The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-02-15

!
| purpose No human power, nothing but the
Fat of the God whom | serve shall shake me
| from my purpose, to cast my vote, ON Tuesday
next, for William III. Seward, the heroic cham
| pion of Justice and freedom.
AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR
FOREIGN MISSIONS.
By request of highly respected friend, we
transfer the following letter to our columns.
Ed. Era.
i" To the Editor of the Noncontormist London:
ain your paper of October 25th was article
with the above heading, compiled, it would
seem, from the New York Independent, weekly
| Congregational paper, which gives an inaccurate
account of the proceedings of the Board of Mis-
sions-one from which most, if not all of the
| Christian Abolitionists of this country will, !
think, dissent 1t will be my purpose, in this
letter, to point out the inaccuracies. You may
ask, Cannot British Christians rely upon the
statements made by professed Anti-Slavery
Christian newspaper? You shall see. The
Independent, though called an Anti-Slavery, is
not an Abolition paper Your readers hardly
very people of England pride themselves on
| being called Abolitionists. But on comparing
the facts stated in this letter with the article
made up from the Independent, they will be
able to see the difference as it exists here, and
also to get clue to the mystfcaton thrown
| around the connection which too many of our
ecclesiastical and Observation-Disclosures have with
american Slavery"
| In your paper is the following statement
ain l848, the Rev. Mr.. Treat, one of the
secretaries Of the Board, after visiting those
Missions 1.-THE Choctaw and Cherokee Indian
Missions,) Published letter, in which Anti
Slavery principles we're laid down as the prin
ciples which should guide the Missionaries and
Mission Churches on the subject. This letter
the Board, though repeatedly and earnestly
solicited, refused to endorse. Recently, the
Choctaw nations (nation) have enacted most
oppressive and barbarous laws, prohibiting
among other things, the education of slaves in
the Mission schools"
The Abolitionists made these solicitations
and they were treated with contempt, or neglect,
by professed Anti-Slavery as well as Pro-Sla
very* members of the Board. Some of the
sentiments contained in Mr.. Treats letter were
excellent, while others were Objectionable, and
very far from meeting the views of Christian
Abolitionsts. They were not enjoined upon
the Missionaries, but were stated to be merely
ssuggestions and arguments.' The Missionaries
ough Ant-Slavery action, and so far as know,
have never altered their course in consequence
of the letter. The Choctaw nation then, as
now, had "most oppressive and barbarous
laws" of which the following is a sample:
"Be ii enacted, dc, That from and after
the passage of this act, if any citizen of the
United States, acting as a Missionary or
preacher, or whatever his occupation may be,
is found to take an active part in favoring the
principles and notions of the most fatal and
destructive doctrines of abolitionism, he shall
be compelled to leave the nation, and forever
stay ont of it.
BE ii further enacted, DC, That teaching
slaves how to read, to write, or to sing in meet
ing houses or schools, or in any other place,
without the consent of the owner, or allowing
them to sit at table with him, shall be sufficient
ground to convict persons OF favoring the
principles and notions of abolitionism."
These laws are still in force and it is be-
Geved that while the second section has been,
inwhole or part, disregarded by the Missionaries,
they have scrupulously obeyed the first section.
Recently, new enactments have been adopted
no moro barbarous than the former ones, but,
it may be, with more resolute determination to
enforce them. This circumstance, and especial
ly the excitement in the free States in opposi.
6on to the Nebraska Bill, aroused public feeling
to such degree, that the Board felt compelled
to do something in opposition to Slavery.
What has the Board done? According to the
Independent
at fully endorses the principles of Mr..
Treats letter of l848, which every Christian
Anti-Slavery man must acknowledge to be salts
factory on the treatment of Slavery by the Mis-
sionaries of the Board"
The Board has, it is true, endorsed Mr. Treats
letter; but that letter is far from being satisac-
tory to the Christian Abolitionists of the coun-
try. 1t makes a distinction between Slavery
and slaveholding; and while it is severe upon
the system, it tolerates the practice. "a system
of Slavery" it says, +" is always and everywhere
sinful but we do not believe that every act of
slaveholding is sinful" Mr.. Treat says, a per-
son may be an Involuntary STAKEHOLDER, and he
may not free his slaves, out of regard to their
highest good The master, he AYERS, may stand
acquitted, because of his benevolent motives.
He says, that "overt acts" of cruelty disqualify
shareholders for church fellowship but if they
be free from blame in the sight of God, they
may hold good standing in the church. In
accordance with such views, one of the Mis-
sionaries of the Choctaws has lately said it
would be right to buy any number of slaves,
meaning, probably, that if treated WELL the rela-
ton, far from being sinful, Twas benevolent.
MIR. Treat himself, in few days subsequent to
the Annual Meeting of the Board, addressed the
following letter to some one who had seen in
two ProSlavery religious newspapers a state
ment that the Board actually intended to ex-
clude persistent Shareholders from the Mission
churches:
"MIssIoNARY HOUSE, BosToN,
October I, 1854.
"DEAR SIR: In your paper of this date you
publish an extract from the Wdtchmdn and o.
serrer, and then inquire, Is this fair and
truthful statement? Did Mr.. Treat endeavor
to persuade Missionaries to exclude shareholders
from the communion? Did he treat them with
threats, that if they persisted in their course
the Board would cut them off? Did he thus
undertake to speak for the Board?' To each
and all of these interrogatories / answer, NO
And l must be allowed to express my great
surprise that any one should have supposed me
capable of such conduct.
avery sincerely yours, S. B. TREAT,
:" Sec. of the a. b. c. +. NJ
The Secretary expresses great surprice that
any one should have supposed him capable of
endeavoring to persuade Missionaries to ex-
clude shareholders from the communion of the
church
According to the Independent, quoted by you,
it is further said
at (the Board) refuses to cooperate with a
system of education based upon distinctions of
color and position, and denying to slaves and
their children the knowledge of the word of
God"
The Board has not made any such general
declaration. 1t resolved, merely, that the
boarding-schools in the Choctaw nation, which
are sustained by funds received by the nation
from the United States Government having
been matter of contract between the Board
| an (,hnctaw Int ho rioa