NEW BRUNSWICK.-Visitation of the Diocese.-Among the recent numbers of the series, published by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, under the title "Church in the Colonies," is an account, by the Bishop of Fredericton, of a visitation tour through parts of his diocese, between June and October of last year, which contains the following general statement on the condition of our Church in that diocese:

"Those who read the foregoing account will, no doubt, be struck with the small number of young persons confirmed in each place: this may be accounted for, in part, by the prevailing custom, that each single parish should present its own flock to the bishop. Though the social character of the ordinance is thereby diminished, its devotional effect is increased. I do not recollect to have seen a single instance of that levity which is so common in English churches, where vast numbers are brought together from the surrounding parishes. With us, young people come with their parents, and sit with them, the congregation taking a deep interest in the holy rite; and when service is ended, they return quietly to their homes. This appears to me to

the

compensate abundantly for the want of numbers.

"Still it must be confessed that one reason of the small number of young persons who are confirmed, is the prevalence of other bodies of Christians on the eastern shore of New Brunswick, particularly of Roman Catholics and Presbyterians; although, wherever an active, useful clergyman is placed, our Church not only holds her ground, but more than holds her ground; and I think we may reckon on a steady increase in such places. But the Society will judge of the destitution that prevails, when I tell them, that after filling up twelve vacancies, I could find immediate and full employment for twenty additional clergy, without diminishing the labours of any one at present in holy orders."

The Bishop, in another part of his "Notes," adverts to the sad effects produced by the neglect of a proper and sufficient provision, in the first instance, for the spiritual wants of our emigrants and colonists; in consequence of which all religious habits and associations are broken, and the settlers in the wilderness left exposed to all the depraving influences of a life exclusively occupied with the things of this world. On this point we cannot refrain from transcribing the following observations, eminently calculated to awaken Christian sympathies, and to stir up a holy zeal in the Church at home :

"Our brethren in England can hardly understand the desolation of spirit that must be felt by those who have been induced by a desire of bettering their worldly circumstances to plunge into the wilderness, and find themselves reduced to the sad alternative of forsaking the communion of their fathers for a less perfect faith, or of seeing their children grow up unbaptized, uneducated, uncared for, and even unburied by a pastor of their own Church. How rapidly, under such circumstances, do good impressions fade away; and the heart becomes thoroughly worldly and thoroughly callous! For good books there

are few or none, except such as the settler has brought out with him. There is no association of the frequent summons to a common house of prayer; the unwearied offices of mercy; the soothing, tranquillizing, yet awakening services of the Church. Money!-get money! is the only sound that vibrates in his ears all the year round; and for my part I know not whether the polluting worship of idols is much worse than this cold, selfish, deadening atheism, which freezes up the heart against all the holier and more vivid impressions. As to any thing like a knowledge of the truths of the Creed, that of course is out of the question. It is well if the settler escape the gross profligacy, and still baser cunning and fraud, which are ever found where the strong man armed keepeth his palace, and his goods are in peace.' It is observable also that where some good impressions remain, the mind, irritated by a sense of neglect, easily resigns itself to the objections which are commonly made by different parties against our Church. It is felt not to be a reality; it loses all power over the minds of men ; it lives only in written documents; and persons who are themselves conscious of not living up to their knowledge of duty, attempt to justify themselves in their neglect by retaliating on the Church, and by broadly asserting that her services are inconsistent or delusive. Thus, when the missionary goes into the wilderness, expecting to find himself received with open arms, and the Church welcomed as their mother and their guide, he finds a rapid under-current of suspicion, jealousy, and division; a feeling that the people are to be placed under some hateful undefinable restraint, which they have never known, and would be glad to shake off. Simplicity, unhappily, is not the characteristic of our North American mind; every man's wits are keen and trenchant, and this increases the difficulties of the spiritual labourer; not to speak of that awful effect of our interminable divisions, the lurking doubt that steals through many a mind, that as all cannot be equally true, all may be equally false.

"One circumstance has often struck me, in passing through the country, as a mournful evidence of its spiritual destitution. One finds separate and lonely graves scattered about on farms, or by the roadside, without any mark of Christian or even common sepulture. The communion of saints is not found even in our last resting-place; nor is there any visible sign that the spirit of a man goeth upward, and the spirit of a beast goeth downward to the earth.' Men and beasts are mingled together; our brethren are committed to the earth without sign of salvation, without any outward token of Christian fellowship, or a future resurrection. O that God would give our English churchmen grace, instead of 'biting and devouring one another,' to fight against the common foe of all; to remember how vast a field is open to their exertions, and that there is still room to occupy it; that He would give us grace to humble ourselves before Him, with weeping and mourning over wealth unseasonably wasted, and talents thrown away; that He may yet have mercy upon us, and save us !"

The area of New Brunswick is 26,000 square miles, its population

about 160,000. The number of clergy in the diocese of Fredericton is 43. Arrangements are in progress for the erection of a cathedral.

