' o « o - <^' s » • • * :f- ^ or »>t- 1"^ A-^^<. ^ V- '.% V c'V^ .V , '^ik^ ''^^. j^ V C)^ » • • > ^^ :m^^ "•^" ^^' •'^*'^'- ■^- 0^ ,^.: A^ \rt/ ''/>', " o « o ^ ^^ " , ,^' ,0 "V, ■m^/ ,*^ . ,'- ^*ouicfl onkiiowu 4 My ^5 ^^ f vottsstant-^pissicoirnl ^vtcdmau'jsi (Sammi^ssian* INTRODUCTION. At a meeting of the Board of" Missions of the Protestant- Episcopal Church, hehl at St. Luke's Church, Philadolpliia, on the e\x^ning of Oct. 5, 1865, it was resolved that so much of the Report of the Domestic Committee as relates to the freedmen of the South be referred to a committee of seven. The following committee was appointed : — The Bishops of North Carolina and Illinois, the Rev. Dr. Wiiarton, Rev. Dr. Quintard, Rev. Dr. Mahan, and Messrs. Churchill and Huntington. At a meeting of the Board held at St. Luke's Church on the evening of Oct. 13, the following resolutions on the report of the Committee were unanimously adopted : — Eesolved (1), That the Constitution of this Society be so amenc^d as to authorize the appointment, during the will of this Board, of a commission, to be called the '' Protes- tant-Episcopal Freedman's Commission," to whom shall be committed the religious and other instruction of the freed- men ; said commission to meet quarterly, a majority to be a quorum, with authority to appoint a secretary, and gen- eral agent, and treasurer ; and to constitute, as its general representative, with full power to act for it during its re- cess, an executive committee, composed of such of its mem- bers as it may prescribe, not to exceed eight ; the members of said executive committee to be ex officio members of the Board of Missions, said commission to be governed in its actions by the principles laid down in the eleventh article of the Constitution of the Board. Besolved (2), Until otherwise ordered, this commission shall consist of the following persons : Rt. Rev. Bishops Williams, Potter, Odeuheimer, Stevens; Rev. Drs, Dix, A. H. Vinton, Hawks, E. Washburne, Littlejohn, Haight, Montgomery, Dyer, Rev. Edward Anthon, Rev. Drs. Diller, Eccleston, 4 INTRODUCTION. ITowland ; Messrs. H. Fish, Ruo;gles, F. S. Winston, John Welsh, John Bohlen, Georp:o D. Alorgan, Robert B. Minturn, George (\ Collins John II. Swift, Stewart Brown, W. H. Aspinwall, John Travers. Signed for Committee: Thomas Atkinson. Francis Wharton. H. J. Whitehouse. a. it. Churchill. C. T. QuiNTAUD. S. U. Huntington. MiLO Mahan. On motion, Rev. Drs. Wharton and Huntington, and the Rev. John A. Aspinwall, were added to the Commission. It was then unanimously Resolved, That the first resolution connected with the re- port be a[)proved by the Boai-d, and transmitted to the Gen- eral Convention lor their action thereon. At a meeting of the General Convention, at St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, the proposed amendment of the Constitution of the Board of Missions was unanimously passed by each house. ^ At a meeting of the Board of Missions, held at St. Luke's Church, on the evening of the same day, the following pream- ble and resolutions were unanimously adopted : — - Whereas The General Convention has enacted the amendment of the Constitution of this Society in reference to freed- mon proposed by this Board, lieaolved, That the gentlemen heretofore nominated as mem- bers of the Freedmen's Commission be hereby appointed members of said commission. The Commission mot at the rooms of the Domestic Commit- tee, New York, on Friday, Nov. 10. The following mem- bers W(M-e i)rosent : — Rt. Rev. IJishop Potter, Rt. Rev. Bishop Odenheimer, and Rt. Rev. Bishop Stevens. Rev. Drs. i)ix, Dyer, Ecclcston, ITaight, Ilowland, Littlejohn, Montgoniery, A. II. Vinton, Washburne, AVharton ; Rev. Messrs. Anthon and Aspinwall; Messrs. S. Brown, Minturn, Morgan, Welsh, and Winston. Rev. John A. Aspinwall was elected Recording Secretary to the Commission; and Rev. Dr. Wharton, Corresponding Sec- rotary. Robert B. Minturn, Esq., was elected Treasurer. INTRODUCTION. 5 Tho following Executive Committee was appointed : — Rev. Dr. Haiglit, Rev. Dr. A. II. Vinton, Rev. Dr. Little- john, Rev. Dr, Eccleston, IlamiUon Fis1i, E^5q., F. S. Winston, Esq., G. D. Morgan, Esq., and John Welsh, Esq. The following resolutions were adopted : — Resolved, That the Executive Committee be requested to open a correspondence with the Rt. Rev. the Bishops of North Carolina, Tennessee, and the South-west, and with other Southern Bishops, so soon as the way shall he open for such communications, and make of them a respectful request to be favored with such suggestions as they may be inclined to make with regard to the best methods of prosecuting the work for which this Commission was created. Resolved, That the Committee be requested to direct tlieir attention, as their main object, to the religious and secular instruction and physical relief of the fieedmen of the South ; it being within their power incidentally to aid by pecuniary grants such clergymen as are engaged in the teaching of colored persons. At a subsequent meeting of the Executive Committee, it was resolved, — 1. — That the clergy be requested to take up a collection, in aid of the Commission, on the coming day of National Thanksgiving ; or, if this interfere with diocesan regulations, at the earliest period practicable. 2. — That contributions of clothing be earnestly solicited to meet the destitution among the freedmen that now exists. 3. — That this Commission heartily invites the formatitjn of auxiliary societies, diocesan or parochial, to aid in its import- ant work. 4. — That the Corresponding Secretary be requested to is- sue an appeal, stating the nature and objects of the work in which the Committee is engaged. At a meeting of the Executive Committee, lield in New York, on Friday, Dec. 15, the Rev. J. Bcixton S.mitii, D.D., Avas elected General Agent. Hereafter, all applications from teachers, and all communications as to supplies, are to be di- rected to the Rev. J. Brinton SMrra. D.D., at the oflice of the Commission, No. 10, Bible House, N.Y. Goods for Freed- men to be forwarded to the same address. The Rev. Dr. "Wharton was, on the same day, elected a member of the Executive Committee, in place of Rev. Dr. Eccleston, resigned. ADDRESS BY THE REV. PRANCIS WHARTON, LL.D., DELIVTCRED IN DURING TUE MONTH OF DECEJIBEK, 18(55.* _ Br the unanimous action of the Board of Missions, sanc- tioned and authorized by the equally unanimous action of the General Convention, a commission has been instituted for the instruction and relief of the Ireedmen of the South. As this Commission now appeals to our whole Church for sympa- thy and support, it is here proposed to set forth some of the grounds by which its institution is required, and some of the principles by which its action will be governed. EDUCATION OF FREEDMEN NEEDED BY THE WHOLE NATION. First let us view the necessity of such action, as required by the condition of the freedmeu themselves. Never was so largo a body of men placed in a condition so critical, both as to themselves and as to the nation of which thoy are part. They comprise a population of four millions ; for a number of years they have been almost the sole laborers by whom our South- ern fields have been worked. Without them, cotton and su- gar, for iustance, could not have been produced ; if thoy were not the only laborers who could have borne the climate, they were certainly the only laborers on the spot who were at hand to till the soil. No industrial class is now ready to take their place; yet, without some competent industrial class, not ♦ Tliin address, tlioufrli unoflicial, will be of use in giving information on the important subject of wliick it treats. EDUCATION OF FREEDMEN NEEDED BY WHOLE NATION. 7 merely will the South be permanently desolated,* but the prosperity, the peace, the solvency of the Avhole country Avill be seriously shocked. To the full play of business reciprocity between the several distinct staple-growing sections of our diversitied land must we look for the liquidation of our debt, and the restoration of our prosperity ; and, besides this, unless a system of successful labor, with its products of comfort and wealth be inaugurated in the South, that section will be sur- rendered to political discontent and disorder, which will not merely destroy our general commercial well-be ing,-|- but will change the whole character of our political institutions from a federal republic to a military centralization. Yet, in the pres- ent condition of the frecdmen, these dangers are very immi- nent, unless prompt and wise remedial action be taken. They are detached from the ligatures, which, under the old system, kept them at work, and the new motives of inteUigeut percep- tion, of the consciousness of the necessity of labor, and of duty impelling to it, have not yet been formed. By the old system, Southern labor was like oars, b}' which, under the force of a superior will, the boat was clumsily propelled ; the new system is like the steam-engine, which, when once fixed up, will apply vastly greater power, with vastly less supervi- sory effort. But the difficulty is that we have taken out the oars, and not yet put in the engine ; we have removed from negro labor the impetus of compulsion, and not yet applied to it the impetus of intelligence and conscientious motive ; and, unless the last impetus