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THE MISSIONARY.
No. 2 Vol. VII.]
PRINCE MOKO.
“ The following paper,” says the Christian Ad
vocate, “ wa put into our hands by a friend, who
Yeceived it from a friend in Fayetteville in North
Carolina, by whom it was drawn up.” Such ca
nes we believe are not uncommon. We have
heard of several instances of learned lYlahomedans
among the slaves in the southern states, who
were probably either princes or priests in their
native country.— Fam. Fit.
About the year 1808, a South Carolina
rice planter purchased and sent to his plan
tation a gang of slaves, among whom was a
man of a slender frame and delicate consti
tution, who wan not able to labour to the
lield, or had oot the disposition to do so.
His health failing, he was considered of no
value and disregarded. At length he strol
led off and wandering from plantation to
plantation reached Fayetteville, was taken
up as a runaway and put in jail, where he
remained for some time. As no one claim
and him, and he appeared of no value, the
jail was thrown open, that he might run
away; hut he had no disposition to make
his escape. The boys amused themselves
with Ins good natured playful behaviour,
and fitted up a temporary desk made of a
flour barrel, on which he wrote, in a mas
terly hand, writing from right to left, in
what was to them an unknown language.
Me was also noticed by some gentlemen of
the place ; but his keeper grew tired of so
useless a charge, and he was publickly sold
tor his jail dues. H:s purchaser, a gentle
man living about 39 miles from Fayetteville
bnding him rather of a slender make, took
him into his family as a house servant.
Here he soon became a favourite of the in
mates ol (he house, particularly of the chil
dren. His good conduct in a short time put
him in possession of all his master’s stores,
and he gradually acquired a knowledge of
the English language. His master being a
pious man, he was instructed in the princi
ples ot the Christian religion, which he re
ceived with great pleasure ; and lie seemed
to see new beauties of the plan of the Gos
pel, which had never appeared lo him in
the Koran; lor he had been reared and in
structed in the Mahotnedan religion, and it
was louud (hat the scraps of writing from
ibis pen, were mostly passages from the Ko
ran. It would seem that he was a prince
in his own country, which must have been
far in the interiour of Africa—perhaps
Tombuctoo cr its neighbourhood. At all
events his intercourse with the Arabs had
enabled him to write and speak their lan
guage with the most perfect ease. Some
of the Africans pretend to say he was what
they call a “pray God to the King;” by
which may be understood, a priest or learn
ed man, who offered up prayers for the
king of his nation, and was of his household.
His dignified deportment showed him to he
of a superiour cast—his humility (hat of a
peaceful subject, not a despot. In his per
son he is well formed, of a middle size,
small hands and feet and erect in his deport
roent. His complexion and hair as well as
the form of the head, are distinctly of the
African character. Some years since, he
United himself to the Presbyterian Church
rn Fayetteville, of which he continues an
orderly and respectable member. A gen
tleman who felt a strong interest for the
good Prince Moro, as he is called, sent to
the British Bible Society, and procured for
him an Arabick Bible ; so that he now reads
the Scriptures in his native language, and
blesses Him who causes good to come out
of evil by making him a slave. His good
master has offered to send him to his native
Tand, his home, and his friends; but be says
- ,l No, —this is my home and here are my
and here is my Bible; J enjoy all I
want in this world. If I should return to
toy native land, the fortune of war might
transport me to a country where I should
be deprived of the greatest of all blessings,
that of worshipping the true and living
God, and his son Jesus Christ, whom to
worship und serve is eternal life.”
Extract from the Address of (lie Rev. Dr. Griffin,
before the Aiueiican Education Society.
