to the Freedmen for its own sake as well as theirs. But that duty
involves enlargement, fifty-fold, of what is now done for them.
3. The work of the A.M.A. _beyond the South_ needs enlarging.
The Chinese schools in California need the permanency of having
buildings under their own control, and Bro. Pond earnestly desires
the means to reach the “Chinese in the mines.”
The work of educating Indians at the East should be extended.
It is not a substitute for schooling among the tribes; it helps
it. Capt. Pratt, who inaugurated this movement in Hampton, and
who now conducts the large Government school for Indian youth at
Carlisle, is very earnest that more—much more—should be done in
this direction. The power of the movement, in his opinion, will
be measured by its extent. He is anxious that every school of the
American Missionary Association in the South should be prepared to
receive Indians. This broad plan deserves the careful thought of
the Association, but if adopted, it will necessitate not a little
enlargement of accommodations and of the teaching force.
But Africa! what does the future ask at our hands in her behalf?
When we recall the struggles of the past for her enslaved children
in this country, when we think of the graves of our missionaries
in the Mendi country, and when we hear her children in our schools
asking to be sent thither, we feel called to a new and strong
effort to equip completely the mission on the West coast. The East
coast calls to us also. The Arthington Mission, though we have
moved cautiously, is neither forgotten nor abandoned. The generous
offer of Mr. Arthington still remains; considerable sums have been
collected in this country and in Great Britain, and as soon as the
adequate amount ($50,000) can be secured, we shall feel called to
go forward.
From all these considerations, we ask for a new and wide
enlargement of our work. The duty to America and to Africa demands
it. Especially do we urge that America owes it to its own safety
and honor that it shall adequately care for the Freedmen. But who
will take the lead in the movement to enlarge? The Pilgrims and
Puritans of New England were the first to plant liberty, education
and religion on these shores; they were on the crest of the wave
that carried these blessings across the continent to the Pacific
slope; they were foremost in the great anti-slavery struggle; they
were in the van of the armies that fought for the unity of the
nation and the freedom of the slave; they were the first, through
this Association, to take the school and the Gospel to the Freedmen
at Fortress Monroe; and who but they should see the great need of
the hour, and step forth to meet it?
* * * * *
SUMMARY OF THE TREASURER’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING SEPT. 30TH,
1880.
RECEIPTS.
From Churches, Sabbath Schools and
Individuals for General Fund $99,860.26
Churches, S. Schs. and Ind’v’ls,
for Institutions and Missions 27,790.30
Estates for General Fund 24,599.44
Estates for Institutions 862.50——25,461.94
Income of Sundry Funds 9,070.26
Tuition and Public School Fund 15,119.59
Rent 664.08
Sales 378.18
——————————$178,344.61
Donations for Tillotson C. and N. Institute
Building 7,594.65
Donations for Athens School Building, Ala. 1,096.01
Donations for Colored Refugees, Kansas 444.75
——————————
187,480.02
Balance on hand. Sept. 30th, 1879 1,475.90
——————————$188,955.92
———————————
EXPENSES.
THE FREEDMEN.—For Church and Educational Work $130,929.82
THE CHINESE.—Supt., Teachers and School Expenses 8,020.35
THE INDIANS.—Missionaries and Teachers and
Student Aid 1,953.32
FOREIGN MISSIONS.—Mendi Mission 11,802.78
Jamaica Mission 450.00
————————— 12,252.78
PUBLICATIONS.—American Missionary, Annual
Report, &c. 9,063.30
COST OF COLLECTING FUNDS.—Boston Office 5,586.66
Chicago Office 3,612.47
Other Agencies 4,193.56
—————————— 13,392.69
COST OF ADMINISTRATION.—
Department of Correspondence 6,401.54
Department of Treasury 4,127.73
—————————— 10,529.27
MISCELLANEOUS.—Estates and Legacies 99.11
Annual Meeting 1,023.96
Amounts paid Annuitants—balance 852.67
Donations returned 54.92
—————————— 2,030.66
——————————
188,172.19
Balance on hand, Sept. 30, 1880 783.73
——————————
188,955.92
==========
STONE FUND.—Amount received from Mrs. Valeria
G. Stone at the hands of Trustees $150,000.00
ARTHINGTON MISSION.—Donations received
from Oct. 1st to Sept. 30th, 6,576.48
AVERY FUND.—Amount received from Executor 408.92
* * * * *
The receipts of Berea College, Hampton N. and A. Institute, and
Atlanta University, are added below, as presenting at one view the
contributions of the same constituency for the general work in
which the Association is engaged.
