guarded by two gendarmes, heavily ironed, pale but calm, on his way to the terminus of the Leghorn railway, by which he was to go to Monte Lupo.

On the preceding facts I shall offer but one word of comment. Never was there a case which more imperatively required, which more completely justified, the sympathy of all European Protestants, and the interposition of all Protestant governments. It is well that our attention

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should be turned to the Oriental Christians who have groaned under the whip and scourge of Moslem domination; but let us not, on that account, forget the countrymen of the Guiccardini and Madiai, or overlook the harrowing fact that all Italy is rife with the wholesale persecution of such men. Nor is such persecution unconnected with the great struggle in which we are engaged. "My respect for the independence of States is well known," said the late Emperor Nicholas to Sir Hamilton Seymour; and the proof is, that I supported the Grand Duke of Tuscany against the Protestant aggressions of the English Government!" Perhaps the Russian Envoy, Count Leon Potocki, who dined yesterday with the Grand Duke Leopold, was charged by the dying Autocrat to reiterate the same advice. He is said, at least, to be the bearer of such counsels to the Neapolitan Court as the executioner of the Poles might fitly bequeath to the gaoler of Poerio.-From the Christian Times.

SPREAD OF THE BIBLE.

On the banks of the Thames, in the heart of London, and near the extremity of one of its famous bridges, there stands a stately and spacious building-a noble storehouse-full of the most precious of seed-the imperishable WORD OF GOD. Huge piles of this seed are constantly there stored up, to be carried away and scattered over the wide-spread field; for " THE FIELD IS THE WORLD," and the seed is adapted to every kind of soil and climate throughout that vast field. On the spot where that storehouse now stands, there stood up, some five hundred years ago, amidst persecution for the truth's sake, a noble witness for the Bible. In those days of darkness, when the power of Satan seemed

to triumph by force and fraud in the warfare against the opening and the spreading of God's Book, WICKLIFFE, full of Christian faith, stood forth and boldly declared, “THE TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL." How striking it is that the very place where Wickliffe, in days of a famine of the Bible, spoke these words, should now be occupied by the vast depository of "THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY!"

"I feel," said the Rev. Norman Macleod, of Glasgow, at the recent annual meeting of that noble Society in Exeter Hall, London,-"I feel when I come here, as if I had entered a large granary-a granary such as Joseph built -for supplying the Church with food, for supplying seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. I feel as if I had entered a great armoury from which swords were sent forth by thousands and millions in order to fight on the side of liberty and truth. I feel as if I had reached some secret spring bubbling up in the far-off hills, that had given birth to ten thousand rills to beautify and refresh the homes of men, to magnificent rivers that had swept through continents, and carried upon their expanded bosom the prosperity and the riches of nations."

We are sure our young friends will be interested to hear something about the sowing of this seed in various parts of the world.

We must first tell them of the enormous quantity of seed sent out of this great granary during the past year. It amounts to no less than ONE MILLION, Four hundred AND FIFTY THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX COPIES OF THE SCRIPTURES! A very simple calculation will shew that there have thus, on an average, been sent out each day of the past year 3975 Bibles and New Testaments; and no less than 165 copies each hour, throughout the whole year. The total issues of the Society from its commencement now amount to 29,389,507 copies.

We will now introduce our young friends to some of the meetings in Exeter Hall, that they may hear from the speakers some account of the harvest-fruits that have issued from the sowing of the precious seed.

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ad of LIVE OR DIE, PUT ME ON SHORE."

THE BIBLE IN RARATONGA.

