ilobert Baird The Progress and Prospects of Christianity in the United States of America BR 515 .B2 1851 B [jiffnTftnltB ^B^^ ^^^m! I^i^^4^ m w 1 :l^53-^ BR 515 .B2 1851 Baird, Robert, 1798-1863. The progress and prospects of Christianity in the * APR 1 1911 [SIXTH THOUSAND.] V^^ r-^^»,^. ^ THE PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS CHRISTIANITY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; WITH REIffAEKS ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY IN AMEEICA ; AND ON THB INTERCOUKSE BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN CHURCHES, V ROBERT BAIRD, Author of '* Religion in America," '* Protestantism in Italy," ete., etc. LONDON : PARTRIDGE AND OaKEY, PATERNOSTER ROW. R. THEOBALD, PATERNOSTER ROW. EDINBURGH-JOHNSON AND HUNTER; DUBLIN -P. DIXON. HARDY, AND SON^>. JAMES liLACK, PRINTER, POWIS STREET, ■WOOLWICH. * APR .1 1911 *' INTRODUCTION The greater portion of this pamphlet, as the reader will find, consists of a Report, of a statistical character in many- respects, on the state of Christianity in America. This Report was read before the British Evangelical Alliance, Saturday, August 30th. At the suggestion and request of several English, American, and Continental friends, it is published in this form, both for the purpose of giving it entire to the public, and also to have it printed, at least the statistical part, before the author leaves London, in order to secure as great a degree of accuracy as possible in a document where there are so many figures, and so much depending on them. In the year 1842, the author prepared, at the request of many friends in Europe, a work entitled : Religion in America, which was published in a large octavo volume, illustrated by maps, by the Messrs. Blackie and Sons, of Glasgow. This work has been translated into French, Ger- man, Dutch, and Swedish. It will appear in modern Greek and Armenian. The author takes the liberty of recom- mending that work to such as desire to obtain a full account of the Religious History and Economy of the United States, to which this Report is in a sense supplemental. In that work a full notice is taken of the colonization of the ir. country, of the Colonial era, of the changes made by the Revolution and Independence of the country, of the progress of Christianity up to 1842, of the history of every Evangelical branch of the Church, and also of the Non-Evangelical, the modes of supporting public worship, revivals of religion, missions, etc., etc. The author flatters himself that those who will take the trouble to read that book in connexion with the present Report, will find much to interest them in a country which ought to be known and respected by Britons, for it is one of their own planting, and with whose interests and destiny those of England must ever be closely inter- twined. In the latter part of this pamphlet the reader will find a " Speech," " Remarks " and a " Supplement," in which the author has ventured to remonstrate against the course of vitu- peration and exclusion whjlch some in this country have been pursuing in regard to the people of the United States, on account of Slavery, and to express his deep conviction that great evil and danger will result, if this course be continued. London^ September 6lh, 1851. * The present issue of this pamphlet (the 6th Thousand,) contains important additions, both in the text and in the notes, made by the Author after his return from the Continent. English Editor. London, November 25th, 1851. R EPO RT THE EARLY COLONIZATION OF THE COUNTRY. 1. The South. A PAET of the Atlantic coast of the continent of North America was discovered by the Cabots, John and Sebastian, father and son, (the for- mer a native of Venice, the latter of England,) who reached it on the 24th of June, in the year 1497. By tliis event a very large and impor- tant part of that contment was secured to a country wliich, within less than half a century, was to throw off the chains of Rome, and to become, in due tune, the most powerful of all Protestant king- doms. It was in this manner that He who *' hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determmed the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habita- tion," had resolved to prepare a place to which, in ages then drawing near, those who should be persecuted for Christ's sake might flee and find protection, and thus to form a great Protestant nation. And yet how near, if we may so speak, was this vast plan to being defeated I Had De Soto, when he sailed from Cuba, a year or two earHer, turned his prow to the east of the peninsula of ilorida, instead of the west, he would have discovered the Atlantic coast of what is now the United States, and that great country might have had a Spanish in- stead of an Anglo-Saxon, — a Roman Catholic, instead of a Protestant, — population. It is said that a very triihng circumstance decided him! But all was ordered by that Bemg who knows how to make the most insignificant as well as the greatest occurrences subserve His glorious purposes. The first successftd attempt made by the Enghsh to plant colonies witliin the limits of what is now caUed The United States of North America, was made at Jamestown, on the James River, in the present State of Virginia, on the 13th day of May, in the year 1607. This colony was composed of friends of the Stuarts, the then reigning dyn- asty of England ; and, as to rehgious faith and ecclesiastical order, it was Protestant and Episcopal. The Church that was planted in it, and for a long time the only one tolerated, was an offshoot of the Estab- hshed Church of England, and for one hundred and sixty-eight years was under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London. In fact tliis state of tilings lasted a hundred and seventy-eight years, or from 1607 tiU 1785, ten years after the declaration of independence, when the Epis- copal Church in Ameiica for the first time had bishops of its o\\ti. The Colony of Virginia became in a sense, the mother colony of all the southern portion of the country ; for Maryland, which was at the begmning, and for a few years, a Roman Cathohc colony, soon fell very much mider its influence, and Episcopacy became there the dominant, though not to an equal degree the exclusive Protestant form of ecclesi- astical doctrme and pohty. In process of time the colonies of North and South Carolina were foimed ; in which also Episcopacy and a population sunilar in character to that of Yirgmia, became prevalent. And finally, the colony of Georgia was planted, which formed the fifth and last of the original Southern colonies, about one hundred and fifteen years after the planting of Vii'gmia. Although Georgia least of all possessed in earliest years, a southern character, and never was to the same extent under Episcopal influence, yet it received a southern type m the lapse of time from the operation of the same causes, one of which was the im- migi-ation of planters fr*om the other and older southern colonies. Such was the original colonization of the southern portion of the United States. Let us now speak of 2. The Noeth. In the year 1620, a part of the Rev. J. Robinson's church emi- grated from Holland, and founded New Plymouth, in Massachusetts, — so called from Plymouth, in England, where they stopped awhile on their way to the new world, — which was the first colony planted in New England, the north eastern portion of the United States. Tliis colony was composed of those who have been, hy emphasis^ called the PiLGEiMS. They were Independents in rehgious pohty. Eight years later a larger colony was planted on the opposite side of, the Massachusetts Bay ; and two years later still a far larger one at the head of that bay, both of wliich were composed of Pueitajjs, — of peo- ple who were members of the established church whilst in England, but became Independents^ or as they are called in America, Congregation- alists, almost as soon as they arrived in the new world. As Virginia became the mother colony in the south, so did Massa- chusetts in the north. Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, were all in a gi-eat degree colonized from her ; the two latter were not provided with separate governments whilst the colonies were under the government of England. There were thus four origmal colonies in the north, and five in the south. Widely different were these two families of colonies. Protestant both, but whilst the one was chiefly planted by colonists who sjmipathized with the " Cava- liers," and the Estabhshed Church and Monarchy of England, the other consisted of staunch Independents of the poUtical school of the " Round- heads," were far more jealous of the prerogatives of the British Crown, and sympathized with the Commonwealth, in its day. It would be difficult to conceive of Protestant colonies, speaking the same language, from the same comitry, and that a very small one, that could differ more in character, manner, and opinions on the subjects of religion and the nature and extent of obedience due to the mother country. 3. The Middle District. Between these northern and southern groups of colonies lay a broad and important portion of the coast, which is now covered by the States of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Holland claimed the whole of this great section of the country, and had planted an insignificant colony, or rather trading-post at the mouth of the Hud- son river, where now stands the City of New York, before the " Pilgrim Fathers," reached New Plymouth. Some tliirty years later a Swedish colony, — which had been projected by the gi'eat and good Gustavus Adolphus, — was planted on the banks of the Delaware, in the southern portion of that middle territory. But England, in the commencement of the reign of Charles 11. , took possession of the portion of the coimtry which Holland had held, and obtained by treaty and cession that wliich Sweden had colonized, and so completed her possession of the entire coast. Out of tliis increase of territory grew up the fom* additional co- lonies of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania; — Thus maldng up the whole Thirteen, wliich was the number when the me- morable struggle of the Pievolution commenced, that was destined to create an independent nation, mider a federative and repubhcan form of government. Of the four middle colonies episcopacy prevailed m New York, and was partially '*favom'ed," at least for a time, in New Jersey and Delaware, but was never, properly speaking, established by law in either of them, or in the colony of Pennsylvania, of wliich William Penn was the founder. It will be seen from this brief statement, that the northern and southern colonies were of Enghsh origin, — the former exclusively so, and the latter had at the outset but few settlers that were not from England, and these few (mostly Irish Roman Cathohcs), were in Maiyland. The jEu'st colonies in the middle section of the coast were Dutch and Swedes. But Enghsh, Scotch, Lish, and Welsh emigrants, entered tliis part of the country soon after it had been taken possession of by England, and estabhshed themselves at many different points. The original colonization of the United States was, m its lowest or primary stratum, from the British isles, with the exception of a few thousand Dutch and Swedes. The Swechsh element has disappeared, bemg absorbed ui the Anglo-Saxon race. The Dutch, although far great- er, may also be said to have been absorbed, for it is scarcely to be found any where, save m the Dutch names which many famihes in New York and New Jersey, and elsewhere still wear. Over this substratum there spread emigrations of greater or less extent from several comitries on the continent of Eui'ope. Ffrst of all there were the Huguenots, who came from France about the epoch of the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes, which occmTed m the year 1685. These excellent people settled in Boston and one or two other places in Massachusetts ; ui New York ; in Vfrguiia and the Carolinas. To this day several streets and many famihes — some of them greatly distinguished — ^ui Charleston, ui South Carohna, bear the names of those who m France, suffered the " loss of all things for the excellency of the know- ledge of Christ Jesus." 8 Shortly afterwards, or rather about the same time, German Protes- tants began to emigrate to America, first from the Palatinate, — whence they were driven by the myrmidons of Louis XIV, who ruthlessly laid waste their comitry, — and then from other parts of the glorious land of Luther. The stream of emigration from Germany to America, wdth some intermissions, has continued to flow ever since, and is now become as it were, a mighty river. In the earlier part of the seventeenth century there came a company of some two hundred Protestant Poles, under a Count Sobieski, and settled in New Jersey and New York, and about the same time six hundred Waldenses, who settled in New York. There were also emigi'ants ft'om the descendants of those Bohemian and Moravian christians, who re- ceived the gospel at first from Constantinople, and for long ages endured persecution at the hands of Eome. From ten difiierent comitries of Europe did the men comxC, who either planted or enlarged the colonies in the United States, before the Revolu- tion. From most of them, persecution for righteousness' sake was the primary cause of expatriation, For this reason, and for the pious and excellent character of very many of them, the celebrated Cotton Mather, one of the most widely kno\^-n of the earlier writers of New England, said, that God seemed to have sifted the nations of the Old Woi-ld, in order to bring the best of His wheat to the New. Although there was a great difference among the colonies which came from the British Isles, as to religious character, — the northern far suiimssing the southern, as "will be reachly comprehended by all who are acquainted -with the rehgious history of the 'two great parties in England from whose ranks they came, — ^yet it is true that there were many excellent men in all. What is very remarkable : the charters of several of the Southern as well as the Northern colonies contained clauses in relation to the christianizing the " Salvages," (as the Indian aborigines were called), as being an im- portant expectation and object of the enterprize. There were some excellent christians among the Dutch colonists; probably a gi-eater number relatively among the Swedes, the Poles, the Waldenses, the Moravians, and the Bohemians. There was a great deal of piety amongst the first German immigrants. But there were no emigrants from the con- tinent to America who could compare with the simple-hearted and pious Huguenots, or Protestant exiles from France, — driven from that beautiful country by the dragoons of Louis XIV, and the priestly cohorts of the pretended successor of the Fisherman and \icar of Christ. With the exception of the Gennan, all these colonies were completely absorbed in the Enghsh, and almost every trace of their languages obhterated before the American Revolution. Such was the original and such the secondary colonization of the country now called the United States, extending over a period of one hundred and sixty-eight years, from 1607 to 1775. This was the COLONI.VL ERA of the country. During this long and important period, the mfancy and early youth of ^ the nation, the history of the Churches in America contains many a bright page, — setting forth the visitations of the Spirit, which purified and revived them and augmented the number of believers ; but many a dark 9 one also, in wliicli those periods are treated wlien religion sadly declined. Alas, there were several such, — the causes of which may be stated in few words. 1. The very removal of the colonists to a new and comparatively unknoTMi world, three thousand miles distant from the civihzation and other advantages of Europe, and their settlement in a land which was literally a wilderness, and possessing a climate which was eminently fatal to the first comers, and indeed to all until they had undergone a process of accHmation. The anxieties, the fatigues, the sufferings, the sick- ness, and sometimes the pressing want, — amounting almost to starva- tion, in some cases, — were decidedly unfavourable to religious pros- perity. 2. It was not many years till nearly all of these colonies had to endure severe and dreadful conflicts with the aborigines. I do not stop to inquire who were to blame for this. In many cases the fault may be laid at the door of the colonists themselves ; for, however excellent was the character of many of them, it could not be expected that there would be no bad or imprudent men among them. On the other hand, it is certain that the savage tribes were often the aggressors, — sometimes it is beheved, at the instigation of white men, of whom I shall pre- sently speak. 3. They were repeatedly agitated by wars with their French and Spanish neighboiu-s, especially the former, who during the gi'eater part of this period possessed the Canadas and the entire Valley of the Mis- sissippi. These wars were the more dreadful, because of the Indian auxiliaries whom the French had in great number, through the supe- rior influence and tact of the French Jesuits, who had missions among many of the more powerful tribes. Even the foreign wars of the mother country, and in a portion of the period, the three Revolutions wliich that country underwent, agitated the colonies, and retarded the progress of rehgion. 4. The introduction of slavery greatly hindered, and in many ways, the progress of religion, especially in the southern colonies, whose climate was more favourable to the health of people from Africa, and whose productions were such as to render their labour more profitable than those of the north. In consequence of this, the number of slaves ia the southern colonies soon became incomparably greater than ui the northern. But slavery was injurious, to a greater or less degree, in all the colonies, — for it existed at the declaration of Independence in aU of them, — and in divers ways impeded the triumphs of the gospel. 5. The union of the Church with the state was also a lundrance. This was more manifestly the case in the north than m the south. In both it was at first intolerant, and even exclusive. It engendered bitter feuds among the people, and occasioned innumerable embarrassments to the governments. It laid the foundation in the north, for some of the most dangerous heresies, — such as Socinianism and Universalism — which, however, did not receive their full development tiU a then future day. The union of the Church and State m Massachusetts was of the most extraordinary character, with which nothmg can be compared but that of the Hebrew Commonwealth. It was a fusion of the two powers 10 or institutions, the ecclesiastical and tlie political, rather than a union. In one form or another, and in a greater or less degree, the Church was connected with the State hi ten out of the tliirteen colonies, during the whole, or the latter part, of the period under review. 6. And lastly, the difficulty in getting good ministers of the gospel, was a great hindrance. In the northern colonies this was not so much felt ; for their wise founders set about the creation of institutions, wliich would raise up pastors for their churches, as well as capable adminis- trators of the government. Pubhc schools were estabhshed almost im- mechately, and Harvard College, now a University, — not only the oldest but the best endowed in the United States, — was founded only eighteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. But the Episcopal churches in the south, and indeed in all parts, had to obtain then pastors from England ; or, if they trained up young men of their own, they had to send them over to the Bishop of London, to receive ordination. This continued till after the Revolution. Some of the men whom the Bishops of London sent over, were miquestionably excellent men, — but many were far otherwise. One of these bishops, (I forget which) writmg to a fiiend in America, complamed that he had great difficulty in gettmg any at all, and that most of those whom he chd ffiid were unfit to be sent ! And yet, notwithstanding all these difficulties, the Truth did maintain a noble stand m America dining the colonial era. God raised up such men as the Mathers, Edwards, Da\'ies, Finley, the Tennents, and others, whose labours were greatly blessed. And the angel-visits of Wesley and Whitfield, did much in the way of co-operation. The Second Peeiod. The second period of the history of the Church iu America extends from 1775 to 1815. This was a very important era, but it was one of gi'eat perturbations. There was first the war of the Independence, which lasted fi'om 1775 to 1783, a period of eight years. As the struggle extended from one end of the coimtry to the other, and fi'om the sea to the Alleghany Mountains, the entne nation which numbered about 3,500,000 souls, was agitated, and that almost continually, to its unnost recesses. Under these ckcumstances it was not to be expected that re- ligion should floinish. Next succeeded a long period of agitation, fi'om various sources, — the unsettled state of the coimtry ; the want of a central government; the efforts to form a constitution and to organize a general government ; the difficulties wliicli beset the path of that go- vernment ; the collision with England and France, and a brief war -vsith the latter ; continued difficidties with several countries of Europe, and a war of three years, from 1812 to 1815, with Great Britain. During this period several severe wars occurred with the Aborigmes. Take it as a whole, it was a period, extendmg through forty years, that was not favourable to a very extensive progTess of the gospel, and yet it was within that period, namely about the year 1800, that those gracious effusions of the Holy Spuit recommenced, which have so gi'eatly blessed that coimtry. In the early part of this era, the union of the Church and the State came to an end m the southern States and in New York. 11 It was during tliis period that the vast territory of Louisiana was pur- chased from France, out of which have been formed the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa, and leavmg still the extensive territory of Nebraska, the large Eeservation for the Indians, and what is now called Oregon, — containmg m aU more than a milhon and a quarter of square miles. By tliis purchase the extent of the United States was more than doubled. Even before the Kevolution emigration commenced from the settle- ments east of the AUeghany Mountains to the country westward of that range, which is now called the great central Valley of the Missis- sippi, or that vast coimtry lymg between the Alleghany Moimtains on the east, and the Rocky Mountains on the west, the Lakes that sepa- rate the United States from the British Possessions on the north and the Gulph of Mexico on the south, embracing more than a milhon and a quarter of square miles. The part of this vast country which lies east of the Mississippi had been ceded by France to England in 1763. There were a few thousands of Anglo-American people settled along the western base, or rather in the western skirts, as it were, of the Alleghany range as early as the year 1765, in the States of Pennsyl- vania, Virghiia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. There were probably not more than 100,000 inliabitants of EngUsh origm there when the war of the Revolution began. During the period which we are now noticuig, tills emigTation increased rapidly, especially during the latter part of it ; and before the year 1815 the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, as well as Louisiana, (whose population was chiefly French,) were admitted into the Union, and two or three territorial governments organized. Tliis great region was claimed and held by France for more than a century, by right of discovery. This claim she maintained against the charters which the longs of England had granted to the earher colo- nies planted by the people of that country. Some of those charters were remarkable documents in several senses, one of these was the great ignorance which they display in relation to the comitiy which they un- dertook to parcel out. Several of them over-ran each other. Some of them conveyed to the patentees territories that stretch from the Atlantic to the *' South Sea," as the Pacific is called. France had discovered the country about the mouth of the St. Law- rence ; and commenced the plantmg of colonies in what is now called Canada about the time when England began to colonize the coast. Quebec was fomided the year after the planting of the colony of James- town in Virginia. From Canada, La Salle, Hennepin, and others ex- plored the Valley of the Mississippi, and thus secured that vast country to France, although De Soto, the Spaniard, had long before visited the southern part of it. The Thtrd Pekiod. The third and last period extends from 1815 to 1851, and has a length of thirty-six years. This has been m many respects the most prosperous era m our history. It has been especially so ui regard to religion. Within this period the last hgaments which united the Church and State were simdered; in Connecticut, in 1816, and Massachusetts 12 in 1833. Witli the exception of a few commercial crises, one or two of wliich were very severe, the country has enjoyed great temporal, or material prospenty. There were no wars that greatly troubled the country. There were a few Indian conliicts of no great impor- tance ; a war of a few months with one of the Barbary powers, and one -with Mexico of some two years' duration. The last named war, although it produced some excitement, cannot be said to have agitated the country very greatly, because the scene of it was remote. It was much deplored by many of our best people. During tills period the area and population of the country greatly increased. In thej^ear 1819 Florida was purchased from Spain. This gave 57,750 square miles to the territory of the United States. By the aimexation of Texas, that territory received a further enlargement of 325,500 square miles. And finally in 1848, Mexico ceded to the United States, for the sum of 12,000,000 dollars, and other considerations (making the entire sum equivalent to 15,000,000 dollars), the provinces of New Mexico and Upper California, containing 526,075 square miles. By this accession of territory, the area of the United States was made to reach the extent of about three millions and a quarter of square miles ; of which not one half is in the occupancy of ci^'ilized men, and no part of it is densely settled. The population, which was 3,929,327 in 1790; 5,305,925 m 1800; 7,239,814 in 1810; 9,638,131 in 1820; 12,866,920 m 1830; 17,100,572 m 1840; had reached 23,225,000 m 1850. At the end of each of the six decades which have passed since 1790 (and there was no census of the whole country taken before that epoch) the mcrease of the population was ascertained. In the first, that mcrease was 1,376,598 ; in the second, 1,933,829 ; in the third, 2,398,317 ; in the fourth, 3,228,789 ; in the fifth, 4,233,652 ; and in the sixth, 6,124,428. Even at the ratio of the last decade, the increase of the next — from 1850 to 1860 — ^Avill be 8,346,872 ; and that of the decade from 1860 to 1870, wiU be 11,341,700. This calculation gives us some idea of the rapid growth of the population of the country, and of the greatness of the Church's responsibility, and of the work to be done. At the ratio above stated, the population will be 50,712,999 m the year 1875, and far more than 100,000,000 in the year 1900. The period under notice, from 1815 to 1851, was one of gi'eat spi- ritual as well as material progress. During that time, the mcrease of our churclies and of the means of rehgious instruction was wonderful. There were many instances of the outpouring of the Spirit in all parts of the country. It was the era of the formation, or of the principal growth ; of our societies for spreading the gospel at home and abroad ; for increasing the staif of the ministry, for the promotion of temperance ; for the reforming of the criminal ; — in a word, of great progress in all that concerns the moral and rehgious, as well as material, mterests of the nation. The immigration from foreign lands mcreased vnthin this period, from some twelve or fifteen thousand per annum, up to 315,000. During the present year, it is expected that it will far exceed 400,000 — pro- bably come, but httle, if at all, short of half a million ! And whilst, 13 on the one hand, the immigration from tlie Old World has been steadily and rapidly advancmg, on the other, the tide of our population has been rolling m immense volume into the Valley of the Mississippi, and is even now spreading along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Since 1815 no less than nine States have been formed in that great central region namely, Indiana, Michigan, Illuiois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas Iowa, Mississippi, and Alabama ; besides Florida, bordering on the At lantic and the Gulf of Mexico ; Texas, wliich borders on the same gulf and Cahfomia, which borders on the Pacific. Before many years pass away, several new States will be organized out of the territories of Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, and Oregon.* The entire population of the States and Territories west of the Alleghany mountains now exceeds ten and a half millions ; m 1775 it did not ex- ceed 100,000 ; and was not half a miUion in the year 1800. These figures show the wonderful increase of the population of the United States, and the rapidity with which it is expanding itself over the im- mense central and western regions. In proof of the material prosperity of the country, it may be stated that the tonnage employed in the foreign and coasthig commerce of the country (including the fisliing and whaling vessels) was m June, 1850, 3,681,469. That of the lakes was 167,137 tons. The exports were 136,946,912 doUars, and the imports 173,308,010 doUars. The num- ber of steam vessels of all descriptions was estimated, at the commenc- ment of tliis present year, to be 2,000, and their tonnage 500,000 ; and it is calculated that on the 1st of January, 1852, the aggregate length of railroads wiU be 10,618 miles, built at a cost of about 350,000,000 dollars.-j- These facts may be taken as indices of the advance of the United States in what concerns its material mterests. In connexion with this toj^ic, we may state that the cause of Educa- tion has made great progress, particularly witliin the last forty or fifty years. Pubhc school systems have been estabhshed by law, securing the advantages of education for all classes, in at least twelve of the States in the northern and north-western portion of the country, and the subject is waking up much interest in almost all the others. There are now one hundred and twenty colleges and imiversities, most of which are in the hands and under the chrection of religious men, and a solid instruction is imparted in the principles of a Protestant Christianity. There are thir- * "When the word " territory" in this Report, commences with a capital letter, it then signifies a defined district, that is not yet a State, but is in process of becoming one. This will take place when the population be comes sufficient, and a con.