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Hif . Eccl. 2974 Dubois

Ex bibliotheca

Steph. Quatremeri.
 AUGUST 1830 ,

MODERN PUBLICATIONS,
AND

NEW EDITIONS
OP

VALUABLE STANDARD WORKS ,

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN , REES , ORME, BROWN, & GREEN,

London.

1.
DR. LARDNER's CABINET LIBRARY, to be published in
Monthly Volumes , small 8vo. price 5s . embellished .- Nearly ready.
This work, which has been some time in preparation , is intended to embrace such
subjects of powerful or immediate interest as do not fall within the regular plan of the
“ Cabinet Cyclopædia." It will be supported by the same class of Literary and Scientific
Contributors as the Cyclopædia, and will form a companion to that work.
BIBLIOTHECA

Volumes in Preparution .
. NCEISIS

I. THE MILITARY MEMOIRS OF ARTHUR , DUKE OF WELLINGTON , 2 Volumes .

II . THE LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH , 3 Volumes .
III . A BIOGRAPHICAL WORK , BY THOMAS MOORE , Esg.
2.
DR. LARDNER's CABINET CYCLOPÆDIA , published in
Monthly Volumes, small 8vo. price 6s.
MO

Volumes published ,
IX . OUTLINES OP HISTORY . 1 Vol.
!REGI

VIII . SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Vol. I.

I. IV . HISTORY OF SCOTLAND , in 2 Vols. By Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
II . HISTORY OF MARITIME AND INLAND DISCOVERY . Vol . I.
III . DOMESTIC ECONOMY . By M. Donovan , Esq. Vol. I.
V. MECHANICS . By Capt . H. Kater and Dr. Lardner.
VI . LIVES OF EMINENT BRITISH LAWYERS. By H. Roscoe, Esq .
VII . CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE WORLD , in 2 Vols. Vol. I. with Woodcuts.
To be published ,
Sept. 1.-THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS . 1 Vol.
3.
A CATALOGUE of all the PLANTS Indigenous, Cultivated in,
or Introduced to Britain . - PART I. The Linnæan Arrangement, in which nearly 30,000
Species are enumerated : preceded by an Introduction to the Linnean System . - Part II.
The Jussieuean Arrangement of nearly 4000 Genera ; with an Introduction to the Natural
System, and a General Description and History of eachOrder .
Edited by J. C. Loudon, F.L. H.G. and z.s. In 8vo . - Nearly ready .
The Linnæan Arrangement and its Supplenient are entirely the work of Mr. GEORGE
DUN ; the Natural Arrangement is founded on that of Professor LINDLEY, with some ad
ditions and alterations rendered necessary by the plan of this Catalogue ; and Dr. GREVILLE ,
the profound Cryptogamist, assisted in arranging the Cryptogàmia . Those who are ac
quaiuted with the present state of Botany, and with the Botanists of this country , will allow
that three gentlemen better adapted for co -operating in producing a Catalogue like that
now submitted to the public, are not to be found .
4.
TRAVELS in RUSSIA, and a Residence at St. Petersburgh and
Odessa, in the Years 1827-29 ; Inteuded to give some Account of Russia as it is , and not
as it is represented to be, & c. &c . By EvWARD MORTON , M.B. , Member of Trinity
! College, Cambridge, &c, & c. In 8vo. 145. bds.
5.
The BRITISH FLORA ; comprising the PHENOGAMOUS or
FLOWERING PLANTS , and the FERNS . By WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER, LL.D.
F.R.A. and L.S. Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow , &c. &c . In
I vol . royal 12mo. 12s. cloth bds .
The plan of the above work is similar to that of the first part of Dr. Hooker's “ Flora
Scotica . " The Mosses , and the rest of the Cryptogamia , will form a distiuct volume,
corresponding with the above, and with the “ English Flora" of the late Sir James Smith.
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MEMOIRS of the LIFE of SIR WALTER RALEGH, with
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A SYSTEM of UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY. By M. MALTE
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!
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 Printed for Longman , Rees, Orme, Brown , and Green. 3

15.
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vations on the Furniture of the Tudor Period . By T. F.Hunt, Architect. in royal 4to.
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An ARRANGEMENT of BRITISH PLANTS, according
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Study of Botany. By WILLIAM WITHERING , M.D. É.R.S. F.L.S. Member of the Royal
Academy of Sciences at Lisbon , &c . The Seventh Edition, with considerable additions,
including the most recent Discoveries, and numerous Annotations, illustrative of Vegeta.
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28 .
The LITERARY SOUVENIR, for 1830. Edited by ALARIC
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29 .
An ENCYCLOPÆDIA of PLANTS ; comprising the Descrip
tion , Specific Character , Culture, History, Application in the Arts, and every other desirable
particular respecting all the Plants indigenous, cultivated in , or introduced to Britain :
cumbining all the advantages of a Linnean and Jussieuean Species Plantarum , an Historia
Plantarum , a Grammar of Botany, and a Dictionary of Botany and Vegetable Culture .
The whole in English ; with the Synonymes of the commoner Plants in the different Euro
pean and other Languages ; the Scientific Names accentuated , their Etymologies ex
plained , the Classes , Orders, and Botanical Terms illustrated by Engravings, and with
Figures of nearly Ten Thousand Species , exemplifying several individuals belonging to
every Genus included in the work . Edited by J. C. LOUDON , F.L.S. H.8 . &c. The Spe
cific Characters, & c . by John LINDLEY , F.R.S. L.S. and G.S. &c. The Drawings by
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DENING ; comprising the Theory and MAGAZINE ) price 38.6d .
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The HISTORY of THUCYDIDES; newly translated into English,

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“ Recensio Synoptica Annotationis Sacræ ,” 3 vols . 8vo . with Maps, price 21. 5s .
31 .
A SYNOPSIS of the BRITISH FLORA, arranged according
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33 .
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43 .
PHILOSOPHY in SPORT made SCIENCE in EARNEST ;
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45 .
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 1

1
1
|

L
 LETTERS
ON

THE STATE OF CHRISTIANITY

IN

INDIA ;
IN WHICH

THE CONVERSION OF THE HINDOOS

IS CONSIDERED AS IMPRACTICABLE.

TO WHICH IS ADDED ,

A VINDICATION OF THE HINDOOS,

MALE AND FEMALE,
IN ANSWER TO A SEVERE ATTACK MADE UPON BOTH BY

THE REVEREND ***

BY THE ABBÉ J. A. DUBOIS,

MISSIONARY IN MYSORE ,
AUTHOR OF THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA .

Cujus vult miseretur, et quem vult indurat. Rom. ix. 18.

LONDON :
PRINTED FOR
LONGMAN , HURST, REES, ORME , BROWN, AND GREEN,
PATERNOSTER - ROW .

1823 .
 LONDON :
Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode,
New - Street- Square.
 TO

THE HONOURABLE

THE COURT OF DIRECTORS,

AS A MARK OF HIS GRATITUDE,

AND AS A TESTIMONY OF HIS MOST SINCERE WISHES

FOR THE TEMPORAL WELFARE OF THEIR

HINDOO SUBJECTS,

AFTER HAVING VAINLY ENDEAVOURED TO PROMOTE

THEIR SPIRITUAL INTERESTS ,

DURING A LONG RESIDENCE OF THIRTY - TWO YEARS

AMONG THEM, AS A RELIGIOUS TEACHER ,

THESE LETTERS

ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

BY

THEIR MOST OBEDIENT

AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

A 2
 ADVERTISEMENT.

These Letters were written at several periods,

to friends who had asked the Author's opinion
on the subjects therein discussed. Two of
them , the second and third, were addressed
to a dignitary of the established church, a
learned and liberal-minded gentleman, who,
so far from taking offence at the candour and
freedom with which the Author expresses
his sentiments, was pleased to return him his
unqualified thanks for the same. The others
were addressed tofriends, who appeared equally
satisfied at the independent, candid, and im
partial manner in which the subject was
treated, and who encouraged him to have the
whole published for the information of the
Public, among whom much misapprehension
prevailed, chiefly occasioned by many erro
neous statements, published of late years at
home, by many well-intentioned authors, who,
misled by too warm a zeal, and mistaking
their own religious creed as the common
 vi

standard which should rule all the human

race, and knowing nothing, or very little of
the invincible attachment of the people of
India to their religion and customs, expected
to be able to overcome the insurmountable
religious prejudices of the Hindoos, and
bring them at once to their own faith .
The Author has endeavoured to state (as
well as his very imperfect acquaintance with
the English language has enabled him to do)
with freedom , candour, and simplicity, the
desperateness of such an attempt. His
notions on the subject are derived from an
experience of thirty -two years of confidential
and quite unrestrained intercourse among the
natives of India, of all castes, religions, and
ranks ; during which, in order to win their
confidence, and remove suspicion, as far as
possible, he has constantly lived like them ,
embracing their manners, customs, and most
of their prejudices, in his dress, his diet, their
rules of civility, and good-breeding, and their
mode of intercourse in the world . But the
restraints under which he has lived during so
long a period of his life, have proved of no
advantage to him in promoting the sacred
 vii

cause in which he was engaged as a religious

teacher. During that time he has vainly, in
his exertions to promote the cause of Chris
tianity, watered the soil of India with his
sweats, and many times with his tears, at the
sight of the quite insurmountable obduracy
of the people he had to deal with ; ready to
water it with his blood, if his doing so had
been able to overcome the invincible resist
ance he had to encounter every where, in his
endeavours to disseminate some gleams of the
evangelical light. Every where the seeds
sown by him have fallen upon a naked rock,
and have instantly dried away.
At length, entirely disgusted at the total
inutility of his pursuits, and warned by his
grey hair that it was full time to think of his
own concerns, he has returned to Europe, to
pass in retirement the few days he may still
have to live, and get ready to give in his ac
counts to his Redeemer.
These Letters are now brought without
pretensions before the public, whose indul
gence the Author solicits, chiefly in what
may appear deficient in point of style. What
he states is not from hearsay, it is the result
of a long and attentive experience ; and he
 viii

will feel himself sufficiently rewarded for his

troubles, if his candid and unaffected state
ments can prove of any utility to a liberal
and indulgent Public .
LONDON, June 19. 1823.
 LETTER I.

To W. , Esq. - Mysore.

My dear Sir,
Some time ago, when conversing with you
on the subject of proselytism in India, which
seems of late to have considerably attracted
the attention of the public in England, and to
have given rise to much discussion among en
lightened persons, you appeared astonished at
the freedom of my opinions; and in order to
justify them , I promised you a further state
ment of my sentiments in writing. I will now
endeavour to fulfil my engagements, if not
with ability at least with fairness and candour.
The question to be considered may be re
duced to these two points : First, Is there a
possibility of making real converts to Chris
tianity among the natives in India ? Secondly,
Are the means employed for that purpose, and
above all, the translation of the Holy Scrip
B

G
 2

tures into the idioms of the country, likely to

conduce to this desirable object ?
To both interrogatories I will answer in the
negative : it is my decided opinion, first, that
under existing circumstances there is no hu
man possibility of converting the Hindoos, to
any sect of christianity, and, secondly, that the
translation of the Holy Scriptures circulated
among them, so far from conducing to this end,
will, on the contrary, increase the prejudices
of the natives against the christian religion,
and prove in many respects detrimental to it.
These assertions, coming from a person of my
profession, may to many appear bold and ex
traordinary ; I will therefore support them by
such arguments and proofs as a long experi
ence and practice in the career of proselytism
have enabled me to adduce .
Before I go farther, it will not be amiss to
say a few words about the manner in which
the christian religion was first brought into the
country ; and on the industry with which its
interests were managed by the first preachers.
The christian religion of the catholic per
suasion was introduced into India a little more
than three hundred years ago ; at the epoch
of the Portuguese invasions. One of the first
missionaries was the famous St. Francis Xavier,
a Spanish jesuit of the greatest merit, and ani
20
 3

mated with a truly apostolical zeal, and still

known under the appellation of the Apostle of
India. He traversed several provinces of India,
and is said to have made many thousand con
verts, at a period when the prejudices of the
natives against the christian religion were far
from reaching the height they have since at
tained. The cast of fishermen at Cape Como
rin, who are all christians, still pride themselves
in being the offspring of the first proselytes
made by that apostle.
Xavier şoon discovered in the manners and
prejudices of the natives an insurmountable
bar to the progress of christianity among them ,
as appears from the printed letters still extant,
which he wrote to St. Ignatius de Loyola, his
superior, and the founder of the order of the
jesuits.
At last Francis Xavier, entirely disheartened
by the invincible obstacles he every where
met in his apostolic career, and by the appa
rent impossibility of making real converts,
left the country in disgust, after a stay in it
of only two or three years ; and he embarked
for Japan, where his spiritual labours were
crowned with far greater success, and laid the
foundation of those once numerous and flou
rishing congregations of Japanese christians,
B 2
 4

who, within a period of less than a century,

amounted to more than a million of souls. At
this time their daily-increasing numbers threat
ening to supplant the religion of the country,
awakened the jealousy and alarm of the Bonzes
and other directors of the popular faith , and
gave rise to one of the severest persecutions
ever recorded in the annals of christianity,
and which ended in the total extermination
of the christians. After an interval of nearly
two hundred years, this spirit of intolerance
and persecution is still continued, as appears
from the conduct observed to this day by the
Japanese government towards the Europeans
trading to their shores, and from some other
circumstances.
The disappointment and want of success
of Xavier ought to have been sufficient to
damp the most fervent zeal of the persons
disposed to enter the same career. When a
man of his temper, talents, and virtues , had
been baffled in all his endeavours to introduce
christianity into India , his successors could
scarcely flatter themselves with the hope of
being more fortunate . However, this was not
the case . His jesuit brethren in Europe were
not to be deterred by difficulties or contradic
tions in undertaking, where the cause of re
ligion was at stake. In consequence, jesuits
 5

were sent from every catholic country to India ,

to forward the interests of the gospel.
By degrees those missionaries introduced
themselves into the inland country. They saw
that in order to fix the attention of these
people, gain their confidence, and get a hear
ing, it was indispensably necessary to respect
their prejudices, and even to conform to their
dress, their manner of living, and forms of
society ; in short, scrupulously to adopt the
costumes and practices of the country.
With this persuasion, they at their first outset
announced themselves as European Brahmins
come from a distance of five thousand
leagues from the western parts of the Djam
boody, for the double purpose of imparting
and receiving knowledge from their brother
Brahmins in India. Almost all these first mis .
sionaries were more or less acquainted with
astronomy or medicine ; the two sciences best
calculated to ingratiate them with the natives
of every description.
After announcing themselves as Brahmins,
they made it their study to imitate that tribe :
they put on a Hindoo dress of cavy, or yellow
colour, the same as that used by the Indian
religious teachers and penitents ; they made
frequent. ablutions 3 whenever they showed
themselves in public they applied to their fore,
B 3
 6

head paste, made of sandal wood, as used by the

Brahmins. They scrupulously abstained from
every kind of animal food, as well as from
intoxicating liquors, entirely faring like Brah
mins on vegetables and milk ; in a word, after
the example of St. Paul ( 1 Cor. ix . 20. 21.)
« Unto the Jews, they became as Jews, that
they might gain the Jews ; to them that were
without law, as without law . They were
made all things to all men , that they might by
all means save some. It was by such a life
of almost incredible privations and restraints,
that they insinuated themselves among these
people.
Fully aware of the unalterable attachment
of the natives to their own usages and prac
tices, they made it their principal study not
to hurt their feelings, by attacking all at once
the superstitions with which most of their
customs are infested : they judged it more
prudent at the beginning to overlook many of
them, and wait for a more favourable time,
to put the converts right on the subject.
Their colour, their talents, their virtues, above
all, their perfect disinterestedness, rendered
them acceptable even to the Hindoo princes,
who, astonished at the novelty and singularity
of the circumstance, bestowed their protection
on these extraordinary men, and gave them
 7

full freedom to preach their religion, and

make proselytes to it.
The jesuits began their work under these
favourable auspices, and made a great num
ber of converts among all castes of Hindoos,
in those countries where they were allowed
the free exercise of their religious functions.
It appears from authentic lists, made up about
seventy years ago, which I have seen , that the
number of native christians in these countries
was as follows, viz. in the Marawa about
30,000, in the Madura above 100,000 , in the
Carnatic 80,000, in Mysore 35,000 . At the
present time hardly a third of this number is
to be found in these districts respectively. I
have heard that the number of converts was
still much more considerable on the other
coast, from Goa to Cape Comorin ; but of
these I never saw authentic lists.
Things were carrying on in this promising
manner by the jesuit missionaries, when se
vere complaints were preferred against them
from several parts to the Holy See at Rome.
The accusers were chiefly friars of other re
ligious orders, settled at Goa and Pondicherry,
who accused the Jesuits of the most culpable
indulgence, in tolerating and winking at all
kindsof idolatrous superstitions among their
proselytes, and with having themselves rather
B 4
 8

become converts to the idolatrous worship of

the Hindoo, by conforming to many of their
practices and superstitions, than making
Indians converts to the christian religion.
The charges had some degree offoundation,
though not to the extent set forth by the
accusers, whose representations seem on the
whole to have proceeded rather from motives
of envy and jealousy against the jesuits, than
from a true disinterested zeal for the cause of
religion.
Those often -repeated accusations gave rise
to a long and warm correspondence between
the parties concerned , in which the jesuits, in
giving an account of their conduct to the
Holy See, did not conceal that, from motives
of prudence, and not to risk the revolt of the
converts, and prejudice the pagans more and
more against the new religion, they had been
under the very unpleasant necessity of over
looking many reprehensible practices, waiting
for fitter circumstances to suppress them gra
dually . At the same time they exposed the
dangers which could not fail to ensue , if the
feelings of the Hindoos were all at once hurt
on this extremely delicate point, and the prac
tices justly complained of, openly opposed
and reprobated , before the christian religion
had gained a solid footing in the country .
 9.

They endeavoured to give weight to their as

sertions, and excuse their conduct, by the ex
ample of the apostles themselves, who at the ,
beginning of their apostolic career judged it
prudent from regard to the prejudices of the
Jews, and in order to encourage their conver
sion, to tolerate circumcision among them , as
well as their abstaining from blood, and from
strangled things, and the observance of many
other judaical customs.
All these and many other like reasons ap
peared to the Holy See futile and merely
evasive; and the jesuits were peremptorily or
dered to preach the catholic religion in all its
purity, and altogether suppress the supersti
tious practices, till then tolerated among the
Neophites.
The jesuits, seeing that their following such
directions would not only put a stop to all
further conversions, but also occasion the
apostacy of a great many proselytes, before
they gave up their point, sent deputations to
Rome, in order to enlighten the Holy See on
the subject. This disgusting contest, which
was carried on in several instances with much
acrimony, lasted more than forty years before
it came to an end.
At length the reigning Pope, wishing ta
finish the business, sent Cardinal de Tournon
 10

to India with the title of apostolic legate, to

make personal enquiries on the subject, and
report all the details to the Holy See. The
cardinal landed at Pondicherry about a cen
tury ago, and on his arrival sent for some of
the principal missionaries, living in the inland
country, had all matters minutely investigated ,
and made his report to the Pope. After
some further delay, the famous and very
learned Benedict XIV., having been raised to
the papal chair, and wishing to put at once a
stop to this scandalous contest, issued a very
rigorous bull or decree in several articles, by
which he formally and expressly condemned
and reprobated all the superstitious practices
(a list of which was contained in the instru
ment), till then tolerated by the missionaries ,
and required that the whole of them, of what
ever order or dignity they might be, should
bind themselves by a solemn oath taken be
fore a bishop, to conform themselves without
any tergiversation whatever to the spirit and
letter of the decree ; it was moreover ordered,
that the decree should be read and published
every Sunday in all churches and chapels in
the presence of the congregation, and a pro
mise of submission to it be required from all
converts .
These orders were reluctantly complied
 11

with : but what the jesuits had foreseen hap

pened :-a great number of proselytes preferred
renouncing the new religion to abandoning
their practices. A stop was put to conversions;
and the christian religion began to become
odious to the Hindoos on account of its
intolerance.
At that very time happened the European
invasion , and the bloody contests for dominion
between the English and French . The Euro
peans, till then almost entirely unknown to
the natives in the interior, introduced them
selves in several ways and under various de
nominations into every part of the country.
The Hindoos soon found that those mission
aries, whom their colour, their talents, and
other qualities, had induced them to regard
as such extraordinary beings, as men coming
from another world, were in fact nothing else
but disguised Fringy (Europeans ); * and that
their country, their religion, and original edu
cation, were the same with those of the vile,
the contemptible Fringy, who had of late in
vaded their country. This event proved the
last blow to the interests of the christian
religion. No more conversions were made ;
* Fringy, is the appellation under which the Europeans
are designated by the natives of India; it is derived from the
term Frank , andhas been introduced by the Mahometans.
 12

apostacy became almost general in several

quarters ; and christianity became more and
more an object of contempt and aversion, in
proportion as the European manners became
better known to the Hindoos.
Nearly at that period the suppression of the
order of the jesuits took place in Europe ;
and there being no longer a sufficient number
of missionaries, a national black clergy was
formed , and the attendance on the remaining
congregations entrusted to their care. Those
native missionaries not having the advantage
of a proper education, and many amongst.
them shewing themselves more attached to
their own interests than to those of religion,
enjoy but little consideration even among their
flocks, and none among the natives of any
other description.
Such is the abridged history of the rise, the
progress, and the decline of the christian reli
gion in India . The low state to which it is
now reduced, and the contempt in which it is
held, cannot be surpassed. There is not at
present in the country (as mentioned before )
more than a third of the christians who were to
be found in it eighty years ago, and this num
ber diminishes every day by frequent apostacy.
It will dwindle to nothing in a short period
and if things continue as they are now going
 13

on, within less than fifty years there will, I

fear, remain no vestige of christianity among
the natives.
The christian religion, which was formerly
an object of indifference, or at most of con
tempt, is at present become, I will venture to
say, almost an object of horror. It is certain
that during the last sixty years no proselytes
or but a very few have been made. Those
christians who are still to be met with in seve
ral parts of the country, and whose numbers
(as I have just mentioned,) diminishes every
day, are the offspring of the converts made
by the jesuits before that period. The very
small number of proselytes who are still gained
over from time to time, are found among the
lowest tribes ; so are individuals who, driven
out from their castes, on account of their
vices or scandalous transgressions of their
usages, are shunned afterwards by every body
as outlawed men, and have no other resource
left than that of turning christians, in order
to form new connexions in society ; and you
will easily fancy that such an assemblage of
the offals and dregs of society only tends to
increase the contempt and aversion enter
tained by the Hindoos against christianity.
In fact, how can our holy religion prosper
amidst so many insurmountable obstacles ?
A person who embraces it becomes a pro
 14

scribed and outlawed man ; he loses at once all

that can attach him to life. A husband, a
father is forthwith forsaken and deserted by
his own wife and children, who obstinately
refuse to have any further intercourse with
their degraded relative. A son is unmercifully
driven out of his paternal mansion , and en
tirely deserted by those who gave him birth .
By embracing the christian religion, there
fore, a Hindoo loses his all. Relations, kin
dred, friends, all desert him ! Goods, posses
sions, inheritance, all disappear !
Where is the man furnished with a sufficient
stock of cynical fortitude to be able to bear
such severe trials ?
The very name of christian carries along
with it the stain of infamy; and the proposal
alone to become a convert to christianity is
considered by every well-bred Hindoo as a
very serious insult, which is instantly resented,
as I have witnessed in repeated instances.
Such a proposal must always be made with
the greatest prudence and circumspection,
in order not to be exposed to severe reproof
from those to whom it is addressed.
Fully aware of the dispositions of the Hin
doos in this respect, and that forced religious
controversies with them can answer no good
purpose, and generally produces but bad ef
fects, I have always made it my rule, in the
 15

visits I from time to time receive from pagans

of every caste, when visiting my several con
gregations, never to obtrude myself upon them
on religious subjects, unless urged by them ,
which is often the case ; a great many among
them being fond of discoursing upon religion ;
some from motives of curiosity , but a greater
number from vanity, and to have an oppor
tunity of making a display of their pretended
learning, as well as of becoming acquainted
with the learning and mental resources of
their opponents.
When attacked on this subject, the neces
sity of standing on the defensive obliges me
to enter into discussions, and set forth the
excellence of the christian religion, over the
absurdities ofpaganism ;employing for this pur
pose such short, plain , and simple reasoning, as
may be within the comprehension of my hear
ers ; for deep and learned arguments could
not be understood by them .
On such occasions, when the arguments of
my opponents in vindication of their own re
ligion are exhausted, and they have nothing
more to say, they rarely fail to conclude and
sum up their reasoning by this solemn and,
in their mind, unanswerable appeal, exclaiming
with much exultation and emphasis, 66 After
all, your religion is the religion of theFringy ;":
refraining, however, from a feeling of respect,
 16

or perhaps from motives of prudence, from

adding, in my presence, the second part of this
forcible sentence , viz . “ and all that comes
from so impure a source must be radically
bad ."
In the mean time, when compelled to sus
tain religious disputes with pagans, I am far
from imitating the forbidding and provoking
conduct of some uncivil and intolerant persons
of my profession, who, instigated by a warm ,
a false, and in many instances a perilous zeal,
on their first outset, when disputing upon reli
gion with the heathen, begin their arguments
with these opprobrious and insulting phrases,
“ All your gods are nothing else but demons;
you all will go to hell to expiate in eternal
fames the crime of your idolatry ;” and such
like vituperative language. Such a strain of
abuse and insult only tends, as may be ex
pected, to provoke a return of blasphemous
expressions against the christian religion and
its divine author ; and to render christianity
itself, its teachers, and its followers, more and
more odious to the natives.
In my religious controversy I never forget
the decorum , calmness, forbearance, and mu
tual regard that ought ever to be observed
in such circumstances, carefully avoiding all
that could to no good purpose wound the
feelings and prejudices of my opponents ; and
 17

if I reap no other fruit from my trouble, bút

their reluctant assent to my simple argu
ments, I can at least pride myself, that on
such occasions I get a patient and cheerful
hearing, and that both my opponents and my
self separate on good terms, satisfied with the
mutual respect with which the dispute was
carried on. But to return .
The christian religion is at the present time
become so odious, that in several parts of the
country a Hindoo, who should happen to have
friends or connexions among the natives pro
fessing this religion, would not dare to own
it in public, as he would be exposed to severe
reproof for holding a familiar intercourse
with (in their opinion) people so degraded.
Such is the state of degradation to which
christianity has been reduced in these latter
times, and which must be imputed in a great
degree to the immoral and irregular conduct
of many Europeans in every part of the
country.
Besides the christians of the catholic per
suasion , there are still existing in some parts
of the country small congregations of the
Lutheran sect ; but they are held, if possible,
in a still higher degree of contempt than the
former .
The Lutheran mission was established at
с
 18

Tranqubar a little more than a century ago.

