seen, not only in the liberal support of the Society, but in the life imparted to every local institution. It is a fact, confirmed by all experience, maintained in almost every form of speech in the Bible, that a people zealous for God and the salvation of men will be happy and prosperous. This is what we long to see everywhere among the churches, and we urge once more, with all importunity, the claims of the mission, believing that it is an institution which helps to promote it. The question now put before you is either the abandonment of what has been gained, or going on to make fresh conquests.

INDIAN MISSION EXTENSION.-BAPTIST MISSIONARY

SOCIETY.

THE friends and supporters of the Baptist Missionary Society are aware that the revolt which has swept over some of the finest provinces of Hindostan, has not left unscathed the missionary stations established within the range of its influence.

At Agra, the mission house, chapels, and the schools, have been burnt, plundered, or destroyed. Through the good providence of God the lives of the mission family and native Christians were saved by their taking timely refuge in the fort. Muttra is a scene of desolation; but the missionary, Mr. Evans, escaped to Agra, losing all he possessed. The Christian village of Chitoura, comprising the mission houses, the weaving shop, cottages, chapel, and school, is in ruins; the native Christians are scattered. In Delhi, the missionary, Mr. Mackay, has fallen a prey to the sanguinary soldiers; the native teacher died a martyr's death; and the widow and two daughters of our late missionary, Mr. Thompson, were the victims of foul atrocities. Thus has it pleased God to try our faith, and, for a time, to hinder the direct labours of his servants.

The reinstatement of the mission is earnestly desired by the Committee, and that with augmented strength. In Agra and Delhi the Society, as early as the year 1816, commenced to labour. With varying ability, yet never with adequate forces, it has continued to promulgate the word of life. Success hitherto has been indeed but partial. Yet a considerable number of persons have been brought to the knowledge of the truth, while gradually an open and effectual door has been gained in the entire district for the entrance of the gospel.

The Committee are not disposed to regard recent events as likely to create additional barriers to the progress of the gospel. On the other hand, the probabilities seem very favourable to a more attentive consideration on the part of the people of the word of life. The lessons which Divine Providence is teaching, by this mutiny, are likely to have a beneficial effect on all classes, and to awaken a more earnest regard to the great salvation. The present attitude of the people towards missionaries encourages the hope of a willing audience for their message; and in no instance have they shown any hostility to missionaries as such.

The Committee are sure that they only express the feelings of their Christian friends when they propose, as God may help them, to direct the energies of the Society to the reconstruction of the mission so painfully interrupted, and to increase its efficiency. They therefore propose:1. To reoccupy the stations as soon as circumstances will allow. 2. To increase the number of missionaries, and to open new stations where practicable.

3. To direct the attention of the missionaries, especially at the present time, to a widely-extended itineracy and dispersion of the seed of the word of God, and the formation of native churches, leaving to future opportunity the reopening of the schools which are now broken up.

4. To request for these important purposes enlarged contributions, the formation of a special fund, and the augmentation of the regular annual income of the Society.

5. To urge on the auxiliaries a canvass of their respective localities, with the hope that in this great crisis, not only will all those of their friends who usually contribute increase their gifts, but that help may be obtained from others to whom India's evangelisation may be an object of desire and interest.

6. To request of the churches special prayer that suitable men may be raised up for this occasion.

The Committee have embodied their deliberate opinion on two important subjects in the petitions to Parliament, which are subjoined. The first has respect to the proposal made in the public papers to establish a hierarchy, with all its appendages, in India; the second refers to the social condition of the people as affected by an inefficient and corrupt police, the defective administration of justice, and the want of adequate protection for life and property. Both these petitions will be presented to both houses; though for convenience we have headed one for the Lords, and the other for the Commons.