-titution has been formed by the people through their representatives chosen for the purpose, and approved by the President and Congress. Until this is done, the government of the '* Territory" is carried on by a Governor, Judges, and other officers appointed by the President of the United States, with the consent of the Senate. t The English reader can in a moment convert into pounds sterling, any of the sums stated in this document in dollars, by dividing them by the number five. This will at all events give the value in English money with sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes. Strictly speaking, five dollars are seven pence more than a pound sterling, or sovereign. 14 teen Roman Catholic colleges, and two or three may be said not to have any decided religious character, although I know of none that have an infidel character. In the year 1801, there were but twenty-five colleges in the country. There are thirty- seven medical schools and twelve law schools. Many of the colleges are nev/ and very imperfectly endowed ; but many of the old ones may be said to be weU estabhshed and sup- plied with efficient teachers. In fomidmg the institutions, the State Governments have usually given more or less aid ; but their greatest assistance, in the way of endowments, has come from the benevolence of indi^dduals. We come now to the consideration of the progress and present state of religion in the United States, so far as it can be ascertained and deter- mmed by statistical inquiry. On this subjectit is very difficult to obtain aU the data which are desirable, but I tliink I shall be able to reach a reasonable approximation to the truth. I. The Pkotesta^^t Episcopal Church. The oldest branch of the Protestant Church in the United States is the Protestant Episcopal. Its history commences with the plantmg of the colony of Vu^ginia, in the year 1607. For a very long period this church laboured imder many disadvantages. One of these has been al- luded to — the difficulty of obtaining ministers from England, where all had to be ordained. Another and very serious difficulty arose from the disputes which occurred in relation to the manner of their support. And, to complete the catalogue of liindrances, at the commencement of the Bevolution, a large number of the ministers of tliis body, bemg Enghshmen, felt constrained, by their views of duty, to return to the mother country. It was not till years after the Revolution, that the real prosperity of this Church commenced. From the most authentic accounts w^liich I have been able to find, I think that there were in the year 1800, 3^0 churches, 16,000 communicants, 260 mmisters, with 7 bishops. In 1819, there were 17 bishops, about 500 churches, and 25,000 members. In 1850, there were 28 bishops, 3 missionary bishops, 1,504 mimsters, 1,550 churches, and about 73,000 members. During the ffi'st half of this century, the Episcopal Church m the United States has, therefore, more than quintupled its clergy and churches, and nearly quintupled its members. The population of the United States has increased during the same period sometliing less than fourfould and a half, it bemg relatively, at the epochs of 1850 and 1800, as 439 6-lOths to 100. II. The Congeegational Churches. The Congregational branch of the one true Church of Christ may be taken next ; for though the Eefonned Dutch Chm'ch may have had some preachers on the gToimd before 1620, it is not certam that there were any churches of tliis body before 1624. The increase of this body has been steady, almost from the first. I have no means of knowing what were its statistics in the year 1800. But, in the year 1850, there were 1,971 churches, of which nearly 1,400 were in the six New England States, and the rest in the other States, chiefly Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, 15' Wisconsin, and Iowa. The number of ministers was 1,687, and of the communicants, or members, 197,196. In this statement no churches are inckided but those wliich are now called Congregational in America. The Congregational body of chiu-ches has not increased as fast as the other great commmiions, and for the simple reason that it was for nearly two himdred years confined to the six New England States. The emi- grants from those states who had been brought up in the principles of the Congi'egational system, usually joined the Presbyterian chui'ches in the middle, southern, and western states. This practice still continues, although not so much as formerly. Withm the last fifteen or twenty years a large number of Congi^egational churches has been formed in the States of New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and a few m others, — composed for the most part of people from New England. Had the emigrants from New England and their children, dispersed over the other States and Territories, and who are beheved to be almost if not quite as numerous as the actual inhabitants of the land of their origin, all cleaved to its ecclesiastical poHty, and eveiy where organized churches on that basis, the Congregational churches m the United States would have been more than 3,000 in number, instead of 1,971, at this day. III. The Baptist Chukches. The Baptist branch of the Church of Christ comes next in order of time. For a long period, the Baptists ministers encomitered much opposition, owmg to the intolerance which prevailed both north and south — an in- tolerance wliich was a vice of the age. They often suftered imprison- ment in Virghiia, from tlie hands of the civil Government, and they were banished from Massachusetts, and compelled to fomid the colony of Rhode Island. At length, however, better views prevailed ui both portions of the country. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, they never experienced opposition, so far as I Imow. In the year 1791, there were 1,150 churches, 891 ministers, and 65,345 members. In 1850, what are called the " Regular," or " Associated" Baptist churches were be- lieved to be 10,441, the number of ordained mmisters 6,049, and that of the members 754,652. If we add to these the Seventh-day Baptists (Sabbatarians), with their 60 chm^hes, 46 ministers, and 7,000 mem- bers; the Free-will Baptists (who are Armmian m their theological views), 1,154 chm-ches, 823 ordamed ministers, 49,215 members; the Six Principle Baptists, and one or two other small branches, who have about 200 churches, 100 mmisters, and 11,000 members; and the " Disciples of Christ," or " Reformers," as they call themselves — a large body embracing in 1850, about 1,600 chiu-ches, 1,000 muiisters, and 127,000 members — who have adopted the sentiments of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Campbell, which have been considered too speculative and cold, and not sufiiciently operative to the renovation of the heart and hfe ;* * I am happy to say, that from various quarters I have received informa- tion, that spiritual life is increasing in this branch of the Baptist body. This is indeed a cheering fact— one that, perhaps, should have been expected. Dr. Campbell thought he saw the truth exposed to danger frem a certain 16 we shall have an aggregate of l'd,4:C)6 churches, 8,018 ministers, and 948,867 members. This is an immense increase since the year 1791 — sixty years ago. In the year 1750, one liundred years ago, there were only 58 Baptist churches in the whole of what is now the United States ; and in the year 1768, there were but 137. It appears that ui sixty years the Baptist churches have increased tenfold, their ministers nine- fold, and their members more than thirteenfold ! IV. The Peesbyteeian Chuecbes. The next of the large Christian bodies which arose in the United States was the Presbyterian. The first mmisters of that body were from Scotland and the North of Ireland, and were joined by ministers from New England, who came into tlie middle and southern States, where Presbyterianism first gained a foothold. In the year 1705 a pres- bytery, consisting of seven ministers, was formed : fi'om tliis beginning the body has steadily growai, until it now ranks among the most nume- » rous and powerM of the land. In the year 1800, it is behoved, the number of muiisters of what is now called the Presb}i;erian Church, was about 300, churches 500, and commmiicants, 40,000. This is, at all events, as exact as we can make the statement, and it caimot be far from the tnith. The two gTeat branches in which it now appears — for a division took place in the year 1838 — stand thus : The Old School General Assembly has 23 synods, 134 presbyteries, 2,027 ministers, 618 licentiates and students, 2,675 churches, 210,306 members. The New School Assembly has 21 synods, 104 presb}i;eries, 1,489 ministers, 204 students (in theological schools only) and hcentiates, 1,579 churches, and 140,060 commmiicants. Taken together, the two branches of the Presbyterian Church name 44 synods, 238 presbyteries, 3,516 muiisters, 822 hcentiates and students, 4,254 chmxhes, and 350,366 communi- cants. From this it appears that this body mcreased nearly twelvefold so far as the ministiy is concerned, eight and a half fold as to the churches, and nearly ninefold as regards the members. But if we add the smaller branches, none of which amounted to much in the year 1800, and the largest of which chd not exist at all, the increase of the Pres- byterian body becomes still more striking. They are as foUows : 1. The Associate Presbyterian Church, which had, in 1850, 1 synod, 16 pres- byteries, 120 mmisters, 214 churches, and 18,000 communicants. 2. The Associate Pteformed Presbyterian Church, with 4 synods, 20 pres- byteries, 219 ministers, 332 churches, and 26,340 members. 3. The Reformed Presbyterian Church, with 2 sj-nods, 7 presbyteries, about 80 ordained ministers, 100 organized churches, and 12,000 commimicants. These three bodies have at least 160 students and hcentiates. 4. Re- foi*med Dutch Church, which is only Dutch m name at present, for the Enghsli is used in all their pulpits, and spoken by all their people. This body had, in 1784, only 82 churches, and 30 ministers. Li 1850 it had a general synod 2 particular spiods, 24 classes (or presbyteries), 293 muiisters, 292 churches, and 33,553 communicants. It had also quarter, and it was quite possible for him, in these circumstances, to go to the other extreme. But it was natural for a proper equilibrium, or some- thing like it, to be reached in due lime. 17 32 students in theology. 5. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church. This body arose in 1810, in the State of Kentucky. In polity it is Presbyterian, with the addition of tlie itmerating system of the Metho- dist Church. In doctrine it holds a sort of medium ground between Calvuiism and Arniinianism.* It has a General Assembly, 12 synods, 45 presbyteries, 350 mmisters, 480 churches, and more than 50,000 members. This body is most numerous in the south-western and western States. It has but few churches east of the Alleghany Moun- tains. From this it appears the Presbyterian family of churches speaking the Enghsh language and havmg a British origin, (except the Dutch lie- formed) consists of 4 general assemblies, 65 synods, 360 presbyteries, 4,578 ministers, 1,014 students and licentiates, 5,672 churches, and 490,259 communicants. And almost all this is the growth of fifty years, or the era from 1800 to 1850. Dui'ing that period the Presby- terian Church may be said to have uicreased nearly elevenfold. V. The Methodist Churches. The last in order of time, of the larger religious bodies mainly of Anglo-American origin, that arose in the United States, was the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. It was not till the year 1784 that this Church * was organized — mider the superintendence of the Eev. Messrs. Coke and Asbury. Up to that time, those who followed the doctrines and measures of Wesiey remained in connexion with the Protestant Episco- j pal Church. At the date of its organization the new body had 83 mm- / isters and 14,986 members. In the year 1800 it had 40,000 members. | Its subsequent increase has been immense. It now spreads over all the country, and its " conferences," " districts," and '* circuits," cover the whole land. Its itinerating system is adrnkably adapted to the extent and wants of so vast and so new a field. In the year 1844, a division took place in tliis body, occasioned by the subject of slavery. In the year 1850, the Northern branch, called the "MethocUst Episcopal Church," had 4004 ministers in its regular service, and 666,310 members. The "Methodist Episcopal Church South," had 1,642 min- isters, and 504,520 members ; making in all, 5,646 regular ministers, or those on the cii'cuit, besides a large number of local minister.^, and 1,170,830 members. There are several small Methodist boihes. 1. In the year 1828, there was a secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church, on account mainly of the exclusion of the lay representatives from the annual and general conferences ; and the Protestant Methochst Church was organized. This body had in 1850, a general Conference, 22 annual Conferences, 1,200 travelling and local preachers, and 62,000 communicants. 2. There is what is called the Wesleyan IMethodist Church which was another secession, on the gi'ound of slavery and the episcopacy, in the year 1842. It has several Conferences, and 20,000 members. 3. There are some Prmiitive Methodists in America, but their societies are neither large nor numerous. 4. There is a small Christian body of coloured people, called the African Metliodist Church, • It is rather a mixture than a medium, for whilst they reject the doctrine of Election, they hald to that of the Perseverance of the Saints. B 18 which has about 20 circuits, 30 preachers, and nearly 3,000 members. And, 5. There are some 20 congregations of Welsh Cahdnistic Metho- dists. By combming all the chiurches above mentioned, it mil be found that there are quite 6,000 regular preachers, at least 8,000 local preach- ers, and more than a milhon and a e^uarter of members ! There is rea- son to beheve that the membership of this communion has mcreased much more than six times as fast as the population of the comitry has done smce the year 1784 ! VI. The Geeman Chueches. We come now to a group of Churches of continental origin, and which still employ more or less the German language. Hitherto we have been speaking of churches which have been founded by emigrants from the British Isles, and which speak the English language, and em- ploy it, with few exceptions, in their pubHc services. These exceptions are some Welsh churches — probably not short of a hundred in all — wliich are mostly Congregational, Methodist, or Presbyterian ; a few Gaelic churches, that are Presbyterian ; some Swedish and Norwegian churches, cliieflj^ Lutheran ; and some German churches, which belong to the Methodist, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Baptist, &c. Whilst all the earher emigrants from other parts of the continent — such as the Butch, the Huguenots, the Waldenses, the Swedes, &c. — have long since lost their languages and become merged m the Anglo-American population, those from Germany being much more numerous, and con- stantly sustained in the use of their maternal tongue by the never- ceasing flow of the immigration from Germany, have retained, in many places, then' old language, and employ it in their religious services. 1. The largest of these bodies is the Lutheran, which m 1850 consisted of a general synod, 19 district sjniods, 663 ministers, 1,603 congrega- tions, and 163,000 members. The increase of tliis Chm^ch since the year 1800, has been very great, but I have no means of measuring it in a statistical manner. Not only has its numbers gxeatly augmented, but there has been a great resuscitation of true piety and spiritual life. 2. The next German communion, in point of size and influence, is the German Pteformed Church. Tliis body, lilve the Lutheran, has received great enlargement in the United States withhi the present century, though both existed long before m portions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. It had last year about 260 ministers, 600 congregations, and 70,000 communicants. This body has been troubled of bite years by some speculations, wliich have been pronounced to be kindred to those of l3r. Pusey, but it contains many excellent men, and is rapidly increasmg m numbers. 3. The United Brethren in Clu-ist. Tliis de- nomination arose in the latter part of the last century, from the imion of some excellent people, who had belonged to the Pieformed, Lutheran, and Mennonist Churches. Their first conference was held in the year 1800. They had last year nuie annual conferences, 4 bishops, or su- permtendents, 250 itmerant ministers, 350 local preachers, 1,800 churches, and other places of worship, and about 67,000 communicants. Their doctrmes and modes of worship, are essentially the same as those of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 4. The EvangeUcal Association, 19 foimded in 1800. This is another sect, of German Metho(Usts, and is similar to the Methodist Episcopal Church in doctiine and churcli po- lity. It has 2 bishops, a general conference, 4 annual conferences, 112 travelling mmisters, 200 local preachers, about 000 places of preaching, and 17,000 communicants. 5. The united Brethren or " Moravian Brethren," as they are often called. They have several settlements, chiefly in Pennsylvania, 1 bishop, 23 churches, 27 mmisters, and 3,000 communicants. 6. The Evangehcal Church, of quite recent origm, an offshoot of the Evangelical Church of Germany. They have a synod of some 25 or 30 churches in Missouri, and are increasing. 7. The Mennonists, a small body, who are often classed with the Baptists ; but they rather poiu-, than either sprinlde or immerse. They worsliip chiefly in private houses, and their congregations, estimated at 400, are small. They have about 240 ministers. They can hardly have more than 30,000 communicants. 8. The Tunkers or Duukers. A small sect of German Baptists that appeared in America more than 130 years ago. They retain some customs which are quite Oriental and primitive, such as wasliing the feet and giving the kiss of charity. But little is known of theu' numbers, as they publish no statistics. It is beUeved that they have as many as 250 preachers, and 8,000 or 10,000 members. They are generally farmers, and are most numerous in Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia. They have lately had a great rehgious meetmg in the latter, to wliich they came m great numbers and from afar in thek waggons. They are a simple-hearted, industrious, quiet, worthy people. 9. The Winebrennerians, a gi'owing sect m Pennsylvania chiefly, of good people, founded by Mr. Winebrenner, of Harrisbui'g, in that State ; I know not their numbers. 10, and lastly, there is a smaU German, Seventh- day Baptist Church, much attached to monastic life ; but of their statistics I have nothuig that can be depended on. They are not beheved to exceed a few hundred in number, and their muiisters may be as many as ten or twelve. It ajDpears from this statement that there are no less than ten German branches of the Protestant Church m America, almost all of them offshoots of German bocUes in Europe, and that they have about 1,827 regular ministers, 550 local preachers, 5,356 congTega- tions, many of wliich are very small, and 333,000 members. Vn. The Friends. It only remains that I speak of the Society of Friends, whose " meet- ings," or congregations, are estimated at about 500, of whieli 300 are supposed to be orthodox, and 200 '' Hicksite," fi'om one Ehas Hides, who was a celebrated preacher of that body some twenty years since, and taught doctrines of a veiy deistical character, which in process of time, led to a complete disruption of the body. Whilst it is n^t doubted that there are many excellent and truly pious people in the orthodox portion of this denomination, it is thought that the society is not mcreasing, at least, not perceptibly. Many of the Hicksite branch, especially of the young people, are falhng into Infidelity, in which some will probably continue to wander: whilst many, it is ])elieved, will idtimately he merged in the other Protestant Churches. The SmiMAiiY. The result of all the mvestigation which we have beeu able to bestow on the subject is, that there were last year in the United States, in the several branches of the Protestant Church, which may be termed Evan- gehcal — first, 23,614 ministers (besides the local " preachers" of the several branches of the Methodist Churches, who are not less than 9,000 innumber); second, 58,304 congregations, or assembhes; third, 3,292,322 communicants. Given in a condensed tabular view they stand thus : — Denomination. Ministers. ^",^»"^- Members of gations. Churches. Protestant Episcopal Church 1,504 1,550 73,000 Congregational body .. .. 1,687 1,971 197,196 Baptist body 8,018 13,4.55 948,867 Presbyterian body 4,578 5,672 490,259 Methodist body 6,000 30,000 1,250,000 German Churches 1,827 5,356 333,000 Priends or Quakers 300 Total 23,614 58,304 3,292,322 A few remarks are needed by way of explanation : 1. When we pronounce all these chiu'ches to be evangelical, we do not affinn that they are equally so. There are some of the small Ger- man denommations about which we are not so well satisfied as we could wish, and there may be two or three others, all of whose members are not as sound in theii' rehgious belief as they should be. Wliat we afiirm is that, to the best of our behef, not only are their Symbols of Faith orthodox, but that the ministers and people sincerely beheve the great doctrmes of salvation ; such as the Trinity, the Divinity of Clirist and of the Holy Spirit, &c., and that " repentance towards God," and " faith towards the Lord Jesus Cluist," are held by them to be the only terms of salvation. 2. Although we cannot doubt that there are many who are self-de- ceived — some even that are hypocrites, though the motives for a hypo- critical profession of religion, since no special honour, or temporal ad- vantage jjresents itself, cannot be considered great — yet taken as a body, the members of our churches give as credible evidence of being chris- tians as can reasonably be expected. Y/ith all their deficiencies, they will compare well, I tlnnk, in point of intelligence, proper walk and conversation, liberality and zeal, ^nth an equal number taken in the same v,'rofessors and teachers, missionaries, il'c, yet all tliib is far more than made up in the great number of been- 4 21 tiates, or young ministers, wlio are not settled, many not having finished their theological stucUes — of whom there are not less than two or three thousand. Besides all this, there are at least 9,000 local preachers in the several Methodist Churches, all of whom do less or more in the way of preachmg and holding meetings for prayer, conducting Bible classes, supermtending Sabbath-schools, &c., &c., as well as various forms of pastoral labour. This would make the number of Evangelical preachers more than 32,000. 4. There has been no portion of this investigation attended with more difficulty than that relatmg to the number of uidividual cluirches. I have found it to be impossible to attam entire accuracy. The nmnber given is rather that of the congregations or assembhes. Large as it is, it is certamly much under the mark. The several branches of the Me- thodist Church, and also the Cumberland Presbyterians, have tlieir cir- cuits, each comprehending, for the most part, several places of worship. They may be church- edifices, school-houses, court-houses, or private houses. If all the places where the Gospel is occasionally preached by pastors and others, but where there is no church organized, — because not necessary, — ^were to be added to those in which a church or body of believers is organized, the entire number of places where the Gospel is preached would, it is believed, be found to exceed one hundred thousand ! 5. There are various ways of measuring the progress of religion in a coimtry. One of these is statistical, and this we may legithnately apply, at this pomt, to the country of which we are speakmg. It is impossible to ascertain with entire precision the number of EvangeUcal muiisters, churches, and commimicants in the United States at the epoch of the lievolution, seventy-five years ago.* We cannot ascertain the number for the year 1800 with strict accuracy ; but we can ascertain enough, and I have already given the data, to show, that while the population of the United States increased something less than fom^ibld and a half, from 1800 to 1850, the number of EvangeUcal mmisters of the Gospel, churches, and members of the churches, has increased nearly, if not quite, tenfold ! As to other modes of measuruig the advance of the truth in the United States, I shall speak of them presently. * In another work, — Religion" in America, (Book III, chnpter 1st.) — I have stated that, after much iiiquh-y, I had come to the conclusion that there were in the year 1775, fourteen hundred and foity-one ministers, and nineteen hundred and forty churches, in the United States. This statement included twenty-six Roman Catholic priests, and hity-two churches. Ac- cording to this estimation, there was one minister on an average, for about 2,429 souls,— supposing the population of the country to have been at that epoch 3,500,000, whicli is piobably not far from the truth. If we suppose the number of the ministeis of the Evangelical Churches alone to have been 23,614 in the year 1850, and the popuiution 23,250,000, then we shall tind that there was one minister for 984 individuals ! Makmj^ all proper allowance for the increase of ministers and churches from 1775 to 1800 — and that increase was not very great, in fact tlie number of Epis- copal ministers was less in trie South in the latter of these epochs than in the former, — we come to the conclusion that the number of ministeis of the Evangelical Churches alone,— and of the churches and members too, we doubt not,— was twice as great ia proportion to the population in 1850 as it was in 1800. If we include the Non-Evangelical bodies, thui increase becomes still moxc astonishing. 22 Non-Evangelical Bodies * These differ very much in their relative abandonment of what is usually called the Evangelical Faith, or System of Doctrine. They are the folIcATOig : 1. The Swedenborgians. Of this well-known sect there are about 40 small churches, 35 ministers, and 10,000 people. 2. The Unitarians, cliiefly in New England. They count about 300 churches, 250 muiisters, and 30,000 members. There are two parties among them : the serious and inquiring portion, who have still a deep reverence for the scriptures ; and the party of progress, — rationalistic, pantheistic, transcendental — ^lieaded by Theodore Parker, Kalph Waldo Emerson, and men of like \dews. Among the former there are many worthy and excellent men. It is probable that Unitarianism in the United States "will disappear in process of time very much as it arose — gradually. The more serious will return, if proper measiu'es be pursued, to the Evangelical churches — many have done so witliui the last twenty years. Those who have em- braced the transcendental and pantheistic views will go further astray, until they end ui downright infidehty and deism. Indeed that is their present position, so far as concerns their opinions of the Lispiration of the Scriptmi^s and the Divine Natm^e. 3. The Christians, or C%mMans, as they are commonly called. They were at the outset a warm-hearted, zealous, rather fanatical sect, wliicli arose at various points almost simultaneously, some forty years ago and more. These deny the Trinity, but hold to salvation by Christ, " by whose sufferings, death, and resiuTCction," they say, " a way has been provided by wliich smners may obtain salvation." They report 1,500 cluu'ches, as many ministers, and 150,000 members. 4. There are some German Lutheran churches in Eastern Penn- sylvania and in other parts, that are Socuiian, but I have not been able to ascertain theii' number. A portion of the Friends, or Quakers, must be placed in this same category. 5. The Universahsts. This is a sect of English origin. Its first apostles and propagators were MmTay and Winchester. They were serious men, and held the doctrine of Restoration. At present there are very few among them who beheve in any future punishment. They have 540 preachers, 550 churches, and 875 societies. 6. The Roman Cathohcs. This body had in 1850, 4 archbishops, 30 bishops, 1,073 cluuThes, 1,081 priests, and a population of 1,650,000 accorduig to the Roman Cathohc Almanac. I shall speak of this body, and their position, m another jDlace. Of all these Non-Evangehcal bodies, the Roman Catholics and Unita- rians are alone of much accomit. The former have their perfect organiza- * I use this term as, on the whole, the best that can be employed, and least likely to give offence. That there are truly excellent people in some of these bodies, who seem really to love the Saviour, and to rest alone in His merits, we must believe. How far the *' faith that saves" may consist "with many errors, and obscure and uncertain views respecting the Divine nature, and the true character of the Saviour, God alone knows. Whilst we should be charitable towards others, let us hold fast to truth. tion and consummate tact ; the latter their cultivated intellect and taste, their wealth and influential social position. The Chrtst-ums and Uid- versalists have no elements of cohesion and life, and they cannot resist long when the Truth makes a vigorous onset. None of these systems satisfy the demands of the soid. Unitarianism is scarcely maintainuig its gromid at present ; or if it increases, it is doing so at a slower rate relatively than the orthodox denomuiatious. Resources of the Gospel. Let us next speak of the resources of the Gospel for self-sustentation in the United States. The general Government pays the salaries of two chaplams every session of Congress for openmg each House daily with prayer, and for preaching to that body on the Sa])bath ; it also pays the salaries of twenty-four chaplains m the navy and fifteen in the army. It helps to civilize and Christianize some of the Lidian tribes, by paying annuities to missionary societies for the promotion of educa- tion, and a knowledge of the mechanic arts among them. This it does according to treaties made with those tribes. Besides this it does nothing. Several of the State Governments pay the salaries of chaplains to their prisons, and a very few pay the muiisters who open the daily sessions of their legislative bocUes with prayer. This is all that the State does with us, or has done, for many years, for the support of jDubUc worship. This duty, therefore, devolves upon the people ; and after an experiment which may well be pronounced to be suificient, the senti- ment is miiversal with us, that we woidd on no account have this task placed in other hands. Let a few facts confirm our confidence in the resources of the Church, or of the Gospel rather, mider God's blessing, for this work. First. After the most careful mquiry wliich I have been able to make, I have come to the conclusion, that our congregations paid, last year, to their ministers, in the shape of salaries, parsonages, or glebes, and other perquisites, at least 7,670,150 dollars. I am convmced that this is a low estunate — much too low, — although it mcludes only the Evangelical Churches. Second. There is, probably, nothing that tries the voluntary prmciple with us more eftectually than the buildmg of churches to meet the de- mands of the country. Last year, the popidation increased nearly, if not quite 800,000 souls. This would requne the buildmg of churches to accommodate at least 400,000 persons ; for room is not needed for .