Receipts of the A. M. A. $187,480.02
Hampton N. & A. Inst. 57,014.73
Atlanta University, State Appropriation 8,000.00
Berea College 37,607.06
—————————————$290,101.81
* * * * *
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND ENLARGEMENT.
Your Committee on Finance and Enlargement, to whom was referred the
financial exhibit of the Association for the fiscal year ending
Sept. 30, 1880, as presented by the Treasurer, beg leave to report
that they have examined the accounts and found them duly audited.
These accounts include a minute and detailed statement of receipts
and expenditures, a list of the endowments, and also a full account
of the property owned by the Association, and were accompanied by
the account books of the Treasurer.
We are unanimous in vouching for the faithfulness and economy which
characterize all branches of the financial administration. Nor
can we refrain from a word of most emphatic commendation of the
thorough explicitness of the Association’s financial statement.
But passing from this to the substance of the Report, we notice
three points suggested by it which seem to call for special mention.
In the first place, it is ground for gratitude and thanksgiving
that the year closes without leaving us burdened with a debt. On
the contrary, there is a balance in the treasury of nearly eight
hundred dollars. Not a very large surplus, surely, but the fact
that the year’s work has been done and left us anything besides a
disheartening deficiency, is itself occasion for thankfulness and
cheer.
In the second place, there is ground for anxiety, lest the
financial condition of the Association should be misunderstood. It
is well known that a gift of $150,000 has recently come into its
treasury. This fact, it is to be feared, has given, or may give,
the impression that the Association is, for the present at least,
in no further need of funds. We have already heard of one generous
friend who has withheld an intended gift through such an entire
misapprehension. And lest others should be similarly misled, it
seems to us important not only to state, but to emphasize the fact,
that this large gift _brings no relief whatever to the usual wants
of the Association_. It is not designed to do the work which the
Association is doing. This money is wholly appropriated to the
erection of new buildings for the increasing numbers of colored
students. It is to do nothing whatever towards meeting the ordinary
expenses of the Association’s work; nothing whatever towards
diminishing the necessity of aid which the Association is compelled
to seek from the Christian and the philanthropist. It cannot be
too clearly seen or too widely known, that so far as any augmented
power for doing its proper work is concerned, the Association is
not one whit better off for this gift of $150,000 than it would be
if not a dollar of it had been given. But,
In the third place, this gift is itself a trumpet call for the
enlargement of the Association’s resources and work. It is simply
to erect new buildings for Fisk and Atlanta, at Talladega, New
Orleans and Tougaloo. These buildings will soon be filled with
students. That means the necessity for more teachers and more
pecuniary aid to those who need it. It means increased work for
the Association, and the necessity of increased funds with which
to do the work. In one word, it means _expansion_, _enlargement_.
God, Himself, is opening before us new furrows in hitherto untilled
fields. That is His own call upon us for more seed-corn, and more
labor for the enlarging harvest. He is building for us new homes
for the development of mental culture and Christian character among
the colored people of the South. Each one of these is a Divine
summons for such co-operation on our part as is necessary for the
best accomplishment of His designs.
In conclusion, therefore, your Committee respectfully suggest the
adoption of the following resolution:
“_Resolved_, While most gratefully acknowledging the prosperity
that has crowned our work through another year, we recognize and
accept that prosperity as itself a call from God for still larger
and more earnest work.”
W. H. WILLCOX, _Chairman_.
* * * * *
WHY WE SHOULD ENLARGE.
