gard a general invitation to visit a friend's house who meets me, and says, "We shall be glad to see you at any time; why don't you call?"-and so on. We all know the effect of such to be to prevent the call, rather than otherwise. If we really want a friend to visit us, we name the time, and directly solicit the visit; and so must it be with the Union. Let the question be directly put to each pastor, and each church, "Will you make a collection on the last Sabbath of October, 1855, for the British Missions?" Nay, more, "Will you allow the Rev. to visit your church and congregation, and make a collection for British Missions, on the last Sabbath of October, 1855?" I go a step further; I would send a brother adapted to the purpose to arrange this matter. Let our Secretaries act as men of business act in these things. If a merchant wishes to push his business, and to extend it, he sends an energetic, courteous traveller round the country to wait upon his customers, and obtain orders; and if our Societies were as wise in their generation as the "children of this world," they would act in like manner. It may seem carrying too much of the mercantile spirit into our sacred things to adopt this advice; but it is, after all, money that we want for God's cause; and we are only acting, I think, wisely, to adapt our means so as best to accomplish the end in view, provided we descend to no means at variance with the spirit of the Gospel. My advice, then, Mr. Editor, to the excellent Secretaries of our British Missions is, at once, without any delay, to put themselves in communication with any individual church which has not already engaged to make the Collection next October, and get the deputation fixed, and the arrangement made; and if this plan be energetically carried out, I am sanguine enough to predict that very few failures will be realized, but a considerable increase to the funds will be the gratifying result. Accept this as the application of Mr. Corbin's excellent address, and oblige

Colchester, August, 1855.

A DEACON.

*We have given insertion to the foregoing on the principle of hearing all sides; but our worthy Correspondent, while a man of superior intelligence, has not been at sufficient pains to master this subject. He wholly misapprehends the constitution, the province, and the character of the Congregational Union; and he has not the slightest

conception of the difficulties which stand in the way of carrying out his views. It implies the absolute command of 1,200 Pulpits, and of 1,200 Preachers! The realization of such a scheme assumes Central Power, and a full-orbed Despotism, of which our Churches have no experience-an experience which can only exist through their utter destruction as Independent Communities.-ED.

We feel

MINISTERS' WIDOWS. THE Condition of matrimonial as well as of all other compacts is, that they shall have an end. When the day, therefore, draws towards evening, we are prepared on all sides to behold the symbols of severance, and of bereavement, in the crape of the widower or the head-dress of the widow. as if the time were up, and the co-partnership, in the course of nature, at an end. But it is much otherwise with couples in their youth and prime. Of such, two instances have recently occurred in our Ministry. The excellent Mr. Kilpin, of Reading, had scarcely put on the harness, when he was commanded to throw it off, summoned home, leaving his accomplished Widow to mourn his loss. Thus bereft of her Head, Mrs. Kilpin, aided by Miss Fuller, her sister, a descendant of the great and good Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, has commenced a School, a species of employment for which she is eminently fitted.

To Mrs. Kilpin we have now to add Mrs. Heathcote, of Newport Pagnell, where her worthy and long afflicted husband breathed his last, on the 4th ult., in the thirty-sixth year of his age. We had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Heathcote, and in common with all who did so, we loved him. He was a man of many virtues, and of a peculiarly excellent character. He did us the honour of consulting us in all his principal movements from the outset of his ministry; and hence we had the means of knowing the mind that was in him, and the principles that governed him. In both the churches which successively enjoyed his brief but holy ministrations, he has left none but friends, to whom his memory is precious. There is now an end to his afflictions; but his amiable and excellent widow is still in our midst. Mrs. Heathcote, like Mrs. Kilpin, has opened a school at Newport Pagnell-a well selected locality for such an enterprise.

We have spontaneously mentioned the case of these two worthy Widows, in the

belief that by so doing, we shall be serving families that may desire to place their children under trustworthy auspices, as in both the cases specified, we have the utmost confidence alike as to tuition and discipline.

CHALMERS AND SHAKSPERE. SIR,-In a letter on Dramatic Readings, published in the Christian Witness for March (page 131, col. 2), the writer, "J. H.," observes: "After so much has been said in the pulpit and other places, against theatricals, I was surprised to find that the good Dr. Chalmers, during the last three years of his life, had

re-perused Shakspere. May not many say 'What that venerable Christian reads, surely I may see represented?"" This appears to me hardly a fair deduction; which, I apprehend, would more warrantably run thus: "What that venerable Christian reads, surely I may read too." Is your correspondent aware that the celebrated line in 1 Corinthians, xv. 33, "Evil communications corrupt good manners," is a quotation from the Greek author Menander's comedy of "Thais?" If the Apostle did not hesitate to read and to quote dramatic writings, surely neither Dr. Chalmers nor "J. H." need scruple to do the same. N. R. Malton.

