians have with- 
 held their contributions from the Board, and many more have given with 
 great reluctance, and, without a redress of grievances, tho funds of the 
 Board will be seriously diminished, or a large increase prevented : 
 
 " ' We respectfully ask, in view of these facts, that the Board would 
 take this subject into serious and prayerful consideration; that they would 
 declare to the world that the " sole object " of the Board is to carry tho 
 whole Gospel to the heathen and benighted of this and other lands, to 
 deliver them not only from the superstition of idolatry, but from the deg- 
 radation and cruelty of oppression. We ask the Board earnestly to entreat 
 all the missionaries and agents under its patronage to bear a decided tes- 
 timony against the sin of oppression, wherever and in whatever form it 
 exists ; and most especially to declare, in the name of the Board, of tho 
 churches represented by it, and of Jesus Christ whom they preach, that 
 American slavery is a sin against God, and that its existence in a Christian 
 land is in no wise chargeable to the Christian religion which they are 
 commissioned to preach, but is grossly at variance with all its holy doc- 
 trines and precepts. And we further pray, that the Board would immedi- 
 ately take measures to ascertain to what extent slavery or oppression exists 
 in the churches under its patronage, and especially among the Choctaws 
 and other Indian tribes ; and take such action at this meeting as shall 
 speedily remove the evil, or exonerate them and their missionaries from all 
 the responsibility and guilt of its continuance or toleration. We also ask 
 that this memorial, and the action upon it, be communicated to all the mis- 
 sionaries and agents of the Board, and to tho public generally through tho 
 Missionary Herald; all which is the prayer of your memorialists, tho 
 undersigned, members or patrons of the Board. 
 
 " J. C. Lovojov, Jacob Ide, David Sandford, M. M. Fisher, Cliarles Packard, Geo, 
 W. Hunt, Wiiliain N. Haskell, ^■atl)anicl Clark, Samuel Allen, Elijah Stoddard, 
 George 'i'rask, J. 0. Webster, U. M. Chipnian, "SI. Blake, William I'liipps, Horace D. 
 "Walker, U. Simmons, Teter Adams, Israel i'rask." 
 
 " The above-named Committee made a Report, which was adopted 
 by the Board, and is as follows : — 
 
 " ' The petitions referred to the Committee are three, and two of them 
 are witliout date. They have all been received since the commencement 
 of the meeting in this place. One of them is from members of tho Trin- 
 itarian church in Fitchburg, signed by Rev. Philo C. Pettibone and fifty- 
 two others, making in tho whole twenty-four males and twenty-nino 
 females. The next is from ten members of John-street Church, Lowell. 
 The third is from J. C. Lovejoy, Jacob Ide, and ten other highly re- 
 spectable ministers of the Gospel in this State, and seven laymen. In the 
 
32 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 first and second petitions above mentioned, this Board are requested and 
 urged to take measures to prevent receiving into their treasury any moneys 
 contributed, in one way or another, by slaveholders, or any of the avails 
 of slave labor. In the one from Fitchburg, we are desired also to pass 
 resolutions declaring that " American slavery is a sin against God and 
 man, and ought to be immediately abolished, and that we will not employ 
 missionaries or agents who are slaveholders." 
 
 " ' In regard to the above request as to missionaries and agents, this 
 Committee are not able to find what reason the petitioners can have for 
 making such a request, as it is not known that there is at present any 
 complaint, or any ground of complaint, against the doings of the Board in 
 respect to this subject, inasmuch as they have no missionaries or agents 
 who are slaveholders. We did suppose that the particular and full infor- 
 mation which has been given of late on this subject, is, and must be, sat- 
 isfactory to the friends of the cause in which we are engaged. 
 
 " ' As to the other subjects touclred upon in these two petitions, that is, 
 the declaration we are requested to- make as to slavery, and the measures 
 we are requested to adopt, the Committee are unable to recommend any 
 thing more, and they think the Board would not be inclined to do any 
 thing more than to refer the petitioners to the reports which have been 
 made and unanimously accepted on the same subjects at previous meetings. 
 In those reports, the Board have set forth, as plainly as possible, the 
 views they entertain on these subjects, and the principles which have gov- 
 erned their proceedings. They have stated, what is never to be forgotten, 
 that the Board was established and incorporated for the express purpose of 
 propagating the Gospel in heathen lands, by supporting missionaries and 
 diffusing a knowledge of the Scriptures; that the Board have confined 
 themselves to this one rjreat object, and that a regard to our sacred trust 
 requires us to pursue the object with undivided zeal, and not to turn aside 
 from it, or mix any other concerns with it. And we still think that the 
 Lord of missions and the Savior of the world will approve of this deliber- 
 ate purpose of ours and this course of action, and would frown upon us if 
 we should depart from it. And we have the comfort to believe, also, that 
 this is the only purpose and course of action which will give permanent 
 satisfaction to the Christian community, who are enlisted in the cause of 
 missions ; being fully persuaded that any essential departure from this 
 I)lan of operation would tend to defeat the great end we are pursuing, the 
 conversion of the heathen. 
 
 " ' As to the moneys contributed by slaveholders, it is still our opinion 
 that, considering the character of the Board and the nature of its objects, 
 it may fairly be presumed that the funds contributed to our treasury 
 are obtained in a proper manner and contributed from right motives; and 
 that it is very manifest that we cannot properly examine into the motives 
 of those who sustain our operations; and that an attempt to do this would 
 be marked with absurdity, and would plunge us into difficulties from which 
 we could not be easily extricated. 
 
 "'It will not, we trust, be overlooked that, in reply to previous peti- 
 tions, the Board has repeatedly and very frankly declared, that they can 
 sustain no relation to slavery which implies approbation of the sy stein, and, as a 
 Board J can have no connection or sympathy with it: — "plainly intimating 
 that we consider it one of the obvious evils which exist in the community, 
 but the removal of which, though we regard it as an object of fervent de- 
 sire and prayer, does not fall within our province as a missionary Board." 
 We know not how any man, who maturely considers the subject, can desire 
 more than this. And it is quite certain, that without a change of views, 
 the Board can do nothing beyond this. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 33 
 
 " ' The Prudential Committee, the Secretaries, and the members of this 
 Board, are manifestly enlisted in one of the greatest, most benevolent, and 
 most successful enterprises ever undertaken by man. We glory in the 
 cross of Christ. We glory in that work of the salvation of men, and the 
 approaching conversion of the world, which depends upon that cross, and 
 results from it. We most heartily invite Christians to unite with us, and 
 shall thank and honor all who help to sustain this pious undertaking, 
 and who contribute of their property and their prayers to aid this blessed 
 cause. With any of our brethren who are dissatisfied with our doings, we 
 can have no controversy or contention. We cannot turn aside from our 
 arduous work for the purpose of strife. We have no time for strife, and 
 our Lord forbids us to engage in strife. If any of our dear brethren 
 soberly think that they can do the will of God, and advance his cause in 
 some other way better than by joining their efforts with ours, we will be so 
 far from complaining of them for following their own convictions, that wo 
 will pray God to guide them by wisdom from above, and will rejoice in all 
 they do to spread the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 " 'The last petition above mentioned refers to a new subject, that is, tho 
 existence of slavery among some of our missionary churches, particularly 
 among the Choctaws and other Indian tribes, and requests that the Eoard 
 would take measures to ascertain the facts in the case. In conformity 
 with this request, the Committee have made use of all the means in their 
 power, and some of them of special importance, in order to ascertain these 
 facts. And so far as they are at present informed, they sec no reason to 
 charge the missionaries among the Choctaws, or any where else, with either 
 a violation or neglect of duty. But it has been impossible in so short a 
 time to obtain that exact and complete information on the subject which 
 is indispensably necessary to a full and satisfactory report. The Committee 
 must, therefore, for the reason suggested, ask the Board to receive what is 
 now offered, as their report in part on the above mentioned memoi'ials, 
 and request that they may have time to make a thorough inquiry into the 
 state of the churches in our various missionary stations in regard to slave- 
 ry, and, with the help of the information thus obtained, to prepare a 
 report on this part of the subject committed to them, to be presented to 
 the Board at their next annual meeting. And may the Lord grant that 
 on this, and on every subject relating to the high and holy work of tho 
 world's salvation, all who love the name of Jesus may be of the same mind 
 and judgment, and love one another with pure hearts fervently.'" — pp. 
 66-6U. 
 
 In this same Annual Report for 1844 is the following in- 
 cidental information, showing (in a place not affecting slavery 
 in the United States !) that the Prudential Committee recog- 
 nize the prohibition of slavery, and of distinctions founded 
 upon color, by the governments under which their operations 
 are carried on, as auspicious and highly satisfactory in view 
 of their missionary work : — 
 
 " The churches acting through the Board have seen affliction and 
 
 disappointment in their South African mission, until they generally 
 
 acquiesced in the idea of its discoutinuance. A resolution to that 
 
 effect was accordingly adopted by the Committee last year, and af- 
 
 2* 
 
34 
 
 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 proved by the Board, and the missionaries were instructed accord- 
 ingly/' _p. 81. ***** * 
 
 " The letter instructing our brethren to close the concerns of the 
 mission was dated Aug. 31, 1843. Previous to this, as it now 
 appears, the native settlements about Umlazi and Umgeni had not 
 only received great accessions of emigrants from the Zulu coimtry, 
 but new light was thrown on the prospects of the native settlers in 
 that region, and their permanent relations to the colony began to as- 
 sume an auspicious bearing. In creating a new colony at Katal, it 
 "was officially announced that no law should be allowed recognizing 
 a distinction founded upon color; that no attack should be made 
 upon any people witliout the colony by persons not acting under the 
 direction of the colonial government ; and that slavery should not be 
 tolerated in any form." — pp. 81, 82. * * * 
 
 "This, of course, is a different state of things from that which 
 was known to the Committee and the Board at the last annual 
 meeting, or which they then saw any good reason for anticipating." — 
 pp. 82, 83. ****** * 
 
 " In view of such facts and considerations, the Committee could 
 not hesitate to authorise the missionaries to resume their labors at 
 Natal." — p. 84. 
 
 Again, in the same Annual Report for 1844, two pages 
 further on, speaking of the Gaboon nation (again in a place 
 "where American slavery is not in question !) the Prudential 
 Committee venture to characterize slavery as a vice, thus : — 
 
 " They are an amiable people ; apart from those vices which be- 
 long to them as heatlien, such as slavery, polygamy, superstition 
 and intemperance." 
 
 Slavery among the vices which belong to the Gaboon nation 
 as heathen ! 
 
 Let it be remembered, that at this very time, slaveholders 
 were sitting with the Board as Corporate Members and as 
 Honorary Members, that the missionaries of the Board among 
 the Cherokees and Choctaws were encouraging and protect- 
 ing slavery by taking slaveholders into their churches, and 
 that Dr. Woods and his Committee were trying to stave off 
 inquiries and remonstrances in opposition to this wickedness ! 
 
 The Prudential Committee name intemperance and sla- 
 very as vices belonging to the Gaboon people as heathen. 
 Intemperance and slavery were also among the vices of the 
 Cherokees. But while their slavery was tolerated and pro- 
 tected by the missionaries, their intemperance was opposed by 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 35 
 
 preaching, and printing, and individual remonstrance, and as- 
 sociated action, in the following vigorous manner : — 
 
 " In relation to the cause of temperance, also, it may be proper to 
 remark, that we scarcely know a member of any of our churches 
 in good standing, who does not belong to the Temperance Society. 
 AVe beUeve the same is true of professors of religion of otlier de- 
 nominations ; and that it is now generally considered among the 
 Cherokee people, that the use of intoxicating drinks or the traiiic in 
 them is inconsistent with the Christian profession." — p. 219. 
 
 This is what the Cherokee missionaries say. On the same 
 page, the Prudential Committee say — 
 
 " In addition to what is said above relative to temperance, Mr. 
 "Worcester mentions in a letter more recently received, that, during 
 the past year, as near as can be ascertained, about 700 persons 
 have joined the Cherokee Temperance Society, pledging themselves 
 to entire abstinence from all intoxicating drinks. The Society now 
 embraces about 2,300 persons ; 300 or 400 of whom are white and 
 black people, and the remainder Cherokees. Temperance is be- 
 lieved to be decidedly advancing in the Cherokee commimity." — 
 pp. 219, 220. 
 
 Among the printing executed this year at Park Hill sta- 
 tion, in the Cherokee mission, is — "Evils of Intoxicating 
 Drinks," 2d edition; a tract of 24 pages, of which 5,000 
 copies were printed. 
 
 Such is the difference which the Cherokee missionaries chose 
 to make, and which the Prudential Committee allowed to be 
 made, between the treatment of intemperance and slavery in 
 the Cherokee mission ! 
 
 There is every reason to think that, had the missionaries 
 chosen to make the attempt, as much ground might have been 
 gained among these Indians against slavery as against intem- 
 perance. In the Annual Report for 1824, (p. 70,) it is said 
 of the Cherokee mission — 
 
 " The converts generally exhibit a tenderness of conscience, a 
 docility, and a desire for further instruction, which are in the high- 
 est degree encouraging." 
 
 As an instance of this, it is mentioned that a man came 
 nineteen miles to know when the next Sabbath would arrive, 
 that he and his neighbors might thenceforth regularly observe 
 it. 
 
 Neither did the avoidance, by these missionaries, of direct 
 
36 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 appeal to thoir converts against slaveholding, proceed from 
 uncertainty about the proper method of conducting reforma- 
 tory operations, either on their part, or on the part of the 
 Prudential Committee. For this very Report, under the 
 head "General remarks on the Choctaw mission" — speaking 
 of the fact that intemperate drinking, though diminishing in 
 some places, was increasing in others — said: 
 
 " The only way to gain a complete victory over this vice is to ex- 
 cliule spirits altogether. The people cannot receive this enemy into 
 tlieir houses -without being overcome by it." — p. 87. 
 
 To the same effect we find, in a statement of the Pruden- 
 tial Committee in the Annual Report for 1832 — respecting 
 the Choctaws just after their removal to their new territory — 
 
 " A Sabbath Scliool and Temperance Society have been organized, 
 anil are exerting a good influence. 
 
 "A church has been organized, embracing fifty-seven members, 
 all but one of wliom were members of churches in the old nation, 
 and all agree to abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating 
 liquors." — p. 109. 
 
 In the same Report, (Appendix, p. 162,) among " Instruc- 
 tions of the Prudential Committee " to missionaries then 
 about to depart, are the following : — 
 
 " Give no countenance to the use of ardent spirits. Use not the 
 poisoned cup yourselves, nor present it to the lip of foreigner or 
 native." 
 
 The missionaries among the Cherokees, finding their labors 
 impeded and their success neutralized by intemperance, took 
 these active measures against it. They preached against it, 
 talked against it, printed tracts against it, adopted church 
 rules against it, formed societies against it, and wrote to the 
 Prudential Committee periodical accounts of these labors, and 
 of the success or want of success attending them ; which re- 
 ports the Prudential Committee printed in their monthly 
 " Missionary Herald," and in their Annual Report. 
 
 Of another practice prevailing among the Cherokees, 
 (which the Prudential Committee have admitted to be an evil 
 and a vice,) the missionaries say nothing. They neither 
 preach, print, talk, nor form societies against it. They make 
 no reports against it, and the Prudential Committee acquiesce 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 37 
 
 in their silence ! They take members stained with its guilt 
 into their churches, and the Pradential Committee allow it ! 
 And when the Sandwich Islands missionaries, finding this 
 same evil and vice of slavery an obstruction to their mission- 
 ary work, make representations and remonstrances against a 
 continuance of it in this country which blocks the wheels of 
 their opposition to it abroad, the Prudential Committee refuse 
 to print their reports ! 
 
 At the Annual Meeting in 1845, a larger number than 
 ever of memorials against slavery were presented. These 
 were referred to the Committee (Dr. Woods chairman) which 
 made but a partial report the preceding year. As the eva- 
 sive remarks and suggestions of the reports previously made 
 upon memorials of this class did not satisfy or silence the re- 
 monstrants, Dr. Woods seems to have thought it necessary to 
 bestow elaborate attention upon the subject, and his report, 
 and the proceedings in regard to it, occupy nine octavo pages 
 of the Annual Heport for 18-i5, as follows: — 
 
 " MEMORIALS ON SLAVERY. 
 
 " At the meeting of the Board which was held at Worcester in 
 
 1844, three memorials relating to the subject of slaver}- were 
 committed to Dr. AVoods, Dr. Tyler, Chancellor A^alworth, Hon. 
 T. W. Williams, Dr. Stowe, Rev. S. L. Pomroy, Kev. D. Sand- 
 ford, Dr. Tappan, llev. J. W. McLane, and Rev. D. Greene. 
 The Committee made their report in part ; but in respect to ' the 
 existence of slavery among some of our missionary churches, par- 
 ticularly among the Choctaws and other Indian tribes' — one of 
 the topics referred to by the memorialists — they asked leave to 
 submic their report at the meeting to be held in Brooklyn in 
 
 1845. To this Committee were also referred, during the recent 
 meeting, certain resolutions of the Worcester Central Association, 
 a memorial of the Worcester North Association, certain resolu- 
 tions of the Chatauque County Foreign Missionary Society, and 
 a memorial of the Somerset and Franklin Associations. The re- 
 port of the Committee is as follows : — 
 
 " ' The Committee to whom, at the last annual meeting of this 
 Board, were referred certain memorials relating to the Board's 
 alleged connection with slavery, having been instructed to seek fur- 
 ther information concerning the admission of slaveholders to churches 
 under the care of the missionaries of the Board, have made the in- 
 quiries directed, and now ask leave to report. 
 
 " ' The Committee do not deem it necessary to discuss the general 
 subject of slavery, as it exists in these United States, or to enlarge 
 
38 THE AMEMCAN BOARD 
 
 on the wickedness of the system, or on the disastrous moral and 
 social influences wliich slavery exerts upon the less enlightened and 
 less civilized communities where the missionaries of this Board are 
 laboring. On these points, there is probably, among the members 
 of tlie Board and its friends, little difierence of opinion. 
 
 " ' Tlie Committee propose to confine themselves mainly to a 
 statement of some of the principles which should govern the Board 
 and its missionaries in prosecuting their work so as to secure the 
 highest measure of the divine approbation, and most elFectually and 
 speedily to accomplish the great object in view ; together with a 
 statement of the principal facts relating to the connection of persons 
 holding slaves with mission churches under the care of the Board. 
 
 " ' Among the principles which the Committee would present for 
 the consideration of the Board, and which they regard as funda- 
 mental, and to be adhered to in planning and conducting every 
 mission undertaken under the authority of the great Eedeemer and 
 Head of the Church, are the following : 
 
 "'1. In the manner of preaching the Gospel, judging of the evi- 
 dences of piety in professed converts, gathering churches, adminis- 
 tering the ordinances and exercising discipline, there should be a 
 close conformity to the commission given by Christ to his followers, 
 and to the recorded instructions and acts of his inspired apostles. 
 These are found in the New Testament, and are the models and the 
 laws, which, in all important matters, are to govern those who prop- 
 agate the Gospel and minister to the churches in Christ's name. 
 
 "'2. The primary object aimed at in missions should be to bring 
 men to a saving knowledge of Christ by making known to them 
 the way of salvation through his cross. It has regard to individual 
 character, and is an object simple in itself and purely spiritual. 
 The commission given by Christ evidently contemplates the work 
 to be done as one that is to be wrought in individual men, regarded 
 as rational and immortal beings ; all of whom, of every grade and 
 condition, having great interests alike, the more important of which 
 lie in another state of existence. To these interests, primarily and 
 mainly, and to that change of individual character and conduct 
 which is indispensable to secure them, the Christian missionary is to 
 direct his labors. If other objects, less spiritual and important, are 
 connected with the enterprise as predominant objects of interest 
 and pursuit, they impair its efiiciency and endanger the great result. 
 /" 3. As the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper are ob- 
 viously designed by Christ to be means of grace for all who give 
 credible evidence of repentance and faith in him, these ordinances 
 cannot scripturally and rightly be denied to professed converts 
 from among the heathen, after they shall have given such evidence. 
 /"4. The missionaries, acting under the commission of Christ, and 
 with the instructions of the New Testament before them, are them- 
 selves, at first, and subsequently, in connection with the churches 
 they have gathered, the rightful and exclusive judges of what con- 
 stitutes adequate evidence of piety and fitness for church fellowship 
 in professed converts. They alone can be folly acquainted Avith all 
 the circumstances affecting the development of piety in individuals, 
 and intelligently lorm an opinion how far they are aiming to conform 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 39 
 
 their cliaracter and conduct to the doctrines and precepts of the 
 Bible. 
 
 " ' 5. Both before and after professed converts are received to 
 chnrcli fcUowsliip and the ordinances are administered to tliem, the 
 missionaries should give them such instructions from the Gospel as 
 they believe to be, in their circumstances, best adapted to nurture 
 and develop all the Christian graces, and lead to the practice of all 
 the Christian duties. The indulgence of any knoAvn sin and the 
 neglect of any known duty is to be decidedly discountenanced. 
 
 " ' Such your Committee deem to be the divinely established 
 principles according to A^hich the missionary work among unevan- 
 gelized nations should be prosecuted; and in this simple manner 
 only, as it seems to them, can the thoughts and feelings of the 
 heathen and other unevangelized communities be so turned towards 
 God and their relations to him, and be brought into such a spiritual 
 relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, as will at length lead to the cor- 
 rection of all the social wrongs and disorders which now, in various 
 forms, so much afflict the benighted and idolatrous portions of our 
 race. 
 
 " ' Civil and religious liberty, improvement in civilization and the 
 arts of life, and the introduction of the best social institutions, ad- 
 mitted to be indispensable to the highest well-being of a community, 
 are still secondary to the one primary object of securing holiness in 
 the hearts of individuals. Aiming steadily at this is the way for the 
 missionary most surely and speedily to work out the others ; and 
 your Committee believe that it is only by regarding these classes of 
 objects in their proper relations, and keeping them in their proper 
 places, and pursuing them in their proper order, that either can be 
 ettectually attained and permanently established on the broad field 
 of the world. 
 
 " ' In respect to the social and moral evils with which missionaries 
 are to come into contact in prosecuting their work among the be- 
 nighted nations, and in relation to which the foregoing principles 
 are believed by your Committee to appl}^, it should be borne in 
 mind that they are by no means few, or of limited territorial extent. 
 The evils of slavery will probably be met in some form, in nearly 
 every part of the great missionary field, and the principles adopted 
 must atfect the whole scheme for evangelizing the world; and are, 
 therefore, of the utmost importance, and should be most carefully 
 examined and settled. The unnatural state of society in which 
 these evils originate is one of the consequences of human depravi- 
 ty — of that all-absorbing selfishness — that predominance of the lust 
 of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, which are de- 
 veloped in our fallen nature. This state of society is to be rectified 
 by diminishing the power of that terrible principle in which this, as 
 •well as all other wickedness and moral disorders, originate. Invol- 
 untary servitude is believed to pervade nearly the whole of the Af- 
 rican continent, though with widely diflerent degrees of severity. 
 In some form, it exists in many, if not all parts of India. It per- 
 vades Siam, and nearly all ISIohammedan con),munities ; and it Avill 
 probably be found, in some of its modifications, in China and Japan. 
 
 " ' The unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole sys- 
 
40 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 tern is based, and the violation of the natural rights of man, the 
 debasement, wickedness, and misery it involves, and which are in 
 fact witnessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists, must 
 call forth the hearty condemnation of all possessed of Christian feel- 
 ing and sense of right, and make its entire and speedy removal an 
 object of earnest and prayerful desire to every true friend of God 
 and man. This object, as your Committee believe, can be efiected 
 in no other manner tban by the prevalence, in these communities, of 
 tbat regard for justice and human rights and that humane and phi- 
 Ian tliropic feeling of which Christian knowledge and piety are the 
 only permanent basis. 
 
 " 'But slavery is not the only social wrong to be met in the pro- 
 gress of tlie missionary work, and to which the principles which 
 are adopted in prosecuting that work must probably be applied. 
 There are the castes of India, deeply and inveterately inwrought in 
 the very texture of society, causing to the mass of the people hered- 
 itary and deep degradation, leading to the most inhuman and con- 
 temptuous feelings and conduct in social life, and presenting most 
 formidable barriers to every species of improvement. There are 
 also tlie unrestrained exactions, made in the form of revenue, or of 
 military or other service, connected with a species of feudalism, pre- 
 vailing in many unenlightened communities, which are most un- 
 righteous in their character and paralyzing in their influence, and 
 cause unlimited distress to individuals and families. There are also 
 those various forms and degrees of oppression, whether of law or of 
 usage, prevaihng under the arbitrary governments which bear sway 
 over the larger part of the earth's surfiice. So that the principles 
 which we draw from the word of God for our guidance as a mission- 
 ary society, are not for use among a few pagan tribes merely, but 
 among nearly all the benighted nations of the earth. 
 
 '"Is tills Board, then, in propagating the Gospel, to be held re- 
 sponsible for directly working out these reorganizations of the social 
 system, without giving Christian truth time to produce its changes 
 in the hearts of individuals and in public sentiment, and without 
 being allowed to make any practical use of those most effective in- 
 fluences which are involved — in respect to all who have grace in 
 their hearts — in the special ordinances of the Gospel? Or, should 
 it be found, as the result of experience, that souls among the heathen 
 are, in fact, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, before they are freed 
 from all participation in these social and moral evils, and that con- 
 vincing evidence can be given that they are so regenerated, — then 
 may not the master and the slave, the ruler and the subject, giving 
 such evidence of spiritual renovation, be all gathered into the 
 same fold of Christ ( And may tliey not all there and in this man- 
 ner, under proper teaching, learn the great lesson, (so difficult for 
 partially sanctified men to learn,) that in Christ Jesus there is nei- 
 tlier Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free ; but that all are one in 
 hun ? And may they not, under these influences, have effectually 
 nurtured in them those feelings of brotherly love, and that regard 
 lor eiich other's rights and welfare, in which alone is found the rem- 
 edy tor all such evils i? Under such influences, may not the master 
 be prepared to break the bonds of the slave, and the oppressive ruler 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 41 
 
 led to dispense justice to the subject, and the proud Brahmin frater- 
 nally to embrace the man of low caste, and each to do it cheerfully, 
 because it is humane and right, and because they are all children of 
 the great household of God ? By such influences, mainly, is not 
 the great moral transformation to be wrought in the master and the 
 ruler, in the bondman and the oppressed, all-important to both, and 
 the only sure guaranty for permanent improvement in the social 
 character and condition of either ? 
 
 " ' In proceeding on these principles, the missions under the care 
 of this Board, and the churches gathered by them, are no otherwise 
 connected with slavery, than they are Avith every other evidence and 
 result of imperfect moral renovation in their converts and church 
 members ; and they no more really give their sanction to the one, than 
 they do to all the others. Wherever the Gospel is brought to bear 
 upon the community where slavery or any other form of oppression 
 exists, its spirit is decidedly adverse to such a state of things, tend- 
 ing to mitigate the evils of it while it continues, and ultimately, and 
 inthe most desirable manner, wholly to do it away, — not by con- 
 straint, nor with violence ; but on those principles of Christian love 
 which this Board and its missionaries are seeking to implant in 
 every bosom, and to invest with all possible power to govern the 
 hearts and the conduct of men. 
 
 " ' Such is the view which your Committee take of the missionary 
 work, and such are the princiijles which, it seems to them, should be 
 adhered to in prosecuting it. How far ecclesiastical bodies in this 
 country may properly instruct foreign missionaries connected with 
 them, on these subjects, it is not for this Committee to decide. Jt is 
 obvious, however, that the points on which this Board, after having 
 selected missionaries in whose character and qualifications they con- 
 fide, should insist, are such as are embraced in the principles already 
 dwelt upon. 
 
 " ' These juinciples, your Committee believe, do not interfere with 
 that liberty which Christ designed his ministers should possess, or 
 that responsibility with which he invests them when he sends them 
 forth to preach liis Gospel in heathen lands. If they essentially 
 depart from these principles, and persevere in so doing, they should 
 be recalled as incompetent or unfaithful to their trust. How far 
 holding slaves, or any thing else, involving Avliat is morally wrong, 
 and which still clings to the heathen convert, aflects the evidence 
 that a principle of grace has been implanted in his heart, the mis- 
 sionary, in view of his commission, the instructions of the New- 
 Testament, and all the circumstances of the case, as they are pres- 
 ent before him, must, in connection with his church, and under a 
 solemn sense of responsibility to Christ, form his judgment, and on 
 that judgment he must act. Surely, no other persons are in circum- 
 stances so favorable as he for deciding and acting correctly. Such 
 freedom and such responsibility in the missionary, your Committee 
 believe, cannot be materially abridged, Avithout the most disastrous 
 consequences to the missionary's own happiness and efl[iciency, and 
 to the welfare of the heathen. 
 
 '"Having gone so fully into an exposition of the principles on 
 which, in their opinion, the New Testament requires missionaries to 
 
42 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 proceed in preaching the Gospel and administering the Christian or- 
 dinances, the Committee would now spread before the Board the 
 proceedings of the missionaries, so far as connected with the subject 
 under consideration. 
 
 " ' The Committee believe that no established system of involun- 
 tary servitude prevails among any tribe of North American Indians, 
 where the missionaries of this Board are laboring, except the Cher- 
 okees and Clioctaws ; nor have they been able to learn that any of 
 the missionaries of the Board, laboring in foreign lands, have been 
 called to act on the question of receiving those who hold slaves to 
 their churches. The following statements will, therefore, relate to 
 the Cherokee and Choctaw missions. From these, full communica- 
 tions have been received in reply to inquiries addressed to the seve- 
 ral missionaries. 
 
 '"Negro slaves appear to have been introduced among those In- 
 dians by white men who removed into their country from sixty to 
 eighty years ago, and to have gradually increased in number till 
 the time when the missions of the Board were established among 
 them, in 1817 and 1818. By a census taken of the Cherokees in 
 1820, there were found to be 583 slaves. The number among the 
 Choctaws was probably smaller, though neither the missionaries nor 
 the Committee have the means of ascertaining it definitely. Since 
 that time, though the Committee are not aware that there has been 
 any census, tlie number is believed to have been somewhat increased, 
 almost exclusively, however, by births, as there have been few pur- 
 chases and little trade of any sort in slaves. The number now 
 owned by both tribes may probably be not far from 2,000 ; while the 
 number of Indians in both is probably about 38,000. These slaves 
 are almost exclusively in the hands of white men or their descend- 
 ants of mixed blood, very few being possessed by full Indians. 
 
 " ' That slavery should exist at all in these tribes, who have suffered 
 so severely from the violation of their own rights by their Avhite 
 neighbors, is deepl}^ to be regretted; and all should earnestly pray, 
 that as social improvement and Christian knowledge are rapidly ad- 
 vancing among them, they may speedily and nobly exemplify the 
 spirit of true philanthropy, as well as the Gospel law of love, by 
 shovs'ing that tliey duly appreciate the rights and welfare of the 
 whole race of man. 
 
 '"But slavery had been introduced and was existing there, and in 
 all the adjacent white communities, when the missionaries of the 
 Board entered on their labors among these tribes. They were 
 strangers ; no interest was felt in their work as missionaries. They 
 preached the Gospel to all whom they found wilUng to hear them, 
 whatever their complexion or condition. To the slaves and their 
 masters, both generally understanding the English language, they 
 iiad, at first, more ready access, than to the fulflndians; and hence 
 trom among these, when the Spirit of God gave effect to the truth, 
 suine of the earliest, most intelligent, and most stable converts were 
 found, such as the Browns, the Lowreys, the Saunderses, and the 
 I'olsums. 
 
 " ' Relative to the principles on which professed converts were to 
 be received to the churches, all the missionaries of the Board among 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY, 
 
 43 
 
 the Cherokees and Choctaws seem to have been perfectly unani- 
 mous. " Both masters and slaves," says iNIr. Butrick, " I received 
 on the same principle, viz., on the ground of their faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." Mr. Worcester says, " The general principle on 
 which I have voted for the reception of members is, that all are to 
 be received who desire it, and who give evidence of a change of 
 heart." Mr. Wright says, " When any, whether masters or ser- 
 vants, have given evidence of a saving change of heart, of repent- 
 ance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have been received." 
 Substantially the same is the language of all the missionaries. On 
 this principle, of receiving to their churches all those, and only 
 those, who gave satisfactory evidence of repentance and faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, they all appear to have proceeded. 
 
 "'Owing to the changes from one church to another which have 
 occurred in both these missions, the whole number of slaveholders 
 received cannot here be stated precisely. 
 
 "'The whole number of the Cherokee tribe is probably about 
 18,000, and the number of slaves owned by them is probably about 
 1,000. The whole number of members connected with our churches 
 in this tribe is 240; of whom 15 hold slaves, 21 are themselves 
 slaves, and four are free negroes. 
 
 " ' The whole population of the Choctaw tribe, including the 
 Chickasaws, is about 20,000. The whole number connected with 
 our churches there is G03 ; of whom 20 hold slaves, 131 are them- 
 selves slaves, and 7 are free negroes. It may also be stated that our 
 brethren of the Moravian, Baptist and Methodist denominations 
 have churches in both these tribes, to which many, both of Indian 
 and African descent, both masters and slaves, have been received ; 
 and of the latter, especially, a much larger proportion have been 
 gathered into their churches, than into those connected with our 
 missions. Of the estimated number of slaves in these tribes, it 
 may, however, be stated, that about one in 18 are connected with the 
 churches under the care of our missions ; while of the Indians and 
 other classes of persons, less than one in 50 are embraced in the 
 same churches* showing that the slaves have not, compared with 
 the Indians, been by any means neglected. 
 
 " ' In regard to tlie kind and amount of instruction given by the 
 missionaries in relation to slavery, and the duties of masters and 
 slaves, the missionaries seem substantially to agree. Mr. Byington 
 saj's, " We give such instructions to masters and servants as are 
 contained in the epistles, and yet not in a way to give the subject 
 a peculiar prominence. For then it Avould seem to be personal, as 
 there are usually but one or two slaveholders at our meetings. In 
 private, we converse about all the evils and dangers of slavery." 
 Of a similar tenor are the remarks of Mr. Wright. "The instruc- 
 tions, public and private, direct and indirect, have been such as are 
 found in the Bible. As a spiritual watchman, I have wished to 
 comply with that direction in Ezek. 3 : 17, ' Therefore, hear the word 
 from my mouth, and give them warning from me.' " 
 
 " ' In opinion and practice on this subject, there will undoubtedly 
 be some diversity among those, in different circumstances, who en- 
 tertain the same views as to the unrighteousness of the system of 
 
44 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 slavery itself, and the desirableness of having it abolished. The 
 missionaries of this Board among the Cherokees and Choctaws, 
 and, so far as the Committee are informed, all missionaries, of ev- 
 ery denomination, laboring in similar circumstances, among those 
 Indians and in all other places, substantially agree in the views and 
 practice presented in the foregoing extracts. 
 
 " ' Strongly as your Committee are convinced of the wrongfulness 
 and evil tendencies of slaveholding, and ardently as they desire its 
 speedy and universal termination, still, they cannot think that, in all 
 cases, it involves individual guilt, in such a manner, that every 
 person implicated in it can, on scriptural grounds, be excluded from 
 Christian fellowship. In the language of Dr. Chalmers, when treat- 
 ing on tins point in a recent letter, the Committee would say, 
 " Distinction ought to be made between the character of a sjjstem, 
 and the character of the persons whom circumstances have impli- 
 cated therewith; nor would it always be just, if all the recoil and 
 horror wherewith the former is contemplated, were visited in the 
 form of condemnation and moral indignancy upon the latter." Dr. 
 Chalmers proceeds to apply this distinction to the subject now 
 under consideration, in the following manner, in which sentiments, 
 substantially, Drs. Candhsh and Cunningham, with the whole Gen- 
 eral Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, unanimously con- 
 cm-.* Slavery, says he, we hold to be a system chargeable with 
 atrocities and evils often the most hideous and ai)palling Vhich have 
 either atflicted or deformed our species ; yet we must not there- 
 fore say of every man born within its territory, who has grown up 
 familiar with its sickening spectacles, and not only by his habits 
 been inured to its transactions and sights, but Avho by inheritance is 
 himself the owner of slaves, that, unless he make the resolute sac- 
 rifice and renounce his property in slaves, he is, therefore, not a 
 Christian, and should be treated as an outcast from all the distinc- 
 tions and privileges of Christian society. 
 
 * The language of the report, presented by Dr. Candlish, chairman of 
 the Committee to whom the subject was referred, and which report tho 
 paper containing it says was unanimously adopted by the General Assem- 
 bly, IS as follows : 
 
 " Without being prepared to adopt the principle that, in the circum- 
 stances in which they are placed, the churches in America ought to con- 
 sider slaveholding per se an insuperable barrier in the way of enioying 
 Christian privileges, or an offence to be visited with excommunication, all 
 must agree in holding, that whatever rights the civil law of the land may 
 give a master over his slaves, as chattels personal, it cannot but be sin of 
 the deepest dye m him to regard and treat them as such : and whosoever 
 cuninuts that sin in any sense, or deals otherwise with his slaves than as a 
 Chn.st.an man ought to deal with his fellow-man, whatever power the law 
 . ay gne him over them, ought to be held disqualified for Christian com- 
 
 i Xn, vJi? ';i T'^^ *^' ""P^^^^" «^ ^"' *1^^^ it is the duty of 
 i.rust.ans, when they find themselves, unhappily, in the predicament of 
 
 t:S't^. ':.:;"' r '':, ': '' "^^ \' p-«^-^e, at the ij:^^^ : 
 
 itir s avcs ; and when that cannot be accomplished, to «eeure them \n 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 45 
 
 " ' Such, substantially, are the views of your Committee ; and the 
 more they study God's method of proceeding in regard to war, 
 sLavery, polygamy, and other kindred social wrongs, as it is unfolded 
 in the Bible, the more they are convinced that, in dealing with in- 
 dividuals implicated in these wrongs, of long standing, and intimate- 
 ly interwoven with the relations and movements of "the social sys- 
 tem, the utmost kindness and forbearance are to be exercised, which 
 are compatible with stead}' adherence to right principle. 
 
 " ' The effect of the introduction of Christian knowledge among 
 these Indians, so far as masters and slaves have come under instruc- 
 tion, has, in the opinion of the missionaries, been highl// bcneficitd, in 
 respect to the character and conduct of both. The condition of the 
 latter has been, they tliink, greatly meliorated. So far as the 
 amount of labor required of their slaves, the food, clothing and 
 houses furnished for them, kind social intercourse with them, regard 
 for the domestic and family relations and affections, and for their 
 comfort generally, and opportunities alForded for religious instruction 
 and worship, are concerned, the missionaries think tliat instances of 
 serious delinquency are very rare among their church members. 
 Should any church member who has servants under him be 
 chargeable with cruelty, injustice, or unkindness tOAvards them; 
 should he neglect what is essential to their present comfort or their 
 eternal welfare ; or should he in any manner transgress the par- 
 ticular instructions which the Apostles give concerning the conduct 
 of a master, he would be admonished by the church, and unless he 
 should repent, he would be excommunicated. Such appear, from 
 their communications, to be the views of our missionaries ; and 
 such a course they think their churches would sustain. 
 
 " ' In Christian instruction and care, both of their children and 
 their slaves, the missionaries represent these Indian church mem- 
 bers as being generally and often greatly, deficient ; but not much 
 more so in respect to the latter, than the former. Converts of the 
 first or even of the second generation, gathered from communities 
 just entering on a course of intellectual, moral and social improve- 
 ment, will seldom so tar rise above their former views and habits, or 
 become so far under the control of the new influences brought to 
 bear upon them, as to compare advantageously, in these respects, 
 with nations on which Christian light has been shining for centuries. 
 Christianity itself, though requiring, and adapted to promote, in 
 those who embrace it, the highest exemplariness in all the duties of 
 life, does not often achieve these great transformations at once. 
 There is to be line upon line — precept upon precept — here a little 
 and there a little — first the blade, then the ear, and after that, the 
 full corn in the ear. 
 
 " ' Among the Cherokees and Choctaws, the church members are 
 but poorly qualified to give religious instruction ; and often the 
 slaves, — owing to their better knowledge of the English language, 
 qUid consequently their easier intercourse with the missionaries and 
 otiiers, — are more intelligent, on religious subjects, than their masters. 
 Some of the most eminent instances of well-informed, devout and 
 fcteadfast piety in these mission churches have been among them. 
 
46 TUE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 In-lividuals of tliem have been much respected, and highly useful 
 in nifotimis for ])raver and exhortation. 
 
 " ' Some of the slaveholders in these churches have been known 
 to require their slaves to attend meetings and other opportunities 
 for obtaining religious instruction ; all are believed to favor their 
 doing so ; while none have been known to throw obstacles in their 
 way. Before it was forbidden by law, in 18il, numbers of their 
 slaves were taught to read in Sabbath and some in week-day 
 schools ; and such instruction is still, to some extent, given in pri- 
 vate. Seven out of fourteen slaves, members of the Fairfield 
 church in the Cherokee country, can read, and one can write. 
 Slaves are sometimes called upon to read tlie Scriptures and lead in 
 prayer in the families of their masters. One who has been oc- 
 casionally employed as a helper in the missionary work, highly 
 esteemed for his intelligence and exemplary piety, has been left, by 
 the will of his master, manager of his property and virtually the 
 guardian of his orphan child and heir. 
 
 " ' The Committee cannot advert to some of the laws enacted by 
 both the Cherokees and Choctaws without pain and regret, especial- 
 ly those which prohibit teaching slaves to read, throw impediments 
 in the way of emancipation, restrict slaves in the possession of 
 property, and embarrass the residence of free negroes among them. 
 Laws of this cliaracter, though far less stringent than similar laws 
 existing in most of the adjacent slaveholding States, are disap- 
 proved and lamented by the church members generally, it is 
 believed, and by many other intelligent Indians, as unjust and 
 op])ressive ; and they are not rigorously enforced. For these laws, 
 however, neither the missionaries nor the members of the churches 
 under their care regard themselves as responsible. They could 
 have little or no influence to effect their repeal. Any direct inter- 
 ference of the missionaries would, in their opinion, tend to delay, if 
 not to prevent, rather than to hasten, the accomplishment of the 
 end desired. Changes in these respects are to be brought about by 
 the greater prevalence of humane and Christian feelings throughout 
 these conmiunities ; and the agency of the missionary in effecting 
 them is not to be like that which works out a political revolution, 
 but that which results, by the divine blessing, in great moral 
 changes in the hearts of individual men. 
 
 " ' Slavery was introduced among these Indians, and has been 
 regulated by them, in unhappy imitation of their white neighbors 
 iu the adjacent States. Whether the Indians will be the first to 
 abolish it, must depend very much on that power from above which 
 shall attend the prevalence of Christian knowledge among them. 
 Tliis consummation, which justice, humanity, and ('hristian prin- 
 ciple demand should be hastened, none, the Committee believe, 
 more fervently desire and pray for, than do the missionaries them- 
 selves ; while yet the Committee believe, in agreement with the 
 unanimous opinion of the missionaries, that any express directions 
 from this Board requiring them to adopt a course of proceeding on 
 this su!)ject essentially different from that which they have hitherto 
 pursiu'd, would be fraught with disastrous consequences to the 
 mission, to the Indians, and to the African race among them. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 47 
 
 " ' That the missionaries among these Indians have been'faithful in 
 their Avork seems evident, not only from their own statements, but 
 also from the fact that the HoTy Spirit has most remarkably owned 
 and blessed their labors ; the hopeful converts among the Choctaws 
 being proportionally more numerous than those in any other mission 
 connected with the Board, except tliat at the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 " ' In the spirit and with the sentiments of one of our oldest 
 missionaries, who has now spent more than twenty-five years in 
 Christian labors among these Indians — and these are believed to be 
 the sentiments and the spirit of all the missionaries — the Com- 
 mittee would close their report. 
 
 " ' I have,' he remarks, ' been more in the midst of the slavehold- 
 ing population, and seen more of the pernicious effects of the system 
 among tlie Indians, than some of my brethren. Viewed in all its 
 bearings, it is a tremendous evil. Its destructive influence is seen 
 on the morals of the master and the slave. It sweeps away those 
 barriers which every civilized community has erected to protect the 
 purity and chastity of the family relations. We also see its baneful 
 effects on tlie rising generation. A great proportion of the red peo- 
 ple, who own slaves, neglect entirely to train their children to 
 habits of industry, enterprise and economy, so necessary in forming 
 the character of the parent and the citizen. Slavery, so far as it 
 extends, will ever present formidable obstacles to the right training 
 of the rising generation. 
 
 "'But what is to be done? Shall we desert our churches and 
 schools, and send back those who compose them to the shades of 
 moral darkness and death, because some among them own slaves 1 
 Is not the Choctaw nation a part of that world into which Christ 
 commanded his disciples to go and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
 ture 1 Can w^e expect the half-enlightened, halt-civilized Choctaws 
 to proceed on this subject in advance of the white people in the 
 States around them? or in advance of those churches in civilized 
 and enlightened communities where slavery exists ? 
 
 " ' There can be no prospect of benefitting the slave, in a slave 
 country, without tlie consent of the owner. The only hope we can 
 have of benefitting either the one or the other, is through the in- 
 fluence of the Gospel ; and the Gospel, to be effectual, must be con- 
 veyed in the spirit of meekness and love.' 
 
 LEOXARD WOODS, 
 BEXXET TYLER, 
 REUBEX H. WALWORTH, 
 THOMAS W. WILLIAMS, 
 CALVIX E. STOWE, 
 BEXJAMIX TAFPAX, 
 DAVID SAXFORD, 
 JAMES W. McLAXE, 
 DAVID GREEXE.' 
 
 " A motion having been made for the adoption of this report, a 
 deeply interestinji; discussion ensued, Avhich continued through the 
 afternoon and evening of Wednesday, and the forenoon of Thurs- 
 
48 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 (lay. J)iirln_f? the progress of this discussion, several amendments 
 •vvJre proposed, which "were finally committed, together with the 
 report it^ielf, and all the resolutions and memorials relating to the 
 suDJect of slavery, presented to the Board during the session, to 
 CMiiff Justice AVilliams, Dr. Bacon, Dr. Stowe, Dr. Tappan, Eev. 
 David Greene, and Rev. John C. Webster. 
 
 '' On the following day, this Committee made their report by 
 recommending the adoption of the report of the previous Commit- 
 ter without amendment. The report last made was accepted, and 
 the question then arose upon the adoption of the former report. 
 An amendment having been proposed to this report and rejected, 
 the question Avas taken by yeas and nays, when the following per- 
 sons voted in the affirmative : — 
 
 " Theodore Frelinghuysen, Thomas S. Williams, Jeremiah Day, Thomas 
 DcWitt, Thomas McAulcy, John Tappan, Henry Hill, Noah Porter Rufus 
 Anderson, David Greene, Charles Stoddard, William J. Armstrong, Levi 
 Cutter, Nehemiah Adams, Joel Hawes, Elisha Tale, Thomas H. Skinner, 
 Ambrose White, Samuel Fletcher, David Magie, John W. Ellingwood, 
 Charles Walker, Pelatiah Perit, Benjamin Tappan, AYilliam R. DeWitt, 
 Isaac Ferris, Thomas W. Williams, William AV. Chester, Mark Hopkins, 
 Reuben H. Walworth, Seth Terry, Daniel Dana, Zedekiah S. Barstow, 
 William Darling, Edward W. Hooker, David Mack, William Page, Hora- 
 tio Bardwell, Ebenezer Alden, Albert Barnes, William Jessup, Artemas 
 Bui lard, Anson Gr. Phelps, Hiram H. Seelye, Aristarchus Champion, Samu- 
 el II. Cox, Thomas Punderson, Alvan Bond, John AV. Adams, William T. 
 Dwight, Leonard Bacon, Ansel D. Eddy, Joel Parker, J. Marshall Paul, 
 Benjamin Labareo, Joseph Steele, Henry White, William Adams, Joel H. 
 Lin.<ley, William AVisner, AYilliam Patton, William W. Stone, Edward 
 Robinson, David L. Ogden, Benjamin C. Taylor, Walter Hubbell, Samuel 
 U. Perkins, Asa T. Hopkins, Selah B. Treat, Linus Child, Henry B. 
 Hooker, John Forsyth, Baxter Dickinson, Calvin E. Stowe . 
 
 " As no person voted in the negative, the report was unani- 
 mously adopted." — pp. 54-63. 
 
 The conclusion to which this long report comes is that 
 nothimj should he done in regard to the matter in question. 
 The course of reasoning bj which it seeks to establish this 
 conclusion is worthy of particular attention. 
 
 The admissions of Dr. Woods and^his Committee respect- 
 ing the vicious character and pernicio*us tendencies of slavery 
 form so striking a contrast with their proposed acquiesceuce 
 m Its continuance, not only in the nation, hut in the church, 
 that I request the reader's especial attention to them. 
 
 The Committee say that the slavcholding system is " a tre- 
 mendous evil ;" that its efifects are "pernicious;" that "its 
 destructive^ influence is seen on the morals of the master and 
 the slave ; " that " it sweeps away those barriers which every 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 49 
 
 civilized community has erected to protect the purity and 
 chastity of the family relations ; " that " we also see its bane- 
 ful effects on the rising generation ; " and that the abolition 
 of it is a consummation "which justice, humanity, and Chris- 
 tian principle demand should be hastened." 
 
 Think of the enormity of arguments and exhortations, ad- 
 dressed by a Committee of clergymen to a great missionary 
 association, against interference with a system so bad that, 
 by their own confession, it breaks down the barriers that 
 have been found needful by mere worldly " civilization," to 
 protect the purity and chastity of the family relations! 
 
 The Committee confess the extent to which the Cherokee 
 and Choctaw mission churches are implicated in this " bane- 
 ful," "pernicious" and "destructive" system. The number 
 of slaves held by both tribes is " probably not far from 
 2,000;" while "fifteen" slaveholders are members of the 
 Cherokee, and "twenty" slaveholders members of the Choc- 
 taw, mission churches. 
 
 The Committee also admit the systematic deliberation with 
 which the missionaries had chosen to shelter this pernicious 
 and destructive system in the church ; they admit that the 
 missionaries are united in their policy upon this subject ; and 
 they do not shrink from giving, as a specimen of that policy, 
 the astonishing testimony of Mr. Byington, (of the Choctaw 
 mission,) that they " give such instructions to masters and 
 servants as are contained in the epistles, and yet not in a loay 
 to give the subject a peculiar •prominence ; roii then it would 
 
 SEEM TO BE PERSONAL." 
 
 The Committee also admit that there were 500 slaves 
 (more or less) in each of these nations at the time when the 
 missionaries commenced their labors among them. These 
 missionaries might then, if they had chosen, have opposed, 
 from the berrinninor, this baneful, pernicious and destructive 
 practice. They might have preached agauist it, and prnited 
 tracts against it, and formed associations in opposition to it, 
 just as they did against intemperance ! They had it perfectly 
 in their power, at the very least, to keep those who practised 
 it out of the church ! But they did not choose to do any one 
 of these things ! And yet — 
 
 The Committee represent, in spite of all these disgraceful 
 
 3 
 
50 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 facts, that " the missionaries among these Indians have been 
 faithful in their loork " / 
 
 Faithful, in allowing a pernicious and destructive vice to 
 go on without rebuke in the nation, in admitting determined 
 j)raetitioners of it to membership in the church, and in re- 
 iraining from admonition of these church members on the 
 express ground that " it would seem to be personal"! Are 
 these fair specimens of what the Prudential Committee send 
 out for Christian ministers ? 
 
 I3ut the evidence assigned by the report in question for 
 considering these pro-slavery missionaries " faithful," is " the 
 hopeful converts among the Choctaws being j^rojjortionally 
 more numerous than those in any other mission connected 
 with the Board, except that at the Sandwich Islands." 
 
 If the standard of church character was so low among the 
 Choctaws that continuance in pernicious and destructive vices 
 did not interfere with membership, if "professors of religion" 
 there might practise without rebuke something that justice, 
 humanity and Christian principle demanded to be abolished, 
 perhaps this would more plausibly account for the boasted 
 proportional number of church members ! 
 
 But another admission of this report is especially worthy 
 of notice, since it directly contradicts ground taken by Dr. 
 Woods, its writer, in his report, made in 1842, against those 
 ■who complained of the Board's complicity with slavery. He 
 then said — 
 
 " These evils, existing in the countries where the missions are 
 operating, and standing directly in the way of the Board's accom- 
 plishing its object, were, of com'se, legitimate and proper subjects 
 for its animadversion. If it has at any time gone further than this, 
 and expressed opinions relative to immoralities or evils of any kind, 
 prevailing in this country, and not directly counteracting the labors 
 ot the missionaries, your Committee regard such action as a depart- 
 ure fi-om the great principles on which the Board was organized, 
 and by which they think its proceedings should always be gov- 
 erned."— p. 46, Ann. Rep. of 1842. 
 
 The same person now tells us (p. 55, Ann. Kep. of 1845) 
 that — "The evils of slavery will probably be met in some 
 form, in nearly every part of the great missionary field "— 
 and that — "Involuntary servitude is believed to pervade 
 nearly the whole of the African continent, thouo-h with wide- 
 ly diliereut degrees of severity. In some form^ it exists in 
 
IN KELATION TO SLAVERY. 51 
 
 many, if not all parts of India. It pervades Siam, and 
 nearly all Mohammedan communities; and it will probably 
 be fomid, in some of its modifications, in China and Japan." 
 The writer of this report proceeds, from this point, to 
 make the following declaration respecting the moral charac- 
 ter of slavery : — 
 
 " The unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole sys- 
 tem is based, and the violation of the natural rights of man, the 
 debasement, wickedness, and misery it involves, and which are in 
 fact witnessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists, must 
 call forth the hearty condemnation of all possessed of Christian feel- 
 ing and sense of right, and make its entire and speedy removal an 
 object of earnest and prayerful desire to every true friend of God 
 and man." — p. 56. 
 
 Is it not amazing that an acknowledo;ment like this should 
 be the prelude to a recommendation to leave this " system " 
 unopposed and undisturbed, in the very churches of the 
 American Board ? And is it not still more amazing that 
 this recommendation should be made by the same person who 
 formerly sought to silence the protest of the Sandwich Islands 
 missionaries against slavery, on the alleged ground (contra- 
 dicted by the missionaries themselves) that it was an evil non- 
 existent in the country where those missions were operating ? 
 
 But we must not omit to notice that theory of the mission- 
 ary function, and that asserted distinction between the legiti- 
 mate province of the missionaries and of their employers, the 
 Board, which Dr. Woods sets forth as the sufficient ground 
 for a continued allowance of slaveholders in the Cherokee 
 and Choctaw mission churches. 
 
 The function of the missionaries is described in five specifi- 
 cations, (ante, pp. 38, 39,) assuming that the missionaries arc 
 the " rightful and exclusive judges " of what constitutes 
 fitness for church membership. Whatever force this report 
 has is derived from this statement. 
 
 The manifest answer to it is, that when missionaries abuse 
 and desecrate their office so grossly as to use their province 
 of admitting church members in such a manner as to authen- 
 ticate and uphold a pernicious and destructive system — one 
 that injures the morals of all parties connected with it — one 
 that sweeps away the barriers of purity and chastity in the 
 family relations — one that produces baneful cflccts upon the 
 
52 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 risinrr o-eneration — one, the abolition of wliieli is demanded 
 by justice, humanity and Cliristian principle — then it is the 
 manifest duty of the employers of those missionaries to dis- 
 charge them, and to send truly Christian men to supply their 
 places ! 
 
 The doctrine of the missionaries, agreed to by Dr. Woods 
 and his Committee, is that while "a saving change of heart" is 
 the sufficient reason for admission to church membership, this 
 " saving change of heart " may exist just as really, and be 
 manifested just as thoroughly, among persons united in, and 
 persistently determined to uphold, the system of wickedness 
 above described, as among any others ! If this be so, it will 
 tend to show — not that slaveholding is right — but that the 
 influence called " a saving change of heart" is not so good a 
 thing as it has been assumed to be ; that, even if it does, as 
 alleged, insure salvation in the next world, it does not make 
 men and women much better in this world ! 
 
 In this elaborate report by Dr. "Woods, as well as in former 
 reports from the same pen, and in the general management 
 of matters relating to slavery by the Prudential Committee, 
 many indications are seen, not only of disingenuousness and 
 sophistry, but of a deliberate attempt to deceive. An instance 
 of this dishonesty is found in the conclusion of the following 
 sentence, which the reader may see in its connection, p. 41 : — 
 
 \ " In proceeding on these principles, the missions under the care 
 of tliis Board, and the churches gathered by them, are no otherwise 
 connected with slavery, than they are Avith every other evidence and 
 result of imperfect moral renovation in their converts and cluirch 
 members ; and ihe]j no more reallij (jive their sanction to the one than they 
 do to all the others." 
 
 I will take, for example, a single one of the "other" vices 
 referred to, and, by showing the entirely different treatment 
 it has received from the missionaries in this same station, and 
 from the Board, show the utter falseness of this allegation re- 
 specting the relation of these parties to slavery. 
 
 Suppose it were asserted that the missionaries among the 
 Chcrokees and Choctaws favored intemperance among Ihose 
 nations, receiving habitual drunkards, indiscriminately with 
 others, as church members; and that the Prudential Com- 
 mittee allowed this, refusing, when requested, to instruct the 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 53 
 
 missionaries to act differently. What would be said to these 
 assertions ? 
 
 It would be replied, and very justly, that every Annual 
 Heport of the Board proved the falseness of these allegations. 
 It would be shown by these Annual Reports, that the mis- 
 sionaries had spontaneously commenced operations against 
 intemperance very early in their residence among those na- 
 tions ; that they had preached against it, formed societies 
 against it, printed and distributed tracts against it, used 
 special precautions against it in their admission of members 
 to the church, and reported, from time to time, to the Pru- 
 dential Committee the amount, and the measure of success 
 or failure, of these efforts ; and that the Prudential Commit- 
 tee had freely published these reports with the proceedings of 
 the Board. 
 
 How monstrous is it, then, to say, when the missionaries 
 have done 7io one of these things against slavery, when they 
 have neither preached, nor printed, nor formed societies, nor 
 distributed tracts, nor made reports to the Prudential Com- 
 mittee against it, but when, on the contrary, they have certi- 
 fied the perpetrators of it to be Christians by freely admitting 
 tlicm to the church, expressing, when inquired of, their deter- 
 mination still to do so — and when the Prudential Committee 
 have not only systematically permitted all this, but have resist- 
 ed many and strong remonstrances, urging them to interfere 
 with it, and have steadily declared, from beginning to end, that 
 these missionaries have been "faithful," and "exemplary in 
 the discharge o^ all their missionary duties" — how monstrous 
 is it, after all this, to say, as Dr. Woods does, that the mis- 
 sionaries and the Prudential Committee "no more really give 
 their sanction " to slavery than to intemperance ! that they 
 " are no otherwise connected with slavery " than they are 
 with intemperance ! 
 
 The truth is, that while they were connected with intem- 
 perance (and some other vices) only so far as diligent and 
 persistent effort on their part had failed to eradicate them, 
 they were connected with slavery by consent, by choice, by 
 system, by fraternal welcome, by deliberate justification, and 
 thus did give their sanction to it, and are to be held responsi- 
 ble for the guilt of it. 
 
 Here is one of the questions in Dr. Woods's report, in 
 
54 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 which he seeks to defend the position of the Board by mis- 
 representing the charge against it. He says — 
 
 " Is this Board, tlien, in propagating the Gospel, to be held respon- 
 sible for directly working out these reorganizations of the social sys- 
 tem, without f/wing Christian truth time to produce its chanyes in the 
 hearts of individuals and in public sentiment ? " 
 
 Dr. Woods knew very well that nothing like this has been 
 claimed. He knew that the charge was that, from the com- 
 mencement of the Cherokee and Choctaw missions in 1817, 
 to the year 1845, in which he wrote, the missionaries had 
 systematically refrained from beginning the utterance of 
 Christian truth upon the subject of slavery; that they had 
 gone on allowing the practice of slaveholding to continue and 
 increase, even among their church members, without remon- 
 strance ; and that the Prudential Committee had gone on 
 permitting this course of conduct, in spite of urgent remon- 
 strances from Christians at home ! 
 
 The concluding sentence of Dr. "Woods's report (I must 
 pass over much other sophistry which needs comment) shows 
 a similar attempt to throw dust in the eyes of his readers. 
 He says — 
 
 "There can be no prospect of benefitting the slave, in a slave 
 country, without the consent of the owner. The only hope we can 
 liave of benefitting cither the one or the other, is through the in- 
 fluence of the Gospel; and the Gospel, to be efiectual, must be con- 
 veyed in the spirit of meekness and love." 
 
 Each of the members of this sentence is suited, and appa- 
 rently intended, to mislead the unscrutinizing reader. 
 
 Nobody had ever asked these missionaries to proceed 
 against slavery in any other than in "the spirit of meek- 
 ness and love." Nobody had ever intimated that they were 
 to work otherwise than "through the influence of the Gospel." 
 The charge against them was that they refused to apply this 
 influence to the discouragement of slaveholding ! that they 
 systematically refrained from publishing some parts of the 
 Gospel to their slaveholding hearers! that they refused to 
 " preach deliverance to the captives " ! that they purposely 
 omitted to require their candidates for church membership to 
 "set at liberty them that are bruised"! 
 
 As to the declaration that — "There can be no prospect of 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 55 
 
 benefitting the slave, in a slave country, without the consent 
 of the owner" — Dr. Woods might as well say that there 
 can be no prospect of benefitting the drunkard, in an intem- 
 perate community, without the consent of the rum-seller. 
 This allegation is not only erroneous in itself — its spirit is 
 not only contradicted by the whole action of the missionaries 
 against intemperance, which proceeded in spite of the bitter 
 opposition of rum-sellers and distillers — but it is im-perti- 
 nent, inappropriate to the case in hand ; inasmuch as the 
 primary action proposed by the remonstrants in this case was 
 not help to the slave, but -purification of the mission churches 
 from the membership of slaveholders ! 
 
 It will be observed that the report, containing all this 
 sophistry and misrepresentation in behalf of the continuance 
 of slaveholders in the mission churches, was " unanimously 
 adopted " by the Board. 
 
 We now come to the Annual Report for 1846. 
 
 Further memorials on slavery were received at the Annual 
 Meeting in this year, and were referred to a Committee 
 which had also in charge certain memorials against polygamy 
 in the mission churches. The report of this Committee upon 
 both subjects, with the prefatory statement in the Annual 
 Report, (pp. 72-4,) are as follows: — 
 
 "MEMORIALS ON SLAVERY AND POLYGAMY. 
 
 " Resolutions on the subject of slavery were received from the 
 General Association of Congregationalists in Illinois, and from 
 New Haven East Association ; also, a memorial and resolutions 
 on the same subject from a missionary convention held in Dexter, 
 Maine. These papers were referred to Chancellor Walworth, 
 Dr. Robinson, Dr. Stowe, Dr. Tappan, Hon. Edmund Parker, 
 Hon. Linus Child, and Rev. David Greene. 
 
 " Four memorials were presented to the Board in relation to 
 the subject of polygamy, in its supposed connection, now or here- 
 tofore, with some of the mission churches. They were from Rev. 
 Geornje W. Perkins and others ; from twenty -four ladies residing 
 in Middletown and Meriden, Connecticut ; the Gentlemen's For- 
 cio;n Missionary Association in Canton, Connecticut; and Rev. 
 William W. Patton and others. These memorials having been 
 read, Mr. Greene made a full statement of the facts in the case, 
 after which the memorials were referred to the Committee on the 
 subject of slavery. This Committee subsequently made their 
 report. During the discussion which arose on its adoption, Rev. 
 
56 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Gcorn-p W. Torkins ofTered an amendment to the same; after 
 'vvliich Dr. Goodrich moved to postpone both the report and the 
 niiK-ndment, for the purpose of receiving a substitute for so much 
 of the report as rebates to the subject of polygamy. The report, 
 ■with the proposed amendment and substitute, was finally referred 
 to Chancellor Walworth, Dr. Goodrich and Dr. Humphrey. 
 This Committee subsequently made a report, which is as follows : 
 
 " ' The Committee to whom were referred several memorials and 
 resolutions on the subject of slavery, and also the various memorials 
 relative to cases of polygamy which are supposed to exist in some 
 of the churches under tlie ecclesiastical care of the missionaries of 
 this Board, respectfully report : That in reference to the subject of 
 slavery generally, or in its connection with some of our missionary 
 churches, nothing has occurred during the past year to induce your 
 Committee to suppose this Board should depart from the principles 
 of the elaborate report, sanctioned by two successive Committees ; 
 and which report, after being fully discussed, was adopted, with 
 such entire unanimity, by all the members of the Board present, at 
 the annual meeting in 1845. Your Committee, therefore, consider 
 furdier agitation of the subject here as calculated injuriously to 
 affect the great cause of missions in which this Board is engaged, 
 and for the promotion of which alone the society was instituted, 
 
 " ' In reference to the supposed existence of cases of polygamy in 
 our mission churches, and the erroneous supposition that the same 
 has been sanctioned by this Board or its olRcers, your Committee 
 state that neither the Board nor its Prudential Committee have 
 taken any action, or even expressed an opinion, in favor of receiving 
 a ])o]ygamist into a church under the care of any of our mission- 
 aries. So far as your Committee have been able to obtain informa- 
 tion on the subject, the missionaries of the Board, although many of 
 them are located in countries where polygamy is recognized and 
 sanctioned by law, have had occasion but in four instances to act 
 upon the question of the admission of a polygamist to church fel- 
 lowship; and these were all cases of persons who, previous to their 
 conversion from heathenism, and before they had any knowledge of 
 the doctrines and precepts of the Christian system, bad become the 
 legal husbands of a plurality of wives. In one of those cases, it is 
 known that the missionaries at the station where the application was 
 made, refused to admit the applicant to the church. In two others 
 of those cases, your Committee are not informed as to the result of 
 the applications. But as the missionaries who had the pastoral care 
 of the churches to which these requests for admission were made 
 arc known to have been opposed to the admission to church fellow- 
 ship of persons standing in that relation, your Committee have no 
 reason to suppose that either of the applicants was received as a 
 member of tlie church. The fourth case occurred about twenty 
 years since, and in respect to an individual who has been dead from 
 twelve to fifteen years. The person alluded to was an aged man, 
 who, at the time of his conversion from heathenism to Christianity, 
 was the husband of two wives, both of whom desired to live with 
 hmi, and, according to the usages of his nation, had equal claims 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 57 
 
 upon him for protGCtiou and support. Under those circumstances, 
 the missionaries at that station tliought it right to receive liim into 
 the church. He was accordingly received by them, and continued 
 in church felloAvship until his death. This, as tar as your Commit- 
 tee have any definite information, is the only person having more 
 than one wife who has ever been received into our mission cliurches. 
 And they have no reason to suppose tliat any person in that situa- 
 tion is noAV in connection with those churches. 
 
 " ' The principles upon which our missionaries are expected to 
 act in dealing with questions of that nature were fully stated in the 
 report of 1845, to which your Committee have befoi^e referred. It 
 is unnecessary to say that this Board and its missionaries and 
 patrons unite in the sentiment of all who bear the Christian name, 
 that the practice of polygamy is hostile to the interests of the 
 human race, and diametrically opposed to the spirit of the Christian 
 religion. Nor can there be any difference of opinion among 
 Christians as to the absolute impropriety, under any circumstances, 
 of permitting church members to marry a second wife during the 
 life of the first, except in cases of legal divorce. And in respect to 
 converts from heathenism in a state of polygamy, this Board expect 
 its missionaries, in considering the question of admission to the 
 church, to carry out the principles of the Gospel in their full extent. 
 If any such cases should arise, your Committee think this Board 
 may confide in the piety, learning and sound judgment of ^ its 
 missionaries abroad, and' in their general competence to decide, 
 upon scriptural grounds, these questions and others of a similar 
 character which may arise in the course of their labors, without 
 requiring its Prudential Committee to assume the very questionable 
 power of giving more specific directions, which might be considered 
 an infringement of the religious liberty of the ministers and mem- 
 bers of our mission churches. Your Committee therefore see 
 nothing in the subject of these memorials requiring the further 
 action of the Board at this time.' 
 
 " This report was adopted by the Board.' 
 
 It is to be observed, that the paragraph at the commence- 
 ment of this report, which coolly dismisses the memorialists 
 without either consideration of their requests or action upon 
 them, not only refers to the sophistical and deceptive report 
 of Dr. Woods in 1845, as perfectly satisfactory, but depre- 
 cates "further agitation of the subject" of slavery as "in- 
 jurious." 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1847, the only direct action 
 respecting slavery is found in a brief statement on p. 59, as 
 follows: — 
 
 " RESOLUTION ON SLAVERY. 
 
