greater opposition. The schools have had our increased attention, and some progress has been made. Numerically we appear much as last year; but in efficiency we are considerable gainers." From FRANCE Mr. Gallienne, after describing the work in Paris and some other places, says: "In the southern Circuits we have increasing fields of labour, constant conversions, a faithful people, and institutions well fixed in the affection of devoted men ever ready to embrace every opportunity of usefulness." The cause in Switzerland is revived by the addition of two new places; one of them the city of Geneva, where a small Society is now gathered. The work in Corsica is still carried on the Priests, of course, are jealous; but hitherto the civil authorities have been forbearing, if not kind; and meanwhile meetings are held, Bibles and tracts circulated, and both soldiers and civilians receive the warnings and invitations of the Gospel. One of the agents has been fined for distributing Testaments and tracts; but the Protestants at Bastia paid the fine and expenses, amounting to sixty francs. CANADA. The financial prosperity of the Canada Missionary Society will, it is hoped, return, when the effects of a severe financial crisis shall have passed away. Meanwhile, the income of the year ending June, 1858, is upwards of £9,100. Religiously, it has been the Society's most prosperous year." Among the Indians of North America, there had been an increase of 329 members: on the Domestic Missions, of 2,985. Five Missions are carried on for the benefit of the French Romanists of Lower Canada. One of these has had so much success as to provoke great opposition; but though the new preaching-house has been burned down, the Preacher remains at his post. places, more particularly in Newfound land. On a representation made of the necessity of establishing a Mission on the Labrador coast, an excellent Missionary of nearly twenty years' standing has volunteered for that work; and, if a supply for his Circuit can be obtained, is ready to depart forthwith. The Committee have felt it a pleasure to aid this enterprise also. AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. -The urgent appeals made last year on behalf of Fiji led the Committee to resolve on sending twelve additional labourers, so as to enable the Conference to reinforce its important Missions. Of these twelve, ten have already left England, and the other two are preparing to depart. The Missionary income raised during the last year, is £9,432; of which sum nearly £1,800 was raised in Tonga and Fiji. The increase in numbers reported to the late Conference at 2,685, with 5,000 on trial. was "In no other part of the Missionfield," writes Mr. Adams from Varau, "have the triumphs of the Cross been so complete as in this small but interesting District.......We have a healthy state of things throughout.......I hope that very soon every child of seven years of age will be able to read the holy Scriptures.' From Fiji the accounts continue to be of a very gratifying character, the only drawback being the fewness of labourers to gather in the harvest, and the probability of political complications arising. Should the British Government decline to accept the proffered sovereignty of these islands, the consequences may be most disastrous. But at present the Committee can do little more in the matter than pray, and request the prayers of their friends, that He to whom all hearts are open may lead the authorities to right conclusions. Among the most remarkable occurrences in the southern hemisphere, must be noted the proposed extension of the Mission to the immigrant Chinese. Those settled in Victoria have subscribed £200 for the erection of a Chinese Methodist chapel; and a beginning is to be made as soon as may be among those settled in New South Wales. The Committee of this Society, having respect to the immense importance of the new colony of British Columbia, have deemed it right to grant to the Canadian Missionary Society a sum of £500 toward the commencement of a Mission there. More than twelve Ministers volunteered for this service, including some Chairmen of Districts. Four were selected; and the last intelligence announces their safe arrival, and very hopeful commencement of operations under the kind sanction of Colonel Moody. LASTERN BRITISH AMERICA.-mittee say: We cannot suppose that we A rec nt letter from the President speaks of extensive revivals in several The REV. DR. HOOLE read the Financial Report and General Summary. The financial progress was described as encouraging and hopeful. The Com have reached the position which we may reasonably expect and desire, when we remember the number and ability of our friends and supporters, and the measure of the responsibilities and obligations of the Society. We have not yet attained the ability of providing for the support of the existing Missions, from the beginning to the end of each year, from the Society's own resources. The loans on interest, which are required for nearly the whole year to meet the current expenditure, are offered with a confidence which claims the gratitude of the Committee; but it is their constant aim, by inviting early payment of subscriptions and prompt remittances, to dispense with loans on interest altogether. The Society has now reached the third year in succession, in which no debt has been announced on the Balance Sheet of the Report. In the year 1856, the receipts so far exceeded the expenditure, that the balance of the deficiency of previous years was finally extinguished. In the year 1857, the current expenditure was met by the receipts; the usual security to annuitants, whose donations had been reckoned in the annual receipts, was provided for to some extent; and, in addition, the sum of £2,500 was reserved, to be expended in the following year, for the outfit and passage of additional Missionaries and other agents to our East India possessions. The receipts for the year 1858, now to be reported, exhibit a further improvement. They have met the cost of the Mission for the year, even on the enlarged scale which the Committee were encouraged to authorize, in consequence of the improving circumstances of the Society. The whole remaining balance of the old donations on annuity, amounting to £5,236. 