but induced others to follow him; and a uumber went into Mírut to beg for instruction at the hands of the missionaries. It was of course most gladly afforded, and the pleasing result is, that there is, at the present moment, a promising congregation of some sixty Christians in the village, who have obtained the services of a native catechist, and have organized local institutions that promise the most cheering results.'

The Bombay Guardian furnishes information not more encouraging, but equally satisfactory. It states that more than 200 converts had lately come forward to receive baptism at the hands of the missionaries, at Chota Nagpur; and it also states that in another district the missionaries had received forty new converts to their churches within six months.

This is in connexion with the Church of England missions in the north-western provinces; but other bodies have some success to report. Mr. Williamson, of the Baptist mission, has been travelling through a portion of the district under his care, and records the generally favourable reception that has awaited him :

'Having this time, as once before, taken a circuitous route, both to and from Deoghur, we had a better opportunity of making known the gospel in many Bengali and Sontal villages, in both of which we were welcomed, particularly the latter, where the gospel appeared to be listened to with lively interest. In two of these villages, on my asking the principal people, Mungees and others, if they would like a missionary to speak to them in their own language, and teach them the Christian religion, they replied that they would. I am sorry they have been so long neglected, and would strongly advise a mission expressly for them without further delay. Their idols are few compared with those of the Hindoos, nor do they appear much attached to them. They have no sacred writings, nor are they a priest-ridden people, like their Hindoo neighbours. And I am almost certain that had we laboured among them as we have done among others, our labours, through the blessing of God, would have been better repaid.'

There is a narrative in the Missionary Chronicle' of the ordination of a Brahmin to the work of the ministry at Vizagapatam, which harmonizes with these results, and shows that the Spirit of God is moving upon the face of the waters all through India-north, south, east, and west being equally enriched by His blessing. The narrative is remarkable as containing a history by the Brahmin of the whole circumstances attending his conversion,-not the first of such history, of course, that has been written; but it is written in so cultivated a style that it deserves to be quoted for its literary merits. After stating how he first came to attend a missionary school, the Brahmin writes:

'I was ashamed of the character of the Hindu gods, so that I could not look to any of them for salvation. While I was in this miserable condition, I fancied that I could find something in Vedantism to satisfy my mind. Alas! that abominable system undermines the very foundation of morality, and impiously charges the Most High with being the author of sin. I was so far led away in my mind by Vedantic notions, that I began to doubt whether there was any real difference between right and wrong. foolishly tried to satisfy my own mind that what are called the First Truths in moral science in Abercrombie's book on the Philosophy of the Moral Feelings, were not true. The arguments that Mr. Hay used to show that God could not be the author of sin came home powerfully to my mind.

ners.

RECORD OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

Divine truth was gradually fastened upon my mind, I believe by the Spirit of God; so that I felt at last that I was a lost sinner. It appeared for a while too good a thing to believe that the great God would become a man to suffer and die for sinWhen my mind was filled with fear and dismay on account of my sins, I prayed to God without the mediation of Christ and found no relief. When, in the midst of the troubles of my heart, I tried to console myself with the contemplation of the glorious orbs in the evening sky, the thought would powerfully occur to me that I had no right to console myself with any thing while I remained an unpardoned sinner. For some time I had no peace in my mind. Nothing could make me happy. Through the mercy of God, the truth of the gospel became more and more clear to my mind, so that I believed that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of the world, and that it was my duty to receive him as my Redeemer and Master. But there were many obstacles in my way, which seemed for a while invincible. The fear of man, the pain of being irrecoverably separated from my dear mother, sisters, and brother, and the like, greatly depressed my heart. It was providential that the English books that came my way contained some truth which recommended to my mind the religion of Christ, and encouraged me to become his follower. Even the few Scripture texts that I met with in "Robinson Crusoe" comforted my heart, and helped me to call upon God for help.'

The result was, that he found perfect rest where only rest can be obtained, and that ultimately he gave himself up to missionary labour. Are not all these facts more than encouraging? The Church of Christ here has, month after month, been praying for the witness of his Spirit in India, and lo, the answer to the prayer! The disaffected are made friendly; the ignorant are taught the way of life, and the proud in sin are humbled to the very feet of the Saviour.

