ELSEWHERE will be found a letter from Dr. << Edward Wilmot Blyden>>
. As President of Liberia College he visits our country in its interest, as
well as in the interest of Liberia in general. That he should be cordially received
and aided by all philanthropists and Christians is certain, especially those
of America who have been so vastly enriched by the spoilation of the land the
Dr. now labors to regenerate. It is not necessary that we should commend him
to the public. His own world-wide reputation will more effectually do whatever
commendation is necessary.
August 31, 1882
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Our next issue will contain a most thoughtful letter from the Rev. Dr. << Edward Wilmot Blyden>> . We had hoped to have given it in the issue; but the crows of matter forbade.
June 24, 1880
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DR. BLYDEN'S OPINION.
The article below is clipped from the Philadelphia Record of 21 June. We are
ready to defer to the eminent Dr. on almost every question, save the one that
is the burden of the excerpt below, to wit; the future of the colored man on
the American continent. We have no idea at all that the horns of the dilemma
presented to those of the descendants of Africa who are on the American continent,
are emigration to Africa or remain here only to “creep and crawl.”
On the contrary we are persuaded that an altogether brighter future awaits us.
That we will have to combat the wicked prejudices of the whites, we know; but
we equally well know that we are going to win. The progress we have made within
the last twenty years assures such a persuasion. Twenty years ago, Dr. Blyden
could not have quartered at the Continental; nor could any man of his race.
This fact alone shows, in connection with ten thousand similar ones, and only
too clearly what the result must be. We are going to win. Caste is doomed. Like
Satan, whose spirit it is, it only awaits the hour of its full condemnation.
Of course we have taken it for granted that the Record has repeated the Dr.
Aright. And yet it is just possible that it has not:
“The Rev. << Edward Wilmot Blyden>> , LL.D., Minister Plenipotentiary
to the court of St. James from Liberia, and the first negro ever received in
English court circles, is at present quartered at the Continental Hotel. Dr.
Blyden, who also holds the position of Secretary of the Interior Department
of the Republic on the West African coast, comes to this city from the Presbyterian
Council recently held in Michigan, to which body he was sent as a fraternal
delegate from Liberia. He is a member of the Athenaeum Club of London and a
frequent contributes to the Methodist Quarterly Review and Frazier's Magazine.
His contributions to the latter named periodical will shortly be published in
book form at the request of many prominent persons of this country and England,
who are anxious to preserve the valuable information on Africa contained in
his articles. Dr. Blyden preached yesterday morning at Dr. Harper's Presbyterian
Church, Broad and Green Streets, and in the evening at Dr. Breed's Church, Seventeenth
and Spruce streets on “The Present and Future of Africa.” Dr. Blylen
claims for his country that it has ever been the cradle of civilization, and
that the discover of America without Africa would have been almost useless,
as it was the African who had contributed so largely to the development of the
resources of the country. More had been learned in the seventeen years since
the war and the abolition of slavery concerning the capacities and capabilities
of the negro than was ever known before. Dr. Blyden spoke fervently in favor
of the negroes in this country emigrating to Liberia, and said that if they
preferred to creep and crawl in this country while a brighter future awaited
them in the land of their fathers it was their privilege to do so, but it was
only in Africa that they could enjoy true freedom. Here he does not expect or
hope for full development of his race, but at home he knew there was a chance
for the fullest and freest play of his powers. The higher the negro rises in
this country the more sensible will he be of the cloud which rests over him,
and he will turn to Africa, where he can rise to any position which he has the
capacity to fill.
December 1, 1887
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, PA
Personal.
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- Miss H.Q. Brown is teaching elocution in Louisville, Ky.
-----
- Dr. James H.A. Johnson is traveling through a part of the South.
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- Rev. N.B. Stewart, of South America, is now in this country.
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- Professor Freeman, of Liberia, called at the RECORDER office last week.
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- Dr. B.W. Arnett has left Philadelphia for the North Carolina Conference.
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- Rev. W.H. Bryant will hold his quarterly meeting at Chester, Pa., next Sunday.
-----
- Mr. F.A. Stewart, former manager of the Wilberforce singing troupe, has now
a male quartette.
-----
- Rev. J.H. Morgan's history of the New Jersey Conference will soon be ready
for purchasers and readers.
-----
- Rev. W.L. Hunter, of Brooklyn, had a unique Centennial programme, exhibiting
antique customs, the old blacksmith church &c.
-----
- Dr. Jenifer attended the Philadelphia Centennial. He preached highly acceptable
sermons on Sunday at Bethel in the morning and Zion Mission at night.
-----
- A call from Counsellor Stewart, of New York, in company with Counsellor Minton,
of this city, was not among our smallest pleasures in the Centennial week.
-----
- Mr. Joseph Gould, who has taught many years in Augusta, Ga., has returned
to his native place, Bridgeton, N.J., where he is about to open a private school.
-----
- Revs. I. Derricks and C.S. Goosley, both of whom have been pastors at Newark,
N.J., question the correctness of the report that the A.M.E. Church property
at that place was entailed property.
-----
- Mrs. H.H. Garnett, of New York, is one of the busiest teachers in the great
cities. Her assistants and she do a considerable missionary work in the way
of enlisting pupils, some of whom go more than five miles to Mrs. Garnett's
school.
-----
- Rev. George M. Witten, pastor of Macedonia Church, Camden, delivered a discourse
on the Centennial of African Methodism in that church on last Sunday morning;
and in the evening Rev. W.J. Laws preached from John 14, 15. The collection
amounted to $40.
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- << Edward Wilmot Blyden>> is perhaps the ablest negro in the world.
He can read the Koran in Arabic, the Bible in Hebrew, Homer in Greek, Virgil
in Latin, Shakespeare in English and Dante in Italina. Blyden is a complete
Know-Nothing and his cry is, “Africa for the Africans.” - The Phila.
Press.
-----
- Mrs. E.G. Caswell says: “Rob the workingman of his franchise and his
wages will depreciate one half. He knows the ballot is the lever that moves
the world, and accordingly he holds sacred his political rights. The toiling
American woman also knows the value of the elective franchise, and she, too,
wants it in her hand.”