Hamilton, and Edwards, addressed to the-Foreign Secretary under date, Lattakoo, July 2, 1838. About the time we last wrote, viz., in June, 1837, we were promising ourselves the happiness of soon being able to receive additions to our church. This took place in the following month, when four men and one woman were baptised. The increase of candidates, which had been gradual, continued till they reached sixty or seventy in number. Of these, twelve were selected, nine women and three men, and after having satisfied the church as to their fitness to become members, they were baptised on the first Sabbath of November. Most of them were from the villages of Hamhana, and had in the course of their new profession suffered some persecution for the Gospel's sake. Molehabangue, his wife, and four men, with twelve others, belonging to this station and Hamhana, were baptised on the 31st of December. In the month of January of the present year, our friends Mosheu and Anderis, with a large party, visited us, just when a number of Bechuanas were on the eve of being received into the church. On the 11th of March, seven of their number were baptised, and at the same time twenty Bechuanas and one Hottentot. The season was to us interesting from a variety of circumstances. Bechuanas and Coranas standing up in the midst of a crowded congregation bearing their united testimony to the truth of the Gospel, and its blessed effects on their souls. You will see that sixty-three adults have been baptised (and added to the church) during the year, twenty-nine males and thirty-four females. Two females were also re-admitted, who had been separated for misconduct. Also upwards of fifty children have been baptised this year. Thus you see that very considerable additions have been made to our number, which, while it makes us rejoice in the trophies won to the Redeemer, necessarily increases our cares and anxieties that they may all war a good warfare, and finish their course with joy. Since the above was written we have had the happiness of adding eight more to the church, six men and two women; three of whom, a widow and her two sons, were of the Baharutse tribe. When they were finally examined on Friday last, we were truly delighted to see their minds so well stored with scripture knowledge, which, with their walk and conversation, gave us the fullest satisfaction. They were baptised yesterday, when the congregation was so great that many were obliged to remain out of doors. The candidates, or rather inquirers, who continue to attend the weekly meetings, are still numerous, and among them are some very hopeful, who will, we think, ere long be received. So far as we know, those who have made a public profession of discipleship, continue to walk worthy. With some, especially among the aged, knowledge is small, but they have a blessed hope, in a simple but firm reliance on the death of Christ. Our church is composed of people of ten different tribes, and it is always an animating sight to see them all uniting in ascribing praise and glory to the Lamb who redeemed them with his blood, and gathered them to the fold of God. The public services continue to be well and regularly attended, and the weekly prayer-meetings among the people themselves are encouraging. These are kept in different parts of the village, affording opportunity for all to attend. The outward appearance of the people improves wonderfully, considering their limited means, for there are not many mighty, not many noble among them. They are all anxious to obtain decent clothes, and many have purchased when opportunities have offered; but as these have been very seldom, the supply has been scanty, and we have often been importuned by people wishing to purchase handkerchiefs, gowns, &c., which could not be obtained. The poor females have had partial supplies through the kind friends of Grosvenor-street, Manchester. Could the donors see the objects of their benevolence, (more needy ones can scarcely be,) and observe how carefully they keep their little clothing for holidays, on which they appear clean and decent, we are sure they would think their charity well applied. During the year the school has fluctuated from fifty to one hundred, or more, and it must continue to fluctuate, so long as the people are obliged to labour as they do. At certain seasons the gardens, some of which are at a distance, require from the nature of the grain, constant attendance. The progress of the scholars, considering every circumstance, has been very satisfactory. The number of readers in the school at present is about forty, and there are about thirty in the Sabbath school. It is not now in our power to give the precise number of readers on the station, but if we calculate the number who have lately received and purchased copies of the new hymn-book, they must be about 150. Mrs. Edwards still continues her attention to the infant-school department, which promises well. The sewing school, conducted by Mrs. Moffat, has an average attendance of 30. Those who attend continue to improve in the very needful and now essential knowledge of needlework. During the year we have printed only hymn-books and spelling-books. Of the small spelling-book, upwards of 4000; of the larger, considerably altered and improved, 2000; and of hymns, now one hundred in number, also 2000 copies. Brother Moffat is proceeding with copying and revising a translation of the New Testament, to which there are very many interruptions. Out-station. Our congregations at Hamhana, where one of us preaches