and disappointed in those quarters from which he might reasonably have expected assistance, the late Mayor of Bristol acted according to the best of his judgment, with zeal and personal courage.' This decision, which every one who has read the evidence must entirely approve, is highly important, as completely exonerating the Magistrates of Bristol from those charges with which they have been assailed since the unhappy events of the last year. We trust those events will afford a salutary warning to all parties, and may thus prevent similar distressing calamities. Government are, it is understood, about to send out again Mr. Jeremie as slave protector to the Island of the Mauritius, under the protection of a body of troops, and a new Governor. If the measures adopted by the Planters of the Mauritius are allowed to succeed, the British Government can no longer retain any authority in its Colonies, and the Negro cause will become desperate. Some prompt and decisive measures must obviously be adopted in the next Session of Parliament, with respect to our Colonial Possessions in the West Indies. The Jamaica Planters have discovered that Slavery and Christianity are incompatible; and instead of mitigating Slavery they are striving to exclude Christianity. At present the assault is more avowedly directed against the Baptist and Methodist Missionaries, whose lives have been endangered, and whose places of worship and private property have been injured or destroyed; but the arguments advanced in justification of the proceedings against these Missionaries will eventually apply to ministers of every denomination who endeavour to teach the Negroes according to the oracles of God. The violence of the West Indian party clearly demonstrates the necessity of immediate emancipation, at whatever price that emancipation is purchased. It has pleased God in his mercy to withdraw for the most part the cholera from our land; and allusion is very properly made to this subject in the Prayer of Thanksgiving directed to be read in our churches, and which we have inserted in a previous page. In many places Days of Thanksgiving for deliverance or exemp tion from this fearful complaint have been set apart, at the suggestion of ministers or magistrates, and have been seriously and devoutly observed. God grant that the warning may not be in vain, but that our gratitude may be shewn by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. Many of our readers will hear with deep regret the death of the Rev. W. HOWELLS, M. A. Minister of Long Acre Chapel, London. The event took place after a few days illness, on Sunday Nov. 18. Mr. H. was aged 55. We desire to close another volume with grateful acknowledgments to Almighty God for the mercies he has graciously vouchsafed during the year that is past. We would return most sincere thanks to our kind contributors and supporters for their valuable aid. We would intreat their continued communications and their fervent prayers for the divine assistance in, and blessing upon, our labours, and we would look forwards to another year with the humble hope that our work may become more useful and more interesting; requesting those who kindly approve of our labours, and are zealously attached to the principles we maintain, and the cause we advocate, to assist us by their counsels and their prayers, and endeavour by recommending our work to others, to extend its circulation, and thus promote usefulness. FINALLY, BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US, THAT THE WORD OF THE LORD MAY RUN AND BE GLORIFIED. 1 Notices and Acknowledgments. Received-G.-G. R.-IGNOTA.-D. E. I.—A. Z.—pidos tñs ekkλnolas.— A. Z.-D. Q. J. We do not recollect having seen the work mentioned by AMICUS, which we doubt not is every way deserving of the commendation he has given. We are obliged to M. D. for correcting a mistake in our last Number, where Birmingham is spoken of as a single Rectory. It appears from his statement that Birmingham is divided into three Rectories; though these several parishes are all included in one general church rate. The argument, however, of the valuable correspondent, who has supplied us with Essays on the Church, retains all its force, notwithstanding this slight inadvertency. |