took place at Paris. It is probable, that | maxims of other states, beside that in the this enormity confirmed his hatred of service of which he is engaged. bigotted zeal on the Catholic side: as the calamities his country endured from the religious wars, to which the Protes tants were one party, might lead him to think ill of whatever persuasion had Doubtless he discoverrecourse to arms. ed more of the pride of man, than of the fear of God, in many whose professions deceived the world. We have seen in our own days events at Paris, which render perfectly credible all the horrors of the famous St. Bartholomew. Paris at that time resounded with preparations for the nuptials of the young king of Navarre with Margaret of Valois, sister to Charles IX. King of France. Thuanus, with some difficulty, gained admission to the ceremony, and took particular notice of the celebrated Coligni, chief of the Protestant party, and who, not many days after, was wounded by a concealed assassin. This occurrence first interrupted the public tranquillity; and on the 24th of August, six days after the nuptials, ensued the dreadful massacre of St. Bartholomew. Of this transaction, Thuanus expresses his decided detestation, and defends his opinion against the prevailing arguments of the time, by the example of his father, an acknowledged Catholic, whom he considers an unexceptionable guide in all political and religious concerns, and who applied to that day these verses of Statius: Excidat illa dies avo, nec postera credant As he went to mass, (for the festival of St. Hav The life of a statesman may be supposed to afford some insight into the At Strasburgh Thuanus visited Languet, the illustrious prime minister of the Elector of Saxony, who gave him much valuable information respecting the Germanic constitution. "From him he learned that the abolition of celibacy had greatly distressed the German princes and nobles, as they were now obliged to bestow their daughters in marriage, with a portion, whom they formerly dedicated to a religious life, with the prospect of their becoming abbesses of rich convents.” The description of the conduct of the Holy See, we believe to be perfectly just : At Rome, the following interesting communication was made privately, and in the presence only of Thuanus, by one of the cardinals to De Foix, who had a vexatious cause pending in the ecclesiastical court. "Our court," said the Cardinal di Santa Cruce," is disposed, when it can really exercise severity with impunity, to oppress toreigners, and to protract the causes of men of rank by unnecessary delays, for the purpose of making our name reverenced and feared abroad. The papal power flourishes indeed through the prevalence of weakness and superstition; and as the crafty Florentine (Machiavelli) says, is supported by those acts which prove roinous to other empires. When the parties discover vigor and spirit, this severity is relaxed cautiously, and with For instance, the much dissimulation. Chevalier de St. Goard (who I am informed is now your ambassador at the court of Spain) had directions from the King of France to reclaim one of his subjects, who had been unjustly seized by the Holy Office. After much expostulation and solicitation, continued from day to day, he at length, with a resolute air, told the Pope in council, that he had orders from the king his master to depart, and to take the French ambassador with him, unless satisfaction were given; and, having thus said, left the spot. The Pope (Pius IV.) was much enraged, abused him, after he was gone, in violent terms, and, tossing about his arms, cried out that the papal authority would be extinct, if thus braved with impunity by a boy. The result, however, was, that the gentleman in question was shortly released. Let me recommend you, Sir, to profit by this example; and remem. bering the advice, to forget the monitor." We insert a circumstance, deserv ing the attention of naturalists. We have in Smith's Kerry, a similar instance ; to the great relief of a poor man, who supported his family during a summer of scarcity, with provisions obtained by stealth from an eagle's nest. Such histe ries manifest how subservient even ab- | satiate the thirsty plains, is but a precursor solute wildness may be rendered to the purposes of rationality. to that of harvest: the conversion of man "from the error of his ways," by the power of Divine Goodness, is an earnest of future and eternal felicity. Can there be a more noble employment, than that of promoting the diffusion of such blessings among mankind? Can the charities of our nature be more honourably, more When they reached Mande, the bishop of the place entertained them in the most sumptuous Hanner for some days. They perceived that the game at table generally wanted a wing or a leg, and sometimes the head; on inquiry they were surprised to hear that it was supplied from the nests of eagles in the neigh-characteristically engaged, than in probouring cliffs. The peasants build small hovels or huts near, to screen themselves from the fury of the parent bird, which brings food for its young, and after the spoil is deposited, flies away. The peasants then hasten to remove what they find, chickens, hares, patridges, or pheasants, and throw in garbage to the eaglets; but some portion of the prey is generally devoured. Three or four nests supply an elegant table through the year, and chains are fastened round the young, to prevent their flying as soon as they otherwise would. Thuanus had the curiosity to