STATISTICS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD MISSION.

The following statistics of this mission were placed at our disposal in 1875, by the Rev. C. A. Stanley.

Tientsin was first occupied as a station of this mission on November 8th, 1860.

There have been altogether five ordained missionaries, three of whom have been married.

There are at present three ordained missionaries, two of whom have been married.

There is one chapel-but there were formerly two.
There are three out-stations.

There is one church-partially organized.

There are three native preachers.

There are two candidates preparing for the ministry.

The total numbers baptized from the commencement are 90 adults and 17 children-or 107 in all.

The present numbers are 39 male and 21 female members in church fellowship—or 60 in all. These are principally in country villages remote from T'ientsin.

The annual contributions of the church members amount to about $10.

Mr. Stanley furnished the following items in 1875, regarding the Itinerancy of the mission.

The foreign missionaries and native assistants engage in this work. The travelling is generally done by carts; sometimes by boats, and also on horseback.

In 1864, the Rev. L. D. Chapin made a journey to the south and south-west of Tientsin. In 1865, he made another tour in the same direction. Mr. Stanley made a journey in November of the same year in the same direction. In December, 1866, he again made a similar tour. February, 1867, and in May of the same year respectively, he made two tours in the same direction. In the summer of 1867, Mr. Doolittle visited the converts at Tih-chow, travelling by boat, a distance of 500 le. In December of the same year, Mr. Stanley again made a journey to the south. In February, 1868, he went north as far as Kalgan. In October of the same year, he made a journey to the south-west. In May, 1869, and in June and September of the same year respectively, he made three journeys to the south and south-west. In June, 1870, he made a journey in the same direction. In January, 1872, he again made a tour in the same direction. In the autumn of 1873, the Rev. A. H. Smith went the round of the country stations.

In November of the same year, Mr. Stanley made another journey in the south and south-west direction. In June, 1874, and October of the same year respectively, he made two journeys in the same direction.

The chief cities visited on these several journeys were the following:- Paou-ting provincial city, Ho-kien prefectural city, FE, Loo, Ling-tsing, and Shin, departmental cities, Tsing-hai, Tsing, and Kaou-yang district cities, and

Tih, Tsang, and Tsz, inferior departmental cities. The district city of Ning-tsin, is the most distant point reached— 600 le from Tientsin.

The following are the out-stations of the mission,

Shin-chow-departmental city.
Tih-chow-inferior departmental city.
Ning-tsin-district city.

PARIS MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

The Rev. Oscar Rau of this Society, who had recently removel from Shanghai to Chefoo, left that port early in 1861 for Tientsin. After a stay of some months, he returned to Chefoo in the latter part of the same year.

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE METHODIST

NEW CONNEXION MISSION TO CHINA.

This mission was established at the General Conference of the Methodist New Connexion, held in Manchester during the month of June, 1859; when the Revds. John Innocent and William Nelthorpe Hall, were appointed to the work. They arrived in Shanghai on March 23rd, 1860. Their object was, to open a mission in the large city of Soochow; but owing to the disturbed state of the country, and that city being taken and occupied by the T'ai P'ing rebels, it was impossible to obtain a footing there. When the North of China was opened by the new treaty, Tientsin was chosen by these brethren as their centre of operations, at which place one of them arrived on April 4th, 1861. Their first converts-two men, were baptized on June 1st, 1862. During the years 1862 and 1863, mission tours were made by these brethren to the cities of Tai-yuen fu, in Shansi, Cheng-ting fu, and Pau-ting fu, in Chili, Lama-miaou, in Mongolia, and other places, for circulating Christian books and preaching the Gospel.

In the year 1866, they were providentially led to the district of
Lao-ling, in Shantung where 45 persons were baptized; and

the first Christian church was formed there in September, 1866. From that time the work has gradually spread in that region of country, amongst the farming villages, so that they have now got little churches in the three adjacent districts of Teh-ping, Ningching and Ling-hsien, these stations extending over a line of country forty miles in length. The places are directly south of Tientsin, and distant from 140 to 180 miles.

In 1866, two unmarried missionaries were sent out to strengthen the mission, only one of whom, is still with us-the Rev. William Bramwell Hodge. In 1868, another married missionary was sent to join the mission, who retired, from failing health after two years residence in China. There are at present three missionaries and their wives connected with the mission, and another is appointed to come as soon as his collegiate course is finished.

The native church in Tientsin has 61 members, and the churches. in Shantung have 215 members. There is an institution for training Christian young men for evangelistic work connected with the mission. JOHN INNOCENT.

June 30th, 1875.

The Rev. J. Innocent furnished us with the following statistics in 1875.

