The Board of Managers of the American Baptist Missionary Union held its thirty-sixth ànnual meeting with the Washington Street Baptist Church, Buffalo, N. Y., commencing on Tuesday, May 14, 1850. Hon. James H. Duncan, Chairman of the Board, being absent, Rev. Elisha Tucker, D. D., of Ill., was appointed Chairman, pro tem. After a season spent in devotional exercises the roll of the Board was called, and twenty-six ministers and ten laymen appeared to be present. The Annual Reports of the Treasurer, the Auditing Committee, and the Executive Committee, were read and referred to the following committees: On Obituaries.-H. J. Ripley, L. Raymond, J. B. Olcott. On Finances.-D. R. Barton, D. M. Wilson, J. Borden, L. D. Boone, B. Greenough. On Burmese Missions.-E. G. Robinson, N. G. Lovell, H. Davis, T. Wattson, S. N. Kendrick. On Karen Missions.-S. F. Smith, E. E. Cummings, J. G. Collom, R. R. Raymond, M. Allen. Siam and Chinese Missions.-O. C. Comstock, W. Clarke, S. J. Drake, J. C. Foster, T. D. Chollar. Assam and Teloogoo Missions.-D. Ives, J. Smitzer, H. I. Parker, J. Jennings, S. Haskell. Bassa Mission.-R. Babcock, D. C. Eddy, S. B. Page, N. Hooper, S. D. Phelps. German Mission.-L. Tucker, B. T. Welch, I Wescott, W. Douglass, T. O. Lincoln. French and Greek Missions.-L. F. Beecher, I. Harris, H. Seaver, G. W. Harris, J. Hall, J. Reed. Indian Missions.-J. N. Granger, N. Colver, A. Bennett, A. D. Gillette, S. W. Adams, J. N. Wilder, Jesse Elliott, E. E. Cummings, T. O. Lincoln. *We present an abstract of the proceedings of the Board and Union. The full report will be published in a separate form. A report from the Executive Committee on the Comparative Claims of Missions to Reinforcement was read, and referred to Rev. Messrs. J. Stevens, L. Tucker, D. D., A. Wheelock, L. Stone and A. P. Mason. REPORT ON CLAIMS OF MAULMAIN MISSIONS. The Committee appointed last year, on the Claims of the Maulmain Missions, presented the following report which was adopted. The committee appointed at the last meeting of your body, with instructions to inquire into the relative claims to reinforcement and support of the Maulmain Burman and Karen Missions, and to offer such suggestions to the Executive Committee, relating to these missions, as the facts in the case might seem to require, respectfully present the following report: Your committee have attended to the duty assigned them: several meetings have been held, and a sub-committee have visited the Missionary Rooms, in Boston, where every facility was afforded them for obtaining a full understanding of the whole subject. They have also been favored with a personal interview with both the Corresponding Secretaries, and with Rev. Messrs. Vinton, Osgood and Haswell, returned missionaries. They also addressed a fraternal letter to the Executive Committee, whose reply, your committee are happy to state, shows that that body entertain similar views to those to which your committee have been led. Your committee believe that the Executive body are prepared to sustain both these important missions, to the fullest extent allowed by the contributors to the Union. Your committee do not find that any further action of the Board, upon the subject assigned to them, is required. All which is respectfully submitted. S. H. CONE, Chairman. A paper from the Executive Committee, on the Resuscitation of the Ava Mission, was read and referred to Rev. Messrs. W. R. Williams, D. D., P. Church, D. D., J. L. Burrows, A. M. Beebee, Esq., and Rev. H. T. Love. A paper, also from the Executive Committee, on the Reinforcements and Appropriations for 1850-1, was referred to Rev. Messrs. J. G. Warren, M. Stone, D. B. Cheeney, Mr. N. Crosby and Rev. J. F. Wilcox. A committee consisting of Rev. Messrs. S. S. Cutting, S. B. Webster, P. Work, G. W. Bosworth, L. H. Moore, Z. Freeman, A. D. Gillette, J. Schofield, Mr. J. Conant, and Rev. S. J. Drake, was appointed to inquire into the expediency of changing the time of holding the Annual Meeting of the Missionary Union, from the month of May to the month of September or October. On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings public missionary meetings were held, for addresses and prayer, when large audiences were addressed by Rev. Messrs. J. M. Haswell, of the Burman Mission; M. Bronson, of the Assam Mission; E. Kincaid, reäppointed missionary to Ava; J. W. Parker, of Mass.; and Amos Sutton, of the English Baptist Mission to Orissa. Wednesday was chiefly occupied in hearing reports from the several committees. These reports we present in full, with other papers read to the Board. They elicited much animated and interesting discussion on the important topics embraced in them. RESUSCITATION OF THE AVA MISSION. Soon after the reäppointment of the Rev. E. Kincaid, as a missionary to Ava or some other place in the northern part of Burmah, the Executive Committee were requested to send a missionary-physician to the same field and at the same time. The brother who applied for the appointment, besides the qualifications which might ordinarily be looked for in a candidate for such service, had the advantage of an intimate knowledge of the Burmese people and language. For these reasons, and from the conviction that his medical skill would prove a shield to the mission, nearly every pastor and several laymen of Philadelphia manifested a lively interest in his appointment: and the Committee would have complied with their wishes could it have been made probable that a Christian missionary might perform his work within the empire, or that the brother would be a successful preacher in one of the ceded provinces. In the absence of such information they were unprepared to incur the expense and hazard of the experiment without special authorization from the Board. They thought it would be better for Mr. Kincaid first to go to