ascend to one of these nests, and was a witness of the scene described. Christianity in India. An Essay on the Duty, Means, and Consequences, of introducing the Christian Religion among the Native Inhabitants of the British Dominions in the East. By J. W. Cunningham, A. M. 8vo. pp. 212. Price 5s. 6d. Hatchard, London, 1808. THE mild principles of Christianity. are, undoubtedly, the greatest blessing that Divine Benevolence has bestowed on mankind. Free in their nature as the passing breeze, they visit and refresh all ranks and stations without exception. Unconfined as the cloud laden with the principle of fertility, they "drop fatness" without partiality. Pure christianity discharges itself in benefits, as the cloud dissolves, without reserve. The joy of the agriculturist, when the descending showers mulgating the principles of brotherly love, among the human race, and binding in one sacred bond, all, all the sons of men, however distinguishable by form or colour, by opinion or practice; however separated by local peculiarities, or marked by the strong distinction between rudeness and civilization?. The true christian sighs for the introduction of that state upon earth, which his imagination attaches to the establishment of the Millennium. He beholds, in that state, the prevalence of good, and the absence of evil: genuine piety producing her natural effects, onmingled by human frailties. He contemcivil and sacred; one immense amalgaplates one vast organization of virtues mation of excellence of every form and order, of every description and connection. Is there in any other religion professed among men, a conception so the idea of such perfection? Who among grand?-which holds out to mankind, the institutors of those modes of worship, world, has directed the expectation of his or principles of faith, that obtain in the followers to the universal prosperity of piety and religion, the unpolluted purity of manners and of life? Let this expectation of human perfection stand as one the great Father of all; and let none be mark of a dispensation originating from condemned for awaiting it, although alas! we need no proofs,additional to those which every day presents, that the "Kalee Yug" is not yet expired. The spread of Christianity is one of those precursors whose approach announces glad tidings. In various parts of our work, we have recorded the progress of this joyful harbinger. Among our red brethren in America; among our black brethren in Africa, or in the West Indies, their non-native islands; among the frozen regions of the north, where within a few years the Laplanders, as well as the Greenlanders, have embraced the doctrines of the cross; and amid the desarts and wilds of southern Africa, where intervening wastes separate the savage cattle, and the more than half savage boor, from the establishments of civilized life, and the means of liberal, and intellectual intercourse. Should we not rejoice, then, to see this heavenly doctrine flourish where the throngs of India bow before their representative idols, where millions of population worship they know not what? where the ignorant multitude is more happy than the learned few;where those who would obtain knowledge are prohibited from the attempt, on pain of losing the members wherein those senses reside, which they should direct to that purpose. Friends to free examination ourselves, we execrate the law which commands that melted lead should be poured into the ears of any one, not of the holy caste, who has heard a portion of the Sacred Books read; or that his eyes should be plucked out, if he has perused them; or his tongue be mutilated, if it has pronounced their contents. We say to all hear; read; inquire; contemplate; understand; obey; practice; nor do we exclude even the supercilious Bramin from our invitations; and we offer him with great readiness every desirable accommodation for the purpose. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which the various distincions existing among mankind may be attributed to the determination of infinite wisdom. National marks and peculiarities are as conspicuous to the eye of accurate observation, as geographical boundaries. The same Power that has placed the Hindoo beneath an ardent sun, and the Laplander amid eternal snows, the same wisdom that has given the glossy jet to the natives of Africa, and the tawney red to those of America, has tolerated for ages distinctions no less striking, in the modes of thinking, and in the observances, of these different and distant people. Can we expect that what appeals to the sanction of deep antiquity, and what, in fact, is entitled to make this appeal, whatever be our opinion on it, should suddenly vanish at the introduction of better things? When were the mists of error so fugitive as to disperse before a single ray of truth? Chaotic confusion is not to be reduced to order by power inferior to that which commanded light to shine out of dark. ness," when the proper time was come. We are of opinion that the conceptions of our well-intentioned countrymen who desire to christianize India, are not always directed by knowledge. Are we sure that they do not impute to the deities of India, characters which they did not originally. deserve? They see them as they are; they abhor them as they now are characterized; but, are they certain that what they so justly reprobate are not superstitious additions; the scum and dross of later ages? Who has adequately inquired into the true import of the Indian idols?