her hull entirely reconstructed of teak, two of her topmasts removed, prior to being replaced by new ones, and minus her decks which had lasted nine years, although they had always been considered too flat): so that all that remained of the old original

Sunbeam' was her iron framework, which, humanly speaking, might reasonably be expected to last for ever. .

“But although, when completed, she will in many respects, be practically a new vessel, her frame will still contain all the old associations; and I shall ever entertain for her the same warm affection which I have cherished from the first; while the confidence in her sea-going qualities, which has so often made me feel that

Rock'd in the cradle of the deep,

I lay me down to sleep, will suffer no diminution.

“ It now but remains for me to thank for their forbearance those who have followed me to the end, and to wish my readers a kind farewell.”

The deepest impression after reading this book is, “Many, O Lord, my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done.” If Paradise lost be so beautiful what must be Paradise regained ? Many eyes are not opened to see the beauties above, below, around. It is said of the prophet's servant, looking out from the top of Carmel he “saw nothing.” Unfortunately this is only too true of many. Not so with Lady Brassey. She not only sees the wonderful things, but makes her readers see and feel them to. The book is full of instruction for both old and young. We had marked so many passages and pictures and now find we have left out the best ! We thank the publishers for the blocks; and it is truthfully said: “The illustrations are, no doubt, superb, and attract by their own excellence, but the author is too modest when she lays stress upon them as being the all-important feature. Her own narrative deservedly merits that description.” We will only add "Too good for anything !”

MALTA. We are now getting a goodly number of vessels in harbour. I visited lately an American man-of-war, and sold some Scriptures on board. A Russian man-of. war came in this morning, also a small Danish one; I am going to have a try at them to-morrow (D.V.). I have just had a letter from a Christian friend, on board an English man-of-war at Athens, informing me that some of my publica. tions have been taken up the Nile to the Soudan, by some of the Engineers sent up there to run the steam launches. I trust they may be made a great blessing to those who read them. I am, dear sir, in haste, respectfully yours,

R. STEPHENS.

OUR NEW PRESIDENT. SIR THOMAS BRASSEY, K.C.B., M.P., SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY. DEAR SIR THOMAS,—It is with great pleasure that I am the medium of a resolu. tion of the Board of theBritish and Foreign Sailors' Society, electing you unani. mously to the presidency of this ancient yet modern Society. Ancient when compared to many smaller off-shoots, as it was the first, being established in 1818, and from which nearly all others have more or less sprung. Modern for it is increasing annually in usefulness and importance.

Several names of eligible persons were submitted to the Board, but you were the only one nominated, and as the appointment of a president is considered of great moment it was felt that those directors and friends not present should be consulted, and there being perfect unanimity, I beg now to submit, with the hope of your acceptance, this honoured post.

The presidents of this Society have been as follows : “Admiral Lord Gambier; Right Hon. Lord Mountsandford ; Rear-Admiral C. R. Moorsom; the Earl of Ducie; the Earl of Carlisle ; the Marquis of Cholmondeley.

“ As you are aware, with regard to our last honoured president, he has finished his voyage and entered the eternal harbour.

“If this Society is a ship we shall be pleased to have your valuable assistance in navigating it, and the directors have been influenced in their choice by the knowledge of your practical seamanship, knowledge of the sea and seamen, your devotion to their moral improvement, and sympathy with our religious efforts for their spiritual salvation.

“You are not ignorant of the Society's labours. Already you have assisted in various ways: presiding once at the annual meeting at the Mansion House, and you were present and helped at the Bazaar opened by Mrs. Gladstone in the May of last year.

“ Though the Society is not rich it is notin debt, and though many kindred institutions have even gone behind and we have felt the pressure, yet we have, like the “Sunbeam,” managed to keep off a lee shore.

“Permit me to say that while you were elected for your worth-sake, still that could not take place without feeling the position also held in public esteem and affection by your gifted wife and fellow-voyager.- Very faithfully yours, Edward W. Matthews, Secretary.

“ 24, Park Lane, W.-January 30th, 1885.-My dear Mr. Matthews,-I accept with pleasure the office of President of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, in succession to the much-lamented Marquis of Cholmondeley, who did so much to help you. I appreciate the kind allusions to my dear wife. We shall both do our best in the good cause. - Yours sincerely-T. Brassey.".

