the eternal God. It is our honour and our privilege that we are to become co-workers with Christ in bringing about these happy and delightful changes. (Hear, hear.) What has been the fate and the history of the maritime nations of the world? Where are Tyre and Carthage? or to come down to later times, the great maritime ports of the Mediterranean? They have become silent. Why? Because they neglected the gift imparted to them, and forgot the duty which God had intrusted to their care. Lest that should hereafter be said of England, lest her candlestick should be removed, and she should lose her prerogative to teach other nations, let us give our hearty, individual support, our contributions and our prayers, our zeal and influence, to promote the interests of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society. (Loud cheers.)

Captain Hogg, Rev. Messrs. Hinton, Baynes, and other gentlemen, addressed the meeting.

WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

THE Right Hon. Fox MAULE, M.P., who occupied the chair, opened the business in a suitable and manly Free Church speech.

The Report was read by the Rev. Dr. BUNTING and the Rev. JOHN BEECHAM.

The Report commenced with a most gratifying announcement relative to the financial position of the Society. After several years of arduous and painful struggle, arising out of the long-continued inadequacy of its regular yearly income, large and growing as that income has been, to meet the continually augmenting expenditure unavoidably required for the efficient maintenance of its widely-extended missions, and to prevent a ruinous accumulation of deficiencies and embarrassments, the Committee have now the heartfelt delight of stating that a brighter day has dawned, and that at this moment, as far as the year 1845 and the years preceding it are concerned, the Society is out of DEBT !

The next point was the income for the year ending in December last, which reached the

Income

Disbursements:

1. Proper Expenditure of 1845

2. Deficiencies of 1843 and 1844

cheering sum of £112,823 9s. 6d., being an advance upon 1844 of £7,136 3s. 11d. It was stated, of this total the sum of £92,115 17s. 2d. has been raised at home. This home receipt includes £4,486 98. 8d. contributed as juvenile Christmas offerings, and received in time to be entered in the balance-sheet for 1845, being an apparent increase of £1,571 14s. 1d. under that head. Further sums arrived too late to be so entered, but will be carried to the account of 1846; and the whole juvenile effort for the year is believed to have raised nearly £5,500. In this total there is also included a highly gratifying amount of £11,674 4s. 7d. received from various foreign stations, being an increase in that item of £1,897 0s. 5d. This sum, it should be remembered, is in addition to the very much larger sums which those stations severally raised for their own local expenses, in order to diminish their claims upon the general fund at home for the support of their missionary pastors.

The Society's expenditure in 1845, it appeared, amounted to £104,366 19s. Here (it was observed) there is a decrease of £4,821 7s. 3d., as compared with 1844, which is mainly to be ascribed to the good and kindly feeling, and spirit of willing sacrifice, evinced by our excellent missionaries themselves, and by the people to whom they minister; and also to the economizing operation of certain financial arrangements adopted and directed by the Committee, in reference to their annual grants to the dependent stations.

The Committee then present a general view of the actual financial state of the Institution, showing, as before mentioned, that it was now entirely out of debt. The regular claims of the year 1845 had been met; the deficiencies standing over from 1843 and 1844, amounting to £4,775 48. 3d., had been liquidated; and the peculiarly favourable opportunity has been embraced for discharging the entire remainder of the old debt of £7,935, incurred on account of the Gold Coast and Ashanti missions in 1841, 1842, and 1843. That remainder amounted to £2,914 11s. 5d. The whole account for 1845, therefore, stands as follows:

104,366 19 0 4,775 4 3

Edinburgh and Aberdeen Auxiliary Society

Juvenile Christmas and New Year's Offerings for 1845, (received in time,) and balance of those for 1844

4,486 9 8

There has been also an advance in the Juvenile and Christmas Offerings of about £1,570, making a total increase on the home receipts of about £5,295.