be applied, we can expect nothing but wreck. PERIL OF NON-EDUCATION. Then, again, view the political danger to our land, should they remain freedmen, yet with minds and consciences thus untaught and unilluminated. A free and yet ignorant and debased race cannot exist in the vitals of the body-politic without the most fearful risks. Supposing, — if we dare con- template such a guilty catastrophe as this supposition in- volves, — supposing that like the Indians they are ultimately to perish, under the torture of a civilization which clasps but will not incorporate or elevate. The Indians were a nomadic race, comparatively few in numbers, dwelling on our out- skirts, instinctively wandering forth to die where their deaths wrought no paroxysm in the dominant society, and their corruption spread no infection. But the negro is not nomadic; he refuses to wander from his old homes; there have these four millions of human beings lived, and there will * See appendix A. f See appendix B. 8 KEGRO CAPABLE OP EDUCATION. they die. If they die from demorah'zation and degradation, their death, — the death of this living organism permeating every core and fibre of our land; the very presence of this dying, diseased mass in eacli point and pore of our system, — this cannot but be degradation and debasement, if not death, to ourselves. No nation can be prosperous, or healthy, or free, that palpitates with such death-throes as these, and incor- porates such a polluting, d^-ing presence. Or, take the other alternative, and suppose that they do not die out; but that they continue to live, — live free, with the power of doing what they choose, without the motive or the capacity of self-support. No nation, without social revolutions the most stupendous, can include in its bounds a population which is at once free and yet has nothing to bind it up in social sympathy and business intercommunion with the classes by which the land is controlled, and which is without the ca- pacity of intelligent industry, where intelligent industry alone can secure a support. Such men, brutish through ignorance, and maddened through poverty, would form a constant insur- gent element, as untamable as fire, ready to be kindled by the first frantic impulse within, or the first insidious instiga- tion from without. They must be elevated to self-support and self control, and to a wise, intelligent, and loyal citizenship, if we would protect our country, and especially our Southern country, from the constant danger of revolt. The negro, if free, intelligent, and conscientious, will contribute to restore our country to a prosperity and vigor and moral dignity here- tofore unapproached; free, but uneducated, ho will not only corrupt, but shatter our whole social fabric. NEGRO CAPABLE OF EDUCATION. *"' But is the freedman capable of the cultivation here in- voked? This grave question let us next consideV. And remember, in considering it, that it is not disputed ; that centuries of barbarism, followed by centuries of slavery, have deposited over the intellectual structure of the negro a crust which it may take generations wholly to remove. And it should be remembered, also, that the immcdiat« issue is not their present homogencousncss of intellect with the white race, but simply their capacity to become intelligent, Chris- tian, selfsupporting, and self-directing members of that great industrial community, of which three-fourths of our population are already composed. Nor i« it disputed that there are certain characteristics of barbarism and slavery which will imprint themselves on any people on which they press. Those who are subject to arbi- trary rule, will take to lying; those who have no "right to hold NEGRO CAPABLE OP EDUCATION. 9 property, will not be particular as to property's more refined distinctions; tliosc who cannot turn tiicir labor to their own account, will not trouble themselves by working more than they are actually compelled. Nor is it disputed that it may take time to cflace the characteristics thus stamped ; all that is claimed is, that they are the result of* a peculiar social sys- tem, and that, when that system is removed, they will sooner or later disappear. But wliat is here asserted is, that the negro race has in it, aside from these accidents, the elements which make up an intelligent. Christian, self-directing and self-elev;iting indus- trial class ; and to some of the grounds on which this assertion rests, let us now turn. HIS CAPACITY ORDAINED BY GOD. And first, we all admit tiiat the negro race flows from the same original source as our own; and that, as the several streams which make up human society have, under God's providence, diverged, so they may be made to converge, under the same divine will. Nor can it be denied that it was all mankind which was originally made in the image of God, and that that image is borne by the blacks as well as by ourselves. So, in the next place, must we hold that the temporal as well as the spiritual promises of revelation apply to black as well as to white: ''As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Nor is this all. "They," — so the whole body of the redeemed are spoken of, — "they shall not build, and anotjier inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat ; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." We cannot exclude the negro from the range of promises which these represent, without excluding ourselves. AND PROVED BY HISTORY. So, also, we must admit that in the fluctuations of races there have been eras in which the African exhibited, while our own ancestors gave no trace of, those very capacities for intolh'gent, self-supporting industry, to which we now appeal. Thus, among the most stupendous monuments of skilful labor which the earth retains, still reposes the bust of Mcmnon, regally presiding as if among its own creations, yet with its ver}' countenance marked by those African peculiarities which we now associate with brutishness and incapacity. So among the hieroglyphics, which first expressed thought in words, and which taught lessons to Greece and Rome when our ancestors were roaming the forests of Aliddle Europe in a savage ignor- ance as brutish as that of the present African, — intertwined 10 EDUCATION A PACIFIER AND RENOVATOR. inextricably among these hieroglyphics, as if incapable of dis- sociation from them, is the profile of this same African face. And while subsequent centuries have shown that these facul- ties have become largely dormant, it is very clear that they have not become extinct. The New Testament brings to our notice, as if to classify this race among both the subjects and actors of early Christian civilization, an Ethiopian who was possessed not merely of cultivation, but of rank requiring considerable executive gifts; and from time to time men of negro blood have been eminent as bishops, as captains, and as masters both of fiction and of the exact sciences. Even now we have a Liberian republic, wdiich has been governed for the last twenty years with a sagacity and success which at least the South American governments cannot surpass; and we have at this moment a negro bishop of Anglican consecra- tion, presiding with great good sense and energy over an African diocese ; and a negro clergyman, of singular elo- quence and tact, addressing the congregations of our own land. — If we see iron ore yellowing the side of a distant hill ; if by that hill-side we see majestic structures which this very iron served to knit ; if Ave find the same vein running, under- ground though it may be, to the spot where we stand, we cannot doubt that now, with proper care, this same ore can be worked up to the same purposes for which it was for- merly so eifectively employed. And even though now the outcroppings of negro power be but occasional, yet here is the race, and there are its past achievements, and there, at the beginning, was its common origin with ourselves; and here is the very hand of Providence, pointing us to the very work of restoration, for which we thus have both materials and pat- tern.- EDUCATION A PACIFIER AND RENOVATOR. '^ Nor can we examine the condition of the freedman now, without seeing in him a peculiar readiness for that very kind of restoration which would make him our fit co-worker in the building up both of State and Church. In the modulations of races, as of climates, Providence may well be supposed to es- tablish such a diversity in unity as may bring out a more com- plete and healthy interchange and development of labor than identity of occupation and temperament would produce ; and this diversity we perceive here. In our own race, we notice force of character, enterprise, stubbornness, high inventive- ness, great restlessness in the seeking out and occupation of new fields, as well as a pliysical inability to pursue labor under a tropical sky. In the African, we see docility, remarkable * Seo Appendix C. EDUCATION MUST BE PRACTICAL AND SECULAR. 