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THE INDIAN EXAMINER,
AND
UNIVERSAL REVIEW.
JUL Y.—1846.
THE KHONDS.
That “ there is nothing new under the sun,” we believe in its
■widest significance, inasmuch as man’s nature is the same under
Queen Victoria as it was under King Solomon. Homer and Shake*
speare draw the same broad outlines, with the same nice differences in
the filling up, in the lights and shades, of human character. But, ever*
and anon, there does appear to be something new under the sun of
India. New tribes, new customs, new crimes, seem to succeed one
another in calling forth the wonder, the indignation, or the sympathy
of Europe. A few years ago, the discovery of the practices of the
Thugs, horrified the Christian mind. Their vocation was murder—
murder and robbery, hallowed by their creed. We pass by minor
discoveries—bringings to light of smaller enormities—and come at
once to the Khonds.
How is it, let us however ask at the outset, that these discoveries
come upon us so often, and so unlike angels’ visits—as they are fiendish
in their character, and neither few nor far between? Is it owing to
the measures of a particular body, distinguished in after-dinner
speeches as “ the greatest commercial corporation in the world”—as
a gathering of “ merchants who are princes”—as well as other
stereotyped phrases which we need not repeat? Is it, we ask,
attributable to the East India Company’s indifference to every thing
tending to an extension of geographical knowledge—to any further
acquaintance with the habits and resources of people whose mountain
fastnesses, or other interpositions of nature, protect them partially
from British sway, and its invariable concomitant, British taxes—to
vol. i.—NO. I.
B
�r
TIIE KItONDS.
any extension of geological knowledge—or, indeed, to any scientific
pursuit whatever, unless it offer a financial return? The progress
of science must tend to a dividend—the advancement of Christianity
must not interfere with a tax—the course of civilization must be paid
for, step by step.
•
The latest advices from India tell us that “ a little war” has been
waged. The Duke of Wellington once said this country could not
wage “ a little war,” but India is fertile in contradictions to all the
maxims of British statesmanship or jurisprudence. The “ little
war” there, means merely the hunting down and shooting of a few
Highland savages—nothing more—no pomp, pride, or circumstance
of glorious war. The people subjected on this occasion to the opera
tions of the little war were the Khonds, or Hill Tribes of Goomsur.
These aboriginal tribes, we are told by the last Indian newspapers,
are addicted to drunkenness, infanticide, and promiscuous cohabita
tion. They made an irruption into the British territory; three Com
panies of Native Infantry were sent forward to meet them. On the
22d March, two thousand men are said to have advanced into the
plains (as many more lurking in the recesses of the hills); they ad
vanced within two or three hundred yards of the Anglo-Indian forces,
sent forward some half hundied of yelling, hooting, cursing fanatics,
who came on with wild cries, until they were within fifty paces of the
sepoys, who then received orders to fire. Three Khonds fell, the rest
fled precipitately. Captain Macpherson marched on Poornaghur,
made prisoners of six of the principal insurgents, and so, we presume,
the “ little war,” for the present at least, is terminated. Captain
Macpherson, a highly intelligent and resolute officer, a long time
resident in the Goomsur territory, rescued one hundred and seventythree victims from impending sacrifice, giving them up, however, to
the Rajah of Bode, who guaranteed their safety.
Goomsur is situate in the British province of Orissa, which was
formerly the seat of a famous monarchy. After the usual course of
Oriental revolutions, and changes of dynasties, Orissa, about the
middle of the last century, was subdued by the Berar Mahrattas, who,
in all their conquests, “ made a solitude, and called it peace.” In
1804, the district fell under the British yoke. From that day to the
present, there have been many changes in the Zemindary. Rajah has
rapidly succeeded Rajah; some being removed on account of their
turbulence, incapacity, orcrimes; others, for that inexpiable crime in
the eyes of the British Government—worse than treason, stratagems,
or spoil—the irregular or non-payment of the tribute. The country
we speak of is traversed in its entire length by the Eastern Ghats,
running in an irregular line, and at irregular distances (but averaging
�THE KHONDS.
perhaps from fifty to seventy miles), from the Coromandel Coast.
It may be popularly described as consisting of Highlands and
Lowlands. In the Highlands, or Alpine district, are three distinct
tribes—;the Sourabs in the south, the Koles in the north, the Khonds
in the middle country. We profess, in this article, to treat only of
the Khonds.
We will first merely sketch their more human, or, as an old writer
would have worded it, their more hnmane characteristics. These
greatly resemble what once distinguished the Highlanders of Scotland:
they are hardy, brave, hospitable, superstitious, and vindictive.
In their “ hospitality” the Khonds bear out the resemblance we
have alluded to. Hospitality, with them, is not merely a virtue, or a
duty, it is a necessity.
So with the Scottish Highlanders; the
bitterest feudal enemy, with his hostile clan’s best blood but recently
wiped from his hands, was safe if he broke bread with his antagonists..
Without that bond he would have been savagely and remorselessly
hunted to death; with it, he stood secure, and could even
—■----- “ from his deadliest foeman’s door,
Unquestioned turn, the banquet o’er.”
The infraction of hospitality was the bitterest reproach to which a
Highland chieftain could be subjected. Macdonalds, Macgregors,
Camerons, Campbells, Grants, Macphersons, one and all, would rather
have been called homicides than churls. We extract Captain Mac
pherson’s account of the Khond hospitality:—
“ As might be anticipated of such a people, they are ‘ given to hospitality.’
• The duty is equally imperative upon all. ‘ For the safety of a guest,’ say
they, ‘ life and honour are pledged; he is to be considered before a child.’
Every stranger is an invited guest; and any person may acquire, under any
circumstances, the privileges of the character by simply claiming them.
No person, whether Khond or Hindu, can appear at a Khond village without
being invited to enter; and the burden of public hospitality does not fall
more upon the Abbaya than upon any one else.
There is no limit to the
period to which hospitality may extend. A guest can never be turned
away: and his treatment must be that of a member of the family. Fugitives
upon any account whatever, from the same or other Tribes, must be received
and protected.
If a man, even though a murderer, can make his way by
any means into the house of his enemy, it is considered a case of refuge, and
he cannot be touched, although his life has been forfeited to his involuntary
host by.the law of blood revenge.
Sometimes, however, when an enemy
or criminal thus makes himself a guest, the house maybe vacated; food may
thus be refused to him, and he may be killed if he comes out. But such a
proceeding is very rarely considered justifiable.
“ The inviolable sacredness attached to the rite of hospitality was re
markably exemplified in the case of Bora Bisaye.” (One of the principal
chieftains of Khondistan, but at that time a fugitive, and proscribed by the
British Government.) “ He was their guest. They viewed with horror the
violation of hospitality, ‘ Give up,’ said the British Government, ‘ give
�4
THE KIIONDS.
up Dora Bisaye and the other leaders, and your villages will cease to burn,
and yourselves and your helpless wives and children will cease to suffer.’
But no, death itself was braved in preference.”
The “ feud” descended from the Scottish Highland chieftain to his
successor,
■-------“ as due a part of his inheritance,
As the strong castle and the ancient blazon,
Where private vengeance holds the scales of justice.”
Where the chieftain had but a few barren mountains or moors to
bequeath, the feud—a bloody mortgage—was inalienably attached to
the heirship. It does not appear that feuds among the Khonds are so
strictly hereditary. Perhaps the knowledge of their feelings in that
respect is as yet hardly understood by Captain Macpherson, or the
best-informed Europeans. Of their bitterness in avenging what they
account personal wrongs or insults, however, there is no question.
Again, the similarity to the Gaels is manifest. Ferocious, as Captain
Macpherson shows the Khonds’ internal warfare to be, it is not without
its parallel. Among other instances, we may cite that the Laird of
Macleod, with an irresistible force, made a descent upon the small
Isle of Egg, to wreak his vengeance on some of the islanders,
Macdonalds, who had offended him. The terrified islanders took
shelter in a cavern, but their retreat was discovered. “ Macleod sur
rounded the cavern, summoned the subterranean garrison, and de
manded that the individuals who had offended him should be delivered
up to him. This was peremptorily refused. The chieftain then
caused his people to divert the course of a rill of water, which, falling
over the entrance of the cave, would have prevented his purposed
vengeance. He then kindled at the entrance of the cavern a huge
fire, composed of turf and fern, and maintained it with unrelenting
assiduity, until all within it were suffocated.” The story is fully
detailed in the Appendix to Sir Walter Scott’s Lord oj the Isles.
It is certainly a matter of surprise that, popular as are Sir Walter*
Scott’s works in France, the Parisian journals did not dilate upon this
massacre as a very proper precedent for Colonel Pelissier’s doings
at Dahra.
The following is Captain Macpherson’s account of the feuds, so to
speak, of the Khonds:—
“ The evil qualities or vices that mar the moral constitution and tempe
rament of the Khonds are not less marked than their natural virtues. Fore
most we may place the spirit of retaliation and revenge. In cases of murder,
revenge is recognized as an individual right, inherently belonging to the
nearest relatives of the de ceased; only it is optional, without incurring dis
grace, to accept of private satisfaction or some substantial equivalent instead.
Moreover, the ideas of the Khonds on moral and social rights and duties
�THE KIIONDS.
5
being necessarily few and vague, uncertain and perplexed, there is often
combined with childlike reason, on such objects a maturity in passion. Hence
it is that, apart from acknowledged cases of bloodshed, they are often seen
to gratify their baser appetites, indulge their resentment or revenge, with all
the selfishness, brutality, and head-strong fury of the barbarian. In special
cases, such as those connected with human sacrifice, there is periodically
manifested a revolting cruelty—a savage ferocity—that cannot be out
matched by the Indian scalping-knife or tomahawk. To all this may be added
the habit of lawless plunder, after the manner of freebooters, in some; and
an addiction to the debasing and unhumanizing vice of drunkenness, in all.
At the season of periodical intoxication—the blowing of the mow flower—of
which their favourite spirit is made, the country is literally covered with
frantic and senseless groups of men. And though usually the women share
more sparingly in the liquor cup, they yet, on public festival occasions,
partake in every form of social enjoyment—food, drink, extemporary songs,
recitations and dancing—mingling freely and without shame with the other
sex, both married and unmarried, in more than saturnalian license and revelry,
which often terminate in gross and nameless excesses, and as the guests are
armed, not unfrequently in sanguinary brawls.”
The drunkenness and bloody superstitious rites, consequent upon
this horrid warfare, are, happily, peculiar to the Khonds.
The Khond, like the Gael, is susceptible of the influence of mus1
and poetry. He has his war songs, his incantations, his funeral
dirges. Translations of some of the more spirited of the war lyrics
have appeared in the Bengal Ilurkaru: we give one, admirably
rendered, as a specimen. The imagery, and the allusion to the objects
most familiar to the poet—the tiger, the hyena, the <£ long pods
of the karta tree,” “ mowa blossoms borne on air,” and the sacred
blood to be poured on the war-god’s shrine—cause these verses to be
peculiarly interesting:—
Great God of Battles, Oh, forgive
fFor thou our wants and weakness saw)
if we so long have seemed to live
Regardless of thy glorious law;
Our herds were few, our fields were bare,
Our bravest warriors bowed with care.
But now Fate scowleth on the foe,
And famine haunts each cot and bower,
And some the fever blasts lay low
And some the gaunt wild beasts devour;
Unnerved is many a manly limb,
And many a youthful eye is dim.
Oh,LahaPennu, Lord of strife,
Watch all our weapons as thine own,
And at each mark of mortal life
Direct the shaft and hurl the stone;
Make wide the wounds on every frame,
Deface the dead, the living maim.
�6
THE KHONDSr
Oh, let our ponderous axes fall
Like blows of death from tiger’s paws,
Or crush bone, flesh, and garb, and all,
As ’twixt the fierce hyena’s jaws;
Let arms not ours as brittle be
As long pods of the Karta tree;
Each aim misguide, unnerve each hand
Of those to mock our might that dare,
Make all their weapons light as sand,
Or Mowa blossoms borne on air;
Or let our wounds quick dry again
As blood drops on the dusty plain.
May every axe wear ruddy hue
As home we pant from vict’ry’s field;
And while women, proud and true,
Their stores of sweet refreshment yield,
May neighbouring beauties seek our bowers
And yearn to mix their blood with ours.
Our war gained wealth, let all behold,
Brass vessels, herds, and scented leaf,
And maids present to parents old
The trophies of our struggle brief;
And fowl, and buffaloe, and sheep,
Thy shrine in sacred blood shall steep.
Oh, Laha Pennu, God of war,
Not new the favour now we crave;
For thy fierce smile, like lurid star,
Oft led to strife our fathers brave;
And we their sons, when danger lours;
Still hail their honoured God and ours.
In tlieir religious belief—or perhaps it would be more correct to
say, in their superstitious observances, for polytheists have little
belief—the Khonds resemble the Greeks, whose mythology has been
praised as “ picturesque,” notwithstanding that their deities were but
sorry specimens of humanity (human they were in all their passions),
to say nothing of them as divinities. Pope truly describes these
classic immortals—
■“ Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust,
Whose attributes were rage, revenge, orlusL”
The list of the Khondish divinities is a formidable one. They
have gods of arms, of limits, of small-pox, of barrenness, of rain, of
hunting, of rivers, of fountains, and of tanks. Besides these, they have
the sun-god (but not ceremoniously worshipped, as among the ancient
Peruvians), the moon-god, the village-god, and the presiding deity of
all, the earth-goddess. The powers ascribed to these beings may be
pretty accurately guessed from their titles. Neither are these all;
they have minor and local tutelary deities, some partly resembling the
old Lares and Penates-, others regarded with feelings, and worshipped
�KHONtiS.
1
with rites, perfectly inexplicable; for “ that,” says Dr. Johnson,
which reason did not originate, reason cannot explain.” They have
no temples, and their worship, like that of most, perhaps all, savages,
is the offspring of fear; their ceremonies and sacrifices are to avert
the wrath of their offended divinities. The spirit in which the earth
goddess is approached by her votaries is plainly shown in a verse from
one of the Khondish hymns of invocation:—
“ Goddess, that taught mankind to feel
Poison in plants, and Death in steel,
A fearful lore;
forgive, forgive, and ne’er again
Shall we neglect thy shrine to stain
With human gore.”
We now come to what may be called the inhuman peculiarities of
the Khonds, when all similarity to the noble race of the Gael ceases.
Throughout all the southern Khond districts, “ female infanticide’*
prevails. This custom almost blots the Khond from out of the great
chapter of humanity. It has not its origin in any superstitious
feeling—it is no offering to
----- “ Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears’’—
it appears to spring from the vilest and most sordid feelings that can
degrade mankind. We trust our rulers will deal with it strongly,
—and speedily.
Among these wild mountaineers the husband must buy his wife,
who at her marriage is fifteen or sixteen years of age, but always four
or five years older than her bridegroom. The boy-bridegroom has no
means to purchase the luxury of a helpmate, so that the whole arrange
ment is completed by the elders. The father of the prospective hus
band bargains with the father of the intended wife, and pays him for
his daughter so many head of cattle, twenty or thirty. The wife then
becomes a valuable domestic drudge in her father-in-law’s households
The marriage rite is simple; the family and friends of the boy to be
married bear rice and strong drink in a sort of procession to the house
of the girl’s parents. The priest pours out a libation; hands are joined
by the respective fathers, and the wedding-contract is declared completes
Then ensues a scene of revelry, dancing, and singing. “ When the
night is far spent,” says Macpherson, “ the principals in the scene are
raised by an uncle of each upon his shoulders and borne through the
dance. The burdens are suddenly exchanged, and the uncle of the
youth disappears with the bride. The assembly divides into two
parties. The friends of the bride endeavour to arrest those of the
bridegroom to cover her flight; and men, women, and children mingle
�Till'. KHOKDS.
in mock conflict which is often carried to great lengths. Thus the
semblance of forcible abduction attends the withdrawal of the bride
amongst the Orissan Khonds, as it did among many nations of ancient
Europe, and now does amongst the tribes of the Caucasus!” In some
of the nations of ancient Europe this ceremony was attributed to the
precedent established in the Rape of the Sabines. To what it owes
its introduction among the Khonds will perhaps never be known.
It is evident from this brief statement that women are valuable, in
a mercenary sense, among the Khonds, and we will next show how
they come to be so. The life of no female infant is spared, except
when a woman’s first-born is a girl, or when some powerful person
wishes to rear a daughter for the sake of forming a connection with
some other family of consideration by inter-marriage. The little
innocents are exposed in the nearest jungle, immediately afterbirth,
and Captain Macpherson found many villages without a single female
child! The scarcity of women thus renders them valuable as objects oi
traffic, and there seems no reason to doubt that the profit to be
acquired from his one daughter, reconciles the unnatural father to
sacrifice all the others. Nor is the profit realised in the bridal, the
only inducement to this horrible outrage. The marriage-bonds are
loosely worn and frequently broken, the woman loses as little character
by her infidelity, as she acquires honour by her constancy.
In fact
the number of their lovers is often a boast among the wives of these
hill-tribes. Each man, however, who has been convicted of an
intrigue with a married woman must pay to her husband, by way of
compensation, twelve head of cattle and one pig. This payment is
called prunju, and after its receipt the wittol is considered to have no
reasonable grounds for dissatisfaction. We do not wish in any
respect to malign the character of the Khonds, but we must say that
their prunju is nearly as senseless and indefensible a procedure as our
own highly-civilized mode of punishing adultery by “ damages.”
The Khondish arrangement may be thought somewhat preferable to
the British, inasmuch as the penalty is fixed and definite, while our
Christian jurisprudence allows it to be uncertain, to fluctuate from a
farthing upwards, denyingaremedy to the poor man at all. Can
he have the presumption to go into a court of justice to be rid of
an adultress or to punish a seducer? It is not in the nature of (En
glish) things; it would be an impertinence not to be tolerated.
When, however, a Khondish woman leaves her husband for another,
the father of the faithless spouse is bound to return the marriage
purchase to the injured husband. This is often attended with such
difficulty, often reduces the woman’s father to such poverty, that
many a parent, rather than have this tax impending over him, would
�THE KHoXDSs
, 9
Relinquish the chance of bettering his condition, by receiving the
cattle for his one daughter on the occasion of her espousals; at any
rate, it renders a father exceedingly averse to have more than one,
as a family of daughters would be certain to entail upon him a con
stant return of their wedding-price. Here, then, is another motive
prompting the Khonds to perpetuate this horrible practice—a power
ful motive—by which “ Mammon leads theta on” to the most detestable
violation of the first laws of nature. That women are not allowed to
become numerous, in order that they may be marketably valuable to
the father, in the first instance, and not expose him too often to the
hateful necessity of refunding in the second, is further evidenced by
this fact. In the adjacent district of Bodoghoro, female infanticide is
held in abhorrence; and, though the same marriage ceremonies prevail
there, the price of a wife is merely nominal, three or four rupees.
Nothing can more fully show the devilish unnaturalness of the Khonds
than this brief statement from Captain Macpherson
“ At the lowest estimate, above one thousand female children must
be destroyed annually, in the districts of Pondacole, Gulodye, and
Bori.”
On the “ drunkenness” of the Khonds we need not dwell.. An
insane fondness for inebriating beverages is common to many savage
tribes, North American, and others. It may be attributed t;> a natural
love of change. The hardships and privations of savage life render
the savage desirous of indulging to excess, when the means can be
obtained. Men who have been suffering privations, Alison asserts,
so naturally flee to intoxication, when the opportunity presents
itself, that it is found impossible, under such circumstances, to re
strain even the best disciplined soldiery within anything like the
bounds of sobriety.
The last characteristic of Khondish life on which we shall dilate is
the prevalence among them of “ human sacrifices.” It is an article
of faith with them that the earth was once a barren mass, incapable
of culture, and that the Earth-goddess demanded blood; a child was
then sacrificed and the curse of sterility departed from the land.
Hence, say the priests, originated these rites.
The sacrifices are both puLlic and private.
To swell the number
of public victims, each farm must contribute one life at the spring and
fall of the year: victims must be sacrificed if the seasons are inaus
picious, if sickness prevail, or if the flocks suffer from disease or from
the ravages of wild beasts; or if there be failure in the crops, or ill
ness or death in the household, of the Abbaya, 01* Patriarch, the
government of the Khonds being of a decidedly patriarchal character.
c
�10
THE KHONDS.
Private sacrifices are to promote individual schemes. One condition
is never to be departed from—-the victim must be purchased: an un
bought offering being offensive to the deity. The victims are known
as Merias, and are supplied to the Khonds by a class of Hindu pur
veyors, called Panwas, who “ purchase them, without difficulty, upon
false pretences, or kidnap them from the poorer classes of Hindus in
the low country, either to the order of the Abbayas, or upon specula
tion !” The lives of the Merias are sometimes spared for a season,
whilst a certain degree of sacredness attaches to the character.
The rites are so horrid, that it is with some reluctance we transfer
a portion of Captain Macpherson’s recital to our pages, but our
account would be incomplete without it. The ceremony is preceded
by feasting and riot, which lasts two days:—
“ On the third morning, the victim is refreshed with a little milk and
palm sago; while the licentious feast, which has scarcely been intermitted
during the night, is vociferously renewed. The acceptable place for the in
tended sacrifice has been discovered, during the previous night, by persons
sent out for this purpose. The ground is probed in the dark with long
sticks; and the first deep chink that is pierced is considered the spot indi
cated by the Earth-goddess. As the victim must not suffer bound, nor, on
the other hand, exhibit any show of resistance, the bones of his arms, and,
if necessary, those of his legs, are now broken in several places. The priest,
assisted by the Abbaya and by one or two of the Elders of the village, then
takes the branch of a green tree which is cleft a distance of several feet down
the centre. They insert the Meria within the rift;—fitting it, in some dis
tricts, to his chest: in others, to his’ throat. Cords are now twisted round
the open extremity of the stake, which the priest, aided by his assistants,
strives with his whole force to close. All preparations being now concluded,
about noon, the priest gives the signal by slightly wounding the victim with
his axe. Instantly, the promiscuous crowd, that ere while had issued forth
with stunning shouts and pealing music, rush with maddening fury upon
the sacrifice. Wildly exclaming,—‘We bought you with a price, and no
sin rests on us’—they tear his flesh in pieces from the bones !—And thusthe horrid rite is consummated !—Each man then bears away his bloody
shreds to his fields, and from thence returns straight home. For three days
after the sacrifice,the inhabitants of the village which afforded it remain dumb,
communicating with each other only by signs, and remaining unvisited by
strangers. At the end of this period, a buffalo is slaughtered at the place
of sacrifice, when all tongues are loosened.”
