The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1878-05-01

reverence His character and teachings. We
all know that India is now under British
rule, and that in 1877 Victoria was, with
great pomp, proclaimed Empress, yet the
question is often asked: "What right has
England to this great prize ?" To answer
this question We must go back to the year
1897, when commerce with Europe was first
opened by the Portuguese. As soon as
ebony, porcelain, and pearls from India we're
displayed in the London market, English
merchants were infamed with the desire to
engage in such lucrative trade. In 1900
Queen Elizabeth granted them charter of
protection, and the celebrated East India
Company was formed, and invested with
great powers, in return for which the Grown
received annually an immense sum of money
They established trading houses and facto
ries, and the acquisition of Madras, Bombay
and Calcutta soon followed, not, however,
without resistance on the part of the natives
The French also came in spirit of rivalry
which caused hundred years war, ending
in their expulsion in 1856. Then followed
the cruelties of the Black Hole of Calcutta,
when the fendish native ruler of Bengal
committed such outreges as to cause open de-
cisive war between the small Englisb armies
and hordes of native, undisciplined troops
ending in the supremacy of British rule in
1774, Warren Hastings, the first aud best
governor general, was succeeded by fourteen
others, many of them noble men, but it was
only after fearful struggles with Thugs and
Sepoys, and wars in Mysore and the Pupjab,
that this supremacy was admitted. After
the massacre of fair defenceless women and
children by the Sepoys at Cawnpore in 1857,
great change was inaugurated in the gov
eminent. The East India Company was
done away with. The governor general was
made viceroy, the civil service thrown open
to competition, and Queen Victoria issued a
proclamation, which the native princes con-
slider the charter Of their liberties. The
country was divided into three presidencies
Bengal, Madras, and Bombay-and these
we're subdivided into districts. There is now
only one European to thirty,6v hundred ma
tives, and the wonder is how Great Britain
can keep her footing. The reason is, the
natives are disunited among themselves by
caste and innumerable religious divisions,
and they need strong controlling power to
keep them from perpetuae efRil war.
To the shame of the original East India
Company it must be said that, from greed of
gain, they guaranteed that neither Christian
education nor religion should be allowed, and
the first missionaries were actually banished /;
but when the first charter expired, the press
ure was too strong to be resisted, and new
one was secured tolerant at least to missions.
A striking comment on this policy is the fact
that, during the mutiny, the despised native
Christians alone proved loyal. The effect of
British rule has been most benefcent. Rail.
ways span the peninsula network of ex-
cellent roads is being laid and planted with
shade. trees to protect travellers from the trop-
ical sun; thorough system of public schools
and even universities has been provided, and
large number of native gentlemen have been
literally educated, and speak English flu.
emily. Nothing, however, has been 30 well
received as the medical schools, for India has
long been at the mercy of quack Doctors
Many of the liberal Hindoos desire the edu-
cation of their women, and have petitioned
fer schools where Christianity shall not be
taught. This has been refused, and they are
thus providentially obliged to depend on the
teaching of our missionaries.
With this new civilization planted in such
rich decaying soil, it is not difficult to fore
tell the growth of noble national life at no
distant day. There are traditions and proph-
ecies among the people that the time is com.
ing when the Brahminical religion is to be
supplanted by one from the western world,
aud the prophecy is already being fulfilled.
Their temples and pagodas are falling into
decay; the Buddhist TOPICS or relic-shrines
are visited only as curiosities; the great pal
ace of Delhi, three thousand feet long, and
once containing FIVE thousand inmates, is now.
deserted, its emperors, ShaS, khanS, harems,
all gone. Their tombS, larger, generally,
than our largest churches. wonderful for
architectural elegance and brilliancy of color,
combining redstone, white marble, and en-
caustic tiles, are doomed to decay. Already
this hoary old religion has ceased to produce
defenders of the faith, or martyrs, and it
must die because it cannot bear the light of
day.
Thong the leaven of Christianity has been
working here for less than century, there
are already ninety thousand communicate
members of native churches, many of these
churches supporting their own pastors; and
at the present rate of increase, it would re.
quire only about century and half to
evsngelize the entire population. More than
six hundred missionaries, representing every
evangelical Society, are now at work there,
preaching in chapelS, by the waySide, and at
their own homes; missionary presses are
pouring out Bibles and good books; hospi-
tails, OrphanageS, and mission schools of
every grade are established, while Eenaua
teachers carry the bread Of life to those who
are in gilded prisons. The English naturally
feel the greatestresponSibility in this work, but
the Northern Presbyterian Board of Foreign
Missions has no reason to be ashamed of its
record. 1t has established three main mis-
sion stations in India the Lodians Mission,
including stations at Rawal Pindi, Lahore,
Lodiana, Sabathu, Ssharanpur, Dehra, and
smaller places; the Furrukhabad Mission,
embracing stations at Futtehgurh, Furruk-
habsd, Mynpurie, Etawah, Futtehpore, AL
lshabad, and Gwalior; and the Kolapoor
Mission, including Kolapoor, Panalla, and
Ratnigiri. Our Society has under its care
twenty FIVE lady missionaries and fifteen
Bible-readers. Our school at Woodstock Of
fers the best advantages to the children of
missionaries and to English speaking girls;
the one under our care at Dehra stands at
the head of all the native schools for girls in
India; our schools at Furrukhabad have
been wonderfully blessed, and the dispensary
under the care of one of our missionaries at
ATlahabad outranks all mission dispensaries