AN
ADDREss . TO The PUBLIC,
ON THE SUBJECT OF THE -
. . AFRICAN SCHOOL,
THE sysop
NEw-York AND NEW-JERSEY.
*
* * sºlºssºgºsº
by THE DIRECTOR'S OF THE INSTITUTION.
t-ºº-º-º:
NEW-YORK :
PRINTED BY r. sex MoUR, No. 49 Jeff N-STREET.
ADDRESS, &c.
"THE Synod of New-York and New-Jersey, at their
meeting in the city of New-York, October 1816, una-
nimously resolved to appoint a Board of Directors to
establish and superintend an African School, for the
purpose of educating young men of colour, to be teach-
ers and preachers to people of colour within these
States and elsewhere. The following persons were
elected members of the Board for the present year.
MINISTERS. - LAYMEN.
DR. JAS. RICHARDs, HoN A.A.Ron OGDEN, L.L.D.
DR. EDw. D. GRIFFIN, SAML. BAYARD, Esq.
DR. JoHN B. RomEYN, Joseph C. HoRNBLower, Esq.
MR. Rob ERT FINLEY, y MR. John E. CALDwell,
MR. Joh N McDowel L., MR. ZECHARIAH LEWIs,
MR. GARD INER SPRING. MR. RENSSELAER HAVENS.
The Board thus appointed beg leave to submit to
the public the following thoughts on the subject of pre-
paring for the great negro-world teachers of their own
R’àCC. * - - -
By computations founded on the latest information,
there are in Africa and its islands twenty millions of
the proper negro race, besides thirty millions who dif.
fer from them more or less in complexion and features.
There are supposed to be a million and a half of the
4.
same people in the United States; and a million and a
half more may be reckoned for the Floridas, Mexico,
South America, and the West India Islands, to say In O-
thing of New-Guinea. Here then is a vast world of
twenty-three millions of souls, (besides the thirty mil-
lions before mentioned;) a population equal to that of
the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, and
Denmark united. . . . . .
Though we are fully persuaded that to the end of
the world there will remain different orders in Society,
it cannot be supposed that so considerable a portion of
the human race, consisting of so many independent na-
tions, and occupying the greater part of one of the
four quarters of the globe, are always to be regarded
as made only for slaves, or are to be excluded from the
blessings of Christianity and civilization during the ap-
proaching period of the millennium. In those days
which are yet to come, and which are even now at the
door, the descendants of Ham, we are bound to be-
lieve, will attain to an elevation and dignity which will
do away the memory of their past disgrace, and give
them a rank among the polished nations of Europe and
America. Africa will yet boast of her poets and ora-
tors. Eloquence will play on the tumid lips of her
sons, and sable hands will strike the lyre, and weave
the silken web. On the Niger as on the Thames,
temples will arise to the living God; and perhaps the
arid sands will find the curse of barrenness repealed
by the same Power that will turn Palestine into a fruit-
ful field. }
If Africa is to stand forth in the glory of Christian-
ity and civilization, her own sons, and not the sons of
5 \
strangers, must be the instructers of her youth, and
her ministers of religion. No nation will ever advance
far in any improvement but by the instrumentality of
her own children. Strangers may make a beginning,
but strangers cannot continue to support her schools
and her churches. To sustain such a weight at arm's
length, would exhaust both patience and power. His-
tory presents no instance of the kind. Apostles and
missionaries may pass over a country, but native teach-
ers must finish the work. So it was in primitive times.
So it was in every country of Europe when it received
the Christian faith. So it is in India at the present day.
The debilitated and jetty Hindoos prolong and extend
the order which European missionaries have estab-
lished. - - -
To say that Africans are not competent to become
- teachers and preachers, is therefore to say that one
quarter of the world is never to support a Christian
Church. And why is this said P Are not the coloured
people of these States as competent for such offices as
Hottentots, many of whom are now proclaiming to
their countrymen the unsearchable riches of Christ P
We are not to judge of the power of the lion from.
what we see of him incaged and enchained. Let us
not first debase and then libel. If we would judge of
the sleeping energies of African minds, let us peruse
some portions of modern history, over which for ob-
vious reasons we must here cast a vail; let us look to
the progress made in our Sunday Schools, and in the
African Seminary recently established in one of our
cities. - -
If Africa must have African teachers and preachers,
6.
who shall prepare them but the Christian world?
Africa has no science to communicate; Africa has no
religion to impart. For the present, and for a consi-
derable time to come, she must be a passive receiver,
and Christian nations must convey to her the light and
grace. If any of her children are taught, and made
competent to instruct their - countrymen 3. European or
American benevolence must teach them. We must
begin the series of a Gospel ministry that shall perpetu-
ate itself among the tribes of that vast continent.
This work plainly devolves on America rather than
Tºurope, for two reasons. First, the great mass of the
transported Africans are here. Allowing that there
are thirty thousand dispersed through the different
nations of Europe, the number in the United States
alone, compared to that in all Europe, is as fifty to one.
Here this vast mass is concentrated; there the small
number are thinly scattered over different countries,
and lost in an overwhelming population. Our advan-
tages to make selections are to those enjoyed by any
nation in Europe as two or three hundred to one.
And our chances to find proper subjects are still great-
er. Here special attentions may be easily directed to
form the African character; there the attempt is al-
most impossible. Perhaps in no district of Europe
could an African school or congregation be collected;
either of these might be done in almost any neighbour-
hood South of New-England, and even in the large
towns of that part of the Union. No spot on earth is
so well fitted for the sublime and holy effort, as that
on which we dwell. Secondly, no portion of the world
is so deeply indebted to Africa as this Western conti-
7
nent and its islands. This is the prison which has re-
ceived all her captive sons. America is the only civil-
ized country in which slavery is allowed. Though some
of the Christian nations of Europe tolerate it in their
American colonies, not one of them, it is believed, ad-
mit it in the parent state. This land of freedom is
the only enlightened land of slaves. On the principle
of slavery we have nothing to say. We only affirm
that America is the great receptacle which has receiv-
ed the streams that Africa has discharged. And for
this we owe her large arrears. . . .
The Board are aware of the many difficulties which
attend this undertaking, and of the disappointments
which they must expect to meet; but in the name of
the Lord they will go forward. They are not unmind-
ful of the existing state of things in their own country,
and of the duties thence resulting, Should an opening
be made for any of their young men within these States,
and should this Board be authorized to send them
forth, they will select only the most faithful and dis-
creet, and give them peremptory instructions to incul-
cate subordination according to the apostolic example.
The whole wisdom and dignity of the Synod, under
whose direction the Board act, are a guarantee to the
public for the caution and prudence of their proceed- y
ings. w - - ... .
The Board at present have no funds, and for these
they cast themselves on the charity of a compassionate
public, making their appeal especially to those whose
hearts are penetrated with the love of Christ. The
tears of Africa will not plead in vain. The injunctions
of a Saviour will not be heard in vain. They only add,
8 -
that any donations conveyed to their Treasurer, Joseph
C. Hornblower, Esq. of Newark, will be gratefully ac-
knowledged. - . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Board hope to be ready to receive applications
from young men without delay, and will be thankful
for notices of proper characters from any part of the
Union. Applicants must possess respectable talents,
sound discretion, undoubted piety, be able to read and
write, and come well recommended. Correspondents
will please to direct their letters, except those which
contain donations, to the Secretary of the Board.
By order of the Board, -
- JAMES RICHARDS, President.
EDWARD D. : GRIF FIN, Secretary.
Newark, (N.J.) Oct. 29, 1816.