Epistolary correspondence among the chiefs has become common. Scarcely a vessel passes from one island to another, without carrying many letters, composed by natives in their own language; though, until convinced of the contrary by the missionaries, they regarded the "speaking letter" as a magical operation, quite beyond their powers of attainment. Two thousand copies of a hymn-book, containing forty-seven "Songs to Jehovah the true God," in the Hawaiian language, have been printed, and the work is read by the natives with much interest. Preparations are making for the translation and printing of the New Testament.

It is believed that every considerable chief on the islands favours the missionaries, the meliorating tendency of whose influence is already to be perceived in an ediet prohibiting infanticide, and in the mildness-altogether unprecedented in those islands-with which the late war on Tauai was conducted. Many of the warriors on the side of the king, were from the schools at Honorura; and the vanquished were not slain, but were sent to their lands, with injunctions to attend to the new system of instruction. In some instances, the observance of the Sabbath has been enjoined by authority. Marriage has been introduced in a few cases, and also the Christian mode of burial.

The missionaries state that much indeed remains to be done: but that there are many animating encouragements to persevere in Christian exertion.

CHRISTIAN MISSION AMONG

66

THE HOTTENTOTS.

At the formation of an Auxiliary Missionary Society at Theopolis, one of the stations occupied by the London Society's Missionaries in South Africa, several of the natives delivered their sentiments. The first took a view of the former wretched spiritual condition of the Hottentots. The second made some justly severe remarks on those who said that the Hottentots were not men, but a superior order of baboons. My friends," said he, "I now see that Hottentots can think, and feel, and act, like other men. What do I now behold-a Missionary Society formed among Hottentots?" A third noticed, it is stated, with much good sense, the present awful state of a great proportion of the Hottentots; and having lately visited Caffreland, he described the condition of the Caffres, and hence inferred the necessity for strenuous exertions on behalf of the missionary cause. The collections on the oc

casion amounted to about 60 rix-dollars. -Respecting the principal colonial missions of the London Missionary Society in South Africa, an English gentleman who has visited them, writes to Dr. Philip; "To allude in detail to every object which strikes the eye, or attracts the observation of a stranger at these institutions, would be an unnecessary trespass on your time, who are already so fully acquainted with them: I shall therefore confine my remarks to a few of the most prominent features they present to those who keep in view the great end of their establishment, the disseminating of religious truth, and the moral improvement of the people. Among the various instruments employed for these important objects, schools have ever held a primary place. At all the institutions we found Sunday-schools, both for adults and children, in active operation, and zealously supported by the people themselves, as well as almost every individual resident at the station, whose assistance could be made useful as teachers. Many of the latter class were selected from among the Hottentots; and when it is considered, that not less than 600 adults, and from 300 to 400 children, are regularly receiving instruction, and learning to read the Scriptures, in these schools-that the greatest number of the children are also taught on week-days to read and write English-it is impossible, for a moment, to deny that the work of improvement is going forward.

"There exists, both among the missionaries and people, a great degree of zeal, and a real interest in the missionary cause. Indeed, the punctuality of their attendance on the daily public exercises of devotion; the correct seriousness of their demeanour while there; the readiness they have evinced in contributing towards the religious improvement, as well as temporal necessities of their brethren in the missionary and charitable associations formed among themselves, left us no reason to doubt the statements of the Missionaries, that the Gospel has been received among the people, not in word only, but in power,' and that its effects are displayed in the lives of many, as well as in the moral and orderly conduct of the whole community at the several stations.

"With regard to the progess of the Hottentots in civilization, I have no hesitation in saying, that many of the Hottentots of these institutions appeared to us fully on an equality, in point of civilization, with a great portion of the labouring class in our own country. Among those at

ed toward these poor people; and my attachment to our primitive liturgy mightily strengthened, by this instance of its great utility. Without such a help, how much of the missionary labour is lost; like oil spilt upon the ground, without a vessel to contain and perpetuate it. Had it not been for this Prayer-book, the worship of God would, to all human view, never have been perpetuated to the salvation of these now interesting people.

"George Lyman, twenty-two years of age, having a wife and one child, is the most moral and the brightest man in intellect in the whole tribe. Connected with him, are four or five youths, of most promising appearance, from fourteen to sixteen years of age. Observing their desire for knowledge, I proposed to George, and through him, as interpreter, to the chiefs, that he and these youths should come, and attend our school; and, if they wished it, should receive a collegiate education.

"It is my intention, and I pray God to give me the means, to be useful to these poor injured people. I will be their friend; and, in being so, I think I shall have the approbation and prayers of all my English friends."

LADIES' FUND FOR FEMALE

SCHOOLS IN INDIA.