There were at all times among the mission
aries of this sect respectable persons, distin
guished by their talents and virtues ; but
they had only trifling successes in the work
of proselytism : it could not be otherwise ; the
protestant religion being too simple in its
worship to attract the attention of the Hin
doo : as it has no show , no pomp, no outward
ceremonies capable of making a strong im
pression on the senses, it was of course dis
liked by a quite sensual people, and has never
had any considerable success.
If any of the several modes of christian
worship were calculated to make an impres
sion and gain ground in the country, it is no
doubt the catholic form which you protestants
call an idolatry in disguise : it has a Pooga
or sacrifice ; (the mass is termed by the Hin
doos Pooga, literally, sacrifice ; ) it has pro
cessions, images, statues, tirtan or holy
water, fasts, tittys or feasts, and prayers for
the dead, invocation of saints, &c., all which
practices bear more or less resemblance to
those in use among the Hindoos. Now , if
even such a mode of worship is become so
objectionable to the natives, can it be reason
ably expected that any one of the simple
protestant sects will ever prosper among
 19

them ? The contrary has till now been the

case .
I have just observed that the Lutheran
missionaries have had no sensible success
during more than a century. At the present
time their congregations are reduced to four
or five : the most worthy of notice are, one
at Vepery near Madras, consisting of about
five or six hundred souls ; another at Trank .
bar, composed of about twelve hundred ;
another at Tanjore, ofnearly the same number ;
and a fourth at Trichinopoly, of about three
or four hundred .
There are besides a few protestant chris
tians dispersed chiefly in the Tinnivelly disa
trict, but in such small numbers that they
do not deserve the name of congregations.
When I was at Vellore, four years ago, in
attendance on a numerous congregation living
in that place, having been informed that the
Lutheran missionaries kept a catechist or na
tive religious teacher at that station, on a
salary of five pagodas a month , I was led to
suppose that they had a numerous flock there ;
but I was not a little surprised when, on en
quiry, I found that the whole congregation
consisted of only three individuals, namely,
a drummer, a cook, and a horse-keeper.
In the meantime, do not suppose that
those thin congregations are wholly composed
C2
 20

of converted pagans ; at least half consists of

catholic apostates, whº went over to the Lu
theran sect in times of famine, or from other
interested motives.
It is not uncommon on the coast to see
natives who successively pass from one re
ligion to another, according to their actual
interest. In my last journey to Madras, I
became acquainted with native converts who
regularly changed their religion twice a year,
and who for a long while . were in the habit
of being six months catholic, and six months
protestant.
Besides the Lutheran sect, the Moravian
brethren sent also missionaries to India ,
about seventy years ago, to make proselytes
to their own persuasion. But on their first
arrival in the country, they were so much
amazed and appalled at the insurmountable
difficulties to be met with every where, and
so satisfied of the impossibility of making true
converts to christianity among a people cir
cumstanced as the Hindoos were, that very
wisely they dropped their design without even
making the attempt." They afterwards tried
to convert the savage of the Nicobar Islands,
but without success ; at last, after lingering
at Trankbar, where they had formed their
principal establishment, during a period of
 21

nearly sixty years, and where I had the plea

sure to pay them frequent visits when at that
place in 1793, they were all recalled home
about twenty years ago, and this sect ' no
longer exists in India.
Respecting the new missionaries of several
sects, who have of late years made their ap
pearance in the country, you may rest as
sured, as far as my information on the subject
goes, that notwithstanding the pompous re
ports made by several among them , all their
endeavours to make converts , have till now
proved abortive, and that their successes are
only to be seen on paper.
:: The sect of the Nestorians, in Travancore is
generally known : a short cúrious account of
them is given by Gibbon in his history of the
Roman empire ; but a much fuller account was
before written in French by La Croze, historio
grapher tothe late Frederick King of Prussia, in
a :work in two small volumes, entitled le Chris
tianisme de l'Inde. The late Dr. B. speaks of
them ; but I was surprised at the exaggerations
of this learned author on this and many other
important points. The fact is, that this sect,
a colony of whom is supposed by some au
thors to have introduced itself into the Tra
vancore country about the end of the eighth
century, when Nestorianism was violently per
C 3
 22

secuted in Persia, once amounted to more

than 100,000, (Gibbon says to 200,000 indi
viduals ). The jesuits, on their first arrival in
India, hearing of them , in one way or another
converted the greatest part to the catholic
faith . Their liturgy is to this day in the Syrian
language, and in the performance of their re
ligious ceremonies they use this ancient dead
tongue . There remains still among them
large congregations, consisting of 70 or 80,000
christians, of whom two -thirds are catholics,
and a third Nestorians. They are all desig
nated under the contemptuous name of Naza
rany , and held by the pagans in still greater
contempt than the christians of this part of
the country. The Nairs chiefly keep them
at the greatest distance, and they form a
separate body in society.
Both catholics and Nestorians have a native
clergy of their own ; and the clergy of both
are equally ignorant, neither having the means
of receiving a proper education. As their
liturgy is in Syrian, all the science of their
clergy consists in being able to read, or ra. -
ther spell this language, in order to be quali
fied to perform their religious ceremonies.
I have been assured, that there is at present
no one amongst the catholic or the Nestorian
clergy capable of properly understanding or
20
 23

explaining two phrases of the Syriac books.

They have no houses of education , no teach
ers, no professors, but only some schools kept
by their ignorant priests, for the purpose of
teaching persons destined to the ecclesiastic
profession, to read this language.
When the jesuits flourished in India , they
took particular care to give a proper educa
tion to the persons of this class ; and those
who shewed a particular aptness for the sci
ences were sent to Rome for instruction, from
whence they were sent back to their native
country to be promoted to holy orders. Since
the suppression of the jesuits, the Syrians
being left to their own resources, it is not
surprising that education among them has
fallen into the low state in which it is now
seen .

The catholic Syrians depend for their reli

gious concerns upon the archbishop of Cron
ganor, and the Nestorians have a bishop of
their own caste and sect.
I will conclude and sum up the first part of
this account by repeating what I have already
stated , that if any form of christianity were
to make an impression and gain ground in
the country, it is undoubtedly the catholic
mode of worship , whose external pomp and
shew appear so well suited to the genius and
C4
 24

dispositions of the natives; and that when the

catholic religion has failed to produce its ef
fects, and its interests are become quite des
perate, no other sect can flatter itself even
with the remotest hopes of establishing its
system : I trust that every unprejudiced and
unbiassed mind will agree with me on this
point.
I am in the meantime fully aware that a
great many over -zealous protestants may be
disposed to contradict this assertion, and main
tain that the catholic religion being nothing
but a corruption of the religion of Christ,
and its worship a human invention, the divine
assistance can never attend the propagation
of it, and that its failure in the business of
proselytism cannot be a matter of surprise.
Although a most sincere, and most undis
guised Roman catholic, I am unwilling to en
ter here into a discussion foreign to my sub
ject, on the respective merits or demerits
either of the catholic or protestant persuasions.
This is not the place to examine on what side
are the innovations as well as corruptions of
the word of God, so much complained of by
both parties. I will even, for the sake of ar
gument, suppose for an instant the catholic
religion guilty of the superstitious innovations,
abominations, and all kinds of idolatry laid to
 25

its charge by the other sects, and on this ac

count unworthy of any claim to the divine as
sistance, in the propagation of its supposed
corrupted tenets. But let us examine whe
ther the other supposed more pure and un
polluted modes of christian worship have
been more fortunate and successful in the
work of proselytism in India.
Behold the Lutheran mission established in
India more than a century ago ! Interrogate
its missionaries, ask them what were their
successes during so long a period, and through
what means were gained over the few prose
lytes they made ? Ask them whether the in
terests of their sect are improving, or whether
they are gaining ground, or whether their
small numbers are not rather dwindling away ?
Behold the truly industrious, the unaffected
and unassuming Moravian : brethren ! Ask
them how many converts they have made in
India during a stay of about seventy years
by preaching the gospel in all its naked sim
plicity ? They will candidly answer, “ Not one !
not a single man !”
- Behold the Nestorians in Travancore ! In
terrogate them ; ask them for an account of
their success in the work of proselytism in
these modern times ? Ask them whether they
are gaining ground, and whether the interests
 26

of their ancient mode of worship is improving ?

They will reply, that so far from this being
the case , their congregations once so flourish
ing, and amounting (according to Gibbon's
account) to 200,000 souls, are now reduced
to less than an eighth of this number, and are
daily diminishing.
Behold the Baptist missionaries at Seram
pore ! Inquire what are their spiritual suc
cesses on the shores of the Ganges ? Ask
them whether they have really the well-founded
hope that their indefatigable labours in en
deavouring to get the holy scriptures trans
lated into all the idioms of India will increase
their successes ? Ask them whether those ex
tremely incorrect versions, already obtained at
an immense expense, have produced the sin
cere conversion of a single pagan ? And I am
persuaded, that if they are asked an answer
upon their honour and conscience, they will
all reply in the negative.
I will here conclude the first part of this
account. What I have said of the state of
.

the christian religion in India at the present

and in former times, will, I trust, prove suffi
cient to make out what I have advanced, that
there are in the actual circumstances of the
case no human means to introduce christian
 27

ity among the natives with any well-founded

hopes of success.
I will now pass to the second division of
my subject, viz. that should a possibility of
further extending christianity exist, the means
till now employed for this desirable end, and,
above all, the translation of the holy scrip
tures into the several idioms of the country,
circulated among the natives, will not only
prove inadequate for the purpose, but also be
injurious in many respects to the interests of
the religion by increasing the prejudices of
the natives against it. This assertion will
perhaps appear bold , or even paradoxical to
many persons who are but imperfectly ac
quainted with the prejudices of the Hindoos ;
I will therefore with simplicity and candour
adduce the arguments on which my opinions
are grounded
You would perhaps look upon me as un
qualified to give an unbiassed opinion on this
topic, if in common with many misinformed
protestants, you entertained the unfounded
idea that the reading of the holy scriptures
is forbidden to the catholics. This is one of
the many calumnies spread against them, to
render them odious to the other sects. So
far from this being the case, the study of the
holy writ is strongly recommended , and forms
 28

a leading feature of education in every semi

nary. What is required of the catholics on
the subject is, that they shall not presume to
interpret the text of the scriptures in a sense
different from that of the church, or give it a
meaning according to their own private
judgment.
After having given you this explanation, I
will resume mysubject, and show that the naked
text of the Bible, exhibited without a long
previous preparation to the Hindoos, must
prove detrimental to the christian religion, and
increase their aversion to it, inasmuch as this
sacred ' book contains in almost every page
accounts which cannot fail deeply to wound
their feelings, by openly hurting prejudices
which are held most sacred .
: To you who have some acquaintance with
the education and customs of the Hindoos, I
will put the following simple questions :
What will a well-bred native think, when,
in reading over this holy book, he sees that
Abraham , after receiving the visit of three
angels under a human shape, entertains, his
guest by causing a calf to be killed, and served
to them for their fare ? The prejudiced Hin
doo will at once judge that both Abraham
and his heavenly guests were nothing but vile
pariahs; and, without further reading, he will
 29

forthwith throw away the book, containing (in

his opinions,) such sacrilegious accounts.
What will a Brahmin say, when he peruses
the details of the bloody sacrifices prescribed
in the mosaical law in the worship of the true
God ? He will assuredly declare, that the
god who could be pleased with the shedding
of the blood of so many victims immolated to
his honour, must undoubtedly be a deity of
the same kind ( far be from me the blasphemy)
as the mischievous Hindoo deities, Cohly,
Mahry, Darma-rajah, and other infernal gods,
whose wrath cannot be appeased but by the
shedding of blood, and the immolating of
living victims.
But, above all, what will a Brahmin or any
other well-bred Hindoo think, when he pe
ruses in our holy books the account of the
immolating of creatures held most sacred by
him ? What will be his feelings, when he
sees that the immolating of oxen and bulls
constituted a leading feature in the religious
ordinances of the Israelites, and that the blood
of those most sacred animals was almost
daily shed at the shrine of the god they
adored ? What will be his feelings when he
sees, that after Solomon had at immense ex
pense and labour built a magnificent temple
in honour of the true God, he made the pra
 30

tista or consecration of it, by causing 22,000

oxen to be slaughtered, and overflowing his
new temple with the blood of these sacred
victims ? He will certainly in perusing ac
counts, (in his opinion so horribly sacrilegious, )
shudder, and be seized with the liveliest hor
ror, look on the book containing such shock
ing details as an abominable work, ( far be
from me, once more, the blasphemy, I am ex
pressing the feelings of a prejudiced Pagan, )
throw it away with indignation, consider him
self as polluted for having touched it, go im
mediately to the river for the purpose of
purifying himself by ablutions from the defile
ment he thinks he has contracted, and before
he again enters his house, he will send for a
Poorohita Brahmin to perform the requisite
ceremonies for purifying it from the defile
ment it has contracted, by ignorantly keeping
within its walls so polluted a thing as the
Bible ,
In the mean while he will become more
and more confirmed in the idea, that a reli
gion which derives its tenets from so impure
a source is altogether detestable, and that
those who profess it, must be the basest and
vilest of men .
Such are the effects which, in my humble
opinion, the reading of the naked text of the
 31

Bible cannot fail to produce on the unpre

pared minds of the prejudiced Hindoos.
I have only cited the above instances, being
the first which occurred to my mind in writ
ing this letter ; but I could point out in
almost every chapter of holy writ passages
nearly as exceptionable, and which it would
be equally dangerous to exhibit without a
long previous explanation to the prejudiced
Hindoo.
On the whole, it is my decided opinion ,
that to open all at once and without a long
preparation , this precious treasure to the
Hindoos, would be similar to attempting to
cure a person labouring under severe sore
eyes, by obliging him to stare at the rays of a
shining sun, at the risk of rendering him alto
gether blind, or at least of being altogether
dazzled and confounded by an excess of light.
It would be the same as the administering of
solid food to young babes, whilst their weak
stomachs are hardly adequate to digest milk
of the lightest kind ; it is exactly ( to use the
language of the scriptures,) “to give that
which is holy unto the dogs, and cast pearls
before swine:" it is “ to put wine into old
bottles, which break , and the wine runneth
out, and the bottles perish .”
In order to give you an instance of the de
 1

32

licacy of the feelings of the natives, with re

spect to the accounts found in our holy books
that are in opposition to their prejudices, I
will relate the following occurrence :
Being at Carricaul, about twenty -eight
years ago, I preached on a Sunday to the as
sembled congregation a sermon in the Tamul 1
1

language, on the divine origin of the christian

religion. Among other topics to prove my H

subject, I insisted on the intrinsic weakness

and inadequacy of the means employed in the
establishment of this religion, generally hated
and persecuted everywhere, quite destitute of
all human support, and left to its own re
sources amidst every kind of contradictions.
I several times repeated, in treating this topic,
that the christian religion had for its founder
a peasant of Galilee, the son of a humble car
penter, who took for his assistants twelve low .
born men , twelve ignorant and illiterate fish .
ermen . These words the son of a carpenter !
twelve fishermen ! many times repeated, gave
offence to my audience, which was entirely
composed of native christians ; and the sermon
was no sooner finished than three or four of
the principal among them came and informed
me, that the whole congregation had been
highly scandalized by hearing me apply to
Christ the appellation of the son of a car
 33

penter, and to his apostles that of fishermen ;

that I could not be ignorant that the casts
both of carpenters and fishermen were two
of the lowest and vilest in the country ; that
it was highly improper to attribute to Christ
and his disciples so low and abject an origin ;
that if pagans, who sometimes come through
motives of curiosity to their religious assem
blies, heard such objectionable accounts of
our religion, their contempt and hatred of it
would be considerably increased, &c. &c.
Finally, they advised me, if in future I had oc
casion to mention in my sermons the origin
of Christ or his apostles, not to fail to say
that both were born in the noble tribe of
kshatrys or rajahs, and never to mention
their low profession.
Another instance of the kind happened to
me a few years ago in this part of the coun
try, when, in explaining to the congregation
the parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel,
I mentioned the circumstance of the prodigal's
father having, through joy, killed the fatted
calf to regale his friends, on account of the
return of his reformed son . After the lec
ture some Christians told me, in rather bad
humour, that my mentioning the fatted calf
was very improper, and that if, as sometimes
happened, pagans had been present at the
D
 34

lecture, they would have been confirmed , on

hearing of the fattened calf, in the opinion
they all entertained of the Christian religion
being a low or pariah religion. They advised
me, in the mean time, if in future I gave an
explanation of the same parable, to substitute
a lamb instead of the fatted calf.
In fact, even with our native Christians, we
are careful to avoid all that might wound
their feelings to no purpose, and increase in
the public mind the jealousy and contempt
entertained against them , and their religion.
For example, as the use of intoxicating liquors
is extremely odious to all well -bred Hindoos,
and considered by them as a capital sin, when
we explain verbally or in writing the sacra
ment of the eucharist, we are cautious not to
say openly that the materials of this sacra
ment are bread and wine, or charayam , (lite
rally, wine), which would prove too revolting to
their feelings; we have therefore the precau
tion to soften this coarse term by a periphrasis,
saying that the materials of the eucharist are
wheaten bread, and the juice of the fine fruit
called grape ; which expressions become more
palatable to their taste.
But should the translation of the Bible into
the various languages of the country, and cir
culated among the Hindoos, be able, through
 35

their intrinsic worth , to overcome, by little and

little, all their prejudices, and fix their atten
tion to this divine book ( which supposition I
am far from admitting ), a great difficulty
would yet remain ; that is, a close and accurate
version of the work . All persons the least
familiar with the dialects of the country and
their style, will agree with me, I think, that
they are so different from those of Europe,
that'a literal translation of the Holy Scriptures
into any of them is impracticable.
I was not a little surprised when I saw , a
few years ago, announced with much emphasis
in all the newspapers by the missionaries at
Serampore, the design ofundertaking the trans
lation of the whole into eighteen or twenty
Asiatic languages, the Chinese not excepted.
To persons unacquainted with the difficulty,
not to say impossibility of such a task being
faithfully and accurately performed , the pro
ject must have appeared dazzling and worthy
to be encouraged : for my part, I could not
conceive how a small society of five or six in
dividuals ( every allowance for their talents
and learning being made,) should seriously
think of compromising themselves with the
public by so herculean a labour ; which, to be
fairly and properly executed, would occupy
D2
 36

for, half a century, all the learned to be found

in India.
It is a well known fact, that when England
separated herself from the church of Rome,
not finding the version of the Vulgate, till then
used, sufficiently exact, the first care of her re
formers was to procure a translation ofthe whole
Bible, from the original Hebrew into English.
In consequence, one was produced with great
trouble, in the reign of the young king Ed
ward the Sixth ; but this version, on a close
investigation, proving abundant in errors, was
finally laid aside, and a second undertaken in
the reign of queen Elizabeth . This also could
not withstand criticism , and was found, on the
whole, very incorrect and defective ; a third
version was therefore begun in the reign
of James the First, which ( if I am not mis
taken ) is that now used and approved by the
established church . In order to render this
as exact and correct as it was possible, the
best scholars to be found in the kingdom were
employed in the execution of it, and it is
well known that this version, carried on by
the joint labours of so many learned persons,
took up a period of about sixteen years, for
its completion ; and yet modern criticism has
found many errors and mistakes in it, although
obtained by so much trouble and care.
20
 37

Now, if even in Europe, with all the as

sistance that learned translators were enabled
to obtain, from enlightened criticism, &c. it
proved so difficult, and required such great
labours to obtain a genuine version of this
work, what are we to think of the project of
five or six individuals, who, without the assist
ance of any criticism whatever, suppose
themselves able to execute genuine transla
tions into intricate languages, with which they,
after all, can possess only an imperfect ac
quaintance ? *

* Since writing these pages, I have learned, with some

surprise, that the missionaries at Serampore have sur
passed the most sanguine expectations of the public,
by translating the Scriptures, within the short period of
nine or ten years, into no less than twenty -four Asiatic
languages. This brilliant success has not in the least daz
zled me, nor altered my opinion, or diminished my scep
ticism on the entire inadequacy of such means to enlighten:
the pagans, and gain them over to Christianity, and I would
not certainly dare to warrant, that these twenty spuri
ous versions, with some of which I am acquainted, will,
after the lapse of the same number of years, have oper
ated the conversion of twenty -four pagans. I have, on
the contrary, every reason for apprehending that these
low translations, if the natives could be prevailed upon to
peruse them, (which, in my opinion , will never be the
case,) will, by exposing the Christian religion and its
followers to the ridicule of the public, soon - stagger the
wavering faith of many hundreds of those now professing
D 3
 38

It is on all hands admitted, thatbefore a trans

lation from one language into another be
undertaken , it is absolutely necessary to pos
sess an entire and thoroughly grammatical
acquaintance with both. Now , where are the
Europeans who possess so perfect a knowledge
of the idioms of India ? and again, where are
the natives who possess the same advantage
with respect to the European dialects ? if
persons of this description are to be found ·
any where in this country, they are in very
small numbers indeed.
Some partial translations of the Scriptures
are, it is true, to be found in the country ;
but in my humble opinion they have entirely
missed their object. I have by me a copy of
the New Testament, translated into Tamul, ex
ecuted by the Lutheran missionaries ; but the
translators, by endeavouring to make it literal,
have generally used such low, trivial, and, in
many instances, ludicrous expressions, and
the style is, besides, so different from that of
the Hindoos, that persons unaccustomed to
it, cannot (as I have witnessed in repeated
instances) read over four verses without laugh

Christianity, hasten the epoch of their apostacy, and

accelerate the downfall of the tottering edifice of Chris..
tianity in India.
 39

ing at the manner in which the work is

executed .
In my last journey to the coast, I saw a
letter on the subject, from a missionary in
Travancore, to a person of the same de
scription at Pondicherry, in which were the fol
lowing expressions :
Many hundred sets of the New Testament,
translated into the Malayan dialect, have been
sent to us ( without our asking for them ), to
be circulated among our Christians. I have
perused this performance : the translation is
truly piteous, and only worthy of contempt :
one cannot peruse four verses without shrug
ging up the shoulders. This large collection
of New Testaments now in our hands places
us in a very aukward situation : if we leave
them to rot in our apartments, we fear to
expose ourselves to the displeasure of those
who supplied us with them , who appear anx
ious to have them circulated, and if we follow
their instructions on the subject, we cover
ourselves with ridicule."
I remember an instance of the kind, which
will not appear foreign to my subject. About
twenty-five years ago, the French missionaries,,
in the province of Sutchuen in China, were
earnestly requested by the congregation De
Propaganda Fide at Rome to translate the
D 4
 40

Gospel into Chinese, and send a copy to them .

The missionaries answered, that as the Chi
nese language did not admit of a literal
translation , they had, a long time before, com
piled a work in Chinese containing the history
and moral of the Gospel, for the use of their
congregations, and that nothing more could
be satisfactorily executed on the subject; yet,
as the request was urgent, they prepared,
with the assistance of their best informed
proselytes, a translation of the gospel of St.
Matthew , a copy of which they sent to Rome,
informing, at the same time, the congregation
De Propaganda, that the translation of this
gospel alone, obtained with the assistance of
many well -educated natives, had cost them
considerable labour and trouble ; adding, that
this literal translation differed so widely from
the Chinese style, that even their converts
would hardly refrain from laughing in per
using it.
Now , it is not a little curious to observe that
what European missionaries, who had passed
the greatest part of their lives in China,
judged next to impossible to execute even
with the assistance of many well -educated na
tives, an unassisted Armenian , of the name of
Lassar at Serampore, should imagine himself
able to perform ; and it is not only the trans
 41

-
' lation of a single gospel he has undertaken,
the whole Bible literally translated by this in
dividual has been emphatically promised by
the missionaries to the curiosity of the public.
Many unprejudiced and unbiassed Euro
peans, acquainted with the idioms of the
country, with whom I have had opportunities
of conversing on the subject, and who hap
pened to have perused some parts of the trans
lations of the Scriptures now. extant, I am
happy to say, perfectly coincided in opinion
with me, that such low and vulgar versions of
our holy books ought carefully to be con
cealed from the sight of the pagans, in order
that their aversion to Christianity may not be
increased, and the European character in
jured.
In fact, a translation of the Holy Scriptures,
in order to awaken the curiosity, and fix the
attention of the learned Hindoo, at least as a
literary production, ought to be on a level
with the Indian performances of the same
kind among them , and be composed in fine
poetry, a flowery style, and a high stream of
eloquence, this being universally the mode in
which all Indian performances of any worth
are written . As long as the versions are exe
cuted in the low style in which we find these,
you may rest assured that they will only ex
 42

cite contempt, and tend to increase the aver

sion already entertained by the natives against
the Christian religion .
But, to conclude, let Bibles, as many as you
please, in every shape and in every style, be
translated and circulated among the Hindoos;
let them , if you wish, be spread in every vil
lage, in every cottage, in every family , let
the Christian religion be presented to these
people under every possible light, I repeat it
with deep sorrow, in my humble opinion, (an
opinion grounded on twenty -five years of ex
perience, ) the time of conversion has passed
away, and, under existing circumstances, there
remains no human possibility to bring it back .
The Christian religion has been announced
to the natives of India,' without intermission
during the last three or four centuries, at the
beginning with some faint hopes of success,
but at present with no effect. In the mean
time, the oracle of the Gospel has been ful
filled with respect to the Hindoos. The Di
vine Founder of our religion has, it is true,
announced that his gospel should be preached
all over the world , but, to the best of my know
ledge, he has never affirmed that it should be
heard, believed, and embraced by all nations.
This is not the place to enter into a discus
sion of the awful and unfathomable mystery
 43

of predestination, to scrutinize the apparently

obscure ways of the Supreme Wisdom on this
subject, to ask the common Father of man
kind why, in his all-ruling providence he has
vouchsafed to impart the heavenly light of his
divine word only to a part of his children,
whilst he has withheld this, the greatest of all
divine favours, from the other part, and left
them immersed in the deepest darkness of the
most extravagant idolatry. The thing is so ,
therefore there must be reasons for its being so.
“ Who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or
who hath been his counsellor ?” Let every one
among us, with becoming humility, acknow
ledge, in what concerns him , the greatness of
the gift, and preserve in his heart a due sense
of gratitude for it, without presuming to in
vestigate the apparent partiality of the Giver.
Has not St. Paul forcibly and satisfactorily
answered this question, by the masterly man
ner in which he treats the subject of the gra
tuitous election of God, when writing to the
Romans he says , “ What shall we say then ?
Is there unrighteousness with God ? God
forbid ! For he saith to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have com
passion. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he
 44

hardeneth. - 0 man, who art thou that repliest

against God ? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me
thus ? Hath not the potter power over the
clay, of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honour, and another unto dishonour pas
But to return to our subject, and in sup
port of what I have above stated, that Christ
had nowhere promised that his divine religion
should be unexceptionably embraced by all
nations ; but, that rather opposition to the
evangelical truths on the part of several na
tions was foreseen by him . This will appear
from his own sacred words ; for in the admir
able and truly divine instructions he gave to
his disciples (Matt. x. Luke, x. ), when he
invested them with full powers to preach his
divine religion to all people, and when he
sent them on the work of proselytism, he
warned them that they must be prepared to
meet hatred, and in many instances open re
sistance. It is true that he utters, at the same
time, dreadful threats against the obdurate
unbelievers, who shall shut their ears to the
word of God ; but he takes upon himself the
punishment of their obduracy on the day of
retribution : all that he recommends his dis
ciples in such circumstances is, not to be stiff
or too troublesome, not to insist and strive to
 45

enforce by all means the impugned truth on

the minds of their hearers ; but rather to yield,
to submit by a patient resignation and for
bearance ; quietly to quit the places and coun.
tries so ill disposed to hear the truth, and to
leave these people in their hardness of heart :
“ And ( says he) into whatever city or town
you shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy ;
and there abide till ye go thence : and when
ye go into an house, salute it, and if the house
be worthy, let your peace come upon it ; but if
it be not worthy, let your peace return to you .
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor
hear your words, when you depart out of that
house or city, take off the dust of your feet.”
(Or as Mark and Luke relate,) “ Go your way
into the streets, and say, Even the dust of
your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe
off against you. Verily I say unto you, It shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and
Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for
that city. ” (Matt. x . Mark, vi. Luke, ix. and x.)
Happy would it be, indeed, had the divine
instructions given by Christ to his immediate
disciples, in these chapters of his divine work ,
been followed by a great many of those styling
themselves their successors. We should not
now have to deplore the dreadful calamities
which have convulsed the world for so long
 46

a period, nor the violent struggles which have

deluged Europe with blood, by sacrilegiously
abusing the name of a religion, which in every
page ofhis divine code holds out peace, charity,
benevolence, and forbearance.
That the apostles faithfully conformed them
selves to these divine instructions, appears
clearly from several passages of our holy
books. The most zealous among them , Paul,
having many times, by his insinuating elo
quence, convinced the Jews assembled in their
synagogues at Jerusalem , Antioch, and other
places, of the truth of the Christian religion,
in so masterly a manner as to draw upon him
selftheir reluctant applauses, without, however,
being able to overcome entirely their preju
dices ; nay , ending by having to encounter the
hatred and open resistance of the zealots of the
opposite party, confounded as they were at the
sight of his virtues, and at his unrivalled elo
quence. On such occasions, what does the
apostle ? He yields, he submits, he resigns
himself, he conducts himself according to
the rules laid down by his divine employer.
Behold his conduct under such trying circum
stances as related in the following passage :
“ But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy against those things,
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
 47

and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas

waxed bold, and said , It was necessary that
the word of God should first have been spoken
to you ; but seeing you put it from you, and
judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. - But they shook
off the dust of their feet against them , and
came into Iconium . ” (Acts, xiii.)
As a most sincere, and most undisguised
believer of the divine origin of the Christian
religion, and firmly persuaded that this re
ligion alone can render man happy in this life,
and in that to come, my most earnest wishes
have always been to see it believed and pro
fessed by all mankind, and extend its do
minion, its mild and genial influence, all over
the world, and among all nations.
Some persons seem to be of opinion, that
should the civil government of the country
give proper support and encouragement to
the Christian religion, it might be rescued
from the state of contempt and degradation
into which it has fallen , and prosper. In my
humble opinion, this might have been the case
in former times ; but under existing circum
stances, when the prejudices of the Hindoos
against it have reached so great a height, I
question whether all practicable support on
the part of government could materially ad
 48

vance its interests, and whether such an inter

ference would not rather prove detrimental to
it, by increasing the jealousy and distrust of
the natives .
Some others think that the intercourse of
Europeans with the natives ought sooner or
later to bring about a revolution in the reli
gion and manners of the latter. But in order
to produce such an effect, this intercourse ought
to be more close, more intimate, and confi
dential than it is now or has ever been. Has
the intercourse of the Mahometans with the
Hindoos, during a period of nearly a thousand
years, although more familiar than that which
prevails between the latter and their Euro
pean rulers, been able to bring about such a
revolution , and overcome the prejudices of
these people against all foreign institutions ?
and have the Mahometan rulers during so
long a period made converts to their religion
and manners, otherwise than by coercive and
violent measures ?
It is a well known fact, that it is precisely
those of the Hindoos who are most familiar,
and most connected with the Europeans, who
manifest the strongest disgust and aversion
for the religion and manners of the latter.
In proof of this assertion, I appeal to all the
officers, both civil and military, serving under
 49

the three presidencies in India. Have the

latter never discovered among their numerous
army a single sepoy, with perhaps the excep
tion of a few drunkard drummers and pariahs,
who shewed the remotest inclination to turn
a Christian ? and has any collector or judge,
or other civil officer of rank, to boast to have
found out a single native under his control,
who was not prejudiced in a particular man
ner against the Christian religion and the
European customs and education ?
As for me, whenever I have been exposed
to any contradiction in the public exercise of
my religious duties, I have found that they
always originated with the natives serving
in a public capacity, in any of the offices of
government, and never with the peaceable
inhabitants of the country, among whom
I have everywhere met with the greatest
tolerance .
In my opinion, the Hindoos will remain
the same in this respect, after another thou
sand years, as they were a thousand years ago.
Their reserved and distant intercourse with
Europeans, will always continue the same,
and their abhorrence of the religion, educa
tion , and manners of the latter, as well as
their other leading prejudices, will continue
undiminished .
 50

At the same time, should the intercourse

between the individuals of both nations, by
becoming more intimate and more friendly,
produce a revolution in the religion and
usages of the country ; it will not be to turn
Christians that they will forsake their own
religion ; but rather, ( what in my opinion is
a thousand times worse than idolatry ,) to be
come perfect atheists ; and if they renounce
their present manners, it will not be to em
brace those of the Europeans, but rather to
become what are now called pariahs.
Such would be, in my humble opinion, the
sad results of this revolution, if it were ever
to take place.
I remain, &c. &c.