11 skill in imitation and reproduction from a given tj'po, an over- weening attachment to its old sites, a perfect content in almost monotonous perseverance in application to a particular round of pursuits, and a capacity to labor in climates which white industry cannot endure. And, in the common base from which these diverging types spring, this same feature of variety rising from unity a[)pears. We cannot look at the schools where the children of both races are respectively taught, without seeing that the negro child, so far as concerns the reception of the primary branches of education, is not behind those of our own color, whoso homo advantages have been as slight. The ques- tion of the negro's immediate capacity for high speculative thought does not here arise, and may well be deferred to future experience ; but, as far as concerns his capacity for what is necessary for his own temporal and spiritual welfare, and the temporal and spiritual welfare of our country, the record is clear. Capacity of this kind he has from God in common with ourselves ; capacity of this kind has been abundantly shown in the past ; the susceptibility for the cul- tivation of this capacity he shows now. If there be a diver- sity, as contrasted with ourselves, in the way in which this ca- pacity develops itself, such diversity only tells in favor of future prosperity and peace. It diminishes collision ; it ex- hibits each race as in part the complement of the other ; it gives to each race that in the aid of the other which it itself needs ; it tends the better to energize and refine and elevate them while at the same time strengthening and steadying us ; it is the best restorer of social sympathy and peace.* THE KIND OF EDUCATION NEEDED. What, then, is the education we should seek to impart ? is the next question to which we are to address ourselves. And I need not say that this education must be twofold : it must be secular, so as to stimulate the sclfsupporting and self-elevating powers ; and it must be religious, so as to give resoluteness and enlightenment to conscience, and to extend by the con- version of souls the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. No education, in the position in which the frcedman now finds himself, would be adequate without embracing the first of these heads. MUST BE PRACTICAL AND SECULAR. We are apt to smile at political economy; but that form of political economy which is instinctive in the Anglo-Amer- ican, — that sort of second nature which teaches us as a * See Appendix D. 12 AND ALSO POSITIVELY CHRISTLUJ. race tliat labor Avill find a market, and a market will find labor ; wliich enables us to seize for ourselves and impart to others that taste for the comforts of civilization wliich makes those couilbrts essential to universal social life, and thus ex- tends the domains of industry, and refines its ingcnuit}'- and in- tensifies its stimulus, — the home political economy which prom[)ts us all to work each day the longer and the more skil- fully, so that a higher degree of education, and an ampler scale of comfort may be ours, — in this Ignd of political economy must the negro be taught. IIo must thus learn the need ol" la- bor to himself, and he must learn the misery which idleness breeds, and he must learn the modes by which labor can be most skilful and most effective, not merel}" in the field or workshoji, but in the extension of the comforts of his own home. And what we would do with our children, did we wish to malvC labor attractive to them, we must do to this, the nation's child, — this child whose welfare is as essential to us as to himself We must create refined tastes and refined intellectual cravings, so that the fruits of knowledge, as well as the burdens and grief of knowledge, may be his ; so that the new cares of labor and self support tlius opened may be bright- ened by recreation and ennobled by intellectual growth. AND MUST ALSO BE POSITIVELY CHRISTIAN. And then, as to the second form which the education of the freednian should assume, as an indispensable need, must the positive truths of the gospel be imparted, and this through conservalive and stable agencies. How, without illuminating the conscience, and, in the thunders of the revealed word, ex- hibiting the retributions of eternity, — how, except by uniting to those thunders the pleadings of Him who died for us on the tree, — how else can you plant among this peojilc, now as it were without law, either within or above themselves, the prin- ciples of morality without which they cannot ever exist? The gospel, besides the day-school, is economically needed to stim- ulate to industry ; to teach that the idler is condemned by God ; but the gospel is needed for something more. Remem- ber, for instance, how essential is the sanctity of marriage to a people's health and integrity and growth ; and remember how imperfectly regarded was this sanctity by this people in days past. Scrutinize the speculative philosophy fioatcd down to them by the present humanitarian propagandism of our own North. Analyze this philosophy ; see whether it is not im- bued not merely with scepticism as to all divine sanctions, but with supercilious contem[)t of the most precious of the institutions by which we hedge in domestic life. Misty as PERIL OF SCEPTICAL TEACUING. 13 this pliilosopliy. is, yet from it drops of poison liquefy and exude, wliicli may corrode and sever the few ligatures of iioinc fidelity by which this unhappy people are ytiU restrained. Add to this the influence of the presence of alternate armies, — that influence which is one of the most fearlul elements of war, — and you can conceive that it needs the full teaching of the revelation of God, — a revelation in the tendeiness of Calvary and the terrors of Sinai, to establish the iinperativc- uess of that marriage sanctity to which, as a single branch of Christian ethics, I now for illustration refer. Yet. it iiomc, if marriage, if the nurture and tutelage of cliildi'en, if the decorousness and forethought which theye involve, — if those principles be not implanted with the most awlul of sanctions in the negro race, what results can we expect but vagrancy, and disease, and pollution, and ruin, and death?* And then, rising from the illustration to the principle, wo ascend to contemplate the full motive power to right action which the gospel of Christ alone can supply. By neither com- pulsion nor prudence can this motive power be produced. Compulsion or prudence may plant a transient and superficial industry on our land, like those canvas villages and trees which were unfurled on the roads over which the Russian empress travelled, and which, when the pageant ])assed on, were removed. But institutions which are real, which have an abiding I)ase, which will remain steadfast while the awful pomp of eternity marches on, — these must be founded on the resolutions of a spiritualized heart, resting on no temporary pressure or transient policy, but on a sincere reverence to an immutable God. Constraint or prudence may coerce, but can- not regenerate ; may push to the temporary effort, but cannot lead to the remote end ; may insert in u& a transient mechanism, but cannot inspire a self-determining soul. But the gospel gives purpose and strength, and in the atonement of the Sa- viour, and in the sureness of his grace, supplies the stimulus and the power of vigorous and holy. life. It nerves the soul, bo its human accidents what they may, with a man's vigor, and graces it with a saint's pardon, and wings it with a seraph's strength, and speeds it to God's own home. It is a gospel which we dare not hold back from this unhappy people, if we value our country's safely, and if we would ourselves hope to stand, without one of the most awful judgments ever pro- nounced upon a church, before the Saviour's bar. Because thy brother was dying, and thou wouldst not relieve ; there- fore is death to come upon thee. There may be a vicarious • See Appendix E. 14 THIS THE WISEST FORM OP AGENCY. spiritual death of the wrong-doer in the place of those whose misery he would not relieve ; there may be prosperity with him here, while in the wronged there may be wretchedness ; but his hereafter may be the desolation they have now. God grant that this vicarious suffering may not l3e ours. Yet how dare we offer this prayer, if we withhold the bread of mercy and the bread of life ? BY WHAT AGENCY ? What, then, is the agency by which our Church is now in- voked to undertake this great work? And it is with no little satisfaction that I recur to the fact that this agency is not merely churchly, and in full accordance with the analogies of an ecclesiastical structure, but that it is in conformity with the principles invoked by the national Government, through the appeals of that wise Christian soldier who now heads the Freedmau's Bureau.