India interests are by causes too notorious to require to be enumerated, we cannot, without injustice to others, consent to such a subtraction of labour from the cultivation of the states as would lead to a material reduction of income; but we very confidently believe that no such sacrifice is necessary to the accomplishment of the object contemplated, and we entertain no doubt that, under your Lordship's discreet and judicious direction, the spiritual interests of the slave will be shewn to be not incompatible with the temporal interests of the master.

"Having now enjoyed the opportunities which five months' residence amongst us has afforded of observing your Lordship's character and conduct, we cannot suffer this occasion to pass without expressing our warm admiration of the uncommon zeal and ardour, which you have displayed in discharging the various duties of your sacred office, from which we anticipate the happiest influence on religion and morals.

66 Accept our best wishes for a safe and pleasant passage, and a speedy return to your all-important charge.

"We have the honour to remain, "Your Lordship's faithful humble

servants.

"The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Barbadoes, and the Leeward Islands."

A deputation from the meeting waited on his Lordship on the 26th of July, and presented the Address, which was numerously signed; when the Chairman spoke as follows:

"My Lord-In calling your Lordship's attention to the Address which I shall have the honour of reading, I beg to assure your Lordship that the meeting of which we are a deputation, was as fully and respectably attended as any ever witnessed in this colony; and the perfect unanimity which prevailed on this occasion, is the strongest assurance I can give you of the sincerity of the observations which are now submitted to your Lordship."

To which his Lordship replied"Gentlemen-I thank you for this kind expression of your good wishes -(the testimonies of regard which I am daily receiving are indeed most grateful to me)—and I thank you for

VOL. VII. NO. XII.

what is most important, this declaration of your readiness to co-operate fully with me in every prudential measure for the religious instruction of your dependents, and I would add, the poorer classes generally.

"The measures on which I have already acted, and propose still to act, are not unknown to you; for I have had the pleasure of conversing on them with most of you in private yet I gladly embrace this more public opportunity of repeating them.

I propose, then, to impart religious instruction to every plantation thrown open to me, through the agency of catechists and teachers, licensed by the Bishop after previous examination and subscription; acting under, and directed by the minister of the parish, within which they shall be appointed to act-paying every proper regard to the wishes of the master as to the time and frequency of instruction, and confining the material of instruction to the Scriptures, the Liturgy of our Church, and such other religious works as are included in the catalogue of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.

"For the pecuniary support of these catechists and teachers, I look first to the monies placed at my disposal by His Majesty's Government, for the maintenance of a certain number of cese-secondly, to the Society for the clergy and catechists within the dioConversion and Religious Instruction of Negroes, to whom I have ventured to oppose such an exclusive application of their funds-and lastly to yourselves, individually and collectively, through the formatiom of a branch association of the Society.

"I trust that you will consider these measures to be prudential: and with your co-operation, under the Divine blessing, I cannot but anticipate from them the most beneficial results.

"I beg again to thank you for the kind expressions of your good wishes for my health and speedy return."

The Bishop left Barbadoes for this country, on the 8th of August, and on1 the 9th, the following high testimony to his character and exertions appeared in the Barbadoes Newspaper, which we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of submittiting to our readers.

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The Barbadian of the 9th observes, "We hesitate not to say, and with unfeigned sincerity of heart, that we consider the choice which has been made of a Bishop for this Diocese a most fortunate one, judging by the six months experience of his Lordship's devotion to his duties, his anxious solicitude to promote the best interests of all, and his ardent and zealous exertions to increase the number of the Christian fold. In every point of view in which we have beheld him, we have felt the conviction that he possesses every qualification for the exercise of the important office of a Christian Bishop. We need not mention here his unwearied labours during the whole period of his residence amongst us to carry into effect every plan which could give strength and permanency to our religious establishment, or which could increase the respectability of our character as a Christian people. The whole country is acquainted with his unceasing labour

