Circular Road Chapels. The object of the meeting is to communicate intelligence on the progress of Missions throughout the world and stimu late the faith and excite the prayers of the faithful. It is held on the evening of every first Monday in the month, and commences at past 7 o'clock. We have felt it a duty we owe to the church to give it this publicity, as it is an object which should be united in by all the members of Christ's body in Calcutta ; that they may implore God's blessing on the Church and by prayerful unity to cause the heathen to say, "See how these Christians love one another!"

9.-INTERESTING OVERLAND INTELLIGENCE.

We have gathered the following interesting items bearing on the cause of religion and humanity, from the last overland despatch of our contemporary the Englishman." We think they will be read with interest.

"Upwards of forty years ago the soul of Carey, the clumsy* cobler, kindled with the sacred enthusiasm of propagating christianity; he lit up a flame in the bosoms of the Baptists; sparks reached London, where Religious Societies were formed with astonishing rapidity and success; year after year they have multiplied and increased: they are based on the principle of responsibility to the public, and the public supports them most munificently. Most of these modern Societies hold their Anniver sary meetings in the month of May; and, these May Meetings' present the most glorious spectacle in the world; year after year, whenever I have been in England, I have attended many of them; but, this year I have been only at a few; however, they never have been more gratifying than this year; the political press has affected indifference to these meetings; but, year after year it is extending its reports of the speeches made at them; and, big as London is, it actually feels the holy and the busy impulse of the month of May; indeed, Exeter Hall is the centre of an undulating influence which is felt throughout the world; and, year after year, the tongue of every nation under heaven is heard there reverberating the sounds which first issued from that centre of benevolent enterprize. Three successive meetings, viz. Wesleyan, Church and Bible, reported the receipt of about twenty lacs of Co.'s rupees, in the course of the past year! How different from robbing a miserably poor, ignorant country, of a large amount annually, and from taxing myriads of beggarly pilgrims and squandering of the produce at the Albion Tavern!

"Claudius Buchanan attempted to arouse the attention of England to the state of India, by means of prizes for the best essays upon Indian subjects; and he succeeded so far as to draw forth the exertions of Charles Grant and James Bryce, both of whom had luxuriated on the fat things of India. At present, prizes for essays on given subjects are more than ever in vogue, chiefly on religious subjects; and they have produced some excellent works, especially Mammon, Britannia, Schism, by Our Young Men, Harris, Cox, and Hoppus; many more prizes of this sort are yet pending, namely, on Missions, the Church, and Morrison's on the trade in opium, for which last I have heard of several candidates.

"The book published by the Rev. Mr. Williams of the Mission in the South Seas, has produced a much more general and vivid impression than could have been expected; especially as I believe the circulation has reached eight thousand; the Dukes of Devonshire and Northumberland, with Earl Fitzwilliam have honored the missionary with their very decided countenance and liberal patronage; and the Bishop of Chester has sent a copy to each of his clergy, saying that he considers it as the 29th

This refers to the story of Carey's incompetency to make a shoe, which we believe has been denied on his own testimony.-ED.

chapter of the Acts of the Apostles! However, the grant of £500 from the city of London is still more remarkable. Mr. Williams asked the public for £300 for his missionary ship, and double that sum has been poured into his lap.

"The Anti-Slavery Society has again summoned Delegates from every locality and from every congregation; country and city meetings are being held, and the House of Commons are addressing the Queen to treat Slavers as Pirates."

10.-ASIATIC TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES.

Our temperance friends in the east are making good progress. The reports of the Society attached to H. M. 16th, the European regiment, and the Penang Society, are now before us. They all contain much valuable matter and give report of success. The friends of the Penang Society have addressed a memorial to Government praying the abolition of spirits as rations in the Indian army. We hope this prayer will be heard; for we are confident no greater temporal blessing could be conferred on our troops than the withdrawal of spiritous liquors. The detachment of Artillery serving on the island had requested the commanding officer to close the canteen, and have to a man discontinued drawing their spirit rations.

11.-AGRA RELIEF SOCIETY.

This most valuable Society has been, like the good Samaritan, performing deeds of present mercy to the suffering. The report for April has been forwarded us from which we gather that many thousands have been reliev ed from the miseries of starvation, and hundreds blessed with medical aid. The unremitting labours of the officers of the Society call for the thanks of a public ever liberal to devise means and offer funds for assisting their suffering fellow-creatures. The public we rejoice to see have subscribed above 1,14,000 for the sufferers; but the more arduous office of distributing the benevolence has devolved on our friends at Agra and elsewhere. They deserve our best thanks.

12. PENANG SAILOR'S HOME.

We are glad to report the establishment of another Sailor's Home. The active Penangians have established a Home at Penang ; a coffee and reading room is opened, and the whole is joined with the Temperance Society. We have now therefore Homes at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, and Penang, and all in twelve months. May they be abundantly multiplied!

13.-NATIVE SCHOOLS.

