regularly ordained clergymen of the Church of England. Mr. Mayor is gone to Galle, and Mr. Knight to Jaffna; the stations appointed for them in England. Mr. Lambrick is to reside at Colombo, but he will probably, before he is settled there, make a visit to Kandy. Mr. Ward was to have been fixed at Trincomalee, but he has been persuaded by the advice of the honourable and venerable the Archdeacon, and the senior colonial Chaplain, to select Manar, or Calpentyn for his residence, where there is a considerable native population, almost entirely deprived of spiritual assistance, and an extensive field is quite open to his Missionary exertions. With this pleasing prospect of future success, and with the grateful reflection that their humble efforts since the last general meeting have not been devoid of public utility, your Committee would gladly conclude their brief recapitulation of past events. It is with the utmost anxiety for the public welfare, and the most lively concern for the health and happiness of the Governor, that your Committee look forward to the termination of the unfortunate troubles in Kandy; and to the restoration of their President to that peaceful office in which he had so long laboured to promote the great object of the society, a diffusion of religious and moral instruction. His absence has doubtless operated as a great discouragement to their exertions; and many of their members also being engaged in a distant and arduous warfare, must have withdrawn much of that active co-operation which otherwise would have contributed to their success. But your Committee see nothing more in this, than a temporary impediment, which cannot long remain to obstruct their course. They rely upon the blessing of Providence to approve, and ultimately to complete their work. It was the design of our gracious Redeemer, declared explicitly to his disciples, after he had endured the cross and triumphed over the grave, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations: and that design will assuredly be fulfilled. in the appearance of an occasional ob struction, because throughout the whole history of the Christian church, great and signal successes have been not unfrequently preceded by struggles of unusual difficulty and distress. The very misfortunes which we now deplore, the very troubles which now distract the inland provinces of this island, and seem to shut the door against all the meliorating influence of humane and Christian rule, may be linked, by no remote connexion, with the future prosperity, the moral and religious regeneration of Ceylon. When the present troubles are over, and by the blessing of God, tranquillity is restored, the Kandian, like every other native of India, must gradually be convinced that Christianity will never be forced upon him as a test of loyalty, or a badge of subjection, but tendered to his free choice, offered as a boon of great price, bestowed upon him as the gift of life and immortality. Whatever may be the result of our present contest in this island, pregnant with hazard and difficulties of various kinds, as it is confessed to be, yet the religious and political conse quences that have been anticipated, are drawn from the sure records of historical truth. Every struggle to resist the deminion of our countrymen in the east, has terminated only in the aggrandizement and stability of the British empire. Every feeble effort of man to thwart the decrees of Providence, to stop the resist less course of the "power of God unto salvation," has been turned into the means of confirming and extending the kingdom of Christ. No discouraging argument can be drawn from the failure of any former attempt to propagate Christianity, for the religion then taught and still cherished in a few sequestered villages among the Kandian mountains, was unsupported by the powerful aid of the Holy Scriptures, which were studiously withheld from the unenlightened convert. The joyful hope of seeing the Gospel established throughout this island, is not a vain theory, or idle speculation; it is justified by past experience. God grant it may be ratified by future success!! There is nothing seriously to discourage KANDY.-The Portuguese introduced Christianity into the kingdom of Kandy, and for a time made many converts. The following article, from the Appendix to the Bible Report, will shew the present state of Christianity in the interior, reduced to almost entire extinction. A following Letter will shew that our Missionaries have commenced the attempt to communicate the Gospel of Christ to this long neglected people. The Portuguese took considerable in the Kandian country when they were pains to establish the Christian religion at various times possessed of different parts of it for some years together. After they were completely expelled, some Missionaries were also permitted to settle within the Kandian dominions, allowed to build places of worship, and to preach unmolested to their congregations. The number of these converts was probably much exaggerated by the Portuguese writers, who make them aniount to more than 3000. But if they had been so numerous, their total deprivation of the Holy Scriptures, and the banishment of all their priests, would sufficiently account for the wretched state to which they have been long reduced. The principal Christian church was in the