J. Jackson, who also, on the arrival of the Duke of Kent, resigned it to his Royal Highness. The Rev. Dr. Collyer read the Report, which paid soine well-merited compliments to the memory of the late Secretary, Joseph Fox, Esq. by whose noble benevolence the great cause had been rescued from failure, he having taken upon himself the engagements which Mr. Lancaster had entered into, but could not meet to a very considerable amount. The Report quoted the exertions making in Southwark, as an example to the City of London, and to the rest of the United Kingdom; stated that the invested subscription, which was accumulating for the purpose of raising £10,000, had arisen to £7,000, and that the remaining £3,000 was expected to be raised, as first hoped for, within the present year. The funds of the Institution were still lamentably narrow, when compared with the great object in view-but the Report recomur-nded perseverance, and the union of all good men of all persuasions, and the great object would be attained. The harvest was generally promising. The vast empire of Russia was of good promise; its government felt the value of general education, and was preparing for a hearty co-operation with this Society. A society was establishing in that culpire for the purpose. It was with very ningled emotions that the Society looked to France, whose public schools, once on a footing of liberality, now refused instruction to any but professed Catholics, though its population contained at least sixteen millions, who could neither read or write! All the masters, who conscientiously could not be Papists, were, whatever their talents, dismissed from the schools, to which they had been great ornaments. This was a source of deep regret. Much good, nevertheless, had been done. The British system had been transplanted into France, and exhibited in its beauty and strength to the admiring eyes of Frenchmen. Switzerland was busily opening schools for general education, under the patronage of the Plenipotentiary of that country to the Congress at Vienna, a gentleman, to whose praise it should be known, that when offered a national recompence for his high services, he declined it; but prayed that the amount, with an addition from himself, might become the beginning of a national fund for a freeschool, on the model of the British free-school. Through the lamented loss of Mr. Fox, who was, when taken ill, engaged on the business of the Foreign part of the Report, but a scanty account could be given of Asia. In Africa the cause had received a severe check. Mrs. Sutherland had yielded to the pressure of the climate, and Mr. S. had returned ill; but yet, under the fostering care of Lieut. Col. M'Carthy, the Governor of Sierra Leone, between two and three hundred children were receiving education, and this under the superintendence of the eldest African youth trained by this Society. Unshackled by prejudice, America was progressing in education. She had shown her wisdom by the adoption of a liberal system, and a school on the principle of exclusion was not known in the United States. The legislature of New York had given repeated encouragement by grants. A society was formed there for the education of all the children not provided for by some religious establishment. On a Sunday morning between eight and nine hundred children assembled under that society, and branched off at a given hour to the respective places of public worship appointed by their parents. Female associations were forming for instruction of the girls in needle-work. The legislature of Halifax had voted £400 to the schools there, in token of approbation of the very manifest change for the better, in the character and conduct of the children. Very great emotions of pleasure appeared to agitate the assembly, when that part of the Report which regards Hayti was read. The Chief, Christophe, deeply penetrated with the benefits of knowledge and the diffusion of the Scriptures, invites among his people, all those who could contribute to their improvement. In a proclamation in the gazette of Hayti, he says,"I invite professors of all sciences no difference of religion shall be deemed an exclusion. Merit and ability alone shall be considered, without regard to the nation which gave birth, Intelligence-Schools for All. or the creed which may be preferred. After twenty-six years of revolution and thirteen years possession of hard-earned independence, we are not (says the gazette) the same people. Formerly, as brutes, we bowed under the lash of a cruel and ignorant master-as men we were dead-our faculties all crushed; but we burst our chains, and, again erect, we look upward toward heaven -as men-as social beings! A new career is now before us-thanks to thee, O God of heaven! Haytians! (says the Chief) be it ours to shew, by our lives, that blacks, equally with whites, are the work of Omnipotence, and the objects of the kind regard of the Father of all!" Mr. Allen (of the Society of