The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-19 00:00:00

CHURCH MISSIONARY

OPERATIONS IN

SOUTH AFRICA

VISIT OF THE BISHOP OF CAPETOWN TO
LIVERPOOL.

The Lord Bishop of Capetown has been visiting
Liverpool for the purpose of obtaining subscriptions
towards the strengthening and extension of those
branches of the Church in South Africa comprised
in his diocese, which have been greatly crippled in
their operations by the recent war. O❑ Sunday his lord-
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and claims of the churches and the people of South Africa.
The Rev. Rector Campbell presided, and the following
gentlemen were present :—Rev. W. Leicester, Woolton ;
Rev. Dale, Rev. E. Ashton, rector of Huyton ; Rev.
W. W. Ewbank, Everton ; Rev. J. Hatton, St. Peter's ;
Rev. D. J. Hirsch, Rev. Hobbs, Rev. C. Morrell,
Rev. H. Vernon, Charles Groves, Esq., A. Swainson,
Esq., Dr. Nevins, P. M. Dove, Esq., A. North, Esq.,
H. H. Statham, EN., T. A. Dale, Esq., A. Castellain,
Esq., and others. A number of ladies were in the room.
After the offering of suitable prayers,
The Reverend CHAIRMAN introduced the Lord Bishop
of Capetown, with a few words as to the peculiar claims
which those who not only dared the dangers of the deep,
but the dangers of trackless deserts and districts peopled
by hostile tribes, had upon the

"Gentlemen of England,
Who live at home at ease."

He hoped they would give the Bishop a helping hand,
a helping voice, and a helping purse to assist him in his
labour of love, and enable him to some extent to accom-
plish the high and holy purpose which he had in view.
He (the chairman) understood, that, in addition to the
present bishopric, two others were being established, and
that the sum of at least £5,000 was wanted ; and he
trusted that the people of this country would not he deaf
to the important call which was now made upon them.
The Lord Bishop of CAPETOWN then said, that he had
come to bring under the notice of the members of the
church here the peculiar wants and circumstances of his
own particular sphere of labour, and the plans which he
had formed for its extension. Previously to this, how-
ever, be might perhaps state why it was that a bishop.pre-

different parts of this country, to pleau` etle-etithe-;01:..Ca
own distant diocese. The simple reason was, that the
church had given him a vast and almost overwhelming
work to do in a distant land, and had not been able by
means of its existing societies to place at his disposal the
funds absolutely requisite for carrying on that work. To
illustrate his actual position :—He was responsible for an
expenditure of not less than £5,000 a year in the diocese
of Capetown. During the last five years he had received
a grant of £l,OOO a year from the Society tor the Propaga-
tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts—the only society in
connexion with their church that aided him. He had re-
ceived also about £1,500 a year raised by private friends in
this country, and pledged for a period of five years, which
term had now expired. It was chiefly to obtain a renewal of
this particular fund that he had come to England. He
was most anxious to obtain funds which would enable him
not only to maintain the work amongst the English people
in South Africa, but would justify him in planting missions
in different parts of the country. To extend the missions
thus amongst the British Caffres and Zulus, he wanted
not less than £2,500 a year. He had succeeded in raising
£2,000 a year, thus leaving £5OO still to be obtained.
£lO,OOO bad also been raised by way of endowment for
each of the new sees, though £5,000 would still be re-
quired to complete these endowments. The Bishop then
proceeded to direct attention to the work itself, which
God had given the Church of England to do in South
Africa. The diocese of Cape Town was far too extensive
for the charge of one individual. It was not less than
three times as large as Great Britain ; and St. Helena
and Natal, its most distant extremites, were separated
by very nearly three thousand miles. A subdivision,
however, was now virtually accomplished ; and he hoped,
before he left this country, to join in the consecration of two
additional bishops,—one to be resident in Grahamstown,
the other at Natal. (Applause.) Other religious bodies
were already in the field. The Wesleyans were able to
spend £16,000 a year, while his church only gave him
£2,000. The Independents spent last year nearly £B,OOO ;
and the Roman Catholics £4,500. The diocese not only
extended over a vast extent of country, but over several
distinct dependencies, which, though placed under five
distinct civil governments, were all under one individual
bishop. These dependencies were, in addition to the Cape
of Good Hope, the colony of Natal (as large as Scotland),
the Orange River Sovereignty (as large as England and
Wales), British Caffraria, and St. Helena Island. To
give some idea of the population, and the various tribes
and languages with which they had to deal, he might
state that the whole population was about 800,000, of
whom only 40,000 were English, 80,000 of Dutch ex-
traction, and the remainder heathen or Mahoromedan,
but chiefly heathen. They were scattered over different
countries. St. Helena—a highly important island,
whether as regarded religious provision or commerce—
contained about 6,000 people, a large proportion of whom

