conference for the last four years, except one, which has since been discontinued, and it is believed there is an increasing conviction in the conferences generally, that it is inexpedient to publish such papers. Several papers, however, are published, assuming to be in the interests of the Methodist Church, and edited by Methodist preachers, and which are patronized to a considerable extent by many members of several annual conferences. We are already admonished by the history of the past, how easy it is, under the popular pretext of the right of free discussion, to disturb the harmony and peace of the church, stir up strife and contention, alienate the affection of brethren from each other, and finally injure the cause of Christ.

Applications from members and ministers of other churches, with whom we are in Christian fellowship, are becoming more frequent, and a variety of opinions being entertained by preachers of age and experience with regard to the manner of receiving them among us, the Discipline making no special provision in the case, we have thought it advisable to bring the subject before you, with a view to the adopting a course which may harmonize the views and official action of all concerned, and manifest that spirit of Christian charity which should always abound in the church of Christ. It is only necessary for us to lay before you the different opinions entertained on the subject, which, from the character and number of those who hold them, are certainly entitled to respectful attention. With regard to private members of other churches who make ap. plication for membership with us, it has been maintained on the one hand, that they should be admitted and remain on trial for six months, as the Discipline provides, before they are received into the church; and on the other, that the circumstance of their being regular and approved members of other churches, with which we are in Christian fellowship, virtually answers the essential ends of the provision for a probationer, and consequently that they should be received into the church without requiring such trial. The views which are entertained with respect to receiving ministers from other churches are not capable of so simple a definition. But they may be summed up as follows:-Many are of the opinion, that, in common with all other persons, they should be admitted on trial, and pass a probation of six months before they are received as members of the church. That, being received as such, they should obtain recommendation and license, and graduate in the ministry, in strict conformity to the letter of the Discipline, without regard to their ordination by the constitutional authorities of the churches from which they came. Others are of the opinion that coming to us with accredited testimonials of their Christian piety and official standing, and giving satisfaction, on examination as the Discipline directs, with respect to their belief in our doctrine, and approval of our discipline, they should be immediately received and accredited as ministers among us; and that on answer. ing the questions, and taking upon them the solemn obligations of our ordination service,they should receive credentials of authority to administer the holy sacraments without the imposition of hands repeated by us, unless they themselves should incline to it. These conflicting opinions, in connection with the fact that a number of ministers have been received among us in conformity to the latter view, seem to require that

the General Conference take such order upon it as in their wisdom may be best calculated to produce unanimity of sentiment and action, and promote Christian confidence and affection between ourselves and other religious denominations, without impairing any fundamental principle of our order and government.

Of your general superintendents, six in number, three are enfeebled by labor, age, and infirmity. We are of one heart and one mind, acknowledging our obligation according to our ability, and to the utmost extent of it, to serve the church of God in that highly responsible office which you have committed to us; but in view of our own weakness and the arduous work intrusted to us, with fear and much trembling we have cause to exclaim, "Who is sufficient for these things?" There are now twenty-eight annual conferences represented in this body, and in all probability the number will be considerably increased during your present session. These embrace a country extending from New-Brunswick to Texas, on the Atlantic coast and gulf of Mexico, and from the sea-board to the vast northern lakes, and to the territories on the upper Mississippi and Missouri. The general superintendents sustain the same relation to all these conferences, and our system requires that each should be annually visited. Between three and four thousand traveling preachers are to be appointed every year to their fields of ministerial labor. These appointments must be made with due regard to the qualifications, age, infirmities, and domestic circumstances of this vast body of ministers, and with the same regard to the condition and wants of the millions of people to whom they are sent. To minds capable of grasping this vast machinery of our itinerant system, it will readily appear that an effective itinerant superintendency is indispensably necessary to keep it in regular, energetic, and successful operation. It must be effective, not imbecile; general, not sectional; itinerant, not local. Destitute of either of these prerequisites, the probable result would be a disorganization of the system, and weakness and inefficiency in all its parts. In the relation we sustain to you as the highest judicatory of the church, and to the whole itinerant connection, it becomes us to be cautious and unassuming in presenting you with our sentiments on a subject like this, in which it may be supposed we have a special individual in. terest. We will only suggest two points for your consideration, which, we are confident, will appear to you in the same light in which we view them. The first is to preserve a sufficient number of effective superintendents to secure to the conferences their regular annual visits, taking into view the number of conferences, and their relative locations. And, second, that there be no greater number than is strictly necessary to accomplish this work, carefully guarding against the increase of the numbers of laborers beyond the proportionate increase of the work, bearing in mind that if we would have laboring preachers, we must have laboring superintendents. As the number of annual conferences increases, and the work extends in the states and territories, it becomes necessary to strengthen the general superin. tendency in due proportion. But as you will doubtless have an able committee to examine and report on this important subject, we forbear any farther remarks in relation to it.