* NOT BY ONE OP SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION. No system of instruction, — so he holds, and so hold we, — can be successful, which is based on social distrust or antagonisms between the two races who now occupy the South. Bitter conflicts there may be, and surgings upwards of brute force, and the possible final calamity of a war of races sympathet- ically permeating the whole land, ending in the destruction of the weaker ; but not that equal, quiet, peaceful growth of the industrial and intellectual and spiritual faculties, which Chris- tianity as well as true national policy involves. No system of instruction can be so successful as that which unites the influence of the old religious instructors of the negro with that of those who now proceed thither from our own Northern shores. Nor can I refer to these, the negro's religious in- structors of the past, witliout saying tliat their fidelity then, is the highest pledge of their fidelity now. Among them were some of the most devoted missionaries the Church ever knew ; to them now the heart of the freedman almost exclusively ap- peals wlion seeking consolation in sorrow, or for rites to bless the new-born child, or bury his dead. And this is the influ- ence that seeks to welcome us in our work.f • See Appendix P. f See Appendix G. MISERY AND RUIN APPEALING FOR OUR AID. 15 BUT BY ONE UNITING RELIGIOUS SANCTIONS OF NORTH AND SOUTH. By US, in the North, there is no individuality to be lost. Our teachers go forth as teachers from the North, speaking witli the authority of the North, breathing those principles wliich make hibor honorable, and which associate with it the right of progressive self-elevation. And as such tliose of our own communion in the South receive us, glad, so they tell us, to see thus summoned the several energies needed for the regen- eration of the unhappy race of which they, with us, are the trustees, and with whose welfare their own welfare is so closely combined. And so it will be that, while retaining our own distinctiveness as to the tone and mode of secular teach- ing, we will not proceed to the field as agents of social antago- nism, and of those race animosities which will turn schools into sepulchres, but as men appointed to heal and cement, as well as to instruct. Our mission is thus to teach in the only way in which teaching can be either efficient or salutary; it is, by the very sanction and organism of our teaching, to use, for the elevation of the freedmen, the reliu'ious influence of the whole land ; it is, therefore, while elevating the freed- man, to establish, not distrust and hostility, but confidence and harmony between them and those of our own race with whom they are appointed to dwell. MISERY AND RUIN APPEALING FOR OUR AID. And so it is that our Church as a whole, as well as our na- tion as a whole, sanction us as we undertake this momentous work. We have with us addresses from the clergy of the South breathing the very spirit, and using not a few of the points, on which this argument rests ; but voices come to us still more solemn and vehement. In the trail of armies, it is not merely the stately Southern temple that has been swept down ; the little cabin in which the negro worshipped was regarded with even less reverence; and, in the common ruin, few sanctuaries now remain where this people can assemble to worship the Triune God. No interdict of papal tyranny has been more awful than the spiritual interdict uttered by this war. Bell and book, as it were, forbidden by the trum- pet's peal and the cannon's roar ; the rites of marriage unsol- emnized ; the altar proflxned ; the pulpit silenced ; the child unbaptized ; and unburied the dead. Nor, in the spread of material ruin, is it the once powerful and rich who have suf- 16 MISERY AND RUIN APPEALING FOR OUR AID. fercfl alone. It is on the slaves that the common ruin has fallen in the most devastating and sharpest power.* They have been the spoil of spoils; on them, the waifs of humanity, cast off from the protective care of all, has the full storm been spent. In a single case reported to us, among the children of a plantation, who before this dispersion numbered over hfty, it has now been ascertained that there is not one who has not since died from disease or neglect. By an official report of the Freedinan's Bureau, it is estimated, that, unless adequate relief be supplied, thirty thousand will perish in Georgia, forty thousand in Ala- bama, in the winter that now sets in. Huddled together in camps, or in the unhealthiest recesses of cities ; fevered and prostrated by the delusive expectation of a political millennium in whose solaces their broken hearts may find peace, and their weary limbs rest; exercising no care over themselves or their young, — they are corrupting, they are perishing, they have perished in hundreds of thousands from utter misery and want ; the}'' will so perish still. These, — dying Christiess, we standing by with closed hands, — we must meet before the throne ; and the living, in their wretchedness, plead and wrestle .with us now. Prom these ruined sanctuaries, from these haunts where the race is dying before our eyes, the awful ibrm of Ilim with the eyes of llarae arises to ask us who will go forth on this work of mercy ? who will give them prayers and aid ? Millions went forth at the call of war; and countless was the treasure by which they were supplied. Who will now be ready, by the gospel of peace, to save this per- ishing people? who to save ourselves? ♦ See appendix II. APPENDIX. Appendix A. NECESSITY OF INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY TO THE SOUTH. Gov. Paesons, at the Cooper Institute, New York, Nov. 13, 18C5. It is difficult with language to portray tlie devastation which war, especially civil war, produces, so as to furnisli an adequate idea of its efl'ccts. To realize them you must witness them ; to comprehend tliem fully, you must live upon tiie theatre, and witness the advance and the retreat of vast armies, listen to tlie roar of battle, and see those who are left upon the field after the retreat; you must see fields laid waste, farm-houses, cotton-presses, and gins in ruins; you must see towns and cities in flames, to form any tiling like an adequate idea of what war in reality is. You, whose fortune it lias been to see only tlie regiment witli colors streaming, tlie recipients of all tlie kindness and watchful care tliat friends could bestow, as they left for the scene of battle, can form no conception of the appearance of tliat regiment after the battle is over, unless, indeed, it has been your fortune to be on the scene of action, or so near it that vour house has been crowded witli tliose wlio have become victims of the strife. It will be in your recollection, ladies and gentlemen, that during tlie last of iVIarch, and in April, tlie Ucbellion suddenly collapsed. At that time public attention in the North was doubtless turned mainly to llie operations around Rich- mond, and to those wliich attended the movements of tlie vast armies of Gen. tjlierman. But it also happened that Gen. Wilson, with a large force of cavalry, some seventeen thousand, I believe, in number, commenced a movement from the Tennessee River, and a point in tlie north-west of tlie State of Alabama, diagonally across tlie 6t-.vte. He pene- trated to the centre, and tlien radiated from Selnia in every direction throug^li one of the most productive regions of the feouth. The defences of tliat little city of about ten thousand inhabitants were carried by assault on one of the first Sunday eveninfj:s iu last April, sun about an liour liigh It was tliought necessary by the com- manding general to reduce and subdue the spirit of Rebellion. For one week the forces under Gen. \Vilson occupied that little town, and night after night, and day after day, one public building after another, first the arsenal, then the foundry, each of wliich covered about eight or nine acres of ground, and was conducted upon a scale commensurate with the demand that military supplies for war created; railroad depots, machine shops con- nected with them, every thing of that description which liad been in any degree subser- vient to the cause of the Rebellion, was laid in ashes. Out of some sixty-odd brick stores in the city, forty-nine, I think, were consumed. On the line of march, you were scarcely out of sight of some indication of its terribleconsequences. Indeed, after three weeks had elaiised, it was with dilliculty you could travel the road from Plantersville to that city, so ofl'cnsive was the atmosphere in consequence of decaying horses and mules that lay along the road-side. Every description of ruin except the interred df'ad of the human family met the eye. 1 witnessed it myself. The fact is that no description can equal the reality. When the Federal forces left that little town, which is built on a blulf on the Alabama River, they crossed on a pontoon bridge, and commenced in the night to cross, and their way was lighted by burniu;; warehouses standing on the shore. All this is a part of war, a part of tliat severe discipline which nations e.Kperience, and must e.vpect to share as the fortunes of war vary, when they lay aside reason and appeal to brute force to settle what reason should settle, among Christian people certainly, and especially those who are born beneath the same flag. [Applause.] At the time of'these great occurrences to which I at first alluded, around Riclimond, and in connection with Gen. Sherman's army, this de- vastatiou was in progress in the State of Alabama. Up to that time, such had been the fortune of war, that our State had exi)ericnced very little of its baleful ell'ects, except the occupancy of about four counties north of the Tennessee Kivcr, and a small skirt of the shore on the (iulf of Mexico. In the South, we knew little of the presence of the army, except as prisoners were brought to us to be provided for, and our own sons and brothers were marshalled and carried ott" to the field. Out of a voting population of ninety thou- sand, Alabama furnished a hundred and twenty-two thousand men for service in the Con- federate army. Thirty-five thousand of these died on the field of battle, from