⚫ result would show that the amount of immorality, as manifested by illegitimate births, is a hundred-fold greater in some Roman Catholic parts of Europe than in any part of our Protestant England. I would place the matter simply upon the result. In London, where there is more temptation than anywhere else, and where they are only 4 per cent., in Paris they are 33 per cent., and in Vienna 51 per cent. And if we pass down to the states of Italy, to Rome itself, the city of popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, monks, and nuns-in that city there are no returns. But they could hardly be expected to give returns of the number of illegitimate births in so ecclesiastical a city as Rome! It appears, however, by Dr. Bowring's returns, that the number of births in Rome is four thousand three hundred and odd per annum; and it appears from the returns of Mettermeier, that the number of foundlings in the different foundling institutions in Rome, during a period of ten years, gives a return of 3163 per annum. All this may speak for the kindliness and the charity of the monks and nuns of Rome; but certainly it speaks very strongly of the immorality of Rome, or declares that if the mothers be married mothers, they are the most unnatural mothers in the world." The Chaplain's Report for 1853, of the district around Liverpool, states, that of 1965 persons committed for trial there, 801 were professed Romanists, 655 of whom were born in Ireland: yet these are to be numbered as if English Protestants! In the Manchester Borough Gaol, 1854, out of 532 prisoners, 300 are Irish, and (on the authority of Mr. Thomas Wright) only two of them wished to see a Priest. MAY ANNIVERSARIES, NOT INSERTED IN JUNE. IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETY. THE Annual Meeting of the above Society was held at Finsbury Chapel, on Monday evening, May 15th, when the chair was taken by J. Cheetham, Esq., M.P. At the close of the devotional exercises, the Chairman rose and congratulated the friends and supporters of the Society upon the evident blessing with which its labours had been crowned during the year; and after some further observations of an encouraging nature, with reference to the past and the future, Dr. Massie, the Secretary, was called upon to read the Report. The labours of the agents were reviewed in Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Limerick, Cork, Kerry, and Sligo. The funds received during the year had been equal to the expenditure, though not sufficient to warrant as extended an increase to the Mission field as other indications would have encouraged. The income from regular sources had been £1945 11s. 11d., to which was to be added the payment of a legacy, bequeathed by the late J. Broadley Wilson, Esq., of £450. The Rev. J. Ross, in moving the first resolution, gave a graphic account of the barbarous treatment which himself and some of his brother ministers had received last summer, at the hands of the infuriated Romanists. He referred also to the fact of his having visited some of the stations connected with the Society, and bore honourable and decided testimony to the ability and worth of the agents employed. The meeting was successively addressed by the Revs. Dr. Archer, Dr. Brown, W. Tarbotton, S. R. Ward, and G. Wilkins, and Eusebius Smith, Esq.; after which the Doxology was sung, and the Benediction pronounced, CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION. THE Tenth Annual Meeting of the Congregational Board of Education was held on Wednesday Evening, May 10th, at Crosby Hall, Samuel Morley, Esq., the excellent Treasurer, in the chair. The meeting was well attended, and an unusually large number of gentlemen, well known for their devotion to the cause of popular education, occupied the platform. The Rev. Dr. Massie opened the proceedings with prayer, after which the Chairman made a brief statement of the objects and progress of the Board, and expressed his growing conviction of the importance of the work in which they were engaged, The Rev. J. Viney read the Report, which commenced with stating | Jewish parents had been baptized, at the that a sense of the importance of the objects contemplated by the Board had been deepening in the minds of those who had been most closely identified with it. Since the last report, twenty-two young persons had been admitted into Homerton College, and twenty-eight had been appointed to schools. The purchase and adaptation of the building, at an expenditure of £11,622 1s. 5d., had, in so brief a period, been met by the free-will offerings of the friends of voluntary and religious education. The income during the past year had steadily increased; but enlarged subscriptions were solicited to aid poor schools, especially in the rural districts. The receipts, including the balance in hand last year, of £479, amounted to £2644 18s. 2d., and the expenditure to £2430 7s. 1d. Various resolutions were submitted to the meeting by the Rev. W. G. Barrett, Rev. J. Kelly, Mr. J. Crossley, M.P., Mr. E. Miall, M.P., Rev. J. H. Hinton, Rev. Dr. Brown, and