The spirit of awakening and inquiry is beginning to display itself not only in the establishment of debating clubs, but also in the formation of Societies of a voluntary and charitable character. We are happy to see this imitation of one of the best features of Christian benevolence. There is something hopeful in reading of a meeting of natives for the purpose of establishing a free school, with the Rájá of this or that district supported by the neighbouring literati and gentry. This has been the case more than once this month. We have no wish to throw the slightest impediment in the way of the success of such operations, but the more intelligent natives as well as ourselves know how prone many of their countrymen are to lay hold of any thing by which to obtain money; this we believe has been done by one or two common school Sirkárs who, without any recommendation, have sent circulars for subscriptions to benevolent individuals. Our advice to the managers of respectable schools needing aid is, to get their circulars signed by some well known friend to education, which can be easily accomplished, and will be perfectly satisfactory to those who are ever ready to help in a good cause.

14. THE HINDU COLLEGE, THE OBSERVER, AND THE PRESS. The Hurkaru of the 17th July contains a long and characteristic article in reply to our paper on this subject in the last Observer. We have adopted as a rule that, having once entered fully into our defence, on any subject, our positions remaining untouched or unanswered, we will allow our opponents all the advantage which they can obtain from professions unaccompanied by practice, from garbled extracts, and the application of scurrilous epithets accompanied with professions of piety and liberality. We give the Hurkaru in this instance, all the advantage to be derived from the article, and are only sorry that we deserve only in such small measure the abuse and contumely heaped upon us by the theologians of the Hurkaru school; for so spoke such of the master and of the most honored of his servants, when they felt it a duty to God and man to expose conduct which, under the mask of liberality and religion, was marring the peace of the world, and sapping the foundations of soci ety. The article in question may serve us, on a future occasion, for a text on the morality of the press, a subject we have long wished to discuss and which, from present appearances, we fear we cannot long defer. The writer of the article makes one observation in which he thinks he has caught us tripping. He says, though we have abused him, we have not scrupled from month to month to insert on the cover of the Observer his recommendation of the work. Now this is both disingenuous and untrue. The recommendation never appeared on the cover of the Observer but one month, and that the last!! and then it was inserted as the testimony of an opponent; for he says" that entirely differing in most points from the learned and pious Editors, he yet recommends the work as instructive and interesting." Had it not been such a recommendation, it would never have been used by us. One more remark and we take leave of this subject. The Hurkaru declares it is NOT infidel, but earnestly desires the conversion of the natives of India to the Christian faith. We merely chronicle this as a remarkable instance of conversion in the history of Missions.-A little writer in the Hurkaru professes to give a list of boys converted in the respective schools, in which he, with tiny rejoicing, doth rejoice over a majority in favour of infidelity in making Christians! We suspect he was of the Brahmin caste: for if not he must, with his intimate know. ledge of things, have known that many more youth had been converted in mission schools than he has enumerated. Whether the Hurkaru's statistical correspondent knows of more, or not, who have been converted in our schools, we do: besides, many more, does not mean 3 or 4 ; in fact, the whole referred to by the correspondent, from whatever quarter they might have been obtained, would afford no ground for triumph.

15.-THE CHRISTIANITY AND PIETY OF THE HURKARU. Since the Hurkaru has confessed his attachment to Christianity and expressed his desire for its propagation, we are anxious to give our readers a specimen of the kind of Christianity he professess, the manner in which he would convert, and the kind of spirit we have to contend with in Christians of his school. The following is an extract from that paper of last month. Our readers will perceive that it refers to the noble conduct of the female martyr in Madagascar registered to in our last. We leave it to tell its own tale. Is not the wrath and abuse of such a Christian our best recommendation?

"We have extracted from the Christian Observer, an account of the execution of a female of some property on the Island of Madagascar, in consequence of her having become a convert to Christianity. It appears also, that several other persons had been banished or made slaves of, for the

same reason.

"These events, although so melancholy, have been viewed as a ground of rejoicing, in as much as they illustrate the strong faith of the individuals

in the truths of the Gospel; but we confess that under all the circumstances, we doubt whether Missionary zeal does not out-ran discretion, when it exposes the objects of its solicitude, to such horrible sufferings. Where conversion from one creed to another can be secured by the pious labours of the pioneers of Christianity, without offence to the prejudices and the passions of powerful savages, we shall always hail their success with unfeigned joy; but in our humble opinion, a great and serious responsibility devolves on those who, in propagating new doctrines, at the same time call into existence the horrors of religious persecution, and who can only trace the progress of their own creed by the blood of its martyrs. "The great end the Missionaries seek is retarded, we conceive, by pre maturely enlisting against their labours, the fears or the superstitions of the ruling authorities, who are prone to consider the deserter from ances tral shrines, be those shrines of what character they may, as equally a rebel to the prestige of their temporal power; and thus political, as well as religi ous hatred, is engendered, and the convert to Christianity soon becomes the victim of Paganism, without the shadow of practical benefit to the faith which he has adopted."-Hurkaru.