We mentioned, a month or two ago, that a missionary conference has been held in India, and gave a general summary of its proceedings. In the 'Chronicle' for this month, there is a letter from Mr. Sewell, of Bangalore, who was appointed secretary to the conference, detailing some circumstances connected with the subjects discussed. Amongst others, and most important of all, was the reorganization of missionary stations. A general complaint hitherto has been, that the stations are too far apart, and the spheres of labour consequently too wide spread. As this subject bears very intimately upon future work, we quote Mr. Sewell's remarks:

'There was one topic of great importance which occupied much of the attention of the conference, and which is of so much immediate interest to our own society, that I may perhaps be permitted to anticipate the views stated in the report. It refers to the system of occupying a large district, by keeping one or two missionaries only at its central town, with no other stations of the same society within one or two hundred miles distant. This system was very strongly and most unanimously disapproved. Partly from circumstances which could not then have been foreseen, and partly from the want of more correct views on the part of some of our early missionaries in India, our society has unhappily fallen into this error to a much greater extent than any other. Unfortunately, too, it is Our Coimbatoor, Salem, and Cuddapah one extremely difficult to correct. missions, were pointed out as prominent instances, but others might have been added. There was but one opinion in reference to such stations, that they ought

either to be immediately reinforced or transferred to some other society. It is not meant, however, that these provincial towns should be occupied by four or five missionaries, as we might occupy the city of Madras, or a place like Bangalore, containing a population three or four times as numerous (with a variety of languages, &c.) as any of them. The idea is, that other stations in the district, and at moderate distances (say from ten to twenty or thirty miles), should be occupied around the central town, and the whole carried on as one mission. In many cases, these subordinate stations would require only a single missionary, who, being so near his brethren, would be able to hold frequent intercourse with them.'

Other writers speak in similar terms of this defect of organization, and entreat the societies to consider it.

British Columbia is likely to engage our attention for some time, and we are glad to notice that most of the societies are preparing at once to occupy this field. The Church Missionary Society has already sent a well-qualified and well-paid agent; the Propagation Society advertises this month for another volunteer in the same field; and the Wesleyan Society states that four missionaries from its body are to be sent, forthwith, to this new land of promise.

This is not the only place requiring more labourers,' however. Here is an appeal from South Africa. We quote from the Wesleyan Notices:

'A few days after our arrival here I was visited by an intelligent young chief, accompanied by a large retinue, the whole of whom were covered only with blankets, besides a quantity of beads, and such like. The object of his visit was to ask for a missionary to come and reside among his people. He told me he thought the people of England must have forgotten him, as he had been long crying for a missionary, as had his father before him; and now several had been sent out, but none for him. I told him he was not forgotten, and that missionaries were sent, not to individual chiefs, but to as many people as were within our reach, our commission from Christ being, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." I also informed him that if he and his people were at all accessible, I would visit them as soon as possible, and preach to them. After a long conversation, he thanked me for my words, which he said were very good, and told me that, although I looked very young, I was his father; and that, if I would visit and preach to him and his people, he would do as I said.

This same chief also applied to our general superintendent, the Rev. William Impey, for a missionary, when he was passing through his country; and as he is at the head of a very extensive tribe, it was thought advisable to locate a native teacher amongst them, in connexion with this circuit, at a place nearly twenty miles from here.'

Lastly, this month, a bit of humour from a bishop, Selwyn, of New Zealand, describing an incident in his recent tour, the journal of which we have frequently quoted in this 'Record:'

BELENI. Here the whole male population seemed to have come out to meet us. A large flotilla of canoes stretched across the track by which we were approaching the island. They appeared to be of the same race as the people of Santa Cruz; but less rude and noisy than their neighbours. We were glad to buy some small turtle from them, to vary our sea-diet; but while we plead guilty to

having eaten turtle soup on board the Southern Cross, we hope that none of our friends will withdraw their subscriptions on the ground of the expensive and selfindulgent habits of the Melanesian mission, as the turtle cost a hatchet apiece, and were served out to all hands. You have heard, perhaps, of the gentleman who withdrew his subscription from a missionary society, because the missionaries were said to keep turkeys.'