Now as the pastors of the churches may desire to co-operate with the Committee in the endeavour to prevent and amend the evils which are referred to in these documents, they will have the advantage of their use so far as they commend themselves to their judgments. The facts which are stated may be relied upon, for the documents have been carefully drawn up, and received a prolonged attention from the Committee at its quarterly meeting. In those cases where the form necessary to be observed in addressing the Legislature are not familiar to brethren, they will have it in these documents. All petitions should close with the words, "And your petitioners will ever pray, &c.," and one name or more must be on the sheet on which the petition is written, or it will be rejected. The remaining names may be written on other sheets, and appended after they are filled up. We hope that petitions will be sent in abundantly, for now is the time for the friends of India to arise and bestir themselves.

To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.

The Petition of the Treasurer, Secretaries, and Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society, convened the 13th January, 1858, humbly sheweth :-

That your petitioners are the representatives of the Baptist Missionary Society, formed in the year 1792, for the purpose of spreading the gospel in heathen lande.

That the predecessors of your petitioners sent their first missionaries to the Bengal presidency in the year 1793, who, forbidden to prosecute their labours in British India, were received under the protection of the Danish Crown, and under the direct sanction of His Majesty the King of Denmark, settled at Serampore.

That in pursuance of their plans the missionaries of this Society subsequently formed stations in Bengal, Behar, and in the north-west provinces; established printing presses at Serampore and Calcutta; by the translation of the Scriptures into the various tongues of Northern India, especially in the Sanscrit, Bengali, Hindi, and Hindustani languages, by the compilation of grammars and lexicons, and by the preparation of tracts and school books in the vernaculars, they laid the foundation for a vernacular

literature, imbued with the knowledge, science, and religion of Great Britain; and by the maintenance of schools sought to enlighten the minds of the people, and to lead them from the debasing and immoral practices of idolatry to the worship of the true God; and thus prepared the way for those enlarged missionary and educational efforts which the Christian communities of Great Britain, the continent of Europe, and America, have put forth for the elevation of the people of India.

That your petitioners cannot but feel the deepest interest in everything that concerns the moral, social, and religious welfare of the Indian empire, and do most deeply deplore the lamentable events which have overwhelmed large classes of her Majesty's subjects with profound anguish and suffering.

That your petitioners gratefully acknowledge the important changes which late years have witnessed in British India, such as the legal prohibition of suttee, infanticide, thuggee, slavery, and the immolation of human beings at the festivals of Juggernath and Kali, and will thankfully hail every further approach towards the establishment of perfect religious liberty.

That your petitioners further represent to your Right Honourable House that the establishment of an episcopacy, or the appointment of chaplains, by the British Government, for the conversion of the natives of India to Christianity, in what way soever supported, would be most hazardous to the peace of India, if not to the continuance of the British empire in Hindostan; and they further believe that such interference with the spread or maintenance of religious truth, or the endowment of any form of religious belief, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or heathen, even for the religious instruction of the servants of Government, is beyond the province of the civil power, and most seriously detrimental to the best interests of Christianity.

Your petitioners therefore pray your Right Honourable House, in any legislative measures which in the wisdom of your Right Honourable House may be adopted, to make provision:--

That the future Government of India shall proceed in the beneficent course of late years, and separate itself from all the idolatrous usages of the people; prohibit such practices as may be injurious to public order and decency, or to the civil and social rights of any class of her Majesty's subjects; and secure to every rank and condition, to Government servants as well as to all other classes-European and native-the freest exercise and expression of their religious convictions.

And that the future Government of India shall be forbidden to establish, endow, or interfere with the spread or maintenance of any form of religious belief.

To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.

The Petition of the Treasurer, Secretaries and Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society of London, convened the 13th January, 1858, humbly sheweth :

That your petitioners are the representatives of the Baptist Missionary Society, formed in the year 1792, for the purpose of spreading the gospel in heathen lands.

That your petitioners, in the prosecution of their object, have established missionary stations in various parts of Bengal, Behar, and the north-west provinces of the Indian empire, which have necessarily brought their agents into close proximity with the native population, and given them a deep interest in, and intimate acquaintance with, their social well-being.