Friends, and Treasurer) felt under strong depression from the loss of his late coadjutor, Mr. Fox. Beside the original debt, there was last year a balance of £336 against the Institution. Mr. Allen urged forcibly the cause he advocated. Even in London, education was more needed than any, who would not inquire closely, could be persuaded to believe. The object of the Institution was to interest the poor themselves-not to receive the high blessing of education as an alms, but, by doing something themselves, to let it have more the semblance of a purchase. They wanted to raise the moral character of the poor. Parents became benefited through the children; and instances are on record where the parents have been admitted to the schools at their own request, when they have seen their good effects on the children. Mr. Adams, Minister at the British Court from the American States, said, that he appreciated the compliment paid to the country he had the honour to represent, and which felt the necessity, and knew the advantages, of education. Education is knowledge, and it leads to virtue. Mr. Williams (banker). gloried in the prospect that, through this Insti'tution, there was a chance of making some adequate return to the people of colour. The sons of Africa were much indebted to a most honourable man then in his eye (Mr. Wilberforce, who had just entered) for the cessation of slavery, That horrid traffic had by him been shown in its detestable colours; but it appeared now in 367 darker shades, since we learn from Hayti such proofs of intellectual capaeity in those whom our avarice and cruelty had held as inferior to our species. The Earl of Darnley noticed, that the Institution was one for universal benevolence. He would remind the assembly that their venerable Sovereign was its prompt, and first a d zealous patron. They would reme ber the good Monarch's wish,-Th.t he might live to see every poor child in the kingdom able to read his Bible." But had Providence permitted his continued presence among us, this wish could not have its accomplishment, but from schools not built on the principle of religious exclusion. His R. H. the Prince Regent was a liberal contributor to this Institution; and so were their R. Hs. the Dukes of Sussex and Kent. His Lordship moved the thanks to the Royal Personages, which was seconded by the Rev. Rowland Hill, who thought that education, being an universal blessing, should be as universally as possible bestowed. Sir J. Swinburne assured the meeting that his Grace of Bedford would have been present, but that indispensable business had taken him out into a distant county. Rev. Dr. Lindsay said, It was to be regretted that an unity of faith, which could never be found, was sought after, to the neglect of the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, which could be obtained. Rev. Dr. Collyer then read the Ladies' Report, which announced progress in various places; and in one (if we heard right) there were 1800 female children. Knitting was introduced into the school, but the ladies lamented that the parents, in many instances, were insensible to the blessings of education. The Russian Envoy to Portugal (through the medium of Dr. Schwabe) declared, that his Sovereign was sensible of the value of the object of the British and Foreign School Society, and was ready to give it the most warm co-operation. Rev. J. Townsend was happy to advocate so great and good a cause. He rejoiced to hear that a king of Hayti could read such an admirable lesson, and give such excellent admonitions-even to Christian princes! Sir J. Jackson, bart. moved thanks to the Committee; which were seconded by the Rev. Mr. Cok, in a speech of much eloquence. Mr. Marten, in moving thanks to the Subscribers to the invested Fund, spoke of the necessity of supplies, without which, the cause of education of the poor could not proceed. The £10,000 were to be raised in two years, and if not completed in the present year, the money was to be return ed to the subscribers. The fund was to pay a debt, and the surplus of it to build a suitable central school for the metropolis. The commencement of the sub cription for investment and accumulation, till it reached £10,000, was, by various zealous friends, each according to his ability, undertaken to raise in their different connexions, some £100, and others smaller amounts: but still these sums were inconvenient for others who moved in narrow circles; and therefore he took the liberty to recommend, that those of either sex who felt the importance of this cause, and who could raise but £5 among their friends, would be volunteers in aid of this Society. Many of these small additions would form an aggregate of consequence to the Society, and go far toward completing the sun originally proposed. He then urged the completion of this undertaking on the ground of its utility. It was Christian education which was afforded. The minds of children were early imbued with lessons