August 7th, 1815.

 51

LETTER II .

To the Rev. G. B.- Bombay.

My dear Sir,
Since I had the pleasure of seeing you at
-, having constantly journeyed from one
place to another, on my visits to the several
congregations of the native. Christians living
in this part of the country , I had until now
no leisure to give you the abridged sketch
you are anxious to have of the state of Chris
tianity in these provinces, in addition to what
I wrote before on the subject. I now take
the first moments of leisure I can spare, to
gratify your curiosity, and give you as far as
my information goes, the further details you
wish to have on this interesting topic.
I have nothing, or very little to add to
what I stated in my former letter, concerning
the few congregations of native Christians of
the Lutheran persuasion. The management
of those congregations has to these times
E 2
 52

been intrusted to the care of Lutheran mis

sionaries, sent from Denmark and Germany,
whose principal establishment was till now at
Trankbar, from whence missionaries were sent
to attend the subordinate congregations set
tled at Madras, Tanjore, and Trichinopoly.
The management of by far the more nu
merous congregations of Christians of the Ro
man catholic persuasion dispersed over the
country, from the banks of Krishna to Cape
Comorin , is intrusted to the superintendance
of two titular archbishops, two titular bishops,
and three bishops in partibus, with the title of
apostolic vicars.
The two archbishops are those of Goa, the
metropolitan of India, who also takes the title
of primate of the East and of Cranganore on
the Malabar coast. The latter has been va
cant during the last forty years, and the arch
bishopric has during that period been admin
istered by a general vicar, appointed by the
archbishop of Goa.
The two bishopricks are those of St. Tho
mas near Madras, and Cochin, both vacant
also during the last fifteen or sixteen years ;
the distracted state of Europe, and other cir
cumstances, not having yet allowed the court
of Portugal to fill up these three vacant sees.
In the interval, the two latter have been ad
 53

ministered, as well as the former, by general

vicars, appointed by the metropolitan arch
bishop of Goa, who is at present the only
survivor among the four titular bishops in
India.
These four bishops were at all times ap
pointed by the court of Portugal, which al
ways claimed the exclusive right of patronage
over the religious affairs of India, and en
deavoured to prevent the catholic missionaries
of other countries from being sent to Asia
on the work of proselytism , judging itself
alone adequate to the undertaking, and using
all the means in its power, after having lost
its once formidable temporal influence in the
country, to preserve in it a kind of spiritual
authority, and an absolute and exclusive mo
nopoly in the conversion of the heathens, the
salvation of souls, and the opening of the
gates of heaven .
However, these pretended rights were over
looked by the Holy See, which, from the be
ginning, used its paramount authority in spi
ritual matters, and in spite of the often -repeated
protestations of the court of Portugal on the
subject, appointed bishops in partibus, with
the title of apostolic vicars, in several parts of
Asia, under the immediate control of the
congregation de propaganda at Rome, and
E 3
 54

quite independent of the titular bishops ap

pointed by the court of Portugal.
These apostolic vicars, holding their reli
gious authority from the congregation De Pro
paganda, are three in number in this penin
sula. One is settled at Bombay, another at
Verapoly near Cochin, and the third at Pon
dicherry ; each of them has a small body of
missionaries, both Europeans and natives, to
visit and attend the congregations under their
control. The European missionaries are at
present few in number, and all old or infirm ,
as the distracted state of Europe, during these
past twenty-five years, did not allow new sup
plies of persons of this description being sent
to Asia. On this account the missions are
threatened with a speedy extinction ; the na
tive clergy being altogether unqualified to pre
serve them, if left to their own resources, and
deprived of the countenance of the European
missionaries.
You therefore see that there are in all
seven catholic bishops in India to manage
the interests of the Roman catholic worship.
To commence with the archbishop of Goa,
he has under his jurisdiction the largest num
ber of Christians of all descriptions. I have
been credibly informed, that the aggregate
number amounted to 300,000 souls ; and
when it is considered that two-thirds at least
 55

of the population in the Portuguese establish :

ments are Christians, and that out of 160,000
to be found in the Island of Ceylon, two
thirds are of the catholic persuasion *, under
the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Goa,
I am led to believe that this number is not
exaggerated.
The archbishop has a native clergy, edu
cated in the seminaries at Goa, and composed,
I have been told, of about 1,500 priests,
monks, and friars.
After the archbishop of Goa, comes next in
rank the archbishop of Cranganore, a see still
vacant. This mission was once flourishing,
and seventy or eighty years back it reckoned
under its jurisdiction, which extended to Ma
dura and other countries, to the very shores
of the Krishna, above 200,000 native Chris
tians. At the present time, for the reasons
stated in another letter, the number is reduced
to about a third of this number.
The bishopric of Cochin contains a little
more that 60,000 Christians.
The bishopric of St. Thomas near Madras,
has under its jurisdiction about 50,000 Chris
tians, natives, and half-castes.
Among the three apostolic vicars, who are
* The remainder are Calvinists, attended by the
Dutch Calvinist missionaries.
E 4
 56

independent of the titular bishops, the bishop

of Bombay has the least numerous mission,
all the Christians under his jurisdiction not
exceeding 10 or 12,000, chiefly half- castes.
This mission is attended by Italian Carmelite
friars .

The apostolic vicar at Pondicherry exer

cises his spiritual jurisdiction over the Car
natic and Mysore, in which countries are to
be found about 35,000 Christians.
The mission under the control of the apos
tolic vicar of Verapoly near Cochin , is also
attended by Italian Carmelites, and is the
most flourishing of the three. It chiefly ex
tends in the Travancore country. This mis
sion reckons 120,000 Christian natives, imme
diately attended by about a hundred native
priests, educated by the Carmelites, now
three or four in number, in their seminary at
Verapoly. It has under its jurisdiction Sy
riac and Latin priests to officiate in the con
gregations of both rites, settled in the Travan
core country. It is at present the only mission
in which converts are still made amongst the
heathen inhabitants. I have it from good
authority, that between three and four hun
dred pagans are yearly christened in it, and
that this number might be increased, were
the missionaries to possess adequate means
 57

for the purpose. The principal cause of such

extraordinary success, which is not to be met
with elsewhere in India, is the following : -
The Travancore country is chiefly inhabited
by the tribe of Nairs, who are of all Hindoos
the most particular and severe in the obsery
ation of their usages and domestic regulations,
and who, for the most trifling transgressions
of these, expel the offenders from the caste.
These outlawed persons being left without
help in society after their expulsion, and shun
ned by all as degraded men, are under the ne
cessity of forming new connexions, and have no
other resource left for the purpose, than that
of becoming converts to Christianity or Ma
hometanism . The greater part prefer the lat
ter, the Mahometan religion holding out to
them greater temporal advantages, and not
imposing on them so many restraints as
Christianity.
As I am speaking of the Christians living
in Travancore, this will be the place to give
you such information as I possess, upon the
till now supposed Nestorian congregations
settled in that country, who boast themselves
to be the offspring of the converts made there
by the Apostle St. Thomas.
Several, and in many respects contradic
tory accounts of this sect have of late been
 58

published, some writers supposing them Nes.

torians, and others asserting them to be Euty
chians. But the fact is, that they do not know
themselves to what sect they belong. The
disturbances which have arisen among them
selves during these last two centuries, have
rendered them so unsettled in their religious
tenets, that you will scarcely find the most
intelligent among them agreeing in the expo
sition of their faith. It appears however,
from the best information I have been able to
obtain on the subject, that they are divided
into two sects, a part being Nestorians, and
another part Eutychians.
However, there is little room to doubt, that
when they were first visited by the jesuit mis
sionaries about two centuries ago, they all
were found obstinately to adhere to the tenets
professed by Nestorius, whose errors, con
demned at first in the general council of
Ephesus, and afterwards in that of Chalcedon,
when renewed by Dioscorus, were the subject
of so many controversies in the church, from
the sixth to the end of the eighth centuries.
Their chief error relates to the mystery of
incarnation. They reject the authority of
the first four general councils, which are the
first council of Nice, the first ofConstantinople,
that of Ephesus, and that of Chalcedon, in
 59

which councils, the Christian faith about the

incarnation was clearly defined and vindicated
against the new -fangled doctrines of Arius,
Nestorius, Eutychus and other sectaries ; and
their leading error was, to admit with Nesto
rius, a single nature and two distinct persons
in Christ ; while the Eutychians acknow
ledge two natures and two persons.
They above all deny the Blessed Virgin
the title of Theo -tocus, or Mother of God , as
serting that the Son of God did not assume a
soul and a body in her womb.
This sect has preserved the ecclesiastical
hierarchy, consisting among them of a patri
arch, bishops, and an inferior clergy. The
Nestorians own obedience in religious matters
to the patriarch of Babylon, and the Euty
chians are said to acknowledge the authority
of the patriarch of Antioch. Their bishops
derive their authority from either, and they
ordain the inferior clergy by the imposition of
hands.
They admit seven sacraments, in common
with the catholic church. They have the
mass, and admit the real presence of Christ
in the eucharist. They have not the auricular
confession , but they admit purgatory, prayers
for the dead, and invocation of saints.
They have numberless fasts during the
 60

course of the year ; they use candles, tapers,

incense, and have many more external cere
monies than the catholics in the exercise of
their religious functions ; but they altogether
reject the worship of images, except the bare
cross, which is set up in all their churches, and
to which they pay worship. Their waste of
frankincense is very considerable, as they per
form no religious ceremonies in their churches
and at home, without being surrounded by
clouds of smoke of incense.
Their clergy lived till lately in celibacy ;
but I have heard that some protestant mis
sionaries had recently prevailed upon many
of them to marry , and that it was the only
success they had to boast of.
The Catholic, Nestorian, and Eutychian
clergy among them use the Syriac in their
liturgy and religious ceremonies ; but as all
their learning on the subject consists in the
ability to spell it, without understanding it, I
cannot see of what utility your project of sup
plying them with Syriac Bibles could be.
No one among them is capable of understand
ing that ancient language.
Besides the above mentioned missions,
there is another at Madras, under the direc
tion of Italian capuchins, having for their
superior an apostolic prefect, and holding
 61

their spiritual powers from the congregation

De Propaganda. This mission contains ten
or twelve thousand Christians of several de
scriptions, natives, half-castes, &c. living at
Madras and its vicinity.
The same Italian capuchins endeavoured
also to form religious establishments in the
provinces of Bengal, Oude, Bahar, &c. They
penetrated as far as Nepal and Thibet ; but
they met with only trifling success in those
several countries. They had formerly a small
congregation in Nepal, and they have still
chapels at Agra, Lucknow , Patna, and three
or four other places in the province of Bahar ;
but their places of worship in these several
countries are very thinly attended , and the
few people who frequent them are chiefly
half- castes.
In fact, it has been remarked that the pre
judices to be met with every where among
the Hindoos , and which at every period
proved an insurmountable obstacle to the intro
duction of the Christian religion in India,
were still more deeply rooted in the provinces
bordering upon the Ganges than elsewhere.
In more favourable times the congregation
De Propaganda sent successively several bodies
of missionaries to that country, in order to
diffuse over it at least some gleams of the
 62

evangelical light. The French jesuits, the

Portuguese Augustinians, the Italian capu
chins, were sent in succession for that pur
pose ; but they could make no impression ; at
last all their endeavours proving abortive,
and being baffled in all their attempts, the
undertaking was laid aside.
I have made no mention in this sketch of
the Armenian clergy settled at Madras, be
cause they at no time attempted to make
proselytes among the Hindoos, and their only
business has always been to attend the Arme
nian congregation settled at that place. This
sect of Christians does not disagree very much
in its religious tenets with the catholic church.
Indeed the only substantial difference I was
able to remark , is, that their clergy are allowed
the state of marriage, and that they reject the
supremacy of the pope, acknowledging alle
giance only to a patriarch of their own, in
spiritual matters ; for the rest, they profess
nearly the same faith as the catholics, ad.
mitting in common with them, the seven sa
craments, the mass, transubstantiation, the
worship ofimages, invocation of saints, &c. &c.
Their liturgy is in the Armenian language.
From this short general sketch ofthe several
missions in the peninsula, you will perceive
that the number of Neophites, although re
21
 63

duced to no more than a third of what it was

about seventy years ago, is yet considerable ;
and it would afford some consolation , if at
least a due proportion amongst them were
real and unfeigned Christians. But, alas !
this is far from being the case . The greater,
the by far greater number, exhibit nothing but
a vain phantom , an empty shade of Christianity.
In fact, during a 'period of twenty five years
that I have familiarly conversed with them ,
lived among them as their religious teacher
and spiritual guide, I would hardly dare to
affirm that I have any where met a sincere
and undisguised Christian .
In embracing the Christian religion, they
very seldom heartily renounce their leading
superstitions, towards which they always en
tertain a secret bent, which does not fail to
manifest itself in the several occurrences of
life ; and in many circumstances where the
precepts of their religion are found to be in
opposition to their leading usages, they rarely.
scruple to overlook the former, and conform
themselves to the latter.
Besides, in order to make true Christians
among the natives, it would be necessary
before all things, to erase from the code of
the Christian religion, the great leading pre
cept of charity ; for try to persuade a Hindoo
 64

that this religion places all men on equal foot

ing in the sight of God, our common Maker and
Father ; —that the being born in a high caste,
authorizes nobody to look with indifference.
or contempt on the persons born in a lower.
tribe ; —that even the exalted Brahmin, after
embracing Christianity, ought to look upon
the humble pariah as his brother, and be
ready to bestow upon him all marks of kind
ness and love in his power ; -try to prevail
upon the christian Hindoo to forgive an often
imaginary injury, such as would be that of
being publicly upbraided with having violated
any one of their vain usages ; – try to persuade
even the low -born pariah, that after turning
a Christian, he ought for ever to renounce the
childish distinction of Right and Left Hand,
upon which he lays so much stress, and which
he considers as the most honourable charac
teristic of his tribe ;-tell him that as that dis
tinction of Right and Left Hand proves a
source of continual quarrel, fighting, and ani
mosity, it becomes wholly incompatible with
the first duties imposed upon him by the
Christian religion, and must altogether be laid
aside ; -try to prevail upon parents, in oppo
sition to the established customs, to permit a
young widow , their daughter, who, on account
of her youth, is exposed to dishonor, both her
 65

self and family, to marry again ; so to act in

opposition to any of their leading usages and
practices ; your lectures, your instructions,
your expostulations on such subjects, will be
of no avail; and your Christians will continue
to live the slaves of their Antichristian preju
dices and customs.
When their religious instructors become too
troublesome to them, by their importunate
admonitions on such subjects, they often put
themselves in a state of insurrection, revolt
against them , and bid them defiance, by
threats of apostacy .
On the other hand, the practical virtues of
Christianity are almost unknown to them .
Many among them are tolerably well ac
quainted with the doctrine and morality of
their religion ; but by far the greater number
live in the grossest ignorance on these points,
and the religion of all consists in little more
than a few outward practices, and the occa
sional recital of some forms of prayer, accom
panied, it is true, with many external grimaces,
but without any inward or practical spirit of
religion. Indeed, all their exercises are either
a mere routine, or practised from a respect to
appearances, so as not to be exposed by too
marked a negligence to the animadversions of
F
 66

their religious guides, rather thanfrom a con

sciousness of duty towards God.
The Hindoos are a people so peculiarly cir
cumstanced, that I consider it next to impos
sibility to make among them real and sincere
Christians. The force of prejudice is known
to all ; and every one knows, also, that no
people in the earth were ever such slaves to
education and customs as they are. It is well
known, also, that the introduction of any new
usages and regulations, either religious or
civil, among them, has at all times baffled the
utmost endeavours of all their fierce con
querors, their attachment to their own institu
tions has always been invincible, and their
horror of every novelty insurmountable.
The Hindoos are a people entirely different
from all others. You may, if you choose,
exercise over them the most despotic sway ;
you may oppress them by every kind of ty
ranny ; you may overload them with taxes,
and rob them of their property ; you may
carry away their wives and children, load
them with chains and send them into exile :
to all such excesses they will perhaps submit ;
but if you speak of changing any of their
principal institutions, either religious or civil,
you will find a quite ungovernable people,
never to be overcome on this point ; and it
 67

is my decided opinion, that the day when

government shall presume to interfere in such
matters, will be the last of its political ex
istence .
This force of custom is remarked among
the native Christians, as well as among the
pagans. The former shew in all their re
ligious concerns an apathy or insensibility, a
dullness bordering in most instances on stu
pidity. Indeed, the education of all Hindoos
renders them incapable of acquiring new ideas,
and every thing which varies from the esta
blished customs is rather odious, or at least
indifferent to them. It is not that they want
wit, penetration , and aptness in the matters in
which they were brought up, or those in
which their temporal interests are compro
mised ; but it is impossible to instil new
principles, or infuse new ideas into their
minds.
Besides that, surrounded on all sides by a
religion which speaks to the senses, allures
and bewilders its votaries by all kinds of sen
sual gratifications in this life, and in that which
is to come, their minds are too gross to un
derstand a religion which speaks only to the
spirit, exhibits to them only inscrutable mys
teries, and promises them chiefly spiritual
enjoyments.
F 2
 68

The Hindoos are constituted in such a

manner by their education and customs, that
they are quite insensible to all that does not
make a strong impression on the senses.
Fully aware of their dispositions, the impos
tors who contrived their monstrous form of
worship, consulted in doing so the peculiar
temper and character of these nations, and as
they had to deal with a people who, they per
ceived, were only to be stirred up and roused
by monstrosities, they in consequence gave
to them a monstrous religion.
In fact, in discoursing upon the Christian
religion with the Hindoos, your hearers will
readily agree with you upon all that you say ;
but they will feel nothing. When you dis
course upon such topics, either among the
Christians or pagans, your hearers sitting down
on their heels, or cross-legged, will patiently ,
and with frequent assenting nods listen to
you. But after preaching to them in this
manner for several days, ask them for an ac
count of your sermons, or moral instructions,
and you will find that they have compre
hended nothing, and that you have laboured
in vain , because instead of speaking to their
senses, you endeavoured to speak to their
minds.
Seeing the empire of the senses over these
 69

people, and that their imagination was only to

be roused by strongly moving objects, the first
missionaries among them judged that some
advantage might result to the cause of re
ligion by accommodating themselves, as far as
possible, to their dispositions. Agreeably to
this idea, the ordinary pomp and pageantry
which attend the catholic worship, so objec
tionable to the protestant communions in
general, were not judged by them striking
enough to make a sufficient impression on the
gross minds of the Hindoos. They in con
sequence incumbered the catholic worship
with an additional superstructure of outward
shew , unknown in Europe, which in many in
stances does not differ much from that pre
vailing among the gentiles, and which is far
from proving a subject of edification to many
a good and sincere Roman catholic.
This Hindoo pageantry is chiefly seen in
the festivals celebrated by the native Chris
tians. Their processions in the streets, al
ways performed in the night time, have indeed
been to me at all times a subject of shame.
Accompanied with hundreds of tom -toms,
( small drums,) trumpets, and all the discordant
noisy music of the country , with numberless
torches, and fire -works : the statue of the
saint placed on a car which is charged with
F 3
 70

garlands of flowers, and other gaudy orna

ments, according to the taste of the country,
- the car slowly dragged by a multitude
shouting all along the march — the congre.
gation surrounding the car all in confusion ,
several among them dancing, or playing with
small sticks, or with naked swords : some
wrestling, some playing the fool; all shouting,
or conversing with each other, without any
one exhibiting the least sign of respect or de
votion . Such is the mode in which the
Hindoo Christians in the inland country cele
brate their festivals. They are celebrated,
however, with a little more decency on the
coast. They are all exceedingly pleased with
such a mode of worship, and any thing short
of such pageantry, such confusion and dis
order, would not be liked by them .
I at several times strove to make those
within my range sensible of the unreasonable
ness of so extravagant a worship, and how
opposite it was to true piety ; but my admo
nitions proving every where a subject of scan
dal rather than of edification to my hearers,
who in several instances went so far as to
suspect the sincerity of my faith, and to look
upon me as a kind of free-thinker, and a dan.
gerous innovator, merely on account of my
free remarks on the subject, I judged it more
 71

prudent to drop the matter, and overlook

abuses it was out of my power to suppress. I
cannot but declare that the necessity under
which I stood to wink at such, and (in my
opinion ) many other no less reprehensible
abuses, proved to me at all times a subject of
great vexation and disgust.
I may perhaps appear to many, too severe
in my criticism of the processions, and other
outward ceremonies performed by the Hindoo
Christians. Some persons of my profession,
for whose talents and virtues I entertain the
utmost regard, with whom I discussed the
subiect, and to whom I frankly expressed my
undisguised dislike of such pageantry, differed
entirely from me in their view of the case,
and asserted that in this circumstance, as in
every other, a due allowance ought to be
made for the education, the character, and
the genius of the Hindoos ; of a carnal people
who were entirely enslaved to the empire of
the senses, and whose imagination was only to
be roused by strongly moving objects, &c.
Their opinion may be right, and mine wrong.
In support of their opinion, it might be said
that our holy books afford us instances of
solemn processions performed in the streets
among the chosen people, which on the whole,
according to our modern ideas of decorum ,
F 4
 72

would appear to us no less objectionable than

those of the Hindoo Christians. We have a
full account of one of those processions, on
the occasion of the transferring of the ark
from the house of Abinadab, to that of Obe
dedom , and from thence to the city of David .
(2 Sam . c. 6. - 1 Chron . C. 15. ) David and all
the people were assembled for the occasion.
The ark placed on a new car made for the
purpose ; 6 and David , and all the house of
Israel, played before the Lord on all manner of
instruments made of fir -wood , even on harps
and psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets,
and on cymbals,” &c. &c. The holy king him
self, over-powered with joy, and forgetting the
gravity and decorum due to his exalted rank ,
“ danced with all his might before the Lord ,”?
&c . “ So David, and all the house of Israel,
brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting,
and with the sound of the trumpet,” &c. &c.
In the mean time, the tolerating of such
abuses, partly contrived , it appears, to allure
the gentiles, by making an adequate impres
sion on their senses, has missed its object ;
all this pageantry is at present beheld with
indifference by the Hindoos, and the in
terests of the Christian religion have not been
improved by what some may be disposed to
term mere priest-craft.
 78

If any one among the pagans still shews a

desire to turn Christian , it is ordinarily among
out-casts, or quite helpless persons, left with
out resources or connections in society, that
they are to be found. They, generally speak
ing, ask for baptism from interested motives.
Few , if any of these new converts, would be
found, who might be said to have embraced
Christianity from conviction ; and I have every
reason to apprehend, that as long as the usages
and customs of the Hindoos continue unim
paired, it is perfect nonsense to think of
making among them true and sincere pro
selytes.
In order to give you a striking idea of the
religious dispositions of the Hindoo, and as
a strong instance of what I asserted above,
that there was to be found among them , no
thing else but a vain phantom of Christianity,
without any real or practical faith, I will with
shame and confusion quote the following scan
dalous instance.
When the late Tippoo Sultan sought to ex
tend his own religious creed all over his do
minions, and make by little and little all the
inhabitants in Mysore converts to Islamism,
he wished to begin this fanatical undertaking
with the native Christians living in his country ,
as the most odious to him, on the score of
 74

their religion. In consequence, in the year

1784, he gave secret orders to his officers in
the different districts, to make the most dili
gent inquiries after the places where Chris
tians were to be found, and to cause the
whole of them to be seized on the same day,
and conducted under strong escorts to Seringa
patain . This order was punctually carried
into execution ; very few of them escaped, and
I have it from good authority, that the
aggregated number of the persons seized in
this manner, amounted to more than 60,000.
Some time after their arrival at Seringapa
tam, Tippoo ordered the whole to undergo the
rites of circumcision, and be made converts
to Mahometanism. The Christians were put
together during the several days that the cere
mony lasted : and, oh shame! - oh scandal! .

will it be believed in the Christian world ?- no

one, nota single individual among so many thou
sands, had courage enough to confess his faith
under this trying circumstance, and become a
martyr to his religion. The whole apostatized
en masse , and without resistance, or protesta
tions, tamely underwent the operation of cir
cumcision ; no one among them possessing
resolution enough to say, “ I am a Christian,
and I will die rather than renounce my re
ligion !"
 75