Mr. E. Baines. LONDON JEWS' SOCIETY. Episcopal Jews' Chapel, during the year; while the Society's operations on the Continent had been carried on with diligence and success. The Earl of Mayo, Bishop Vidal, Dr. Carr, Dr. Marsh, Bishop Gobat, and others, ably pleaded the cause of the Society, and expressed their heartfelt conviction of the claims of the Jews to the sympathy and benevolent efforts of the disciples of Jesus. PEACE SOCIETY. THIS Society held its Anniversary Meeting in Finsbury Chapel, on Tuesday evening, May 22nd, C. Hindley, Esq., M.P., presiding on the occasion. After singing and prayer, the Chairman made some appropriate introductory remarks on the blessings of peace and the evils of war. The Secretary, the Rev. H. Richard, instead of reading the Report, made an eloquent statement, which was listened to with evident satisfaction, as to the efforts of the Committee during the past year to extend their principles. The first speaker was Mr. Brock, who addressed the meeting with much force, and was followed by Mr. R. Charlton, one of the deputation to Russia. The Rev. J. Burnet, Mr. J. Sturge, Dr. Massie, and others, ably advocated the claims of the Society, which, it was considered, had done much already towards hastening the period when nations shall learn war no more; and whose labours, it was believed, will ultimately tend, under the Divine blessing, to make peace universal and permanent. THE Forty-fifth Anniversary of this Society was held on Friday, May 4th, in the large room, Exeter Hall, which was densely crowded. The children under the protection of the Society were present, singing various hymns previous to the hour of meeting, and concluding with the national anthem. The chair was taken by the Earl of Shaftesbury, and the proceedings commenced with reading the Scriptures and prayer. It appeared from the report, that the income of the Society amounted to £31,644 18s., and the expenditure to £30,805 17s. 11d., there being an increase on the income of last year of about £4000. In the course of the year, 2086 Hebrew Bibles, 6412 portions of the Bible in Hebrew, and 1068 Hebrew New Testaments had been issued from the So- THIS Society held its Annual Meeting ciety's depôts, and upwards of 50,000 on the 16th of May, at the Hanoverbooks, tracts, and portions of the Scrip- square Rooms. The chair was taken by tures in the modern languages. It was the Marquis of Cholmondeley, who was also stated that there were six students supported by the Rev. Dr. Carpenter, under instruction at the Hebrew College, Admiral Harcourt, &c. &c. The Rev. W. and that the schools were prospering. Greaves opened the proceedings with Fourteen adults and nine hildren of prayer. After an introductory speech A vote of thanks to the chair, which was duly acknowledged, closed the proceedings. FOREIGN AID SOCIETY. and the expenditure to £2017 10s. 2d. Resolutions were submitted to the meeting by Lord Robert Grosvenor, Hon. W. Cowper, Dr. Mortimer, Rev. W. Brock, J. Payne, Esq., and other well-known friends of education among the working classes. ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. from the Chairman, the Rev. R. Burgess, | for the year amounted to £1811 13s. 9d., Honorary Secretary, read the Report, which commenced with an allusion to the persecuting spirit of Rome, as it had been exerted, during the year, against the Society's movements. Reference was made to the Society's labours in connexion with the Evangelical Societies of Geneva, Marseilles, Dauphiny, Burgundy, and Belgium. Within the last two years, hundreds of converts from Popery had been received into the Waldensian communion. From the Treasurer's balance sheet it appeared that the receipts had amounted to £2959 5s. 6d., and the expenditure to £2768 6s. 7d. Earl Waldegrave moved the adoption of the Report, and expressed his strong attachment to the Society. M. F. Monod addressed the meeting in English, on behalf of the Evangelical Society of France. Mr. Milson, an English resident at Lyons, testified to the value of the assistance rendered by the Society to the cause of religion in that place. The Hon. A. Kinnaird, the Rev. W. Freemantle, and others, ably set forth the claims of the Foreign Aid Society. WORKING MEN'S EDUCATIONAL UNION. THE Second Anniversary of this Union was held on Tuesday evening, May 23rd, at King William-street Rooms, Strand. Previous to the meeting, Benjamin Scott, Esq., the Honorary Secretary, delivered an admirable Lecture on Palestine and the Holy Places, illustrated by a Diorama on that subject, which was much admired. At seven o'clock, the Hon. A. Kinnaird took the chair, and, after a few introductory observations, called upon Mr. Scott to read the Report, from which it appeared that the demand for Diagrams had continued unabated. During the year, the Committee had published Diagrams on the following subjects:-The Mechanical Powers, the Human Eye and Optics, the Telescope, the Microscope, Australia and Australian Life, &c. &c. 3336 Lectures had been given in connexion