The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-04-29
Christian Missions in West Africa.

Christian Missions in West Africa.
There is no missionary field in which
Protestant churches at present take more
interest than the west coast Of Africa.
Neither Is there any where the success OF
the preacher Is moro dependent on a special
study of the intellectual and moral state Of
the people and the natural conditions Of the
country. On this head the English public
has lately been enlightened by Mr.. BLyDEN,
whose position at the head of the Libcrian
College has opened to him wide sphere Of
observation and who bears impressive wit
ness in his own person to the ability and
culture of which the black race is capable.
1t would be difficult and ambitious task
to show how African missions should be con-
Quoted in order to yield results proportion
ate to the efforts expended. Mr.. BLYpEN
does not pretend to solve tho problem, or
rather complexity Of problems presented
by the gigantic project Of African CONVEX
sion. That privilege belongs in his judg-
mcnt 20 the missionaries of the future; and
| he merely undertakes to measure with can
dor and precision the results SO far attained,
and to suggest some OF the reasons for their
partial futility. The work Of Christian prop
agandism accomplished on the west coast
Of Africa during the last four hundred years
may bc summed up in fcw sentences. The
Catholic missions. for instance founded un-
der Portuguese protection toward the close
Of the fifteenth century, disappeared from
| this region in 1928 when the station Of the
Capuchins in Sierra Leone was abandoned.
They had made little impression, except
upon the immediate descendants Of the first
| converts yet il must be said that this i'm
pre- sion has not been totally ciiaccd. With
in the next forty years five prosclytizing at
tompts II the Moravan Brethren cost the
lives Of eleven pastors without visible fruits.
Next came the Wesleyan, and soon after
| ward the English Church Missionary SOcic-
| ~. The Basel Association, one II the most
successful in propagandism, effected lodg-
mcnt near Akrn, a point which the Moravi-
ans had valnly sought TO occupy. and the
Swiss were presently followed by the Scotch
| prc-hyterans Moreover. five American de-
nominations are represented in Liberia. La
gos. the island If Corcsco. and Gabon; their
first oosny dating back TO ls2z.
The outcome II So much labor should not
he treated as an absolute nullity. At the
European posts established along the coast,
ard at the inland stations. directed by Amcri-
can, Scotch, and negro missionaries, some
thousands of natives brought under the di-
rect pressure of Christian instruction have
adopted Christianity, as well as the dress
and manners Of Europe. Numerous churches
have been organized and committed to la
tive management, and thousands Of children
attend school. Besides preachers, other usc-
full auxiliarics are recruited from the con-
verts, such as civil functlonarcs, traders,
and skilled artisans, the latter being indebted
more especially for their training 10 the
Basel institution. These apparently sub
stantial results, however, are confined al
most exclusively to the neighborhood Of the
sea. no important mission having been es-
tablshci among the strong tribes OF the in
terror, or even on the coast at any consid-
cradle distance from the foreign counting
houses.
Moreover-and this IL ono Of the telling
points made by Mr.. BLYDEN work
actually achieved In Liberia and Sierra
Leone cannot be- regarded as wrought upon
the native clements Of those localities. The
Indigenous populatlon--thc Timnchs Men
dis, and Bassas-is affirmed to be still ut
terly obdurate to evangelical influence. III
, deed, the traveller in these parts is at once
b struck with the exotic aspect OF everything
8 All the inhabitants who exhibit any progress
in Christian civilization seem to have beer
, imported, those Of Sierra Leone, for in
stance, from other parts Of Africa, and thos,
: If Liberia from the United States. Were al
, that Is alien and extrinsic expelled to-mor
] row, the regions now tenanted 10y that elc
3, ment would resume the appearance they
. wore to Sir JOIN HAWKINS, three centuries
= ago. minus the traits Of amiahlc morality as
/ , at hat Iftt.. am,
h lied epoch by the pioneer Of English slave
Y traders.
= 1t appears, too, that some untowar,
= effects are chargeable on the civlllzng agen
y cics at work within the precinct of the Eu
ropcan establishments. The foreign virtue
h which the African neophyte acquires are 70
a the most part, only parasitic qualities Iii
y education is so mcagre aud its fruits sOarti
e fetal that these bctray faint Of roguor
# and absurdity to the eye Of the strange
c and Of the shrewd idolater. Sir CHARLIE
< ADDERLEY calls attention TO the cpriou
r graft of cunning upon barbaric fanaticisr
Z remarked in the natives who have bee
II manipulated by what he calls the amateur
= of English philanthropy The heathe
- blacks gifted with some assortment uudcl
d stand we'll enough that the negro, VIII
h styles himself Il Christian and puts o
&c clothes, accepts European customs undo
: mental reservations, Thus in an intcrvc
with Commodore WILMoT, the King Of Dah'
moy, speaking of some native converts, sal,
y "Who knows whether they are Christians
m Theblack man calls himself white pretcnds
t. take the white mans faith with his clothing
lc but it Is trick and bride" The CONNIE
y dore did not attempt togainsay these con
# illusions, because he knew them to be we
T. founded.
re Among the causes Of the inadequate n
Ia turns ior the outlay Of so much treasul
n. and so many lives Mr.. BLyDEN slgnaliz'
IL the insalubrity Of the climate as II muC
or more fatal bar to progress in west Afrl'
Of than is generally supposed. 1t appears TIN
a. belt Of mephitc swamps, veritablc pc
IN house Of fever, girdlcs the whole coast al
-, stretches some forty miles inland from Il
ey sea Horses cannot live here at all and eve
goats and swine langu-h and are gradual
= Ntf Ina a..l ant liza NAT al ~