The Khonds are strongly and symmetrically formed; their colour
varies from a light to a deep copper; the expression of their counte
nances shows acuteness and resoluteness. Their arms are the bow
and the sling, in the use of both of which they are as expert as any
of Homer’s or Captain Cook’s heroes; they have also war-axes. Agri
culture is in a prosperous condition, and they are both herds
men and tillers of the soil. Their dress consists of a cloth bound
round the middle, and hanging down in the fashion of a skirt, but
their war-toilet is much more elaborate. They are addicted to belief
in magic, and their cures for the diseases most prevalent, small-pox
and fever, are mostly mummeries.
We may in a future article return to the history of this singular
people, and enter into an examination of the events which made them
known to us.
�11
THE WRONGS OF INDIA.
TO THE EDITOR OF “ THE INDIAN EXAMINER.”
Sir,—I have read with intense interest the prospectus of your
projected Indian Examiner, promising not only sympathy with the
wrongs (a beggar’s dole!) but advocacy of the rights of the Hindoo
millions, whom you call our fellow-subjects, and I term our slaves.
Fellow-subjects do not groan under political degradation—do not find
themselves deprived of all property in the soil they compulsorily
cultivate for the benefit of distant drones: slaves do.
Nothing satisfies the mind of the people of England so readily as a
sounding common-place; a truism which fills the mouth and pleases
the ear is certain to be popular. Let any one speak of the wrongs of
the natives of Hindostan, and the answer—even from a well-wisher,
from one whose good intentions pave a place where pavement must
have become interminable—is as ready as a borrower’s cap: “ Very
true, as you say, about the wrongs, and all that sort of thing, of the peo
ple of India, but you must admit that their condition is better under
the British rule than it was under their treacherous, cowardly
native princes.” And is that the question? No. The question
really is, not is their state better than it was, but is it what
their conquerors ought to make it. Their native princes were often
tyrants,
“ but their masters then
Were still, at least, their countrymen,”
and the mantle of these tyrants has in many instances fallen upon
worthy shoulders in their successors.
To expose the wrongs of the many tribes of India is not a very
difficult task. It is to expose the vertical sun, with, perhaps, the
thin covering of a fleecy cloud. None are so blind, we have on pro
verbial authority, as those who will not see, and all the white races
have shut their eyes and hardened their hearts against the blacks and
red men. Negroes and Indians find no chord of sympathy in the
white man’s breast. Christianity, indeed, old-fashioned Christianity,
teaches us that God hath made all nations of one flesh—that we are
all brethren—children of the same Heavenly Father. It is, however,
only the Word of God which proclaims this truth; rulers and directors
are men of the world, and know better. The Court of Directors and
their respective officials claim all; they are not satisfied with half the
�12
THE WRONGS OF IKDIA.-
crop; they pervert justice, abuse purveyance, and “ grind her still.”
A mercenary and irresponsible Company was not intrusted with the
government of India to make her free, and as long as Indian purple is
marketable stock, it is but irony to ask of that ill-fated country:—
----------------- “ does she wear her plum’d
And jewell’d turban with a smile of peace,
Or—do we grind her still?
It is, we apprehend, a very common feeling with John Bull and
the different members of his family, even with his last hopeful
progeny, Young England, that the operation which Sir Pertinax
Macsycophant gloatingly calls, £t the plucking of a Nabob,” is never
performed now-a-days—is among things that were—an attribute of
the old time. Residents in the East know better. Deposed Rajahs
groan under our iron bondage in Benares, and the condition of the
“ Independent Princes,” (save the mark!) and “ Protected Princes,”
is little better.
And, Mr. Editor, you will also expose every monopoly. The
cruelty of the salt monopoly is acknowledged—the vice of the opium
monopoly is admitted—but each is very productive, and that’s enough.
The abolition of the salt monopoly has been pronounced “ impossible.”
So was another tax, similar in iniquity and oppression, the French
gabelle, until the Revolution abolished that, and a few more things to
boot. But the worst monopoly of all is the Directors’ close monopoly
of office for life, even though deaf and blind—physically as well as
morally incapacitated. And, next, is their covenanted servants’ mo
nopoly of every office of trust or power in India.
Will you really, Sir, expose the corruption and imbecility of the
“ Parliament of India?” And if you do, I fear I must for the present
ask—cui bono ? For, as surely as the sun shines on the country of
the Ganges, so surely will a hundred ministers of the Gospel give
their bartered votes, when occasion requires, to that corrupt majority,
the House List.” When so great a number of clergymen can be
found to act thus, what can be expected from the people at large, from
the mere laity? This circumstance, however, should not dispirit the
friends of the Hindoo; the greater the difficulties, the greater should
their exertions be—the less the prospect of success appears, the less
let them “ abate one jot of heart or hope.” The Quakers are not
accounted a class peculiarly averse to money-making—that is not the
badge of their tribe; how is it then that the Quaker washes his hands of
India stock?—“ Nay, friend Director,” says he, “ I will not touch
thy dividend, it reeks too much of slavish sweat and blood. Yea,
I say unto thee, look elsewhere for thy customers; thou may’st carry
�A VISIT TO CUMBAUCUM-DROOG.
13
on thy horrid trade of war without me. I am a man of peace, and
therefore do I shun thee, and pray thee to turn from the error of thy
ways.”
It must be admitted that, unaided by the clergy, the party generally
but profanely called “ the Saints,” grew tired of swallowing full-grown
camels, and began to strain at a few gnats. In time too, .when goaded
by Mr. Poynder, “ the Saints” learned to wince at Suttee, and think
Juggernauth “ too bad.” An Episcopalian, an Independent, and a
Wesleyan brought up remonstrances. But these delegates unhappily
appear to prefer the interest of their sects (or their own) to the well
being of the country. Each appears to become subject to some
powerful inducement to hold his tongue: one for a grant to a mission—
another a pension for a missionary’s widow—the third an office for
himself, a contract for his nephew, or some such carnal aspiration.
Such are the combined forces of “ the Saints” in Leadenhall Street.
I am, Sir,
Your faithful servant,
An Old Anglo-Indian.
Brighton, June 25, 1846.
A VISIT TO CUMBAUCUM-DROOG.
A REMARKABLE TABLE-LAND NEAR MADRAS.
The following account of a late excursion, by Colonel Monteith, of
the Madras Engineers, to the range, or rather cluster, of hills, called
Cumbaucum-Droog, a ridge connected with the well-known Nagary
xHills, perhaps will prove interesting, as their jagged outlines and blue
summits are rarely, if ever, visited; indeed, they may be said to be
totally unknown to the inhabitants of Madras. A very correct survey,
it is true, has been made, and charts of most of the principal mountains
are to be found in the Government offices of that presidency—nothing
that we are aware of has ever been before the public, on a subject of
vast interest to the inhabitants of that great city, who seek that change
of climate and cool weather at a distance, which they may command
at their own doors.
Colonel Monteith followed the road of the Red Hills (which is rather
out of the direct line), as it admits of so much of the journey being
performed in a carriage; and from that spot rode to the banks of the
Corteliar. With the exception of a very short distance at the end of
the made road, the remainder is natural, and if once formed into a
�14
A VISIT TO CUMBAUCUM-DROOG.
regular road, would remain in good order with very little care, from
the nature of the soil it passes over, and would require few or no
drains or other artificial aids. It is singular no bridges should ever
have been constructed, or even proposed, for this river, which offers
far greater impediments than the Adyar; and from the difficulty the
Colonel experienced, and from the fact of carts being often overturned
in the water, to the ruin of their loads, this deficiency loudly calls for
attention. It would be well 'if our views were directed, in the first
instance, to the indispensable necessity of rendering the country
generally practicable, along the great thoroughfares, by boats, bridges,
and passable routes (now far from the case), rather than to provide
the higher conveniences, such as rail-roads, &c., near Madras, to the
utter neglect of the remainder of the country.
From the banks of the river, which are generally low, with a fine
soil, the jungle is rapidly advancing; and our traveller ascended the
red gravel hills, and found it difficult for even a palankeen to pass
through the thick bushes, which will soon surround Sittavadoo, a once
considerable town, and possessing a stone fort of solid construction,
and in a good state of preservation. It has recovered from the effects
of the cholera and fever which for some years desolated the Carnatic;
but the present inhabitants speak favorably of the general healthiness
of the climate. The position possesses all the natural advantages
of elevation, dryness, and good water.
This part of the country
is stated to be in a rapid state of decay.
Game is abundant, and the sportsman would be amply repaid by a
visit of a few days. Elk, deer, hogs, hares, and partridges were plentiful
at about three miles’ distance. The hill fort of Cumbaucum was
distinctly visible, and appeared so close that Colonel Monteith expected
a short ride only thither. The road, however, though naturally good**
had very recently been much encroached on by the jungle, which is a
melancholy fact, generally, in this quarter. And this to be the case
so near the southern capital of India 1
The high ground, extending for several miles, appears to be a con
tinuation of the same, formation as the hills. The route then led
through a fine valley of rich soil, with some little cultivation, but
gives evidence of a once more considerable population; many tanks
still hold water, and the marks of fields and villages were distinct.
This would surely form an excellent situation for trying the Belgian
system of locating paupers, and relieving Madras from the number of
mendicants who infest its streets. The Friend in Need Society, if
they obtained a grant in this direction, might much enlarge the sphere
of their relief, applying the profits to a still further extension of the
same principle. Discharged and pensioned soldiers would doubtlessly
�A VISIT TO CUMBAUCUM-DROOG.
■«[lso gladly accept grants, and again restore these districts to what
they once appear to have been.
On arriving at Cumbaucum, about three miles from the mountains,
the village could furnish no supplies, and the Colonel continued his
journey to the first village in the Callastri Rajah’s territories (Teli^
aterdi pett), where there was, certainly, a great change for the better,
in the general appearance, of the country.
The village was large, with good houses, a fine choultry, and a
number of excellent horses, said to have been bred here, which may
be the case, as grass appeared in great abundance in every direction.
“ My baggage,” we shall continue the narrative in the Colonel’s own
words, “ did not arrive till nine at night, having got entangled in the
jungle, and lost the road, which is only sufficient to allow a bandy
to pass.
“ The arrangements were soon made for ascending the mountain,
which certainly presented rather a formidable aspect; and the diffi
culties were not a little exaggerated by the people. It was agreed to
start an hour before day, as we might have a chance of getting a
shot at elk or other deer, which were said to come into the cultivation
at night. This proved to be the case, for four very large animals
were seen within two miles; and, as one was supposed to be wounded,
a party was left to find it, but without success. Smaller game ap
peared in abundance, and a few hogs; but they were distant, and the
country so stony, that the chase was soon abandoned.
“ The ride was beautiful, and we constantly crossed streams of water,
which appear, at certain seasons, to be of great magnitude, but from
their present cleared limpid waters, must, I presume, come from
springs, and never be altogether dry. The jungle had many fine
trees, mixed with bamboo, and occasionally good grass land of consi
derable extent. Red wood abounds here, and many carts from Madras
were collecting it. Though the Pulicat Lake is only ten miles
distant, some obstacle exists as to transport by that channel, and the
canal. They, therefore, prefer going direct to Madras; so other
woods, fit for building, &c., would not pay the expense of transport,
“ In the bed of the river I also remarked limestone, of a good
quality ; and several villages in the neighbourhood manufacture iron,
from ore which they collected on the hills, yielding about fifty per
cent. The furnace was a very simple formation, and like a large
crucible of the best modern shape. I did not see the process, but the
whole expense of these iron-works, for furnace, machinery, and build
ings, could not exceed three rupees.
“ At the third mile from our tents, the ascent began near the north
extremity of the mountain, and at one time appears to have been
�16
A VISIT TO CVJIBAITCUM-DROOG.
defended by a lower entrenchment. I turned off to look at a gtin,
said "to be of great antiquity. It proved to be an English sixpounder of iron, and it still might be used, and was probably abandoned
in the jungle, when we made a demonstration of attacking this fort,
during the Poligar war.
“ There would have been no difficulty in riding half a mile further
than where we had left our horses. The jungle then became dense,
with a very tolerable footpath, though steep and rough, from the
waters which appear to make this a channel during rains. There is
no obstacle to cutting both a broad and dry road, and it is said one
for carriages formerly existed. The ascent occupied an hour ; when
we reached the outer entrenchment, or gate, about 1,180 feet above
the sea. The second line is about 1,930 feet, and much more con
siderable—formed of huge blocks of roughly-hewn stone, and about ten
feet high. This, though the best, is not the only road; and masked
as the works are by passable jungle, the fort is stronger in appearance
than reality.
“ On passing the second gate the ground becomes perfectly level.
Near the outer edge of the rock the soil lias been partly wasted away
by the rain, being hard compact sand, covered with high grass, and
some trees ; among the latter, some good sized red wood.
“ The soil gradually improves as you advance, and near the ruins of
the old palace and garden, is of the richest description. An en
closure, and a few traces of foundations, are all that now mark the
spot, which is said, not very long since, to have produced the best
fruit in the Carnatic, particularly oranges. A flight of stone steps
leads to an extensive reservoir of water, which might, at a trifling
expense, be repaired; and a little water, I am told, always runs in
the ravine, and no want of that necessary element is ever experienced.
“ The fine level ground, occupying the north end of this table moun
tain, consists of about two square miles, and as nearly as I could make
out, is generally 2,000 feet in height. To the south extremity the
soil is more rocky, and rises to an elevation of 2,500 feet, correctly
ascertained in the trigonometrical survey.
“ The summit is nearly free from jungle, and there is little or no
swamp; what there is, could be drained by ten men in a single day.
There is enough timber for building and fire-wood; the sides of the
mountain afford an inexhaustible supply. The stone is good for
building, and lime in abundance is found at the foot, and most probably
on the top, of the hill. Standing, as this does, within ten miles of the
lake, and about fifteen of the sea, it enjoys the fresh breezes we so
much prize at Madras, and is totally free from hot winds.
“ The people did not consider it unhealthy, and had abandoned it
�A VISIT TO CmiBAUCUM-DROOG.
17
rrt consequence of some people having been cut off by robbers, who
paid this retired spot a visit within the last twenty years.
There is
ho reason why it should be feverish,—but that is a point only to be
ascertained by experience. The thermometer stood at 65 deg. at
noon, on the 26th January; and the water in the old reservoir, which
is very deep and well shaded, at 62 deg. This is 12 deg. below that
of the plain. Abundance of rain is said to fall, which I think very
probable, from the clouds and thunder-storms we constantly see
arrested there, when they are so anxiously expected in the low country.
Its vicinity to Madras (being only one night’s run in a palankeen), its
elevation, and the beauty of the prospect, point it out as a most de
sirable retreat in hot weather, or for those who stand in need of a
change of climate, and whose business may prevent their going so far
as Bangalore.
, .<■
- “ A garden of the best description may also here be cultivated, and
the distance is not so great, as to prevent the produce being sent
into Madras. We should, thus, enjoy all the luxuries for which
Bangalore is so much extolled. The road is naturally excellent,
and only requires to be cleared of a few low bushes, as far as the foot
of the mountain; and one of three miles, along the slope of the hill,
would make the remainder far more easy than any of the ghauts
I have ascended.
' “ The road should be continued along the range of the Red Hills,
which extend nearly the whole distance, giving, on the spot, material
of the best kind for the construction of roads,—and, with one or two
bridges over the Corteliar, and another river, would afford a perfect
carriage-road, and be of incalculable advantage to the country gene
rally. For baggage, if water-carriage is preferred, the lake can take
it as far as Soolarpett, distant from the foot of the mountain eleven
miles.
“ Yenga Abasaney, a Poligar chief, is said to have first established
himself on the mountain,—it subsequently fell into the hands of the
Nabob of the Carnatic, who built a palace, and frequently resided
here, to enjoy its fine air and prospect. The garden was cultivated
to within a very recent period; the wild hogs have, however, des
troyed whatever . there may have been, and no fruit-trees are now
visible.”
The extension of the means of locomotion now enables the London
merchant to leave his counting-house and, in two hours, dine at
Brighton, with the sea-breezes cooling his brow, heated continually in
what Byron, more truly than elegantly, terms “ the sweaty city.
We expect to see the time when such facilities will be supplied to the
Anglo-Indian. Railway communication from the larger cities of
�18
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.
Hindostan to the nearest spot of a character such as we have here des-*
bribed; would not only furnish a legitimate field for commercial enters
prize; asafe and proper investment for capital, but the means—especially
in India of prolonging life itself, by supplying the salubrious coolness
of hill or river habitation, at any time and at a small cost enjoyable, in
place of the sultriness—the sickness-causing sultriness—of many of
the crowded marts of British India.
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.
We shall commence a series of Papers on this all important topic,with some account as to the progress recently made, and the advance
ment hopefully and justly to be anticipated, by a missionary move
ment, which, within the last two years—under the guidance of, and
Supported, by the Society for the Propagation o/ the Gospel in Foreign
Parts—has been effected in Tinnevelly, a district in the Presidency of
Madras, and to which the Divine blessing has been of late most
abundantly vouchsafed. Its first commencement is thus described, in
a letter addressed to the Society, by the Bishop of Madras, and dated
March, 184 k—“ I write, with a heart full of thankfulness, to inform
you that ninety-six villages, in one of our missionary districts of
Tinnevelly, by name Sawyerpooram, have come forward, unsolicited,
but by the preventing grace of God; and by the example of a purer
life among their converted countrymen, have utterly abolished their
idols, and begged of the Society’s indefatigable missionary, the Rev.
G. W. Pope, that they may be placed under Christian teaching.
*
*
*
* What I earnestly desire to press on the minds of all
Christian persons whom my words may reach, is this: we cannot take
full spiritual charge of these poor creatures, and give them sufficiently
of the Bread of Life, because we have not the means. * *
* *
Shame, then, to all among us who call themselves Christians, and have
the ability, if they have not also the will, to help us!”
In consequence, therefore, of the large number of additional con
verts, the expenses of the Tinnevelly mission have increased from
£1,720, in 1843, to £5,000, in 1845.
The same Society, we may here observe, aids in maintaining a
grammar-school at Vepery, and two seminaries in Tanjore and in
Tinnevelly, with a view to train up a body of native clergy and
catechists. To these institutions, several foundation scholarships are
attached.
With reference to the important district of Edeyenkoody, included
�THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.
19
in thatiof Tinnevelly, we are in possession of a variety of ample
•and interesting details, supplied by the Rev. Mr. Caldwell, to whose
active and truly Christian-like ministry the mission there is entrusted.
In his report for the year ending June, 1845—the last received in
this country—he states the number of souls at present under Christian
instruction and discipline to be 2,885. There are 24 catechists’
stations, and forty villages in which native Christians live. The
number of persons who have placed themselves under instruction
during the year, in villages which previously were purely heathen, is,
inclusive of children, 331; and that of new villages into which the
Gospel has thus been introduced, 13. Four hundred and thirty-four
persons have abandoned heathenism, and joined the congregations
previously established in the villages to which they belong, and an
old, unsatisfactory congregation, comprising 48 souls, has been struck
off the list:—with this deduction, the total increase during tie year
is 717 souls, of whom 594 have been added to the mission during the
past half-year.
This increase, though small, compared with the extensive move- *
ments which have taken place in the northern districts, is the largest
Mr. Caldwell has yet had in one year. It is also gratifying to be
able to add that this is not the result of any peculiar excitement, but
has taken place in different localities, at different times, and embraced
castes which have nd dealings or sympathy with each other. Old
congregations have received new life from the accession and the
extension of the Gospel, and the means ol grace into new fields, have
drawn forth the dormant zeal of some of the mission agents, and
excited, in some degree, the attention of the surrounding heathen.
Our informant states that he u has had no greater joy than to see
village churches full, which before were nearly empty, and to ‘ hear
that name at which every knee shall bow,’ named in villages where,
hitherto, every inhabitant was a worshipper of devils. My joy would
he complete were all, or many of those who have been added to the
mission, truly converted to God.”
Of the new villages, in which converts have been made, six are
situated from ten to fourteen miles to the south-west of Edeyenkoody,
on the borders of a country which has hitherto appeared impervious to
Christianity. This district is an open, thinly inhabited plain, extend
ing from the Nattar river to the ghauts. The inhabitants consist of
the higher Hindoo castes, and their slaves, without any middle class
like the Shanars of these parts. Of those who have placed themselves
under instruction, a few are of the higher classes, Velala/rs, Retties^
and Maravars ; the greater number are Pariar and Puller slaves.
Hitherto, only a few in each village have attached themselves to the
�20
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.
'Mission. As an opening however has now been made, larger acces
sions may be anticipated from time to time, with persecutions and a
few relapses.
The movement which has taken place in that district, is attri
buted chiefly to the exertions of a simple-minded but zealous catechist,
'a shepherd by caste, whose earnest diligence renders him more useful
than many men of higher attainments.
A village called Islampuram, situated to the westward, the inhabi
tants of which recently embraced Christianity, is part of an endowtinent attached to the principal mosque in the town of Tinnevelly.
•The people of this village, though agricultural slaves, have already
-made better progress in knowledge, than some of their wealthier
jieighbours, who were connected with the mission before them. It
js worthy of notice that, though hereditary slaves of Patan Mahom■ medans, the stewards of a mosque, they had always been allowed,
without dispute or remonstrance, to retain their devil worship. This
illustrates the fact that Mahommedanism, though as blindly bigoted
•as ever, has ceased endeavouring to make proselytes, and thereby
withdrawn every claim to the character of being a true religion.
Another of the new congregations has been formed in the vi
cinity of a village called Koottum, situated to the east of Edeyenkoody.