That your petitioners have learnt from indubitable testimony that there is a vast amount of social disorganisation, and of consequent suffering in the whole of these districts. Much of this your petitioners can trace to the fearful superstitions of the people; to their ignorance, and to the debasing effects of a popular mythology, which presents, as objects of worship, deities who are examples of every vice, and which ascribes sanctity and divine honour to a priesthood which is the great bane of India. But your petitioners believe that there are other evils with which the Government, as such, ought to contend, and which your petitioners regret to declare appear to be on the increase.

That your petitioners particularly call the attention of your Honourable House to the character of the police, which is stated to be venal, corrupt, and cruel beyond example; that torture has prevailed for police purposes without sufficient effort to prevent its exercise, doubtless owing its virulence to the prevalence of Mohammedan law in past times, and to the practice of receiving in evidence confessions so obtained; that the courts of law, both civil and criminal, do not enjoy the confidence of any class of her Majesty's subjects, and are reputed to have been for years the arena of fraud, bribery, and perjury; that no effectual protection exists either for person or property

in those provinces which have longest been under British rule; that owing to the nature of the tenure, and of the laws affecting land, capital is prevented from being invested in the soil; that the peasant cultivator has no efficient protection against the illegal exactions and tyranny of his landlord; that while some classes have been largely benefited by the rule of the Honourable East India Company, such as the zemindar and the artisan, the vast masses of the people attached to the soil continue degraded, and are sunk into the deepest poverty and distress; and that the number of Englishmen employed in the civil administration is by no means equal to the manifold services required, to the vast regions to be governed, and to the great population to be controlled, whereby the people are, to a very great degree, left in the hands of native officials, who, as a class, are notoriously untrustworthy and corrupt.

That your petitioners believe that these defects in the government of India greatly impede the progress of Christianity, and create serious obstacles in the prosecution of their object.

Your petitioners therefore pray your Honourable House to give its most carnest regard to the social condition of the people of India, and in any reconstruction of the Government of those vast dependencies of the Crown, to make provision for the remedy of the aforesaid grievances under which the people of India suffer.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

INDIA.

CALCUTTA. The chief incident of interest in our mission in Calcutta is the departure to his rest of our aged and highly esteemed missionary, the Rev. Carapeit Aratoon. He was the companion of the founders of the mission, and has laboured widely in various districts of Bengal, first in connection with the Serampore brethren, and later with the brethren in Calcutta. To the last he evinced his unabated interest in the great work, and notwithstanding his great age and infirmities continued as well as he could to spread among the heathen the word of life. He died as he had lived, confiding with singular simplicity of heart in the grace of our Redeemer. He fought a good fight, and has now reached the crown. We hope in a future "Herald" to give a likeness of him, and some particulars of his very useful life.

It would seem that the connection of the Government of India with idolatry is far from being at an end. The following facts are given on the authority of the Bombay Guardian of Nov. 21, 1857. In the Madras Presidency there are now 8,292 idols and temples, receiving from Government an annual payment of £87,678. In the Bombay Presidency there are 26,589 idols and temples under state patronage, receiving grants to the amount of £30,587 10s., to which must be added the allowance for temple lands, giving a total for the Bombay Presidency of £69,859 6s. For the whole of the Company's territories there is annually expended in the support of idolatry, by the servants of the Company, the large sum of £171,558 12s.

