have been made at their shrines ; Brahmins have been paid to pray for rain ! And what a rebuke is it, that the Sepoys in Bengal, who have mutinied, are the only class shut out from missionary influence ! Such is the retribution on guilty neglect and cow ardice ! By the most recent telegraph, we bear that Delhi is defended by 30,000 men, and that 3,000 rebels are encamped near the walls. A letter front Madras reports that Delhi is fallen, but this is not generally be lieved. Do not be surprised, in the present state of tbings, that wy letter begins and ends with India. l Aarater aul) Abbotatc, PITTSBURGH, AUGUST 29, 1857. Twang... $1.50, in advance; or in Clubs 111.26; or, delivered at residences of Subseri. berm, $1.75. See Prospectus, on Third Page. ENEW AL $ should be prompt; a little while "before the year expires, that we way nialte fill arrangements for a steady supply. THE' RED WRAPPER. indicates that we desire a. renewal. If, however, In the haste of mailing, this signal should be omitted, we hope our friends will still not forget us. RIGIIIITTANUM.S.—Send payment by safe hands, when convenient. Ors send by mail, enclosing with ordinary care, and troubling nobody with a knowledge of what you are doing. For a large amounts send a Draft, or large notes. For one or two palming. send Gold or small notes. TO MANE CUAISOIC, Send postage stamp*, or bettor still, send for more papers; say $S for Seventy inuabers, or 1111 for Thlrtr.thres nambars• DIRECT all Lotter* and Conimunleattons to REV. DAVID MoRINNIGT. Pittsbuxght Par PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.- The next session of this institution will open on Wednesday, September 3d. The rooms of the Seminary have been furnished free of expense to the students, and board is afforded in the Refectory, at $2 per week. THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, COLTIMEIA, Sou CAROLINA.—The next session will open on the Ist Monday in October, and continue eight months. Boarding and washing can be had from $8 to $lO per month. The appropriation for students destitute of means, is $2OO per annum. DEDICATION. The new and taiteful Presbyterian church, in Milton, Pa., was dedicated to the service of God, on Sabbath, the 16th inst. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. McGill, of Princeton, and the pastor, Rev. Dr. Watson, nisde the ded icatory prayer. The sermon in the after noon was preached by Rev. Dr. Yeomans, of Danville, Pa. The services were solemn, and attended by a large and attentive audi ence. Another Youthful Xinister Called to his Reward. A short time ago, the Rev. J. M. Brown, D.D., of Kanawha, Va. ) lost his youngest son, Willie, by drowning. Now he is called to mourn the death of his eldest son, Rev. Samuel H. Brown, pastor of the united congregations of Frankford, Anthony's Creek ) and Spring Creek, on the first inst., in the 30th year of his age. Mr. Brown was a young man of great promise; and just previous to his illness, he had been laboring most earnestly in the revival at Lewisburg, Va. End of Volume Fifth. THREE numbers more will complete the Fifth Faunae of the .Presbyterian Banner. A large number of subscriptions will termi nate with the volume. We respectfully request a full and prompt renewal. If the list of subscribers is permitted to decline, the terms of subscription must be raised. We plead with our brethren of the Ministry and Eldership, and with all our friends, to lend us effective aid in furnishing to the churches a sound Presbyterian paper, truly good, and really cheap. President of Centre College, Ky. Rev. Lewis W. Green, President of Tran sylvania University, at Lexington, Ky., has be en elected President of Centre College, Ky., to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of the lamented Rev. John C. Young, D. D. It is generally supposed the appointment will be accepted. Danville has been drawing largely on Lexington within a few months. Rev. Stephen Yerkes, elected a professor in the Danville Theologi cal Seminary, at the last meeting of the. Geneial Assembly, was_a professor in . Tra nsylvania University. Dr. Green is admira bly adapted for the position to which he has been called, in natural gifts, scholarship, and experience. _ Temperance. The, committee appointed by the friends of temperance in Chicago, in May last, have issued a call for a North American Conven tion of the friends of Temperance, to be held in that city on the 10th of November. It is intended to endeavor to initiate move runts that will revive an interest in the Temperance cause, which has been for some time languishing. A large and inter 'eating meeting was held at Saratoga, N. Y., to take into consideration the subject of ,Da venile Temperance organizations through out the,land. Addresses were made by E. C. Delays% Peter Sinclair, of Scotland, Dr. Marsh, .Rev.. 'Dr. Asa D. Smith, of New' York, and many other well known advocates of the cause. In the course of his remarks, Dr. Smith descanted on the importance of juvenile action and organization, as almost the only' thing to interest once more the higher classes. These were beginning to consider the Temperance cause, as obsolete, a thing gone by—good in its day, but over: It - watt• owing to the higher classes more than to'others that the Prohibitory law was not enforced in New York, and was repealed. Let the children of these classes become enlisted in the cause, and it will awaken a new and lively interest in the work as noth ing else can. Unfortunately a similar testimony can be borne by many others who have observed the progress of events. British India. The alarming condition of the army in the Bengal Presidency, and the deplorable consequences ensuing on the outbreak of the mutiny, have attracted all eyes toward the East. In our own country, as well as in England, there are many families who have tender pledges of affection in the very region where the dangers have been most immi nent; and as these devoted servants of the Great Master stand