and cherished superstition, as its best ally. But pure religion will everywhere be the surest ally and most powerful promoter of good government, and of rational liberty. We see, therefore, that from the exertions of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, which courts and has the countenance of this vast assembly, the greatest and most important results are likely to follow, the spread of pure Christianity, the introduction of civilization, and the introduction, also, of those best and surest supports of civilization, rational liberty and good government. But, ladies and gentlemen, I will not detain you longer; I will proceed at once to the immediate task allotted to me, that of seconding the Resolution which has been moved by my Very Reverend friend, as I trust he will allow me to call him. You have heard with attention, and I am sure I may add with approbation likewise, the very able and satisfactory Report which has been read this morning. It is divided into two branches: first, the financial branch, which is of the highest importance; and, secondly, that branch which refers to the proceedings of the Missionaries, and to their successes in the different parts of the world in which they have been employed. With respect to the financial part of the statement, I consider it satisfactory in two points of view: first, from the perfeet frankness and clearness of the exposition which it brings before us; and, secondly, from this very particular feature of that statement,-that there is not one item of expenditure, I believe, with respect to which a single individual here present can entertain the slightest feeling of disapprobation or dissent. We rejoice in the expenditure; we lament only that the means are not greater, that that expenditure might be yet further augmented. We rejoice, also, in another feature of that statement we rejoice to find, that in the West Indies, in particular,—that field which, in former years, we have contemplated with so much pain,-there is a diminution of expenditure, arising from the great increase of those who advocate and support the objects we have in view. We rejoice also greatly in the success which has attended the labours of the Missionaries in that quarter. It is immediately connected with the other topic which I touched upon, the extinction of the slave-trade, and, eventually, of slavery in Africa; and in that connexion we see a foundation for our best and highest hopes. We see, also, with infinite satisfaction, among the abori

gines of the various countries into which we have sent colonies, the progress and the success of the labours of the Missionaries. We see them there proceeding in the mild, the gentle, the persuasive spirit of the Gospel dispensation, spreading that religion of which we have ourselves felt all the obligations, and are experiencing all the advantages. Our eloquent Chairman quoted a sentence from Gibbon's History, in which the success of the first preaching of the Gospel was attributed greatly to the exemplary lives of those who were appointed by our Redeemer to spread his doctrines; and I may be permitted to say, that we see the like success resulting from the labours of the Missionaries of the Wesleyan-Methodist Society from the like cause. And we

see, that so rapid is their progress, so much alive is the Wesleyan Connexion to the wants of mankind, that almost as soon as countries are discovered, their Missionaries are found labouring, and labouring with assiduity and success, in those countries. It is but recently that we have heard of the discovery by my friend, Sir Thomas Mitchell, the Surveyor-General of Australia, of a country to which he himself gave the felicitous name of Australia Felix; and we find, in the Report of the Society, that Wesleyan Missionaries are already labouring with success among the aborigines of that country. It was only the other day that we were filled with horror at the savage manners of the inhabitants of New-Zealand; and we already see an almost miraculous progress made towards the conversion of those people from heathen idolatry to the religion of Christ, and to the manners of a civilized people. In all these respects, therefore, I think the Report is most satisfactory; and even since the Report was read we find another ground of satisfaction, we find liberal donations already beginning to flow in, almost before you have been made acquainted with the wants of the Society. You have begun to make good the deficit, almost before you were acquainted that such a deficit existed. Upon all these grounds, then, it is impossible that I should not approve of the abstract which has been read to you from the Report; it is also impossible that I should not approve of its publication, because, the more widely it is disseminated, the more widely, I am persuaded, will the desire be awakened to give greater countenance and greater support to the exertions of this Society. I cannot doubt, also, your desire to join, as suggested by the Resolution offered to you, in grateful acknowledgments to

Almighty God, for the encouragement which those labours have already received; and I enter fully into, and highly approve of, the sentiment which the last words of the Resolution express, that the Wesleyan-Methodist Society labours "in common with other similar Protestant institutions." There is no principle of exclusiveness in the WesleyanMethodist Society;-there is no desire for exclusive ascendancy in the WesleyanMethodist Society. They give co-operation, and they solicit co-operation in return; they recommend and they practise the doctrine laid down in the two great commandments, to love God and to love our neighbour; and they ask of other people that they too will join in the same grateful reverence of God, and that they will be united with them in mutual love. I now beg leave to second the Resolution.