^Jnoie than half the population in places of worship, m any comitry. Dr. ^^halmers once told the writer that he should not thmk any country adequately supplied with " chiu'ch accommodation," if it had not sufiicient room in its places of worship for one-third part of the population. I think that I camiot be mistaken m my estunate, that more than one thousand edifices were erected last year ui the United States, by all the bocUes of Christians, Protestants and Romanists, Evangelical and non-Evangehcal. Indeed, the Evangelical denominations alone certainly built 950.* And * This does not require that as many ministers be furnished every year ; for, in many cases, and especially in the newer parts of the country, one preacher may minister to two or more congregations. u although some of these were erected to replace old ones, yet there is reason to beheve that the rest quite came up to, and even exceeded. Dr. Chalmers' demand. It must also be ]i:ept in mind that in very many places (especially in the newer districts), religious worsliip is kept up, for a time at least, in school-houses, court-houses, and private houses. The cost of the church edifices built by the Evangehcal Churches, including the entire of the expenses for the materiel of pubhc worship, such as fuel, light, sexton's wages, &c., &c., must have been great ; for although such houses can be built with us in tlie interior villages and rural districts for 1,000 dollars, 500 dollars, and even less, yet in the large toTviis they often cost tliree, four, five or more thousand ; whilst in the large cities they often cost twenty-five, thirty, forty, fifty, and sometimes one hundred thousand dollars, and even more. We may fairly put this item of annual expenchture at the sum of 3,000,000 dollars. Third. Large sums are raised every year to build and endow colleges, of which there are now 120 ; all of them under Protestant influence, save tliirteen (the Baptists have tliirteen, EpiscopaHans ten, the Me- thodists thirteen, Eoman Cathohcs tliirteen, the Presbyterians and Con- gregationahsts seventy-one), and theological seminaries, of wliich there are forty-two Protestant ones, with 120 professors, and 1,537 students. But I can make notliing more than a conjecture as to the amount. It may be safely put down at 200,000 dollars. The Beligious Societies. Another mode of measuring ti:e progress of Religion, in the United States is to consider the growth and operations of Societies organized to propagate the Gospel. I. BIBLE SOCIETIES. No. of Founded. Eibles ^ Tests. Lst yr. Receipts, from begnng. 6,980, .535 633,395 794,398 — Amer. Bible Society Amer. & For ]). S. . Amer. Biblf; Uiiiuu. 1816 1837 1850 II dol. 284,614 41,625 13,300 TRACT SOCIETY. No. of No. of pp. from pubs. 1,528 begnng. Amer. Tract Society 1824 1,528 2,483,793,562 III. HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. No. of Amer. II. Miss. Soc. Presb. Brd.of Dom. Missions Protest. Episcojial Methodist (North) Methodist (South) Bapt. H. Mis6. Soc. B;i]it. Brd. of dom. Miss. (South) . I'lvan. Luth. 11. M. Society . . . Free- Will Baptists 1826 1845 Miss. 1,032 570 96 464 273 118 50 22 50 Places of wor- ship supplied. . 1,575 1,461 437 308,266 157,160 79.049 30,657 58,070 60,871 30,369 10,692 697 5,525 25 IV. SUNDAY-SCHOOL SOCIETIES. No. of Schls. Scholars. — 1o7,(KjO 7,334 400,000 Pubs. 2,000 1,885 300 Amer. S. S. Union*. 1824 Methodist Episcopal — Protestant ... 1826 Massachusetts . more than 3,000 — V. EDUCATION SOCIETIES. American Education Society, founded 1816.— 436 young men received aid in 1849 — 50 Society for Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education. — 6 Colleges aided Board of Education of Presbyterian Church.— 373 young men, &c., 100 Parochial schools, 32 academies, 11, colleges (7 assisted) VI MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. Amer. Board C. F. iM. Amer. Baptist Union. Presb. Board of Miss. Episcopal Methodist Missions . Amer. Miss, Associat. Lutheran Missions Assoc. Presb. Church M. E. Church (South) Baptist Church Baptist Free Mission Eree-Will Baptists Seventh Day . . Amer. & For Ch. Un Miss. 157 56 55 10 34 12 5 5 5 12 2 3 2 100 Asst. 360 250 43 several 31 24 5 7 Stat. Com. )34 25.«75 12,500 282 95 1,511 380 155 28 40,744 Schlrs. 22,824 2,772 1,709 656 263 320 130 259,915 to,150 25,732 30,181 53 44,653 31 35,975 251,339 35 87,537 20 126,075 40 36,114 11 38,193 14 26,849 C6 4,230 42 3,182 32 6,000 28,697 70 6,571 81 4,433 5 1,200 45,942 64 28,674 2,148,878 64 or, £429,775 12s.+ It appears then that the receipts of these religious societies last year amounted to 2,148,878 dollars, or 429,775/. There are some of them that deserve a passmg remark or two, as showing what can be done to meet the demands of our rapidly-increasing and widely- spreading population. 1. The American Home Missionary Society, supported by Congre- gational Churches and the New School Presbyterians, employed 1,032 missionaries in the home field ; the Old School Presbyterians, through thei/Board, 570; the Baptists, 168; the Episcopalians, 9G ; the Me- thodists, 737: in all, 2,603, at the cost of 426,866 dollars. 2. The American Bible Society chstributed 633,395 Bibles and Testaments ; that Society and the American and Foreign Bible Society have cumulated 7,774,933 since the commencement of their operations. • This is the number only of the schools, and scholars in them, which were visited by the Agents of the Society last year, — not of the entire number of the schools which have relations with that Society. t From donations only. + These receipts ware for the year ending with May 1st, 1850. They show an advance of more than 150,000 dollars, (or £30,000 beyond those of the year 1348, — 49, the receipts for the year ending May 1st, 1351 shows a decided increase upon tluis of 1919, — 50. 26 3. The American Tract Society cii'culated last year 269,984,615 pages of tracts, 886,662 volumes, and employed 508 colporteurs during the whole or part of the year, who visited 428,000 families, of whom 44,800 were Roman Catholic. Its monthly paper, the Messenger, has a circulation of 200,000 in Enghsh and 10,000 in German. 4. The American Education Society and the General Assembly's Board supported, last year, 809 young men, who were preparing for the ministry. 5. The American Sunday-school Union has issued 2,000 different puhhcations, mostly books for Sunday-school libraries ; the Methodist Sunday-school, 1,885 ; the Massachusetts Sunday-school Union, 3,000 ; and the Episcopal, 300. It is estimated that there are now more than 2,000,000 of cliildren, youth, and adults, in Sunday-schools in the United States, taught by more than 200,000 teachers, among whom are to be foimd many of the best of our young people, and even mem- bers of Congress and of our State Legislatures, judges, lawyers, mayors of our cities, and other magistrates, and of our " honourable women" not a few. 6. The several Foreign Missionary Societies and Boards sustained in the foreign held 358 missionaries, 729 assistant missionaries at 366 stations, and have 40,744 communicants in their churches, and 28,674 pupils in their schools. In this notice of the receipts of rehgious societies we have not in- cluded those of the Colonization Societies, Anti-slavery Societies, and several others of that class. It results from this statement that the sum of 12,999,139 dollars, or 2,599,827/. was contributed in the year 1850 by the Evangehcal Churches of the United States, for the support of the gospel at home, and its propagation abroad. The sum that was expended abroad was about 675,000 dollars, or 135,000/. If we add the amount contributed by the Non-Evangelical bodies for the support of their churches, &c., the entke amount wUl not fall short of 15,000,000 dollars, or more than 3,000,000/.* All this was given voluntarily for the promotion of rehgion. It was really a pri\ilege and a blessing to those who gave this sum to be permitted to do it. Conclusion. There are several subjects of much importance, on which I must say a few words in bringing this Report to a close ; otherwise it wiU not do justice either to the Chiu'ches or to the Country to which it relates. 1. Christian Union. There is a great deal of Christian intercourse between brethren of the diiferent branches of the Church of Christ in the United States. All standing on the same platform, so far as the government and the laws are concerned, they have little occasion for envy and jealousy. Ministers of different denomuaations preach often * I am quite sure that the statement in the text comes much short of the truth. And as to the sum given, great as it may seem to those who have lived in countries wliere the State bears all, or a very large portion of the expense of public worship, it is really small when the number of the members of the churches and other serious and well-disposed persona is considered. for each other. Li many of th^ smaller towns, the pastors meet once a week for social intercourse, consultation, and prayer. Several of the branches of the Protestant Churcli liave suffered much evil from division * This state of thmgs is usually of not very long duration ; Letter feehngs triumph, and a kindly fellowsliip returns. In the meanwhile these internal difficulties seldom interfere with a pleasant intercourse between christians of other bodies. Several of our religious and benevolent societies often bring brethren of different Churches to act together, and in tins respect serve as evangelical alliances. 2. Lijluence of Christianity upon the Government. Althou<">"h th ere is no miiou of the Church and the State with us, it is far from being true that Christianity has no influence upon the State. It is true that the number of the actual members, or commmiicants, m all the Churches, is hardly a sixth part of the whole population, and that of the Evangelical Churches scarcely a seventh ; yet the influence on the Government has been often felt and seen. It could not prevent ihe recent war with Mexico, for the nation was precipitated mto it without a moment's warning ; but it compelled, or mduced rather, the Government to carry it on, on principles much more just and humane than those on which wars have been hitherto carried on m an enemy's comitry. One of these was that the army should pay for wdiat it received from the enemy in the shape of provisions ; so that military requisitions were seldom made. Christians are not willing, with us, to be held responsible for all the acts of our Government, for there are many which they have not had the ability to prevent. Does not the same thing happen in Great Britain, in France, and other comitries in Europe, very often ? That Christianity exerts a vast influence with us in securing obedience to the law, without the use of the bayonet, is certain. That there are sometimes riots and murders — alas ! too often, indeed — is undeniable ; but if we look at the newness of the country, its gi^eat facilities for con- cealment and ultimate escape, and the great influx of ignorant, irreligious, and m many cases very depraved people from abroad,-]- we shall see * The subject of Slavery has been one of the elements (as in the case of the Methodist Episcopal Church) of division. How far division, from such a cause, will serve to hasten the overthrow of slavery in the Southern States, is not a question for remark in this place. Other causes have led to the dividing of some of the Communions (as, for instance, the Presbyterian Church) into two bodies. In the case of the large bodies, this division is far from proving an unmitigated evil. It leads to greater watchfulness and exertion, and diminishes evils which result from overgrown organizations. t That a verv large number of our most desperate criminals are foreigners is a well-known fact. From all parts of Europe they come to us, and of late even from Australia. Often have I been applied to by Christian friends in Europe, to advise and aid persons who have committed forgery and other crimes in Europe, and have escaped to America, in order that they might be induced and enabled to return to the paths of virtue and usefulness. Nor has any such application ever been made in vain. Thanks be to God, I have in most cases been successful in my efforts. Even whilst this Evangelical Alliance has been holding its sessions, I have received a letter of thanks from an English Father, for my efforts in behalf of his son, who had been sentenced, for homicide, committed in America, to many years' imprisonment but who has received a pardon, and returned home, a renewed many through the grace of God. reason to be astonished that there is not more violence and crime. That vast country, with its 24 miUions of people, could not be governed as it is, — without a military force worthy of mention, excepting, indeed, for its littleness, — but for the wide-spread influence of the Gospel on the minds of men. In some of our States, an unwise and iU-regulated philanthrophy has led to efforts to aboUsh all capital punishment, even for the greatest crimes, and in one or two of them tins step has actually been taken, The injurous influence of the propagation of erroneous opuiions on this subject, has been widely felt of late, in the more frequent occurrence of horrible crime and especiaUy of murder. It is to be hoped that the public mind will be roused to better views on this very important subject. In general, the pulpit and the religious press have taken and held the right ground in relation to it. 3. The Temperance Cause. Although the population of the country has been almost doubled since the first Temperance Society was formed on right prmciples, yet there is less drunkeimess by far than there was then. The cause of temperance advances favom-ably, upon the whole. It is a never-ending work No relaxation can be allowed witliout detri- ment. The happy influence of the cause is now seen and felt in many of our ships. Aiid we cannot but be thanldiil that the use of intoxicating drinks, as a beverage, is almost completely banished from the tables and the houses of Christians -^ith us. The contrast is great between such a state of things and that which one sees m some other comitries. 4. The Observance of the Sabbath. On this subject we have much to cheer. Although there is stLQ enough to deplore, we have much to be grateful for. There is a far better observance of the Sabbath than there was a few years ago in many parts of the comitry. ^^^^ilst there is stOl too much violation of the sacred day in the suburbs and neigh- bourhood of our large cities, it is pleasant to see that the streets of none of them (so far as I know, imless it be New Orleans) are disturbed by the rambling of omnibusses.* All of the States, I beheve, have made laws to enforce the observance of the Sabbath. Tliis has been done on the avowed principle that we are a Christian nation. That doctrine we hold. And though the State requires of no man that he should attend this or that church, or any church at all, or do any thing to support any form of worship ; yet it does require him to desist from labour, at least from such laboiu- as interferes "wdth the sacred employments and enjoy- ments of others. It seems so near to a dictate of Natui-al Religion and of Common Reason, as well as Christianity, that man and beast should rest part of then: time, that our lawgivers do not seem to have had any misgivmgs on the subject ; and yet the enforcement of the law is seldom resorted to. A better way is pui-sued — that of enhghtening the people by the press and the pulpit, as to their duties and their privileges. A few gentlemen have employed the Rev. Dr. Edwards, — ^the origmator of Tem- perance Societies on the present plan, — ^for several years, to visit the chief * Through one of the main streets of New York, the passenger trains on a railroad, drawn by horses, are premittad to run on the Sabbath. Even this, though there is but little noise, is considered a nuisance, as well as a violation of the sacred day. 29 places and preach before Legislatures aiid Congress, and so influence the leading minds of the country, as well as to employ the press for that ob- ject. The success of tliis quiet and effective course has been great. There is not a car running on any of the railroads in New England, I beheve, on the Sabbath, nor is the mail carried there on that day. A similar change is gomg on in the middle and other States. The carrying of the mail on the Sabbath was discontinued on 80,000 miles of road last year, through these quiet efforts. Dr. Edwards visits the officers of the government, legislators, and directors of railroads, and sits down and talks the matter over kindly with them as a christian man and a gentleman should ; nor does he labour in vain, — for he has to deal mth men who, almost without exception, respect rehgion, and not a few are religious men. 5. Infidelity. There is but little infidelity of the old fashion, among the well-educated classes in the United States. Among oiu: pubhc men, — the men at the head of the General Government, and jin: statesmen gene- rally, — as well as our influential lawyers and physicians there is incompa- rably less infideUty than there was fifty years ago. There is a considerable amount of a refined, transcendental Spirituahsm, among certain classes of a certam cultivation, in portions of New England. The thing is rather fashionable there at present. But the worst forms of infidehty are to be found among the Germans, the French, the Swiss, the Itahans, and other foreigners from the contment, who are to be found in our large cities. The vilest attacks upon Christianity are to be found in German papers published in New York and other cities. And what is a gi'eat difficulty, we cannot yet reach them, for the want of the right men, — ^men who speak their languages. Europe sends us few such men.* M. Cabet and his Icarians are trymg such an experiment at Nauvoo, as Frances Wright and her sister tried in Tennessee twenty- five years ago, and as Eobert Dale Owen at New Harmony, in Indiana, and others have tried m other places, — ^namely, to get up a sort of Christless, and even Godless community in which Human Nature may have a fan- chance to develope all its good quahties without any inter- ference from the Superstitions of a Benighted Antiquity. At the same time the Mormons, driven first from Missouri, and afterwards fi'om Illinois by an outraged commmiity, are biuldhig a city at Salt Lake, in the territory of Utah, on the road fi'om St. Louis to California. Akeady they have fifteen or twenty tliousaud deluded followers, at or near that spot, and some commmnties elsewhere, and their missionaries are tra- versing these British Isles, (where they boast that they have made no less than 30,000 converts), and penetrating into every country' on the con- * We shall be compelled to raise them tip from among ourselves. Blessed be God, this good work is now fairly commenced, so far as the German po- pulation is concerned The Lutheran and German Reformed Churches have live theological Schools in which about 80 young men are preparing for the ministrv . They have also two colleges. W e are beginning to obtain, for the Canadian population which is entering our States that border on Ca- nada, young men, missionaries and colporteurs, from the seminaries of Grande Ligne and Pointe-aux -Trembles iv. that country, and which our churches have assisted in founding. 30 tiuent, in order to gain converts to one of the silliest and basest of all delusions that arch-villainy ever attempted to propagate, from the days of Mohammed to this present time. But the economical advantages of the scheme, in connexion with the license which it is beheved to give to the strongest passions of the corrupt heart of man, will secure great success for a time. In the mean while the government of the United States treats the whole movement with utter indifference. It contents itself, and properly so,* with requiring that the projected Mormon State shall be organized on the same repubhcan piinciples that underhe the other State governments, and Truth will find its way, in due time, into the midst of the con-upt community, and overthrow the absurdities and impieties of Joseph Smith's pretended revelations. 6. The Ahorigines. The fii'st colonists found the whole country possessed, or rather occupied, if the word may be used, by many tribes of Aborigines, speaking different languages, and hostile to each other m many cases, and hving by fishmg and the chase. The number of these people was small in comparison with the extent of the country. Wars and pestilential diseases were steadily dimuiisliing them in some regions ; in others they were perhaps slowly mcreasing. It was the desu-e and mtention of the colonists, as expressed in the charters of most if not all of them, to christianize these people. Some attempts were made at the outset, but with very partial success. It was not long till wars began between them, as we have elsewhere stated, and ydt\\ the exception of the eft'orts of Elhot, the Mayhews, and others in new England, m the seventeentli century, and of David Bramerd and his brother John in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, andof Zeisberger and others in Oliio, m the eighteenth, there was nothing done worthy of mention until the present centmy ; nor even then till about the year 1816. Since that time missions and schools have been planted in many of the tribes, and civihzation and religion have made much progress, especially among the Choctaws, and Cherokees, and some of the smaller tribes. The Gospel is also gainmg a foothold among the Creeks, one of the largest of all the tribes. The General Government has for several years been collectmg the tribes wliich were within the hmits of the States, upon a large territory west of the States of Arkansas and Missouri, wliich may be their owti as long as they choose to mauitain a national or tribal existence, and so get clear of the conflicts which so often arose whilst they were witliin the limits of any of the States. This work has advanced very much, and the worst of the evils attendant on the removal of so many people, partially civihzed, have, it is hoped, passed away, * It would be the greatest of calamities for the General Government to interfere with the religious opinions and movements of these people, Bave to the extent spoken of above. Their expulsion from Missouri and Illi- nois did much for them ; it created a sympathy lor them as for a persecuted people, at a time when their doctrines and manners were but little known beyond the neighbourhood of their residence. The temporal advantages ■which they offer constitute the great inducement to poor and ignorant peo- ple to join them. Their leaders are playing a deep game. But Time will show that Truth will destroy even this vile imposture— the invention of a profane and wicked man. 31 The United States Government pays to these tribes large sums of money, in the shape of annuities, being either interest of tlie purchase- money for the lands which they sold to the Government at their re- moval, or instalments of that money, agreeably to treaties made. Out of these moneys,* large sums are now appropriated by the governments of these tribes to the maintenance of schools and academies, and for the promotion of the useful arts.f A large number of these Inchans, es- pecially among the Choctaws and Cherokees, can read, and some are well-educated men, and would do themselves credit in any legislative body. There are respectable newspapers in the Cherokee and Choctaw languages. Civilization is steadily advancing among them. There are several thousand members of the churches planted among the several tribes by Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Moravian, and other mis- sionaries. The Cherokees are about 18,000; the Choctaws 15,000; the Creeks, 22,000 : and there are several small tribes which have been removed to the same extensive territory. The entire popidation of that territory is quite large enough to make a respectable State ; and it is sincerely to be desired that these tribes may one day unite and form a regular member of the American Union. Diversity of language and the influence of the chiefs, who now have the government of each tribe very much in theu" hands, are the great obstacles to this plan at present. The Enghsh language is, however, gaining ground, and will one day — though comparatively distant, — supplant all others. These tribes, now that civihzation has gamed so great an ascendancy among them, are, it is believed, increasmg instead of diminishing. A great deal has been said about the wasting away of the Aborigines of America before the European races. That this has been the case, to a considerable extent, is true ; but not to the extent that is often supposed. The remains of former tribes have been greatly absorbed in other and larger ones. It is possible that Civilization and Christianity may save some of the tribes, — Cherokees, Choctaws, etc., — for a long time from annihilation, or absorption- in other tribes ; but it is certain, I thmk, that all of them wiU, sooner or later, be absorbed in the Europeo- American population. To this destmy every thing infalhbly pomts. And probably it will be seen to be the best arrangement in the long run. The United States seem to be destined to be the scene in which a more complete fusion of the races is to take place than the world has hitherto seen. I know an excellent man, born in Vii'ginia, who repre- sents the four continents, as it were ; for in his veins is the blood of the European, African, Asiatic, and American (aboriginal) races ! 7. Slavery. What has Christianity done for the African race ? The first of these people that came to our shores were brought by a Dutch ship in the year 1620. The slave-trade soon commenced, and for a hundred and fifty-five years it was carried on by Enghsh ships, and ex- clusively so, so far as the Enghsh Colonies were concerned, and indeed so far as all the American Contment was concerned for many years, has * Amounting to about a million of dollars annually, at present. • t The Choctaws appropriate the sum of 20,000 dollars annually to ed- ucational purposes. They have four academies in operation. England bad a monopoly of the whole trade for a period. At the time of the declaration of Independence, there were more than 500,000 of these peoj^le in the country, almost all of them slaves, and cliiefly in Southern states. The colonists at first and for a long time, looked upon these people as heathen and ahens, that had been obtruded upon them, and spoke and acted in regard to them very much as they seem to have supposed that the Jews did about the Canaanites who remained in their countiy, after the conquest, and whom they were permitted to enslave. It was much the fashion, if I may so say, in those days, to speak in that way. For a long time the poor degraded people seem to have shared but little in the protection of the laws, and to have had but httle sympathy fi'om the churches. The laws appear scarcely to have contemplated them as coming within their scope. And the Chui'ch that was the dominant, and for a long time the exclusive one in the portions of the country where slavery most accumidated — that is, in Llaryland, Virginia, the Carolinas — had not sufficient religious zeal and vitahty, though it had many ex- cellent people in it — to accomphsh much in a work so eminently mis- sionary, as the labour of converting these people. And let it be re- membered that this Church vras at that time estabhshed by law, as reaUy so as that of England. The Presbyterians and Baptists had no foothold there, until more than one hundred years after slavery had commenced its existence in Virginia., and the Methochsts were fifty years later still in gaining an or- ganization in any of the southern States. The evil was great before these tlu-ee denominations began to exist in that part of the comitiy. At present the Baptist and Methodist Churches are the great ecclesias- tical bodies which exist in the South. The Presbj-terians and Episco- paUans combined are far less numerous than either of them. What would have been the state of things at the present day, if the Chmxhes bed from the first taken the ground that no slave-holder should share in chm'ch-fellowsliip, I camiot say, for I do not know — it would require omniscience to answer that question. But that was not done ; nor was it to be expected, considermg what was the then state of opinion in the religious world, on the subject.