 " President Blanchard offered a resolution, ' that a Committee 
 be appointed to inquire and report to this body whether any fur- 
 3* 
 
58 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 tLer action is required of this Board in reference to our relations 
 to slavery in the Cherokee and Choctaw missions ; and, if so, to 
 propose such action as they may judge best.' This resolution was 
 referred to the Business Committee, who subsequently reported as 
 follows : — 
 
 " * The Business Committee, to whom was referred the resolution 
 for the appointment of a Committee upon the subject of slavery in 
 the mission churches in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations, report, 
 that it is inexpedient that the attention of tlie Board sliould be 
 occupied with the discussion of that subject at its present meeting. 
 Mr. Greene, the Secretary who has charge of the Indian corre- 
 spondence, and who alone is in possession of the facts to give the 
 necessary explanations to the Board or to a Committee, is detained 
 by ill health from attending this meeting ; so that, if any further 
 action on this subject should be deemed pi^oper, it cannot be had at 
 this time. This Committee are also informed that it is the intention 
 of the Prudential Committee to allow Mr. Greene to visit these 
 missions previously to the next annual meeting; and if so, he will 
 be prepared to give all the necessary explanations which may then 
 be required in relation to the actual state of those missionary 
 churches.' 
 
 " The report was adopted by the Board." 
 
 I have said that the above was the only direct action 
 respecting slavery in the Annual Meeting of 1847.. Sub- 
 gequentl^ however, to the adoption of this report, the fol- 
 lowing innocent-looking resolution was passed, which, judging 
 by the magnitude of its results in the next Annual Bcport, 
 seems to have been designed to introduce another elaborate 
 piece of sophistry, in the hope of staving off the dreaded 
 " agitation " : — 
 
 "Resolved, That the Prudential Committee be requested to 
 present a written report, at the next annual meeting, on the nature 
 and extent of the control wliich is to be exercised over the mission- 
 aries under the care of the Board, and the moral responsibility of 
 the Board for the nature of the teaching of the missionaries and 
 character of the churches."— p. 61. 
 
 In that portion of the Annual Report for 1848 which 
 speaks of the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, the Prudential 
 Committee seek to help their policy of discouraging " agita- 
 tion" about slavery among their patrons, by glowing rep- 
 resentations of the satisfactory spiritual state of these slave- 
 holding tribes. They say — 
 
 Chloliwf .l"f p7 ''\ ^^^ ^^°'& ^f this Board to christianize the 
 Lhoctaws and Cherokees, we find much to awaken the liveliest 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 59 
 
 gratitude to God. The Lord has done great things for us. If the 
 Gospel has not accomplished all for these people, in their civil and 
 social relations, which the friends of the Redeemer among us could 
 desire, very happy results have heen secured. For twenty years 
 past, the spirit of grace has been almost continually descending, 
 especially upon the Choctaws. We find evidence of this, not only 
 in the organization of churches, and frequent additions to them of 
 hopeful converts, but also in the general advance made in the arts 
 and comforts of civilized life." — p. 62, 
 
 With still greater hardihood, Mr. Secretary Treat, in the 
 same year, represented the increased number of slaves in the 
 Cherokee and Choctaw nations, and the general preference 
 there felt for investing money in this " species of property," 
 as one of the results of " the doctrines of the Gospel having 
 exerted their appropriate influence." [Missionary Her aid j 
 the official organ of the A. B. C. F. M., October, 1848, p. 
 349.] 
 
 Immediately following the above-quoted eulogy of the 
 Prudential Committee on the Choctaw and Cherokee slave- 
 holders, in the Annual Report of 1848, comes their special 
 report, ordered the previous year, on the " control of 
 missionaries and mission churches." This document, occupy- 
 ing eighteen closely printed octavo pages, is signed by the 
 three Secretaries. In spite of the general aspect appearing 
 in it, and in the resolution calling for it in 1847, the pre- 
 ceding and following circumstances seem clearly to show that 
 the one great object of this document was to persuade the 
 remonstrants against slavery that its continued allowance in 
 the mission churches was both right and unavoidable, and 
 thus to stop the further " agitation" of that subject. Not- 
 withstanding the great length of this report, and of the 
 correspondence with the Cherokee and Choctaw missions 
 immediately following, they are given entire in this volume, 
 like all the other documents quoted from the Annual Reports. 
 Only thus could the reader learn how extensively sophistry 
 and misrepresentation have used the dialect of piety in 
 defence of slavery. The italics are those of the report. 
 
 The report in question occupies pp. 62-80 of the Annual 
 Report of 1848, as follows : — 
 
 " COXTROL OF MISSIONARIES AND MISSION CnURCHES. 
 
 " At the meeting of the Board held in Buffalo, 1847, the Pru- 
 dential Committee were requested to submit a written report, at 
 
GO THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 the next annual meeting, on the nature and extent of the control 
 to be exercised over missionaries, and the responsibility of the 
 IJoard for their instructions, as also for the character of the 
 churches. This was presented to the Board accordingly ,_ at an 
 early stage of the meeting ; but as the members had not time to 
 «rive the subject that considerate attention which its importance 
 demanded, the final disposition of the same was postponed, after 
 a single amendment had been adopted, to the next annual meet- 
 ing, the Committee being authorized to print the report as amend- 
 eci, with such modifications as might seem desirable. This doc- 
 ument, as thus amended and modified, is as follows : — 
 
 " ' The Board adopted the following Resolution at its last Annual 
 Meeting, viz. : — " That the Prudential Committee be requested to 
 ])resent a written report, at the next annual meeting, on the nature 
 and extent of the control which is to be exercised over the mission- 
 aries under the care of the Board ; and the moral responsibility of 
 the Board for the nature of the teaching of the missionaries, and for 
 the character of the churches." The Prudential Committee have 
 attended to this duty, and present the following Iveport. 
 
 " ' It will be seen that this call upon the Prudential Committee 
 involves a discussion of the whole working of the system of Foreign 
 Missions. We must determine the ecclesiastical standing and liberty 
 of missionaries, and of the churches they gather among tlie heathen ; 
 inquire whether ecclesiastical liberty be not as safe for missionaries 
 abroad as for pastors at home, and wlicther missionaries and pastors 
 are not in fact controlled by similar means and intluences ; show in 
 what manner missionaries are obtained, what are the nature and 
 force of their voluntary engagements, what are the powers and 
 responsibilidcs of the Board, and what is the actual extent of the 
 claims of missionaries upon the Board and upon the churches. This 
 will exhibit the working of the principle of voluntary association in 
 missions, involving, as the main reliance, influences that bear di- 
 rectly on the reason, judgment, and heart ; and a brief mention must 
 be nuule of the more important of these influences. The Prudential 
 Coniinittee will also be expected to show the adaptation of the con- 
 stitution of the Board to its various trusts and duties. In respect to 
 the native mission churches, the inquiry will arise, how far they 
 ought to be independent of the jurisdiction of all bodies of men in 
 this country ; how they are to be trained to self-support and self- 
 povernment ; what expectations it is reasonable to cherish concern- 
 mi;- them ; and what are the responsibilities of the Board for the 
 tcaclnng of the missionaries, and for the character of the mission 
 churches. 
 
 I. 
 
 "'THE MISSIONARIES. 
 
 '"1. THE ECCLESIASTICAL LIBEKTY BELOXGINCx TO MISSIONARIES. 
 
 '"The Board affirmed at Brooklyn, in the vear 1845, that "the 
 nnssionancs actmg under the commission of Christ, and with the 
 instructions of the New Testament before them, are themselves at 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 61 
 
 first, and subsequently in connection with the churclies they have 
 gathered, the rightful and exclusive judges of what constitutes ade- 
 quate evidence of piety and fitness for church-fellowship in professed 
 converts." 
 
 " ' It was doubtless intended, by this declaration, to recognize the 
 missionaries under the care of the Board as entitled to equal liberty, 
 in all ecclesiastical matters, with ministers at home. They certainly 
 are equally the ministers, messengers, and ambassadors of Christ ; 
 they equally receive from him their call, commission, ofiice, and work. 
 As a hodi/, they sustain to the churches at home a relation equally as 
 close as do the bodt/ of the pastors. The several Christian denomina- 
 tions acting through the Board have, in all practicable ways, given 
 to the missionaries it has sent forth their countenance, sanction, and 
 adoption. " These missionaries," saj^s a standard work on the Con- 
 stitution of the Congregational Churches, "may justly be considered 
 as sent abroad by the churches, inasmuch as they are supported by 
 their contributions, attended by their prayers, and protected by their 
 constant solicitude. It is true that the immediate agents, in design- 
 ing and arranging their departure, are Missionary Societies ; but 
 these Societies, when the s;ibject is rightly considered, are only the 
 agents and representatives of the churches."* It should be added, 
 that the missionaries are ordained to their office, as really as pastors, 
 and by the direct representatives of the churches, and with the same 
 formalities, and almost always with the knowledge that they are to 
 be sent forth and directed by the Board. In this manner, the Board 
 itself has been recognized by the churches and accredited as an 
 Agent in the work of foreign missions ; as it has been, also, by reso- 
 hitions and other formal acts of General Associations, Synods, and 
 General Assemblies, and by thousands of collections in aid of its 
 funds made in the house of God on the Sabbath, and at other times 
 and places, with the concurrence of pastors and churches. 
 
 " ' The denial that a missionar}^ is an office-bearer until a Christian 
 church has invited him to take the oversight of it in the Lord, is 
 made in utter forgetfulness, as it Avould seem, of the commission by 
 which a preaching ministry was originally instituted. The primary 
 and preeminent design of that commission was to create the missiun- 
 art/ office, and to perpetuate it till the Gospel should have been 
 preached to every creature. 
 
 " ' It is not claimed for missionaries that they are Apostles, since 
 they have not the " signs of an Apostle," and since the apostolical 
 office was not successive and comnmnicable to others. That office 
 was extraordinary, in the range both of its objects and its powers, 
 and the Apostles can have no proper successors. Missionaries are 
 Evangelists. They do the Avork of Evangelists ; and such they are, 
 as Timothy and Titus were in the primitive missions, and as Euse- 
 bius says many were in the second century. " These," says that 
 historian, " having merely laid the foundations of the faith, and 
 ordained other pastors, committed to them the cultivation of the 
 churclies newly planted ; while they themselves, supported by the 
 grace and cooperation of God, proceeded to other countries and na- 
 
 * Uphain's Eatio Digciplina), p. 128. 
 
(32 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 tions." The method of conducting missions has, indeed, been con- 
 siderably modified by the altered condition of the world, rendering 
 it possible to send forth a far greater number of missionaries than in 
 ancient times, and to augment their value as instruments, and to ac- 
 celerate what mav be called national conversions, by sending mis- 
 sionaries forth in the family state, and making their labor less itin- 
 erant and transitory than in early times ; but the true relation of 
 missionaries to the churches at home, and to the heathen world, 
 appears to be that of Evangelists. 
 
 " ' Considering the weakness and waywardness so generally found 
 in men just emerging from heathenism, native pastors must, for a 
 time, and in certain respects, bo practically subordinate to the mis- 
 sionaries, by whom their churches were formed, and through whom, 
 it may be, they are themselves partially supported. Tliis is true, 
 also, of the mission churches ; as will be explained in another part 
 of this report. Should a practical parity, in all respects, be insisted 
 on between the missionaries and the native pastors, in the early 
 periods when every thing is in a forming state, it is not seen how the 
 native ministry can be trained to system and order, and enabled to 
 stand alone, or even to stand at all. As with ungoverned children, 
 self-sufficiency, impatience of restraint, jealousy, and other hurtful 
 passions will be developed. The native pastors themselves are, for 
 a season, but " babes in Christ," children in experience, knowledge 
 and character. And hence missionaries, who entertain the idea that 
 ordination must have the effect to place the native pastors at once on 
 a perfect equality with themselves, are often backward in intrusting 
 the responsibilities of the pastoral office to natives. They fear, and 
 justly, the effects of this sudden comparative exaltation ; especially 
 Avhen aggravated by ordination formalities multiplied and magnified 
 beyond the scriptural precedents ; involving a convocation of minis- 
 ters and people, an ordination sermon, a formal charge, perhaps a 
 right-hand of fellowship, and possibly an address setting forth the 
 importance of the occasion, in place of the simple laying on of hands 
 and prayer, as in the apostohcal ordinations. All this may be well 
 in old Christian communities ; but whatever advantages it is sup- 
 posed to have among the heathen, these are thought to be over- 
 balanced by its tendency to inflame the self-conceit and ambition 
 remaining in the heart of the heathen convert, however carefully lie 
 may have been educated in the doctrines and duties of Christianity. 
 "\Ve scarcely need any great amount of experience, indeed, when our 
 thoughts are once turned to the subject, to see that there is wisdom 
 in the apostolical view of the pastoral office in mission churches, and 
 in their mode of bringing forward a native ministry and training it 
 for independent action. 
 
 _ " ' It must be obvious, that the view just taken of this subject 
 involves no danger to the future parity of the native ministrv, con- 
 sidered in their relations to each other ; for, in the nature of tilings, 
 the missionary office is scarcely more successive and communicable 
 to the native pastors, than was the apostolical office to Evangelists. 
 
 -The point specially insisted on is this, —that ministers of the 
 tiospel lose none of their ecclesiastical standing and liberty by en- 
 gaging in the work of foreign missions. No plea for abridging their 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 63 
 
 ecclesiastical liberties can be founded on the fact of their support 
 coming from the churches at home ; because the obligation of the 
 churches to support missionaries rests on precisely the same basis 
 ■with the obligation of missionaries to become such. Both the ser- 
 vice and the support are to be rendered as a duty owed to Christ. 
 The one is no more voluntary, no more optional, no more a work of 
 supererogation, than the other. Missionaries are no more objects of 
 charity, or beneficiaries, than are pastors at home. Their labors as 
 truly entitle them to a support from some quarter. When the real- 
 ity of the missionary's call from the Head of the Church to go on a 
 mission has been settled by competent and acknowledged testimony, 
 an obligation arises and exists somewhere to send him forth and sup- 
 port him. And after he has gone into the field, he can no more 
 properly be starved out of his appropriate liberty by those to whom 
 he looks for support, than he can be legislated out of it by those who 
 direct his labors. Nor do missionaries become, in any servile sense, 
 the servants of those who support them; they are not their hired 
 servants, but their fellow-servants. Christ is their common spiritual 
 Head, and he sends his missionaries forth a free ministry. And the 
 Board seeks to accommodate itself to this principle in Christ's king- 
 dom. " With great care, it seeks out competent men as missionaries 
 and worthy of confidence, and then sends them out under the broad 
 commission of the great Head of the Church, to preach the Gospel to 
 every creature; themselves free, to propagate a free Christianity in 
 the field of their labors. With a scrupulous regard for the rights of 
 the missionaries in this particular, it places them among the perish- 
 ing heathen, to gather as many as possible into the fold of Christ, 
 and there leaves them, in the free and untrammeled exercise of their 
 own judgment, under a due sense of accountability to Christ, to 
 decide on the spot, in each particular case as it occurs, what is suf- 
 ficient evidence of genuine conversion, and what is the proper and 
 sufficient groimd for the admission of the heathen convert to the 
 privileges of the Christian Church."* 
 
 " ' When the Committee come to treat of the checks and influences 
 under which missionaries operate, it will be seen that this degree of 
 liberty is compatible with as perfect a responsibility as is attainable 
 in the present state of human nature and of the world. But it is 
 important to remark here, that this responsibility can never be per- 
 fectly enforced, except by guarding the religious liberties of mission- 
 aries with the most scrupulous care. Men must be free, and must 
 feel that they are free, in order to rise to the full capacity and dig- 
 nity of moral agents, and be subjected to the full control of law, 
 reason, and the moral sense. And, of all Gospel ministers, the mis- 
 sionary among the heathen most needs to have his mind and spirit 
 erect, and to feel that all good men are his brethren. This is neces- 
 sary to the unity, peace, order and efficiency of every mission. 
 The law of liberty is an all-pervading law in Christ's kingdom. 
 
 "*2. HOW^ THE KESPOXSIBILITY OF MISSIONARIES IS SECURED. 
 
 " ' So far as the Committee can rely on the experience of more 
 than thirty years, they regard it as not less safe to concede ecclesi- 
 
 * Prof. William Smyth, of Bowdoin College. 
 
64 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 astical liberty to missionaries than to pastors. And how eminently 
 safe it has been at home, the last two centuries can testify. In each 
 of the denominations of Christians represented in this Board, the 
 understanding, conscience and heart of ministers is supposed to 
 operate with equal freedom in the performance of their spiritual 
 duties ; and it is the prevalent belief, in each of these denommations, 
 that tins hberty could not be advantageously diminished. 
 
 " ' What the Prudential Committee are to show is this : — Tliat 
 foreign missionaries are subjected to similar controllin<j injiucnces with 
 pastors at home. These influences are exerted in the selection of 
 missionaries ; in their voluntary engagements ; in the terms of their 
 pecuniary support ; in their mutual watchfulness over each other; 
 and in the direct influence of truth upon their minds and hearts. 
 
 " ' 1. Missionaries are, in an important sense, selected for the 
 work, and it thus comes to pass that they have, as a body, a trust- 
 worthy character. 
 
 "'The Board does not, indeed, extend a "call" to them, as 
 churches do to those whom they would have for their pastors. This 
 has sometimes been recommended, as preferable to the course now 
 pursued. But few missionaries would be obtained in this way. 
 The missionary spirit has not yet strong hold enough upon the 
 churches, or upon the colleges and theological seminaries, for the 
 adoption of such a plan. Were the responsibility to be thus taken 
 from students and candidates for the ministry, and assumed by mis- 
 sionary institutions, the young men in our theological schools would 
 seldom be found in a state of mind or in circumstances to give an 
 affirmative answer to a " call," by the time their characters and 
 qualifications should have been sufliciently developed to warrant 
 one. It is found to be better to lay the case before all, and leave 
 the result to the providence and grace of God. Consecration to the 
 foreign missionary work for life involves a somewhat peculiar expe- 
 rience of its own ; and the earlier and more thoroughly that expe- 
 rience is wrought in the soul, the better is the i)rospect of continu- 
 ance and usefulness in the work of missions. 
 
 " ' The Committee have been accustomed, generally, to wait for 
 written offers from the candidates to go as missionaries under the 
 direction of the Board, These are usually made some time before 
 the theological course of studies is completed, and are commonly 
 preceded by personal conferences or an informal correspondence 
 with the Secretaries. The offer is accompanied by testimonials 
 from pastors, instructors in colleges and seminaries, and others. If 
 the testimony be decisive and satisfactory, the individual is invited 
 to visit the Missionary House in Boston. This arrangement is found 
 useful and satisfactory to all parties. There is now, if there has 
 not been before, a free conference with him as to his religious princi- 
 ples and experience, his social relations, his motives in choosing the 
 missionary work, his adaptations and preferences with respect to a 
 field of labor, and whatever else is important in determining the 
 question of his appointment and designation. Should it now appear 
 to be the candidate's duty not to engage in a foreign mission, it is 
 generally easy to convince him of the fact, and his case does not 
 proceed to any formal action on the part of the Committee. Where 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 65 
 
 the tlutj to go is clear, an appointment follows. The candidate next 
 seeks ordination, at his discretion, from some ecclesiastical body ; 
 "which body subjects him to as thorough an examination as if he 
 were to settle as a pastor. He is not taken on trust from the Board, 
 but his call to the missionary work is brought under a renewed 
 investigation. 
 
 " 'It is believed that the missionaries laboring in connection with 
 this Board are equal, as to ministerial qualifications and character, 
 to the body of pastors in either denomination represented in the 
 Board, in any one of the States of the Union ; and this fact is evi- 
 dently one of great importance, in an inquiry as to the possibility of 
 exerting a reasonable control over their proceedings. 
 
 " ' 2. Missionaries come voluntarily under similar engagements 
 with pastors at home. 
 
 " ' The pastor's engagements are made to his church and people, 
 to the body that ordains him, and, through that body, to the 
 churches ; in addition to his solemn and well-understood vows to 
 his Lord and Master. The missionary's engagements are to the 
 Board, acting in the way of a general superintendence over his pro- 
 ceedings as a missionary, and to the ordaining body, and, through 
 those bodies, to the community from which he is to derive his sup- 
 port ; and he also makes explicit vows to his divine Master. 
 
 " ' The missionary engages, on accepting his appointment, to con- 
 form to the rules and regulations of the Board, the nature of which 
 he is supposed distinctly to understand. He thus pledges himself, 
 among other things, to be governed by the majority of votes in his 
 mission, in regard to all questions that arise in their proceedings ; 
 the proceedings being subject to the revision of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee. He comes, moreover, under certain other distinct and well- 
 understood pledges: — (1.) As to his 7n(vi)icr of life; which is to be 
 cue of exemplary piety and devotion to his Avork. (2.) As to his 
 teaching ; which must be conformed to the evangelical docrines gen- 
 erally received by the churches, and set forth in their well-known 
 Confessions of Faith. And (3.) As to ecclesiastical usages; to which 
 he must conform substantially as they prevail among the churches 
 operating. through the Board. He must hold to a parity among the 
 clerical brethren of his mission. He must hold to the validity of 
 infant baptism. He must admit only such to the Lord's Supper as 
 give credible evidence of faith in Christ. So far as his relation to 
 the Board and his standing in the mission are concerned, he is of 
 course not pledged to conform his proceedings to any other book of 
 discipline than the New Testament. 
 
 " ' 3. The missionary's claim for continued support, like that of 
 the pastor, depends upon his fulfilling his engagements. 
 
 " ' Unless faithful to these engagements, the missionary cannot 
 claim a continuance of his support. And the Board not only may, 
 but it must, insist on his performance of them. It is bound to 
 know that the missionary preaches the Gospel and administers the 
 ordinances according to his expressed and implied jjledges ; which 
 of course he must do, or retire from his connection. 
 
 " ' The responsibilities and powers of the Board, in this aspect of 
 the case, are easily defined. While it cannot depose a missionary 
 
GO THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 from the ministry, nor silence him as a preacher, nor cut him off 
 from the church, it can dissolve what it formed, namely, his connec- 
 tion with itself and with the mission. While the Board may not 
 c'stalilis!; new principles in matters purely ecclesiastical, it may en- 
 force the observance of such as are generally acknowledged by the 
 churches, and were understood to be acknowledged by the missiona- 
 ries when sent to their fields. While the Board may not require 
 that baptism shall always be performed by sprinkling, nor forbid 
 that the Lord's Supper shall be administered to converts after they 
 have given what the missionaries believe to be credible and satisfac- 
 tory evidence of piety ; it may require, (for such are the established 
 and acknowledged usages,) that he receive none into the church, 
 except such as are believed to be truly pious persons ; that he bap- 
 tize in the name of the Father, the Sou, and the Holy Ghost ; and 
 that he do not refuse baptism to the infant children of the church. 
 
 " ' Where the opinions of the great body of its patrons are divided 
 in regard to the facts of Scripture, the Board may not undertake to 
 decide, positively, as to the nature of those facts, with a view to 
 binding the conduct of its missionaries. Such a fact, at present, is 
 the admission of slaveholders into the apostolical churches. The 
 Board may not undertake to decide, that this class of persons was 
 certainly admitted to church membership by the Apostles, nor that 
 they were excluded, in such a way as to hav^e the etfect on the mis- 
 sionaries of a statute, injunction, or Scripture doctrine, in respect to 
 the admission of such persons into churches now to be gathered in 
 heathen nations where slavery is found. The Board, the Pruden- 
 tial Committee, and the Secretaries may have their opinions on 
 tliis subject, as well as on all others, and (as will be stated more 
 fully hereafter) may freely express those opinions in their corre- 
 spondence with the missionaries, and ought to do so, if they see 
 occasion, with such reasonings, persuasions and remonstrances as 
 they may think proper. But they cannot properly go farther. Nor 
 can the Jioard assume, as the basis of any of its proceedings, or im- 
 ply in any manner, that the apostolical usages are not the wisest 
 and best for all modern missionaries to foltow, who are similarly 
 situated with the Apostles. Nor can it do any thing in direct and 
 luanifest contrariety to the great Protestant maxim, on which our 
 own religious liberties depend, that the Scriptures are the only and 
 the SUFFICIENT rule of faith and practice. 
 
 " ' On the other hand, if it was an usage of the Apostles to give 
 definite aud positive instructions to the holders of slaves as to their 
 treatment of them — instructions which had a tendency to do away 
 the institution — and if such instructions are found in their Epistles, 
 tlien modern missionaries may be expected to conform to that usage, 
 and to give the same instructions in like circumstances ; though the 
 time and manner of doing this must be referred, in great measure, 
 to their own discretion, as with ministers at home, in respect to the 
 direct inculcation of specific duties. The successful inculcation of 
 such duties pre-supposes a certain amount of doctrinal knowledge 
 in those who are to be operated upon, as well as of moral suscepti- 
 bility, and also a due adaptation in the instructions to time, place, 
 and circumstances. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 67 
 
 " ' But while the Board may require that the missionaries under 
 its care instruct all classes of men after the manner of the Apostles, 
 it is not at liberty to restrict the missionaries to the identical instruc- 
 tions given by the Apostles ; because there is no good reason to 
 suppose that all the instructions are recorded in the New Testa- 
 ment which the Apostles were accustomed to give. Missionaries 
 may go farther, if their convictions of duty require it, and may 
 apply what they regard as the obvious and generally conceded prin- 
 ciples of the Gospel to the case. They have the same liberty, in 
 their preaching, with ministers of the Gospel elsewhere. 'P]^'y 
 ma}^ instruct fheir converts, among other things, on the Christian 
 duty of fully conceding the right of marriage to the slaves ; of not 
 holding them as property ; of sacredly respecting the relation be- 
 tween husbands and wives, and between parents and children ; and 
 of securing to all the right of worshipping God, and of reading his 
 Holy Word. And the Committee have no hesitation in urging the 
 duty of such instruction upon their brethren among the heathen ; 
 with the plain inculcation, in the prosecution of their ministry, of 
 whatever obligation grows out of the fundamental law of love, as 
 given by the Lord Jesus Christ, " Whatsoever ye would that men 
 should do to you, do ye even so to them; " — it being understood 
 that the missionaries are to have the liberty of exercising their dis- 
 cretion as to time and manner. 
 
 " ' Xor have the Connnittee any hesitancy in saying that, since 
 the Gospel was so preached by the Apostles as ultimately to root 
 out the most extensive and terrible system of slavery the world has 
 ever seen, so ouglit missionaries now, in times and ways within the 
 range of their own discretion, so to hold up the doctrines, duties 
 and" spirit of the Gospef, that it shall have the same beneficeut ten- 
 dency on the social condition of the heathen. 
 
 " 'A writer of unquestioned opposition to slavery, to whose dis- 
 criminating pen the Board is indebted, has justly renuirked, that it 
 would seem to be within the discretion of a missionary in a slave- 
 liolding community, whether he will attack slavery directly, and by 
 name, or "whether he will strike at some one or more of the things 
 which enter essentially into it, and the wrong of which can, in the 
 actual circumstances of that community, be set home Avith con- 
 vincing power upon the conscience of the slaveholder."* 
 
 " ' Slavery is, indeed, at variance with the principles of the Chris- 
 tian religion, and must disappear in any community, in proportion 
 as the Gospel gains upon the understandings and the hearts of men. 
 But the Board and its missionaries are restricted to moral means, 
 and these must have time and opportunity to exert their appropriate 
 influence. Missionaries should be employed who dcsrrve confidence, 
 and then confidence should be reposed in them ; nor should residts be 
 required which are beyond the power of their labors to i)roduce. 
 Many things which, at first, it might seem desirable for the Board to 
 do, are found, on a nearer view, to lie entirely beyond its jurisdiction ; 
 so that to attemi)t them Avould be useless, nay, a ruinous usuri)ation. 
 Nor is the Board at liberty to withdraw its confidence from niis- 
 
 * Prof. Smyth. 
 
G8 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 pionarics, hccnnse of such differences of opinion among them as are 
 uiiicrallv found and freely tolerated in presbyteries, councils, asso- 
 ciationsfand other bodies here at home. 
 
 " ' Polygamy stands on a somewhat different footing from that of 
 Slavery. Little difficulty is apprehended from it in gathering native 
 churches. The evidence that polygamists were admitted into the 
 church by the Apostles is extensively and increasingly regarded as 
 inconclusive, by the patrons of the Board. We no where find in- 
 structions given in the New Testament to persons holding this rela- 
 tion. Nor is there evidence of the practice having existed in any of 
 tlie churches subsequent to the apostolical age. The Committee 
 believe, that no positive action by the Board in relation to this sub- 
 ject is needed, or expedient. Unsustained as the practice is by any 
 certain precedents in the apostolical churches, and unauthorized by 
 a single inspired injunction, the native convert will rarely be able to 
 prove the reality of his piety, should he persist in clinging to it, or 
 refuse to provide for the education of his children, or for the support 
 of their mothers, (when they need such provision,) if he may not 
 be permitted to regard the mothers as his wives. 
 
 " * Should the missionaiy violate his compact in respect to the 
 character or amount of his preaching and teaching ; or in respect to 
 the administration of the ordinances of the Gospel ; or by refusing 
 to conform to the resolutions of his mission, or of the Prudential 
 Committee, or of the Board, or in an}^ other manner, the Prudential 
 Committee, on being certified of the fact, is in duty bound to con- 
 sider and act on the bearing this ought to have on his relations to 
 the Board, and his claim for a continued support. 
 
 " ' This claim for support, so far as it applies to the Board, is un- 
 derstood to be only for an equitable proportion of the sum-total of 
 funds actually placed at the disposal of the Board, for the expenses 
 of the year. The Board can divide only what it receives. The 
 missionary goes forth trusting in God that there will always be 
 enough for his Avants. He cheerfully incurs the risk, whatever it 
 may be, and which past experience of God's goodness shows to be 
 small. And he does this the more cheerfully, because his work is 
 so eminently a work of faith. Mere pledges for his support from 
 churches and ecclesiastical bodies are too delusive to be depended on. 
 It is only to a small extent that pledges can be obtained from indi- 
 vidual Christians, and even the precise import and obligation of 
 these are apt to be forgotten by those who give them. Nor are the 
 formal pledges of support given to the Board worth any thing, except 
 so lar as they represent the deep-seated missionary principles and 
 sentiments of the Christian community. There is, indeed, no firm 
 footing for the missionary, except in the promises of his Lord and 
 Master. Paith in Christ is the basis of his enterprise. It is so in 
 respect to himself, his children, his work, and the desired results of 
 all his sacrifices and labors, — preeminently so, compared with that 
 of the pastor at home. And herein lies the special dignity of his 
 calling. Ilc! goes on his mission in the discharge of his own personal 
 duty, because he believes his Lord and Savior requires him to go as 
 his servant and ambassador. If he have a proper view of his mission, 
 he would regard it as lowering the work immeasurably, to bring in 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 69 
 
 the churches, or the Board, as principals ; as any thing else, infleed, 
 •han mere volautarij fiel]>ers, selected and chosen by himself to carry 
 lut the benevolent purpose of his own independent self-consecration. 
 The idea that a mission is a contract between the churches and the 
 missionary in any such sense, that he may cease to perform mission- 
 ary labor, and claim a pension, (as the servants of the East India 
 Company do,) after a certain number of years, and while he is yet 
 able to labor — should it ever become an effective element in the 
 reasoning of missionaries — would prove destructive to the faith and 
 vitality of the enterprise. If this idea has sometimes been advanced 
 by missionaries, it has been when reasoning under the pressure of 
 parental solicitude, and in great part on the assumption that the 
 work of publishing the Gospel was comtnitted by Christ to the 
 church as a society, or corporate body, to act as a principal in the 
 matter ; and as such, in the discharge of its own preeminent duty, 
 to send forth and support preachers in all the world ; whereas, the 
 command was given to individual disciples, before an organized 
 Christian church existed; and whatever use was made of social or- 
 ganizations during the apostolical age, the work was always regarded 
 as the discharge of an individual and personal obligation. It is not 
 less an individual and personal duty now, than it was then. The 
 enlisting in the missionary enterprise is wholly voluntary, as wxdl 
 on the part of the missionary who goes abroad, as on the part of his 
 fellow-Christian who remains at home. They are co-workers and 
 mutual helpers; and the cooperation of the donor may be as 'es- 
 sential to the prosecution of the work as the labors of the mission- 
 ary. On the part of all concerned, the consecration, Avhether of 
 person or property, must be a voluntary ofiering by individual sub- 
 jects of Christ's kingdom. Churches, in their organized capacity, 
 have no authority to prescribe to an}* one of their members what he 
 must do; but each must decide for himself, as the result of his own 
 consciousness of dut}^ and privilege, what he ought to do, and to 
 what i)art of the work he should devote himself. It is a question 
 of individual responsibility. "As we have many members in one 
 body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, 
 are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another ; " 
 and whatever any one does, he is to feel that it is in the discharge 
 of his own prescribed duty. Christians at home will no more feel 
 that they are really indebted to the missionary, than that the mis- 
 sionary is indebted to them. They will no more feel that the 
 missionary is doing their work, by going on a mission, than that 
 they are doing his, by giving to support him. Each will regard 
 himself as a fellow-servant of a common IMaster, engaged in a com- 
 mon service, and performing just that part of the work which the 
 Master has assigned to him. This vieAv of the subject is doubtless 
 the correct one, and the only one that will comport with the suc- 
 cessful prosecution of missions, for a prolonged period of time, and 
 on an extended scale. It is necessary for all parties to feel, that they 
 are discharr/ing only their oivn personal obligations, that they are perform- 
 iivj only their own appropriate work. 
 
 '" * The system, as it has been described, is found to work easily and 
 well. The missionary is as free, in every sense, as the pastor. One 
 
70 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 is no more really liekl accountable for the manner of expending his 
 salary, than is the otlier. One can no more absent himself from his 
 field of labor and his Avork, without the concurrence of the body 
 that furnishes the means of his support, than the other. The pastor 
 can no more travel at the expense of his people, whether for health 
 or business, without their consent, than the missionary can do so at 
 the expense of the Board, without the consent of the Committee, or, 
 iu certain specified cases, of his mission. The greatest embarrass- 
 ments experienced in the working of the system are when the 
 Committee are constrained to interpose their action, in order to re- 
 lieve a mission from the influence of one of its own members, and 
 where the questions at issue relate to points in missionary practice 
 and expediency with which the community at home have not yet 
 had opportunity to become fully conversant ; or to mere matters of 
 fact, dependent on testimony, and requiring to be heard on both 
 sides; — giving advantage to a disaffected missionary, should he 
 choose to address himself to the popular mind. In a case of im- 
 morality, if it be flagrant, the compact may be annulled ; and every 
 one is ready to appreciate the reason. So if the missionary, how- 
 ever conscientiously, break fellowship with his brethren, and deny 
 their baptism, or their ordination, his right to continue in the mis- 
 sion would cease ; — it being a well-ascertained fact, that such opin- 
 ions, in addition to violating the understood engagements, usually 
 prove destructive to the harmony of a mission, Avhen embraced by 
 any of its members. The same is true if there be error in respect 
 to important doctrines of the Gospel. It is not the mere doctrinal 
 errors that are to be considered, but their distracting, disastrous 
 effect on the happiness and efficiency of the mission. Thei'e is no 
 need of making out formal charges to prove a case of heresy by a 
 formal trial, as an ecclesiastical body would do. The question as- 
 sumes a plain business form, — whether there is an actual departure 
 from the basis on Avhich the missionary appointment was made, and 
 what effect it has exerted on the peace and usefulness of the mission, 
 and on the operations of the Board. 
 
 " ' That the action of the Prudential Committee, dissolving the 
 connection of a missionary with his mission and the Board, is not of 
 the nature of an ecclesiastical proceeding, technically speaking, is 
 evident from the fact that it leaves his ecclesiastical relations undis- 
 turbed, llis regular standing, both as a minister of the Gospel and 
 a member of the church, is not directly affected. As his a])point- 
 ment to the mission did not destroy his relations to his association or 
 presbytery, so neither does his dismission. The Committee of course 
 leave the ecclesiastical relations of the case for the ecclesiastical body 
 (if it choose to consider them) with which the missionaiy may hap- 
 pen, at the time, to be connected. 
 
 '' 'It will often be found, where difficulties between a returned 
 missionary and the Committee come out to the view of the commu- 
 nity, that the original difficulty was not between the missionary and 
 the Committee, but between the missionary and his brethren of the 
 mission ; and that the Committee interfered and assumed respon- 
 sibility in the matter only Avhcn it became necessary, in order to 
 relieve the mission from distracting and paralyzing divisions. The 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 71 
 
 Board 1ms had as feAv unpleasant relations to its missionaries, it is 
 believed, in proportion to the number of persons, as any other mis- 
 sionary society in the new or old Avorld. 
 
 " ' It should be stated, that the missionary has his safeguards, as 
 ■well as the pastor. The latter is not dismissed from his people 
 without the intervention of a council or presbytery. Such a direct 
 ecclesiastical intervention is manifestly impossible, as the case stands 
 between the missionary and his directors. But the Committee do 
 not see that the case would be otherAvise, were the Board elected by 
 an ecclesiastical body, a General Assembly, for instance. As it is, 
 the missionary has the right of appeal from the Prudential Committee 
 to the large body of ministers and laymen composing the Board. If 
 the question between him and tlie Board relate merely to Christian 
 doctrine, or to alleged immoralities, and has sufficient importance to 
 awaken the interest of an ecclesiastical body, he can obtain an opin- 
 ion on liis proper Christian or ministerial standing from his presby- 
 tery or classis, or from a council, and have the benelit of such a 
 result. With this right, the Committee have never attempted to 
 interfere. 
 
 " ' Enough has been said to show, that whatever of salutary influ- 
 ence there is in the connection between a pastor's faithful perform- 
 ance of his engagements and the continuance of his support from his 
 IX'ople, there is no less with the missionary. 
 
 " 'But the grand reliance for the proper conduct of missionaries, is 
 
 " *4. On their mutual watchfulness over each other, and the direct 
 influence of truth on their minds and hearts. 
 
 " 'As soon as a mission contains three or more missionaries, it is 
 expected to organize itself as a self-governing community, under 
 the laws, regulations, and general superintendence of the Board. 
 Mutual Avatchfulness thus becomes the official duty of each member. 
 It is also in a high sense the interest of each one to exercise a fra- 
 ternal watchfulness over his brethren, in order to the safety and 
 success of the enterprise in which the common welfare and happi- 
 ness are embarked. And as brethren in Christ, as members of his 
 church, and as jointly and severally his ambassadors to the heathen, — 
 by the force of each of these relations, they are impelled to the 
 same duty. Nor have the several missions under the care of the 
 Board been a whit behind the ecclesiastical organizations of their 
 native land in mutual and faithful Avatchfulness. 
 
 '"The influence of truth on the reason, judgment and heart of 
 missionaries, is mainly through the intercourse kept up with the 
 Christian world, and especially with their native land, and through 
 their reading and studies, and the reacting eflect of the faithful dis- 
 charge of their missionary duties. 
 
 " ' The interest Avhicli missionaries feel in their native land is not 
 diminished by distance. Their home for Christ's sake, the home of 
 their duty, is among the heathen, and grace makes them more than 
 willing to live and die there. But natui-e has another home, dear to 
 memory and ever interesting to thought and feeling, and with this 
 they keep up an active correspondence during life. It is sti'iking to 
 observe the number of letters passing between missionaries and 
 their friends. The eflect of this correspondence must be great in 
 
72 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 cherishinir the social feelings, and especially in preserving the desire 
 for a good name in their native land. This effect is increased by 
 tlie reading of religious and other newspapers, and of magazines 
 and bo()ks,"tliat are continually going to the missions, and causing 
 the pubUc opinion at home, on all subjects, to bear directly on mis- 
 sionaries, as it does on pastors. The Committee have long deemed 
 it wise to pursue a liberal policy with respect to these matters, since 
 well-informed, active and growing minds, yield most readily to 
 wholesome rules and decisions, and to reason and common sense. 
 
 " ' The correspondence of the executive officers of the Board 
 with particular missions is more or less extended, at different times, 
 according to circumstances. The free use of reasoning has always 
 been awarded to them on all subjects, upon which they believe it 
 would be useful to correspond with their brethren in the missions. 
 No points are so much in dispute, but the Secretaries feel themselves 
 at liberty to advert freely to them, — always being subject, of course, 
 to have their correspondence revised at pleasure by the Committee, 
 or by the Board. They may write upon caste, polygamy, slavery, 
 creeds, preaching, education, the use of the press, modes of worship, 
 evidence of piety, the Christian life, and numberless other kindred 
 subjects. And they may give all the weight they can to their argu- 
 ments, by bringing the experience of other missions, and what they 
 know of the state of the public mind at home, to bear on the ques- 
 tions at issue. The religious newspapers and other periodicals fur- 
 nish the means of performing this latter service in respect to all 
 subjects that interest and excite the communit3^ It is believed to 
 be the duty of the Secretaries, acting under the direction of the 
 Committee, to see that the missions are well furnished with the 
 lights of truth. The Committee have had ample evidence of 
 the value of this method of control. No class of ministers being 
 more select than that which is engaged in the foreign missions, on 
 none docs correct reasoning, and especially that which is founded on 
 the word of God, have more influence. In general, nothing more is 
 needed, in the actual relations and responsibilities of missionaries, 
 to control the opinions and operations of a mission, than good scrip- 
 tural arguments. And in all cases affecting the conscience, the less 
 there is of an appearance of authority, the better the result. 
 
 ' " Libraries are connected with the several missions, some of which 
 are large and valuable ; the material for labor, in all the departments, 
 is abundantly supplied; and the missionary, in common with the 
 pastor, has his peculiar inducements to study, and to cultivate his 
 mind and heart, growing out of the exigencies of his position. And 
 the more devoted, laborious and faithful he is in his work, the less 
 need docs he commonly stand in of influence and direction from 
 without. Truth, conscience, a sense of duty, regard for unity and 
 peace, deference to public opinion, and concern Im* God's glory and 
 the good of mankind, -— things such as these (not without some 
 thought, it may be, of engagements to the Board and its patrons, 
 and of the inconveniences resulting from their violation) have 
 rarely failed to be sufl[icient, with the divine blessing, to secure 
 order and efficiency in the working of Christian missions in foreign 
 luuUs. In other words, it is the blessing of God on the free and vig- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 73 
 
 oroius workinj? of the voluntary principle in missions, based on Chris- 
 tian piety and inteUigenco. 
 
 " ' The Committee believe it would be found, on a careful exami- 
 nation of the history of missions, that no method of controlling 
 missionaries, ditfering substantially from the one described in this 
 report, has ever been effectual. Protestant missions, especially, and 
 most of all from this country, can in no other way be long kept in 
 existence. 
 
 " ' Should it be supposed, that the great distance of the missions 
 from the community which supports them must weaken the con- 
 trolling influence, two things are to be considered : — (1.) The public 
 attention is more generally and intently fixed on the conduct of the 
 missionaries, than it is upon that of ministers any where at home. 
 (2.) There is no greater probability that all the members of one of 
 the larger missions will go wrong together, or will countenance 
 one of their own number in so doing, than that there will be simi- 
 lar wrong doing in almost any body of ministers, of equal numbers, 
 which can be named in our own country. For they are as intelligent, 
 as pious, have as much principle and sense of character, and as much 
 desire to please God and do good ; and they know that they are 
 watched by Christians over the world. 
 
 " ' It is due to the patrons of the Board, who may entertain 
 doubts whether its constitution is well adapted to secure the safest 
 and most effijient prosecution of missions among the heathen, to 
 advert briefly to the subject; indeed, the discussion would not other- 
 wise be complete. 
 
 " ' The Prudential Committee have not been able to see that the 
 Board would increase its working power by any considerable changes 
 in its constitution. So fer, indeed, as the greater part of New 
 England is concerned, there does not seem to be a possibility of 
 forming what is called an ecclesiastical Board, unless the relations of 
 the Congregational churches to each other are first essentially modi- 
 fied. And Vere such a Board to be created, it would no more pos- 
 sess authority to perform purely ecclesiastical acts, than has the 
 present Board. The Committee presume that it would not be wise 
 to attempt a change in the present organization, until the details of 
 the change are clearly proposed and understood, and well consid- 
 ered; nor until there is good reason to believe the new or modified 
 organization would work better than the present; that it will com- 
 mand more confidence at home among the churches, and more 
 abroad with the missionaries ; and that it Avill secure the confidence 
 which the present Board has gained in the mereantile world. Our 
 fathers were providentially led to adopt the existing form of organi- 
 zation for conducting foreign missions, as best adapted to their day ; 
 and Avlien the existing form is found not to answer the purpose, 
 their children will doubtless change it. It was instituted solely for 
 the spread of the Gospel among the heathen, and in times favorable 
 for taking an unbiassed view of the subject; and hitherto it has 
 actually worked better than any of its founders ventured to expect. 
 It has, indeed, signally enjoyed the blessing of God. The attend- 
 ance and interest at its annual meetings, the responses to its appeals 
 for funds, the number and character of the men who go as its mis- 
 4 
 
74 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Bionarios, the success of its missions, and the standing it is permit- 
 tod to lio'ld in the estimation of Christians generally, place it on a 
 footing with other kindred institutions, whether voluntary or eccle- 
 siastical. Nor does it appear to have less hold than other societies 
 on the contidence, affection and conduct of its missionaries, nor upon 
 the community to which it looks for support. Those who suppose 
 that the leading motive with the community to contribute funds for 
 the support of a system of missions is in the origin of a missionary 
 society, or in the form of its constitution, fall into an error. It is 
 rather in the number and importance of the missions ; in the tokens 
 of God's presence in those missions ; in the evidence of judgment, 
 faithfulness and energy in the administration. The essential thing 
 doubtless is, that the contributors have the means of obtaining 
 satisfactory evidence that their money is Avell employed. This 
 they have in respect to the Board. Its one hundred and eighty 
 Corporate Members, and its five or six thousand Honorary Mem- 
 bers, invariably secure for it an annual meeting, (continuing three 
 days,) that forms a representation of the individuals and of the Chris- 
 tian community supporting its operations, as real, active and ex- 
 tensive, as any other benevolent society has in this country, or 
 in the world. There is at that meeting a representation from most 
 parts of the community ; and the greater portion, if not the whole 
 of those present, take an intelligent and lively interest in the enter- 
 prise. It would seem to be scarcely possible, in the present state 
 of the churches, that the interests of a system of missions should 
 be more perfectly represented, or be surrounded with more eflectual 
 safeguards. 
 
 " ' The Honorary Members have the same right with the Corporate 
 Members of calling up subjects for inquiry at the meetings, of pro- 
 posing resolutions, of acting on committees, of declaring their opin- 
 ions, and of exerting every kind of moral influence ; and there Avas 
 never an important subject before the annual meeting for discussion, 
 ■when the prevailing opinion of the meeting w^as not certainly known. 
 The right of voting is, indeed, restricted by the Charter to members 
 elected by ballot ; and the value of the charter, in a financial point 
 of view, forbids its being unnecessarily relinquished, or set aside. 
 These voting members are the trustees for the funds ; and by ac- 
 cepting the trust, they come individually under special obligation 
 with regard to the disposal of the funds, the preservation of the 
 credit of the institution, and the general working of the system. 
 They are specially bound to attend the annual meetings. Whatever 
 theoretical importance (and it is not to be undervalued) is attached 
 to an extension of the privilege of voting, the Committee believe 
 that, from the beginning, it would not have altered a single result of 
 any importance in the proceedings of the Board. And greatly must 
 the religious state of our churches be changed for the worse, before 
 there can be any real danger in the present organization. 
 
 " ' The Board is to be viewed as an Agexcy, acting for such as 
 choose to emi)loy it. It does not profess to be, and itis not, a dis- 
 tinct power Avith separate interests from the churches ; nor are its 
 agents sent into parislies as a substitute for the pastor, or as a co- 
 ordinate power, to advocate a distinct and independent interest, in 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. iO 
 
 which the pastor and people have no concern ; but, for tlie time 
 being, they are mere auxiliaries to the pastors — the agents of the 
 pastors — the pastors being the responsible persons. When the 
 present organization is no longer deserving of confidence, it will 
 soon die, as a thing of course. ISo far as the Board is an active and 
 influential body, it is a mere creature of the public mind. It must 
 go along with the permanent majority. It has no authority. It can- 
 not, except by an abuse of terms, be said to levy taxes. It taxes no 
 one. It can only state the command of Christ, the necessities of 
 the heathen, the taciUties for doing the Avork of missions, its own 
 plans and operations, and God's blessing upon them ; and argue, 
 exhort and plead. Men give or not, just as they please; and it is 
 best that it should be so. 
 
 " ' The corrective power, in respect to the undue midtiplication 
 and irregular woi'king of voluntary associations, lies with the pas- 
 tors and churches. It is for them, individually, to decide what ob- 
 jects shall and what shall not have access to their pulpits b}' means 
 of agents. Here lies the only corrective power — where it ought to 
 lie — in the primary associations and assemblies of the Christian 
 Church ; and here there is such a power, easily applied, and, if ap- 
 plied, adequate to the emergency. 
 
 II. 
 THE MISSION CHURCHES. 
 
 ]. THE LIBERTY BELONGIXG TO MISSION CHURCHES. 
 
 " ' The INIission Churches in foreign lands, connected with the 
 missions under the care of the Board, do not come properly under 
 the jurisdiction of any body of men in this country. This is true 
 of course so far as the Board is concerned, since that is not a body 
 having ecclesiastical authority ; and it is believed to be equally true 
 in respect to all ecclesiastical bodies. The influence exerted upon 
 the mission churches by the ecclesiastical bodies of this country- 
 must be through the missionaries. We can claim no jurisdiction 
 over them because we planted them. 
 
 " ' The great object of foreign missions is to persuade men to be 
 reconciled to God, as their rightful and only Sovereign ; and the 
 organization of churches is as really a means to this great end, as 
 the preaching of the Gospel, or the printing of the Holy Scriptures. 
 When the time comes for organizing native converts into churches, 
 the missionaries, acting in behalf of these children in knowledge 
 and in the power of self-organization and government, cannot pro- 
 perly be restrained, by foreign interference, from conforming the 
 organization to what the}/ regard as the apostolical usage in similar 
 cases; — having respect, of course, to those necessary limitations 
 already mentioned, to which they have voluntarily subjected them- 
 selves for the maintenance of their social existence as missions, and 
 for securing a regular and competent support from the Christian 
 community at home. (See pp. 6G, 67.) The result may be a much 
 simpler organization for the mission churches, than is found in lands 
 that have long sat under the light and influences of the Gospel. 
 
fjQ THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Indeed experience has clearly sliown, that it is not well to attempt 
 the transfer of the religious denominations of Christendom, full- 
 urown'and with all their peculiarities, into heathen lands ; at least, 
 until the new-born churches shall have had time to acquire a good 
 deo-ree of discriminative and self-governing power. The experi- 
 ence acquired in lands long Christian partially fails us when we go 
 into heathen countries. We need to gain a new experience, and to 
 revise many of our principles and usages ; and for this purpose to 
 go prayerfully to the New Testament. 
 
 " ' The religious liberty which we ourselves enjoy is equally the 
 birthright of Christian converts in every part of the heathen world, 
 on coming into the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ, w^hich they 
 may claim as soon as they are prepared for it; just as American 
 freedom is the birthright of our own children. The right of our 
 children is not infringed by that dependence and control which they 
 need during their infancy and childhood. It is even their right to 
 claim, that the parent shall thus act for them in the early stages of 
 their existence. But the wise parent will always form the principles 
 and habits of his child Avith reference to the time when the right of 
 self-control must be fully exercised and yielded. In like manner, 
 the missionary must needs give form, at the outset, to the constitu- 
 tion and habits of the mission churches ; and for a time he must 
 virtually govern them. But he will do this with a constant regard 
 to the coming period, when those churches must and will act inde- 
 pendently. He will train them, as the Apostles evidently trained 
 the churches under their care, so that they may be early freed from 
 the necessity of missionary supervision. In the infancy of the 
 Christian community that is placed under his care, he will act on 
 such scriptural principles and usages as he deems best fitted to make 
 the most of every individual member of the church. And this he 
 will do at any amount of personal inconvenience to himself; remem- 
 bering that the power of carrying burdens is acquired by practice, 
 and that native converts can be inured to responsibilities only by 
 having responsibilities placed upon them, and by a conviction that 
 they are trusted. At the risk of multiplying his most painful cares 
 and disappointments, he will also aim to provide a native pastor for 
 each church, just as early as he can in the period of his own 
 missionary supervision, that the spiritual machinery may be homo- 
 geneous and complete in all its parts, and may the soonerbe made to 
 work without foreign aid. In no other way, indeed, can he secure 
 the grand result for which he labors — the development of the self- 
 sustaining, self-governing power in the native Christian community. 
 
 " 'Nor juay we expect or require of the mission churches, as the 
 condition of giving them the Gospel and its institutions, that they 
 shall always think, judge and act just as we do. We ought cheer- 
 fully to abide the consequences of the full assertion of our prin- 
 ciples ; and have patience, and bear long, and not give over, till it is 
 evident that our moral means are exhausted, and that our enter- 
 prise has failed. 
 
 The necessity for long-suffering forbearance with churches 
 gathered from among the heathen will be the more obvious, if we 
 consider three things. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 77 
 
 " ' One is thus stated in the Cambridge Platform * " The weakest 
 measure of iaith is to be accepted in those tliat desire to be admitted 
 into the church ; because weak Christians, if sincere, have the sub- 
 stance of tbat faith, repentance and holiness, which is required in 
 church members, and such have the most need of ordinances for 
 their confirmation and growth in grace. The Lord Jesus would not 
 quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed, but gathers 
 the lambs in his arms and carries them in his bosom." None will 
 question, that the liberty of mission churches, with respect to the 
 admission of members, goes to this extent. Of all churches, those 
 gathered among the heathen have most reason for asserting this 
 freedom, since nowhere are the lambs of the flock so much exposed 
 while out of the fold, and nowhere, comparatively speaking, are 
 they so many. 
 
 " ' Another thing is this. There are not several churches existing 
 in one place, as in most of our towns, formed to a great extent on 
 the principle of elective affinity. All who give credible evidence of 
 Christian character must come into one and the same church, or be 
 excluded altogether from church membership, and the ordinances of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 "'Again, we should consider the extreme moral and social 
 degradation of all heathen communities, in which mission churches 
 are gathered. Read the first chapter of the Epistle to the Eomans. 
 Read the journals of modern missionaries. Consider the decline of 
 mind among the masses of the people, under the long reign of 
 piaganism ; the paralysis of the moral sense and conscience ; the 
 grossness of habits, physical and mental, in speech and action, in 
 domestic life and all social intercourse. Consider the absence of 
 almost all those ideas which lie at the foundation of moral elevation 
 in character ; the absence of words, even, to serve as pure vehicles 
 of holy thought and sentiment; the absence of a correct public 
 opinion on all things appertaining to manners and morals ; and the 
 constant and all-pervading presence of polluting, degrading, soul- 
 destroying temptations. 
 
 " ' Causes such as these had their effects in the churches gathered 
 by the Apostle Paul, as ■we see in his Epistles. When the Apostle 
 directed his attention, for instance, to the church at Corinth, on 
 which he had bestowed so great an amount of labor, he found 
 occasion to lament the many who were carried away by false 
 teachers, the disorder of their worship, their irregularities at the 
 Lord's Supper, their neglect to discipline immoral members, their 
 division into parties, their spirit of litigation, their debates, envy- 
 ings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tunmlts. 
 And how soon were a portion of the Galatians seduced from the 
 Gospel, and from their loyalty to the truth, and turned again to 
 their old bondage unto weak and beggarly elements, observing 
 days, and months, and times, and j'ears ; so that the Apostle con- 
 fesses his fears that he had labored in vain among them. He tliinks 
 it needful to exhort the Ephesian church to put away lying, and to 
 exhort those who had been dishonest before their conversion to steal 
 
 * Ch. XIL, § 3. 
 
78 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 no more, and those who had been avaricious and impure to have 
 nothiii-^ more to do with fornication and covetousness. Four years 
 aft«'r he had addres^d his Epistle to the Ephesians, he informs 
 Timothy that all his helpers in Lesser Asia were turned away from 
 liim, and even two who had attained to some distinction. Before 
 the date of his Epistle, he evidently had not full confidence in some 
 of the native pastors in that province, as appears from his address to 
 them at Miletus. While at Rome, he writes that some in that city 
 preached Christ of envy and strife, supposing to add aflliction to his 
 bonds ; and at his first arraignment before Caesar, not a member of 
 that church had the moral courage to stand by him. Writing to the 
 Philippians, he declares his belief that many church members were 
 enemies of the cross of Christ, whose god Avas their belly, who 
 gloried in their shame, and minded earthly tilings. In this same 
 Epistle, he speaks in desponding terms of his native helpers, among 
 Avhom were none like-minded with Timothy, but all sought their 
 own, and not the things Avhich were Jesus Christ's. He thought it 
 needful to exhort the Colossians not to lie one to another ; and the 
 Thessalonians to withdraw from such of their number as walked 
 disorderly. He cautions Timothy against fables, endless genealogies, 
 and profane and vain babblings, as if such were prevalent in some 
 of the churches ; and speaks of preachers destitute of the truth, 
 possessing corrupt minds, ignorant, proud, addicted to controversies 
 which engendered envy, strifes, and perverse disputations and rail- 
 ings ; and of some who had even made shipwreck of the faith, and 
 added blasphemy to their heresies. 
 
 " ' And it should be added, that the Apostle John, somewhat later, 
 declares that many "antichrists" had gone out from the church, 
 because they did not reaUy belong to it in spirit and character, and, 
 of course, had been in it, denying, as he says, the Father and the 
 Son. 
 
 " ' Yet it is generally supposed, whether correctly or not, that the 
 apostolical churches possessed as much piety as exists in any por- 
 tions of the visible church of our country and times, if not more. 
 Indeed, the Apostle Paul speaks of the Roman Christians, only a 
 few years before the date of his Epistles to Timothy, as being noted 
 for their faith throughout the world. At the very time of his cen- 
 sures on the Corinthians, he declares that church to be "enriched 
 by Jesus Christ, in all utterance and in all knowledge," so that it 
 came behind in no gift. And while he so seriously cautions the 
 Ephesians, he ceases not to give thanks for their " faith in the Lord 
 Jesus, and their love unto all the saints." He thanked God upon 
 every remembrance of the Philippians ; and when he wrote to the 
 Colossians, he gave thanks for their faith in Christ Jesus, and their 
 love in the Spirit and to all the saints. And how remarkable his 
 testimony in behalf of the Thessalonians ! He remembered with- 
 out ceasing, and with constant gratitude, their work of faith, and 
 labor of love, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, wherein 
 they had become followers of him and of the Lord, having received 
 the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; so that 
 they were ensamples to all that believed, in Macedonia and Achaia. 
 The fact undoubtedly is, that visible irregularities and disor- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 79 
 
 ders, and even scandalous immoralities, are more to be expected in 
 churches gathered from among the heathen ; and are, at the same 
 time, to a certain extent, more consistent witli grace in the church, 
 than in countries that have long enjoyed the light and influence of 
 the Gospel. While the primitive converts from paganism we'e 
 remarkable for the high tone of their religious feelings, and the sim- 
 plicity and strength of their faith, they were wanting in respect to a 
 clear, practical apprehension of the ethical code of the Gospel. It 
 is obvious, indeed, that Paul found the burden of his " care of all 
 the churches " much increased by the deceptive, impure, and thor- 
 oughly wicked character of the age and countries in which he 
 labored as a missionary and apostle. His manner of treating the 
 native pastors and churches, notwithstanding their imperfections, is 
 a model for missionaries and their supporters in our day ; who ought 
 to expect greater external manifestations of ignorance on moral sub- 
 jects, and of weakness and sin, in churches that are gathered in 
 Africa, India, the Sandwich Islands, and among the Indian tribes, 
 than in churches that existed at Ephesus, Colosse, Corinth, and the 
 cities of Galatia, in the palmy days of Roman civilization. 
 
 " ' In reasoning, however, about mission churches among the 
 heathen, whether ancient or modern, we should take into view the 
 moral imperfections found in all human associations, in every land 
 and every age. How many such imperfections do actually exist 
 now in the churches of which we are members, and how difficult it 
 has been found to apply a remedy. How much time and labor has 
 it cost, in our most favored States, so to alfect the public sentiment 
 of professed Christians, as to induce them universally to abandon 
 and avoid the trade in ardent spirits ; how hard to restrain multi- 
 tudes of professors of religion from divers conformities to the world, 
 having no countenance in the Gospel ; and how impossible, hitherto, 
 to create a public sentiment in any church, that shall give the sin of 
 covetousness, for instance, the place expressly assigned to it in the 
 Word of God. 
 
 2. HOW FAR THE BOARD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TEACHING OP 
 THE MISSIONARIES, AND FOR THE CHARACTER OF THE MISSION 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 " ' The Board is responsible cUrecthj, in the manner which has been 
 described, for the teaching of the missionaries. It cannot guaranty, 
 however, an entire uniformity in their teaching. That diversity in 
 mental habits, opinions, preaching, and social intercourse, which 
 exists without rebuke among ministers of the same denomination at 
 home, must be expected and tolerated among missionaries. 
 
 "'The Board can require of missionaries a compliance Avitli their 
 express and implied engagements, and the performance of all duties 
 that are manifestly essential to the success of the enterprise. But 
 in respect even to those fundamental obligations, when the mind of 
 the missionary has swung so far otf from the line of his duty as to 
 refuse a compliance, enforcement is commonly found to be out of the 
 question ; generally, no other course is left but to dissolve his con- 
 nection. The Board cannot, therefore, be held responsible for the 
 
80 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 invariable continuance of its missionaries in the path of their duty, 
 even in respect to matters of vital importance. Its responsibility is 
 limited to the proper selection of fields to be cultivated ; to the ju- 
 dicious appointment and designation of missionaries ; to the consti- 
 tution and laws by which the several missions are formed into self- 
 rroverning communities ; to the equitable distribution of the funds 
 placed at its disposal ; to the just and proper instruction of the mis- 
 sionaries in matters within the province of the Board ; to timely and 
 needful sui?i,a^stions, admonitions, exhortations and appeals, frater- 
 nally addres^sed ; and, finally, to a faithful superintendence of the 
 missions, and a decisive intervention when there are manifest 
 departures from duty in the missionaries. 
 
 '"But while the Board is directly responsible for the teaching of 
 the missionaries, it cannot be held to a full responsibility for the 
 results of their labors. Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God 
 giveth the increase. The Apostle to the Gentiles, as we have seen, 
 had to sorrow much over the imperfect results of his labors. As he 
 was not fully responsible for the character of the churches he plant- 
 ed, so missio7iarics cannot now be held to a full responsibility for the 
 character of their mission churches. But the Board, as a missionary 
 institution, (and the same would be true were it an ecclesiastical 
 body,) is even less responsible than are its missionaries, for the 
 character of the mission churches. It is not even directly respon- 
 sible for the character of those churches, but only through the mis- 
 sionaries ; and only so far through them, as it is properly held 
 accountable for their character and teaching. If there be stupidity, 
 ignorance, weakness, waywardness, perverseness, and even more 
 scandalous wickedness in the mission churches — as the history of 
 the Apostolical Churches would lead us to expect, even when the 
 churches are gathered by the most able and faithful missionaries — 
 they can be operated upon only through the missionaries. The 
 Board cannot wisely address those churches directly on the subject, 
 nor can any other body of men in this country, however constituted. 
 
 " ' But when evils exist in the mission churches, the Prudential 
 Committee may and must inquire, whether the missionaries are per- 
 forming their dut}'. In one instance, some years ago, having reason 
 to apprehend that admissions were made to a church in one of the 
 missions, without a proper attention to the evidences of piety, the 
 Board, at its annual meeting, instructed the Prudential Committee 
 to inquire into the facts, with a view to a correction of the evil; and 
 such inquiries were made by the Committee, and with a satisfactory 
 issue. Inquiries have also been made by the Committee, as to the 
 teaching of missionaries in some of the missions, with respect to 
 alleged irregularities and evils in mission churches, and in the social 
 and domestic state of native Christian communities. So far as a 
 judicious and proper correspondence with the missionaries may 
 properly afiect their incipient measures, in the formation of churches, 
 and tlieir subsequent teachings, and so far as those measures de- 
 termine the character of the churches, the Board is responsible for 
 the character of the native churches. 
 
 " ' Its responsibility in respect to the existence of slavery in several 
 of the Indian churches has some peculiar modifications in the cir- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 81 
 
 curastances of the case. The incipient measures for the formation of 
 churches among the Cherokees and Choctaws were taken thirty 
 years ago, — long before the subject of slavery came up for discus- 
 sion among the churches at home. God was soon pleased hopefully 
 to renew the hearts of a number of slaveholding Indians, and, upon 
 giving credible evidence of piety, they were received into the church. 
 What the missionaries could then have done, had they perceived all 
 the bearings of that subject, cannot be known. The Indians are 
 now partially civilized, and have organized governments. There 
 are slaveholding whites Avithout, who are supposed to take an inter- 
 est in continuing slavery among them, and slaveholding whites 
 within, married to Indian wives, and thus become a part of the 
 nation ; and their churches are organized Congregationally in one 
 tribe, and Presbyterially in another. So that the missionaries, like 
 pastors among ourselves, are obliged now to depend wholly on in- 
 struction and persuasion for their influence on the churches under 
 their care. The religious liberty of those churches is to be respect- 
 ed. We should stand firm in support of our principles as to the 
 rights of churches. Unless the missionaries are able to produce 
 conviction — however desirable it may be that they should do it — 
 the churches in the one case, and the sessions in the other, will vote 
 in opposition to their views. It is admitted, however, that the mis- 
 sionaries should do all in their power, in the exercise of their best 
 discretion, to lead those churches and sessions to a right apprecia- 
 tion of tlveir duty in this matter ; and that they should use a direct 
 influence, at their discretion, to eradicate the evil of slavery, as well 
 as all other evils, from the churches under their care. But it is 
 obvious that the Board, and the missionaries under its direction, 
 have not precisely the same decfree of responsibility for the existence 
 of slavery in the churches just referred to, that they would have in 
 respect to churches yet to be formed among the tribes of the African 
 continent, or were churches now to be formed, for the first time, 
 among the Indian tribes. 
 
 " ' How long we should bear with mission churches that do not 
 come up to our standard of duty, and may even greatly try our 
 spirits, is what the Committee are not able to decide. But they 
 cannot doubt that we should imitate the example of Him, who 
 "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 
 rain on the just and on the unjust; " and who "so loved the world 
 that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
 him should not perish, but have everlasting life :" and who "is long 
 suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all 
 should come to repentance." We need an abounding charity, a 
 most Christ-like feeling, when we come to the question of with- 
 drawing our support from churches we have gathered among the 
 heathen, because they are slow in rising to our standard of Christian 
 excellence. Should their deficiency be in any measure owing to 
 our lack of knowledge on the subject, when we commenced our 
 labors among them, it will strengthen our motives for forbearance. 
 Before deciding a question so momentous to the interests of souls, 
 and to our own future peace of conscience, it would be well to see 
 whether we do not find in those churches the same spiritual results, 
 4* 
 
g2 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 the same livin? Christianity, and the same moral defects, that ex- 
 isted in the cliurches planted and nurtured by the Apostles ; and 
 whether the Lord Jesus does not bless them with outpourings of his 
 Holy Spirit, though they cannot yet be persuaded, in all important 
 respects, to follow us. ,•■,.-. 
 
 " ' We should remember, that none of us are principals in this work 
 of missions. The work is Christ's, not ours ; and we are all his 
 servants, to do his will. And if we look into our own churches, and 
 consider their manifold imperfections, we shall find abundant cause 
 for charity and forbearance in respect to all churches gathered 
 among the heathen; and if we study the intellectual and moral con- 
 dition of the pagan world, we shall only wonder that the first gene- 
 ration of converts from heathenism can be so far raised in the scale 
 of Christian morals and general excellence of character. 
 " ' By order and in behalf of the Prudential Committee. 
 EUTUS ANDERSON, ) 
 DAVID GREENE, [Secretaries. 
 
 SELAH B. TREAT, ) 
 
 Missionary House, Boston, Sept., 1848.' " 
 
 Under the pretext of maintaining " the ecclesiastical 
 liberty of the missionaries," this rejDort seeks to make it 
 appear that those missionaries have a right to admit slave- 
 holders into their churches, and to allow them to continue 
 there in good standing, aiid that there is ample Scriptural 
 warrant for such a course. It seeks to make this appear, 
 in spite of the antagonistic concession, in the same document, 
 that slavery is " a^ variance tcilh the principles of the 
 Christian religion.''^ 
 
 It further urges, in maintenance of the right of the 
 churches to vote in slaveholding candidates for church mem- 
 bership, (amazing as it may seem, after the concession just 
 mentioned !) that "The religious liberty of those churches is 
 to be respected. We should stand firm in support of our 
 principles as to the rights of churches." 
 
 What sort of thing is the " right" of a Christian church 
 to endorse acts "at variance with the principles of the 
 C hristian religion " ? 
 
 But, as if to clench and secure the above amazing position 
 in regard to the missionaries, the report proceeds to say that, 
 though the Board " is responsible, directly, for the teaching 
 of the missionaries," it " cannot be held responsible for the 
 invariable continuance of its missionaries in the path of their 
 duty, even in respect to matters of vital importance:^ Then, 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 83 
 
 it would seem, it may allow tlie missionaries to apostatize 
 without discharging them ! 
 
