possible the threatening calamity. He addressed his family in strains of piety; but we no longer observe the spirit of earnest hope and exultation which usually characterizes his Conference letters. Thus he wrote to his wife and daughters, from Hull, soon after he had entered upon his presidential duties: "I have just time to tell you that I am in good health, and as happy as a man can expect to be with such a weight of responsibility resting upon him. We had a blessed day on the Sabbath, when I had to preach as the new president in the forenoon. I believe the Lord was my helper.

"I had to examine thirty candidates for our full ministry on Saturday night. The ordination takes place to-morrow.

"Poor Mr. Howard, of Leeds, is gone. He died relying on the great atonement of Christ; and his temporal affairs were all settled before he expired. What is our life?

"Twenty-nine out of the thirty young men who are to be ordained, attribute their present position chiefly to religious training the example and prayers of their parents, especially of their mothers. We have prayed. O let us pray more for all our children! Thank God for those of them who have chosen the better part."

When Dr. Newton separated from his brethren in Hull, his duties as the president of the Conference did not end, but continued through the year; yet there was no perceptible diminution in the number of his occasional services. The care of all the circuits of the connection, to a considerable extent, devolved upon him; and he was the willing servant of all, ready for every good work. In the course of the autumn he visited Scotland, where his preaching had long been highly appreciated, and where crowds of all denominations flocked to hear him. On the 2d of November, he thus addressed Mrs. Newton and his children from Edinburgh :

"The kind Hand which has so long been upon us for good, brought me here in safety. We had a large tea-meeting here on Tuesday evening, after my arrival in this city. Yesterday we had the district meeting, and the missionary meeting at Leith in the evening. At one o'clock to-day I set off for Dundee, and proceed to Aberdeen to-morrow.

"What recollections rushed into my mind as I came by the railway from Newcastle to 'Old Reeky!' Our ride together on the dicky of the coach, with old Nanny in the inside! The scenery! Nearly half a century since then has elapsed. Children and children's children have been born: whom may God, for Christ's sake, for ever bless! What is our life? May we make the best of what may yet remain ! "The Rev. the President is somebody here. The Lord enable me to act worthy of my vocation! Janet is very kind."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE British Conference of 1849 was held in Manchester, and Dr. Newton was kindly entertained at the house of his friend, Robert Townend, Esq., of Broughton, as was also the Rev. Edward Batty, who had come from the Channel Islands to attend this annual meeting of his brethren in the ministry. Mr. Batty was present in the Conference during the morning sitting of the first day of its assembling, and then returned to Mr. Townend's indisposed. Medical aid was obtained; but the complaint proved to be the Asiatic cholera, which terminated fatally about midnight. He was a spiritually-minded man, took a lively interest in the proceedings of the Conference that morning, expressed his thankfulness that he had been able to tender the votes which he had that day given, declared his cheerful trust in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, his entire resignation to the Divine will; and died in great peace, full of immortal hope.

From the time of Mr. Batty's seizure, till his death, Dr. Newton displayed the most perfect self-possession, arising from an unshaken confidence in God; and his prayers, that the shield of the D vine protection might be placed around the family, made a deep impression upon all its members. His Christian fortitude was to them an example, and a means of encouragement. Several of his friends attempted to persuade him to remove to other lodgings; but his answer was, "No: I will stand my ground, and not forsake my friends in the time of their trouble."

Writing to Mrs. Newton on the third day after the assembling of the Conference, he says: "I have just time to say that I am quite as well as usual. We have, however, had a most painful visitation in the sudden death of Mr. Batty. He was in the Conference at twelve o'clock at noon, and in heaven at half-past twelve that night! I committed his body to the dust the following day, at Cheetham Hill. We have no fear at all on the ground of infection. If, therefore, you can come over this afternoon, I am satisfied you need not fear. We are in the hands of an all-powerful and merciful Providence.

"On the motion of Mr. Reece, seconded by Dr. Bunting, I received the unanimous thanks of the Conference. I could not leave the Conference when you called at the door of the chapel, as I was in the act of calling the newly-elected president" (the writer of these memoirs) "to the chair. We have had a good beginning, and I devoutly hope we shall be conducted to a happy termination.

and

"We have sent for characters if they can. God defend the right!"

to clear their

To this Conference many persons had looked forward with intense interest, and even with anxiety. In the Wesleyan body the evil to which reference has already been made was gathering strength. It had done immense harm to the cause of spiritual religion; and it was perceived that, unless its progress could be arrested, a general blight upon the Methodist ministry and societies would inevitably ensue. Evil surmising, jealousy, backbiting, reviling, and calumny, in certain quarters, had taken the place of mutual confidence and brotherly affection; and if this state of things were to become general, the ministers and societies saw that, instead of directing their energies against ignorance and ungodliness at home, and heathenism abroad, they would be wasting their lives in the indulgence of malignant passions, and in mutual recrimina

tions. Anonymous pamphlets,* containing attacks upon the characters of the most able and useful men in the body, were increased in number, and circulated with avidity.

Among the ancient people of God, when men fell under suspicion of particular crimes, the Almighty directed that they should be required to clear themselves upon oath, and

* In respect of an anonymous assailant of character in the last century, whom these pamphleteers could imitate in nothing but his rancor and audacity, Dr. Johnson says: "Of Junius it cannot be said, as of Ulysses, that he scatters ambiguous expressions among the vulgar; for he cries 'havoc' without reserve, and endeavors to 'let slip the dogs of war,' ignorant whither they are going, and careless what may be their prey.

"Junius has sometimes made his satire felt; but let not injudicious admiration mistake the venom of the shaft for the vigor of the bow. He has sometimes sported with lucky malice; but to him that knows his company, it is not hard to be sarcastic in a mask. While he walks like Jack the Giant-killer, in a coat of darkness, he may do much mischief with little strength.

"Junius burst into notice with a blaze of impudence which has rarely glared upon the world before, and drew the rabble after him as a monster makes a show. When he had once provided for his safety by impenetrable secrecy, he had nothing to combat but truth and justice, enemies whom he knows to be feeble in the dark. Being then at liberty to indulge himself in all the immunities of invisibility; out of the reach of danger, he has been bold; out of the reach of shame, he has been confident.

"Junius is an unusual phenomenon, on which some have gazed with wonder and terror; but wonder and terror are transitory passions. He will soon be more closely viewed or more attentively examined, and what folly has taken for a comet, that from its flaming hair shook pestilence and war, inquiry will find to be only a meteor formed by the vapors of putrefying democracy, and kindled into flame by the effervescence of interest struggling with conviction; which, after having plunged its followers in a bog, will leave us inquiring why we regard it."-" Falkland's Islands."