DOMESTIC. Remarks by the Editors on a pas- PARTICIPATING, as we do most sincerely, in the general satisfaction, which the extended, and still eg. tending, sphere of the Edinburgh Missionary Society's operations, has yielded to all the friends of religion in this country; we felt happy in giving a place in our last month's pages, to the eloquent appeal made by Mr Grey to the friends of Christ in London, in behalf of that Society. And we certainly do most cordially rejoice, that this appeal, together with that of his co-adjutors in that embassy, has been so powerfully effective, as to produce an addition of L. 2400 to the Society's funds. ** It was not, however, without feel. ings of the greatest surprise and astonishment, that we read that part of Mr Grey's speech, wherein he states, that "whatever services our Pinkerton, our Henderson, and our Paterson, have rendered, or may yet be allowed to render, to the general cause of Christianity, may be considered as having been elicited by the discerning eye, and fostering care of the Edinburgh Missionary Society." We confess ourselves utterly unable to offer any explanation of this mistake. We believe it indeed to have been a very happy one for the interests of the Edinburgh Society; (and in this view should not have regretted it, had it been afterwards candidly acknowledged)--as to an assembly so generally acquainted with the extensive services rendered to the interests of the Bible Society, by the labours of Drs Paterson and Henderson, in conjunction with those of Dr Pinkerton; it was scarcely conceivable, that any thing could be stated, capable of producing a strong. er impression in favour of the Edin burgh Missionary Society, than the consideration, that their discerning eye" had first discovered, and their 66 fostering care" had afterwards che rished, and sent forth, such instru ments of mighty achievement in the annals of the British and Foreign Bible Society's operations, as Drs Paterson, Henderson and Pinkerton -men, whose names will probably be hereafter considered as occupying a place in the records of the church of God-though not equal to the first three-yet next in order to those unparalleled propagators of the Holy Scriptures-Drs Carey, Marsh, man and Ward.. But, however justly the Edinburgh Society may claim the honour of having" elicited the services" of Dr Pinkerton, who went forth ori ginally as a missionary from that Society, it is necessary to state, for the sake of those who are strangers to the fact, that Drs Paterson and By the addition of collections in Henderson were never in any shape other parts of England, it now a connected with that Institution, ex. mounts to upwards of 3000. cept in endeavouring, by the em ployment of all their influence in Russia, to promote its interests. And it is nothing more than an act of justice to one, to whose zeal in the cause of Christ this country has certainly been much indebted, to mention; that to "the discerning eye and fostering care"-of Mr Robert Haldane, the church of Christ is, under God, primarily indebted, for the possession of two such distinguished and efficient instruments, in the propagation of her interests among the nations of the earth, as Drs Paterson and Henderson. By the instrumentality of that individual, these honoured brethren were first called forth from private sta tions; and, at his sole and individual expense, they received their first pré. 'paration for public service. Dr Paterson was afterwards settled as pas. tor of the Congregational Church at Cambuslang, and having, with the consent of the church, offered himself as a missionary to labour in India, he, along with Dr Henderson, who had also devoted himself to missionary labours, were solemnly set apart to that service, by the churches then assembling at the head of Leith Walk and North College Street, Edinburgh. By them, in union with the other Congregational 'Churches in the same connexionwho all contributed in support of the object-these brethren were sent forth to the Continent, with the view, after spending some little time in Denmark, of ultimately preaching the Gospel in India. It is unnecessary here to detail the particulars which prevented the attain, ment of the ultimate object of their mission. In this, we are certainly called to mark, and to adore, the wonderful agency of Divine Providence, which has overruled their detention, to accomplish objects of still greater magnitude, than could, as far as we are able to judge, have been attained by the fulfilment of their primary design. And it is surely due to these churches to state, that, by them exclusively, the whole of the expense attending this mis sion was defrayed, during all the period of Drs Paterson and Henderson's residence on the Continent, until the time of their engaging as the regular agents of the British and Fóreign Bible Society, to whose intèrests, from their first residence on the Continent, their exertions had been so eminently subservient. For farther particulars res- Society for the Education of the THE following are extracts from a brief statement which has been printed by the Society, and widely circulated through the North of Scotland. It will be read with much interest by every enlightened friend to religion and his country. · Encouraged by the excellency. of their object, and by the counte nance they have already received, the Society come forward to lay the following statement before the pub lic. They need not argue, in this en lightened age, the propriety and the duty of instructing the lower orders of the people, or attempt to shew the good effects on the political and moral condition of the Community likely to result from the communication of early and useful knowledge, nor the happy tendency of the discipline of Schools to produce habits of industry, order, and subordination. Their business in this address is to bring the case of the Highlands into view, and to urge the peculiar. and powerful claims of that country to have exertions put forth for its instruction. I. The Need there is for such exertions comes first to be consider ed. That the lower orders in all the remote parts of the Highlands are unable to read, is a fact so well attested, so generally known, and has been so frequently laid before the public, that the repetition here of the many statements by which it is supported, seems altogether unnecessary. This deficiency arises not from any want of that legislative provision which extends to the whole of Scotland indiscriminately. The Parishes in the Highlands are equally entitled to, and have generally possessed Parochial Schools. It arises entirely from the nature of the country. Parishes of vast surface and scattered population, can. not assemble their children to any one place for