blessing of Almighty God, to whom we ascribe all the praise in whatever we commemorate, been happily commenced during the course of the last twelve months. A class of native students, themselves converts, with one exception, from Hindoo idolatry, are preparing, under your vigilant eye, for future usefulness, as missionaries, or settled pastors, amongst their fellow-countrymen around them.

8. The learned labours which you have, in the meantime, undertaken— though too frequently interrupted by the invasions of disease in yourself or your colleagues, and lately contracted by the narrowed means of the incorporated society at home, and their reduction of the number of the collegiate authorities-have stamped the name of Bishop's College on the sacred literature of India.

9. We need not refer to the continued and cheerful aid which you have rendered to learned inquirers in every part of the East. We need not dwell on the series of labours (we might, in some instances, say discoveries) which you have achieved in the cause of the Asiatic Society. Nor do we advert to that important Arabic version of our incomparable liturgy which the celebrated Dr. Pococke began, and which you have, after such a lapse of time, completed.

10. We must be forgiven, however, if we dwell for a moment on that which is attracting the notice of Oriental scholars, both in Europe and India-your History of the Life of our blessed Saviour, in the sacred Sanscrit language of religion and poetry. This most rare and difficult, and, indeed, unexampled undertaking, we have, many of us, had the opportunity of knowing, is sought for with eagerness by the learned pundits of India. Nor do we think any means more likely to pave the way for a calm inquiry into the nature and evidences of the Gospel amongst the learned classes of Hindoos, than a publication which unites, for the first time, their own admired poetical style, in their own ancient language, as consecrated in their Shastras, with the elementary facts and doctrines of the Christian revelation.

Had you accomplished nothing else, dearest Sir, in India, besides this remarkable work, you would have placed your name, in conjunction with that of the college over which you preside, in the highest rank of Oriental benefactors and scholars.

11. We need not say, that we judge it almost impossible to supply your place in many of these respects. Nor can we think of losing you without some feelings of depression. You have, however, been long aided, and your plans will, as far as possible, still be carried on by the rev. professor and tutor whom you leave among us; and we trust your successor in the headship of the college may in future years revive our fondest recollections of yourself. We will also severally endeavour ourselves, under God's blessing, to aid the beloved institution, which you have so long reared, and do all in our power, according to our several stations and opportunities, to assist its future principal and professors in promoting that union of vital and heartfelt piety, of sound evangelical catholic Christian truth, of holy discipline, after the primitive platform of our Anglican episcopal church, of sacred zeal in missionary enterprise, and solid and deeplyseated Oriental learning, in which the permanent conversion of India is, we are persuaded, so intimately involved.

But we

12. With God is, as we devoutly acknowledge, all ultimate success. trust that He will still be pleased, if we are not wanting to ourselves, to vouchsafe us the tokens of his presence. We trust the college will take lasting root in the soil of Hindoostan. We hope that a body of general students will gradually be added to those who are preparing for the service of the church. We hope that its catechists and missionaries, together with those of other societies in our church, will lead the way in the illumination of India; that its native students will constitute the seed plot of an indigenous clergy for our native flocks; that our increasing Christian population, of every class, will be at length nourished by the stated labours of a regular body of resident ministers, instituted and inducted into regular benefices under the patronage of government, and by the munificence of individual benefactors; that endowments of lands and monies

may render the sustentation of the college permanent; that the collegiate authorities may be allowed to confer, like our universities at home, degrees in arts and theology; and that it inay finally resemble our English colleges, by being manifestly bound up with the Christian institutions of the state.

13. But into the future we presume not to penetrate, except by our prayers, Our chief object in this valedictory address is to testify our regard to yourself as to the past.

But in order that we may the better unite both the past and future, we prefer an earnest request, that you would allow your portrait to be taken for us by some distinguished artist, as soon as possible after your arrival at home, that we may place it in a conspicuous part of Bishop's College, as at once a memorial of our affectionate esteem and regard, and an incentive to your successors to imitate your example.