.This is a village inhabited chiefly by Nadans', the worst class of peofple in Tinnevelly. The Nadans, (a name signifying “ lords of the
*
-soil,”) are Shanar land-owners, who claim rights of seignorage over
anost of the villages in the south, and keep themselves separate from
the other S/tanars,] though also land-owners, as if they were a
distinct caste. They are, as a class, perhaps, the most turbulent,
oppressive, proud and unprincipled to be met with, in this province ;
■Mr. Caldwell ranks them amongst the worst of the human race. A
few in various parts have become Christians, and some of the poorer
of them have placed themselves under instruction in his own district;
but (i they seem little, if at all, less obdurate than before. No kind
ness seems to melt them. No discipline seems to awe them. I often
.think they resemble tamed and trained wild beasts, which, so long as
tthey are not provoked, look submissive, but whose innate ferocity may
die aroused by the slightest accident.”
_ There is also a class called Kulla Shanars (Kulla “ spurious,”)
the slaves of the Nadans, who have all the deceit and wickedness of
their masters, with as much of their pride and turbulence as consists
with their servile condition. These also, with a few honourable
* Chiefs of districts termed Nadu.
j Cultivators of the Palmyra, who extract the liquor called Tari or Toddy.
�THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.
21
exceptions, not to be met with amongst the Nadans, make but little
progress in Christianity; they are described as peculiarly slow in
learning, careless of order and decency, and difficult to manage.
It is a peculiar feature of Hindoo society, arising from the insti
tution of caste, and the tendency of the spirit of caste, to prevent the
intermixture of families, that every caste, and sub-division of a caste,
has its own mental and moral characteristics. All are depraved and
sinful; but the vices and weaknesses of the castes differ as widely as
their hereditary occupations. This is one reason why Chrtsttan
education is, in this country, pre-eminently necessary.
. During the past year, twenty-four adults have been baptized, and
amongst these, “ my chief hope,” adds Mr. Caldwell, “ is of the more
intelligent of the new converts, who are unacquainted with the old
generation of untaught, undisciplined Christians, and whose hearts I
hope may be touched with the love of Christ, of which they are now
for the first time told. Of the youth, generally, I entertain the
liveliest hopes, as being taught in our schools, accustomed from their
earliest years to worship Cod in our churches, and better disposed
than their seniors to obey the advice given them.” The Bible classes,
are still continued, though the number of persons who can read is
still but small. Those who are unable to read are taught to commit
passages of Scripture to memory, and in this, as in regular atten
dance at Church, the . women in every congregation have been found
to excel the men.
Though many of the adult converts from heathenism are exceed
ingly ignorant and dull, they have not been found incapable of com
prehending those elementary truths, on the belief of which salvation
depends. Mr. Caldwell was once examining a candidate for baptism,
an old man, altogether illiterate, who had become a Christian when
upwards of eighty years of age. He could answer but few questions,
and when dissatisfaction was expressed at the small amount of his
knowledge, he answered,—“ Sir, I am an old man, and cannot remem
ber much. We are all sinners.
Christ undertook Jor us all. If we
believe in Him we shall be saved. Ask me about this, and I will
answer; for this is all I know.”
The number of children in the various village schools in the
district is, at present, 562. This is less than the number on the list
at the end of the last half-year ; but the. falling-off is on the part of
heathen children only, many of whom, during the past four months,
have been taken from school by their parents, to attend to the work
of the Palmyra season. During the same period, the number of Chris
tian children in school has increased, and is now 370; of whom 199
are boys, 171 girls.
_
<
�22
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.
In the village of Edeyenkoody, the adult inhabitants of which ar®
more stubborn and troublesome than those of any other village in the
district, the youth enjoy many advantages, and form the most hopeful
portion of the flock committed to Mr. C.’s care. Every child, boy
or girl, of a suitable age, is now learning in school. The number of
the Christian inhabitants of the village is 468. The number of chil
dren in school is 121. Eight of these are boarders; the rest are
day-scholars, whose regular attendance is made a condition of their
parents living in the village.
Female education has made greater advancement in the district
than was anticipated. Experience has shown that, by a little per
severance, native girls can be induced to attend school in equal num
bers with, and as regularly as boys. The only remaining difficulty
is, with regard to girls who have outgrown the time when they should
begin to learn, and are now ashamed to attend school and learn their
letters with little children. In Edeyenkoody this difficulty has been
met by the establishment of a separate school for adult girls, taught
by a female teacher. Twenty of them have for the last eight months
attended. this school regularly three hours every day, and of these,
nine, who did not know a letter when they commenced, are now
beginning to read.
With regard to the Catechists throughout the district, their num
ber at present in employ is not sufficient to enable Mr. Caldwell to take
advantage of the opportunities of usefulness which present themselves.
But others cannot at present be obtained. When the converts from
heathenism are intelligent, one Catechist, stationed in a circuit of five
or six villages, may do much good; but where they are totally un
educated, and of dull intellect, as they generally are in these parts,
nothing but daily instruction makes any impression upon them.
Mr. Caldwell adds, “ I have not been unmindful of the necessity of
doing something towards weakening the spirit of caste in the minds
of the Catechists. I have very little hope of eradicating it from minds
where it has taken root. The Hindoos cling to caste with such
tenacity, and defend it with such versatile ingenuity, that all one can
do is to discountenance it in the old, and guard the minds of the
young from being influenced by it. Once a month, when the
Catechist and Schoolmasters are obliged to remain a night in Edeyen
koody, I make arrangements for enabling them to eat together, without
distinction of caste, a meal prepared by the cooks of the boardingschool. I use no compulsion, and hold out no inducements. But
with the exception of three Vclalars, two of whom have allowed their
children to disregard caste, all the other Catechists, including one
Velalar, one Edciyen, and the Maravars, Shanars, and other inter
�THE PROGRESS OF CH8i$TIAXITY IN’ TN’DIA.
2$
mediate castes, have so far overcome caste-prejudice as regular! v to
partake of the food thus prepared. I am aware that, notwithstanding
this, the pride of caste may retain its place in their minds, and worldly
fear prevent them from vindicating their freedom in their own villages
and homes; hut, in contending with such an evil as caste, I consider
every step taken in the right direction as of importance.
“ I have not thought it proper to dismiss from employment in the
Mission persons who retain caste, on the ground of their retention
of caste alone. But since I took charge of the Mission, I have not
received any retainer of caste into employment. I do not deny that
the view of caste held generally by native Christians differs from the
orthodox heathen view. The heathen considers persons of low caste
unclean. The caste-christian, better taught, denies that he considers
any as unclean, for whom Christ died, and only thinks himself obliged,
through fear of the world’s laugh or frown, to act towards persons of
lower caste thau himself, as if he thought them unclean. I do not
consider such a person beyond the pale of salvation; but I think him
too much a slave of the world to be made a teacher of the Gospel;
nor would I willingly employ such a person, even in the greatest
emergency, so long as one honest Christian, though only capable of
reading the Scriptures, could be found.”
The income of the Church-building Society, formed in this District,
during the first year of its existence, inclusive of a contribution of 10
rupees per mensem, granted by the Committee of the Gospel Society,
amounted to 339 rupees. Of this sum, 124 rupees were contributed
by the native Christians; which, though it falls far short of the sum
that, notwithstanding the deep poverty of the people, ought to have
been contributed, is encouraging, as being the commencement of, I
trust, a better state of things. The contributions of the current year
will, I have reason to believe, prove double the amount raised last
year.
During the year, besides repairs and enlargements of several village
churches, a decent thatched church was built in the village of Karykovil, and the Edeyenkoody church was repaired and enlarged; In
this way 304 rupees have been expended.
As the committee has been obliged, from the state of its funds, to
discontinue the monthly allowance hitherto made for church-building,
our little society is now left to struggle through its difficulties alone.
In the forty villages, and twenty-four catechist’s stations, in connection
with this district, there are only seven decent village churches; and
without the special contributions of Christian friends, towards meet
ing the wants of the district, in this respect, I fear a generation must
pass away, before a house of prayer can be erected in every village.
�24
EAST INDIA HOUSE ARRANGEMENTS.
TO THE EDITOE OF THE “ INDIAN EXAMINER.”
: SlR,—Permit me to inquire if it be in accordance with your
editorial functions to take a measuring-rod in your hand, and having
duly ascertained the dimensions of the Proprietors' Reading-room in
Leadenhall-street, publish them for the admiration of your readers.
The body to which I belong—the Proprietors (I had nearly been
guilty of saying, to which I have the honour to belong)—our body, I
say, must be a studious body. Our reading-room table has seats for
four; the two tenable seats are always most carefully pre-occupied
by the clerk and his copying lad; the third seat is untenable by an
ingenious arrangement ensuring a most thorough draft of wind; the
fourth is more untenable still, quite impracticable indeed for any
sedentary purpose, the concentrated heat of a fierce fire being flung
full upon the back of the chair.
A word or two now as to the documents accessible to the Proprie
tors. Even the Bye Laws are not printed for our use, though it is
pretended that they are. As to accounts, we have none but what we
buy of Hansard, by favour of the House of Commons. I have at
tended on the clerk of the Proprietors’ room, day after day, and week
after week, and been shuffled and buffeted about most completely. I
am as ignorant of the affairs of the Company as I was before I bought
access to the room, for when I ask for a recent paper, I am told that a
copy of it is not yet ready for the use of the Proprietors,—and when
I apply for an old document, I am told that it is removed from the
room, and cannot be had without a special order from the Chairman
or Mr. Melvill. From these causes many valuable documents may
lie untouched on their shelves, in fact it appears the wish of those
who manage these matters, that all knowledge of the East India Com
pany attainable from their books and papers, should in every sense of
the word be—shelved.
I am,. Sir,
Your obedient servant,
A Proprietor.
Hall of Commerce, Threadneedle+street)
June 21s/, 1846.
�25
THE GREAT HURDWAR FAIR.
An annual fair is held at Hurd war in the month of April, when vast
numbers of Hindoos congregate from all parts up the country, at a
certain spot, on which Krishna or Hur stood, at the time Bagirut
brought the Ganges stream into existence. The exact time for
ablution is when the sun enters the sign Aries, according to the
Hindoo astronomers, and which generally happens on the 11th of
April, or a day later or earlier. In former times, this fair was a
great mart for the disposal of all kinds of merchandize, the merchants
from the westward being obliged to take advantage of this pilgrimage,
and thus travelling in great bodies for mutual protection; now, how
ever, the roads being comparatively safe and open, no necessity exists
for restricting the transit of goods to this opportunity, and hence the
fair has much fallen off in its importance; nevertheless, a number of
horses are brought from the northward and westward for sale, but,
year by year, the dealers find it more difficult to compete with the
breed of the neighbouring country, which has been greatly improved
by stallions from the stud. Elephants also are exposed for sale, but
their prices of late years have greatly deteriorated. It must be
acknowledged, however, that other causes exist, to account in some
degree for the declension of this fair, and particularly in the absence
of vast numbers of the hill people, who used to visit it, bringing with
them for sale the produce of their country, from as far as Chinese
Tartary; the roads, however, are now so unsafe, through the hilly
country under the British protection, that this trade may be said to be
entirely annihilated.
There are three periods at which the fairs are larger or smaller.
The Coomb, or large fair, happens every twelfth year, the last occurred
in 1844. The Coombney, or smaller fair, happens in the sixth inter
mediate year; there are also other lesser, or ordinary fairs, called
Dukhouty, of which description is the gathering we are now about to
describe.
The number of horses brought for sale was considerable, and as
there were a vast many purchasers in the market, prices at first
were high; it was soon ascertained, however, by the merchants, that
the purchasers were limited to certain sums, barely sufficient to cover
the cost of a very ordinary nag for a common suwar—consequently,
E
�26
THE GREAT HURDWAR FAIR.
the market came down; it is, nevertheless, to be feared that many1
purchasers will find out they have paid dearly for their cattle, and
hereafter distrust their judgment in horse-flesh:—‘for elephants, there
were no purchasers; in fact, there was a complete stand-still in this
market. After the fair was concluded, the small and newly-caught
sold as cheap as dirt, while the better sorts were taken away for more
propitious times; the highest price given at the fair for a horse was
500, and for an elephant 800, rupees.
As might be expected, there is a great deal of thieving going on,
and an abundance of thimble-rig gentry, who ply their trade with some
improvements, even on their European brethren. But the magistrate
is “ wide awake,’’and follows a practice which would probably be deemed
rather sharp at Doncaster. The police of the district is concentrated
near the fair, and the chuprasees, unprovided with warrants, go about
apprehending every suspicious-looking fellow they can find. These
latter are all kept in quod till the fair is over, and no doubt many
vagabonds are picked out in this way; yet a few innocent people, with
as little, doubt, suffer along with them; but of course the practice is
quite legal, and according to the regulations, or it would not have
been so long followed and highly approved by the Nizamut and the
Government, to whom the magistrate reports, and who, in return, as
regularly gets a handsome letter of thanks, administering compliments
very copiously. A much greater fuss is made about the fair than it
warrants. The Goorka regiment from Deyra attends to protect it,
although the assemblage of people is never above fifty thousand,
mostly the peasantry of the neighbourhood.
A Brahmin goes his rounds amongst the Europeans with a large
book, for the purpose of recording theii' names, as visitors at Hurdwar,
and the autographs of some of the greatest men India ever saw, might
sufficiently warrant the practice. The oldest visit on record is
entered by Ensign John Guthrie, 177—, the last figure is torn off.
General Carnac, it appears, visited the place, on the 2d of June, 1788.
The following entry is curious:—
“ Reuben Burrow, Astronomer to the Hon. Company, 3d Feb,, 1789.
Success to liberty,and d---- n all tyrants and tyrannical kings!”
Reuben must have been a Radical of the first water.
Colonel Skinner modestly records his first visit among the virgin
bathers at Hurdwar on the first of April, 1804. The muse occasionally
inspires her votaries here, but we cannot say there is any thing par
ticularly worth extracting, excepting the following lines which are
the more interesting as they are said to be from the pen of Sir David
�THE GREAT HURDWAR FAIR.
27
Ochterlony:—we may premise that we transcribe from short-hand, and
probably may not do the gallant Baronet’s muse justice.
“ The pamper’d Brahmin with his rites profane,
Pollutes the majesty of Nature’s reign;
Here motley groups at superstition’s shrine,
Their sense, their reason, every thing resign;
As stars revolve, lo! priests appoint a time,
They crowd to expiate a life of crime;
The priest is fee’d, the pilgrim washed from stain,
Flies to his home, resolved to sin again;
Whilst hill and dale, e’en Ganges’ mighty stream—
The great sublime that marks a power supreme—
Unheeded seems, or seen but serves to bind
More strong the fetters that enslaved mankind.”
The signatures of Naib Vakeel Ool-Mooluk—Willy Fraser, frae
the Lang Toon o’Kircaldy—Rob Stevenson—Sippah Sillar—John
Gillman—and Nusseer Ool-Moolk also appear, and on the 8 th of
April, 1806, that of Ulmul-dul-Ulla.
These are well known
names. The Hon. Mr. Elph instone’s party appear on the 10th of
April, 1810. The Brahmin’s book affords the valuable and very satis
factory historical fact, as to when raspberries were first discovered in
India:—
This 15th May, 1811, Captain Roberts and Lieutenant Buckley of the 5th
Regiment of Cavalry eat raspberries at Hurdwar, the production of the hills in
this vicinity, alias goryphu or hissaloo.”
The fact is thus sufficiently established, and some person afterwards
corrects the native name, and declares it properly, to be the seetaphul.
But, as if wonders would never cease, the very identical raspberries
again, in a new shape, make their appearance to some other visitors.
“ On the 19th of September, 1811, Ensigns Haddaway and Bedford, of the 24th
Regiment of Native Infantry, eat some honey which tasted very strong of the
above raspberries!"
N.B. Obliged to live true bachelors.
Sweet-toothed youths! The best of it is, they were not raspberries
at all, but a bramble-berry, common enough all over the Dhoon.
In April, 1812, Moorcroft passes, and it appears on record, that
out of upwards of 1,400 horses, brought before the committee for
passing them to the cavalry, only 110 entered the service, the rest
were all rejected.
As might be expected,there is a good deal of ribaldry here and there,
in the Brahmin’s manuscript, by some horrible attempts at wit.
Means were taken to separate the clean, from the unclean, and two
books were provided, but it is now a matter of dispute, which is the one
or the other. A few specimens are given of the manner and style of
the wit alluded to.
�28
THE GREAT HURDWAR FAIR.
General Browne, of the Artillery, was a constant visitor, and
between one of his notices, some disappointed spunger (of a gun)
has entered, “ old Browne aspires to immortality! the old------and
we have E. M. Campbell, Major of Brigade, April, 1827, “ and a
primitive savage,” has been kindly added by a friend. Of this de
scription of wit there is quantum, sufficit interspersed throughout
both the books, of which enough has been said. The town of Hurd
war andKunkul is rapidly improving, and many wealthy Hindoos have
built palaces on the banks of the streams, but the situation is so
much out of the way of general trade, that the place can never* be
come of any great importance.
The Government have spent upwards of a lakh of rupees in
improving the ghaut at the bathing place: it was formerly so con
structed that the pilgrims could not avoid the pressure from above;
now, when a rush happens, the only effect it has is, to drive them
forward into the stream, which here is not above fifty inches deep:—
before this ghaut was made, a melancholy accident happened, and
many lives were lost; no tax was ever exacted here under the British
rule, but the Brahmins take care to levy it according to the means
of the party. Runjeet Sing’s last donation was two thousand rupees,
—a great falling off from his former presents. Many years ago, this
chief visited Hurdwar, and whilst out sporting in the neighbour
hood, accidentally shot a calf; this of course was “nuts” for the
Brahmins, who decided, that the deed could only be expiated by a trip
barefooted to Juggernauth. Runjeet, therefore, had to pay handsomely
for a substitute to perform the penance, and in addition, used an
nually to present the Brahmins with some thousands of rupees.
In former times, the numerous parties of Europeans who visited
Hurdwar made it an agreeable resort. Races were got up, and there
was an ordinary, as is now the case at the Hajeepore fair; but things
are all quite altered now,—the fair has failed to attract; a great many
people now-a-days, knowing the value of money, are domesticated
money-making men of a religious turn of mind, with a wife and
six or eight small children, which altogether upsets good fellow
ship; and we have abominable eating and drinking, infamous beer,
with plenty of scandal and all that sort of thing, with now and then a
a hop or a play to please the ladies. From whatever cause, however,
few Europeans may think it worth their while to visit this fair, ex
cepting the near residents, and the tiger hunting parties who are
generally at this season in the neighbourhood. The Hon. Captain
Osborne’s party, on one occasion, were very successful, having killed
29 tigers; they began near Looksir, and proceeded a stage or two
�THE CLIMATE AND SOIL OF TIRHOOT.
29
beyond Rampoot Chatta in the Beejnour district; nothing like it
had been done, it is said, in this beat for twenty years.
About thirty years ago, three young officers were drowned in the
rapids at the Ganges near Hurdwar; a tomb marks their grave, but
there is no inscription. A short time since, a gentleman whose name
was not ascertained, was nearly undergoing a similar catastrophe;
while crossing, his elephant was carried off its legs by the current,
and coming down on its side, the guns in the howdah were lost; the
elephant, after being carried down some distance, came ashore
unhurt.
It is astonishing how soon the fair disperses after the time ap
pointed for the last purification; and on the return march to Seharunpore, it was curious to observe the pilgrims carrying off the sacred
water of the Ganges in claret, brandy, champagne, beer, and gin
bottles, defended with basket work; one would have thought that
these unholy things could never be sufficiently purified. Tins which
held beef a la-mode, will be the next improvement, then will come
something else, until the assimilationis as complete as the most perfect
martinet from the Horse Guards,or the proudest priest in Christendom,
would possibly wish. How little do the Hindoos know what is in
store for them, and the Firangees may well say, we know not what a
day may bring forth! Would Ensign John Guthrie ever have ex
pected to see his servants fighting for his champagne bottles—Ensigns
drank simken in those days, when they were giants—to drink gunga
pauny out of? Or, has my Lord Hardinge the slightest idea, that, the
heir to his honours may one day enjoy the honourable and important
post of minister at Calcutta, from her Britannic Majesty to the
Court of Ramjony, Emperor of the East!
J. S.
THE CLIMATE AND SOIL OF TIRHOOT.
The surface of the country in Tirhoot is generally flat, or but slightly
undulating, though towards the interior, near Dhurbunga, it rises
into a succession of slight elevations, running nearly from North to
South. Towards the south eastern parts of the district, the country
is exceedingly low, and abounds in marshes.
To judge from what may be daily observed towards the borders of
Farkheea, Sonowl, and Nowhutta, a large part of this soil was, at
some remote period, under water, and was originally founded, if one
may use the expression, by molusculous animals, which yet inhabit
the neighbouring marshes in countless myriads.
The vast bank
�30
THE CLIMATE AND SOIL OF TIRHOOT.
of shells, which are every where to be seen, show beyond doubt,
that the long continuation of the same agent may produce bars,
islands or even continents.
Nothing more is necessary thereto, after these shells have been ac
cumulated to a certain degree, than that their surfaces should be
gradually levelled by accumulations of weeds and their own detrition,
until by a succession of vegetation, the soil becomes sufficiently se
cured, to resist the encroachments of the water.
The climate of Tirhoot is generally mild and pleasant, without vio
lent, or vicissitudes of, weather, from the month of October to March.
In the months of April and May, there are a few thunder storms,
great heat, and the air is peculiarly sultry. From June to September,
the rains fall heavily at intervals. This may be considered as the
unhealthy season, when the endemic fevers, cholera, and other dis
eases prevail in low situations. But even at this season, the climate of
Tirhoot, on the banks of the Gunduk, is considered to be pleasant
and salubrious, and is resorted to by those who can afford it, and such
as are desirous of avoiding sickness.
The magnificent luxuriance of vegetation, which is exhibited in
Tirhoot, is altogether surprising to those who have been accustomed
to the simpler verdure of the Upper Provinces. There is an appear
ance of vigour and strength in the growth of the most ordinary weed
which cannot be overlooked, and leads the observer to remark,
that both the climate and soil, are especially suited to vegetable
productions.
Many of these are highly interesting and curious in themselves ;
but we cannot, without extending this paper to an extraordinary
length, enter into a detailed description of them. We shall however
only mention a couple of species of plants which are peculiar to Tirhoot,
and not to be met with (to our knowledge) in any other part of Uindoostan. But should we be mistaken in this statement, we beg that
it may be attributed to our want of information on that branch of
science, and not to a dogmatical or artful assumption of the premises.