. . . . . .
were slaves who had been rescued by British cruisers.
Not less than 1,000 of these individuals, though released
from physical servitude, were still the slaves of sin and
Satan. He (the Bishop) should rejoice to be able to send
a clergyman to these people, though he was afraid they
were not able to maintain a person altogether for the
work. In the Cape of Good Hope there were 230,000
people; five distinct races, with four distinctlanguagcs. The
Hottentots, or aboriginal inhabitants, numbered 80,000
souls ; the Dutch—th first settlers in the colony-70,000;
the Fingocs, who originally inhabited the country between
Natal and British Caffraria, 30,000 ; 30,000 English ; and
from Bto 10,000 Malays. The last were Mahommedans ;
and he regretted to say that not only had they proselyted
a number of the heathen, but that some few of the
English emigrants had sacrificed the faith of Christ for
that of Mahomet. It was highly necessary that those
who went forth to these distant regions should pre-
viously be well instructed in our schools in the
true faith. (Hear, hear.) He believed that the Church
had been negligent in this matter. The Orange River
Sovereignty contained about 100,000 people; 15,000 either
Dutch or English, but chiefly the former, the remainder
consisting of various tribes. Beyond his diocese, and the
British possessions, over the Fall river, there was a popu-
lation of Dutch Boers, who had raised a republic. They
were interesting, because of their miserable condition, and
they were rapidly sinking into the same state of bar-
barism as the heathen about them, practising the fiercest
cruelties upon the natives. Natal contained about 115,000
Zulus, and perhaps about 8,000 English people, the num-
bers of English having been much reduced within the last
few years. The remainder of the population consisted of
other tribes. The Lord Bishop then diverged into a de-
scription of the condition in which he found the English
people on his arrival in the diocese about five years ago.
There were at that time about sixteen clergy in the
diocese, who were supported mainly by the local go .
vernment. These were located, however, in the large
' towns and populous districts • the villages and dis-
tricts in the interior of the country, where the
English were intermingled in smaller proportions with
the other inhabitants, had no provision beyond that
which had been afforded by the Wesleyan body. In
some instances persons came 150 miles to have their
children baptised, al.d 100 miles to be married; while be
had met with people who had been 38 years in the country
, without seeing the face of a minister of their church.
He held meetings, however, and confirmations, constantly
, at each village or town, and everywhere found the people
ready to exert themselves to obtain the spiritual provision
which they needed. In almost every place £2OO was
contributed towards the erection of a church, and sums
varying from £5O to £lOO a-year promised towards the
maintenance of a minister. The result was that clergymen
had been sent to most of the places be then visited, and
the people had generally fulfilled their engagements.
During the last five years the clergy had increased four-
fold, the 16 clergymen to nearly 60 ; and this they had
been enabled to effect partly by grants, and partly by
funds raised by the friends of the emigrants at home.
The speaker then alluded to Riversdale and other places
where the people were making great efforts in order to
• provide the means of grace for themselves ; and described
• how ably Archdeacon Merribone, who resided at Gra-
' hamstown, had conducted a visitation on foot of about
800 miles. Proceeding to descant upon the misery and
' destitution which recurred in the track of the late war,
he stated that many of the previously rich had been
reduced to absolute penury, and one gentleman had been
reduced to receive alms at the hands of those very
clergy, whom, in the times of his prosperty, be undertook
to support. A few individuals might have got rich during
that war, but to the most of the people it only brought
ruin and destruction. At this stage of his address the
Bishop took the opportunity of denying the truth of the
statements circulated here by interested parties, that the
Caffre wars and rebellions were provoked by acts of in-
justice committed by the colonists ; and he asserted that
neither on the part of the colonists nor the government had
anything taken place which warranted such an opinion
being entertained. After an allusion to the peculiar diffi-
culties and dangers which the clergymen had undergone
in the discharge of their sacred duties (from which they
had never shrunk) during the war, he congratulated the
meeting upon the attainment of peace ; but said that in
his view that peace could never be a lasting one until pro-
per missionary establishments were founded. (Applause.;
Sir George Grey was of this opinion with regard to New
for
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Zealand, ,ral the remarks of the governor of that colony
ith
applied equally to South Africa. If they had been pre
pared to plant their missions in the country 20 or 30 years
ago, he did not think that the late war would have arisen,
To commence these mission!, then, he required now £5OO
outlinet
was of
far
a aied schemew
a year. The bishop went on to describe the condition of
the people of Natal, the chief field of their contemplated
their moral and social state, which about two years and
object—the civilization and conversion of the people. It
was at that time the intention of the government to settle
the Zulus in ten distinct locations. He wished to regard
each of these locations as a laneparish.
them
he
was
desirous
of
obtaining
Within each of
a grant of land from
government equal to an ordinary
amhisaslifoanaso, laineddrgeawve uaina
he proposed to erect buildings of •
farm. Upon this land
sisCng of a chapel, a g
e loot, a small hospital, accommo-
dation for four families
dren. At the
be placed heath of each institution a clergyman would
; under him a schoolmaster, probably in deacon's
orders. There would be an agriculturist and a carpenter.
He had been only able, however, to plant one of these
schools, as the society had placed but £5OO a year at his
disposal. The Lord Bishop spoke in a hopeful strain,
however, of what he would be able to accomplish, when
the African Societies themselves became stronger. He
appealed earnestly for aid, not only pecuniary, but physi-
cal, remarking that they were greatly in want of ggen-
tlemen who could take the superintendence of some
the mission.
The CHAIRMAN supported the closing remarks of the.
Bishop, and hoped that Liverpool would not be tardy in
aiding so righteous a cause. Subscriptions, he said, might
be placed in the hands of Mr. Charles Groves, who was
not only ever ready to receive, but also himself to give aid
to such objects.

The meeting closed with the doxology. We understand
that the Lord. Bishop of Capetown visits Bradford today.