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into the Society's service, and are now engaged in the laborious duties of their office, both to the satisfaction of themselves and to the comfort and edification of a large body of people, who would otherwise have been left destitute of all religious instruction. The national system of education also, which had become through their instrumentality so well known, and so generally adopted in the two larger colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, has been introduced, with every prospect of success, into Newfoundland. Mr. Bacon, a very superior master, who has for some time conducted the school at St. John's, so as to deserve the highest praise, was glad to avail himself of the bounty of the Society in opening to him the means of access to the central school at Halifax, for the purpose of perfecting himself in that system, which has been found so eminently useful wherever it has been introduced; and through this channel a knowledge of it may be conveyed to every part of the island.

From the Diocese of Quebec, the accounts of the state of the missions are very satisfactory, and the demand for Christian instruction so much on the increase, as to render it impossible for the means of the Society to supply it in any adequate degree. Several new Churches have been added in both the Canadas; among others, a second at Kingston, on a large scale, principally at the expense of the inhabitants.

In Calcutta, the continual absence of the Bishop during the last year has given a lamentable check to the proceedings of the Society; in addition to which, the sudden death of the Rev. T. Christian, which we announced in a preceding Number, has been most severely felt in one of the most auspicious scenes of missionary labour. Except these drawbacks, however, considerable progress has been made in the objects of the Society. The interest arising from the surplus of the subscription for Bishop Heber's monument has been devoted to the maintenance of a non-foundation student at Bishop's College; and a similar arrangement has been adopted at Madras, out of a similar fund. Mr. Simeon also, one of the executors of Lord Powerscourt, has appropriated 1000l., part of his Lordship's bequest, to the foundation of a perpetual scholarship at the College, under the terms of the statute prescribed for that pur

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NATIONAL SOCIETY. Seventeenth Report.

THE Report of this Society commences with an account of the uses to which the product of the King's Letter, amounting to 28,2921. 28. 10d. which became available in 1824, has been applied. Since that period 337 applications from different parts of the country, comprising a population (according to the last parliamentary census) of 1,309,591 persons, have been received. In all these cases there are very few which the Committee have found themselves unable to bring within the rules by which their proceedings are governed, and the grants made to them have amounted to 28,80871.; by which, according to the first estimates,

in many instances much below the actual disbursements in carrying them into effect, an outlay of no less a sum than 111,916. in the erection of 474 separate school-rooms, has been called forth. By these means, and amidst such a population, the inestimable blessings of Christian education have been provided for 25,092 boys and 23,830 girls on week-days and Sundays, and for 2,540 boys and 2,650 girls on Sundays only, making a total of 54,112 poor children rescued from ignorance and vice, and regularly trained up in the knowledge and the worship of God, according to the pure principles of the Established Church.

It may be thought that the number of Schools already established must have so far diminished the calls upon the Society, as to render it unnecessary for grants to be made to the same extent as in preceding years. But during the past year applications for assistance have been received from about 66 places: of which 55 have actually obtained grants, varying in magnitude from 10 to 500l., and amounting on the whole to 5,512. Amongst others, to Brighton a grant has been made of 2257., and similar grants to the united parishes of St. Giles in the Fields and St. George's Bloomsbury. The condition of those thickly peopled parishes had been regarded with anxiety by the Committee, and they rejoice in the occasion which has at length arrived of aiding in the establishment of a gratifying, if not an adequate, provision for the spiritual wants of the poor in that part of the metropolis. The grant is made for the erection of two school-rooms, each to contain 250 children. To St. Martin's in the Fields, also, 3007. have been granted.

In regard to the general state of the Sunday Schools in England and Wales, it may be sufficient to observe that there is ground for stating that in England and Wales there are about 8,400

Sunday Schools, containing 550,000 children, by far the greater part of whom are instructed only in the books of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and all, with little exception, uniformly taken to Church.

In regard to schools more properly denominated National schools, and directly or indirectly connected with this Society, from the returns hitherto received, there appears to be an increase of 7,802 children, while the decrease in others has only amounted to 1,581.

In the early part of the year a master was sent out to the Cape of Good Hope; a schoolmaster has since been trained for Newfoundland; -specimens of books, regulations for schools, &c. have been requested and forwarded to Count A. Zamoiski, son of his Excellency the President of the Kingdom of Poland;-the Chevalier Major Abrahamson has again transmitted an interesting account of the progress of schools in the kingdom of Denmark, by which it appears that 2,003 schools are already formed, and 368 now in progress; the former of which contain an amount of 132,786 children;-and lastly, an application has been made for two schoolmasters for Jamaica, with which the SchoolCommittee are in a state to comply.

POLITICAL RETROSPECT. DOMESTIC.-The reduction of the public expenditure being a principal object with the present administration, their attention has been for some time past directed to the militia staff; and they have determined to bring forward a bill in the ensuing session of Parliament, for the purpose of lessening the establishment. Their intention is to retain on permanent duty only such a number of persons in each corps, as shall be absolutely requisite to render it efficient.

during the late election, and have accordingly put forward a gentleman of the Popish persuasion, in order to contest the county. The meeting of Parliament, however, is finally arranged to take place on the 5th of February; and as it will then become necessary for the newly elected members to take their seats, this momentous question must necessarily be one of the first discussed.