wounds or from disease, and a large proportion of those who returned came back broken in health and constitution, and disabled by wounds from which they had jiartially recovered, but which renilered them unfit for active service. The white population of tli:it State was Sl'SjOUO, according to the census of ISIiO. At the time Gen. Wilson invaded it, the State was supplying with salt and meiil 139,04^ women and children, and otherwise helpless per- 17 18 APPENDIX. sons of the white race. Of the black race, tJiere were 440,000, and they, being the property of those who owned them, were supplied with food mid every tiling necessary for their comfortable subsistence physically by their owners. Hence, there never was any necessity in all the States for ii public assistance of the blacks. IJut this eleemosynary assistance to the white race was absolutely necessary. The State had appropriated, at the previous ses- Bion of the Legislature, seven millions of dollars for the purpose of procuring meal and salt for their relief. Meat was out of the question. Kven those comparatively wealthy pos- sessed but little of it, and that little was generally contributed, for the most part, to the array. That was the condition of things in Alabama at the time the Confederacy collapsed. Now, at that time, the corn crop of the State was just ready to be ploughed and hoed the first time. J5ut the black people, being informed of the presence of the Federal forces, thought the oil-repeated tale of freedom was actually to be verified at last, and concluded they would test the matter, knowintr no way of testing it e.xcept by quitting work, and seeing whether their masters dared order them back a^'ain to the plough-handle and the hoe. That was their onlv mode — simple, direct, efficacious— of testing the great proposi- tion, " Am I free or not ? " [ Applause.] The effect on the crop was, of course, most dis- astrous; but it tended to satisfy those who made the experiment that there was at least some degree of truth in the idea that they were free. The consequence was, that the crop, just at the turning point, vanished for want of cultivation ; besides, a drouth set in of un- paralleled severity, and continued all through the crop season; and the result is, that the State, thus depleted of its working force lor securing means of subsistence in the com- mencement of the season to a degree never before known, is now left with about half a crop of corn and small grain. Cotton has not been planted to any extent, because, as a matter of course, material for bread must be raised before cotton. This is the actual con- dition of all'airs, as given me by the delegates at the recent State Convention which as- sembled in Jlontgoniery in September last. Men of intelligence, candor, fairness in all re- spects, and whose judgment can be relied on, assured me that it is undoubtedly true, that in that State there is not more than one-lifth of a crop of grain for breadstuffs raised. Now, if the same ratio of indigence exists among the black population that e-xists among the white, it is manifest that there are seven Iiundred and fifty thousand people in that State who may sutler for food before the month of IMarch comes round. Our resources were completely exhausted, or nearly so, at the commencement of the last Spring. Remarks of Maj.-Gen. Meade. Gen. Mende said, — Ladies and Gentlemen, — It is hardly possible for me to express in suitable languaf^e the gratitude I feel from your reception of me this evening. It would be vanity in me to say that I thought my name was not well known here; but I really did not expect this flattering reception, and am deeply grateful for it. It is only riglit that I should explain why 1 am here before you to-night. I am no speaker, and it seems to me to be audacity only equal to that required to tight the great battle of Gettysburg to come before you after listening to the How of eloquence which you have just heard; but I was told in Philadel- phia, that, if I came here to-night, I might do some good. I therefore said 1 would come and tell you briefly how heartily I endorse the plan of the Commission, and wish it success. As commander of a very large; army, it has fallen to my lot to witness the ruin which has fallen on a large portion of the country. I can tell you that you cannot con- ceive the distress which exists in the Southern States. It is hardly necessary to dilate on this point. Since the Itcbellion broke out the men have been engaged in war, the women in providing for their wants. They have had no means of making money. Their currency is now destroyed; and, when you consider these things, you must see how great is their dis- tress. The question is, ought we to relieve i; '? 1 will not reason on the morality of the question, but 1 will tell you what we soldiers do. After fighting a battle, when the dead and wounded lay thick around us, we did not ask any ijuestions, but we took tender care of such as needed It. That should be your morality. The Southern people have now cea.sed to be enemies, and are disposed to be friends. It is your duty, as t.'liristians and citizens, and for your material interests, to believe tliern. This Comfnission is worthy of support, for it will relieve their necessities, and assuage the distress whicli we, in the course of this war, have been compelled to inflict on them. The olhcers of this association are among the first men in the country, and will make the very best use of all the funds that may be intrusted to their care. Thanking you for your very kind reception of me this evening, I bid you adieu Appendix B. « NECESSITY OF SOUTHEUN INDUSTRY TO NATIONAL PROSPERITY AND PEACE. GOV. PARSONS, OF ALABAMA, AT THE COOPEU INSTITCTK, NKW Y(»KK, NOV. 13, 1865. Let me say, likewise, ladies and gentlemen, and especially to tliose of you in this vast city who pursue commercial avocations, scarcely one ol' wliom is not, in some way, directly or indirectly, connected with it and alVected by it, that nothing is more important to the interests of the United States of America now than to restore business pursuits in all their old relations to each other. A good cotton croj) next year will do more to sustain the cur- rency of the Federal (iovernment ; to help Mr. McCulloch out of his troubles, if he h.m any, and perhaps he has ; to maintain the supremacy of American manufactures and commerce on sea and land in the future as they were aforetime; it will do morr to thwart the schemes and mischievous clamors of those who whisper to the South, " Free trade and free floods, and down with the Yankee tariff: " than any thinijelse you can devise. [Applause.] It will put a checkmate upon the idea of introducing Egyptian cotton in place of American in the market. I um informed by a distinguished citizen of this State, who is recentlv from Alexandria, that, when he left that port, there were fifty-one vessels, steam ers, laden with cotton from the Valley of the Nile, which commanded the same price in Liverpool as cotton from the South. Whoever is interested in that trade desires to have a high export duty placed upon American cotton, because such a duty would be equivalent to a bounty on Egvptian cotton. The same gentleman I refer to — Mr. Field, of the Atlan- tic Telegraph — informed me that English capital by the thousands and tens of thousands is being invested in the construction of railroads in India; so that tlie cotton cultivated and produced in the interior can be taken cheaply and rapidly to the coast, and thus brouglit to market, — an inferior article to the Egyptian, but which goes in to make up the sum neces- sary. These things, it seems to me, are worth considering. Now, if the cotton-fields of the'South, left desolate by the war, without labor, witliout capital to sustain a laboring force, and to procure that which is necessary to carry on the business of raising a new crop, — if these fields are permitted to go uncultivated another year does it not materially weaken a very great interest in the country .' I refer to this merely for the purpose of showing how the doctrine of compensation comes in. He who gives forth from his^ abundance to those who appear to have nothing to give comes back laden with returns which he little e.'cpected to receive. So it will be with us. It is in this that the Union will be restored in the heart more etiectually than any bayonet can bind it together. [Loud applause 1 It is not by the bayonet, that the Union is to be permanently maintained : it is by good ofBces rather. Who live upon the extreme South have an interest in common with those who live upoa the extreme North ; and I look forward, by the blessing of God, to the time when we who have been lately at bayonet-points and sword-points shall greet each other; the people of the North coming to the South, bringing their active capital there, and uniting it with those who have land and experience necessary to cultivate cotton and other crops, and spending their winters with their families in the South ; to the time, too, when new indus- try shall have given us new means and resources, enabling us to go to the North and spend our summers upon your lake-shores and your cool rivers and mountains. That will be the sort of union tliat will secure harmony and peace. Appendix C. CAPACITY FOR INTELLIGENT LABOR. The free colored people of Louisiana, numbering, according to the censuB of 18f)0, eighteen thousand si.K hundred and forty-seven, paid taxes, in the same year, on an assess- ment of thirteen millions. This gives an average for e.tch person of about seven hundred dollars of property. But those who are best informed on the subject estimate the actual free colored population in 18G0, at twenty-five thousand. Adopting this estimate, we have an average tor each person of five hundred and twenty dollars. Now the average wealth of each person throughout the loyal free States is put at only /our hundred and tif/htii-four dollars (National Almanac for 1S(>:?, pp. 147, 309). The average in Gre.it Britain and Ire- land is seven hundred and seven dollars (National Almanac, p. 140). These figures speak emphatically of the colored man's capacity to acquire property, even in spite of serious civU disabilities. 