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View of Publick Affairs.

AFRICA.

A serious rebellion has lately broken out in Morocco, against the reigning Emperor. He was endeavouring to collect troops to oppose the rebels, but the accounts state that his enemies were more numerous than his friends, and that it was questionable whether he could retain his crown-The crown and the head usually go together among the Mahomedans.

We

We perceive there is a project before the publick, we believe in Europe as well as in this country, for colonizing the people of colour that may be liberated, in the neighbourhood of Algiers, under the authority and protection of the French colony there. think its expediency is more than doubtful; beside other objections, we think the Arabs would soon exterminate any population in their neighbourhood, that could not protect itself by a strong military force.-The following article is extracted from a late English paper.

"CAPE COAST CASTLE, April 16.-Great joy has been evinced of late at Cape Coast by the amicable adjustment of the long-pending dispute with Ashantee, which has for several years tended so much to depress the state of trade in this part of the coast; and there is every reason to hope that the peace which has now been brought about by the exertions of the new Governor, Maclean, will be permanent. A few days ago, an embassy of about 100 persons arrived at Cape Coast Castle from the King of Ashantee, bringing along with them the gold which was demanded as a security, (600 ounces, or about 2,400 currency;) they also brought two hostages along with them-one of them a son of the King's, and the other a near relation; the gold and hostages are to be kept for the space of five years, as a security that the King of the Ashantees will not again disturb the peace of the country by going to war with any of the tribes in our alliance. Messengers have been despatched to call all the neighbouring Chiefs, who are interested in the matter, to a meeting, at which the various articles of the treaty will be finally settled. Though peace has not yet been formally proclaimed, there can be no doubt regarding it, as the gold and hostages are already lodged within the walls of Cape Coast Castle. There has been a bitter outcry among the merchants regarding trade for some months back; but it is now hoped that, as the paths will be open into the interior of the country, matters will take a change. Governor Maclean will gain considerable eclat by the speedy settlement of this dispute, so soon after his arrival in the country to the government of the Gold Coast."

AMERICA.

A tempest, or tornado, of almost unexampled violence, has lately been experienced in several of the West India islands. The island of Barbadoes has been entirely desolated, and is represented as one scene of ruin. In the island of St. Domingo, several towns have been almost destroyed, and extensive injury has been sustained in the plantations. Other islands have suffered less, yet considerably; and some have altogether escaped. But on the whole, the loss both of life and property, has probably been greater, than by any previous visitation of the kind, since the islands have been known to Europeans. In the southern part of our own country also, particularly at New Orleans, storms of wind and rain have proved very destructive to property, although but few lives have been lost. The publick affairs of the southern republicks of our country have not materially changed their aspect since our last report.

UNITED STATES.-We have felt an unusual mixture of grief and indignation on reading a letter from a gentleman in Georgia to his friend in Philadelphia, of which the following is an extract-we should give the whole if our space would permit.

"Lawrenceville, September 17, 1831. "You have heard, before this, of the second arrest of some of our missionaries and others, by the Georgia Guard, and of their delivery over to the civil authority of this state for trial. They have been tried within the last two or three days, found guilty of residing within the chartered limits of the state, in the occupancy of the Cherokees, without taking an oath of allegiance prescribed by the last Legislature, and sentenced by Judge Clayton, to confinement, AT HARD LABOUR IN THE PENITENTIARY, FOR FOUR YEARS! Eleven respectable white men to be pent up in a prison, with felons, and the most degraded of human beings, for four years, and not the slightest crime alleged against them!"

The names of the eleven missionaries are given. Two of them were in the service of the American Board; and one is a Methodist under the direction of the Tennessee Conference. The rest are respectable white men, who have intermarried with Cherokee women. Their only offence is stated in the extract. Is there, we ask, no relief for such oppression? If not, is it not a vain boast, that we are the freest people in the world? And can we look for the smiles and protection of the great Ruler of the universe, while such things can take place under our government, and without a remedy? We do blush and tremble for our country.

An anti-tariff convention is now sitting in Philadelphia. On the subject of discussion in this convention we have not an opinion to give; but it certainly embraces as many men of high talent and general respectability as have probably ever come together in our country, since the formation of the Federal Constitution.

THE

MISSIONARY REPORTER.

EDITED BY J. T. RUSSELL, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

OCTOBER 1, 1831.

BOARD OF MISSIONS.

