the sake of "peace, liberty, knowledge, holiness, and happiness." And as it appears that intervention availed to preserve the Sandwich Islands from Papal and French domination, truly the decided interference of Great Britain would avail to save Tahiti and the other isles from the same twofold evil.

If England should decline the exclusive protectorate of these interesting islands, she could protect them in conjunction with other powers. Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia would surely join her in the good work. America, the eldest daughter of England,-America would probably join. So probably would Russia. So perhaps might Austria, Spain, and Portugal. So possibly might even France, if her good sense and good feeling were duly appealed to. God grant that France may, in the spirit of equity, generosity, and political virtue,-God grant that France may join England and other friendly powers, in this work, great, good and glorious!

The ground of this international union, the principle of the joint protection of Polynesia, should be that of international equality, or the equal right of all the powers to commercial and other intercourse with the protected isles. No power should have any exclusive advantage, the powers collectively guaranteeing to the isles, religious liberty, commercial freedom, and political independence. What a happy result! "'Tis a consummation devoutly to be

wished!"

Few words on the political importance of Polynesia. Note three things. 1st, Soil and productions. The extent of soil of any one island is indeed small; but that of all the islands together is very considerable. The productions are coral, cotton, silk, fruits, corn, coffee, sugar, cattle, fish, oil, drugs, gum, minerals, rice, spices, &c. 2d, Geographical position. This is favoura ble to commerce with South America, North America, China, the rest of eastern Asia, the Asian Isles, New Holland, New Zealand, and so on. The grand communication across the isthmus of Panama will add to the importance of the geographical position. 3d, Long line of coast and harbours. This advantage would render the islands a nursery for seamen. I am, Sir, &c. JOHN ROGERS, Author of "Anti-Popery."

LONDON, April 3, 1843.

POPISH ZEAL A Pattern to ProteSTANTS." I received your Letters, which are the first addressed to me to New Zealand. I read them in a solitary chapel, at the foot of an humble altar dedicated to St Francis Xavier. I was there, like Joseph in the privacy of his house, retired to weep for his brethren.

"How this year of my apostleship has passed away!-but happily, during these few months, I have been able to cast on the earth confided to my care the seed which will hereafter produce fruits of benediction. But before the

harvest will ripen, how many stormy days may yet arise for us and for our labours! Here, as elsewhere, the kingdom of God suffers violence; we also have our afflictions. Unceasing calumnies are published against our Bishop and his Missionaries. They say, for instance, that we have come to Oceanica only for the purpose of taking possession of the lands of the natives-that we are idolaters, adoring images made by the hands of men-that our religion delights in spilling blood; and that formerly we had three young men cast into the fire, because they refused to render divine honours to a statue (an allusion to the history of the three Hebrew Children in the furnace of Babylon-an example of the good faith of our adversaries, who make us responsible for the crimes of Nebuchodonosor!): they also announce to the New Zealanders, that, after a time, we will remit their sins for a sum of money. This calumny refutes itself; because it is highly ridiculous to suppose that any one would think of demanding alms from a poor islander, who is himself a professed beggar. Yet, however destitute of probability these imputations may

be, they gain some eredit among an infant people, who receive as oracles every word coming from the mouth of their masters. The progress of the Gospel is impeded by these inventions, although our acts and our language already give the lie to our enemies; but we grow weary of refuting absurdities which slander is perpetually reproducing under new forms.

"The district which I am charged with is situated in the north-west of the Bay of Islands. I reside more generally at Wangaroa; whence I am able to visit some tribes, not numerous, it is true, but much scattered. To pass from one tribe to another, we have to travel by paths, sometimes marshy, sometimes very rugged, but always very narrow, and covered with fern: hence, it is not unusual for the Missionary to miss the way which he should take. Thus it happened to me one day; and I had to clamber up some perpendicular rocks for the purpose of discovering my way; beneath me were the depths of the sea; a false step might bury me in the waves. I ascended, nevertheless, with courage, struggling with briars, exhausted with a burning thirst, and scarcely hoping for any thing from all my fatigue and danger. In my distress, I sung the Canticle, I place my confidence, O Virgin, in thy aid!' and I had hardly finished the words, when I saw the path I was looking for open below me. At times, after a day's walking, I have been able to find in the evening only uninhabited cabins: in such a case, the Missionary's bed is easily to be found, but he must be resigned to bear hunger.