* Good men in England were engaged in the slave-trade till long after that day. The churches in the southern colonies could hardly be expected to be m advance of the world on that subject, situated as they were. All that they thought of doing, — aU that they thought that Christianity required, — was, that they * Towards the close cf the eighteenth century, more than 160 years after slavery had been introduced, and when its roots had become numerous and closely entwined with all the interests of the southern people, the Reformed PresbyterianChurch, and two other small ^Scottish bodies of the Presbyterian family made their appearance in the United States. From the outset, the first named took the ground that no slave-holder should be received into its membership. It was not very difficult for a Church composed almost en- tirely of people recently arrived and their children, to take that ground and hold it. A portion of the other two Scottish Churches have striven to occupy the same ground and succeeded. This was comparatively easy. It Avas quite another thing to create Churches composed of those whose fami- lies had for generations been involved in the evil. 33 should inculcate on masters and slaves their con-elative duties, and do as well as they could under laws which evidently regarded these people as ahens and property which might be transferred from hand to hand, and place to place. I simply state the facts of the case, and I think they will not be questioned. And now the question returns : what has Christianity done for these people ? And we are better prepared to answer it. — It has endeavoured, under laws unjust and barbarous, and m many respects unfavourable for the successful propagation of the Gospel, to inculcate humanity and kindness on the part of the master, and obedience and fidehty on the part of the Slave. It has secured the comfortable mamtenance of the slaves, as to food and clothing and lodging, — I speak generally — for I know there are exceptions. It has secured the enforcement of the laws relating to the sabbath, and so given the slave a seventh part of his time as a day of rest. It is certainly a rare thing for a slave to be compelled to work on the Lord's day — especially in those portions of the South where Christianity is most prevalent. It has exerted a very gi'eat coun- teracting influence in regard to the loose and unjust position in which the laws have left the subject of marriage. Whatever those laws may permit in the shape of what often leads to polygamy, Christianity has done much to cause the marriage relation to be held sacred. It has done much to prevent the separation of famihes by sale ; and its influence has been mucli felt in this respect by christian masters. But so long as the laws remain as they are, death and even debt will often defeat the wishes of the best masters. It has brought tens of thousands of both masters and slaves to the Imowledge of Christ. There are pro- bably more than three hundred thousand slaves who profess Christ in the fifteen slave-holding States. It is reported that there are 50,000 m the smgle State of South Carolina. Christianity has mduced many a master to liberate his slaves. There are more than 400,000 free people of African origin m the United States, who are the descendants of slaves, if they were not slaves themselves. These people or their fathers, were liberated through the influence of Christianity. Their present value, if the value of human bemgs can be estimated by money, far exceeds all that England gave to free her West India Slaves, and all this was the gift, as it were, of individuals. Christianity is steadfly ad- vancing m the Southern States, as is demonstrable in many ways. And this is our hope. As the Legislatures of the Southern States have exclusive control, by the Constitution, over the subject of slavery, each in its own sphere, it is only through the prevalence of Christianity m all those States, that we can hope for the peaceable overthrow of slaveiy in the United States — and of no other overthrow of it will we speak, or can we speak, as Christian men. It is tliis, in connexion with the operation of other causes — among which may be named its circum- scription witliin its present hmits, and the consequent diminution of the value of slave-labour, at no very distant day,— that will lead to its over- throw sooner or later. It will require time ; but the gi'eat consunima- tion will come. The christian mfluence in the South, though consider- able, is not suflicient to control legislation there. The proportion of the lave-holders,— I refer to men, men of mfluence,— who profess to be c 34 religious men, — ^is not great. Many of their wives and children, many poor white men, and many slaves and free negroes are pious ; but the overwhelming preponderance of pohtical influence is in the hands of un- converted masters. But religion is gaining ground in the South, as well as in the North. It is greatly to be desired that its mcrease may be ftir more rapid ; for the influence which is to overthrow slavery must come from icilhin those States, not from ivithout. The people of the North cannot libe- rate the slaves of the South, Of course, the people of other lands cannot. We may grow indignant, and blaspheme, and even curse, if we will ; but it will not hasten, — it will only retard the work. The people of the South, who alone have control of the subject, cannot be driven. They may be persuaded, and the cause can be greatly aided by proper means ; but those means are not denunciation and malecUc- tion, come from what quarter they may. I have spoken to you my honest sentiments — as God is my witness. I have never held any other, because my reason will not permit it. If I am wrong in these views, I am coiiscieniiously so. I am not aware that in holding them I am influenced by sinister or corrupt motives. I have never had but one opinion of slavery itself, however much I may respect many of those who are imphcated in it, both masters and slaves ; I suacerely pity them. I never made any extraordinary profession or enunciation of my abhorrence of tliis dreadful evil — this direful curse, which the Old World has bequeathed to my country, — either m Eng- land or elsewhere, to secm-e the favour or friendship of any man, nor shall I. There are some things about wliich I cannot entertain a doubt. Whatever may be my opinion about the wisdom of some other mea- sures for overthrowing slavery in the Southern States, I cannot despair of the influence of the Gospel as the grand means of its ultimate re- moval. I know of no slave-holding State in the Union where we cannot preach the Gospel to slaves, and where they are not allowed to hear, beHeve and be saved.* In several States, not all, laws were made twenty-five years ago, forbidding to teach the slaves to read. This was done solely through fear, lest incendiary pubHcations might be, as was madly attempted, circulated among them, to excite them to rise and destroy their masters. That these most unjust laws are disregarded by some masters is affirmed, and reasonably enough, as well as by slaves * There are people in this country -who seem to know scarcely any thing that is worth knowing about the XJnited States. I have astonished some of them beyond measure, by telling them that the Gos{ el can be preached, — salvation by the Lamb — can be preached, as the Saviour and the Apos- tles preached it, — to all classes of people in the Southern States, slaves as well as masters ; and that whatever the trials of the fojmer may be, they are not too great for Grace to enable those who believe to overcome. That their young women are exposed to great temptations, especially those of them that have any beauty, is not denied; but thousands of iliem resist, anl successfully resist, those temptations, through the grace which (Jod gives to those who seek. If one half of what .Mr. Mayhew has said about London be true, there are tens of thousands of young women in that city, w-hose temptations are quite as great as any which our poor coloured girls are ex- posed to in the South. 35 who can read. But no law has been made to prevent the preaching of the Gospel. For this we may well be thankful. I have devoted a great deal of my time, from first to last, to teaching persons of the co- loured race, bond and free, to read. I have had in the classes I have taught, and in the Sabbath schools I have superintended, at least tlu:ee hunch'ed of them, in my younger years, before I entered the ministry. I am not indifferent to the importance of reading the Word of God, and I sincerely wish that all, bond and free, black and wliite, might be able to do it, and have a Bible to read. But so long as the Gospel can be preached to the slaves, I shall not despair of their salvation ; for I know that it is emphatically by the preaching of the Gospel that men always have been, and always will be saved. Besides, I cannot but believe the laws to which I have referred must be temporary. In the mean while, those means of religious instruction which can be employed ought to be greatly augmented. And this is perfectly i^racticable ; nor is the sub- ject wholly neglected ; as the missionary and other efforts of the Pres- byterians, Methodists, and other religious bodies in the South attest. Indeed the interest in it is increasing from year to year. May it in- crease a hundredfold I I am not ignorant of the evils of slavery in America. I feel sad when I think of them. The system injures, deeply mjures both par- ties. Where there arc none of the meliorating influences of rehgion, these evils are often h nrible. Nothing, in my opinion, but the influence of the Gospel, can mitigate those evils, and finally and completely over- throw the system. The very slave-holders themselves, with us, are the only men who must be induced to overthrow it. Can we hope ever to see them do it, but through the mfluence of the Gospel upon their own hearts ? But the question is often asked : Can religion make progress in such a population ? God has Himself answered that question. He pours out His Spirit and renders His word effective to the salvation of both masters and slaves. No man can deny this, who has any accurate knowledge of the slave-holding States. I have preached the Gospel too often to both masters and slaves, and conversed with both too much, to have a doubt on this subject. Indeed, if I did not feel confident on this subject, I should have no hope for the peaceable overthrow of slavery at all. And if I did not believe that the Spirit of God can renew the hearts of both masters and slaves in America, I should have little hope in regard to the debased and polluted heathen nations of the world. But where is the heart that the Spirit of God cannot change ? Here, then, is my hope. And I thmk that the first and greatest duty of Christians in our Northern States is to say to their Southern brethren: " Slavery is a great evil to you, to the slave, to the country at large ; we earnestly desire its aboHshment ; but it is a sub- ject in which you must take the lead ; for with you is the power, by the Constitution, to act effectively in it ; the South is jealous of the North- ern interference ; — very well, do you take the lead in tliis movement, and we will follow and aid you ; begin with what is practicable, and let every thmg be done which can be done to cause the Gospel to be preached faithfully to masters and slaves ; we will help you with our money and our prayers ; where the slaves and free coloured people can be taught to read, let there be no want of schools ; where they cannot be taught in schools, let it be done privately, if that be allowed ; if that be not possible, let them be taught the Scriptures orally, and assembled regularly morning and evening for this purpose, as is done by some excel- lent masters in Georgia and South Carolina ; where you have slaves who are capable of taking care of themselves, set them fr'ee, and if they may not remain in the State where you are, send them to the North, send them to the West, or send them to Liberia if they prefer ; if they can- not take care of themselves, beside clothing and feeding them well, begui to give them reasonable wages, that they may lay up sometliing for the day when they may set up for themselves ; in a word, do all you can to hasten the coming of freedom, and we will stand by you and help you to the uttermost of our power ; we will even bear, if a loss can be proved, om' full share of the expense of a reasonable compensation for your slaves, — ^for the whole of them, in order that you may not be im- poverished." Something like this is the course which I would have our Northern christians, and indeed all classes, pursue towards the people of the South. Alas, this course has not been pursued as it should have been. It is quite too old-fashioned to suit the views of those among us and abroad, who claim par excellence and exclusively to be the friends of the slave. But to something like this we shall have to come, I apprehend, before aU is over, if ever slavery be abohshed in a peaceable manner ; nor do I doubt that this course will one day be pm'sued. In the meanwhile, the area of slaveiy has been limited by the providential arrangements of our Heavenly Father, rather than any efforts of man, in the results of the late Mexican war ; California and Oregon can have no slaves ; it is very certain that neither New Mexico nor Utah will have any ; a portion of Texas has been saved from the e\n\. ;* the slave-trade is abohshed m the district of Columbia ; the conviction is gro-^qng that slavery is a dread- ful hindrance to the temporal prosperity of the States where it exists ; the constantly increasing superiority of the free States; — all these things, and many more, are conspiring with moral causes to bring on the day when tliis dreadful evil must cease for ever among us. May God hasten it 1 . Q: Romanism. The original Roman Catholic population of the United States was very small, and chiefly confined to Marj^land. Even at the commencement of the Revolution (1775), there were but twenty- six priests, and fifty-two congregations. By the acquisition of Loui- siana, (1803), a large addition was made to the number of those who belong to that communion. The purchase of Florida (1819) added a few thousands more. But the great source of the increase of that body has been immigration from Europe — from Ireland, first of all ; and next from Germany and France. This mcrease has been very rapid within the last fifteen or twenty years. It is not easy to say what is the precise proportion of the emigrants from Em'ope to our shores who are Roman Catholics; it is beheved to be rather more than one half at present. * And 25,000 ?quare miles more would have been, had it not been for the folly of some of our soi-disant friends of the slave. S7 The number of Roman Catholics in the United States at this time is not kno^\^l witli accuracy. Archbishop Hughes, of New York, estimated it to be, in 1850, three milhons. On the other hand, the authors of the Cathohc Ahnanac, published at Baltimore, under the auspices of the late Archbishop Eccleston, made it only 1,650,000, and asserted that they had taken much pains to be exact. We are inclined to be- heve that the Archbishop of New York is nearer the truth than the Bal- timore gentlemen. It is worthy of remark, however, that the increase of the papal population is less rapid from mimigration, than would ap- pear from the numbers that reach our shores. A large portion of them are poor, and not well prepared to encounter the exposures and sickness which must be encountered in so great a removal, and to so new a country, possessing a climate differing much from that which they have left. Change of diet also has its effects. And lastly, many lose their lives by rushing on board of cheap but unsafe steam-boats, when they arrive at New Orleans and other places in the Valley of the Mississippi, and on the Lakes. Dreadful loss of Ufe has often happened from this cause. There are now four Boman Cathohc Archbishops, thirty bishops, 1073 chiu-ches, and 1081 priests. They have tliirteen colleges, and numerous male and female schools. Every bishop has students of the- ology under his care. Large sums of money are constantly received from Europe — from the Lyons " Society for Propagatmg the Faith," from the " Leopold Society" of Vienna, and from other soiu:ces. They are building many churches every year, some of which are quite large and costly. A great deal of the money which they receive from abroad is expended in this way. The number of proselytes whom they gain from Protestantism has not been great hitherto. Occasionally a person of some importance, from his position, or his education and pursuits, or Ms family, joins them ; but it was rightly remarked, recently, by a Philadelphia con-es- pondent of the " Freeman's Journal," their prmcipal organ, that where they gam one, they lose many. The Echtor of the Jom^nal just named, said a year or two ago, that the defections from their Church, in the United States, were perfectly friglitfid ! They are constantly losing by conversion to Protestantism. Aid they lose many more, from their young men abandoning their church and becommg mfidels. That these persons, or their cliildren will uhimately become Protestants, is quite certain. Placed on the same footmg with the Protestants by the law, and con- stantly mmgling with them, and treated kindly by them, as they almost invariably are, tliey cannot remain miaffected by the moral atmosphere, as it were, which they breathe. The newspapers, which are cheap and of a popular form with us, exert an influence upon them which can hardly be estimated. Our " free schools" in the Northern States bring their children into contact with Protestant ones, and cause them to hear and know many things which they could not, if brought up m papal countries. Besides, our tract distributing, our Sabbath schools, our city missions, — all combine to brmg the truth to the houses and often to the hearts of the Roman Cathohcs. I am happy also to state that our churches are awaking to combined and systematic etforts in behalf of 38 our Roman Catholic population, as well as Roman Catholic nations abroad. Our American and Foreign Christian Union, which embraces o-ood men of all the Evangehcal Communions, employed last year, — the second of its existence, — more than seventy missionaries among our papal population at home, and thirty in papal countries abroad. Its in- come was not much short of Jg 10,000. Some of the Denominational Societies are beginning to occupy themselves with missions among Ro- manists. Encouraging success has attended these eftbrts on all hands. Rome will find it difficult to contend ^vith our free institutions, our free schools, our open Bible, and all the other Protestant influences which exist among us. She may send us as many Bishops, Arch- bishops, and even Cardinals, as she pleases. It will require something more than all this to make headway against the evangelical influences which pervade our Protestant country. As to the triumph of Roman- ism there, we have no fear of it ; provided our churches will do their duty in the way of labouring for the salvation of Roman CathoHcs. I am happy to say that our christian people are begmniug to understand better the work they have to do in relation to Roman CathoHcs, and the spirit and manner in which it must be done, — that of kindness and love and perseverance.* Our ministers very generally, and often, preach to their people on the distinctive doctrines of Protestantism, and the great errors of Rome, and the mode of encountering them. On the whole, I do not apprehend that Romanism is likely to gain the ascendency with us. Its professors cannot complain of oppression in any form. This is a gi-eat advantage. 9. Moral and Religious Destitution. There is no subject connected with oiu' religious state and economy which it is so difficult to make the people of England understand, as that there should be reported so much destitution of the means of grace in the United States by the side of so much religious prosperity. They read of hundreds, and thousands even, of congregations which have not pastors to instruct them ; of ex- tensive districts m wliich there are few or no churches, — and they know not what to make of the matter. And yet a few words can explain it fully to every man who has any correct knowledge of the country. In the first place : it is a new and vast country, whose population is not only increasing at a most wonderful and unparalleled rate, but sjDread- ing over districts of immense extent. Where there are now but a few famihes — this may be said of hundreds of districts in the West, — next year, or the year after, or at most in five years, there may be a large * Ten or fifteen years ago, when attention began to be called with some degree of earnestness to the subject of Romanism, we had some men who distinguished themselves m their controversies, oral and written, with the priests. The fierce language of denunciatiim, of sarcasm, and of ridicule, as well as of powerful argument, was often employed. That those men did some good, even much good, by awaking the minds of our people to ex- amine the errors of popery, and arouse themselves to the conflict with the Man of Sin, cannot be denied, — though their violence was to be deplored. Then too we had our Maria Monks, and books ot that stamp. But that era has very much passed away with us, and that of kindness to the Komanist, of deep commiseration for his errors and danger, and of prayer and appro- priate efifort for his salvation has succeeded. S9 population, large enough for the maintenance of schools and religious ccrgregations, though of course not very large raies. Now it stands to reason, that such being the state of things, there must be for a time destitution ; for the means of rehgious instruction must foltoiv, and not go in advance, of the settlement of the country. Li no part of the world have churches ever been built, and preachers been sent, before the peopling of that comitry. There must be temporary destitution of the jH'eaclmig of the Gospel in our new settlements, and indeed every where, where the population is rapidly spread out in all directions ; but that destitution will in due time be supplied. Some Missionary, of one denomination or another, will soon find his way to the neighbourhoods which are forming, when the population has become any way consider- able. At first occasional preaching, then more frequent, and finally regular and permanent. Now it is the work of our Home Missionary Societies to look after this very thing. And what can be more beauti- ful, or mterestuig, than the fact that those Societies now support more than 2500 preachers annually, — continually taldng up new ones, and dropping old ones, as fast as the congi'egations can sustain them. The appeals for mmisters, the reports of hundreds of places without churches, which appear m our papers and reports, are set forth to stimulate to effort to meet the demand. All this is miderstood with us ; but it is not so by those who do not know oiu' country, and the work that is going forward,,there. As to the foreign population that has come to us from the Continent of Europe, it has been, and still is, very difficult to supply it with the means of rehgious instruction, because of the low state of religion on the Continent, whence ministers who could preach to this portion of our population have necessarily been derived to a considerable extent. The consequence has been that reports respecting this destitution have been circulated m some countries in Europe, and especially m Germany, in such a way, as to give a very erroneous idea of the state of things in the comitry at large. 10. Immigration. The last subject upon which I would make a few remarks is Immigration. This has become a question of the great^est moment. From the Revolution in England in 1688 to the year 1775, a period of eighty-seven years, aluKjst the only emigration from Europe to our shores was from the Continent, — chiefly the persecuted French and German Protestants, and the former durmg a period of only a few years. It was within this period that the Anglo-American population got a fair start. From 1775 to 1800, the immigTation of foreigners was very limited, because of the war of the Revolution, and the subsequent troubles in Europe which made it difficult. Durmg the next decade of years this immigi-ation became considerable ; but in the one succeeding it was gi-eatly checked by the war with England. But since 1820 it has steadily advanced until at present it is immense. The emigrants come now from eveiy nation of Western Europe, and even from the Russian Empire. Not only so, Asia is beginning to send to Cahfornia her thou- sands of Chinese, and threatens to pour upon our Western shores her polluting heathenism, wliilst Em-ope is senchug here a vast amount of her worthless Christianity. 40 All this is imposing upon us a great burden. As to the poverty of a large portion of the emigrants from the Okl World, we do not think much of it ; for we can soon put them in the way of supportmg them- selves. But they are ignorant, many of them, of oui* modes of sup- porting religion and promoting education. They have Leen accustomed — all who come fi'om the Continent, and many of those who come from the British Isles, — to rely on the State for every thing that concerns the support of rehgion. It takes time, much time, — a generation or two in the case of those from the Continent, — to initiate tliem into the mysteries of our voluntary manner of doing every thing that relates to the Church. Many of them are slow to learn. We get but little help from this quarter. They seek riches, and will submit to any toil and self-denial to gain them, but as a general thmg, they do little for our religious institutions. The two richest men that have ever Hved in America were natives of France and Germany; they left millions of dollars ; and yet many an American mechanic of moderate means has done more for the cause of Christ among us than both of them ! It is somewhat different with emigrants from the British Isles, and yet even they do not equal om' people m liberality ; but their children will. And this is our hope in regard to all : Then' children, and their children's children will be thorough Americans, upon whom we may rely for aid in every good thing. A large portion of the emigrants from Europe are Roman Catholics, Irish and Germans. A large portion are infidels, not only from Germany, but from other countries, as I have stated in another place. It is very chfficult for us to provide for the spiritual wants of these people, from the want of the right men. Europe, owing to the low state of a spiritual and true Protestantism in most countries, especially those of the Continent, sends us but few. It is absolutely easier for us to pro- vide for the spiritual necessities of our entii-e native population than for those of the foreign. But we are not discouraged. We shall meet all the difficulties which lie m our pathway with confidence m God, the God of our fathers, who has never yet deserted us, notwithstanding all our sins and our great mi- wortliiness. With His blessing, we beheve that our institutions will be found equal to every emergency. We have a gi'eat work to do in our own vast country, but we are not willing to confine our efforts to our own land. We will aid in sending the Gospel to the Heathen, to the Mo- hammedans, to the Jews: we ^\dll come and help you here, in the Old World, to resuscitate a pure Christianity, a true Protestantism, — ^in France, in Italy, in Spain, in Russia, and in Ireland too. Do I say, will come ? We have come afready. For years we have been endeavourmg to bring our churches up to tliis work, and not in vam. And already we are aidhig the good work, in almost every papal nation in Europe. We wish to continue to do so ; we shall continue to do so, unless you deem us unworthy to work by your side ; m that case we mil retfre, and confine our efforts to our own Hemisphere, and to the Heathen and the Mohammedans. SPEECH MADE AT THE BRITISH EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE, August 22d, ON THB HISTORY, PRESENT STATE, AND PROSPECTS, OF THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE CAUSE IN THE UNITED STATES. 1 Prelwiinary Remarks. I know not that I ever undertook a sadder task than that of making the present Address, for it must contam some things which wiU be heard with pain by all upon whose ears it will fall. It can afflict none, how- ever, more than liini who makes it. It is, perhaps, right that this duty should be performed by me ; in some respects there is a special propriety in my undertaking it. In addition to the fact that though an American, I sustain a pecuhar rela- tion to this assembly, — for ui my veins flows the blood of Scotchmen, Irishmen, Welchmen, Enghshmen, and Germans, — I have resided so much in Europe, laboui-ed so much for the cause and kingdom of Christ in almost all parts of it, that without losing an mterest m my own coun- try, I feel a very deep one in all those lands wliich are represented in tliis meeting. If any thmg, therefore, winch will cause sorrow must be said about America, it may be fitting for me to say it. 2. Formation of the American Branch, Upon their return home, the American brethren who had taken part in the great Alhance Meetmg in London, in 1846, lost no time m call- ing the attention of the christian pubhc to the subject. Several large and interesting meetmgs were held in the city of New York, at which the Doctrinal Articles and Practical Kesolutions were read, and statements made by those who had been present at the meetings in Europe. Many of the members put themselves to much inconvenience, at that incle- ment season of the year, to attend the meetings in New York, having to come, some of them from Baltimore, from the interior of Pennsyl- vania, from Boston, from Bangor, in IVJaine, and other distant places. During the Anniversaries in New York, in the month of May, 1847, after much consideration and discussion, the Articles of the General Al- D liance were accepted with entire unaniraity, and such resolutions adopted as would, it was supposed, put the dreadful question which was the cause of so much difficulty in the meeting in London, in as acceptable a shape as was consistent with the maintenance of affinity with the General Al- liance. Auxiliaries were formed in several places, some of them of more than common promise. Meetings for prayer, in wliich christians of all evangehcal denominations united, were held. In many of the smaller cities and towns, meetings of mmisters of all, or of most, of the Protestant churches began to be held, or received a fresh impulse where they had already existed. Many of the rehgious newspapers were per- vaded by the Alliance spirit, m a greater measure than ever befi-tre. A monthly magazine, called The Christian Union, wliich was filled with essays, and articles of inteihgence relatmg to the cause, was commenced with the year 1848, and carried on, chiefly under my editorial manage- ment, for three years. It forms three large and valuable octavo volumes. As neither my health, nor my other duties, permitted me to l)e longer responsible for the work, it ceased at the end of the year 1850. It was carried on gi^atuitously on my part, and at a considerable loss to the ex- cellent publisher, Mr. Hueston, one of the sincerest fiiends of the Alli- ance cause in America ; but there is reason to believe that it did much good in behalf of the object which it advocated. For several wmters, pubhc meetings were held in New York, from time to time, for prayer and exhortation in reference to the duty of Christian Union, and were unquestionably and greatly useful. Annual meetings of the Alliance have been regularly held in that city, and the organization still continues. An agent was employed by that body for a considerable time, to visit the churches and preach on the subject. There is abundant evidence that the movement has done much good. The brethren who attended the meetings in London were, I am &\ire, greatly benefitted. Many have acknowledged that they were made better men by those blessed meetmgs — the memory of which will be ever precious. Most of those brethren still remain, but some of them, and among them the excellent Emory and Caldwell, have fallen asleep. 