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of the provision that had just been made for their temporal necessities by the munificent gift of 100,000 roubles, which had been sent for this purpose by his Imperial Majesty. The proposition was cordially agreed to, and it was resolved to carry it into effect without delay."

"Astrachan, 31 Aug. O. S. 1821. "The next Committee we visited, was that of the Don Cossacks, in whose capital (Novo-Tcherkask) we arrived in the forenoon of the 26th, and in the evening waited on the Hetman, from whom we met with the kindest reception, and who, as President of the Society, engaged to make immediate arrangements for a meeting of the Committee. The Bible Society, like almost every institution that exists in the country of the Don Cossacks, being in a great measure established on a military footing, presented quite a novel scene to our view. When visited by the Secretary, he appeared in uniform, with his sword by his side; and, when we attended the meeting of the Committee, we found ourselves to be the only persons in a civil dress, all the members being officers, and some of them of the first rank. It was a source of much pleasure to observe with what spirit they entered into the business, and how anxious they were to listen to any propositions which were made to them, for extending their sphere of usefulness. Since the formation of the Society they have collected not less than 33,163 rubles, which they have remitted to Petersburg for the general purposes of the institution, and brought into circulation about 3,000 copies of the Scriptures. Five shops have been opened for their sale in the town of NovoTcherkask in ten of the most importants stanitzas, or settlements, depôts have been established, besides one in the Quarantine of Yagirlik, another at the mouth of the Don, and a third at that of the Calmius; and seven of the principal authorities in different settlements have charged themselves with the duties of correspondents or active agents of the Society. The Calmucs living in the vicinity of the Don have been furnished with the Gospel in their own language, which they receive with so much eagerness that they pay even a silver ruble for a copy. More than onefifth of the Calmucs in this quarter are able to read; and, as the Cossacks are exceedingly zealous in calling their attention to the Scriptures, there is ground

to hope that much good will be done in this way among these poor deluded votaries of Lamaic superstition. Considering the great number of Cossacks who are capable of reading, and the anxiety they discover to possess the word of God, the friends of the Bible Society may rest assured that their exertions could not have been directed towards a more favourable soil!"

"Odessa, Nov. 12, 1821.

"I have lately received a letter from Hilarion, informing me, that the transcription of his MS. was completed, and that he was preparing to depart for his bishopric (Ternova). As you may like to see a little of the good Bishop's sentiments, I translate a portion of his letter. I take with me,' he says, ' my manuscript, that when with God's permission I arrive at my diocese, and enjoy quiet, I may pursue the revision and correction of it. Friend and brother, I implore God, for this reason alone, to grant me life, that I may finish this work, and that I may thus manifest my gratitude to the Bible Society, which has chosen me to be its minister in this labour, and may fulfil my obligations to my nation by the completion of this undertaking which is dear to God.' He then says, he takes with him to Ternova one of his translators, to assist him in the translation and transcription. By the end of March he thinks the whole NewTestament will be ready."

AFRICAN INSTITUTION.

The following interesting and affecting address "To the Friends of Africa," has just been circulated by the African Institution. We copy it into our pages with the hope of assisting its benevolent object, which we earnestly recommend to the attention of our readers. We are grieved to learn that the funds of the Institution are so very inadequate to the magnitude and public interest of its designs.

"Fifteen years have elapsed since Great Britain, by an Act of the Legislature, prohibited its subjects, under heavy penalties, from taking any part in that trade which has since been described, by the unanimous voice of the great powers of Europe, assembled in Congress at Vienna, as 'a scourge which has long desolated Africa, degraded Europe, and afflicted humanity;' and it is now classed by the British Parliament amongst the fonlest crimes. Soon after the passing of this Act, a

considerable number of those who had strenuously exerted themselves through a long series of years, to expose the enormities inseparable from this horrid traffic, and to procure the co-operation of the Friends of Humanity in its Abolition, formed themselves into a Society, under the name of THE AFRICAN INSTITUTION, with a view, not only to promote the civilization of much-injured Africa, but also, as essential to this object, to watch most carefully over the conduct of those who might attempt to evade the Abolition Laws.

