equivalent, in instrumental preaching power, for one hundred missionaries, and at an expenditure less by nearly $75,000 a year. And then, too, the native preacher is at home in the country and climate, not subject to a premature breaking down of his constitution, not compelled to resort for health to the United States, or to send his children thither for education. Besides, the native churches and converts might gradually be brought to assume a part or the whole of the support of the native ministry; while it is very doubtful whether it will ever be expedient for the missionary to receive his support from that quarter.

"One hundred thousand dollars a year would board and educate four thousand native youth. That sum would support five or six hundred native ministers with their families; and if the value of this amount of native preaching talent equaled that of only two hundred missionaries, the annual saving of expense would be at least $125,000. But it would in the end be worth much more; so that we see, in this view, how our effective force among the heathen may, in a few years, be rendered manifold greater than it is at present, without even doubling our annual expenditure. Some progress has even now been made toward this result. We already have five hundred male youth in our seven seminaries; and a still greater number, male and female, in our other twenty-seven boarding-schools. But the scheme, however promising and indispensable, can not be carried into effect without a large addition of first-rate men to the company of our missionaries."

It is interesting to observe how the attention of Protestant missionaries from Europe, as well as the United States, has been drawn of late to the importance of a native ministry as a means of carrying on the work of missions among the heathen. There can, however, be no doubt that this Board has taken the lead of all other missionary societies in giving that subject the prominence practically which it deserves in the great system of missionary operations.

THE ANNUAL MEETINGS OF THE BOARD.-The annual meetings of the Board must receive a brief notice. They are held in the month of September, in some one of the more important cities of the Eastern or Middle States, and occupy three days. The session is for deliberation and business. The annual meeting for the year 1841 is a fair specimen of the usual attendance of members. There were fifty-six corporate, and one hundred and two honorary members present. Of the corporate members five were heads of colleges (there are thrice that number belonging to the corporation); thirty-one were pastors of churches, or otherwise employed in the Christian ministry; ten were civilians; and the remaining ten engaged in mercantile or medical pursuits.

The first day of the session is employed in bringing forward the business of the meetings, so far as the Prudential Committee is concerned, which is done in writing. This, including the different parts of the annual report, is usually referred to some fifteen or more committees, who report during the session. Their reports often give rise to friendly discussions, which are always interesting, and often eloquent. All the meetings are open to the public, and are usually held in a church, that there may be room for those friends and patrons who wish to attend. In the evening of the first day a sermon is preached before the Board by a member appointed to the service at the previous meeting, and the members unite in celebrating the Lord's Supper during the session. A meeting for popular addresses is held in the evening of the second or third day. The last day of the session is generally the great day of the feast in point of interest; and it may truly be said that the annual meeting of this Board, as a whole, has for several years past exerted a great and good influence on the community, its proceedings being more extensively and carefully reported in the religious newspapers than those of any other religious or charitable institution in the country.

PUBLICATIONS.-The publications issued by the Board directly are, 1. The "Missionary Herald," of which, in 1855, there were published monthly seventeen thousand six hundred and eight copies. 2. The "Journal of Missions," a monthly publication in the form of a small newspaper. 3. The "Youth's Day-Spring." 4. The "Annual Report," a document of about two hundred pages, of which four or five thousand copies are issued annually; and, 5. The "Annual Sermon," and occasional missionary papers of various descriptions.*

* Among the numerous works which have been occasioned more or less directly by its missions, though not published by it or at its expense, the following may be mentioned:

Memoir of Mrs. Harriet Newell, by Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., 1815. Memoir of the Rev. Levi Parsons, by Rev. Daniel O. Morton, 1824. Memoir of the Rev. Pliny Fisk, by Rev. Alvan Bond, 1828. Memoir of Catharine Brown, a Christian Indian of the Cherokee nation, by Rev. Rufus Anderson, 1824. Memoir of Rev. Gordon Hall, by Rev. Horatio Bardwell, 1834. Memoir of Mrs. Harriet L. Winslow, by Rev. Miron Winslow, 1835. Memoir of Mrs. Myra W. Allen, by Rev. Cyrus Mann, 1834. The Little Osage Captive, by Rev. Elias Cornelius, 1822. Memoir of Mrs. Sarah Lanman Smith, by Rev. Edward W. Hooker, D.D., 1839, Syrian Mission. Memoir of Mrs. Elizabeth D. Dwight and Mrs. Judith S. Grant, 1840. The Christian Brahmin, or Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Character of the Converted Brahmin, Babajee, by Rev. Hollis Read, 2 vols., 1836. Memoirs of American Missionaries, formerly connected with the Society of Inquiry respecting Missions in the Andover Theological Seminary, 1832. Tour around Hawaii (one of the Sandwich Islands), by Rev. William Ellis, 1826. A Residence in the Sandwich Islands, by Rev. Charles Samuel Stewart, 1828. History of the Sandwich Islands' Mission, by Rev. Sheldon

CHAPTER IV.

BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

WE have entered into considerable detail in the preceding chapter in order to exhibit, once for all, the grand principles of our American missions-the establishment of schools for the Christian instruction of youth, and especially for raising a native ministry among the heathen themselves, and the employment of that most important auxiliary, the press. The views of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on these points are held, I believe, without exception, by our other missionary associations, so that we may dispense with a reconsideration of them in the notices that are to follow.

