dred and fifty communicants, being an increase of five hundred and seventy-six during the last year. The number of churches is sixteen hundred and two, ministers fifteen hundred and twenty-seven, licentiates one hundred and thirty. The next General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, meets in Columbus, Ga., May, 1854.

Rev. Peter Percival, of Ceylon, Rev. Mr. Henderson, of Cork, and Rev. Frederick Stevens, of Tralee, have recently withdrawn from the British Wesleyans. Mr. Percival has entered the National Church; the others have joined the Independents.

According to the official reports, six hundred and forty-eight persons renounced Catholicism and embraced Protestantism in Silesia last year. Of these six hundred and forty-eight persons, two hundred and ninety-six were adults, and the remainder had already been confirmed.

A paper has recently been printed in England giving the number of Colonial Bishops, with their salaries, and whence derived. The Bishop of Quebec has £1,990, which includes the salary to the bishop as rector of the parish; the Bishop of Toronto, £1,250; the Bishop of Montreal, £800; the Bishop of Nova Scotia, £550; the Bishop of Frederickton, £1,000; the Bishop of Newfoundland, £1,200; the Bishop of Rupert's Land, £700; the Bishop of Jamaica, £3,000; the Bishop of Barbadoes, £2,500; the Bishop of Antigua, £2,000; the Bishop of Guiana, £2,000; the Bishop of Sydney, £1,500; the Bishop of Melbourne, £333 68. 8d.; the Bishop of Newcastle, a similar amount; the Bishop of Adelaide, £800; the Bishop of Tasmania, £800, and £200 for house allowance; the Bishop of New Zealand, £1,200; the Bishop of Cape Town, £800; the Bishop of Colombo, £2,000; the Bishop of Victoria, £1,000; and the Bishop of Gibraltar, £1,200. Some of the salaries are paid by the Imperial Parliament vote, some out of the colonial funds and Colonial Bishoprics Fund, the consolidated fund, and in two instances partly by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the salary of the Bishop of New Zealand (£1,200 a year) is made up by £600 voted by the Imperial Parliament and £600 by the Church Missionary Society to the Colonial Bishoprics Fund.

In the canton of Ticino, Switzerland, considerable religious agitation is going on. The Bishop of Como, having dismissed four priests of this canton, who had voted as members of the Grand Council in favor of a decree tending to secularize the clergy, the Council of State published a proclamation against the bishop, prohibiting all persons, under a penalty of from 100fr. to 10,000fr., from aiding in the execution of the episcopal decree.

Bishop Henshaw, of the diocese of Rhode Island, expired at Frederick, Md., July 20. He was consecrated in St. John's Church, Providence, on the 11th of August, 1843.

In New South Wales the members of the Church of England number ninety-three thousand one hundred and thirty-seven; Presbyterians, eighteen thousand one hundred and fifty-six; Wesleyan Methodists, ten thousand

and eight; Roman Catholics, fifty-six thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine.

Somerset county, N. J., is the birth-place of twenty-eight ministers, now in the service of the Reformed Dutch Church. Five others became residents of the same during the period of early childhood. Four more are sons of parents themselves natives and residents of that

county till near the nativity of their offspring; and, besides, she has furnished "honorable women not a few" to very many clergymen of other denominations.

The Unitarians of San Francisco have agreed to invite Rev. Mr. Harrington, of Mass., to preach for them one year for $6,000, and have raised $1,000 to pay his expenses out, with an agreement to pay his way back if he does not like.

The Old School Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions has agreed to establish a mission in California, to labor among the Chinese, thousands of whom are emigrating from their Pacific, in quest of gold. Rev. W. Speer and own overflowing country to the shores of the lady go out as the first missionaries.

The Annual Conference of the Primitive Methodist Connection assembled in Sheffield, on Wednesday, June 2d, and after devotional exercises, proceeded to the discharge of its duties. The number of members was reported at one hundred and nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-four, and the increase for the year one thousand two hundred and three. The number of traveling preachers was reported at five hundred and sixty; of local preachers, nine thousand three hundred and fifty; of class-leaders, six thousand six hundred and thirty-two; of connectional chapels, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three; of rented chapels and rooms, &c., three thousand five hundred and ninety-five; of Sabbath schools, one thousand four hundred and sixty-three; of scholars, one hundred and eighteen thousand four hundred and sixty-eight; and of gratuitous teachers, twenty-two thousand three hundred and ninetyeight. The number of deaths reported was one thousand four hundred and fifty-one. The funds of the connection were found in a sound and healthy state, and the connectional periodicals were very extensively circulated: eleven thousand five hundred of the sixpenny Monthly Magazine, and thirty-one thousand of the Juvenile penny one, are distributed over the British Isles and the foreign missionary stations; and the missions in England, Ireland, Scotland, the Channel Islands, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria or Port Phillip, and New Zealand, were generally in a promising

state.

