The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924100387491 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 100 387 491 In compliance with current Copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 2005 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ENGLAND AND INDIA: ON THE DUTY OF ENGLISHMEN TOWAEDS THE HINDOOS. BY BAPTIST WKIOTHESLEY NOEL, M.A. " All kings shall fall down before him : all nations shall ser^e him," — Psalm lxxii. " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." — John xii. LONDON: JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BEENEES STEEET. M.DCCC.LIX. EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PAUL'S WORK. PREFACE. I have written this book because something of this kind was wanted. One hundred and thirty-two millions of our fel- low-subjects in India — not to speak of forty-eight millions in the allied States — are dishonoring God, and are themselves in great danger. Of these, one hundred and twelve millions of Hindoos are wor- shipping obscene idols instead of God, in total ignor- ance of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and twenty millions of Mahommedans, while they misrepresent God, hate the Lord Jesus Christ: yet we have done almost nothing to convert them. Over thirty-six millions of these we have ruled a hundred years, and many millions of them have not to this day once heard from us of God or of Jesus our Saviour. IV PREFACE. Christians being not their own, but bought with a price, should glorify God with their bodies and their spirits, which are His (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20). Yet millions of professed Christians in England, who have among them wealth, talent, education, and leisure, have seen God shamefully dishonored by our fellow-subjects, without doing any thing to remove that dishonor. Christians live to the Lord Jesus Christ, because they belong to Him (Rom. xiv. 7-9). Yet these professed Christians have done almost nothing to preach Him to the Hindoos, who never heard of Him ; or to the Mahommedans, who hate Him. Idolatry is fatal to the Hindoos,* and the hatred of Christ to the Mahommedans.f Yet these professed Christians have done nothing to save these Hindoos and Mahommedans, though they were under their Master's express orders to preach the gospel to every one of them (Mark xvi. 15), and " to pull each one out of the fire " (Jude 23). This indifference to the honor of God, to the commands of Christ, and to the salvation of our fellow-subjects, I have endeavoured to lessen. Opinions are entertained by influential persons respecting our relations with India, which seem to * 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 ; Gal. v. 19, 21 ; Rev. xsL 8, xxii. 15. t John iii. 36 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 22. PKEFACE. V me false and mischievous. Not satisfied with the official impartiality which should distinguish both the Government and its servants, they wish to make Christians in India neutral between truth and false- hood, between Christ and a licentious impostor, and between God and idols who are like the devil. Thus they would hinder eight hundred and eight civilians,* and a larger number of military officers, from honor- ing God, from serving Christ, and from converting some of the Hindoos. " They please not God, and are contrary to all men : forbidding us to speak to the heathen that they might be saved " (1 Thess. ii. 15, 16). Ascribing, too, the mutiny to wrong causes — such as the abolition of the suttee, the law which allows widows to marry, the Government system of education, and the favor shown to missionaries; instead of to the true causes — the magnitude of the Bengal army, the number of high-caste and Mahom- medan soldiers in it, their complete ignorance of Christianity, and their fears of being tricked out of their caste by the greased cartridges ; these gentle- men would perpetuate the mistakes which have caused the mutiny, and, learning nothing from the dismal events through which we have passed, would lead us, after a little while, through the old errors * De Valbezen, Les Anglais et l'lnde, p. 42. 3d Edit. VI PREFACE. to new and greater calamities. These opinions I have combated. Finally, as we" are all much less earnest for the honor of God and for the salvation of India than we ought to be, I have set before such of my fellow- Christians as may read this book some facts which are adapted to increase our zeal and charity. Christian Reader, may God lead us to know and do our duty ! CONTENTS. INTBODUCTION. PAGE I. THE CONFESSION OF CHRIST BY THE EAST INDIA GOVERNMENT . 3 II. THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA . . .24 PART FIRST. DUTIES ARISING OUT OF THE MUTINY. I. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS . . .45 II. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY . . .82 PART SECOND. OF THINGS TO BE REMOVED OR AMENDED BY THE EAST INDIA GOVERNMENT. I. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES . . . . .107 II. ON THE SANCTION AND SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS . .139 III. ON THE SANCTION AND SUPPORT OF CASTE . . .170 IV. THE TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY . 1 88 Vlll CONTENTS. PAET THIED. SOME THINGS WHICH THE EAST INDIA GOVEKNMENT OUGHT TO DO. PAGE I. GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED .... 209 II. NATIONAL EDUCATION ..... 228 III. OF EAISING THE OPPEESSED CLASSES OF INDIA . .266 PAET FOUETH. OF THE DUTIES OF INDIVIDUALS. L THE DUTY OF THE SERVANTS OF THE EAST INDIA GOVERNMENT TO PROMOTE THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST AMONG THE HINDOOS 285 II. ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN INDIA '. . . .311 III. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN INDIA . . . .325 IV. CHRISTIAN BOOKS FOR INDIA . . . . .378 V. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE . . . .411 CONCLUSION 443 APPENDIX . . . . . .457 INTRODUCTION. I. THE CONFESSION OF CHEIST BY THE EAST INDIAN GOVEENMENT, The divine nature of Jesus Christ our Lord is plainly de- clared by God in His Word. To Him David, speaking by the Spirit of God, said, " Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever" (Ps. xlv. 6). Isaiah said of Him, "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God" (Isa. ix. 6). Micah said, " His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah v. 2). Malachi said of Him, "Jehovah, whom ye seeh, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of ilie covenant" (Mai. iii. 1). He is thus de- scribed by John, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Tlie same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him ; and without Mm was not anything made that was made" (John i. 1-3). And Paul speaks of Him thus, " Being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the like- ness of men" (Phil. ii. 6, 7). "By him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi- palities, or poivers ; all things were created by him, and for him ; and he is before all things, and by him all things con- sist" (Col. i. 16, 17). "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. iii. 16). Not less decisive are the following statements which Jesus made of 4 THE CONFESSION OF CHRIST BY himself: — " God so loved the world that he gave his only he- gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should, not perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. 16). " The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world" (John vi. 33). "I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me" (John vi. 38). " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (John viii. 58). "I and my Father are one" (John x. 30). "Now, Father, glorify thou, me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee be- fore the world was" (John xvii. 5). He descended from heaven, led a holy life, spoke as never man spoke, exercised power over all nature, filled the land with His wonders from Csssarea Philippi to Jerusalem, and died saying, "I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have 'power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John x. 17, 18). Then He ascended; and finally He sent down His Spirit, as He said He would (John xiv. 16, 26; xv. 26; Acts ii. 4, 33). From that time a Christian church was formed at Jeru- salem of thousands of Jews ; where the twelve Apostles tes- tified to the life, miracles, resurrection, and ascension of their Master in the presence of His enemies, and wrought miracles in His name. Thence they spread their faith over the Eoman empire, and formed churches of Christians, which have lasted to this hour and multiplied. He has given the clearest revelation of God,, and a perfect moral law; He has set an example in which all human virtues were blended with divine powers; He has formed by His doctrine, authority, and spirit, the most exalted characters which the world has ever known; He has civi- lised many nations; He has specially blessed and exalted the poor; and teaching the Christian husband to love his wife with a tender, self-denying, warm, and constant affec- THE EAST INDIAN GOVEKNMENT. 5 tion, like His own to the Church, has raised woman to virtue, dignity, and happiness. But He has secured for us greater blessings than these. By atoning for the sins of men, He has brought pardon to the guilty, adoption to the outcast, purity to the depraved, wisdom to the foolish, benevolence to the selfish, and heaven to the heirs of hell. Through Him thousands have gone to glory, and thousands more are going thither. He is now watching over His disciples with never-failing sympathy, and pleading their cause before God (Heb. iv. 14-16; vii. 25); where two or three meet in His name He is there (Matt, xviii. 20) ; He answers all their prayers (John xiv. 13, 14); He gives them all needful grace (Kom i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3; 2 Cor. xii. 9); and at death He wel- comes each of them to Himself (2 Cor. v. 8 ; Phil. i. 2, 3). At length He will come again in all the splendor of Deity (Matt. xxv. 31 ; Eev. xx. 11), attended by His angels (Matt, xxv. 31), when His voice will wake the dead (John v. 28, 29), to stand before Him as their judge (Matt. xxv. 31, 32; Acts xvii. 31; 2 Cor. v. 10; Eev. xx. 11, 12); and then, with omniscient wisdom, with perfect justice, and with Almighty power, He will assign to each one of all the mil- lions of mankind, his place in heaven or in hell (Matt. xxv. 31-46; John v. 29). All men living are bound to become Christians, because they have evidence that Jesus is the only Saviour, given by God the Father, to rescue from punishment, and to receive to eternal happiness all who believe in Him. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that-v>hosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but 6 THE CONFESSION OE CHRIST BY he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God " (John iii. 14-18). " This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day " (John vi. 40). " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life" (John vi. 47). Those who own their sins, depend for salvation upon His merit and mediation, and so take His yoke, becoming His servants, are saved ; and those who are too proud to own their sins, too self-righteous to trust in Him for salvation, and too self-willed to take His yoke, will perish. Thus, all men are bound to believe in Him that they may be saved. On the other hand, those who believe in Him must confess His authority. "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. x. 32). "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation " (Rom. x. 9, 10). li God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. ii. 9-11). If any man is a Christian, he confesses openly before the world, that Jesus is Saviour and Lord; and if any man does not so confess Him, he is no Christian. We are called as Christians to confess Him to be " God manifest in the flesh," "Immanuel" the Saviour of lost sinners, our Saviour, our Lord, our Judge, before the ignorant, before unbelievers, and before His enemies. We ought to do it from a regard to truth, because as we believe Him to be our Saviour, it is hypocritical to lead THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 7 others, by our silence, to think we do not believe it ; and we ought to do it, because He is so good, that He is worthy of all the honor we can give Him. No one else could or would have saved us; but He by His unexampled humility, by His long and severe sufferings, by His kind- ness, which in all. its circumstances is unparalleled, has done it, and not to confess Him before men would be base ingratitude. His death to redeem us has filled heaven with admiration. There, ten thousand times ten thousand beings, loftier and wiser than we are, express their admiration of Him by saying, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing" (Eev. v. 12), and none but depraved natures can be inclined to despise their homage. Even if gratitude did not urge us to confess Him, we ought to do it from obedience to His will, for He " has all power in heaven and earth" (Matt, xxviii. 18). God has exalted Him for this purpose, that men should confess Him to be the Lord of all (Phil. ii. 9, 11) ; and He claimed this respect Himself, when He said, " Whosoever therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. x. 32). To be silent is the disobedience of the soldier to his commander, and of the subject to his king. We know Him to be our Lord, then why not obey His orders'? " Wliy call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which L say?" (Luke vi. 46.) " Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you " (John xv. 14). Then we should remember how much we need Him. If any think that they are safe enough without a Saviour, and mean to venture into the eternal world trust- ing to their own virtues for eternal life, it is intelligible that they should give Him no honor ; but Christians know their need of Him. We are pardoned through His atoning sacrifice (John iii. 16, 36; Matt. xx. 28; Eom. iii. 23, 24; 8 THE CONFESSION OF CHRIST BY 2 Cor. v. 21; Gal. iii. 10, 13). We are saved through His intercession (1 John ii. 1; Hebrews vii. 25). He is our wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemp- tion (1 Cor. i. 30). We need Him to take care of us, for we are weak and ignorant ; and we shall need His favor when we stand before Him as our Judge (John v. 22; Acts xvii. 31; Eom. ii. 16; 2 Cor. v. 10, &c, &c.) Since, there- fore, we are sure to be saved if He undertakes our cause, and as sure to be lost if He rejects us, it is wise to give Him some respect, by acknowledging openly in the world what we know to be His real dignity, goodness, and power. Besides, we should do this on another ground. Of those who live to please themselves, not Him, He has told us, that, in the hour of judgment, He means to say to His attendant officers, "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. xxv. 30) ; while to each of those who openly and faithfully served Him He will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will inalce thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matt. xxv. 23). The results of that welcome are so important, that no man should slight them ; but they become more momentous when viewed in conjunction with the consequences of the opposite conduct. If any persons, from fear or false shame, or any other cause, deny that Jesus is the Saviour of sinners, the Lord of all, their own Saviour and Lord, He will deny them to be His followers or friends before the whole world. If any, with- out going the length of denying Him, will conceal His claims, not acknowledging Him to be their Saviour and their Lord, their reception will be similar to that of the deniers ; for He has said, " Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 9 angels" (Mark viii. 38). And this is manifestly just: for of what a contemptible hypocrisy are those guilty, who know Him to be the only Saviour of sinners, and dare not own it ! and with what ingratitude are those chargeable, who say, among His disciples, that they hope to be saved by Him ; and then will publicly before the world dishonor Him by their silence and neglect ! Are they His followers who disobey* His plain and peremptory orders 1 Can they expect to be owned, and blessed, and saved by Him who do Him dishonor 1 He will acknowledge and reward those who confessed and served Him ; but how can they expect anything but exclusion from His presence, who valued the applause -of men more than His approbation, and who feared their frown more than His displeasure % If Peter wept bitterly because he had in one weak hour disowned Him, how will those be confounded who disowned Him all through their lives ! " The fearful shall have their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone" (Rev. xxi. 8). To be ashamed of the Son of God, of our Redeemer and Saviour — of Him who bore shame that we might have glory — of Him who endured sorrow that we might be happy — who is the witness of our conduct, our almighty and omniscient Judge — is a contempt so base, so cowardly, so ungrateful, so depraved, that the whole universe will applaud the authoritative decision, which sentences all guilty of it to shame and everlasting contempt. That which is the duty of all Christians must be the duty of the members of the East Indian Government, if they are Christians. If any men do not profess to be Christians, they ought not to be sent by professed Christians to govern a heathen people ; because their irreligion must more than neutralise the advantages to be derived from their talent or energy : and if the Governors of India are professed Chris- tians, they should confess Christ. Of governors especially has God said — "All kings shall fall down before him" (Ps. 10 THE CONFESSION OP CHRIST BY lxxii. 11), and the Governors of India, no less than all other redeemed persons, are commanded openly and without reserve to " confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. ii. 9-11). They are not called to persecute Mahommedans or Hindoos; because it is the will of Christ that His religion should be extended by instruction, reasoning, and per- suasion ; and because man is answerable for --his belief to God alone, so that no man may interfere with another man's creed as long as he does not violate his neighbour's rights, or offend against public decency. They must not, as Chris- tians, prohibit heathen worship, nor interfere with its advocates when they preach or write in its behalf; because truth is always the strongest when it is left to contend with falsehood by itself. If error is silenced by authority, its advocates may always say that it would have conquered by fair play ; but when truth prevails by argument alone, its victory is complete. They are not therefore permitted to bribe heathens to profess faith in Christ, by the offer of office, or by attaching any honors or emoluments to that profession ; for this may create hypocrites but cannot make men Christians. They should not tax the Hindoos for the purpose of maintaining Christian preachers; because this by extorting their money for the purpose of destroying their faith, would exasperate them rather than convert them to Christ ; nor are they called as Christians to pass any laws for the promotion of Christianity ; nor to make any grants of money for this object ; nor to employ any missionaries; for this work is not their office, and they are not fitted to dis- charge it. But it is their duty to confess Christ, and to serve Him both as individual Christians and as a government. As individuals, they have received from their Master, by His servant Paul, the following command, " Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus " (Col. iii. 17). THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 1 1 The Governor-General, for instance, should let all men know that Jesus Christ is his Master. If he converses with friends, sees Europeans and others at his levees, or receives deputations from any bodies of men, or speaks in public, he should never be ashamed to own that he is the servant of Christ; that he believes Christ to be the only Saviour ; and wishes all his fellow-men to believe in Him for their salva- tion. The actions of the Governor-General should no less express his. faith. He should read His Word, and pray with his family in His name ; honor the Lord's day, obey His will, as contained in the New Testament, associate with His most faithful disciples, aid the efforts of His servants to make Him known, contribute from his private purse to societies for the circulation of the Bible, and for the support of missionaries, and show kindness to missionaries before the world. The King of Prussia lately, to his credit, invited to his palace at Pots- dam about eight hundred ministers of religion and others, who were come to Berlin to attend the evangelical confer- ence, simply to show his love for the gospel and his faith in Jesus Christ. The Governor-General might do the same. The East Indian Government, likewise as a government, without taxing their heathen subjects to maintain bishops, chaplains, or missionaries, which the natives would feel to be unjust, may, nevertheless, confess and serve Christ, both by their words and actions. As Mahommedan rulers before them acknowledged Mahommed, they may, in all their laws, proclamations, public papers, and treaties with the native princes, acknowledge themselves to be the servants of Jesus Christ. So all they do should be done avowedly with regard to His authority. Because they are Christians, they should not encourage false religions, nor discourage the servants of Christ, nor dishonor Christ by immoral acts; but rule the people with avowed subjection to His authority, and see that every law that they pass, and every measure which they adopt, should be in harmony with His law. 12 THE CONFESSION OF OHEIST BY Such being the duty of the East Indian Government, they have, alas, neglected it. "The Government and all its servants have hitherto refused public support and countenance to efforts for converting the natives of India."* May 29, 1807, the Court of Directors declared their senti- ments in the following paragraph of a letter to Fort St George, — " In the whole course of our administration of the Indian territories, it has been our known and declared principle to maintain a perfect toleration of the various religious systems which prevailed in it, to protect the followers of each in the undisturbed enjoyment of their respective opinions and usages, and neither to interfere with them ourselves, nor to suffer them to he molested by others."^ This traditional policy referred both to the servants of the Company, and to missionaries. As to the first, Sir J. Malcolm says, " Let the clergymen in the employ of Govern- ment, whether as ministers of religion or professors of colleges, be prohibited from using their endeavours to make converts." J And the Government has taken the same view ; for when Mr Fisher, chaplain at Meerut, baptized, in 1819, Prabhu Din, a sepoy of the 25th Native Infantry, Major Brown, then in command of the regiment, reported to the Commander-in-Chief that he had been baptized " without his privity or consent ;"§ upon which the Governor-General answered by the military secretary of the Government, " the Governor-General in Council is disposed to view the matter in the most serious light." A military committee was appointed to examine the circumstances, and Prabhu Din, though an excellent soldier, was dismissed the regiment for becoming a Christian. || With respect to efforts made by other Christians to con- vert the natives, the Court of Directors said further in their * Sir John Malcolm's Political History of India, ii., 267. t Ibid, 273. % Ibid., 268. § Wilkinson's Sketches of Christianity in India, 252. || Ibid., 253, 262. THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 13 letter of 1807, "When we afforded our countenance and sanction to missionaries, .... it was far from being in our contemplation to add the influence of our authority to any attempts they might make." * " About this period the attention of the G-overnor-General in Council was called to the public preaching of the missionaries, and the issue from the press of works in the vernacular language of the coun- try, which were highly offensive to the religious feelings of the natives."! The Governor-General in Council, Lord Minto, reporting to the Directors, said, " When publications and public preachings, calculated not to conciliate but to irritate the minds of the people, were brought to the notice of Government, the interposition of the ruling power became necessary to preclude the apprehended effects of these dan- gerous and unprofitable proceedings."! Lord Minto after- wards added, " It could not be supposed that any former administration would have deemed it consistent with the public safety, or with the obligations of the public faith as pledged to the native subjects of the Company, for the un- molested increase of their religions, to permit the circulation of such inflammatory works as those which had been brought to notice." § Previous administrations had, indeed, been more severe when, " in the close of 1 79 9, four missionaries arrived from England, the harsh and jealous policy of the Company forbad their settling in the British dominions." || " The missionaries desired nothing beyond simple permis- sion to preach the gospel." But this was denied them ; and when they fled to Serampore, " for many years they con- tinued to be watched narrowly, to be viewed with suspi- cion, and even sometimes threatened with an expulsion from the country ."If "So anomalous was the conduct of Government, that whilst it proscribed the simple unaided dissemination of the gospel, it not only protected idolatry, * Malcolm, ii., 273. f Ibid., 274. % Ibid., 277. § Ibid., 298. || Life of Carey, by Eustace Carey, 349. *5T Ibid., 352. 1 i THE CONFESSION OE CHRIST BY but condescended to regulate its rites, and even to profit by some of its practices." * December 5, 17.99,. Mr Brunsdon wrote home, " We find every attempt to go up the country would only irritate Government ; and more, we have it from good authority that the Governor-General in Council said that he woidd send either of us on board ship that should be found in the Company's territory."! "Mr Carey and his companions had no sooner settled themselves at Seram- ppre, than they had to encounter the opposition of the ruling powers." j September 2, 1806, the missionaries wrote, " Our brethren, Chater and Eobinson, who arrived here last week, went, as is customary, to the police-office to report their arrival; on which occasion some demur arose about permitting them to proceed to Serampore. Brother Carey therefore went to town on Tuesday last, and waited on two of the justices of the peace, Mr Blacquiere and Mr Thoro- ton, about the matter. As he was leaving the office, Mr Blacquiere called him back, and said that he had been directed by the Governor-General (Sir George Barlow) to express to him his desire that he would not interfere with the prejudices of the natives by preaching to them, instructing them, or distributing books and pamphlets among them; that he would desire his colleagues to observe the same line of conduct; and that we would not permit the converted natives to go into the country to spread Christianity among the people."^ " Souls are perishing on every side, and we are forbidden to administer the remedy which God has put into our hands." || Nov. 18, 1806, Dr Carey wrote, "No communication concerning the mission has been made from Government ; yet several circumstances combine to make me conclude that the removal of it, or even the suppression of it, would not be matter of regret to the Governor-General/'IT * Life of Carey, by Eustace Carey, 353. f Ibid, 367. t Ibid, 482. § Letter of the Missionaries, ibid., 484. || Ibid., 486. IT Letter of Dr Carey, ibid., 489. THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 15 The 17th of June 1812, Messrs Judson and Newell, Ame- rican missionaries, with their wives, arrived at Calcutta. " At this period the East India Company were, both theo- retically and practically, opposed to every effort for the evangelisation of India. Whatever may have been their reasons, they had determined, by all the means in their power, to resist the introduction of Christianity among the native subjects of the British Crown in Bengal. About ten days after their arrival they were summoned to Cal- cutta, and an order was read to them, requiring them immediately to leave the country and return to America. They petitioned for leave to reside in some other part of India, but were prohibited from settling in any part of the Company's territories."* These facts prove that the traditionary policy of the Company, " not themselves to interfere with the opinions of the natives, nor to suffer them to he molested by others," was meant to apply both to chaplains and missionaries : the former were to be forbidden to obey our Lord's order to " preach the gospel to every creature," and the latter were to be disco uraged in their efforts to obey it. Since that day the practice is modified, but the spirit which dictated it is not wholly extinct. Captain Eastwick, one of the Directors, in a speech at the East India House, which does him much credit, says, " I sympathise with my whole heart with the missionary movement. It is my solemn belief that God has given us that great country to promote the spread of His gospel ; and that as we fulfil or fall short of this end, so will our reward or punishment as a nation be."t This marks a great change in the tone of the Directors since that time, when one of them, upon the proposal of Mr Haldane to establish a mission at Benares, was reported 'to say, " I * Wayland's Life of Judson, i. 87. f Speech of Captain Eastwick, p. 15. London : 1858. 1 6 THE CONFESSION OP CHRIST. BY would rather see a band of devils in India than a band of Christian missionaries."* Captain Eastwick was, moreover, able to add, " The chairman, the deputy-chairman, my friend on my left (Mr Willoughby), and other members of the court, have been earnest and constant supporters of missionary labours while in India." t Still the British Government of India has to this day supported idolatry, and opposed the progress of the gospel ! A despatch of the Court of Directors, of February 20, 1833, much to their honor, states: "It is not necessary that we should take part in the celebration of an idolatrous ceremony, or that we should assist in the preparations for it, or that we should afford to it such systematic support as shall accredit it in the eyes of the people, and prevent it from expiring through the effect of neglect or accident." J " We cannot conceive that a government which believes those rites to be deeply founded in error ... is at liberty to show to them any degree of positive sanction or encourage- ment." We conclude, " That in all matters relating to their temples, their worship, their festivals, their religious prac- tices, their ceremonial observances, our native subjects be left entirely to themselves. " We more particularly desire, that the management of all temples, and other places of religious resort, together with the revenues derived therefrom, be resigned into the hands of the natives." § Nothing can be more just than this language. But the Bombay Guardian of Nov. 21, 1857, states that, notwith- standing these jplain injunctions, the support rendered by the Government to idols is extended over great part of India: — " In the Madras Presidency there are now 8292 idols and temples receiving from Government an annual payment * Life of Robert Haldane, by A. Haldane, Esq., third edition, p. 118. t Speech, p. 17. J Ibid., p. 20. § Ibid., pp. 20-22. THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 1 7 of £97,678. In the Bombay Presidency there are 26,589 idols and temples under state patronage, receiving grants to the amount of £30,587; to which must be added the allow- ance for temple lands, giving a total for the Bombay Presi- dency of £69,859. For the whole of the Company's terri- tories there is annually expended, in support of idolatry, by the servants of the Company, the large sum of £171,558."* This money is not paid in one sum to one person, so that it might be little known, but it is paid in small sums to more than thirty-four thousand temples, expressly for the service of idols ; so that if the services were neglected, the payments would be withheld. If these statements of the Bombay Guardian are true, no explanation can justify the Government for these flagrant insults to Almighty God. In thirty-four thousand places their servants, by their orders, pay the priests for doing honor to those obseene idols, whom the Hindoos prefer to Him. If this money is voted annually from the public treasury, they employ public money to de- grade India, and to insult God; if the money belongs to the temples, they have no right to be the trustees of such a fund. Idolatry is classed in the Word of God with the worst vices. " The worJcs of the flesh," said the Apostle Paul, " are these: Adultery, fornication, . . . idolatry, . . . murders; . . . of which I tell you before, as I have often told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. v. 19-21). To administer a fund for the support of idolatry, is like administering it for the circula- tion of obscene books, or for promoting murder ; and the Government ought no more to administer it for the- one object than they ought for the others. By these payments they must lead the Hindoos to think that the members of the Government support the worship of Krishna as will- ingly as the worship of Christ ; and that they believe both religions to be true, or both to be false. A Bengal " regu- * Letter from a Layman in India, p. 18. London : 1858. B 18 THE CONCESSION OF CHRIST BT lation" of 1810, explains this practice thus — "Whereas considerable endowments have been granted ... for the support of mosques, Hindoo temples, colleges, and for other 'pious and beneficial purposes, ... it shall be the duty of the Board of Revenue and the Board of Commissioners, to take care that all endowments made for the maintenance of establishments of the above description be duly appropri- ated to the purpose for which they were destined by the Government or individual by whom such endowments were granted."* The practice, with respect to the thirty-four thousand temples, is more in conformity with the regulation of 1810, than with the despatch of 1833, and must convince the millions who worship in them, that the Government still considers the support of idolatry "a pious and beneficial purpose." I have next to notice with regret a prohibition issued by the Court of Directors, forbidding their servants, both civil and military, to promote the cause of Christ. All these servants of the Company are the servants of Christ, whom He has bought to be His own property. He claims them all as His bought servants, SovXovs-, who, together with their time, talent, money, and influence, belong to Him (Matt, xxv. 1 4-23) ; and His orders to them all are these : — "Ye are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. v. 14, 16). " Whosoever shall coifess me before men, him will 'I confess also before my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. x. 32). " Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, . . . of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels" (Mark viii. 38). " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. 15). His servant Paul has said to them in His name, " Stand fast in one spirit, with one * Letter from a Layman, p. 8, THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 19 mind striving together for the faith of the gospel " (Phil. i. 27). His servant James says to them, on His authority, " If any do err from the truth, and one convert him ; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death" (Jas. v. 20). And the Apostle J~u.de says to them, of these sinners, " Of some have compassion, making a difference : and others save with fear, pulling them out of the f re " (Jude 22, 23). Further, our Lord, both Himself and by His apostles, orders these civil and military servants of the Company to aid His mis- sionary servants. See Matt. x. 40-42 ; xxv. 31-46 ; 3 John 5-8. But a despatch from the Directors to the Governor- General, of 21st April 1847, runs thus : — "You are aware that we have uniformly maintained the principle of abstain- ing from all interference with the religion of the natives. It is essential to the due observance of that principle that it should be acted on hy all our servants, civil and military. The Government is known throughout India by its officers, with whom it is identified in the eyes of the native" inhabi- tants ; and our servants should therefore be aware that, while invested with public authority, their acts cannot be regarded as those of private individuals." The despatch further directed the issue of orders to all public officers, for- bidding the support of missionary efforts. 4 '' Our Saviour, who is our Lord and Judge, has ordered the civil and mili- tary servants of the Company to confess His name before the Hindoos, to strive for the faith, to convert the natives, and to aid the missionaries : the Directors have ordered them not to do these things. The orders, indeed, of that despatch were not executed by Lord Hardinge, but it remains still in force ; and " it is rumoured that it is to be revived and put into operation." t Such has been the influence of this policy, that a writer * Times, Feb. 23, 1S58. t Letter of a Layman, p. ia 20 THE CONFESSION OE CHRIST BY of the present day, who apparently knows India well, says : — "From the highest official to the lowest, everybody appears to be ashamed of his religion; and to carry out the express direction of Government, that all creeds are to be treated with like respect."* These melancholy facts seem to me to justify the strong language in which many gentlemen have criticised the policy of the East India Company. In the language of the Bishop of Oxford, " "We have been ashamed of the God of our Christianity." According to Mr Puller, ""We have evinced a disgraceful reluctance to perform our duty as Christians in India." And as Sir "W. P. "Wood said, " Chris- tianity has been kept in abeyance in India." In more energetic language the Times says, "Although Christians may not make converts by the sword, they are bound, where they can, to make proselytes by instruction. This element of Christianity, however, was in India entirely suppressed, and our administration presented the spectacle of one of the greatest Christian powers in the world, sedu- lously bent upon ignoring its own belief. The natives saw us patronising and encouraging institutions, which, as wicked and idolatrous, we ought to have condemned ; and they could remark that we even permitted impediments to remain in the way of pacific conversion. They were led therefore to the supposition that we were either indifferent to the matter altogether, or that we really designed to pro- ceed by craft ; and as the former notion would be inexpli- cable to rude believers, they were attracted to the latter." t " For the sake of this army — this favourite instrument of administration and pet relic of old traditions — the Govern- ment of India was content to abdicate half its duties, and keep even Cbristianity itself in the shade." \ "To plant Christianity in such a country as India is indeed a task * A Few Remarks, &c, p. 16. London : 1857. t Times, Nov. 28, 1857. % Ibid., Dec. 14. THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 21 "worthy of a great nation." " There cannot be a doubt that, up to the present time, the policy of the Company's Govern- ment has been to discourage proselytism." " It has abne- gated not only the propagation, but even the confession, of its own religion. It has given no encouragement to the missionary, it has discountenanced either chaplains or lay- men in its own service, when they have endeavoured to address the natives on spiritual subjects." " Better far would it have been if the Company's Government had from the beginning upheld its own religion in a manner which an Asiatic could understand."* This charge is, I fear> too true. Treaties were made, proclamations issued, laws enacted; but in which of them was the authority of Christ ever recognised 1 Are not many of the officials in India ashamed of their religion 1 Could they have said less on religion, or done less for it, if they had been literally Atheists 1 If they believed in Christ, their faith has been completely hidden. While Mahommedans gloried in their sensual and sanguinary prophet, the rulers of India were ashamed of their Divine Redeemer. So little have they been accustomed to honor Him, that when Lord Canning was thought to have sub- scribed to a missionary society, Lord EUenborough, who had been himself a Governor-General, declared that if this were true, it would be a circumstance most dangerous to the security of our Government. Chaplains, indeed, have been supported by the Government in India, but these were paid in pursuance of an Act of Parliament which they were obliged to obey; and as if to neutralise the influence of that enforced compliment to Christianity, they have also supported idol temples by annual payments; they have paid the priests for performing idolatrous rites; they have compelled the working people to drag the cars at idolatrous festivals; and they have given guards of honor to sense- * Times, Dec. 18, 1857. 22 THE CONFESSION OF CHRIST BY less idols, which were paraded in contempt of the being and authority of God. On the other hand, they have turned natives out of their service for becoming Christians, and have refused to allow the Bible to be read in their schools. God hath " highly exalted Jesus Christ, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord;" and they have deliberately and perseveringly refused to obey. Their traditional policy has been to be neutral between Ma- hommed and Christ, to place the impostor on exactly the same level as the Saviour, and to offer to the one as much honor as they reluctantly conceded to the other. I am sorry to say that Lord Canning does not seem to have abandoned it. " Lord Ellenborough's silly and bigoted attack on Lord Canning for having caused the revolt by subscribing to missionary societies, is ridiculed here by all parties." " Lord Canning has kept as much aloof from any- thing of the kind as any of his late predecessors, and is even now so terribly afraid of the appearance of feeling any regard even for native Christians, as to request that addresses from such expressive" of sympathy and offering aid, may not be pre- sented to him officially, though those of Hindoos and Mussul- mans have been received most freely and most gratefully." * " The spirit of the Government here has been indicated in too many ways to be mistaken. One of the last boats launched from the Government dockyard was, by express order, called the Deva, a name of the horrible Hindoo goddess Kali. When a proclamation was at last issued for a day of humiliation, the invitation was addressed to all faithful subjects, and was purposely made applicable to Hindoos as much as to Christians. In all the earlier proclamations of Government, there seemed to be a deliberate omission of all * Church Missionary Intelligencer, October 1857. THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 23 mention of God or His providence; and only a few days ago we had a new indication of the spirit of the Government in the omission (unprecedented, I believe, for many years) of public prayer on the presentation of colours to the Calcutta Volunteers." * From this time, then, it seems the duty of Christians to petition Parliament that the East India Government be instructed openly to confess the authority of Christ; and to proclaim to the Hindoos, that while they do not mean to interfere with their religion, except as far as it openly and publicly violates morality, yet that they maintain Chris- tianity to be the true religion, and wish that all their sub- jects may be led by argument and persuasion to embrace it. " Let the Government determine to uphold Christianity as its own religion, and to forbid anything like an abnega- tion of its principles; and we have little doubt that the Asiatic will yield obedience in the end." t * Intelligencer, January 1858. Letters from Calcutta, f Times, December 18. II. THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. The Lord Jesus Christ having redeemed His disciples from eternal death, by suffering the punishment due to their sins, they owe Him, in return for that great deliverance, all possible love and service (John iii. 16 ; Gal. iii. 13 ; 2 Cor. v. 21). We are all His property, being bought with His blood (Rom. xiv. 7, 9 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20 ; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15). He claims us as His own servants (Matt. xxv. 14-30; Luke xix. 12-27) ; and when He returns to judge all men, He will publicly pronounce our sentence according as we served Him well or ill (Matt. xxv. 21, 30 ; Luke xix. 1 7, 24 ; Col. iii. 23, 24). Interest, therefore, no less than gratitude, prompts us to honor Him according to our ability. Let us apply this to our government of India, where the providence of God has put under our care one hundred and thirty millions of our fellow-creatures. Whether we have honored Christianity in past times by justice in the acquisition of that territory, or disgraced it by our fraud and injustice, we have now a great trust committed to our care. As the nations of British India have been brought by the armies of England to obey our Queen and her Government, so henceforth they must be brought to obey Christ by Christians who are His army. All authority is His in heaven and earth (Matt, xxviii. 18) ; India, as well as England, belongs of right to Him, and we must lead them to own Him as their King, by all the moral means in our power. " Go ye and disciple all nations," has been His order to us; and when His ser- THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 25 vants go under His orders, they have the support of His prediction, "J, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me" (John xii. 32). "All Icings shall fall down before Mm, all nations shall serve him " (Ps. lxxii. 11). " The king- doms of this world must become his kingdom" (Rev. xi. 15). If any of my readers ridicule the attempt to convert them as futile, I beg them to consider that they "will one day account to Him as their judge for ridiculing what He has plainly declared to. be His will. It will be done without their aid ; but is not their contempt of His authority regis- tered in those books out of which they will be one day judged, when they would give much to obliterate the imperishable record'? (Matt. xxv. 31 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; Eev. xx. 11, 12.) Further, since we are called to rule India as servants of Christ, we must rule them for their own welfare. In this, as in almost every case, duty and interest are harmonious. If we rule the Indians for their welfare, we shall best secure our own glory, prolong our dominion over them, extend our commerce, increase our wealth, and add to our world-wide influence ; but our object in governing them must be distinctly their interests, not our own. This point should be kept constantly in view. If selfish, grasping, short- sighted men treat the idea as romantic, their sordid policy must not hinder us as Christians from holding it up to our- selves, and to our rulers, as the end to which we must subordinate all other considerations. We do not hold India to make fortunes for civilians, nor to afford distinction to soldiers, nor to establish there a flourishing British com- munity, nor to secure to Great Britain a profitable trade, nor to increase our influence in Europe; but to make the Hindoos intelligent, prosperous, moral, religious, free, and happy. If Paul was, for Christ's sake, a debtor to the people of Eome, so we are debtors, for His sake, to the people of India. Eescued by Christ from eternal death, which his 26 THE OBJECT OE BRITISH KTJLE IN INDIA. sins had merited, that apostle said, "I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians ; both to the wise and to the unwise, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also" (Bom. i. 14). Because Jesus had saved him,, he felt that he would brave all the contempt of that profligate capital, and all the fury of the savage tyrant who ruled it, to save some of the people; and if we are saved as he was, we owe to the Indian heathen, for Christ's sake, what he for His sake owed to the Boman heathen. The task before us is gigantic. Becent events have shown to all men, what some knew before, — that false, cruel, and licentious religions make false, cruel, and licentious men. If the sepoys, by tens of thousands, have showed themselves perfidious, dissolute, and sanguinary, they have revealed what Mahommedanism and Hindooism have done for the hundred and thirty millions who are our fellow-subjects. The people are stricken with a deadly disease, and skin- deep remedies will not cure them. They have breathed a foul air, they have eaten putrid food, and drunk deadly poison, till the whole blood is vitiated, and loathsome ulcers have broken out on the surface. We must not think so much of the ulcers as of the blood. Bring them into fresh air, supply them with wholesome food, and then healthy blood will give color to the cheek and vigor to the limb. It is not a hypocritical pretence of respect for these super- stitions, nor a godless education in scientific knowledge, nor the introduction of the arts and conveniences of civilised life, nor the Code Napoleon, nor an army of irresistible power cantoned in impregnable fortresses, which can heal their ills. These cannot make them religious, or moral, or just, or humane, or even wealthy. To do us credit, or be themselves happy, they must become Christians. Nothing less than that can give them the blessings which we enjoy ourselves ; and these blessings we are bound to give them, THE OBJECT OP BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 27 if we can. In every way which is not injurious to others, we may seek to promote our own interests. The increase of trade, the profitable investment of British capital, the employment of numbers by Government, the increase of British influence in the world, the opening of a new field for colonization, are all objects which Englishmen may lawfully seek from the possession of India. But there are higher ends for us to seek. Our Lord's great rule, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matt, xxii.), makes it our duty not to sacrifice them to our selfishness, but to promote their welfare like our own. This duty He has consecrated by His example. If we seek, with all our hearts, their happiness, we shall only be doing as Jesus our Lord has done to us. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. ii. 4-8). The end of every government which does its duty is, the greatest happiness of the greatest numbers ; and if either the interests of Englishmen or those of India must be sacrificed by us, undoubtedly we ought to prefer the interests of a hundred and thirty millions of our fellow-subjects to the interests of any classes at home. Still more are- we bound to seek their interests, when it can be shown that they are in perfect harmony with our own. " If our interest- and our duty were really opposed to each other, every good man, every honest Englishman, would know which to prefer. Our national experience has given us too deep a sense of the true ends of government, to allow us to think of carrying on the administration of India except for the benefit of the people of India. A 28 THE OBJECT OF BEITISH RULE IN INDIA. nation which made so great a sacrifice to redeem a few hundred thousand negroes from slavery, would shudder at the idea of keeping a hundred millions of Indians in the bondage of ignorance, with all its frightful consequences, by means of a political system supported by the revenue taken from the Indians themselves. Whether we govern India ten or a thousand years, we will do our duty by it; we will look not to the probable duration of our trust, but to the satisfactory discharge of it, so long as it shall please God to continue it to us. Happily, however, we are not on this occasion called upon to make any effort of disinterested magnanimity. Interest and duty are never really separated in the affairs of nations, any more than they are in those of individuals, and in this case they are indissolubly united." * Some say that our duty is to- " leave the Indians to govern themselves." But to whom are we to leave them I For the sake of more distinctness in the argument, to whom shall we leave the thirty-six millions of Bengal? Shall we leave them to the Mahommedans? These are, like ourselves, aliens in language, religion, and manners ; with this difference, that while our religion commands us to give them full liberty of thought and speech, the religion of the Mahom- medan urges him, if they will not be Mahommedans, to kill them. Shall we leave the working classes of Bengal to be ruled by the Brahmins?- The Brahmin has pretended that they are sprung from the foot of Brahma, and that without impiety they cannot aspire to rise above a servile condition. He has forbidden them to seek education, wealth, or distinc- tion ; he has made earth for them a valley of tears ; and has declared that they can have no place in heaven. Shall we leave the working classes of Bengal to themselves ? They are like children, have never thought of independence, and if they had it, would lose it again immediately. Shall we leave them to some native ruler? To Feroze Shah, or to Khan Bahadoor * Trevelyan on the Education of the People of India, pp. 187, 188. THE OBJECT OP BE1TISH RULE IN INDIA. 29 Khan, or to the Moulvie of Oude 1 ? The efforts of all these to exterminate us, have shown clearly how willingly they would exterminate any number of Hindoos who might cross the path of their ambition. Besides, by what title would any one of these pretenders reign 1 or how could he secure, without a title, the allegiance of a hundred others as capable and as ambitious as himself % In deserting the people of Bengal, we should, with the most philanthropic intentions, reduce them to the condition of the" working classes of Oude before the annexation, to be pillaged, beaten, driven into the jungle, tortured, and killed, to gorge insatiable cormorants, who after having devoured their money, would drink their blood. By deserting them, we should light up again the suttee fires, spread along the banks of the Ganges ghastly rows of sick persons brought there to be murdered, throw children afresh to the sharks of the sacred river, revive hook-swinging, precipitate miserable wretches beneath the wheels of Juggernaut, perpetuate child marriages, and rivet on all the working classes the chains of an ignoble super- stition. Bengal has fallen into our hands like the wounded Jew fell into the hands of the good Samaritan ; and some, with pathetic appeals to our humanity, urge us, not to heal her wounds or to satisfy her hunger, but to give her back again into the hands of the thieves. Vainly is it argued that they repudiate our protection. If that were true, as it is not, we ought to remember that heathenism and oppres- sion have dwarfed their faculties, and, for a while, we must treat them as children. Wolves in Oude have occasionally carried off children, whom they have afterward suckled. These boys when caught struggle to get back to the wolves, and, with an angry snarl, try to bite those who hold them. To leave Bengal to her tyrants, would be like turning one of these boys loose to gallop back on all-fours to the lair from which he has been rescued. Misled by heathenism, many Hindoos may look on us as Pariahs, with an abhor- 30 THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN" INDTA. rence like that which, made the demoniac of Gadara say to Jesus, " I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not;" and as Jesus, undeterred by that enmity, saved that miserable slave of the devil, so we must never leave poor India till we see her like him, sitting at His feet. To those who say that we have no other right to rule in India than the right of conquest, which is the right of the robber, I answer, What other right have half the govern- ments of the earth to rule their dominions 1 Will you dis- place all those whose right has been obtained by conquest 1 What right have the people of the United States to their continent 1 What right has England to Canada, the Cape, or Australia 1 What right had the Norman to Saxon England, or the Saxon to Great Britain 1 Give back then England to the descendants of the ancient Britons, and let the Anglo-Saxons go about their business. But if on this ground we must renounce the sovereignty of India, who is to succeed us with any other right 1 Look back for two or three generations, anterior to the battle of Plassy, and you will find that nearly all the sove- reignties in India were usurpations established by conquest; and up to this day where can you find a rule in India the origin of which was legitimate \ Was that of Bunjeet Sing? Was that of Hyder Ali? Is that of Jung Bahadoor? or that of Khan Bahadoor Khan % or that of the Moulvie of Fyza- bad % What right had Wajid Ali to his throne which was not derived from the Moguls % And what right had the Moguls which did not rest upon conquest 1 If, like the Moguls, we are without the right which is con- ferred by popular election, we have the right which results from possession, with the power to do them good. We must not desert them, because by ruling over them we can make them happy ; whereas by deserting our trust, we sentence them to misrule and misery. Were we to fall into this folly, loud and long would be the rejoicings of the " Univers," and THE OBJECT OF JBBIT1SH RULE IN INDIA. 81 of other Catholic zealots, over our fall. " England," they would say, " could conquer those unwarlike Asiatics as any other European people, whose' fortune had brought them into that conflict, would have done; but their rule has been so unjust that they have made themselves hated; their administration has been so awkward that they could not govern those whom they have subdued ; and at length they have been compelled to abandon an authority which they were too weak to defend. To their eternal disgrace, they have left India as idolatrous, ignorant, and demoralised as they found it : and now, a prey to civil war and anarchy, it has reason to curse the people who so unjustly invaded it; ruled it with so much stupidity, and with so much cowardice abandoned it to its fate." Before the eyes of the whole world we should be disgraced by so flagitious a deser- tion of our duty. But we must maintain our dominion over the Hindoos, chiefly with a view to their welfare. As we are commanded on the highest authority, " to do to others what we wish they should do to us" (Matt. vii. 12), and we should wish in their place to be protected, instructed, and treated with respect ; we must protect, instruct, and respect them. Our love to them, as we have seen, is to resemble our love to ourselves. Now, we love ourselves so heartily as to do ourselves all the good we can; we love ourselves notwith- standing all our defects and sins ; and never under any cir- cumstances do we cease to love ourselves : such, according to the law of Christ, must be our love to the Hindoos. "We must do them all the good we can, bear their faults, however great, with patient kindness, and continue to love them till we raise them to our own level. Even their hatred could not destroy our obligation to love them. All feelings of revenge are forbidden to the disciples of Christ — Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you (Matt. v. 44). No lower rule of duty can 32 THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. be adopted by Christians, whether they are private persons or rulers, towards those with whom they are connected. Exactly the same course is prescribed by prudence. If India must, while under our rule, be unhappy, discontented, and irritable, I should agree with those bold theorists who counsel us, at all costs, to leave them to themselves. No- thing can make it our duty to ruin ourselves ; and India, athirst for revolution, would one day be our ruin. Although the taxes in India are heavy, amounting in Bengal to one- third of the gross produce of the land, there is an annual deficit in the revenue ; and the public debt already amounts to sixty millions. If India must continue to be as poor as she now is, this deficit will continue, and England will be drained of her treasure to carry on the Indian Government. Prudence, therefore, bids us do what we can to enrich them. But the drain of men will be still more severe. To keep down a hundred and thirty-two millions of discontented subjects would require the constant presence of at least a hundred thousand men ; and such an army, in a climate where a regiment numbering 718 men at the time of dis- embarkation, has been reduced in the course of eight years, in time of peace, to 109, would be Hke the drain of a per- petual war. India kept on such terms would be a mill stone round our necks. Further, that army would not suffice, nor an army twice as numerous. It is no easy thing, amidst sun-strokes and dysentery, for our poor soldiers to follow the mutinous sepoys whom they vanquish in the field ; and they are now feeling that the sun is a more deadly fire than that of a hundred blazing batteries. But how would they endure this, if millions, conspiring their death, were to break up all the roads, refuse them all supplies, devastate the country round them, and harass them without intermission day and night % If India ever explodes, it will blow the English from its surface, as Vesuvius, if wrathful, would blow off a THE OBJECT 0E BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 33 cottage placed too near its crater. Many of our country- men, with their -wives and children, have escaped the mutineers; but probably not one would escape the whole population in rebellion. The disaffection of this vast dependency would materially damage our position in Europe. If nearly all the soldiers whom we can raise are wanted for the East, how can we retain any influence upon the counsels of the West ? When Nicholas crossed the Pruth, we had only 20,000 troops in Bengal, and only 32,363 in all India;* but if the mutiny had at that time required 100,000 men instead, how much more difficult we should have found it to raise 100,000 for Sebastopol! If, at this day, Austria should threaten Piedmont, or Eussia again covet the Turkish empire, and, contemporaneously with these movements, France, whose enormous army and powerful steam-fleet are perfectly ready, should determine to annex Belgium to the empire, what influence could we exercise on those great military powers, when they know that nearly all the levies which we can raise are required to feed our wasting armies in Oude, Kohikund, and Central India ? Or if, some unhappy quarrel arising between our most powerful neighbour and us, 400,000 disciplined Frenchmen should menace our coast, while we were fully occupied with insurgent millions on the banks of the Ganges and the Jumna, how would that fact increase our difficulties! France, with its five railroads converging upon Cherbourg — which is a standing menace to England, as Sebastopol was to Turkey — could pour five armies into that fortress, with their material and stores, in a single day. These, spread along its magnificent quays, could be embarked in a single day, on a large steam-fleet,- ordered at the same time to rendezvous in its vast basins, and, eluding our * The Queen's troops were 24,263, and the Company's European troops 8100.— Times, July 14, 1858. C 34 THE OBJECT OE BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. Channel fleet, could be discharged in a single night upon any unprotected spot of our coast. All this could be done with very little previous bustle of preparation to give us warning. And when here, they would meet no concentric circles of fortifications round London; no earth-works and batteries to oppose their march ; no army at all propor- tioned to. their own; no lateral railways to collect our avail- able force at any point which the invaders must cross : their road lies open to London. Our own hands would then, under God, be our only defence; and if a hundred thousand men were at the same time sinking in an unequal strife with a hundred and thirty-two millions, we should then feel that our misgovernment of India had bared our bosom to the sword of the invader, and should regret that we had not made that immense population contented and loyal. We ought not to shut our eyes to the fact, that the proportion pjf our agricultural to our civic population is annually becoming less; and that city life, hot workshops and factories, long hours of business, ill-ventilated mines, drink, vice, and the deadly toil of myriads of needlewomen, are dwarfing, crippling, and withering up some millions of our population ; I might almost say, they are deteriorating the English race. Under these circumstances, we cannot afford to waste our strongest men on India. But India, under our rule, peaceful, flourishing, and happy, would largely augment our wealth, and even add to our military strength. It will pay us no tribute — nor ought it, however rich ; it may perhaps be unsuitable for extensive colonization; and its employment of some thousands of officials may not rise to the magnitude of a national interest ; but it will greatly increase our commerce. This it can only do under our rule. Nothing can be more fallacious than the conclusions drawn by those who bid us leave India to itself, from the growth of our trade with the United States. The Americans, with their Puritan origin, and their rebgious THE OBJECT OP BRITISH BULE IN INDIA. 35 habits, were prepared for self-government, because they had hundreds of men, like Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, who were no less ready to develop their resources than they were to defend their liberties; and, above all, they were themselves a virtuous, intelligent, and energetic population. But the poor Hindoos, idolatrous, ignorant, unprincipled, and sunk in a brutish serfdom, passing through anarchy and civil war into the stagnation of an unmitigated slavery, would never rise beyond the condition of naked and trem- bling rice-eaters; preyed upon by dacoits and thugs, by zemindars and talookdars, by rajahs and nawabs, by pro- fligates of unbounded selfishness, and by ruffians of remorse- less cruelty. If they are left to be starved, tormented, and demoralised by native tyrants, as the people of Oude were under Wajid Ali, our commerce with them, now amounting to many millions sterling, will soon sink to almost nothing ; but if they grow rich under our care, it may soon advance many millions. As we want their cotton, indigo, and sugar, they want our Lancashire goods and hardware ; and nothing limits our trade with them but their poverty. While thus adding to our wealth, they will also add something to our military strength. For if they become contented and loyal, if the native army is as faithful as the high-caste and Mahommedan army of Bengal was faithless, it will be available to protect our commerce along the Indo- Chinese' coasts, in China, and in Japan; and will even act in any emergency on the shores of the Persian Gulf, or at the Cape of Good Hope. Although Englishmen as well as foreigners have charged us with " stalking through the land as conquerors," regard- ing the people as our helots, and predict that our future reign there will be a reign of terror, there are some things done often by conquerors which the East India Govern- ment has not done. Taxation, though heavy, has been im- posed for the purpose of good government alone, no part of 36 THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IK INDIA. it finding its way into the English exchequer. No English officer plunders the natives; no English judge defiles his hands with bribes. Eich men are not in danger of having their estates confiscated to satisfy the cupidity of a lawless despot; and the people are not harassed by a licentious soldiery. Justice is done in open courts, where the plead- ings are in the vernacular language; and there has been hitherto a liberty of the press almost unexampled under despotic governments. No system of espionage has dis- gusted and demoralised the people; and they have been more free to move, act, think, and speak, than the people in several kingdoms of Europe. Moreover, whatever may have been the faults of the East Indian Government, we should not forget the Governments which it has superseded. The following is the description given by Golaun Hussein Khan, a Mahommedan, whom Count de Biornstierna terms the most truthful of all the Indian historians, of the state of India in the eighteenth century under the Moguls : — " At that time all the prisoners of war were massacred; torture was applied to all the natives on the smallest suspicion — to impale and to load with irons were common punishments; in certain provinces they hunted poor people with dogs, and shot them as an amusement ; those who possessed anything were fiable at any moment to see their goods confiscated, and to render that operation more sure they were first strangled. No one could invite his friends to visit him without permission from the vizier or from the rajah of his city ; and all the people were incessantly exposed to pillage, and to the most horrible vexations." The Count continues: — " Such was the situation of India under the Great Mogul It became still worse when Nadir Shah, like a torrent of lava, threw himself on that country; and it was complete when ■after the departure of that Persian prince, India was given up to the yoke of the Mahrattas, whose only occupation was THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 3 7 pillage, burning, and devastation. But India was not ravaged by foreign conquerors alone ; it was no less so by its own princes, whose tyranny, favored by the anarchy which reigned in the country, knew no restraint."* We may judge also of the condition from which the East India Company has delivered India, by the scenes at Cawn- pore and Delhi ; scenes which, under Mabommedan or heathen sovereigns, would be, as they have been, of com- mon occurrence; or by the state of things in Oude, before the annexation, as depicted by Sir William Sleemam Compared with native misrule, the British government in India has been most beneficent. It has given to the Indian nations the invaluable blessing of peace through- out British India, and throughout the territories of the numerous native princes in alliance with us. Thugs ■ having been exterminated and dacoits restrained, the persons and property of British subjects are now, to a great extent, secure. The laws have been amended; and in the hands of British judges, the administration of law, though still faulty, is improved ; while the pleadings in the native languages, open courts, and much liberty of the press, blessings before unknown to Hindoos, are now their inalien- able property. Education, both English and vernacular, is making progress; and all men, whatever their class or religion, are stimulated to exertion and improvement, by the prospect of employment under Government. Aware of these benefits conferred on them by the Bri- tish Government, the Bengal population, during these troubles, has been remarkably quiet, even where there were no garrisons whatever to restrain them. Most of the Eajahs, with Scindia, Holkar, and the Nizam, have been friendly; and in the west and southern Presidencies, not only the population generally, but even the army has been loyal. * Tableau de l'Empire Britannique dans l'lnde. par Biornstierna, Paris, 1842, pp. 225, 227. 38 ■ THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. In, the North-western Provinces the government has been so good, that the Sikhs, forgetting all animosities occasioned by the late war, have given us in this contest effectual aid; and in Oude itself, so recently annexed to the British dominion, there is reason to believe that the people will soon be as friendly to us as the Sikhs. Powerful favorites of the late king who profited by his misrule, talookdars who by fraud and force were becoming princes, myriads of their armed retainers, and brigands of every class, who were gorging themselves with plunder, have supported the muti- neers; but the mass of the people appeared, at the time of the annexation, to pass with satisfaction under the British rule ; and will probably be found, as soon as the mutineers are subdued, to be still friendly. Meanwhile many of the enormities resulting from Hindoo superstitions have been either abolished or lessened. Chil- dren are no more thrown to sharks by Bengalees, nor mur- dered in British territory amongst the Eajpoots; suttees have ceased; ghaut murders are much less frequent; few devotees now throw themselves under the wheels of Jug- gernaut; the obscene Churruck Poojah is less popular; and the misery to which the Hindoo superstition doomed young widows, is lessened, in a measure, by the merciful law which sanctions their second marriage, when any native is enlightened enough to despise the maledictions with which Ms creed opposes it. Civilisation also is advancing. Kail- roads, steamboats, the practice of surgery, and the study of medicine, the progress of European knowledge, and the employment of various castes by Government, while they convey important advantages to the people of other kinds, tend to undermine the unjust, oppressive, anti-social, and antichristian institution of caste. One source of the irri- tation of the Brahmins, shown by the late mutiny, has doubtless been, that they see their factitious superiority daily invaded by an advancing civilisation. The Brahmin THE OBJECT OP BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 39 sepoy must march and fight side by side with the Shoodra, and the Brahmin clerk must write in the same room with his Shoodra equal. The Shoodra students of medicine are taking the practice out of the hands of the Brahmins, to whom it was specially committed by Brahma; and Brah- mins must either forego the convenience of railroads, or see. themselves, if poor, boxed in with poor Shoodras in a third class carriage; or, if rich, with rich Shoodras in the first class. The golden day of Brahmin supremacy is set- ting in a starless night. Other blessings less generally appreciated, but destined to be still more extensively use- ful, have also been afforded by the Company. There is full liberty of worship; all subjects are alike tolerated in their advocacy of their respective creeds; missionaries are as much protected as Brahmins; the Christian temple is as peaceful generally as the pagoda or mosque; native preachers may pervade the villages as openly as Eakeers: or Yogees; and the facts of the gospel may be proclaimed to crowds as large as those which listen to the legends of Krishna and Ram. Still, both in England and in Calcutta, we have been in some measure selfish. Have we not generally regarded British interests more than the interests of the people? Have we not, as a nation, cared very little for their improvement \ Public works have been very tardily begun; changes in the cultivation, which would have been beneficial to the people, have been forbidden, as likely to interfere with the revenue; the monopoly of opium has demoralised many; education was long neglected; Christian missions have been much opposed ; and even now, perhaps, the East Indian Govern- ment, while doing good and tending to improvement, has dim conceptions of the ultimate object which it ought to pursue. One hundred and thirty-two millions of our fellow-subjects (besides forty-eight millions more in the allied states) are in our hands, to mould them as we 40 THE OBJECT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. will. A population six times as large as that of Great Britain has heen given to us by the skill of our states- men and the valor of our troops, to be saved and blessed. Eescued by British dominion from the barbari- ties of such rulers as the family of Delhi or Nana Sahib, they should now receive from us complete protection in person and property ; we ought to save the weak from the oppression of the strong; and we ought to raise the working-classes from the debasement to which centuries of misrule, a polluting superstition, and the cruel fictions of easte have reduced them. As they have neither the intelli- gence nor the moral principle to govern themselves, we must place them under a despotism; but we ought to make it the most paternal and beneficent despotism which the world has ever seen — a despotism becoming a free nation to impose, and for which populations, long corrupted by superstition and political slavery, may be hereafter thank- ful. "We ought to improve to the utmost their agriculture, their operations in mining, their manufactures, and their commerce; we ought to intersect the valley of the Ganges with railroads, such as those of Lancashire and the West Eiding, and, generally, to impart to them the arts, the science, and the literature of Europe. We ought, further, to train them for national self-government, by a universal popular education, by admitting them to all civil employ- ments for which they may be prepared, by the pure and public administration of the laws, by such local self-govern- ment as they ean bear, and by as much freedom of the press as circumstances will admit ; above all, by sending out many missionaries, by training native preachers, by multiplying Christian schools^ and by circulating Christian books, we have to convert them to Christ. Thus we have to make India the equal of England in all material and moral prosperity; to blend these rival creeds and nations, if possible, into one. great nation, pervaded by one litera- THE OBJECT OF BRITISH EULE IN INDIA. 41 ture, governed by one law, formed: by one education, and animated by one spirit ; to make that great nation peace- able, orderly, prosperous, moral, religious, and free; tbe greatest monument of British power, wisdom, and benevo- lence, the civiliser of the populous East, the counterpart to the United States of America in energetic religion, and one of the most glorious products on earth of tbe doctrine of Jesus Christ. But this cannot be the work of a day, nor the achievement of common men. If it is to be done at all, a long succes- sion of eminent men must work hard to do it. Meanwhile, if we wish to fulfil our present duty to the Hindoos, we must do them all the good in our power; we must oblite- rate the memory of past wrongs by present benefits ; we must reconcile them to receive the law from white men, by convincing them that our laws are better than any which they ever framed for themselves ; despite our foreign lan- guage and our European dress, we must make them forget that we are conquerors, by giving them daily proof that we are their friends; we must enlist their self-love on our side, by convincing them that our rule is the most beneficent under which they can be placed; and, if justice, wisdom, truth, and kindness can do it, we must win their hearts. Some things we should especially do at once : — 1. "We ought to lighten the taxation, not by under-paying the servants of the Government, but by distributing the taxes more equally among various classes, by preventing native extortion in collecting them, and by cutting off all useless expenditure. 2. We ought to give them all the advantages of good government, for which they pay nearly thirty millions a-year. 3. We should admit natives of good character to all the offices which they are able to fill. For how can they love our rule if it shuts them out from all honors and emolu- ments in their own country] 42 THE OBJECT OE BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 4. We should offer no insult to their false religions by ridicule, however faithfully we may preach the Gospel which condemns them. 5. We should scrupulously avoid all disdain, harshness of manner, contemptuous epithets, and rude conduct towards them, remembering the apostolic command, "Honor all men." 6. And, finally, we should train them for liberty and in- dependence, by all the means which benevolent rulers can devise. Having thus stated the end we should keep in view, I shall proceed to show, in the following chapters, our duties towards the Hindoos more in detail, and shall class them under four heads : — First, The duties which arise out of the mutiny; secondly, Some things which the East Indian Government should amend; thirdly, Some things which the East Indian Government should do for the Hindoos; fourthly, Some things which individual Christians should do for them. PART FIKST. DUTIES ARISING OUT OF THE MUTINY. I. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEEES. The first thing to be done for the safety of India is to punish the mutineers. Soldiers who were paid and fed to maintain the peace and safety of the country, have become its destroyers, and have exposed it to all the mischiefs of civil war. No good cause has been assigned by them for the revolt. They complained of no injustice; they were well paid; they received pensions in old age; their most senseless prejudices were respected; and they shared in all the honors of the conquering nation; yet not content with mutiny, they have been guilty of the most remorseless cruelties. It has been thought that military fidelity is a virtue which will survive the loss of every other : yet these men, treated most kindly by an indulgent Government, have, for a trivial error, a mere oversight, a wrong never intended, inflicted on very few, and speedily redressed, risen in fury along twelve hundred miles of territory to perpetrate acts of monstrous and prodigious wickedness. No official violence had exasperated them; flogging, to which even a British soldier, if criminal, is liable, was expressly abolished for them; there were no arrears of pay to be demanded; and no acts of European cruelty to excite their indignation. Their officers, conscious of deserving their esteem, could not believe their treason, slept among them in their lines, rode up to them unguarded, and would not have them dis- armed when others advised it ; yet they were shot, cut 46 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. down, and mangled "with savage enmity — the best with the worst. Some of these murdered officers may have been profligate or proud, but many were virtuous and kind. Such was Major Blake, of whom his brother-officer said, " More of our friends are gone : dear, noble-hearted Blake, shot dead in his own lines at Gwalior by a scoundrel. The other men threw themselves on his body and wept, and then mutinied."* Such was Colonel Piatt, of whom an officer of his regiment wrote : " Colonel Piatt was like a father to the men, and when he had an opportunity of leaving them, and of joining an European corps last summer, the men peti- tioned him to stay. He had been upwards of thirty years with them, and when the riot took place, he had so much confidence in them that he rode up to their fines before we could get out. When we found him next morning, both cheeks were blown off, his back completely riddled with balls, one through each thigh, his chin smashed into his mouth, three sabre cuts between the cheek-bone and temple, also a cut across the shoulder and the back of the neck." t Such, too, was Lieut-Colonel Ewart, who commanded the 1st Eegiment of Native Infantry at Cawnpore, of whom his wife wrote, May 28, to her family: "He is admirable under these painful circumstances ; only desirous to do his duty, and trust in God for the issue." J His own last letter home, May 31, answers to these affectionate commendations: "If the troops should break out here," he wrote, " it is not pro- bable that I shall survive it. My post and that of my officers being with the colours of the regiment, in the last extremity some or all of us must needs be killed. If that should be my fate, you and all my friends will know, I trust, that I die in the execution of my duty. You and my brothers will be kind to E. and my children. I do not wish to write gloomily, but there is no use disguising the fact that we are in the utmost danger, and if the troops * Times, Sept. 3. f Ibid., Sept. 8. J Ibid., Oct. 22. THE PUNISHMENT OP THE MUTINEERS. 47 mutiny my life must almost certainly be sacrificed. . , . Now, dear A., farewell. If under God's providence this be the last time I am to write to you, I entreat you to forgive all that I have ever done to trouble you, and to think kindly of me. I know you will be everything a mother can be to my boy. I cannot write to him this time, dear little fellow. Kiss him for me." * Such, too, Was young Waller -, who volunteered to accompany the siege-train from the Punjaub to Delhi, and there fell. " I have little time," he wrote home, " to attend to prayer ; but I assure you, nothing can give comfort in a case like this but an assured hope of being God's, and then who can harm us 1 I will not conceal from you that we are all in a very precarious situation; but God is with us! and we must succeed." "June 18. — I hope, please God, to see you all again, and relate my adventures ; but if not, I hope there will not be a sorrowful face in the family, as we must all die, and it does not matter who goes to heaven first." The next day he was killed ; and his death was communicated to his mother by Mr Montgomery, the Judicial Commissioner of the Punjaub, who is himself an ornament to the Civil Service, in the following terms : " Your dear Waller was killed in action before Delhi on the 19th inst. He nobly, for his Saviour's sake, stood forth from the midst of his companions ; and for two or three years followed Christ faithfully. In a letter to me he stated, that though not attached to any corps, he had gone under fire once ; and as he always displayed great zeal in his profession, it is not unlikely that he joined as a volunteer in some attack on the 19 th, and met his death. You must not sorrow unreason- ably; for your son was prepared for death, and died at his post. Eather bless God who took him." t What cause can be assigned for the murder of the officers by the Bengal army'? It was not fear of their skill as com- * Times, Oct. 22. f Ibid., Sept. 1, 48 THE PUNISHMENT OP THE MUTINEERS. manders, for there was no new native force which they could command; it was not dread of their capacity and courage, for mere boys and worn-out veterans were killed with those in the prime of life ; it was not irritation at any tyranny, for the most equitable were murdered no less than the most violent ; it was not personal dislike, for the most popular and the most benevolent suffered with the most selfish. Nothing but a blind hatred of their race and creed, a resolution to exterminate them as Englishmen and as Christians, can account for the slaughter of so many of them, in so many places. But if the violence of the sepoys towards their officers was inexcusable, what terms can adequately condemn their indiscriminate murder of women \ Many of them were so young and innocent, many so good and kind, that any gene- rous man would have protected them at the hazard of his life. They lived only to diffuse happiness around them, to bless their husbands, and to educate their children. Their life was duty and kindness. There were daughters for whom their parents blessed God, sisters who were the delight of their brothers, wives who were the chief earthly blessing of their husbands, and mothers so tender that they would shield their children with their own bodies from the hand of the assassin. These women, refined, educated, deli- cate, an honor to their country, did these ruffians slaughter with wanton barbarity. One of the theatres in which these crimes were perpe- trated was Delhi. Respecting the outbreak on the 11th of May, Mr Holquette, connected with the press, sent the fol- lowing statement to Mr Place, the proprietor of the Delhi Gazette: — "On Monday,May 1 l,the rebellious sepoys entered Delhi between nine and ten, A.M. They began to kill un- mercifully both Europeans and Christians, men, women, and children ; when, seeing all these cruelties committed by the rebels, I made my way home to die with my wife. No THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 49 sooner Lad I entered my house than I saw it was already- plundered, and every bit of my property destroyed. Two were yet inside of my house. Seeing me enter, they fell on me and began to beat me with thick clubs, and brought me outside in the public road. Having broken my head into three pieces, they thought I was quite dead, left me, and ran away. Miss Emilia Beresford was killed, after some days, inside the palace, among forty-five Europeans, ladies, gentlemen, and children." * Mrs Aldwell, who was a prisoner in the palace of the King of Delhi, and escaped by professing to be a Mahom- medan, deposed on oath, at the trial of the king, as fol- lows : " We were about fifty in one dark, filthy room ; there were no windows, and only one door. . . . On Saturday morning, all, except myself and children, and an old Mus- sulman, were taken out and murdered. . . . They were taken to the tank, and murdered there. ... It is reckoned by Mussulmans that to kill an infidel is to insure them- selves a place in paradise." t Mr James Morley, who, with his wife and their three children, lived in the same house with Mr Clark and his wife, has given this account of May 1 1 : — " We went into the house. Everywhere things were lying about that had been most wantonly destroyed. Tables had been split to pieces with hatchets, cupboards had been emptied out, and everything strewn on the floor. I stepped into the next room, which was the hall. Just before me, pinned to the wall, was poor Clark's little son, with his head hanging down, and a large stream of blood trickling down the wall into a large black pool -which lay near his feet. And this cruel death they must have inflicted before the mother's eyes. I closed my eyes and shuddered ; but I opened them upon even a yet more dreadful sight. Clark and his wife lay side by side. But I will not, I could not, describe that * The Homeward Mail, Jan. 19, 1858. + Christian Times, April 5, 1858. D 50 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. scene. I did not cry ; it seemed as if there were some terrible weight that had been placed on my brain, and tears would not come out. Not long after, a large gang of people came into the compound. They laughed, and shouted, and yelled. They passed out by a small wicket which was quite close to the servants' houses, and I heard one man say, " Kira inmasha hye ! " — " What fun this is ! " Among the list of the killed on May 11, Mr Farrington reported Mr S. Fraser, the Resident, Captain Douglas, the Eev. M. Jennings and Miss Jennings, Miss Clifford, Mr and Mrs Beresford and five children, Mr and Mrs CoUings and six children, and many others.* Mrs Collings, who was reported by Mr Farrington to be dead, was indeed left for dead ; but lived to send to her sister-in-law, Mrs Hamlington, the following account of her escape, which I have copied from her own letter : — " Delhi, June 14, 1857. " My dear Sister, — I now take my pen, to tell you my dear husband and six of my dear children were murdered on the 11th of May, and they left me for dead. They cut six of my fingers off at the joints, and my nose, and I have only three fingers to write with, besides very severe wounds ; and what I am suffering now, words would fail to tell you. Mrs Welton [her sister] and seven children were killed I believe — I am not sure, but Mr Simmons hid under the bridge, and he told me he saw them on the bank. They were all quite dead ; they were so mangled that you could scarce discover them. And now I have another mournful- tale to relate to you, of your husband. He was shot. The hand was blown off, the left hand, and there was no hope of his recovery. The dear child [his little boy] was cut up in pieces, the blood given him to drink, and the dear child's arm was forced into his mouth, and tore the mouth open one side. . . . * Times, Aug. 3. THE PUNISHMENT OE THE MUTINEERS. 51 " I hope the Lord will hear my prayer, and take me to Himself, as I have no desire to live. — From your affec- tionate sister, Fkances Collings." I have since learned from Mrs Hamlington, that Mrs Collings and her brother, Mr Hamlington, reached Cawnpore, but there they both died of their -wounds. In this manner more than forty women, and more than eighty children, were murdered in Delhi ; besides officers, civilians, and others.* When the reports of what had happened at Meerut and Delhi reached Cawnpore, they naturally excited much apprehension ; but the' temper in which they were received by some of the ladies may be judged by the following extracts. Mrs Hillersdon, the young wife of the magistrate, wrote thus : — " May 28. — Oh, how I wish that we were with you, and out of this horrid country ! May God spare us, and, however severe our trials, may we have strength given to bear them! I send you some of the dear children's hair. We must trust to our Father, who governs all." " May 31. — Poor Mrs Wiggins has quite lost her reason from terror. It is a hard trial to bear, but the sight of the children gives us strength and courage." t Mrs Ewart, wife of Lieut.-Colonel Ewart, wrote from Cawnpore, May 27, as follows: — " When my husband left me that night to go to his post, I never expected to see him alive again, for some of his men had been overheard wildly talking of mutiny and murder, and had made a proposal to destroy their officers! Colonel E. himself had fully made up his mind that a death- stroke would be given ; yet he flinched not an instant in the performance of his duty, I am happy to say. We were preserved for that night again. * Supplement to the Gazette, published Thursday, May 6 ; in Times, May 10, 1858. t Times, Sept. 10. 52 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. " I cannot conceal from myself that my husband is likely to be the first to fall. He says if his regiment mutinies, it may walk over his body, but he will never leave it. " The bitterness of death has been tasted "by us many many times during the last fortnight ; and should the reality come, I hope we may find strength to meet it with a truly Christian courage. It is not hard to die one's-self ; but to see a dear child suffer and perish, that is the hard, the bitter trial, and the cup which I must drink, should God not deem it fit that it should pass from me. My com- panion, Mrs H. (Hillersdon), is delightful, poor young thing ; she has such a gentle spirit, so unmurmuring, so desirous to meet the trial rightly, so unselfish and sweet in every way. Her husband is an excellent man, and of course very much exposed to danger, almost as much as mine. She has two children, and we feel that our duty to our little ones demands that we should exert ourselves to keep up health and spirits as much as possible. . . . We must not give way to despondency, for at the worst we know we are in God's hands, and He does not for an instant forsake us. He will be with us in the valley of the shadow of death also, and we need fear no evil. God bless you ! . . . Mrs H. is a sweet companion in affliction. We shall stick close to each other, as long as it pleases God to spare us." " May 28. — John goes to his perilous duties as a soldier and a Christian should do. Mrs Hillersdon is sweet, calm, and gentle ; and a great comfort it is to have her with me. We can only put our trust in God, and try to maintain an even and tranquil spirit, to go through all our trials, and perform all our duties as long as God sees fit to assign us any. If we should be spared, I hope we may have better news to give you before long. Kiss my darling H. for us, and may God bless him ! . . . Dear Mrs Hillersdon is so quiet, and gentle, and calm, never giving way to hysterical movements ; nor, on the other hand, shewing any want of THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 53 sensibility. It is useless to, shut our eyes to the dreadful probabilities. We must meet them, and implore our Father in heaven to. enable us to keep up a firm and tranquil spirit. . . . At any rate, we cannot hope to "weather the storm without disaster. If these are my last words to you, my dearest sister, be assured we think of you with most grate- ful and affectionate feelings ; and that we consign to your charge our dear boy, with the utmost confidence that you will ever be a mother to him. . . . My sweet one here will share whatever is my fate, most likely; and that I trust to our Almighty Father, without venturing to look forward beyond the present hour."* The Europeans of Cawnpore had too much cause for these apprehensions, the few British soldiers in the place being utterly unable to control the native regiments there, if they should rise. They had, however, reason to hope, that they should receive effectual help from Doondhu Pant, a Hindoo gentleman, who lived at Bithoor, about six miles higher up the river, because he was on terms of intimacy with the officers of the Cawnpore garrison, and had received benefits from the East Indian Government. Being the son of a poor Mahratta Brahmin, near Poonah, he had been adopted by Bagee Eao, the ex-Peishwa of Poonah, who had received the estate at Bithoor as a jaghir from the East Indian Government. Thus the property left him by Bagee Eao had originally been a free gift of the Government to a conquered enemy. Educated, too, in one of the Government schools, he had learned Eng- lish, and he had improved his knowledge of English and Englishmen by acquaintance with many of the officers of the successive regiments which had been quartered * Times x October 16. — Mr Hillersdon was killed in the siege ; Mrs Hillersdon and her children died of fever ; Colonel Ewart was wounded in the intrench- ments, and afterwards, with his wife and child, was either killed in one of the boats, or taken back to. Cawnpore and killed.. — Lieut. Delafosse {Times, Octo- ber 16). 54 THE PUNISHMENT OE THE MUTINEERS. at Cawnpore. These had often received him as their guest in the cantonments, and had often shot over his property at Bithoor. After the mutiny had broken out at Delhi, Captain La Fons, who knew him intimately, saw him at Cawnpore, when he lamented the outbreak, saying he could hardly be- lieve it— it was most shameful.* The confidence which was reposed in him at this time is shown by the following extracts from letters of Mrs Hillers- don, wife of the Collector : — " May 15. — . . . Should they mutiny, we should either go into cantonments, or to a place called Bithoor, about sis miles from Cawnpore, where the Peishwa's successor resides. He is a great favourite of C, and is a man of enormous wealth and influence ; and he has assured C. that we should all be quite safe there. I myself would much prefer going, to the cantonments to be with the other ladies ; but C. thinks that it would be better for me and our precious children to go to Bithoor. "May 18. — If there should be an outbreak here, dearest C. has made all the necessary arrangements for me and the children to go to Bithoor, and he will go there himself, and, with the aid of the Bajah, to whose house we are going, he will collect and head a force of 1500 fighting men, and bring them into Cawnpore to take the insurgents by surprise. " May 23. — The rumours were so bad that C, with the consent of Sir H. Wheeler, wrote to the Bajah of Bithoor to send his force of Mahrattas down here."t To these invitations Doondhu Pant Nana Sahib responded in a very friendly manner : — " When the gentlemen of the station saw that the whole of the troops were acting in op- position to orders, and had become mutinous, they sent for three or four hundred cavalry and infantry belonging to the * Mr Hay, American missionary ; Times, Sept. 16. + Times, Sept. 10. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 55 Nana from Bithoor, for their protection, and placed them near the magazine ; and the Nana himself, with joined hands N told the Judge, Collector, and General, that he would assist the Government to the greatest extent of his power."' 5 " Before the breaking out of the mutiny, Nana Doondhu Pant had promised Mr Hillersdon, the Collector, to protect the treasury, in case of an outbreak among the troops ; and to satisfy that gentleman of the sincerity of his professions, he took up his lodgings in a bungalow, situate at a distance of about one hundred yards from the treasury, with two or three hundred of his armed men and three guns."t The joining of hands was afterwards explained thus by Nana Sahib to Sir Hugh Wheeler : " Our oath is, that who- ever we take by the hand, and he relies on us, we never deceive; if we do, God will judge and punish us." J This friendly conduct was reassuring to the garrison. But, on the 5th of June, when two of the native regi- ments rose, and looted the treasury, " the Nana, with joined hands, told the sepoys that he was on their side ; and that although, as far as outward appearances shewed, he had come to assist the officers, yet, from his heart and soul, he was the deadly enemy of the English." § "After this the Nana remained with the sepoys, and they all elected him their commander ; and on that day (Friday, the 5th of June) the Nana went inside the maga- zine and released all the prisoners, amounting to about four hundred, who were ironed and fettered ; and, having opened the door of the armoury, gave the order that whichever prisoner was willing to follow him should arm himself with gun, pistol, or sword, as he liked best; and if any of them preferred going to their homes, they could do so. At that time hundreds of prisoners and citizens, and sepoys be- longing to the Nana, and also to the Company, joined * Native account ; Times, Oct. 2. + Ibid., ibid., Oct. 16. % Times, Oct. 16. § Ibid., Oct. 2. 56 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MDTINEEES. together, and each man took from the armoury what arms he wished. " On that same day, in company with Nana Doondhu Pant, they encamped at the village of Kullianpoor, about five miles to the west of the city of Cawnpore," where they were joined by the other two regiments. 45 ' " When Nana Doondhu Pant saw that the three native regiments and the 2d Light Cavalry had completely thrown off their allegiance to the Company, and were thinking of going to Delhi, he, with joined hands, represented to the native officers that it would not be correct to proceed towards Delhi until they had entirely destroyed the officers and European soldiers, and women and children of the Christian religion ; and that they should, if possible, by deceiving the officers, accomplisb this grand object, or that they would be good for nothing. The native officers and sepoys approved this speech, and took counsel to kill all the Christians." t " On the following day, the Nana, with the above regi- ments, proceeded to Cawnpore, looted all the residents' houses, and then set fire to them. The residents were in the intrenchment ; those who did not go there were mur- dered, together with the drummers and native Christians." f " The burning of the officers' bungalows now commenced, and the burnt bungalows became, as it were, a black line; and whenever an Englishman or European soldier, or woman or child, were found, they were put to death." § " Next morning, the 7th of June, two guns opened upon us from the north-west, and musketry from" all directions. On, the 8th, three more guns were brought against us. The number of guns against us increased daily; and on the 1 1th, the enemy had playing upon us, night and day, three mortars, two 24-pounders, three 18-pounders, one or two 12-pounders, about the same number of 9-pounders, and * Times, Oct. 2. + Ibid. % Ibid., Oct. 16. § Ibid., Oct. 2. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEEES. 57 one 6-pounder. On or about the 12th of June, the insur- gents, by firing, set on fire the large barracks, in which all the women of the 5 2d Regiment and the wounded were placed." * "During this period, about a hundred and fifty men, women, and -children died from natural causes and wounds, particularly women and children." t " On the 8th of June, one lady and child were seized, and brought before the Nana. Afterwards, according to order, they were killed ; and hundreds of lower-class ser- vants, who wore English clothes, were shot, and cut down with swords." \ " On the 10th of June, one lady, and one grown-up young lady, and three children, were coming along in a carriage from the direction of the west ; the troopers of the 2d Cavalry caught them, and brought them into the pre- sence of the Nana, who ordered them to be killed at once." § On the 11th, one lady, who had for four or five days been hiding, was discovered, and taken before the Nana, who ordered her to be killed. || About this time a company of fugitives from Futtehghur were also murdered. Some letters from one of them, Mrs Monckton, wife of Lieut. Monckton of the Engineers, to her father, show in what spirit some of them met their end : — "May 16.— Ere you get this we shall be delivered one way or another. Should we be cut to pieces, you have, my precious parents, the knowledge that we go to be with Jesus, and can picture us happier and holier than in this distant land. Mary is quite well again, and cutting her last tooth. The Lord reigns. The body may become a prey, but the souls that He has redeemed never can. — With much love, your own devoted child, Rose M." * Lieut. Delafosse ; Times, Oct. 16. f Ibid. J Nujoor Jewaree's account; Times, Oct. 2. § Ibid. || Ibid. 58 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. " Sunday we went to church. Everybody felt that death was staring them in the face, and every countenance was pale. There was no evening service, but the missionaries staying with us read and prayed with us, and the remain- der of the time we sang hymns." "Saturday, May 23. — We are quite prepared for the worst, and feel that to depart and be with Christ is far better. The flesh a little revolts from cold-blooded assassi- nation, but God can make it bear up. . . . Truly have we found that promise fulfilled to us, ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.' I hope, my precious family, that you will not alarm yourselves about us. We are in God's hands, and feel very happy. . . . All is well, and will be well with us. Living or dying, we are the Lord's. I often wish our dear Mary was now in England ; but God can take care of her too, or He will save her from troubles to come by receiving her to Himself. I am so thankful I came out to India to be a comfort to my beloved John, and a companion to one who has so given his . heart to the Lord." To a lady at Chuner, who had asked her and her husband to come thither, as to a safer place, she wrote : — " I think and trust you will be safe in such a good fort as Chuner. Thank you for wishing us to fly to it; but duty would oblige my husband to remain where he is, for every military man should hold himself ready to serve his country's cause if called upon ; and I would not think of leaving him, as I should be miserable if away from him; and would rather die with him, than escape and not know how he is faring. John and 1 feel quite composed." On the 4th of June, 166 Europeans, including Mr and Mrs Monckton, left Futtehghur ; of whom about forty were received by a native chief named Hurdeobuksh; and the remainder, proceeding down the river to Cawnpore, were murdered by Nana Sahib.* * Narrative of a survivor ; Times, Nov. 3. THE PUNISHMENT OP THE MUTINEERS. 59 The following" is the account given by the Friend of India: — "An alarm had broken out at Futtehghur, and 132 persons (men, women, and children), in fifty boats, left that place for Allahabad, but none of them reached their destination. They had advanced as far as Bithoor, when Nana Sahib first fired upon them, and then pursued them in his dhingies. The boats were boarded, and their occu- pants landed and dragged to the parade-ground at Cawn- pore. There they were huddled into a heap and fired at ; but the work of destruction proving too slow, the wretches closed in with their tulwars, and hacked them to death." * On this occasion, Nana Sahib cut to pieces not only Eng- lish men like Mr Monckton, and English women like Mrs Monckton, but also four American missionaries and their wives. How had these excellent persons wronged himl Originally the poor son of a needy Brahmin, then adopted by the ex-Peishwa of Poonah, a defeated enemy of the British Government, he was furious because it had not con- tinued to him the princely pension which it bad allowed to his benefactor; but what injury had he suffered from the Government of the United States % If Engbsb women must, to gratify his malice, be slaughtered because the British Government, although it had made him rich, did not assign to him the income of a sovereign, why must American ladies be hacked to pieces by the swords of his troopers'? A spirit of revenge may account for his murder of the Eng- lish, but he must have murdered the Americans from simple hatred to their religion. On or about June 27, the fort at Futtehghur was attacked by the sepoys, and for several days was gallantly defended by a hundred Europeans, of whom only thirty-three were able- bodied. At length, when their condition became desperate, all, about July 4, at two o'clock in the morning, em- barked in three boats. One of these, being found unmanage- able from its size, was abandoned; the second struck upon * Times, Aug. 15, 1857. 60 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. a mud bank, and was attacked by the sepoys, -who killed nearly all within it; tbe tbird reacbed Bitboor.* Tbere those who were in it were seized, conveyed to. Cawnpore, and kept for four days in tbe assembly rooms ; but on tbe nigbt previoua to tbe arrival of tbe English, they were murdered by Nana Sabib.t Tbe same evening be mur- dered all tbe Cawnpore prisoners wbo remained in bis bands, many having previously perished. Several accounts of these transactions remain, all very much agreeing with each other. The best is that of Mr Shepherd, of which the following are extracts : — "June 25 was fixed by the General for an interview with any whom the Nana might appoint to arrange mat- ters; and accordingly, at about noon, a man named Azi- moollab, with a few of the ringleader sowars of the 2d Light Cavalry, came to the camp, and were received by the Gene- ral in one of the unfinished barracks outside the intrench- ment. Azimoolah, who could read and write English, attempted to open the conversation in that language, but was prevented from doing so by tbe sowars. It was agreed upon, on the part of our General, that all tbe Government money, the magazine in the intrenchment, with the guns, should be made over to tbe Nana ; and, in return, be should provide tonnage, and permit every person in the intrench- ment to proceed to Allahabad unmolested. This agreement was drawn up in writing, signed, sealed, and ratified by a solemn oath by the Nana. " All hostile proceedings were stopped on both sides from tbe evening of the 24th. The 26th was employed by the English people in preparing for their journey, and a few officers were allowed to go on elephants to see the boats provided as above. " On the morning of the 27th, a number of carts, doolies, * Letter of an officer 'who escaped ; Times, Nov. 3. f Statement of two native servants who escaped ; Times, Oct. 9. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 61 and elephants were sent to the intrenchment by the Nana, to enable the women and children and sick to proceed to the river-side. It is reported that the persons who came out that morning from the intrenchment amounted to about four hun- dred and fifty : and a general plunder took place of what pro- perty the officers and others were obliged to abandon in the intrenchment. The men and officers were allowed to take their arms and ammunition with them, and were escorted by nearly the whole of the rebel army. It was about eight o'clock a.m. when all reached the river-side — a distance of about a mile and a half. Those who embarked first managed to let their boats go; thus three or four boats got off a short distance, though deserted by their crews, but the rest found difficulty in pushing them off the banks, as the rebels had previously had them placed as high in the mud as possible, on purpose to cause delay. In the meantime, the report of three guns was heard from the Nana's camp, which was the signal (as previously arranged) for the muti- neers to fire upon and kill all the English ; and accordingly the work of destruction commenced. The boats' crews and others were ordered to get away, some of the boats were set on fire, and volley upon volley of musketry was fired upon the poor fugitives, numbers of whom were killed on the spot ; some fell overboard, and attempted to escape by swimming, but were picked off by the bullets of the sepoys, who followed tbem on shore, and in breast-deep water. A few boats crossed over to the opposite bank, but there a regiment of Native Infantry (the 17th), just arrived from Azimghur, had placed itself in such a manner as to prevent their escape. The boats were then seized upon on both banks, the river not being very broad, and every man who survived was put to the sword. The women and children, most of whom were wounded, some with three or four ■ bullet-shots in them, were spared, and brought to the Nana's camp, and placed in a pukka building called ' Subada 62 THE PUKISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. Kothee,' and for the first three days no attention was paid to them, beyond giving them a small quantity of parched grain each daily for food, and water to drink, leaving them to lie on the hard ground, without any sort of bedding, mats, &c. "In the meantime, people followed after the advance- boats, which had gone adrift at the first setting off, and which contained a good number of officers, soldiers, and their families : they went a few miles, but returned without success. The boats did not, however, escape altogether, but were captured by the Zemindar of Dowreea Kheyra, named Baboo Eambux, near Futtehpore, and the fugitives, about 115, were all sent back on carts to the Nana. They reached on the 1st of July, and on the evening of the same day all men and officers, about seventy-five or eighty, were killed in cold blood. An officer's lady, with her child, clung to her husband, so that it was impossible to separate them, and they were killed together. The women and children on this occasion amounted to about thirty-five in number : making a total of the prisoners, including the old lady, Mrs Green- way, her son Edward, and three members of their family, about 150 in all. " It is not easy to describe, but it may be imagined, the misery of so many helpless persons, some wounded, others sick, and all labouring under the greatest agony of heart for the loss of those so dear to them, who had so recently been killed, perhaps before their own eyes, cooped up night and day in a small low pukka-roofed house, with but four or six very small rooms, and that in the hottest season of the year, without beds or punkas, for a whole fortnight, watched most carefully on all sides by a set of unmannerly, brutish, rebellious sepoys. "All this while the Nana continued to receive many more troops, which, after mutinying, had left their respec- tive stations, and poured from all sides into Cawnpore; so THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 63 that about the 10th of July there were near upon 20,000 armed fighting men of all classes at his command. " The Ganges Canal (built with so much trouble and at so great a cost to Government) was bestowed upon the villain Azimoollah, who, together with about a hundred and fifty of the Mussulman troopers of the 2d Regiment Light Cavalry, and Tuka Sing, subadhar of the same regiment, created a Brigadier-General of the Cawnpore Division at the time, were at the bottom of all mischief. It was through their instigation that the Europeans were killed in cold blood, as described above; as also the gentlemen and ladies, with their families, that had arrived from Futtehghur while our intrenchment was besieged, who were also murdered in the most inhuman manner by the above wretches. " Just after the defeat at Fufctehpore of the rebels, a few spies (whether real or imaginary it is not known) were brought to the Nana, as being the bearers of letters supposed to have been written to the British by the helpless women in the prison, and with it some of the Mahaguns and the Ben- galees of the city were believed to be implicated ; it was therefore agreed that the said spies, together with all the women and children, as also the few gentlemen whose lives had been spared (said to be six in number, out of seventeen officers who had been captured about the 1 0th or 1 1th of July, on their way by water from Futtehghur to this, and whose deaths were also delayed under promise of a ransom), should all be put to death ; and that the Baboos of the city, and every person who could read or write English, should have their right hands and noses cut off. The first order was carried out immediately — i. e., on the evening of the 15th of July — and a decree was issued to apprehend the natives, Baboos, &c, after the Nana's return from the field of battle, where he proceeded, . as described above, on the 1 6th of July, after causing the murder on the 1 5th of the English prisoners. 