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Canada Mission: For The Signal Of Liberty

Canada Mission: For The Signal Of Liberty image
Parent Issue
Day
15
Month
December
Year
1841
Copyright
Public Domain
Letter to the Editor
OCR Text

Will you permit me, dear brethren, to occupy ft email portion of your sheet, in iaviting tha atlealion o( our fricnds in tbis State to a matter which haaoccupied some "of my thouglits for some tnonths past. It is the establishment of a christian and Aboiition Mission among the refugees in Can- ada. My feelings were especially arrested by thu claiius of this object, a few hours since, by a poor fugitive frora Missouri. My conversatioo with hini was diirjng hia last haif-day slay, vvherc líber ty,jusíiceand kiodnesa weregraduated by the mere color of the skin. He was a ■young man about (aa he aupposed) 24 yeare of age. He had been a slave in Kentucky and Missouri. Hig buck bore the marks of the 'Patriarchal inquisitjon. He knew Hot the time of day from the face of a coinmon clack. Some friQnd from the west gave him a spelling book,and h& had eucceedcd in learnmcr ashe termed it his A RC'd,and Euclid never was more gratified in the aolution of matheotaticial mysierie9, than this roan, whea be ascertained that hia A B C's wero alike n every book. My thongbts from ihis young man were thrown upon 20,000 colored people of Upper Canuda, and tbo bundreds making iheir way anpuaHy from the Uuited States- their gnorance, and their nuüve depruvity wholíy unrestrained by reason 'or religión ia a majority of instances. I would not be understoadas saying that all are thus gnorant and degraded in Canada, but in ail probability this ia (rué of three fourths of alt the slave populatiou who are making tbeir rapid emigratiori thither. They gu oto that country poor, with clothing iust nough to cover their nakedncss, muney scarcely enougb to buy a meal of victuals finJ n many instances.tbey aro compelled to resori to bogging, if they do not find ornployment itnmediately afier their arri'vaí. Thero are but twogenuine benefactors of this class of our race of whom I have knowledíre, devoted'to their welfare a Canada. The Rev. Hiram VVilson and a Mr. Duttou. But 'whatare they among so many,' not to mention their limited mean9ofcontributing to their rea! benefit. I apea k with reference to temporal matters.. There should be established a post 8omewhere in the neighborbood of Mat den, or Lotídon, ta wiiich the refuíjee might go when he Grst enjoyed thegc3 of Uritish liberty, The agency there 8hauld be furnifihed wilh clothing and provisions so ihat (beir immediale destitution might be provided or. Much of the clothing that we havo laid aside would be of great ervice to tliero, and places of employment for stich emigraul the inore readüy be,, found. It would be a placó whare those in thut district of country xvho wanied, raight apply for laborera, nnd.where recommendationa eould go oui much to the advantage of ihe colorod peopie. Let this be conoected with Missionary" labor annong lliem. Iostruction, rebuke or e.xhortation coming from ihoir knówn friends wonld not fail ofproraotiog obrietynduslry and religión aínoog thetn. It is known to some of your readers that tho Abolitionsts in the Methodist church have been exceedingly disaffected wnh the Missonaiy society of ihat body of Christian3,and I eay reasonably and justly so. For they have so far commitled lilis society to the support of slavery that the seniyr travelling aecretary of that sociotj is the avowed holder of slaves,and some ay ot more than a hundred. Holding thciii io obedience to the human enact-. menu whicU refuse him the application of bis instruinentality in iulitig them to "áearch the scriptures,' should he feel so disposed. An Heathen-Maker at home, a Misionan a broad! What a discordant note, enbugh to awaken and bring furth a witherjng rebuke from the shade of Cuke, wbo has been juslly gtyled the father of Missiona in the Methodist church, whiïe prosecuting hi3 tour of love lo "Ceylon'a Isles," I feel no disposition to be sectional in such an organization. I believe our Presbyterian and Cougregationai brethren have sufficient reasons to break oiFall connecliün with the American board of Commissioners for Fpreigp Missions, or Ihcir Home M. Society. It i3 known tlmt iomo mcir.bcrs of their Board of Managers are slaveholdors-they receivo known contribuu'ons the fruits of eiuve labor and slave 8elling - they havo uttered no officímI rebuke Hgainst this monslroua oppression- ihey Imve tUrowu an eyo fo Miswonarv po#ts all over lbo globe and longbcfore this the destitution of Uiteen ibousand in Canada would have been an ef, fectual "Macedoniun cry" bul they have l have hatl no ears to hear, or hearts to feel from this quarter. In fact, so positiveiy and undeniably is this association cunnected wilh the 6!aveholding interest of the NaUun, that if it was properly named, inslead of American it shouid be Slavkiïoldikq Board of Commissioners Sec. - Our Baptist Brethren have also some responsibility touching this muiter. Let them often advert iti their contemphitions to their late Triennial Convención in Baltimore. Let them think of Elon Galusha deposed from his official standing in in ibis denomiüational Missionary Society. Elon Galusha, of acknowledged in tegrityto ihe intereslsof the denoniination -of superior ability to discharge his ministerial and official duties, must be martyred in ono setise, to gratify sfaveboliiers, and secure some twelve thousand dollars to the Treasury. These thinys are loo flagrant for abolilionists in either of the abovo mentioned denominations tocotnmue rnuch longer the patrons and supporters of such professedly benevolent operations. I bclieve there might be an orgauiziition whieh would gratify abolitionsts of every christian oruer, and much to the hooor of our holy religión., I have no duubt of the establishmeiit of such a Missionary post by the abolitionists, surne time orother. I see that a band of Methodist Aboülioniöts uf Massachuselts have already orgnnized. a Missionary eociety who have avovved their entire dis- connection with slaveholders, ordonations from known slaveholdejs. ']'hi3 p'ropoéition ii already before them, nud the very features of such a Missionary post as 1 have described have been su-jmitted to them, by iliratn Wilson who has laboreillor the welfare of the colorcd people of Canada the last four or five year9. The facilities we possesss of transmitting jcods clothing and provisions, and the saiisfaclion rendered '.o llie anxielies of rnaay a mong us, who have no hesitancy in poinling the enquiring fugitive to the northern Gateway of Liüerty to the colored nun, ought to exen some governing influences in thJ8 matter. I would suggest llie propriety of cülhng a meeting of those friendly, to converso itnmediate y afier the close uí the Anniversary of the Michigan Wesleyon Anti-slavery Society which takes place the second Wednesday of January next. The business of thal society wijl pj-obably occupy until Thursday noon. I have some unes for acall Air this purpise. [ sliall get u few more, and subrait it for publication. Pardon this lengihy ecrawl! 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