Since the last anniversary, twenty-three mis. sionaries and six wives of missionaries, with two schoolmasters and one schoolmistress, have been sent out by the Society. The following is a

The Report then proceeds to give, in detail, the state and prospects of the Society's missions.

In Ireland, amidst many difficulties, and, in some parts, much opposition, the work of the Lord continues to advance, and the truth of God to prevail. There are upwards of sixty mission day-schools, containing more than four thousand six hundred children; above half of whom read the Holy Scriptures. Several schoolhouses have been erected by the aid of the Centenary grant for the purpose of religious education in Ireland. The Model-school in Dublin, conducted on the Glasgow system, fully answers the end proposed by its establishment. There are, at present, about sixty boys in the school, who are making satisfactory progress; while some masters who have been trained there have taken charge of schools in the country, where they will carry out the same system of instruction.

Referring next to the Continent of Europe, it is stated, that in France and Switzerland the missionaries have to contend with many hostile influences, which in some places, for a time, seem to frustrate their endeavours; but, on the whole, they have abundant reason to "thank God and take courage." The English department of the work in Paris is in a flourishing state. In January, the missionaries at Lausanne and Aigle, reported," Notwithstanding the afflictions and persecution to which our religious society, in common with Christians of other denominations in this country, has been subject during almost the whole of the year, our people have continued steady. Those whom we have lost are gone to other countries, and some of them are now useful members of our societies in France, being employed as teachers, or colporteurs of the Bible. By the blessing of God, the trials to which our people have been exposed have helped to establish the work of God in the souls of many, and made them more highly esteem their privileges and the means of grace with which they are favoured among us. We continue to meet for Divine worship, and a merciful Providence has thus far kept us from harm and danger." "Before the revolution we had one hundred and forty scholars at Lausanne, and sixty at Aigle. This event diminished our numbers, and when the Government troops occupied our chapel, as barracks, the school was

broken up. The teachers, however, continued to meet their classes at their houses, until the chapel was restored. Since then our school, which had been reduced in numbers, has increased, and is now in a prosperous state. Some of the children meet weekly for the purpose of working for the missionary cause. The girls sew and knit, and the boys make nets and slippers. Others have collected juvenile offerings, and make themselves useful in various ways." Since this was written, the Committee have received a letter containing the afflictive intelligence that public religious services, at Lausanne, have been put a stop to by the civil authorities, who threatened that if their mandate for closing them were not immediately obeyed it would be carried into effect by force. With respect to the work in Spain, the Gibraltar station exhibits, in its several departments of the work, marks of improvement. The religious services are numerously attended, and an increase in the number of church members, as well as of scholars in the mission-school, is reported; while renewed exertions are made by the indefatigable missionary, and his coadjutors of other religious bodies, to diffuse more widely evangelical truth in all the quarters to which they have access.

Ceylon and Continental India then passed under review. In Batticaloa, "for the last five years, heathenism has been giving way before the truth, and now shows stronger marks of decay than ever. A great number of temples are entirely shut up, and a number more nearly deserted; so that priests and pusaries are at a considerable discount, and either starve or turn to other employments." I think we may say, (says the missionary,) that heathenism is fallen: it may rise again; and probably will, if the gospel be withheld; but as it has fallen before the power of the truth, the same truth brought to bear upon it must utterly destroy it. May the time speedily come! The reclaimed wild men, or Veddahs, in Bintenne, "hear with great attention the instructions given to them. They manifest no wish to return to their former wandering mode of life, nor to their devil-dancing. A few boys in each village have learned to read the Scriptures in Singhalese, some of them with considerable fluency. The cocoa-nut trees which this interesting people have planted are growing; and from the extent of jungle which they have cleared and cultivated, they give proof that they are becoming a civilised people." . The Committee regard the missions in the island of Ceylon as answering their important purpose and design, and as worthy of increased interest and support. The members in the societies, chiefly natives, have increased to one thousand two hundred and forty; the children in the schools, to four thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine. As to the Presidency of Madras and the Mysore territory, it was stated -"The missions in India have in view the spiritual interests of the two classes of the population, viz., the European and English-speaking class, and the Native class, which use the vernacular languages. The missionaries at Madras and Bangalore have access to a very large English-speaking population, and have had the satisfaction of seeing the most encouraging results of their labours. Taking, as a specimen, the English congregation at Poonamallee, the testimony of the missionaries is very satisfactory: they say, 'At Poonamallee there are twenty

