religious worship there, at the same period. A suitable room was the next desideratum; and little search had been made when a cottage was found with two rooms on the ground floor and uninhabited. The proprietor's agent on being applied to favoured our scheme, and granted us the cottage at reduced rent. The front room was immediately fitted up with seats and a little puÏpit, and was opened for worship on Sunday, January 20th, 1856.

On the morning of that day our friends established a Sabbath School, and nearly thirty children attended. At three o'clock in the afternoon the writer arrived, in company with a few friends, and on meeting a group of young men, inquired of them for "Richardson's Cottages ;" that being the name of a row of cottages with which the one we occupy is connected. One of the young men promptly answered us by saying, "They are the first cottages to the right; you will see the board up." Alluding to a board our friends had placed over the door with the following inscription -"BIBLE CHRISTIAN MISSION STATION. SERVICES, SUNDAY AT THREE AND SIX O'CLOCK, WedNESDAY AT SEVEN O'CLOCK." From the nature of the young man's reply we inferred that some notice had been taken of our project in the neighbourhood, and it was evident that he correctly guessed our connection with it. We hastened towards the cottage, feeling constrained to pray that the entering of the Bible Christians into that place might prove a blessing, to which a friend at our side responded" Amen." We found the room well filled, and were greatly blessed while directing attention to the words, "Behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." Rev. iii. 8. In the evening the cottage was crowded, and the Divine presence rendered the service impressive and profitable. The numbers continuing to attend the ministry there having caused considerable inconvenience, Our friends were induced to make the both rooms available to the congregation, and now they are filled

each Sabbath with attentive hearers. We have established a classmeeting there, with three members, and four on trial for membership.

A measure of antagonism, however, has appeared. A window has been broken, and one of the children chastised on a Monday morning by his schoolmaster for having attended our school on the sabbath.

We believe, however, that our Master can make even "the wrath of men to praise Him," so that we are hopeful, nay confident, for future results.

The other place at which we have commenced preaching is Kensington. A family consisting of seven persons, coming to London from the Farnham Station, wished us to visit them, and the writer embraced an early opportunity for doing so. The result was that services were commenced in their house on the first sabbath of the present year. A class, consisting of ten members, has been formed there, and most assuredly God has stamped this measure with his approbation. The writer and many others can testify that the glory and the victory have been found there. Our impression is that a considerable amount of effort will be required there, in ploughing the land and sowing the seed, before a very plenteous harvest will be reaped; but we are satisfied of its being a necessary and promising sphere for christian enterprise.

8. A Fire.

It is probable that in no place in the world does the cry "Fire! Fire!" create so great a sensation as in London. Fires happen here frequently, and often effect immense destruction. Numerous, too. are the precautions observed with respect to them, and most extraordinary appliances are available for subduing them when they occur. A short time since as we were going to our Sunday morning appointment, we passed by a house the chimney of which had taken fire, and being apprehensive of further danger, the inhabitants of the vicinity had got four engines on the

spot in a few minutes ready for operation, though happily, they were not required.

But the catastrophe to which we now refer is the burning of Covent Garden Theatre, which took place on the morning of Wednesday, March 5th, 1856. Probably most of the readers of the Magazine have already received tidings of the event; but to peruse a brief description of the occurrence, in a newspaper, makes an impression widely different from what one receives who listens to a conversation respecting it on the spot, and who witnesses its desolate ruins. The Theatre was a gigantic and superb structure. It was used for musical entertainments, song-singing, and various other nameless performances for the entertainment of the thoughtless and gay. Such performances frequently exhibit vice and crime, so as to make them appear virtuous and heroic ; and their effects, we believe, from the information we have received, is to sap the very foundation of virtue, and to render the debased baser still. This building, nevertheless, was one of the principal attractions of the Metropolis, and night after night was thronged with spectators. All parts of London were apprized of what was doing at Covent Garden Theatre by placards of vast size, and all ranks patronized it. When the fire broke out a series of entertainments, which had occupied about thirty-six hours, was about to terminate. During most of the time the place had been crowded, and about two hundred remained to see the flames appear. A writer in the Examiner remarks, "Had the

accident happened two hours earlier, when the house was full, London would now be bereft of all the flower of its profligacy and harlotry, every flock would be in mourning for its black sheep, every family deploring the untimely loss of its scamp, fond mothers weeping for their precious scape-graces, the detective police suddenly reduced to a sinecure, its occupation gone."

