The death of the Rev. Joseph Orton, Wesleyan Missionary, the news of which arrived at Melbourne by the "Posthumous," produced a painful sensation among the large class of the religious public of that place, to whom, during his short continuance there, he had endeared himself by his truly catholic spirit and peaceful demeanour. Mr. Orton was called out into the public ministry amongst the Wesleyan Methodists in 1826, and appointed to a circuit in Jamaica, where he suffered severely in his health from the sickliness of the climate, the constancy of his labours, but more especially from false imprisonment, to which he was subjected on account of his manfully standing upon his privileges as a British subject, which was attempted to be denied by the local authorities of that island.

He was appointed by the British Conference to the general superintendence of the Wesleyan Societies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land in 1831, in the latter end of which year, we believe, he arrived in the sister colony, and during the succeeding years he continued to fill the same office, alike agreeably to his brethren in the ministry - successfully to the societies under his charge - and satisfactorily to the Missionary Committee who appointed him. On his arrival in these colonies he found the societies universally in a divided condition, and by the blessing of God upon his prudence and promptitude, he left them, with but one exception, in a united and flourishing state, greatly increased both in the number of their preachers and members.

He was the first ordained minister who proclaimed the heart reviving news of the Gospel in Australia Felix, and his public labours terminated in the same province. He felt a peculiar attachment to the aboriginal mission in the District of Port Phillip, to the establishment of which he was mainly instrumental, and the members of the Wesleyan Society in Melbourne will feel long and and lastingly indebted to him for the deep interest that he took in their prosperity, and for the valuable services he rendered them, out of the ordinary course of Methodistical discipline, at a time, when above all others, those services were required. The Wesleyan Society, and the friends of religion in Melbourne, will, we have no doubt feel the thought consolatory, now that they shall see his face no more, that the testimonial of their affectionate and Christian regard which they presented to him on his departure from amongst them, was neither omitted nor supinely or reluctantly performed.

While Mr. Orton was a strict disciplinarian, in the management of the Societies under his charge, and carefully attended to their government, he did not neglect pulpit duties and cultivation of ministerial talent. Though not a great preacher, he was in every place highly acceptable, and the sermons which he delivered were usually above mediocrity, and often of a superior description. He was more instructive and persuasive in his public discourses, than alarming: and his tender regard for his perishing fellow-men, while addressing them, often produced such strong emotions in his breast that made his voice to falter, and his eyes to fill with tears.

His success was great, and in almost every place where he laboured, he had souls to his ministry. Mr. Orton would not have been man if he had not had failings, but these were so few and so feeble when compared to his excellencies, that they make but little abatement in his inestimable character. His temperament was warm, and while his sanguine disposition hurried him forward in the service of his divine master, he was some times in danger of being thrown off his guard from the same cause into an improper degree of feeling bordering on irritation. This it is believed was his greatest failing, and being constitutional was not easily eradicated, and often caused him much grief when in secret.

For a few months previous to the departure of Mr. Orton from Port Phillip to England, he had laboured under very severe indisposition, which rendered him almost entirely unable to discharge any of the ministerial duties in which he so much delighted. A long sea voyage in his precarious state of health was hazardous, but there appeared to him no alternative but to undertake it, or criminally to shrink from the performance of a painful and dangerous duty; he chose the former, and fell a martyr to what he considered an imperative duty.

The unfavourable symptoms of his disease, as he approached the latitude of Cape Horn increased, and when about one hundred miles distant from that place, finding his end approaching, he requested the Captain, in order to spare the feelings of Mrs. Orton and his family, that he would not commit his remains to the ocean, but that he would cause them to be interred in a grave on the Falkland Islands; this, however, could not be complied with, and two days after his decease, his body was committed to the turbulent element.

He had expressed himself the subject of very severe temptation, previous to his death, and felt most keenly the leaving of his beloved wife and amiable family in their peculiarly solitary circumstances, but a short time before his death he was relieved from all foreboding apprehension and distressing fears, both in reference to himself, his family, and the church with which he stood connected, frequently whispering, "All is well."