"My sister asks me what I have to suffer in these distant missions. Hare I a right to speak of sufferings, when I have only entered upon the Apostolic career? Ah! let us turn our eyes, filled with tears, towards Tong-Hong and unfortunate Cochin-China-towards their cruelly-persecuted missionaries; there we find true confessors, who are a glory to the church. I have also before mine eyes, in my own colleagues models of self-devotion; but as for my. self, I do little, and my privations are light. Is it much for a soldier of Jesus Christ to sleep under the canopy of heaven? I do so when I am travelling. Wrapped up in my cloak, I repose upon a bed of fern, or, more luxuriantly, upon the sand of the sea-shore, without fearing that the waves will disturb my tranquil sleep."

POPISH LIBERALITY a pattern to PROTESTANTS.-I conversed lately with a good and honest Protestant, who took pleasure in enumerating to me, in full detail, all his provisions, adding, "Have you quite as much?" I answered him, with all plainness, "No: I have very little rice; I do not eat bread; I have only just enough wine for the Holy Mass: I renounce tea willingly, to drink only water: If I had anything better, I should preserve it carefully for the visit of a great chief, or some stranger. You see I am poor; but I honour myself by this poverty, which was that of the Apostles. The greater portion of the alms which we receive from Europe is consecrated to the advancement of the work of God. I know that your ministers act otherwise; they take care first of themselves and their families; then they give their superfluity to the mission."

THE HABITATIONS OF CRUELTY." I have just had given me the most fearful accounts of the state of the Affiks at Old Calabar. I forward them to you, to make you acquainted with the horrid cruelties of a people for centuries engaged in trade with Europeans.

"The late Duke Ephraim Nyamba gave orders on his death bed that no person should be put to death on his account. This was an enlightened chief: he could read and write, and had also visited England. He had large transactions with the Liverpool merchants; and appears to have been esteemed by them for his good sense and amiable qualities. After his death, some of his friends seconded his efforts to preserve life, by pretended messages from the late Duke to his successor Duke young Nyamba: several tales were invented to confirm the message from the dead. The chief replied, that he

could not depart from the customs of his ancestors. They had always put men and women to death at the burial of a chief or a gentleman, and most assuredly a large sacrifice should be made for the late duke. The victims were then prepared, and in a particular part of one of the houses of the late chief the grave was commenced. The mouth of the grave was something like the hatchway of a vessel, and the inner part was hollowed under ground for some yards. At one end a complete cavern was formed for the corpse of the duke, and this part was laid with valuable cloth. When all was ready for the interment, FIVE of the youngest of the wives of the late duke were brought to the grave, and their legs and arms were most cruelly broken. The corpse was next put into its place. Then six free men were compelled to eat each a poison-nut, which soon caused death. They, too, were placed near the corpse. Then began the sacrifice of slaves: about fifty fell victims; and the outer hole was filled up on the living and the dead. Still the sacrifice went on; but was now removed to the bush behind the town, as the ship-captains objected to its taking place on the beach by the side of the river, the former place for the completion of the offerings. Victims were supplied by freemen and dependent chiefs, and for a full week some were sacrificed daily. The bodies were left for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field to devour. The horrid scene ends in the erection of a Juju' house by the side of the river, in which are placed broken sofas, tables, chairs, dishes, plates, &c., all they think the dead man may need in the other world; but all completely broken, lest any on earth should think it worth their while to carry them away. A flag is hoisted above the Juju-house, and the place is sometimes visited by the friends of the deceased. The name they give to the idol they worship is Abassi; but yet they say Abassi lives above the clouds, and that their piece of wood or other idol is but to represent their god.

"The shark, the alligator, and the African boa, are also worshipped; and human sacrifices are frequently offered to them. The duke, when applied to for a victim, points to the first slave he may chance to see passing by. The Fetish men pursue; and if the pursued be not too light of foot to be easily caught, he is soon knocked on the head, and becomes an offering to the idol. "Sometimes a free man is charged with a crime for which his life becomes forfeited. In this case he gives his head slave; and the poor wretch suffers either in the public market-place, or is offered in sacrifice for the crime of his master. Those hung up in the market-place are allowed to remain until they drop to pieces from decay.

On very particular occasions, the Juju-men, that they may proceed with their deeds of darkness, require the under jaw-bone of a human being. A slave is fixed upon-he is seized, thrown down, and held fast. One of the Juju-men then proceed to cut out by the joints the under-jaw. It is speedily done, and the poor creature is left to bleed to death. An hour or two usually ends his sufferings on earth. The jaw, after the Juju has been made, is hung up, as itself a sort of Fetish, at the door of one of these servants of iniquity. At the death of the Duke young Nyamba's daughter, twelve were put into the grave beside the corpse, and twelve were slaughtered in the bush. J. CLARKE."