in such close connexion with Christianity on the one hand, and the native idolatries on the other band, they are all the more likely to be sufferers for the cause of the Gospel, in consequence of the direction which the popular fury has taken. In these circumstances, we have thought it appropriate to advert at some length to the condition of the British Empire in the East, with a view to give some general informa tion touching the history of the Company; the circumstances under which its posses sions have been acquired; the tenure by which these possessions are held, and the manner in which the momentous trusts re posed in the Indian authorities are adminis tered. We can only glance, in the most summary manner, at these subjects. We have before us a list of more than one hun dred and twenty volumes, many of them of great size, and filled with important statistical, legal, and historical matter, all devoted to the elucidation of the affairs of India, and yet some of. the most common place questions which ordinary readers might put in relation to the topics which we have here stated, could not, by a reader of these treatises, find a satisfactory answer. Should, then, our readers find that we have passed by much that they would have wished us to notice, they must remember the brief space which we can only afford for historical dis sertation. The discovery of the passage to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope, produced an intense impression on the mind of Western Europe. The eyes of traders and merchants were directed toward that land, which for ages had been a synonym for ex haustless wealth, gorgeous magnificence, and barbaric power. Vigorous efforts were ac cordingly made to organize associations for grasping the riches of the East. At this time the commercial spirit of Britain was beginning to display its vigor, and as the distance to India was so great, and the means needful to trade on a scale commensurate with the importance of the prize in view, were beyond the power of ordinary adven turers, an incorporation was secured; and on the 30th day of December, A.D. 1600, Queen Elizabeth signed the charter of the East India Company. The powers donated to these " merchant adventurers" to the East, were of the most wholesale character. They were not only recognized as the only lawful traders to the East from Britain, but they were also empowered to purchase or re ceive grants of lands from the native Princes for the erection of factories, and forts to protect them; and thus to secure all the in terests of their. trade. At the time of the issuing of this charter, such a grant from the Sovereign was considered sufficient for alllegal purposes, without any Parliamentary sanction. In process of time, however, this question was raised, and the validity of the charter came to be discussed because of the appearance in the East of other parties having licenies to trade, who were con sidered interlopers; and the controversy thus raised was continued during all the years of the Stuart dynasty. In 1693, in consequence of a failure to meet the interest on the stock of the Company, the charter became void; but it was restored again, with a proviso that:it might be abrogated by giving three years' notice. Owing to the exigencies of the State, another Company was originated, and the two struggled on with varying success, until, in 1708, they were united in one Society, through the in fluence of Lord Godolphin, by the act of the 6th of Queen Anne. Since the year 1767, the affairs of the Company have been frequently subjected to Parliamentary review and supervisift. The necessity tOr this legislation arose from the fact, that a trading company was rapidly ac quiring territorial dominion; and the con nexion of that Company with the imperial Government was continually embroiling it with foreign powers. The question which had thus arisen as to the possessory and gov ernmental rights of the Company over ter ritory, and the sovereign rights of the Crown over all the possessions of subjects, was felt to be one of vast legal importance. The Company contended that it was duly invested with sovereign rights over conquered or acquired territory; while opponents con tended that territory gained by subjects, of the Crown necessarily belonged to the Crown. In several acts of the Legislature the question was left unsettled, the Parlia mentary enactments only stipulating that the Company were guaranteed the tenure of their territorial possessions, reserving the rights and authority of the Crown without prejudice to any , of the immunities of the Company. In 1784, the celebrated India Bill of Mr. Pitt was carried, establishing the Board of Control, by means of which the procedure of the India Directors is sub jected to direct Imperial supervision. The working of this measure, so far as legislative and executive authority are concerned, has been such as to lead some of the most emi nent constitutional lawyers—such as Lord Kenycin, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and Mr. Justice Lawrence—to affirm, that the East India Company was " a limb of the Government of the country, and that no distinction can be established between the offices held under the Company, and those held under the Government of the country." In 1833, the last great Parliamentary change in the Charter of the Company, was made. By the celebrated act of that year, the preamble of the Charter declared that all lands, territorial acquisitions, revenues, debts, monies, rents, &0., &c., which the Company then possessed, should remain and be invested in the hands of the Company, in trust for his Majesty and his heirs for the THE PRESBYTERIAN BANNER AND ADVOCATE. service of the Government of India. The ' supreme authority of the Home Government over Indian affairs, was thus clearly assumed and defined. The act, which contains one hundred and seventeen clauses, stipulates, very minutely, the powers of .the authorities in the different Presidencies, and