management of native temples, and to join in heathen ceremonies; and, in fact, notwithstanding the explicit directions contained in the despatch of the Honourable Court of Directors, to the GovernorGeneral of India, dated February 28th, 1833; notwithstanding the memorial and remonstrance of the civil and other servants of the Honourable Company, forwarded to the Governor of Madras by the lamented Bishop Corrie; notwithstanding the noble practical reproof administered to the local Government and the Court of Directors, by the resignation of Sir Peregrine Maitland, who held the command of the Madras army; and notwithstanding the professions which have been made, both in and out of Parliament, of a sincere intention to carry into effect the directions of the despatch above alluded to; no alteration whatever has been made, with regard to the connexion subsisting between the Government, and the abominable rites, practices, and profits of idolatry. No customary tribute, or mark of respect, to the native festivals has been discontinued; no protection hitherto given has been withdrawn; and no change whatever, so far as the Madras Presidency is concerned, has been made in any matter relating to the native religion. The consequence is what might have been expected. The natives regard the patronage and interference of Government as a decided proof of approbation. They say to the Missionaries, Our idolatry, as you term it, cannot be so utterly abominable as you say; for your Government supports it. In going about talking and giving books against our religion, you are opposing your own Government.' A mighty obstacle to the progress of divine and saving truth is thus presented by a Government professedly Christian; and a horrible iniquity is committed and sanctioned, which, we fear, must occasion the withholding of the divine blessing from the Government of India, and have the effect of grieving that holy and gracious Spirit, by whose aid and presence only the labours of the ablest and most zealous Evangelists can accomplish the conversion of idolaters to the living God. The Committee again call on their friends to unite with other Christians in respectful, but earnest and firm, petitions to the Imperial Legislature, for the speedy removal of these just causes of complaint and remonstrance."

The Report next adverted to the Australasian and Polynesian Missions. Through the liberality of the Centenary

Committee, a vessel, the "Triton," has been purchased and equipped, to keep up a regular intercourse among the Missions in this quarter; and sailed from Bristol in October, with eleven Missionaries, (eight of them married,) and a large supply of Mission-stores. In New South Wales, the progress has been considerable: there are 308 members in the society, and 589 children and adults in the school. A Mission to the aborigines has been established in Australia Felix; an extensive tract of ground has been granted by Government for the use of the natives brought under Christian instruction; and the station has received the name of Bunting-Dale. At Melbourne is a society of 41 members; a Sunday-school has been commenced, and Government have granted land for a chapel. At Adelaide, in South Australia, Mr. Longbottom is prosecut ing his labours with success; and at Swan-River, in West Australia, Mr. Smithies is about to commence a Mission among the degraded aborigines. The Mission in Van-Diemen's Land comprises five principal stations: Mr. Waterhouse writes in a very encouraging strain, respecting the progress and prospects of the work; the number of members is 570, and of scholars 922: In New-Zealand, where Mr. Bumby and his compa nions are in action, the number of members is upwards of 1,000. An account of the successful mediation of Mr. Bumby and his colleagues between two parties who were drawn up in battle array, and Mr. Bumby's account of his first Sabbath in New-Zealand, were heard with deep attention and interest. The Missions in the Friendly Islands exhibit, upon the whole, indications of much prosperity. The total number of members at Tonga, Haabai, Vavou, and Nina, is 8,364, and of scholars, 8,217. In Feejee, the state of the Mission calls for gratitude to God. The converts have maintained their steadfastness, in the midst of trials and persecutions. There are 273 members in society, and 77 schools, containing 720 scholars. The Missions in Southern Africa continue to be successful: the Cape-Town District contains 276 members, and 1,002 scholars; the Albany and Caffraria District, 936 members, and 2,229 scholars; the Bechuana District, 380 members, and 491 scholars. In Western Africa, the work exhibits a promising appearance : in Sierra-Leone, the number of members is 1,490, and in the week-day and Sunday-schools there are e 1,035

"That the Report, of which an abstract has just been read, be received and published: and that the Meeting gratefully acknowledges the divine blessing vouchsafed to Protestant Missionary Societies in general; adverts with satisfaction to the openings for new Scriptureschools in Ireland, and the growing success of this Society's Missions in France; and, while regretting the expulsion of the Wesleyan Missionaries from Cadiz, expresses its earnest hope that their various labours at Gibraltar will ultimately exert a powerfully-beneficial influence upon the religious interests of Spain."