with the Union, attended by nearly half a million of persons. The income of the Union from sales and subscriptions had considerably increased. The total receipts THE Fifteenth Annual General Meeting of the British and Foreign AntiSlavery Society was held at Exeter Hall, on Monday evening, May 22nd, and though lacking this year the attraction afforded at its last anniversary, by the presence of Mrs. H. B. Stowe, drew together a large and influential assembly. The chair was occupied by the Earl of Shaftesbury, who was unable to address the meeting, as he was labouring under the effects of illness, and therefore called at once upon the Secretary to read the report. From this it appeared that eight millions of human beings were still held in cruel bondage by their fellow-men. It was also stated that although the Slave Trade was prohibited by the law of European nations, it was nevertheless shamelessly pursued, especially by the Portuguese. Some cheering facts, however, were announced respecting the republic of Venezuela, which abolished Slavery in its dominions on the 10th of March; while by a decree of the Court of Holland, Slavery will shortly cease in the colonial possessions of the Dutch. Sir E. N. Buxton moved the adoption of the report, and protested in strong terms against the doctrine that one man can have a right to regard the body of another as his property. The Rev. S. R. Ward, formerly a slave, made a most thrilling speech, depicting the evils from which he himself had suffered so severely. Dr. Hewlett, J. Sturge, Esq., G. W. Alexander, Esq., and others, spoke to various resolutions, expressive of the conviction that Slave-holding is a sin, and slavery a system whose total and immediate abolition should be sought by every legitimate and moral means, EVANGELICAL CONTINENTAL SOCIETY. THE Anniversary of this Society was held at the Weigh-House Chapel, on Thursday evening, May 18th. The Rev. T. Binney opened the meeting with prayer. Sir Culling Eardley, who was in the chair, introduced the business by explaining the principles and objects of the Society, which he said had his best wishes and hearty support. The Rev. Evan Davies, the Secretary, read a brief report of what had been doing in the course of the past year, referring especially to the labours of the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel, who made an extensive tour last autumn, in behalf of the Society, in France and the North of England; the result of which had been the formation of several new auxiliaries. The various Evangelical Societies of the Continent had been aided as before, and to a somewhat larger extent, from the funds of the Society, which had been more abundant than during any previous year, although still quite inadequate to meet the calls made for assistance. The total income was £1490 19s. 10d. To the Evangelical Society of France £510 were granted; to the Evangelical Society of Geneva £162; to the churches at Lyons £120; to Belgium £161; and to Italy £50. M. Audebez addressed the meeting on the present state of things in France, as affecting the progress of the gospel. Mr. Milson, from Lyons, set forward in a very striking manner the superstition and wickedness of Popery. M. F. Monod expressed the gratitude of the churches of France for the important aid they had received from the Society's funds. The Revs. B. W. Noel and S. R. Ward made some valuable remarks, after which the doxology was sung, and the benediction pronounced, YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. THE Anniversary Breakfast of this excellent Association was held on Wednesday morning, May 10th, at Freemasons' Hall. The attendance was very numerous-indeed the large hall was full to overflowing, a considerable number being unable to find accommodation within its walls, and having therefore to adjourn for breakfast to another room. The chair was taken about 6 o'clock, by Samuel Morley, Esq. When the cloth was removed, a hymn was given out by Mr. Hitchcock, and sung by the assembly, after which the Rev. Dr. Hamilton engaged in prayer. The Chairman then assured the meeting of the deep interest he felt in the object for which the Young Men's Association had been established, and his sense of the judgment and wisdom which had distinguished all the proceedings of the Committee. He then referred to the temptations to which young men, in London, were exposed, and the happiness of religion, and being thoroughly devoted to God's cause. The Rev. W. Bruce made some admirable remarks on the necessity of decision, and the delightful effects of Christian union. The Rev. Hugh Stowell delivered a powerful speech on the importance of watchfulness and prayer. Mr. J. B. Gough thrilled the meeting with illustrations of the awful results of intemperance and infidelity. The Rev. W. Arnott and other gentlemen alluded to the value of the Association which had brought them together, in such numbers, at so early an hour. The meeting was full of interest, and will, we trust, result in lasting good to the young men of this great metropolis. |