REV. L. T. CHAMBERLAIN, D.D., NORWICH, CONN.
I have been invited to the privilege of additionally sustaining
the report of your Committee in their recommendation of an
enlargement of the work of this Association; and, as a member of
that Committee, I may say that we could not possibly have reported
otherwise than we did. I could not have read the record of this
last year, and have seen its events as our honored Secretary has
presented them, without feeling that the movement must be toward an
increase in every department.
Sir, you were entirely right in drawing your inspiration in part
from the wonderful past. I, too, have recalled the years gone by,
and they seem to say, as with one voice, that the time has come for
the yet greater effort. My brethren, what a history sweeps back
from this thirty-fourth anniversary, to the day when, in this same
Commonwealth, the Amistad captives were bravely released, and an
additional impulse was given to the anti-slavery sentiment of the
participants! At that hour, the men who afterwards founded this
Association, looked out on a tumultuous sea of discouragements.
Themselves only a handful; the press absolutely unfriendly; the
market-place contemptuous; the State frowning; the Church in
general incredulous and silent; scarcely anything anywhere that
did not wear a hostile front. And then, at last, one missionary
commissioned and one teacher sent out; one paper persuaded into
partial support; a few dollars given into the treasury; and a few
steadfast souls pledging themselves to maintain the cause. But,
to-day, what a different record! A great, honored organization,
with an annual income approaching the fifth of a million;
three hundred and thirty ministers, missionaries and teachers;
seventy-six mission, and yet, for the most part, self-sustaining
churches; more than five thousand intelligent church members, and
nearly ten thousand pupils in the Sunday-schools; seventy-one
common schools, normal schools, colleges and theological
seminaries, with more than ten thousand eager and advancing
students. An organization that takes effective hold on four
millions of Freedmen, and then enlarges its bounds to take in the
resident and emigrant Chinese, and the tribes of original Indians.
An organization able to inspire the churches with missionary zeal,
and making even our national Government respect its requests and
its advice.
What a review is that, and almost within the space of a single
generation. The success that has already been accomplished is
reason why, at the very outset, we may call you to a hopeful and an
enlarged interest in this work; for history is telling us to-day,
if she tells us anything, that it is not a hopeless thing to
attempt to provide efficiently for all the despised of our land.
And, let me say, I should not hesitate to make that hopeful appeal,
if there were no such glowing record to present. I would not change
the tone of it, though the years rolled back, and you and I stood
to-day where those men stood thirty and four years ago; for Christ
has said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” and has said
distinctly that our neighbors are pre-eminently those who have
fallen among thieves and are lying wounded by the way. That simple
command is enough to assure us that our labor shall not be in vain.
You and I know whom we have believed, and we know that whatever He
commands is commanded in infinite wisdom and infinite love. We know
that what He says we are to do, it is possible to do, and that in
some way it shall be done. The stars in their courses, and earth,
and hell, may fight against Christ, but sooner or later He is to
reign.
Therefore, when the Master calls us, his requirement is enough to
warrant us in our advance. On that simple requirement, backed by,
and reflected in, the impulse of every regenerate soul, you may
ground your missionary motive. That is the corner-stone on which,
with abiding cheer and infinite courage, the missionary, and every
friend of missions, may build forever. Therefore, while we have
this firm foundation, and all the more that we have it, it is for
us to note the actual progress that has been made. While we recur
to these absolute considerations, let us not, through any attempt
at unnecessary heroism, forget the fulfillment that has already
been vouchsafed to the promise and to the command of Christ.