impartial disposition, have so endeared him to the people of this Colony, that we are perfectly sure he carries with him the kindest wishes of the inhabitants, and that their prayers will, as he feelingly implored them in his farewell Sermon on Sunday, ascend to the Throne of God, for his protection and happiness, and his speedy return to his flock.-Never was a congregation more powerfully affected than on Sunday, when his Lordship, towards the conclusion of his discourse, in few, but most expressive words, bade us "farewell!" The most profound silence, the most earnest attention prevailed throughout the crowded Church; but when, after assuring us of his continued remembrance of us in his absence, and of his unceasing prayers for us, he said these words," Pray for me," it is impossible to describe the feelings of the congregation; his pathetic manner had an instantaneous and powerful effect on every heartalmost every eye wept; they were the tears of affection, of gratitude, and of reverential respect for one, who, in a most exalted situation, has extended his kindness to all of every class has dispensed his charities largely to the relief of the suffering part of his fellow-creatures-and has endeavoured to attach and conciliate all within the sphere of his influence."

It will be in our readers' recollection how marked were the demonstrations of affection and respect shewn to Bishop Hobart on his departure from New York for this country in the autumn of 1823, by the whole Episcopal population of that city. His return to his diocese has been greeted in the same manner at the convention of that body, which was held immediately afterwards. It was visited by the Right Rev. Bishop Croes, of New Jersey, and the Right Rev. Bishop Brownell, of Connecticut. The number of Clergy who were present as members or visitors, was about

80 or 90, and the Lay-delegates about the same number; being, probably, the largest assembly of the kind that has ever been held in this country. This meeting, after so long and anxious a separation between the Bishop and his clergy, and the Lay representatives of his diocese, was an event deeply interesting and affecting. In the full glow of affectionate feeling which_it could not but inspire, the Bishop delivered an address to the convention, which was heard with a fixedness of attention, a depth of interest, and a liveliness of sensibility, probably never surpassed in any body of hearers. A

committee, consisting of the Rev. Dr. Reed, the Rev. Dr. H. U. Onderdonk, the Rev. Dr. Wainwright, Richard Harrison, Esq. Judge Emott, and Judge Duer, was appointed to draft and report resolutions responsive to the Bishop's address. The resolutions, as reported, were adopted by the convention, without a dissenting voice.

BISHOP HOBART'S ADDRESS. "It is with feelings which truly it is not in my power to express, that I again find myself in the midst of you; do let me thus call you, with no common emphasis-my beloved brethren of the clergy and laity. Thanks to God for that protecting providence which has brought me to you; and who graciously enables me to enjoy the delight ful satisfaction of seeing my clergy assembled, without the alloy, that death has taken away any of their valued number. We mourn indeed the affect ing stroke that has removed from the sphere of ministerial usefulness on which they had entered, since my departure, some young servants of our heavenly Master, who were in every view of the highest promise.

"But I again press to the bosomI have felt it-of mutual affectionagain take with the hand of warm congratulation-the Clergy whom I had left, whom I had often seen in this sacred place. I knew not their full hold on my heart till I was separated from them, and again united to them. I also see the revered and honoured Laymen whom I have been and am proud to call my friends, to denominate them with an appellation that still more endears them to me, the friends of the Church; the Zion whom they and I ought, and I trust, do supremely love; not as the mere religious party with which we are fortuitously cast, but as the depository and dispenser of the truths of salvation.

"The assembling on these occasions of the laity to aid and support their Bishop and their Clergy in those ecclesiastical measures that fall within their province, I have ever considered as under God one of the best securities of the union and prosperity of our Church-one of the strongest pledges that she enjoys the confidence of her members, and a powerful earnest of,

and excitement to, all those exertions by which that prosperity is to be secured.

"Welcoming, most cordially welcoming, from these considerations, to these ecclesiastical meetings my brethren of the laity, long may we be gratified by their presence.