Monthly Retrospect.

WE suppose the Quarterlies in January will discuss the proceedings of the Social Science Conference, and, therefore, we, a Monthly, who are privileged to speak many weeks before our aristocratic contemporaries, need not be abashed at the idea that we are a little behind time. One may blush at being late at a dinner party, but if your business compels you to be late you may put a good face upon it, and look down any frowning visitor, or even a frowning hostess herself. The Weeklies look a little foolish occasionally, when the cream of the seven days' news comes the day after publication and the Dailies have almost forgotten all about it; but we all, let it be hoped, serve our purpose,—either to give the news with the most obvious reflections upon it, as do the dailies; to comment more soberly upon it, as do the weeklies; or to revive for an hour or two the things that are being forgotten, which is all that the Monthlies can pretend to do.

It must have occurred to the most superficial reader of the reports of the deeply interesting meetings of the Social Congress to remark upon the great difference between the tone of the speeches at St. George's, Liverpool, and the tone of speeches by the same speakers at St. Stephen's, Westminster. Here is nothing but conciliation, there is nothing but opposition; here is nothing but pure benevolence, there is nothing but the worst of party service; here all is patriotism, there all is selfishness; here the good of the multitude alone is sought, there all the people are willingly thrown over for the sake of a bit of private patronage; here is advocated a reform of all bad laws, there finality, routine, and red tape, stop the way of every improvement that may be suggested. It is a curious phenomenon, to say the least,—and we will only say the least on this subject,—that' Finality' John-the very incarnation, in the House of Commons, of aristocratic pride, reserve, and hauteur-should so blandly propose at the opening of the congress a reform, leading almost to a revolution, in every department of

public law. We can only explain the phenomenon by a consideration of the position of the aristocracy in relation to the people during the last two or three years. It has been a position that has been constantly deteriorating. The revelations of the Crimean campaign indicated the utter corruption and inefficiency of the governing classes. Every public inquiry that has since been instituted, down to the present Weedon Commission, has but furnished fresh facts in support of the correctness of the public sentiment. The result has been, a distrust of the class, and the assignation to all its members of a lower moral status than was, perhaps, rightly due to them. Most of the members of the governing classes-those especially who are brought into close and intimate relation to public affairs-seem lately to have become sensible of this change in their position. The press snubbed them; the House derided them or coughed them down; and they have fallen back in their distress, if not their shame, upon the open sympathies of the people. Half a dozen at once are found upon a working man's platform beslobbering them with praise of their manly virtues and their intelligence, not one-no, not one-of whom will be found voting in the House of Commons for a practical recognition of this virtue. They will still tax his only means of intelligence to save their own purses; and every one will seek his private interests at the expense of the public. Public men on platforms and public men in the House of Commons are altogether different persons. We believe that they are obeying their best and most natural instincts when before the people, and that their parliamentary and official lives are, to a great extent, constrained and artificial. We believe in their private honour and integrity, but these and other exhibitions constrain us to doubt whether they have the least idea of public justice. They are like certain Evangelical Church clergymen, who, upon one platform, will express to you their great love, and upon another will order a distraint upon your goods because you cannot agree to their ecclesiastical catechism. We think the best way in both cases is to accept their conduct as sincere. In one place they are very sincere men and Christians; in the other they are not less equally sincere oligarchs and persecutors. Meet them in cach case as becomes their due, and their reception in the former may be instramental in teaching them a wholesome and a very unforgetable lesson in regard to the latter.

We are glad that the people of Liverpool have done just this thing. Casting aside Lord John Russell's later history as a mere obstructive politician, they received him as a man of generally liberal views, of ripe scholarship, and of lofty and well-deserved position as a statesman. The reception was honourable to both parties; and while we feel that on one side there was