The Southern Christian Advocate says:-"A lady of Charleston-Mrs. Kohno-a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, has left upward of $90,000 to religious and charitable purposes, besides $70,000 in bequests to relatives, servants, and friends."

Bishop Soule visits the California Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, early next autumn.

Southern Baptist Board of Domestic Missions. -Rev. T. S. Curtis has become secretary in place

of Rev. R. Holman, resigned. The Board has sixty-six missionaries, in fifteen States and Territories. The Southern Baptist says:-"The fact that four peculiarly Roman Catholic cities of the United States-Baltimore, Mobile, St. Louis, and New Orleans-as well as the States where this system has most power, are in the South, has turned the attention of the Board to this class of our population. The proposed plan of action is to seek out converts from Romanism, and employ them in preaching to their countrymen. It is greatly to be hoped that this plan will be carried out."

The Presbyterian Board of Publication have employed, during the past year, one hundred and forty-one colporteurs, in twenty-five different States.

The American Bible Society has recently shipped to Dr. Stevenson, the Assistant Book Agent of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, one thousand copies of the New Testament, and five hundred Bibles, for gratuitous distribution.

The General Association of Baptists in Virginia met at Norfolk, June 4, Rev. James B. Taylor, moderator. Annual sermon by Rev. B. Manly. The report of the Board of Managers, (Home Missions,) reported :-"Twenty-seven missionaries had been commissioned during the year, who labored in twenty-eight towns and villages, and fifty-two counties. They preached two thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven sermons, baptized five hundred and fifty-one converts, constituted five new churches, organized fourteen Sunday schools, erected seven houses of worship, and are engaged in erecting six others, and distributed many religious books and Bibles. Contributions, $4,117. Eleven thousand persons had been baptized, and onefourth of all the Baptist churches of the Church constituted by the missionaries of the Association since its organization. Ten thousand members had been added to the churches by baptism within the last two years. There are now connected with this denomination in Virginia over ninety thousand members." The Board asks for $10,000 this year, of which $4,000 was subscribed on the spot. The Education Society assist twelve young men, who are studying to prepare for the ministry. The agent of Richmond College reported that he had collected $58,500 of the $100,000 endowment, and that the trustees would commence operations as soon as $60,000 were obtained. This sum was made up at the meeting, and it is expected the whole $100,000 will be made up

in a few months.

-

Systematic Benevolence. There have been printed of Rev. Parsons Cooke's "Divine Law of Beneficence," fifty-five thousand; of Rev. Samuel Harris's "Zaccheus, or Scriptural Plan of Benevolence," forty-five thousand; of Rev. Mr. Lawrence's "Mission of the Church," thirty thousand; of Tract on " Religion and Beneficence," one hundred and eight thousand. The San Francisco Christian Observer is devoting several of its columns weekly to religious and useful matter in the Spanish language. San Francisco contains fourteen Protestant congregations, eleven organized churches, with an average attendance of two thousand eight

hundred and sixty-five. There are four hundred and eighty-three Church members.

All They Asked!-In the early part of 1851, the American Sunday-School Union issued a stirring appeal to the liberality of the friends of the rising race in the United States, and asked for $50,000 for their aid. At the close of their fiscal year, they report the receipts of donations amounting to $50,038 49. It is not often that benevolent institutions receive more than they ask.

The Presbyterian furnishes the names of thirty-four ministers of the Presbyterian Church -Old School-who have died during the past year. The average age of twenty-eight, whose names are given, is fifty-seven years and nearly a half. One attained the age of eighty-four; one seventy-nine; two sixty; one eighty-five; and one ninety-six. Eight were doctors of divinity, two professors in theological seminaries, and three presidents of colleges.

Methodism in England.-The London Watchman, the organ of the Conference Methodists in England, says that the total net decrease in the year, from March, 1851, to March, 1852, is twenty thousand six hundred and sixteen; but that there are thirteen thousand one hundred and twelve persons on trial for membership, who have been admitted into society between last December and March, and it is probable that already nearly all of them are fully accredited members. In not less than thirteen districts, an increase of members appears for the last quarter, whilst in some others, and they too among the more large and influential, the decrease is very trifling. In view of this and other cheering intelligence, the Watchman says:"With such data before us, we think we may with humble confidence draw the conclusion that not only has the downward tendency of our numerical returns been stayed, but also that the tide of spiritual prosperity is again beginning to flow."

