.Ham, J............. August 5. ...Capern, H..........January 12, Rycroft, W. K.... December 25. ....Seymour, D.,& ors. November 10. .........December 7. JAMAICA .........BELLE CASTLE.............Jones, S........... November 18. BETHANY .Angus, J. .........December 30. .Müller, S..........January 26. .Angus, J. .........December 5 (2 letters). Law, J. ............December 5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The thanks of the Committee are presented to the following friends Joseph Gurney, Esq., for a parcel of clothing, for Africa ; Mrs. Bousfield, Brixton Hill, for a parcel of magazines; Mrs. Sarah Forster, Tottenham, for a case of clothing and books, for Rev. J. Clark, Brown's Town; Friend of the late Mrs. Anderson, for a parcel of magazines; Friends at Harlow, for a box of clothing, for Dr. G. K. Prince, and others, Western Africa. CONTRIBUTIONS, Received on account of the Baptist Missionary Society, during the month of January, 1847. Received on account of the DEBT of the Baptist Missionary Society, up to £ s. d. LONDON AND MIDDLESEX. Denham, Mrs., Poplar by... Blandford Street Bow, additional Lewisham Road 0 10 0 Norwich, St. Mary's...... 16 15 0 Trowbridge, Back Street Russell, Rev. J......... 15 00 Collected by Misses £ s. d. Cooper & Wearing 2 6 0 YORKSHIRE. Hebden Bridge........ 8 0 0 SOUTH WALES. CARMARTHENSHIRE. ........ 300 1 0 0 Cambridge. 15 4 0 STAFFORDSHIRE. Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by W. B. Gurney, Esq., and S. M. Peto, Esq., Treasurers, or the Rev. Joseph Angus, M.A., Secretary, at the Mission House, Moorgate Street, LONDON: in EDInburgh, by the Rev. Christopher Anderson, the Rev. Jonathan Watson, and John Macandrew, Esq.; in GLASGOW, by Robert Kettle, Esq.; in DUBLIN, by John Parkes, Esq., Richmond Street; in CALCUTTA, by the Rev. James Thomas, Baptist Mission Press; and at NEW YORK, United States, by W. Colgate, Esq. Contributions can also be paid in at the Bank of England, to the credit of W. B. Gurney and others. BREAD! GIVE US BREAD, OR WE PERISH! SUCH is the cry which comes from Ireland now. Want, disease, and death, spread themselves over the whole land. The accounts are more distressing than ever; and there is an accumulation of suffering and want which is quite heartrending. If at this distance from the scene of misery it is so affecting, what must be the feelings of those brethren who are in the midst of it? Surely they are to be pitied. Thanks be to God, the wailing cry has not been disregarded. The response has been truly noble. We are sure that our churches are doing all they can to help, and private individuals are making great sacrifices of money, jewels, and time, in order to provide food and clothing. Let the proof be, that now the Relief Fund amounts in the whole to more than THREE THOUSAND POUNDS! And this does not include some large sums which have been sent through other channels, nor those transmitted direct to some of our agents from their friends in this country. The importance of supporting these brethren, at the present crisis, will be seen when the extracts from their correspondence are read. It would be dishonouring them, and would be cruel to them, not to afford them the means of distributing relief, when their fellow creatures are dying all around. While the sub-committee appointed to superintend the large sum placed at their disposal are anxious to do their duty, under a full sense of their responsi bility, yet profuse expenditure would be most unwise. The calamity is not even now at its height; some months must elapse ere its horrors can be stayed. The tide of liberality can scarcely flow on at its present fulness. Regard must be had to the future. But food, clothing, and money, as may appear best, are sent s the agents themselves apply for, from time to time. But let not our friends relax in their efforts to support the MISSION. While you give temporal food, withhold not the means of supplying what is more wantedthe bread of life. Now is the time to give both. Our general funds, as might be expected, are suffering; but we trust this is only for a time. We urge on all to remember Ireland at a throne of mercy. England cannot remain as she is if Ireland sinks much lower. She will drag this country down too, unless all help to raise her. We cannot shake her off, if we were so disposed. If not saved now, Ireland will be England's ruin! Alas! we are reaping the fruit of past neglect, and centuries of injustice and wrong. One writes: Mr. BENTLEY is fully occupied. His house is daily besieged with applicants, and he is constantly on foot, visiting and relieving in all parts of the city. Mrs. B., Mrs. W., and others, are almost wholly occupied in the same way. They prepare food every day, besides attending to the concerns of the Dorcas Society, which is now most efficient. Within a stone's throw of our house there are whole families of six, seven, and eight persons, without bed or clothing, and every scrap of furniture pawned or sold for food; and they are literally starving by inches. Whole streets and lanes are in this state of utter destitution. The Dorcas Society, owing to kindness of friends in England, distri buted last month seventy garments; and in the present month many more in proportion. Another friend says,-The state of this city is frightful. It is filled with walking