January last. The occasion of their return will be stated under the heads of the respective Missions.

Ten Labourers have proceeded to different Missions, in the course of the year.

At a Special Meeting, held on the 3d of October, Mr. John Pope and his Wife were addressed by the `Secretary in the name of the Committee; and were dismissed to their appointment, as Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress in the Freetown Schools in Sierra Leone. They embarked at Gravesend, on the 6th, in the Sir Charles MacCarthy, Captain Eldridge; and arrived in the Colony on the 1st of December.

1

At the ensuing Monthly Meeting, on the 10th of November, Mr. Richard Davis, with Mrs. Davis and Mr. Charles Davis, were addressed by the Assistant Secretary; and were dismissed to their appointment, as Settlers in New Zealand. Mr. Richard Davis is a Farmer, and has Six Children. Mr. Charles Davis, not a relative though he bears the same name, is a Carpenter. They embarked at Woolwich, for New South Wales, on the 22d, on board the Brothers, Captain Mottley; and sailed from the Downs on the 6th of December. Government granted them a free passage.*

The Rev. William Adley, the Rev. Joseph F. Beddy, the Rev. John Raban, and the Rev. Samuel Ridsdale, who had been ordained Deacons for Colonial Service, by the Lord Bishop of London, on Sunday the 21st of December, were admitted, on the Sunday before last, the 25th of April, to Priests' Orders, by the Lord Bishop of St. David's, on Letters Dimissory from the Bishop of London, at Bentinck Chapel, St. Mary-le-bone. They are now present; and will proceed, as soon as circumstances will allow, to their respective destinations†-Mr.

* It has been learnt, since the Anniversary, that the Brothers arrived off Rio Janeiro on the 1st of February. The weather had been fair, and the voyage prosperous.

+ Soon after the Anniversary, the Missionaries destined for the East left this country - Mr. and Mrs. Adley, on the 11th of May, from Portsmouth, for Ceylon, in the Lord Amherst, Captain Lucas; and Mr. and Mrs. Beddy and Mr. and Mrs. Ridsdale, on the 29th, from the same place, for Madras, in the Cornwall, Captain Bunyon.

Adley, to assist the Rev. Joseph Knight, at Nellore, in Ceylon; Mr. Beddy and Mr. Ridsdale, to the South-India Mission; and Mr. Raban, to Sierra Leone.

A considerable increase has taken place among the Native Teachers in the Society's Missions. The Committee rejoice in this addition to this class of Labourers, as they fully coincide in the view which one of the Associations takes of this subject in the following extract from its Report

No Mission can obtain its full efficiency, nor accomplish to any great degree the object which it has in view, until some of the Natives, among whom it is established, be raised up by Providence, to take some part in its labours. Teachers of this class, whose hearts are zealously affected to the good cause, and whose minds are under the guidance of that wisdom which is from above, and enlightened with a just measure of human knowledge, possess advantages, as it has been well observed, which cannot be acquired by others: they are inured to the climate, intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of the manners and of the language, and readily discern, by what they once thought and felt, how the Gospel may be rendered acceptable to their countrymen. An increase of such Teachers in any Missionary Settlement should be gratefully acknowledged as a peculiar blessing: it may be considered as a mark of the Divine Favour: it may be hailed as a token for good; and we may look to it as a pledge, that the work which we have in hand will of a surety be accomplished, since the Almighty has furnished instruments so well suited to perform it. Your Committee would not willingly leave this subject, without endeavouring to impress on all who feel an interest in this cause, that it is their reasonable and Christian duty to pray earnestly in behalf of these Native Teachers-that the Divine Spirit, who divideth to every man severally as He will, would be pleased to communicate largely to them those gifts, which are best suited to the work in which they are engaged-that they may become diligent and faithful Ministers of that Word, which before they despised and disregarded-and, now that they are converted, that they may strengthen their brethren.

