to these Schools had, indeed, broken out simultaneously in various parts of Greece and Turkey; but the concurrence of various Providential circumstances had frustrated hostile attempts in Syra. From the following report of the Rev. J. A. Jetter, it will be seen that these endeavours were but too successful at his Station. He thus relates the

Origin and Result of the Opposition to the Greek Schools.

April 16, 1836-Our schools have gone on regularly, and have been uncommonly well attended since the beginning of the But a few days since, a pamphlet year. appeared against the Missionaries, their books, schools, and other work, especially in Syra. The title is, "A Letter treating of what is the hidden object of the Bible Society's Missionaries in Greece;" and it aims at proving that it is Proselytism. The whole pamphlet is such a composition of calumnies and wilful or wicked ignorance, as I scarcely have ever seen in any production. There is, moreover, no responsible name given; nor is it printed in Greece, but in Paris. The style of the book is elegant; it is calculated to do much harm to us and our cause, and is very extensively read here.

April 24-The pamphlet against us, to which I have alluded already, causes much excitement. Some persons are very solicitous that it should be read aloud in the coffee-shops; which no body hinders. In the schools, however, no diminution of the number of children is discernible. I preached in English, from the words of St. Paul, Tim. vi. 12, Lay hold on eternal life; with an application to our present circumstances.

May 25-A Circular from the Greek Patriarch has been received, in which the Priests were desired to put down all the American Schools, and to put the education of the children entirely under the care of an "Ecclesiastical Committee." No layman is henceforward to interfere in this branch.

May 30-A General Committee was held at the Greek Bishop's, about the above-mentioned Circular. Some were for proceeding with violence against the Missionaries, and their schools. However, this was prevented by some of the

* By this term they mean, generally, the Protestant Schools.

more prudent among them. Yet, from this time, we perceived particular enmity against our schools, as well as against ourselves; and they began to threaten the parents, and the children who should frequent our schools any longer. Several disputes arose; as the Masters would not

suffer the Priests to ill treat the children, and to take and destroy their books.

June 3-I received a Letter from the Ecclesiastical Committee.

June 8-I received a second Letter from the Committee, urging me to answer. My reply being ready, I laid it before our Missionary Circle; and after some amendments by my Brethren, I copied it, and sent it on the 10th, a Friday evening. On the Monday following, appeared their copious observations on it; with their Letters, and mine, in print. We were truly surprised; and now saw their purpose fully developed. Just as this was going on, the Plague from Magnesia, having been brought to Smyrna, began to spread, and our schools were closed.

June 12-At Boujah, our schools were still open; and I, as usual, addressed those that came, it being Sunday, from a portion of the Gospel. At half-past ten, I preached to an English Congregation, in the Infant School-room; and Mr. Fjellstedt addressed a few Germans, who had come from town, and whom he had been in the habit of addressing there, in one of our school-rooms. After church, I learned that a Letter from the Bishop in Smyrna had been read in the Greek Church, prohibiting the parents from sending their children to our schools.

June 13-Notwithstanding this Letter, we had still forty children, in all, in our schools.

June 26: Lord's Day Our Greek children did not come to-day at all. The Plague in town is on the increase. If the Lord were not to watch over us, our care would be in vain.

I was greatly distressed at the rioting and drunkenness of the Greeks, not far from our house: they were singing songs and fiddling, from noon till after midnight! These things are not even noticed the Priests are dumb dogs, that cannot bark; loving to slumber. Wickedness of all kind may be practised with impunity, and none is found to reprove; but we, who are endeavouring to do them good, are represented to the people as the worst of men.

July 24,1836-To-day, we made an attempt to re-open our Boujah Schools; but only from about twelve to twenty children attended; and though their own school was not yet ready, and we kept ours open, toward the close of the month only a few girls still remained for needlework; and even they, at last, stayed away. Thus closed our schools here, after they had existed upwards of five

years.

This grievous opposition continuing to advance with success, the next step taken, reported by Mr. Jetter, was the

Suppression of the Society's Schools
at Vourlah.