64 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. " The native spies were first put to the sword, and after them the gentlemen, who were brought out from the out- buildings in which they were confined, and shot with bullets ; after which the poor ladies were ordered to come out, but neither threats nor persuasions could induce them to do so. They laid hold of each other by dozens, and clung so close that it was impossible to separate or drag them out of the building. The troopers therefore brought muskets, and after firing a great many shots from the doors, windows, &c, rushed in with swords and bayonets. Some of the helpless creatures in their agony fell down at the feet of their mur- derers, clasped their legs, and begged in the most pitiful manner to spare their lives, but to no purpose. The fearful deed was done most deliberately and completely, in the midst of the most dreadful shrieks and cries of the victims. There were between a hundred and forty and a hundred and fifty souls, including children, and from a little before sunset till candle-fight was occupied in completing the dreadful deed. The doors of the buildings were then locked for the night, and the murderers went to their homes. Next morn- ing it was found on opening the doors that some ten or fifteen women with a few of the children had managed to escape from death by falling and hiding under the murdered bodies of their fellow-prisoners. Fresh orders were therefore sent to murder them also ; but the survivors, not being able to bear the idea of being cut down, rushed out into the com- pound, and, seeing a well there, threw themselves into it without hesitation, thus putting a period to lives which it was impossible for them to save. The dead bodies of those murdered on the preceding evening were then ordered to be thrown into the same well, and juttads were employed to drag them away Like dogs." * On the night of the ICth of July, the station was deserted by the rebels, and the next day General Havelock entered * Testimony of Mr H. J. Shepherd, dated Cawnpore, Aug. 29 ; Times. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 65 it. The following sad memorials, left by two of the poor sufferers, were found in the slaughter-house, written on two scraps of paper spotted with blood : — " Mamma died, July 12; Alice died, July 9 ; George died, June 27; entered the barracks, May 21 ; Cavalry left, June 5; first shot fired, June 6; Uncle Willey died, June 18; Aunt Lilly, June 17; left barracks, June 27; made prisoners as soon as were at the river." " We went into the barracks on the 21st of May; the 2d Cavalry broke out at two o'clock on the morning of the 5th June, and the other regiments went off during the day. The next morning while we were all sitting out in front of the barracks, a twenty-four pounder came flying along, and hit the intrenchment, and from that day the firing went on till the 25th June; then the enemy sent a treaty which the General agreed to, and on the 27th we all left the R to go down to A. in boats. When we got to the river the enemy began firing on us, killed all the gentlemen and some of the ladies, set fire to the boats; some were drowned, and we were taken prisoners and taken to a house, put all in one room."* The slaughter-house has been thus described by various officers and others who have visited it : — " Some officers of the force visited the place wherein the fearful tragedy of the day before had been enacted. It was a native house of the bettermost kind, having rooms on either side, round an enclosed inner court-yard, where those unfortunate ladies and soldiers' wives, and their children, had been confined; and it was told to me as an actual and literal fact, that the floor of the inner room was two inches deep in hlood all over — it came over men's shoes as they stepped. Tresses of women's hair, and children's shoes, and articles of female wear, broad hats and bonnets, books, and such like things, lay scattered all about the rooms. There * Calcutta Phoenix, in Christian Times of Sept. 25, 1857. E 66 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEEKS. were the marks of bullets and sword-cuts on the walls — not high up, as if men had fought, but low down, and about the corners, where the poor crouching creatures had been cut to pieces. The bodies of the victims had been thrown indiscriminately down a well just behind the house, and were there to be seen a mangled heap, with an arm or leg protruding here and there."* " The sight of the place where these poor ladies were murdered is indeed awful. Long tresses of hair — dresses covered with blood — here and there a work-box or bonnet ! All the bodies are in a well."t " Cawnpore, July 1 9. — They have visited the house where our women were murdered. That house and well are described by men of not weak nerves as the most fearful, sickening sight they ever saw." % " Camp, Cawnpore, July 22. — I have been to see the place where the poor women and children were imprisoned and afterwards butchered. It is a small bungalow close to the road. There were all sorts of articles of women and children's clothing. Ladies' hair, evidently cut off with a sword, back-combs, &c. There were also parts of religious books. Where the massacre took place it is covered with blood like a butcher's slaughter-house. One would fancy nothing could be worse than this, but in the well at the back of the house are the bodies and limbs of the poor things. I looked down and saw such a sight as I hope never to see again. The whole of the bodies were naked, and the limbs had been separated. I thought of the two Mrs and the three poor girls, and felt very sad. By all accounts the women were so ill-treated, that death, even such a death, must have been welcome to them. I will not * Letter from an officer of Artillery, dated near Cawnpore, July 26 ; Chris- tian Times, Sept. 25. t From an officer of the 1st Madras Fusiliers ; Record, Sept. 18. J Letter from an officer ; Record, Sept. 18. THE PUNISHMENT OP THE MUTINEERS. 67 enter into more details. I have told you enough to cause you to make allowance if I write savagely. I have looked upon death in every form, but I could not look down that well again."* " There were two inches of blood upon the pavement, and from the report that we got from the residents of the place, it appears that, after we had beaten the enemy the evening previous, the sepoys and sowars entered the place where the unhappy victims were, killed all the ladies, and threw the children alive, as well as the ladies' dead bodies, into a well in the compound. I saw it, and it was an awful sight. It appears from the bodies we saw, that the women were stripped of their clothes before they were murdered." t " Cawnpore, August 1. — As soon as that monster, Nana Sahib, heard of the success of our troops, and of their hav- ing forced the bridge about twenty miles from Cawnpore, he ordered the wholesale butchery of the poor women and children. I find the officers' servants behaved shamefully, and were in the plot, all hut the lowest caste ones. They deserted their masters and plundered them. "Whenever a rebel is caught he is immediately tried, and unless he can prove a defence, he is sentenced to be hanged at once; but the chief rebels or ringleaders I make first clean up a cer- tain portion of the pool of blood, still two inches deep, in the shed where the fearful murder and mutilation of women and children took place. The well of mutilated bodies — alas ! containing upwards of two hundred women and chil- dren — I have had decently covered in, and built up as one large grave." \ " On the morning of the 1 7th of July, the force marched into Cawnpore. The soul-harrowing spectacle which there * Letter from an officer ; Times, Sept. 24. + Letter from a Highlander; Bombay Telegraph; Times, Sept. 17. X Letter of General Neill; Christian Times, Oct. 2. 68 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. presented itself to them beggars description. The extent of the frightful catastrophe now became known. A wholesale massacre had been perpetrated by the fiend Nana Sahib. 88 officers, 190 men of Her Majesty's 84th Foot, 70 ladies, 120 women and children of Her Majesty's 3 2d Foot, and the whole European and Christian population of the place, including civilians, merchants, shopkeepers, engineers, pen- sioners and their families, to the number of about four hundred persons, were the victims of this Satanic deed. The courtyard in front of the assembly rooms, in which Nana Sahib had held his head-quarters, and in which the women had been imprisoned, was swimming in blood. A large number of women and children, who had been ' cruelly spared after the capitulation for a worse fate than instant death/ had been barbarously slaughtered on the previous morning — the women having been stripped naked, beheaded, and thrown into a well; the children having been hurled down alive upon their butchered mothers, whose blood yet reeked on their mangled bodies."* The details of the massacre may be imagined from the following facts : — " At Cawnpore, a cook-boy, who was with the G Company, by some means escaped; being a Bengalee, of course he could mix with the remainder of his class without detection. He is but a lad; he told us that Mr Saunders was nailed down, hands, feet, and knees ; that these barbarians the first day cut off his feet and ears and nose, and so left him until the next day, when some other pieces were cut off him, and he died."t The total number of those who perished on the 27th of June and on the 16th of July is thus stated by the Times, from the Gazette of May 6 : — * Bombay Times, August 15 ; Times, Sept. 17. + Letter from a non-commissioned officer of the 84th Kegiment ; Times, Sept. 29. THE PUNISHMENT OP THE MUTINEERS. 69 June 27. 55 ladies, with their children. 22 persons of superior station. 60 men of the 84th Eegiment. 15 men of the 1st European Bengal Fusiliers. 70 men of the 3 2d Eegiment. 55 Bengal Artillerymen. Total, 277 persons. To which must be added the married women and chil- dren of these regiments, and the children of the married ladies, so that between three and four hundred perished on that day. July 16, there were murdered — 186 residents at Cawnpora 56 visitors. 40 clerks and their families. 60 fugitives from Futtehghui. 15 others. Total, 357 " In short, we may count the number of victims at Cawn- pore, men, women, and children, as not far from eight hun- dred."* The spirit of the sepoys in other places was exactly similar. Thirty-one persons were killed at Meerut on the night of the 10th of May;t thirty-three were murdered at Agra ;J and at Bareilly, May 31, the ladies and children of the officers having happily escaped to Nynee Tal, four gen- tlemen were hung by Khan Bahadoor Khan, and then ninety Christians— clerks, half-castes, and natives — were taken to the church, and there butchered. § The same day, at Shah- jehanpore, the sepoys of the 28th Eegiment surrounded the Europeans who were assembled in the church, and mur- dered them all; || and, June 5, six ensigns, and twenty-five * Times, May 10, 1858. t Ibid. J Ibid. § Ibid., Oct. 26. || Ibid. 70 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. other Europeans — men, women, and children — were mur- dered in Allahabad.* June 8, a similar tragedy took place at Jhansi. From the evening of the 4th, when the sepoys mutinied, till the 8th, the gentlemen held the fort, aided by the ladies, who cooked for them and cast their bullets. Inclusive of women and children, they were fifty-five in number. On the 8th, having received a promise that their lives should be spared, they capitulated; upon which they were all murdered :f the bodies of the men were thrown into one pit, and those of the ladies and children into another. J In a similar manner, fifty-three Europeans, of whom nearly half were women and children, were butchered at Grwalior, Indore, and Mhow. § These and similar murders too plainly indicate that it was the intention of the sepoys generally to exterminate the English. They were not the work of a few. Of the 150,000 inhabitants of Delhi, none seem to have protested against those which were perpetrated in that city. At Cawnpore, multitudes were engaged in shooting the poor victims, women as well as men, who were murdered in the boats. But we find still clearer proof of the complicity of the whole army in this design. The successive proclama- tions which were put forth by their chiefs, all urged this as the essential point of their policy. Shunker Shah, Rajah of Jubbulpore, thus expressed his wishes in a prayer, in Hindee, to the goddess Kali, found upon him after his revolt : — " Eat up backbiters, trample down the sinners, Sutrsingharka ! Kill the British; exter- minate them, Matchundee ! Let not the enemy escape, nor their wives and children, Singharka ! Eat up the unclean, make no delay; devour them, and that quickly, Ghormat- kelka!"[| The manifesto of the Delhi mutineers, with the King at * Times, Aug. 18. t Ibid. J Ibid., May 20; Daily News, May 20. § Times, May 10, 1858. || Ibid., Oct. 31. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEEES. 71 their head, was as follows : — " We, solely on account of our religion .... have not spared alive one infidel, and have re-established the Delhi dynasty on these terms Who- ever of the soldiers and people dislike turning Christians, should unite with one heart, and act courageously, not leaving the seed of these infidels remaining. . . . Nearly 100,000 men are ready, .... and it is the intention of Cawnpore to root out this seed of the devil. This is what we of the army here wish." * At Cawnpore, Nana Sahib had previously expressed similar sentiments, in the following terms, employed in his proclamation of July 1 : — " As by the kindness of God, .... all the Christians who were at Delhi, Poonah, Sattarah, and other places, . . .- . are destroyed and sent to hell by the pious and sagacious troops, .... it is the duty of all the subjects and servants of the Government to rejoice at the delightful intelligence. ... As by the bounty of Almighty God, the yellow-faced and narrow-minded people have been sent to hell, it is the duty of all the ryots and landed pro- prietors of every district to rejoice in the thought that the Christians have been sent to hell, and both the Hindoo and • Mahommedan religions have been confirmed." f Next came the proclamation of Moulvie Seyed Kootub Khan Bahadoor Khan, the rebel NaWab of Bareilly, in which we find these terms: — "O ye Bajahs, God has given you dominion that you should .... extirpate the destroyers of your religion. ... A small number of English is still left in India, and measures have been adopted to kill them also. .... If you all be of the same mind with us, then we can easily root out the English from this country. ... It is a duty now incumbent upon both nations, Hindoos and Mus- sulmans, to kill all the Englishmen in India. ... If the Hindoos do not attend to this solemn appeal, and do not kill the English, nay, if they even shelter them, they will * Times, Aug. 31. t Ibid., Oct. 29. 72 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. be considered guilty of slaughtering cows and of eating beef. This appeal is made with the full consent of both Hindoos and Mussulmans of this place. — Published by Moulvie Seyed Kootub Bahadoor. — Press, Bareilly." Then followed the proclamation, which was published through Oude, probably by Moulvie Shahjee, who styles himself the Heaven-appointed King of Oude : — " All the Mahommedan fraternity should, with all their hearts, be deadly enemies to the Christians. . . . Mussulmans should hope to gain the victory, and destroy all Christians. If the Mahommedans have any shame, they should all join and prepare themselves to kill the Christians, without mind- ing any one who says to the contrary. ... To be killed in a war against Christians, is a proof of obtaining martyrdom. As it is the duty of all men and women to oppose, kill, and expel the Europeans, all the Mahommedans should discharge their duty with a willing heart." * The last proclamation which has appeared is that of Prince Mirza Mahommed Feroze Shah, which was published February 17, 1858. It contains the following sentences:— 7 " Now every one has turned to annihilate the English, and they have nearly done so. All of us must conjointly exert ourselves .... to root out the English from this coun- try. I persuaded many at Delhi to raise a religious war; I then hastened to Gwalior, where the majority of the mili- tary officers promised to kill the English, and take up my cause. Thank God, an army of 150,000 old and new men are now bound by a solemn oath to embrace my cause. . . . In a short time, I shall clear the country of all infidels. . . . Those who are in the service of Mirza Birjish Kadar Baha- door in Lucknow, and of Khan Bahadoor Khan at Bareilly, should not join us, for these rulers are themselves using their best endeavours to clear the country of all infidels. . . . The delay in defeating the English has been caused by the *■ Times, April 20, 1858. THE PUNISHMENT OE THE MUTINEERS. 73 people killing innocent children and women, without any permission from the leaders. ... Let all avoid such prac- tices, and then proclaim a sacred war. " Printed at Bareilly, under the supervision of Moulvie Mahommed Kootub Shah."* These proclamations show not only the designs of the leaders, but also the feelings of the army. Delhi, in conse- quence of the murderous manifesto which issued thence, became the rendezvous of many Bengal regiments. The proposal of Nana Sahib to murder all the Christians was welcomed by the sepoys, to whom it was addressed; and his proclamations so augmented his popularity that he found himself in a few weeks at the head of twenty thousand men. Lucknow, with its exterminating circular, became, after the fall of Delhi, the great centre of attraction to the sepoys and talookdars ; and Khan Bahadoor Khan, who is as blood- thirsty as any one of our enemies, is now drawing to him- self at Bareilly all those who have fled from Delhi, Bajpoo- tana, and Lucknow. ,. "With what fury these murders have been committed, what torture preceded the death of the poor victims, we do not know. Whether hundreds of unoffending ladies were mutilated, as poor Mrs Collings ; or hundreds of innocent children cut to pieces, like the little boy of Mr Hamlington, we can never learn. No Christian was left alive in these massacres to record their circumstances; the dead do not tell tales, and none return, like Banquo, to fill their empty chairs. Who, then, can say how they perished? But we know this, that the practice of torturing men and womeL. has been common in India, and is still in use. Recently, two sepoys of the 85th Native Infantry have been con- demned to death, and six to transportation, by the judicial commissioner of the Mysore, for torturing to death a poor young woman named Jamahlee. She had slightly offended * Times. 74 THE PUNISHMENT OP THE MTJTINEEES. one of them, but had given no offence whatever to the other seven ; yet all the eight, in a ruined temple on the bank of the river Toombudra, stripped her of her clothes, stole her jewels, and then roasted her alive. If these eight Mahom- medans could amuse themselves with that fiendish cruelty, it is too probable that the temper is not uncommon among their co-religionists."* In Oude, from which the great body of the Bengal sepoys came, torture is common. Sir William Sleeman has given us the following specimen, among many : — " At Busuntpore the force of Eughbur Sing, the government contractor, was divided into two parties for the purpose of torturing the surviving prisoners till they consented to sign bonds for the payment of such sums as should be demanded from them. Beharee Lai presided over the first party, in which they were tortured from day-break till noon. They were tied up and flogged, had red-hot ramrods thrust into their flesh, their tongues were pulled out with hot pincers, and pierced through; and when all would not do, they were taken to Kurum Hoseyn, who presided at the other party, to be tor- tured again till the evening. He sat with a savage delight to witness this brutal scene, and invent new kinds of tor- ture. No less than seventy men, besides women and chil- dren, perished at Busuntpore from torture and starvation. The sepoys, and other persons employed to torture, got money from their victims, . . . and all laughed and joked at the screams of the sufferers." t If the sepoys of Oude would torture women of their own country, it is too probable that those in the Bengal army from the same neighbourhood would not hesitate to torture Englishwomen, whom they hated for their race and their religion. But if no grinning exultation, no foaming hatred, no hell- ish delight in torturing, added to the last sufferings of our * Times, May 26, 1858. t Sir W. Sleeman, i., pp. 77, 78. THE PUNISHMENT OE THE MUTINEERS. 75 poor countrymen, -with their wives and daughters, the mur- ders themselves were sufficiently brutal. No excuse can be offered for the murder of the officers. There was no other native army to which these officers could transfer their ser- vices, so that the success of the mutiny did not at all depend upon their deaths. But if we allow that the mutineers might fancy some danger to themselves or to their cause from the lives of brave men accustomed to command, what harm could these women do them'? Some, at least, were so good that they would have nursed them in sickness, or fed them when hungry, or clothed them when naked. Not a wrongful act, not a word of contempt, not a look of unkindness, could be alleged against them. "What harm could they do? Affectionate women might go to their graves broken-hearted through the murder of their hus- bands, but what revenge could they inflict 1 They were not likely to swell the ranks of the British regiments, nor point the British guns. No danger would be avoided by their extermination, no advantage could possibly accrue from it. On the contrary, policy clearly dictated their pre- servation. Had they been treated with respect and kind- ness at Delhi, Cawnpore, and elsewhere, they might have been precious hostages through which the mutineers might have obtained, in case of reverses, more favourable terms from the East India Government. That kindness would even have pleaded with the whole British nation for mercy. Those who treated women with respect and children with tenderness, whatever their other crimes might be, would have been considered worthy of some pity in return. But those causeless, useless, brutal, satanic murders of the inno- cent, the helpless, the kind, and the good, were certain to call down a terrific vengeance. Yet they perpetrated them. Urged on by a malignity so intense, that it overwhelmed not only all sense of compassion, but all the calculations of prudence, they butchered those who had done them no 76 THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. wrong, who were worthy of all affection, whose deaths were likely to bring down on them a crushing vengeance, and who, if living, might have pleaded in their behalf. By the law of God these murderers should die. Indivi- duals ought to pardon and love even their murderers; but governments stand in the place of God ta punish crime. The supreme ruler " is sent by Him for the punishment of evil-doers" (1 Pet. ii. 14); he is meant to be "a terror to evil-doers" (Eom. xiii. 3) ; he '' beareth not the sword in vain, for lie is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him, that doeth evil" (Eom. xiii. 4). The law which God gave to the patriarchs was, " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" (Gen. ix. 6) ; and the law which He gave to Israel was, " He that hilleth any man shall surely be put ta death " (Lev. xxiv. 1 7). If these laws are not now in force, they at least shew that the death of a murderer is essentially just and agreeable to the will of God. What He once ordered He sanctions now. From individuals He expects forgiveness of sin, but from governments a just retribution for it. To other crimes mercy may be extended, specially when numbers have sinned; but no murderer of women and children should escape. Each of them is worse than a savage animal, less fit to be at large than a tiger, less trustworthy than a mad dog- — a brute beast made to be taken and destroyed. When Nana Sahib, and men like him, are shot or hung before all India, those whose vile superstitions make them ready to perpetrate similar mur- ders will curb their detestable appetites. The death of the murderer is justice to him, and mercy to society. Seventy millions of women and children ask of Government this mercy. Let the deaths of our poor innocents at least save their European and Hindoo sisters from similar treatment for all coming years. Now is the time to abolish these murders of women along the whole valley of the Ganges. Let a terrible punishment extinguish a horrible propensity; THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 77 and. let the -weak and defenceless families of the land, as they sit in peace at their cottage doors, bless the powerful Government which saves them from miscreants who would otherwise plunder and destroy them. Every bad man in India must be taught, by the death of all discovered mur- derers, that the lives of women and children shall be pro- tected-; and this they will never learn but by seeing that each murder is followed by a certain, speedy, and terrible retribution. All who have shared in the mutiny must be held respon- sible for its consequences. They have broken their military obligations, they have occasioned the murder of our country- men in many military stations, they have caused the mise- ries which so many fugitives have experienced, they have let loose myriads of criminals and villains to plunder and murder peaceable villagers, and they have drawn in village mobs to share in their deeds of violence; so that the crimes which have been flooding the land are all their work. Through them the treasuries of the Government have been plundered, and the revenue in large districts has ceased; on their account enormous sums must be expended in the raising, transporting, and maintaining so large an European force to restore tranquillity : and the lives of our soldiers who have died in battle, or perished by the climate, have been sacrificed by them. For the accomplishment of all this mischief they have no excuse. Well treated by Govern- ment, their religious liberty complete, and the Government only too indifferent to their conversion, they have made the imagination that they might be called to touch with their lips a cartridge greased with ox-lard, their excuse for per- petrating all these crimes. Moreover, the mutineers in general are, as I have shewn, much implicated in the guilt of the murderers themselves. How far they shared in their violent passions we do not know, and may give them the benefit of that ignorance; 78 THE PUNISHMENT OP THE MUTINEERS. but it is painful to think how much the same spirit may- have animated all of them. When, in 1806, the garrison of Vellore mutinied, because they were ordered to shave their whiskers, and wash off the red ochre from their fore- heads, they also murdered men, women, and children, as these murderers have done. The similarity of disposition manifested by the mutineers on both occasions, leads us to suspect that it is a general disposition of Mahommedans and Hindoos ; and that then- savage religions have made the sepoys in general capable of similar excesses. However this may be, it is certain that all who joined the chiefs of the mutiny accepted the terms of their proclamations ; and were, therefore, as adhering to those murderous manifestos, pledged to the extermination of every Christian in India. Eegiment after regiment, when it rose, began its revolt by killing its officers ; in various places the insurgent sepoys murdered all the Europeans whom they could reach ; and against all this wholesale butchery no protest has been raised in the rebel camps. The wish to murder all the Christians, made a duty by the one creed, and treated as a trivial offence by the other, seems to have been nearly universal among them ; and very many, therefore, of the sepoys are murderers at heart. Whether, however, they are so "or not, both they and all their countrymen must be taught by a just punishment, that great crimes are not to go unpunished. These murders were not the work of a few. Of the hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants of Delhi, no one protested against them. No portion of the inhabitants sought refuge in the British lines. Of the sepoys and sowars themselves none seem to have been shocked by the sight of these horrors. Multitudes of them were engaged in shooting the poor creatures who were crowded in Nana Sahib's boats, as they floated down the river. When he proposed to the troops the death of all the Christians at Cawnpore, they unani- THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 79 mously accepted his proposal. As they chose him freely for their leader, he could undertake nothing which they dis- approved; and, had the majority of his men been shocked at these murders, they would have deserted his standard and marched off to Delhi. On the contrary, his published intention of killing all the Christians, and his actual murders brought them flocking to his standard; so that, the obscure chief of a petty fortress, he found himself in a few days at the head of ten thousand men. All these men were implicated in these murders which they thus ap- proved; and no less were all those at Delhi, with their king at their head, guilty of that proclamation in which the army there declared their intention of murdering the Christians without distinction, so as to exterminate that seed of the devil. Respecting their punishment, I shall offer no suggestion : for that may be safely left to Lord Canning, who has acted in the most difficult circumstances with judgment, firmness, and moderation. His just discrimination of the degrees of guilt in -different classes of mutineers, appeared to the English in Calcutta, who were excited by daily narratives of fresh horrors, as a culpable leniency towards sanguinary savages. More recently, his firmness in dealing with great offenders has been denounced by some at home as ferocity. But by his firmness he has repressed the revolt ; and by his discrimination he has made the necessary severity appear to be the punishment of crime, not the proscription of a race. The death inflicted upon murderers is just ; the mercy extended to the rest is not unjust. Tbe blood of many must be shed, because they have shed blood ; but the clemency which spares their reluctant accomplices, who did not actively participate in their atrocities, is as politic as it is right. We cannot govern a people four times as numerous- as ourselves, if we make them believe that we are their enemies ; and we shall make them believe it, if we doom 80 THE PUNISHMENT OS 1 THE MUTINEERS. the timid, who mutinied through fear and fashion, to the same destruction with • the blood-thirsty who revelled in murder, and exulted in the shrieks and the agony of their victims. We have to make the lawless dread the vengeance of the law; but we have also to make the peaceable perceive such vengeance to be inflicted for their welfare, no less than for our own. We wish to protect European life, to make an English lady feel as safe on the banks of the Ganges as upon the margin of the Thames. Mercy will aid vengeance to accomplish this. .Vengeance will do it, by convincing every ruffian that if he commits a murder he will fasten a halter round his own neck ; and mercy will do it, by making the murder of their friends and benefactors appear to millions detestable. It is the nature of the Hindoo, we are told, to worship the strong ; but it is also the nature of all men to love the strong better when they are also gentle. If it is necessary to the maintenance of our rule, that every ruffian should dread our power, it is no less so that the peaceable should feel confidence in our equity and bene- volence : we have reason to believe that Lord Canning has wisdom enough to secure both these objects. Facts shew that he can be stern towards the guilty, but he will not be goaded by any European indignation into violence against the innocent. When a proper punishment has been awarded to those mutineers who are saved from the extreme penalty due to their offence, Government should, on every account, let them have the opportunity of instruction. Humbled and unhappy, they would feel the kindness shewn to them by Christian men, and would probably open their minds to the lessons of the gospel. On the other hand, let not Christians in this country overlook them. Missionaries appointed especially for them, schools in which they may learn to think as well as read, and Christian books, would be most useful to them. Probably they now look upon their defeat as the THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. 81 great disaster of their lives ; but Christian instruction can turn it into the greatest blessing. The crucified thief thought, doubtless, his arrest and his condemnation great calamities : but by them he was led to trust in Jesus and was saved. So may these offenders be. Let the friends of India provide for them missionaries and schools ; let the East Indian Government throw no obstacle in the way of their conversion, and some of them may yet support our rule, and be benefactors to their native land. II. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE AEMY. Ouk danger in India has come from a thing which we created to prevent danger. Our rule has been well-nigh extinguished, and numbers of our countrymen have perished, through the sepoy army which we raised, fed, disciplined, and trusted. The Sikhs, whom we so recently subdued, and the Nepaulese, with whom we had maintained a bloody strife, have aided us ; the native princes, whose turbulence we dreaded, have continued to be friendly, and the people under great temptations to rebellion have remained quiet ; but the army, which was the mainstay of our Empire, has been in mutiny from Calcutta to Beshawar. To place our- selves again in the power of a vast, irritable, jealous, ambi- tious, and unprincipled monster, like this Bengal army, would be the height of folly. But, if I mistake not, we may easily err by falling into the other extreme. Some have recommended that there shall be, in fact, no native army, the place of the sepoys being filled up by a great augmentation of the European force. I heartily hope that this country will set its face against that scheme. Never was the military glory of France better maintained than by those splendid victories of Napoleon, through which he brought a large part of Europe beneath his dominion; but the effect of his prolonged wars has been so to drain France of its strongest men, that the last French census shewed a decrease in the population ; and the standard height of the French soldier has been reduced an inch. The French people have THE KECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. 83 been diminished in numbers and dwarfed in size by that constant drain. To maintain a large army in India would be like the support of a constant war : as the Indian climate will, without extraordinary care on our part, do for English- men what Napoleon's, victories did for France. "We ought, therefore, to keep our British army in India as low as is consistent with the safety of the Empire ; and by a prudent use of other means of defence, we may perhaps avoid the necessity of any augmentation of it. To determine the prin- ciples on which a Bengal force should be reconstructed, we must consider some of the causes of the present outbreak. There have been always feuds and predatory wars in India which have enabled restless and ambitious men to gathei followers and to obtain power. Hyder Ali and Bunjeet Sing were chieftains of this kind. The kingdom of Nepaul was formed in tlie same way, and the numbers who, in addition to the mutinous sepoys, have flocked to the standard of Nana Sahib, illustrate the same fact. All soldiers without principle like to obtain plunder and power, and the sepoys' have been no exception to the rule. " Avarice being the lead- ing vice of the Indian, whether Hindoo or Mahommedan, the cupidity of the sepoy once excited, he acknowledges no other principle of action than ' pay and allowances/ Hence the numerous mutinies which have taken place, when the opportunity of extortion has presented itself." " The idol of avarice," writes an experienced Bengal field-officer, "has been raised by those who should have known better; and the sepoy has sacrificed at the debasing shrine, until he recognises no other worship. Gold has become his god." " A soldier who is moved by no higher principle of action than pecuni- ary gain, is at once a worthless and a dangerous mercenary. The hope of plunder alone inspires him in action, and the same base thirst of lucre makes him a savage mutineer, and a relentless robber, on the first convenient occasion."* * Campbell, p. 7. 84 THE RECONSTRUCTION OE THE NATIVE ARMY. The native army in India was, or seemed to be, supreme; for "the total number of troops employed there in 1857 amounted to 310,109, of which number 32,363 were Euro- peans, and 277,746 natives; the number of these employed in the Bengal Presidency alone being 160,133."* Now, every army which is really supreme in any country is tempted, like the Pretorian bands of Eome, and the vic- torious army of the Long Parliament in England, to take the power into its own hands. Nothing, therefore, was more natural than that the Bengal army should mutiny. If they could overthrow the East Indian Government, no other power in the country could withstand them, and all the wealth of the country would be their own. Like every other army in possession of apparently irresistible force, it was strongly tempted to mutiny. It was, indeed, more tempted to mutiny than almost any other sovereign army on record; because its circumstances were, as I believe, unparalleled. When and where besides have a handful of foreigners governed a hundred and thktymillions, alien to them in language, habits, and religion, by means of an army in all respects as alien to them'? When an army deserts a native government, the government may, by the zeal of the people, speedily raise a new army, as the Parliament did when the army of Charles I. deserted it; but when an army deserts a government of foreign conquerors, depending on it alone, how can they appeal to an alien people, who, if not hostile to them, are at least indifferent to their safety? The Mahommedan rulers of India, unlike ourselves, had a Mahommedan army; and, further, if their army had mutinied, they had a large Mahom- medan population to fall back upon, from which a new army might have been levied ; but the English in India are merely a few officials, who are there a few years, who have no hold on the soil, are backed by no European population in the country, and have no native co-religionists to support * Times, July 14, 1858. THE RECONSTRUCTION OE THE NATIVE ARMY. 85 them. Were they exterminated, the people at large would only see in that catastrophe the destruction of a few aliens, for whom they feel no affection, and whose rule they are too ignorant to appreciate. Any army under such circumstances would be tempted to overturn a government. How much more, therefore, an army composed of Hindoos and Mahommedans, with little moral principle, accustomed to make their lusts the objects of . their existence, and who are, as they have since shown themselves to be, depraved and dissolute! The danger was increased by the number of high-caste soldiers. The Hindoo population, exclusive of Mahomme- dans, is divided into four great castes. The Brahmins, from the mouth of Brahma, are the lords of the race ; the Cshatriyas, from the arm, are the soldiers and rulers; the Vaisyas, from his belly, are the commercial classes ; and the Shoodras, from his feet, are the working classes, whom he has ordered to serve all the rest. The Shoodras, fitted, as they think, to serve rather than to rule, and placed by their sys- tem under the other castes, have much to lose by a revolu- tion, and are likely to make quiet soldiers under our sway. The Rajpoots, who are Cshatriyas, are more aspiring, and the Brahmins, appointed by Brahma to be the lawgivers of the race, are necessarily the most ambitious of all. These three classes were found in the Bengal army; the Shoodras inclined to obey, the two high castes inclined to revolt. " Unhap- pily the recruiting for the Bengal army has been chiefly carried on in those parts of India where the Brahminical caste is the most numerous, and Mahommedanism most rampant. The majority of the soldiers being thus com- posed of the loftiest and most intractable races, they have acquired a power hitherto unknown to the mercenary army ; and the consciousness of this power has rendered them for- midable to their masters."* * Campbell, p. 8. 86 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. " The effect of enlisting men of a certain caste or creed to the exclusion of others in the Indian army, is to subject that army to the control, not of the Government and of the articles of war, but to that of Brahmins. By this system a man is not to be chosen on account of his fitness to be a soldier, his willingness and strength, docility and courage, but because he is a twice-born worshipper of Vishnoo. Whatever his other qualifications, if a man think that a stone with a patch of red paint on it is not the image of the Creator, still more if he has been a shoemaker, &c, he is not to be admitted into the ranks of the Bengal army, for fear of offending the Brahmins. The consequences are ruinous to discipline. By reason of this, a native soldier in Bengal is far more afraid of an offence against caste than that of an offence against the articles of war ; and by this means a degree of power rests with the private soldiers which is entirely incompatible with all healthy rule."' 55 ' " In 1853, the Bengal native army numbered in all 83,946 men. Of these, 70,079 were infantry. Of the composition of the cavalry the returns are silent, but the infantry was thus classified : — Brahmins, 26,893; Bajpoots, 27,335; Hin- doos of inferior castes, 15,761; Mahommedans, 12,699; Christians, 1,118; Sikhs, 50." t The quiet class, therefore, amounted to 15,761, the ex- plosive classes to 54,228. Any native army was likely to rise against the East Indian Government as foreign; but the Bengal Hindoo sepoys, three-fourths of whom were high- caste men, proud, ambitious, well armed, with European cannon, with native gunners trained to the modes of modern warfare, and having command over the treasuries at every station, were almost sure to do so. Even if the low-caste sepoys in the army had been quiet, the high-caste, being three to one, might have overcome their scruples by the force of numbers; but every Brahmin has, moreover, an * Present Crisis, pp. 29, 30. f Daily News, Aug. 8, 1857. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. 87 extraordinary power over his Shoodra comrades by the force of their superstition. According to that, the Shoodras and the Brahmins are different species of men, as asses and horses are different species of animals. No culture and no wealth can turn a Shoodra into a Brahmin. They are both men, as asses and horses are both animals; but the nature of one differs as much from the nature of the other, as the nature of the ass differs from the nature of the horse. The Shoodras, from the foot of Brahma, are meant by him to be subject to the Brahmin, and can never, by any knowledge, wealth, or virtue, cease to be subject to him; as the Brahmin, on the contrary, is appointed by Brahma to command. His curse is like the curse of God; and, as they dare not incur his wrath, whatever he orders they must obey. His anger is as much more to them than the anger of their officers, as God is more than man. The Brahmins, therefore, are the real colonels of regiments and generals of divisions. If the Brahmins order one thing and the officers another, the Brah- mins must be obeyed and the officers despised. The power of the Brahmins, thus dangerously great, received great ad- dition from the fact, that Hindoos are taught by their creed to loathe the Pariah. All those who, by any ceremonial irregularities, lose caste, become, according to their creed, loathsome and accursed Pariahs or outcasts. As far as the Brahmin is raised above the Shoodra, the Shoodra is raised above the Pariah ; but the Englishman, belonging to no caste, is on the level of a Pa- riah: and when the Brahmin sepoy excited the Shoodra sepoys to hate the Englishman, he only excited them to that which their religion had already exalted into a duty. Dangerous as the Brahmins were through these causes, there was another class in the Bengal army still more so. The Mogul, having reigned from the Indus to the Bay of Bengal, placed Mahommedans in military commands and civil offices, formed Mahommedan principalities, and ruled 88 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMT. by a Mahommedan army. The Mahommedans, therefore, reaped the wealth of India ; fined, plundered, and killed the Hindoos at their pleasure ; and were the unresisted lords of Hindoostan. Conquered by the English, and obliged to obey in a country which they had ruled, they not only lost power, dignity, and wealth, but they were even lower than the Hindoos, because they became a small minority, every- where overborne and disregarded. Intense hatred of us has been the consequence : and they naturally long for our over- throw, which would not only gratify that hatred, but, by placing the millions of India again at their feet, would re- store them to wealth and power. To the motives for our extermination, supplied by the memory of their lost great- ness, were added the dictates of their imperious religion. The law of the Koran is death to the unbeliever. " pro- phet, fight with the infidels, and be severe on them, for their habitation is hell," was the order which Mahommed pre- tended to receive from God, and which he delivered to his followers ! To kill the Kaffirs would not only gratify their revenge, but please their prophet; not only secure their splendor on earth, but lead to glory in heaven. Every mosque in India has offered up its prayers that the King of Delhi might triumph over the Feringhees ; to effect our ruin being, with the Mahommedans, at once a paramount interest and a religious duty. If the Brahmins should overturn the East Indian Government, they must also conquer the Mahommedans, or see themselves still the servants of those who are alien to them in race and in reli- gion ; but if the Mahommedans conquered us, aided, as they would be, by their superior energy and the traditions of long dominion, they would see India at once fall under their rule. With feelings of this kind, 12,699 of them entered the Bengal infantry, besides thousands more in the cavalry and in the irregular troops. When these, who were an army by themselves, prompted by THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. 89 all the most powerful passions — by ambition, cupidity, re- venge, and fanatic zeal — to exterminate those who alone kept them from empire, were mingled with the high-caste sepoys, whom they might lure by the hopes of sharing with them immense plunder and supreme power, revolt seemed certain. Nothing was wanting, but to mature the plot and find the opportunity. Such an army required able and fearless officers — watch- ful to notice and repress disorder, living among their men, acquainted with their languages, interested in their welfare, able to inspire them with respect by their virtues, with affection by their goodness, and with fear by their daunt- less resolution. So, the mutiny might have been repressed by their personal influence. Many of their officers have had these qualifications; and bright examples still remain, to inspire us with hope for the future. But how diffe- rent some have been, we may learn from the following extracts : — " Colonel Wheler seems to have no more endangered the stability of the empire, or shaken the fidelity of the sepoys, than any of the many who have debauched and destroyed the caste of the nearest female relations of these same sepoys — who have been drunkards, gamblers, fraudulent debtors, and have otherwise disgraced the commissions they were unworthy to bear; and from this category I do not except commanders-in-chief and general officers. I could even shew, that a man, who has imputed to Lord Canning that it is an official crime for him to have subscribed to a missionary society, could spend his private fortune in importing to India, not the Christianity, but an unhappy embodiment of the vice and profligacy which pollute our own country." * " Few men can long retain nice sentiments of honor under the pressure of pecuniary difficulties, brought on by * Morning Advertiser, Aug. 18, 1857. 90 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. their own extravagance; and as it is too notorious to be denied, that Indian regimental officers are very generally in debt, it is not surprising that the general conduct of so many of them there is most disreputable. It is obviously impossible for me to set down names, or to record the mis- conduct of many blackguards I have met ; but I can appeal to every officer in the service to say^ whether he has any difficulty in recalling many such names,, and whether he has not known instances of such persons pursuing, with perfect impunity, for many years, a course of unblushing rascality and falsehood." * "By way of illustration, I could name an officer who has, with perfect impunity, for fourteen years, pursued a course of unblushing rascality; who once, by deliberate falsehood, inveigled two of his brother-officers into becom- ing his sureties for large sums ; who has systematically swindled tradesmen, and has had bis debts compromised by a trifle in the rupee; who has bought goods on credit, to sell again for cash; who never missed appearing before the monthly Court of Requests, except just after some expose, that, for the time, rendered even his unblushing effrontery powerless for obta inin g anything on credit ; who made a practice of employing the men of his company to obtain loans for him — and not only borrowed from the men themselves, but even from one of the regimental sweepers ; who was ordinarily spoken of as ' that horrid scoundrel/ and who yet was associated with by several of his brother-officers, whose own personal character was irre- proachable. To complete the sketch, I may add, that that officer held an important command at the time of the outbreak, and had the opportunity of shewing how little influence such a fellow could have over his men." t " European officers of the Indian army have, of late years, failed to fulfil the trust reposed in them." \ The first fault * Qui Hi, p. 54. t Ibid., p. 57. J Campbell, p. 6. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE AEMY. 91 is — " The want of a high moral tone, and the existence of a certain laxity of principle among the European officers, in common with European society in general in the Bengal Presidency." * " Ample proof of the first-mentioned fault is found in the late orders to the Bengal army, regarding Courts of Bequests, &c, in disclosures which have been made regarding gambling affairs, banking transactions, &c, too notorious to require detailing, and too extensive and numerous to be attributable to causes affecting individuals only." t " A Bombay officer, not long since, in conversation with one of the Bengal army, remarked that a friend of his (another Bombay officer) had been ordered to raise a new regiment of cavalry. The astounding observation of the Bengal officer, in reply, was, ' What a lot of money he will make by it!' Now, such a thought could never have entered the mind of a soldier; or an honest man. In the best society there may be individual rogues ; but when a man can, openly and unblushingly, give utterance to such contemptible villany, without expecting to offend his hearers, he must have been accustomed to live in a peculiar atmosphere, as it were, till his moral sense became blunted, and such thoughts natural to him A deficiency of high, honorable principle being apparent, where shall we look for the cause and the remedy \ One cause appears to me to be not peculiar to the army of Bengal, but to affect the European society of that Presidency generally, and to consist in the lowering of the English character insensibly, by adopting Asiatic habits, manners, and feelings — the Anglo-Saxon becoming partly merged in the Hindoo. . . . There are faults enough, I suppose, in the European society of the "Western Presidency; but, assuredly, it is ten times more English than that of Bengal/' J* Such officers, whose vices occasioned the contempt of the * Present Crisis, p. 24. f Ibid., p. 25. % Ibid., pp. 25, 26. 92 THE RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NATIVE ARMY. soldiers, whose incapacity or indolence disarmed their fears, and whose haughtiness added fresh heat to their hatred, must have materially strengthened their disposition to mutiny. Even so, had the sepoys received from missionaries, or from zealous officers, or from Christian comrades, any Chris- tian instruction, they would have learned the sin of false- hood, the wickedness of murder, the duty of love to enemies, the blessings of good government, the value of civilisation, the strength of England, and the danger of revolt; but from all these influences they were carefully kept. No missionary could labor within the lines in any station ; sepoys had no access to the Bible; and of all the classes in India, they were the most excluded from instruction. The principle upon which the Government has acted, and its effect upon the sepoys, were illustrated in the case of Prabhu Din Pundah, a naick or corporal of the 25th Native Infantry, whose conversion to Christ at Meerut, occasioned the following correspondence. Major B. to the Adjutant-General : — " May I request you will do me the honour to report to his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, a most singular and unprecedented circumstance that has lately occurred in the corps under my command ; viz., the conversion of a naick, named Prabhu Din Pundah, from the Hindoo to the Chris- tian religion. He was baptized by the Rev. Mr F. on the evening of the 20th, and that without my privity or consent. As the 1st battalion of the 25th Regiment Native Infantry- is composed chiefly of the highest caste of Brahmins, this event has filled them with the greatest consternation. . . . The naick, Prabhu Din Pundah, was a high-caste Brahmin, and much esteemed in the corps, until the late event."* The Secretary of Government to the Adjutant-General: — " With reference to the feeling of consternation which * Wilkinson's Christianity in North. India, p. 252. THE RECONSTRUCTION OE THE NATIVE AEMT. 93 Major B. describes to have been created by this occurrence among the men under his command, and to the very dan- gerous consequences -which might be experienced were this procedure of Mr 17s supposed to be coupled with the official duties of the situation to which he has been appointed by Government, his Lordship in Council is disposed to view the matter in the most serious fight. The Governor-General in Council has desired me to request that his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief will cause a Special Committee to be convened at Meerut, to investigate and report upon all the circumstances. The Committee should inquire and report whether any and what measures have been adopted in that cantonment, which may in any way be considered to inter- fere with the religious prejudices of the native soldiery, in view to their conversion, by the employment of native or other emissaries, in frequenting the fines of corps, or residing, for such purposes, within the limits of the military canton- ments. In conclusion, I am instructed to request that his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief will direct the removal of Naick Prabhu Din Pundah from the 1st battalion of the 25th Native Infantry, causing a promotion to be made in his room ; his pay and allowances to be drawn for by the Brigade-Major at Meerut."* Mr Fisher to the Bishop of Calcutta:^ — " Unsolicited, and I may say wholly unsought, on my part (as my time was fully occupied by my large European flock), numbers, both of Mahommedans and Hindoos, fre- quently visit my house, for the purpose of begging, if they cannot afford to purchase, our Scriptures in the native lan- guage, or to inquire into the meaning of the different pas- sages, which awaken their curiosity or excite their feelings. The interesting result has been a certain degree of intimacy between us, and, in some instances, the ultimate conversion, baptism, and consistent Christian deportment of those who * Wilkinson's Christianity in North India, pp. 252-254. 9 4 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. have joined themselves to our Church. One of these men, whose uprightness and abilities qualify him for the office, is employed by me to conduct this little church, under my eye and direction, which he does with zeal and considerable talent. His name is Anund Messeeh. Among the occa- sional visitors at this place, the soldier in question frequently made his appearance, and ultimately requested to be intro- duced to me. His visits to me, in consequence, were very frequent; and the decided change of his opinions, and I trust of his heart, marked and satisfactory. I found he had been long labouring under deep conviction of the worthless- ness and wickedness of his heathen ignorance and idolatry, even for nine years. His first inquiry was (on the regi- ment coming to Meerut), 'Who is the chaplain, and does he teach my brethren 1 ?' He was told of the little upper chamber where the native Christians met together, and went to see them. ' When I saw,' said he, ' the nature of their employment and heard their words, I said, " Jesus Christ has heard my prayer; God's mercy has brought me here!"' His frequent visits were soon observed by the Brahmins of his corps ; and when they became apprised of bis intention to become a Christian, they manifested extreme sorrow to him, and strove to convince him of what they thought his folly, and by kind remonstrances to shake his purpose. They enlarged on the perilous consequences which would surely follow; the irremediable loss of his high and honourable caste, the rejection of all intercourse in future • with his numerous and dear friends, the certain displeasure of the Government, who would assuredly disgrace and dismiss him for becoming a Christian. The Brahmins now tried to shake his steadfastness by the offer of money, and proposed to subscribe and settle upon him a monthly sum of twenty rupees for his life. Finding him resolute, they endeavoured to vilify his character, represented him to be a drunkard and a glutton; nay, at last insisted upon it that he was insane. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. 05 Some of these scandals appear to have been believed by some of his superiors, for a regimental court of inquiry was insti- tuted into his conduct; the result of which, however, was that the most satisfactory evidence was brought forward, not only that he had always conducted himself remarkably well, but that he was a particularly smart, intelligent, and active soldier. He was baptized by me, at his own request, on the 10th of October. A court of inquiry was called at Meerut, on the 6th of January 1820, in obedience to the orders of Government. For the result of this inquiry I somewhat anxiously waited, expecting that Prabhu Din would be of course restored to his forfeited rank and situa- tion in his corps ; but it was deemed advisable to abide by the directions given respecting him, and he has remained at- Meerut ever since, living on his pay. Better than all, he continues to live consistently with his profession, a sincere and faithful Christian believer."* " I have learned from authority which I cannot doubt, that many sipahees have expressed their conviction that, however our British law of toleration warrants the free exercise of his own faith to the Mahommedan or the Hindoo, yet that in embracing Christianity, the doom of Matthew Prabhu Din most inevitably awaits them. They would be dismissed from their regiment as unfit to be employed, and disqualified for any association with their equals, and for the confidence of their superiors. The Eev. Anund Messeeh as- sured me that several sipahees had expressly told him, " We are heartily disposed to embrace the truth, but these conse- quences are too painful for us to endure." t From that day to this, there have been few if any native Christians among the sepoys of the Bengal army ; and few if any opportunities given to missionaries to instruct them. In the absence of any moral influences to make the sepoys loyal, orderly, and well-behaved, rigid discipline might, in * Wilkinson's Christianity in India, pp. 254r-262. f Ibid., p. 264 96 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. some degree, have kept them to their duty; but the follow- ing are the complaints which some officers have made on this subject: — " There is an entire absence of a proper dis- cipline throughout the native part of the Bengal army The thing is rotten throughout, and discipline there is none. .... I have known a Bengal commanding officer express his regret at being compelled to discharge an excellent sepoy, because the other men had discovered him to be of inferior caste, and had demanded his dismissal. To a Bombay officer, such a state of affairs appears incredible, it amounts to open mutiny; but it is the normal state of the Bengal army at present In conjunction with the system of promotion which prevails, this attention to caste keeps all real power in the hands of the private soldiers.""' Not only have sepoys been inclined to mutiny, but actual mutinies have not been uncommon among them : — " In 1 782, the Matthews Ka Pultum, or Matthews' Bengal Regiment (named after the officer who had raised it), mutinied, under an apprehension that it was to be embarked for foreign ser- vice In 1779 or 1780, the 9th Madras Battalion muti- nied when ordered to embark for Bombay A Madras corps about the same time manifested the same aversion to the sea, and when it reached Vizagapatam, the port of de- parture, the men rose upon their officers, and shot all but one or two The great mutiny in 1806 atVellore, when the sepoys of two regiments united, and murdered in cold blood the greater part of her Majesty's 69th Foot, originated in the attachment to caste. Changes had been made in their costume to assimilate them with Europeans At Java, in 1815, several native officers, non-commis- sioned officers, and sepoys, conspired to murder their officers because they had been kept four and a-half years on foreign service, instead of three years, the usual period In 1824, when the British Government was at war with * Present Crisis, pp 25, 30, 34. THE EECONSTETJCTION OF THE NATIVE AEM Y. 9 7 the Burman empire, among the regiments ordered from Bengal were the 26th, the 47th, and 62d Native Infantry. When the time for their departure had arrived, the 47th Native Infantry refused to move In 1838, an expedi- tion was ordered to Affghanistan. The sepoy could not refrain from taking advantage of the demand for bis ser- vices to stipulate for increased allowances. The Govern- ment resisted the exaction, but the sepoy resorted to his old tactics, and mutinied In 1849, the Government found it necessary to discontinue a certain amount of pay to the sepoys in the Punjaub. Bound to the British Government by, unhappily, no other tie than pay and allowances, and believing themselves indispensable to the authorities, the 13th and 22d Regiments of Native Infantry refused their pay, and mutinied A few months subse- quently, the 41st Eegiment of Native Infantry refused to enter the Punjaub with reduced pay, and it was discovered that the corps was ' in correspondence with twenty-four other regiments' In 1850, the 66th Bengal • Native Infantry refused the reduced pay; and the mutinous spirit assuming a serious complexion, the Commander-in-Chief marched the regiment to Umballah, dismissed the men from the service, and gave the colours to a party of Goorkhas. In the year 1852, war broke out with the Burmese. The order for the expedition was, as usual, attended by a mutiny. The 38th Eegiment Bengal Native Infantry refused to march." * These mutinies show that the sepoys have been long irritable, discontented, and disorderly. To all the foregoing sources of irritation must be added the annexation of Oude. Some step of this kind was necessary to the welfare of its population; but it was sure to irritate the Mahommedans. The sovereign of that state was almost the last shadow of Mahommedan royalty, and in him they * Campbell, pp. 21-32. G 98 THE RECONSTRUCTION OP THE NATIVE ARMY. saw almost the only remaining hope of Mahommedan ascend- ancy. The Mahommedans, therefore, through all India, were doubtless angry at it, but the Mahommedan sepoys and sowars, who mostly came from that state, and had cer- tain privileges there, with arms in their hands, were more savage than the rest. Before, however, they could mutiny, it was necessary that they should gain the Hindoo sepoys, because these were five times more numerous than they. The greased cartridges furnished the occasion which they desired. To make a Hindoo bite a cartridge greased with ox-lard was to destroy his caste, and degrade him for time and eternity. Such cartridges were issued at Umballah, but they were speedily withdrawn. Had they been generally issued and used, the sepoys might have avoided biting them. At Barrackpore the soldiers were told that they might be greased with any substance which they approved ; and at Meerut cartridges were given out of the old kind; but all was vain, because the Bengal army was ripe for mutiny. To those who secretly laughed at the cartridges, they afforded a pretext ; while the more ignorant and fanatical were roused to real fury by the idea that Government was going to cheat them out of caste, to ruin them by strata- gem, and to force them to be Christians. Henceforth their resolution was taken. The Government should be destroyed — all the Europeans, men, women, and children, should be massacred — and India should be theirs. In seeking to exterminate the Europeans, these men have ruined themselves. By their means the Bengal army has vanished; and we have now to consider what is to be put in its place. It would be far better to have no native army than to have one which might, at any time, from cupidity, caprice, or superstitious fear, seek the overthrow of the Government depending on it. Still, on several accounts, a native army THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE AEMY. 99 seems useful The drain of men by our British army will always be necessarily great, and the more we can reduce it in every part of the empire the better. In India, too, it is not desirable to hold up continually to view the symbol of a foreign yoke. An exclusive reliance upon European troops appeared to Sir John Malcolm so dangerous, that he said, "From the day of that fatal error, should we ever commit it, we may date the downfall -of our Eastern em- pire."* Without thinking with him that a native army is essential to us, we may still see that it is well to identify ourselves with the people as much as it can be done, and by confiding in them to make them confide in us. If we main- tain ourselves in complete isolation, as a company of foreign conquerors, they must desire our overthrow. Will it not, therefore, be well, in addition to a native police force, to have a native army of equal numbers with the Europeans ; and instead of having 80,000 Englishmen for Bengal and the North-western Provinces, to try 40,000 English with 40,000 natives'? Such a native force would, after the expe- rience of this mutiny, have little temptation to revolt, of whatever material it might be framed, and, if rightly com- posed, none at all. Henceforth let Mahommedans be ex- cluded, because they have a special hatred of Christians ; because they remember the Mahommedan dominion, with an eager wish to restore it; and because the Koran autho- rises them to Mil all who deny their creed, when they have the opportunity. Brahmins also should be excluded, be- cause their incessant scruples, real or pretended, respecting caste, their habitual pride as the lords of the human race, their aspirations after power, and their influence with the low-caste sepoys, render them so liable to revolt, that, according to Sir Charles Napier, "to encourage caste is to encourage mutiny" Bajpoots, also, the real or the pretended descendants of Hindoo princes, and not less * Political History, L, p. 238. 100 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. aspiring and disorderly than Brahmins, should, like them, be excluded. These three classes being in future set aside, as trouble- some, ambitious, and liable to mutiny, we have to consider of what other elements the army can be composed. The Sikhs and Goorkhas have no sympathy with either Mahommedans or Brahmins, and they fight well; but, on the other hand, they are heathens, who cannot have much sympathy with us. They already think that we owe the preservation of India to them ; and have hinted that as they can fight for us, so they can if necessary fight against us."* And in any conjuncture in which, contemporaneously per- haps with a European war, the Punjaub and Nepaul might be disturbed, they would probably join their countrymen who might be in arms against us. These troops, too, would remind the Hindoos how much they were distrusted, and how completely they were under a foreign yoke. It seems, therefore, very desirable that they should see themselves iu a degree self-governed, and we need not, as I think, go out of British India to find safe recruits. The Shoodras, who are much less restless than the Brah- mins, and who would lose much by being placed under either Mahommedan or Brahmin rulers, would make faith- ful soldiers. Appointed by Brahma, according to their superstition, to serve and not to rule, ill-treated by the Brahmins, and certain to lose position by the restoration of native rule, they would be more likely, especially when rescued by their regimental education from Brahmin influ- ence, to sustain the British dominion ; and there is evidence that they make as good soldiers as either Brahmins or Mahommedans. " We have committed a great mistake," said Sir William Sleeman, "in not long ago making all new levies general-service corps; and we have committed one not less grave in restricting the admissions into our corps to * See the letters of the Special Correspondent of the Times at Luoknow. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. 101 high-caste men, and encouraging the promotion of high- caste men, to the prejudice of men equally deserving, of lower caste."* Low-caste men should henceforth be encouraged to enlist. To these may be added as many Pariahs as may be found of good morals and of average muscular strength. No sol- diers could have stronger reasons to be faithful, because any successful revolt would, by the restoration of Hindoo rulers, "who esteem them as loathsome outcasts, degrade and ruin them. Some millions of these are a large recruiting ground. The most valuable soldiers, however, would be native Christians, whose principles would make them true to their military oaths ; who are despised by the Hindoos, and hated by the Mahommedans; who are our brothers in the faith; and whose interests are identical with our own. Since the senseless and unjust distinctions of caste are detrimental to military discipline, let all the sepoys be treated alike, without distinction of caste or creed. Whether the General-Service Order of 1856 was well timed or not, it is unquestionably a wise measure for the future; and no sepoy should be enlisted without a distinct understanding that his caste is to be no more a plea for neglecting any military duty than drunkenness would be. Since incapable, idle, and dissolute officers have, as it seems, contributed to the disaffection of the sepoys, and heathen soldiers especially need officers whom they can esteem, love, and fear, Government should make the moral and religious conduct of young men who are candidates for commissions in the native army, the. subject of special inquiry. Commissions should be given to intellectual and moral merit alone. Officers should be well paid, be required to maintain strict disciphne, and be expected to take an interest in their men, to set them a good example, to treat them with respect, and to promote their instruction in the * Sir William Sleeman, ii., p. 362. 102 THE EECONSTKUCTION OP THE NATIVE ARMY. regimental schools. Let staff appointments cease to denude the regiments of their best men. Let no gambling or other profligacy be allowed in cantonments, and let no immoral officers be promoted. Since native officers cannot be raised to an equality with European officers, and they must be fretted and exasperated if, being of equal military rank, they are treated as inferiors, it seems better to give no commissions to natives, but to make them non-commissioned officers, according to their merit, at the recommendation of their colonels ; and to treat such native officers so liberally as to make the honor a source of wholesome emulation to the whole regiment. Officers should be expected to learn the languages spoken by the majority of their men. Since India requires the best officers which England can furnish, there should be no distinction whatever, either in rank or pay, between the officers of European regiments and those of Indian regiments. Commanding officers should be expected to maintain strict discipline, and no breach of orders on any pretext be passed by ; but to enable them to main- tain it, they must have the power of punishing any dis- orderly sepoy, and the right to recommend any meritorious sepoy for promotion. Since it is important that the most able men should be appointed to difficult and responsible posts, let officers, as hitherto, be eligible to such posts, by which able young men may be the more attracted to a military career ; but let those who receive such appointments relinquish their regi- mental commands, so that each regiment may have its full complement of resident officers. To encourage well-behaved men to enlist, the comforts of the sepoy should be attended to as carefully as those of the European soldier. They should be allowed, as hitherto, to marry; not be harassed by unnecessary marches ; still have, as hitherto, the opportunity of seeing their families ; be THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. 103 well paid ; be encouraged to place their savings in Savings Bank ; and receive pensions after a specified time of service. Since events have shown in this mutiny how false, dis- solute, and cruel Hindoos become under the influence of their creed, let Government watch over the moral training of the men. Let there be regimental schools, libraries of instructive books for those who can read, and English classes for those who wish to learn English. Let them be encouraged to buy Bibles for themselves, and have full liberty, if they please, to receive religious instruction from missionaries and other Christian teachers. Since the Europeans have suffered so much from the seizure of Delhi by the mutineers, and by the want of proper defences at Cawnpore, Lucknow, and other places, the forts of India, being rendered as strong as labor and art can make them, should be held by European garrisons alone. The soldiers of the European army, exempt from all but military duties, and placed in healthy cantonments, should be kept under strict discipline, their health and morals be carefully cherished, drunkenness should be punished and dissolute conduct discountenanced ; their time should be fully occupied, they should learn useful arts, as tailoring, shoe- making, weaving, carpentering, cooking, &c. ; they should have good libraries, they should have free access to mis- sionaries as well as chaplains, and regimental prayer-meet- ings should be encouraged. At the end of seven years, when they have worked their way from the Himalayas to Calcutta, they should have the liberty of changing into regiments which are entering on the same tour ; but as seven years in India will have enfeebled their health, let them have leave to return home, be married, and bring out their wives to India. Then at the expiration of another term of seven years, when they have again worked their way down to Calcutta, let them have pensions arid grants of land, upon condition that 104 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE ARMY. they may be called out to defend the country, in case of invasion or rebellion. These pensioners, like the Prussian landwehr, would after some years form an effective force, gathered into military colonies in various highland settle- ments ; and would materially contribute to the tranquillity of the country and the stability of the Government. Let roads, railroads, telegraphs and steamers be so multi- plied as to enable Government to concentrate speedily upon any point, an army sufficient to crush any local mutiny or insurrection; by which the army may be safely diminished to a considerable extent. PART SECOND. OF THINGS TO BE EEMOVED OE AMENDED BY THE EAST INDIAN GOVEENMENT. I. ON PUBLIC IMMOKALITIES. All professed Christians, and therefore among them rulers, are ordered by Christ, their Master, " to abhor that which is evil;" "to do no evil;" "to be blameless and harmless;" " to abstain from all appearance of evil ;" to be " imitators of God," who "is righteous in all his ways;" to "walk as Christ walked," who was " holy, harmless, undefiled, sepa- rate from sinners," and "went about doing good;" "to eschew evil;" "to do righteousness;" and to glorify God by their " good works."* Of rulers especially, God has said : " He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God;" "He is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil;" " For the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well."t In whatever degree the East Indian Government has ful- filled these obligations, there are some defects which I feel obliged to specify. One prolific source of misery to the working classes of Bengal is the oppression of the zemindars, or landholders. "In 1799, a regulation (No. 7) was passed giving the zemindars powers to summon, and, if necessary, compel, the personal attendance of their tenants to settle rents, adjust accounts, measure boundaries, or for ' any other just pur- * Kom. xii. 9; 2 Cor. xiii. 7; Phil. ii. 15; 1 Thess. v. 22; Eph. v. 1; 1 John ii. 6; 1 Pet. iii. 4; 1 John iii. 7, 8 ; 1 Pet. ii. 12. f 2 Sam. xxiii. 3 ; Eom. xiii. 4 ; 1 Pet. ii. 14. 108 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. pose.' Under this, nearly every zemindar has his own bludgeon-men, his own court, his own prison ; ay more, as it is universally believed, his own modes of torture. This law, and the Eegulation No. 5 of 1812, together constitute almost the most severe laws in the world, in the form of a law of distraint, and inconceivable misery is occasioned by them."* "The power of the zemindar arises partly from his position as a great landlord among a submissive ten- antry, and a feeble executive government ; and partly from the law of distraint, commonly called the Panjum (5th), and Huftum (7th), the very sound of which freezes the blood of the poor ryot." These laws are oppressively severe, and enable a zemin- dar at any time to sell up a refractory or obnoxious tenant.! " The ryot can get no lease, no receipt, he has no protec- tion against arbitrary and extortionate cesses in addition to his rent."| " The position assigned to zemindars by the law is very peculiar. . . . They are almost all in the habit of treating their ryots not merely as their tenants, but as their serfs. They call themselves rajahs, or kings, and the ryots their subjects. They almost universally either claim more than their due, or else they claim it in an improper manner, for it is not easy to determine what is really their due. They exact contributions from their ryots when a marriage, or a birth, or a death takes place in the family; they exact contributions for the avowed purpose of observ- ing funeral rites in commemoration of their dead ancestors, and of celebrating the annual heathen festivals. These practices are almost universal. In numerous localities they exact from the ryots gratuitous labour in the field or at the oar, and compel the poor people to allow them, without payment, the use of their cattle or of their boats, if they possess any. It is not unusual, especially at a considerable distance from the civil stations, for zemindars to go still * Kinuaird, p. 10. t Ibid., p. 11. % Ibid., p. 9. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 109 further in the abuse of their power, by inflicting imprison- ment and torture upon any ryot who may have incurred their displeasure."* " The intention of the laws for secur- ing leases to the tenants, for securing them receipts on their payment of rent, for limiting within just bounds the rents reserved in leases, and for checking the custom of exacting abwabs, and other arbitrary additional charges and cesses, are commonly frustrated and defeated." t " They are liable to be constantly harassed by the conflicting and unsettled claims either of contending shareholders of joint estates, or of contending neighbouring proprietors ; by the severe laws of distraint and arrest; by the power of their superior land- holders, whether zemindars or middlemen, to compel per- sonal attendance at their pleasure ; by illegal exactions ; by the unfixed nature of their tenures ; and by the prevalent custom of refusing both, leases and receipts." J " If a ze- mindar, on account of the failure of crops, obtains a remis- sion of the tax to Government, having gained it for himself, he still exacts the tax from the ryot, carries the account over to the next year, and charges him interest; the ryot is. from that hour practically a slave." § " There is in Ben- gal an amount of suffering and debasement which probably you could not find exceeded, or even equalled, in the slave states of America." " The ryot alone languishes, and his condition has deteriorated and is deteriorating." || " They commonly live in a state of poverty and wretchedness, pro- duced chiefly by the present system of landed tenures and the extortion of zemindars."! " Under its baneful influence a population of more than twenty millions have been re- duced to a state of such utter wretchedness of condition, and such abjectness of feeling, as it would be difficult to parallel in any country."** " The present working of the * The Case of the Cultivators of Bengal, pp. 23, 24. t Kinnaird, p. 18. t Ibid., p. 20. § Ibid., p. 9. || Ibid., p. 10. 1 Ibid., p. 17. ** Ibid. 110 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. zemindaree system is one of the most powerful obstacles to the spread of Christianity in this country."* " The peasant has no real protection by law. It is a mere protection on paper. His spirit is so bowed down by centuries of oppres- sion, and the courts are such a network of bribery, that the poor ryot never thinks of seeking redress. The zemindar tortures and imprisons him in order to extract the last anna from him." t " No man in his senses will resort to a court of law in BengaL The result is only sure to that side which can lie with most assurance, and bribe with the longest purse. What with delay, the inefficiency of the magistrates and judges, the unblushing corruption which prevails, from the highest to the lowest official, the civil servant only ex- cepted, justice is the scarcest of all commodities in Bengal." \ " There is no doubt of it. In every part of Bengal which I have visited, I never met with but one opinion about it. From Burdwan, in the north-west, to Chittagong, in the far south-east, the testimony of all classes of people is uniform ; all agree that the courts of the Company are nests of cor- ruption, perjury, and injustice." § " Even if our tribunals were all we could wish, what would it avail us, so long as our superintending magistracy was, for the most part, in the hands of inexperienced, and therefore unqualified, young men?" || "On the whole, our magistracy is losing credit and character, and our administration is perceptibly grow- ing weaker." IT " The introduction of these inexperienced men has largely increased of late years. In 1850, the average standing of magistrates was nine years and eight months ; it is now so low as six years and ten months." ** "Besides which, the magnitude of the population com- mitted to the jurisdiction of one man far exceeds the powers of the most able and experienced official. It is a mockery of government to expect that one man can effi- * Kinnaird, p. 17. f Rev. T. Long, i., p. 1. t Kinnaird, p. 26. § Ibid., p.'27. || Ibid., p. 36. 1 Ibid., p. 37. ** Ibid., p. 25. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 11 1 ciently discharge the duties arising out of the police and judicial administration of half a million of people." * " There are districts in which the magistrate's court is sixty miles away; and in one case, I know of a judge having to go a hundred, and forty miles to try a case of murder — so wide does his jurisdiction extend. This very district contains upwards of two millions of people; yet to govern it, there are just two Europeans — and one of these spends a considerable portion of his time in sporting, shoot- ing wild animals, and hunting deer."t "There are but seventy European magistrates — one to 460,000. An old resident in India says, there are three or four cases of a single magistrate to more than a million souls. This is a country where roads are very scarce." J " The youth and inexperience of the covenanted magistrates has, in a manner painfully perceptible to me in my visits to the different districts, impaired the force, dignity, and efficiency of our administration in the interior; and in all cases in which the youth and inexperience is not, as it sometimes is, coun- terbalanced by unusual ability and force of character, it has brought the all-important authority of the zillah magistracy into marked slight and disregard, and sometimes into actual contempt." § " It is in vain to talk of police reform, so long as the police are under no closer superintendence than that of a magistrate from thirty to sixty miles off (or even more), in a country where, owing to the nature of the climate and the want of the means of communication, a distance of ten miles is often more than equivalent to fifty miles in Eng- land." Yet the state of police adds to the misery of the population. || " A petition, signed by eighteen hundred Christian inhabitants of Bengal, was presented to Parlia- ment in 1853, in which they stated, that the police of the * Kinnaird, p. 25. t Ibid., p. 26. % Ibid. § Halliday, in Kinnaird, p. 38. || Ibid., pp. 40, 41. 112 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. Lower Provinces totally fails, as respects the prevention of crimes, apprehension of offenders, and protection of life and property; but it is become an engine of oppression, and a great cause of the corruption of the people." * " The police is not the worst in the world, only because, in the proper acceptation of the term, there is no police at all, but a system of organised chicanery and oppression." t " Throughout the length and breadth of this country, the strong prey almost universally upon the weak, and power is but too commonly valued only as it can be turned into money. The native police, therefore, unless it be closely and vigorously superintended by trustworthy officers, is sure to be a scourge to the country in exact proportion to its power." J "On the 14th of November 1853,. seven police-officers proceeded to arrest Bhador Nussoo, on the charge of dacoity, that is, burglarious robbery. One officer was a darogah, the chief of the police of that division; the second was the next in command; the rest were common policemen. The prisoner was first bound hand and foot, and beaten. The darogah himself then beat him with a whip on his back. As the stolen property was not forth- coming, the man was again beaten. The poor wretch now pointed to some property as stolen, which, in fact, belonged to the man with whom he lived. It did not satisfy his tormentors, and he was beaten senseless. At the order of the chief officer, a bamboo was now brought, on which he was slung, tied hand and foot. On reaching the cow-shed, where the police had other prey, he was found to be dead ! .... After all, it would appear that he was innocent." '§ " A few years ago, the house of the missionary of Dinage- pore was assaulted by dacoits. He escaped, but his native preacher was killed. Several men were convicted, chiefly on their own confession, and were punished for the crime. During the trials, the attention of the judge was called to * Kinnaird, p. 20. f Ibid., p. 22. % Ibid., p. 30. § Ibid., p. 23. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. Htf the state of the feet of the prisoners: they bore evident marks of torture. No notice, however, was taken of the fact. Not long after, a gang of robbers was arrested, which, it was proved, had committed the crime : the punished men were innocent ! " * " Often the police are bribed by the guilty party. If the crime cannot be hidden, an innocent man is seized, and, by tortures of the most atrocious kind, he is induced to confess that he has committed the offence." "Any offender, if rich enough, may usually bribe the thief-taker, and even purchase his good offices to fasten the crime upon an unoffending neighbour." t Besides the regular police who are thus active in tor- menting laborers, there are village chowkedars, or watch- men, of whom Mr Halliday, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, says, " Of the vast importance of the rural police, the vil- lage chowkedars, and the strong necessity for fortifying and improving their character and position, there has never been but one opinion. Yet it is an undoubted fact, that the rural police, its position and stability as a public insti- tution, have, in the Lower Provinces, deteriorated during the last twenty years." J " They are kept in a permanent state of starvation. Hence they are all thieves or robbers, or leagued with thieves and robbers ; insomuch, that when any one is robbed in a village, it is most probable that the first person suspected will be the village watchman." § " The records of the criminal courts, and the experience of every resident in the districts of Bengal, will bear testi- mony to the fact, that no confidence can be placed in the police force (either the regular force or the village chow- kedars); that it is their practice to extort confessions by torture ; and that while they are powerless to resist the * Kinnaird, p. 24. f Ibid. J Ibid., pp. 30, 31. § Petition of the Calcutta Missionaries, p. 3. H 114 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. gangs of organised burglars or dacoits, they are corrupt enotigh to connive at their atrocities." * " Yet no police can be effective without their help. It is from them that all information of everything to forward the objects of police must ordinarily be obtained." t " The Commissioners of 1837 obtained also a return of chowkedars dismissed from the police force during the years 1835, 1836, and 1837, with the causes of dismissal. The whole number in these three years is 1130; — of whom, for murder and thuggee, 19; burglary, 39; robbery and theft, 357 — total, 415. The whole is summed up by the Commissioners in the following terms : — ' The most urgent necessity exists for a thorough revision throughout the country. The estab- lishment (of village watchmen) is described, not only as utterly useless for police purposes, but as a curse instead of a blessing to the community. It is even a question whether an order issued throughout the country to apprehend and confine them, would not do more to put a stop to theft and robbery than any other measure that could be adopted."' J With such a want of magistrates, such courts of justice, such a police, and such village watchmen, "the general native opinion is, certainly, that the administration of cri- minal justice is little better than a lottery, in which, how- ever, the best chances are with the criminals. From one end of Bengal to the other, the earnest desire and aim of those who have suffered from thieves or dacoits is to keep the matter secret from the police, or, failing that, so to manage as to make the trial a nullity before the courts." § " Of the total four thousand persons annually committed to the session for heinous crimes, it appears that the convic- tion of 1735 takes place in the session effectually, and of 332 in the referred trials to the sudder ; so that, of the whole number committed, very nearly one-half is eventually ac- * Petition of the Calcutta Missionaries, pp. 3, 4. t Kinnaird, p. 31. J Ibid., p. 33. § Ibid., p. 34. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 115 quitted." " That a very small proportion of heinous offenders are ever brought to trial, is matter of notoriety. It now appears that half of those brought to trial are sure to be acquitted." * The whole condition of the poor ryot is thus summed up by the missionaries : — " The village chowkedars are the ser- vants of his landlord; the Government police are corrupt, and he cannot vie with his landlord in purchasing their favor; the courts of justice are dilatory and expensive, and are often far distant from his abode, so that he has no hope of redress for the most cruel wrongs ; and he is frequently implicated in affrays respecting disputed boundaries in which he has not the slightest personal interest. Ignorant of his rights, uneducated, subdued by oppression, accus- tomed to penury, and sometimes reduced to destitution, the cultivator of the soil in many parts of this Presidency derives little benefit from the British rule beyond protec- tion from Mahratta invasions." t "I have had cases of peasants about to embrace Christianity: the zemindar, on hearing of this, deprived them of their plough and what- ever little things they had in the house. There was no use of my applying for redress in the court, where a venal and corrupt police had to deal with the question, and where false witnesses could be hired to swear anything for two annas a-day. The zemindar loses many abwabs or fees by a Hindoo peasant becoming a Christian. The tortures in- flicted by those zemindars, us v>ell as by the police, are horrible, exceeding far in atrocity anything practised in a slave state in America — such as scorching the body with a lighted torch or with red-hot iron, pouring hot oil into the ears and nose, covering the head with a bag which has contained red pepper, sticking thorns under the nails, plucking out the beard, and many other kinds which could not be mentioned at a public meeting. Millions of Bengal * Kinnaird, p. 35. f Case of the Cultivators, pp. 4, 5. 116 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. peasants are, socially and morally, quite as degraded as the American slave."* The following account of the Baropakhya Christians illus- trates several of the preceding statements : — " The village of Baropakhya is about twenty miles north of Barisal, in the district of Backergunge. Baropakhya, with the adjoining village of Moollaparah, contains from three to four hundred families of Hindoo and Mahommedan ryots, forming a portion of the estate, or talook, of Mr Edward Brown of Barisal, and Mohun Moonshi, and Nun- doo Coomar Moonshi of G-oila. Goila is about four or five miles east of Baropakhya. About four years ago, two or three men of the latter place began to inquire about Chris- tianity, and in the course of a few months were followed by others. At the beginning of 1855, some thirty-five persons, old and young, had broken caste, worshipping with the Christians of Chhobikarpar, a village two or three miles distant." t " A few had been baptized, and received into the com- munion of the Church. As the number of Christians had thus increased, they became urgent in their request for a teacher and a place of worship, particularly as persons from three neighbouring villages desired to meet with them on the Sabbath-day. It was, therefore, thought necessary to look out for some ground on which to erect a chapel." "A young man named Bamkrishna gave up one of his empty bheetahs for the purpose required. The jungle was accordingly cleared, a house for the native teacher put up, and some materials brought together for the erection of the proposed chapel." Sunday night, the 1st of July 1855, the native Chris- tians of Baropakhya were attacked by a large number of lathyals, or club-men : " One after another their houses were invaded, the mat walls torn down, the inmates seized and * Long, p. 3. f Case of the Baropakhya Christians, p. 1. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 117 bound, and their entire property plundered. The lathyal band was a numerous one, armed with shields, javelins, sticks, and clubs. Ledoo, at the call of the invaders, opened his door. He was immediately seized by two men, stripped, and his hands tied together with string. On his wife appearing, she was thrown down twice, her clothes were snatched from her person, a silver necklace and gold nose- ring taken, and her hands tied together. Thus, with her husband, she was removed, both in a state of nudity, to the court, and made to stand there till other work was done. They were also beaten/' * " Janoo and his wife awoke with the noise, and soon a javelin-thrust, through the mat walls of their dwelling, told them of their danger. Their little son, sleeping with them, was struck by it, first on one side, then on the other. It drew blood. In guarding the child, the father's thumb was pierced. The walls were broken in, the inmates seized and beaten, and the heel of Janoo was wounded with a spear. With more or less violence, fourteen individuals were thus seized, bound, and beaten, and carried captive, and before the sun rose, hastened away on foot to the neighbouring village of Moollaparah. Here they were confined in a cow-house, or black-hole, as some of them call it, during the whole of the ensuing day; lathyals surrounded their prison, to prevent both approach and escape. Eamsoonder, the chowkedar, was their jailor." t " Towards midnight, two boats being brought, the cap- tives were removed to the house of Mohun Moonshi at G-oila. Here fresh sufferings awaited them. During the five or six days they were kept at this p]ace, the men were severely beaten. Ledoo was especially singled out for torture, pro- bably because he was among the first of the Httle band of persons in Baropakhya to receive the gospel. He was taken into another room, and first beaten; then his left leg was * Case of Baropakhya Christians, p. 8. f Ibid. 118 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. violently twisted, so that it swelled much; next a club or stick was forced between the fingers previously tied. Bruised and swollen, he crept back on his hands and knees to his companions. The cries of the little boy only saved Janoo from a similar fate. They were urged to accuse Mr Page (the missionary) of the crime." * " On 3d July 1855, as Messrs Page and Martin, mission- aries of the Baptist Missionary Society labouring in Backer- gunge, were proceeding from Barisal to Lashkarpore to preach at the market there, they received a note from one of the Christian stations nearest to Baropakhya, acquainting them with the fact that the Christians of this latter village had been assaulted, their houses plundered, and some of them carried away, during the night of Sunday the 1st July. The missionaries lost no time in returning to Barisal, and the next morning, the 4th July, they brought the circum- stance to the knowledge of the magistrate. In their com- munication the following passage occurs : — * We beg to remark further that, for some time past, there has been quite a league formed among the zemindars and talookdars of all the villages where Christians reside, to put them down or drive them out, and thus prevent the spread of their religion. Of the policy adopted we have had long previous notice, and we lately took occasion to mention the same to the deputy-magistrate, Baboo Gooroo Churn Das. To involve our people in a series of lawsuits, obtain for them a bad character in the opinion of the authorities, and then to attack and plunder them, and expel them from their estates, is the object the landlords are endeavouring unitedly and perseveringly to prosecute. And conscious as we are of the inoffensiveness of our people, of their powerlessness to defend themselves, and of their inability to pay their way through long and harassing cases, investigated in the Moffussil, and then carried into court, we earnestly beg * Uiiderhill, pp. 1, 2, 8, 9. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 119 that some serious and speedy attention may be paid to these circumstances." * On July the 12th, the deputy-magistrate arrived at Baropakhya, and examined some of the Christians there respecting this outrage. " The deputy-magistrate next examined the dwellings of the Christians; he found them deserted and empty. He went over the spot where the teacher Kenoram's house stood, and saw that the whole place had been dug up, new ridges formed, and betel nuts and plantain trees planted. Some of these he pulled up, and from their roots saw that they had just been put into the ground. Another order was now issued by the deputy- magistrate to the darogah of Gournuddel, directing him, or in his absence some chief officer at the Thannah, to proceed to Goila and release the Christians. "Meanwhile the captives, placed in four boats, were taken in various directions, to avoid the discovery which now threatened. Ledoo, Janoo, and Hori formed one party. Closely covered up in the boat, after two days' rowing, passing Belgaon, they reached a place called Aoorabunya, where there is a cutcherry of Mr Brown's. It was on a Sunday at mid-day that they arrived, and they were placed in charge of eight men, sometimes in one house and then in another. Irons were put on the feet of Ledoo. His two companions were bound with string. The next day stocks were prepared, formed of a log of wood five or six cubits long. Three holes were made for their feet, which, being inserted, were fastened in by a wooden peg between the wood and the ancle. For more than twenty days were they kept imprisoned, their hands being bound by day, and their feet put in the stocks at night. One meal a-day was allowed them. Again put into a boat, they were taken from place to place, sometimes stopping at a house, at others wandering about among jungles, and khals, and jheels. But * Underhffl, p. 2. 120 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. all the places were within the bounds of Mr Brown's zemin- dary. It was not possible to escape. Once only were the hands of Janoo, at his urgent entreaty, untied in the jungle, where the abounding of alligators and tigers would deter him from any attempt at flight. At length they were brought to Jagooah ghat, and given into the custody of two chowkedars waiting to receive them. They were shortly met by a peon, and by him taken into BarisaL after a cap- tivity of forty-two days."* Others were treated, with less severity, in a similar manner. The police took six weeks to find them, though they had- been all that time in captivity in the neighbour- hood. During this time, the houses and lands of the Christians were given by Mr Brown to others. On August 16, the deputy-magistrate reported to the magistrate, Mr Alexander : " The houses of the oppressed Christians he found deserted, and empty of goods, and without some particular reason it is not to be supposed that they had so left them ; that from the state of Kenoram's place he sup- poses he had been oppressed, but to what extent he cannot say. The inquiry had to be taken out of his hands." t On August 19, Mr Alexander went to Baropakhya, and made the following order, after his investigations : " We having ourselves proceeded to the premises of Ledoo Christian, &c, &c, it is ordered that a purwanna be issued to the darogab, directing him to establish the Christians in their former dwelling-places." " But though the darogah, in the presence of the magistrate and Mr Page, had twice said it was clear that the Christians had been turned out, he thought different when the magistrate was away. He never put the Chris- tians into possession, pretending that the Hindoo occupants of their houses would kill themselves, and so forth, rather than turn out." Mr Page now, on the behalf of the Chris- tians, prosecuted five of the assailants. " Mr Alexander * Underbill, p. 9. f Case of the Baropakhya Christians, p. 12. ON PUBLIC IMMOEALITIES. 121 sentenced each to he imprisoned for a period of six months with labour," and made the following record respecting his decision : — "Mr Page would not knowingly take any part in the prosecution of innocent parties, and there can be no doubt from Mr Page's constant intercourse with the Christians, and other natives in and about Baropakhya, he was able to make himself, and did make himself, acquainted with the true and real facts of the case. " I consider that the charge of aggravated assault, plunder, and forcible and illegal confinement of the Christians at Baropakhya, by name Ledoo, Janoo, and others, are (taking all the circumstances into consideration) sufficiently proved against the defendants named to justify their conviction and punishment." * From this sentence the defendants appealed to Mr Kemp, Sessions-Judge, who came to the following deci- sion : — " Now, without entering into the question whether a land- holder has the power to eject tenants who are obnoxious to the majority owing to their apostasy, ... I must here record my opinion that the police behaved, on the whole, very well; they did their best to trace the missing parties, and I attach no blame to their conduct. I am of opinion that these fourteen Christians were secreted by their own fellow-Christians, with a view to bring this counter and more serious charge against the Hindoos, who had already charged the Christians with plunder and oppression. I acquit the defendants, and direct their immediate release. (Signed) "F. B. Kemp, Sessions- Judge." t " Thus, the outrage suffered by these poor people is crowned by an act of legal injustice. They find in the courts no protection, either from personal violence or loss of property. To outrage, robbery, and captivity, is added a * Case of the Baropakhya Christians, pp. 12-15. f Ibid., pp. 23, 27, 28, 32. 122 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. judicial wrong, heightened by accusations of fraud and con- spiracy to injure the very parties at whose hands they have suffered personal indignities and loss of all." .... The result was, that the Christians, after being assaulted, seized, and kept prisoners six weeks, after being beaten and half-starved, their houses broken into and plundered, all their crops stolen from them, and their lands given away to others, for no other crime than that they were Christians, heard a British judge declare, that they were themselves the criminals, who had entered on a vile conspiracy, begun by violence, and carried on by perjury. On these designs, the Calcutta Christian Observer makes the following remarks : — " The most ordinary common sense will tell every one, that if this extraordinary tale had been true, the Christians must have been wonderfully bold men, to attack the Hin- doos where they were so numerous as in Baropakhya ; and, secondly, if it had been true, the deputy-magistrate (a Hindoo, and no friend to the Christians) would have found the whole place full of the story, and, in the whole district of Backergunge there would have been a hue and cry after the Christians. But the contrary was the fact. He went to the place on the 13th of July; he stated that he found the houses of some of the Christians destroyed ; but not a word did he say to imply that there was any public belief that the Christians had been the aggressors ; still less that they had destroyed their own property, and wantonly and without provocation attacked the Hindoos, and were then concealing themselves. It is surely manifest, that in so large a place these facts would have been notorious, and such an atrocity on the part of the Christians would have created such a burst of indignation, as the police and the deputy-magistrate would have certainly known to be well founded and un- affected. And, subsequently, it would have been abundantly easy for Mr Brown and the Hindoos to prosecute the ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 123 Christians, to prove their guilt, and to secure their con- viction."* " The Christians are carried about from place to place, insulted and maltreated, and one is brutally tortured ; and • at last, such is the condition of affairs that the judge thinks that they have plundered the houses of others, and that the wrongs they complain of as suffered from others have really been inflicted by themselves The severity of the law, as well as the tortures of the police, fall indeed heavily on some, but they are not the powerful or the daring. The sufferers are the poor ; they ' cry, but have no helper.' The land is filled with violence; and justice is too often a mockery, or punishes the innocent and lets the offenders go free. And once more, as to the European magistrate and judge : Are these the men to have the sole charge of a district of three thousand five hundred square miles and seven hundred thousand people, and the sole superintendence of the police ?"t Also, we find Mr Forbes, in the Dacca News, saying of Mr Underbill's pamphlet : — " What (said we to ourselves) is the man making such a fuss about ? The Christians were only carried off and challuned about the country for a month and a half ; only one man seems to have been a little tortured. The magistrate com- mits to the judge their persecutors, and the judge does what most Company's judges do — decides against the Chris- tian, European or native. It is quite a common case; it has happened to ourselves a hundred times; we are quite accustomed to be decided against. Messrs Page and Under- bill cannot expect to fare better than other 'interlopers.' Throughout Mr Kemp's decision run two ideas that are stereotyped in Anglo-Indian minds, which are that the ' interloper,' whether missionary or planter, who comes be- * Review of " The Oase of the Baropakhya Christians," from the Calcutta Christian Observer, p. 6. f Ibid., p. 10. 124 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. fore the courts, is either a fool (this idea is not so absurd), or a knave; that he must always be the oppressor, and can never be oppressed, or he would have righted himself; and • that native Christians — ' apostates ' from heathenism, as Mr Kemp politely calls them — must be rascals. These ideas are universal in India/'* " The conclusion we are irresistibly led to form from this perusal is, that Mr Kemp had decided the case on the above- mentioned Anglo-Indian principles before he had ever seen a paper in the case, and then tried to defend his conclusion from papers furnished to him ! "t The Calcutta Christian Observer and the Dacca News are not in the least too severe on Mr Kemp. Mr Kemp decided against plain evidence, and when much more evidence was to be had which he would not call for. This decision of Mr Kemp appears to me disgraceful to himself and to England. He has accused innocent Christians, against all evidence, of violence and perjury, when they were themselves the victims of cruel oppression; he has insulted and wronged those whom he was bound to protect ; he has justified and encouraged evil-doers; he has applauded the villany of the police, one of whom assaulted the Christians, while the rest connived at it; and he has helped the zemindars in their conspiracy to root out Christianity from their villages. If hereafter they assault the Christians, pull down their houses, deport them, and then say that the Christians ab- sconded with a view to charge their neighbours with the crime, they may give their lands to others, and Mr Kemp is ready to sustain them in this iniquity. He has taught the heathen of the district that if they listen to the gospel, they may expect to be beaten, plundered, imprisoned, tor- tured by the zemindars, and then condemned by a Euro- pean judge for the crimes committed by others. He has * Review of " The Case of the Baropakhya Christians ; " Dacca News, p. 11. t Ibid., pp. 11, 12. ■ ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 125 dishonored Christianity by letting the heathen see that a professed Christian can be as unjust as themselves ; and he has brought discredit upon the British rule in India, by making it uphold violence, falsehood, and crime. . After reading this decision of Mr Kemp, we can under- stand a sentence quoted by Mr Kinnaird, in his speech on the landed tenure of Bengal : — " No man in his senses will resort to a court of law in Bengal. The result is only sure to that side which can be with most assurance, and bribe with the longest purse. What with delay, the inefficiency of the magistrates and judges, the unblushing corruption which prevails from the highest to the lowest official, the civil servant only excepted, justice is the scarcest of all com- modities in Bengal. There is no doubt of it. In every part of Bengal which I have visited, I never met with but one opinion about it. From Burdwan in the north-west, to Chittagong in the far south-east, the testimony of all classes of people is uniform ; all agree that the courts of the Company are nests of corruption, perjury, and injustice." * It is quite evident that, so long as Mr Kemp bears rule there, the unfortunate ryots of Barisal can look for no pro- tection against the villanies of zemindars and their club- men. Why are these zemindars allowed to keep bullies and bravos in their service to inflict such outrages'? Why does the East India Government allow them to oppress the poor? Why are such villains allowed to continue in the police? Why are judges like Mr Kemp allowed to decree injustice with impunity? Although members of parliament, directors and pro- prietors of India stock, and journalists, have blamed the missionaries because they have humanely endeavoured to protect their poor neighbours and converts from these op- pressions, by petitions to the East India Government and the Honorable Company, they deserve the thanks of all * Speech by Hon. A. Kinnaird, June 11, 1857. 