1 st. The plant is Jathamunsee, or Sumbul of the Persians, known
in Europe by the name of Spikenard; it grows in the extreme ncrth
of the district, in Kedleebun, and in Bootan. We inspected a fresh
specimen of the plant, it appeared a most elegant Cyprus, and its
branchy root had a pungent taste, with a faint aromatic odour, but
no part of it bore the least resemblance to the drug generally sold
under that appellation by the uttars.
The dry Jathamunsee corresponds perfectly with the description of
the nard of the Greeks. A fragrant essential oil is extracted from
the flowers, adulterated with sandal, which convinces us that the
�THE dllMATE AND SOIL OF T1RHOOT.
31
genuine essence must be valuable, from the great number of thyrsi
that must be required in preparing a small quantity of it.
2d. Bilva or Malura grow on the banks of the Dhaimra lake; the
Stem is armed with sharp thorns; the fruit nutritious, warm, cathartic,
in taste delicious, in fragrance exquisite; its aperient, detersive
■quality, and its efficacy in removing habitual costiveness having been
proved by experience; The mucus is a good cement;
It is likewise called Sreephala, because it sprang, say the Indian
poets, from the milk of Sree, the goddess of abundance,who bestowed
‘it on mankind at the request of Iswara.
The woods and the waters teem with animal life; vast numbers of
insects and reptiles are occupants of the marshes; and when the
season for the decay of the vegetable matter arrives, the extent and
rapidity of the decomposition extricate an immense quantity of
vegeto-animal miasmata of the most deleterious character.
The increase of population, as it is accompanied by an improvement
of the face of the country, will gradually lessen or altogether remove
these sources of evil.
The reptiles found in Tirhoot are rather numerous, and a few of
them quite notorious for their size and destructiveness; among those
the largest and most celebrated is the alligator, which is found in
considerable numbers in the Gunduk and other rivers, growing to
such a size as to become quite formidable. They have been killed of
15 to 18 feet in length; in general however, they are productive of
little injury, as they are easily discovered and avoided by residents of
the country as well as travellers.
Many wonderful stories are related of their carrying off children,
cattle, and men, but these stories are as often fictitious as they are
built upon the slightest degree of fact. The history of their peculiar
manners and habits would be highly interesting, but cannot be intro
duced here for the reasons already given. Several karita snakes are
also found in Tirhoot, possessing all that virulence of poison, so pecu
liarly characteristic of their race.
The horses that are reared in this part of the country are too
well known all over India to need comment. Cattle of large size
and good action, are at Bala, Bachowr, and other places, and are
sought for with eagerness by the farmers of Behar and Bhauglepoor.
Bundooaur has become famous for its breed of greyhounds, which
are considered by the best judges of sport, superior to all others in
India, for fleetness, beauty, and strength.
Sugar of late is becoming an object of attention; several farmers
have for the last four or five years been increasing their fields of cane.
In many parts of Tirhoot, the cane grows to great perfection, the cli-
�32
STEAM COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.
mate and soil are very appropriate, and there is no doubt but that
sugar will, in a few years, become an article of first importance to our
planters.
Labour throughout the district is remarkably cheap, in consequence
of the abundance and low price of provisions. In Tirhoot, there are
several classes of natives who find their employment only during a
part of the year, and are very willing to bestow their labour at the
time of cessation for a very trifling remuneration, in consequence
of which, the opulent natives are fond of excavating tanks and
raising embankments in low situations, for the convenience of
travellers.
STEAM COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INDIA AND
AUSTRALIA.
Lieutenant Waghorn—the indefatigable and energetic “ pioneer of
the Overland Communication to India”—has within these few days
issued a pamphlet, in the form of a Letter to Mr. Gladstone, the
*
Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the extension of Steam
Navigation from Singapore to Port Jackson, Australia. The subject
is undoubtedly one of vast moment, not only to our fellow-citizens in
that “ fifth quarter of the globe,” now sought, by our enterprising
author, to be embraced within the zone of rapid intercommunication
with which England has, as it were, encircled the rest of the earth, but
also to those merchants, manufacturers and ship-owners interested in
the Chinese and Australian trades, and resident either in this country
or in its several possessions in the “ far East.”
With due regard, then, to the high importance attachable to the
proposed plan, we purpose briefly, yet succinctly, furnishing our
readers with a synopsis of its more prominent details, reserving any
remarks that we may be induced to make on one or two of the topics
discussed in the pamphlet, for a future opportunity.
Lieutenant Waghorn thus explains his system of Steam Extension:
Two years have only elapsed since the mighty empire of England,—so much of
whose greatness is identified with, and inseparable from, India,—thought'proper to
extend the ramifications of Steam Navigation beyond the Calcutta line to China;
and this they did by having a branch service at Point de Galle, in the Island of
Cevlou, thence to proceed through the Straits of Malacca, and so to Singapore and
Ilong Kong. When this route was organized, Government, in their contract with
the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, of St. Mary Axe, reserved
* Published by Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co., Cornhill.
�STEAM COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.
3
to themselves the extension of that Company’s powers to proceed to Australia, at
such time as might be deemed expedient.
The writer happened to be at the house of a friend when the subject of combining
Port Jackson by steam with this country, via the Isthmus of Panama, was mooted,
and discussed at much length; but the scheme was dissented from by him, and for
these reasons:—
The possession of the Isthmus of Panama, for purposes of transit, has, it is well
known, been desired, with much eagerness, by successive French administrations,
almost from the day that the Colonial and Indian acquisitions of England began to
be a source of jealousy to that country and to Spain. Whatever might be the actual
value to France of a passage through the Isthmus, its agitation, at all events, served
her views by encouraging the idea of thal being the only route; because, by so doing,
it helped to divert attention from the real route to be sought; namely, one promoting
‘a more intimate connection with the Eastern or Chinese Archipelago—whose islands
are far too numerous to mention, indeed so numerous, that over many of them the
British flag has never yet waved.
About sevenyears ago, the French engineers who then surveyed Panama, estimated
the expense of cutting a Ship Canal through that mountainous region, at one hun
dred and fifty millions of francs, or six millions sterling—an outlay altogether and
at once decisive against any plan involving it. But, independent of this insurmount
able pecuniary objection, the firstand only stopping place between Panama and
Port Jackson is distant no less than 3,668 miles from the former, being one of the
Marquesa Islands, where the French appear to be carrying on a second Tahiti affair;
—and where, if the most recent and best-informed- writers are to be credited, the
maintenance of a proper station would be all but impossible;—in so barbarous a
state are the natives, and so utterly incapable of being taught acquirements that
would be useful, or the abandonment of habits that would be destructive to a depot
of Europeans. Objections to the Panama Route might be multiplied; but it is
superfluous to add another. Everything is against it:—nothing is in its favour; and
it is to be hoped we have heard the last of any such wild and insane crotchet in con
nection with England at all. Its fallacy and absurdity become transparent on a
moment’s examination; though it may look very well on the map, to those whose
acquaintance with the map is confined to the school-room, and who do not reflect
that space is to be reckoned, not by rule and compass, but by the facilities or diffi
culties of getting over the distance.
Having thus disposed of the Panama Route, the author gives its a
tabular statement containing a programme, as it were, of the distances
and stations on his own—the proposed—line, viz., from Singaporeto- Sydney.<• The distance is 4,450 miles, and the recommended
route is, in the first instance to Batavia, thence to Port Essington;
Wednesday Island, and Port Jackson; in all, four stages. This
voyage Lieutenant Waghorn calculates will occupy 21 days, establish
ing a correspondence from Australia to England in 60 or 65 days,
instead of 120, or more, as at-present; and after urging the Government, through the medium of the Secretary of State, to whom his
pamphlet is addressed, to support the undertaking by an annual grant
of £100,000—a sum for which “ a larger equivalent is obtainable, all
things considered, than the history of Government bargains with
private Companies has yet afforded”—thus proceeds to enforce one or
two points of signal importance in weighing the question:—
I,
By1 establishing steam navigation between Singapore and Sydney, you at ones
.
J?
�34
SCINTXE.
create in that parf of the world a steam navy capable of mounting guns of any
calibre,when wanted, against an enemy, or of transporting troops to Singapore, and
to Hong Kong, China, or Calcutta, as might be needed.
2. The necessity for fortifications in the South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean,
would be done away with by these steamers, which would be fortifications in them
selves, carrying within them the means of destroying any enemy they might meet
with.
3. The navigation of Torres Straits, and New Zealand generally, is not suffi
ciently known. Steamers plying between Singapore and Port Jackson will easily
make the passage. The only diverging difference in the navigation of these Straits
and coast is 160 miles more if you go outside the Barrier Reefs; for it may some
times happen that if you went inside, you would have to anchor at night, and this
must continue to be the case until Light-houses are established on the points, capes,
and promontories, indicated on the map.
Independently, also, of all other sources of trade which “ rapid
conveyance in these regions would call into existence, and extend on
all sides, one great traffic, important to the empire in a political point
of view, and lucrative to individuals commercially, would necessarily
spring up in the breeding of horses in Australia for the army in
India; and on this head, too, I appeal to the experiences of all who
know the existing mode of supplying our Indian army with horses;
and who can compute the effect of a regular, constant, and cheap im
portation of them from Australia.”
The result of a large Meeting of Merchants and others interested
in the subject, at which the plan was fully developed by its able
projector, has been the formation of a numerous and influential Com
mittee to consider its details, and confer upon their practicability with
her Majesty’s Government and the Peninsular and Oriental Company.
For ourselves, we cannot, for an instant, believe that any obstacles, at
least of a serious nature, can possibly occur, and we trust, at no very
distant period, to witness a Steam Communication with Australia, as
regular and uninterrupted, as those now existing with the West
Indies and North America.
SCINDE.
General Sir William Napier has compared his brother, General
Sir Charles Napier, to Alexander the Great, and to Marius. The
indicated points of resemblance to the Macedonian madman, or the
Roman consul, appear to all eyes, except those of fraternal partiality,
to be singularly inapposite; but as such inappositeness is in accordance
with the spirit of Sir William Napier’s “ History,” we pass it by.
Sir Charles Napier cannot, in one respect, be compared to Julius
Caasar; we do not speak of any comparison founded on the noble
�SCINDE.
35
qualities of him who did “ bestride the narrow world, like a Colossus”
—of him, whose qualities so often made ambition, virtue—we but
draw the dissimilitude, inasmuch as Sir Charles Napier is not able,
I like Caesar, to be his own historian—not able to build up a monument
of literary genius, as noble in its style as many of the deeds it chronicles
were dazzling and heroic. How fortunate, then, that this Scindian
Alexander has found a Quintus Curtius in his brother—that Sir
William has written of Sir Charles-—written ably and impartially,
tor the ability and impartiality are manifestly co-equal.
The attention of the Anglo-Indian public has been diverted by
recent victories from the Conquest of Scinde, or, as it is more tenderly
termed, the Annexation of Scinde. That conquest is a dark page in
Indian history. It is true, the two British agents were at work there
as elsewhere; force and fraud {policy, the wise it call), combined
fraud and force annexed Scinde as other territories, but not with the
same pleas of justice or necessity. When a disturbed territory can be
restored to tranquillity by the efforts of a British commander, and by
his misguided efforts is driven into revolt, is it not hard that vce
victis should be the law extended to those thus goaded into hostilities?
Despite all General W. Napier’s plausibility, he cannot disprove that
the intrigues which troubled the quiet of Scinde were in truth little
formidable, until the credulity, harshness, and obstinacy of Sir Charles
Napier made them so. Lieutenant-Colonel Outram shows this clearly.
*
The Chief of the Ameers of Khyrpoor (the Rais, or head of the
family) was Meer Roostuni Khan, whose friendship to the British
Government was as strong as fear and helplessness could form it; he
knew the power of the British—he knew how it was exercised—and
no submission was too great, in the old man’s mind, so that war could
be averted. A younger brother of Roostum, Ali Morad, claimed the
right of successorship, and panted to become sovereign of Upper
Scinde, even during his brother’s lifetime, and despite the faith of
treaties. Supple, wily, and unscrupulous, possessed of all the name
less arts which distinguish the Asiatic intrigant, this man acquired
the confidence of General Napier: to him, Ali Morad at all times
exaggerated the petty measures of the discontented Ameers; while, to
the Ameers, he represented the English as bent on war and rapine.
So successful were his intrigues, that he ultimately succeeded in
assuming the turban, and in displacing and driving into exile his
brother and benefactor. Prior to this consummation, Roostum Meer
had endeavoured to conciliate the British Government, and, in pursu
* The. Conquest of Scinde. A Commentary, by Lieut.-Colonel Outram.—
W. Blackwood and Sons. 1846.
�36
SC1KDE.
ance of such policy, sought an interview with their Commander in
Scinde. Colonel Outram thus movingly describes it:—
“ The venerable Prince who sought an interview, was eighty-five years of age,
one whom Sir Charles Napier delights to describe as an infirm old man; and
such indeed he was,—bowed down by the weight of years, not as his despoiler
and his despoiler’s brother ungenerously misrepresent him, effete through de
bauchery. Evil days had come upon him. Strangers whom he had admitted as
friends, and whom in their hour of need he had befriended, now occupied his
country with an army sufficient for its subjugation; and rumour told him such
was their object. No word of comfort had been uttered, no friendly assurances
vouchsafed, and he who for three score years and ten had only been addressed in
terms of adulation and affectionate homage, was now addressed in that of autho
rity and menace. To use an expressive phrase in his own language, he felt that
his face was blackened in the sight of his people, and his grey head dishonoured.
He sought an interview with the man in whose hands reposed the destinies of
himself, his country, and his subjects; hoping to avert the injuries about to be
inflicted on him, or at all events, to learn their extent ; for as yet he knew of them
only by report. A brother whom he trusted, (Ali Morad,) and of whose diplomatic
skill he felt assured, offered to precede him, and acquire the requisite informa
tion, whispering at the same time that treachery was intended. The poor old
man believed the tale, for the shadows which coming events—spoliation, captivity,
and exile,—cast before them, had fallen on his heart, and clouded his mind with
suspicions which the conduct of the General was little calculated to dispel.”
The interview was refused—refused with contumely!
All have read of the follies of the wise and the fears of the brave.
No braver man than Sir Charles Napier ever heard the roar of
artillery, but in his Scindian career he seems to have been actuated
by some strange and undefinable dread of the Ameers. It may be
that Sir William Macnaghten’s fate was before his eyes, or it is possible
he believed that Roostum Meer, like Mr. Bayes’s king, had “ an
army in disguise,” ready to appear at a mcment’s notice from seme
ingenious hiding-place. It is even said that General Napier was
fearful that the Ameers “ meditated, in the exuberance of their
frolicsome fancies, catching himself, boring a hole through his nose,
introducing a ring, attaching a rope, and dragging the Feringee
General in triumph through their towns and villages!” This is worse
than Bajazet’s cage—a hole through the nose, a ring, and a rope! An
aggravated case of “ Fe-fa-fum!”
But for some such hallucination, how are we to account for Sir
Charles’s vagaries at this period?
He caused the Ameers to appear before him unarmed—so irritating
their Oriental pride, as they believed themselves dishonoured and
degraded. He further excited their indignation by compelling them
to disband their followers, whom they are pleased to consider as
“ guards,” and as indispensable to their rank and station. On one
occasion, as if apprehensive of a design upon his person by an unarmed
rabble, he kept two companies under arms, on some shallow pretext,
during the heat of the day, more than a dozen of them died from a
�SCINDE.
37
toup de soleil. I-Iis letters and messages Were coarse and rude—his
proclamations of the same uncourteous and undiplomatic character.
The natives of the East forgive anything sooner than that which
wounds their personal vanity through their national or religious pre
judices. Was there ever before an instance of a British commander
thus addressing an Asiatic prince? It appears that the mails had been
robbed and the dignity of high command is thus upheld by Sir C.
Napier:—
“ My dawks have been robbed,” writes he, to poor old Roostum Meer, “ either
by your orders, or without your orders. If you ordered it to be done, you are
guilty; or if it was done without your order, you are not able to command your
people, and it is evident they won’t obey you. In either case, I order you to
disband your armed men; and I will myself see, in Khyrpoor, that you obey
my order.”
What would be thought of a Minister who advised our most
gracious Queen thus to address Lord Heytesbury:—“ One of my sub
jects has been murdered in Tipperary. If you ordered it to be done,
you are guilty; or if it was done without your order, you are not
able properly to rule my people, for it is evident they won’t obey you,
so that in either case you must resign; after you have sued at my
royal foot-stool, it is possible I may in time forgive you.” Why, in
the name of common sense, may not the Christian viceroy over a
civilized people be thus called to account foi' a murder, as well as a
Mahomedan ruler for a robbery?
Sii’ Charles’s proclamation-style has been formed in a different
school to Lord Ellenborough’s. The melo-dramatic tone of the wellremembered Somnauth-gates proclamation was not appreciated in
Asia,but it shows powers which could not fail to render the noble Earl
popular at “ Astley’s.” That proclamation, delivered by an eques
trian hero, standing erect and gracefully waving his unbridled arms,
on a well-padded saddle, on a well-trained charger, sure-footed on
saw-dust, could not fail to be highly effective—certain of three
rounds of applause. Mr. Batty is regardless of his interests, if he
neglect this hint. We cannot refrain from contrasting Sir Charles’s
style with the re-called Governor-General’s. Meer Roostum is
again addressed:—
“Your Highness’letter is full of discussion; but, as there are two sides of
your river, so are there two sides of your Highness’ arguments. Now, the
Governor-General has occupied both sides of youi’ Highness’ river, because he
has considered both sides of your Highness’ arguments. ***** I will
forward your letter to him if you wish me to do so; but in the meantime I will
occupy the territories which he has commanded me to occupy. You think lam
your enemy; why should I be so? I gain nothing for myself—I take no gifts; I
receive no Jagheers.”
“ Gain nothing for myself!”
Wliat! nothing?
Sir Charles’s share
�38
SCINDE.
of the Hydrabad prize-money is said to have exceeded £70,000.
Seventy thousand! “ I gain nothing for myself.”—Nothing!
That his Highness’ river had two sides is a great geographical fact
which did not escape the conqueror’s acuteness. It is interesting to
remark how closely—the distance notwithstanding—this Asiatic stream
resembles our rivers at home, the Thames, for instance, which has
also two sides, the Surrey side and the Middlesex. How his High
ness’ arguments had also two sides, we do not so clearly perceive; no
doubt, it was liberal and handsome in Sir Charles to admit so much,
his own arguments being very one-sided indeed.
If, in the streets of London, one man needlessly and wilfully tread
upon another’s corns, and laugh at the sufferer’s wry faces; and if the
aggrieved man, in uncontrollable anger, strike at his insuiter, but is
well beaten by the aggressor, and then heavily punished by the
magistrate, it would be accounted somewhat hard. This is a homely
illustration, but it is what General Napier did. He trod on the pre
judices of the Ameers—which some one calls “ the corns of the mind”
—he irritated them into antagonists, anxl then beat and had them
punished for their hostility. Rare justice—but, no! we err; it, is not
rare justice in the East—it is common.
We heartily recommend Colonel Outram’s book. Its tone is cool,
philosophical, and masterly, because its details are truth. We close
our remarks with another extract from the work:—
“ The Ameer’s preparations, Sir Charles Napier himself admits, were originally
purely defensive: the result proved they never were otherwise till, by his ad
vance on Hydrabad, resistance became inevitable. Beholding, as the Ameers
did, the extensive military preparations made by the General himself, and
combining these with his violent conduct and apparent contempt of treaties,
they were not only justified in doing what they did, but it was their duty to
avail themselves to the uttermost of the defensive resources of the country.
As it was, Sir Charles Napier took no means of ascertaining whether the alleged
bands were in existence; but assuming that he had, and that the greatest num
ber ever reported, 7000, had been collected, it would have caused no apprehen
sion in the mind of any one better acquainted with Oriental character than
himself. The armies of the east are little better than a multitudinous rabble
—in Scinde they are emphatically such: they are incapable of any prolonged
service, and cannot be held together save by a lavish expenditure of money, and
a common sense of danger. Sir Charles Napier knew that they could not place
him in peril, for he continued to speak of them contemptuously,—he boasted
that he could put them all into the Indus: by his vaunted politico-military move
ment he had, he said, guarded the ceded districts;—the assent of all parties to
the treaty had been obtained, and yet he was not satisfied. How differently did
Sir Henry Pottinger think and act under really trying circumstances in 1839.
But he knew the people he was dealing with: Sir Charles Napier was profoundly
ignorant of them. The one was a practical man, who understood the workings
of the human mind, and could read its manifestations; the other was a theorist
who invented systems, and acted on them as if they were realities. The one
has conferred the most substantial benefits on his country, and his name is
honoured by his nation: the other has—added a province to the British empire,
fertile as Egypt, but deadly as Batavia /”
�39
OUR INDIAN VICTORIES.
The popular and club-house discussions which have lately been
elicited in consequence of the publication of two letters, on the recent
war with the Sikhs, and the national thanksgiving offered up by
authority in our churches for the victories obtained by our armies—
the one from Mr. Poynder, the proprietor of East India Stock, in the
Times newspaper; and the second, addressed by Mr. Buckingham,
the public-spirited projector and manager of The British and Foreign
Institute, to the Daily News—have imperatively called our attention to
the very important topics involved in the correspondence. This was
commenced by Mr. Poynder, whose communication—couched through
out in a thoroughly scarlet-coated, pipe-clayed style—contained the
following paragraphs:—
1. Is it possible for any man who believes in an over-ruling Providence, to
read of the wars of Israel in Canaan, and not be irresistibly struck with the
similarity of the sweeping out of the worst corruptions of idolatry and blood
shed in earlier and present times ?