For full thirty year® I have regarded the
charitable education of pious and promisiog
youth for the Gospel ministry at home and
tor missionary labours abroad, as quite the
most important way in which Christian be
nevolence can apply its funds Educate
them and they will exert an incalculable in
fluence upon the world even if charity pro
ceeds no further; without them, or men
like them, missions must cease, tracts must
he silenced, and even the Bible cannot be
carried lo the world. Had Ia fortune to
bestow, (it is my deliberate judgement,) I
could not select another object so well enti
tied to receive it all. It is doing good in
the most wholesale way. Here is a pious
?outh doomed by poverty to plod in one ol
he mecbanick arts. He eheds the gleam
MOUNT ZION, (HANCOCK COUNTS GEORGIA,) MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 1825.
of a holy example on a small neighbourhood,
but with a mind uncultivated he can do no
more. Raise that youth by education to
the sacred functions of the Gospel ministry,
and besides exerting a wide and benign in
fluence upon society for thirty years, be
will be the means of converting many souls
who but for him would have perished.
These converts will exercise a still greater
influence upon the next generation, and
these a still greater upon the next; and
thus that youth whom you rescued from ob
scurity will exert an influence from genera
tion to generation, increasing beyond all cal
culation, to the end of the world. This is
upon the supposition that he is only an or
dinary minister. But suppose him a White
field, a Braioerd, or a Samuel John Mills,
and how fur beyond the reach of finite
thought does the good arise. I knew that
last named youth. I knew him from a child
tit! he ascended to glory. The meadows
in which he and his companions prayed into
existence the embryo of American missions,
lie spread out before my door. Often have
I traced them with unspeakable interest and
tell that I was treading on holy ground.
“ 1 ou and 1,” said he to a companion, “ are
little men, but before we die our influence
must be felt on the ether side of the world.”
It felt through the earth; it will be
felt by unnumbered millions when the last
shock shall crumble this earth to atoms.
And what if your charity should raise up
another Samuel John Mills?
Let a man create a fund which shall con
stantly support one pious youth, and to
what an amazing degree will bis influence
be telt on earth in a single century. Now
cast your eyes forward a thousand ages.
Let me come at that blessed group,—that
nation ol happy spirits, who have been
studying the ways by which God led them
to glory, and looking down upon their
wretched companions in hell, and stretching
their eybs forward to ages of interminable
aud increasing blessedness. •* We have
seen,” say they, “ that our escape from that
infinite misery and our arrival at this uu
bounded good, are to be traced to the char
ity ot the blessed man who founded that
scholarship. There stands our benefactor,
whom, next to God and the Redeemer, all
our millions hail.” What now are the sen
sations of that blessed man? Would the
wealth of the Indies squandered upon his
pleasures have produced transports like
these ?
If such are the consequences of founding
a single scholarship, bow far beyond all ex
pression is the amount of good done for our
world by a Phillips, an Abbot, and a Norris.
What wonderful changes will they have
made on earth in the course of a thousand
years. What amazing impressions will
they make on the universe through eternal
ages. What an infinite privilege it was to
possess a fortune which could raise a man
lo such a godlike influence; an influence
exalted as heaven, extensive as the uni
verse, and prolonged as eternity. By
what other means can a man ever hope to
ascend so high? What is genius? what is
tumc ? what is a world of pious plodding to
this? I wish now I had the mines of Polosi.
Who that has wealth will miss the opportu
nity of rising up so near the throne of God?
This is the very price in his hands, and this
the very time in his existence, and (he only
time, (o rise aud swell into a beneficence
higher probably and more expanded than
that ot Gabriel. What is a fortune squan
dered upon pleasure or upon worthless
heirs compared with this? Give me the sub
lime influence of a Norris, an Abbot, or a
Phillips, and I will look down and pity the
littleness of kings.
From the Columbian Star.
WITHINGTON STATION.
The subjoined letter from the Rev. Lee
Compere, Superintendent of the Witbiug
ton station, is addressed to a gentleman in
this city.
Fort Mitchel, July, 1825.
Dear Brother, —I avail myself of an op
portunity lo write to you from this place,
lest some unfair representations should be
made of me, for the part I have taken in
the recent occurrences. In a time of such
excitement aad confusioo, we have not been
suffered, for reasons that will shortly be
made plaio, to occupy, in every respect, a
neutral ground.
When the attempts were making to treat
with the Indians, we considered it as our
doty to interfere as little as possible; and
that there should be no plausible pretext
against us, I thought it best to remain at
home, aod not attend either of the councils.
