have a hearing or not; and then, in his letter of the 13th of January last, he acknowledges that he had received Mr. President Scott's letter of the 10th of October, from which it will appear that another opportunity of a hearing was afforded, and that he was urged, if he meant to avail himself of it, to do so without delay, while Mr. Brooking, a competent witness from the Gold-Coast, and who had also been at Kumasi, was upon the spot, who could give testimony on all the points involved in his charges against Mr. Freeman. What then becomes of the solemn asseveration of "Omega," otherwise "John Watson,"

in his letter of this day, that no invitatious
to meet the proper authorities had ever
reached him, and that he doubts whether
they were
ever sent? The public will
judge in this matter; and will also decide
whether the slightest reliance can be
henceforth placed upon whatever assertion
such an individual may choose to make.
JOHN BEECHAM,
ROBERT ALDER,
ELIJAH HOOLE,

Secretaries of the Wesleyan
Missionary Society.

Wesleyan Mission-House, Bishopsgate-
Street-Within, November 7th.

IV.

On the preceding documents it is not necessary to enlarge. Leaving them to repeat upon others, who have not before seen them, the same impression which, we are thankful to know, was produced upon the minds of numbers who perused them on their first appearance; we proceed at once to the performance of a gratifying task, and lay before our friends a number of testimonials to the general character of Mr. Freeman, and the beneficial effects of the Gold-Coast Mission, which have been spontaneously offered by respectable parties, who, from their connexion with Africa, possess the means of acquiring correct information respecting African affairs; and who, being, for the most part, unconnected with the Society, must be regarded in the light of independent and disinterested witnesses.

The first in point of time are the valuable letters already alluded to as published by J. Topp, and J. H. Akhurst, Esqrs., both residents at the Gold-Coast; to which we add the welcome communications of W. B. Hutton, Esq., and Sons, London, and Matthew Forster, Esq., M.P., who have extensive commercial intercourse with Western Africa, and are thus capable of forming a correct estimate of the Missionary operations carried on under Mr. Freeman's superintendence; appending, also, a handsome letter from George Smith, Esq., and Sons, a respectable commercial firm of Glasgow.

I. FIRST LETTER OF J. TOPP, ESQ.

To the Editor of the Times. SIR,-My attention having been drawn to an anonymous communication in your paper of to-day, respecting the proceedings of the Rev. T. B. Freeman, and the other Wesleyan Missionaries on the GoldCoast of Africa, and containing accusations calculated, and probably designed, to damage their influence and lessen their usefulness; I feel it my duty, having resided during the last ten years as a merchant on the spot, and in a position to take an impartial and disinterested view of the way in which the II. LETTER OF J.

To the Editor of the Times. SIR,-Having been many years a resident on the Gold-Coast, and having had

H.

affairs of the Society have been conducted under the direction of Mr. Freeman, to state that that gentleman is entitled to the highest credit for the services which he has rendered to the cause of Christianity and civilisation in that part of the world.

With respect to the particular charges brought forward in the communication in question, I have no doubt that in due time the parties chiefly concerned will afford the most satisfactory explanation.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, J. TOPP. 56, Beaumont-Square, Oct. 25th.

AKHURST, ESQ.

the best opportunities of observing the conduct of the Rev. Thomas B. Freeman during the whole period of his super

intendence of the Wesleyan Mission in that part of Africa, I consider that I owe it to the cause of truth and justice to bear testimony to the excellence of his character, and the unwearied diligence and fidelity with which he has endeavoured to discharge the important duties which have devolved upon him, and to express my deep conviction that the serious allegations preferred against him by "Omega," in the "Times" of Friday last, have no foundation in truth. I do not believe him to be capable of such a dereliction of principle as he is charged with by your correspond.

ent.

The improvement in the character and condition of the natives on the GoldCoast, which Mr. Freeman, with his fel

low-labourers, has been instrumental in promoting, has secured for him the esteem of all who are interested in the advancement of Christian instruction and civilisation; and from the judicious manner in which, from my own personal observation made upon the spot, he commenced operations at Badagry and Whydah, I entertain the persuasion that similar benefits will result from his labours in those important places, and am confident that his return to the shores of Africa will be welcomed by all classes of society there.

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, J. H. AKHURST. 12, Crown-place, Mile-end-road, Oct. 30th.

III. SECOND LETTER OF J. TOPP, ESQ.

To Mr. John Watson, of St. Bees.