instruction-interven ing mountains and rivers separate the districts of the same Parish from one another, and from the benefit of the Parish School, however judi. ciously situated. That the country does not possess within itself the resources necessary to supply this deficiency, either in landed or commercial wealth, is manifest; and though exertions have been partially made, and are still making, to supply the means of instruction, a vast field still remains unoccupied. The Highlanders present at this moment the distressing picture of an inter esting people deprived in a great measure, by the peculiar locality of their romantic country, of the advantages enjoyed by the inhabitants of the other parts of the island; and are liable if no effort is made in their behalf, to have their successive generations for ages to come, excluded from those sources of moral and religious improvement which are pouring their salutary influence on other, and even distant nations of the world. Simplicity of manners, and native acuteness, may have hitherto secured them from some of the effects of ignorance, but should these survive the general introduc. tion of commerce amongst them, a thing not probable, they will not enable them to keep pace with the improvements of Society, and still less to find their way to Heaven. II. The PROBABLE SUCCESS of such a scheme as the Society proposes, comes next to be considered. Success will depend first on the disposition of the Highlanders to receive education to their children, and of this happily there is no question. A general disposition, and in some cases, an earnest desire, has evinced itself: they have joyfully received Schools for teaching Gaelic alone, and would, with much greater satisfaction, welcome those wherein English also would be taught them; even grown up persons, and some far advanced in years, have attended Schools for Gaelic, and been taught to read in a short time. Again the success in any eminent degree of the Society's efforts, will depend on their adapting their plan to the difficulties of the country. And here experience has furnished them with a resource of which they propose to avail themselves. Ambulatory Schools, removeable from one district to another, as soon as the children have been taught to read, were first attempted under private auspi ces in Wales, about 20 years ago, and in the course of a few years from their establishment, recommended themselves so much, that they came into general use throughout the principality; and now it is asserted, on good authority, that it is rare to find an individual who does not read Welsh; and English is greatly more extended than formerİy. The Gaelic Schools of the Edinburgh Society, conducted on the same plan, have, for the short period of their establishment, had wonderful success. Instructed by these instances, the Society are in possession of an engine admirably suited to meet the dfficulties of a mountainous country and a scattered population, and may expect, by the operation of circulating Schools, to do more in the course of a few years, than by double the number of stationary ones. Schools on this plan have the further recommenda usual part in that mighty struggle which turned the tide of battle from our gates? and will they refuse to these men the blessings of education for their untutored offspring? ⚫ From all these sources, the Society must suppose that an adequate fund may be derived. There are besides at the present moment facilities by which the expense of conducting the scheme will be moderated. Teachers can be had at an easier rate than formerly; and suitable books for Schools can be obtained at considerably reduced prices, from Bible and other Societies now in existence. With such resources, could the Society but realize the prospect of extending these Schools, for a few years, through the whole of the Highland Districts, they might then hope to give the assurance of a period soon arriving, when this expense, and those exertions, would not be required, a period when the seeds of knowledge so extensively sown by them, would propagate themselves, and when the instructed heads of families become the instructors of their dependent off. spring. Nor is this expectation unsupported by experience; it is well ascertained that in Iceland, an instructed population have, by means of domestic teaching, and without any aid from Parochial or other schools, preserved and perpetuated the knowledge of reading and writing through several generations, to the present day. 'If good is seldom attained, and ought never to be expected, without some sacrifice, what good man would hesitate to make any temporary sacrifice, that might be reasonably required of him, to lay the foundation of a good which every succes sive generation of his countrymen should enjoy to the end of time. The Society, impressed deeply with a sense of the necessity of the case, and advocating the cause of many thousands of their countrymen, will be excused for being thus zealous and general in their appli VOL. VI. cations. Satisfied that they pro. pose no visionary scheme,-that experience fully sanctions all they aim at, that there will be an inmediate happy result from their exertions, and a final triumph, if the scheme is prosecuted, they feel confidence in proposing to be the guardians and administrators of the public bounty, that may be bestow. ed for the Education of the Highlanders. If they have been anuci pated by the more vigilant philan thropy of others, they now wish to redeem as much as may be, the time that has been lost, and hasten to join their benevolent forerunners in the same field of Christian exer. tion. They wait with anxiety for the encouragement of the more extended public countenance they have solicited, and for the realization of the hope they confidently entertain that there is now dawning upon the Highlands, a light that shall ne ver be obscured." Edinburgh Deaf and Dumb THE Report of this Society has just been published,and the statements which it gives of the transactions of the Institution for the past year is highly satisfactory. We have the sincerest pleasure in presenting an abstract of these to our readers, and would accompany them with a cordial recommendation of this useful Institution. The object of the Society is set forth in the following luminous and energetic language. "Any one who considers the condition of a human being, cut off from communication with his fellows, canno fail to be sensible of the sad and gloomy state in which he must exist-of the limited sphere of his enjoyments-of his utter inability to contribute to the comfort or usefulness of himself, of his friends, or of society. It is from this deplorable state that our Institution proposes to raise the objects Bb |