19 20 APPENDIX, " Near Norfolk, near Richmond, and opposite Wasliington, abandoned houses as w ell as lauds arc rented b> coloied people themselves, or by the employers of such. All these lueuns hiive been taken tugive tht freedmeu the practical fruits of freeduin. 8onie may ask. Do they give these results ? In answer, I would say, tliat, wlierever a fair opitorluuity for their trial lias beeu given, the success has been even grealer than we couhl have antici- pated. At Davis lieiid. on the Mississippi, ihu colored people have already laid up more than a hundied thousand dollars. It is tlie aim of the Bureau to encouraj,'e the dillerent benevolent institutions. Industrial schools have been started with the best results. I saw au e.xcelleut one at Norfolk. A Quaker lady taught girls to sew and make dilierent gar- ments. Aud wherever tUeee schools have beeu tried they have paid their way." — Cien. Howard, August, lbti5. Unitkd-St.vtks Disruii.T Court, ( ALK.XANDltIA, VA., Juli/ lU', l6(i6. ) ^ir, — It affords me groat pleasure to bear testimony to the good conduct of our colored fellow-citizens for the last two years, lu this city, we have liMd from eight to ten thousand ooutrabands, or refugees from \ ir-inia slavery: about two thousand of tlioiii have enlisted into tlie army ol tlie Union; and nearly as many more have been employed in tlie Conimis- sary and (jiiarlerniiisters' service, and in the hospitals of the city. Tlieir sobriety, industry, and economy ha\e far exceeded my expectatious, although 1 have beeu supposed to be pre- judiced ill lavor of the race. They have, within three years, built over a thousand dwelling-houses and provided quite comfortable furniture lor lliem, at au aviTage cost of three Imiuired dollars each. They liave also invested overhlty tljousaud dollars in ground rents and purchase of lots. 'I'hey have built three cliurches, one of wood and two of brick, together witli two comfortable woodeu school-houses. Within the last year I have invested for a largo number of individuals in Government Beveu-thirty bonds, amounting, in the aggregate, to nearly eight thousand dollars. They have now twenty teachers employed in the education of their children, and I think are, in i)roportioii to their numbers, giving more earnest aud general atteutiou to education tbtu the white people of this city. The colored population ot the city is now nearly equal to the white; but I am sure I have seen more than tifty drunken men among our white people to one among the colored within the last two years. Your friend, John C. Undeuwood. " It must be remembered that very diverse original races are represented among the slaves. In Southern Alabama and iilississippi will bo found, we might say, tribes with whom the traditions of Alrica are fresh, individuals whose memories run back to days of freedom there. In the small plantations of Tennessee, on the other hand, will be found men who have associated more freely with whites, — men used to act mori' on their indi- vidual responsibility, — many of whom would prove a fair match for any Scot or any Yankee. iS'o general inlerences, thcrefoie, are to be received with very great conlideucc; but it may be asserted, certainly, that the younger scholars, at the tirst, attack the prob- lems of learning with a sort of zeal which brings them fully up to the white children of their age." — '' JSi'ortU-Ameriuiti Jiemetv," October, 1605. AppendLs: D. LABOR AS A RESTORER OF SOCIAL UNITY. " Let mc tell you my method of solving this i>roblem, — how to rid ourselves of this prejudice. It is, get more the spirit of Christ. Tliat will substitute love for hate in our prejudices. But you will say, ' fliis is not practical: the love of Christ is not so wide- spread as to render this available.' Well, then, interest%vill do it. We cannot dispense with tlieir labor. Our intercourse which we must hold with tlieiii as our employees will serve to dissijtate our ])ri judices. This is my opiuion, and I can b;ick it up with facts. Hhuylund has become a frie .^tate by her own act. In the soullierii jiart of Maryland, the slave- owneis were devoted to the institution. It was of ' divine odgiii.' Slavery was 'the normal condition of the black race.' They hung to it as long OT they could ; but fortu- nately in the iiortlu'ru part ray to ascertain it, and then to do it. He warned them against lives of immoiality, idleness, and dishonesty, as ceitain to bring them to ruin ; .ind to endeavor to live in aceordance with the Cliri.itian teachings of which they had just heard. The duty of religion was very warinly impressed upon them ; and they were told, that, if they considered their lot a hard one in this life, they must so live as finally to attain to that higher and better life, where ihe sorrows incident to this will not be known, lie alludel to the fallacious idea which some entertained, that the lands of the South would be iiarcelleil among them by the ( io\ ern- nient at Christmas. This idea, he told them, was utterly without loundation, and to ili-<- caril it from their minds. The (iovernment had no lands to give; it had no right to take them from their owners, and it would not be best if it had the riglit ; and that, if lands were given them now, with their want of experience' in managing for themselves, and lack of means, they would not find it to their advantage, and would, most probably, soon be cheated out of tnem by sharpers. The best thing now was to work for others faithfully, learn experience, be iiulustriinis and economical, and try to save enough from their wages to buy tr.emselves homes alter a vliile. He urged them to educate tlieii' children, and bring them up to correct and useful lives. 'I'lie (ienenil alluded to the iiernicious advice which had been given them by mischievous persons, such as, " If a white man i)uslies yon off the sidewalk, push I im olf too: if lie strikes you, strike him back again," &c. " This," s.aid the General, " is all wrong." They must remember not to violate the tenchings of the blessed Saviour of whom they hat been hearing, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again ; when he was smitten on one cheek, turned the other. That meek and gentle example ot the great Master was worthy of their constant imitation. Listen not to Ihe counsels of bad men: they would only do them harm. Me assured them that the Government would protect them, and that their rights would nil lie respected. Gen. Howard proceeded in this strain to address his attentive audience nt considerable length : we give only an imperfect sketch of his remarks from memory. They were ad- mirably conceived, and judiciously adapted to the circumstances and necessities of the case, and we doubt not will result in mucti good in disabusing the minds of the negroes of error, and giving them correct views of their real situation and duties. 21 Appendix P. POSITION OF THE FUEEDMEN'S BUREAU. Circular No. 2. Wab Dkpautment, Buukau of Refugees,) FKEEDJIKN, AMD AliANDONEU LANDS, > WASHINGTOK, D.C, May 19, 181)5. J By the appointment of tlie President, I assume charge of the " Bureau of Refugees, Frt'cdnien, and Abandoned Lauds." I. Commissioners will be at once appointed for the different insurrectionary .States To tliem will be intrusted the supervision of abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen in their respective districts. All agents in the lield, how- ever appointed, are requested to report to them the condition of their work. Refugees and freedmen not alrcaily provided for will inform them of their wants. All applications for relief will be referred to them or their agents by post and district commanders. IV. But it is not the intention of tiovernment tliat this bureau shall supersede the vari- ous benevolent organizations in the work of administering relief. This must still be af- forded by the benevolence cf the people through their voluntary societies, no government- al appropriations having been maile for this purpose. The various Commissioners will look to tne associations laboring in their respective districts to provide as Jieretof'ore for the wants of these destitute people'. I invite, therefore, the contiimance and co-operatiou of such societies. I trust they will still be generously supported by the people, and 1 re- quest them to send me their names, lists of their principal officers, and a brief statement of their present work. HI. The demands for labor are sufficient to aff'ord employment to nearly, if