 It would take too much space to specify and formally 
 expose even the principal instances of gross sophistry in this 
 report. The reader who is at once intelligent and careful 
 will find many such instances for himself. I shall speak par- 
 ticularly of only two of them, both contained in the last 
 division of the report. 
 
 In the second division of the second part, where there is a 
 pretence of answering the inquiry, " how far the Board is 
 responsible for the teaching of the missionaries, and for the 
 character of the mission churches," the two opening para- 
 graphs are doubly self-refuting. This is their course of 
 argument, in substance, namely : — 
 
 1. The Board is responsible, directly, for the teaching of 
 the missionaries, and it can require of them compliance with 
 their engagements, and fulfilment of all duties manifestly 
 essential. But — 
 
 2. If the missionary refuses compliance, enforcement is 
 commonly impossible, and, generally, no way is left but to 
 dissolve his connection. 
 
 3. Therefore, the Board C2iX\not be held responsible for the 
 continuance of its missionaries, even in duties of vital 
 importance. For — 
 
 4. Its responsibility is limited to a faithful 
 
 superintendence of the missions, and a decisive intervention 
 when there are manifest departures from duty in the 
 missionaries. 
 
 This, as I have said, is doubly self-refuting. For, since 
 the second statement admits that the Board may dismiss the 
 persistently unfaithful missionary, it is evident that the third 
 statement should read — "Therefore, the Board must be held 
 responsible for the continuance of its missionaries in their 
 duty " ! It is the obvious duty of the Board to dismiss un- 
 fliithful missionaries and substitute faithful ones. And this 
 fact is recognized in the fourth statement, which, in direct 
 and unblushing contradiction of its predecessor, admits a 
 " decisive intervention " by the Board, whenever the mission- 
 aries shall violate their duty. 
 
 The other passage upon which I wish to remark is three 
 paragraphs further on, where the Secretaries try to excuse 
 
34 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 the Board from responsibility for the existence of slavery in 
 the mission churches. 
 
 After admitting that the Cherokees and Choctaws were 
 slaveholding nations thirty years before, when missionary 
 labor was first commenced among them, and that slavehold- 
 ing Indians were soon adjudged to have given " credible 
 evTdence of piety," and were thereupon received into the 
 church, the report proceeds — 
 
 " What the missionaries could then have done, had they 
 perceived all the bearings of that subject, cannot be known^ 
 
 This statement is absurdly false. What the missionaries 
 could have done is known, and is as plain as daylight. They 
 could have taught their disciples that, slavery being " at 
 variance with the principles of the Christian religion," the 
 persistent slaveholder could not possibly give "credible evi- 
 dence of piety," and thus could not be admitted to the 
 church! Whether the unconverted Indians were purified 
 from slavery or not, the missionaries were able to keep their 
 churches pure, by utterly refusing to admit slaveholders ! 
 But they did not choose to do this ! And the Board did not 
 choose to require it of them ! And the Secretaries do not 
 shrink from the disingenuousness of saying, in the very 
 paragraph treating of the commencement of slavery in the 
 Indian churches, (contained in the same Annual Beport 
 which admits, p. 89, that " some of the earliest converts, in 
 both nations, were the proprietors of slaves,") that the action 
 of the missionaries is limited by the vote of the churches ! 
 As if this excused the original formation of a church, by the 
 admission of slaveholders as its earliest members, on the 
 responsibility, and by the action, of the missionaries alone ! 
 
 Such are some of the disgraceful shifts which were found 
 absolutely necessary to make out a plausible case in vindica- 
 tion of the Board. 
 
 Let us see now by what means the report tries to excuse 
 the failure of the missionaries to perform their duty of keep- 
 ing slaveholders out of the churches, and the failure of the 
 Board to require its performance. It says that these 
 churches were formed, and slaveholders incorporated into 
 them, " long before the subject of slavery came up for dis- 
 cussion among the churches at home." This is true. And 
 it is an unspeakable disgrace to the clergy, the teachers and 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 85 
 
 guides of those " churches at home," that they not only 
 slumbered over the complicity of themselves and their peo- 
 ple with this awful sin, (neglecting, in the first place, to 
 recognize or look at it,) but that, when William Lloyd 
 Garrison brought out the evidence of the oppressions of the 
 slave and the direct influence of the Northern people in con- 
 tinuing this oppression, and made direct appeal to the 
 ministers of Boston, and of Massachusetts, to lift up their 
 voices on that subject, they first utterly refused,* and then 
 gave their influence on the other side. 
 
 It is true, most disgracefully for the churches and their 
 clerical leaders, that the subject of slavery did not " come 
 up for discussion in the churches" until a portion of what 
 those churches opprobriously call " the world " had for years 
 been actively and heartily engaged in it. But how amazing 
 is the plea, offered by the recognized teachers of morals and 
 relio;ion, in excuse for havino; failed to teach a certain 
 essential part of morality and religion, that the pupils had 
 not yet discovered that it was needful to be taught ! Yet 
 the Secretaries must say such foolish things as this, unless 
 they will either confess their great sin, or utterly hold their 
 peace ! 
 
 The pious language with which this report is filled — 
 intended, as it is, to continue the recognition of slaveholding 
 in the mission churches as right, and to stave off all 
 remonstrances against it, (in spite of the admission, p. 68, that 
 slavery is "at variance with the principles of the Christian 
 religion,") — is a serious aggravation of its guilt. 
 
 Immediately following this long report by the Secretaries, 
 in the Annual Report of 1848, comes a still longer corre- 
 spondence with the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, making 
 a practical application of the theory of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee (just rehearsed) for the continued permission of slave- 
 holding in church members, and giving elaborate statements, 
 from the missionaries of both nations, of their theories, their 
 customs, and their intentions, in regard to that subject. 
 
 * One of the ministers thus individually appealed to by Mr. Garrison on 
 this subject was Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, then a recognized leader among 
 the Orthodox Congregational churches. To a statement of the appalling 
 facts involved in slaver}', and an urgent appeal that he would do something 
 in opposition to it, he replied that he " had already too many irons in the 
 fire to be able to give any attention to it." 
 
86 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 This correspondence, covering nearly thirty-three closely 
 printed octavo pages in the Annual Eeport, (pp. 80 to 113,) 
 is here subjoined. 
 
 " COEEESrONDENCE WITH THE CHEEOKEE AND CHOCTAW 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 " This correspondence was brought before the Board by a spe- 
 cial report of the Prudential Committee. Their communication 
 is as follows: — 
 
 "'It has been the wish of the Committee, for more than a year 
 pnst, that the Secretary having charge of the Indian department 
 might visit the Cherokee and Choctaw missions. Prior, indeed, to 
 tlie last annual meeting, Mr. Greene was requested to hold himself 
 in readiness to make such a visit in the course of a few weeks. 
 The object of the Committee was twofold: — 1. To ascertain, as 
 fully as practicable, the state and prospects of these missions ; and, 
 2. To inquire more particularly into their relations to the subject of 
 slavery. 
 
 " 'After the meeting at Btiffalo, however, the Committee became 
 satisfied that Mr. Greene ought to be excused from taking this jour- 
 ney, for reasons growing out of the state of his health. Mr. Treat 
 was directed, therefore, to visit the Clierokee and Choctaw missions 
 as soon as he could make the necessary arrangements. He left 
 accordingly on the oOth of November, and returned on the 1st of 
 April, having been absent seventeen weeks and a half. "While he 
 was in the Indian territory, he had personal interviews with all the 
 missionaries individually ; and he spent several days with each of 
 the missions assembled in their collective capacity. His attention 
 was particularly directed to the subject of slavery in its relations to 
 the labors of these brethren ; and much time was given to the 
 acquiring of such information as appeared to be most important for 
 the guidance of the Committee. After a full conference, each mis- 
 sion concluded to address a letter to the Committee, exhibiting their 
 views and principles in detail. The letter from the Cherokee mis- 
 sion was received April 26 ; that from the Choctaw mission. May 6. 
 Subsequently, and as soon as was practicable, Mr. Treat drew up a 
 report on the general subject, presenting what seemed to be the 
 leading features of the case. This report, together with the letters 
 from the two missions, were taken into consideration on the 20th of 
 June ; and the Committee directed a communication to be addressed 
 to the missions in reply, setting forth their views in regard to the 
 different topics which were thought to require notice. The answer 
 of the brethren has not been received. Both missions had previously 
 appointed meetings to be held simultaneously with the annual meet- 
 ing of the Board ; and it is presumed that they have the subject now 
 under consideration. 
 
 " ' The Committee regret that they are not able to report a final 
 adjustment of this embarrassing question ; but they have found it 
 nnpossible to bring about this result. Knowing, however, the anxi- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 87 
 
 ety of the Board to be informed as to what has actually been done, 
 tlioy now submit for its consideration the documents which have 
 been already mentioned/ 
 
 " The report of Mr. Treat, the first of the documents mentioned 
 in the foregoing communication, is in the following language : — 
 
 " * To the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners 
 for Foreign Missions : — 
 " ' The instructions under which I was directed to visit the Cher- 
 okee and Choctaw missions will be apparent from the following 
 action of the Prudential Committee, Kov. 23, 1847 : — 
 
 "Mr. Treat having requested definite information as to the views of 
 the Committee, in directing him to visit the Choctaw and Cherokee mis- 
 sions, it was 
 
 ^'Resolved, 1. That he be instructed to ascertain, as fully and accurately 
 as practicable, the present state and prospects of the missions, for the in- 
 formation of the Ccmniittee, and for the assistance of himself in his cor- 
 respondence hereafter -with the missions. 
 
 " Eesohed, 2. That he be instructed to go into a full and fraternal ex- 
 amination of the relations of the missions, and the churches under their 
 care, to the subject of slavery ; and the missionaries are requested to give 
 him all the information in their power bearing upon the case." 
 
 " * I arrived at Dwight, the first station which I visited, on the 4th 
 of January, 1848. The eight following weeks were wholly spent 
 within the limits of the Cherokee and Choctaw nations. During 
 tliis period, I saw all the missionaries and assistant missionaries 
 under tlie direction of the Board ; as also the missionaries and 
 educational establishments sustained by other organizations within 
 the boundaries of the two nations. It was my endeavor to acquaint 
 myself, as fully as practicable, with the plans and labors of our 
 brethren ; and in relation to the general interests of the missions, I 
 shall hold myself in readiness to make such communications, and in 
 such form, as the Committee may direct. 
 
 " ' It seems desirable, however, that the Committee should receive 
 a report on the relation of the two missions to the subject of slavery, 
 without any further delay. Much time and reflection have been 
 given to the examination of those topics which occurred to me as 
 most important ; and it is but simple justice to the missionaries to 
 say, that they have done all that I expected, or wished, to lacilitate 
 my inquiries. The}^ were fully aware of the delicacy of their posi- 
 tion. Still, they withheld no ini'ormation which I asked ; but, on 
 the contrary, met the difficulties and trials of the case with a frank- 
 ness and self-forgetfulness which entitle them to my waimest 
 thanks. 
 
 " ' As there are many points of resemblance between slavery as it 
 exists among the Cherokees, and the same institution as it is found 
 among their brethren south of the Arkansas ; and as the two mis- 
 sions stard upon ground which, in many respects, is common to 
 both, it will be more convenic nt, and probably more satisfactory, to 
 consider the subject in its relations to both at the same time. For 
 
88 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 the purpose of preventing misapprehension, it may be well to state, 
 in this place, that the Choctaws and Chickasaws who have removed 
 to the Indian territory now live under one government, and consti- 
 tute one people, knoAvn as the " Choctaw Nation." In the following 
 remarks, therefore, I shall be understood as applying the term 
 " Choctaws," " Choctaw Nation," &c., to the Avhole community, as 
 thus constituted ; unless I expressly distinguish one class of Indians 
 from the other. 
 
 "'l. SLAVERY AMOXG THE CHEROKEES AND CHOCTAWS. 
 
 " ' 1. Its Origin. 
 
 " ' It was hardly to be expected, perhaps, that we should be able 
 to ascertain the early history of slavery, as it exists among these 
 Indian tribes, to our perfect satisfaction. All accounts agree, how- 
 ever, that it was introduced into each of them by white men. 
 
 " ' Some have supposed that it had its origin among the Cherokees 
 no farther back than the Revolutionary war ; when a number of 
 tories, holding slaves, fled from the Southern States, and took refuge 
 among this people. But there is one slave now living, at the age of 
 seventy-five, who was born in a state of servitude in the old Clieroke"e 
 nation. Hence we may conclude that the institution first took root 
 in this tribe nearly, if not quite, one hundred years ago. And it is 
 not unlikely that the evil began with white men, who settled in the 
 nation, and married Cherokee women. At a later day, slaves were 
 frequently introduced by purchase ; and many are now to be found 
 who came originally from the Southern States. 
 
 " ' It is said that negro slaves Avere first introduced among the 
 Chickasaws about the middle of the last century, by unprincipled 
 white men, who stole them from Southern planters, and afterwards 
 secreted them within the old nation. Slavery among the Choctaws, 
 it is affirmed, had its origin in the intermarriage of white men with 
 Choctaw women. Subsequently, as they obtained the means, they 
 imitated the example of their civilized neighbors ; and those who 
 lived upon the "Natchez Trace," and who were accustomed to en- 
 tertain travellers in their humble dwellings, seem to have acquired, 
 in process of time, quite a number of slaves. The treaty of 1830 led 
 to a considerable increase of this species of property ; and when the 
 Chickasaws sold their lands east of the Mississippi, they made large 
 additions to their slave population. 
 
 " ' 2. Its Character. 
 " ' The foregoing statements will suggest all that is necessary to 
 be known in relation to this topic. As the institution was derived 
 from the Avhites, it has all the general characteristics of negro slav- 
 ery m the southern portion of our Union. In such a state of society 
 as we find among these Indians, there must of necessity be some 
 modification of the system ; but in all its essential features, it remains 
 unchanged. 
 
 " ' 3. Number of Slaves. 
 " ' Upon this point, it is impossible to obtain reliable information. 
 JNo census of the slaves has been taken recently in either nation; 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 89 
 
 and tliflfereiit individuals have very different opinions as to their 
 present number. Some say that among the Cherokees there are 
 not more than seven hundred ; -vvhile others tliink there are as many 
 as fifteen liundred. The latter is the estimate of the Principal Chief, 
 and it is most likely to be correct. At any rate, we must suppose 
 the proportion of slaves to Cherokees to be nearly, if not quite, as 
 one to ten. 
 
 " ' The better opinion seems to be, that the whole number of slaves 
 in the Choctaw nation is at least two thousand. Of these, however, 
 the Chickasaws possess more than their proportionate share. The 
 ratio of the Chickasaws to their slaves is about five or six to one ; 
 while the Choctaws are to their slaves, probably, as ten or twelve to 
 one. 
 
 " ' The number of slaves, whether among the Cherokees or Choc- 
 taws, does not appear to be materially aflected by the introduction 
 of negroes from the adjacent States. But there is undoubtedly a 
 natural increase going on all the while ; an increase, too, which is 
 greater than that of the Indians themselves. A few slaves are sold 
 out of these nations, from time to time ; and occasionally one obtains 
 his freedom by his own efiorts or those of his friends, or by the vol- 
 untary act of his master. 
 
 " ' 4. Their Treatment. 
 
 ** * It is the opinion of almost every missionary, that slavery exists 
 among these tribes in a milder form than that which is generally 
 found in the States ; and this is thought to be the opinion of the 
 slaves themselves who reside in the Indian territory. As a general 
 truth, it is atfirmed, they have a comfortable supply of food and 
 clothing ; and they are seldom tasked beyond their strength. It is 
 admitted, however, that there are cases of gross cruelty and oppres- 
 sion. 
 
 " 'The conclusion to which my own mind has been brought does 
 not differ materially from that of the missionaries. I do not imagine 
 that the slaves held by Cherokees or Choctaws are generally over- 
 tasked. On the contrary, I presume that they frequently have too 
 little labor to perform for their own good. Indolence is one of the 
 besetting sins of all red men ; and hence their ideas of labor, not 
 only as aflfecting themselves, but others also, are very apt to be erro- 
 neous. Kor do I suppose that there is much intentional omission, 
 on the part of the masters, to furnish the necessary food and cloth- 
 ing. And it is quite certain that slaves are much more on a footing 
 of equality with their owners in these tribes, than they are among 
 the whites. 
 
 " ' Still, it is hardly possible that persons held in bondage by such 
 a people should be in as favorable circumstances as those who have 
 fallen into the hands of enlightened and humane masters in the 
 States ; especially if those masters are under the influence of Chris- 
 tian principle, and are endeavoring to treat their slaves according to 
 the injunctions of the Gospel. For, while it is true that a few slave- 
 holders in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations manifest a commen- 
 dable solicitude in regard to the spiritual interests of their slaves, it 
 is also true, that they cannot have that ability to give religious in- 
 
90 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 struction even if they fully appreciate its importance, which is found 
 in communities further advanced in Christian knowledge and civih- 
 zation. I should say, therefore, that many slaves in the States are 
 better off than any among the Cherokees ; while, at the same time, 
 there are multitudes who are in a much worse condition. 
 "'5. Laws relating to Slavery. 
 " ' The legislation of the Cherokees, so far as it affects free negroes 
 and slaves, appears to be milder than that of most slaveholding com- 
 munities. For example, the only restriction upon emancipation is 
 contained in the third section of an act, passed Dec. 2, 1842, which 
 is as follows : — 
 
 " Be it further enacted, That should any citizen or citizens of this Na- 
 tion free any negro or negroes, the said citizen or citizens shall be respon- 
 sible for the conduct of the negro or negroes so freed ; and in case the cit- 
 izen or citizens, so freeing any negro or negroes, shall die or remove from 
 the limits of this nation, it shali be required of such negro or negroes 
 that he, she or they give satisfactory security to any one of the Circuit 
 Judges for their conduct ; or, herein failing, he, she or they shall be sub- 
 ject to removal as above specified." 
 
 " ' In the two previous sections of the same act, it is made the 
 duty of the sheriffs to notify all free negroes then in the nation, 
 (excepting those who had been previously freed by Cherokees,) to 
 leave the same by Jan. 1, 1843, or as soon thereafter as practicable. 
 In case of a refusal to comply, the sheriffs were directed to report 
 such free negroes to the United States Agent for the Cherokees, for 
 immediate expulsion. It is by the provisions of these two sections 
 that the " removal as above specified," in the third section, is to be 
 explained. 
 
 " ' The Committee wUl be sorry to learn, however, that there is 
 another statute which debars alike the free negro and the slave from 
 all direct access to "the lively oracles." It is as follows: "Be it 
 enacted by the National Council, That from and after the passage of 
 this act, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatever to 
 teach any free negro or negroes, not of Cherokee blood, or any slave 
 belonging to any citizen or citizens of the Xation, to read or write." 
 The penalty annexed to a violation of this enactment is a fine of 
 8100 to $500, at the discretion of the court trying the offence. 
 This law is the more to be regretted, as it must needs embarrass the 
 mission in its efforts to benefit this injured and neglected portion of 
 the community. 
 
 " ' Tlie restrictions upon the right of property, as applicable to the 
 colored race, are as follows : 1. No free negro or mulatto, not of 
 Cherokee blood, may hold or own any improvement in the nation. 
 2. Slaves are prohibited from owning horses, cattle, hogs or fire- 
 arms ; and it is niadti tlie duty of tlie sheriff to sell, at public auction, 
 all such property when found in his district; the proceeds of the 
 sale, however, are to be paid to the offender, after deducting eight 
 per cent, for the sheriff's fees. The reason assigned for so much of 
 the law as relates to horses, cattle, and hogs, is that the ownership 
 of such property by the slaves had become a nuisance to the master, 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 91 
 
 at the same time that it was a temptation to theft, &c. It is the 
 opinion of one missionary, at least, that this statute is not very rig- 
 idly enforced. 
 
 " ' It is also enacted that pati'ol companies may take up and bring 
 to punishment any negro not having a legal pass, that may be stroll- 
 ing about, away from the premises of his master. And any negro, 
 not entitled to Cherokee privileges, who may be found carrying 
 guns, pistols, bowie-knives, butcher-knives, or dirks, is liable to the 
 summary infliction, by the pati'oI companies, of forty stripes save 
 one. 
 
 " ' The legislation of the Choctaws has been less enlightened and 
 humane than that of the Cherokees. So long ago as October, 183G, 
 the following law was passed : — 
 
 " Be it enacted, fyc, That from and after the passage of this act, if any 
 citizen of the United States, acting as a missionarj"-, or a preacher, or 
 whatever his occupation may be, is found to take an active part in favoring 
 the principles and notions of the most fatal and destructive doctrines of 
 abolitionism, he shall be compelled to leave the Nation, and for ever stay 
 out of it. 
 
 " And be it further enacted. That teaching slaves how to read, to write, 
 or to sing in meeting-houses, or schools, or in any open place, without the 
 consent of the owner, or allowing them to sit at table with him, shall be 
 sufficient ground to convict persons of favoring the principles and notions 
 of abolitionism." 
 
 " ' At the same session, it was provided that no slave should " be 
 in possession of any property or arms." The only penalty, how- 
 ever, was a forfeiture of the prohibit<:;d articles, and "any good 
 honest slave" might "carry a gun by showing a written pass from 
 his master or mistress." And it was further provided, that if any 
 slave infringed any Choctaw rights, he should "be driven out of 
 company, to behave himself; " and, in case of his return and further 
 intrusion, he should receive ten lashes. 
 
 " ' Four years later, it was enacted that all free negroes in the 
 nation, unconnected with the Choctaw or Chickasaw blood, should 
 leave the nation by the first of March, 1811, and for ever keep out 
 of it ; and in case of their infringing this law, they were to be seized 
 and sold to the highest bidder for Hfe, the proceeds of the sale to be 
 divided among the districts according to their population. It was 
 also enacted, that if any citizen of the nation hired, concealed, or in 
 any way protected, any free negro, to evade the foregoing provision, 
 he should forfeit from •S250 to -"$500 ; or, if unable to pay this fine, 
 receive fifty lashes on his bare back. And it was further enacted, 
 that if any white man in the nation should abet, encourage or con- 
 ceal a free negro, to screen him from the foregoing provision, he 
 should be forthwith ordered out of the nation by the Chief or the 
 Agent. 
 
 ' " In October, 1816, another law was passed, which prohibited 
 all negroes from the United States or the neighboring tribes of In- 
 dians, whether they had " papers " or not, from entering and remain- 
 ing in the Choctaw nation, under pretence of hiring themselves to 
 work. The offenders were to be taken up by the light-horsemen, 
 
92 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 and to receive not less than one hundred lashes on the bare back ; 
 and all jiropertv found in their possession was to be sold publicly, 
 one third of the proceeds to go to the light-horsemen, and the rest 
 to be ai)i)lied to some beneficial purpose. 
 
 " ' The most objectionable enactment which I find,^ having any- 
 bearing upon slavery, was approved Oct. 15, 1846. It is as follows : 
 
 " Be it enacted, ^c, That no negro slave can be emancipated in this 
 Nation, except by application or petition of the owner to the General 
 Council ; and Provided aho, that it shall be made to appear to the Council 
 the owner or owners, at the time of application, shall have no debt or debts 
 outstanding against him or her, either in or out of this Nation. Then, 
 and in that case, the General Council shall have the power to pass an act 
 for the owner to emancipate his or her slave, which negro, after being 
 freed, shall leave this Nation within thirty days after the passage of this 
 act. And in case said free negro or negroes shall return into this Nation 
 afterwards, he, she, or they shall be subject to be taken by the light-horse- 
 men, and exposed to public sale for the term of five years ; and the funds 
 arising from such sale shall be used as national funds." 
 
 ** ' 6. Effects of Slavery. 
 
 " ' In relation to this point, there can be but one opinion. The 
 institution is decidedly prejudicial, in a great variety of ways, to 
 the most important interests of both nations ; and this is the convic- 
 tion of some of the slaveliolders themselves. Among the Cherokees, 
 slave labor is generally, if not universally, unprofitable ; and though 
 it is more valuable in the Choctaw country, in consequence of the 
 greater adaptation of the latter to the raising of cotton, it prevents, 
 to a considerable extent, there as elsewhere, that self-relying indus- 
 tr}' and enterprise which are so desirable in such a community. It 
 should be stated, however, that labor appears to have less dishonor 
 attached to it in both these nations, than in some other slaveholding 
 comiuunities. 
 
 " And if we look at the moral effects of slavery on these tribes of 
 Indians, we find them to be very much as they are found to be in 
 other i)arts of the world. If there is any difierence, it grows out of 
 the fact tiiat the moral condition of the people is loAver than that of 
 some other slaveholding communities ; and, consequently, the injury 
 inflicted upon them is less palpable. I know of no other qualifica- 
 tion which it is necessary to make. 
 
 " ' As between the tribes themselves, however, I must say, that I 
 had deeper and more depressing emotions as to the moral evils of 
 slavery, while I was among the Choctaws, than I had among the 
 Cherokees ; still, there may be, and there probably is, no material 
 ditlL'rence. I was told by a very intelligent white man, that two 
 thirds of the whiskey brought into the Choctaw nation were intro- 
 duced by slaves. The retributive influence which they are exerting 
 upon their masters and upon the whole community, in this and in 
 other ways, is truly terrific. 
 
 " ' It is very clear, moreover, that the influence of the missions is 
 neutralized, to some extent, by the existence of slavery. Whatever 
 atlL'cts injuriously the industry or the morals of the Indians, must 
 necessarily operate as a hinderance to missionary success. Besides, 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 93 
 
 this institution among these Indians, as elsewhere, tends to foster 
 and strengthen that selfishness which is the grand obstacle to the re- 
 ception of the truth as it is in Jesus. And it will be seen more fully 
 hereafter, that the missionaries feel themselves not a little straitened 
 whenever they come in contact with the system ; hence the Gospel 
 is not brought to bear with its full power upon all those evils which 
 are peculiar to such a state of society. 
 
 " * 7. Influence of Christianity on Slavery. 
 
 " ' This topic naturally suggests the following inquiries : — 1. What 
 effect has the Gospel exerted upon the condition of the slaves '? 
 2. What effect has it had upon their number ? 
 
 " ' As to the first of tliese inquiries, it is clear to my own mind, 
 that the influence of Christianity has been highl}^ salutary. As the 
 doctrines of the Bible have obtained, from year to year, a wider dif- 
 fusion and a stronger hold upon the people, the feelings and conduct 
 of masters towai'ds their slaves have become more and more consid- 
 erate and humane. One of tlie brethren among the Choctaws uses 
 the following language, in which all the missionaries in both nations 
 would doubtless unite : — " We have much reason to believe that 
 Christianity has greatly improved the condition and character of the 
 blacks, and the views and feelings of their masters towards them, 
 where religion has been embraced. We have much reason to be- 
 lieve that religion has exerted a general and beneficial influence in 
 this ix'spect. And to persons thus situated, the Gospel has been glad 
 tidings. Indeed, it would be painful to see the slaves thrown back 
 to the condition they were in before the Gospel, with its restraints 
 and Avarnings and encouragements, had reached them and their mas- 
 ters. We should much dread any event that would lead to such a 
 result." And, what is more important still, it will be seen hereafter 
 that a large number of slaves in these tribes are members of the 
 church. Among the Choctaws, indeed, the proportion of enslaved 
 to free communicants is nearly as one to eight, showing that the Gos- 
 pel has had greater success among the blacks than the Indians. 
 
 " ' In regard to the second point, however, the conclusion to which 
 I came Avas less satisfactory. It seems fair to presume that a few 
 persons have been led by Christian principle to abstain from the pur- 
 chase of slaves ; and such I was told Avas the case. But, on the 
 other hand, Ave may not shut our eyes to the fact, that a process has 
 been silently going forAvard Avhich has tended to a different result. 
 
 " ' As fast as the doctrines of the Gospel have exerted their appro- 
 priate influence, the Indians have advanced in civilization. They 
 have felt neAv desires, and, consequently, ncAV Avants. Having these 
 desires and experiencing these Avants, they have looked around for 
 the means of gratifying the former, and removing the latter. They 
 have sought to do this, as others had done before them, by the ac- 
 quisition of property. But the forms of investment accessible to 
 them Avere very feAV. They could not buy land, even had they 
 wished to do so; because their Avhole country belonged to the na- 
 tion in common. Indeed, there Avas hardly any species of property 
 it was so natural for them to desire and seek as this of which Ave are 
 
94 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 spoakinff ; for it became not only a mode of investment, but, in their 
 judKinent, the moans of further acquisition. If we also take into 
 the'ticcount the hereditary repugnance of the Indian to labor; if we 
 retiect that the slaves were capable of doing many things better tlian 
 their masters ; we shall see hoAV the number of slaves may have in- 
 creased, rather than diminished, as the Indians became more and 
 more hke the people around them. 
 
 " * 8. Prospective Termination of Slavery. 
 
 " ' The mass of the people have no direct interest in slavery ; and 
 could the expediency of bringing it to a speedy termination be 
 brought fairly before their minds, they would probably desire its re- 
 moval. But they have given very little thought or attention to the 
 subject ; and it is very uncertain when the question will be exten- 
 sively agitated among them. 
 
 " ' The [)red()minant influence in both nations is mainly in the 
 hands of slaveholders. The intelligence and enterprise which ena- 
 ble them to acquire this species of property, also qualify them for 
 an active and successful participation in public affairs. And many 
 belonging to this class Avould certainly resist, to the utmost, any 
 projjosal tending to the abolition of slavery. A few, indeed, might 
 be glad to see a new order of things ; but their voices, should they 
 advocate such a change, would soon be drowned by the louder re- 
 monsti'ances of those who are less considerate and less disinterested. 
 
 " ' And, in looking forward to the termination of slavery among 
 the Indians, we must not forget the adverse foreign influences to 
 which they are exposed. The owners of slaves among the Chero- 
 kces and Choctaws are mostly whites or mixed bloods. In their 
 feelings, sympathies and interests, therefore, they may be expected 
 to agree, to a very considerable extent, with the same class of per- 
 sons living without the nation ; and hence they will be easily 
 affected by w^hatever is said or done to obstruct any plans which may 
 be proposed for the melioration of this institution within their own 
 borders. This is particularlj^ true of the Choctaws. Now, we may 
 consider it as a settled point, that slaveholders in the adjacent States 
 will never cojisent to the adoption of any scheme of emancipation 
 by the Indians, or to any measures manifestly tending to this result. 
 On the contrary, they will make the most strenuous efforts to keep 
 tlungs just as they are; and at the slightest indication of danger, 
 the alarm w^U be sounded. 
 
 " ' The conclusion to w^hich my own mind has been brought is, 
 that the Indians must be expected to follow, and not precede the 
 surrounding communities, in any scheme which contemplates the 
 extinction of slavery. 
 
 "'ll. POLICY OF THE MISSIONS. 
 
 " ' Before entering upon the various topics which grow out of this 
 general subject, it Avill be advisable to recur to the circumstances in 
 which missionary operations w^ere commenced among these tribes of 
 Indians. 
 
 " ' The Cherokee mission dates from January, 1817 ; the Choctaw 
 mission was begun in the summer of 1818. The laborers in both 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 95 
 
 nations have generally gone from the North ; and they have carried 
 vr'nh them the sympathies and the opinions prevailing in the non- 
 slaveholding States at the time of their departure. It is evident 
 from their correspondence, that they were often tried and perplexed 
 by questions of duty, occasioned by the existence of slavery around 
 them, which arose during the progress of their work. But it was 
 not to be expected that they should place themselves far in advance 
 of public sentiment in New England and the Middle States, and act 
 in accordance with views which began to be entertained among us 
 only at a later day. 
 
 " ' The leading motive of the Indians, in yielding their assent to 
 the commencement of missions among them, was the procurement 
 of certain educational advantages for their children. Few had any 
 desire to have the Gospel preached to them for its own sake. On 
 the other hand, the mass ot th.e ])eople felt a strong repugnance to 
 any change in their established usages and institutions. Hence the 
 missionaries thought themselves called upon, as far as possible, to 
 act with that wisdom which was enjoined upon the first preachers 
 of the Gospel by the Savior himself. 
 
 " ' It so happened, moreover, that many of the earliest and warm- 
 est friends of the missions were slaveholders. " On our arrival 
 among the Choctaws," says one of the missionaries, " these men 
 lield a commanding influence in the land. They took us by the 
 hand, lent us aid, shoAved us kindness, opened their houses for us to 
 preach in, both to themselves and to their servants ; to whom Ave 
 were also able to preach, because they understood English. The 
 great mass of the Choctaws knew but little about us ; nor did they 
 feel any interest in the Gospel at that time." 
 
 " 'One other fact should be kept in mind, as showing more clearly 
 the embarrassments Avhich appertained to the case ; namely, that 
 the Indians were dAvclling in the midst of slaveholding communi- 
 ties. Their intercourse Avith Avhites Avas confined almost entirely to 
 persons living in these communities. The public men in that part 
 of the United States were all slaveholders. Even their great 
 Fathers, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, &c., belonged to the same 
 class. On the other hand, they had heard but little of the " more 
 excellent way " that prevailed at the North ; and it is presumed 
 that they Avere not at all solicitous to knoAv more. It Avas more con- 
 genial to their feelings to float along Avitli the broad current in Avhicli 
 they found themselves, leaving the responsibility, where it mainly 
 belonged, Avith their Avhite neighbors. 
 
 " * Such were the circumstances in Avhich the missionary opera- 
 tions were commenced among the Cherokees and ChoctaAvs. The 
 way is now prepared for an inquiry into the policy Avhich was 
 actually adopted. 
 
 " ' 1. The Preadiing of the Gospel. 
 " ' At this distance of time, and after so many of the early laborers 
 in the two nations have been removed b}' death, it Avould be very 
 difficult, if not imiiossiblc, to ascertain the precise impressions of 
 each individual as to the proper mode of exhibiting the Gospel in 
 its bearings upon slavery. But the policy of the missions, as a 
 
9(3 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 whole, can be known with sufficient accuracy for all practical pur- 
 
 "'it does not seem to have been the aim of the brethren to exert 
 any direct influence, either by their public or their private teachings, 
 upon the system of slavery. And they discovered, as they sup- 
 posed, a sutficient warrant for this course in the New Testament. 
 On looking to the example of the Savior and his Apostles, they 
 found what they conceived to be an infallible rule to guide them in 
 their labors. They found that nothing was said in direct condem- 
 nation of slavery as a system ; neither was its sinfulness denounced, 
 nor its continuance prohibited. But they did find that the mutual 
 obligations of masters and servants were repeatedly and freely dis- 
 cussed. "Here then," they seem to have argued, "is our course 
 marked out for us. We must give instruction on the relative duties 
 of the master and his slaves, just as the Bible has enjoined. As for 
 the rest, we must rely on the earnest and faithful preaching of 
 Christ and him crucified. With the blessing of God, and in his own 
 time, we hope to see a great change effected. We hope to see the 
 evils of slavery not only diminished, but actually and finally brouglit 
 to an end. But in no other way do we regard ourselves as com- 
 missioned to labor for the accomplisliment of this object." 
 
 " * And the same policy has generally prevailed to the present 
 time. There are individuals, perhaps, in both nations, who would 
 refuse their assent to the principles which have just been ascribed 
 to the missions in their early history. Others are well understood 
 by the people around them to be unfriendly to slavery ; and all, or 
 nearly all, may have expressed opinions in private adverse to the 
 system. But most of them uniformly avoid this topic in their pub- 
 lic ministrations ; and in their private intercourse with the Indians, 
 they generally deem it advisable to use great caution. Among the 
 Choctaws, however, there has been one example of a bolder policy ; 
 but excitement has been occasioned, and opposition lias been stirred 
 up ; and the brother who has felt constrained to adopt this course 
 thinks it may be necessary for him to leave the nation. 
 
 " ' 2. Instruction of Slaveholding Converts. 
 
 " ' Some of the earliest converts in both nations were tlie pro- 
 prietors of slaves. The question will naturally arise, " What in- 
 structions were given them by the missionaries ? " I do not find 
 that any distinction was made between this class of persons and 
 others. Probably the attention of these brethren was not particular- 
 ly called to the subject, any more than was that of the churches at 
 the North. Nor has there been any marked difference to the present 
 time. In some cases, the attention of the convert has been called to 
 the instructions of the New Testament, and he has been told what 
 he should do, as a Christian master, for his slaves ; but seldom has 
 the missionary gone further than this. 
 
 " ' 3. Admission of Slaveholders to the Church. 
 
 " ' A few owners of slaves were early received into Christian fel- 
 lowship. The only inquiry raised by the misisiouaries seems to 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 97 
 
 have been, ' Does the candidate giver reasonable evidence of his 
 being a new creature in Christ Jesus 1 ' They appear to have 
 required the shiveholder to furnish the same amount of evidence 
 that others furnished ; but they did not consider the mere fact of his 
 sustaining this relation a barrier to his admission to the Lord's 
 table. And this is their practice at the present time. 
 
 " * In defence of their policy in this respect, past and present, they 
 make their appeal, first of all, to the Bible, as showing tlie only con- 
 dition of church membership. This, they say, is evidence of a 
 change of heart ; and when such evidence is furnished, there is no 
 law for excluding the candidate from the privileges of Clirist's 
 house. They also say, that the adoption of a different rule in 
 regard to slaveholders would have been fatal to the prosperity of the 
 mission. And they are confident, should they now determine to 
 subject this portion of the community to a new test, that their use- 
 fulness Avould at once come to an end. 
 
 " ' In my intercourse with the different missionaries, I endeavored 
 to ascertain the exact number of slaveholders in each church, as 
 also the number of slaves. The first item I found it somewhat dif- 
 ficult to obtain, owing to the fact tliat the relation of husband and 
 wife among the Indians, in regard to property, is not governed by 
 the rules which prevail in the States. She may, and often does, 
 own slaves ; and sometimes, I am told, both own them jointly. In 
 the following table, both the husband and wife are reckoned as 
 slaveholders, in all doubtful cases. 
 
 " ' Cherokee Mission. I " ' Choctaw Mission'. 
 
 Cliurches. No. of mem. Slavc'Iders. SlvsJ Churches. Xo. of mem. Slave'ldcrs. Slvs, 
 
 Park Hill, 3G 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 Pine Ridge, 53 
 
 6* 
 
 25 
 
 Fairfield, 85 
 
 12 
 
 20 
 
 Wheelock, 238 
 
 7 
 
 17 
 
 Dwight, 50 
 
 5 
 
 
 M'tain Fork, 113 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 Mount Zion, 22 
 
 2 
 
 
 Good Water, 259 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 Uoucy Creek, 44 
 
 1* 
 
 
 Mt. Pleasant, 36 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 May hew, 36 
 
 1 
 
 
 237 
 
 24 
 
 23 
 
 Six Towns, 60 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 • Living permanently out of the nation. 
 
 Chickasaw, 77 
 
 8 
 
 33 
 
 
 
 
 872 
 
 * Four of thesfi are wh 
 
 38 
 
 ites. 
 
 104 
 
 " ' 4. Treatment of Slaveholders in the Church. 
 
 " ' The Committee will have anticipated the course which tn 
 mission have pursued in dealing with slaveholding church members 
 It has been the aim of our brethren to act, in the main, in acconlance 
 with the general theory already described. The relation of the 
 Cliristian master to his slaves, either as to its lawfulness or its con- 
 tinuance, they have not disturbed; and little has been said to him, 
 calling in question the fundamental principles of the system. But 
 the-^' have acknowk'dged their ol)ligation to secure, as far as in them 
 lies, his compliance witlx the injunctions of the New Testament 
 which are specifically addressed to those sustaining this relation. 
 
 " ' The views of the Cherokee mission, in regard to the discipline 
 
98 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 of slaveliolding church members, will appear from their letter of 
 March 21st, herewith submitted. Those of the Choctaw mission, 
 as 1 understand them, are substantially the same. I ought to say in 
 this place, liowever, that both missions appear to be satisfied that 
 there has been little or nothing in the conduct of this class of 
 persons, as it affects their slaves, which ought to subject them to 
 church censure. 
 
 " ' 5. Employment of Slave Labor. 
 
 " 'Both missions have encountered more or less difficulty, from 
 the first, in obtaining suitable aid in their domestic and larming 
 operations. The plans of the brethren, owing to the number of 
 boarding schools Avhich they have sustained, and the quantity of 
 land which they have cultivated, have demanded a large amount of 
 manual labor. At first, the Committee endeavored to meet this 
 demand by sending out laborers in the character of assistant 
 missionaries ; but the scheme was successful only in part. In these 
 circumstances, what was to be done ■? Should the missions employ 
 white laborers, residing among the Indians, or in the adjacent 
 States 1 But persons of this description, of suitable character and 
 qualifications, were seldom to be found. Should they call in the 
 aid of the Indians themselves ? Till Avithin the last few years, they 
 have been but poorly qualified, and but little disposed, to render the 
 needful cooperation ; and even now, most of the brethren among 
 the Choctaws deem it unsafe to rely on such assistance. To the 
 employment of males, moreover, at stations where there were 
 female boarding schools, there were objections of a different sort. 
 
 "■ ' In this state of things, it has seemed to many of our brethren 
 that the employment of slave labor, cither by hiring or by i^ur- 
 chase, Avas expedient, nay, inevitable ; but in the minds of others, 
 doubts and misgivings, as to one or both these modes, arose at an 
 eai'ly day. In November, 1825, the attention of the Committee was 
 called to the propriety of hiring slaves by some members of the 
 Choctaw mission, and it was then resolved, " that the Committee do 
 not see cause to prohibit this practice ; but, on the contrary, they 
 are of the opinion that it may be expedient, in some circumstances, 
 to employ persons Avho sustain this relation." It was understood, 
 however, that this hiring should always be with the free consent of 
 the slave. 
 
 " ' About the same time, those missionaries among the Choctaws 
 who had conscientious scruples in regard to the hiring of slaves, 
 proposed to buy them with their own consent, with the understand- 
 ing and agreement that they should be allowed to work out the pur- 
 chase money, and then be free. To this plan the Committee con- 
 sented, and in this way some ten or twelve subsequently gained 
 their liberty. The same plan was adopted by the Cherokee mission, 
 and with similar results ; but I am not able to say how many slaves, 
 with the assistance thus afforded them, effected their emancipation. 
 
 " ' ( )n the 2od of Feb., 1836, the Committee reviewed the last 
 mentioned decision, and came to the conclusion, as " the Board or 
 Its missionaries had been regarded by some of the friends of missions 
 as holding slaves/' " in consequence of these transactions," to in- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 99 
 
 struct the missionaries among the south-western Indians, " to enter 
 into no more such contracts," and to relinquish all claim to the ser- 
 vices of any one with wliom there had been a previous agreement 
 of the kind. In the following month, (]March 12,) the Committee 
 reconsidered the propriety of permitting the missionaries to hire 
 slaves ; and they decided that it was expedient for them " to dis- 
 pense altogether with slave labor," and it was resolved that they be 
 instructed accordingly. In July following, in consequence of a let- 
 ter from several members of the Dwight station, athrming that they 
 could not perform the secular labors of the mission Avithout the 
 assistance of hired slaves, the Conmiittee instructed the Secretary 
 for the Indian department to inform those brethren, that the resolu- 
 tion of jNIarch 12 was adopted in the belief that tlie brethren could 
 dispense with slave labor ; but that if it were otherwise, the matter 
 was left to their Christion discretion. I do not find that au}^ action 
 has since been taken by the Committee, either in respect to the buy- 
 ing or hiring of slaves. 
 
 " ' AA^hen I was at Dwight, I found one slave laboring upon the 
 farm connected with that station, hired at his own urgent request, 
 but without any absolute necessity for his employment. No other 
 slave is in the service of the Cherokee mission. And I am happy 
 to say, that probably no embarrassment will arise to the Board from 
 this mission, on account of any such question, in future. All the 
 members of the mission are opposed to the hiring of slaves, with 
 one exception, unless in extreme cases ; and the excepted indi- 
 vidual will conform to the wishes of his brethren and the Commit- 
 tee. And these brethren are also unanimous in the opinion, that 
 slaves ought not to be purchased by tliera, even with a view to 
 their prospective emanci])ation. 
 
 " ' In the Choctaw mission, however, this question is one of a 
 much more serious character. Since the arrangement which was 
 made with the Choctaw government, in 184;>, in relation to the four 
 female boarding scliools, the amount of secular labor at Pine 
 Ridge, Good Water, Wheelock, and Stockbridge, has very greatly 
 increased. The boys' boarding school at Norwalk has had the same 
 effect at that station. The brethren at these stations have seen no 
 way of meeting the wants of the mission, in this respect, but by 
 hiring slaves. Accordingly, at the time of my visit, they had ten 
 laborers of this description, male and female, in their employment. 
 And they give us no reason to hope for any material change in 
 future. 
 
 " • I did not learn that any slaves had been purchased by the 
 mission, with the funds of the Board, since the vote of Peb. 23, 
 18o6. Individuals have made such purchases on their own responsi- 
 biUty and with their own funds ; and one of the brethren, and only 
 one, now sustains the legal relation of master to two slaves, one of 
 Avhoni has earned her price by laboring in his employment, the 
 other (\\iiV husband) having furnished the sum at which he was 
 valued at the time of the sale. This legal interest in these two 
 persons is understood, by them and hy others, to be solely for their 
 protection and benefit. Tliey receive wages as if they were free, 
 and they know that they can be free at any moment, by their own 
 
 LofC. 
 
100 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Yolition, Provision has also been made for tlie contingency of the 
 missionary's death. But the mission expressed the opinion, during- 
 my interviews with them, that it was not expedient for them, either 
 as a mission or as individuals, to purchase any more slaves, even 
 with a view to their future emancipation. 
 
 "'conclusio:n^. 
 
 " ' I have now presented to the Committee, as briefly as seemed 
 desirable, a general view of the i-elations of our brethren among the 
 Cherokees and Choctaws to the system of slavery in tlioso two 
 nations. I have not felt called upon to express any opinion in 
 regard to the various questions which naturally grow out of this 
 subject; but I have preferred rather, and have endeavored accord- 
 ingly, to submit the facts just as they would appear to an impartial 
 observer, having no theory of his own to support, and having no 
 wish to make out a case for or against the missions. Upon many of 
 the points, however, w^hich will claim the attention of the Connnit- 
 tee, I have opinions ; and I shall hold myself in readiness to state 
 them, with all frankness, whenever they shall be required. 
 
 "And I may be allowed to say, that I have had more or less dis- 
 cussion with the missionaries themselves, in respect to their policy, 
 and have freely pointed out certain differences betM'een their senti- 
 ments and my OAvn. I would hope, however, that this has been 
 done in the spirit of Christian charity, and that we parted with 
 feelings of mutual attachment and esteem, deepened only by the 
 trials through which we together passed. In the integrity and 
 faithfulness of these servants of Christ, I have entire conhdence ; 
 and whatever errors they may have committed in their difficult 
 position, the Master has evidently been with them and blessed 
 them. 
 
 " ' All Avhich is respectfully submitted. 
 
 " ' S. B. Trkat. 
 
 " ' yiissionarij House, June Ibth, 1848.' 
 
 " The letter of the Cherokee mission, already referred to, is 
 here subjoined. 
 
 " ' Dw^iGirr, March 21, 1848. 
 
 i( ( 
 
 Rev. S. B. Tee 
 
 VT 
 
 "'Dear Sir: — Our conference with you when at this place, 
 respecting the attitude in Avhich we stand in relation to slavery, led 
 to a conviction of the propriety and expediency of expressing to 
 you in writing, and through you to the Prudential Committee, some 
 of our united views in relation to that difficult and delicate subject. 
 We are aware that we stand between two fires ; in danger of dis- 
 pleasing, by what we may write, on the one hand, the people for 
 whose good we labor, and on whose esteem and confidence our suc- 
 cess must depend, and, on the other, the Christian community by 
 whom we are sustained in our work. We do not say, in danger of 
 displeasing the one or the other, but both at the sanie time, for op- 
 posite reasons. But we must ask the candor of all, and endeavor, 
 frankly and kindly and meekly, to tell the truth. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 101 
 
 " ' I. The first part of the subject before us relates to the holding 
 or ejuployment of slaves hy missionaries. On this we remark : — 
 
 "'1. That no slave has ever been purchased by any missionary 
 of the Board in this nation, except Avith a view to emancipation ; 
 none who has not actually been emancipated ; consequently, that 
 none of us now holds a slave on any terms whatever. And no ap- 
 prehension need be entertained that any slave will be held by any 
 member of the mission hereafter. 
 
 " ' 2. On the subject of the hiring of slaves from their masters, 
 we have to acknowledge a difference of opinion among ourselves. 
 Some of us suppose that when it is done with the free consent, and 
 especially at the earnest desire, of the slave himself, and when his 
 condition is improved by it, and his privileges increased, and he is 
 brought into the way of religious instruction, and so, perhaps, of 
 salvation, to hire him is no violation of the law of love, but ratlier 
 an act of kindness. Others, while they admit, — as, indeed, we see 
 not hoAV any person can fail to admit, — that a kindness instead of 
 an injury is done to the individual slave, yet believe that the 
 practice tends to uphold and encourage the system of slavery, and 
 is, therefore, an evil to be avoided as far as i)Ossible. None of us, 
 however, whatever may be our individual opinions, have any inten- 
 tion of employing slaves, imless in such peculiar circumstances as, 
 from our conference witli you, we understand would constitute a 
 sutRcient justification in the view of the Prudential Committee 
 and of the Board. 
 
 " ' Thus far, therefore, we see no ground of difficulty betAveen 
 ourselves and the patrons of the Board. 
 
 " ' II. But Avhen we come to the question, how far it is right or 
 expedient for us to attempt to enforce our own views of Christian 
 duty by the discipline of the church, we must remark, (1.) That 
 our churches are Congregational churches, and are not subject to 
 our dictation, but govern themselves. (2.) That we ourselves are 
 bound by our OAvn consciences, and cannot submit to dictation as to 
 what we shall do, or attempt to do, in the discipline of the church. 
 Yet (3.) that we cheerfully acknowledge the right of the Board to 
 know the principles on which we act, and the course which wc 
 pursue ; and to withdraw from us their patronage, and support, 
 if those principles or that course render us unworthy to be sus- 
 tained. 
 
 " ' Premising, therefore, that in what further we have to say in 
 relation to the discipline of the churches, we mean to be understood 
 as speaking only of the influence which we ourselves should exert, 
 and not as having poAver to lord it over God's heritage, Ave proceed 
 to state more particularly our vicAvs in relation to several points to 
 which you, dear Sir, have directed our attention. 
 
 " ' 1. We mourn the existence of slavery, and long for the coming 
 of the day Avhen neither in our churches nor in the Avorld shall a 
 slaveholder or a slave be found. At the same time, we cannot 
 doubt that the course which many would urge us to pursue in rela- 
 tion to our churches Avould only tend to retard, and not to hasten, 
 the coming of that happy day. 
 
102 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " ' 2. Wo rc<?ard it .as essential to evidence of piety, that a man 
 profess and appear to adopt, as liis own practical gnide. the ruU" of 
 our blessed Savior, " Wiiatsoever ye would that men should do to 
 you. do ve even so to them." And we deem it our duty to inculcate 
 this rule of action on church members and candidates for church 
 fellowsliip, in relation to slaves and slavery, as well as to every other 
 subject. IJut we suppose it Avould be highly nnreasonable to ex- 
 pect that we should be able to brin,u- all true Christians to see^ 
 always as we see, in regard to what are the actual requirements of 
 the law of love ; or to demand of us that we reject such from our 
 communion, because they cannot see with our eyes, or with the 
 eyes of Northern Christians, brought up in so ditferent circum- 
 stances, and under so ditterent intiuences. 
 
 " o. It is a comparatively easy task to apply the discipline of tlie 
 church to evils which are cvpl/citli/ condenuietl in the word of (iod ; 
 but a far more diflticult and delicate task to ajiply it to such as are 
 only impliedhi condemned by the general law of love. 
 
 "'4. The laws of the Nation, sustaining the system of slavery, 
 prevailing jealousy of missionary inti-rterence with what is gene- 
 rally regarded as simply a political institution, and the views of 
 church members themselves, all are ditliculties in the way of any 
 church discipline which has a direct bearing on the subject of 
 slavery. 
 
 " '5. It is not always wise to attemi^t Avhat is manifestly imprac- 
 ticable to be accomplished, though in itself desirable. In our an- 
 swers to questions, we must have reference sometimes to what we 
 stqipose practicable to be done, rather than to Avhat we might be 
 ghul to do. 
 
 " ' G. In regard to the question of rejecting any person from the 
 church simpli/ because he is a slaveholder, we cannot for a moment 
 hesitate. For (1) we regard it as Ciiicu'ii that the Aj^ostles. who are 
 our patterns, did receive slaveholders to the conununion of the 
 church ; and we have not yet been able to perceive any such ditler- 
 cnce between their circumstances and ours, as to justify us in de- 
 parting from their practice in this respect. And (2) our general 
 rule is to receive all to our communion who give evidence that they 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; and we cannot doubt that 
 many slaveholders do give such evidence. 
 
 " ' 7. Nor can we even make it a test of piety, or a condition of 
 admission to the privileges of the church, that a candidate should 
 ex[)ress a determination not to live and die a slaveholder. For 
 while, on the one hand, a determination to hold on to the posses- 
 sion of slaves, from motives manifestly selfish, would indeed con- 
 stitute, in our minds, an evidence that the heart was not under the 
 intlueuce of the law of love ; yet, on the other hand, we cannot 
 doul)t the sincerity of mau}^ Christians, who, while they lament the 
 existence of slavery, are yet fully persuaded that the emancipation 
 of all their slaves, and suttering them to remain in the country, 
 would only be doing an injury to the slaves themselves, as well as 
 to the comumnity at large. And such, not seeing a near prospect 
 of a change of circumstances, can ordinarily have uo definite pur- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 103 
 
 pose of emancipating their slaves. The propriety of receiving such 
 persons to Christian communion depends not upon the correctness 
 of the opinion referred to. It is enough that the entertaining of 
 sucli an opinion is shown by clear examples to be compatible with 
 sincere piety ; for if this be so, it does not constitute a sufficient 
 ground of exclusion from the privileges of the church of Christ. 
 
 "'8. You asked, among other things, whether we would under- 
 take to discipline a church member for buying or selling slaves as 
 merchandise, for gain. 
 
 " 'Before giving a direct answer to this inquiry, we must remark 
 that there are two extremes in relation to the traffic in slaves. One 
 extreme is where a man purchases slaves for the mere purpose of 
 traffic, transporting them to where they command a higher price, 
 and there selling them again. Such a man, even in a slaveholding 
 community, is generally looked upon with abhorrence. And though 
 such may be tolerated in many churches, they are not generally 
 regarded as worthy of the name of Christian. Our churches have 
 never yet furnished such an example. We trust they never will. 
 
 " ' The other extreme is where a slave is purchased under an 
 agreement between himself and the purchaser, that he shall be set 
 free, so soon as the value of his labor shall equal the price of his 
 purchase. Of this we have examples. And this the members of 
 our churches would commend, as a praiscAvorthy deed. 
 
 " 'But take another case, Avhich, at least in its principal features, 
 is not uncommon. A slave is about to be sold to a slave-trader, but 
 has leave, if he can, to find a neighbor who will purchase him. He 
 applies to A., who replies, that he would gladly set him free, if he 
 had the means, but is not able ; and to hold him as a slave his prin- 
 ciples forbid. He cannot buy him. With tears and entreaties,, the 
 slave tells of a wife and children whom he loves, and from whom 
 he must be separated for ever ; but A. remains unmoved. He goes 
 to B., and receives the same answer. But by long pleading, with 
 crying and tears, B. is at length prevailed upon to make the pur- 
 chase. Now, however true it may be that a more expanded and 
 far-reaching view of the case would justify A. in his decision, yet 
 we suppose it would be hard to persuade that poor slave that A. 
 was not hard-hearted ; and that B. had not at least come nearer than 
 A. to the fulfilment of the law of love. Hard, we should probably 
 find it, to convince most of the members of our churches. 
 
 '"Between the two extremes of purchasing for the slave's sake, 
 and buying and selling Avith a total disregard of the interest of the 
 slave, there are many cases of mixed motive, where the buyer or 
 seller might alloAv that he had regard to his own interest ; but yet, 
 as he makes the condition of the slave no worse, but perhaps mueli 
 better, by the transfer, neither he, nor most of his brethren in the 
 church, could be led to see that he had been guilty of any violation 
 of the law of love. Occasional exchanges of masters are so insep- 
 arable from the existence of slavery, that the churches could not 
 consistently receive slaveholders to their communion at all, and at 
 the same time forbid all such exchanges. We regard it, therefore, 
 as impossible to exercise discipline for the buying or selling of 
 
204 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 slaves, except in flagrant cases of manifest disregard to the welfare 
 
 of the slave. , , , n t • i- i 
 
 " ' <J. A---aiu, you inquired whether we would discipline a member 
 who, by sale 'or purchase, should separate husband and wife, or 
 parents and children. -,,.,-, 
 
 " ' In relation to the separation of parents and children, we must 
 first remark, that it is one of those things which are not forbidden 
 by any express injunction of Scripture ; so that, where wrong exists, 
 it can be shown to be such only by exhibiting its inconsistency with 
 the general law of love. Very young children, we helieve, are sel- 
 dom separated from their mothers. In our churches, we do not 
 remember to have known an instance. In regard to older children, 
 many cases may arise, where neither the condition of the parent nor 
 that of the child will he rendered worse, but that of one of them 
 may be greatly improved by the proposed separation ; and where it 
 cannot be readily shown to be any more a violation of the law of 
 love, than any other transfer of a slave from one master to another. 
 It is impossible, in our circumstances, to make it a general rule 
 that the separation of parents and children, by sale or purchase, shall 
 be regarded as a disciplinable offence. 
 
 " ' The sepai'ation of husband and wife is a different case, being 
 a violation of the express injunction, " What God hath joined 
 together, let not man put asunder." The current of public senti- 
 ment, too, is against the parting of husband and wife, unless in cases 
 where the parties are knoAvn to be so unfaithful to each other as not 
 to deserve that appellation, or in cases of aggravated crime on the 
 part of the slave sold ; such, for example, as in New England would 
 separate a free man from his family by consigning him to a pro- 
 tracted residence in the penitentiary. With exceptions like these, 
 we should hope to be sustained by our churches in the exercise of 
 disciphne for the separation of husband and wife, if occasion should 
 require ; but we hope rather that no such occasion may ever arise. 
 
 "'10. Cruelty and injustice on the part of masters towards ser- 
 vants we should regard in substantially the same light with injuries 
 of parents to their children, of a mechanic to an indented apprentice, 
 or of an employer to a hired servant ; always, Avith the Apostle Paul, 
 enjoining upon servants to be obedient to their masters, and upon 
 masters to render unto their servants that which is just and equal; 
 and holding it as our duty, in cases of delinquency, to instruct, 
 exhort, rebuke, or tell it to the church, according to the circum- 
 stances and the measure of aggravation in each particular case. 
 
 " ' 11. In regard to the religious instruction of slaves, we inculcate 
 on all our members the duty of teaching the way of salvation to all 
 under their care and influence, and especially their cliildren and 
 servants. The covenants of our churches require it. That we per- 
 form our whole duty in this or any other respect, we dare not 
 claim. That we attain all we wish is far from the truth. How far 
 the neglect of this duty should be made a matter of discipline, we 
 suppose, must be left to the discretion of each pastor and each church. 
 And while we have to confess that Ave painfully Avitness sad deficien- 
 cies in members of our churches, in regard to the instruction of their 
 servants not only, but of their children also, for which we have not 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 105 
 
 attempted to procure the exercise of church discipline, we think we 
 may safely appeal to the pastors of churches in the most highly 
 favored portions of our country, Avhether they also do not feel the 
 same pain in regard to the same neglect, on the part of some of 
 their members, towards their children, apprentices and hired ser- 
 vants, and yet make no attempt to procure the exclusion of such, 
 delinquents from the privileges of the church. 
 
 " ' These, dear Sir, are our views ; this the position in which we 
 stand. And this statement we wish you to present to the Pruden- 
 tial Committee, and have no objection that it be published to the 
 world. AVhatever the consequence may be, we liave nothing to 
 conceal. 
 
 " ' We trust that we shall not, for this, be looked upon as advo- 
 cates of slavery. We are not so. We lament and deplore the 
 existence of such a system. Our feelings, our example, our influ- 
 ence, are against it. But to make the adoption of all our views 
 respecting it, and a corresponding course of .action, a test of piety 
 and a condition of fellowship in our churches, is wliat we cannot in 
 conscience do. Nor do we believe that our Northern brethren and 
 friends could desire it, if they could see, as we think we see, what 
 must be the inevitable result. 
 
 " ' And now, dear Sir, if on account of this the Committee or the 
 Board can no longer sustain us ; if they must withdraw from us their 
 support, as we are aware that a portion of the Christian community 
 would urge them to do, and, so far as they are concerned, leave the 
 Cherokee people without the preaching of the word of God, then 
 wherever the responsibility belongs, there let it rest. As to our- 
 selves, we must act according to the dictates of our consciences, and 
 be making known the Gospel to the Cherokee people while we may, 
 and only then cease, when it is no longer in our power to continue. 
 
 " ' But we pray the Committee to remember, that if the patronage 
 of the Board be withdrawn from us, it will not be for the violation, 
 on our part, of any condition on which we were sent into the field ; 
 but in consequence of new conditions, with which we cannot in con- 
 science comply. 
 
 "'Again, if support be Avithdrawn from us on account of views 
 which we have expressed in this communication, it will of necessity 
 be, so far as the Board is concerned, an entire withholding of the 
 word of God from the Cherokee jieople. For to recall us on this 
 ground, and send others who would pursue an opposite course, 
 would be manifestly preposterous and vain. Such an idea, we sup- 
 pose, the Board could not for a moment entertain. 
 
 " ' It is truly painful for us to think of a dissolution of our connec- 
 tion with the Board, which dwells always in our hearts, and whose 
 prosperity our thoughts always identify with the prosi)erity of the 
 Zion of our God, and of which each of us is ready to say, " If I for- 
 get thee, let my right hand forget her cunning ; if I do not remem- 
 ber thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." At the 
 same time, and for the same reason, we know not how to endure 
 the thought that our connection with the Board should be an incum- 
 brance, clogging its wheels, and diminishing its means of spreading 
 5 * 
 
206 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 the Gospel in the earth. But if our voice could reach that portion of 
 the Chri'^tian community -.vho disapprove our course, and would 
 have the Board require us to do otherwise, or withdraw Irom us 
 their patrona"e and support, we would respectfull}' ask whether they 
 are quite sk/I that the course, which they require us to pursue, 
 would do more to promote the object they desire than that which we 
 do pursue. We would humbly confess our liability to error. But 
 we would ask Avhether they are not liable to error too. AVe make 
 no pretensions to superior wisdom. Yet we suppose we may, con- 
 sistently Avith Christian modesty and humility, referto our superior 
 advanta<?es for observing the circumstances in which we and the 
 churches under our care are placed. They see very obscurely, in 
 the dimness of the distance, what wc see clearly, immediately be- 
 fore our eyes. It is impossible, we suppose, for them to appreciate 
 the difficiifties which lie in the way of such a course of church dis- 
 cipline as they would recommend ; impossible to appreciate the pal- 
 liations which frequently exist, in relation to many evils incidental 
 to the system of slavery ; impossible to see, at such a distance, the 
 complication of difficulties by which the whole subject of slavery is 
 embarrassed and perplexed. We have scarcely a doubt, that by far 
 the greatest part of those ministers of the Gospel who are ready to 
 censure or condemn our course would themselves, in the same cir- 
 cumstances, pursue the same course. 
 
 " * We would not claim a confidence to which we are not entitled ; 
 but we ask for candor. And if it should be found, on inquiry, as we 
 believe it would, that among all who, Avith principles opposed to 
 slavery, become pastors of churches in communities Avhere slavery 
 prevails, there are none, or next to none, who pursue a course ma- 
 terially ditfering from our own, we think that that single fact should 
 lead distant Christians at least to sus])crt that there may be better 
 reasons for it than they are able to perceive, but Avhich a closer and 
 clearer view of facts and circumstances and characters would enable 
 them to discover. And we would further ask Avhether, if we are 
 in other respects worthy of support, it is not at least better to con- 
 tinue our care of the churches, than to leave them either as sheep 
 without a shepherd, or to the care of men whose influence would 
 tend still less than ours to hasten the day, to Avhich Ave all rejoice to 
 look forward, when every bond shall be broken, and every slave go 
 free. 
 
 " ' We liaA^e endeavored distinctly, though briefly, to make knoAvn 
 our A'icAvs. We earnestly hope that Avhat Ave have AA^-itten, instead 
 of leading to any protracted discussion, Avail rather be taken as a 
 final exposition of our sentiments, a defining of our position. Not 
 that we are immutable, or dare pledge ourselves to see ahvays 
 exactly as Ave noAv see ; but at present, certainly, we can perceive 
 no reason to change our course. So Ave do ; and in so doing, Ave 
 must stand or fall. 
 
 " ' In behalf of the brethren of the Cherokee mission, 
 
 " ' Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 "'Elizur Bdtlek, Moderator. 
 " ' S. A. Worcester, Clerk.' 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVEUY. 107 
 
 " The Choctaw mission sent the following letter to the Pru- 
 dential Committee, as expressing their views : — 
 
 "'XouwALK, Choctaw Nation, Marcli 31, 1848. 
 " ' jTo the Prudential Committee of' the A. B. C. F. M., Missionary 
 House, Boston: 
 
 " 'Dear Bkethren and Fathers : — The letter which was pre- 
 pared and written you by us, wliile our highly esteemed counsellor 
 and friend, ^Nlr. Treat, one of the Secretaries of the Board, was 
 with us, was not forwarded, as was expected when he left us. It 
 was soon ascertained that it did not satisfactorily express the views 
 and wishes of all the members of the mission. It was accordingly 
 retained. It was written in circumstances that required more haste, 
 and admitted of less mutual consultation, than was desirable, consid- 
 ering the imjjortance of the subject. There was something wanting 
 to produce in our own hearts the conviction, that it contained a full 
 and faithful expression of the sentiments of the mission. And for 
 the same reason, it was not adapted to convey to your minds the 
 right impression. JNIore time was needed to examine and discuss so 
 great a subject. The letter was retained, that it miglit be laid once 
 more before the members of the mission, who would assemble at 
 the meeting of the Indian Presbytery, on the last Thursday of 
 March, at Xorwalk. 
 
 " ' The letter having been read and considered, the mission are 
 not willin<? to have it forwarded according to its form when Mr. 
 Treat left us. We now wish to submit to the consideration of the 
 Committee the following statements and remarks. 
 
 " ' i'irst, respecting our neutrality. 
 
 " ' Por many years, it has been deemed by us important to our 
 usefulness in our own sphere of labor, not to agitate our own minds, 
 nor those of our people, Avith any of the great and exciting topics 
 of the day, in church or state, such as cause debate and division, 
 and the ranging of men into parties against each other. We had 
 our principles once tried in tins respect, when the Presbyterian 
 Church was divided into two schools. The subject was once intro- 
 duced into our Presbytery, for action thereon. A few words Avere 
 spoken, enough to show that division might be near us. We then 
 resolved to remain neutral. AVe deemed it of vital importance 
 among our people to act as a band of brothers, and not have them 
 suppose that Christ is divided. We endeavored to attend to our 
 own Avork, and Ave Avere prospered in it. Since then, about one 
 liundred persons yearly have been added to our churches. 
 
 " ' In regard to one feature of the subject of slavery, Ave feel that 
 our principles in favor of neutrality are also to be tried. We haA-e 
 been aAvare of the approach of this subject. And Ave thought our 
 situation Avas described by the prophet Isaiah, Aviien he said, " Their 
 strength is to sit still." We have endeavored as a mission to keep 
 aloof from tlie abolition movement, from some of the same reasons 
 that forbade us to join our oavu Pi-esbyterian brethren in either of 
 tlieir schools, so long as it Avould endanger our oavu unity. 
 
 " ' And Ave Avish you, and all our friends here and elsewhere, to be 
 assured that Ave feel much more pleasure and satisiaction in the hope 
 
108 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 of doins? masters and servants good, by preaching the Lord Jesus 
 directly to them, than we can in explaining and enforcmg the prom- 
 inent principles of equal rights, merely as such ; especially so far as 
 they im[)ly that they contain something of importance, which has 
 become so only within a few years. We feel that the Bible contains 
 all that we have need to know or teach. And we prefer to use the 
 plain language of the Bible, just as it is, upon the subject of slavery, 
 to any other^code of principles or plans of operation. AVe have had 
 trials on the subject of slavery ever since we came here. But we 
 have endeavored to bear with each other and our fellow-Christians. 
 And we have, until recently, succeeded as a mission in maintaining 
 neutrality. You are aware that there is now, upon this subject, a 
 division among us. And we do not wish for its growth. In our neu- 
 trality, we supposed that we had enjoyed your approbation. For we 
 have'noticed that at the annual meetings of the Board, Avhen memo- 
 rials have been presented on the subject of slavery, it was apparent- 
 ly with reluctance that they were considered, because they did not 
 pertain to the great object of the organization of the Board. And 
 yet we are now so involved in the matter that we can be silent no 
 longer. 
 
