Images de page
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

It would in no degree lessen our satisfaction with this proposal, if the abolition of pensions as a matter of service should induce some English clergymen to decline the offer of an Indian bishopric. This would prove a wholesome check on the patronage of the Board of Control; for no man surely ought to take this honour to himself' till he is assured that God has called him to it, by finding himself willing to give up country and lands for its sake. Honour to the present Bishop of Calcutta! who, at an advanced age, having served nearly double his legal period, and being in fact once driven to England by alarming sickness, still cleaves to his spouse, and has determined to leave to the cathedral which he has so munificently founded the last and best legacy of its Bishop's ashes. Had he claimed his pension under the Act of Parliament, we might have seen, ere long, more Indian bishops living in inglorious ease at home than are serving against idolatry in the East. By all means, then, let us give up the pension (save upon rare emergencies), and let the equivalent sum be invested towards the extension of the episcopate, on the improved footing we are about to suggest.

1

Next, we should be disposed greatly to curtail the bishops' connexion with the Government offices. All the internal affairs of the Company's Ecclesiastical Establishment should be left to the regulations of Government, the correspondence being carried on through the archdeacon or senior chaplain, with a reference to the bishop when necessary. Bishop Spencer says,

[ocr errors]

I used to write, upon an average, six hours every day of my life, employing others to copy my letters, and I could hardly get through it. The desk was the great slavery of India. Foolish questions were put; questions which ought not to have been submitted to a bishop were made the subject of a long correspondence. The moving of a pulpit, the rearrangement of a church, the appointment of a sexton, and questions of that sort, which in England would be settled in a very short time (viz. by not being submitted to the bishop), there led to a lengthened correspondence.'-Lords' Committee, Qu. 8,418.

It is clear the bishops would gain much time by disconnecting themselves from such correspondence, and remitting it to one of the Government chaplains. We should like to know how much the Bishop of London knows of the correspondence carried on through the Chaplain-General at the War Office. It was thought that Bishop Spencer rather affected these matters, as increasing his authority over the chaplains: his successor has

No reflection is here intended on either of the two Indian Prelates now resident in this country; one of whom has no pension, and the other served his full period as a Company's chaplain before his promotion to the archdeaconry and episcopate. It cannot, however, be forgotten that there is something of an anomaly in a pensioned and therefore veteran Indian Bishop being instituted to so large, populous, and onerous a Rectory as that of Bath.

actually devolved a large portion of them on the archdeacon. We would make the episcopal relief thorough.'

Our next desire would be to abolish all military honours, attendance of heathen officials, and whatever else tends to invest the bishop with the character of a great officer of state. The plea upon which these ceremonial observances are defended is that they are the usual forms of public respect in the country, not confined to military men, but extended to judges, envoys, and other civilians. True, but all these are in the service either of the Queen or the Honourable Company, whose authority properly demands a recognition from all classes of their subjects. It is precisely because we would not have the bishop considered in any earthly 'service' that we wish to do away with these badges of earthly honour. If his position should then appear unusual, it will be because his order has nothing equal or like it among the establishments of Government. Let Christians receive their chief pastor with all the honours that can be suggested. Christian officers and soldiers may salute in military fashion if they will; but natives who have never learnt to bow the knee to the Master, ought not to be called upon to pay obeisance to the disciple. We wonder this inconsistency has so long escaped the Directors, in their scrupulous regard for neutrality.

In seeking thus far to weaken the official character of the episcopate, our object is to give greater prominence to its Christian and ecclesiastical aspect. We will now mention the provisions which strike us as further requisite to this end.

In order to abolish the humiliating dependence of the Indian Church on the Governments of the day, we desire to see the salaries allotted to the bishops and archdeacons, as well as their allowances for visitation charges, converted into permanent endowments. These may remain if necessary, for a time, an annual charge on the revenue; but our ultimate object is to have the capital sum laid out in land; or, what may perhaps suit the circumstances of India better, the land revenue of certain districts transferred to the Church as Jaghires for the support of the episcopate. If this conversion were properly managed, a fund for the future increase of the episcopate would be supplied,' and the Government be entirely separated from payments which certainly do not harmonise with their professions of neutrality in religious matters.

Next, we are of opinion that the charter so long solicited by the Metropolitan for the incorporation of a Chapter at Calcutta

That an increase is needed, is, of course, not to be doubted for a moment: we only wish it to be the growth of the country; not an external mechanism obtruded by Act of Parliament.

should be immediately granted; and further, that the same privilege should be extended to the cathedrals of Madras and Bombay. The East India Directors, after subscribing 15,000l. to the Calcutta cathedral, and adding another chaplain to their esta blishment for its service, are now objecting to the Bishop's application for letters patent to incorporate his Chapter, on the pretence that to erect any other corporation in India would be prejudicial to the Company's authority. Nothing could be more futile. The Supreme Court of Judicature has a charter from the Crown, by which it is established as an independent authority. The Queen's Commander-in-Chief is independent; and the bishops themselves are ecclesiastical corporations sole, established by letters patent from the Crown, and legally unconnected with the Company's government. There could be no possible inconvenience in incorporating, by the same authority, a capitular body to advise and assist in the execution of the episcopal office. Such a body is precisely what is most needed to remedy the anomalies now existing in India, and give extension and permanence to the Church, without involving 'Government agency.'

