As our readers are aware, the subjects treated on in this journal have been exclusively those which are either directly, or indirectly, connected with the function of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION—the " Preservation of Life from Shipwreck." On the principle of " sub-division of labour," a principle which has produced such immense results in the world, we have, from the first publication of this journal, in 1852, thought it best to thus restrict our subject matter. Hence we have left politics, theology, &c., to be treated on by those to whom they pertain.

Nevertheless we may, without inconsistency, briefly refer to a good work inaugurated by an excellent society devoted to the promotion of the moral and religious welfare of our merchant sea- men, the " British and Foreign Sailors' Society," whose headquarters are the Sailors' Institute, Shadwell, London.

Indeed, when it is remembered how many hundreds of vessels, and probably thousands of lives have been lost through the vice of drunken- ness alone, we may truly feel that the moral welfare of our seamen is indirectly connected with our own function, " the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck." The immediate occasion of our present notice of the above named Society is the circumstance, which deserves to be widely published and com- mended, that it has offered two prizes, of, severally, 1007. and 501. for the two best essays on " The British and Foreign Mercantile Marine, how best to improve, afloat and ashore, the material, mental, and moral well-being of our Sailors." As far back as the year 1836, the same Society gave a prize of 50& for the best essay on the " Moral Claims of British Seamen." The essay to which it was adjudged, was written by the late Rev. JOHN HARRIS, D.D., a popular Independent Minister of the day, and was entitled " Britannia," and dedicated to His Majesty King William IV. It was an earnest and eloquent appeal on behalf of our seamen, and we remember reading it with great pleasure and profit at the time.

For the conditions, fec., of the competition for the above prizes, our space being limited, we must refer those who wish to learn them to the zealous Secretary of the Society, the Rev. E. W. MAT- THEWS, at the Sailors' Institute.

We may state that the Society is under the general direction of a Committee of Managing Directors, of which THOS. BRASSEY, Esq., M.P., is a prominent member, and that its President is the Most Hon. the Marquis of CHOLMONDELEY, who is also a Vice-President and Member of the Committee of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTI- TUTION.

We will only add that the working machinery by which the Society endeavours to promote the moral and religious welfare of the seamen of our mercantile marine, is the usual one—the dis- tribution of books and tracts, the formation of ships' libraries, and employment of missionaries, and that a detailed account of its proceedings will be found in an excellent monthly periodical pub- lished by it, which is appropriately entitled "the Chart and Compass, a Sailor's Magazine.".