Aug. 2-To-day, I received a Letter from Vourlah, stating that our Schools there had been destroyed. I will here insert a brief account, which a person there has sent to me :

66

According to your desire, I forward to you a brief outline of the persecution of the schools belonging to the Church Missionary Society. A certain individual, the protector and co-adjutor of some inimical Priests, wished long ago to destroy these schools; but as some of the people opposed it, saying, 'We cannot attempt to do such a thing without the concurrence of the Bishop,' they began to rouse the populace against the Superintendant of these schools, and the Master, calling them Atheists, &c. But

all this had no effect. After this, they applied to the Smyrna Ecclesiastical Committee. There came, in addition, a messenger from this Committee, and got up a paper, with a number of signatures, declaring, that the doctrines of the Protestants were taking root at Vourlah, and that already twelve of the first families had become proselytes; and this was forwarded to the Patriarch at Constantinople. Besides this accusation, the Ecclesiastical Committee at Smyrna sent a second. The Patriarch, having reproved the Bishop of Vourlah, who was at Constantinople, sent him with a Letter from himself, to shut the schools, and investigate the matter. The Bishop arriving at Smyrna, received another reproof from the Ecclesiastical Committee there, who accused him as having been bribed by me. Thus he came to Vourlah, read the Patriarch's Letter in the church, and ordered the books to be collected; to which the Priests paid ready

obedience: some were torn, others burnt; and again, others they carried to the church, with a view to burn them there. The Masters, also, were prohibited from teaching any longer."

Mr. Jetter adds

I am further informed, that the Priests were seen to tear a copy of the Ancient and Modern-Greek Testament, and to trample it under foot! I was also told, that the people hid the books in their vineyards, and in the mills, &c., to save

The

them from the rage of the Priests. Bishop went, in person, to the Turkish Aga (Governor), to ask his interference, in case we should try to re-open our schools.

They have now rejected all our books, even the Holy Scriptures: two elementary books, which they have just published, are all they have for their schools.

In Brousa, near Constantinople, they burnt upwards of 600 Volumes, Scriptures and all, in the church-yard, just as the people left the church! At Sediqui, a village only an hour from Smyrna, they have likewise burnt all our books.

The Archbishop of Ephesus, who formerly favoured us, has been taken out of this world, in the midst of this persecution.

The following passages from a Letter of Mr. Jetter's, dated Nov. 24, 1836, exhibits the consequences with the Plague, as occasioning a of this persecution, in conjunction Declension in the Schools at Magnesia. Three weeks ago, I was at Magnesía, Kassabah, and Sardis, in company with Prof. von Schubert, from Munich, who was Tutor of King Otho. At Magnesía we lodged at the Archbishop of Ephesus'. There is now another Archbishop appointed; who was not there himself, being still at Constantinople; but the acting Bishop received us very kindly. The people have only just now returned, since the breaking out of the Plague last spring. Before the Plague, the Greeks had three schools; one for girls, which belonged to us; and two for boys. Now they have none for girls, nor have they any desire for one; and only a shadow of one for the boys. I urged it upon them to re-establish their former schools. visiting our Armenian School, I found, to my grief, that several of the bigger boys had been swept away by the Plague.

On

There were only about thirty children present; but they told me that more would come, as soon as the new Master should arrive. The heavy and continued fall of rain only prevented me from going again, to introduce the new Master. On inquiry, I heard that the majority who died of the Plague were youths and elderly people. I presented a copy of each of the Turkish books printed at our Press at Malta, to the Mutselim and Mullah. They were both pleased; and the Mullah said that they were well executed. He promised to make his observations on them. I likewise gave a few copies to a Turkish Schoolmaster, and to some of the first boys in our Armenian School, who likewise study Turkish. At Kassabah, I left a number of Greek School-books; but they received them not so cheerfully as last time when I was there. The persecution has reached far and wide. It is really astonishing how much the people are afraid to incur the censure of their Priests. I had much conversation with the people on the necessity of their having schools for their children. A boy said to me, Our parents are oxen, and they want to train us up so too. However, they have a Greek School for the town; but it has been shut up all the summer, on account of the Plague, and is, consequently, in a poor state.

they have not yet fulfilled. Their schools are, for the most part, in a wretched state; and the people now begin to feel their loss, in comparing the former progress of their children with the present. I hear frequent complaints in this village: they have already inquired, why I have not re-opened my schools. For the girls, no provision whatever has been made any where, excepting Smyrna, where they could not do otherwise. The school at this place, though under the same Master, is but a shadow of what it was formerly: instead of 150 children of various descriptions, there are now between thirty and forty, young children chiefly, in attendance. They make scarcely any progress besides, having only two small books, hastily made up by this Ecclesiastical Committee, and for which they must pay a high price. All our books have been thrown out; neither the Gospel, nor any part of the Sacred Scriptures, are found in any of their schools. Whenever I hear a wish expressed for the re-opening of our schools, I say, "Unless the people address me on this subject, in a body, I shall not open them again." They must feel that we are not anxious to lavish our funds on people who are not grateful, or glad, at least, to receive our charity.

