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TO THE FRIENDS OF THE 
 
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 The Independent of August 13th contains two very 
 remarkable and peculiar letters, from two American 
 missionaries, who 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.' 
 
 The first of these letters, written from one mission- 
 ary 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 wishes these strong expressions of 
 anti-slavery feeling to be heard and heeded, and calls 
 
attention to them in the following introductory para- 
 graphs : — 
 
 ' THE TESTIMOXY OF MISSIONARIES AGAES'ST AilERICAX 
 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 testi- 
 mony against that system is so strong and so im- 
 pressive as that which comes from American mission- 
 aries, who from their distant fields of labor look 
 back upon their native laud. Their love for their 
 country would incline them to look charitably upon ' 
 her faults, while their relations to the Christian 
 community dispose them always to speak with cau- 
 tion upon home affairs. They are removed from all 
 party and sectional strife upon the subject of slave- 
 ry, and therefore look upon that subject, not with 
 the excited feelings of controversialists, but with 
 the calmness of impartial observers. 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 anything affecting 
 that kingdom as the barometer to changes of the 
 atmosphere. The churches in this land, therefore, 
 ought to give special heed to the views and feelings 
 of missionaries on the subject of slavery. 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. Now, however, 
 since communication has been so freely opened with 
 all parts of the world, they find the shame and scan- 
 
dal of American slavery a positive hindrance to their 
 work. Converted heathen are amazed that slavery 
 
 tl exists in this Christian land, and opposition to the 
 . Gospel among the unevangelized is strengthened by 
 
 C:.^ this monstrous incongruity. The lamented Stod- 
 dard 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.'" 
 
 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. 
 ' Mr Dear Brother,— The groan ings of the mis- 
 sionary over his retrograding countrv ought perhaps 
 sometimes to be heard. With this view, I send you 
 
 the enclosed letter from Mr. to mvself, 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 anonymously written and published ? "Why does 
 the missionary say that his complaints upon this sub- 
 ject ought perhaps sometimes 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 per^jons and 
 places,) 'for the sentiment of the letter probably rep- 
 resents the feelings of most of our missionaries in 
 these regions ? ' In short, why must the anti-slavery 
 sentiments of American missionaries in foreign lands 
 be sent to this country stealthily, and published at 
 second hand, with such precautions, instead of being 
 gent directly to the Board, and published, with their 
 other communications, in the Missionary Herald and 
 the Annual Reports ? The purpose of this paper is 
 to answer these inquiries, and to do this, it is necessa- 
 ty to look as far back as 1837, in the history of the 
 Board. 
 
 In that year, several of the Sandwich Island mis- 
 sionaries 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 
 responsibility 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 
 Honolul\i, Oahu, in May, one from Rev. Peter Gu- 
 lick, from the same station, in June, and the third 
 from Rev. H. R. Hitchcock, dated at Kaluaaha in 
 IsTovember. They all breathe the same spirit ; but \m 
 •how the strength of their sentiments and the vigor of 
 their language, I subjoin extracts from the last two : 
 
 ' HoxoLULu, June, 1837. 
 Dear Brother Wright, — I can hardly tell wheth- 
 er 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. 
 
 !jver 
 
 ■ since I seriously considered the subject, my sym- 
 pathies have been with the abolitionists, and those 
 for whom they labor. It is, however, but recenthj 
 I have become thoroughly convinced that the system 
 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 cases, is, our proneness to look at them in 
 what we call the light of expediency. But Avhat 
 right have men, who have the Bible, t > follow any 
 other light than of Revelation ? I bell -ve, assured- 
 ly, that abolition is the cause of God, and must, 
 therefore, triumph. The Lord 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 powerfully to accelerate the accomplish- 
 ment of your desires. 
 
 You will perceive by the preceding printed reso- 
 lutions, that we, as a mission, do not forget our 
 brethren who are in bonds. Indeed, 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 punishments 
 are resorted to, to extort labor, nor are families 
 broken up, and the marriage relation disregarded, 
 as in the slave States of my beloved, though guilty 
 country. Nor do the chiefs, who are the 07i/y mas- 
 ters, desire to exclude mental cultivation; but rather 
 
6 
 
 endeavor to promote its general diffusion : still, with 
 these and other palliations, the system tends strong- 
 ly to idleness, (tor who would love to vrork without 
 recompense?) and is pregnant with evils ruinous 
 to all classes. From the bottom of my heart, there- 
 fore, I say, ' God speed the abolitionists, till every 
 yoke of oppression is broken throughout^ the whole 
 eartli.' Oppression has been greatly mitigated here 
 by the introduction of the Gospel ; but much re- 
 mains still to be done. P. GULICK. 
 