We do not stop to inquire whether the patent as proposed by the Bishop of Calcutta, and settled by the law officers of Sir R. Peel's administration, contains in all respects the most eligible provisions. It is a noble design, conceived in an ardent spirit, and carried forward with splendid liberality; it would be ungenerous to criticise, unwise to mutilate it. The Bishop has given upwards of 22,000l. from his own purse, bringing the endowment fund up to 30,000l., besides 80,000l. spent on the edifice; 15,000l. more is ready to be added from the Begum Sumroo's Fund, which is at the Bishop's disposal; and he would have collected another 15,000l. before now, but for the unreasonable jealousy displayed against the regular constitution of his Church. We should esteem it a heavy blow and a great discouragement,' if the vault under the altar of S. Paul's, Calcutta, should be opened to receive the bones of its founder before his eyes had seen his devout aspirations realized, and these munificent offerings to God's service resting in the guardianship of a lawful Chapter.

6

We say, then, that not only should the Calcutta patent be perfected without delay, but that the time is arrived for the establishment of similar institutions at the other presidencies; and we go further: we confidently affirm that the Indian revenues may and ought to be charged with their endowment. This assertion brings us into collision with sundry propositions which pass for maxims at the India House; and as these will meet us at every branch of the inquiry, both as to Church efficiency

and native education, we may as well proceed at once to examine them.

Foremost is the statement of Sir James Melvill, that

The Directors have laid it down as a principle, that the religious benefit of the servants of Government is the only ground upon which an ecclesiastical establishment can be maintained at the charge of the Indian revenue.'

This principle we must beg leave to examine. And, first, we would ask how long it has entered into the system of the Indian governments? It was clearly not the principle of the Brahminical princes, who endowed the pagodas with the vast revenues which our own Government only lately ceased to administer. It was not the principle of the Mahometan invaders, who carried on the conversion of their subjects through the 'government agency' of the sword. It was not the principle of the Portuguese, when they endowed bishoprics and vicarages for the permanent establishment of the Roman Catholic religion. It was not the principle of the authors of the East India Company's Charter, when they imposed a provision for the instruction of their Gentoo slaves in the Protestant faith; nor of the Imperial legislature in later times when it charged the Indian revenues with the support of three episcopal sees. Finally, the Company's governments knew nothing of such a principle all the time of their connexion with idolatry, when they paid for idols, sacrifices, and priests out of revenues administered by their officers, and the balance of which was carried to the public account.

However plausible, then, this principle may sound, it has never been practically recognised, nor can the authorities who assert it make it square with their own proceedings. At the foot of an account prepared at the East India House, we find the following remark:

There are also about thirty priests of the Portuguese Church drawing allowances at rates varying from 10 rupees to 15 rupees per mensem, for ministering to the wants of the native members of their Church. THESE STIPENDS HAVE BEEN PAID FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, and are quite exceptional, no provision being made in any other place for the spiritual wants of either Protestants or Roman Catholics not being servants of Government.'— Commons' Sixth Report, App. No. 6.

[ocr errors]

No doubt these payments are exceptional,' from the rule now laid down at the India House; but that this rule is itself the exception from the practical system of the Indian Governments, is shown from these stipends having been paid from time immemorial. They were probably inherited from the Portuguese government. We could point also to Government allowances made to Swartz, Gericke, and other Protestant Missionaries for the support of their Missions and schools. But

[blocks in formation]

it is only necessary to refer to the present state of the Company's ecclesiastical establishments in the presidency towns to see that, in respect both to chaplains and churches, others than the servants of Government are provided.

How indeed, upon their principle,' will the Directors justify the assistance already given to the new cathedral at Calcutta? The English congregation worshipping therein may be chiefly, though not entirely, composed of Government servants (for whom, however, other churches had before been provided), but this will hardly save the principle. In laying the foundation-stone, the Bishop publicly proclaimed his design in these words:

'In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, one God blessed for ever, I lay this foundation-stone of the Cathedral Church of S. Paul, Calcutta, designed for a body of devout and learned clergy to conduct the worship of Almighty God therein, according to the doctrine and discipline of the Apostolic Protestant Church of England and Ireland, and to unite with these duties the functions of lecturers on the evidences of the truth of Christianity, and pastors and teachers amongst the heathen and Mahomedan population.'-Ibid. Qu. 7958.

So that here not only other than Government servants' are provided for, but conversion' itself is a principal object of an institution to which the Company could still subscribe £15,000. There is no ground whatever, then, for supposing that the alleged principle was ever a recognised rule of action to the Indian Government. It is important to note this, or we may be told by-and-by that the faith of Government is pledged to the natives for its observance.

Is the principle, then, sound in itself? We say, no: the duty of a Government in this respect is not different towards subjects and servants. If it be their duty to supply the one with the means of religious worship and teaching, it is equally their duty to supply the other. If it be wrong (as the insinuation runs) to take the money of the heathen tax-payer to provide for the worship of his Christian fellow-subject, it must be no less wrong to take it for the spiritual benefit of his European masters, who are far better able to provide for themselves. If you justify the latter on the plea that it is for the benefit of the tax-payer, that having Christian masters they should be preserved under the influence of their religion instead of lapsing into atheism, the answer is obvious, that the interests of society no less require the same care of the Christian community. In point of principle there is no distinction, and the attempt to draw it appears to rest upon a mistaken analogy.

In England, where there is an Established Church-established mainly through royal encouragement and endowmentsthe Government has no occasion to provide the means of reli

« PrécédentContinuer »