"But my heart delights to think that their present assemblage I may regard, in some degree, as an evidence of the affectionate interest which they take in their Bishop; in one who, proud, unaffectedly and deeply proud, of every manifestation of their attachment, now recalls many, many periods in which he has been aided by their counsel, strengthened, powerfully strengthened, by their support, animated by their confidence, and solaced by their friendship.

"My brethren of the Clergy and Laity, my feelings would fain pour out themselves in words, but traly, (there is no affectation here,) words do not come adequate to my feelings of respect, of affection, of gratitude; yes, gratitude for your confidence, for your kind estimation of my services, for your indulgence to my failings, for the sympathetic and deep interest and prayers that marked my departure and my absence, for the heart-cheering greetings that welcome my return.

"But I can say, and I must say, that I honour, that I esteem, that I love you. And do, I beseech you, carry with you to your congregations, and your fellowchurchmen, the expressions of my gratitude for all the interest which, in various ways, they have so strongly manifested for their absent Bishop.

"Tell them that he comes grateful indeed, for hospitalities and attentions abroad, and admiring much that he has seen, especially in the land of his fathers; but prizing all that he left behind, more, he would almost say, infinitely more, than when he went away; loving his Church as the purest and the best, however as yet humble among the churches of Christendom; and why should he not, for once in his life, mingle with his public acts as a Christian Bishop, his sentiments as a citizen, loving his country as the best and the happiest, because the freest upon earth -Tell them that he comes with renovated desires to serve them to do his

duty to the beloved diocese of which he has charge. Of that diocese, to say the least, so important in the general relations of our Zion, it delights him to know that, during his absence, harmony and zeal and delicate attention to his supposed wishes and feeling, marked all your united and separate measures. It delights him to find so many evidences of its prosperity in the numerous representations which already meet him, of persons to be confirmed, of new congregations to be visited, and of new Churches to be consecrated. And above all it delights him to know, that with zeal for all those externals of our Church, which God has made the safeguards of her spiritual principles-those great princiciples which constitute the Gospel which that Church professes in its greatest purity, the power of God unto salvation, are the animating guides of the public instructions of the Clergy, and I humbly hope, duly prized by the people to whom they minister.

"Even if the period since my arrival had been long enough for the purpose, the circumstances following that arrival, of which you must be aware, have so excited and engrossed my feelings, as not to admit of my gaining that information, which would enable me to present to you in detail the state of the diocese, a gratification to which I look forward, God willing, at some future opportunity.

"The business of the missionary department has, during my absence, been conducted with great ability by the committee to whom it is confided.

"I must, however, earnestly press, from a conviction of its supreme importance, your zealous and persevering efforts to keep up and increase the missionary fund, by means of which the truths and ordinances of the gospel, as professed by our church, have been dispensed to so many who were destitute of them. The duties of the standing committee also, which my absence increased, have been ably discharged. Nor let me omit for myself and I am confident for you, the warm expression of gratitude to several of my brethren of the episcopacy for their services in this diocese, and especially to my long-known and valued brother to the diocese of New Jersey, for the

numerous official acts which with so much cordiality and ability he has performed for his absent brother. They will long live in our affectionate remembrance.

"My heart has been often with my diocese; and particularly on those interesting occasions when my venerable father and brethren of the episcopacy assembled here on the concerns of our general Theological Seminary; which institution, since its organization on its present correct and impartial principles, by which, provisions may be made for theological education adequate to the wants of the whole church, I had hoped would have engaged the united and cordial co-operation of every diocese, as it had done on a memorable occasion the prayers and the acts of its highest ecclesiastical assembly; and of which (and on this point I shall say no more,) as the great hope under God of our Zion and one of the principal bonds of its unity, I have been, through some evil report, its zealous, and I think, consistent advocate.