126 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. those in this country who wish to recommend Christianity to the heathen, or to protect their fellow-Christians in Ben- gal from civil injustice, or to render the British Government popular in that country, or even to save the country from rebellion and revolution. Let them still be the friends of the poor, whatever obloquy it may entail upon them, and let all who wish well to the cause of Christianity, or desire the permanence of British rule in India, sustain them in their laudable exertions. Is the East India Government careless of the misery of its subjects, or incapable of removing it? Either fault would be serious; and now that our attention has been called to the subject by recent events in India, it seems to me that this country will neglect its duty if it does not speedily secure to the working-classes of Bengal protection from their oppressors, a trustworthy police, and a sufficient body of European magistrates, too intelligent to be cajoled, and too upright to decree injustice. Since the above was written, I have learned, to my great satisfaction, that the Sudder Court at Calcutta, being called upon by the Lieutenant-Governor for an opinion on Mr Kemp's decision, pronounced an opinion unfavor- able to it. The Christians have received no compensation for their losses, but the stigma has been removed from their characters, and Mr Kemp has since employed some of them in the local police. I wish, also, not to be unjust to the East India Govern- ment. On the point of torture one of the Directors has thus defended it : — " I believe that there is no amount of tyranny and cruelty which is not at times inflicted on the ryots by the native servants of the Government ; but they know well that such acts are abhorrent to their European superiors, that they are breaches of the law, and that they would be severely punished if detected. Torture exists ; but it exists in spite of the East India Company. It is known to be a ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 127 breach of the law, as much as murder and highway robbery; It is punished whenever detected." * If the native servants of the Government are unprin- cipled, the whole population is so demoralised by heathen- ism, that honest servants are not to be found ; and, as even now there is an annual deficit in the revenue, Government has not funds to supply the country with a sufficient num- ber of European servants, to keep the native servants to their duty. This exonerates the Government from much of the guilt which an Englishman is disposed to attribute to them after reading such facts as have been narrated in the foregoing pages. They cannot obtain honest natives if these are not to be found, and they cannot place upright Europeans in every part of the country if they have not money with which to pay them. But these circumstances clearly lead to the following con- clusions : — 1. It is necessary to obtain for India the best men possible, by a system of competition and examination. 2. The best men should be promoted to the most important posts. 3. The civil and military servants of the Government should not be checked in their endeavours to raise the morals of the people by Christian instruction. 4. The Government should welcome any number of missionaries, as their best allies in promoting order and good government in the country. 5. The Government should not neglect to employ honest native Christians in preference to dis- honest heathens.! I must now turn to another public immorality, with which, I regret to say, the East India Government is charge- able — its monopoly of opium. The growth of the trade in this drug along the coast of China has been very rapid, according to General Alex- ander, from whose valuable pamphlet, " British Opium- * Captain Eastwick, p. 13. f Appendix A. 128 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. Smuggling," I derive most of the information which I will now place before the reader. The quantity of opium ex- ported from India before 1767 did not exceed 200 chests yearly; but, in subsequent years, the sales in China have been as follows: — In 1800, 2000 chests; 1824, 12,639; 1834,21,785; 1837,39,000; 1856, 75,000; for which the Chinese pay about £6,000,000; and, in the last year, the trade and revenue accruing from it have considerably increased.* This trade is carried on by British merchants, and by others under the British flag, t The smoking of opium has been made by Chinese law criminal, and exposed the offender to public flogging; the cultivation of the poppy in the empire has been forbidden ; and the trade is prohibited. Some crews of opium-boats have had their heads cut off for it; and, in 1838, several executions took place at Macao and Canton, of Chinese engaged in it. | Being thus contraband, it has been placed beyond the protection of the British Government. In return for liberty of trade in five cities, the British Government entered into treaty with the Chinese Government, " that if -any merchant vessels should trade at other ports or places, the Chinese Government shall be at liberty to confiscate both vessels and cargoes." § And Lord Palmerston, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, declared to British merchants, "No protection can be afforded to enable British subjects to violate the laws of the country to which they trade. Any loss, therefore, which such persons may suffer in con- sequence of the more effectual execution of the Chinese laws on this subject, must be borne by the parties who have brought the loss on themselves by their own acts." || * British Opium-Smuggling, by Major-General Alexander, third edition, pp. 22, 24, 48. t Ibid., pp. 69, 70. t Ibid., pp. 22, 25, 33. § Ibid., p. 38. || Ibid., p. 35. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 12.9 The trade being thus placed out of the protection of Government, it necessarily underwent the condition of other smuggling trades. The smuggler, not defended by his country, was obliged to defend himself. These opium- vessels, therefore, in some instances, and probably in alL Were armed to resist all the efforts of the Chinese Govern- ment to put them down;* and their captains were pre- pared to fight with any junks that might attempt to enforce the laws of their country. In fact, conflicts have taken place,t junks have been sunk by them, J and they carry on a perpetual war along that coast against those who dare to oppose their illicit traffic. •' Commerce generally is the civiliser of nations, and the great barrier against war ; here it has reversed its character, and has rendered the condition of war permanent along the whole Chinese coast. Had this forced trade been carried on to enrich and civilise the Chinese, by their own desire, against the selfish decrees of a despotic ruler, some- thing might have been said in its defence; but since the Chinese Government prohibited the traffic, against its own pecuniary interests, t© promote the morals of the people, this endeavour to force it was inexcusable. It is injurious to the Chinese in various ways. Witnesses of all kinds concur in stating that it demoralises all who are connected with it. Opium-smokers, in general, ruin their health, lose vigour of mind, have insatiable craving for more, are fit for no business, neglect their families, become vicious, and by degrees are so enslaved by their appetite, that they witness with stupid insensibility the complete ruin which is coming upon them. To gratify their depraved appetite, they will sell all they have, even wife and children, for a little more indulgence; and when they have no more to sell, will steal and murder to obtain the means of gratification. Thus they rot and putrify in those dens of infamy which * Alexander, pp. 24, 28. t Ibid., pp. 29, 31. $ Ibid., pp. 24, 28, 29, 31. 130 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. become their prisons; and at length die, abhorred and despised by the worst and lowest of the heathen who sur- round them. "Whole neighbourhoods are poisoned by it. In 1847, Mr Montgomery Martin calculated that the trade furnished about seventeen grains a-day to each of three millions of persons.* Since that, it has been so much enlarged, that more than three millions now must be poisoned. In England, all the restraints of education and Christian principle are needed to teach self-control, and to make people prefer happiness to a brief and fatal excess in the indulgence of appetite. The Chinese are feebler still; and professed Christians, instead of teaching them self-control, avail themselves of their want of religious principle to seduce them to become the slaves of an impe- rious appetite. The Chinese purchase this ruin at the expense of more than £6,000,000 annually. This has been said to be like throwing it into the sea. So, for the purposes of commerce, it is. But to gather £6,000,000 from the savings of their industry, and throw it into the sea, would be far wiser, because then they would simply buy nothing with it ; but now they buy with it dis- ease, degradation, poverty, dirt, vice, pain, and early death. Some of the facts connected with this trade are pecu- liarly dishonorable to Christianity. A great people, des- titute of the knowledge of Christ, eighteen hundred years after His ascension, can read, and are accessible to Chris- tians, many of whom have gone among them to preach His gospel — English and Americans, Episcopalians, Scotch and American Presbyterians, English Independents and Ameri- can Baptists. They have given them the Scriptures, have preached, and have formed churches at each of the five ports open to British commerce. They are followed by these opium smugglers, who also come to the Chinese as Chris- tians. Two opposite kinds of teachers, both in the name of * Alexander, p. 69. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 131 Christ, address themselves to the Chinese — the missionary and the merchant. The missionary comes with the Chris- tian name to teach them morals; the opinm merchant to teach them vice. The missionary labors to save them ; the opium merchant to destroy their health, character, mind, morals, fortunes, and families. The missionary comes to elevate and bless them; the opium merchant to degrade and ruin them. The missionary goes unarmed into the in- terior, exposing his life for their welfare; the opium mer- chant goes armed along the coast to take the lives of all who oppose his interests. The missionary labors freely to make them happy; the opium merchant makes them pay him large sums for their misery. The missionary sacrifices himself to save them ; the opium merchant sacrifices them to make himself rich. If the missionary represents Chris- tianity as a pure, benevolent, self-saerificing benefactor to the world, the opium merchant represents it as a sordid, selfish, and cruel enemy. What a dishonor this is to our Saviour! The sight of the armed clipper, which comes to scatter poison and to murder souls, must make a virtuous heathen shudder at the very name of Christian ; and cling to any superstition, rather than degrade himself to the level of those who, bearing that name, will poison and murder their fellow-creatures to fill their purses. This sordid villany being accomplished under the British flag, it is in the minds of the Chinese connected with Eng- land alone. Some missionaries on that coast do honor to the benevolence of England ; magnificent vessels of war, with brave officers, give impressive disclosures of its power ; and its public officers may act with justice and truth : but its special symbol along all the coast has been that flying clipper, filled with all the terrors of war, and manned with men who, Hke demons, scatter pestilence, disease, misery, and death wherever they go ; and are determined to fight, 132 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. murder, burn, or drown all who oppose them. Let no man think that England gains by this contempt of justice and of mercy. £6,000,000 of silver is paid to the opium-smuggler, it is true; but that is just £6,000,000 taken away from the legitimate trade. The Chinese, if they did not spend that £6,000,000 on opium, would spend it on the fabrics of Man- chester and of Leeds. Their vast extent of country needs almost all the productions of our looms, and if not pauper- ised by the vice which the opium merchant introduces, they would buy the products of our skill. Some might be tempted to think that we must grow rich by draining them of their silver to the extent of £6,000,000 a-year, but as we take their raw produce and their teas to a much larger amount, and they can only buy in return our goods to the value of about £2,000,000, because pauperised by this vici- ous traffic, we must pay the balance in silver; so that the China trade now drains this country of its silver, instead of increasing our supply.* It appears from the Special Correspondent of the Times, that the opium is now grown to a great extent in China, and that some of the local governments are beginning to legalise the sale of it. If this will on the one hand destroy the ferocious character of the trade, it will on the other hand make the English Government more directly its pro- tectors, and more completely identify us in the minds of the Chinese with its selfish cruelty. Were this trade simply private, we might only deplore the cupidity of a few opium merchants, as we now do the gin-selling of this country : but the market from which the opium merchant is supplied gives a new aspect to the trade ; for if the opium merchants have all the direction of the trade, the East India Government have the whole manage- ment of the supply. This opium comes chiefly from the * See Alexander, pp. 47, 48. The China trade has since increased, but the balance is still as large against England. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 133 opium districts of Bengal and Bahar, where it is grown by the ryots, or tenants of the soil. To secure the crop, Government makes advances of money to the tenants, who are too poor to grow it without assistance. " The produce of this delicate plant (the poppy) is extremely uncertain, being liable to frequent injury from insects, wind, hail, frost, and unseasonable rain. To the poor man, therefore, the advance is the chief inducement. He takes it at first, perhaps, to obtain a sum of money when urgently wanted; and having once become dependent upon this assistance, at a particular season of the year (as he barely ekes out enough from his laborious occupation to pay his expenses), necessity compels him to continue the cultivation." * As these advances are to be repaid by the crops, the tenant is tempted to defraud the Government by selling part of the crop, and pleading that the crop has failed. He has therefore been placed under the following law : — " In the event of the cultivator failing to deliver the full quantity of opium agreed for by him, in the manner specified in Section XI., if the agent shall suspect or believe the cause of failure to be in the wilful neglect of the ryot, he shall complain to the zillah, or city judge, within whose juris- diction the land of the ryot may be situated ; and, if it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the judge that the failure had been owing to neglect, he is to award that the ryot shall restore the proportional advance, with interest at the rate of twelve per cent, per annum." t As an additional security to the Government, he is placed under the surveillance of the police, whence ensue many acts of oppression, by which the policemen are corrupted and the tenant is degraded. " The peasant is constantly exposed to a suspicion of retaining some part of the produce for sale ; the surveillance of the police is, therefore, especially directed to these unhappy creatures ; and the oppressions which * Alexander, p. 14. t Ibid., p. 5. 134 ON PUBLIC IMMOEALITIES. they are subjected to in this way, surpass belief. They are exposed to every sort of annoyance which, the ingenuity of authorised plunderers (the police and custom-house searchers) can devise, in order to extort bribes. The privacy of their miserable abodes — the sanctity of their females — is intruded upon by these harpies of Govern- ment." * As the price of opium is great, and other persons might grow it for sale, the East India Company, to keep the sale in their own hands, prohibit the cultivation in most other parts of India ; and heavy penalties are annexed to the breach of the law.t Further, as it might be grown in the allied states, to which the laws of the British Government do not extend, heavy transit duties are levied, through which it is, to a great degree, excluded from the market.^ Thus nearly all the opium grown in India comes into the hands of the Government opium agents, by whom it is manufactured for the Chinese trade, packed in suitable chests, sent down to Calcutta, and sold to the opium-sellers. " So completely is the production of opium in the hands of the East India Company, that not a poppy can be grown in the extent of their vast territories, without either the permission of the Government, or the infraction of its laws. In Bengal only is the growth allowed; and it is there car- ried on, and the opium collected, under the management of two principal agencies, at the head of which are officers, who, to judge from the largeness of their salaries, must stand high in the confidence of the authorities by whom they are appointed. Under the opium agents is an immense staff of officials, whose designations would be unintelligible to a mere European reader, and whose multifarious duties extend from making the advances of money to the cultivators be- fore the poppy-seed is sown; watching its growth and pro- duce within the strictly-defined boundaries of cultivation; * Alexander, p. 16. t Ibid., pp. 3, 10. J Ibid., p. 9. ON PCBLIC IMMORALITIES. 135 the delivery of opium at the appointed places ; its inspis- sation and preparation for the taste of the Chinese con- sumers; its formation into balls and packages in chests especially adapted to the convenience of smuggling; and finally, to its conveyance to Calcutta, where it is pnt up to auction at the Government sales, and passes from the hands of the officers of the state, into those of the speculators in illicit trade, and the daring contrabandists who land it in China."* These sales have latterly brought the Government about five milli ons of revenue, t Government knows the misery and sin which the trade produces, but encourages it for the sake of the revenue. The Chinese Government, which is poorer than the East India Government, might, like it, have obtained a revenue by legalising the trade, but would not. One Emperor set himself against it with all his heart : and another, when he heard of its effects, burst into tears, and said to his minister, " How alas ! can I die, and go to the shades of my imperial father and ancestors, until these dire- ful evils are removed. "\ In 1838, twenty thousand chests having been given up to the Emperor, valued at about one and a half million pounds, he had the whole destroyed. § In 1844, when urged to legalise the trade, and assured that he might gain a revenue upon it, he said, " It is true I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison ; gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes; but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people." || And in 1853, the young Emperor, though then greatly in want of money, and told that he might raise by a tax on opium a revenue of £1,200,000, determined to adhere to his father's course, and refused to legalise it." IT Here are heathen rulers, preferring the morals and health * Alexander, p. 10. t Ibid, p. 52. % Ibid, p. 34 § Ibid, p. 36. || Ibid, pp. 58, 59. 1 Ibid, p. IS. 136 ON PUBLIC IMMOKALITIES. of their people to revenue; and the East India Government preferring revenue to the morals and health of the same people. Were our G-overnment to raise the revenue from gin as the East India Government raise theirs from opium, its position would be this : It would take possession of all the gin distilleries in the kingdom ; let them to needy tenants ; advance to them the sums necessary to work them, on con- dition of receiving all the gin to be manufactured by them ; place police over them, to see that they sold gin to no other customer ; require the instant repayment of the capital advanced, with 12 per cent, interest, if a stipulated amount of gin were not forthcoming ; forbid all others to manufac- ture it; have a police spread over the whole country, to detect illicit distillation; appoint agents to sell their gin to gin- vendors, and, by means of these vendors, poison three millions of persons every year, to secure five millions of revenue. If public opinion would hinder our Home Go- vernment from so disgracing itself, it should equally hinder the East India Government from maintaining a similar practice. The monopoly is said by some to be a check placed upon the consumption of opium; but the growth of the trade, from 12,639 chests in 1824 to 75,000 chests in 1856, proves that the "check" has rather operated as a sti- mulant.* By others this monopoly has been defended, on the ground maintained by Sir Henry Pottinger to the Chinese Commissioners, that if the East India Government were to prohibit the cultivation of the poppy, the opium-seller would obtain it elsewhere, t Allowing this to be probable, the monopoly should cease, since Government ought not to inflict mischief upon its neighbours because others would if they did not. I should not like a thief to rob me of my * Appendix B. t Alexander, p. 37. ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. 137 purse with a pistol at my head, and excuse himself by say- ing that some other villain would do it if he did not. It is not, however, clear that the opium merchants could very easily obtain their supplies. It appears that the Dutch and Spanish Governments have prohibited the exportation from their ports ; a high transit duty has kept down the cultiva- tion in Malwa; and the prohibitive law has prevented it generally in the territories of the Company. But, if the opium merchant can neither get it from the British, Spanish, or Dutch possessions, he is shut up to heathen countries, and will probably find difficulty in getting supplies from them. But, whether the opium merchants could or could not obtain them elsewhere, at least let us be free from the guilt of the trade. If the East India Government renounce the monopoly, and discontinue their advances to the opium growers, our connexion with the trade will cease; and if a heavy duty be imposed by Government on all opium sold within their territories, they may obtain a revenue in a manner which will not stimulate, but restrain its growth. Such a duty will be no more inconsistent with principle than the duties upon spirits in this country. Although we may not be able to prevent the trade along the Chinese coast, we may at least ask that the East India Government may be required to put an end to the monopoly in India; that they make no further advances to ryots for that cul- tivation; that they put heavy duties upon opium sold in India; and that the whole opium agency be swept away. By so doing, they will perhaps discourage the opium trade : but, if not, they will at least free us from the guilt of participating in it. If we wish to honor our Saviour or to improve the Hindoos, we must keep clear of all such immoralities as those above described : for never can they respect our reli- gion, if they see that, professing to be under its influence, 138 ON PUBLIC IMMORALITIES. we are selfish, and unjust. Nor can they honor us, although they may be subdued by the resistless bravery of our sol- diers, unless they find that our rule is just and beneficent — adapted to protect the weak against the oppression of the strong, and to make all classes more virtuous and happy. II. ON THE SANCTION AND SUPPOET OF FALSE KELIGIONS IN INDIA. Since the East India Government acts under the Board of Control which, as part of the Government, is ultimately determined in its acts by public opinion, I shall here and elsewhere speak of the acts of the East India Government as our acts. As professed disciples of Christ, we ought not to counte- nance or sanction any other religion than our own, because we ought not to encourage and sanction falsehood ; especi- ally, we should not sanction Mahommedanism or Brahmin- ism, the two false religions of India, because these are ruinous to man, opposed to Christ, and insulting to God. This statement I will explain in detail. 1st. We ought not to encourage or sanction Mahom- medanism, because it is corrupt and licentious. Of course there are moral precepts to be found in the Koran, because Mahommed, professing to found his system on the basis of the Bible, could not avoid them; but it depraves both men and women. It teaches that Mahommedans may have four wives, may purchase female slaves, may make these their concubines, and may divorce their wives at their pleasure. Any Mahommedan, therefore, may, without violating the principles of his sacred book, have eight or ten wives in suc- cession, with various concubines besides. Such a system destroys domestic affection, because a man cannot love at once four or five women as a Christian husband loves his 140 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. wife; still less can four or five women bear to one man the love which, a Christian wife bears to her husband. This single institution tends to make Mahommedans sensual and selfish, to the exclusion of conjugal affection; and the para- dise which Mahommed taught his followers to expect, con- firms their sensuality. With audacious falsehood, he de- clared that God spoke to. him in the following terms of heaven : — " There are two gardens, in each of them shall be two fountains flowing; and, besides these, there are two other gardens of a dark green, in each of which shall be fruits, and palm-trees, and pomegranates (chap. 55) ; therein are rivers of milk, and rivers of wine, and rivers of clarified honey (chap. 47). As to those who fight in defence of God, God will lead them into paradise (chap. 47) ; they shall be clothed in pure silk and in satin (chap. 44). Upon them shall be garments of pure green silk, and they shall be adorned with bracelets of silver (chap. 76) ; they shall be adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls, and their clothing shall be of silk (chap. 35). And it shall be said to them, Eat and drink with easy digestion, .... leaning on couches disposed in order (chap. 52). They shall repose on coiiches, the lining whereof shall be of thick silk (chap. 55). They shall dwell in gardens of delight, reposing on couches adorned with gold and precious stones (chap. 56). Therein shall be raised beds, and cushions laid in order, and carpets ready spread (chap. 88); and they shall repose themselves on lofty beds (chap. 56). And we will give them fruits in abundance, and flesh of the kinds which they shall desire, and youths appointed to attend them shall go round them, beautiful as pearls (chap. 52). Dishes of gold shall be car- ried round to them, and cups without handles (chap. 43). Youths, which shall continue in their bloom for ever, shall attend them with goblets and a cup of flowing wine; their heads shall not ache by drinking the same (chap. 56). The bottles shall be bottles of silver; they shall determine the ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 141 measure "by their wish; and their Lord shall give them to drink of a most pure liquor (chap. 76). We "will espouse them to fair damsels, having large black eyes (chap. 44). Therein shall be agreeable and beauteous damsels, having fine black eyes, and kept in pavilions (chap. 55) ; and there shall accompany them fair damsels, having large black eyes. Verily, we have created the damsels of paradise by a pecu- liar creation, and we have made them virgins, beloved by their husbands, and of equal age with them (chap. 56); damsels, with swelling breasts, of equal age with themselves " (chap. 78). Mahommedan authors have thus expounded these pro- mises of the Koran in favor of the Mahommedans : — " The very meanest of them will have eighty thousand servants, and seventy-two thousand of the girls of paradise, besides the others which he had in this world ; and a tent erected for him of pearls and jacinths and emeralds. He will be waited on by three hundred attendants while he eats ; he will be served in dishes of gold, whereof three hundred shall be set before him at once, containing each a different kind of food; and there will be no want of wine." 4 '' Next let us notice the cruelty of this religion. Polygamy and discretionary divorce are as cruel to women as they are depraving to men, making them necessarily the trembling slaves of capricious tyrants. But in the Koran there are other cruel laws and directions, as the reader may judge from the following extracts, which are declared by Mahom- .med to be the words of God : — " It hath not been granted unto any prophet that he should possess captives, until he had made a great slaugh- ter of infidels in the earth (chap. 8). prophet, we have allowed to thee thy wives, and also the slaves which thy right hand possesseth (chap. 33). prophet, stir up the faithful to war (chap. 8); fight against the friends of * Sale's Koran, preface, p. 133. 142 ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGION'S. Satan; fight for the religion of God (chap. 4); fight against them, until there be no opposition in favor of idolatry, and the religion be wholly God's (chap. 8). Kill the idolaters wheresoever yon find them (chap. 9). When you encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads, until you have made a great slaughter among them (chap. 47). Verily, God loveth those who fight for His religion in battle array (chap. 61) ; whosoever fighteth for the religion of God, whether he be slain or be victorious, we will surely give him a great reward (chap. 4) ; and as to those who fight in defence of God's religion, God will lead them into paradise (chap. 47). prophet, wage war against the unbelievers and the hypo- crites, and be severe to them, for their dwelling shall be hell. These speak the word of infidelity, and turn unbelievers after they had embraced Islam (chap. 9). If these turn BACK PROM THE FAITH, TAKE THEM AND KILL THEM WHEREVER YOU FIND THEM" (chap. 4). The Koran is like Mahommed its author. Not content with his other wives, he fell in love with Zeinab, the wife of his friend Zeid, and having procured her divorce from her husband, he married her. Thus he had nine wives; and then fell in love with one of his slaves. Without pre- tending to offer any evidences of his mission by miracles, such as those which he acknowledged were wrought by Moses and by Jesus, he substituted force for evidence; gathered round him an army of fanatics, at the head of whom he fought nine battles; compelled many, by the terror of his arms, to profess faith in him; and reduced numbers of women and children to slavery. Of all this wickedness he made God the patron; for, according to the Koran, God declares that polygamy, murder, and slavery are right; that Mahommedans should propagate their creed by the sword, killing all infidels ; and that any Mahommedan who becomes a Christian, may be killed by any one who meets him. Mahommedans «re, of course, like their sacred book ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 143 and their prophet; and if they have in this outbreak per- fidiously broken their solemn declarations, murdered their officers, and indulged their unbridled lusts, they have done what their prophet did, and what their Koran rewards with a voluptuous paradise. This religion, which depraves men and degrades women, which makes it a crime worthy of death to become a Christian, and which blasphemes the holy God, by making Him the patron of murder and of sensuality, ought not to be sanctioned or- encouraged by us. 2d. As little ought we to sanction or encourage Hindoo- ism, for that is far more corrupt and corrupting than Mahommedanism. The following sketch, taken from Mr Ward's " View of the Hindoos," which the late Eammohun Roy, a very intel- ligent Brahmin, told me was by far the best account extant of their religion, will enable the reader to judge how far we oiaght to encourage it. The Hindoos profess to have three hundred and thirty- three millions of gods,* and amidst them all, there is not one to represent any one of the virtues.^ "The Hindoo is taught that the image is really God; and the heaviest judgments are denounced against in'm if he dare to suspect that the image is nothing more than the elements of which it is composed. The Puntra-sara de- clares that such an unbeliever will sink into the regions of torment. In the apprehensions of the people in general, therefore, the idols are real deities ; they occupy the place of God, and receive all the homage, all the fear, all the service, and all the honors which He so justly claims. The government of God is subverted, and all the moral effects arising from the knowledge of His perfections and His claims upon His rational creatures are completely lost.";); The deities in the Hindoo Pantheon amount to three hundred and thirty-three millions, yet all these gods and * Wai-d, i., p. lxxiv. + Ibid., p. xcviii. J Ibid., p. xcix. 144 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. goddesses may be resolved into the three principal ones, Vishnoo, Shiva, and Brahma — into the elements — and the three females, Doorga, Lukskmee, Suruswutee* Brahma created the Brahmins and the cow at the same time — the Brahmins to read the formulas, and the cow to afford milk (clarified butter) for the burnt-offerings. The cow is called the mother of the gods, and declared by Brahma to be a proper object of worship.! The black-faced monkey, Hunooman, the son of the god Puvuna by a female monkey, is believed to be an incarna- tion of Shiva. The Hindoos worship this animal. The Tuntras mention an incarnation of Doorga in the form of the jackal. The elephant, the lion, the bull, the buffalo, the rat, the deer, the goat, &c, are worshipped at the festivals of the gods whom they respectively carry — that is, of Indra, Doorga, Shiva, Yuma, Gunesha, Puvuna, and Brahma. The white-headed kite, called the Brahmumee kite, is considered an incarnation of Doorga, and is reverenced by the Hindoos.J It is a painful reflection to every benevolent mind, that not a single Hindoo temple dedicated to the One God is to be found in all Hindoostan, nor is any act of worship in any form addressed by this people to God. § In the whole of the reigning superstition, the gods alone are seen ; and these gods bear no more resemblance to the one true God than darkness to light, than vice to virtue. Brahma is called the creator, and the grandfather of gods and men. In the latter designation he resembles Jupiter, as well as in the lasciviousness of his conduct. He seems to be as lewd as any of the gods; so that one day, in a state of intoxication, he made an attempt on the virtue of his own daughter; and being as dishonest as he * Ward, iii., p. 6. t Ibid., p. 195. % Ibid., pp. 197, 199, 200, 202. § Ibid., p. 1. • ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 145 is intemperate, he is charged with having stolen several calves from the herd which Krishna was feeding.* Vishnoo, the preserver, is represented in the form of a black man with four arms ; and has two wives, Lukshmee and Suruswutee.t Krishna is one of the ten incarnations of Vishnoo. He seduced the wife of Ayuna-ghosha, in- trigued with many women, and especially with Eadha, his favorite mistress, and married two wives. The temples dedicated to him are very numerous; and it is a scan- dalous fact that his image is always accompanied by the image of Eadha, his mistress, and not by those of his wives. "When a quarrel arose between him and King Shishoo-palu, he cut off the king's head at one blow. On another occasion, having asked a washerman for some clothes belonging to King Kungsu, a quarrel ensued, in which he killed the washerman, and carried off the clothes. \ " His thefts, wars, and adulteries are so numerous, that his whole history seems to be one uninterrupted series of crimes;" and "he closed his long life by destroying his whole progeny." Yet his images are now worshipped by the Hindoos with enthusiasm. § One image of Shiva is a white man with five faces and four arms; another is the lingu, a smooth black stone. A number of stories are related in some of the Hindoo books respecting his quarrels with his wife Parvutee, occasioned by his revels. He seduced the wife of Tritu, a Brahmin, and the wives of other Brahmins, who cursed him for it.]| His wife " was constantly jealous of his amours, and charged him with associating with women of a low caste;" and in some of these histories he is represented as declar- ing that he would part with all the merit of his works for the gratification of a criminal passion.1T He perpetually * Ward, i., p. Ixxvi. ; iii., pp. 26, 27. t Ibid., iii., pp. 6, 9. % Ibid., i., p. xo. ; iii., pp. 148, 153, 154, 156. § Ibid., i., p. cxxxiii. ; iii., pp. 148, 149. || Ibid., i., p. 66. IT Ibid., iii., pp. 11, 12, 24 ; i., pp. cxxxiii., ci. K 146 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE EELIGIONS. smoked intoxicating herbs, and in a quarrel cut off one of the heads of his brother Brahma, which he afterwards used as a dish.* Except those of the Lingu and Punchanun, very few temples exist in his honor. Before the lingu he is, however, daily worshipped. For two months of the year the lingu is worshipped daily as a god in the numerous temples dedicated to this abomination throughout Bengal. " These temples, in many parts of Hindoostan, are far more numerous than those dedicated to any other idol; and the number of the daily worshippers is, beyond comparison, far greater than the worshippers of all the other gods put together." t Indra, the king of heaven, " the infamous violator of the wife of his religious guide," is very famous in the Pooranas for the number of wars and intrigues in which he has been engaged. On one occasion he stole a horse; on another, was cursed by a Brahmin, and became a cat. He allows courtesans to dance in his presence; he himself kept at one time five hundred of them; and five of the Upsuras, or female dancers in his heaven, keep houses of ill fame, which are frequented by the gods when they visit him. if Yuma, the Indian Pluto, in a passion kicked his mother, who cursed him, and afflicted him with a swelled leg, which to this day the worms are constantly devouring; and having been cursed also by a sage for injustice and cruelty, he became the son of a slave on earth. § Doorga, who at her birth was called Suttee, killed herself after being married to Shiva; she then became Parvutee, and again married him. She was called by the gods Doorga, because she conquered the giant Doorgu. Her image has ten arms. || Kali is a form of Doorga. Her image is a black woman, * Ward, iii., pp. 12, 24. + Ibid., i., pp. lxxviii., Ixxix. ; iii., p. 12. X Ibid., i., p. lxxx. ; iii., pp. 29, 30, 50, 143, 145. § Ibid., i., p. cxxxii. ; iii., p. 58. || Ibid., i., p. lxxxvi. ; iii., pp. 74, 79. ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGIONS. 147 with four arms. Having drunk the blood of the giants whom she has slain in combat, her eyebrows are bloody, and the blood is falling in a stream down her breast. Her eyes are red, like those of a drunkard. She stands with one leg on the breast of her husband Shiva, and rests the other on his thigh. It is said in one of the Pooranas, that the blood of a tiger pleases her for one hundred years ; the blood of a lion or a man, a thousand years ; and the sacrifice of three men, a hundred thousand years. Human victims have been offered to her; and, at present, her worshippers offer her their own blood or pieces of their own flesh. Thieves frequently, before they enter on their work, pray for her protection; and prostitutes ask her to grant them success.* The character of the gods must determine that of the worshippers; deities who lie, commit adultery, and perpe- trate murder, must make their worshippers false, licentious, and cruel. Krishna, the favorite god of the Hindoos, persuaded his friend Yoodhist'hira to tell a lie; and the Shasters tolerate the practice. The Institutes of Menu allow lying, to pre- serve the life of a Brahmin, to appease an angry wife, or to please a mistress ; and when the lie is a sin, the liar may expiate it by repeating the name of Vishnoo once. The practice of the Hindoos corresponds with the example of their god and the doctrine of their Shasters. " The Hindoo will utter falsehoods and commit perjuries so atrocious and disgusting, as to fill with horror those who visit the courts of justice. ... It is a common sentiment among this people, that in secular transactions lying is absolutely necessary; and perjury is so common, that it is impossible to rely upon the testimony of Hindoo witnesses. . . . Hindoos of all ranks declare that it is impossible to transact business with a strict adherence to truth, and that falsehood on such occa- * Ward, iii., pp. 108, 112, 113, 124. 148 ON THE SUPPOKT OE FALSE EELIGIONS. sions •would not be noticed in a future state. . . . Every one who has been obliged to employ Hindoos, has had the most mortifying proofs, that, if the vices of lying, deceit, disho- nesty, and impurity can degrade a people, then the Hindoos have sunk to the utmost depths of human depravity.* . . . Of the Bengalees, then, it is true most generally that they are destitute to a wonderful degree of those qualities which are requisite to the security and comfort of society. They want truth, honesty, and good faith in an extreme of which European society furnishes no example. . . . "Want of vera- city, especially, is so habitual, that if a man has truth to defend, he will hardly fail to recur to falsehood for its support. In matters of interest, the use of lying seems so natural, that it gives no provocation; it is treated as an excusable indulgence — a mode of proceeding from which general toleration has taken away offence." t These remarks account for the fact, that the sepoys every- where murdered their officers after protesting their fidelity to them. A second feature of Hindooism is its impurity. Its gods, its Shasters, its worship, its priests, its heaven, are all im- pure, and it has made the people therefore dissolute. While many of their idols are monstrous personifications of vice, not a single virtuous idea is ever communicated by any of them. Amidst them all, there is not one to represent any of the virtues ; Brahma, Vishnoo or Krishna, Shiva, Indra, Suryu, Ugnee, Vajoo, Vuroona, were all profligate. \ The authors of the Hindoo mythology, moreover, have taken care that the quarrels and revels of their gods and goddesses shall be held up to the imitation of the whole community; and so bad are their Shasters that Mr Ward says : " To know the Hindoo idolatry as it is, a person must wade through the filth of the thirty-six Pooranas and other * Ward, iii., p. 155 ; i., p. cxxxvii. ; iii., p. 372 ; i., pp. cix., cxxxviii., 290, 294. f Ibid., i., pp. 299, 300. % Ibid., i., pp. xcvii., xcviii., cxxxiii. ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGIONS. 149 popular books." As we might expect, the popular -worship is such as is likely to please such gods. " The author," says Mr Ward, "has witnessed scenes of impurity in Hindoo worship which he can never commit to writing. . . . The songs and dances in the Hindoo, temples at the time of the Doorga festival, at midnight, would disgrace a house of ill fame. . . . One year, he saw from his own window at Seram- pore, in a procession on the river Ganges of the images of Doorga, sights so shockingly detestable, that he ran and closed his windows; and yet multitudes of Hindoos, of both sexes, old and young, crowded the side of the river on this occasion. ... It is difficult to restrain one's indignation at the shocking violation of everything decent ; nor can it be ground of wonder that a chaste woman, faithful to her hus- band, is scarcely to be found among the millions of Hindoos, when their very temples are polluted with filthy images, and their acts of worship tend to inflame the mind with licentious ideas." * " The festivals in honor of the gods have the most per- nicious effects on the minds of the people. As soon as the well-known sound of the drum is heard, calling the people to the midnight orgies, the dance and the song, whole mul- titudes assemble, and almost tread upon -one another, and their joy keeps pace with the number of loose women pre- sent, and the broad obscenity of the songs. . . . Yet sights even worse than these, and such as can never be described by the pen of a Christian writer, are exhibited on the rivers and in the public roads to thousands of spectators at the Doorga festival, the most popular and most crowded of all the Hindoo festivals in Bengal, and which closes with hbations to the gods so powerful as to produce general intoxication. . . - What must be the state of morals in a country when its religious institutions and public shows, at which the whole population is present, thus sanctify vice, and carry the multi- * Ward, i., pp. cxli., xxxvii., xxxviii., lxxix. 150 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. tude into the very gulph of depravity and ruin 1 . . . Thus that which to the Hindoo should be divine worship, is the great source of impiety and corruption of manners, and in- stead of returning from his temple improved in knowledge, grieved for his moral deficiencies, and anxious to cultivate a greater regard to the interests of morality and religion, his passions are inflamed, and his mind polluted to such a degree, that he carries the pernicious lessons of the temple or the festival into all the walks of private life. His very religion becomes his greatest bane, and. where he should have drank the water of life, he swallows the poison that infallibly destroys him."* Agreeably to the character of their gods, the happiness of the Hindoo heavens is wholly sensual. They are filled with material splendor; songs, dances, music, and mirth abound ; loose women dance in public ; gods have their mis- tresses there; houses of ill fame are kept, which are fre- quented by the gods; and there crimes may be committed which may hurl the offender back again to earth, t It is easy to conceive how much such a religion must demo- ralise its adherents. " How should virtue exist among a people whose sacred writings encourage falsehood, revenge, and impiirity — whose gods were monsters of vice — to whose sages are attributed the most brutal indulgence in cruelty, revenge, lust, and pride — whose priests and Brahmins en- deavour to copy these abominable examples— and whose very institutions are hotbeds of impurity? Can we wonder after this, that the Hindoos should be notoriously the most corrupt nation at present existing on the earth V " The manifest effect of idolatry, as held up to thousands of Christian spectators, is a universal corruption of manners." J If the sepoys in the late mutiny have disgraced them- selves by their unbridled lusts, they have only acted ac- * Ward, i., pp. xoix., u., cv. + Ibid., i., pp. cxxiii., cxxv. ; iii., pp. 30, 50, 60, 143, 14-j. % Ibid., i., pp. xxxvi., xxxix., xoix. ON THE SUPPORT OP PALSE RELIGIONS. 151 cording to the practices of their religion, and the examples of their gods. Lastly, Hindooism in its gods, its worship, and its insti- tutions, is marked by cruelty. To please Shiva, his worshippers cast themselves from a height on iron spikes, bore their tongues, run spikes through their sides, or stick pins into their body, or swing by hooks fixed into the muscles of their backs, or dance with naked feet on burning coals. Juggernaut is pleased when his devotees are crushed under the wheel of his car; and Kali is delighted with blood. To please these gods infants have been thrown to alligators, or hung up in baskets to be devoured by insects; young widows have been burned alive; lepers have met the same fate; sick persons ha-ve been choked with the mud of the Ganges; and numbers of wretched dupes have drowned themselves in its waters. The more devotees torture themselves, the more acceptable they are to the gods. Many of their sacred laws, too, are very cruel. Accord- ing to the Institutes of Menu, " If a man strike a Brahmin with his hand, the magistrate shall cut off that man's hand ; if he strike him with his foot, the magistrate shall cut off the foot. A once-born man who insults the twice-born [the Brahmin] with gross invectives, ought to have his tongue slit; if he mention their names with contumely, an iron style, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth." * "A goldsmith who commits frauds, the king shall order him to be cut piecemeal with razors. If a woman murders her husband or her son, the magistrate having cut off her ears, her nose, her hands, and her lips, shall expose her to be killed by cows. If a man steals a camel or a cow, the magistrate shall cut off from him one hand and one foot; if a man steals a goat or a sheep, the magistrate shall cut off one of his hands," &c, &c.t * Mill, L, p. 221. t Ibid., p. 218, note. 152 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. The whole system has been adapted to crush and torment the working classes, to make women miserable slaves, and to perpetuate its abominations by dooming every man who shakes them off to shame, destitution, and despair. For an Englishman who calls himself a. Christian, to sanc- tion or encourage these superstitions in any way, is hypo- critical, because he knows them to be false — cruel, because they are sources of misery to those whom they deceive — un- patriotic, because they are directly opposed to our rule in India — ungodly, because one of them insults God by the wor- ship of idols, and the other misrepresents His attributes — and unchristian, because they both deny the authority of Christ. Every Englishman knows that the Koran was the work of Mahommed, and the Shasters of ambitious Brahmins; that Mahommed was no prophet, and Krishna no God ; that the Hindoo idolatry is based on falsehoods, and that the Pantheistic Atheism is no less irrational. Should, therefore, the Parliament, or Board of Control, or East India Company, or Government, or Council, or servants of the Company, natter either of these superstitions, they are acting a He, they are playing the hypocrite, they are doing what honest men ought to be ashamed to do. Humanity, too, forbids us to make the smallest alliance with these superstitions, or to lend them the least counte- nance. Mahommedanism, in every part of the world, has made its votaries licentious and cruel ; and if the Mahom- medans of India have lately manifested their dispositions, they have only followed their prophet, acted in the spirit of the Koran, and done as their co-religionists do all over the world. So that if we encourage Mahommedanism in India, we help to make our fellow-subjects licentious and cruel, which humanity forbids. Hindooism, being like Mahom- medanism the invention of corrupt minds, manifests similar features. Its gods are false, licentious, and cruel; its Shasters permit falsehood, stimulate impurity, and enact ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 153 cruelties; its worship is. obscene and cruel; its priests are examples of falsehood, vice, and cruelty; and, therefore, makes its votaries false, impure, and cruel. If. the Bengal sepoys have been perfidious, impure, and cruel, their gods, their Shasters, and their worship have made them so ; and if we encourage their superstition, we help to make our Hindoo fellow-subjects like the sepoys, false, impure, and cruel, which humanity forbids. To en- courage these two superstitions is therefore cruel, because both of them make the population wicked and miserable. It would be no excuse for our support of them, if we could allege that nothing else can establish our dominion in India. No interests can justify hypocrisy and cruelty; and we rule India to raise it from its degradation. But even this sordid and selfish excuse is not available. All the zealous adherents of both these superstitions are our mortal enemies. Mahommedans, by the law of their prophet, and the memory of his exploits, are called to make war on us as in- fidels, till we either become their slaves or are exterminated. Death or subjection is the only alternative which their law allows to us, and if we strengthen their faith in that law, we justify every outbreak by which they may hope to ex- terminate us. To this they are called not only by hope of plunder and of power, but by fidelity to the will of their prophet, and their traditions of the triumphs which their faith has won by the sword. To preach their creed is as much a duty in their view as to preach the Gospel is a duty in ours; but while our Leader requires us to confine our preaching to argument and persuasion, theirs has, wisely for himself, provided no other preaching than the roar of battle and the knife of the assassin. Hindoos, too, if zealous, must hate us as Mahommedans do. To the Mahommedan we are incorrigible infidels, who will not come within the true faith ; to the Hindoos we are detestable Pariahs, for ever excluded from it. According to their Shasters, the Shoodras 154 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. are so low, that they can never rise above menial labor, being ordained by Brahma to toil and sweat for the honor of the Brahmin ; but as far as the Brahmin is raised above the Shoodra, so far is the Shoodra raised above the Pariah : who with his children, and his children's children, even to the remotest age, are doomed by the gods to contempt, destitu- tion, and despair. Such outcasts are we in the sight of Hindoos. We have no part in their system, no place in the care of their gods ; and our rule is chaos and anarchy. It is a mon- strous inversion of the order of nature, a successful rebellion against the will of heaven, a violation of all right, an enthrone- ment of disorder. It is as though all monstrous, all prodi- gious things — crocodiles, and boas, and old slimy reptiles of other days, coming out of their mud and mist, should by some strange fatality hold millions of men under their rule. As the millions of mankind would not hesitate to extermi- nate their bestial tyrants, so each zealous Hindoo would be led by his religion to chase us, if he could, from the Sutlej to the Nerbudda, and from the Nerbudda to Travancore. They have recently sought to do it; and if we sanction their superstition by any acts whatever on our part which inti- mate that we believe it to be truth, we subscribe to our own degradation; we confess that we are outcasts and outlaws, as they say we are; and we justify the next outbreak, which, instead of being a sepoy mutiny, shall be a national rebellion. Yet more are we bound to abstain from all alliance with these superstitions by the dishonor they do to God.. Mahommedanism makes Him the author of the Koran, and the Koran dishonors Him by its falsehoods. When His glory surrounded the three apostles on Mount Hermon, He said to them of Jesus, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. xvii. 5) ; the Koran denies that Jesus is His Son. Whereas He has ordered that each man should have no more than one wife, according to the Koran He allows to each man four wives, and slave-concubines as ON THE SUPPOET OE FALSE RELIGIONS. 155 many as each will. Whereas He orders us to love our neighbours as ourselves, and therefore to make all men free, as we wish to be free ourselves, according to this Arab fiction He allows men to make slaves of all those whom they take prisoners in war. Whereas He has said that nothing unholy shall enter heaven, where all are holy, and where they neither marry nor are given in marriage, according to the invention of the Koran He gives heaven to every Mahommedan soldier, however dissolute, who fights for his creed; and promises him, when there, sofas and jewels, banquets and beautiful women, suited to a boundless sen- suality. Mahommedanism blasphemes God ; and if we en- courage it, we share in the blasphemies which a sensual Arab adventurer originated, and which a hundred millions of his followers have spread through the world. Hindooism is no less insulting to our Maker. Hear what God once said about idolatry to the Israelites: — "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shall thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones till he die; because he hath sought to tfirust thee away from the Lord thy God; a.nd all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you" (Deut. xiii. 6-11). So God viewed idolatry in an early and rude age of the world. Now, let us hear what He has said of it by the Apostles of Christ: — "Be not deceived: neither fornicators nor idolaters shall inherit the kingdom of God " (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10). " Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these ; Adultery, fornication, . . . idolatry, . . . and 156 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. such like : of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not ■inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. v. 19-21). " But the fearful, and unbelieving, and murderers, and idolaters, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev. xxi. 8). Hindoos, instead of worshipping Gooj, to whom they have raised no temple, worship the incestuous drunkard Brahma — Krishna, who was a liar, a thief, a murderer, and an adul- terer — Shiva, whose profligacy made his home a scene of con- stant strife — and Doorga, who is pleased with the murder of the innocent, is the patroness of thieves, and whom her wor- shippers gratify by obscene songs, to her honor. They will not worship God, because He is holy; but they worship their idols with enthusiasm, because these allow the free indul- gence of their appetites. Gods who resemble the devil in wickedness are preferred by them to Him. Day by day, millions, formed by His power and fed by His bounty, in- sult Him, by offering them worship and refusing all worship to Him. They receive His mercies and do not praise Him ; they have proofs of His divine power and wisdom, yet they do not adore Him ; and from His holy nature their impure minds turn with undisguised repugnance. All who give honor to idols, or support the priests who officiate at their altars, or offer gifts to their temples, or in any other way sanction this idolatry, encourage the Hindoos to persevere in a crime which God has declared shall be punished in the^ lake of fire. But most of all are we criminal if we encourage these false religions, because they are directly opposed to Christ. Jesus the Son of God, who has bought us to be His own, who is now the witness of our conduct, and will shortly be our judge, requires us to live for His glory. Since, more- over, He is the only Saviour of the Hindoos, without whom they have no salvation, all earthly good is trivial to them, ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 157 compared with the knowledge of Him. We are therefore commanded to make Him known to them all. " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. 15), is a command which comprehends all British India. Our duty to Him and to our fellow-subjects requires us to convert them if we can. Now, the Koran, urging Mahommedans to fight with all Christians till they are either killed or subjugated, fills them with bitter hatred to us, and disposes them to kill us rather than listen to our doctrine ; and should a Mahom- medan be secretly inclined to think the gospel true, the order of the Koran, that the faithful shall kill the apostate wherever they find him, makes him afraid to avow his convictions. A friend of mine knew an intelligent Imaum at Madras who read the Scripture, and who, when my friend asked him what he thought of Mahommed, replied, "He was an emissary from the prince of darkness;" yet, subsequently, being suspected of a leaning to Christianity, he was hurried to the mosque, there ordered to profess the Mahommedan creed, and said before them all, with a loud and firm voice, " There is no God but God, and Mahommed is his Prophet." The fear of death stifled consience. But their suspicions still continuing, he shortly after died sud- denly. Mahommedan zeal had, as was generally believed, fulfilled the law of the Koran, by poisoning the apostate. Hindooism, on the other hand, teaches that every Hindoo who eats with Christians is a Pariah, excluded from the favor of the gods ; loathsome while he lives, and doomed to hell when he dies. Under these circumstances, Hindoos are, no less than Mahommedans, afraid to listen to the gospel. "Whatever, therefore, supports these two false creeds, and confirms the faith of their adherents, sanctions their hatred of Christians and their contempt for Christ, shuts them out from salvation, and seals their doom. As Christians, we must most scrupulously abstain from an alliance with those 158 ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGIONS. superstitions; we must give them no offerings, pay them no honor, and render them no aid. Not even by our silence should we allow the people to imagine that we think them true. If we give them the least countenance we are inflicting the greatest injury on millions, whom we ought to serve; when we ought to improve them, we are render- ing them false, licentious, and cruel; we are teaching them to combine for the overthrow of our dominion, we are im- plicated in the guilt of their idolatry, and we confirm them in their deadly opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. As servants of Christ, we have no commission from Him to force men to profess Christianity, or to bribe them into it. All own that Hindoos and Mahommedans should be free to worship what they will, to preach their doctrines and write in their behalf, to build temples, to maintain schools, to endow them, and to use all means which are not cruel or unjust to sustain them. Few, on the other hand, if any, advocate the promulgation of the gospel in India by taxation, because, independently of the control which it would give to the Government over the Churches of Christ, it would manifestly exasperate the natives, and would rather defer than accelerate their conversion to Christ. But, not content with giving full toleration to these false religions, we have yielded them an unprincipled support; we have not merely allowed them to insult their Maker by idolatry, but we have aided them in doing it. Of this the reader may judge by the following extracts from a pam- phlet addressed to Lord Glenelg, when Mr Charles Grant, in 1833:— " The pagodas generally, and perhaps all of any note, are now under the immediate care of Government. The col- lector of each district is the agent employed to conduct the business. He appoints and dismisses the servants of the idol, both those who perform the worship and those who superintend the estates ; he directs the repair of the build- ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 159 ings, the cars, and the dresses of the idols. It is he who gives orders for the gold and silver ornaments to be made for the preparation of rice and other articles for the idol's table, and the quantity of them to be cooked. It is he who has to sanction the admission of the dancing women, as servants or wives to the idol, and who has to dismiss them on proof of neglect. Without his concurrence nothing is done; and no outlay whatever is made without a positive order under his official seal and signature, he every month disbursing the money for wages and expenses of the estab- lishment. The lands of the pagoda are leased out to him, and the rents and proceeds collected at the same time, and by the same individual, as the Government revenues. Every collector of land revenue issues daily orders relative to their affairs, in which the appellations ' God,' ' Lord God,' are given to different idols, and the attendants are enjoined to be very careful 'in God's business.' A countenance and support the most unhallowed are given to the abominations of Hindoo worship by our own actual management, direc- tion, and control of their fraudulent and impure system, by donations from our treasury, and by countenance and official aid of our public officers, who frequently make offer- ings and donations in their own name, and in that of the Company. " In seasons of drought, money is granted from the public purse for the performance of idolatrous ceremonies to pro- cure rain. " At the great feast of Conjeveram, while the idol is in procession, and tens of thousands of people from the sur- rounding country are looking on, the collector of Chingla- pet, with a salutation of reverence, makes an offering to the idol of an embroidered shawl, in the name of the Company. The collector of Trichinopoly, in like manner, presented a shawl at the Leringham feast, first making a ' salam ' to the image; parties of ladies and gentlemen being invited by 160 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. him to be present on the occasion. Offerings were made in a similar way to an idol at Madras by a Company's cove- nanted servant deputed from the collector's office."* " In the district of Tanjore alone, there are no less than four hundred thousand people compelled, year by year, to leave their homes, and proceed ten, twenty, or thirty miles, without any provision or remuneration, for the purpose of dragging the obscene and disgusting idol-cars of the pro- vince. Unless Government were to enforce their attend- ance, not a man of them would come, nor would they, when arrived, pull the cars, were it not for the dread of Government, and of the whip applied by Government to compel their exertions. An eye-witness relates: — 'About ten o'clock last evening, the first car made its appearance, drawn by many hundreds of poor men. Two very large ropes were attached to the vehicle, by which the people dragged it along, and on each side of the rope peons and others were stationed, with whips and sticks to flog the people if they were negligent in their duty; and here I am sorry to observe that these instruments were often called into exercise, in the most wanton, unfeeling, and barbarous manner. Christians even were compelled to draw the cars.' At Trevandrum, in the Travancore country, there is a yearly feast, at which it is the practice for the principal idol of the pagoda to be conducted in procession, escorted by the Bri- tish troops of the station, as a guard of honor. The troops form in two ranks on either side of the idol and its attend- ants, among whom are the Eajah and Eanee, and march with them from the fort to the sea-side, a distance of about three miles. The European officers, of course, accompany their men, being thus employed to do honor to idolatry."! Sir Peregrine Maitland, Commander-in-Chief of the Madras army, having been called to order similar honors * Letter to the Right Hon. Charles Grant, by a Madras Civilian. London, 1833. Pp. 6, 24, 8, 9, 10. + Ibid., pp. 10, 11, 69, 70, 18. ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 161 to idols at Madras, resigned rather than do it; and his resig- nation was accepted. Government would lose an excellent commander rather than fail in yielding the accustomed honor to an idol; and when Bishop Corrie expressed his sympathy with Sir Peregrine, he was rebuked for it by Government.* By these practices the East India Government made the natives believe that their religion was approved of by it. " What other act," says the Madras Civilian, " would be necessary to establish a conviction of the concurrence of Government in the general belief of the natives? We build them pagodas and mosques, we establish and superintend their worship, we make and adorn their idols, at the pro- cessions we send offerings and guards to do them honor, and we annually compel multitudes to draw them in state. The heathens themselves certainly think that the Honor- able Company . favors and upholds their idolatry. I have often heard this language from their own mouth, when I represented to them its folly and wickedness : ' If/ said they, ' idolatry be really as bad as you say, why then does the Company give us money towards worshipping idols V They cannot understand that a Government who have all power in their hands can do so without being well inclined towards idolatry. There is even the idea among the people, particu- larly among those who belong to the publicly supported temples, that they must worship idols, because the Govern- ment in a manner commands them to do so, by giving money for it, and that it would be an act against Govern- ment were they to omit it."t The same year in which the letter of the Madras Civilian was published, the Court of Directors issued a despatch, of which the following are extracts : — " Par. 10. Beyond civil protection, we do not see that the measures of toleration enjoin us to proceed. It is not neces- * Bishop of Calcutta's Sermon, p. 13. t Madras Civilian, pp. 23, 21. L It) 2 ON THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. sary tliat we should take part in the celebration of an idolatrous ceremony, or that we should assist in the pre- parations for it, or that we should afford to it such systematic support as shall accredit it in the eyes of the people, and prevent it from expiring through the effect of neglect or accident." "Par. 11. We cannot conceive that a Government which believes those rites to be deeply founded in error, and to be productive, even in a civil view, of serious evil, is at liberty to show them any degree of positive sanction or encourage- ment." "Par. 62. They (our conclusions) are the following: — That the interference of British functionaries in the interior management of native temples, in the customs, habits, and religious proceedings of the priests and attendants, in the arrangement of their ceremonies, rites, and festivals, shall cease. That on all matters relating to their temples, their worship, their festivals, their religious practices, their cere- monial observances, our native subjects be left entirely to themselves." By another despatch, dated Aug. 8, 1838, they added: — " We more particularly desire that the management of all temples and other places of religious resort, together with the revenues derived therefrom, be resigned into the hands of the natives."* These directions have never been fully carried into effect. For only last year Bishop Wilson complained of the connexion of the Government with ido- latry as a sin still existing. "It has long appeared," he said, "to thoughtful persons, that one of the chief sins of India is the close connexion with the vices and idolatry of Brahminism, and the detestable licentiousness and bitter hatred to Christianity of the followers of the false prophet. In this opinion I concur. ... In our regulations both at Madras and in Bengal, Hindoo and Mahommedan endow- * Captain Eastwiok, p. 19. OX THE SUPPORT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 1 63 ments were, and 1 fear are, declared to be endowments ' for pious and beneficial purposes ;' and were placed in the special charge of the collectors of the districts, instead of being left to the native priests to manage, or rather mis- manage as they could, which would have gradually extin- guished them. . . . These acts and regulations went to the discountenancing of Christianity, and the support of the grossest idolatries."* A writer, evidently well acquainted with Western India, adds the following statements : — " Large annual allowances are paid from the State treasuries, in every collectorate of Western India, for the performance of idol and Mahom- medan worship. The Indian Government, not content with prohibiting its servants from attempting to convert the natives, actually makes them the disbursers of payment for tbe performance of idol worship. . . . Before the collector can disburse these sums, the officiating Brahmin and Synd must obtain a certificate that the ceremonies have been properly performed. On the perusal of this certificate, the collector pays the annual allowance for the performance of what he must regard as tbe greatest sin a man can commit. Upwards of £30,000 are annually paid away in these collectorates. In addition, many entire villages of large magnitude are permanently alienated for the same purpose. The rental of these, in each collectorate, averages about £1500 a-year. This increases the disbursements to the sum of nearly £50,000 a-year." t A " Layman in India" makes a similar statement, in the following terms : — " The connexion of the Government of India with idolatry is far from being at an end. The fol- lowing facts are given on the authority of the Bombay Guardian of November 21, 1857: In the Madras Presi- dency, there are now 8292 idols and temples, receiving from Government an annual payment of £87,678. In the * Sermon, pp. 12-14. t A Few Remarks, &c, pp. 8, 9. 164 ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGIONS. Bombay Presidency, there are 26,589 idols and temples, under State patronage, receiving grants to the amount of £30,587, 10s.; to which must be added the allowance for temple lands — giving a total for the Bombay Presidency of £89,859, 6s. In the whole of the Company's territories, there is annually expended in the support of idolatry, by the servants of the Company, the large sum of £171,558, 12s." * If these statements are correct, as I fear they are, we, the British nation, calling ourselves the servants of Christ, are, through the East Indian Government, which obeys the national will, insulting the Almighty, opposing the claims of Christ, injuring the people, and degrading ourselves, in above thirty-four thousand places every year. All through the year, our collectors must secure that imaginary deities, of detestable profligacy, shall receive the honors which are due to God. If the Brahmins perform their damnable idolatry, we pay them for it ; but if they cease from that sin, we withhold the money. No one who regards the honor of Christ will be satisfied with the excuse, that Government only maintains the rights which those temples and mosques possessed under the former heathen and Mahommedan rulers. We have no right to maintain them. No such treaty or promise can be shown; and if it could, it would be null and void. "We may no more promise to honor an idol, or support idol worship, than we may promise to lie, steal, or murder. Herod could not justify his murder of John by alleging his oath ; nor can Government justify its support of a gross insult to Almighty God by any similar reason. Let the temples and their Brahmins, the mosques and their Moulvies, not be robbed of a shilling which belongs to them ; but .let the nation now see that the despatch of 1833 be carried into effect; that the temple funds be left to the natives; and that throughout the Presidencies, from Pesha- * Letter from a Layman, p. 19. ON THE SUPPOKT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 165 war to Pegu, and from Arracan to Guzerat, this traditional policy of sanction to idolatry be wholly and for ever aban- doned. God has declared that no idolater has any part in His, kingdom (Eev. xxi. 8) ; and we have supported idolatry. "When God says to every man, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Matt. xxii. 37), He asks that which His goodness to us abundantly proves to be His due ; yet mil- lions in India prefer to Him revolting deities of their own creation, and we confirm them in that preference. He, too, who descended from heaven, and submitted to the shame- ful death of the cross, to save all who will believe on Him, is slighted by them, because they prefer to Him deities who are, like themselves, depraved; and those who call them- selves His servants, redeemed by Him from hell, openly dishonor Him by honoring disgusting idols. They have paid Brahmins for serving idols, and have driven from the country some of the missionaries who came to preach Him; they have compelled even Christian soldiers to pay reverence to idols ; and they have dismissed sepoys for becoming Christians. The idolatry which we have encouraged has paid us our wages. As they have thrown their own children to sharks, they have also killed ours ; as it taught them to stifle their own sick and aged ~vith mud on the banks of the Ganges, they have killed sick and aged Europeans with as little compunction ; and as they have burned their own women alive with the dead bodies of their husbands, they have tortured and murdered our women before the eyes of their living husbands. If they have professed loyalty and medi- tated treason, they only imitated gods we helped them to adore ; if they have exulted in the sufferings of their vic- tims, they have learned that ferocity from their goddess Kali, who is pleased for a hundred thousand years with the 166 ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGIONS. blood of three men shed in her honor ; if they have plun- dered treasuries which they were placed to guard, Kali is the patroness of thieves. We aided them to worship her, and we reap as we have sown. Now is the time to put an end to this part of the tradi- tional policy altogether. Henceforth, from the Punjaub to Travancore, and from Assam to the Indus, let our fellow- subjects know that we wish them, with all our hearts, to renounce an idolatry which God abhors. If there is no right and wrong, no honor or disgrace — if we care nothing for the future welfare of our country, adopting with com- placent selfishness the Metternich maxim, Apres moi vient le deluge — if we fear no Providence, and believe in no God, let us bring back the traditionary support of idolatry. If the natives must be pleased at all costs, the Director who, when Mr Haldane wished to establish a mission at Benares, . said that he had rather see a band of devils in India than a band of missionaries, was a prudent statesman — Sir George Barlow, who directed Dr Carey to be told that, as he did not interfere with the religion of the natives, he ex- pected them not to interfere with it, was a model for all future Governors — Governors-General may again creep humbly into the idol's temple with their shoes off, and pre- sent their liberal contributions to his worship — the gates of idol temples may be still escorted to their place with drum and trumpet, and an escort of jubilant troopers — Juggernaut may again receive the offerings of the Govern- ment — British soldiers may again be ordered to salute the idols as they pass — Commanders-in-Chief may again be dis- missed if they scruple to give such orders — sepoys may still be excluded from Christian instruction, — and thirty-four thousand priests may continue to be paid by the Govern- ment for their services to lewd and sanguinary gods. But if we own the existence and authority of God, let this support of idolatry instantly and for ever cease. No ON THE SUPPOKT OF FALSE RELIGIONS. 167 supposed pledge of non-interference with the religion of the natives can oblige us to continue these grants. If we are pledged to non-interference, we are pledged not to continue them. Support is interference ; non-interference is a refusal of support. As our traditional policy pledges us to non- interference, it requires us to discontinue the grants. But if we were pledged to continue them, the pledge would be null and void. Neither Governments nor individuals have any- right to pledge themselves to sin. "When Herod murdered John at the castle of Machsera, he could not justify his murder by pleading his promise to Salome. Nor may we justify our support of idolatry by any similar plea. We may no more pledge ourselves to support idolatry, than we may to support theft or murder. Idolatry not being a crime against society, Government may not put it down, as they have put down Thuggee; but being, like murder, a sin against God, they must refuse to support it. To refuse that support is no robbery, because the temples and the priests may still have every rupee which belongs to them ; only let the Government withhold their annual grants. Cowardice may suggest that this would be dangerous, but it would in truth be politic. Some momentary irritation may be felt by the priests and their adherents, but the whole effect would be advantageous to our rule. To the Hindoos we, as Chris- tians, must be ever like Pariahs, whom it is their duty to despise and shun ; and to the Mahommedans we are in- fidels, whom the Koran orders them to kill. All the sums, therefore, which we spend in supporting these two creeds, confirm the contempt and hatred with which they inspire their adherents towards us. Nothing but the conversion of many in that land can prolong our dominion over it; and our best policy is that which may most speedily give us the support of a native Christian population. If any of my readers believe that the refusal to support idolatry will be fatal to our dominion, let them still consent 168 ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGIONS. to make that refusal, because it is right. The three Jews who were ordered by Nebuchadnezzar to worship his golden idol might find many plausible reasons why they should comply with the wishes of their imperial benefactor; but when he asked them whether they would bow down to his god, menacing them with instant death if they refused, they answered, " Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, king. But if not, be it known unto thee, Q king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up " (Dan. iii. 16-18). That answer is worthy to be remembered by every public man in India. Whatever may be the evils which our refusal to support idolatry may occasion to us, we must never support it, because our empire must never rest upon impiety. But as God delivered those three men who braved the furnace rather than dishonor Him, so will He bless us if we, like them, refuse to dishonor Him. He has said, " Them that honor me I will honor, and they THAT DESPISE ME SHALL BE LIGHTLY ESTEEMED " (1 Sam ii. 30). Well will it be for us if the Home Government, the Governor-General, the Government in India, every civil and military servant of the Government, and the whole nation, reflect much upon these words ! The support of thirty-four thousand idol temples is a flagrant insult to God : and if we despise Him by resolving to repeat it, He can very easily leave us to such incapable men, such blundering measures, such difficulties, and such reverses, that all our enemies through the whole world shall laugh us to scorn. On the other hand, our open separation from all idolatrous acts will honor Him ; and if our general administration have the same character of respect for His authority, He can as easily make the world respect our wisdom and our power. From this time, therefore, let all religious men in this ON THE SUPPORT OP FALSE RELIGIONS. 169 country, with one consent, petition that this insult to the Almighty may cease. We may with the more confidence ask this, because it is in exact conformity with those despatches of 1833 and of 1838, which are so creditable to the Court of Directors. What better words can we adopt than their own : — " In all matters relating to their temples, their worship, their festivals, their religious practices, their ceremonial observances, let our native subjects be left entirely to themselves." "We desire that the manage- ment of all temples, and other places of religious resort, together with the revenues to be derived therefrom, be resigned into the hands of the natives." * According to these despatches, the Government grants to their thirty-four thousand temples should cease, the temple lands, and the reserved rents appropriated to the temples, should be put entirely into the hands of the natives, and the fulfilment of the abominable rites for which the endowments were made should be no more enforced by any process of law than the perpetration of a murder or the publication of obscene books would be.t On the condition that we do our duty in other respects, these changes may be effected safely. If the policy of non-interference be rigidly maintained — if the ridicule of native superstitions, and all contempt of the natives them- selves, be discountenanced by Government, and avoided by their servants — if we heartily seek the welfare of the people — if taxation is kept at the lowest point compatible with efficiency in the administration of affairs — if we pro- tect the working classes from the oppression of zemindars and of native officials — and if we promote their health, wealth, knowledge, and prosperity, we may honor God, and profess our faith in Christ, without dread of insurrec- tion, and even without causing discontent. * Extracts from Despatch No. 3, 1833, and No. 9, 1838; Captain East- wick, pp. 21, 22. t Appendix C. III. ON THE SANCTION AND SUPPORT OF CASTE. The origin of the Hindoo caste is described in the Insti- tutes of Menu, one of the principal standards of the Hin- doo faith, in the following terms : — Brahma, the great forefather of all spirits, " having created an assemblage of inferior deities, that the human race might be multiplied, he caused the Brahmin, the Cshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Shoodra, to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thigh, and his foot." * " The Samic Veda, the Smrites, and several Pooranas, affirm that the Brahmins proceeded from the mouth of Brahma, the Cshatriyas from his arms, the Vaisyas from his thighs, and the Shoodras from his feet." t " These castes have thus distinct origins, and natures equally distinct." " Brahmins and Shoodras are both men, .... just as a horse and an ass are both animals; but as you can never make an ass of a horse, nor a horse of an ass, so you can never make a Brahmin of a Shoodra, nor a Shoodra of a Brahmin." | " Brahma gave origin to the human race, consisting originally of four distinct genera, classes, or castes. From his mouth first of all proceeded the Brahmin caste, .... * Mill's History of British India, i., pp. 426, 427. t Ward's View of the History, &c, of the Hindoos, p. 64. J Arthur's Mission to the Mysore, p. 381. London Quarterly, October 1857, p. 217. - ON THE SUPPORT OP CASTE. 171 nearest in kindred and likeness to Brahma himself — his visible representatives in human form From Brah- ma's foot, the member of inferiority and degradation, sprung the Shoodra, or servile caste, placed on the base of society — the source of their production being emblematic of their future calling, which is to perform for the other castes all manner of menial duties, either as serfs or manual cultivators of the soil, domestic attendants, artisans, and handicraftsmen of every respectable description Caste is not a civil, but a sacred institution — not an ordi- nance of human, but of divine appointment. The distinc- tion which it establishes between one family or tribe of man and another is not of accident, but of essence — not of arbitrary human will, but of eternal decree and necessity of nature It is a difference of hind as complete as if the races had sprung from absolutely different primeval stocks. A man of one genus or caste can no more be trans- formed into the member of another genus or caste, whether from a higher to a lower, or from a lower to a higher, than a lion can be changed into a mole, or a mole into a lion."* " From his high birth alone, a Brahmin is an object of veneration even to deities Never shall the king slay a Brahmin, though convicted of all possible crimes. .... Although Brahmins employ themselves in all sorts of mean occupations, they must invariably be honored, for they are something transcendently divine A Brahmin, whether learned or ignorant, is a powerful divinity Whatever exists in the universe, is in effect, though not in form, the wealth of the Brahmin; since the Brahmin is entitled to it by his primogeniture and eminence of birth. When a Brahmin springs to light, he is born alive to the world, the chief of all creatures." t * Duff on India Missions, pp. 123, 124. t Institutes of Menu ; Forbes' Oriental Memoirs, i., pp. 526-528. 172 ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. "Bhrigoo, a Brahmin, gave abusive language to the gods Brahma and Shiva, and struck Vishnoo on the breast with his foot. A number of dwarf Brahmins created a new Indra, the king of the gods. Tritu and other Brahmins cursed Shiva for seducing their wives. . . . And the god Krishna, at a sacrifice offered by Yoodhist'hira, served the Brahmins with water to wash their feet By the Hin- doo law, the magistrate was not to imagine evil in his heart against a Brahmin ; nor could a person of that order be put to death for any crime whatsoever." 4 '" " If a Shoodra stole a Brahmin, he was to be burnt to death; .... if a Shoodra through pride spat upon a Brahmin, his lips were to be cut off; .... if a person of this caste plucked a Brahmin by the hair, or by the beard, or seized him by the neck, the magistrate was to cut off both his hands; or if he listened to reproaches against a Brahmin, the magistrate was to pour hot lead into his ears. If a Shoodra beat a magistrate, he was to have an iron spit run through him, and to be roasted alive; a Brahmin for such an offence was to be fined The same Shasters teach that if a Shoodra do not rise to receive a Brahmin with due honor, he will become a tree after death; if he look angrily at a Brahmin, his eyes will be put out by Yuma, the Hindoo Pluto." t " He who through ignorance of the law sheds blood from the body of a Brah^ mm not engaged in battle, as many particles of dust as the blood shall roll up from the ground, for so many years shall the shedder of that blood be mangled by other animals in his next birth, or as many thousand years shall the shedder of that blood be tormented in hell." With respect to this world, " the Shoodras are forbidden to accumulate super- fluous wealth ; " and with respect to the world to come, " the Brahmin is prohibited from giving spiritual counsel to a Shoodra, or to inform him of the legal expiation for his * Ward's History, &c, of the Hindoos, p. 66. t Ibid., p. 67. ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. 1 73 sin."* " The Shoodra cannot perform one religious cere- mony in which there are either offerings, prayers, sacrifices, or burnt-offerings, except through the Brahmins; and the only way in which he can obtain any hope of a better birth, is by becoming their constant slave, "t "Menial service to Brahmins is declared to be highly meritorious." To drink the water in which their feet have been dipped, is considered a great privilege. J Gifts to them " possess infinite merit ; "§ and " to bequeath to them lands, or cows, or houses, destroys all sin, and is followed in the next life with long-continued happiness." || " No person may teach the Vedas but a Brahmin." IT No Shoodra may even repeat a petition from them.** "If a Shoodra read the Vedas to either of the other three castes, or listen to them, heated oil, wax, and melted tin shall be poured into his ears, and the orifice stopped up; and if a Shoodra get the Scriptures by heart, he shall be put to death." tt " If a Shoodra dare to listen to the sal- vation-giving Vedas, he is to be punished for his sacrilege. Even at present, if a Brahmin happen to be repeating any part of the Vedas aloud, a Shoodra, if near, shuts his ears and runs away." Jf "Every form and ceremony of religion — all the public festivals — all the accidents and concerns of life — the revolu- tions of the heavenly bodies — the superstitious fears of the people — births — sicknesses — marriages — misfortunes — death — a future state, &c, have all been seized as sources of revenue to the Brahmins; in short, from the time a Shoodra is conceived in the womb, to his deliverance from purgatory by the Brahmins at Guza, he is considered as the lawful prey of the Brahmins, whose blessing raises him- to * Institutes of Menu ; Forbes, i., p. 528 ; Ward, i., p. 91. * Ward, i., p. 92. | Ibid., p. 68. § Ibid., p. 67. || Ibid., p. 68. IT Ibid., p. 69. ** Ibid., p. 93. ft Forbes' Oriental Memoirs, ii., p. 508. tt Ward, i., p. 69. 1 74 ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. heaven, or whose curse sinks him into torments; and thus their popular stories, their manners, and their very laws tend at once to establish the most complete system of absolute oppression that perhaps ever existed."* Although caste can never be gained, the following ex- tracts show the various ways in which it may be lost : — " The various castes may not eat together, may not in- termarry, may not reside in the same house, and may not assume each other's professions."! "According to the Shasters, the offences by which rank are lost are the eating with persons of inferior caste; cohabiting with women of low caste; eating flesh, or drinking spirits; partaking of that which has been prepared by a person of an inferior order; dealing in things prohibited by the Shasters, as cow-skins, fish," &c.J For many offences against morals the Institutes of Menu provide penances, so that the caste may be preserved. These penances are appointed for killing a Shoodra, for stealing, for licentiousness, and for lying. § And in the Tuntra Shasters are prayers for thieves, that they may obtain success in their schemes of plunder. || But " the violation of any fundamental principle, such as the eating of some strictly prohibited article of food, entails a forfeiture of caste, with all its rights and prerogatives." 11 "No Hindoo, even of the lowest caste, will kill a cow, or taste its flesh. They will die with perfect resignation, rather than violate this tenet." ** "Fantastic ceremonies are exalted above moral duties* and the greatest crimes may be compensated by the most ritual and unmeaning services." tt " What is the crime for which a person frequently for- feits his caste, and becomes an outcast and an exile for * Ward, i., p. 71. t Arthur's Mission to the Mysore, p. 381. t Ward, i., p. 149. § Mill, i., p. 349. || Oonder, p. 665. IT Duff, p. 124. ** Forbes, i., p. 44. +t Mill. ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. 175 ever % Perhaps he has been found eating with a virtuous friend; or, he has embraced the religion of his conscience; or, he has visited other countries on business, and has been compelled, by the nature of his situation, to eat food not cooked by persons of his own caste. For these or other reasons, the caste proscribes him his father's house ; and if his mother consent to talk with him, it must be by stealth, or at a distance from the place which was once his home, into which he must never more enter. Hence the caste converts hospitality, friendship, and the desire to visit foreign realms, into crimes, and inflicts on the offender, in some cases, a punishment worse than death itself." * " Eejection of caste must to a Hindoo appear much worse than death : hurled from the high privileges of a Brahmin or a Nair, the delinquent of either sex is obliged to enter the tribe of Pariahs, the outcasts of all ranks of society, in which both they and their offspring are compelled to remain for ever! No virtue, no talent, no merit of a child, can ever atone for the venial sin of the parent, whose whole posterity must feel the full effect of the dreadful sentence. None are to speak to the hapless culprit; none are to be allied by friendship or by marriage ; none to eat or drink with him: he is to become abject, and excluded from all social duties; to wander over the earth, deserted by all, trusted by none; never to be received with affection, nor treated with kindness, but to be branded with infamy and shame, the curse of heaven, and the hatred of all good men!"t "Hence it follows, that beneath the fourth or lowest caste there may be a class of beings belonging to no caste, ... a class composed of outcasts from the four privileged orders — the residuum of the refuse and offscourings of all the rest — held in the utmost detestation and abhorrence — compelled to resort to the least reputable, and often to the * Ward, i., p. 146. t Forbes, i., p. 255. 1 76 ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. most loathsome occupation for subsistence — doomed to be subjected to all the pains and penalties and indignities of excommunication and outlawry." * " He [who has lost caste] is a man, as it were, dead to the world. He is no longer in the society of men." By losing his caste, the Hindoo is bereft of friends and rela- tions, and often of wife and children, who will rather for- sake him than share in his miserable lot. No one dares to eat with him, or even to pour him out a drop of water. If he has marriageable daughters, they are shunned ; no other girls can be approached by his sons. Wherever he appears, he is scorned and pointed at as an outcast." t " The outcast has no hopes ; no manumission can change his birth; he must bear his curse down to the grave; he must bequeath it to his children, who will bequeath it in turn, and from generation to generation on it must go, nor can any power arrest it, except one, of which he knows not."t " Some years ago, a Brahmin of Trivenee, having married his son to a Peer-alee girl, and being abandoned by his friends, died through grief. About the same period, a Brahminee, of Veloopookhurya, having been deprived of her caste, re- fused all food, and expired in a few days. In the village of Bujbuj, some years ago, a young man, who had lost his caste through the criminal intrigues of his mother, in a state of frenzy, poisoned himself. Gooroo-prusad, a Brahmin of Charna in Burdwan, through fear of losing caste in con- sequence of the infidelity of his wife, abandoned his home, and died of grief at Benares. About the year 1790, Kalee- dasu, a Brahmin of Trivenee, who had married a washer- man's daughter, sold all his property, and fled; and his wife fell into a state of insanity. " Numbers of outcasts abandon their homes, and wander * Duff, p. 125. t L'AbbS Dubois ; London Quarterly, Oct. 1857, p. 219. t Ibid., p. 220. ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. 177 about till death. Many other instances might be given, in which the fear of losing caste has led to the perpetration of the most shocking murders."* The influence of caste is extensively mischievous. First let us notice its effects upon the Brahmins, who are thus described by the Abbe" Dubois : — " The Hindoos may be divided into two classes — the im- postors and the dupes. The latter includes the bulk of the population of India; and the former is composed of the whole tribe of Brahmins." t " In order that their artifice, in establishing throughout the body of society the most downright imposture which ever prevailed among any nation on the earth, might not be questioned, they had the precaution to encumber the people with those numberless institutions, which, at the same time that they secure the permanent superiority of the Brahmins, render the other tribes incapable of reason- ing, or of any mental exertion which might enable them to emerge from that state of intellectual degradation in which they are held by their unchangeable usages and customs." J " No one among the contrivers and leaders of false reli- gions was ever able to devise so well-framed a system of imposture as the Brahmins have done, in order to preserve unimpaired their religious control over the other castes, and to keep the latter in that state of stupidity and ignorance in which they are immersed. It is a sin, it is a crime, a sacrilege, in every Hindoo who is not born a Brahmin, to endeavour to emerge from that state of ignorance, and to aspire to the lowest degree of knowledge." § " I have, alas! nowhere met among the Hindoo Brahmins another Cornelius, ' whose prayers and alms are come up as a memorial before God.' I have to this day remarked amongst them nothing but pride, self-conceit, duplicity, * Ward's History of the Hindoos, p. 148. t Dubois' Letters on India, p. 87. t Ibid., p. 88. § Ibid., p. 89. M. 178 ON THE SUPPORT OP CASTE. lying, and every kind of unnatural and antichristian vices."* " An Hindoo, and above all a Brahmin, by bis institu- tions, bis usages, bis education and customs, must be con- sidered as a kind of moral monster, as an individual placed in a state of continual variance and opposition with tbe rest of tbe human race ; as a being sequestrated from man- kind, with whom he is forbidden all free and confidential intercourse, nay, whom he is obliged to shun, to scorn, and to bate."t " Tbe leading feature of tbe education of a Brabmin is an universal hatred and contempt towards all the human race, if "A Brahmin is, moreover, obliged from duty to be selfish, intolerant, and proud, insolent and forbidding. He is brought up in the indelible idea that he is tbe only per- fect being on earth — a being of by far a superior stamp to that of all other mortals; that all other men are nothing but barbarians; that be owes nothing to anybody; and that all bis fellow-creatures are created to five under his bondage." § The effects upon the Sboodra are not less disastrous : — " Under the fatal influence of this abominable system, tbe Brahmins have sunk into ignorance, without abating an atom of their claims to superiority; the Cshatriyas became almost extinct before their country fell into the hands of the Mussulmans ; the Vaisyas are nowhere to be found in Bengal : almost all have fallen into the class of Shoodras, and the Shoodras have sunk to the level of their own cattle." || " Shoodras may be frequently seen carrying water in a cup, and entreating the first Brahmin they meet to put his toe into it ; after which they drink tbe water, and bow or prostrate themselves to the Brahmin, who bestows bis bless- * Dubois' Letters on India, p. 92. t Ibid., p. 100. J Ibid., p. 102. § Ibid., p. 103. || Ward's History of the Hindoos, p. 64. ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. 179 ing on them; others preserve some of this holy water in their houses. . . . Persons are found who endeavour to col- lect the dust from the feet of one hundred thousand Brah- mins. . . . Many miraculous cures are said to have been performed on persons swallowing this dust."* " The institution of the caste, so far from having contri- buted to the happiness of society, has been one of its greatest scourges. It is the formation of artificial orders, independently of merit and demerit, dooming nine-tenths of the people, even before birth, to a state of mental and bodily degradation, in which they are for ever shut out from all the learning and honors of the country," " The distinctions of rank in Europe are founded upon civic merit or learning, and answer very important ends in the social union; but this system commences with an act of the most consummate injustice that was ever perpe- trated; binds in chains of adamant nine-tenths of the people; debars them for ever from all access to a higher state, whatever their merits might be ; and, branding their very birth with infamy, and rivetting their chains for ever, says to millions and millions of mankind, ' You proceeded from the feet of Brahma; you were created for servitude.' "t " It arms one class of men against another ; it gives rise to the greatest degree of pride and apathy. It forms a suf- ficient excuse for not doing an act of benevolence towards another that he is not of the same caste; nay, a man dying of thirst will not accept of a cooling draught of water from the hands or the cup of a person of a lower caste." J " The caste murders all the social and benevolent feelings, and shuts up the heart of man against man, in a manner unknown even amongst the most savage tribes. The apathy of the Hindoos has been noticed by all who are acquainted with their character: when a boat sinks in a * Ward's History of the Hindoos, i., p. 68. t Ibid., pp. 143, 144. % Ibid., p. 145. 180 ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. storm on the Ganges, and persons are seen floating or sink- ing all around, the Hindoos in those boats which may remain by the side of the river, or in those passing by at the time, look on -with perfect indifference, perhaps without moving an oar for the rescue of those who are actually perishing." * From these extracts it appears that this anti-social insti- tution separates the people into classes, as distinct as the blocks of ice in a rent glacier, in which, severed from each other by impassable chasms, forbidden to intermarry, to dwell together, or even to eat together, they are congealed by their superstition into frozen masses which have no sympathy with each other; and all persons of inferior castes may perish unaided, not only as a distinct species with which they have nothing to do, but as defiled beings whom it would be pollution to touch. By it the working classes especially are depressed to a state of hereditary bondage. They are born to be the servants of the Brahmin, on whom they depend in every event of life, whose curse is supposed to ruin them, whose blessing is their source of success. Out of that condition no capacity or exertion can raise them. They must not obtain religious or scientific knowledge ; they must not be philosophers, physicians, or merchants. By the decree of Brahma, they and their pos- terity are destined to toil. Like asses, they are made to work and to be beaten; and to hope that any self-culture would raise them to a higher existence, would be impious. All knowledge in a Shoodra is revolt. He wears a chain of predestined degradation. Bright Shoodra boys, who, if their minds had been cultivated, would have rivalled the talent of Shakspeare or Milton, of Faraday or Hugh Miller, of Carey or Livingstone, of the Landers, and of Dickens, are doomed to toil as their fathers toiled, and serve as their fathers served, to kiss the Brahmin's foot, and to be his unrepining slaves. * "Ward, i., p. 146. ON THE SUPPORT OP CASTE. 181 Caste has weakened their intellects, hardened their hearts, and debased their existence; making the whole Shoodra caste like one of the Fakirs or Yogees — a withered skeleton covered with filth. Thus enfeebled and crippled by fatalism on the one hand, and by the constant fear of losing caste on the other, they are exposed to be plundered by Brahmins and zemindars, as a sheep is to be torn in pieces by a Hon. And they will still suffer these innumer- able wrongs, till this chain of ages is broken. But the lot of the Shoodra is fortunate compared with the misery of the Pariahs : millions of whom are sentenced by the wretched superstition of the country to destitution and shame and contempt; not for any moral enormity, but for the breach of some ceremonial rule ; and that either by themselves or by their parents. Thus shut out from culture, employment, and sympathy, they sink into real degradation of mind and morals, and become as worthless and miserable as any class to be found on the face of the earth. Let us turn to the influence of caste upon ourselves. All European residents, who have employed Shoodra servants, find the inconvenience resulting from it. A man who has talent and strength to serve his master in a hundred ways, is restrained from doing so ; and each European must there- fore have two or three servants to do the work of one. The State loses by it as well as individuals. Talent being almost equally distributed among the children of all classes, the greatest amount of it must necessarily be found in the most numerous classes. And so it would be found among the Shoodras : but it is thrown to caste, the shark of India, as infants used to be to the less rapacious shark of the Ganges, at the Island of Saugor. Caste has thus robbed the State of the services of all the clever men among the Shoodras, by destroying their talent and keeping them in ignorance. Yet, they would have been better servants or soldiers to the Company than high-caste men or Mahom- 182 ON THE SUPPORT OP CASTE. medans ; for these may hope to gain by revolution, whereas Shoodras and Pariahs could only lose by it. But caste affects us much more directly and sensibly. Hindoos of every caste turn away with disgust from the Pariah, as a being who is irrecoverably foul, lying under an eternal malediction,, and therefore worthy to be despised and hated. The Shoodra is made by Brahma to serve ; but the Pariah is made to be trampled on and hated. Yet, with these Pariahs, however we may flatter ourselves, we the conquerors and lords of India, with all the life and energy of the West, are classed. Every European, from the Sove- reign to the drummer-boy, is, by the laws of caste, like a Pariah, casteless, and therefore a part of the world's offal. As the godlike dignity of the Brahmin is not to be lost by sensuality or avarice, by lies or murder, so our pollution cannot be mitigated by any wisdom or virtue which we may obtain. "We are fated to be vile; we are born under a curse; and our pollution is incapable of removal. No Brah min could dine with the Governor-General at Barrack- pore, or with our Sovereign at Windsor, without being thereby defiled. How then can Brahmins serve with plea- sure such filthy outcasts, who are too mean even to be their servants, they having been made by Brahma to be the lords of all, and we to be loathed and trampled on? The mutineers have only acted according to their doctrine of caste, when in their proclamations they termed us the seed of the devil, and announced their intention to exterminate the whole brood. Caste, therefore, is permanent revolt. Between it and us there can be no more alliance than there can be be- tween the boar-constrictor and the rabbit, or between the tiger and the antelope. Only let the Brahmins obtain power, and we shall find that no flatteries or coaxings can alter their appetite for our blood. But the worst effect of caste is the hindrance which it ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. 183 opposes to the conversion of the natives to Christ : — " Pure Hindoos look on missionaries as ' mlechhas/ or persons be- longing to an impure race — on a par with their own lowest and most degraded classes, and, as such, unfitted to fill the high office of religions teachers." ..." I have seen," says Mr Lacroix, "natives, who had listened attentively to a sermon, when by accident I came in close proximity with their persons, actually shrinking from me, to avoid being polluted by my touch."* " Native preachers, owing to their forfeiture of caste, are viewed, though not in the same degree, yet much in the same fight." t Thus predisposed against the preaching of a missionary, by their contempt for his condition, they dread it still more from its effect upon caste. Since, according to Christ's law, all Christians are brethren — must eat together at the Lord's Supper, and can allow no distinction of caste — a Hindoo who believes in Christ necessarily becomes a Pariah. Ex- communicated by all his neighbours, he is deserted by his wife and children, by his parents and friends, and looked upon by all who know him as a man accursed. He loses character, employment, home, and all earthly happiness. To the Brahmin, therefore, with this prospect before him, the missionary, already a loathsome outcast in his sight, becomes an enemy, who wishes to degrade and ruin him. How can he embrace a doctrine which entails such bitter consequences, though it come with all the charity of an angel, and with all the evidence of a mathematical demon- stration % Indeed, its very reasonableness makes him dread it more; because, if he embrace it, he will be a ruined man, and, if he listens, he is almost sure to embrace it. "When a Shoodra hears a Brahmin reading aloud the Vedas, he puts his fingers into his ears and runs away, because he is ac- cursed if he listens : why should he not do the same when * Conference, p. 35. f Ibid. 184 ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. the missionary preaches, since more terrible penalties mil attend his testimony ? A Brahmin, of course, is still more exposed to this temptation than a Shoodra; for, while caste has made him more than others despise the missionary, who is placed by the Hindoo system immeasurably beneath him, it also makes him dread the loss of those honors and emo- luments which, belonging to him by his system, are all swept away by Christianity. Further, when the gospel has conquered all these obstacles, and a Hindoo, whether a Brahmin or a Shoodra, becomes a Christian, caste, by excluding him from all his friends, and by making him despicable and odious in their eyes, prevents that influence upon them which his improved character and increased kindness would otherwise have exercised. By the support of caste, we should therefore corrupt the Brahmins, degrade the Shoodras and Pariahs, dishonor our- selves, endanger the permanence of our rule, and hinder the progress of the gospel among the people ; while we should uphold a he, opposed to the spirit of our religion, and which blasphemously imputes to the Creator that He has made nine-tenths of the race for hopeless servitude and debase- ment. Yet the following extracts show that the East India Government and its servants have encouraged it : — " Slavery, and the degradation of the lower castes, are undoiibtedly contrary to the abstract principles of justice. Tet both are tolerated by our Government, in deference to the customs of the country; whilst they avoid, as much as possible, all interference in their support. But although every Christian and man of sense must allow, that in the sight of God the Pariah is equal to the Brahmin, what magis- trate would hesitate to punish a Pariah who should venture into a pagoda, even for the laudable purpose of saying his prayers?"" * ^Madras Civilian, p. ui. OX THE SUPPOET OF CASTE. 185 " Another sin weighing on the neck of India, is the favor shown to the anti-social and anti christian system of caste." * " It has been approved, and nourished, and supported, and encouraged by us, in many forms, both in private life and in the public services. Our fellow-men around us, we have been too prone to value and regard according to their real or pretended status in caste; without reference to their per- sonal merits and demerits, or usefulness in the community, or claims founded on their common humanity as bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. ^Ye have often imitated the example of the higher and haughtier castes in our treatment of the lower. Caste early contrived to enter our public offices; and there, notwithstanding the vigilance of many of our officials, it still to a great extent monopolises their chairs and desks, with certain compromises. It has en- tered some of our courts of justice, and the voice of the lowly there given in testimony has often been received from these parties from open courts, windows, doors, and verandahs; and all this from the repugnance of the ' great' to tread with them the same floor-carpets or mats. It has entered our Government schools, where it might have been least expected, and virtually excluded from their benefits those who have been in most need of them, and might have made the best use of them; even sometimes vLsitino; with exclu- sion the children of Christians, the followers of our own faith, in consequence of their humble descent."? Above all caste has just brought our Indian empire to the brink of ruin. One of the main causes of the mutiny of the Bengal sepoys has certainly been their fear of losing caste ; and we have brought the disaster upon ourselves by excluding from the Bengal army, Christians, Pariahs, and low castes in general. First we enlisted only high-caste * Bishop of Calcutta's Sermon, p. 16. t Dr. Wilson of Bombay, in the Home and Foreign Record of :7ie Free Church of Scotland, Dec 15-57, p. 115. 