COLONEL CONOLLY, M. P. for the county of Donegal, said, Without having any malady to plead, or any excuse to offer, I must entreat your indulgence; for I can allege only my own incapacity to dilate upon a subject of such immensity, upon interests of such magnitude, and upon benefits of such immeasurable extent, as those which to-day engage your attention. I hope the real merits of the cause, and the delightful and interesting Report to which we have just been lis tening, have so fascinated every heart, and so enchanted every mind, that little is needed in advocacy of this cause, which is founded in religion, which is based on Christianity, which is calculated to promote, not only the temporal, but the eternal interests of mankind, and which is dictated, as my honourable friend observed, by every sense of religious obligation, by every sentiment of love to our fellow-creatures, and by every feeling of duty to our God. In a religious community like this, including so many persons habitually devoted, both in soul and body, to the extension of this great, and, thank God, successful enterprise, it would be presumption of the highest order for any lay individual, indeed, almost for any body, to endeavour to call forth approbation of a Report which must be so much in consonance with your views, which must be so gratifying to your feelings, and which contains one of the most glorious details of blessings conferred upon mankind, ever committed to the press. What high gratification must it afford to every

Christian's heart, to find, when we assemble on these occasions, year after year, that the extension of this great enterprise, the execution of this imperative duty, the whole of the undertaking, in fact, in which this Christian, modest, humble, liberal, and persevering Society has so signally and judiciously embarked, so strenuously supported, and, again I say, thank God, so successfully maintained, is making constant progress! But it is not for me to dilate upon these topics: I am convinced they have been amply considered by all whom I address; and those who have been active in this noble cause, will find their reward in the hour of death and in the day of judgment. These Missionary institutions are recommended to us by all the considerations which can influence the man, or stimulate the Christian; they are the proudest glory of England; they spread the triumphs of Christianity over the world; they are the means of communicating the greatest benefits that can be bestowed upon fallen man; they rescue numbers from misery, adversity, crime, and punishment in the present world, and they conduce eventually to the eternal salvation of millions. What are the objects of this and similar institutions? To lead mankind to the consideration of that great tribunal before which they must all appear; to bring them to a knowledge of their Creator; to teach them their own responsibility; and to impress upon them that they are bound to cultivate their talents and their endowments, and to consecrate them to the service of their God. I may repeat what I stated, within the last fortnight, in a great assembly in my own country, that it is in vain for earthly tribunals to struggle with crime, and wrestle with iniquity, till the powerful conviction of human responsibility, and of the great and exalted truths and privileges of Christianity, are inculcated and impressed upon the mind. That, could it be accomplished, would supersede the necessity of human tribunals, and of earthly punishments. We have heard today the testimony of one of the most experienced Magistrates in the British empire to the fact, that in unfurling the standard of everlasting salvation, you are also disposing the human mind to submit to the legitimate control of the Gospel, to obey the authority and commandments of God. This is instanced by the fact stated by your Chairman, an old and respected Magistrate of this metropois, that, in all his experience in this vast city,a scene of great. vice, temptation,

and iniquity, he never knew a member of your religious community appear as a criminal at the bar of justice, or an inmate of our gaols; and that, while Ministers of other denominations have been called upon, at the request of culprits, to administer to them religious instruction, no instance ever came under his observation in which such a demand was made upon a Wesleyan-Methodist Minister. Can there, then, be a doubt, as to our obligation to aid the extension of such a system, and to exert all our energies of mind and body to enable the Society to prosecute this noble and heavenly enterprise in which it is engaged? Is there any man, calling himself a Christian, who, after perusing the Report which has been read to-day, could hesitate to support your finances, and to render you assistance in this great cause? I had, last year, the honour of congratulating this Society upon the deficiency of its funds. I now beg leave again to congratulate the Society that there is a deficiency in its finances; for it is a test of its usefulness, and a security for its enlargement. If this Society did not grow in extent; if it was a delicate plant, merely living, and just kept in existence, it would not answer its purpose; it would not exhibit what Christianity ought to be; it would not show the expansive force of Christianity and Protestantism in the world. The limitation of Christianity and Protestantism to this country is now at an end. They are extending to every portion of the world; yes, even to those lands, whither unhappy, expatriated culprits are banished from our own shores, and where, formerly, they were destitute of every means of religious instruction and consolation. to this Society, the arms of Christianity have been extended to these outcasts, and these wretched men may now obtain the benefit of Christian instruction. I do not feel myself justified in trespassing any farther upon the time of the Meeting. I presented myself on this platform to express my admiration of this Society, and my sense of the obligation which is due to it from the country to which I belong. My obligation for the extension of your benefits to my country, I cannot express; but I may be allowed to express the fervent wish that you will still extend to that benighted land your cherishing arms, and spread over it your Christian mantle, in the sure and certain hope, that your efforts will there be ultimately successful, and that you will in no wise lose your reward.