3. T/ie Causes ivhich have hindered the progress of the Alliance Movement in the United States. It must be confessed, however, that though the AUiance movement has done some good, — even great good, — in America, enough and far more than enough to justify all the trouble and expense which it has oc- casioned, — including that of the ^dsit of so many brethren to London in 1846, — yet it has been, in a great degi-ee, a failure. It has accom- plished but little in comparison with what was fondly hoped when it was projected, — and httle m comparison with what it would have done, if it had had a fair chance. The brethren from America, who were at London in 1846, returned home with heavy hearts. Some of them had been among the first, if they were not the very first, to propose the movement. They had written much about it ; they had prayed much for it, and over it. They had beheved that it might accomplish four tlungs without much difficul- ty. 1. Form, and setjorth a brief statement of doctrine, a symbol of I 43 faith, ill wliicli all evangelical Protestants could unite. 2. Bring to- gether, irom time to time, a great amoimt of valuable informati( n respecting the state and progress of the kingdom of our Lord in all countries. 3. Promote the communion and fellowship of saints, ly making christians better acquainted with each other's faith, cha- racter, and trials ; and 4. Unite all true Protestants more perfectly in efforts to resist their old enemy, the " ^Man of Sin," in all the va- rious forms of attack which he may choose to make. They had supposed that all who were members, in good standing, of the several evangehcal branches of the one true Church of God might be received as members of tliis holy Alliance, with the confidence that if there were evils with which any of them were for a time entangled, and which might seem, or might be under certain circumstances, inconsistent with tnie religion, they would be better looked after, and more certainly removed, by the proper ecclesiastical organizations, than by such an alhance as was pro- posed. For the same reason they would have left aU national and local evils to national and local agencies. Shocked as they might be, for instance, with the wine-drinldng and brandy- ilrmking habits which prevailed, and do still prevail, among christians and even ministers of the Gospel in some countries, (and which make some brethren far less worthy of confidence than many who are condemned, perhaps even by some such, for their connexion, invo- luntary, and often unavoidable, for a time at least, with the great evil which occasions our trouble,) they were willmg to beheve that the sin of the improper use of intoxicating beverages would be removed by the progress of light and through the influence of kindness. They did nut believe that the presence of unworthy members was going to prevent either the communiun of saints, or communion with the Saviour, — for in that case they could probably be members of no church on earth. They were willhig — if a second instance may be stated, — to meet in the proposed Alliance, brethren of England, brethren of Germany, and brethren of other countries, who hold with the greatest earnestness that the union of the Church and the State is both Scriptural and useful, although there was probably not one of those American brethren, that did not believe in his inmost soul, and I certauily agree with them, that that same union (of Church and State) is the greatest curse that has ever befallen Christianity, — that it has done more, a hundred-fold more, for fifteen centuries, to corrupt sound doctrme, to blend the world and the Church, to subvert the rights of conscience and of rehgious worship — and in a word, to prevent men fi'om entering into heaven, than all the slavery that has ever existed.* And yet entertainmg these opmious, * The language of the text is strong, but no stronger than the liistory of the Chinch, and my own observation will warrant. It was the uniting of the Church with the State by Constantine, (which was not effected, how- ever, without encountering great opposition Irom some of the best men in the Church at that day), that laid the foundation for the Papacy, with all its unutterable evils in the West, as well as for the domination of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, much less, but still very greatly mischievous in the East. Nor have the evils of this union, wherever it subsists, and it subsists, alas, in all of them excepting the United States, been small in Protestant coun- tries. When I have seen, as I have done, how^ it opens the doors lor simony, 44 ttey were never guilty of the folly of refusing to meet and acknowledge christian brethren who aj^prove of, and uphold that pernicious union, and share in its emoliuuents. They thought that the progi-ess of hglit would m time enable them to view the subject as they do, although it might involve what Robert Hall pronounced to be very hard : namely, to see through a guinea! It will certainly demand time for the emanci- pation of the Chiu-ch from this dreadfid evil ; for did we not hear the otiier day, the invitation from a great Doctor, to appoint a committee of live brethren to go to his hospitable mansion, and at his expense, and there sit down and investigate the Tnith on the subject of Religion; and did he not intimate his belief that he could show that the civil magis- trate has a right to interfere m the matter of Rehgion ? Although I have no ambition to be a member of the august Committee of Five, who may be appointed to go to Durham, I should be very wlllmg to be an hiunble attendant, and sit at the feet of this British Gamahel — ^I use the expression in no derisoiy sense, for I consider Dr. Townsend to be the most learned in the Divme Law, of all Enghsh theological Doc- tors, — during t^ce five days, to hear him demonstrate that important proposition. The American brethren entertained the views which I have just stated, as to what should be the nature of the proposed Evangelical Alhance, and they hailed it with delight. Alas ! they soon began to have fears. A resolution adopted by our British brethren, at a prelun- makes the way easy for worldly and even ungodly men, to enter the ministry, how it gives to Mmisters of the dominant Church, the preeminence on all occasions in which they may think proper to demand it, over their Dissenting brethren ; how it frequently makes them treat Dissenting Ministers with contempt, and often renders the latter servile and base in spirit,— men in- finitely better than themselves often ; how it renders united effort on the part of members of the Established Church, (even sometimes of very good men,) and Dissenting brethren, impossible, excepting on conditions humili- atmg to the latter,— when I have seen all these evils, and even more and greater ones if that be possible, how can I avoid feeling a profound abhor- rence of this dreadful evil ? But whilst I speak thus severely of the system, I trust I have the sense and the heart to distinguish between it, and the many excellent men who have been or who are involved in it. for the simple reason, that they are bet- ter than the system,-that they are not to be held accountable for all its evils, many of which they see and deeply deplore, and that there may be peculiar and important reasons, that lead them to remain where they are. It would be expecting almost too much of humanity, to hold that men so situated should see this subject in the light in Avhich others do, who have regarded the ques- tion from other points of view, and possess better means of forming a right judgment respecting it. How many excellent men have belonged to the Es- tablished Church of England, whose names are dear to every well-informed American Christian, - Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Scott, Heber, Martyn, Bick- ersteth, and a thousand more, that must not be held responsible for the enormous evils of that establishment. No American ever dreams of hold- ing them accountable for them ; they were what they were, in spite of the system and its evils. There is probably not one Christian man in England who is more esteemed in the United States than Mr. Baptist Noel, and yet 1 am not aware that he is more esteemed now than he was when connected with the EstablishedChurch, perhaps not quite as much so ; for Ave are inclined to think that it was less easy for him then to be so good a 45 iiiary meeting- gave notice of coming difficulty. Still many came to the great meeting in London, in 184G, hoping for the best. At the very threshold of that meeting they were met with a test, proposed by a National organization which had taken " the lead in the movement, that was felt to be not very courteous, as arranging the terms of an Alliance, which was expected to be not for Britain only, but for the world. But even this was gotten over, and the American brethren entered the gTeat conference. The result of the long and painful discussion is but too well kno\\Ti. The American bretlu-en returned to then- country, as I have said, with a heavy heart. That happened which they had feared : it was impossible to make the movement successful among us. Very few of even those who had previously been decidedly favourable to it, would take any part in it. Other causes,* I know, existed, wliich hindered, but tliis was the most fatal, as it was by far the most insui'- momitable. The restriction was felt to be unjust, inasmuch as it was certain to operate cruelly upon many of the very persons in the slave-holding States who most need, as they most deserve, the sympathy and the suc- cour which Chi'istian union can give. For whilst there are forms of tliis great evil which no man, at least none that has the light that we have, or think we have, — can hesitate to pronounce to be smful, ui such a sense as to be utterly inconsistent wdth true religion, or any religion wliich requires justice to our fellow-men : as, for instance, where it is voluntary, mercenary, and not from the fixed purpose of secumg the highest good to the slave, heartless and cruel, — there are many cases where the relation is far otherwise, from the state of the laws, fr'om the position of the master, or the age and condition of the slave. All this was felt, because understood, by many of the best men in America, and they stood aloof from our AUiance. Besides, the whole affair had an unfavoiu-able aspect. There was an appearance of foreign dictation. I say, appearance, for I know that the intention will be disclaimed, and justly so. And it came from the very last quarter, — I mean fr-om Eng- land, — from which, for obvious reasons, no thing of an miacceptable na- * My esteemed friend, the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Cincinnati, whilst he agrees with me in the opinion that the subject of Slavery ought not to have been introduced into the Alliance at all, as a term ot membership, thinks that 1 have not attributed sufficient importance to another cause of the com- parative failure of our efforts in America : namely, the spirit of sectarianism. It is natural that he should take this view, for he has certainly seen and felt enough of the evils of that spirit, and combatted them too. Belonging, as he does, to one of the smaller Presbyterian Churches, of Scottish origin, which, with all their excellencies have been more exclusive, as it relates to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, than any other Churches among us, with the exception of the Baptists, and withal have been much troubled by divisions within the last few years, he has certainly had much reason to de- plore the spirit of sectarianism. But great as that evil is, it is not so great as he deems it to be. It may prevent the sundered parts of the same Church or Denomination from acting together for a while, but it does not prevent these same parts from acting with the other Churches or Communions, at least not to any great extent, so far as my observation has gone ; and I cer- tainly have had good opportunities for observing, these last twenty-two years, lor my work has brought me more or less into contact with nearly every evangelical branch of the Church of Christ in America. 46 ture sliuiild come to us, if good is to be done. The wounds which two severe and almost fratricidal wars, — and the more severe and bitter, because fratricidal, — had occasion id, have not been long enough healed to admit of any thing but extreme prudence, especially when regarded iu connexion with another element of hostile and dangerous influence, to which I shall allude presently. The result was, as has been stated, in many respects a deplorable failure. I say deplorable, not because we have needed in America, in any thing like a pressing degree, such an aUiauce for ourselves, or rather tor the benefit of our churches. There is no country in Christendom where there is less need of it. Our several Evangehcal Churches dwell together in a harmony, for which we cannot be too grateftd. All placed on the same footing before the Government and the Laws, all protected, and well protected by those Laws, and truly respected by that Govern- ment, there can be no invidious distinctions between them. No State Church overshadows and depresses the others, for none has the prestige, or the influence, of the " Powers that be," to sustain it. We all are equal in this respect, and know nothing of the assumptions, the jea- lousies, the heart-bm-nings which exist in some other countries. Deus tiobis Tkbc otia fecit. And to Him be the glory and the praise ! 4. The dangers which threaten hoth England and America. But we do deplore the failure on another account, which concerns many of those who hear me as much as ourselves. We deplore it, be- cause we foresee days of evil ; nor are they very far distant. It cannot be disguised that the very attempt which we have made to brmg the churches of America and of Europe, especially those of Britain, into more friendly and fi'aternal relations, has ended in putting them further asunder ! You have been told that it would hasten the overthrow of the dreadful e^Hil among U;, if you would put us out of the pale of your chris- tian fellowship ; you have been told what amounts to tliis, — and you have believed those who have told you so, notwithstanding the remon- strances and the tears even, of brethren who are worthy of your con- fidence, from their characters, their antecedents, and their position. You have preferred to beUeve another class of witnesses. — As to the questions : Who they are, and what they are ? I shall say notliing. You have beheved them ; but you have been deceived. You might have known us, by knowing yourselves. And this knowledge would certainly have taught you, that very much that has been done, and still more what has been said, is any thmg else than likely to accomplish that great object. Oh, no ! The language of taunt and of ridicule and of indis- criminate abuse may wound the hearts of clu'istian men among us, who love their country, and with good reason, notwithstanchng its faults ; but it will be hurled back with unmeasured scorn, if they deign to no- tice it, by more than three thousand secular presses. " Let America wash out of her skirts the stain of slavery, and then she will be fit to join the churches of Britain in their noble efforts to give the Gospel to the world." Such was the language a few years ago, of one whom we have greatly loved in America, and whom we would love more, if he 47 would permit us. Would you know how that language was received in America, by the overwhelming majority of those who read it ? Shall 1 tell you a few things which were said ? Here you have a specimen : *' Indeed 1 And is England immaculate ? How long is it since she washed out the deep sin of slave-holding and slave-trading from her own skirts ? And do these airs mdicate that depth of repentance, which such a long career of wickechaess demands ? Has she no sins in relation to Ireland, India, China, and the aborigines of Van Dieman's Land, yet to be washed away ? And must our American Churches wait till their country be rid of slavery, before they shall be fit to co-operate with British christians in spreading the Gospel throughout the world ? Thanks be to God, He does not thus judge of us. With all our sins and great unworthiuess. He deigns to bless the efforts of our Churches to send the Gospel even to India, to the Aborigines, to the Islands of the sea, to Mohammedan lands. Are England's missionaries better men, or more successfid than our own, Enghshmen themselves being judges ?"* How often have I heard such remarks in reply to such language as that which I have quoted. Alas, if the robes of us aU be not washed in the blood of the Lamb, what will become of us ? But I will say no more on this point, for I would not fall into the commission of the grievous fault which I am condemning. Let British christians pursue their great work of gettmg every thmg right in their own vast dominion, and we will do the same in our gTeat country : and may God crown those who come out foremost in tliis race ! W^e apprehend that when you have gotten through, we shall not be far behind you. Yes, we shall abohsh this gi'eat evil, but we must be allowed to take such time and employ such measures as we deem best. We beheve that we understand this matter better than you do — I speak it with all deference. We shall get clear of Slavery, but not at, or m consequence of your bidding, or to please you. We shall get clear of it, because the spirit of Christianity demands it ; and because the very spirit of our political institutions, and the honour of our country demand it. You placed the coat of Nessus on the young shoulders of our nation ; but you cannot aid us in the work of putting it off. It was not * The language which I used in the Alliance was diiferent from that given above. I prefer not, upon revising my notes, to repeat it. I there- fore give other language, which I have often heard and seen, and which will quite as well illustrate my position, namely that severe language on one side will call forth just as severe on the o'lher. A disiinguished London minister, at the Annual Meeting of the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, held up to ridicule the placing of Mr. Powers* Greek Slave in the Crystal Palace, and pronounces it a sign of infatuation, of Judicial blinchiess, on the part of the Americans -though not half a dozen of them, probably, had any thing to do with the act. Well, what is said in America, by way of offset, in a newspaper which has 40,000 subscribers, and whose editor is anything else than a friend to slavery or the South? "And there is the Great Diamond," (the writer who was the editor himself, if I remember rightly, was describing the Crvstal Palace), " the Koh-i-noor, what is it placed in the Great Exhibition for ? Is it a British manuSacture r -t^as it not rather been placed there, throngh Infatuation, and as an exponent ot the most prominent traits of Britain's national character— ^miiiion and Rapa- city i" 4S Republicanism, nor the Voluntary Principle that imposed it. nurtured it for 155 years; and if the Church did not do her duty, — though she did much, — at the time when the evil was young and small, and com- paratively feeble, it was when ten out of our thirteen Colonies were enjoy- ing the blessings, as some call them, of an Estabhshed Church, — Episco- pacy in the South, Congregationalism in the North — the former for 1 50 years, the latter considerably longer. Do not, I beg of you, send us such missionaries as one that lately visited us, and who now deceives liimsehf, or rather tries to deceive his constituents, by teUing them that his speeches made in this city, since his retmn, wiW make a sensation in America, — from Maine to California ! Yes, a sensation they may make, but it vnll be the double one of laugh- t-er and contempt. Nevertheless, if you have another John Joseph Guniey among you, let him come ; he will be heard every where with pleasui-e ; for when among us he visited the North and South, and eveiy where, and whilst he " reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come," he was heard with attention by all, for he was both a christian and a gentleman.* No, dear brethren, the course wliich things have been taking for the last few years, bodes any thing else than good. The unnecessary allu- sions to American slavery, and the sweeping charges agamst the American churches, which one now hears in almost every public meeting in Exeter Hall and elsewhere in this city, are working out their legi- timate results — not of hastening the overthrow of this gTeat evil in America, but of severing the bonds which hold two gi'eat nations together. What do we see ah-eady ? A few Americans in this meeting, and most of them spectators of your proceedings, not members of our Alliance. " Why is it," said a brother of this city, now before me, well knowTi and gi'eatly beloved in America, — " How is it, that out of so many American ministers now in Europe, so few are here, or have even called upon us." That is a serious inquiry. I would prefer to leave it unanswered, but I cannot. It can be expressed in a few words. — " I am tired," said one of the best of the American brethren now in this city to me, yesterday, " of going to public meetings in this city, and of being insulted by bemg made to hear my country, its chmThes, and its ministry abused, in cir- cumstances where reply is impossible." Another said to me, — " I was at the public meetings in Exeter Hall, last May, and I did not attend one, in which some insulting remark was not made about the United States." Even at the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Tract Society, the Sunday School Society — at all, something of the sort oc- curred ; and the presence of an American was sure to be the signal for some speaker, ambitious of catching the applause of a London audience, even if it could only be by the clap-trap of making a fling at American Slavery or something else in that country and its institutions. What effect can all tliis have upon any American who has any respect for his country ? That there are Americans, upon whose feehngs such insult- * His published "Letters to Mr. Clay," were read after he left us with interest, both in the South and North. 49 ing remarks would have no effect, I have no doubt is true ; but their number is wholly insignificant. The result will soon be, that you will not be troubled with the presence of American mmisters and other christians at your pubhc meetings, or any where else. Indeed this is beginning to be the case already. They will come to England, visit the chief places of interest, your "glorious Exhibition" among other things, whilst it lasts, — ^liear some of your preachers on the Sabbath, but call upon few or none of you. They will visit the tombs of their fathers, wherever they may be in your realm, but not feeling at home here, they will go over to the Con- tment, where they will find less that will wound their feehngs. Let this state of things continue to grow worse and worse, as it cer- tainly is doing, and the result cannot but be disastrous in the end. It will ahenate the religious people of both countries. They wiU cease to feel that interest which each country ought to feel m the welfare of the other. And then, how great the danger, if some sfrious misunderstand- ing should occur between the governments of the two countries. And how soon such a misunderstanding may take place none of us can tell. It may occur at any moment. The state of the world is very critical. The omens are not propitious in the East. Nor is the horizon in the West entu-ely clear. There is the aftair of Nicaragua, which may give trouble before all is over. And what may grow out of the Cuban af- fairs, none of us can foresee. We may soon fall upon times which will demand all the prayers and the efforts of the righteous in both countries to mauitain peace between them. But there is another element of disturbance whose influence we must not disregard. There have gone from the Old World to the United States, witlun ten years, at least two milhons of emigrants. More than a milKon and a quarter have gone since the AUiance Meeting m 1846. Last year there went 315,000, and this year it is expected the number will reach half a million. There had come to New York nearly 150,000 persons between the first of January and the first of July — almost 1000 per day. Who are these people ? jMostly Irish Roman Cathohcs and Germans. Poverty takes many of them to the United States ; op- pression drives others. Do you tliink that these people cherish in their hearts much love for the countries which they are leaving ? If you do, you are mistaken. The number of such people is increasing at a fearfiil rate, and their influence is begmnmg to be felt. Many of the most turbulent and restless people of the Contment — sociahsts, radicals, in- fidels, — the very sweepings of Em^ope, — are going to the New World. Is there no danger in ail tliis for the peace of Britain and the United States ? Some of the most dangerous newspapers m the United States are edited by foreigners. The paper that has probably the most m- fiuence over the masses in New York is edited by a Scotchman — who has no love for England. That paper has a circulation of 60,000 co- pies, and is, for the sphere which it aims at filling, conducted with won- derful tact. Its hostility to England is undisguised. And there are other papers just as dangerous. Some of these papers have laid hold for the last five years, of every thing which they could turn to account in stirrmg up enmity, — the Oregon affair, the Nicaragua question, and 50 the Cuban movement all have been seized hold of with the view of maldng difficulty. It required aU the wisdom and decision of Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster to arrange the North-east bomidary ques- tion ; and it may task the great abilities and good feeluigs of Mr. Web- ster and Sir Henry Bulwer to the utmost, to carry the nation well through the questions which will soon press upon their attention. Is it a tune, then, for the ahenation of the Christians of the two countries ? Certainly not. Perhaps you may think that you can do without us. — If so, I have to say that we can do without you. (No, you cannot, said the chairman. Sir Culling Eardley.) But we can do with- out you, as well as you can do without us. (Yes, but neither can do without the other, rephed Sir CuUing). That is true, — neither can do without the other. We need your help in the work of promoting re- ligion among us, by your raising up good men to labour among the hundreds of thousands of poor Irish Romanists who are commg to us, and for whose spiritual instruction we have so few suitable labourers. You can help us, help us m many ways ; and we too can help you in return. But enough. I have felt it to be my duty to give you the brief state- ment which I have done m relation to the American Branch of the Alhance, its very partial success, the causes of its comparative failure, and to seize the occasion to express earnestly my apprehensions of the dangers wliich are hkely to grow out of the increasing alienation between the christians of the two countries, wliich is but too manifest. I have spoken to you with much plainness, but with no unldndness of feeling. No Englishman, no Irishman, no Scotchman, ever visited my house during my long residence in Paris and Geneva, without receiving all the hospitality that I could show him. No Frenchman, or Swiss, or Ger- man, or uihabitant of any part of the Contment has ever apphed to me in person or by letter for any help or favour, since my return to America, without my doing all I could in the case. These sixteen years and more, a great deal of my time has been taken up, and at great incon- venience to myself and my family, in serving people of Europe in many ways. I cannot be charged with being influenced by unkind feehngs in putting before you, with all fidehty, the facts and views which I have stated. I have owed it to my name as an American and to my origin, not to hesitate for a moment to tell you these things. I have attempted to do my duty, to acquit my conscience. I fear that a chasm is opening before us, and I have felt it my duty to warn you of it. Perhaps, however, I have only been performmg the part of Cassandra ; — be it so, I cannot help it. REMARKS. The preceding Address contains substantially what I said to the Alliance on the 22nd of August. The subject was referred, as is well known, for consideration, at the suggestion, I beheve, and motion of the Rev. Messrs. Noel and James, to the Council of the Alliance, with the imderstanding that the American brethren present were to be invited to attend and give their views. This was done m two sessions of several hours ; the first on Saturday, the 23rd, and the second on Tuesday, the 26th of that month. The result was the brmging in of the Report and Resolution subjoined,* wliich the Alliance adopted near the close of its sessions. In the meetings of the Council, just referred to, the Rev. Dr. Bacon spoke fiilly on the whole subject, and confirmed in the strongest manner the position which I had previously taken, (and wliich aU the Americans with a solitary exception, held and maintained at the General Conference, m 1846), on the injustice of confomidmg in one sweeping restriction the worthy and the miworthy of those American brethren, who are so un- fortunate as to be implicated in the holding of men in bondage. f We ♦ The Council report that they have had much friendly conference with their American brethren, in which frank and courteous explanations have been mutually given, which have shown how important it is for Christians, residing on opposite shores of the Atiantic, to have a clear understanding of each other's position, and to assist each other in discouraging national jealousies, and in promoting the interests of humanity and religion ; that the American brethren have made no request that the British Organization should not still adhere to its constitution as originally settled; and that the Council are also satisfied that no alteration should be made in it. At the same time the Council recommend that in the intercourse between the Christians of the two countries all uncharitable actions and expressions be avoided ; and they desire to encourage their brethren from the United States, to renew their efforts to revive the organization of the Evangelical Alliance existing there, in accordance with the Resolution of the Conference of 1846, in the