Maulmain or Akyab, carrying with him the assurance that the medical missionary should be appointed on his sending home a carefully formed opinion that the way was open for resuming labor in Burmah Proper. Under these circumstances it was proposed that so much of the subject as refers to the practicability of resuscitating the Ava Mission, and the importance of taking more vigorous measures speedily to accomplish it, be laid before the Board at the present session; and the Committee, in doing so, are expected to refer to some of the facts and principles which deserve a place in the deliberations that may be given to the question. Considerations of grave import and high interest favor the reöccupancy of Ava, and other places in Burmah Proper, at the earliest practicable time. These are to be found in the relations which American Baptists sustain to the evangelization of the empire; in the character and number of its population; in the relative position of the country; in the necessities of its Christian disciples; and in the expectation of the Christian world. The Committee have referred to the influence which these considerations have had on their own minds, in the report on the Comparative Claims of Missions to Reinforcement. No missionary field can have stronger claims on this Board; and if the opportunity for replanting the mission were within reach, it would baffle the wisdom of the wisest to show that the work might, be left undone without incurring the displeasure of Him whom we serve. But is Ava, or any other point in Burmah Proper, accessible to the Christian missionary as a field of missionary labor? The information needed in examining this question, can be drawn from no higher sources than the statements of the men who now are or have been connected with the missions in Burmah. From them the Board have learned that, as a result of the revolution of 1837, in which Thurrawadi usurped the throne and expressly prohibited evangelical labor,* the peril of conducting the work became so great as to induce every missionary to leave the country. Ava was abandoned in that year, and Rangoon in 1838; but the missionaries proceeded to the Tenasserim provinces, with the design of seizing the first opportunity of returning to their stations. Mr. Kincaid and Mr. Abbott went to Rangoon in 1839, with the hope of recovering their positions. Referring to this visit Mr. Abbott said: "I became more fully convinced than ever of the impossibility of doing anything directly for the Karens under the present government, without involving them in sufferings more serious than they have ever yet experienced." And in a letter dated Akyab, 1840, Mr. Kincaid said: "Brother Abbott and I had been laboring as we could in Maulmain and the villages, waiting for some change in Burman affairs. We spent some time in Rangoon, but in the end were convinced that it was quite useless to remain, as nothing worthy of being called missionary work could be accomplished. Like the merchants we could sit in our houses, and, if this were all that was necessary, we could keep the ground. There is no difficulty about living in Burmah, but we could not teach the people, for the people dare not come near us. While this state of things existed, and there were other large fields open. to our efforts, it seemed not the part of wisdom to *See an article by Rev. E. Kincaid, on Revolutions in Burmah, in Missionary Magazine for 1846, p. 105. remain idle in Burmah. The command is plain, 'If they persecute you in one city flee to another.' When, in the providence of God, Burmah shall be open to our intercourse with the people, in a very few days we could go over to Bassein, or by the Aing pass could go directly to Ava." These were the facts and opinions which led the missionaries to abandon their stations in Burmah, and subsequently to plant others in the ceded provinces. From that time to the present the missionaries, both Burman and Karen, have manifested earnest solicitude for the renewal of operations in Burmah. Mr. Ingalls was desirous of being located there in 1844, and Messrs. Vinton, Stevens and Ingalls went to Rangoon in the dry season of 1844-5 to ascertain the practicability of occupying it; but they found nothing to justify the experiment. Early in 1846 tidings reached this country that the reign of the intolerant Thurrawadi had been superseded by a regency, in which the intelligent and magnanimous Mekara was said to hold a conspicuous place, and in 1847 Dr. Judson removed to Rangoon with the hope of renewing the work of evangelization. The aged governor received him favorably," not as a missionary," however, " but as a minister of a foreign religion, ministering to foreigners resident in the place, and as a dictionary-maker, laboring to promote the welfare of both countries." After residing in the city a few weeks, Dr. Judson wrote, under date of March 28: "The present administration of government, though rather more friendly to foreigners, is more rigidly intolerant than that of the late king Thurrawadi. Any known attempt at proselyting would be instantly amenable at the criminal tribunal, and would probably be punished by the imprisonment or death of the proselyte, and the banishment of the missionary." Dr. Judson was not allowed to wait long for an illustration of the hostile disposition of the government. His Sabbath services were broken up; and he concluded that a footing in Rangoon could be obtained only by securing some countenance at Ava. The aged governor consented to the measure, and arrangements were made for visiting the capital; but the journey was prevented by an unforeseen deficiency of funds, and an unfavorable change in the administration of the government of Rangoon. The lack of funds was made up as soon as the Committee knew of its existence, but Dr. Judson returned to Maulmain in September, 