2. Can any man contemplate the signal and extraordinary interpositions of
Divine Providence in our favour, hardly short of miraculous, against overwhelm
ing numbers, skilful training, and undoubted bravery, and yet avoid the con
clusion to which all our commanders have come, that the whole affair is as much
the work of God (emphatically called the God of Hosts) as the naval victories of
England, or our final overthrow of Bonaparte in the late war? With all the
devotion of life, which our Christian heroes brought into the field, then or now,
“ Non nobis, Domine,” is the universal ascription of honour which they are all
forward to present. May the nation be as ready to admit that if the Lord
himself had not been on our side when men rose up against us, they had swal
lowed us up quick, so wrathfully were they displeased at us.”
3. It is conceivable, under the supposition of a righteous governor ofthe world,
that if—in defiance of natural conscience, right reason, and common sense—the
unceded districts of India will persist, in burning alive, helpless women (gen
erally mothers of children), in spite of what we have done for those under our
sway—before which time, on an average of 10 years, 666 wretched women were
thus annually sacrificed, as four were burnt on one pile in Lahore, immediately
before the attack on Sir H. Hardinge—is it, I ask, conceivable, that such a state
of things should proceed, any more than the wretched idolaters of Canaan should
go on, for all time, “ to make their children to pass through the fire to Moloch?”
To those lucubrations on our recent conquests, Mr. Buckingham
replied in an admirable and convincingly argued letter, for the entire
of which, unfortunately, we have no spare space; we, however,
extract its more salient portions.
Mr. Poynder draws a parallel between the wars of the Israelites in Canaan
and those of the East India Company, and supposes them to beequally justifiable.
But to make the parallel complete,-Mr. Poynder should show that there was a
divine command” issued through an “ inspired leader,” authorising and com
manding the extirpation of the Sikhs as idolaters, and that it is because they are
idolaters, and for no other reason that we destroy’ them. When the East India
Company and the proprietors of East India Stock, shall be shown to be, as the
�40
OUR INDIAN VICTORIES.
Israelites were, “ God’s chosen people,” to whom the possession of the Punjaub
was given by sacred covenant, as the “ Promised Land,” and when Sir Henry
Hardinge, Sir Hugh Gough, and Sir Henry Smith shall be proved to be acting
not under a commission from the Horse Guards, but by the same divine authority
that appointed Moses, Aaron, and Joshua to deliver the Israelites from Egypt,
and lead them into “ the land given by covenant to Abraham and his seed for
ever;” when Mr. Poynderhas also shown that the waters of the Sutlej, like those
of the Jordan, were “ divided on either hand,” so that the soldiers and Sepoys
passed over unharmed; and the walls of Lahore, like those of Jericho, fell with
out being bombarded by any engines of war, then indeed, but not till then, the
parallel between the Sikhs and Canaanites will be complete.
*
*
*
Again, Mr. Poynder thinks that so long as there is a righteous Government
of the world, all nations who burn helpless widows alive, and maintain idolatry,
ought to be extirpated, and richly deserve the punishment; though this is not the
reason why we war against the Sikhs. When we have taken the country from
them, and appropriated their revenues to our own use, they may continue their
idolatries £ 8 fully as our own invading troops themselves do in every part of the
British territory, and at the seat of government itself. But surely this gentle
man forgets, that for a long series of years, the East India Company itself not
merely tolerated the burning of helpless widows alive, but actually appointed
their own servants, civil and military, to superintend these human sacrifices—
nay, that when the practice was denounced by myself and other writers in the
public journals of India, during my residence there, we were accused of endan
gering the stability of the British power, by “ interfering with the customs of
the natives.” And then, when Lord William Bentinck first proposed to prohibit
this widow-burning in 1825, the great body of the public functionaries of the
East India Company were opposed to his benign intentions. How was it, then,
that the righteous Governor of the world did not extirpate the English -while
they were aiding and abetting such murders as these?
Further, as to the idolatry being sufficient to draw down the vengeance e?
Heaven on those who practise or uphold it, does Mr. Poynder forget that, till
the year 1814, though the Christian East India Company had existed for nearly
200 years, no missionaries were allowed by them to preach against the
idolatries of India, lest they “ should offend the native prejudices;” that, even
when missionaries were first permitted to visit India, after 1814, they were
prohibited from going into the interior: and Messrs. Carey and Marshman were
not permitted, even in Calcutta, to preach the Gospel freely to the heathen; so
that they left the English territory, where their efforts -were restrained, and took
shelter at Serampore, under the Danish flag, thereto enjoy a freedom of religious
opinion and expression which had been denied them under the British. All
this Mr. Poynder must remember to have happened under the “ most religious
and gracious sovereign of India” in.his day. And as to idolatry, the Christian
government of the Company not only upheld it, but derived a large revenue
from this impure source, receiving through an English officer of their own
appointment, the taxes and offerings paid by the pilgrims at Juggernauth and
elsewhere in India; and out of these, maintaining the temples, paying the
priests, supporting the dancing-girls and prostitutes, clothing the idol and car of
Juggernauth with bright new broad cloth from the Company’s stores—furnishing
the rice and fruits to be consumed by the idol—paying his barber, fan-bearer,
cooks, and attendants, and then carrying the surplus to the Government funds
at Calcutta, part of which were remitted home for payment of dividends to the
proprietors of East India Stock; so that Mr. Poynder himself, however often he
has raised his voice against idolatry, must, if he has received his dividends on
the stock he holds, have shared a portion of this polluted profit, as well as in the
various sums arising from the plunder of native sovereigns, subsidiary payments,
indemnifications for war expenses, ransom of captured cities and countries, and
other unholy gains, which, from time to time, have helped to swell the revenues
of the Company; for, out of the taxes on the people of India, which exceed in
severity and oppressiveness those of any nation on the whole earth, and gains of
the description alluded to, the East India Company’s revenue is composed; and
out of that revenue are the dividends of the East India proprietors paid.
�41
OUP. INDIAN VICTORIES.
When the worshippers of the Most High are therefore called upon to join in a
form of thanksgiving to Almighty God, for- the victories won by our troops in
India, and when they are furthermore instructed by the highest ecclesiastical
authority to declare, that “ for this war no occasion had been given by injustice
on our part, or apprehension of injury at our hands”—while the Sikhs are
characterized as “ barbarous invaders, who sought to spread desolation through
fruitful and populous regions, enjoying the blessings of peace under the protec
tion of the British crown”—a love of truth, 'which ought to be respected by all
professors of religion, makes me feel it a solemn duty thus publicly to protest
against both these assertions, written, no doubt, in the full confidence of their
accuracy, by the venerable prelate who drew up the require I Form of Thanks
giving, but whose imperfect information in Indian history and Indian policy,
may account for his innocent belief in their perfect purity, and freedom from all
guile. The truth is, the Sikhs were too well acquainted with the history of
our conquering career in India, and with the most recent instance of our
plunder of the Ameers of Scinde, of which Sir Charles Napier alone shares
£70,000 sterling, not to know that both “injustice and injury” might be “ex
pected at our hands.” They had seen, for months past, a gradual assembling
of troops on their frontier. They had read, in the India and English papers, all
of which find their way to Lahore, and are there interpreted, that it was the
duty of the English to take possession of the Punjaub, because we could rule it
better—an argument or pretext which we should hardly allow to be a good one,
if the Americans or the French were on such a plea to invade Ireland. It was
the topic of conversation at every mess-table in India. Promotions, prize-money,
brevets, honours, stars, knighthoods, baronetcies, and peerages, were all anti
cipated as the result of the contest; and, excepting perhaps the Governor Ge
neral, whose high responsibility may have made him feel anxious, if possible, to
avert it, the whole of the English community in India, civil and military, and a
large portion of the people of England, panted with impatience for the onset;
and even blamed the tardiness of the Governor-General’s movements. Every
one seemed waiting for the auspicious moment, till the pear should be ripe—till
at length, according to a letter from an officer at Calcutta, dated January, 1846,
and addressed to the Morning Chronicle, who had most strongly advocated the
annexation of the Punjaub, to use the Indian officer’s own words “ the pear
which had been so long ripening, had at length fallen in the shape of 60,000
Sikhs invading our territory;” this event, though actually brought on by our
array of hostile forces, was enough to make those who had thus provoked it,
cry out against so “ unjustifiable and unprovoked an attack!” Alas! for the
truth of history, when the victors and not the vanquished are the writers of it.
The Sikhs, if they could be heard, would give a very different version of the
story.
********
If the French papers were to advocate the invasion of England, as the
India and English papers have recommended the annexation of the Punjaub—
and the Prince de Joinville were to assemble a fleet of war-steamers at Boulogne—
should Commodore Napier, or some other naval hero, steal over into the port at
night, and either cut out the ships, or burn and sink them on the spot; he
would be feted in every city on his return—have a new sword from the
Corporation of London, and the freedom of the city in a gold box—be made a
peer and legislator for his own life, with pensions and titles to his sons and their
descendants, and be honoured with a statue as one of England’s “ heroes and
patriots.” But when the India and English papers advocate the invasion of the
Punjaub, and the “heroes and patriots” of that country pursue exactly the same
course, by trying to destroy the invading army before it enters their territory,
they are branded as the vilest of mankind, and denounced as “ lawless bar
barians” from the very pulpits from whence, in the same day, perhaps, will be
uttered the remarkable words, “ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” and
the illustration of this duty shown by the beautiful story of the Good Samaritan.
* f
�42
;
7
SUTTEE.
Jt. r and general complaints nave been and are expressed throughout
British India, that in all our treaties with the Seikh rulers, no
clause has been introduced for the total and unconditional abolition
of Suttee. A writer in the Bombay Times attributes this grievous
omission to oversight, owing to the mass of momentous arrangements
requiring to be concluded, and hints that had it been at “ the time
pressed on the consideration of the Governor-General it might have
been insisted on as an article of treaty. We were in a condition
to have exacted anything we thought right: no exaction would have
more met the universal approval of mankind than that which in
sisted on the abolition of this most atrocious species of human sacri
fice. It is never too late for a supplemental arrangement such as that
in which this might be included: and we trust that the matter may
yet be urged with suck fervency and force as to induce our Rulers to
press the matter at Lahore as a concession not to be refused.” The
Delhi Gazette suggests that it should be put as a matter of good
policy to the Seikhs—that if they desire, as they profess, to cultivate
a good understanding with the British Government, there is no way
of winning our regard so certain of being successful, as by their
practising those principles of humanity it is our pride to cherish.
On this suggestion the Bombay Times thus comments :—
“ We confess we would put nothing to our allies as a matter of
favour which we were entitled to exact as a right: we would not
trust the operation of their sense of gratitude, or leave to volunteership
what we ought to have been in a position to compel. If it be any
where insisted on, that Suttee is so peculiarly sacred that it cannot be
abolished, we would have its sanctity enhanced by its extension. In
married life throughout the civilized world it is allowed as a first prin
ciple, that the duties of the husband and wife are reciprocal, and we
should therefore insist that where the incremation of the lady on the
pyre of her dead husband was held imperative, when ladies died, hus
bands should ascend the funeral pile when their obsequies were
.performed. The observance, however, of Suttee, like most other of
the most odious rites of heathenism, is maintained from very selfish
ness and miserable motives: it is generally a method of getting rid, on
false pretences, of a helpless party whose place or whose property is
desired by survivors. At the death of Runjeet Singh, in 1839, four
Ranees with seven slave girls were destroyed: at that of his son,
little more than a year after, one Ranee, with her hand-maidens,
perished on the funeral pile; at the death of the Maharajah Shere
Singh, and his Minister, Dhyan Singh, three years later, females
perished in the flames in wholesale slaughter. Yet the observance,
unless in the royal household, is not insisted on: to the Seikhs in
general it does not apply.”
We trust Lord Hardinge will bestir himself—stoutly and speedily—
in abolishing these odious rites, and thus advance another claim—
stronger if'possible than those before preferred—to the gratitude of
mankind.
�43
Mebtefog of
Eastern Europe and the Emperor Nicholas. By the Author of “ Re
velations of Russia,” &c.
3 vols. 2d Edition.------ T. C. Newby,
Mortimer- street.
Le Sage tells of people who journeyed from the country to Madrid, to see
what o’clock it was, and returned home for the most part as wise as they
were before. Very different have been the object and' result of our author’s
travels and observations. Lucid, impartial, and indefatigable, he makes the
strength and weakness—the apparent robustness and inward disease of the
three powers of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, matters of philosophical
inquiry and practical deduction. The diplomatist, the merchant, the
traveller from ennui, and the reader from indolence, may all derive know
ledge and gratification from these able volumes.
The greater portion of the work is dedicated to Russia—the most colossal
and least known of the empires of Eastern Europe. No small proportion of
Russian policy and organization remains matter of conjecture; but, if we
have inquirers like our author, neither the most sleepless imperial jealousy,
nor the most ramified police which has existed in Europe since the days of
Fouche, can much longer keep the dominions of the Tsar a sealed book—or '
“ as a partly opened and most ponderous folio”—from the perusal of
Europe.
The character of the Autocrat occupies great part of the first and third
volumes, nor could it be otherwise, he being more truly and absolutely “ the
State” than were either Louis XLV. or Napoleon. The coteries of Paris had
some influence over the cabinet of Louis, constituted as it was of church
men, statesmen, generals, courtiers—and kept mistresses. Voltaire’s scoff
alone often acted as an anti-despotic drag on the full course of the wheels of
tyranny. As regards Napoleon, the quick wit of the Parisians (dazzled as
they were by la gloire), and their piercing ridicule—against which no power
or station availed—were found impassable barriers ; besides, some constitu
tional forms were still preserved. On the power of the Tsar, on the other
hand, there is no clog whatever ; his subjects, from prince to peasant, speak
of him “ with bated breath and whispering humbleness”—his sway is as
uncontrolled over the minds, as over the persons, lives, and possessions of
the overwhelming majority of his subjects—the very decencies and morality
of his private life (though our author somewhat slightly impugns that
character) add to his imperial power. No rank, no individual, is exempt
from its influence; it crushes alike the noble and the slave—the learned and
the gross—and may be compared to some vast inundation, desolating at
once vale and woodland, the fruitful and the barren.
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REVIEWS.
The slaves in Russia—mildly designated serfs—though slaves they are in
every grievous attribute of bondage, amount to forty-five millions, thirtyfive of which are Muscovites or Old Russians ; thus we find, says the
author:—
“ The conquering and absorbing race affording the unprecedented spectacle of
remaining in thraldom more complete than those absorbed and conquered. Over
these serfs the power of the Tsars is firmly established. It is rooted as deeply
as those religious prejudices which in some barbaric creeds spring up, without
affection, indeed, for their terrible divinity, but still not alone from fear; and of
which the votaries do not only bow to the terrors of their god, but view in him
an avenger, if not a benefactor. These blindly obedient millions would no doubt
themselves furnish a Russian sovereign with unprecedented elements of power,
were it not for the utter corruption so hopelessly ingrafted on all ranks of the
people, as to deprive the Government of any means of effecting the organization
of this material.”
Of this servile population, 23-45ths are the property of the landholders—
upwards of 21-45ths of the Tsar and Imperial family. Jacqueries are
not very unfrequent among these enslaved peasants, but their outbreaks
are carefully concealed, and relentlessly punished. Even in the military
colonies, revolts, though rarely, occur, and in one, at Novogorod, the
Emperor’s name and power were openly insulted and scoffed at : this was
detailed to the author by an officer who had sufficiently good reason to re
member the occurrence, as he narrowly escaped being boiled alive.
The army is compulsorily recruited from the serfs, although the Musco
vites hate war and are addicted to traffic, whilst the Ruthenians, or Cossack
tribes, present an opposite character. Of what materials the Russian forces
are composed, and what coming events may educe, is thus shown :—
“ Usually, the soldiers, like the peasantry, are full of deferential awe; they
regard their Emperor as the master of the earth, and appear to view in the light
of rashness—or, one might almost say, of blasphemy—any opposition to an
order emanating from him; but wherever they have had the opportunity of
distinctly seeing that his power is limited to Russia, arid that there are vast
nations beyond, exempt from his rule—where they have seen his authority
braved with success by rebellious Poles and contemptuous Turks, their confi
dence in his infallibility is destroyed; and then their veneration, being based
rather on fear than on affection, undergoes a singular modification.”
The author ably advocates the opinion, now gaining ground, that the
conflagration of Moscow was not the premeditated work of the Russians—
that, to whomsoever owing, it was not atributable to the patriotism or
nationality of Alexander’s government or subjects. The imperial archives
will, at some future period, probably set the question at rest.
In the course of his remarks on the French invasion of 1812, the writer
adduces some appropriate instances of the proneness to plunder which dis
graced Buonaparte’s armies. Somewhat oddly for a scribe, who generally
loves
--------------- “ to pour out all himself as plain
As downright Shippen or as old Montaigne”—
he designates this “ a system of foraging!”
nature:—
The foraging was of this
“ In Poland, where all the accounts of the French are unanimous as to the
�REVIEWS.
4.5
friendliness of their reception by its enthusiastic inhabitants, it is related by the
Poles, that in the houses where these military visitants were quartered, they
commonly carried off the silver forks and spoons; whilst, singularly enough,
they disdained” (chivalrous souls!) “ to accept the value of their meal, and
placed a florin beneath their plates to pay for it. Amongst other instances,
a marshal of Prance, with his officers, was invited by the Bishop of Pultusk to
abanquet: all the plate in the environs, to the amount of more than £30,000 in
value, was collected to do honour to their guests, who, when the repast was over,
coolly appropriated it to themselves.”
Our limits do not permit us to give an extract we had marked
(Vol. 3, pp. 44-5), justly depicting the levelling despotism of which we
have spoken. It will be found a somewhat different sketch to that of Loid
Londonderry, who, after he has pronounced the Emperor “ the handsomest
man in Europe,” and told how ably he presided over the extinction of a fire
in his capital (an imperial Braidwood!) seems to have thought that he had
done enough to prove the blessings of the rule of Nicholas the First!
Memoirs of the Court of Charles the Second. By Count Grammont.
(Bohn’s Standard Library—Extra Volume.)------ Henry G. Bohn,
York-street.
Mr. Bohn calls this work an “ extra volume,” because, we presume, it is a
somewhat startling departure from the class of books he has hitherto given
the world in his most ably-selected and admirable series. From the solemn
earnestness of Robert Hall to the sparkling levities of Anthony Hamilton, is
certainly a bold step from grave to gay, but it is a step well taken ; there is
nothing seductive in the details of profligacy in Grammont’s Memoirs,
whilst it is the most accurate picture existing of the Court of Charles II.
It is not very easy to say in what the great charm of this book consists ;
not in its wit alone, effective and unaffected as that is found ; ceitainly
not in its story, for story it can hardly be called, being rather a string of
piquant anecdotes, and very much at random strung; not in the charactei
of its hero or his compeers;—it must be, then, in the admixture of truthful
ness and wit; the same attraction which induces us to tolerate, and more
than tolerate, the fine gentlemen of Dryden, Congreve,. and Wycherley,
who resembled Grammont in being fine, gay, bold-faced sinners—avowedly
profligate—methodically licentious—steeped in every vice, with the single
exception of hypocrisy. .
.
±
Grammont’s own character is faithfully given m the early part of the
work, his tastes and avocations will be seen from this brief extract:
“ His supper hour depended upon play, and was, indeed, very uncertain; but
his supper was always served up with the greatest elegance, by the assistance
of one or two servants, who were excellent caterers and good attendants, but
understood cheating still better.
The epigrammatic touches of character throughout the work are inimitable
—such as Mrs. Middleton’s sentiments of delicacy, which “ people grew
weary of, as she endeavoured to explain, without understanding them her
self.” Or the sketch of the Marquis de Brisacier, who “ talked eternally,
without saying any thing.” More amusing still is the all-absorbing conceit
�4(5-
REVIEW$.
of Russell, “ one of the most furious dancers in England,” who, in his de
claration of love to Miss Hamilton, afterwards the Countess Grammont,
details his wealth, his being brother to the Earl of Bedford, and then holds
out the fuither inducement, that he was 14 advised to go to some of the
watering-places for something of an asthma, which,” he plausibly reasons,
“ in all probability cannot last much longer, as I have had it for these last
twenty years.”
This extra volume is enriched with Sir Walter Scott’s delightful Notes
and Illustrations—as well as with a lively “ Personal History of Charles II.”
and the Boscobel Tracts. It is also adorned with a pleasing portrait of Nell
Gwynne, caressing a lamb, emblematic, we suppose, of her meekness and
innocence.
A Book of Highland Minstrelsy. By Mrs. D. Ogilvy : with Illustrations
by R. R. M‘Ian.------ G. W. Nickisson, Regent-street.
' Scotland, and more especially the Highland portion of the kingdom, has
always been plenteous to overflowing in its minstrelsy, and from a very early
period, a lengthened and rich succession of ballads and poems, either based
upon, or forming a part of, the metrical traditions of that romantic nation,
have been welcomely greeted in this country; and whilst to their scarcely
unrivalled force and harmony, the English have, on every occasion, assented
with cordiality and delight; to their own—their fatherland—poetry, in all
its varied yet appropriate styles, the Scottish people have, naturally enough,
borne that decisive testimony which natives alone can confer.
The present very elegant volume contains, we believe, the latest contribu
tions to this Highland Anthology, and Mrs. Grant’s verses are, for the most
part, scarcely inferior to those of the majority of her illustrious predecessors ;
she has successfully and honorably followed
--------------- negli alti vestigi
De’ gran Cantor alia maestra strada!
The Collection consists of twenty-nine poems, all evidencing their
writer’s high and undoubted poetic talent, her exquisite feeling, and her
consummate taste in the choice of fitting imagery and phrases. At times,
her verses exhibit considerable loftiness and power, and as a specimen
—noticeable also for their smooth and easy versification—we extract the
following stanzas:—they occur in a ballad entitled, The Haunted Tarn on
the Moor, and we much regret that the space to which we are limited, pre
cludes our reprinting it entire.
J—...
- -
-„■ j.--: •. ■
ii. ■
The moon was hid in weeds of white,
The night was damp and cold,
The wanderer stumbled in the moss,
Bewildered on the wold,
Till suddenly the clouds were rent,
The tarn before her rolled.
■ ;i ^he heather with strange burdens swelled—.
On every tuft a corse,
On every stunted juniper,
On every faded gorse;
The woman sank, and o’er her eyes
She clasped her hands with force.
�„REHEWS.