four members in our Society. We have always found it beneficial to visit this humble people; no man can view the triumphs of the grace of the gospel, as discovered in some of them, without intense interest; nothing but that grace, no earthly wisdom or expedient, could produce the changes that are observed here. The recklessness and indifference of the soldier are happily succeeded by the teachableness and simplicity of children. Here are those who spent their early years in intemperance and profligacy, "now clothed and in their right mind." The close of their life is more tranquil than its dawn; having nearly finished their pilgrimage, they serenely wait for the coming of Him who "hath called them out of darkness into marvellous light."' The missionaries at Madras correspond with a band of Christian soldiers at Aden in Arabia, who consider themselves under their pastoral care. They are doing well, and have just finished the erection of their chapel, the dimensions of which are 52 feet by 30. Thus in Arabia we have now an humble place for the worship of God. The missionaries also correspond with Moulmein in Burmah, and Hong Kong in China, as well as with Arcot, Arnee, Secunderabad, and other chief stations in India, which are too distant for them to visit. By the promotion of vital godliness among the English residents in the East, the missionaries are not merely benefiting their own countrymen and their descendants, but they are also maintaining before the sight of the heathen and Mahomedan population a most important testimony to the truth and power of our holy religion. The missionaries at all the stations, whether on the coast or in the interior, have an opportunity of doing good through the medium of their own language, of which they diligently avail themselves." But the natives or aboriginal population of India are the great and primary objects of the labours of the missionaries. The mission press

in Bangalore, which is ably conducted by the Rev. John Garrett, is an agent of great usefulness. Many thousands of copies of valuable books issue from it every year. By very ingenious improvements which the missionaries have recently effected in the Canarese type, the work of three weeks can now be done in three days, and at a proportionately reduced expense.

...

Throughout the whole of the stations in India, very great attention is paid by the missionaries to the subject of education. Upwards of two thousand children are receiving a Christian education; of whom nineteen hundred and fifty-one are boys, and one hundred and fortyeight are girls. The schools for native girls in Madras, Negapatam, Bangalore, and Mysore, are very pleasing and useful establishments. "The head native school at Negapatam for the training of native agents was, for a time, considerably reduced by the pernicious influence of caste prejudices. No fewer than thirteen of the youths left the school, on being required to eat together without distinction; some of them have since returned, and other very promising candidates have been admitted; all caste distinction will for the future be entirely excluded from the school." This foul remnant of heathenism, caste, to which some of the native Christians, and even native missionaries, cling, has received a full investigation by the missionaries of various societies, and especially by those of the Free Church of Scotland in Madras, and by a com

mission appointed by the Bishop of Madras for the same purpose. The conclusions to which these separate and independent investigations have led are identical in their spirit and character, and will tend to the entire extinction of caste from all Hindus who profess the religion of the Bible, and are under the care of Protestant missionaries.

Australasia and Polynesia were then adverted to. In New South Wales the labours of the missionaries have been accompanied by a considerable measure of success. . In Aus

tralia Felix, the Melbourne circuit not only contributes liberally to the General Fund, but sends a surplus of its income to the district meeting, and is preparing to establish a Contingent Fund.

In South Australia the Adelaide station is supported by local exertions, without any assistance from the general funds of the Society. The Swan River Mission, in Western Australia, continues to prosper, although prosecuted in the midst of difficulties from commercial depression and intolerant opposition. .