HE Rev. W. Gill, missionary from Raratonga, in addressing the meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, adverted to the fact that there had been that day presented to the Chairman a new volume, consisting of a second edition of the Holy Scriptures, in the Raratonga language. He was sure the meeting would be gratified to hear a short history of the translation of that version. Raratonga was the principal island of the group, called the Hervey group, in the South Seas, and was seven hundred miles from Tahiti. In the year 1823 the whole of the inhabitants were among the most degraded savages of that part of the world. In that year one of the missionaries of the London Missionary Society went to visit that group. He was accompanied by two native teachers from Tahiti, who, having been converted from idolatry, had given themselves up to the work of endeavouring to win others to Christ. The missionary landed his companions on the island. He could not land there himself, for, only four years before, an English vessel having visited the island,

some of the crew were murdered and eaten by cannibals. The next morning the two natives returned, and they told him that the inhabitants were far more savage and degraded than even the inhabitants of Tahiti had been. One of them, who had a wife at Tahiti, said it was impossible that he could stay in such a place; the other, when asked whether or not he would return to Tahiti, replied, notwithstanding what he had witnessed in the island, “Live or die, put me on shore." He gathered together a few clothes; and, having bound up in his handkerchief a few extracts from the Tahitian Scriptures, he descended the side of the ship into a little boat. The boat approached as near the shore as was consistent with prudence, and then this young native convert jumped into the surf, and swam ashore, and thus flung himself in the midst of seven or eight thousand savage heathen idolaters. It was just thirty-two years ago since that native landed, single-handed and alone, to teach the islanders the glorious truths of the Gospel. When he first landed, the inhabitants had no idea of letters or characters by which to signify the sounds of their spoken language. The devoted man had no such means as you possess in this country, of instructing them in the art of writing. But when the heart is warm, the head is inventive. Having no paper, no pens, and no ink, he got together some smooth boards, and strewing fine sand upon them, with twigs which he plucked from the trees, he first taught them the letters of the words "Jehovah" and "Jesus Christ." The people gradually advanced under his instruction; but it was not till after the lapse of three years, that it was thought safe for a European missionary to land in either of the islands. Mr. Williams, the honoured man who was made the instrument of introducing the Gospel into many of these islands, brought to this country a complete copy of the New Testament in the Raratonga language, in the year 1834. Five thousand copies were printed by the Society; and seventeen years ago he (Mr. Gill) had the honour of taking out the first edition of the Raratonga New Testament. In the year 1846, Mr. Buzzacott brought to this country a complete Raratonga Bible in manuscript, and it was generously printed by the Committee. The first edition of the complete Bible was taken out to the island of Raratonga in 1852, and never should he forget the manner in which it was received by the natives. The boxes which contained the books were opened in the chapels, amidst the prayers and praises of the people. Last year he had the honour of bringing home for the Committee TWO

HUNDRED AND fifty pounds, which HAD BEEN RECEIVED FROM THE ISLANDERS IN NINE MONTHS, and there was now on the way in the missionary ship Two OR THREE HUNDRED POUNDS MORE. On his arrival in this country last year, the Committee intimated that they were prepared to put a second edition of the entire Raratonga Scriptures through the press; and this edition was prepared for publication by the Rev. Mr. Mellor, of Woodbridge. Such was the history of the Bible in connexion with the isles of the South Sea. On this very island, where Williams and Harris shed their blood in an attempt to settle native teachers, so great had been the influence of that blessed book, that now the Sabbath was observed, and Christian schools were established. The very man who murdered Williams was being taught to read the Word of God by a native of Raratonga, whose father was among those who received the first Christian teacher that ever landed there.

At the meeting of the RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, Mr. Gill, after acknowledging his obligations to that Society for their grants of books and of paper for printing,-stated, that the people of Raratonga had raised a beautiful, large, and substantial building, the first stone building that was ever erected on the island, which they devoted to the work of printing religious and instructive books.-Among the books printed were Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and The Sinner's Friend. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of that group of islands were now reading, and reading intelligently, the books that were generally read by Christians here, and the entire juvenile population were under instruction. Thirty years ago the whole population were savage cannibals; now the chapels are crowded, and not twenty families could be found in Raratonga which had not family prayer morning and evening.

THE BIBLE AMONG SOLDIERS IN INDIA.

AT the meeting of THE NAVAL AND MILITARY BIBLE SOCIETY Colonel M. Hughes said, he had been permitted, during a lengthened service in India, to witness the very great blessing which had resulted from the circulation of the written Word of God among soldiers, and if it would not detain the meeting too long, he would mention a few facts with which he was personally acquainted. For some years before he left India, he was in Scinde, on Sir Charles Napier's staff. During that period the offences of the whole