 Kaluaaha, 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 stran- 
 ger, to write you. I write on a sheet containing 
 a sort of circular to Christians in form of resolu- 
 lutions ; 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 efforts of those 
 who are laboring to break the bonds of pagan 
 darkne^. 
 
 ' Though our fields of labor are at a great dis- 
 tance from each other, and are different in some re- 
 spects, yet I feel that our object is the same,— that 
 of breaking every bond, of letting the captives go 
 free. Be assured, sir, that in the prosecution of 
 this object, you have my prayers 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 
 
• to crush slavery. Especially is this a privilege a S 
 time when morbid prudence or time-serSno- p.fllf. i^ 
 ^et mg afloat the sentiment that it is a subje^cHv^th 
 waich the missionary 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 miS 
 or private individual or corpora ermayL? and 
 should not take an open, undisguised, .4 d active 
 rart, then there is no subject in all the wide field 
 of benevolent action in which they should do so 
 Of all the abominations that have cursed the earth" 
 where is there one more flao-rmf iCr^ l^^r I 
 enslaving and crushing to dn^ou;tll w men "' ol 
 all the s,ns, which Christians are called upon to on 
 pose at the present day, where ,s there a mo?e heT 
 
 destioy ? The mere fiict that insistina; upon the nn 
 modu e abohtion of slavery, and that^ describ LgTn 
 B.ble language the odiousncss of traffic in human 
 flesh, will disoblige a class of interested persons W 
 evergrea ,.sno proof that either souypruden^ 
 or the religion of Christ requires one to'Sw 
 A neutral positwn in reference to the immediate de' 
 ruction of slavery can be justified by the s irU of 
 the gospel no more than the same position can he f„ 
 refei;ence to the destruction of intempemnce penW 
 or highway robbery. And there can Stfe St 
 that were those sms as intimately interwoven wth 
 the worldly interests and profits of so large a porT on 
 of the countiy as is the existence of SaveiT he 
 same policy which now keeps so many iloof-from 
 
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 would do the same m reference to those who should 
 
8 
 
 S wealth or influence, the neutrality yh.ch now 
 existsTn reference to its immediate aboUfon would 
 probably he unknown. How d.sepnsonant to ho 
 Lnevolent. but uncompromising spirit of the Bible 
 T'oJeTaymouthforke dumb, '" '''"«!"^ l,f 
 ,«T«5 are appoMcd to destruction. Open thy mouth, 
 
 «c«/i/ 'is a divinely inspired injunction, winch no 
 Tu^'n policy whatever can justify us in evuding 
 
 Tam happy to inform you of what I hope you 
 may hloffiSy -fo^^^T^ffJ IrE N FA- 
 
 Siuse by sending us a file. I think good use will 
 
 '^ Sf tVLi'ahove resolutions, ^^ce it tc, say that 
 Tinwever they may fail to recommend themselves to 
 trrCisthn public, they are the uBanimous senti- 
 ment t"i^ bo% on tlisubjects to which they i^- 
 Sr They were not adopted rashly, or under the 
 rn^ulse of Convivial excitement ; but after a prayor- 
 X"id slou^ discussion They are sent^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 the nromuVation of which we all feel the dcepcsi 
 inteS Should this strike you, s r, as just you 
 wilTdo the cause of missions a flwor by giving them 
 
 ^fe^:^S::eS^tLcause, dear sir, excuse 
 
the obtrusion of this letter upon you, and; believe 
 me your cordiiil and respectful frien<l and fellow la- 
 borer, H. R. HITCHCOCK. 
 
 These, and others of the Sandwich Island missiona- 
 ries, feeling at once the atrocious character of slave- 
 ry itself, and its detrimental influence upon their mis- 
 sionary 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 mission 
 press, one a tract, and the other a series of resolutions, 
 printed on a letter sheet, referred to in the two pre- 
 ceding letters, both making a very earnest and affect- 
 ing appeal to American Christians to apply themselves 
 at once to the work of overthrowing American sla- 
 very. 
 