Sir Thomas needs no introduction to our readers or the large constituency of the Society of which he is now the president. Though born to great wealth he has been a great workman. He has proved to be the worthy son of a worthy sire. Many men are simply killed by wealth or by the pleasures it brings. We therefore honour Sir Thomas all the more because he has triumphed over these powerful temptations, turning what to many is a curse into a crown. He has not only been generous in the distributions of his charity but has entered by a living sympathy into the position of our workmen, especially our sailors. We remember the cook of the yacht “ Albatross,” in our boyhood days, singing the praises of his young master and mistress, now Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey, as they went on a voyage to the Mediterranean to spend their honeymoon. This was their

baptism into sea life for their future voyages and triumphs. Soon Sir Thomas mastered practical seamanship, passed the Board of Trade examinations, and now holds a master's or extra-master's certificate.

Our sailors will be very pleased to hear that he is now the president of this Society. Captain Wiggins, of Arctic fame, our absent director, wrote to throw in his vote for the election, stating that he knew Sir Tbomas to be a practical sailor, and most warmly supported the nomination. Captain Kemp, a com. mander of a large steamer, has just called at our office, and we told him of our new president, and he immediately expressed his pleasure and exclaimed, “I wish he would renew his attempts to give us lights in the Red Sea ; I am just bound to India.” We say amen to that. This country will spend millions on little wars but how hard to get the smallest vote on lights, harbours of refuge, etc. ? Sir Thomas has yet much to do in this direction.

Our good president has become an authority on many sea and other subjects, and holds in the thoughts of his country and the councils of the nation, a very prominent position. There has been with him enlargement of heart and a constant mental expansion. Other things being equal, voyaging expands the whole nature. Sir Thomas has been a toiler with the pen, so those portly volumes on ships and sailors prove he has been no idler. This pleasure in duty, pluck and perseverance, will no doubt lead him to still higher offices in the realm. When at Rome, under the dome of St. Peter's, we met one of the leaders of Her Majesty's Opposition. We had met him before, both on platforms and in the lobby of the House of Commons. He kindly pointed out things of interest in that historic building, but our thoughts turned to another and a mightier centre, the British Parliament. He significantly said, Brassey would be First Lord of the Admiralty if he were a better speaker.” This occurred before he became Secretary to the Admiralty, and seemed to be an admission of his essential qualities for such a post, and seemed to us a prophecy. But we have heard of cabinet ministers who were not fiery orators. The fact is there is a power about some men which seems mighty over their fellow-men, such for instance as Garibaldi possessed, which cannot be summed up in the word oratory. Is there a man behind the speech which gives force and conviction to the hearer. Moses was a great leader of the people, yet he told the Lord he was “slow of speech.” Demosthenes, whose name is a synonym for eloquence, first entered the gate to the orator's throne by his matter and afterwards by his manner.

Perhaps some of our best men in the House of Commons have been weakened by the orthodox parliamentary style. On the other hand, of late, speech has run riot in that temple of fame. And there can be no doubt the leaders of the future must possess, in addition to the gift of speech, qualities such as are possessed by our president. Our belief is that if he continues to give his services to his country there are higher positions, both in the Government or at the disposal of the Crown, which he will yet fill with honour to himself and benefit to our brother seamen. But instead of being First Lord of the Admiraly we would prefer to see him Minister of Marine, when that post is created, to care for the best interests of the most magnificent mercantile fleet the world ever saw!

In a little pamphlet called “ 11,506 Knots in the Sunbeam, in 1883,-Malta Gibraltar, Madeira, West Indies, Bermudas and Azores,” there are a few beautiful passages and peeps into life on the ocean wave. Sir Thomas was good enough to send us a copy last year, and though printed for private circulation we shall be pardoned in giving such well-written words. The Rev. Newman Hall told us of visiting the “Sanbeam," and one of the sailors said to him, " Sir Thomas conducts services on board and preaches a good sermon too.” But for the extracts:

OUR NEW PRESIDENT.

A HAPPY SHIP.