But of late, we have thought it our duty to
adopt rather a different course.
The obvious corruption attending the
treaty,—together with the influence it was
making on the minds of (Jiese poor oppres
ed people,—as well as involving in it the
honour of the United States, —induced me,
at a very early peried after its ratification,
to make a statement of the matter. This
statement will soon be seen lo be correct,
except in one instance, where there is a cir
cumstaotia! errour.
It was with great reluctance I left home
at the present time, to attend this meeting;
and nothing hut what I considered as an ab
solute call in Providence, could have in
duced roe. I was called upon by Col. Crow
el, to attend (he meeting;—and by Major
Andrews I have been required to make a
statement in relation to the Agent, for the
information ol the government.
1 am happy to state that, after a full ex
amination, we have come to such an under
standing, as induces me to believe that we
shall, lu future, have no cause of complaint.
For the satisfaction of our brethren, 1 must
beg hat you wilt make an inquiry of Major
Andiews, on his return to Washington. I
am bappy to state, that he has acted a gen
erousV a kind, and a friendly part. He will
lela pleasure in giving such a statement,
as, 1 am persuaded, wilt satisfy all parties—
that 1 have done no more than my obliga
tions to the general government, and to the
cause of humanity required. As I wish to
live in the affection and confidence of my
brethren—which to me is next lo living in
the approbation of a merciful God—l must
again beg, for my satisfaction, that you will
wait on that gentleman.
When I left home, our family, excepting
two of my little children, were well as usu
al. Our Indian children have been absent
tor some time, but have mostly returned ;
and our prospects, in the midst of all our
difficulties, seem to brighten. 1 have all
along been very careful against awakening
an expectation that might not, after all, be
realized; hut recent circumstances con*
.strain ate to say,—l am obliged to hope
that the Lord is with us. Clouds have
gathered thick around us, and storms have
almost been ready to break over our heads;
bat I believe they will eventually empty
themselves in mercy on our institution. ■
yours, in the best of bonds,
L. COMPERE.
Revival. —ln Palatine, N. Y. a revival
has been happily progressing Several
months, and GO or 70 have lately become
subjects of renewing grace. A female in
this place, who had experienced pardoning
mercy, was much opposed by her husband.
On odh occasion, when absent to attend a
prayer meeting, her husband pursued her
in a great rage. A friend advised him to
be caltn, reminding him of the destruction
of Pharaoh whilst madly pursuing the Is
raelites on their exodus from Egypt. Your
wife, said he, is going to worship the same
God, who can deal with you in the same
awful manner. He attentively listened to
this counsel ; and on being invited to at
tend the prayer-meetiug, and judge for him
sell, he consented. Here he was arrested
as a sinner, and struck with the awful so
lemnity of eternal things. Me returned
home anxious to obtain forgiveness, und
salvation, aud is now hopefully relieved
through a believing apprehension of the
glory of Christ Jesus as his Saviour.
[C'/i. Watchman.
Fifty Dollars were lately sent to Rev.
Luther Rice, by a gentleman near Washing
ton city, for the aid of Domestick and For
eign Missions, being given in consequence
of the sale of a parcel of cotton, raised on
a small farm, where efforts to raise cotton
had been unsuccessful. In the late unpre
cedented rise of this article it had sold well,
and its generous owner gratefully recollec
ted hie obligations to the God of Missions.
Ib.
MUNGO PARK.
An English paper states that Lieut. Clap
perton, who has recently returned from
a tour in the interiour of Africa, hud the
good fortune to discover the Journal kept
by Mungo Park when he last attempted to
visit the source of the Niger. “ How this
treasure was obtained,” says the paper,
“we have not heard ; but, if we are cor
rectly informed, the MS. has been preserv
ed with care, probably by those who were
ignorant of its true value, and who it is to
be feared, by their culpable rapacity, or
murderous resentment, prevented the au
thor from bringing it to that conclusion
which be contemplated, and which science
desired. A relick so interesting will be re
garded with no common anxiety ; & we (rust
little time will elapse before every thing
which the gallant Lieutenant may have
learned relative to bis dating predecessor,
will be published..”