SWEDEN.-Death of the Poet Tegner.-On the evening of the 2nd of November last, the celebrated poet Tegner breathed his last, at the episcopal residence at Wexiö. His health had for several years been precarious, and he had had six different attacks of paralysis, the last eleven days before his death. Esaias Tegner was born at Hyfkerad, Nov. 13, 1782. At the age of seventeen, he commenced his studies at the university of Lund, where his distinguished talents soon brought him into notice, and procured for him official situations. In the year 1806 he was appointed second librarian, and registrar of the faculty of philosophy; in 1811 he obtained the first prize of the Swedish academy for his poem "Sveg;" in the following year he was appointed to the chair of Greek literature in the university of Lund, and, having entered into holy orders, to the cure of Staelje, on which occasion he wrote his poem on "the priesthood." This was followed by "Axel," and other poems, which added greatly to his literary fame, till at last his celebrated poem, "Frithiof's Saga," placed him in the very first rank of poetic genius. He was now received as a member by the Swedish academy, and raised to the bishopric of Wexiö. After his elevation to the episcopate, he devoted himself assiduously to his official duties, and took an active part in the pastoral conferences of the clergy, and in the education of the people. On the field of poetry, he appeared now only upon rare occasions, by the publication of a few minor poems; but it is said that a variety of unpublished poetic materials have been found among his papers. His funeral took place on the 17th, with great solemnity, and under an immense concourse of persons assembled together for the purpose of testifying their respect for the departed, who appears to have been as much beloved as a man, as he was admired as a poet. Numerous were the contributions by which the Swedish muse sought to honour his memory; and a subscription has been opened for a national monument to be erected to the "Frithiof's Skald," one condition of which is, that no one person is to contribute more than six rixdollars.

SIR,

Foreign Correspondence.

FROM A CORRESPONDENT IN HINDOSTAN.

To the Editor of the English Review.

EDUCATION AND MISSIONS IN INDIA.

It has occurred to me that some information on the state and prospects of Christian missions in Northern India, and of native education and improvement generally, in the same quarter, might be an acceptable contribution to your department of Colonial Intelligence. With the view of affording you the means of forming a judgment on these topics, I have taken steps for forwarding, through my booksellers, a number of Calcutta periodical works and other publications calculated to throw light on the subject. These, however, will be sent by the Cape route, and will not reach you for some months. In the mean time, I have thrown together very hastily the following description of the state of things, (derived from continual observation of what is passing around me,) which may interest those who are desirous that Britain should in some measure discharge the immense debt of obligation which she owes to this her noble dependency, and who may be anxious according to their several abilities to assist in this work. My remarks will extend only to the Bengal and Agra presidencies, as I have less opportunity of becoming acquainted with those of Madras and Bombay.

First. Government Education.

It is not intended to attempt a regular or minutely accurate history of the efforts of the Government in the cause of native education. Suffice it to say, that these efforts date principally from the time of the administration of the Marquis of Hastings, about thirty years back; since when they have been becoming more and more vigorous and systematic. The whole system of state education, as it at present exists, will be understood from the Reports on Public Instruction published by the Bengal and Agra governments. There are two main departments, the English and the Oriental; the former, for the instruction of the natives in the English language, literature, and science; the latter, for the instruction of the Hindus in their sacred language, the Sanskrit, and its literature, and for teaching Mahommedans the Arabic and Persian languages and literature. The Oriental department may also be considered to embrace the efforts which are made for the instruction of the people through their own vernacular tongues.

In Bengal there are English colleges in Calcutta, at Hooghly,

Dacca, and Kishenaghur; and in Behar, at Patna. The institution in Calcutta is called the Hindu College, and I believe owes its rise to the exertions of some native gentlemen, and some English friends of native education, nearly thirty years ago. There are now many other schools at the presidency (missionary as well as conducted by natives) in which English is taught to natives; and the effect upon the class of Hindus who have been subjected to their influence is very marked. But this result may be more conveniently noticed below in connexion with the subject of missionary schools. The education afforded at the Government colleges is very efficient, more particularly at the presidency and in its neighbourhood, where a variety of influences combine to draw forth the energies of the native mind in this direction, and where consequently the standard of tuition and attainment is the highest. Mathematics, algebra, political economy, history, poetry, &c. form the studies of the highest classes in the Hindu College. The same branches of study are pursued at the Hooghly College, which, I believe, is little inferior to the Calcutta Institution; and at the other colleges, in which, however, the same scale of excellence has not been reached. Besides the colleges there are a number of English schools at the less important stations in Bengal, where a similar system of instruction prevails; the standard being, of course, lower. It may be mentioned, once for all, that in the Government schools and colleges the principle of excluding religious instruction is maintained, and the Bible is no where read. Besides these institutions for general education in Bengal, there is a medical college in Calcutta, under efficient professors, in which instruction is given through the English language in the various branches of medicine, according to the European system. The dissection of human subjects has been practised in this seminary from its commencement, eleven years ago, (I am not sure whether the thing had not even been done before,)—a great triumph over Hindu prejudice. The result has been to send forth a body of able native practitioners, many of whom are employed by Government on salaries of 120l. a year. or more, with the title of sub-assistant surgeons. Four of the élèves of this institution, under the charge of Dr. Goodeve, one of the professors, are now in England, completing their education, and have been gaining high distinction in the London schools of medicine.

In the north-western provinces, under the government of Agra, there are also a number of English colleges: viz., at Agra, Delhi, and Benares, besides English schools at several other stations. In these the same system is followed as in Bengal; and the attainments of the Agra and Delhi pupils, in particular, are of a very satisfactory character; the knowledge of the English language, literature, and science acquired by the senior pupils being highly creditable, and many of them being able to speak English with fluency and correctness. Mohun Lal, a native of Delhi, now in England, was educated at the Delhi College. In all these English schools and colleges, a certain degree of attention is paid to instructing the pupils in their own vernacular tongue, but the result is not uniformly satisfactory, as many excellent English VOL. VII.—NO. XIII.-MARCH, 1847.

R