Dr. Russell, of Maynooth College, in Ireland, made a public declaration that each student of the college had a Bible, and that a whole recess of their library was devoted to Biblical literature, which literature was the subject of their study during their five years' course. answer to this statement of the Professor, Patrick O'Brien, a converted priest, answers to the effect that he was an alumnus of the college; and he declared, with all the solemnity of an college, in course of education for the priestoath, that during his six years' residence in that hood, he had no Bible in his possession; nor was he aware that any other student had one; nor was it a class-book in the divinity course, even in the dead language; and that as soon as he came to read the Bible he renounced Popery.

The General Conference of the Mormons, held mously made Brigham Young "President, in Great Salt Lake City, April 6th, unaniProphet, Seer, and Revelator," of the Church in all the earth, and gave him two counselors. A presiding bishop and five assistants were ordained, and sixty-seven priests. Missionaries were appointed also to Italy, Calcutta, and other foreign countries. The income of "the

The Governor-General of India alone costs the East India Company more, annually, than the expense of the whole missionary agency in the presidencies of Bengal and Agra. His salary is twenty-four thousand pounds per annum, and his allowance for traveling is forty-five thousand pounds-sixty-nine thousand pounds; while the whole expenditures of the one hundred and fifty-nine missionaries in the above presidencies are sixty-eight thousand pounds.

The London Times says that, in the immediate vicinity of Orchard-street, Portman-square, is a platform on which, from time to time, the Protestant Bible is committed to the flames.

The U.S. frigate Independence, which recently arrived at New-York, during her absence was the scene of a remarkable religious interest, and has returned with more than a hundred converts.

The Presbyterian publishes a letter, said to be from the pen of Dr. Junkin, of Washington, from which we ascertain these facts:- - Gen. Scott is a Protestant Episcopalian, and worships at St. John's Church, in Washington. Mr. Graham by birth and education a Presbyterian, though not a communicant of any Church, and as his lady is a member of the Baptist Church, he worships, part of the time at least, with that denomination. Gen. Pierce is by education a Congregationalist, though not a member of the Church. Mr. King is a Protestant Episcopalian in his preferences.

The Missionary Magazine for July, among other statistics of Liberia, states the inhabitants at three hundred thousand, among whom about seven thousand may be regarded as civilized. There are more than two thousand communicants in the Christian Churches, more than fifteen hundred children in Sabbath school, and twelve hundred in day schools. Communicants in the missions on the Gold Coast, about eleven thousand. Funds have been raised in the United States for education to the amount of fifty thousand dollars.

The Wesleyan Times, London, reports the last Conference of the Methodist New Connec

England, sixteen thousand five hundred and thirty-five; Ireland, eight hundred and twentyone; Canada, four thousand and thirty-four: in all, twenty-one thousand three hundred and ninety. The net profits of the Book Room were announced to be £584, or $2,500, for the past year. The missions were found to be in a prosperous condition, and the funds were in advance of last year. The Conference deliberated on the best means of promoting a general revival of religion throughout the community, the Connectional officers were appointed, and the stations of the preachers were finally fixed.

The "Society for the Propagation of the Faith," in France, has published its financial exhibit for the year 1851. Its receipts, which are some $48,229 more than those of the preceding year, are as follows:France....

..$397,460

15,654

5,861

41,105

25,894

14,803

1,808

3,397

280

45,555

13,785

927

11,307

2,879

3,667

1,693

16,883

5,969

35,947

3,254

8,548

8,903

Other German States.......
Switzerland... ... ... ... .............................
Tuscany

The Society distributed in the year 1851, among its various Missions, nearly $600,000, and still has in its treasury, after paying all its expenses, a reserve of $53,196.

The Missions in Europe received......$111,816 The Missions in Asia..................... 203,035 The Missions in Africa.................. 57,800 The Missions in America............... 149,736 The Missions in Oceanica............... 68,516

Smithsonian Institute. Among our Literary Intelligence will be found some animadversions on the literary arrangements and provisions of the Smithsonian Institute, from a correspondent of the New York Tribune. The writer says of that establishment, generally-"I shall pass over the unrivaled bad taste of the building itself; but as yet fears may justly be entertained that the inward soul which is to animate these walls may be as misshaped, as cramped as the external body. I can only hope that I may prove mistaken, and that the spirit of the founder may be satisfied in some future time, that what he wished-the diffusion of useful knowledge is really the result of this costly

institution. As yet, it is difficult to say what is the fact about it. Aside from the large rooms, there is scarcely anything to be looked at, as an embryo of a great comprehensive scientific establishment. What is here already discloses rather a certain outsidedness and superficiality."

