Great  Britain  was  waging  at  this  juncture  a  successful  war  with  Burmah,
which  was  overruled  to  the  opening  of  that  country  more  fully  to  the  gospel
and  to  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  At  home
her  population  were  suffering  from  commercial  depression,  and  the  nation  was
greatly  agitated  by  Catholic  emancipation,  the  slave  trade,  etc.  The  Churches
were  beginning  to  advance  in  missionary  zeal  and  benevolence,  and  as  a  nec-
essary result  the  tone  of  spiritual  life  was  rising.  Then,  as  now,  Great  Britain
kept  in  the  van  in  her  loyalty  to  the  missionary  cause  and  in  her  support  of
the  same.  Her  leading  Societies  contributed  about  $1,000,000  in  1825  ;  not
including  in  this  the  donations  of  the  Bible  Society  to  forward  this  department
of  work.  Ireland  was  in  a  state  of  religious  and  political  fermentation.  The
Roman  Catholic  population  were  open  and  violent  in  their  opposition  to  the
circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  peasantry  were  socially  in  a  sad  and  im-
poverished condition.
AFRICA.
Passing  from  Europe  to  the  continent  of  Africa,  we  reach  a  land  of  dark-
ness, and  a  people  sitting  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death.  As  a  country
or  a  vast  continent,  much  of  it,  especially  in  the  interior,  was  unknown  ;  but
at  that  time,  great  exertions  were  made  by  travelers  and  explorers  to  behold
its  wonders.  Morally  and  socially,  the  state  of  the  tribes  was  truly  deplorable,
and  this  was  rendered  worse  by  the  conduct  of  Christian  nations  who  by  their
cupidity  were  spreading  misery,  devastation,  and  death  over  all  her  coasts,  and
whose  ministers  of  ruin  stood  in  the  way  of  the  missionary  of  peace.