The death of Colonel Bernard, one of the members for King's County, has afforded an opportunity to the Roman Catholic Association to try their strength in that part of Ireland; and, emboldened by the respite obtained by Mr. O'Connel, they have determined to renew the scenes enacted at Clare VOL. XI. NO. I.

PENINSULA. The transactions in Spain have not been marked by any circumstances of particular importance. Thirteen unhappy individuals, accused of attempting to restore the constitution of 1820, have suffered the sentence of the law at Barcelona. The arrests for political crimes or accusations continue to take place; and the prospect of such a change, either in men or

I

measures, as may indicate the approach of happier times, seems as re

mote as ever.

Donna Maria, the legitimate Queen of Portugal, has been presented at the court of George the Fourth, and received with every mark of honour due to the descendant of a long line of monarchs, the faithful allies of the British crown.

EASTERN EUROPE.-The Russians have been compelled to raise the siege of Silistria, and return to the left bank of the Danube, attributing their defeat, for such it may be termed, to the severe approach of winter, which rendered the ground untenable, and leaving behind them the greater part of their artillery, with all their cattle: their loss in men is stated to be likewise very great, but the numbers are not given. Thus the campaign, which was undertaken by Russia after a three years preparation, and has been carried on with an immense consumption of human life, has terminated in the most disastrous manner to the invaders.

Step by step they have abandoned every undertaking, and Varna, the only fruit of their arms, is on the point of being snatched from them. The Turks have already shown themselves before the place, in which General Roth has been left with a garrison of 6,000 men; but as the fortifications are in a state of complete dilapidation, and no assistance can be given either from the army, or by sea, which is in this season impracticable; it is not possible they can long withstand the besiegers, assisted, as no doubt they will be, by the bulk of the inhabitants.

The Russian Admiral in the Levant has published a circular, declaring the Dardanelles to be in a state of blockade, as far as may relate to supplies of provisions intended for Constantinople, in the expectation that, by attacking the Porte in such a vulnerable point, some advantage may be gained by the Russian government. The city is already in want of the customary supplies, and vessels from Egypt are anxiously looked for, it being known that several ships have been taken by the Russians and Greeks. The Austrian Admiral has determined to resist the blockade; and a vessel belonging to that country

having put into Smyrna, which had been prevented from entering the Dar danelles, as being laden with provisions for the capital, the Admiral provided her with an escort to see her safe through the passage, and sailed himself in quest of Count Heyden, to demand an explanation.

The Morea is now entirely free from the Turks; the French troops are in possession of all the fortresses; but it is expected they will be recalled as soon as these shall be delivered to the Greek troops, an event which will be accelerated by the arrival of Colonel Fabvier, who is commissioned by the French government to organize the land forces of the Greeks. This has been notified to Count Capo d'Istrios by the ambassadors of the Allied Powers, who at the same time furnished him with a declaration, in which they acquaint him that considering the Porte firmly refuses to take any part in the pacification of Greece, the determination of the frontiers shall be immediately decided without the intervention of the Porte. No certain intelligence has transpired as to the extent of country which shall be included in the Greek territory; the most probable accounts confine it to the Morea, and some islands in the Archipelago, though some have stated it to include Thessaly.

COLOMBIA. A conspiracy has been formed against the life of Bolivar, headed by the Generals Santander and Podilla: the latter being at the time a state prisoner, and under trial for his conduct at Carthagena last March. It appears that a part of the garrison at Bogota consisted of a brigade of artillery, which the conspirators found means to seduce into their service by the promise of six months pay, and the sack of the city. The attack was begun by storming the palace, from whence Bolivar was obliged to effect his escape by means of a balcony, and fly to the barracks. The other regiments proving firm, the assailants were repulsed both here and in the town, and the ringleaders taken. In consequence of this event Bolivar has issued a decree, announcing his determination to exercise those extraordinary powers which, he says, the nation had previously vested in ‍him.

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HOLME. The new church at Holme, in Lancashire, has been consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Chester, and opened for divine service.

SHIPLEY AND WILSDEN.-A copy of an Order in Council has appeared in the Gazette, approving of the districts assigned to the new churches which have been built at Shipley and Wilsden, in the parish of Bradford, in the county of York.

Name.

CLERICAL APPOINTMENTS.

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Appointment.

Head Mast. of Macclesfield Grammar School.
Archdeaconry of New South Wales.
Dom. Chapl. to the Earl of Southampton.
Dom. Chapl. to the Dowager Duchess of Roxburgh.
Dom. Chapl. to the Earl of Winterton.

Chapl. to H. R. H. the Duke of Clarence.

Chapl. to the Almshouses of the Trinity House, at Mile End.

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