"The most recent letters received from Mr. Smithies convey the gratifying intelligence, that a gracious religious awakening had taken place, and that thirty or forty individuals, some of whom were whites, and others of them natives, had been converted from the error of their ways.' The admission of about eighteen native youths into the church of Christ, by the initiatory sacrament of baptism, may be regarded as the commencement of this important movement. That service excited great interest, and called forth the prayers and the sympathies of the congregation, in behalf of so many hopeful specimens of an aboriginal race sunk to the very lowest point in the scale of human degradation. 'O to behold,' writes the missionary, 'those once wretched and debased outcasts-those sable Australians-with their shining hair and faces, clad in neat blue garments, and white tippets, made by our Christian ladies in this place-bowing down, one after another, to receive their new names, in the name of the holy Trinity ;-to behold their tearful eyes, amidst the tears and prayers of the congregation, was a scene not soon to be forgotten."" New Zealand,

from the painful interest it has excited, requires especial notice. The sanguinary war which has commenced between the British forces and some of the Native tribes in the north of the island, is exerting a very injurious effect upon most of the stations in that district. At Auckland, the mission chapel is crowded on the sabbath with attentive hearers, several of whom have proved the gospel to be "the power of God unto salvation," and the "Native Institution" is reported to be "in full and successful operation;" but at Kaipara, and the Hokianga, the missionaries are seriously interrupted in their labour of love, while the lives of themselves and their families are exposed to danger. The state of

the missions connected with the Friendly Islands -in the principal groups, Tongatabou, Habai, and Vavau, does not appear to have undergone any remarkable change during the year. A great want is felt of additional missionaries. At Wallis's island the popish priests had excited the people to violence, and a native teacher was killed. In the important district of Feejee the missionaries are subjected to severe interruptions from the notes of war, and have to witness revolting scenes. There is cause, how

ever, for rejoicing on account of the good which has been effected. "The work in Feejee," as the Chairman of the district remarks, "makes but little show; yet its silent progress is remarkable, considering the shortness of the time the mission has been established, and the fewness of the labourers employed in it." Although among the chiefs and rulers in this extensive group, none of the highest rank, none of those who exercise the most extensive influence, have embraced Christianity; yet is it cause of lively gratitude that" to the poor the gospel is preached," -that "two thousand two hundred and fifty" individuals have formally renounced heathenism, upwards of one thousand of whom have yielded to the influence of gospel-grace, and are now united together in Christian fellowship,-that many of the rising generation are being trained in the mission-schools, in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord,"-while successive portions of the word of God are translated into the native dialects, and, by means of the press, widely diffused among the people.

The Report then referred to Southern Africa. The mission work in the Cape district increases in interest and efficiency. A great improvement has taken place at the Society's mission in Little Namaqualand, which is described in the following communication from the resident missionary:-"Lily Fountain.-You will be gratified to hear that the Lord has at length been pleased to visit us with a more copious outpouring of his Spirit than I have yet seen in this country. During the whole of the last summer a very gracious influence rested upon the various means of grace; but, about the months of February and March, several very unusual visitations were experienced. A short time ago I baptized fifteen persons, and admitted seven others into our society, who were baptized in their infancy. A considerable number more have been meeting in class, so that altogether the number of those who have become full members, and those who are candidates for membership, amount to between fifty and sixty individuals. I have heard from persons who have resided here a good many years, that they never witnessed anything like it. It is the practice of some of the best of our people, after the morning service, to retire among the bushes and rocks to pray; but they have recently been obliged to go to a considerable distance, on account of their wonted places of retreat being pre-occupied by others, and that in such numbers that they have with difficulty found a place of stillness. The voices of those who have never before been heard to pray have been heard this summer, and even young children, from whom such things were scarcely to be expected, have risen early in order to retire for devotional purposes. It was interesting to behold, among those who were baptized, young men in the full bloom and vigour of life, and also one man, the father of a large family, who is upwards of sixty years of age, and whose grey hairs show that time has produced important changes on his once robust frame, and that the closing scene is not very distant. He has been publicly married to the woman who had borne him thirteen children. To some such scenes may have no interest, but to myself, and I have no doubt to you also, they are particularly interesting."