 How were this appeal and these documents received 
 by the Board r 
 
 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 following resolution, which 
 ijvas ado2)ied in September, 1837, and, after discussion, 
 reaffiryned, September, 1839, and which still remains 
 in force : — 
 
 ' In general, the sole object of the printing estab- 
 lishments connected with the missions of the Board 
 shall be to exert a direct influence upon the sur- 
 rounding native population, and no mission or mem- 
 
10 
 
 BER OF A MISSION MAY PRIXT ANY LETTER, TRACT OR 
 APPEAL, 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 a fair 
 specimen of the despotic style of administration, and 
 of the pro-slavery character, which have been mani- 
 fest in the Board from that time to the present ; but 
 the clause, <at the expense of the Board' is a 
 cruel addition of insult to injury, if we remember that 
 the persons thus insolently rebuked had given them- 
 selves, 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, ex- 
 cept by using the paper and ink purchased by the 
 Board with the funds entrusted to them by Christians 
 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 the means furnished them by 
 the Christian public to remonstrate against it ? 
 
 The Board have chosen to suppress the important 
 anti-slavery testimony sent them in 1837 (for the 
 Christian community) by the Sandwich Island mis- 
 sionaries, and to prohibit the printing of any more 
 
11 
 
 simikr messages to Christians in this country, on 
 the Mission presses. And we see, by tlie letters 
 in the Independent referred to at the commence- 
 ment of this article, that so arbitrary and strin^nt is 
 the supervision still exercised over the missionaries, 
 that even in writing private letters containing any 
 protest against the enormous wickedness of slavery, 
 they feel obliged to take precautions against the dis- 
 covery of their names. I therefore call upon the 
 Board— as an act of justice, alike to the missionaries, 
 whose ktters to the Christian public they have thus 
 unjustifiably suppressed, and to that public, who have 
 a right to hear the appeals, and to know the senti- 
 ments, of the men who are supported by their contri- 
 butions—to bring out from the files of the Mission 
 House that tract and that printed sheet of resolutions, 
 read them to the public at the approaching annual 
 meeting in Providence, print them as an appendix to 
 the Annual Report, and publish them in the Mission- 
 ary Herald; and I further call on them to rescind 
 the shameful resolution quoted above, by which the 
 mouths of their missionaries have been and still are 
 gagged, and to call for, and puhlish xohen it comes, a 
 free expression of opinion from the missionaries, upon 
 the proper course to be adopted towards a system 
 which interferes so materially with their success in 
 their missionary labors as American slavery. 
 
 That the present position of the Board in relation 
 to slavery may be fully understood, let us glance at 
 its action upon that subjec| during the years following 
 
12 
 
 i 
 
 1837 to the present time. To rehearse the details of 
 this action ^vould fill a volume, and would include 
 many sophistical and some mutually contradictory 
 declarations, but its mhstance can he given in a com- 
 paratively short space. 
 
 Until the Board were compelled, by the action of a 
 small but pertinacious minority, to pay some attention 
 to the subject of slavery, and take some action upon 
 it, they ignored that subject altogether. Even in tak- 
 in- the responsibility of publicly authentxcatmg a 
 person as a Christian (as, by sending him forth as a 
 missionary, or admitting him to membership m amis- 
 sion church,) they no more inquired whether he was 
 a slaveholder than whether he was a landholder, or a 
 mechanic, or a democrat. Their agents, who annually 
 travel through the Southern States, and preach in 
 Southern pulpts, to raise funds for the conversion of 
 the IxcatlienMs^ made no protest agamst that slaveiy 
 which has been manufacturing and perpetuating a race 
 of heathen under their very eyes. Several of their 
 missionaries have been slaveholders, and others have 
 extensively used the hired labor of slaves, thus par- 
 ticipating in that system which defrauds the actual 
 laborer of the profit of his toil. They have also free- 
 ly admitted slaveholders to their churches, and have 
 been so far from discouraging slavery by church dis- 
 cipline, that one of the Secretaries of the Board (m 
 the Uissionary Herald, the official organ of the A. B. 
 C F. M., Oct. 1848, p. 349,) represented the increased 
 number of slaves in the Cfierokee and Choctaw na- 
 tions, and the general preference there felt for the m- 
 
13 
 
 vestment of money in this « species of property,' as 
 one of the results of ' the doctrines of the Gospel 
 having exerted their appropriate influence.' 
 
 Since the year 1839, the Board have been urged at 
 many annual meetings, (by a minority which,\ow- 
 ever small, was tlie representative of too much money, 
 as well as respectability, to be' altogether disregarded,) 
 to withdraw the support and countenance which they ' 
 were affording to slavery. The petitions and memo- 
 rials thus presented were always referred to commit- 
 tees, and the committees generaUy recommended that 
 the subject be let alone, expressing perfect satisfac- 
 tion with the position of the Board. 
 