186 ON THE SUPPORT OF CASTE. men, and then humored their fancies, till a mutinous spirit became a chronic disorder, spread through the whole army — certain to break out one day into general revolt. Undoubtedly we must leave Hindoos to think and act among themselves about caste as they please. Still a Brahmin may wash himself from defilement if he is only touched by a Shoodra, or a Pariah; and still the Shoodra may drink the water in which the Brahmin has washed his foot ; but we have a right to ask the East India Government never to sanction it. According to Christ's command, let us " honor all men," poor as well as rich. No violation of any law of caste which involves no moral offence, should be ever punished as a legal offence; but all men, of all castes and of no caste, should be equal before the law, and be equal in the courts of law. Men of every caste and creed should be admitted, according to the resolution of Parliament in 1834, on equal terms to office under Government, and receive promotion according to their merit alone. Children of all castes should be admitted equally to Government schools, be classed together, work and play together, and be treated alike in the classes; and men of all castes should be freely received into the native army, on the express terms that caste must never interfere with military duty, and that all the soldiers should be treated alike. Finally, let us, as we are termed Pariahs by the Brahmins, heartily accept our allotted brotherhood, and raise our Pariah brethren, by education and employment, to all the know- ledge which their capacity can attain, and to all the honors which their talent, knowledge, and virtue may deserve. Already Sir J. Lawrence, and Mr Montgomery under him, have acted upon this principle. In a circular which was issued in August 1857, Mr Montgomery said, "The system of caste can no longer be permitted to rule in our services. Soldiers and Government servants of every class must be entertained for their merits, irrespective of creed, ON THE SUPPORT OP CASTE. 187 class, or caste." Although these eminent men have thus merely announced a principle already solemnly sanctioned by the legislature, they deserve credit for rising above the timidity of routine in doing so ; and we may hope that the principle -will henceforth be acted on throughout the four Presidencies as well as in the Punjaub. The day that caste is recognised by the people to be a fiction, Hindooism will receive a fatal blow; for the Shasters which have upheld it will then be seen to be false; the Brahmins will then have no more class-interests to maintain against the claims of Christianity ; the working classes will hate the superstition which has for centuries so cruelly oppressed them; and Jesus Christ will seem to them a liberator from a bondage which has too long pauperised and tormented them. IV. THE TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. The East India Company has created, and on the whole successfully governed, an extraordinary empire, in which a handful of Englishmen rule over a hundred and thirty- two millions of Hindoos and Mahommedans ; exercising be- sides a paramount influence over forty-eight millions more in the Native States. The principles on which the Com- pany ought to act towards its native subjects have been canvassed by them with great care, and form what has been called their traditional policy. These, with a view to the future government of the country, should be still care- fully reconsidered; that being guided by experience we may retain those which are wise and just, and renounce those which the progress of events has proved to be in- jurious. That part of their policy which governed their relations to the religions of India has been clearly stated by them and their officers to be — " To protect the natives in the undisturbed enjoyment of their religious opinions, and neither to interfere with them themselves, nor to suffer them to be molested by others;"* "to observe a strict impartiality between those who profess its own creed, and those who hold the creeds of their native subjects ;"t "and to act upon the principle of neutrality.":!: * Malcolm, ii., p. 273. t Court of Directors ; Times, Jan. 1, 1858. % Prinsep ; Times, Jan. 29, 1858. TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. 189 The exposition of these principles must he sought for in the acts of the Government. By two despatches issued in 1833 and 1838, the Court of Directors ordered — " That in all matters relating to their temples, their worship, their festivals, their religious practices, their native subjects be left entirely to them- selves;" and "that the management of all temples, together with the revenues derived therefrom, be resigned into the hands of the natives."* But notwithstanding these de- spatches, Brahmins and Moulvies are still paid for cele- brating their Hindoo and Mahommedan worship;! and, according to the Bombay Guardian, above thirty-four thousand eight hundred and eighty-one idol temples receive annual payments from Government to the amount of £171,558, 12a4 By the despatch of 1847 from the Directors to the Governor-General, he was told — " It was essential to the due observance of the principle of non-interference, that it should be acted on by all their servants, civil and military." § Hindoo and Mahommedan servants of the Government have full liberty to convert as many Christians as they can to their false religion, but no Christian must seek to con- vert a man from the false religion to the true. This doctrine that the servants of the Company must not attempt to convert the natives has been extended to the British chaplains. Our Lord has said to them, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ;" but the Directors have acted upon the advice of Sir John Mal- colm — " Let the clergymen in the employment of Govern- ment be prohibited from using their endeavours to make converts." || "In the Parliament of Great Britain, in the Vice-regal palace of Calcutta, in the Council-chambers of Madras and Bombay, there has been a perpetual and uni- * Eastwick, pp. 21, 22. + Few Remarks, p. 8. % Letter, p. 19. § Times, Feb. 23, 1858. || Malcolm, ii., p. 268. 190 TRADITIONAL POLICY OP THE COMPANY. form cry not to interfere ■with the religious tenets of any of the natives of India. The slightest attempt to do so on the part of any conscientious officer has been the immediate prelude to a severe rebuke from Government."* Since it has thus been held that Christians in the employment of the East India Government are to do no- thing to make their Redeemer known, or to save the perish- ing idolaters by leading them to believe on Him, it remains that, according to the policy of non-interference, none could preach Christ to the Hindoos except missionaries. Yet, the statements made in the first chapter, with those that I must now add, show how this policy has affected them. In 1796, Mr Haldane planned a mission to Benares, on which he was willing to expend £40,000, intending to go himself as one of the first evangelists. On his application to the Directors for permission, he received the following answer : — " Gentlemen, — The Court of Directors of the East India Company have had under consideration your letter of the 29th ultimo, requesting permission to proceed to India, with your families, and reside in the Company's territories, for the purpose of instructing the natives of India in the knowledge of the Christian religion ; and I have received the Court's commands to acquaint you, that, however con- vinced they may be of the sincerity of your motives, and the zeal with which you appear to be actuated, in sacrificing your personal convenience to the religious and moral pur- poses described in your letter, yet the Court have weighty and substantial reasons which induce them to decline a compliance with your request. — I am, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant, " William Ramsay, Sec." t " On this occasion, one of the Directors declared, as was said at the time, ' he would rather see a band of devils in * Remarks, p. 7. + Lives of the Haldaues, pp. 102, 106. TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. 191 India than a band of missionaries.' . . . Nothing truly Chris- tian could obtain the sanction of the majority of those who then ruled the affairs of India. In pamphlets and periodi- cals, the most embittered hostility to the propagation of Christianity was openly avowed by some of their civil and mili tary officers. But it was all perfectly natural; for not only were many of those who fought so zealously for Jug- gernaut and the suttees against Christ and His cross a disgrace to the Christianity which they affected, but a leader in their ranks actually wiped off the very name, as a foul blot, from his brow, and, at an immense price, pur- chased the privilege of becoming a worshipper of Brahma."* It has been already stated in an earlier part of this work, that, "at the close of 1799, four missionaries, who arrived from England, were forbidden to settle in the British do- minions ; . . . and when they were received into the Danish settlement of Serampore, they continued to be watched nar- rowly; to be viewed with suspicion; and were sometimes threatened with an arrest of their labors, and an expulsion from the country." t " Never," writes Mr Campbell, " in its introduction to a country, has the missionary enterprise met with greater difficulties than in India. " When our dear brother Hands reached Madras, in 1809, he was more than once summoned before the authorities, to know with what design he had come to India ; and had it not been for the interposition of an excellent chaplain, who pleaded for his stay, he would have been ordered home. After he had gone into the interior, and had settled at Bellary, he wrote to the Missionary Society, entreating them to send him assistance. Mr Thompson was appointed as his coadjutor. The Governor-General of that day heard of the event, and sent an express to the Governor of Fort St George, giving peremptory instructions to send him from * Lives of the Haldanes, p. 118. f Carey's Life, pp. 349, 352. 192 TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. the country by the first ship bound for England. They laid Mr Thompson under arrest ; but before the messengers of despotism could accomplish their purpose, he died.""* I must here remind the reader that, in 1812, Mr and Mrs Judson were also driven from India; and although, since then, missionaries have been protected, yet still the despatch of 1847 "directed the issue of orders to all public officers, forbidding the support of missionary efforts." t A new hindrance now menaces the missionaries. The following is an extract from the penal code which is about to become the law of India : — " Whoever, with deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word, or makes any sound, in the hearing of that person, or places any object in the sight of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description [with or without hard labor], for a period which may ex- tend to one year, or with fine, or with both " (chap. xv. sec. 5).J Every exposure of the Shasters or of the Koran must wound the feelings of Hindoos and Mahommedans ; every sentence in the Bible which condemns idolatry must do so ; every statement that there is salvation in Jesus Christ alone, every contrast between the morality of the gospel and that of false religion, every demonstration that the Bible is the only revelation from God, every prayer uttered publicly in the name of Christ, and His own words, " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned," must do it. All these words and acts, by wounding the feelings of Mahommedans and Hindoos, will be violations of this law; and every one of them will expose the Christian preacher, whether European or native, to be fined and imprisoned by native magistrates. This law is no instrument of torture taken from the mediaeval armoury of the Inquisition, nor the device of some period of * British India, pp. 34-36. f Times, Feb. 23, 1858. X Remarks, p. 11 ; Letter, p. 10. TRADITIONAL POLICY OP THE COMPANY. 193 atheistic frenzy, but it is the thumbscrew of the nineteenth century, it is the corollary to the Directorial doctrine of the last century, that an army of devils would be better for India than an army of missionaries. With this law mis- sionaries are at this moment threatened. Another illustration of the traditionary policy has been afforded by the treatment of the native Christians. The ex- pulsion of one of these, though an excellent soldier, from his regiment, determined the rule; so that, with the exception of Eurasian drummers, few if any native Christians were found in the entire Bengal army. Scarcely less resolutely were they excluded from civil offices. " The native Chris- tians," says an official circular from the Government of the Punjaub, " as a body have, with few exceptions, been set aside. I know not one in the Punjaub, to our disgrace be it said, in any employment under Government. A proposi- tion to employ them in the public service, six months ago would have been received with coldness, and would not have been complied with."'"' And although the East Indian Go- vernment has since the mutiny employed them in several places, and Mr Montgomery, acting under Sir John Lawrence in the Punjaub, much to his honor, announced his intention to employ them equally with oilier classes, which is simply to obey an act of Parliament, we read in the postcript to the " Letter of a Layman," that these regulations, according to report, have been disallowed by the Board of Control, t Such acts of opposition to the preaching of the gospel as those which occurred between 1796 and 1809 have ceased; but let us remember that the policy then established was proclaimed to be that of impartiality and non-interference ; and since the Directors urge us to maintain that policy, we must learn from the past what, in their view, impartiality and non-interference mean. If these words once meant opposition to Christianity, what proof have we that in the * Times, Jan. 1, 1858. t Letter, p. 18. N 194 TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. minds of the Directors they do not mean the same now? Some of them tell us that their policy remains unchanged; and therefore, if once that policy was to exclude and repress missionaries, how do we know that there is not the same spirit still? I gladly acknowledge that missionaries are pro- tected by the East India Government ; but as this has been in deference to Parliament, the Directors may dislike mis- sionary efforts, and use what power they have to repress them. If I may take " P." in the Times, who seems to speak with authority, to represent their opinions, then they view the missionaries as "enemies to the Hindoos," and their preaching as " a proclamation of war to the knife." " The dominion," says that writer, " acquired and main- tained through the East India Company, was established from the first upon the principle of absolute non-interfer- ence with caste and religion." .... "The necessity for especial caution in adhering to this traditionary policy was impressed by the lesson of the mutiny of VeUore.' ; .... "There has been no change of policy since that epoch. Perfect toleration and non-interference were still the de- clared principles of our rule in 1857." .... "Are we to follow the lead of the Evangelical party, who are blowing loud the trumpet of conversion to Christianity, and pro- claiming war to the knife against caste, and creed, and Islam? Or are we to adhere to the traditional policy of strict non-interference?"* Missionaries, from zeal for the honor of our Lord, and from love to the Hindoos, sacrifice the comforts of an Eng- lish life, with nothing before them but poverty and obscu- rity, to " turn" the Hindoos "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ" (Acts xxvi. 18); and for this " P." calls them their enemies. They go in obe- * Times, Sept. SO, 1857. TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. 195 dience to Christ's command, " Go ye into all the world, and 'preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. 15); and " P." calls this " a proclamation of war to the knife." Their message is, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. 16). " Noiv then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you in Clirist's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Cor. v. 20). If this be a proclamation of war, what would " P." call a proclamation of peace % Now, if such be the views of some of the Directors, the old exposition of the traditionary policy is not yet abandoned. Mr Head, too, a civilian, has said, " By a most foolish subservience to ignorant saints, the Government have for years past given far too much countenance to missionaries, and schemes for the conversion of the natives to Christi- anity We had better moderate our benevolent in- tentions of reforming, civilising, and Christianising the people of India." * Is this the view of the Directors ? Apparently they are not very far from it ; for Mr Prinsep, a Director, said recently in the Court of Proprietors, " In- stead of being ashamed of their religion, his only fear was that they had been rather too anxious to make professions of their religion ;"t and that sentiment excited no comment. They have indeed maintained chaplains for the Europeans; this was done in obedience to Act of Parliament — was the result of that " neutrality " which treats all creeds alike without believing any — would have been done by them no less if all of them had been infidels — and was therefore no profession of their faith in Christ. But if it had been so, it would have been neutralised by the facts which I have adduced. Does the East India Government ever avow that * Letter of Major Straith ; Times, Aug. 13, 1857. t Times, Jan. 29, 1858. ] 96 TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THB COMPANY. it is composed of those who trust in Christ ? Is His name ever heard in any of their proclamations % Are mission- aries ever honored by them % Are their own servants en- couraged as private persons to serve Him or confess Him before the heathen % Have not native Christians to this day been almost universally excluded from their service in Bengal and the North-western Provinces 1 And to this day is not money paid by them throughout India, both to Brahmins and Moulvies, for the performance of heathen and Mahommedan rites \ Yet Mr Prinsep says before the Court of Proprietors, that " his only fear is that we have been rather too anxious to make professions of our religion;" and Mr Head thinks, that " by a foolish subservience to ignorant saints, the Government have given far too much countenance to missionaries." Captain Eastwick has very honorably avowed his sym- pathy with missionary efforts, and he is sustained by several other eminent men in the Court of Directors ; but if Mr Prinsep express the opinion of the majority, they are still as far as ever from wishing to see India converted to Christ. From the foregoing facts and statements, we may learn how much of the traditional policy we may admire as just and wise — how much we must condemn as unchristian. The East India Company profess to be impartial in their administration — to show no favor to Christians or Hindoos on account of religion- — to make laws for the benefit of all — to admit Christians and Hindoos to their employment on equal terms — to take care that their courts administer jus- tice fairly to men of all creeds, and to punish all alike for their offences. Nothing can be more just or prudent; but upon these just intentions have been engrafted several habits which, not being essential to their policy, neverthe- less easily arose out of it. Since they wished to convince their native subjects of their impartiality, it was necessary, as they thought, that the members of the Government TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. 197 should appear to have no zeal for Christianity ; and not to appear zealous for Christianity, it was natural that they should make their Christianity .disappear as much as pos- sible from the sight of their heathen subjects. For the same end, it was still more important that they should be neutral in their feelings, and that they should no more wish their heathen subjects to become Christians, than they wished their Christian subjects to become Hindoos. Fur- ther, if it was necessary that they should be impartial and neutral, their servants must be impartial and neutral like- wise ; and if they must conceal their faith from the natives, so must their servants conceal it. Civilians and military officers should have no desire whatever that any natives should embrace the religion of Christ, because the natives would necessarily judge of the spirit and aims of the Go- vernment by the spirit and aims of their servants. And so much has this policy succeeded, that an Anglo-Indian, " who has spent years in India, and is intimately acquainted with the affairs he treats of," says, "From the highest official to the lowest, everybody appears to be ashamed of his religion, and to carry out the express directions of Go- vernment, that all creeds are to be treated with Like re- spect."* Moreover, since the zeal of the missionary who was under their control might lead the -natives to disbelieve their impartiality, hence so long as he had no right to settle in India, their "impartiality" led them to oppose his coming ; and when he obtained from Parliament that right, their " impartiality" led them to avoid giving him " any sanction or encouragement." This concealment of their Christian faith, this extinction of Christian zeal, this prohibition of all Christian effort by their servants, and this opposition to missionary labors, were all excrescences which grew out of the policy of * Few Remarks, p. 16. 198 TRADITIONAL POLICY OP THE COMPANY. impartiality, but did not essentially belong to it. So, also, the policy of non-interference, reduced to its essential meaning, is, that the Government will never as a Go- vernment enact laws to disturb the creeds and customs of their native subjects, except so far as they are cruel or immoral ; nor allow their servants officially to disturb them ; nor use the funds raised by taxation to overthrow them, by employing Christian teachers for the express object of preaching aud writing against them. If chaplains, school- masters, civilians, military officers, and scientific professors speak and act as Christians, this is no violation of the rule of non-interference, because they are employed by the Go- vernment for other objects; and when, as private indi- viduals, they promote the gospel, they employ for that end no public funds and no official authority. But to convince the explosive masses of the heathen of their sincere desire to maintain their policy, they were strongly tempted to carry it much further. If the Go- vernment was not to interfere, either by force or by instruc- tion, with the native creeds, no member of the Government ought, as they said, to interfere. The Governor-General, and all the members of Government, ought in their private capacity to abstain from instructing the natives in Chris- tianity, or from aiding others to instruct them. Since the natives would ascribe to Government the acts of its ser- vants, all its servants must abstain from all interference with the native creeds. Since, moreover, no European could settle in India without their permission, whatever a missionary did in his endeavours to convert the natives would be construed into so many acts of interference on their part; and hence they must carefully disavow their connexion with him, and from time to time restrain his zeal, if they did not even expel him altogether. The Direc- tor was not altogether wrong when he said, that for his purpose an army of missionaries was worse than an army TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. 199 of devils ; for an army of devils would certainly have left the impartiality and non-interference of the East India Company, as they understood these things, unmolested; "whereas the missionaries unavoidably and perpetually dis- turbed them. By separating what is essential to the traditionary policy from that which is adventitious, we may dismiss for the future what is unchristian and injurious without sacrificing what is just and wise. Still let the policy of the East India Government be im- partiality and non-interference in all governmental action. Legislatively and judicially, let them know no distinction between Christian and Hindoo; let them use no force against the creeds of India, nor employ the public revenue to overthrow them; let men of all creeds be equally em- ployed, according to their knowledge, capacity, and morals ; and all be equally protected in their preaching and public worship. But let all that has been added to this policy by irreligion or by fear, which is not essential to it, which dis- figures and dishonors it, which is unchristian and disho- nest, be swept away. Let the Government avow that it is Christian, and wishes its subjects, for their own welfare and happiness, to be Christian too ; let all individuals be at liberty to promote in their private capacity the interests of truth, and the welfare of the people; and from the Go- vernor-General to the Christian peon, from the Commander- in-Chief to the sepoy or sowar, let every man be at full liberty to confess the faith of Christ, to honor his Redeemer, and to save his heathen neighbour if he can. Further, let the Government, by openly sanctioning the peaceful labors of the Christian missionary, proclaim that its impartiality and non-interference are not the result of atheism, as some of the natives have supposed, but the fruit of that religion which demands in its disciples strict justice; which allows no methods of evangelisation but those of reason and per- 200 TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. suasion, and rejects all converts who are not sincerely con- vinced of its truth. Official, legislative, and administrative impartiality is right ; but neutrality in every professed Christian is a dis- loyalty to Christ, the end of which has been predicted by our Lord : " Wliosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with tlie holy angels" (Mark viii. 38). He has paid for His disciples the debt to justice which would have ruined them, and has borne for them the pu- nishment under which they would have perished. By redeeming them from the curse of God (Gal. iii. 13), and by choosing to be treated as a sinner, that they might be blessed as innocent (2 Cor. v. 21 ; Eph. i. 6), he has become their Saviour ; and if instead of being lost in hell, they spend eternity in the enjoyment of perfect bliss, they will owe it all to Him. His sufferings to save all who trust in Him, have manifested a love to them "which passeth knowledge." Perfect in holiness, wisdom, and goodness, He rules over earth and heaven; is worthy universal adora- tion ; and will soon return as our' Judge. All His disciples glory in Him ; and to be ashamed of Him by concealing our faith, with a view to gratify Mahommedans and idolaters, is so ungrateful, hypocritical, and cowardly, that he who does it must be disowned by Him at His advent as an in- fidel and alien. Our Lord has added : " He that is not with me is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad " (Matt. xii. 30). If men who know Jesus to be the Saviour do not profess their faith in Him, they treat Him as an impostor, and by so doing teach others to deny Him. If one man may overlook Him, and make Him of no account, others may do the same; and so all who by "neutrality" treat Him as if He were no Sa- viour, teach all others to treat Him with the same contempt. TRADITIONAL TOLTCY OF THE COMPANY. 201 By this policy of concealment and neutrality, the European community under the East India Company have therefore been made antichristian, and have led the natives to de- spise Christ. Again I say the official, legislative, and ad- ministrative non-interference of Government is just and wise ; but the corrupt extension of this rule to individuals has involved the Government and its servants in the guilt of disobedience to the law of Christ, and cruelty to our heathen fellow-subjects. His direction to all His servants is : " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. 1 5) ; and all His disciples in the apos- tolic churches " went everyivhere preaching the word " (Acts viii. 4). Christians who have been redeemed and saved by Him from perdition are bought by His sufferings (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20). They themselves, their time, talent, money, and influence, are all His (Matt. xxv. 14) ; and no rank, no po- sition, no commission, no duties, can discharge them from the supreme obligation to live for Him (2 Cor. v. 15; Rom. xiv. 7, 9). Governors, members of council, mili- tary officers, and civilians, as much as missionaries, be- long to Him; and, as they will have to answer to Him as their Judge, must honor His name and promote His cause. On the other hand, this non-interference, when it means that the servants of the East India Company or others must not maintain the doctrine and laws of Christ in opposition to the doctrine and laws of Mahommed, or of the Hindoo Shasters, is cruelty to those who are perishing in the cor- ruption which their false religions have confirmed, and who might be saved by faith in Him. All who know the way of salvation should make it known to others; all who are saved themselves should try to save the perishing. The motive to exertion suggested by the Apostle James is strong enough to condemn selfish inaction : " He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins" (James v. 20). 202 TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. And the command given to all Christians — governors, members of council, civilians, soldiers, chaplains, and schoolmasters — by the Apostle Jude is plain : " Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire" (Jude 23). The neutrality between Christ and Mahommed, between revolt- ing falsehoods and life-giving truths, to which this part of the traditional policy sentenced the European community, has been un-English, unchristian, ungodly; and, if the empire had depended upon it, it would still have loaded us with guilt and shame. But, instead of serving our Indian empire, it has brought it to the verge of ruin. To these corruptions of the tradi- tional policy we owe the mutiny and all its tragic results. This neutrality in religion, with the concomitant respect to caste, has made the Bengal army exclusively heathen and Mahommedan. It has hindered the preaching of the gospel, so that there are few Christians in India; it has excluded Christians from the army, and thus hindered sepoys from becoming Christians ; it has kept the Bengal army from all knowledge of the gospel, and it has made it a high-caste confederation — a Brahmin preserve — in which caste pre- tensions were more numerous and troublesome than any- where else. By these means that army became arrogant, disaffected, suspicious of the intentions of Government, habitually mutinous, and ready, through its unmitigated heathenism, for the unprovoked massacre of all the Euro- peans in India. Had the sepoys known the doctrines of the gospel, they could not have imagined that the Govern- ment meditated their forcible conversion; had there been a few Christians among them, their mutinous intentions would have been earlier revealed; and had they been the least influenced by Christian morality, they could never have murdered women and children. It follows, that this dishonest, unchristian, and ungodly policy has been the main cause of all those terrible events which have saddened the whole country. TEADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. 203 Warned by a fearful experience, let us clear our adminis- tration of all those disfigurements. With the progress of events, our religious policy should be progressive : maxim3 which are stationary lag behind an advancing people ; and to keep what is antiquated becomes as dangerous as head- long innovation. Amidst prophecies of ruin and revolution, the East India Company have safely amended their admi- nistration in many points already. It was their policy, for many years, to let children be destroyed at the Island of Saugor, and then that inhuman practice was abolished ; it was long their policy to permit widows to be burned alive, and then they made those murders penal ; it was their policy to allow a native to be deprived of all his property upon becoming a Christian, and that injustice they have abolished. So they have changed their policy by admitting all natives to honorable employ- ments, which has given a healthful impulse to the minds of myriads; they have changed their policy by beginning to teach the people the English language and European know- ledge, instead of the doctrines of the Shasters and of the Koran ; and, latterly, they have further modified their policy by most humanely giving a legal sanction to the marrying of widows. A similar improvement in our religious policy is pre- scribed by the progress of religion in England and by the lessons of experience in India. Is it too much to hope that Lord Ellenborough, Mr Prinsep, and all who, with them, are afraid of the imprudence of the Evangelical party, may, upon further consideration, agree, or nearly agree, with us in their view of the policy which should govern our future course % By the consent of all, the East India Government should maintain its impartiality and non-interference ; but let these be founded, not on irreligion, but on religion. Never more let them support idolatry, nor be jealous of missionary efforts. Let them not affect to be neutral, except offi- cially, between Christ and idols, nor conceal their faith in 204 TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. Him; but let their neutrality be changed into zeal for His honor, and their concealment of their faith into an open avowal of it. On all suitable occasions, let them as a Go- vernment proclaim that they believe in Christ; that they represent a nation which professes to believe in Him; that they intend to honor Him, and wish their native subjects, for their own welfare, to become of their own free will, after full examination, His disciples. While impartiality and non-interference constitute the religious policy of Go- vernment, let the impartiality be real and the non-inter- ference complete. That which has been the rule should now become the practice. As Hindoos and Mahommedans should be admitted to all employments according to their merit, native Christians should be admitted on exactly the same terms; and as the Government does not hinder its native servants promoting their heathen worship and sub- scribing to the support of Brahmins, they should not hinder their European servants from aiding the cause of Christ by similar means. The non-interference on the one hand should be equalled by the non-interference on the other. Let the neutrality and non-interference be restricted to official action, and not be extended to individual and private action. All individual Christians, including the members of Government and their servants, being bound by the law of Christ to honor Him, and by charity to their neighbours to seek their conversion, let them not be hostile to the spread of the gospel, or neutral between Christ and idols, nor con- ceal their faith in Him, but openly avow their faith and promote His doctrine by their example, their money, and their active efforts, as opportunity may be afforded. Henceforth, let the traditional policy of impartiality and non-interference, ceasing to be disfigured by irreligion hypocrisy, selfishness, and fear, rule all the proceedings of Government, in conjunction with honesty and courage, with reverence towards God, with zeal in the service of Christ, TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. 205 and with an earnest desire to enlighten and to bless their heathen subjects. Let this change be made openly. " When it is announced to the people of India that the Imperial Government takes the administration of Indian affairs into its own hands, a broad, comprehensive, well-drawn proclamation should be issued announcing to the native population the religious principles upon which the Government will hereafter be conducted. Such a proclamation, emanating not from the delegated power of the East India Company or of the Governor-General, but from the highest authority in the British Empire, will command universal respect and esteem ; and it will satisfy the natives that, although the British Go- vernment is influenced by Christian principles, they will be guaranteed in the possession of full and perfect liberty of conscience, whatever creeds they may profess."" No one need fear that this removal from our traditional policy of mischievous and discreditable adjuncts will rouse the natives to fury, and endanger a sanguinary revolution ; for we heartily wish them well; "their hearts must leap kindly back to kindness;" and if we do them substantial good, they will not easily believe us to be their enemies. "When they see that there is no force put upon their con- victions, and no interference with their creeds, that they may practise unmolested all the ceremonies of caste, and reject if they will, without punishment or penalty, the doctrines of the gospel, they will have little temptation to rise in fury against their Christian rulers. But when, con- temporaneously with this complete liberty of opinion, they see that they are protected in person and in property, that zemindars can no longer pillage them, that an effec- tive police secures them from dacoits and thieves of every kind, that markets are opened to their industry by roads and railroads, that artificial irrigation enriches * Speech of Mr J. Marshman ; Times, Jan. 6, 1858. 206 TRADITIONAL POLICY OF THE COMPANY. their fields, that the taxes are moderate, and that they are better housed, clothed, and fed than they were before, they will not sigh for the return of those days when they were bullied and pillaged without mercy, nor wish to overthrow a Government which yields them such intelligible advan- tages. Before the annexation of Oude, thousands annually sought shelter from the oppression of their native rulers in the British territory ; and with such an example before their eyes, our native fellow-subjects will not hastily wish to be ruled by such heartless ruffians as the Brahmin Nana Sahib, or by such profligate imbeciles as the royal families of Delhi and of Lucknow. PART THIRD. SOME THINGS WHICH THE EAST INDIA GOVERNMENT OUGHT TO DO. I. THE EAST INDIAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD PROMOTE GOOD MEN. As Englishmen in India should profess themselves to be Christians, so they should act as Christians, for conduct is more important than profession. Good as well as able men in all the departments of Government are essential to the task of governing a hundred and thirty-two millions of heathens and Mahommedans, who are ignorant, superstitious, unprincipled, and, when their passions are stirred, savage as the tigers of their jungles; who despise and hate us as Christians, are jealous of us as conquerors; and who, if they were combined, could sweep us from their territory. Men of the right kind have arisen in India to do honor to their country, both in the army and in the civil service, down to the present time. The late Sir Henry Lawrence might be compared with the most illustrious of his military pre- decessors; Six John Lawrence, who happily remains to serve his country, may be placed side by side with those Indian statesmen whom the country has most delighted to honor; and who can say what young men, now unknown to fame, may be quietly working their way to the enjoy- ment of respect as great as that which has been awarded by their country to Munro or Metcalfe 1 ? But in India a whole community of such men is wanted. One Munro or two Lawrences in a generation will not suffice. If we are to prolong our rule in India, the officials generally must be of the same character. All who are called to govern the Hindoos — military officers, civilians, political residents, col- 210 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. lectors, judges, and magistrates — ought to have the highest qualities of head and heart. How many delicate questions have they to solve ? How difficult it must often be for them to unite fidelity to Christ with a prudence which may hush the fears of irritable idola- ters ! Without the severest morals, how likely they are to be corrupted by the general debasement which surrounds them ! And without excellent dispositions, how easy it must be to hate those whom idolatry has so much depraved, or to despise those whom it has so much enfeebled ! Offi- cials in India should be not only as good as here, but much better, because they have much more power to wield, and are much more tempted to abuse it. Here, whether civil or military, they have defined duties and limited powers ; they rule over persons who are nearly equal to themselves, and who are tenacious of their rights ; they cannot do wrong without violating a morality which is general and customary; they have their acts published by vigilant jour- nalists ; and they are controlled by public opinion. There, all the circumstances are opposite. Commissioners, resi- dents, judges, and collectors, have a power which is despotic — rule over those whom they are tempted to despise — would be countenanced in any immoral acts by the general immo- rality — and exercise their offices where there are few Euro- peans to criticise their conduct, and where there is no public opinion to control them. With great temptations, therefore, to abuse their power, and few checks upon any disposition to abuse it, they ought to be men of high prin- ciple, if they are to govern for the welfare of the people, and to be guided by the laws of Christ. On the other hand, everything done by them is known to the natives around them, and all examples of immorality are ten times more injurious than the same offences would be in officials of the same rank here. From the Governor-General to the youngest '' writer," and GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. 211 from the Commander-in-Chief to the subaltern of yesterday, every European officer in India ought to feel that the in- terests of the country from which he is sent, the honor of the Redeemer whose name he bears, are in his keeping ; and should see to it that he does not disgrace either his country or his Redeemer by fraud or falsehood, by violence or contempt, by any vice or by any profanity. That all the civilians and the military servants of the Company have, alas ! not known their duty, is too evident from the follow- ing extracts. Speaking of the earliest representatives of England in India, following the Portuguese, Mr Campbell says : — " The British threw off every restraint, lived like infidels and heathens, indulged in every species of riot, and disregarded the authority of God and men." "What in those days was the representation which was given of our holy religion to the natives of India \ It was held up to their view as a religion of revenge, of avarice, of malice ; as a religion that encouraged every evil passion, every wicked word, and every ungodly work ; as a religion which gave a license to its votaries to indulge in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." * Of the servants of the Company, somewhat later, Mr Carey adds : — " The period now under review was one of great demoralisation. Whilst the Government frowned upon Christian efforts, it did but sympathise with the spirit of European society throughout the whole extent of the Indian empire. By the almost total absence of an evange- lical mi nistry, and in many remote stations the total desti- tution of all means whatever of religious improvement, there was nothing to restrain the exorbitancy of human passions, or prevent renunciation of principle. The Sabbath was universally desecrated ; the primary law of social exist- ence, the safeguard of virtue, was despised ; and concubin- * Campbell's British India, pp. 168, 169. 212 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PUOMOTED. age, with its concomitant abominations, was awfully com- mon. A practical assimilation to heathenism soon oblite- rated the influence, and almost the recollection, of a nomi- nally Christian education; the ' filthiness of the flesh' made way for ' the filthiness of the spirit ;' and by their mutual corroboration, both became fearfully rancorous. Men feared to read their Bible, because it denounced their crimes and awakened the apprehension of their punishment. The next thing was, to hope the Bible was not true ; then to feign to think it false ; and soon being able to believe the lie which depravity had led them to forge, they openly impugned and denounced it."* "India," said Dr Carey in 1807, "swarms with Deists; and Deists are in my opinion the most intolerant of man- kind; their great desire is to exterminate true religion from the earth." "There are many here who would rejoice to see Christianity expelled the country." t Of the British soldiers in India the Abbe" Dubois said: — " They cannot in general be allowed tbe least indulgence, or the least degree of freedom, without abusing it, by giving themselves up to excesses. On the other hand, their private low habits, and their total disregard of all decorum, are a subject of disgust, not to say of horror, to the vile Pariahs themselves, who are the only class of Hin- doos who dare approach them." J Of the officers of the Bengal army an officer writes: — " It is obviously impossible for me to set down names, or to record the misconduct of the many blackguards I have met ; but I can appeal to every officer in the army to say whether he has any difficulty in recalling many such names, and whether he has not known instances of such persons pursuing with perfect impunity for many years a course of unblushing rascality and falsehood." § With reference to * Life of Dr Carey, p. 352. t Ibid, pp. 493, 496. t Dubois, p. 158. § Qui Hi, p. 54. GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. 213 such as these, an able writer in the London Quarterly says : — " Gentlemen who practise loose living in India have little idea how well the natives know it, and how heartily they despise them for it. Things which they will even justify themselves in doing they know ought not to be done by Englishmen ; and we have heard things said by natives of men who are not afraid in public to fall foul of those who have been ' too good,' which would make their ears tingle if they were translated into plain EngHsh."* Mr Luard, of the Bombay Civil Service, adds : — " It is not greased cartridges, attempts at conversion, or the assumption of native states, which has caused our downfall in India, but long-continued, corrupt, irresponsible tyranny; and if every man who has been in India has witnessed as many cases of murder, judicial robbery, and bribery, delibe- rately perpetrated and deliberately upheld, as I have — and why should my experience be singular? — it was indeed high time for the natives of India to take matters into their own hands." 1" " The late Mr Sutherland, then Judge of Surat, reported to Government, in a letter dated September 29, 1836: — ■ 'The scenes that have been practised beggar description. Most vicious and immoral conduct appears to have been carried on under the confidence of security as to conse- quences; and the administration of civil justice in this place has been openly abused by designing men, to the deterioration of morals, and the injury of every grade of the community in their property.' Of course, before Mr Sutherland could go a step farther, he was removed from Surat; and as corrupt a man as possibly could be found was sent to fill his place, for the same reason that Mr Andrews was sent to replace me, when I was dismissed from the same post." \ "In 1843, when I was appointed Judge and Magistrate * London Quarterly, Oct. 1857, p. 234. t Luard, p. 18. X Ibid-, p. 21. 214 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. of Surat, I found matters Lad become much worse. I found the police openly plundering the helpless, and the European officers sharing that plunder." * " I was myself dismissed the service because I openly accused persons in power of palpable, impudent judicial fraud and robbery." t The Bombay Times, of the 23d February 1852, declared — "Not in Botany Bay itself does honesty rub shoulders with scoundrelism, with so little remorse or sense of de- gradation, as in India. The most infamous liar finds him- self in the highest favour with the greatest amongst us; and the profligate, the seducer, the gambler, the cheat, the corrupt, all walk side by side with those who ought to be examples of decorum if not of virtue. There seems to be no amount of jobbery and malversation, or misstatement, at which public men will hesitate. Those who have power in their hands use it for evil purposes, with the most per- fect sense of security, and fearlessness of a reckoning." J The Bombay Guardian adds — " If the unanimous ver- dict of our daily contemporaries, pronounced with a gravity becoming the subject, and an ability that does honor to our local press, is to be believed as a verum dictum, then must it be regarded as an established and most lamentable fact, that great wickedness, corruption, and immorality prevail in high places, even among our rulers. There is reason to believe that the unanimous verdict is justified by the evi- dence on which our contemporaries have founded it." § " According to our contemporaries, the Government comes to learn that a conviction has taken possession of the native mind very extensively, that there are many un- righteous rulers, or wicked men, in public office, ' in whose hands is crime, and whose right hand is filled with a bribe.' .... Our armies may reconquer Indian ground, but Indian hearts, and the great object of our mission to India, are lost for ever. That object was to benefit our * Luarrl, p. 22. t Ibid., p. 18. J Ibid., p. 13. § Ibid., p. 15. GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. 215 fellow-creatures, advance the interests of civilisation, and aid in the propagation of Christianity. We have disgraced God's holy name in a heathen land; we have deliberately made ourselves a curse to those whom it was our duty to have protected and defended ; we have driven them to re- bellion by our own acts."* If these statements are not greatly exaggerated, what an idea the Hindoos mast have formed of Christianity from persons of this stamp! They have seen men whom they believe to be Christians, gambling, swearing, drinking, lying drunk in the streets, deep in debt, licentious in conduct, filthy in conversation, breaking the Sabbath, neglecting the worship of God, and, as far as they could see, profligate Atheists. Instead of being what Christians are called to be, the salt of India, to purify and improve society, they have, like a spreading cancer, added to all its previous corruptions ; instead of being India's light, which they ought to have been, they have been pestilential exhalations, to hide out from it the Sun of truth ; and instead of going to give life to the Hindoos, as Jesus came to give us life, they have gone to murder them by the poison of their fatal example. Centuries of oppression and misrule, a debasing supersti- tion, and the tyranny of caste, had already placed the greatest barriers between the Hindoos and the gospel; and these have placed new obstacles in their way. In that country, Christianity is in collision with two gigantic systems of falsehood, both venerable from their age, both sanctioned by multitudes of adherents, who together far outnumber the professed servants of Christ; and to those false and fatal superstitions have the vices of Europeans rendered a support greater than they could have derived from either the charm of antiquity or the consent of millions. Professed Christians, who ought to have been pulling down the fortresses of Satan, have been raising * Luard, pp. 15, 31, 32. 216 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. defences round them. Lord Ellenborough said in his place in Parliament, that were Englishmen now to be driven from India, no Christians would remain. Whose fault is it \ The missionaries have lived holy lives, labored hard for the welfare of the natives, and preached the gospel to many thousands of them ; but did Lord Ellenborough give them the smallest countenance'? Did he, a professed servant of Christ, when he was in India, serve his Master in any way % Was there one man or one woman whom he saved from a fatal idolatry, or led directly or indirectly to believe in the only Saviour? If not, he is not the man to reproach the missionaries with want of success. " The worst enemies to Christianity in India," says Mr Kaikes, " have been Chris- tians." As we have undertaken to rule a hundred and thirty-two millions of Hindoos and Mahommedans, we cannot avoid the responsibility of that stewardship. Hitherto, if the foregoing statements, or half of them, are true, we have ill fulfilled it. Let us be unfaithful stewards no more. The hundred and thirty-two millions who hate our religion, as we have lately seen, so as to wish its extermination, will take their idea of it chiefly from the Government, and from its servants, military and civil, who are located everywhere. If these are profligate, our nation and our religion must seem to them profligate. They will think of us and of it, from what they see of these. Each vicious Englishman, civilian or officer, is a blot upon our reputation. All Europe is observing how we act. Protestantism is on its trial before Catholic nations ; and Christianity is put to the proof before Mahommedans and Hindoos. The ser- vants of the East Indian Government may either silence the calumniators of our Saviour, or make their plausible blasphemies ring through the earth. They may either turn that hatred which lately sought the murder of every Christian in India into respect, or exasperate it to volcanic fury. If GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. 217 they drink, swear, gamble, live loosely, run into debt, take bribes, are haughty and harsh, despise the native, and ill- treat him, he will loathe our Saviour and us ; but if we are virtuous, just, and benevolent, not all the Moulvies and Brahmins in India, with all the anathemas of the Koran and the Shasters, will be able to hinder that homage which the human heart must ever pay to superior virtue. Every European officer in India, from the highest to the lowest, has great responsibility, because great opportunities of doing good or evil. On this account, it is so important that the Government here take care to appoint good men to rule in India; and that the members of the East Indian Government take care that their personal influence, and that of their servants, upon the population is good. "We must hope that the Governor-General, his Secretaries, and his Legislative Council shall, for all time to come, be of pure morals, manifest respect to religion, and set to all their Indian subjects the highest example. Let there be no Euro- pean vice and no profanity there. How can pure streams flow through the land, if the fountains are poisonous? Good regulations are wanted, but good men still more. " The best regulations," says an intelligent native gentleman whose opinions have been already cited in this work, " can be turned into a source of worst oppression by an unscru- pulous or careless magistrate; and if you give us a good magistrate, he can keep us happy without any regulation at all. Punjaub owes its happiness more to Sir J. Lawrence and Messrs Montgomery and M'Leod, than to any system or re- gulation. Oude was placed under the same system, but not under the same officers, and it did not succeed. Eemove them from the Punjaub; and hang me if Punjaub does not go to pieces before the earth has completed its annual cir- cuit."* "Let a magistrate be dismissed for his notorious unpopularity with the people, and the whole thing will * Thoughts, pp. 7, 8. 218 GOOT) MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. mend of itself. Sir J. Lawrence would never promote a magistrate whom he knows to he unpopular with his people. .... The Government has made itself unpopular through the ignorance and arrogance of many individuals who are entrusted to carry out its well-meant designs We never take any interest in the discussions of Parliament; they show only how sadly the members are ignorant of the affairs of this country It is owing to these few officers, who come now and then to the lot of some districts, that people have not despaired, and risen in a body against the Government."* " What has made the Government so unpopular with the people \ The reluctance of the English to mix with the natives on equal and social terms. The Government did not become unpopular when officers like Tod and Malcolm, Augustus Brooke or Sir T. Munro were appointed to govern the country. Colonel Tod sat down for hours by the pallet of Udaipur Eana in his sickness; but in 1851, when the Punjaub had fallen in the hands of the British, a renowned functionary invites one of the great Maharajahs to meet him from twelve miles, and yet cannot spare a few minutes to see him The real cause of the unpopularity of the Govern- ment, and consequently of all the miseries under which the country labors, is the reluctance of your countrymen to mix with the natives; because without mixing with the people they cannot acquire a thorough knowledge of their ideas, sentiments, notions, capabilities, social and moral conditions, internal economy, wants, and prejudices, which is so necessary to govern an empire Bemember that to mix with the people, and to make yourself perfectly ac- quainted with the country, is of the first importance ; with- out that, no reform can be of any use."t A Christian Eng- lishman may have very Httle in common with Hindoos ; his family habits, his ideas of government, his moral principles, * Thoughts, pp. 7, 9, 13, 27,31. Appendix D. t Ibid., pp. 29, 30, 37. GOOD MEN SHOUIJD BE PEOMOTED. 219 his tastes, and his hopes are different from theiis. Our ally, Jung Bahadoor Ranajee, now Sir Jung Bahadoor, made his way to power by murdering his uncle, his colleague, and fourteen other nobles;"" and is not, perhaps, worse than his neighbours. Nana Sahib, the murderer of our women and children, has probably the average morality of his Brahmin brethren, by thousands of whom he has been zealously sup- ported. With men of this kind a Christian can have no sympathy. He must hate the principles of sensual savages ; and must be saddened at the presence of those who, instead of worshipping God, prefer to worship Kali and Krishna. But Jesus was the friend of publicans and sinners, though He hated their vices. And if a Christian, with proper self- respect and with zeal for the honor of his Master, shows friendly attentions to his Hindoo neighbours, he may do them much good Topics of useful conversation would never be wanting to a devout and cultivated mind. Hin- doo neighbours might give him useful information upon many subjects; and, without being offensive, he might offer them many useful suggestions. They might talk together of the wants and the sorrows of the people; of the duties of the rich to the poor, of husbands to wives, and of parents to children ; of the progress of the people in morals and in education; and of the improvement of their houses or the cultivation of their fields. Even cheap and trifling courtesies would not be thrown away. " Asia is a land of trifles. A word, a move, a cour- tesy, an insult, an hour's conversation, a letter, nay, a look, decides here the fate of empires Make the cutch- erries in the hearts of the cities a little more respectable. This cannot be done so long as the peons of the court are allowed to treat insolently the persons who are compelled to attend. Let the authorities give them seats according to their rank, as they do in their houses ; furnish their cutch- * Times, July 8, 1858. 220 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. erries with carpets and chairs; and receive the visitors there as the natives receive in their durbars A little courtesy and the commonest attention on the part of the authorities will achieve wonders It is not the quantity hut the quality of the officers which has been the cause of our losing the Bengal army The regiment was left in the hands of mere boys, who, if they failed in other things, did not fail in imitating the arrogance of the civilians; and treating their sepoys with the same contempt and hatred as the Jemadars and Thanadars, and sometimes Maharajahs and Nawabs also, are treated by their brother Hazurs of the civil service We live in the land of trifles, and the reforms which we want are also very trifling."* " The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteous- ness and truth" (Eph. v. 9). Christian men therefore in India will not only speak the truth, and fulfil their duties uprightly, but also be benevolent towards the natives with whom they are associated. According to the example which they are bound to copy, they should "go about doing good" (Acts x. 38) ; and according to the law of which they re- cognise the authority, they must " honor all men " (1 Pet. ii. 1 7). Such principles therefore must lead them to do as this native gentleman suggests; and to make the Government popular, by friendly association with the natives, by show- ing them all due respect, and by promoting their welfare. Nepotism having been discarded, and all employments thrown open to merit, we may hope that testimonials of good principle and conduct, from respectable and trust- worthy friends of caudidates, will have weight in the exa- minations, and that promotion will follow the same rule. Should any young man of wild habits and loose principle creep by false testimonials into the service, he must be soon known in India ; and the Government may make moral * Thoughts, pp. 27, 36, 37, 33. GOOD MEN SHODLD BE PROMOTED. 221 conduct there essential to promotion, whether in the army or in the civil service. Any jobbery in India may be fatal; and if the members of the East India Government, through favoritism, should advance incompetent or -wicked men, this -would so endanger British rule, dishonor our name, and expose that immense empire to danger, that they would deserve the reprobation of their country. The highest virtue in India is essential to the safety of the empire. If public opinion shall, from time to time, be strongly expressed, we have reason to hope that no man will, in fact, be sent to the highest office there who will either discredit the country by his own vices, or be indifferent to the virtue of either branch of the puhk'c service. I have heard of a man in high office, who, instead of honoring marriage, dis- graced his country by parading a harlot before the eyes of the Hindoos — thus giving to vice all the sanction which rank and splendor could bestow. No talent and no expe- rience which a vicious man may possess, will justify his promotion to be the head of the Indian Government. The same is true of irreligious opinions. Lord Ellenborough agreed with other noble lords in thinking that Lord Can- ning deserved to be removed from his office if be was found to have subscribed to a missionary society. That opinion goes far, in my judgment, to disqualify Lord Ellenborough himself for any such office. The godless, cowardly, hypocritical, short-sighted policy which smiled on vice and proscribed piety, which flattered the most hateful superstitions, and poured contempt on the religion of Christ, being abandoned, amidst the general indignation of the country, let vice and irreligion be recog- nised as disqualifications for high Indian office. Virtue and religion impair neither moral energy nor mental power ; and it is not too much to hope that in this country the highest administrative faculties may be found in connexion 222 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. with the purest principles and with a supreme regard to the will of God. If the members of the East India Government are chosen rightly, this will extend a healthful influence over the whole European community in that country. With such an amount of patronage put into their hands, they may much influence their servants. If, being themselves religious men, they strongly express their hope that all the European commu- nity will recommend the religion of England by their high principles and their social virtues, they may thereby raise the minds of many young men to higher objects than they would otherwise have pursued ; and a succession of officers, distinguished by superior capacity and virtue, may win the hearts of our fellow-subjects in India. It is of no use to conceal from ourselves that the govern- ment of India is as difficult a task as any which a nation has ever undertaken. Unless we wish to leave to our grand- children a bloody struggle and an ignominious expulsion from that country, we must neglect no means by which our hold upon it may be strengthened. No division of the empire into independent states can be thought of. Distinct currencies and custom-houses would embarass trade; cri- minals would escape from one state to live unpunished in another; debtors would run away from their creditors; each state would have its separate laws, occasioning eternal dis- contents in all the rest ; different degrees of civil liberty or of necessary repression would occasion endless jealousies, and the independent governments might themselves quarrel. Moreover, a pentarchy would require the maintenance of a much greater European army than is required now ; because, as neither of the states would be able to command the armies of the four others, for defence against insurrection or inva- sion, each of them must have an army sufficient for its own defence. This consideration alone is fatal to the plan of a pentarchy. The Indian nations must form one empire, as GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. 223 the nations of Great Britain and Ireland form one, as the nations of the French provinces have formed one, as the Italian nations, by an instinct of self-preservation, are wish- ing to unite, and as the German nations wish for a united Germany. Nothing that can be done, by railroads, healthy cantonments, strong fortresses, sanitary regulations, to render the European army effective, ought to be neglected. No additions, on any pretext, must be made to the frontier, which is already inconveniently and dangerously large. To extend it, ought to be reckoned a crime against the state. Surrounding nations, secured against aggression on our part, ought to be rendered as friendly as good offices, free trade, and Christian instruction can render them. If, near the north-western frontier, anywhere in Sirhind, or on the slopes of the Himalaya Mountains, an agricultural or mining British population could be settled, it would be a barrier against any future attempts which Russia, in con- junction with Persia and Affghanistan, may make. We must not depend on a Sikh army any more than on one which is Brahminical or Mahommedan. But above all, we must strengthen our rule by good government. Taxation must be moderate, the administration of justice must be pure, the police must be well regulated, magistrates must be energetic as well as incorruptible, and the whole Anglo- Indian community must be blameless, beneficent, and good- tempered. To accomplish all this, the highest public and private virtue is indispensable. At any time may a rash secretary for India, or an impetuous and arbitrary governor- general, create a spirit in those countless myriads, which may occasion the massacre of one-half the British residents, and drive the other half into the sea. Let every English- man meditate it well. One hundred thousand persons are to govern one hundred and thirty-two millions, who are growing in knowledge, wealth, and the power of combina- tion every day. Can this be done by drunken soldiers or 224 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. dissolute civilians, by magistrates who oppress the weak, by collectors who allow their native agents to receive bribes or extort fees, by an indolent legislative council, or a go- vernor-general who goes to India merely to serve his party or augment his fortune? The best and ablest men that our country can furnish are needed for the task; not here and there one, but many in all ranks ; not now and then, on a startling emergency, but year by year, as long as we shall rule that empire. Although Mr Bright complains that the civil service has been too well paid, parsimony here would be injurious to India, and bad policy for ourselves. Pro- bably, as he suggests, indigo -planters, sugar -boilers, and merchants might settle in Bengal and Behar on lower terms ; but mere planters and sugar -boilers will not do to govern a hundred and thirty-two millions of men. And if India requires the best and ablest men whom we have to give, what can induce such men to prefer self-exile and a broil- ing sun to the wealth and honors which reward the highest talent and industry at home, unless they have the prospect of wealth and honors there 1 No money is better spent in India than that which secures the ablest public servants; and by their liberality to such men the East India Directors have manifested their wisdom. It is very satisfactory to see the competitive system for the army, as well as for the civil service, warmly advocated by Sir John Lawrence, Sir Charles Trevelyan, Dr Vaughan, and others. This will at least secure talent. But it can never be too much impressed upon the minds of our rulers, or too often repeated in our ears, that good men, as well as great men, are necessary for India. England must send her best sons, if we wish to do our duty to that country, or even to preserve our dominion. The volcanic explosion predicted by Lord Metcalfe found us sleeping. Shall we go to sleep again on the edge of the crater, while the deep hollow is still grumbling, and the stones from below have GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. 225 not ceased to fly about our heads 1 Now, more than ever, should each Governor-General repeat to the Home Govern- ment the words of Lord Wellesley respecting the servants of the East Indian Government — "To fix and establish sound principles of religion and government in their minds at an early period of life, is the best security which can be provided for the stability of the British power in India."* And no less earnestly should each Secretary for India re- mind each Governor-General of the words of Warren Hast- ings to the chairman of the Court of Directors — " It is on the virtue, not the abilities of their servants, that the Company must rely for the permanency of their dominions." t The advice of Jethro to Moses was still better: "Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, bating covetousness ; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands" (Exod. xviii. 21). 'Wisdom, un- like ancient wine found in disinterred amphorse, loses none of its spirit with the lapse of ages. By what better maxim than this can the Government at home and the Govern- ment in India be guided 1 Yet still more should we reflect upon the words of God himself to David : " He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. A nd he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain" (2 Sam. xxiii, 3, 4). Englishmen fearing God, and working righteousness, will bring to India a cloudless sunrise after its night of storm; and under their influence, peace and plenty, do- mestic affections, and social virtue will bloom among the millions who are now a moral desert. Such magistrates God will uphold. When Daniel was raised by his talents and his piety to be chief ruler, under the crown, of the vast Persian empire — the Governor-General of that day — his vigi- lance and integrity raised him a host of enemies. Powerful * Calcutta Christian Observer, Dec. 1857. t Ibid. P 226 GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. conspirators, who hated him as a foreigner and as a saint, " sought to find occasion against him concerning the king- dom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; foras- .much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him." His fearless loyalty to God was the only thing which they could attack. This they confessed when, consulting together how they might ruin him, they said : " We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God" (Dan. vi. 5). To that point, therefore, they directed all their efforts ; but a very skilful plot against him, framed upon that principle, and sustained by all the most powerful men in the empire, issued in his triumph and their ruin (Dan. vi. 6-28). Unlike Daniel, we have in India done, evil, and concealed our faith; henceforth, like him, let us avow our faith, and do good. Those who honor God He will honor. May the whole company of malcontents — Hin- doos, Mahommedans, and infidels — find British officers generally so wise and good, that, like the enemies of Da- niel, they may be compelled to say, " We shall not find any occasion against these men, except we find it against them concerning the law of their God." That will put God on our side. Such men I believe we have in Sir John Law- rence, Mr Montgomery, and others; and if none but such are advanced to the highest posts, the Government of India will go triumphantly through every outbreak; and, with the blessing of God, England will fulfil her calling as the saviour of India and the East. Here let me remind the reader of three things : — 1. This improvement in the character and conduct of Europeans in India will not continue as a matter of course. There is, on the contrary, a tendency downward. Vicious men, naturally, like to make their way a,s well as virtuous ones; and men in power are ever likely to advance their friends and partisans, without a supreme regard to the wel- fare of the Hindoos. GOOD MEN SHOULD BE PROMOTED. 227 2. If those in power, whoever they may be, shall here- after neglect the welfare of India in their appointments, the responsibility to God and to the opinion of mankind for that wrong must ultimately rest upon the nation ; because, in a free country, the Government must ever be what the people make it ; and if bad men are sent to govern India, and if other bad men are promoted to high office there, both these wrongs will be inflicted on that country through the indifference and neglect of the people generally. Public opinion, if vigorous and vigilant, may prevent these evils. 3. Each man, who has any influence at all, will be partly responsible for these wrongs, unless he protests against them; because each can, if he is zealous and watchful, do something to prevent them. II. NATIONAL EDUCATION. •' You may do anything -with bayonets but sit upon them." With a heroism which could scarcely be surpassed, our countrymen in India have defended themselves against dis- ciplined troops immensely outnumbering them ; and having, with the aid of the reinforcements from home, beaten and pulverised a magnificent army of a hundred thousand well-equipped and well-disciplined troops, will now hunt out and punish the disorganised myriads who may yet torment the country as bandits, though they have no more courage for war. But the annihilation of an army of a hundred thousand men is no guarantee for our permanent rule over a hundred and thirty millions, who, aliens from us in race, language, and religion, dislike us as conquerors. And if to that hatred is added the sense of oppression, or the conviction that revolution would give them a better government, nothing can long hinder our ignominious ex- pulsion from their country. For the time our army is irre- sistible. Affghanistan and Burmah are quiet ; the native princes of Central India have been faithful ; the Sikhs and the Goorkhas are our zealous allies ; and there is no force in India which could take the field against us : but if a hundred and thirty millions of people once come to believe that we rule them selfishly, and that our dominion is a curse to them, no force that we can raise could long main- tain a successful struggle against their obstinate and un- yielding hatred. Though able to put down a mutiny, we might be swept away by a rebellion. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 229 But if all these nations which together compose British India, no longer massacred by Mahratta marauders, or plun- dered by their own Rajahs and Nawabs, are richer and safer, better clothed, better fed, and better housed than they ever were before, then all the anathemas of their Moulvies and their Brahmins will not blind them to the fact that we are beneficent as well as strong. Besides an army which maintains the public tranquillity, an effective police restraining individual crime, and a pure administration of justice between man and man, we must give them further advantages. Large works must be still executed to give employment and wealth to a people pau- perised by long oppression. India has mines which are not worked, millions of untilled acres, and waters which run to waste ; cheap materials, cheap labor, and skilful hands invite the multiplication of factories ; frequent famines may be prevented by extended irrigation ; roads and rail- roads may give profitable markets to the cultivator who at present has no access to them ; and when the coast is brought near to the interior by steam, we may enrich the people by taking much more of their produce. A new era is beginning for India ; and if the annual deficit in the Indian revenue shall still hinder the appropriation of large sums to public works, it is to be hoped that the East India Government will give every possible facility to English capitalists, who, if protected and encouraged, may execute them with no less profit to themselves than advantage to the country. But in addition to all efforts to secure the material pro- sperity of the people, the East India Government must educate the people. Ignorance hinders improvement of every kind. Hindoos abhor change. Caste, which has crippled their minds, forbids them to engage in works which they might pursue to great advantage. No man must leave his father's work, however well fitted he may 230 NATIONAL EDUCATION. be for another \ and many of them -would rather starve on as they have starved, than grow rich by untried methods. On every account the people need instruction. Education is wanted to expose their false religions, and bring them to worship God through Jesus Christ, to neutralise the stupi- fying influence of superstition, to emancipate them from the yoke of the Brahmins, to destroy their fanatical contempt of Europeans as Pariahs, to make them appreciate good government, to lessen the antipathies of different castes, to restrain crime, and even to increase the revenue. On all accounts the East Indian Government should encourage education. Here in England education may, to a great degree, be left to individual effort, because almost all men know its value ; but the Hindoos must be educated by the Government. They are too poor, too apathetic, too despondent, too childish to educate themselves ; and Eng- lish philanthropists are neither sufficiently numerous nor sufficiently zealous to do it for them. A selfish despot dis- likes three classes especially — the wise, the good, and the brave : the wise, because they discover his misdeeds ; the good, because they condemn him; the brave, because they are likely to punish him. The profound ignorance of the people may save him from those inconveniences, because he can make men who have no more knowledge than animals work for him like animals. But men with knowledge are impatient of tyranny. If all the horses of England could go to school and read newspapers, they would soon be in rebellion from Caithness to Cornwall. In like manner, slaves are apt to fire up when they can read, think, and reason. Slaveholders, therefore, generally keep their slaves as much as possible from schools and newspapers ; and if we were ambitious to keep the Indian nations in complete subjection, we should do the same. But it is the will of Christ our Lord that we love our neighbour as ourselves — that we think of the interests of NATIONAL EDUCATION. 231 the Hindoos as well as of our own — that we rule India with a view to promote its welfare. Now the people of India want all the knowledge which we can give them. Blinded by false religion, false history, false science, and bowed down by centuries of oppression, in which Moguls, Nawabs, Bajahs, and Brahmins have cheated, plundered, tormented, and murdered them, they know nothing and hope for nothing. As though they had sunk to a condition below the beasts, they pay a degrading homage to cows, monkeys, and snakes ; to make their corrupt hearts more corrupt, they worship savage and licentious gods ; and they are nailed down by caste to the floor of their dungeon, where they must lie and rot without hope of release. A hundred superstitious fears haunt them day and night ; they have little comfort here, they have no hope for eternity; and as they are themselves despised and hated by the Brahmins, they are taught to despise and hate us as loathsome Pariahs, who are doomed, by the very fact of our Christi- anity, to hell. If all error is mischievous, so all truth is valuable : as su- perstition torments men, so knowledge mends their condi- tion. It strengthens their faculties, and helps them to bring all the powers of nature into subjection for their service. By agricultural knowledge, they compel the earth to yield them more abundant harvests; by mechanical knowledge, they compel air and steam to be their servants, pierce mountains, cross rivers, bring distant places near, supply their wants, and multiply their comforts ; by medical and surgical knowledge, they alleviate pain and save life; by physiological knowledge, they improve their health and in- crease their cheerfulness ; by political knowledge, they secure good government ; and by the knowledge of God and Christ, they obtain heaven. If we do to them as we should wish them, if they were in our place, to do to us, we shall give them all the knowledge in our power, with a view to increase 232 NATIONAL EDUCATION. their comforts, and fit them for their ultimate liberty : but as Christians, we shall give it to them still more gladly, because it tends to destroy their idolatry. Their Shasters containing not only false doctrines respecting God, but also false geography, false astronomy, false history, and false explanations of common phenomena, all real knowledge, which explodes these Brahminic falsehoods, sweeps away the authority of the Shasters which have taught them. According to the Shasters, the earth is circular and flat, like the flower of the water-lily. Its circumference is four billions of miles; in its centre is Mount Soo-meroo, ascending six hundred thousand miles from its surface; and at the base of this are four other mountains, on each of which grows a tree eight thousand eight hundred miles high. The part of the earth which we inhabit is several hundred thousand miles in diameter, and the salt sea which surrounds it is of the same breadth. Eound this are six other concentric circular islands, each of which is surrounded by its own sea. The six seas are of sugar-cane juice, spirituous liquors, clarified butter, curds, milk, and sweet water, each being of one of these; and outside the sweet-water sea is a continent of gold as big as all the rest of the earth.* These sacred books further teach that the sun is eight hundred thousand miles distant from the earth, the moon eight hundred thousand miles further distant, and the fixed stars eight hundred thousand further; the planet Mercury is one million six hundred thousand from the fixed stars, or four millions from the earth; and the other planets more distant.! They assert that a water-spout is spit out from the trunk of Indra's elephant ; \ that eclipses are occasioned by the monster Rahoo ; § that the water of the Ganges is essential purity ;|| and many other things as false and •Ward, i., pp. 3, 4 ;ii., p. 317; Duff, pp. 115, 116. t Ward,i., p. 4; Duff, p. 117. % Duff, p. 581. § Ward, iii., p. 323. || Duff, p. 592. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 233 fabulous. When, therefore, a young Hindoo learns the true figure of the earth, the facts of the solar system, and the extent of the visible universe, or how many animalculee are contained in one drop of the Ganges water, or any other natural fact at variance with the statements of the Shasters, he is led to question all the doctrines of his creed. The in- fluence of one such discovery in the school of Dr Duff, is thus recorded by him : — The word rain having occurred in a lesson, Dr Duff asked the boys, "What is rain? " "Water from the sky," was the answer. " How was it produced ?" " It comes from the trunk of Indra's elephant. My Gooroo told me so." " How did the Gooroo know if?" "The Shaster says so." "In boiling your rice, what is observed to rise from the vessel 1 ?" " Vapour." " Is the vapour wet or dry ? " " Wet." " Whence does the wet vapour proceed ?" " From the water." " When you hold a cup of cold water in your hand, do you see vapour rising 1 ?" " No." " Then it is from the water warmed by the fire that you see the vapour ascend, and not from the cold?" "Yes." "What must you infer from this?" " That it is the fire which, in making the water warm, makes it go into vapour." " When a dry lid is held over it, what effect is produced?" "It gets wet." "When it gets very wet, does all the vapour stick to it?" "No, it falls off in drops." "After a heavy fall of rain, what do you witness?" " Great vapours." It was then explained that the sun, like the fire under the rice-pot, made the vapours rise ; and that the vapours in the air, like those on the lid of the rice-pot, when they were abundant enough, and met with the cold air, were condensed, and fell in drops like those from the Hd. " If your account be the true one, what becomes of our Shaster? Our Shaster must be false. But the Shaster is true ; so your account must be false : and yet it looks so like the truth." * Dr Duff found afterwards that the boy had * Duff, pp. 581-583. 234 NATIONAL EDUCATION. made a mistake — the assertion of the Shaster relating not to ordinary rain, but to water-spouts : still the assertion of the Shaster remains as contrary to the natural facts; the true account of the origin of rain applies no less to the water-spout; and the boys had thus far learned a natural fact, which led directly to the conclusion that their Shasters are false. Such lessons, repeated day by day, are almost sure to make the Hindoo student renounce as false the whole Hin- doo superstition. " Hindooism is not a religion which will bear examina- tion. It is so entirely destitute of anything like evidence, and is identified with so many gross immoralities and phy- sical absurdities, that it gives way at once before the light of European science." * If European knowledge explodes superstition, it must shatter also caste. For if Brahma is a lie, and his history a legend, then certainly the Brahmins did not spring from his head, nor Shoodras from his feet ; and there remains no more reason to doubt that G-od has created our first parents as the ancestors of the whole race. The East India Govern- ment should then promote the education of the natives, be- cause it is a great national object to us to lessen the fana- tical hatred engendered against us by their religion; and to create a body of subjects who, under all changes, would be true to us. With less extensive views, also, than these, the East India Government might be led to educate the people. Crime is very expensive to the state. To hunt out the convict, and then to maintain thousands of crimi- nals, is more costly than to maintain thousands of schools. The Government cannot afford to have the country filled with dacoits, burglars, and thieves. To save themselves from the cost of many jails, and of a vast police force, they should support many schools. Let the Hindoos be taught * Trevelyan, p. 203. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 235 how to gain a livelihood, the punishment which follows crime in this world and the next, the duties of good citi- zens, and the power of Government, and they will certainly become better subjects, who may be more cheaply and more easily governed. Lately we have experienced the inconve- nience of crime. In how many places did the mutineers find ready allies in the swarms of felons, who being let loose upon the country, aided so effectually the work of robbery and murder! Had schools kept the jails empty, we might not have had to deplore so many victims to a re- morseless barbarity. The chronic difficulties of the Indian exchequer demand no less this profitable outlay. If the working classes were less enslaved by superstition and by routine, they would be more able and willing to aid Euro- peans in the development of the unworked and unexplored resources of the country; and increasing wealth in the country would yield an increasing revenue to Government, as well as increased comforts to the people. Indeed, for all the purposes of good government, Young India is in the hands of Great Britain to be moulded as we will. It is by the education of the children that India must be trans- formed, raised, and blessed. One part of our mission to that country is to educate. By education, I do not mean simply the communication of the arts of reading and writing, or of European know- ledge, but the moral training of the children, both girls and boys, that they may know something of their duty to God, to each other, and to society. The great majority of schools must be in the vernacular languages, for which books of a moral and religious ten- dency, with elementary European instruction, must be pre- pared. Still, English schools must not be neglected, because the knowledge of English fits for employment under Govern- ment, and is a powerful attraction to young men of talent ; because it introduces the scholar to all European knowledge 236 NATIONAL EDUCATION. not to be learned in the vernacular languages; because it makes them think like the English, destroys superstition, disposes them, in conjunction with Christian instruction, to believe the Christian religion to be true, and opens the mind to appreciate the British government and British in- stitutions. It being thus the duty of the Government to educate the people, we have now to see how far they have fulfilled their task. Up to the year 1835, the East India Government estab- lished no English schools, and imparted scarcely any real knowledge to the natives ; they made bitter Mahommedans more bitter by teaching them the Koran, in the Mahom- medan College at Calcutta, established by "Warren Hastings in 1781;* and they made bigoted Hindoos more bigoted by teaching them their Sanscrit Shasters, in the Sanscrit College at Benares, founded by Lord Cornwallis in 1792. But, on the 1 7th of July 1 8 23, the G-overnor-G-eneral in Council resolved, " that there should be constituted a general committee of public instruction, for the purpose of ascer- taining the state of public education, and of the public in- stitutions designed for its promotion, and of considering, and from time to time submitting to Government, the sug- gestion of such measures as it may appear expedient to adopt ; with a view to the better instruction of the people, to the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and to the improvement of their moral character." t And, in the year 1835, Lord William Bentinck in Council made the following resolution : — " The Governor-General in Council is of opinion, that the great object of the British Govern- ment ought to be the promotion of European literature and science amongst the natives of India; and that all the funds appropriated for the purposes of education would be best employed on English education alone." J Since that time, important improvements have taken place. * Trevelyan on Education in India, pp. 91-93. f Ibid., p. 2. $ Ibid., p. 13. NATIONAL EDUCATION, 237 The folio-wing is Sir C. Trevelyan's account of the origin and early progress of the schools which arose out of this resolution: — "When these operations commenced, there were fourteen seminaries under the control of the committee; there are now (1838) forty. At the first-mentioned period there were about 3398 pupils; of whom 1818 were learn- ing English, 218 Arabic, and 473 Sanscrit. There are now (1838) 6000."'''' "As the general superintendence of the system is vested in a ' general committee' residing at Cal- cutta, so the management of each particular seminary is intrusted to a local committee residing on the spot. The members of these committees are appointed by the Govern- ment from all classes of the community, native as well as European." t " The pupils themselves are expected to pay for the ordinary school-books used by them, and it is in- tended to demand a small fixed sum in part of payment for their instruction." J " In all the new institutions, the important principle has been established of admitting boys of every caste, without distinction." § " Christian, Mahom- medan, and Hindoo boys, of every shade of color and variety of descent, may be seen standing side by side in the same class, engaged in the common pursuit of English literature, contending for the same honors, and forced to acknowledge the existence of superior merit in their com- rades of the lowest as well as in those of the highest caste." || " These are the facts upon which the plan of the Education Committee is based. Their object is to fill the minds of the liberally educated portion of the people with the knowledge of Europe, in order that they may interpret it in their own language to the rest of their countrymen." IT " The committee's first desire is to establish a seminary, based on these principles, at each zillah station,"** " The poor man is not less the object of the committee's solicitude * Trevelyan on Education in India, p. 17. + Ibid., p. la. J Ibid., p. 19. § Ibid. || Ibid., p. 20. 1" Ibid., p. 47. ** Ibid. 238 NATIONAL EDUCATION. than the rich; but, while the means at their disposal were extremely limited, there were millions of all classes to be educated. It was absolutely necessary to make a selection ; and they therefore selected the upper and middle classes as the first object of their attention, because, by educating them first, they would soonest be able to extend the same advantages to the rest of the people."* " The tide had set in strongly in favor of English education; and when the committee declared itself on the same side, the public sup- port they received rather went beyond than fell short of what was required. More applications were received for the establishment of schools than could be complied with ; there were more candidates for admission to many of those which were established than could be accommodated. On the opening of the Hoogly College, in August 1836, students of English nocked to it in such numbers, as to render the organisation and classification of them a matter of difficulty. Twelve hundred names were entered on the books of this department of the college within three days; and at the end of the year there were upwards of one thousand in regular attendance." t "Formerly we kept needy boys in pay, to train them up to be bigoted maulavees and pundits ; now, multitudes of the upper and middle classes flock to our seminaries to learn, without fee or reward, all that Eng- lish literature can teach them." if "The people are greedy for European knowledge, and crowd to our seminaries in greater numbers than we can teach them."§ " The passion for English knowledge has penetrated the most obscure, and extended to the most remote parts of India." || The influence of English literature, united with religious instruction, upon zemindars, baboos, native judges, authors, schoolmasters, and thousands of intelligent young men in all ranks, would be well adapted to make them think as Euro- * Trevelyan on Education in India, p. 48. f Ibid., p. 82. t Ibid., p. 107. § Ibid., p. 132. || Ibid., p. 166. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 239 peans rather than as Hindoos. India ought to be one great nation, which, as long as Bengalee, Punjaubee, Mahratta, Tamul, Teloogoo, Malayalim, Canarese, and Hindoostanee, are all rival languages, destitute of any common ideas, and without any common literature, can never be. What can make the Indian nations one in thought, feeling, opinions, aims, morals, and religion but one language 1 and what can that be but English % It will be a great day for India when this language shall supersede the local languages, as in these islands it does Gaelic, Irish, and Welsh, making the nation one. That day is far off, if it will ever come. Meanwhile, English, by teaching the influential classes to think as Euro- peans, would exercise a most useful influence, if it were not neutralised by irreligion. The impulse given to the natives by these schools is greatly increased by the competition for office under Government, which, very wisely, has been thrown open to all, without distinction of class, caste, or creed. All those young men who most distinguish themselves in these schools, or others like them, may compete in Govern- ment examinations, and have the prospect of employment according to their knowledge and testimonials. " It is pro- posed that public examinations should be annually held at each of the great towns in the Bengal and Agra Presiden- cies, by an officer appointed to make the circuit of the country for that purpose ; that these examinations should be open to all comers, wherever they may have been edu- cated; that those who acquit themselves well should be ranked according to their merit ; and that the list so ar- ranged, together with the necessary particulars regarding the branches of knowledge in which each person distinguished himself, should be sent to the neighbouring functionaries, to enable them to fill up from it the situations in their gift which fall vacant."* " It is intended to encourage and reward mental cultivation wherever it exists, and to engage * Trevelyan on India, p. 162. 240 NATIONAL EDUCATION. in the service of the country the best talent the country can afford, without any reference to particular places of education. The impulse, therefore, will be communicated to all alike. The boy from a public school will be brought into competition with the boy who has been educated in his father's house. The students from the Government colleges will contend with the young men brought up in the missionary seminaries. The Hindoos and Mahomme- clans will vie with Christians of every denomination. There will be no distinction made, except that of superior merit."* When these schools were established, the following hopes were entertained respecting them : — " The spirit of English literature, on the other hand, cannot but be favourable to the English connexion. Familiarly acquainted with us by means of our literature, the Indian youth almost cease to regard us as foreigners. They speak of our great men with the same enthusiasm as we do. Educated in the same way, interested in the same objects, engaged in the same pursuits with ourselves, they become more English than Hindoos." t " The young men, brought up at our seminaries, turn with contempt from the barbarous despotisms under which their ancestors groaned, to the prospect of improving their national institutions on the English model. Instead of regarding us with dislike, they court bur society, and look upon us as their natural protectors and benefactors. The summit of their ambition is to resemble us ; and under our aiispices, they hope to elevate the character of their coun- trymen, and to prepare them, by gradual steps, for the enjoyment of a well-regulated, and therefore a secure and a happy independence. So far from having the idea of driving the English into the sea uppermost in their minds, they have no notion of any improvement but such as rivets their connexion with the English, and makes them depend- ent on English protection and instruction. In the re- * Trevelyan on India, p. 163. t Ibid., pp. 189, 190. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 241 establishment of the old native governments, they see only the destruction of their most cherished hopes, and a state of great personal insecurity for themselves."* " They are taught to think, and their thoughts are in- clined towards Christianity by a literature which has grown up under its influence, which always assumes its truth, and is deeply imbued with its spirit. A new standard of morality is presented to them. 'The law is a school- master to lead us to Christ,' and the study of the writings of Bacon, Milton, Addison, Johnson, and Locke, establishes this ' law ' in their minds. It does not give the effectual motive which a firm belief in Christianity would impart, but it creates a conscience, which will continually act upon them until they come to a full knowledge of the truth." t Experience has, however, reversed the hopes which state- ments like these led us to form of the influence of Govern- ment schools. As early as 1839, Dr Duff made the follow- ing remarks : — " From the educational system pursued in every Government seminary, and every institution patro- nised by Government officials (apart from the elementary mission schools), the Bible was systematically excluded, by rules as rigorous and inviolable as those that regulate the maintenance of a strict quarantine. Hence it happened that the odium originally excited towards the Bible as some unknown evil of portentous magnitude, instead of being diniinished, was unreasonably enhanced. Every prejudice was doubly fenced, every ignorant surmise set on keener edge, every feeling of aversion exacerbated into the very extreme of sensitive acuteness. Indeed, such images of loathing and terror were often conjured up and associated with the best of books, that it would seem as if, in order to thicken the shades of an ignorance already dark and confused as chaos, the powers of darkness had been per- mitted to encompass and bewilder the minds of the deluded * Treveljan on India, pp. 191, 192. f Indophilus ; Times, Dec. 30. Q 242 NATIONAL EDIT CATION. people with the phantasmagoria of some pandemonium en^ chantmenti"* "The Government scheme of education in India is a scheme openly, avowedly, and systematically to communicate knowledge tviihout religion!' 't "We have no hesitation in declaring, that if it be one main object of Government — no matter whether for the benefit of the natives or its Own aggrandisement — to preserve inviolate the political connexion of India with Britain, this resolu- tion to communicate knowledge without religion is a suici- dal act."\ " In the metropolis of British India the experi- ment has actually been tried. It has had more than twenty years for its development. And what have been the fruits 1 Of these we have seen enough with our own eyes, and heard enough with our own ears, to satisfy us that, in the present corrupt state of human nature, the genuine native tendency of any institution, which attains to full maturity in the communication of knowledge with- out religion, is inimical, not only to true religion and sound morals, but also to the political peace and well-being of a community. We hesitate not to affirm that every such in- stitution in India will ultimately be found, when perhaps it is too late, nothing better than a manufactory of infidels as regards nil religion, a manufactory of rebels as regards allegiance to the British Government." § " We have found ' knowledge without religion,' in its base ingratitude, repay the most lavish and unmeasured kindness with malice and persecution. We have found ' knowledge without religion/ in its savage lustfulness, overstep boundaries which even poor dumb irrationals seem to respect. We have found ' knowledge without religion,' in its quenching of generous natural affection, remorselessly trample under foot some of the dearest and the tenderest ties which link man to man in the domestic circle ; so that it was no uncommon case for a father, who had witnessed and smarted under these * Duff on India, pp. 559, 560. t Ibid > P- 450. J Ibid. § Ibid., p. 453. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 243 effects, to bring his child, saying, ' I wish my son to learn English, as that may in many ways promote his best interests. And if the penalty of so doing must be that he forsake his ancestorial faith, I would rather see him become a Christian in your institution, however much I would deplore the event, than an apostate in the Government college without any religion at all.' We have found ' know- ledge without religion,' in its atheistic fanaticism, ravingly blaspheme the very God of heaven, in whom ' we live and move and have our being.' "We have found 'knowledge without religion,' in its contempt for constituted authority, breathe sentiments of rebelliousness, saying, ' We are very much obliged to our foreign rulers for the knowledge which has let us into the secret of their weakness and our own strength — the knowledge which must qualify us speedily to get quit of them, and undertake the management of our own civil and military offices without their help.'"* The observations of others agree too well with those of Dr Duff. Mr Williams, a missionary from Bengal, said at a missionary meeting at Southampton, according to several newspapers, that "he knew Nana Sahib intimately, and bore testimony to his possessing mental accomplishments, and to his polished gentlemanly manners. Nana Sahib was educated in one of the English Government schools in India, where almost every book is studied but the Bible, and everything taught but Christianity. The greatest enemies to the British rule and to the spread of the gospel in India were men like Nana Sahib, and others who had been educated in the Government colleges, most of whom were professedly Deists, but in reality Atheists." Mr Hay, another missionary, is reported, by a writer in the Times, to have stated as follows : — " The missionary schools were twice as crowded as the Government schools. In the former the Bible and catechism were taught, and the * Duff on India, p. 454. 241 NATIONAL EDUCATION. schools commenced and ended with prayer, In the latter, until very recently, the Bible was excluded. The Koran and the Shaster were in the Government schools; but no professor was ever allowed, even if requested, to explain anything with reference to the Bible, not even as an his- torical book. Nearly all the native professors and graduates of the Government universities and schools are Atheists. Their education caused them to disbelieve Paganism, and they were not encouraged to believe in Christianity. Many of them are implicated in the present revolt."* "We ask the friends of Indian universities to favor us with a single example of the truth of their theory, from the instances which have already fallen within the scope of their experience. They have educated many children of wealthy men, and have been the means of advancing very materially the worldly prospects of some of their pupils; but what contribution have these made to the great work of regene- rating their fellow-men \ How have they begun to act upon the masses \ Have any of them formed classes at their own homes, or elsewhere, for the instruction of their less fortun- ate or less wise countrymen'? or have they kept their know- ledge to themselves, as a personal gift, not to be soiled by contact with the ignorant vulgar ?"t " We contend that hitherto the Government have not succeeded in making even a fraction of the population morally or intellectually wiser, and we see no encourage- ment to hope for a different conclusion in times to come. Amongst the alumni of the universities, past and present, are to be found the greatest sticklers for caste, the bitterest haters of Christianity, the most prejudiced and exclusive, in short, of the Hindoo population." \ From these and other similar statements which I have frequently heard from returned missionaries, I fear that many of the students in those schools throw off all moral * Times, Sept. 16, 1857. f Mead's Sepoy Revolt, p. 294. J Ibid., p. 303. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 245 principle, and all respect for Government. Should these results multiply, this irreligious system will produce a new power in India, more formidable, both to our rule and to the welfare of the people, than even the old idolatry. Under the guidance of this system, we seem approaching the time which was anticipated by Sir John Malcolm, when he said, "Perhaps the greatest of all dangers will occur when our subjects, taught by us, shall cast off thos.e excel- lent moral restraints with which their religion, with all its errors and superstition, abounds, and yet not adopt that sincerity of faith in the Divine precepts which would fill and elevate their minds." * Dr Duff speaks thus : — " The Hindoo College has produced its bitter fruits simply because it communicates the know- ledge which destroys a false religion, without supplying that which would build up the true From the circula- tion of European literature and science, but wliolly exclusive of morality and religion, the young illuminati, too wise to continue the dupes and slaves of an irrational and mon- strous superstition, do, it is admitted, openly enlist them- selves in the ranks of infidelity. Here then is a new power, which threatens soon to become more formidable than idolatry itself. Already it has begun to display some of its ghastly features, and boastfully to exhibit its prognostics of anticipated triumph. And in the storm of conflicting opinions which seems gathering on all sides, it may easily be foreseen, that unless our vigilance and exertions are increased to a tenfold degree, infidelity and not Christianity will be the power that must cause the downfall of idolatry, and with it also the overthrow of all that we most value." t It cannot be a duty of the Government to train up men for its own destruction; nor is it wise to create a giant, and to fire him with fiendish fury, in the hope of afterwards tying his hands. * Malcolm's Political History, ii., p. 283. f Duff on India, p. 546. 246 NATIONAL EDUCATION. Do not let us repeat the error of the sepoy army. There we created a fanatic Hindoo power which enslaved us by the fear of a mutiny; and we must not now create an in- fidel Hindoo power to enslave us by the terror of a national rebellion. "When young Hindoos learn from the facts before their eyes that their superstition is a delusion, and receive no in- struction in true religion, they become atheistic, as many of the later Eomans, and many French philosophers of the eighteenth century, did in similar circumstances. But to Atheists everything is permitted. There being no law, and no judgment, prudence is the only remaining restraint on passion ; and such men will prey on all around them, when they can hope to do it with impunity. A cold-blooded and profligate sensuality, restrained by no scruples and shrinking from no crime, is likely to be the result : and if atheistic schools train up young Indians to be Atheists, we may look in two or three generations for a revolutionary struggle, prolific in abominable crimes, and leading to innumerable sufferings. Cannot this danger be averted by infusing a religious ele- ment into all the Government schools? Dr Duff has given the following account of the first introduction of the Bible into the schools of the Free Church of Scotland at Cal- cutta : — "About a week after our regular commencement, when teachers and taught had fairly caught the spirit of the system, we began to urge it as a universally acknowledged part of every good system of education, that those princi- ples should be inculcated which are calculated to affect the heart and regulate the conduct, as well as that knowledge which tends to improve the judgment and enlighten the understanding; and that as the labors of every day were intended to make the youths present wiser and happier, it would be proper to commence these labors by imploring NATIONAL EDUCATION. 247 the blessing and protection of the great God, whose loving- kindnesses have ever been exhibited towards all His qrea- tnres. Having obtained from the Calcutta Bible Society a grant of upwards of a hundred English New Testaments for the use of the school, we ordered these one day to be produced. M The books were then opened, the Lord's Prayer was dis- tinctly read, and explained paragraph by paragraph. It was thenceforth used every morning as a solemn form of adoration and prayer before entering on the duties of the day. Prom that time forward, the first hour was devoted to the reading of a portion of the Bible. From the young men themselves neither murmur nor objection was any more heard against the stated perusal of the Scriptures. So that after the expiry of several months, it could be reported that only three or four cases had occurred in which the continued study of the Bible formed a pretext for abandoning the school. After the Lord's Prayer, was read the parable of the Prodigal Son ; wherein the tenderness and compassion of our heavenly Father towards penitent sinners are set forth with such inimitable simplicity and force of truth. " The next portion of Scripture selected was the thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians Throughout all were at- tentive, and the minds of a few became intensely rivetted — which the glistening eye and changeful countenance, reflecting as in a mirror the inward thought and varying emotion, most clearly indicated, At last, when to the picture of charity the concluding stroke was given by the pencil of inspiration, in the emphatic words, ' endureth all things,' one of the young men, the very Brahmin who had but a few days before risen up to oppose the reading of the Bible, now started from his seat, exclaiming aloud, 'Oh, sir, who can act up to that ? That is too good for us. Who can act up to it V ' Too good for us ! Who can act up to that 1 ?' repeated we, in the hearing of all: ' Why, what you 248 NATIONAL EDUCATION. reckon too good for us, it is the grand object of the Bible effectually to teach how we may ultimately attain. What you think, and think truly, we cannot act up to in our own strength, it is the grand object of the Bible effectually to point out how we may ultimately realise. And rest assured, that no one can study the Bible with honesty of heart, and with prayer to God for light and guidance, with- out in the end becoming possessed of that divine " charity " which will enable him to act up to all that has been read, and is itself the consummation of blessedness/ " By the system of caste, the Hindoos have been divided and cantoned into so many isolated, selfish sections, each scowling on all the rest with feelings of irreconcileable aversion, hatred, and contempt. But, besides this general influence of caste, which renders the race eminently ' hateful and hating one another,' there is special provision in their sacred writings for the growth and manifestations of every feeling of spiteful enmity and malignant revenge ! " Judge, then, of the surprise and amazement of some of the more thoughtful of the young men, when they came to read these passages : — ' Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which de- spitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on. the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' So deep, indeed, and intense was the impression produced, that, in reference to one individual at least, from the simple reading of these verses might be dated his conversion, his turning from dumb idols to serve the living and true God. There was something in them of NATIONAL EDUCATION. 