In a subsequent letter, the same writer repeats his attack, and gives some items of specific information, as follows:-"In the Readingroom is to be found less than the average number of well-known English and American periodicals taken in establishments of the like character. At all events, less than in the Boston Athenæum or the New-York Society Library. The selec tions comprise little more than the principal local

Mediterranean by Corsica and Sardinia to the mountains of Fezzan, through Central Africa to the Cape, on to Kerguelen's Land, Blue Mountains of Australia, Spitzbergen, Scandinavia, and completing itself in the Alps, from whence it started. These circles show the limits of the faces of the huge crystal, and may be divided into others, comprising fortyeight in the whole. The views thus set forth exhibit much ingenuity; and when we consider that metals crystallize in various forms, and native iron in the octahedral, there is much to be said in their favor. We shall probably not be long before hearing of another gold field; for Dr. Barth writes from the interior of Africa, that grains of the precious metal

have been found in two rivers which flow into Lake Tchad, and that the mountains in the neighborhood abound with it. Should the first discovery be verified by further explorations, gold will be more abundant than it now promises to be, and Africa perhaps the richest source of supply. Apropos of this continent, a French traveler is about to prove from the results of a journey from the Cape toward the equator, that the Carthaginian discoveries had been pushed much farther toward the south than is commonly supposed.

M. Gruithuisen, one of the most distinguished astronomers of Germany, died lately, aged seventy-eight. He was for many years Professor of Astronomy in the University of Munich. In addition to his astronomical labors, he effected great improvements in telescopes and in surgical instruments. He was characterized alike by mechanical genius and scientific erudition.

The English papers announce the discovery of another new planet by Mr. Hind. Its position was on the borders of the constellations Aquila and Serpens, about 50 east of the star Tau in Ophiuchus. The newly-found planet, to use the words of Mr. Hind, "shines as a fine star of between the eighth and ninth magnitudes, and has a very steady yellow light. At moments it appeared to have a disk, but the night was not sufficiently favorable for high magnifiers. At 13h. 13m. 16s., mean time, its right ascension was 18h. 12m. 58.8s., and its north polar distance 98° 16' 0.9". The diurnal motion in R. A. is about 1m. 2s. toward the west, and in N. P. D. two or three minutes toward the

south." Mr. Hind is now the great discoverer of planets-and were it the fashion to confer fortune-names he would infallibly be known as the Star Finder.

By the politeness of Bangs, Brother & Co. we have received the "National Illustrated Library" edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson, in four volumes. It is profusely illustrated with portraits of Johnson's cotemporaries, views of localities, and characteristic designs, engraved from authentic sources. Many of the cuts are exceedingly well done, and it may be said, as their highest commendation, that they enhance even the interest of Boswell's narrative-an interest never equaled before nor since in biography. This edition is decidedly the best for popular use which is now extant.

Cobbin's Domestic Bible, published by Hueston, 189 Nassau-street, New-York, is one of the best illustrated editions of the Scriptures ever issued in this country. It contains seven hundred wood cuts and steel maps, seventeen thousand critical and illustrative notes, thirteen thousand improved readings, one hundred and forty thousand marginal references, an excellent chronological order, by which the reader may follow continuously the narrative of both Testaments, a division by dates of chapters for morning and evening lessons, a good index, and a metrical arrangement of the poetical books. Sufficient is said, when we give this outline. Prices vary, according to the binding, from $7 50 to $10 50.

trated Library" establishment, 227 Strand, London. It is a work of marvelous interest, recording as it does the most anomalous facts in the history of delusions. The alchemists, magnetizers, modern prophecies, fortune-telling, the South Sea Bubble, with other notable "bubbles," and many similar exhibitions of fanaticism, are treated with much detail and most entertaining interest. The wood engravings, illustrating almost every page, are nearly all representations of real scenes and many of them strongly characterized portraits. This work is interesting not merely by its fascinat ing marvelousness, but for the real and abun

dant erudition with which it illustrates some of the most remarkable developments of human nature. Bangs, Brother & Co. are agents for it in this country.

Vestiges of Civilization is the title of an anonymous work on the "Etiology" of history, religious, æsthetical, political, and philosophical.

We have at present room for but three or four remarks upon it. It displays extraordinary intellectual energy and acumen; it presents a remarkable range of erudition, generally accurate, however fallaciously applied; it is thoroughly rationalistic, or even worse. The author is evidently a disciple of Comte, whose Positivism pervades the volume. It is withal too elaborate a work for popular reading. Balliere, New-York.