CHAPTER VIII.

His exertions in behalf of Africa.

The

THE darling object of Mr. Mills remains yet to be made known. It was that, in the prosecution of which he found a watery grave. civil, moral, and spiritual degradation of the children of Africa, both in this land of civilization and Christianity and their own native regions of darkness, lay with continual weight upon his mind, and particularly after his first visit to the middle and southern States. Those to whom he unbosomed himself on this subject, could easily perceive that he was actuated by a power of feeling, and a confidence of faith, and a disinterestedness of desire, that prepared him to compass sea and land, to perform any labor, to endure any losses, to sustain any sacrifice in the prosecution of his design, and, if it were necessary, to die in the service of Africa.

It ought to be remembered with deep selfabasement, that the slave-trade has found the mass of its abettors among nations nominally Christian. According to the most judicious

calculations, Africa has been drained annually of one hundred and fifty thousand of its inhabitants. And, let us not repress the shameful acknowledgment, "the great receptacles of this unhappy race have been the West Indies and the United States." More than two millions are supposed to exist, at the present time, in our own free country; and they are increasing with a ratio, that in sixty years will produce eight millions of these degraded, despised, oppressed beings; and to this accelerated progress there is no limit.

To suppress the slave-trade, has been for many years an object of national policy with several governments, both in Europe and America. It has been interdicted by solemn treaties: it has been proscribed and denounced by the most despotic and democratic governments; while Great Britain and the United States have exerted their naval force for its utter extermination. Still it exists; and not only exists, but flourishes nearly as much as ever, and with circumstances of inhumanity no less infamous and appalling than in former years. The horrors of this barbarous traffic are absolutely indescribaFrom its first commencement in treacherous wiles, to entrap its victims; or in the conflagration of villages, to dispossess the unoffending inmates of their security, and of a home in the earth from the severing of their strongest natural ties, through all the merciless severity of their captors, the wretchedness of their float

ble.

ing prisons, the pestilential horrors of the middle passage, until they are consigned into helpless, hopeless bondage, the slave-trade presents a vast, complicated system of cruelty, which no pencil can paint, or tongue tell, or imagination itself conceive.

It is no uncommon thing, at the present day, to find good men and bad, nations and individuals, uniting their protestations against the cruelties that have for ages been so wantonly inflicted on the African race. Since the establishment of the colony of Sierra Leone, and the revolution in St. Domingo, it can no longer be made a question, that a brighter day is rising on this long neglected people. Few more ardently than Mr. Mills anticipated this glorious consummation. All his measures in behalf of this depressed race seem to have been adopted and pursued with a kind of supernatural assurance, that the time was not far distant when the galling chains of African bondage should be broken, and, under the mild reign of the Prince of Peace, Ethiopia should be lifted from her degeneracy, and "stretch out her hands unto God."

With the piety of the Christian, and the wisdom of the statesman, he early suggested, as one of the means of accelerating this work of benevolence, the establishment of a school, to qualify young men of color for preachers and teachers to the African race. While he was lingering in New York and New Jersey, in the

summer and autumn of 1816, he suggested and matured this plan. In his itinerations through the States, he had been preparing the minds of many gentlemen of influence to favor such an establishment, and had received from them so much encouragement, that he was heard to say, that if only a treasury was opened at the north, it would be filled from the slave-holding States. Arrangements were made to bring the subject before the Synod of New York and New Jersey, at their annual meeting in October, 1816. It was suggested to him to write to his friends in the different States on the subject; and before the session of the Synod, a large number of answers had been received, containing many interesting facts in favor of the establishment. The matter was brought before the Synod. A committee was appointed to examine the subject; some of whom, when they went out, regarded the project as visionary and impracticable. But the extracts from these letters of Mr. Mills's correspondents overruled every feeling of opposition, and secured perfect unanimity in the committee, and subsequently in the Synod, who at the same session adopted a system of regulations, and formed the plan of the school.

In a narrative of the state of religion within their bounds for the year 1819, the Synod say of this seminary, that "they would gratefully recount the fostering mercies of Providence upon that institution of their own efforts and

prayers, the African school. Since the last report, four additional pupils have been admitted, making seven in all, whose deportment and proficiency have been such as to warrant the past expenditures of their patrons, and animate them to present hope and perseverance in this cause of Christian philanthropy; in the consummation of which, according to the tenor of prophecy, the destinies of Africa are to be elevated, and her sons introduced to the dignities and heirship of the children of God." The agency of Mr. Mills in giving existence to this institution, is very affectionately acknowledged by the Directors, in their Report to the Synod in the year 1818, soon after the tidings of his decease. The extract is as follows:"But while the Board refer to these encouraging events, they cannot pass over one which has filled them and many of the friends of Zion with sorrow. They allude to the death of him to whom, though his modest and retiring nature concealed his agency from the world, the praise really belongs of originating the African school, as well as several other institutions, which rank among the most important and beneficial in our country. The name of Samuel J. Mills, who died in the service of Africa, ought to be known to the churches, and to be had in grateful remembrance, while worth is honored, and humble, disinterested, laborious piety is beloved. For a mind teeming with plans to extend the