The Rev. P. Fjellstedt, who is devoted principally to the Turkish department of the Mission, writes, under date of Oct. 28, 1836, in the following encouraging terms :—

Though Asia Minor may be called a barren Mission field at present, yet I think we should not despair, but by all means go on, and do whatever can be done, with a view to promote the Kingdom of God; for though the doors are at present shut, yet there are many smaller openings still remaining; and, as long as these keep our hope alive in reliance upon God's mercy, we could not feel justified in thinking of withdrawing the offered rays of light from these dark territories. The Committee is accustomed to plough in hope, patiently looking to the blessing of God for the harvest; and I have no doubt that that principle will also be applied with regard to this Mission.

The following short extract from a Letter, dated Nov. 24, 1836, by

Character and Habits of the Tribes in

the Interior of Asia Minor.

As we came within an hour of Sardis, a great caravan of Yuruck Families met us: they are the real Nomades of Turkey, who live all the year in black tents, and have no fixed houses. They came from the mountains near Philadelphia, to seek for a milder winter quarter near the sea. It was a most agreeable sight to us all, to see this patriarchal people: they reminded me most forcibly of Jacob's droves when coming from Mesopotamia. They had camels, sheep, goats, cows, and horses. The women and bigger children were driving the herds and flocks, while the men and large dogs were trotting behind. Each man had his gun on his shoulder. The smaller children were lashed upon the backs of camels and horses; and the infants, wrapt up in a coarse piece of hair-cloth, were tied on the backs of their mothers. Dr. Schubert urged me to attempt something among this people; for I had told him, on a visit to Ephesus, that I much wished to obtain about a dozen of these Yuruck Children,

that I might train them up. Yusuf Effendi, who was with us, said, that they were a very simple and comparatively uncorrupted people, and that their habits were more moral than those of the Turks. The Yurucks profess the Mahomedan Religion, but seem to know little about it. It would be our earnest wish to educate some of their children, and then send them back among their tribes. We purpose, as soon as the weather shall permit, to make excursions among them, as well

open to conversation, and are less prejudiced than Turks living in towns. There is another class of people, called Turkomans, who nearly resemble the Yurucks. The only difference between them is, that the one have fixed houses and villages, and till the ground; whereas the other have no houses, and live by pasturage alone. However, when the pasturage does not please the Turkomans any longer, they leave their houses, in quest of another place. At Sardis, both Yurucks and Turkomans live together; and are, with the exception of a Greek miller, the only inhabitants of the capital of Ancient Lydia. I had some conversation with them, in Turkish; and they soon asked for medicine. They think that every European must understand medicine, as a matter of course. Any one almost, wearing European clothes, may set up as a doctor in the interior. A little knowledge of medicine is the best introduction you can have among the Turks and Greeks in Asia Minor. The females among the above people are not muffled up as those of the Turks, neither are they so shy. May the Lord open to us a door of usefulness among this people! They are very numerous in Asia Minor; and each class has a Beg, a sort of Prince, as its head, who pays an annual tribute to the Sultan: consequently, these people do not stand under the Officers of the Government, but under their respective Princes. As far as I have been able to learn of their origin, the Turkomans are said to have come from the East, and resemble the Kurds; and the Yurucks say, that their ancestors came from Syria.

Cotta.

The Rev. Joseph Bailey continues his engagements in the general affairs of the Mission; and the Rev. James Selkirk has charge of the Institution. The following is his report of the

State of the Institution, and some of the Schools. Feb. 23, 1836 - The Institution Boys RECORD, March 1837.]

recommenced their studies on the 24th of January. Some of them were detained at their homes beyond the time, by sickness; and others, as soon as they came, were prevented from commencing their studies, by the measles; but all are now engaged in their proper work; and, I trust, will continue to make satisfactory progress.

One new boy has been admitted from the Seminary at Baddagame. In addi

K