appointment, it was suggested, called for devout gratitude, for diligence and fidelity in the discharge of his onerous duties, fortitude in the midst of discouragements, habitual confidence in divine support, and regard to immortality. Mr. Peggs, of Ilkeston, late missionary to Orissa, concluded the solemn service with a brief and suitable prayer. The service was continued for nearly four hours, but the interest was sustained until its close, and all departed apparently edified and thankful.

In the evening, there was a short service, in which Mr. Staddon, of Burton, gave out the hymns, Mr. Stevenson, of Leicester, conducted the devotional exercises, and Mr. Stubbins, our respected missionary brother, urged on the audience a due appreciation of their missionaries, and the help of their sympathies and prayers, from 2 Cor. viii. 23, 24, "Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow-helper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the Churches, and the glory of Christ. Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the Churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf." This service, and our brother's address, were curtailed, and somewhat interrupted towards the close, by the necessity of many retiring in order to be in time for the train. The collections amounted to about £30,

EMBARKATION OF MR. BUCKLEY.

"Our esteemed friend preached at the Tabernacle, Paddington, twice, on the the Lord's-day, June 2nd, in conformity with my desire that he would spend his last Sabbath in England among our people. In the afternoon of the same day he delivered a short address to the children in our school; and on the Monday evening he spoke at our missionary prayer-meeting, which was numerously attended. At that meeting I intimated my intention to see

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him on board at Gravesend, on Wednesday morning, and invited any of my friends to accompany us thither. Several of them at once accepted the invitation, and more would have done so but for the tide-like claims of metropolitan business. At a quarter before eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, between thirty and forty of us started from Paddington, some in omnibuses, and others in cabs, to Fenchurch Street; thence to Blackwall by railway; and thence by a steamer to Gravesend. On our arrival at the pier, we were immediately assailed by half a dozen voices, "Any lady or gentleman here for the Wellesley?" Having stipulated with the proprietors of four of these noisy boatmen for half the sum first demanded, we were rowed a distance of a few hundred yards to the place where the ship was anchored, singing, as we glided smoothly amidst the

waves,

"Hail sweetest, dearest tie, that binds Our glowing bearts in one," &c.

Coming alongside the Wellesley, we lost no time in mounting her; such it was to the ladies, we made and having performed that task, for our way with all speed to the cabin which for several months is expected to serve our brother as a domicile and a domitory, a study and an oratory. You may judge of its dimensions when I tell you, that more than thirty of us squeezed ourselves into it; and, after inspecting its furniture and conveniences, spent the greater part of an hour in devotional exercises.

We

placed Mr. B. in his very comfortable chair, a chair which would make a valuable addition to the study furniture of any English pastor, and desired him to select and read any hymn he pleased. In a manly and cheerful tone, he repeated memoriter the 387th in our large book,

"Blest be the dear uniting love," &c., which was sung in the tune called 'Sproxtone Lodge." Brother T.

Hudson, who, I should have said, met us at the London terminus of the Blackwall railway, then offered an earnest and comprehensive prayer; a few more verses were sung; and then your correspondent prayed; after this another verse, slightly altered thus:

"O charge the waves to bear our friend
In safety o'er the deep;
Let the rough tempest speed his way,
Or bid its fury sleep;"

and these engagements were concluded with a prayer by Mr. Buckley himself. One sentiment, in his closing address to God, was expressed with thrilling effect-that he would not be without the hope of heaven, and of meeting us there, for a thousand worlds!

Payne, of Exeter, who was expected to embark at Portsmouth. But our brother will doubtless tell you all about his companions on board, and I therefore conclude this note by subscribing,

Yours affectionately.

W. UNDERWOOD.
Paddington, June 10th, 1844."

A letter has since been received from Mr. Buckley, bearing date, "On board the Wellesley, Wednesday, June 12th," in which he states, that, before he left London, he breakfasted with the committee of the Tract Society, who spoke highly of the labors of our brethrenthat, after the departure of the friends at Gravesend, he felt lonely, but happy; and that he was troubled with seasickness on Thursday-that, when the vessel came opposite the Isle of Wight, he was delighted with the receipt of letters from several English friendsthat there are two Christian ladies, fellow-passengers, on board—that there are 150 soldiers on board; and that he had obtained permission from the captain and lieutenant to hold religious

past twelve we all shook hands with the missionary, and separately expressed our farewell wishes. We then returned to the pier by the small boats, and in the course of an hour and a half ascended the Windmill Hill, above the town, from which we could perceive the Wellesley be

gin her first voyage. We watched her progress for several miles down the river, until she became almost undistinguishable among her gallant sisters of the seas.

