expounded, and some of the negroes prayed and spoke to their brethren in language so pathetic, that to convey an adequate description of the effect produced, I find impossible. We commenced the other service at noon by singing the jubilee hymn, "Blow ye the trumpet, blow;" and closed with the hymn, "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun." The chapel was crowded to excess, and many were obliged to stand outside. In the morning the weather was unpromising, but after 12 o'clock a favourable change appeared. To induce the liberated young apprentices to avail themselves of education, we selected a number of the dayscholars to read the 107th Psalm before the congregation, which had a good effect.

The first day of freedom passed away without the least disturbance; every countenance wore a smile, and "We free" was the watchword of the day. The teachers

on their respective plantations held religious meetings in the evening, and even the wicked did not venture to assemble their companions to drink and dance, as they usually do to express their joy. May the goodness of God lead such to repentance !

The Governor visited this coast on Saturday last, and spoke to the people at different places; he looked into our school as he passed, and promised to come and examine it soon. What he said to the people had a good effect. The Governor seems anxious to promote education; his first act in this colony was to sanction and sign the bill which gave freedom to the negroes. It was in contemplation to erect a monument to the memory of the late Sir James Carmichael Smyth. I have more than 100 guilders, which the people collected for it, chiefly in bits.

The time is very near, and we are somewhat anxious, but not at all fearful. We are persuaded all will be well. Thousands are looking to the Missionaries to direct them in all their affairs. They venture not to stir or speak without advice. Although the agitation has only been commenced within a few days, I have been visited by people from all parts, and their first question is, "Massa, what must we do? Any thing Massa tells us we shall do." They look with entire confidence to us. Oh that we may have wisdom profitable to direct.

My own people seem prepared for the change. They view it as it approaches with calm and sincere joy. When I told them the news, and asked them who had done this great thing for them, they burst into tears of joy, and only answered by pointing up to heaven. It has been suggested to them as a part of their duty, that every man, woman, and child, should bring their first earnings, in a free state, an offering to God. They were truly delighted with the idea, and I have no doubt that this will become general in all our congregations.

A few days previous to this Mrs. Kenyon and myself, conceiving it probable that all the people would be free on the 1st of Au

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gust, invited our church members to drink coffee with us in the school-room. The object of this social meeting was to ascertain

their views and intentions, supposing them to be in a state of liberty; and at the same time, to impress upon their minds the necessity of cultivating industrious habits in order to promote their comfort and respectability. The number of church members is now increased to 85, who were all present on this occasion; and I consider that their example in the measures they adopt will be followed by the whole Coast, as they are the most intelligent and influential among the people. I was pleased to hear them mutually express their willingness and desire to labour for their present employers, and attach themselves to the localities where they have been for so many years, provided they meet with good treatment, and equitable arrangements can be made for the interests of the servant as well as the master. One of the church members observed, "Massa, we Neger get punish too much before time, but we no remember dat story again. We heart no hot no more, for suppose we no forgive men dere trespasses, our heavenly Father shall no forgive we." I am sure the Directors would have been delighted to have been present at this meeting, and to have heard the frequent references the people made to the blessing of the Gospel as the ground of all their anticipations, privileges, and enjoyments.

On the first day of August the people began to assemble themselves in the Chapel by seven o'clock in the morning. Scarcely a negro was left on any of the estates, so that the house of God was soon filled, and, indeed, surrounded with hearers. Divine service was commenced with a tribute of praise and thanksgiving to the Most High for deliverance from the yoke of bondage, and the realisation of this civil freedom which the people had never before enjoyed. May they all be brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God! In the middle of the day my hearers were addressed from John viii.

AN ADDRESS,

From the Ministers of the London Missionary Society Berbice, to his Excellency Henry Light, Esq., Governor of British Guiana, &c. &c. &c.

"SIR,-We the undersigned, Ministers of the Gospel in connexion with the London Missionary Society, desire to avail ourselves of your Excellency's visit to this part of British Guiana, to express the pleasure we feel at your appointment to the government of this important Colony, at a period so momentous, not only to the inhabitants themselves, but, as we conceive, to the whole civilised world.

"We beg leave most respectfully to congratulate your Excellency, that you are

36,"If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed ;" and in the evening we opened a new chapel and school-house on Plantation Hampshire, which the negroes of the estate erected with their own hands, and at their own expense. At the close of the service a collection was made for the London Missionary Society. There are now two chapels which the Negroes have fitted up themselves, and this enables me to perform Divine service occasionally on the Plantations where they reside. The whole of the 1st of August was devoted to religious purposes, and the strictest decorum was observed. I am not aware of any person being in a state of intoxication; nor was there a single dance on any of the estates, which was a matter of surprise to some of the proprietors.