As the period is at hand for the regular meetings of the Presbyteries and Synods of our Church, we would respectfully and earnestly request the attention of all those judicatories, which have already opened, or which may be disposed hereafter to open, a correspondence with the Board of Missions of the General Assembly-to one or two of the prominent features of our plan of operations. And we present, as a matter of primary importance, that part of our plan which has reference to the annual appointment, and special duties of Corresponding Executive Committees on Missions.

By referring to our annual reports for 1830 and '31, the views of the Board, respecting the appropriate duties and the vital importance of such Committees, may be fully ascertained. From the co-operation of such Committees, wherever they have been properly organized, the Board have already experienced many advantages in conducting their missionary operations in distant parts of the Church. The efficiency of Corresponding Committees, depends materially upon their relative location and promptitude. It is, therefore, highly important that the Committees be small; that the proximity of the members to each other be such, that they may be easily and frequently called together, either for the purpose of considering and recommending to the Board applications for missionary aid, or for locating Missionaries who may be sent to them for specific instructions. It is earnestly hoped, that all Presbyteries, desiring aid from our Board, will promptly attend to the appointment of Committees, and to their semi-annual reports; and that particular pains will be taken at the stated meetings of the Presbyteries, to furnish the Committees with the information necessary, to enable them to present an annual report to the Board, of all the vacancies, and missionary districts, within their bounds,-the amount of aid which may be raised in each towards the support of Missionaries; and, also, the amount of aid which may be required of the Board.

Another subject, to which we would respectfully invite the special attention of the Presbyteries and Synods in correspondence with our Board, is the plan of the Board for organizing Auxiliaries and raising Funds.

In accordance with that rigid system of economy which they have adopted, and with the wishes of many of the Churches, the Board have studiously endeavoured to avoid, as far as possible, the expense of special agencies. They have at present but a small number of agents in their service, except such as have agreed to labour for short periods, without any expense to the Board. It is confidently believed, that much, very much, might be accomplished by the Presbyteries, in the revival of old Auxiliaries, the formation of new ones, and the collection of annual subscriptions to the Board, if systematic arrangements should be made at each of their stated meetings, for having the Churches regularly visited, by such of their members as might be induced to engage, for two or three weeks each, in voluntary agencies for this special purpose. We deem it exceedingly important, that a fair experiment of this plan should be made, during the present season. The necessary expenditures of the Board, during the current year, will probably exceed twenty-five thousand dollars; and for this amount of funds, the Board are dependent chiefly on remittances from Auxiliary Societies, and the annual VOL. IX.-Ch, Adv.

3Z

subscriptions of benevolent individuals. A few Presbyteries have pledged themselves to raise within their own bounds, and at their own expense, a specific amount of funds for our treasury; and we cannot but indulge the hope, that many more pledges of this kind will be given, for the aid and encouragement of the Board. At the present time, our treasury is considerably overdrawn, in anticipation of the annual collections; and it is desirable. that remittances should be made to our treasurer as speedily as possible, after the collections shall have been made.

Increase of Missionary laborers. We have now before us very many, and very affecting representations of the wide-spread moral desolations of our land, and of the pressing necessities of a great number of the vacancies, and destitute districts of the South and West. So numerous are the applications made to the Board for Missionaries, and so comparatively few are the laborers at command, that it is utterly impossible to avoid disappointing the hopes and expectations of many, who are daily and anxiously waiting for supplies. While we sincerely sympathize with all who experience these disappointments, and deeply regret the inability of the Board to supply, without delay, the wants of the destitute in every section of the Church, it still affords us unmingled satisfaction to announce the fact, that a considerable number of well-qualified and devoted young men will soon be on their way, in the character of Missionaries under the patronage of our Board, to some of the most needy and interesting stations of the West and South. Although six of the young gentlemen, who leave our Seminary at Princeton this fall, have devoted themselves to the self-denying and arduous work of Foreign Missions, and a considerable number more have already been engaged by vacant congregations in the middle States, yet we have the pleasing prospect of commissioning ten or twelve, at least, of those who still remain, for the Southern and Western States. To this number from Princeton, we also have the prospect of adding, shortly, an equal or greater number from other Seminaries, who are chiefly designed for the same section of country. These interesting facts, we trust, will excite our Synods, and Presbyteries, and Agents, and all other friends, to renewed and vigourous efforts, to increase the pecuniary resources of the Board, and otherwise to sustain and encourage them, in their arduous and responsible work. To those whose spiritual necessities remain unsupplied, we can give the most positive assurance, that their affecting entreaties for help have been heard and regarded with the deepest interest, and that no efforts will be spared, on the part of the Board, to meet their necessities, and comply with their requests.