At 4 o'clock on that morning, this structure was the scene of wanton and rampant merry-making; at 5 o'clock it was a burning pile, illuminating all London; and a few hours later the flames were spent, and left it a spectacle of utter ghastliness and terror.

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The stately Grecian walls still stand, and over the numerous doorways may be seen such inPit," scriptions as Boxes," "Stalls," "Dress circle," "Magnificent entertainment," "Grand Bal Masqué," etc; but in glancing through the apertures one is horrified with a sudden view of dismal blackness and ruin! There lies the ashes of property estimated at the value of £300,000! A spectacle, as one might suppose, suggestive to those who escaped from the conflagration, of the Divine displeasure in such transactions as were there conducted, and reminding us all of the day "when the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up."

Alas; many similar places exist in London, and daily perform their part in blighting and destroying multitudes, both body and soul. "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord."

W. LUKE.

THE PEESENT CRISIS IN ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM. By JOHN P. GASSIOT, F.R.S,-Second EditionLondon-SMITH, ELDER, & Co.

We did not receive this important pamphlet in time, or it should have been noticed in our May number.

The vast importance to the nation of having all candidates for situations in the Civil Service subjected to an Examination by competent persons, and receiving a certificate to the effect that their moral character and other attainments are such as to render them fit and proper persons to fill such offices as they respectively aspire to, before they can be admitted on the list of persons qualified for the public service, must be evident to all who have reflected on the awful destruction of life, and the prodigal waste of the national resour ces, experienced during the late war, through the incompetence of those who held offices in the public departments; and if national ruin is to be prevented, it must be by a thorough reform in the system which allows incompetent persons to fill sundry public offices, simply because those who are influential supporters of the Government recommend or urge their appointment.

Ad

al

Now that peace has happily been again proclaimed, the energies of all true patriots, and especially all christian patriots, should be directed to bear on the subject of ministrative Reform;" and though it is not our special province to enter into the minutia of the question, yet as we think the conservation of the morals of the people at large requires that the present corrupt and debasing system should be swept away, we consider ourselves justified in calling attention to the subject. Public officers, by their acts and their example, cannot fail to exert a considerable influence on the morals of the community; and it behoves christian men to use all the means in their power to purify the public morals, by endeavouring to prevent improper persons from reaching that responsible elevation.

The draft of a Bill for securing the proper examination of all persons who aspire to fill public offices, is appended to the work, although it was judged to be the more prudent course to defer its introduction to the House of Commons. Lord GODERICH, who was to have introduced it, considered it more

desirable that the appeal made to the House should be in the form of an "Address to the Queen."

On the 24th of April, Lord Goderich moved an address to Her Majesty, expressing cordial thanks for the steps which have been already taken, congratulating Her Majesty on the beneficial effects which have already resulted from the labours of the Civil Service Commission; eulogising in deservedly high terms the able and judicious arrangements of the Commissioners, and offering a liberal provision for any changes which the adoption of a further extension of those measures may entail. The motion was opposed by the Government, but was carried by a considerable majority. This may well be considered as one of the most important reformatory movements of the day. We give the concluding paragraph of this well-timed pamphlet:—

The first object to be obtained is that parliamentary support for Lord Goderich which his Lordship will necessarily require, if opposed by the Go

vernment.

The question is now fairly brought before the proper tribunal, and, if the country evinces supineness, it will perpetuate the reign of corruption and the retention of the injurious system of routine whence arose the unbusiness-like proceedings and ridiculous blunders in the Commissariat and other departments of the Civil Service, causing that waste of the resources of this great country, and the loss of those lives which so many of the homes of England now fruitlessly deplore; and yet all that is required to prevent a repetition of such scenes in any future war, and to secure to the country during peace, a proper selection of public servants, is prompt energy on the part of the friends of true Administrative Reform.

