W. Dendy, has had a fall from his horse, but hopes that no permanent injury will ensue. FALMOUTH.-The Rev. John Kingdon informs us that the two churches under his charge are steadily increasing in numbers and in spiritual life. The Sabbathschool is well attended; the day-school has been revived, and a school-house purchased, towards which he is anxious to receive help from friends in this country. For what he has already received he is grateful. Home Proceedings. December is not a month during which many meetings are held: the following, however, is the list of them during this month: In the list we published last month we regret that two names were omitted: the Rev. J. Bloomfield, and the Rev. G. H. Rouse. Both these gentlemen had rendered us good service in South Wales. NATIVE PREACHERS' FUND.-The Christmas cards have been posted so as to be placed in the hands of our young friends in good time. They have hitherto done nobly for this object. May their love and zeal abound yet more and more, and be crowned with great success! MISSIONARY SCENES.-These beautiful cards, ten in number, may be had, price one shilling, by application at the Mission House. They would make excellent New Year's gifts and rewards for Sunday-schools; and, if more generally known, would be very useful. We invite the special attention of the superintendents and teachers of our schools to this announcement. A Valedictory Service. LARGELY attended service, to take leave of the Rev. J. G. Gregson, was held on Tuesday evening, the 19th December, at Kent Street Chapel, Portsea. The Rev. F. Trestrail, as Moderator of the South Hampshire Association, occupied the chair. Addresses were delivered by W. Baker, Esq., Mayor of Portsmouth, the Rev. Mr. Knapp, Vicar of St. John's, and several ministers of the town and neighbourhood. All of them expressed great regret at the loss Portsmouth would sustain by the departure of Mr. Gregson for India. His labours in connection with the Educational Board, of which he was a member, the Temperance question, the City Mission, and Ragged Schools, as well as in his capacity of minister of the Kent Street Congregation and Church, were spoken of with warm affection and appreciation, the congregation especially marking their sense of regard, by a handsome present as a memorial of his services amongst them. Dr. Underhill expressed the feelings of pleasure with which the Committee had accepted the offer of Mr. Gregson's services in the present state of the mission in India. PRAYER FOR THE MISSION. In addition to the services suggested in the first page, the Committee invite the friends of the Society in London and its environs, to a special meeting for prayer, to be held in the Library of the Mission House, Castle Street, Holborn on MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 15th, at ELEVEN O'CLOCK. DUR Departure of Missionaries. URING this month, two brethren are expected to sail for the mission field. The Rev. Joseph Gregson, late of Portsea, with his family, will commence his voyage to India on the 10th inst., and the Rev. Joseph Hawkes will proceed, on the 17th, to Hayti. Mr. Gregson will occupy the station at Agra, about to be deprived of the valuable services of the Rev. John Gregson, his cousin, who relinquishes the Mission in order to settle with his family in Australia. While deeply regretting the departure of Mr. John Gregson, the Committee rejoice to be able to supply his place with one so prepared and eminently fitted for the vacated post. For three years, since the death of the lamented Webley, Hayti has been without a missionary. Mr. Hawkes will now resume the interrupted work, for which a residence of some months in France, to acquire a good knowledge of the language, will have qualified him. We commend these esteemed brethren to the prayers and sympathies of the Churches. Contributions From November 19th to December 18th, 1871. #.0. denotes that the contribution is for Widows and Orphans; N. P. for Native Preachers, Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by Joseph Tritton, Esq., Treasurer; by Edward Bean Underhill, LL.D., Secretary, at the Mission House, Castle Street, Holborn, LONDON. Contributions can also be paid in at Messrs. Barclay, Bevan, Tritton, Twells, and Co.'s 54, Lombard Street, to the account of the Treasurer. OF THE British and Irish Baptist Home Mission. JANUARY, 1872. The New Year, and what it brings. As usual, the new year brings with it new blessings, new obligations, and new hopes. Another page in the book of our life has been filled, and a fresh leaf opens. There is much to regret in relation to the old, of opportunities lost or misused; but it is far better to profit from these in the future, than to indulge in self-reproach. Some warm friends and liberal supporters of the mission, have gone to their rest. We missed from our annual meetings the pleasant faces and the judicious counsel of several who have been long identified with our work. The Master had need of them elsewhere, and these good soldiers fell out of the ranks, and were taken home in triumph. On the other hand, we have cause for thankfulness when we reflect on the watchful care which Divine Providence has exercised over our missionary brethren. Their numbers have not been thinned by death, nor have their labours been seriously interrupted by sickness. There is little that is new, and nothing that is startling, to relate in connection with their work. They have been plodding on, labouring in season and out of season, reaping some fruit, and waiting for more. New stations have been adopted, new chapels opened, and new churches formed. We have now seventy-three brethren in connection with the mission, which is the largest number it has ever had-at one time-since its formation. We venture to think that the CHRONICLE for the past year has equalled, in real and enduring interest, any accounts of missionary work that have been published during the same period. And it affords us no small gratification to receive from time to time, letters testifying to the satisfaction which is felt in our little periodical as a medium of information in relation to British missionary effort. It would increase our pleasure if all our brethren in the ministry would give it a place in their monthly missionary prayermeetings. We think their people would like to hear of what is done for the evangelisation of Home, as well as of foreign lands. As the year opens, new applications for assistance perplex the Committee; but unless the Churches help to a greater extent than they have hitherto done, hardly one new case can be taken up. We sincerely hope this appeal will elicit a speedy response, and thus not only relieve the Committee of their anxiety with regard to existing claims, but enable them to enlarge their efforts. The approaching Irish Educational Struggle, When the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act passed through the Imperial Parliament, more than forty years ago, O'Connell said Ireland had obtained all she wanted. Fifteen or sixteen years later, she made a heavy demand for Maynooth College. This was the great cry of the time. If that was conceded, she would be content. The concession was made, and Maynooth got £26,000 a-year instead of £10,000, as heretofore. Time rolled on, and it was found that the list of Irish grievances was by no means exhausted. The agitators demanded the repeal of the Legislative Union, and the assembling of an Irish Parliament on College Green. "Repeal "rang through the land, from Cape Clear to the Giant's Causeway, but the movement resulted in a complete failure. A few years since came the Fenian Conspiracy, then the great movement for the separation of Church and State, and a reform of the Land Laws. We know the result. Ireland is still surging to and fro with excitement. Her present demands are-Home Rule, and Denominational Education. In relation to the latter, we are doubtless on the eve of a terrible struggle with the Irish priesthood, and their followers. They have taken a bold stand. It is in no equivocal or timid language, that they publish their demands. The Church is to be the sole educator. Everything is to receive the impress of the priestly mind, and all instruction is to be rendered subservient to a single end -the complete subordination of the Irish people to the authority of the Church. One would imagine that under the present system, the Church has all the liberty it wants. In schools that are under Roman Catholic patronage, the Commissioners leave the religious education of the children to their spiritual instructors. No formula is prescribed. At stated times, they are free to teach any catechism they please, no man forbidding them. In some localities they have far more license than the authors of the Irish national system ever intended. Mr. Henry, of Belfast, says, that in one convent school which he visited, he found"280 pupils under the teaching of the Sisters of St. Mary, habited in |