Our missionary operations among the Indians, and in foreign coun

tries, especially on the continent of Africa, is recommended to your special attention. The condition of the Indian tribes located on the western boundary line of Arkansas and Missouri, and the territories on the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, calls aloud for united and vigorous efforts to dispense among them the light of the gospel and the blessings of civilization. We are encouraged to such effort by the circumstance that there is an increasing disposition among most of the tribes to encourage the labors of our missionaries, and improve their condition by the establishment of schools for the instruction of their children in the knowledge of our language, and in agriculture and mechanical arts.

Since your last session a plan has been devised, with the approbation of the officers and board of managers of the parent Missionary Society, to establish a central Indian manual labor school, with the design of collecting and teaching the native children of the several adjacent tribes. The plan has been submitted to the executive department of the national government having the superintendence of Indian affairs, and has met with a favorable and encouraging consideration; and we are much indebted to officers and agents of the civil government in, and adjacent to the Indian country, for the extensive aid they have given in the establishment of the institution, both by employing their influence in recommending it to the Indians, and advising in its structure and organization. This school is already, to a considerable extent, in successful operation. Native children, from five different tribes, are collected, and men from these tribes have visited the institution, and have very generally been satisfied with its government and objects. We cannot but regard this establishment as full of promise of lasting benefits to the Indian race. But as a detailed report of its organization, designs, and prospects will come before you, we will only add our earnest recommendation of the plan to your deliberate consideration, with regard to the present condition and wants of the Indians, and its adaptation to the great objects it is designed to accomplish-the conversion of the Indians to the Christian faith, and their improvement in all the arts and habits of civilized life. And we would farther recommend an inquiry into the expediency of establishing one or more institutions at suitable locations in the Indian country, on the same plan and for the same purposes.

To Africa we look with the deepest solicitude. Our sympathies, prayers, and efforts mingle on her coasts. In our missionary enterprise commenced at Liberia we aim at the conversion of a continent to God. The handful of precious seed which has been sown in that infant colony, and watered by the tears and prayers of the missionaries and the church, shall spring up and ripen to be sown again with a hundred fold increase, till Africa shall become one fruitful field, cultivated in righteousness. Although a number of faithful and devoted missionaries have fallen in that field of labor, we should by no means be discouraged in the prosecution of so great a work. They have fallen asleep, but they sleep in the Lord. And being dead they still speak; and the voice from their tombs is a call to the church of Christ on the American continent to emulate their holy zeal, and fill up the ranks from which they have been removed. We have no doubt but you will be disposed to take some efficient measures for the con

stitutional organization of the Liberia annual conference, and to provide for the ordination of ministers in their own country, that the infant African church may be duly and regularly supplied, not only with the ministry of the word, but also with the holy sacraments. The character which the Oregon mission has recently assumed, is well calculated to invite your particular attention to that extensive and important field of missionary enterprise. We can have little doubt that, with the blessing of God attending our efforts, the time will arrive when the interests of the missionary colony, and the success of the work among the aboriginal tribes, will call for the organization of an annual conference in that vast territory. And our grand object should be to preserve one harmonious compact, in the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace, that Methodism may be one on either side of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and on all the islands of the sea.

