MINUTES

OF THE

TWENTY-NINTH ANNUAL MEETING.

THE Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the AMERICAN BOARD of COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS was held in the meeting-house of the Third Congregational Society in the City of Portland, Maine, beginning on Wednesday, the 12th day of September, 1838, at 10 o'clock, A. M.; and continued by adjournment till one o'clock of the 14th. The following corporate members were present

CORPORATE MEMBERS.

CALVIN CHAPIN, D. D.
Gen. HENRY SEWALL,
Hon. CHARLES MARSH,
LEONARD WOODS, D. D.
JOHN H. CHURCH, D. D.
WILLIAM ALLEN, D. D.
WARREN FAY, D. D.
S. V. S. WILDER, Esq.
HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D.
DAVID PORTER, D. D.
THOMAS BRADFORD, Jr. Esq.
JOHN CODMAN, D. D.
NATHAN S. S. BEMAN, D. D.
JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D.

JOHN TAPPAN, Esq.
HENRY HILL, Esq.

Hon. SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG,
ORRIN DAY, Esq.

Hon. PETER D. VROOM,
RUFUS ANDERSON, D. D.
Rev. DAVID Greene,
CHARLES STODDARD, Esq.
Rev. SYLVESTER HOLMES,
DANIEL NOYES, Esq.
Rev. WILLIAM J. ARMSTRONG,
Hon. LEVI CUTTER,

Rev. NEHEMIAH ADAMS.

Maine:

HONORARY MEMBERS PRESENT.

Rev. William T. Dwight,
Rev. John W. Chickering,
Rev. Jonathan B. Condit, and
Rev. Asa Cummings, of Portland;
Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Saco;
Rev. Edward F. Cutter, of Warren;
Rev. John W. Ellingwood, and
Rev. Ray Palmer, of Bath;
Rev. David Shepley, and

Rev. Caleb Hobart, of North Yar-
mouth;

Rev. Charles Freeman, of Limerick;
Rev. Eben. G. Parsons, of Freeport;
Rev. Stephen Merrill, of Biddeford;
Rev. John A. Douglass, of Waterford;
Rev. Weston B. Adams, of Danville;
Charles Soule, of Norway;
Rev. Israel Hills, of Lovell;
Rev. Isaac Weston, of Cumberland;
Rev. A. L. Whitman, of East Brewer;
Rev. Carlton Hurd,
John S. Barrows, Esq. and
Henry C. Buswell, of Fryburg;
Rev. John Boynton, of Phipsburg;
Rev. Daniel Kendrick, of Bristol;
Rev. Josiah Tucker, of Madison;
Rev. David M. Mitchell, of Waldo-
borough;

Rev. Ivory Kimball, of Limington;
E. Gillet, D. D.

Rufus K. Page, Esq., and

Rev. E. Thurston, of Hallowell;
Rev. Josiah Peet, of Norridgewook;
Rev. Josiah T. Hawes, of Edgecomb;
Rev. David P. Smith, of Newfield;
Rev. Jotham Sewall, Jr., of Newcastle;
Rev. Enos Merrill, of Alna;
Rev. Charles Frost, of Bethel;
Rev. Caleb Bradley, of Westbrook;
Benjamin Tappan, D. D., of Augusta;
Rev. S. L. Pomeroy, of Bangor;
David Dunlap, Esq.,
Rev. George E. Adams,
Prof. Alpheus S. Packard, and
Rev. John W. Allen, of Brunswick;
Rev. Robert Page, of Levant;
Rev. Caleb F. Page, of Bridgeton;
Rev. S. Sweetser, of Gardiner;
Rev. Jonas Colburn, of Wells;
Rev. John W. Shepard, of Windham;
Rufus P. King, Esq., and
Rev. Silas McKeen, of Belfast;
Rev. Benjamin Rice, of Buxton.

New Hampshire:

Rev. R. C. Hand, of Concord;
Rev. Aaron Warner, of Gilmanton;
Rev. Edwin Holt, of Portsmouth;
Rev. Benjamin P. Stone, of Compton;
Rev. Henry S. G. French, of Bos-

cawen;

Rev. David Root, of Dover.

Vermont:

Rev. Josiah Morse, of St. Johnsbury.

Massachusetts:

Rev. Seth Bliss, and

Thomas Thwing, of Boston;
Rev. Calvin Durfee, of Dedham;
Rev. Daniel Crosby, of Charlestown;
Rev. S. S. Smith, and

Rev. Christopher Marsh, of Roxbury;
Rev. A. H. Niles, of Marblehead;
Rev. Daniel Fitz, of Ipswich;

Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, of Newbury-
port;

Rev. Samuel M. Worcester, of Salem;
Rev. A. W. McClure, of Malden;
Rev. John S. Davenport, of Bolton.

Connecticut:

Rev. Joel W. Newton, of Norwich.

Rhode Island:

Mark Tucker, D. D., of Providence.