14s. 4d., has been charged to the funded-property account; advances to stations, to be repaid, amounting to £3,892. 3s. 10d., have also been included in the column of expenditure; and there still remains a reserve-sum of £2,690. 5s. 8d. to be added to the balance of the fund for the outfit and passage of additional Missionaries to the East. In reference to the donations on annuity which were received in 1858, the Committee have deemed it prudent so far to depart from their former usage, as not to include them in the reported receipts, until, in the course of time, they shall become available for the purposes of the Society. They have therefore excluded from the receipts now to be reported the donations on annuity for 1858, amounting to £1,400, instead of adding them to the annual contributions as heretofore. Exclusive, therefore, of the £1,400 received as donations on annuity, the receipts of VOL. V.-FIFTH SERIES. Being an advance of £950. 78. 2d. on that of the previous year. Donations charged to the Funded property account 5,236 14 4 Being an advance of £980. 128. 3d. Advances to stations to be repaid, now first charged since 1846 .... 3,892 3 10 -Leaving a balance of £2,690. 5s. 8d., as before stated, for the outfit and passage of additional Missionaries to the East. The details of the contributions to the Funds of the Society received during the year 1858, from the several Auxiliary and Branch Societies, at home and abroad, and of the income arising from other and miscellaneous sources, were then given. The total ordinary receipts at home, £91,054. 8s. Id. The total receipts from Foreign Auxiliaries, &c., £28,614. 16s. 8d. The total miscellaneous £9,407. 12s. Id. receipts, Making, as before stated, a total amount of regular and miscellaneous receipts from all sources, of £129,076. 16s. 10d. In the amount of Income, Ordinary and Extraordinary, for the year 1858, are included the following distinguished in stances of Christian liberality to the amoun of £50 each, and upwards, which are 20 327 10 0 102 10 0 52 10 0 500 0 0 Thomas Farmer, Esq. Mrs. Farmer.. The Misses Farmer. The late D. S. Leather, Esq., Liverpool.. J. B., Devonport.. T. Tombleson, Esq., Barton, and Mrs. Tombleson J. C. Kay, Esq. William Smith, Esq., Leeds Mr. and Mrs. Ripley, Leeds David Mercier, Esq., and 300 0 0 200 0 0 160 0 0 125 O 0 125 0 0 121 0 0 ...... 125 00 Family, George Smith, Esq., Leeds 120 0 0 120 0 0 110 0 0 105 0 0 Mr. and Mrs. James Morrow, CastleDawson, Ireland 100 0 0 James Jameson, Esq., Dublin Mr. and Mrs. Brock, Exeter The late Francis Riggall, Esq., Clifton 50 00 DR. HOOLE also announced the receipt of an intimation of a very large legacy by a gentleman whose name he had read, who had left £10,000 to the Wesleyan Missionary Society, to be appropriated in equal portions to the Missions in China and in India; and stated that, after entering the Hall, he had received £100 additional from Mr. Tombleson, towards sending additional Missionaries to Fiji. The following is a General Summary of the Society's labours and agency :— L-Missions under the immediate direction of Central or Principal Stations called Cir- Ministers and Assistant Missionaries, 60 0 0 Mr. and Mrs. John Corderoy Mr. and Mrs. Edward Corderoy 59 17 0 58 16 0 Cheadle 55 0 0 Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Budgett. 52 10 0 Mr. and Mrs. M'Arthur 52 10 0 Thomas Baker, Esq., South Shields.. Other paid Agents, as Catechists, Interpreters, Day-School Teachers, &c. Unpaid Agents, as Sabbath-School Teachers, &c. 534 509 8,821 Full and accredited Church-Members.. 64.759 Scholars, deducting for those who attend Scholars, deducting for those who attend .... 8 The REV. GEORGE OSBORN resumed : Such, in brief, have been the transactions of the year. This very condensed view of them would, however, be seriously defective, if it contained no notice of the relations of the great Missionary work to literature and education. Primary Schools this Society has always maintained; Industrial Schools are now being multiplied; and Training Schools for Teachers, together with persons competent to conduct them, are urgently needed in more than one district. The Printing Establishments are in active operation, except that in Fiji; which the urgent want of labourers has brought to a stand-still. Of that in Tonga, Mr. Adams writes, "If health and strength be continued, we hope to complete the first edition of the whole Bible by December, 1859. The work of the printing-office is now carried on by natives only, and we have never before succeeded so well as at present." The printing of St. Matthew's Gospel, and the First Catechism, into the language of Rotumah, has been carried on in Sydney; and the first white Missionary to those islands will take with him a portion of the word of God, in the language of the people. The concluding portion of the Old Testament in the Kaffir tongue is now passing through the press at Mount Coke, while a new edition of the New Testament has been carried through the press in London, under the care of the Rev. William Shaw; so that the entire Bible will soon be within the reach of that nation. Mr. Calvert is still actively engaged in the revision of the Fijian Scriptures. The Old Testament is completed as far as Joshua; the New, as far as the Epistle to the Philippians. Meanwhile, to meet the present urgent wants of the people, an edition of 5,000 copies of the Four Gospels has, by the kindness of the British and Foreign Bible Society, been bound and sent to Fiji. The same Missionary has this year completed and published his Narrative of the Fiji Mission; which, in connexion with Mr. Williams's descriptive volume, forms a valuable addition to one of the most interesting departments of English literature. Mr. West's translation of Barth's Church History into Tonguese has arrived out in time to do excellent service against the Romish intruders; and it has now been followed by a neat volume, containing twenty select Sermons of John Wesley, in the same language. The Establishment at Bangalore has the last year produced a beautiful Canarese Dictionary, on the basis of Reeves; by which the study of that language will be greatly facilitated in future; and the total issues this year amount to 7,379,134 pages; upwards of five millions being pages of