The captain of the Wellesley is related to the family of the Tollers of Kettering, whose name he bears; and, judging from his appearance and manners, I should consider him a very agreeable gentleman. The next cabin to that occupied by Mr. B. was engaged for the wife of a missionary, daughter of the Rev. Dr.

voyage-and that he learned the vessel would not touch at Madeira or the Cape; so that he will have but little opportu nity of writing before he reaches India.

His farewell to England is too touching to be omitted. (The vessel was now sailing.) "I feel that my native shores are rece ling. Farewell, dear, happy, old England! I love thee; I love thee very dearly. Thou art the brightest gem upon earth. Thou art the glory of all lands. It was not more true of Palestine than it is of thee, that thou art 'a land which the Lord God careth for; the eyes of the Lord are upon thee from the beginning of the year to the end of birth, let my right hand forget her cunthe year. If I forget thee, land of my ning. How often, in my noon-day walks, have I admired thy green fields, while, taught by my Divine Instructor, the lowly flowers have rebuked distrust and strengthened confidence. Matt. vi. 28. Farewell! I shall never plant my foot on any shore so free, so friendly, and, on the whole, so happy. I bid thee adieu, with a glad heart and free,' fully

6

vessel.

gracious Master, that Orissa should be

the scene of my future labors. To his will I readily and obediently bow; but the lingering look-the rising sigh-the gushing tear-on leaving the land

'Where first I heard of God's redeeming love, First felt and reasoned, loved, and was beloved;"

and as the image of one and another dear friend flits across the mind,-may surely not only be pardoned, but defended." J. B.

LETTER FROM REV. C. LACEY.

Cuttack, Feb. 26th, 1844. MY DEAR BROTHER G.,-My incessant engagements in the country have quite precluded the possibility of my replying to your kind and very welcome letter at an earlier period; but this is the first letter I am writing, of many I have to write, since my return home. Very many thanks to you for your kind and sympathetic epistle. It is very pleasant to know that you maintain an interest in our happiness and our success; and still more pleasant to receive an expression of that interest. A cup of cooling water is not more welcome to the laboring and thirsty traveller than are such letters to our feelings, amidst the langor, the labors, and the trying obstacles, of our missionary life. The cold season, which is just closing, has been very propitious: it commenced early, and has continued cool throughout; and I do not think I ever came in contact with a greater number of people in any former season, or was ever better able to demolish their refuges of lies, and set before them the glories doctrines of revealed religion. The cold was so considerable, that I lost my lassitude, and, without producing a great degree of weariness, was able to ride twenty, or walk fifteen miles a day, and spend some three hours among the people. I have made several journeys among the people this season, but two have been of more particular interest and importance. My first trip was to the north east of Cuttack, and my last was eastward. I propose to give you a few particulars respecting

MY LAST JOURNEY.

At the latter end of January I left my house and family, and started towards Terun, a distance of about forty miles. I had with me Sebo-niak, Sebo sàho, Porusua, and Somnath. I was provided with a small canvas tent, about nine feet wide, and twelve long. This, with my tracts for distribution, food, and clothing, was conveyed on a hackery. I reached my first encampment about nine o'clock. There are neither enclosures or roads in this land, and consequently I became bewildered when it grew dark. One of my

249

attendants became alarmed, and several times laid kown, declaring he could proceed no further till morning. I rested awhile for him, and encouraged him on, till I reached the banks of the Alankar river, on which, at no very great distance, I knew the village of Burada stood. After following the stream in the sandy bed of this river for about two miles, I happily arrived safely at my little tent. Next morning we commenced operations by going to a neighbouring market, and preaching, and giving away tracts, among about 300 people.

THE MARKETS IN ORISSA

Are held under the shade of some friendly banyan or mangoe trees, and are attended by people of the middle and lower castes, to buy and sell cotton, clothes, sweetmeats, sugar, vegetables, and spices. The amount of property commonly brought to these markets does not exceed a hundred rupees, or £10, and the generality of bargains effected does not exceed one penny, or three half pence. The sale men or women place themselves on the ground, with their wares before them. The generality of market people are elderly women, as young women seldom come out on such occasions. I often observe boisterous disagreements to occur between seller and buyer, and, having inquired into the cause, have commonly found that the tenth part of a farthing, of which one party has been trying to cheat the other, has raised the tempest. When food is very cheap, and wages very low, this is not to be wondered at. The people get six pounds of rice for three farthings, and vegetables in proportion; and, as they want very little more than these two articles, an ana a day, which is about three half-pence, is very good allowance.