 " ' We wish to touch briefly on the history of our connection witli 
 slavery. AYe have been and are concerned with it in two ways ; by 
 employing slaves as laborers, and by admitting them and their mas- 
 ters to the church, as we do other persons who give evidence of per- 
 sonal piety. We are not slaveholders, nor have we been, save for the 
 single purpose of emancipation, while laboring in our families. 
 
 " ' In the year 1818, at the commencement of this mission, African 
 slavery was in existence in this nation. The early missionaries 
 were called to make it a subject of inquiry and prayer. There was 
 no avoiding all contact with it. The large boarding-school establish- 
 ments, and other multiplied and constant labors, in a hot and sickly 
 climate, then as well as now, made the employment of considerable 
 slave labor indispensable. For the plain reason, that the man who 
 devotes his time and energies to the welfare of others, must himself 
 have help in the performance of all such labors as he is not able to 
 perform. Our brethren not having received instructions from the 
 Prudential Committee, adopted that course which they deemed 
 proper, and not inconsistent Avitli the Bible. 
 
 "'In the spring of 1821, when we were favored with our first 
 visit from Mr. Evarts, of blessed memory, the matter of employing 
 slave labor underwent an examination. Written views against such 
 labor were laid before the Secretary. His own were clearly ex- 
 pressed at a large meeting of missionaries. The early course of the 
 mission was continued with his approbation. And we are not aware 
 that his views upon the points submitted to him were afterwards 
 changed. 
 
 " ' We need not here spread out before you in detail the corre- 
 spondence and resolutions of the Prudential Committee in regard to 
 the purchasing of slaves, with a reference to their working out their 
 own redemption. We trust you have noticed in us an ordinary wil- 
 Imgness, at least, to comply with your instructions. Yet we have 
 been pamfully tried at tho nooossitv of employing this kind of help. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 109 
 
 We did once hope that assistant missionaries could be found, and 
 sent out in sufficient numbers, to avoid this difficulty. In this we 
 have been disappointed. We have made expensive efforts to liire 
 free people, and again have we failed. In our situation, we need 
 help that can be relied on. And thus it will be while we remain 
 here as missionaries. Good free help for us, in our situation, is very 
 rare in this land. 
 
 " ' We have felt it to be a peculiar privilege in a matter of so 
 much importance to communicate freely with the Prudential Com- 
 mittee, and to receive their instructions. Of late years, the subject 
 of slavery has awakened a deep and growing interest in the minds 
 of a large number of our best friends and patrons in our father land. 
 Such an interest had not manifested itself when the older members 
 of this mission were sent forth from New England to their work. 
 The various measures adopted within a few years to present the 
 slavery question, as connected with us, to the American Board at sev- 
 eral of its annual meetings, we have not failed to notice. And we 
 read with peculiar interest and satisfaction the proceedings of the 
 Board, especially the great and good result to which, in the autumn 
 of 1815, that venerable body of men arrived, when assembled at 
 Brooklyn. We thouglit it was not in our power to express, in so 
 clear a manner, our own leading principles on that whole subject, as 
 were then given to the world. We thought that we occupied 
 gronnd in comnion with our brethren and fathers. And some of us 
 promised ourselves a time of rest, and of going forward in our work, 
 without any further agitation, or necessity of having the slavery 
 question introduced at our ecclesiastical and missionary meetings, as 
 well as at the annual meetings of the Board. But the public mind 
 did not find rest. Many publications indicated this. Letters also 
 from the Missionary House have been of a kind since to awaken in 
 us an apprehension, that we were not proceeding altogether right. 
 
 "'Public conventions held since 1815 in Ohio and Illinois, espe- 
 cially in Cliicago last summer, have expressed formal opinions wliich 
 strongly indicate that all was not right among us. And Ave speak it 
 with pain, we have strong reasons to fear, in reference to this one 
 subject in our missionary labors, that full and fraternal confidence 
 has not been exercised toward us by some who are the benefactors 
 of the mission. And that we may regain and share their confidence, 
 and sustain the character of good missionaries in their estimation, 
 we apprehend that something more than Ave ha\^e CA'er done is noAV 
 called for, something that is in advance of all that has been purposed 
 and eflected by us, which shall be positive and tangible, and Avhich 
 shall go directly to check a pro-slavery spirit, and to bring the sys- 
 tem itself to an end. The above historical sketch shoAVs also our 
 position. 
 
 " ' For the first tAventy-five years of the mission, our course Avas 
 generally in accordance with the vicAvs of the Prudential Commit- 
 tee. Since that time, it has appeared, in some respects, to be other- 
 wise. 
 
 " ' It may be proper to state some of our own views, that neither 
 ourselves nor the Board be spoken of as " the propagators of a 
 slaveholding Christianity." And yet it Avill be difficult to present 
 
110 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 riglitly all the considerations Avhich have had an influence in the 
 formation of our opinions, during the long period of our stay here, 
 upon the subject of slavery. 
 
 " ' When we came here, the question with us had ceased to be a 
 speculative one. It was a practiced one. Kecessity was laiil upon us 
 to learn the divine mode of treating it. For slavery was among the 
 ChoctaAvs. It was not our work to inquire for its author, or into its 
 history, but for our duties in regard to it. We thought that we necH.1 
 not grope our way in the dark, and that the Lord had given .his 
 church a revelation of his Avill. We are clearly of this impression 
 now. The wrongs and evils of the system, in all their bearings and 
 influences, are known to him. He alone can devise rules to remedy 
 them all. We judge that he did take this subject under his own 
 guidance, and has given his Church a knowledge of his will. Plain 
 instructions are given to masters and servants, and to their teachers. 
 
 '"Under the application and influence of these instructions, Ave 
 are to look for those results, whatever they may be, which will be 
 most pleasing to God, in their nature, time, and manner and mea- 
 sure. It is our peculiar and appropriate work, as ministers of the 
 Lord Jesus, to communicate the truths God has given, and as he 
 gave them, hoping in tliis way to bring about that state of things 
 which he holds dearer than all others. And it becomes us to go for- 
 ward in the exercise of a full and living faith in these counsels of 
 the Lord, and to trust the work and the issue in his hands. To man 
 it might seem wise to take hold of the work, in some respects, in 
 some other way. But we must remember that we are not to bo 
 wise above what is written ; that "the word of God is quick and. 
 powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." He says by the 
 mouth of the prophet, " It shall not return unto me void, but it shall 
 accomplish that which I please." The Apostle Paul also says, 
 " For the weapons of our warfare are not earned, but mighty 
 through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down 
 imaginations and every thing that exalteth itself against the knowl- 
 edge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obe- 
 dience of Christ." Here is the ground of our confident hope of 
 doing any good to masters and servants ; and yet, who is sufficient 
 for these things ? And, oli ! that we could add, " Xow thanks be 
 unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh 
 manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place" ! We 
 have much reason to be grateful that several masters have given 
 evidence of piety, and were received into the church, because the 
 Apostles have set us plain examples. More than two hundred of 
 their servants, we have been allowed, at different times, to feed as 
 members of the Savior's flock in these woods. These are some of 
 our views of what we think we ought to do, and which we hope 
 w^ill also be pleasing to God, if performed as he directs. 
 
 " ' There are some things connected with slavery as a civil institu- 
 tion, with which we have not yet considered it our duty to meddle. 
 
 "'As a civil relation, it exists by virtue of the constitution and 
 laws of the land. We are taught in the Bible our duties as citizens. 
 It inay be deemed our duty by some to adopt a train of measures 
 which shall aim in their object directly to countervail the whole sys- 
 
IN KKLATION TO SLAVERY. 1 1 1 
 
 tem, and in the end undermine the entire fabric which human legisla- 
 tion has framed in regard to slavery. "VVe do not feel that we are 
 required to adopt such a course. Nor do we regard this as our work. 
 AVe are not citizens of the nation. We are missionaries, residing 
 here hy the permission of our national Government, and we can be 
 removed at their pleasure. We are, in a civil res^Hjct, foreif/ners and 
 tenants at v)lll under the officers of our Government. The civil 
 interests of this people are not committed to us. Other interests 
 are, and such as are of more value than all civil and political inter- 
 ests combined. The Savior and his Apostles have not left any re- 
 corded example of their devoting themselves to the reformation of 
 systematic civil wrongs, although many such existed where they 
 lived and labored. Their practice and instructions liave weight 
 with us. Other members of the Church may be raised up to ac- 
 complish good to their country as legislators, rulers, and reformers. 
 
 " ' We would remark that, in our opinion, this is not the most eli- 
 gible part of the United States for attempting, at this time, a change 
 in the civil relations of masters and servants. If all the region, far 
 and near, and on every side, were another New England in its 
 glory, then another sun would shed down light. But it is far other- 
 wise. 
 
 " ' There is another remark which should be made. This nation, 
 in its improvements, scliools, churches, and public spirit pertaining 
 to the great cause of benevolence, is but an infant. This must be 
 remembered by us all, especially if we would try to manage their 
 civil matters. Thirty years here cannot be equal, in their religious 
 influence on slavery, to two hundred years in the Carolinas. The 
 past experience of missionaries among the Indian tribes, who have 
 meddled much with the civil and political concerns of their red 
 brethren, has not been encouraging, either in its influejice on their 
 own minds or those of the people. Such a course may lead to the 
 formation of worldly, instead of heavenly attachments ; or, on the 
 other hand, worldly and wicked animosities and jealousies may 
 arise, 
 
 " ' Besides, the good results to individuals of a temporal nature 
 which we might look for, if successful, when we have done our 
 utmost, appear to be of minor value, and of a doubtful tenure, when 
 compared with those of a spiritual kind, offered in the Gospel, and 
 which we are bound to promote at all times. Shall we not then 
 attend to this great work, which was made ours by the Head of the 
 Church ? 
 
 " ' We feel safe because we are sure that we are right, when we 
 can make the Apostles our guide and example. They were often 
 in a situation so nearly akin to ours, in this very respect, that all 
 human wisdom would have failed them. They needed the aid of 
 inspiration, which they received, and under its influence they wrote 
 as they did for the common benefit of others, wherever slavery 
 might prevail. Their instructions and examples we feel bound to 
 regard. 
 
 " ' We should be careful how we risk the spiritual interests com- 
 mitted to us, by attempting to manage worldly ones, which are not 
 given us by the Savior. 
 
112 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " ' These are some of our views and thoughts whieh we wished to 
 submit to your consideration. The inquiry may now be made, 
 Wherein do we, as a mission, differ from our Patrons and Coun- 
 sellors ? We apprehend that the ditierence may rehite chielly to 
 slavery as a civil institution. But whether it be so or not, we sup- 
 pose that a difference does somewhere exist ; and yet it^ has been 
 formed honestly, and with the exercise of a good conscience. It 
 seems to us to"^be an instance of an honest and real difference of 
 opinion, among men who have a common and a good object in 
 view ; men, too, Avho love the kingdom of the Savior more than 
 any earthly object, and who retain full confidence in each other's 
 motives, piety and religious faith, and who are united in their 
 views of the greatness and extent of the evils of slavery and the 
 desirableness of having them all done away. But they do not 
 agree as to the mode of operation in all respects. 
 
 " ' The question which now arises is, Avhether this difference of 
 sentiment is of that kind and nature which calls for mutual for- 
 bearance, patience, study of the Bible and prayer, or for something 
 else ? It appears to us very desirable, if practicable, to continue our 
 labors as heretofore, and rely on God for his continued blessing. This 
 is not the first instance in which the people of God have found them- 
 selves thus situated, and especially those who dwell amidst slavery, 
 as thousands of them do this day, and may for ages to come. As 
 slavery with various modifications has, for a long time, had an 
 existence in the Church of God, it is proper for us to inquire how 
 the servants of the Lord in " old time " were taught by him, as 
 well as how they conducted in regard to it. May it not be agreeable 
 to the Head of the Church that his people labor for him in the 
 exercise of mutual forbearance and love, while proclaiming stead- 
 fastly his own word and his rules for all our relative and social 
 duties, trusting in God for the safe and best result 1 
 
 " ' There are interests here dear to us as life itself, and there are 
 responsibilities of great weight. Many of them are connected with 
 the subject matter of this communication, which reach far beyond 
 ourselves and our families, and the i^resent generation of Choctaws 
 and their friends. AVe feel them keenly, whenever our thoughts 
 turn upon the churches and schools God has gathered in this land 
 through our feeble instrumentality. These interests we have not 
 the power to sustain, nor the wisdom to guide. Nor can we under- 
 stand every thing connected with this subject, and especially those 
 whidi are at a distance, and which press with most weight on the 
 Prudential Committee. We cannot know and feel them as you do. 
 And we entreat you, if you find that we do not sufiiciently identify 
 ourselves with your iilans, views and counsels, not to think it 
 strange, or as indicating a loss of confidence, or a rebellious temper. 
 It is a long and weary time, and one too of many clianges, during 
 which we have been absent. We have been often told that a great 
 change has taken place at the North, and that we have not kept 
 pace with this change. It may be that we have not ; yet, when- 
 ever we lay our hands on our hearts, we feel the pulsations of 
 brotherhood as strong as ever. 
 
 " ' This people is a dependent one. Our mission is still so. We 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 113 
 
 have made but a promising commencement in our work. Help, in 
 missionaries, teachers and supplies, will he needed for years to 
 come, to continue what is already commenced, as well as to occupy 
 new portions of our field. The Lord's liand is to be acknowledged 
 with humility and reverence in all our ways. He may wish to effect 
 some great change. But will he not go before us in a pillar of 
 cloud by day, and of fire by night ? Maj' we not look for some 
 plain indication of his will, before we determine upon a change that 
 shall greatly affect this mission 1 If it should be his blessed will 
 that we cast all our cares on him, cease all our anxieties, and 
 engage and continue with still more love and zeal and Avith greater 
 success in our labors, we shall greatly rejoice. And if he will so 
 order the events of his providence, that we shall never fail here- 
 after to Avelcome, as formerly, new fellow-laborers from the North ; 
 and so that the streams of charity which have flowed so long and 
 with such rich blessings from that good land, shall never dry up ; 
 and so that the name of the mission, as well as our own names and 
 those of our sisters here, shall not be stricken from the list where 
 they have long stood with those of other dear brethren and sisters 
 gone to other heathen lands, and with the Fathers and Brethren of 
 the Board, who meet in council yearly for our good and the Avorld's 
 salvation, then our joy Avill be full. We need not write more. 
 
 ".'After reviewing what we have written upon the several 
 topics, viz : neutralitij, our position, history of slave labor, scriptural 
 instruction, civil relation, differences in sentiment, and future course, and 
 after calling to mind our prayers and labors, our obligations to the 
 Savior, our relations to 3'ou and to this people, we wish, so far as 
 practicable, to lay the whole over upon your arms, and we do refer 
 the great question, as to what must be done, to you, with entire 
 confidence in your wisdom, the uprightness of your purpose, and 
 your wish to act in the matter as will, in your judgment, best secure 
 the great and important interests at stake. 
 
 " ' And that wisdom from the great Head of the Chtirch may ever 
 guide you and the exectitive officers of the Board, will be the 
 prayer of your brethren in our glorious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 
 C. Kingsbury, C. C. Copelaxd, 
 
 Alfred Wright, David Breed, Jr., 
 
 Cyrus Byixgtox, H. K. Copelaxd, 
 
 E. HoTCiiKix, D. H. WixsHip. 
 
 " ' I Avould cheerfully unite with my brethren in the last para- 
 graph, in referring what is to be done to the wisdom of the Bru- 
 dential Committee. 
 
 J. C. Strong.' 
 
 " To this communication, the following answer was made, by 
 the direction of the Prudential Committee : — 
 
 "'Missionary House, Boston, June 22, 1848. 
 " ' To the Members of the Choctaw Mission : 
 
 " * Dear Brethren : — Your letter of March 31 was received on the 
 5tli of May. It was my wish to lay it before the Prudential Com- 
 
114 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 mitteo, tofretlier with my own report on the relations of the Chero- 
 kee and Choctaw missions to the subject of slavery, at the earliest 
 opportunity ; but my ordinary duties have been so urgent, since I 
 returned from the Indian country, and my liealth has been so poor, 
 that I could not complete the necessary preparation till within the 
 past four or five days. At our last Committee meeting, however, 
 held on the 20th instant, the matter was taken into consideration ; 
 and I now sit down to give you the result. 
 
 " ' Your kind expressions of attachment and confidence we most 
 cordially and fully reciprocate. AVe love the Choctaw mission. 
 Towards the older^members, especially, those who have toiled faith- 
 fully and successfully for twenty -five or thirty years,_ we entertain 
 feelings such as few missionaries even have awakened in our hearts. 
 It has given me the highest pleasure, as a humble individual, to 
 bear testimony to the integrity and devotedness with which you 
 have labored, and the signal success with which God has crowned 
 your eiforts ; and while life lasts, I shall cherish the remembrance 
 of my brief sojourn among you. 
 
 " ' But none will be more ready than yourselves to admit that 
 errors of judgment may have occurred in the history of your mis- 
 sion. And in regard to the particular subject discussed in your 
 letter, you will concede, we doubt not, a peculiar liability to such 
 errors. Your circumstances have been difficult and embarrassing 
 from the first ; and it was not to be expected that you should avoid 
 mistakes in every instance. You will not be surprised, therefore, 
 when we say (what, indeed, you seem to anticipate) that there are 
 principles involved in your mode of procedure from which we are 
 constrained to dissent. With that frankness which belongs to the 
 relation we sustain to you, and in a spirit which we hope our 
 gracious Master will not disapprove, we present our own views ; 
 from which you will be able to infer the nature and extent of the 
 difference between us. We take this course, without particularly 
 noticing all the points in your letter, because in so doing we hope to 
 exhibit our sentiments in a more orderly and intelligible manner. 
 
 " 'But here let us guard your minds against a possible misappre- 
 hension of our principles. 
 
 " ' 1. We do not claim any direct control over the churches which 
 you have gathered ; nor shall we ever approach them with the lan- 
 guage of authority or dictation. Most happy are we to acknowledge 
 them as churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can suppose a 
 case, indeed, in which we should feel it our duty to address them as 
 brethren, beloved in the Lord, calling to our aid whatever power 
 there is in argument, or appeal, or expostulation, as circumstances 
 might demand. And we can suppose still another case, in which 
 we might be constrained, by the sacredness of the trust committed 
 to us, to withhold that pecuniary aid it has given us, in past years, 
 so much pleasure to afford. But in all this we should recognize 
 them as having all the privileges and immunities which appertain 
 to any body of Christians in any part of the world. 
 
 " ' 2. We do not wish you, either individually or collectively, to 
 bring any influence to bear upon those churches, or the community 
 in which you dwell, except such as belongs to the ministerial office. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 115 
 
 Your churches, as well as yourselves, beiug in connection witli the 
 General Assembly of the Pi'esbyterian church, (meeting annually,) 
 we expect you to chiim only those prerogatives which are conceded 
 to i)astors under the jurisdiction of that body, so far as they are 
 suited to your circumstances. The rights of your sessions and your 
 churches must be duly regarded ; for no apparent good can compen- 
 sate for the injury done to a fundamental principle. You may argue 
 with these brethren whom you have begotten in the Gospel, making 
 your ai)peal to reason and to Scripture ; but when you have ex- 
 hausted your powers of persuasion, they must be left to act accord- 
 ing to their own views of duty, being answerable only to the higher 
 judicatories of your churcli, and to their Lord and IVIaster. In what 
 circumstances, and for wliat reasons, you may be allowed or re- 
 quired to withdraw from them, is a question which we have no 
 occasion to consider at the present time. 
 
 " * 3. We do not design to infringe in the least, by what we shall 
 say in this letter, upon ijour rights as ministers of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. From him, primaril}'^ and mainly, you hold your commis- 
 sion ; to him, primarily and mainly, you are responsible for the 
 manner in which you discharge the duties of your office. AYe speak 
 to you as brethren, engaged in a common work, under the eye of 
 a common Master. Upon one point, which will come up in this 
 discussion, we might address you in the language of authority ; but 
 even in regard to this question, as well as others, we choose to 
 approach you with suggestions and arguments. AYe ask you to 
 give them, as we doubt not you will, a candid and prayerful consid- 
 eration. Perhaps we shall yet see eye to eye. And if this may 
 not be, we will then raise the inquiry, "What further shall be 
 done ? " 
 
 " 'Before proceeding to speak of the course which it is proper for 
 missionaries to follow in a slaveholding community, it will be expe- 
 dient to advert, for a moment, to the character of the system which 
 has given rise to this discussion. And here, we i)resume, your 
 views are in substantial accordance with our own. In your letter, 
 indeed, you refer to the report adopted by the Board at its meeting 
 in Brooklyn (1845) in terms of decided approbation. "We thought 
 it was not in our power," you say, " to express in so clear a man- 
 ner our own leading princi])les on that whole subject." But that 
 document speaks of "the wickedness of the system" of slavery, 
 " the unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole system 
 is based, and the violation of the natural rights of man, the debase- 
 ment, wickedness and misery it involves, and whicli are in fact wit- 
 nessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists ; " and it 
 quotes with approval the following declaration of one whom we all 
 love and honor : " Yiewed in all its bearings, it is a tremendous 
 evil ; its destructive influence is seen on the morals of the master 
 and the slave ; it sweeps away those barriers which every civilized 
 community has erected to protect the purity and chastity of the 
 family relation." Thus far, then, we are perfectly agreed. Domes- 
 tic slavery is at war with the rights of man, and opposed to the 
 principles of the Gospel. 
 
 " ' But you will say, perhaps, that a distinction should be made 
 
110 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 between the system itself and the persons implicated therein, be- 
 tween slavery and slaveholding. We acknowledge the justice of 
 this distinction ; and, because ot its importance in this discussion, 
 ■we will briefly state our view^s in relation to it. 
 
 "'A system of slavery, like that which we are now considering, 
 we believe to be always and every where sinful; but we do not be- 
 lieve that every act 'of slaveliolding is sinful. A person may come 
 into this relation, and may continue in it for a time, involuntarily. 
 He may Avish to put an end to it, and may actually put an end to it, 
 as soon as he can. Such an one incurs no guilt Miiatever. His 
 purpose was always right ; and the first act which he had the power 
 to put forth, bearing upon the continuance of the relation, was also 
 right. 
 
 " 'But a man may have the power to free his slaves, and yet not 
 do it, out of regard to their highest good. He honestly hopes, we 
 will suppose, that their day of freedom will soon come ; he is doing, 
 as he thinks, all that he can to hasten that day ; in the mean time, 
 he omits nothing that a considerate and humane master can devise 
 for their temporal and spiritual advantage. Now, it is possible that 
 he has misjudged in deferiing emancipation. Perhaps it would 
 have been better for the slaves to receive their liberty at once ; per- 
 haps there were other considerations that should have been decisive. 
 If so, what is his position ? The answer would seem to be two- 
 fold. 1. The continuance of the relation is wrong ; but, 2, the mas- 
 ter may stand acquitted in the sight of God, because he was influ- 
 enced solely by benevolent motives. Just as the selling of ardent 
 spirits, in the days of our common ignorance on the subject of tem- 
 perance, was clearly wrong; and yet many good men, never imag- 
 ining that they were acting contrary to the law of love, engaged in 
 the traffic. The external character of an act is one thing ; its internal 
 character is quite another thing. A man may conscientiously do 
 that which is injurious in its tendency ; as, on the other hand, he 
 may, with a bad motive and purpose, do that which is innocent or 
 beneficial in its tendency. 
 
 " 'As we pass from such slaveholding as we have just considered 
 to that Avhich is manifestly selfish, we find a tract of debateable 
 ground, on which we have no occasion to tarry. Sooner or later, 
 we shall come to that mournfully large class of cases, in respect to 
 which no distinction or qualification can be made. We would not 
 speak too confidently ; still we fear that the owners of slaves gene- 
 rally regard and treat them as property, making their own advan- 
 tage, and not the good of those who are in bonds, the grand objects 
 which they keep in view. And we cannot suppress the apprehen- 
 sion, that this is true even in that community which has shared so 
 largely, through your labors, in the benefits conferred by Christian 
 missions. 
 
 " ' I have already said, that we regard domestic slavery as at war 
 with the rights of man, and opposed to the principles of the Gospel. 
 We do not claim that either Christ or his Apostles expressly con- 
 demned this system in the New Testament. But we do claim that 
 they said and did much that, by fair implication, bears stronoly 
 against it ; while, on the other hand, they said and did nothing that. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 117 
 
 by fair implication, gives it the least sanction. Suppose, for ex- 
 ample, that brief but comprehensive injunction of our Savior, 
 " Wliatsoever ye Avould that men should do to you, do ye even so 
 to them," to be carried out to its legitimate results. AVhat -would 
 become of slavery ? In all its essential features, it would cease at 
 once. Whatever might be the result as to the legal relation, its 
 spirit Avould die. And then the Scriptures invest every man with 
 privileges and responsibilities, which are utterly inconsistent with 
 his remaining in a state of servitude. The slave cannot receive the 
 fruit of his toil, according to the divine arrangement. He can 
 neither enjoy all the rights nor perform all the duties of a husband 
 or parent, as set forth in the Bible. He cannot develop those intel- 
 lectual powers which, as seen in the light of revelation, are a trea- 
 sure beyond all price. Above all, he cannot, in most cases, have 
 that untrammeled access to God and his Holy Woi'd, which is worth 
 more to him, as a lost yet immortal and accountable being, than any 
 thing else. 
 
 " ' It is not our design to go into any extended argument on this 
 point ; and still it may be well to make a passing allusion to the 
 inference which is often drawn from the injunctions in the New 
 Testament, addressed to masters and servants. The question is, — 
 " Do these injunctions concede or recognize the right of property in 
 a human being ? " Now, it does seem to us, that every thing which 
 is said to masters and servants is consistent with the hypothesis, 
 that the Apostles regarded the general relation as unnatural and 
 sinful. Any one at the present day who believes the system to be 
 wrong, and labors, however diligently, for its termination, may with 
 perfect propriety use the very same language. Besides, if these 
 directions of which we are speaking prove that slavery is right 
 now, they prove that this institution, as it then existed in the Eoman 
 empire, giving the master the power of life and death even, was 
 also right ; a proposition, Ave presume, that no one will undertake to 
 defend. 
 
 " ' But why did not the Apostles directly and unequivocally 
 affirm the sinfulness of slavery ? Why did they not insist upon the 
 duty of emancii)ation 1 Simply because (if we may venture to give 
 an opinion) they saw that such a course, in their circumstances, 
 would not soonest and best extirpate the evil. And for this policy 
 they found the amplest auth.ority in the dealings of God with his 
 covenant people, and in the life of Christ. 
 
 " ' To us, then, it seems very clear, that slavery is opposed to the 
 principles of the Gospel. What line of conduct, then, shall the mis- 
 sionary pursue, when he is brought into contact with it ? The 
 answer, to be complete and satisfactory, must embrace the folloAving 
 topics ; namely, the preaching of the Gospel, the iustniction (jiven to 
 slaveliolding converts, the admission of this class of persons to the church, 
 and the treatment they receive in the church. 
 
 " ' Th<^ Preachinr/ of the d'ospel. 
 " ' It is the duty of the missionar}', Ave suppose, to declare "all 
 the counsel of God." He may not, in his expositions of the divine 
 will, restrict himself to those forjns of transgression which are 
 
118 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 specifically denoimced in the Scriptures. What pastor thinks of 
 placing himself on this narrow basis ? Xo. The man who carries 
 the Gospel to tlie heathen must keep his eye always open; and 
 whatever he sees around him that is contrary to this Gospel,_ he 
 must consider as tailing within the purview of his high commission. 
 We do not say ivhen, or ichere, or how he shall bring the truth to bear 
 upon any sin. Whether he shall declare his testimony against it 
 to-day or to-morrow, next week or next year ; whether he shall do 
 it in the sanctuary, by the Avay side, or in the home of the wrong- 
 doer ; whether he shah do it in the spirit of John the Baptist, or 
 with the unseen approaches of Nathan the prophet, or with the 
 melting earnestness of Paul, or in the gentler tones of John ; 
 whether he shall do it by marching directly on the citadel of error, 
 or proceeding first against the outworks ; all these are questions for 
 the missionary. He" has been sent forth because he is thought to 
 possess the wisdom, integrity and zeal which are needful for this 
 very work; and far be ilTfrom us to encroach upon his lawful pre- 
 rogative. But that the work must be done, in some way, and at 
 some time and place ; that it must be done in the name and the fear 
 of the God of missions, is to us very clear. 
 
 " ' Prom this general law for the conduct of missions, we think 
 that slavery can claim no exemption. You may say, indeed, that 
 the Apostles did not directly assail it in their writings, because, ac- 
 coi'ding to our own showing, there was a better way. But it does 
 not follow, by any means, that they never opened their lips in 
 denunciation of the monstrous iniquity of Roman servitude. Still 
 less does it follow that the ministers of Christ are never to be at 
 liberty, in any state of society, or in any age of the Avorld, to raise 
 their voice against the enslaving of their fellow men. The example 
 of the Apostles, as we believe, goes to the extent of constituting 
 the missionary the judge of the time and mode of exhibiting the 
 truths of the Gospel in their relation to this system ; but it cannot 
 justify him, as we think, in closing his mouth tor ever. 
 
 " ' In the commencement of a mission, as also in tiie commence- 
 ment of the pastoral relation, it may be proper to say little or 
 nothing respecting certain evils Avhich are found to exist. A dif- 
 ferent course, indeed, might shut every door of usefulness for a 
 long series of years. But when the servants of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ have obtained an acknowledged standing in the community ; 
 when their character and their aims have begun to be appreciated ; 
 and when their influence, as teachers of a new religion, has become 
 an established fact, they may cast aside something of their reserve. 
 And if the great Head of ^the Church gives them tokens of his 
 ftivor, manifest and marked, if churches are gathered, and converts 
 are multiplied ; if all the departments of missionary labor are 
 carried forAvard with success, they may venture upon a still bolder 
 course of action. 
 
 Xow, we will not say at what stage in your history it became 
 expedient to exhibit, with that wisdom which is profitable to direct, 
 the legitimate bearing of the Gospel upon slavery. Nor does it 
 seem at all important to go into that inquiry. But when we con- 
 sider the age of your mission, its remarkable success, the strong 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 119 
 
 hold it has gained upon the Choctaw Nation, it does appear to ns, 
 that if tlic time has not yet come to hold up, in some Avay, the great 
 law of love in its obvious relation to the subject, we may well ask, 
 " When will that time come ? " 
 
 " ' What you have said respecting " slavery as a civil institution," 
 has been duly considered. We are fully aware that, being " in a civil 
 respect foreigners and tenants at Avill under the officers of our gov- 
 ernment," you have neither political rights nor political responsi- 
 bilities. But it so happens that this institution has its moral rela- 
 tions. Go where you may, and do what you will, in your own 
 appropriate work, it lies directly across your path. It is an anti- 
 Christian system, and hence you have a right to deal with it 
 accordingly. True, it is regulated by law ; but it does not, for this 
 reason, lose its moral relations. Suppose polygamy or intemperance 
 were hedged in by legal enactments. Could you not speak against 
 them as crying evils 1 We are grieved to hear that the Choctaws 
 have a law, which practicall}' debars the slave from all direct access 
 to the Word of God, without the consent of the owner. ])id you 
 never bear your testimony against the wrongfulness of shutting out 
 this class of persons from the " lively oracles " ? 
 
 "'Instruction of Slavclioldlng Converts. 
 
 " ' This topic might be considered as embraced in "the preaching 
 'of the Gospel;" but I prefer to give it a separate notice. In the 
 instruction imparted to new converts, the teachings of Christianity 
 are presented in circumstances peculiarly interesting and favorable, 
 and may, on that account, take a wider range and extend to a greater 
 variety of subjects than is customary on other occasions. 
 
 " ' It would seem that the aim of the missionar}', in his intercourse 
 with a recent convert, should be two-fold. 1. To ascertain the 
 actual state of his aflections ; whether they are renewed or unre- 
 newed. 2. To give him clear and explicit information on all the 
 great questions of Christian duty. The latter is important, not only 
 because his life should be conformed, as perfectly as may be, to the 
 only true standard of action, but because the spirit with Avhich he 
 receives the principles of the Gospel will show how much reason he 
 has to call himself a new creature in Christ Jesus. 
 
 " ' And if this recent convert be connected with the system of 
 slavery, Avhat can be more natural and proper than a discreet and 
 friendly inquiry into the nature of his views in regard to this insti- 
 tution 1 The missionarv may and should, unquestionably, watch his 
 time ; he may and should leave the impression that he is governed, 
 m Avhat he says, by considerations that will commend themselves 
 to any man's conscience ; but in all ordinary cases, as Ave suppose, 
 he may give utterance, at some time and in some Avay, to the opin- 
 ions which he himself has derived from God's Holy Word. The 
 mind of this new learner of Christian truth, if a genuine disciple, 
 or a sincere inquirer, is peculiarl}^ open and susceptible to the teach- 
 ings of his spiritual guide. At what other moment, indeed, during 
 his Avhole life, can he be approached on this theme with so much 
 promise of good ? And if he cannot bear the gentle and skillful 
 probing of his honored father in the Gospel, how little of the spirit 
 of Christ must there be in his heart ! 
 
120 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " ' Admission of Slaveholders to the Church. 
 
 " ' The Board, at its annual meeting at Brooklyn, adopted two 
 general principles, which are applicable to all its missions. 1. The 
 ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper cannot be scripturally 
 and rightfully denied to those converts who give credible evidence 
 of piety. 2. The missionaries, in connection with the churches (if 
 any) which they have gathered, are the sole judges of the suffi- 
 ciency of this evidence. In the application of these principles to 
 the case before them, they say that slaveholding does not always, 
 in their opinion, involve individual guilt in sucli a manner as to ex- 
 clude every person implicated therein from Christian fellowship. 
 This conclusion seems to flow irresistibly from the distinctions 
 already made in this letter, in regard to the character of slavehold- 
 ing. If a person may be the legal owner of slaves, and yet be free 
 from all blame in the sight of God, then it is -clearly wrong to say 
 that no slaveholder shall be admitted to the Church of Christ. 
 
 " ' But the Board could never have intended that all belonging to 
 this class, and yet applying for this high privilege, should be re- 
 ceived without inquiry as to their views and feelings in regard to 
 slavery. Indeed, it seems to us that such an inquiry is, in all cases, 
 fundamental. Here is a man involved in a system that is unchris- 
 tian and sinful, and yet requesting admission to the table of our 
 blessed Lord. Must he not prove himself free from the guilt of that 
 system, before he can make good his title to a place among the fol- 
 lowers of Christ ? 
 
 " ' Perhaps he can show that his being the owner of slaves is in- 
 voluntary on his part; perhaps he can show that he retains the 
 legal relation at their request and for their advantage ; perhaps he 
 can show that he utterly rejects and repudiates the idea of holding 
 I)roperty in his fellow-men. If so, let the facts be disclosed, and let 
 him have the benefit of them. But, on the other hand, it may ap- 
 pear that, while professing to have the love of Christ in his heart, 
 he holds and treats those for whom Christ died with a selfish spirit 
 and for selfish purposes, thus showing that he has not compassed 
 the length and breadth of the law of love, and, therefore, showing 
 that he needs to be more perfectly taught in the right way of the 
 Lord. For admitting such an one to the privileges of the people of 
 God, especially in the advanced stage at Avhich your mission has 
 arrived, we know of no warrant Avhatever. 
 
 " ' In what particular mode or form the missionary shall proceed 
 to elicit the facts to which Ave have just alluded, Ave do not say. 
 That he may feel himself greatly embarrassed, at times, by the 
 question, we can readily see, especially if there has been none of 
 the preliminary instruction imparted which has been already men- 
 tioned. But, if he "lack Avisdom, let him ask of God, Avho giveth 
 to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him." 
 It is not the design of our great Leader to carrA^ forward the mis- 
 sionary Avork Avithout the trying of our faith. We must expect to 
 encounter caste, polygamy, oppression, and the opposition of the 
 poAvers that be. We must look for a contest with the brahmin and 
 the moollah ; with gigantic forms of superstition and error ; with 
 
IN RELATION TO SLATERY. 121 
 
 spiritual wickedness in high places. But if we go to Ilim who is 
 faithful to his promises, and take shelter under his wings, we shall 
 be safe. 
 
 " ' In all that we have now said, jou will understand that we 
 hare kept constantly in mind the circumstances in which you are 
 placed. The power of admitting or rejecting candidates for the 
 ordinances of the Gospel does not rest exclusively with you ; and, 
 as we have heretofore remarked, the prerogatives of your sessions 
 must be duly regarded. But there are certain tilings which you 
 may do ; there are certain rights which you may exercise ; there 
 are certain responsibilities which are inseparable from your office. 
 It is to tlie extent of these rights and responsibilities only that we 
 desire you to go. 
 
 " ' Treatment of Slavelioldlng Church Members. 
 
 " ' The principles Avhich we have already submitted to your con- 
 sideration suggest the general course which seems to be proper in 
 dealing with this class of communicants. If there are any in your 
 churches at the present time whose views on the subject of slavery 
 are inconsistent vrith the laAv of love, it would appear to be your 
 office to bring them, so far as in you lies, to entertain sentiments 
 which are scriptural and correct. Your attention, you will remem- 
 ber, was called to this point in INEr. Greene's letter to your mission, 
 dated November 19, ISio. In that communication, he said : — " It 
 seems specially important to train your church members to act out, 
 in an exemplary manner, the spirit of the Gospel toward the en- 
 slaved, emancipating them where duty to them admits of that; and 
 where it does not, taking special pains to promote their social and 
 religious welfare, and prepare them as moral and accountable beings, 
 hastening forward to the retributions of the eternal world, for the 
 holiness and blessedness of heaven." 
 
 " ' In tlie application of discipline to this class of persons, we con- 
 ceive it to be your duty to set j'our faces against all overt acts which 
 are manifestly unchristian and sinful in their character. Denying, 
 as we do, that there can be, morally and scripturally, any right of 
 property in any human being, unless it be in consequence of 
 crime, and holding that the slave is always to be treated as a man, 
 we suppose that whatever is done in plain and obvious contraven- 
 tion of these doctrines, may properly receive the notice of your- 
 selves and your sessions. Hence, if the master treat his slaves with 
 inhumanity and oppression ; if he keep from them the knowledge 
 of God's holy will ; if he sell them as articles of merchandise ; if 
 he disregard the sanctity of the marriage relation ; if he trifle with 
 the affections of parents, and set at nought the claims of children 
 on their natural protectors; and in all analogous cases, he fairly 
 brings himself within the reach of that power which is given to the 
 Church for the edifying of the body of Christ. 
 
 " ' But we will not enlarge upon this topic. We have said enough 
 to indicate the general direction of our views and wishes in relation 
 to it. And still we cannot forbear an allusion to the exceeding de- 
 sirableness of your pursuing such a course as shall deliver the 
 Choctaw churches from all connection with slavery. For a whole 
 6 
 
122 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 generation, the Gospel has been preached to this tribe of Indians j 
 and during the greater part of this period, the work of the Lord has 
 greatly prospered. You have a large and increasing body of com- 
 municants. You have schools of great interest and promise. Civi- 
 lization and general intelligence are making steady advances. With 
 these facts before us, is it too much to ask, " May not these churches 
 soon be freed from all participation in a system that is so contrary 
 to the spirit of the Gospel, and so regardless of the rights of man ? " 
 We wish, indeed, that a much more desirable end Avere attainable. 
 Most ardently do we pray that the -whole nation may be delivered 
 from this "tremendous evil." And Ave reiterate the language of 
 Mr. Greene, as contained in the letter above referred to, in which 
 he stated it to be the desire of the Board and of the Committee 
 that "you should do Avhatever you can, as discreet Christian men 
 and missionaries of the Lord Jesus, to give the Indians correct 
 views on this subject, and to induce them to take measures, as 
 speedily as possible, to bring this system of wrong and oppression 
 to an end." 
 
 " * Employment of Slaves by the Missian. 
 
 " ' As the views of the Committee on this subject have been here- 
 tofore communicated to you, it Avill not be necessary to go into any 
 discussion at the present time. In February, 1836, the expediency 
 of buying slaves, with their consent, and with the understanding 
 and agreement that they should be allowed to Avork out their pur- 
 chase money, according to the practice of the mission at that time, 
 w^as fully considered ; and it Avas resolved " to instruct the missiona- 
 ries among the South- Western Indians " " to enter into no more 
 such contracts," and to relinquish all claim to the benefit of any 
 previous arrangement of the kind. In the folloAving month, the ex- 
 pediency of permitting the missionaries to hire slaves Avas taken into 
 consideration; and it Avas resolved to be expedient for them "to 
 dispense altogether with slave labor." Of the action of the Com- 
 mittee in both cases, you Avere duly apprised. Noav, it Avas not the 
 design of the Committee to affirm that in no possible state of things 
 should you be allowed to hire slaves ; for Ave can conceive of cir- 
 cumstances where it may be proper, just as Ave are at liberty to per- 
 form "Avorks of necessity and mercy" on the Sabbath. But ex- 
 cept in cases of manifest necessity, Ave deem it altogether inexpe- 
 dient to resort to this species of labor. And it also enters into our 
 ideas of this necessity, that it is only temporary. 
 
 " ' It is with profound regret, therefore, that Ave have learned how 
 many hired slaA^es are now in the service of the ChoctaAv mission. 
 We readily acquit you of any plan or purpose to disregard our 
 knoAvn Avishes. We cheerfully accept the excuse you offer, namely, 
 that the boarding-school established in 184:3, in consequence of the 
 arrangement made with the ChoctaAV government, in your vieAV 
 made such assistance necessary ; and that for this reason you sup- 
 posed the Committee must have assented to its employment. Still, 
 Ave must frankly say, that Ave never intended, by agreeing to the 
 plan proposed on the part of the ChoctaAvs, to sanction or authorize 
 the practice which Ave now find so prevalent among you. And had 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 123 
 
 the Committee known, when the subject was under consideration, 
 that the hiring of slaves must follow the adoption of this plan, as a 
 necessary and permanent result, they would not have engaged in 
 the present boarding-school system. 
 
 " ' We feel ourselves not a little embarrassed by our position. 
 The engagement with the Choctaw government has some fifteen 
 years to run, and yet we do not feel willing to be a party to the 
 hiring of slaves for this long period. By so doing, as it seems to us, 
 we countenance and encourage the system. We make this species 
 of labor more profitable to the owner ; at the same time tliat we put 
 it in his power, if he will, to plead our example to justify or excuse 
 the relation. In this state of things, it appears to be our duty to ask 
 you, first of all, to inquire once more into the supposed necessity of 
 this practice, and to see if slave labor cannot in some Avay be dis- 
 pensed with. And if you can discover no method by which a 
 change can be effected, we submit for your consideration, whether 
 it be not desirable to request the Choctaw government to release us 
 from our engagement in respect to the boarding-schools. It is with 
 pain that we present this alternative ; but such are our views of 
 duty in the case, that we cannot suggest a difterent course. 
 
 " ' The sentiments of the Committee have now been frankly and 
 fully expressed, on the different topics which it has seemed im- 
 portant to discuss at the present time. We doubt not you will 
 receive them in the spirit which has characterized our intercourse 
 in past years, and will take them into consideration at as early a day 
 as practicable. You are already aware that much interest is felt in 
 this question by the friends of the Board ; and there is a general 
 desire that the relations of your mission to the subject of slavery 
 may be put upon a broad scriptural basis as soon as possible. If 
 you can reply to this communication before the next annual meet- 
 ing, and especially if you can declare your acquiescence in the 
 views herein presented, and your readiness to act in accordance 
 with them, so that we can announce the fact to those who shall 
 have come together on that occasion, you will give us much 
 pleasure by so doing. 
 
 '• ' Praying that God may be with you at all times, and give you 
 wisdom and grace as you shall need, 
 
 " * I remain, dear brethren, very affectionately and truly yours, 
 
 "'S. B. Treat, 
 " ' Sec'y of the A. B. C. F. M.' 
 
 " The reply to the letter of the Cherokee mission was as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 "'MissioxARY House, Boston, June 30, 1848. 
 " ' To THE Members of the Cherokee Mission : 
 
 " 'Dear Brethren : — Your letter of March 21 was duly received. 
 You have doubtless expected a reply before this, and I regret that 
 there has been any necessity for delay. As the brethren among the 
 Choctaws, however, adopted a course similar to yours, and drew up 
 a letter, after I left them on my return, expressive of their senti- 
 
124 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 ments in regard to the subject which you have discussed so fully, it 
 seemed desirable tJiat the relations of both missions to slavery should 
 be considered at the same time. But it so happened that I was not 
 able to bring the whole subject before the Prudential Committee till 
 the 20th instant; on which occasion I was directed to communicate 
 the views entertained by them, both to the Choctaw brethren and 
 yourselves. 
 
 " * In replying to the former, it has been found necessary to dis- 
 cuss all the topics which are brought before us by your letter ; and 
 though we do not regard the two missions as occupying j^recisely 
 the same ground (your opinions being obviously more in accordance 
 with those of the Committee), it has seemed unnecessary at this 
 time to address a distinct and independent answer to you. I am 
 authorized by the Committee, therefore, to send you a copy of the 
 letter which has been written to the Choctaw mission, as containing 
 a full expression of their views on all the questions which appear to 
 groAv out of the relations of the two missions to the subject of sla- 
 very at the present time. You are requested to examine the prin- 
 ciples set forth in this communication, so far as they are applicable 
 to your circumstances, and to forward your reply with as little delay 
 as practicable. 
 
 " ' In expressing your warm attachment to the Board, you have 
 only given utterance to sentiments which we have uniformly be- 
 lieved to exist in your hearts. And permit us to say in return, that 
 we have always taken a strong interest in j-our mission. Its his- 
 tory, so full of hope and disappointment, of success and disaster, we 
 can never forget. For the members of the mission, those in partic- 
 ular who have long shared in the joys and sorrows of the Cherokees, 
 we feel the highest respect ; and in them, as honest and conscien- 
 tious laborers in the vineyard of our common Master, we have entire 
 conliclence. 
 
 " ' That God may make your way plain before you, and may keep 
 you to the end, is the prayer of 
 
 " ' Your affectionate brother and fellow-laborer in the Gospel, 
 
 " ' S. B. Treat, 
 " ' Sec'y of the A. B. C. F. M.' 
 
 " After these documents had been read to the Board, they 
 were referred to a Committee, consisting of Dr. Beman, Rev. 
 Albert Barnes, Dr. DeWitt, Dr. Hawes, Judge Darling, Dr. 
 Magle, and Henry White, Esq. This Committee subsequently 
 presented their report ; which, having been discussed at some 
 length and amended, was adopted by the Board. The amended 
 report is as follows : — 
 
 " ' The Committee to whom were referred the papers relating to the 
 subject of slavery in connection with the Clierokee and Choctaw 
 missions, have carefully deliberated on the same, and beg leave to 
 submit the following report. 
 
 " ' The documents put into the hands of the Committee, and which 
 they have examined, are the following : The " report on the relation 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 125 
 
 of the Cherokee and Choctaw missions to slavery/' being an account 
 of a visit made by the Kev. S. B. Treat to these stations ; a letter 
 from tlie Cherokee mission, on the same subject ; a letter from the 
 Choctaw mission, on the same ; a letter to the Choctaw mission, by 
 Rev. S. B. Treat, one of the Secretaries, communicating to the 
 missionaries the views of the Prudential Committee on this whole 
 subject; a brief letter from the same Secretary to the Cherokee 
 mission, referring the brethren of that mission to the last-named 
 letter, as containing the views of the Prudential Committee, on the 
 subject of inquiry ; together with the report of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee, submitting the above-named documents to this meeting of 
 the Board. 
 
 " ' The subject to which these papers relate is one of intense inter- 
 est in our day, and is becoming more and more so, in all its rela- 
 tions. The Board has not been unmindful of its own relations to 
 this mattei', in times past ; nor will it probably be, in its careful 
 deliberations and circumspect action, in time to come. It is one of 
 those great questions wliich seem destined to awaken the interests 
 and sympathies of a world. Christians and others are beginning to 
 feel this. 
 
 " ' Your Committee express their cordial approbation of the fidelity 
 with which the Prudential Committee have discharged this part of 
 their trust. The report of the Rev. Mr. Treat of his visit to the 
 Cherokee and Choctaw missions, embodies a vast fund of informa- 
 tion, which we have all needed, and which cannot fail, as it shall be 
 diffused, of doing great good. This paper should be extensively 
 known and read. No agent could have executed this mission more 
 wisely, or more kindly, than your Secretary has done it ; and it may 
 be hoped that practical and permanent good will grow out of it la 
 many ways. It has brought to the Prudential Committee, and to 
 the Board, information wiiich we needed ; and, especially, of the 
 practical working of the system of missions, in some of the relations 
 of life, on which Ave have not been very well informed. This whole 
 report, your Committee believe, will bear scrutiny and analysis. 
 
 " ' Of the two letters from the missions in question, your Commit- 
 tee need not give an opinion, for the following reasons. They have 
 been particularly examined in the communication written by order 
 of the Prudential Committee ; tliese letters are only a part of a cor- 
 respondence which has not yet closed; and some things therein 
 stated may be modified by the views since expressed by the Pru- 
 dential Committee. These letters, your Committee take pleasure in 
 saying, breathe an excellent Christian spirit. 
 
 " 'Nor do your Committee feel themselves called upon to give an 
 opinion on every position and every sentiment to be found in the 
 last letter addi^essed to these two missions. We refrain from a criti- 
 cal examination of it in this report, because it is a part of an unfin- 
 ished correspondence ; and no final action, as your Committee appre- 
 hend, can, with any propriety, be had upon it at the present time. 
 If it were to be examined in all its statements, and fully discussed 
 by the Board, it is probable that some might think that it goes too 
 fjir ; and others, that it does not go far enough, in relation to the 
 evil of which it treats. But your Committee are unanimous in the 
 
126 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 opinion, that this is not the time for a discussion of its subject-mat- 
 ter. It is now pending in the deliberations of those missions. 
 Speaking of this document, the Prudential Committee say, " The 
 answer of the brethren has not yet arrived. Both missions had pre- 
 viously appointed meetings to be held simultaneously with the 
 annual meeting of the Board ; and it is presumed that they have the 
 subject now under consideration." 
 
 " ' It is the judgment of your Committee, that the whole subject 
 should be left for the present, where it now is, in the hands of the 
 Prudential Committee.'' 
 
 " Before the question was taken on the acceptance of this 
 report, Dr. Blanchard proposed, as an amendment to the same, 
 the following resolutions : — 
 
 '"Resolved, That this Board distinctly admits and atfirms the 
 principle, that slaveholding is a practice which is not to be allowed 
 in the Christian Church. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That it is, in the judgment of the Board, the duty of 
 our missionaries in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations to discon- 
 tinue the practice of hiring slaves of their owners to do the work of 
 the missions ; and, in the reception of members, to act on the princi- 
 ple laid down by Mr. Treat and the Prudential Committee, that 
 slaveholding is prima facie evidence against the j)iety of the candi- 
 dates applying for admission to the church.' 
 
 " Dr. Blanchard having been requested to withdraw those res- 
 olutions, consented to do so; and the Board permitted them to 
 be inserted in the minutes of the meeting." 
 
 The careful reader will have noticed that this elaborate 
 correspondence is unfinished; the last letters of Mr. Secre- 
 tary Treat to the Cherokee and Choctaw missionaries having 
 requested further replies on their part, which replies did not 
 arrive until the following year. The record of the correspon- 
 dence, therefore, is continued in the Annual Report of 1849, 
 preceded by some explanations which the Prudential Com- 
 mittee found it needful to make, and these again preceded by an 
 addition to the special report, presented by the Secretaries in 
 1848, on the " Control of Missionaries and Mission Churches." 
 
 These additions occupy more than nine closely printed 
 pages in the Annual Report of 1849, (pp. 69 to 79,) and are 
 as follows : — 
 
 "CONTROL OF MISSIONARIES AND MISSION CHURCHES. 
 
 " Dr. Anderson read as follows, in relation to the ' Special 
 Report ' which was laid before the Board last year by the Pru- 
 dential Committee : — - 
 
 (( i 
 
 The " Special Report of the Prudential Committee on the 
 Control to be exercised over Missionaries and Mission Churches " 
 
IN RELATION TO SLATERY. 127 
 
 was presented to the Board, at its last meeting, in a printed form ; 
 but as the members had not time to give it that attention winch the 
 importance of the subject demanded, the consideration of it, after a 
 single amendment, was deferred to the present meeting. oNIcan- 
 while, the Prudential Committee were authorized to print the report 
 as amended, and to make such modifications as, on further reflection, 
 they should deem proper. 
 
 " ' They lay this report again before the Board, with an addition to 
 be introduced on page 39, immediately following the article designed 
 to show that the Board is responsible for the ^w/c/?//;^ of missiomiries. 
 The addition which is now made to the report is intended to show, 
 that this responsibility of the Board for the teaching of the missionaries 
 does not interfere ivith that of Ecclesiastical Bodies in respect to the same 
 thing. It reads as follows : — 
 
 "It maybe importaut, however, to renaark, that the responsibility of 
 the Board for the teachiwj of the missionaries dies in no degree interfere 
 with the responsibilities of ecclesiastical bodies in respect to the same 
 thing. vSuch has been the result of an experience in this country con- 
 tinued through forty years. Within this period, the Board has had about 
 two hundred and seventy-fire ordained missionaries laboring under its 
 direction in heathen lands, and has extended its supervision to every de- 
 partment of their duty as missionaries; and there has never been the 
 least sign of interference in the working of its own responsibilities and of 
 those of the ecclesiastical bodies with which the missionaries were con- 
 nected. But one case is recollected, in which an ecclesiastical body in 
 this country has thought itself called upon to discipline a missionary, and 
 then it deposed him from the ministry, and for the same cause that had 
 previously led the Prudential Committee to dismiss him from the missionary 
 service. The fact is, the missions, when fully organized, may easily con- 
 stitute themselves ecclesiastical bodies; and the whole influence of the 
 Prudential Committee is and has been to sustain them in their freedom 
 and efficiency for missionary purposes- It is also true, that there has 
 been no case, where the Prudential Committee has been called to act, in 
 which doctrinal error was the only element of difficulty; nor has there 
 been a case, involving doctrinal error as an obvious element, where it 
 would have been convenient, or even practicable, for a mere ecclesiastical 
 body to adjust it, as a whole. The cases were of a mixed and complicated 
 nature; and they can hardly fail to be otherwise in distant organized 
 missions among the heathen, and so must of necessity be regarded and 
 treated as appertaining rather to the missionary than to the minister. 
 The elements of character, which constitute a man an efficient and faith- 
 ful minister, are almost identical with those which are essential to the 
 character of a good and faithful missionary. It can hardly be questioned 
 that the body, which is accountable for the proper application of the funds 
 contributed for the support of missionaries, is under solemn obligation to 
 see that those funds are not wasted upon an unworthy or unfaithful 
 missionary. Indeed, it is impossible effectually to transfer this responsi- 
 bility to another body, which is not only remote from the missions, but not 
 in correspondence with them. And when the Board dismisses from the 
 missionary work for a reason (as in the case above mentioned) that would 
 make it the duty of an ecclesiastical body to depose from the ministry, 
 there is no interference with the rightful authority of any ecclesiastical 
 body. The Board does not assume to decide upon the fitness of an indi- 
 
128 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 vidual to be a minister of the Gospel ; but it is their duty to decide, and 
 that intelligently, on his original and continued fitness to be sustained, by 
 the funds committed to their disposal, as a missionary to the heathen. 
 Nor is there more practical difficulty in adjusting his missionary, minis- 
 terial, and church relations in foreign missions, than there is in home 
 missions; and no more in respect to those Congregational missionaries, 
 whose ordaining councils ceased to exist immediately after their induction 
 into the ministerial office, than in respect to missionaries connected with 
 presbyteries or classes in their native land. The contributors to the funds 
 for foreign missions demand more evidence of faithfulness in the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel, than can possibly be in the possession even of the 
 permanent ecclesiastical bodies scattered over our country. And they 
 will hold the Prudential Ccmmittee and the Boi.rd responsible for seeing 
 that no part of their contributions go for the propagation of error, either 
 in doctrine or practice; nor will they have any serious doubt, in case 
 radical or serious mistakes are committed or abuses occur in the discharge 
 of this trust, that the fact will soon be known, and the evil be in some 
 way corrected. The Board claims to be only an acjincy foi" those, whether 
 individuals or associated missionary bodies, who commit funds to its dis- 
 posal for the support of foreign missions; and to see that the funds thus 
 committed are appropriated according to the known wishes and expecta- 
 tions of the donors. Such is a simple, practical view of this subject, as it 
 has existed ever since the Board was formed. 
 
 " Experience has shoAvn, that the responsibilities of missionaries to mis- 
 sionary societies are entirely consistent with the unimpaired existence 
 and operation of their responsibilities in their distinct and separate rela- 
 tions as ministers. The churches and other ecclesiastical bodies at home, 
 or in the missions, or the missions themselves regarded as ecclesiastical 
 bodies, can take their own time and method of looking after alleged 
 heresies or immoralities in individual missionaries. The Board need not 
 wait for the ecclesiastical body, nor the ecclesiastical body for the Board. 
 And the Board, conducted as it has been from the beginning, will be a 
 help to the ecclesiastical bodies, whether church, council, presbytery, 
 classis, or mission, in the discharge of their supervisory duties towards 
 the ministers of the Gospel laboring as missionaries in foreign lands. Nor 
 can it cease to be thus helpful, except by a change in its course of pro- 
 ceedings, which would speedily prove destructive alike to its influence and 
 its existence." 
 
 "' Tlio Pruflential Committee having had under consideration the 
 subject of this special report another year, deem it proper to sug- 
 gest, that there seem to them to be reasons which render it inex- 
 pedient that a formal vote of adoption should be passed ; but that 
 the report should ratlier be received as a record of the results of the 
 experience of the Prudential Committee in conducting foreign 
 missions, — as information wdiich may properly go into the official 
 publications of the Board. It is not to be supposed that the 
 measure of our experience is yet full, in any one of the great de- 
 partments or modes of operating in the work of missions. Doubt- 
 less we have much yet to learn, both through our failures and suc- 
 cesses, connected Avith a prayerful contemplation of the word and 
 providence of God. The Prudential Committee see not indeed, at 
 present, any reason to doubt tlie correctness of the principles and 
 views embodied in this report; but the report covers much ground. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 129 
 
 and embraces a great number of points in missionary practice ; and 
 the Committee might hereafter experience embarrassment, in case 
 the report is now taken out of their hands by a vote of adoption, 
 should further experience demand a change in any of the prin- 
 ciples, opinions and usages set forth in the report. The ends aimed 
 at, in ordering and preparing it, appear to be sufficiently attained by 
 its embodiment and publication, so as not to require any formal 
 adoption of the report, at least for the present.' 
 
 " After the reading of the foregoing statement, the Board re- 
 solved, that the 'Special Report' of the Prudential Committee 
 'on the Control to be exercised over Missionaries and Mission 
 Churches,' as now presented by the Committee, be received as a 
 record of the results of their experience in the long period of 
 their official duty ; but, in view of reasons suggested by them, 
 the Board do not at this time act upon the question of its adop- 
 tion, leaving the subject with the Committee, however, to make 
 such use of their report in the publications of the Board, and in 
 all other "^vays, as they shall deem proper. 
 
 " CORRESPOXDEXCE WITH THE CHEROKEE AND CHOCTAW 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 " The following statement was submitted by the Prudential 
 Committee, in regard to their correspondence with the Cherokee 
 and Choctaw missions: — 
 
 " ' It will be remembered, that the Prudential Committee sub- 
 mitted to the Board, at its last annual meeting, an unfinished corre- 
 spondence with the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, on their rela- 
 tion to the subject of slavery. As a part of the history of the case, 
 the Committee deem it proper to say that, on the 20th of February 
 last, perceiving that the Ciiristiau community had extensively mis- 
 understood their letter to the last-named mission, dated June 22, 
 1848, they published the following brief statement: — viz. 
 
 "The letter sent by Mr. Treat to the mission had not that authoritative 
 character which some have attributed to it. It expressed opinions then 
 and still entertained by the Committee; but not in a form which made 
 those opinions decisions, or instructions. The Committee have given no in- 
 structions to the missionaries in relation to slavery; they say expressly that 
 they address their brethren ' vnth swjgcstions and arguments.' The dis- 
 tinction between suggestions, opinions and arguments, on the one hand, 
 and decisions, rules and instructions, on the other, though necessarily 
 familiar to the conductors of missions, seems to have been overlooked by 
 some who have written on this subject. The missions reply to suggestions, 
 if they see cause, by suggestions, to opinions by opinions, and to argu- 
 ments by arguments. On some subjects, this interchange of views has ex- 
 tended through several years, before the opinions of the Committee and 
 their brethren have become perfectly consentaneous; and not unfrequent- 
 ly, as the result of this free correspondence, the sentiments at first enter- 
 tained on both sides have been modified. 
 6* 
 
130 THE AMERICAN BOAKD 
 
 " This distinction is vital to the proper understanding of Mr. Treat's 
 letter to the Choctaw mission; and for want of attention to it, very- 
 erroneous constructions have been put upon that letter. With this 
 practical distinction in view, moreover, it will be seen that the Committee 
 and the Secretaries have done nothing inconsistent with the letter or spirit 
 of the two fundamental principles recognized by the Board at Brooklyn; 
 namely, that credible evidence of piety is the only thing to be required 
 for admission into the churches gathered among the heathen; and that 
 missionaries and their churches are the rightful and exclusive judges as to 
 the sufficiency of this evidence. It is believed that foreign missions can- 
 not be successfully prosecuted in disregard of these principles, at least by 
 the Congregational ists and Presbyterians of this country, and that such 
 missions are and must be controlled mainly by the free use of suggestions, 
 opinions and arguments; and those who have the direction of the missions 
 must have truth and reason on their side, in order to be successful. Time 
 must also be allowed for the requisite interchanges, and for necessary re- 
 flection on both sides. 
 
 "We merely add, that the Committee have never had any intention of 
 * cutting off' the Choctaw mission from its connection Avith the Board. In- 
 deed, the last two paragraphs in the ' Special Eeport of the Prudential 
 Committee on the Control to be exercised over Missionaries,' laid before 
 the Board in a printed form, and published in the Minutes of the last 
 Annual Meeting, show that nothing of the kind was contemplated. Nor 
 have the Committee pi'eferred any •' charges' against the mission. On the 
 contrary, they would repeat the sentiment in the letter of Mr. Treat, ex- 
 pressing their undiminished confidence ' in the integrity and faithfulness 
 of these servants of Christ.' " 
 
 " ' In submitting to the last annual meeting the unfinished corre- 
 spondence which has already been mentioned, the Committee depart- 
 ed from the established usage of the Board. It was their wish, (1.) 
 to gratify the desire Avhich so many have felt to ascertain the pre- 
 cise relation w^hich the Cherokee and ChoctaAv mission sustain to 
 slaver}', and what opinions those brethren entertain on the general 
 subject; and (2.) to give the Board and its patrons an opportunity 
 to understand the sentiments of the Prudential Committee, in 
 respect to slavery as affecting the missionary enterprise among the 
 heathen ; and also the manner in which the Secretaries, under the 
 supervision of the Committee, might be expected to interchange 
 views and impressions with their fellow-laborers in the Gospel of 
 Christ. It was neither the purpose nor the desire of the Committee 
 to obtain any formal action of the Board on the correspondence ; as 
 they did not suppose that such action was necessary. 
 
 " ' And perhaps the Committee may be allowed to say, that a vote 
 adopting their letter to the Choctaw mission seems to them, not 
 only unnecessary, but of doubtful expediency. It was not written 
 with any such object in view. And in the very nature of the case, 
 there can be no opportunity for amending or improving such a letter 
 ■when it comes before the Board for its sanction. It is not a report, 
 presented by a Committee in the ordinary routine of business, to be 
 curtailed, or amplified, or changed in whatever way may seem best, 
 but a statement of the views of the body from wliich it emanated, 
 and already sent to those for whom it was intended. 
 
 " ' It was the wish and hope of the Committee last year, that the 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 131 
 
 correspondence with both missions might be brought to a close be- 
 fore the present meeting. In this, however, tlieir expectations have 
 been disappointed. Letters have been interchanged with the brethren 
 among the Clicrokees ; and the points of ililference have been 
 gradually disappearing. For reasons which arc deemed entirely 
 satisfiictory, the Choctaw mission did not reply to the letter of the 
 Committee dated June 22, 1848, until April last. Although the de- 
 lay on some accounts is to be regretted, still it is manifest that 
 nothing has been lost ; on the contrary, time has thus far been a 
 kind and helpful coadjutor, 
 
 " ' The conclusion to Avhich the Committee have come in regard to 
 the correspondence of the past year is as follows : — 
 
 " ' 1. They submit to the Board the letter from the Choctaw 
 mission already referred to, dated April 1-4, 1849. Indeed, they 
 deem it an act of simple justice to those brethren, that the patrons of 
 the mission should at once be made acquainted with the views 
 therein expressed. 
 
 " ' 2. The Committee do not think it expedient, at present, that 
 the correspondence with the Clierokee mission should be laid before 
 the Board. In expressing this opinion, hov/ever, they distinctly 
 and fully admit the right of the Board to call for tliis or any other 
 correspondence, and indeed to institute inquiries into any of the 
 proceedings of the Committee, in such manner and form as shall 
 seem best, 
 
 " ' As already intimated, it was thought that the peculiarities of 
 the case were such, last year, that an exception should be made to 
 the usage of the Board ; and when the second letter of the Choctaw 
 mission shall have been read, it will be seen to have a special rela- 
 tion to what has gone before ; and, consequently, to fall within the 
 exception, 
 
 " ' But as regards the letters which have passed between the Mis- 
 sionary House and the brethren among the Cherokees, within the 
 past twelve months, there does not appear to be any sufficient reason 
 for deviating from the ordinary course, 
 
 " ' Upon one other point it may be well for the Committee to say 
 a few words. The members of the Choctaw mission have directed 
 their attention very particularly, during the past year, to the substi- 
 tution of free labor for that of slaves. They are anxious to make a 
 change as soon as practicable, not only to gratify a large portion of 
 their friends and patrons, but that they may increase the economy, 
 comfort and efficiency of their own labors. The Committee have 
 been cordially cooperating with the mission in this matter; but 
 thev are sorry to say, that thev have not succeeded, as yet, m 
 relieving their brethren according to their earnest request. 1 he 
 subject will continue to receive attention, however, and it is Jioped 
 an.l believed that, in some way, free labor will be success ully 
 introduced at an earlv day. Indeed, a reduction has already been 
 made in the number "^of slaves hired from year to year, at the dit- 
 ferent stations. And the Committee will say m conclusion, tha , as 
 it seems to them, the mission are willing to do all that can properly 
 be required of them, in existing circumstances, to place this ques- 
 tion on the desired basis. 
 
132 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " The letter of the Choctaw mission, referred to in the preced- 
 ing statement, is here subjoined. 
 
 " ' Stockbridge, Choctaw Nation-, April 14th, 1849. 
 " 'Ret. S. B. Treat, Cor. Sec. of the A. B. C. F. M., Boston : 
 
 " ' Rev. and Dear Sir : — Your letter of June 22a, 1848, was duly- 
 received, and has been the subject of our prayerful deliberations. 
 We reciprocate the feelings of kindness and conhdence expressed in 
 your letter, and shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of your 
 visit among us. 
 
 " ' When we first entered on our missionary labors, we were 
 young and inexperienced. There Avere no examples of schools or 
 churches among the South-Western Indians, save those of the Mora- 
 vian brethren at Spring Place. The counsel and exam[)le of the 
 devoted Gambold we^v instructive and encouraging. The visit of 
 the beloved Mr. Cornelius at Brainerd, when one of our number 
 was there, and when our first mission church was organized, was 
 timely and welcome. The visit of the venerable Dr. AVorcester at 
 Mayhew, in the spring of 1821, was very refreshing. While he 
 was with us, the Mayhew church was formed ; and there he offered 
 the consecrating prayer at the communion table, and administered 
 the bread to the communicants. " This was the last time he assisted 
 in public worship on earth." It is to us cause of devout gratitude 
 that we were favored with the counsels and prayers of these beloved 
 mien, while laying the corner-stones of the first Indian churches. 
 
 " ' We came to the Choctaws to labor for their conversion, and to 
 make our graves with them, expecting to fall in our field of labor 
 as your missionaries. We have ever had attachments to the Amer- 
 ican Board, its officers and members, especially the Secretaries, 
 Treasurers, and Prudential Committee, sucli as we have felt towards 
 no other persons. Their ot't-rei)eated expressions of approbation, 
 relative to our labors, have greatly encouraged and strengthened us. 
 We earnestly desire to retain a hold on their affectionate confidence, 
 and on the confidence of the religious community, who still dwell in 
 the land which gave us birth, and who sent us to the Choctaws as 
 the messengers of the churches. 
 
