MONTHLY REGISTER. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. Annual Report of the Halifax Diocesan Committee. THE Committee, during the past year, has answered the demands which District Committees and individuals have made upon its depository, by various supplies of the sacred volume, and of other religious books. When the character of the books and tracts, recommended by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, is taken into view, all must allow that a Committee, which can detail above 11,000 copies of the Bible, and of other religious books, dispersed within the last twelve months, may justly expect knowledge to have been proportionably increased ;—it must be granted, that it prefers a reasonable claim to the hearty cooperation of all who would be humbly instrumental to the turning of many unto righteousness. Our correspondence with the Parent Society has been most satisfactory, and our thanks are due to that venerable board, for their having recently supplied the town of Halifax with a parochial lending library, of above 220 volumes, at their most reduced prices. The sum of 701. currency has been raised, independently of the funds of this Committee, by the charitable subscriptions of the benevolent towards this object; such a stock of useful works, as may, by God's blessing, be of permanent advantage to this town and neighbourhood, has within the last few weeks, been imported; a decent book-case has been erected for their preservation, in the vestry-room at St.. Paul's; and the officiating clergy of that church will henceforth be ready, immediately after the catechising, by which the divine service is concluded, on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, to issue the works to such as may apply for them. Our District Committees have received one addition since the last report, through the active exertions of the VOL. XII. NO. II. Rev. Mather Byles Desbrisay, who will shortly establish a depository, and parochial lending library,for Dartmouth, and the populous out-ports attached to that important mission. The Committees at Lunenburgh and Liverpool, under the praiseworthy exertions of the Rev. Messrs. Cochran, Moody, Shreve, and Temme, are effecting much good; and our gratitude is due to C. W. H. Harris, and Samuel Fairbanks, Esqrs., their respective Secretaries, for the warm interest which they continue to take in their success, and the satisfactory statements of their proceedings, which, from time to time, they forward to our diocesan board. With the Committees at Bermuda, Sydney, C. B. in Newfoundland, and Prince Edward's Islands, we have had no correspondence of late; but from the supplies which were forwarded to them in the year before last, we doubt not but that they still possess the means, and enjoy the satisfaction, of being extensively useful. The reports which have been published in St. John, New Brunswick, and at Quebec, give the most encouraging statement of the several district committees connected with those central institutions. In the case of the committees connected with Quebec, this statement has been happily confirmed by the testimony of the amiable prelate presiding over that diocese, who has so lately honoured us by a visit, and entitled himself to the best thanks of our committee, for the able and energetic manner in which his Lordship recommended this institution, and its objects, from the pnlpit of St. Paul's. Since the last report, forty-one packages of bibles, books, and tracts, have been sent, several of them gra tuitously, from our stores. Bibles of various sizes and prices, to the number of 236; Testaments to the S This statement will be considered encouraging, as will, also, that which we are enabled to make of the improving state of the school, which is supported among us by the liberal grants of the Provincial Legislature, and the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The number of boys in daily attendance, is 202; the number of girls, 87. Ten masters have been trained at the school in the last twelve months, who, after having become qualified to diffuse the benefits of the national system of education, have been settled in different stations. The progress during the past year of our Sunday schools, under the most flourishing auspices, should not be unnoticed. There are at present assembled, each Sunday, an average of 100 children of each sex. Whilst, then, we continue to disseminate scriptural truth, and exhort men to live as becometh the Gospel of Jesus Christ, no Christian can doubt that we are acting in conformity with the will of our Heavenly Master, and we may trust to the superintending providènce of the Most High, for support in all difficulties, and for a blessing upon our feeble endeavours to glorify his holy name. By order of the Committee, EDWARD WIX, M. A. ́ SOCIETIES FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, AND FOR PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. Peterborough Diocesan and District Committee. Ar a Quarterly Meeting, held at the Deanery, on Tuesday, the 5th of January, 1830, the very Rev. the Dean of Peterborough in the chair: The Treasurer's and Secretary's accounts were laid before the Committee, from which it appeared, that the receipts for the year, ending with the 1st of January, 1830, amounted to 971. 78. 1d., which, with the balance of 951. 2s. 5d., in the Treasurer's hands, on the 1st of January, 1829, make a sum total of 1921. 9s. 6d. It further appeared from the Treasurer's and Secretary's accounts, that the disbursements for the year, ending with the 1st of January, 1830, including the sum of 251. remitted to the Parent Society, as a donation, amounted to 1241. 4s., leaving a balance of 681. 