"Great Britain had the less difficulty in effecting the abolition of this traffic, by reason of the liberty of her Press, and the nature of her Government, which rendered it comparatively easy to convey the necessary information respecting the real character of this trade to all classes of Society. But the case is very different in many of the nations of the Continent. In few, perhaps in none of them, do the same facilities to the diffusion of knowledge and the forming of Societies for the objects of benevolence exist; and consequently very erroneous ideas prevail abroad on the subject of the African Slave Trade. "The information received from time to time by the African Institution of the horrid crimes perpetrated in Africa, and on the high seas, by miscreants who make it their business to buy and sell their fellow-creatures, and of the alarming increase of this abominable traffic under the flags of France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands-is of such a nature, as to render it the duty of the Institution to give the utmost publicity to the facts which are constantly coming to their knowledge, and to call the attention of the British Nation, in a very particular manner, to the enormities now practised upon the persons of the helpless children of Africa; enormities never exceeded in the annals of oppres sion and cruelty. At the present moment vast numbers of innocent men, women, and children, are lauguishing in the bands of their tormentors; many are suffering a most cruel and lingering death, by suffocation in the holds of Slave-ships; thousands are on their way to interminable slavery, to which they will infallibly be consigned, unless previously released by death, or rescued by the intervention of some merciful hand, from those dealers in human blood, whom the American Government has declared to be pirates, and who, in

stead of being protected and sheltered, ought to be branded by every civilized State as enemies to the human race.

"The African Institution is persuaded that in France, now most deeply implicated in this cruel traffic, as well as in the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, the public at large are not yet informed of the real nature and vast extent of the crimes daily and hourly perpetrated by the subjects of their respective countries, who are engaged in the African Slave Trade. The Directors have therefore determined, if furnished with the means, to publish in various languages the facts which are almost daily communicated to them, in the firm conviction that, when these facts shall be generally known, the wise and the good of all nations will rise up, and, with the voice as of one man, solicit their respective Governments to abolish a traffic marked in every stage with blood, disgraceful to every nation that does not use the greatest exertions for its utter extinction, and a standing reproach to the Christian name.

"The African Institution, therefore, invites the friends of humanity and religion to its Sixteenth Anniversary Meeting, to be holden at the FreeMasons' Hall, on Friday the 10th May next; at which meeting his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester will take the chair. It is intended, on that occasion, to bring forward certain resolutions, which will doubtless be supported by several of those Members of Parliament who have so frequently distinguished themselves by pleading for Africa in the great council of the nation."

We understand that tickets of admission for ladies or gentleman may be had by application at the Office of the Institution, No. 3, Fludyer Street, Westminster.

EDUCATION IN RUSSIA. The following account of the esta blishment of the "School of Industry" at Homel in Russia, is taken from the periodical Extracts of " Correspondence' of the British and Foreign School Society."

"The establishment of the Institution for the poor and destitute children of the peasantry at Homel, in the goverument of Mogiloff, was one of those experiments which are considered as mere visionary schemes, until their practicability and utility are clearly demon

strated. The object of my journey, was to introduce the British system of education into Russia; but arriving at Homel, the estate of Count Romanzoff, where the first school was to be established, an unforseen obstacle presented itself; not more than 30 or 40 boys could be collected in one village, and the villages were so distant from each other, as entirely to preclude the possibility of the children of one village attending the school of another. Count Romanzoff being informed that the advantages of the new system would not be conspicuous in a school of 40 boys, and that 200 would be necessary to display it to advantage, was quite at a loss how they were to be collected; and this circumstance seemed for a while to cloud my prospects of success. Having however, in my journeys through the different villages of the Count's estate, observed a number of miserable ragged dirty children begging from door to door, and being informed that they were orphans, who had no means of support but soliciting charity, I conceived the plan of rescuing these poor little creatures from misery, ignorance, and vice, by the establishment of a School of Industry, in which they might by their own labour contribute something to wards their support. The plan was objected to by many as being impracticable: the chief argument urged was, that the children being accustomed to a life of vagrant idleness, could never be brought to contribute in any material degree toward their own support. But fortunately the two principal persons of the place were of a different opinion, and upon a proper statement being made to Count Romanzoff and General Derabiu, it was resolved to erect a large building for the accommodation of the boys; and to inclose a considerable piece of land for a kitchen garden, in which they were to labour during the summer season. The erection of the building necessarily occupied a considerable time, but the Count granted

There are 17,000 male peasants on this estate, one town, and between 80 and 90 villages.