 "'But at this late period, Ave, with the Committee, are pressed 
 with peculiar and complicated difficulties on the subject of slavery. 
 We wish you to feel assured that we have no personal attachments 
 to this institution, and that we have ever been deeply impressed 
 with the great evils Avhicli mark its character, and of our duty to do 
 all in our power, as servants of the Lord Jesus, to mitigate and 
 remove them. It is a trial of no small magnitude to reside more 
 than a quarter of a century in the midst of such things, and here to 
 train up families of children, from the cradle, not knowing how soon 
 we may die, and leave them in the midst of all these evils. 
 
 " ' Por more than five and twenty years, the evils and the wrongs 
 of slavery have been the subjects of our anxious and prayerful de- 
 liberations. With Mr. Evarts, one of the early Secretaries of the 
 Board, we had repeated personal conversations, at different times, 
 on this subject ; and also an extended correspondence, through him. 
 
IN llELATION TO SLAVERY. IS.'J 
 
 with tlio Prudential Committoo. Lon^ before the present auitution, 
 the subject of .slavery, as it related to our mission, had been discussed 
 and settled, as we then tliou<r|,t, on a scriptural Ijasis. Sor did we 
 receive an intimation from either of the early Secretaries, or from 
 any mendjcr of the Trudential Committee, that it had been settled 
 on a wronf^ basis. 
 
 '•'Amid all our cares and labors, the condition of the colored pop- 
 iilatifui has not been for^'otten ; and while our hands have been full 
 of other wf>rk, we suppose the (Jhoctaw missionaries have dotie as 
 much as any other missionaries of the lioard to promote; i)ractical 
 omanciimtion, and to produce an impression i'avorahle to that object. 
 So well and so favorably were our principles understood, that, before 
 leavin</ Mississippi, the agency of one of the brethren of this ndssion 
 was solicited by a hi;,dily respectable planter of that State, to aid in 
 securing the emancipation of mon; lh;ui tw(.-nty slaves, who, in com- 
 pliance with their own wishes, were liberated and sent to Lilieria. 
 We have ever felt it our duty to seek the spiritual good of both 
 masters and servants, and not to interfere with the legal relations 
 they susttiin to each other. When, with the consent of the master, 
 we have seen an opportunity of extending a helping hand to the 
 slave, we have ever been reatly to endjrace it. Since; the commence- 
 ment of our mission, we have by our own direct agency, and in j>art 
 by the use of our own funds, secured liberty to eight slaves. Ln 
 common with tlnuisands in the slave country, we regard slavery as 
 a tremendous evil ; one which casts a dark and ominous shadow 
 over the future jjrosjjects of this people. Jlad we consulted our 
 feelings rather than our duty, long ere this we should have fled from 
 it to a land where we could have breathed a freer and more con- 
 genial atniosidiere. liut when we look around on those for whom 
 wx' are laboring, most of whom are not involved in this evil, and 
 remember that the Savior hath said, " Go ye into all the world, and 
 preach the Gospel to every creature," we dare not leave them ; and 
 when we look on those whom we trust the J.ord has given us as the 
 seals of our ministry, how can we forsake them f These consid<;ra- 
 tions have kept us at our post. \V(- have not one jtarticle c»f sym- 
 pathy for slavery, except that we may be instrumental of mitigating 
 and removing its evils. 
 
 " ' Since receiving your letter, we have endeavored to review this 
 whole subject, and to inquire what more can be done by us to ad- 
 vance the cause of truth anfl righteousness in this land, and to meet 
 the views expressed in that letter. 
 
 " ' We have supposed that we accorded with the sentiments ad- 
 vanced in the several Jieports of the Board, on the subject of slav- 
 ery. The one of 1840 so ably and so fully defined and settle<l the 
 principles on which we were to proceed, that we apprehended no 
 serious embarrassments to our future labors. We entirely ac(;onle<l 
 with the sentiments expressed in that Jteport, and t^Hi>i'CiMy with 
 the two fundamental principles there laid down: 1. Hie ordi- 
 nances of baptism and the Lord's supper cannot be scripturally and 
 rightfully denied to those who give credible evidence ol piety. 
 2. " The missionaries, in connection with the churchc-s which they 
 have gathered, are to be the sole judges of the sufhciency of this 
 
134 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 evidence." These have been our principles from the commence- 
 ment of the mission. 
 
 " ' The employment of slave labor is one ground of objection to our 
 mode of procedure. By tliis, it is thought, " we countenance and 
 encourage the system " ; that " we make this species of labor more 
 profitable to the owner, at the same time that we put it in his power, 
 if he will, to plead our example to justify or excuse the relation." 
 We have wished, as far as possible, to avoid every thing wliich 
 might seem to sanction this system. Gladly would we have avoided 
 the hiring of slaves, could we have obtained other suitable help. 
 With us it has been a matter of necessity. We apprehend the 
 difficulties with which we have had to struggle in relation to this 
 subject are not generally understood. It is but justice to ourselves 
 that some of them, at least, should be known. 
 
 " ' 1. In the first place, the Committee at Boston find it much 
 more difficult to send us helpers to perform the manual labor at our 
 mission stations than formerly. Twenty years ago, we were sup- 
 plied, to a considerable extent, with kind, faithful, industrious me- 
 chanics and farmers from the Eastern States, who took otfthe great 
 burden of secular cares and labors from those whose duty it was to 
 preach the Gospel. Now, it is rare that such a man is sent to our 
 assistance. A few we have had, and they liave been highly es- 
 teemed for their Avork's sake. 
 
 " "2. It is much more difficult, in our present location, than it was 
 on the other side of the Mississippi, to obtain such free help as will 
 at all answer our purpose. Since the great openings for laborers 
 and mechanics in the free States and territories of the AVest, and 
 especially since the commencement of the Mexican war, there have 
 been few free laborers to be obtained ; and those have generally 
 been of a character very unsuitable to be employed at a mission sta- 
 tion. In order, as far as possible, to comply with the instructions 
 of the Committee, we have sought for the best free help to be ob- 
 tained in the country. Some who came to us with fair appearances 
 and professions have on trial proved profane, intemperate, dishon- 
 est and licentious. 
 
 " ' 3. Another thing which has greatly increased our embarrass- 
 ment, in relation to this subject, has been the peculiar character of 
 our families. Our schools, with one exception, are schools of fe- 
 males. Our families consist mostly of females. This renders it 
 extremely difficult, and in some instances altogether inexpedient, to 
 employ native help for our out-of door work. We have come near 
 having two of our schools broken up, by the improper conduct of 
 our free hired help. We cannot express the deep anxiety which has 
 pressed upon us from this source. 
 
 _ " ' In connection with these facts, we ask the Committee to con- 
 sider for a nioment, that some of us have to be absent on preaching 
 tours to distant congregations two weeks at a time, leaving our 
 families dependent on such help, Avith none to oversee or control 
 them but females. We presume those to whom we now appeal 
 would not be Avilling to leave their own families, if they consisted of 
 from thirty to fifty females, under such protectors ; and that they 
 would not wish us to do it, if it could be avoided. Our circumstances 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 135 
 
 at different stcations, of course, differ very considerably. At some, 
 ■we have suffered much more than at others. Oppressed as we have 
 been by these troubles, we have felt compelled, in sundry instances, 
 to resort to slave labor. And here it may be asked, " Can we pro- 
 cure slave labor of a better character ? " "We not unfrequently have 
 an opportunity to hire slaves, both male and female, of established 
 ciiaracters, in whom the community, as well as ourselves, have con- 
 fidence. Some of these persons feel it a great privilege to live with 
 us ; and several, in consequence of such residence, have been brought 
 to a saving knowledge of the truth. When we can leave our fami- 
 lies with such helpers, wo can be absent on tours to preach the 
 Gospel, without that distressing solicitude which, under other cir- 
 cumstances, has so often oppressed us. But we should greatly 
 prefer good free help ; it would be much niore efficient, and more 
 desirable in every respect. We have repeatedly and most earnestly 
 solicited a supply of such help. That we liave not had it, we be- 
 lieve is not the fault of the Committee at Boston. They would have 
 granted our request, had it been in tlieir power. We are grateful to 
 the Committee for tiie efforts now making to supply us, at least in 
 part, with sucli free help as our necessities require. We shall most 
 ghully second every effort that may be made in this direction. 
 
 " ' At the same time, we wish the difficulties relating to this sub- 
 ject to be understood and appreciated. There niust always be much 
 uncertainty attending help, brought a distance of from one to two 
 thousand miles. They may soon become dissatisfied, and either 
 wish to return, or to proceed onward to Texas or to the golden 
 regions of California. True, they may be bound by contract ; but 
 if disposed, as has sometimes been the case, they may annoy us, 
 until we are more than willing to release them. And when they 
 leave, months and sometimes a whole year may pass away, before 
 other free help can be obtained. We hope the efforts now luaking 
 to secure such lielp as our necessities require may be more success- 
 ful than those heretofore made have been. 
 
 " ' In this place, permit us to state some of our thoughts as to the 
 amount of encouragement given to slavery by the hiring of slaves in 
 the mission. This may be considered in relation to two particulars ; 
 the pecuniary gain resulting to the owners, and the moral influence 
 arising from our example. 
 
 " ' As respects the first of these, the pecuniary gain to tlie slaveholder, 
 there is undoubtedly some encouragement and support given to 
 slavery by Avhat we pay for hired slave labor. So far as it goes, it 
 tends to make slavery profitable. This we would avoid, if we could. 
 But we think the encouragement, in this way, given by us to slav- 
 ery, is very inconsiderable, compared with what is done in other 
 quarters. The small amount paid by us annually for slave labor 
 will bear no comparison with the immense sums paid every year by 
 the free States, by England, and bv the rest of the world, tor the 
 products of slave labor. Now, so far as profit to the holder is con- 
 cerned, there can be little difference between the hn-mg ot slaves, 
 and the purchasing of what is raised by them of their owners. A\ e 
 think it must be obvious, that should the market for slave products 
 
136 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 be closGcl in the free States, and in other parts of the world, the sys- 
 tem could not long survive the measure. 
 
 " ' We are aware that those living in the free States consider it 
 impracticable to dispense with the products of slave labor. If it be 
 so, — if it is found impracticable where slavery does not exist, and 
 where free help is easily obtained, to dispense with the products 
 raised by slaves, how much more impracticable must it be for those 
 living in the midst of slavery, and where free help is not to be 
 obtained ! 
 
 " ' With us, the employment of slave labor, and the use of slave 
 products, are not a mere matter of convenience, or a calculation of 
 profit and loss. It is a matter of necessity. We have often no other 
 alternative. If we want a horse shod, a slave must do it. If we 
 stop for the night at a public house, a slave must take care of our 
 horse and cook our food. If we want repairs made, or a house 
 built, or land cleared and cultivated, there is often no other one but 
 a slave to do it. To say the least, there is as much necessity for the 
 use of slave labor, and of what is produced by the slave, where 
 slavery exists, as where it does not exist. And we think it will not 
 be contended that, so tar as mere profit to the slave owner is con- 
 cerned, there is any essential difference between the hiring of slaves, 
 and the purchasing of the master of what is raised by them. 
 
 '' ' The thought has occurred to our minds why we, in our neces- 
 sities, should be expected to abstain from every thing which may in 
 a small degree add to the profit of slavery, while the rest of the 
 world, with ample funds, are sustaining it on a vastly larger scale, 
 Avithout fearing rebuke, or seeming to apprehend that they are doing 
 wrong. 
 
 '' ' With the intense interest prevailing in the free States, in 
 England, and we may say, throughout the civilized world, in rela- 
 tion to the wrongs of slavery, we see no prevailing disposition to lay 
 an embargo on the products of slave labor. The cotton, sugar, rice 
 and tobacco of the slave States are purchased as freely now, as before 
 the present movement existed. All the materials and means, neces- 
 sary to make slave labor productive and profitable, are furnished 
 now as readily by the free States to slaveholders, for the use of the 
 slave, and for the benefit of the master, as they were twenty years 
 ago. We see no tendency, in any quarter, to operate to any consid- 
 erable extent against slavery, by dispensing with the products of 
 slave labor. 
 
 " ' This fact has led us to suppose that God has another way of 
 bringing this grievous and oppressive system to an end. We believe 
 the power of the Gospel, and of an enlightened public sentiment, 
 will be brought to bear upon it, until it shall disappear from our 
 otherwise happy land. An evil so enormous cannot long withstand 
 the combined influence which is now brought to bear upon it from 
 every part of the civilized world. We look for this great work to 
 be accomplished ultimately by those who are most deeply afiected 
 by it, and who can do it more eflPectually and more safely than it 
 can be done in any other quarter. The great duty devolving on the 
 Church, as we think, is to bring the Gospel, with all its kind and 
 heavenly influences, to bear upon those sections of our country 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 137 
 
 where this evil exists. The law of love, if faithfully and affection- 
 ately applied both to masters and servants, must overcome and erad- 
 icate all opposing interests. 
 
 " ' As relates to the other particular referred to, the moral ivfluence 
 of our example, we tliink it is not what many have supposed it to be. 
 "We are not regarded by the people among whom we reside as the 
 advocates and abettors of slavery. They understand tliat what we 
 do, in the way of employing slaves, is done reluctantly and from 
 necessity. We are regarded as opposed to slavery, and by many 
 are called " abolitionists." 
 
 " 'About a year since, one of the brethren of the mission received 
 a letter from a leading man of the nation, in which he says, " You 
 are a Northern man, and meddle yourself too much about the aboli- 
 tion doctrine, which we condemn. With this doctrine, you will 
 divide us up among the Choctaws, and stop the good work of God, 
 by chilling the hearts of the Choctaw Christians." The brother to 
 whom this Avas addressed has probably employed as much slave 
 labor as any one in the mission. We think the above ought to be 
 received as conclusive testimony, that our general influence and 
 example are not regarded by the people among whom Ave live as 
 sustaining slavery. 
 
 " ' At the same time that we give these as our deliberate convic- 
 tions, we are desirous of avoiding even the appearance of evil. 
 We wish, if possible, to give no offence to those whose judgment 
 may differ from our own. We shall most cheerfully employ none 
 but free help, provided it can be obtained. But in cases Avhere free 
 help cannot be obtained, we trust the privilege will be granted us 
 of employing such help as our necessities require, without its being 
 considered a dereliction of duty. 
 
 " ' We could say more in relation to other topics embraced in your 
 letter, but do not Vish unnecessarily to prolong this connnunication. 
 We have attentively read and considered the letter of the Cherokee 
 brethren of March 21, 1848, relating to this subject, and do adopt it, 
 as expressing, in a clear and condensed manner, our main views and 
 principles. 
 
 " ' In closing, permit us to request the Committee, our patrons 
 and friends, to^bear us on their hearts at a throne of grace, remem- 
 bering the great responsibility still resting on ns as the missionaries 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ to this tribe of red men, and to every class 
 of people residing among them. " Out of the depths have we cried 
 unto thee, O Lord." And we hope he has heard us. We wish to 
 repeat our cordial approbation of the Reports of the Board, and our 
 grateful remembrance of the visits we have received from the 
 Secretaries. And we wish ever to bear in mind our obligations to 
 the Committee under whose patronage we labor ; and also to that 
 church to whose communion we belong, whose standards are based, 
 as we believe, on the Holy Scriptures, and whose discipline we have 
 ever wished faithfully to exercise in our churches. 
 
 " ' We are going to the judgment with responsibilities resting on 
 us in regard to this mission, and all connected with it, which can be 
 felt in no heart as in ours ; and Avhich can be sustained only by a 
 humble reliance on him wlio has said, " Lo, I am with you ahvay." 
 
138 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 "Wherein we have erred, or been unfaithful, may we find mercy, 
 and receive guidance from the Savior, as to all that is to come. 
 
 " ' We do not cease to search the word of God, that we may know 
 what is his good and acceptable and perfect will concerning us in all 
 tilings ; feeling a peculiar obligation to inculcate the great relative 
 duties which pertain to the subject of this letter. 
 
 " ' In behalf of the brethren of the Choctaw mission, affectionate- 
 ly and truly yours, 
 
 " ' C. KixGSBURY, Chairman. 
 
 " ' C. C. CoPELAKD, Clerh: 
 
 " A motion was made to refer the foregoing statement of the 
 Prudential Committee, and the letter of the Choctaw mission, to 
 a special committee ; which motion, together with the documents, 
 was referred to the Business Committee. The last-named com- 
 mittee subsequently reported that, in their judgment, there was 
 no occasion for a reference of the statement and letter to a special 
 committee ; and they recommended that the papers be left with 
 the Prudential Committee, for publication with the other docu- 
 ments of the Board ; which was done accordingly." 
 
 I will now rehearse, as briefly as possible, the admissions, 
 and the practical conclusions, of this remarkable correspon- 
 dence, and its result, the order of time of whose several parts 
 is as follows, namely : 
 
 1. The report of Mr. Secretary Treat, after his visit to the 
 Cherokee and Choctaw mission stations. 
 
 2. The letter of the Cherokee mission in regard to that 
 visit and report. 
 
 3. The letter of the Choctaw mission on the same subject. 
 
 4. The reply of the Prudential Committee, through Mr. 
 Treat, to the Choctaw missionaries. 
 
 5. Their reply, through the same functionary, to the Cher- 
 okee missionaries. 
 
 6. The report of a Committee, to which all the foregoing 
 had been referred. 
 
 7. The amendment moved by Dr. Blanchard, but ultimate- 
 ly withdrawn by the mover, at the request of members. 
 
 8. The adoption of the Committee's report, " that the 
 whole subject should be left for the present [1848] where it 
 now is." 
 
 9. The addition, in 1849, to the Prudential Committee's 
 »' Special Report " of 1848, respecting the "control of mis- 
 sionaries and mission churches." 
 
 10. The very important and significant " statement " of 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 139 
 
 the Prudential Committee in 1849, respecting their corre- 
 spondence with the missionaries in 1848. 
 
 11. The reply of the Choctaw mission to the Prudential 
 Committee's letter of the previous year. 
 
 12. The conclusion of the whole matter, being a report of 
 the Business Committee, " that the papers be left with the 
 Prudential Committee for publication," — and notkimj else! 
 
 I. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF MR. TREAT IN REGARD TO SLAVERY AMONG THE 
 CHEROKEES AND CHOCTAWS. 
 
 Slavery began among these people long before the mission- 
 aries came to them, and it has all the general characteristics 
 of negro slavery in the Southern portion of our Union. 
 
 The Cherokees hold probably 1,500 slaves, the Choctaws 
 at least 2,000, and in both nations they are increasing. 
 
 The laws of the Cherokees discourage individual emancipa- 
 tion, expel free negroes (except a certain class) from the 
 Nation, forbid the teaching of reading and writing to both 
 slaves and free negroes, and forbid to both these classes the 
 ownership of certain kinds of property. 
 
 The laws of the Choctaws expel from the Nation any per- 
 son favoring abolitionism, and declare that teaching slaves to 
 read, write, or sing, or sitting at table with them, shall be 
 sufficient proof of favoring abolitionism ; they forbid to slaves 
 the possession of property ; they expel from the Nation free 
 negroes, and all who encourage, abet, or conceal them ; and 
 they very strongly discourage individual emancipation. 
 
 Slavery is decidedly prejudicial, in many ways, to the most 
 important interests of both nations ; the evils proceeding from 
 it are truly terrific ; its existence neutralizes the influence of 
 the missions, and necessarily hinders missionary success ; the 
 power, in both nations, is mainly in the hands of slaveholders, 
 and there is no present prospect of emancipation,^ And yet 
 [strange to say] the Indians have increased their investments 
 in this species of property in proportion as " the doctrines of 
 the Gospel have exerted their appropriate influence " ! 
 
 Slaveholders were among iha earliest converts and warm- 
 est friends of the missionaries in both nations. And the 
 course of the missionaries was, in regard to slavery, uniformly 
 
140 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 to avoid the mention of it in preaching ; to use great cau- 
 tion, even in speaking of it in private ; but, if they were 
 obliged to speak of it, to declare that nothing was said in 
 Scripture, either directly condemning it as a system, denounc- 
 ing it as sinful, or forbidding its continuance. They there- 
 fore received slaveholders " early," and without representing 
 this relation as in any manner objectionable, into their 
 churches, and continued to do so. 
 
 In the Cherokee mission churches, there were 24 slave- 
 holders, in the Choctaw, 38. And the missionaries did not 
 attempt to disturb the relation of these persons to their slaves, 
 either at first or subsequently. 
 
 Mr. Treat closes his report by asserting his entire confi- 
 dence in " the integrity and faithfulness " of these mission- 
 aries. His idea of what constitutes '' faithfulness " in a min- 
 ister of the Gospel may be inferred from his previous asser- 
 tion, (under the head "Policy of the Missions,") that "it was 
 not to he expected that they [the missionaries] should place 
 themselves far in advance of public sentiment in New Eng- 
 land and the Middle States."" 
 
 II. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THE CHEROKEE MISSIONARIES. 
 
 Since the laws of the Cherokees sustain slavery, and the 
 members of the mission churches favor it, church discipline 
 directed against it would be difiicult, even if the missionaries 
 wished such a proceeding. But, 
 
 On the contrary, regarding it as certain that the Apostles 
 did receive slaveholders to the communion of their churches, 
 and being unable to see any material difference between their 
 circumstances and those of the present time, and finding that 
 many slaveholders give evidence that they love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity, (complying thus with the general rule of 
 church membership,) the missionaries cannot think of reject- 
 ing any person from the church simply because he is a slave- 
 holder. 
 
 Nor can they make it a test of piety, or a conditio7i of 
 admission to the church, that a candidate should express a 
 determination not to live and die a slaveholder. 
 
 They also regard it as impossible to exercise discipline for 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 141 
 
 the mere buying or selling of slaves, because " occasional ex- 
 changes of masters are inseparable from the existence of 
 slavery." 
 
 They also refuse " to make it a general rule that the sepa- 
 ration of parents and children, by sale and purchase, shall be 
 regarded as a disciplinable oifence." And they mention, as 
 an important point in regard to such separation, that "it is 
 one of those things which are not forbidden by any express 
 injunction of Scripture." 
 
 III. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THE CHOCTAW MISSIONARIES. 
 
 They have endeavored, as a mission, " to keep aloof from 
 the abolition movement." 
 
 They have been connected with slavery in two ways ; by 
 employing slaves as laborers, and by admitting them a7id their 
 masters to the church. 
 
 They assume that slavery has long existed "in the Church 
 of God," and that they have plain apostolic warrant for the 
 admission of slaveholders to the church. 
 
 They decline even to adopt measures which shall aim at, 
 or tend towards, an ultimate removal of slavery from the 
 Choctaw people. 
 
 They admit that slavery was among the Choctaws at the 
 commencement of the mission, (showing that it was by the 
 choice of the missionaries that it gained a footing in their 
 churches.) 
 
 They refer to the full acquiescence of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee in their early policy, and mention, " with peculiar 
 interest and satisfaction," the result to which the Board came 
 in 1845, (namely, the unanimous adoption of Dr. Woods's 
 report in justification of their course.) 
 
 IV. 
 
 REPLY OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE TO THE CHOCTAW 
 MISSION. 
 
 The substance of this elaborate letter may be expressed in 
 very small space. It consists, first, of certain expressions, 
 showing the theoretical estimate which the Prudential Com- 
 
142 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 mittee find it desirable to announce in regard to slavery ; 
 next, of certain concessions, showing the practical allowance 
 which they are willing to give to it; and lastly, of certain 
 suggestions (emphatically declared, in the Annual Report of 
 the following year, to be only suggestions, not decisions or 
 instructions) of a future policy in regard to it. 
 
 They declare that " Domestic slavery is at war with the 
 rights of man and opposed to the principles of the Gospel," 
 and that a system of slavery is always and everywhere sinful. 
 This is the theoretical view. 
 
 Treating the subject practicalhj, they agree that, neverthe- 
 less, every act of slaveholding is not to be regarded as sinful, 
 nor yet as properly excluding the slaveholder from " Chris- 
 tian fellowship " : that the slaveholder's duty may be to keep 
 his slaves, and not to emancipate them : and that the mis- 
 sionary and his church must judge for themselves, in each 
 case, whether a slaveholding candidate should be received. 
 
 Finally, they suggest, for the candid and prayerful consid- 
 eration of the missionaries, (whose faithfulness, integrity, and 
 devotedness, hitherto, they cheerfully certify,) the inquiry 
 whether they cannot dispense with the hiring of slave labor, 
 and whether they cannot take more stringent precautions that 
 none but truly Christian slaveholders gain admission to their 
 churches. 
 
 Y. 
 
 REPLY OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE TO THE CHEROKEE 
 
 MISSION. 
 
 The Committee do not regard these brethren as occupying 
 precisely the same ground with the Choctaw missionaries. 
 Nevertheless, as their letter (foregoing) to the Choctaw mis- 
 sion covered the topics belonging to both, they desire the 
 Cherokee missionaries to consider that letter addressed to 
 them also. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE TO WHICH ALL THE FOREGOING 
 HAD BEEN REFERRED. 
 
 This Committee declare their cordial approbation of the 
 fidelity of the Prudential Committee ; of the wisdom and 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 143 
 
 kindness of the Secretary who conducted the correspondence ; 
 and of the excellent Christian spirit of the letters from the 
 two missions; they refrain from critical examination of a 
 correspondence as yet unfinished ; and recommend that the 
 whole subject be left in the hands of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 YII. 
 
 THE AMENDMENT MOVED BY DR. BLANCIIARD. 
 
 Before any vote was taken in regard to the report last 
 mentioned, Dr. Blanchard offered two resolutions by way of 
 amendment to it, requesting the Board to declare these three 
 things : that slaveholding ought not to be allowed in the 
 Christian church ; that the missionaries ought to stop hiring 
 slaves ; and that they should consider slaveholding as prima 
 facie evidence against the piety of a candidate for church 
 membership. 
 
 If these resolutions had been acted on, it is plain that they 
 would have been rejected by a nearly unanimous vote. But 
 the policy of the Prudential Committee has always been to 
 try evasion first ; "to win, like Fabius, by delay;" and to 
 make as little af&rmation, in regard to these troublesome sub- 
 jects, as possible. These allies of the slaveholder therefore 
 asked the advocate of the slave to oblige them by withdraw- 
 ing his advocacy ! And he, most unjustifiably, at once con- 
 sented. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE ADOPTION OF THE REPORT. 
 
 The report of the special Committee was then adopted, (p. 
 Ill of Ann. Hep. of 1848,) leaving the whole matter in the 
 hands of the Prudential Committee until the next year. 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE CONTROL OF MISSIONARIES AND MISSION CHURCHES; AN 
 ADDITION, IN 1849, TO THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE'S SPECIAL 
 REPORT OF 1848. 
 
 This document, admitting that the Board are only agents 
 of the contributors for missionary purposes, and that these 
 contributors may hold the Board responsible for seeing that 
 
144 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 no part of their contributions goes for the propagation of 
 error, either in doctrine or practice, further concedes that, 
 thouo-h the Board do not assume to decide upon the fitness of 
 an individual to be a minister of the Gospel, it is their duty 
 to decide on his original and continued fitness to be sustained, 
 bj the funds entrusted to them, as a missionary to the heathen. 
 It is a significant circumstance that, at the close of a paper 
 making this very important concession — a concession which 
 brands the Prudential Committee with inexcusable guilt for 
 every one of the forty-two years during which they have left 
 these stations under the guidance of pro-slavery mission- 
 aries — this Committee should suggest as expedient that the 
 Board " receive " their report, but not " adopt " it. The 
 Board, of course, very readily complied with this suggestion. 
 
 X. 
 
 THE "statement" OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE, IN 1849, 
 RESPECTING THEIR CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CHEROKEE 
 AND CHOCTAW MISSIONS IN 1848. 
 
 The Prudential Committee allege that the Christian commu- 
 nity have extensively misunderstood the purport of their letter 
 of June 2"2d, of the previous year, to the Choctaw mission, 
 and that the following explanation of the meaning of that 
 letter has become needful. They say, therefore, that that 
 letter had not the authoritative character which some have 
 attributed to it ; that it brought 7io charges against the mis- 
 sion ; that, though it expressed opinions, then and still enter- 
 tained by the Committee, these were only opinions, and 7iot 
 decisions or instructions ; that this distinction is vital to the 
 proper understanding of Mr. Treat's letter; that, for want 
 of it, very erroneous constructions have been put upon that 
 letter ; that the Committee and the Secretaries have done 
 nothing inconsistent with the doings of the Board at Brook- 
 lyn in 1845 [which were designated by the missionaries as 
 so perfectly satisfactory to them] ; and that they feel undi- 
 minished confidence in the integrity and faithfulness of the 
 missionaries. 
 
 The meaning of this seems to be, that sundry pro-slavery 
 members or patrons of the Board, disturbed by the strength 
 of their theoretical statement of the previous year against 
 
IN RELATIOxV TO SLAVERY. 145 
 
 shivery, had jumped to the conclusion that their practice was 
 to be conformed to it, and had not read the sophistical report 
 and correspondence in question with sufficient care to sec 
 that the practical difficulty was provided for, and that slave- 
 holders were to be rated as Christians just as before. 
 
 The Prudential Committee repeat the artful suggestion 
 that their letter to these missions had better not be "adopted" 
 by the Board, and announce the reception of — 
 
 XL 
 
 THE REPLY OF THE CHOCTAW MISSION TO THE PRUDENTIAL 
 committee's LETTER OF 1848. 
 
 The missionaries repeat, that they feel it their duty not to 
 interfere with the legal relations which slaveholders and slaves 
 hold to each other ; they refer to the silent acquiescence prac- 
 tised by the Board, from the beginning, in their custom of 
 admitting slaveholders to the church, and mention again, with 
 hearty approval, the Board's deliberate allowance of that 
 custom in their Annual Report of 1845, at Brooklyn ; they 
 express a Avillingness to comply (as soon as circumstances 
 shall permit) with the Committee's request that they will dis- 
 continue the hiring of slave labor ; they intimate that it is 
 God's business, and not theirs, to bring the system of slavery 
 to an end; they slily suggest that the people of the free 
 States generally (of course including the Board) are quite 
 as much implicated in the tolerance and support of slavery 
 as they (the missionaries) are ; they declare that, far from 
 being regarded by their parishioners as advocates of slavery, 
 they are stigmatized, by some of them, as "abolitionists; "* 
 and they assume that now, as heretofore, the preaching of the 
 
 * No doubt the allegation is true, that some of tho Choctaws call thcso 
 missionaries " abolitionists." Tlie extonsivo scope with which this word is 
 vituperatively used, all over the South, by extremists in the maintenance 
 of slavery, may be judged by the following dciinition of an abolitionist, 
 taken from The Southern Literary Messenje.r, a magazine published at 
 Richmond, Virginia : — 
 
 " An abolitionist is anv man who does not love slavery for its own sake, as a di- 
 vine institution; wlio does not worship it us tlie conier-.sloiie of civil liherty; who 
 does not aiore it as the only possilile social condition on which a iKM-minuMit repub- 
 lican j,'ovcrnineiitcan he erected; and wlio does not, in his irunostsoul, d/-;in". to see 
 it extended and perpetuated over the whole earth, as a means of luuuiiii rriOrmatiou 
 second in di^'nity, importance and sacredness alone to the Christian religion He 
 who does not love Africaa slavery with tliis love is an abolitionist." 
 
146 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Gospel [so managed as not to displease or interfere with 
 slaveholders] fills up the measure of their duty. 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 The foregoing proceedings and documents were referred to 
 the Business Committee, consisting of Chief Justice Wil- 
 liams, Dr. Hopkins, Dr. Thomas De Witt, Dr. Bacon, Sam- 
 uel H. Perkins, Esq., Dr. Bond, and Bev. Eli Thurston. 
 This body reported that, in their judgment, no further action 
 respecting these matters is needed ; and they recommended 
 that the papers be left with the Prudential Committee, for 
 publication with the other documents of the Board. This 
 was done. And the connection of the missions with slavery 
 was thus left to continue entirely undisturbed. 
 
 As if to clench the position thus practically taken, (however 
 directly opposed to the theoretical statement accompanying 
 it,) that piety can flourish just as well among slaveholders as 
 elsewhere, the Prudential Committee say of one of these 
 missions in the same year, 1849 — 
 
 " No other tribe of Indians has shared so largely in the favor of 
 Zion's King as the Choctaws ; and few Christians, in any part of the 
 world, liave beheld such displays of the converting and sanctifying 
 power of the Holy Spirit, for the last nine years, as have the Choc- 
 taw churches." — p. 204. 
 
 The result thus reached — after movements so elaborate as 
 the long Report of Dr. Woods in 1845, the journey of Mr. 
 Treat to the Indian country, and his Report concerning it, in 
 1848, and the subsequent correspondence between the Pru- 
 dential Committee and the Cherokee and Choctaw missiona- 
 ries in 1848-9 — deserves especial notice, both on account of 
 its intrinsic importance, and for the sake of fixing a point 
 from which to survey future operations. After feeling the 
 influence of such diverse breezes and currents, and after such 
 numerous, various and long-continued movements on the part 
 of ofiicers, crew, and passengers, we need to assure ourselves of 
 the true latitude and longitude; to note the exact position 
 of the Board in 1849. 
 
 The missionaries had now been for more than a quarter of 
 a century protecting and cherishing slavery in their Cherokee 
 
IN llELATION TO SLAVERY. 147 
 
 and Choctaw churches, and favoring the practice of slave- 
 holding in various other ways. For twelve years, at least, 
 (how many more we know not,) urgent remonstrances had 
 been addressed to the Board, from time to time, against 
 their complicity, direct and indirect, with slavery. When 
 these remonstrances could no longer be ignored and neg- 
 lected, they were referred to committees; the committees 
 made reports that nothing was to be done, the Board voted 
 to accept and adopt these reports ; and thus it went on until 
 1845, when it seems to have been judged necessary to make 
 a show of reasons lohy nothing was to be done. I say, to 
 7naJie a show of reasons ! And I use this expression because, 
 although the reasons given were self-contradictory and mani- 
 festly deceitful, as well as insufficient, the same course of 
 policy as before was recommended, showing a foregone con- 
 clusion that it should still be adhered to, independently of 
 reason and right. 
 
 The self-contradictory character of the positions thus taken 
 is so veiled in a profusion of pious words, that I will rehearse 
 a few of the principal points of this sort. 
 
 In Dr. Woods's elaborate report in 1845, which not only 
 permits, but pleads for, the continued allowance of slavehold- 
 ers in the church, it is yet admitted that 
 
 "The unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole sys- 
 tem is bascil, and tlie viohitioiis of the natural rights of man, the 
 debasement, wickedness, and misery it involves, and which are in 
 fact witnessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists, must 
 call forth the licarty condemnation of all possessed of Christian feel- 
 ing and sense of right, and make its entire and speedy removal an 
 ohject of earnest and prayerful desire to everj^ true friend of God 
 and man." 
 
 In the Prudential Committee's statement of their princi- 
 ples in 1848, through the three Secretaries, it is admitted, 
 that slavery is at variance with the principles of the Chris- 
 tian religion ; that the Board are directly responsible for the 
 teaching of the missionaries, and also for the character of the 
 churches, as far as this results from the character and teach- 
 ing of the missionaries ; that the Board are bound to employ 
 missionaries who deserve confidence; and to dismiss those 
 who shall be found undeserving. 
 
 From these i)rcmises it necessarily follows, that it was the 
 
148 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 duty of the Board to dismiss the Cherokee and Choctaw mis- 
 sionaries as soon as it appeared that they were determined to 
 receive and retain slavehoklers in the mission churches, and 
 to substitute others who would not insist on baptizing with 
 the Christian name something " at variance with the princi- 
 ples of the Christian religion." It was their duty sponta- 
 neously to do this ; and this duty became more manifestly 
 urgent with every year that this wickedness was practised, 
 and with every remonstrance against it addressed to them by 
 their employers, the Christian public. 
 
 Nevertheless, even in the very document which admits 
 that the Board are responsible for the teaching of the 
 missionaries, and for the dismissal of such as shall be found 
 unfaithful, the three Secretaries pass by this last considera- 
 tion as if they had not mentioned it, and seek to represent, 
 in their conclusion, that the missionaries have been right, 
 and the Board right, and their course of policy such as 
 should still be continued ! 
 
 Mr. Treat's report of his visit to the Indian country in the 
 same year, (1848,) assuming throughout that the slavehold- 
 ing members of the mission churches are genuine Christians, 
 admits the existence of the following atrocious laws, voted 
 by the two nations to which these church members belong, 
 without even the pretence that they opposed such laws, or 
 that the missionaries called them to account for voting for 
 them ! 
 
 The laws of the Cherokees expel free negroes (except a 
 certain specified class) from the nation ; forbid the teaching 
 of reading and writing alike to free negroes and slaves ; and 
 authorize the seizure and sale, at public auction, of the kinds 
 of property most easily acquired by slaves, and most bene- 
 ficial to them. 
 
 The laws of the Choctaws expel from the nation all who 
 actively favor " abolitionism," and provide that the teaching 
 of slaves to read, write or sing, or the sitting at table with 
 them, shall suffice to convict of this offence ; they provide 
 that no slave shall " be in possession of any property ; " that 
 free negroes (except a specified class) shall leave the nation 
 or be sold as slaves ; that a heavy fine, or a public scourging, 
 should be the penalty of hiring, concealing, or in any way 
 protecting such free negroes ; and that no slave shall be 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 149 
 
 emancipated except by formal permission of the General 
 Council. 
 
 The Cherokee missionaries, in their letter of the same 
 year, (1848,) not denying the existence of the above atrocious 
 laws, not denying that their church members voted for them, 
 and not pretending the exercise of any pastoral influence on 
 their part against such voting, declare that they will not 
 reject slaveholders from the church, simply because they are 
 slaveholders ; that they will not require a pledge against 
 slaveholding from a candidate for church membership ; and 
 that they will not inflict church discipline for the buying and 
 selling of slaves, even when it separates children from their 
 parents. 
 
 The Choctaw missionaries — not denying the existence of 
 the above atrocious laws, not denying that their church mem- 
 bers voted for them, and not pretending the exercise of any 
 pastoral influence on their part against such voting — declare 
 that they have endeavored as a mission to keep aloof from 
 the abolition movement ; that they choose not to adopt 
 measures which shall aim eve7i ultimately to undermine 
 slavery ; that slavery has long existed in the church of God, 
 and that, being quite satisfied with the evidence of piety 
 given by the Choctaw slaveholders, they propose still to 
 admit them to the mission churches. 
 
 The reply of the Prudential Committee to these two let- 
 ters (1848) declares their opinion that " slavery is opposed 
 to the principles of the Gospel ; " it however allows the con- 
 tinuance of slaveholders in the churches, and the admission 
 of more, conceding that such may give ample evidence of 
 piety; it strongly urges a discontinuance of the hirimj of 
 slave labor by the missionaries ; it gently suggests to them 
 the inquiry whether they cannot, in their private teaching 
 and their examination of slaveholding candidates for church 
 membership, exercise some influence adverse to the worst 
 features of the slaveholding system ; and it compliments the 
 integrity and devotedness, the faithfulness and success, of 
 their missionary labors. 
 
 After all this had been read, in the Annual Meeting of 
 1848, the Board added its authentication to the result thus 
 reached, by declining to affirm the proposition of Dr. Blan- 
 chard — "that slaveholding is a practice which is not to be 
 
150 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 allo'ved in the Christian church ; " and, in the following 
 year, to meet a misapprehension which had gained ground 
 among their pro-slavery members and patrons, the Prudential 
 Committee took pains to volunteer the declaration, (p. 72, 
 Annual Report of 1849,) that the expressions in their letters 
 adverse to slavery were only " opinions'*^ entertained by them, 
 and in no wise " decisions, or instructions,^'' binding upon the 
 missionaries. This distinction, they said, was vital to the 
 proper understanding of their letter. 
 
 The whole of the foregoing matter was then (September, 
 1849) formally "left with the Prudential Committee." 
 
 It thus appears that, up to that time, nothing whatever 
 had been accomplished against the persistent and manifold 
 complicity of the Board with slavery, except an urgent 
 recommendation, by the Prudential Committee, that the 
 Cherokee and Choctaw missionaries should discontinue the 
 hiring of slave labor ! And this result seems, for a time, to 
 have accomplished its purpose of discouraging the remon- 
 strants from further effort. 
 
 In the Annual Meeting of 1850, no further remonstrances 
 seem to have been offered against the continuance of slave- 
 holders in the mission churches, or against any other form 
 of the Board's complicity with slavery. No mention of any 
 action on this subject is made in the Annual Report, which 
 states that " nothing occurred to disturb the delightful 
 harmony " of the meeting. Reports of Committees declare 
 that the Cherokee missionaries appear to have labored faith- 
 fully, and that the Choctaw mission appears to be in a satis- 
 fjictory and encouraging condition. 
 
 A similar silence prevailed in the Annual Meeting, and 
 also in the Annual Report, for 1851. 
 
 In the Annual Meeting of 1852, Mr. Secretary Treat 
 read a paper, prepared under the direction of the Prudential 
 Committee, on " The Success of the Indian Missions." It 
 occupies nine pages (pp. 26-35) of the Annual Report for 
 that year, unblushingly making the following assertions, in 
 spite of the antagonistic evidence given in 1848-9, and with- 
 out even the pretence that the shameful laws and customs of 
 the Cherokees and Choctaws had changed since that time. 
 
 This paper speaks first of the Choctaws, (the italics are 
 those of the Report,) as follows : 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 151 
 
 " 1. ^ large number of the Choctaws are the followers of 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ.'^ 
 
 " 2. Intemperance among the Choctaivs has been greatly 
 
 curtailed.'" 
 
 " 3. The Choctaws are an agricultural people.'''' 
 " 4. Education is highly prized by the Choctaws.''' 
 " 5. The Choctaws have a good government.''^ 
 Under this last head, the Prudential Committee say — 
 
 " Of the laws which relate to slavery, the Committee have no 
 occasion to speak, as they were laid before the Board four years 
 ago." 
 
 This shows that those unspeakably wicked laws still re- 
 mained the same ; and yet, the Committee declare, " The 
 Choctaws have a good government I " 
 
 They speak next of the Cherokees. 
 
 "1. Of the Churches.''^ Satisfactory evidence of piety is 
 afforded by the professors of religion, including the slave- 
 holders. 
 
 "2. The Cherokees are struggling manfully against the 
 evils of intemperance. ''' 
 
 "3. The Cherokees have made great improvement in 
 agriculture. ''' 
 
 "4. The Cherokees are advancing in knowledge .''' 
 
 " 5. The Cherokees have an excellent government.'''' 
 
 Under this head, the Prudential Committee say — 
 
 " The usual safeguards for person and property, the rights of con- 
 science, &c., are provided. The printed laws of the Ciierokee na- 
 tion are more clearly and technically expressed than those of the 
 ('iioctaws. They are simple and brief, however, and adapted to the 
 wants of t\\Q people. Many of the friends of the Cherokees could 
 well spare the provisions which relate to slavery; but it is believed 
 that correct opinions on this subject are to be found among all 
 classes ; more that is encouraging and hopeful the Committee do 
 not feel at liberty to say in this pubhc manner." 
 
 Is not the hardihood amazing which can speak in this 
 manner of laws which expel free negroes from the Cherokee 
 nation? which forbid the teaching of reading and writing 
 alike to free negroes and slaves? and which allow slaves to 
 be robbed, by public functionaries, of even the little property 
 which they can ac(|uire by over-work ? Yet, not only do the 
 Prudential Committee call this system of laws, and the Ex- 
 
152 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 ecntive which puts them in force, '^an excellent government, ^^ 
 but the Board, iu view of this deceitful representation of 
 " the success of the Indian Missions," adopted the following 
 series of resolutions, presented by Dr. Bacon, of New Haven : 
 
 " Resolved, That this Board acknowledges, with gratitude to Him 
 who givcth the increase, the success which, in circumstances most 
 unfavorable to success, has attended the missions of this Board 
 among the American Indians, and particularly the missions to the 
 Chorokees and the Choctaws, and accepts that success as conclusive 
 evidence that the tribes of the wilderness may be civilized by being 
 Christianized. 
 
 ''Resolved, That as the advancing civilization of the Cherokee an(J 
 Choctaw nations is to be referred, primarily and chiefly, to the intro- 
 duction of Christianity among them by missionary labors, so its 
 permanence and progress must depend upon the further prosecution 
 of those labors ; and it is, therefore, the desire of this Board that 
 the Prudential Committee take measures, as early as possible, to 
 strengthen the Cherokee and Choctaw missions. 
 
 " Resolved, That the great wrongs which the Indians, and particu- 
 larly the South-Western tribes, have suffered in their connection with 
 the American people, should incite all who fear God, and all who love 
 justice, to renewed efforts for the temporal and eternal welfare of 
 that injured race ] so that whether in the form of separate political 
 communities, or incorporated as equal fellow-citizens in the great 
 American Union, they and their posterity, from age to age, may be 
 a living monument to the praise of Christ and to the honor of his 
 Gospel." — Ann. Rep. of 1852, pp. 35, 6. 
 
 Neither in this year, nor in 1853, does it appear that any 
 further remonstrances were presented against the complicity 
 of the Board with slavery. 
 
 On page 48 of the Annual Report of 1853, however, 
 appears the following record of the faithfulness with which a 
 missionary in Africa opposed slavery there. Mr. Lewis 
 Grout, a missionary among the Zulus, mentions the following 
 incident. Meeting a company of natives, one of them thus 
 addressed him : — 
 
 (( ( < 
 
 Teacher, white man ! We black people do not like the news 
 wliich you bring us. We are black, and we like to live in darkness 
 and sin. You trouble us; you oppose our customs; you induce our 
 children to abandon our practices ; you break up our kraals, and eat 
 up our cattle ; you Avill be the ruin of our tribe. And noAv we tell 
 you to-day, if you do not cease, we will leave you and all this re- 
 gion, and go where the Gospel is not known or heard.' ' But,' said 
 I, ' how^ is this ? I oppose your customs, of course, because the word 
 of God is opposed to them, and because they are all wrong, and will 
 be your certain and endless ruin, if you do not forsake them. Your 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 153 
 
 children I teach, as I do you, to become wise and good and happy. 
 But how do I eat up your cattle, and break up your kraals and your 
 tribes ? All that I obtain Iruni you I pay for. Do I not ? And I 
 souietiines try to do you a good turn "besides.' ' Yes. But you 
 teach repentance and faith ; and a penitent believing man is to us as 
 good as dead. He no longer takes any pleasure in our pursuits, 
 and no longer labors to build up his father's kraal ; but he leaves it, 
 and joins the church ; and then he tries to lead others away to the 
 station after him. And as to our cattle, our girls and our women 
 ai-e our cattle ; but you teach that they are not cattle, and ought not 
 to be sold for cattle, but to be taught and clothed, and made the ser- 
 vants of God, and not the slaves of men. That is the way you eat 
 up our cattle. Many have left us, and been engulphed at the sta- 
 tion; and more wish to leave us. And now, if you continue these 
 labors and instructions, we shall just leave you, and go to another 
 country.' " 
 
 What an amazing contrast is here presented to the conduct 
 of the missionaries among the Cherokees and Choctaws! 
 The African missionary makes such a faithful presentation 
 of the utter incompatibility between a Christian life on one 
 hand, and the treating of human beings like cattle on the 
 other, that those who are determined to buy and sell women, 
 to treat them like cattle, and to prevent their learning to 
 read and write, recognize this incompatibility, and do not 
 pretend to be Christians, or ask the missionary to certify 
 them as such by admission to the church. And thus the 
 African missionary at once preserves his own integrity, and 
 secures the purity of his church, in this particular. 
 
 How different the conduct of the Cherokee and Choctaw 
 missionaries ! They too were sent among a heathen people, 
 who were accustomed to treat a class of human beings as 
 cattle ; to buy and sell them. They made no objection to 
 this. They received the buyers and sellers of human beings 
 as worthy members of the churches they established, and 
 among the earliest members of those churches. When, after- 
 wards, a movement was made by other persons against the 
 treating of human beings like cattle, these missionaries care- 
 fully held themselves aloof from it, declining even to favor 
 measures which should ''in the end'' undermine this wicked 
 system. When, still later, the human cattle-dealers whom 
 they called Christians had copied the forms of civilization 
 sufficiently to frame their iniquity into a system of laws, 
 enacting that certain men and women inight be bought and 
 
 It 
 
154 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 sold, but should not be taught to read, the missionaries still 
 acquiesced j still rauked the buyers and sellers as Christians; 
 and still held themselves aloof from vindication of the rights 
 of the unfortunates who were bought and sold ! 
 
 The disgraceful picture is not complete until we look at 
 the time-serving course of the employers of both these classes 
 of missionaries, the Prudential Committee of the American 
 Board, who have used these diametrically opposite measures 
 in their treatment of slaveholding and slave-trading in two 
 different countries. 
 
 When their missionary away off in Africa denounces slave- 
 holding as sin, teaching that human beings " are not cattle, 
 and ought not to be sold for cattle, but ought to be taught," 
 they approvingly echo his statement, printing it in their 
 Annual E-eport. 
 
 On the other hand, when their missionaries in this country 
 silently acquiesce in the human-cattle system, receive its 
 traders into their churches as Christians, hold themselves 
 aloof from the opposers of it, quote the Bible in support of 
 it, and declare all this to be their settled purpose for the 
 future, the Prudential Committee give, first silent acquies- 
 cence, and then extenuation and defence, even at the expense 
 of truth as well as of justice ! 
 
 Still further : when their missionaries in a third quarter 
 of the globe, feeling the disastrous influence of the American 
 human-cattle system upon their own labors, used their only 
 effective means of operation (the Sandwich Islands mission 
 press) to make appeal to their American brethren against this 
 sin, the Prudential Committee suppressed and smothered 
 this appeal, and immediately caused a law to be passed, for- 
 bidding such action of their missionaries in futui'e ! 
 
 What is the occasion of this opposite treatment, by the 
 Prudential Committee, of two precisely similar cases ? Is 
 it any thing else but the fact that some of the clerical brethren 
 of these Ileverend gentlemen, some of the pillars of the 
 several religious denominations to which they belong, and 
 some of the Corporate and Honorary members of the Board 
 who employ them, are personally interested in the human- 
 flesh market, living on its wages of sin, and pledged to its 
 support ? 
 
 If this be not the reason, what is? 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 155 
 
 In the very Annual Report for 1858, from which I have 
 last been quoting, appears another evidence that the Pruden- 
 tial Committee are willing to speak against slavery, and to 
 maintain the right of freedom, except where American slavery 
 is concerned! 
 
 In their report for this year on the Sandwich Islands, 
 (pp. 1 06 -153,) the Prudential Committee announce that 
 " the people of the Sandwich Islands are a Christian Na- 
 tion"; and that the ministry and churches of those islands, 
 having become "an independent Christian community," will be 
 no longer under the direction of the Board, or responsible to it. 
 The Prudential Committee congratulate themselves on their 
 success among this people, and thankfully recognize their 
 appropriate work as a Foreign Missionary Society as com- 
 pleted. Part of this statement is a contrast between the 
 former and present condition of this people. 
 
 Among the specifications of its heathen condition, they say 
 (p. 142) : " The land was owned by the king and his chiefs, 
 ayid the people were slaves^ 
 
 Among the details of their converted state are the follow- 
 ing, expressing their attainment of the rights of freedom and 
 of education. They are said (pp. 148, 4) to be " united 
 under one balanced government ; rallied to the fold of civi- 
 lization by a written language and constitution, promdinrj 
 security for the rights of persons, property and mind, and 
 invested with all the elements of right and power which can 
 entitle them to be acknowledged by their brethren of the 
 human race as a separate and independent community." 
 
 Such is the difference between the Board's treatment of 
 slavery in America and slavery in Africa. 
 
 Let it be noted, that up to this time, 1853, there is no 
 evidence that the Cherokee and Choctaw missionaries exer- 
 cised the slightest influence against slaveholding, either in 
 their churches, or among the other people of those nations, 
 or that the Board required them to attempt such a policy. 
 While, on the other hand, abundant evidence has been shown 
 that those missionaries, with the allowance of the Board, did 
 exert an efficient influence towards making slavery reputable 
 among those nations, and thus towards its continuance and 
 perpetuity. 
 
 In the years 1854 and 1855 there was much movement, 
 
156 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 bj the Prudential Committee and the Secretaries, respecting 
 a matter connected with shivery, giving rise to elaborate 
 reports, hereafter to be quoted. But it was movement with- 
 out progress, precisely resembling the execution, by a mili- 
 tary body, of the following orders, — "Advance two paces! " 
 — "Mark time !" — "Retreat to your former position ! " 
 
 The reason for the making of this movement (which was 
 unmade the next year) seems to have been the appearance 
 of an interference by the Choctaw Council with the profes- 
 sional action of the missionaries. Examination showed (as 
 Mr. Secretary Wood formally testifies) that the missionaries 
 had not done, and did not propose to do, the things forbidden 
 by the Council, and then (1855) it was decided to proceed as 
 before, without regard to the disrespectful form of the Choc- 
 taw edict. 
 
 The proceedings above referred to commence on page 23 
 of the Annual Heport for 1854, and are as follows: — 
 
 " The Committee on the missions among the Choctaws, Chero- 
 kees and Dakotas made a report, which, after having been re- 
 committed and amended, was adopted by the Board, and is in the 
 following words: — 
 
 " * The Committee on the missions to the Choctaws, the Chero- 
 kees and the Dakotas would report, that they have seen wuth much 
 satisfaction the statements of the Prudential Committee respecting 
 the progress of religion among the Choctaws during the past year. 
 The faithful labors of the missionaries have been abundantly bless- 
 ed ; while labors, no doubt as faithful, among the Cherokees, have 
 not been attended with similar blessings. Among the Dakotas, 
 whose migratory habits render the constant preaching of the Word 
 a far more difficu4t matter, but little comparative success was to be 
 expected ; while yet among one branch, the Wahpetons, some 
 cheering facts are reported. 
 
 " ' The relations of the Board to the schools connected with the 
 Choctaw mission have been essentially changed during the past 
 year. In November last, the Choctaw Council enacted certain 
 laws, one of which forbids that any "slave, or the children of 
 slaves, shall be taught to read or write, in or at any school or 
 academy in the nation, by any person w'homsoever, or connected in 
 any manner wiiatever, either a superintendent, missionary, teacher, 
 farmer, matron, pupil or otherwise, with any school or academy in 
 the nation, under pain of dismissal from such school and removal 
 out of the nation, in case the person offending is not a citizen of the 
 Choctaw nation." Another provision of the same law is as follows : 
 " It shall be the duty of the General Superintendent and Trustees 
 of schools to be vigilant in the performance of their functions, and 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 157 
 
 promptly remove, or report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
 for removal, according to the nature of the contract between the 
 Choctaw nation and the different boards of missions having charge 
 of public schools and academies, any and all persons who may be 
 connected therewith, who is or are known to be abolitionists, or 
 who disseminate, or attempt to disseminate, directly or indirectly, 
 abolition doctrines, or any other ftmatical sentiments, which in their 
 opinion are dangerous to the peace and safety of the Choctaw 
 people." 
 
 " ' The same body also passed a joint resolution, authorizing the 
 Trustees to propose to the various boards of missions, having 
 charge of Choctaw academies or schools, to insert in their contracts 
 with the Choctaw nation a clause providing for the termination of 
 such contracts by either party on giving six months' notice. 
 
 " ' When the Prudential Committee heard of the enactment of 
 these laws, they decided at once that they could not carry on the 
 schools on this new and unequal basis ; and with them in their 
 decision the missionaries concur. We doubt not that the unanimous 
 concurrence of the Board Avill sanction tliis decision. The Choctaw 
 Council are supreme in their jurisdiction over their national schools ; 
 neither our missionaries nor the Board can control them. But 
 provisions so anti-Ciiristian and unjust we are required to disapprove 
 and condemn without any qualification, so far as our refusal to act 
 in accordance with them is such a condemnation. 
 
 " ' These provisions, it should be remarked, do not restrict the 
 missionaries in their preaching. They are stiU permitted to declare 
 the whole counsel of God, on all subjects, and to all individuals, 
 without any interference by legislation or otherwise ; neither are 
 we autliorized to affirm that any such interference is contemplated. 
 Should any such restrictions, unhappily, be hereafter imposed, we 
 cannot doubt that the Board will determine at once, through the 
 rrudential Committee, to withdraw their missionaries fi'om the 
 Choctaws. 
 
 " * The other provision, requiring the removal from the nation of 
 " abolitionists," and of all persons disseminating fanatical sentiments, 
 if we are to interpret it by the common meaning given to such 
 hmguage, is only to be deplored, as indicating hostility to freedom 
 and to the Gospel, which augurs disastrous results among that 
 people. 
 
 " ' We would remark on one other topic. The murderous con- 
 tests between detached parties of the Dakotas and the Ojibwas are 
 so frequent as to threaten the speedy extinction of the two tribes. 
 AVe concur in the suggestion of the Prudential Committee, that it 
 is exceedingly desirable that the United States should pass a law, 
 punishing every such case of homicide with death. In no other 
 manner, as we apprehend, can this evil be arrested.^ 
 
 " The same Committee reported certain resolutions, which were 
 discussed, and finally adopted in the following form: — 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the Board acknowledge with gratitude to God 
 the wisdom and fidelity with which, so far as appears from the docu- 
 
158 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 ments submitted to them, the Prudential Committee are advising 
 and directing- the missionaries among tlie Clioctaws, in conformity 
 with the principles asserted by them in their correspondence with 
 those missions, reported to the Board in 1848. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the decision of the Prudential Committee, with 
 the concurrence of the missionaries, not to conduct the boarding- 
 schools in the Choctaw nation, in conformity with the principles 
 prescribed by the recent legislation of the Choctaw Council, meets 
 the cordial approbation of tlie Board. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the commission given by Christ to his disciples 
 to go and teach all nations, and to preach the Gospel to every 
 creature, which is tlie warrant of Christian missions, is to be 
 respected and obeyed in all the operations and by all the mission- 
 aries of this Board ; and that while our missionaries among the 
 Choctaws are allowed, in fact, to preach the Gospel to all persons, 
 of whatever complexion or condition, as they liave opportunity, 
 and to preach it in all its applications to human character and duty, 
 they are to continue patiently in their work.' 
 
 "While the discussion on the foregoing report and resolutions 
 was in progress, the following preamble and resolution were 
 offered for the consideration of the Board: — 
 
 " * Whereas, several of the matters pertaining to this case are in 
 an inchoate state, being j^et matters of unfinished correspondence 
 between our executive officers and the authorities and missionaries 
 in the Choctaw nation ; and whereas differences of opinion exist 
 among the officers and members of this Board as to tlie true con- 
 struction and import of the recent legislation of the Choctaw 
 nation ; and whereas this Board cherishes the utmost confidence 
 both in its Prudential Committee and the Choctaw missionaries, 
 therefore be it 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the several documents pertaining to this sub- 
 ject be referred to the same Committee, to consider and report at the 
 next annual meeting, in the hope that the authenticated and com- 
 pleted facts pertaining to this case will at the same time lead this 
 Board to perfect unanimity of sentiment and action.' 
 
 " The vote was taken by yeas and nays, with the following re- 
 sult: — 
 
 " Yeas — Aaron Warner, Bennet Tyler, David L. Ogden, Thos. 
 H. Skinner, Eeuben H. Walworth, Horace Holden, William 
 Adams, Joel Parker, Robert W. Condit, William F. Allen, Theo- 
 dore Frelinghuysen, David Maoie, Puchard T. Haines, Ansel D. 
 Eddy, Benjamin C. Taylor, D^avid H. Puddle, John H. Cocke, 
 Chauncey Eddy, William II. Brown. 
 
 " Nays — Enoch Pond, Levi Cutter, Benjamin Tappan, John W. 
 Ellingwood, William T. Dwight, Asa Cummings, Zedekiah 8. 
 Barstow, John Woods, John K. Young, David Greene, Charles 
 AValker, Silas Aiken, Joseph Steele, William Allen, Lyman 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 159 
 
 l^occhcr, Ileman Humphrey, John Tappan, Henry Hill, Charles 
 Stoddard, Nehemiah Adams, Horatio Bardvvell, Ebcnezer Alden, 
 Kiehard S. Storrs, Swan L. Pomroy, Selali ?>. Treat, William J. 
 Hubbard, Linus Child, Ilmry li. Hooker, Baxter Dickinson, 
 Samuel M. Worcester, Daniel Sallbrd, John Todd, John Kings- 
 bury, Koah Porter, Joel Hawes, Thomas W. Williams, Edward 
 W. Hooker, Alvan Bond, Leonard Bacon, Henry White, Joel H. 
 Linsley, Andrew W. Porter, Pelatiah Perit, Hiram H. Seelye, 
 Charles Mills, William Patton, Henry W. Taylor, Charles J. 
 Stedman, Henry A. Nelson, (k'orge W. Wood, Asa D. Smith, 
 Oliver E, A\'ood, Samuel II. Perkins, Julian M. Sturtevant, John 
 C. Holbrook, John W. Chickering, Seth Sweetser, James M. 
 Gordon, Samuel W. S. Dutton." 
 
 The adoption of the above report, and of the three resolu- 
 tions which follow it, (which ascribe faithfulness in labor to 
 the missionaries, and wisdom and fidelity to the Prudential 
 Committee,) and the rejection, by a very large vote, after an 
 excited discussion, of a subsequent preamble and resolution, 
 (expressing the existence of " differences of opinion among 
 the officers and members of the Board,") show not only a 
 general approval by the Board of the position of the Pruden- 
 tial Committee and of the missionaries, but a determination 
 to maintain the independence of the missionaries, and to repel 
 even the appearance of disrespect to them in the action of the 
 Choctaw Council. 
 
 The Prudential Committee, at the close of their account of 
 the Annual Meeting of 1854, refer to this report, and the 
 debate upon it, as follows : — 
 
 " The debate which grew out of tlie report on tlie Choctaw 
 mission awakened a general and absorbing interest. The question 
 was ultimately narrowed to a single point, namely, ' Shall the 
 general principles of the letter addressed by the Prudential Com- 
 mittee to the ChoctaAv mission, in 1848, receive the express sanction 
 of the Board 1 ' It was admitted that these principles had received 
 an impUed sanction. In fact, there could have been no controversy 
 on this point. A Committee on this letter and other documents re- 
 commended to the meeting of 1848, ' that the whole subject should 
 be left for the present' 'in the hands of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee;' which recommendation was adopted by the Board. Kor 
 was this all. The Prudential Conmiittee were all re-elected at that 
 meeting; and they have been re-chosen annually, except in case of 
 death or removal, from that time to this. They have felt, therefore, 
 that their views must be considered as having the implied sanction 
 of the Board ; and they have acted accordingly. In no particular 
 
IGO THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 would their course liave been different, had a vote of approbation 
 been passed in any previous year. ' Is it expedient then for the 
 Board to say in words what it has been saying for six years by its 
 acts ? ' Tliat was the question. And it is not strange that there 
 should have been some diversity of sentiment in reference to it. 
 The surprise is rather, that there should have been so much 
 unanimity in the final vote. 
 
 " Seldom has an exciting discussion been followed by sncli 
 exhibitions of a kind and fraternal spirit. It was worth passing 
 through the storm, to enjoy such a sweet and hallowed calm." — pp. 
 45,0. 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1855, the action of the Pruden- 
 tial Committee — reversing their last year's decision, and 
 authorizing the continuance of the boarding-schools, in spite 
 of the objectionable new laws of the Choctaw Council — 
 appears in the following paragraph, p. 129 : — 
 
 " Educational Labors. 
 
 " The last Report apprised the Board of certain changes which 
 the Choctaw Council had made in their school laws. The Commit- 
 tee stated their reluctance ' to believe that such legislation truly and 
 faithfully ' expressed ' the sentiments of the Choctaw nation ; ' but 
 they did not deem it safe to predict any formal modification thereof. 
 The enactments to which exception was taken remain unrepealed; 
 but, on the other hand, there has been no attempt to enforce them. 
 Nor do the missionaries see any reason for supposing that they will 
 be enforced hereafter. In these circumstances, the Committee have 
 authorized the continuance of the boarding-schools at Stockbridgo, 
 Wheelock and Pine Kidge for the present. A special communica- 
 tion will be made to the Board, however, which will explain this 
 matter more fully ; to that the Committee beg leave to refer." 
 
 The reason for this sudden change is concealed in such a 
 voluminous mass of subsequent matter, that, though it will 
 be quoted hereafter in its proper connection, in Mr. Secre- 
 tary Wood's report, its use in explaininr; the action of the 
 Prudential Committee will be best served by giving the pur- 
 port of it here also. 
 
 However disrespectful hi form were the new laws of the 
 Choctaw Council, (providing that any missionary found to be 
 an abolitionist, or found teaching reading or writing to slaves, 
 or the children of slaves, in the schools, should be expelled 
 from the Nation,) it was found that these laws would not at 
 all affect the missionaries in fact. For. first, these mission- 
 aries were not abolitionists, as has manifestly appeared from 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 161 
 
 their whole course of language* and action ; and next, in 
 regard to the teaching of slaves, Mr. Wood positively testi- 
 fies (p. 23 of Ann. Hep. for 1855) : — 
 
 " The teaching of slaves in these schools has never leen 
 'practised or contemplated " ! 
 
 The policy of the missionaries had spontaneously gone side 
 by side with the pro-slavery legislation of the Choctaw 
 Council. 
 
 The full action of the Prudential Committee and of the 
 Board in regard to the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, in- 
 cluding the famous " Good-water Statement," by which the 
 continued allowance of slaveholders in the mission churches 
 was confirmed, is herewith subjoined. It covers eleven 
 closely printed pages. In connection with the "Good-water 
 Statement," Mr. Wood quotes, adopting it as a part of his 
 report, the famous " Act of the General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church in 1818," by the allowance of which 
 Presbyterians in this country have ever since been accustomed 
 to hold, breed, buy and sell slaves. These proceedings of the 
 Board commence on page 19 of the Annual Bcport for 1855, 
 as follows : — 
 
 " THE CHOCTAW AND CHEROKEE MISSIONS. 
 
 " The Prudential Committee, at an early stage of the meeting, 
 submitted a special communication in reference tothe Choctaw 
 and Cherokee missions, in which they say : — ' Since the last 
 meeting of the Board, it has seemed desirable that one of the 
 Secretaries should visit the Indian missions in the South- West, for 
 the purpose of conferring fully and freely with them in reference 
 to certain questions which have an important bearing upon their 
 work. Mr. Wood, therefore, was directed to perform this service, 
 which he did in the spring of the present year. After his return 
 
 *For instance: on p. 511 of the Public Documents of the U. S. Senate 
 (2d session, 1858, 9) may be seen, at the close of a letter written by one 
 of the Choctaw missionaries to " Douglass Cooper, United States Agent" — 
 dated " Goodland, Choctaw Nation, Oct. 4, 1858"— the following designa- 
 tion of the charge of abolitionism against them as preposterous as well as 
 false: — 
 
 " We have born accused, too, of beirp abolitionists, and the emissaries of abolition 
 societies. Tiiblic nun oiitjlit not to bctrav so much i,i;iiorance of missionaries and 
 mi-^sionarv operations so near Imme, and witii so many sources of information witliin 
 tlieir reach. 'J he i)ositioii of the Cliocta-vv missidnarics on this sul)jcct i.s so well 
 VKDETisTOOD IN iHE KF.LiGioi s coMMV KiTY, that wc caiiuot bclieve tliosc who 
 make these charges to bo honest in doing so. u O p STAKI' " 
 
162 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 to New York, he drew up a report of this visit, and presented the 
 same to tlie Prudential Committee. It is deemed proper that this 
 document should be laid before the Board at the earliest opportu- 
 nity ; and it is herewith submitted. The results obtained by this 
 conference are highly satisfactory to the Committee.' 
 
 " The report of Mr. Wood is in the following language : — 
 
 " ' To the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners 
 for Foreign Missions : — 
 
 " ' I have to report a visit made by me to the Choctaw and Chero- 
 kee missions, in obedience to instructions contained in the following 
 resolutions adopted by you, March 6, 1855 : — 
 
 "Resolved, 1. That Mr. "Wood be requested to repair to the Choctaw 
 Nation, at his earliest conveaience, with a view to a fraternal conference 
 with the brethren in that field, in respect to the difficulties and embarrass- 
 ments which have grown out of the action of the Choctaw Council in the 
 matter of the boarding-schools, and also in respect to any other question 
 which may seem to require his attention. 
 
 " 2. That, in case the spring meeting of the Choctaw mission shall not 
 occur at a convenient time, he be authorized to call a meeting at such 
 time and place as he shall designate. 
 
 " 3. That on his return from the Choctaw mission, he be requested to 
 confer with the brethren of the Cherokee mission, in regard to any matter 
 that may appear to call for his consideration, and that he be authorized to 
 call a meeting for this purpose. 
 
 " 4. That on arriving in New York, he be instructed to prepare a 
 report, suggesting such plans and measures for the adoption of the Com- 
 mittee in reference to either of these missions as he may be able to recom- 
 mend." 
 