Thanks

The REV. W. M. BUNTING, of

Manchester, in supporting the Resolu tion, said, I despair of being able to support this Resolution in the manner in which it deserves to be supported; for it has been but recently put into my hands, and I fear I shall be unable to string my nerves for an occasion so exciting as the present, or to make myself heard by more than a very small portion of this large assembly. If, however, those who are at the further end of this extensive Hall, will be kind enough to exercise a very few moments' pity and patience, I will promise not to detain them long. I will confine myself to two points, which, if not suggested to me by the Resolution, are, at least, fairly within its scope. First, I am arrested by the phrase, "Protestant Missions in general." General Protestantism, the latitude and the limit of this reference are both in agreement with my own feeling and conviction. And, in this conviction, I must beg to congratulate my brethren around me, Sir, on your occupancy of that chair. Associating it with the presence of other members, and, as I perceive with pleasure, Ministers of your venerable Church, and with that of my valuable and beloved brethren of Christian Dissenting denominations, I cannot but thank God, and take courage. And the rather so, because, if I rightly understand the principle, on which you have done us this honour, on which you received the invitation of the Committee, and on which your part in a memorable correspondence (the origin, I believe, of that invitation) was sustained so nobly, throughout, we meet this morning, not on the ground of religious indifferentism, but on that of Christian catholicity. We meet not as those who are careless each about what may be the religious opinions and attachments of the other: but as those who are possessed in common of an essential Christianity; and who, with all the cordiality of an intelligent fraternal recognition, are associated to diffuse the blessing. We mutually feel, that the positions and objects in which we are agreed, are of incomparably greater moment than any points on which we may happen to differ. Sir Peter, in recognising the Christianity of that denomination, of which the least worthy member is addressing you, I take leave to say, you have accredited your own; I do not mean its spirit, merely, but its views and principles. You have proved yourself to be" of the truth;" because the truth, even when clothed in other forms than those which are most familiar to you, has attracted your notice and esteem.

I must confess my own specific and most serious objection to the bigotry of these times is, that it betrays a low orthodoxy; or, at least, a want of that love of "the truth," emphatically so termed in Scripture, which is an essential element of Christian sanctification. For the churches of the Cross to array themselves against the various opponents of an evangelical and authentic Christianity, is natural; but I cannot divine on what principle they do so, that does not bind them to hold faithfully and affectionately by each other. That one who holds the Head, even Christ, should refuse to fraternize with a Socinian, or a Romanist, as such, I can understand and approve; but that he should treat a fellow-believer on exactly the same terms, and that notwithstanding his acknowledged possession of an evangelical faith and piety, merely because he cannot yoke him to the supposed apostolical succession of his own Church, or because he cannot bring him to see the sinfulness of a national provision for religion, or because he cannot convince him of the divine authority of class-meetings, love-feasts, and other modes of Christian fellowship, which we Wesleyans deem to be legitimate, and feel to be useful! Sir, such a conduct, whether in private or public, argues that the man who is guilty of it, has no right estimate of " the truth." He actually classifies and assorts the enemies of that truth with those who merely differ with him as to the mode of administering it: making no more account (as must seem to a sceptical and scoffing world) of the cross of Christ, than of the crozier of Episcopal pomp ; no more of the renewing of the Holy Ghost, than of the symbols and punctilios of his own form of opinion or observance. Sir Peter, I honour you for the protest which you have practically and openly put forth against this "false spirit;" a spirit as heretical as it is uncharitable. I make bold to assure you, that some two or three thousand hearts in this Hall are beating, not only in grateful admiration towards yourself, but in prayer to God, (and you do not yet know the power of Methodist prayers!) that his rich blessing may rest on your own revered Church; and that the spirit which he has given you grace to exemplify, may speedily prevail in all our churches, and make them, for all the purposes of evangelical enterprise and of a happy, harmonious, conciliatory and powerful moral impression on the world, ONE in Christ Jesus. And O! believing, as I do, (if you will excuse

my quoting a few sentences of our own creed, which we recited but yesterday,) believing one catholic and apostolic church," and acknowledging "one baptism for the remission of sins," I look, with longing joy, "for the resurrection of the body, and the life of that world to come," where even our minor differences and misunderstandings will be cleared away, where no aching recollection of them will survive, where all will be light, and where, therefore, all will be love. (Mr. Bunting then made some observations on the other point proposed for notice, relating to the finances of the Society, and the duties of sustaining and enlarging them,-which our limits will not permit us to report.)

The first Resolution was then put, and carried unanimously; and Dr. Bunting announced that the Honourable Mover, Mr. Emerson Tennent, had kindly promised to preside at the Annual Meeting of 1841, if nothing unforeseen prevent.

SIR

The RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE ROSE, K. C. H., and M. P. for Christchurch,-Rose under a compulsion which he could not resist, although, from the feebleness of his voice, and the delicate state of his health, he felt unequal to the task. He could not, however, abstain from bearing testimony to the invaluable operations of the Wesleyans as a body. He had never ceased to admire the groundwork of their evangelical doctrine, and the powerful impetus given to their exertions by their admirable Founder. He expressed his conviction, that their scriptural principles would be sufficient to sustain them in every future trial, as they had done in the past. He had been acquainted with the Society more than twenty years; and, about seventeen years ago, he was induced to make an appeal to the British public, through the medium of the press, in behalf of the operations of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in the West Indies. This appeal was made under the conviction alluded to in the Report. He so far agreed with the "bigoted slaveholders" who opposed and persecuted the Missionaries, as to expect that the effect of their labours would be the abolition of slavery. But it was for this very reason that he was favourable to Missionary exertion. He desired the extinction of slavery, and he was persuaded that the teaching of the Missionaries would accomplish the desired object in a way that would secure the safety and welfare of the colonies, and at the same time prepare the Negroes beneficially to exercise their rights, and