Student Anti-Slavery Rebellion 1835

are ready to depart. You know, the weakness of the Colony & the necessity of an effort to keep up the interest already excited in our favour, & the favourableness of the season - you then, can judge of my motives in adopting the Resolution to put matters in such a state here, before my return to Washington as will secure the departure of the expedition. We must presume enough on the publik liberality to effect the object. Can we not raise two thousand dollars in three months? I blush for my country while I doubt it. But doubts unless numerous & strong should not prevent our progress towards an important and especially if these doubts concern rather the facility than the honesty of the means for its execution. I look to N Engalnd with great anxiety. When a man has done much more is expected. If you had wished for rest you should not have written so able a review - your friend R R Gurley

[LEFT SIDE] lives of freedom & the light of science. We want an institution which shall awaken no prejudice of place or party but by its broad & liberal scale of operations shall commend itself to the patronage of all the friends of Africa. We want, if possible, a college which even Boyer may feel to be a blessing his people & to which his subjects may send their sons for an education, with as few scruples as the planters of the south feel in sending their sons to the colleges of New England. For these reasons I think we should aim at making the proposed institution a college rather than a Theol Seminary. I would have it organized like other colleges. There should be an incorporated board of trustees independent of all other bodies & especially of all ecclesiastical bodies; & the sole object of this board should be to regulate the concerns & promote the interestsof this African college. They should sustain the same relation to missions in Africa wh the trustees of [?] Coll sustain to missions at Bombay. There should be provided the necessary buildings, & teachers, & all the appointees of instruction, & then if the funds cannot be made to support the teachers let every pupil be charged with tuition as at yale, & let individuals & societies-- & why not the Am Ed Soc?-- be called upon to support beneficiaries there. I would not oblige the students to work a certain portion of their time, but I would give them the opportunity of working & tell them to support themselves. And every pupil when his course is complete should be at liberty so far as the college is concerned to pursue just what course & just what profession he may choose. No doubt

[RIGHT SIDE] missionaries might be suited in this way as well as in any other. And if we can only find missionaries there are societies enough already organized, to send them forth, whatever may be their denomination. I will only add that such an establishment might be kept under religious influence with as much care as the college over which you preside, which is independent I believe of all the ecclesiastical bodies in the world. To the Rev E.D. Griffin DD July 22 1824 Andover

Montpelier Jan 5. 1824 My very Dear Brethren, I recd your {illegible} subject of an {illegible} or college for negroes. I have heard nothing however on the subject Have you? Do you know how the circular succeed? What shall shall we do next? Is it not best to try to join our Aux. Soc. in NH. Me. Ms. RI. Ct. & a few in N. York? Cannot you and I meet at the next elections in some of these states or during the next sessions of their legislatures, for this purpose? A society found at such a time could be likely to enlist many mem bers of the legislature and its annual meeting holden at the time of believe of the Session of the legislature would afford an opportunity to circulate its reports & other documens thro' the states; I throw out these suggestions in great haste. Mr Crosby the bearer will I hope see you. If he returns

Arlington 9th Jun 1824

My Dear Sir

Our colonists, to the number of one hundred & five, embarked in the ship Cypress at City point, Petersburg, on Sunday last. These persons are equal to any people of colour in the country. The expence of this expedition (which is much cheaper than any preceeding one) will be about three thousand dollars. Eleven hundred dollars of this sum are yet to be collected. Shall we not receive something from the Massachusetts Society or has the zeal to assist [bleeding?] Greece (and a noble one it is)

[LEFT SIDE] shut up all the other avenues for charity. The article concerning us, just published by Mr. Sparks is able & I trust wil aid our cause.

As yet, our subscribers to the African Repository, are too few to justify its publication. It will no doubt succeed, but we must have a little patience.

You will be gratified to learn that your Review has been read with much interest & generally approved of at the South. A great change, in our favour, is rapidly taking place &

[RIGHT SIDE] the whole country will soon feel the claims of our institution. Let us determine to do more the next season & begin without delay to secure the means. One vessel should sail from Boston another from the District of Columbia & a third from some southern port. The first should sail very early & the others follow it not together, but succeed each other with a short interval between. We can, my friend, if God spares us, accomplish all this. Will you just take a mission for our benefit in N England Most sincerely Yours RR Gurley

Dear Sir,

The Colonization Committee of the Society of Inquiry respecting missions in this Seminary have determined for the sake of [enlarging?] their own information & gratifying their [feelings?] are at the same time promoting as far as in their ties a unity of feeling & operation & many are the friends of Africa, to open a correspondence with some of the most active and zealous advocates of the cause in which they according to their ability are engaged. It is at their request that I take the liberty to address you. And I am happy to comply with their request, as it affords me an opportunity of expressing my own individual respect for the man whom tho' personally a stranger to me, have long been accustomed to regard with a kind of fraternal affection.

The "Society of Inquiry respecting Missions" has existed in this Institution for about 14 years & it has always been useful in exciting among the students here a spirit of enlarged & active benevolence which otherwise they might never have possessed. Within a year past a strong sensation has been excited in this society in behalf of Africa & the plans of the American Colonization Society to enlarge & direct & perpetuate

[LEFT SIDE] that feeling, a Standing Committee has been appointed, which now consists of about twenty of the most zealous members of the Society.