We turn next to the Board of the Presbyterian Church for Foreign Missions, not because it follows in point of date or extent of operations, but simply because it derives its support from a member of the same great Presbyterian family of Churches, while the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions is the missionary organ of certain other branches. The two societies, in fact, comprise nearly all that is now done for the conversion of heathen, Mohammedans, and Jews, by Presbyterians of all shades, in the United States. This Board was constituted only in 1837, the congregations which it represents having before that combined with others in supporting the American Board, and some of them, indeed, with a truly liberal spirit, now support both. The latter of the two Boards arose from a conviction which had long been gaining ground, that the Presbyterians as a Church, and by the medium of their supreme ecclesiastical

Dibble, 1839. Observations on the Peloponnesus and Greek Islands, by Rev. Rufus Anderson, 1830. Researches in Armenia, by Rev. E. Smith and Rev. H. G. O. Dwight, 1833. Residence at Constantinople, by Rev. Josiah Brewer, 1830. The Nestorians, or the Lost Tribes, by Asahel Grant, M.D., 1841. Missionary Sermons and Addresses, by Rev. Eli Smith, 1833. Journal of a Missionary Tour in India, by Rev. William Ramsey, 1836. Journal of a Residence in China and the Neighboring Countries, by Rev. David Abeel, 1834. The Missionary Convention at Jerusalem, or an Exhibition of the Claims of the World to the Gospel, by Rev. David Abeel, 1838. Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, by Rev. Samuel Parker, 1838. Essays on the Present Crisis in the Condition of the American Indians, first published in the National Intelligencer under the signature of William Penn, 1829, by Jeremiah Evarts. Speeches on the Passage of the Bill for the Removal of the Indians, delivered in the Congress of the United States, 1830. History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, by Rev. Joseph Tracy, 1840.

judicature, ought, like the Church of Scotland, to undertake foreign as well as domestic missions.

As the Old School Presbyterian Church, which appointed and supports this Board, numbered, in 1855, two thousand two hundred and sixty-one pastors, and three thousand and seventy-nine churches; and as nearly all these have it in their power to aid the cause, there is every prospect that in a few years it will become a very efficient association. Its receipts for the year ending May 1st, 1855, were $184,077, and its expenditures $174,705.

PUBLICATIONS."The Home and Foreign Record," a periodical which contains, besides other matter, the missionary intelligence of the society, has a circulation of something more than sixteen thousand copies. Of the "Foreign Missionary," twenty thousand copies of the newspaper, and three thousand two hundred and fifty of the pamphlet edition, of thirty-two pages, were printed and circulated. Various circular letters were last year printed and circulated among the churches; and upon these and the Missionary Journals, the Committee relied mainly to do their agency work.

MISSIONARIES AND ASSISTANT-MISSIONARIES SENT OUT.-Six missionaries (one of whom had been in this country on a visit), and twenty-two male and female assistant-missionaries, making twentyeight in all, were sent out during the year.

MISSIONS AMONG THE INDIAN TRIBES.-The Board has seven missions among the Indian tribes, viz.: among the Chippewas and Ottawas, of the State of Michigan; among the Omahas, of Nebraska; among the Iowas and Sacs, of Kansas Territory; among the Creeks, Seminoles, Chickasaws, and Choctaws, of the south-western Indian Territory. Measures have been adopted for the commencement of a new mission among the Otoes, of Kansas. Connected with these missions there are eleven stations and out-stations, and nearly as many more preaching-places; eight missionaries, sixty-three male and female assistant-missionaries, and five native helpers; seven churches, and two hundred and ten church members; eight boarding and two day schools, embracing two hundred and fifty pupils, in various stages of their education. The number of communicants in connection with these churches has been more than doubled during the past year. The schools have had a larger number of pupils, and better attendance than in former years; while most of the tribes, but especially those in the State of Michigan and in the south-western Territory, are making most encouraging progress in every department of civilization.

MISSIONS IN AFRICA.-The Board has two missions in Africa; one in Liberia, which operates upon the colored American emigrants and

the natives of the country; and the other at the Island of Corisco, twelve or fifteen hundred miles to the south and east of Liberia, and nearly under the equator, which operates exclusively upon the aboriginal population of that island and the neighboring continent. In connection with these missions, there are six stations, six ordained ministers, three licentiate preachers, nine male and female assistant missionaries, of whom eight are white persons, and the remainder colored emigrants from this country; seven schools, one of which is a classical school, with about one hundred and fifty pupils; five churches, and about one hundred and fifty church members, being an increase of about thirty over the number last year. One small volume has just been printed in the language spoken by the Corisco people, and most of the missionary brethren there are engaged in the study of the language, and will soon be able to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to thousands of the people around them in their own tongue.

MISSIONS IN INDIA.-In India, the Board has four missions, viz.: Lodiana, Furrukhabad, Agra, and Allahaba; thirteen stations and out-stations; twenty-six ordained missionaries, two of whom are natives of India; twenty-three female assistant missionaries from this country; thirty-four native helpers; eleven churches, with two hundred and ninety-five native communicants; four printing-presses, from which have been issued over eight million pages; thirty-six schools, several of which are high-schools, with upward of four thousand seven hundred pupils. These statistics show an increase of two churches, thirty-nine native converts, about one thousand seven hundred pupils, and five million of printed pages over the last Annual Report. Some of the church members have finished their course, and have been enabled to triumph over the last enemy. There is still a loud call for more laborers in this field.

The missionaries in India have formed themselves into three Presbyteries, and these have been organized as the Synod of Northern India by the General Assembly in America, to which it is subordinate.

MISSION IN SIAM.-In Siam there is one mission, connected with which there are two ordained missionaries, one licentiate preacher and physician, two assistant female missionaries, and one native helper; one boarding-school with twenty-six pupils. The missionaries have sustained the usual religious services, and have devoted more time than usual to missionary tours in different parts of the country, and in some regions where the Gospel had never before been heard. One of the missionaries is still engaged in the work of translating the Scriptures into the Siamese. The Report contains brief notices of large evangelized communities, other than the Siamese, but