14. We need scarcely add our earnest hope that your health and happiness may be long continued in England; that you may be soon placed in a position there in which your talents and acquirements may still be a source of comfort to yourself, and of benefit to the church and to the world; that your family felicity may be preserved by the health of your most amiable and accomplished lady, who has endeared herself to all our families, and to all the society around her, in so unusual a manner; and that you may be enabled, as we know you will be disposed, to aid the cause of religion and learning in India, by further labours from the press; by the superintendence of translations of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer; and, generally, by your valuable counsels, as well as by those fervent intercessory supplications which we are well persuaded you will continue to address to the throne of the Divine mercy on our behalf.

August 31st, 1837.

DANIEL CALCUTTA; T. DEALTRY, LL. B., Archdeacon; T. ROBERTSON, A.M. Senior Pres Chaplain: HENRY FISHER, Junior Presy. Chaplain; W. O. RUSPINI, M.A., Fort Chaplain; A. HAMMOND, B.A., Acts. Chaplain, Old Church; J. MACQUEEN, A.M., Chaplain and Secretary, Kidderpore; H. HUTLON, B.A., Chaplain, Dumdum; J. H. A. RUDD, B.A., Chaplain, Chinsurah; C. WIMBERLEY, B.A., Chaplain to the Governor General, Barrackpore; JOSIAH BATEMAN, M.A., Chaplain to the Lord Bishop; A. GARSTIN, Chaplain, St. Thomas Church; TIMOTHY SANDYS, C.M.S. Missionary; J. G. LINCKE, C.M.S. Missionary; J. C. THOMPSON, C.M.S. Missionary; DANIEL JONES, S.P.G. Missionary; JAMES BOWYER, S.P.G. Missionary; CHARLES E. DRIBERG, S.P.G. Missionary; J.J. WEITBRECHT, C.M.S. Miss Burdwan; W. GREENWOOD, Tutor to the Rajah of Burdwan; W. J. DEERR, C.M.S. Miss Kishnaghur; KRISHNA MOHANA BANERJA, Missionary on Begum Sumroo's Church Fund; G. U. WITHERS, M.A., Junior Professor at Bishop's College.

Upon this, DR. MILL read the following reply:

My Lord Bishop, Mr. Archdeacon, and the rest of my Reverend Brethren here assembled,

THE circumstance of my having only learnt at a late hour yesterday evening the precise tenour of the address I have just had the honour to hear from you, and that amidst the hurry of spirit and distraction of occupation incident on the approaching close of my long-continued duties in this country, joined, as I may surely add, to the overwhelming nature of the distinction itself, as flattering as it was before unexpected,-will I trust plead my excuse, if I fail in replying with the distinctness and particularity that might be wished, to a document so presented, and embracing such a variety of topics as yours. Whatever may be the imperfection of my expressions, believe me, that I feel most warmly and deeply the kindness of your sentiments towards me and that it is something more than a complimentary or convenient form of words when I say, that my feelings are such as to deprive me of the power of giving them adequate utterance.

You will pardon me, I am sure, if, before replying to your remarks, I state as shortly as I am able the circumstances which make a testimony of this nature more especially valuable to me. While standing in a relation of even peculiarly intimate dependence to the episcopacy of this diocese, and of course in the relation of special fraternity to all its clergy, the province of a head of Bishop's College has been a distinct and insulated one. It is one also in which I have found myself led almost as much by the very circumstances of the foundation as by previously settled internal conviction to the maintenance of certain principles; principles which, though now somewhat more generally understood and regarded here than they were at the commencement of my Indian residence, (the trials of the church having led to a juster appreciation of their nature and tendency in the minds of serious men) are still not generally recognised or acted upon among us. That ecclesiastical authority is no human accessory to religion, but a divine and apostolical institution perpetuated from the beginning of the gospel; that, consequently, far from requiring to be put out of sight whenever a larger or more generous view of Christianity is to be taken, or when we think of extending its benefits to the heathen, we ought to regard it as God's own means for keeping unity, for linking us with those who preceded and those who shall follow us, and for enlarging as well as preserving his inheritance in the world,—these are the principles to which I allude. Consider me not as urging now the truth of these principles, but simply as stating the fact of their being held as true by myself and others in Bishop's College. In what light these sentiments are regarded by persons of exclusively worldly or political views, it requires little discernment to perceive; but by many in whose Christian sympathies we should rejoice to be included, it is undeniable that they are viewed with suspicion; they are considered as in some unexplained manner interfering with, and superseding, spiritual religion. The feeling generated mainly from this source towards a missionary institution in which these principles, so understood, are considered as the prevalent sentiments, is matter of notoriety to us all; it cannot indeed be a secret to any, either of the clergy or the laity, who attend to what is thought and said on the concerns of religion around them; and this feeling is not removed even by the greatest care on the part of those that profess the principles in question to cultivate friendly and brotherly intercourse with others that hold the looser and more current sentiments on these matters. Now to conflicts and trials, growing originally out of this state of feeling, I am no stranger. As far as such trials arise directly from the conscientious maintenance of what is believed to be apostolical religion, they are part of the cross of his Master, which every Christian is concerned meekly and manfully to bear after him; as far as they arise from human indiscretion and infirmity in the mode of maintaining what is thus conscientiously believed, they may be useful parts of the humbling and purifying discipline by which the self-love and self-ignorance of all require to be renounced and subdued. Either way, the retrospection need not be a bitter one. But if anything of pain or trouble can attach to any of my own recollections of that kind, it would be far more than compensated to me by the kindness and good will which meets me from every quarter on this day.

