DUTY AND BENEFIT OF IN

STRUCTING SLAVES.

WE cannot resist laying before our readers the following important statements of Sir George Rose and J. Stephen, Esq., on the duty and benefits of imparting Christian instruction to the Slaves in our West-Indian colonies. They were delivered at the last anniversary meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, partly as an explanation of the motives of the speakers, as churchmen, in assisting the Missionary objects of that institution in its labours among our West-Indian bondsmen.

Sir G. Rose said, that

"For reasons which it would be necessary for him to explain, he had to address the meeting as a member of the Esta blished Church, and as a holder of WestIndia property. Of that church, he was an affectionate, and, he trusted, not unfaithful member: in her he had lived, and in her, if his reason continued, he believed he should die. But, being such, he had felt himself called upon to act in a new and most painful situation, by a solemn and imperative sense of duty, from a predicament in which he had been placed, and which did not arise from any choice of his own. A small West-India property had come to him by inheritance, and by entail: it brought with it a great burden on his mind, because it involved a fearful moral responsibility, which had rested deeply on his heart; for he could not but be anxious for the spiritual welfare of the Negro population on his estate. Their temporal weal, he had ascertained, was well provided for; but it was also his duty to obtain spiritual instruction for those who were thus placed in his hands; and to seek it from those who could best communicate it. There was a slight varnish of Popery over a gangrenous mass of heathenism, in the Negro population of the estate.

"Under the circumstances of the island, it was not possible for him to obtain assistance from the Church of England, or he should naturally have sought it there. Upon these matters he spoke on authority, though that of others, having never himself been in the West Indies; for when he came into the possession of this property, he filled a confidential trust from his sovereign in a foreign land, and, since then, had, with but little exception, been

absent from England. He knew something of the hostility of the planters of the island against certain modes of providing for the religious instruction of the Negroes. It was his duty, on the one hand, to obtain it for them at any rate; but to select, if possible, the most palatable mode, as that which would insure him the cooperation of other proprietors and their agents. Under this impression, he addressed himself, in the first instance, to another respectable body, but unsuccessfully. In these circumstances he felt that he had no choice but to go, at once, to the Wesleyans, through whom he sought to benefit the souls of the Slaves. He accordingly addressed himself to the Wesleyan Missionary Society; and be spoke it to their honour, that they most willingly seconded his views, and were ready labourers in the cause,-acting with equal zeal, liberality, disinterestedness, and piety, and, under God's blessing, they had greatly succeeded.

"Of two considerable plantations in a large island, the responsibility for which rested largely on him, the moral state of the one, where a missionary had been stationed, was greatly improved: in the other, on which no Christian instruction had been given, ignorance, dishonesty, deceit, and vice prevailed to an alarming extent. This discovery pointed out the advantages of moral and religious instruc. tion. On the religious estate, the infliction of punishment was gradually diminishing. In a plantation of 250 persons, 120 men and 130 women, only ten men and one woman had been punished during the preceding year. He was informed by a very sensible and respectable man, that he had the most sanguine hope and conviction, that, in a few years, corporal punishment would be wholly discontinued, by means of the improvement in the moral and religious character of the Negroes; and he felt himself called upon in honour and fairness to state, that this flourishing condition and important change were almost exclusively, if not exclusively, owing to the labours of the Wesleyan Missionaries. And it had been fully demonstrated to him, that the INFERIOR, but now CHRISTIAN, estate is become more PRODUCTIVE than the other, which still remains PAGAN.

"He hoped that these most gratifying results would have the effect of bringing

over other persons to consider the propriety of laying open their estates to missionaries. If it was their duty to send the Gospel over the face of the earth, according to the last injunction of the Redeemer, a nation, pre-eminently distinguished by its greatness and power, and by its means of diffusing the light of Christianity, was particularly called on to send out more labourers for that blessed purpose; and more especially was it the duty of Great Britain, to see that those immediately committed to their hands, whatever may be their state in other respects, should at all events be called to the glorious liberty of the Gospel.

"He felt most deeply that this was the first duty of the British Nation toward the Slaves of the West-India Colonies. Whatever might be said or done in the Legislature on the great question respecting the Negroes, he felt that the extension of Christianity to them is of the utmost moment-the thing of all others the most calculated to promote all interests of every kind: and that object, he trusted, might be secured and provided for.

"Thus impressed, should any WestIndia proprietor, a member of the Church of England, do him the honour to ask his advice what to do, he should respectfully exhort him, as to himself, to remain a member of that church, and to aid, as far as he has the power, in strengthening, invigorating, and adorning it—'Spartâ natus es; hanc orna.' As to his Slaves, he would exhort him to seek Christian instruction for them, as a thing most indispensible; to seek it through the Church, if it could be had of her but if it could not, then to seek it from such Protestant body as it can be best obtained from; and also to consider, that he is in conscience bound not to leave the burthen, at least the cost of it, on other shoulders than his own."

