The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-30 00:00:00

civilised people, and who, though
_their ener-
gies have been prostrated by centuries of Mahome-
dan misrule, yet are quite able, for the most part,
to make a distinction between coercive interference
with religion and appeal to reason. The mission-
aries have never authoritatively or coercively inter-
fered with our religion ; all that they do is to
address our understanding and conscience, and
where is the harm, therefore, of our hearing them?
If any of our countrymen feel convinced that his
adoption of the Christian faith is the best mode of
attaining beatitude, there is no physical or legal
hindrance to his doing so—it is a question between
him, his conscience, and his Maker. Why should
the Hindoo nation work up into a frenzy, originate
a rebellion, and endanger the public safety, because
one, or some of its members, has or have of his or
their free will and• accord forsaken the national
creed and embraced that of Jesus ? The cry that
has been raised by the rebels against the Govern-
ment or any others, alleging that religion has been
forcibly or fraudulently interfered with, is utterly
hollow and unfounded, and I beg you will give no
credence to it and.point out to your friend its fallacy.
" From the tenor and purport of both your
letters published in the Stirling Observer, it appears
that you take the Brahmins to be a class of clue',
intolerant, and unprincipled men. This wholesale
denunciation against the reverend Hindoo clergy is
erroneous and undeserved, you must be judging of
the whole race from some of the sad occurrences
connected with the recent mutinies. Of course
among millions there must be thousands less reput-
able than others; and amid the horrors of mutiny
and rebellion the worst passions are sure to be
stirred up ; it was so even in France, said to be 11 e
politest country in the world. Past and present
history do not afford any data to support this accu-
sation of the Brahmins as a race. The Brahmins,
and more especially that large and more influen-
tial section of them that has been hereditarily de-
voted to literary and philosophical pursuits, far
from being cruel, are proverbially distinguished
for their gentleness and humanity. Some of them
carry their doctrine of kindliness so far that they
reckon it an inexpiable sin to hurt any sentient
being whatever, for they believe that to love God
and his creatures is the chiefest of virtues. As
to toleration, they are ever ready to listen to what
any one has to say who proposes to communicate
any knowledge, -whether sacred or profane, and to
hate any person for entertaining sentiments con-
trary to their own is altogether foreign to their na-
ture. There haie existed in Hindostan from time
immemorial various sects of dissenters from the
established religion, and some of them went to the
length of denying even the existence of the Supreme
Being without experiencing any hindrance or mo-
lestation from their countrymen. Among us it is
considered the height of folly to persecute a man
for his opinion. Fraud, oppression, and cruelty are
means unsuited to produce conviction, or to help
the propagation of theories. They are instruments
the holy Brahmin would never stoop to think of,
much less to touch ; they were chosen, used, and
recommended by. the Mahornmedans, but found not
the least favour in the eye of the Ilindoos.

" The worship of Almighty God in his unity is the
fundamental principle of the ancient Hindoo reli-
gion, and the errors and misconception of ages have
encrusted thereon pantheism and polytheism,
idolatry and superstition, which I grieve to say are
now received and believed by the mass of the peo-
ple as the tenets of their creed. There are very few
even among the Brahmins, who comprehend their
ancient faith, and such as do, abstain from the afore-
said abominations, but as to those who do not (and
they form the majority), their bitterest enemies
can never with justice lay the charge of hypocrisy
or insincerity at their door. As regards their cha-
racter, it is such as to command the love and adora-
tion of the Hindoo community, and would be held
in like estimation by our brethren in Europe had
they equal opportunities of knowing its excellen-
cies.

" Having to the best of my humble power an-
swered your letter, I conclude with the prayer that
may God, in His infinite mercy, forgive us all our
sins—may He so enlighten the understanding of
His children all over the earth as to enable us to
see the errors of our ways, to comprehend the
heinousness of the crime of fratricide, i.e., of waging
war against one another. May the Universal Father
so purify our hearts as that we, living with each
other in brotherly affection, may mutually help in
teaching, learning, and practising the dictates of
true religion, and thereby glorify Him who exalted
us above all living beings by endowing us with a
mind to reason and a heart to love.

" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" DUKHENA RUNJUN MOOKERJA.,

" Calcutta, June 30.

" P.S.—As your two letters appeared in a public
joural, I hope that, as a matter of justice to vac and
to the cause of truth in India, you will give inser-
tion to my reply in the same channel, and oblige
D. M."