MONGHYR.-In our October number some particulars were given of the treatment of a native Christian by whom a plot was discovered for the murder of the Europeans of the station. By an incredible leniency the culprits were dismissed; on the other hand, the native Christian was treated as if himself guilty. He was arrested and ordered off from the station to Mozufferpore, the place of his residence; his family, however, were left at Monghyr. The sequel is as follows:-On arriving at Mozufferpore, Inayat Hossein, the native Christian, was ordered not to leave the station, and to appear twice a day at the police office. This continued until the arrival of the new commissioner, Mr. Samuells, at Patna. Inayat Hossein entreated the commissioner to release him from restraint, which was complied with, and the magistrate, Mr. Latour, was ordered to give this Christian man his liberty. Although the order was passed, it was detained by the magistrate, and it was not until the interference

of the missionaries that the order was made known. Inayat Hossein at once went to Monghyr to his family. But he was again arrested by Mr. Tucker, the magistrate, kept for a day or two in jail, and then forwarded from police office to police office to Mozufferpore. Thus his reward for his loyalty is imprisonment, banishment from his family, abuse and ill usage from the police, and a rigid surveillance, which prevented him from following his avocation for a livelihood. Yet the men, Mohammedans, who were sworn by the magistrate's own officers to have tampered with them for the purpose of raising a rebellion, are held in honour, retain their employments, and are trusted by the servants of the Indian Government. The only reason given by the Monghyr magistrate for his cruel conduct is, that Inayat Hossein had left Mozufferpore without leave, which was entirely contrary to fact. We quote an extract from the letter of our informant :-"Can anything be more unjust, tyrannical, and disgraceful, than such conduct as this? Yet this is the way that poor, unprotected native Christians are to be treated by the authorities. And this is the way in which they do not scruple to abuse the power entrusted to them, when they can do it without fear of exposure. Verily, such men are not fit to be entrusted with office." But it is no new thing for the Indian Government to sacrifice Christians and the rights of Christians, whether natives or others, to propitiate Mussulmans.

Monghyr has, however, continued quiet, and missionary labour has gone on much as usual. Our excellent native brother, Nainsukh, has been ill; but is now improving in health. The attendance at the new school is increasing, and now equals that at the Government school. A native master is however much wanted, and the troubles of the times have materially diminished the funds. The family of Mr. Broadway are in Calcutta.

Since writing the above, we learn with deep regret that our highly valued native preacher, Nainsukh, is dead. He fell asleep in Jesus on the 20th October last. We shall hope to present to our readers soon a sketch of this good man's life.

CHITTAGONG.-Our missionary in Chittagong has, through the gracious interposition of God, been preserved harmless during the mutiny of native soldiers at this station, who have been most unwisely permitted by Government to retain their arms. Mr. Johannes thus describes the event in a letter dated Nov. 19, 1857 :

"We spent a most dreadful night last night. The three companies of sepoys have, after all, mutinied, and left this en route to Sylhet, or Dacca. Had not the gentlemen fled they would all have been murdered. They looted the treasury, and carried away three lacs of rupees and a few elephants. Had these rebels met with any opposition, hundreds of lives would have been lost. On hearing the great noise in the prison and in the treasury, when these sepoys were releasing the prisoners, and the great conflagration in the lines, and the blowing up of the magazine, I was compelled to send my family into one of the villages, secreting myself in the house. I ran to the river, but not a boat could be |

procured. The Mohammedans seem to feel no regret or alarm. They appear to me to rejoice in these evils, and wish the Feringees destroyed. They disbelieve everything connected with our success in battles. The mutineers carried away a few elephants, and killed one man who attempted to interfere. I shall write again. We are all going to leave the station for a week, and be on the water, as the people seem to think there is danger; yet how comforting the idea "The Lord liveth:' we are at his footstool, let him do whatsoever seemeth him good. I write this under considerable excitement, so excuse the brevity of this letter."

DACCA. As at Chittagong, the Government allowed two companies of sepoys at this station to keep their arms, and also to retain in their possession two cannons. For the protection of Dacca, one hundred sailors were sent from Calcutta, and the European gentlemen of the city formed themselves into a volunteer corps. These precautions were not useless; the turbulent spirit of the sepoys was kept in check, and until now order has been maintained. The outbreak at Chittagong led the local authorities to resolve to disarm the sepoys.