So general a defection, so dastardly an

apostacy, is, I believe, unexampled in the an
nals of Christianity .
After the fall of the late Tippoo Sultan, most
of those apostates came back to be reconciled
to their former religion, saying that their
apostacy had been only external, and they
always kept in their hearts the true faith in
Christ. About 2,000 of them fell in my way ,
and nearly 20,000 returned to the Mangalore
district, from whence they had been carried
away, and rebuilt there their former places
of worship God preserve them all from
being exposed in future to the same trials ;
for should this happen , I have every reason
( notwithstanding their solemn protestations
when again reconciled to Christianity) to ap
prehend the same sad results, that is to say, a
tame submission , and a general apostacy.
I have yet said nothing of that class of
Christians in India commonly designated
Portuguese, although most of them have no
more relation by birth , or otherwise, to that
people, or to any other European nation, than
to the Tartar Calmucks. They are partly
composed of half castes, the illegitimate off
spring of Europeans, and a few descendants
of the Portuguese ; whilst the majority of them
are the offspring of Hindoos of the lowest
 76

rank, who, after learning some one of the Eu

ropean dialects, put on a hat, boots, and the
European dress, and endeavour to copy Eu
ropean manners. In my humble opinion, and
as far as I can judge from my personal ob
servations, this class of Indians, composed of
catholics and protestants, is in many respects
inferior to the other classes of society. It has
been remarked, (I apprehend with truth,) by
many observers of the character of these peo
ple, that most of them possessed the vices and
bad qualities, both of Europeans and Hindoos,
with but very few of the virtues and good
qualities of either ; and that amply stored with
the laziness, apathy, and indolence of the na
tives, they, on the other hand, were destitute
of the spirit of temperance and sobriety, self
command, patience and forbearance of the
Hindoos, and also of that dignity and inde
pendence of mind which characterizes Eu
ropeans in the several circumstances of life.
The causes ofsuch an inferiority are above all
a neglected education , bad examples, and bad
company. Most of them are born of a pagan , a
Moorish, or a Pariah woman, or of a common
prostitute, under whose tuition they remain to
the age of 12 or 15 years. If a small proportion
of them be sent to the public schools under
the protection of government, where care is
 77

taken to give them a Christian education ,

many go to them after their morals have been
already corrupted, and their manners tho
roughly vitiated by the early bad education,
and still worse examples of their parents, and
heathen servants ; and yet, the greater number
cannot have the advantage of those public
schools, and are in consequence fostered at
home under the tuition of a Pariah concubine,
and attendants of the lowest description, who
instil into the minds of those youths all the
vices peculiar to themselves, and leave their
rising passions without control. We must,
therefore, cease to be surprised at the loose
ness of manners, and other irregularities exhi
bited by this class of Indians. They generally
live in distressed circumstances , and most of
them are considerably in debt. The causes
of their poverty are the vices peculiar to them
selves ; above all, a want of foresight, a love
of show , and a spirit profusion, is common
to all.
Some well wishers to this class of Indians
have thought that the circulation of bibles
among them was alone sufficient to produce
the wished -for improvement in their condition,
and I have many times been requested to lend
my assistance for the purpose. I beg leave
to observe , that among the native Christians ,
 78

Portuguese, or others, most of whom are im

mersed in the grossest ignorance on the
subject of religion, it is not bibles which are
wanted, but rather elementary works, such as
catechisms, short and familiar instructions,
plain explanations of the creed, of the ten
commandments, simple lectures upon Christian
duties, upon the principal virtues, upon
charity, temperance, self-command, the for
giveness of injuries, &c. &c.
After having prepared their mind by such
elementary works, the reading of the Holy
Scriptures, chiefly the New Testament, would
become more intelligible and useful. But if
you begin to exhibit all at once, without pre
vious preparation, the naked text of the Bible
to their uncouth and ignorant mind, you will,
in my humble opinion, derive very little ad
vantage ; no more indeed than from shewing
light to a dim -sighted person before removing
the opacity which prevents his organs from
seeing clearly.
In fact, from what I have already stated ,
you will easily perceive, that all classes of
Indians must be treated as mere children in
matters of religion. They must, therefore,
be fed with milk of the lighest kind. If you
hazard to give them all at once solid food,
their weak stomach will reject the whole,
 79

and their constitution, instead of being im

proved, will on the contrary be deteriorated,
and entirely ruined by the frequently repeated
experiment.
When I said that the class of Hindoos
known under the appellation of Portuguese was
inferior to the rest, I wished it to be under
stood that I only meant the majority of them ;
and this censure admits of very numerous
exceptions. A great many, indeed, are to be
found among them , whose minds have been
cultivated by an early good education, and
who conspicuously distinguish themselves
from the others in society by their morals,
the purity of their manners, their industry,
their general deportment, and some by their
gentleman -like conduct. But even in these
you will always discover something Indian.
They can never divest themselves entirely of
that apathy, indolence, and dullness which
seem to be the unavoidable lot of all people
born under a vertical sun ; and in spite of all
their endeavours to imitate the Europeans,
something is always remarked in them which
discovers their origin, and seems to justify the
old saying of Horace
“ Naturam expellas furcâ, tamen usque recurret. !"
The surest mode of improving the con
 80

dition of this too much . neglected class of

Indians, which is daily increasing, would be
in my humble opinion to give them more
encouragement to excite their emulation by
promoting the most worthy and best disposed
among them to places and situations which
many of them could occupy with ability, and
which could render them respectable in
society. At the present time, to add to the
other sources of discouragement, they live
despised by all, and almost forgotten . Spurned
by the Europeans, spurned by the natives,
who decline every familiar and confidential
intercourse with them, they are necessarily
thrown into a state of despair, which cannot
fail to deaden in them all noble sentiments,
and all kind of emulation .
From this picture of the state of Christianity
in India, you will perceive how very trying
must be the profession of a missionary in
that country , and to how many dangers he is
exposed in the arduous discharge of his pro
fessional duties, among a people so circum
stanced, lying often, as he does, under the sad
necessity of winking at their reprehensible
practices, and overlooking usages which his
conscience reprobates. You will also, I believe,
agree with me, that of all professions this is
the most distressing, and that much more than
 1

81

an ordinary share of resolution and courage is

required to persevere in it.
What I have stated, will, I think, be suf
ficient to enable you not only to judge of the
state of Christianity in India, but also of its
very inadequate influence on the minds of
those who have embraced it. I am, however,
far from adopting the opinion of those who
think that in such circumstances, and with a
people of such dispositions, Christianity is of
no avail at all ; for, should it produce no other
effect than that of altogether detaching so
many thousand natives from the worship of
idols, and the monstrous kind of idolatry pre
vailing all over India , to inculcate into their
minds even nothing else but the merely barren
and speculative knowledge of only one true
God, and that of his only son our Lord and
common Redeemer Jesus Christ ; this alone,
ought, in my humble opinion, to be sufficient
to wish for, and encourage its diffusion by all
practicable means. Such means, however, will,
I fear, never be found, while the Hindoos are
fettered by their prevailing institutions, and
above all, by that relating to the distinction of
castes ; this alone will always prove an insur
mountable bar to the conversion of the gen
tiles, and baffle the utmost efforts of the most
zealous well -wishers to the cause of Chris
 82

tianity ; and the very same causes which pre

vent us from improving the religious condition
of the unfortunate Hindoos, will also, I ap
prehend, baffle all the efforts of a humane and
benevolent government to improve, (at least
in any material degree) their temporal in
terests .

I am still farther from admitting the bold

opinion of many prejudiced or misinformed
Europeans, who contend that the native
Christians are the worst of all Hindoos. There
is something savouring of blasphemy in this
assertion ; for, should that be the case, it
would tend to nothing less than to prove that
the Christian religion, so far from improving
the condition of man , renders him on the
contrary worse than pagans.
That on account of the peculiar prejudices
under which all natives in India stand, it has
but a very inadequate influence on their
morals, manners, and general behaviour, will
appear from what I have already stated. That
most of them have nothing more of a Christian
than the name, and, if not worse, are not yet
much better than pagans, I am very reluctantly
forced to admit ; but that the Christian religion
renders those who have embraced it worse than
the worshippers of idols, is an untenable para
dox, contradicted by experience ; and will, I
 83

trust, be disavowed by every candid and im

partial observer : and I must add, in justice to
truth, that I am acquainted with many among
them who are in their morals, probity, and
general behaviour, irreproachable men, enjoy
ing the confidence even of the pagans ; and
into whose hands I should not hesitate to in
trust my own interests.
This statement will, I think, be sufficient
to make it appear that my profession has not
biassed my judgment on the subject, or ren
dered me over-partial to the Hindoo Christians;
but notwithstanding all this, it is my opinion
that if a parallel for honesty and probity were
drawn between them and pagans, the former
would have the advantage.
I will refrain from entering into details on
the low state of Christianity among the Euro
peans living in this country, as this part of the
subject is your province rather than mine. I
will content myself with saying, that if their
public and national virtues are a subject of
praise and admiration to all the castes of
Hindoos, the bare-faced immorality, the bad
examples, and disregard of every sense of re
ligion exhibited by a great many amongst
them , are not the least among the many ob
stacles which oppose the progress of their
religion in this country, by increasing the
G 2
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prejudices of the natives against it, and ren

dering it particularly odious , to them, when
they see it so ill observed by those who were
educated in her bosom, and who come from
countries where this religion alone is publicly
professed. They think that there can be no
advantage in embracing a religion which seems
to have so little influence on the conduct of
those who profess it : nay , a great many
among them, judging from outward appear
ances, question whether the Europeans living
among them have any religion whatever. I
have been many times challenged to bear
testimony on this fact, and very seriously
asked by them whether the Frangy (Euro
peans) acknowledged and worshipped a God.
The causes just mentioned unfortunately
operate very powerfully on the minds of the
native Christians themselves, and by confound
ing and staggering their wavering faith , oc
casion the apostacy of many.
This, dear Sir, is an abridged sketch of the
low and abject state of the Christian religion
in India. In such discouraging circumstances,
without any apparent human means to im
prove the cause of Christianity in this country ,
there only remains to the persons of our pro
fession to look up with calmness and resign
ation to Him who holds in his hands the hearts
 85

of men, changes them when he pleases, and

is able, even of stones, to raise up children to
Abraham , when the time appointed by him
for the purpose arrives.
In these deplorable times, in which scepti
cism and immorality threaten to overwhelm
every nation, and every condition, it only re
mains to us to weep, between the porch and the
altar, over the iniquities of the people ; to
water the sanctuary with our tears ; to bewail,
like Jeremiah, the general corruption ; to edify
the people by our lessons and examples ; to
look to the Father of mercies ; to pray to him
to bring about better times ; to spare his
people, and not to give his heritage to re
proach : and if our interposition cannot stem
the torrent, and our altars are finally ' to
be overthrown by the sacrilegious hands of
modern philosophy, let us have, as our last
resource, resolution and fortitude enough to
stand by them to the last, and allow ourselves
to be crushed down, and buried under their
ruins.
I have the honour to be, &c. & c. & c .

December, 1815.

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LETTER III .

To the Rev. G. B.- Bombay .

My dear Sir,
As in our last interview you were so kind
as to say that you would, at all times, be glad
to receive any farther communication I might
wish to make on the state of Christianity in
India , and the means, ( if any existed, ) of
improving Christian knowledge in this country,
in addition to what I formerly wrote on the
subject, I indulge the hope that the new
elucidations I am about to give will meet
with your favourable reception.
I will chiefly insist on the two leading
topics already treated in my former letters,
and which have attracted the attention of
well-wishers to the cause of Christianity ; viz.
Are there any human means of improving
christian religion among the Hindoos ? - Will
the Holy Scriptures translated and circulated
among them, by fixing their attention to this
sacred book, awaken their curiosity, and ex
cite in them a spirit of enquiry, or a desire to
know the truth ?
 87

I must confess that, whenever I reflect upon

this subject, I cannot help experiencing feel
ings of regret and despondency. The ex
perience I have gained through a familiar
intercourse with the natives of all castes, for
a period of twenty-five years entirely passed
in their society, during which I lived like
themselves, conforming to their customs and
prejudices, in order to gain their confidence,
and endeavouring by these means to insinuate
myself among them as a religious teacher,
has made me thoroughly acquainted with the
insuperable obstacles that Christianity will ever
have to encounter in the deep-rooted and quite
invincible prejudices, and in the invariable
usages, customs, and education of the Hindoos
of all castes ; and it is my decided opinion ,
that not only the interests of the Christian
religion will never be improved among them ,
but also that it will by little and little lose the
small ground it had gained in better times ;
and, in a short period, dwindle away to no
thing.
The Hindoos may be divided into two
classés — the impostors, and the dupes. The
latter include the bulk of the population of
India ; and the former is composed of the
whole tribe of Brahmins. Now, in a society
composed of such materials, we can entertain
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but very faint hopes of improving the inte

rests, or extending the benefits of the Christian
religion.
The Brahmins, in framing their system of
imposture, and in devising the monstrous
worship prevailing all over India, not only
used every artifice in their power to adapt it
to the dispositions of a simple and credulous
people, but, above all, they employed all pos
sible means to establish in this way, in a per
manent and indisputable manner, the high
power and uncontroverted control they have
always exercised over the other tribes. In
order that their artifice in establishing through
out the body of society the most downright
imposture which ever prevailed among any
nation on the earth, might not be questioned,
they had the precaution to incumber the
people with those numberless institutions,
which, at the same time that they secure
the permanent superiority of the Brahmins,
render the other tribes incapable of reason-.
ing, or of any mental exertion which might
enable them to emerge from that state of in
tellectual degradation in which they are held
by their unchangeable usages and customs.
It is indeed, it may be remarked, true that
all impostors who introduced or propagated
false religions contrived to answer only human
 89

and temporal purposes in the world, and when

the leaders of the popular faith had recourse
to the same artifices with the Hindoo Brah
mins, and used, in common with them, every
kind of cunning and craft to prevent the
people from discovering their imposture, their
end was the same , and that it is peculiar to
the Christian religion to lay open to all, both
friend and foe, its documents, its records and
principles ; because, this alone being founded
on truth, this alone can boldly challenge the
enquiries and attacks of the severest criticism ,
both ancient and modern.
To this I will answer, that no one among
the contrivers and leaders of false religions
was ever able to devise so well- framed a
system of imposture as the Brahmins have
done, in order to preserve unimpaired their
religious control over the other castes, and
to keep the latter in that state of stupidity
and ignorance in which they are immersed.
It is a sin, it is a crime, a sacrilege in every
Hindoo who is not born a Brahmin to en
deavour to emerge from that state of igno
rance, and to aspire to the lowest degree of
knowledge. It is a sin for him even to pre
sume to calculate on what days fall the new
and full moon . He is obliged to learn this
and similar matters, and to be guided in the
 90

most common occurrences of life by his re

ligious teachers. He is forbidden by his in
stitutions to lay any claim whatever to either
sacred or profane science, or to intermeddle
in any way with the one or the other. His
religious leaders have engrossed, as their ab
solute and exclusive inheritance, all that is
included within the term science, fearing lest
if an access, even to profane science, were
given to the other tribes, this, by causing
them to exert their own reason and judgment,
should lead them to discover the heap of re
ligious absurdities and extravagancies imposed
upon their credulity by an interested priest-·
hood.
Among the arts, the Brahmins have left to
the other castes only those whose exercise
depends more upon bodily than on mental
exertion ; such as, music on windy instru
ments, painting, sculpture, and mechanics ;
and even these they have beset with so many
sources of discouragement, that they have
remained in their infancy, and none of them
has ever approached perfection, they all being
at the present time the same as they were two
or three thousand years ago .
The well-wishers to the cause of Christianity
in Europe, who know nothing of the insuper
able difficulties to be encountered every where
 91

in the dissemination of evangelical truths

among the Hindoos of all castes, may in
dulge on this subject such speculations as
they please, and such as their religious zeal
may suggest to them . They may exclaim that
“ the Gospel is the true light that lighteth
every man that cometh into the world ;"
that the truth, in its silent and slow, though
steady march, must get the better of error,
win the supercilious, soften the obdurate, fix
the fickle, and overcome every obstacle that
impedes its progress. Such pleasing dreams
may be indulged within the precincts of a
closet ; but I would have those well-intentioned
persons, who entertain them , to exercise my
arduous profession only for a period of a few
months, when I have no doubt they would
become thoroughly convinced of the utter
impossibility of carrying into effect their bene
volent speculations among a people circum
stanced as the Hindoos are .
That truth must open its way every where,
and get the better of error and imposture,
may be the case in ordinary circumstances,
among persons whose reason and judgment
are not perverted by unnatural passions and
practices ; among a people who silence their
passions, and whose minds are open to argu
ment and persuasion ; or among persons dis.
 02

posed to know the truth, like the pious pagan

Cornelius ; “ a devout man , and one that
feared God with all his house, who gave
much alms to the people, and prayed to God
alway,” ( Acts, x. ) : but this, I fear, will never
be the case with a people like the Hindoos,
whose minds seem to be hermetically shut to
the voice of truth, and to the rays of light ;
and whose judgment is led astray by their
passions, and most of their public and private
institutions. I have, alas ! nowhere met,
among the Hindoo Brahmins, another Cor
nelius, “ whose prayers and alms are come
up as a memorial before God.” I have to
this day remarked amongst them nothing but
pride, self-conceit, duplicity, lying, and every
kind of unnatural and anti-Christian vices.
The sun, by its brilliancy, dispels darkness,
and irradiates the world, but it is only when
its rays are not interrupted by any interposing
cloud. Truth , in like manner , produces its
effects, but it is only after men have silenced
those passions and prejudices which impede
its march .
Well-wishers to the cause of Christianity
will say , “ Are we then to be discouraged
by difficulties, and altogether to desist from
imparting to our Hindoo brethren the most
valuable of divine favours - Revelation ? and
 93

must we continue to see them immersed in

the grossest idolatry without, at least, en
deavouring to exhibit to their view the source
and origin of the divine light ? Shall we con
tinue to be indifferent and cold spectators of
the infamous worship of the Lingam ? Shall
we continue to behold, with apparent indiffer
ence, the prostitutions practised at Teroopatty
in honour of Vengattassuara, the sacrifices of
human victims often renewed in . Orixa' in
the temple and in honour of Jagnat, and the
frequent immolations of widows on the funeral
pile of their deceased husbands ; and must we
continue to have our reason and understand
ing insulted by the serious recital of the most
extravagant fables ?
“ You speak, Sir, in your letters, of the
difficulties and contradictions to be met
every where in India in the dissemination of
evangelical truths ; but were not the same
difficulties, met with in every nation where
the Gospel has been preached ? Did not
Christ warn his followers that they should be
hated, contradicted, and persecuted in every
way , and in all manners ? Did not the apostles
and their successors disseminate the evangeli
cal light amidst every kind of discouragement ?
Were they not · buffeted, reviled, persecuted,
and defamed ? Were they not made • a
 94

spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and

to men ? Were they not made • as the filth
of the earth, and the offscouring of all things ?'
Was it not amidst all kinds of disadvantages
that they preached the Gospel with such
amazing success to kings and people, to the
learned and the ignorant, to the barbarian
and the polished ; and laid the unshaken
foundation of that faith of which Christ him
self is the corner -stone, against which the
gates of hell shall not prevail, and which shall
last to the end of the world ?'
“ You speak of the Hindoos as an ignorant
and unreflecting people ; but is not the Chris
tian religion that of the wise and the unwise,
of the Greek and the barbarian ? and is not
its simple doctrines within the reach of the
meanest capacity ? On the other hand, does
not christianity accommodate itself to all cha
racters, and civil institutions ? Has not its
divine Author, by commanding men to ó ren
der unto Cæsar what is Cæsar's, ' accommo
dated it to every form of government ? In
short, is it worthy to be the religion of all
climates, countries , and people ?
“ You mention the strong opposition to be
met with on the part of an interested and
crafty priesthood ; but were cunning and craft
peculiar to the priests of Seeva and Vishnoo ?
 95

Had not the first preachers of the Gospel

the same difficulty to contend with in every
pagan country ? Did the priests of Mithra
in Persia, of Osiris in Egypt, of Cérès and
Cybele in Greece and Italy, the druids among
the Celts, the priests of Odin in Scandinavia,
&c. &c. yield their ground without strife and
resistance ? Did not the christian religion,
without any other weapons than the Gospel,
and without any other means but those of a
mild persuasion , overcome every difficulty,
and flourish amidst the severest persecutions ?
Did it not, within a short period, bring under
its standard the polished Greece and the proud
Italy ? and was not the cross planted on the
ruins of the Areopagus, and on the very
summit of the capitol ? Did it not bring
under its laws the swarms of barbarians who,
during many centuries, invaded and desolated
the lower empire ? and did not the ferocious
Vandals finish by bending their necks under
the yoke of the Gospel ? Did not this holy
religion overturn and supplant the druidical
worship prevailing among the Cantabrians,
the Gauls, the Britons, and the Germans, and
establish itself among the fierce Scandinavians,
on the ruins of the worship of Odin, and push
its spiritual conquests to the polar circle, and
the extremities of the world ?
 96

“ Has it not had nearly similar success in

modern times among pagan nations, to whom
it was announced for the first time ? Had it
not the effect of civilizing, and bringing to
habits of industry, the numerous hordes of
savages who formerly wandered, with wild
beasts, on the vast plains of Paragay ? and
was it not, at the beginning of the 17th cen
tury, on the point of altogether supplanting
the worship of the Bowzes in Japan, and
becoming there the national religion on the
ruins of that of Xaca and Amyda ? In short,
was not the Gospel , in every country where
it was preached, a bright light, which alto
gether dispelled the deep darkness of idolatry,
of error, and imposture, to make shine in its
place the truth in all its splendor and purity ;
as a shining sun whose bright beams pierce
through the thickest mist, dissipate it, and
purge the atmosphere of its noxious vapours ?
“Why, then, should we despair of impart
ing to our Hindoo brethren the greatest of all
benefits, and lay aside the design of render
ing them happy both in this life, and in that
to come ? and why should this be the only
nation on earth which should oppose insuper
able obstacles to the introduction of the true
religion among them, and among whom the
word of God should fail of producing its
 97

effects, now chiefly when our holy religion is

sheltered from open and direct persecution,
and is enjoying a full toleration under the
auspices of an enlightened and liberal govern
ment ? "
So, no doubt, will the well-wishers to the
cause of Christianity reason in Europe, and
on those, or similar arguments, will they
ground their benevolent hopes of the success
of Christianity in India.
To all these speculations, I will briefly and
in general answer, that in no country in the
world has the Christian religion had to en
counter the stupendous obstacles that are to
be met with in India. In no country was the
struggle so desperate ; in none had it to deal
with a people so completely priest-ridden ; in
none had it to oppose a system of cunning
and priestcraft so deep laid, and so well cal
culated to baffle all the attempts of that divine
religion to gain a solid footing ; but, above
all, in no country had it to encounter any
difficulty resembling that baneful division of
the people into castes which (whatever may
be its advantages in other respects) has always
proved, and will ever prove, an insurmount
able bar ' to its 'progress. In consequence of
this fatal division, nowhere but in India is a
father reduced to the cruel and unnatural
H
 98

necessity of separating himself for ever from

a beloved son who happens to embrace this
religion ; or a son to renounce for ever a
tender father for the same reason . Nowhere
is a spouse enjoined to divorce, for the same
cause, a cherished husband ; or an unmarried
young person , after having embraced Chris
tianity, doomed to pass the rest of his life
in a forced state of celibacy. In no other
country is a person who becomes a Christian
exposed, by doing so, to the loss of kindred ,
friends, goods, possessions, and all that he
holds dear. In no country, in short, is 'a man,
by becoming a convert to Christianity, cast
out as a vagrant from society, proscribed and
shunned by all : and yet all this happens in
India, and a Hindoo who turns Christian must
submit himself to all these, and many other
no less severe trials.
Let us also consider the wide difference
which exists, in many other respects, between
the Hindoos and the other nations of the
world, and let this consideration teach us not
to be misled in this matter by precedents, or
by arguments à pari, or d fortiori.
Among other nations, both ancient and
modern, civilized and savage, there always
existed a chain of communication , which taught
them that each of them formed only a part of
 99

the great body of society, and that they stood

in want of each other. They, in general,
were disposed to profit by the improvement
of each other ; and although their priests and
religious leaders had generally engrossed the
whole of the mysteries of religion, and of
religious knowledge, which they were careful
not to communicate injudiciously to the vulgar,
yet the other individuals were allowed to judge
for themselves in profane matters, or at least
in their private and domestic concerns. They
were, moreover, allowed philosophical and
many other pursuits, which gave them ample
room to exert their intellectual faculties. They
were fond of new discoveries, and their minds
were open to argument, reasoning, and per
suasion .
The Hindoo, on the contrary, has been
bereft of his reason and understanding by his
crafty religious guides ; he cannot (as has
been already observed) in any circumstance
judge for himself, not even in his domestic
concerns, or the most trifling occurrences of
life. All is invariably ruled by his unchange
able institutions. Imparting or receiving know
ledge is a crime, and listening for the purpose
to any other but his religious leaders, the
Brahmins, is considered as a heinous trans
gression.
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 100

An Hindoo, and above all, a Brahmin, by

his institutions, his usages, his education and
customs, must be considered as a kind of
moral monster, as an individual placed in a
state of continual variance and opposition
with the rest of the human race ; as a being
sequestrated from mankind, with whom he is
forbidden all free and confidential intercourse,
nay, whom he is obliged to shun, to scorn,
and to hate. The crafty Brahmins, (in order
that the system of imposture that establishes
their unmolested superiority over the other
tribes, and brings the latter under their un
controled bondage, might in no way be dis
covered or questioned ,) had the foresight to
draw up between the Hindoos and the other
nations on earth an impassable, an impregnable
line, that defies all attacks from foreigners.
There is no opening to approach them , and they
themselves are strictly, and under the severest
penalties, precluded from access to any body
for the purpose of improving themselves, and
bettering their actual condition, than which,
as they are firmly and universally persuaded,
nothing on the earth is more perfect.
On the other hand, it will be acknowledged,
I believe, by every unbiassed observer, that as
long as we are unable to make impression on
the polished part of the nation, on the leaders
 101

of public opinion, on the body of Brahmins

in short, there remain but very faint hopes of
propagating Christianity among the Hindoos ;
and as long as the only result of our labours
shall be, as is at present the case, to bring
into our respective communions here and
there a few desperate vagrants, outcasts,
pariahs, horse-keepers, beggars, and other
persons of the lowest description, the im
pression made on the public mind cannot fail
to be unfavourable, and detrimental to the
interests of Christianity among a people who,
in all circumstances, are ruled by the force
of custom and example, and are in no case
allowed to judge for themselves.
Now , there is no possibility to have access,
either by word or writing, to the refined part
of the nation ; the line of separation between
us and the brahmins is (as I have just ob
served ) drawn, and the barrier impassable ;
there is no opening to argument or persuasion :
our opponents are strictly bound by their re
ligious and civil statutes to shun, to scorn,
and hate us. They are obliged to do so
from a sense of duty. To listen to us would
be in them a crime, and the greatest of all
disgraces.
I have already given an imperfect de
scription of the Hindoo Brahmin by repre
H 3
 102

senting him as a kind of moral monster in

the social order ; as a being whose institutions
are generally a deviation from the order of
nature, and who has nothing to do with the
rest of mankind, from whom he has entirely
insulated himself.
The leading feature of the education of a
Christian, is an universal charity and bene
volence towards all his fellow -creatures.
The leading feature of the education of a
Brahmin is an universal hatred and contempt
towards all the human race.
A Christian is taught to love even his ene
mies, and to return good for evil.
A Brahmin is taught, if not positively to
hate his friends, and to return evil for good,
at least to conduct himself through life by
quite selfish considerations, and to sacrifice
all, without exception, to his private interests,
without distinction between friends and foes ;
to be entirely unmindful of the services ren
dered to him, and to consider them, whatever
may be their importance and value, as his
strict due.
A Brahmin is, moreover, obliged from duty
to be selfish , intolerant and proud, insolent
and forbidding He is brought up in the
indelible idea that he is the only perfect being
on earth, a being of by far a superior stamp
 103

to that of all other mortals ; that all other

men are nothing butbarbarians ; that he owes
nothing to any body ; and that all his fellow
creatures are created to live under his bondage.
Now , I ask every reasonable man whether, so
long as we have to oppose a body professing
such principles, we can flatter ourselves with
the hope of making the slightest impression on
a people living under their absolute control ?
The more I consider the principles and
conduct of those leaders of the public opinion
in India, the more I become persuaded that
there is something preternatural in this caste
of Hindoos ; I am the more appalled and
confounded by the subject, and I cannot ac
count for it otherwise but by supposing that
on account of their quite unnatural habits,
they are lying under the divine wrath and
curse. I cannot help looking upon them as
upon those false philosophers of whom Paul
speaks ( Rom . i.), “ who, professing them
selves wise, are become fools ;" whom, for
having perverted their own reason , and that
of others, “God gave over to a reprobate
mind .... and to the lust of their own heart, ".
&c. &c.
In common with those philosophers men
tioned by St. Paul, the Brahmins entertain,
respecting the only true God, and his divine
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 104

attributes, as clear and pure ideas as a people

unassisted by the light of divine revelation
can have ; but to that Supreme Being they
pay no worship whatever, and besides they
make it a duty never to communicate to what
they term the stupid vulgar this most im
portant truth of the existence of only one
God. They hold the truth in unrighteous
ness . . . . so that they are without excuse,
because that when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God.. ... They changed
the truth of God into a lie..... Wherefore
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against them, and God gave them up unto
vile affections."
In reading this chapter of our holy books,
and the forcible style in which the Apostle
treats the subject, one would fancy that he
had in view the Hindoo Brahmins when he
wrote it. If one would draw up the cha
racter of this caste of Hindoos, it could not
be better done than by literally transcribing
the 29th, 30th, and 31st verses of this very
chapter.
Such is the short sketch of the unexampled
difficulties against which the Christian religion
has to contend in India . I now leave it to
every candid and unprejudiced observer, to
every person the least acquainted with the
 105

nature of man, to decide whether, amidst such

stupendous obstacles, there remains any open
ing for the truth making its way, and whether
we may entertain the remotest hope of Chris
tianity gaining ground among a people so
circumstanced ?
That God, in his infinite mercy, will have
all men “ to be saved , and to come to the
knowledge of the truth ;” and that Christ died
for the salvation of all mankind, and “ came
into this world to save sinners ; " are truths
acknowledged by all sorts of Christians, if
we except perhaps a few who maintain the
gloomy tenet that God is willing to save only
the elect, or predestined. It is at the same time
no less certain that from hidden secrets in the
divine councils, the knowledge of the truth
has, from the origin of the world , been the
happy lot of only the minority of mankind.
Not to speak of the antediluvian race, when
all men had run headlong into the deepest
abyss of idolatry, and “ all flesh had cor
rupted his way upon the earth ,” with the
exception of a single family which had kept
unpolluted the true belief in God ; after the
deluge, and chiefly from the famous event
which took place on the plains of Shinnaar,
( the building of the tower of Babel,) to the
vocation of Abraham , the truth , it appears,
 106

had again disappeared from the earth, or the

knowledge of the true God was confined to
a very small number of holy personages, who
preserved inviolate this sacred deposit. This,
the most important of all truths, began to be
more generally and better known under the
patriarchs; and was promulgated in a solemn
and indelible manner under the Mosaical law .
Although the chosen people frequently apos
tatised from the only true religion, yet they
were brought back to the paths of righteous
ness by the divine interposition, or by the
unremitted admonitions of the prophets and
other just men who lived among them, and
who, amidst the general defection, stood stead
fastly attached to the true worship ; yet at
those times, and to the very coming of the
Messiah, the revealed religion made no sensi
ble progress. The truth was known but to
very small numbers, and it may be said that,
in those early days, this world , which God
had created as a manifestation of his omni
potence, had been converted into a vast temple
of idols, since the knowledge of the true God
was confined to a small corner of the world ,
and the Lord had only worshippers in the
temple of Jerusalem .
After the coming of Christ, the true reli
gion was promulgated all over the world, and
 107

had such extraordinary successes amidst every

kind of discouragement and contradiction,
that it is quite impossible to account for it
but by the supernatural and invisible inter
ference and assistance of the divine agent,
who alone was able to overcome the otherwise
insuperable obstacles that opposed its progress ,
and to extend its empire over so large a pro
portion of mankind. We are obliged, how
ever, to confess, that notwithstanding its
early amazing progress, the revealed religion
has to this day been that of only the minority
of mankind; and that if we except the spiritual
conquest it has made in modern times in the
new world , and in the Philippine Islands, in
which alone the Spaniards are said to have
gained over to Christianity about two millions
of natives, it has, from a period of about a
thousand years, remained stationary in the
old, making no sensible progress among the
heathen nations during so long a period, and
rather losing than gaining ground. Its con
quests in Asia, from the epoch of the Portu
guese invasion to this day, are rather insig
nificant, and I apprehend that I am rather
over-rating the number of the converts made
in this part of the world , by stating them to
be twelve hundred thousand ; nearly half of
this number may be found in the peninsula of
 108