The preservation of the MS. uninjured
during so long a period is not at all surpris
iog, for it is well known that Mahometans
hold to a superstitious notion which prc.
vents them from destroying papers.
JV. Y. Observer.
Official Correspondence.
Correspondence between Governour Troup and
the War Department.
Department of War, i
June 15<A, 1825 $
Sir: Your letter of the 3d inst. to the
Secretary of War, has been received, and
submitted to the President of the United
Slates, who directs me in the absence of
the Secretary of War. to say in reply, that
if the government of Georgia should under
take the project of surveying the lands ce>
ded to the United States by the Creek Na
tion of Indians at the trpat.y of Indian
Springs, before the expiration of the time
specified by the Bth article of the treaty for
the removal of the Indians, it w ill bp whol
ly upon its own responsibility, and that the
government of the United States will not, in
any manner, be responsible for any conse
quences which may tesiilt from that measure!
1 have the honour lo he, vour ob’tserv't.
C. VANDF.VENTF.R,
Chief Clerk.
His Excellency Geo. M Trocp,
Governour of Georgia.
Executive Department, Geo i
Milledgeville. 25th June , 1825 $
Sir: I received (bis morning the note
which in the absence of the Secretary of
War, the President of the United States di
rected you to address to me and in which 1
am informed that “the project of surveying
the lands ceded to the United Statps by the
Creek Nation of Indians at the Treaty of
the Indian Springs before the expiration of
the time specified by the Bth article f the
treaty for the removal of the Indian® will
be wholly upon its (the government of
Georgia) responsibility, and that the gny.
eminent (viz; the government of the Uoit
ed States) will not in any manner be re-pon
sible lor any consequences which may re
suit from that measure.” Avery friendly
admonition truly. So that whilst you re
ferred your resistance of the survey to the
evils already produced by the mere effort
on the part of - this Government to obtain
permission to make the survey, and when
the tact of that cause producing those es.
fecta i® disproven, and it i® made known to
yon that nobody here, either whites or In
dians ever conceived such a thing as possi
ble, before you had assumed it upon the
represenlati -n of the Agent as undoubtedly
true, and that your own Agent to suit his
owp purposes, had fabricated it to deceive
and mislead you. Nevertheless, you con
tinue to issue order after order forbidding
the survey, as if you had predetermined
from the beginning, that under no circum
stances should we proceed to the survey
without your express permission first had
and obtained Nay more—You repeat this
order to Gen Gaines, who is charged to
promulgate it to the hostile Indians, o that
whether there be tiny thing obnoxious in
the survey or not, they may seize it as a
pretence under the authority and with the
support of the United Slates, to scalp and
tomahawk our people as soon as*ve shall
attempt that survey; and that in fact you
adopt for the Indians gratuitously an ima
ginary wrong done to them—persuade them
even against their will that it ie a real one,
and then leave them to indulge in unbridled
fury, the most tempestuous passion®, and
this I presume is the meaning in part of the
responsibilities which we are to incur if we
disregard the mandate of the government
of the United States You will therefore in
the absence of the Secretary of War, make
known to the President, that the Legislature
having in concurrence with the expressed
opinion of the Executive, come to the al
most unanimous conclusion that by the trea
ty, the jurisdiction together with the soil,
passed to Georgia, and in consequence there
of, authorized the Governour to canse the
line to be run and the survey to he made,
it becomes me in candour to state to the
President, that the survey will be made,
and in due time, and of which Major Gen.
Gaines has already had sufficient notice.
Whilst iD the execution of the decrees of
our own constituted authorities, the govern
ment of the United States will find nothing
but frankness und magnanimity on our part,
we may reasonably claim the observance in
like degree of these noble qualities on
theirs. When therefore certain responsi
bilities are spoken of in the communication
of the President, jve can rightfully inquire
wbat responsibilities ? Georgia in the maiu
teQan;c of her undoubted rights, fears qo