village of Bogumbera,close,and almost adjoining to the town of Kandy. Here the priests resided, and from hence they travelled occasionally to visit the country congregations. In the early part of the 18th century, the church of Bogumbera was destroyed, and the priests were banished from the Kandian territories. A famine and pestilence soon after afflicted the country, and the king began to fear that his persecution of the Christians bad provoked the Divine wrath to inflict those calamities upon his people. The few remaining Christians thus owed their safety to his superstitious fears. They had been reduced to two villages, Wahacotte, in the province of Matelle, and Galgomerah in the Seven Korles. To the former he made a present of a crucifix and some other ornaments for the altar, which had been taken from the church at Bogumbera; he secured to them the property of their lands, and they have remained ever since unmolested. Their numbers amount to about 300, and the congregation of Galgomerah is the most considerable. Of the church or houses of Bogumbera there is not a ruin left, but the line of the street is plainly visible by the heaps of earth on each side, now covered with turf, into which the walls of the houses have been long reduced. Some few cocoa-nut and palmyra trees also remain to mark in this desolate spot, the gardens of the Christian inhabitants. Close by, is the small lake or tank of Bogumbera, which has been long used as the place of execution for females of distinction. It was into this dreary pool the wife of Eyheylapola, and the remains of her murdered children, whom she had been compelled to beat in a mortar, were thrown a few years ago. This barbarous cruelty to an innocent woman and her helpless children, this inhuman outrage upon the feelings of a mother, was the beginning of a revolution, which, it is to be hoped, has for ever closed the reign of heathen tyranny in the Kandian kingdom. The village of Wahacotta is most beautifully situated in one of those sequestered vallies which intersect the mountains of Matelle. The church is a very simple building, thatched with straw, and little exceeding in size or appearance the cottages of the inhabitants. When the Secretary visited it in January, 1818, he saw the crucifix and some other ornaments of European workmanship on the altar, and close by them lay the copies of the Cingalese New Testament which he had before sent for their use. There are but very few of the inhabitants who can read,but they expressed a strong desire for the means of instructing their children. They had no books whatever in their possession but an imperfect calendar of the holy days, with the Gospel for each Sunday as far as it goes. There is also added a short explanation of the Gospel for the day. Their church is governed by a Moopoo, a Malabar term, by which is signified an elder or respectable layman, who officiates in all the Malabar Christian churches in the absence of the priest, but does not perform mass; and a Sanchristian, the Portuguese word for a sexton. They are respected by their neighbours, and admitted to be of the Vellale, or highest cast. They go to the Budhist temples occasionally in their neighbourhood, and offer flowers, solely, as they pretend, to avoid giving offence, but it is too plain that their ignorance makes it a matter of indifference to them, whether they worship in the church or the temple. Their Budhist neighbours in return, often come with offerings to their church, particularly when their children are afflicted with sickness. RELLEGALLA, Feb. 23, 1819. We are happy to have a letter dated from a place in the Kandian Territory. We have seen, from the foregoing extract, how nearly extinct the very name of Christ is become in this part of Ceylon. Under the former treaty with the Kandians, no attempts could be made to introduce religion within the boundary line, and the Kandian provinces remained sealed up in darkness. The late treaty has not thus fettered the efforts of Christians, and Mr. NEWSTEAD has been the first to avail himself of the opportunity of making the offer of the benefits of the gospel. says, He Because I am persuaded it will give you pleasure to receive information relalive to our mission from this centre of idolatry, where Heathenism is so fully acknowledged, and Christianity as yet altogether unknown, I have equal plea sure in dating a hasty line to you from hence, to inform you that our gracious Master has succeeded an attempt thus far in the Kandian territory. At our last Conference, which ended in January at Galle, we pledged ourselves, as far as it was prudent and practicable, to carry the gospel into the interior, an object which had long lain near my heart. It happens that my station is as near the limits of the Kandian provinces as any on the island, and I could not be satisfied till I had made an attempt to plant the hallowed standard of the cross in this region of paganism. Accordingly, after two days of rather toilsome and difficult journeying, chiefly on foot, owing to the badness of the roads, I am safely arrived, with many providential interpositions, at a most lovely village, where I have been very hospitably received by the most respectable man in the place; from an outer shed of whose house I am writing this, on the shafts of my waggon, with some sticks tied across for a table, (an