This Committee have done all in its power to inform their own minds & the minds of their brethren here, & they have done something to awaken the public. Many articles on this subject have been published by their influence in the newspapers of New England; & under their direction a lengthened review of the Reports of the Col Soc was prepared and published in a respectable Magazine, & a thousand extra copies printed for gratuitous distribution of this pamphlet I send you a copy that you may be able to judge for yourself of the earnestness of our views & feelings.

A subject which has been recently agitated among us with considerable interest is the propriety of attempting to introduce as extensively as possible a religious celebration of the fourth of July in which preachers & orators should bring forward this subject as connected with the character & the happiness & the safety of the nation whose liberties we delight to celebrate. With such a celebration we would connect always a contribution for the [?] of Africa. Who could not be eloquent on such an occasion with such a theme? And who would not be generous on such an occasion for such an object? The means we propose to adopt are first to correspond with infuential clergymen & others; then, if the plan shall be approved, to bring it forward in the various religious Magazines & newspapers, & perhaps to send out a tract on the subject; & afterwards, if it should

[RIGHT SIDE] seem necessary and practicable to obtain the sanction & recommendation of the various ecclesiastical bodies in the United States. Should such a plan succeed it might prevent one part of the riot that now attends in every place the celebration of a day that ought to be sacred to the noblest and holiest [executions?]:-- and this important as it is would be independent of the great advantage that would accrue to the cause of [illegible] Africa. Will you sir be so kind as to communicate your opinion on this subject?

One of the first thoughts in the mind of a New England man when he reflects on the scheme of African colonization, is the imprtance of a seminary for the education of promising young negroes who may afterwards become the magistrates & the teachers & especiallyreligious instructors of their countrymen. I have observed that the thing is regarded differently at the south; & indeed nothing is more natural than that this should be the case. But I introduced this [?] for the sake of enacting that it seems to be the opinion of many of the wisest leaders of benevolent operations in our part of the country that this is the best mode of establishing the feeling of N.E. It will connect the subject in their minds with that spirit of missionary enterprize which is abroad in the land. You know Sir that Foreign Missions are popular with us; & it bears upon this point to say that a part of the missionary scheme is more popular with all classes of the community than the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall. Considering these facts & these opinions, it is very possible that we may

soon witness an effort for the establishment of an African school on a large scale;-- an instruction to remain here, for a time, & afterwards when circumstances shall have altered to be transferred with all its appendages to Africa & if possible that such an institution in N.E. could excite any fears or jealousies at the south? I ask the question because I deeply feel that those fears & jealousies ought by all means to be avided.

Revd William Meade Millwood Frederick County Virginia

Wiliams College Jan 21 1824

My Dear Sir,

I take a large sheet because I intend to write you a long letter. Yours of the 16th instant, accompanied with the very able Review, I received, sincerely thank you for them. I shall be always happy to hear from you on this subject, & to cooperate with you & the other friends of Africa to the best extent of my ability. Returned from the {illegible} I can do little except by my [?]; & [passed?] with business as I can, I fear I cannot do much in any way. But what I can do I will give to Africa sooner than to any other object. The interest to form an auxiliary society here, & through the pious students shall perhaps be able to extend some ininfluence abroad. He would also get some subscribers for the Magazine if we had a subscription paper.

I have been a friend of the Colonization Society from the beginning; helped to form the branch in New York; appointed Mr. Caldwell & Dr Wilson in collecting the first colonists from the city & had a most affecting interview with the first Mr. Bacon before he sailed. I most heartily approve of your plans for the 4th of July, & with the idea of ministers preaching on the subject that day, & with that of enlisting the different ecclesiastical bodies in favour of such a celebration. The only question is how the subject is to be brought before those bodies. If a short piece of four pages were struck off in a pamphlet form (inserted besides, & beforehand in all the religious newspapers,) & laid on the table of the different bodies. The first day of their meeting, & several members of each body were engaged beforehand to bring the subject up & support it, I do not doubt few would go. It might be well to bring it before the particular associations in NE that meet before May.

After all, if the poor blacks are to be dropt down on the shores of Africa without any moral instruction, I would rather they should stay at home: At least I could not conscientiously favour such a plan of colonization. Without religion they will kill each other off, or quarrel with the natives & be killed by them, or will mingle & be lost among them. At present times adequate provision is made for moral & religious instruction. I understand that Mr Ashman has written that they have only a few ignorant Methodists "holders forth." There are men at the south who care only to get the free blacks off their hands, & care not if they perish or turn heathen as soon as they touch the African shore. As you justly say, no white missionaries can live there. They must have black teachers or none at all.

I am exceedingly rejoiced to hear that the young gentlemen at Andover have got awake on this subject. I did not know it at the time of writing to Mr Wright. That letter was merely a transcript of one I had just written to Dr Spring of New York, proposing the formation, in that city, of a central & parent society, for the sole purpose of supporting with more vigour the African School which for seven years had been under the care of the Synod of New-York & New-Jersey, or perhaps taking it into their own hands. In the latter case, I barely sugested that if the society should think it more economical to remove the school to Berkshire county, I did not doubt that it would be well nursed. I have had no returns from Dr S.