 " ' Leaving New York, March 19, and proceeding by the way of 
 the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Napole(m, thence up the White 
 river, across to Little Kock, and through Arkansas to the Choctaw 
 country, I arrived at Stockbridge, April 11. Including the portions 
 of the days occupied in passing from one station to another, I de- 
 voted three days 'to Stockbridge, three to Wheelock, six to Pine 
 Ridge, three to Good-water, and three to Spencer; the latter a sta- 
 tion of the mission of the General Assembly's Board. Five days, 
 with a call of a night and half a day at Lenox, were occupied in the 
 journey to the Cherokee country, in which I spent two days at 
 Dwight, and three at Park Hill ; my departure from which was on 
 the lltliofMay, just one month from my arrival at Stockbridge. 
 My return to New York was on May 31, ten and a half weeks from 
 the time of leaving it. 
 
 "'I should do injustice to my own feelings, and to the members 
 of the two missions, not to state that my reception was every where 
 one of the utmost cordiality. The Choctaw mission, when my 
 coming was announced, agreed to observe a daily concert of prayer, 
 that it might be blessed to them and the end for which they were 
 informed it was designed. They met me in the spirit of prayer ; 
 our intercourse was much a fellowship in prayer ; and, through the 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 163 
 
 favor of Him who ho.iretli prayer, its issue was one of mutual coii- 
 gratulatiou and tiianksgivin^. 
 
 "'The visit, altliough a sliort one, afforded considerable opportu- 
 nity (wliich was diligently improved) for acquainting myself with 
 ihe views, feelings, plans and labors of the brethren of the missions. 
 Their attachment to their work and to the Board with which they 
 are connected is unwavering. With fidelity they prosecute the 
 great object of their higli calling ; and in view of the spiritual and 
 temporal transformation taking place around them, as the result of 
 the faithful proclamation of the Gospel, we are compelled to exclaim, 
 " What hath God wrought ! " It was pleasant to meet them, as 
 with frankness and fraternal affection they did me, in consultation 
 for the removal of difficulties and the adoption of measures for the 
 advancement of the one end desired equally by them and by the 
 Prudential Committee. 
 
 " ' Several topics became subjects of conference, on some of which 
 action was taken by the missions ; and on others recommendations 
 will be made by the Deputation, that need not be embraced in this 
 report. In respect to them all, there was entire harmony between 
 the Deputation and the missions. 
 
 " ' In their first resolution, the Committee requested me to repair 
 to the Choctaw Nation, with special reference to the embarrassments 
 and difficulties which have grown out of the action of tiie Choctaw 
 Coimcil in the matter of the boarding-scliools. A condensed state- 
 ment of the action of the Council, and of the missionaries and Pru- 
 dential Committee, previous to the sending of the Deputation, seems 
 to be here called for. 
 
 " * In the year 1842, the Choctaw Council, by law, placed four 
 female seminaries "under the direction and management of the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions," subject 
 only to " the conditions, limitations and restrictions rendered in the 
 act." In accordance with the act, a contract was entered into, by 
 which the schools were taken for a period of twenty years. The 
 "conditions, limitations and restrictions" specified in the act and 
 contract, so far as they bind the Board, are the following : 1. The 
 superintendents and teachers, with their families, shall board at the 
 same tiible witii tlie pupils. 2. In addition to letters, the pupils 
 shall be taught housewifery and sewing. 3, One-tenth of the pupils 
 are to be orphans, should so many apply for admission. 4. The 
 Board shall appropriate to the schools a sum equal to one-sixth of 
 the monies appropriated by the Clioctaw Council. With these ex- 
 ceptions, the " direction and management " of the schools were to 
 be as exclusively with the Board, as of any schools supported by the 
 funds of the Board. 
 
 " ' Thus the schools were carried forward until 1853. At the 
 meeting of the Council in that year, a new school law, containing 
 several provisions, (and sometimes spoken of in the plural as 
 "laws,") was enacted, bringing the Board, through its agents, 
 under new " conditions, restrictions, and limitations." A Board of 
 Trustees was established, and a General Superintendent of schools 
 provided for, to discharge various specified duties, for the faithful 
 performance of which they are to give bonds in the sum of §5,000. 
 
164 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 The enactments of this la-vr, affecting the agents of the Board under 
 the existing contract, are the following : — 
 
 "'1. The Board of Trustees, convened by the General Superintendent, 
 are to hear and determine diflBculties between a Trustee and any one con- 
 nected -with the schools; to judge of the fitness of teachers, &c., and re- 
 quest the Missionary Boards to remove any -whose removal they may think 
 called for; and, in case of neglect to comply Tvith their wishes, to report 
 the same to the Commissioner of Indian Aflairs through the United States 
 Agent. Section 5. 
 
 ' " 2. The Trustees are to select the scholars from their several districts. 
 Section 7. 
 
 " ' 3. No slave or child of a slave is to be taught to read or write " in or at 
 any school," etc., by any one connected in any capacity therewith, on pain 
 of dismissal and expulsion from the nation. Section 8. 
 
 " ' 4. Annual examinations are to take place at times designated by the 
 General Superintendent. Section 10. 
 
 " ' 5. The Trustees are empowered to suspend any school in case of sick- 
 ness or epidemics. Section 11. 
 
 " ' 6. It is made the duty of the General Superintendent and Trustees 
 promptly to remove, or report for removal, any and all persons connected 
 with the public schools or academies known to be abolitionists, or who 
 disseminate, or attempt to disseminate, directly or indirectly, abolition 
 doctrines, or any other fanatical sentiments, which, in their opinion, are 
 dangerous to the peace and safety of the Choctaw people. Section 13. 
 
 " 'By a separate act, the Board of Trustees was authorized to pro- 
 pose to the Missionary Boards, having schools under contract with 
 the Nation, the insertion of a clause providing for a termination of 
 the contract by either part}^, on giving six months' notice. 
 
 " ' With respect to the question, " Shall we submit to the pro- 
 visions and restrictions imposed by this new legislation, as a con- 
 dition of continued connection with the national schools ? " the 
 views of the Prudential Committee and the brethren of the mission 
 have been entirely in declared agreement. As stated in the last 
 Annual Report to the Board, (p. 166,) "the Committee decided at 
 once that they could not carry on the schools upon the new basis ; 
 and in the propriety of this action the missionaries concur." The 
 concurrence of the missionaries in this view, viz., that they could 
 not carry on the schools with a change from the original basis to 
 that of the new law, may be seen clearly expressed in their corre- 
 spondence with the Secretary having charge of the Indian missions, 
 particularly in the following communications : From Messrs. Kings- 
 bury and Byington, as the committee of the mission, under dates of 
 December 14 and 27, 1853 ; Mr. Kingsbury, January 4 and April 25, 
 1854 ; Mr. C. C. Copeland, March 1, 1854 ; Mr. Stark, August 22, 
 1854 ; Mr. Edwards, July 13, 1854 ; Mr. H. K. Copeland, May 16, 
 1854. See also letters from Mr. Chamberlain, January 7 and June 
 20, 1854. In some of these, the declaration is made, that, in the 
 apprehension of the writers, the schools must be relinquished, if the 
 laiv should not be repcahd ; one specilying, as justificatory reasons, 
 the breach of contract made, and the increased difficulty of obtain- 
 ing teachers — reasons also assigned by others ; another stating that 
 he " never could consent to take charge of a school under such reg- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 165 
 
 ulations ; " a third testifying, not only for himself, but for every 
 other member of the mission, an unwillingness to continue connec- 
 tion with the schools with subjection to the new requirements ; a 
 fourth affirming his " feeling " to be " tbat a strong remonstrance 
 should be presented to the Council, and on the strength of it, let the 
 mission lay down these schools ; " which, he states, would not in- 
 volve " giving up the instruction of these children, but would be 
 simply changing the plan," inasmuch as, according to his and others' 
 understanding of the case, the new law not having application to 
 other than the national schools, "at every station it will be found 
 an easy matter to have as large, and in some cases even larger, than 
 our present boarding-schools." 
 
 " ' In certain other communications, the view which the Commit- 
 tee adopted is exhibited, together with the opinion that it would be 
 better to wait for a movement on the part of the Choctaw author- 
 ities, before giving up the schools. See letters from Mr. Byington, 
 December 26, 1853 ; January 3 and 12, April 15, 1851 ; ]Mr. Kings- 
 bury, Februar}' 1 and 21, 1851; Mr. Chamberlain, January 13, 
 1851 ; Mr. Stark, February 6, 1851. This view^ w^as also formally 
 announced, as understood by the Committee, in resolutions of the 
 mission at its meeting in May, 1851, embracing a recommendation 
 of a course of procedure with the hope of securing the I'c peal, by the 
 next Council, of the obnoxious law. See Minutes, and letters of 
 Mr. C. C. Copeland, May lU and June 9, 1854. The Prudential 
 Committee, in the exercise of their discretion, as a principal party 
 to the contract, preferred another method, viz., to address the Coun- 
 cil directly, and sent a letter, under date of August 1, 1851, to one 
 of the missionaries for presentation. The missionary, with the 
 advice of his brethren, given at their meeting in September, (intel- 
 ligence of which was received at the Missionary House, October 20, 
 thirty-five days subsequent to the meeting of the Board at Hartford,) 
 withheld the letter, on the ground that, in their judgment, its pre- 
 sentation would defeat the object at which it aimed, and be " disas- 
 trous to the churches, to the Choctaws, and to the best interests of 
 the colored race." In respect to this action for obtaining the repeal 
 of the school law, there was a difference between the mission and 
 the Committee. The missionaries desired delay, and the leaving 
 of the matter to their management. The decision of the Committee, 
 approved by the Board, "not to conduct the boarding-schools in the 
 Choctaw nation in conformity with the principles prescribed by the 
 recent legislation of the Choctaw Council," * was in agreement with 
 the previously and subsequently expressed sentiments of all the 
 missionaries ; the objection felt by some of them to this resolution 
 being, not to the position which it assumes, but to the declaration 
 of it at that time by the Board. This being a determined question, 
 its settlement formed no part of the object for which the Deputation 
 was sent. 
 
 " ' Two other questions, however, required careful examination ; 
 and on these, free conference was had with the brethren at their 
 
 Rcsolutiuu of the Board adopted at Hartford. 
 
166 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 stations, and in a meeting of the mission held at Good-water, April 
 25 and 26, Mr. Edwards, who was absent from the mission, and Dr. 
 Hobbs, not being present : 1. The law remaining unrepealed, is it 
 practicable to carry on the schools wliile refusing conformity to the 
 new "conditions, limitations and restrictions" imposed by if? 
 2. If so, is it expedient to do it ? 
 
 " ' On the first of these questions, the opinion of the missionaries 
 was in tlie alHrmative. No attempt has been made to carry out 
 these new provisions. The Trustees and General Superintendent 
 have not given the required bond. One of the Trustees informed 
 me that he should not give it, and that, in his belief, the law would 
 remain a dead letter, if not repealed, as it was his hope that it would 
 be. The course of the missionaries has been in no degree changed 
 by it. The teaching of slaves in these schools has never been 
 practised or contemplated. The law Avas aimed at such teaching in 
 their families and Sabbath schools. So the missionaries and the 
 people understand it. It is generally known among the latter that 
 the former are ready to give up these schools, rather than retain 
 them on condition of subjection to this law. Our brethren are now 
 carrying on the schools, and doing, in all other respects, just as they 
 were before the new law was enacted ; and they have confidence 
 that they may continue to do so. 
 
 " ' The second question was one of more uncertainty to my own 
 mind, and in the minds of some of the mission. The maintenance 
 of these schools is a work of great difficulty. In the opinion of 
 several of the missionaries, it was at least doubtful whether the cost 
 in health, perplexity, trouble in obtaining teachers, time which 
 might be devoted to preaching, and money, was not too great for 
 the results ; and it was suggested that an opportunity, afforded by 
 divine Providence for relieving us from a burden too heavy to sus- 
 tain for nine years longer, should be embraced. See letters from 
 Ur. Hotchkin, March 21, 1854 ; Mr. H. K. Copeland, January 23 
 and July 27, 185dt ; Mr. Lansing, December 22, 185o, and JNIay 13, 
 1854. The fact and manner of the suspension of the school at 
 Good-water, in 1853, were portentous of increasing embarrassment 
 from other causes than the new school law ; and grave objections 
 exist to the connection with civil government of any department of 
 missionary operations. 
 
 " ' My observation of the schools, however, interested me much 
 in their behalf. They are doing a good work for the nation. Many 
 of the pupils become Christian wives, mothers and teachers. The 
 people api)reciate them highly ; and I was assured of a general 
 desire that they should remain in the hands of the mission, unsub- 
 jected to the inadmissible new conditions of the recent legislation. 
 In view of all the relations, which after full consideration the sub- 
 ject seemed to have, the following resolution, expressing the senti- 
 ment of the Deputation and the mission, was cheerfully and 
 unanimously adopted by the mission ; one of the older members, 
 however, avowing some difficulty in giving his assent to the latter 
 part of it, viz : 
 
 " Resolved, That while we should esteem it our duty to relinquish the 
 female boarding-schools at Pino Kidge, AYheelock and fc>toukbritlge, rather 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 167 
 
 than to carry them on under the provisions and restrictions of the late 
 school law, yet, regarding it as improbable that the requirement so to do 
 will be enforced, we deem it important, in the present circumstances of the 
 Choctaw Nation and mission, to continue our connection with them o7i the 
 original basis, and carry them forward Avith new hope and energy." 
 
 " ' Our hope of being allowed to maintain these schools as hereto- 
 fore, and make them increasingly useful, may be disappointed. 
 Neither the Prudential Committee nor the mission wish to retain 
 them, if they for whose benefit alone they have been taken prefer 
 that w^e should give them up. The relinquishment of them would 
 be a release from a weight of labor, anxiety and care, that nothing 
 but our love for the Choctaws could induce us longer to bear. Our 
 desire is only to do them good. 
 
 " 'A second subject of conference, but the one first considered, was 
 the principles, particularly in relation to slavery, on which the Pru- 
 dential Committee, Avith the formally expressed approbation of the 
 Board, aim to conduct its missions. I found certain misajjpre- 
 hensions existing in the minds of a portion of the mission in regard 
 to the origin and circumstances of the action of the Board at the 
 last annual meeting, which I was happy to correct. Several of the 
 members, including one of the two not present at this meeting of 
 the mission, have ever cordially approved the correspondence in 
 which the vicAvs of principles entertained by the Committee Avere 
 stated. Others, being with those just referred to a decided majority 
 of the wiiole body as at present constituted, have expressed their 
 agreement Avith those vicAvs as freely explained in personal inter- 
 course, with an exhibition of the intended meaning of his OAvn 
 ■written language, by the Secretary who Avas the organ of the Com- 
 mittee in communicating them. Others have supposed themselves 
 to differ, in some degree, from these principles, Avhen correctly ap- 
 prehended. A full comparison of vieAvs, to their mutual great satis- 
 faction, showed much less difference than Avas thought to exist be- 
 tAveen the members of the mission themselves, and between a part 
 of the mission and Avhat the Deputation understands to be the vieAvs 
 of the Prudential Committee. A statement of principles draAvn up 
 at Good-water, as being, in the estimation of the Deputation, (dis- 
 tinctly and repeatedly so declared,) those which the Committee had 
 set forth in their correspondence, particularly that had Avith the 
 mission in 1848, Avas unanimously adopted, as the brethren say, 
 "for the better and more harmonious prosecution of the great ob- 
 jects of the ChoctaAv mission on the part of the Prudential Commit- 
 tee and the members of the mission, and for the removal of any and 
 all existing difficulties Avhicli have groAvn out of public discussions 
 and action on the subject of slavery ; it being understood that the 
 sentiments noAv approved are not, in the estimation of the brethren 
 of the mission, ncAv, but such as for a long series of years have 
 really been held by them." 
 
 " ' The statement is given, Avith the appended resolution, in the 
 following Avords : 
 
 " ' 1. Slavery, as a system, and in its OAvn proper nature, is what 
 it is described to be, m the General Assembly's Act of 1818, and 
 the Report of the American Board adopted at Brooklyn in 1845. 
 
168 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " ' 2. Privation of liberty in holding slaves is, therefore, not to be 
 ranked with things indifferent, but with those which, if not made 
 right by special justificatory circumstances and the intention of the 
 doer, are morally wrong. 
 
 " ' 3. Those are to be admitted to the communion of the church 
 of whom the missionary and (in Presbyterian churches) his session 
 have satisfactory evidence that thej^ are in fellowship with Christ. 
 
 " '4. The evidence, in one view of it, of fellowship with Christ, is 
 a manifested desire and aim to be conformed, in all things, to the 
 spirit and requirements of the word of God. 
 
 " ' 5. Such desire and aim are to be looked for in reference to 
 slavery, slaveholding, and dealing with slaves, as in regard to other 
 matters ; not less, not more. 
 
 " '6. The missionary must, under a solemn sense of responsibility 
 to Christ, act on his own judgment of that evidence when obtained, 
 and on the manner of obtaining it. He is at liberty to pursue that 
 course which he may deem most discreet in eliciting views and feel- 
 ings as to slav^ery, as with respect to other things, right views 
 and feelings concerning which he seeks as evidence of Christian 
 character. 
 
 " ' 7. The missionary is responsible, not for correct views and 
 action on the part of his session and church members, but only for 
 an honest and proper endeavor to secure correctness of views and 
 action under the same obligations and limitations on this subject as 
 on others. He is to go only to the extent of his rights and responsi- 
 bilities as a minister of Christ. 
 
 " ' 8. The missionary, in the exercise of a wise discretion as to 
 time, place, manner and amount of instruction, is decidedly to dis- 
 countenance indulgence in known sin and the neglect of known 
 duty, and so to instruct his hearers that they may understand all 
 Christian duty. With that wisdom which is profitable to direct, he 
 is to exhibit the legitimate bearing of the Gospel upon every moral 
 evil, in order to its removal in the most desirable way ; and upon 
 slavery, as upon other moral evils. As a missionary, he has nothing 
 to do with political questions and agitations. He is to deal alone, 
 and as a Christian instructor and pastor, with what is morally 
 ■wrong, that the people of God may separate themselves therefrom, 
 and a right standard of moral action be held up before the world. 
 
 " ' 9. While, as in war, there can be no shedding of blood M-^ith- 
 out sin somewhere attached, and yet the individual soldier may not 
 be guilty of it ; so, while slavery is always sinful, we cannot esteem 
 every one who is legally a slaveholder a wrong-doer for sustaining 
 the legal relation. When it is made unavoidable by the laws of the 
 State, the obligations of guardianship, or the demands of humanity, 
 it is not to be deemed an offence against the rule of Christian right. 
 Yet missionaries are carefully to guard, and in the proper Avay to 
 ■vyarn others to guard, against unduly extending this plea of neces- 
 sity or the good of the slave ; against making it a cover for the love 
 and practice of slavery, or a pretence for not using efforts that are 
 lawful and practicable'to extinguish this evil. 
 
 " '10. Missionaries are to enjoin ui)on all masters and servants 
 obedience to the directions specially addressed to them in the Holy 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 169 
 
 Scriptures, and to explain and illustrate the precepts containing 
 them. 
 
 " ' 11. In the exercise of discipline in the churches, under the 
 same obligations and limitations as in regard to other acts of wrong- 
 doing, and which are recognized in the action of ministers with 
 reference to otlier matters in evangelical churches where slavery 
 does not exist, missionaries are to set their faces against all overt 
 acts in relation to this subject, vvliich are manifestly unchristian and 
 sinful; such as the treatment of slaves with inhumanity and op- 
 pression ; keeping from them the knowledge of God's holy will ; 
 disregarding the sanctity of the marriage relation ; trifling with the 
 aflections of parents, and setting at nought the claims of children 
 on their natural protectors ; and regarding and treating human 
 beings as articles of merchandise. 
 
 " ' 12. For various reasons, we agree in the inexpediency of our 
 employing slave labor in other cases than tliose of manifest neces- 
 sity ; it being understood that the objection of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee to the employment of such labor is to that extent only. 
 
 " ' 13. Agreeing thus in essential principles, missionaries associated 
 in the same field sliould exercise charity towards each other, and 
 have confidence in one another, in respect to differences which, from 
 diversity of judgment, temperament, or other individual peculiarities, 
 and from difference of circumstances in Avhich they are placed, may 
 arise among them in the practical carrying out of these principles ; 
 and we think that this should be done by others towards us as a 
 missionary body. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That we agree in the foregoiag as an expression of our 
 views concerniug our relatioQS and duties as missionaries in regard to the 
 subject treated of; and are happy to believe that, having this agreement 
 with what we now understand to be the views of the Prudential Commit- 
 tee, we may have their confidence, as they have ours, in the continued 
 prosecution together of the great work to which the great Head of the 
 church has called us among this people. 
 
 " ' The statement thus approved was read throughout, and was 
 afterwards considered in detail, each member of the mission ex- 
 pressing his views upon it as fully, and keeping it under considera- 
 tion as long, as he desired to do. After the assent given to it, 
 article by article, on the day following it was again read, and the 
 question was taken upon it as a whole, with the appended resolution, 
 each of the eight members giving his vote in flivor of its adoption. 
 It is perhaps proper also to mention, that no change by way of 
 emendation, addition or omission of phraseology was found necessary 
 to make it such as any member of the mission would be willing to 
 accept. It should further be stated, that while the first article was 
 under consideration, the act of the General Assembly of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, adopted in 1818, was read, and its strongest ex- 
 pressions duly weighed. The document thus considered and re- 
 ferred to is herewith submitted as a part of this report.* 
 
 * " The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken 
 into couiidcration the subject of slavery, think proper to make known 
 8 
 
170 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " ' So also was adduced the abundant testimony contained in the 
 TJeport of the American Board adopted in 1845, as to what, in its 
 riew, slavery, without qualification of place or time, and as it exists 
 in the United States and among the Indians, is : such as its classifi- 
 cation of slavery with war, polygamy, the castes of India, and other 
 things which it speaks of as "social and moral evils;" and such 
 language as the following : " The Committee do not deem it 
 necessary to discuss the general subject of slavery as it exists in 
 these United States, or to enlarge on the wickedness of the system, 
 or on the disastrous moral and social influences which slavery exerts 
 upon the less enlightened and less civilized communities where the 
 missionaries of this Board are laboring : " " The unrighteousness 
 of the principles on which the whole system is based, and the 
 violation of the natural rights of man, the debasement, wickedness 
 and misery it involves, and which are in fact Avitnessed to a greater 
 
 their sentiments upon it to the churches and people under their care. We 
 consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race bj' another 
 as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human 
 nature; as utterly inconsistent with tbe law of God, which requires us to 
 love our neighbor as ourselves; and as totally irreconcilable with the 
 spirit and principles of the Gospel of Christ, which enjoins that ' all 
 things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
 them.' Slavery creates a paradox in the moral system; it exhibits ra- 
 tional, accountable and immortal beings in such circumstances as scarcely 
 to leave them the power of moral action. It exhibits them as dependent 
 on the will of others, whether they shall receive religious instruction; 
 whether they shall know and worship the true God; whether they shall 
 enjoy the ordinances of the Gospel; whether they shall perform the duties 
 and cherish the endearments of husbands and wives, parents and children, 
 neighbors and friends; whether they shall preserve their chastity and 
 purity, or regard the dictates of justice and humanity. Such are some of 
 the consequences of slavery — consequences not imaginary, but which 
 connect themselves with its very existence. The evils to which the slave 
 is always exposed often take place in fact, and in their very worst degree 
 and form; and where all of them do not take place, as we rejoice to say, in 
 many instances, through the influence of the principles of humanity and 
 religion on the mind of masters, they do not, still, the slave is deprived of 
 his natural right, degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger 
 of passing into the hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the 
 hardships and injuries which inhumanity and avarice may suggest. 
 
 "From this view of the consequences resulting from the practice into 
 which Christian people have most inconsistently fallen of enslaving a por- 
 tion of their brethren of mankind — for ' God hath made of one blood all 
 nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth ' — it is manifestly tho 
 duty of all (Christians who enjoy the light of the present day, when the in- 
 consistency of slavery, both with the dictates of humanity and I'eligion, 
 has been demonstrated, and is generally seen and acknowledged, to use 
 their honest, earnest and unwearied endeavors to correct the errors of for- 
 mer times, and as speedily as possible to etface this blot on our holy reli- 
 gion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery throughout Christen- 
 dom, and if possible throughout the world. 
 
 " We rejoice that the Ciuuch to which we belong commenced, as early as 
 any other iu this country, the good work of endeavoring to put an end to 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 171 
 
 or less extent wherever it exists, must call forth the hearty con- 
 demnation of all possessed of Ciiristian feeling and sense of riglit, 
 and make its removal an object of earnest and prayerful desire to 
 every friend to God and man : " " Strongly as your Committee are 
 convinced of the wrongfulness and evil tendencies of slaveholding, 
 and ardently as they desire its speedy and imiversal termination, 
 still they cannot think that in all cases it involves individual guilt in 
 such a manner that every person implicated in it can, on Scriptural 
 grounds, be excluded from Christian fellowship. In the language 
 of Dr. Chalmers, ' Distinction ought to be made between tlie 
 character of a si/sfcm, and the character of the persons whom cir- 
 cumstances have implicated therewith ; nor would it always be just, 
 if all the recoil and horror wherewith the former is contemplated, 
 were visited in the form of condemnation and moral indignancy 
 upon the latter. Slavery we hold to be a system chargeable with 
 
 slavery, and that in the same work many of its members have ever since 
 been, and now are, among the most active, vigorous and efficient laborers. 
 We do, indeed, tenderly sympathize with those portions of our Church and 
 our country where the evil of slavery has been entailed upon them; where 
 a great and the most virtuous part of the community abhor slavery, and 
 wish its extermination as sincerely as any others — but where the number 
 of slaves, their ignorance, and their vicious habits generally, render aa 
 immediate and universal emancipation inconsistent alike with the safety 
 and happiness of the master and the slave. AVith those wlio are thus cir- 
 cumstanced, we repeat that we tenderly sympathize. At the same time, 
 we earnestly exhort them to continue, and if possible to increase their ex- 
 ertions to etfect a total abolition of slavery. AVe exhort them to sutler no 
 greater delay to take place in this most interesting concern, than a regard 
 to the public welfiire truly and indispensably demands. 
 
 " As our country has inflicted a most grievous injury on the unhappy 
 Africans, by bringing them into slavery, we cannot indeed urge that we 
 should add a second injury to the first, by emancipating them in such 
 manner as that tliey will be likely to destroy themselves or others. But 
 we do think, that our country ought to be governed in this matter by no 
 other consideration than an honest and impartial regard to the happiness 
 of the injured party, uninfluenced by the expense or inconvenience which 
 such a regard may involve. We, therefore, warn all who belong to our 
 denomination of Christians against unduly extending this plea of necessi- 
 ty; against making it a cover for the love and practice of slavery, or a 
 pretence for not using efforts that are lawful and practicable to extinguish 
 this evil. 
 
 "And we, at the same time, exhort others to forbear harsh censures 
 and uncharitable reflections on their brethren, who unhappily live among 
 slaves whom they cannot immediatel}'^ set free ; but who, at the same time, 
 arc really using all their influence, and all their endeavors, to bring them 
 into a state of freedom, as soon as a door for it can be safely opened. 
 
 " Having thus expressed our views of slavery, and of the duty indis- 
 pensably incumbent on all Christians to labor for its complete extinction, 
 wc proceed to recommend — and we do it with all the earnestness and 
 solemnity which this momentous subject demands — a particular attention 
 to the following jtoints. 
 
 " We recommend to all our people to patronize and encourage the Society 
 lately formed for colouizing in Africa, the laud of their ancestors, the free 
 
172 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 atrocities and evils, often the most hideous and appalling which 
 have either afflicted or deformed our species ; yet we must not, 
 therefore, say of every man born within its territory, who has 
 gi'own up familiar with its sickening spectacles, and not only by his 
 habits been inured to its transactions and sights, but who by in- 
 heritance is himself the owner of slaves, that unless he make the 
 resolute sacrifice, and renounce his property in slaves, he is, there- 
 fore, not a Christian, and should be treated as an outcast from all 
 the distinctions and privileges of Christian society.' " And the 
 language (quoted approvingly) unanimously uttered by the General 
 Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland : " Without being pre- 
 pared to adopt the principle that, in the circumstances in which they 
 are placed, the churches in America ought to consider slaveholding 
 l^er se an insuperable barrier in the way of enjoying Christian 
 privileges, or an otFence to be visited with excommunication, all 
 
 people of color in our country. We hope that much good may result from 
 the plans and efforts of this Society. And while we exceedingly rejoice to 
 have witnessed its origin and organization among the holders of slaves, as 
 giving an unequivocal pledge of their desires to deliver themselves and 
 their country from the calamity of slavery, we hope that those portions 
 of the American Union, whose inhabitants are by a gracious Providence 
 more favorably circumstanced, will cordially, and liberally, and earnestly 
 cooperate with their brethren in bringing about the great end contem- 
 plated. 
 
 " We recommend to all the members of our religious denomination, not 
 only to permit, but to facilitate and encourage the instruction of their 
 slaves in the principles and duties of the Christian religion ; by granting 
 them liberty to attend on the preaching of the Gospel, when they have 
 opportunity; by favoring the instruction of them in the Sabbath school, 
 wherever those schools can be formed; and by giving them all other proper 
 advantages for acquiring a knowledge of their duty both to God and to man. 
 W^e ai-e perfectly satisfied that it is incumbent on all Christians to compau- 
 nicate religious instruction to those who are under their authority; so that 
 the doing of this in the case before us, so far from operating, as some have 
 apprehended that it might, as an incitement to insubordination and insur- 
 rection, would, on the contrary, operate as the most powerful means for 
 the prevention of those evils. 
 
 " We enjoin it on all church sessions and presbyteries, under the care of 
 this Assembly, to discountenance, and as far as possible to prevent, all 
 cruelty, of whatever kind, in the treatment of slaves; especially the cru- 
 elty of separating husband and wife, parents and children, and that which 
 consists in selling slaves to those who will either themselves deprive these 
 unhappy people of the blessings of the Gospel, or who will transport 
 them to places where the Gospel is not proclaimed, or where it is forbidden 
 to slaves to attend upon its institutions. And if it shall ever happen that 
 a Christian professor in our communion shall sell a slave who is also in 
 communion and good standing with our church, contrary to his or her will 
 and inclination, it ought immediately to claim the particular attention of 
 the proper church judicature ; and unless there be such peculiar circum- 
 stances attending the case as can but seldom happen, it ought to be fol- 
 lowed, without delay, by a suspension of the offender from all the privi- 
 leges of the church, till he repent, and make all the reparation in his 
 power to the injured party." — See Assembly's Digest, pp. 274-8. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 173 
 
 must agree in holding, that wliatever rights the civil laAy of the land 
 may give a master over liis slaves as chattels personal, it cannot be 
 but sift of the deepest dye to regard and treat them as such ; and 
 whosoever commits that sin in any sense, or deals otherwise than as 
 a Christian man ought to deal with his fellow-man, whatever power 
 the law may give him over them, ought to be held disqualified 
 for Christian communion. Further, it must be the opinion of all, 
 that it is the duty of Christians, when they find themselves un- 
 happily in the predicament of slaveholders, to aim, as far as it may 
 be practicable, at the manumission of their slaves ; and when that 
 cannot be accomplished, to secure them in the enjoyment of the 
 domestic relations, and of the means of religious training and educa- 
 tion." 
 
 " ' All this, and more, was immediately before the minds of the 
 members of the mission, and with so much of the connection as to 
 give the true sense, when they declared that slavery is what, in the 
 documents referred to, it is described to be, and made their own the 
 statement of principles above given, as those on which, as mission- 
 aries, they should deal with this subject in the circumstances of 
 their field of labor, and when it is to them a practical missionary 
 question. 
 
 " ' The Cherokee mission in session at Park Hill, May 9, adopted 
 a resolution of concurrence with the Choctaw mission in approving 
 this statement. 
 
 " ' Excluding two churches then connected with the mission of 
 the Board, and since transferred to another mission, there were in 
 18i8, under the care of the American Board, in the Choctaw nation^ 
 six churches, with a total membership of 536 persons, of whom 25 
 were slaveholders, and 64 were slaves. The churches are now 11 
 in number, containing 1094 members ; of whom, as nearly as I could 
 ascertain, 20 are slaveholders, (some of them being husband and 
 wife, and generally having but one or two slaves each,) and 60 are 
 slaves. Six of the churches have no slaveholder in them ; two 
 have but one each. Of the slaveholders in these churches, four 
 have been admitted since 1848; one by transfer from another de- 
 nomination, and three on profession of their faith ; none of the latter 
 having been received since 1850. Statements were made to me 
 respecting each of these latter cases, which show that the principles 
 assented to by the mission at Good-water, as above presented, were 
 practically carried out in regard to them. 
 
 " ' In the Cherokee mission, in 1848, there were five churches, 
 having 237 members, of whom 24 were slaveholders, and 23 were 
 slaves. In the five churches now in that mission, there are 207 
 members, of whom 17 (there is uncertainty in regard to one of this 
 number) are reported as slaveholders. Three have been admitted 
 since 1848 on profession of their faith, and two by letter; one of the 
 latter from a church in New Hampshire. Of these, the same remark 
 may be made as above in respect to simiiar cases among the Choc- 
 taws. 
 
 " ' The Choctaw mission embraces eleven families and three 
 large boarding-schools. Five slaves, hired at their own desire, are 
 in the employment of the missionaries. A less number are employ- 
 
174 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 ed in the Clierokee mission. Gladly would the missionaries dis- 
 pense with these, could the necessary amount of free labor for 
 domestic service be obtained. Those who employ this slave labor 
 allege that it is to them a matter of painful necessity, Tiiey are 
 known to resort to it unwillingly, and are not regarded as thereby 
 giving their sanction to slavery. Some thus employed have been 
 brought to a saving knowledge of divine truth. 
 
 " ' The sentiments of these two missions as to the moral character 
 of slavery, and the principles on which they should act with regard 
 to it, are frankly and unequivocally avowed. We are bound to be- 
 lieve them honest in the expression of these sentiments. It is their 
 expectation that the principles thus acknowledged as their own will 
 be those on which the missions will be conducted. The adjudica- 
 tion of particular cases must be left to the missionary. That it be 
 so left, is his right ; it is also unavoidable. The position of the mis- 
 sionaries is one of great difficulty, and should be appreciated. That 
 there is such a diversity of judgment among them as men of inde- 
 pendent thought and ditfering mental characteristics, who agree in 
 essential principles, every where evince, and that they have, through 
 a use of phraseology, leading sometimes to a mutual misunderstand- 
 ing of each other's views, supposed themselves to differ more widely 
 than, in our conferences, they found themselves really to do, has 
 been intimated. That none of them have sympathy with slavery ; 
 that, on the other hand, their influence is directly and strongly ad- 
 verse to its continuance, while they are doing much in mitigation 
 of its evils, and to bless both master and slave, in the judgment of 
 the Deputation, is beyond a doubt. By many, they are denounced 
 as abolitionists. Some of their slaveholding church members have 
 left their churches for another connection on this account. Others 
 have disconnected themselves from a system which they have 
 learned to dislike and disapprove. Strong in the confidence and 
 affection of many for whose salvation they have toiled and suffered, 
 by the supporters of slaverj^ in and out of the Nations, they un- 
 doubtedly are looked upon with growing suspicion. Surely we 
 should not be willing needlessly to embarrass them in their blessed 
 work. They are worthy of the confidence and warmest sympathy 
 of every friend of the red man and of the black man. God is with 
 them. In the Cherokee mission, the dispensation of his grace is 
 not, indeed, now as in times past ; and we have some seriousness of 
 apprehension in regard to the progress of the Gospel among that 
 people. Still, the divine presence is not Avanting. Among the 
 Choctaws, rapid advance is making. Converts are multii)lying ; the 
 fruits of the Gospel abound. Both missions need reinforcement. 
 Men filled with the spirit of Christ, able to endure hardness, of prac- 
 tical wisdom, which knows how to do good, and not to do only harm 
 when good is meant, men of faith, energy, meekness and prayer, 
 who will commend themselves to every man's conscience in the 
 sight of God as his servants, are required. It gave me i)leasure to 
 assure the missions of the strong desire of the Prudential Committee, 
 and of my future personal endeavors, to obtain such men for them. 
 No philanthropist can behold the change which has been wrought 
 for these lately pagan, savage tribes, now orderly Christianized 
 
IxN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 175 
 
 communities, advancing in civilization, to take ere long, if they 
 go on in their coarse, their place witli tliose whose Cln-istian civili- 
 zation is the grow^th of many centuries, without aJmii'ation and 
 delight. But there is much yet to be done for them. "This na- 
 tion," says the Choctaw mission, in a published letter, " in its im- 
 provements, schools, churches, and public spirit pertaining to the 
 great cause of benevolence, is but an infant." We must not expect 
 too much from these churches in which we glory. Much fostering 
 and training do they yet need ; and there are many souls yet to be 
 enlightened and saved. Wonderful as are the renovation and ele- 
 vation which the Gospel, taught in its simplicity by faithful men, 
 has already given to these communities, our only hope for them, 
 and for the colored race in the midst of them, is in the continued 
 application of the same power through the same instrumentality. 
 
 " 'It was the privilege of the Deputation to spend a part of three 
 days, including a Sabbath, at Spencer Academy, an institution con- 
 taining one hundred male pupils, excellently managed under the 
 charge of the Board of the General Assembly; and to attend there 
 a " big meeting," or a camp-meeting, at which several hundreds 
 were present. My intercourse with brethi*en at that station, and 
 the scenes in which I there mingled, — the feUowship in Christ with 
 the heralds of his cross, some of them bowed with the weight of many 
 years of wearing toil and affliction, and hastening to their glorious 
 crown already won by honored names, no longer with them, of our 
 own mission ; and the interchange of sympathy with the disciples 
 of Christ, whom God has given them as the fruit of their labor, will 
 ever live among the pleasantest recollections of my life. I am con- 
 strained to repeat my testimony to the fraternal and Christian spirit 
 with wliich the brethren met my endeavors to remove difficulties, 
 strengthen the ties that bind them and the Board together, and clear 
 the way for harmonious and more energetic profsecution of the great 
 work in which we are associated. To a good degree this object, we 
 may hope, has been gained. To Him, whose is their work and ours, 
 and to whom the interests involved are infinitely more precious than 
 to any of us who are connected with them, we commit the future 
 keeping of this great trust. 
 
 " ' It is due to the Choctaw mission that I communicate to the 
 Committee the following resolution, presented by the Rev. Mr. 
 Byington, and adopted by the mission at the close of its meeting at 
 Good-water : — 
 
 "Res^olv.ii, That tho cordial thanks of the members of the missioa be 
 presented to the Rev. George W. Wood, the Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., 
 who is with us as a Deputation from the Prudential Committee, for hiij 
 kind, wise and successful efforts in our mission to remove the weight of 
 anxiety wliich has lonj; pressed down our hearts in connection with tho 
 subject of slavery. Wo now rejoice much in this mutual and kind inter- 
 change of thoughts and affections. We would pray for grace ever to walk 
 in the path of life, and that ble?shigs may attend him, while with us and 
 on his way homo, his family and brethren during his absence, as well as 
 our mission and the American Board and all its officers. ^Vith peculiar 
 sincerity of Uoarfc and gratitade to our Savior, we pre^sont to him thi^j 
 
176 THE AMEHICAN BOARD 
 
 token of regard for our dear brother, and make this record of divine 
 mercy toward our mission." 
 
 " ' All which is respectfully suhmittctl, 
 
 "'Geo. W. Wood. 
 " 'Rooms of the A. B. C. F. M., New York, June 13, 1855.' 
 
 " This commnnication of the Prudential Committee was re- 
 ferred to a special committee, consisting of Dr. Beman, Dr. Thos. 
 De AVitt, Dr. Hawes, Chief Justice "Williams, Doct. L. A. Smith, 
 Dr. J. A. Stearns, and Hon. Linus Child, who subsequently made 
 the following report: — 
 
 " ' Your Committee have endeavored to look at this paper in its 
 intrinsic character and practical bearings, and they are happy to 
 state their unanimous conviction, that this visit will mark an aus})!- 
 cious era in the history of these missions. The report of Mr. Wood 
 is characterized by great clearness and precision ; and it presents the 
 whole matters pending between the Prudential Committee and these 
 missions fully before us. The conferences of the Deputation with 
 the missionaries appear to have been conducted in a truly Christian 
 spirit ; and the results which are set forth in the resolutions, adopted 
 with much deliberation and after full discussion, are such as we may 
 all hail with Christian gratitude. 
 
 " ' It is the opinion of your Committee, that the great end which 
 has been aimed at by the Prudential Committee in their correspon- 
 dence with these missions, for several years past, and by the Board 
 in their resolutions adopted at the last annual meeting-, has been 
 substantially accomplished. While your Committee admit that there 
 may be some incidental points on which an honest diversity of 
 opinion may exist, yet they fully believe that this adjustment should 
 be deemed satisfiictory, and tliat further agitation is not called for. 
 While your Committee cannot take it upon themselves to predict 
 what new developments, calling for new action hereafter, may take 
 place, they are unanimously of the opinion, that the Prudential Com- 
 mittee, and these laborious and efficient missionaries on this field of 
 Christian effort, may go forward, on the basis adopted, in perfect 
 harmony in the prosecution of their future work. 
 
 " ' Your Committee feel that the thanks of this Board are due to 
 Mr. Wood and our missionary brethren, for the manner in which 
 they have met, considered and adjusted these diflacult matters 
 which have long been in debate ; and at the same time, they would 
 not forget that God is the source of all true light in our deepest 
 darkness, and that to him all the glory is ever due.' 
 
 " The foregoing report of the select Committee was adopted 
 by the Board." 
 
 It has been seen that the visit of Mr. Wood to the Cherokee 
 and Choctaw missionaries embraced two subjects; the diffi- 
 culties growing out of the action of the Choctaw Council in 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 177 
 
 regard to boarding-schools, and the policy to be pursued by 
 both missions in regard to slavery. Upon both these sub- 
 jects, Mr. Wood testities, (p. 21,) " there was entire harmony 
 between the Deputation and the missions." 
 
 In regard to the first of these subjects, Mr. Wood had 
 strong assurances, from one of the Trustees of the boarding- 
 schools, that the objectionable law would probably remain a 
 dead letter, even if not spontaneously repealed. But this 
 still stronger reason is stated (p. 23) for making no formal 
 objection to the law : — 
 
 " The course of the missionaries has been in no degree changed 
 by it. The teaching of slaves in these schools has never been practised 
 
 OR COXTEMPLATKD." 
 
 Every thing shows that the missionaries had acquiesced, 
 from the beginning, in that system of caste which is one of 
 the concomitants of American slavery. 
 
 The second and more important subject, settled between 
 the Deputation and the two missions at this time, respected 
 " the principles, particularly in relation to slavery, on which 
 the Prudential Committee, with the formally expressed ap- 
 probation of the Board, aim to conduct its missions." 
 
 The most formal and important part of this action is " a 
 statement of principles drawn up at Good-water," which re- 
 ceived the unanimous assent of the Choctaw and Cherokee 
 missionaries, and of Mr. Wood, on the part of the Pruden- 
 tial Committee. The missionaries deemed it important to 
 say, that they agreed to these sentiments not as being new, 
 either in theory or practice, " but such as for a long series of 
 years have really been held by them." 
 
 It must be admitted, that the claim thus made by the mis- 
 sionaries, of having pursued a uniform and consistent course 
 in regard to slavery, is perfectly just. They have never 
 practised the disingenuousness, tergiversation and direct de- 
 ceit which have characterized the action of the Prudential 
 Committee and the Board on this subject. They had favored 
 slaveholding from the beginning, passively, by silence respect- 
 ing the practice of it in the Indian nations at large, and 
 actively, by receiving those who practised it into their 
 churches as Christians ; and their difficulties sprang entirely 
 from the time-serving policy of the Prudential Committee, 
 8* 
 
178 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 who were constantly trying to reconcile this course of con- 
 duct, on the part of their pro-slavery missionaries, with 
 assent to the anti-slavery truths urged upon them by the 
 remonstrants at their Annual Meetings. Thus the formal 
 allowance now given, by the adoption of the " Good-water 
 Statement," to a continuance of slaveholders in the Cherokee 
 and Choctaw churches, was in truth only a renewed assent, 
 on the part of the Prudential Committee, to that which had 
 always been alike the theory and practice of the missiona- 
 ries. 
 
 "We have now to consider the meaning and scope of the 
 " Good-water Statement," which consists of thirteen proposi- 
 tions, followed by a Resolution declaring the concurrence of 
 the missionaries with the Prudential Committee in all therein 
 contained. 
 
 The first of these propositions seems to intend to define 
 slavery ; but instead of telling us what slavery is, it adopts 
 the descriptions of it, and the conclusions in regard to it, 
 contained in two documents — The Act of 1818, passed by the 
 General Assembly of the Freshyterian Church, and The 
 Report to the American Board, written by Dr. Woods, and 
 adopted at Broohlyn in 1845. 
 
 The latter of these documents has already been quoted at 
 length, and its substance shown to be as follows : 
 
 Although much may be truly said against the system of 
 slavery in general, we must not undertake to exclude every 
 slaveholder from Christian fellowship ; every person who 
 manifests " a saving change of heart " is entitled to church 
 membership ; this saving change of heart may exist just as 
 really, and be manifested just as thoroughly, among slave- 
 holders as others; the missionaries are the proper persons to 
 decide in what cases this change is manifested ; and, since 
 they have constantly 7nade this decision in favor of slavehold- 
 ers, with the allowance and consent of the Frudential Com- 
 mittee, the best course for this Board is to do nothing in the 
 premises, and to let these faithful and devoted missionaries 
 continue to treat slaveholders as Christians — as heretofore. 
 
 To show that this condensation of the scope and purport of 
 Dr. Woods's Report (adopted by the American Board at 
 Brooklyn in 1845) understates rather than overstates its 
 pro-slavery character, I subjoin the following extracts from 
 it, prefixing appropriate headings : — 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 179 
 
 HOW THE PRO-SLATERT MISSIONARIES ARE AUTHORIZED STILL TO 
 ADMIT SLAVEHOLDERS ! 
 
 " How far Jwldinr/ slaves, or any tiling else involving what is mor- 
 allv wrong, and which still clings to the heathen convert, affects the 
 evidence that a principle of grace has been implanted in his heart, 
 the missionari/, in view of his commission, the instructions of the New 
 Testament, and all the circumstances of the case, as they are pres- 
 ent before him, must, in connection with his Church, and under a 
 solemn sense of responsibility to Christ, form his judgment, and on 
 that judgment he must act. Surely, no otlier persons are in circum- 
 stances so favorable as he for deciding and acting correctly. Such 
 freedom and such responsibility in the missionary, your Committee 
 believe, cannot be materialhj abrich/ed, without the most disastrous 
 consequences to the missionary's own happiness and efficiency, and 
 to the welfare of the heathen." 
 
 HOW THE PRO-SLAVERT 3IISSIONARIES HAVE BEEN " FAITHFUL/' 
 AND THEIR CONVERTS " HOPEFUL " AND "NUMEROUS " ! 
 
 " That the missionaries among these Indians have been faithful in 
 their work seems evident, not only from their own statements, but 
 also from the fact that the Holy Spirit has most remarkably owned 
 and blessed their labors ; the hopeful converts among the Choctaws 
 being proportionally more numerous than those in any other mission 
 connected with the' Board, except that at the Sandwich Islands." 
 
 HOW THESE "faithful" MISSIONARIES AVOID PERSONALITY IN 
 THE REBUKE OF SIN ! 
 
 " In regard to the kind and amount of instruction given by the 
 missionaries in relation to slavery, and the duties of masters and 
 slaves, the missionaries seem substantially to agree. Mr. Byington 
 says — 'We give such instructions to masters and servants as are 
 contained in the Epistles, and yet not in a way to rjive the subject 
 a peculiar prominence ; for then it would seem to be per- 
 sonal ! ' " 
 
 HOW these "hopeful" converts ILL-TREAT THEIR CHILDREN 
 AS WELL AS THEIR SLAVES ! 
 
 " In Christian instruction and care, both of their children and 
 their slaves, the missionaries represent these Indian church mem- 
 bers as being (jeneraUy, and often (jrcatbj, deficient ; but not much 
 
 more so in respect to the latter than the former A ijreat 
 
 propotiion of the red people, who own slaves, neglect entirely to train 
 their children to habits of industry." 
 
 "what the committee think of the admission of these 
 "hopeful," slaveholding, "heathen converts" to the 
 
 CHURCH ! 
 
 " Strongly as your Committee are convinced of the wrongfulness 
 and evil tendencies of slaveholding, and ardently as the}' desire its 
 speedy and universal termination, still, they cannot think that, in all 
 cases, it involves individual guilt in such a manner that every per- 
 son implicated in it can, on Scriptural grounds, be excluded from 
 Christian fellowship." 
 
180 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 WnO THE COMMITTEE THUSTK IS KESPOJ^SIBLE FOR THE COXTINU- 
 AXCE OF SLAYERT AMONG THE INDIANS ! 
 
 " Slavery was introduced among these Indians, and has been reg- 
 ulated by them, in unhappy imilation of their white neighbors in 
 the adjacent States. Wlietlier the Indians will be the first to abolish 
 it, must depend very much on that power from above which shall 
 attend the prevalence of Christian knowledge among them." 
 
 WHAT PIOUS CONCLUSION THE COMMITTEE, THE MISSIONARIES 
 AND THE BOARD UNANIMOUSLY ADOPT ! 
 
 " The Committee believe, in agreement with the unanimous opin- 
 ion of the missionaries, that any express directions from this Board 
 requiring them to adopt a course of proceeding on this subject 
 essentially different from that n-hirh theij have hitherto pursued, would 
 be fraught with disastrous consequences to the mission, to the In- 
 dians, and to the African race among them." 
 
 Our next subject of inquiry is the meaning and scope of 
 the Presbyterian General Assembly's Act of 1818, above 
 quoted. 
 
 Mr. Wood tells us that while the first article of the 
 " Good-water Statement " was under consideration, this Pres- 
 byterian document was read, " and its strongest expressions 
 duly weighed." It is important for the reader to note that 
 it contains two classes of " strongest expressions," having a 
 purport and bearing directly opposite to one another; and 
 that, while it admits (theoretically) many things to the dis- 
 credit of slavery, it decides (practically) that members of the 
 Presbyterian Church may indefinitely continue to buy, sell, 
 and hold slaves. I select the following passages in proof of 
 this last statement, which the reader may see in their proper 
 connection, a?ite, pp. 169-172. 
 
 HOW THE SLAVEHOLDING OF PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS AND 
 CHURCH MEMBERS IS NOT A SIN, BUT ONLY AN " EVIL," AND 
 NOT VOLUNTARY, BUT "ENTAILED UPON THEM " ! 
 
 " We do, indeed, tenderly sympathize with those portions of our 
 Church and our country where the evil of slavery has been entailed 
 upon them." 
 
 HOW THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY DISCOURAGE IMMEDIATE EMANCI- 
 PATION ! 
 
 " The number of slaves, their ignorance, and their vicious habits 
 generally, render an immediate and universal emancipation incon- 
 sistent alike with the safety and happiness of the master and the 
 
 slave.' 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 181 
 
 HOW THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY DISCOURAGE AGITATION AGAIXST 
 SLAVEIIOLDIXG IN THE CHURCH ! 
 
 " And we, at the same time, exhort others to forbear harsh cen- 
 sures and uncharitable reflections on their brethren, who unhappily 
 live among slaves whom they cannot immediately set free." 
 
 HOW THET PROPOSE THE EXPATRIATION OF COLORED AMERICANS, 
 AND TRY TO AVHITEWASH THE SLAVEHOLDING FOUNDERS OF THE 
 COLONIZATION SOCIETY ! 
 
 " We recommend to all our people to patronize and encourage the 
 Society lately formed for colonizing in Africa, the land of their an- 
 cestors, the free people of color in our country And we 
 
 exceedingly rejoice to have witnessed its origin and organization 
 among the holders of slaves, as giving an unequivocal pledge of their 
 desires to deliver themselves and their country from the calamity of 
 slavery." 
 
 HOW THEY NOT ONLY EXPRESSLY LICENSE A CONTINUANCE OF 
 SLAVEHOLDING, BUT SUGGEST THE TEACHING OF THE SLAVES 
 THAT GOD AUTHORIZES THEIR ENSLAVEMENT ! 
 
 " We recommend to all the members of our religious denomina- 
 tion not only to permit, but to facilitate and encourage, the instruc- 
 tion of their slaves in the principles and duties of the Christian 
 religion ; by granting them liberty to attend on the preaching of the 
 Gospel, ichtn theij have oppurtunittj ; by favoring the instruction of 
 them in the Sabbath School, ivherever those schools can he formed ; and 
 by giving them all otlier proper advantages for acquiring a knowl- 
 edge of their duty both to God and man. We are perfectly satisfied 
 that it is incumbent on all Christians to communicate religious in- 
 struction to those who are under their authorifi/ : so that the doing of 
 this, in the case before us, so far from operatinf/, as some have appre- 
 hended that it might, as an incitement to insubordination and insurrection, 
 would, on the contrary, operate as the most powerful means for 
 
 THE PREVENTION OF THOSE EVILS." 
 
 HOW THEY LICENSE SLAVERY, AND FORBID ONLY " CRUELTY " 
 TO SLAVES. 
 
 " We enjoin it on all Church Sessions and Presbyteries, under the 
 care of this Assembly, to discountenance, and, as far as possible, to 
 prevent, all cruelty, of whatever kind, in the treatment of slaves." 
 
 HOW THEY LICENSE THE SALE OF SLAVES WITHOUT EVEN INQUIRY 
 ON THE PART OF THE CHURCH, UNLESS THE SLAVE AS WELL AS 
 THE MASTER IS A CHURCH MEMBER ! 
 
 " And if it shall ever happen that a Christian professor in our 
 comiu union shall sell a slave who is also in communion and good 
 standing with our Church, contrary to his or her will and inclina- 
 tion, it ought immediately to claim the particular attention of the 
 proper church judicature." — See Assembly's Digest, pp. 27-1-8. 
 
182 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 To show that the allowance thus given by the General 
 Assembly of 1818 to slaveholding in the Presbyterian 
 Church was practical^ and not theoretical merelj^, I need but 
 refer to the following facts. 
 
 The Presbyterian ministers and church members were slave- 
 holders, to a very great extent, at the time of the adoption 
 of this document in 1818! 
 
 They have continued to be slaveholders ever since ! 
 
 Since that time, the Presbyterian Church has separated 
 into two divisions, called Old School and New School ; and 
 both these bodies retain slaveholding ministers and church 
 members without objection. They now hold 77,000 slaves. 
 And among these slaveholding Presbyterian church members 
 is Deacon Netherland, of Tennessee, who killed his aged 
 slave with a handsaw, on a charge which afterwards was 
 proved a false one, and who, after this act, sat without ob- 
 struction as a member of a " New School " Presbyterian 
 Convention, at Richmond, A^a., in the year of our Lord 
 1857, while his minister, Rev. Samuel Sawyer, for having 
 tried to bring Church discipline to hear upon this murderer^ 
 was driven aid of the Convention ! 
 
 The practical bearing, therefore, of this first article of the 
 " Good-water Statement," is to license a continuance of slave- 
 holding in the mission churches, even while admitting the 
 absolute inconsistency of the slave system with the law of 
 God and the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 The allowance of a recognition of slaveholding as justifia- 
 ble, and thus of the admission of people to the church irre- 
 spective of their slaveholding (which we have seen to be 
 implied in the first article of the "Good-water Statement") 
 is plainly expressed in its ninth article. This article not 
 only declares that slaveholding may be innocent, but sponta- 
 neously suggests three conditions, either of which is assumed 
 to make it "■unavoidable.'''' 
 
 The sixth article authorizes the missionary (referring, be it 
 remembered, to those very Cherokee and Choctaw missiona- 
 ries who have constantly admitted slaveholders to their 
 churches, and expressed their determination still to do so) to 
 make, in his examination of candidates for church member- 
 ship, just as much, and just as little, inquiry about slavehold- 
 ing as he pleases ! 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 183 
 
 The seventh article (seemingly intended to provide against 
 censure to the missionary in case one of his slaveholding 
 church members should turn out a Netherland, or a Legree) 
 declares that the missionary who has thus endorsed the slave- 
 holding of a candidate as right, at the time of his admission, 
 is not 7'esponsible for the correct views, or the correct action, 
 of that person afterwards ! 
 
 The eighth article allows the missionary to ignore and dis- 
 regard the commission of any sin, however great, by one of 
 his church members, if that sin be connected with a subject 
 classed as ''political "/ 
 
 The tenth article (deceitfully using the equivocal word 
 " servants " when speaking of slaves) implies that the Scrip- 
 tural injunction — "Servants, obey your masters"! — means 
 — Slaves, obey your masters ! — thus pretending a Scriptural 
 authority for American slavery ! 
 
 The eleventh article (speaking of cases needing church 
 discipline) excepts the holdiiig of slaves from such disci- 
 pline, and restricts the jurisdiction of the church to certain 
 special methods of slaveholding, or particular acts of a mas- 
 ter against those whom the whole document recognizes as 
 properly his slaves. The extent to which this provision 
 operates as an *' indulgence " for the most enormous sins will 
 not be appreciated, until we recognize the fact, that slavehold- 
 ing churches conform to the custom of the civil community in 
 which they exist, and refuse to receive the testimony of col- 
 ored persons, slaves or free, against the privileged class ; so 
 that in the church, just as in the civil courts, the person who 
 is accused only ly slaves of cruelly bruising or maiming his 
 slave-man, or of ravishing his slave-girl, is not only not tried 
 for this act, but is not considered to be accused at all ! The 
 declaration of the victim, even if a member of the same 
 church with the master, goes for nothing ! The laws and 
 customs of Church as well as State are so contrived, that the 
 master maj^ secure perfect impunity for acts like these, by 
 letting none but slaves witness them ! 
 
 The testimony in regard to crimes committed by slave- 
 holders against slaves is not only restricted, as above-men- 
 tioned, by law in the State and by custom in the Church, but 
 it is further, and yet more effectually restricted, by the habit 
 of slaveholders to stand by each other in the defence of their 
 
184 
 
 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 wicked " institution," and to leave unmentioned and disre- 
 garded the facts that would most injure it in public estima- 
 tion. I will merely allude here to an illustrative fact of 
 later occurrence, which was brought out by the diligent scru- 
 tiny of Prof. S. C. Bartlett, of Chicago, and which will be 
 given in full in its proper place ; namely, the burning alive 
 of a slave-woman, the mother of eight children, and a mem- 
 ber of the mission-church at Stockbridge, in the Choctaw 
 nation, under the pastoral care of Rev. Cyrus Byington, 
 then a missionary of the American Board. This act was 
 done at the instigation of her mistress, a member of the same 
 church, and was done by Choctaw slaveholders, in the pres- 
 ence of many persons who were competent to testify, had 
 they been disposed. The victim asserted her innocence to 
 the last. The Stockbridge church soon after held " a big 
 meeting " for the communion of the Lord's supper, but no 
 notice appears to have been taken of this crime, either by 
 the minister or the church members ; and Eev. Mr. Bying- 
 ton, who has always been praised by the Board as 2i faithful 
 and devoted missionary, thought fit to make no report of this 
 fact to his employers. 
 
 The thirteenth article of the " G-ood-water Statement," and 
 the Resolution which closes it, declare an agreement in " es- 
 sential principles " to be thus established between the mis- 
 sionaries and the Prudential Committee. Mr. Wood, in his 
 subsequent remarks, (p. 26 of the Annual Report,) speaks of 
 the entire and hearty unanimity with which every missionary 
 assented to it, article by article, and then voted for it as a 
 whole. Of course they did so, since this document is an 
 authentication, by the Prudential Committee, of the previous 
 policy of the missionaries, and a license for its continuance ; 
 and, especially, since nothing is here intimated of the right 
 and duty of the Prudential Committee to dismiss any mis- 
 sionary who shall prove unfaithful in his ministerial office. 
 
 It will be remembered that in the elaborate paper * drawn 
 up by the three Secretaries, " On the Control to be exercised 
 
 * This paper, in view of reasons suggested hy the Prudential Committee, 
 was "received" from them by the Board, icithout any action on the question 
 of its adoption. See p. 02 of Ann. Rep. for 18i8, and p. 71 of Ann. Rep. 
 for 1849. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 185 
 
 over Missionaries and Mission Churches," it was very briefly 
 noticed — (in the section " How far the Board is responsible 
 for the teaching of the Missionaries, and for the character of 
 the Mission Churches," p. 78, Ann. Rep. for 1848,) — that, 
 if a missionary proved persistently unfaithful, the Board 
 might " dissolve his connection.'''' This paper, however, pro- 
 ceeded, after such brief mention of the proper key with 
 which to unlock the whole difliculty — and all the voluminous 
 subsequent action of the Prudential Committee has pro- 
 ceeded — without the slightest further notice of the possibil- 
 ity of exercising this power of dismissal ! 
 
 This power should have been exercised by the Prudential 
 Committee as soon as the missionaries declared their deter- 
 mination to persist in the admission of slaveholders to their 
 churches. Prompt and consistent action in this direction 
 would have prevented the necessity of offering those remon- 
 strances against the Board's complicity with slavery, the 
 attempts to evade which have brought so much labor, ex- 
 pense and guilt upon the Board. The remedy was in the 
 hands of the Prudential Committee from the beginning. But 
 so far were they from choosing to use it, that their acknowl- 
 edgment of its existence is restricted to one little sentence, 
 while the rest of the elaborate document of which that sen- 
 tence forms a part, and the whole of their subsequent pro- 
 ceedings, including the " Good-water Statement," utterly 
 ignore this right and duty, and try to produce the impres- 
 sion that the Board is powerless to oppose the allowance of 
 slaveholding practised in the mission churches ! 
 
 In the course of Mr. Secretary Wood's report, (of which 
 the " Good-water Statement," just considered, forms a part,) 
 he admits that there were, at that time, (1855,) twenty slave- 
 holders in the Choctaw, and seventeen in the Cherokee mis- 
 sion churches, and that both missions continue the hiring of 
 slaves ; he further makes the absurd assumption that slave- 
 holding is, in some cases, " unavoidable," and the false 
 assumption, that the Prudential Committee's allowance of 
 the admission of slaveholders to the mission churches is also 
 " unavoidable ; " he tries to rebut the abundant evidence of 
 willing complicity with slavery on the j^art of the missiona- 
 ries, by the statement that many denounce them as aboli- 
 
186 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 tionists,* and that " some of their slaveholding church mom- 
 bers have left them for another connection on this account ; " 
 and he quotes a resolution presented by Rev. Mr. Byington, 
 and adopted by the Choctaw missionaries at the close of their 
 meeting at Good-water, acknowledging his (Mr. Wood's) 
 succes^ul efforts to set their minds at ease on the subject of 
 slavery. 
 
 The special Committee to whom Mr. Wood's report, in- 
 cluding the " Good-water Statement," was referred, make the 
 following significant suggestions. They thank the Secretary 
 and the missionaries for the skill with which they have 
 " adjusted these difficult matters " ; they believe that " the 
 great end which has been aimed at by the Prudential Com- 
 mittee .... has been substantially accomplished " ; " they 
 fully believe that this adjustmeut should be deemed satisfac- 
 tory, and that further afitation is not called for'"' ; and they 
 report their unanimous opinion, that the Prudential Commit- 
 tee and the missionaries may go forward in future, on the 
 basis adopted, in perfect harmony. 
 
 This report was at once adopted by the Board. What we 
 have to notice in regard to it is, that since the basis for 
 future operations thus agreed upon — the " Good-water State- 
 ment " — manifestly provides for a continuance of slave- 
 holders in the mission churches, and is declared by the mis- 
 sionaries to be " not new," but perfectly in accordance with 
 the policy previously pursued by them, nothing whatever had 
 
 *This statement, no doubt a true one, has just as much and just as 
 little sisjnifieance as the corresponding facts, that subscribers to the New 
 York Herald, the New York Observer, Harper s Mi'jaziiie, and Harper's 
 Weekly, have occasionally stopped those papers, declaring them to have 
 become "abolitionized." There are always faaatical extremists among 
 slaveholders, who stigmatize as abolitionism every thing which does not 
 join the open praise of slavery to the practical support of it. The Chero- 
 kee and Choctaw missiouaries, always taking the latter of these grounds, 
 have never taken the former. But the fact that slaveholders of this worst 
 sort have gone out voluntarily from the mission churches, instead of by 
 excommunication, (of course, taking with them certificates of "good and 
 regular standing," which would enable them to join any of the more 
 actively pro-slavery churches of that region,) — and the additional fact, 
 that all the slaveholders who wished to stay in the mission churches were 
 allowed to do so — -stamp the charge of abolitionism against the missiona- 
 ries as not only false, but absurd ; and thus show the extreme disin- 
 genuousaess of Mr. Wood in offering these statements as evidence that the 
 missionaries were practically opposed to slavery ! 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 187 
 
 haen accomplished, wp to this time, (the end of the year 1855,) 
 in either terminating or diminishing the complicity of the 
 Board -with slavery ! 
 
 Ill the interval from 1855 to the present time, no further 
 memorials against the pro-slavery policy of the Indian mis- 
 sions are 7nentioned in the Annual Reports of the Prudential 
 Committee. Perhaps the remonstrating members and pa- 
 trons of the Board had been so thoroughly discouraged by 
 the utter defeat of their eiforts hitherto, as really to have 
 discontinued those eflforts. But, at any rate, the Prudential 
 Committee did not attain their expected relief from " agita- 
 tion " ; for, in the very next year after Mr. Wood's " success- 
 ful efforts " to set the minds of the missionaries at ease, a 
 new trouble appears. In their account of the Choctaw mis- 
 sion, in the Annual Report for 1856, the Prudential Commit- 
 tee give us a glimpse of this trouble, and then immediately 
 cover it up, as follows : — 
 
 " CORRESPOXDENCE. 
 
 "In the month of November, four brethren of this mission for- 
 warded a letter to the Missionary House, expressiuij their wish to 
 be released from their connection with the Board. Tlie Prudential 
 Committee, conceiving that these brethren had misapprehended the 
 true state of the relations existing between them and the Board, 
 directed an answer to this letter to be prepared and forwarded hy 
 the Secretary having charge of the correspondence with the Indian 
 missions. A reply to this communication has recently been re- 
 ceived, in which the missionaries intimated a willingness to con- 
 tinue their relations to the Board, awaiting the issue of further cor- 
 respondence. Under these circumstances, the Committee have 
 informed them that, upon receiving their estimates, which they pro- 
 pose forwarding, for the current year, the customary appropriations 
 will be made. The Committee apprehend, that a publication of the 
 correspondence pending at the present time would be detrimental to 
 the interests of the mission; experience having shown, that, while 
 negotiations are in progress between the Committee and missiona- 
 ries, a public discussion of the subject tends to hinder the parties 
 from coming to a harmonious result." — p. 195. 
 
 It thus appears, that the Prudential Committee wished the 
 pro-slavery Choctaw missionaries to remain, even after they 
 had made an overture towards removal. The result shows 
 that they did remain. And the record of the next year 
 renews the praise of " faithfulness " in these men and their 
 Cherokee associates, as I will proceed to show. 
 
188 TUE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 The portion of the Prudential Committee's Annual Pteport 
 for 1857, relating to the Cherokee and Choctaw mist^ions, 
 was referred to the following Committee : Dr. Todd, llev. 
 J. J. Blaisdell, D. A. Shepard, Esq., Pev. F. B. Gray, 
 Pev. N. Beach, Pev. E. J. Boyd, and F. W. Tappan, Esq. 
 Their report says : — 
 
 " Your Committee are forcibly struck by the fact, that in our 
 Indian missions we haA'e to meet one obstacle, peculiarly great 
 among tbis people, viz., a natural and transmitted dislike to submit 
 to the great law of Providence, that man must work or perish. 
 Perhaps no people to whom we have offered the Gospel find it so 
 hard to sulnuit to this law as the aborigines of this country. The 
 long and untiring labors of our missionaries have so far conquered, 
 this difficulty, that progress in civilization is evident, and constantly 
 growing more marked and distinct. The last year has been one of 
 hope and joy. The people have made advancement in Christian 
 character, in intelligence, civilization, and benevolence ; and it seems 
 to your Committee that several tribes have nearly or quite turned 
 the point betAveen civilization and annihilation. We cannot too 
 highly appreciate the perseverance, the faithfulness, and the cheer- 
 ful and self-denying labors of our missionaries. The Committee 
 see dangers threatening; but they arc of such a natiu'C as can be 
 warded off only by Divine interposition. They see no change to 
 recommend, unless it be to suggest to our brethren the inquiry, 
 whether there may not be more attention directed to the training up 
 of natives for teachers and pastors; looking to the time — the first 
 goal in all missions — when there shall be fully developed the self- 
 educating power of the people." — pp. 18, 19- 
 
 Thus, not only is the " faithfulness " praised of missiona- 
 ries who continue to admit slaveholders as Christians to their 
 churches, and to see, without opposing, an increase of sla- 
 very in the nation they were sent to Christianize, but the 
 special Committee " see no change to recommend," either in 
 this policy, or in the renewed authentication of it by the 
 Prudential Committee; and, although they "see dangers 
 threatening," they recommend the leaving of these to some 
 possible " Divine interposition," instead of demanding a 
 breaking off from the sin which bred these dangers, and is 
 breeding more. 
 