5s. 6d. in the hands of the Trea surer. From the Secretary's report it appeared, that during the year ending with the 1st of January, 1830, 148 Bibles, 146 Testaments, 377 Prayerbooks, and 1822 books and tracts on the Society's list, were distributed by the Committee. J. JAMES, Secretary. POLITICAL RETROSPECT. DOMESTIC.-The reports concerning the King's health, during the last month, have been very alarming. Sir H. Halford has been in attendance on his Majesty, who has lived in great seclusion; we earnestly hope from motives of caution, rather than necessity. Parliament stands prorogued to the 4th of February, when it is expected to meet for the despatch of business. The following is a statement of the Revenue, both for the last year, and the last quarter of that year, compared with the corresponding periods of the preceding year: Hence there is a defalcation in the annual revenue of the empire, during the last year, of more than 1,165,000l.; and in that of the quarter ending the 5th of January, 1830, compared with that of the corresponding quarter of the preceding year, of more than 332,000l. The East-India Company, who are anxious for the favour of government, and trembling for the renewal of their Charter, have paid up about half-a-million of duties before they were due; and the Stamp Office have required Attorneys to renew their licences before the expiration of the last year, carrying the amount of these to the winter, instead of the spring quarter's revenue. But for these extraordinary measures, the deficiency on the annual income of the country would have been two millions. If we compare the effects of Mr. Pitt's wise and energetic administra tion of the government during the years of peace succeeding the American war, with those commencing with the termination of the last war, we have a practical proof of the excellency of those principles which had been already established by the experience of preceding centuries, and which that great man exercised and applied, to raise his country from the humiliated and distressed state in which he found it, to the highest pitch of prosperity; but from which, by pursuing the untried theories of the economists, his puny successors have thrown her into her present adversity and distress. The comparison will teach us many of the causes of her present misery, and convince every unprejudiced person that the country can only be saved and recovered, by a recurrence to those principles which result from experience, and which have been abandoned for specious hypotheses. FRANCE. The new administration continues to gain strength, nor does there appear to be any solid foundation for the reports, that another change of ministers may be expected. PENINSULA. -The only occurrence worthy of notice is, the arrival of the new Queen of Spain in Madrid, and the cordial welcome she received from her new subjects. Queens succeed each other so rapidly in that capital, that the arrival of a new one could scarcely be expected to excite much attention. RUSSIA. The health of the Emperor is perfectly restored. He has again appeared in public, when his presence was greeted with the warmest applause. GREECE.-The arrangement of the affairs of this new state occupy the attention of the great cabinets of Europe. It has been repeatedly and boldly asserted, that Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg is to be their future sovereign. That such an event would be of the greatest benefit to Greece, we fully believe; but we think it would be full of injury to the comforts of his Royal Highness, and to the interests of Great Britain, whose future sovereign will probably be so nearly related to him, and from whose moderation, wisdom, and example, she may learn so much. ASIA. We are happy to announce that the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, has suppressed, by proclamation, the horrid practice of burning Hindoo widows on the funeral piles of their husbands; and that the Bramins, in Benares, the "Holy City" of the Hindoos, have declared their approbation of the measure. AFRICA.-Algiers continues to be blockaded by two French ships of war; but, in spite of these, the Corsairs con tinue to go in and out of that port, and make depredations on the French commerce. A large reinforcement is preparing in the harbour of Toulon, to render the blockade more effectual. The investiture of the place by land is confidently spoken of, and that a large proportion of African troops will be employed, and the Pacha of Egypt will be subsidized for the purpose. AMERICA-The President of the United States, in a very masterly speech, has opened the Meeting of the Congress. He announces the mutual harmony and confidence which subsists between his government and that of Great Britain, and his full expectation of the final settlement of those claims, which were left for discussion and reference, by the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent. He speaks with less confidence of the amicable arrangement of the demands of the States on France and Portugal, in compensation for the injuries done to their commerce by these powers;-applauds the unanimity with which all parties united in Mexico, to repel the late invasion of that distracted country;-expresses a willingness to revise the customs duties, and alter such as may not infringe on the principles so long and successfully acted upon by the government of Great Britain;-shews the happy state of the public finances, and the rapid approach of the period when the public debt will be completely extinguished;-recommends a new modification of the marine, and an unceasing attention to economy in every department of the State. BRAZIL.-The new Empress, and the Queen of Portugal, have safely arrived at Rio de Janeiro. |