Board, in order that both Societies might proceed on the same plan. The Board very readily acted on the suggestion; and have fixed the sum to be paid in future for each child at Twenty Dollars per annum*.

The Committee are prepared, in conformity with this principle, to receive the names of Children, to be maintained and educated in Ceylon, at 57. per annum each, for Six Years. A number of Names have been sent for this purpose, by some zealous friends con nected with the Bristol Association.

WEST-AFRICA MISSION.

The Members who assembled at the last Anniversary, had the satisfaction to hear from Sir Charles Mac Carthy, the unwearied friend of Africa, a confirmation of the statements which His Excellency had previously made to the Committee; and a repetition of his most satisfactory testimony to the value of that assistance, which he had received from the Society's Missionaries, in his endeavours, as Governor of Sierra Leone, to benefit the Negroes, liberated from captured Slave Vessels, and committed to His Excellency's care. They had even the high gratification to hear from his Excellency's mouth, that he felt himself under great obligation to the Society, as he could have made but little progress without its assistance, in the improvement of the Liberated Negroes.

The uniform zcal of Sir Charles for the melioration of Africa, sufficiently satisfied the Committee that he would employ his increased power and influence on the Western Coast, for the benefit of its Natives: yet the Members could not but receive His Excellency's assurance of his future cordial co-operation with much satisfaction. They could not hear without sincere pleasure the following declaration to the Meeting of his sentiments and determination :

Witnessing, as I have done, the sufferings of our Black Brethren, and feeling that it is the influence of Christianity

* An Extract on this subject from the Proceedings of the Board will be found in Appendix IV.

alone which can make them civilized and happy in this life, and happy in a future, with those impressions I shall shortly return to Africa; and my own exertions in this cause, such as they are, shall be continued to the end of my days.

Sir Charles Mac Carthy arrived at Sierra Leone, on his return, at the end of November; and was received by all classes with the warmest affection. The manner in which the Liberated Negroes of Regent's Town, Gloucester, and the other Settlements, expressed their regard to His Excellency, was both highly gratifying to himself, and strongly indicative of their own intelligent sense of the benefits which had been conferred on them under his fostering administration*.

The extension of the Government of Sierra Leone has opened a wider field for the Society's exertions. It is, indeed, an affecting consideration, that some of the European Nations, in ungrateful forgetfulness of their own deliverance from the hands of the Oppressor, and reckless of the awful consequences of provoking the retributive justice of Heaven, continue to countenance those who act the part of ruthless barbarians on these devoted shores; and and your your Committee, while they bless God that he has been pleased to make the Society an instrument of abundantly rewarding with the Gospel the poor victims of this barbarity, and perhaps of preparing some of them to be future enlighteners of their country, cannot but deprecate this horrid traffic as the bane of Africa: they feel, however, high satisfaction in the persuasion that His Majesty's Government is determined never to cease its exertions till this pest is destroyed, and in the assurance that the able and philanthropic men who conduct the African Institution will persevere in their patriotic efforts until they attain that success which undoubtedly awaits them.

The Committee quote with pleasure the sentiments of an eye-witness, who, after bearing testimony to the influence of Religion on the Africans in the Colony,

* Some very interesting particulars of the Arrival, Reception, and Proceedings of Sir Charles Mac Carthy have appeared in the Missionary Register, since the Anniversary, in the Number for June, pp. 235-238.

thus apostrophizes, in reference to the Slave Trade, the friends of that oppressed and injured people

My Christian Brethren, through whose unwearied exertions that inhuman traffic is abolished, you have great reason to rejoice and be thankful that your lives have been spared to see some fruit from your labours. You sowed in hope-your hopes are realized; and, while you have cared for the bodies of the enslaved Africans, you have not forgotten their immortal souls, more precious than ten thousand worlds. It is your honour, and will, I am assured, tend to your happiness, to patronize that Society which sent the Gospel among the Captured Negroes. You have now their prayers on your behalf; and, ere long, you will receive your reward in that world of joy and uninterrupted felicity, where you will shine as stars in the firmament of heaven there all distinctions cease-all will be one in Christ Jesus

our Lord. What we now see is only the first-fruits. The Spirit is now hovering over Africa, waiting to breathe on the dry bones. Send then your Missionaries; for the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few.

