Calcutta, in the English language; and his discourses are said to be highly appropriate and affecting.

SERAMPORE COLLEGE. The following passage, from the last Report of this institution, seems to indicate an increasing abatement in the prejudices of the natives, and their confidence in the good will and intentions of the Missionaries.

"The Brahman Class.-On the hypothesis of some, it might have been expected that, when it is known to be so much the design of Serampore College to spread the knowledge of Divine revelation, no brahman would ever have entered within its precincts with the view of receiving instruction. This, however, facts completely disprove. In the last Report it was mentioned that there were seven brahmans studying in the college. This year there have been no less than twelve, and several others are earnestly pressing for admission. Among these are three from the most respectable brahman families for rank and wealth in Serampore, who felt so desirous that their sons might enjoy the advantages of the institution, that they entreated the Governor of Serampore to interest himself in their behalf; engaging, that if they were permitted to enjoy the advantages of -instruction in the college for five years, they would furnish them with board and clothing themselves, and put the institution to no farther expense than that of instruction and books. This desire, manifested by the respectable native inhabitants of the town in which those who conduct the college have resided nearly a fourth of a century, and where, of course, their conduct and views must be so thoroughly known, requires no kind of comment.

"

CALCUTTA SCHOOL SOCIETY.

The last annual examination of the more advanced boys of the Calcutta School Society was held at the house of a native gentleman, in the presence of a large number of Europeans, friends to the education of the natives.

The examination consisted, first, of the boys from the indigenous schools of the Society, in Bengalee; secondly, of its preparatory English schools, and schools at Arpoolee supported by a number of the committee, in English; and lastly of the boys educated at the Hindoo college, at the expense of the Society, in English also.

The indigenous schools are those under native masters in various parts of the city,

in which the parents of the boys pay for their education; theSchool Society furnishing each master with instructive books, and examining the progress of his head pupils. These examinations are held thrice in the year: according to the proficiency made, the master is rewarded with a small gratuity. Of these schools there are seventy six under the patronage of the Society; each under the immediate superintendence of a Bengalee gentleman residing in the neighbourhood. The total number of boys under education in them exceeds 2,800. Their progress is highly gratifying.

"We were much gratified," writes a Calcutta journalist, "by the examination in English, both of the select boys in the Arpoolee and preparatory school, and of those at the Hindoo College, altogether amounting to about sixty. The correctness of pronunciation and spelling and the knowledge of the meaning and grammatical construction of what they read, was evident in almost all; but particularly so in those of the Hindoo College, whose improvement of their superior advantages was very honourable to themselves and their teachers. The cordial friendship of our host and his son (Baboo Radacant Deb, the native secretary of the Society) the sight of at least thirty native gentlemen of the first respectability and learning, uniting with their European friends in approving and supporting the education of their countrymen; the spectacle of more than two hundred pupils, in general neatly, and in many cases elegantly, dressed (proving them to be of the middle and higher ranks of the native population); the recollection of the correct ideas as to morals and science imbibed by these and their companions-combined to give us the most pleasurable emotions. Whatever may be the impressions of the Abbé Dubois, it is evident to us, that intellectual and moral, as well as religious, improvement is on its march in India. For proof of the former we can refer to the success of this Society, and of the latter to the account lately received from Ceylon, by which it appears that in the schools superintended by the American Mission-aries there, more than one hundred pupils and two schoolmasters voluntarily and openly expressed their conviction of the superiority of the Christian Religion, and their desire publicly to profess it. Let the friends of native improvement but continue and enlarge their labours, and with the blessing of God they must effect an important, extensive, and blessed change in the face of society generally.”

CALCUTTA
FOR NATIVE FEMALE EDUCA-
TION.