Western Africa next received attention. The accounts from Sierra Leone and the Gambia are,

upon the whole, encouraging. The intelligence from the Gold Coast is, as usual, of a mixed character. Many are the difficulties and formidable the obstacles which in some places present themselves; but the success vouchsafed by the great Head of the church to the labours of his servants is so decided as to afford abundant encouragement to steady perseverance. The Rev. Thomas B. Freeman, since his return to the coast, has been indefatigably employed in facilitating arrangements for carrying out most efficiently the Committee's plans for the furtherance of the work; and the reports from the several stations are generally satisfactory. In the course of the year the town of Elmina, containing twelve thousand native inhabitants, exclusive of the Europeans attached to the adjoining Dutch fort, has been included in the list of the Society's stations. The important mission at Ashanti has suffered materially, owing to the want of help. The Rev. George Chapman, the missionary in charge of the station, early in the year was compelled to leave Kumasi for the coast, and ultimately to return to England, and that too at a time when there was not an European missionary in the district who could leave his own work for the purpose of supplying the vacancy occasioned by this removal.

"Our mission here," says Mr. Annear, "during the last three years, in connection with the influence exerted by the returning of the emigrants, has effected wonders-moral miracles! It has done more towards the suppression of the slave-trade than all other means ever did,-in these parts I mean, of course. This has arisen principally from the nature of the power which has been at work; it has been moral. It is not terror, dread, or the fear of a superior physical power, that has done it; but the eyes of many of the people have been opened to see the inutility of the traffic, and the innumerable evils which it entails upon the country at large. It is from feelings of true policy that a change is desired; and I am fully of the opinion that unless the minds of the people be thus enlightened on the subject, physical strength alone will never effect any permanent good. African slavery must be destroyed on the soil which gave it birth; and as it existed internally long before Europeans came to drag captives from their native shores, the first principles-the fundamental supports-must be hewn down; which can only be done by the diffusion of light, and a steady perseverance in the inculcation of civilised principles, based upon religious truths. This is the mode which has been adopted here, (on a small scale it is true,) and the effects which it has produced are truly great, and far surpass the most sanguine anticipations which could have been entertained. I believe fully that if the English power were to attempt to establish itself here, and merchants were encouraged to come along the coast for lawful traffic, nearly one half of the native chiefs would rally around the standard bearing Queen Victoria's colours, and wash their hands of the hlood of their fellow-men. It is absolute poverty that keeps some of them from avowing their altered views of the traffic, as they are almost entirely dependent upon the bribes of the few 'great men,' who are still dealing in flesh and blood, and thereby reaping riches, for a maintenance. This is the case with Akrah, Matong. Banker, and several other chiefs here; who have

But

nothing to subsist on, since the English came here and spoiled their trade, save the presents received from Kosoko, and a few others. let the British power be established, and offer protection to such parties, and I am persuaded they would at once come up to the standard. But, as it respects Akitoye, the king of Aggido, and the chief Mawu, they are already openly, professedly English, and are fully prepared, from a conviction of the evil tendency of the slavetrade, to make treaties with any civilised power for its suppression. Kosoko and De Souza are the life and soul of the traffic in the Bight of Benin there are several others, doubtless, of inferior power and influence, but they are the leaders, and they keep the flame alive. Yet I believe that moral light and civilised principles are so increasing, that they will soon become too strong for them. All that is wanted now is more extensive means for the spread of religious truth, or the protection and sheltering wing of some civil and anti-slavery power, as a place of refuge for such as are emerging from the gloom. That such a thing is required will be seen by a simple reference to the case of Akitoye, and his brother Letida: their growing aversion to the inhuman traffic, and consequent friendship with the English, was doubtless one of the principal causes of the outrages perpetrated on them. You will see that I refer to the slave-trade as being our principal barrier here; and, comparatively, almost every other obstacle originates in it. Let the people be nothing more than simple heathens, or blind idolators, and then I am persuaded our work would be comparatively light. It is the trade in human blood and bones,-man selling his brother, -and the callous, brutal, inhuman, and fiendlike state of mind which must ever be associated with it, that forms the mighty obstruction in our path. Never was I more satisfied of the propriety of our having an establishment here. If we take no active measures whatever, I am persuaded that our simply living here must ultimately effect a great amount of good. The convulsions and wars which have, and which yet will for a short space occur, will also work for our good. Our character will thereby be established; and we shall have the means of more extensive usefulness. Let it not for a moment be imagined from any statements which I may at any time have made, that I anticipate any insuperable or permanent obstruction to the spread of our cause here. The sooner we have more missionaries, the sooner will the field become fit for the reception of the 'precious seed.""