I have no desire that such a school should be in Berkshire county

[LEFT SIDE] It is not in itself considered an object to be coveted. Perhaps the the time has not come if a more extensive establishment is to be formed, to discuss publicly the question of its location. I for one am willing it should be anywhere provided it will give teachers to poor unpiriws Africa. I am willing also, if it is thought best, to have the plans enlarged as to qualify men of good minds & morals for the higher stations in society somewhat after the plan of the Cornwall school. But there are two reasons why more attention ought to be paid to the preparation of ministers in this school than in that at Cornwall. We have no colonies of Chinese & [Hawaiians?] to provide for & both in China & the Sandwich Islands white men can live. But whoever are admitted, I would have them pledged to go to Africa unless excused by the proper authority. I would have the school, (I may say to you,) established in New England, for two reasons. There is no such untiring energy & business like sagacity for the south; & when you get to the slave states, they are generally opposed to the institution not merely of their slaves, & of free blacks among them, but of the whole African race there should be an ultimate reaction upon their slaves.

These are the reasons why the southern people will not generally join in the support of such a school. It is not so much ? them to think about literature & support literary institutions; and they are mostly Episcopalians of the looser sort, & would have little fellowship with a divinity school under Presbyterians or Congregational influence. And even northern Presbyterians, for the most part, would be afraid of Hopkinsianism, if the school were placed so far north as to meet with energy enought to support it. You will smile at the suggestion that any should be afraid of Hopkinsian infleunce exerted upon negroes; but it has already happened. When there was a time when the delegates of three synods were brought together at N York to agree upon a plan of cooperation in support of the African School, with an intention of linking to the land from the Potomac to Canada, & from the Atlantic to the lakes; & the plan was defeated by [their?] jealousy alone.

There are two reasons why the managers of the Colonisation Society will not, I apprehend, unirw in any plans for the instruction of blacks. The first is that the task of transporting them to Africa & supporting them there for a while is as much as they can sustain. They are so crushed under the weight of this charge that they will attempt two things more. The second is that they rely for the popularity of their plan on its simplicity, comprehending nothing more than the transportation of the black to Africa & providing for them there for a season. This simplicity, which crushes all dispute about the doctrines & forms of religions & including of instructing negroes is compared to the simplicity of the plan of the Bible Society to distribute the Scriptures with a note or comment. It is distinctly relied upon in the Review as the ground of national union is the grand effort. The managers

[RIGHT SIDE] know that they would not enter upon a plan of elevating the intellectual character of blacks upon American ground without creating alarms & divisions at once & severing from them the mass of slave holders. There is a such a feeling at the south on the subject of educating blacks, that the members of the General Assembly from the slave states have begged of us not to bring any subject of this kind before that body, but to dispose of it in some way without drawing them in. It was on account that, in the year 1816, I dissuaded Samuel John Mills from carrying the project for an African School before the General Assembly, & with his assistance brought it before the synod of New York & New-Jersey. I have myself so far [seconded?] the managers of the Colonization Society as to be convinced that they never will ingraft a system of education upon their plan. And their [?] to your delegates confirms this opinion.

If this conclusion is just, then no monies which you put into their treasury can be overdrawn out to support an African seminary. There must therefore be another treasuery & another body having control over it; that is, another society. That society you may name the Education Society for Africa, or the Missionary for it; or if you wish by its name to denote its relationship to the Colonization Society, you may call it the Colonization Society for the School of [Deportment?], or the CS of New-England. And let it deposit its surplus funds in the treasury of the CS at Washington.

After all that I have said I should rejoice to fall in with any plan that should unite all the states;-- support of a school really & efficiently, & not, professedly. I mean that I would take care not to commit the [object???] my people at the & or who should appear to undertake it or propose to defeat it. I give my thoughts freely, but I shall be glad to cooperate in feasible plan in which the other friends of Africa will agree, however different from this which I propose.

The time will probably come when the school, with all ts appendages, will be transported to Africa; but for half a century probably, it must remain on American ground. I should be glad to see it at Cornwall, but I opposed that the degraded state of the African race, their unsightly form & fetid odour, would prevent them from being received by the young men of other nations there assembled.

We want nothing to ensure, under God, the full execution of this plan, but a central & parent society in New York or Boston, to send out agents & to conduct the general [?]. If they would [create?] a capacity the public would fill it with money. I wish, my dear Sir, to see you [?] by, & thoroughly, & for several years at heart, employed as the agent of such a society. Perhaps Boston is a better centre than New-York, on account of the greater energy of character which it possesses, & its proximity to the powerful missionary cohort that will be always assembled at Andover. Suppose some of you should write to New York & ascertain whether anything is like to be done there, & if not, suppose you should consult the influential gentlemen in & near Boston & make a [pact?] to establish a parent society there. If you wish to consult gentlemen further north first, I do not object. My paper is out & I am afraid your patience. bc. I bid God speed, to the soci Andover with all my heart & am [W coward?]