not quite, all the able-bodied refugees and freedmen. It will be tlie object of all Commissioners to introduce practicable systems of compensated labor; and to this end, they will endeavor to remove the prejudices of their late masters unwilling to employ their former servants; to correct the false impressions sometimes entertained by the fi'eednieu that tliey can live without labor; and to overcome that false pride which renders some of the refugees more \villing to be supported in idleness than to support themselves. While a generous provi- sion should be made for the aged, inlirm, and sick, the able-bodied should be encouraged, aud, if necessary, compelled, to labor lor their own support. IV. The educational and moral condition of these people will not be forgotten. The ut- most facility will be afforded to benevolent and religious organizations and State authori- ties in the maintenance of good schools (for refugees and freedmen) until a system of free schools can be supported by the reorganized local governments. Meanwhile, whenever schools are broken up by authorized agents of the Government, it is requested that the fact and attendant circumstances be reported to this Bure.iu. Let me repeat, that in all this work it is not my purpose t« supersede the benevolent agencies already engaged in it, but to systematise and facilitate them. O. O. HOW'AKD, Major-Gen. Commissioner Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. [Official.] War Department, Buukau of Refuoees, ) fiteed.mkn, and abandoned lands, > Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 1805. J My Dear Sir, — Your letter enclosing the Circulars came duly; but in the press of business in getting my Report ready for Congress, I have had to forego for a lew days the privilege of attending to private or semi-official correspondence. I do not think I could give any suggestions. Your printed circulars seem to embrace the objects of the Freedmen's Aid Soeleties : but I am exceedingly fi;lad to see the Episcopal Church come out so earnestly in favor of this work. God speed you, say V. 1 send you with this copies of circulars issued from this office; and 1 sh.tll always be happy to do any thing in my power, consistent with my orders, to aid you. Very truly yours, O. O. UowAKD, Major-Gen. Bev. Dr. F. Wuarton, Brookline, Mass. 22 Appendix Q. SOUTHERN MEN AS CO-WORKERS. North Carolina Council and the Fkeedmen. On the 15th of Sept., the third day of the session, " The Committee to wliom was referred that part of the Bishop's address relating to the present condition and religious culture of tlie colored population, submitted, through its chairman, Kev. George M. iCverheart, the foUowin'' report: — " WiiKkiOAS, by the chan^jed relation existing between the white and black races, a new, and, to some extent, confused condition of things obtains; and as this revolution iH society necessarily tends to create an alienation amounting at least to indifference on the part of the former owners of slaves, and distrust and suspicion on the part of the freed- men towards tlicir former masters, and as the religious education of the freedmen lias been thereby already greatly hindered, and in some cases defeated; and as the present civil status of the Iroedmen, notwithstanding these things, for many reasons seems clearly providential, and should be accepted by us as such, — therefore, Hesutved, That the Church in this Diocese aiKlrcss herst'lf, with all the energy and wis- dom at her command, to reduce this confusion to order, and to elevate the colored race as fast as it may come within her sphere of action, lu order to accomplish this end, be it further Resolved, 1st, That this Council commend the people of color to the continued and un- abated forbearance, kindness, and good-will of the white population of this Diocese. Resolved, 2d, That in view of the radical changes wrought in the colored man's politi- cal, and, to a largo degree, social condition, it is .idvisable that there should be radical changes also brought about in his religious and ecclesiastical relations; that his former and subordinate place in the Sunday school, in the congregation, and at the communion will not answer; that to reach him with tlie teachings and blessings of the Church it is the sense of this Council that separate houses of worship should be provided as soon as practicable (the white people in tliis aiding the colored); that colored vestries should be appointed, with white wardens to dh-ect ;iJid afford counsel ; that there should be separate Sunday schools and separate congregations; that colored superintendents and catechists should be secured and appointed when practicable, or at least should be chosen as assist- ants to liead catechists or superintendents; tliat all colored congregations, when competent to form a parish, should have power, througli their vestries, of electing their own pastors, and that the pastors may be either white or colored clergymen, and, when colored, with re- lations to this Council to be determined hereafter. Resolved, ;!d, That tlie attention of the clergy of this Diocese be directed to the import- ance of at once seeking out suitable colored men for catechists and Sunday-school teach- ers, and to give them, as far as possible, personal instructions to lit them for these posts. Resolved, 4th, That this Council extend an invitation to colored clergymen of the Church to come among their own people in this Diocese, and labor in their sphere with us, in building up the kingdom of Christ. Resolved, 5th, That this Council recommend steps to be taken, as soon as practicable, for the education of colored young men for the ministry of the Church to their own peo- ple in our midst. Resolved, (ith. That, whenever it is practicable, each parish should make provision for the mental training of the colored children, in such a manner and to such a degre* as the condition of affairs may justify, and by every other legitimate means to impress upon the freednian's mind the sincere interest felt in, and cherished for, him by the Church. The total change in our political and domestic relations, as regards the colored man, and the rapid and almost universal deterioration in his moral condition since his emancipation from slavery, demand, as it appears to your Committee, bold, decisive, and delinite action in his behalf. In elevating his character, we shall make him more faitliful and competent in his sphere, and discharge thereby more perfectly our religious obligations to his race. Moreover, your Committee is of the opinion that the path pointed out is the most direct ' way of carrying to tlie colored man the blessings of our holy Christianity, through the in- strumentalities of the Church; and, as we believe the Church to be Apostolic and Catho- lic, we leel bound to do all within our power to cor.vey its holy teachings as rapidly and as potently as possible to every soul committed to our care, whether its casket be Anglican or African. Deeply impressed with the great importance of this matter, we respectfully submit the above report for your consideration. G. M. EVEKHART, Chairman. Alhert Sjiedes. U. r. UuxToN. 23 24 APPENDIX. The introduction of this report elicited an interesting discussion, at the close of which it •' Resolced, That, in consideration of the interest and importance of the subject presented iu tliis rfi»ort, Council postpone action upon it until its next meetlnj;, oommending in tlie meuntiiuf llie temporal aiul religious interests of our colored population to the benevo- lence aud wisdom of the Diocese." Of the sub. i Chairjian Commission on Clothing, Boston, Mass. My Dear Sir, — I deem it my duty to call your attention to the fact that great num- bers of destitute persons, for whose protection this bureau was establiMlicd, call again for the benevolence of the i^orth. Unless clothing of all kinds is furnished, tliere must be great sutlering and loss of life during the inclement season now approachiuff. The mt.