New York:

Rev. David Abeel, of New York;
Rev. Chauncey Eddy, and
Rev. D. O. Griswold, of Saratoga
Springs;

Rev. James Demarest, of Williams-
burg, Long Island;

Rev. Daniel H. Johnson, of Brendham;
Rev. Sylvester Eaton, of Poughkeepsie.

New Jersey:

Rev. Daniel Magie, of Elizabethtown;
Lyndon M. Smith, M. D., Newark.

South Carolina:

Rev. Elipha White, of John's Island.

The whole number of the corporate members attending the meeting was twenty-seven, and that of honorary members, eighty-three.

ORGANIZATION.

The President and Vice president not being present, the meeting was called to order by the Rev. Dr. Chapin, the oldest corporate member in attendance, and the exercises were opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Beman. Letters were then read from the Hon. John Cotton Smith, the President, and the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, the Vice President, stating their undiminished interest in the objects of the Board, and their regret that bodily infirmity would prevent their being present at this anniversary. The Hon. Peter D. Vroom was then appointed President pro tempore.

The Recording Secretary then read the minutes of the last annual meeting.

Hon. Levi Cutter, and Rev. Messrs. Dwight, Chickering, Condit, and W. J. Armstrong, were appointed a committee of arrangements.

TREASURER'S REPORT.

The Treasurer read his report as examined and approved by the Auditors, which was referred to a committee, consisting of S. V. S. Wilder, Orrin Day, and David Dunlap, Esquires, who subsequently reported in favor of its being approved and adopted by the Board; which was done.

REPORT OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE.

An Abstract of the Annual Report of the Prudential Committee was then read by the Secretaries for correspondence, and the several portions of the Report were referred to committees for examination, as follows:

That on the Home Department, Summary and Conclusion, to the Rev. Dr. Porter, Rev. Messrs. Seth Bliss, and W. B. Adams;—

That portion relating to the missions in Africa and Europe, to Rev. Messrs. D. Magie, D. M. Mitchell, and S. Hopkins;

That portion relating to the missions in Western Asia, to Rev. Messrs. S. Holmes, L. Woods, Jr., and I. Weston;

That portion relating to Southern Asia, to Rev. Dr. Gillet, Rev. Messrs. W. T. Dwight, and E. White;—

That portion relating to Eastern Asia and Oceanica, to Thomas Bradford, Jr. Esq., Rev. Messrs. D. Abeel, and C. Hurd;

That portion relating to the Southwestern Indians, to Rev. Dr. Codman, Rev. Messrs. S. M. Worcester, and G. E. Adams;-and

That portion relating to the Northwestern Indians, to Rev. Dr. Beman, Rev. Messrs. E. Holt, and D. Shepley.

These committees severally reported, at subsequent periods of the meeting, in favor of the adoption of the parts of the Annual Report respectively referred to them, with some alterations, and they were adopted by the Board.

ORGANIZATION OF THE MISSIONS OF THE BOard.

The following statement respecting the existing organization of the missions, was laid before the Board by Dr. Anderson.

The object of the brief statement about to be made, is to call the attention of the Board to the organization which has been given to the missions under its care, that the subject may be placed in the hands of a committee, to consider and report whether any modifications are desirable, and to make any suggestions they may think proper, either in respect to the system, or its administration.

The missions of the Board, except when composed of only one or two members, are organized and governed as communities. As soon as a mission has three male members, it is expected to come under the following law of the Board:

"A majority of missionaries and assistant missionaries in any mission shall, in their regular meetings, decide all questions that may arise in regard to their proceedings and conduct, in which the mission is interested, the decision being subject to the revision of the Prudential Committee. At such meetings, every male missionary and assistant missionary present, having arrived at the age of twenty-one years, is entitled to vote."

The mission chooses a secretary, and keeps records of its proceedings. Usually, it has stated meetings at least once a year. The smaller and more compact missions meet oftener. Where the stations are far apart, and general meetings would be rendered expensive and inconvenient, these meetings are merely annual, and the several stations manage their local affairs, in the interim, within such limits, as to power and privilege, as the exigency requires. In two or three of the missions which are most extended geographically, the annual meeting is composed of representatives from the several stations, or clusters of stations. In one instance, three distinct missions (which, however, are all to a people speaking the same language,) meet by their delegates in an annual meeting; but this meeting will probably have only advisory power.

The Prudential Committee regard the mission, as such, as being responsible for the proceedings of their several stations and members. The missions, of course, have no power to set aside, or modify the instructions they receive from the Prudential Committee; but then, these instructions must not be at variance with the laws and regulations adopted by the Board, at its annual meeting, which are the supreme law in our system of operation; and the doings of the Committee are subject to the revision of the Board.

This system is obviously more in accordance than any other, with the genius of our republican institutions, and with our habits as American citizens. The alternative is, either to suffer each individual missionary to act according to his own pleasure, or to make some member of each mission the chief and head of the mission, through whom the others shall communicate with the directing body at home.

