CHAPTER VI.

DR. BUCHANAN arrived safely at Calcutta, after a voyage of five weeks, on the 15th of March. On his return he found that the college of Fort William, which had flourished nearly seven years, during which period it had been productive of the most important benefits both to the service of the East India Company and to oriental learning and religion, had been reduced within very narrow limits on the first of January. The offices of Provost and Vice-Provost were abolished, and the Professorships restricted to three ; viz. the Hindostanee, Bengalee, and Perso-Arabic; it being intended that the students should only be attached to it, on an average, for a single year.

The public letter of the Court of Directors which conveyed this order was dated in May, and reached Calcutta in December 1806. On its arrival, Mr. Brown, deeply impressed with the importance of the moral discipline which had hitherto been exercised in the college of Fort William, and which was now superseded, felt it to be his duty to submit his sentiments upon the subject to the Governor General, and accompanied his representations with the offer of continuing to superintend the institution, and, if that were deemed necessary, to officiate without salary.

In making this communication to Sir George Barlow, Mr. Brown referred to his highly esteemed colleague, Dr. Buchanan, as follows.

"I particularly regret that there should be a necessity "for any material change during the absence of the Vice"Provost, without his concurrence or knowledge, from con"sideration of his having throughout so eminently devoted

his superior talents, with the utmost zeal, and by every "exertion for the benefit of the public service, in the suc"cess of the college. In his absence, I take it upon me to "communicate faithfully my thoughts, and to submit them

"with respect and deference to the consideration of the hon"ourable the Governor General."

Sir George Barlow, on receiving the representation and offer of Mr. Brown just referred to, expressed himself deeply struck and gratified by his philanthropy and disinterestedness, and assured him that he should consider of his "proposal." No farther notice of it, however, appears to have been taken; but the new modification of the college immediately took place, and the offices of Provost and ViceProvost were accordingly abolished.

The labours, the influence, and the income of Dr. Buchanan were in consequence of this arrangement materially diminished. The reduction of the former was not only grateful to his taste and inclination, but necessary to his health; while that of the latter affected him only as it tended to abridge his means and opportunities of usefulness. The subject occurs but once in his various correspondence with his friends, and is then stated merely as a matter of information, in which he did not seem to be particularly interested.

His grand object was the promotion of Christianity in India. This he had kept steadily in view during the period of his Vice-Provostship; for this, as we have already seen,b he made some provision when anticipating its abolition; and it was in pursuance of the same important object that he undertook the extensive journey through which we have lately accompanied him.

During his voyage, or immediately after his return to Calcutta, Dr. Buchanan had drawn up a paper, under the title of Literary Intelligence," containing a sketch of his proceedings on the coast of Malabar, which he was desirous of publishing both at Madras and Calcutta, for the information of those who were interested in the promotion of Christian knowledge in India. To the great surprise, however, of Dr. Buchanan, and of many of the most learned and respectable persons at both Presidencies, it was not thought expe

dient to permit such a publication to be inserted in the government gazette. It was, in consequence, printed and circulated in a different form; and, without producing any of the ill effects which some had anticipated, it conveyed intelligence which was as gratifying to the friends of learning and religion in India, as the same information afterwards proved to persons of a similar character in England. It is to this circumstance that Dr. Buchanan refers in his subsequent correspondence with Colonel Macaulay; which will afford a connected view of his proceedings after his return to Calcutta. The following is an extract from one of his first letters to that gentleman.

"Calcutta, 4th April, 1807.

"The alarm of this government, quoad evayyéλiov, is sub"siding. Your government also seems well again. At least "so writes the Rev. Mr. Thompson, to whom Lord William "declared, that the promotion of Christianity is on his "heart, and that he wishes for more missionaries.'

"This Society anxiously anticipates the confirmation of "the report, that Lord Wellesley has been appointed a Sec"retary of State. I believe it would be as agreeable to "them, as to hear that Buonaparte had lost a leg; which is also reported.