"And mountains rise, and oceans roll

To sever us in vain."

It was doubtless a wise and safe provision, that copies of the records of the proceedings of the annual conferences should be forwarded to the General Conference for examination. By this means the General Conference may obtain the knowledge of the official acts of those bodies, from evidence which cannot be disputed or contravened, and consequently they may correct errors in their proceeding, if found to exist, on the simple authority of official records. We regret to say that, in our opinion, this judicious provision has not been sufficiently regarded, either on the part of the annual conferences in forwarding copies of these records, or on the part of the General Conference in a careful inspection of them. As these records contain, not only the official transactions of the conferences, having an important connection with the government and general interests of the church, but also frequently embrace the opinions of the superintendents on ques. tions of law and the administration of discipline; and as it is the constitutional prerogative of this body to correct what is erroneous in these transactions and opinions, with an earnest desire that all things may be done in every official department of the church in strict conformity to her constitution and Discipline, we recommend a careful examination of these records at your present session.

Finally, brethren, we commend you and ourselves, and the ministers and people connected with us in the bonds of the gospel of Christ, to the guidance and protection of the great Head of the church, whose we are and whom we serve; sincerely and ardently praying that your deliberations, with all their results, may be under the influence of that wisdom which is from above; which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality or hypocrisy.

We are, dear brethren, sincerely and affectionately yours, in the unity and fellowship of the gospel of Christ,

R. R. ROBERTS,
JOSHUA SOULe,
E. HEDDING,

Baltimore, May 4, 1840.

JAMES O. ANDREW,
B. WAUGH,
THOS. A. MORRIS.

PRINTING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

THE following graphic description of a great metropolitan print. ing establishment is from a late number of the London Quarterly Review.

THE printing establishment of Messrs. Clowes, on the Surrey side of the Thames, (for they have a branch office at Charing Cross,) is situated between Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges. Their buildings extend in length from Princes-street to Duke-street, and in breadth about half the distance. The entrance is by rather a steep declivity into a little low court, on arriving at which, the small counting-house is close on the left; the great steam presses, type and stereotype foundry, and paper warehouse, on the right; and the apartments for compositors, readers, &c., in front.

In the last-mentioned building there are five compositors' halls, the largest of which (on two levels, the upper being termed by the workmen the "quarter-deck") is two hundred feet in length. The door is nearly in the centre, and, on entering this apartment at daybreak, the stranger sees, at a coup d'œil, before him, on his right and left, sixty compositors' frames, which, though much larger, are about the height of the music stands in an orchestra. At this early hour they are all deserted, their daily tenants not having arrived. Not a sound is to be heard save the slow ticking of a gaudy-faced wooden clock, the property of the workmen, which faithfully tells when they are entitled to refreshment, and which finally announces to them the joyful intelligence that the hour of their emancipation has arrived. On the long wall opposite to the range of windows hang the printed regula. tions of a subscription fund, to which every man contributes 2d., and every boy 1d. per week, explaining how much each is entitled to receive in the sad hour of sickness, with the consoling intelligence that 57. is allowed to bury him if he be a man, and 21. 10s. if merely a boy. Along the whole length of the building, about a foot above the floor, there is a cast-iron pipe heated by steam, extending through the establishment upward of three quarters of a mile, the genial effect of which modestly speaks for itself.

On the right hand, touching each frame, stands a small low table, about two feet square. A hasty traveler would probably pronounce that all these frames were alike, yet a few minutes' attentive observation not only dispels the error, but by numerous decipherable hiero. glyphics explains to a certain extent the general occupation of the owners, as well as the particular character of each.

For instance, the height of the frames at once declares that the compositors must perform their work standing, while the pair of easy slippers which are underneath each stand suggests that the occupation must be severely felt by the feet. The working jacket or the apron, which lies exactly as it was cast aside the evening before, shows that freedom in the arms is a requisite to the craft. The good workman is known by the regularity with which his copy hangs neatly folded in the little wooden recess at his side-the slovenly compositor is de. tected by having left his MS. on his type, liable to be blown from the