THE MONTH.

ITH deep feelings of gratitude to the Giver of all good things," the Society has once more, after four or five years of over-supply of men relatively to means, put forth a distinct appeal for missionaries. The Committee ask for four to take up work provided for already by the Extension Fund and special gifts, viz. two for the Niger, one for Persia, and a medical man for Gaza; also, to fill vacancies, one for Shaou-hing, one for East Africa (a layman), five for the Nyanza Mission, one for Agra, one for Madras, and a lady for Sierra Leone; also a clergyman of experience for Palestine. One University_man of some year's experience in the ministry has been accepted, and will probably be appointed to one of these fields; and the Society is in communication with others. We earnestly trust that the Lord will put it into the hearts of some to offer themselves at once, in order that their going forth may not be necessarily deferred till the autumn of next year.

It should be stated that although five of the Islington men of 1880 are still at home, circumstances prevent their joining the ranks immediately, and they are all usefully engaged meanwhile in ministerial work.

WITH regard to the five men asked for to reinforce the Nyanza Mission it should be explained that this time last year there were thirteen men in the field, at various points. Of these, one (Mr. Biddlecombe) has returned home; one (Mr. Taylor) has been transferred to Mombasa; four (Dr. Baxter, Mr. J. C. Price, Mr. Cole, Mr. Last) are in Usagara; and two (Mr. Litchfield and Mr. Pearson) have just come to Europe invalided; leaving only four in the further interior, viz. Mr. Copplestone, now probably back at Uyui; Mr. Stokes, who is to be the "caravan leader" and be constantly on the move; Mr. O'Flaherty and Mr. Mackay in Uganda. To reinforce Uyui, to re-establish the projected station at the south end of the Lake, and to be prepared for any possible need of support in Uganda, five men are now urgently required. For these the Committee earnestly ask. They look to the Lord to call the men, and they look to their friends to listen for the Lord's call and be ready to obey it.

THE actual reinforcement of the year 1881 can now be counted up. It consists of nineteen new men, or one more than in either 1879 or 1880. The new names number twenty, but one, the Rev. C. H. Merk, was counted, though not named, in last year's eighteen (Intell. Nov. 1880). Not including him, there are sixteen Islington men, seven of whom were held over from last year, and the remainder are the nine ordained in June. Of these sixteen, five (Messrs. Knowles, Rountree, Walton, Nash, Canham) have gone on the Extension Fund in consequence of special gifts for particular Missions; three (Messrs. Faulconer, Shaw, Martin) on the unpledged part of the Extension Fund; three as the ordinary reinforcement of the year under the "Joint Report" (Intell. Aug. 1881); and five in virtue of the generally improved position of the Society's funds. (These eight are Messrs. Hall, Verso, Ball, Balding, Bradshaw, Guilford, Lewis, Windsor.) The nineteen are made up by one Oxford man, the Rev. H. A. Bren, and two medical missionaries, Dr. D. Duncan Main and Dr. A. Neve. Had the four posts mentioned in the preceding paragraph as already estimated for been

filled up in time, the year's reinforcement would comprise no less than twenty-three new men.

The missionaries returning to the field after a longer or shorter time at home are eleven in number, viz. the Revs. J. Brown, J. Caley, C. G. Daeuble, E. M. Griffith, E. T. Higgens, H. Horsley, W. S. Price, W. D. Reeve, W. Thwaites, and J. R. Wolfe, and Miss Laurence; and two of these at least, Mr. Higgens and Mr. Price, are real additions to the staff, as they had been off the list some years.

Of the nineteen, India gets eleven (besides Mr. Merk); Africa, two; China, three; Ceylon, one; North America, two. Of the eleven, India gets four; Africa, one; China, two; Ceylon, three (one of them at India's expense); North America, one. Thus, taking all together, India still claims its usual share of one-half the whole number.

WE have great pleasure in recording yet another munificent benefaction from Mr. W. C. Jones. Having done so much for the Native Churches of India, his sympathies are now drawn out towards China; and in addition to the 22001. for the establishment of a Training Institution for Native agents at Hang-chow, mentioned in our last number, he has now undertaken to provide the new buildings required for the already existing similar institution at Fuh-Chow, under Mr. Stewart. This latter gift is especially welcome, on account of the urgent needs of the Fuh-Kien Mission. To build the college and provide dwellings for the increased number of missionaries the Society would have been compelled to lay out between 5000l. and 60007.—which such a Mission well deserves, but which the funds could ill afford. Of at least half this task it is now relieved through Mr. Jones's generosity.

