The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-26 00:00:00

that it was half-past ten o'clock before the two
last speakers had risen to address the meeting.
One of them, I recollect, very gracefully declined
to speak at all, in order to make way for the Se-
cretary of the Parent Society, and he had to compress
what he had to say into a less space than could have been
wished. I hope, therefore, that the new arrangement
will be adhered to, and that we shall be able to end the
proceedings as near to the hour specified as possible.
(Applause.) His Lordship concluded by calling on the
Secretary, who read the report, which will be found in
our account of the forenoon's proceedings.
The Rev. G. L. Fox moved the first resolution, and
gave detailed accounts of the labours of missionaries in
Western Africa, to which country lie would confine him-
self. His experience induced him to believe that it was
of the utmost importance to have a native ministry in
Africa, for lie was of opinion that if we could send out
ten times the number of ministers from our altars at home,
they would not be sufficient to meet the requirements of
the inhabitants of Western Africa, who were now being
converted to the christian religion. (Hear.) In illustra-
tion of the conaersion of the native African to christianity
being attended with a feeling of respect for the white man,
the speaker read several statements and particulars of actual
cases. Referring to the rapid progress which christianity
was making in Africa, he said he was not one of those
who considered that nothing could be done without a
bishop, but he did think that their cause in Western
Africa was now so far advanced, that the influence of
a bishop was of the greatest consequence. At the
present time, when the bishop presented himself for
the purpose of ordaining persons to the ministry,
there was no less, on those occasions, than twelve young
candidates for the ministry, natives of Western Africa.
(Loud cheers.) These, amongst others, were reasons that
enabled him to express his confident hope that our suc-
cessors in after days, and ere long, would look back on
the present time as days of small things, and would see in
Africa such a rapid and extensive progress of the Gospel,
that their hearts would he filled with Christian gratitude.
(Hear, hear.) He concluded by moving that the re-
port now read be adopted, printed, and circulated, under
the direction of the committee, and that the following be
the officers for the ensuing year :
" The Revds. F. Ould, Dr. Hume, D. Anderson,G. W.
Warre,W. Pollock, &c. Messrs. T. B. Horsfall, Rounth-
waite, Heath, A. Hodgson," &c. &c.
The Rev. J. C. RYLE seconded the resolution, and
congratulated the town that there should have been 58
sermons preached on behalf of the society in Liverpool,
which was the case, on the previous day (Sunday). He
i doubted if there was any other town in her Majesty's
dominions where fifty-eight sermons could be preached
lin one day.—(Hear, hear.) The rev. gentleman gave
several interesting accounts of the progress of the society
in Western Africa, in corroboration of the statements
made by the last speaker.
The motion, on being put by the Right Rev. Chairman,
was carried unanimously.
A collection was then made, during which Bishop
Heber's missioaary hymn, " From Greenland's ley
Mountains," was sung by the audience, accompanied on
the organ ; after which—
The Rev. FRANCIS CLOSE, M.A., of Cheltenham,
proposed the next resolution. He commenced by plead-
ing indisposition. At the morning meeting they had
almost starved him with cold, and now he was quite
overpowered with heat. (A laugh.) It was his intention
to follow up the remarks which had been made by the
two speakers who had preceded him. It was mani-
fest that before they came to the meeting their
attention had been drawn to the same quarter of the globe.
It seemed that one particular spot of the earth had been
uppermost in their minds, and that was the vast continent
of Africa. Ills friend's attention had been confined to
one part of Africa, perhaps, but for himself his attention
had been attracted to that country all round. Just before
he came to Liverpool he had the privilege of having a
black brother preaching in his pulpit at Cheltenham—a
real black negro, as black as his hat. His people at Chel-
tenham stared wonderfully when he made his appearance.
(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) This negro's appearance at
Cheltenham had filled his (Mr. Close's) mind with
anxious and interesting thoughts about Africa and
the African race, and also of their connexion with Ame-
rica. He might just say of the black brother whom he
had named, that he had succeeded, under the most ex-
traordinary difficulties, in preparing himself for the
ministry at Cambridge, and having been ordained, lie was
about to sail, in a few weeks, for that interesting spot,
the State of Liberia. They had heard much from the
friends who had preceded him, with respect to the ope-
rations of the society in Sierra Leone, and he would
make a few allusions to what was no v going on in
Liberia. His observations would tend to spew them that
although much had already been done, there were greater
things still in store for Africa. They were aware that for
three centuries the slave-trade was carried on; a trade
which, in the first instance, was hypocritically
sanctioned by a charter of our own Government,
under the pretence that by the existence of the slave-
trade we could christianise the Africans. For three
centuries the gigantic trade carried on from
the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of America, was in kid-
napping the poor negro inhabitants of Africa, who were
taken to America for slaves. Now the Christian mind, at
the opening of the present century, stood aghast at this
system, which was sanctioned by our Government. What
was the state of the negro race at the commencement
of the present century ? At that time there was not
a single negro in any part of Africa acquainted with the
gospel of Christ. They were kidnapped, murdered, and
burnt, and not only so, but they were so trodden down
that our learned men began to come to the conclusion,
that the negroes were not men at all, but that they were
chattels, and that there was something about the appea-
rance of the negro's head which rendered it impossible
that he could ever be taught anything. That was the
state of things at the time of which he had been
speaking; but what was it now ? (Hear, and cheers.)
There was at this moment a system of Christianity going
on among the negroes that in the course of a very few
years would almost depopulate America of free coloured
men, for it was now found in America that the free
coloured population were not the unintellectual crea-
tures they had been taken for, but were possessed of
reasoning faculties like the white man. A great
change had taken place in the African population in
America. The Americans saw that the African was
no longer the brute he had been taken for ; and the free
coloured men, seeing themselves that they were becoming
obnoxious to the Americans, were atthis moment returning
to Liberia, their native land; and having received them-
selves a Christian education, were teaching their fellow-
countrymen the blessings of Christianity. (Cheers.) The
rev. gentleman, in continuation, gave a very interesting
account of the progress of Christianity amongst the natives
of Liberia and other parts of Western Africa, and con-
cluded by moving the following resolution