J. P. PLUMPTRE, ESQ., M.P. for East Kent.-Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, If, Sir, you in your opening address expressed yourself deeply impressed with the spectacle of such an assembly as the present, met together with the simple but sublime object of promoting the honour of God, and the salvation of the souls of our fellow-countrymen, I most deeply sympathize with you in that feeling. Sir, you know well enough that we have to be engaged again and again in scenes of a very different description, where the contest is not always so much for truth and principle, as for the victory of party. But it is indeed cheering to me, as I doubt not it has been also to you, to be met this day on a different occasion, and under very different circumstances, where the only provocation given and received is to love and to good works. Sir, I had the happiness and the honour, two years ago, of Occupying the post which you have so ably filled this day; and it gives me great satisfaction to find that this noble Society is still linked together in the bonds of holy love and fellowship, labouring together for the promotion of the same great end, the highest end for which man can live, the glory of God, and the welfare of man. It is a circumstance of utter insignificance to this assembly, but of some importance to myself indivi dually, that on this very day on which this Society is celebrating its Anniversary, I have completed the fiftieth year of my mortal life. I can hardly say I have lived fifty years, because I am obliged to confess that, for a large part, at least for nearly the first half, of that portion of my little day, I am afraid I had no real concern for the salvation of my own soul,

or for the salvation of the souls of others; but I hope I have learned, in some measure, that to live to any good and any happy effect, is to live to the glory of God, and to the good of our fellow-crea tures. I well remember, Sir, the lines of the Christian poet :

"Live while you live,' the Epicure will say, And give to pleasure each succeeding day. 'Live while you live,' the sacred Preacher cries, And give to God each moment as it flies. Lord, in my view let both united be; I live in pleasure, while I live to thee." But, Sir, if I have fulfilled, as I venture to take the liberty of observing, on this day, fifty years of my life, a large por tion indeed of my little day, but a mere speck, a mere spot, set beside that boundless and all-important eternity to which myself and all of us are hastening; if, I say, I have ventured thus to take notice of that event, I hope I have been living, at any rate, to learn some useful lessons, and this amongst others, that the great salvation which it is our object to disseminate and make known to the ends of the earth, the great salvation that is in Christ Jesus, is indeed a salvation suited altogether to the wants of man as a lost and helpless sinner. With what gratitude, with what thankfulness, must every one whose eyes have been opened to see in any measure the real state and condition of man as a sinner, learn from the sacred volume that there is a free and a full salvation, a salvation depending upon the blood and righteousness of the adorable Redeemer ! It is to this that we are to look, and on this that we have to depend. I can only say for myself, I would say it with humility, but I say it from the depths of my heart,-that this is all my salvation, and all my desire. And I hope, Sir, I have been learning another important lesson, which it is necessary for us to learn in our passage through this wilderness; and that is, that all who are looking to partake of this great, this common salvation, ought to love one another. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Sir, I know that I am only called upon to support the Resolu tion which has been so ably moved and seconded by those who have preceded me. I feel, therefore, that I should indeed be trespassing unduly upon the time of this Meeting, if I offered any further remarks. But, as I have rather a strong feeling upon one word in this Resolution, I trust you will allow me to make an observation upon it. The Resolution says, "This Meeting offers its

grateful acknowledgments to Almighty God for the encouraging measure of success which he continues to vouchsafe to the Wesleyan Missionary Society, in common with other similar Protestant institutions." My dear Christian friends, let us never forget that we are Protestants. God forbid that I should feel any ill-will towards any one of my fellowcreatures and fellow-sinners! God forbid there should be the least ill-will in my heart towards any Roman Catholic ! O, no; I would re-echo that song which came from above, "Glory to God in the highest on earth, peace: good-will towards men." But while I say this, I feel that there is reason, in the days in which we are living, to remember that I am a Protestant; and I call upon you to remember that you are Protestants; and if you wish to labour for the spiritual benefit of your fellow-creatures, I would exhort you to set your faces as a flint against evil Popish principles. Wherever those principles may display themselves, whether they may show their face at Rome or at Oxford,-I would exhort you, my Christian friends, to remember that you are Protestants, and that you should show yourselves Protestants in heart and life against all evil principles, wherever they may exist. I now, Sir, with great pleasure, support the Resolution which has been read.

The CHAIRMAN then put the Resolution, which was carried unanimously.

The CHAIRMAN.-In the original arrangements of the day, it was designed that the next Resolution should be moved by the Earl of Hillsborough; but, since taking the chair, I have received a note from my noble friend, in which, after expressing his regret that illness will prevent his attending, he goes on to say, he has read the pamphlets and Reports which have been sent to him by the Secretaries, and he never read any proceedings more interesting or more wonderful; and he was not a little astonished to find that trial by jury had been adopted, on the suggestion of the Wesleyan-Methodist Missionaries, by one of the barbarian Princes. This shows, he says, what incredible labour these worthy men go through. The noble Earl, in conclusion, requests his name to be put down for £20. In the place of the noble Earl, Edward Litton, Esq., M. P. for Coleraine, has consented to move the next Resolution.