The same Gentleman thus speaks of the character of the Africans, and the encouragements to labour among them :—

The Africans are very tractable-easily persuaded by those who manifest a concern for their welfare. Strangers to the subtle arguments used to rob the Saviour of His glory, with meekness they receive the engrafted word, which is able to make them wise unto salvation, by the preaching of faithful Missionaries. They are extremely grateful to their benefactors: often do those who have been brought to pray, offer up their fervent intercessions on behalf of those who have sent them the bread of life.

It is not a little remarkable, however, that the Slave Trade, with all its augmented virulence, not only does not shut up this coast against the efforts of Christians to bestow on it the blessings of the Gospel, but it cannot prevent the opening of new spheres of labour. It may succeed, as this Society knows by painful experience, in driving Christian Teachers away from some parts of these shores; but other scenes will open, and other tribes will call for instruction. Such is now the influence of our country on this coast, that, under its protection, secure and promising scenes of labour might at once be found for a great number of Christian Teachers.

Mr. Johnson writes on this subject, at the close of

last year

The field of labour is now greatly extended, by means of the authority with which Sir Charles MacCarthy is invested. I hope that the Society will endeavour to send as much help as possible. Our prayer is, that those who may be sent be such as are called to the work by the Holy Spirit. We should rejoice to see men of that description in great numbers. Forty or fifty would be very acceptable.

There are three things which we want: 1st. The prayers of Christians-2dly, The money of Christians-and 3dly, Men of God, to preach Christ crucified.

In the last Report, the Committee stated the measures adopted by the American Colonization Society for the formation of a Settlement on the coast of Africa, and expressed their hopes that American Christians would soon come into co-operation with them on these shores. They regret to state that the difficulties which attended the first attempts of the Society have been followed by others. The result of the visit paid by the Agents to the Bassa Country, which was mentioned in the last Report, was the purchase from the Natives of a considerable quantity of land, at St. John's River, for the establishment of a Colony. On the return, however, of the Agents to Sierra Leone, one of them, Mr. Ephraim Bacon, from ill health, left the Colony, with Mrs. Bacon, for America; and another, the Rev. Mr. Andrus, soon after died. On the melancholy subject of his death, Mr. Johnson writes, Aug. 1, 1821

The Rev. Mr. Andrus, the principal Agent of the American Mission, died on the 28th ult. He seemed to be an excellent man: the more I became acquainted with him, the more I loved him. He was assured that this was not his Rest; though he had no idea, during the whole of his sickness, which continued but a week, of his departure from it: but he is now entered into his Eternal Rest!

About a month afterward, Mr. J. B. Winn, another Agent, died in Sierra Leone; with his wife, and the son of the Bassa King who had accompanied Mr. Andrus and Mr. Bacon to the Colonyt. Dr. Ayres

* Various circumstances are stated on these subjects at pp. 371-375 of the Missionary Register for 1821, and at pp. 22 and 23 of the Volume for the present year.

had arrived at Sierra Leone, as Agent, at the close of last year.

In reference to this scene of the Society's labours, the Committee wish to state, that their attention having been called to the Narrative printed in the Fourth Appendix to the last Report, which imputes to the Natives of Africa the practice of Cannibalism, and strong objections to the credibility of the imputation having been submitted to the Committee, they think it proper to caution the Members not to consider the publication of the Narrative in question as giving in any degree the authority of the Society for the truth of the facts related, or as amounting to an admission on the belief of the Society that Cannibalism is a practice which really exists in Africa. But while the Committee suggest this caution, they would not be considered as imputing to the Author of the Narrative any intention to mislead, it being evident that he was, in one instance at least, deceived by the terrors of his own imagination; and it being thought by some Members, who disbelieve his statements, that they may all be resolved into misinformation, and the workings of a mind which appears to have been susceptible of terrific impressions in a more than ordinary degree.

COLONY OF SIERRA LEONE.

Every year adds to the importance of this Colony, and to the prospect of its becoming an efficient means of intercourse with the Interior of the Continent.* The general enlargement of the sphere of labour in connection with it has been already stated. Of the openings for usefulness within the Colony itself, Mr. Nyländer thus speaks:

There is so much work in Free Town, that three or four Missionaries-besides the Chaplains, Wesleyan Missionaries, and half-a-dozen Black Preachers of this Colony-would find full employment, and have nothing else than their Ministry to attend to. The Chaplains are much engaged in the Church and Parish; and are frequently prevented by illness from attending other places. At Kissey, I have about 1100 people under my

Various notices on this subject will be found in the Missionary Register for the present year, pp. 7-14 and 154-161 with some information respecting the Progress of the Colony, and Remarks on its Climate, printed since the Anniversary, at pp. 239-241.