-ans at the disposal of the Freedmen's liiireau are entirely inadequate to meet the pressing; de- mands of destitute humanity. Blankets, woolen shirts, pantaloons, women's and child- ren's underclothing and dresses, and shoes and stockings, of all sizes, are needed. Great portions of these two States have been desolated and laid waste by the late war. Industry has been interrupted, and over large districts entirely suspended; and thousands of people are utterly destitute. Thirty-live thousand blankets arc needed in South Carolina and on tlie Sea Islands alone. Every necessary article of wearing apparel which you cau send will be tlie mea-ns of saving some one from suUering. Great care will bcused in the distribution of the clothing and supplies sent, as an officer will be specially uppoiuicd to acknowledge the receipt of articles, and attend to their distribution. I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, R. Saxton, Brev. Major- General, Assistant Commissioner. NOTES OF A VISIT MADE TO SEE GOVERNOR PARSONS OF ALABAMA. ACO. 16, 1885. Met Governor Parsons just leaving the capitol. Making known to him my business and relation, he greets me warmly, and appoints si.x o'clock as the hour of meeting me. The governor gives hearty e.xpression to his deep interest in tlie condition of the freedmen. Says to me, " You will see the deep interest I must have felt in your presence this after- noon, when I tell you that these matters are almost constantly pressing upon me. So con- cerned have I become in these matters, that I yesterday sent a commissioner to the Presi- dent, and to-day commissioned still another to go to Washington to seek counsel and aid. " Formerly," said Governor Parsons, " every planter's ' quarters ' was his ' alms-house.' There were in 18(i0, two thousand si.x hundred and ninety tree colored people in the State, and four hundred and thirty-tive thousand and eighty slaves. Large masses of these people have never known what it is to provide for themselves. They are improvident. They can, in this warm season, live otf the fruits and vegetables of the held, and sleep in the open air; but what will they do when the cold frosts and snows are upon us (for we are having snows of late years) .' Sir, the time is rapidly approaching when we nuist have aid at hand or they will die. Before the war, we had usually about six millions of acres under cultivn- tiou; now, I judge, there are not more thantwo millions, and this is greatly parched and dried up. The matter is becoming alarmingly pressing." The governor recognized the importance of instructing and educating the colored people, but considers their physical wants are now the most pressing. — National Fueedman. GOVERNOR PARSONS OF ALABAMA, AT COOPER INSTITUTE, NEW YORK, NOV. 13, 1865. " The Government of the United States has emancipated the black people, and provided by act of Congress, approved the 3d of March, for the existence and oiganization of the Freedmen's Bureau. That bureau, in the State of Alabama, is in charge of Miijor-Gen. Swayne, who reached there to take charge of his department at the same time that I reached there, charged, under the commission of the I'resident, with establishing a civil provisional government for the State. In a short time it became apparent to the intelligent and thinking portion of the people, and, as fast as they became acquainted with Gen. Swayne, that impression became more and more general, that tliat bureau, under his skil- ful administration, being a m.in of large and comprehensive views, and of strong sense of justice, could be the means, and would be the means, if tlie Government diil not discontinue it, of aiding those who saw the necessity for aid, until we could realize, from the fruits of another year's industry, the means of subsistence for these people. As you understand, that bureau is organized by the Federal Government; it has its conlidence; it has all the machinery in operation, ready now to disseminate or distribute material and other aid 27 28 APPENDIX. throughout the State; nnd it can enlarge its capacity of doing so at pleasure, and accord- inar to tlie necessity tliat exists for it. l' lias not, however, tlio means to meet tliese ovcr- wliolming ttemands upon its resources. While the Government assures the bureau that it is v.illin;^ to do all in its power (o sustain it and render it elDcient, there is reason to appre- hend tli.it much will remain undone tor want of necessary means to do it. Vou see at once, from what I have alr;'ady stated, tliat the means of alTording relief, not only to the white people, but to tlie black people, are wanting materially. 80 iar as the blacks are concerned, an entire svstem of relief is to be inaugurated from very the foundation ; and the question is, Shall that be temiiorary in its character, or shall it be of such a description as will insure permanency, and in the future great results to the white. I'erhaps it is not necessary to call your attention at this time to it, but I cannot forbear hinting, at least, at the fact that, by means of this great organization, which has now the suiiport of the powerful arm of the Government to sustain it, there is an opportunity alforded for inaugurating a sound and clUcient system, simple, direct and to the purpose, wliieh will be as lasting perhaps as the demands of the race for whom it was inaugurated. [Loud apiilause.] If this oi)i)orluiiity is permitted to pass unimjjroved, it will never present itself again. It is immaterial what may be the color ; when it is furnished to them by a heart mo\ ed to sympathy on account of their necessities, tliev, 1 say, are well prejjared to receive counsel in connection with it. How much can now be' dune wliicli will in turn become an instrument to produce other effects, multiplied for others in future years. Aid to this Freedinen's Bureau, therefore, is the great object. I take it, which should be striven for on the part of every one who desires to render efficient aid. It matters not whether he is an individual, or whether he is an in- dividual of a body having for the objects of its organization these great objects in view. I will say also, in this coiiliection, that it is manifest to every one that ouly in this way can the people of that section of the South where the war has been raging most furiously, and where its destructive effects have been made most aijpareut; it is in this way only that it can raise a crop another year. Before tliey can realize the fruits of another year's in- dustry, this class must starve, unless assistance is promptly furnished them." EXTKACT FKOM A LKTTER FROM A CLERGYMAN OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO A FRIEND IN NEW YORK, UNDER DATE OF NOV. 8. "My great trouble now isthe want of employment, either clerical or .secular. Will you be kind enough, my dear Dr. , to use yoiir influence in securing nie an appointment under the Board of .Missions for the poor freedmen of the South ? Jly ministry since leav- ing the seminary, has been e.vclusively to tin? colored race on the coast of South Carolina, and I am glad to be able to s.ay that my mission was regarded by the bishop as one of the mo>r nourishing in the diocese. Jly cliurch building lias, I believe, escaped destruction; but it will net-d some repairs, as it has been left vacant since IMJO. The congregation was dispersed by the near apjiroach of the Federal army; but since the emancipation of our slaves, thousands of freedmen have congregated on the Sea Islands, where the rivers afford them cheap and easy living; and now there are thousands of tlK? sons and daughters of Af- rica around my church, my vacant church, readv to hear the word of God; but, alas! the pastor who^e voice once sounded forth the ghul tidings of salvation to the poor negro is far away ; and tlie only sound now heard arouiul that onco favored spot is the sighing of wind tllroiigli the lofty jiiiies. Jlv longing desire is to return and reorganize my church for the poor blacks, who are not'able at present to pay one cent for the gospel; neither are their former owners. *•■'' ' ■"" '■' "" -"•■•"'"-" ■">'' ""^ '>'">" *-> >■...„,.,. t,> >«^ WHO are last ueclming into inegrossesi iramoraiuy, iiiey eiiuiioi, aeL lou suuu m mi^ in.uici . There ar(! at this time at least one hundred thousand of them witlunit a single authorized teacher among them. Some of mv former congregation have expressed the hope that I will return and re-establish the church for them; but here I am, unable to i)ay my way home, or even purchase food and clothing for myself were I able to reach home. I am now staying with a friend whose house I assisted to save during the great conflagration. I men- tion these things to show you the true state o4' the case in reference to the missionaries to colored congregutiono." TEACHERS. Applications of teachers arc hereafter to be made to Rev. J. Brinton Smitu, D.D., General Agent, No. 10 Bible Rooms, New York. REMITTANCES. All remittances of funds to be made to Robert B. l^IiN- TURN, Esq. (Grinnell, Minturu, & Co.), New York. SUPPLIES FOR THE FREEDMEN. As frequent communications are received by the Secretary, inquiring what kind of supplies are needed for the Freedmcn, it has been thought best to answer such inquiries briefly by circular. 1. Cast ofF clothing, for old and young of both sexes, in- cluding hats, caps, shoes, socks, and, in fine, outer and under garments of every description^ also, bedquilts, blankets, sheets, <&c. 2. New clothing and bedding. The material should be plain but substantial. Garments for women and children es- pecially may be made of gray and blue flannels (such as have been used for soldiers' shirts), denims, and heavy unbleached cotton. 3. Material for clothing and bedding, and all things required in the manufacture of the same, such as needles, thread, but- tons, hooks and eyes, knitting needles, yarn, scissors, &c. 4. Slates and pencils, school books, old Sunday school books, and books for general reading. The barrel or box (the Ibrmer is preferable), used for pack- ing, should be numbered and forwarded to the Rev. J. Bhin- TON Smith, D.D., Bible House, New York. A list of articles sent, as well as the number of the barrel or box containing them, should be enclosed in a letter, to the same address. It is earnestly recommended to clergymen to send an ex- press WAGON THROUGH THEIR PARISHES TO COLLECT CAST-OFF CLOTHING, TO BE DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THIS AGENCY. 29 H BF 10 3. ' * o, ■^;>. V^ A" V^^ y K - ^: -^^^^ <• J2i"1>i; >' -^, °.wi^ * -,l >^ -, '.>< - " ' O o V ^^-^^^ '^'-^^MV i?o ^ ..^^^ ^v^ T'^ "^t % '\\i> V''y I. ^ ^' V' Ws ^ 0' vO'/ °o ° . 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