India and the island of Ceylon, and the rest

in the kingdoms of Pegu, Siam, Laos, Cam
bodje, Cochin-china, Tunkin , and in China, in
which countries missionaries have been sent,
almost without intermission , during the last
two or three centuries. Now this number,
scattered among a population of perhaps
more than five hundred millions of inhabitants,
will appear very inconsiderable indeed, and
very far from compensating for the heavy
losses the true religion has sustained in several
other countries, from Mahometan invasions,
and other causes .
Now , who has told us that Christianity shall
not remain stationary in like manner, and
continue to the end of the world to be the
religion of only the minority of mankind.
Christ (as I mentioned in another letter ) has,
it is true, promised that “ the Gospel of the
kingdom shall be published in all the world ,
for a witness unto all nations, and then shall
the end come. ” His sacred pledge, in this
respect, has been fulfilled, or is still fulfilling,
but; at the same time, has he told any one that
all nations, or even the majority of them , should
be brought under the yoke of the Gospel ?
It is true, that in several of the books of
the Old Testament, and chiefly in the Psalms
of David, in which frequent allusions to the
 109

coming of the Messiah are made, he is repre

sented as extending his spiritual dominion
over all the earth , from one end of the world to
the other ; but most of the expressions used
by the inspired writers in those passages of
Holy Writ either have a mystical meaning,
or are mere metaphors which cannot be taken
in their literal import, and whose true mean
ing cannot be perfectly understood by us.
The ways of God, in his gratuitous election
of only a part of his creatures, are to us ( as I
observed in a former letter) an unfathomable
mystery, a hidden secret, which may never
be revealed to us in this life ; for “ who hath
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath
been his counsellor ?" Whenever I reflect
upon this awful subject, my weak under
standing is quite confounded at the apparent
darkness that surrounds it ; and, like St. Paul,
I stop my wandering thoughts, and fix my
irresolute mind, by humbly exclaiming, with
him, “ O the depth of the riches, both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How
just are his judgments, and his ways past
finding out ! "
Many widows ( says Christ, in allusion
to this mysterious subject ) were in Israel in
the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut
up three years and six months, when general
 110

famine was throughout all the land, but unto

none of them was Elias sent, save unto
Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that
was a widow ; and many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elijeus the prophet, and none
of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the
Syrian . ” ( Luke, iv . 25, 26, 27. )
Faith, and other supernatural virtues, are
merely a gratuitous gift from God, which he
bestows on whom he pleases, when he pleases,
and on what conditions he pleases. He may ,
therefore, without even an appearance of
injustice, require as a condition from those to
whom the boon is tendered, that they shall
throw no unnatural obstacles into his way ;
that they shall not pervert the use of their
reason by unnatural passions ; that they shall
not run into extravagancies which reason
loudly reprobates, and against which all nature
bears testimony ; and that they shall not allow
themselves to be misled by a religious worship,
the folly of which heaven and earth loudly
and openly proclaim . But still more, the dis
positions of God, and above all, his hidden
system of election and reprobation, are quite
out of the reach of our weak understanding.
From the beginning of the world, the true
religion has journeyed from one country to
another. It has passed from one people to
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another ; it has been in several instances

taken away from one nation, and transferred
to another : several people who had been
enlightened by the light of Revelation fell
into the darkness ofidolatry or Mahometanişm .
While, on the other hand, “ the people who
sat in darkness saw great light, and to them
which sat in the region and shadow of death,
light sprung up." “ Qui non viderant, viderunt,
et qui viderant cæci facti sunt.” ( John, ix. )
Amidst all these changes of abode, amidst
the revolutions which occasioned them , the
true faith continued unstained, and received no
blemish, no more, indeed, than does the bright
and glowing sun , when , leaving one hemi
sphere in darkness, he passes to the other to
irradiate it with all his splendor.
We have seen in ancient and modern times
Christian and heathen nations, which, having
filled up the measure of their iniquities, and
gone far beyond the limits of divine forbear
ance, have been cursed, reprobated, and
finally exterminated under the divine wrath.
We have striking examples of this in our
sacred records : nothing short of the utter
extermination of the wicked nations which
peopled the land of Canaan was able to
satisfy divine justice. All the worshippers of
Moloch and Belphegor were under the same
 112

anathema, and all that profligate race were

doomed to a general and total destruction .
Are the worshippers of the Lingam less cul
pable than those of Belphegor ? and is the wor
ship of Jagnot and Teroopatty less nefarious
than than of Moloch ? Are we not warranted,
on beholding the unnatural and odious wor
ship which prevails all over India, in thinking
that these unhappy people are lying under
an everlasting anathema; that by obstinately
refusing to listen to the voice of the heavens,
which “ declare the glory of God,” they
have for ever rendered themselves unworthy
of the divine favours ; that by obstinately
rejecting the word of God, which has been in
vain announced to them without intermission,
during these last three or four centuries, they
have “ filled up the measure of their fathers,”
have been entirely forsaken by God, and
(what is the worst of divine vengeance ) given
over for ever to a reprobate mind, on account
of the peculiar wickedness of their worship ,
which supposes, in those among whom it pre
vails, a degree of perversity far beyond that
of all old Pagan nations ?
In fact, the inferiority of the Hindoo
.

Brahmins to all other Pagan nations, with

respect to religion, is the more striking, as
they have not been able to distinguish what is.
 113

a virtue, and what is not, since they in general

suppose it much more meritorious to render
service to beasts than to men. A pious
Hindoo Brahmin, who will make it his im
perative duty to share his frugal meal with
fishes, snakes, monkeys, and birds of prey ,
will, on the other hand, behold, with the
coldest indifference, a poor wretch starving at
his door, without thinking of assisting him .
Instead of that great leading precept of
Christian charity, - Thou shalt love thy
neighbour like thyself,” which is calculated
to convert the whole of mankind into a com
munity of brothers, it might be said that the
leading precept of the Brahmins is this,
“ Thou shalt love brutes like thyself.”
It is true that the Hindoos; in general, are
by no means strangers to most of the moral
and social virtues which are innate in our
natures, and common to all civilised people ;
but they have been unable to apply those
virtues to their proper objects, or when ap
plied to suitable objects, they have robbed
them of their intrinsical merits by the most
selfish motives, or the most childish vanity.
To practise a virtue from quite disinterested
motives, and only to enjoy the inward satis
faction of doing good, are things above their
comprehension. Ask a rich Hindoo who
I
 114

spends the whole or a part of his fortune in

erecting or repairing places of religious wor
ship, in building choulteries, as a shelter for
the weary traveller, or in lining public roads
with trees, to refresh them by their shade ; in
digging wells and tanks for the benefit of the
public, and in such like charitable under
takings ; what are his motives for so doing,
his answer will almost invariably be, that he
does so to be publicly praised as a virtuous
man during his life, and to transmit his name
to posterity after his death .
Let it not be supposed that I indulge in
this strain of speech to abuse or revile the
unhappy Hindoos; far be from me even the
naked thought of insulting them on the score
of their errors in religious or other matters,
how monstrous soever they may appear to me.
Their blindness and obstinacy on this subject
have at all times excited in my mind only
feelings of compassion at their misfortunes. In
beholding the extravagance of their idolatrous
worship, I cannot help exclaiming with the
prophet king, and with the liveliest sense of
gratitude to Heaven ; “ Beatus homo quem
tu erudieris Domine, et de lege tua docueris
eum . ” And when I behold them prostrating
themselves before their gods of stone and
brass, I exclaim , “ Such were our ancestors,
 115

and so did they, and so would we ourselves do,

had not God, through his infinite mercy,
taken us out of such an abyss of darkness, in
order to illumine us with the bright light of
his divine Revelation ! Let everlasting thanks
be returned to Him, for this the greatest of
all his divine favors in this life. ”
But it will be said , will the actual extensive
intercourse of the natives with the Europeans
be of no avail to the former with respect to
their religious improvement ; will it not at least
excite in their minds a spirit of enquiry, and
a desire to know the truth ; dispel by little
and little the thick clouds of ignorance that
hang over them , and bring them back to
sounder notions on religion ?
I cannot refrain from smiling at the idea
that the conduct and examples of the existing
race of Europeans of any nation whatever,
will be able to bring the Hindoos to just
notions on this subject, and instil into their
minds principles of morality and religion.
The reverse has to this day been the case ,
and (as I stated in a former letter) it is most
certain that the intercourse of the Hindoos
with the Europeans has proved the last blow
to the interests of Christianity in India, and
that the repeated invasions of the country by
the latter, have put a stop to all further
I 2
 116

conversion, and only contributed to make

apostates among the old converts, by rendering
them objects of universal contempt among all
classes of Hindoos.
It is, I believe, generally admitted, that the
invasions and conquests which the Europeans,
prompted by avarice and an unextinguishable
thirst of dominion , have not ceased to make
in the old and new world during the last
three or four centuries, have, in most cases,
proved rather a curse than a blessing, and
have, on the whole, produced more evil than
good. Not to speak of the flood of blood
through which those conquests were made,
and the European dominions established, the
invaders, among many other evils, have sup.:
plied the savages with fermented poisonous
liquors, with the use of which they were
formerly unacquainted, and which have in
creased their natural ferocity to a consider
able extent.
They are become the general carriers; and
almost the exclusive monopolists of that
poisonous drug called opium , whose effects
are to produce complete madness ; and from
an insatiable thirst for gain , they have shame
lessly smuggled that poison all over Asia, in
open violation of the wise prohibitions of the
rulers of several countries to prevent so
 117

pernicious an article from being introduced

into the states under their sway. They have
had the horrid distinction of teaching the half
civilized people their infernal system of war
fare, and supplied them with the most de
structive kind of weapons, the more effectually
to destroy each other. They have, in general,
by their bad examples, polluted their minds,
and vitiated the simplicity of their manners.
• They have poisoned their bodies by loathsome
and incurable diseases, till then unknown to
them ; but, perhaps, with a few exceptions,
they have to this day operated no material im
provement in their morals or religion ; on
which points, the conquered are found to be,
at present, rather in a worse condition than
they were when their fierce invaders, stepping
over the immense barriers by which nature
seemed to have separated them for ever, and
violating their territories and their natural
rights, made their first appearance among
them .
During the long period I have been in
India, I have visited places inhabited by
Europeans of several nations, by English,
French , Dutch, Danes, and Portuguese. In
none of those places have I been able to
remark any amelioration or improvement in
the morals and religion of the natives. Any
I 3
 118

changes I have observed in this respect, were

rather for the worse . If their intercourse
with the Europeans has operated any alter
ation, it has been to prompt them to lay aside
and disregard all that was good and justifiable
in their usages, retaining all that is bad and
exceptionable.
Nobody can deny that the Hindoos have
to this day copied nothing of the Europeans
besides their vices and their follies. They
have been at all times but too well disposed
to imitate their bad examples, whilst, on the
other hand, their virtues, the spirit of charity,
of liberality, of compassion and benevolence,
which characterise most Europeans, have
not even been noticed by the Hindoos in
general.
This circumstance may be distinctly noticed
by every observer, who travels over the
country. Let him go to the coast, or any
other place inhabited by Europeans, he will
find there the natives in general, selfish, arro
gant, impertinent, impatient of control, ob
trusive, insolent towards Europeans, ever ready
to injure or insult them , when they think they
may do so with impunity. Let him call for
any purpose in those parts of the country on
any native who in speaking to him lies under
no restraint, or is not overawed by interested
considerations, and who thinks that he may
1
 119

without danger to himself deal freely with

him, he will easily remark in his words and
his countenance how very conscious he is of
his high superiority over him. He will ob
serve in his forbidding looks, or in his affected
sneer, the expression of the inward contempt
he entertains towards him, as forcibly as if he
said openly in his face, “ I am a civilised man ,
and thou art a barbarian ; I am in my country,
and thou art a foreigner ; I am in my place,
and thou art an obtruder ; if thou art my
superior in physical force, I am thine in
education and every kind of intellectual en
dowments ."
Let the same person go into the inland
country, or into places where the Europeans
are not at all, or but little known, and he will
in general find a people, shy it is true, but
docile, peaceable, unassuming, submissive,
serviceable, respectful to Europeans, and
ready to render them service, whenever the
latter betray nothing forbidding in their
manners and behaviour.
So far from the intercourse of the Euro
peans with the natives making a favourable
impression on the latter, on the score of re
ligion, this very circumstance produces (as I
mentioned in a former letter) a quite op
posite effect.
I 4
:
 120

On the whole, it is my decided opinion,

that as long as we have no warmer promoters
of the cause of Christianity than the existing
race of Europeans of any nation whatever, we
can entertain but very faint hopes of Chris
tianity gaining ground in India. As long as
a native Christian, who happens to fall in the
way of an European, shall (after having been
surveyed with a stern and scornful counte
nance ) be welcomed by him with this
insulting reproach, “ Why hast thou forsaken
the religion of thy forefathers to embrace a
foreign worship ? " so long as the name of a
native Christian and a rogue shall sound as
synonymous in the ears of a prejudiced Eu
ropean ; so long as the deluded victims who
devote themselves to the most arduous of all
professions, forego all worldly prospects in
life, and sacrifice their repose, their health,
and their lives, for the purpose of imparting
to their fellow -creatures (what they consider
as the most valuable of all blessings,) the
knowledge of the only one true God, and of
the worship due to him by all his creatures,
shall be branded with the appellation of
fanatics, idiots, and other the like opprobrious
epithets ; so long as the Hindoos shall hear
the Europeans themselves, making in several
instances their own religion , and its sacred

1
 121

records, the subject of their paltry sarcasms

and railleries ; so long as the natives shall
behold the precepts and morals of that holy
religion openly violated without shame or
scruple by those who were educated in its
bosom ; in short, so long as the Christian
religion shall have to struggle with so many
domestic and foreign obstacles, it would, in
my humble opinion, be perfect nonsense to
flatter ' ourselves with the hope of its ever
gaining any solid footing in the country.
I will now say a few words on the project
of enlightening the Hindoos, by the translation
of the Holy Scriptures, and their circulation
among them. But as I have already treated
this subject in a former letter, what I have to
add shall be confined to a few short remarks.
It appears to me, that we are a little too
much disposed to over -rate the effects that
we fancy the naked divine work ought to pro
duce on the mind of an ill-disposed heathen
nation . We judge of the effects it ought to
produce on them, by those it produces on
ourselves, who have been brought under its
instructions ; who received it in our early
years from Christian parents ; and who have
perhaps made it our principal study in our
maturer age.
 122

To start in the work of proselytism by ex.

hibiting at once to the view of the pagans of
any nation whatever our holy books, is in my
opinion to commence our labours where we
ought to finish them ; it is to build an edifice
before having laid its foundations ; it is the
same as to require from an apprentice in
mechanics to form a complicated machine,
without supplying him with tools for the pur
pose ; it is worse, it is to call upon a man , just
come out of the hands of nature, upon a
savage, whom we would wish to make a perfect
mechanic, and to whom , after showing a model
composed of a great number of complicated
wheels and springs, we should say, “ Here is
your model ; learn your trade from it : when
you have succeeded to imitate it, we will
receive you into the profession of a mechanic.
We say nothing more to you on the subject.
Take the model in your hand, and shift for
yourself ; commence by finding out iron mines,
extract the iron from the ore, make your axes,
your saw , and other tools, fell your trees, work
your timber, your wheels, and your springs,
and finish your machine.” Would not the
savage, on hearing such language, be disposed
to think that his master intended to make a
jest of him ? or if he believed that he spoke
 123

seriously, would he not be appalled at the

task imposed on him, and in his despair would
he not break in pieces the model left in his
hand, and fly again to his forest and native
wilds ?
We have many instances of Christians ac
customed to read and interpret the Holy
Scriptures, passing from one sect to another,
and endeavouring to justify this change by the
meaning, or the liberal interpretation of the
word of God ; but I have never heard of a
single instance of a pagan having been con
verted to any sect of Christianity by the
simple reading of the naked text of our sacred
books. This is certainly the primitive source
from which our faith is derived, and the
foundation on which it is built ; but it is so
far above the comprehension of our unpre
pared understanding, that it would be
unreasonable on our part to expect an un
cultivated and unassisted mind to be able to
decide for itself, and to build his faith on it
alone.
Our holy records afford us a striking in
stance of the insufficiency of this means alone
to build up one's faith in the example of the
Eunuch of Candace, ( Acts viii. ) who probably
was not a man of common parts or education.
 124

He was returning from Jerusalem , and, sitting

in his chariot, was reading on his way Esaias
the prophet. Philip, warned by an angel,
passed on the same road, and prompted by the
spirit, he ran to him, and heard him read the
prophet Esaias, and said, “Understandest thou
what thou readest ?” Hear now the candid
answer of the Eunuch : “ And he said, How
can I (understand it), except some man should
guide me ? And he desired that he would
come up, and sit with him ," &c. &c. “ Then
Philip opened his mouth, and preached unto him
Jesus, ” &c. (See the whole of this edifying
occurrence in the quoted chapter.)
Far be from me the thought of failing in
the least in profound respect and veneration
for the sacred word of God, or of detracting
a single particle from the salutary effects it is
calculated to produce on a well-disposed per
son, who makes it his study, with the inten
tion of becoming acquainted with his duties
as a man and Christian. But I repeat it, to
exhibit the Scriptures to an unprepared pagan,
to build up his faith upon them, or even to
excite in his mind a spirit of enquiry or a
desire to know the truth, is, in my humble
opinion , an absurd proceeding.
I believe that I may without presumption,
assert the same with respect to the native
 125

Christians in general. I have now under my

religious control between 7000 and 8000
persons of this description ; and I should be
very much perplexed indeed, were I among so
large a number desired to point out four in
dividuals capable of understanding the mean
ing of the Bible, and to whom the reading of
the naked text of the Holy Scriptures would
prove of the least utility.
I have composed for the instruction of this
my large flock , a short catechism comprised
within ten or twelve pages, explanatory of the
principal truths of the Christian religion .
This small composition is worded in the sim
plest and plainest manner, and to make it
better understood, I have also repeatedly ex
plained it in various ways to my congrega
tions; yet I find that after so much trouble,
the great majority of them do not understand
it. Now , I beg leave to ask of any candid
and unprejudiced person, of what utility can
the Holy Scriptures be to persons unable to
understand a short catechism of ten pages,
composed in the plainest style ?
Nobody is better persuaded than myself of
the quite disinterested intentions of the Bible
Society. I feel that it would be extremely
impertinent in me to make insinuations in the
least offensive to that learned body ; but I
 126

cannot help saying that their endeavours to

enlighten the Hindoos, or to make the least
impression on them through the translation of
the Holy Scriptures circulated among them ,
are, in my opinion, quite lost trouble, and will
be of no avail. I cannot moreover help de
claring, that the money spent for the purpose
would be better and more meritoriously em
ployed in feeding the hungry and clothing the
naked .
It is of no utility to distribute Bibles if you
have not well-founded hopes that they will be
read, and their meaning be understood . Now,
I have every reason to apprehend, that as
long as they shall be translated into the almost
unintelligible style in which we see the vera
sions already executed, there is not the re
motest hope of their being of the least utility
even to the best disposed persons, and that (as
I observed in a foregoing letter) those loose
and spurious versions will only tend to in
crease the contempt of the prejudiced natives
against Christianity, and prove on the whole
detrimental to its interests.
In fact, if one of the many proofs of our
holy books being of divine origin be derived
from their intrinsic worth, from their noble,
inimitable, and majestic simplicity, there is,
alas! on the other hand, but too much room
 127

to fear that the Hindoos will form a directly

opposite judgment on the subject, when they
behold the quite ludicrous and vulgar style of
the versions at present circulated among them ;
and that even the most reasonable and best
disposed, on perusing the Scriptures under
such a contemptible shape, so far from looking
upon them as the work of God, will, on the
contrary, be strongly impelled to consider
them as mere forgeries of some obscure, ig.
norant, and illiterate individual, and of course
as a downright imposture.
Among many instances which are come
within my personal notice of the effects pro
duced on the minds of the natives by the
versions of the Holy Scriptures into the idioms
of India, I will content myself with relating
the following only :
Being in a neighbouring village, three or
four months ago, I received there the visit of
some Christians living in the Bellary district,
in a place called Talairu , where between 30
and 40 Tilinga Christian families reside.
After the ordinary marks of respect, and the
usual compliments, one of my visitors took a
book out of a small bag, and without uttering
a single word, laid it at my feet. On opening
it, I found it was a translation into Tilinga of
the Gospel of St. Matthew ; and before saying
 128

any thing about it, I wished to be acquainted

with the opinion of my visitors on the work .
Having interrogated them for the purpose, the
person who had delivered it to me began the
following curious account, saying that some
months back two Christians of their village
went to Bellary on some business, and hearing
that a European gooroo, or priest, (whom from
their account I understood to have been a
protestant missionary,) was living in that
visit ; that they
place, they went to pay him a visit
had been very kindly received by him, and
that after a good deal of conversation , chiefly
on religious subjects, the gooroo, on dismissing
them, had made them a present of the book ,
strongly recommending them to have a chap
ter of its contents read every Sunday in their
chapel to the assembled congregation ; that
there being only five or six individuals among
the congregation who could write and read,
on their return they had called on them, and
delivered the book to them ; that these per
sons had assembled together for the purpose
of reading it, and becoming acquainted with
its contents ; but that they were unable to
understand the meaning of a single chapter ;
that in their perplexity they had applied to
some pagans living in the same village, to
assist them in expounding the book; but no
 129

one among them had been able to understand

any thing about it ; that they were then dis
posed to believe that the foreign gooroo, who
was not their own, had given them such a
work to make a jest of them , and that in this
persuasion, some were of opinion, that it
should be thrown into the fire ; but the ma
jority wishing to become acquainted at least
with the outlines of the work , called for the
purpose on a brahmin poorohita, or astrologer,
living in their neighbourhood (which cir
cumstance of Christians having recourse to a
pagan astrologer, to expound the gospel to
them , is not the least curious); that the pooro
hita having perused one or two pages in their
presence, told them that it appeared to him to
be a curious book, but that it was written in
so loose and incoherent a style, and in so ob
scure a manner, that it would require some
days to become acquainted with the whole.
He therefore dismissed them , telling them to
come back after a few days.
When the Christians returned , the poorohita
gave them the following curious answer, as
suring them , in a low tone of voice, that he
had thoroughly perused the work with at
tention, and that it was nothing more or less
than a treatise upon magic ; adding, that it
was worked up in obscure and incoherent
K
 130

sentences, quite unintelligible to sudras ; " as

is always the case ,” said he, “ with works treat
ing upon occult and pernicious sciences ;" and
strongly recommending them to destroy, or
otherwise get rid of it, as it was a great sin to
keep so pernicious a book in their possession.
Such is the account those poor simple
fellows gave me of the gospel of St. Matthew .
The fact is, that the poorohita himself had
been unable to understand any thing about
it ; but as he was unwilling to confess his
ignorance before sudras, he thought he had
better give them this awkward explanation .
This anecdote will give you some idea of the
versions of the Holy Scriptures now extant in
the country, and of their utility.
In fact, it was not in that way that the first
missionaries, who made their appearance in
the country more than three hundred years
ago, gained some ground, and got a hearing.
It was not by circulating amongst the natives
spurious, and almost unintelligible versions of
our sacred book, that they made some im
pression in those early times ; it was chiefly
by scrupulously conforming themselves to the
usages and customs of the country ; it was
by becoming Hindoos in their habits and
manner of living, that they insinuated them
selves amongst these people. In the mean
21
 181

while, as, notwithstanding the precautions they

employed to obtain a free and quite unre
strained intercourse with the natives, their
colour, their being foreigners, and other cir
cumstances, excited distrust ; in order to re
move this obstacle to their successes, they had
recourse to the following means :
After having made a certain number of
proselytes, they selected the best-disposed,
and most intelligent among them , and esta
blished schools for the forming of catechists,
or native religious teachers. The missionaries
superintended and directed those schools of
catechists, and made it their principal study
to give them an education suited to their
intended profession. They, in consequence ,
composed several religious tracts explanatory
of the Creed and of the Ten Commandments ;
whilst other tracts were also written contain
ing some plain and short proofs of the exist
ence of the only true God, an explanation of
his divine attributes, and a refutation of the
idolatry prevailing in the country. After the
catechists had properly become acquainted
with these matters, they were taken into the
service of the missionaries, and taught the
manner of introducing themselves by good
manners among the natives.
These native catechists introduced them
K 2
 132

selves easily every where ; into themarkets and

other places of public resort ; into private
houses and elsewhere ; as physicians, mer
chants, and under other denominations, with
out exciting any distrust. In their free inter
course with the world, they were taught by
their employers dexterously to provoke dis
cussion upon religion ; and so to manage such
disputes, as that in making a display of their
own learning they should in no way excite
suspicion. When they perceived that they
were listened to without disapprobation, they
returned, and continued their discussions, with
out any pretensions to superior information .
When they saw that they had made an im
pression on any one of their hearers, they
prevailed upon him to accompany them to
the missionary, who finished the work .
- Such was the manner of proceeding of the
first missionaries, and the way by which they
gained some ground in this country in better
times. Those schools for forming good cate
chists were the only ones established by the
missionaries , and under their immediate super
intendence. · They continued, without inter
ruption, to a late period, and ' were finally
suppressed about fifty years ago ; nearly at the
period when the European invasions taking
place rendered (as I have remarked in another
 133

letter) the Christian religion an object of uni

versal opprobrium all over the country ,‫ ܪ‬and
no means whatever remained of getting from
the pagans a further hearing on the subject,
either through native catechists or otherwise.
Warned by long experience, I repeat it,
with feelings of the deepest sorrow, that there
remain, in the present circumstances, no
human means of improving Christian know
ledge among the natives of India . The con
cerns of the Christian religion are in a quite
desperate state ; from a long period, all mis
sionaries who are come to India for the
purpose of making proselytes, have found
themselves deceived on their arrival in the
country, have experienced nothing but the
most distressing disappointments in all their
pursuits, and all their labours have terminated
in nothing
For my part, I cannot boast of my successes
in this holy career during a period of twenty
five years that I have laboured to promote the
interests of the Christian religion. The re
straints and privations under which I have
lived, by conforming myself to the usages of
the country ; embracing, in many respects, the
prejudices of the natives ; living like them , and
becoming almost a Hindoo myself; in short,
by “ being made all things to all men, that I
K 3
 134

might by all means save some, " -- all this has

proved of no avail to me to make proselytes.
During the long period I have lived in
India, in the capacity of a missionary, I have
made, with the assistance ofa native missionary,
in all between two and three hundred converts
of both sexes . Of this number two-thirds
were pariahs, or beggars; and the rest were
composed of sudras, vagrants, and outcasts of
several tribes, who, being without resource,
turned Christians, in order to form new con
nections, chiefly for the purpose of marriage,
or with some other interested views. Among
them are to be found some also who believed
themselves to be possessed by the devil, and
who turned Christians, after having been as
sured that on their receiving baptism the un
clean spirits would leave them ,never to return ;
and I will declare it, with shame and confusion,
that I do not remember any one who may
be said to have embraced Christianity from
conviction, and through quite disinterested
motives. Among these new converts many
apostatised, and relapsed into Paganism , find
ing that the Christian religion did not afford
them the temporal advantages they had looked
for in embracing it ; and I am verily ashamed,
that the resolution I have taken to declare the
whole truth on this subject forces me to make
 135

the humiliating avowal, that those who con

tinued Christians are the very worst among
my flock .
I know that my brother -missionaries in
other parts of the country, although more
active, and more zealous, perhaps, than myself,
have not been more fortunate, either in the
number or the quality of their proselytes. For
my part, I have, until now, struggled, though
in vain , with the numberless difficulties stated
in these letters, and exerted myself to the ut
most not to sink under so many disadvantages.
If a great many persons of my profession have
discharged their duties with more ability, I
believe that I may boast that few have done it
with more patience and perseverance than
myself ; and in spite of every kind of disgust
and contradiction, in spite of the inutility of
my pursuits, I am determined, after having
embraced the profession of a missionary, to
continue the desperate struggle, and persevere
in it to the last.
In fact, the conversion of the Hindoos,
under existing circumstances, is so hopeless a
thing, and their prejudices against it are so
deeply rooted, and so decidedly declared, that
I am firmly persuaded, that if (what has never
been the case) the Hindoo Brahmins were ani.
mated by a spirit of proselytism , and sent to
 136