And now that I am speaking of motives, let me say that I cannot
conceal my feeling that, with special and peculiarly appealing
considerations, God is binding upon us the work for the so-called
alien races of this country. Let me illustrate. Here, for
example, are four millions of _Freedmen_—strange designation for
the inhabitants of a Republic that has already celebrated its
centennial! Suppose that a stranger to our history should ask us
the meaning of it, what must be our confession? Why this, and
nothing else: that the ancestors of those Freedmen, by fraud, and
violence were wrested from their distant and native land; that
for two centuries they were held in sheer and open bondage; that
they were denied the commonest rights of humanity; bought and
sold like beasts of the field; debarred from the privileges of
education and true Christian instruction; that, while their toil
went to build the colleges and schools and churches of the dominant
race, they were left without any reward but the desolation of
their bondage; that, when they piteously plead, their appeal was
met with derision; that, when they respectfully protested, the
protest was crushed back with blows and curses; that when they
ventured to resist, the resistance was answered unto death, with
lashes and bullets and the fangs of pursuing hounds; that manhood
was deliberately degraded among them; womanhood was well-nigh
obliterated; truthfulness was made dangerous for them, and chastity
absolutely impossible; and then at last, that to keep them in such
a bondage, the whole power of the National Government was pledged
and put forth; that, by Constitution interpreted and special laws
enacted, by military might and civic decree, by private volition
and public compulsion, it came to pass that there was not one
spot of safety for them in all the land over which floated the
flag of their country; that, in their effort to escape from their
bondage, not a single door might lawfully be opened to them, nor
any hearth-stone give them shelter; but, taking the pole-star for
their guide, they must flee from the Republic to the land of a king
or queen.
Pardon me that I have opened the record. I confess it makes me
sick at heart. With you I wish it had never been enacted; with you
I wish it might be buried to-day in the deepest depths of oblivion.
But I tell you, when we stand, as we do practically to-day, in the
face of those men, and in the face of God who made us and them
of one image and of one blood, we have no right to forget that
guilty past. It is one of the mighty motives that are still to be
invoked in their behalf. Like the blood of Abel, it cries to us
for atonement. It says to us to-day, “In your nation, aided and
abetted by you or your fathers, under your flag, that wrong was
inflicted; and until that wrong is thoroughly righted, neither the
remembrance nor the cry can be allowed to pass.” It says that you
owe them every reparation in your power; that they have a valid
lien on every dollar of your property, and on every possible degree
of your culture. It is not enough that you have made them free—to
have denied that would have been to perpetuate the wrong itself.
It is not enough that you have given them the franchise—that in
itself were a barren gift. Give them the rather that manhood that
was their birth-right withheld. Lift them up, if you can, into
truthfulness and purity, intelligence and industry; make them free
with the freedom of the Gospel of Christ, and then that past may be
forgotten.
And brethren, I make an appeal of that same sort to-day for the
Indian and the Chinese;—the Indian, abused, deceived, made a fool
of; a nominally Christian civilization degrading him beyond even
his original degradation. And the Chinese, in that part of the land
where they have chosen to dwell, despised, defrauded, spit upon.
My claim is that whatever appeal you propose to disregard, it is
not becoming for you to turn a deaf ear to those whom you have so
foully wronged.
Moreover,—and I beg you to ponder this also,—you owe a debt of
gratitude, in the case of the Freedmen at least,—with whom this
Association is chiefly concerned,—that has not yet been discharged.
And now, is it imagined that I am speaking of something far-fetched
and fanciful? Does any body suppose that I am about to summon you
by a visionary and distant appeal? Or, if anyone guess wherein
it is claimed that that debt consists, is it supposed that time
has made that claim no longer valid? Some may so reflect; I
cannot share the feeling, for I cannot so easily forget the days
and the months when the scales of our national destiny hung in
equipoise, or seemed to vibrate towards the nation’s overthrow. It
seems incredible, I know, but such was the fact. We had put forth
what appeared to us well-nigh the last resource for the national
defense; on every side the prospect was dark; it seemed sometimes
as if we should be driven to question whether we were not doomed
to overthrow—the heavens black above us, the billows rolling, and
the very earth beneath our feet trembling and being moved. For the
enemy smote us in the field and the traitor betrayed us at home.
And you remember with what unspeakable thankfulness we then saw
those who had suffered so much at the nation’s hands coming to our
rescue, forgetting their personal wrongs, and fighting for the flag
that had hitherto been to them an object of dread. You remember
with what eagerness we offered them at last their freedom, lest
the enemy should offer it to them before us. Why, what were we
not willing to pledge, and to do, for the Freedmen in those days?
