THE DUTCH CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA. We copy from the South African Advertiser of July 13th, the following memorandum, from which it will be seen that the Dutch Reformed Church in the colony, far from being apathetic and indifferent as to its proper duties, is greatly increasing in activity and efficiency: MEMORANDUM OF WHAT THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH HAS DONE, AND IS DOING IN THE COLONY. At Ceres, the Dutch Reformed Church has built a church and parsonage, and a chapel for the colored people; and furnished an endowment of £300 a year. At Sutherland, built a church, and furnished an endowment of £250 a year At Middleburg, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £300 a year At Colesberg, raises £100 a year. At Hanover, built a church and parsonage, and pays the minister £300 a year. At Aliwal North, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £300 a year. At Burghersdorp, built a church and parsonage, and contributes £100 a year toward their minister's support. At Adelaide, furnished an endowment of £200 a year. At Stellenbosch, built a church, and gives £100 a year for house-rent. At Oudtshoorn, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £300 a year. At Bredasdorp, built a church and parsonage, and adds contributions to the Government salary. At Dordrecht, built a church and parsonage, and pays the minister £300 a year. At Queen's Town, built a church and parsonage, and pays the minister £300 a year. At Montagu, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £300 a year. At Robertson, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £300 a year. At Ladysmith, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £150 a year, added to the Government salary. At Wynberg, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £100 a year, added to the Government allowance. At Simon's Town, built a church. At Fransche Hoek, built a church and parsonage, and adds contributions to the Government allowance. At the Paarl, built a church and schools. At Wellington, built a church and parsonage. At Darling, built a church and parsonage, and furnished an endowment of £250 a year. At Hopefield, built a church and parsonage, and added £100 a year to the Government allowance. In Cape Town, built two churches, at a cost of £30,000, and contributes at least £700 per annum for church and beneficent objects; has moreover lately spent £1200 for school-room and house for schoolmaster in Bree-street, and pays schoolmaster £100 a year; pays another schoolmaster at Rogge Bay £100 a year. It has instituted a Theological Seminary, endowed with extensive buildings for residence of professors and accommodation of students, and a fund amounting already to at least £17,500, which continues to be swelled with additional liberal contributions. It has continued to spend at least £2500 per annum for the education of its theological students in Europe. It has contributed for missions last year £900. It has raised a fund, already amounting to about £13,000, to provide for the widows of its clergy. It has lately contributed £1740 for the deputing of one of its clergy (Dr. Robertson) to Europe to procure clergymen, missionaries, and schoolmasters; and already by that means, there have been engaged nine clergymen, two missionaries, and four schoolmasters. It has lately, in one country town, raised £600 for the dissemination of religious books about the country. Numerous munificent donations (in one case £1500) have been made to individual clergymen. INTELLIGENCE. VISIT TO HARRISBURG AND MOUNT COFFEE, LIBERIA.-While the ship spent a few days at Monrovia, the Rev. J. L. Mackey, on his way to Corisco, embraced the opportunity of paying a short visit to two of the inland stations in Liberia. He was accompanied by Mr. B. V. R. James, long an excellent teacher employed by the Board in Monrovia. Mr. Harrison was formerly a slave in one of our southwestern States, but was redeemed by the liberality of Christian Friends who knew him. Mr. Miller was formerly of the Ashmun Institute. Mr. Mackey's letter is dated at Monrovia, August 24, 1861 : * * * On last Monday morning Mr. James and I started on a visit up the St. Paul's. I was anxious to visit Simon Harrison's place, which I had visited, in company with Rev. D. A. Wilson, six years ago; and if time would permit, to go on as far as Mt. Coffee, the new station commenced by Rev. A. Miller * * We found Uncle Simon and his people all pretty well, and his place much improved since I was there six years ago. He has his grounds in very good order. His wife shows some taste in gardening and cultivating flowers about the yard. He has an orchard of coffee trees, which look very vigorous and thrifty, and are now in full bearing. At table we were treated with coffee of his own growing, sweetened with sugar made on an adjoining plantation. The agricultural operations on the river have advanced since my visit in 1855. In the evening, about eight o'clock, all the people of the station, amounting to twenty or twenty-five, were collected for worship. I was requested to conduct the worship and address them. There was very good attention. The old man seems very devoted; but told me he felt a little disheartened" in his work. There has been some discontent stirred up among the members of the Church where he preaches, and he feels very sad about it. The circumstances will probably all be communicated to you, if they have not been already. He is a very kind-hearted old man, but not at all a strict disciplinarian over his household. * * Early in the morning we prepared to go on to Mr. Miller's place. Mt. Coffee lies off from the river, and the only way to get there is to go on foot from Harrisburg, or in hammock. Mr. James was not very well, so he took a hammock, and Mr. Miller [who had joined us at Harrisburg] and I went on foot. We walked the distance out in two hours and twenty-minutes, and did not walk very rapidly. On our return we walked very fast, and made the distance in two hours. So that it does not exceed eight miles; and as Harrisburg is twenty-three from