The next day, the negroes in almost every part of Berbice prepared a dinner, to which they invited their employers. Some of the latter made presents of an ox or a sheep to their people, and others wine or porter; for I am told in all cases where rum was offered it was refused. On one plantation the proprietor gave his negroes a cow and a sheep, and said they might have rum and sugar to make as much punch as they could drink, but the headman came forward, and said, "We thank Massa very well for the cow, and we thank Massa very well for the sheep, but we no want to drink rum and get drunk this time. If Massa shall please give we a few bottles of wine, we shall say, Thanky', Massa, and drink Massa's health."

"A great reformation," continues Mr. Kenyon, "has taken place among the people in this respect. Comparatively few are now known to indulge to excess. Since the Gospel came among them they are ashamed of this practice; and by the religious and intelligent class of negroes the drunkard is avoided."

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called upon to administer the laws to a colony of free men; vast numbers of whom have been called to liberty' under your government, and with your approbation. We congratulate you, Sir, that one of your first public acts was to sign that document by which so many thousands of our fellowmen received the blessing of freedom.

"As ministers of the Gospel, and as freeborn Britons, we are truly delighted at the auspicious change, and raise our hearts in grateful acknowledgments to God, who has caused such a mighty work to be accomplished.

"It is our earnest hope that all suitable means may be adopted to meet the important alteration which has been effected in the circumstances of such a large class of

people, so that religion, education, and good order may, by the Divine blessing, flourish abundantly in this important colony of the British empire, believing as we do, that righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is the reproach of any people.' For ourselves, as ministers of the Gospel, we beg leave to assure your Excellency, that we are most solicitous, and quite prepared to promote, to the utmost of our power, the best interests of our fellow-men, whatever may be their colour or their rank. It was this, and this alone, which induced us to leave the land of our fathers, the land of our earliest and best associations.

By the blessing of God upon our exertions, in connexion with other ministers and friends of religion and education in the colony, we trust the time is near at hand, when our labouring population will be raised in the scale of being, and exhibit to the world a phenomenon at once delightful and satisfactory: men, formerly in bondage, invested with civil rights and privileges, with honour to themselves, and safety to the state of which they form a part. This, in our opinion, will tell most powerfully upon a world's destiny, and tend effectually to accelerate a world's liberty.

We regard the proceedings of the first of August as a happy omen for the future. Our places of worship, as well as others in the colony, were crowded; and the peaceable, devout, and grateful demeanour of the liberated negroes will never be forgotten by those who were privileged to behold it. We look forward with pleasure to the time when schools and means of religious instruction shall be more extensively provided, to meet the moral and spiritual wants of the labouring population; in the promotion of which good work we shall ever be ready to co-operate, sustained, as we are sure we shall be, by the religious and enlightened public of our native land, the Directors of the London Missionary Society, and the wise and good of this free and prosperous colony, at the same time animated and encouraged by the promise and support of Almighty God. Our views are not sectarian-we have no sinister designs to promote-no worldly nor political objects to attain peace on earth, good-will to men, and glory to God in the highest,' are the doctrines we preach, and the truths we enforce. It will afford us great and unfeigned pleasure to be honoured with your approbation and confidence, as well as that of other good and enlightened men.

"As loyal subjects of her Majesty Queen Victoria, (whom may God long preserve and bless,) we delight to uphold good government, and to give honour to whom honour is due. We hail your Excellency as the friend of civil and religious liberty; and we beg

most respectfully to express our earnest hope, that invidious distinctions among sects and parties in religion will find no place in your administration; persuaded as we are that such distinctions must ever be injurious to religion, and detrimental to the best interests of men.

"We beg leave to address your Excellency, not only as ministers of the Gospel, but likewise as agents of the London Missionary Society-a society which has been remarkably favoured with the blessing of God, and the countenance and support of the religious public in Great Britain. The Mission in this colony was commenced by an eminent servant of God, the late Rev. John Wray, who laboured long, and laboured well; and whose exertions God blessed for a period of nearly 30 years, to an extent most remarkable and pleasing. He is gathered to his fathers; but the Mission which he was honoured to establish, and whose interests he lived to promote still survives; yea, at no period of its history has it exhibited more indications of vigour, or given greater cause to its friends to be encouraged and gratified.