article of luxury quite unknown here, as well as a chair!) This man has received me very kindly, although so totally unknown, merely on my own word, and has gone with me round the neighbour. ing villages, to tell the people of the object of my visit, i. e. to preach the Word of God to them, and also to establish a Christian school. In the evening we collected about 12 of the Kandians, and our own people, who all sat round me on the ground, while the interpreter read from the Cingalese Testament the 3d of St. John to the 21st verse, from which I afterwards drew a short view of the plan of salvation. They listened with deep attention; I then told them of the number of chil. dren we had in our schools on the coast of the island, and the sums we expended on their education; that we proferred the same blessings to them and their children; that we sought not their property, nor their services, but their souls' salvation; that we ourselves were sent out by the Christian people of our own country, and supported by them at a vast expense; that they would abundantly rejoice in all that expense, if the souls of the heathen were saved, Jesus our Lord being the Saviour of all men, but especially of such as believe on his name. It was astonishing to see the attention with which they heard, and often ever responded to what was said! Afterwards we prayed; and when I repeated the Lord's prayer in their own tongue, I believe, from the increased stillness, that they were rather surprised to hear their language used by a European in prayer. I am charmed with the lovely and romantic appearance of the country; it is like an earthly paradise! One of my schoolmasters, who came with me, earnestly exhorted the people on the subjects of the Christian religion. He is an excellent young man, lately become pious, and so earnest for the truth, that he told me last week, in 80swer to a question about going to Kandy, he would gladly go to the ends of the earth, if I wished it, and die there, to spread the knowledge of the name of Jesus Christ! O that the everlasting gospel may thus silently, but effectually enter, and win its widening way, till the whole country shall bow to the sceptre of Jesus! However, I would not be too sanguine, we may not now succeed in all we wish, as there exist many hinderances, but we shall eventually prevail if we are faithful. Feb. 24. My congregation this morning was not so numerous as my hopes anticpated, but far more attentive than I could expect, being altogether strangers to Christian instruction. I serve a Master who does not despise the day of small things: I will rejoice that I have had an opportunity to declare to about 20 of the poor Kandian heathen, "the onsearchable riches of Christ." I collected them in the place where we slept, and stood under the shade of a spreading cocoa-nut-tree, and addressed them from Matt. iii. 2. After the chapter was read, my heart was much affected, and I could scarcely refrain from tears, a command my voice. Afterwards I had several interesting conversations with them about establishing a Christian school in their village. They did not seem averse to it, but started several curious objections; especially a fear lest we should, after educating their children, take them away. This, however, I was not surprised at, as we frequently meet with the same prejudices on the coast. I believe I in a good degree removed this objection, by saying to them, that if it were our object to take the children away after educating them, we need not come so far, for we had thousands on the shores of their island, well prepared for such a purpose; but they were every one at liberty to go where they pleased, after we had done them all the good in our power. I all events, I hope to establish a school, and for this purpose intend to send a youth of our Negombo school to assist the master, as well as to be a companion, and that they may keep both places in view. Should I succeed, I believe it will be very practicable to establish a line of schools all the way, which, from Negombo to Kandy, will include ten schools, at various distances, where we can rest on our way, and instruct and preach both going and coming. The journey may be accomplished direct in two days, and in a week all the schools may be visited. Seven of them, belonging to my station, are already well established, and the other three depend on the circumstances here stated. If this prospers, our way into the Kandian provinces will probably open to an indefinite extent. But, having thus sketched the outline merely of an animating prospect, which promises well; (and which I recommend earnestly to the prayers of our dear people.) I would not, I again repeat, be too sanguine, aware, from much painful experience, of the disappointments to which we are liable from many quarters in our work here. But leaving the whole with the Lord of the vineyard, after doing what, on the whole appears to be for the best, would wait, patiently wait, his blessing. obtained leave finally to send the schoolmaster whom I had with me, to live with them a few months, and try to instruct any who would come, that they might thus prove the excellence of what I came to offer them; and for a trifling consideration I engaged the very place in which we then were, for six months, for a trial. Were it prudent, or rather possible, to leave the