16. THE HINDU COLLEGE, AND THE NEW CHURCH.

Conside: able discussion has been elicited on the proposed erection of a new church in the vicinity of the Hindu College. The facts are simply these; the Episcopal Mission intended to build a church; the ground was bought, and the day for laying the stone fixed, when the College council found out, to their surprise, that they were never consulted; and the Medical College, an institution the most insulting to native prejudice, joined in the war-cry. As we have so lately and fully exposed the spirit of the College party, we have nothing to say on this peculiar manifestation of it, beyond noticing the fact that the interference of the College or any other body in such a matter is a positive infringement of the civil right of the subject.

17.-RELIGIOUS TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY'S LARGER PUBLICATIONS. At the last meeting of the above Society it was resolved to reduce the price of the Society's larger publications, such as Baxter's Call, Pilgrim's Progress, and other similar works, in order to increase their circulation without giving them away. The Society are also desirous of obtaining translations of several of the parent Society's works, and would feel obliged if any of their clerial or lay friends would undertake the translation of any such the list of works can be had on application to the secretary. The conductors of the Hughlí College handed over the library of handsomely bound books, sent them from England, containing biography, church history, natural history, &c. &c. to the Missionary of the station, unopened (!) stating them to be tracts, and further stating it to be incompatible with their principles to receive such books! If we are not much mistaken we have seen books of a much more questionable character in the library; books at least, involving a much more flagrant violation of the founder's intention and of the contracts entered into by the managers of the College with Hindu youth.

18.-PRIZE ESSAYS.

A temper akin to that of the olden times appears to have arisen in Europe in reference to dedications and "Prize Essays." Many of the modern and popular works have been dedicated by permission as they were to the maiden Queen, "to our most gracious Lady, the Queen ;" and in some cases with flattery equal to that of the Elizabethan age. This is an evil and should be at once corrected. The Prize Essay system is an admirable plan for calling forth the energies of the intellectual giants, and of placing an important subject before the public in a clear, condensed, and striking light. This plan has already procured for us the "Bridgewater Trea

tises," ‚” “Mammon,” “Brittannia,” and other works equally valuable in their way. We have heard with much pleasure that the Rev. Dr. Duff and his colleagues have offered a premium of two hundred pounds for the best essay on Missions; the adjudicators have been selected from among the most eminent of the several denominations of Christians in Britain. This is the sixth Essay connected with the east now calling for the energy of the literati, viz. The Essay on the Evidences of Christianity; the Essay on the Application of Western Science to this country; the Essay on Opium and its tendency; the two Essays of the Horticultural Society, and this on Missions; these are all directly applicable to this country, and shew that the eastern world shares in the sympathy of the friends of enlightened, humane, and religious sentiments; not only here, but also in the west. Oh that the time might soon come when the inhabitants of this country shall strive for "the prize with peerless glory bright!"

19. TA'KI ACADEMY.

On Saturday the 23rd June, the annual examination of this Institution was conducted by the Rev. W. S. Mackay, in presence of George Temple, Esq. of Bagundee, the Rev. A. F. Lacroix of the London Missionary Society, and several natives of respectability. Examinations of this description bear much the same features; details, therefore, fail of being interesting. Suffice it to say, in reference to the one in question, that the pupils, whose number is at present upwards of 150, were found to have made very creditable progress in the several departments of study to which their attention had been directed, especially in mathematics, history and geography. Indeed a striking improvement since last year's examination was visible, and the good order in which the school appeared to be conducted, reflects no small credit on the teacher, Mr. Shiels.

The institution reckons among its pupils several youths of great promise, and there is no doubt, that, if circumstances permitted of the regu lar superintendence of the Reverend Missionaries of the General Assembly, it would not yield in efficiency to any similar establishment in the metropolis. As it is, some of the elder pupils have been found so well qualified as to obtain respectable situations under Government, and more are likely to be in time similarly employed. It cannot but be highly gratifying to the two native gentlemen, who are the patrons and chief supporters of the school, to witness already the good effects of their judicious liberality; and it is to be hoped that this may induce many of their wealthy countrymen to become their imitators in so good a cause.

At the conclusion of the examination, prizes were distributed to the scholars who had most distinguished themselves; after which the Rev. Mr. Lacroix gave an address to the assembled pupils, in which he expressed the great satisfaction of the examiners at what they had witnessed, pointed out, for the encouragement of the young people, the great advan tages of learning, and admonished them to increased diligence, docility, and a regular attendance.

20.-EXPORTATION OF NATIVES.-IMPORTANT MEETING.

In accordance with a numerously and respectably signed requisition, the Sheriff of Calcutta convened a public meeting of the inhabitants of Calcutta at the Town Hall, on Thursday the 10th July, for the purpose of petitioning Government to suspend further shipments of Coolies, and to institute a full inquiry into the whole traffic. The meeting was, we believe, one of the most numerously and respectably attended ever held in Calcutta. The opposition, if so it may be called, was feeble. We are glad that the inhabitants of Calcutta have wiped a stain from their character by this public demonstration of feeling. We shall enter more fully into the subject in our next, if the result of the petition which has been presented to his Honor by deputation shall have been made known.