Europe missionaries of their own faith, to

propagate their monstrous religion, and make
converts to the worship of Seeva and Vishnoo,
they would have much more chance of success,
among certain classes of society, than we have
to make among them true converts to the faith
in Christ.
But, to conclude, let the beholding of the
monstrous worship which prevails all over
India - let the blindness and hardness of
heart of a people immersed in such an abyss of
darkness, be a warning to those who have the
happiness of being born under a religion which
gives them such sound, and such pure notions
of the Divinity. The spectacle of whole
nations still immersed in the most extravagant
and obstinate idolatry, forcibly apprises us of
the total incapacity of unassisted human
reason , to make to itself a reasonable system
of religion, and of the necessity of a foreign
divine light, to guide us aright in this im
portant path ; it reminds us, also, of the great
obligations under which we stand to the divine
Author of revelation, the common Father of all
mankind, for having, without any previous de
serving on our part, chosen us, among so many
idolatrous nations, to be his adopted people.
What ought not our gratitude to be to him
for this, the greatest of all his divine favours ?
 137

Many persons who come from Europe to

India, with unsettled and wavering religious
principles, finish , on beholding the variety of
worships prevailing in the country, by laying
aside what they term the prejudices of edu
cation, becoming free-thinkers, and adopting
the broad principle of modern philosophy, that
all religions are equally acceptable to the
Deity, and conduct to the same end.
For my part, I rejoice that these fallacious
notions have never been mine : I always
viewed the subject in a quite different manner;
and the sight of the monstrous worship pre
vailing in India, so far from staggering my
faith , has, on the contrary, contributed in a
high degree to strengthen it. In fact, when
ever I compare the majestic simplicity of our
Scriptures, the unspotted sanctity of our
gospel, the impressive solemnity of our re
ligious worship, with the heap of impertinent,
absurd, and obscene tałes contained in the
pooranes and legends of the Hindoos, and
with the extravagant, barbarous, and, in many
instances, horrid worship of the country, the
Christian religion alone appears to me stamped
with the seal of divinity. In these circum
stances I forcibly experience feelings of the
liveliest gratitude for the blessing of being
born under a religion, the only one on earth,
 138

which gives us sound and pure notions of the

Deity, his divine attributes, and the worship
due to him by all reasonable creatures. Im
pressed with these feelings, ' I cannot help
exclaiming with the holy legislator of the
Hebrews, “ What nation is there so great that
hath statutes and judgments so righteous as
all this law which I set before you this day. "
( Deut. iv. 8. )
I will say nothing about the leading feature
of the printed report, a copy of which you
sent me, relating to the improving of the con
dition of the unhappy offspring of the Euro
peans of the lower classes, left quite destitute
and helpless in society, and exposed to every
kind of danger, both spiritual and temporal.
This important subject is so ably and so
forcibly treated in the sermon you delivered
on the occasion , that nothing more need be
said about it. I observed, with the greatest
gratification , that the sad condition of those
unfortunate beings had at last attracted the
attention it so well deserves, of sensible and
benevolent persons ; that much for their im
provement had already been done, and much
more was in contemplation. I hope, and sin
cerely wish, that your humane, generous, and
religious endeavours, and those of your worthy
associates in the cause of humanity, may be
 139

accompanied with success, and that the

happiest results may follow from these your
labours. It is a subject which had long called
for the attention of sensible souls, preferably
to any other charitable object ; for it might be
said with truth, morally and physically, of
these helpless children, in the words of Jere
miah, “ The young children ask bread, and no
man breaketh it unto them . " .
I will now close the discussion I have
carried on in this and the foregoing letters.
When I commenced them , I did not imagine
I should go so far into the question. I was
induced to enter into so many details by the
consideration that elucidations on this interest
ing subject, by a person of my profession and
experience, might prove of some advantage to
the public, among whom, it appears, much
ignorance and misapprehension prevails, and
whose opinion has been in a high degree mis
led by imperfect, and, in many instances,
erroneous statements, published of late, at
home, by persons led astray by a misguided
religious zeal, and who took upon themselves
to treat of matters with which they were
scarcely at all, or but very imperfectly ac
quainted .
In fact, on perusing the reports of those
gentlemen, persons unacquainted with the
 140

subject might be induced to suppose, that the

Hindoos are a people quite prepared for a
revolution in their religious system , and ready
to break to pieces and trample upon their
gods of stone and brass. One would think,
in hearing them, that these fields “ are white
already to harvest , " and that it is only ne
cessary to come with sickles and baskets to
cut down and gather an abundant crop .
For my part, as an experienced veteran in
this kind of sacred militia, engaged for a long
period in the same kind of holy warfare,
thoroughly acquainted with the character, the
dispositions, and resources of the common
foe, and with all the difficulties which are to
bé met with in the contest, I beg to be
allowed to entertain the most serious doubts
of the truth of those pompous and all-pro
mising reports, until more unbiassed and more
impartial evidence shall have removed my
scepticism .
It only remains to me to solicit your kind
indulgence, chiefly on account of the bad
style in which these letters are written ; and
moreover to express to you my regret that
it is not in my power to do more ample
justice to the subject, owing to a want of
ability, and also to the difficulty I had to
contend with in discussing the matter in a
 141

language which is not my own, and with

which I am but very imperfectly acquainted.
I have stated with candour, with simplicity,
and freedom , all that I thought capable of
interesting the public, and all that appeared
to me worthy of being known, as I supposed
that a person of my experience might speak
without restraint on a subject which is his
peculiar province, and on which many have
already given much erroneous information to
the public .
I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

16th November, 1816.

1

VINDICATION
OF THE

HINDOOS,
BOTH MALES AND FEMALES,

IN ANSWER TO THE ATTACKS MADE UPON BOTH BY

THE REVEREND
 7(

&
.
 145

Extract of a Letter from the Rev.

to Major W. C. at Calcutta.

My dear Sir,
I WILL candidly confess to you that the
highly exaggerated accounts of the Rev.
and the severity with which he treats these
poor Hindoos, are far from being a subject
of edification to me. I have, at different
times, perused many of the public accounts
of the new reformers of several sects, settled
of late in several parts of India, communicated
to their correspondents in England, and I
cannot disguise to you that their exaggerations
and misrepresentations (not to use harsher
terms) respecting the Hindoos have been to
me a subject of much scandal, and have, in
several instances, roused my indignation to a
high degree.
In fact, from their reports, I see that those
gentlemen particularly delight in represent
ing these people under the blackest and most
odious colours. With them the Hindoos are
nothing but barbarians ; a people loaded with
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 146

every kind of vice, without a single spark of

virtue. Not only their religion, but also their
system of civilization, their character, their
public and domestic institutions ; all their
usages and practices are indiscriminately
branded with infamy, and held forth to
public contempt ; and they themselves are
abused, reviled, and degraded almost to the
level of brutes.
Such is, as far as I can judge from their
public reports, the view taken of these people
by most of the new reformers at present
settled among them.
But I am happy to know that a quite
different view of the subject has been taken
by a Warren Hastings, a Burke, a Cornwallis,
a Robertson, a Sir William Jones, a Cole
brooke, a Hawkins, a Wilkins, and many other
enlightened persons who had made close and
deep researches on all that relates to the
Hindoos. I am happy to know that such men
of talents, in acknowledging the vices of the
Hindoos, had candor enough to acknowledge
also their virtues, and to make a just estimate
of what was good, and what was bad in their
institutions. Now it is a subject of regret to
see that the opinions and authority of so
many enlightened and independent persons
are disregarded, to listen to the suspicious
 147

accounts, and wild theories of men of medio

crity, who have of late undertaken the alto
gether impracticable task of reforming these
nations in their religion, morals, and manners.
I am also happy that, in my humble sphere,
and obscure station, an experience of thirty
years, passed in an unrestrained intercourse
with these people, has taught me a quite
different theory, and to view the subject in
a much more favourable light. I am happy
to the end of my researches to find that,
in witnessing among them many disgusting
vices, I have been able to discover also many
eminent virtues.
It is true that some of my critics have ac
cused me of being tinctured with Hinduism,
and strongly biassed in favour of the Hindoos,
because in describing their vices and bad
qualities I had also presumed to take notice
of their virtues and good qualities ; but the
fact is, that if I have any thing to reproach
myself with in my writings on the subject of
the Hindoos, it is to have been rather too
severe in finding faults with them in matters
which would perhaps have been a subject of
praise to more unbiassed authors.
In perusing the pamphlet of the Rev.
I have been sorry to see that able writer so
violently prejudiced against the Hindoos. Such
L 2
 149

a virulent style as he employs has appeared to

me very little becoming a person of his pro
fession . When I see him boldly asserting
that “ in every relation of man to man , the
natives of India are thoroughly depraved ;"
that “ in this pagan nation we have the absence
of all virtue, " and the disposition to every
vice ;" that “ in ignorance, in vice, and immo
rality, the Hindoos are far below the most
savage nations :" when I see him making
the quite erroneous insinuations, that “ a
chaste female is almost unknown among the
Hindoos;" that “ the Hindoo females have not
a spark of maternal tenderness towards their
offspring ;" and many other no less shocking
and untenable paradoxes, I am at a loss to
account for such misrepresentations,—for such
a blindness. It is not the blindness of preju
dice or religious zeal ; it is the blindness of
passion and animosity.
Unfortunately those'new reformers come
from Europe to India very strongly prejudiced
against the Hindoos, and with the presump
tuous hope that they shall be able to operate,
in the religious and civil habits of the latter,
reforms and changes which have at all times
baffled the utmost endeavours of the best dis
posed persons. On their arrival in the country
they continue to look at these people with
 149

European eyes, and European prejudices, and

to act accordingly ; but finding themselves
disappointed in all their attempts to make an
impression upon them on the scoreof religion,
or otherwise, they, in their fiery zeal, or rather
in their despair, avenge themselves by lavish
ing every kind of abuse and insult not only
on their religion, but also on all their insti
tutions both public and private, sacred and
profane. I cannot disguise to you that I see
with a kind of indignation that these peace
able and submissive people have of late years
been made a kind of target, to aim at them
the shafts of calumny and malevolence, and
to debase them by the most unfair means.
On the other hand, the methods devised by
the new reformers to make an impression upon
these pagan nations, are, in my humble
opinion, the most absurd, and most ridiculous
which could be contrived . Fancying that in
order to convert the Hindoos to Christianity,
it was only necessary to lay the Bible before
them , they at their first outset made extremely
incorrect, and almost unintelligible transla
tions of our sacred books into the several
idioms of the country. Our disfigured Holy
Scriptures were profusely diffused among the
inhabitants under such a contemptible garb,
and upon this only foundation the latter were
L 3
 150

angrily required to shift for themselves, to

build their faith, and reform their religion,
civilization, and manners .
I will confess that I understand nothing of
such a mode of improving the condition of
the senations. Alas ! it is not Bibles the poor
Hindoos want or ask for. It is food and rai
ment. When the belly is empty, and the
back bare, the best disposed even among the
Christians feel themselves but very little in
clined to peruse the Bible. Every day some
of my distressed followers call upon me, the
males to show me their tattered cumbelees, and
the females their ragged clothes, exclaiming
“ Samy! bettleyaghee eerootenee bouddy," I am
naked, please your reverence ; and soliciting as
sistance ; but no one comes to say to me that
he wants a Bible . If in those circumstances I
dismissed them after having made them a
present of a Bible, I apprehend that the poor
creatures would find the sacred book a very
sad substitute for their real wants.
I will not fear to declare, that it is to m' e a
subject of scandal to observe, that while so
much anxiety is evinced to supply the Hin
doos with Bibles which they never asked for,
and which cannot be to them of the least
utility, no voice is raised to supply their actual
necessities, and procure them food and cloth
ing, which they ask so clamorously.
 151

Our good ancestors, who, with perhaps a

little less learning than their offspring, had
much more good sense, never thought of im
proving the condition of the pagan nations,
by intruding the Bible among them . They
invariably taught us that the exercise of that
truly sublime virtue charity consisted in as
sisting the needy, feeding the hungry, and
clothing the naked. Now in this age of light,
we are taught a quite new theory, and told
that there is another charitable duty para
mount to all, which consists in circulating the
Bible among the pagans ; and while thousands
are yearly dying from starvation in England
and India, hundreds of thousands of pounds
are subscribed for the purpose of distributing
the Bible among the heathen nations. I am
at a loss to account for such an infatuation .
It is, in my humble opinion , a new discovery
which the 19th century will have very little
room to glory in hereafter.
I beg that you will not be scandalized at
this frank and candid expression of my sen
timents. I thank God that I am as firm , as
sincere, and as undisguised a believer in the
truth of the Christian religion, and in the
divine origin of the holy books from which it
derives its sacred tenets, as the warmest sup
porter of the Bible-society ; but the attempts
L 4
 152

to enlighten the pagan Hindoos by the circu

lation of the Bible among them have at all
times appeared to me so palpably absurd, that
I could never make up my mind to such a
mode of bringing them to sounder notions on
religion.
It appears, however, that the new reformers
begin to be sensible of the impossibility of
making an impression on these pagan nations
with respect to religion, and in their despair
of succeeding in the attempt, they have now
altered their plan, and turned their views
to another object. Their only ambition at
present seems to be to remove the clouds of
ignorance which hang over these people, and
instil into their minds principles of civiliz
ation, morality, and pure manners.
But I will take the liberty to ask those well
wishers to the improvement of the natives of
India, is it the Hindoos or ourselves who
stand in need of reform on these several mat
ters ? The former are at present become as
fully aware of our vices, our immorality, and
Tooseness of manners, as we are of theirs.
What is then, and what will at all times be the
answer of a Hindoo of common sensė to an
Englishman or a Frenchman who will presume
to come forward for the purpose of reforming
or changing his education and manners, and
 153

to speak to him of morality and of the su

periority of his own institutions and civiliz
ation ?

“ You speak, gentlemen, (will the proud

Hindoo reply,) of morality, and of purity of
manners, and you boast of a great superiority
over me in these respects. But pray, how
comes it, that, from the very accounts you are
not ashamed to publish even in this my sup
posed thoroughly corrupted country, it appears,
that in each of your respective metropolises,
London and Paris, you reckon no less than
forty thousand prostitutes who keep public
shops of infamy, and live by the most unruly
dissoluteness ? Look, gentlemen , to Calcutta,
Madras, and Bombay, and see whether you
will be able to find such an extensive sink of
corruption, and so large a proportion of vice,
among the crowded population of these large
cities.
“ You speak in high terms of your civiliza
tion, of yourrefined education and manners, but
how comes it, that, amidst the advantages you
claim over me in these respects, crimes and
vices of every kind are more prevalent in your
countries than in mine ? From whence comes
it, that, with the superior education and civi
lization you boast of, your cities and towns
are filled with thieves, sharpers, pickpockets,
 154

swindlers, gamblers, forgers, false- coiners, and

other knaves of every description, most of
them happily unknown in my supposed
thoroughly corrupted country, who set at
defiance the most strict vigilance of a very
severe police, and whose numbers are daily in
creasing ? How comes it, that your high roads
are so much infested by robbers, murderers,
and assassins, and that every kind of crime
increases to such an alarming extent, thatyour
prisons and houses of correction are scarcely
sufficient to contain the number of male
factors every day committed to them ?
“ You boast of pure and refined manners,
but how comes it, that habitual drunkenness is
so prevailing among the lower ranks of your
community, and whoredom amongst the
higher, without these vices seeming to excite
any sense of shame or remorse in those who
are addicted to them .
“ Believe me, gentlemen, ( will the head
strong Hindoo add,) as long as you continue
to exercise your sway over us with justice, mo
deration , and humanity, you will find us a
peaceable and submissive people ; but do not
speak of intruding your system of civilization ,
your education and manners on us, because
you will never succeed in convincing us, that
they are superior to ours ; still less will you
 155

prevail upon us to adopt them . We do not

stand in want of so wretched a present."
Such is in substance the answer I have
almost invariably received from the Hindoos
of good sense of all castes, whenever I
have presumed to speak to them of our
superiority in civilization and education , in
morals and manners ; and their observations
have appeared to me so just and unanswerable,
that I have for a long time desisted from
obtruding myself on their attention on the
subject.
It has at present become a kind of fashion
to speak of improvements and ameliorations
in the civilization and institutions of the
Hindoos, and every one has his own plans for
effecting them ; but if we could for an instant
lay aside our European eyes and European
prejudices, and look at the Hindoos with some
degree of impartiality, we should perhaps find
that they are nearly our equals in all that is
good, and our inferiors only in all that is bad.
In my humble opinion, these people have
reached the degree of civilization that is con
-sistent with their climate, their wants, their
natural dispositions, and physicalconstitution ;
and in fact, in education , in manners, in ac
complishments, and in the discharge of social
duties, I believe them superior to some Eu
 156

ropean nations, and scarcely inferior to any.

In all these respects, I believe them superior
to the Turks and Russians, while they are
only surpassed by the persons above the middle
ranks in other countries, and they are at least
equal, if not superior, to the common ranks in
England and France. If you will take the
trouble to attend to the subject, and examine
with impartiality the character and conduct
of the persons of the same condition in our
countries and in India, and compare husband
man to husbandman , artificer to artificer,
mechanic to mechanic, & c. &c., I apprehend
that you will find that, in education and
manners, the Hindoo shines far above the
European .
In order to be convinced of the superiority
of the manners of the common ranks among
the Hindoos over those of the same descrip
tion of persons among the Europeans, we
only need attend to the conduct and habits
of both in their mutual intercourse in society.
Let four Europeans assemble together to
transact business, or for any other purpose ;
their first and common thought, in such cir
cumstances, will almost invariably be an
appeal to the bottle, in which they will, in
most instances, indulge to excess. Their
most trifling business, as well as their social
 157

intercourse, must always be carried on in

the midst of cups, to which they will recur,
until, being deprived of the use of their
reason , their assemblies degenerate into the
most disgusting scenes of confusion, and often
terminate in quarrels and fighting.
Let a European of common rank , who has
rendered you service, call upon you to receive
his reward. After you have paid him his just
salary, he will seldom fail to make an appeal
to your generosity, and ask you a further
remuneration . Ask him for what purpose.
To drink, will he answer, or, in other terms,
to get drunk.
Look, on the other side, at the conduct of
the Hindoos in the very same circumstances ;
their only anxiety, their only delight will be
to have a few leaves of betel, and they will
be fully satisfied by chewing this exhilarating
aromatic plant. This harmless gratification is
the only sensual enjoyment they covet in their
social intercourse. The proposal alone of
using intoxicating liquors would be considered
by all as the grossest of insults, and instantly
be resented as such. I now ask on which
side is the purity of manners ?
You can convince yourself, in a still more
striking manner, of the superiority of the
education and manners of the common classes

1
 158

of society in India over the same classes in

Europe, by comparing the conduct and habits
of our soldiers and sailors with those of the
sepoys and ship's lascars ; the former, like
beasts, cannot be kept within the bounds of
duty but by blows, and the severest discipline.
They cannot, in general, be allowed the least
indulgence, or the least degree of freedom ,
without abusing it, by giving themselves up
to excesses. On the other hand, their private
low habits, and their total disregard of all
decorum, are a subject of disgust, not to say
of horror, to the vile pariahs themselves, who
are the only class of Hindoos who dare ap
proach them .
Behold, on the other side, your sepoy and
ship's lascar, and you will at all times find his
behaviour, both public and private, orderly,
peaceable, and becoming ; and seldom will you
find him offending against public decorum .
Even amongst the lowest rabble, with the
Hindoos, you will never witness any thing
approaching to those shocking scenes of scan
dal, to that total disregard of decency and
decorum, which are daily exhibited in ale
houses and gin -shops in England, and in
cabarets and gargotes in France.
On the other hand, the Hindoos are not
in want of improvement in the discharge of
 159

social duties among themselves. They under

stand this point as well as, and perhaps better
than the Europeans. They might even be
said to be rather excessive in this respect in
several instances. They will never suffer the
needy who has implored their charity to go
unassisted. Their hospitality among them
selves, it is well known, has no bounds. Even
the humble, the distressed pariah, as long as
he has a measure of grain in his possession ,
will cheerfully share his pap of millet with
the weary traveller of his caste who may
happen to take shelter in his hut ; and in all
their wants and distresses the Hindoos, of all
castes, will readily assist each other more
effectually than the Europeans would do in
the same circumstances. What the European
possesses he keeps for himself. What the
Hindoo possesses he is always disposed to
share with those who have nothing. In fact,
it might be said that a wealthy Hindoo con
siders himself as the depositary, or the dis
tributor, rather than the proprietor of his
fortune, so greatly prone is he to acts of
charity and benevolence ; and it is chiefly
from this cause that those frequent revolutions
in the fortunes of the Hindoos, and those fre
quent passages from extreme opulence to ex
treme poverty, arise.
 160

It cannot, however, be denied that the Hin

doos are more generally disposed to knavery,
dishonesty, and their concomitant vices, than
the Europeans. The propensity of most of
them to pilfering, for instance, is almost irre
sistible ; and, in general, if a native can
avoid discovery in being dishonest, he will be
so as often as his own interests require it. I
cannot, however, attribute these evils to a
perversity of character peculiar to themselves ;
and, in my humble opinion, these vices have
their origin only in the extreme poverty com
mon to the great majority of the Hindoos.
To persons in the least acquainted with human
nature, it is needless to say that there is no
stronger incitement to dishonesty than poverty.
Europeans, in general, are more honest than
the Hindoos, because they live comparatively
in easier and more independent circumstances;
but, on a close attention to the subject, it will
perhaps be found that, among an equal number
of distressed people, the proportion of deter
mined rogues is greater in Europe than in
India.
Your modern reformers seem to be of
opinion, that in order to render these people
happy and virtuous, it is only necessary to
civilize and enlighten them . But the history
of ancient and modern times bears testimony
21
 161

that it is not always the best civilized and

most enlightened nations that are the most
virtuous and the most just.
Ignorance ( says the Rev. —) is the
parent of poverty, & c . ” It might be said
with equal justness, “ Poverty is the parent of
ignorance.” Such a reasoning is nothing,
merely a petitio principii, or circulus vitiosus,
to which I can perceive no opening or issue.
The reverend gentleman's reasoning would
have been more logical and satisfactory, had
he said, “ The poverty of the Hindoos, and
the vices derived from it, originate in their
natural indolence and apathy, and the latter
proceed from the climate or elements under
which they live, and over which we can
exercise no kind of control or influence."
The Rev. asserts, that' “ dishonesty
is so familiar to the natives, that a Hindoo
will never trust another." This assertion ,
especially the latter part of it, is one of the
most unfounded that was ever brought for
ward against these people. Ifany well grounded
accusation may be brought against them on
this head, it is that they are rather too con
fident, and too little distrustful in their trans
actions and dealings with each other.
It is a known fact that those who are in
easy circumstances among them often lend
M
 162

money, sometimes to a large amount, to

persons of their acquaintance, without wit
nesses, and without written bond or other
vouchers ; and it is uncommon to see a debt
contracted in this private manner denied
even by a debtor in distress. He will, it is
true, use every kind of cunning and craft to
avoid payment, or to obtain a delay from his
creditor. He will, perhaps, furtively run
away to escape from his molestations ; but
rarely will he altogether deny the debt.
It is also a known fact, that merchants are
obliged to sell their goods privately at credit,
to at least a half of their customers, but it is
rare to see the latter, although reduced to
the last degree of misery, deny their obligations
to the merchant.
It is likewise a known fact that servants, on
a salary of eight or ten shillings per mensem ,
are often intrusted by their masters with large
sums of money, and sent to their corre
spondents at a distance of, perhaps, two or
three hundred miles or further, to purchase
goods, or for other purposes ; and instances of
persons in such circumstances running away
with the money intrusted to their care, or
otherwise embezzling it, are very rare.
It is also a known fact, of which repeated
instances have come within my personal ob
 163

servation , that people in time of alarm , or of

great disturbances, in the places of their re
sidence, being under the necessity of emigra
ting to more settled countries, secretly deposit,
before their departure, in some place of
safety, under the charge of some person of
their acquaintance, money, jewels, and other
valuables, sometimes to a large amount, and
breaches of trust on the part of the latter, by
embezzling the property secretly deposited
with them , happen very seldom. I have
known many instances of persons in such
circumstances returning after an absence of
several years, and finding their property
untouched, although intrusted to the charge
of persons who were themselves living in a
state of distress.
Such instances are not, certainly, proofs of
distrust in the one, or of dishonesty in the
other.
From what I have heard or read from time
to time, it would appear that a ferment is now
at work in Calcutta, and a revolution in the
habits and manners of the Hindoos near at
hand. If it be really the case, I apprehend
that that ferment is rather of a mischievous
kind, and that it will operate a change for the
worse. For my part, I shall certainly be the
last man to interfere with the civil usages and
M 2
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habits, with the social institutions and man

ners of the Hindoos, and will never join those
who employ themselves to make the extremely
perilous experiment of changing their national
customs and manners for those of Europe ;
and as a friend of yours, my dear Sir, I shall
surely never advise you, after the knowledge
I have obtained of the character of the
Hindoos, to trust, in any capacity whatever, a
native who has renounced, or who slights the
usages of his caste, or the prejudices of the
country. I shall, above all, never advise you
to make such a man your butler, or your
treasurer . In the former case, you would

soon find that your liquors were fast wasting,

and in the latter, you would, ere long, find a
large deficit in your chest. For, you may at
the first outset, and without farther enquiries,
judge, that a person of this description is a
quite lost character, and that his first steps to
improvement, after having renounced the
usages and prejudices of his caste, will be to
turn a drunkard and a rogue. The more
nice and scrupulous a native is in the ob
servance of his usages and practices, both
religious and profane, the more worthy will
he prove of your trust and confidence . Such
is the result of my observations on the sub
ject during a period of more than thirty
years.
 165