 In the Annual Meeting of 1858, the portion of the 
 Prudential Committee's Report relating to the missions 
 among the Cherokees and Choctaws was referred to the fol- 
 lowing Committee : Dr. Leonard Bacon, Hon. L. Child, 
 Pev. Wm. Hogarth, Pev. James P. Fisher, Pev. Joseph 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 189 
 
 Emerson, Rev. J. Gr. D. Stearns, and Eev. C. E. Babb, who 
 made the following Report : — 
 
 " The Committee to whom Avas referred that part of the Annual 
 Report entitled ' Xorth American Indians, No. 1/ have had the 
 same iinder consideration, and respectfully report : 
 
 " That the missions included in the document which was referred 
 to this Committee, are tlie mission to the Dakotas, and those to the 
 partially civilized nations in the Indian territory. 
 
 " At Hartford, in 1854, the views of the Board were clearly and 
 definitely expressed in regard to certain laws and acts of the Choc- 
 taw government, which were designed to restrain the liberty of the 
 missionaries as teachers of God's word. All the action of the Board 
 since that date, and so far as we are informed, the action of the 
 Prudential Committee also, has been in conformity with the princi- 
 ples then put upon recoixl. 
 
 " Your Committee have reason to believe that the position of our 
 missionaries among the Choctaws is one of much difficulty and 
 peril. Among the various religious bodies in the States nearest to 
 the Choctaw nation, there has been, as is well known, within the 
 last twenty-five years, a lamentable defection from some of the first 
 and most elementary ideas of Christian morality, insomuch that 
 Christianity has been represented as the warrant for a system of 
 slavery which offends the moral sense of the Christian world, and 
 Christ has thereby been represented as the minister of sin. Our 
 brethren among the Choctaws are in ecclesiastical relations with 
 religious bodies in the adjoining States, the States from which the 
 leading Choctaws are deriving tlieir notions of civilization and of 
 government. In those neighboring States, and in the Choctaw 
 nation, the missionaries are watched by the upholders of slavery, 
 who are ready to seize upon the first opportunity of expelling them 
 from the field in Avhich they have so long been laboring. By the 
 enemies of the Board and of the missionaries, our brethren are 
 charged with what are called, in those regions, the dangerous doc- 
 trines of abolitionism. At the same time, they are charged, in other 
 quarters, v.4th the guilt of silence in the presence of a great and 
 hideous wickedness. 
 
 " It seems to your Committee desirable, that the Board should be 
 relieved, as early as possible, from the unceasing embarrassnients 
 and perplexities connected with the missions in the Indian territory. 
 Surely, the time is not far distant, when the Choctaw and Cherokee 
 Indians and half-breeds will stand in precisely the same relations to 
 the missionary work with the white people of the adjacent States ; 
 and wlien the churches there Avill be the subjects of home mis- 
 sionary more properly than of foreign missionary patronage. 
 
 " On the whole, your Committee, with these suggestions, recom- 
 mend that the Report of the Prudential Committee, as referred to 
 them, be accepted and approved." — pp. 16, 17. 
 
 This Report repeats the recommendation of a course of 
 policy which Dr. Bacon had long urged upon the attention 
 
190 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 of the Board, and suggests also a new method of evading 
 the dreaded agitation, namely, a discontinuance, not of the 
 I^ro-slaverj policy of the missions, but of the missions them- 
 selves. The whole document is worthy of careful considera- 
 tion, showing that evasive and deceptive treatment of the 
 subject of slavery which has already so often appeared in 
 the proceedings of the Board and its functionaries. 
 
 The Report refers first to the ideas of the Board express- 
 ed at Hartford, in 1854, as being correct and satisfactory, 
 and to the action of the Board since that time, as having been 
 " in conformity with the principles then put upon record.'''' 
 
 I have fully shown {ante, p. 159) that the statements of 
 the Board in 1854 did not interfere in the least degree with 
 the pro-slavery policy of the missionaries, but only took the 
 part of those missionaries in opposition to certain laws, dis- 
 respectful to them, just enacted by the Choctaw Council ; 
 threatening a relinquishment of certain boarding-schools 
 unless those laws were repealed. 
 
 I showed, also, [ante, p. 160,) that the very next year, 
 instead of fulfilling this threat, the Prudential Committee 
 decided to continue the boardino;-schools, thoucrh the un- 
 friendly legislation remained unchanged; and that they 
 made this decision expressly on the ground that the mission- 
 aries had not committed, and did not design to commit, the 
 offence ascribed to them, namely, the teaching of slaves to 
 read and write in the schools in question. 
 
 Thus both implications in this paragraph of the Special 
 Committee's Report are shown to be incorrect. The subse- 
 quent action of the Board has not been conformed to their 
 declaration respecting the Choctaw boarding-schools in 1854, 
 and their clear and definite expression of views was a clear 
 and definite allowance of continued complicity with slavery. 
 
 The next paragraph in the Report, admitting the existence 
 of "a lamentable defection" in regard to slavery, refers this 
 defection to " religious bodies in the States nearest to the 
 Choctaw nation," instead of to that nation itself, and to its 
 missionaries, although those missionaries are admitted to be 
 in ecclesiastical relations with the " religious bodies in the 
 adjoining States" thus pointed at ; and it proceeds to quote 
 two directly opposing allegations against the missionaries, as 
 if the charge made by unnamed fanatical extremists in defence 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 191 
 
 of slavery neutralized the opposite charge made (and proved) 
 by abolitionists, and as if the missionaries stood, blameless, 
 between these, perfect illustrators of the golden mean! 
 
 The Report, concluding with a hope that the Board may 
 be relieved, as early as possible, from " the unceasing em- 
 barrassments and perplexities connected with the missions in 
 the Indian Territory," suggests, as the means of accomplish- 
 ing this, a relincjuishment of the missions, leaving these 
 embarrassments and perplexities to be encountered by the 
 Home Missionary Society. 
 
 This Report of the Special Committee ends with the sug- 
 gestion (a policy frequently urged before by Dr. Bacon) 
 that, in agreeing to the Report of the Prudential Committee, 
 the Board " accept and approve " rather than adopt it. The 
 Board, however, voted to " accept and adopt " it ; and, the 
 next year, the Prudential Committee acted upon the hint 
 they had received, cut the knot which they would not take 
 the trouble to untie, and discontinued the Choctaw mission, 
 instead of discontinuing the allowance of slaveholding in its 
 churches. 
 
 Accordingly, at the Annual Meeting in 1859, it appeared 
 that the Prudential Committee, immediately after the close 
 of the previous Annual Meeting, had commenced a corre- 
 spondence with the Choctaw mission preliminary to its formal 
 relinquishment, which was voted in July, 1859. In the 
 Annual Report, presented in the October next following, 
 this correspondence with the Choctaw missionaries, and the 
 final relinquishment of the mission, are set forth as follows : 
 
 " DISCONTIXUAXCE OF THE MISSION. 
 
 " The Committee appointed by the Board at its meeting in 
 Detroit, on so much of the Annual Report as related to its opera- 
 tions in the Indian Territory, thought it desirable that this body 
 should be relieved, as early as possible, from the embarrassments 
 and perplexities growing out of its efforts in that part of the 
 world. This report having been adopted in the usual foi'm, the 
 Prudential Committee addressed a letter to the Choctaw mission, 
 which is as follows: — 
 
 " ' Missionary House, Boston, Oct. 5, 1858. 
 " 'To THE Choctaw^ Mission : 
 
 " ' Dear Brethren, — The proceedings of the Board at its 
 recent meeting arc ah'cady in your hands. You will liave read, 
 
192 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 with special attention, the report of the Committee on that part of 
 the Annual Report which relates to your mission. This paper, you 
 will remember, has the following sentence : " It seems to your Com- 
 mittee desirable, that the Board should be relieved, as early as pos- 
 sible, from the unceasing embarrassments and perplexities connected 
 with the missions in the Indian Territory." The Prudential Com- 
 mittee, concurring in this opinion for various reasons, respectfully 
 submit for your consideration, whether, in existing circumstances, it 
 be not wise and expedient that your connection with us should be 
 terminated. 
 
 " ' You will readily believe that this suggestion is made witli un- 
 feigned regret. We have always felt a deep interest in your labors. 
 Tor the churches which you have gathered, we entertain the most 
 cordial and friendly sentiments. For yourselves, we have a strong 
 fraternal feeling. For the older brethren, especially, we must ever 
 cherish the tendercst affection. It is with emotions of sadness, 
 therefore, that we contemplate a separation from you. 
 
 " ' We are not able, however, to call in question the facts on which 
 the Committee at Detroit founded their opinion. We find in our 
 churches an increasing desire that the Board may be freed from the 
 " embarrassments " above referred to. By reason thereof, it is said, 
 the donations to the treasury are less than they would otherwise be, 
 to the manifest injury of our churches, on the one hand, and of our 
 missions, on the other. It is said, too, that the political agitations, 
 which are likely to take place in coming years, must of necessity 
 aggravate the evil. 
 
 '"The report to which your attention is now called refers to diffi- 
 culties which you have encountered, because of your present rela- 
 tion. This consideration you will at once appreciate ; the Commit- 
 tee have no occasion, therefore, to enlarge upon it. They will only 
 add, that these difficulties will be likely to increase hereafter. 
 
 " 'But there is another obstacle to our future cooperation, which 
 the report, already mentioned, did not notice. The Prudential Com- 
 mittee question their ability to keep your ranks adequately filled. 
 When tidings came to us, a few weeks ago, that our excellent friend 
 and brother, Mr. Byington, was dangerously sick, an inquiry of pain- 
 ful interest arose, " Who can take his place 1 " We had no person 
 ready to occupy such a post; and, in view of our past experience, 
 we could hardly expect to find one. 
 
 " ' The Committee do not propose to raise any question as to the 
 agreement of your opinions with those of the Board. In any view 
 of the case, which they have been able to take, the result would be 
 the same. The measure is proposed as one of Christian expe- 
 diency ; and it is on this ground that we present it for your consid- 
 eration. 
 
 " ' We have said that this communication is made with unfeigned 
 regret. But our sorrow is lessened by the hope, that the interests 
 of the people among whom you dwell will not suffer. We have 
 thought it probable that you would come into connection with that 
 Missionary Board under which two of your number formerly la- 
 bored, — a Board which has your cordial sympathy and your entire 
 confidence. Its missionaries are your "fellow Avorkers unto the 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 193 
 
 kingdom of God," in a common field. This would fticilitate a trans- 
 fer of your relation. Ecclesiastically you would make no change. 
 
 " ' Praying that the God of missions may keep you henceforth, 
 and direct all your labors, so that the comfort and joy which you 
 have hitherto received therein shall be forgotten by reason of the 
 more abundant coming of the Spirit of promise, I am, 
 
 " ' Very respectfully yours, in behalf of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee, 
 
 " ' S. B. Treat, Secretanj of the A. B. C. F. M.* 
 
 " To this communication, the following reply was received: — 
 
 " ' Yakni Okchata, Choctaw Nation, Dec. 24, 1858. 
 
 " ' To the Rev. S. B. Treat, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M. : 
 
 '"Dear Brother, — We have received your kind letter in 
 behalf of the Prudential Committee, under date of Oct. 5. We 
 cordially reciprocate to yourself and the Committee the fraternal 
 feelings which you have expressed towards us. 
 
 " ' You refer*^ us to the report in relation to our mission, adopted 
 by the Board at Detroit, and especially to the following sentence : 
 •' It seems to your Committee desirable that the Board should be 
 relieved, as early as possible, from the unceasing embarrassments 
 and perplexities connected with the missions in the Indian Terri- 
 tory." And you add : " The Prudential Committee, concurring in 
 this opinion for various reasons, respectfully submit for your consid- 
 eration, Avhether, in existing circumstances, it be not wise and ex- 
 pedient that your connection with us should be terminated." 
 
 " ' You do not mention the source of these " embarrassments and 
 perplexities ; " but we presume they arise from our relation to 
 slavery. Such have been the peace and quiet among us on this 
 subject, for the past two years, that we fondly hoped the agitation 
 had ceased, not to be renewed in such a way as seriously to affect 
 us. Hence the action of the Board at Detroit took us by surprise. 
 
 " ' We have taken into prayerful consideration the question sub- 
 mitted to us by the Prudential Committee. We have sought for 
 light on the subject. As for ourselves, through the favor of a kind 
 Providence, we see nothing in our present circumstances requiring 
 a separation. Our position and course in reference to slavery are 
 defined in our letter from Lenox, dated Sept. 6, 1856. These, so 
 ftir as they are known to our people, meet Avith their cordial appro- 
 bation ; we are, therefore, going forward without disturbance in our 
 appropriate work as missionaries. Whether circumstances may not 
 hereafter arise, which will render a separation necessary, we are of 
 course unable to say ; but we apprehend no such difficulty from the 
 Choctaw people, or from others in this region. 
 
 " ' In regard to our course above mentioned, we would remark, 
 that it is the same as has been uniformly practised by the mission 
 from its commencement, more than forty j^ears ago. It had the full 
 approbation of the Secretaries and the Prudential Committee for 
 more than five-and-twenty years, and was finally approved, with 
 perfect unanimity, by the Board at Brooklyn, in 1815. However 
 •J 
 
194 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 great may have been our shortcomings in duty, we believe this our 
 course to be right and scriptural ; and we cannot believe that it is 
 "unwise and inexpedient for the Board to sustain us in what is scrip- 
 tural and right. 
 
 " ' In your letter you say, " We have thought it probable j-ou 
 would come into connection with that Missionary Board under which 
 two of your number formerly labored." That Board, as you have 
 said, "has our cordial sympathy and entire confidence." But that 
 Board is the organ of the "religious bodies in the adjoining States," 
 with which we "are in ecclesiastical relations ; " and "the various 
 religious bodies " in these States are charged, in the report adopted 
 by the Board at Detroit, with "a lamentable defection from some of 
 the first and most elementary ideas of Christian morality." Is not 
 this an implied censure uptm us 1 If not, is there not an inconsist- 
 ency in the above suggestion of the Prudential Committee 1 We 
 have no assurance that, under these circumstances, that Board 
 •would consent to a transfer of the mission to their care. 
 
 " ' We, therefore, refer the question back to the Prudential Com- 
 mittee, to be disposed of as they shall deem best. We regret that 
 either the Board or the churches should sustain injury on our ac- 
 count. We, however, do not think that, in our labors as mission- 
 aries, we have done that which, by the Gospel standard, can be 
 regarded as just cause of offence. 
 
 " ' Be assured, that it is not a light matter with us to differ with 
 the Prudential Committee and the Board, as respects the question 
 which you have submitted to us. In our opinion, important prin- 
 ciples are involved. 
 
 " ' We trust and pray that the great Head of the Church may give 
 ■wisdom from above, that wisdom which is profitable to direct. 
 
 " ' Most respectfully yours, in behalf of the Choctaw Mission, 
 
 " * C. Kingsbury, Chairman. 
 " ' C. C. COPELAND, Clerk.' 
 
 *' Since the receipt of this letter, the Prudential Committee 
 have bestowed the most anxious and careful attention upon the 
 topic discussed in this correspondence. They have felt themselves 
 greatly embarrassed by facts and considerations which they can- 
 not properly submit to the public eye. There are interests in- 
 volved which ought not to be endangered, if it is possible to pre- 
 serve them unharmed. The history of the red man puts in a 
 plea, just at this point, which is too tender and too sacred to be 
 disregarded. 
 
 " In presenting to the Board, therefore, a letter M-hich has 
 closed its responsibilities in a part of the great missionary field, 
 the Prudential Committee wish it to be understood that the 
 whole case is not here. Knowing that such a document may be 
 widely circulated, they have said only so much as the highest 
 interests of the Choctaws will justify them in saying. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 195 
 
 " ' Missionary House, Boston, July 27, 1859. 
 "'To THE Choctaw Mission: 
 
 "'Dear Brethren, — Your favor of December 24 would have 
 received an earlier answer, but for tlie desire of the Committee to 
 give it their most careful attention. Seldom have they felt more 
 deeply their need of that wisdom wliich cometh from above, than 
 during tlie deliberations which this letter has occasioned. It is their 
 prayer and their hope, that the divine approval will rest upon the 
 result to which they have been brought. 
 
 " ' The suggestion which was submitted to your consideration, in 
 regard to the discontinuance of the efforts of the Board among the 
 Choctaws, you have referred back to the Committee, "to be dis- 
 posed of as they shall deem best." In doing this, however, you 
 have made the following statement : " Our position and course, in 
 respect to slavery, are defined in our letter from Lenox, dated Sep- 
 tember 6, 1856. These, so far as they are known to our people, 
 meet with their cordial a]ii)robation ; we are, therefore, going for- 
 ward without disturbance in our ajjpropriate work as missionaries." 
 Had tliis extract been received in September last, it might have 
 given a different direction to our corresi)ondence. 
 
 " ' It is proper that we should review, in the fewest possible words, 
 the history of a question whicli has received so much attention with- 
 in tlie last few years. You remark that your policy had " the full 
 ai)probation of the Secretaries and the Prudential Committee for 
 more than five-and-twenty years, and was finally approved with 
 perfect unanimity by the Board at Brooklyn." For much of the 
 time si7ice the meeting at Brooklyn, we have supposed that there 
 was no material difference between your mission and ourselves. In 
 the year 1848, indeed, there seemed to be some divergency ; but in 
 the following year, you declared your assent to the letter of the 
 Cherokee mission, dated March 21, 1848, "as expressing, in a clear 
 and condensed manner," your "main views and principles;" and 
 verbal statements, subsequently made by some of your number, 
 gave the Committee very great satisfaction. Whatever doubts may 
 have arisen in 1854, they were effectually removed by the report 
 which Mr. Wood presented to the Committee in June, 1855. The 
 statement of principles which received your assent at Good-water, 
 fully confirmed our previous impressions. When, therefore, we 
 received from four of your number the letter of November 13, 1855, 
 asking that their connection with the Board might be dissolved, we 
 were slow to believe that there was any substantial disagreement, 
 and immediately requested them to take the subject into consider- 
 ation a second time. We could harmonize the facts which had come 
 to our knowledge, only by supposing that these brethren had written 
 under very serious misapprehensions. Hence, too, the Committee 
 did not regard the letter of September 6, 1856, signed by six of your 
 number, as final. The view which they entertained of the case Avas 
 embodied in their minute of December 8, 1857, in Avhich they af- 
 firmed their belief that the sentinients of the brethren who signed 
 the Good-water document were in substantial accordance Avith those 
 of the Committee, and that their ditiiculties were the result of mis- 
 
196 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 apprehensions, which could not be easily removed without a personal 
 conference. 
 
 " * In looking back from their present position, the Committee are 
 constrained to admit that their action, after receiving the letter of 
 September 6, 1856, was of doubtful expediency. The brethren who 
 signed it declined to withdraw tbeir " letter of resignation," and, at 
 the same time, embodied their main difficulties in the following 
 propositions, viz. : " 1. The objections Avhich we have had to en- 
 dorsing the letter of June 22, 1848, still remain. Nor can we acqui- 
 esce in the suggestions and arguments of tliat letter, or declare our 
 readiness to act in accoi'dance with them. 2. We were much grieved 
 by the action of the Board at Hartford ; and we still deeply regret 
 it. 3. The construction put upon the Good-water document, by the 
 Board at Utica, makes it impracticable for us to regard that as an 
 exponent of our views." 
 
 " * The event has proved that an acceptance of the " resignation," 
 just at this point, would have been the simplest and easiest solution 
 of a problem which has occasioned so much perplexity. The friends 
 of the Board would have felt that the Committee were justified in 
 taking this step ; indeed, it would have been generally supposed 
 that no other course could have been safely pursued. It would 
 have been better for your work, also, so far as the Committee can 
 judge, if they had assented to the proposal at once. Still, in view 
 of all the circumstances, the appropriations for 1857 were made as 
 usual. With the previous history of the question distinctly in mind, 
 the Committee might reasonably hope that your position, sooner or 
 later, would materially change ; and they were then, as they always 
 have been, extremely reluctant to entertahi the idea of closing their 
 labors among the Choctaws. 
 
 " ' In 1849, as we have already remarked, your mission accepted 
 the letter of the Cherokee brethren, dated March 21, 1848, "as ex- 
 pressing, in a clear and condensed manner," its " main views and 
 principles." In 1855, the members of that mission accepted the 
 declaration of principles which received your assent at Good-water. 
 By these they still abide. Your late communication, however, 
 refers to the letter of September 6, 1856, as defining your position ; 
 and you also say that its sentiments, so far as they are known, have 
 the cordial approbation of your people, and therefore you are going 
 forward without disturbance in your appropriate work. A recent 
 letter from the Superintendent and Trustees of the Choctaw schools, 
 in this connection, has a special significance. It requests the Com- 
 mittee to "authorize some person to meet" them, and "make a 
 final separation from the American Board." " We have no apology 
 to make," it continues, " or argument to offer." " We only hope 
 it might be effected in peace and friendship." 
 
 " ' The result, therefore, to which we are obliged to come is briefly 
 this : 1. The position which the Board, with the Committee, on 
 the one hand, and you, with the Cherokee mission, on the other, 
 occupied at the annual meeting in 1855, six of your number, after 
 the maturest reflection, and with entire conscientiousness, we doubt 
 not, liave rehnquished. 2. In doing this, they dissent from the 
 opinions, not only of the Board and the Coumiittee, but, as we be- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAYERY. 197 
 
 licve, of the great majority of our constituents, We are thus taken 
 back to the circumstances in wliich we found ourselves in October, 
 1856, when these brethren declined to withdraw their resignation ; 
 with this difference, however, that no additional delay can be ex- 
 pected to issue in a favorable change. The letter of Xovember 13, 
 1855, had said, " We are fully convinced that we cai not go with the 
 Conmiittee and the Board as to the manner in which, as ministers 
 of the Gospel and missionaries, we are to deal with slavery ; " and 
 it had also said, " We have no wish to give the Committee and the 
 Board further trouble on the subject ; and as there is no prospect 
 that our views can be brought to harmonize, we must request that 
 our relation to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
 Missions may be dissolved, in a way that will do the least harm to 
 the Board and our mission." The Committee find themselves 
 compelled at length to act in substantial accordance with the desire 
 which was then expressed. It has been our cherished and earnest 
 hope, as the long delay will have shown, to escape the necessity of 
 this result. Now, however, we are persuaded that the greatest 
 efficiency of the Board, as also the highest success of your efforts, 
 require that a connection which awakens so many pleasant remi- 
 niscences, should in its present form come to a close. A wide-spread 
 dissatisfaction has arisen among the churches, which, as the case 
 now stands, is almost certain to increase. Aside from the injury 
 that will accrue to the spiritual interests of our constituency from a 
 prolonged agitation, the income of the Board must inevitably suffer; 
 while the claims of nearly all the great missionary fields are so 
 urgent, that any diminution of our receipts would prove a serious 
 calamity. On the other hand, continued discussion can hardly 
 fail, as it seems to the Committee, to embarrass your labors. 
 
 " ' We do not forget what you say in regard to the peace and quiet 
 which have prevailed among your people for the last two years. 
 The fact is easily explained. The Board has been free from agita- 
 tion during this period, and so you have felt no disturbing force. 
 But if your relation to the Board continues on its present footing, 
 neither you nor we can rely on this exemption hereafter. The let- 
 ter from the Superintendent and Trustees of the Choctaw schools, 
 already referred to, shows us what we had reason to expect. 
 
 " * The inquiry may possibly occur to you, " Why did the Com- 
 mittee send us the letter of October 5, 1858 ? " The answer is to be 
 found in the peculiarities of the case. They said in that letter, you 
 Avill remember, that they did not raise any question as to the agree- 
 ment of your opinions with those of the Board. They could not 
 assume that you accepted the Good- water statement ; nor, on the 
 other hand, could they assume your final rejection of it. Ilenco 
 they pursued a line of argument, suggested by the action of the 
 Board at Detroit, which rendei'ed any discussion of this topic unne- 
 cessary. 
 
 " ' AH that Avas said in that letter to express our sorrow in view 
 of the contemplated change, and our affection for you and your peo- 
 ple, we would repeat with additional emphasis. The thought that 
 this letter brings your mission to a close is exceedingly painful ! 
 There is no other course, however, which we can properly pursue. 
 
198 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 It is the recordoci judgment of the Board that it should he relieved, 
 as early as possible, from the ditRculties which have grown out of 
 its operations in the Indian Territory. In this opinion, for the 
 reasons already set forth, tlie Committee are obliged to concur. 
 
 " ' It only remains that I apprise you of the formal action of the 
 Committee, on the 2Gth of July ; which is as follows : — 
 
 " ' Resolved, 1. That in view of the embarrassments connected with the 
 missionary work among the Choctaws, which atfect injuriously, as well the 
 labors of the brethren in that field, as the relations sustained by the Board 
 to its friends and patrons, it is incumbent on the Prudential Committee to 
 discontinue the Choctaw mission; and the same is hereby discontinued. 
 
 " ' Resolved, 2. That the members of this mission be informed that the 
 preceding resolution does not at once terminate their personal relations to 
 the Board; that they are, nevertheless, at liberty to make such arrange- 
 ments for the future as they shall severally judge proper, and that the 
 Committee fully recognize their claim to such pecuniary aid, whenever 
 they shall retire from their connection with the Board, as, in accordance 
 with its rules and usages, it is able to afford. 
 
 " 'I am also authorized to say, (1) that the Committee propose to 
 give you, as a retiring allowance, in whole or in part, the property 
 now in your possession and occupancy, (except so much as niay be 
 in the boarding-schools) ; and {'!) that they regard Messrs. Kings- 
 bury and Byington, in consideration of their advanced age and long- 
 continued service, as having special claims upon the Board ; and, 
 therefore, unless they shall elect to become united with some other 
 missionary organization, these brethren will be at liberty to look to 
 the Board for such annual assistance as shall be needful for their 
 comfort and support, during the residue of their lives. 
 
 " ' I remain, Dear Brethren, very respectfully and affectionately 
 yours, in behalf of the Prudential Committee, 
 
 " ' S. B. Treat, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M.' 
 
 " It gives the Committee great pleasure, in closing this report, 
 to believe that a work has been accomplished among the Choc- 
 taws of high and permanent value. Whatever may be said of 
 Indian missions, in the general, this is no failure. The efforts of 
 the Board have demonstrated, beyond all controversy, that the 
 red man, in favorable circumstances, may attain to all the bless- 
 ings of a Christian civilization. For the honor of our aboriginal 
 tribes, and, still more, for the honor of the Gospel of Christ, this 
 truth should live for ever." — pp. 140- 146. 
 
 The following particulars in the correspondence and action, 
 detailed above, are worthy of special notice. 
 
 The real reasons alleged for the discontinuance of the Choc- 
 taw mission, in Mr. Treat's first letter, in behalf of the Pru- 
 dential Committee, (Oct. 5th,) are these two, which, it is inti- 
 mated, are likely to increase, instead of diminishing, in the 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 199 
 
 future : — 1. IMore and more objection, among the churches, to 
 the position of the Board ; and, as a consequence of this — 2. 
 Less receipts than would otherwise be paid into the treasury. 
 
 Not only are these stated as the reasons of the proposed 
 arrangement, but the Prudential Committee expressly de- 
 clare that it is not made on account of any difference of 
 opinion between themselves and the missionaries ! 
 
 The reply of the missionaries corroborates this statement, 
 that no contumacy on their part has produced the discontinu- 
 ance of the mission. They are surprised at such a move- 
 ment ! They had fondly hoped that the agitation had ceased! 
 They see nothing in the present, and apprehend nothing in 
 the future, to require a separation ! Moreover, they find, in 
 the suggestion volunteered by the Prudential Committee as 
 to their future course, something that implies unreasonable 
 censure upon them ; and they ask, with great justice, what 
 the Board mean by saying that the missionaries, after this 
 separation, will probably come into connection with a mis- 
 sionary Board, the organ of various " religious bodies in the 
 adjoining States," which bodies are charged (in the Report 
 adopted by the Board in 1858, at Detroit) with "a lamenta- 
 hie defection from some of the first and most elementary 
 ideas of Christian morality." 
 
 The missionaries, then, maintaining the perfect rectitude of 
 their position, ^^ refer the question back to the Prudential 
 Committee." 
 
 The reply of the Prudential Committee to this letter 
 (dated July 27th, 1859) is one of the most disingenuous 
 towards the missionaries, and deceptive towards the public, 
 that even they have ever written. I am aware that this is a 
 very strong expression. 
 
 No wonder the Prudential Committee felt themselves 
 " greatly embarrassed " in the composition of this reply, in 
 which the missionaries were to be treated with double injus- 
 tice, for the sake of avoiding the confession of inconsistency 
 and manifold guilt in their employers ! 
 
 They pass by, entirely without remark, the inquiry of the 
 missionaries why it is assumed that they will connect them- 
 selves with a Board [the Presbyterian] which has shown " a 
 lamentable defection from some of the first and most element- 
 ary ideas of Christian morality " — probably considering that, 
 upon that subject, ' least said is soonest mended." 
 
200 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 To entangle the matter sufficiently to make out an appear- 
 ance of justification for themselves, the Prudential Ccnimit- 
 tee propose to " review the history " of the correspondence 
 between themselves and the missionaries. 
 
 In the course of this review, they introduce a prrtion of 
 a letter which they had never published before, written by 
 six of the Choctaw missionaries, Sept. Gth, 1856, and con- 
 taining the following statement: — "The construction put 
 upon the Good-water document, by the Board at Utica, 
 makes it impracticable for us to regard that as an exponent 
 of our views." 
 
 The Prudential Committee present this old statement as 
 the sufficient ground of their present action, saying — 
 
 " The result, iherefore, to wLich we are oWiged to come, is briefly 
 this : 1. The position which the Board, with tlie Committee, on the 
 one hand, and you, with the Cherokee mission, on the other, occu- 
 pied at the annual meeting in 1855, six of your number, after the 
 maturest reflection, and with entire conscientiousness, we doubt not, 
 have relinquished. 2. In doing this, they dissent from the opinions, 
 not only of the Board and the Committee, but, as we believe, of the 
 great majority of our constituents. We are thus taken back to the 
 circumstances in which we found ourselves in October, 1856, when 
 these brethren declined to withdraw their resignation ; with this 
 diflference, however, that no additional delay can be expected to 
 issue in a favorable change." — p. 144. 
 
 I have italicised the word " therefore." The use of this 
 word by the Prudential Committee, and their presentation of 
 the letter of the Choctaw missionaries of Sept. Gth, 1856, as 
 furnishing the ground of their present action, are shown to 
 be dishonest by the following facts. 
 
 In their Annual Report for 1856, presented at the end of 
 October, the Prudential Committee not only did not quote 
 this passage, or the letter of Sept. 6th containing it, but 
 they represented the purport of this letter to be, that " the 
 missionaries intimated a williiKjness to continue their rela- 
 tions to the Board, awaiting the issue of further correspond- 
 ence." And the purport of this further correspondence is 
 immediately stated, thus : — " Under these circumstances, the 
 Committee have informed them that, upon "receiving their 
 estimates, which they propose forwarding, the customary 
 appropriations will be made." — p. 195. 
 
 That the appropriations were forwarded, and that the diffi- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 201 
 
 culty was considered to be thoroughly overcome, is shown by 
 the fact that the missionaries continued at their post, and 
 also by the Annual Report of the succeeding year (1857) ; 
 in which the Prudential Committee make no mention of any 
 further trouble, and the special committee, who had in charge 
 the matters relating to the Choctaw mission, say — "We 
 cannot too highly appreciate the perseverance, the faithful- 
 ness, and the cheerful and self-denying labors of our mission- 
 aries." — p. 18. 
 
 Since, moreover, in the very letter from the Choctaw mis- 
 sion, (Dec. 24th, 1858,) which is followed by the reply now 
 under consideration, (July 27th, 1859,) the missionaries ex- 
 press their surprise at the proposed action of the Board, 
 declare the absence of all dissent and objection on their part, 
 and refer the question back to the Prudential Committee, to 
 be decided at their pleasure, the bringing up of those old 
 questions as sufficient ground for separation, seems a viola- 
 tion of honor and courtesy, not less than of justice and truth, 
 on the part of the Prudential Committee. 
 
 After this attempt to represent a discordance of views 
 between themselves and the missionaries as the principal 
 reason for a discontinuance of the Choctaw mission, the Pru- 
 dential Committee proceed to mention other reasons, which 
 we may safely consider the actual ones. These are, a dissat- 
 isfaction among the churches, already widely spread, and 
 almost certain to increase ; the prospect that prolonged agita- 
 tion, disclosing more and more the real position of the Board, 
 would inevitably diminish the contributions of those churches; 
 and the equally certain prospect, that a continued discussion, 
 showing more and more the complicity of the missionaries 
 with slavery, would embarrass their labors. 
 
 These were, no doubt, real difficulties in the way of the 
 Prudential Committee. The Anti-Slavery movement, how- 
 ever much discouraged by the clergy, was from year to year 
 taking hold of increased numbers in the churches ; more and 
 more people were coming to see that a religion which cher- 
 ished slavery was not the religion of Christ; those who, 
 from this point of view, scrutinized the conduct of the mis- 
 sionaries, could not fail to see that, in their administration, 
 Christ was not only betrayed anew, and crucified afresh, but 
 made the minister of sin ; and those who scrutinized the 
 
202 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 policy of the Prudential Committee, marking tlie discrepancy 
 between their own words, spoken at different times and to 
 different parties — between their language against slavery 
 and their action in allowance of it — and between their gen- 
 eral policy on this subject and the dictates of truth and 
 righteousness — could hardly fail to lose confidence in the 
 men, and thus in their administration of other branches of 
 the great work entrusted to them. 
 
 The Prudential Committee, of course unwilling to expose 
 themselves to another letter so damaging to their cause as 
 Mr. Kingsbury's, (a Damascus blade in keenness as well as 
 in polish,) hurried the matter to a conclusion, and, without 
 further preliminary correspondence, voted the discontinuance 
 of the Choctaw mission. 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1859, immediately after the 
 letter communicating this vote to the missionaries, the Pru- 
 dential Committee made a final statement, which they intend 
 shall sum up the whole matter, and for ever relieve them 
 from the " embarrassments and perplexities " which for so 
 many years had hung around the Choctaw mission. Here 
 are their words : — 
 
 "It gives the Committee pleasure, in closing this report, to be- 
 lieve that a work has been accomplished among the ChoctaAvs of 
 high and permanent value. Whatever may be said of Indian mis- 
 sions, in the general, this is no failure." 
 
 I wish particular attention to be paid to this declaration, 
 in connection with some evidence next to be given, respecting 
 the character and action of one of the Choctaw churches in 
 that year ; evidence not found in the Annual Keport. 
 
 In The Independe/it of Dec. 6th, 1860, appeared the fol- 
 lowing editorial notice : — 
 
 " A HORRID REVELATION. 
 
 " No one can read without horror the shocking disclosures brought 
 out through the correspondence of Prof. Bartlett, of Chicago, which 
 appears in another column. That a slave-woman was burned alive 
 in the Choctaw Nation in January, 1859, appears to be established by 
 the letters of Secretaries Treat and Lowrie. It is evident that 
 neither the Prudential Committee of the American Board, nor the 
 Assembly's Board of Missions, had any knowledge of the transac- 
 tion at a time when they could have taken responsible action with 
 regard to it. But there is grave reason to apprehend, that Mr. By- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 203 
 
 ington knew the whole transaction at or about the time of its occur- 
 rence ; that members of his church were in some way implicated in 
 it; and tlmt lie and other mii-sionaries have designedly withheld the 
 facts from the Boards to which they are or were resj)onsible. This 
 aspect of the affair is serious and painful. 
 
 " The public will ask with astonishment, has such a crime been 
 connived at, or even ignored, by a Christian church, and by the 
 missionary teachers of the nation 1 Has no testimony been uttered 
 against it? — no inquiry been instituted? — no discipline inflicted 
 upon the accomplices of the crime, if such were in the church 1 
 
 " These questions must be answered. Mr. Byington cannot 
 longer remain silent. The Assembler's Board, under whose care the 
 Mission now is, cannot longer refrain from investigating the action 
 of the missionaries in the premises. The case is before the public, 
 and the public will not let it rest. 
 
 " As to Mr. Byington and his church, judgiuent must be sus- 
 pended until further light is gained. But the whole transaction is 
 a fearful comment upon the bloody code of slavery, and the bru- 
 talizing influence of the system, wherever it exists." 
 
 The correspondence referred to, appearing in the same 
 paper, is as follows : — 
 
 " Chicago, Nov. 23, 18G0. 
 " To THE Editors or The Independent : 
 
 "Gentlemen : — It is the right of the Christian public to know 
 the extraordinary transaction which is the subject of the following 
 correspondence, and to investigate it more fully. It will be seen 
 that the American Board never received any intelligent hint of it, 
 till the Choctaw mission had passed from their hands ; and that the 
 General Assembly's Board has hitherto had no adequate report. 
 
 " To the Secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M. : 
 
 " Dear Brethren, — Will you permit me to make a few inquiries 
 respecting an occurrence at the Choctaw mission? 
 
 " I have been recently informed, on good and direct authority, 
 that while that mission remained nominally under the care of the 
 American Board, viz., on the first Sabbath in January, 1859, a slave- 
 Avoman was burned alive at a public meeting in the Choctaw Nation, 
 after having been previously tortured in the vain attempt to extract 
 from her a confession of guilt. I am informed that she was a repu- 
 table member of a mission church. If I am not mistaken, her mas- 
 ter and mistress were members of the same church. I am told that, 
 at the same time, the dead body of a slave man was also burned ; he 
 having been put to the torture, and having committed suicide to 
 escape the doom that awaited him. This transaction took place 
 within ten miles of a missionary station, and it has been intimated 
 to me that church members were not clear of participation in the 
 crime. 
 
 " It seems to me due to the cause of our Master that such a trans- 
 action should receive from a Christian commimity that attention 
 
204 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 ■which its remarkable character demands. And in order to elicit all 
 the facts of the case, permit me respectfully to ask you the follow- 
 ing questions : 
 
 " 1. While the Choctaw mission was in connection -with the 
 A. B. C. F. M., did you receive any information respecting the 
 burning of slaves in the Choctaw nation i If so, can you state the 
 circumstances ? What were the charges ? Did the parties plead 
 guilty ? What parties took part in the burning ? Were there any 
 church members who gave their assent to the burning, or were in 
 any way implicated in the procedure ? What action was taken in 
 the church or the mission upon the subject ? 
 
 " 2. Had the Prudential Committee any reference to facts of this 
 description, when they said, in the Annual Report for 1850, that 
 they were ' embarrassed by facts and considerations ' which they 
 could not ' properly submit to the public eye ' ? 
 
 " 3. Have you, since the Choctaw mission ceased to be under the 
 care of the American Board, received from any responsible party, 
 personally acquainted with the affairs of the mission, any intimation 
 of the transaction above referred to 1 If so, when 1 and what was 
 the nature of that information 1 
 
 " You will oblige me by giving an early reply to these questions, 
 with permission to make known the answer to the public. I have 
 made similar inquiries of the Assembly's Board, and of Ivev. Cyrus 
 Byington, missionary to the Choctaws. 
 
 " Yours, respectfully, Samuel C. Bartlett. 
 
 " Chicago, Oct. 22, 18G0." 
 
 "Mission House, Boston, Oct. 27, 1860. 
 "Rev. S. C. Bartlett, Chicago, III. : 
 
 " Dear Brother, — It devolves upon me to reply to j'our favor of 
 October 22d, addressed to the Secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M., as 
 I have all the information bearing upon your question which has 
 been received at the Missionary House. 
 
 "My answer to yonrjjrst inquiry is, that we received no informa- 
 tion respecting the burning of slaves in the Choctaw Nation while 
 the Choctaw mission was connected with the Board. I will add, 
 moreover, that none of us had any suspicion that such a tragedy as 
 you describe could possibly occur. 
 
 "My answer to your second inquiry you will have anticipated. 
 The statement in the Annual Report for 185y, to which you have 
 alluded, had no reference Avhatever to any facts of this descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 " My answer to the third inquiry is, that in August, I860, I re- 
 ceived a letter from Mr. Chamberlain, late of the Choctaw mission, 
 in which he intimated that he might, at some future time, make a 
 statement ' in connection with the burning of slaves on the first 
 Sabbath in January, ISo'J.' This was the first intimation which I 
 received from any one ' personally acquainted with the affairs of 
 that mission,' that such an event had occurred. 
 
 "I ought to say, however, that I had received letters from Mr. 
 Chamberlain, (the earliest dated Dec. 7, 1859,) which were unintelli- 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 205 
 
 gible to me at the time, but which, as I now suppose, referred to 
 this transaction. From a still earlier letter, (Avritten May 2, 1859, 
 after the Committee had decided to discontinue the mission, but 
 before the formal resolution was passed,) I inferred that Mr. C. felt 
 somewhat embarrassed in his position ; but I had no suspicion that 
 his embarrassment grew out of any such matter. 
 " Very respectfully yours, 
 
 " S. B. Treat, Sec. of the A. B. C. F. M." 
 
 "The letter of inquiry sent to the Secretary of the General As- 
 sembly's Board of Missions is, for brevity's sake, omitted. It 
 covered substantially the points of question Xo. 1 in the letter to 
 the American Board, and contained the additional inquiry, ' Was 
 the missionary, having under his care the church to which this 
 woman belonged, the Commissioner from the Indian Presbytery to 
 the last General Assembly ( And has he made any report of the 
 transaction ? ' The letter was dated October 18th, and elicited the 
 following reply : — 
 
 " Mission House, New York, Oct. 30, 1860. 
 " Rev. Samuel C. Bartlett : 
 
 "Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 22d inst. has been received. 
 The painful transaction to which you refer took place a year before 
 the missionaries of the American Board were received by us, and 
 of course no report in relation to it was made to us. The only 
 information we have on the subject is contained in a letter from one 
 of our original missionaries, dated the 12th of January last, and is 
 the following : ' About a year ago, a black man killed his master 
 without any provocation. The master was a worthy man, and a 
 member of ^Ir. Byington's church. Afterwards, the man made con- 
 fession, and accused one of the black women of having instigated 
 him to do the deed. Having made this confession, and discovered 
 the body of his master, he got away from those in charge of him, 
 jumped into the little river, and drowned himself. Lucy, the one 
 charged as the instigator of the murder, was taken by the enraged 
 relatives and burned. The poor woman was also a member of Mr. 
 Bj'ington's church, and protested to the last her innocence. The 
 murdered man was a Mr. Haskins, a brother of Mr. George Has- 
 kins, one of the first men in the Nation. His wife is a daughter of 
 Col. P. P. Pitchlynn. It was a terrible affair, but the mission and 
 the church here are not responsible for it.' 
 
 " I am, yours respectfully, "Walter Lowrie." 
 
 "It will be seen that the communication of Secretary Lowrie 
 fully confirms this tale of woe, in all its essential particulars, and 
 also makes known the fact that the poor victim, her deceased mas- 
 ter, and surviving mistress, were all members of a church under the 
 care of Kev. C. Byington, Commissioner in the last General Assem- 
 bly. The concluding comment of the missionary, that ' neither the 
 mission nor the church here are responsible for it,' will not satisfy 
 
206 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Christian men. They have a responsibility in regard to it, which 
 they do not appear to liave met. 
 
 " Five weeks have now ehipsed since I wrote to Mr. Byington, 
 respectfully asking for such information as he might be willing to 
 give tlie public concerning this public transaction, the relation of 
 the various parties to the church, and the course wliich the church 
 have taken. As yet, no reply has been received. I would now 
 earnestly call upon him to break the portentous silence which he 
 has kept for two j'cars, concerning this fearful slaughter of one of 
 the ' little ones ' of his tiock, and to show us that his church and 
 all its members not only are clear of all complicity in the affair, but 
 have discharged their whole duty in the case. 
 
 "I would also request that Mr. J. D. Chamberlain would com- 
 plete the information at which he has hinted in his letters to Secre- 
 tary Treat, and tell the Christian public what he knows concerning 
 this extraordinary tragedy — a Christian woman, the mother of eight 
 children, 'owned' by another Christian woman, persisting in her 
 innocence, though three times hung up to extort confession of guilt, 
 and burned alive with the words of prayer and praise upon her 
 lips ! 
 
 " Yours, truly, S. C. Bartlett." 
 
 It is well said by Mr. Bartlett, that both the mission and 
 the church have a responsibility for this awful crime, which 
 they do not appear to have met. 
 
 On the 24th of January, 1861, seven weeks after the fore- 
 going, another editorial notice appeared in The I?idepe?ide?it, 
 as follows : — 
 
 "The Burnt Slave. — "We have additional authentic evidence 
 touching the burning of the slave-woman in the Choctaw nation, to 
 which Kev. Mr. Bartlett, of Chicago, has called the attention of the 
 public. A person who was in the Choctaw nation at the time, testi- 
 fies that the woman was burnt on the first Sabbath of 1859 ; that she 
 was a member of the Stockbridge church; that her mistress, who 
 instigated the crime, was a member of the same church ; and that 
 soon after this crime was perpetrated, a 'big meeting' of the mis- 
 sion church was held for the communion, but no notice was taken 
 of this horrible transaction. 
 
 " Secretary Treat has already stated that this affair did not come 
 to the knowledge of the Board till after the connection of the Choc- 
 taw mission with the Board had ceased. But we believe that Rev. 
 Mr. Byington is still a pensioner of the Board, — his subsistence 
 being pledged to him for life. If this is so, the Prudential Com- 
 mittee are fairly called upon to investigate the facts of this case, and 
 if Mr. Byington was guilty of silence and inaction toward such a 
 crime, he is unworthy of any countenance from the Christian com- 
 munity," 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY . 207 
 
 In the succeeding week, January 31st, another item ap- 
 peared in the same paper, as follows : — 
 
 "Ret. Mr. Byington. — We are assured tliat Rev. Mr. Bying- 
 ton, of the Choctaw Mission, declined a pension from the American 
 Board, as he entered at once into tlie service of another Board. 
 That body, therefore, have no responsibility whatever for Mr. By- 
 ington or his acts, and no censure can rest upon tliem for the liorri- 
 ble affair of slave-burning, of whicli they knew nothing till after the 
 mission had passed from their hands." 
 
 This statement of The Independent, that the American 
 Board " have no responsibility whatever for Mr. Byington or 
 his acts," is an insult to the common sense of this commu- 
 nity ! Shall " no censure " rest upon them for the horrible 
 affair of slave-burning ? Let us see. 
 
 The Prudential Committee, to whom the Board entrusted 
 the management of its affairs, allowed their missionary ser- 
 vants to live among the slaveholding Choctaws for more than 
 forty years, pretending to preach the Gospel to them, yet not 
 opposing slavery ; they allowed them to honor that infamous 
 system by admitting slaveholders as the first members of 
 their churches; they allowed them, when this course was 
 called in question by Christians in New England, to make 
 excuses for slaveholding ; to declare it not only justifiable, 
 but sometimes indispensable ; to maintain, when specifications 
 of gross wickedness, inherent in it, were brought up — the 
 buying and selling of men and women as property, and the 
 separation by such sales of husbands and wives, parents and 
 children — that they would make no rule forbidding those 
 things to church members ; and to accjuiesce in the w icked 
 custom prevailing among those slaveholders, of preventing 
 their victims from learning to read the Bible ! 
 
 The Prudential Committee had evidence, from time to 
 time, through all those forty years, that the custom of buy- 
 ing and selling human beings as property, and of holding 
 and using them as such, tends to the commission of frightful 
 excesses of cruelty against these unfortunate victims, often 
 on mere suspicion of fault, and sometimes when that suspi- 
 cion is entirely groundless. They knew that fugitive slaves 
 were hunted with bloodhounds; that slaves resisting even 
 cruel and unreasonable punishment were killed, sometimes 
 quickly, by a pistol-shot, sometimes slowly, by the scourge ; 
 
208 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 and that there were many well-authenticated instances of 
 these poor unfortunates having been burned alive I Having 
 let the practice go on which is accustomed to lead to these 
 excesses of wickedness, is their advocate entitled, in the very 
 act of condemning the last and worst one, to declare them 
 GUILTLESS of it ? Having allowed, and argued for, their sys- 
 tematic teaching of the alphabet, through a course of forty 
 years, is their advocate authorized to declare, when the letter 
 Z is reached, that the utterance of that letter is a horrible 
 crime, and to declare, in the same breath, that the teachers 
 have " no responsibility whatever " for its utterance by the 
 pupils ? 
 
 Such an allegation is not only false, but absurd. But The 
 Independeyit has been accustomed to defend the Board through 
 all its shameful complicity with slavery, revealed in the fore- 
 going pages; and now, adhering to that policy, though it 
 yields to Prof. Bartlett's request for the publication of the 
 foregoing correspondence, and admits the appearance of guilt 
 in a missionary who allowed one of his church members to 
 burn another alive, with neither remonstrance at the time 
 nor church discipline afterwards — yet it declares the Board 
 to have " no responsibility whatever " for this act, and it says 
 not a word about any responsibility of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee ! 
 
 It may be well now to inquire who were the pastors and 
 teachers of the Stockbridge mission church at the time of the 
 immolation of this " whole burnt-oifering " ; and what is the 
 recent history of a church, purporting to be Christian, which 
 did not think the burning alive of one of its members by 
 another sufficient cause for church discipline, or inquiry, or 
 any measures whatever ! 
 
 In the Annual Report for the year of the burning, 1859, 
 the Stockbridge church stands first in the list of stations of 
 the Choctaw mission. The missionary force belonging to it 
 is as follows : — 
 
 " Stockbridge. — Cyrus Byington, Missionary ; Jason D. Cham- 
 berlain, Steioard of the Boardinf; School; Mrs. Sophia N. Byington, 
 Mrs. Elsey G. Cllaniberlain, Miss Charity A. Gaston, Miss Harriet 
 A. Dada, Teachers." — p. 137. 
 
 No remarks are made respecting this particular church, 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 209 
 
 except the following details, in a statistical table, of its num- 
 bers and action during the previous year (p. 139) : — 
 
 " Received on profession, 19 
 
 " by letter, 3 
 
 Present number, 149 
 
 Contributions to missions, $9 
 
 " for other objects, . . . , 6-47." 
 
 Of the mission in general it is said, in this Report, " there 
 is reason to believe that the churches, on the whole, were 
 never in a better condition than they are now." — p. 139. 
 
 No particular remarks are made respecting this Stock- 
 bridge church, either for praise or censure, in the years pre- 
 ceding this, even going back to the commencement of it. 
 Actually, nothing is said of this station, for twenty-five years, 
 of more significance than the bare statistical information that 
 in 1837 it had 11 G church members, in 1842, 70, and in 
 1843, the church and congregation together, "on the Sab- 
 bath," numbered " 60 or 70 " only, though 69 were still 
 rated as church members upon Mr. Byington's list. Per- 
 haps, in like manner, in 1858, the congregation actually 
 attending worship there " on the Sabbath," pious and impious 
 together, proved less in number than the 149 who had " a 
 name to live" on the church record. 
 
 Before leaving the record of the shocking transaction 
 above referred to, I wish to call attention to two very re- 
 markable expressions in the Prudential Committee's Annual 
 Report for 1859, treating of the discontinuance of the Choc- 
 taw Mission, and presented to the Board eight months after 
 this burning alive of one of its church members by another, 
 in that mission. 
 
 They say, p. 143 of the Ann. Rep. for 1859, quoted ante, 
 p. 194, (in their remarks immediately preceding their vote 
 recording the discontinuance of the Choctaw Mission,) — 
 " They have felt themselves greatly emlarrassed by facts 
 and considerations which they cannot properhj sjilmit to the 
 public cye.^^ And again they say — "The Prudential Ccm- 
 mittee wish it to be understood that the whole case is not 
 here.'' What is the meaning of these expressions? What 
 are these suppressed /<2cf5 ? 
 
 In the correspondence above detailed. Prof. Bartlett has 
 made reference to one of these expressions, asking Dr. Treat 
 
210 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 whether the suppressed " facts " in question were of this hor- 
 rible class; and Dr. Treat returns, as above, a negative 
 answer ; but the assertions of Dr. Treat in this country, as 
 well as of Dr. Pomroy in England, respecting the relation 
 of the Board to slavery, have not been such as to justify 
 entire confidence in the veracity oT the Secretaries of the 
 Board, when its reputation is in question. It may be that 
 other discreditable fruits of slavery among the Choctaws, 
 rendering immediate separation from them desirable for the 
 Board, have been more effectually hushed up than the slave- 
 burning in January, 1859. It may be that the " plea " for 
 this suppression (intimated in the Report to be " the history 
 of the red man " ! ! ) is rather the credit of the Board with 
 the Northern churches. And the community can hardly feel 
 well assured on this point, until they know what is " the whole 
 case " ; what are the embarrassing " facts and considera- 
 tions." 
 
 Having placed the record of the slave-burning at a mission- 
 station in the year of its occurrence, and having shown, as I 
 think, that the Prudential Committee, however ignorant of 
 this act at the time, are to be held responsible for it, because 
 they allowed their missionaries, from the beginning, to pur- 
 sue a policy naturally leading to it, I come next to the action 
 of the Board, in the Annual Meeting of the same year, on 
 the Prudential Committee's discontinuance of the Choctaw 
 mission. 
 
 Although this abrupt movement of the Prudential Com- 
 mittee had been foreshadowed by Dr. Bacon's hint, in the 
 previous year, of the chance of escaping by this back-door 
 from their " unceasing embarrassments and perplexities " in 
 the Choctaw mission, their sudden action upon this matter 
 seems to have taken the Board by surprise. The special Com- 
 mittee to whom it was referred made two varying reports, 
 and the Board held an animated debate upon them for more 
 than four hours. The statement in the Annual Beport re- 
 specting the whole matter is as follows : — 
 
 " THE CHOCTAW MISSIOX. 
 
 "The report of the Committee on the missions among the 
 Choctaws and Cherokees was introduced by a verbal statement 
 of the chairman, to the effect that their attention had been spe- 
 cially directed to the Choctaw mission, and they had noticed 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 211 
 
 nothing calling for remark In the Report respecting that among 
 the Cherokees. The report was as follows: — 
 
 " ' The Committee to whom the "Report on the Choctaw mission 
 was referred would respectfully sul)mit the following statement and 
 resolutions, as expressive of their views : 
 
 " ' This mission, as it was one of the earliest, so it has been one 
 of the most cherished under the care of this Board. For more than 
 forty years it has been in existence, occupying, during all this pe- 
 riod, a large place in the interest and affection of the churches here 
 represented. It has passed through trials, but in spite of them, it 
 has flourished and prospered. 
 
 "'Repeated revivals of religion, the ingathering of many, from 
 time to time, into the church, the holy lives of those brought out of 
 pagan darkness into the light of the Gospel, have been tiie divine 
 attestation to the faithfulness of the Apostolic men who, for so many 
 years, have labored in this field. The wild Indian reclaimed from 
 barbarism, and the savage brought into a state of civilization, has 
 refuted the oft-repeated assertion, that in his case, to civilize was to 
 destroy. 
 
 " ' Were these churches fully prepared to sustain the institutions 
 of religion without further aid, their separation from this Board 
 would be the natural and necessary result of their growth — a result 
 full of joy to those who had so long contributed to secure it. But 
 when such a separation is contemplated before this time has arriverl ; 
 when it is proposed to discontinue the mission, and dismiss the la- 
 borers from the field, solely on tlie ground of a difference of opinion 
 between the missionaries and this Board in respect to the manner 
 of preaching the Gospel, or the application of its principles to the 
 evil of slavery, then it is fit that such a step should be taken only 
 after a thorough investigation of the real difficulties of the case has 
 satisfied the members of this Board of its necessity. 
 
 " ' It may be, that the best interests of the mission and the use- 
 fulness of the Board will be greatly promoted by the separation. 
 But in this case, it should be brought about deliberately, and after 
 tlie whole subject has been fairly presented to the cliurches. Your 
 Committee feel, that for this Board to confirm, at this meeting, the 
 action of the Prudential Committee in discontinuing this mission, 
 would be regarded by many of the churches contributing largely to 
 its resources as at least premature. 
 
 " ' In order, therefore, to secure deliberate and intelligent action 
 on this question, your Committee recommend : 
 
 " ' That this whole subject be committed to a committee of , 
 
 (members of this Board,) with instructions to examine it; and if in 
 their opinion it is expedient to discontinue the Choctaw mission, to 
 consider what arrangements are necessary to render such discon- 
 tiniiance least perilous to the interests of religion in that nation, and 
 just to the members of the mission, and report thereon at the next 
 meeting of the Board. 
 
 " ' Your Committee also recommend, that, for this year, the Pru- 
 dential Committee should grant the mission the usual supplies.' 
 
212 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " Hon. Linus Cliikl, from the same Committee, offered tne fol- 
 lowing resolutions as a substitute for the report of the Com- 
 mittee : — 
 
 " ' 1. Resolved, That, in consideration of the facts involved in the 
 intercourse between the Prudential Committee and the missionaries 
 in the Choctaw mission, since the year 1847, the happiness of the 
 missionaries, and tlieir prosperity in their work, will be promoted 
 by their separation from this Board, while, at tlie same time, the 
 termination of their connection will greatly relieve the Board of the 
 serious and painful embarrassments to which it has been subjected. 
 
 "■ ' 2. Resolved, That this Board entertain feelings of the highest re- 
 spect, confidence and affection for the devoted men connected with 
 this mission, and cordially and gratefully appreciate their self-deny- 
 ing and taithful labors, which have been signally blessed of God to 
 the temporal and spiritual welfare of the Choctaw nation, and most 
 earnestly desire that larger fruits of these years of toil may cheer 
 them in the future prosecution of their benevolent and Christian 
 enterprise. 
 
 " ' 3. Resolved, That while we cannot withhold an expression of 
 deep regret at the withdrawal of this Board from a field which has 
 been cultivated for so long a period, with so much prayer and Chris- 
 tian zeal on the part of the churches, and with so many severe hard- 
 ships and struggles on the part of the missionaries, we are con- 
 strained to recommend, that the action of the Prudential Committee, 
 terminating the connection of the (Choctaw mission with the Board, 
 be concurred in, with this distinct modification, that the usual appro- 
 priations for a year be made, and placed at the disposal of the mis- 
 sionaries, in order that, with comfort to themselves, they may go on 
 with their work until they shall have fully matured their plans for 
 the future.' 
 
 " A prolonged discussion followed the reading of these papers. 
 The question being on the adoption of the resolutions presented 
 by Mr. Child, as a substitute for the report of the Conmiittee, Dr. 
 Cheever moved the following, as an amendment to these resolu- 
 tions, and to be added to the report of the Committee : — 
 
 "'Your Committee add, that in the opinion of this Board, the 
 holding of slaves be pronounced [is?] an immorality, inconsistent 
 with membership in any Christian church ; and that it ought to be 
 required, that these missionary churches should immediately put 
 away from themselves this sin, and should cease to sanction it even 
 in appearance.' 
 
 " This amendment was, by unanimous vote, laid upon the table. 
 
 " The Board also voted, that both the report of the Committee 
 and tlie resolutions offered by INlr. Child be laid upon the table. 
 
 " Dr. Stearns then moved, that the whole subject be referred to 
 a committee of nine, to report at the next annual meeting of the 
 Board. Upon a motion to lay this motion of Dr. Stearns on the 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 213 
 
 table, the yeas and nays being called for, were taken, -vvith tbc 
 following result : — 
 
 "'Yeas — Benjamin Tappan, Willard Child, Erastus Fairbanks, 
 Joseph Steele, Heman Humphrey, Henry Hill, Rufus Anderson, 
 Charles Stoddard, Ebenezer Alden, S. L. Pomroy, S. B. Treat, H. 
 B. Hooker, Linus Cliild, S. M. Worcester, A. W. Porter, A. C. 
 Thompson, W. T. Eustis, John Aiken, Seth Sweetscr, Jas. M. Gor- 
 don, Amos Blanchard, Joel Hawes, Thomas W, Williams, Henry 
 White, S. W. S. Dutton, George Kellogg, Charles Mills, William 
 Patton, C. T. Hulburd, Simeon Benjamin, Geo. W. Wood, William 
 Strong, L. H. Delano — 33. 
 
 '"Nays — John W. Chickering, Sylvester Holmes, Nehemiah 
 Adams, Leonard Bacon, David L. Ogden, William Adams, Samuel 
 W. Fislier, Oliver E. Wood, George B. Cheever, Thornton A. Mills, 
 David H. Riddle, Jonathan F. Stearns, Lyndon A. Smith, William 
 R. DeWitt, Ambrose White, William Jessup, Samuel H. Perkins, 
 Joel Parker, William A. Buckingham, Thomas Brainerd — 20. 
 
 " Hon. Linus Child then moved, that the Report of the Pruden- 
 tial Committee respecting the Choctaw mission be adopted, and 
 published with other portions of the Annual Report. AVliile this 
 motion was pending, Rev. H. T. Cheever offered the following as 
 an amendment : — 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the Prudential Committee be instructed to carry 
 on the Choctaw mission, by the appointment and substitution of 
 other missionaries than the present incumbents, who will carry on 
 the mission upon the principles which the Boai'd shall at any time 
 adopt for the government of its missionaries.' 
 
 " This was laid upon the table, and the motion of Mr. Child 
 was adopted ; the consideration of the subject having occupied 
 the attention of the Board for more than four hours." 
 
 Of the various matters contained in this extract from the 
 proceedings of the Annual Meeting of 1859, the first in 
 order is the two reports of the Special Committee upon the 
 discontinuance of the Choctaw mission by the Prudential 
 Committee. 
 
 The majority report finds no sufiicient reason for this sum- 
 mary procedure, and recommends investigation of the grounds 
 of it. 
 
 The minority report recommends concurrence in the action 
 of the Prudential Committee, thinking this the most prudent 
 course for all parties concerned. 
 
 " A prolonged discussion " followed, showing a nearly 
 equal division in the Board between those who thought it 
 
214 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 most important to viDdicate the policy of the missionaries, 
 and those who thought it most important to relieve the Pru- 
 dential Committee from " embarrassments and perplexi- 
 ties." 
 
 Both these parties, however, joined in an " unanimous vote" 
 to lay upon the table the amendment offered by Dr. Cheever, 
 declaring the holding of slaves an immorality, inconsisterit 
 with membership in any Christian church, and requiring 
 that the Choctaw mission churches should cleanse themselves 
 from this sin. 
 
 The Board, after hours of discussion, found themselves 
 unable to agree upon either of the reports, and both were 
 laid upon the table. 
 
 Dr. Stearns then made a motion proposing substantially 
 the action recommended in the majority report, but omitting 
 the reasons there urged for it, and avoiding all implication 
 against the Prudential Committee. A decided majority 
 voted to lay this motion also on the table. 
 
 The writer of the minority report then made a new mo- 
 tion, embodying the essential feature of that report, (concur- 
 rence in the action of the Prudential Committee,) without 
 its form, and this was declared adopted, without a count. 
 
 While this was pending, however, a resolution offered by 
 Rev. Henry T. Cheever — recommending that the Choctaw 
 missionaries be changed, instead of the mission discontinued — 
 was promptly laid on the table. 
 
 The prolonged debates and the emphatic votes of this 
 meetinor havinor shown the Board determined not to interfere 
 with the complicity maintained by their Prudential Commit- 
 tee and their missionaries with slavery. Dr. Cheever next 
 tried this body with a less stringent test of principle and 
 duty. 
 
 There had been, during that year and the year previous, 
 many indications of a purpose, among the most Southern 
 States of the American Union, to revive the foreign slave- 
 trade in fact, and to seek to legitimate it by legislative and 
 Congressional action, for the purpose of effecting a very 
 great enlargement of its operations. 
 
 However careful the Prudential Committee had been to 
 say nothing against the internal slave-trade, as practised 
 around and within the territory occupied by their Indian 
 
IN RELATION TO SLATERY. 215 
 
 missions, they bad frequently and strongly declared the pre- 
 judicial influence of the foreign slave-trade upon their Afri- 
 can missions. Of the influence of slavery itself, in Africa^ 
 they speak freely, in this very Annual Report, (1859,) as 
 follows. Speaking of the people on and near the Gaboon 
 river, on the West coast of Africa, they say — 
 
 "Social Conditiox. — Domestic slavery is extensive and in- 
 creasing. Slaves outnumber the freemen. Polygamy is universal, 
 and in its loosest form. Marriage can hardly be said to exist. 
 Much of the property is in the form of slaves and wives. The 
 children of slaves, however, are not often sold, and Mr. Walker 
 thinks the French slave trade cannot long continue. The social 
 disorganization is so complete, that all the young men fall early into 
 the licentious habits of their countrymen ; and it is almost impossible 
 to obtain and educate virtuous females. It is found next to impos- 
 sible to furnish wives for native lielpers." — p. 40. 
 
 Of the direct injury wrought by the slave-trade in Africa 
 upon their missionary work, the Prudential Committee say, 
 in their Annual Report for 1858 : — 
 
 " The mission has found greater difficulties than was expected 
 above the navigable waters of the Gaboon. The slave-trade has 
 demoralized the social life of the country. Tribe lies behind tribe, 
 each with a diti'erent language, and each seeking to be the exclusive 
 factors of all the trade that passes to and from the coast." — p. 31. 
 
 Of the fact that this desolating trade continues to exist, 
 even where it is claimed to have been suppressed by treaty, 
 they say, in their Annual Report for 1855 : — 
 
 " The slave-trade is still carried on between that place [Sanga- 
 tanga] and St. Thomas ; although the king showed our brethren a 
 very rigid treaty, which he and his chiefs had entered into with the 
 British government, for the entire suppression of the traffic in his 
 dominions." — p. 47. 
 
 Since the Prudential Committee had already spoken thus 
 strongly and repeatedly on the pernicious influence of the 
 foreign slave-trade, in its relation to Africa, it was not un- 
 reasonable in Dr. Cheever to ask such aid as might be given 
 by a protest of the Board against a reestablishment of that 
 atrocious trafiic by this country, involving, as it necessarily 
 would, a great increase of the evil complained of in Africa. 
 The Board, however, evaded compliance with this request, 
 by their usual method of indirection, and the Prudential 
 
216 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Committee, taking care not to quote Dr. Cheever's memo- 
 rial in their Annual Report, thus refer to the presentation 
 and final disposition of it : — 
 
 " THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 " Dr. Cheever presented, for adoption by the Board, a memo- 
 rial addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 United States, on the subject of the African slave-trade. After 
 discussion, this memorial was referred to the Business Committee, 
 who subsequently reported, recommending the adoption of the 
 following preamble and resolution, which were adopted : — 
 
 " ' While the Board regard with sentiments of unqualified con- 
 demnation the African slave-trade, and cannot but feel the liveliest 
 regret and alarm at the disijosition manifested in this and other 
 countries to revive it in one form or another, especially in view of 
 the fact that it is interfering, and is likely to interfere, in the most 
 serious manner, with the proper missionary work of the Board, yet, 
 inasmuch as tliere is not sufficient time, at this advanced stage of 
 the meeting, properly to deliberate and determine upon the course 
 proper to be pursued in so grave a matter : 
 
 "■ ' Resolved, That the whole subject, with the memorial that brings 
 it before the Board, be referred to the Prudential Committee, to 
 take such action as in their judgment its relations to their work, as 
 a Board of Missions, shall seem to demand.' " 
 
 Thus, at the very time when urgent and speedy action was 
 demanded by the very nature of the case, this important sub- 
 ject was buried for another year. 
 
 In the list, given in the Annual Report, (1859,) of per- 
 sons present at this meeting, is the name of Rev. Justin 
 Perkins, D.D., for many years a missionary of the Board 
 among the Nestorians. As Dr. Perkins had formerly, on 
 two different occasions, taken a decided and active part in 
 opposition to slavery, once in 1853, when he ineffectually 
 tried to unite the more distant missionaries of the American 
 Board in a public protest against American slavery, and 
 again in 1854, when he preached and published a sermon 
 called "Our Country's Sin," it was doubtless hoped, by those 
 who were taking that side in this Annual Meeting, that the 
 weight of his influence would be thrown in their favor. He, 
 however, remained silent. [To avoid recurrence to Dr. Per- 
 kins, it may be mentioned here, that he preserved a like 
 shameful silence, though present, when the yet worse trans- 
 actions of the next Annual Meeting were going on.] 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 217 
 
 The Prudential Committee, in some " remarks " at the 
 close of their account of the Annual Meeting of 1859, ex- 
 press their regret (tempered bj resignation) at the fact that 
 some members of the Board chose to occupy its time with 
 debates on slavery, as follows : — 
 
 "remarks. 
 " It was, doubtless, deeply regi-ettcd by many members, and others 
 in attendance on this meeting of the Board, that so much time should 
 have been occupied by discussions, interesting indeed, and to some 
 extent exciting, but not calculated to awaken the best Christian feel- 
 ing, or to enlist the deepest sympathies of the followers of Christ, 
 and call forth their most earnest etfbrts, in connection with the mis- 
 sionary work. Yet, under the circumstances of the case, considering 
 not onh^ the action in regard to the Choctaw mission which was 
 reported by the Prudential Committee, but remembering that the 
 fearful evils and sins of slavery and of the slave-trade were actually 
 witnessed in some of the fields occupied by missions of this Board, 
 seriously affecting the interests of tlie missions, it was hardly to be 
 expected that a meeting calling together so many persons, from dif- 
 ferent sections of our Avidely extended country, Avould be exempt 
 from such discussions." — p. 30. 
 