-and till this be done, who can answer the reply which common sense may expect to all exhortations to abandon them, "our fathers had good reason for these institutions; and we follow the practices of our fathers?" Who has adequately illustrated the different opinions that prevail among the Brahmins; the numerous sects into which the tribe is divided; the contrarieties of the practices they adopt, and of those arguments by which they support them? Who has properly contemplated even that strik ing institution, the difference of caste? The writer before us treats it as absurd, and even criminal, as now established; but he does not seem to be aware, that, in the early ages of mankind, the allotment of distinct professions to distinct families might originate in the most benevolent motives, and be confirmed by the greatest political wisdom. He does not appear to consider the multiplication of castes to their present extent, as a corruption of their primary intention; nor has he explained the evil that would arise to an agricultural people, if the professions uecessary to the comfort and enjoyment of life were separated into six or eight divisions, each of which derived a stipulated maintenance from the soil. Before we can judge properly of the institutions of India we must divest our minds of all the consequences of considering money as wealth; of all the conceptions of benefits derived from commerce; of every supposition that ambition may be gratified by extended conquests, of all reference to promotions in rank; and we must restrict them to the simple contemplation of a tribe of men attached to the soil, deriving from that their support, and deeming that district peculiarly holy wherein they had first seen the light, and wherein they hoped most devoutly to close their eyes. The Brahmins are pot originally of judgment. Their subjects are under our protection, as natives of their territories: we desire to do them all the good we can ; but if they decline our kind offices of a religious nature, no failure of duty is im putable to government, on that account. Mr. Cunningham has favoured us with a very sensible and well arranged treatise on the subject of introducing christianity into India. We do not think every asser tion he makes is indisputably correct. He has no personal acquaintance with India. He derives his information from those who had no reference to religious opinions in what they wrote: and we could have informed him, that much intelligence suitable to his purpose is not to be obtained without special favour. The university of Cambridge has sanc tioned this performance, and we coincide in the opinion that both the choice of subject, and the sanction they have bestowed on Mr. C. do honour to that learned body. Hindoostan. They were driven from their primitive seat by war and distress. They brought with them the customs of their ancestors, transmitted to them through many ages, and they cannot help feeling a most profound veneration for the dicta of antiquity. They are entitled to many allowances; and it does not become us to treat with harshness a tribe of men, who have in their time been the depositaries of all the wisdom and learning which the world contained. The first thing to be done is, to convince them that they are invited to exchange a worse profession for a better; that they are requested, as rational creatures, to exercise their judgment, in comparing what is offered to them with what they possess: to receive gold, and relinquish insel. But this must be the result of conviction: it requires ** line upon line, and precept upon precept:" it is not the work of an hour or of a day. The opportunity must first be afforded; the seed must first be sown; and after it has endured, perhaps, a long winter in the ground, it will shoot up inducing christianity into Asia:-founded spring, and gratify the attentive husbandman with the joys of harvest. Unless it were in consequence of conviction, the profession of christianity by all the Brahmins in India would yield us no pleasure; and if the smallest effort of force were used to promote it, we should deem it inconsistent with the true and genuine character of the Gospel of peace. Mr. C. treats first on the duty of intro on the power of Great Britain for that purpose the wrongs we have done to India-the benefits we derive from her— our dominion-the "malignant and pernicious character of that superstition of which the Hindoos are victims." The moral characters of the Hindoos our author sets in the worst light. [We have set it in a light bad enough. Compare Panorama, Vol. III. p. 135.] He enlarges on their treachery-indolence—and cruelty.— He investigates their religious ceremonies "To every thing there is a time;" and the time for taking proper measures towards beginning a great work, may be the subject of consideration, as well-laws, and customs. Their civil and as the beginning itself may be the subject political institutions, such as polygamyof exertion, long before the benefits in- defective education-concubinage-slatended be considerable or general. We very and castes; and afterwards, their hope and trust, that the dispersion of the religion, are treated particularly in the Sacred Scriptures in the languages of India first Part. The second Part inquires into among the people of that country, will the means of diffusing christian knowledge prove the operative cause of great good to in Asia. Our author examines into the them; and this we most heartily recom- probable obstacles to be encountered in mend as the very highest act of benevo- this undertaking, such as-the opposition lence. But we hesitate when we are told of the Brahmins-the obstinate adherence that the sovereignty we have acquired in of the Hindoos to their customs, &c.