Again she was constrained to gaze,— . ' ’'
Lo! on each dead man’s brow,
A tongue of flame burned steadily,
Though there was breeze enow
To shake the pines that over head
Waved black, funereal bough.
And, dancing on the sullen loch,
A ghostly troop there went,
Whose airy figures floated high
On the thin element;
And fiercely at each other’s breasts
Their meek claymores they bent.
One brushed-so near, she turned her gaze,
She stood transfixed to stone;
It was her husband’s spectre face, .
Close breathing on her own—
Damp, icy breath, that filled her ear
With a deep, hollow moan.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
A series of notes—the result of personal observation, or drawn from, trust
worthy authorities—bearing upon the traditions, the sentiments, and the
customs of the Scottish people, accompany each poemthese, with Mr.
M‘Ian’s beautiful and lavishly distributed illustrations, materially contribute
to the interest experienced in the perusal of this delightful volume.
Medical Notes on China. By John Wilson, M.D., F.R.S.
John Churchill, Princes-street.
At the close of the year 1841, in consequence of continued hostilities with
the Chinese; uncertainty as to their termination; prevalence of disease in,
and augmentation of, force; the Lords of the Admiralty directed a floating
hospital to be fitted, and despatched with all speed to the seat of war.
With that view, the Minden was put into commission, the command of the
ship given to Captain Quin, and the administration of the medical
department, comprising an able surgeon, five assistants, and an ample
subordinate staff, entrusted to Dr. Wilson.
It was during this period of official employment, and in accordance, as he
-informs us, with his previous practice, that our author noted, from time to
time, what appeared to him most worthy of record in China; first, in respect
of disease, its nature, treatment, progress, and results; and, second, regard
ing its causes, apparent and probable, whether permanent and necessary, or
artificial, and capable of being removed. These Notes, with their respec
tive dates, and printed in the shape in which they were taken, are now
before us, and, remembering the extent of the force employed; the novelty
of the ground occupied—so strange and all but unknown in many of its
features ;—and the diseases, familiar in principle, yet peculiar in many of
their phases, constitute a volume in the highest degree interesting and in
structive. Dr. Wilson is, we believe, the first member of his profession
who has devoted his attention to the subject of which it most prominently
�48
REVIEWS.
treats, and the results of his experience are given in a style entirely com
mensurate to its high importance:—his diagnoses and instructions are clear
and practical, the cases aptly selected and described, and the curative means
to be employed, distinctly and elaborately noted.
But Dr. Wilson’s attention was not merely confined to the nature and
treatment of disease ; his Notes comprise many curious particulars respect
ing the manners and customs of the Chinese, and some admirable descriptions
of various portions of their empire. As more acceptable, perhaps, to the
general reader than an extract relating solely to medical matters, and as
affording a fairer example of Dr. Wilson’s style of writing, we quote the
following passage, referring to our recently acquired settlement, Hong
Kong:—
Hong-Kong, a small, barren, and naturally insignificant spot in the ocean,
has acquired notoriety from recent occurrences, will continue interesting from
passing transactions, and must become important, by events, which however
difficult to foretel, as to order of succession and of time, and however disap
pointing expectation in some respects, will assuredly follow. It is now an inte
gral part of the British dominions, and though the last and least of her territorial
acquisitions, is such a one as has long been an object of desire to her merchants.
It, with the opening of the northern ports,and the resulting advantages, was ob
tained by an inconsiderable force, against which the military power and strategic
skill of an empire boasting a population of 360 millions of souls, and conceiving
themselves superior to all others in arms, as well as in arts, were marshalled.
The expeditionary force which last year operated in the Yang tse-Kiang, and
its neighbourhood, not only conquered China without difficulty, but also
proved, at the same time, how vulnerable she is in her vital parts, and observed
the best means and points through 'which, should it be necessary, she might
afterwards be attacked. The expedition was certainly well planned, excellently
equipped, and conducted throughout with great judgment, perseverance, and
promptitude; yet it was so small, such a mere handful, in relation to the hosts
it was sent against, that its speedy and complete success was matter of surprise,
as well as of gratitude and patriotic elation.
Hong-Kong, which a few years ago was a naked rock, possessed by a few half
starved fishermen, serfs, and robbers, already abounds with British merchan
dise, and proofs of industry and enterprise. Streets, store-houses, slfops, and
villas, are springing up in all directions. Its harbour is crowded with merchant
ships. New colonists are continually arriving; and its population and business
increase at a prodigious rate. These are palpable advantages, in a commercial
point of view, and through that channel will confer mutual benefit on the
dealers; but what may the British possession of this island ultimately effect in
dissipating the moral and intellectual darkness of the Chinese, and pouring the
light of truth on its people? Already, Christian missionaries of many denomi
nations, but all teaching one great truth, have arrived and begun their benevo
lent labours. They will consider Hong-Kong their head-quarters, and safe restingplace, where, however the heathen may rage without, they cannot molest them.
Schools have been established for educating Chinese youth, and chapels have
been built for further and higher instruction. Printing-presses are at work,
multiplying the means of increasing knowledge, and inculcating wisdom; and
everything in the instruments employed, promises well. Such is the prospect,
and such are the first steps in the grand, laborious undertaking. Prom this
spot, scientific information also must, however slowly at first, find its way into
the Chinese mind; and hence directly, as from their chief and abiding fountain,
light and living principles will flow into the vast adjoining empire of darkness and
Idolatry, till its multitudes of people shall be thoroughly instructed, and radically
reformed, emancipated, and evangelised. This may be safely predicated with
out indulging in dreams of enthusiasm, or treading the dangerous path of
prophecy.
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49
The diminutive colony of IIong-Kong, where so many hopes and expectations
are centred, is situated at the mouth of the great estuary of Canton, eighty
miles below the city, close to the left bank, being separated from the continent',
at one point, by less than half a mile. Its geographical position is in 22 N.
latitude. Its largest diameter, which runs nearly east and west, is nine miles;
the breadth, from south to north, is five-and-a-half miles. In shape it is very
irregular, having numerous bays, and some deep indentations, with long project
pig peninsular points, which render the space comprehended by the above short
lines less than the measurements indicate; and from the precipitous form of the
pills, independent of inherent sterility, it affords little scope for agricultural
industry. It is one of a multitude of islands by which the coast of China is
guarded, and which, among other natural advantages, raise her above any other
equal division of the world, in the number, extent, and security of her har
bours ; and that, or rather those, of Hong-Kong, are inferior to none of them.
The principal is on the north side of the island, facing the rising capital of
Victoria. Here, without tracing it east to Tantoo, or west to Lantao, which
would give a length of fourteen miles, there is a compact haven, about three
miles square, wliich cannot be surpassed in the qualities that constitute a perfect
anchorage. It is formed by Hong-Kong to the south, by that and the main
land, the former bending on the latter, to the east, by the continent on the
north, and by the island of Lantao to the west. By these it is not only, in
nautical phrase, land-locked, but strongly guarded by the height of the sur
rounding land, which rises to 3,000, and scarcely falls below 1,000 feet; so that,
when it blows strongly outside, there is little disturbance of its surface. It is
easy of access by an eastern and western passage, but the latter, being the more
capacious, is most frequented. These opposite openings contribute to the ven
tilation and cooling of the bay and contiguous town, which otherwise, during the
southerly monsoon, would be much, and by so much, more intolerably hot than
they are.—p. 147.
Line of March of a Bengal Regiment of Infantry in Scinde.—,—Messrs.
Ackermann, Strand.
This clever and singularly interesting work of art, depicts, en panorame, the
every-day incidents befalling the line of march of a Bengal regiment of
infantry, and is so ingeniously contrived that, albeit the drawing present?,
when fully developed, the imposing length of some twenty-five feet, it
nevertheless folds up easily and uninjuredly in the form of a convenient
and pocketable volume.
With much skill and ingenuity the artist has overcome the monotonous
and formal effect usually accompanying the delineation of a lengthened
succession of files of soldiers :—we have here, for quadrupeds, restive and
broken-down camels, run-away horses, ponderous and docile elephants,
mess cattle and pariah dogs; amongst the bipeds are introduced denuded
and dancing faquirs, the patient, ever-trotting dak runners, soldiery of the
gaudily-accoutred Irregular Cavalry with despatches, brahmins, moonshees,
pundits, and so forth, whilst, for a back-ground, and as landscape accessories,
are represented forts, temples, tanks, and the various other picturesque
objects recognizable in Indian journeyings. The several figures are artisti
cally designed and grouped, admirably drawn, well coloured, and the tout
Romensemble is at once vivid and life-like.
As a spirited and faithful representation of much that is novel, and, may
be, hitherto unheeded in our own land, we very warmly commend this pic
turesque publication of the Messrs. Ackermann to the best attention of our
readers.
h
�REVIEWS.
The Life and Speeches of Daniel O'Connell, M.P. Edited by his Son^
John O’Connell, M.P. Vol. 1.------ Dublin: James Duffy.
The first volume of a work which will prove of great value to the future
historian of the times of that extraordinary man who may be said to have
made the history of Ireland (for nearly the last forty years) a main and
inseparable part of his personal biography. It will be of value, because it
is Mr. O’Connell’s and his family’s record of his motives, acts, and speeches.
The “ Speeches” occupy the greater portion of the present volume, and
though they treat of events and men of a past generation, are of unflagging
interest. The mind is almost irresistibly led to sympathise with the ac
complished orator in whatever he advocates—a true test of true elo
quence. “ Catholic Emancipation” is the chief topic of these speeches, but
there are also some of the highest and boldest flights of forensic power,
shown in the defence of men charged with political offences. The unscru
pulous use of invectives has often been imputed as a fault to Mr. O’Connell
—in some of his addresses in this volume they fall like avalanches on his
opponents’ heads—but it may be said, on the other hand, that he is the
best-abused, as well as the best-praised, man now existing. “ The
Liberator!” roars one, “ The Beggar-man!” responds another;—“Worst
outcast of the earth!” shouts the Orangeman, “ First gem of the seal” says
the Repealer—for we once heard an enthusiastic Irishman apply that not
very unhacknied quotation to Mr. O’Connell individually.
This first volume carries us down to no later a period than 1813, and the
work promises, therefore, to be somewhat bulky, if an equal space be
devoted to the subsequent years of Mr. O’Connell’s busy career.
We give the opening of an address to the jury, in defence of Magee,
perhaps unequalled in the annals of the bar for its tone of cool contempt,
which, however, is not always a characteristic of Air. O’Connell’s eloquence.
The gentleman so bounteously be-spattered and be-pitied was Saurin, the
then Attorney-General. The trial took place in 1812 :—=
“ I consented to the adjournment yesterday, gentlemen of the jury, from that
impulse of nature which compels us to postpone pain; it is, indeed, painful to
me to address you; it is a cheerless, a hopeless task to address you—a task
which would require all the animation and interest to be derived from the work
ing of a mind fully fraught with the resentment and disgust created in mine
yesterday, by that farrago of helpless absurdity with which Mr. AttorneyGeneral regaled you.
, , .
“But I am now not sorry for the delay. Whatever I may have lost in
vivacity, I trust I shall compensate for in discretion. That which yesterday
excited my anger, now appears to me to be an object of pity; and that which
then roused my indignation, now only moves to contempt. I can now address
you with feelings softened, and, I trust, subdued; and I do, from my soul,
declare, that I now cherish no other sensations than those which enable me to
bestow’on the Attorney-General and on his discourse, pure and unmixed
compassion.
.
“ It was a discourse in which you could not discover either order, or method,
or eloquence; it contained very little logic, and no poetry at all; violent and
Virulent, it was a confused and disjointed tissue of bigotry, amalgated with con
genial vulgarity. He accused my client of using Billingsgate, and he accused
him of it in language suited exclusively for that meridian. He descended even
to the calling of names: he called this young gentleman a ‘ malefactor, a ‘Jacobin,
and a * ruffian,’ gentlemen of the jury; he called him ‘ abominable,’ and ‘ sedi-
�reviews;
tious/.'and ‘ revolutionary,’ and ‘ infamous,’ and a ‘ ruffian'a gain, gentlemen of the
jury; he called him a ‘ brothel keeper,’ a * pander,’ ‘ a kind of bawd in breeches,’
and a ‘ ruffian’ a third time, gentlemen of the jury.
“ I cannot repress my astonishment, how Mr. Attorney-General could have
preserved this dialect in its native purity; he has been now for nearly thirty
years in the class of polished society; he has, for some years, mixed amongst
the highest orders in the state; he has had the honour to belong for thirty
years to the first profession in the world—to the only profession, with the
single exception, perhaps, of the military, to which a high-minded gentleman
could condescend to belong—the Irish bar. To that bar, at which he has
seen and heard a Burgh and a Duquery; at which he must have listened to a
Burston, a Ponsonby, and a Curran; to a bar, which still contains a Plunket,
a Ball, and, despite of politics, I will add, a Bushe. With this galaxy of
glory, flinging their light around him, how can he alone have remained in
darkness? How has it happened, that the twilight murkiness of his soul, has
not been illuminated with a single ray shot from their lustre? Devoid of taste
and of genius, how can he have had memory enough to preserve this original
vulgarity? He is, indeed, an object of compassion, and, from my inmost soul, I
bestow on him my forgiveness, and my bounteous pity.”
Lectures on Heraldry; in which the Principles of the Science are familiarly
explained, &>~c. ifc. By Archibald Barrington, M.D.—George Bell,
Fleet-street.
A. work excellently well adapted to render the acquirement of a knowledge
of heraldry pleasant and easy. The student is not bewildered at the out
set, as in many similar works, in a maze of uncouth technical terms, which
appear not only confused but barbarous. Dr. Barrington has reduced the
apparent confusion into most admired order, and has shown that what seems
barbarous is a natural consequence arising from the extreme antiquity of
heraldry (using that word in its widest signification)—from its primary
establishment in rude and semi-barbarous ages and countries.
The author eloquently points out the importance of heraldry as an eluci
dation of history ; it is, indeed, to history what punctuation is to print—the
broad fact or the general meaning may be obvious enough, but the neces
sary adjunct to ensure full appreciation of either, in all its bearings and
niceties, is wanting. To the antiquarian and architectural student, moreoyer, heraldic devices often supply a chronological key, derivable from no
other source. To the Houses of Parliament, when completed (in whatever
epoch that may be),’Dr. Barrington’s book will be found both a popular
and scientific guide :—
“ Judging from what has already been done,” says he, “ heraldry will there
be indeed triumphant, and if for no other purpose than to enable him to appre
ciate and understand the devices which will be there introduced, the student
would be amply repaid for the small amount of application which is necessary
to get a general acquaintance with the principles of that science. With this
view we have introduced into the following lectures an account of the armorial
bearings, with the badges and devices of both the kings and queens of England,
with the supporters of each sovereign, as they may be seen on the river front of
this noble pile of buildings.”
, The work is so fully illustrated that it is a pictorial chart, as well as a
history and explanation, of heraldry.
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REVIEWS.
Payne's Illustrated London. A Series of Views of the British Metropolis,
and its Environs, &c.------ Brain and Payne, Paternoster Row.
It is now between two and three hundred years since our renowned sove
reign—the “ good Queen Bess”—issued her royal mandate for restraining
the erection of additional buildings, and setting limits to London, already,
in her judgment, overgrown. A different opinion, however, has for many
years past prevailed, and, vigorously enough supported, still continues.
“ Never, indeed, in the history of our country”—we quote from the work
before us—“ were building operations in fuller activity than at present, or
greater beauty of design displayed. Localities, consisting of dark and
narrow lanes or alleys, where the light of heaven was scarcely admissible,
and where vice reigned almost uncontrolled, have been swept away; and
in their place elegant structures reared, on which the architect has exerted
his utmost skill. Ground, which but a short time since, from its low and
marshy situation, remained unproductive, or, what was worse, exhaled its
baneful miasma, is now covered with magnificent squares and noble man
sions, tenanted by persons of the highest rank.”
This description is perhaps a trifle overcharged, and the number of
“ noble mansions” and “ elegant structures, on which the architect has
exerted his utmost skill” is, we believe, not quite so very gre at as that which
our author would here so glowingly seem to intimate. Nevertheless, of
London, such as it is, and is about to become, the present serial is designed
to furnish a concise yet comprehensive view, and the numbers of the work
already published augur favourably for its successful completion. The
engravings, on steel, and of very great excellence, are lavishly distributed,
whilst in the literary department, a consecutive history of our mighty me
tropolis is given, together with interesting descriptions of the several
buildings depicted.
As constituting one of the best and assuredly cheapest pictorial histories
of London extant, the work claims, and will doubtlessly secure, an exten
sive and remunerating circulation.
Bolsover Castle: a Tale from Protestant History of the Sixteenth
Century. By M. D.------ Short & Co., King-street, Bloomsbury.
There is one peculiarity about this book which is very rarely met with; it
makes controversy, theological controversy, appear amiable. There is
something of the same characteristic in Tremaine, but in Bolsover Castle the
discussion is between Protestant and Roman Catholic, and not between
Christian and sceptic.
The story of the ill-fated Arabella Stuart supplies the theme, but the
author only “ amplifies the story of her childhood, and leaves it where
others have taken it up”—a childhood passed under the eye of her maternal
grandmother, the famous Bess of Hardwick, but one neither unruffled nor
uneventful. Whilst Protestant sovereigns ruled England and Scotland, the
attention of the boldei' intriguers among the Roman Catholics was naturally
drawn to the Lady Arabella,—this circumstance, the use made of her name,
�REVIEWS.
53
by various plotters in that plotting age, and her consanguinity to James VI.,
altogether supply ample materials out of which the author has skilfully
woven a plot of much interest. The scene is not confined to Bolsover
Castle; we have a sketch of James’s Scottish Court, whilst the pages teem
with names of historic repute. All this, however, is rendered subservient to
the design kept steadily in view throughout the work—the advocacy of the
doctiine and discipline of the Church of England. After this manner are
her claims supported :—
It is not true, Arabella, that there is Unity in the Roman Catholic Church.
True, if you like, it bears the outward appearance of Unity, grounded on the
magnificent fabric of the Papacy.; but the Romanists are as much split into sects
and divisions as we can ever be. At this moment, Dominicans, Franciscans,
and Jesuits all hate each other. Again, Christ never assumed temporal
authority—how could he transmit what he never took himself? And respecting
the Church holding the Scriptures, our Reformers, and our Anglican Church,
have never given up this ground for themselves. They stand on the same
ground, or rock, on which rests the Latin Church, only resisting all pretensions
to infallibility, and ridding the Church of its load of perplexing traditions and
errors, to recover the pure meaning of the revealed Word of God. The Church
of Jerusalem has stronger claims to antiquity than the Church of Rome.
Gregory the Great himself denounced a Bishop of Bishops as antichristian; thus
it is the antichristian usurpation of Rome which has severed the bond of
Catholic Unity; and the present position of our Anglican Church, believe me
is one forced upon us by apostate Rome.”
It is necessary to add, that the arguments advanced in support of the
Roman Catholic Church, are fairly and eloquently put.
A Peep into Architecture.
By Eliza Chalk.------ G. Bell, Fleet-street.
I launch my barque,” says our fair authoress, “ not without apprehension
from the fearful shoals of criticism, nor with the presumptuous expectation
of converting all its readers into architects ; but as
‘ The beauteous bud, dissevered from the stem,
Engenders hope to nurse the parent gem,’
so I trust those friends who kindly glide over this tributary stream, will be
induced to sail onwards to those fruitful shores of architectural knowledge,
from which this little vessel has been freighted.”
We cordially wish the barque a prosperous voyage and the most favouring
trade winds. The multiplicity of architectural treatises the last few years
have given to the reading world, or to the neglected shelf, render it next to
impossible to produce a novelty on the subject. If it were possible to pro
duce it, a lady—though ladies’ studies are more generally given to the
Interior furniture, than to the architectural style of a mansion—a lady, we
repeat, was the most likely to accomplish this feat, and Miss Chalk’s letters,
for in such form she writes, often place an old subject in a new and pleasing
light.
As a specimen of the style of the work, we subjoin an extract concerning
the crosses which abound in England:—
�54
BEV1EW;
There was formerly a cross in almost every village, or market town, either in
the church-yard, or at the confluence of several roads, and in towns, generally
in the market-place. People could rarely read or write, and agreements were
•consequently ratified simply by an appeal to this visible cross as an ensign of
faith. This plain and rapid mode of legalizing transactions by touching or
swearing by the cross, was adopted by the Church as easily comprehended and
executed. Hence arose the crosses still remaining, though frequently in a dila
pidated state; or the term, which has often outlived the erection in cities and
towns, where public business was formerly transacted, and where fairs and
markets are still held. Even in our own time, persons who cannot write make a
cross as their mark of sanction to any agreement, which doubtless has descended
rom this ancient custom. The sign of the cross probably originated in the
scriptural mode of setting up stones as a witness to a covenant, which was done
by Jacob and Laban, and as boundary marks for pasturage, in which way the
cairns of Scotland even now limit the shepherd’s track.
The Hand-Book of Fountains, and a Guide to the Gardens of Versailles.
By Freeman Roe.------ R. Groombeidge & Sons, Paternoster Row.
The contents of this little book are designed to draw attention to the use of
fountains as a valuable and desirable decoration to parks, gardens, &c.; to
show what taste has done and may accomplish; point out the mechanical
contrivances, appliances, and the resources necessary, or which may be
available; and, finally, give an indication for the direction of design. And,
as an eminent hydraulic engineer, Mr. Roe is well qualified to instruct us in
all these matters ; he has also devised some very important improvements in
the construction of fountains, and his work before us contains a variety of
designs, exhibiting much taste and picturesqueness in their embellishments
and general effect.
It certainly is rather unaccountable that, with all the power of machinery
at our command, hydraulic embellishments have been but little attended to
in this country. On this topic, our author is eloquent. “ Whilst natural
forms of fountains and gushing streams,” he writes, “ suggest a ready
imitation in our gardens or domains, the infinity of forms and shapes which
the fluid may be made to assume would seem to open a wide field for artistical
taste and display. As the most beauteous scenery in nature would be divested
of its charms were it deprived of the water, which, in its tortuous course,
or sudden and continuous gush, realizes to our eyes the height of beauty, so
it would appear that as we do not avail ourselves of the agency of water, or
if we do so, only to a trifling extent in the ornament of artificial parterres,
we lose one of the brightest charms which might be imparted to them.