1847. No attempt has since been made to resume missionary operations at Rangoon, and no change is known to have taken place in the policy of the Burmese government. Mr. Abbott returned to Sandoway in November of 1847, determined, if possible, to plant a missionary station at some point in the province of Bassein or Rangoon; and the Committee gave him assurance of every help at their command. His heart yearned with paternal solicitude over the thousands of Karen disciples who needed his succor; and it was his intention to seek a foothold in Burmah Proper, through what might appear to be the most favorable route after re-surveying the ground. The first attempt was made in December, 1848, by way of Bassein river; the second early in 1849, by crossing the hills at the head of the river; but both attempts were unsuccessful. Dread of impeachment before the king, led the governor of Bassein to refuse the missionary admission within his territory in the first instance, and to drive him out of it in the second. But Mr. Abbott has some reason to hope that these attempts will, in the end, open the way for him to reënter Burmah. His latest letters, however, speak of the measure as being now impracticable; and within the last six months missionaries at Akyab, Maulmain and Tavoy, have spontaneously given the same opinion. One of them, Mr. Ingalls of Akyab, in a letter dated December 24, 1849, suggests a commercial treaty, between the government of the United States and the court of Ava, as the only feasible plan of regaining our ground in the empire; and measures have been taken to bring the subject to the notice of our government. The Committee have thus alluded to the history of the abandonment of Ava and Rangoon, and the attempts made to reoccupy them, not because they suppose that history to prove Burmah to be inaccessible, or that no direct effort should now be made to regain the ground. On the contrary, an appointment was given to Mr. Kincaid for this object with all cordiality and without hesitation. But when it was proposed to send with him a medical helper,—thus becoming responsible for his support during life, while no such helper was needed in any of the missions of the ceded provinces,-the Committee felt bound to wait for the instructions of the Board, or for evidence that missions would be tolerated by the Burmese government. They also felt the necessity of estimating the probabilities of meeting the additional expenditures involved in the reoccupancy of Burmah,-for the appropriations desired by existing missions, together with the sending forth of missionaries ready to return and those under appointment, will swell the expenditure of the year ending April 1, 1851, from $10,000 to $15,000 beyond that of the last year. But the Board may deem it wise to direct an expenditure beyond the demands of existing operations, in order to give the fairest trial to the intensely interesting project of resuscitating the Ava Mission. In that event, the Committee will implicitly and heartily comply with such instructions; and in any event, they will not cease to pray that Burmah may speedily throw open all her gates to the Christian missionary, exclaiming, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him ....that publisheth salvation!" On behalf of the Committee, EDW. BRIGHT, JR., Cor. Sec. The subject is one of grave import, and is not without its peculiar difficulties. The renewal of aggressive operations on the part of our missions against the heathenism of Burmah Proper, has been for some years the theme of solicitude, discussion and prayer. It seemed a reproach on American Baptists, that whilst their labors had been drawn off or excluded from these territories, some members of the much older Romish missions remained in comparative security; although it was understood they so remained in virtual inertness, mute and bound, as to any efforts at proselytism. Our own labors among the Karens, a noble though a subjugated race of the population of Burmah, had been and yet are crowned with signal benediction. And the recent journals of Roman Catholic missions show, that to this field, in which our triumphs have far outstripped any Burman results of their labors, our success has provoked them, and in consequence, Romish priests are now going thither to rival, to thwart, and, if it may be, to supplant us. A brother beloved, who, after long toil in the East, had been spending years amongst us, feeding and kindling missionary zeal in this his native country, finds himself now in a state to attempt the resumption of his eastern tasks; and his heart yearns to preach Christ at Ava itself, the imperial capital of Burmah. A large portion of his family will accompany him: and it is thought that their very presence, with the husband and father, will be to Burman suspicion a pledge of the honest and unworldly character of his mission. But, severed there, as this family would be from such medical relief as is accessible at many other mission stations, it seems desirable that they should not be sent out so unprovided in their perilous loneliness, and where sickness so likely to befall them would become doubly fearful and need. lessly fatal. A brother who was in youth long a resident of that country, speaking several of its tongues, of approved medical skill, and a kinsman of the missionary, and himself of allowed piety and devotion, offers himself and family to attend the venture. Brethren in Philadelphia, long the city of his residence, urge his appointment and most forcibly. On the other hand the Executive Committee at Boston find themselves surrounded by peculiar embarrassments. Recognizing the worth and medical skill and disinterestedness of the missionary physician, thus nominated for appointment, the brethren left in the keeping of our Mission Rooms are like Paul the Apostle, |