children in the school are well and sufficiently instructed in the Holy Scriptures. I know some people have strange ideas with regard to the restriction laid on scriptural education in the schools connected with the society. Many have asked me, Is it not contrary to the principles of the society that the scriptures should be committed to memory? My answer was a reference to the rules of the society, in which no such restriction is to be found. I know in the school in my parish, in connexion with the society, the scriptures are invariably committed to memory; and if any restriction did exist, for myself I will say that my connexion with the society would cease. Now I will take leave to tell those who are conducting the affairs of the society, that if they expect the countenance and support of the christian public, I tell them that Christian public will expect that the scriptures shall be generally used in the schools, that they shall from henceforth walk with a more erect front, relieved from the incumbrance which before impeded their progress. In the course of the last year I witnessed many circumstances in those schools in my parish, which, as exhibiting the advantages derivable from a perusal of the Word of God, were a source of considerable gratification to me. I may mention one,-there was a child about eight years old in the habit of attending the school in my parish, she happened to swallow a button mould, which in three days caused her death; before her decease, she said to a christian woman who was attending her, 'Oh, I am not afraid to die, for I know that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The same child also showed complete resignation to her fate, and repeated to the last moment those texts from scripture which she had committed to memory at school. I should mention that under the new system, a child in such a situation would never have heard the word of the living God. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. WE are happy to announce that the Rev. Mr. Woodrooffe,Secretary to this Institution, has been presented by the Bishop of Winchester to a living in the Isle of Wight. The vacancy in the Secretariate will, it is understood, be filled up by the Rev. W. Jowett, M. A. for many years Missionary at Malta. The Rev. Mr. Woodward from Ireland has also been appointed Visiting Secretary. Intelligence has recently arrived from New Zealand, communicating very encouraging prospects of usefulness. We have also seen a letter from Smyrna, from the Rev. Mr. Jetter, who states some pleasing facts relative to a school under his superintendance. Mr. J. announces the painful fact that not less than five thousand persons have died at Smyrna of the Cholera. Information has also recently arrived announcing the death of Mr. Kugler, one of the Society's Missionaries in Abyssinia. His holy composure at a dying hour, is said to have produced a very deep impression on some of the Mahommedan spectators. God grant that they may be indeed led to embrace that sure foundation of hope revealed unto sinners in the Gospel of Christ ! PROTESTANTS OF IRELAND.-ADDRESS TO THE KING. THIS address, which Lord Roden has just conveyed to London, is the most important declaration in the way of a public manifestation that perhaps was ever laid at the foot af any throne in the Christian world. It contains the solemn declaration of two hundred and thirtysix thousand men, devoted to the Constitution, and determined to be free. This Address does not contain a single signature to which the residence of the party is not affixed; and for the last three weeks, upwards of twenty clerks have been incessantly employed in transcribing the names into books alphabetically arranged, which are now in progress of being classed into districts. The signatures fill two thousand skins of parchments, each skin measuring two feet three inches; so that the whole address extends in length four thousand five hundred feet, being within a few yards of an English mile. May the facts detailed in the Address, and the truth of the grievances set forth, as testified by the signatures of those who are ready to lay down their lives in vindication of their faith, operate upon the Royal mind, and open the eyes of our Monarch to the dangers with which his Protestant subjects, and through them the Protesant Constitution, are beset? Register of Events. THE Reform Bill has been gradually advancing through the Committee of the House of Commons during the month, but its progress appears to be regarded with little interest by any party; meanwhile events of a more urgent nature press on the attention of the public. The Cholera has, at last, made its appearance in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. Up to the 24th of February, 46 cases have occurred, principally in Limehouse and Southwark, 29 of which have proved fatal. The cases in the North of England and Scotland have been 5133, and the deaths 1521. Government have adopted suitable precautions, and have introduced Bills into Parliament for the adoption of more effectual preventive measures, than our existing laws authorise. The preambles to these Bills, we are happy to observe, recognize the hand of divine providence,—a recognition introduced into one Bill at the suggestion of the Bishop of London; some members of the Lower House, however, disgraced themselves by objecting in very improper terms to all such allusions. The Bishop of London has recommended that at the funerals of those persons who die of Cholera, the corpses should be conveyed at once to the grave, without being previously taken into the church. His Lordship also expressed his disap probation of appropriating National Schools, &c. as temporary hospitals, and suggested that the Halls of the public companies, and similar erections, would be more suitable. An Insurrection has, we regret to hear, taken place in Jamaica, in which fifty estates have been desolated by the Negroes. These disturbances are said to be subdued, though with considerable loss of life. We fear, however, that all our West Indian possessions are in a very feverish state; nor can they ever be tranquillized until some definitive plan for the extinction of slavery is adopted. RECEIVED. CONTENT. Notices and Acknowledgments. JOANNA.-THEOGN IS.-CLERICUS D. T.-R. L.-W. T. G.— A. L. S. is partly right in her conjectnre. A more particular reply will shortly appear. The work referred to is a useful publication, and is chiefly extracted from Scor's COMMENTARY. It would certainly remove many difficulties, could the different Irish Education Societies be united into one; but such a union is, we fear, hopeless. We should rather recommend a little attention by benevolent individuals to the peculiar plans of each society, which would enable them without much difficulty, to appropriate their subscriptions to the most valuable. The project of dividing Ireland between the London Hibernian Society and the Irish Society, has been often suggested, but is obviously impracticable. We believe there is no district in Ireland where Irish is exclusively spoken, though it possibly may on some of the numerous islands on the coast. If therefore a district were exclusively set apart for Irish instruction, the English scholars in that district would be left destitute of education. The Irish Chapel in West Street, St. Giles's, is, we doubt not, useful, though very possibly not to the extent which the individual referred to by our correspondent imagines. We are not able to answer his inquiries, as to the numbers who attend, or the expense of the institution. A letter, post paid, to the Rev. Mr. BEAMISH, 32 Sackville Street, with real name, will doubtless procure all the information which our correspondent can fairly desire; but he has no right to expect that any attention should be paid to anonymous inquiries concerning the names, &c. of persons who are, at great personal hazard, feeling their way from Popery to Protestantism. It will at all times afford us great pleasure to promote as much as possible the interests of the Ladies' Hibernian Female School Society, which we are well aware is a most valuable and useful institution. We regret that we have not at present room for any of the interesting extracts of correspondence which have been forwarded us, and which we hope not to lose sight of on a future occasion. |