With, from the improvement of hydraulic art, unlimited sources of supplies
of water at our command, and a fluid capable of assuming any form in design
to which art may direct its course, there is little doubt but that the neglect
of Fountains has resulted from a want of knowledge of the principles upon
which they should be constructed, and that when these are better known,
they will become an essential to every domain where beauty is the object or
study of the garden architect. It is not alone, however, in country scenery
that the use of Fountains is desirable. What would more relieve the mono
tony of the walk in crowded cities, and what prove more conducive to the
�REVIEWS.
55
cleansing, purification and cooling of the atmosphere and streets, than were
they placed at every available spot ? In the latter point of view, they must
be considered of no little importance, as aids in sanatory measures for securing
the health of the population.”
A guide to the gardens of Versailles, our readers will perceive, is appended
to the work.
A Peep into Toorkisihan. By Captain Rollo Burslem.
Pelham Richardson, Cornhill.
A soldier’s notes of his travels—light, graphic, and dashing. Captain
Burslem’s book is what it professes to be, and will be read with avidity. It
is a peep into Toorkisthan, a gallant officer’s peep, and is not encumbered
with the statistical and fiscal details, generally imperfect and invariably
heavy, which have weighed down so many a book of travels into the dust of
neglect and oblivion.
The route pursued, from Cabul to Koollum, is one rarely traversed by
Europeans. Captain Burslem accompanied Lieut. Sturt, who was ordered
professionally to survey the passes of the Hindoo Khosh :—
“ On the 13th of June,” says our author, “ we commenced our ramble, in
tending to proceed to Balkh by the road through Bameean, as we should then
have to traverse the principal passes of Hindoo Khosh, and our route would be
that most likely to be selected by an army either advancing from Bokhara on
Cabul or moving in the opposite direction. The plundering propensities of the
peasantry rendered an escort absolutely necessary, and ours consisted of thirty
Affghans belonging to one of Shah Soojah’s regiments, under the command of
Captain Hopkins. As Government took this opportunity of sending a lac of
rupees for the use of the native troop of Horse-Artillery stationed at Bameean,
our military force was much increased by the treasure-guard of eighty Sipahis
and some remount horses; so that altogether we considered our appearance
quite imposing enough to secure us from any insult from the predatory tribes
through whose haunts we proposed travelling.”
Our author had thus every facility to become acquainted with these wild
regions, and each chapter of his book is a proof how well he became
acquainted with them. At a short distance from the pass of Akrobad, which
divides Affghanistan from Toorkisthan, Captain Burslem and his fellowtravellers met Sirdar Jubber Khan, the brother of Dost Mahomed, on his
way to Cabul from the interior of Toorkisthan. Madame D’Arblay, in her
lately published Memoirs, shows how wearisome a thing was etiquette in the
Court of George III.; Captain Burslem shows its inconvenience in com
muning with an Oriental potentate, when etiquette compels a compliance
with Oriental customs. Either body or mind, it appears, must be cramped.
He thus describes his interview with Jubber Khan:—
“ During our visit he presented us each with a small silver Mahommedan
coin, saying at the same time with a peculiar grace and dignity that he was
now a poor man, and entirely dependent on the generosity of the British; that
the coin was of no intrinsic value, but still he hoped we would remember the
donor Much as we respected the character of our host, I could not but regret
that he had not yet picked up the English habit of siting on a chair; for what
with tight pantaloons and a stiff uniform, I got so numbed by sitting cross-legged
like a tailor, that when the interview was over I could not rise from my
cramped position without assistance, much to the amusement of Jubber Khan,
whose oriental gravity was entirely upset.”
The use of horse-flesh, as an article of diet, is not confined to the prepa
ration of London saveloys and sausages. Very few aged horses were met
�56
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
with in Captain Burslem’s route ; he found, on enquiry, that the animals
often broke down, when young, in consequence of the hardships they had to
endure ; they were then killed, and made into kabobs. The eating-houses in
Cabul and Candahar always require a good supply of this delicacy, which is
highly relished by the natives, and when mixed with spices, hardly dis
tinguishable from other kinds of animal food. We close our notice of this
pleasant volume with further dietetic information, especially interesting to
the curious in the cups that cheer but not inebriate :—
“ In the afternoon the chief of Mather called to pay his respects, bringing a
present of fruit and sheep’s milk; the latter I found so palatable, that I
constantly drank it afterwards; it is considered very nutritious, and is a
common beverage in Toorkisthan, where the sheep are milked regularly three
times a day. Goats are very scarce, cows not to be seen, but the sheep’s milk
affords nourishment in various forms, of which the most common is a kind of
sour cheese, being little better than curdled milk and salt. Tea is also a
favourite drink, but is taken without sugar or milk; the former is too expensive
for the poorer classes, and all prefer it without the latter. Sometimes a mixture
such as would create dismay at an English tea-table is handed round, consisting
principally of tea-leaves, salt, and fat, like very weak and very greasy soup,
and to an European palate most nauseous. We could never reconcile our ideas
to its being a delicacy. Tea is to be procured in all large towns hereabouts, of
all qualities and at every price; at Cabul the highest price for tea is £5 sterling
for a couple of pounds’ weight; but this is of very rare quality, and the leaf so
fine and fragrant that a mere pinch suffices a moderate party.
What would our tea-drinking old ladies say for a few pounds of that delicious
treasure? This superfine leaf reaches Cabul from China through Thibet,
always maintaining its price; but it is almost impossible to procure it
unadulterated, as it is generally mixed by the merchants with the lesser
priced kind. The most acceptable present which a traveller could offer in
Toorkisthan would be fire-arms or tea-, the latter is a luxury they indulge in to
excess, taking it after every meal; but they seldom are enabled to procure "it
without the lawless assistance of the former.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
We have to thank Mr. Melvill, the East India Company’s Secretary, for his
courteous intimation of supplying us, for the purposes of the Indian Examiner,
with Copies of all Papers printed by Order of the General Court of the East
India Company for the use of Proprietors of East India Stock. We shall lay
before our readers ample details of all these documents as they severally appear.
M. P.’s communication has been received, We trust his speculations as to
the probable circulation of our Magazine may be fully realized. We have al
ready secured a large and influential List of Subscribers, and its Dumber is daily
increasing.
Copies of the following Works have been forwarded us: they will all be duly
noticedin our next Number:—Mr. Eisenberg On Diseases of the Feet—The
Student’s Help, and Paradise Lost Italianized, by Guido Sorelli—A Manual of
Book-Keeping—Mr. Evans’ Statement as to Lord Nelson’s Coat, fyc.—Bensley’s
Louis XIV. andhis Contemporaries—CalcuttaReview, No. IX.—Messrs. Chambers’
Allas of Modern and Ancient Geography—§*c. fyc.
Mr. Melbrook has also transmitted us one of his Chemical Razor-Strops, which we have
tried, and found most admirable. To our razor-using readers, we strongly recommend the
instrument; its sharpening powers are absolutely marvellous.
All Communications, Books for Review, Advertisements, fyc., to be addressed to the
Editor, on or before the 28th of each Month, to the care of the Publishe’s; or to
Mr. A. Munro, at the “ Indian Examiner" Office, No. 8, Neu- Turnstile,
Lincoln's Inn Fields.
�
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The Indian Examiner, and Universal Review. Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1846
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Text
I
CHRISTIANITY AND EDUCATION
IN INDIA.
LECTURE
A
DELIVERED AT ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LONDON,
NOVEMBER 12, 1871.
BY
A.
JYRAM
ROW,
OF MYSORE.
PUBLISHED
BY THOMAS
MOUNT PLEASANT, RAMSGATE.
Price Sixpence.
SCOTT,
�»ae
�HINDU
EDUCATION.
Ladies and Gentlemen,—The subject we are come
together this evening to consider is one, the import
ance of which it is scarce possible to estimate too
highly. Viewed in its integrity—in the vastness of
the interests at stake on its proper solution—interests,
not simply of a speculative character, but as connected
with the destinies of a considerable portion of man
kind, I should be more sanguine than wise if I
flattered myself that I could do the barest justice
to it.
Agitated as is the human mind in our times with
thousands of questions, more or less directly bearing
on human advancement, I know none more exciting
in their immediate interest, more momentous in their
ultimate results, in short, more imperative in their
demand on our deepest attention, than those which
have for their solution the complicated phenomena of
social science. Of these, the subject of education, it
will be conceded on all hands, must ever stand out
prominently as the question of questions.
But it is not the question of education in general
that I propose to myself, but the more circumscribed
one of Hindu education. I propose to bring before
you the present state of education in India, its short
comings, and the nature of the emendations it stands
in need of, if it is to succeed at all in the object for
which it has been undertaken. I may further pre
mise that I shall deal with the subject, not only in
its bearings on the regeneration of India, but also in
�4
Christianity and Education in India.
its wider relations to the advancement of science and
the promotion of human welfare in general.
It is well known that in India there are two
systems of education working side by side,—the one
secular and the other religious,—the one conducted
by the Government, the other by Christian Mis
sionaries sent out by this country for the conversion
of the Hindus. Now to take the last first.
rar be it from me to ignore the noble spirit that
supports this enterprise; and farther still to traduce
wantonly, or speak in a spirit of levity of, anything
connected with it. So long as these magnificent
efforts on your part at self-sacrifice are made under
the conviction that we, pagans and heathens, are lost
uidess brought to embrace your faith, and bend our
knees to your idols; so long, I repeat, we cannot be
too grateful. But sooner or later the truth must out,
and, I am sure, you will bear with me, if my very
gratitude for what you are doing for us compels me
to speak candidly the bare unvarnished truth on the
subject. I can conscientiously state, then, and every
one who has any personal knowledge of India will bear
me out in this statement, that Christianity, in spite
of all the efforts of all its zealous apostles, has not
succeeded, and is never likely to succeed, in the land of
the Hindus. It is a notorious fact that, notwith
standing the unremitted operation now nearly for a
century of a vast machinery, specially designed for
this purpose, and worked under the most favourable
auspices, Christianity cannot name its proselytes from
any part of the more intelligent and educated classes
of our community whose total number at any time
could not be counted on one’s fingers. Not less
notorious is the fact that nine hundred and ninetynine out of every thousand of the converted Hindus
are from the very dregs, the Parias, of our population.
There is scarcely, too, one in a thousand among them
who can so much as conceive the simplest points of
�Christianity and Education in India.
5
divergence between the faith he has abandoned and
the faith he has embraced.
The rationale of this inevitable state of things is
not very far to seek. The whole of the Hindu com
munity, for our present purpose, may be divided into
four classes, not in accordance with the ordinary
distinction of castes, but with the mental peculiarities
observable among them. Our first division will com
prise those who have received no education, either
English or Hindu ; the second, those who possess an
elementary knowledge of English, with a tolerable
acquaintance with their own literature; while the
third shall hold together those who, not being satis
fied with the rudiments of education vouchsafed them
by their thrifty Government, have pushed their
curiosity into the forbidden precincts of science, as
far, at least, as their unassisted efforts might avail
them, and have made themselves familiar, if not with
the more recondite truths and processes of its various
departments, at least with their general results, and
the more fundamental methods of inductive investiga
tion. There remains now the fourth class to cha
racterize, which, after the above assignments, must
evidently consist of those Hindus who, though devoid
of English education, and a knowledge of European
science, are yet the repositories of all that is highest
and soundest in Hindu philosophy and Hindu science,
such as they may be. Now to review each class, in
order, in its relations to Christianity and the possible
points of contact between them, where alone the
latter might exert any influence.
We have seen that the characteristic of our first
division is the absence of all education. And hence
the presence of ignorance in unmitigated intensity.
Now ignorance and superstition must ever go
hand in hand.
The rampant extravagances of the
latter are a necessary consequence of the former.
The same faculty of analogical reasoning, which
�6
„
Christianity and Education in India.
under due subordination to wide inductions and
subject to continued processes of verification or correc
tion, results in the highest triumphs of science, leads,
in the absence of these safeguards, to the grossest
fallacies of thought and belief. Fetishism is a natural
concomitant of this stage of our mental development.
There is no place here for either metaphysical or
positive conceptions. There is as little possibility of
metaphysical abstractions making impression upon the
dim consciousness of ignorance, as of the comprehen
sive generalisations of positive science being grasped
by its narrow faculties.
Hence the only religion
possible at this stage is the religion of sense. The
more sensuous the conceptions, the more tangible the
images presented for adoration, the firmer is their
hold upon the ignorant mind. The slightest infusion
of anything like abstraction is eschewed and thrown
out as unassimilable with its simple organisation. Now
Christianity, with its medley of dogmas and theories,
half fetishistic, half metaphysical, has far less chance of
success here than a religion that is purely fetishistic.
The one is easy of comprehension to the most un
tutored mind; while the other bristles up with
inconsistencies incapable of reconciliation by the
subtlest intellect. Further, if sensuous accessories
are at all requisite, stocks and stones, idols and
oracles, are far better helps to devotion than the
pulpit or the priest—the surplice or the sermon.
But independently of the intrinsic unfitness of
Christianity, the conduct of the missionary is scarce
better fitted to ensure success. It is very rarely that
he masters the vernaculars sufficiently to make him
self easily intelligible to his native audience. Even
where this superlative merit is achieved by the
grumbling apostle, he scarce forgets the whiteness of
his skin, his easy five hundred a year, or his com
fortable bungalow, with its pankas and tattees, when
he sees the dark masses rolling on before him,
�Christianity and Education in India.
7
doomed to work under a tropical sun. When he
addresses himself to them, perhaps once in a week,
and for half an hour in a thoroughfare, he is full as
conscious of his superiority as when lolling on
cushioned sofas in the luxurious abandonment of a
midday repose ; or when driving his beautiful phaeton
and pair of an evening through fashionable walks, to
enjoy the glories of a setting sun or the grateful
breezes of approaching night. It is beneath him to
mix with them freely—to talk to them familiarly—
and therefore to understand how to influence their
minds effectually. Is it a matter of surprise, then,
if his hebdomadal harangues, more remarkable for
periodic sententiousness and dramatic accompani
ments of voice and gesture, than earnestness of
purpose or common sense, should fall on careless ears ?
And yet this is the class from which the ranks of
Hindu Christianity are oftenest supplied. We have
seen there is nothing specially adapted in the new
religion, nor anything specially attractive in the
behaviour of the missionaries to bring about such a
result. Is it then an easy frame of mind in these
ignorant Hindus or their indifference that supplies
the explanation? No, they are bigoted enough and
tenacious too, like other Hindus, in what they consider
to be right, not to succumb to ordinary influences.
It is their poverty, or vitiated course of life, that
makes them take refuge in a change of social con
dition. The converted Hindu is always provided for
by Christian munificence, if not in every case liberally,
at least in a way to satisfy every reasonable demand
of nature. Can you wonder, then, if a few unfortu
nate or unprincipled Hindus would gladly take
shelter under a religion that does not leave the poor to
starve, nor compel the idle to work. But this same
supply which feeds expiring Christianity in India,
and gives it for a time a delusive appearance of
vitality and growth, carries with it, in reality, in'
B
�8
Christianity and Education in India.
evitable seeds of decay and death. The contempt
and disgust, which these dissipated and ignorant
wretches engender in every mind, are in themselves
a sufficient bar to its progress among the better
classes.
But enough of this. Let us proceed to our second
division—those Hindus, namely, who have received
a tolerably good English education, and are therefore
in a position to come more directly under the influence
of the Missionaries. Do these, at least, profit by the
light so considerately proffered them ? I am afraid
the position of Christianity is more hopeless here
than in the last case. I am afraid what is recom
mended to them as light, is looked upon by them
more as an ignis fatuus, decoying them to deeper
sloughs of error and superstition, than as an unmis
takable beacon leading to the calm haven of truth.
Whatever defects may have been laid at our door by
European opinionists, intelligence at any rate—at
least one kind of intelligence—has never been denied
us, even by the boldest amongst them. It is nothing
strange, therefore, if the same exercise of faculties which
leads the inquiring Hindu to question his own beliefs,
leads him also to question others recommended in their
stead. Once the spirit of Scepticism roused in him,
he knows no moderation. In his eyes authority be
comes mockery—faith impotence.
Free from the
magic of superstition, he becomes conscious of his
own strength. No dogma is too sacred—no explana
tion too plausible, to escape his rude challenge.
Hence, it is easy to conceive what treatment Christi. anity, with its manifold defects, has to expect from
his tender mercies. He pounces upon the thousand
metaphysical difficulties which surround its doctrines
and which have puzzled the ingenuity of its highest
philosophers, without being brought one step nearer to
a satisfactory solution. Nay, he rips open its very
fundamental conceptions, dragging to light every
�Christianity and Education in India.
9
•inconsistency, inconsequence, and self-contradiction
lurking or enshrined therein; while their helpless
champion, trembling with horror but unable to stop
this work of vandalism, wonders if heaven’s wrath
had spent its lightnings.
Meantime, the havoc pro
ceeds. The shattered images crowd on every side,—
the different attributes of the Godhead, so necessary
to Christian Orthodoxy, but so irreconcilable with
one another, and, therefore, incapable of predication
together; the strange doctrine of prayer, so useless if
God be just, so impious, so blasphemous, if it implies
his openness to flattery or adulation ; the enjoined
duty of a simultaneous belief in Predestination and
Free-Will, an impossibility both of thought and fact;
the necessity of inherited sin, and salvation through
the sufferings of an innocent God, a conception more
allied to wild caprice or wanton blood-thirstiness,
than any notion of justice or equity possible to hu
man intelligence, and yet a conception constituting
the essence of a Christian’s speciality as respects the
other believers in the Unknown and Unknowable: and
to crown all, this very salvation, worked through
centuries of human suffering and crowned with the
sufferings of a God, proving no salvation to the
greater part of mankind, who could scarce help
wondering if it might not be a deception of the
unholy Spirit working in the dark for our ruin: a
scheme, in short, so clumsy and unavailing, though
brought out in such wanton defiance of every law,
natural and moral, and worked with all the tentative
skill of Supreme Wisdom, improving upon itself
through experience of five thousand years, that it
leaves as much sin, suffering, and ignorance now in
the world as when it found them; a scheme, in fine,
which even human pride might blush to own.
Such is a rough sketch of the pugilistic skill of our
Hindu controversialist of the second class. 'If he
bares his breast to the fist of his antagonist, he ex-
�io
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acts a like courtesy from the opposite side. He knows
not the meekness that would present you the second
cheek to smite, when you have smitten the first.
But this would not do. This is contrary to all
acknowledged precedents and rules of Missionary
warfare in all heathen lands. Give but not receive,
is its motto ; and it is not our modern Missionary
that would derogate from his dignity as an infallible
mouthpiece of Pure Wisdom so low as to forget this
excellent precept. But whether from this motive or
from a lurking suspicion in his own breast that
“ Something is rotten jn the state of Denmark,” it is
a significant fact, the Missionary ever avoids an
educated Hindu. Though the conversion of one such
would be far more favourable to his cause than that of
a thousand ignorant unprincipled wretches, he never
attempts to convert him. It is almost ludicrous to
see the studious solicitude with which the anxious
apostle shuns all contact with him as with a dreaded
imp of evil. But unfortunately, as ill luck sometimes
would have it, his care is not always successful. Very
often some enterprising Hindu ferrets him out actual
ly to pay off for many a blow and poisoned shaft
aimed at him and his beliefs from behind his back.
And then, when once they are brought face to face,
the former, in whose constitution a love of contro
versy may almost be said to be hereditary, and now
smarting too from a sense of injury, hurls at his
antagonist every objection in its most damaging shape
with all the ingenuity of a Hindu brain; while the
latter, goaded to the quick and surprised out of his
usual reserve, but unable to maintain even a show of
contest, either flies into a passion, which is worse than
defeat, or gets entangled in platitudes, which produce
only mischievous merriment in his opponent.
But this is not all. The educated Hindoo, however
ignorant of science himself, does not fail to see,—and
living as he does in the nineteenth century can he
�Christianity and Education in India.
11
help seeing?—that the identical faith, which is so
strongly recommended for his adoption in India, is
exposed to a life-and-death struggle from the rapid
advances of science in the very land of its highest
triumphs, in the very cradle of its early successes.
Under these circumstances, is it not a matter of course
that the intelligent Hindoo should not rush forward
blindly to embrace what seems to him not only the
losing, but the erroneous side ?
If then Christianity has no chance, as we have seen,
with our first and second classes, how much more
unlikely is it that it should succeed with the third,
which comprises the most advanced amongst us:—those, that is, who combine, to a knowledge of the
English Language, a tolerable acquaintance with the
results of modern science and the principal processes
of its investigations ? It is not those, who have learnt
to regard the constancy and uniformity of Nature aa
the highest dicta of experience and the only foundation
of sure knowledge, that would accept your arbitrary
interpositions, sudden suspensions, and unnatural
intersections of natural laws, as any thing more than
the vagaries of a morbid imagination.
It is not
those, who have learnt to trace the operation of un
alterable causes, not only in the progressive develop
ment of life, not only in the gradual formation of our
globe, nor yet only in the slow emergence of the
system to which it belongs, but quite as well in the
general evolution of the whole universe in all its
details, and from times reaching backwards beyond
the power of calculation, that would believe them to
have failed or been set aside during one insignificant
life-time, on one insignificant spot of earth, for the
immediate benefit of one insignificant [art of one
insignificant race. It is not such, therefore, that
would swallow, at the bidding of the missionary, any
miracles that it might please him or his book to pro
pound. It is not down the throats of such that the
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Christianity and Education in India.
missionary may hope to cram his speaking donkeys
and suns that stand paralysed in their course. Nay,
they would not condescend even to wonder at the
existence of such beliefs in our times. To them,
credulity begot of ignorance and fostered by prejudice
supplies the necessary explanation.
But their position does not stop here. Armed
with positive knowledge, and commanding every
avenue to error, they fear not to charge into the
heart of the enemies’ camp. Their lance is at rest for
no ordinary prize. It seeks the heart-blood—the
sine qua non—of all superstition and error. In other
words, they join issue with their opponents on the
question of those very beliefs, without which not only
Christianity, but every other religion, in the usual
meaning of the term, becomes impossible. They con
tend, in short, that the popular idea, that what we
call the soul or mind is an independent entity, a some
thing quite distinct from the body and capable of
existence without it; and the supplementary notion,
that there is a conscious personal being, who is the
creator and ruler of the universe; are, to say the least
of it, notions which find support neither in nature
nor in reason.
