The American Missionary — Volume 36, No. 12, December, 1882

by Various

Before passing from this subject it should be stated that our experiment has been favorable as to the health of colored Americans in Africa. Of the nineteen colored missionaries sent thither since the year 1877, only three have died, one man and two women, and in none of these cases did death result directly from the effects of the climate. The retirement has in many cases been due to the ill-health of the wives. The result emphasizes the necessity of very close medical examination, especially of the women, and of maturity of judgment and character in the missionaries and of adequate preparation in study.

In 1879 Mr. Robert Arthington made to the Association the generous offer of $15,000, on condition that it would establish a mission within an area designated by him on the Upper Nile in tropical Africa. The Committee expressed gratitude to Mr. Arthington, yet feeling the responsibility of so great an undertaking, took suitable time for deliberation. Estimates were made as to the probable cost, and with all the light available, it was judged that $50,000 would equip and found the mission. The Committee then proposed to undertake the mission if our British friends would supplement Mr. Arthington’s gift with a like amount. By the efforts of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society this additional sum was secured, and in 1881 Rev. Mr. Ladd and Dr. Snow made a preliminary exploration, extending their trip 2,500 miles up the Nile, only to find, however, the rebellion of the fanatical Achmet in full career on the upper Nile, and barely escaping with their lives, descended the river to find the rebellion of Arabi Pasha just ready to break forth. The exploration was heroically and carefully made, and yet it showed clearly that nothing could then be done towards establishing the mission, nor can anything yet be attempted in the present disturbed condition of the Nile basin.

In the meantime the experience of the British missions, lately established in tropical Africa, shows us that a much larger sum than $50,000 would probably be needed to plant the mission; and, moreover, it has become more clear that the sud—a collection of soil and weeds—so impedes the navigation of the Nile above the mouth of the Sobat as to render access to the site specially designated for the Arthington Mission extremely difficult, uncertain, and, at times, impossible.

Under all circumstances it has become manifest that the farther prosecution of the effort to plant the Arthington Mission will involve the expenditure of greater sums of money, and the encountering of much more formidable difficulties than we had anticipated at the outset—and raises the question as to the wisdom of transferring the fund, with the possibilities of the mission, to another Board with larger resources and more experience, or of returning the money to the generous donors.

Turning now from this foreign work which the Committee are disposed to transfer, let me invite attention to the work which will be left to us, and which, in consequence of the exchange, if made, we can enlarge and prosecute with more vigor.

I begin with the work among the Freedmen. That work has been remarkably, continuously and increasingly successful. It has gone beyond the stage of experiment. It is planted firmly on lands and in permanent buildings, and still more firmly in the confidence of the colored people and in the respect of the white citizens. It has been among the most important levers for the elevation of the colored people, one of the strong influences in the settlement of our national problem, and a most effective instrument in the spread of the pure Gospel in the South. It has reached a point where it ought to be greatly enlarged. If Congress shall pass the bill appropriating ten millions of dollars annually among the States on the basis of illiteracy, it will give such a stimulus to common-school education in the South as to make a demand for teachers by the thousand where we and all other agencies supply only hundreds; it will do the preliminary work in the education of a population that will call for a much larger number of educated ministers; and it will give an uplift to the masses that will render leaders in business and professional life a necessity to their further progress and security. The munificent gift of a million of dollars by Mr. Slater will impart a grand impulse to the education of the colored people. It will doubtless render important help to many societies; it will come far short of meeting the full wants of any; and it would be a sad mistake, deprecated by no one more than Mr. Slater himself, if this great gift should weaken the sense of responsibility in others. Its greatest ultimate value will probably be in awakening other generous hearts to the fact that the work needs millions as well as hundreds and thousands. This people are generations behind the Anglo-Saxons in preparation for the duties of life, and they and their children need not only as great, but for the time being greater facilities to enable them to catch up in the race and then to march forward at even pace in the responsibilities and privileges of citizens and Christians. The time has come to push this great undertaking. The nation is aroused to it, and the American Missionary Association, so well prepared for it, needs only to be stripped of outer and foreign garments, and to enter with disencumbered hands and redoubled energy and means into the great work to which it has been so plainly called.

Nor by this concentration will the Association lose sight of Africa. It believes as much as ever that God means that the Freedmen have not only a great duty and destiny here, but that they have also a special call and fitness to bear the Gospel to the land of their fathers. In its schools and churches it will direct their attention to this field, and endeavor to inspire them with the missionary spirit. The only change will be in the hands that shall lead them to Africa and guide and cheer them on in the work there. The Association and the Board will work harmoniously and more efficiently to this great end, the one on this continent, the other on that.

The A. M. A. is prepared to do an enlarged work among the Indians. Popular consent in the churches supporting the Association has assigned to it especially the care of the colored races in America. There is a fitness in putting these together; they are alike alien to European blood: they are alike the victims of caste prejudice, and they alike need schools as well as churches. The Association has been the strenuous opponent of race oppression and caste prejudice, and has devoted itself to the varied modes of industrial, educational and church work needed by these races. They should no longer be regarded as the subject of foreign mission efforts. The Indians, for example, are the original inhabitants of the land, and the strenuous efforts of those most interested in their welfare are to induce the government to make no treaties with them as foreigners, but to bring them as rapidly as possible into the ranks of citizens, sharing the protection of law and holding lands in severalty. It is a hindrance to this desirable consummation if the Indians are treated ecclesiastically and religiously as foreigners. If the State makes them citizens the church ought certainly to regard them as “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens.” On the other hand, no home mission board with its simple plan for aiding in the formation of churches and the support of ministers can adequately meet their wants. They need the school and the industrial training as well as the church, and these the A. M. A. is prepared to furnish and to carry forward under the light of its ample experience in the South.

The Association is no stranger to the Indian work. At one time it had twenty-one missionaries among them. It is true that its missions were abandoned in large measure and the efforts of the Association concentrated upon the South. But precious fruits are yet gathered from that neglected planting. The Association gave its hearty co-operation to the peace policy of Gen. Grant, rendering useful service to the Government and the Indians by the appointment of some good agents, a few of whom, notwithstanding all detractions and temptations, are alive and remain unto this present. It has aided in the education of Indian youth at Hampton, and the Committee had voted for the current year a much larger appropriation for Indian work. If the Board shall transfer to it the Dakota Mission, the responsibility and the call for funds may be larger than was anticipated, but if it be the call of Providence there will be no shrinking from duty.