Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-03-20
THE NEGRO As A SPIRITUAL DIS
TURBRR.

slDe negroes IN the Southern States,
now that they are no longer ehattels,
are supposed to have souls to save, and
are perishing like the beasts of the
field for want Of proper religious in
struction. So the South opens large
field for missionary enterprise The
various seets into which the Christian
world is divided have not been insen-
sible of the value Of prOselyting among
these untutored Africans. 1t was
the subject of serious consultation in
Rome, we are told, shortly after the
close Of our civil war, bat as the Re
man Pontiff has had hisown cares and
troubles, no special effort was resol-
we'd upon till Archbishop Manning
turned his attention to the matter and
was influential in disDatching to this
country four Catholic priests dedicat-
ed to special missionary labOrs among
the negroes -Ofthe South.
as we predicted at the time the in
telliSence was first received OF the
embarkation of these laboreTs in the
Lords somewhat neglected vineyard.
the event has occasiOned no little ex-
citement in Protestant circles. and
called out not a few unfavorable COM
ments from the religious press on the
ambition 81 | craft of the Romish
Church to plant itself firmly on
American soil and get control of
American institutions. To counter
act the deep laid designs Of the Roman
hierarchy, special appeals have been
made to the. men and brethren to
come down heavily with the means
to support and multiply Protestant
missionary stations ami emissaries
among the freedmen. .-
This spiritual warfare will resemble,
in the zeal of those who carry it on,
the great political struggle in Kansas,
after the repeal of the Missouri Com
promise had opened the Territory and
left the question of free or slave labor
to be determined by the actual settlers.
OF course, the strife will be less noisy
and tumultuOus, and beattended with
no bloedshed or violence. Our impair
tial and pagan Government will see
to il that there are no militant blows
and knocks between the cOmbatants..
Tney are expected to do their fighting
with spiritual not caTnal weapons, and
keep the peace so faras the eivilpow-
ers are concerned. There will be
some bitterness of feeling, doubtless,
and possibly some consignment of
rivals to warm situations in the next
world, but we have the consolation
of knowing that the spiritual inter
ests of the poor Africans will not be
neglected. If they are not all saved
and set on the right hand among the
sheep on the final day, it will not be,
we are persuaded, through any lack of
zeal and earnestness OF those who pro-
pose to devote their lives and the
money they can obtain to the work of
saving them from the wrath 10 come.
As has teen intimated, the labor
of converting the blacks, and safely
housing them in kingdom come, is
not likely to be accomplished without
unpleasant display of seetaFian FEELING,
We are indeed apprehensive that IL
may be among the solemn duties of
the independent secular press to inter-
fere and counsel moderation. We
shall have to enforce a few preeepts
drawn from the writings Of COnfucius,
the Rig VedE, the maXims of Saadi,
or some other sacred book of pagan
nations, upon the attention Of the
warning sectarians. We should pre-
fer, of course, to quote them from
their own sacred writings, if we did
not see evidence of disposition to
utterly disregard the spirit Of the
teachings of the author of the reli-
gious system which they assume it to
be their especial mission to propagate.
Here, for example, is the Catholic
telegraph with a tremendous driveat
the Methodists, who are said to be in
despair because they have failed in
the work of ProtestaniZing the colOred
people, and are alarmed lest the Catho-
lie missionaries prove more successful
prOpagandists. As long as the money
of the Freedmen's Bureau lasted, and
"cOuld be offered as a bribe to the
laborers in the Methodist vineyard
not q cloud, says the infallibIe editor
of the Telegraph, darkened the hOri-
zon Of the Methodist missionaryis
hopes. And, he continues:
" AS soon as the Treasury at Wash
ingtOn was locked and the rapacity of
MethOdism stopped, the fever for the
conversion of the negroes of the South
suddenly abated. The new mission
airy field lost its attractions. Volun-
tary contributions were asked to sup
ply the place of public taxation. But
the demand has encountered growing
apathy. At this inopportune mo-
ment, when the Methodist missiona-
ries are crying for more money, and
there is an indifference to the work
manifested by former contributors and
a depressing repugnance to the con-
tinual drain upon their incomes,
Catholic missionaries and Catholic
Sisters who never unite the service of
Mammon with the service of God.
who spend and are spent for the saliva
ton Of heatheGs in every quarter of
the world, who offer their lifelong
services to save souls for nothing, and
wnen theiI labor is refused give as
freely their life-bloOd, present them
selves among the eOlored people to fill
the cup of Methodist misfortune. This
combination Of circumstances adverse
to the propagation of Methodism is
very aggravating, and the leaders of
the flock do we'll in preparing the
shOrn sheep for the funeral of all their
hopes of converting the eolOred people
in such numbers and with such speed
as was expected" .....
The occasion of this Ouburst in the
Telegraph is the annual report of the
Corresponding Secretary of the Freed
mems Aid Society, in respect of the
work of Methodism among the freed
men of the South. The Secretary ap-
pears to be feeble in the spirit, dis.
couraged by the slow. progress made,
the want offunds, and the appearance
of ofArchbishOp Manning's four propa-
gandists in the field. The Telegraph
insinuates that the dependency of
this Methodist brother is Occasioned
by the discovery that conversions have
in ratio CORES ponding to
the falling of in the revenue and the
wages of the laborers. when the
eloquenee of a Methodist missionary
is golden,n saws the editor of the
Telegraph, ''it is supernaturally con-
vincing; it ranges in its power to con-
vert with the value of the price that
is paid for it," And then, after this
Mephistophelistic stab and thrust, he
goes on to saw:
"From the same report of the Cor
Secretary, We learn that
there are employed in the South sew
enty-five teachers Of doctrines of
Methodism in its schools and colleges,
the cost of which was stolen through
the agency of the Freedmen's Bureau
from the people of this country. These
heroic apostles are drag
ging out life of starvation on an in
come of fifty-One thousand dollars
The average salary Of these teachers,
most of whom are females ia Onlaf