Your Committee maintain, with pleasure and advantage, their connection with the Missionary Seminary at Basle. Some modification has taken place, in the course of the year, in that connection; it having been found expedient to send hereafter chiefly English Missionaries to those Missions where the English Tongue is much used, and to employ Foreign Brethren in the Missions where the knowledge and proper pronunciation of English may be less necessary. It had been agreed with the Rev. Mr. Blumhardt, on his visit to this country in the Spring of 1822, that a regular plan of education should be pursued at Båsle, with reference to the wants of this Society. Arrangements were to be made for giving such a course of instruction to Students then in the Seminary or to be admitted into it, as might supply to the Society seven or eight Missionaries for each of four successive years, all of whom should have been four years under instruction. There were at that time in the Seminary twenty Students, divided into two classes : a third class was formed toward the end of that year; and, at the close of 1823, a fourth was added. The total number then amounted to forty-three, of whom twenty-eight belonged to the Society. Circumstances having, in the mean while, led to the modification, above mentioned, of the Society's plans, the Committee were apprehensive that they should not be able to appoint so large a number to suitable Stations. With much regret they saw it likely that their friends at Bâsle might hereby be put to inconvenience; but the Conductors of the Seminary very kindly accommodated themselves to the new. arrangement; and there is reason to believe that the Students now in the Seminary will either be appointed by the Society, as they shall finish their education, to suitable Stations in the Mediterranean or the East, or will be employed advantageously under the German Evangelical Missionary Society with which the Seminary is in immediate connection. To this Seminary*, indeed, your Committee will look for a future supply of well-prepared and pious men, for its Missions in those quarters where their labours can be most advantageously directed.

• Particulars of the State and Progress of the Seminary are given at pp. 481-483 of the Missionary Register for 1823.

Six of those who will have completed, in the ensuing Autumn, the fourth year of their studies at Bâsle, will, after their admission to Holy Orders, come over to this country, with the view of perfecting their knowledge of English, and becoming acquainted with the Committee and Officers, previous to their appointment to different Missions.

With respect to the projected Institution at Islington, the Committee beg to return sincere thanks to all who have contributed to this object; and to request the aid of every Member who can afford assistance, and may not have yet sent in his name. The events of the year, in occasioning, particularly in the West-Africa Mission, a most pressing demand for Missionaries, have increasingly manifested the necessity of establishing the Institution in question. The Committee are desirous, however, of proceeding with the utmost deliberation and caution in accomplishing the object. Contracts have been entered into for preparing the substantial Dwelling-House on the premises for the reception of a Teacher and a number of Students; and the ultimate plan, as detailed in the last Report, will be carried into effect, as the amount of the Fund may enable the Committee, and the exigency of the case may require. The Committee notice, with much satisfaction, the Resolutions entered into at the Anniversaries of the chief Associations in support of this design.*

They observe also, with pleasure, the efforts which some of the Associations are making to call forth to the work suitable Labourers, from within their own sphere of influence. Such appeals as the following, extracted from the Report of one of the County Associations cannot long be made in vain :

While we contemplate the encouraging aspect of things

* An Address, delivered by the Rev. George Hodson at the Anniversary of the Gloucestershire Association, detailing very ably the advantages of the purposed Seminary, has been printed, since the Society's Anniversary, at pp. 246-248 of the Missionary Register for June.

the manifest growth of public opinion at home, in favour of Missions-the curiosity and inquiry about Christianity, and the disposition to receive it, abroad-the unequivocal countenance and patronage of some of the Authorities at the respective Stations in foreign parts-the still-steady increase of the funds in our own country; which manifests that the Society possesses the confidence of the Christian Public-the prevailing harmony among the Christians of different denominations, embarked in the same cause-the spirit of prayer, for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost-the fidelity, piety, and zeal of the Missionaries-the means of future supplies from the Basle Institution-the Missionary zeal now beginning to awake in France-the Churches built-the converts addedthe spirit diffused-the souls saved-the kingdom of Christ enlarged your Committee call upon you to behold so many incentives to renewed zeal and perseverance and prayer; as well as to express the most heartfelt gratitude to God, for the encouragement thus afforded to the Labourers in this

cause.

They would urge you, also, to the performance of one duty more-the obligation of Associations to furnish the Society with Candidates for Missionary Employment. And is it too much to hope, that some of the Clergy among ourselves might be urged to go on this labour of love? The Society is about to establish a Seminary at Islington for the preparation of Missionaries: and, for this, she calls upon the friends of Missions for support, in providing a separate fund. But cannot this Association do even more than they ask? If we must descend from the higher ground of furnishing Ministers already prepared to go out, cannot we find among us Youth, with zeal enough, and other requisite qualifications, to be trained in the Islington Seminary for this holy labour? But if we must descend to lower ground still, let us at least try to discover, within the range of our Association, some pious Schoolmasters to go out as Assistants in the Mission. This Report will not be heard or read in vain, if, by the blessing of God, such a result be produced. May, then, every Member of the Association bear the subject in his memory and in his prayers!

MISSIONS.

WEST-AFRICA MISSION.

In reference to this Mission, the Committee scarcely know whether to speak in the language of grief or of joy, of sorrow or of triumph-so mingled have been, of

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