"One thing more, Brethren of the clergy, and especially of the laity, (for, engaged as they are in the business and cares of the world, to them the admonition particularly applies)-continue to love your church as maintaining and professing the faith once delivered to the saints, the ministry and worship of apostolic and primitive times-display your affection by devoting, as opportunity offers, your talents, your influence, your time, and forget not, also, the wealth with which Providence has blessed you, to her extension and prosperity. But let me deeply impress on you how utterly vain will be all our affection-all our exertions for our Zion, unless, through the agency of the divine Spirit, its sacred truth and ministration and services come with that power on our hearts and lives which redeems them from all unholy desires, sanctifies them after the divine image of purity and goodness, and produces the fruits of righteousness and peace.

"Then, and then only, shall we pass through this Zion below to the more blessed Zion above, where, in all the powers and the feelings of our nature, we shall find the perfection of truth and the fulness of felicity. God grant

of his infinite mercy in Christ, brethren, that there we may meet and abide for ever."

The following resolutions, having been reported by the Committee, were adopted by Convention; Bishop Hobart having retired, and the Rt. Rev. Bishop Croes, of New Jersey, being in the Chair,

"Resolved, That this Convention return their most fervent thanks to Almighty God, for his kind providence in preserving their Bishop during his absence, in restoring his health, and in bringing him, in safety, to the bosom of his family, to the embraces of his friends, and to the cordial and ardent welcome of his diocese.

"Resolved, That this Convention have undiminished confidence in their Bishop, in the rectitude of his principles, in the purity of his motives, and in the elevation of his character; and that they are happy in bearing their testimony to the soundness of his policy, and the correctness of his proceedings, whether within the sphere of his own diocese, or in the concerns of the Church at large.

"Resolved, that this Convention participate most heartily in the sentiments expressed by their Bishop, in regard to the General Theological Seminary, and are happy that they have always seen in him the firm, the dignified, and the consistent supporter of its rights and best interests.

"Resolved, That this Convention heard with feelings of inexpressible love and reverence, the dignified and affectionate address delivered by the Bishop; and reciprocate, with unrestrained cordiality, the kindness and tenderness manifested both in its sentiments, and in its delivery; and that they will ever retain a remembrance of the hallowed scene presented by this assembly and its head, overpowered by their mutual emotions, as an additional pledge of personal love towards himself, and of union with each other."

In the above address the Chief Shepherd of an integral portion of the Christian fold is so completely exem

plified in all the pastoral preeminences which commend the character to our veneration, that the feeling cannot well be heightened by any additional testimony. Yet there is a testimony recently borne to Bishop Hobart by Mr. Rose; in the notes to his valuable course of Sermons on the state of the Protestant religion in Germany, preached in May last, before the University of Cambridge, and recently published, which we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of adding to that which the Bishop here most unconsciously bears to himself. Mr. Rose, it should be observed, enjoyed great opportunities of becoming intimately acquainted with Bishop Hobart upon the Continent last winter, where a close friendship was formed between them. He is speaking of two Charges of the Bishop's, delivered to the Clergy of the diocese of New York in the years 1815 and 1818, and commending them to the theological student as the most forcible, and at the same time succinct view of the divine institution of the Christian ministry, and of the awful nature of the duties undertaken by those ordained into it, that has fallen under his observation; and he proceeds, "Bishop Hobart is indeed a treasure to the Church he governs. The impression which he has made on all who had the happiness of knowing him here, by his clear and lucid views, his sincere and heart-felt but unobtrusive piety, his deep and entire conviction of the truth of his principles, and his earnest zeal in their propagation, will not easily pass away, Let it be pardoned to private affection and regard, if it here utters the wish, which, indeed, could be fully justified on public grounds, that his life may be long spared to the Church and the Country of which he is so bright an ornament." It is most delightful to see, from the reception with which he has been greeted, that his Clergy and his flock are fully sensible of the treasure they possess, which we most cordially concur with Mr. Rose, in praying that they may long be permitted to enjoy.