Monrovia, Mt. Coffee does not exceed thirty-one miles from Monrovia, and in a direct line from the sea may be a little over twenty. Mr. Miller has commenced work on quite a large scale. His dwelling house is a two-story frame, thirty-feet long by sixteen wide, and cost six hundred dollars. It is roofed with shingles; the boards and shingles all made in the place. He put up a boys' house which cost, he says, two hundred dollars; a fowl house made of sawed stuff, and roofed with shingles. His dwelling is fitted with glass windows. One large room on the lower floor is used as a school-room and Chapel. He has living with him ten Liberian orphans, and he took fifteen of the recaptured Congoes. Two of these last have died, leaving thirteen. Two of these are very much emaciated, and will probably not survive long. There are several native towns within a few miles, but I had time to vist but one of them. Some natives came in while I was there. His people were called in, and I had an opportunity of addressing them. Some of the boys read verses in the Bible, and all joined in singing. There are two hundred acres in the tract of ground on which Mr. Miller lives. surveyed and appropriated by the Government to the Mission. It has been * *** Mr. Miller and Uncle Simon both came with us on our return to Monrovia, where we arrived about eight o'clock on Tuesday night.—Foreign Missionary. AFRICA AND AFRICANS.-We go to Africa, and where, at the beginning of this century, the Hottentot, and Fingoe, and Kaffir were shot down without mercy, there we find a people, 100,000 in number, saved from destruction, brought to Christ, and adorning the doctrine of the Savior whom their fathers never knew. We go to the negro settlements in the West Indies, and how many thousands there have become Christians; redeemed not only from the slavery of earth, but from the slavery of sin! They who only thirty years ago were sold in the open market have proved the most liberal supporters of Gospel schemes that the modern Church has known, and were the first converts to maintain ministers of their own. AFRICAN COLONIZATION. -Now England is straining every nerve on India, and by promptly acknowledging the Liberian Government, and placing suitable Consuls, who will sympathise in the development of the Colony, and giving the "contrabands" leave and assistance to settle there, an intercourse may be opened that shall really make Monrovia a second Carthage in opulence, and ourselves the recipients of a considerable tide of wealth. * The Colonization organization has carefully avoided all broils and quarrels; but it has laid the foundation for greater usefulness to Africa than any exertion yet made for it, and now is the time that will be a crisis in its fate. The Pennsylvania Society is located among us in this city. It is thoroughly loyal, and ought to be taken up, and its great objects in every way promoted by the Government, and by private assistance of a more extended character. If it has so far been thought by some to be too much under the control of Southern men, now is the time that that stigma can and will be forever wiped away from it. * Thus far the Colonization Society has been taking charge of these captured Africans in immense numbers. They need more emigrants from America to keep the Colonies from degenerating, and to enable them to extend an influence over the interior. Our knowledge of that interior is daily augmenting. Nearly the whole continent, from the Cape of Good Hope up to the mouths of the Nile has been explored by travellers and Missionaries. Our own citizen, Du Chaillu, has been foremost in this work. The Colonies are pushing into the interior with their most profitable traffic, and we have only to hold out the least inducements to draw the tide of this wealth; or most of it, to our own shores. Thus far the jealousy of all that favored the rise of the negro race, has kept down much of the sympathy that would otherwise have been expressed for the Colonization movement, and for African improvement. But now another state of things is dawning, and henceforth. the policy of the United States will be the elevation of the negro race as much as possible. The example of Liberia will be the best means of showing what can be done in this direction. There they are now founding a college, with a pretty full corps of professors, much after the American pattern. Nor can there be any doubt that with a little fostering care just now, much may be done to benefit the millions of Africa for all future generations, and to build up a commerce that is to be more important than any as yet undeveloped.-Ledger. FUGITIVE SLAVES IN WASHINGTON. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, Dec. 4, 1861. To Major General George B. McClellan, Washington : GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention to the following subject: Persons claimed to be held to service or labor under the laws of the State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the enemy's forces, are received within the lines of the army of the Potomac. This department understands that such persons afterwards coming into the city of Washington are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon the presumption arising from color that they are fugitives from service or labor. By the 4th section of the act of Congress, approved August 16, 1861, entitled an "Act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer to any further claim to service or labor. Persons thus employed and escaping are received into the military protection of the United States, and their arrest as fugitives from labor or service should be immediately followed by the arrest of parties making the seizure. Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the city of Washington, and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, so that any collision between the military and civil authorities may be avoided. I am, General, your obedient servant, WM. H. SEWARD. RECOGNITION OF LIBERIA.