Mr. Stephen remarked, that

"It was his lot, to see the introduction of the Gospel by the Wesleyan connexion among the Slaves of the West Indies, seven or eight and thirty years ago; when their missionaries first visited the island of St. Christopher, where he resided for eleven years. He was, one Sunday, attending the church in the capital of that island; and, while there, he perceived that, present in the church, and immediately behind himself, were three persons who joined very fervently in the responses of the service; which was no common thing in the West Indies. He had not heard of them before. They were the three missionaries first sent out by

the Wesleyan Society to that part of the world; and one of them was that amiable, that pious, that indefatigable servant of his Lord and Master, the late Rev. Dr. Coke. These were the men who came to bring the blessings of the Gospel to the Slaves of the West-India islands. They could not be, as some uninformed persons had imagined, enemies of the Church of England, whose first visit was to that Church.

"The difficulties of missionaries, at that period, from local circumstances, were much greater than many supposed. They came thither, not to meet with encouragement and assistance, but to encounter every species of neglect, contempt, and aversion. But they diligently sowed that seed of life, which would spring up into an abundant harvest. Who could calculate what would result from the Christian instruction and discipline of twenty or thirty thousand persons, now actually united in the classes of the society; and of a much larger proportion of hearers?

"At the most moderate calculation, there were eight hundred thousand Slaves in the West-India settlements-who were their fellow-subjects, as well as their fellow-creatures-who had the strongest claims of justice, as well as compassion, on the British government and the British people. It was impossible for him to add to their convictions on the importance of this subject; but let them animate one another, in humble and pious exultation for what Almighty God had already been pleased to effect. They had not only been enabled to carry the blessings of the Gospel, in the exercise of Christian charity, to those who so greatly needed them, but they had redeemed this Christian land from merited reproach. The Protestant Church of England, to which he belonged, had neglected to pay any particular attention to the Slaves of the West-Indies; for the fact was, that, with the exception of the Protestant Dutch Church, no provision had been made for their spiritual wants. Not so had the Roman Catholics acted. In the French, Spanish, and Portuguese settlements, some knowledge of the Catholic faith had been communicated to them: but nothing had been expressly done in their behalf, by the Protestant clergy of the Church of England. Few of the Slaves ever attended the regular services of the church: scarcely ever were they seen there, except that now and then one peeped in at the doors, to see what was going on. He knew one pious clergyman (and he mentioned it to his honour)

who attempted to benefit the slave-population by establishing an evening lecture; but he soon gave it up, because he found that, from their want of previous elementary instruction, he could interest them but little. Yet that pious clergyman rejoiced that others were doing what himself could not effect. Religion would benefit the temporal and civil condition of the Negroes, as well as promote their spiritual and eternal interests. To act like his right honourable friend, Sir George Rose, would raise the feelings of the master, as well as those of the slave; and make them both, not merely in name, but in reality, Christians."

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

The Church Missionary Society, our readers are aware, some time since established an infant mission among the NorthAmerican Indians. Their first missionary, the Rev. J. West, arrived at his station at the Red River settlement, to the south of Lake Winnipeg, in October 1820. The attention of the Society had been called to this neglected portion of the British dominions, by some gentlemen connected with the trade carried on with the Indians for fur. The Hudson's Bay and NorthWest Companies have trading posts in that country, and are very willing to assist plans for communicating true religion to these scattered tribes: and how much these people need the care of British Christians will be seen from the following remarks of Mr. West:

"It is painful to consider the state of the numerous tribes of Indians who wander through this vast territory, hitherto unheeded, and strangers to British missionary exertions. If you cast your eye upon the map, you will find, that, from the borders of the United States to the farthest known point toward the North, and from Canada to the Pacific Ocean, no Protestant missionary is found, seeking to introduce the knowledge of Christianity among the Native Indians. They rove through the woods and plains, with all the wretched appearance of Gypsies in England."

Mr. West has been joined by Mr. G. Harbridge, a schoolmaster; and the Rev. David T. Jones has just sailed to assist in the mission. The settlement of European traders and farmers on the Red River, will be the head-quarters of the mission; and from this place, the missionaries will travel, at the seasons when the dogs can draw the sledges over the snow, and will visit the different trading posts, and the tribes of Indians which trade there:

they will thus become known to the Indians, and will induce them to send their children to the settlement for education. These children will be brought up religiously; and, at the same time, be made well acquainted with agriculture and useful arts, and will then be sent home to teach their own tribes. Young men, educated in this manner, will be likely to become leading persons in their several tribes; especially as they will not be suffered while at school to lose their native skill, but be sent back as dexterous in hunting and fishing as any of their countrymen, otherwise their countrymen will despise all that they may have learnt at school. By the example of such young men, the Indians will, it is trusted, be brought, by degrees, to such settled habits that schools may be opened in their villages, and missionaries sent to dwell among them: and thus, in time, under the blessing of God, the benign influence of the Gospel will be felt all over these wide regions.