LADIES' SOCIETY

At a meeting of ladies, friends to the education of the female natives of India, held in the Church Mission Library, Mirzapore, the Right Hon. Lady Amherst in the chair, it was resolved as follows: That the education of native females is an object highly desirable and worthy the best exertions of all who wish well to the happiness and prosperity of India: That the system introduced into India by Mrs. Wilson, has been pursued by her under the patronage of the Church Missionary Society, with a degree of success which could hardly have been anticipated by those who were aware of the novelty and apparent difficulty of the undertaking, and is capable of an extension and improvement, only limited by the want of sufficient funds for its prosecution on a scale commensurate to its object: That it appears to this meeting, that there are at present twenty-four schools under her superintendance, attended, on an average, by 400 pupils: That females of the most respectable caste and station in society have both sent their daughters, and in some instances have themselves expressed an anxiety to obtain instruction; and that the system of instruction pursued has met with the expressed concurrence and approbation of some of the most distinguished among the native gentry and religious instructors: and lastly, That in order to render Mrs. Wilson'slabours yetmore effectual,and to meet the feelings of the respectable natives of India, by rendering the establishment more exclusively female, it is expedient that the affairs and government of these schools, now existing or hereafter to be established, in connexion with them in Calcutta and its vicinity, be placed under the superintendance and controul of a certain number of ladies, as patronesses and visitors, who may be inclined to give a portion of their time to this interesting and laudable object; and it being understood that the Church Missionary Society are willing to relinquish the entire management and direction of their Female School in Calcutta, and its yicinity, to a committee of such a description, the following ladies hereby undertake that office, under the designation of the Ladies' Society for Native Female Education in Calcutta and îts vicinity.'"

Lady Amherst is the patroness of the institution; and Mrs. Heber, with several other ladies of distinction, are vice-patronesses.

OHIO THEOLOGICAL SEMI-
NARY.

We have received the journal of the proceedings of the seventh annual conven. tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Ohio, held at Chillicothe last November.

Bishop Chase's address to the convention is such as might be expected from the lips of that revered prelate. Having alluded with pious resignation to the decease of his lamented son, and other local circumstances in his diocese, he passes on to the auspicious result of his late visit to this country. "When," says he, "a famine of the means to sustain our church threatened us with desolation, there was a blessed land to which a man of God might fly;-a land in which, though continually munificent to all, the barrel of meal, and the cruse of oil had never failed.

"To this land were we directed; and to this land our Missionary Society resolved to send a messenger, and make known our wants. The circumstances which prevented the person appointed, from proceeding on the mission, and my own determination to supply his place, are well known to you all; as also the unexpected objections urged against the measure by many of our eastern brethren, and the obstructions and difficulties thrown in our way. But of these I will not speak further: they are passed; they have been happily surmounted: the errors in which they were founded have been dissipated; and I trust we shall no longer remember them, except as chastening afflictions permitted only for our spiritual good.

"When a resolution is once formed, evidently in accordance with the word of God, and sustained by a consciousness of Divine direction, it is no subject of regret that the efforts to carry it into execution are surrounded with apparent difficulties. makes us feel our dependence to be on God alone; and, when crowned with success, it makes the glory more conspicuously His.

It

"With this simple and undisguised dependence on God, was the mission to Old England undertaken; and most signally has our trust in Him been crowned with success. That great and generous people, from whom the most of us derive our origin, and who are spreading the Gospel throughout the world, received your messenger with kindness, heard the story of your wants with compassion, investigated your plans with candour, examined carefully the objections urged against you, and finally determined in your favour and munificently contributed to your relief.

"My powers are not equal to an enumeration of all the instances of kindness which were showered upon me: far less is it within the reach of my abilities to give a full estimate of that fellowship which, in the bonds of our common church, accompanied the rich gifts to our infant western Zion. Very pleasant, however, is the recollection thereof: their memory is embalmed in my heart; and it is a delight more than a duty thus officially to acknowledge them. Never was benevolence more disinterested: never was Christian zeal more active. Delicacy as well as generosity was the characteristic of our benefactors. The task of solicitation being assumed by the most respectable characters, the rich feasts of intellectual intercourse and Christian courteousness, were every where spread before me. I deny to myself the pleasure of pronouncing, and to you that of hearing, the names of our benefactors in this address, because I cannot, without offending their delicacy, speak of them as my heart prompts and they deserve.

"Wherever I went, one continued succession of hospitality, beneficence, and Christian communion cheered my heart and elevated my opinion of my fellow-men. God is merciful unto me, thought I, in giving me grace in the eyes of this people, whose God is the Lord, and whose kindness to me is the fruit of the Gospel of peace.

I left London. The value of the books contributed is not exactly known: their number, before I returned, was about five hundred.

"That interesting part of our plan, through which so much good is anticipated, the design of having a printing press attached to our Seminary, met with such general and cordial approbation in England, that separate funds for it also were set on foot. And though the amount of each subscription was limited to a guinea, yet a generous anxiety to subscribe made the sum, in a few weeks, nearly equal to our

wants.