In the mean while, I can hardly believe, that

the ferment which is said to agitate the mind
of the public in Calcutta, and some other
places, works to such an extent as some
people conceive ; still less can I expect from
this source any amelioration in the condition
of the Hindoos. In our last interview , you
mentioned to me, I believe, that the agitation
produced of late in the public, on this subject,
was in a great measure owing to the exertions
of the learned Brahmin, Rammohun -Roy, to
enlighten and enlarge the minds of his country
men . I have perused a few of the essays of
that Brahmin ; they are only an exposition of
the doctrine of the school called Védantam ,
the most followed of the six sects, into which
are divided the Hindoos who make profession
of learning. Rammohun -Roy teaches us
nothing new , when he says, that the present
worship of the Hindoos differs widely from
the primitive religion of their ancestors.
This is a fact pretty generally known at
present. At the same time, the prevailing
worship of India is so deeply rooted, that it
would require other powers, and other means,
than those possessed by that Brahmin , to
bring back the bulk of the nation to the
much less unreasonable worship of their first
ancestors.
M 3
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In the mean time, from what I have seen

of the writings of that reformer Brahmin , I
apprehend that his talents have been much
over-rated, and the unqualified encomiums
bestowed upon him from several quarters very
little deserved ; but, when I observed him , at
an entertainment he recently gave to the
Spaniards living in Calcutta , presuming to
give a decided opinion on the late revolution
in Spain, and emphatically. boasting, in an
elaborate speech, published with an equal em
phasis in most of the public papers at that
presidency, the advantages of religious and
political freedom , ( a word, ' the meaning of
which, I apprehend, he does not understand ,)
he sank still lower in my estimation . In fact,
to see a Brahmin decorated with the treble
cord, that indubitable badge of the most op
pressive and most degrading despotism , turn
the apostle of freedom , is so shocking an
anomaly, that persons acquainted with the
subject will find it difficult to reconcile them
selves to such a contradiction .
On the other hand, the anxiety evinced by
the natives ( as you observe in your letter) to
attend the schools set up in several places,
does not prove, in my humble opinion, that
they are desirous to attain real learning, and
improve their minds by literary endowments.
 167

They go to those schools for the sole purpose

of attaining a competent acquaintance with
the English language, in order to be able, by
this means, to gain a livelihood, as this ac
complishment is at present the only way to
attain an honourable and advantageous situ
ation in the several offices of government.
As soon as they have attained their object, all
is over with your books of science and mo
rality, they never more cast a look at them
during their lives.
You may convince yourself of this fact by
your own observations. There There are,
are , I sup
pose , in Calcutta , many hundred natives of all
castes, who can read , write , and speak English
well ; among them , I am persuaded, that you
will not be able to find ten independent indi
viduals who are ever seen with an English
book of science in their hands .
Public schools were also established about
a century ago at Pondicherry, by the French
Jesuit missionaries, and at Trankebar by the
Protestant ones, for the purpose of teaching
the natives both the European and the native
languages, and they are still in existence ;
but I have never heard of this mode of in
struction having operated any material change
or reform in the national prejudices, or in the
M 4
 168

habits and manners of the pupils educated in

those schools .
Respecting the schools set up in many parts
of the country , for the purpose of teaching
the native languages, I am of opinion that the
natives are by no means deficient in this re
spect, and that they do not stand in need of
our interference on the subject. There are
very few villages in which one or many public
schools are not to be found . If you object to
me that the system of instruction pursued in
those schools is defective, without entering
into a discussion on that point, I will content
myself with answering, that the students learn
in them all that is necessary to their ranks and
wants, and all that is taught to persons of their
condition , in the village -schools set up in our
respective countries , namely, reading, writing,
and accounts ; no more is certainly necessary
for ninety-nine hundredths of the vast popu
lation of India ; and their extreme poverty
will not allow the great majority among them
to attain even these humble accomplish
ments .
Ifyou object to me that what I have stated
in this letter seems to be in several points at
variance with what I have stated in my former
writings, in which I have not in several cases
 169

expressed so favorable an opinion on the Hin

doos 'as I do at present, I will answer , that
in my former productions most of my cen
sures, if not all, are directed, first, against the
Brahmins, or other persons who like them
live by imposture, and the whole of whom do
not form a twentieth of the population of
India. In all times, and in all countries, im
posture and knavery have almost always been
inseparable companions.
Secondly, my censures are also directed
against the enormities of the monstrous wor
ship prevailing in the country, to which it has
at all times been impossible for me to recon
cile myself.
However, if it were in our power, through
fair means, to take off from the religion of the
country several monstrosities which are truly
a disgrace to human nature, I would forgive
them all that is only extravagant in their
worship Those monstrosities are but too
well known to me. Nobody deplores them
more bitterly than I do, and few have laboured
more hard than I have to remove them ; but
seeing all my efforts for the purpose of no
avail, I have contented myself (according to
the instructions of our divine teacher on the
subject ) with “ wiping off the dust of my
shoes on those obstinate unbelievers ," and
 170

with recommending them to the paternal care

of the Father of mercies, leaving their final
judgment in the hands of him to whom alone
the professors of all religions are accountable
for their faith . In the mean while, the blind
ness and obduracy of my hearers so far from
exciting my hatred, have, on the contrary,
given rise to feelings of compassion and good
will towards them .
I have just hinted, that if it were in our
power, through fair means, to take off from the
religion of the Hindoos its enormities, we
ought perhaps to stop there, and overlook all
that is only extravagant in their worship , be
cause the minds of these people are composed
of such materials, that they cannot be roused
except by extravagancies ; and, after all, we
mustbe disposed to overlook in others the defects
from which we are not entirely free ourselves ;
for, what is the kind of worship upon which
extravagancies, under some shape or other,
may not be charged by the opposite party ?
You, for instance, as a Protestant, cannot fail
to find out, in the Catholic religion, tenets and
practices which will prove to you a subject of
censure, while they are to me, a most sincere
Catholic, a subject of edification.
But I believe that you, a sober Protestant,
and I, a tolerant Catholic, shall agree in ex
 171

pressing our common disgust, or at least our

dislike, at several striking extravagancies pre
vailing among some Christian sects, and which
appear an open insult to good sense . I be
lieve, for instance, that we should scarcely be
able to keep a serious countenance, if we wit
nessed the groans, the grimaces, and wild con
vulsions, the jumpings, kickings, howlings,
&c. which are observed in the religious assem
blies of the Jumpers, Shakers, Methodists,
Quakers, Ranters, &c. For an account of the
latter, the Ranters, who are a new sect sprung
up of late in England, see the Monthly Maga
zine for May, 1820, p. 297, 298.; and if you
wish to have a curious account of the re
ligious exercises of the Quakers, see the
Quarterly Review , No. XLI., p. 145, 146.; and
after you have perused so disgusting an ac
count, I boldly defy you to find out any thing
among the bands of Baheraghees, Dassaroo,
Andy, and other Hindoo fanatics who flock
to the temples of Teeroopatty and Jagghernat,
which may be compared with the scenes of
extravagance and madness, exhibited by that
sect of Christians in their religious assem
blies ; and yet these enthusiastic Christians
are a very honest people, and rather scrupu
lous in the discharge of all moral and social
duties.
 172

Let it not, however, be supposed that I

mean to excuse or palliate the grossness of
the Hindoo idolatry, or to deny that the cre
dulity of these nations, in religious matters, is
carried to a degree of debasement and stu
pidity, which has scarcely any parallel ; but
even on this point I dare to maintain that we
outdo them in several instances ; and I am
of opinion, that it ill behoves us to deride the
Hindoos on the score of absurd credulity,
when we see, in this very century, a country
which boasts of holding the first rank in
civilization , education, learning, and manners,
give birth to a pseudo-prophetess of the name
of Johanna Southcote, who, after announcing
herself as the woman destined to crush the
head of the serpent mentioned in the Scrip
tures, and as being pregnant with the Mes
siah, gained over to her party thousands of
proselytes, among whom were to be found
several persons of rank and education . I
question whether an instance of more de
basing and stupid credulity could be quoted
among the most superstitious Hindoos.
I have also many times heard prejudiced
Europeans endeavouring to vilify the Hindoos,
and supporting their opinion on the subject,
by the looseness of manners, and lascivious
deportment of the country dancing girls.
 173

Nothing appeared to them more indecent, or

better calculated to pollute the mind and
corrupt the heart, than the postures and the
dances of those courtezans . I have some
times been under the necessity of witnessing
the song and dances of those prostitutes in
public assemblies, but I do not hesitate to
declare, that none of their steps or postures
have appeared to me so intentionally lascivious,
and so shamefully indecorous, as those of our
actresses, when performing their parts on our
stages ; and you will, perhaps, smile at my
simplicity, when I venture to say that none
of their dances have appeared to me so highly
indecent as that new European dance, known
under the name of Waltz, at present become
a favourite in our countries.
It is thus that we are always disposed 66 to
behold a mote that is in our brother's eye, but
consider not the beam that is in our own
eye.”
« Il y a, ( says Montesquieu, Esp. des Lois,
lib. xxiv. ch. 24. ) beaucoup des lois locales
dans les diverses religions, et quand Monte
zuma s'obstinoit à dire que la religion des
Espagnols étoit bonne pour leur pays, et celle
du Mexique pour le sien, il ne disoit pas une
absurdité ; parcequ'en effet les législateurs
 174

n'ont pu s'empêcher d'avoir égard à ce que la

nature avoit établi avant eux ."
I am fary very far indeed, from admitting
all the consequences which might be drawn
from the principles laid by that illustrious
author in the quoted passage, by which he
seems to hint, that religion is a mere matter
of geography. Let nobody suppose that I
have quoted the above words, as if I con
sidered the monstrous religion of the Hindoos
as a matter of necessity or indifference. I
again repeat, that I pity, I love, I cherish the
idolatrous Hindoos ; but I abhor their idolatry.
The fact is, however, that the very words of
of Montezuma to the Spaniards have been
repeated to me a hundred times by the
Hindoos, Brahmins, and others, in my religious
controversies with them . It was ordinarily
by the words of that Mexican emperor they
put an end to the dispute, exclaiming with
much emphasis, “ After all, your religion is
good for your country, and ours is good for
India ."
On the whole, from all that has come within
my knowledge, I observe, with sorrow , that
the interference of the new reformers to
improve the condition of the Hindoos has
thus far produced more evil than good. In
support of this assertion, I will content myself
 175

with citing the two following striking in

stances .
The first relates to the burning of widows
on the pile of their deceased husbands. It is
an indubitable fact, fully confirmed by the
.official reports of the local magistrates, that
since the clamours raised in Europe and
India, and since the country-government has
judged fit to interfere, to a certain degree, in
order to render it less frequent, it has come
more into fashion, and more prevalent. I
have seen lists of the victims devoting them
selves to that cruel superstition ; and I have
observed, that in the districts of Calcutta and
Benarez, where the horrid practice is most
common, the number of victims has been of
late much greater than it was about twelve
years ago, when the natives were left to them
selves, and nobody presumed to interfere with
their customs.
The second instance is more within my
province and personal observation. It is a
certain fact, that since the new reformers
have overflowed the country with their Bibles
and religious tracts, the Christian religion , and
the natives who profess it, have become more
odious to the heathen than ever. Formerly
the native Christians, when known , were, it is
true, despised and shunned by the pagans ;
 176

but, on account of their small numbers, they

were scarcely noticed. Now the religious
tracts , dispersed with profusion in every di
rection , have brought them into public notice,
and rendered them an object of universal
opprobrium ; and, I apprehend , that this very
cause would already have given rise to an
open persecution, were it not for the awe
inspired by a government, which is well known
to extend an equal protection to all religious
worship.
All know that nothing is better calculated
to produce irritation, opposition , and resist
ance, than contradiction ; above all, when the
contradicted party is the strongest and most
obstinate. Now , such is precisely the effect
produced by the interference of the new
reformers with the prejudices of the Hindoos ;
and I have reason to apprehend, that the
opposition of the latter will increase in pro
portion to the extent of the contradictions to
which they may be exposed, until it shall
finish by some explosion, which may make all
India a theatre of confusion and anarchy, to
which it will be in the power of no govern
ment to apply a remedy.
Such is, my dear Sir, the view I have taken
of the subject. I could go to a much fuller
extent ; but, as you have already seen my
 177

writings on the same matter, and as you told

me in our last interview , that you expected
to have an opportunity to peruse my new
manuscript on the Hindoos, in which you will
find more satisfactory details, I will conclude
this already too prolix letter, to which you
are at full liberty to give such publicity as
you wish . I only regret that I am not
endowed with sufficient talents to do more
ample justice to the subject, and vindicate
with more ability the wrongs of the too much
abused and injured Hindoos.
I remain , &c. &c.

From my Mata near Seringapatam ,

15th December, 1820.
 178

Vindication of the Hindoo Females.

To Captain M. C.
My dear Sir,
We had, until these latter times , been almost
uniformly taught by both ancient and modern
historians, who have written on India and
its inhabitants, to look on the Hindoos as a
mild, sober, industrious, forbearing, patient,
and submissive people, who although possess
ing a system of political government quite
original, and having no parallel in any other
nation on earth , had, nevertheless , reached a
reasonable height on the scale of civilization ,
cultivated the arts with some success, made
tolerable progress in some branches of the
highest sciences, such as astronomy, phi
losophy, ethics, &c. &c., established among
themselves, through the division of castes , a
system of subordination and order, which , by
assigning in the most precise manner to each
individual his rank and duties in the great
 179

community, allowed nobody to remain idle,

and provided in the most efficacious manner
for the wants of the whole ; as a people living
under a form of government founded on so
solid a basis that no human effort, no kind of
opposition or oppression had been able to
subvert, or even to shake it.
The enquiries of many enlightened and
judicious authors of several nations, who in
more modern times had visited the country,
and made an attentive study of the character,
manners, and customs of these people, as
well as of the system of civilization esta
blished among them, had generally served to
strengthen the favourable opinion already
entertained of them , and I am happy to have
it in my power to declare, that close and im
partial researches on the subject, during a
period of thirty years of free and unrestrained
intercourse among the natives of all ranks
and classes, have had the effect of producing
the same favourable impressions on my own
mind .
It was reserved for a few enthusiasts, who
have of late years made their appearance in
the country, under the imposing title of
reformers, to reverse this pleasing picture, by
giving us the most shocking accounts on the
subject, and by holding out to our view, the
N 2
 180

mild and inoffensive Hindoos, as a people

wholly polluted by every kind of wickedness ;
as a race of barbarians sunk into the deepest
abyss of ignorance and immorality ; as a
people far below the most savage nations, and
approaching nearer, by their beastly habits
and unnatural vices, to the brute than the
human creation .
If you have perused the pamphlets publish
ed of late at home, by the Rev. — and
above all, his address to the ladies of Liver
pool, you will have observed, that all these
and many other no less degrading, odious,
and false notions are fully upheld, and boldly
professed by that gentleman .
Having in a former letter adverted to
another attack, made by that author on the
Hindoos in general, I will content myself in
this, with reviewing his illiberal aspersions of
the Hindoo females.
The Rev. Gentleman begins his attacks on
the Hindoo fair sex, by stating, that “women
in India are in a state of ignorance and
degradation, which has no parallel in the
history of tribes the most savage and barba
rous ;” and some lines farther he says, that
“ a Hindoo female is, in fact, a mere animal
kept for burthen or slaughter in the house of
her husband. Her life spent in an inanity and
 181

idleness, which prepare her for a life doomed

to be spent in superstition and vice," & c. & c.
Let us consider now with a mind unbiassed
by passion or prejudice, whether the Hindoo
females deserve the odious aspersións cast
upon them by that author, and whether they
are held in that low state of degradation,
ignorance, and inanity, which would render
their condition scarcely superior to that of
brutes. i

No one can be more displeased than I am,

with that austerity of manners which has
drawn so marked a line of separation between
the two - sexes, and denied women in India
a due share in the social intercourse and a
proper attention to the improvement of their
intellectual faculties ; but it is well known
that the same line of demarcation between
the sexes, and the same austerity of manners,
have from the earliest to the present times
existed among all oriental nations. The
conduct of the latter in this respect may
originate in physical and moral causes till now
unexplained, or but imperfectly known to us,
and perhaps also to that spirit of jealousy
and stubbornness common to all weak minds,
and inherent in a particular manner in all
oriental people.
N 3
 182

The Rev. affirms that this exclusion

of women from a free social intercourse with
men is peculiar to the pagan nations, and
does not exist amongst any people who have
been enlightened by the light of Revelation.
This assertion is inaccurate : it is a known
fact that the same exclusion prevails, with
nearly equal rigour, among all the Oriental
Christian nations. It prevails among the Ar
menians, Georgians, Abyssinians, the Copts
of Egypt, and the Greeks ; and it prevailed,
with more or less severity , not more than fifty
or sixty years ago, among the Spaniards and
Portuguese. It was only in those chivalrous
times which originated in the Crusades, and
were afterwards so much enhanced by the
French Troubadours, that the females began
to be put on a footing of equality with the
males in the best civilized countries of Europe ;
and that system of courtship to which the re
fined modern manners have added so many
charms introduced : but these improvements
in the condition of the European females have
nothing, or very little, to do with Christianity.
On the other hand, it may be said, with
truth, that so far are the Hindoo females from
being held in that low state of contempt and
degradation in which the Rev. repeatedly
describes them in his letter, that, on the con
 188

trary , they lie under much less restraint, enjoy

more real freedom , and are in possession of
more enviable privileges than the persons of
their sex in any other Asiatic country. In
fact, to them belong the entire management
of their household, the care of their children,
the superintendence of the menial servants,
the distribution of alms and charities. To
their charge are generally intrusted the money,
jewels, and other valuables. To them belongs
the care of procuring provisions, and pro
. viding for all expences. It is they also who
are charged, almost to the exclusion of their
husbands, with the most important affair of
procuring wives for their sons, and husbands
for their daughters ; and, in doing this, they
evince a niceness, an attention, and foresight,
which are not certainly surpassed in any
country ; while, in the management of their
domestic business, they in general show a
shrewdness, a savingness, and an intelligence
which would do honour to the best house
wives in Europe.
In the mean while, the austerity and rough
ness with which they are outwardly treated in
public, by their husbands, is rather a matter of
form , and entirely ceases when the husband
and his wife are in private. It is then that
the Hindoo females assume all that empire
N 4
 184

which is every where exercised, in civilized

countries, by the persons of their sex over the
male part of creation ; find means to bring
them under their subjection , and rule over
them, in several instances, with a despotic
sway. In short, although outwardly exposed
in public to the forbidding and repulsive
frowns of an austere husband, they can be
considered in no other light than as perfectly
the mistresses within the house.
The influence of the Hindoo females on
the welfare of families is so well known, that
the successes or misfortunes of the Hindoos
are almost entirely attributed to their good or
bad management. When a person prospers
in the world , it is customary to say that he
has the happiness to possess an intelligent
wife, to whom he is indebted for his welfare ;
and when any one runs to ruin , it is the
custom to say that he has for his partner a
bad wife, to whom his misfortunes must chiefly
be attributed . In short, a good -natured and
intelligent wife is considered, by all castes of
natives, as the most valuable of all the bless
ings which could be bestowed on a family,
and a bad one as the most dreaded of all
curses ; so great is their influence on the fate
of the Hindoo households.
The authority of married women within
 185

their houses is chiefly exerted in preserving

good order and peace among the persons who
compose their families ; and a great many
among them discharge this important duty
with a prudence and a discretion which have
scarcely a parallel in Europe. I have known
families composed of between thirty and
forty persons, or more, consisting of grown
sons and daughters, all married and all having
children, living together under the superin
tendence of an old matron - their mother or
mother -in -law . The latter, by good manage
ment, and by accommodating herself to the
temper of her daughters -in -law ; by using, ac
cording to circumstances, firmness or forbear
ance , succeeded in preserving peace and har
mony during many years amongst so many
females, who had all jarring interests, and still
more jarring tempers. I ask you whether it
would be possible to attain the same end, in
the same circumstances, in our countries,
where it is scarcely possible to make two
women living under the same roof to agree
together.
: It is true that the same spirit of concord
between an old Hindoo matron and her
daughters on one side, and her daughters-in
law on the other, does not prevail in an equal
degree in all households ; but instances of
 186

such union and harmony are by no means

uncommon , and they last to the death of
their parents ; when, ordinarily, the brothers
divide the heritage, separate with their several
families, and each one shifts for himself.
The Rev. remarks, that a Hindoo
female “ is despised as soon as born by her
parents and friends, disappointed that the
child is not a boy," &c. If he had contented
himself with merely stating that the birth of a
boy causes, in general, more joy to parents
than that of a girl, I should have overlooked
this passage of his letter ; as it is a weakness
common to all nations, and from which the Hin
doos are not exempt, to hail with more exult
ation the birth of a male than that of a female,
and Hindoo parents are in a greater degree
under the influence of this feeling, because
they derive more support from a son than
from a daughter ; but it is untrue that a
female is despised and spurned by her parents
as soon as born . Parents, chiefly mothers,
foster their children, both males and females,
with an equal tenderness. So far from females
being despised while living under the paternal
roof, their parents and brothers are often seen
submitting themselves to severe privations for
the purpose of procuring trinkets and jewels
for their daughters or sisters, in order that
 187

they may be able to appear in public with

decency and advantage, while the males are
seen in rags or half naked , and live forgotten
at home.
The principal care of parents is to procure
suitable establishments for their daughters,
over whom mothers continue to exercise a
kind of paramount authority, even after their
marriage, being particularly attentive to check
that despotic sway which so many mothers-in
law are but too well disposed to exercise over
their daughters-in -law.
The Rev.Gentleman alludes again and again
in his letter to the state of contempt and de
gradation in which, in his opinion, the Hindoo
fair sex in India is held.
I have already observed, that that apparent
contempt was nothing but a matter of form ,
and merely ceremonial ; and I will now add,
that in no country are women in reality more
respected in public than in India .
In fact, among the Hindoos the person of
a woman is sacred . She cannot be touched
in public by a man , even with the end of the
fingers. How abject soever may be her con
dition , she is never addressed by any body,
not excepting the persons of the highest rank ,
but under the respectful name of mother
( umma). A dwelling in which only females
 188

are to be found, even the hut of the most

helpless widow, is an inviolable asylum into
which the most determined libertine would
never dare to penetrate ; or, should he do it,
his audacity would not remain unpunished.
A woman can frequent the most crowded
places without being exposed to the least
insult. A male who would stop merely to
gaze on a female who is passing by, as our
loungers in Europe are accustomed to do,
would be considered by all as an insolent and
uneducated person. Even a mere look de
signed to insult a woman would be resented
and avenged. In short, the least insult by
words or otherwise, the least mark of dis
respect offered in public to a female, is in
stantly resented and avenged by her husband,
her ' sons, or her brothers, who would expose
themselves to all dangers rather than over
look an offence offered to their wives, their
mothers, or sisters, or see them treated in
public with disregard .
“ What mothers ! (exclaims the Rev.
without a knowledge of the alphabet, and un
acquainted with all the employments offemales
in a civilized country .”
To be sure, they will not dance waltzes, or
deliver in any other way their persons into
the arms of another man. They are too well
 189

aware of what they owe to their husbands,

and to the modesty of their sex, to allow
themselves such gross violations of decorum ;
but what I have already stated, and what I
am still about to state, will prove that although
“ without a knowledge of the alphabet,” they
are dutiful daughters, faithful wives, tender
mothers, and intelligent housewives ; and they
are not in fact, as shamelessly asserted by the
Rev. Gentleman , “ mere animals kept for
slaughter or for burden in the houses of their
husbands."
In fact, there is perhaps no kind of honest
employment in a civilized country in which
the Hindoo females have not a due share .
Besides the management of the household,
and the care of the family, which are (as
already noticed) under their controul, the
wives and daughters of husbandmen'attend,
and assist their husbands and fathers in the
labours of agriculture. Those of tradesmen
assist theirs in carrying on their trade. Mer
chants are attended and assisted by theirsin
their shops. Many females are shopkeepers
on their own account ; and without a know
ledge of the alphabet, or of the decimal scale,
they keep by other means their accounts in
excellent order, and are considered as still
shrewder than the males themselves in their
 190

commercial dealings. Several shops entirely

kept by females, without the help of males,
may be seen in large towns in every bazar
street. I have sometimes observed female
shopkeepers sitting down cross-legged in their
shops, and serving their customers with the
greatest ease and affability. A greater number
are seen selling fish, betel, flowers, vegetables,
fruits, and sundry articles of subsistence or
furniture . The poor classes, which unfor
tunately form the majority of the population,
let themselves as servants or journey -women ,
or earn otherwise a scanty subsistence by sell
ing grass, fuel, straw , &c. &c. In short, there
is no kind of work, no kind of trade, in a
civilized society, in which the Hindoo females
are not seen actively engaged , and occupying
a conspicucus place. I am acquainted with
industrious widows, who, having undertaken
a small trade with a trifling capital of forty
or fifty rupees, have, by their economy, their
labours, and industry, increased it, within these
past ten years, to the amount of five or six
hundred.
Such are, however, the individuals, whom
the Reverend -, is pleased to represent, as
spending their lives in inanity and idleness,
and as mere animals kept for slaughter or
for burden in the houses of their husbands."
15
 191

