Letter from James Morris Whiton, Boston, [Massachusetts], to Amos Augustus Phelps, 1846 March 21

James Morris Whiton writes to Amos A. Phelps suggesting the uniting of the West Indian Mission and the Union Missionary Society due to poor funding. He writes, "I see no way to prevent our drying up, unless by the appointment of an agent and that for a single small mission is handy worth while: and would besides be an entire departure from the principle on which we started..a reliance on the free will offerings of the community. We have tried the experiment fairly and it has failed-there is not benevolence enough in our churches to sustain anything unless pushed by something stronger than its own impulses." He writes that Mr. Tappan approves of his plan.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library