the Directors of the Religious Tract Society, ina Merchants, retired or otherwise, and all others interested in the spread of Truth in China.
Dear Sirs,—In my annual reports I have on several occasions drawn your attention to the periodical Press in China, and in private letters to friends have also urged the importance of this subject, but the time has now come when the matter demands much more serious consideration. With great diffidence, therefore, but with the profoundest conviction of the goodness of my cause, I beg your attention to the expe-cliency of the establishment of a tri-weddly newspaper in China. I propose a triweekly as there are no railways, only steamer communication, Were there railways and telegraphs, asin Japan, I would advocate a ily. not sure how far it may be in your power I know this is a bold proposal, and Iam
to aid such a project; but you may be able to subsidize it, or bring it under the attention of some wealthy Christian gentlemen, who may conceive the ambition of starting such an engine of usefulness, a greater than which, I venture to say, could not be erected in this world.
The case is quite exceptional. Since the world began, there never has been such a call, with such weighty reasons for such an instrument as we propose for China, The question appears to me thus:—For long, in the mysterious Providence of God, China was hermetically senled—(to use the old expression).against Christianity. Tu 1843, five ports were opened; in 1861, other six were agreed upon, and in addition, liberty was granted to traverse the country far and wide under passport. In 1876, five new ports and six calling places were further conceded, and the province of Yunnan and the route to Burmah settled, thus giving us eleven now inlets for divine truth into the most remote parts of the Empire. The whole of China therefore, north, south, east, west and centre, is thus free to our efforts, or rather 300,000,000 of our fellow men are placed before the Church of God for evangelization. Truly, Godhas more than answered prayer, and it now rests with the Church to rise up to the magnitude of the work, and Christians to realize the responsibility now placed upon their shoulders. There is no shirking this fact. Wo men of this generation have got to deal with China, or answer for our neglect.
There is one circumstance, which greatly facilitates our work, and enables us with a comparatively slender instrumentality, to reach immense masses and do great good. Considering that the Chinese are a heathen nation, a most extraordinary proportion of the people can read; and, what is more to our purpose, they all read the same characters. Thus a book in simple " Wun-li" will tell in every province in China and not only 0, but also in Manchuria, Mongolia,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.