confidence that by the Divine blessing, the difficulties which have hitherto obstructed their progress will, in answer to prayer, and under the influence of their united wisdom and charity, gradually give way until they are altogether removed. t It is one of the most difficult things in the world to make foreigners understand fully the state of things in America, in regard to the subject of Slavery. This arises in many cases, from the confused, and consequently inaccurate idea that many have of our Government, and indeed of all go- vernment. They cannot conceive that a government is not something, a U7nt, or in other words, that every portion of the people who live under a government are not responsible for the action of the other portions. And yet this cannot be so, it is probable, under anv government whatever. It certainly is not under that of Great Britain, things are done by the Pro- vincial Governments,— things exist in the Provincial Governments of Cana- both gave eases in which the state of things is made such by the laws of the Slave-holding States, — laws which the Christians in those States, who are a small mmority of the inhabitants, could not prevent being made, — that there are Slave-holders there, whom Christianity itself would not alloAV to hberate their slaves in the present circumstances. Dr. Bacon stated several cases of this sort — cases in wMch, he afl&rmed, no man in his senses, could possibly assert that a man could not be a Slave-holder and yet be a Christian ; and, therefore, the adoption of a rule to exclude all Slave-holders, without distinction, was as mijust as it was unwise. It was such a rule as no man m England would have thought of introducing twenty years ago. They had agreed to come together in that Alliance, Baptist and Paedo-baptist, Calvinist and Armi- nian, Churchman and Dissenter; but they had brought in a new test, which they knew would be confined in its operation to America, and in his opinion on a subject upon which they were not capable of judging rightly, because they could not judge with discrimination. As to the effect of this course upon the Alliance cause in America, Dr. Bacon said that he had no hesitation, inasmuch as he had been referred to, in declaring that the moment he read the proceedings of the preli- minary meetmg in England, in which it was decided that Slave-holders should not be allowed to be members of the General Conference in 1846, he determined to have nothing to do with the matter. And if such was the effect on Dr. Bacon's mind, who was, I firmly beheve, the first to propose the holding of such a General Conference — for he named it to Dr. Paton of New York, and myself, in the autumn of 1843, da, South Africa, India, Australia, and even in Ireland, which the people of England cannot control, and for which they hardly feel, in any proper sense of the word, accountable. The case of Switzerland is, however, much more in point. There are twenty-two Cantons, each having its own Government, sovereign in respect to what is an appropriate subject for its legislation and government ; and over all a General Government, which is sovereign in all that concerns its sphere. Thus it so happens that some of the Cantons are Protestant, and 8ome Roman Catholic, and their laws are very different, and sometimes even opposed. And yet the people of a Protestant Canton do not feel ac- countable for the laws and conduct of a Roman Catholic Canton. The same principle is illustrated in all firms, or associations of men, — each man is bound to fulfil his engagements to the firm or company, but no more ; nor does he feel accountable for the character of his associates, nor for their conduct, excepting so far as it comes within the obligations of the contract. So it is with the people of the United States. The Constitution defines the duties of the General Government, and of those of the several States ; it establishes the sovereignty of the General Government in its proper sphere, and that of the State Governments in theirs. It results from this that while every citizen is accountable, on the one hand, for what the General Govern- ment does, he is accountable only for what his own individual State does, on the other. So that the subject of Slavery, being one of those subjects which each State has control of for itself ;— if one State chooses to have sla- very, or to legislate after any particular manner respecting its slaves, the people of no other State have any sort of right to interfere in the matter, — in fact are forbidden to do so. It is easy to see, therefore, how slave-holders and non-slave-holders can live in different States, in our Confederation or Union, and yet have no control over each other, or responsibility for each other. 5S and engaged us to write, the one to the Bev. J. A. James, of Birming- ham, and the other to Dr. Merle d'Aubigne, in order to induce them to bring the proposition foi^ward, which they did the year following, — what was likely to be its influence upon other men in America ? It alienated very many at the outset, as I have occasion to know full well. He fur- ther said that if the question had been proposed to him, when he entered the meetuig on the present occasion, whether he was a Slave-holder, he would not have set his foot in it. He would submit to no such test as that, although he had no hesitation in expressing to the persons present or to the whole w^orld, his abhorrence of Slavery. He said that his opinions on this subject were well Imown in America. Dr. Bacon expressed without doubt, the feehngs which predominate in the bosoms of Americans. It w^as painfully illustrated in the case of one of them, at the recent meetmg of the British AlHance, an excellent young minister of Christ, who, supposing that the meeting would be open to all Christians, according to the invitation ^vhicli had been pub- Hshed so extensively in Europe, a few weeks previously, in EngHsh, German, and French, came from Paris to London expressly to attend it. When he presented himself at the door, and gave his name and place of residence, (which is in one of the Southern States) he was asked whether he was a Slave-holder ? His reply was : " Is that a test ques- tion, upon the answer to which my admission is to depend ? " He was told that it was. He then said, " I will not answer it," and retired ; and yet this minister of the Gospel has never had any tiling to do with Slavery, and is strongly opposed to it. He did not seek admission to the meetmgs on any other ground than that on which others had been received; — the general invitation that had been given. He did not ask to become a member of the British AUiance ; all he wished was to attend the meetmgs — just as did eighteen Americans, none of whom, excepting two or three, took any part in the proceedings whatever, and they only in the same way that brethren from the Continent did. When afterwards offered a ticket for the Gallery, he decHned takmg it ; saying that he preferred not to attend at all, if he could not attend as the brethren from America and other countries did. The same day he wrote to one of the most influential officers of the British AUiance, and informed him of what had happened. In answer he was told that when the general mvitation was given to "all who ac- cept the one and only sacrifice and mediation of Christ," etc., brethren from the Contment were contemplated and not Americans, otherwise, something would have been said about Slavery ! It would seem from tliisthat American Christians, should any of them be in England hereafter, at the time of the annual meetmgs of the British Alliance, are not to attend those meetings as friends and brethren — a totally different thmg from becommg members of it, which no Ame- rican would dream of asking — ^without first submittmg to a test, ui rela- tion to Slavery, at the door — much after the fashion that the Rev.^ Dr. Chickering was treated, at the recent meetmg of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. If tliis be so, it is well that they should know it. I will be responsible for it, that not many of them will ever trouble a meeting of the British Alliance wth their presence. Indeed 54 the words which were employed in the announcement of the character that the recent annual meeting of the British AUiance was to take tliis year, that *' America should be represented, if desired,'' — or words to that effect, — seemed so extraordinary that Dr. Robinson, Dr. Alexander, and others, hesitated very much about attending even the few times they did. I will only add that if all tliis has occurred of design, and not through inadvertence, it will not be worth while, in my humble opinion, for the Council of the British Branch to send a Delegation to America, with a Resolution in their hands relating to Slavery or any other subject. If the British Christians choose to exclude slave-holders from membership in their Branch of the Alliance, they certainly may do so ; but to require a test of tliis sort from American brethren who desire to attend their meetings, when it falls in their way to do it, is quite another thing. Suppose that the Americans, on their part, should resolve to exclude, not only from membership in their Branch, but even from its meetings, all brethren, come from what quarter they may, who have any connexion with a Church established and sustamed by the State, or who are not members of a Temperance Society ! AVhat would be said to that ? Such a rule might possibly apply to some of the pro- posed Committee, just referred to. I do not say that they will ever adopt such a resolution, — but no one can teU ; there was more than one man among those who were present at the recent meeting in London, that was quite ready for the measure. On one other point Dr. Bacon spoke very plainly, in conl&rmation of what I have said in the AUiance, respecting the folly of making the sweeping and indiscriminate charges which are so often heard in Eng- land, and even from men who profess to be Christians, agamst the peo- ple of the United States, their churches, their ministers, and members of their churches ; and said, that the effect was to produce great exaspe- ration, and cause the utter rejection of all interference in the matter, as being a subject which concerns ourselves, and not foreigners. In these views, Dr. B. apprehended that there was no substantial difference among the Americans present. These sentiments Dr. Bacon greatly desired to express in the Alliance, but no suitable occasion offered for Ms doing so, and therefore I deem it proper to produce them here. I wiU add that either Dr. Bacon or some other American stated one thing at one of the meetings which greatly surprised me ; for I had not sui^posod that there were men base enough in America to do any thing of the sort. It was in effect, that there are men of a certain class in that country, who consideiing themselves the Simons-pure, the veritable standards in all that relates to proper feehng and action on the subject of American slavery, and beUeving they have a right to denounce and, I fear, execrate all who do not approve of their modes of speaking and acting on tliis question, take upon themselves to write over to certain persons in England to incite them to pursue, without relaxation, every Americaa minister and other Christian who conies to these shores, and hold him up to scorn, if he does not belong to their fraternity, ^or sym- bolize with their opinions, and their measures ! Who these gentlemen are was not stated, nor do I desire to know. I am sorry to hear that 55 there are euch men in America. It is to the same source that the British public are indebted, it is probable, for notices of all instances of cruelty on the part of slave-holders that occur from time to time. And so ef- fectually has this species of communication been prosecuted, that many people in England seem really to believe that every slave-holder has a pack of blood-hounds to hunt runaway negroes, and feeds those poor people on cotton seed ! It is also probable that these same correspon- dents have fiu-nished the garbled extracts from sermons which some of oiur distinguished pastors thought it to be their duty to preach recently in relation to the necessity of maintaining the laws, — extracts which, taken out of then- proper connexion, do the authors great injustice. Who that knows Dr. Spring, for instance, can ever believe that he uttered the bold and unqualilied sentence, that " if one pniyer of his could liberate aU the slaves m the world, he should not feel at liberty to offer it ?" As to the pastors referred to, some of them rank among the greatest and best of our preachers, and it is not hkely they would have preached those discourses miless they had good reason to believe them necessary. They are better men than their viUifiers. There is not one of them, I venture to say, that approves of the Fugitive Slave Law passed last year by Congress, and passed, too, with extreme difficulty, and only under the belief that nothing short of such a measure could save the Union from disruption, and the country from the horrors of civil v»ar. The law itself is odious in the North, and no christian man will wiUingly aid in its execution ; nor will he obstruct its execution, if he has proper views of his duty to the Government. If the law is bad, let it be changed, or repealed, in a constitutional way. It was a re-enactment of one made during the presidency of General Washington, and was provided for by the Constitution itself. The recent law is more stringent in its mea- sures than the old, and makes provision for its enforcement by the Offi- cers of the United States' Government, — a measure rendered necessary in the opmion of the authors of it, by the action of several of the States, which had forbidden their officers to act in such cases, or their prisons to be used for the guarding of arrested slaves. Such was the opposi- tion to this new law, — a fact that shows how great is the abhorrence of slavery in the non-slave-holduig States, — that there was danger of its execution bemg defeated by lawless violence in many cities. It was on the duty of sustainmg the laws, as long as they are laws, — ^in other words, of maintairdng lawful government, — that these sermons were preached ; and it does not become those who are for ever reproacliing the United States for the occasional doings of " Judge Lynch," to con- demn ministers of the gospel for endeavouring to repress such tendencies. The time, too, was eminently critical. The people of the South were extremely discontented. They had, in reality, lost every thing in relation to the territory obtained from Mexico as the result of the late war ; and this widely- detested Fugitive Slave Law was the only thing they gained in the several measures of compromise that were adopted ! Upon the enforcement of this law, at least for the present, the peace of the country seemed to depend. That it will soon become a dead letter, as the former one was for many years, is certain. The South will insist upon its fulfilment, as a test, for a while ; but it must soon fall mto ne- 56 gleet. They will soon find it a very costly Imsiness to enforce this law — more so than they will be willing to endure. Exjierience will teach them, too, that it is a dangerous thing to hring back a fugitive slave ; for his visit to the North, and sojourn there, however brief, will have taught him many tilings. Indeed, this matter is well understood in the South. Of the thousands of the fugitive slaves, mider the old law, very few were ever reclaimed. There is no danger that many persons will be called to suifer under the new law. There will be a few cases, for a short period, and that is about all there will be of it. And even in these, the return of the slave to hopeless bondage, m nine cases out of ten, may be prevented, by liis freedom being purchased on the spot, or soon afterwards. There are people enough that are ready to do this, — not perhaps, the aboHtionists of the school of Messrs. Garrison and Co., for these gentlemen would prefer to send them over to England, to furnish "capital" for aug- menting the hatred of America, and to give, I must say it, an opportu- nity to our Enghsh friends to manifest an unnecessary benevolence, — in other words, to be cajoled, — a privilege which they may often have, if they continue to be desirous of it. As to the necessity of any pious slave, whether he be a minister of the gospel or not, flying to England in order to obtain his freedom, I do not believe that a case has often, if ever occurred. The freedom of such men would soon be purchased, if the case was made kno's\Ti m the North, if not in the South. A few years ago, the Presbyterian Synod of Alabama purchased, by collections made in all their churches, a very talented and pious slave and his wife and five or six children, and educated liim well. He is now pastor of a Presbyterian chm'ch in Liberia, whither he went with his family, not of compulsion, but of choice. Nobody thought it necessaiy for that man to run away to England. But it would seem that the trade of enlightening the people of Eng- land on the subject of American slavery'-, and participation in the profits of that trade, are not to be confined to fugitive slaves, as has hitherto been the case ; for a gentleman has recently arrived in England from America, with an immense quantity of anti-slavery publications, with a view of giving a course of pubhc lectures, in all places wiiere he may find encom'agement ; so that it may be said that the campaign is fairly opened. It would seem, too, that he has taken pains to qualify him- self well for the task. A native of England, he has been a preacher of the gospel in America, mostly in the north-western States, for twelve or fourteen years. A year or tw^o ago, he went into one of the slave- holding States, and commenced an anti-slavery movement. Instead of preachmg in pubhc to both masters and slaves, on their relative and reciprocal duties, and of saying almost w^hat he pleased to the former in private, — as any other man, if possessed of common sense, in the actual state of things, would have done, — he soon began to denomice both slavery and slave-holders in the severest and most irritating terms. He was remonstrated with by good men, who told him that his course was unwise ; that it was such as would not be tolerated ; and that it was •especially calculated to give offence, as coming from a foreigner and an Enghshman. But aU was in vain. He soon w^as compelled to leave, — 57 a result which he probably expected, and even wished for, if one may judge from his conduct, — and has come to England to receive the ho- nour and advantage of his martyrdom. No doubt he will find it a profitable speculation ; and if so, he will have followers and imitators enough. I do not give the name of this gentleman, but he will recognise him- self (and others wi]l also, it is probable) from the foregoing notice of him ; but if he should be at a loss about the matter, I will further say, that he is the man, who, in the Peace Convention, a few weeks ago, in Exeter Hall, descended from the platform, and with a smile ad- vanced among the people, and spoke to an American minister from one of the Southern States, but who has never owned a slave, and has no sympathy with slaveiy, that had a short time before crossed the Atlan- tic with him. Upon his return to the platform, he told the editor of one of the rehgious papers of London — which, the courtesies of civil- ized life forbid me to mention — that there was such a person present. This led the latter to say in his journal, a few days after, when speak- ing of an address made by a coloured man on the occasion, " that he did not envy the feelings of an American minister who was present," or words to that eftect, — a fair specimen of the " flings" against Ameri- cans which certain London writers take dehght m, when they have a chance, — and wliich was as gratuitous and useless as it was unworthy of the distinguished reputation which he enjoys. But what good is all this to do ? How will it help to overthrow slavery in America ? " Oh, it will place a stigma upon it — it will make an impression." Yes, it will make an impression; and so will the firing of a pistol at the Rock of Gibraltar, if one stand near enough, and if not, an impression will be made on the air ! But what sort of an im- pression ? The simple truth is, these people amazingly over- rate their importance and their influence, especially so far as America is concerned. Above all, in their profomid ignorance of human nature, they forget that it is possible to attempt to do good in such a manner, and m such a spirit, as will, in the long run, accomphsh far more evil than good.* I am well aware, also, that besides the impulse which their o\^m vanity gives to such efforts, these gentlemen are encouraged to do tliis by a * Mr. Gurney, at the last Anti-slavery Meeting in Exeter Hall, spoke of the sensitiveness of the Americans ; and remarks of a similar nature are often made in English papers. But in fact John Bull is as thiyi- skinned — • though the soubriquet would intimate the contrary — as Brother Jonathan. Let any thing be said by a foreigner, that reflects upon their defects and faults of character, or that exposes the evils which exist among them, or that holds up to ridicule some of their absurd customs and manners — and a good deal can be said on all these points, as some continental and other tourists have demonstrated— and then our English friends show that they can feel as acutely as other people. They are to be honoured for it, — not condemned. Let us all learn to bear and' forbear ; for we all live, in this respect in ** glass houses," if not in Crystal Palaces, and should not throw stones — at least not very hardly. If we abuse others, we must expect to be abused in turn, and to be paid in our own coin. There is a homely proverb in circulation in America, which cannot be unknown in England, to the effect that what is ** sauce for the goose, ought to be sauce for the gander," which it may not be amiss to remember. F 58 party in the Northern States of America, who claim to possess all the real anti- slavery feeling in the country, and especially by those who seek that consideration and encoui^agement abroad which their own rash, ex- travaccant, and denunciatory com^se has caused them to lose at home. This sort of game has been now playing a considerable tune. On the one hand, the gentlemen referred to furnish the proper quantity of new and old tales of injustice and oppression that may form a sufficient basis for an attack upon American christians, American churches, and American institutions ; on the other, their friends and coadjutors on this side of the ocean take care that every thing shall be turned to account. But what does all this accomphsh ? Beyond the exasperation and ahe- nation of Americans who love their country — nothing at all. How could it ? It is now nearly twenty years since the set of men who are, accord- ing to the British Senator who has recently returned from his mission- ary tour in the non-slave-holding States, the only men who deserv^e to be called the enemies of slavery in America, and who have nearly ruined every cause they have ever touched, began their work ; and what have they accomphshed ? No good whatever, so far as I can see. They did not prevent the annexation of Texas, nor the Mexican war (on the contrary, their infatuated course contributed to hasten both) ; and if sla- very does not gain a foothold in the territories obtained from Mexico at the close of the war, no thanks to them for it ; for it has been the discov- ery of the gold mines in Caiifomia, and the fact that neither the soil nor the wishes of the inhabitants will admit slavery into the Territories of New Mexico and Utah, that will exclude slavery from those regions. There is even less possibihty of canying the " Wilmot Proviso" through Congress than there was four years ago. The extravagant course of these men has even hindered the movements which good men in Ken- tucky, and some other Southern States, had hopes of being able to make successful. In fact, I often fear that there is really less sound and eftective anti-slavery feehng m both North and South, than there was in 1819, when the "Missouri Question" so agitated the country, and when these modem apostles of abohtion had not began to be heard of. And I have Httle hope that much wiU be done, leading to direct and open action, on this subject, until a few years shall have passed away, and these men fall into the insignificance and obhvion to which they must come at last. Other men, who have been hitherto deterred from taking hold of the cause, by reason of the odium and opposition wliich they have created, will then come forward. I would not be imderstood as confounding with the " Garrison School" the good men and true who may be in the Anti-Slavery Society. I suppose, however, that these gentlemen appertain to that notable Society of Abohtionists with whom the Missionary- Senator of England sympathized and laboured when he was with us, and which he says, has absorbed all the real abolition feehng and action of the country, so much so that the Anti-slavery Society of New York, which he pro- nounces a mere sham, has entirely disappeared ! If this be true, I am sorry for it ; for certauily there were many excellent men in the Society which has thsappeared, and if there now be notliing m the shape of 59 Anti-Slavery movement in America, but that of which Mr. Garrison and his friends are the leaders, not much good can be augured from it. I have often asked these gentlemen what they expect to gain by ar- raying the feelings of the people of England, or even of the whole world, if that were possible, agaiust America, and her churches and ministers ? Their answer has ever been : " it will help greatly to overthrow slavery in that country, to have the mdignation of England and of the world, brought to bear upon the country which tolerates it." But it is strange that it does not occur to those gentlemen, as Dr. Bacon rightly remarked, that tliis course, whilst it may gi'atify a few, provokes the indignation of the nation. How can any man in his reason beUeve, that to call, as the British Senator did in his recent speech to his con- stituents, the American christians " hypocrites and hars,"and other names worthy of Billingsgate, can have any other effect than to excite their contempt, and call forth their scorn ? This is the effect at the North as well as the South. The simple truth is, these gentlemen display an amazing ignorance of human nature in this whole business. No pos- sible amount of pressure fr-om without, of this description, can do any thing else than hinder the work of emancipating the slave. The thing is absurd. Our Southern people repel the interference of our own people of the Northern States ; and both the North and the South will repel and do repel all such interferences fr^om abroad.