from the Bible, inculcating the fear of God, leading away from vice, and drawing to virtue. He had to inform the meeting that a Mr. Owen, of Scotland--that land of bright example of the benefits of education-had presented the society with £1000. Mr. Roweroit, in seconding the motion, felt chagrined, that while, on another occasion, in ten months, £500,000 had been subscribed, he should have to plead in London, for so pitiful a sum as £3000 to make up a sum of £10,000 begged for all over the kingdom, for the education of the poor. But I ask it (said he) for the education of children who may hereby know what a country theirs is, and if against any future tyrant they may have to defend it, they may feel the firmer in the trying hour." His B. H. the Duke of Kent said, "The attendance to-day surpasses my most sanguine expectations. I have at former meetings looked forward to preside at the next returns.-Not so now.-I am about to leave my beloved country. Perhaps years may elapse before I meet you again. Let me hear while I am abroad that this cause prospers, and I pledge myself, that when the purposes of my absence are accomplished when I return, I will place One Thousand Guineas at the disposal and use of this Institution. If I have not done it before, it is because I had it not in my power. I am desirous that this last act-this pledge of my love to it should be upon record. I feel gratified that this motion came from the Minister of the United States. I have lived long in the neighbourhood of the United States, and it was ever a grief to me that the two countries should be at variance. Their language and their interest is the same, and their friendship should be inviolable. I return my thanks to this assembly." Lady Darnley and the Lady Mayoress held the plates at the door, and the collection exceeded £105, BARON MASERES, Mr. Baron Maseres, who is eighty-five, is much younger than many men are at fifty. He performs all his duties as Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, which duties are various and important, with as much regularity and in every respect as well, as he performed those of Attorney-General in Canada fifty years ago. Few men in England write or speak with more fluency, more precision or more force; to which I take this opportunity of adding, that very few indeed have acted, as to politics, so disinterested, or, in any respect, so honourable a part. Degenerate and base as the times are, there are still some worthy men left in England; and if their names should ever be collected, that of Maseres will certainly occupy a prominent place. Collett. W. Reg. June 1, LORD GROSVENOR.-There appeared lately in the Chester Courant a paragraph, stating, that thirty-one men employed in Lord Grosvenor's mine at Halkin, in Flintshire, had been turned out of work because they were Dissenters from the Church of England. We u Intelligence. The Jews-Missionary Collections. derstand that the dismissal originated entirely in a mistake of his Lordship's agent. His Lordship had simply desired that his workmen should be en couraged to go to church (instead of wasting their time and spending their earnings idly on Sundays); and his aim would have been equally gained by pressing those of his workmen who were Dissenters, to regularly attend their own place of worship; but the agent taking the recommendation in its literal sense, dismissed the latter. It is said that orders have since been given by his Lordship, that no person shall be excluded from employment on account of his religious opinions. Examiner. June 2. THE JEWS.-Ifit be true that the Senate of Lubeck have ordered the Jews settled there to leave that city, we can only remark that Lubeck deserves to be deprived of her title and privileges as a free and independent city. In the first place, it is a direct violation of the 16th Article of the German Confederation, by which it is declared that the Jews should continue in the full enjoyment of all their present rights and privileges, and await a further decision. In the second place, it is a shocking outrage upon the principles of humanity and hospitality. It is not pretended that this expulsion is for any crimes committed. But even that charge could not apply to a whole community-to the aged, the infirm, the female and the infant. We have ever thought that the treatment which the Jews have received has been a disgrace to all countries and to all nations. The fate of never having a home of being a people without a people's country-of being dispersed over every part of the world, is hard enough: but to have superadded the fate of being treated as criminals and outcasts of having the punishment of guilt without the commission of guilt of having their very names pass into a synonym for all that is bad and tricking, and false and foul-to be the mock and scorn of the rabble-to have the " very dogs bark at them" 369 as they pass, is a degree of suffering to Collections at the late Missionary Meeting of