MY PRESENCE IN A MARKET

is somewhat exciting and novel, and I no sooner begin to speak Oriya than the people lay aside their bargaining, and sometimes leave their stalls, and crowd around me. I commonly commence my address by a quotation from their own books, a passage, which, while it is well known, also serves my purpose by agreeing pretty well with what I wish to say. My text on this occasion was the following passage; "The structure of man's body, is superior to every other structure, because it is the temple in which the Supreme Being receives worship," From this I took occasion to notice, the design of our creation the prostitution of man's body to sin and idolatry, its defiled and impure condition, the fact that God has forsaken his temple, the impotency of all means they had for its purification; and the remedy the gospel reveals for this purpose. In the course of this address, I found much to say which came home to my hearers' minds, some went away grumbling, some were disposed to object and cavil,

same.

while others said "true, true." When my native preachers had in turns delivered their message, I gave away books to such as desired and could read them, and walked away. The above may serve to give you some idea of my labors in an Orissa market; and in every market they are much the A few people came to my tent door in the evening, not so much to make inquiry, as to spend an idle half-hour, and to see me again. The people are perfectly destitute of all, even the least possible concern about eternity, and salvation; as well as the truth or falsehood of all or any religious system; and I do not even think they come to inquire; however I commonly make use of such opportunities to endeavour to excite anxiety and give information. On the next day, I started for

KENDALL,

having dispatched the native brethren first. I found it not uncomfortably hot in the day time, and arrived at my resting place early in the afternoon. The village was near, and we proceeded into the most public place. Here my companions united in singing a christian poem, (the people are fond of hearing singing, though it be not very harmonious,) and a few people collected. They stared at us, and looked somewhat suspicious for some time, as though they knew not what to make of us, but the commencement of our address soon satisfied them, and we spent some time preaching and disputing with them. The common people feel that they have no interest in our business, and seldom speak; but

THE BRAHMINS PERCEIVE THE DESIGN OF

OUR LABOURS,

and frequently stand on the defensive. Their objections are easily disposed of, but then a hindoo never supposes it necessary to abandon what he cannot defend, or receive what he sees to be the truth; and I have to close by endeavouring to excite their feelings. Next day, the sabbath, a large market met at this place; there must have been 3000 people present, and we were all day employed among them, as described in the Burădà market. In the evening we were visited by

A SEVERE STORM

of wind and rain; my little tent I expected every moment would be carried away, and the water poured down the declivity on which it was pitched; I mounted a chair and placed my books, &c., on a table, till the storm had passed. In twenty minutes all was over, and the sky clear and cloudless. In this direction, and in such like opportunities, I passed beyond the company's territory, into

THE COUNTRY OF THE KOOJUNG RAJA, one of the tributary estates, lying between the sea coast and the Mogulbundee. I finally pitched my tent at Terun, and from that point peregrinated around to several large

markets in and out of the Company's territory. The country about Terun is beautified by thousands of what are called Sásun villages, which having been given to brahmins, have been planted with beetle-nut and cocoa-nut trees, and brought into a very prolific state of cultivation, and rendered very beautiful, and very valuable. The people about Terun having never before been visited by the Gospel, or its messengers, were very well disposed to hear, and some even seemed on the very point of coming over to join us; we however were too well acquainted with the native character not to know, that, no sooner should we depart from them, than all further thought about Christianity would vanish from their minds. Among the numbers with whom we made acquaintance, some few were found who had obtained our tracts, and had become tolerably familiar with their doctrines. You need not be told how delightful it was to meet with such instances. Such knowledge appeared like rays of light amidst a thick and gloomy darkness. The inhabitants of the Koojung Rajuary, I found very thinly scattered in comparison with the Company's territories: the country is washed by the tide, which flows up through innumerable ravines which intersect the country in all directions, and seperate it into endless small divisions. These ravines are deep, and filled with monstrous alligators, of the maneating species. I saw several of these brutes, fourteen fifteen feet long.

(To be continued.)

LETTER FROM AN AMERICAN MISSIONARY IN ORISSA.

