o our Board of Foreign Missions,
the following language is used in reference to the Church at Amoy:

"As all the elements of Presbyterian organization thus existed [each
church having native elders], a further step was taken last April
[1862], when a Presbytery was constituted at Amoy by mutual consent,
consisting of all the American brethren and our own, as well as
representative elders from the several congregations. Its name is
neither the Greek 'Presbytery' employed in this country, nor is it the
Latin 'Classis,' which has long been used in Holland; but it is 'Tai
Tiong-lo-hoey,' or Great Meeting of Elders, genuine Chinese, and a
hopeful earnest of the facility with which our representative and
consultative system of polity will find its way among a sensible and
self-governing people. Of course it is not intended that this Presbytery
should in any way come between the Missionaries themselves and the
Committee or Board by which the respective Missions are administered at
home; but for the management of local matters, for disposing of
questions which may arise in the several congregations, and in regard to
which a session may require counsel or control; and for the very
important purpose of exemplifying in the most legitimate way
ecclesiastical unity, it is essential that Missionaries and native
office-bearers should come together in some such capacity. The
proceedings are conducted in Chinese, which is the only language
understood by all the members of Court, and it is in Chinese that the
minutes are kept. Three meetings have already been held. At the last,
held in January, important business was transacted affecting the 1st and
2d Congregations of Amoy, both of which are under the immediate
superintendence of the American Mission. Each congregation is desirous
of the settlement of a stated pastor, and each has agreed to call a
minister, the one congregation promising a stipend of $14 a month, and
the other $13. The calls were sustained, and the Presbytery agreed to
meet on February 21st, to proceed with the 'trials' of the brethren thus
elected. As these proved satisfactory, Sabbath, the 29th of last month,
was appointed as the day for their ordination.

"Dr. Peltz, the esteemed Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Foreign
Missions of the R.P.D.C. of N.A., has apprised the Committee, that it is
possible that a Presbytery of this composite character may not secure
the approval of their Synod. In separating from t