shrieks of suffering, and the groans of death! Their

acts are not

"Such as nations yet unborn shall tell,

And curse the battle where their fathers fell!"

Oh! my Lord Duke, what peace, joy, unity and brotherhood succeed their victories! How tender, how intense is the love of the vanquished for the victor! How they admire the Saviour! How they cleave to his servants! Good, and only good, good personal and relative, good of all kinds, good in the largest measures, good both for soul and body, good for this world and for that which is to come, attends their march, and flows from their conquests. The missionary's station is a fountain of good, of unmixed good, to all around it; and the missionary himself is at once seen to be the friend of God, and the benefactor of the whole human race.

How simple are the means, how unostentatious the movements, how cheap the wars of the missionary body! Their Bibles, paper, types, and printing presses, are the cannon, shells, and mortars, with which they storm the citadels of idolatry. The missionaries assail systems, not men; in their battle there is love to man, hatred only to evil. They go to this, the most difficult, sometimes the most dangerous, of all enterprises, in the strength of the Lord God. In the name of their God, they "set up their banners;" and "his banner over them is love." They lay their sieges to the soul of man They first proceed to rectify the deadly disorders that rage within him. They lead him to the knowledge of the true God through Jesus Christ, which proves life, light, peace, hope, and happiness. From this moment the most savage of our race become gentle as lambs, and the most barbarous are introduced within the pale of

the only true civilization, and lifted up to fellowship with God. This internal renovation becomes the basis of a new moral character. The Book of the missionaries declares, that "if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things are become new." Thus piety is the source of morality; and morals the foundation of government. In the British capital there is, at present, a member of the missionary brotherhood, who could rehearse to your Grace facts illustrative of the power of the gospel over the hearts of men, such as would not fail unspeakably to interest you. He could tell you of the murderous feats of Africaner, the terrible Caffrarian chief. He could tell you of the power of the gospel over this desert monarch of Namaqua-land; he could show him to you in all the simplicity of childhood, and, with more than female tenderness, acting the part of a peace-maker, pouring forth the bitterest regrets for the torrents of blood which he had caused to flow, and earnestly imploring the head-men of his region to unite with him in efforts to establish permanent peace.

This missionary, whose name is Moffat, could give your Grace the history of a ten years' experiment upon the tribes of the Desert, comprehending accounts of labours, trials, privations, and dangers, in connexion with this magnanimous experiment, such as your Grace never formed an idea of. At first he knew not the language, and he had none to teach him. To accomplish this, unmindful of their filth, and fearless of their ferocity, he went and lived, for a period, entirely among the natives. He waked, he slept, he wandered, he hunted, he rested, he ate, he drank with them, till he thoroughly mastered their language, and he then began

to preach to them the gospel of Christ. Through this long space of ten years, amidst difficulties and afflictions of all kinds, occasionally attended by threats of murder, he laboured on without any tokens of success. Still he continued to preach to them the love of God, and the death of Christ for the sins of men, till, at length, they began to listen, to tremble, and to weep. They repented of sin and forsook it; they heard the gospel and believed it. Then, as the evidence and effect of this, burst forth the buddings of civilization. The once naked, filthy savages, became clothed and cleanly; idleness gave place to industry; they built houses, and cultivated gardens; provisions for the wants of the mind kept pace with that of those for the body; they reared schools for the young, and chapels for the old. The business of education and religion rapidly advanced. Hundreds of these sable savages now believe the gospel of Christ, and "walk in his holy ways;" thousands are learning to read; surrounding tribes behold and admire the change, and are imploring missionaries to come and work like wonders for them, and communicate to them like blessings. Human bones no more strew the region; bonfires are no longer made of the children of prisoners taken in war; and no more do they bury alive their own little ones! Mr. Moffat, to complete his benevolent operations, is now in England, printing Bibles and school books in the language of these people. He has with him a Bechuana girl, whom, sixteen years ago, he rescued from the grave. This girl, with his own daughters, has been trained in England to conduct infant schools on his return to Africa. Who can describe the obligations under which these tribes are laid to their missionaries!

This, my Lord Duke, is only a specimen of a work which, in substance, is being carried on with like success under almost every sky, and by Protestant missionaries of all denominations. Among men of all hues, of all tongues, and in every stage of barbarism, it is now being demonstrated that the gospel of Christ is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Those portions of the globe which have been last discovered, have been among the most successful fields of modern missions. I refer more especially to the islands of the South Seas. The spirit of discovery, animated by the love of science, first descried those lovely isles. Commerce, impelled by cupidity, next visited them; but science and commerce left the natives ignorant of God. To them, the white man's discovery was no blessing, and each successive visit was but a greater curse! At length the missionary ship from England arrived at Otaheite, with men of manners so unlike all that had previously appeared on their shores, that the natives could scarcely believe them to be English. After fifteen long years of delay and disappointment, difficulty and danger, and the murder of a portion of the missionary band, the truths of God began to take effect, and produced such results as had had no parallel since the times of the first propagation of Christianity. Would your Grace wish to see a record of those moral wonders? The volume of John Williams records facts which place the work of missions in a light altogether new. The perusal of it will, I doubt not, fully convince you that nothing is wanting to the entire moral renovation of our race, but that "the earth should be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." This allegation admits of no dispute. Its truth

is as clear as the light; its certainty amounts to demonstration. What developments you will perceive in that book of spiritual life, of intellectual and moral power! What an exuberance of all that tends to make man lovely and life happy! See once degraded humanity now robed in the dignity of virtue, and liberty, formerly unknown, enshrined in the sanctuary of Law! See Art strewing her comforts, Education diffusing her benefits, Science her pleasures, and Religion her glories! See the candle of the Lord lighted up in the hearts of myriads who but lately dwelt in darkness! Now beholding the image of God in the face of Jesus Christ, they rejoice in the Prince of Peace.

It well becomes England to think highly of Christian missions, for with them originated all her greatness. They found her a slave-province of Rome: they now behold her the foe of thraldom and the first of free empires, and the mistress of great nations. The Protestant principle and doctrine, to which she owes her present constitution, with all its attendant blessings, was first brought to her by these missionaries. England is the chosen abode of civil freedom; and still more is she distinguished by that yet greater blessing, Freedom of Conscience. Most nations know but little of civil, still less of religious liberty. The union of these liberties, however, is the principal source of her renown. Nor is this all: during the late great continental war of freedom, England's gold mainly sustained the costs of its armaments throughout the terrible struggle; and, in the person of your Grace, she fought, in its war, the greatest battle that ever was fought for freedom in our world. Thus has England attained the dreadful summit of martial glory; and her matchless maritime power and