E. LITTON, Esq., M. P. for Coleraine, on rising, was loudly cheered. He said,-Sir, the Resolution which I have to move is,

"That this Meeting, while contemplating with peculiar satisfaction the prosperous state of the Society's African Missions, both in the south and in the west, and the providential entrance afforded to its Missionaries into the kingdom of Ashantee, offers its earnest prayers, that, through the divine blessing, the expedition to the Niger may prove highly instrumental in eventually promoting the cause of Christianity and civilization in other parts of Africa." Sir, I confess that I feel it a very high privilege to have been suffered this day to address my Protestant brethren at such a Meeting as the present. The Resolution which I have the honour and satisfaction to propose for your adoption, may be considered to embody in its substance a happy recollection of the past, and a bright and blessed hope for the future; a recollection of what has been done amongst the poor Heathen and the strangers to Christianity, and a bright and blessed prospect of what still remains to be done; and our Wesleyan Protestant brethren offer themselves now, as they have ever offered themselves in every faithful Protestant work, not only to inform you of the benefits that they have already conferred through the divine blessing, but they offer themselves as Christian warriors to achieve even greater benefits for the future. respect to what the Wesleyan-Methodist Missionaries have done; I trust no man will think that because I move amongst them here, and am entrusted with the announcement of their views and of their sentiments, I would so far insult them, or demean myself, as to adopt for one moment the language of flattery or of adulation. But as an Irishman, as a Protestant Irishman, having had the happiness to act with them occasionally for a period of about ten years, I stand here to announce to this English Meeting the efforts that have been made, and the objects that have been achieved, in Ireland. From my earliest recollection, and I have lived from my infancy in that country, I have looked upon the Wesleyan Methodists not only as the best allies of the established Church, to which I belong, but as the most fearless and devoted champions of the great principles of the Reformation. In that, in many respects, unhappy country, where Papal doctrines and practices have thrown around the judgments of the population a cloud of Egyptian darkness, I have seen these brave and fearless men risk life and limb, undergo privations, and perils, and losses, submit

With

to jeers, and insults, and injuries, because they were determined to stand by the principles of the Reformation, and the Gospel of Christ. I will say, there is no man not belonging to their own body, who knows all these facts better; for, besides having an extensive connexion in almost all parts of Ireland, I have had the honour, for three successive years in our metropolis, to fill the chair at a similar Meeting to the present; and, as a Protestant, and one attached to the established Church, before I assumed that position, I thought it my duty to learn their principles, to ascertain their conduct, and to become acquainted with their views and doctrines; and with that knowledge, practically acquired, I say, as a Church-of-England-man, there is not a bolder and more faithful phalanx in the empire, in sustentation of the great evangelical principles of our Church, than are the Wesleyan Methodists. The proceedings of the Society abroad would fill not only volumes, but libraries. They have been working ever since they were founded by that great man whose name they bear, in the vocation of Christian charity. I ask you to look at what they bear in our own country. Do they not even here suffer annoyances and perils, from the rude, the vulgar, the ignorant, and the infidel? Is there a class of men who have put on the armour of faith with such practical effect under such privations? I never can forget what they have undergone here for the sake of the name of which they boast. I never can forget the acts they have done; the thousands and tens of thousands they have brought within the pale of Christianity. I never can forget their efforts and their success in my own country; and, furthermore, I cannot forget that within the last two short years, in this country, when a plan of education was proposed which was intended to mingle the Socinian, and the Roman Catholic, and the Church-of-Englandman in one common school, while every man attached to the principles of the Reformation protested against it, I cannot forget who on that occasion came to the aid of the established Church; who it was that came to the aid of our Bishops and our Ministers. The Wesleyan Methodists, in thousands, and tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, poured in their petitions, and with their good aid the good cause was successful, and we achieved our object. I therefore say, that the ablest, and best, and most faithful allies of the established Church have been, and are, the Wesley

ans of this empire. And representing, as I do, a place, the inhabitants of which mainly profess the doctrines of the Scotch Church, which are synonimous with those of the Synod of Ulster, I do assure you, I feel a gratification which I cannot express, when I see amongst us that eminent Divine who proposed the first Resolution, thereby showing, that for the future, “union is strength," and that we are to have the strong union, the strong union of the bold Presbyterian of the north, the Christian Wesleyan, and the conscientious Churchman. I represent a place where we have long had that union. I represent them all; and I tell you that, happy as you are in England, splendid as are your rural districts as compared with ours in the north and the west of Ireland, bright as are your feelings, and glorious as are your peace and harmony, I tell you that in that district, where the union of three faithful Protestant sects exists, whose bond is the Bible, whose principles and shield are the doctrines of the Reformation; I say, that in that district, whatever be the splendour and beauty, moral and physical, of your rural districts, we can in that favoured part of the north of Ireland compete with any of you. These are some of the happy effects and blessings which have been conferred upon the Heathen abroad in thousands, and tens of thousands; these foreign labours, and this domestic success, form the substance of the first part of the Resolution, which I ventured to describe as a happy recollection of the effect of the labours of the past. The latter part of it is, perhaps, even still more interesting and important. It is a reference to that expedition which is now advancing into the interior of Africa, whither faithful Ministers of the Gospel will, we hope, in due time follow, and convey the blessings of Christianity. It would be wrong

in me to dwell for more than two or three minutes upon the necessity of this expedition, its objects, and its duties, and the advantages likely to arise from it. The state in which Africa remains, with respect to the slave-trade, is certainly not universally known. You only know that our Legislature has placed its stamp of infamy upon the traffic; you only know that it has subjected those who would sacrifice to profit life and limb, and the spilling of blood, and the destruction and disorganization of African society, to a code of punishment; you only know that no longer are the hands of British merchants tainted, dis