London. Nov. 4th, 1844. SIR, I have received your letter of the 31st ult. Your strictures upon my communication to the editor of the "Times," in reply to an anonymous attack on Mr. Freeman, of which you confess yourself the author, are couched in terms so unbecoming, as to preclude me from offering any reply to that portion of your letter, farther than to assure you I am not to be bullied into silence on this or any other subject on which I may feel called upon to express my sentiments. A man who, under anonymous colours, drags another to the bar of public opinion in a public newspaper, has no right to demand of anp one to "stand aloof" from giving his opinion and testimony in defence of the person attacked. The opinion I have publicly given in reference to the attacks on Mr.

IV. LETTER OF W. B. Watling-street, Sept. 18th, 1844. GENTLEMEN,-We beg to enclose you a check for twenty guineas, towards your Missions in Western Africa, and request you will insert our firm as subscribers of two guineas annually thereto.

If any testimony of ours were wanting to the usefulness of your labours in that portion of Africa, it would give us plea

V.

Freeman, contained in the letter signed "Omega," is not altered by finding you are the author of the letter.

The only portion of your letter to which I feel in courtesy called upon to reply, is the postscript, in which you request to be informed whether either my brother, Mr. Cruikshank, or the late Governor of the Gold-Coast, Captain Maclean, are in England. The reply I have to make is, that none of those gentlemen are in Europe at present: if any of them had been, it might not have been necessary for me to use my feeble pen in Mr. Freeman's defence. I have the satisfaction, however, to inform you, that Captain Maclean has already arrived at Boston, in the United States, on his way to this country, and that he may be daily expected. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, J. TOPP.

HUTTON, ESQ., AND SONS.
sure to add it. We earnestly hope that
they will receive encouragement from every
friend to Africa, and continue to prosper.

We are, Gentlemen, your very faith-
ful servants,

(Signed) W. B. HUTTON AND SONS. To the Secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, London.

LETTER OF MATTHEW FORSTER, ESQ., M.P. New City-Chambers, Nov. 12th, 1844. MY DEAR SIR,-I think the present a fitting moment to testify my humble opinion of the value of your Missionary labours on the Gold-Coast of Africa, by presenting you with a draft for twentyfive guineas, in aid of those labours.

desire it to be applied to your proposed Mission at Whydah, where, I think, a Mission would have the double good effect of promoting Christianity, and checking the slave-trade.

If, in place of leaving it to your better judgment, I might venture to express a wish as to the application of it, I would

I am, my dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
M. FORSTER.

To the Rev. T. B. Freeman.

VI. LETTER OF GEORGE SMITH, ESQ., AND SONS.

Glasgow, Nov. 13th, 1844. GENTLEMEN,-Our bark "Oriental," on her passage from Calcutta, in June last, called at Ascension for supplies, from whence she brought your Missionary, the Rev. T. B. Freeman, as passenger.

We have now the pleasure to hand you a bank-order for twenty pounds ster

ling, being our share of the passagemoney, as a donation to your Mission, and in the hope it may be useful for the extension of the boundaries of the Redeemer's kingdom.

We are yours most respectfully,

GEORGE SMITH AND SONS. To the Secretaries of the Wesleyan Missions.

VII. SPEECH OF CAPTAIN FOOTE, R. N.

In the next instance, we most thankfully copy from the columns of the "Watchman" newspaper a report of the speech of Captain Foote, R. N., delivered at a Missionary Meeting, held at Devonport, in aid of the funds of the Wesleyan Society. This distinguished officer, who has rendered such great services to the cause of humanity, during the period in which he commanded the British squadron employed on the coast of Guinea, for the suppression of the slave-trade, has had the most ample opportunities for observing the conduct of our Missionaries, and marking the effect of their labours, along the whole line of coast, from Dix-Cove on the west, to Badagry on the east; and he has entitled himself to the warmest thanks of the Society, for the kind attention which he has invariably shown to Mr. Freeman and his brother Missionaries, and the interest which he has always practically manifested in their various important undertakings. The report is as follows:

AT a meeting of the Morice-Town Missionary Society, Devonport, on Monday, among the speakers was Captain Foote, who has just returned from the Western coast of Africa, where, for three years, he commanded the squadron on that station. He cheerfully bore testimony to the indefatigable zeal and usefulness of the Wesleyan Missionaries, but especially to the services of the Rev. T. B. Freeman, with whom he had often corresponded, and whom he had frequently seen. A part of his correspondence he read, to show the intense interest which that devoted servant of Christ took in the welfare of the degraded sons of Africa. And although

he (Captain Foote) was unaccustomed to appear on the platform of a Missionary Meeting, yet he could not resist acquiescing in the invitation of the Committee to come on the present occasion, to refute the vile and calumnious statements, written by "Omega," which he had lately read in the public papers. He characterized the

Rev. T. B. Freeman as the most devoted, pious, and zealous Missionary he had ever known, and one that was not only highly qualified to advance the spiritual interests of those among whom he laboured, but to improve their temporal condition, by hastening the downfal of the accursed slave-trade.