Captain Franklin, who commanded the land expedition which traversed these regions, has strongly recommended to the Church Missionary Society the care of these wandering tribes.

A few months after Mr. West had reached his station, he took a journey of between 500 and 600 miles, drawn by dogs over the snow, in order to visit the natives. In this journey he particularly noticed a boy about seven years of age, and wished to have him as a scholar; and, soon after he left the Indians, the father of the boy observed, that, as the missionary came to teach them the will of the Great Spirit, he could refuse him nothing: he accordingly sent his son to the school. Mr. West writes

"Those boys who have been with me since last year, can now converse pretty freely in English, are beginning to read, and can repeat the Lord's Prayer correctly. The other day, I gave them a small portion of ground for a garden; and I never saw European school-boys more delighted than they were in hoeing and planting it." He adds-" I have not hesitated to take these Indian boys under my care; and shall increase their number, in the hope that British charity will adopt them, and a much larger family, for Christian instruction; and that, through Britain's prayers for the success of missions, they may grow up in the nurture and admonition of Him whose ‘Name shall be great among the Gentiles.""

SOCIETY FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY.

The Report read at the first annual meeting of this institution, lately held in London, stated, that the object of the Society was to establish in the heart of the British empire an institution to be constantly occupied in discovering and employing means for bettering the condition of the poor in Ireland. This object, it was presumed, would be best attained by increasing the means of industrious employment to the Irish poor; by inducing them to act more frequently in the spirit of emulation; and by inspiring them with a taste for regular and cleanly habits; and these points were proposed to be gained by the distribution of premiums by the resident clergy and gentry to peasants distinguished for their industry, for the maintenance of large families in industrious habits, for the careful cultivation of their plot of ground and gardens, and for the superior neatness and cleanliness of their persons and cabins: also by the occasional and gratuitous publication of such practical information as may be best adapted to improve the condition of the Irish peasantry as respects their domestic comforts, the construction of their cabins, and their implements of agricultural labour. In pursuance of this design, the sum of 901. was remitted to Newmarket, in Clare; Castle Magner, in Cork; and Bannow, in Wexford. The Committees who undertook the distribution of that sum proposed giving various premiums from one pound to five shillings, to those persons who should keep the following objects in view. The children were to be employed as soon as their strength would permit, in sweeping and cleaning the cottage and its furniture. The girls were to be taught needle-work and plaiting straw; and the clothes of each member of the family, however coarse or old, were to be mended. The children were also to be engaged in working in the garden. The mother was to be induced to wear a habit better adapted to household work, and less wasteful of cloth, than the long slatternly gowns generally worn in Ireland. The pigs, poultry, and cow were to be banished from the cabin. The house was to be white-washed annually, internally and externally, to keep off the typhus fever. The windows were to be opened daily, and the bedding aired in fine weather. There was to be a chimney to get rid of the smoke. In the garden there were to be several kinds of vegetables, as well as CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 259.

fruit trees. Bees were also to be attended to, as an easy mode of procuring additional subsistence.

EXTENSIVE CIRCULATION OF

TRACTS.

The extent which the circulation of religious tracts has attained may be judged of from the following statement; that, by means of one institution alone, "the Tract Society," no fewer than 5,711,000 tracts were issued during last year,-making a total, since the formation of that Society, of fifty-one millions. To the attendants on fairs, 105,000 Tracts had been distributed during the year; and in the metropolis, 206,000, entitled "Dying Speeches," being an attempt to turn to the purposes of religious improvement the awful and afflicting scenes of our public executions. An individual member of this Society is stated to have affixed 20,000 broad sheet tracts on the walls of cottages in place of the superstitious and demoralizing productions of the hawkers' baskets.

PROGRESS OF SUNDAY
SCHOOLS.

We copy from a public journal, the following statements, made at the last annual meeting of the " Sunday-school Union." This Society not being in connexion with the Established Church, the domestic returns, we presume, must be in a considerable measure independent of the children educated in the Sunday Schools of the Establishment. If this be the case, the progress of Sunday Schools is rapid indeed; and the document may well excite the clergy and other members of our revered church to far more zealous efforts than have yet been made to increase the number of Sunday Schools within her pale. It will not long be a question whether the rising generation shall be educated, but who shall educate them.

"The Report stated the formation of a number of new Sunday Schools in Paris, Charenton, Calais, and Gibraltar. In India, Miss Cooke had under her care 400 female children. A supply of books to the value of 751. had been forwarded to New South Wales; and books to the amount of 111. 9s. voted for Van Dieman's Land.

"The schools in the South-Sea Islands, West Africa (Negroes), and South Africa increase and prosper. The New-York Female Union embraced 37 schools, 2854 scholars, and 514 teachers, superintended by a Committee of 30 ladies; the Union for boys, 42 schools, 540 teachers, and 3 P