generally five times every Sabbath are encouraging, except at one small village where we have experienced occasional oppositions and rebuffs, but we persevere. Generally twenty or thirty of those who wish to hear more than one sermon, follow the teacher from one village to another, to hear all that can be heard. This is very different from former times, when we were wont to exercise long patience, with much pleading, to get only a few hearers. Moroe, a chief of one of these villages is, with a few others, violently opposed to the Gospel. They have said and threatened much, but all to no purpose; the cause prospers in his own town, and will prevail. The past year has been particularly fruitful. The rains were unusually abundant. The native gardens and fields yielded much grain, &c. A few such seasons would alter the face of the natives as well as the face of the country. We are glad to be able to report that our Auxiliary Missionary Society continues to prosper. WEST INDIES.-EXTINCTION OF COLONIAL SLAVERY. In addition to the pleasing accounts contained in the Missionary Magazine for November, of the celebration of the first of August, 1838, at several of the Society's stations in the West Indies, we are grateful to have it in our power to present the following, which have been since received from brethren in British Guiana. DEMERARA. The Rev. Charles Rattray, at the station, Canal No. 1, whose letter to the Foreign Secretary is dated, Aug. 31, thus refers to the auspicious and heartcheering event. I have now the pleasure of addressing you from "a land of liberty." The name of slavery has, in the annals of British Guiana, at length been consigned to the records of the past; and as you may be desirous of hearing how the evening of slavery closed, and with what prospects the morning of freedom has dawned upon us, I shall now briefly advert to that subject. The 1st of August was appointed to be held as a day of thanksgiving throughout the colony. On that occasion I saw a greater number of people than ever I did on any one day since I have lived among them; but neither on the 1st of August nor on any of the subsequent days of the week did I perceive a single instance of disorderly conduct or the least appearance of intoxication. This is rather unusual on holidays. Long before the hour of meeting the chapel was crowded to excess, and numbers thronged around the outside of the building. As the state of the weather prevented our conducting the service in the open air, we adjourned to the larger building in which we usually met before the chapel was erected. On the morning of the 1st, I believe every negro in the district, not absolutely prevented by sickness, united in rendering thanks to God that the "long-expected time" had at last come. We met again in the afternoon, when the chapel was well filled, and a little after sunset we closed the public services of the memorable 1st of August, 1838. In the evening I went round the upper part of the canal, and though the buildings are quite close by the public road, not a sound was to be heard in the least inconsistent with the delightful exercises of the day. I was going to say it was like a Sabbathevening in England, but that comparison would be unjust to the negroes. The only exception to the universal quiet was on one estate, where, as I returned home, a few of the young people were dancing before the manager's house. I could not but wish that both the friends and opponents of the negro's freedom could have witnessed with me the peaceful close of the birth-day of liberty. BERBICE. THE Communications from Berbice, in relation to the first of August, are of a deeply interesting character, and such as cannot fail to excite feelings of sacred gratitude and delight. From New Amsterdam, the Rev. H. S. Seaborn writes as follows: The 1st of August was a day long to be remembered in this country and throughout the world. On the previous Sabbath I preached from "Let your moderation be known to all men," as preparatory to the celebration of the coming auspicious day. The night before the 1st, we had a special meeting, which commenced at half-past eleven and continued till half-past one o'clock. Its object was to watch out the last night of slavery, and hail the dawning day of liberty. It was a meeting such as I never beheld before-the occasion-the time-the people-the prospects-all made it an era in our history. At nine o'clock in the evening the chapel was crowded with serious and well-dressed hearers. I gave two addresses, the first before the clock struck twelve, the second after that hour; one from Exod. xv. 2, the other from Exod. xiv. part of 15th verse, "Go forward." At ten minutes before twelve the congregation fell upon their knees in silent prayer. Not a whisper-not a breath till the clock which announced their liberty, had struck. But it became too much; the audible petition began to ascend, and the tear of joy to fall. I was overwhelmed, and so were all present, and so would you and the people of England have been. I said, Let us sing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow;" and more than a thousand voices joined in the chorus of praise. sons, most of whom had been in bondage a quarter of an hour before, employed their enfranchised voices in thanksgivings to the God of heaven. It was a night long to be remembered; such as will make a lasting impression on my mind, and tend to cheer many of the sad and solemn hours through which I may be called to pass. The congregation broke up at half-past one, and separated in a way which