I. CHAP. deploring the sudden extinction of such a light, could only turn in submission to Him by whom the hairs of our head are numbered, and without whom not even a sparrow falleth to the ground.1 ChristianKnowledge So ciety me morialize Govern the East India 27. When the public feeling was beginning to recover from this shock, the distinguished individuals engaged in securing for India the blessing of religious instruction resumed their task. On the 1st ment and of June Mr. Wilberforce presented a copy of Dr. Buchanan's prospectus to the East-India Mission Company. Committee of the Christian-Knowledge Society, which was shortly after approved by the General Board, and a series of important resolutions grounded upon it. The Society also presented an appropriate Memorial to the Ministers of the Crown, and to the Court of Directors, a body from whom they and their Missionaries had uniformly received the kindest attention.2 Lord Liverpool's proposals. 28. Not long after, a deputation of gentlemen, Messrs. Wilberforce, Grant, Babington, and others, waited upon the new Premier, Lord Liverpool, on the subject of evangelizing India, and found his Lordship so favourable to their object, that he was ready to grant even more than they had ventured to expect. He intimated his intention to carry the three following important measures: 1st. To establish a seminary at each Presidency in India for instructing Natives for the Ministry; 2dly, To grant licenses for Missionaries, not from the Court of Directors, but from the Board of Controul; 3dly, To consecrate Bishops for India.3 (1) Christian Observer, 1812, pp. 330-332. (2) Vide the Society's Report for 1812. Appendix, pp. 211-228. This Appendix (No. IV.) contains an Abstract of Dr. Buchanan's Prospectus, &c. The Society's proceedings on this occasion, together with the documents here referred to, may be seen also in the Missionary Register for 1813. (3) Buchanan's Memoirs. Vol. ii. p. 281. ble mani 29. Every means was now used to bring the in- Favourafluence of public opinion to sustain these compara- festation of tively private efforts. The press was put in re- puble quisition in every form in which it could be made feeling. available. Then, besides petitions from the Religious and Missionary Societies, no less than nine hundred addresses from the cities, towns, and even villages of the United Kingdom, crowded the tables of both Houses of Parliament, imploring the interference of the Legislature in behalf of the moral and religious interests of India.1 ment fa tianity in 30. Such an expression of public feeling it would Enacthave been inexpedient to resist, even had the Govern- vourable ment been opposed to it; but, with their disposition to Christo grant the boon so generally craved, the voice of India. the people was readily responded to by their rulers. On the 16th of June 1813 various Resolutions were proposed to Parliament, as the ground-work for the new Charter of the East-India Company. The 12th Resoluton related to an Episcopal Establishment for India; the 13th, to the duty of Government to afford facilities to persons desirous of promoting the moral and religious improvement of the Natives." () Memoirs. Vol. ii. p. 302. Evangelical Magazine, Vol. xxi. A description of this general movement, together with the names of the places from which the addresses came, may be seen in the Christian Observer for 1813. An account of the proceedings of Religious Societies and Public Bodies on this occasion is given also in the Missionary Register for 1813. (5) These important Resolutions were thus expressed : 12th. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is expedient that the Church Establishment in the British territories in the East Indies should be placed under the superintendence of a Bishop and three Archdeacons; and that adequate provision should be made, from the territorial revenues of India, for their maintenance." "13th. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British dominions in India; and that such measures ought to be adopted as may tend to the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral VOL. IV. CHAP. I. Ecclesias blishment for India. The passing of these Resolutions was a great triumph of religious principle over the clamour raised against them; but the desired object was not yet attained. It has been seen, that, in 1793, Mr. Wilberforce succeeded in passing similar Resolutions, without obtaining their introduction into the Bill : it was necessary, therefore, to use every exertion to prevent the measure from being again defeated. On this occasion, however, Government continued firm to its Resolutions; and on the 21st of July 1813 a Bill incorporating them both passed the House of Lords, and received the Royal Assent. This important enactment was strenuously opposed in every stage of its progress through the Commons: it was carried, however, on every occasion, by decisive majorities. It went through the Upper House without opposition.1 31. This Act was to take effect from the 10th of tical