THE TRUE WIFE.

AN eminent Writer, now no more, thus depicts the condition of a friend under the loss of his wife:

"Her reserve and shrinking delicacy threw a veil over her beautiful character. She was little known beyond her home; but there she silently spread around her that soft, pure light, the preciousness of which is never fully understood till it is quenched. Her calm, gentle wisdom; her sweet humility; her sympathy, which, though tender, was too serene to disturb her clear perception, fitted her to act instinctively, and without the consciousness of either party, on his more sanguine, ardent mind. She was truly a spirit of good, diffusing a tranquillizing influence, mildly to be thought of, and, therefore, more sure. The blow which took her from him left a wound which time could not heal. Had his strength been continued, so that he could have gone from the house of mourning to the haunts of poverty, he would have escaped for a good part of the day the sense of his bereavement. But a few minutes' walk in the street now sent him wearied home. There the hovering eye which had so long brightened at his entrance was to shed its mild beam on him no more. There the voice that daily inquired into his labours, and, like another conscience, had whispered a sweet approval, was still. There the sympathy which had pressed with tender hand his aching head, and, by its nursing care, had postponed the hour of exhaustion and disease, had gone. He was not indeed left alone, for filial love and reverence spared no soothing office; but these, though felt and spoken of as most precious, could not take the place of what had been removed. This great loss produced no burst of grief. It was still, deep sorrow, the feeling of a mighty void, the last burden which the spirit can cast off. His attachment to earth from this moment sensibly declined. In seasons of peculiar sensibility he wished to be gone. He kept near him the likeness of his departed friend, and spoke to me more than once of the solace which he had found in it. He heard her voice from another world, and his

anticipation of that world, always very strong, became more vivid and touching."

Here, then, is a model of conjugal affection and felicity. Truly, he who finds of the Lord such a wife, finds a great treasure!

THE MOTHER'S CARES. WHEN I Consider the anxieties of mothers, I wonder how any of them can be sustained without religion. So many watchful hours, so many periods of suspense, so many days of anguish, when their offspring are ill, or absent, or in danger. Surely grace is doubly sweet to one in such circumstances. How unwise, eternity apart, to remain without so great a solace!

It is true that religion brings anxieties all its own to the mother's heart. Having learned to be concerned about her own soul, she becomes concerned for the soul of her child. Many a petition ascends over the couch of infancy. Only in eternity can we learn the value of such nursery devotions. A mother was once heard to say, "Never did I take one of my numerous children to my bosom for nourishment, that I did not, at the same time, lift up my heart to God in prayer, that he would bestow on it his salvation." The case of Monica, the mother of Augustine, is well known. Her son was yet unconverted, profligate, and addicted to the heresy of the Manichees. She went with her cares to a pious minister of Christ, who, after witnessing her anguish and her devotion, dismissed her with these words: "It is impossible that the son of such prayers and tears should be lost."

What powerful inducements are here offered for mothers to become true Christians. An unchristian, a prayerless mother! Let the very phrase carry horror to the soul, and drive the convinced sinner to God.

UTILITY OF TEA.

THE enlightened Author of the "Chemistry of Common Life," thus testifies to the usefulness of tea. In the life of most persons a period arrives when the stomach no longer digests enough of the ordinary elements of

food, to make up for the natural daily waste of the bodily subsistence. The size and weight of the body, therefore, begin to diminish more or less perceptibly. At this period, tea comes in as a medicine to arrest the waste, to keep the body from falling away so fast, and thus enable the less energetic powers of digestion still to supply as much as is needed to repair the wear and tear of the solid tissues. No wonder, therefore, that tea should be a favourite, on the one hand, with the poor, whose supply of substantial food is scanty; and, on the other, with the aged and infirm, especially of the feebler sex, whose powers of digestion, and whose bodily substance, have together begun to fail. Nor is it surprising that the aged female, who has barely enough of weekly income to buy what are called the common necessaries of life, should yet spend a portion of her small gains in purchasing her ounce of tea. She can live quite as well on less common food, when she takes tea along with it; while she feels lighter, at the same time, and more cheerful and fitter for her work, because of the indulgence.