I cannot follow you, my Lord and Gentlemen, in the enumeration of my several labours in this country, and the handsome terms-handsome, I fear, far beyond their desert-in which you have been pleased to describe them. But on the allusion to the success with which my direct exertions have been attended, I may be indulged in a few observations. Believe me, if my mind suggests any afflicting drawbacks to that which you have with equal kindness and truth expressed on this head, the exception arises from no difference of sentiment respecting the past, or insensibility to the favours with which a gracious Providence has crowned us. I bless God that, having always rather made it my business to direct the attention of our founders in England to the difficulties than to the hopes of their enterprise, -rather to repress hasty expectations than to excite or encourage them,—I can now express my hearty concurrence in your statements on this head, as not in any degree exaggerated; however, your kindness may have led you to ascribe far too

much to my personal agency in the matter. I can say with equal confidence and gratitude, and invite every one who doubts to verify the same by his own inquiry, -that no part of the design of Bishop Middleton has been without that share of success which either his expectation or that of any other reasonable (however ardent) friend to our cause, had attached to this earliest stage of our operations; that in some instances the expectation has been exceeded; while the only instances of what might resemble failure are where his more remote designs as to the extension of the college have been prematurely anticipated. Viewing, what was most immediately contemplated, the planting of instructed and devoted labourers in various parts of India, we have abundant reason to be thankful to Almighty God for the hope afforded us, that, with respect even to visible and tangible result, we have not laboured in vain.

But though the fruit of past labours be thus encouraging, it would be idle as well as insincere in me to conceal, that every contemplation of this kind is alloyed by some feelings of even intense painfulness, when I am about to leave these shores for the last time. Viewing, my Lord, the state in which I leave the friend to whom you have alluded, for the last twenty months my only coadjutor, whose excellent spirit and able as well as conscientious assistance I cannot too highly estimate; remembering the impossibility, in which I have been latterly placed, of transmitting, and he of receiving, the bequest of one most important part of the duties of this establishment-I mean the translating and printing department, the perpetuation of which was among my most cherished and constant hopes; viewing also the impossibility in which, however prepared, he would be placed for the next eight months at least, of conducting concerns of that nature amidst the bursarial details, and the correspondence, as well as the academical, tutorial, and clerical duties that devolve upon him, until the time that I now at length find must elapse till my successor's arrival; viewing all this, I am nearly disposed to ask myself whether I am justified in now embarking, even by the necessities in which my preparations for the last six months have involved me; during which I could have had no reason whatever to anticipate so extreme a desolation as this. If the reason of this abeyance be the only one that I am able to divine, I should be defeating its purpose were I to remain. You have, my Lord and Gentlemen, alluded to the contracted means of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; deeply do I sympathize with their diminished resources; and most cheerfully would I, and every one connected with the college, consent, if that were the only point, to additional labour on that account; to any thing, indeed, except being charged in the public mind with duties which we are rendered physically incapable of discharging. But who can mark the wisdom and care with which the first bishop of this see instituted and defined the critical and learned part of our collegiate establishment,-who can mark the degree, however feeble and imperfect, in which, under difficulties of various kinds not here to be mentioned, this department was begun, and not feel the deepest regret on finding that just at the crisis in our history which made the continued efficiency of this department in judging and fixing translations of the scriptures and liturgy for our various missions most urgently necessary, it is thrown back to a state in which, on the most favourable possible anticipation, it will take seven or eight years to restore what has been lost? But I forbear to pursue this subject; trusting that the paternal care of our venerated superiors in England will speedily notice the evil and its remedy.