So far as it is known, the Board is the only missionary society that has adopted in full the system of communities. There is no trace of it in the published documents of the London missionary societies, to which we have access. Dr. Philip, who resides at Cape Town, is the head of all that society's missions in South Africa. The stations are said to be independent of each other, and each to be under the immediate superintendence of some one of the missionaries resident at the station, who is, under Dr. Philip, the responsible person; so that there is no organization whatever among those stations as communities, in our sense of the term. We presume that the stations in the other missions of that society, which is, notwithstanding, very efficient, are managed without the help of that associating bond, by which the stations in our own missions are united in organized and responsible bodies. The Church Missionary Society of England adopted, at first, for one of its missions, a system analogous to that of the Board. The missionaries of Sierra Leone were instructed in the year 1816, to hold two general meetings in a year for business, and the majority were to govern. This meeting, however, was for the clerical members of the mission. "Should it appear desirable, on any occasion, to all the missionaries," say the Society in their instructions, "to call in any of the schoolmasters, let it be done, and let them give their opinion and vote." Two years later the Society addressed a layman, going to the same mission, as follows: "You are to consider your office as subordinate to that of the missionary. If placed in any town where there is a missionary, you will have to act under his direction. If placed alone, you will gladly consult your brethren. You will consider the half yearly meeting of the missionaries as having the authority of the Committee.

About the same time, the Church missionaries sent to Ceylon were required to be gov erned by the resolutions of the whole body.

Whether the Society found that its missions did not succeed well in exercising the power of self-government at such a distance from the directing Committee, or whatever the cause may be, its remote missions are now nearly all placed under the direction of corresponding committees, composed of Episcopal clergymen residing at or near the spot. Mr. Jowett, now Foreign Secretary of the Society, had, while residing at Malta, the immediate super

intendence of the Society's missions in and around the Mediterranean. And Mr. Bickersteth, a secretary of the Society, after visiting the Sierra Leone mission, in 1816, recommended that "a wise, experienced, and aged superintendent should, if possible, be found for that mission."

In 1812, the General Conference of the English Wesleyan Methodists, resolved to place their West Indian missions under a general superintendent. With the system adopted by the government of their missionaries abroad generally, we are not well acquainted. It is probably analogous to that under which their preachers at home are placed, and, at any rate, is not like our own.

The American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions has magaged its missions hitherto without adopting the system of communities; but it is understood to have lately resolved upon adopting that system, and to be preparing laws and regulations accordingly.

It is the system of communities, adopted for the organization and government of our missions, which creates a necessity for laws. Our missions, to a great extent, are selfgoverning bodies, on general principles, laws, regulations, furnished by the body, through whose agency they were instituted and are sustained. It is impossible to see how a community can be responsible to a higher body at a great distance, and have any considerable amount of discretionary power in the administration of its affairs, and be united and happy in its proceedings, without being furnished with a certain number of general principles and rules. Moreover, it is obviously most important that the general principles should be sound, clearly stated, well understood, and firmly sustained by the directing body, and carefully observed by all concerned.

The foregoing document having been read, was referred to a committee, consisting of Rev. Drs. Edwards and Tappan, and Rev. Messrs. N. Adams, and S. L. Pomeroy, and J. S. Barrows, Esq.; who subsequently made the following report, which was approved and adopted by the Board:

The object of the missions of this Board, and of all its missions, is the spread of the gospel among the benighted nations of the earth. To this object all their efforts, as an organized institution, in their associate capacity, should be directed. And in its prosecution, the plan adopted by the Board, of each mission being governed as a community, the rule that a majority of the missionaries and assistant missionaries in any mission shall, in their regular meetings, decide all questions which may arise in regard to their proceedings and conduct, in which the mission is interested, the decision being subject to the revision of the Prudential Committee, is judicious, and ought to be adhered to.

RETURN OF MISSIONARIES.

Dr. Anderson laid before the Board a Statement from the Prudential Committee, relative to the return of missionaries from their fields of labor to the United States; which is as follows:

Soon after the last meeting of the Board, the mission at the Sandwich Islands was informed that some new modification would be proposed, of the law adopted at the last annual meeting of the Board on the subject of the return of missionaries. The necessity of some modification became apparent from the fact, not known to the Board at the time the law was passed, that opportunities to proceed from the islands to the South American coast, or to Canton, seldom occur. The effect, therefore, of the law would be severe upon the sick brethren of that mission. It should be modified also, it would seem, in respect to the West African mission, and perhaps a few other missions.

An abstract of the returns and deaths of missionaries in the service of the Board, will throw light upon the question, whether, and how far, the law needs to be modified in its bearing upon the missions,

Since the Board has commenced its missions, there have been forty-five deaths abroad of missionaries, male and female.

Of the deaths:

Thirteen have been of consumption; of these, ten would have rather lost than gained, by coming home, and the rest could not have come.

Twenty-nine have been of fever, cholera, dysentery, and other unexpected and rapid diseases, which made a return impossible.

Of the three remaining cases, one was paralysis, one an organic affection, which change of climate could not have affected, and the other the liver complaint. This last was at Bombay, and might, perhaps, have been mitigated by a seasonable return.