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE BOARD OF MISSIONS.

REV. N. H. HALL'S LETter. The following letter from the Rev. N. H. Hall, pastor of the 1st Presbyterian church in Lexington, (Ky.) addressed to the Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Missions, was received at our office on the 24th ult. and is now published with a view of correcting a somewhat remarkable mistake of the writer, in reference to certain alledged doings of the Secretary and a "set of men," supposed to be the Executive Committee of the Board of Missions.

August 15th, 1831. Rev. Joshua T. Russell,-You have

closed the 2d vol. of the Missionary Reporter and you will therefore please discontinue my subscription to the work and also Samuel E. Hall's.

Your republishing Dr. Wilson's four propositions, &c. which contain a slander of a serious character against myself, that too, as I suppose, out of the funds contributed to send the Gospel to the destitute and perishing, have determined me and others to withdraw. I do not intend to contribute of my scanty means to any establishment, or to the support of any man, or set of men, who would republish

and send forth such a fire-brand into the churches. If my suspicions be correct, I would be glad to know the facts

so far as your agency may have been exerted in this matter, as I consider the man who had this second edition issued to be as guilty as the author, and original publisher, and should be subject to the same censure. Was not the missionary interests of the West confided to the churches of the West by compromise, and did you not retain the old Board of Missions in consequence of this compromise? Did you not vote for it, and now is it not passing strange that you should come out in the Missionary Reporter in opposition. The Assembly made this compromise in good faith, not expecting that as soon as they were dissolved, you would come out in opposition to your own act, and use your efforts to defeat the whole design of that body, which was to restore peace to the Western Church

es.

We intend, if the Lord permit, to have a convention in November, in Cincinnati, to consider the missionary business, and I humbly pray that God may enable the Churches to rid themselves of those who trouble them. The Western Churches would have been at peace now, but for the intolerant spirit of a few; they have produced the present tempest, and the Lord will reward them.

You will discontinue the Reporter to|| myself and S. E. Hall, and oblige yours, N. H. HALL.

MISTAKE CORRECTED. On the foregoing letter we shall make no comments, because we deem it entirely unnecessary-it will speak for itself-and we leave our readers to make their own inferences and remarks.-It contains a charge of a very serious nature. It expressly charges the Corresponding Secretary, and the "set of men," with whom he acts, in appropriating the missionary funds of the church; with having published Dr. Wilson's four propositions, and "that too, as I suppose,

lishing this, or any other document, not immediately connected with their transactions as a Committee on Missions. For ourselves, we know not whether the publisher ever has received a dollar from any man, for issuing this publication, but we do know that he never did, and never will receive a dollar from the Secretary of the Board.

The special reasons for re-publishing in the Reporter, the letter of the Board to the Committee of the Cincinnati Presbytery, were very distinctly stated in the remarks which preceded the letter; and these reasons, we did then and still do regard as sufficient.

We give the communication of Mr. Hall, and the above correction of his mistake, to the public, because we perceive from the letter that "others," besides Mr. H. have acted upon the presumption, that the missionary funds have been misapplied, and under the influence of this utterly erroneous impression, have withdrawn their patronage from our humble periodical,

RESOLUTIONS OF THE PRESBYTERY OF
LOUISVILLE, KY.

The following resolutions, on the subject of missionary operations in the West, were received a few weeks since, but not in time for our last number. They will be read, no doubt, with interest.

At a called meeting of the Presbytery of Louisville, the subject of missions as referred to the Synods and Presbyteries of the West by the General Assembly, was taken into serious consideration, and after due deliberation and investigation, the Presbytery came to the following decision, viz.

church in her distinctive capacity.

that they have nothing to do with the 1st. The Presbytery are of opinion out of the funds contributed to send the separate action of any voluntary society Gospel to the destitute and perishing" or societies employed in missionary work, and these supposed breaches of trust, the which are not subject to the control, diwriter says, "have determined me and oth-rection and authority of the Presbyterian ers to withdraw." Now, the simple facts of the case are these: The four propositions were published in this city by WILLIAM MOREHEAD-So we learn from the title page of the pamphlet itself. The Corresponding Secretary and Executive Committee of the Board of Missions neither published nor "republished" this pamphlet. No missionary funds committed to them have ever been ppropriated to defray the expense of pub-byterian churches.