The Almighty Disposer of events can draw the greater good from what is to our feeble minds most discouraging; and most ungrateful would it be in me and those associated with me, to doubt that he who has brought us out ere now stronger than ever from difficulties in which our dismemberment and dissolution were anticipated by some, can and will effectually aid us even in this great discouragement, if we faithfully and obediently trust in him. There are abundant tokens of encouragement, even without including among them that most cheering and hopeful one which your support and suffrage, reverend father and brethren, has given me this day. When I see, in many instances, the light of truth prevail

in our favour in the simplest minds in those parts where prejudice and misinformation have reached the highest pitch,-when I see here the babes in Christ's flock, the neophites from heathenism, even pressing forward to commit the nurture of their infant faith, and their yet unformed knowledge to our tutorage, I seem to see in this alone the pledges of a grace and an assistance too strong for any untoward circumstances to impede, or any inferior power to resist. And how then can I despair, when I see above all this, your lordship, to whose apostolical care this branch of Christ's church is committed, heading your clergy in this expression of zealous confidence in the efficiency of an institution, which none indeed of your predecessors had abandoned,-which was designed by the wise zeal and piety of Middleton, and was fostered in its first opening labours by the bland and engaging sanctity of Heber. For myself personally, after the recollection of the friendship with which I was honoured early in my Indian residence by both those illustrious prelates, nothing can possibly be more gratifying than this testimony of esteem and affection at its close, from you, my lord, and you, Mr. Archdeacon, and all my reverend brethren. The request you make of me is one from which I cannot of course withhold my willing and thankful assent. And I shall be happy if the portrait serves to remind you occasionally of one who yet desires an interest in your good wishes and prayers; and who, on his part, will never cease to be zealously interested on behalf of this portion of our Sion; convinced that nothing but our own abuse or neglect of the high privileges which are ours can prevent its becoming an instrument of accomplishing the will of God in the sanctification of man, and a source of praise and blessing to the world.

Some of the personal friends of Dr. Mill are anxious that he should not be allowed to quit India without some memorial on their part of their respect and affection. The bishop and clergy have already expressed their regard for him; and it is understood that the Asiatic society are likely to record their appreciation of one of their most distinguished members. But comparatively few of the friends who would wish to join in such a tribute are either ministers of the church or members of the Asiatic society; nor are Dr. Mill's titles to distinction only of a clerical or Oriental character. On the contrary, in due subordination to his highest and most engrossing duties, his services in the cause of general education and improvement have been most valuable, and his eminent attainments in general learning and science are as well known as those less usual acquirements to which the attention of the Asiatic Society would naturally be more particularly attracted.

The most natural and desirable memorial would seem to be the establishment of some foundation at the college over which Dr. Mill has so long presided, which should perpetuate within its walls the name as well as the memory of its first most distinguished principal. And this suggestion has the peculiar advantage of accommodating itself to almost any amount of funds-whether small or large. According to this amount the foundation might be of an annual prize, or a prize given at longer intervals, of an exhibition, of a native scholarship, or a general scholarship. It would, therefore, be obviously premature at present to fix the precise application of any subscription, beyond the determination that it shall be devoted to some permanent foundation at Bishop's College; the particular appropriation must be postponed till the amount of the available funds is ascertained.

This determination may be most advantageously left to the discretion of a committee; and it is proposed that this committee should consist of the following gentlemen, with some of whom the present suggestion originated, and all have accidentally had very early notice of the intention. The proposed committee consists of Sir Edward Ryan, the Bishop of Calcutta, Sir B. H. Malkin, Professor Withers, W. H. Abbot, Esq., M. A. Bignell, Esq.

In a subscription of this character, originating in personal feeling and connexion, it is impossible to fix any precise limit to the circulation of the proposal. Any list that might be prepared would probably include some who would prefer to have been omitted, and exclude others who would feel that they ought to have been invited to co-operation. It has, therefore, been thought most expedient not to atVOL. XIII.-Jan. 1838.

N