Esta- April 1814. It erected the territories of the EastIndia Company into one vast diocese, stretching from Delhi to Cape Comorin, with an Archdeacon to be resident at each of the three PresidenciesCalcutta, Madras, and Bombay. Although this provision for the Church in India came very short of Dr. Buchanan's prospectus, and was obviously moral improvement. That, in the furtherance of the above objects, sufficient facilities should be afforded, by law, to persons desirous of going to, and residing in, India, for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs. Provided always, that the authority of the Local Government, respecting the intercourse of Europeans with the interior of the country, be preserved, and that the principles of the British Government, on which the Natives of India have hitherto relied for the free exercise of their religion, be inviolably maintained." (1) Christian Observer, July 1813. Missionary Register, June and July 1813. Le Bas' Life of Bishop Middleton. Vol. ii. chap. 2. In these works may be seen copious extracts from the speeches in Parliament on the occasion. That of Mr. Wilberforce is specially noticed it was published in a separate pamphlet.-Life of Mr. Wilberforce, by his Sons. Vol. iv. chap. 28. : inadequate to the spiritual exigencies of the country, yet it was a good beginning, and the friends of India were thankful to God for the boon. nan's Apo 32. The next subject of interest was the selection Bucha of a suitable person for this extensive and impor- logy for tant See. It was natural for many eyes to be turned Christianity in towards Dr. Buchanan; and his friends, both at Cal- India. cutta and at home, earnestly desired his appointment; while some, whom his successful exertions seem to have filled with all the bitterness of personal enmity towards him, alleged that this was the great object of his ambition. But little did they know the man or his principles: he had far other thoughts in his mind. "The battle," he said, "the battle is now, I hope, over; and I would gladly forget all that is past, and turn my face Zionward for the rest of my pilgrimage." He had, indeed, borne the brunt of this hard-fought contest. In the course of the debates in the House of Commons, his name and his statements had been treated in a manner which nothing but a departure from truth on his part could have justified. But these invectives, like those against Swartz at the last renewal of the EastIndia Charter, led only to the more complete discomfiture of the persons who used them; for it induced him to publish "An Apology for Christianity in India," which work contained a series of documents that met the principal allegations of his enemies with facts which none could dispute. He challenged the speakers who had inveighed the most positively against him to point out wherein he had dealt in misrepresentation; but not one of them specified a single instance of mis-statement in any of his volumes; and he was left to spend his few remaining days in comparative peace. 33. But he could not be idle. Since his return is death. to England his attention had been directed to the publication of the Scriptures in Arabic, Persian, I. CHAP. Malayalim, and Syriac, and the last he undertook to revise and carry through the press; but the hand of death arrested him before he had completed it. On the 8th of February 1815 he had advanced as far as the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, which contains St. Paul's affectionate address to the Elders of Ephesus, concluding with the expression of his conviction that they would see his face no more. This chapter closed the labours of Dr. Buchanan. He returned from India with his constitution much debilitated; "and the repeated shocks it had subsequently sustained led him habitually to regard his continuance in life as extremely uncertain and precarious; while various afflictions, personal and domestic, had tended to withdraw his thoughts and affections from the world, and to fix them on spiritual and eternal objects." In this position was he found, with his lamp burning, his loins girded, and waiting for the coming of his Lord, when, on the 9th of February 1815, in the forty-ninth year of his age, he was called to his heavenly rest.1 Dr. Mid dleton first Calcutta. 34. This eminent servant of God was not reBishop of moved, however, before the appointment of the Indian Bishop. The person selected was Archdeacon Middleton, whose learning and services to the Church, as well as his appropriate address delivered in 1813 to M. Jacobi, a Missionary of the Christian-Knowledge Society, pointed him out as peculiarly fitted for this arduous trust. "Overpowered by the vast magnitude and appalling novelty of such a charge, Dr. Middleton was at first tempted to decline the offer. His maturer thoughts, however, condemned this determination as unworthy of a Christian Minister; and he found no peace of (') Memoirs of Buchanan. Vol. ii. pp. 366-369. (2) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Report, 1813, pp. 58, &c. |