That the Gospel of Christ, in its unadulterated simplicity,
being the appointed cure for the spiritual diseases of fallen
man, it is the duty of all who have received it to aid in diffusing
it, and that the Church Missionary Society deserves our con-
tinued support as a suitable vehicle for conveying the Gospel to
perishing heathens.
The resolution having been seconded, was carried
unanimously.
The Right Rev. CHAIRMAN then pronounced the be-
nediction, and the proceedings were brought to a close at
half-past nine o'clock.
The following is a list of the collections made in the
several Churches, on Sunday last, on behalf of the
Society : £ s. d.
Bootle, St. Mary's. ...... . .. . .. . 50 0 0
Edge-hill, St. Mary's
Edge-hill, St. Stephen the Martyr's...... 9 2 0
Everton Chapel . .
Everton, Christ Church ....
Everton St. Augustine's . . .... .32 0 0
Everton, St. George's
Everton, St. Peter's..
Kirkdale, St. Mary's..
Knotty Ash, St. John the Evangelist's.. 7 9 4
All Saints'
Christ Church - 0 0
St. Andrew's
St. Bride's . 80 3 0
St. John's
St. Jude's
St. Luke's
St. Mark's (Evening)
St. Silas's
St. Simon's .
Seaforth, St. Thomas's ... .
Stanley, St. Anne's
Toxteth, St. James's
Toxteth, St. John the Baptist's ...... • ... 14 0 0
Toxteth, St. Matthew's
Toxteth, St. Paul's .
Toxteth, St. Thomas's...... ... 7 010
Waterloo, Christ Church l9 12 0
West Derby Parish Church..
Windsor, St. Clement's

ALARMING FIRE IN LORD-STREET LAST NIGHT.—
About half-past ten o'clock last night a dense volume
of smoke was seen by the polies issuing from the upper
windows of the house of Mr. S. Hall, hatter, in Lord-
street, and in a few moments afterwards discovered that
a fire had broken out in the kitchen, which is at the back
part of the house, on the first floor. The family, who
had retired to rest, were apprised of the danger, and
the bedrooms being on the floor over the kitchen, it was
necessary, for their personal safety, to get out of the house.
By the aid of a ladder they were all removed, and, for-
tunately, the fire was soon afterwards extinguished.
We understand that no considerable amount of damage
has been done.