* Even if such a course of agitation abroad could by any possibihty carry the people of the North in one unanimous movement of abhorrence, not only of Slavery but of the Southern people, (for tins blind and indiscriminating feehng would have that character if it were to triumph), what would be gained by it ? The South could and would defy it all. They cannot * It would really seem as if there was a determination on the part of those who are labouring to bring about this state ot things (through a real •* judicial infatuation" ) , to do the very things which they ought not. In the fierceness of their hatred of all those who will not symbolize with them in their views and measures, they would have them excluded from the hospi- tality and confidence of British Christians, especially of those who are the anti-slavery people, par excellence. They would, in this way, render it im- possible for British friends, even the most zealous of them, to endeavour to enlighten and stimulate, by kind and christian conversation on the subject, those of their poor benighted American brethren that may be found not suf- ficiently awake to the evils and disgrace of slavery in their native land. And our British anti-slavery friends, in order to " go ahead " of their American friends, in this career of folly, have resolved to treat all American slave-holders that ventiire to come to them— although it is certain that at least in nine cases out of ten, those of this class who may desire to make their acquaintance, would be serious and conscientious men, who wish to know and do their duty, and therefore just the men n;ost likely to be pro- fited by right treatment, — as "heathen men" and " publicans." They will exclude them from their pulpits and their communion-tables, sans eeremo- nie ; without taking the trouble to know whether there may or may not be, circumstances which may justify the present relation of master which they may sustain, to people whom the law places in the condition of bondbuien to them. The proceedings at the late meeting of the Congregational Union of Eng- land and Wales, in relation to the Rev. Dr. Chickering, were an illustration of the same spirit, and will produce similar results. I am happy to know that they are disapproved of by many excellent men ui that body. • 60 be coerced, under the Constitution as it now stands, (and there is no pos- sibility, I conceive, of changing it), into the abohtion of slavery. The only result of such a movement must be, if it reach the proposed object in view, to do it by revolution. And what then would become of both masters and slaves ? What but the destruction of a gi-eat many of them, amid the re-enactment of the scenes of St. Domingo. I don't think that all the agitation in England, or in the w^hole world, can bring the peojDle of the North to this, for the simple reason that they believe that the removal of this great evil must, and can be, effected in a better way — a way which will secure the best interests of both slaves and masters. At any rate, they will not relinquish this hope, until they are infinitely better convinced that it is impossible to realize it than they are at present. It will be hard to make all the people of the United States believe that all this zeal, on the part of many in England, in relation to slavery in America, arises from a pure philanthropy. Very many among us cannot divest themselves of the oi)inion that an ancient, or rather a he- reditary, prejudice and even animosity, is at the bottom of at least that portion of the mterest which manifests itself m clamour and vitupera- tion. It is extensively believed in the United States — and there is too much ground for the belief — that old political jealousies and enmities stiU nestle in the hearts of very many people in England of certain classes, and that these constitute the Vulnus sub imo pectore, that shows its existence from time to time, in mingled ebullitions of pre- judice and hate. Well, I am bomid in all candour to say, that w^e have a large class of people in America, who have just as strong prejudices against the entire English race, and that the angry passions of these people demand no more potent influences, to raise them to a red heaty than the inflammatory trades wdiich are uttered by some in Great Britain. There is no want of men in the United States who would exult at the very prospect of a war between the two countries. There are some who almost desire it, for the purpose of putting oui' Manufactures on such a footing, as a war of a few years would do, that we should no longer be dependent on England in this sense. There are others who would be almost willing to see a war of several years with England, for the purpose of interrupting, till our native population has become more powerful, the vast immigration, wliich now brings so much ignorance, irrehgion, and vice from the Old World. There is an abundance of in- flammable materiel wliich may at any moment place the two countries in the most alarming position hi relation to each other. I say these things in the deepest samiess ; but it is important that christians on both sides of the ocean should look at them. This is not a mere question of slavery in the United States ; it is somethmg far beyond it, and concerns most intimately the peace of the two most powerful and influential Protestant nations m the world. This is a serious matter, and I coifld not avoid, with a good conscience, calling the attention of British Cliristians to it. I can say Avitli truth, as Nicias did to the 61 Athenians, " I know tliut other thmgs would be more pleasing, but I prefer truth to pleasure." It would really seem, if one may judge from the pecuhar interest which some people in England take in meddling with our affairs, and especially on the subject of slavery, that they have not been aware of what has been going on during the last seventy-five years. They are much in the state of mind in which Eip Vanwmkle of " Sleepy Hollow" was, when he awoke after a sleep of many years. They appear to think that the United States are still Colonies of Great Britain ! Well, they must wake up, for nothing in the world is more certain, than that we are not Colonies of England, nor have we been for a long time, and that we can do without tliis imcalled for and unnecessary care for us and our affairs on tlieir part. For myself I can say, that I think I am a Moderate Calvinist, — about as much of one as John Calvui was. But we have some men in our Northern States, who, although they do not seem to feel much re- sponsibihty for the sin of the great progenitor of the race, have a re- markable sense of responsibility for the sin of slavery in our Southern States, though it is a subject which, by the structure of our Government, belongs exclusively to the States in which the evil exists. These people are worrying themselves to death daily on account of this evil. Still, it is possible to understand their sohcitude and grief. But there are men in England who go far beyond them in this matter ; for not being contented with the enormous sins and evils of then: gi^eat empire — and they are surely enough for the shoulders of Atlas, — they insist upon being allowed to superadd om' slavery ! Tliis is certainly most extra- orduiary. I have been anxious to know the motives wliich influence a certain class of speakers in England, and particularly in London, to make allu- sions without ceasing to American slavery, whenever they have an op- portunity, in their pubhc addresses, let the occasion be what it may. For this purpose, I have made inquiries of those who are likely to know. One gentleman said, that it was because they found it was easy, owing to the great excitement which the war with slavery m the West Indies had caused a few years ago, and which has not even yet subsided, to appeal to the prejudice of the masses, who know notlimg scarcely of the differ- ence between the two cases, and so catch a modicum of applause. Another reason assigned was, that it helped amazingly to keep up the reputation of an orator, both with the people and himself, for benevo- lence, and gave him the air and authority of a philanthropist. In the case of the Senator, already referred to, it might have some bearing on his desii'ed re-election. And, finally, there is a class in England, who are glad to have a chance to say something against mmisters of the Gos- pel, even if they should be so far distant as America. Of tliis class we have the exact counterpart m America, who are mad agamst the same men, because they will not submit to their \iews and measures, and cannot do so. On this account some of them have turned their backs upon Clu-istianity, because, forsooth, Clmstianity camiot be bent to their notions, not only of what is duty, but what may be tlie best mode of performmg duty. But such people had never turned their faces^ or 62 rather their hearts, to the Christianity of the Bible, or they would not turn their backs for such a reason, or for any reason to be foimd in the conduct of any men. The celebrated Dr. Merle d'Aubigne never uttered a juster remark, than that a man of one idea is in great danger of contracting a false conscience, than which notliing is more pernicious. AVe see tliis illus- trated continually. Some men look at one evil to such a degree that they lose sight of every tlmig else, and especially of those circumstances which may ui any degi'ee mitigate it and ultimately overthrow it. I have seen men, who by constantly contemplating the subject of Slavery and its evils, have reached such a state of mind, that it is of no use to say a word to them about the possibihty of any good existing in the hearts of slave-holders, or indeed that any good can be done for them. Talk to them about preaching the gospel to slave-holders ! Why, there is no gospel to preach to slave-holders, but the liberation of their slaves — ^immediately — without regard to any cu:cumstances in the world I Say to them that there are pious slave-holders, conscientious men, who desu-e to do their duty to their slaves, — ^they don't believe a word of it ! Speak about the work of the Spirit m slave-holding States, among mas- ters and slaves, — they will not Hsten to you. In fact, I have often been fearful that these people may yet arrive at such a pitch of detesta- tion of every tiling that has any thing to do with this evil, that they will charge the Almighty himself with being the friend of slavery, because He sends His rain upon slave-holding States, and causes His sun to shine upon them as upon other lands. That such persons can approve of what I have said in the preceding Address, and in these Remarks is not to be expected, nor does the fact at all distress me. I have never said nor written a word in my life in approbation of slavery, so far as I know. There is not a feehng of my heart that sympathizes with it, but I cannot, unless my imderstanding be changed, be made to approve of a great deal that is said and done by those who affect to be the only people who judge rightly on this sub- ject. I cannot consent to that wholesale and indiscriminate abuse and condemnation of all slave-holders, without regard to their circumstances, which they take delight in perjDetrating. There has been too much of this for the good of either slave or master. As to slavery in the United States, I know that it will come to an end gradually, slowly, but certainly. There are many causes within and mthout the slave-holding States, which are operating silently, but surely, to overthrow it. The poHtical influence of those States has been relatively decreasmg since the fii'st. At the formation of the Constitu- tion (1787), slavery existed in twelve out of thirteen of the States ; in the course of years, changes occurred which brought the slave-holding and non-slave-holdmg States to an equilibrium in the Senate ; and this contmued long after the former had lost equahty in point of numbers in the House of Representatives. But now they have lost the Senate also. And though it is possible that one or two more slave-holding States may be made by dividing Texas, yet they will be far more than counter-balanced by the admission of the New States formed out of Oregon, Llinnesota, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico, — for there is 63 every degi*ee of probability that the latter two will have no slavery in them. The sixteen free States and five Territories have three-iii'ths of the entire population. And though the number of slaves has greatly increased, neither the entire population of the Southern States, nor their relative power and mfluence has kept pace with those of the Northern. The moral causes which must vastly contribute to the overtlnrow of this great evil are also becoming more and more powerful ! I think, the fii'st of all duties resting upon our American christians is to increase and strengthen those causes. And the second is to look more after the in- tellectual elevation and moral culture of the free coloured people, in the North. Much has been done, but much more remains to be done. They should be encouraged and assisted in all proper attempts to enter into all sorts of business in which other men are engaged. They have a hard chance in the competition wliich the influx of so many poor Irish, Germans, and other foreigners is creating. These latter are ac- customed to Kving in a far poorer manner in the Old World, than our coloured people, and will underwork them wherever they can. They have far more prejudice against the negro race than oiu* Northern peo- ple, and our Northern people have far more than the Southern, — ^for the simple reason that the Southern people have grown up with them, have played with them in childhood, have been nursed, many of them by black or coloured nurses, and consequently have a sympathy for them wliich no other people in the world have. Instances of cruelty, plenty of them, alas, may be found ; of these much is heard ; but there is a large amount of kind treatment on the part of christian masters, of which httle is known abroad. I know not what is the destiny of the African race in the United States, but I entertain the hope that in time every vestige of slaveiy wiU disappear, and that that coloured race will attain to a position of comfort and respectabihty as free citizens in aU parts of the country. It will require much time, but it will be done, I firmly believe. It is probable that many will go to the West Indies, where there are numer- ous openings for them ; and many to Afiica, to cany civihzation and Christianity to the very heart of that great but unexplored contment, The influence which must brmg about this consummation must be indi- genous and not foreign, in my opinion, — as I have already stated. * * When I reflect upon the fact that millions of the African race now in the United States, have attained a very considerable amount of civilization, and that many of them have been made partakers of the blessedness which the Gospel alone can give, I think that few will deny that on the whole, their happiness in this life, and their prospects of eternal life in the world to come, attended as they have been with servitude on their part and that of their fathers, are greatly preferable to the ignorance, degradation, and heathenism^ which would have been their inheritance, had they remained in Africa. When we add to this the consideration, that God is evidently working out a gretxt plan, in which these people are certainly destined to perform an impor- tant part — especially, perhaps, in carrying the Gospel and civilization into Africa, we may confidently believe that the ways of the Almighty can be justified, whatever may be thought of those of man. This view, however, of their case, cannot justify the holding of these people in servitude a mo- ment longer than their true interests will be advanced by it. In other words, beyond the point at which they become able to take care of themselves well, in the circumstances in which they are placed. 64 I cannot close these Eemarks, wliicli have been written m all christian frankness, and without one unkind feeling that I am conscious of towards any human being in Britain or in Europe, but from a desire to discharge what I consider a solemn duty, without expressing my most gTateful acknowledgments for the christian courtesy and kindness with which my statements were heard by the Alliance. They will bear me witness that I delivered them with an oppressed heart, and in no unkindness of manner. Never shall I cease to admire the christian spirit which characterized the body that heard them, and through which (not because they had ,given occasion for them, but because it was the very body that ought to hear them, inasmuch as it has at heart the re- moval of evils such as are here spoken of), I wish to make them known to British Christians. It has been the greatest of eartMy blessings to me to have been permitted to attend, as much as imperfect health would allow, the General Conference in 1846, and the meeting of the British AUiance — which also assumed a general character, — that has just come to a close. I never expect to see more interesting meetings this side of Heaven. The church on earth has few, if any, greater or better men than I have seen in these meetings. Some who were in the foimer were not in the latter — Bickersteth, Grimshawe, Emory, Caldwell, and others, whom the Saviour has taken to Himself; and others because health or duties at home did not premit them to be there. But a goodly number were at the latter who were at the former — clara et venerahilia nomina — long may they be spared to bless the World as well as the Chm-ch ; and although I deplore that what I must ever deem an mifortunate step* in regard to the subject about which I have said so much, will probably render it impossible for our American Churches to co-operate extensively in the Alliance, — yet I rejoice that the movement is hkely to do so much good ui this Old World. I think that the recent meeting has shown what an Alliance among those who hold the truth can do, when it confines itself to the sphere proper to such a movement, mcluding, as it must if complete. Christians of all parts, whose relations for the present, to evils in the world of an economical or national character are so varied and difiicult. It cannot be that such meetmgs wiU not make Cluistians better acquainted wdth Christendom and the work to be done in order to restore a primitive Cluistianity throughout all its limits, — which would be the greatest blessing wliich tliis world could receive. Wliilst I feel gratefid for the kind expressions which I have received from many quarters, in regard to what I deem it a duty — a very painfid one to me — to say, I must add that I am sorry that my remarks have not been received with equal kindness in some quarters for which I have ever had a high regard. I refer to the British Banner and the * It may not be improper for me to say that that great and good man Dr. Chalmers, expressed to me, at the last interview I had with him — in Febru- ary, 1847, four months before he died— the same opinion. He said that he deemed it one of most absurd and unfortunate things that he had ever heard of in his lite ; for he considered it a question of so complicated and difficult a nature, and that reqvured so much discrimination and care, that it ought ever to be left to the Churches to deal with. 65 Patriot. I liave not indeed read the " Strictures " which their respec- tive editors have made upon my Sjxiech, nor shall I. Having been told tliat they were written in an unldnd spirit, and attributed to me motives which I expressly and sincerely reprobated, I resolved never to look into the papers which they had the goodness to send me ; and for this reason : from my earhest years I have been famihar mth the names and writings of two of the Editors of these Journals, and have cherished the greatest respect for them. That respect I will not allow to be chsturbed, if I can help it, during what remains of life to me — which I cannot now expect to be very long.* But whatever may be the fate of our American Alliance, my pmyer is and ever shall be, that God, in his infinite mercy, would give to christians of England and the United States a proper miderstanding of each other's position, difficulties, and trials, and a proper appreciation of each other's work and influence. The church hn all its branches, in each coimtry, has an immense work to perform. England sways a sceptre over one hmidred and fifty-four milhons of the human race ; the United States comprise now nearly twenty-five millions of souls, and vdll in fifty years, if prosperity continue, have one hundred millions. Between them, they now govern more than a sixth part of the human race, and nearly a fourth part of the ]>al>itable globe. Both are Pro- testant countries, and their population is essentially and naturally of the same origin; for both are Anglo-Saxon, and partake in the main of the same characteristics — indomitable energy, perseverance, and capability of great achievemeut.f Both are blessed with the greatest of all boons, beyond any other race, — the Holy Scriptures. Both, sustain the most intimate relations to each other, and ought to live in bonds of * As to abuse from some of the journals in the British realm, and from those of a certain type in America, that was to be expected as a matter of course. There are certain people who are valiant at abusing others ; but if any one reprove them for their faults, they grow furious, and transgress all the bounds of decency. But these things give me no uneasiness whatever. I may be allowed to say with Jerome of Prague, " If I had feared fire, I should not be here." t Anglo-Norman, however, would better designate their character, for whatever of energy they may have, they owe it to their Norman rather than Saxon origin. No race certainly possesses greater capacity for doing great things, or has done greater things ; and none has done more unworthy. So that it may be pronounced at once, the greatest and meanest of races. Whilst on the one hand, in arms, in commerce, in the useful arts, in jicrisprttdencc, in all that concerns freedom in political institutions, and in efforts to extend the gospel, it has done the greatest things ; on the other, it has subjugated, and in some cases annihilated, the other races over which it has gained control : Celtic, Hindoo, African, and Aboriginal in America and Australia. It is enough to make the blood of benevolent men boil, to listen to the absurd and ignorant laudation of the Anglo-Saxon race, and the cruel de- preciation of others, which are sometimes uttered. " They are worthy to govern others," said a gentleman in my hearing, a few weeks ago in Ireland ! I could not avoid saying to friends near me : Yes, worthy to govern the poor Celts ! This is the very language which one may sometimes hear from our irreligious slave-holders : the Anglo-Saxon race are worthy to rule the Negroes ! Both the one and the other assertion are unworthy oi Hu-nanity, to say nothing of Christianity. 66 strictest amity. Possessing, as they do, a larger amount of political liberty, and constitutional governments more securely established than any other nations, they seem to be called not only to stand together for the spread of the Gospel, but for the maintenance of the rights of Hu- manity. They ought, therefore, to cherish a sjDirit of sincere respect and kindness for each other, instead of indulging in mutual detraction, crimination, and recrimination. I feel confident that I may answer for the Christians of my native land, that it is their desire to maintain the most fraternal and corcUal relations with their brethren in England ; and they are willing to do their part towards it. Let them be met in a similar spirit, and all will be well. What they ask is, that they be treated wdth the respect which is due to their position, their character as christian men, and their efforts to propagate the Gospel in all lands where their help is needed ;* they ask no condescension or patronage at the hands of their brethren either in England or any other land, — they do not believe that this would be worthy of them, and they feel quite sure that they can afford to dis- pense with it. But let us turn to more pleasing themes. How dehghtful is the truth, that with all our imperfections, our adorable Saviour is pleased to permit us to labour for the extension of His kingdom, and deigns to crown our poor and imperfect attempts with His blessing! How cheering, too, is the fact, that the Truth is looking up in almost all places m Christendom, and beyond it, where well-directed efforts are making to promote it. I esteem it one of the greatest of my privileges, that my long residence and many journeys in Europe have made me acquainted with so many dear children of God in all directions. There * Not only are our churches taking a greater interest every year in the work of spreading the Gospel in Heathen and Mohammedan lands, but they are desirous of aiding the good work in Papal lands, even in Europe. Much as they have to do in their own great country, they are not willing to con- fine their efforts and their prayers to it. There has not been an appeal from the Old World, — there has not been a calamity or great trouble there, — • which has not called forth their sympathy and their prayers. When lamina stalked abroad in Ireland, collections were made in all parts of the country — even among slave-holders and slaves, — for the relief of that afflicted land. "When the " Exodus" of the Free Church took place in Scotland, our churches took delight in aiding their Scottish brethren ; and I am sure that neither Dr. Cunningham, nor any of his friends who visited us with him, and whose visits are so pleasantly remembered, ever heard a word of reproach for their having, in former times, had any thing to do with the alliance of the Chui-ch and the State— much as we deem that connexion to be a great evil. And when Dr. Dill and Mr. Simpson came to us for help for the work in Ireland, that help was not refused, although they came from a Church which had once addressed to one of our religious bodies a letter on the subject of slavery of such a nature, that all further correspondence was pe- remptorily declined ; nor although that Church still receives ihe " golden wedge and the Babylonish garment" of the State, and openly tolerates in her bosom, as every State Establishment must of necessity do, men who are notoriously unworthy of christian fellowship. The hardest thing said to them at their departure from us was, that if they would return at a future day for help, and report that their church had' experienced the desired •• emancipation," they should receive one hundred thousand dollars instead of twenty-five thousand. 67 is scarcely a city of any importance in it, in which I do not know some who love the kingdom of the Saviour, and are labouring and praying for its advancement. And I can say with truth, that I find no greater happiness than in my attempts to present them, in prayer, before the throne of our heavenly Father, as they arise to my remembrance, in coimtry after country, city after city, and group after group. In such moments it is sweet to exclaim from the fullness of the heart : " Grace, mercy, and peace be multiphed from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the effectual operation of the Holy Sph-it, to all, in all lands, who are the followers of the Lamb that was slain for us." I love my country, and the many followers of Christ who are in it ; and I think too that I can appreciate the sentiment of the Roman Orator, and say : " Where liberty is, there is my comitry ;" yet after all, I desire to feel that where there is one sincere Christian, however humble, — whatever language he may speak, whatever complexion he may wear, — there, there is my comitry, in the highest and best sense. Blessed be God, those things which now so distressingly hinder the " communion of saints," will soon be passed away for ever, and we shall enter upon other scenes, and our hearts be vexed no more. There we shall dwell where He is, whose face we shall desire first of airto see, when we open our eyes in glory. And in whatever we may differ in regard to subordinate and perplexing questions, even now we can all unite, in the language of one of England's poets, whose name is preci- ous in all christian lands, and say : ** Come then, and, added to Thy many crowns, Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, Thou, who alone art worthy ! It was Thine By ancient covenant, ere Nature's birth ; And Thou hast made it Thine by pm-chase since, And overpaid its value with Thy blood. Thy saints proclaim Thee Kuig ; and in their hearts Thy title is engraven with a pen Dipped in the fountain of eternal love. Thy saints proclaim Thee King ; and Thy delay Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see The dawn of Thy last advent, long-desired, Would creep into the bowels of the hills, And flee for safety to the falling rocks. The very Spirit of the world is tired Of its own taunting question, asked so long, * Where is the promise of your Lord's approach ?' " Cowper's Task, Book vu THE SUPPLEMENT. The " Report" and " Speech" which are found in the former part of this puWication were written out before the author left London ; the " iiemarks' were put on paper durmg the tour which he is now maldng on the Continent, m such moments as the fatigues of the journey and his official work allowed him to devote to them. Whilst the sheets which contain them were passing through the press, he has- deemed it proper to add a few more " last words," even at the risk of repeating some things which he has already advanced. It is a great infelicity of human temper, that it is scarcely possible for us to do justice to the opinions and feelings of those from whom we differ on any subject whatever. The author of these pages can say with the most perfect sincerity, that if he knows Ms own heart, there never has been a pulsation of it which has not been in behalf of the down-trodden and oppressed of all lands and of every complexion. And he has never failed to manifest that sympathy, in such ways as commended themselves to his judgment and conscience, whenever duty seemed to him to demand it. This reiterated avowal he does not make, however, to conciliate the goodwill or the friendship of any man m the world. The opinions which he holds now, he has held these many years. He has seen nothing that has been calcidated to change, but much to confirm them, in what has occurred in the meanwhile. And yet he has been held up in certain quarters in England witliin the last few weeks as a ' pro-slavery man,' a friend of the oppressor, and an enemy of the op- pressed, without the least regard to candour or even truth ; and this abuse will be re-echoed by a certain party in his own coimtry. And why ? 1. Because he cannot agree with these gentlemen in thefr opinions of the measures best fitted to accompHsh the overthrow of slavery. And on this subject he believes, and would assert it with becomuig hu- mihty, that he is qmte as capable of judging as they are, let them hve in which Hemisphere they may. And 2. Because he camiot join them, — whatever may be his abhorrence of slavery, and it is probable that it is quite as great as theirs, — in denoimcmg all slave-holders as *' man- stealors," "liars," and " hypocritical clnistians," no matter whether they became involved in the evil of slave-holding by inlieritance or choice, or what the difficulties wliich may for the present beset the path, the only path it may be, of emancipation wliich presents itself ! To be sure these gentlemen see no difficulties at all in the case, and declare that the 69 evil not only might to he, but can he extirpated at once. Their principle is, — as impracticable in operation in such questions, as it is heathenish in origin ; fiatjustitia, mat cwlum, — and they denounce all2who|will not agree with them. They cannot bear to hear it said that there is any thing good in the slave-holding States. They do not believe that God can or will pour out his Spirit there, and convert both masters and slaves, which is, after all, the main hope for the peaceable and^christian extir- pation of tliis evil. Well, the author of this pamphlet cannot, — because his reason and conscience will not permit it, — agi'ee in denouncing'^ all who profess to be Christians ui the Southern States, who may sustain tlie relation of masters to persons who bear the name of slaves. He cannot believe that General Washington, the late Dr. John H. Rice, the late Dr. Waddell, and thousands of other christian men in the Southern States, who were slave-holders, must be pronounced " man- stealers" and " hypocrites."* They were better men than many who abuse them m this way — almost mlinitely better men. Nor can he do dishonour to the Grace and Spirit of God, by denying what he has had good ojiportu- nities of witnessing, — the happy influence of both in that portion of his native laud. He may be denounced by these gentlemen as much as they please, for holding these opinions ; he cannot help it, In truth, he cares httle about the matter, for the approbation of men who are evi- dently too much imder the influence of prejuchce to be capable of forming a correct opinion on the subject, would be more than doubtful praise. He would deplore the saying of a word in behalf of slavery ; but he does not believe that what he has either spoken or written on tliis or any other occasion of his life, can be received in^that light by any impartial mind. But the question of slavery in America, whatever may be its nature or its importance, is altogether aside from the object of the Speech in the Evangehcal Alliance and these Remarks, although it was the occa- sion of them. The author availed himself of the oi)portunity,_^when giving an account of the American Branch, and of the causes of its comparative failure, to place faitlifiilly before British Christians, the dangers which must result from the evil feeling that has been>for-years steadily increasing in the two countries. He has done this with the deepest pensiveness, because he has felt the task to be both difficult and * I know not how often I have met with persons in England, who have asked whether there are Christians in the Southern States, who take an in- terest in the religious societies and movements of the present day, and do any thing to advance them? I cannot speak with precision, but I am of the opinion, (and 1 have had some opportunities for judging correctly on the subject), that the Christians in our Southern or Slave-holding States, do as much in proportion to their means and their numbers, as do those of the Northern States ; their contributions, their activity in Sabbath-schools, their care of the sick, and other eiforts, will prove this. If they cannot do all that ought to be done for the slaves, they may certainly be allowed to do what they can. Among the religious people of the South are but few rich proprietors ; there are many ladies and children of families that own slaves ; a considerable number of white people, mostly not wealthy ; and many slaves and free coloured people, in those States, who are pious. But neither the number nor the means of Southern Christians will compare with those of their iN'ortheru brethren. 