would have done honour to the best in England. Per posed of many white, many coloured, and the rest newly enfranchised negroes. It was a sight which angels must have witnessed with delight, which heaven was moved to behold, and which made our joy almost too much to bear. We had but one wish further, that you and all our brethren and fathers had seen it-yea, that all the earth could have witnessed the sight. It was a beautiful day, and every thing conduced to make the scene-the moral scene-enchanting. We commenced by singing Montgomery's hymn, in the Congregational Collection, "Far shines the morning-star." I then read, and we sung Doddridge's hymn, "Hark, for 'tis God's own Son that calls to life and liberty." The sermon was from Gal. iv. 15," Brethren, ye have been called to liberty,' after which we sung, "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath." A collection, for Missionary purposes, was then made, which amounted to 127. sterling. The following Sabbath the occasion was further improved by a discourse from Rom. xii. 1. These details may, I fear, be considered too minute, but my apology is, it was the glorious 1st of August, 1838, when so many thousands among whom your ministers labour, and whose souls they love, were called to liberty. The following three days were partly devoted to entertainments on the estates, which did credit to the people and all concerned. I was present by invitation on all the estates from whence our people come, and dined in a plain and friendly manner with the proprietors, managers, overseers, and labourers. I embraced the opportunity to give pastoral counsel to the people and friendly advice to the masters. It went off well, all appeared thankful and pleased. Since then the progress of affairs has been better than could have been expected, all things considered. God has done much, and his Gospel has been blessed to the people, but there is now a larger field opening for Missionary labour to train the mind and fit it for freedom; slavery was a wretched instructor. No part of the world requires attention more than the West Indies. It is a crisis. There is much to be done, now more than ever, though the Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad. At seven in the morning we met again, and I addressed them from Psalm xcvi. ver. 1-4; but the principal service was half-past eleven, Wednesday, August 1. The feeling of the preceding evening rapidly increased. At eleven the chapel was literally crammed, and about 400 persons were compelled to go into the school-room underneath. Altogether there must have been 1,400 persons in the spacious chapel and adjoining school-room. The congregation was comThe Rev. S. Haywood, of the station at Blyendaal, Orange Chapel, thus adverts to the subject, under date, Sept. 28th : The transactions of the last three months in our colony being of no ordinary character I feel it my duty to show how they have, and to anticipate how they may, affect the society in its operations. It is well known in the colony, and I suppose in England too, that the negroes fully believe that the Missionaries have been the great means under God of obtaining their freedom. Hence it will excite no surprise that at a time like this they should rejoice in us, and cleave unto our God with full purpose of heart. The month of July was one of peculiar excitement, hope and fear alternately prevailing; until at length the heart-cheering fact was announced and proclaimed, "The negro is free." When I made this known to my dear people their countenances beamed with delight: they spoke not; but the language of their hearts was, while pointing to heaven, "What hath God wrought?" They came for my advice as to how they should celebrate the approaching Jubilee. Knowing that they would rejoice, and ought to do so, I was desirous to make all tend to the glory of God. Wednesday, the 1st of August, was exclusively devoted to God; the three following days we were to breakfast or dine with the free people upon the estates around us, and the next Monday every man to his labour. This arrangement meeting with their approbation, they immediately set about making preparations. In these there was no noise nor any extraordinary excitement, and it is worthy of particular notice, that the negroes worked cheerfully and industriously until the expiration of the last hour of the apprenticeship. On the Tuesday evening a special prayer-meeting was held in the meetinghouse upon each estate in the neighbourhood to prepare their minds for the coming "God's day," as they were pleased to call it. The long looked-for, wishedfor morning came; and oh, what a morn ing to the negro! Never to him did the "I'll praise my Maker with my breath, Praise shall employ my nobler powers. Or immortality endures." Thus commenced the auspicious morn in many a negro village in British Guiana. I had been sick for some time, and was unequal to the task devolved upon me; but I knew that all the people would come to speak to me. I sat down in the portico, and the people began to come about seven o'clock, and each one brought in his hand a small present for my wife. The scene which ensued was past all description. The young and the old smiled and wept alternately. The old people especially crowded around my chair on their knees, and washed my hands with their tears. In consequence of the illness of Mr. Haywood, no special services were held at Orange chapel, and the Directors have been deeply concerned to hear that his indisposition subsequently increased so much as to render it