and while he mourns over the melancholy ignorance and superstition of the people, and has much to encounter from the determined opposition of the priests, he still regards it as a station of considerable promise. We regret to add, that with widening prospects of usefulness, the funds of the Irish Evangelical Society are more than exhausted, and its Treasurer, besides his present advances, is under pecuniary-engagements to the amount of nearly £700. which will very shortly become due. To be enabled to meet those engagements, as well as to carry on the still extending operations of the Society, the Committee have no resource but in the promises of God, and the liberality of his people, which, we trust, will not be withheld at this critical period of Ireland's religious history. RECENT DEATHS. On the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 11, the Rev. JOHN WHITRIDGE, of Oswestry, Shropshire, departed this life, aged 66. With the active labours of this late worthy minister many of our readers have been long acquainted; and they may shortly expect some interesting particulars of his biography. On Thursday, Oct. 19, at Maidenhead, Berkshire, the Rev. JOHN COOKE, aged 66, for more than 42 years, the faithful pastor of the Independent church in that town. He preached twice on the Lord'sday preceding his death, and attended a meeting of ministers on the Tuesday, at High Wycombe; officiated at the grave of a member of his church, on Wednesday afternoon, when in the evening he was taken suddenly ill, and on Thursday, before noon, he expired. This excellent, useful, and venerable man was thus cut off while yet in the midst of his usefulness. He lived universally respected, and his loss will be deplored through a wide circle. We hope in a short time to be able to present our readers with futher particulars of his useful life. He was one of the earliest friends and supporters of our Magazine. NOTICES. The ordination of the Rev. Mr. Rose, at Jamaica Row, Bermondsey, will take place on Thursday, the 9th inst. which will supersede the Monthly Meeting Sermon on that day. The next half-yearly Meeting of the Wilts Associated Ministers and Churches will be held at the Upper Meeting-house, Westbury, on Wednesday, the 15th of November, when the settlement of Mr. Watson at that place will be publicly recognized. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. COMMUNICATIONS have been received_during_the_past_month from the Rev. Dr. Harris-J. Turnbull-Dr. J. P. Smith-J. Fletcher-J. Barfitt-J. Jackson-Dr. Clunie-H. Evison-C. Gollop-R. Alliot, jan.-W. Orme-B. Chandler-W. Griffiths-J. T. Dobson--R. Elliot--T. Gilbart--R. Vaughan--J. Bulmer--J. Sibree-R. H. Shepherd--E. Morley-J. Gawthorn-H. Rogers-J, Burder--G. Redford-J. Morison--T. Davis--R. Poole--and A. Clarkson. Also from Messrs. James Edmeston--W. Carpenter--J. Woodford, jun.--J. S. Ff.-Eliza T.--A Noncon--P. B. GENERAL LIST OF CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. -- We beg to express our best thanks to those ministers and gentlemen who have with so much care furnished us with lists of the churches and pastors in fifteen counties, which will certainly induce us to use our best efforts to obtain an accurate general list for our Supplement Number; we must, however, request some of our readers, in the following counties, to forward to us, without delay, the names of the pastors and churches in their several shires, with any other particulars which they may consider interesting, by which means alone, this desideratum can be obtained. Northumberland, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cumberland, Westmorland, Cheshire, Shropshire, Monmouth, Rutland, Huntingdo, Cambridge, Oxford, Buckingham, Middlesex, Bedford, Somerset, Wilts, Berks, Surry, Kent, Sussex, Hants, Dorset, Cornwall. We have only received a single list (Pembrokeshire) from the entire PrincipalityWales should be included; but without the prompt assistance of friends in that quarter, it will not be in our power. A Correspondent suggests, that as the anniversary of the Popish Plot falls on Lord'sday, the 5th, it will afford Dissenting Ministers a favourable opportunity to advert to the errors and cruelties of the Romish Church. We fear that the communication of the Rev. W. Deering is lost, if he will oblige us with another, it shall receive immediate insertion. MEMOIR OF THE LATE SIR THOS. STAMFORD RAFFLES, KNT. F.R. and A.S. LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF BENCOOLEN, &c. འ་་་་་་ ་་་་ A JUST and faithful history of the colonial governments of Europe, would, it is to be feared, present the records of a system of administration, in which the social and moral improvement of the aboriginal inhabitants was forgotten, and the acquirement of wealth, the maintenance of authority, and the gratification of lust, were alone regarded. If, by the precepts of Christianity, individuals are accountable to God for the employment of the property and influence confided to their use, surely the same principles will be applied, in the broadest sense, to those kingdoms and governments which, ruling over wide-spreading regions of conquered or dependent nations, never ask, in all their councils, how they may deliver from their intellectual