Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-05-11

of raising finds for thd establishment of Sunday
 Schools in the Valley ofhe Mississippi, are so just
 in themselves, and take jews which are so conso- nant the feelings of rge portion of our readers that we take pleasure in lying 1t before them.
 "The Rev. gentfehan spoke much of the large sums of moneyBubscfibed at the meet ings heretofore allued to; holding up those subscriptions, it is ptsumed, as examples for the imitation of thesood people of Augusta Now, it is worthy tle consideration ot those. who gave this monel for the establishment of
 Sunday Schools, iIthe West, how much of these large sums iswithheld from that pur- pose, to pay the trNelling expenses and sala- ries of Agents, aloe, to say nothing ot other dead expenses of he Society. Many thou sands of dollars aE doubtless expended Tn thisway; enough to ducate at Sunday Schools, and clothe decentf for that purpose, thou sands of ignorant and destitute children probably ali such this State. But it may be said, perhaps, tha these expenses are as ne- cessary to the obict, as others, such as Sc, cretaries' salarie, the purchase of books Slc. Sc We edo lDt think so. Meetings may be called, and dolations collected thereat, as well without thes travelling Agents as with them-and probbly better. A correspon- dence might be olened, by the officers of the Society, with respectable persons in cities where meetings were desired, and suitable number friendly to the Sause, vested with proper authority to transact all the relative business; and, for the purpose otpresenting fairly all the views of the Society, pcinted re- ports might be made thereof, and forwarded to the manager of each meeting, to Dc read thereat. judiciously charitable wSuld | feel more friendly to cause thus economical ly managed and those doubtful of its expe- diency, would respect it more, and oppose it less, when placed in the control of their own fellow citizens, rather than in that of stran- gers"
 "But, can there be any real clarity in mak- ing donations which are to be used, in part, for the unnecessary support of travelling l Agents, in ease and luxury, while thousands of our fellow creatures arefignorant, and des- titute, and starving around uss And can our citizens be justly blamed, if they prefer to bestow the little they can spare, on those who have the first and strongest claims on their bounty-where TO hart, however small, of that little, will be taken from the object for which it is intended, to sustain in ease and luxury those who need it perhaps less than, in many instances, themselves-and where they can hold their agents to account, and sec their donations faithfully and judiciously | applied
 "rhe Rev. gentleman said much of the great fertility of the valley of the Mississippi; its advantages in that respect, over every oth- CT portion of the country; and its vastly in creased, and increasing population and de- clared that it was destined at no distant day, to govern or Control the destinies of our coun- try.-Now, is it not passing strange, that, with these views of the subject, we, on com paratively barren soil, and with in some parts of our State, decreasing and impoverishing population, should be called on to aid those who are thus more qualified to aid us, than we them ?'
 "We will venture to say, that their natu- | ral love of independence and honest industry, would sCorn the ofhcious, unsought, and de- grading charity endeavored to be enforced upon them, and at the same time to be trum- peted forth to the whole world.
 "What striking contrast, between the moderate competence, ,and the cheerful health and happiness of the Valley of the Mississippi. and the squalid misery, ignorance, suffering, and excessive vice, in all their varied and dis tressing forms, which exist in the splendid cities of the North and East, tWhere wealth accumulates, and men decay
 those same magnificent cities where the boasted meetings were held, and large sums subscribed, and the charities, and virtues, and distinguished characters, of the donors, and the Agents, and the Society, were so loudly bepraised and, paragraphed, 6y one ano- Mer.-and where thousands were perish ing of cold and hunger, and all the distresses of poverty and wretchedness, while they were thus chartabty sending hundreds of thousands of dollars abroad where it was not wanted. But we forget if it be charitable to give where it is asked and wanted, it must be ten fold more so, and at the same time more gratuitous and profusely generous; to give where it is not asked and not wanted
 'To send charitable donations from populous cities, where exist always the worst and most extensive povery and misery, to new coun- tries, that abound with exceedingly cheap and fertile lands, game, fish, Slc. and, indeed, where the means of comfortable and respec- table subsistence, at least, are easily obtain ed by all,-is the very words of folly-worsc than ''sending coals to New-Castle," or ship ping Manufactures to England, and cotton back to Georgia. Yet our modern philan- thropists do this and the Agents, who live by it, and the distinguished and virtuous' subscribers who obtain applause and fame by it, call it clarity. And they not only laud it as such, to the very skies, but would fain, in the glow of their distinguished and vrtuous zeal, trample under foot all who will not cry out, 'tgreat is Diana of the Ephesians.
 ''Men know that applause, distinction, character, and fame, as well as any other de- sirable and purchasable matters, can be bought with money; and as most men will lay out their money more leberally in the pur- chase of such things than any others, so at the same time are fully aware that there is no market in which they can be obtained on low CT terms, than a splended and magnificent charitable or phlanthropic Society,--where they deal in such things by wholesale-and all who purchase stock therein. cannot see that the highest interest, is to praise to the