— India imposes on us the duty of introduc- their indifference (the most serious obstaing christianity; we are not clearly con- cleofall,in our opinion). - Henevertheless, vinced, that a religious duty can arise out finds facilities in the internal state of the of a political compact. We are not fol-country-the situation and character of lowers of Mahomet, who adopted that principle, without scruple. We have never seen treaties, in which the native princes relinquished their right of private the people-their passiveness-and their political situation. The mens recom. mended by Mr. C. are a complete Church establishment in India-the distribution of the Scriptures-settled ministers schools. The last division of the work adverts to the consequences of diffusing christian knowledge in Asia. Now although there is truth in this statement, still some observations will serve to weaken the force of it. In the first place, this sketch of our counOur readers will perceive that this plan trymen in India would not faithfully delineate the present generation. The greater stabicomprizes an extensive view of the sub-lity of our eastern empire; its high place in the eyes of the world; its present political form; the exalted virtues, as well as talents of some of those who have swayed its delegated sceptre, have contributed to raise the British character to a higher standard. If there is still perhaps discernible in our eastern ject. On many things we agree with the writer: on others we hesitate: his inferences do not consist with our knowledge. We think some of his expressions incorrect. Yet on the whole, we are glad that a subject of such magnitude should receive a full, free, and unreserved discus-countrymen some philosophical indifference, sion in all its parts, that the steps to be taken may be the better understood, and every exertion to be made, instead of being at random, may be well directed and heartily pursued. We shall not extract any of Mr. C's reflections on the depraved state of morals among the Hindoos; they are sufficiently known and admitted. But shall rather select our specimens of the author's manner of reasoning from his chapters on the obstacles to the introduction of christia nity and the means of effecting that desi- The lower class of Portuguese Catholics in Bengal, who are the descendants of the Portuguese soldiers, and women of the lowest Indian castes, would in general dishonour any church of which they called themselves members. Our own countrymen also, particularly at one period, did little to redeem the European character from the censure of the Hindoos. Many of them sought the shores of India as adventurers, and finding a very scrupulous morality little better than a burden, "unbaptized themselves, (as Mr. Burke expressed it) in crossing the ocean. Those who landed upon our eastern territory with better views, still found the scene by no means propitious to their growth in virtue. The bustle of a camp, the mercenary routine of the counting-house, the absence from all public instruction, the want of that controlling influence which the voice of a large christian body exercises over every member of it; all these circumstances conspired to give such an expression to the character of Englishmen, as would conciliate little esteem for their religion. See Tennarit's Ind. Rec. Acc. Bapt. Miss. passim. and supercilious pride; yet that delicate sen timent of honour, that generous love of nationat equity, which were banished for a sea son, have again asserted their rights to the bosoms of Englishmen. These being public virtues, will give a lustre to the Briush character, in the eyes of the Hindoos, which deficiency in the milder and more reposed vir tues will scarcely destroy. The province of Jaffnapatnam in Ceylon is the only portion of the Dutch possessions in the island, of whose religious state we have any minute account. In the year 1668 it appears that out of 279,759 inhabitants, 188,364 were professed Christians. In the year 1802 the number of the Protestant Christians was 138,896, of Catholics 9632. Mr. C. offers several reasons in support of the necessity of a church establishment for India. In this he agrees with Major Scott Waring, as may be seen in our work, Panorama Vol. p. and the Major has since further explained his sentiments by a private communication, for which we acknowledge ourselves obliged to him. We select Mr. C's. third reason as a specimen of his style and arguments. A third important end secured by an estas blishment would be a system of operation" well constructed and generally pursued. Now every man chooses his own ground, and attempts to atchieve his victory by single combat. Then the movements would pos sess all the skill and compactness of a well, disciplined army. On the spot, the members of the Indian church would be able to exp mine the field of contest, and distribute the forces to the most advantage. There are many parts of India where the attachment to Caste, is less ardent than in others; and where a spirit of hostility to the old system indicates some predisposition to a better. Points such as these would, upon the prope sed plan, be watched, and the supplies poured in where the demand was the greatest. his also essential to any scheme of conversion, Vid. Buchanan's Essay. Bat. Miss. Acc. |