To obtain for Lord Goderich effici ent support in the House of Commons, a correspondence with almost every town in the kingdom is indispensable.

The publication of statements, many of which are already prepared, and disseminating through the press the information to be derived from official documents, must now be effected without delay. The war having ceased, and its immediate pressure removed, the public mind will necessarily relapse into its usual indifference unless roused

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mately successful; and in not a few instances minorities have been victorious in compelling the abandonment of rates too illegal to be enforced. In Parliament they had been equally successful, having in three years converted a minority of 48 into a majority of The Committee had deemed it politic to accept the Government amendments on Sir Wm. Clay's bill. The Committee congratulated the Conference on the highly auspicious character of recent events in some of the British Colonies, more particularly on the separation of Church and State in Canada by the secularization of the clergy reserves. If in the mother country the current of events in the same direction did not, from the necessity of the case, flow with equal rapidity, it yet ran steadily and with increasing strength.

The Treasurer's statement showed that the receipts were upwards of £3,000, and that there was a balance of £312.

Rev. J. FLETCHER* of Christchurch, in moving a resolution adopting the Report, and expressing great satisfaction at the society's operations, warmly eulogized their friends in the House of Commons for the mingled steadfastness and prudence of their operations. Mr. Deputy Pewtress seconded the resolution.

After a short discussion on some of the points of the Report, the resolution was adopted, and the Rev. J. HOWARD HINTON proposed, "That this Conference regards with great hopefulness the increasing number of parishes in which the imposition of church-rates is successfully resisted, or the enforcement of them is abandoned, and approves of the steps taken for promoting parochial agitation on the subject; and that the decision of the Executive Committee in respect to the amendments on the bill of Sir Wm. Clay, proposed by her Majesty's Government, meets with the concurrence of the Conference."

The Rev. R. REYNOLDSON, of Wisbeach, seconded the motion, which gave rise to a long and animated debate; the Rev. H. TOLLER, of Market Harborough, moving, and Rev. D. REES, of Braintree, seconding the following amendment :-"That in the

*It must not be understood that we approve of the term Rev. because we insert it. Perhaps it would not be known who the speakers were, had the prefix been omitted,-ED.

opinion of this Conference, the amendments which have been proposed by the Home Secretary on Sir W. Clay's bill for the entire abolition of churchrates are unsatisfactory, and should be rejected."

Mr. Alderman Harrison, of Wakefield, the Rev. Mr. Harcourt, of London, and other delegates, supported the amendment. Mr. Edward Baines, of Leeds, Mr. Edward Miall, M.P., Dr. Foster, and the Rev. John Burnet, supported the resolution, which was ultimately carried by a large majority.

The delegates then adjo urned to the Milton Club, where a handsome collation was provided; and at six o'clock, Edward Baines, Esq. of Leeds, took the chair, and in an opening address pointed to several recent and political indications that the society's principles are fast advancing.

After the society's constitution had been considered and revised, DR. Foster read an elaborate paper, illustrative of the success which had followed the attempt to organize Anti-state-Church men as a political party; and also entering at length into a consideration of Mr. Miall's motion relative to Ireland.

Rev. J. BURNET moved a resolution approving of the society's Parliamenttary action. Referring to Mr. Miall's motion, and to Ministers' Money, he said that 85,000 Catholics in the City of Cork had to support the ministers of a portion of the remaining 15,000 who were Protestants. The Rev. D. RUSSELL of Glasgow, seconded, and Mr. FRANK CROSSLEY, M.P., supported the resolution, which was carried, after a speech from Mr. Miall M.P., in which he described the state of feeling among Members of Parliament respecting his intended motion. The Conference then adjourned.

The next morning the Conference re-assembled in good numbers, notwithstanding that it was a wet morning.

Mr. MIALL, M.P., took the chair, and urged the importance of increasing their strength in the House of Com

mons.

After the Executive Committee and Council for the next three years had been chosen,

The Rev. E. S. PRYCE read a paper descriptive of the society's electoral action, and suggesting steps to be taken in counties and boroughs. Mr. Barnard of Stroud; Mr. E. Clarke, of London;