Communications: For The Signal Of Liberty: Deplorable Exhibi...

Por sevenil years past it lias bccn thc commcndnble practicc of thc conductora of tho Prasbytcrinu, Baptist, Methodist, (white) Sabbath Schools lo imito iu a celcbration on Thc anniversary of our National Imlepondcnce m a marmer approprinle both to the occasion nnd ío the peculiar objects of thcsc associations;a practico now bccoming general in all parta of our country. The reason usually assigned for this appropriation of the day, besides a tino íespcct for the day itself,is that by this means a large portion of our youth are deierrcd, or ralher dissnadctl, by a process at once frcc from irksome restraint, and fraught with the best of all nflncnccs, from joining in the more qucstionable and oftcn dcmoralizing amuse - ments ot the day. Expcrience has abundantly lemonstrated thesoundness of this practico. A multitude of children are thus nnnually savcd iroi thc pollutiug scones so often witnessed on thie great annivcrBary in all our krge towns and villages. Unhappily a portion of our youthful population had hitherto been entircly ovorlookcd in this excellent arrangoment. For ncarly scven yeara we have had in Detroit a flourishing Sabbath School, composcd cxclusivcly of coloted children, which, for regular attendancc, orderly behavtour, and progreas in knowlcdge, it is bclicvcd is not bchind any echool in tho city. Vcry reccntly another school has been fonned aniong thc Methodists of thc saine people. These children have ncver bccn invited to join in thc annual cclcbration. Individual abolitioniats have complained and rcmonslratcd againnt thc gicat in.justico and nartiality thua manifested in Ihcii exclusión, but thc giant Prkil'ptce gunrdcd,. - - ... or was éijppoaed to guard, tho portals of the tcnijilcofliborty and religión with too vigilant ;ui eye, and tuo lirm n hand, to affbrd nny hope of admission to the colorcd youth: No formal application vas made, and so the matter was passcd over f rom year to yenr. The htlle whitcs werc collcctcd, marshalled, addresscd, nstrucied, encouraged, marchcd and coimtermarched, feasted nnd wont to rheir homes at night rejoicing in the blossings of a Christhn festival, white their littlc co-hcirs óf immortality, 'with skins not colored like tlieir own' and 'for such a greivous cause' wero turned into the noisy strect to gnzc at the tavvdry military ,to mingle in their tattered train, to learn their oaths, to linker roithd tl.e dmi.keriesaml gather upirom all thcfosourcrs of pollution,whatcvcr of evi! is aflo;it,al a time when the very guatee of heil seem wide open for tlie occasion, and this fo quaüfy tbem for perpeüiating the Living Lik inserbed on the banner of African Colonizatiou, Ihe impünsibililij of d( ■ valing Ihe colorid raceamong vs. This year Ihe claims of (hese cJiiluren.came wp in a different way. On the SOth ff June, 1C43 (recollect, gentle reader, in the ninetcenth centtiry - tho ago ofmissions - of revivals imcxamplcd in religión and ecience - in the very last year of a world's probation, accordiug tr the Milleritc - on the eve ofdevas-ating jndgements, according to the Millinarian- at the very daun of the Millenium according to the inoro popular theology,) a respectable delegation of colored men waited on a joint cornmittcc of orningeinents of the Daptist, Methodist, oud Prcsbyterian Sunday School teachers of Detroit, and sohcited pcrmission for the two Detroit Sabbath Schools of colored chiidron fthc Btptist und Methodist) to bc allowed to imite with the white schools (as schools) in celebrating our ualicms jubilee - thal tho petition was taken into consideration on a rcsolution offered to com)ly with the request. and VOTED DOWN! Spirit of Robcrt Raikes, listen! - a Subbalh tíchool excluded from a sabbath school celebration! and that by Christinns too! As this disgraceful act has become a matter of notonety, ït is due to the minority of tho cnuimi'.tce of arrangements os well as to an otitrugcd co.Timunity to give tlie yeaa and iays; for admitting the colored schools to iarticipn:e in tho cclebralion tlierc were Alexnn.ier MTarre, léñ O. O.