+----------------+----------------+ | | LOCAL | | | CONTRIBUTIONS, | | MISSIONS. | &c. | | | pound. s. d. | +----------------+----------------+ |1. CHINA | 374 1 4 | | | | |2. NORTH INDIA | 1435 14 9 | | | | pound. s. d. |3. SOUTH INDIA | 1793 13 6 | *From English Friends | | | 4,200 0 0 |4. TRAVANCORE | 1220 0 0 | From Native Converts | | | 11,647 2 3 | (MADAGASCAR | 479 17 7 | ------------ |5.( AND | | 15,847 2 3 | (MAURITIUS | ... ... | | | | Fees--Boys |6. SOUTH AFRICA | 2125 3 10 | 2,101 18 8 | | | Fees--Girls |7. WEST INDIES | 4730 16 8 | 336 5 9 | | | ------------ |8. POLYNESIA | 3687 14 7 | 2,438 4 5 +----------------+----------------+ ------------ | TOTALS | 15,847 2 3* | 18,285 6 8 +----------------+----------------+ IV.--THE SOCIETY'S MISSIONARIES. But Statistical Tables cannot show the real character of the Society's work, or the breadth of influence which that work has attained. The hundred and fifty-six English missionaries of the Society in foreign lands constitute the central force and stimulus of a wider agency, numbering twelve hundred persons, gathered among people once heathen, now Christian; an agency adopting the same aims, ruled by the same Christian spirit, and fulfilling the same Divine command. This body of true and devoted men were never rendering to the Society a nobler service than at the present time; and were never more worthy of our highest esteem. It is, therefore, with indignation and regret that Christian men have seen the recent attacks made on the whole missionary body, and the contemptuous terms in which their labours have been described. Looking away from all that is temporary and special, and contemplating that which springs from their ordinary duties, the Directors would never forget what a noble position missionaries occupy, and how truly great, from its very nature, their work is. They have gone forth from home and country as ambassadors of God, to preach His message of forgiveness; to bring the Saviour in His human life to those who have never understood Him; to save the perishing, and bind them as with golden chains to the feet of God. They are battling with error, and breaking up the iron systems of priestcraft, inhumanity, and wrong, which have enslaved men for ages, and have shut off from them the light and love of their Heavenly Father. They are staying the progress of crime; they lay