BRITISH DISCOURAGEMENTS OF
CHINA MISSIONS.

"The Christian religion, as professed by Protestants or Roman Catholics, inculcates Sir F. Bruce, the Queen's representa- the practice of virtue, and teaches man to tive at Pekin, in vindicating his own do as he would be done by. Persons teachcause, which was deemed unfavorable ing it or professing it, therefore, shall alike to the Protestant missions, declares, be entitled to the protection of the Chinese "the Protestant missionary enterprise, authorities; nor shall any such, peaceably as at present conducted, has been a fail- pursuing their calling, and not offending against the laws, be prosecuted or interfered ure." He brings no specific charges with." to sustain the assertion.

Dr. Ligge, one of the English missionaries, does bring specific facts to

show the above bold assertion to be false. He says he commenced the missionary work at Hong Kong in 1843.

The consequence is that the Christians are in many places bitterly perse. cuted by the heathen, and find very tardy relief from the English officials.

BRITISH HELP TO MISSIONS IN
AFRICA.

It is pleasant, after the above, to give the following, so creditable to British policy in another quarter of the globe:

On the first day of the present year the members of his church, with their families, came together to the number of nearly 300. A similar assembly, in Hong Kong, another of his "You are probably not fully aware of stations, would have numbered 200 what Lord Palmerston has done by his more. He also ministers to a church policy on the West Coast. Were he not in of English in Hong Kong, and says power, I could say a great deal more than, that the Chinese converts give as good for fear of being set down as a 'tody,' I dare evidence of piety as the English. This shows how large a number are brought under direct and regular Christian instruction by one missionary. In the Hong Kong church there are seventyseven members. He says that not a few of the other missionaries have been more successful than himself.

Surely this shows a state of things pretty far from a failure. The great objection of Sir F. Bruce seems to lie against street-preaching to the masses. He would have efforts confined to the

do now.

Mr. Wilson, an American mission

ary, who has written the best book I have seen on the West Coast, says, that had it not been for his policy Africa, as yet, had scarcely been accessible to missionary labor. By means of the security which our squadron imparted, over twenty missions have been established, twenty dialects reduced to writing, and twelve thousand communicants have been received by the different churches. Education is imparted to thousands of the young, and good influences are spreading inland. Lawful commerce has been increased from £20 000 annually to between 2,000,000l. and 3,000,000l. and more tonnage is employed in carrying it than ever Earl Russel, in his reply to the com- was engaged in the slave-trade, even in its munication of Sir Frederick, says-palmiest days. "Christianity in China is not a matter in which the British government has an interest." This is a sad disappointment] of the hopes raised by the treaty with China of 1800, which guaranties liberty and protection for the Protestant missionary work in the following words:

educated classes.

DAHOMEY.

William Crafts, a colored man, has, through the aid of the Society of Friends (English), visited the King of Dahomey, to promote the abolition of human sacrifices and the establishment of reg

ular trade, especially of cotton. He Stella, three evenings back, the officer on was kindly received and the King pre- service at the guard house of the Santasented him with a large place for busi-Prassede barracks, suddenly entered the ness at Whydah, and promised to give building, and after apostrophizing the preacher, ordered him to be arrested. He then had the names of the persons present taken down, and there being several soldiers among the congregation, he ordered them to be placed under arrest. The minister, on being taken before the police, was immediately released, and the officer is, it is said, to be severely punished.

all the land he wanted for raising cotton. He likewise promised that if Mr. Crafts would take up his abode in Whydah, his people should grow cotton on a large scale. The raising of cotton is not only favored by the King but also by the great men of the kingdom.

66

In a late number of the London Watch-his letter as follows: man, Rev. Mr. Piggott gives an encourag- 'It is not, however, without much coning account of the condition and prospects cern and depression of feelings when I think of the Methodist work in Northern Italy. of our loss by the decease of our esteemed The Methodist Society in Parma publicly brother and bishop, one with whom I have commenced its operations a little more than been acquainted over thirteen years, and a year ago. From that time till now a spent seasons of peculiar pleasantness. 'It signal blessing has attended the work. A is a time to mourn.' May our loss be his fete, or tea-meeting, was held on the anni- infinite gain. The Lord knows what is best versary of the first sermon. On this occa- for us; we submit to him. We praise the sion the number of communicants was an- Lord that there has been a good work going nounced to be ninety-one, with thirty on on this year in several parts of our field. At trial. At the regular week-evening service Marshall twelve have found peace and joined the chapel was crowded from end to end, the church. Also at Cape Palmas sixty and many were obliged to go away for want have been converted, and at Sinoe many of room, No open opposition to the move- have turned to the Lord, and there is a pleament is attempted, though the people have sant time." to suffer some secret persecution.