-borne, Baptist. For llicir Exclusión. John Owcn, 5 Ilinim Lvon, ) ,, nr „ ,. , , HenryCnnif5 al1 disls! VViliinm Pbelns. )The Rev. Ma. Sandford of the Baptist Churcli, being in the chair, was proper ly excuscd from yoting. Mr. Alnnson Sheley, another niembcr of :hc commiUcc, was absent. Bothof these last :gen!emen, wo aro assurcd, wcro in favnr of P.fJmitting tho schools. The Methodist brethren, it seems. then, hare the undividwl hor.or of this net of, fis we think unparuj lolled ir.euiuicss and cruelty. We should like lo know of these sago gentlemen - the Chrislinn public have a right lo know - on lyhat principio tiiey ca 'juytify a procedure that in our humble view outrnges every fceiing cf natural justice and Cluistian b encvolencc. We nrroign yon, therefore, Messrs. Owen, Cannifk, Lyon, and PiiELrs:,at the bar of a Christian public to answer rof yóursélvee, -on what principie did you excludo those chilflren? Was it on the ground of eolorl The average shade of at least three iif'tiis of the millioiis of our race for wliora Chnst died is na deep as theirs; und daro you as Chrislians, as friends of missions, stand tip and pload in your jusiification in the sigfit of ihat Goi who made you lo difler, tlie naked principie of difference of color as the ground of thcir exclusión? Do you say that their Immblo and degraded rank in Society, constitned an objection in the view of the parents of the white children, and that thervj 'ore tiiey were cxcludcd? Wc liave heard(wo are loath to bclieve it) that Mr.Owen Ubed this argument in the committee. - We osk how long it is sincc our Sabb.ith School teachers, became panderers to the prille and prejudices of tbc rich, and when it was that the principie beciimo established that the humble condition and vices, if you pleasc, of parenfs shoukl constitute a dtsquahlication in their children fir ndmission to the beneiily of Sabbath School instruction and encouragcment? We have heen accustomed to regard the vcry reverse of this proposition as the truth, tliat povevty and wretchedness cnhanced the claims of its victims to this hcaven bom benevolcncc. In Ihis connection wc would ask, too, these Methodist brethren if it was not once the peculiar glory of the Methodist Church that her chicf care was for tho poor and out cast classes of Society? Did not her Wesleys leavc the milky woy of the fashionable world, and plunge into the abodes of wrelchcdnees and poverty to fish for sonls? Who carried the light of the Gospel into the dwk mines ofcEugland, and illumccl wiili its chfïoring beuniü the atill darker intetlccty thcrc,and swepl ia lyith a nel the filtliy alluyü and rccciisef) of her crowdcd cititi? And liaa it come to this, that this once ApoatnlicCliurch is becoming pnitlisli and (fainty in her oíd age, and fasridiously ashamed of her own jewels, andinstead of the brood Gospel invitation to tho banquet ho, all ye that are wctry and heavy laden' - 'hungry and thirsty,' must henccforth eend out polito cards of invitation to the genteel aud select classes of Society? Must she that has so Jong battled with the doctrine of Eleclion come at last to praclice it in the most odious sense? Will you plead that there was any thmg disrespectful or precipítate in the mode of the opplication? We heard one of your committee intímate as much. This you cannot do. - We challengo you tothe proof. The mcastire onginatèd wilh the colored people themselvcs, and the delcgation appointed by them was such as would have done honor to any class of our community, aad the whole procedure was respectful and courteous. But wby wait forany application of the kind? Why not makethe first advunces, and extend lo them a cordial invitation to unite with you? You know this wa3 done in respect to the Union Sabbath School rccently formed and gratefully accepted. Wos not seveu years long enough for these colored childrcn to wait your tardy justice? Are they not won by kindness and chilled by neglect like white children? Are they not fond of sweet cakó like white children? Have they not souls to save or lose likfi white children? Werc they not purchased by the same precious blood? VVill not your neglect of them indirectly but inevitnbly dcfeat in a great degree, the ends you propose in your own Sabbath Schools? Can llie colored children grow up in gnorance and vice,and leavo the whi'.e community scathless? Will ynti attempt to cast the odium of this deed on the shoiilders of the other Sabbath School teachers, and plead not your own personal prejudicee, buttheirsin extenuation of your vote? We have conversed with many of them, and among them somc who are lar from being abolitionistsjand we have not found a solitary individual who does not pointedly condemn your course. Wc have hcard that one of your number, when pushed hard in argument for a reason for your magnanimons procedure urged, that thiá was a point on which'you were not instructed by tlie othcr teachers. So then, gentlemen, vbu adopt the popular doctrine 01 insthiclïbti. " Wc humbly suggest to the teachers to construct another year an automton commitlee, that after winding up, shail go like a clock, and strike only on the approach of anj colored children - an excellent device we opine to avoid the dreadful calamity of tronching on reserva! righfs. Gentlemen, we have asked you a good many qi'.eetionp, but we will guaraní cc you room enough in the Signal of Liberty to answer them all if vou will condescend so to do.