The Tientsin station of this mission was opened in 1861. From the commencement, there have been altogether five ordained. missionaries, four of whom have been married.

There are at present, three ordained missionaries, all married.
The mission has three chapels.

There are two out-stations.

There are six organized churches.

There are eleven native preachers.

Two candidates are in training for the ministry.

One colporteur is employed.

There is one Bible-woman.

The numbers baptized from the commencement have been 400 adults and about a hundred children-or about 500 in all.

The present numbers of church members are 196 male and 80

The contributions of the native church members amount to about $30, exclusive of sacramental collections for the poor.

The two out-stations of the mission are at

Lao-ling, dis

trict city, 150 miles south from Tientsin, Ta-koo, town, 30 miles east from T'ientsin.

LONDON MISSION.

From the preceding sketch by Mr. Stanley, we learn that this mission was first represented at Tientsin by the Rev. J. Edkins, B. A. on May 17th, 1861. We have nothing to add to what is given in that sketch; not having received any report from the mission.

AMERICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL MISSION.

We learn from Mr. Stanley's sketch, that this mission was commenced in June, 1872, by the Rev. R. Davis, who came from Peking to initiate operations. The mission was we believe represented there when the sketch was written; but not having received any report, we can give no further details.

TIENTSIN has not been prolific in missionary literature.

We add

a few more tracts in the mandarin published at this station, but the dialect does not differ materially from that of Peking

San tszé king.

"Three chargeter Classic." Rev. H.

Blodget. 9 leaves. Tientsin, 1863.

#Tsih shén úrh tsùng. "Choose the good and follow it."

Rev. J. Lees. 10 leaves. Tientsin, 1865.

Lëàng jin hwang yên. "Story of the Two liars." Rev.

8 leaves. Tientsin, 1866.

Ling lé seaòn hai.

C. A. Stanley.

"The young Gideon." Rev. J.

"The Lost Child brought home."

Rev. J. Lees. 15 leaves. Peking, 1866.

賢王遺事 Hein wang enzè "Remains of the Wise King."

Rev. J. Lees. 10 leaves. Peking, 1866.

THE FUTURE LANGUAGE OF CHINA.

WHAT is this to be? Is it to be what it is now, and what it has

been for so many ages past? Or is it to be something else? The writer of this article believes that it will be something else; and in the following remarks he will suggest a few reasons for so believing. The first reason that he would suggest grows out of the relation which language sustains to its people.

That is, a

Language is always homogeneous with character. man's language is like himself. A gentleman speaks the language of a gentleman; a barbarian speaks the language of a barbarian. And whatever degree of rudeness or culture may characterize the man, a

like degree of rudeness or culture will characterize his language. One sees this strikingly illustrated in visiting not only different countries, but different places, classes, and occupations, in the same country. Let us suppose ourselves in England, or in the United States. The people of these countries, for the most part, speak English. But we do not find them all speaking the "Queen's English;" on the contrary, every man speaks his own English. That is to say, every one speaks the English with which he is familiar; and he is familiar with that which is suited to his degree of culture, his habits of thought, and his kind of occupation. The child of course speaks the language of children. But as the child grows into the man, his language grows with him. And as the man passes on to his position and occupation in life, his language, in like manner, suits itself to his position and occupation. In a word, man's language is, like his shadow, always with him, and always like him.

Nor is this true of individuals only. It is equally true of classes, of communities, and of countries. Everybody knows that educated men speak the language of education; professional men, the language of their profession; and business men, the language of their business. For every class there is in fact a class language. The like is true of communities. The language of cities suits itself to the usages of cities; and the language of the country suits itself to the usages of the country. Moreover, in city and in country the language of each locality suits itself not only to the habits and occupations of the people, but also to the degree of rudeness or culture characterizing them. And if we pass to countries, which, in this respect, are only larger communities, the same law applies to them.

This might be argued a priori, or from what we know of the origin and use of language. Language is not something made, like boots and hats, and kept on hand for future use; but something that comes from, and grows with the wants of men. Every thing of course must have a name, and every new thing, a new name; every thought must have an expression, and every new thought, a new expression. When manna fell in the wilderness, had it been something known, it would of course have been called by its known name. But it was something new; there was no name for it. So the people asking one another, said: "What is it?" and forthwith manna "what is it ?" became its name. And like cases-perhaps many of them-we have all noticed, both in our own and in other languages, showing that it is in the nature of language to be coextensive with its people's wants.

But observation leads us to the same truth. All study of languages, whether of the present or of the past, amongst tribes more or less barbarous, or nations more or less civilized, has established this as