Self-help.—The Wants of Western New York.

There are many pleasing indications at the present, that foreshadow the redemption of the enslaved people of America. Those who are even ordinary observers, cannot fail to see them, arising one after another, like the first glimmerings of day on the eastern horizon.—The brightest, the most glorious, and the most hopeful of them all, is an increasing love for that dear old principle of Self-help.—This principle in invincible. Regard it either in a moral, physical, or intellectual light, it is to an oppressed people what Moses was to the Hebrews—what Virginius was to Rome, and what Toussaint L'Overture was to this golden Island of the ocean.

My heart leaps with joy as I behold my long-suffering and noble people laying aside their old garments of dependence, and entering upon their own work. God helps those who help themselves; and hence, if we are true to this principle, we shall have the best help that the universe can afford. If God be with us, who of all the sons of men need we fear? Let us trust in Him, and work manfully. Acting in conformity with this principle, there are some things that must be done by the people of color and their friends throughout the country. It is my purpose, however, merely to speak of the western portions of New York at this time.

One important instrumentality we have now in operation, and its existence should be an occasion for national rejoicing. I allude to an efficient and a well-sustained press. Through it we can speak to the nation—through it I am now speaking.

1. The gospel of Christ is the only sure foundation of hope and elevation offered to any enslaved people. There is nothing which tyrants fear so much as the spread of the gospel. From beginning to end, it is opposition to their ways. When a tongue or an arm is raised, watched and strengthened by Jehovah and his truth, which is brought to light by his son, there is no mortal power that can cause it to fall short of its destiny. The Saviour has said: "If ye continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Any people destitute of the preserving influences of practical Christianity, are wretched. But what language could I use fully to describe the forlorn hope of the colored race in America, when, in addition to our indescribable evils and political afflictions, we turn away from the consolations of religion?

There are in the State of New York some sixty or seventy thousand people of color.—Of this number, there are perhaps thirty thousand west of Albany. What are their religious principles? There are not more than six thousand that meet together to worship God. Scattered in small numbers over the entire State, they find it impossible to meet together; and such is the cruelty of the whites in enforcing the laws of caste, that it is neither desirable nor profitable for them to assemble in their churches. Thus we have some twenty-four thousands of people in Western New York without the full enjoyment of the Christian privileges. Even in those places where the greatest numbers of the colored people are found—even there their religious institutions are very limited, and the consequences are, that we behold our young people rushing on to ruin, as if impelled by a phrensy. Too many suffer their ambition to lead them no where else than to the ballroom, the tippler's retreat, and the gambler's table. For proof, look to Utica, Syracuse, Auburn, Geneva, Buffalo, and especially Rochester. In all of these places, there are many triumphant exceptions, who stand up amid the wide ruin, like ever-green trees in a fire slash.

2. Much of the blame attached to this state of things lies at the door of what is called the church, and much rests upon our own heads. This church that has torn us, must help to heal; she who has scattered, must help to gather; and both of these things we must do ourselves. I totally despair of my people's redemption until we trust more in God, and labor more in our own cause. Shall we make the attempt, brethren, one and all, to raise the standard of the Lord in the Western parts of this great State. I will propose my plan, and hope that you, friend Douglass and others will give your opinions.

Let a Christian Convention of the colored people and their friends be called at some central place. Let there be no caste or sectarianism encouraged in that meeting; but let us come together in good earnest to do something for our afflicted fellow-men. I further propose that a permanent State Society shall be formed, and agents or missionaries be employed to go forth into the hedges and highways, and entreat these neglected ones to turn into the paths of rectitude and virtue. I shall be glad to correspond with any person to whom the subject is interesting.

H. H. GarnetGarnet, Henry Highland

Born a slave in Kent County, Maryland, Henry Highland Garnet (1815-82) fled north with his parents in 1824. He attended the African Free School in New York City, the Noyes Academy in Canaan, New Hampshire, and the Oneida Institute in Whitesboro, New York. Garnet was one of the founders of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society and a stump speaker for the Liberty party. Licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Troy in 1842, Garnet went to Jamaica in 1852 as a missionary of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. An early proponent of black emigration to Africa and founder of the African Civilization Society, Garnet, in his appeal sanctioning slave uprisings before a National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York, in August 1843, praised the slave rebel Madison Washington. After the Civil War, Garnet was president of Avery College in Pittsburgh and the U.S. minister to Liberia (1881-82). Joel Schor, Henry Highland Garnet: A Voice of Black Radicalism in the Nineteenth Century (Westport, Conn., 1977); Dorothy Sterling, ed., Speak Out in Thunder Tones: Letters and Other Writings by Black Northerners, 1787-1865 (Garden City, N.Y., 1973), 376; Quarles, Black Abolitionists, 68, 185, 216-17, 226-27; ANB, 8:735-36. .

Geneva, Jan. 12.