We felt that they were helping us to save this Republic, and that
the balance of power was in their hands; and did we mistake? Does
history say that in the excitement we misread the facts? No, the
after events proved the correctness of our thought; and it stands
written in simple, imperishable lines to-day, that among the
saviors of the country, there were none more deserving than those
of darker skin, who forgot their wrongs and stood in the breach for
you and me.
* * * * *
And so it comes to pass that, not only in obedience to the command
of Christ but by _the threefold consideration_ of _repairing a
wrong_, and _paying a debt_, and _averting a danger_, we are
called to the continuance and the enlargement of the work of this
Association.
I have suggested two lines of action, parallel and coincident; the
one educational, and the other strictly religious. I want to say
to you now, that the inspiration for those movements must come
in large measure from the Christian North; for, if you ask the
South to be wholly responsible for her own improvement, then you
ask reformation to precede itself, and a disordered and perverse
sentiment to be its own awakener and its own corrective. Should
you suppose that a nation of Freedmen, after two centuries of
bondage, would have the sufficient desire for improvement, not to
say the means adequate for its accomplishment? I deem it to be
perfectly clear that this Association is right in thinking that one
great part of its work is in laying the foundations, and affording
the facilities, for increased instruction among the Freedmen.
It is undoubted good sense, I take it, to establish here and
there a common school, and here and there a normal school, and a
moderate number of colleges, to the end that in them, during this
formative period of the Freedman’s life, you may train his future
teachers,—not attempting to make the way of mental improvement
over-easy; not attempting any pampering plan of encouragement;
but simply affording opportunity to those who will struggle and
practice self-denial. God bless the institutions at Hampton, and
Carlisle, and Berea, and Nashville, and Atlanta, and Talladega,
and New Orleans, and Tougaloo, and that institution that has the
good fortune, sir, to have you for its presiding officer (Howard
University). For, do you know it? the former students of those very
institutions are to-day teaching one hundred thousand of their own
countrymen.
And then the religious work, the saving of souls—what a call for
enlargement in that work! for that underlies even the educational
work. Every teacher I know is an ardent and an earnest worker for
Christ, and all your attempt is to make the way to education,
the way to the cross of Christ; but, besides that, there is the
preaching of the Gospel, and the gathering of churches, and the
opening of Sunday-schools. I used to wonder why you asked us to
preach to the Freedmen. Were they not already religious? Were they
not gathered in churches? But I came to know the terrible fact
that religion among the Freedmen, was not the religion of the
understanding mind and the consecrated heart, but, rather, in the
olden time, of uninstructed impulse and uncontrollable passion; and
to-day the prevailing testimony concerning those old-time churches
is, that in them religion is not founded on a regenerate, or even a
moral, life.
What a task then, to lift up those millions—more difficult, I
sometimes think, than the conversion of the original heathen! And
yet it must be done—done for the sake of the souls who else will
perish in their sins; done for the sake of this country that we
love; done, first and last and always, by thoroughly Christian
instrumentalities; and yet done under motives that take hold on the
concerns of our national welfare. Therefore, my friends, count all
the past progress in this direction only the signal and the token
of your future success and triumph. If to-day the doors are opened
wide, let us, in the Master’s name, go up and possess this land for
Him, and for the future of our united and Christian Republic.
So much for this land. And what shall I say of Africa, that dark
continent beyond the seas? I think of Africa, and the longing burns
in my soul, that out of the uplifted negroes there may speedily be
trained those who shall carry Divine light into the very depths
of her darkness. Is not Africa actually reaching out her hands to
this Association, and to us who have in our care so many of her
children? You say, ‘the last to be enlightened.’ I grant it; but,
I assure you, God has a great future for that continent. Who shall
say that there, there will not yet be developed a civilization
and a manifestation of Christianity, the most bountiful, the most
beautiful, of them all?