By the death of the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Dr. Barclay, on October 22nd, the C.M.S. Mission in Palestine has lost a hearty friend. The Rev. J. R. L. Hall, of Jaffa, writes:- "The blow is felt all through the country by Europeans and Natives alike, for the Bishop was so kind and genial to all, and so universally beloved. His manly, honest, straightforward, upright character won for him the respect even of those whose views and opinions did not coincide with his. He was a very fine example of the high-minded Christian English bishop." It will be remembered that Dr. Barclay only succeeded the late Bishop Gobat two years ago, and that he was consecrated at St. Paul's on July 25th, 1879, along with Bishops Speechly, Ridley, and Walsham How.

ARCHDEACON COWLEY_writes that intelligence had reached him of the safe arrival of the Rev. W. D. Reeve and his party at Fort Chipewyan, Athabasca. This intimation may be a relief to their friends, as it appears that their own packet of letters had been lost by the upsetting of a canoe.

THE REV. A. B. Hutchinson, who has worked so energetically at HongKong, has been appointed to the Japan Mission, and will be stationed at Tokio.

ARCHDEACON MCDONALD'S Annual Report has been received, dated Fort McPherson, Mackenzie River, April 20th. In January he was dangerously ill, but had been mercifully restored. Of the TukudhiMission he reports satisfactorily; but one of the best of the voluntary Christian

* leaders" whose influence has been so helpful among the wandering tribes, Henry Venn Ketse, died in October last year. "His end was peace."

THE REV. Hugh Horsley, late of North Tinnevelly, has been appointed to the Tamil Cooly Mission, Ceylon, a reinforcement for which has been earnestly asked for. His knowledge of Tamil will enable him to enter upon his work at once.

OUR readers will not have forgotten Ahmed Tewfik Effendi, the distinguished Mohammedan Ulema who was arrested by the Turkish Government for assisting our missionary at Constantinople, Dr. Koelle, in the translation of Christian books-who was condemned to death, but was saved by the interposition of Sir H. Layard, and banished to the island of Chio-and who escaped and came to England. He has long been intellectually convinced of the truth of Christianity, but went through a great mental struggle before he could bring himself to confess Christ in baptism, and thus cut himself off from wife and children and country. At last he resolved to leave all and follow Jesus; and every possible care having been taken to test the reality of his faith, he was baptized on November 11th in St. Paul's Church, Onslow Square, by the Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe.

The church was thronged with spectators, and near the font were gathered a large number of leading friends of the Church Missionary Society. A short account of the Ulema's history was first given from the pulpit by Dr. Koelle; and then he was led to the font by his three "witnesses," Mrs. Webb-Peploe, Sir W. Muir, and the venerable nonagenarian Archdeacon Philpotts, father-in-law of Dr. Koelle. The first part of the service was read in English by Mr. Webb-Peploe, the Ulema following by means of a Turkish translation he held in his hand; the questions to the candidate were given by Dr. Koelle in Turkish, and were answered with great earnestness and distinctness by Ahmed Tewfik; after which the act of baptism was performed by Mr. Webb-Peploe, speaking in English. Alford's hymn, In token that thou shalt not fear," was then sung by the whole congregation.

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This baptism is a great event. No convert of equal eminence has, it is believed, ever been won from Mohammedanism. He was in the very front rank of the Turkish hierarchy in learning and reputation. Will not all our readers pray earnestly that he may, like the Apostle Paul, "increase the more in strength," and prove to be a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ, by voice or pen, to the followers of the false prophet?

In consequence of the return to England of Mr. Streeter, as noted in our last number, the Committee have requested the Rev. W. S. Price to go out to East Africa and take general charge of Frere Town for a short time. Difficulties, had arisen between the Mission and the Wali of Mombasa respecting some Arab subjects who had caused trouble in the settlement, and in dealing with whom the Lay Superintendent had trespassed upon the jurisdiction of the Sultan of Zanzibar; difficulties also in the internal administration of Frere Town, the causes of which will be well understood by those who have followed the history of the Mission from its commencement, especially by those who remember Mr. Price's early journals which were published nearly in extenso in the Intelligencer of 1875-6. The

Committee have been compelled to express their disapproval of some of the methods adopted, with however good a motive, for maintaining order and discipline, particularly in respect of the infliction of corporal punishment in extreme cases; though it is right here to add that some of the statements on this head which have been in circulation prove to have been exaggerated. It is with the deeper regret that the Committee have felt bound to record their disapprobation, because such hearty testimony has been borne to the excellent work of the Mission and condition of the settlement during the last three or four years both by Sir John Kirk and by the naval officers on the coast; which testimony was confirmed by Sir J. Kirk personally at an interview the Committee had with him on Nov. 4th. The case, however, seemed to demand the presence of a special commissioner or representative of the Committee, and the readiness with which Mr. Price acceded to their request, at great personal inconvenience to himself, is a matter for true thankfulness. No one is better known and more respected on the coast than the founder of Frere Town, and no one could be so acceptable to all parties. He started on Nov. 15th, and we are sure he will be followed in his important mission by the prayers of the Society's friends. He will report on the future management of the settlement itself, on its relations with the Zanzibar Government, on the best mode of carrying out the Committee's plans for placing a mission steamer on the coast, and on the prospects of missionary extension in the interior. His going has met with the thorough approval of Sir J. Kirk, to whose kindness and good judgment in the whole matter the Society is deeply indebted.