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BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS FOUND AFTER MANY DAYS.-" On inquiring how the Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church Missions was getting on at Edmonston, he replied,Tolerably well. Has he,' I further asked, 'been able to collect a congregation of Indians to whom he can preach? The reply was, Yes; for on his arrival, he found a little knot of Indians who were disposed to receive instruction. Had it not been for these, he would have done but little.' My curiosity was somewhat excited by this statement; and I said, But how did it happen that the Indians of whom you speak were disposed to receive instruction prior to his arrival among them? The follow

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ing interesting particulars were then communicated:-Some years ago, two boys from that quarter were sent to the schools of the Church Missionary Society at Red River. On returning home, their friends were so struck with the alteration produced in them, and so much affected by what they heard from the youths about the way of salvation, as taught in the word of God, that all began to desire instruction. They went to my informant, to speak to him on the subject. They gave them such assistance as he was able; and, when the missionary arrived, turned them over to him.

"Here is an instance of bread cast upon the waters being found after many days-Two youths, instructed in the Church Missionary Society's School, carrying the word of life a distance of more than 1000 miles to their families, and several years after this a missionary finding a little band prepared to receive him."

ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Since our last Report there have been a variety of Church cases decided by the Civil Courts, in all of which judgment was given adverse to the claims of the then Established Church; and although it is now of little moment for any practical end, to record these decisions, yet, as a matter of historical curiosity, and in order to close the summary we have been accustomed to give, we shall subjoin a continuation, and perhaps also the conclusion of such reports.

In these several cases, some of the opinions delivered by the Judges were of great length, and contained propositions so very startling, that, to use an expression of Lord Jeffrey's, in reference to the views propounded by the Lord Justice-Clerk Hope, they make one wipe his brow once or twice before he can believe them to have been seriously and authoritatively delivered. We cannot attempt to give even in detail these opinions, and shall content ourselves with a brief digest, explanatory of the principles which have received the sanction of the Court of Session as applicable to the different courts of the Established Church.

1. The Court of Session have assumed the power of deciding who shall, and who shall not be admitted to ordinances in the Established Church. This they did in the case of David Anderson, farmer, v. Presbytery of Arbroath. 6th Dec. 1842.

In this case, David Anderson, a communicant in Inverhallar, was excommunicated by the Presbytery of Arbroath, for contumaciously disobeying summonses to appear and answer to certain charges made against him. He immediately carried his case to the Court of Session, applied for a suspension to take off the sentence of excommunication, and to interdict the Presbytery from giving effect to it, and from molesting, disturbing, or obstructing him in the enjoyment and exercise of all his privileges as a mem

ber of the Established Church.' This interdict was granted by Lord Medwyn,-in respect that the respondents did not appear to shew cause why it should not be granted and ultimately declared perpetual.

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Is not this an assumption of the power of the keys? Does not the Lord Ordinary, by this decision, virtually authorise a communicant to apply for a token to the Lord's Table? Dr Cunningham once referred hypothetically to such a case and said, there can be no doubt that any man bringing a case of this sort into the Court of Session would meet with countenance and support.' Can this be longer doubted?

2. The Lords of Session have assumed the power of declaring who are and who are not to be rulers and office-bearers, and ministers and elders in the Established Church, with the power of exercising a spiritual oversight over her members, and found that the Church could not of herself add to the number of her parishes or the constituent members of her courts.

This was done in the case of STEWARTON, or Cunninghame v. Presbytery of Irvine, decided 20th January 1843, by a majority of 8 to 5,-by which the Court of Session interdict the Presbytery of Irvine from proceeding in any way to divide the parish of Stewarton, or to place the same under the spiritual superintendence of any person but the parish minister, and from constituting a new kirk-session with jurisdiction and discipline, and from any way innovating as regards pastoral superintendence on the original parish. Exactly in unison with the principles involved in the above, was the decision in a subsequent case, that of Mr Livingstone, deposed minister of Cambusnethan, in the Presbytery of Hamilton, pronounced by Lord Wood on the 2d March, in terms of which the ministers of quoad sacra churches were prohibited from acting in the settlement of a minister at Wishawton,

Nor was a previous decision on the 21st February, in the case of Campbell v. the Presbytery of Kintyre, in any way dissimilar. In that case, the Court no doubt refused an interdict against the Presbytery; but the grounds of the interdict was the vitiation of the Commission of Assembly by the presence of quoad sacra members, from whom they were ordered to proceed to a proof of the libel; and the Court held, that as the act of the Presbytery in going on with the case was their own act, and not that of the Commission, and as there were no quoad sacra members of that Presbytery, the ground of the interdict was altogether unfounded.

Here, then, it has been decided that the Church can allocate no new parishes, nor multiply her spiritual rulers, without the concurrence of the Civil power. This is surely a novel stretch of the Ma