The Reports of the Committee and Treasurer having been read, the meeting was addressed by the Chairman, Messrs. Rutt, Hornby, E. Taylor, Young, Christie, Richmond, R. Taylor, Dr. Bowring, Bischoff, and the Revds. Wood, Yates, Madge, Hutton, Kirkland, Tagart; Dr. Rees, Fox, Chapman, Dr. Carpenter, and Acton. On the Rajah Rammohun Roy appearing on the platform, in the course of the proceedings, he was received with acclamation, and the Chairman immediately said, "Our illustrious friend (for such I trust he will allow me to call him) will permit me to state that his presence creates among us a sensation which he perhaps will hardly understand. It does so, because in his person and example, we see an instance of the power of the human mind in recovering itself from the errors of ages; and because we conceive that we see in him, with his intelligence and character, one of the best and most disinterested judges of the claims of Unitarianism to be the original Christian doctrine."

of

After some other business had been transacted, Dr. Bowring said, "I feel it as a very signal honour to have entrusted to my care a resolution, the object of which is to welcome our illustrious Oriental friend, and to communicate all we feel and hope towards him. I ought not to say all we feel and hope, for I am sure that it is impossible to give expression to those sentiments of interest and anticipation with which his advent here is associated in all our minds. I recollect some writers have indulged themselves with inquiring what they should feel if any those time-honoured men whose names have lived through the vicissitudes of ages, should appear among them. They have endeavoured to imagine what would be their sensations if a Plato or a Socrates, a Milton or a Newton, were unexpectedly to honour them with their presence. I recollect that a poet, who has well been called divine, has drawn a beautiful picture of the feelings of those who first visited the southern hemisphere, and there saw, for the first time, that beautiful constellation, the Golden Cross. It was with feelings such as they underwent, that I was overwhelmed when I stretched out in your name, the hand of welcome to the Rajah Rammohun Roy. In my mind, the effect of distance is very like the effect of time; and he who comes among us from a country thousands of miles off, must be looked upon with the same interest as those illustrious men who lived thousands of years ago. But in

the case of our friend, his coming may be deemed an act of heroism of which the European cannot form a just estimate. When Peter the Great went forth to instruct himself in the civilization of the South-when be left the barbarous honours of his own court to perfect himself in ship-building at Saardam, he presented himself to the public eye in a more illustrious manner than after any of his most glorious victories. But Peter had to overcome no prejudices-he had to break down no embarrassments; for he knew that he had left those behind him who were filled with an enthusiasm equal to his own, and he knew that he would be received by them, when he should return, with the same display of enthusiasm. Our illustrious friend, however, has made a more severe experiment: he has ventured to accomplish that which perhaps none other, connected as he is with the highest honours of the Brahminical race, ever attempted-he has ventured to do that which would have been regarded with incredulity ten years ago, and which hereafter will crown his name with the highest honour. He will go back to his friends in the East, and tell them how interested we are in them, and how delighted we are to communicate to them through him all our desires to do every thing in our power to advance their improvement and felicity. Time would fail me, if I were to attempt to go over the history of our illustrious guest,-if I were to tell how eminently and constantly he has exerted himself for the removal of misery and the promotion of happiness. If at this moment Hindoo piles are not burning for the reception of widows, it is owing to his interference, to his exhortations, to his arguments. Can we look on such benefits as these without considering him as our brother? Can he come here without hearing our enthusiastic voices telling him how we have marked his progress, and without our proffering to him, if not our note of triumph, at least our accents of gratitude? It was to us a delightful dream that we might, on some occasion, welcome him here; but though it was a hope, it was but a trembling one, of which we scarcely dared to anticipate the fruition. But its accomplishment has produced recollections so interesting, that this day will be an epoch in our history, and no one will forget the occasion when the Brahmin stood among us to receive our welcome, and the assurance of the interest we take in all he does and in all he

shall do; to which I may add, that our delight will be too great if we can in any way advance those great plans, the progress of which is the grand object of his exertions. Sir, I move with great pleasure, "That the Members of this Association feel a deep interest in the amelioration of the condition of the natives of British India; that we trust their welfare and improvement will never be lost sight of by the Legislature and Government of our country; that we have especial pleasure in the hope that juster notions and purer forms of religion are gradually advancing amongst them; and that our illustrious Visitor from that distant region, the Rajah Rammohun Roy, be hereby certified of our sympathy in his arduous and philanthropic labours, of our admiration of his character, of our delight at his presence amongst us, and of our conviction that the magnanimous and beneficent course which he has marked out for himself and hitherto consistently pursued, will entitle him to the blessings of his countrymen and of mankind, as it will assuredly receive those of future generations."