the Calvinistic Dissenters and Methodists. L. s. d. Surry Chapel 120 0 0 109 2 55 0 0 68 0 0 · £1165 4 6 MONTHLY RETROSPECT of PUBLIC AFFAIRS; OR, The Christian's Survey of the Political World. THE explosion has taken place which has been so long dreaded. Every one connected with the West Indies had prognosticated that the efforts used by Mr. Wilberforce and his friends to get a bill passed by the parliament of the empire to enforce certain regulations respecting the blacks, must produce some fatal effects in the coJouies. The language used by the favourers of the measure was of a most unhappy tendency. It raised expectations in the slaves that there was an authority here highly paramount above that of their masters, and that Mr. Wilberforce was so great a man, and so much their friend, that their servitude was soon to be broken, and a general emancipation was to take place. Highly culpable indeed was the language of some of the writers upon this question. They took a delight in representing the planter in the most odious colours, in exaggerating every instance of ill-treatment that might have occurred, concealing all the kindness that is continually displayed, and has for many years been increasing in the islands; and in fact doing every thing to excite a spirit of discontent in the minds of the slaves, and depreciating the character of the masters. That man in every part of the world, whatever may be his colour, should attain to the dignity of his nature, should be free in the highest sense of the word, is the great object of Christianity, and the desire of every reader of this Miscellany. But till his mind is improved and he is capable of understanding and appreciating the blessings of this freedom, it is in vain that he is released from certain yokes laid upon him by the rules of civil society. Many a king upon his throne is as much an object of our pity as the slave under the lash of his driver; and who would wish to enjoy the liberty of the savage in the wilds of America? It is an old and a good adage, Natura nihil facit per saltum. A greater evil could not possibly befall the blacks, than that they should be instantly declared free, for the only result of this freedom would be the tearing of each other to pieces and the destruction of the masters. In what manner they are best to be brought forward to a higher degree in the scale of nature, is a problem worthy of the consideration of the true politician; but of this we may be sure, that Mr. Wilberforce and his friends are taking the worst methods possible for the attainment of this end. If the slave is to look up to the authority of this island, and to conceive that he has a party in the House of Commons in his favour, if Mr. Wilberforce is to be his patron and the local legislature to be set at nought, it will be in vain to expect any thing but what has already taken place— the burning of plantations and the destruction of life. The error of Mr. Wilberforce consists in not attending to the state of society which exists in that country over which he attempts to regulate. He does not recollect that slavery existed at the first propagation of Christianity, and that it took several ages before the maxims of our holy religion could prevail over the principles of the world. In this state, however, no violent efforts were used by the apostles and first teachers of Christianity. They did not attempt to excite an outcry against the holders of slaves, nor to use any irritating language respecting slavery. They saw clearly that the emancipation would be produced in a better manner by teaching slaves to obey their masters, not from eye-service, but from a regard to duty, and in like manner by inculcating on the masters the duty of beingkind to their slaves. Thus gradually both parties were brought nearer to each other, and at last slavish services were exchanged for a better tenure-the compact between master and servant. The abolition of the slave trade and the emancipation of the blacks are two distinct questions, and they ought to be kept entirely distinct in our minds. On the first question the parliament of the kingdom had an undoubted right to interfere, for it might assuredly dictate that an Englishman should not carry on a trade in the persons of blacks, as well as it prohibited his trading in other articles. To this law the West Indians submitted equally with all other subjects; and the advocates for the abolition of the slave trade having gained this point, were interested only in seeing that the law was not broken. But the emancipation of the blacks involves a variety of questions on which the residents of England are not competent judges. There are three conditions in the West Indies, that of the white, who must be the ruler-the freed manand the slave. The white enjoys all the privileges of Englishmen, the other two partics are necessarily deprived of some of them; but all are under certain laws liable to be changed at the discretion of the go |