head of the station alone, I should feel the utmost readiness to go and live amongst them myself for a season; but having no one to supply my place there I cannot. I will, how ever, do my best till help can be obtained, by frequent visits, if we can gain a footing. The young man is to go next week, and, being a zealous Christian, I have scarcely a doubt but he will succeed, assisted by the blessing of the Lord, and the help I can myself continue to give. The place is nearly 50 English miles from Negombo: but this I shall make no obstacle, if I may but succeed in the wish of my heart, to plant the cross of my redeeming Lord, in this region and shadow of death, where, I believe, the devil is more worshipped than Budhu! The very countenances of all the people are tinged with a melancholy gloom, resulting from such a worship. There is a place near the limit, which indeed nothing but the river separates from Kandy, where, at MATURA.-Mr. CALLAWAY writes from this Station, under the date, Feb. 5, 1819. Our dear brother Harvard, whose sickly state has rendered it necessary for him to return, will bring copies of all the little works we have printed. Several of them have been compiled by me, and are well received. I am at intervals going over them, preparatory to their being at any time reprinted. I believe a few copies of the vocabulary have been already sent. It was, you will believe, a work of difficulty, but I and several about me worked at it incessantly till it was done. Slow as our workmen are, it ran through the press in a month; the most careful revision assures me the Cingalese is substantially correct. I shall arrange the Cingalese first in the next edition, and put the plural terminations of the nouns, as they are much varied in Cingalese. Much of my time and labour has been spent in collecting books, for I had nothing of the kind to help me; and the materials in my possession now are not despicable. I am in letter C of a school dictionary, an abridgment of Entick, by Blair, trans lating it into Cingalese. It will, give in a narrow compass, the essence of both lan 3 guages, as the words are chiefly radical. I would most gladly be constantly employed in declaring the word of life, but in the present state of things some attention must be paid to labours of a preparatory nature. I have now for a colleague brother Anthoniez a country-born young man, of piety, sense and zeal. I cannot expect him to assist me as brother L. did, as his knowledge of Cingalese is not so extensive. I am now left in a greater degree to my own resources and exertions, but am not discouraged. I am indeed no stranger to depression, any more than to elevation of mind; for to look at human means alone, would convince us they are altogether inadequate. The habits of the people from infancy have a deteriorating effect on all moral principle. Perhaps no vice calls the unholy dispositions of men into exercise more forcibly and habitually than gambling; to this the propensity is general. I was passing one night through a street in Colombo, and observed several boys gambling, by tossing money by the rays of a remote lamp which hung in one of the houses, present and eternal happiness. I find it anity. Our collection of adults is not yet great, perhaps 800, but they come freely, and we have now on this side upwards of 120 members who are walking in the fear of the Lord; our mouths have not long been opened in the native tongues, but we become more efficient daily, and our three excellent assistants do well. When I came to the Island, I did not find a single elementary work in either the Tamul, Cingalese, or Ceylon Portuguese language, nor indeed a single tract in the last language. We had one in a sort of Portuguese, but far too high. In the last language (which was never a written language) I have, with immense labour, formed a dictionary, grammar, spellingbook, and catechism, which I have also published in Dutch and Cingalese) and have formed a few hymns, to which brother Newstead has made a large addition, and we have now a Portuguese hymn-book. We have the New Testament also translated into this language, which we are preparing for the press, as we have finished forming the standard of the language. The only Cingaleve elementary work that was in the island, was Mr. Chater's Grammar. Now there are many; brother Callaway, assisted by learned priests, has paralleled most of the words in our spellingbook, with Cingalese-formed a Cinga. lese spelling book, and a useful vocabulary in English, Cingalese, and Portuguese.-The Cingalese department of it is excellent. A large abridgment of my Portuguese Dictionary, I have paralleled with English and Cingalese; the Cingalese is written both in its own character and the European; it is nearly out of the press.-Brother Clough has paralleled the English dictionary as far as the letter T. with Cingalese, and published the English liturgy in Cingalese: in short, we shall cut off two year's labour to future Missionaries.-Brother Squance preaches extempore in Tamui, or as some call it, Malabar, or Malabaric, and has prepared for the press a vocabulary and grammar. BOMBAY.-Extract of a Letter from Mr. HORNER, dated May 15, 1819. It appears as though God had a con- has slain its thousands, and pestilence its roversy with the people of India. War tens of thousands. At present things |