70 ungracious. He is deeply sensible that there are many among his Countrymen who could have done it far better ; but he has felt that there are some reasons why he should do what he could, however humble his position and insignificant his influence, to warn the christian people of this realm of what he fully beheves to be a verj^ alarming and not distant peril. He shall esteem himself happy if his efforts should, m any measure, contribute to arrest it. That there are many among his valued christian friends in these Isles, who will properly appreciate liis endeavours, and do what they can to render them successful, he camiot doubt, after the many expressions of approbation which he has received. He feels that he has attempted to do his duty. He is not conscious of having spoken or ■ written a word in an unkind spirit. He has laboured hard these many years, to interest the churches of his native land in the work of resuscitating a pure and effective Christianity in Europe — especially in the papal parts of it, — and not in vain. He has felt that that work was of the utmost moment, not only for those countries themselves, but for his native land, and for the rest of the world. In this work he has had much to do with christians of every country in Europe, and has taken great pleasure in endeavouring to promote their best mterests, and those of the friends whom they have commended to him, in both the Old and New World. He has hoped that this would constitute some claim, m behalf of this humble effort, to then- respectful con- sideration. But the author has reason, he is sorry to say it, to fear that by many his motives and language wiU be misconstrued, and his remonstrances disregarded. Regardless of the evil winch they may do, they will pro- bably continue, — imder the pretext of sympathy with the slaves of America, but in reality in the indulgence of national or personal vanity, or of hereditary dislike of that country and its institutions, — to employ the language of invective and msult in reference to most of its people, whenever an occasion may occur. This will inevitably provoke retali- ation, — as mdeed it is doing now. The residt wiU be that the rehgious portion of the people of each country wiU become ahenated from each other ; and the worldly, or non-rehgious, so much exasperated, as to be ready to take advantage of any mitow^ard occurrence to wake up the fierce passions of strife, which will find their full play only m deadly hostilities. That this will be the result at no distant day, the author greatly fears, and even firmly beheves. The bad elements of national hatred are now abundant, and with us they are constantly increasing, from sources already indicated, and it wiU not require much to bring matters to a dangerous issue. These elements are latent, but they are there. The London Times, in an able article on the British Colonial System, has recently exposed the bad management which has in so many in- stances produced disastrous results, and cites the loss of the American Colonies, (now the United States,) as an illustration of effects to be ap- prehended. The author of this pubhcation, is of opinion that one cause, — and the most important of all, — of the loss of those Colonies to the British Crown is to be sought for in the unkind treatment which their inhabitants received from the newspaper press, fi'om the sneering 71 speeches in the Parhament, and the mahcious and libellous volumes of insolent "tourists" of England, during the long Colonial Era. It was not alone the paltry tax on tea and a few other articles, coupled with a refusal of " representation," that brought about that Revolution. There was something behind all tliis. Nations have the sensibilities of indi- viduals, for they are but masses of individuals. And the late war between the UnitedStates and England, (1812 — 15), was quite as much occasioned, perhaps far more, by the insulting lan- guage used by the British officers of the army and navy, by senators and diplomatists, and by editors of newspapers and reviews, as all the other causes combined.* These positions were fully sustained, more than thirty years ago, by a distinguished American author,f in a work, which deserves to be read even yet, for the lessons which it teaches, as well as the vindication of the United States which it contams. We must beheve that these detractors, so ignorant and reckless, of by- gone ages, begat children m their ovm. likeness ; for the race is tar from being extinct in the British realm, and especially in England, and most especially of all in and about London, whose smoke, (or something else), seems to have other qualities besides that of obscuring and circum- scribing human vision. The autlior feels bound in candour, to say also, that a similar race exists in his own country,— quite as keen-eyed, sharp- tongued, and bent on doing mischief. A dozen secular and half a dozen so-called religious newspapers, on this side of the ocean, can be fully matched by the same number on the other, in respect to the habilite^ indilference to consequences, and even bad feeling, which they display in treating reciprocally of each other's comitries and their institutions. Is not this too bad ? Where will it end ? God only knows. " That which as been," maybe again. And wiio can look forward to such an issue in these days, when England and America ought to be the best of friends, and stand shoulder to shoulder, without grief and even horror? Will not good men pause and consider ? Will not editors, at least those of rehgious papers and magazines, will not public speakers, sacrifice their feelings of national and personal vanity, and of antipathy, if they have any, — and many we fear have without scarcely being aware of it, — and combine their efforts to maintain the peace of these nations ? * The history of France and Great Britain illustrates and confirms the position taken in the text. The wars Avhich have so often occurred between these countries arose more from the deadly hostility which had become so deeply seated in the heart of each, that it was common to call them "natural enemies" of each other, than Irom all other causes. Indeed this was the cause which lay behind all the others, and gave them their force. The ■writers of each nation ridiculed their- neighbours across the channel, until the hatred became universal and dreadful. All sorts of names, some of them vulgar enough, and all of them more or less ridiculous, were indulged in with much delight, and thus two great christian nations were made enemies to each other by a set of worthless fools that were a disgrace to hun.anity. And there are men in England and America who would play the same part in relation to those countries ! * Robert Walsh, Esq , well known at home and abroad by scholars, for his numerous and able writings. The work referred to is commonly known by the brier title of his " Appeal." 72 Both are powerful and proud. The United States are neither m the position nor the mood likely to dispose them to hear what they did in years passed away. Tliis is not the language of menace, hut a state- ment of a simple truth. They have no desire, — this can certainly be affirmed of them as a nation, and especially of the serious portion of it, — to have war with any countiy, least of all with England, and yet they are too conscious of their strength to allow themselves to he in- sulted or trifled -with, when an important question of national mterest comes up. They have been reproached, even by British editors, strange as it may seem , mth possessmg an inordinate aggressiveness ; but this charge is not well founded. Their late war with Mexico was much deplored by all good men, and yet it was as justifiable as any that England or France has carried on for the last Imndi'ed years. At all events, if they have ag- gressive dispositions, they certamly inherited them from a Parent illus- trious ui that respect. One tlung surprises the author of these Remarks beyond measure ; it is that so far as the religious people of England are concerned, he has learned that unkind feeluig towards the United States is most to be found among the Dissentmg bodies. Indeed it would seem, if we may judge fi'om the language of one of their organs, — ^the Eclectic Review for the month of August of this year, — that these bodies, or some who affect to be their leaders, have come to the conclusion that it is their special " mission," — to use a phrase which has great currency in these days, to condemn and oppose slavety in America; which is — their mode of doing it bemg the exponent, — ^Euphemism for the more homely expression : — to abuse A^nerica and every thing that belongs to it ! Another of their journals seems to exult ^^th perfect delight, that the Evangehcal AUiance has failed because of slavery in America ! That it has not become the great and glorious movement which it might have been, is owing to an unnecessary, and most useless meddling with that subject : but if the editor and a certam party who think with him in this matter have rejoiced at the fact, it is to be feared that they have placed themselves in very bad company; for it is certam that some other beings, with a powerful Cliief at their head, have also rejoiced, and m advance of them, at the same result, and done what they could to bring it about !* * It would seem from a recent meeting of the London Congregational Board, that the disposition to meddle with American Slavery is as rite as ever. One gentleman, a minister and writer, * gravely proposed — what was proposed and voted in another Ecclesiastical Body last Spring, I believe, — to exclude all American ministers who either hold slaves, or sympathize * It was this gentleman, if we are rightly informed, who undertook to demolish the argument of a "certain Moses Stuart," certainly one of the best scholars in America, so far as the original languages of the Scriptures are concerned, on the subject of Slavery in the Hebrew Commonwealth. And the newspapers informed us that he was entirely suc- cessful ! And yet it is said to be doubtful whether he can read, or ever has read, a chap- ter of the Hebrew Text ! Who killed Cock Robin ? I, said the Sparrow. With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin ! Really this is something like attacking the Fortress of Gibraltar with a pop- gun ! But how are they going to fiillil this mission ? Why, by arraying the public sentiment of the World again'^t America ! Well, they have with slavery, from the pulpits of the Congregational churches in London. Just as if that measure was going to have any effect. Can one American minister be found who will ask for the favour of preaching in an English pulpit ? And how then is a stigma to be placed on him by the refusal f Most American ministers who come to England, come to recruit their health, to find some needed relaxation from their labours which are usually- arduous enough. Whilst here, they neither expect nor desire to preach, much. They wish rather to hear during their brief sojourn, some of the English celebrities, the real Dii Majorum, of the English pulpit — so as to be profited themselves. Our American ministers certainly feel it to be a pri- vilege to hear the good and great men of England, when they come hither — which with the most of them is not likely to be more than once. They will not consider it a great matter if they should not have an opportunity of preaching whilst here. But is there no danger, on the other hand, that they will refuse to preach for their English brethren: There are two sides to this matter. In fact two of those who were in London, at the time of the late Meeting of the British Alliance did refuse, decidedly, but courteously, to preach for a London minister who has made himself conspicuous, by his abuse of Americans, — and they were not slaveholders. The Body, however, did not adopt the pioposition to exclude the Ame- rican Ministers from their pulpits and commimion tables, but appointed a Committee to address a " Letter" to the American Churches on the subject of Slavery, and probably the " Fugitive Slave Law" also ! Well, I woidd venture to say, with all proper respect— brethren and gentlemen, this is a work of superfluous benevolence. Our Churches understand their position and duties quite as well as you do, to say the least of it — 1 speak with deference. They give as much evidence of a desire to know and do their duty, as Churches and as individuals, in all the departments of effort to build up Christ's Kingdom in the world as the Churches and brethren of England, or any other part of Christendom ; and they have a right to demand that their judgment of what is practicable for them, in regard to Slavery, in the actual circumstances, should be respected abroad, and that the subject be left, — where alter all it must be left, — to their manage- ment. Look well after your own affairs. Have you not millions of the veriest slaves of ignorance, superstition, and vice in Ireland, and tens of thousands in London and other great cities in England and Scotland, who, as regards food and raiment and the other comforts of life, and above all as regards the knowledge of the Gospel and the hopes of Heaven, are almost infinitely worse off than the three millions and a quarter of slaves in our Southern States. Do look at home— at your own three kingdoms, and do the work here which God calls you to do. And if you must look abroad, as indeed you should, look to your distant Possessions — the oppres- sions in India, the war with the Kaffirs, and the horrible opium trade with China, almost exclusively in the hands of Englishmen — a trade which will, in the long run, I fear, destroy the temporal and eternal interests of more mil- lions of the human race than our American slavery has done. Look well to these matters ; they will give you enough to do. I cannot forbear repeating, that it does appear passing strange, that the people of a country in which there is more prejudice against Americans — I speak of the masses, not of the highest classes, — than in all other countries in the whole world, should have so great a disposition to meddle with Ame- rican slavery. This prejudice shows itself in their Reviews, in their newspa- pers, in their public meetings, in their hotels, in their railroad cars, and often at their very tables ; and yet they must be for ever troubling themselves with our affairs ! Why is all this ? Is it philanthropy, or zeal for the cause of God and man, or unendurable presumption, or hereditary hatred of us, that is at the bottom of all this ? It is probable that all these motives are ope- rative—some in some hearts, and others in others. However this may be 74 made but little progress duriug the last fifteen or twenty years that they have been at it ; nor are they likely to do much. The most that they have accompHshed has been to create prejudice and bad feeling towards America and her institutions in Great Britain and kelaud. But as to the world outside the British Isles — for that there is such a world, though some within those hmits, with a simplicity or something else, worthy of the Chmese, seem not to be aware of the fact, is certain, — the " mission " of our friends has not accomplished much. The French, Germans, and other nations on the Continent have had too much good sense to entertain such preposterous views for a moment. Tliis idea of isolating a nation and getting all others to point the finger of scorn at it, is about the most impracticable and absurd conception that ever en- tered into the head of any human being. Most nations have got enough to be ashamed of themselves. And experience teaches that it is Itffht and love and not hatred, that is effective to remove great moral evils, whether they be indi\ddual, social, or national. But if these gentlemen wish to effect their object by isolating the United States, let them persuade the Manchester and other British manufacturers to buy no more American cotton. This would do more than any thing else that could be attempted in that hue to overthrow slavery in America. Will they be able to do tliis ? Let them try, and they will find that self-interest and the love of money are equally powerful on both sides of the ocean, — too powerful, alas, for the interests of the poor slave. What then ? Why other influences than isolation must be employed, and those uifluences must be of a moral nature, and originate chiefly witlmi and not without the slave-holding States. But there are many great and good men in the bodies to which reference has been made, who do not believe a word of their being called to the mission of putting down American Slavery, — a tiling for which they are not responsible, imless it be to deplore the sm of thek fathers in creating it, and to pray for its removal ! The author of these Eemarks cannot bring them to a conclusion mth- ont addressmg a few words with great plainness and frankness to his British brethren and Englishmen in general. He would say to them, in the language of christian kindness and of earnest faithfulness : " You, dear brethren and friends, have a gi'eat work to do — m elevating, and educating, and christianizmg the masses, the now down-trodden and ignorant masses, in your gTeat cities ; in your mining districts ; in your manufecturiug towns. The spiritual wants of your army and navy de- mand your attention ; your vast colonial possessions, — Canada, India, South Africa, Australia, need a great deal more of your care, as to their spiritual mterests, than they seem to be receiving ; Ireland has scarcely begun to attract your notice, instead of being blessed throughout aU her extent by yom- exertions. The papal nations on the Continent, some of them almost visible from your shores, are well nigh " imknown lands" to you, and yet God is opening them to efforts which you owe it to this interference will do more harm than good. It may sustain a party among us as I have said ; but it will retard, not hasten, the overthrow of slavery. 75 your history, to youi' faith, and even to your relaJ^nstothem, — for you have often sacriticed much to save them from pohtical and mihtary des- potism, — to make for them ; the Jewish work!, and the great Heathen and Mohammedan worlds demand much at your hands, for many mil- hons of them are under the chrect or indirect influence of your govern- ment. And, finally, your government itself needs to be looked after ; a good many reforms need still to be made ; much progress has been made in bringing your domestic and foreign pohcy to the right line. Still there is much to be done ; its foreign influence has been, on the whole, salutary, of late years, far beyond what it was in years not very long gone by; but it has leaned rather too much to the side of despo- tism ; it ought to give the weight of its great influence more to the side of struggling Hberty ; it needs more of the spirit of that determined Englishman, Oliver Ceomwell, and of that sturdy Dutchman, Wil- liam, Peince of Orange — the two best monarchs and most sincere Protestants England has ever had, though they both came into the pos- session of the supreme power rather irregularly, according to the ideas of some men, and being as it were, " born out of due time," — to make it care as much as it should for persecuted Christians, wherever found, especially in the Old World. " Surely you have, then, a large field to cultivate, one large enough to task all your energies. If you see us unfaithful in dealing with an evil which exists in some of our States — but for which the Supreme Government is not, and cannot be responsible — if you find us displaying sympathy only with the master, and not with those who serve — if you discover that we have no desire to have this social evil safely, and even speedily, removed, then, by all means, remind us of our sad neg- lect — pray for our enhghtenment — and kindly urge us to discharge the duty we neglect ; but do not condemn us as a ' pro-slavery ' people, as 'hyiDOcrites' and ' bars' because we cannot see with you ' eye to eye' in regard to the best modus operandi ; we did not, twenty years ago, deal thus with you. And hi regard to practical action, do not interfere ; for your interference will only retard the glorious consummation.* K we cannot (mth God's help) manage this great evil wliich we inherited from you — ^let it never be forgotten — without your help, we cannot do it at all. Non tali auxiho nee defensoribus istis Tempus eget. * A few months ago, a religious body in Ireland addressed a letter to the American Churches about the Fugitive Slave Lato ! One of the best papers in New York— a paper that had steadily opposed that law, used svich language as the following in relation to this letter. '• What can these men hope to accomplish by this unw arrantable interference in the political action of our governmeut ? Was there ever such arrogance and folly ? Do they really think that they are likely to do any good by such an absurd measure ? Why can they not attend to their own business ? Have they not enough to look after in their own empire ? Is this the return wMch we are to receive for what we did for that country when famine and pestilence was laying it desolate— a land, the overwhelming majority of whose inha- bitants are in an incomparably worse condition both for this world and the next, than are our slaves in whose behalf they affect such an interest." 76 *' But you can aid us witli yours prayers, that wisdom from on high may be imparted to us, that proper measures may be adopted for the removal of this dreadful evil ; that grace may be given to Cliristians, North and South, to enable them to see and do their duty in regard to it. You can help us by making our slave-holders see in your West India Colonies, the happy effects of emancipation, — this has certainly not been the case to as gTeat an extent as could be wished, — it has largely decided public sentiment with us against immediate emancipation. You can help us still further, — but this does not concern the question of slavery, — by doing your duty better to the masses m Ireland and other portions of your own realm, so that the tens and even hundreds of thousands whom we are to receive from you, may come prepared to be a blessing and not a biurthen and a curse to us. We feel much about this matter. You gave us slavery at the outset, and you abuse us for the existence of an evil which we cannot get clear of in a day, nor in any thmg short of many years ; and now you are, as it were, obtrudmg upon us masses of ignorant Roman Cathohcs, whom we must take off your hands, and do as well with them as we can. This is not hind— it is in fact very unkind. We are very sure that unless Monarchy and Established Church do better towards the masses — in the way of edu- cating them and givmg them the knowledge of the Gospel, our people will never be won back to those ancient institutions. On the contrary, we shaU have to jog along as weU as we can with our Repubhcanism and the Voluntary Principle ! May heaven take care of us ! We will try to do for these peo]ile in the New World what ought to have been done for them in tlie Old. " In truth, we liave a great work to do in North America, and with God"s help we will do it. if He will but deign to aid us and bless us, even He who was the God of our fathers, and has hitherto brought us through many and great difficulties, all will go well. Our population is increasing at a fearful rate ; Europe sends us hundreds of thousands of her people annually to our eastern shores ; Asia is begmning to send her children by thousands to om^ western ; Afiica has long ago given us a great many of her sable cliildren ; and there remam nearly half a miUion of the tawney " children of the wood," the aborigines. — What a vast work to enlighten, to elevate, to christianize all ! And what a fusion of races must take place on that contment. It would seem as if there the unity of the race was to be re-estabhshed and demonstrated by fact. \\Tiat sort of a race this amazing composite is going to be, time, wliich determmes all things else, can alone decide. " We have a great work to do at home ; but we will endeavour to give our aid to the worli abroad also. We are willing to help you, as we are doing in Lidia, Canada, andL-eland. It is the wish of every good man in America, so fiir as we know, to see the relations of friendship and loudness mauitained between the two great branches of the same Anglo-Saxon family. Our fathers combined their exertions with your ancestors to maintain the interests of the British empke and extend its gloiy. Until our Revolution, we were a part of that empire ; and your Lockes, and Newtons, and Barrows, and Hookers, and Addi- sons, and Leightons, and Wattses, and Bunyans, and many other illus- 77 trious men, are as dear tx) us as oiir Mathers, and Edwardses, and Elliots, and Brainerds, and Finlays, and Davies. Your Witherspoon became ours literally. And, since the separation, we have not ceased to love and venerate your great and good men, both the dead and the living. This feeling we would ever cherish. Whether we shall do so will greatly depend upon yourselves. If the language of abuse is to be continued, whether on account of slavery or any thing else, so that no American, that deserves the name, can attend your public meetings without having his feelings outraged, then you may rest assured that goodwill must give place to disgust and hatred. They flattered your vanity and pride, who told you that this course would hefp to overthrow slavery with us ; but they have deceived you. You may, by contmuing to pursue it, grieve the good, but you will irritate the rest of the nation, who will return vituperation for your abuse. If you talk about excluding them, this class mil tell you — ' We are quite ready to exclude you, and defy you, too, if it be necessary. We know you well, your good qua- lities and your bad, for they are both re-produced among ourselves. We have great respect for you, but we have some respect for ourselves : we respect you, but fear you not.' And so matters may go on, and pro- bably will, from bad to worse, until both nations, having become ripe for the Divine judgments, war may ensue ! And at the end of five years, what will be your possessions in North America, and what our relations, as to commerce and manufactures, to you? These are ques- tions which may soon demand very serious consideration from statesmen on both sides of the ocean. At present, the government of each country is in the hands of wdse and good men ; but the election of a President and Congress with us, or the election of the popular branch of Parlia- ment with you, may change the face of things in a very short time." The author of these pages would do what he can to avert the evil day in which these two important nations will be seen engaged in deadly contest, to the grief of aU good men, and to the joy of their enemies. He beheves with Croesus of old, ** that peace is better than war ; for in peace children bury their fathers, but in war fathers bm^ their children." He also beheves with a good Russian Bishop (Teehon) of the last cen- tury, that the greatest of all the beatitudes is that which is pronounced upon the '* peace-makers," and he desires to have a share in it. He has done what he could ; but if his efibrts should prove to be in vain, — be it so ; the path of duty is still the same. 78 POSTSCRIPT, By the English Editor. The Editor has felt much pleasure in complying with the earnest request of his esteemed and honoured fiiend, by superintendmg the pubhcation of this important and valuable pamphlet. He feels it un- necessary to bespeak for it the candid attention of British Christians ; the high character of the author, and the importance of the topics he discusses will secure attention from all but the ignorant and prejudiced. To those who have violated the laws of truth and love by representing Dr. Baird as a ' pro-slavery minister,' the Editor submits the following clear and unequivocal averment : " There never has been a pulsation of my heart which has not been in behalf of the down-trodden and oppressed of all lands and of every complexion ;' and, on the ground of the author's estaWished character, he demands a retractation of the unjust and injurious aspersion. In announcing the recent meeting of the British Evangehcal Alliance, Sir Culling Eardley officially pubHshed this invitation, — " Christians of ALL NATIONS are invited to this Assembly," — and yet, when a respect- able American minister presented himself, and asked for admission, as other foreigners had done, they were admitted, and he was repulsed ! And when he pressed for an explanation, he was told, in effect, that *' all nations," in the invitation did not include the United States ! O tempora, mores ! Nor is this all. One of the Presidents of the very Assembly who denied admission to this anti-slavery minister — for such he was — had been, what ? A British Slave-holder, retaining slaves until the Ma- jesty of England said, no Briton shall have slaves, and, then, (as some affirm, in a pitiful spirit of commercial reckomng,) sellmg them to the nation for so many pieces of silver ! No one ever heard this good man say, while a slave-holder, that he was living in sin, and no one ever saw or heard a single sign of penitence. And yet he was, and is, an office- bearer in a christian church ; and let it be added, a christian gentleman whom to know, is to love. British Christians! We must never lower the standard we have raised against slavery. We must denounce the mighty wrong, as an infringement of man's rights, and of God's prerogatives. And if any of our christian brethren in America be supine — and some of them, I believe are, — we must arouse them fi'om their lethargy ; but every thing in the law of Christ, and many things in our own national antecedents, demand that we should act towards them in a spirit of candour, for- forbearance and love. America and Britain, one in race, in language, and in hterature, must be one in the faitli and fellowship of that Gospel to which they owe their moral supremacy ; and which will make them, by abohshing more than American slavery — in a higher sense tlian they now are, — " great, glorious, and free ! " Oci. ^th, 1851. JAMES BJ.ACK., rKlM£B, WOOLWICH. Date Due ,.^0«W«***(^ I %^„T— 1 .r---'* ■ ^ }• --tef< ^ f. ■: y*««i«» -iii """"" itoMve^ Pli^^HWr ?5f-^ PPfWBRtl. *^igr f. ,J5^^ '"■ , .,,fejrt/iytiifw«w .1 . ''M.^.iO^V .liSM^t^P^ «#»f'^"^ "^isw^Hs^ ■^ff^ "fW^'^'^l^ J ,BW4026.B16 The progress and prospects of [''■'""/°" /'leoiogical Semmacy-Speer Library 1 1012 00034 5977