SOUTH AMERICA.

RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE.-The Milan Rev. W. Goodfellow, missionary at Buejournals mention a disgraceful outrage on nos Ayres, writes what we hope every friend the liberty of worship in that city. During of the Church will read about his field, and the sermon at the meeting-house of the the "open door" for more laborers: Evangelical Society in the Borgo della

66 I am here. I have traveled hundreds

of miles among the country people. This city (Buenos Ayres) is their political, commercial, social, and literary capital. On any other subject my testimony would not be thrown out of court. Such a moral waste is not exceeded in all heathendom, and such a ready people to hear the Gospel as are scattered over these pampas cannot elsewhere be found. We cannot even send the means of grace abroad after our own emigrating members as they go to the camp. We have nearly as many male members in the country as in town. Many of them can open up a place of worship and could gather their neighbors and this both in Spanish and English, if we could address them in both."

KALAPOOR, INDIA.

Rev. Mr. Wilder writes that his Sabbath audience has been about 100 hearers, and about 400 children are under instruction in his school.

CONVERSION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS TO PROTESTANTISM-Two priests in the neighborhood of Frankfort have entered the Protestant Church. One of them, Dr. Edward Ree, having after his conversion to Protestantism passed a theological examination at Darmstadt, has been recognized and received an appointment as a pastor. The other is Dr. Fritz, a priest of Frankfort; he has been received into the Reformed Church at Basle.

NEWS OF THE CHURCHES.

clergy and the aristocrats, the organizations must soon be effected.

CHURCH LIBERTY IN GERMANY. | sition of the High-Church Lutheran Till recently the Protestant Churches of every German State were under the dictation of their respective princes, even the Roman Catholic prince. After a long struggle they are passing into the hands of the people, and are, or seem to be governed under Presbyterial forms by general synods. This is an immense gain to religious truth and liberty.

Wurtemburg and the Lutheran church of Bavaria, have had a synodal constitution for many years. In Saxony natural synods have been established by the government. In Hanover the government has been compelled recently to convoke the first General Synod of the kingdom. The elections for it have resulted in the defeat of the Highchurch party. In the Grand-Duchy of Baden there is a General Synod, in the composition of which the Government has little influence. In Prussia preparations are complete for organizing both Provincial Synods and a National Synod, and notwithstanding the oppo

In Austria the first General Synod of the Protestant State Churches will meet before the end of this year. What is wonderful is that no greater ecclesiastical self-government is conceded to the Protestants of Austria than to those of any other part of Germany.

A GENERAL GERMAN SYNOD.

Efforts are also making, under the lead of the celebrated Dr. Ewald, Professor of Theology at Goettingen, for the establishment of one General Synod of all the Protestant Churches of Germany, which may stand as a bond of union for all those churches.

The need of this is greatly felt, as the Diets held since 1848, are only voluntary mass-meetings of clergymen and laymen, and the biennial Conferences are made up of representatives of the Governments. That this scheme will succeed is the more probable on account of the great political movements, initiated by the Emperor of

Austria, to secure more liberal institu- | of unity and faith and discipline, and tions for the whole German Empire. are carrying on their operations with an The Baptists and Methodists are also energy which must succeed. The Bapestablishing themselves widely in Ger- tists already report a membership of many and are fully organized, though

in some of the countries their meetings 11,275. The Methodists have 2,125 are forbidden by law. They have the members in full church fellowship and great advantage over the State churches 1,219 probationers.

MISCELLANEOUS.

PROGRESS IN PORTUGAL.-It is cheering to see some signs of returning life on moral and religious questions in Portugal. A young man in the University of Coimbra, who feels sure he has the sympathy "of his colleagues belonging to the University," has published a pamphlet, of which the following is a specimen : "A system of violent oppression,--as violert as was ever wielded by Attila,--stifles every expression of grief, and, by dint of terror and fanatical falsehood, destroys every sentiment of national dignity. The seat of this tyranny, however, is not here; it is beyond the Alps; there its savage leaders have their home. Nothing stops them; the honor of families, the well-being of states, &c., all these they trample under foot. It is like an angel of death, of social death, sent to desolate the world. The insatiable daughter of Gregory VII., the great Babylon of the Borgias, the apostate of humanity, in a word, Rome, spreads corruption far and wide under the mendacious name of Catholicism. On the scene of her triumphs, the altars of God are profaned by shameful sacrifices, in which the blood of the people is poured out, as it were, by the hands of the priests."