We have received the following address relative to a subject which has been so frequently noticed and earnestly urged in our pages, the promotion of Female Education in India, that we need add nothing on the present occasion to express our deep sense of its immeasurable importance.

"The condition of females in India is truly deplorable: they are kept in a state of the greatest ignorance and degradation; they seem to be regarded as an inferior class of beings, and are excluded from all those pursuits which are calculated to

enlarge the mind and elevate the feelings. Accordingly, when schools were first established in India, although boys repaired to them in large numbers, it was almost impossible to prevail upon parents, owing to the prejudices and customs of the country, to allow their girls to partake of the benefit. These obstacles have, however, been lately surmounted; and, in consequence of the indefatigable exertions of Mrs. Wilson and other British ladies in India, aided by the Church Missionary Society, female schools have been established with great success in various parts of the Indian empire. In aid of these establishments, a separate fund has been instituted by the Society, to which it must be the anxious wish of every British female, who knows the value of a religious education, cordially to contribute.

"A plan has therefore been lately devised by some ladies friendly to the object, by which this particular fund may be enlarged; and it is earnestly hoped that the affecting appeals which have been urged in behalf of the object, will stimulate many to co-operate in this truly excellent design. It is proposed that there shall be an annual sale of ladies' fancy and other work, &c. in London, during the month of May; that at least 150 ladies shall be engaged to supply each two guineas' worth of articles (if possible), and to add as many more to their numbers as they shall be able to interest in the subject. The produce of the sale is to be devoted exclusively to the fund set apart for promoting the female schools in India. The proposers of the plan would earnestly press the scheme upon all who are interested in this cause of Christian mercy, and request them to lend their personal aid and influence, in order to its effectual advancement. If further information be required, application may be made to the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, Harrow."

FOREIGN.

RUSSIA. Upon the death of the Emperor Alexander, his eldest brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, was proclaimed his successor; and the troops and public authorities took the oath of fealty to him; the second brother, the Grand Duke Nicholas, being the first to tender his allegiance. It now appears, however,

from the official documents published on the subject, that Constantine had renounced the throne before the death of Alexander; and in this renunciation, whether voluntary or extorted, he still persists. Nicholas therefore has been proclaimed the Autocrat of all the Russias. This event was followed by a mutiny among the troops, who refused

to revoke the oath they had just taken to Constantine, and some bloodshed ensued in quelling the disturbance. Nothing very precise is at present known as to the real cause of these singular and mysterious transactions.

UNITED STATES.-The President's message, always an interesting and important public document, and the more so in the present instance, as being the first official exposition of the new President, Mr. Adams's sentiments, is to the following effect:-He congratulates his countrymen and the world on the present pacific aspect of the European family of nations, and that most of their governments are acting upon the principle, that the proper end of political institutions is the happiness of the people. He notices the changes lately effected in the system of the commerce and navigation of this country; and does justice, not only to the good intentions, but the wise and liberal conduct, of the British ministry. He announces a treaty of commerce with Columbia, and gives an intimation that similar treaties are about to be concluded with the other SouthAmerican Governments. The United States have accepted the invitation to send representatives to the great congress about to be held at Panama, in which the system and relations of the whole Western world are to be discussed and fixed upon a wide and solid basis of reciprocity and mutual defence and interest. He states that the revenue for the year has been twenty-two millions of dollars, and the disbursements only sixteen millions; so that, with the aid of two millions raised by a loan, eight millions (that is, substantially six millions) of the national debt have been paid off this year, leaving only eighty-one millions in arrear. We must pass by several topics more immediately relative to the internal affairs of the United States; but we are happy to infer from the whole the continued and increasing prosperity and happiness of these our fellow-men, our kinsmen, and once our compatriots, with whom long may it be before any thing occurs to disturb the relations of peace and mutual regard!

DOMESTIC.

We are thankful to the Author of all mercies, to be able to report an abatement of the late commercial consternation; but the effects of it still remain, in innumerable instances, a painful memento of the uncertainty of every thing human. We trust, however, that the shock

will be ultimately for the public benefit, both by the discussions to which it will give rise throughout the country, and especially in Parliament, with a view to the revision of our whole monetary system; and also by the restraint which it is hoped it may impose in future upon that wildness of speculation to which, in part, the late alarming pressure must be attributed.

An ordinance has been issued in Demerara and Essequibo, professedly for the religious instruction of the slaves, and the improvement of their condition, and apparently on the model of the Order in Council for Trinidad. It falls miserably short, however, even of that in some respects defective Order, entirely omitting some of its most material provisions, and mutilating and modifying others, so as to deprive them of all their efficacy. It is not easy to imagine on what ground this departure from the recognized principles of the Trinidad Order has been permitted, especially as Lord Bathurst, in a letter of the 20th November 1824, had positively refused to assent to such deviations. We presume that some explanation will be given of this circumstance when Parlia

ment meets.