+ General Derabin, a gentleman of eminent talents and liberal sentiments, had the entire management of the estate, the Count being too feeble to take an active part. The General had been in England, and spoke English well.

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 244.

me the use of the right wing of his own house, and I soon collected 50 poor boys from the villages. The barbarous rudeness of their manners, corresponded with their miserable appearance: the generality of them had long filthy hair, dirty faces and tattered garments; no shoes, no stockings; and with looks expressive of hunger and misery: such they were, and such they would have continued to be until, being completely accustomed to a wandering, idle, vicious life, and quite unfit to fill any useful station, they would have turned out pests to society, had they not been rescued by the benevolent kindness of their noble master. About a fortnight afterwards they were all neatly clothed, and on the 9th of December, 1818, the school was publicly opened and consecrated according to the rites of the Greek Church. The ragged little beggars were now metamorphosed into clean orderly scholars, who seemed to pride themselves not a little on their improved appearance.

"They had all by this time learned the alphabet, and some to write upon slates; and they performed the evolutions of the system, to the admiration of the specta tors, who began to be convinced that peasants, though slaves, are human beings. My chief object in taking these fifty boys under instruction before the school-room was built, was to prepare them to act as monitors, and the rapidity with which they learned was truly astonishing. Their excessive natural stupidity had been urged as a reason for not attempting to instruct them; but it now appeared that human nature is the same in every country and in all classes, and that the difference which we observe between the highly polished inhabitants of France, England, and other countries of Europe, and the barbarian, arises solely from habit, example, and education. Order was soon introduced into the new institution, and the children were arranged into different classes of labour according to their age and strength: the eldest of the boys were appointed to be carpenters, shoemakers, or smiths, according to their own choice, while of the younger and more feeble, some were employed in splitting the bark of the Linden tree, and others in platting it into shoes; some platting straw for hats, others in preparing willows for making baskets, and some in making fishing nets. The hour of assembling in school during summer, was 2 L

seven in the morning; and they came out again at ten; three hours a day being amply sufficient to teach them reading, writing and the four first rules of arithmetic, in two years. From ten to eleven they were allowed to play; at eleven the dinner bell rung, and they proceeded two and two to the dining-room, where grace was distinctly pronounced by the Monitor of the day, whose duty it was to read to his companions, while eating their dinners, a portion of the holy Scriptures. At twelve o'clock they arranged themselves in classes according to their employments, and proceeded to their different masters to their work, from which they generally returned about eight in the evening; at nine they supped, and immediately after supper their names were called over by the monitor-general, and those absent marked down for inquiry the following day; which being done, and the evening hymn sung by them, they retired to rest. Eight months after the opening of the school, more than 60 children went in proces. sion to their benefactor Count Romanzoff, dressed in clothes and shoes of their own making. Such was the delight experienced by his Excellency on this occasion that he ordered them a better dinner than usual, and promised to partake of it with them, which promise he fulfilled, to the inexpressible pleasure of the poor children. From this time the

institution continued to prosper, and even those who had opposed it joined in praising it: the children made rapid progress both in learning and their trades, and became cheerful, obliging, and industrious.

"A strict observance of the Sabbath was not forgotten in the institution, and that part of the day not spent in church was appropriated to reading extracts from the holy Scriptures.

"By means of the school at Homel, the British system of education was spread to Poland, where hitherto the strongest prejudices had existed against instructing the peasantry. Mr. Radovitch, a young man of an amiable disposition, was sent by the university of Vilno, to study the system, which he did with the greatest assiduity; and soon after his return, three schools were established for the poor, upon the new plan, and according to the last accounts from thence, they were actively employ ed in the establishment of more,

"In April 1821, the school at Homel being completely established and a plan laid down for extending the means of instruction to all the villages of the Count's estate, I left Homel to return to England, and never shall I forget the artless demonstrations of sorrow and affection which were manifested by the children at my departure."

VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

FOREIGN.