The Observateur Catholique, a French liberal Catholic paper of Paris, has the following:

"We learn from Lisbon that the Portuguese Ultramontanes are more and more on the decline. The Roman system is daily losing ground, not only in the kingdom, but in the nation's Indian possessions. All truly religious men in this country understand better every day that the Papal autocracy is an intolerable yoke, and that it cannot but prove injurious to the development of the true spirit of Christianity, and promote the cause of the enemies of the Church.' How, in fact, can the true Church of Jesus Christ be recognized in that monarchy in which absolute power is possessed by a single person, in which pastors and people are but s'aves, obliged to bend their intellect before a human voice? The Popes, it is true, lay claim to infallibility; but it is not sufficient to claim a prerogative, in order to be in lawful possession of it."

We have also somewhere seen a statement that some efforts are now making to diffuse the truth in Portugal. May God prosper and multiply such attempts till Portugal shall rouse from her lethargy and throw off the incubus of the Papacy.

PATRONAGE OF ROMANISM BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. -Not only does that Government give 30,000 pounds ($150,000,) to the Popish Maynooth College, but also make annual grants, amounting to $155,000, to more than three hundred schools, which are distinctively Roman Catholic. It has likewise recently voted salaries to Roman priests as visitors of the prisons.

BRITISH SENTIMENT IN REGARD TO AMERICA-DR. MASSIE.-We had the priv ilege of hearing Dr. Massie, before the General Association of the Congregational Church of the State of New-York. The feelings he expressed towards the North, in our fearful struggle, were most grateful and most cheering to the heart of every true American. He assured us, from his own knowledge, that these feelings were substantially those of the great heart of the middling classes of England. He adduced, in confirmation of this, the decided and repeated action of great assemblies of the working-men of Manchester. He insisted that they were to be taken as a fair specimen—at least, as not too favorable a specimen, because themselves the greatest sufferers by our war. He spoke of an interview with Mr. Lincoln in the most enthusiastic terms of satisfaction. The views and feelings of our President were all which he, as an Englishmar, could desire.

VIEWS OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTENDOM.-This Monthly, rather aristocratic in its sympathies, has heretofore indulged in sentiments not agreeable to men of the North. In the Sept. No. a labored editorial takes such ground as indicates more correct ideas of the true merits of this struggle. It is a notice, or review, of the appeal of the Southern Clergy to the Christians of Europe for sympathy and approbation in their rebellion against the Government of the United States. We make a few extracts. I. They decline to accept the Clerical statement of the causes of the war, thus:

"It was not the Government of the United States that forced the Confederates into war, but the Confederates that threw down the gauntlet. It was not the wish of the Federal Government to deprive the South of any of its privileges, to place it in a position of inferiority to the rest of the Union, to treat it as a conquered province; but simply to recall it to its rights and duties as a part of the Republic. It was incumbent upon ministers of the Gospel of peace to have expostulated with their countrymen; to have told them to abide by the result of that constitutional contest in the election of a President in which they had engaged; at the very least, not to go to war until they had convinced themselves that the United States, represented in Congress, were resolved to violate the Constitution to their detriment. By fair constitutional means they had ruled the Commonwealth for more than a quarter of a century. The party opposed to them had submitted to their sway without murmur. By the use of fair constitutional methods, this party rose at last into the ascendant, professing all the while that its ascendancy would not impair one constitutional right of the vanquished section. Then, without delay, without an attempt at the only kind of pacific effort which could have secured them liberty to secede--to wit, effort conducted in Congress--in a furious, insolent, and precipitate manner, the South rushed to arms. Between governing the United States as they chose, and rising in rebellion against the Government, the Confederates knew no medium; when denied the sceptre, which they had wielded for thirty years, they drew the sword and flung away the scabbard. This was not well done; and those ministers who now address us ought, with the light of conscience in their hearts, and the Word of God in their hands, to have solemnly warned their countrymen against the sin of rebellion.

The sole fanaticism displayed by President Lincoln's Government has been fanatical devotion to the Union and the Constitution; their fanaticism on behalf of these secured that, if the South had not seceded, scrupulous respect would have been shown for State rights."

II. They thus comment on the Clerical view of Slavery:

"But if the Confederates doom the Negroes to continue forever in the state of mere