and moral degradation, the millions of their fellow men who inhabit them, but are content, age after age, to draw from them the wealth and luxuries they may afford, and to bestow in return, as the only recompense, the curse of increased depravity and aggravated wretchedness which their guilty intercourse and oppressive despotism are sure to entail. That Englishman then, who is called to preside over some of the colonial subjects of his sovereign, and enters upon his responsible duties under the influence of the just principles of the British constitution, and in the exercise of that expansive benevolence which Christianity N. S. No. 24. Anxious, therefore, to communicate to our readers a view of his enlightened administration of British authority in a region peculiarly interesting to the friends of missions and of civilization, we have obtained the permission of the respected writer of an able memoir of Sir Stamford, which appeared a few months since in a Magazine not extensively circulated in our connexions, to extract as much of that article as will accord with our design; and having availed ourselves of other facts which he has not employed, we present the following memoir to the public, believing they will associate the name of Raffles with the distinguished philanthropists of our times. Thomas Stamford Raffles was born on board the ship Ann, at sea, off the harbour of Port Morant, in the Island of Jamaica, on the 6th of July, 1781. His father, Benjamin Raffles, was one of the oldest captains in the West India trade from the Port of London. Stamford received his education principally under Dr. Anderson, who presided over a respectable Academy at Hammersmith. an early age he was admitted on the establishment of the East India House, where his talents attracted the favourable notice of the Court of 4 K At Directors. He continued here till for him the appointment of Agent the year 1805, when Pulo Penang, of the Governor General with the an island in the Strait of Malacca, Malay States. having been ceded to the Company, was formed into a Government, with a civil and military establishment, and designated Prince of Wales Island. As a mark of the Court's favour towards Mr. Raffles, it conferred upon him the appointment of Assistant Secretary to this Government; and he accordingly proceeded with Governor Dundas and the rest of the civil establishment to the place of their destination. On his arrival in India, Mr. Raffles applied himself to the study of the Malay language, which is the vernacular dialect of almost all the Eastern islands. This study he prosecuted with remarkable success, and thereby recommended himself to the favourable opinion and distinguished regard of the Governor and Council, who in March 1807, appointed him their Secretary ; uniting with the duties of this office those of Registrar to their Recorder's Court. His taste and intellectual habits led him to connect with his official engagements scientific and literary pursuits, and the intense application of his mind to these, in a debilitating atmosphere, soon induced severe indisposition, such as compelled him, early in the year 1808, to retire to Malacca. When his health was a little re-established, he applied himself to the investigation of the history, resources, and localities of that place, communicating the result of his enquiries to the Government of Prince of Wales Island; and it is generally allowed, that by a timely representation of some circumstances, till then unknown or not duly considered, he prevented the alienation of Malacca from the British In the same year the annexation of Holland to France having virtually placed at the disposal of the latter power the valuable and extensive possessions of the Dutch in the Eastern seas, it was deemed expedient that the large island of Java should, without delay, be brought under the dominion of Great Britain. For this purpose Lord Minto, the Governor General of India, caused an armament to be fitted out in the ports of India, and proceeded with the expedition in person. Mr. Raffles, who had been consulted in its very earliest stage, and who had gone to Calcutta for the purpose of affording to the Governor General all possible assistance and information respecting it, accompanied his Lordship as a member of his family. The British fleet, consisting of vessels of all descriptions, both European and Native, of ninety sail, arrived in the Strait of Malacca, in the month of June 1811, and, early in August following, appeared before the city of Batavia, the principal settlement of the Dutch on Java, which speedily surrendered to the British troops. The conquest of Batavia, and ultimately of Java, an island containing a population of six millions of souls, and divided into thirty residencies, under powerful chiefs, appears to have been effected with unparalleled ease and expedition, by means of the skilful arrangements of the British Government, seconded by the gallantry of his Majesty's and the Company's troops. So sensible was Lord Minto of the valuable assistance which his Lordship had received from Mr. Raffles, both in the preliminary arrangements of this expedition, and in the ultimate execution of the enterprize, that he nominated that gentleman to the |