2d. They have expressed themselves already, at the session of last spring, as being Auxiliary to the Assembly's Board their natural and constitutional attitude, of Missions, and they now consider, that, and do entirely acquiesce in the plan of the Assembly, respecting the Missionary business, as realized and addressed to the Board they consider the only legitimate churches by the Assembly's Board; which organ of that body, in behalf of the Pres

rolling, though sometimes broken-soil in most places first rate, and in the rest second. Most of the production sof a southern soil are also found here. (Cotton, tobacco, sweet potatoes, &c. &c.) Indeed, to me, in many respects, this part of Illinois would be more inviting than the so much admired prairie land. This section of the state, the Western and Southern range of counties, is not probably so populous as some other parts, but the popu

of that character which will be permanent. The emigration fever hitherto, has tended strongly to the upper extremities, or in other words the northern part of the state has hitherto attracted more

3d. They feel doubtful about trusting the destiny of the missionary work implicitly to the decision of a convention: 1. Because it implies an uncertainty whether the General Assembly, Synods and Presbyteries may not constitutionally assign the direction of the missionary work to bodies of men who are not amenable to our church judicatures. 2. Because it would imply, or seem to imply, that we are not satisfied with the plan of Missions adopted by the General Assem-lation is increasing; and the increase is bly, and at present carried on successfully by their Board; nevertheless, if there shall be a convention to deliberate upon the subject of Missions, and that method shall be approved by the Synod of Kentucky, we reserve to ourselves the liber-attention, &c. than the southern, but it ty of a full representation in it, and declare it as our mind and judgment that no man shall be our representative in said convention, who shall not pledge himself to be in favor of the Assembly's Board of Missions, and in opposition to resigning the direction of the work of Missions to any body of men which, as such, are not responsible to the authorities of the Presbyterian church, and also in opposition to any intrusion made or attempted to be made upon it, or upon the Presbyterian churches, by any society whatever.

The yeas and nays being called for, the

vote stood thus:

Yeas-Joseph Venable, D. Hawthorn, Thomas Paxton, W. W. Laws, John Carr, James Pomeroy, Robert Long, W. H. Alden, Elders. A. Cameron, John Jones, J. L. Marshall, G. W. Ashbridge, James Hawthorn, Ministers.

Nays-M. D. Averille, F. Snowden, Elders. William M. King, John M. Blackburn, Ministers.

ANDREW A. SHANNON, Mod'r. A true copy,

JAS. HAWTHORN, Clerk pro, tem.

A PLEA IN BEHALF OF ILLINOIS. From an Agent of the Board in the West.

will not be so exclusively any longer. Throughout the whole of the state there is vast room for improvement and cultivation, and much therefore in this part of it. The planting of an enlightened and faithful ministry of the Gospel in this part of the state will be its salvation. And in this view I rejoice that the Board design as soon as possible to occupy it in this manner. Presbyterian ministers can now be planted and churches raised; but hereafter the work will be much, much more difficult. What ever is done for this land ought to be done quickly. Delays in almost every thing are dangerous, but in this case they will I fear prove fatal. If there were ministers here, many emigrants would be encouraged to come who now go elsewhere, from the circumstance, amongst others, that there are no means of grace, or otherwise no churches of that denomination to which they belong. And besides, if there were ministers here of our church, many who have united with other denominations, from want or absence of their own churches, would return: so that Presbyterian Churches might almost immediately be raised up every where throughout the land.

I think that Christians in coming to this country ought by no means to think The tract of country over which I have of settling in a body, as some have depassed since my last, is one where per- signed or felt disposed to do. Much more haps there are fewer encouraging circum- good will be accomplished by scattering, stances arising from the present existence or at least by having but two, three or of churches, than any other one, which I four families together. And in making have reported, presents. But yet, if we a settlement of this kind, care should be are to be guided, in our estimate of pro- taken to select a neighbourhood where pitious or encouraging circumstances, and a church is already organized, or where the contrary, by the susceptibility of oc- one could be without difficulty. Inthis way, cupancy and improvement, I say, that families from the east, or from any of the to an individual, who like Paul, would be older states, who made the doing of good unwilling to build upon another man's anypart of their design, would accomplish foundation, there is every thing to excite more for the church in this section of and encourage. The country itself is for country, than by any other method. With the most part inviting-abundance of tim- one of such families an unmarried Mis ber-good water mostly-land generally | sionary, or even a married one, might