IN immediate connexion with this, we gratefully place the letter of W. Cook, Esq., one of the Commissioners appointed in the name of Her Britannic Majesty to accompany the expedition to the Niger. This estimable gentleman paid great attention to the state of things at the Gold-Coast, and made minute inquiries as to the working of our Mission there, and the effect which it was producing upon the native population. His testimony is peculiarly valuable, as furnishing a striking illustration of the fact, that the Missionaries do not allow persons to become members of our religious society, who are living in what is properly concubinage, or fornication.

VIII. LETTER OF W. COOK, ESQ.

To the Editor of the Watchman. SIR,-As a portion of the public press has lately been made the medium of cir

culating reports injurious to the character of the Wesleyan Mission established on the western coast of Africa, but more

IX. LETTERS OF SIR THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON, BARONET. To this list of witnesses it is our high privilege to add another, who may be almost said to have lived for Africa and her injured race; and whose name, surrounded by a halo of purest lustre, will go down, in the history of regenerated Africa, to latest posterity. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Baronet, who has paid an unbroken attention to the Society's Missions in Guinea from the period of their commencement, thus expresses himself in a letter to the Rev. John Beecham, dated "Northrepps-Hall, November 6th, 1844."

In a second letter to the same, dated "November 16th," Sir Fowell adds,

You are quite at liberty to publish any portion of my letter referring to Mr. Freeman, as I wrote that which is contained in it with a full conviction of his innocence

with regard to all the charges brought against him. I am happy to hear he bears up so well against the slanders promulgated respecting him.

The value of this testimony may be further estimated from the fact, that the writer has, in answer to the appeal contained in the Statement which commences this Number of our "Notices," headed the list of special subscriptions towards meeting the excess of expenditure at the Mission-stations in Guinea, with the munificent donation of £200; to which his excellent son, Edward N. Buxton, Esq., has added another donation of £50.

Several other practical expressions of sympathy with the Society, in the painful circumstances in which it has been so undeservedly placed, have been received. The donation of £21, and annual subscription of £2. 28., from W. B. Hutton, Esq., and Sons; the subscription of £26. 5s. from Matthew Forster, Esq., M.P.; and the donation of £20 from George Smith, Esq., and Sons, Glasgow; have been noticed in preceding pages. To these we may add,-a donation of £10. 10s. from the Right Honourable Stephen Lushington, D.C.L.; another of £10, for the schools, from John Joseph Gurney, Esq., of Norwich; £10 from Miss Anna Gurney, of Northrepps-Cottage, Norfolk; £10 from Mr. William Craven, of Cullingworth, near Bingley, by the Rev. G. B. Macdonald; £5 from Mr. Thomas Morgan, of London; £5 from Mr. Monkhouse, of Barnard-Castle; £1 from a "Member of the Church of England," at Carnarvon, who begs it to be understood that he gives it from a high sense of Mr. Freeman's holy exertions on behalf of Africa, and that he earnestly prays that Mr. Freeman may have "grace to continue faithful unto the end, through evil report and good report;" £25 from William Shippery, Esq.; and £100 from Thomas Farmer, Esq., Treasurer of the Wesleyan Missionary Society.

We must reserve other donations for publication in the special list, which is in preparation; and have only room further to add, in this place, two letters from the Rev. Messrs. Hesk and Mycock, now in this country,-forming a valuable addition to the testimony borne to Mr. Freeman by his brethren in Africa, which was given in his first reply to "Omega."

X. LETTER OF THE REV. THOMPSON HESK.

To the Editors of the Leeds Mercury. GENTLEMEN,-Grieved as I had been by the letter of "Omega," in the "Times" of a few days past, I was the more pleased to observe, in your columns of last week, the substance of the Rev. T. B. Freeman's

reply, extracted from the same paper a few days subsequent to the attack.

Doubtless all good men will agree that the Rev. gentleman has triumphantly repelled the villanous slander upon his character and proceedings, as the General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Missions on the Gold Coast, contained in the letter to which I have referred. The calumny

appeared chiefly directed against the Rev. T. B. Freeman; but it was plainly aimed by "Omega" against all Wesleyan Missionaries, and those on the Gold-Coast in particular. In this view I found myself personally involved, in common with all who, under the direction of the Committee of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, have sought to establish Christianity in that part of Western Africa. Why, if "Omega" speaks the truth, did he not speak before now? Why did he not some months ago, on his return home, apply to the Rev. Josiah Mycock, myself, and others, and Christianly urge us to take steps for removing, or exposing, such