conquerors, greedy only of wealth and of dominion; but as a virtuous and religious people, not less superior to them in moral goodness than in civilization and manners-in justice and benevolence than in arts and arms. Their attachment to their caste, which seemed to present the most formidable obstacle to their conversion, has been overcome. The mists, which enveloped their understandings, are fast dissolving before the irradiating influence of Sacred Truth. The superstitious dread, with which they regarded their deities, is giving place to juster conceptions of the Divine Nature; and the priests of the idol of Juggernaut are compelled to bewail the decreasing numbers and diminished zeal of his votaries.

What a variety of emotions is the cheering prospect which has at length opened upon us, calculated to excite! What gratitude to Almighty God for the blessing which He has been pleased to bestow upon the labours of the infant Church! What reverence for the memory of the distinguished Prelate, whose wisdom and piety have, under the direction of Providence, conducted those labours to so successful an issue! How powerful an encou→ ragement does it hold out, how strict an obligation does it impose, stedfastly to persevere in the prosecution of these holy designs, till the triumph over the powers of darkness in our Indian empire shall be complete, and no other vestige of the ancient idolatry shall remain than the deserted temples of the divinities, who were its objects. Nothing now

appears to be wanting but that the number of labourers should bear a due proportion to the abundance of the harvest which is spread before them; and our confidence in the enlightened piety of our rulers forbids the supposition, that this want will long remain unsupplied. But, I must no longer detain you from the immediate business of the day.

My Lord, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge desire to offer to your Lordship their sincere congratulations upon your elevation to the Episcopal See of Calcutta.

They derive from your appointment to this high office the certain assurance, that all the advantages, which they have anticipated from the formation of a Church Establishment in India, will be realized; and that the various plans for the diffusion of true religion amongst its inhabitants, which have been so wisely laid and so auspiciously commenced by your lamented Predecessor, will, under your superintendance and controul, advance with a steady and uninterrupted progress. They ground this assurance upon the rare union of intellectual and moral qualities, which combine to form your character. They ground it upon the stedfastness of purpose, with which, from the period of your admission into the ministry, you have exclusively dedicated your time and talents to the peculiar studies of your sacred profession; abandoning that human learning, in which you had already shown that you were capable of attaining the highest excellence, and re

nouncing the certain prospect of literary fame. But above all, they ground this assurance upon the signal proof of self-devotion, which you have given by your acceptance of the episcopal office. With respect to any other individual, who had been placed at the head of the Church Establishment in India, a suspicion might have been entertained that some worldly desire, some feeling of ambition mingled itself with the motives by which he was actuated. But in your case such a suspicion would be destitute even of the semblance of truth. Every enjoyment, which a well-regulated mind can derive from the possession of wealth, was placed within your reach. Every avenue to professional distinction and dignity, if they had been the objects of your solicitude, lay open before you. What then was the motive which could incline you to quit your native land? To exchange the delights of home for a tedious voyage to distant regions? To separate yourself from the friends, with whom you had conversed from your earliest years ? What, but an ardent wish to become the instrument of good to others? A holy zeal in your Master's service? A firm persuasion that it was your bounden duty to submit yourself unreservedly to His disposal-to shrink from no labour which He might impose-to count no sacrifice hard which He might require? Of the benefits, which will arise to the Indian Church from a spirit of self-devotion so pure and so disinterested, the Society feel, that it is impossible to form an exaggerated estimate.

Nor has this act of self-devotion been the result of sudden impulse; it has been performed after serious reflection, and with an accurate knowledge of the difficulties by which your path will be obstructed. You have not engaged in this holy warfare without previously counting the cost. So deeply were you impressed with the responsibility, which must attach to the episcopal office in India, that you hesitated to accept it. With that diffidence, which is the surest characteristic of great talents and great virtues, you doubted your own sufficiency. But upon mature deliberation you felt, that a call was made upon you: a call-to disobey which would argue a culpable distrust of the protection of Him who made it. You assured yourself that the requisite strength would be supplied by the same Almighty Power, which imposed the burthen. Amongst the circumstances which have attended your recent appointment, the Society dwell upon this with peculiar satisfaction; inasmuch as it forms a striking feature of resemblance between your Lordship and your lamented Predecessor; who, like you, originally felt, and like you, subsequently overcame a reluctance to undertake the administration of the Indian Diocese.

Before that accomplished Prelate quitted his native shores, which he was, alas! destined never to revisit, this Society in a valedictory address entreated him to honour with his countenance and protection their exertions for the propagation and maintenance of the Christian Religion in the East.

They stated their exertions to consist in sending out missionaries; in procuring translations into the dialects of Hindostan of the Scriptures and the Liturgy of our Church, and distributing them throughout the country; and in encouraging the erection of schools for the instruction of children as well of Europeans as of natives. They further invited his attention to the formation of Institutions in imitation of the Diocesan and District Committees, which had about that period been established in different parts of England and Wales.

In the designs recommended to his notice by the Society your lamented Predecessor was pleased to promise his cordial co-operation. Under his fostering care committees were formed in the three Presidencies and in Ceylon, from the labours of which the most beneficial results have arisen. The limits which the Society must prescribe to themselves in the present address, will not allow them to enter into a minute detail of their results. Yet they cannot deny themselves the gratification of particularly referring to the re-establishment of the Vepery Mission Press through the interposition of the Madras Committee; a measure fraught with the most important benefits to the cause of the Gospel, since it supplies the means of diffusing through the whole of Southern India the word of knowledge and of life.

The same countenance, with which your Predecessor honoured their past labours, the Society now entreat your Lordship to bestow upon their