the word of God. Great thanks and love are due from the Committee, and, indeed, from all the friends of this Society, to the British and Foreign Bible Society for its continued and generous response to whatever applications it is from time to time found needful to make. The Committee have also the pleasure of recording their obligations to the Protestant Missions' Medical Aid Society, for its kind attention to the wants of several important stations, which have been promptly and liberally supplied with medicines; and to the British and Foreign School Society, for aid a'orded in supplying school-requisites for Fiji. Another and an entirely different class of obligations has been incurred by the Society during the last year, and has now to be acknowledged. Christian women have always been among its warmest and most generous supporters; but this year they have been zealously endeavouring to enhance the value of their services by combination and system. A Ladies' Committee has been organized for the purpose of more effectually promoting the work of the Society, in reference to Female Education, to the supply of clothing to stations where it may be needed, and a variety of other subsidiary matters by which-though they cannot be arranged and announced here-the comfort and usefulness of Missionaries and their wives may be largely increased. To those friends who have originated this organization, as well as to those who in various parts of the country have promised it their co-operation and support, the Committee beg to offer this expression of their sincere gratitude. The last Annual Meeting was touchingly reminded by a distinguished speaker of the absence of one person who had generally, and of late years invariably, been present on such occasions, and whom the speaker characterized as one of the greatest and best of men. A few weeks afterwards, the Committee discharged the mournful duty of attending the remains of that great and good man to their last resting-place, where they lie in near neighbourhood to those he loved best, to Wesley, Clarke, Griffith, Benson, Watson, and many others, his predecessors and fellow-labourers in that great work of God which men call Methodism. To delineate the character of Jabez Bunting does not fall within the province of this Committee; and to detail his services to this Society, and to the cause of Methodist Missions before this Society was formed, and to Christian Missions in general, would require a volume rather than a page. Never can he be forgotten while this Society lasts. Among the most zealous of its founders, the most active of its supporters, and the most efficient of its advocates, it was not wonderful that he should soon become, and long continue, one of its most responsible and trusted officers; or that, in venerable old age, when incapacitated for official duty, he should be requested still "to afford the Society the benefit of his counsel and advice." Its friends may well be thankful that he was spared to them so long; and, as they cherish his memory with an affection all but filial, should also be admonished to copy his work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ." Our sorrow for his loss will now be best expressed by following his example, and carrying forward with all our might this work which he loved so well, and which must not be allowed to stand still, even though it can be done by others only in an inferior way. The ancient story still admonishes those upon whom the ends of the world are come. The Prophet of God, and leader of his people, falls. But the advance upon Canaan is not therefore countermanded. After the death of Moses, "it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, saying, Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people." A dark cloud overspreads the horizon; which may become darker and darker still, and burst in awful vengeance on Papal and despotic countries. Let no man wonder if those who have shed the blood of saints and Prophets have blood given them to drink; if the ten horns turn against the seducer, and hate her, and make her desolate, and burn her flesh with fire. And let no man's heart fail him. The end must come, and, come when it may, must be glorious. Popery must perish. Despotism, however it may struggle, must be overthrown, in order that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. The Man whose visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men, must yet be exalted, and extolled, and be very high, and the Kings must shut their mouths before Him. Now, therefore, is the time for work. Let the church be ready both with men and money, that the seed may be sown wherever the ground is broken up. Let the sowing go on, morning and evening, with the cheering hope that both will ultimately prove to have been alike good. Let no curious observations of the winds or clouds be permitted to obstruct the processes of the spiritual husbandry, and let prayer be "made without ceasing' to Him who alone "giveth the increase," and all shall yet be well. "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things which are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." The REV. JOHN BOWERS, President of the Conference, said-Before I address myself to the execution of the duty which the excellent Secretaries of the Society have devolved on me, permit me to express the heartfelt pleasure I experience in seeing you, Mr. Farmer, occupying the chair on this great occasion. I am confident that that pleasure is heartily participated by the best friends of this Society, not only in this great metropolis, but throughout the country. "Honour," we have been taught by a Divine authority to render " Honour to whom honour' is due. The Society never had a more generous, a more devoted, and a more constant friend. I will venture to confess to another feeling; a feeling which heightens the pleasure I experience in thus addressing you, Sir. It is thisthat you are one of ourselves; that you are a member of our own family. I should be the last to under-estimate,-I trust that no one will suspect me of such a design, or to fail most respectfully and most gratefully to acknowledge, the kind and valuable services which, from year to ycar, have been rendered to this Society by distinguished and friendly strangers, |