A treaty of commerce has been ratified between this country and Brazil, on the basis of reciprocity; and another by which the Government of Brazil engages to abolish the slave trade in four years, and in the mean time to regulate it by defined rules, and to grant to this country a mutual right of search. This is another advance in this important work of mercy.

The last accounts from Sierra Leone announce the voluntary cession to the British Crown, by the native chiefs and people, of a large tract of territory inhabited by the Sherbro Bullums, situated to the south of Sierra Leone. It comprises an extent of coast, of about a hundred miles in length, and fifty or sixty in depth. It has been computed, that from its shores have annually been exported for some years past from fifteen to twenty thousand human beings for the slave markets of the western world. This horrible traffic gave rise to the most dreadful predatory wars: whole tracts of country were depopulated; civilization,commerce, and all the valuable intercourses of human life were proscribed; till the wretched natives, worn down with the vexations they endured, gladly cast themselves for protection into the arms of the British Government. Their offer has been accepted: they are now our fellow-subjects,

possessed of the rights and privileges of this happy land; the slave trade, above all, is annihilated in that quarter; and civilization and commerce will succeed in its place. We rejoice that the religious necessities of this people will not be overlooked: we understand that the managers of the Church Missionary Society, in particular, are considering what can be done for their benefit; and we would hope that the public liberality will enable them to go forth into this new field of Christian exertion with a zeal and promptitude adequate to its claims upon their philanthropy.

We lay before our readers the following affecting recital. Such narratives must deeply excite the spirit of the British public against every thing connected with the slave trade, and its ally and generator slavery, for the extinction of which the nation is expressing its voice at public meetings,and by petitions throughout the country.

Last month, a French vessel, the Perle, arrived at the port of St. Ives, in Cornwall, on her return from the coast of Africa and the West Indies, with a crew consisting only of twelve men; the captain, supercargo, and eight others having, according to the representations of Legue, the acting captain, died in the course of the voyage. The vessel being boarded, and seized, was found fitted out with all the furniture of a slave trader, and the hold adapted to the reception of slaves. Among her other stores there were manacles and shackles in great abundance; a long chain, to confine the unfortunate creatures in gangs, with various implements of torture. Five poor creatures were found on board, one of them a young boy, part of the wretched cargo, who had been retained to assist in navigating the vessel, on account of the death of so many of the sailors. They were confined in the main hold, having only sails to lie upon, and a few pieces of coarse canvass to protect their bodies from the inclemency of our northern climate. While

the crew were dining on meat and fish, these poor creatures were fed with the pot liquor and entrails-food so nauseous that, almost famishing as they were, they rejected it with disgust. Shortly after the ship's arrival, a humane gentleman brought on shore the lad we have mentioned. The poor fellow was much caressed, and his owner became apprehensive of losing him. The gentleman who had brought him on shore had pledged his word to return him, ignorant of the Negro's acquired rights when once within the jurisdiction of any courts of law. Still,however, he felt most reluctant to return the unhappy boy to the custody of his master. It was then impudently asserted that the boy as much belonged to the Frenchman as the watch in his pocket, and that the gentleman had as much right to take the one as the other! The boy was restored: and the captain stated, that on sale, in the West Indies, he would produce him 401. Immediately on the ship's arrival, Mr. Hingstone, a gentleman at St. Ives, wrote to Mr. Wilberforce, mentioning some of the facts we have stated. Mr. Wilberforce instructed his solicitor to take the necessary proceedings for restoring the poor slaves to freedom, and an application was made to the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who did not hesitate for a moment to grant a habeas corpus, even on the necessarily vague information then obtained, and exhibited much humane anxiety for the enlargement and comfortable disposition of the unfortunate creatures. The writ was immediately dispatched and served; and the slaves were brought on shore, but could not proceed to London in consequence of the illness of one of the party, occasioned by the severity of the weather. The reception of them by all classes was enthusiastically compassionate. of the poor themselves thrust into their hands little presents of food or amusement; and it was with difficulty they were restrained from the exercise of too great kindness in these respects.

Many

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

THE REV. R. M. MANWARING. WHILE the self-denying labour of the zealous missionary is attended with the ready meed of applause from every Christian tongue, and his exertions in carrying the Gospel, to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, are recorded to

keep alive the spirit of religion in the hearts in which it already exists, and to encourage those who are treading the same arduous path, it cannot but be useful sometimes to cast our eyes upon the less splendid but not less important operation of the same impulse, acting in those whose mission is directed to carry the Gospel of