Extract Of A Letter From The Rev. Mr. Marsden, Senior Chaplain Of The Colony Of New South Wales, To The Church Missionary Society.

I Received the goods mentioned in your letter for the missionaries at Otaheite, which I will forward the very first opportunity. I should have sent the Active to visit them in September had I not received your packet, by which I learned that your Society was about to send some assistance to the brethern, who are much in want of aid. I therefore sent the Active to New Zealand, with orders to return as soon as possible, hoping that by the time she came back the missionaries would have arrived from Europe; and then I should forward them immediately to join the brethern.

The accounts I have received are very satisfactory, as far as the mission is concerned. They have sent me a spelling-book to get printed, and wish to have a thousand copies. I shall have it done immediately. No doubt they will give you every information relative to their wants, and what hope they entertain of success in their labours. I believe much good has been done, and that God has been with them in a very special manner.…

You will have heard by former letters of the death of Mr. Shelley. He was very desirous of going to the Friendly Islands, where he had resided three years, and begun the work of the mission; but death has ended all his labours.