" To discontented minds it might have been tedious to spend eighteen days consecutively at sea. There were no uneasy spirits on board the 'Sunbeam,' for everybody had an occupation. Thanks to the kind devotion of our lady passengers, the children were regularly instructed. Much writing was done. Every source of interest and of pleasure was appreciated. If our sails were filled with a fresh and favouring breeze, it was agreed that nothing could be so delightful as to skim the ocean, borne forward on the snowy wings of the

Sunbeam.' When the breeze subsided to a calm, nothing could be more satisfactory than the progress we were making under steam. Health was maintained by sharing vigorously in the labours of the crew. In short, we all agreed to make the best of it, and to do everything in our power to make life pleasant to one another. We mustered early in the morning to admire the glorious beauty of the dawn. In the evenings we had readings and musical recitals for the crew, including songs by the seamen, accompanied by choruses at least as hearty as they were melodious. The midnight hours were occupied in astronomical studies, which were made the more alluring by the splen

did lustre of the stars in a tropical sky. (Up above the world so high.)

i “ The calm hours of those nights at sea were

favourable for reflection on the transcendental wonders of astronomy. The starry universe brings us face to face with the Infinite in distance, in time, in numbers. The light from the nearest star has taken three and a third years to reach us. Sirrus, the brightest star, gives out 400 times as much light as the sun, and that light takes twenty-one years to reach the earth. These startling astronomical computations enable us to realise, however dimly and imperfectly, the immeasurable distances which divide the heavenly bodies, and it is not less impressive to reflect that the stars are in numbers innumerable. Every increase of telescopic power only bringing more stars into view.

“ Though the delights of the land are wanting, nature compensates the traveller, and especially in tropical latitudes, with an inexhaustable loveliness in the sky and in the sea. The cloudland is not more remarkable for beauty and variety of form than for the richness and the harmony of colour, which every successive sunrise and sunset presents.

“But why vainly attempt to paint in the dull monotones of this ungraceful prose the reddening morn, the high noonday, the sunset hour, or the moonlit night? Oui poets revel in these scenes, and Shelley is unsurpassed in the power and beauty of his descriptions. It was one of the greatest pleasures of the voyage to compare the vivid pictures which he has drawn, with the glorious phenomena which were daily passing before us.”

TRIUMPHING OVER DANGER. After experiencing a circular storm, or whirlwind, for three days and how he dealt with the “ Sunbeam.”

“ This short explanation of the law of storms, and its application to a particular

OUR NEW PRESIDENT.

case, is an illustration of the practical value of scientific knowledge. If science does not enable us to resist nature, it teaches us how to convert its forces to our use, and

how to act in conformity with its laws. There is no situation in which know. ledge is more

truly power ; none in which, under a due sense of God's providential care, it gives a nobler confidence to man, than at sea, amid the raging of the hurricane. Mr. Emerson has truly said: “They can conquer, who believe they can.

The sailor loses fear as fast as he acquires

command of sails and spars and steam. To

the sailor's experience every new circumstance

suggests what he must do. The terrific chances which

make the hours and the minutes long to the passenger, he whiles

away by incessant application of expedients and repairs. To him a leak, a hurricane, or a waterspout, is so much work, no more. Courage is equality to the problem in affairs, in science, in trade in council, or in action. Courage consists in the conviction that the agents with whom you contend are not superior in strength or resources or spirit to you.'”

MR. GILPIN AMONG FRENCH SAILORS. I HAD several opportunities to speak with French fishermen, though as a rule they do not come in here. I was most cordially received by them, and as they all came from Boulogne their patois was familiar to me. I was however surprised at this eagerness to obtain a copy of le Nouveau Testament de Notre Seigneur, and willingness to talk about the Scriptures, as they were regarded when I lived there as the most devoted Romanists in France.

One evening a lot of them came to our chapel, drawn, no doubt, by the singing. To each I gave a Testament, and directed their attention to John iii. 14-18. It was an earnest, solemn time, and as it was only hymn practice I devoted myself to them and talked, read, and explained the above till they left. They seemed pleased and thankful. It is surely bread cast upon the waters, but God's Word cannot return to Him void.

I have again to thank John Daniels, Esq., for his continued kindness in supplying me with the Scripture in the Continental as well as in the English tongue.I am, rev. dear sir, yours faithfully,

RICHARD GILPIN.