Dr. Kirkland, late President of Harvard University, Massachusets, in the absence of the Hon. Henry Wheaton, seconded the motion, when the whole assembly rose in its approval. The Rajah Rammohun Roy then addressed the meeting."I am too unwell and too much exhausted to take any active part in this meeting; but I am much indebted to Dr. Kirkland and to Dr. Bowring for the honour they have conferred on me by calling me their fellow-labourer, and to you for admitting me to this Society as a brother and one of your fellow-labourers. I am not sensible that I have done any thing to deserve being called a promoter of this cause; but with respect to your faith, I may observe, that I too believe in the one God, and that I believe in almost all the doctrines that you do; but I do this for my own salvation and for my own peace. For the objects of your Society I must confess that I have done very little to entitle me to your gratitude or such admiration of my conduct. What have I done?—I do not know what I have done? If I have ever rendered you any services, they must be very trifling -very trifling I am sure. I laboured under many disadvantages. In the first instance, the Hindoos and the Brahmins to whom I am related, are all hostile to the cause; and even many Christians there are more hostile to our common cause than the Hindoos and the Brahmins.

I have honour for the appellation of Christian; but they always tried to throw difficulties and obstacles in the way of the principles of Unitarian Christianity. I have found some of these here; but more there. They abhor the notion of simple precepts. They always lay a stress on mystery and mystical points, which serve to delude their followers; and the consequence is, that we meet with such opposition in India that our progress is very slight; and I feel ashamed on my side that I have not made any progress that might have placed me on a footing with my fellow-labourers in this part of the globe. However, if this is the true system of Christianity, it will prevail, notwithstanding all the opposition that may be made to it. Scripture seconds your system of religion, common sense is always on your side; while power and prejudice are on the side of your opponents. There is a battle going on between reason, Scripture, and common sense; and wealth, power, and prejudice. These three have been struggling with the other three; but I am convinced that your success, sooner or later, is certain. I feel over-exhausted, and therefore conclude with an expression of my heartfelt thanks for the honour, that, from time to time, you have conferred on me, and which I shall never forget to the last moment of my existence."

JOANNA BAILLIE, in a work entitled "A View of the General Tenor of the New Testament regarding the Nature and Dignity of Jesus Christ, including a collection of the various passages in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles, which relate to that subject," has ranged herself on the side of Unitarianism. This remarkable profession of doctrine will be the more striking to the public, as coming from the pen, not only of a female, but of one so highly celebrated in polite literature. About 100 pages are quotations from the New Testament (exclusive of the Revelations) of all the passages which Mrs. Baillie could find, bearing upon the High Church or Trinitarian, the Arian and Socinian Creeds; and about 40 contain her reasoning on the subject. The result of which is, that Joanna Baillie declares herself to be a convinced and entire Unitarian.

The Christian Tract Society held its twenty-second anniversary at Worship-Street Chapel, London, on the 5th May. The Rev. R. Aspland was the Chairman. We shall have great pleasure in complying with the request of the Committee, that we should insert the Annual Report in our pages. It shall appear in the Number for August.

CHRISTIAN PIONEER.

No. 60.

AUGUST, 1831.

Vol. V.

The Recollections of Jotham Anderson.
(Concluded from page 375.)

IN the spring of the year it was rumoured that the old cottage on the hill, just at the edge of the village, was to be tenanted again. It had been for a long time out of repair, and considered not habitable. They must be extremely pressed by poverty, it was thought, who would be willing to make it their abode. And as there is always supposed to exist an antecedent presumption against the wretchedly poor, it was a matter of lamentation, in the village circle, that we were to be troubled by vagabonds. It was with no small surprise, therefore, that I was requested by an interesting looking girl, of about fourteen years of age, to come and see her mother, who, she said, had over-fatigued herself, and taken cold in moving into the cottage, and was quite ill. "We came but two days ago," said she; "and are quite strangers here. But mother said, the minister is always the friend of every body, and we can make bold to speak to him; so she sent me, sir, to beg you will please to step and see her."

The modest and respectful manner of the girl, whose tears stood in her eyes as she spoke, touched me; and, taking my hat, I immediately accompanied her to the cottage.

It was little better than a ruin. The roof and the walls let in the weather, the casements were crazy, and the glass broken, the floors worn and unsafe, and the only habitable room gloomy and comfortless altogether. "It is but a sad place to which you have come," said I, as we approached it.

"I could hardly bear to come to it," said my guide; "but then mother says that peace may be found in a hovel, when it flies from palaces; and contentment is worth more than splendour. We have seen worse things than this, as well as better. She teaches me to make the best of every thing, as she herself does. But now she has got sick in trying to fix up this poor old place. The work was too hard and the weather too exposing."