EFFECTS OF CLEANLINESS. COUNT RUMFORD, the celebrated practical philosopher, whose writings have been of greater value to mankind than the abstruse speculations of a host of metaphysicians, thus described the advantages of cleanliness:

"With what care and attention do the feathered race wash themselves, and put their plumage in order! and how perfectly neat, clean, and elegant do they appear! Among the beasts of the field, we find that those which are the most cleanly are generally the most gay and cheerful, or are distinguished by a certain air of tranquillity and contentment; and singing birds are always remarkable for the neatness of their plumage. So great is the effect of cleanliness upon man, that it extends even to his moral character. Virtue never dwelt long with filth; nor do I believe there ever was a person scrupulously attentive to cleanliness who was a consummate villain."

CO-OPERATION OF THE WIFE.

No man ever prospered in the world without the co-operation of his wife. If she unites in mutual endeavours, or rewards his labours with an endearing smile, with what confidence will he resort to his merchandize or his farm, fly over lands, sail upon the seas, meet difficulty and encounter danger, if he knows that he is not spending his strength in vain, but that his labour will be rewarded by the sweets of home! Solicitude and disappointment enter the history of every man's life; and he is but half provided for this voyage who finds but an associate for happy hours, while for his months of darkness and distress no sympathizing partner is prepared.

MANY of our readers, we fear, will be thinking we have abandoned our Colonial speculations and dissertations; but it is not so. Assuredly, whatever interests them interests us; but we cannot be always on one subject, and occasional articles, three or four a year, are sufficient for all practical purposes. We shall, on the present occasion, therefore, illumine the subject of labour in New South Wales. The following is the latest account which has come to hand from Sydney:

Owing to the advanced state of the season in the agricultural and pastoral districts, together with the little demand for fresh building purposes of an extensive kind, and the large additions to our labour market since the commencement of 1855, the supply now exceeds the demand for most descriptions of labour; and the natural consequence is a downward tendency in the rate of wages, as will be seen by the following statement. New building contracts are entered into at somewhat lower rates in most instances; but there is a manifest unwillingness on the part of contractors to take advantage of the present excess of labour to reduce the wages materially for old undertakings. Recent

arrivals seem to be of the best description of mechanics, agricultural, and domestic ser

vants:

tation was carried, may be understood from the fact, that boots and shoes were sent by millions, and in the aggregate sufficient to have served the present people of Victoria for half a century! Under such circumstances, there was of course, immense lossloss involving the ruin of not a few. The state of things was rotten at the core, and, therefore, the bankruptcy, notwithstanding its ruinous effects for a time, was a necessary condition of subsequent prosperity. The real has thus been distinguished from the fictitious, and with a good foundation, there is now reason to look for solid prosperity.

EMIGRATION TO CANADA.

THE Annual Report of A. C. Buchanan, Esq., Chief Emigration Agent, has been printed by order of the Legislative Assembly. Useful and interesting information may be gleaned from it. It states that the number of emigrants last year exceeds that of any other, excepting 1847. The total number landed at Quebec was 53,183, as follows: Number from England

AUSTRALIA.

MULTITUDES of Christian people at home, are deeply concerned about the recent disasters which have occurred in Victoria. This is natural, and far from unreasonable; but let them take courage; it is not difficult to account for the convulsion. It was the fruit of folly, and things after a time will right themselves. The following figures, taken in conjunction with the commercial failures arising out of the Australian affairs, prove the over-trading to have been enormous; but it will be remembered that these figures only represent the value of British produce and manufactures, without showing the exports from other ports, or the principal articles not included in the term "manufactures," such as tea, wines, spirits, tobacco, etc.:

18,175

Ireland

16,168

Scotland

6,336

5,849

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

} 857

The number from England nearly doubles that of 1853, being equal to 90 per cent. From Ireland, the increase has been only 1,297, or 12 per cent. over the previous year. From Scotland, equal to nearly 36 per cent. From Germany, over 137 per cent._ Norway, 15 per cent., and from the Lower Provinces, 73 per cent. At sea, 487 deaths occurred, of whom 94 were infants, and 83 births. The excess of females over males only occurs in emigrants from Ireland, there being 2,209 females more than males, nearly double that of the last year. For the past four years, 5,270 females have emigrated over the number of males. The number of vessels engaged was 386, employing 7,474 seamen. Among the 19,548 adult males, there were 3,195 tradesmen, a considerable increase in this class; farmers and farm servants, 5,632; servants, 117; clerks, 156; and unskilled labourers, 10,448. Among the tradesmen, the largest number were carpenters and joiners, there being 617; of tailors, 433; of shoemakers, 358; of smiths, 354; of bricklayers and stone masons, 228; of miners, 238; etc. 58 different Irish Poor Law Unions sent out 2,963 persons, and the landing money they received at Quebec amounted to £3,271 sterling. The expenses of the Emigration Department, including the Quarantine Establishment, amounts to £16,915, showing an increase over that of 1853, of £7,364. The emigrant tax amounted, in the course of the past year, to £11,772, and Imperial appropriation amounted to £1,825, making a total of £13,579, thus leaving a deficiency of the sum of expenditure, of £3,318, which has been met by a balance remaining from 1852. For the future, no Imperial aid may be expected; and as there is now no balance in

hand, the resources of next session will be exclusively dependent upon the sum derived from the emigrant tax. Ofthe 53,183 emigrants landed in Quebec, 22,000 went to the United States, while 31,183 remained in Canada. Estimating the number that have come by the United States to Canada at 7,000, Mr. Buchanan thinks that the total accession to the population during the year has been about 38,000 souls.

In the early part of the season, and throughout the summer months, the demand for all classes of labourers and mechanics was unprecedented, and the greatest difficulty was experienced throughout the country in securing the necessary supply.

A very considerable increase in Scotch and English farmers and agriculturists, possessing capital, was observed among the emigrants of the past season, which cannot but prove highly desirable and beneficial to the best interests of the country. The emigrants from Aberdeen and Hull, which show a large increase on former years, were chiefly of this class. There were also a number of respec

table and wealthy Germans, who have settled in the Western section of the Province. A small party of from fifty to sixty Norwegians have acquired some property in the Eastern townships, near Sherbrooke, and, from their steady and industrious habits, hopes are entertained of their proving a valuable acqui sition to that important section of the Province. More of this class are expected, if those already settled should succeed.

From a return of the emigration to the port of New York, it would appear that 313,747 arrived there during the year 1854, being an increase of over 30,000 on the emigration of 1853. The emigration from the United Kingdom shows a decrease of 32,731 when compared with that of 1853. From Ireland, a falling off of upwards of 34,000. From Scotland, 1,600; whilst there appears to have been an increase of over 3,000 on the number from England. But the great increase appears to have been in the German emigration, which shows an excess of over 47,000 on the number in 1853.

Its

THIS is one of Messrs. Constable's Series of Foreign Literature-Volume VIII.-and by many will be considered the best of that Series. It is a book of life, and that life in Russia. Its publication, therefore, at the present hour, is peculiarly seasonable. perusal will contribute much to illustrate the state of Russian society. Who the German nobleman is we are not told, although curiosity is excited as to what could have prompted a "nobleman," in the English sense of that term, to have sojourned throughout the space of "thirty-three years" in such a country as Russia. The act can be accounted for only on the assumption of exile, or something else supplying a very substantial and compensatory consideration. German nobility, however, is but an insignificant affair, or, to use the phrase of the Scottish bard,

"German Gentles are but sma',

They're better just than want, aye." But let that pass. Our concern is less with the Author than with his book; and that book, supposing its substantial correctness, of which we see no reason to doubt, is one by which

Το

the public will be both interested and instructed. After depicting the journey from Polangen to St. Petersburg, he fixes his tent in the Capital, the society and institutions of which he is at considerable pains to illustrate. The portrait is dazzling; at the same time we should prefer reading it at our own firesides, to taking lodgings in the vicinity of the palace of the Czars. The Baltic provinces are copiously and vividly illustrated. this succeeds an affecting chapter on the subject of Serfdom. We are then entertained at considerable length with a Dissertation on Public and Private Life in Russia, in which there is much that will appear new and strange to the English eye. Bureaucracy follows, which is just what might be expected -a system thoroughly adapted to the dire despotism of the North, and admirably calculated to further its aggressive policy. To this succeeds the Police System, which ought to have been written in tears and blood! This is followed by "Voices" from the Prisons, and terrible are these voices! A Disquisition on the Church and the School brings up the rear, and closes the volume. The entire book illus