A letter from the Rev. Mr. Wilson, of March, 1851, draws a still more discouraging picture of the prospects of the mission: “In some respects,” he says, “our missionary operations seem to be quite stationary. We have had no accessions to our church for some time past; and some who were added last year, do not give us all the satisfaction we had hoped for. If we had other converts, we should be almost afraid to receive them into the church, by reason of the many temptations to which they are exposed; growing out of the loose and perverted state of morals in this community. Nor do we see how society can be placed on such a footing as to make it possible for us to organize a pure Church, until there is a general outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the people.” Then, depicting the general prevalence of polygamy, or what is worse, Mr. Wilson thus concludes: “Demoralizing as this state of society is, the people are, nevertheless, firmly attached to it, and will continue to be so, until they are inspired with better and purer feelings by the Holy Ghost.”
Dr. Ford, another member of this mission, in an appeal for more female laborers, draws a still darker portraiture of the deep moral degradation existing around him. “The condition of African women is beyond description deplorable. No one can appreciate it without seeing it. They are bought and sold, whipped, worked, and despised. Unquestionably they become surly, malicious, and perverse; and under the detestable system of polygamy which prevails everywhere, they are perfectly faithless to their husbands. They are our most bitter enemies, bearing a great dislike to religion, and this they communicate to their children.”
The Report for 1851, speaks more encouragingly, though it records no increase of members. The Report for 1852, shows that the mission stood thus: 4 stations, 6 missionaries, 1 physician, 4 female assistants, 5 native helpers, and 5 schools with about 100 pupils. One member had been added during the year, two Christian marriages solemnized, and four persons baptized. A considerable reduction of the missionary force had occurred during the year, from deaths and the failure of health; so that only two of the stations had been sustained during the whole year. The Report for 1853, records no new admissions to the church. Only two ordained missionaries were left in the mission, and only two stations have been occupied since July.[[42]] It is remarked, that though the intelligence from the mission “is less cheering in some respects than we might wish, in others it is satisfactory and encouraging. Two things, however, are greatly needed. The converting energy of the Spirit is a constant and palpable necessity; and the mission should be largely reinforced without delay. Who will cry mightily unto the Lord for his quickening grace? Who will devote themselves to the missionary work among the benighted children of Africa?”[[43]]
Mr. Preston has settled 60 miles above the Baraka station, which is near the mouth of the Gaboon, to study the Pangwe language, and to explore the hill country; where the mission has been directed to establish a new station, on account of its greater healthiness, and to operate among the Pangwe people. He has found the country disturbed by wars, and that the Pangwe tribe are cannibals. Prisoners of war and persons condemned for witchcraft, had been eaten, to Mr. Preston’s own knowledge. Such things, he says, are of frequent occurrence; and yet these people work very neatly in iron of their own smelting, and in brass obtained from traders—thus affording evidences of a nearer approach to civilization than the tribes on the coast.
Though the progress of this mission has been slow, and but few converts have been gathered into the church; yet the labors of the missionaries have, by no means, been unproductive of good results. The native languages have been mastered, portions of the scriptures translated into them, and the pupils in their schools will soon be able to read the sacred word, to their parents and friends, in their native tongue.
The Rev. Mr. Wilson, the founder of this mission, has been obliged to retire from the work, on account of ill health. At the meeting of the American Board, in 1852, he was present, explained the condition of the mission, its encouragements and discouragements, and urged an extended effort to take advantage of the present friendly disposition of the natives to gain footholds for schools and churches throughout the country. In relation to the discouragements, he said, that in penetrating the interior, they found the difficulty of traveling very great—their progress being embarrassed by the want of an organized government. They were thus exposed to the attacks of robbers and marauders, who might kill them without being amenable to any power on earth.
From these facts it would seem, that Civil Government is greatly needed for the protection of the Gaboon Mission; and, that instead of its being considered an obstacle, as was the case at Cape Palmas, it is now viewed as necessary to its success: and, if necessary at the Gaboon, it must be equally so in all other parts of Africa.
If this view were generally admitted, a great impulse would be given to our system of African Colonization. Civil government has not been organized in Africa, except by Colonization from either Europe or America; nor can it exist, except among civilized men. Before it can be organized at the Gaboon, an emigration of civilized men must supply the necessary population; or a generation or two pass away, while the work of education prepares the natives for the adoption of civilized customs. The climate forbids the settlement of white men at the Gaboon, or upon any part of the western coast of Africa; and civil government, therefore, can not be introduced by them. Colored men, alone, can live in the enjoyment of vigorous health in that region, and they alone can accomplish this work. As the United States, alone, can supply a sufficient number of intelligent colored men to fill it with colonies; it follows, that colonization, from the United States to Africa, is necessary to the speedy organization of civil government and the more rapid extension of Christianity in that country.
The Mission of the American Board to the Zulus, in South Africa, was begun in 1835. One station was commenced among the maritime Zulus, under king Dingaan, who resided on the east side of the Cape, some 70 miles from Port Natal; and the other among the interior Zulus, under king Mosilikatsi.[[44]] This station was broken up in 1837, by a war between the Zulus and the Boers, who were then emigrating from the Cape. The missionaries were forced to leave, and join their brethren at Natal; but, in doing this, they were compelled to perform a journey of 1,300 miles, in a circuitous route, 1,000 of which was in ox wagons, through the wilderness, while they were greatly enfeebled by disease, and disheartened by the death of the wife of one of their party.
The missionaries to the maritime Zulus, when their brethren from the interior joined them, had succeeded in establishing one station among king Dingaan’s people, and another at Port Natal, where a mixed population, from various tribes, had collected among the Dutch Boers, then settling in and around that place. In 1838 a war occurred between Dingaan and the Boers, which broke up the missions and compelled the missionaries to seek refuge on board some vessels, providentially at Natal, in which some of them sailed to the United States, and others to the Cape.