249 such an overwhelmingly attractive moral loveliness — some- thing which contrasted so luminously with all that he had been previously taught to regard as revealed by God, that he could not help crying out in ecstasy, ' Oh, how beau- tiful, how divine!' 'Surely this is the truth — this is the truth — this is the truth! ' Nor was he allowed to rest satis- fied till his gratitude for the discovery ended in renouncing his sacrifices and false gods, for the one great Sacrifice by which the true God for ever perfected those who have come to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. Here must we state, once for all, that while from the very first the Bible itself was thus made a school and class-book, it was so made distinctly, avowedly, and exclusively for religious and devotional exercises, with the view of bringing all the faculties of the sold into contact with the life, and spirit, and quickening influence of Jehovah's holy oracles. " So soon as the institution was effectually organised, the Bible was introduced. Its sacred lessons were taught be- fore the inculcation of a single branch of ' useful' or ' scien- tific' knowledge. Its use as a class-book was antecedent to the employment of any book of general literature or science ; and to its perusal the first and freshest hour of the day was regularly allotted. To it the highest rank was assigned in the system. Its shrine was approached with awe and reve- rence; and its contents unfolded with that solemnity of feeling which became the oracles of the most high God. The five who entered on the day of its first commencement have since swoln into an average attendance of eight hun- dred. And the Governor-General, the fount of all power, honor, and influence, at length did homage to it, by pub- licly proclaiming in the face of all India that it had pro- duced 'unparalleled results.'"* Wherever the experiment has been made, it has been at- tended with similar success. Many schools, all over India, * Duff, pp. 563-609. 25Q NATIONAL EDUCATION. with the Bible, are as largely attended by the young men of high caste as the Government schools, which are with- out it. We shall be most culpable if we do not profit by this experience. However much the East India Government of 1838 were in advance of the Government of 1792, and however benevolent their intentions, it is most evident that we have made a mistake. Eeligion has made no part of the instruction in the schools in a country where the scholars have no other means of religious instruction whatever. The Bible was excluded ; the masters were instructed to avoid the subject of religion: on those terms, scarcely any Chris- tians would become masters; and the whole system, meant to be irreligious, became necessarily anti-religious. Instead of strengthening the Government, these schools are raising up the most formidable enemy which has yet appeared against it. A hundred thousand armed men have been subdued ; but what British force will subdue a hundred and thirty millions, led on by unprincipled infidels, who, like Nana Sahib, will exterminate the whole Christian com- munity, in the name of two antagonistic religions ? We have committed one blunder, in creating a great fanatical Hindoo force to attempt our destruction ; but we shall com- mit one still more fatal, if we create a much greater atheistic Hindoo force which will be able to accomplish it. Whatever dangers may be apprehended from the attempt to teach the natives Christian doctrine, they cannot be greater than those which arise from the Government train- ing them to practical Atheism; and now is the best time in which Government may make the change. The experiment has, indeed, been made. In the Government schools of Ceylon, the first school hour of the day is employed in the reading of Scripture — the attendance of the scholars at this class being voluntary. Letters, which have appeared in the Times, from gentlemen of that island engaged in the super- NATIONAL EDUCATION. 251 intendence of the system, assert that it has completely answered. Since any of the scholars may, if they please, stay away from the Bible-reading, it has occasioned no complaints; and, since almost all the scholars do sponta- neously attend, it has not been nugatory. No drawback has attended the advantages derived from it; and what has been so salutary to the Hindoos of Ceylon will not be disadvantageous to the Hindoos of the continent. The alterations of the present system need not be violent. The resolution of the Governor-General in Council, of July 1823, was, that a committee of public instruction should be formed, for suggesting to the Government measures with a view to the better instruction of the people, and to the im- provement of their moral character* Now, as the exclusion of religion has been found to make the scholar profligate, the Government, according to the express resolution of 1823, may seek their moral improvement by allowing in the schools a reference to the will of God, which alone is the foundation of morals. "The Bible was placed in the libraries, with the understanding that it might he freely con- sulted both by students and teachers; and that the teachers were at full liberty to furnish explanations out of it of the numerous passages in English authors which cannot be understood without a reference to it."f Without any new rule, therefore, the masters of Government schools may at their discretion freely consult it; and if no rule exists to exclude it from the school, the masters may, in pursuance of that original regulation, read portions of it, from time to time, to such of their scholars as wish it. Next, as the Government intended their schools to be for the improve- ment of the moral character of the people, they must, in order to accomplish that desire, secure good masters. At present, according to Mr Hay, " nearly all the native pro- fessors and graduates of the Government universities are * Trevelyan, p. 2. f Tndophilus ; Times, Dec. 30. 252 NATIONAL EDUCATION. Atheists."* Men who fear God -will not undertake to superintend an education from which all reference to His authority is excluded; and as it has been excluded from the Government schools, I fear that they have fallen into the hands of ungodly men, who have made their scholars like themselves. Bad men must train up their scholars to be bad men ; and, unless Government depart from the wise resolution of 1823, they will secure masters, who, fearing God, will raise the character of their scholars. Another wise and benevolent regulation of Government was, that as " no native, by reason of his religion or descent, should be disabled from holding any office" under the East India Company, so children of all castes and creeds should be admitted to those Government schools. Some of the local committees have so far disregarded this rule, that Mr Macleod Wylie reports : — " I know a case in which an order was lately issued, that no Christian should be admitted into a school not far from Calcutta which is supported by Government." t But, as this is contrary to the intention of the Government, they may certainly main- tain their own rule, and take care, by their inspectors, that the children of all castes and creeds shall be taught, sit, and play together, in all their schools, without any distinc- tion. The children of all castes being thus gathered under Christian masters who fear God, the Government has only to leave the master his natural liberty to read and explain the Word of God, and to the children their natural liberty to hear him. The present practice may be amended, but no new law is required. It will then be the duty of the inspectors to judge of the efficiency of each school by its progress in secular know- ledge, and to examine how far the children learn their duty to their parents, to each other, and to society, leaving the religious teaching to the master. If the Government, recognising the fact that education * Times, Sept. 16, 1857. + News of the Churches, Feb. 1, 1858, p. 48. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 253 ■without religion in Bengal makes their scholars immoral and turbulent, will, according to the resolution of 1823, take measures to secure the improvement of their moral character, and for this object will select the most religious masters whom they can find, leaving them their natural liberty to read and explain the Bible to as many of their scholars as like to hear it, they secure the ends which Lord William Bentinck and his Council benevolently designed at the first introduction of these schools. Why should the most timid be alarmed at this step in advance? When the Hindoo College was founded at Cal- cutta, the native managers of it " stated their surprise that any English gentleman should imagine that they had any objection to a liberal education; that if they found any- thing in the course of it "which they could not reconcile to their religious opinions, they were not bound to receive it; but still they should wish to be informed of everything that the English gentlemen learned, and they would take that which they found good and liked best."* What was true of European science is equally true of the Bible; what the scholars of the Hindoo College could do, scholars in all the Government seminaries can do as well. The native gentlemen who saw that instruction in European science did not force their children to abandon their faith, can equally see that instruction in the Bible does not force them to abandon it. All will be voluntary. The attend- ance of the children at their schools, their attendance at the Scripture lessons, and their reception of the Christian doctrine taught, will all be voluntary; and as the Govern- ment manifestos, in which they avow their Christian faith, may fully state that, Christianity forbidding them to at- tempt the forcible conversion of any of their subjects, all will be treated equally by them, the natives will have no reason to suspect any attempt to deprive them of their caste, which alone they dread. * Letter of Sir E. East, quoted by Indophilus ; Times, Dec. 30. '254 NATIONAL EDUCATION. But these schools are far from meeting the wants of the people. The Court of Directors, in a letter to the Madras Go- vernment of the year 1833, observe : — " The improvements in education, which effectually contribute to elevate the moral and intellectual condition of the people, are those which concern the education of the higher classes."* In another letter of the Court, quoted by Lord Auckland in his minute of 24th November 1839, they observe: — " That with a view to the moral and intellectual improvement of the people, the great primary object is the extension, among those who have leisure for advanced study, of the most complete education in our power By raising the standard of instruction among these classes, we should eventually produce a much greater and more beneficial change in the ideas and feelings of the community, than we can hope to produce by acting more directly on the more numerous masses." t ..." By purifying the circulation through these vital organs, the whole system will be re-invigorated; the rich, the learned, the men of business, will first be gained; a new class of teachers will be trained ; books in the ver- nacular language will be multiplied ; and, with these accu- mulated means, we shall in due time proceed to extend our operations, from town to country, from the few to the many, until every hamlet shall be provided with its ele- mentary school. The poor man is not less the object of the committee's solicitude than the rich ; but while the means at their disposal were extremely limited, there were millions of all classes to be educated. It was absolutely necessary to make a selection; and they therefore selected the upper and middle classes as the first object of their attention, because, by educating them first, they would soonest be able to extend the same advantages to the rest of the people." J Upon this plan Government has acted : — * Mead's Sepoy Eevolt, p. 291. t Ibid-, PP- 291, 292 % Trevelyan, p. 48. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 255 " The scholars of the universities are at this moment almost exclusively composed of the superior classes."* " The entire net sum paid by Government in India for the maintenance of colleges and schools, is in round nun> bers about £120,000 per annum The latest returns give a total of 14,319 scholars receiving instruction in the State schools of Bengal, at a cost, after deducting school-fees and the sums received for the sale of books, of more than £50,000, or £4, 10s. each."t These schools would have done good if they had been connected with religious instruction. But even then they would have been far less usefid than a number of schools for the poor. Much more will be speedily done by these schools to benefit the people than by those colleges in which the pupils are almost exclusively of the richer classes. The Indian revenue having been generally less than the expenditure, the Government have had a very limited sum at their disposal for the education of the people; and of that small sum almost all has hitherto been spent to benefit a few of the rich, but a portion will now be employed to benefit many of the poor. The sum of £50,000, which is now ex- pended annually in Bengal upon 14,319 scholars, of the upper classes chiefly, would, if spent upon vernacular schools for the poor, instruct at least two hundred thousand. A little solid knowledge given to two hundred thousand of the poor would benefit the country far more than a larger amount of knowledge bestowed upon fourteen thousand children of the rich. From selecting the rich who are high caste for public instruction, the Government has apparently begun to reap results similar to those which have been obtained from selecting high-caste men for sepoys. High-caste fami- lies being much more sensitive on the subject of caste and creed than those of low caste, Government has been led, for their sake, to exclude religion from their schools, as they * Mead's Sepoy Revolt, p. 302. f Md., p. 308. 256 NATIONAL EDUCATION. had before excluded it from the army ; and as this latter exclusion has made a hundred thousand sepoys mutinous, so the former has, according to much concurrent testi- mony, made many of the Government scholars Atheistic and disloyal. But on another ground, as it seems to me, the Govern- ment should pay more attention to the education of the poor than of the rich. If the Government educates the poor, the rich will educate themselves ; whereas if it spends its disposable funds upon the rich, the poor must remain uneducated. They cannot educate themselves, and it is vain to hope that the rich will educate them. Hindoos, except when renewed by religion, are selfish ; and the rich protegSs of Government are much more likely to push their own fortunes, by the knowledge which they acquire at the public expense, than to impart knowledge to then- poorer neighbours. Brahmins, especially, are educated in the idea that the Shoodras ought to work in ignorance and poverty; and no acquaintance with European science will destroy those feelings of contempt which caste and custom have made so strong. Nana Sahib was a specimen of this class. Versed in English literature, he at the same time possessed great wealth, and might have given schools to all the villages upon his estates at Bithoor. Has he given them one 1 The murderer of English women and children kept a body of armed men to make himself dreaded by his ryots, but what did his cultivation of mind make him do to raise and bless them % Among the thousands of high-caste men who have been instructed in the Government colleges, how many have established village schools for the poor, or done anything else to mend their condition \ " If we saw," says Mr Mead, " any signs, however remote, of the growth of patriotic feeling amongst the higher ranks, we might be content to witness, for a few years longer, the further trial of the present experiment; but so far from inducing a NATIONAL EDUCATION. 257 better feeling towards their destitute and low-caste coun- trymen, the instruction which they imbibe seems only to sharpen the natural appetite for the power to exert oppression." * One of our chief duties in India is to raise, feed, and pro- tect the lower classes, who have been crushed, starved, and oppressed by Brahmins and zemindars. And if all this knowledge without religion possessed by the oppressors only strengthens their power to oppress, we have not yet done much for India by their education. But the Government has at length turned their attention to the education of the working classes. " The last developments of the Govern- ment system are the village vernacular school of Mr James Thomason, whereby education will be extended to the whole body of the people; and the grants in aid."t These schools, it is to be hoped, will be of two kinds — the verna- cular normal schools and the village schools. The normal schools under European masters, with native assistants, intended to train masters for village schools, should have the Bible read in them on the Ceylon plan, and should have English classes for the native teachers: the vernacular village schools should be placed under competent native Christian masters, who should be at liberty to instruct their scholars in the Bible ; and these should be multiplied as fast as competent masters can be obtained for them. Very important ends may be obtained by these village schools. They will not only bring out buried talent, and launch many a clever and good boy upon a course honor- able to himself and useful to the country, but, what is better, they will raise the low-caste masses. Having learned to think, the Shoodras will reject the imposture of caste, and resist the oppression of the zemindars ; the moral training which they receive will lessen crime and increase their com- fort; agricultural and industrial knowledge will enable * Mead's Sepoy Eevolt, p. 304. t Indophilus; Times, Deo. 30. R 258 NATIONAL EDUCATION. them to obtain larger returns from their fields, and to find new employments for their industry; and if they become richer and better behaved, they will be more happy, and therefore more contented with the Government under which they live. Prudence therefore, no less than benevolence, may prompt Government to multiply these schools. As crime is costly to the state, and as a turbulent, discontented people is much less easily governed than a contented one, the Government should promote popular education that they may govern more easily and more cheaply. Besides, whatever enriches the people increases the revenue; a cir- cumstance not to be overlooked by a Government which is getting deeper into debt, and which derives five millions of revenue from so precarious and discreditable a source as opium. In these schools, to make them effective, the children must not only learn to read, write, and keep accounts, but they should learn all the knowledge likely to be useful to them as villagers; they should practise some agricultural or mechanical labors ; they should be taught their duties to their parents, to each other, and to the state; they should have their tempers and habits carefully formed ; and all those moral duties should be enforced by a regard to the authority of God. The great object of the Government is to improve the. morals of its subjects, and as morals must rest upon the authority of God, it must refer to the Bible as the founda- tion of all morality. All experience demands the change. As knowledge without religion has made many of the Government scholars Atheists in religion and traitors in politics, the Government cannot be called to continue a system with such results. All rational persons in India will see that it must teach in its schools a sound morality, and this must rest upon a divine authority. Few therefore will, I am persuaded, be disposed to blame it for this NATIONAL EDUCATION. 259 change. There is no compulsion in the case. No one is bound to attend the schools, or to attend the Scripture lesson, or to express assent to the religious instruction therein given. All is voluntary, and therefore all will be quietly received by the Hindoos in India, as in Ceylon. If this plan be adopted, Government, instead of spending all their educational funds upon colleges and schools from which religion is excluded, and which have proved manu- factories of Atheists and revolutionists, will have three kinds of schools : — 1st, English schools for teaching English to pupil-teachers or other native youths. 2dly, Normal vernacular schools, under European masters, in which children are taught in their own language, and pupil-teachers practised in the art of teaching. 3dly, Vernacular village schools, under native Chris- tians, who have received a diploma from the English and normal vernacular schools; and which will be gradually multiplied, as competent masters present themselves. All these schools will be open to children of every caste and creed, and in them all the masters will have liberty to explain the Bible to all the scholars who may wish it. The East India Government took another most im- portant step, when they voted grants in aid to schools, maintained not by public funds, but by voluntary subscrip- tions. 1. One class of schools thus assisted by them are the schools connected with Christian missionaries ; and these are of two kinds : — 1st, Schools maintained by missionaries and their friends. — It is much to the credit of the Government that they aid these schools, without any conditions which can either harass the consciences of the directors, or impair the efficiency of their schools. In these schools the children are freely taught the doctrines of the gospel by their Christ 260 NATIONAL EDUCATION. tian teachers.. The only condition of the grant is a periodical inspection, at which nothing is required by the inspector but such a progress in ethical and secular knowledge as may justify the outlay of Government; and nothing can hinder the multiplication of these schools, with the bene- volent aid of Government, except the want of Christian liberality at home, and the want of competent Christian teachers. To meet the first of these wants, let Christians at home reflect upon the immense importance of bringing Hindoo children under Christian training; and to meet the second, let missionary and school societies have as many English schools and vernacular normal schools, like those of the Government, as the funds of the different societies ■will allow. 2dly, The rule adopted by Government enables them further to extend their aid to all native schools which, though not maintained by missionaries, are under their superintendence, provided the requisite amount of secular instruction is therein afforded. So that if the missionaries can train up in their normal schools a large number of native Christians to be masters of village schools, and can, by grants of books and by a little aid, secure the superin- tendence of them, so as to secure the required amount of secular knowledge, a large number of native schools can thus be brought under Christian influence at a small cost to missionary and other benevolent associations. This public aid to missionary schools urgently calls on the friends of India missions to manifest a liberality through which it may be made extensively useful. 2. Grants in aid to native schools. — All the schools which have now been mentioned must for many years be few compared with the wants of the people. Assum- ing that one-sixth of the population should be in school, we find that 21,600,000 children ought to be under in- struction in British India alone. " The latest returns give NATIONAL EDUCATION". 261 a total of 14,319 scholars receiving instruction in the state schools of Bengal;"* and therefore probably the whole number of such scholars in India is less than 30,000. The numbers in missionary schools in 1855 were 64,480 boys, 14,298 girls, making a total of 78,778. t Altogether, there- fore, there are not more than 108,000 pupils in schools under European superintendence, leaving about 21,500,000' untaught. Of these the great majority learn all the abomi- nations of idolatry by the daily ceremonies in their families, by the instructions of Brahmins and Yogees, and by the recitals at their popular festivals, imbibing, with all these polluting fictions, a hatred to us as accursed Pariahs. Many, however, are taught in native schools, of which there are 80,000 in Bengal and Behar alone. J But as the popular literature is generally very corrupt, even these learn little which can do them good, and can seldom even read an ordi- nary book. § For these twenty-one millions British Christians are doing nothing, and are able to do very little. But both humanity and policy forbid us to leave them thus. Better morals are not only necessary for their comfort, but like- wise for the welfare of the state. The Government wants officials that will not lie and cheat, policemen that will not oppress the poor, and sepoys that will not mutiny. It has, therefore, sought to obtain them by grants in aid. The sole condition is, as in the case of the missionary schools, such a periodical inspection as shall secure a required profi- ciency in ethical and secular knowledge. In all the schools which it aids, it may ask that the children know something of their moral duties, and obtain sound knowledge; in none of them may it ask more. Impartiality requires that the Government offers moral and secular knowledge to all its subjects on equal terms. By an Act of 3d and 4th William IV., the legislature enacted, " That no native of the said territories, nor any natural-born subject of his Majesty * Mead, p. 308. t Mullens, p. 15. J Conference, p. 124 § Ibid., p. 127. 262 NATIONAL EDUCATION. resident therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place- of birth, descent, colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or employment under the said Company." Now, as secular knowledge and good morals are requisite for employment under the Government, and all, of every class and creed, are, according to that Act, equally eligible, the Government ought to give to all, as far as its means extend, that secular knowledge which is essen- tial to employment, without requiring them previously to do anything contrary to their own creed. As it gives secular knowledge to the missionary school, without inter- fering with the religion taught therein, so it should give secular knowledge to the native school without interfering with its religion. The advantage to the country will b& immense. At present the masters and the books in the native schools are probably as bad as they can well be ; but the grants will secure to them better books and better masters. The Government will, doubtless, either publish or adopt a number of school-books, in which sound knowledge shall be associated with pure morality. These will be both better and cheaper than any native books of the same kind; and as the condition of the grant is the attainment by the scho- lars of a required amount of moral and secular knowledge, schools which desire the grant will be led by that desire to., adopt the books through the use of which they can the most cheaply and the most certainly obtain it. In a similar manner will the grants produce better masters. For as few of the present masters of native schools have the amount of secular knowledge which the inspector would require, the masters must improve themselves, or else the villages must seek masters trained in Government or mis- sionary schools. The effect of better books and better mas- ters in India will be, that sound knowledge will to a great degree take the place of the fictions which usually bewilder NATIONAL EDUCATION. 263 the boys of India, and Christian morals supersede the licen- tious legends of their gods. European studies will leave them neither time nor taste for their books of superstition ; and their consciences will be awakened by some elementary acquaintance with the law of God. These grants will afford neither sanction nor support to their idolatry : No sanction ; because the Government, paying only for the se- cular instruction, is no more connected with the idolatry than it would be if it paid equal sums for the vaccination of the children, or for medical attendance in their sickness. $o support; because sound knowledge will both divert their minds from idolatrous fables, and undermine their belief in those which they already know. It is impossible to force upon these schools the use of the Bible which they disbelieve; and the only effect of the attempt would be to perpetuate the pollution and ignorance from which their connexion with the Government would raise them. Will it be right for us to say to them, " You shall have no part of your own public money for your moral and secular advantage unless you first consent to abandon your religion" 1 And will it be humane thus to perpetuate their debasement 1 Surely if we cannot lead them to accept the Bible, it is right to give them some knowledge of the law of God ; and if we cannot make them at once renounce their superstitions, it is as well to undermine them. The Government school-books, inculcating Christian mo- rals on the authority of God, would not be likely to offend the natives, hecause in each case the adoption of them would be voluntary; and if they assume, without argument, the existence of God, they will only do what seems to be' now a common practice with Hindoos themselves. When Khan Bahadoor Khan wished to excite the Hindoo Eajahs against us, he said to them, " God has created you, and given you dominion, that you should all preserve, your 264 NATIONAL EDUCATION. faith." * Nana Sahib began one of his proclamations thus : " By the bounty of the glorious Almighty God, the yellow- faced, people have been sent to hell." t And in a meeting at Calcutta, Baboo Darshinarayan Muckeeji said: "The worship of Almighty God in his unity, as laid down in the holy Veda, is and has been our religion for thousands of years." \ If these expressions are becoming common among educated Hindoos, they will not probably occasion the re- jection of any school-books which the Government may prepare. Recent facts further show, that by these grants to native schools the Government may, at a moderate cost, extend the blessings of sound knowledge and of moral training to vast numbers. Mr Colvin, whose premature death has robbed India of a great benefactor, had before the mutiny induced five thousand villages to increase their taxation one per cent, for educational purposes. § If his successor carries that plan into effect, five thousand villages will at once in the North-western Provinces have self-supporting schools, in which they may receive such knowledge as will promote their comfort, improve their condition, undermine their idolatry, and give them the first notions of their duty to God. If the experiment succeeds, what is to hinder a vast extension of the plan 1 ? Why should not millions throughout India, by means of self-supporting schools, obtain such knowledge as may enable them to understand the gospel, and to profit by the books which Christian zeal may put into their hands'? || Eventually, all this knowledge will render it impossible that one hundred and thirty millions should be governed by one hundred thousand foreigners. But it will prolong our dominion, and make its termination peaceable. India, en- lightened, enriched, moral, religious, and independent, will * Times,. March. 24, 1858. t Ibid., Oct. 29, 1857. % Tract Reporter, March 17, 1858. § Times, April 28, 1858. || Appendix E. NATIONAL EDUCATION. 265 be a much, more glorious monument of British wisdom and virtue, than it would be as retained in subjection by its ignorance and vice ; and will be far more valuable to us as the free home of our allies and customers, than it would be as a prison-house of degraded and irritable bondsmen. III. OF RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES OF INDIA. I have already described the condition of the Shoodras of Bengal, one hundred yeara after they have been under British rule. Springing, according to their superstition, from the feet of Brahma, they are by him doomed to igno- rance and servitude. They must not read or hear their sacred books ; they are kept, by their ignorance, in con- tinual dependence upon the priestly office of the Brahmins ; and their superstitions excite perpetual fears of their malig- nant gods. Reduced, also, by the restrictions of caste, by a teeming population, by the want of industrial employ- ment, and by ignorance, to the barest poverty, the Shoodra inhabits a hovel without furniture; his land, lessened by family subdivisions to the smallest patch imaginable, yields him a bare subsistence; for holding even this, he must pay a heavy sum to Government, while heavier sums are exacted by the zemindar ; and he is further plundered both by dacoits and by the police. In this naked, aimless, helpless, and hopeless penury, he has no knowledge of God, no com- fort in a Saviour, no solace in prayer, no hope of heaven, no restraint upon his passions, no guide to duty, no incitement to virtue; but lives and dies like a sore-backed, starved, kicked, flogged, sulky, and miserable beast. These unhappy millions, doomed by their religion to ser- vitude, crushed by superstition, chained down to the earth by caste, pauperised by profound ignorance, bowed down by the oppression of centuries, so that their very soids have RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. 267' been enslaved, robbed by the zemindars, who ought to raise them, and plagued by the police, who ought to be their pro- tectors, have one advantage which the other idolaters of the East may envy — they are fellow-subjects with free, enlight- ened, and religious Englishmen. So associated, they have a right to look to us for a share in all our privileges, and, as our brothers, to ask that we open to them a. new era in a history hitherto marked by disaster and despair. . One of our chief duties is to raise them to their proper condition as men; to rescue them from every bondage, to shield them from every abuse, to make them free, virtuous, self-reliant, prosperous, and happy. A free citizen should wish well to every class of the community with which he is associated; a good government, formed by all classes of the nation, should watch over the interests of all. And if the institutions of freemen cannot at once be planted among those who have neither the knowledge nor the virtue requisite for self-government, the absolute govern- ment which circumstances render necessary should still be guided by all the principles which direct the government of a free people. I would not, therefore, advocate the ex- clusion of either Mahommedans or high-caste Hindoos from any of the privileges which Government can secure to all. Whatever it can do to enlighten and improve them by schools, by books, and by employment, let it do; but the classes which are at once the most suffering, the most oppressed, and the most easily improveable, are certainly those to which our benevolent efforts should be especially directed. Our Saviour has set us the example of caring for the poor. He became Himself the son of a Galilean peasant woman; lived in her poor cottage, worked with His step- father as a carpenter, and chose fishermen to be His com- panions. Destitute of worldly wealth, He travelled through the country on foot to preach the gospel, and had during His life scarcely one rich disciple. By this choice of the 268 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. poor, marked, as all His arrangements were, by Divine wisdom, He has honored poverty, and taught us to honor it. Further, one principal feature of His spiritual reign is, that, as the universal King, He intends to raise and bless the poor. " He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. . . . All kings shall fall down before him : all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth ; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight" (Ps. lxxii. 4, 11-14). " With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked" (Isa. xi. 4). Agreeably to these predictions respecting His mission to earth, He has declared that His disciples, rich and poor, are all brethren (Matt, xxiii. 8). With regard to His favor towards His disciples, His apostles have said, " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. iii. 28); "Love as brethren" (1 Pet. iii. 8). And, extending His view beyond the limits of His Church, He has ordered us, by His apostle, to treat even Shoodras and Pariahs with the respect due to our fellow-creatures, by saying, "Honor all men" (1 Pet. ii. 17). God is no respecter of persons ; and, like Him, we, without partiality, should be obliging and friendly to all. The task which the example and principles of Jesus call us to fulnl, is so benevolent, so adapted to make many happy, that every Christian must welcome it with joy. We are called to improve the mental, moral, and physical con- dition of many; to introduce order, cleanliness, decency, and KAISING- THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. 26ft' peace into millions of Asiatic homes; to be friends to the friendless ; and to make a populous continent, by its salva- tion from enormous social evils, the glory of our nation. Can we do this \ Assuredly it is not to be the work of a day, year, or generation; but we have great powers at our disposal, and the time is most propitious. Some things, at least, can be done at once. All contemptuous feeling, and all harshness of manner, should be discarded by every Englishman in India, who has any regard to his duty or any wish to honor Christ. To treat the natives rudely, to hate them for vices with which heathenism has intertwined their habits, to despise them for the ignorance which we have neglected to remove, to be impatient of faults and follies which our selfishness has perpetuated, to make their servitude to their priests more oppressive by a new Western tyranny, to trample on them when we ought to raise them up, and to make them writhe under our contempt instead of blessing us for our kindness, is disgraceful to those who bear the Christian name. Now, the East India Govern- ment has great power with its servants, as the fountain of honor; and if the Governor-General and the members of the Government are in earnest to make all their servants treat even the lowest natives with forbearance, respect, and kindness, their example and appeals may go far to make the whole European community turn their contempt for Hindoos into a benevolent desire to improve their condi- tion. Thorough kindness felt by Europeans in India will not fail to discover many ways of doing them good which a writer cannot specify ; but some things may be men- tioned. Our first direct duty to the Shoodras is to protect them from oppression. Every wrong in a well-governed country has its remedy; and if the ryots of Bengal are pauperised, enslaved, and rendered miserable by the zemindars, it is, clearly our duty as Englishmen to see that this is stopped 270 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. somehow. How, it may not be easy to say, and less easy in England than it would be in India. But it is said that the arrangements made by Mr Thomason for the North- west Provinces, and carried on towards their perfection by Mr Colvin, have proved very satisfactory and serviceable both to the people and to the Government. Why should not Mr Halliday do as much for Bengal 1 At all events, the existing rights of the ryots should be energetically maintained. The zemindars ought to know that Government will not tolerate exactions upon the peasantry any more than arrears of taxes. If magistrates prove themselves corrupt, honest men should be put into their place, and the people ought to have secured to them a pure and cheap administration of justice. Next, let the police be thoroughly purged of all its rascality. It is now the accomplice of oppression, the plun- derer rather than the defender of the poor, and the terror rather than the safety of the weak. The people of Bengal have a right to expect from the Government a police which protects their properties and persons. If honest men cannot be found among Mahommedans and Hindoos, and if a European police is not adapted to the climate, then let the Government employ native Christians, and those whose moral character is proved to be good, as subordinates of Europeans who may be placed over them. Education may also do much for the people. Let only good schools be multiplied with good masters, let the Bible be read, and masters be placed under no restrictions, being only expected to secure a good attendance and a creditable progress of the scholars in each interval between the visits of the inspector ; and, with increase of knowledge and sound principle, we have reason to believe they will find for them- selves methods of improving their condition, be less easily oppressed, improve their cultivation, find new employments, RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. 271' and throw off some of the shackles both of custom and of caste. Memoirs of Shoodras who have distinguished them- selves by virtue, talent, or success, as Samuel Flavel, may be circulated among them. Instances of village improve- ment may be made widely known, and specially the social results of Christianity in such districts as Barisal, Krish- naghur, Tinnevelly, and Chittaura. By English classes in the normal vernacular schools, Shoodras of talent may obtain knowledge qualifying them for employment by the Govern- ment, and thus European knowledge and feeling may begin to penetrate the whole community. To book knowledge may be added certain other benevolent efforts by which the Government may testify its good-will to the people, and improve their condition. The ryots of each town and village may be obliged under penalties to remove dunghills and other filth from before their doors, from the streets, and from the neighbourhood of their houses, to prevent malaria and cholera. There may be small annual prizes in each village for the cleanest house, the best kept garden, and the best tilled field. Other prizes may be given for the most friendly and neighbourly conduct to those of the same caste, of lower caste, and of no caste. A beginning of self-government may be made in the annual choice of a mayor or head-man by the villagers themselves (subject to a veto of the Government), who shall be charged with the maintenance of cleanhness and order in the village; and savings banks, in safe hands, may be established in rural districts. A vast impulse may be given to village improve- ment, if it be distinctly known that any villager who is in- telligent and moral may compete at the periodical exami- nations in the cities for employment by Government, and that, by surpassing other candidates in knowledge and moral worth, he may obtain a comfortable situation. Go- vernment has, if I mistake not, already instituted this method of calling forth the talent of the country; and if it 272 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES." be only acted on with perfect impartiality, not excluding any low-caste men of ability and virtue, must influence very favorably the Shoodra population. Another important service which the Government can render to the Shoodra, is to aid in various ways the bene- volent efforts of the English residents who have their wel- fare at heart. Missionaries, agents of the Bible Society, religious schoolmasters, Christian officers, civilians of all ranks, and capitalists, acting together for their advantage, may do much to improve their condition. Here let me recall to the reader's pity another class which especially deserves attention. Beneath the Shoodras are the Pariahs, who are as much scorned by them as they are by the Brahmins. These poor beings have not been brought to that misery by immoral acts. According to the Hindoo system, the vilest wretches may preserve their purity and sanctity un- impaired. Nana Sahib, with his hands reddened by the blood of innocent women and children, and his appetite for murder insatiable, is as holy a Brahmin as when he smiled among the Europeans of Cawnpore as a friend; but the man of loftiest intellect and of the best heart in India, one capable of teaching and blessing millions, would become at once a Pariah, " hunted from every door and loathed by the most vile," if he should eat some prohibited food, or marry a woman of capacity, virtue, and beauty in a prohibited caste. Since also this taint descends from father to son, children guilty of no crime, and capable of rising to any excellence, are born under an immoveable curse, to be scorned, hated, ill-treated by all castes alike. What is worse is, that this general excommunication and outlawry effects the degradation which was at first factitious. Shut out from employment, knowledge, and the possession of property, they are condemned to the lowest occupations, are starved in the midst of plenty, are forced to idleness RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. 273 when their industry might create for them wealth, and, being despised by all, they learn at last to think themselves despicable. An able writer in the London Quarterly reckons them to amount to twenty millions, and the Abbe" Dubois consi- dered them to be more numerous still.* Towards these injured millions we ought to show especial regard. As God is no respecter of persons, so neither should we be. Our Lord when on earth was so benevolent and gentle in teach- ing the publicans, who were, like these Pariahs, detested and scorned by every respectable Jew, that he was called in contempt "the friend of publicans and sinners." In India He would have been called " the friend of Pariahs ; " and we His followers should be no less their friends. Slaves were as welcome to the apostolic churches as centurions. In the sight of our Saviour there is no difference between " Greek or Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free." What indeed are we all but the Pariahs of creation, exiled by our sins from the eternal Providence, outlawed because rebel- lious 1 But " ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sahes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich " (2 Cor. viii. 9) ; and if we appreciate as we ought the sublimest charity which ever existed, we shall, like Him, take pleasure in raising the degraded and in saving the lost. All kindness to these ruined classes is, moreover, no less prudent than generous. The Pariahs are our natural sup- porters in India. In the eyes of Hindoos, we are as low as they. " Debased as the Pooleahs are, there exists through- out India a caste called Pariahs, still more abject and wretched. If a Pooleah by any accident touches a Pariah,' he must go through many ablutions before he can be cleansed from the impurity. The Pariahs not only feast upon dead carcases, but eat beef and carrion of every kind. The * London Quarterly, Oct. 1857, p. 230. S 274 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. Brahmins of Malabar have thought proper to place Chris- tians in the same rank with the Pariahs." * Brothers thus in the endurance of Hindoo contempt, we should be united by the injustice done to us both; but other cir- cumstances invite us to take them under our protection. Pariahs, who are ill-treated by the Hindoo superstition, have as much reason to wish its overthrow, as the Brahmin, whom it enriches and honors, has to labor for its perpetua- tion. With none of the fears of losing caste, which render the castes reluctant even to hear the gospel, they are much more accessible to instruction than others ; and seeing under British rule, dignity, comfort, and wealth attainable by their industry, instead of the irremediable misery to which the Hindoo system dooms them, they have every reason to wish our dominion to be permanent. Let all the remedial mea- sures adopted by Government for the working classes gene- rally have therefore special reference to them. Let them be sedulously protected by the magistrate from injustice; let them have access to every school; and be allowed to compete in every examination of candidates for office under Government. In places where it may be required, let schools be opened specially for them, under first-rate teachers, to show all India what Pariahs may become under good training. Let them feel that a strong hand has raised them from the mud in which Hindooism has trampled them. And if God should in our day raise up among them men capable of becoming poets like Shakspeare, or orators like Burke or Brougham, statesmen like Fox or Peel, histo- rians like Macaulay, philosophers like Humboldt, engineers like Stephenson, philanthropists like Wilberforce or Howard, heroes like Williams of Kars, or Havelock, or William Peel, preachers like Eobert Hall or Chalmers, prodigies in mental power as Napoleon, or men of far nobler excellence, like Brainerd or Henry Martyn, let them not see their talents doomed to sterility, and their virtues repaid with scorn, * Forbes, i., p. 254. RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. 275 through a stupid prejudice, which is disgraceful to Hindoos, but in Englishmen -would be insufferable. Twenty millions of Pariahs, or even ten, made through our efforts enlightened, respectable, prosperous, and happy, would be allies on whose fidelity we might always count, should our Indian army be by any casualties destroyed — a breakwater against which any future rebellion would waste its force — a whole nation of friends, able to sustain the Bri- tish dominion against our enemies, till the day when India is fitted to be free. A third class to be protected are the women of India. "Nothing can exceed the contempt which the Hin- doos entertain for their women. Hardly are they ever mentioned in their laws, or other books, but as wretches of the most base and vicious inclinations, on whose nature no virtuous or useful qualities can be engrafted Infi- delity (says the Hetopasa), violence, deceit, envy, extreme avariciousness, a total want of good qualities, with impurity, are the innate faults of womankind."* " A state of depen- dence more strict and humiliating than that which is or- dained for the weaker sex among the Hindoos cannot easily be conceived. ' Day and night/ says Menu, ' must women be held by their protectors in a state of dependence.' By a girl or by a young woman, or by a woman advanced in years, nothing must be done even in her own dwelling- place according to her mere pleasure."! These being the statements of the Shasters respecting the character of women, a Hindoo parent who believes them should lead his son to select hiswife with the greatest care, to know her temper well, and to esteem her character be- fore he makes her the partner of his life. Still more needful* is it to a Hindoo woman that she should be truly loved be- forehand by the man whom she consents to marry. Every- where marriage is the most important step in a woman's life; but in India, where women are shut out from society, * Mill, i., p. 386. t Ibid., pp. 387, 385. 276 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. have scarcely any social rights, and are forbidden by their sacred law to marry a second time, it is more important than anywhere else. There, especially, affectionate parents should not commit their daughter's happiness to the care of a man without knowing that he loves her well enough to treat her with tenderness and respect. Instead of which, boys marry girls whom they do not know; girls are mar- ried without their consent to boys who may afterwards hate them; the parents on both sides manage the matter; and in their hands the marriage is to a great extent a thing of bargain and sale. "A Hindoo, except it be for a second marriage, never chooses his own wife. The parents frequently agree while the children are infants to give them in marriage ; but most commonly a parent employs a man called a ghutuku to seek a suitable boy or girl for his child The son of a Shoodra is often married as early as his fifth year ; the son of a Brahmin, after being invested with the poita, at seven, nine, or eleven."* " After the report of the ghutuku, a re- lation on each side is deputed to see the children; and if everything respecting caste, person, &c, be agreeable, a written agreement is made between the two fathers : and in this way persons are united in wedlock with as much indifference as cattle are yoked together; matrimony be- comes a mere matter of traffic ; and children are disposed of according to the pride of their parents, without the par- ties, who are to live cogether till death, having either choice or concern in the business."! " These very early marriages are the sources of the most enormous evils : for these pairs, brought together without previous attachment, or even with their own consent, are seldom happy ; and this leads men into unlawful connexions, which create further misery." J " To these premature mar- riages, likewise, we are undoubtedly to attribute the general * Ward, i., p. 1G6. f Ibid., p. 164. J Ibid., p. 167. RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. 277 ■appearance of old age in the persons of Hindoo women be- fore they have reached even the meridian of life." * When thus women have been married without their con- sent to men whom they cannot love, they find many things in their wedded life to make them miserable. Resources in themselves they have none, because by the barbarous custom of the country they have been refused all the advantages of education : — " The most direful calamities are denounced against the woman who shall dare to aspire to read or write; not a single female seminary exists among the Hin- doos; and possibly not twenty females blessed with the eommon rudiments of even Hindoo learning, are to be found among as many millions." t Then how can she expect much tenderness from her hus- band 1 Herself perhaps intensely affectionate, and longing for affection as the life of her life, she may find herself married to a brute. " The Hindoos are seldom happy in their marriages; nor can domestic happiness be expected where females are reduced to a state of complete servitude, and are neither qualified nor permitted to be companions of their husbands. A man, except he is of low caste, never enters into conversation with his wife during the day, nor is she ever permitted to eat in the presence of her husband, or to sit in the company even of near friends." J "To every species of ill-usage she is bound to submit ; neither by sale nor desertion, says the ordinance of Menu, ' can a wife be released from her husband.' This remarkable law indicates the power of the husband to sell his wife for a slave, and by consequence proves that her condition while in his house was not regarded very different from slavery ."§ "The wife is held unworthy to eat with her husband." |j " The husband and wife never eat together."1T " According to the despotic manners of tie East, the husband is lord * Ward, i., p. 278. f Ibid. J Ibid., p. 183. § Mill, i., p. 386. i| Ibid., p. 388. IT Bartolomeo, ibid. 278 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. and the wife a servant ; seldom does he think of making her a companion or a friend."* "The Abbe" Dubois de- scribes the following as the common condition of conjugal life : — The young wife beaten by her husband and harassed by her mother-in-law, who treats her as a slave — finding no remedy for ill-usage but in flying to her father's house — recalled by fair promises — the word broken — recourse had to the same remedy — but at last her children and other circumstances compelling her to do her best by remaining in her husband's house, with a show of being contented with her lot." t No social intercourse relieves her joyless bondage: — " The exclusion of females from every public and social circle is another lamentable blemish in the civil institutions of the Hindoos." J "A woman is not allowed by the law to go out of the house without the consent of her husband; nor to talk with a stranger ; nor to laugh without the veil over her face; nor to swallow anything, except medicine, till she have served others; nor to go to the house of a stranger; nor to stand at the door; nor to look out of the window." § To this wretched being, neglected by her husband, and longing for real affection, acquaintance with any man kinder than him must be dangerous. On this account husbands in India, haunted by a tormenting jealousy, seek to restrain their wives from transgression by seclusion and menaces. "The Hindoos are accustomed to beat their wives." || A law has even been made to direct the mode in which the wife is to be beaten.1T " She is excluded from all eyes but those of her nearest relations, and the most terrifying and disgraceful punishments are held out against transgression. .... Hindoo writers and Hindoo laws seem to place all security in vigilance, none in principle Imperious * Grant, in Ward, i., p. 309. t Mill, i., p. 389, note. % Ward, i., p. 279. § Ibid., ii., p. 312. || Buchanan, in Mill, i., p. 389, note. 1 Ibid., p. 386. RAISING THE OPPEESSED CLASSES. 279 dominion, seclusion, and terror, are the means used to en- force fidelity."* If a husband wishes still more to embitter the life of his wife, he has only to marry another. "Polygamy has been an established custom of the Hindoos." t "Kooleen Brah- mins always marry two wives, and many of them obtain a subsistence by marrying fifteen, twenty, or even forty." J " Polygamy, which is tolerated among the Hindoos, tends to destroy all rational domestic society," § and completes the humiliation of many a Hindoo wife. Alone, she might hope by her affection and good conduct to win the regard of her husband; but when she sees him transfer her rights to another, heaping caresses on her rival, and reserving for her only neglect and insult, she has nothing left to her but despair. Yet she may sink into a worse condition still: — "An almost unlimited power of rejection or divorce appears to be reserved to the husband. In the code of Gentoo laws, amongst various other ordinances to the same purpose, it is declared, that * a woman who dissipates or spoils her own property, or who eats before her husband eats, such woman shall be turned out of the house.'" || " It is only necessary for a man to call his wife by the name of mother, and all connubial intercourse is at an end : this is the only bill of divorcement required." IT We might suppose that, under these circumstances, divorce or the death of the husband would be to the wife a happy release from slavery; but the Hindoo legislators have taken care that she should not so easily escape from her misery. By the Institutes of Menu, a widow is " ex- pressly forbidden to accept a second husband"** Widows therefore, and with them divorced wives, are left to desolate * Grant, in Ward, i., pp. 310, 311. t Mill, i., p. 390. J "Ward, i., p. 81. § Grant, in Ward, i., p. 310. || Mill, i., p. 389. 1 Ward, i., p. 280. ** Mill, i., p. 389, note. Ward, i., p. 167. 280 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. penury — which leads some to suicide, and plunges many into vice. Of those whose husbands die when they are still children, Mr Ward says, " These young widows being for- bidden to marry, almost without exception become prosti- tutes."* And of the people who allow this cruelty, he justly adds, " The perpetual degradation to which those widows are reduced, sinks them below many of the most savage tribes." t Contrast with the state of these poor heathens the condi- tion of a Christian wife. She marries " in the Lord" one whom she loves, and who loves her (1 Cor. vii. 39) ; she is protected by the law of the Eedeemer against capricious divorce (Matt. v. 31, 32), and against the possibility of a new wife, who might steal from her her husband's affections (Mark x. 11) ; her husband is commanded to love her with a tender, patient, beneficent, faithful, and devoted affection, like that of Jesus to His Church (Eph. v. 25) ; and her children are ordered, as they hope for the favor of God, to honor her (Eph. vi. 2, 3). If we wish Hindoo women to be happy, we must make the men Christians. Meanwhile, the Government has done something to mend their condition. A few years ago it was the cruel practice to burn widows alive. The poor dupes were promised thirty-five million years of happiness if they would consent to the torture, and were menaced with degradation and starvation if they refused it.J Several thousands were thus immolated annually, while Brahmins danced round the pile, and shouted with diabolic glee.§ Those murders have been prohibited by law. By another law, a widow may now legally contract a second marriage, and may therefore obtain by it the legal rights of a wife. This is simply justice to an oppressed and most miserable class. No force is put upon any one's scruples ; no injustice is done to any one ; and few, I fear, * Ward, i., p. 167. f Ibid., p. 281. £ Ibid., ii., p. 312. § Ibid., i., p. oxx. RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. 281 of the men will for some years rise above the power of fashion so far as to avail themselves of it. Yet for this act, which they conld not without cruelty and injustice withhold, the East India Government have been blamed, by some in this country, as violating the traditionary policy of the Company. But the policy, whether required by the Company's traditions or not, which would declare those marriages illegal, would be detestably cruel. It is enough that poor girls must be married, at ten and eleven, without their consent, to men who may embitter their whole mar- ried life ; never let Englishmen say, that, if such a victim is set free from her tyrant by his death, she may never have the happiness of loving and of being loved by a hus- band of her choice. In this matter the East India Government has done well. Something also they may do to restrain the three other great causes of misery to Hindoo women — infant marriages, polygamy, and capricious divorce. To lessen the number of such divorces, which are now frequent, the law may require a suitable provision to be made by the husband for every discarded wife; and, to restrain both that and the other two evils, it may refuse to employ those who practise them. If any parent is cruel enough to occasion the mar- riage of his son or his daughter in childhood, or any hus- band degrade himself by having more than one wife, or, without due cause, discards one wife to take another, the Government may let such a man know that they can find bet- ter servants than him to do their work. Since many clever young men in India aspire to be employed by Government, this simple announcement would diminish those practices by rendering them discreditable. Some other means may also be taken to improve the con- dition of women. Schools for girls having been established with the happiest results, may advantageously be multiplied by the Government. At the periodical examinations, prizes 282 RAISING THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. may be given by the inspectors publicly to those scholars who have made most progress; memoirs of distinguished women may be placed in the school libraries; and, in con- nexion with those schools, women may be invited to learn to read in adult classes, to whom prizes may be also given. There may be also public annual inspections of each village, at which the inspectors may publicly allot prizes to deserv- ing women. In each village, the woman who is found to have the neatest children and the cleanest cottage, whose garden is stocked with the best flowers, who sews the best, who has done the most spinning, who has kept her children the most constantly at school, and has done the most land acts to her neighbours, may be publicly honored by this token of the approbation of the Government. Women, pro- tected, enlightened, and raised to a happier life by British benevolence, will become our most potent allies. Their good-will may render our Government more popular; and their efficient aid may train up a generation of better men and better subjects.* * Appendix P. PART FOUKTH. OF THE DUTIES OF INDIVIDUALS. L THE DUTY OF THE SERVANTS OF THE EAST INDIA GOVEKNMENT TO PROMOTE THE KNOWLEDGE OP CHRIST AMONG THE HINDOOS. Almost all persons seem to be agreed that the East India Government should not attempt as a Government directly to promote Christianity. It should not employ any part of the revenue to support Christian missionaries; nor build Christian places of worship for natives ; nor pass laws for the establishment of Christianity ; nor persecute the non-Chris- tian population; nor bribe them to profess Christianity; nor interfere with their worship; nor lay the least restraint upon their preaching or printing in support of their various creeds, whether Hindoo, Mabommedan, Sikh, or Parsee; nor refuse to employ them, if moral, respectable, and capable. All ought to have equal liberty of preaching, and all ought to be equally protected in the peaceable exercise of their rights. But while the Government is thus impartial and just to all, its members and their servants ought indi- vidually to promote the cause of Christ. They should speak in favor of Christianity; distribute Bibles, Christian books, and tracts ; subscribe to Christian undertakings ; attend missionary meetings ; and aid Christian missionaries by their zealous co-operation. This is required of them by their duty to Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Saviour, who, having suffered the punishment of sin in the place of all His disciples, has thus redeemed us from the curse of God; and saved us from eternal damna- 286 DUTY OP GOVERNMENT SERVANTS tion. For this immeasurable benefit, and for this unspeak- able kindness, we owe Him all possible love and service. Being Head over all the Church, as a man is head over his own house (Heb. hi. 6), He is our Lord (Rom. xiv. 9) ; and we are His servants (Heb. iii. 6 ; Matt. xxv. 14 ; 1 Cor. vii. 22; Col. iii. 24). All our possessions belong to Him (Matt, xxv. 14); and we are called to use them all in His service (Matt. xxv. 15-23). Our time, talents, knowledge, money, influence, all belong to Him ; so that, when He comes again to be our Judge, we shall have to give account to Him of them all (Matt. xxv. 19). Those who have done what they could to honor Him, will be welcomed as good and faithful servants (Matt. xxv. 21-23) ; and those who have done no- thing for Him, will be esteemed wicked and slothful (Matt, xxv. 26). Having thus made us His own property by saving us from hell, and by raising us to be the heirs of heaven through His own sufferings and death, He has given us the following plain and unequivocal orders : — " Go ye therefore, and disciple all nations, baptizing them unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teach- ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20). "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark, xvi. 15). The nature of the commands shows that all His disciples are addressed by them; for since all the millions of man- kind are to be taught, all His disciples must combine to teach them, no special delegated class being able to ful- fil it. The practice of the early Christians under the eye of His apostles has likewise interpreted His meaning to be, that all His disciples, according to their opportunity and ability, must join in His service. When the members of the Church TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 287 at Jerusalem were driven from their homes by persecution, the apostles alone, who were the pastors of the Church, re- maining at their post, these Christians " went every where preaching the word" (Acts viii. 4). Some of them, not being ministers, but simple members of the Church, went far north; of whom we have received the following account: — "Now they which were scattered abroad upon the perse- cution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word: and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord " (Acts xi. 19-21). All the Christians at Thessalonica were thus commended by the Apostle Paul : — " We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you -in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. .... For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing" (1 Thess. i. 2, 3, 8). The Apostle James said to all his fellow-Christians: — "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins" (James v. 19, 20). The Apostle Jude gave to them all the following direc- tions respecting their ungodly neighbours : — " Of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the f re" (Jude 22, 23). The Apostle Peter gave them this direction : — "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 Peter iii. 15). 288 DUTY Or GOVERNMENT SERVANTS The Christians of Philippi received from the Apostle Paul this exhortation : — Let me " hear of your affairs, that ye standfast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel ; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries" (Phil. i. 27, 28). And the Lord Himself sent this address to the Church of Ephesus by his servant John : — " I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil : . . . and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works " (Rev. ii. 2-5). Who can read these statements without coming to the conclusion, that it is the express command of our Lord and Saviour that all His disciples should labor to convert and save their fellow-creatures, according to their oppor- tunities and ability % The senseless prejudice, born of priestcraft, that none but clergymen should preach Christ, has been the ruin of mul- titudes. When there was no competition, and criticism was judged to be profane, any man who was too stupid to ad- vance in a profession, or to conduct a business, might grow plump in a living ; and an inert, apathetic Church, led by a sleepy and incapable ministry, left the world to rot in undisturbed ignorance and universal impiety. Men held that it was no part of their duty to instruct their neighbours, that being left to privileged and paid offi- cials ; and therefore, as none but these preached, the world inferred that they preached for hire alone; and that self- interest, which was the spring of their exertions, was as likely to uphold a fable as to proclaim the truth. From these fruits of the clerical monopoly, we may judge of the intentions of our Master. The arrangement which has pro- TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 289 longed impiety and created scepticism, was certainly not ordered by Him. It is His will that all should preach Him who can. - Other considerations may lead us to the same conclusion. Since it is eternal life to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John xvii. 3), all are bound to communicate to others this saving knowledge, if they can; since there is no other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved (Acts iv. 12), all who know Christ should make Him known; and since God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John iii. 16), all who are saved should endeavour to save the perishing by leading them to believe. A salvation intended for all can be understood by all; and all who understand it should make others understand it too. What men of the first age of Christianity did under the eye of the apostles, Christian men of all ages ought to do. All who are redeemed should proclaim the Redeemer; all who are saved should save their fellows. Zeal and Charity are sister seraphs, who go together through the world to proclaim Christ to the perish- ing for their eternal welfare; and all who are Christians ought to help on their glorious work. Such being the duty of all who call themselves Christians, the East India Government, in direct opposition to the authority of Christ, have forbidden their servants to fulfil this duty. About the beginning of the century, some mis- sionaries were prevented from settling in the country, while those who were admitted were both restrained and threat- ened; and when public opinion, acting upon the British Parliament, secured to the missionaries a certain freedom of action, through which they have since been protected, it took care to limit the liberty of teaching the natives to those few who, without wealth or powerful friends, were judged incapable of producing any perceptible impression 290 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS upon Hindoo society. While Sir John Malcolm expressed his belief that missionaries could effect scarcely anything, he so condemned the zeal of all other Christians in the Com- pany's service, that he would prohibit even chaplains to attempt the conversion of natives. His advice to the Go- vernment in his " Political History" was as follows : — " By the introduction of a judicial system, founded upon their own laws, which are completely incorporated with their religious usages and superstitions, we have given a tacit but most solemn pledge to withhold all interposition of authority or influence in their conversion. Should the dictates of a conscientious but overheated zeal ever lead to a breach of this pledge, the consequences may be fatal to our power. Let the clergymen in the employment of Govern- ment, whether as ministers of religion or professors in col- leges, be prohibited from using their endeavours to make converts. " The local Government has taken every opportunity to give their native subjects a continued confidence in the principle which they have acted upon, by abstaining from all proceedings that could, in the remotest degree, be con- strued into an intention of interfering themselves, or counte- nancing those under their authority, in interfering with their faith and usages."* On this advice the East India Company have since acted. A few zealous men among their servants have aided mis- sionaries, a few have spoken themselves to the natives of Jesus our Saviour ; but so much was this opposed to their traditionary policy, that in 1847 they issued the following despatch to the Governor-General : — " You (the Governor-General of India) are aware that we have uniformly maintained the principle of abstaining from all interference with the religion of the natives of India. It is obviously essential to the due observance of * Malcolm's Political History, ii., pp. 267-269. TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 2.91 that principle, that it should be acted upon by all our ser- vants, civil and military. The Government is known throughout India by its officers, with whom it is identified in the eyes of the native inhabitants, and our servants should therefore be aware that, while invested with public authority, their acts cannot be regarded as those of private individuals, We are, however, led by circumstances of recent occurrence to conclude that a different view of the subject is taken in India, and we therefore deem it necessary to call your immediate and particular attention to the abso- lute necessity of maintaining this most important principle in its fullest extent." * According to this despatch, the acts of each military officer, and each civilian, in his private capacity, are to be regarded as the act of the Government. If a civilian should distribute tracts, or speak to his Hindoo neighbours about Christ, it would be the same as if Government were to support Christianity by law, and to send out preachers armed with Government authority. In consequence of this identity between the private acts of the Company's servants and the public action of the Government, they are forbidden to promote the conversion of the natives to Christ in their private capacity. No servant of the Company must preach Christ to the heathen. According to this despatch, all the servants of the Company, including the chaplains, must "abstain from all interference with the religion of the natives." Ministers of Christ must not preach Christ to those who are perishing without Him. And as if they would render a few solitary missionaries, laboring against in- numerable obstacles to accomplish a gigantic undertaking, still feebler, they have " directed the issue of orders to all public officers, forbidding the support of missionary efforts." t So much has this been impressed upon the minds of the officials in India, that Lord Canning declared, that if * Times, Feb. 23, 1858. f Ibid. 292 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS Colonel Wheler had really endeavoured to convert his soldiers, he ought to be tried by a court-martial. And this antichristian policy is now likely to be enforced with merciless zeal, through the accession to power of a nobler man who thinks that had Lord Canning subscribed to any missionary society, it would have been most dangerous to our rule. We hoped that such prejudices were almost worn out, but it appears that they are to be revived. Lord Ellenborough, who thinks no Governor-General must sub- scribe to missions — who presented gates to an idol-temple, and contributed money to other temples — is now the great authority in Indian affairs. Above the Governor-General, above the East India Company, master of the masters who once recalled him from India, the great Indian dictator believes that a Governor-General who subscribes to a mis- sionary society, whatever his talents, virtues, services, and popularity may be, ought to be recalled. In the House of Lords, on the 9th of June 1857, Lord Ellenborough said, "I can scarcely believe it now to be true, though I saw it distinctly stated in the papers, that the Governor-General himself, Lord Canning, subscribed largely to a missionary society, which has for its object the conversion of the natives. I deem that fact of these sub- scriptions of Lord Canning, the Governor-General of India, to societies having for their object the conversion of natives, if it be true, to be one of the most dangerous things that could possibly have happened to the security of our Govern- ment in India." The President of the Council, the Marquis of Lansdowne, followed Lord Ellenborough, and said that, "having the strongest public and private friendship for Lord Canning, he was yet prepared to state that, if by any error or mistake in judgment, which he did not believe without proof, Lord Canning had so acted as to give counte- nance to such a belief as the noble lord inferred, he would no longer deserve to be continued in his office as Governor- TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 293 General of India. (Hear, hear.)" With these admissions of Lord Lansdowne, Lord Ellenborough professed himself satisfied. He not only therefore declared that the sub- scription of Lord Canning to a missionary society would be most dangerous, but also intimated that for it Lord Canning would deserve to be recalled. When this speech of Lord Ellenborough's reached India, it was discussed by the British Indian Association, at its meeting July 25, when the idea was scouted that the re- bellion could have originated in any support given by Lord Canning to missionary societies. Amongst others, one of the speakers, still a Hindoo in his creed, said, " However we may differ with the Christian missionaries in religion, I speak the minds of this society, and generally of those of the people, when I say that, as regards their learning, purity of morals, and disinterestedness of intention to pro- mote our weak no doubt is entertained throughout the land. European history does not bear on its record the mention of a class of men who suffered so many sacrifices in the cause of humanity and education, as the Christian missionaries in India It is not therefore likely that any little monetary aid that may have been rendered by the Governor-General in his private capacity to missionary societies, should have sown the germ of that recent disaf- fection in the native army, which has introduced so much anarchy and confusion in these dominions."* Lord Ellenborough's statement further drew from an eminent civilian in India the following remarks: — "The Government annual state payments in money and cash to these false creeds amount to £200,000 A bold, manly, Christian course, and a right policy, would have in.' sured to us the countenance and support of the Almighty; but we chose to fear Baal rather than Jehovah, and we are now reaping the fruits And what hope of amend- * Home and Foreign Record, Nov., p. 93. 294 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS merit as a nation do our rulers hold out to usl I believe, none ; and I believe that, unless the nation itself comes for- ward to wipe out this foul stain, no reform will take place ; and our sufferings will have been in vain. In the House of Lords, Lord Ellenborough attributes existing evils to Lord Canning's subscriptions to the cause of truth, and not a peer present rebukes him; they rather acquiesce! Thus nothing is thought or said of the state giving £200,000 a-year to idolatry, while the Governor-General is reproached for giving a few pounds to Christianity. Are our rulers pagans 1 Lord Ellenborough invariably in India contri- buted to temples, but Lord Canning must not, according to Lord Ellenborough's views, contribute to missions."* Mr Cuthbert, of the Church Missionary Society, has added : — " Lord Ellenborough's silly and bigoted attack on Lord Canning, for having caused the revolt by subscribing to missionary societies, is ridiculed here by all parties, and it has damaged much the reputation of that nobleman as a high authority on Indian affairs. . . . Lord Ellenborough has already tried to raise a cry about ' interfering with the prejudices, religion, &c, of the natives.' Lord Canning, to whom he gives undue credit for showing an interest in the conversion of the natives, by subscribing to missionary so- cieties, has kept as much aloof from anything of the kind as any of his late predecessors ; and is even now so terribly afraid of the appearance of feeling any regard even for native Christians, as to request that addresses from such, expressive of sympathy, and offering aid in the present emergency, may not be presented to him officially, lest he should have to give an official acknowledgment of them; though those of Hindoos and Mussulmans have been re- ceived and acknowledged most freely and most gratefully, little as they are really worth. But the universal cry here is, that Government have brought all this trouble on them- * Home and Foreign Record, Nov., p. 95. TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY - . 295 selves and on us, not by ' interfering with the religious pre- judices, Sec.,' according to the cant of the irreligious, but by petting and pandering to those prejudices, with an incon- sistency so great and glaring, that it has partly made the thinking natives despise them, and partly prompted the less reflecting to suspect some deep design, cloaked in a manner they can well understand, under this outward ap- pearance of indifference to what, on every principle of reason and consistency, the Government ought to count sacred and important."* "Spectator Orientalis," in the Times, very much agreeing with Mr Cuthbert, says, " With all due respect to my Lord Ellenborough's talents, every old Indian will tell you he is very little authority on the state of Hindoo society, and their feelings towards us, more especially in a case where the blame so evidently lies with his own pet military service"! When Lord Ellenborough was in opposition, these opinions were comparatively harm- less ; but now that he is raised to be the dictator of British India, they become menacing to every Christian man in that country. Should Lord Canning be recalled, we may look for a Governor-General who, like Lord Ellenborough, will discountenance Christian missions, and contribute to heathen temples. Each missionary may now expect to be stripped of all the support which he has hitherto received from servants of the Company ; and every Christian servant of the Company who does one-tenth part of his duty to his Eedeemer, or to his heathen neighbours, may expect, what- ever may be his capacity or his virtues, not merely neglect, but proscription and punishment. Whom do the Directors and Lord Ellenborough wish the Europeans in India not to speak of to the Hindoos ? It is the only Saviour of lost man, without whom we should have perished; it is the Christ, the anointed Prophet, sent of God to teach mankind; the anointed Priest, who has * Church Missionary Intelligencer, Oct. 1857. + Times, June 13, 1857. 296 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS laid down His life a sacrifice for sinners, and now pleads with God for all who trust Him; the anointed King, who is ordained to rule the Church and the world; the Friend of perishing sinners, who has said to them all, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" — "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out;" the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind; the most perfect Pattern of excelling virtue ; the omniscient and almighty Judge, before whom each of the framers of this despatch, and Lord EUenborough himself, will shortly have to give account for every act done to His dishonor. Mahommedans may speak as much as they please of the false prophet, who pretended that God allowed him to have nine wives, and ordered his followers to kill or enslave all Christians, promising them silk sofas, soft carpets, jewelled tents, rich feasts, plenty of wine, and numerous wives, in heaven, if they would do so ; and Hindoos may speak to Christians as much as they please in praise of their favorite Krishna, the adulterer, liar, and murderer ; but no man must speak to Mahommedans or Hindoos of Jesus our Lord and Saviour, though He left heaven for us, led for us a hard and suffering life, died for us an agonising death — is right- ful King of the Church and the world — and will return ere long in glory to judge the dead and living. Observe, too, from whom the knowledge of Jesus our Lord and Saviour is to be thus rigidly kept. Mahommedans so hate Christians, that they have wished to exterminate them, partly because they are not Mahom- medans, and partly because they trust in Christ ; and Christ himself is often the object of their hatred, because He claimed to be the Son of God, which Mahommed distinctly denied. Now, let us weigh these words of Paul, " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha" (1 Cor. xvi. 22) ; and then these words of Jesus, " He that hateth me, hateth my Father also" (John xv. 23 ; TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 297 see also Matt. xxv. 31, 46). Mahommedans hate Christ; yet the East India Company would keep from them that know- ledge of Him which might change their views and avert their doom. They have murdered women and children, with nameless barbarities ; yet no servant of the Company must speak to them of Him who would make them if they believed Him, as pure and gentle as they are now licentious and savage. Hindoos, too, are forbidden to know of Him. Of them God has said, in His Word: — "Be not deceived: neither fornicators nor idolaters . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10); "Murderers, and whoremongers, and idolaters shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Eev. xxi. 8). Yet they must not hear of Him who would save them from idolatry. Their characters are formed by belief in cruel and filthy gods, by the teaching of licentious Brah- mins, by obscene orgies, by Shasters full of pollution; yet they must not hear of the holy and benevolent Saviour, faith in whom would transform their characters. Crushed, pauperised, demoralised, and rendered miserable, by super- stition, caste, and custom, they would be set free from all their chains by faith in Him; but the Directors will not have them hear of Him through their servants. Millions of poor women, now rendered wretched by infant marriage, polygamy, capricious divorces, and prohibition of second marriage, would be raised to the dignity of Chris- tian women, enjoy the affection of their husbands and the respect of their children, did they believe in Him ; but the East India Company, by forbidding them to hear of Him through their servants, orders them to live and die in their helpless sorrow and unmitigated degradation. The Directors inflict a great hardship and wrong upon their servants, who are willing to speak to the natives of Christ, when they make this obvious duty a crime. Whe- 298 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS ther they are civilians or soldiers, they have been saved by Jesus from hell and from sin. From Him they have re- ceived the free, full, and eternal pardon of their sins, with a change of heart, through which they abhor evil and culti- vate all excellence. Through Him they have become chil- dren of God (John i. 12; Gal. iii. 26), and are beloved of Him (John xiv. 21-23, xvi. 27). In them His Spirit dwells, to subdue every fault, to perpetuate their Christian prin- ciples, to perfect their whole character ; and, instead of being shut up with the damned in their prison, they will have eternal life in His presence ; when, being like Him in body and soul, they will reign with Him in kingly splendor, and share His supreme joy (Gal. iii. 12 ; John xiv. 1-3 ; 1 Thess. iv. 17; 1 Cor. xv. 48, 49; Phil. iii. 21; 1 John iii. 2, &c, &c.) •All this has been obtained for them through His volun- tary sufferings ; and these sufferings were the effect of His love to them, which, whether we consider the disparity be- tween Him and them, or the sins which He has forgiven, or the gifts which He has bestowed, or the sacrifices which He has made, or the sufferings which He has borne, is a love which passes knowledge (Eph. iii. 19). For Christians not to speak of such a deliverer and bene- factor would be base ingratitude. Martyrs have preached Him in their prisons, and praised Him at their stake. The best men who now adorn this world have obtained from Him all their excellence, and must devote to Him all their energies : and to bid such men never more to whisper the name of their Eedeemer and Saviour, their Benefactor and their best Friend, is doing violence to the best instincts of their generous natures, and is a flagrant insult to Him. They who offer Him this insult are His professed disciples, who own that He is their Lord and Saviour. They say He descended from heaven to save them; He died that they might live; He suffered that they might be happy; He TO PftOMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 299 pleads their cause with God, is witness of their conduct now, and will soon return to judge them; yet they make it a crime to speak of Him. Not one of them can reach heaven, or escape perdition, except through His merit and mediation ; yet they do Him this dishonor. Their servants are also His servants; yet they issue to them injunctions which are virtually as follow : — " You may say what you will of any one else, but you must never speak to the Hin- doos of Christ. The knowledge of Him may bring them eternal life, but it endangers our revenue; He bids you speak, but we forbid you ; and if you obey Him rather than us, leave our service. If you are immoral or incapable, we can pardon that; but if you preach Christ, whatever your virtue or capacities, we will never pass it by." He suffered much for them, and has offered them, if they trust Him, and take His yoke, a place in His kingdom, compared with which an earthly throne is a trifle ; yet they will not suffer one of their servants to speak of Him to the heathen. They call Him Master and Lord, but in this particular they serve Mahommed and Krishna better than Him. They know Him to be of right the Lord of India, yet will not own His claims; they know Him too, to be the only Saviour of India, but will not have the Hindoos saved by knowing Him; they own that God has given Him India for His inheritance, but they will keep Him out of His inheritance as long as they can. Often, as members of the Church of England, they pray, "Thy kingdom come;" and yet, as far as they can, they prevent its coming, by forbidding their servants to say a word about it, or to do anything to pro- mote it. This prohibition on the part of the Company appears to me cowardly, because it is dictated by fear; and hypocritical, because it places Hindooism and Mahommed- anism on a level with Christianity, which is contrary to their own belief. It dishonors Him whom they are bound supremely to honor; disobeys Him whom they ought unre- 300 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS servedly to obey; opposes His cause, which it should be the end of their lives to promote ; and injures a people whom they have been raised to their high positions to serve and to bless. Is this a course which a Government formed of professed Christians should pursue, or which a nation of professed Christians should sanction'? "We hold," says a very intelligent writer, "that the Government of India have no right whatever to interfere with the private missionary efforts of their highest officers, and that the natives have no cause to complain, so long as these efforts are not backed by the coercive power of the State "We absolutely deny the right of the State to prohibit any man, however high or humble his station, from doing his utmost to obtain, with the weapons of mind, victory for his own peculiar opinions. We give toleration to all creeds, and equal external power to all forms of be- lief. It is as competent to the Hindoo as to the European to battle with pen and tongue in defence of his faith ; and this claim of liberty, which is held to be undeniable in the case of the humblest, we cannot surely withhold from the highest in the State Upon these broad grounds, then, that the opposition offered to the growth of European thought is not rational, and that the State has no right whatever to proscribe the moral influence of truth, or even of error, if we may be pardoned the seeming paradox, we hold that the Hindoos have no just ground of complaint when the peaceable subversion of their religion is contem- plated; and that the officers of Government are entitled to exert themselves to promote missionary objects, on all occasions, in their private capacity. As servants of the State, they are bound to protect all; but as heirs of im- mortality, they are bound to enlighten all The priests and teachers of the Hindoos regards us with a feel- ing which is not to be conciliated by any act of apostasy on the part of our rulers. They care nothing about the TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 301 subscriptions of the Governor-General in aid of religious societies, or the preaching of the gospel. It is our civilisa- tion, and not our Christianity, that they dread; not the doctrine that the Saviour died for all men, but the teaching of the fact that the earth is round. Banish on the morrow all who take an interest in the spread of the glad tidings, pull down the pulpits and scatter the congregations, and so long as a school remained open, or a Hindoo child recol- lected the first lessons in geography, we should fail to satisfy them."* No doubt Lord Ellenborough, and those who think with him, mean, by this prohibition, to promote the welfare of India, and to uphold the British dominion; but it will have just the opposite effect. If none of the servants of the Government, either civilians or soldiers, may promote the knowledge of Christ in their respective spheres of action, this will withdraw from the service of Christ the largest body in India of men capable of serving Him; and will render to idolatry such a support as would be rendered now to the mutiny, if all the forces of Sir Colin Campbell were to be withdrawn from Eohilcund and Oude, leaving only a few civilians to carry on the war. Mahommedanism and Hindooism are cruel and licentious systems, which ruin their adherents for this world as well as for eternity — especially crushing the working classes, and debasing women; yet these fatal superstitions the East India Government are called by Lord Ellenborough and the Directors to uphold, by forbidding civilians or soldiers to speak to the heathen of Christ. If they trust to the pro- gress of European knowledge to destroy these systems, they must remember that this, in the absence of Christianity, will make but slow progress among the masses ; and, how- ever excellent it may be in conjunction with Christian principles, in their absence it has been proved to make the * Mead's Sepoy Revolt, pp. 250-252. 302 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS young Hindoos throw off the restraints even of their super- stition, and in Asiatic lawlessness to plunge into all the excesses which, not less than idolatry itself, render men in- capable of the bliss of heaven. If, on the contrary, all who are religious men among the servants of the Government have full liberty to pro- mote the gospel according to their ability, their Christian endeavours would give honor to Jesus Christ through- out India, would warn both Mahommedans and Hin- doos of their danger, would make them acquainted with the way of salvation, would save many, and while they leave civilisation to demolish superstition, would substitute for exploded delusions the elevating and ennobling prin- ciples of truth. On the other hand, we can think no means more effectual to strengthen and perpetuate British domi- nion in India than to fill the country with Christian men, and to give them complete liberty in promoting Chris- tianity. As long as silence is imposed upon them, the Hindoos, who cannot think it betokens any real respect for their idolatry, must ascribe it to fear. And to proclaim our fear of rebellion is to tempt them to rebel. Besides, if a respect is expressed for their idols, which they know is not felt, must not this habitual deception prepare them to be- lieve that the Government will deceive them in other ways, and by greased cartridges, or by any other General Order, endeavour to destroy their caste, and to subvert their reli- gion? On the contrary, if soldiers and civilians are permitted to speak of Christ, and if many of them do so, this will tend to raise the character of both, by calling them to dis- charge new duties to Christ and to their fellow-creatures, will make them better men, and secure the esteem even of the heathen. The natives, accustomed to see Christians — from the Governor-General to the common soldier — per- suading them to examine the gospel for themselves, without TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 303 intimidation on the one hand, or bribery on the other, will lay aside all their fears of being either forced or tricked into Christianity. Meanwhile, this army of unpaid evangelists, acting on the whole country day by day, will doubtless turn many to a purer faith. All of these will necessarily become firm supporters of British power; because, being separated for ever from the heathen, who would despise them as Pariahs, and would, if dominant, crush them as outlaws, they will see their ruin in the re-establishment of a native sovereignty, and their safety, honor, and happiness in the pre-eminence of the British. Twenty millions of such allies, united to us by faith and European habits of thought, would be a rock upon which all future floods of Mahommedan and Hindoo violence would be shivered, and our bold of India would be as firm as it is now precarious. The experiment has been made. Christian men, against the traditional policy, have promoted Christianity, without any evil effects whatever. Mr Thomason combined a very hearty zeal for the promotion of the cause of Christ, mani- fested by contributions to particular missions, and friend- ship for Christian missionaries, with so wise and just an administration of the North-western Provinces, that the East India Government became more popular in those pro- vinces, though newly acquired, and with an inflammable population, than it was, or is, in Bengal. In no degree whatever was this sepoy mutiny attributable or attributed to his reforms; and though the Mahommedan population of those provinces have sustained the mutineers, it will be found in the end, I doubt not, that his administration, with that of his successor Mr Colvin, has prevented a military mutiny from becoming throughout all Northern India a na- tional rebellion. Others, no less worthy of our respect and admiration — such as the brave and good Sir Henry Law- rence — have served their Eedeemer as faithfully as they 304 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS have served their Queen. Sir John Lawrence, Mr Mont- gomery, Colonel Edwardes, and others, are men of the same mould, who, while they have done their country good ser- vice, have never been ashamed of their religion; from whose wise combination of duty to Christ and of duty to their Government, nothing has resulted but respect for the Eng- lish character and strength to the British Government. If these men, the strength and glory of their country, are to be frowned upon by the traditionary policy, because they avow their faith in Christ, and obey His commands, that policy will be a disgrace to the nation. Since some allege, with Sir J. Metcalfe, that the diffusion of Christ's religion will be best left to the missionaries, let us consider the facts. That those excellent men have done much for the glory of God and the good of the Hindoos, no one can deny who recollects that, in their missionary sta- tions, a hundred thousand at this day, who have renounced idolatry, testify to their zeal and success; but the whole number of these good men, in the whole of British India, was in 1852 only 335 — which is less than one to every three hundred thousand of the population of British India.* Can any man, who knows the enslaving nature of Brahminism, and the contempt which is felt by Hindoos towards all who are without caste, imagine that one mis- sionary to three hundred thousand is a supply, in a climate so fatal to European constitutions, adequate to the task of converting India to Christ % Now, the Christians in other employments are many. Including British officers, there are probably five servants of the Government to one mis- sionary; and, if all these may speak of Christ freely to the natives, how much more rapidly would the Christian religion spread among the people ! Missionaries, moreover, are very unequally distributed over the country, leaving populous districts without any * Mullens, p. 15. TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. ■ 305' Christian instructor : — " In Bengal there are upwards of nineteen millions and a quarter of people among whom no missionary is found ; and the case is the same among more than twelve millions and a quarter in the North- west Provinces."* Such districts as the following have no missionaries at all: — Poorneah, with 1,600,000; Eungpore, With 2,959,000; Mymensing, with 1,487,000; Behar, with 2,500,000 ; Tipperah, with 1,406,950. Eohilcund has no missionary, and the kingdom of Oude has none. But the collection of the revenue, the administration of justice, and the protection of the people, require that officers and civi- lians should be everywhere. If a Christian soldier or civil servant may not speak of Christ, there are millions of Hin- doos who will be deprived of the only Christian voice which will ever reach their ears. It must be also remembered, that the Hindoos are much more than Englishmen swayed by the sight of power. Mis- sionaries are poor, with no political influence and no worldly patronage ; and, whatever spiritual -advantage the cause of Christ in India may derive from this fact, as it did in the days of Christ himself, one effect is, as it was then, that few of the rich will even listen to it. I am far from despising poor converts, believing that it will be the glory of Christ to conquer India by the Shoodras and Pariahs, as He did the Roman empire by Galilean fishermen and their poor companions; but still this is most disadvantageous to the richer classes, to whom officers and civilians in high station might most usefully introduce the Bible and other Chris- tian books. And there is one other important considera- tion. Missionaries who have no private fortune ought to be sustained by the zeal of their brethren at home; and the least that the Christian Churches can do is to support them in comfort amidst their heavy labors in an exhausting cli- * " Brief Notes of Missionary Operations." Behar in Bengal must not be confounded with the province of Behar. U 306 DITTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS mate. Their salaries are sometimes too small, rather than too great ; and probably many missionaries have lost their health under that burning sky from want of those comforts through which opulent civilians have maintained theirs. Still they are paid ; and to a people who have no idea either of zeal for religion or charity to strangers, but who have an intense love for rupees, the thought must con- tinually present itself, that these men preach because they are paid for it. Vulgar minds can find no better motives for ministers at home; and Hindoos are much more ready than Englishmen in general to believe that the love of money is the great if not the only motive-power in society. How much must this error be confirmed by their seeing that no Christians preach Christ except those who are paid for it ! If civilians and officers, who have much leisure, many opportunities, and great influence, are as mute as if Krishna were God, and as if Christ were an impostor, the Hindoos must conclude that they have no faith in Him; but if they speak of Him, and seek to save their neigh- bours, the most sordid men must see that they do really trust Him. Undoubtedly missionaries have this great ad- vantage as Christian teachers over the servants of the Government, that no worldly employments divert their minds from their great business ; and one such man, heartily devoted to his work, could do more than ten men, of equal abilities, who have only such fragments of time to devote to the instruction of their neighbours as they can save from their secular employments ; but the hands of a missionary must be materially strengthened by the co-operation of Christian men in either the army or the civil service, and equally weakened if those men altogether withhold their aid. From these considerations, it is evident that if the East India Directors, or the Home Government, persevere, ac- cording to the despatch of 1847, to prohibit their servants TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 307 to aid the cause of Christ, they give up India to heathenisnl for a long period to come. What can three hundred and thirty-five men do for one hundred and thirty millions of heathen 1 The despatch leaves them alone to teach in foreign tongues several large nations, spread over a vast continent, exceedingly debased by superstition, and absolutely enslaved by caste, in a climate destructive to European life, condemning some thousands of other Christians to silence. By allowing one regiment alone to carry on the Christian war, disarming all he rest of the army, it gives over the millions of Hindoos to a fatal superstition for many years. Every European of station and influence in India, who does not promote the cause of Christ by his purse and his pen, hinders it; because he makes the natives believe that Christians care nothing about Christ. When rich natives, who feed and support their Brahmins, enrich their temples, and countenance with zealous assiduity the popular ido- latry, see Europeans as rich as themselves do nothing to make Christ known to them, they must conclude that, in the opinion of these Europeans, He is worthy of no respect, and that they are as safe without faith in Him as with it. This despatch, which there is reason to fear Lord Ellen- borough, with dictatorial powers, will enforce to the utter- most, will become a standing evidence to all British India that Christians care nothing for Christ — a permanent ob- stacle to the cause of truth and righteousness. For what is this crime against Jesus Christ our Lord committed \ The only reason assigned is, that the Govern- ment is identified with its officers in the eyes of the natives. Were this true, what evil would result from the zeal of any public man % If the Government did preach Christ with- out taxing the country for it, the Hindoos would not resent it. Few, if any, in the course of this mutiny, have com- plained of any efforts by any persons to preach Christ. 308 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS That to which they have limited their complaint, is the at- tempt by Government to destroy their caste by authority or by fraud. The greased cartridges stirred their wrath, because by eating bullocks' fat they would lose their caste, and because they believed that Government wished to force them to that act by military discipline. But of the preach- ing by missionaries, or of subscriptions to missionary socie- ties, whether by the Governor-General, or by any servants of the Government, they have not shown the slightest jealousy. The mutiny was a protest against coercion, but nothing else. And there is no proof, that if the British Government were to send forth one thousand missionaries sustained by British funds, they would feel the slightest fear or anger. The loss of caste by coercion or fraud being the single dread of the natives, how could any imaginable zeal of in- dividuals frighten them 1 If officers or civilians speak of Christ to natives, or give their money to Christian preachers, it would rather quiet their fears than rouse them. Even were they supposed to do this by the authority of Govern- ment, it would show them that the Government repudiates all measures of coercion. These acts of Government, fol- lowed by no persecuting law, sustained by no taxation, accompanied by no rewards to the converted, inflicting no penalties upon the indifferent, and leaving all men perfectly free to believe in Christ or reject His claims, would manifest with overwhelming evidence that the Government did not intend to employ any measures of fraud or of force ; and would quiet the fears of zealous Hindoos all over India. If the acts of officials did appear to the natives, according to the despatch, as the acts of the Government, they would be perfectly content with this manifestation of its Christian zeal ; and they would be convinced by it that their faith is secure against all tyrannical assaults. But, in truth, this identity of the acts of individuals with the acts of Govern- TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY. 309 ment is visionary. The acts of Government are the enact- ment of laws, the imposition of taxes, the maintenance of order by a police, the appeal in the last resort to arms ; but when individuals promote the gospel of Christ, there is no- thing of all this governmental action. They are supported by no persecuting laws ; their contributions are out of their own hard-earned salaries ; no police attends their Christian ministrations ; no armed force is ready to give effect to their preaching. The educated Hindoos are not such fools as to be unable to distinguish between the acts of a Government and the private acts of individuals, even if the individual be a Governor-General. Reasonably they may object to be taxed for the promo- tion of a doctrine which they deny, or to be prevented by military violence from worshipping gods whom they adore; but when an individual, however high in office, either spends his own money, or uses his own faculties to preach the claims of God and the Saviour, they neither have a right to complain, nor have they complained in fact. Christian men, who serve their country with zeal and capacity, are not to be compelled to dishonor their Redeemer by silence, merely to allay a visionary fear in the Directors or in the Home Government. Men like Sir Henry Lawrence or General Havelock, of talent, resolution, and industry, are invaluable to the country ; but if the only condition upon which they are to be placed in positions of responsibility is that they dishonor Christ by doing nothing for Him, they will forego dignity, wealth, and distinction, rather than so sin against Him. Those high in office may frame despatches, or make general orders, depriving Christian men of their dearest rights, and prohibiting their most sacred duties, but Christians cannot accept the prohibition ; and if any Secre- tary for India, in days to come, misled by a mere phantom, should drive from the service of the country such men as Lawrence and Havelock merely for serving Christ, and ad- 310 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS, ETC. vance into their offices men who either endanger our empire by their weakness, or disgrace it by their vices, no language could be too strong to condemn his unchristian and unpa- triotic conduct. Eeal Christians, who would not for any bribe consent to abandon their paramount duty to Christ, are in every way the best supporters of the British rule in India : and the policy which should exclude them from the offices which they would fill better than all others, would deserve the most absolute and universal reprobation. The conjunction of this despatch of 1847 with the acces- sion of Lord Ellenborough to the dictatorship of India, may well excite the fears of all who wish to see India enlightened and blessed by the gospel. Let us hope, however, that re- cent events have not been thrown away upon him. If they teach anything, they teach us this, that a policy marked by timid subservience to idolatry brings the very evil which it is adopted to avoid ; while an open profession of faith in Christ, both in Government and its servants, is as safe as it is right. If the Government, abstaining from all governmental action in favor of Christianity, allows the most unre- strained liberty of conscience, securing a pure administra- tion of justice, keeps down taxation as far as is consistent with an efficient administration of the country, promotes in every way the comfort of the people, and rules with perfect equity, they need have no fear either for our rule or for our revenue, though all their servants, civil and military, should preach Christ themselves, or spend half their incomes in enabling others to preach Him. II. ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN INDIA. All practical men are agreed that the East India Govern- ment must not attempt to extort money from the Hindoos to subvert their own faith. To make idolaters, against their will, support bishops and parochial ministers to overthrow superstitions which they venerate, on pain of being fined, distrained upon, or imprisoned should they refuse, would be to exasperate them against Christianity, not to attract them to it, and to make them blaspheme the name of Him whom we wish them to adore. Whatever is done to convert them, must be done by the zeal of the disciples of Christ. Besides the force of Christian example, and the influence of good government, there are three principal modes by which we may seek their conversion — missionary preaching, the establishment of schools, and the distribution of books. Let us consider what may be done by each of these. INDIA MISSIONS. It is singular that the progress of events has led the greatest enemies of missions to be most strenuous in advo- cating them. The East India Government, with the Court of Directors, have in past years directly opposed them; but now that a timid and unchristian policy of countenancing idolatry has nearly proved the ruin of our dominion in India, the East India Company, called by public opinion to a more Christian course, appeals to the labors of mission- aries as the one legitimate mode by which we may seek 312 ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. the conversion of natives in harmony with their traditionary policy of non-interference. Still withholding all sanction to their labors, and forbidding their civil and military servants to aid them, they yet recognise that their efforts • are safe and useful. Recent experience has demonstrated that, instead of exasperating the natives into rebellion, they have obtained the confidence of many, and the respect of almost all. By patient painstaking they have lived down calumny, and have converted their detractors into eulogists. At the commencement of the year 1852, there were in India, exclusive of ordained natives, 335 missionaries in 258 missionary stations.