"Major Wilks's letter has been read here with much in"terest. I think you are doing more in the Deccan, than "we in Hindostan.

"I send you a letter from the Bishop of Llandaff, which “has made some noise here. Had the Literary Intelligence "not been suppressed, the Bishop's letter would not have "been published."

The letter thus referred to was afterwards inserted by Dr. Buchanan at the close of his Christian Researches.

a The "Literary Intelligence," appears, however, to have been admitted into the Bombay gazette, by which means it reached Europe. It was afterwards published in England by the late Bishop Porteus. See Dr. Buchanan's Apology for promoting Christianity in India, p. 87; and Owen's History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, vol. i. p. 320.

The extracts from it which follow, while they are honourable to the Christian zeal of the late learned and eloquent prelate whose name it bears, will not here be deemed irrel

evant.

"Calgarth Park, Kendal, 14th May, 1806. "Some weeks ago I received your Memoir of the expedi "ency of an Ecclesiastical Establishment for British India; "for which obliging attention I now return you my best "thanks. I hesitated for some time whether I ought to in"terrupt your speculations with my acknowledgments for "so valuable a present; but on being informed of the noble "premium, by which you purpose to exercise the talents of "Graduates in the University of Cambridge, I determined "to express to you my admiration of your disinterestedness "and zeal in the cause of Christianity.

"Twenty years and more have now elapsed since, in a "sermon before the House of Lords, I hinted to the then "government, the propriety of paying regard to the propa"gation of Christianity in India; and I have since, as fit ❝occasions offered, privately, but unsuccessfully, pressed the "matter on the consideration of those in power. If my voice ❝or opinion can, in future, be of any weight with the King's "ministers, I shall be most ready to exert myself, in for"warding any prudent measure for promoting a liberal ec"clesiastical establishment in British India: it is not with❝out consideration that I say a liberal establishment, because "I heartily wish that every Christian should be at liberty "to worship God according to his conscience, and be assisted "therein by a teacher, at the public expense, of his own persuasion.

"The subjects you have proposed for the work which "shall obtain your prize, are all of them judiciously chosen, "and, if properly treated, (as my love for my Alma Ma❝ter persuades me they will be,) may probably turn the "thoughts of the legislature towards the measure you re❝commend.

"God in his providence hath so ordered things, that "America, which three hundred years ago was peopied by

"none but Pagans, has now many millions of Christians in "it; and will not, probably, three hundred years hence, "have a single Pagan in it, but be occupied by more Christ❝ians, and more enlightened Christians, than now exist in "Europe.

"Africa is not now worse fitted for the reception of Christianity than America was, when it was first visited by Eu"ropeans; and Asia is much better fitted for it, inasmuch "as Asia enjoys a considerable degree of civilization; and "some degree of it is necessary to the successful introduction "of Christianity. The commerce and colonization of Christ❝ian states have civilized America; and they will, in pro"cess of time, civilize and christianize the whole earth. "Whether it be a Christian duty to attempt, by lenient me

thods, to propagate the Christian religion among Pagans "and Mahomedans, can be doubted, I think, by few; but "whether any attempt will be attended with much success "till Christianity is purified from its corruptions, and the "lives of Christians are rendered correspondent to their "Christian profession, may be doubted by many but there "certainly never was a more promising opportunity of try"ing the experiment of subverting Paganism in India, than that which has for some years been offered to the govern"ment of Great Britain.

"Your publication has given us in England a great insight "into the state of Christianity in India, as well as into the "general state of learning amongst you, and it has excited "in me the warmest wishes for the prosperity of the college "of Fort William. It is an institution which would have "done honour to the wisdom of Solon or Lycurgus. I have "no knowledge personally of the Marquis Wellesley; but "I shall think of him and of his coadjutors in this undertak"ing with the highest respect and admiration, as long as I "live.

"I cannot enter into any particulars relative to an eccle"siastical establishment in India; nor would it, perhaps, "be proper to press government to take the matter into their "consideration, till this country is freed from the danger