Instead, therefore, of Christianity making any pro
gress among our third class Hindus, they are more
likely to contribute to its final and general rejection
by their countrymen.
But what of the fourth division 1
With the
Hindus belonging to this class at least, it might be
imagined, there must be better hope.
Neither
acquainted with modern science nor blind to the
gross superstitions common among their less educated
brethren, they must surely be more favourably
disposed to receive Christianity if properly presented
to them. Unfortunately for the cause of unfounded
hopes, the probabilities once more go hard against
such fond anticipations. The state of society in India,
�Christianity and Education in India.
13
in respect of beliefs and principles of action is, and
has been for a long time, very much like what that of
Greece and Rome used to be in their palmiest days.
In Rome and Greece, we know, the beliefs of the
higher and more educated classes—of their so-called
philosophers—had very little in common with the
superstitions of their less advanced countrymen. If
they tolerated them, or rather if they seemed them
selves to share in them, it was only from prudential,
self-interested considerations. They knew, too, that
all men could not be philosophers, nor was it desirable
that all should be. Something very similar to this
obtains now in Hindu Society. The Philosophers
or Pundits of India are not what they seem. If they
encourage the popular beliefs, it is purely from motives
of policy and self-interest. Their philosophy is too
subtle for the mass, nor is it their interest to
popularize it. They are the priests of the nation ;
and you know how everywhere the priests are jealous
of knowledge among any but themselves.
Their
power everywhere is in a direct ratio to the ignorance
around them.
Accordingly the Brahmin has two
schools—the esoteric and the exoteric, the one full of
ceremonies, prayers, penances, with all the remaining
paraphernalia of religious denomination, the other, of
philosophic discussions relative to the explanation of
the phenomena of the universe. The former is meant
to satisfy the wild cravings of untutored imagination
and utilize the emotional energies of aboriginal nature
for purposes of social economy; while the . latter
furnishes gratifications to choicer spirits seeking in
tellectual luxuries and contemplative repose.
Now of all the systems of philosophy I have any
knowledge of—whether the systems of ancient Greece
and Rome, the Peripatetic, the Sceptic, or the Epicu
rean ; their later developments in those of the schools ;
or still later forms—the modern systems of Kant,
Cousin, and Hamilton—I have no hesitation in pro-
�14
Christianity and Education in India.
nouncing the Vadantic philosophy of the Hindus the
most logical and profound. It makes the nearest ap
proach, I know of any, to the strict requirements of
modern scientific thought. In its fundamental aspects,
it is enough to add here, it resembles the system of
Mill and Bain.
It is a. well-known fact that Buddhism, in its origi
nal purity, was an offshoot of Hindu philosophy.
Buddha, who was familiar with its deepest mysteries,
but who. endeavoured to organize them into a religion,
was obliged, evidently to meet the grosser apprehen
sion of the masses, to make a compromise between the
requirements of logical precision and the necessities of
a practical reduction. It was accordingly an abortion
between philosophy and religion ; an unsuccessful
attempt to reconcile the rational and emotional natures
of man. It would neither satisfy the conditions of
pure reason, nor give scope to the full play of feeling.
And yet this system, abortive as it manifestly is, has
been pronounced,, even by European critics, the most
rational religion in the world. How much greater
must be the superiority then, of that philosophy over
all religions, of which Buddhism is but an offshoot,
and an inferior offshoot too !
There is.one circumstance connected with this phil
osophy which at first has a very misleading effect: I
mean the peculiarly difficult and almost mystical
phraseology in which its doctrines are couched. But
this, far from, being a demerit, ought to constitute a
recommendation in its favour, since it enabled the
enunciation of the subtlest and profoundest truths in a
language singularly consistent, accurate, and powerful.
Anything more than a hasty glance at some of its
principal features would be not only out of place, but
would demand far more space and time than can be
afforded in a lecture like this. I shall select, therefore,
a few salient points for comparison.
The Berkleyan theory of what is improperly called
�Christianity and Education in India.
15
Idealism, which reduces both the objective and subjec
tive worlds to Permanent Possibilities of Sensation,
and which is beyond doubt the most logical theory
yet conceived by the European intellect, is distinctly
stated, and enforced by powerful reasoning in this
Philosophy of the Hindus, now so many centuries old.
When it enunciates the grand truth that the internal
and external worlds are merely the varying manifesta
tions of oue and the same principle ‘ Maya,’ the
ignorant dabbler in Hindu philosophy translates the
word in its ordinary acceptation, and pronounces the
doctrine absurd. If he had only the patience to master
the language in which it is closed before jumping to a
conclusion, he would find that, as in English or any
other language, the popular and philosophic significa
tions of words are different, and sometimes almost
contradictory. The ordinary meaning of ‘Maya’ is
certainly delusion, but the philosophic value of it is as
certainly—the system of phenomena in contradistinc
tion to noumena—the totality of existence, real and
potential, regarded as possible or actual groups of sen
sations. So that the theory of ‘ Maya,’ as it is gene
rally called, is far from being what it is ignorantly
taken for. On the contrary, it is the enunciation of
the doctrines of the school of Mill and Bain in strict
philosophical language.
The modern theory of evolution, again, is plainly
shadowed forth in this philosophy, where it resolves
the first cause, not into an unmeaning change of
expression—“ a guiding and controlling intelligence”
—but into a principle, unconscious, self-existent, and
ever-changing—a principle of which concrete existence
in all its varieties is only an expression of varying
aspects. Thus the only First Cause that this philosophy
recognizes, is the first cause also of modern science—
matter with its properties.
One more point worthy of notice here is the theory
of necessity or fate. The first cause itself is subject to
�16
Christianity and Education in India.
it; rather necessity is itself one of its properties. Hence
it followed also that everything in the universe, being
but a manifestation of the first principle, is equally
necessary in respect of its co-existence or sequence.
This doctrine, it will be seen, is nothing more nor less
than the general uniformity and constancy of nature
which forms the ground-work of science. It is true
this doctrine, under the name of Asiatic Fatalism, has
been ridiculed by persons who neither understood its
unassailable foundation in fact, nor could distinguish
between its legitimate consequences, awful enough, to
confuse their narrow apprehension, and the illegiti
mate or unnecessary ones imported into the question
by their own incapable reasonings. But however
ignorantly ridiculed, or whatever preposterous effects
have been ascribed to it, the doctrine itself stands up
a sublime monument of Hindu thought at a time when
even the bulk of educated intellects of Europe are not
prepared for its intelligent reception.
Even the common version of the Hindu Trinity
is a fallacy of misconception. The popular notion of
the three deities—Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva is
merely a flesh and-blood personification of the three
fundamental generalisations of our philosophy, of the
universe. These are respectively the constructive, the
restorative, and the degenerative or destructive prin
ciples in nature. They were no doubt suggested by
a careful observation of the operations of natural
agencies around us. Their truth is now acknowledged
by all, and requires no special amplification. Only it
deserves to be remarked how even such a simple belief
of the uneducated Hindu as that in the three gods,
turns out to be merely a stultification of the wisdom
of his philosophers, who centuries ago recognised
principles of nature but recently discovered by modern
science.
If we had time we might dig deeper into this won
derful philosophy, and bring to light richer ores of
�Christianity and Education in India,
xy
truth and reasoning ; but we must stop. Nor will
such work be necessary for our present object, if what
we have seen of it, slight as it is, has given us some
idea of the rich stores of wisdom that are the birth
right and pride of the Hindu Pundit. Is it this Pun
dit, then, that would renounce such a legacy of sublime
conceptions for the no-philosophy and bad science of
the missionary ?
Thus the chances of Christianity in India are small
indeed, after every allowance,—bad enough with the
first class, but worse with the second, and worst of all
with the third and fourth. Hence is its present un
satisfactory condition. Hence, too, its no better future.
As for the good which the missionaries are doing in
India in the way of imparting elementary English
education to the people, I gladly bear testimony to
their comparative success. But here, again, to show
our true gratitude to our benefactors, we, Hindus, can
do nothing better than try to convince them, as early
as we may, how absolutely unnecessary are these vast
sacrifices on their part for this purpose. India has
never been known to be a poor country. We can
stand perfectly well upon our own resources. Only
like the magic gate in the Arabian Nights’ Entertain
ments, the portals of our hidden energies open to no
sound but that of wisdom. Let but a little more dis
cretion and wit be infused into our administrative
element, and we shall never hear again the irrational
clang of debts and deficits. What we want is not
alms from others’ riches, but only wise direction to
develope our own. Our revenue, wisely expended,
would not only defray all governmental expenses, but
would leave a surplus more than enough for the con
struction and working of the most efficient educational
machinery ever known.
Under these circumstances can we d o betteT than re
mind our simple well-wishers, that ch arity had better
begin at home. Looking on the condition of the
�18
Christianity and Education in India.
working-classes in this country, can any body doubt
for a second that they need every farthing, that the
superfluous wealth of their more favoured country
men could ever spare ? Neither need I insist that
they alone deserve these good offices—at least deserve
them with far greater right than we may ever pretend
to do.
Having thus completed our survey of the position
of Christianity in India, let us now turn to the other
system of education, which is being conducted by the
Government in a purely secular spirit. It may be
desirable, however, to dispose of a preliminary diffi
culty in our way, relative to the supposed duties of a
Government. It may be, and it has been, asked if
the Government of India is under any obligations to
do more for its people in the way of their education
than the Governments of other countries, such as
those of Europe, for instance. To this question I
must reply, Yes. India is now in a phase of its
existence, in which it is weak enough to require a
guiding hand, but is strong withal to prove recal
citrant whenever its sense of justice is outraged—a
phase, in consequence, in which its destinies are
trembling in the balance, in which the highest delicacy
and foresight are requisite in those who have its
management to bring about results in any degree
conducive to the promotion of human welfare and
progi e 5S.
Such considerations, I admit, are of no higher
validity than those which have for their basis the
good of mankind. But unless dreamy transcendent
alism and empty inanities are to sway our notions,
I know no considerations more sacred or more bind
ing in any code of morality than these. If, therefore,
our Government be upright in its intentions, and not
mercenary—if its highest object be the advancement
of our race in mental and material prosperity, and
not the squeezing out the means of luxurious subsis-
�Christianity and Education in India.
19
tence for its officials from an enraged people, alike to
the detriment of its own stability and the welfare of
a whole nation :—if, I say, our Government be what
it ought to be, and my happy experience of seven and
twenty years justifies me in asserting that it has been
such in every essential element; then it will do for
the attainment of this noble object whatever will
conduce to it. Unflinching discussion and free ventila
tion of the opinions of every one interested in the
issue are necessary, not so much to cavil with what
has been done, as to show how best may be done
what yet remains to be done.
I shall proceed, therefore, to express my views
boldly on this much neglected subject, under the con
viction that they will meet with that amount of con
sideration which, if not their intrinsic worth, at
least their sincerity will demand from every thought
ful person.
In the Government system of education, then, the
one feature that stands out most glaringly is the
utter absence of what we understand by scientific
education from first to last in general instruction.
Nay, even what is taught is taught in an exceedingly
unscientific way. It is not only in respect of the
sort of instruction vouchsafed, but also in respect of the
manner in which it is imparted, that we have to com
plain of being left strangely behind the times. In
fact, such a state of things is inevitable so long as
the character of the staff of educational officers there
employed continues to be what it has been hitherto.
Throughout the whole educational staff in the Madras
Presidency, I cannot now recollect one name known
to science or philosophy. Beginning from the Pro
vincial School Head-Master up to the Director of
Public Instruction inclusive, the reign of ignorance
is supreme—ignorance in everything that constitutes
the real essence of knowledge. One might almost
stagger with dismay, if it did not border on unmiti-
�20
Christianity and Education in India.
gated contempt, to see the sublime innocence displayed
by these bearers of western light for the illumination
of the east:—innocence, sublime indeed, since it is
innocence in respect of those very sciences and
systems of belief, engendered thereby, which con
stitute the highest triumphs of modern western
civilisation.
Now to refer for a few seconds to the immense dis
advantages which a want of scientific education en
tails upon a nation. In the present day this reference
need not detain us long. It is enough to recollect
that every step forward in civilisation has been due
to some advance in science. In the world in which
we live we are surrounded by powers, conservative as
well as destructive, a knowledge of which, to some
extent at least, is necessary for our continued exist
ence ; while life, with any degree of comfort and
success, is possible only when we have mastered
them to considerable detail, and can utilize them
for our own purposes. Further, Nature is an inex
orable mistress. The slightest infringement of her
laws, whether through ignorance or perversity, is
alike avenged with the severest penalties. In the
reign of natural law reparation is impossible. It is
a deduction from the persistence of force that if we
make a single false step, we must be content to carry
its consequences with us to the grave. Hence the
inadequacy, the disadvantage of any system of educa
tion which does not include a knowledge of nature.
There is yet another aspect of the question, which
might bear a little further handling. I allude to the
rapid increase of population, particularly in civilised
countries, whose pent-up energies, under accumulating
pressure, must, in longer or shorter periods, find a
vent, as they have found already so often even under
less imminent circumstances, in acts of aggression or
wars of extermination against one another, or against
less favoured races. How helpless must be the con-
�Christianity and Education in India.
11
'dition of a people, then, who, from want of requisite
culture, are unable either to avert or withstand these
destructive irruptions! I know the time is yet far
off, thank our stars, when these volcanic outbursts of
human energy will become general. But is it the
less certain on that account, or should we be justified
in enjoying the delicious repose of the present in the
fancied security of a distant future ? No, we shall
not be a second too soon in urging upon our govern
ment the necessity of making us the best return for
our money in their power—of starting us with a fair
chance for the imminent struggle for existence looming
before us—for the threatening future so pregnant
with mysterious fates.
There is yet another consideration we might urge
with less selfish motives. The sooner an equilibrium
is established between the different civilised nations
in respect of power of self-maintenance or strength
of resistance, the better will it be for all parties con
cerned. The hurricanes of human violence that have
swept so often over the globe with such destructive
fury would have lost much of their vehemence if in
equalities in the distribution of power and the conse
quent tendency to a convective rearrangement had
been less pronounced.
But irrespective of negative considerations, are there
no positive benefits in the course I recommend to
accrue to mankind in general 1 I answer unhesitat
ingly, yes ! The process of natural selection, founded
as it is upon the fixation of favourable proclivities
through inheritance, and the elimination of un
favourable tendencies in the struggle for existence, is
a process not less operative in the evolution of
organic functions than in that of organic forms.
Further, there is no reason why a process, through
which such high results have already been achieved,
should not continue to bring about results higher
still. In point of fact, it is not only man that has
�22
Christianity and Education in India.
been evolved from lower forms, but higher races of
men are being developed from lower ones. It is true,
in this latter process, the operation of the principle
is far from being unobstructed as hitherto. But
though at several points along its line of action, its
force is being deflected for a time or even retarded
by antagonistic contact with the peculiar agency of
man’s psychological nature, which itself has brought
about; still its ultimate triumph is not for a moment
to be doubted. We have only to look into the past
history of mankind, imperfect as it is, and then
project ourselves in imagination into the future a
few centuries hence, when the conditions of existence
shall wax more stringent, and the struggle for sur
vival more violent, to be satisfied of the truth of
what I contend for.
Such being the case, does it not follow that the
better the materials presented for this law to work
upon—when the time should come for its unrestricted,
at any rate, more steady operation, the higher will
be the results attained 1 Is it not evident, too, that
the sooner we set about improving the general con
dition of mankind in order that, when the day
shall come, there may be always enough of the
to
best and highest type available to cover the whole
ground of survival without adulteration, the more
effectually shall we have assisted nature in its
progress to a glorious destiny 1 Now with such views
as these before us, both as to the present and the future,
can it be doubted for a moment that India, with its
already two hundred millions of people, covering in
extent no inconsiderable part of the habitable globe,
and endowed with powers of vitality and resistance
by no means contemptible, is destined to play a
significant part in the future history of mankind, or
that every step in human progress will be influenced
by the state of preparation and reach of antecedent
advancement, with which it shall enter the contest 1
�Christianity and Education in India.
23
Hence, even from a cosmopolitan point of view is
the course I recommend rendered a crying necessity.
But, independently of remote advantages, which,
however real, lose half their importance to the ordi
nary mind from their distance, are there no conside
rations of less equivocal significance and of a more
immediate bearing upon our collective interests 1 The
answer once more must be in the affirmative. We
have seen already that true progress consists in nothing
so much as in a successful cultivation of science—a
deepening insight into nature and her operations.
No amount of mere literary accomplishments—no
amount of mere analytical skill, if employed only in
the manipulation of a few abstract mathematical ideas
-—can avail us amidst the rigid and unbending pheno
mena of concrete existence.
Now, of these concrete phenomena, which cannot
be evolved deductively from a few comprehensive first
principles, no class of them is of more vital import
ance to us than that whose explanation we term
sociology or social science. Though there is scarcely
a department of natural knowledge which does not
in the long run, either directly or indirectly, contri
bute to our advancement, it must still be granted
that some are more useful to us in their immediate
results than others. A large proportion of our know
ledge is purely speculative, and has no bearing upon
our practical interests; while every additional cor
relation of its various factors tends more to the equili
brium of thought than utility in the ordinary accep
tation of the term. Hence those correlations which
result in useful applications naturally excite greater
interest in us, and are of more immediate importance,
than those which are purely of a theoretical character.
From this point of view, it is needless to remark'
the correlations of social science must evidently take
the precedence. But, unfortunately, in proportion to
their usefulness is also their difficulty.
Their satis-
�24
Christianity and Education in India.
factory establishment can be accomplished only by
those who combine to a knowledge of the other
sciences a familiar acquaintance with the different
methods of investigation applicable to different groups
of phenomena.
The truth of this statement will
become manifest when we recollect the position which
sociology assumes in the classification of the sciences
founded upon the principle of progressive complexity.
The social philosopher has to lay under contribution,
for the elucidation of his subject, not only the agencies
peculiar to itself, but also those regulating the condi
tions of other phenomenal sequences.
But further
more, not to speak of correct generalisations to be
achieved in this difficult science—even for a careful
sifting and selection of proper materials for arriving
at such—a preliminary knowledge of the kind we
have characterised is indispensable.
To know what
order of facts may be eschewed as having no bearing
upon any particular question in hand, and what order
are to be seized upon and tabulated for purposes of
further elaboration, is in itself a process possible only
under a previous scientific culture.
Now for a satisfactory settlement of many a con
tested point in social science, I know no country
better calculated to supply the necessary data than
Hindustan. The very fact that India contains such a
large population, broken up into so many races, each
speaking a different language and each presenting
different peculiarities, physical, social, intellectual and
moral; while yet a thread of broad community in
several respects runs through them all; must in itself
be a sufficient argument in its favour. Even a careful
observation and intelligent tabulation of these
interesting differences, with a running commentary
on the obvious causes thereof, placed alongside of
the results of a similar process applied to points of
resemblance, must I conceive inevitably lead to no
ordinary consequences. I feel convinced that as a
�Christianity and Education in India.
25
knowledge of the classic language of India first led to
the creation of a science already rich in results, but
richer far in the results it has yet in store for us, so
it is only a thorough knowledge of social institutions,
religious beliefs and other characteristic circumstances
connected with the Hindus that will place social
science on a sure scientific basis. We may almost
predict the various lines along which such a know
ledge is likely to extend its influence, after what we
know of the growth of philology and geology within
the last few years. In fact there are several points
of close resemblance between geology and sociology.
The customs, habits, beliefs, languages, &c. of the differ
ent nations are as it were the different strati cal systems
of social geology; while those preserved in their
literatures are the entombed fossils of anterior states,
wdiich taken with the present are capable of affording
as consistent and satisfactory an explanation of social
evolution as geology does of organic development.
The countries of Europe, as seen within the historical
period, are in one sense enough to illucidate the later
steps in this evolution ; in the same way as the
latest or tertiary rocks are sufficient to explain the
comparatively recent passage of man through the
three stages of flint, bronze, and iron.
But just
as for the comprehension of the far deeper and more
searching question of his origin, a careful study
of the earlier systems—the mesozoic and the palyozoic
—was found necessary; so a discriminating knowledge
of the more aboriginal institutions and literatures of
the eastern nations is indispensable for the explanation
of the more important problem of the genesis of society.
But of all eastern countries, no land presents, within
such a comparatively small area, a larger or a more
varied field for research than India. No country, too,
comprises within itself such varied systems of living
and dead forms of social life, reaching to the remotest
past, as India once more. Hence it is manifest the
�26
Christianity and Education in India.
study of India from a sociological point of view must
be of the last importance.
This, however, can be done with any approach to
efficiency only by those who are most intimately
familiar with the phenomena concerned; and are
capable at the same time of such intelligent work. It
must be evident therefore that it is only Hindus that
can successfully undertake this all important task. But
Hindus, though Hindus they be, would be worse than
useless if they had not the requisite preliminary
training. As for strangers attempting to accomplish
this end without native agency, they might as soon
attempt the merest impossibilities for aught one cares
about the result. So long as Europeans and Hindus
are what they are, no matter whose fault it is that
they cannot understand and do not sympathise with
one another, such must continue to be the case.
Hence an additional reason, the last but not the least
weighty I have herein adduced, why the Hindus should
receive a scientific education.
And now having thus brought these few reflections
on Hindu education to a close, it only remains for
me to thank you sincerely for the kind and indulgent
hearing you have accorded to my unequal attempt to
handle a subject full of the deepest interest and im
portance.
TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Christianity and education in India: a lecture delivered at St. George's Hall, London, November 12, 1871
Creator
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Row, A. Jyram
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 26 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Turnbull and Spears, Edinburgh.
Publisher
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Thomas Scott
Date
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[1872]
Identifier
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G5483
Subject
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Education
Christianity
India
Hinduism
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Christianity and education in India: a lecture delivered at St. George's Hall, London, November 12, 1871), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Christian Education-India
Conway Tracts
Hinduism
India