 To give an idea of the manner in which this mo- 
 mentous subject was treated in these Eeports, we give 
 an abstract of one of them, presented at Brooklyn in 
 ISio, by a committee consisting of Dr. Woods of An- 
 dove and nine others, eight of them clergymen : 
 
 As to declarations and measures of hostility to 
 slavery, the Committee recommend to the Board no 
 new action, and refer the petitioners to the reports of 
 previous meetings, (which say that the Board can- 
 not turn aside li-om its peculiar and appropriate 
 work of preaching the Gospel, to condemn slavery ) 
 
 ihe only ^Iission Churches of which slaveholders 
 are known to be members are among the Cherokee 
 and Choctaw Indians. Slavery existed among them 
 when the missionaries entered on their labors amono- 
 these tribes. The qualification for membershiiD iS 
 the mission-churches is " satisfactory evidenee'of a 
 saving change of heart, and of repentance and faith 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ." Sundry slaveholders, 
 
14 
 
 designing to continue such, were considered to have 
 given this evidence, and were accordingly received 
 into the church. As to the kind and amount of 
 instruction given by the missionaries in relation to 
 slavery, the Committee quote the language pf one 
 of them, who says, "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 ivould seem to he 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." 
 
 The Committee admit that the slave-laws among 
 the Cherokees and Choctaws prohibit teaching slaves 
 to read, throw impediments in the way of emancipa- 
 tion, restrict slaves in the possession of property, 
 and embarrass the residence of free negroes among 
 them. They believe that the destructive influence 
 of slavery is seen on the morals of both master and 
 slave ; that it sweeps away those barriers which ev- 
 ery civilized community has erected to protect the 
 purity and chastity of the family relations, and that 
 it will ever present formidable obstacles to the right 
 training of the rising generation. 
 
 The Committee however believe, that the mis- 
 sionaries in these slaveholding communities have 
 been faithful to their work. They approve the ad- 
 mission of slaveholders to their churches, and have no 
 difterent plan to recommend to them for the future. 
 
 The report was unanimously adopted. 
 
 After having delayed and protracted the matter as 
 long as possible, the Board was compelled by the per- 
 tinacity of the remonstrants, to make some decision ; 
 &nd their decision, which still remains in force, is, that 
 
15 
 
 SLAVEHOLDERS MAY BE ADMITTED IS 
 MEMBERS, IX GOOD AND REGULAR ST VXD- 
 IXG. OF THE MISSION CHURCHES. The 
 Board clearly implied their consent to the continu- 
 ance of this practice in the mission churches, at their 
 meeting in Boston, in ISiS ; and they formally rati- 
 fed It at the meeting in Hartford, in 1854. 
 
 In reading over the long array of reports and cor- 
 respondence relative to this matter in the Annual Re- 
 ports of the Board, (in which pious language is fre- 
 quently used to excuse impious conduct and wicked 
 laws,) we see by the very apologies, both of the mis- 
 sionaries and the Board, how completelv this matter 
 of slavery has been in their own hands from the be- 
 ginning, and how the corruption of the mission- 
 churches has resulted from that of the missionaries 
 and their employers. Slavery existed when the mis- 
 sions were founded, by their own confession. So did 
 drunkenness, so did theft, so did adultery, so did mur- 
 der ! Why did they keep these out of the Church, if 
 they let slavery in ? Why did they let slavery in, if 
 they kept these out ? It was their imperative duty, 
 in founding a church, to brand as infamous, and ut-' 
 terly incompatible with the Christian character, par- 
 ticipation in that system which, by making chattels of 
 men, women and children, authorizes any outrage 
 which may subsequently be inflicted on them. I re- 
 peat it. The power to keep their churches pure from 
 tliis infamy, from the becjinni.tfj, was entirelv in their 
 own hands. They did not use it. And when called 
 to account for it, they allege in excuse, that 2yublic sen- 
 
16 
 
 timent and ecclesiastical iisage were not then opposed 
 to slaver)' ; and one of them gives, as his reason for 
 not dealing with slavery in the Church, after it had 
 gained admission, that — if would have seemed personal, 
 as but few slaveholders attended the church-meetings. 
 Worthy successors, these, of those apostles who turn- 
 ed the world upside down ! 
 