necessary that he should seek a change of air. Mr. Haywood accordingly proceeded to Barbadoes, where he arrived about the 15th of October. In a letter forwarded thence at the close of the month he states : I can add nothing more to the former communication than that all things have gone on well since in Berbice. The negro is industrious, thankful, and happy. My dear people brought about 500 guilders as The next communication is from the over Chapel, who writes as follows :— It will afford you much pleasure to hear that the services at this Station on the the first-fruits of free labour an offering to God. Their monthly subscriptions have increased, and they have given me 600 guilders besides all our sea-stock to help me to regain my health. Rev. John Edwards, West Coast, Han 1st of August were well attended, and that the greatest interest and attention were displayed. Although the people had spent nearly all the night of Tuesday in their different meeting-houses on the estates in prayer and thanksgiving to God, not separating till five o'clock on the morning of the 1st, they began to assemble as early as seven, only two hours after, and long before eleven, the time of service, the chapel was crowded to excess, and as many or more than the number inside, were obliged, for want of room, to remain outside the building. The scene would have gratified you could you have witnessed it; the appear ance of the people in white, an emblem of joy and gladness; the attention with which they listened to the word of everlasting life; the peculiar pleasure manifested in every countenance when addressed for the first time as free men and free women, would have given you an additional proof that they know how to value that which was their right, their freedom. I directed their attention to the 5th chapter of Galatians 13th verse, "For brethren ye have been called unto liberty." MARQUESAS. THE annexed particulars comprise the concluding portion of the account of this Mission as furnished in the letters and journals of the Rev. John Rodgerson, the former part of which appeared in our Number for December. Visit of Mr. Stallworthy to Dominica. For some time past, Mr. R. writes, "I have contemplated a visit to Dominica, having learned from the natives that a circuit of the island might be made by land; but as the people continue to be unsettled, I considered it improper to leave Mrs. R. and children for five or six weeks; Mr. S. therefore undertook the journey. He left us on the 31st of August, and landed at Hanatemanu, a small valley opposite to the northern end of Tahuata. At most of the valleys he met with a kind reception, and entertainment. At Hanapaoa, a large valley on the N.E. side, the people were at war among themselves, the party in-land with those toward the sea; two individuals were wounded on the day he arrived among them. Most probably they will never be settled in that valley till one party is conquered. Both parties obtain muskets and ammunition from Iotete, as well as from shipping that lie off and on the island for refreshments. At Taoa a war had just ceased, in which several were killed. Nearly all the Hapatonians reside at Taoa, and some are on one side of the contending parties, some on the other. The people said it was their intention to commence fighting as soon as a feast was ended, for which preparations were then making. Their wars are frequently occasioned by encroachments made on each other's land; old grievances are scarcely ever forgotten, and every opportunity of revenge is sought and embraced. Two or three Missionaries with a small quantity of property about them might live without much fear of personal danger; and by moving from valley to valley might be the means in some instances of preventing war and bloodshed among the natives, if nothing greater was effected by them. The truths of the Gospel are treated by most with perfect indifference. May the Lord arise and have mercy on this part of the heathen world, and make them to become a willing people in the day of his power! Population. The number of inhabitants of Dominica is about 7,000; Tahuata, (200 being expelled,) 1,130; Fatuiva, 2,995; making a population together of 11,125. In a letter which we formerly received from our American brethren, the population of the leeward group is estimated at 7,000, upwards of 4,000 of which reside on the island of Nukuiva. On the 8th of September, Her Majesty's ship the Imogene cast anchor in the Bay. As soon as the ship came in sight, I hastened on board and met with a kind reception from the captain and his officers. The information respecting the islands generally, state of the people, conduct of foreigners residing on the island, and the progress of the Mission, I was most happy to communicate. Captain Bruce manifested a lively interest on the latter subject, and was ready to help as far as it was in his power. Having received an invitation to dine with the captain, Mrs. R., myself, and children spent nearly half a day on board, and were respectfully treated by all. The affability and kindness of Captain Bruce was such as to insure our esteem and respect, and to endear him to our memory. When speaking of the Mission, he said, "Your efforts must be seconded by those who visit you from foreign shores, for if they act inconsistently they will undo more in a day than you can do in a year." Before leaving in the evening we were presented with a few axes, adzes, chisels, &c., useful articles to distribute among the natives, and some peculiarly acceptable articles for ourselves. |