* The labors of missionaries are various. First they learn the vernacular languages of India ; which, to be effective evangelists, they must speak and write with accuracy, fluency, and force. That labor achieved, they superintend the native churches and congregations, preach the gospel in the vernacular to their Christian congregations, and to the heathen in the bazaars and other public places of the stations; visit the villages of a given circuit round their stations ; attend the great festivals and fairs which attract natives from every part of India ; and take long tours, preaching in the market- places of all the large towns through which they pass. Some have visited the natives from house to house, in towns or villages, to speak to them of Christ. In the stations generally churches have been formed, and schools both for boys and girls have been established, which they superin- tend; and some of them have established English schools, in which the pupils receive a complete European education, fitting them for important situations afterwards. Some of them have been laborious and successful translators of the Scriptures; and some have written and published in the vernacular languages elementary books, both scientific and religious. * Mullens, pp. 15, 18. ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 313 The following figures, extracted from the work of Mr Mullens, will show, in some degree, the extent of their operations and the measure of their success : — In 1852 there were in India and Ceylon — 112,191 Native Christians. 331 Native churches. 18,410 Communicants. 698 Native catechists. 48 Native pastors. 1,347 Vernacular day-schools for boys. 47,504 Boys. 93 Boarding-schools for boys. 2,414 Christian boys. 126 Superior English day-schools. 14,562 Young men and boys. 347 Day-schools for girls. 11,519 Girls. 102 Boarding-schools for girls. 2,779 Christian girls. These results are enough to prove that Hindoos and Mahommedans may be converted and saved in numbers, if we persevere in the effort. Let the reader bear in mind the difficulties and obstacles of all kinds which missionaries have had to surmount. When they first began to preach there were no Bibles in the Indian languages, nor any Christian books; they were themselves disliked and sus- pected, not only by Government, but by the British com- munity in India; and, therefore, alone they had to strive against the vices and prejudices of millions, who were re- duced by a vile superstition to great depravity. The vicious character of the gods, the polluting legends of their Shasters, and the undisguised depravity of many of the Brahmins, had almost effaced conscience among the working classes of India, while caste opposed still more powerful barriers to their reception of the gospel than either their 314 ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. natural irreligion or the vices which heathenism had super- induced. Most important worldly interests summoned the Brahmins to eternal war with a religion which, by making all men naturally equal, destroyed their lucrative preroga- tives, and offered Pariahs whom they despised privileges of every kind equal to their own. The lower castes, who should have welcomed a doctrine which elevated and pro- tected them, were held by an abject superstition in so much fear of the outlawry to which they must be doomed by adopting the Christian doctrine, that they shut their ears to it. According to Hindoo law, which was upheld by the British Government, all classes by becoming Christians lost their property; and, what was nearly as menacing, all who became followers of Christ were on that account ex- cluded from all employment by their Christian rulers, or cast out of their service if they were already employed. The whole British community, instead of aiding missions, opposed them. The Government paid, and pays still, large sums for the support of idol and Mahommedan worship Some Governors are said to have contributed to the idol temples, while they refused all aid to those who preached Christ. No preaching was allowed within the lines of native regiments, so that the sepoys were kept in entire ignorance of the gospel; chaplains were discouraged from preaching the gospel to the natives; and so late as 1847, orders were directed by the Court of Directors to be issued to all the Com- pany's servants, civil and military, not to aid missionaries. The sermons which were preached against Christianity by the bad examples of many of the Europeans, were more influential than those which the most zealous missionaries were able to preach on its behalf; and zemindars who were resolved to hinder the spread of religion on their pro- perties by violent injustice towards native Christians, have been aided and sustained by European judges, like Mr Kemp of Backergunge. ON CHEISTIAH MISSIONS. 315 Yet, notwithstanding these discouragements, the servants of Jesus Christ, after patiently laboring in faith, have gathered in these first-fruits, which promise a large harvest. Hundreds of converted Hindoos have lived pious lives and died in faith ; children have been converted in schools, and grown up to be consistent Christians; Brahmins have laid aside their position and their pride to be lowly followers of Christ, as Krishna Mohun Banergee, and Nainsukh; baboos have consecrated their property to the service of Christ, whom they had reviled, as that man who gave to the London Mission its chapel at Eammakal-choke; zemin- dars, like Naraput, have exchanged wealth for poverty, and having lost all their possessions for Christ's sake, have faithfully preached Him till death. Happy Christian mar- riages have in many instances shown to Hindoo women how the gospel will raise their condition, if it is ever re- ceived in their country; and thousands of children have received a Christian education, which will still bear fruit. One instance, among many, may serve to show how useful these discountenanced servants of Christ have already been. At Chittaura, near Agra, Mr Smith has formed a Christian village, in which many families, outcasts for their faith, maintain themselves by the produce of sixty looms, which he has introduced. The habits of caste having been aban- doned, the women are companions, not slaves, of their husbands. All are decently clothed; the earnings of their looms being exchanged for English goods, which are much in fashion among them. There are no child-marriages, but young women marry the men of their own choice ; and widows, too, have been married a second time. All the children of the village attend the day and Sunday schools; and the whole population consecrates the Lord's day to spiritual employments. Images have disappeared from the neighbouring villages; places where Mr Smith has been hooted, and the native evangelists pelted with stones, now 316 ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. invite their visits; and Mr Smith is incessantly asked by the heathen villagers to help them in their troubles, or to settle their disputes. But as it is evident that every village in India cannot have its European pastor, the next step in the progress of missions must be, that the native converts shall, with the advice of the European missionaries, select and support their own pastors, institute their own discipline, and main- tain their own schools; while the missionaries, like the Apostle Paul, may exercise a general superintendence, and, with the aid of native evangelists, extend the knowledge of Christ in India by preaching to the heathen.* In two instances at least missionaries from the "West are now following the footsteps of Paul in this matter. Mr Trotter, at Sierra Leone, has under his care about twelve African churches, with more than fourteen hundred mem- bers; in all of which there are native elders and teachers, who look up to him for counsel and instruction^ A similar office is held by the American missionaries among the Karens, in Pegu. Twenty years ago, there was no written language among that people; now, they have their Bibles, hymn-books, and Christian tracts, and thousands of them have learned to read. In the province of Tounghoo, the people in 1854 knew nothing of Christ; in 1857 there were many Christians among them. In the Bhai district, there were 45 preaching stations, 20 churches, and 1216 members; 316 were baptized as believers, in the year 1856; and there were 688 children in the schools. In the Paku and Mannie* Phga districts, there were 50 stations. Thus in Tounghoo there were in 1857, 95 schools in 95 villages, and 95 preachers and teachers — all, except 10, converted within three years : these are under the care of three ener- getic native preachers — Sau Quala, Shapau, and Pwaipau. * See Acts xxvi. 16-20 ; Eom. xv. 18-20 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14, xi. 23-27 ; Acts xiv. 23, xviii. 23 ; 2 Cor. xi. 28. + See the Harbinger, 1857. ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 317 In all the villages the congregations support their pastors, who are better clothed and live in better houses than the others. They have paid 1000 rupees for books, and sub- scribed 564 rupees for a home mission; they have a supe- rior school for the instruction of native preachers ; and some of their young men are going as missionaries to the Karen tribes of the interior. In Pegu, the number of those who have been baptized as believers in Jesus Christ is above ten thousand, who are members of the Karen churches ; and in connexion with them are about forty thousand, who are regularly under Christian instruction. Over these churches, which are self-supported and self-governed, with their own pastors and teachers, the American missionaries exercise such a friendly superintendence as their Karen brethren joyfully concede to their superior wisdom and their larger experience.* Something like this plan is visible in the larger missionary stations of South India; and it is to be hoped that the multiplication of Hindoo converts will soon render it necessary in Bengal and throughout the empire. Many of the obstacles which I have been obliged to notice have now been either removed or diminished. The morals of the British community have been much raised. Many military officers and civilians have been men as remarkable for their piety as for their talent and energy; some, like the late excellent Lieutenant-Governor of the North-west Provinces (Mr Thomason), and the admirable Sir Henry Lawrence, rendered effective aid to missionaries. The Company, though, from a mistaken policy, it still en- deavours to hinder its servants from aiding them, has ceased to be hostile. Two important acts of justice have been rendered to native Christians: the law which sentenced a native Christian to lose his paternal inheritance, is abo- lished; and, by express act of the British Parliament, all men are eligible to employment under Government accord- * God's Work among the Karens. Calcutta : Sanders & Co., Loll Bazaar. 318 ON CHEIST1AN MISSIONS. ing to their merits, without respect of color, caste, or creed. At length, too, practice has begun to follow law; for, since the mutiny has left many places destitute of the natural defenders of order, the police having joined the mutineers, Government has in some instances, as at Barisal and Benares, enrolled Christians in its police corps; and the Commissioner of the Punjaub has, in a manner becoming his high reputation for sense, energy, and principle, an- nounced, through Mr Montgomery, his readiness to receive in future well-qualified Christian candidates into Govern- ment offices in common with all others. At the present time, therefore, the missionaries, having gained the confidence of many of the natives, and being protected by the Government, can preach through a great part of India. Hundreds listen to them wherever they preach; Brahmins do not now cavil and rail as they used to do, or, when they do so, are not sustained by the crowd ; a hundred millions of our fellow -subjects, corrupted by their vicious superstitions, crushed by caste, immoral and unhappy, are willing to hear the ministers of Christ; and now, when victory has everywhere crowned the valor of English soldiers, and given to Hindoos the impression of our irresistible power, they must listen with more interest than before to the doctrine of their conquerors. Now, after that the most powerful Mahommedan murderers have ex- piated their crimes by a public execution, and rebel Bajahs have been blown away from British guns, vainly calling upon Kali to exterminate the Europeans, without the ex- ception of women and children — now, after that the highest caste has not been able to protect criminals from the most ignominious punishments, is a time especially propitious to call the Shoodra classes to the liberty of the gospel. But a glance at the figures above given will show how utterly inadequate the missionary body in India is to make the most of this great opportunity. At this moment, the ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 319 Hindoos ought to see not only larger numbers of troops landing from the mysterious West, to render insurrection hopeless, hut larger numbers of teachers, to show them that the doctrine of Christ, which they hoped to extinguish, rises, after their murderous blows, more energetic than before. What an impression would be produced on the consciences of many if they saw that twice the number of men devoted to their salvation, and to the honor of the Redeemer, followed their prayers to Mahommed and to their idolatrous gods, that all Christian teachers might be exterminated ! The whole number of such teachers which this great country furnishes for a hundred and thirty mil- lions of our fellow-subjects — who insult God, neglect the Redeemer, are careless of salvation, and, as recent events show, are made by their superstitions cruel and licentious — is lamentably small. When we subtract the number sent from the United States and from the Continent of Europe, with the number in Ceylon, and the forty-eight native pastors, it is not more than three hundred ! All now tell us, that if India is to be converted, missionaries must convert it. Government, though protecting them, is unwilling that its servants should take part in the work. Upon them alone devolves this necessary task; and yet all that the prodigious wealth of this country can spare towards it is the support of three hundred missionaries ! There are in this island twenty millions, who say that they have been redeemed by Jesus Christ from hell — that to Him alone they owe their hope of salvation — that without Him they would be undone — and through Him they hope to be happy for ever; yet all that they will do to bring India to know Him is almost nothing. Although their treasures are uncounted — though they could furnish fifty millions of money to the late war with Russia almost without feeling it, and spend many millions annually on ardent spirits, tobacco, theatres, races, balls, and field-sports — all that they will do to save a 320 ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. continent of idolaters from ruin, by leading them to the Saviour, is to send three hundred men to teach them. Millions of Englishmen, professing to be saved from hell by the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and to hope for heaven through His power and love, "will waste millions of money upon questionable pleasures, and will spare nothing to make Him known to their idolatrous fellow -subjects. About £200,000, indeed, is annually raised to maintain 443 missionaries in India and Ceylon; but this sum is not all raised by Englishmen. £30,000 is given by Europeans in India; leaving £170,000 as the sum raised elsewhere. Part of this sum is contributed by German Christians, a larger part by Christians in the United States, and the remainder by Englishmen. That remainder — perhaps £150,000 — is given by those few Christians who, while they sustain a large number of benevolent works at home, are also de- sirous of the salvation of the heathen. Some hundreds of thousands subscribe for India about £150,000; and many millions, possessed of much more wealth, will do nothing for His cause. This number of missionaries is inadequate. Nearly one-third the whole number now laboring in India are employed in the five cities of Calcutta, Benares, Agra, Madras, and Bombay. Calcutta has twenty-nine ; Benares, ten; Agra, twelve; Madras, thirty-two; and Bombay, thir- teen. Ninety-six expended upon five cities, leaves only about two hundred for nearly a hundred and thirty mil- lions, spread over a country which is eighteen hundred miles in length and thirteen hundred in breadth. If, there- fore, British India contains two millions of square miles, and one hundred and thirty millions of inhabitants outside the five cities, then this country, aided by the Continent and the United States, furnishes, including forty-eight na- tive pastors, about three hundred missionaries to a hundred and thirty millions, and to two millions of square miles; that is, one missionary to every four hundred thousand of ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 321 the people, occupying six thousand square miles. Some of these missionaries — as Mr Joannes at Chittagong, Mr Wil- liamson of Beerbhoom, Mr Kalbern at Patna, Mr Smith at Chittoura, Mr Evans at Muttra — are laboring alone among overwhelming populations. What can one missionary do for a large heathen popula- tion? The language is to be learned — the knowledge of the people and of their superstitions is to be obtained — their confidence must be slowly secured — the gospel must be preached at the station, to villages all round it, at fairs and festivals, and to towns far off — the Christian congrega- tion must be nursed— schools must be established — native teachers must be trained, and books must be written — and native Christians must be defended against zemindars. The climate is murderous — the toil of twenty years is enough to wear down the strongest constitution — and then, at the death or departure of the solitary missionary, the work must be begun again, with all the disadvantages arising from declensions, mistakes, quarrels, and defections, which have taken place when the sheep have been left for months, and perhaps for years, without a shepherd. Not less than forty of these stations, with single mission- aries, have been given up, and almost all the labor and expense bestowed upon them have been lost. Among these I may mention Delhi, Allahabad, Patna, Midnapore, Kur- naL Meerut, and Bareilly. At the same time, vast populations neither have nor ever had a single missionary. In Bengal and Behar eighteen mil- lions never hear the gospel; Bajpootana, Oude, Bundelkund, the Nerbudda Valley, and the large state of Hyderabad, with fifty millions, have no missionaries ;* and not far from Cal- cutta, Midnapore, with 1,360,000 inhabitants — Poorneah, with 1,961,000 inhabitants — and the district of Behar in Bengal, with 2,500,000, have none.t Never were additional * Mullens, pp. 51, 57, 58. f Missionary Conference, p. 193. X 322 ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. missionaries so much needed as now. We owe reinforce- ments to those good men who have won the esteem even of the heathen by their self-denying labors, and who are now tasked beyond their strength. Many of the heathen would be much impressed could they see a second num- ber of Christian teachers zealously at work immediately after their conspiracy to murder all the Christians in the land. Caste, too, has received a great blow from the punishment of so many offenders of high caste, and will be still more weakened if it shall be no more recognised either in the army or in Government offices. The very enmity to the natives which strife has engendered requires new missionary efforts: first, that the attention of the European community may be turned to the duty of loving and serving the heathen; and secondly, that the heathen may be convinced, through the benevolent language and actions of new missionaries, that they are not hated by their conquerors. Now, also, when offices are opening to Christians — when Christian men are, or will be, wanted as clerks, policemen, soldiers, and still more as schoolmasters — is the time to make strenuous efforts to teach and enlighten those who have already received the gospel, or are willing to hear it. Three hundred additional mis- sionaries for India would materially strengthen every department of labor, and give fresh impulse to native Christian churches, to evangelistic itinerancy, to the for- mation of a vernacular literature, and to English mis- sionary schools. Let us imagine that within another year three hundred missionaries were to begin their labors in India according to the following distribution : — In Bengal, eighty ; in Oude, twenty ; in Rohilcund, twenty ; in the North-western Provinces, sixty; in the Punjaub, twenty; in the Madras Presidency, fifty; in the Bombay Presidency, thirty; and in the allied states, twenty: would not this attract the ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 323 attention of all classes of Hindoos strongly to the subject of Christian doctrine? To a country which adds about a hundred millions to its capital in one year, this cannot seem a large expendi- ture, if men in general can be led to see, like Paul, that they are debtors to the heathen because they are debtors to Jesus (Eom. i. 14). Three hundred additional married missionaries might occasion an additional expenditure of £120,000. If all who praise the labors of missionaries — ministers of state, East India directors, great capitalists, rich noblemen, and rich commoners — would join to render to God their benefactor, and to Jesus their Eedeemer, a very small ser- vice, to save our idolatrous fellow-subjects, £120,000 would be raised annually without their feeling it. Let us imagine that sum distributed as follows : — 10 at £1000 t t-year would raise £10,000 20 at 500 ... 10,000 50 at 200 ... ... 10,000 100 at 100 , . 10,000 200 at 50 ... 10,000 500 at 20 ... ... • 10,000 1000 at 10 ... ... 10,000 2000 at 5 ... 10,000 10,000 at 1 ... 10,000 20,000 at 0, 10s, 10,000 40,000 at o, 5s. 10,000 200,000 at o, Is, 10,000 Total £120,000 Could not this be done without the contributors with- drawing a single shilling from any other benevolent object, and at the same time without sacrificing themselves any one of the comforts which God in his providence has given them? If my fellow-countrymen in general did but know and re- 324 ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. member that they are the servants of Christ, that they hold all they possess as His stewards, and "will soon account for all to Him as their Judge, vastly larger sums than these would be subtracted from theatres, races, balls, luxurious living, expensive dress, useless ostentation, and more useless accumulation, to promote the worship of God, and the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the earth; and India, so im- mense, so degraded, so accessible, so improveable, and so closely connected with us, would receive more than its ad- ditional £120,000 annually from the overflowings of their grateful charity.* * See Appendix H. HI. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN INDIA. Missionaries in India give their chief attention to preach- ing the gospel in the vernacular languages : and God has blessed their labors. Thus many poor men of the lower castes, with some Brahmins, have become disciples of Christ ; and their conversion has become the means of spreading a know- ledge of Christ in various ways. Women, in Bengal espe- cially, are to a great extent inaccessible to the preaching of the gospel, because, except at the melas, they will not at- tend any congregations composed of men ; nor can mission- aries visit them in their houses. Still we find that in all the missionary churches there are many women as well as men among the members. When a poor man, who is the head of a family, is converted, his wife is very likely to fol- low him, even though he become an outcast. Konai Das, a villager, near Piplee, in Orissa, having obtained faith in Christ, determined to join the Christians, whether his wife would accompany him or not. When, at his request, the Eu- ropean judge at Cuttack summoned his wife and children to the village of Barnpore to learn from her whether she would live with him or not, she positively refused to accompany him ; and returned with her brother. But when, three days after, he, with his children, set off for Piplee, she could not help following him; and they are now comfortably settled at Piplee, where he works as a weaver."" Many wives who thus followed their husbands have been subsequently con- verted. The children of these native Christians being ga- • Report of the General Baptist Missionary Society, p. 30. 326 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. thered into Christian schools, some of the children of the heathen also are attracted to them. By degrees, native teachers are trained; and in their turn begin to preach to the people. In this manner the preaching of the gospel to the poor does by degrees affect all classes, and promotes the educa- tion of the young. But, on the other hand, the education of the children of India beyond the limits of missionary sta- tions may communicate a knowledge of the gospel to adults, and specially to women, beyond those limits. Missionary societies begin with preaching to men, and arrive at an education of many children ; on the other hand, educational societies, beginning with the instruction of children, may through them lead to a general diffusion of Christian know- ledge through the land. Could Christians educate all the children of British India, the whole land would, in the course of two or three genera- tions, renounce idolatry; for children brought up in Chris- tian schools almost invariably do so. We cannot educate all: but Christians may establish schools as patterns in every part of the land ; make the natives feel the necessity of education ; and perhaps, ere long, enable Government, by the voluntary aid of the people, to maintain good schools, commensurate with the wants of the whole population of British India. India, therefore, requires schools as well as missionaries. Missionary societies, formed for the preaching of the gos- pel, are slow to employ their funds upon the education of children, further than is necessary to educate the children of their native Christians. But greatly beyond these limits may heathen children be educated ; and the influence of such education upon the next generation in India may be most important. Heathen children, with parents who do not know how to instruct or train them, corrupted by the legends of their ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 327 gods, by the character of their priests, by the obscene wor- ship in which they take part, by the vicious practices of their neighbours, and by the example of their parents, ought to be viewed by us as orphans whom God calls us to save. From what evils we shall save as many as we can educate in the fear of God ! To the parents of Israel God once said of His holy laws — " These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart : and thou shalt teach them dili- gently unto thy children" (Deut. vi. 6, 7) ; "Therefore shall ye lay up these my ivords in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children" (Deut. xi. 18). God has further said by Solomon — "Train up a child in the way lie should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Prov. xxii. 6). Good habits and principles early imparted are rarely lost even to old age; and childhood is the time of all others most fitted to receive impressions of every kind. Our Lord, when His disciples were disposed to keep some little chil- dren from his presence, said — " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not : for of such is the king- dom of God. Verily I say unto you, Wliosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein " (Mark x. 14, 15). The kingdom of heaven belongs to all believers, who are, through grace, meek, docile, guile- less, obedient, and submissive as little children. Hence little children, who, by their weakness and dependence, have something of these tempers, are the most proper to be in- structed ; and are on these accounts dear to the disciples of Christ, as they were to Him. Hindoo little children differ not from those Jewish little children; and we should try to bring them to know Jesus by education, and ask Him to bless them. Since these children have no parents who can bring them up as Christian parents do their children, in Christian habits, 328 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. and in the knowledge of Christian truth — lv iraiSela ical vovQea-la Kvplov (Eph. vi. 4) — we should as much as possible come into the place of parents to them. And the Lord Jesus, who blessed those children at the humble desire of their friends, will not less favorably regard our efforts to bring them to Him. Of the greatness of this work, we are reminded by the numbers of our Indian fellow-subjects. If we take one- tenth only of the population as capable of elementary in- struction, this will give thirteen millions of young children to be instructed. At present, Bengal alone has eighty thousand village schools.""'' There are two ways of endeavouring to benefit this great population by education. The first is to educate the upper classes, and through them to influence the lower ; the se- cond is to educate the poor, and through them to influence the rich. Government, without intending to neglect the poor, have begun their educational labors by educating the rich. The missionaries generally, without meaning to neglect the rich, have begun by educating some of the poor. The last is, I think, the course that we should pursue. Christ and his apostles began the evangelisation of the world by the instruction of the poor. The rich, like Nana Sahib, when instructed, do not wish to convey any of their ad- vantages to the poor ; and the poor are too much crushed to help themselves. On this subject Mr Mead has made the following sensible remarks : — " The Court of Directors, in a letter to the Madras Government of the year 1833, ob- serve — ' The improvements in education which effectually contribute to elevate the moral and intellectual condition of a people, are those which concern the education of the higher classes, of those persons possessing leisure and in- fluence over the minds of their countrymen.' .... In another letter of the Court, quoted by Lord Auckland in * Eev. J. Long; Conference, p. 79. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 329 his minute of 24th November 1839, they observe — 'That, with a view to the moral and intellectual improvement of the people, the great primary object is the extension, among those who have leisure for advanced study, of the most com- plete education in our power. By raising the standard of instruction among these classes, we should eventually pro- duce a much greater and more beneficial change in the ideas and feelings of the community, than we can hope to produce by acting more directly on the more numerous masses/ We entirely concur in the objects sought to be obtained by the Court of Directors, but utterly deny the wisdom of the mode by which they seek to achieve them. Upon what grounds is it asserted that the best way to advance the moral and intellectual welfare of the people is to raise the standard of instruction amongst the higher classes 1 The history of the past affords no warranty for it 'If we can only inspire the love of knowledge in the minds of the superior classes, the results will be/ it is contended, ' a higher standard of morals in the cases of the individuals, a larger amount of affection for the British Government, and an unconquerable desire to spread amongst their own countrymen the intellectual blessings which they have re- ceived/ We have never heard of philosophy more benevo- lent — or more Utopian We ask the friends of Indian universities to favor us with a single example of the truth of their theory from the instances which have already fallen within the scope of their experience. They have educated many children of wealthy men, and have been the means of advancing very materially the worldly prospects of some of their pupils ; but what contribution have these made to the great work of regenerating their fellow-men 1 How have they begun to act upon the masses 1 Have any of them formed classes at their own houses, or elsewhere, for the instruction of their less fortunate, or less wise, countrymen \ Or have they kept their knowledge to 330 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. themselves, as a personal gift not to be soiled by contact with the ignorant vulgar \ Have they in any way shown themselves anxious to advance the general interests, and repay philanthropy with patriotism % .... In ten years a judicious scheme of national education would effect an almost entire revolution in the habits and conditions of the people. Instead of adapting instruction to the use of the higher classes, we would address it to the capacities and selfishness of the multitude. A board of competent persons should be formed in each Presidency, to whom ought to be confided the task of rendering into the vernacular languages the simplest forms of European knowledge. To the agri- culturists should be distributed tracts showing the best methods of increasing the riches of the soil. To the work- ers in metals and manufactures the most approved pro- cesses, of labour ought to be explained. Each trade and branch of industry should be furnished with the information best calculated to increase the worth of the various products of industry; and when it was once thoroughly understood that the land could be rendered more fertile, the sources of employment more abundant, and the general value of all articles greatly increased, we might easily depend upon the strength of the selfish impulse in urging forward the great work of improvement. Within the reach of all persons, and clothed in the very simplest garb, should be placed the knowledge which it most concerns them to obtain.* .... In no country in the world do class-interests and class-pre- judices obtain so much as in India; and it is the plain duty of a Government which is paid by all, and which exists nominally for the benefit of all, to bring to bear in their fullest force all the levelling principles of education. It should be the especial duty of our people to afford equal facilities to all ranks So far as eleemosynary aid extends, we would rather bestow it in teaching twelve ryots the truths which our English boys become acquainted with ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 331 in the nursery, than in the vain endeavour to impart Euro- pean wisdom or modes of thought to members of the upper class We contend that hitherto the Government have not succeeded in making even a fraction of the popu- lation morally or intellectually wiser, and we see no en- couragement to hope for a different conclusion in times to come. Amongst the alumni of the universities, past and present, are to be found the greatest sticklers for caste, the bitterest haters of Christianity, the most prejudiced and exclusive, in short, of the Hindoo population If we saw any signs, however remote, of the growth of patriotic feeling amongst the higher ranks, we might be content to witness, for a few years longer, the further trial of the pre- sent experiment ; but so far from inducing a better feeling towards their destitute and low-caste countrymen, the in- struction which they imbibe seems only to sharpen the natural appetite for the power to exert oppression."* At the Missionary Conference of 1854, Mr Long said — " To whom are we to look for a real diffusion of knowledge among the masses ? The Government will do but little ; the zemindar and the rich natives will do nothing. Those who have received an English education themselves have done much less than might reasonably have been expected of them. It is to the missionaries alone, then, that we can look for the education of the people through the vernacular languages." t The rich may be instructed, and leave the poor in complete ignorance ; but if the poor are instructed, the rich will instruct themselves. J As missionary societies cannot undertake the education of the Hindoos on a great scale — because both their funds and their labors must be specially applied to promote the preaching of the gospel — an Indian school society may very usefully be formed to undertake this work. To pro- * Mead, pp. 291-294, 297, 298, 301, 303, 304. t Rev. J. Long ; Missionary Conference, p. 79. J Appendix E. 332 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. duce any great impression on society in India,, it should be as the British and Foreign School Society, and unite Christian men of all denominations, and its principles should be, as I think, of the following kind. Let Christian men of every denomination, who enter zeal- ously into the duty, be eligible to the committee ; let them appoint to their Indian schools Christian masters of any Evangelical denomination ; and in all their schools let their masters be required to train up the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. For this end let them make the Word of God the basis of all religious instruction, and expound it freely to their pupils, but abstain from all denominational teaching by other books and catechisms. Undoubtedly, masters of different denominations may thus expound various passages differently, but the expositions of gospel truth in which they agree will so much exceed in number these occasional expositions which may be erroneous, that evil will be lost in the predominant good. Objectors who would abstain from aiding this united effort because some errors would, in their view, be thus sanctioned, may be reminded that they no more sanction such error, which a good and wise master might thus teach, than they sanc- tion the error of a Church to which they belong, or a minister by whom they are instructed, because the teaching of their Church or of their minister is not, in their opinion, wholly conformable to Scripture. Human institutions, like human nature, are imperfect; and we must aid what is useful and good, even if it be attended by some defects. To support, indeed, united efforts of this kind, is a direct homage to those great truths, for the sake of which each supporter overlooks, though he does not sanction, smaller errors: whereas to refuse assistance to them, is to under- value great uniting truths, and to exalt small and obscure opinions into their place. Such a society as that which I have described may in- ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 333 fluence the future of India to a great extent by a good system of Christian schools. Notwithstanding the apathy respecting knowledge manifested by the lower castes, the desire for it has received from various causes so great an impulse, that in one district of the North-west Provinces, the late Lieutenant-Governor induced five thousand towns and villages to impose school-rates upon themselves to pro- vide themselves with schools* Many of the heathen schools throughout India may be influenced by a Christian school society, through grants of books. Good school-books are scarce, and school-teachers poor, so that grants of school-books would be valuable to many of them; and by these books, with Christian inspec- tors, the native schools may be greatly improved. A more important duty is to multiply Christian village schools. These may be established for heathen children, for the children of native Christians, and for Christian adults. That village schools for heathen children, under the charge of native Christian masters, may be greatly in- creased, and draw many children, is, I think, apparent from the following numbers of children now under educa- tion reported by four societies alone : — The Church Missionary Society has ... 19,867 The London Missionary Society has ... 13,329 The Baptist Missionary Society has ... 1,162 The Wesleyan Missionary Society has ... 834 Total, 35,192 1 Although some missionaries have said that for heathen children they must have assistant heathen masters, without whom the children will not come to school, there is reason to think that such masters, who counteract the Christian instruction, may be dispensed with. At Malayapore, where * Correspondent of the Times; Times, April 28, 1857. t See Reports of those Societies for 1857. 334 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. Mr Pearce dismissed a Brahmin master, the school was closed for a month; but when at the end of that time he re-opened it with a Christian master, many of the children returned.* In these schools the Word of God shoidd be the basis of the whole education; they should be opened with prayer; the gospel should be sedulously explained; the salvation of the children should be the main object sought: but at the same time more, I think, might be done to render them attractive to heathen parents and children. School-books may be used to explain to them whatever may be of service to them. Besides reading, writing, and arithmetic, they may receive useful informa- tion respecting the cultivation of fields and gardens, the building of houses, drainage, the laws under which they live, the geography of India, the best schools, the most improved villages, the villagers who have distinguished themselves and made their fortunes, elementary facts of astronomy, accounts of England, Scotland, and the United States, &c. Sec. If industrial employment could be added, so much the better. They should be under an inspector, and a school committee of the district. Village schools for the children of native Christians are more important than those for the heathen, because the boys in these have the impressions of the school confirmed by their parents at home. Doubtless to this class mission- aries feel it their duty to pay special attention. Neverthe- less, a general society will probably find on inquiry that many of this class of children are from various causes untaught; and one great object ought to be to see that all this class of children, both boys and girls, throughout India should be well taught. On all accounts, they should be made intellectually as well as morally superior to the heathen children, with whom they may occasionally associate. When men are converted through the preaching of the * Baptist Report for 1857, p. 17. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 335 gospel, who have never been at school, they ought to be strenuously urged to learn to read, that they may obtain the respect of their children, be able to read the Scriptures for themselves, and do good to others. To facilitate their efforts, adult classes of native Christians should be formed in every native Christian congregation, which would pro- bably be as useful as those at Barisal, where Mr Page has taught seventy native Christian men to read.* But this has not, I think, been done extensively, and among the ninety-four thousand professed Christians in connexion with the different missions, a general society would find many needing instruction. Orphan and boarding-schools form a still more important class. The children in these schools are placed wholly under the care of their Christian protectors ; they see no- thing of heathenism, and learn none of its polluting legends ; but are trained in the fear of Cod, and hear from their earliest days of the power and love of Christ. The friend- less condition of many orphan children who have come into these schools, because caste has excluded them from the charity of their heathen neighbours, the advantages which they afford for giving to the orphans a complete Christian education, and the good which they have effected, have made them very generally appendages to the larger mission- ary stations. Their capabilities and results are sketched by Mr Leu- polt, in his account of one at Benares, which is as fol- lows : — " Orphan institutions are peculiar to Christianity. The Hindoos can have none, for caste will not permit them to receive children of all classes of people to be brought up together We receive the children under our entire control, when they are very young, and as yet un- contaminated by heathen influence. Our institution was established in 1836, but the greatest influx of children took * Conference, p. 144. 336 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. place in 1838, -when it pleased the Lord to visit India with famine. The children we then received were mostly of a more advanced age, from eight to fourteen years old, and had already imbibed all the views of a debased and idola- trous creed. But having them entirely under our own management, day and night, and keeping them aloof from all further contamination, we soon gained complete influ- ence over most of them. Those we obtain now are mostly infants, such as have lost their parents, or have been ex- posed by their heartless mothers. These never learn the ways of their idolatrous parents. They are all nominal Christians, find in our institution a Christian home, breathe a Christian atmosphere; and being with us constantly, a natural affection and new relation are created between them and us; they are brought up as a Christian family. The second advantage springing from this new relation is, that we are able to mould the minds of the orphans as we please. We have no one to interpose between us and our pupils. We can therefore give them what education we may believe them capable of receiving. Further, we have no superstitious system to break down; no degrading notions of idolatry to eradicate. The only obstacles we meet are those of the natural heart found everywhere. In cultivat- ing their minds, we can therefore at once lay a Biblical foundation, without fear of having Vedantic and Puranic rubbish mixed up with it. Divine truth, pure and un- adulterated, can be instilled into the young mind." "Whilst we delight in seeing their minds stored with Divine truth, we are anxious to see their hearts converted. . , . When these are truly converted, they have at once the Christian mind. By regular training, habits of thought, industry, and order are formed, in which our adult brethren are often lamentably deficient. Moreover, as they all have acquired English tolerably well, they have an inexhaustible mine of knowledge at their command, from which they can ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 337 draw at pleasure, but which is generally closed to adult converts. . . . Nineteen individuals from among the orphan boys, from eleven to twenty-six years of age, have fallen asleep in Jesus, the last of whom only died a fortnight ago. Twenty-seven of the orphan boys are now alive, of whom we have every reason to believe that they are the Lord's. With most of them I correspond. Of these I hope three will shortly be ordained. Nine act as catechists and school- masters in various missions; the rest are otherwise engaged; but all of them bear a good report. . . . Beside these, we have a number of nice young men, who are quiet, consis- tent, moral characters — attentive to the means of grace, communicants, and bearing a good report; and I hope to find many of them hereafter in heaven. . . . Among all our orphan boys, there are but four who are really bad; all the rest, although but nominal Christians, have redeeming qua- lities about them. I allow they are but nominal Christians ; yet they are free from the trammels of caste, and from the prejudices and vices of many of the Hindoos and Mahom- medans; and, what is of vast importance, their little ones are willingly given over to be trained in our infant and day schools in the fear and nurture of the Lord ; and some of the parents, although very poor, have of late willingly paid something for the books which their children read. We should also not forget that most of them attend the means of grace; and who knows but the seed sown may yet take roof? . . . Whilst I therefore acknowledge that preaching the gospel to adults should never be neglected because of an orphan institution, it being impossible for any missionary to spend his time better than in preaching, I maintain that the training of orphans in the fear and nurture of the Lord is a most important means of estab- lishing and consolidating Christianity in India, and should never be lost sight of."* * Missionary Conference, pp. 177-183. y 338 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. These Hindoo orphans, abandoned through the heartless- ness of the heathen produced by caste, are specially com- mitted to the care of Christians, for their own welfare and that of India. "Pure religion and undefiled he/ore God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (James i. 27). Will Christians in this country leave many of these outcasts of Hindooism to die of cold, hunger, and nakedness, when they may be trained to be through grace the salt and the light of India \ The School Society should adopt them all. When gathered into the orphan schools, they should have a good vernacular education, and each boy be trained to obtain his livelihood according to his capacity. Some may become preachers or masters — some clerks under Government ; but the larger number must live by their hands. At the Benares Orphan School, they learned carpet-making, book-binding, and agriculture."* Some industrial occupation of this kind ought to be part of the training in all the Society's orphan schools. NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOLS. There should be for every hundred village schools of the society, one normal vernacular school. It should be placed at a zillah station, or some other important centre of a dis- trict. It should have a European master, with at least three native assistants. The language used in the school should be the vernacular, and all castes ought to be wel- come. The two objects of the school, as expressed by the name, are — 1. To afford a model of instruction for verna- cular schools ; and 2. To train up native Christian masters for them. 1. As a model school, it should teach in the best manner all that is to be taught in village schools ; and the industrial element should, if possible, be introduced. * Missionary Conference, p. 183. ON" CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 339 2. From the hundred village schools, and the adult Christian schools, of which it is the centre, the inspector should select, each year, the best young men, to be trained as masters, with the approbation of the district committee. These should be taken according to merit, without regard to caste. On this point, Mr Long of the Church Missionary Society, has said — " I find, in my own work, that the training up and working a native agency is, and ought to be, more our main aim. I have adopted the plan this year in my district, by supplying the materials of sermons and biblical instruction to my catechists, and letting them teach the native Christians. It is quite time that European mis- sionaries should give up the plan of being pastors. I find, at Thakerpuka, matters go on better by my making it my main principle rather to train teachers to do the work themselves with the people, than for myself to do it di- rectly. . . . We have a high education in Calcutta; but I find the educated classes show little sympathy in this respect: the curse of caste remains for generations. Even our Christians of the Brahminical caste retain the Brah- min's contempt of the common people ; and it is the expe- rience of our missionaries that they will not amswer as pastors. We must have men raised up among the people themselves!'* The pupil-teachers thus selected should be placed in the first vernacular class, with the other boys of the same degree of proficiency; and they should further form part of an English class, to be taught English with all those boys to whom a knowledge of that language is desirable. Here they should remain a year, by which time the master will be able to judge of their principles and capacities, and, if he think fit, give them testimonials by which they may be admitted to the English school. * Kev. J. Long ; Church. Missionary Report, 1857, p. 75. 340 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. ENGLISH SCHOOLS. At each of the capitals the society should have an Eng- lish school, under European masters, beginning at Cal- cutta. Missionary schools of this kind have been successfully established at Calcutta, Mirzapore, Aguxpara, Bhowanipore, Intally, Madras, Bombay, Agra, Benares, Cuttack, Negapa- tam, and other places. Of these English schools Mr Ewart, of the Free Church of Scotland, gave the following account to the Missionary Conference : — " There is a numerous class of persons who belong to what may be called the middle ranks of the native popu- lation — middle ranks, not as regards caste, for many of those alluded to are of the highest caste, but middle ranks as regards wealth and worldly influence. These are to be found at all the zillah stations and chief towns. There are many openings for them in the Government offices, and in various branches of the public service. An English educa- tion opens the door for them, and facilitates their advance- ment to situations of trust and emolument The youth of these classes, in order to qualify themselves for employment, are eager in the pursuit of English literature and science. The consequence is, that in all towns and villages where a large number of these classes reside, an English school is no sooner opened than its benches are filled ; and if it be conducted with any degree of efficiency, the numbers may not only be kept up, but increased day by day and year by year. The number of young Brahmins who will be found in such schools is much more than many, perhaps, would venture to suppose. I have often found them constitute nearly one-fourth of the whole. .... The Government system of education may command the attend- ance at its schools and colleges of the sons of the wealthy classes ; but it leaves the great mass of the middling classes ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 341 untouched, and as yet has done almost nothing for the people at large The best sphere for missionary edu- cational institutions is a metropolis and its immediate suburbs. There are masses of all the different classes of men whose sons desire English education " The missionary does not establish schools for the bare purpose of civilising or instructing, but he establishes them as instruments for evangelising; and just as the apostles gained a patient hearing by exercising the power of working miracles, and followed it up by preaching, so the missionary engaged in an educational institution gains for himself a patient hearing by imparting useful and eagerly-desired knowledge — call it secular if you will — and follows it up by preaching the gospel to the impressible minds that surround him The general education, coupled with the religious instruction, even when it fails to bring the youths to Christ, has a certain and powerful destructive tendency as regards all confidence in the Hindoo Shasters, and all regard to the distinctions of caste But we would say more. Christian education elevates the moral tone even of unbelievers; and just as the irreligious man in a Christian land may have a high standard of honour, which the decencies of a community, living under the in- fluences of the pure and exalted morality of the gospel, force upon him, so the youth who is disciplined and taught in accordance with the moral principles of the Bible, and is dealt with and treated in accordance with these principles, learns insensibly to respect these principles, and those who profess them and act upon them. And this influence extends in native society. We know many whose con- sciences are thus Christianised, and who, although not pro- fessing Christians, do homage to the supremacy of the gospel in their hearts and lives I have not had opportunities of collecting anything like general statistics on this subject. I shall therefore confine my remarks to 342 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. the mission to which I myself belong. I believe that the results of our operations in educational mission work may be regarded as a very fair specimen, indicative of the average amount of success in all similar efforts Since the commencement of our mission in 1830, we have admitted into the church by baptism, of males, 70 ; of females, 31;— in all, 101."* Mr Storrow, of the London Mission, said — " The greatest use of these institutions consists in bringing a large number of well-educated young men, belonging to the upper classes of society, under a thoroughly Christian influence, and thereby preserving them from infidelity, to which Govern- ment education frequently leads. We also exert a good influence on students from schools under native manage- ment, or the Hindoo College, and they learn from us Chris- tianity. The very existence of Government colleges ought to induce us to have Christian colleges ; otherwise the sons of the wealthy will go downward into infidelity, and the whole of the upper and educated classes will thus be lost to us."t Mr Mullens added — " They are mainly necessary in the Presidency towns. In point of fact, out of seven thou- sand scholars and students taught in the missionary Eng- lish schools, five thousand are in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta To defend ourselves from infidelity, to prevent the young men now being educated from being trained up in error, to offer the gospel fully and freely to them, to introduce it into families which other plans do not reach, and thus help in preaching it to every creature — these are aims on which this plan may well be based, and which are undeniably accomplished. In the public offices of Cal- cutta, and scattered over all Bengal, there are now immense numbers of young men who have thoroughly learned the gospel in this manner. He would add, also, what he stated the other day, that during the past eight years fifty-five * Missionary Conference, pp. 70-77. + Ibid., p. 81. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 343 converts had been baptized from the institutions in and around Calcutta."* From these statements we may gather that the school society should establish such schools in the capitals of the provinces, as one method of promoting and improving the education of the country. It is now fully established that there is a great desire among the youth of India, especially in the cities, to learn English — that they will attend English schools for that purpose, notwithstanding that the education is Christian — that many young men have in these schools become acquainted with the gospel — and that some have been converted to Christ. Independently of these reasons, moreover, a general school society should establish English schools, that- it may give an English education to all its schoolmasters. By teaching its young men to read English books, and think in English, it will train up a number of superior masters, who will be able to write, good elementary school-books, and take important part in the general improvement of the villages in which they may be placed. The pupil-teachers in each normal school should, at the end of the first year, if they make such progress as to satisfy the master that they may make good masters, be removed to the English school, that they may complete their studies. After staying at the English school two years, they may then return to the normal school to learn the practice of teaching, and, at the close of another year, may be appointed to village schools by the inspector under the direction of the district committee. COLLEGE. One more institution is required to complete the scheme of the society. The village schools, adult schools, and the boys' schools will afford annually a certain number of pro- * Missionary Conference, pp. 81, 82. 344 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. mising youths to the normal and English schools, and these ■will send them forth as good village schoolmasters into all the country. But some of these will be superior to the rest of the village schoolmasters. Some, perhaps, may be found with so much ability, faith, and love, that they ought to become either assistant-masters in the normal and English schools, or be called to important posts in the ser- vice of missionary societies, or become evangelists themselves. Now these ought to receive a special training for these higher services, and therefore should be gathered into a theological college, where they may, under an English Prin- cipal, study either for important schools or for the native ministry. Institutions of this sort exist. There is a training college at Santipore, under Mr Bomwetch and Mr Stern, of the Church Missionary Society. " This institution is designed, in the first instance, to train schoolmasters, but to keep them also in practice as Scripture-readers. Should they prove, after a few years' trial, truly converted men, tbey will be brought back into the college for a special theolo- gical training, with a view to their becoming native ministers. The course of instruction extends over five years, and is wholly in the vernacular language."* The Serampore College, with two European tutors, an English master, a pundit, and eight assistant-masters, has a class of youths who desire to preach the gospel to their coimtrymen, but receives also heathen students.! At Cuttack there is a small mission academy, under a missionary and assistant-tutor, which receives a small number of students for the ministry, all of whom itinerate in the cold season with the native preachers, thus preparing themselves in practice as well as theory for their work.J The college, which I think a general education society should establish, ought not to receive heathen youths, nor * Church Missionary Report, p. 83. t Baptist Mission Report, p. 23. % General Baptist Mission Report, p. 38. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 345 unconverted youths, nor even pious youths of small capa- city, but should receive the elite of all the native Christian masters in the employment of the society. It should not, as the college at Santipore, be conducted in the native language, but in English, because, however good the in- struction afforded by the tutors in the vernacular language might be, the students on leaving the college would be shut up to the very limited range of vernacular Christian literature; whereas if they read, speak, and write English fluently, they would have all the literature of Europe within their reach, and may be fit intellectually for any post which God in His providence may afterwards assign to them. If this college should receive students of the most ap- proved piety and greatest capacity, and should be superin- tended by the most pious and able men whom this country can furnish, it might be of incalculable use to India. From it the ablest and best men of all the Indian churches might go forth to be officers under Government, native magis- trates, inspectors of schools, authors of vernacular works, editors of Christian newspapers, effective evangelists, and wise reformers of their country. What Kho Tha Byu and Sau Quala have done for the Karens, these would do for the Hindoos. Taken from among the people, they would sympathise with them, and, as Shoodra apostles and philo- sophers, might raise all India out of the mire and slough of centuries. Since these pages were written, an auspicious beginning has been made by the institution of the " Christian Verna- cular Education Society for India." The primary objects of the society are to establish model and training schools, male and female, in the great towns, to which English classes may be attached; to assist in the establishment of other vernacular schools, and to publish vernacular school- books and other elementary works. All Christian men are invited to co-operate with it; and it has printed on its first paper, as a kind of motto, the following words of 346 ON CHEISTTAN EDUCATION". Bishop Wilson, uttered by him July 27, 1857, when he was getting near to his meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ, and was catching much of His spirit : — " We no longer main- tain the old and fatal mistake that Christian men are not to co-operate in anything till they agree in everything; we now hold the antagonistic and true maxim, that Chris- tian men should act together so far as they are agreed." This effort seems to me worthy the support of every friend of India ; and the names, both of the Secretaries and of the Committee, fully justify confidence that its affairs will be managed with piety and with discretion.* FEMALE SCHOOLS. An educational society for India must not neglect the education of its women. Like men, they are capable of bliss and woe, according as they know the Saviour or are ignorant of Him ; for of them as well as of men has Jesus said, " This is life eternal, that they might know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent" (John xvii. 3) ; and at least sixty millions of women and girls, our fellow-subjects in India, know nothing of Him. To give them the knowledge of Him, with other useful know- ledge, would promote also their happiness here as well as hereafter; for with minds strengthened by cultivation, with good principle and self-respect, good mothers and wives, they could scarcely say, as some of the Calcutta women said to Mrs Wilson, " Our husbands now look upon us as little better than brutes." t Deserving the respect of their husbands, they would, at least in a measure, obtain it ; and would thus secure insen- sibly a great amelioration of their lot. Now, according to Mr Grant, the means employed to keep them in subjection are imperious dominion, seclusion, and terror ; J but scarcely * The Office of the Society is 5 Robert Street, Adelphi. t Female Education, p. 78. % Ward, i., p. 311. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 347 any husband would be brutal enough, so to rule a well- educated, well-principled woman, bis equal in knowledge, and perhaps his superior in virtue. The welfare of the men, too, no less than their own, requires that their education should correspond to that of the men. How much of hap- piness and of improvement do we in England owe to mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters ! but Hindoo boys and men can derive little improvement, and can expect little affection, from those whom heathenism and ignorance have enfeebled and vitiated. Here let me remind the reader under what unfavorable circumstances these poor women, made like ourselves, capable of wisdom, happiness, and excellence, pass their days. They are married without their consent, in childhood, to boys whom they have never seen; they are placed as slaves in the houses of their boy- husbands under the mother-in-law, who brings them into complete subjection by any severity which ill-temper or caprice may suggest. If of the upper class, they find other wives disputing with them their husband's affection, and embittering their days by eternal jealousies; if they are poor, they may be protected from this outrage to their feelings by the poverty of their husbands ; but, poor or rich, they are liable to be discarded for any cause or none ; and, either divorced or widowed, they may never marry again, but are doomed to disgrace and penury. Superstition em- bitters their widowhood. A missionary once told me that he knew a child near his station who became a widow. Till the death of her husband she was her mother's darling, indulged in everything, and laden with ornaments ; but at his death, he found her stripped of her ornaments, coarsely clothed, reduced to the scantiest food, and shorn of her long beautiful hair. Upon asking the reason of all this, he was told by her mother that the husband's death must have been occasioned by some sins which she had committed in a previous' birth ; and that unless she was treated with 348 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. due severity, the same sins would bring destruction upon the whole family. So that child, if she is not already dead through that cruel superstition, is to have her whole life rendered miserable by it. Married without her consent to a sickly boy, of whom she knew nothing, she becomes a widow at the age of nine or ten; she must now never marry a man she could love, and must suffer hardship, hunger, contempt, and hatred till her death, because her boy-husband died. Even in these cir- cumstances, Hindoo women might have some happiness in the cultivation of their minds, the improvement of their dwellings, and the education of their children; and, for- bidden to share in the conversation of a social circle, or even to eat with their own husbands, they might still have the consciousness that they were doing their duty and con- tributing to the happiness of others. But the same tyran- nical jealousy which has so depressed their condition in other points, has forbidden the cultivation of their minds. By their sacred books, women are pronounced to be pol- luted and unfit to read their Vedas ; they are menaced with a curse should they learn to read and write :* the rich can- not learn, because they are kept in a cheerless seclusion which knowledge can never penetrate; and the poor are kept from knowledge, because Hindooism has allowed no schools for girls.t This was at least the case when, in 1822, Mrs Wilson began her benevolent exertions in their behalf. Then, no women in Hindoostan learned to read or write, to sew, or even to knit. Their minds were a cheerless vacuity; their hands were occupied with household drudgery; and they lived and died with little more cultivation than the brutes. Symptoms of better days begin to appear. Mr Wenger reported to the Calcutta Missionary Conference the instance of a village in which all the girls are taught to read and * Ward, i., p. 278. + Ibid. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 349 write;* and at the same Conference Mr Woodrow stated that the Collector in Jessore recently sent an application for a grant in aid for a girls' school, where " the people have for years and years maintained their own boys' school, and have also allowed their girls to be taught." t In the London Missionary Report for 1857 we further read — "Among the most surprising and gratifying proofs of improvement in India, is the education of females, which, instead of being deemed, as heretofore, not only unnecessary but discreditable, is now publicly advocated by many enlightened Hindoos. Eecently the public journals of India have reported the suc- cessful exertions of a native reformer in education, who has established nearly one hundred schools for gixls in "the North-west Provinces; and in the older Presidencies are many seminaries of the same character." J Into Hindoo schools of this character a school society may be able to introduce useful books, and perhaps sometimes, in the scarcity of schoolmistresses, may furnish them with Chris- tian teachers. In a few instances, native day-schools for girls have been placed under Christian teachers; but the experiment has not generally been encouraging. " Mrs Wilson, whose name will ever be associated honorably with this cause, had at one time nineteen such schools; but they do not appear to have fulfilled her hopes, and they were all given up for one, the Central School. Mrs Pearce and Mrs Coleman had also many such schools under their care, but they also were closed, having led to no very satisfactory results. More recently several larger schools were established under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr Yule; whose experience and opinions coincide with Mrs Wilson's ; and they are all likely to be soon closed, unless parents begin to value education for its own sake Mr Yule has opened, this week, a day- * Missionary Conference, p. 157. + Ibid. + London Missionary Eeport for 1857, p. 20. 350 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. school near Calcutta, on a new and better plan — a plan which is utterly impracticable in the city. The girls are of a higher class, and not only come freely, but the parents have provided a school, and, in part, also, a house for a teacher, at their own expense."* Still we find in the last missionary reports, the following statements : — " At Bombay the Hindoos are not averse to receive edu- cation on Christian principles. . . . The parents and pupils appear to appreciate the instruction imparted. An impor- tant result obtained from your Society's schools is, that the Bible is conveyed into these houses, and that they take delight to have their children reading." t Benares. — " Thence we went to Mrs Smith's school for native girls, Hindoos. It is most pleasing to see above seventy Hindoo girls, of Brahmin and other castes, in atten- dance at this school, under scriptural instruction, in the very heart of such a city as Benares The school was in nice order, and a class or two examined acquitted themselves fairly. It is true the children still have to be drawn together by a pecuniary inducement Three girls from this school have been baptized ."\ Generally, the Eeports of the Societies contain no notices of such schools ; from which we may infer, either that the children cannot be obtained, or that the results have been found unsatisfactory. Ignorant parents do not generally value education for their children, and in India there is a general prejudice against giving education to women. Almost all the larger villages in Bengal, contain common schools for boys, but "there are no female schools among the Hindoos."§ Custom and the Shasters are against the instruction of Hindoo girls. Their parents, indeed, have great reason to dread it, because, as ignorant men do not like their wives * Missionary Conference, pp. 148, 149. f Church Missionary Report, p. 64. % Ibid, pp. 89, 90. § Ward, i., p. 160. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 351 to know more than they know, education would hinder rather than promote the marriage of a girl in Bengal. What influences the .parents still more, is the dread of their daughters becoming Christians, because a Christian girl becomes an outcast, unmarriageable, destitute, and friend- less. Desiring above all things for their daughters an early marriage, their dread of a Christian school for girls must be proportioned to that desire. These causes of dislike are not neutralised by any immediate worldly advantage to be derived from such education. By it boys may get on in the world, but a Hindoo girl would obtain by it nothing but suspicion and contempt. For the present, therefore, we must not look for much help in this matter from Hindoo parents; although prejudices do give way, and the work creeps on. Where public schools are impracticable, a number of Hindoo girls and women might possibly be induced to receive instruction in private classes. At Cuttack, Miss Harrison opened in 1856 a Bible class for the poorer women, her report of which, eight months after its commencement, was as follows : — " The attendance is as good, and the attention paid much better now, than at its commencement. They seem to enter with spirit into it, and feel that it is their highest interests which are sought to be promoted; that is as much as they are capable of doing. Their ex- treme apathy is, I think, the most discouraging feature in their character Many a time have I felt as though I could not say another word, when, after talking till my own heart felt melted, I have looked at least for a response of feeling in their countenances; but no! All sit with their eyes fixed intently on the speaker; but they might as well be so many statues, for any feeling shewn; and you might readily believe the eyes gazing upon you were made of glass, so cold and expressionless do they appear At times, latterly, instead of the vacant 352 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. stare, there has been, a tear ; and instead of the unanswered ' or absurdly answered question, a few trembling words, shewing that an unseen power was at work; and have caused the heart of their teacher to leap with joy."* If any lady in India, the wife of an officer, judge, or col- lecter, would either invite some of the women to form a Bible class in her own house, or place a native Christian teacher in a small school near her own house, to gather there a few Hindoo girls, she might thus teach a few; and if there should be many ladies in India willing to do this kindness for the sake of Christ, many may be taught. Such children, having themselves learned the holy goodness of God, and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, the hell to which sinners are hasting, and the happiness which awaits believers, together with that elementary knowledge which contradicts at every point the false science of the Sbasters, may carry this knowledge to their parents : through them the gospel may penetrate those homes which are shut against the missionary; and women who never otherwise would have heard one sentence of the Word of God, may through their children become acquainted with it. Meanwhile, a second class is entirely at their com- mand. Christian parents have every motive to instruct their daughters ; for, like themselves, their children are Pariahs — excluded for ever from caste, and must therefore either marry Christians or remain unmarried. In the former case, they will need education, because Christian boys are being generally educated; and in the latter case, they will need all the knowledge which they can acquire to enable them to be servants to European families, to become teachers in schools, or to obtain their livelihood by some industrial employment. Faith, too, and parental affection, prompt a Christian parent to educate his daughter, because he knows that they ought to learn from the Word of God * General Baptist Missionary Report, p. 72. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 353 the truths which guide us to heaven, and the duties which God enjoins upon us to fulfil. No difficulty, in fact, seems to oppose the education of all the children of native Christians; and as they can be instructed, they ought to be. Though they are few, com- pared with the heathen millions around them, they are still numerous enough to hold up an example of female im- provement to all India; and the diligence with which they are educated ought to be proportioned to the depression of their Hindoo sisters. Let the shameful falsehoods which the Shasters have promulgated, that women are incapable of improvement, and unfit to be trusted, be signally refuted by the experience of every missionary station in India. As the women are thought in India to have no capacity, let the minds of the Christian women be specially developed ; as women are pronounced to be destitute of virtue, let their virtues be cultivated, till the stiffest and most stupid Hindoo is ashamed of the calumny; and as women are dishonored, enslaved, ill-treated, and rendered miserable by Hindooism, let the Christian women of India, respected, trusted, be- loved by their husbands, free, virtuous, and happy, show all the millions of India what Jesus has done to bless the women who believe in Him, and what His doctrine can do for all those women who are still the miserable slaves of idolatry. Many such village schools for the daughters of Christian parents are now happily raising the character and condi- tion of women in India. In the South India missions of the Church Missionary Society, the number of professed Christians is 33,121; the number of communicants, 5344; and the number of children under instruction, 11,294, of whom 3467 are girls,* 3. Children, of course, are more capable of improvement than those who have grown up under all the debasing * Church. Missionary Report for 1857, p. 110. Z 354 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. influences of a vile superstition. Still, if any -woman be in Christ, she is a new creature (2 Cor. v. 17); her heart is renewed by the Holy Spirit in righteousness and true holi- ness (Eph. iv.), and thenceforth is capable of all improve- ment. A thousand foolish notions may still haunt the mind of a converted Hindoo woman, and many bad habits have to be overcome; still, they can by instruction discard the former, and by education, through the grace of God, over- come the latter. Not a single Christian woman, therefore, in India, of ordinary capacity, good health, and not ad- vanced in age, ought to be left unable to read the Word of God or other useful books. At Barisal, where, under Mr Page's zealous superintendence, there are five schools for women, there are 110 women who have learned to read since they were married.* Why should not that example be followed in missionary stations universally, and lift up at once the whole Chris- tian community immensely above the dead level of the heathenism around them ? Some attention has been paid to this class in a few of the missionary stations. At Palamcottah, Mrs Sargent has a class of thirty-six Chris- tian women, who come to her once a-week, and another class of thirty younger married women, who come three times a-week, to study with her the Word of God.t At Salem, Mrs Lechler and Miss Schell are occupied with classes of native women; J Mrs Parry, of Cutwa, teaches about twenty native Christian women, most of whom can read;§ at Shantepore, in the Tipperah Hills, native Chris- tian women are also taught; || and there are meetings of Christian women at Berhampore, in South India.! At Christianpore, near Cuttack, Mrs Stubbins has set apart Wednesday evening for native Christian females, when * Baptist Report, p. 144 t Church. Missionary Report for 1857, p. 119. X London Missionary Report, p. 77. § Baptist Report for 1857, p. 25. II Ibid., p. 28. IT General Baptist Missionary Report, p. 25. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 355 " nearly all, young and old, assemble in the little chapel," and reports as follows : — " All who can read bring their Bibles, and read aloud a portion of Scripture previously selected. A number of questions are asked, and each is free to offer any remark that may occur to her. In this way the more ignorant are instructed, and various duties, relative and otherwise, are brought under review. During the meeting, two or three verses of a hymn are sung, and several short prayers are offered. As the majo- rity of these women have large families, and many of them have to attend to their cows in an evening, I had scarcely a hope that they would continue to attend after the novelty of the thing had passed away; but, contrary to my expec- tations, their interest in these little meetings has not only kept up but steadily increased; and two or three times, when I have been from home, they have conducted it them- selves."* The education of the native Christian women appears, by these few cases, not to be wholly neglected; yet it is remarkable that Mr Fordyce, in giving to the missionaries assembled at the Conference a sketch of what is d«ne for female education, did not mention any such schools or classes. Unable to read, write, cast accounts, or sew, how can Christian women obtain the respect of their children or superintend their education 1 But, with some amount of education, they can do both, and would be in a condi- tion to recommend the gospel, by the state of their families, to all the heathen families of their neighbourhood. An educational society may give an impulse to this method of raising the women of India, by assisting missionaries to collect and teach these adult classes in all the missionary stations where hitherto it has been neglected. 4. Normal and training schools may next attract the attention of an educational society. Model schools are * General Baptist Report for 1857, pp. 69, 70, 356 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. wanted as patterns of village schools, and schoolmistresses must be trained to teach them. Indeed, one great object of such a society should be to train many Christian women, not merely for the schools of the society, but for the Government schools too — if Government, renouncing its atheistic education, shall allow Christian teachers in its schools to do their best to improve and save the children committed to their care. The Central School at Calcutta, established by Mrs Wilson, may serve to illustrate this class of schools. The following is the account of it published by Priscilla Chapman, in her interesting volume, entitled, " Female Education in India." The details given in the preceding pages show, that although much good may be done by day-schools for heathen girls, yet such schools suffer from the caprice of heathen parents ; the attendance of the children is irregular; some are taken away when they are begin- ning to improve, and all are injured by what they see and hear in their homes. Orphans, on the contrary, or boarders, being completely separated from the heathen, may be expected to improve much more under Christian instruction. " On the 1st of April 1828, Mr and Mrs Wilson took pos- session of the Central School, and commenced with fifty-eight girls. It was on the 17th December 1828 that the first ex- amination was held at the Central School. There was one class of teachers or monitors, consisting of twenty-five native females ; young as they were, they were all either widows or forsaken by their husbands."* In December 1829, Miss Ward, who had joined Mrs Wilson, reported, " The daily at- tendance of the girls is from 150 to 200, divided into twenty classes, four of which, comprising fifty girls, are reading the Acts, St Matthew's Gospel, and Pearce's Geography; they also write upon slates from dictation." t " Very recently, * Chapman, p. 92. t Ibid. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 357 on inquiring of a woman accustomed to bring from sixteen to twenty children to the school, why she had brought so few, she said, ' Six girls are to be betrothed to-day, and several others are gone to visit them.'"* " The dying testimony of a little girl from the lower classes, who died of a fever after fifteen days' illness, was very en- couraging. The account was given by her Hindoo mother, and she affirmed that the child had, from the commencement of her illness, daily asked to be taken to the Central School ; telling her mother she could remain with her no longer, as she must become a Christian, and the great God was calling her. Her mother reminded her of her idols, and asked whether she would not worship them. ' No, they are false and useless,' was the reply. She assured her mother to the last she knew she was going to the great God."t "A girl about eight years old lost her mother, and was left without any known relative. She expressed a wish to live with Mrs Wilson, and become a Christian ; but the moment this was known, the old woman in whose house the mother died, declared she had owed her thirty rupees for rent, which if Mrs Wilson would pay, the child should be given up to her. At the same time, however, she went to a magistrate, and, by claiming the child as a relative, got the little girl made over to her, telling the neighbours that, when the child married, she would get more money than would pay the debt." J "A very poor heathen woman, with one daughter six years old, begged Mrs Wilson to take her child. She was told that those children were preferred who had no parents, but that she might bring her girl, and Mrs Wilson would see what could be done. Instead, however, of coming, she sent her child, very scantily clothed and dirty, bidding her re- main with Mrs Wilson, and say, ' that her mother had thrown her away.' The woman did not make her appear- * Chapman, p. 93. t Ibid. % Ibid,, p. 92. 358 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. ance again till the child was baptized, which she heard of with evident pleasure, though she said nothing ; but about two months afterward presented herself to be instructed and received for bapti. " " In 1833, seven girl m the Gospel classes requested to be appointed monitors. One of these teachers being ill re- quested Mrs Wilson to go and see her at her own house. On being questioned as to her knowledge of the Scriptures and prayer, she assured her kind instructress, before many witnesses, that she both read the Scriptures in private, and prayed to God through Jesus Christ, and that, in doing so, she found great comfort. Several young Brahmins paid great at- tention to her answers, and one of these youths produced an English Bible, inquiring the meaning of several passages."* " About the same time, a girl of ten years of age called several times at the house of the catechist belonging to the Central School, expressing her anxious wish to become a Christian, and begging to be allowed to take food with the family, by which act she would lose caste, when she thought her father would be willing to give her up." When the catechist called on the father, " he said he should reason with her, and if, after three days, he could not persuade her to change her mind, he would give her up to Mrs Wilson. It appeared that the girl's wish to become a Christian was known to all the neighbours. Hearing nothing further on the subject at the end of a week, the catechist was sent to inquire the father's determination. He then appeared very firm, and said, ' he should by no means give up his daughter to Mrs Wilson, and that he had not only forbidden her to attend school again, but to prevent the possibility of her doing so, he had removed her to the house of a married sister, who would watch her closely.' Thus all trace of this pro- mising girl was lost."t " There having been no difficulty in establishing Chris- * Chapman, p. 94. t Ibid., p. 96. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 359 tian worship in the house, it is the custom, at the close of lessons, to seat the teachers and children in circles, one within the other, for prayer."* " The report of 1835 states the number of children under tuition to be from 250 to 300. In the course of the year fifty to sixty girls of the upper classes had, in consequence of marriage, ceased to attend. They had all read more or less of the New Testament. Even these girls are not insensible to the misery of early marriages, several having endeavoured to resist such baby-betrothings for two or three years successively; and it is not a very unusual occurrence for them to assure their instructors that they only wish to be allowed to become Christians, to live and learn with Mrs Wilson's orphan children, whom they were accustomed to see, in a department of the Central School, progressing in regular Christian habits. One fine girl, who, there is reason to hope, is a Christian at heart, not being allowed either to come to the school and join the Christian community, or to defer her marriage any longer, contrived to obtain a promise from her husband that she should continue to attend the school. It is stated she has since taught her husband to read. A girl of similar standing, having often expressed a desire for baptism, left the house of her father-in-law at Barnagore, and arrived at the Central School one evening just as the inmates were gone to church. She requested that food might be given her immediately (by partaking of which she would be counted as having lost her caste), to prevent her family taking her back again. The orphan children left at home, to whom she was known, consulted amongst themselves, and some thought that she ought not to eat till Mrs Wilson returned and should give her permis- sion ; but an elder girl replied, ' that as Mrs Wilson prayed daily for the conversion of the Gospel classes, she would of course be happy to receive her/ and therefore she ventured * Chapman, p. 99. 360 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. to give her food. Mrs Wilson heard nothing of this till the morning, when she saw the girl walking in the com- pound. For three weeks she resisted every entreaties to return home, during which time her betrothed, a youth about fourteen, was compelled to renounce his engagement and marry another. At length the girl's mother, who lived near the school, feigned madness for the loss of her daughter, which so worked upon the feelings of the poor child, that she was induced to return to her. Still she hovered about the school, and was, after a while, re-admitted as a day teacher, having promised her mother not to be baptized till after her death."* " In 1836, a girl about ten years old, who had been a re- gular attendant at the school for more than a year, and was able to read the Bible History, was one day observed to re- main after all the other children were dismissed. She told her teacher, who happened to be a convert, that she wished to stay with her and become a Christian. She was asked, 'Whether she had parents, or a husband living V 'Yes/ she replied. ' Then you must first speak to them.' ' I have done so, but they threaten to beat me, and my mother says I shall lose caste.' From day to day this child entreated, with many tears, to be taken in, saying how unkindly she was treated on account of her wish to become a Christian. She would linger for hours after school at the gate ; but as the consent of the parent for the adoption of so young a child was essential, it was impossible to receive her. She pressed her point with tears once more, but being again re- fused, she took a most reluctant leave, saying — ' Then you will see my face no more.' After waiting some time near the house, she went away, and although great pains were taken, all inquiries for her proved to be in vain."t " Three little girls who attended the school, absenting themselves, were asked, why it so happened? The eldest * Chapman, pp. 100, 101. f Ibid., p. 100. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 361 amongst them, about eight years old, replied — ' If you knew how angry our father is when we come to school, you would not wonder that we stay away; we are glad to come, and our mother likes us to come, but our father forbids it, and when he knows it, he beats our mother — he never beats us, but he calls us bad girls/ These children, though compelled to be often absent, read remarkably well which was ac- counted for by them saying that, when they had books given to them, they hid them between the mats of the house, and read them when their father went out to work, or at night."* "In 1827, a child of six years old came in, saying she had formerly been a scholar, that her mother had sold her. to a wicked woman. She was cruelly treated and beaten, and had often been thinking of making her escape to the Central School, as she was sure the white ladies would not beat her. At last she had succeeded and ran off." t " Another old scholar, of the reading-class, came at day- break to the gate, waiting for admittance. She said that her mother, who always treated her cruelly, was going to send her to her husband. Four successive days did she come, and was taken away. The last time she escaped to the school, her mother followed, accompanied by two men and three women. The cause of the poor girl was pleaded in vain ; and further interference being altogether imprac- ticable, the child was advised to submit to her mother's wishes. She has not since been seen at the school." J "In 1838, a child of about nine years of age, who had attended the school for two or three years, earnestly entreated that she and her mother might be taken in and protected from the violence of their own kindred. The mother explained that she was no Christian, but, owing to the importunities of the girl, she had often listened to the words she had brought home from school, and that she now * Chapman, p. 104. f Ibid., p. 105. $ Ibid., p. 106. 362 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION". followed her in consequence of the child's determination to leave her, rather than remain any longer with the heathen people."* "Another child, about seven years old, who has been in the ABC classes for some weeks, remained after the rest of the children, and begged Miss Thompson to keep her, as she was an orphan, and wished to become a Chris- tian. The little girl was received, and a few days after, no inquiries being made for her, she was sent to the Orphan Eefuge, where she still remains." t " Earnestly is the day looked for when the growth of the Church in India may provide qualified Christian teachers. It is not possible to conceive a greater trial to those who are occupied in the work, than being necessitated to convey the truth through the instrumentality of the heathen them- selves."! "In the Central School, with the exception of three Brahmins, the teachers are females, who have, either as children or at a riper age, been taught to read in the school. The proportion of Christian teachers to heathen, thus em- ployed in the institution, may be assumed to be one-third of the whole number." § Considerations of this kind led Mrs Wilson to establish her Orphan Befuge: — "In 1832 and 1833 the greater part of Lower Bengal was inundated, and the crops destroyed. Thousands were swept away, and whole districts depopu- lated by want and disease. Mrs Wilson had no mistrust as to the needful support being provided ; and, in a general appeal to the Christian public, made known her readiness to receive one hundred orphans. Confidential persons, under the direction of a catechist, were despatched to the most distressed districts south of Calcutta, with food and clothing, to rescue the unfortunates. The effects of starva- tion were not of short duration, and for months the poor * Chapman, p. 108. f Ibid., p. 110. % Ibid., p. 111. § Ibid., p. 112. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 363 children crawled about in a distressing state." * "The fol- lowing year the disastrous state of the Upper Provinces furnished a considerable addition to Mrs Wilson's charge. Forty-two girls were sent from Allahabad, and of that number thirty-nine delicate little creatures were received in safety." t "In 1827, a little Mahommedan girl, about five years old, was pointed out to Mrs Wilson as a little creature suffering hunger almost to starvation, and pining under an aged father's cruelty, who, having nothing to give her, beat her whenever she asked him for food. Mrs Wilson ordered a pice to be given her daily, and, sending for the father, begged him to give the child to her care, offering him support also. This he twice refused, saying the girl would lose caste and become a Christian. Shortly after, however, he sent to say that he should soon die, and that he wished to make over the child by a writing to Mrs Wilson, in order that when he was gone she might claim her from the hands of an unkind brother Having been three years in the institution, she, with an elder orphan, accompanied Mrs Wilson to the Upper Provinces. They were in the habit of reading Bowley's Hindoostanee Testament, so that at the halting-places they could both teach and read to the women and girls who came around the travellers Dear little Anna was of great use," says Mrs Wilson, " as the villagers to whom we wished to give tracts were too timid to wait our approach, but would always admit the young child among them. We sent her forward, and by the time we reached the spot she was engaged, perhaps on tiptoe, assisting a poor man to read the tract. If they were reluctant to take them, she would encourage them to do so with ' Take it, brother, take it; it is God's Book; it will teach you about Jesus Christ.'"^. "Anna returned to the institution, and was for some time a valuable assistant in the instruction of the younger orphans. She is married to a catechist of the * Chapman, pp. 119, 120. -f Ibid., p. 121. J Ibid., pp. 122, 123. 364 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. Church Missionary Society, and both she and her husband have eminently enjoyed the regard of the missionaries with whom they have been placed."* "Mary Anne, who by reading the Scriptures in the day-school was early convinced of the sin of idol-worship, endured much persecution from her family. When eventually an inmate of the Christian Institution, she acted as head-monitor in the Central School. Becoming delicate in health, Mrs Wilson took her with her on her excursion to the Upper Provinces. On leaving Calcutta, she, with other converts, was entreated to allow no day to pass without endeavouring to direct some poor heathen to the Saviour of sinners. When they arrived at Patna she took her seat near the boundary wall to speak with the poor women as they passed to and fro to the river. One day she was too weak to leave her room ; but a person coming in to whom she had been accustomed to speak, she raised herself up with her wonted energy. Mrs Wilson being present, saw that the effort was painful, and requested her to keep quiet, promising to converse with the woman herself. The poor girl fell back on her bed, and remained silent for some time, when raising herself again, and bursting into tears, with a look of real distress she entreated to be allowed to speak herself, urging that as she could not go out she should have passed one whole day without directing a heathen sinner to the Saviour. On her return to Calcutta, she was again employed as monitor in the Central School. She married a catechist of the Bap- tist persuasion, and they are much esteemed." t "In 1836, Mrs Wilson determined to have an Orphan Eefuge, for which purpose she bought and fitted up a build- ing on the banks of the Hoogly, which would accommodate 150 children. The number with which she took possession of the Refuge was 96; it has since been increased to 130." J " The children now in the institution are from three to * Chapman, p. 124. + Ibid., p. 126. % Ibid., p. 133. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 365 fourteen years of age; they are nearly all in good health, and progress steadily. They are admitted from three to eleven or twelve years old, and remain till they marry. .... The institution is situated on the banks of the river Hoogly, nine miles north of Calcutta The children have morning and evening worship in the Bengalee language ; the school occupies six hours a-day. Those who come in young learn Bengalee and English, with plain and fancy needle-work; otherwise, only Bengalee and plain needle- work. The girls are also made useful in the institution: the elder ones bring in all the water required; alternately clean the house; cook their own food; wait on the sick; and take care of the little ones. Their food and clothing are according to their native habits, which are suitable and economical."* " Mrs Wilson is assisted by three conscientious and valuable young friends, for whose time and talents she has much reason to be thankful ; and she has the comfort of knowing that, whether present or absent, the labors pro- ceed with equal regularity and order. Within four years, twenty-eight orphans have married away. Of course they marry only to Christians, who bring with them a good character from their ministers Although the elder girls marry at about fourteen, there are usually a sufficient number to take care of the younger Hitherto the education of these orphans has not been found to unfit them for settling amongst the poor of their native villages. .... One hundred children could be fed and clothed for two hundred rupees a-month."t " Of the other asylums for orphans already in existence, we have to mention as the first in date, a small collection of thirty-five orphan girls, under the care of Mrs Weit- brecht, at Burdwan, accommodated in a building arranged for the purpose on the mission compound. In addition to Mrs Weitbrecht's maternal care, the children have the advan- * Chapman, p. 139. t Ibid., pp. 132, 136, 144. % Ibid., 147. 366 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION". tage of very efficient superintendence from a lady who left England expressly devoted to the work. They are taught Bengalee and English, writing and arithmetic, with plain needle-work, and worsted work ; their own industry being thus made to contribute to their support. They read flu- ently, and have obtained a very satisfactory acquaintance with the Scriptures. The girls are kept in the continued exercise of industry. Part of the day they are occupied in household work and spinning ; and Mrs Weitbrecht has been very successful in training some of them as servants, select- ing them by turn for daily occupation in her own family. Their food and dress are provided according to native habits. With the view of the encouragement to private devotion, the elder girls have been furnished with a sepa- rate sleeping apartment, and a small wooden cot. It is not Mr Weitbrecht's course to administer baptism to con- verts, young as these children may be, until there be some reason to infer that they entertain a due sense of the obligation. Some of the elder orphans, we are happy to say, have lately been admitted to the full privileges of church membership."* " From Futtehpore we have the following interesting circular, dated February 1838: — 'In consequence of the very great distress which now prevails through these pro- vinces, a great number of orphan children of both sexes have come into our hands, whom it is our intention to bring up and educate in the Christian religion. We have, there- fore, opened an asylum for the accommodation of fifty male and fifty female orphans The girls, up to the 1st of August, have been partly under the care of the school- master, on a salary of twenty rupees per month On Sunday the children of both schools attend divine service (Hindoostanee) morning and evening, and also a Sunday- school for one hour With the exception of a Nau Bai * Chapman, pp. 147, 149. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 367 (or baker) no servant is attached to the institution; the children do everything for themselves ; and are thus entirely separated from heathen or Mahommedan contamination. " ' The children of both departments are constantly em- ployed; the great object of the superintendents being to combine the paramount advantages of a Christian education, with the most industrious habits and attention to economy, and to take care that each child, as it grows up, shall become acquainted with some useful occupation, which will render it independent in after life. Those children whose talents appear to be of a superior order, shall be selected, and special attention paid to their education, with a view to their becoming teachers hereafter.'"* Since the institution of the Orphan Eefuge at Calcutta, orphan and boarding schools have sprung up in various places. " Some friends of the late wife of Sir Henry Lawrence having raised a sum of ten thousand rupees, as a testimony to her memory, it has been deter min ed, at the request of Sir Henry, to entrust it to the Church Missionary Society, for the purpose of establishing a school in Amritsar, for native females, to be called ' The Lady Lawrence School.' "t In the south, Mr Eichards, the Government Inspector, reported to the Governor of Madras, last year, respecting boarding-schools for girls, in connexion with the Church Missionary schools, in the following terms : — " ' As a general rule, each missionary has two schools of this description — a boys' and girls' — attached to his principal station, and in almost every instance, located in his own premises. Here they receive a superior education to that given in the village schools, under the immediate superintendence of the mis- sionary, and in the case of girls, of the missionary's wife. The most pleasing feature in the missionary school system, is unquestionably the girls' boarding-schools. Their instruction is almost entirely vernacular; but in addi- * Chapman, pp. 155, 156. f Church Missionary Report for 1857, p. 99. 368 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. tion to a sound scriptural education, with a little instruc- tion in geography and arithmetic, they are taught to sew; and, what is of still greater importance, are brought into continual contact with European ladies, and learn to acquire their habits. The manifest influence of this training on their manners, their general bearing, and even on their physical condition, presented a most gratifying spectacle.' Consequent on this report, several grants in aid, recom- mended in the course of it, have received the final sanction of the Madras Government."* Boarding-schools for girls are also generally established in South India, at the principal stations of the London Mis- sionary Society. At Alipore, near Calcutta, the native Christian boarding- school, under the care of Miss Parker, which was founded in 1855, has forty-one pupils. + These are children of native Christians belonging to several neighbouring villages. They are taught in the Bengalee language, reading, writing, arith- metic, and useful knowledge ; needle- work is not neglected. Out of school-hours, the elder girls are employed in domestic work, cooking, cleaning the house, fetching water, &c, &c. Each day the school opens with reading the Scripture and prayer. Two of the children have been converted, and have joined the church. All the expenses of the school, with exception of the salary of the teacher, have been met by contributions from the neighbourhood. J In 1856, five girls in the school at Madras, under Mrs Porter, joined the church, and five were married to Chris- tian young men.§ During the year, three of the girls of the Jessore school were baptized. || The last reports of the Barisal school were as follow: — "In 1855, sixteen in the * Church Missionary Report, pp. 132, 133. f Baptist Missionary Report, p. 18. J Paper of Eastern Education Society, Dec. 1856. § London Missionary Report, p. 69. || Baptist Missionary Report, p. 26. _ ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 369 first class were able to read the Bible, and sew pretty well; and others were getting on in other classes. The conduct of all the girls while here was invariably good ; and those of them who have since married and settled in the villages, have a good name wherever they are."* Cholera broke up the school for a time. " The school was re-opened in November last. There are at present seventeen girls in it* eight of whom can read the Bible very well. They are all learning to read, sew, wash their own clothes, cook their own food, and attend to such other household matters as will fit them for the management of their own houses here- after. They are cheerful and happy, and their conduct is very satisfactory." t The circumstances of an orphan school at Berhampore are thus described: — ■ "The children, as is generally known, are of different castes, and gathered from various parts of the country. Some are rescued Meriahs, saved by the humane efforts of Government from an untimely death. Others are orphans, or destitute children, and a few the children of Christian parents. The present number is thirty- two. In this asylum they have a home, where they are not only separated from all the debasing associations and customs of idolatry, but are also watched over with parental care and solicitude. It is our endeavour to im- part such knowledge as may fit them for usefulness in this Hfe, but more particularly that higher and better know- ledge by Which, under the blessing of God, they may be- come wise unto salvation. Eight of the senior girls are members of the church, and give us much pleasure by their consistent and exemplary conduct. Five of them are from the rescued Meriahs, the other three are Teloogoos. The school duties have been continued as usual, and the children have been diligent in attending to their daily lessons, and * Baptist Report, 1856, p. 32. + Ibid., 1857, p. 39. 2 A 370 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. have made pleasing progress in useful knowledge ; it has also been our privilege to witness the improvement of some of these young people in sacred things. Since our last report three have been baptized and added to the church, and others are candidates Several of the senior girls are shortly to be married to young men, who are members of the church The daily morning service, or family worship, in Oriya, is conducted by Mr Wilkinson in the school-room, when the children of both schools attend. The Sunday Bible classes have been continued." * The following is the last report of a school at Cut- tack : — " Eleven months have passed away since we resumed charge of the girls' school. Great changes had taken place during our absence. Fifteen of the elder girls, the whole of the first class, had married, and been dismissed honor- ably from the school In October, my much esteemed young friend, Miss Butler, took the entire superintendence of the school in the morning, assisted by two native Chris- tian teachers. The following is an outline of the children's studies during the year : — The whole school have learned a daily text, carefully selected, on the character of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, salvation by Christ, Divine worship, relative duties, various sins to which youth are greatly prone, as lying, disobedience to parents, pride, evil-speaking, passion, and, what is very common in this country, laziness. These texts have been written also by the first class in their copy-books. The books studied and read by the two higher classes are the Book of Genesis, Luke and John, and the Book of Proverbs, and a portion of the Psalms. A part of the ' Holy War,' the ' Companion to the Bible,' the ' Moral Class-book,' and the ' History of Orissa,' have been read ; and a series of lessons given on geography, arithmetic, and the elements * General Baptist Mission Report, pp. 24, 25. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 371 of philosophy. .... For several months past, spinning and husking rice have been introduced. These are quite Oriental employments, but in the present state of Indian society they are very important. No woman in India need starve whilst she has strength to spin, and work the dhinhy which husks the rice. To-day six of the girls husked and cleaned sixty-four pounds of rice; just enough for one large family for one day. The work here named is in addition to the regular routine of school duties. They have earned nearly forty rupees by sewing, knitting, and crocheting, with which they have purchased several useful school-books, contributed liberally towards the repairs of the chapel, and, what has pleased me still more, some of the best workers have unitedly purchased three new garments for three very poor native Christian women, that they might have something decent to wear to go to chapel. Our school is now as large as it is convenient for us to have it. There are sixty-five boarders, and eleven day scholars. Several of the pious elder girls are employed as monitors in the school. The religious aspect of the- school is encouraging. Four during the year have been, we hope, truly converted, and received into the Church. The mem- bers have exhibited a good degree of zeal and love in the spiritual welfare of their unconverted youthful companions. .... It has been our privilege to establish a Lord's-day morning prayer-meeting, and I trust we can say it has been a means of grace to our souls. The dear girls who are members have regularly engaged in prayer A few days ago I received a letter from one of these. After re- ferring to the birth of her little boy, and her many parental anxieties, she adds, ' I feel the necessity of leaning more and more on Him our strength. What a privilege it is to be brought to know this heavenly Friend, who more than all besides feels a deep sympathy for tried souls ; to Him we may repair in all our crosses, privations, and hardships ; 372 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. and in Him I find, from sweet experience, a fulness suffi- cient to supply my every want/ " * At Madura, three of the pupils were married in 1856 to native teachers, and nine became members of the church, the whole number being forty-three, t Of the last examination of the Wesleyan girls' school at Madras, which contains fifty-three boarders, we read: — " The senior class, composed chiefly of girls bordering upon womanhood, were examined in Scripture, grammar, geo- graphy, and arithmetic ; and considering that these are generally the children of persons in a very low and de- graded station, and especially that they were using a foreign language, we could not but be surprised at the intelligence of their answers. The teachers employed in the school during the last year are all Hindoos; one was formerly a pupil in the school, and two are our valued assistant-mis- sionaries, Gloria and Joel Samuel. Specimens of writing in English and Tamil were shown to the company present, and did the pupils great credit The girls not only make and keep in repair their own clothing, but by the proceeds of their fancy-work purchase the requisite mate- rials Among the fifty boarders, nearly all have pro- fessed Christianity, and many are very consistent members of our church." \ At the Missionary Conference in Calcutta, Mr Fordyce, of the Free Church Mission, said of these boarding-schools : — " There are 28 in Bengal, having 79 1 pupils. Probably, in proportion to numbers, these institutions have been more blessed in real conversions than any other; which may be accounted for from the fact, that many of the pupils have been long and entirely under Christian influences Some of the former inmates of these schools are teachers; * General Baptist Report, pp. 62-64. f Report of the American Board, 1857, p. 107. J "Wesleyan Report, 1857, p. 25. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 373 and many may be found in the dwellings of native preachers, teachers, catechlsts, and humbler members of our churches, making- them Christian homes, as only godly wives and mothers can make them In orphan homes the inmates, in Calcutta at least, are varied both in their origin and prospects. Vernacular instruction should of course be regarded as of paramount importance; but it is desirable also that the English language be thoroughly taught, and English habits partially introduced; chiefly because some may become teachers in schools and zenanas ; and many will, as hitherto, be married to highly-educated natives. In the latter case, ignorance of English would be a deeply felt inequality , and our aim is not merely to educate, but to elevate, and, first among a few, but ulti- mately over all India, to raise woman to be the companion, the counsellor, the equal of man I know of only one purely normal school, although a normal class may be more or less definitely formed in orphan homes. I refer to the one at Tallygunge, under the excellent management of the Misses Suter. It is devoted to native female education, though the pupils be Europeans and East Indians Normal schools should be multiplied, Europeans being secured as far as possible, as most suitable for governesses and teachers, and most likely to give a few of their best years to the work."* The Conference, in their resolutions on the subject, said — " Of long-tried plans in Bengal, the boarding-school system has been most satisfactory in definite results; and they especially regard the increase of normal schools or classes as indispensable to great progress." t In the endeavours of any educational society the objects sought by these two schools may be perhaps accomplished in one. At least, an orphan school is probably better fitted to be a normal school than a day-school is, because at pre- * Mission Conference, pp. 150, 151, 154. t Ibid., p. 158. 374 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. sent the children of Christian parents could not be gathered in sufficient numbers as day scholars to form a good native school ; and because the children of heathen parents, if they can be drawn to a school, are so uncertain in their attend- ance, and stay for so short a time, that a school the classes of which are formed by them can never become a model. But orphan children may be obtained in numbers. The prevailing language should be the vernacular of the place ; but English should also be taught to some of the children, because it is necessary to three classes — to those who become teachers, to the wives of teachers, and to those who become servants to Europeans. Each of these schools should have a class of young Christian women destined to be teachers, and should be under the care of two or more European ladies, aided by a sufficient number of well-taught native assistants. None should be set apart to become teachers but those who give good evidence that they have faith in Christ, be- cause those who are themselves unconverted cannot labor effectively to convert others. But the experience of the Orphan Befuge, and other orphan schools, shows, that under earnest and prayerful European superintendents many con- versions may be expected ; nearly all the children will learn to respect religion ; and by the fact of their training, all are for ever severed from Hindooism. Mahommedans they may, if unconverted, become, because Mahommedanism claims the subjection of all; but Hindoos never, because Hindoo- ism has made them irremediably and eternally outcasts. So far, therefore, they are safe. As nominal Christians, shut out from the practices and the friendship of Hindoos, they have at once great advantages beyond Hindoo women ; but attending Christian instructions, and worshipping with Christians, in how many instances will they probably be- come true disciples ! From their childhood they are placed wholly under a maternal Christian training, excluded from ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 375 the polluting legends of Hindooism, separated from heathen practices, made acquainted with the love of Christ in dying for sinners, and trained in all Christian habits; they are drawn by a thousand influences to trust in the Saviour, and He works with His servants. His Spirit has already brought many of these poor orphans to believe ; and we may con- fidently commit all who are thus trained for His service to His care. All these schools are intended for the children of the poor, because none but they will be found at the vernacular heathen school, or at the vernacular native Christian school; and very few but they in the orphan and boarding-schools. On several accounts the education of the poor in India seems to me of much more consequence than that of the rich. One great object is to raise the working classes from their unjust depression ; and when these poor girls are well trained, they become so intelligent, sprightly, and well-man- nered, that their appearance, no less than their attainments, is superior to that of the women of the higher classes who are uneducated. " When children of the lower castes, that have been instructed in any of the female schools, are compared with those of the highest rank, the contrast in mind and manner is strikingly in favour of the former."* When "girls in a very low and degraded station" can sustain, in a foreign language, an examination in Scripture, grammar, geography, and arithmetic, to the surprise of the visitors, they cannot be long despised by high-caste ladies, who know nothing.t That fact alone goes far to undermine caste prejudices, and to lift up the crushed Shoodras and Pariahs to their just position. Secondly, these girls of the poorer class may become important agents to enlighten their country ; whereas Hindoo ladies, shut up by their jealous husbands in their cheerless seclusion, can benefit none but their own families by their knowledge or their virtues. * Female Education, p. 72. -f Wesleyan Report, p. 25. 376 ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. Thirdly, these poor children, as the -wives of native Chris- tians, will afterwards present the example of cottage excel- lence and happiness to millions of the Hindoo poor, either in Christian villages, or as acting with matronly authority in their cottage homes among the heathen; but the rich Brahminees, however refined or well-instructed, can afford no example to any one, because they are seen by none. And, lastly, when poor women, as schoolmistresses, or the wives of native teachers, or as cottagers, become intelligent, well- instructed, and exemplary, the rich will certainly, for very shame, begin to instruct their wives and daughters, and will ask the aid of a society which has so successfully elevated and blessed many of the poor. Indeed, instruction is beginning to penetrate the zenanas of the rich. At Santipore, Miss Bomwetch has found ladies who have been taught to read by their own maid-servants. " In a few cases, governesses have been employed for brief periods by native gentlemen ; and there is reason to believe that not a few young Baboos have taught their wives and sisters."* Near Calcutta, Mr T. Smith, of the Free Church Mission, has " obtained the consent of several highly intel- ligent Baboos to admit a governess, and pay for her services. This was the more gratifying, as the arrangement was made on the clear understanding that she would be free to impart religious instruction. An European teacher was sent, ac- companied by a native girl as her assistant, and the results, both as regards the progress of the pupils, their attachment to the governess, and their lively interest in her instructions, are highly gratifying. The only outlay was for the pur- chase of a horse and gharee, the Baboos paying enough for a small salary to the teacher, and the current expenses of the conveyance. Similar arrangements are in progress with other native gentlemen ; and a second governess, an ex- pupil of the Misses Suter's normal school, has just begun, * Conference, p. 151. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 377 and may soon be wholly employed in domestic tuition, for which she is singularly qualified, by a thorough knowledge of Bengalee as well as English."* Lastly, without solicita- tion, the Baboos at Santipore offered thirty-six of their daughters for instruction, on condition that Christianity should not be taught. On account of that condition, Mr Bomwetch was obliged to refuse their offer; but even with that restriction, it shows that the richer natives are begin- ning to see the use of education to their women." t Still, after all, we must not forget the lamentable neglect of female education. It is especially the shame of Bengal. In female schools of all classes there are not more than twelve hundred women and girls who are taught to read, which is not more than a thousand in twenty millions, or one in twenty thousand. J In South India, the Church Missionary Society alone educates 3467 girls ;§ but even when the South is included, there are not more than six thousand women and girls in India under instruction ; || and the number of the popula- tion in British India being one hundred and thirty millions, of which at least half are females, we have not more than six thousand instructed among sixty-five millions, which is not more than one in every ten thousand eight hundred. * Conference, p. 152. t Ibid., p. 144. % Ibid., p. 152. § Report, p. viii. || Conference, p. 153. IV. CHRISTIAN BOOKS FOE INDIA. The number of native Christians in India in 1852 was 94,145, and the number of communicants was 15,1 29.* It is of the highest importance that all these should have Christian books, by which they may strengthen their minds, improve their circumstances, fit themselves for better situations, clear away remaining superstitions, and grow in piety. No less important is it that the children under Christian instruction, who amount to 64,806, should have the same advantage, t But heathen readers want Christian books fully as much. The entire number of European and American missionaries in India in 1852, exclusive of native ministers, was three hundred and thirty-five; and the number has not been much augmented since then. Assuming, therefore, that the number is not more than three hundred and sixty, and that no one can instruct more than ten thousand persons, they cannot instruct more than four millions of the population ; and as the population of British India is a hundred and thirty-two millions, this leaves a hundred and twenty-eight millions of our fellow-subjects untaught, de- based, insidting their Maker by false religions, and perish- ing in unchecked depravity. The whole number of children * The number of native Christians in India and Ceylon was 112,191 ; in Ceylon, 18,046 ; therefore the number in India was 94,145. The number of communicants in India and Ceylon was 18,410 ; in Ceylon, 3281 ; therefore the number in India was 15,129. — Mullens, pp. 15, 20. t The total number in 1852 was— boys, 53,458; girls, 11,348: boys and girls, 64,806. — Mills, p. 167 ; Mullens, pp. 15, 20. ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 377 and may soon be wholly employed in domestic tuition, for which she is singularly qualified, by a thorough knowledge of Bengalee as well as English/'* Lastly, without solicita- tion, the Baboos at Santipore offered thirty-six of their daughters for instruction, on condition that Christianity should not be taught. On account of that condition, Mr Bomwetch was obliged to refuse their offer; but even with that restriction, it shows that the richer natives are begin- ning to see the use of education to their women." t Still, after all, we must not forget the lamentable neglect of female education. It is especially the shame of Bengal. In female schools of all classes there are not more than twelve hundred women and girls who are taught to read, which is not more than a thousand in twenty millions, or one in twenty thousand.^ In South India, the Church Missionary Society alone educates 3467 girls ;§ but even when the South is included, there are not more than six thousand women and girls in India under instruction;! and the number of the popula- tion in British India being one hundred and thirty millions, of which at least half are females, we have not more than six thousand instructed among sixty-five millions, which is not more than one in every ten thousand eight hundred. * Conference, p. 152. t Ibid., p. 144. % Ibid., p. 152. § Report, p. viii. || Conference, p. 153. IV. CHRISTIAN BOOKS FOE INDIA. The number of native Christians in India in 1852 was 94,1 45, and the number of communicants was 1 5,1 29* It is of the highest importance that all these should have Christian books, by which they may strengthen their minds, improve their circumstances, fit themselves for better situations, clear away remaining superstitions, and grow in piety. No less important is it that the children under Christian instruction, who amount to 64,806, should have the same advantage, t But heathen readers want Christian books fully as much. The entire number of European and American missionaries in India in 1852, exclusive of native ministers, was three hundred and thirty-five; and the number has not been much augmented since then. Assuming, therefore, that the number is not more than three hundred and sixty, and that no one can instruct more than ten thousand persons, they cannot instruct more than four millions of the population; and as the population of British India is a hundred and thirty-two millions, this leaves a hundred and twenty-eight millions of our fellow-subjects untaught, de- based, insulting their Maker by false religions, and perish- ing in unchecked depravity. The whole number of children * The number of native Christians in India and Ceylon was 112,191 ; in Ceylon, 18,046 ; therefore the number in India was 94,145. The number of communicants in India and Ceylon was 18,410 ; in Ceylon, 3281 ; therefore the number in India was 15,129. — Mullens, pp. 15, 20. t The total number in 1852 was — boys, 53,458; girls, 11,348: boys and girls, 64,806.— Mills, p. 167 ; Mullens, pp. 15, 20. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 379 in Christian schools being 64,806, while one-tenth of the population, or 13,200,000, ought to be in school, above thirteen millions of heathen children remain without Chris- tian instruction. If we are to do our duty to India, mis- sionaries and schools must be greatly increased. But, meanwhile, the want of these makes Christian books more necessary. Books can assist missionaries in their pastoral labors, add much to the efficiency of schools, strengthen impressions produced by evangelists, and penetrate where neither missionaries, nor Christian schools, nor evangelists are known. I. The Number oe Eeaders in India. — The number of heathen readers who can profit by Christian books is rapidly increasing. They are of three classes : — 1. Pupils in the Government schools. — The number of pupils in the Government schools is as follows: — In 3669 schools in the North-west Provinces, 53,688;* in Bengal, 14,319 in 733 schools;! Madras, 3750 in 235 schools;! Bombay, say 1200 ;§ total, 76,757. At least that number must have left the Government schools able to read; and so there must be about a hundred and fifty thousand Government scholars, who, with the power of reading, have also obtained some taste for European knowledge. 2. Scholars in the indigenous vernacular schools. — In the year 1835, Mr Adam was appointed by the Governor- General, Lord William Bentinck, to inquire into the state of education in Bengal and Behar. In six districts exa- mined by him, he found 1473 teachers, who instructed 24,211 boys; of whom 22,951 were Hindoos, and 1260 Mahommedans. || This gave an average of sixteen boys to a master; and as the number of vernacular native schools in Bengal and Behar is 80,000,11 at the same average the * Christian Education, pp. 17-19 ; Mills, p. 169. + Mead, p. 308. J Mills, p. 170. § Ibid. || Calcutta Hevieio, Jan. 1845, p. 323. IT Conference, p. 124. 380 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. whole number of boys under Hindoo and Mahommedan instruction in Bengal and Behar is about 1,280,000, which is rather less than 4 per cent, of thirty-six millions, the whole population of those two provinces.* If in other parts of British India the children are instructed in a similar proportion, there must be several millions of chil- dren now learning to read in heathen and Mahommedan schools, to whom Christian books would be of advantage. The Calcutta Review makes the number less. Having shown that the average of children under instruction for all the districts examined by Mr Adam is 7§ per cent., the reviewer proceeds: — "In Bengal and Behar there is a population of about thirty-six millions. Eleven-thir- teenths of „ this aggregate will give us a juvenile population amounting to 13,200,000, or upwards of thirteen millions. The half of this gives us 6,600,000, or upwards of six and a half millions, as the number of children of the school- going age. But we have already ascertained, that of chil- dren of the school-going age only 7f in 100 receive in- struction of any kind; consequently, of the 6,600,000, or upwards of six and a half millions, of the school-going age, only 511,500, or about half a million, receive any kind of instruction, leaving 6,088,500, or about six millions, of children, capable of receiving school instruction, wholly uneducated !"t But even this lower estimate will make the whole number of children in Hindoo and Mahommedan schools in British India to be about 1,788,000, on the supposition that the amount of education in the other Presidencies is equal to that in Bengal; and this is a number which may well reward the efforts of a Christian educational society. 3. Adult readers. — Mr Adam further found, as the result of his inquiries in the same six districts of Bengal and Behar, that of the whole adult population above the age of fourteen, the number of those able to read and write was * Calcutta Review, Jan. 1845, p. 362. t Ibid., pp. 359, 3G2. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 383 In many of these schools Mr Adam found that no books ■whatever were used, the whole instruction, from first to last, being given by dictation. * The rest had manuscript books alone. " The use of printed books in the native lan- guage was almost wholly unknown," and " scarcely one of the schoolmasters had ever before seen a printed book."! The text-books in use were of a demoralising tendency. They were legends from the Pooranas and other Shasters, of the loves of Krishna and his mistress Kadha; the adven- tures of Krishna; songs in honor of the goddess Doorga; the Ganga Bandana, describing the virtues of the goddess Ganga, and the purification from sin produced by bathing in her waters; the Saraswati Bandana, or salutation to the goddess Saraswati; and the Chanakya, a series of slokes or proverbs ; with other instructions worse than any of these. J The punishments in the schools are often cruel, and in return the boys often pelt a master with pebbles, or pray to the goddess Kali for his death. § " As to any moral influ- ence," says Mr Adam, " of the teachers over the pupils — any attempt to form the sentiments and habits, and to control and guide the passions — such a notion never enters into their conceptions ; and the formation of the moral character of the young is consequently wholly left to the influence of the casual associations amidst which they are placed, with- out any endeavour to modify or direct them The hand, the eye, and the ear are employed — the memory is a good deal exercised — the judgment is not wholly neglected — and the religious sentiment is early and perseveringly cherished, however misdirected. But the passions and affections are allowed to grow up wild No material improvement of the native character can be expected; and no improvement whatever of the system of elementary education will be suf- ficient without a large infusion into it of moral instruction." || * Calcutta, Review, p. 328. t Ibid. J Ibid., pp. 328-333. § Ibid., pp. 334, 336. || Ibid., pp. 321, 328. 384 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. " A Hindoo school is a mere shop, in which by a certain process the human being is prepared to act as a cop'ying- machine, or as a lithographic press. The culture of the mind is never contemplated in these seminaries. Hence Hindoo youths, though of a capacity exceedingly quick, never find the means of enlarging and strengthening the faculties. The bud withers as soon as it is ready to expand. .... Destitute, therefore, of all that is reclaiming in his education, of all that contributes to the formation of good dispositions and habits, these youths herd together for mutual corruption. Destitute of knowledge themselves, the parents, the tutors cannot impart to others that which they themselves have never learned. Human nature takes its unrestrained course, and whatever is in the human heart receives an unbounded gratification."* In all these schools, Christian books are wanted to facili- tate instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, to give any real knowledge of things, and to train children in habits of social morality, as well as to lead them to the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Adult readers no less need Christian books, because they have been them- selves as much corrupted by their superstitions as the chil- dren have been. Mahommedans are rendered by their faith sensual and sanguinary ; and Hindoo idolatry still more de- praves its votaries. III. Distribution op the Bible. — The best book for all these classes of heathen readers, and that which they most need, is the Bible. This, which is " not the word of man, but the word of God," written by "holy men of God," who "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (1 Thess. ii. 13; 2 Peter i. 21), is the book which must accomplish, through the Holy Spirit, the transformation of India. * Ward's View of the Hindoos, i., Preface, p. xsxv. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 385 It is needed by the forty native pastors * of native churches: for "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof for correc- tion, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17): on which account, all pastors or evan- gelists should " meditate upon these things, give themselves wholly to them; that their profiting may appear unto all" (1 Tim. iv. 15). All the native teachers, whether schoolmasters or evan- gelists, six hundred in number,! ought, like Apollos, to be "mighty in the Scriptures" (Acts xviii. 24). To all the members of native Christian churches, amounting to 15,1294 as to all the disciples of Christ in India and in Europe, have the apostles of Christ said, " Let the ivord of Christ dwell in you richly" (Col. iii. 16); "As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter ii. 2). The Word of God, containing the revelation which He has made of Himself, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, of salvation, of heaven and hell, of His law and His promises, is the great medium by which He guides His servants to their ultimate perfection (John xvii. 1 7). The 64,806 children taught in the schools of the mis- sionaries ought all to hear and read the Word of God, for God has said to all parents and others with the charge of children, " These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart : and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children" (Deut. vi. 6, 7, xi. 18, 19). And Chris- tian parents in India must remember their Master's order by His apostle, "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. vi. 4). * The number of native pastors in India and Ceylon is forty-eight (Mullens, p. 15), of whom perhaps eight are of Ceylon, t Ibid., pp. 16, 17. % Ibid., pp. 15, 20. 2B 386 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. Besides these, there are 94,145 native Christians by pro- fession, all of whom ought to be diligently instructed in the Scriptures, since they are the medium through which the Holy Spirit changes the hearts of men. All real Christians have been regenerated by the Spirit through the Scriptures — " Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth" (James i. 18). "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorrup- tible, by the word of God" (1 Peter i. 23). And, therefore, missionaries must make these ninety-four thousand nominal Christians well acquainted with this sacred book. It is further available for about one million seven hun- dred thousand children who are in Hindoo and Mahomme- dan schools, and for about three millions three hundred thousand adults who are able to read; that is, for about five millions of readers in British India. The whole num- ber of Scriptures which have been circulated in India since the year 1811 by the Bible Society is 2,450,592,* most of which copies are by this time worn out ; so that nearly five millions of readers at this time in British India require to be supplied. Since "faith comeih by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. x. 17), if we wish these readers scattered over India, in places where no missionary ever comes, to be converted to Christ, we must take measures to distribute the Word of God, by sale, over the whole territory. Our sacred book is rendered more necessary to the Hin- doos and Mahommedans by the existence of their sacred books. The Mahommedan appeals to his Koran, which as he thinks descended from God; arid the Hindoos to their Shasters, which are in their view no less divine. It is, therefore, natural that they should ask for our sacred books. This fact also gives us as Christians a vast advantage. Like the Koran, the Bible forbids idolatry, and maintains the * Report, 1857, App., p. 59. The numbers are distributed as follows : — Cal- cutta Society, 919,350; Serampore Missionaries, 200,000; North India Society, 79,528 ; Madras Society, 1,028,996 ; Bombay Society, 222,718. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 387 unity of God: but while the Mahommedan hook allows polygamy, concubinage, and capricious divorce, enjoins the slaughter of unbelievers, and orders Mahommedans to mur- der the man who renounces Mahommedanism wherever they find him, the Word of God reveals the love of God in the mission of our Eedeemer, bids us be pure as He is pure, and instead of allowing us to murder unbelievers, enjoins upon us to love them, to seek their salvation, and to labor for their good. The contrast must strike any thoughtful Mahommedan. The contrast between the Bible and the Shasters is still more complete. The Vedas, which are very meagre, are unknown to the working classes, and forbidden to them: but the Shasters, which they hear re- cited at their festivals, relate the exploits of profligate dei- ties, and enjoin an obscene idolatry, exalt the Brahmins, and insult the working classes, sanction the ill-treatment of women, give to working men no hope of heaven, and even prohibit the natural use of their faculties for the im- provement of their condition in this life. But the Bible reveals God as the holiest and most bene- volent of beings, forbids idolatry, makes known a Divine Redeemer, declares that all real Christians are brothers, raises the working man, protects women, and while it shows all men a way to heaven, teaches them how to make their homes happy upon earth. Of this sacred book excellent versions exist in the prin- cipal languages in India ; and the more recent versions into the other languages are becoming more perfect with each revision. Various conversions of Mahommedans and Hin- doos have been traced to their reading of the Scriptures in secret. Among many, let me mention three which are re- cent. Cassi, now of Byganbari, received a New Testament in 1852, read it, and renounced idolatry. For this, his brother poisoned him, dislocated his right thumb, put a crown of thorns on his head, saying he would make a Christ 388 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. of him, drove him from his house, took his property, and reduced him to insanity. His senses being restored, he now reads the Scriptures daily; and Mr Bion, the missionary at Dacca, who found him out in 1856, says of him — "I was quite sure, from all I heard from him, that he is a sincere believer in our Lord: he reads and prays daily, openly con- fesses his faith in Christ, reads the New Testament to his neighbours, and has brought several respectable persons to think of Christianity."* Mr Campbell of Seharunpore wrote in 1856 — "A fakir, who had obtained portions of the Word of God from our hands many years ago, and who, after perusing them, had frequently come a long distance for a fresh supply, was brought, through Divine grace, to a knowledge and love of the truth, and was baptized some months ago. He is still a diligent student of the Bible." t The same year Mr French of Agra wrote — " In one village the lumberdar, a very respectable old man, came to see me in my tent, bringing with him some books, one of which was a copy of St Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, by which it ap- peared his mind had been seriously and savingly impressed, so far at least as that he seemed to have renounced all other confidence, except the work wrought out for him by Christ, and to be daily coming to God in prayer through Him." J And from Madras Dr Wilson wrote — "Sayyad Hasan El Mediniyah, now a candidate for baptism, ad- dressed to me the following note : — ' I have, under Divine grace, humbly to inform you, that by the perusal of the Holy Bible, a copy of which was kindly presented to me by your respected lady, as well as some other Christian books, and by contrasting them with the Koran, I am fully con- vinced of the Divine origin of the former and the imposi- tion of the latter. Being therefore desirous, under the Lord of infinite mercy and justice, of making a public pro- * Bible Society Report, 1857, pp. 150, 151. + Ibid., p. 159. % Md., p. 161. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 389 fession of my faith in Christ Jesus, the only Saviour of the world, notwithstanding all the ridicule and persecution I shall be inevitably exposed to thereby, I hope you will be pleased to give me shelter under the mission roof, as I think I should be unsafe were I to do so among my rela- tions and people. 5 This case, with others, is of a most satisfactory and encouraging character."* The Bible Society, which has aided missionaries in pre- paring versions of the Scriptures in Sanscrit, Bengalee, Hindee, Mahratta, Punjaubee, Teloogoo, Tamil, Hindoo- stanee, and other Indian languages, has auxiliaries at Cal- cutta, Agra, Madras, and Bombay. Its grants in the last year were — Books. Paper — Eeams. Money. Calcutta, 4485 ... £500 Agra, 950 1000 • ■ • Madras, 1100 1000 857 Bombay, 2218 200 ... Total, 8753 2200 £1357 The issues of books were — from Calcutta, 37,263; from Madras, 66,687; and from Bombay, 9376; total, 113,326.t The modes in which the Society promotes the distribu- tion of the Word of God are chiefly four, besides the sale at depots. 1. It furnishes missionaries with the copies which they may require for the native Christians of their stations, and of the villages around them. 2. It aids missionaries who preach in bazaars, at fairs, at heathen festivals, and in their missionary tours, to give copies of the Scriptures to inquirers, at their discretion. 3. It enables other missionaries to make tours for the single purpose of diffusing the Scriptures. * Bible Society Report, 1857, p. 172. f Ibid. The Report from Agra was not complete. 390 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 4. It employs colporteurs. On the tours above mentioned, sometimes a missionary meets with one who has renounced idolatry, and is most thankful to receive the Scriptures; Brahmins and others receive them willingly ; sometimes they are welcomed by the people in the bazaars; and now and then a zemindar buys them for himself and the Brahmins who are with him. A few colporteurs have also been at work. Five were employed during 1856 by tie Calcutta Auxiliary; the Agra Auxiliary has employed several ; and the Bombay Auxiliary at least six. These colporteurs, who are all native Chris- tians, are instructed not to give away the Scriptures, but to sell at low prices ; and the sales by these, though not large, have been such as to show that perseverance will prevail. Of two of them who labored south and south-east of Loo- dianah, the Eev. Mr Newton reported to the Bible Society : — " The colporteurs were generally well received, and in some instances the kindest hospitality was extended to them ; and so far as I now remember, they were in no case ill-treated. Their habit was to speak to the people on the subject of religion, as well as to furnish them with books; and the impression seemed to be general that they were influenced only by benevolent motives." * At Calcutta, M. Vermieux sold in the course of the year 1305 copies for 765 rupees; even in the country some are found willing to purchase; and, on the whole, the Calcutta Auxiliary received in the year 3566 rupees by sales. In Bombay, the copies sold were 223 O.t The experience of colporteurs in France and elsewhere warrants the hope that these sales will grow at each successive visit of the colpor- teurs to the same place. Meanwhile, an extension of the work may be expected in other directions. Why should not the Society employ one or two colporteurs, as an experiment, to offer the Scriptures * Bible Society Report, 1857, p. 158. f Ibid., p. 167. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 391 to every native schoolmaster at a low price, with the pro- mise of a supply at the same price for the use of the schools? If only one in twenty of the eighty thousand schools of Bengal should receive them, four thousand schools would be accessible in that province alone. Facts are not wanting to show that some Hindoos would not be unwilling to admit the Scriptures into their schools. In 1854, Mr Roberts, "being at the head of a school sup- ported by the heathen Rajah of Travancore, proposed that the rule which forbade the use of the Bible to all but Christians should be rescinded. The Rajah not only con- sented, but granted 250 rupees from the public funds for the purchase of Bibles. The attendance on the Bible class, being voluntary, was at first small, but gradually increased ; till after a while, not a single dissentient remained. And from that time to the present, the Bible has been read in the school by the Brahmin, the Shoodra, the Chogau, the Mahommedan, the Parsee, the Papist, and the Syrian — in short, by all who are able to read it, and that without any objection or murmur of complaint. And not only so: after the Bible came into general use, the Hindoo and other native youths began to purchase copies for their own use, which they could therefore take home with them, and read there as well as at school. Thus the sacred Scriptures found their way into houses and palaces to which mis- sionaries could have no access, and were read in the hearing of the great, the proud, and the hostile perhaps, by their own children." * Dr Kessen gives the following statement respecting Ceylon : — " The reading and explanation of the Scriptures occupies the first hour of the day in every Government school. This is the law — never departed from; but the attendance is entirely optional. And yet so mildly and firmly is the law enforced, that during the entire period of my * Christian Education, p. 25. 392 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. connexion with these schools — extending over sixteen and a half years, whether as Principal of the three highest estab- lishments, or as Superintendent, or as member of various sub-committees — not more than three cases have occurred in which parents have objected to the attendance of their children during that first hour. I left in my own estab- lishment, ten months ago, not only children of every form of Christian faith, but Hindoos, Budhists, Mahommedans, and Parsees, all heartily reading the Word of God, receiv- ing the explanation, and kneeling in prayer to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."* There is reason to hope that the Bible Society may soon supply Government schools to a great extent. A gentleman, not long since, examining a Government school, found that the boys passed over every reference to the Bible in the book which they were reading, by express order of the Go- vernment, t The colporteur at Nasik reported, that when the elder boys in the Government schools were willing to buy, the masters would not permit them to do so. J The Committee of the Bible Society, in their Beport for 1857, used these words — " In adverting to circumstances calcu- lated to exert a favorable influence on the spread of Christianity in India, the Committee cannot fail to notice the free use of the Scriptures, as now sanctioned in the Go- vernment schools'^ Unhappily these good news were pre- mature. Although the Government of Ceylon had, without difficulty or danger, introduced the Bible into their national schools, and the Marquis of Tweeddale, while Governor of Madras, had wished to do the same, the Court of Directors refused their sanction by the following despatch : — " Considerable misapprehension appears to exist as to our views with respect to religious instruction in the Govern- * Christian Education, pp. 26, 27. t News of the Churches, April 1858, p. 105. X Beport of the Bible Society, 1857, p. 171. § Ibid., p. 146. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 893 ment institutions. Those institutions were founded for the benefit of the whole population of India; and in order to effect their object, it was and is indispensable that the edu- cation conveyed in them should be exclusively secular. The Bible is, we understand, placed in the libraries of the colleges and schools, and the pupils are able freely to con- sult it. This is as it should be, and, moreover, we have no desire to prevent, or to discourage, any explanations which the pupils may, of their own free will, ask from their master upon the subject of the Christian religion, 'provided that such information be given out of school hours' '* But we have reason to hope that the Queen's Government will be less timid; and if, following the Ceylon precedent, they allow the Bible to be used in the national schools by all the children whose parents do not object, there may be soon a large demand for it. The Society may also, through their agents, offer their books for sale to all the rajahs who have been friendly to us in the late mutiny. As the Bajah of Travancore has allowed the Bible to be freely used in the missionary schools of his territory, and purchased some copies of it himself, possibly other rajahs, if they were addressed in a respectful manner, would be found no less friendly. Laymen, too, have in some instances begun to distribute the Scriptures. "It is gratifying," says the last Agra Beport, " to be able to state, that there are scattered over the country an apparently in- creasing number of laymen, who are desirous of distributing the Bible, and who are frequently making demands upon our stock."! These channels of distribution, some of which are very imperfectly explored, render it, as it seems to me, desirable that the Society shoidd have several agents for the four Presidencies and the Punjaub, who may consecrate their time and energies to this work. Missionaries are too much over- * Christian Education, App., p. 31. t Bib. Soc. Kept., 1857, p. 156. 394 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. whelmed with their primary duties to undertake the task of exploring the whole country for opportunities of distribu- tion. At present the number of buyers is small, but through missionaries, through Christian schools, and through Govern- ment schools, readers of all sorts are increasing. At present, including school children, they amount to five millions. The resolution of Government, now published, that no man shall be employed in a Government office who cannot read, will give a fresh impulse to education; there is much reason to hope that the Bible will soon be read freely in all the Go- vernment schools; and recent events, which have confirmed the British rule, humbling both the high-caste Hindoos and bitter Mahommedans, will materially lessen the opposition to the sale of the Scriptures, if they do not even excite much curiosity respecting them. Dr Pinkerton in Germany, and M. de Pressense" at Paris, show what energetic agents can accomplish in fields which were before supposed to be barren; and in India a few stu- dents of the Bible, in every part of the country, may en- lighten a much larger number respecting the doctrines of Christianity, of which they now know nothing. IV. Distribution of Christian Books and Tracts. — Besides the Bible, religious tracts and books should be dis- tributed to Hindoo readers in large numbers. What evan- gelists may do to the few thousands who hear them, may the press do for millions who can never hear them. When the harvest is so large, and the laborers so few, we should make the press speak with its thousand tongues. Christian books may expound and illustrate the Word of God, attack error and defend truth, condemn popular vices and make known the laws of God, contrast the lives and deaths of Christians with the lives and deaths of heathens, and make the Hindoos acquainted with the progress of Christianity. Books speak not once but a hundred times to a reader, till CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 395 the dullest can receive a truth, and the most forgetful can hold it fast; and, unlike living disputants, who sometimes rouse men into passionate or ostentatious disputation, they speak in secresy and silence, inviting to reflection, and appeal- ing to conscience. They can be read by the timid, who would not dare to listen to a Christian teacher; they can reach the Hindoo woman immured in the zenana ; and they can meet the eye of the rajah, who, surrounded by Brahmins, would despise a missionary. But will the Hindoos receive these Christian books? Let us examine the facts. 1. Students in Government colleges and schools. — Al- though a scornful and scoffing Atheism may indispose many of these to receive Christian books, the experiment of an offer should be made. Some have availed themselves of the Christian lectures given by Dr Duff of Calcutta ; and if col- porteurs were to offer them well-written books, especially in English, at low prices, it is probable that many would pur- chase. 2. Native vernacular schools. — The poverty of the heathen schoolmasters, with their want of school-books, is likely to dispose many to receive Christian books on low terms. The average payment of masters in Bengal is under three rupees monthly; which is about half the payment of a servant in Calcutta. * Many of them had never in 1835 seen a printed book, and many more had not even books in manuscript, t Under these circumstances, good school- books would be to them a source of income and of reputa- tion. The experiment has not been made on any great scale ; but several facts indicate that many might be induced to take them. "Missionaries have found it very easy to introduce into the common village schools any improve- ment, in books and modes of teaching, which the masters were capable of adopting." In 1838, Mr Hodson, stationed at Goobbee, in a remote part of the Mysore, took the village * Calcutta Review, p. 320. f Ibid., p. 328. 396 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. schoolmasters in several places under his direction, giving them three or four rupees a-month, and obtaining in return the regular use of the Christian Scriptures and Catechisms, and such other school-books as then existed in the Canarese language, with a right of visiting and inspecting the school at any time; and even of using it as a preaching-place, and bringing all the boys of the advanced classes monthly to the mission-house, for a joint examination.* "Many such cir- cumstances encourage the belief that, if Christians will, they may supplant all others in training the future generations of India The possession of the printing-press, and of sound Western knowledge, places us in a position of advantage, from which we may, if only faithful to our privileges, take into Christian hands the formation of the future schools and household books of all India." t " Just enough has been done in this department to show that, were the Christians of England awake, they might change the school-books and the popular reading of all India ; and two more certain instruments of a great and permanent revolution cannot be imagined than, by the blessing of God, these would prove." \ 3. Adult Hindoo readers. — It may still be asked, whether many of the three millions of adult readers in India are likely to receive Christian books. On this point also we have some evidence. When missionaries have preached in bazaars, at festivals, and at fairs, they have always found the people willing to receive them; and facts have shown that they have been often read with care. Occasionally, men of some rank have manifested a desire to possess them ; as appears from the following account of a zemindar whom Mr Ziemann met at Goura, near Gorruckpore : — " We were called to a zemindar, surrounded by Brahmins, who was very civil towards us, and begged us to sit down; when he asked what was contained in our books. When * Christian Education, pp. 12, 13. t Ibid., p. 13. t Ibid., p. 24. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 397 we were explaining to them, they all heard with great attention. Afterwards the zemindar asked how much we took for each of the books which we were carrying with us. We replied, that we used to take for each Gospel two pice. ' Well/ he said, 'let me have for myself and for my family; and please give to each Brahmin who is here present and can read, one Gospel; I will pay for them.' It was very pleasing to see with what great desire the Brahmins at once stretched out their hands for the Holy Scripture ; and when they had all received, the zemindar paid for each two pice."* Mr Wiirth, also, has given the following account of a Linga priest : — " When travelling last year in the southern parts of the Dharwar Collectorate, I met with a man who told me that there was a Lingaite Swami, or teacher, in a village called Marali, who advised the people to throw away the Linga which they wear on their breast, and to put no confidence in their idols, but to believe in Christ He came to the temple where I was, followed by many of his disciples (Lingaite priests), who carried with them a great number of books. . Among these were the New Testament, Genesis, the Psalms, and the Prophets, all in Canarese. The Swami having taken his seat in the midst of his disciples, I thus addressed him : — ' You have I see many of our sacred books; do you believe what is written in them V He said, ' Why should I keep them, if I did not believe their con- tents 1 .... I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that the Holy Trinity, God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, is the only true God; and though the people call me a madman, I shall not give up this my conviction.'"t Various circumstances are now giving an impulse to the minds of many of the natives. " Government has lately issued a notification declaring the ability to read and write his own vernacular language, a sine qua non for every * Bible Society Report, 1857, p. 152. f Mullens, p.-34 398 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. person appointed to a situation the monthly salary of which is over six rupees; and ordering the preference to be given to those who can read and write over those who cannot, for all offices, however small the salary. In 1853, 418,275 books and pamphlets in Bengalee, issued from the native presses in Calcutta; the greater part of which were sold within the year."* " English books of- all kinds are eagerly sought by those who know our language; and works by Europeans, or con- taining European knowledge, in any of the vernacular languages, are not less desired by those who know only their own tongue." t To meet and augment this taste, Tract and Book Socie- ties have been formed at Calcutta, Agra, Orissa, Madras, Bombay, Nagercoil, South Travancore, and Guzerat; and many missionary presses are at work in different parts of India.- In addition to these, the South Indian School-book Society has been formed in India, with prospects of great usefulness, under the direction of Mr Murdoch; and the Christian Vernacular Education Society, which has recently taken up this object in England, may, if it is supported as it ought to be, prove of incalculable value to the Hindoos. In the Bengalee language alone, there are seventy-seven tracts published by the Tract Society, eighty-five by the Serampore missionaries, and fifty-three Christian books. | The following are the titles of some of the tracts now in circulation in the various languages : — In Bengalee — "Wilson's Exposure of the Hindoo Be- ligion," "Hindoo Objections Befuted," " Miracles of Christ," " Befutation of Vulgar Errors," " Drunkenness." § In Hindoostanee — " Inspiration and Integrity of the * Conference, p. 124. t Christian Education, p. 23. t Conference, p. 126. § Tract Report, 1856, App. p. 83. Tract Report, 1857, App. p. 32.— A work specially adapted for Hindoo -women, by Mrs Mullens of Calcutta, is already translated into several Indian languages. — Christian Education, p. 40. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 399 Christian Scriptures," by the Eev. Charles Pfander, at Peshawar — "a distinguished controversialist."* In Punjaubee — "Pantheism;" from the press at Loo- dianakt In Oriya — "True Refuge," "Destroyer of Delusion," " Caste," " Narrative of Mission to Orissa," " Hymn-book," " Guide to the Saviour," " The Gospel of Jesus Christ." J In Tehogoo — " Believe and Live," " In "Whom shall we Trustf " The True Refuge," "Salvation," " Truth for All," and " Strictures on Hindooism."§ In Mahratta — "Physical Errors of Hindooism." || In Goojurathee — " The Saviour of the World," " "What is Salvation V and "All Men are Sinners." IT To these we may add, " Spiritual Teaching," published by the American Mission, and reprinted at Coimbatoor; "written with great clearness and earnestness." ** " Chris- tianity and Hindooism Compared," by Clarkson; "Essay on Caste," by Bower; " Tinnevelly Mission," by Pettitt ;tt and " The Gospel of Jesus Christ," " The True Atonement," and " Idolatry;" printed at Vizagapatam."|J Many other books and tracts may be usefully added by the Christian Education Society. Among heathens, who break every moral law without scruple, it would be well to circulate, in a tract, the ten commandments, the two great commandments (Matt. xxii. 37-40), and other holy laws which Christ has given us. Since both Mahommedans and Hindoos have degraded and immured their women, tracts upon Christian women, narra- tives of exemplary daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers, statements of the duty of Christian husbands to their wives, founded on Eph. v. 22-28, of fathers to daughters, and of sons to mothers, ought to be largely circulated. Since * Tract Society, 1856, p. 85. t Ibid., p. 86. t Ibid., pp. 90, 91, § Ibid., 1857, pp. 47-49. || Ibid., p. 50. IT Ibid., p. 52. ** Tract Society, 1856, $. 93. tf Ibid., p. 96. IX Ibid., p. 97. 400 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. parents in India so neglect to form the character of their children, a view of Christian education, founded on Eph. vi. 4, and other scriptures, with accounts of young Christians who have been well educated, should be put into the hands of all Hindoo parents who can read. The contrasts between Jesus and Krishna, and between Jesus and Mahommed, would be useful; select promises might show how happy Christians are under the love and care of God; and bio- graphies of native Christians, such as Flavel and JSTaraput, Walayat Ali, Nainsukh, and Ko Tha Byu, would be likely to attract attention. Accounts of such Christian villages as Borsud, or Chittaura, would shew the moral and social results of faith in Christ ; and a short account of any native church, as that at Barisal, patiently enduring, and then outliving persecution, would be useful both to Christians and heathens. A tract upon the care of God for the poor, as shown by many statements in His Word, would draw the attention of the low castes and Pariahs, whom Hindoo- ism has so unjustly crushed; and the Hindoo and Mahom- medan heavens being voluptuous, a tract on heaven, as con- trasted with the imaginary heavens of these superstitions, would show the necessity of regeneration, and tend to make many feel that their systems must be wrong. Tracts and books of this kind do in fact arrest attention, as we may learn from the following testimony among many to the Tract Society : — " The publications of your Society continue to be received and read with avidity by all classes of the native community ; and we find no diminution of the demand, but contrariwise, one difficulty is in procuring supplies sufficient to meet the applications made to us both at home and abroad."* Often, too, does the gospel, as taught in these tracts, con- vince the . readers of the truth of Christianity. A young Mahommedan in Agra, hearing of Mr Pfander's controver- * Tract Society, 1856, p. 92. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 401 sial works, wrote to him for copies of them, and against all opposition persevered in reading them* At the village of S , near Agra, about eighty villagers met to hear Chris- tian tracts read by a native. The high-caste men of the village, headed by the pundit, opposed them, which reduced their numbers. Still, some continued to read at night.t At a festival in Orissa, a man who had received two tracts told the Christian preacher that he knew they were truth, but the fear of losing caste had deterred him from embracing the true religion. At another festival, a man began to sing a poetical tract. When the preacher asked him where he had gotten it, he said when he went to see the wooden Juggernaut at Pooree; and when the people reviled him for saying Juggernaut was wooden, he repeated, " He is nothing but a block of wood, and nobody can make him anything else." J Mr Addis of Coimbatoor says — " We often see instances of inquiry being awakened, knowledge imparted, and good effects produced on the conduct, through the reading or hearing of tracts. They are often thankfully received by heathens and Eoman Catholics in these parts ; and we know instances, from both these classes, of men who have read all that have been given to them, appear to understand them, and acknowledge the teaching contained in them to be true, but have not courage to come forward and make an open profession. The late Mr Leitch attended the deathbed of one of these, of the Tumby caste (descendants of the sons of the Kajahs of Travancore), and had great hopes that he died a sincere Christian. One of his sons, a man of consi- derable intelligence, and possessed of large property, some- times comes to see me. He maintains that he is a Christian in heart; that he never goes to temples, or worships idols; and that he is endeavouring to make his relations Chris- tians, that they may all come over together." § * Tract Report, 1856, p. 86. + Ibid., p. 87. % Ibid., p. 90. § Ibid., pp. 93, 94 2C 402 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. " While a catechist was conversing with two Chatties on the folly and danger of worshipping their gods, and the way of salvation through Christ, eight other Chatties joined them, and they consulted together how best to dispute with the catechist. He requested them to be patient till he read to them some pages from the tract, ' Spiritual Teaching.' On hearing what he read, they looked at one another, and said, ' How can we now dispute with this man V The tract had shown, from the Shasters, the abominable cha- racter of their gods."* " Three young men, of the Chatty caste, who had never seen a missionary, came from their village to Madras, a hundred and fifty miles, to be baptized. Appavoo, the eldest, having found some tracts, and the Gospel by Mat- thew, in the house of one of his relations, he read these books, and was convinced of the truth of Christianity; but for eighteen months said nothing. Then he lent the tracts to two others; and the three began to pray. After some time, they resolved to become Christians, and went to Madras ; where, although their relations tried in every way to deter them, they were at length baptized." t " Hajee Mahommed Bakir was received by Mr Pfander, at Peshawar, into the church last December, having been brought to renounce Mahommedanism by reading the New Testament and two of Mr Pfander's books." \ "Another Ma- hommedan, a surgeon in the Punjaub, wrote last year to Mr Pfander, to say that the Mizan, one of his books, had convinced him of the truth of Christianity; concluding with these words, ' My perfect desire is to be a true Chris- tian.'" § Mr Forman, of Lahore, writes — " In one village I met two young men, who professed to be converts to Chris- tianity from reading Christian books. In another village, I met with a young man, who seemed well acquainted with * Tract Report, 1856, p. 94. + Ibid., p. 100. J Ibid., 1857, p. 34. § Ibid., p. 35. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 403 many Scripture facts from reading. At another village I found a fakir, who read the Gospel of Matthew to the vil- lagers, who assembled to hear in the evenings. A judicious distribution of books is among the most important means of diffusing a knowledge of Christianity." 4 ' And a German missionary reports: — "At the Bhalui fair, a respectable Hindoo, of the writer caste, came to our tent, and stated, that he had come, not to worship the idol of the place, but only for the purpose of inquiring after our religion, and obtaining some books concerning it. He had perused all our books which he had received from others, who had brought them home from the fairs; and said our rehgion was certainly true. He was anxious to get a whole Bible; paid something for it, and went away with great dehght. Others confirmed what he said — that he was really in the habit of reading every tract he could get, and that he was a defender of our mission." t The style of these works should be Oriental, learned from the study of the most popular native works; and the ima- gery should be generally rural, as well as Eastern, because these tracts are intended for villagers, with others. " The Hindoos, in their own writings, show a great fondness for metaphors and symbols : from the days of Kahdas, who ransacked all nature to furnish him with images, they have exhibited this. The Bible, as an Oriental book, is con- structed on the same principle ; and our Lord taught by parables. But our religious tracts and books generally show nothing adapted to this taste; they seem to have been written rather amid the fogs of London or the ice of St Petersburgh, than in a country with the associations of the gorgeous East. Such books as ' Baxter's Call' are, for this country, little better than waste paper. The Ori- ental mind must be addressed through Oriental imagery."! * Tract Report, 1857, App., p. 36. t Ibid., p. 39. t Conference, p. 131 ; Mr Long. 404 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. To attain this style, missionaries must evidently become familiar with the vernacular languages, and improve, by careful revision, the books which they publish. Native authors, too, if they become as well acquainted with the gospel as their missionary teachers, and are as earnest in serving Christ, may be eminently useful. " Vaish- navism Examined," " a valuable exposure of the evils of that system," is more likely to influence the natives be- cause it is written by Koilas Chunder Mukergea, a native catechist at Krishnaghur.* Of the " History of Salvation," a tract in verse by a native Christian, we learn, from the Eeport of the Tract Society, that " the natives are greatly taken by it."t Another tract, " On Caste," by a native Christian, is said to be " a very excellent tract, and much in demand;" J and "The Comparison of Hindooism and Christianity," by Baba Padamangi, is said to be "an ex- ceedingly valuable contribution to Marathi literature." § " The Word of God," by Sheik Daood of Ahmednuggur, and " Turn, or Die," by a native Christian of Goojurat, are further recent additions to native works written to promote faith in the Eedeemer. || All such works may be rendered more extensively useful if, after being translated into English, they are sent to all the Tract and Book Societies of India, that they may be re-translated into the other vernacular languages. By this method, one able and pious native may speak to all the millions of the continent. " Great facility exists for trans- lating from one language into another; natives who could not prepare a work being quite capable of rendering one from some other Indian tongue into their own. A good book, produced in any one language, might, with funds at command, be made the common property of all India in a comparatively short period." IT * Tract Eeport, 1856, p. 83. t Ibid., p. 97. t Ibid., 1857, p. 48. § Ibid., p. 51. i| Ibid., pp. 51, 52. % Christian Education, p. 8. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 405 Small circumstances may much, affect the value attached to these books. " The tasteful style of tracts and books in Bombay, got up within the last few years, had much to do in securing the large sale of Christian tracts arid books by hawkers."* If tracts, as well as books, are well printed, adorned with pictures, made into small books, in covers of rich colors, and gilded, they would probably be more attrac- tive, be better preserved, and be more frequently read. Such books may be given to native schools, which are small and poor, when they allow the visits of an inspector, because the interests of the masters secure that such 'books would be well employed and carefully preserved; but as the schools get filled, and masters are well paid, the children should buy the books. It is now agreed that the distribu- tion of the Bible should be generally by sale. " I do not say that books and tracts ought not to be given away under special circumstances, but it is to be feared the gratuitous distribution of Scriptures and books has done little to pro- mote either Christianity or the cause of a Christian verna- cular literature. Independent of the fact, that natives are not likely to value much what has cost them nothing — that with them cheap and nasty are nearly equivalent — we have the result of missionary experience in Agra, Bombay, and Madras, where for some time missionaries have come to the decision to sell religious works, and have found the experi- ment work well. The rule of * nothing for nothing' is ex- tending to books as well as education. .... Years ago, Mr Mather of Mirzapore declared in his report, that as long as religious societies gave away books and tracts, so long there were no prospects of fostering a Christian vernacular litera- ture." t The sales effected by the different societies are not large, but they are everywhere increasing. The fifty-seventh report of the Tract Society says: — " During the year, 17,500 * Conference, p. 129 ; Mr Long. f Ibid. 406 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. tracts were issued from the depository to various parties. .... Nearly all the tracts put into circulation were disposed of by sale. The plan of selling tracts, instead of distributing them gratuitously, which had been adopted some time pre- viously by the Bombay Tract Society, has been followed by this society since its commencement. No difficulty is experienced in carrying out the plan. The people buy the tracts cheerfully, while they value them the more because they have purchased them. One cause which no doubt greatly facilitates their sale, is the lowness of the prices fixed on them. For some time, in and around Surat alone, the sales varied from one to ten rupees a-day. This large sale is to be attributed principally to the employment of several colporteurs, who, for a time, were actively en- gaged."* The last report states that 2280 Bengalee books and 2478 tracts were sold during the year by the Calcutta Society.t The Agra Society has adopted the plan of sale, and reports — "A more careful and healthy mode of tract distribution is gradually working its way among all par- ties. Fewer tracts are destroyed ; more are profitably read." | Still all the societies may usefully distribute penny books gratis under some circumstances. They may be given as prizes to deserving scholars — to serious natives, who buy copies of the Scriptures — to zemindars and baboos, who manifest a friendly disposition — and sometimes by native Christians to their neighbours, whom they know well. In some instances Christian laymen have rendered zealous aid to this work. Last year, an anonymous donation of a thousand rupees freed the Agra Society from great difficul- ties; and at Goojurat the expenses of a colporteur were borne by a Christian friend. § The issues of tracts and books by tbe society in 1856 * Tract Eeport, 1856, p. 101. f Ibid., 1857, App., pp. 32, 33. t Ibid., p. 40. § Ibid., 1856, p. 101. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 407 were as follows : — Calcutta, 120,000; Agra, 22,000; Madras, 92,000; and Bombay, 80,000* AH the local societies bear testimony to the value of these silent preachers. They are necessary to supplant the hooks issuing from heathen and Mahommedan presses. " Our publications on the Mahommedan controversy," says Mr French, "are far fewer than those written to throw doubt upon the Word, and to depreciate the work of Christ. The cheap, popular, attractive treatises which are issuing from the Cawnpore and other Mussulman presses .... render it imperatively urgent upon us that we should help together, by contributions of works and of means, to render the society as efficient an auxiliary as may be in the cause of truth and of God." t Hindoo books are worse. "Gross obscenity, dark superstition, an extravagant marvellousness, and frequent reference to idolatry, form the principal ingre- dients of that seasoning which alone can render a book palatable to the popular taste of Bengal. It is an instruc- tive fact, that the inculcation of vice in these obscene books is invariably perpetrated under the screen of the' national religion. The title prominently exhibits the names of some of the popular divinities. The book itself always opens with a formal invocation of two or three of them, and almost every new section commences with a prayer." J " At the present time, popular works issue from the presses of the chief cities of India in great numbers ; and many of these presses are under the sole conduct of the natives themselves. The works published are, for the most part, fabulous stories, told in a popular style, and calculated to enforce, as well as to illustrate, the rites of religion Incidents of a vicious tendency are so prepared as to gratify the depraved and wicked fancy of abandoned minds. No conception can be formed of some of the productions of the Hindoos. They are grossly extravagant in licentious- * Tract Report, 1857, App., pp. 33, 40, 42, 45. f Ibid., p. 39. % Ibid., p. 45. 408 CHRISTIAN BOOKS. ness ."* Attractive Christian books, with useful knowledge conveyed in a pleasing manner, may supplant and shame out of the market these impure products of heathenism. There is another class of Hindoo readers to whom these Christian books may be useful : — " The present state of the native mind is a very peculiar, I had almost said ominous one. Multitudes have been educated, but they are not thereby made Christians. Hindooism is falling on all sides. But now that we have cast down, who is there to build ? Who can impart to these multitudes, whose former religious convictions have been all destroyed, a hearty belief in a new revelation'? The tide of infidelity is rising high, and who will stem it 1 " t It may be met in a measure by Christian books. The foregoing observations show to bow many classes in India Christian books are useful. They increase the reli- gious knowledge of the native Christians, and furnish them with mental employment during the week, thus enabling them better to use the sermons which they hear; they are read by the old scholars of Christian schools, who, although they have remained Hindoos, know that the gospel is true; they are read by native teachers to the people; they he in cot- tages, and are read by the neighbours and relations of those who receive them ; pundits and fakirs sometimes read them to groups of children; occasionally they are devoured by solitary readers, whose minds are awakened, and who know no Christians ; and often, when a missionary has excited at- tention by his preaching, they confirm and deepen the im- pressions which have been made upon his hearers. Many Hindoos and Mussulmans have been convinced by them that the doctrine of Christ is true; and some have been even converted by reading them. Missionaries may plant Christian churches in many fa- * Tract Report, 1857, App., p. 46. f Secretary to the Calcutta Tract and Book Society; ibid., p. 37. CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 409 vored spots in India: all round their stations they may- form Christian schools as fast as native Christians can be trained to become good masters ; and with the aid of native teachers they may preach to some millions. Christian books should instruct and improve the members of all their churches ; libraries should be attached to all their schools ; and wherever they preach, books should be ready to deepen the impressions which their appeals may make. But far beyond all these spheres of labor, where no church exists, where no Christian school is planted, where no missionary ever comes, may Christian books be made most useful. Facts show that they may supersede the immoral and ido- latrous books which are now used in the indigenous village schools, and be still more gladly welcomed where printed books are now unknown. They may improve many of the eighty thousand heathen village schools of Bengal, and many more in other parts of British India; they may influ- ence the growing class of young natives, who, by the study of English without religion, have been imbibing a revolu- tionary Atheism; and they may be offered with success to many of the three millions of adult readers in every part of British India, from the Kooleen Brahmin to the despised Chandal, and the miserable Nautch girl. Bajahs and Ba- boos, Moulvies and Pundits, who would not listen to Chris- tian teachers, may be led by curiosity to read them; and even women, who are shut up in the zenanas of the rich, some of whom are now learning to read, may find by them the way of salvation. An encyclopaedia of useful know- ledge should be prepared for India, by means of tracts and books, in an Oriental style and dress, short, clear, forcible, cheap, and showy. Will the richer classes of England, neglecting this great duty to our Hindoo fellow-subjects, waste on self-indulgence what may enlighten a vast continent, and immensely aug- ment the influence of their own country in the East 1 ? 410 CHErSTIAN BOOKS. Eeader, when, as a "steward of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter iv. 10), you consider how yon ought to dis- tribute that portion of your income which you consecrate to works of Christian benevolence, will you remember that you are closely connected, as being their fellow-subject, with many millions who are involved in abominable ido- latry? Facts have revealed to you their depravity; God has told you of their doom (1 Cor. v. 9, 10; Gal. v. 19-21; Eph. ii. 3, 12, v. 5 ; Eev. xxi. 8) ; and your zeal may " pull some of them out of the fire" (Eev. xxi. 8 ; Jude 23). Some missionaries have already rescued ninety-four thou- sand from idolatry; will you send others to their aid? Christian schools are now teaching sixty-four thousand chil- dren ; will you help the Christian Vernacular Education So- ciety to multiply their number % Five millions of readers, including children, are capable of being enlightened by the Bible and Christian books which are ready for their use; will you encourage the Bible Society, the Tract Society, and the Vernacular Education Society, to offer these books to every Hindoo who is willing to read them? The Almighty Benefactor, from whom you have received all that you pos- sess, will not be displeased with this endeavour to do Him honor. V. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. Up to this time Oude has been neglected by English Chris- tians. No missionaries, Christian schools, or Christian books have pioneered the way for future efforts ; but three millions of people, between the Ganges and the Gogra, in a healthy climate, and spread over a fertile territory, have been left without any knowledge of Christ. Of these three millions, there are a hundred thousand families who habitually live by plunder. Armed with bows and other weapons, they rob and murder villages and tra- vellers, have no peaceable occupation, are professed brigands, and generally perpetrate their crimes with impunity. Men of high caste often become their captains; and, so little was this thought to be disgraceful, that such men pro- fessed beforehand their intention to become so. When Mr Eees was on his way from Calcutta to the North-west Pro- vinces, his companion, a man from Oude, told him that, if he could not otherwise obtain his livelihood, he would never disgrace himself by becoming a trader, but he would be a captain of banditti. He only felt as most of his class feel in Oude. " In Oude, all men who consider arms to be their proper profession, think themselves justified in using them to extort the means of subsistence from those who have property when they have none, and can no longer find what they consider to be suitable employment. All Eaj- poots are of this class, and the greater part of the land- holders in Oude are Eajpoots. But a great part of the Ma- hommedan rural population are of the same class, and no 412 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. small portion of the Brahmin inhabitants."* Many great landholders in the country, who might have restrained these thieves, unhappily became their patrons ; because, if a man grew rich and powerful by deeds of violence, he needed their help — first, to resist the Government contractors, with whom he was sure to be at war; secondly, to fight with neighbouring chieftains ; and thirdly, to seize upon the estates of weaker proprietors. Two instances may illustrate the habits of the class. . Ghoolam Huzrut of Jhareeapoora, like others in Oude, increased his property by seizing the estates of his neigh- bours. November 10, 1849, he sent some men to aid the prisoners in the gaol at Lucknow to escape : five were killed, seven wounded, twenty-five retaken, forty-five escaped ; and some of these became his followers. About 1847, he seized the estate of Bhowanee Sing, and, having been driven from it by the contractor, attacked it again at night, September 23, 1848, killed five persons, burned down the house, and took possession of the village. The king's officers acquiesced, because many of the landholders were ready to support him.t Several times he attacked and plundered the town of Na- wabgunge, and many villages around ; from which he drove off all the cultivators and stock, cut down the groves, and murdered or maimed all cultivators who presumed to till any of the lands without his permission. In this manner, Busharat Allee and many other landholders were deprived by him of their estates. By direction of Colonel Sleeman, he was surprised and captured in his fort of Para by Cap- tain Bunbury, who sent him a prisoner to Lucknow. But he had friends at court, who had shared his plunder; and though he never paid his revenues, oppressed his peasantry, murdered his neighbours, and robbed them of their estates, plundered towns, and kept the country in a perpetual state * Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, by General Sir W. H. Sleeman, vol. ii., p. 218. t Ibid., i. pp. 3, 21. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 413 of disorder, he managed, by bribes, to have bis son kept in possession of all bis ill-gotten lands by tbe following order from tbe minister ; — " To tbe officers commanding tbe forces in the districts of Sidbore, Nawabgunge, Dewa, &c. — By order of the Minister. — The King's chuprassies have been sent to Para to invite in Bhikaree, the son of Gboolam Huz- rut; and you are all informed that the said Bhikaree is to be honored and cherished, by the favor of the King; and if any of you should presume to prevent bis coming in, or molest him in the possession of any of the lands be holds, you will incur the severe displeasure of his Majesty. You are on no account to molest or annoy him in any way con- nected with his affairs. — (Signed) Abid Allee."* " Pretheeput, of Paska, on the left bank of the Gogra, is not worse than many of the talookdars of Oude, who now disturb the peace of the country; and I give a brief sketch of his history, as a specimen of the sufferings inflicted on the people by the wild bcence which such landlords enjoy under the weak, profligate, and apathetic government of Oude.f " Keerut Sing, the talookdar of Paska, between Fyzabad and Byram Ghaut, had five sons, tbe eldest Dirgpaul Sing, and the second Pretheeput. Pretheeput received from his father an estate at Bumhoree, on the left bank of tbe Gogra; while his brother lived at Dhunolee, on the right bank. Here be collected a band of ruffians and began to plunder. In 1836, be attacked and took a convoy of 26,000 rupees going to Lucknow, and in 1840, another of 85,000; with which sums he built a fort, and extended bis depredations. On bis father's death in 1842, he attacked his brother in his fort of Dhunolee, killed fifty-six persons, and took his brother prisoner. As no torture could make his brother give up his estate, he cut off his head with his own hands, and threw tbe body into tbe Gogra. In November 1843, Wajid Ali Khan Nazim, of Bahraetch, drove Pretheeput out of Dhuno- * Sleeman, i., pp. 306, 307. t Ibid., p. 37. 414 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. lee, and put Dan Bahader, eldest son of Dirgpaul, into pos- session of the estate; who was, however, soon driven out again by his uncle. Upon this the Nazim, for a bribe of 10,000 rupees from Pretheeput, recognised him as heir. In 1844, Pretheeput took another convoy of treasure, with 18,000 rupees. In 1847, having taken and tortured Ali Asgar, talookdar of Alinughur, and utterly ruined all the tenants and cultivators, he was seized by Rughbur Sing and kept in confinement two months, when he was released by Jucha Sing, the contractor, and his estate restored to him. After that he seized several estates. In 1848, he attacked and plundered the village of Sahooreea. In 1849, he carried off fifty-two persons from the village of Semree, whom he confined for two months, flogging and burning them with red-hot ramrods, till they paid a ransom of 5000 rupees; and then he plundered three other villages, killing eleven persons. In this manner he became the owner of a large territory by the ruin of many hereditary proprietors; but on March 26, 1850, he was attacked by the king's troops, killed, and thrown into the Gogra, near the place where his brother's body was thrown in."* Like these, the great men of Oude plundered the poor, patronised and paid thieves, seized the properties of less powerful proprietors, fought with each other, and carried on war against the king. Their forts surrounded by jungle, guarded by batteries, and garrisoned by their lawless re- tainers, defied the Government, and kept the whole country in terror. When the contractor summoned them to pay the revenue, they resisted. If victorious, they escaped the pay- ment due to the state; if worsted, they retired to the jungle, forced their villagers to do the same, plundered and murdered those who continued to cultivate the land, and by reducing their estates to a desolation which could pay the Government nothing, brought it at length to their * Sleeman, i., pp. 27-43. OP A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 415 terms. At other times they seized the properties of their neighbours; added, by murder and robbery, estate to estate; and generally were respected by the Government in propor- tion to the number and success of their crimes. Hear Sir W. Sleeman : — " Among the people no man feels mortified, or apprehends that he shall stand the worse in the estimation of the Government or its officers, for being called and proved to be a robber. It is the trade of every considerable landholder in the country occasionally, and that of a great many of them perpetually; the murder of men, women, and children generally attends their depreda- tions. A few days ago, when requested by the king to apply to officers commanding stations, and magistrates of bordering districts, for aid in the arrest of some of the most atrocious of these rebels and robbers, I told his Majesty, that out of consideration for the poor people who suffered, I had made a requisition for that aid for the arrest of three of the worst of them; but that I could make no further requisition until he did something to remove the impression now universal over Oude, that those who protected their peasantry, managed their estates well, obeyed the Govern- ment in all things, and paid the revenue punctually, were sure to be oppressed, and ultimately ruined by the Govern- ment and its officers ; while those who did the reverse in all these things, were equally sure to be favored and courted."* "The talookdars keep the country in a perpetual state of disturbance, and render life, property, and industry everywhere insecure. Whenever they quarrel with each other, or with the local authorities of the Government, from whatever cause, they take to indiscriminate plunder and murder, over all lands not held by men of the same class ; no road, town, village, or hamlet is secure from their merci- less attack: robbery and murder become their diversion, their sport ; and they think no more of taking the lives of * Sleeman, i., p. 306. 416 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. men, women, and children who never offended them> than those of deer or wild hogs. They not only rob and murder, but seize, confine, and torture all whom they suppose to have money or credit, till they ransom themselves with all they have or can beg or borrow. Hardly a day has passed since I left Lucknow, in which I have not had abundant proof of numerous atrocities of this kind committed by landholders within the district through which I was pass- ing. The same system is followed by landholders of smaller degrees, and of this military class. This class comprises Eajpoots of all denominations, Mussulmans, and Parsees. "When one co-sharer in the village quarrels with another, or with the Government authorities, on whatever subject, he declares himself to be in a state of war, and adopts the same system of indiscriminate plunder and reckless murder. He first robs the house, and murders all he can of the family of the co-sharer with whom he has quarrelled, or whose tenement he wishes to seize upon; and then gets together all he can of the loose characters around — employs them in indiscriminate plunder, and subsists them upon the booty ; without the slightest apprehension that he shall thereby stand less high in the estimation of his neighbours, or that of the officers of Government. On the contrary, he expects, when his pastime is over, to be at least more feared and courted, and more secure in the possession of increased lands, held at lower rates." The royal troops — who ought to have maintained order — only added to the general confusion. Placed under the command of court-harpies, who, without the least know- ledge of war, received the command of regiments, not that they might fight the enemies of their country, but that they might make fortunes by cheating the soldiers, the soldiers indemnified themselves for this ill-treatment by plundering the people. Wherever a regiment marched, * Sloeman, i., pp. 322, 323. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 41 7 they foraged for themselves; and, having extorted what they pleased from the villagers, tore even the roofs from their houses after they had emptied them of provisions. The chief duty of these troops was to enable the Nazims, who farmed the taxes, to collect the revenue in their several districts. How they accomplished this may be best under- stood by a short narrative of two of these contractors — Dursun Sing, and his son, Eughbur. Dursun Sing was the son of Porunder, a Brahmin, who came and settled in Puleea. Dursun, the second son, became an orderly cavalry officer, under Saadut Ali, King of Oude. In 1814, he was made colonel of a regiment of Nujeebs. In 1817, the king let to him Bhudurao, and several other villages, in farm, at sixty thousand rupees per annum. Before 1820, Dursun Sing had by force or fraud deprived all the proprietors of the five villages of their estates. He then became contractor for Sultanpore and other districts. Here he placed rates upon the estates which they could not pay, quartered soldiers upon them to enforce his demands, and made them transfer their estates to him, so that many of them left the country, or became day-laborers. Dursun Sing, strong in troops and in court favor, became the most powerful subject in Oude beyond the precincts of the court.* In 1835, Ghalib Jung, a fallen favorite, was committed to his charge, and was kept by him in an iron cage at Shahgunge. In 1842, being contractor of Gonda and Bahraetch, he seized and plun- dered all the great landholders one after another. Among others, he surprised the capital of the Rajah of Bulrampore, killed about an hundred of the garrison, and seized property to the value of 200,000 rupees.t The rajah retreated into Nepaul, where he was again surprised by Dursun Sing, and plundered of all the property which he did not secure by flight. For this Dursun Sing was deprived of all his employments, was rehired to pay one lac of rupees, and * Sleeman, i., pp. 150-153, 160. f Ibid., pp. 160, 58, 59. 2d 418 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. was banished. This was in March 1844, but the May following he was recalled; and on the 30th of that month was made Inspector-general of the kingdom, to make a settlement of the land revenue, cut down all the jungles, and seize all refractory barons. His estates were restored ; but shortly after he became ill, and died at his house at Fyzabad.* Eughbur Sing was the second son of Dursun Sing, who died August 20, 1844, "leaving his three sons, Eamadeen, Eughbur Sing, and Maun Sing, to fight among themselves for his possessions." In 1846, Eughbur became contractor for the districts of Gonda and Bahraetch, which he held for the two years 1846 and 1847. In these two years be drove off, by ra- pacity and outrage, the greater part of the cultivators of Bhumnootee, the estate of Hurdut Sing, on which alone he seized 25,000 bullocks. The other estates of that neigh- bourhood were similarly ravaged. The mud cottages which remained were the abodes of fear and wretchedness.t " In 1849, from Bahraetch towards G-onda, the Pyagpore estate was almost entirely waste, scarcely a field tilled, or house occupied — all the work of Eughbur. This man farmed the districts of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846 and 1847. He had a large body of the king's troops to enforce the pay- ment of the revenue, and another large body of his own retainers to assist him in his contest with his brothers for the possession of the Mehdona and Asrewa estates: Captain Orr's account of these districts in 1849 was as follows: — ' The once flourishing districts of Gonda and Bahraetch, so noted for fertility and beauty, are now for the greater part uncultivated. The villages completely deserted, in the midst of lands devoid of all tillage, everywhere meet the eye ; and from Fyzabad to Bahraetch, I passed through three dis- tricts, a distance of eighty miles, over plains which had been * Sleeman, i., pp. 32, 58-66, 142, 149, 153, 160, 185. f Ibid., pp. 27, 32, 35. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDB. 419 fertile and well cultivated, till Bughbur Sing got charge, but now lay entirely waste — a scene for two years of great misery, ending in desolation.'"* Having placed the most notorious knaves in the country as revenue collectors over all the subdivisions of his two districts, he made an exorbitant demand upon Rajah Hurdut Sahae ; which being refused, he seized the raj ah's tenants, sent out parties of soldiers to plunder all the towns and vil- lages on the estate, and seize all the respectable residents. Five thousand cattle were distributed as booty, and a thou- sand captives, of both sexes, and all ages, were subjected to all manner of torture, till they paid the ransoms which were demanded. He remained at Bondee for six weeks, superintending perssnally all these atrocities, and then left bis agent Kurum Hoseyn there to continue them. The rajah had escaped to the jungles, but both he, and his agent Benee Baur, with his tenants, were induced by fair promises to return. When all were lulled into security, Benee Baur was murdered by Maharaj Sing, another of Bughbur's agents; and the towns and villages were again deserted. After two months, Kurum induced them all to return, declaring that he would redress all their wrongs. When all were settled in their villages, Beharee Lai, Bugh- bur's chief agent, suddenly seized Bondee, and sent out de- tachments of soldiers in every direction to plunder. All the towns and villages were plundered. Eighty thousand animals were taken, and two thousand captives were brought in, of whom five hundred were women and children. These Avere driven twenty miles to Busuntpore ; the women were driven on with bludgeons; many died on the road; and many children were trodden to death. Bughbur, Beharee Lai, Kurum Hoseyn, and Maharaj Sing sent the finest cattle to their own homes, leaving the rest to the officers and soldiers. * Sleeman, i., pp. 71, 72. 420 OP A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OTOE. At Busuntpore, Beharee Lai tortured the prisoners from daybreak to noon. He flogged them, drove red-hot ram- rods into their flesh, pulled out their tongues with hot pin- cers; and then sent them to Kurum to be tortured again. From noon till evening Kurum presided over the tortures with savage delight. No less than seventy men, besides women and children, there perished from torture and star- vation. To escape from these tortures, Buldee, the rajah's brother-in-law, took poison ; and Bamdeen, a Brahmin, stab- bed himself. Women and children were stripped of their clothes, so that many died from cold and hunger ; and many more disappeared, who have never since been heard of. The sepoys who were employed to inflict the torture laughed and joked at the screams of the sufferers. On this occasion Rughbur paid off various debts by placing ten or twenty prisoners at the disposal of each creditor. In September 1847, Rughbur's agents, with their troops, plundered Khurgoopore, where they seized about forty merchants and shopkeepers, who were tortured till they paid the ransoms demanded. As large a number of persons were made prisoners in Bisumberpore and other towns, who were similarly tortured. In the Gungwal district, the estate of Rajah Seetul Bersaud was plundered, and he was forced to flee into Nepaul. Respectable persons were seized and tortured ; moistened gunpowder was smeared over the heads of many, and when dry set fire to; and those who showed any pity towards the sufferers were themselves seized and tortured. Many respectable families were dis- honored in the persons of wives, sisters, and daughters; and almost all the towns and villages around were deserted. In Gungwal, a Brahmin travelling with his wife was mur- dered by Seorutum, Rughbur's agent. The wife having taken up her husband's head, wrapped it in a cloth, and walked with it fifty miles to Ajoodheea, where Rughbur was engaged in religious ceremonies. When she placed it before OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 421 him, and asked him to punish the murderers, he ordered it to be thrown into the river, and drove her from his presence. In a similar manner he pillaged the estate of Pyagpore, robbed the rajah's house of property to the value of 15,000 rupees, drove off 1800 bullocks, seized and tortured all the men whom he could catch, and sold many of their wives and daughters. In village after village nothing was left but the bare walls. The finest lands lay uncultivated, and the people were driven to subsist on wild fruits or die. In the Hurhnrpore district, in 1847, the talookdar Chinghy Sing was attacked at night; 2500 bullocks were seized and sold ; the tenants, women as well as men, were tortured till they paid ransoms. Many women have never since been heard of; some perished of hunger and cold, having been stripped of their clothes ; and others threw themselves into wells rather than return to their families after the dishonor which had been done to them. On the Churda estate Mudur Buksh, the manager, was beaten to death; and the people suffered as elsewhere. On the estate of Bhinga, the houses were plundered ; the people were stripped of their clothes; the bullocks were sold; the women were driven off in crowds to the camp of Rugbbur; and many died on the road. The estate of the Eajah of Euhooa was treated in the same manner. Mungul Pershad, the manager, and many of the tenants, were beaten to death; forty villages were attacked and plundered; two thousand cattle were sold; many men were tortured ; and many women perished from the cruel treatment they received. " I have passed through all the districts," says Sir William Sleeman, " here named, save two, Churda and Bhinga. Everything I saw and heard tended to confirm the truth of what has been told. Eughbur, and the agents employed by him, were, by all I saw, considered as terrible demons, who delighted in blood and murder; and the Government which employed such 422 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. men seemed to be utterly detested and abhorred. Nothing was done by Government to repress these disorders. In October 1847, the king replied to the remonstrances of Colonel Eichmond, the resident, ' that he had sent orders to Eughbur, and his brother Maun Sing; but that they were contumacious servants, and had taken no notice what- ever of his orders.' Not one of the agents employed in the atrocities above described was ever punished." In 1848, Eughbur was deprived of his charge by orders from Luck- now, and his uncle Incha Sing succeeded him. Eughbur then went into the British territory; and bought large estates near Gorruckpore and Benares : but he still main- tained 5000 men in Oude to fight with his brother Maun for estates near Sultanpore ; and employed his agents at Lucknow to obtain his restoration to power. In January 1849, through the influence of Colonel Sleeman, the king proclaimed Eughbur an outlaw, and offered 3000 rupees for his arrest; but nothing more was done, and Eughbur was still hoping to return to power. Colonel Sleeman also secured the arrest of his agents, Beharee Lai, Gooreshunker, Kurum Hoseyn, and Maharaj Sing; but they all soon purchased their way out. No one was punished; and in June 1851, all of them were in situations of much emolument and respectability under the Government.* "The people saw that all the members of the Government were accessories in all these outrages; that the more of them a public officer committed, the more secure he was of protection and favor at Court; and their abhorrence of the individual extended to the whole of the Government." t These are specimens of the general rapacity of the con- tractors. The inordinate demands upon landowners being resisted, led to the complete spoliation of their properties. The greedy contractor, utterly careless both of the misery * Sleeman, i., pp. 66, 27, 32, 35, 70, 72, 96, 95, note. t Ibid., p. 95. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDS. 423 of the people and of the future interests of the Government, pillaged, tortured, and murdered the villagers, till he made his contract profitable ; and silencing the complaints of the people by bribes at Court, he secured to himself new dis- tricts to pillage and torment. " The officers of the Govern- ment delight in plundering the peasantry ; and upon every local governor who kills a landholder of any mark, rewards and honors are instantly bestowed, without the slightest inquiry as to the cause or mode. They know that no inquiry will be made, and therefore kill them when they can, no matter how, or for what cause; and the great land- holders would kill the local governors with just as little scruple."* Many of the people perished in the conflicts between the talookdars themselves ; but those between the talookdars and the contractors, between the baronial and the official brigands, were still more fatal. Both parties being alike selfish, rapacious, and cruel, between them the villages were plundered, the people perished, and the land was laid waste. To enable the king to know and prevent such crimes, he employed 660 news-writers, called Akbar: by whom every offence ought to have been promptly and faithfully re- ported. But their neglect of their duty may be learned from the following account of them by Sir William Slee- man : — " They receive from four to fifteen rupees a-month each, and have each to pay their president, for distribution among his patrons or patronesses at Court, from one hun- dred to five hundred rupees a-month in ordinary times. Those to whom they are accredited have to pay them, under ordinary circumstances, certain sums monthly, to prevent their inventing or exaggerating cases of abuse of power, or neglect of duty on their part ; but when they happen to be really guilty of great acts of atrocity, or great neglect of duty, they are required to pay extraordinary sums, not only * Sleemaa, i., p. 335. 424 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. to the news-writers who are especially accredited to them, but to all others who happen to be in the neighbourhood at the time. There are 660 news- writers of this kind em- ployed by the king, and paid monthly 3194 rupees, or, on an average, between four or five rupees a-month each ; and the sums paid by them to their president, for distribution among influential officers and Court favorites, averages about one hundred and fifty thousand rupees a-year. Many whose avowed salary is from four to ten rupees a-month, receive each, from the persons to whom they are accredited, more than five hundred, three-fourths of which they must send for distribution among Court favorites, or they could not retain their places a week, nor could their president re- tain his. Such are the reporters in all the cases on which the sovereign and his ministers have to pass orders every day in Oude. Some of those who derive part of their in- come from this source, are ' persons behind the throne, and are greater than the throne itself. 5 The mother of the heir-apparent gets 12,000 rupees a-year from it." 4 ' c None of these offenders were likely to receive their due reward from the minister of the crown, Allee Nakee Khan. A weak man, who stood in awe of the king's fiddlers and eunuchs, he " had not one quality which a minister ought to have ; " and his chief business was to persuade the inert and profligate king "that he did all that a king ought to do." Like the contractors, he had two objects in view — to obtain as much money for himself as possible, and at the same time to satisfy the cravings of the king. His perqui- sites in 1849 were twelve lacs of rupees ; and this sum was collected from all sorts of offenders, who bribed him into connivance at their crimes. He was ever the friend of those who paid him best; and the greatest villains in the country might be sure of his support, if they were strong enough to give him trouble.! * Sleeman, i., pp. 67, 68. t Ibid., pp. liv., lxix., lxxx. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 425 Allee Nakee was a knave ; but had he been an honest man, he could have done little to remedy the evils which swarmed in the country. The eunuchs, fiddlers, singers, and low women, who were the king's favorites, and the only society which he could endure, held the state entirely in their hands. As their influence with the king was supreme, every one who sought a favor from him bribed them. News- writers, military officers, talookdars, and contractors, the wronged and the wrong-doers, all paid them for their patronage. Criminals bought from them impunity; and debtors to the Government escaped the payment of three- fourths of their debt by paying the other fourth to them. To the influence of these infamous and contemptible per- sons, was added that of the king's wives. Had these been wise, virtuous, and humane, they might have lessened the evils which ruined the country : but they were not less pro- fligate than the other profligates by whom he was governed. According to Sir W. Sleeman, he lived in continual dread of being poisoned by his wives. He was afraid of his chief wife, becaii.se she was disposed to poison him that she might place her son on the throne, and live with her paramour ; and he was afraid of his second wife, Surafraz Mahal, be- cause she also was an adulteress, and might poison him to go off with her lover, Gholam Ruza od Dowlah, who was his chief favorite, and chief of the singers/ 5 ' This woman, when at length she was divorced for her infidelity, had the impu- dence to return to the palace, and live for a week there in concealment with the adulterer.t This sketch of the society in Oude has prepared the reader to learn the character of the king. To him all the country looked up as the source of authority, the founda- tion of justice, the autocrat who had the power to punish oppressors, and to secure to the poor and rich the fruits of their industry, or the produce of their land. Wajid Ali * Sleeman, i., p. lxxiv. f Ibid., pp. 46, 106. 426 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OTOE. never thought of the welfare of his subjects. Shutting his eyes to all the sufferings of the people, and closing his ears to all their complaints, he would investigate no abuses, and punish no crime; but passed his days with eunuchs, singers, and low women. So utterly was he de- based by profligacy, that he allowed his wife, Surafraz Mahal, to stipulate, as the sole condition on which she would remain in the palace, that she might have what lovers she pleased besides him; and when at length she was divorced for her adulterous intercourse with Gholam Ruza, actually continued his favor to the adulterer, who still lived in his palace, and enjoyed his friendship.* Sir William SJeeman sums up his view of the Government, by saying, " We have a fool of a king, a knave of a minis- ter, and both are under the influence of one of the cleverest, most intriguing, and most unscrupulous villains in India."! Under Wajid Ali, Allee Nakee, and Gholam Euza, what could poor Oude do but perish? " No description," says Bayard Taylor, " can fully illus- trate the corruption of the Court of Oude. It is a political ulcer of the most virulent kind, and there is no remedy but excision. For the sake of humanity, the East India Com- pany would be fully justified in deposing the monarch, and bringing the kingdom under its own rifle." J " The grand vizier is an unprincipled tyrant; and to such a degree of resistance have the people been driven, that the revenues are yearly collected with cannon and a large armed force. An officer, who knew Oude in the reign of Saadut Ali, forty-five years ago, told me, that he remembered the time when all the country, from Lucknow to Benares, bloomed like a garden and overflowed with plenty; now, it is waste, impoverished, and fast relapsing into jungle. Thousands of people annually make their escape over the frontier into * Sleeman, i., pp. 47, 102-105. t Ibid, p. xxii. t A Visit to India, &c. By Bayard Taylor. London : 1S55. Page 221. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 427 the Company's territories; and at Cawnpore it is not un- usual to see them swimming the river under a volley of balls from their pursuers."* Under a government so incapable and profligate — preyed upon by hordes of remorseless villains who were under no restraint — the wretched people had no security for their property or life. Many fled from the country; and those who still clung to the homes of their childhood, raised their scanty crops in fear and dejection from a rich territory, which needed nothing but peace and safety to become the garden of India. Uncultivated lands, deserted villages, roofless huts, and a starving population, every- where testified in Oude to the cruelty of the ruffians by whom the people had been plundered, tortured, and op- pressed. All the vultures of the country preyed upon them. The king, his wives, eunuchs, fiddlers, and para- sites of all sorts, news-writers, soldiers, and officers, pausies, landlords, and contractors, sucked their blood and tore their quivering flesh. Pausies broke into their houses, to plunder and torture them; landowners, who seized the properties of others, drove off and killed the tenants, that they might starve the proprietors ; contractors- made all they could of each estate, seizing the cattle, plunder- ing the houses, torturing the men, and selling the women and children; the soldiers were more dreaded than gangs of robbers, because they were more powerful and not less rapacious; and the creatures of the king, that they might share in the plunder, sanctioned the crimes by which it was obtained. By a treaty made with the East India Government, in 1801, the King of Oude agreed, in return for protection by the British Government, " to establish, in his reserved do- minions, such a system of administration, to be carried into effect by his own officers, as should be conducive to the pro- * A Visit to India, &c. By Bayard Taylor. London : 1855. Pp. 221, 225. 428 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. sperity of his subjects, and calculated to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants; and to advise with, and act in conformity to the counsel of the officers of the Bri- tish Government."* But, notwithstanding these stipula- tions on behalf of the people, the abuses of the Government and the miseries of the people continued to increase. In consequence of such violations of the treaty, the Court of Lucknow was repeatedly warned by successive Governors that the British Government would be obliged to assume the administration of the country. When all these remon- strances had proved ineffectual, two courses were open to the British Government: According to treaty, it might withdraw its troops, leaving the country a prey to anarchy, till it should be saturated with blood, and the people, al- ready miserable, shotdd suffer tenfold horrors ; or, it might shield the country from these miseries, by assuming the entire government of the country, leaving to Wajid Ah the title and the name of a sovereign. Sir William Slee- man, who desired the independence of Oude, and wished well to the king, expressed his belief that the East India Government must assume the administration of the king- dom, in the following terms : — " In considering the rights which the sovereign of Oude has acquired by solemn treaties to our support, we must not forget those which the five millions of people subject to his rule have acquired, by the same treaties, to the pro- tection of our Government ; and it is a grave question, that must soon be solved, whether we can any longer support the present sovereign and system of government in Oude, without subjecting ourselves to the reproach of shamefully neglecting the duties we owe to these millions."! "The impression has become strong and general, that our Go- vernment can no longer sup]Dort the present Government of Oude, without seriously neglecting its duty towards the * Sleeman, ii., p. 189. t Ibid., p. 200. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 429 people." 4 '' "The only alternative left appears to be for the paramount power to take upon itself the administration, and give to the sovereign, the royal family, and its stipen- diary dependents, all the surplus revenues." t "At least nine-tenths of the people of Oude would hail the change as a great blessing." \ " The present king ought not certainly to reign ; he has wilfully forfeited all right to do so : but to set him aside in favour of his eldest, or indeed any other son, would give no security whatever for any permanent good Government." § " What the people want, and most earnestly pray for, is, that our Government should take upon itself the responsibility of governing them well and permanently. All classes, save the knaves who now sur- round and govern the king, earnestly pray for this: the educated classes, because they would then have a chance of respectable employment, which none of them now have; the middle classes, because they find no protection or en- couragement, and no hope that their children will be per- mitted to inherit the property they may leave, not invested in our Government securities; and the humbler classes, because they are now abandoned to the merciless rapacity of the starving troops, and other public establishments, and of the landholders, driven or invited into rebellion by the present state of misrule. . . . All, from the highest to the lowest, would at this time hail the advent of our adminis- tration with joy." || The East India Government has followed his advice; only, instead of leaving the king the surplus revenues to waste upon his profligate minions, it will employ them for the benefit of the people. There now remains to us the duty of endeavouring to repair the mischiefs which long misrule has inflicted upon a suffering people. The mutiny has facilitated the task. * Sleeman, ii., p. 206, note. f Ibid., p. 210. % Ibid., p. 212. § Ibid., p. 309. || Ibid., p. 370. 430 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. Already the trading and -working classes had welcomed the change of government; while oppressors of all sorts saw with rage their opportunities of plunder coming to an end. Every baronial robber was a natural enemy to the good government which he saw to be at hand. He had fought withhis own sovereign, and had resisted rival oppressors, but now Wajid Ali seemed a shield for his excesses, and every rival became his ally. A change in the govern- ment has necessarily combined against England all those who profited by the previous anarchy. Great landholders, who were meditating the annexation of neighbouring estates — contractors, who filled their purses by the wholesale plunder of ruined districts — soldiers, who pillaged the villagers at their pleasure — professed brigands, to whom the weakness and the vices of the Court afforded unbridled licence— and the hundred thousand families of pausies, or village thieves — all these, with the powerful harpies of the Court, were necessarily the deadly enemies of those who came to rescue the suffering people from their unprincipled cupidity. To these must be added the Mahommedan zealots, who hate us as infidels, whom their prophet has ordered to be enslaved or killed. The military skill of Sir Colin Campbell, and the valor of the British troops, having rescued the country from the grasp of these oppressors, and substituted for their rage a dread of our power, now is the time to do Oude good. Never did a country more need the interposition of a strong, just, and benevolent Government. Before the an- nexation we stood between a royal profligate and the hatred of all classes of his subjects. Had we simply deserted him, the sceptre would have dropped from his effeminate grasp : but then Lucknow would have been abandoned to pillage, and Oude to anarchy ; all the most powerful chief- tains, starting in a new career of plunder and violence, would have ruined the villages in the endeavour to create OP A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 431 independent principalities for themselves; and the whole country, bleeding with civil war, would have cursed us for leaving it to these miseries. Sir W. Sleeman, the great enemy of annexation, saw that the East India Government must assume the entire administration of the kingdom, because any less vigorous measure could never heal disorders so inveterate; only he contended that all the surplus revenues which should accrue under a more steady and powerful rule should be paid to the king. Undoubtedly the people of Oude should be made to see that the admi- nistration was not assumed by the East India Government to fill its own coffers ; but, the wants of the king being pro- vided for, and the expenditure of the Government met, the surplus revenue, instead of feeding the royal profligacy, should be employed in works of public utility, which would benefit the whole nation. "Whatever be the views which any persons may take of the justice or expediency of an- nexing Oude, it is clear that it cannot now be given up to bloodshed and anarchy. Most distinctly is the East India Government now called to heal the miseries which have been occasioned by long misrule; and to make the whole population rejoice in the peace and plenty which a strong, wise, and just Government can secure to them. It is indeed no easy task to raise a people so accustomed to oppression, or to reform those who were alternately the tools and victims of wicked men. But the Government may do much for their welfare. Victorious, and even irre- sistible, it may disarm the whole population, compelling landowners and robbers of every description to beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning- hooks. It may dismantle every fort, and oblige the baronial brigands to bring in their guns, to surrender their arms of all kinds; it may scatter their armed retainers, making it penal to carry any weapon ; and it may clear the jungles, which now cover eight hundred and eighty-six 432 01? A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OTJDE. square miles of country, thereby affording honest employ- ment to the ruffians whom they have hitherto hidden from the eye of justice.