 Is it not the extreme of unfaithfulness, for a class 
 of men whose daily avocation is the study and pro- 
 mulgation of good morals and religion, to suffer that 
 which they admit to be ' ati -anti- Christian* system' — 
 * at ica7-f tcith the rights of man, and opjiosed to the 
 principles of the Gospel' — to exist in their churches 
 without interference until it was assailed by 'the 
 world ' without ? And is it not the extreme of impu- 
 dence for them to allege, in serious excuse for this de- 
 linquency, that that very < world' without, (the print- 
 ers, lawyers, butchers, carpenters, &c., whose interest 
 in religion was only personal, and not professional like 
 their own, and towards whom they assume themselves 
 to be as ' light' for guidance, and as ' salt' for preser- 
 vation,) had not yet renounced this practice? Yet such 
 is the position of the missionaries and of the Board ! 
 
 Thus, after many attempts to evade a formal ex- 
 pression of opinion, the American Board of Foreign 
 Missions, at its meeting in Hartford, in 1854, formal- 
 ly ratified a theory in conformity with the long 
 standing practice of its churches, TO ADMIT 
 SLAVEHOLDERS TO CIIUHCH-MEMBERSHIP, 
 AS CHEISTIANS. 
 
 • Ann. Eeport of 1848, p. 107. t Ibid, p. 105. 
 
17 
 
 What saj- the remonstrants, in regard to this auda- 
 cious baptism of slavery into full communion with 
 the Church ? 
 
 What sa}'s the Independent^ edited by Dr. Joseph 
 P. Thompson and others, who have heretofore seem- 
 ed very zealous against slavery ? 
 
 Wonderful to tell, in an article (Aug. 13) entitled 
 * Meeting of the American Board,' in the very next 
 column to the extract we have quoted at the com- 
 mencement of this article, and by an ' incongruity ' 
 no less 'monstrous' than that which is there deline- 
 ated, the Independent says : 
 
 ' The meeting of the American Board, to be held 
 at Providence on the second Tuesday in September, 
 promises to be one of unusual interest and moment 
 for the cause of Missions. No question is likely to 
 arise at that meeting which will agitate the public 
 mind, or divide the counsels of the Board. The 
 
 QUESTION- OF SLAVERY WAS SETTLED UPON A SAT- 
 ISFACTORY BASIS AT Hartford » * * * * 
 The great questions of principle and policy which 
 have sometimes agitated the Board are inOw settled 
 rofi THIS generation.' 
 
 This is even a more complete surrender than Dr. 
 Thompson made of himself at the late annual meet- 
 ing of the Tract Society. He was perfectly satisfied 
 with the Report of its Investigating Committee, both 
 upon its negative and positive side, (whatever new 
 light upon it may since have reached him ;) but this 
 article assumes that (at least as far as the Indepen- 
 dent is concerned) no further protest is to be made 
 against the pro-slavery position of the Board during 
 
18 
 
 the life-time of this generation. And, if silence 
 gives consent, we must suppose all the former remon- 
 strants to have come to the same shameful conclusion. 
 Possibly, however, the Independent relied too 
 confidently on the degeneracy of the Church and its 
 ministers. Possibly there may be one left, among 
 the members of the Board, who is not willing to bow 
 the knee to this Baal. Possibly one may yet b5 found 
 who is willing to stand forth alone, and break this de- 
 ceitful peace which has usurped the place of purity, 
 and demand, in the name of Christ, and of his breth- 
 ren the slaves of church-members under the super- 
 vision of the American Board, that this covenant 
 with death be annulled, that this agreement with hell 
 be not suffered to stand. If there be a single mem- 
 ber who icishes this to be done, let him not fail to do 
 it. Let no supposed • necessity of courtesy towards 
 an associate' — no entreaty that the < satisfactory basis' 
 may be suffered ' to stand for this year' — no fear * to 
 provoke a personal discussion' — no • high respect' for 
 the representatives of pro-slavery piety, and no fear 
 of ♦ wounding their sensibilities,' be suffered to pre- 
 vent an. earnest and vigorous protest, at the approach- 
 ing meeting of the Board, against its shameful compro- 
 mise with slavery. But if no one thus raises his 
 voice, if no one dares, or, still worse, if no one 
 cares, to speak for the cause of the slave before 
 that great representative of the Church, that fact 
 must go to swell the already long catalogue of proofs 
 that the American Church is the bulwark of Ameri- 
 can slavery. — c. k. w. _^ 
 
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