Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1857-07-25
From the London Times.
THE RESULTS AND PROSPECTS OF mis-
SIONARY LABOR IN INDIA.

From the London Times
THE RESULTS AND PROSPECTS OF MIS-
SI0NARY LABOR IN INDIA.
No thinking man wishes to prohibit missionary
enterprise in India any more than elsewhere.-
We can all fully admit the sincerity, the energy,
and the occasional ability of the men who devote
their lives to reclaiming those distant millions
from idolatry and barbarsm. Nor are the re-
suits vaueess. IL the missionaries do not effect
what they desire, they yet produce good which
they never medtated. Earnestness, sef-denal,
and a strong philanthropcal impulse cannot fail
of acting in some wav on mankind. So much
energy and confidence could hardly be lost If
the missionaries make few converts, they yet act
on the great mass OF the natives by mixing with
them, educating them, and instilhng into their
minds the first rudments of European knowledge.
SO far, then, the Government Of India may well
give to missionary exertions all the encourage
ment which is involved in free permission to
preach and teach. Analogous is the case Of our
phllanthropsts at home
Since the days when orators became famous
BY their invectives on Warren Hastings we have
never wanted men TO take under their protection
every kind of native sufferer. Whether it be
the family of dethroned Prince or the Prince
himself, or people which las fallen under our
dominion, or a people which has revOlled, or a
race of savages at war with US, there is sure 10
be motion in Parliament or an agitation out of
doors to redress their wrongs and denounce
British aggression. We have no wish that it
should be otherwise. The strength and solidity
of British rule are founded on the general justice
with which dependent races have been treated !;
and it is by no means disadvantage that band
of fover-scrupulous critics should exist ready to
question any act of our Generals or Governors
which might in the least SAVIOR of tyranny. But,
while granting to missionaries and to their allies
at home full liberty of a ,tion and comment, we
must protest against making their influence part
of the machine Of Government. The Ministry
had, we think, no choice on Thursday evening
but to oppose the resolutions by which Mr. Kin
naird proposed to censure the whole admnstra-
tion Of Bengal on the authority of certain jealous
and well-meaning but evidently imprudent petit
TONERS.
The state ofthe Bengal peasantry is, no doubt,
most unhappy. For a hundred years they have
been under the authority the East India Com
pany, and it cannot be said that they have ad-
vanced in enterprise or independence during that
time. Ii may well be believed that what they
were in the days of Give they are now; nay
that in the present age they even more help
less than OF yore The solid fabric of British
power weighs on them, but does not shelter them.
Towards the close of the last century the Gov
ernment of Lord Cornwais, unable to under
stand any relation in the occupation of land ex-
cept that Of landlord and tenant, established the
present Zemindaree system, which gives TO the
Zemndar power over the cultivaiors of the soil
which has been too often used for the purpose OF
tyranny and extorton. The Bengalese himself
is made by nature for submission, and, whether
it be to Mussulman, Christian, or a native
master he Yields in helpless servitude. As is al
so generally the case, the worst oppressors are
to be found among his own people, and these are
every where, while the presence OF Europeans
is confined to few localities almost beyond the
reach of his complaints. A small band Of Eng
lish hold this great country Of 40 10000 or 50
100000 of people, and few magistrates admin
lister justice to its dense population. How much
ig orance, inexperience, and natural incapacity
may add to the evils caused by the smalness Of
their numbers may be easily conceived. The
police are inefficient and corrupt, bribery and
false evidence abound in the courts, oppression
and extortion are continually practised with i'm
puniy. The testimony TO these things is toe
constant 10 admit of doubt that it is founded
in truth.
Way, then, should not missionaries not pro
claim these evils and demand an inquiry Simp
| ly, we would say, because the evils are knowr
and require no inquiry, and that the remedies
indicated by the missionaries are by no means
as effective as those which the government is a
last engaged in applying. The defects in the
administration of justice and the system OF police
evidently arise from the government OF vas
country being thrown into the hands of few
thousand Europeans Every year the empire
has been extended, while the number Of Eng
lishmen available for civil appointments has no
correspondingly increased. So far from Euro
pean tyranny being the bane Of India, it is prov
ed that the presence of Europeans in sufiicien
numbers gives the only guarantee for common
right and justice. All these matters have beer
and are under the consideration ofthc Indian anC
Home Governments
Bills are before the Legislative Council of In
dia for the improvement OF the Judicial admins
traton and we may expect that stricier super
vision of the proceedings of the Zimindars ant
an organized system of protection for the Ryot
will not be long in following However, we arr
not among those who believe that rules and reg
ulaiions can of themselves cure inveterate evils
The life of people will be generally but the re
Election of its material and social condition, and
as long as the country is poor ahd its lnhabiant
as helpless as the Benealese, there will be pett,
tyranny on the one hand and bitter discomfort
concealed by mask of servilty, on the other
To material improvements we look Tor the ele
vation of the Bengalee's condition and, to d.
the Government justice, there mas peen no iacl
of encouragement to enterprise. When road
and railways and works of irrigation increase II
number when the produce Of those rich plain
can be brought to the best market within on
thousand miles when consequently land become
valuable, and European enterprise, by that tim
we trust freed from all legal obstacles, shall hav
found in India a new and unworked field, the
the world may hope for the contentment an
prosperity of the Bengalee Till then we fea
no decisions of Parliament or Leadenball stree
no devotion of philanihropis,s, no multerings (
the sufferers will work cure.