The West Indian stations are generally prosperous. In Antigua, some decrease has taken place in the number of communicants. To the want of an adequate number of missionaries, however, this decrease must be considerably ascribed. Where the labourers are too few, how can the field be efficiently cultivated? Antigua, for instance, has had only three missionaries: it was not, therefore, to be expected that the same amount of good would result from the operations of the year, as might have been looked for, with God's blessing, had six missionaries, the number which the station requires, been vigorously at work, instead of three. The improved state of the Society's funds will, however, encourage the Committee to fill up the vacancies in our missionary ranks in this dis

trict, as soon as possible. Missionary operations have been considerably impeded, during the year, in Grenada, by the protracted affliction of the missionary. The Trinidad station has also suffered by the severe and protracted affliction of two of the missionaries. The past year has been one of unusual anxiety and trial to the Tobago mission,-partly from an extraordinary amount of sickness and mortality, and partly from the insalubrity of the season. The thirtieth year of missionary operations in the George-Town circuit, Demerara, has been one of continued and increasing prosperity. At a public meeting, held only twenty years since, all the leading persons in the colony unanimously resolved, that "the Court of Policy be forthwith petitioned to expel all missionaries from the colony, and that a law be passed prohibiting the admission of missionary preachers into this colony for the future." But in 1845, the principles and designs of the missionaries have been so well ascertained and so highly appreciated, that all the leading persons in the colony including His Excellency the Governor-who has presented a donation of £100 sterling-and the members of "the Court of Policy," have cordially and liberally subscribed towards the erection of a new Wesleyan chapel for the use of the Society's missionaries. The local reports from the Arabian coast, and Mahaica stations are also satisfactory, In Barbadoes, amidst all discouragements, the missionaries have been cheered with "tokens for good." In reporting the state of the Societies and congregations at Kingston, Jamaica, the missionaries attribute some decrease which has taken place, in the number of church members, chiefly to the new state of things which has been growing up since the abolition of slavery.

The Report, lastly, adverted to the state of the Societies and congregations under the care of the Committee in the British Provinces of North America,-which, according to the latest returns, is such as to afford gratitude for the past and hope for the future.

In conclusion, the Committee say

This annual review of the Society's missions will not fail to strengthen the conviction, that the obligation which now more especially rests upon the Society is not so much to prepare for embarking in new enterprises of charity, as to provide the means for giving greater efficiency to its existing mission establishments. Two important facts are made apparent. On the one hand, there is found abundant cause for gratitude to Almighty God for his furthering blessing vouchsafed to the endeavours of the Society's missionaries in their several spheres of honourable effort, and for the gracious spirit of inquiry produced in the minds of multitudes of heathen people. But, on the other hand, at several of the most important missions there has been a decrease in the number of church members, which decrease has been very little more than met by the additions which have been made at some other stations; so that, on the whole, instead of the Committee having the usual privilege of reporting a net increase of several thousands, in the total number of those who are united together in Christian fellowship at the mission stations occupied by the Society, the returns of this year exhibit an increase of only four hundred individuals above those which were given in the last year's Report.