skeletons. Men, women, and children are dying daily in the streets. There are five thousand persons in the workhouse. Private benevolence is doing much, but is only as a drop in the ocean. Trade is at a standstill; all our shopkeepers, except the bakers, are doing nothing. What surprises me most is the patient endurance of all this suffering by the people. Mr. BENTLEY states that he distributed last month eight hundred quarts of soup, and one hundred pounds of bread. The people feel, deeply feel, the kindness which is manifested by the protestants, and very frequently say that their priests are doing nothing for them, and that but for the protestants they would starve. Now is the time to make a deep and lasting impression on the minds of the Irish, and to convince them by our deeds that we seek their temporal and spiritual welfare, and are not actuated by those feelings which have too often disgraced the name and character of protestantism in this country. The distress is daily increasing in this city. Crowds are pouring in from the country, impelled by fear of death. The poorhouse is closed, being overcrowded. Mortality rages within its walls. I heard that ninety dead bodies were lying there last Monday! I went a few days ago into one of the back streets, and visited forty families. All I saw were nearly naked. Many had had no food for forty-eight hours; the majority of them none at all for thirty-six hours. I gave tickets for one hundred quarts of soup. The tickets for this relief were seized as if they were gold. This morning, Feb. 12, I relieved about one hundred persons, but was obliged, through want of money, to send twice as many away. Send me, dear brother, a supply by return of post, if possible. Soup, oatmeal, and bread, are the means by which I afford relief. Mr. M'CARTHY, of Kilbeggan, to whom money, rice, and clothing have been sent, finds his supplies more rapidly exhausted than he had expected. His peal is most urgent, and he has been promptly replied to. Among other facts he states, ар From morning to night my house is surrounded by starving people. Continually they are rapping at my door, and coming to the windows, looking in, and if they see me, holding up their famishing children in their arms, and begging for a morsel of bread. Had I no means to assist them I could not endure the sight. Send me more help at once, or I must fly to some spot where I shall no longer see my fellow creatures dying, or hear their cries for food. Mr. THOMAS, of Moate, after stating that he has recently lost two children by death, and that he has had fever twice himself, presses the same all-absorbing topic upon our attention. I am every day the subject of mixed feelings of pleasure and of grief. It would afford our dear English friends no small gratification to see the poor children in our school here a little comforted in their destitute circumstances. In this severe weather, almost naked, their limbs bitten with the intense cold, and trembling with the weakness produced by hunger, I have been enabled to feed them with one meal of bread and soup three days in the week, and the other three days with rice and meal. They and their parents, and many other poor families, would have been cut off by fever and famine, but for the assistance which the committee have sent me, Mr. BERRY, of Abbeyliex, writes on the 13th, and we are sure what he states will awaken deep sympathy. I am now watching over my dear child, who has been speechless the last five days. Will you admit this as an apology for not replying sooner to your last kind note? Your aid enabled me to secure additional medical ad vice, which is truly consoling to my wife's feelings and my own. Perhaps I had not enough sympathy for the unfortunate beings around me. Now I am chastened myself I will not suffer my own sorrows to interfere with the distribution of your bounty. The snow is deep and the frost intense. Yesterday no food could be procured for the workhouse; but to-day a supply is expected. I have distributed this morning ninety-six quarts of soup, and a piece of bread with each. I fully expect that death will terminate the sufferings of my dear child to-day. May the Lord help me to be resigned, and graciously hear the prayers which are offered up by all around. POSTSCRIPT. We make no apology for the large space occupied by acknowledgments for the Relief Fund. It was necessary they should appear. If this liberality continue, we must publish a double number next month, as missionary intelligence ought not to be suppressed. In many instances money has been sent to some of our agents direct. We shall be much obliged if in future the parties will apprise us of it, as the committee are then aware how each district is supplied. Besides, it would be well for another Such sums might appear in the Chronicle, and thus the full amount of what is done by the churches ascertained. reason. Clothing is now becoming more needful than ever. Many can help in this way, who cannot give money. When packages are ready, if they have not to come through London to reach Ireland, they can be sent direct; or if they have, and are sent to the Mission House, it will be a great convenience if we are apprised of it by post. In the former case, it will afford us pleasure to inform our friends to what place the articles had better be sent. |