"That God may bestow upon your Excellency every temporal and spiritual favour, and make you a long and lasting blessing to this important colony, and its interesting inhabitants, is the ardent wish and earnest prayer of

"Your Excellency's

"Most obedient and humble servants, "SAMUEL HAYWOOD, Minister, Orange Chapel.

DANIEL KENYON, Minister, Albion Chapel. GILES FORWARD, Minister, Lewis Chapel. H. S. SEABORN, Minister, Mission Chapel. JOHN EDWARDS, Minister, Hanover Chapel. "Berbice, 23rd August, 1838."

HIS EXCELLENCY'S REPLY. To the Ministers of the Gospel, in connexion with the London Missionary Society.

"REVEREND SIRS,-In returning you thanks for your congratulations on my arrival at Berbice, and on my assuming the Government of this important colony, of which this county is a part, it is an agreeable duty, first, to express my satisfaction at being so cordially received by those, who, though of an Independent church and ministry, look on me as the friend of all religious sects, and as disposed to promote their laudable exertions in the cause of religion and civilisation.

"It has been, indeed, a subject of selfcongratulation, that my first public act has been to abolish the last remnant of slavery; and the same pious feelings, which have caused you to offer up acknowledgments

"I have seen, with pleasure, the effects of the labours of your brethren, in another part of the colony; and though the true use of religious instruction may be misconceived by untutored minds, such as those with whom you have been engaged, yet the dross must pass away, and the pure light of the Gospel, by which men are made fit for their duties in this world, and are prepared for the next, will be the sole guide and support of your flocks; who will, with their white brethren, find that civil rights are best secured by enlightening all classes, and doing unto their neighbour as they wish should be done unto themselves.

"I have equally with yourselves been delighted at the devout attendance of the new free race, in all places of public worship, on the first of August, and at their peaceable deportment, with no exception since their freedom;-that in spite of the temptations, which a partial absence from their usual daily occupations threw in their way, there has been no serious complaint,a convincing proof of the marked harmonious relations between the old and new race of free men, and a happy omen for the future prosperity of the colony.

"I need not add, that my own ideas have coincided with yours, on the probable

consequences to the world's liberty, to be derived from the happy example of Great Britain,-understanding this as alluding to the emancipation, and the civilisation of hitherto barbarous Africa,-always supposing that the new race of free men will show themselves worthy of the blessings conferred upon them.

"On you, reverend sirs, on the other ministers of our holy religion, on the ge neral spread of education, and on the strict administration of justice, to secure to labourer and employer, to rich and poor, their just rights, will depend, with God's blessing, what we have anticipated; giving you full credit for your deprecation of all sectarian views, your exertions, in every field open to you, will not fail to meet, not only with my approbation, but with my cordial support. The field indeed is wide, the labourers must increase. Though my principles are unchangeable, with regard to my own church, yet that church teaches me to be in charity and amity with every other; so long as the Gospel is preached, and temporal discussion avoided, wherever God is worshipped, there a Christian may go, when his own faith has no church open for him.

"Your kind wishes for my happiness, spiritual and temporal, are gratefully accepted. I cannot expect either without exerting myself for the public good; nor must I expect that my exertions can be of avail, unless I join my prayers with yours that God may bless my labours. I trust you will long be preserved for the benevolent work in which you are engaged, which has now an increased stimulus for exertion, that of making men worthy of freedom.

"Believe me, reverend Sirs, "Your faithful friend, " HENRY LIGHT. "Berbice, 23rd August, 1838."

We have much pleasure in giving publicity to the Address of the Ministers of the London Missionary Society, to His Excellency Henry Light, Esq., Governor, and His Excellency's Reply.

These are valuable documents, emanating from, and containing the sentiments of, parties on whose exertions and advice in no slight degree depend the peace, industry, civilization, and general prosperity of the colony, as well as the exceeding great, though less obviotis, consequences. The sentiments contained in the Address and Reply are in unison with those we entertain, although we are attached to another

branch of the national church, equally secured by law, and in the affection of her national sons, as that to which His Excellency is pleased to allude. On carefully looking over the Address, we find not the most distant allusion to that of all other topics, the most engrossing here at this moment, namely, of the state of the labouring population since the first of August. We regret this oversight much, as, in our opinion, it ought to have gone forth to the world, that it is only now that the great body of the negroes are returning to their usual field occupations. Of all men in this country, none have been more active, alive,