 The Prudential Committee had now freed themselves from 
 the " embarrassments and perplexities " of further remon- 
 strance against their complicity with slavery in the Choctaw 
 mission, by summarily "discontinuing" that mission. They 
 left its slaveholding church members, " in good and regular 
 standing," with "a name to live" as Christians. They left 
 its pro-slavery missionaries with hearty commendation of 
 their conscientiousness, faithfulness and devotedness, and 
 with the manifestation of especial interest in their " excel- 
 lent friend and brother, Mr. Byington," of the Stockbridge 
 station. All these were now free, if they chose, to connect 
 themselves with those " religious bodies in the adjoining 
 States," which had been charged by the Board, in Septem- 
 ber, 1858, with " a lamentable defection from some of the 
 first and most elementary ideas of Christian morality," yet 
 suggested by the Prudential Committee, in their subsequent 
 letter of October 5th, in the same year, as the body with 
 which it was "probable" that their dismissed missionaries 
 would " come into connection." 
 
 In the Annual Report for 1860, the Prudential Com- 
 mittee's statement relating to the Clierokee mission is as 
 follows : — 
 
 10 
 
218 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 "the board closes its work AMONG THE CHEROKEES. 
 
 " The Committee liare arrived at the conclusion, that it is time 
 for the Board to discontinue its expenditures among the Cherokees. 
 To prevent all misapprehensions, it should be stated at the outset ; — 
 First, that this is not owing to the relations of our work among 
 these Indians to the system of slavery ; the mission having former- 
 ly assented to the principles embodied in what is generally known 
 as the ' Good-water Settlement,' which was approved by the Board 
 at Utica, and the Committee having no evidence that the brethren 
 now constituting the mission have departed, in theory or practice, 
 from those principles. And, secondly, it is due to the missionaries 
 to sa}' further, that the prevailing opinion among them is adverse to 
 the Board's retiring from the Cherokee Nation. This is what 
 should be expected of brethren devoted to their work, in such cir- 
 cumstances ; and it may be hoped that some of our various Home 
 Missionary Societies will interpose, to sustain them longer at their 
 stations. 
 
 " To aid in determining the duty of the Board in respect to this 
 field, a series of inquiries was addressed, early in the present year, 
 to each of our three ordained missionaries among this people, and 
 from these brethren answers w^ere received, which, copied out in a 
 fair hand, together fill one hundred pages of manuscript. The last 
 of the responses was received as late as August. The question is, — 
 Considering the state and prospects of the work among the Chero- 
 kees, and the claims of other missions, and of other parts of the 
 unevangelized world, whether the Board may now properly retire 
 from the field, and expend elsewhere the five or six thousand dollars 
 required for the support of this mission. 
 
 " 1. The Cherokees are a Christian People. 
 
 " This mission is one of the oldest under the care of the Board, 
 having been in operation about forty-three years. It has employed 
 18 clerical missionaries, 29 laymen of ditFerent occupations, and 66 
 female assistant missionaries, or 113 in all; and $356,421 have been 
 expended in it from the Treasury of the Board. 
 
 " As the result of these and other kindred efforts, the Cherokees 
 have been elevated from the savage state to their present degree of 
 civilization. Doubtless, among the ignorant portions of the people, 
 there are remains of superstitious notions and habits, greater than 
 are found in older Christian communities ; but the people, as a 
 body, give the common proofs of being a Christian people. Hoav- 
 ever low may be the standard of their Christianity, it is their only 
 religion. The people are generally, as with us, ranked in one or 
 another of the evangelical denominations. And they are accessible 
 to Christian preachers, and listen to them with the same deference 
 as do their white brethren in the adjoining States. They inhabit 
 chiefly the eastern section of their territory, which borders on the 
 State of Arkansas ; extending north and south about one hundred 
 miles, and east and west about seventj^-five miles. The Cherokee 
 people are supposed to number about 21,000. Our three missionary 
 brethren, residing among them, concur in the opinion, that they 
 reckon themselves, and are to be acknowledged, a Christian people. 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 219 
 
 Mr. Torrey says : ' Christianity is recognized among them, as much 
 as in any portion of the United States. Tlieir Constitution provides 
 [Art. YI. Sec. 1] that no person wlio denies tlie being of a God, or 
 a future state of reward and punishment, shall hold any office in the 
 civil department of this nation.' Mr. Kanney says : 'The nation, 
 as such, I presume, Avould claim to be called a Christian nation. 
 Some laws have been passed by the Cherokee Council, wiiich have 
 recognized Christianity as the religion of the nation. This has 
 been done incidentally, rather than directly and positively. I sup- 
 pose that, almost universally, they would desire to be called 
 Christians.' And Mr. Willey bears a similar testimony. ' I 
 think,' he sa3's, 'that the Cherokees, as a nation, may justly be 
 called a nominally Christian nation. The Constitution of the nation 
 recognizes the Christian religion, and requires a belief in it by all 
 Avho hold office under the government. All teachers in the public 
 schools are required, by law, to have the Bible read in their schools 
 daily ; and when they are prej)ared for it, they are requested to 
 pray daily in their schools.' 
 
 " 2. Uoio far the Cherohees have the Gospel Institutions. 
 
 " ' In this territory and population,' Mr. Torrey says, ' there are 
 probably, of all denominations, including native pastors and ex- 
 horters, not less than sixty licensed preachers, or one to about 
 every four hundred iidiabitants. Of these, sixteen are Avhite men, — 
 namely, three missionaries of the American Board ; three Mora- 
 vians ; three Northern Baptists ; two Southern Baptists ; and five 
 Methodists. There is probably no citizen of the nation who is not 
 within a convenient distance of occasional religious meetings. 
 There are, I believe, thirty public school-houses, all of which are 
 used more or less as preaching places, and probably more than 
 double that number of other places of worship.' The stations of 
 the Board are in the southern section of this territory. The Mora- 
 vians have two or three stations in the northern section ; the 
 Northern Baptists occupy the eastern side ; while the jNIethodist 
 circuit-riders, and a portion of the Baptists, perhaps mostly from the 
 South, range through the territory. ' The Methodists,' JNIr. Torrey 
 writes from Park Hill, ' are building a large brick church on the 
 hill opposite ours, and in full view of it, about two miles distant, to 
 cost 83,000.' Mr. Eanney, writing from Lee's Creek, says : ' The 
 Baptists have built a meeting-house Avithin about half a mile of the 
 station, where they frequently have preaching.' ]\Ir. Torrey thinks 
 there is no part of the country that is not frequently visited by 
 preachers from the Methodist or Baptist denominations. Mr. 
 Ranney supposes that all can hear some kind of preaching, at least 
 occasionally, from some one of the denominations ; but that only a 
 very small proportion have opportunity to hear the preached Gospel 
 statedly and regularly on the Sabbath. 
 
 "Mr. Torrey reports the church members as being more than 
 three thousand in number, constituting more than one-third of the 
 adult population. Of these, the Northern Baptists have the largest 
 number, or about fifteen hundred ; the Methodists the next largest; 
 the Southern Baptists the next ; and the Moravians about two 
 hundred and fifty. Of the actual piety of this large membership, 
 
220 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 we may not speak confidently. Where so many have opportunity 
 to attend only three or four meetings in a year, even though these 
 meetings be protracted, we can hardly look for much religious 
 knowledge, or effective Christian character, especially as the larger 
 portion of the native preachers are said to have but little education. 
 Our brethren declare, that no members have been received into 
 either of our own churches, without first giving what they deemed 
 to be credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ. In this 
 there has been exact conformity to the principle recognized by the 
 Board: — 'That credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ, 
 in the judgment of the missionaries and the churches they gather, 
 entitles professed converts from among the heathen to the ordinances 
 of baptism and the Lord's supper ; those ordinances being evidently 
 designed by Christ to be means of grace for such.' Mr. Ran- 
 ney regards the members of his own church, at Lee's Creek, as 
 furnishing the same evidence of faith and repentance, as did the 
 members of a church in Vermont, where he labored as a minister of 
 the Gospel before going among the Cherokees. 
 
 " 3. Difficulties in the way of further Operations hy the Board. 
 
 " Whether it be possible for a missionary society, situated like 
 the Board, to revive this mission, and to prosecute it vigorously for 
 a succession of years, is a nuitter of considerable doubt. One of our 
 brethren thus writes : ' To one who looks upon the surface, the 
 position which your missionaries now occupy among this people 
 amounts to this. They are laboring under a complication of disad- 
 vantages ; at a great expense — greater, I suppose, in proportion to 
 the extent of their operations, than that of any other denomination ; 
 shut out, at least for the present, from adding to the number of their 
 stations, or exchanging them for more promising localities ; regarded 
 with jealousy by a very influential portion of the community ; with 
 no active native preachers ; with small congregations ; with very 
 few young persons connected with their churches; with a member- 
 ship which has not materially increased for many years, and with 
 scarcely any promise of future accessions : and competing Avith other 
 sects, Avho occup3% indisci'iminately, every part of the country', have 
 a large corps of native assistants, and count their audiences at times 
 by thousands, and their accessions by scores.' Looking deeper, this 
 brother sees 'something under this weak and despised exterior,' 
 in its healthful influence on the piety and morals of the nation, 
 'that is really worth all the cost and contumely which have at- 
 tended this mission for the last ten or fifteen years.' This is proba- 
 bly true of the past. Yet among a people situated like the Chero- 
 kees, and with such an all-pervading inroad of other denominations, 
 it must be difficult for the Board to regain its ground; mainly be- 
 cause so many other professedly Christian teachers occupy it. The 
 l^roportion of the people now reached by our ministrations is com- 
 paratively small. The audience at Park Hill is not far from forty ; 
 that at Fairfield (a monthly meeting) is sixty ; at Dwight, it is from 
 sixty to one hundred ; and at Lee's Creek, seventy -five. Moreover, 
 all the missionaries preach through interpreters. If it were possi- 
 ble, as it is not, to procure native pastors for the small churches 
 at each of these places, the people could not be induced to support 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAYERT. 221 
 
 them ; ' since other denominations/ as we are assurefl, ' wonld 
 very readily take the support of these churclies upon their liands, 
 on condition of receiving them into their fellowship.' Elsewlu-re, 
 the same writer speaks more fully on this important point. ' Unlike 
 most nations emerging from heathenism/ he says, 'this people 
 have, from the memory of the oldest, and I do not know but alwaj's, 
 been entirely exempt from taxes. They are able to give but little 
 at the best, and they think themselves less able than they really are. 
 Their idea of ptiblic money is money paid to them, for their ben- 
 efit; not by them, for the public good. As to eating and drinking, 
 they are liberal, and will share the last loaf with the needy. They 
 will often provide entertainment at camp-meetings, at no small ex- 
 pense of labor, time, and property. But to persuade them to carry 
 these same provisions quietly to their minister, to be used frugally 
 for his family's necessities, would be no easy task. Again, the 
 moment these stations are deserted by the missionaries, there are 
 at least three denominations, who are ready to furnish them with 
 preaching free from all expense, except an occasional contribution 
 and camp-meeting; and who would take our educated young men 
 into their service (if they would consent) at a salary higher and 
 surer than they could possibly secure from the people, under the 
 most favorable circumstances.' These are facts which should obvi- 
 ously have much weight in determining the future duty of the 
 Board. Churches that are to be alwa^'s dependent, in lands which 
 have become professedly Christian, can have but a slender claim 
 upon institutions that exist for the propagation of the Gospel among 
 heathen nations. Until the churches shall enter more readily and 
 fully into the work of missions, such investments cannot be wise. 
 
 " Should the Board occupy new districts in the Cherokee coun- 
 try, there is reason to believe that other denominations would follow 
 us, and there render it as impossible for us to make headway as 
 they do where we now are. And in obtaining new locations, in 
 forming new relations, in starting anew in every thing, with such 
 obstacles, and with tiie disadvantage of prejudices, however ground- 
 less, against us as a Xorthern society, — prejudices, so prone to start 
 periodically into life and vigor, upon the recurrence of our national 
 agitations during the Presidential election, — our prospective embar- 
 rassments are too great, and our success is too doubtful, to warrant 
 the attempt. 'I suppose,' says one of our brethren, 'that to 
 attempt to establish ncAv stations without an act of Council, would 
 be simply to forfeit our expenditures ; and I have no idea that such 
 an act could be obtained.' 
 
 " The national law on this subject, passed September, 1839, is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " ' Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, that in future, no missionary school or 
 establishment shall be located, or erected, without permission being first 
 obtained from the 2\ationaI Council for such purpose, and the place desig- 
 nated by law for the same, with such other general regulations as maj' be 
 deemed necessary and proper, either as conducive to its particular use- 
 fulness, or conformity to national rights and interests.' " 
 
222 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 " 4. The Mission Discontinued. 
 
 " In view of these facts and circumstances, and for the reasons 
 thus briefly stated, or suggested, and for no other or different 
 reasons, the Prudential Committee have deemed it expedient to dis- 
 continue this mission. To this end, they have recently adopted the 
 Eesolutions that follow — namely : 
 
 " Resolved, — 1. That, in the adoption of the Christian religion by the 
 Cherokee people, and the recognition of it by their government; in the 
 general diifusion among them of Gospel institutions, though under dif- 
 ferent forms; in the introduction and permanent establishment of the 
 principles and practices of piety, though of course under many imperfec- 
 tions; and in the creation, notwithstanding formidable obstacles, of a 
 regulated civil community, from one of the largest aboriginal tribes of 
 our Continent, — the Prudential Committee gratefully acknowledge a 
 work of divine grace, amply rewarding the exertions and expenditures 
 which have been made, by Christians of different names, in this behalf. 
 
 " 2. That while the spiritual renovation of the Cherokee people is con- 
 fessedly imperfect, the Committee regard the appropriate work of the Board 
 among that people as having been so far accomplished, and the further 
 successful prosecution of its labors as, at the same time, so far impeded by 
 the intervention of other denominations better situated for operating there 
 than ourselves, as to render it proper and expedient for the Board to 
 withdraw, and expend the funds hitherto devoted to this field in other 
 more needy portions of the unevangelized world, where it can now work 
 to better advantage. 
 
 "3. That, accordingly, the mission of the Board among the Cherokees 
 should be, and it is hereby, discontinued. 
 
 '' 4. That this does not at once terminate the personal relations of the 
 members of this mission to the Board, but leaves them at liberty to make 
 such arrangements for the future as they shall severally judge proper; 
 and the Committee will recognize their claim to such pecuniary aid, 
 whenever they retire from their connection with the Board, as its rules, 
 usages and means enable it to afford. 
 
 " 5. To prevent the possibility of misapprehension, it is further re- 
 solved, that the mission is not discontinued because of any unfaithfulness 
 on the part of our brethren in that mission; they having been exemplary, 
 so far as is known to the Committee, in the discharge of all their mission- 
 ary duties." — pp. 137-142. 
 
 " The Cherokees," say the Prudential Committee, " are a 
 Christian People " ! — and, in some concluding reflections, 
 designed to fix this idea, by repetition, in the minds of their 
 readers, they sum up the matter thus : — 
 
 " The mission is not abandoned ; but our appropriate work is done. 
 The Cherokee people have been Christianized, through the divine 
 favor, and wiiat remains for building up and sustaining the institu- 
 tions of the Gospel — which is eveiy where a work never brought to 
 a close — must be left to others ; for the reason that our appropriate 
 work is no longer there." — p. 145. 
 
 The details above given by the Prudential Committee do 
 not give us a very exalted idea either of the quantity or 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 223 
 
 quality of the Christianization thus claimed. But, to sec 
 how small is its quantity, and how poor its quality, even 
 according to the Prudential Committee's own standard, we 
 must collect those scattered evidences which form the basis 
 of the assertion that the Cherokees (acknowledged by the 
 Committee to number " about 21,000 ") are " a Christian 
 people." 
 
 First, as to quantity. Here are the numbers, given in a 
 statistical table, (p. 143,) of the Cherokees who are church 
 members at the four mission stations of the Board in that 
 nation : — 
 
 At Park Hill, 33 
 
 " Fairfield, 24 
 
 " Dwight, 59 
 
 " Lee's Creek, 20 
 
 136 
 
 The Annual Report for 1859 (p. 149) tells us that of the 
 twenty-four church members of the meeting at Fairfield, (a 
 monthly meeting,) the " average attendance " is " only four 
 or five." The average attendance of communicants at the 
 other three stations is not given. 
 
 By counting in the white communicants and the colored 
 communicants in these four churches, the entire number of 
 the Board's church members in the Cherokee nation is raised 
 to 183. But it is upon the 136 Cherokee church members 
 that the claim must stand (if at all) that "the [21,000] 
 Cherokees are a Christian people." 
 
 There is, however, one more chance for the Prudential 
 Committee's claim to be substantiated. If a large propor- 
 tion of the nation are punctual and devout attendants upon 
 the preaching of a pure Gospel, thus manifesting their respect 
 for Christianity, and their allegiance to it, they may, perhaps, 
 in the judgment of charity, be called a Christian nation. 
 To judge fairly of the claim that the Cherokee nation is 
 Christianized, we should look, not at the number of church 
 members only, but at the size of the congregations which the 
 missionaries report as usually attendant on their Sabbath 
 services. These are given as follows, pp. 140, 141, of the 
 Annual Beport for 1860 : — 
 
224 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 Audience at Park Hill, . . . .40 
 
 " " Fairiielcl, (monthly,) . . 60 
 
 " Dwight, " 60 to 100," say . 80 
 
 " " Lee's Creek, ... 75 
 
 255 
 
 It is, then, on the strength of four Sabbath audiences, 
 amounting in all, church members included, to 255, that the 
 21,000 Cherokees are declared " a Christian people " ! 
 
 It is true that the Prudential Committee bring, in aid of 
 their comprehensive claim of a Christian character for the 
 Cherokee nation, sundry statistics respecting the " licensed 
 preachers " of other ecclesiastical bodies (chiefly Baptists and 
 Methodists) who are operating in the Cherokee country, and 
 who have gathered churches there. But when we remember 
 (even apart from the fact of their being inveterately pro- 
 slavery) that the bodies by whom these preachers are 
 " licensed " are the very ones which have been charged by 
 the Board with " a lamentable defection from some of the 
 first and most elementary ideas of Christian morality," (p, 17 
 of Annual Report for 1858,) we shall find that this specifica- 
 tion, instead of helping the claim of the Prudential Commit- 
 tee, hinders it ; instead of showing, as the heading of their 
 paragraph would deceitfully represent, "iZoz^ far the Chero- 
 kees have the Gospel Institutions^''' it only shows another 
 effort on their part to mislead the readers of the report, and 
 to claim a Christian character for a pro-slavery system, out- 
 side as well as inside of their own operations. 
 
 Having looked at the amount of the thing claimed as 
 Christianity in the Board's four churches in the Cherokee 
 nation, let us next look at its quality. Perhaps its ardor, 
 its devotedness, compensate for its small numerical amount. 
 Perhaps the number was kept so small because only eminent 
 Christians were admitted to the Church. Let us see. 
 
 The first thing to be noticed is, that what they called 
 Christianity included a recognition of the holding, the buy- 
 ing and selling of slaves as entirely unobjectionable; as 
 something, the right to do which was to be upheld by law 
 and custom, in Church and State. 
 
 But, passing by this consideration, let us test them by the 
 Boa.rd's standard of Christian character; namely, their 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 225 
 
 practical use of church membership ; their appreciation of 
 " the privileges of the sanctuary." To do this, I will quote 
 the statements respecting the spiritual condition of the 136 
 Cherokee Christians, from the last four Annual Reports of 
 the Prudential Committee, including that which records the 
 " discontinuance " of the mission. 
 The Annual Report for 1857 says — 
 
 " The history of the churches under the care of this mission for 
 several years has been singularly uniform The total mem- 
 bership of the churches remains very nearly as it was in 1851 
 
 The interest in the Cherokee churches in the services of the sanc- 
 tuary does not seem to have deepened. At some of the stations, 
 the number of Avorshippers on the Sabbath has slightly increased ; 
 but, on the whole, no certain improvement in this particular can be 
 reported." — p. 14:0. 
 
 The Annual Report for 1858 says — 
 
 " The brethren of this mission, with one exception, are unable to 
 report any religious interest which can properly be called a revival. 
 INIr. IJanney has admitted four persons to the church at Lee's 
 
 Creek A few additions have also been made to the church 
 
 at Honey Creek. But the reports from Park Hill and Fairfield are 
 less cheering. The past year, Mr. "Worcester writes, has unhappily 
 been one of sad apathy in regard to the most interesting of all con- 
 cerns. My preaching thus far, Mr. Torrey says, has been attended 
 with but little apparent profit. I have some reason to believe that 
 two or three persons have been led to indulge a hope in Christ 
 through my word. Whether their hope is well founded or not, 
 
 remains to be seen The grace of liberality is not largely 
 
 bestowed upon the Cherokees." — pp. 128, 129. 
 
 The Report for 1859 says — 
 
 " The past year cannot be regarded as one of special prosperity. 
 The additions to the number of communicants are only seven; so 
 that, taking into account the annual loss by death or otherwise, the 
 churches have received no accession to their strength." — p. IIT. 
 
 " The amount contributed for benevolent purposes cannot be 
 reported with accuracy. It is presumed, however, that there has 
 been no advance upon the liberality of former years." — p. 118. 
 
 " In speaking of this church, one year ago, Mr. Torrey stated 
 that, of twelve colored members, none resided within eight miles of 
 him ; and that, of thirty-one Indian members, only fourteen lived 
 within six miles of him ; the rest being entirely, oralmost entirely, 
 beyond his reach. The average attendance of communicants at 
 Fairfield is only four or five. It Avas not till a few weeks since that 
 he could report the first direct, tangible, satisfactory case of conver- 
 sion connected with his labors. As there is no reason whatever tg 
 10* 
 
226 
 
 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 call in question the fidelity and earnestness of this brother, the Com- 
 mittee are not clear that, in the present state of the world, the 
 Board should prolong its efforts at this station." — p. 149. 
 
 The suggestion made in the sentence last quoted was carried 
 into execution, and the Annual Report for 1860 announced 
 that the Prudential Committee had closed their work among 
 the Cherokees. The statement in that Report respecting the 
 spiritual prosperity of that year was as follows : — 
 
 " The past }• ear has not been one of ingathering to the churches ; 
 though they have preserved their general good estate, as compared 
 with the other religious communities in the nation." 
 
 Which is to say, (if we " put that and that together,") — 
 that, though there are no more Christians than last year, the 
 previously existing ones show nothing worse than " a 
 lamentable defection from some of the first and most ele- 
 mentary ideas of Christian morality." 
 
 Thus it appears that the real basis of the claim of Chris- 
 tian character for the nation of 21,000 Cherokees is the 
 existence of 136 Cherokee church members, of the sort 
 above described, and the attendance of 119 more persons, on 
 Sundays, upon those means of grace which converted the 136. 
 The next inquiry to be made is — What action was taken 
 by the Board, in their Annual Meeting, October, 1860, upon 
 the decision of the Prudential Committee to discontinue the 
 Cherokee mission ? What did the Board say to the declara- 
 tion of the Prudential Committee, manifestly false, that this 
 relinquishment had not been made on account of slavery ? 
 What did they say to the declaration, alike false and pre- 
 posterous, that the real reason of the relinquishment was 
 that their efibrts to Christianize were not needed there, be- 
 cause the nation were already Christians? What did they 
 say to the details of evidence adduced in support of this 
 hypothesis that the Cherokees were a Christian people, name- 
 ly : that 136 of them, out of 21,0U0, were members of 
 churches, these churches agreeing to recognize slaveholders, 
 equally with others, as Christians : that this church member- 
 ship comprises " very few young persons," that it " has not 
 materally increased for many years," and that it has " scarce- 
 ly any promise of future accessions " ; that these Cherokee 
 Christians have " no active native preachers" : that even the 
 mdiences (church members and others, Cherokee, white and 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 227 
 
 colored,) which usually assembled at their four stations, were 
 only 40, 60, 80 and 75, making but 255 hearers of the 
 Board's Gospel out of 21,000 : and finally, that " if it were 
 possible, as it is not, to procure native pastors for the small 
 churches at each of these places, the people could not be 
 INDUCED TO support THEM ! " What did the Board say to 
 this sort of evidence that " the Cherokees are a Christian 
 people " ? 
 
 They said nothing! Even the Committee* to whom, in 
 the ordinary course of business, this portion of the Report 
 of the Prudential Committee was referred, said nothing, 
 either of the double deceit therein practised by the Prudential 
 Committee, or of the absurdity of claiming a Christian 
 character for the Cherokee nation upon such grounds. On 
 the contrary, they " recommended the adoption of the fol- 
 lowing resolution, and it was adopted" by the Board: 
 namely — 
 
 "Resolved, That the action of tlie Prudential Committee in refer- 
 ence to the Cherokee mission be, and the same is hereby, approved 
 by the Board." — p. 16. 
 
 Immediately after this record in the proceedings of the 
 Annual Meeting in 18G0, comes the following, from which it 
 appears that certain members and friends of the Board, 
 Orthodox Congregational Ministers forming the General 
 Association of Illinois, had made one more effort to induce 
 the Board to purify itself from complicity with slavery : — 
 
 " RESOLUTIONS OF THE GEXEllAL ASSOCIATIOX OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 " The Business Committee reported that certain Resolutions 
 of the General Association of Illinois, on 'the relation of the 
 Board to the Cherokee Mission,' had been brought to their 
 notice, and recommended that they be referred to the Committee 
 to whom the Report of the Prudential Committee, respecting that 
 mission, had been referred. This was done accordingly. The 
 Resolutions are as folloAvs : — 
 
 '"1. Besohed, That the cause of Foreign Missions is vitally con- 
 nected Avith the spiritual prosperity of our churches, and entitled to 
 hold a leading place in their Christian affections and charities ; and 
 that its appeals to their sympathies, prayers, and self-denying bene- 
 
 * The Committee on the Cherokee mission consisted of Rev. Dr. Beman, 
 Judge Jessup, Wm. C. Gihuan, Esq., Rev. Dr. Asa D. Smith, Rev. Dr. 
 Sabin, Rev. Wm. A. Nichols, and Rev. J. Gr. Davis. 
 
228 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 factions, were never so loud and urgent as, in the providence of 
 God, they are at tlie present time. 
 
 " ' 2. Resolved, That we most gratefully acknowledge the good 
 hand of our God in the foreign missionary work which, during the 
 last half century, the American Board, the pioneer of our benevo- 
 lent societies, has been enabled, through the divine blessing, to 
 accomplish ; in the information which it has collected and ditfused 
 throughout Christendom respecting the heathen world ; in the com- 
 passion for the perishing and the zeal for Christ which it has kin- 
 dled in the hearts of his disciples ; in the spirit of self-denial and 
 self-sacrifice which it has quickened and fostered ; in the blessings 
 of a Christian civilization which it has conferred upon the benighted 
 and degraded; in the many trophies for Christ and heaven which it 
 has won from Paganism ; in the impulse which it has given to the 
 great cause of Christian benevolence ; and in all the forms in which, 
 at home and abroad, it has advanced the triumphs of the Redeemer's 
 Kingdom among men ; — and that we desire that the Board may 
 enter upon the second half century of its career with fresh unction 
 and fresh power, relieved of every disability which may impair its 
 moral influence, cripple its energies, diminish its resources, or ob- 
 struct its widest usefulness. 
 
 " ' 3. Resolved, That we regard it as demanded alike hy the Gospel 
 and humanity, and an object of intense desire, in view of the existing 
 state of the national mind, the demand and associations of the ap- 
 proaching jubilee, and the highest influence and success of the 
 Board, that the divorce of slaveholding from Christianity be com- 
 pleted at once in the churches of the Cherokee nation, and that a 
 full declaration of principles against slavery be sent forth to the 
 world, as the testimony ot the Board to that great cause which now 
 involves the deepest interests of humanity.' 
 
 " The Committee subsequently i-eported, that 'the action of the 
 Prudential Committee, and the statements contained in their 
 Report with reference to the Cherokee Mission, taken in connec- 
 tion with previous declarations of the Board, have satisfactorily 
 answered the requests of the General Association of Illinois ; and 
 no further action of the Board is deemed necessary.' This report 
 was accepted by the Board." — p. 1 7. 
 
 It appears from the first paragraph of this monstrous re- 
 port, that not the Business Committee, but the Committee 
 which had just echoed the relinquishment of the Cherokee 
 Mission, are to be held responsible for it. No where in the 
 whole action of the managers of the Board (I am aware that 
 this is a very strong expression) has there been a more 
 palpable and impudent fraud than the assertion of this 
 Reverend Committee, that the cutting loose of the slavehold- 
 ing Cherokee churches from the Board has " satisfactorily 
 answered the requests of the General Association of Illinois," 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 229 
 
 which were, first, " that the divorce of slaveholding from 
 Christiauitj be completed at once i?i the churches of the 
 Cherokee nation "; and next, " that a full declaration of prin- 
 ciples against slavery be sent forth to the world as the testi- 
 mony of the Board." 
 
 It is by their accustomed careless acceptance and adoption 
 of reports like this, (the endorsement of a reputable merchant 
 upon a forged check,) that the Board enable the fictions, 
 elaborated by complicity of the Special Committees with the 
 Prudential Committee, to pass current as truth in the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The next action, in the Annual Meeting of 1860, was in 
 regard to the foreign slave-trade, a memorial against which, 
 presented by Rev. Dr. Cheever to the Annual Meeting of the 
 previous year, had, after discussion, been shoved out of the 
 way by a reference to the Prudential Committee. (See 
 ante, p. 216.) As this body hoped now to get the whole 
 subject of slavery off their hands, they brought up this 
 branch of it also, to receive its quietus, as follows — (it 
 will be observed that they avoid mentioning loho presented 
 the memorial): — 
 
 " THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 "At a meeting of the Board in 1859, a memorial on the subject 
 of the African slave trade, which had been presented for adop- 
 tion, together with the whole subject thus brought before the 
 Board, was referred to the Prudential Committee. In their Ee- 
 port upon the Gaboon mission, (which was referred to the Com- 
 mittee on missions in Africa,) the following statements are made 
 upon this subject, and, information having been called for, were 
 read before the Board : — 
 
 " ' It is gratifying to learn, from recent statements, that the French 
 Government have promised to discontinue their "emigrant" tratiic 
 after the ])resent season. This trafSc, at the Gaboon, has been less 
 than usual during the year, and it has less affected the operations of 
 the mission than heretofore. 
 
 " ' The Committee were instructed by the Board, at its last meet- 
 ing, to take such action concerning the slave-trade, in tins and its 
 other form, "as in their judgment its relations to their work, as a 
 Board of Missions, shall seem to demand." No time was lost in 
 attending to the duty. Mr. Walker, of the Gaboon mission, being 
 then in "the country, and being one of tlie best authorities on the 
 subject, was consulted. His opinion as to the "emigrant trade" 
 corresponded with the facts above reported, and he thought more 
 
230 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 harm than good would result from memorializing the national Gov- 
 ernment at present. In this opinion, the brethren at the Gaboon 
 subsequently concurred, as the Committee were informed by INIr. 
 Bushnell. It was also the belief of Mr. Walker, that the slave- 
 trade, in its customary form, is not now directly atfecting us. The 
 Committee embodied these views in a report, which they placed on 
 their files, and do not think it incumbent on the Board to bring this 
 matter before our Government under existing circumstances.' 
 
 " The report here mentioned as having been placed on file by 
 the Prudential Committee, which is dated November 8, 1859, was 
 put into the hands of the same Committee, on the African mis- 
 sions, and was also read to the Board. It is as follows: — 
 
 " * The sub-committee to whom was referred the memorial on the 
 slave-trade, which was presented to the Board at its late meeting at 
 Philadelphia, and b}^ the Board referred to the Prudential Commit- 
 tee, have considered the matter, and report : 
 
 " ' The question now to be considered is this : Is it expedient for 
 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, or for 
 the Prudential Committee in the behalf of said Board, now to memo- 
 rialize the Congress of the United States, or the President of the 
 United States, on the subject of the African slave-trade 1 
 
 " ' That this trade is an enormous evil, wherever it exists, there 
 can be no doubt. It pollutes whatever it touches, and desolates 
 wherever it goes. And this is probably just as true of the exporta- 
 tion of "free emigrants" from Africa, under the authority of the 
 Prench Government, as it is of the general slave-trade. 
 
 " ' Great, however, as the evil may be, it is our clear conviction 
 that neither the Board, nor its Committee, ought to memorialize the 
 Congress or the President of the United States, unless the trade, in 
 some of its forms, evidently interferes Avith the proper missionary 
 work of the Board. This missionary work is now carried on among 
 the Zulus, upon the south-eastern coast, and at the mouth of the 
 Gaboon, on the western coast of Africa. 
 
 " ' The foreign slave-trade, in either of its forms, has not directly 
 interfered with our missionarj^ work among the Zulus. The trade 
 does not exist in that territory, and will not be likely to enter it, as 
 the territory is under British authority. 
 
 " * Neither has the Gaboon country been disturbed by the general 
 slave-trade for years, the nearest market for the purchase of slaves 
 being at the mouth of the Nazareth, about one hundred miles south 
 of the Gaboon. The trade in "free emigrants," by the French, 
 has, however, been established and carried on at the Gaboon. Mr. 
 Walker, one of our missionaries, says of this trade : " It is not dif- 
 ferent from the old slave-trade, except in name and profession of 
 philanthrophy, and the presence of a naval officer aboard each ves- 
 sel, to protect it from the English cruiser on the coast. But these 
 things only intensify it, and make it more effectual for the accom- 
 plishment of evil." If, then, there is a strong probability that this 
 trade will be long continued at tliis point, it would seem to be proper 
 and expedient for the American Board to address the President of 
 
IN EELATION TO SLAVERY. 231 
 
 the United States, in the endeaA'or, and with the hope, of securing 
 the inliuence of this Government Avith the French Government, in 
 favor of the discontinuance of this trade, because of its interference 
 with their missionary work. Mr. Walker, however, is of the opin- 
 ion, that this tralfic will not be long continued at the Gaboon. He 
 says : " I see that this trathc is suspended by Government order on 
 the east coast. It has also been abandoned in Liberia. Last month, 
 Mr. Best wrote me that the trade in the Gaboon had met with so 
 strong a competition from the increase of English trade there, that 
 the vessels were preparing to leave for other parts of the coast. But 
 dates of a month later speak of the vessels as still there. I do not 
 think the trade is to continue. The present arrangement terminates 
 in about two years, and from the fact that it has been withdrawn 
 from the east coast, and the constant opposition of the Enghsh Gov- 
 ernment, as well as English trade, I do not think the arrangement 
 will be renewed. I do'not think that the French emigrant system 
 is to affect us in the Gaboon, or any other missionaries on the coast, 
 seriously." 
 
 " ' We regard Mr. Walker as the very best authority on tliis sub- 
 ject, and with his testimony and opinion so clearl}' expressed before 
 us, we cannot think it advisable to address the President on the sub- 
 ject at the present time. If it shall be found, in the course of events, 
 that the expectations of Mr. AValker are not realized, and that this 
 traffic is likely to be continued, to the injury of our missionary 
 work, a suitable appeal will of course hereafter be made by the 
 Committee to the President in this behalf.' " — pp. 17-19. 
 
 The Prudential Committee place their refusal to act in this 
 important matter on the ground of the opinion of Mr. 
 Walker, one of their missionaries, whom they represent as 
 " the very best authority on this subject." 
 
 Mr. Walker is a very hopeful man. Thirteen years ago, 
 (1848,) writing from the same mission, he announced that 
 the slave-trade was already " broken up." In the Prudential 
 Committee's Annual Ileport for that year occurs this report 
 from Mr. Walker respecting " King George's town " : — 
 
 " The people there are debased, suffering through the influence of 
 the slave-trade ; which, however, has been broken uj) by the activity 
 of English and American cruisers." — p. 134. 
 
 Mr. Wilson, also, another missionary of the Board at the 
 Gaboon, has shown himself unduly hopeful upon the same 
 subject. In the Annual Ileport for 1852, Mr. Wilson 
 
 says — 
 
 " The English squadron has very nearly put a final end to the 
 slave-trade. All its strongholds in the vicinity of the Congo have 
 recently been abandoned. Indeed, I know of but three points on 
 the whole coast now where it is still continued ; and these, I have 
 no doubt, will be relinquished before the close of the present year." 
 
232 
 
 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 In another statement, (subsequently written, thougli in the 
 same year,) Mr. Wilson says, (p. 218) — 
 
 " It will be gratifying to the friends of hunianit}^ to know, that the 
 slave-trade on the coast of Africa is virtually broken up, and proha- 
 hly will never he revived again." 
 
 Coming down to the year 1859, Mr. Walker's confidence 
 becomes somewhat less positive. In their Annual Report 
 for that year, complaining that at the Gaboon " domestic 
 slavery is extensive and increasing^''' the Prudential Com- 
 mittee state that — " Mr. Walker thinks the French slave- 
 trade cannot long continue.'''' 
 
 In the quotations from Mr. Walker in the Annual Report 
 for 1860, which we are now examining, that gentleman's 
 confidence seems yet further diminished. Speaking of the 
 trade in "free emigrants" by the French, which, he de- 
 clares, " is not different from the old slave-trade, except in 
 name, and profession of philanthropy," his ground for en- 
 couragement is that " the present arrangement terminates in 
 about two years," and he does not think it will be renewed ! 
 
 What an insult is it to the common sense of the com- 
 munity — a community which has heard the energetic ex- 
 pressions of Southern determination to have the foreign 
 slave-trade speedily revived, and which has seen several 
 books and pamphlets recently published, by clergymen and 
 others, in direct advocacy of such revival — what an insult 
 to our common sense is it for the Prudential Committee to 
 say, immediately after the passage last quoted from Mr. 
 W^alker — a passage also bearing in the very opposite direc- 
 tion — 
 
 " We regard Mr. "Walker as the very best authority on this sub- 
 ject, and, with his testimony and opinion so clearly expressed before 
 us, we cannot think it advisable to address the President on the sub- 
 ject at the present time." 
 
 Even this perversion of Mr. Walker's testimony is not the 
 worst of the deceit here practised by the Prudential Com- 
 mittee. In the face of his testimony, (in 1859, that the 
 French slave-trade still existed in the Gaboon, and in 1860, 
 that " the present arrangement " for it was to continue two 
 years longer,) and in the face of their own lamentation, (p. 
 40 of Ann. Rep. for 1859,) that slavery in the Gaboon 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAYERY. 233 
 
 was increasing, and that much of the property there is in 
 the form of slaves, they now say — 
 
 " Xeitlier has the Gaboon country been disturbed by the general 
 slave-trade ybr years." 
 
 This statement is made in the hope to persuade the com- 
 munity that " neither the Board, nor its Committee, ought 
 to memorialize the Congress, or the President, of the United 
 States, unless the trade, in some of its forms, evidently inter- 
 feres with the proper missionary work of the Board " ! 
 
 If it shall seem incredible to any one (for want of having 
 the Annual Reports at hand for reference) that this body of 
 grave and reverend seigniors should make an assertion which 
 could be proved a lie by abundant recent evidence out of 
 their own mouths, such doubter should remember, first, that 
 these gentlemen, having long been accustomed to an implicit 
 acceptance of all their statements as correct, by the patrons 
 of their missionary enterprise, have already had a large ex- 
 perience in finding ??zi5-statements thus accepted ; and next, 
 that much was to be risked, at this particular crisis, in the 
 hope of now seeming to become entirely free from their long- 
 continued complicity with slavery, and of covering their long 
 course of mendacity with the mantle of the past. 
 
 If the Prudential Committee can make it appear (truly or 
 untruly) that the African slave-trade causes no direct inter- 
 ference " with the proper missionary work of the Board," 
 their purpose is answered; outside of this boundary, they 
 seem perfectly indifibrent as to the immense threatened en- 
 largement of crime in the whites, and of sufiering in the 
 blacks, which would necessarily attend the threatened re- 
 vival of the foreign slave-trade. As their confidence in the 
 " excellent " Mr. Byington seems undisturbed by the fact that 
 he sufi'ered one member of his mission-church to burn another 
 alive without instituting discipline in regard to it, preaching 
 against it, or treating it as an ofi"ence in any manner what- 
 ever, so their confidence in the system of complicity with 
 slavery, which they have now maintained for more than forty 
 years in the Cherokee and Choctaw churches, seems not to 
 be in the least disturbed by the recent developments of in- 
 veterately pro-slavery character in those tribes. Nay, so 
 accustomed have the advocates of the Board become to sub- 
 
234 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 stitute implicit confidence in the Prudential Committee for 
 the exercise of a moderate prudence in " putting that and 
 that together," that even the Editor of the New York Evan- 
 gelist, in printing (March 21st, 18(31) the following instruc- 
 tive passage of history, probably did not even think of the 
 responsibility of the Prudential Committee for their forty 
 years' course of missionary instruction leading to it. Here is 
 the passage : — 
 
 "The Ixdiaxs. — The Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Indian 
 tribes of the Southwest, nearly all of them slaveholders, are evi- 
 dently under the intiuence of secessionists. The principal Chief 
 of the Choctaw Nation has recently convened the local Legislature 
 in council, for the purpose of consulting as to the action to be taken 
 in view of the secession of the Southern States. The message of 
 the Chief reviews the 'grievances' of the South, and the history 
 of the slavery agitation in the Northern States, and declares the 
 position of the Choctaw Nation to be that of a sovereign and inde- 
 pendent State, and not of a territory of the United States, with the 
 right to make treaties, and to do all other acts and things which 
 a sovereign State may do. He declares that all the sympathies 
 and feelings of the Choctaws are with the South, having been born 
 and nurtured on its soil, and having institutions in common with 
 the Southern States. He deprecates the division of the Union, 
 and holds the example up as a warning to his countrymen never 
 to let contention and discord enter into their internal and domes- 
 tic policy. He recommends that Commissioners be sent to Wash- 
 ington city to look after the money interest of the Nation, and to 
 take counsel and advice from the President of the United States. 
 He also recommends that a General Council of the Chickasaws, 
 Creeks, Seminoles, and Choctaws, be held at the central point, for 
 the purpose of adopting some line of policy, 'necessary to their 
 security.' The General Council responded to the sentiments of 
 their Chief by passing resolutions expressing the views of the 
 General Council of the Choctaw Nation in reference to the political 
 disagreement existing between the Northern and Southern States." 
 
 Later intelligence [Journal of Commerce, August 12th) 
 tells us that " the Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles and Chicka- 
 saws have given their adherence to the Confederates, and 
 probably the Cherokees are divided on the c|uestion." 
 
 The Prudential Committee have just certified that these 
 Indians are a " Christian people." After a course of forty 
 years of missionary teaching from the "excellent" Mr. 
 Byington and his colleagues, they are graduated — Christians ! 
 Their " sympathies," it is true, are with the South, in the 
 present contest, and their " institutions " are in common with 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 235 
 
 those of the South. But the excellent Mr. Byington has 
 taught them (assuming to teach from the Bible) that slave- 
 holding is perfectly consistent with the Christian character ; 
 and, no doubt, they will exercise church discipline upon those 
 brethren and sisters who burn their slaves alive, as soon as 
 they are assured that such was " the practice of the Apos- 
 tles " ! 
 
 The foregoing record of facts, supported by full document- 
 ary evidence drawn almost exclusively, from the Annual 
 lleports of the Prudential Committee, may be summed up as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. The missionaries who were sent by the Prudential 
 Committee to evangelize the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians 
 chose to recognize the slaveholding of those tribes as an 
 indifferent and entirely unobjectionable thing, and to honor 
 that wicked " institution " by the early and free admission of 
 slaveholders to their churches as Christians. 
 
 2. The Prudential Committee not only neglected to warn 
 their missionaries, at the outset, against entering into this 
 complicity with slavery, but they saw the process begin, and 
 go on for many years, without a word of remonstrance, or 
 the least sign of dissatisfiction. 
 
 3. When some of their patrons, the givers of the funds 
 which they had thus perverted, remonstrated against their 
 allowance of this sin, they refused to interfere for its re- 
 moval ; and when a large body of their missionaries from 
 another station added their protest against slavery, this Pru- 
 dential Committee suppressed their testimony, and imposed 
 silence upon them by a law which has been ever since en- 
 forced, and which still stands (No. 42) among their " Regu- 
 lations." 
 
 4. When, in subsequent years, the remonstrances from 
 members and patrons of the Board so increased that they 
 could no longer be disregarded without risk to the treasury, 
 argument was attempted in opposition to them ; and the 
 special committees to whom these remonstrances were re- 
 ferred, not only defended the existing policy, and recom- 
 mended its continuance, but did so by various sorts of mis- 
 representation, not unfrequently including direct violations of 
 the truth. 
 
236 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 5. The reports of these special Committees, -while refusing 
 to interfere with the admission of slaveholders to the mission 
 churches, nevertheless made large admissions in regard to the 
 evil character and the pernicious influence of slavery ; and 
 they seemed to aim to please both parties, talking against 
 that sin in the strain of the remonstrants, even while in 
 action they maintained the policy against which those remon- 
 strances were directed. 
 
 6. The Prudential Committee acted upon the hint thus 
 given ; and ever after, in the reports they made, the corre- 
 spondence they held with the missionaries, and the deputa- 
 tions they sent to examine and report upon this subject, the 
 action recommended (always favorable to the policy of the 
 pro-slavery missionaries) was invariably accompanied by a 
 strain of voluminous description and pious reflection ^^?^fa- 
 vorable to slavery in general. And they took advantage of 
 this verbal characteristic of these reports — the fact that 
 very much of the phraseology contained in them was adverse 
 to slavery — to refer back to these documents, in subsequent 
 years, with the claim that they were really in opposition to 
 slavery, and that they proved the Board free from com- 
 plicity with it. 
 
 7. The Board, leaving all these things with implicit confi- 
 dence in the hands of the Prudential Committee, voted, by 
 large majorities, whatever they chose to recommend, and 
 rejected, by equally large majorities, the action against sla- 
 very and the slave-trade occasionally proposed by Dr. 
 Cheever, and the few in that body who sympathized with 
 him. 
 
 8. Meantime, slavery was bringing forth its natural fruit 
 in the Cherokee and Choctaw communities and churches, as 
 well as in the slaveholding communities and churches around 
 them ; the very pleas of the missionaries in behalf of it — 
 such as the extenuating statement, (p. 95 of the Ann. Rep. 
 for 1848,) that if the Indians treated their slaves badly, they 
 treated their own children badly also, and that no better was 
 to be expected of them, under the circumstances — showing 
 the corruption which a tolerance of slaveholding was already 
 working in the churches. Until finally, when the utmost ex- 
 tremity of wickedness and cruelty was manifested by a 
 slaveholding woman in one of those churches — the murder of 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 237 
 
 a sister in the ctiurch by burning alive, without a particle of 
 legal evidence of her guilt, and in spite of her declaration 
 of innocence with her dying breath — this mission church 
 showed itself precisely on a level with the profligate slave- 
 holding " world " of Missouri and Arkansas, by hushing up 
 this enormous sin, and treating it as a necessary part of the 
 discipline indispensable to the maintenance of slavery. Nay, 
 they went further in this line of wickedness than the unre- 
 generate " world " could do, going on as usual with the ad- 
 ministration of " the Lord's Supper " to the murderer ! 
 
 9. After the system of tolerance of slaveholding in the 
 mission churches had brought forth this fruit, (though Mr. 
 Secretary Treat says the Prudential Committee had not been 
 informed of the slave-burning, and though it is quite proba- 
 ble that the "excellent" Mr. Byington, to whose "fidelity " 
 and " devotedness " they had given unbounded praise, had 
 avoided reporting this fruit of his labors,) it was suddenly 
 found, in the Annual Meeting of the Board in October, 
 1859, that the Prudential Committee had discontinued the 
 Choctaw Mission. They had stated to the missionaries, as 
 the reason of this chano-e, " the unceasino- embarrassments 
 and perplexities connected with the mission," specifying 
 afterwards an expected diminution of receipts from the 
 churches if the connection continued ; to the public, in the 
 Annual Report then presented, they stated also, that they 
 could not tell all the reasons of this change, and that " the 
 whole case " was not there ; but to neither of these parties 
 did they frankly say, that this trouble had come from their 
 own guilty complicity with slavery ; neither has the myste- 
 rious unknown reason, unfit for publication, by which they 
 found themselves " greatly embarrassed," ever yet been ex- 
 plained to the public. 
 
 10. In the succeeding year, 1860, the Cherokee mission 
 also was discontinued. This, the Prudential Committee said, 
 was not done on account of slavery, but was done because 
 the Cherokee nation was already Christianized, and thus their 
 appropriate work in it was finished. 
 
 11. The Prudential Committee, admitting that the Chero- 
 kee missionaries were adverse to the discontinuance of the 
 mission, nevertheless represented those missionaries to " con- 
 cur in the opinion " that " the Cherokees are a Christian 
 
238 
 
 THE AMERlcAXV BOARD 
 
 people." The paragraph in which this declaration occurs 
 (p. 138 of the Annual Report for 1860) shows how accus- 
 tomed the Prudential Committee have become to a confidence, 
 in their readers, so implicit as to take no note of the most 
 glaring discrepancies and contradictions in their statements. 
 Immediately after the statement above mentioned, that these 
 missionaries concur in the opinion that the Cherokees should 
 be acknowledged a Christian people, the testimony of the 
 three missionaries themselves is given ; and not one of the 
 three takes the ground ascribed to them by the Prudential 
 Committee ! Not one of them " concurs " in the opinion 
 that the Cherokee nation is a Christian people, any more 
 than in the opinion that the Board may properly retire from 
 that field of labor. 
 
 12. The details of evidence fail to establish the ground 
 assumed by the Prudential Committee as thoroughly in the 
 case of the Cherokee people as in that of their missionaries ; 
 for, on a careful scrutiny of the evidence, the Christianiza- 
 tion of the 21,000 Cherokees is reduced to the following 
 rather inadequate basis, namely; — the alleged facts, that 
 136 Cherokees are members of the mission churches; that 
 255 persons (church members and others, Indian, white, col- 
 ored, and mixed) are attendants on the mission preaching ; 
 and that an average of 80 pupils irregularly attend the 
 mission schools. As to the morality of these Cherokee 
 church members, they may all hold, buy, and sell slaves, if 
 they will. As to their piety, it is admitted (p. 141) that 
 they do not care enough for the preaching of the Gospel to 
 support it at their own expense, even when able to do so. 
 And the first intelligence that we have of this slaveholding 
 nation, after the certificate of its Christian character pub- 
 licly given by the Prudential Committee of the " American 
 Board," is that, sympathizing with the manners, customs, and 
 " institutions " of the Southern secessionists, they are con- 
 sidering "\shether to join their movement for the extension 
 and perpetuity of slavery ! 
 
 13. The unfair and dishonest treatment which the Board 
 have always practised towards the remonstrants against their 
 complicity with slavery, has never been more glaring than in 
 their reply to the last request of this sort, made by the 
 General Association of Illinois; for the petition of this 
 
IN KELATION TO SLAVERY. 
 
 239 
 
 body " that the divorce of slaveholding from Christianity be 
 completed at once, in the churches of the Cherokee nation,''^ 
 was declared by the Board to be *' satisfactorily answered " 
 by the dismissal of these churches from their charge, with 
 the certificate, published to the world, that the continuance 
 of their slaveholding was no impeachment of their Christian 
 character. 
 
 14. The fact, in the position of the " American Board," 
 which now most emphatically challenges the attention of the 
 civilized world, and especially of that part of it which cares 
 for the propagation of a pure Christianity, is that they have 
 deliberately chosen to bear a testimony practically in favor 
 of slavery, and to refuse a course of action practically ad- 
 verse to it, even when proposed by clergymen, their friends 
 and allies ; that they have refused, now as well as hereto- 
 fore, to purge the Cherokee and Choctaw churches of the 
 enormous corruption which their missionaries, with their 
 consent, introduced and perpetuated in them ; and that, in 
 dismissing from their watch and care these corrupt churches, 
 and the yet more corrupt nation to which the}^ belong, with 
 the volunteered certificate that both are " Christian," they 
 have insulted the common sense as well as the religion of this 
 age, and have interposed the most fatal of obstructions to the 
 progress of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 In the forty-two years of the Board's maintenance of the 
 Cherokee and Choctaw missions, they have connived at 
 slavery, avoiding, by various dishonorable and dishonest con- 
 trivances, the hard duty of reformation. Now, they go a 
 step further, spontaneously and publicly vouching for slave- 
 holding churches as Christian churches, and for a nation up- 
 holding the worst form of slavery as " a Christian people.''^ 
 Will any Christian in the Northern churches, will any of 
 those men in the free North who now see the revelations, 
 more and more hideous, which slavery is constantly making 
 of its own character, continue to support a Board which has 
 thus deliberately taken its position on the side of slavery ? 
 Will any man give another dollar for the disposal of that 
 Prudential Committee, until they shall have retracted 
 that shameful testimony respecting the Cherokee nation, and 
 commenced a course of reparation in regard to it, doing 
 
240 
 
 THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 sometliing really to Christianize those whom they have 
 corrupted? 
 
 The guilt of passing a forged note is small compared with 
 the sin which these men have been committing, and persisting 
 in against vehement remonstrance, for forty-two years. Pre- 
 tending to teach Christianity to an ignorant people, they 
 have imposed upon them, under that venerable name, a 
 religion which allows and favors slavery. Just as surely as 
 it is the duty of a repenting forger or pickpocket to undo the 
 wrong he has done, and just as surely as it is needful for 
 those around him to require confession and reparation as in- 
 dispensable among the evidences that his penitence is real, 
 just so surely should this Prudential Committee be required 
 to make both these sorts of atonement. 
 
 They have not merely wasted the money intrusted to them 
 by the churches, but they have misused it, in the worst 
 possible way, sowing tares instead of wheat in the consecrated 
 ground which they had undertaken to cultivate. To look at 
 the matter from the pecuniary stand-point, the least important 
 of all, in a matter involving spiritual interests, the union of 
 the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians with the rebellious States 
 of the South, in the war now commenced by them for the 
 maintenance of slavery, will cost this nation fifty times the 
 sum already expended upon those Indians by the Prudential 
 Committee ; but their union in this movement for the de- 
 fence and extension of slavery — their enlistment in this 
 warfare of barbarism against civilization — is the natural 
 tendency of the sort of missionary teaching which the Pru- 
 dential Committee has furnished them ; whereas, a faithful 
 use of their access to those tribes, and a preaching of true 
 Christianity among them for forty-two years, would certainly 
 have tended, and might perhaps have fully availed, to make 
 them refuse such shameful companionship, and stand fast in 
 the liberty with which Christ makes free. 
 
 What wonder that their churches were always small and 
 poor ! There was no purity, no conscious internal elevation, 
 no spiritual nobleness within, to counterbalance what their 
 parishioners " without " esteemed the advantage of open in- 
 dulgence in profaneness, theft, drunkenness and fornication. 
 Their church members gave up the license of some sorts of 
 sin, without at all attaining " the glorious liberty of the 
 
IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 241 
 
 children of God." What wonder that only 136 out of the 
 21,000 Cherokees thought it worth while to join the mission- 
 churches ! What wonder that only 255 of the same nation 
 thought it worth while to attend the mission-preaching ! And 
 what wonder that neither church nor congregation thought 
 such preaching worth paying for ! It did not come near 
 enough to Christianity to he worth paying for ! 
 
 We sometimes read of a repentant sinner who can find no 
 peace until he has sought out those whom his evil teaching 
 has seduced into dishonesty or intemperance, and persuaded 
 them also to repent and reform. Just this reparation the 
 Prudential Committee are bound to make to the Cherokees 
 and Choctaws. At whatever expense of personal humilia- 
 tion and self-sacrifice, they are bound to try, at least, to undo 
 the mischief they have done, to retract their libellous 
 representations that Christianity allows the holding, buying 
 and selling of slaves, and to supply truly Christian teachers 
 for the instruction of that misguided people. Not until they 
 have done this, and made confession, besides, to their re- 
 monstrating patrons, of the dishonest contrivances by which 
 those remonstrances have been counteracted and neutralized, 
 should they be held acquitted of guilt for the past, or entitled 
 to a renewal of confidence in the future. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 The following letters give all the further evidence that has ap- 
 peared up to this date (August, 1861) of facts and incidents rel- 
 ative to the slave-burning in the Stockbridge mission station, in 
 January, 1859, (erroneously stated, in the first letter, to have 
 been " some time in 1860.") The suggestions of Prof Bartlett 
 in regard to this evidence — in regard to its admissions, direct 
 and indirect, upon some points, and its ominous silence upon 
 others — are worthy of most serious attention. The first of these 
 articles (with no responsible name signed to it) appeared in Jlie 
 CorigregationaJisty of this city. May 3, 1861. The comments of 
 Prof. Bartlett appeared May 1 7th, in the same paper. 
 
 For the Congregationalist. 
 
 SLAVE-BURXIXG IN THE CHOCTAW NATION. 
 
 Some time during the past winter, there appeared in The Independent, 
 and (I believe) in several of the religious papers, a letter from Prof. 
 Bartlett, of Chicago, relative to the burning of a negro woman in the 
 Choctaw Nation some time in ISCO. The tenor of Prof. B.'s letter seemed 
 to imply that there had been a culpable silence on the part of the mission- 
 aries in that Nation, upon the point, and that the mission church were 
 guilty in winking at the sin of participation in the affair. Having spent 
 some five years as an assistant in mission labors in the Territory, and 
 knowing somewhat of the trials that gather so thickly about the weary 
 way which the beloved brethren and sisters laboring in the Territory have 
 trodden for the last ten years, I was grieved for their sakes, and enclosing 
 a printed copy cf Prof. Eartlett's letter to one of the brethren, requested 
 an explanation. The following is a copy of his reply. The original I 
 still retain. If you will give it a place in your columns, I think you will 
 confer a favor upon the mission. It proves what I had supposed in read- 
 ing Mr. B.'s letter, viz., that the whole affair was conducted by a lawless 
 mob, with whom the national authorities, even, dare not interfere. How, 
 then, should our mission brethren meddle with them? While I detest 
 slavery as thoroughly as Prof. Bartlett can desire any person. Christian or 
 heathen, to detest it, at the same time, I do say to my Christian brethren at 
 the North, Have a care, my friends, that in your zeal against slaver}-, you 
 lay no stumbling-stones in the pathway of those who, amid trials and self- 
 denials that home Christians know little of, have toiled on for years, to 
 
244 APPENDIX. 
 
 give the Gospel to those who had it not. Should we not rather, at this 
 hour, when to trials and self-denials are added dangers also, give them 
 our prayers in large measure, rather than our censure ? 
 Yours, respectfully, 
 
 A Former Member of the Mission. 
 
 P. S. — "Will you allow me, through your paper, to request The In- 
 dependent to do us the favor to copy this article? 
 
 Choctaw Nation, March, 1861. 
 
 Miss : In regard to the inquiry respecting the burning of the 
 
 slave woman, I have only to say, that Dr. Lowrie's letter to Rev. S. 
 C. Bartlett contains the substance of the facts in the case. The 
 public meeting was composed only of the relatives,* the Harkinses 
 and I Pitchlyns, " Capt. Whiskey " presiding, as usual on such oc- 
 casions. They constituted judge, jury, and executioners, and con- 
 ducted things in precisely their own way. The only free member 
 of the church, in good standing, who was present, and took any 
 part in the transactions, was Mrs. Harkins, w^ife of the murdered 
 man. There was one other free member of the church present, but 
 he was not in good standing, and it is not known that he took any 
 part, except as a spectator. 
 
 Now, w^hat would Mr. Bartlett have us do in a case of this kind ? 
 Shall w^e discipline those members who took a part in the affair ? 
 That has already been done. % Mrs. Harkins voluntarily gave lierself 
 up to the discipline of the church, made all the confession which 
 the most fastidious could desire, was restored to fellowship, and now 
 leads a consistent Christian life. What more could be done in the 
 way of discipline ? 
 
 Would Mr. B. have the church, or any member of it, institute a 
 legal process against the parties ? Such a measure, in this country, 
 and in case of the families in question, would be simply ridiculous. 
 Some of those very persons have since been tried for the murder of 
 ^free white citizen of the nation, and acquitted. 
 
 Would Mr. Bartlett luive the church, its pastor, or any of its 
 members, from the pulpit or the stump, bear a public witness against 
 the sin of such proceedings ? That would have been about as wise 
 as to preach a sermon against the supremacy of the Pope, beneath 
 the walls of the Vatican. 
 
 This is a land of liberty ! The broad stripes and bright stars 
 wave over us yet, or did then, at least, and we are still under the 
 
 * The relatives of the murdered man, Col. Harkins. 
 
 t It should be borne in mind, that the national authorities would not 
 molest a Pitchlyn, their standing in the nation being such that to hold 
 them amenable to law would require as much courage in the Territory, 
 as it would now for a native of South Carolina to arrest J. Davis for 
 treason. Let it be remembered, also, that while the United States exercise 
 a certain supervision over the Territory, all civil and criminal affairs are 
 left to the discretion of the Council and National authorities. 
 
 X Mrs. Harkins was represented in the letter of last winter as a daughter 
 of Col. Pitchlyn, which is, I suppose, correct, though 1 do not certainly 
 know. 
 
APPENDIX. 245 
 
 protection of that government which guarantees to us freedom of 
 speech, and freedom of opinion, but actually there is no more free- 
 dom of opinion here than there is in Spain. On any thing pertain- 
 ing to slavery, we have to conduct ourselves just as we would under 
 the most despotic government in the world. 
 
 Would Professor Bartlett have us publish to the world the mat- 
 ter ? We can see no good that Avould arise from such a course, nor 
 any necessity for us to take it, while there are so many men in the 
 North ready and willing to save us the trouble. 
 
 The action of Northern men, of a certain class, in respect to the 
 Choctaw Mission, often reminds me of a flock of turkey buzzards. 
 You know with what indifference they flap their lazy wings over 
 the most beautiful landscape. The purling stream, the waving 
 trees, the blooming flowers, have no attraction for them. But show 
 them a dead carcass, and they pounce upon it at once. So certain 
 Northern men can see nothing^ of the good that has been eftected 
 here by the Mission. They take an extra grip on their purse 
 strings, and look with cool indifl'erence upon the members we have 
 educated, the general good that has been effected through our 
 labor. 
 
 But show them a dead negro who has been put to death by a 
 set of men who fear neither God, man, nor the devil, any further 
 than suits their convenience, and they are all down upon us at 
 once. 
 
 I can only speak as an individual, but I think I hazard nothing in 
 saying, the Mission would be exceedingly obliged if some one, of that 
 class, Mr. Bartlett for example, would come down here, and tell us 
 precisely what we ought to do, and shoiv us precisely how to do it. 
 Yours, truly, . 
 
 "While I write, a friend suggests that such a mission ought to be 
 cut off. To such I can only say, what Christian man will take the 
 responsibility of shutting out the Gospel from a people just strug- 
 gling into the light of Christianity and civilization, amid the worst 
 of surrounding influences ? If for the sin of those who rule, the 
 preacher and teacher shall be removed from the people, what shall 
 be done with us? When the Lord hath so dealt with us, then let 
 us shut out the living preacher from our brethren who know far less 
 than we. Till then, let us beware how we shut out from a still 
 ignorant people, the little light that, with God's blessing upon the 
 labors of toilworn men, and wearied, patient women, is begin- 
 ning to gleam upon the darkness of those Indian homes and Indian 
 hearts. Would that those who Avould do so, could see what I once 
 saw among them — a converted Indian, whose crisp hair and black 
 complexion bore testimony to the fact that African blood mingled 
 largely with the Indian in his veins, standing beside the communion- 
 table, and with tears rolling over his face, pleading with his people 
 to listen to the teaching of these very missionaries. " While," said 
 he, '* on one side one white man brings you whiskey, and on the 
 other, another teaches you to gamble, and to practise every wicked- 
 ness, these men, and these alone, have given us the words of life 
 through Jesus. Listen to them — listen for your life, for they alone 
 
246 APPENDIX. 
 
 have cared for our souls. They only teach you what will save you 
 from temporal and eternal ruin." 
 
 It is vastly easier to sit quietly at home and criticise, than to share 
 the difficullies of our Indian missionaries. Were it not an act of 
 common courtesy to allow one who Avill go to them, and, sharing 
 their trials, their discouragements, their toils, practicalhj showinq 
 them "a more excellent way," to he the one to "cast the first 
 stone"? Were it not more Christ-like to thank God for what He 
 has condescended to work out by them, than to hinder them in their 
 work, because of what they cannot do ? Jota. 
 
 Correspondence of the Congregationalist. 
 THE SLAVE-BURNING. 
 
 Messrs. Editors: — Your paper of the 3d instant contains a 
 communication concerning the sad tragedy to which I called atten- 
 tion several months since. All information concernina: it comes 
 slowly and painfully. Although the subject is now eclipsed by the 
 greater events of the hour, I will ask space to say, that the attempted 
 explanation is very unsatisfactory — both in its mode, its tone, and 
 its statements. 
 
 A member of Mr. Byington's church Avas burned alive. Another 
 member of that church, then and now in good standing, it is adiuit- 
 ted, was accessory to the murder. No distinct allusion to the terri- 
 ble deed was ever made by the mission or the missionaries in their 
 Reports to the American Board ; and when they were transferred to 
 another Board, there was nothing but a passing notice, ending with 
 the deceptive statement, " It was a terrible affair, but the mission 
 and the cliurch here are not responsible for it." Letters addressed 
 by me to those Boards brought out only the information which they 
 had; and a respectful letter of inquiry to the pastor of the mission 
 church recteived no attention whatever. At length, after about 
 three months waiting, a public call for information was made. 
 Then only, the missionary pastor wrote, refusing to give me any 
 information or explanation, but saying that he had at length (two 
 years after the event) reported to the Presbyterian Board, and that 
 they could explain if they chose. A respectful ap]ieal Avas i)ublicly 
 made to that Board ; but no word of resi)on>ible and official infor- 
 mation was given — and no authentic and detailed statement has 
 been furnished to this day. After several months of waiting, how- 
 ever, we get one anompaous letter, wrapped up in another anonymous 
 letter, answering our respectful inquiiies in a case of admitted mur- 
 der with meager statemt nts and hard names. I think the Church 
 is entitled to a better account, in a more responsible shape. 
 
 The tone of the communication is-far from satisfactory. A mur- 
 dered church member is only a "dead negro"! A Christian 
 brother, asking a simple explanation of the murder, is a " turkey- 
 buzzard," p.ouncing on "a dead carcass"! The missionary who 
 can think and write thus of the objects of his Christian labor - to 
 
APPENDIX. 247 
 
 say nothing of his Northern brethren — should be blest with friends 
 ■wise enough to suppress his letters. 
 
 The statements, too, are unsatisfactory, besides awakening other 
 painful inquiries. "Actually there is no more freedom of opinion 
 here than in Spain;" — and Mrs. Harkins belonged to one of two 
 "families," against whom even a legal process "would be simply 
 ridiculous." These statements are certainly distinct — whether 
 intended to be frank or not — and they only intensify the demand 
 on those brothers to show that they have not compromised the doc- 
 trine and the discipline of Christ's Church. The facts purporting 
 to be given are guarded, and apparently defective. " The only free 
 member of the church, in good standing, who took any part in the 
 transaction, was Mrs. Harkins." But how many members not free 
 were there, and what of them ? "One other free member was 
 present, not in good standing." What was his standing, and what 
 of him ? The process of discipline " has already been done. Mrs. 
 Harkins voluntarily gave herself up to the discipline of the church, 
 made all the confession which the most fastidious could desire, was 
 restored to church fellowship, and now leads a consistent Christian 
 life." A score of questions rise on reading this blurred account. 
 When was it — before or after the call for information 1 Was any 
 notice taken of the case before the next communion? Did Mrs. H. 
 then partake with the church ? Who took the initiative, the church 
 or Mrs. H. ? — and how much is contained in that word ''volunta- 
 rily"'? What was the discipline? Was Mrs. H. debarred from 
 the communion? — and how long? Is a simple "confession" all 
 that is necessary to restore to church fellowship a person tcho has 
 taken part in a murder ? Is the murder of Christian slaves by 
 " Christian " masters too trivial or too common an affair in the 
 Choctaw nation to require even a passing allusion, in communica- 
 ting information from the mission to the Board that employs 
 them? 
 
 I am sorry to say that I am not satisfied with the explanation of 
 that letter. It awakens more doubts than it solves. I presume the * 
 public will speedily learn the facts more fully from another source. 
 Meanwhile, I gladly take my leave of a subject on which I have said 
 more than I could have desired. 
 
 Yours, truly, S. C. Baktlett. 
 
 Chicago, May 6, 1861. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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