Jellasore, March 7th, 1844. MY DEAR BROTHER IN CHRIST.-I am quite ashamed for having so long delayed to write you and to acknowledge the receipt of your repeated favors. Your letter of May 9, 1843, came to hand a few weeks ago, when I determined not to allow another mail to leave India without writing to you. I beg you will accept my sincere thanks for the books and pamphlets sent me, most of which have been forwarded to friends in America, where I trust they will do good. Your "Manasseh" I have read with pleasure and profit. I admire the Catholic spirit which it breathes throughout; while, at the same time, no compromise is made of any of our distinctive tenets. Your letter to Sir R. Peel, is a laborious and valuable collection of facts, important to be known, especially in England, and throughout Christendom. Were all invalided missionaries who return home, industrious, persevering, and faithful, with yourself, in maintaining their missionary character and connexions, the Church would not long remain so deplorably ignorant of

Though

I

the real state of the heathen world. I have never seen your face in the flesh, I feel that you are my friend and brother, and fellow laborer in the kingdom and patience of our common Lord. Hence, I bid you and your works, God speed. I rejoice that the Lord still has servants on earth who are resolved not to allow sin to go unrebuked even in high places, but are ready to bear faithful testimony for him even before kings and rulers. The baneful effects of British connexion with the idolatry of the country, notwithstanding all the orders on the subject, meet us in one shape or other almost daily. It is to be feared that idolatry of some kind is too deeply rooted in the hearts of some who bear rule in this country to allow of its being reached by any orders of the Court of Directors. The following instance may serve as an illustration :-In January, 1843, while on a missionary tour in the district of Kidgelee, I attended a market in a place where were eight or nine of the honorable company's salt golahs, and also a heathen temple. had some talk with the poojuree in the morning, who appeared very civil. During the day he came and invited me to see him make poojùh in one of the company's golahs, I went, and was not a little surprised to find the representative of Lockmee, goddess of wealth, and the whole complement of her service, orderly arranged in one of the empty golahs, which was about to be filled with salt. The poojuree seemed proud to say, that he had both his orders and his fee from the koompanee! When I inquired if the native durojah had not ordered the hoojah, he said, No; the order came from the Agent Sahibe ;" and added, "It is for the interest of government to make poojah to Lockmee, or there would be a loss sustained of some thousands of mounds of salt in every lack." I made inquiry of several persons, one a writer in the salt agent's office, and they all confirmed the statement made by the hoojuree. I was assured, that it was the usual custom, both here and in other salt establishments in the same neighbourhood, to make poojah to Lockmee, by order of government, whenever a golah is about to be filled with salt. What idea the natives are likely to form of Christianity and Christian sincerity, when they see, on the one hand, the cash and orders of a Christian government upholding and fostering their idolatry, and on the other, the missionary, (whom they generally regard as acting by the order of government) laboring to uproot their entire system, it is not difficult to imagine.

66

Long ere this reaches you, you will have rejoiced at the confirmation of the intelligence which had just reached you when you last wrote to me respecting the abolition of slavery in British India, an act for which Britain may well be proud. But oh! when shall we be able to say the same of America? and

251

echo answers, when? American slavery is a great and crying sin, and if not soon repented of and abolished, and the wrath of heaven thus averted, it is fearful to think what calamities may be expected soon to overtake the nation! Yes! and the American Church, also; for, to a great extent, the latter can be considered no less guilty than the government. While we make our proud boast of freedom, and proclaim to the world that all men are BORN, to deny the right of petition, and thus condemn unheard to perpetual slavery, 3,000,000 of native-born citizens, is an act so unjust, so monstrously unjust, as to want for language adequately to characterize it. O may the happy jubilee soon come when every bond shall be broken, and the oppressed let to go free!

Of the progress of our work in Orissa, I need say but little, as you are constantly in the receipt of information from your brethren, with whom we are united as fellow-labourers. I have now entered the ninth year of my Indian life, and have thus far enjoyed good health. Brother Noyes is still in America; but we are looking for brother Dove to join us in a few weeks. Brother Buckler and our families are all well. About twenty converts have been baptized in connexion with our portion of the mission since its commencement. Our boarding schools are somewhat reduced just now, as we have been able to collect few children since the famine of 1840 and 1811; while some have died, others run away, and a few have been married. We are under great obligations to our Cuttack brethren for supplying us with tracts, Scriptures, and the assistance of native laborers. We have one native brother who has now served more than two years as a native preacher, much to the satisfaction of all. Another brother, who for a time promised to be useful, proved to be unsteady, and at length left us, and returned to his village. There are three pious young men connected with the schools, one as teacher, the other two as scholars. The two latter we hope may become useful as preachers ere long. see you put down our denomination at 16,000 communicants twelve years ago. You wil be interested to learn that our number has since increased to 60,000, about 10,000 of whom have been added in a

single year. O that our devotion to Christ kept pace with the increase of our numbers. With Christian love and esteem, I remain, Your brother in Christ,

J. PHILLIPs.

MISSIONARY ANNIVERSARIES. BROUGHTON HOSE AND KNIPTON.-On Tuesday, June 11th, the annual missionary services were held in the Baptist chapel, Broughton Tulney. In the afternoon Mr.