FRANCE, whatever may be its external appearance of tranquillity, is evidently far from being in a state of repose. Paris indeed is quiet, and the insurrections in the provinces appear to have been suppressed; but the very circumstance of various plots having been discovered shews the feverish state of the public mind. If it be true that the army also is discontented, its obedient and willing concur rence, in the case of any popular ferment, for the support of the measures of the present government, would of course be somewhat problematical. The ministerial estimates of expenditure have been carried in the chamber of deputies, but not without consider

able opposition from the left side. On the discussions which have taken place on that part of the Budget which respects the colonies, and which involves the question of the Slave-trade, and the re-possession of Hayti, we shall hereafter have much to say, as well as on the course which the same questions have taken in the chamber of peers. Our limits are too contracted to admit of our entering on the subject this month.

The viscount de Chateaubriand, well known by a variety of interesting works, has arrived in this country as ambassador from France.

SPAIN. The internal affairs of Spain appear to be improving. The partial disturbances which occasionally occur,

are not probably more frequent or more serious than were naturally to be expected under all the circumstances of so complete a revolution as that country has undergone; and to such disturbances it may continue occasionally liable, as long as the memory of their losses remains fresh in the minds of those who have suffered by the late changes, or any hope, however feeble, is entertained by them of subverting the new order of things. The priests are some of the chief agents in these disturbances; and their influence over the minds of the Spanish population, it may reasonably be supposed, continues to be very considerable. In the mean time, the new Cortes are pursuing their labours apparently with firmness and prudence; and they seem anxious to maintain, what is essennally necessary for the consolidation of the late changes-a good understanding with the executive government. We would trust that their late measures, as respects the suppression of the Slave-trade, if they are adopt ed in good faith, will bring down the blessing of God upon their future plans and deliberations.

TURKEY.-The question of a Russian and Turkish war has continued to be debated throughout Europe,with as much contrariety of opinion as ever. All that wears the appearance of certainty on the subject is, that Turkey persists in refusing to accede to the Russian ultimatum; and that, contrary to the wishes of most of the powers of Europe, both parties are preparing-Russia offensively, and Turkey defensively-for hostilities. A few weeks, at most, will now probably put a period to this suspense. Russia certainly is not likely to lose, in protracted negociations, the favourable season for opening the campaign, which is fast approaching. The ardour and fanaticism of the Turkish populace are also stated to be excessive; and it is much to be feared that the first breaking out of war will be attended with fearful torrents of Christian blood; unless timely flight

should rescue the victims from the barbarity of their oppressors. DOMESTIC.

The usual recess at Easter has abridged the sittings of Parliament, and suspended the discussion of some of the important subjects which are entered on its Journals for investigation. Still, the month has not passed without some interesting discussions. The state of the agricultural interest, in particular, has undergone much consideration. The Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the subject, has served chiefly to shew, that the distresses complained of are not within the scope of legislative alleviation, ex cept by measures which would be most injurious and unjust to the community at large. The Report indeed scarcely goes beyond mere hints and suggestions. One of its principal recommendations is, that the sum of one million of money should be advanced by the public on grain, to be placed in deposit, and thus temporarily withdrawn from the market. Such a measure would be too limited in its effects to make it an object of much public concern, whether it is adopted or not; but the principle is clearly an unwise one; and should Providence mercifully bestow another plentiful harvest, the measure would recoil with augmented injury on those who sought the benefit of the provision. Another suggestion in the Report is, that a variable duty should be imposed on foreign corn, to be regulated by the average prices; these prices being reduced in proportion to the increased value of money since 1815. The Report, in conclusion, strongly recommends, that, whenever circumstances will allow of it, a fixed and uniform scale of duties should be substituted for the present system.-A most important debate has also taken place on the state of Ireland, but at too late a period of the month, to permit our adverting to it so fully as we wish to do. We shall reserve the subject for our next Number.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.

Rev. C. J. Blomfield, D.D. (Rector of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate), to be Arch. deacon of Colchester.

Rev. G. Holcombe, D.D. to be a Prebendary of Westminster; vice Blomberg.

Hon. and Rev. J. E. Boscawen, M.A. to be Canon or Prebendary of Canter bury; vice Holcombe.

Rev. John Greenly, to St. Thomas's Perpetual Curacy, Salisbury.

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