I am happy that a long experience has

taught me on the subject a theory quite dif
ferent from his, and to view the Hindoo fair
sex in a much more favourable light. At
the same time, I believe that it may be said
without giving offence, that the Europeans
are not qualified to form a fair judgment on
the subject, on account of the difficulty, not
to say impossibility, of holding a free and
confidential intercourse with the respectable
part of the Hindoo females. All their know
ledge in this respect is derived from their
criminal connections with concubines, ordi
narily of the lowest tribes, or other females of
the most dissolute dispositions. Hence arise
the false notions of the Europeans. The
knowledge I have attained on the subject is
not hearsay, but from personal observations.
My profession has afforded me repeated op
portunities to become acquainted with the
character of the Hindoo females, and by
living with them on a footing of paternal
familiarity I have had numberless opportunities
of conversing with them without restraint,
Their conversation on subjects connected with
their internal economy and domestic concerns
was not certainly destitute of interest, and on
all other subjects within their reach I have
 192

generally found them communicative, gay; and

lively.
I do not mean that they are free from the
defects of their sex. They are, in common with
the females of all countries, exceedingly fond
of jewels and parure, covetous, obstinate,
irascible, vindictive, capricious, fickle, talk
ative to excess, slanderous, and in too many
instances quarrelsome.
In another of his productions, the Reverend
had, by a sweeping phrase, indiscrimi
nately branded the Hindoo fair, sex with
lewdness, by insinuating that “ a chaste
female was almost unknown among the
Hindoos.” I can confidently affirm that this
shameful accusation is unfounded. Knowing
that the same unjust suspicions respecting the
virtue of the Hindoo fair were entertained
by many prejudiced and misinformed Eu
ropeans, I have made diligent enquiries to
know how far such an injurious slander was
grounded on fact ; and as my profession has
enabled me to live on a certain footing of
familiary with the persons of both sexes, and
to entertain with them a confidential inter
course , I think that my information may be
depended upon . I have generally observed
that amongst good castes, the Hindoo females
in general, and married women in particular,
 193

were worthy to be set forth as patterns of

chastity, and conjugal fidelity, to the persons
of their sex in more enlightened countries. I
do not mean that breaches of those virtues
never occur amongst the former ; but I
believe that they happen still more seldom
with them than with the persons of their sex
in countries which boast to have reached a
much higher degree of civilization.
Such is the result of my own observations ;
and I am confident that every unprejudiced
person, who will attend to the subject with
the same impartiality, and disinterestedness, as
myself, will render the same homage to the
virtue of the Hindoo fair sex.
The Reverend finds fault also with
the Hindoo females, because they are un
acquainted with needle -work : “ they are un
able ( says he) either to make, to mend,
or to wash the clothes of their households. "
He might have added, “and to make or mend
their shoes.”
Is the reverend gentleman ignorant, that
there are every where in India, as well as in
Europe, tailors, washermen , and shoemakers.
That these professions, as well as every other,
are exercised by castes, to which they belong
exclusively, and that the individuals who
compose those castes, both males and females,
0
 194

are obliged for a trifling salary to discharge

the duties of their profession whenever called
upon for the purpose by the other tribes ? Is
he ignorant that the clothes of the females,
and those of the great majority of the males,
are composed of a single piece without seams,
and that needle-work and tailors were of
course unknown and useless to them , until
comparatively of late years, when the Maho
metan dress was partly adopted by small
numbers of them, among the persons in
office.
But instead of needle-work, which can be
of no utility to them , the Hindoo females are
almost all acquainted with the art of spinning
cotton , and immense numbers get a livelihood
by this means. There are few houses in which
reels are not to be found, and after having
finished their other domestic businesses, in
stead of spending their leisure “ in inanity
and idleness,” as the Reverend — says, or
of passing their time at a card -table, as do
most European ladies, they are seen sitting
down cross-legged on a mat, and spinning
cotton for sale, or for manufacturing the coarse
clothes with which they cover themselves,
accompanying these simple and useful occu
pations with some decent song, or playing
and prattling with their children. Since hosiery
 195

has become an object of trade, they are ac

quainted with the mode of knitting stockings,
and numbers are at present seen earning a
livelihood in this way.
The Rev. says, in rather bad humour,
that “ the Hindoo females are obliged to go
veiled, when they leave their houses , and that
they never mix in public companies.”
These statements are quite incorrect. The
Hindoo females were at no period veiled ;
they always were, and are still seen , both at
home and abroad, with their heads, or at least
their faces, uncovered . In some provinces
they make their appearance in public, with
their bodies immodestly exposed, from their
heads to their middles ; and every where, the
Brahmin females in particular, uncover not
only their whole heads, but also the hind parts
of their legs to their hams, and sometimes
higher, in a manner which, to the eyes of an
European, appears very indecent.
It is untrue, also, that the women in India
are excluded from all public assemblies. So
far from this being the case, it is very well
known that it is they who are the leaders, and
act the principal part in the most solemn
family ceremonies, such as those of wedding,
of the cord , &c. &c., while the males remain,
as it were, passive spectators in those crowded
o 2
 196

assemblies. It is also well known, that it is

they who are the leaders in all the numerous
religious feasts celebrated by the Hindoos, in
their houses, during the course of the year,
such as those of oogohdy, the pongol, mahu
navamy, & c. & c.
On the other hand, if the reverend gentle
man had witnessed any one of those solemn
processions performed by the Hindoos, in
the streets, he would have remarked that the
females, in several instances, composed the
majority of the crowd that attended them. If
he had had a sight of the places of worship,
during the celebration of the mysteries of the
religion of the country, he would have ob
served that they were attended by a number
of females, nearly equal to that of the males.
If he had been present in the market-streets
when any farce or other public spectacle is
exhibited by quacks, jugglers, and other
mountebanks, he would have seen that in
several instances the women formed the ma
jority amongst the spectators. In a word,
with a little more attention to the subject,
and a little less prejudice, he would have ob
served that the Hindoo females were to be
met with every where, and had their full share
in most public assemblies, both religious and
profane ; and would have paused before he
 197

uttered these reprehensible words, that they

were in fact mere animals, kept “ for slaughter,
or for burden, in the houses of their hus
bands."
The Rev. — returns again to the stale
subject of the burning of the Hindoo widows,
on the pile of their deceased husbands, and
quotes the lamentable fact of seven hundred
and six victims having devoted themselves to
that barbarous superstition, in the course of
the year 1817, in the presidency of Bengal.
It is a well-known fact, (as I observed in a
former letter, ) that these nefarious sacrifices
have increased of late years ; but the reverend
gentleman is not perhaps apprized, that many
persons of good sense, who have made en
quiries about the causes of this increasing
evil, have been of opinion, that its aggravation
was in a great measure owing to his intemper,
ate zeal, and that of many of his associates in,
the work of reform . He is not, perhaps,
aware, that owing to their abrupt attacks on
the most deep -laid prejudices of the country ,
the zeal of the Hindoos had been roused to a
determined spirit of opposition and resistance ,
when they saw their most sacred customs and
practices publicly reviled, laughed at, and
turned into ridicule, by words, and in writing,
in numberless religious tracts, circulated with
0 3
 198

profusion, in every direction, all over the

country.
Those horrid suicides, called Suttees, have
unfortunately prevailed from the earliest
times to the present in the country, chiefly in
the north of India, and the putting a stop
to them altogether, by coercion, appears a
measure too pregnant with danger to be at
tempted. In the moral order, as well as the
physical, we are often reduced to the sad ne
cessity of tolerating great evils not to be ex
posed to greater ones.
Those execrable sacrifices occur but seldom
in the south of the Peninsula. I suppose that
the population of the country on this side of
the Krishna, does not fall short of thirty mil
lions, and I am persuaded, that the number of
suttees does not amount to thirty in a year.
But thirty suttees in a year, in a population
of thirty millions, are certainly by far too
many ; and nobody deplores, more bitterly
than I do, those horrid excesses of superstition
and fanaticism .
But, after all, is suicide confined to the
Hindoo widows; and are our countries free
from such detestable excesses ? So far from
this being the case, I am persuaded that more
persons perish in France and England, in a
month, through suicide and duelling, than
 199

during a whole year in India, through suttees..

The only difference I can remark , between the
one and the other, is, that the deluded Hindoo
widow commits suicide from misled religious
motives, and from what she considers as an in
dispensable duty of conjugal devotion ; whilst
the European suicide puts an end to his exist
ence, in defiance of every religious restraint,
and in open violation of his most sacred duties
towards God, and towards men.
Shall, therefore, our whole compassion be
engrossed by the Hindoo widow, and shall
we not reserve a tear, or a sigh, for our still
more guilty and more unfortunate country.
men ?
Are suicide and duelling in Europe less
nefarious than suttees in India ? Why, then ,
is the deluded Hindoo widow arraigned with
so much severity, while the laws against
duellists are dormant, and the tribunals of
justice generally under the necessity of over
looking those deliberate and malicious mur
derers ?
The Rev. in order to render the
Hindoo females more and more abject and
despicable, quotes two or three shocking
stories, which , if they are not altogether false,
are at least misrepresented and exaggerated
to such a degree as to render his accounts
04
 200

entirely unworthy of credit. He says, for

instance, that “ parents, in some cases, marry
fifty or sixty daughters to a single Brahmin.”
I question whether a single case of such
turpitude might be cited among the thirty
millions of inhabitants, who people this side
of the Peninsula ; and I am persuaded, that if
such instances occur in Bengal, they are rare,
and that the few Brahmins who may allow
themselves such open transgression of the
usages of their caste, are spurned and shun
ned by the individuals of their tribe who
preserve any sense of honour ; for polygamy
is strongly discouraged by the Hindoo cus
toms among all castes, and above all, in that
of the Brahmins, among whom marriage is
generally confined to the pair.
“ Every mother (exclaims the reverend
gentleman ) among the tribe of Rajahpoots
puts her female child to death as soon as
born . "
This odious paragraph is one of the most
shocking slanders contained in the author's
letter. There is a good proportion of married
Rajahpoot sepoys in every battalion of the
native army I appeal to all the British
officers of each battalion , serving under the
three presidencies, and I boldly defy them to
quote a single instance of this horrid kind.
 201

4
There are, in every province of the Penin
sula, numbers of Rajahpoot families. I have
been acquainted with many individuals of this
high -minded tribe, and I am quite sure that
there is no one who would not shudder at
such an execrable imputation .
I have, indeed, been informed, that this
detestable practice formerly prevailed to a
certain degree in some districts in the north
of India, among two or three subdivisions of
Rajahpoots, for this tribe, as well as every
other, is subdivided at least into twenty others;
but the Reverend cannot be ignorant
that owing to the mild, humane, and insinu
ative exertions of the late Governor Duncan,
(a circumstance which will shed an unperish
able lustre over the memory of that excellent
man,) a stop was put to those abominable
murders.
On this subject, the Reverend adds the
following horrid story : “ While in Bengal
( says he) I was informed of the case of a
Rajahpoot taking his daughter aside, and with
a hatchet cutting her to pieces.”
I am firmly persuaded that the informer of
the Reverend imposed a downright
falsehood on his credulity, or, if the fact proves
authentic, it originated in causes quite dif
ferent from those alleged by that author,
 202

Among the domestic regulations peculiar to

the tribe of the Rajahpoots, one of the most
remarkable is that by which adultery (as was
the case under the Mosaical law ) is punished
with death ; and I have no doubt, that if the
story related to the Reverend is au
thentic, the slaughter of that female by her
own father originated in her having dis
honoured both herself and family, by giving
herself up to foreign loves.
It appears that the Reverend - has
chiefly derived his knowledge of the Hindoos
from informers, and to this source, above all,
I am willing to attribute the many inac
curacies, exaggerations, and misrepresent
ations which abound in his writings. That
writer should have been aware that the
Hindoo informers in general, before giving
information on any subject, begin by studying
the character and temper, the dispositions and
bias of their employers, and to give them
information accordingly. Those employed
by the reverend gentleman, seeing him dis
posed to blacken and debase the Hindoos by
all means, and in all manners, served him
according to his taste .
I never employed informers in my re
searches and enquiries about the Hindoos, my
scanty means not allowing me to keep per
 203

sons of this description in my service. What

I have written on the subject is the result of
my personal observations, in an unrestrained
intercourse with people of all castes and
religions, during a period of thirty years
almost entirely passed among the natives ; and
on the subject of this article, I can confi
dently assure you that the Hindoo parents of
all castes, above all, mothers, if equalled by any
people on the earth in tenderness towards their
progeny, both males and females, are surely
surpassed by none ; nay , it might be said, that
their parental tenderness is rather carried to
excess, and owing to that excessive fondness,
their children of both sexes are spoiled and
rendered vicious.
I have reserved the review of the most au
dacious paragraph of the author's address for
the end of this letter : it is that where he em
phatically exclaims, 6 What must be the state
of the female mind, when millions are found
throwing the children of their vows into the
sea ? ” & c. &c .
I will confess that I could not refrain from
shuddering at the perusal of this atrocious
paragraph , and I am surprized that the public
authorities at home have taken no notice of
such a slander ; the tendency of which is to
cast an indelible stain of infamy on the
 204

country government. Good God ! “ Millions

of females throwing the children of their vows
into the sea ; ” and doing so in the face of
day, under the eyes of a government famed
all over the earth for its spirit of humanity, of
justice, and benevolence ! Of what exotic ma
terials must not be composed the mind of that
Englishman , when he dares bring forward
falsehoods which tend to nothing less than to
cast eternal disgrace on his nation , and his
countrymen ; for, if it were true that “ mil
lions of mothers are found throwing the child
ren of their vows into the sea," and the
government should remain passive and in
different spectator of so many horrid murders,,
such a government would deserve to be held
forth to the execration of all Europe , and of
all the civilized world, and its memory handed
down with everlasting infamy to the remotest
posterity .
I will observe here, that a superstition pre
vails all over the country derived from astro
logical notions, according to which when
children are born under certain stars which
are supposed to possess a particularly malig
nant influence, they are in a very few cases
secretly put to death , or thrown into a river ;
but such instances of horror are fortunately
rare , the children born in such inauspicious
 205

circumstances being ordinarly exposed on the

high roads, and when found out, are taken by
some compassionate person, educated, and fos
tered by him with nearly as much care as his
own progeny.
The Reverend ought to have stated
the fact such as it is, and he ought, moreover,
in justice to truth, to have added that the
Bengal government (under the presidency of
the Marquis Wellesley, I believe,) had no
sooner been made acquainted with the ex
istence of this horrid practice than resolu
tions were passed, by which it was declared
that the persons who were guilty of those
execrable excesses should, when discovered,
be put upon their trials as guilty of wilful
murder, and judged according to the severity
of the laws. But the reverend gentleman
has very uncandidly, and very unmanly, over
looked all these circumstances, as he was de
termined to represent these poor Hindoos
under the blackest and most odious colours.
That author finishes his address to the ladies
of Liverpool by a kind of Don-Quixote ap
peal to their sensibility, and compassion , for
the purpose of soliciting their support and as
sistance towards the establishment of schools
to enlighten the Hindoo females.
 206

The ladies of Liverpool are not aware, I

suppose, that such a project is merely vision
ary, and altogether impracticable, the most
deeply rooted prejudices of the country being
decidedly hostile to its execution.
The ladies of Liverpool are not aware, that
even should not the prejudices of the country
oppose an almost insurmountable, bar to the
establishment of schools for females in India,
the state of poverty of the latter, and their
numerous avocations, would not allow them
to attend those schools.
The ladies of Liverpool are not aware, that
at least five- sixths of the Hindoo females live
in such distressed circumstances, that from
the age of eight or ten years, to the end of
their lives, they are obliged to labour without
intermission from morning till evening, and
that, notwithstanding their uncessant labours,
they are hardly capable of saving enough to
purchase a coarse cloth of the value of five
or six shillings, to cover themselves.
If I were to make an appeal to the charity
and compassion of the ladies of Liverpool, or
of any other town in the United Kingdom , I
would advise them to look around themselves,
and behold the distressing spectacle of misery
which most unfortunately prevails to such an
 207

alarming extent among the lower classes of

their own countrymen , and represent to
them, as an imperative duty, the obligation
of employing all their savings to assist their
neighbours, and alleviate by all the means in
their
power the evils of the distressed persons
who live around them. In doing so, I should
only enforce the duties of that holy religion
which imperatively commands the rich to
share his substance with the poor ; the affluent
to assist the needy. Or if those ladies were
disposed to give a more extensive range to
their charity and benevolence, and to cause
the distressed among the Hindoos to share
their liberality, I would advise them to intrust,
to the hands of some friend in India, the
sums destined for the purpose, recommending
him to make a proper selection among the
numberless naked, emaciated, and starving in
dividuals of both sexes who are to be found
in every place in the country, and to dis
tribute the sums amongst those who were
most worthy of compassion.
But I shall certainly never call on any lady,
or other individual whatever, to engage him or
her to squander away the money in contribut
ing to the (in my humble opinion) absurd pro
ject of establishing schools for the purpose of
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enlightening the Hindoo females, or of circu

lating Bibles and tracts which are perused by
no one, and are above the comprehension of
all.
I remain , &c.

1st October, 1821 .

 209

To J. S. Esq.

My dear Sir,
In my last I informed you, that I would
take the first moments of leisure I could spare,
to give you my opinion on the printed Ca
nada translation , of the first four chapters of
the book of Genesis, which you did me the
honor to submit to my criticism . I have thought
that the best way of performing this task , was
to send you a literal translation into English
from the Canada version, in order that you
may be able to judge of the merits of the
latter yourself ; you will see from the accom
panying translated chapter, that there is
scarcely a single verse in that version, which
may be said to have been accurately translated ,
and that in several instances the meaning of
the text is perverted or materially changed.
If you entertain suspicions as to the genu
ineness ofmy translation , as there are I suppose ,
Brahmin writers in your office, acquainted
with both languages, you can show them
both the Canada version , and my English
translation, and I trust that they will do
justice to the correctness of the latter.
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The other chapters are equally incorrect,

both as to the meaning and the style. The
latter has appeared so low, and so ludicrous, to
several natives of good sense, whom I desired
to peruse the whole attentively, that they all
expressed themselves with marks of contempt
and disgust at such a performance ; and they
all agreed in saying, that if it were intended to
render the Christian religion for ever con
temptible and odious to the pagan Hindoos,
there were no surer means to attain this end,
than to exhibit to them our sacred records
under such a despicable garb.
I have been so thoroughly disgusted in
going through the translation of the first chap
ter, that I beg you will excuse me the trouble
of translating the three others. For I can
not disguise to you, that as a most sincere be
liever in the divine origin of our Holy Scrip
tures, I cannot help experiencing the most
distressing feelings of 'indignation, when I see
those sublime books, the sacred word of God
himself, so basely, so shamefully, so sacri
legiously defaced, debased, and perverted, and
held out under such a shape to the very ene .
mies of our holy religion, as the pure word of
God.
If one of the many proofs of our holy
books being of divine origin be derived from
 211

their intrinsical worth, from their noble, in

imitable, and majestic simplicity, there is,
alas ! on the other hand, but too much reason
to fear that the Hindoos will form a directly
opposite judgment on the subject, when they
behold the ludicrous, vulgar, and almost un
intelligible style of the versions at present
circulated among them ; and that even the
most reasonable and best disposed, in behold
ing our Holy Scriptures under such a con
temptible shape, so far from looking upon
them as the word of God, will on the contrary
be strongly impelled to consider them as
forgeries of some obscure, ignorant, and il
literate individual, and of course a downright
imposture.
It is, however, to execute such perform
· ances, ( for the Tamoul and Telinga versions,
parts of which I have also perused, have not
appeared to me superior to this,) that public
credulity in Europe is imposed upon, and im
mense sums of money are subscribed .
You may rest persuaded, that all those soi
disant translations will soon find their way to
the bazar streets, to be sold there, as waste
paper, to the country grocers, for the purpose
of wrapping their drugs in them ; and indeed,
in my humble opinion, they are fit for nothing
else.
P 2
 212

I express to you my sentiments on the sub

ject with candour, and without hypocrisy, as
you have requested me so to do, and I am
ready fearlessly to express the same, in the
presence of the Bible Society itself, and of all
the universities in Europe ; for my opinion, (let
them give it the appellation of prejudice, of
ignorance, or obstinacy, it is the same to me, )
being grounded on an inward conviction, the
result of a long and attentive experience, is
unalterable.
I remain &c. &c.

11th June, 1821 ,

 213

A literal Translation of the Canada Version of

the first Chapter of the Book of Genesis.

ACCOUNT OF MOSES.

CHAPTER I.

1. In the beginning God created the earth

and the air. ( a )
2. But the earth was uneven and empty,
and there was darkness over water ‫ ;ز‬but God's
soul(6) was roaming with delight (c) on water.

(a) Air is the literal meaning of the word accossa , and

conveys to the mind a quite different idea from that of
the heaven (cælum) of Scripture, which ought to be
translated by the word para -loca.
(6) This expression , Dewer -attma, literally, God's soul,
is different from the spirit ( spiritus) of Scripture, and
must convey to a man unacquainted with the scriptural
style, the idea of a corporeal being, composed of a soul
and a body .
(c) Such is the literal meaning of the compound verb
lol-ahdvovadoo, to roam or wander with delight (as a
spirited horse would when let loose).
P3
 214

3. Next God said , Let brightness ( d ) be

made ! Then brightness was made.
4. God seeing that brightness was good, he
separated brightness from obscurity. (e)
5. God gave to brightness the name of day,
and to obscurity the name of night; and
whereas in this manner the evening and the
morning came to pass, it was the first day.
6. Next God said , Let the orb of space (f)
be made in the midst of water, and let it
be separated from this water, and from that
water . (8)
7. In this very manner God having created
the orb of space, He divided the water which
was above the orb ofspace, and the water which
was below the orb ofspace, and it was made so .
8. He gave the name of air to the orb of
space ; and whereas in this manner the evening

(d ) The literal meaning of the word bilakoo is bright

ness, in French clarté, different from the light (lux) of
Scripture, which should be translated by the word
pracassa .
(e) Kattlai literally means obscurity, and differs from
the darkness (tenebræ) of Scripture, which ought to be
translated by the word antacara .
( f ) Such is the meaning of the words vissala -mandala ,
different from the firmament of Scripture, which ought
to be translated by the word gagana.
(g) The meaning of the text is entirely changed in
this phrase.
 215

and the morning came to pass, it was the second

day.
9. Next God said, Let the water that is
under the air collect together in one place,
and let the dry earth be seen ! and it was
made so .
10. God gave to the dry land the name of
earth, and to the waters collected together
the name of sea, and God saw that it was
good .
11. Then God said, Let the earth germinate
herbs and plants giving seeds; and besides
that, let seeds being made, they make germi
nate according to their species, trees giving
fruits ! and it was made so. (h)
12. Then the earth made germinate herbs,
and plants giving seeds according to their
species; and besides that, trees having seeds
and giving fruits according to their species ;
and God saw that it was good.
13. And whereas in this manner the evening
and morning came to pass, it was the third
day.
14. But God said , Let there be in the orb
of space, that is air, light, to divide the day
from the night, and let them be to make

(h) It is not the exact meaning of the text.

P4
 216

known the signs, and times, and nights and

days.
15. And let them be lights in the orb of
space, that is air, for the purpose of shining
on the earth, and it was made so.
16. God created two great lights: one
great light to govern the day, and a smaller
light to govern the night and the stars.
17. And God placed them in the orb of
space, that is air, in order to shine on the
earth, and to govern the day and night, and
to separate obscurity from brightness ; and
God saw that it was good.
18. And whereas in this manner the evening
and the morning came to pass, it was the fourth
day.
19. Next God said, Let there be made in
the water a great many moving aquatic insects,
and the birds which are on the earth and fly
in the orb of space, that is air !
20. In this manner God created a great
many large fishes which were born in the water,
each one according to its own species, and
the moving aquatic insects, and the several
species of winged tribes, and the birds of all
kinds ; and God saw that it was good.
21. Then God blessed them, saying, fishes
increase and multiply, and be in great numbers
 217

in the water of sea ! all birds multiply on the

earth . (i)
22. And whereas in this manner the evening
and morning came to pass, it was the fifth day.
23. Next God said , Let the earth give
birth to the several species of living creatures,
of cows (k), of moving insects, and to all the
tribes of the beasts of forests ; and it was
made so .
24. In this manner God created the several
tribes of beasts on the earth ; the several
tribes of horned cattle (1), and the several
tribes of insects moving on the earth : and he
saw that it was good..
25. Next God said , Let us create a man
similar to us, and having our form ! Let him
command the aquatic insects of the sea ; the
birds that fly in the air ; the beasts having
life ; all earth ; and the insects that move on
the earth .
26. In this manner God created a man
having hisform . He created him having the
(i) The italic words, in this verse, are mere inter
polations not to be found in the text.
(2) The word passoovoo , when alone, means cows. It
means animals in general only when the word pranei
(passoovoo pranei) is added to it.
(2) These words are an interpolation not to be found
in the text.
 218

figure of God . (m) Moreover, he created him

male and female.
27. Then God blessing them, said, Increase
and multiply, and filling the earth, overcome
it ; and command the fishes of the sea, and
the birds of the air, and all the animals that
move on the earth .
28. Moreover God said, Lo ! I have given
you all the species of plants producing seeds,
with which all the earth is filled, and all
species of trees, nay, trees producing fruits,
and having seeds, they shall be a food for
you .
29. And he said, I have given the herbs
and plants as a food for all the animals on
the earth which have life, and for all the
birds that fly in the air, and for all the insects
that move on the earth ; and it was made so.
30. Then God saw all that he had created,
and it was perfect ; and whereas in this manner
the evening and the morning came to pass, it
was the sixth day. (n )
(m) Blasphemous expressions.
(n ) Ex uno disce omnes. The other chapters are equally
incorrect, and abundant in errors. Besides that, the
style is quite ludicrous ; and there is no Hindoo scholar
who can keep a serious countenance in perusing such a
performance.
N.B. The words in italics are those whose meaning
materially differs from that of the text.
 219

To Captain M. C.

My dear Sir,
I return you, with my thanks, the two
accompanying curious books *, which I have
perused with interest, inasmuch as they clearly
make it out, that in this supposed highly
refined and improved age, fraud and roguery
have taken hold of most professions and
trades ; and quackery, or imposture of most
religions and beliefs. The one lays open the
impositions practised on the body, and the
other those practised on the soul. In perusing
the latter, I have been stricken by the simi
larity I have remarked between the leading
tenets of several Christian sects described
therein , and those prevailing among the
pagan Hindoos. It is a common custom
among you Protestants, to upbraid us Catholics
with idolatry, on account of our images, pro
cessions, holy water, fasts, &c. But I find from
Mr. Evans's Sketch, that we could retort on
yourselves your arguments on the subject
* Accum on Culinary Poisons, and Evans's Sketch of
the Christian Sects.
 220

with great advantage. In fact, in many of

your leading tenets and practices, you cannot
even claim the merits of originality, since it
may be said that you have had the idolatrous
Hindoos for leaders and teachers. I find,
for instance, that the leading dogmas of the
Predestinarians, Necessitarians, Antinomians,
and others, have, from time immemorial,,
been fully upheld and professed by the
Hindoos, in the sects or schools known under
the name of Vedantans and Mimansam , of
which I have given a short sketch in the new
edition of my former work.
On the other hand, I can perceive between
the religious exercises of the Quakers, Metho
dists, Jumpers, Shakers, &c. &c., and those
of the Hindoo Dassaroo, Jangoomas, Andys,
&c., no difference, unless that the religious
practices of the former, surpass by far in
in folly and extravagance those of the latter.
Both, in their convulsions and contortions , in
their wild dancing, jumping, groaning, howl
ing, own a common origin, that is, the in
spiration or possession of a supernatural spirit
or agent. The only difference is (as I have
just remarked) that our European Ener
gumenes leave their Hindoo brethren far
behind them in the career of extravagance .
But the article which has stricken me most
 221

in that little work, is that of the Millennium ,

which is nothing but an almost literal copy
of the tenth Avattera of Vishnoo, called Kalky
avattera, or incarnation into a horse. * This
Avattera, of which I give a description in
my new edition, is to put an end to the
corruption, fraud, and injustice introduced
among men by the last Bouhda-avattera, and
cause virtue, lasting peace, and complete hap
piness to reign on earth among the human
race . Such is exactly to be the effect pro
duced, at the very same period, during the
age of the millennarians, and when the latter
contrived their millennium , I cannot refrain
from believing that they had a knowledge of
the kalky -avattara. Both systems coincide so
perfectly in their origin, motives, and effects,
that the one must have been copied out from
the other.
If it were justifiable to jest upon a subject
which has at all times filled me with awe, or
to slight a religion which I most sincerely
and most firmly believe to be the only true
one upon earth, I could carry on this dis
gusting parallel to a much fuller extent ; but
I will conclude it, as the subject is too serious

* Which is to take place to the end of the Cahly

yoogam .
 222

to become a matter of raillery. The only

thing that vexes me is the strong hold that
all those opposite and jarring interpretations
of the unerring word of the God of all truth
cannot fail to give unbelievers and other ene
mies to Christianity.
I remain, &c.

22d November, 1821 .

THE END .

LONDOX :
Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode,
New -Street -Square.
 A RESIDENCE AMONG THE PEOPLE OF INDIA .

This Day is published, in 4to. price 21. 2s. Boards,

A DESCRIPTION of the CHARACTER, MAN
NERS, and CUSTOMS of the PEOPLE of INDIA,
and their INSTITUTIONS, RELIGIOUS and CIVIL.
By the Abbé J. A. DUBOIS, Missionary in the Mysore.
Translated from the French Manuscript.
Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown,
Paternoster - Row .

“ During the long period that I remained amongst the natives, I

made it my constant rule to live as they did , conforming exactly in all
things to their manners, to their style of living and clothing, and even
to most of their prejudices. In this way I became quite familiarwith
the various tribes that compose the Indian nation ,and acquired the
confidence of those whose aid was most nécessary for the purpose of
my work . " — Preface, p. 15.
“ The work of the Frenchman is very clearly expressed , and bears
throughout the strongest marks of authenticity and good faith. The
translator has done his part too, with a competent knowledge of both
languages ; the public of Great Britain are indebted to him for this
valuable · Description of the people of India .'” - British Critic ,
Dec. 1817 .