* In place of these bands of ruffians levying black mail upon every defenceless neighbour, it may organise a good police. The materials may not be abundant, but if it selects the most honest and peaceable men "which the country can afford, who shall be well paid, warned of the certain punishment which will attend every act of fraud or violence, placed under strict discipline, and officered by upright and energetic Englishmen, it may speedily make the most daring oppressors in the country respect their neighbours' rights. Instead of those lawless troops who pillaged the districts in which they were quartered to keep order, it may canton British troops in positions whence they may command the whole country. But British soldiers in India ought to be better disciplined than they are. It is most lamentable to read that men whose gallantry was the admiration of their country could degrade it in the eyes even of the heathen by worse than bestial sensuality. I have seen the defeat at the second battle of Cawnpore ascribed to the drunkenness of an entire regiment. In the Residency at Lucknow itself, when every arm was needed, and when the health of every soldier was a common benefit, did many of the men burst into a private cellar, and gave themselves up to reckless intoxication. If Lucknow, Fy- zabad, Sultanpore, and Seetapore, are to be scenes of Euro- pean intemperance and profligacy, soldiers and officers will disgrace their Queen, and greatly retard the improvement of the people whom they ought to convert into friends by their virtues. In place of the eunuchs, fiddlers, and knaves who misgoverned in the name of the king, Englishmen of integrity and wisdom, like Sir W. Sleeman and Sir Henry Lawrence', placed at the head of the Government, will * Sleeman, ii., p. 286. OP A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OTOE. 433 doubtless take care that able and upright meu shall be made collectors, judges, and magistrates, by whom fraud, violence, bribery, and falsehood, with knavery of every kind, shall be sternly rebuked and resolutely punished. So governed, every criminal in the land, from the land- holder whose yearly rental is forty lacs of rupees, to the hungry and ragged highwayman, may be sure of speedy retribution, and the bloody appetites which have been glutted by indulgence will die of starvation. Landholders who know that they will not be permitted to seize the estates of others, and who are equally sure that no one can attempt to seize theirs, will no longer have any use for their armed retainers, and have no temptation to disturb the peace of the country. Sir W. Sleeman insisted much on justice being made cheap and simple. District courts, and complicated forms with long unintelligible pleadings, are so much dreaded by the people, that many said to him that they preferred living under the existing anarchy, in daily fear of ruin by lawless violence, to dwelling in the British territory, where they might be ruined by long legal processes which they could not comprehend. May not sensible and benevolent magis- trates make the circuit of their districts, and dispense in each village a patriarchal justice, without legal ceremony and without much delay 1 What is most wanted to make Oude thrive, is complete protection to person and property, under which the smallest estates would be well cultivated, villagers and small proprietors could afford to improve their lands, and good houses would take the place of mud huts and mud forts over the whole "country. Although thousands of armed idlers will find their occu- pation gone, no one, as it seems, need be without employ- ment. Lands which have lain waste through desperate struggles between greedy contractors and refractory land- holders, will now invite many laborers. Jungles, no longer 2 E 434 OP A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OITDE. needed to hide the fugitives worsted in civil war, may be profitably cleared; and public works of all kinds will afford additional employment. Sir W. Sleeman states that the expenditure of the Go- vernment under Wajid Ali was one hundred and twenty- three lacs of rupees, which was about twenty lacs in excess of the revenue ; but that the expenditure under the British Government would be only seventy-five lacs, and that,, therefore, there would be a surplus revenue of twenty-eight lacs, supposing the sum total to remain as before;* but since the year 1801, the revenue of that half of the kingdom which was then ceded to us has risen from one crore and thirty-three lacs to two crore and twelve lacs; while the half remaining under native misrule has sunk from one crore and thirty-three lacs to one crore and ten lacs.t There is reason, therefore, to think that, under an im- proved agriculture, the revenue paid by the landowners, who know that they can neither resist nor cheat the Government, will rise, without the smallest addition to the burdens of the people. On this supposition, a considerable surplus will remain in the hands of Government; and if the new police and a small augmentation of the military force, required by the recollections and the longings of many of the talookdars, shall exhaust some portion of it, much may remain to employ all who are willing to labor. Eoads, railroads, canals, bridges, tanks, and irrigation, may divert the minds of the people from civil strife to works of peace, and increase the general wealth. Government schools, also, will doubtless not be wanting. The resolution of the East India Government that all per- sons employed by them shall know how to read and write, and that none shall reach the higher posts unless they know English, will doubtless apply to Oude as well as to * Sleeman, ii., pp. 380, 381 ; i., p. 309. t Ibid., i., p. 321. OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 435 other parts of the British territory, and will give a salutary impulse to the pursuit of knowledge by the people. If these schools are established, not for the rich, but for the poor, not for high castes alone, but for all castes and classes — if they allow the Bible to be read in the schools, and get at least honest and moral men to be masters, this may mould the next generation into something better than the present. Meanwhile, these labors of Government may be much aided by private Christian zeal. To what region of hea- thendom does an English Christian more naturally turn his attention than to Oude, where so much misery is to be assuaged, so much turbulence to be subdued ; where a fine peasantry has been so cruelly ill-treated, where Mahom- medan and heathen misrule has been so extravagantly wicked, where England has so many enemies, and where Jesus Christ is so utterly unknown % The proclamations of the insurgents, in which they declared that, as soon as our Government was settled, we "should hang, disgrace, or Christianise them," instead of hindering the establishment of a mission, should 1 hasten it. Since they have been led to think that like Mahommedan conquerors we should attempt forcible conversions, we should take the earliest opportunity of showing them the true nature of Chris- tianity; and teach them by our practice, as well as by manifestos, that the only means of conversion which we use or allow are instruction and persuasion. Surely Luck- now will not be : overlooked by the friends of Christian missions. Beneath the eye of Christian rulers, not ashamed to own that they trust in Christ, and that they wish all their subjects likewise to believe in Him, at least five missionaries should at once be located. A seat of Mahom- medan literature, where frantic Mahommedan preachers have lately proclaimed to large and wealthy congregations that it would be a merit in the sight of God to kill all the 43 & OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. English, it should have at least one minister of Christ, through whom some of these Mahommedans may become, like Paul, preachers of that faith which they now malig- nantly denounce. One missionary at least should give himself to the heathen population of the capital, through whose ministry a church may be formed, where, as a centre, native Chris- tians may be trained as evangelists and as schoolmasters for the whole land. A third missionary should devote himself to the young, and form as many Christian schools as possible in the capital and in the villages around. A fourth may begin the formation of an Oude Christian literature, writing books and tracts adapted to all classes of the people ; and sending these silent preachers of the gospel and of Christian morals where neither the minister nor schoolmaster can go. A fifth should be an evangelist, who, besides preaching in the streets and squares of the city, may visit the talookdars in their houses, and endeavour to lead them to invite Christian teachers to their estates, and welcome Christian schools for their tenantry. A knowledge of medicine would give this last much access to the population, and enable bim speedily to win their confidence. Although the preaching of Christ in Hindee and Hin- doostanee should be our chief labor in Lucknow, still Christian schools are only second in importance. Many there, as in other capitals of India, will naturally wish to know English; and as the school of Dr Duff in Calcutta draws a thousand youths, who for the sake of an English education consent to receive Christian instruction, a similar school at Lucknow will meet with similar success. Let it be tried. Next in importance to the English school would be the orphan and boarding-schools, which circumstances urge us OP A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. 437 to establish at once. Where are the forty thousand sepoys of Oude, who before the mutiny served in the British army? Many of these have died in battle ; many more will fall in a similar manner before the mutiny is finally extinguished; many must pay for the murders which they have committed by their own deaths ; and many more, sentenced to various punishments according to their offences, will be unable for years probably to return to their homes. Eighty thousand children will soon be orphans, or like orphans. How many of these may Christian charity educate and save, if Chris- tians at home are zealous? Lucknow is the place where the work of education may be begun. Two orphan schools there may soon be filled with boys and girls, who may be trained to labor for their widowed mothers, and become blessings to their country. To these may be added vernacular day-schools, in which the working classes may receive the elements of secular knowledge ; and in learning to improve their temporal con- dition, may likewise imbibe the rudiments of Christian knowledge, and carry Christian books and tracts to their houses. Bibles, religious tracts, Christian books, and school-books of useful knowledge, should as speedily as pos- sible give a new direction to the thoughts of all the readers of Oude. Let missionaries labor to compose these, short, plain, simple, oriental — with good engravings and gay dresses; and let colporteurs, as soon as possible, carry them to every town, expose them in the public place of every village, and offer them at the gate of every baronial resi- dence. Englishmen should be as adventurous in the spiritual as in the material warfare. As Major Weston, at Lucknow, rode up alone to a corps of men, whose muskets were loaded, and their minds malignant, that he might dissuade them from rebellion, let evangelists, like him, with native col- porteurs under them, carry the news of salvation to the 438 OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDE. gates of every Mahommedan or Kajpoot talookdar, and they •will respect the courageous kindness. The country being now subdued by England, let this pro- pitious time be well used, and many of this people may be converted into friends and brethren. Let all who wish well to the people of Oude protest against their being handed over to a profligate king, whom they detested, and to his parasites, who grew rich by their misery. They have been enough tormented already. Con- tractors, landowners, soldiers, brigands, have plundered and tortured them — stolen, sold, dishonored, and tortured their women— driven them into the jungle, forced them to cross the frontier, murdered thousands of them, and made the lives of the rest bitter as death. Never let these poor people be given up again to the wolves and tigers, who have preyed upon them so long. A good government will henceforth do much to mend their condition. They need the best men whom the country can produce; men worthy to succeed Sir William Sleeman and Sir Henry Lawrence, and with these, in the place of Wajid Ali, Allee Nakee, and Gholam Euza od Dowlah, de- serted villages will be soon rebuilt, and the wide-spread jungles be converted into gardens. But under the eye of a just and strong Government, mis- sionaries of the right sort, whose faith in Christ, and whose love to Him, can make them labor with patient affection for the most demoralised and the most malignant heathen, will, with the blessing of God, accomplish what no Govern- ment could even attempt. The Government can restrain crime; but they will impart virtue. It can cage the tiger; but they will change the tiger into a lamb. It can punish theft and murder; but they will make thieves and murder- ers live as brethren. It can hinder the spoliation of the poor; they can give them principles which enrich them for time and eternity. It can diminish their sufferings; they OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO OUDB. 439 can make them happy on earth, and secure for them hap- piness beyond the grave. It can protect them from op- pressors; but they can teach them to protect themselves, and then turn their oppressors into Christian benefactors, who will labor for their happiness. It can by its police save women from being stolen, sold, tortured, or killed; but they, by the influence of the gospel, can make them es- timable, honored, beloved, and happy. It can protect in- dustry; they can make the population industrious, sober, moral, and contented. It can render life and property se- cure; they can teach the people how to use and enjoy both. It can facilitate locomotion by bridges, roads, and railroads; they can open to lost man a way to heaven. It can help the people to irrigate their lands ; they can teach them how to obtain the Holy Spirit. It can reclaim jungles; they can make the moral desert abound with every Christian virtue. It can perhaps make them peaceable, and even con- tented, with a foreign yoke; they can make them our zeal- ous and faithful friends. It can make them flourishing subjects of the Queen; they can make them disciples of Christ, children of God, and heirs of heaven. Let the East India Government prove by the best pos- sible government that England rules Oude for its own wel- fare. And let British Christians do their best to make its inhabitants love our Saviour and our God; but never let it be again abandoned to native misrule. CONCLUSION. CONCLUSION. We now know by recent events the character of many of our fellow-subjects in India, where a hundred thousand men have joined in the endeavour to massacre all the Christians within their reach By these assassins, meritorious officers, unoffending women, innocent children, and native Chris- tians, who had done them no wrong, were cruelly murdered; and if they could have had their way, not one Christian would have escaped. A religious panic may have given occasion to this violence; but it had its foundation in the two prevalent superstitions of India — in Hindooism, which proscribes Christians as loathsome Pariahs ; and in Ma- hommedanism, which commands Mahommedaiis to kill them as infidels. Both in India have combined to crush the working classes ; and both are cruel and unjust to women, This population, half of which is so sanguinary, and the other half so oppressed and wretched, is under our hands. Victory has augmented our power ; and we may do with a hundred and thirty millions almost as we please. God has placed some of the most demoralised and un- happy nations of the earth under the rule and care of one of the most powerful and most enlightened. To give these millions up to native misrule, by abandon- ing them to such men as the King of Delhi, Nana Sahib, or Wajid AH, would be one of the most flagitious public acts ever recorded in history. It would be to hand them over to be plundered, trampled on, vitiated, pauperised, tor- mented, and slaughtered by ruffians and profligates. But 444 CONCLUSION. if we maintain the authority which has just been recon- quered by Sir Colin Campbell and his gallant associates, we must remember that our responsibility is commensurate with our power. Before Cod, and before Christendom, we are bound to protect, civilise, enrich, enlighten, and Chris- tianise them. India must be made by us as nearly equal to England as we can make it. We hold it on these terms. As professed servants of God, we should lead them to worship Him; as professed disciples of Christ, we are bound to make Him known to them; and as humane, we ought to do our best to make them happy. An important part of this latter duty must be performed by Government. The Hindoos have a right to ask from their rulers a good police, just magistrates, cheap and ready justice, wise and equitable laws, the protection of life and property, access to office, and moderate taxation. If these are withheld, Government will hinder the conversion of the Hindoos, insure successive rebellions, and bring our rule in India to a disgraceful ter- mination. But, for such a catastrophe the nation would be as responsible as the Government. The Government will follow public opinion; and if the English people, keeping India in their view, will demand for it all the blessings of good Government, it will possess them. At the same time we owe them a further kindness. Their creeds are not only false, but detestable, not only dishonor- able to God, but sources of mischief to themselves: yet, hitherto, the East India Government has aided and honored these creeds ; and by that culpable want of fidelity to religious principle, has much occasioned the mutiny. For any repetition of this offence against God, the nation will be answerable. Public opinion may secure, if it will, that from this day Government shall pay no idol priest, make offerings to no temple, give honor to no idol, flatter no CONCLUSION. 445 superstition, sanction no idolatrous abomination; and, if we do not individually endeavour to secure all this, we each shall answer to God for our share of the sin. The East India Government has hitherto forbidden its servants to serve God and to honor our Eedeemer, by making the gospel known themselves to the natives, or by helping others to make it known. Whatever may be the plausible pretexts by which any men have sought to justify this prohibition, those who have issued it, those who advo- cate it, those who sanction it, and those who obey it, are guilty of a shameful ingratitude to our Eedeemer, and of a positive rebellion against His authority. Since He has ordered all His servants openly to confess and serve Him, no venerated names, and no alleged expediency, ought to be permitted to shield an opposite order from universal condemnation (Matt. x. 32; Mark xvi. 15; Matt. xxv. 19-23; Phil. i. 27; Jude 3; 1 Peter ii. 9). Political objects ought never to be secured by infamous means; and to issue orders to some thousands of redeemed disciples of Jesus Christ, who have been saved by Him from hell, and are His servants body and soul, that they shall either abstain from serving him, or be dismissed from the service of the State, is disgraceful. From this day let every Chris- tian in the land distinctly maintain, on behalf of all the servants of the State in India, from the Governor-General to the lowest clerk in a Government office, that it is their clear, positive, imperative duty to use their tongues, their pens, and their money, to promote as far as they are able the cause of Christ. I need scarcely repeat that Govern- ment as Government should be perfectly impartial towards all classes of its subjects, protecting every peaceable citizen in the maintenance of his creed, and employing all accord- ing to their moral and intellectual merit. It is almost superfluous to add, that public money taken from the Hindoos by taxation, should not be employed to destroy 446 CONCLUSION. their creeds, and that Government as Government cannot preach the gospel, or pay evangelists to preach it. But while governmental action is restricted to the proper duties of a Government, unofficial action, whether of Chris- tians, Hindoos, or Mahommedans, should be perfectly free. As the Hindoo magistrate may contribute to a temple, support a Brahmin, or exhort the people to maintain the Shasters, so the Christian magistrate may contribute to a Christian temple, support a missionary, or exhort the people to believe in the Word of God. To allow this right to the heathen' servants of Govern- ment, and to take it from its Christian servants, is grossly partial. It may be called policy, but it is really cowardice. As the Government has always professed impartiality, it is without the least shadow of an excuse; and if the ablest and best men shall be thereby hindered from entering the service of the State, or be driven from it when their services, like those of Sir H. Lawrence, or Sir J. Lawrence, may be indispensable, their exclusion will be a wrong done to the empire. But never let it be forgotten that public opinion will be more guilty of this lamentable result than irreligious statesmen: for in this country public opinion ultimately rules the Government ; and the irreligious acts of Govern- ment are, if they become habitual, the irreligious acts of the people. Still, if the civil and military servants of the East India Government are left free, as they should be, to make Christ known to the Hindoos, the work of converting them must be ever, as it has been, chiefly dependent upon the mis- sionaries who are consecrated to it. To the multiplication, therefore, and support of these messengers of Christ, let His servants in England give their chief attention. Three hundred are now -sustained by this country; and three hundred more sent out speedily would exercise a powerful influence on the population. About £120,000 per annum CONCLUSION. 447 would sustain them; and if this great and wealthy nation withholds that small sum to reclaim an hundred and thirty millions of our fellow-subjects, with fifty more of our allies, from an idolatry so insulting to Almighty God, and so destructive to themselves, this selfishness will disgrace us before all the nations of the earth. No pretence for it remains. About an hundred and twelve thousand converts in India and Ceylon, and about eighteen thousand com- municants, in three hundred and thirty-one well-ordered and disciplined native churches — schools filled with children at every station — six hundred and ninety-eight native teachers — forty-eight native pastors — and some martyrs who have died with constancy, confessing Christ, when life was offered to them as the condition of apostasy — Christian families which are models to their heathen neighbours — and Christian villages which are like English villages in the midst of the heathen abominations around them, have already repaid the faith and charity of those few missionaries who have labored there ; while the growing attention of the people, and the growing number of conversions, show that larger harvests would be reaped by a larger number of laborers. Every professed follower of Christ in this land is accustomed to say in his prayers to Almighty God, " Thy kingdom come;'' and, therefore, every one who is not a hypocrite, should labor to promote its advancement. To all who hope for salvation from Him, Jesus has said, " The harvest truly is plenteous, hut the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." Each man, therefore, should either help to sustain those laborers whom God sends forth, or re- nounce his pretension to follow Christ. " Go ye and disciple all nations" — "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," are the words of our Lord and Master to all His followers. Let each man, therefore, obey them, or own himself to be a renegade who despises His authority. 448 CONCLUSION. Specially now, when the fanatical excitement of Mahom- medans and Hindoos is followed by reactionary depression, when they who thought it was our fate to be exterminated, have found that it was our fate to conquer, — now, when the mutiny is extinguished, and when the curses which rang through India are become softer than whispers, — now, when English wisdom, energy, and courage have crushed the last hopes of the rebellious — now, when those who loudly sum- moned all India to redden its hands with British blood, can- not find a jungle wild enough, or a mountain sufficiently lofty, to hide them from British justice, — now is the time to strengthen each missionary station in the land, and to plant them where they are wanting. Now specially, let us take spiritual possession of Oude and Eohilcund. Let us offer each baronial robber those Christian lessons which may convert his stronghold into a temple, and his lawless re- tainers into a Church of Christ; and let each vanquished enemy, each humbled fanatic, have the opportunity of study- ing in secret that religion which he has abominated only because he did not know it. Over all India let us meet the obscenities of heathen literature, by the sale of cheap Chris- tian books; let us gather as many orphans as we may into ' Christian schools ; let us strengthen and cheer the faithful preachers who are so few among overwhelming numbers ; and let us train up native pastors to carry the doctrine of Christ into every part of the swarming land. If we endeavour to govern the Hindoos by the sword, and not by their opinion of our justice and benevolence — if we treat them with contempt, instead of trying to obtain their affection — if we do not enrich them by public works, but drain, them by undue taxation — if, neglecting to a dmi nister justice between man and man, we leave a club law worse than lynch law to prevail in all the villages — if we teach them by infidel schoolmasters, and rule them by profligate soldiers — if, while we sanction their fatal superstitions, we CONCLUSION. 449 discourage the efforts of good men to teach them the truth — if, by means of godless colleges, we manufacture such Hindoos as Nana Sahib, and such Mahommedans as Khan Bahadoor Khan, then will this military revolt become general : the population, united against us by a common hatred, and urged to violence by those superstitions which we have cherished, will doom our countrymen, with their wives and children, to a slaughter from which nothing can save them ; and an army four times as great as that which has subdued the mutiny, will perish in the vain endeavour to extinguish the rebellion. On the other hand, let us do our duty to the Hindoos, and with the blessing of God we shall convert them. Let the army be strong enough, aided by railroads and tele- graphs, to put down all local insurrections ; but let us mainly depend upon such good government as may force upon the natives the conviction that a revolution, if success- ful, woidd be fatal to themselves. Let us protect their persons and properties, open new fields of labor to their intelligence and industry, reveal to the working classes that they are capable of as much im- provement as the Brahmin or the Eajpoot, and labor patiently to do them good ; let us take care that those who rule them are neither immoral nor profane ; and, while we abstain from official interference with their superstitions, let us preach to them salvation through Christ, and by the blessing of God we shall convert them. By leading multitudes in India to become the true dis- ciples of Christ, and by convincing all India of His divine mission, we shall confer upon the Hindoos a greater benefit than ever yet one people bestowed upon another. God will be glorified, when an hundred and sixty millions of his creatures who worshipped abominable idols shall adore Him ; Jesus will be glorified, when these, with twenty millions of Mahommedans who now despise His claims and 2 F 450 CONCLUSION. murder His servants, shall look for salvation through Him alone; an hundred and thirty millions of our fellow-subjects, and fifty millions of the allied native States, will be saved from vice and sorrow to share in our intelligence and virtues, our happiness and our hopes , numbers of women, virtuous, enlightened, and honored, will bless God that Englishmen came to make them so; the whole population, no longer aliens from us in religion, will contentedly submit to our rule, till the moment when, being able to govern themselves, they may cease to be our subjects only to become our allies; and, beneath the influence of the vast converted population, all the nations of the East may be expected to renounce their superstitions. Thus England, in the conversion of India, will impart to the whole of the East incalculable benefits, acquire for itself imperishable honor, give to our Eedeemer the glory which is His due, and enjoy the approbation of God. Objects so great may inspire even the most apathetic with enthusiasm. To save an empire from universal immorality — to raise its working classes from the slavery of caste and superstition to knowledge and self-respect — to give women, now immured, guarded, suspected, and persecuted by tyrants, Christian husbands, who will honor and love them — to transform impious idolaters into the faithful worshippers of God — and to open the gates of heaven to those who have no other prospect before them in their Godless and Christ- less depravity than eternal death, might well awaken an ardor in this nation sufficient to sweep away all obstacles in its path. Jesus has virtually said, " Go ye and preach the gospel to every Hindoo " (Mark xvi. 15); " Go ye and disciple the Indian nations, baptizing them, when they become dis- ciples, unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt, xxviii. 19) ; and His servants must obey His orders. Jesus, when He was here on earth, renouncing wealth, CONCLUSION. 451 ease, and honor, endured hardship, obloquy, hatred, and death, to make the miserable happy ; and Paul has said to us, by His authority, " Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Great Britain, with its twenty millions of Protestants, all calling themselves His disciples, all professing to be His servants, all acknowledging that they have been redeemed by His sufferings, and saved from hell by His kindness, is abundantly able to preach the gospel to every city, town, and village of India. Thousands of intelligent and energe- tic young Englishmen, in this crowded hive of men, scarcely know how to find employment; and thousands more, with health, education, and income, have almost nothing to do. If, therefore, Englishmen were, as the disciples at Jerusalem once were, and as all disciples are commanded to be (Eph. v. 18), "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts ii. 4), would not a whole army of evangelists, prepared by study, as they were by inspiration, soon begin to speak in the tongues of India "the wonderful works of God" (Acts ii. 4, 11)1 Money certainly is not wanting. The useless and aimless accumu- lations of many who are rich, or the ostentation of many who are extravagant — the luxuries which only enervate, or the dissipating amusements of the stage and opera — nay, the very vices of the community, the drunkenness and the profligacies which disgrace our land, would furnish, if re- nounced, sums ten times more than sufficient to instruct the millions of our idolatrous fellow-subjects in the faith of Christ. The money wasted annually on the day of the Derby, or at Ascot or Newmarket, on a sport which spreads through the land a mania for gambling, a mischiev- ous longing to gain money without merit, or to barter it away for momentary excitement, would fill poor, wasted, pillaged, suffering Oude with Christian teachers, who might make its peasantry, now so miserable, moral, orderly, con- tented, and happy. Can Epicureans wallow on in their 452 CONCLUSION. sensuality — can fashionable idlers waste their lives in chas- ing pleasures which never please — can men made for eternity spend time and fortune in sports which profit neither mind nor body — can misers add hoard to hoard, when a continent of idolaters, our fellow-subjects, accessible, and ready to listen, are perishing for the want of the gospel \ This wasted wealth, which all belongs to Christ, and for which each waster must give account to Him, would ten times over support all the evangelists who are ready to pro- claim it. But if the selfish will not listen, if neither the commands of Christ, nor the hope of future reward, will induce them to serve Him, if the welcome of the faithful servant, who used his money for his master, seems to them less attractive than the doom of the unprofitable servant (Matt. xxv. 24-30), this perversity furnishes reasons why all those who have been raised by the grace of God from spiritual death, should do more for their heathen fellow- subjects than they otherwise would have been called to do. Who can awaken this country to a sense of the responsibi- lity to our Saviour and our Judge, if they do it not? En- lightened men, by steady zeal for Christ and for India, may yet bring numbers of their countrymen to begin to do their duty towards Him and towards it. Earnest prayer for England and for India will not be in vain. The first Christians, when they were waiting for the promised effusion of the Holy Spirit, " continued with one accord in prayer and supplication" (Acts i. 14); and Jesus our Lord has said, "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. vi. 9, 10). If many begin to pray with more earnestness and faith, will not God, who " can do ex- ceeding abundantly above all we ask or think," begin to bless that continent 1 If many so pray for England, will not numbers, as at Pentecost, baptized in the Holy Ghost, CONCLUSION. 453 begin to consecrate themselves and their property to the service of Christ both here and in India? Even if few are found to be faithful, and a worldly selfish spirit has para- lysed the charity and zeal of many Christians, as a money- grasping, pleasure-loving temper once withered up the god- liness of Lot, still each individual disciple of Christ, however humble in his position, and undistinguished in gifts, has a power which alone may work great results. " JElias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed ear- nestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit " (James v. 17, 18). God heard his solitary prayers, to excite us to pray like him in solitude, and to teach all men in every age that " the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James v. 16). Especially may the prayer of a few earnest men raise up evangelists like those of other days. No past epoch has more exactly than our own answered to those words of Jesus, " The harvest is plenteous, and the laborers are few ;" and in no part of the world is it so true as in India. Now, then, is the time for all who respect His authority to com- ply with His direction, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest" (Matt. ix. 38). If God sees a hundred men in different parts of England pleading with Him to raise up the laborers who are so much needed, we may soon see young men rising up who shall recall to us the energy of Luther, Calvin, and Knox, the philanthropy of Howard, the zeal of Whitfield and Wesley, the ardent charity of Brainerd and Martyn, the scholarship and devotedness of Carey, the patient perseverance of Mor- rison, the genial piety of Williams, and the genius of Hall and Chalmers. Earnestly let us ask God to summon into resistless action, for the welfare both of England and of 454 CONCLUSION. India, an army of such men. The fulfilment of that prayer, with the promised aid of His Spirit, would fill both coun- tries with grateful joy. But, if such men are given by God to our prayers, will the Churches of Christ in England and Scotland refuse to support them \ If He create in them a longing to save the heathen which can never slumber, and arm them with a force before which every obstacle must give way, will any one who is saved by Christ, and bought by Him to be His servant for ever, withhold a small contribution towards their support \ Will the Churches of England refuse to place them amidst the millions of India, or to give them food and raiment when there 1 I do not think that they will. If God give us men who are strong in intellect and warm in heart, zealous for the honor of Christ, and burn- ing with desire to save the perishing, all other supplies will follow. For such men, therefore, let every friend of India, and every disciple of Christ, incessantly pray. " Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." THE END. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. A.— (P. 127). Zemindars and Ryots. In their interesting " Memorandum," the Directors say, " An important mistake, committed with the most generous intentions by the administra- tion of Lord Cornwallis, has divested the Government of this great power of influencing beneficially the condition of the cultivators of the soil. In the provinces of Bengal and Behar, the Government gave away its rights over the soil to private landlords, reserving only from each estate an annual payment, which it solemnly bound itself never to increase."* Up to that time " their position was that of middlemen, collecting the revenue, not for themselves, but for the Mogul Government, and remunerated by a per centage (generally ten per cent.) of the collections. They never had the power of disposing arbitrarily of the land. There were everywhere at least large classes of tenants whom they could not lawfully eject, except for the non-payment of revenue, and from whom they could not lawfully exact more than the customary payments." t Now, the ryots have no pro- tection against the arbitrary demands of the zemindars but that afforded by the courts of justice ; and " the poverty of the people, their passive cha- racter, and the extreme difficulty of proving by legal evidence before a distant court what were the customary rates, have rendered this protection illusory; the rights op the Bengal ryots have passed away sub SILENTIO, AND THEY HAVE BECOME, TO ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, tenants-at-will." % The population "consists of great landlords and cottier tenants, forming as close a parallel as the difference between Europe and Asia will admit to the condition of Munster and Connaught." § Go- vernment could not justly give away thus the rights of the ryots. Pro- prietors ought not to be placed by a stroke of the pen as tenants-at-will in * Memorandum, p. i. t Ibid., p. 5. % Ibid. § Ibid., p. 8. 458 APPENDIX. the hands of the zemindars. A people ought not to be reduced without their fault to the condition of the cottiers of Connaught — to mud cabin3 without furniture, to the lowest kind of food, to rack-rents, and to un- limited extortion, without redress. If the Government has caused this by its " mistake," it is bound to repair the mischief which it has done. Thirty- six millions should not be pauperised and rendered miserable simply to perpetuate the " mistake." Especially should this evil be remedied now, because the Government, acting with benevolence and justice, has placed the ryots of other parts of India under revenue systems, through which there is a large increase in the cultivation, the revenue is easily collected with few coercive processes, and the lands of the ryots are frequently under-let. * " Why," may the millions of Bengal ask, " are we alone to be given up, tied and bound, to be plundered by zemindars, to whom the Government has conveyed our rights, reserving to us nothing but an ' illu- sory protection?'" No "settlement" can sanctify wholesale spoliation; and if a mistake of the Government has brought the people to great misery, it is bound to help them out of it. As against itself it must respect the settlement of Lord Cornwallis, but as against the ryots, whose rights it destroyed, surely it must consider the legal power which it has given one class to rob and ruin another null and void. If the zemindars had, at the time of the settlement, no more than ten per cent, upon the revenue, they ought to have no more now. The Government could not justly give them the property of the ryots ; and if it has guaranteed these ryots against the increase of taxation, it ought no less to secure them against the increase of rent. All beyond ten per cent, upon the revenue has been stolen from them, and should be restored. The support of the exactions of their plun- derers defeats the whole object of the settlement, keeps them poor, makes the Government odious, maintains a chronic and dangerous discontent among thirty-six millions, and hinders all the internal improvements which a thriving peasantry might effect. As the ryot of Madras, the ryot of Bengal should be safe from ejection as long as he pays his rent. As the ryot of Madras, the ryot of Bengal should, in bad seasons, receive the remission of the assessment. By the present practice, a bad season enriches the zemindar, because his tax is remitted, and he still exacts the rent; while it ruins the ryot, because he loses his crop, and is still obliged to pay both rent and tax. In the Madras Presidency land is not more heavily taxed in consequence of its being applied to the cultivation of a more valuable description of produce; so in Bengal let it not be more heavily rented on that account. In the Madras Presidency no land pays an addi- tional tax in consequence of increased value derived from any improve- ments made by the ryot ; so in Bengal let no land pay additional rent on * Memorandum, pp. 12, 13, 16, 29. APPENDIX. 459 that account. As in the North-western Provinces, so in Bengal let the ryots of a village form a "village community," for purposes of self- government and for the improvement of their village. In Bengal, as in Cuttack, let the ryots of each village elect a few of their number to repre- sent the rest, who shall be responsible to the zemindar for the whole rent of the village, and who shall recover from defaulters their portion of the payment, so that the zemindar may have no power to vex individuals, and exact from them more than their dues. Let all abusive fees be abolished; and as the protection of distant courts of justice is " illusory," let there be village inspectors, who, besides other duties, shall be empowered to settle all disputes between zemindars and ryots in their respective districts. As the ryots under these regulations advance in wealth, let them be encouraged to make roads, to improve their drainage, to maintain for themselves chowkedars on whom they can depend, and to establish village schools. By protecting the ryots the Government will enrich itself For although the settlement limits the land-tax, yet it will not, if the thirty-six millions of Bengal grow in wealth, prevent the increase of the revenue from the customs. Mr Freeman says, ''AH classes, without any exception, consume British manufactures. Every native whom these articles can reach takes calicoes, printed cloths, woollens, and shawls, to a great extent. Were there roads fit even for the small native carts, so that British manufactures might be conveyed into all parts of the interior, the customs duties, levied at the present scale, would yield fivefold what they now do." * These changes would greatly add both to the happiness of the peasantry and to the popularity of the Government. At present of all other parts of British India it can say, " The agricultural population either have, or shortly will have, the benefits of tenures and rights perfectly defined and secured, and moderate rents paid for a sufficient term to afford the natural incen- tives to improvement." t In Bengal alone they are left to starvation and despair. It well becomes the Government to remove this blot from their revenue system, which, notwithstanding the violent language sometimes used, appears to be everywhere else enlightened and humane. B.— (P. 136). Opium. In their " Memorandum," the Directors say of the opium, " It cannot reasonably be contended that this is an improper source of revenue ; or that the burdening of an article considered to be noxious with an amount of taxation which has sometimes caused it to be sold for its weight in * Freeman, p. 19. f Memorandum, p 18. 460 APPENDIX. silver, can be liable to objection as encouraging the consumption of the article."* Although the sale of the opium is not promoted by the price put upon it, it is by the advances which the Government make to stimulate its growth. Like other manufacturers, they get for their goods the highest price which they can ; but like other manufacturers, they first secure the manufacture of the goods. " Great persecution," says Mr Freeman, " is employed by the swarms of the peons to compel the ryot to take advances, and to devote a portion of his land to opium. ... I have possessed exten- sive properties in the opium- cultivating districts ; and I have seen ryots through tyranny, and to save themselves from persecution, compelled to sow opium in land belonging to me, even in the very compound of my house, which I had given them for other purposes." t Much injustice is done to these ryots. Of other tenants of Government, the Directors say, " The Government demand does not exceed one-fifth of the gross value of the produce in rich tracts." And, "In 1837, it was adopted as an uni- versal rule, that no land should be more heavily taxed in consequence of its being applied to the cultivation of a more valuable description of pro- duce." J Hence the opium cultivator ought to pay one-fifth of -the gross produce of his land or less, but he pays in fact four-fifths of it. For out of every fifteen rupees realised by the sale of his opium, he pays to Government twelve ;§ so that he is taxed three-fourths more heavily than other ryots, against the express regulations of Government. That injustice is the more flagrant, because the growth of the poppy was encouraged by their own advances. They first stimulate the cultivation, and then take four-fifths of the proceeds. If they wish to check the sale, let them forbid any further advances to be made. And, as Mr Eaikes suggests, " instead of dabbling in opium manufacture, the state should tax all opium and all tobacco while growing in the field." || G— (P. 169). Connexion of the East Indian Government with Idolatry. On the subject of the connexion of the Government with idolatrous cere- monies, the Directors say, " Property held in trust for religious uses cannot be diverted from them by any act of the Government ; but if any such trusts are infringed, redress must be sought, as in all other cases, from the tribunals." 11 We do not ask the Government for any act of spolia- tion, but we ask that they cease to be themselves trustees of any funds for the support of idolatrous worship; that they do not order their ser- * Memorandum, p. 22. f Freeinan, pp. 12, 13. J Memorandum, pp. 13, 17- 6 Freeman, p. 13. |] Raikes, p. 174. Tl Memorandum, p. 51. APPENDIX. 461 vants to pay any sums for the performance of such worship ; that they leave idolaters themselves to be the trustees of all funds for idolatrous purposes ; that the application of the funds to the purposes of the trusts be left to the zeal of the idolaters ; and that no action lie in any court of justice to compel the fulfilment of the purposes of those trusts, as no action -would lie here to compel the payment of a gambling debt. Those murders of our countrymen, which were mainly the result of fanaticism, should at length sever for ever our connexion with both the false religions of India. " Things," says Mr George Campbell, " must have come to a strange pass, when the most brutal and wholesale murders of men, women, and children, without distinction of sex, age, or character, are not reckoned in the list of atrocities. The bloody atrocities of the sepoys are quite unparalleled in any history. With the exception of the two ladies saved at Lucknow, and a very few insulated instances of women more or less allied to themselves in blood and manners, I believe that throughout the mutinies, there is not an instance in which the murderers made any distinction between men, women, or children. There was a bestial bloodiness which must, I sincerely think, have been impossible among any other race but Hindoos, or perhaps Chinese. Once the work of slaughter was commenced, not one pure European woman was spared, not one child reserved in any sepoy massacre. . . . All who have seen anything of Indian murders, can well believe that they over-killed — hacked their victims to pieces. As to mutilations, they did not mutilate and leave alive, simply because they would not so far spare. . . . "We should not be led away by false humanity to forget what the sepoy mutinies and massacres have been — the blackest treachery, followed up by the foulest murders, in which whole legions actively participated, and not a hand was raised to save."* The daughter of an officer of high rank, and wife of another officer of distinction, is quoted in the Morning Advertiser as writing thus : — " No one who has been engaged in the suppression of the mutiny, and no native, either Hindoo or Mussulman, doubts that every possible atrocity has been committed, and every imaginable insult and degradation inflicted on women and children as well as men. The criminals have boasted of perpetrating these horrors. At Futtehghur, Mrs Eckford, of the 10th Bengal Native Infantry, and others, were blown away from guns. Miss Sutherland was fastened to the mouth of a gun, which missed fire, and she was cut to pieces at the muzzle. This is the testimony of native eye- witnesses to these facts. Poor Mrs Patrick Orr beheld her husband, with Sir Mountstuart Jackson, bound before her eyes, and led away to death. Sir Mountstuart's last words to her and his sister were — 'Never mind, * Mr G. Campbell, Lucknow, June 5 ; Times. 462 APPENDIX. we shall meet in heaven.' I know of no less than three ladies who were led about from village to village without an article of clothing. One of these poor creatures was whipped at every village. The evidence in one case is the sufferer herself, in the others that of a gentleman who was with them. I know of a girl of thirteen left for dead with her murdered family, and who survives, covered with scars. I know a father who saw his tw« little children slain before his eyes ; and a wife who, at Allahabad, had a morsel of her husband's flesh thrust between her teeth. She told this her- self. I know that the wounded of Havelock's column were not only cut to pieces at Lucknow, but burnt in their doolies. I have the testimony of unimpeachable eye-witnesses of the merciless treatment of all the natives supposed to be attached to the British — that they were mutilated and killed, their women stripped, their children dashed against the stones. At Cawn- pore, a dozen or two unfortunate peasants, with their noses and hands cut off, the survivors of a great number who had thus been mutilated by the Nana's orders for having brought supplies to our troops, came about three months ago to the magistrate's office imploring relief. If they have treated their own people thus, do you think they have spared ours 1 " * The following is the account given by Mrs Murray, wife of Serjeant- major Murray, of her share in the sufferings of our countrywomen in the Cawnpore massacre : — " My husband was shot in the head. My brother met the same fate. My two sons, Alick and John, fell by tulwar. The women all, high and low, were stripped in open air ; a piece of blue cloth, of hardly three cubits, and less than a cubit in breadth, was given to each woman to cover herself. Then followed the massacre of the children. . . . No less than three hundred of the innocent angels were destroyed. They were bayoneted, shot, dashed on the ground, and trampled under foot. One European boy, of about seven years, came running and fell upon Nana's foot, and begged of him to spare his life. The boy had not lifted up his head from the foot, when it was cut off by the express order of the Nana, and he flung the head away with his foot. My two grandsons, Eobert and Charles, aged five and twelve years respectively, were cut down on the spot. My two daughters-in-law, Lewsa and Santa, were cut down. Many were the heart- rending scenes which followed, when mothers were forced to give up their infants in arms to be brutally massacred in their presence. I received one sword-cut on the head by a sowar, who aiming a second blow, I guarded with my hand, when I received another, cut on my hand. After that I received one cut on my back, which was so severe that I fell down senseless. I received two cuts -more, but I am not sensible as to when they were inflicted. When all the people were gone, I opened my eyes, * Cliristian Times, Aug, 2, 1858. APPENDIX. 463 and found myself in the heap of dead bodies fearfully mangled. A fish- woman, living in the ghaut, having seen me, took pity on me, and used to supply me with gruel. As long as the soldiers had cartridges, there was no trace of the Nana, but the moment the cartridges were over, the beast made his appearance. He was laughing away while the poor Europeans were being cut down in his presence. On the arrival of General Havelock I was promptly attended to." * But in these outrages the Mahommedans were generally more malignant than the Hindoos. The following are the statements of Mr Eaikes on this subject : — " The Mahommedans were all, or nearly all, traitors thirsting for English blood. So it happened that at Agra we found ourselves in the hands of a magistrate who was himself, as we all thought, victimised by a clique of blood-thirsty Mahommedans. The Lieutenant-Governor trusted Drum- mond, and Drummond trusted his Mahommedan subordinates, whose object was to destroy him and every other Englishman in Agra. Some few servants, generally Mahommedans, behaved ill, and joined in the plun- der of their masters. On my own establishment, an old and favoured servant, a Mahommedan butler, behaved ill amongst above fifty. Gene- rally, wherever the sepoys or low Mahommedan rabble were not, the English were safe. The villagers are all on our side except some of the Mahom- medans. The green flag of Mahommed had been unfurled. The mass of the followers of the false prophet, rejoicing to believe that under the auspices of the Great Mogul at Delhi their lost ascendancy was to be renewed, their deep hatred to the Christian got vent, and they rushed forth to kill and to destroy." t "A few words as to the Mahommedans. They have behaved, in the part of India where I had jurisdiction, very ill ; so ill indeed, that if the rest of the population had sympathised with them, I should despair of governing India for the future." At Agra, " the Mahom- medans either deserted us or joined the rebels ; and so it was all over the North-western Provinces — a Mahommedan was another word for a rebel." J Mr Raikes gives us the facts ; a Mahommedan writer thus accounts for them : — " This rebellion has been brought about by Mahommedan fanati- cism, in the wild delusion that the British rule should only last for a hun- dred years after the battle of Plassey. How can we be true to those whom we are taught from our infancy to consider inimical to our religion ? The rebellion is not over yet. The British are making a greater mistake than ever. They formerly entertained nine hundred Hindoos to one hundred Mahommedans ; they are now entertaining nine hundred Mahommedans to one hundred Hindoos. They are thereby increasing the fire and reducing the water ; and if I know the tenets of my own faith, I am perfectly satis- • times, Sept. 3, 1858. t Eaikes, pp. 53, 64, 157, 159. J Ibid., p. 175. 464 APPENDIX. fied that the mere consideration of pay will not alter or restrain my brethren in their moral obligations to the prophet ; and we shall have all these hor- rors and murders again. Do not suppose that any Mahommedan serving a Christian master can ever be honest ; the dishonesty is the only atone- ment he can make to his prophet. It is the only hope for pardon. In- tegrity would be perdition to his soul. The King of Delhi proclaimed his right to the sovereignty of the East ; and every effort was made by the Mahommedans to exterminate the British race : on which every native, whether rich or poor, professing the Mahommedan faith, felt that he was morally bound to assist in the great cause. Had the majority of your native army consisted of Mahommedans, not a Christian would have lived to tell the tale." * Is it wise or right to be trustees of funds for the support of these super- stitions ? and especially, is it wise or right to order British civilians to pay priests for teaching these murderous doctrines of the Koran 1 Up to this time the local Governments of India are doing this. From a letter of Lord Canning to the Court of Directors, dated August 27, 1857, and from other papers, it appears that the Bengal Government pays 103 rupees monthly for the support of thirty-two idols in the province of Cuttackt From a revenue letter, dated Fort St George, December 23, 1856,$ it appears that the Madras Government pays annually the following sums : — To Pagodas, .... 959,699 rupees. To Mosques, .... 39,829 „ Total, .... 999,528 „ Nearly ten lacs of rupees are paid annually to support an idolatry insult- ing to the Almighty, and to spread the doctrine of the Koran, which teaches its adherents to murder Christians and to blaspheme Christ. Lastly, a memorial to the Court of Directors from the Missionary Con- ference at Bombay, dated Bombay, Feb. 22, 1858, makes the following statement : — "The undersigned beg to bring to the consideration of your honourable body that the number of temples thus receiving support from your Honourable Court's Government is much larger than the number of Christian Churches receiving support in Great Britain, and scarcely, if at all, inferior to the entire number of Churches of all Christian denominations whatsoever in the British Islands. If your memorialists are correctly informed, the following sums are annually expended by Government in behalf of Hindoo temples, mosques, &c. : — In the Bombay Presidency, viz., 305,875 rupees from * " Punjaubee ;'' Times, July 22, 1858. t Parliamentary Paper ordered by the House of Commons, July 24, 1858, p. 3. t Ibid., pp. 19, 24. APPENDIX. 465 the Government treasures, and 392,718 rupees from temple lands, being a total of seven lacs (698,593); and a still larger sum (876,780 rupees) in the Madras Presidency. " That the sums thus given in support of individual shrines vary from one rupee to 11,514 rupees, and even, we believe, more, per mensem. " That the sums thus given are expended, or are designed to be ex- pended, not only in the repairing and adornment of the temples, but in support of poojaris, or other parties, who perform the daily services in honor of the idol, of dancing women, of moorlees (women married to the idol, and who lead a life of consecrated prostitution within or near the precincts of the temple), of musicians, and others." * "Whatever be the grounds on which the Government continues these pay- ments, every one can see, notwithstanding Lord Elphinstone's protest to the contrary, that their effect must be to make the natives believe that the Government sanctions their idolatry. The argument of the Government that they are morally bound to continue them because they are in lieu of resumed lands, if that, is true, does not hinder their disastrous effect upon the people. The simple Hindoos cannot believe that their rulers pay monthly for what they detest and condemn. These payments, therefore, make us as a nation participate in the crime of idolatry, uphold and patronise in the eye of the natives what the Almighty abhors, and insult Him by setting up rival gods all over the land. We are, consequently, bound to demand of the Government that they free us from this guilt. When it can be done justly let the sums now paid to the idols go to the charities of the neighbourhood. When the Government think that this cannot be done justly, let them pay to Hindoo trustees of each temple a sum of money equal to the whole value of the temple rights, leaving them to manage the sum as they please, for all coming time. So long as the monthly payments continue, let the Government instruct those who make them distinctly and publicly to avow on each occasion that the Government does not mean by them to patronise the idolatry. So long as these payments continue, let the officers of Government be instructed never to exact the idol rites for which the money is paid, it being much better to pay a priest for omitting to commit a crime against God than for committing it. Let no action he in any court of justice for the enforcement of idol rites, as when a Hindoo father has sold his child to a brothel-keeper, no action will lie for the enforcement of the contract ; but let the Hindoos manage these funds among themselves. * Parliamentary Paper ordered by the House of Commons, July 21, 1858, p. 26 2 G 4G6 APPENDIX. England ought to be entirely freed from all support of this abominable sin against God. D.— (P. 218.) Good men in India. Me Raikes has given us, in bis interesting volume, short portraits, chiefly sketched by Colonel Edwardes, of some of those good men in India to whom England owes a great debt of gratitude. Sir Heney Lawrence. — Previous to the annexation of the Punjaub, Sir Henry Lawrence administered it for the Maharajah. Here he inspired the men whom he had about him with a conscientious regard to duty, with zeal, with activity, and with love to the people of the country. " He was for ever talking the new officers into his own views, and influencing them to live among the people ; to do as many cases under trees, and as few under the punkah, as possible ; to ride about their districts, and see and hear for themselves, instead of through the police ; and his cheery, earnest way of doing this, his glad praise of any rough and ready officer, and his indignant contempt for all skulks, idlers, and nimmukkuram, drew models in young fellows' minds, which they went forth and copied in their ad- ministrations. It sketched a faith and begot a school, and they are both living things to this day. I have no hesitation in saying that he has exercised the greatest personal influence for good of all the men in the Punjaub government." * " He won the confidence of all classes ; t he dis- armed the province; J he raised the Punjaub Irregular Force; § he reformed the jails; || and he aided his brother to make justice accessible, prompt, and cheap. IT The friends of M. Guizot called him un rosier enfer. This is what Sir Henry was — what his bosom-friends, Lake, Reynell Tayler, and Robert Napier, still are. Men of this stamp have a marvellous power over rough natures."** " In 1853, when I was on my way to Lahore, and Sir Henry was leaving the Punjaub, I had witnessed the unbounded regard which all classes dis- played to his person. In March 1857, at Agra, when on his way to take charge of his new duties as Chief Commissioner of Oude, I had much daily and unreserved intercourse with him. I found him ripening fast for that goal of human glory which he was soon to attain, and for that sublimer change which so quickly awaited him. His heart seemed overflowing with Christian charity. ++ He went to Oude, not without feelings of ambi- tion, but principally from a high sense of duty; whilst he had the strongest * Raikes, pp. 33, 35, 36. + Ibid., p. 33. X Ibid., p. 34. § Ibid. II Ibid. 1 Ibid. "* Ibid., p. 135. tt Ibid., p. 23. APPENDIX. 467 medical opinions of the necessity of an immediate change to Europe, and when suffering, as he told me, from a dozen different complaints."* "For every child that he met in my own family, in the missionary or other public schools, he had a word of kindness or encouragement. Incidentally he told me that the secret of his ability to support those public institutions with which his name will for ever be associated, was to be found in his abstinence to the utmost from all sorts of personal expense. During his stay in Agra, while his hand was open to every one else, he resolutely avoided spending money on himself, t About this time, having sent to Miss Marsh £100 to aid her benevolent efforts to instruct the navvies, he wrote as follows : — ' I need to have my iniquities blotted out. ... I want both thankfulness and trust. Above all, I want the Holy Ghost, and more faith in Jesus ; and I want to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset me, and to run with patience the race which is set before me, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith. I have a new and arduous field before me; an Augean stable of strife and contention to cleanse ; and, I trust, a reign of tranquillity and good- will to substitute. I go simply and entirely because it is my duty to go. The province of Oude contains the homes of a hundred thousand of our native soldiers, and much of the future morale of the Bengal army may depend on the government of that province. I go thither as a peacemaker ; and as I succeeded in the Punjaub, I feel sure that, with the blessing of God, I shall succeed there.' "% The shell which destroyed his life in the Eesidency of Lucknow only hastened his departure to be with Jesus ; but it snatched from the people of Oude a wise and energetic friend. " Arthur Cocks, Chief Assistant to the Resident. He imbibed all Sir Henry's feelings, and became greatly attached to the chiefs and people." " James Abbott became Deputy-Commissioner of Huzara, was six years in Huzara, and he left it amidst the unfeigned regrets of the people. Huzara had passed from a desolation to a smiling prosperity; it was he who had worked the change. He had literally lived among them as their patriarch — an out-of-door, under-tree life. Every man, woman, and child in the country knew him personally, and hastened from their occupations to -welcome and salute him as he came in their way. The children especially were his favourites. He never moved out without sweetmeats in his pocket for the children who might meet him, and' as plentiful a supply of money for the poor. He literally spent all his substance on the people, and left Huzara, it is believed, with only his month's pay. His last act was * Kaikes, p. 24. + Ibid. J English Hearts, p. 311. 4G8 APPENDIX. to invite all Huzara to a farewell feast on the Nava hill ; and there for three days and nights he might be seen, with long gray beard over his breast, and gray locks far down his shoulders, walking about among the groups of guests, the kind and courteous host of a whole people. What is the result ? The district of Huzara, which was notorious for its long-con- tinued struggles with the Sikhs, is now about the quietest, happiest, and most loyal in the Punjaub." " John Becher is James Abbott's successor, and is to Huzara all that Abbott was. He was at Buttala before, as Deputy-Commissioner. When he left Buttala for Huzara, the people followed him in crowds, weeping and invoking blessings on his head." " Edward Lake, another of Sir Henry's assistants. Brave, kind, active, indefatigable, accessible, thoughtful, chivalrous, and wise, he was as much at home as a soldier leading on the Bhowalpore army at Mooltan, as he is in administering a highly-organised system of civil government. As a leader he lived among his soldiers ; as a civilian he lived among the people : by both he has been loved and respected." " John Nicholson has reduced the people [of Bunnoo], the most igno- rant, depraved, and bloodthirsty in the Punjaub, to such a state of good order and respect for the laws, that, in the last year of his charge, not only was there no murder, burglary, or highway robbery, but not an attempt at any of those crimes. The Bunnoochees emphatically approve him as every inch a hakim (ruler). It is difficult to describe him. Lord Dalhousie called him a tower of strength. I think him equally fit to be a commis- sioner of division or a general of an army. If you visit either the battlefield of Goojurat or Chillianwallah, the country people begin their narrative of the battles thus — ' Nikkul Seyn stood just there.' A brotherhood of Fakirs in Huzara commenced the worship of Nikkul Seyn. Bepeatedly they have fallen at his feet as their Gooroo. He flogged them soundly on every occasion ; but the sect of the Nikkul Seynees remains as devoted as ever. The almost superhuman power of Nicholson over the Sikhs was to be found in a perfectly just, yet relentlessly firm temper, and a bold and noble presence. ' The tramp of his war-horse might be heard two miles off,' was the description given of him by a rough Sikh, who wept over his grave." " Eeynjjll Taylee was another of the old set, and the whole set is proud of him. His character is so sound and perfect in its goodness, that one is almost as provoked with him as the Athenians with Aristides. He APPENDIX. 469 got a right manly slash down his face in charging the Sikh cavalry at Moodkee, or his gentleness and goodness would be worthy of a woman." * Colonel Herbert Edwardes, from whom these extracts are chiefly taken, and Mr Eaikes, have not described themselves. Robert Montgomery. — " We owe it to Lord Dalhousie that three such men as the two Lawrences and Montgomery exercised so vast an influence over the twelve millions of the Punjaub. Five-and-thirty years back this remarkable trio were playfellows at a little school in the north of Ireland- Five years ago they formed the Board which ruled the destinies of the Punjaub, and devised, with the aid of Mr Mansel, and under the auspices of Lord Dalhousie, that scheme of government which must one day dominate over the Indian peninsula. Eobert Montgomery will do what man can do to calm and settle the stormy ocean of politics in Oude.'' f Sir John Lawrence. — " There is only one opinion among us all here, that we owe our preservation, under God's blessing, to John Lawrence and Eobert Montgomery, who strained every nerve not only to keep order in the Punjaub, but also to hurl every available soldier, Eurojiean or Sikh, against Delhi The prophecy which Mr Colvin had made to me in May was to be fulfilled — ' John Lawrence and the Sikhs will reconquer Hin- doostan.' " J " To Sir John Lawrence, more than to any one man besides, has the actual salvation of India been due. Between Calcutta and Delhi was no more intercourse possible than between Bengal and Bokhara. The ordinary communications on the Great Trunk Road were intercepted for months together, and Lord Canning could do little more towards the assis- tance of the authorities in the North-west, than despatch, as he did, to those parts every European soldier procurable. Even of those . reinforcements, however, not a man cordd reach Delhi. Sir John Lawrence first, by his measures of precaution and vigour, stifled and crushed rebellion in the sepoy garrisons of the Punjaub; he' then, by his admirable administration, succeeded in organising, controlling, and disposing the resources of that martial province ; and, lastly, he despatched those Sikhs, recently our most formidable enemies, in column after column to the British camp before Delhi For all the support which our commanders received in this memo- rable siege, they are indebted to Sir John Lawrence and the Punjaub. He not only preserved an army, but he created one. He raised more troops than ordinary generals ever commanded. He has levied, enrolled, and * Eaikes, pp. 25-32. t Ibid., pp. 38, 170. + Ibid., pp. 75, 132. 470 appendix. placed at the service of the British Government, fifty-seven thousand excel- lent soldiers." * There are two opposite systems of administration growing up side by side in India. One is the Regulation system, now in use in Bengal and elsewhere, which defines and limits the duties of each office, and which, separating the offices from each other, aims at preventing oppression and abuse in the discharge of them. This is clearly the system best for the country when officials are either corrupt or feeble. The other is the Pun- jaub system, introduced by Lord Dalhousie. Of this Mr Baikes speaks as follows : — " The divided system of civil government which suits the European genius — the distribution of labor and authority between the financier, the exciseman, the police, and the judicial functionary — must cease throughout India, if we would really pacify and govern the people. The Punjaub system of government, as introduced by Lord Dalhousie and carried out by Sir Henry Elliot, the Lawrences, Mansel, Montgomery, Edmonstone, and M'Leod, is so simple, so powerful, so entirely adapted to the genius of the people, that it must, like truth, prevail, and sooner or later extend over the entire peninsula. In the future, let us have, in the person of each district chief, a full and combined authority in matters of police, revenue, civil jus- tice, and diplomacy. This is what an Asiatic can understand ; but his mind can never accept the constitutional idea of a governor. Unless we exert a despotic power in Upper India, we must leave the country and the people to the most frightful state of anarchy which the world ever saw. We cannot even try any longer to rule Asia on the constitutional principles of Europe. With a simple, firm, just system of administration, our Hindoo subjects will attach themselves to our rule as the Punjaubees have done already." t " Under Lord Dalhousie' s government, and the mixed system of English and Oriental government, many parts of the Punjaub have pro- gressed from anarchy to civilisation at a rate which is incredible to those who have not, as I have, witnessed and examined the marvellous change." I am not disposed to question the justice of Mr Baikes' conclusion. The Punjaub system may be better than the Regulation system. The concen- tration of powers may be better than their division. It may be for the welfare of the people that every officer should be despotic in his sphere, that the Governor-General should have absolute power over the whole, that each Lieutenant-Governor have equally absolute power over his Presidency, under the Governor-General, and that every chief of a district be no less absolute in his smaller sphere, under the Lieutenant-Governor ; but if this is to be the form of Indian administration, who does not see that men of * Times, Aug. 9, 1858. t Raikes, pp. 171-173. APPENDIX. 471 eminent virtue are required to administer it % If one man can in each place collect the revenue, command the police, and administer justice, what frightful evils he will occasion to his district if he be either unscrupulous and violent, or weak and timid. If such men as Sir Henry Lawrence and his assistants can be secured for every province, India will be as contented as the Punjaub ; but " it is. impossible too often to reiterate the demand for firmness and gentleness in the personal character of our Indian adminis- trators." Unless the best men are sent to India, and the best of the best promoted to the exercise of these despotic powers, we may look for great abuses and for growing discontent ; but administrators like Sir Henry Lawrence, Abbott, and Nicholson will no less certainly obtain for themselves and their country the gratitude of the people. E.— (P. 264.) Education. " In 1848, Mr Thomason submitted amended proposals confined to the establishment by Government of one school in each tehseel, as a model for the village schools, and the institution of a visiting agency, which, with a visitor-general at its head, should not only superintend the Government schools, but visit the village schools generally, for the purpose of assisting and aiding the masters and rewarding the most deserving."* "The cost of this scheme, for all the districts of the North-western Provinces, was estimated at upwards of £20,000 ; but it was considered best to introduce the plan experimentally in eight districts at a cost of £3600 per annum (exclusive of the salary of the visitor-general); and this measure proved so successful in the selected districts, that its extension to all the thirty-one districts of the North-western Provinces was, subsequently sanctioned, at a total cost of £17,207."t "But valuable as were the general results of this scheme, and useful as were the tehseel schools to the inhabitants of the towns, the village schools (though the numbers attending them had consi- derably increased) did not improve as had been hoped; and a new plan was accordingly devised, with the best prospects of success, to meet the wants of the agricultural population. This is the establishment of hulka- bundee, or circle schools. Several villages conveniently situated for the purpose are grouped together, and in a central situation a school is estab- lished at the joint cost of all the villages, none of which is more than two miles from the central school. For the support of these schools the con- sent of landowners was sought to the appropriation of a small per centage * Memorandum of the Improvements in the Administration of India during the last thirty years, p. 77. t Ibid. 4/2 APPENDIX. on the amount of the Government revenue (one per cent, being the amount fixed), of which half is contributed by Government, and half by the land- owners. The assent of the landowners to this plan has been obtained in many districts ; and it will be made a condition of all future settlements, and has been so made as re-settlements have taken place."* " It is now time to advert to the despatch from the home authorities of the 19th of July 1854, which was designed to give as great an additional impulse to the operations of Government in the promotion of education as had already been given to the department of Public Works. This despatch directed that the previous Boards of Education, which consisted of private persons and of Government officers in their private capacity, should be abolished, and that a department of Education, under a director, should be appointed in each Presidency and sub-Presidency." + " A great extension of vernacular education was contemplated, and orders were given for introducing the system of grants in aid to private institutions, dependent on the quality of the secular instruction given, as ascertained by a Government inspection. .... Directors of Public Instruction were appointed in Bengal, the North- western Provinces, Madras, Bombay, and the Punjaub, and under them inspectors and sub-inspectors of different grades, and in numbers propor- tioned to the territories to be superintended. Rules for regulating grants in aid have been laid down, and considerable grants have been made under all the governments." J To this system of education in part Lord Ellenborough ascribes the mutiny : — " I have from the first been under the impression, and all I have heard from the commencement of the mutinies has only tended to confirm it, that this almost unanimous mutiny of the Bengal army, accompanied as it has been by very extensive indications of a hostile feeling amongst the people, could never have occurred without the existence of some all-pervad- ing apprehension that the Government entertained designs against their religion Our scheme of education pervaded the land. It was known in every village. We were teaching new things in a new way, and often as the teacher stood the missionary, who was only in India to con- vert the people I feel satisfied that at the present moment no measure could be adopted more calculated to tranquillise the minds of the natives, and to restore to us their confidence, than that of withholding the aid of Government from schools with which missionaries are connected." § Sir G. Clerk seems of the same opinion, for he says — " Exertions in the wrong, and, as respects all really good purposes, retarding direction, were persisted in, until in the minds of the people in general, and of the influen- tial classes in particular, our educational schemes are certainly now regarded * Memorandum, p. 81. t Ibid. J Ibid., p. 82. § Letter of Lord Ellenborough to Chairman of Bast India Company, pp. i, 5. APPENDIX. 473 as an insidious religious movement, in contravention of every principle of trust and national faith. The disposition with which we have by these and other means of an aggressive character inspired the people, including the classes amongst whom these projects have been forced, is sufficiently shewn in their passiveness or misconduct during the difficulties in which rebellion has plunged the British Government."* " What sort of a system of education, and superintendence of education, of which it is boasted in published ' Eeports ' that it pervades the influential as well as humbler classes, has that been, when after ten years' operation, by means of expensive and numerous establishments of every sort, the masses and the intelligent classes consider its patrons to be dishonest and tricky ft " One member of the Council of India, writing in June, remarks — ' I ought to have mentioned among the causes which have produced the present extensive dislike of our rule, a dread of our alleged intention to convert our subjects to Christianity, which is a widely-spread and genuine dread, and our having meddled too much as a Government with schools which are taught by missionary clergymen — I mean by our grants of money in aid, &c.'"J Sir G. Clerk adds — " The existing state of distrustful and hostile feeling in India, arising primarily from the proselytising spirit in which education has been conducted and favor vouchsafed by Government officers, sufficiently testifies this."§ " It seems to be an absolute waste of time to seek for any other causes of the prevailing disaffection in India than any dispassionate observer may readily discover in various measures in which the sympathy of the natives has of late years been abruptly renounced, and their feelings outraged on very tender points affecting their religion." || As Lord Ellenborough and Sir G. Clerk give no substantial evidence in support of their theory, there is nothing to combat. No mischief of any kind can be shown to have arisen from any of the measures of the Directors respecting education, except it be from the absence of religious instruction in their colleges, and from the mode in which the village schools were to be maintained. But Lord Ellenborough and Sir G. Clerk are directly contradicted by men much better able than they are to judge of the present state of feeling among natives. Mr Eaikes asserts, that during the late troubles " the body of the people clung to our colleges;" 11 and two well-informed natives speak as follows. The first ex- tract is from Dukinarunjun Mookerjia, a Brahmin, to a Scotch gentleman : — " From what you have said in the letter headed ' How is India to be Governed?' it is evident that you suppose the people of this country * Memorandum by Sir G. Clerk, p. 5. t Ibid., p. 6. J Ibid. § Ibid., p. 13. II Ibid., p. 14. 1 Raikes, p. 138. 474 APPENDIX. to be under the impression that Government, or others, intend in some improper way to Christianise them. Permit me to observe that this is a mistake The cry that has been raised by the rebels against the Government, or any others, alleging that religion has been forcibly or fraudulently interfered with, is utterly hollow and unfounded ; and I beg you will give no credence to it, and point out to your friends its fallacy."* Another intelligent native gentleman writes : — " As for education, I beg to inform you that it is my determined decision, that if anything is to benefit this country — people as well as the Government — it is education ; I mean education carried on upon religious principles. Whether I live on the bounty of the Government or my private resources, whether I have large districts under me or only a few boys of my relations, I have made it the work of my life, and hope assistance from above, "t Assuming that the East India Government should promote education, we have three questions to ask — 1. Ought the East India Government to promote the knowledge of English? " With regard to the medium through which to impart our knowledge. The attempt to diffuse among the many millions, now become so poor that, for the most part, they have scarce a waking moment to spare between labour and starvation, a foreign language, which is to them a most difficult one, must end in failure and (excepting the few who by such means obtain em- ployment in the Government) in resentment. " In the pride of power, or in the littleness of prejudice, or in the trusted efficacy of British bayonets, some superintendents of English education in India are apt to err through their disdaining to inquire, or their aversion to acknowledge not only the degree in which the liberal arts and sciences flourished there several centuries ago, but the actual condition of the mental cultivation and intelligence of some of the natives in modern days." J " During the course of the mutiny, numerous English scholars, who had offices under Government, came in to us at Agra, from Oude, Rohilcund, and the Doab. All evinced a spirit of determined loyalty to their British employers, and many suffered death, merely as English scholars, at the hands of the mutineers." § " It is further to be remarked, that it is education in and by the English language, and that alone, which has seemed to chain the student to our fortunes." || " I found it to be a general rule, that where you had an official well educated at our English colleges, and conversant with the English tongue, there you had a friend upon whom reliance could be placed." IT * Letter in Witness, August 21, 1858. t Thoughts of a Native on the Rebellion, p. 9. X Sir G. Clerk ; Return to House of Lords, p. 13. § Ruikes, p. 137. II Ibid., p. 137. IT Ibid., pp. 137, 139, 140. APPENDIX. 475 " The Government should fix a standard of secular education, including English literature as a sine qua non, and bestow a liberal grant in aid to all schools coming up to that standard."* 2. Ought the East India Government to educate the poor as well as the rich? "In all the North-western Provinces, and in Behar, the schools will generally have been suspended through the mutinies, and I can have no hesitation in recommending that when this shall have been the case, the aid of Government should not again be afforded, unless there should be an unmistakeable desire on the part of the principal landowners, and of the people, that the connexion between the Government and the schools should be renewed. ... I believe we rarely, if ever, induce parents above the lower class to send their children to our schools, and we should practically, if we succeeded in extending education as we desire, give a high degree of mental cultivation to the labouring class, while we left the more wealthy in ignorance. The result would not tend to create a healthy state of society. Our Government could not offer to the most educated of the lower class the means of gratifying the ambition we should excite. " We should create a very discontented body of poor persons, having through the superior education we had given to them, a great power over the mass of the people. " Education and civilisation may descend from the higher to the inferior classes, and, so communicated, may impart new vigor to the community, but they will never ascend from the lower classes to those above them • they can only, if imparted to the lower classes, lead to general convulsion, of which foreigners would be the first victims. If we desire to diffuse educa- tion, let us endeavour to give it to the higher classes first. "There are but two ways of doing this; by founding colleges to which the higher classes alone should be admitted, and by giving, in the reorgan- isation of the army, commissions at once to such sons of native gentlemen as may be competent to receive them."t The landholder being generally of high caste, he condemns the educa- tion of the Shoodras as against the spirit of his religion, and Lord Ellen- borough would make their education depend upon him ; that is, he would thus stop the education of the low castes altogether. No one asks for them " a high degree of mental cultivation," which is simply impossible to give, but that they should have such elementary knowledge as may improve their condition and morals, which can never make one of them. " discontented." If sound elementary knowledge, making them better gardeners, carpenters, &c, and better men, were widely communicated, * Kaikes, pp. 137, 139, 140. t Lord Ellenborough ; Return to House of Lords, p. 1. 476 APPENDIX. instead of leading, as Lord Ellenborough supposes, to " general convul- sion," it would make them more comfortable, and therefore more con- tented. Lord Ellenborough, by confining education to the higher classes, and by founding exclusive colleges which should shut out all others, would do a great injustice to the poor, and alienate those who may more easily than the other classes be made our friends. Mr Eaikes, indeed, says, that this is not the time to press vernacular education upon the people, and that natives hate our system of village schools, but he furnishes us with information which shows that we may make these village schools popular, without even postponing for a day this great duty to the working classes. " If one fact was, during the late troubles, more clearly demonstrated than another, it was this, that the body of the natives hated our system of village schools, whilst they clung to our colleges. The reasons for this preference and aversion appear to be these: the village schools were generally supported by a subscription of one per cent, on the Government revenue. The influence of local officers was enough to induce the landholders to grant this cess, but at heart the ignorant zemindars looked upon the whole scheme with suspicion and aversion, as calculated to interfere with their religion and their pocket at the same time. On the other hand, the payments to the colleges were purely voluntary."* From this statement, and from the Memorandum of the Directors, it appears that we have made the village schools depend upon the zemindars, and their payments have been made reluctantly. They have been influenced to tax themselves for an object which they dislike. They detest the education of the Shoodras, and they detest the cost of it falling upon them. Let both these errors be corrected. 1st, Let the support of schools be altogether voluntary. 2d, Let that support be rendered by the friends of popular education, and by them alone, no one asking the zemindars to tax themselves for an object which they dislike. 3d, Let the Government grants for village schools be made to meet these purely voluntary funds. If these alterations be adopted, it will be obvious to all that the education is voluntary, the Government will no longer be suspected of a wish to trick the people out of their caste, the zemindars will no longer complain of being taxed for a novelty which they dislike. The people will only subscribe for a plain practical education which will meet their wants, that education will make them more comfort- able, and thus the Government schools for the poor will become as popular as the colleges for the rich. 3. Ought the government to make grants in aid to missionary schools? * Eaikes, p. 136. APPENDIX. 477 " The benefit which can be derived to education from thus aiding the schools of missionaries is, on account of the limited number of such schools in Bengal and Upper India, necessarily small ; but great on the other hand is the danger, not to our success in education alone, but to the peace of the empire, by thus exciting, as we practically do, the appre- hension that the Government desires through education to convert the people. ... I must express my doubt whether to aid by Goverment funds the inspecting even of purely secular education in a missionary school, is consistent with the promises so often made to the people, and till now so scrupulously kept, of perfect neutrality in matters of religion. ... I feel satisfied that at the present moment no measure could be adopted more calculated to tranquillise the minds of the natives, and to restore to us their confidence, than that of withholding the aid of Government from schools with which missionaries are connected." * Sir George Clerk adds the following extract from a minute by a member of Council in 1854 : — " I believe that it will be found a matter of infinite difficulty for the Indian Government so to distribute and regulate grants in aid to mission schools as not to offend, even in appearance (and here the appearance of the thing is of the essence of the political question), against the still recognised principle of religious neutrality ; for one of the acknowledged objects, and the greatest object of the mission schools, is proselytism. . . . I am firmly persuaded that, unless in practice it be so contrived that all breach, and all appearance of breach of religious neutrality can be avoided, a blow will be struck at our power in India, which, in the course of time, may prove fatal. "t And then concludes, "I would recommend that in future, the following points should be carefully attended to, in regulating our ecclesiastical measures in India : not only to restrain .the present erron- eous system of insidious attempts at conversion, by means of schools pro- fessedly secular, but, to prevent the threatened display of still greater indiscretion, to emancipate the missionaries from all connexion and entangle- ment in Government measures, in order that they may continue to be at least respected by the natives of India." | With much more wisdom, and more practical knowledge of India, In- dophilus says, " The last developments of the Government system are the ' village vernacular school,' of Mr James Thomason, whereby education will be extended to the whole body of the people ; and the ' grants in aid,' which reconcile the claims of Christianity with those of equal justice and religious freedom." § " Our own religious divisions here in England, although far less than * Lord Ellenborough ; Return to House of Lords, pp. 4, 5. t Sir Gr. Clerk ; Ibid., p. 7. J Ibid., pp. 13, 14. § Letters of Indopliilus, p. 72. 478 APPENDIX. those which prevail in India, have made it impossible for us to agree upon a united plan of education ; but from the collision of different opinions has been struck out the grant in aid system, which was extended to India in 1854. This is the true solution of the much- vexed question of religious education."* There is certainly no violation of the principle of impartiality, when the Government grants aid to native schools on exactly the same terms as to Christian schools ; and the fact that these grants in aid have occasioned no complaints, and awakened no suspicions, may quiet the fears of all alarmists. F.— (P. 282.) Female Education. " A highly satisfactory commencement of female education in the North- western Provinces was made in 1856 by the exertions of a meritorious native functionary, the sub-inspector of schools, Pundit Gopal Sing. By his influence, ninety-seven female schools were established in the city and district of Agra, and each school was attended, on an average, by twenty pupils. The good example has been followed by the formation of female schools in the zillahs of Muttra and Mynpooree. In the Bombay Presi- dency, schools for females have been established by natives at Poonah, which are stated to be in satisfactory operation ; and some native ladies of wealth and influence at Ahmedabad have lately endowed a female school in that city. Female education is included within the operations of the enlarged Government scheme of education." f Kespecting this feeble commencement of a most benevolent work, Lord Ellenborough coldly remarks — " To send a female child to any school at which any man whatever can be present is so entirely at variance with native feelings that it is hardly credible that the attendance of any such children can have been really voluntary on the part of the parents." J In the Central School at Calcutta, established by Mrs Wilson, where hundreds of girls attended with the full consent of their parents, three Brahmins were teachers. § So that Lord Ellenborough's fears are exag- gerated, and are, I fear, dictated by a dislike to female education in India. G. Freedom, of the Servants of the Government to do Good. On Friday, July 23, in the House of Lords, Lord Ellenborough said : — " With regard to a most important matter — that of the policy of the * Letters of Indophilus, p. 78. t Memorandum, p. 84. t Letter, p. 3. § Female Education in India, p. 112. APPENDIX. 479 Government with respect to education in India — I ask your lordships to permit me to read a few sentences from the last authoritative exposition of their policy, dated only on the 13th of April last, in a letter from the Court of Directors to the Governor-General, published for the information of your lordships. In that letter are these words : — " ' The Government will adhere with good faith to its ancient policy of perfect neutrality in matters affecting the religion of the people of India ; and we most earnestly caution all those in authority under it not to afford by their conduct the least color to the suspicion that that policy has under- gone, or will undergo, any change. It is perilous for men in authority to do. as individuals that which they officially condemn. The real intention of the Government will be inferred from their acts, and they may unwittingly expose it to the greatest of all dangers, that of being regarded with general distrust by the people. We rely upon the honourable feelings which have ever distinguished our service for the furtherance of the views which we express. When the Government of India makes a promise to the people, there must not be afforded to them grounds for a doubt as to its fidelity to its word.' " The obvious meaning of this despatch is, that the servants of the Govern- ment must not, in their private capacity, promote the cause of Christ. If the Government act upon this antichristian principle, they will, from a mere imagination — an old Anglo-Indian prejudice, unsustained by a shadow of evidence — silence a body of men much more numerous and influential than the missionaries who ought to make Christ known to the heathen — intercept thousands of pounds now annually contributed by good men in India to the support of Christian missions — and dishonor Christ himself by the enforced neutrality of those who ought to be His zealous servants. One member of the Council of India, after complaining of the Government " permitting several high civil officers and commanders of native regiments to work at the task of spreading the gospel as though they were missionary clergymen without any connexion with Government," adds, " That kind of thing should be prevented in future by the most peremptory orders."* Such orders will be in direct contradiction to the commands of Christ, a violation of the sacred rights of the best men in India, and a disgraceful prolongation of the cowardly policy by which Englishmen in India have been made neutral between truth and falsehood — between an ennobling religion and a profligate superstition — between idols who are monsters of vice, and Christ who is our Divine Redeemer. The neutrality of Govern- ment, in its laws and administration, is just, but the neutrality of indivi- duals is a base and criminal disloyalty to truth and Christ ; and I trust this country will not endure a tyrannical attempt to enforce it. * Return, p. 6. 480 APPENDIX. EL— (P: 324.) Missionaries. Sir G. Clerk quotes, with evident approbation, the following extract of a letter from an intelligent native who has risen to high office, and earned for himself titles and distinction : — " I am sorry for the missionaries. The inflammatory Christian articles in some newspapers, 'Christianity versus Brahminism' in the last Hurharu paper, and such things as a greased cartridge now and then, may sometimes produce such fearful results! These little things may, perhaps, promote the cause of Christianity, but they evidently do not promote that of humanity, by causing thousands of innocent people to be slaughtered." And Lord Ellenborough transmits the paper of Sir G. Clerk to the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the East India Company, soliciting that " it may receive the consideration of the Court."* In opposition to that slur cast upon missionaries by these English gentle- men, let the reader reflect upon the following testimony written by two Hindoo gentlemen. The first is from an imaginary conversation between a European and a native, written by an intelligent native : — European — " I thought from the first that it was very foolish in the Government to give even a pretence to the people to suspect its motive, as far as it was concerned with the interference in their religion. Unbounded toleration to the missionaries, unchecked distribution of religious tracts, indiscriminate zeal of niany of the Government officers in promoting the cause of missions and openly assisting missionaries, and the Government connexion with the missionary schools, are no doubt much to be deplored." Native — " There you, and many of your countrymen, sir, commit a serious mistake. ... It is not religion, but the want of religion, which has brought so much evil to this country. The people know that the Govern- ment is a Christian one ; let it act openly as a true Christian. The people •will never feel themselves disappointed ; they will only admire it. Who can detest 'religion'? It is the order of their own ' Shasters' that every man is to revere his own religion. You may have a thousand missionaries to preach, and another thousand as masters of the schools at the expense of the Government, or distribute a thousand Bibles at the hands of the Governor-General. The people will not murmur out a single syllable, though they may laugh and jeer ; but take care that you do not interfere with their caste, you do not force them to eat the food cooked by another in the jails, or thrust grease down their throats with the cartridges made by Europeans. I do not think such acts have anything to do with the Christian religion."f * Sir G-. Clerk; Return to House of Lords, p. 8. f Thoughts of a Native, pp. IS, 19. APPENDIX. 481 The second testimony is from a Brahmin and zemindar in a letter to a gentleman in Scotland, and is as follows : — "Calcutta, 25th June 1858. " Sik, — Your letter of the 25th of January last reached Calcutta while I was at Moorshedabad, and since my return I have been so busy with other urgent matters that I had no time to answer it, for which delay I beg you will excuse me. " Though ' we, the Hindoo community, differ with the Christian mis- sionaries in opinion that Hindoostan will one day be included in Christen- dom,' yet it is impossible to say what change it may please God to effect in the religious faith of this land some hundred years hence. " To allow every man to practise the rites and ceremonies of his religion, and to act up to the principles laid down therein for his guidance, so long as he does not inflict any injury to the life, person, and property of his neighbour, is the rule which has invariably been followed by the local Government ever since the establishment of British supremacy in India ; and, as the missionary conscientiously believes that it is his duty to benefit the Hindoos by preaching to them what he devoutly thinks to be the word of God, it would be offering violence to his religion were the Government to prevent his doing so. " Moreover, the disinterested wish of the missionaries to promote the weal of my countrymen, as indicated by the numerous charitable schools and colleges they have established and keep up, from funds raised among the members of their communion in Europe and America — the purity of the lives they lead, operating as living examples of morality upon all who come in contact with them (and their intercourse with the native popula- tion is more frequent and familiar than that of other foreigners) — the smile of genuine affection with which the missionary invariably greets the Hindoo when they meet one another — the unalloyed sympathy he evinces towards him, and the consolation he offers in his hour of anxiety and distress, and, when applied to, the aid and advice he is sure to afford him in all cases, whether the ailment be of the body or the mind — have conduced to make the missionaries the most liked and trusted of all foreigners in our native community. " You mention that Lord Shaftesbury, and others of London, are ' busy- ing themselves to get up a Christianising crusade to India.' So far as I have read of the proceedings of the Societies with which that nobleman is connected, or of his public speeches, there has been nothing to warrant this idea in any bad or objectionable sense. His lordship and friends never advocated the compulsory conversion of my countrymen to Christianity, but have always been the foremost among the nobility and gentry of 2 H 482 APPENDIX. Britain to promote the cause of morality, sound education, and, as those generous men conscientiously believe, of true religion in Hindoostan. Per- sonally, of course, I know nothing of Lord Shaftesbury; but I cannot allow this opportunity to escape without recording my grateful sense, as well as that of all my compatriots who had the means of knowing them, of bis invaluable services to Hindoostan. " Allow me to repeat, you err in thinking ' that religion has been at the bottom of all these atrocities.' I assure you, sir, that religion, in the way in which you seem to imagine, has had nothing to do with this rebellion whatever. You seem to be under the impression that ' the former policy of the India Company, not to admit missionaries into their possessions, was a wise one;' and to those changes in their policy which have subse- quently been made, may be ascribed the sole cause of these disasters. The former policy you advert to was, in my decided opinion, unjust alike to the missionaries and to my countrymen, inasmuch as it deprived the former of all means of exercising here the duties enjoined on them by their religion, which, in plain English, was an infringement of one of their essential rights as subjects — a right, the possession and free use of which has never been known, within the last eighty years, to have done here an iota of harm to any living being whatsoever; but, on the contrary, has tended materially to raise the British character in the estimation of our commu- nity, by presenting to view the only foreigners who tread the soil of Hind on the noble errand of disinterestedly doing good to her children. Its in- justice to our people could only be calculated by holding before the mind's eye the benign and salutary influence which the intercourse of the mis- sionaries with our people has exercised upon their manners, the vast bene- fits they have conferred upon the populace by gratuitously imparting to thousands the blessings of improved education, who, but for their labor of love, would have grovelled in darkness and starvation, and the impetus their righteous examples have given to the cause of moral and social pro- gress wherever they have made their sojourn. Let us also bear in mind the circumstance, that in a country like this, where the Government is despotic, the people are denied all voice in the administration ; the press exists only in a few cities, principally in a foreign language, and, with two or three exceptions, professedly as the organ of foreigners, and its use and advantages are totally unknown to the bulk of the people. The existence of some independent body, as the missionaries, the sacred nature of whose calling entitles them unreservedly to point out their faults and merits to all men, whether in high places or low, operates as a check against the abuse of power. . . . And to prohibit the missionaries, who in a great measure fill the places of the learned Brahmins as regards the charitable distribution of knowledge to our indigent population, would be to deprive them of ad- APPENDIX. 483 vantages, the loss of which, under the present state of things, nothing could compensate. " May the Universal Father so purify our hearts, as that we, living with each other in brotherly affection, mutually help in teaching, learning, and practising the dictates of true religion, and thereby glorify Him who exalted us above all living beings, by endowing us with a mind to reason and a heart to love. — I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, (Signed) " DuKrNAnrjNJTTN Mookeejia." Instead of dreading, with Lord Ellenborough and Sir G. Clerk, the in- fluence of missionaries, we may well hail them as the supporters of British rule in India. " Every missionary sent to the banks of the Ganges is not only a herald of truth, but also of good government. " So far as the Christian teacher rightly educates the heathen mind, he not only fulfils the great commands of his Divine Master, but also inci- dentally aids and supports the British rule. " The interests of Christian missions and good government are identical, not antagonistic. In supporting and enlarging missions to the heathen of India, we not only offer to the Almighty our humble and dutiful tribute, but also to the best of our means contribute to the happiness and well- being of the vast country committed to our care."* I earnestly hope that Lord Stanley, in his administration of the affairs of India, instead of acting under the inspiration of Lord Ellenborough and Sir George Clerk, will sympathise with the King of Hanover in those sentiments, by the expression of which that young king has set an example to all the sovereigns of Europe. The following is the statement of a Hano- verian paper of August 21, 1857 : — " The twelve Hermannsburg missionaries, who were ordained on the 18th, in presence of a numerous and deeply-interested assembly, were yesterday summoned by special command to the palace, in order to be presented to his Majesty. Being introduced into the royal presence by the Consistory Counsellor, Dr Numonn, his Majesty was pleased to address to them the following words — ' It was impossible for me to let you depart hence before I had personally told you how heartily I unite with you, in thankful praise to God, for having, by His Holy Spirit, put into your hearts the desire to undertake the high and holy calling of Christian missionaries. Neither could I think of your leaving the shores of my kingdom, until I had pro- nounced, from the bottom of my heart, my blessing on your sacred and difficult task. ... It was highly edifying to the queen, my children, and myself, to be present yesterday at your ordination ; and we unitedly in- * Eaikes, pp. 142, 113. 484 APPENDIX. voked God's richest blessing on your solemn engagement. To His almighty guidance I commend you. May He protect your persons and prosper your sacred work ! And when, in distant lands, your thoughts wander back to your fatherland, and those you love left in it, forget not that I and mine are continually sending up our supplications to the throne of grace on your behalf '" * * Evangelical Cliristetidom, Feb. 1, 1858. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS ON INDIA TO WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE IN THIS "WORK. Alexander — British. Opium Smuggling, by General Alexander. Third edition. Biobnstieena — Tableau de l'Empire Britannique dans PInde, par le Comte de Biornstierna. Paris, 1842. Campbell — The Indian Mutiny, by B. C. Campbell, Esq., M.P. Campbell — India as it May Be, by G. Campbell Murray. 1853. Campbell — British India, by the Rev. William Campbell. 1839. Cabey — Memoir of W. Carey, by Eustace Carey. Carey — Memoir of Eustace Carey, by Mrs Eustace Carey. Catoe — Christian Education in India, by P. Cator. 1858. Chapman — Hindoo Eemale Education, by Priscilla Chapman. Clabkson — India and the Gospel, by the Rev. W. Clarkson. Clarkson — The Christian Village in Goojurat, by the Bev. W. Clarkson. Sixth edition. Cotjet of Dieectoes — Memorandum. Dubois — Letters on India, by the Abbe" Dubois. Duff — India and India Missions, by Alexander Duff, D.D. Second edi- tion. Eastwick — Speech of Captain Eastwick, Jan. 20, 1858. Smith, Elder, & Co. Fobbes — Oriental Memoirs, by J. Forbes, Esq. Second edition. Freeman — Reply to the Memorandum of the East India Company, by J. Freeman, Esq. Indophilus — Letters to the Times. Judson — Life of Dr Judson, by Wayland. London, 1853. Kinnaied — Speech of the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P. Ridgway. Second edition. Long — Handbook of Bengal Missions, by the Bev. J. Long. 1856. Luard — Reconstruction of our Indian Empire, by R. D. Luard. Malcolm — Political History of India, by Sir J. Malcolm. Mead — The Sepoy Eevolt, by Henry Mead Metcalfe — life of Lord Metcalfe. 486 BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE WORK. Mill — History of British India, by James Mill, Esq. Third edition. Mills — India in 1858, by Arthur Mills, M.P. Mullens — Eesults of Missionary Labor, by the Rev. Joseph Mullens. Third edition. Mullens — Missions in South India, by the Kev. Joseph Mullens. Munro — Life of Sir Thomas Munro. New edition. 1849. Pratt — Indian Questions, by Hodgson Pratt. Chapman & Hall. 1857. Raikes — Notes on the Revolt, by Charles Raikes, Civil Commissioner, &o. 1858. Richard — Present and Future of India, by Henry Richard. Russell — Tour in Ceylon and India, by Joshua Russell Sleeman — Journey through Oude, by Sir W. Sleeman. Bentley. 1858. Trevelyan — The Education of the People of India, by Charles Trevelyan, Esq. Underhill — Case of the Baropakhya Christians, by E. B. Underbill. Calcutta. Valbezen — Les Anglais et l'lnde, par E. de Valbezen. Third edition. Ward — View of the History, &c, of the Hindoos, by William Ward. New edition. London, 1822. Wylie — Bengal a Field of Missions, by M. Wylie, Esq. Thoughts of a Native, &c. W. Dalton. 1858. Islam and Religious Liberty. Calcutta, 1857. A Few Remarks on Indian Affairs. London, 1857. Second edition. The Work of God among the Karens. Calcutta, 1857. Letter from a Layman in India. London : W. Dalton. 1858. The Present Crisis in India. 1857. What is to be done with the Bengal Army? by Qui Hi 1857. Justice for India, by a Plain Speaker. Letter to C. Grant, by a Madras Civilian. 1833. Mutiny of the Bengal Army. London, 1857. Christian Education for India in the Mother Tongue. London Quarterly Review, Oct. 1857. Conference of Bengal Protestant Missionaries. Calcutta, 1855. Reports of the following Missionary Societies: — The Church; the London; the Baptist; the American Board for Foreign Missions; the American Baptist Missionary Union; the British and Foreign Bible Society; and the Religious Tract Society. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Notes of a Tour in the Valleys of Piedmont, in the Summer of 1854. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. cloth. Letters on the Church of Rome, addressed to the Eev. Emanuel Farault, D.D., and LL.D., Chaplain to the King of Sardinia, and Italian Missionary to England. Fcap., 6s. cloth. An Essay on Christian Baptism. Fcap. 8vo, 5s. cloth. An Essay on the External Act of Baptism enjoined by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Sermons preached at the Chapels Royal St James's and Whitehall. 12mo, 5s. cloth. An Essay on the Union of „ the Church with the State. Third Edition. 8vo, 12s. cloth. Protestant Thoughts in Rhyme. Second Edition. Eoyal 16mo, 3s. 6d. fancy boards. The Case of the Free Church of Scotland. 8vo, 2s. 2 The Gospel of the Grace of God, Illustrated in a Series of Meditations. Sixth Thousand. 32mo, Is. cloth, gilt edge?. On Glorying in Christ. 32mo, Is. cloth, gilt edges. Christian Missions to Heathen Nations. Post 8vo, 8s. cloth. Infant Piety ; a Book for Little Children. Fourth Edition. 18mo, Is. 6d. cloth. Meditations in Sickness and Old Age. Pifth Edi- tion. 2s. cloth. LONDON : JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BEKNEES STREET.