It is to be hoped that the time will soon come for the abolition, not only of the slave-trade, but of slavery itself, in the territories of Zanzibar; and in connexion with this, that greater support will in future be given by the British Government at home to the consular authorities in their untiring efforts to help forward every good cause in the country. In more ways than one is it the case that many past difficulties might have been avoided if, for instance, Sir J. Kirk had had the means of more frequent communication with Mombasa. Questions of jurisdiction need not then have arisen, and the magisterial powers vested in the Consul by treaty would have been available in case of need. The position of Frere Town has been one which would have tested the judgment and capacity of the ablest superintendent.

The Committee were glad to hear the strong opinion expressed by Sir John Kirk respecting the value of Mombasa as a base for extended missionary operations among the interior tribes. Hitherto the work of the Mission has been necessarily almost confined to the care of the freed slaves and others connected with the settlement. This has been its main business, not only at Frere Town, but even also at Kisulutini. It is earnestly to be hoped that plans may ere long be matured for real advance into the great mass of heathenism lying behind. Just seven years have elapsed since the modern development of the Mission was inaugurated. It was on Nov. 15th, 1874, that Mr. Price landed at Mombasa and began the noble work which the seven years have witnessed. We trust that another fresh development is now at hand.

JUST too late for our last number a note was received from the Rev. A. Plummer, Senior Proctor of the University of Durham, informing the Society that Mr. A. E. Metzger, B.A., of Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, has obtained a First Class in the Honour Schocl in the Final Examination

in Theology. Mr. Metzger, we need hardly say, is an African, and has been educated entirely in Africa.

THE arrangements respecting the Sindh and Persia Missions mentioned in our September number will have to be altered. The Rev. A. E. Cowley, now in Manitoba, is unable to return to India; and the Rev. J. Bambridge, of Karachi, whose health has suffered considerably, may have to come home shortly.

THE REV. H. Maundrell continues to report encouragingly of Kagoshima. A new catechist, Paul Morooka San, has been stationed there, and is doing a good work. He has a school with thirty-five scholars, a daily class of young men, a class of inquirers every morning, and conducts two or three preachings every evening. Mr. Maundrell visited the place recently and baptized thirty persons.

THE Rev. Vincent C. Sim, who joined the Bishop of Athabasca in his remote diocese two years ago, writes of a journey he took in the depth of winter from Fort Chipewyan to Fort McMurray, 150 miles over the snow, on which occasion he had "a slight taste of what is called in that country hard times." "Provisions ran short. For ten days we lived upon flour, sometimes having not more than one small cake at a meal, so that my appetite increased alarmingly."

WE are asked to correct an accidental mistake in this year's Annual Report. It is there stated that the present Maharajah of Travancore "succeeded to the throne on the death of his father." A correspondent writes :—

The present Maharajah of Travancore, whom I knew when in Trevandrum as the First Prince, is not the son of the late Maharajah, but his brother, and only a few years younger than he was. The late Maharajah had no children, and even if he had had, no son could ever have succeeded him, as, according to Nyar customs, both property and titles pass from the elder to the younger brothers; and when they fail, through the women, to the sons of a sister; or, failing a sister, to the sons of a niece. The present Maharajah has an only child, a boy, now about fifteen or sixteen years old; but he can never succeed to the throne, as on his father's death it will pass to another brother, and after him to the sons of the youngest Ranee, in this case an adopted niece of the late Maharajah's, and who was one of our pupils in Trevandrum. For many years past all the daughters and nieces in the Travancore royal family have died young, so the late Maharajah obtained permission from the Queen to adopt nieces, and the present Maharajah will probably do the same, as all the little Ranees have died infants.

PAROCHIAL MISSIONS TO THE JEWS.

WE have received a letter from the Rev. R. Sutton, Hon. Sec. of the Parochial Missions to the Jews Fund, taking exception to a foot-note in the Intelligencer of October, page 595. There was no desire to depreciate any effort for promoting Christianity among the Jews, although a particular method of doing so was incidentally criticized. Our pages are not the place for the full discussion of the question; and it is only necessary to say that Mr. Sutton thinks there are thirty parishes in England where his plan might be useful, while the writer in the Intelligencer thinks there are only five-" possibly ten or twelve, although he was assured to the contrary."-ED.