of the Governor General and his Council. It pro. vides, also, that the Board of Control, in London, which is to supervise the orders of the Directors at home, and of the General Council in Calcutta, shall consist of such persons as his Majesty may appoint as a Board, together with the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the first Lord of the Treasury, the principal Secreta ries of State, and the Chancellor of the Ex chequer. Without the sanction of this Board, the Governors and their Councils in the respective Presidencies, and the Court of Directors at the India House in Leaden Hall Street, are unable to invest their deter minations with the authority of law. We have thus, as briefly as possible, sketched the governmental character of this great corporation, in order that our readers may know in whose hands the sovereign power is actually lodged. - We have shown that the India Company was chartered on the last day of the six teenth century. , In 1616, the possessions gained in the Mogul's dominions were only Surat and Amadavad. On the Malabar coast they had (Wield, and Maxalipatam on the Coromandel coast. At the end of the seventeenth century, the English were set tled in Bengal at Calcutta, the French held Cliandernagore, and the Dutch were at Chinsurah, all on the Hoogly. One hun dred and fifty years from , the origin of the Company passed over, before any important tract or 'territory was possessed by it. The Directors and Ageuts pursued a pacific and commercial career, not manifesting a lust for conquest, nor even making formidable pro vision to protect the factories which they possessed. So remarkably was this the case, that in 1756, when Surajee Dowlah captured Calcutta, which is now the abode of more than a million of inhabitants, the European prisoners which he captured and immured in the•celebrated Black Hole, amounted only to one hundred and forty-six persons. The English Empire in India really dates from this period. War with France was imminent, and some troops had been sent to 1 the little fort of St. George, at Madras, be cause of its vicinity to the French settle ment at Pondicherry. These troops, at the urgent solicitation of the British merchants at Calcutta, were sent to protect their inter ests. Accordingly, nine hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys were dispatched under CLIVE, who landed and defeated the forces sent against him, re-took Calcutta, as sumed the direction of affairs, and concluded a peace in which permission was gained to fortify Calcutta. When the war with France broke out, Surajee Dowlah cast in his lot with the French, but, before the wonderful genius of Clive, resistance was in vain. On the 22d of June, 1757, Clive found him self, with 900 Europeans, 2000 Sepoys, and six guns, opposed to 50,000 infantry, 8000 cavalry, and 50 guns, under French officers; yet he gained a wonderful victory. War being thus commenced, Clive, to use his own words, saw clearly that he could not stop, but must go on. On this observation, Alison judiciously observes, "This is pre cisely the language and principle of Napo leon; this necessity of advancing to avoid being destroyed, is the accompaniment of power founded on force in all ages. The British power in India was driven on to greatness by the same necessity which im pelled the European conquerer to Moscow and the Kremlin; it is the prodigious differ ence in the use they made of their power, even when' acquired by violence, which hitherto, at least, has saved them from the fate which so soon overtook him." Every subsequent collision of England with France, or any of the European powers, was sure to increase their entanglements in India. The native Princes that united with the enemies of England in order to expel them from the country, were sure in the end to be over thrown. Many of them again failed to car ry out the stipulations of treaties which they had formed, and here again a fertile cause for war and future annexation of territory, was found. The act which Mr. Pitt carried in 1784, and to which we have already referred, con tained the remarkable declaration, "that to pursue schemes of conquest and exten sion of diminion in India, are measures re pugnant to the wish, the honor, and the policy of this nation," and yet, at that time, the territories which had been acquired by Clive and Hastings, had been gained, as we have seen, mainly by efforts to preserve the immunities of the Company; and the Means which were essential to their reservation directly led to an extension of empire. Thus the war in 1789, under Lord Cornwal lis, with Tippoo, was provoked by that Chieftain's attack on Travancore. In 1799, and for several years subse quently, under the administration of Wel lesley, the French, the Mahrattas, and the celebrated leader, Tippoo, again involved the British in war. Then again, during the government of the Marquis of Hastings, the aggressions of the Nepaulese, the barbarous incursions of the Pindarries, the insincerity of the Mahrattas, and the treachery of the. Rajah of Nagpore, led to the operations of the veare 1814-1819. Thus it has been, that in the course of a century, when once the career of con quest was entered on in India, the arms of Britain have, with varying success, been mainly victorious; and at present, the Brit ish flag floats from the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin, and from the Hindoo Koosh beyond the Indus, at Attack and Lahore, across the Bay of Bengal to Sings.- pore, at the extreme South of the Malayan peninsula. We search the records of anti quity in vain for any parallel to such an em pire. Rome never ruled over more than one hundred and twenty millions of people, and they were nearly all directly accessible, from the Mediterranean sea, as a centre of influ ence. In India, Britain has gained al dominion over nearly two hundred millions of souls, to reach whom her vessels of war have to traverse the ocean for nearly eight thousand miles. The