-Among the measures recommended by the President, is the recognition of the Republic of Liberia. The subject has already been brought up in Congress. Liberia is not a large nation; but is doing a good work in the cause of civilization. It is estimated that 800,000 natives are under its meliorating influence, though there are in the colony itself but 14,000 persons; and that 4,800 slaves were landed there last year, many of whom were sent to the missionary establishments, and others to industrial and farming schools, where they learn English and Christian truth, and are brought up in a manner to ensure the greatest development of their physical and moral faculties. It has done much to suppress the slave trade, and to promote lawful commerce, to introduce enlightened government in the midst of anarchy, and to advance the evangelization of Africa. In all respects the young Republic must be acknowledged to honor the land of its birth, by a successful exemplification of our principles in a distant country, and through many obstacles. Having been already recognized by the principal nations of Europe, there does not seem to be any good reason for withhoiding that act of justice on our part. A DELIGHTFUL REGION.-The following, from the Philadelphia North American, will be read with interest. The district of country immediately east of Liberia is doubtless one of the most inviting and salubrious yet known on the continent of Africa. As far as penetrated, it is proved to be high and healthy, and peopled with industrious, intelligent and populous tribes. Aggressive movements are making by the Liberians against African barbarism and degradation, and it is proposd to establish settlements in this direction. The Rev. Jacob Rambo, of this city, and for several years a zealous laborer in episcopal missions in western Africa, lately ascended the Cavalla river, which empties at Cape Palmas, to the new interior mission station at Bohlen. He describes the banks of the river as "more elevated and more beautiful and picturesque as one advances toward the mountains. We saw much to interest us in nature, and as missionaries, much to interest us in the number and character of the natives." "The scenery at the rapids and falls is fine; numerous islets covered with shrubbery, combined with the dashing, foaming waters at the falls and below, and the grand mountain scenery, made up an interesting picture. . . . This is a most beautiful rolling country. At least twenty-five mountain peaks rise around the station (Bohlen) in all directions within twenty miles; the highest is perhaps twelve hundred feet. I have passed three days and a half most agreeably in this mountain region. My health is excellent. I have especially enjoyed the natural beauty and grandeur of the country. When naturally and spiritually considered, this wilderness and solitary place shall be glad for them, and this desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose, this will become one of the fairest corners of God's beautiful earth.” THE last census shows a colored population of 10,831 in the city of New York, which is a decrease in ten years of 2,948. The total number of foreign birth is 340; born in slave States (principally Virginia and Maryland), 1,508; born in free States, 8,983. The number of children attending school within the year was 1,387; number of persons over 20 years of age who cannot read and write, 1.160. Out of the 10,831 colored persons in the city, 3,561 are under 20, and 7,270 over 20 years of age. The number of families in the same population is 1,209. About one-half live in three wards-the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth. The Eighth ward contains no less than 2,685. Out of the 10,000 and over, 85 are returned as owners of real estate. The value of all real estate owned by negroes is put down at $456,475. The highest value of real estate owned by a singie individual is $60,000. He is half white, gave his occupation as that of waiter, and said he was born in Massachusetts. Another mulatto, a cook, says he is worth $50,000. The total value of personal estate is stated at $113,785.— Col. Journal. LIBERIA. Of this field we have said there are tokens of advancement, of decided advancement, which we are glad to tell to the Church. The first we notice is their increasing desire for religious knowledge. This is apparent in the increasing number of religious periodicals which they are ordering from this country; and then they are in haste for such knowledge, and can no longer submit to the delay of the swift ships-they remit the price of papers and postage in advance, and so obviate all delay. The next item we notice is their apparent purpose to help themselves to a more universal knowledge of what with us is considered fundamental in the education of our children, and to this end they are multiplying their common schools and Sunday-schools, and furnishing them with the best text-books, and this too at their own expense. Thirdly, as evidence confirmatory of the above, there is more charac. ter in the ministry, more in the membership, more stability; so that whatever progress is now made is more real, and gives promise of a more rapid and successful enlargement of our work in this interesting field at a very early day. THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.-From the Report of the Secretary of the Interior it appears that: By an order of last May the execution of the law for the suppression of the slave trade was confided to this department. The Secretary convened the marshals of all the loyal Atlantic States at New York, and explained to them all the devices of the traffic. The result of their energy has been the capture and condemnation of five vessels. One person has been convicted as the captain of a slaver, and sentenced to death, the first instance of a capital conviction on record; and another has been found guilty for fitting out a slaver at Boston. Within a little more than a year, 4500 Africans, recaptured by our cruisers, have been taken into the Republic of Liberia, through the agency of the American Colonization Society. ANOTHER DAHOMEY MASSACRE.-Another of those diabolical massacres, which are a stigma on civilization, was about to be carried into effect at Dahomey. The canni |