"The avails of the subscriptions in England are deposited in the hands of trustees, the Right Honourable Lords Kenyon and Gambier, the Rev. Dr. Gaskin, and Henry Hoare, Esq., and are not to be drawn for, but upon certain conditions and by the proper authorities. What these are, you will perceive, by attending to the deed of donation, dated London, 27th November, 1823. By that instrument it may be seen how foreign from my mind it has ever been to create any division in our church, by making our institution in any way independent of the constitutional and canonical authorities. To the superintending control of the General Convention and House of Bishops, all our institutions of this nature ought to be subject. In case there is a departure from our landmarks, the Articles and Liturgy of our primitive Zion, a controuling power must be acknowledged in those to whom God in his providence bath committed it."

We most earnestly unite our prayers with those of the bishop and episcopal clergy and laity of Ohio, for the abundant blessing of God upon this important institution; in the success of which every friend of the Church of England must take a deep and permanent interest.

FOREIGN.

FRANCE. The proceedings of the chambers on the indemnity and sacrilege bills continue to form the chief subject of French public affairs. Both measures appear likely to pass, though not without having excited warm discussions. The more liberal members of the house of peers have in vain endeavoured to moderate the ruthless character of the sacrilege bill during its progress through their chamber, by proposing hard labour for

life, instead of the penalty of death, for the profanation of the consecrated ́elements; and for a limited time, instead of for life, for the profanation of the vessels containing them. To the disgrace, however, of French legislation in the nineteenth century, the bill has gone down to the lower chamber, enacting the punishment of death for the profanation of the sacred elements, if committed publicly; and of the vessel containing them, if committed publicly, or in a public place be

such as these we may confidently hope for the special blessing of God upon their measures; and with this persuasion we hail the rising prospects of the American continent as among the brightest that await the future generations of mankind.

DOMESTIC.

Intelligence has been received from India, of some partial reverses sustained by a detachment of our forces in Ava, followed up, however, by a detail of subsequent successes in driving the enemy from a number of posts in the vicinity of our head-quarters at Rangoon, and taking various forts on the coast of Siam. The Siamese have received our troops rather as friends than enemies. We are concerned to state that a mutinous spirit had broken out in a native regiment at Barrackpore, near Calcutta, which was not quelled but with the loss of many lives of the offenders. The disturbance arose, it is said, from discontent at the withdrawment of some customary allowances. No investigation has hitherto taken place, either in parliament, or in the court of proprietors of East-India stock, respecting the necessity or the objects of the war, or the causes that have led to the insubordination of the troops; but we trust that both points will yet be strictly inquired into.

The proceedings in parliament have been of a highly momentous, and, in numerous instances, of a most gratifying character. The chancellor of the exchequer's exposition of the state of the finances, exhibits a progressive increase of national prosperity. He calculates upon a surplus of revenue, to the amount of a million and a half, which is to be applied to a reduction of the imposts on hemp, coffee, rum, British spirits and cider, wines, and foreign iron, with some small reductions on parts of the assessed taxes, chiefly affecting persons of the poorer classes. These repeals are calculated to increase commerce, curtail smuggling, and encourage good will and reciprocity among the great commonwealth of nations. The above measures have been followed up by a bill for removing many of the remaining restrictions on the commerce of

the West-Indies, to the whole world; and allowing the import of corn from Canada into Great Britain, at a duty of five shillings a quarter. We are sorry that any duty should have been imposed. Various other relaxations of our prohibitory laws are about to be proposed by Mr. Huskisson; but we greatly fear that he means to stop short of the most important and beneficial relaxation of all; namely, the removal of the restrictions on our trade with India.-Mr. Peel has introduced a most beneficial and popular bill for consolidating, and amending the laws (no less than eighty-five in number) respecting the impannelling of juries, so as to put an end to the abuses which have been long complained of in the existing practice. He strongly recommends also a general consolidation of all the statutes, beginning with the criminal code. The country must feel for ages to come deeply grateful for these highly beneficial measures. The cause of humanity also has found powerful advocares in parliament as well as that of an enlightened political economy.—Mr. Martin, though with a temporary failure of his object, has widely inspired a determination to prevent the exercise of cruelty towards the inferior animals.-Lord Suffield has carried through the house of peers, a bill to abolish the use of spring guns; and Mr. S. Wortley, through the commons, an important amendment of our sanguinary game laws, making game a vendible article, and giving every man leave to kill game on his own estate.

The state of Ireland has been undergoing a minute, and highly useful investigation by committees of both houses. Sir. F. Burdett, has carried a motion for a bill for catholic emancipation. The proposed provisions are to be discussed on the 19th of April. The bill for the suppression of illegal associations has been passed, and the Catholic Association of Dublin has in consequence closed its sittings. The Government have expressed a determination to do all in their power to repress associations calculated to produce irritation whether called by the name of Orange, or Catholic, or any other denomination.