PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. THE Author, on the eve of his departure from the shores of Britain, again commends this volume to his Christian brethren of every denomination. He will no longer be able to plead for India. His work will henceforth be in India, and his pleadings will be with India. He can no longer tell Britain of the claims of India. His appropriate work will be to tell India of the claims of Christ. To whom, under this exigency, shall the departing missionary especially look? To whom shall he more particularly confide the advocacy of the claims set forth in this volume? To whom shall he bequeath with "an emphasis of interest" this parting gift? To his brethren in the ministry,—to those honoured men who are set for the defence of the gospel. Brethren, whose office it is to labour in England, and for England, to you I bequeath not this book, but the vast and momentous subject of which it treats;-to you, I say, though you forget the volume itself, and the writer of it, remember INDIA AND THE GOSPEL. The Servant of the Churches for Christ's sake, PORTSMOUTH, August 24, 1850. On the day of departure for India by "The Earl of Hardwicke." WM. CLARKSON. PREFATORY REMARKS. I HAVE been requested to write a few sentences introductory to the following work. Aware that it requires no recommendation, and conscious that I can say nothing new on its topic, or worthy of its solemn grandeur, I comply with the request from my personal esteem for the author, and my admiration of the manner in which he has handled his subject. Numerous as have been the volumes descriptive of India, as a field of Christian enterprise, they have not been disproportioned in amount to the magnitude of their theme. Varied in the degree of their eloquence, and the nature of their practical suggestions, proceeding from missionaries of all denominations, touching on almost every province, its population, their manners and superstitions, room is still left for this publication, written by a faithful ambassador of the cross, familiar from observation with the scenes he describes, and whose calm reflective judgment and truthfulness will be questioned by no reader. Most heartily do I commend "INDIA AND THE GOSPEL" to the serious thought and the affectionate heart of the Christian public. India, with its hundred millions of people, and its undeveloped, exhaustless resources, has been subdued by the British xii PREFATORY REMARKS. sword and policy, and is now part of the British Empire. It has long been a mine of wealth to the merchant, and a school of discipline and strategy to the soldier. On its plains princely fortunes have been accumulated-the most chivalrous feats of prowess been achieved. The romance of its history, under its native princes and European authority-its Aurungzebes and Clives-has at once fired the imagination and kindled the ambition of impetuous youth, and veiled from the sight the dark horrors of its crimes and misery. The missionary, alive to the dramatic interest-the dioramic character of Oriental life-visits the shores of Bengal for a sublimer purpose than animates mercantile or military adventurers: he goes to familiarize himself with its moral features,-to develop them to the Church, and to apply to its degradation and wretchedness the tested and only means of elevation and happiness. With him the questions rise:-India is ours,—for what purpose? India is ours now,-how is it to be retained? One answer meets both questions, momentous as they are,—and I think it is impossible to exaggerate their importance,-THE SPIRITUAL EXALTATION OF ITS PEOPLE. We cannot imagine, indeed, that "these merchant subjects were destined to become sovereign princes," only that they might find in Hindustan a scene of patronage, and nepotism, and revenue; that the untried sword of the aspirant soldier should be there fleshed; and that India, conquered to Leadenhall Street, should be preserved tributary and orderly by the unreasoning and unelevating force of military rule, or the craft and cunning of intrigue and diplomacy. India and the sword must not be a perpetual principle—an unchanging watchword of Government. Physical power cannot if it would—and should not if it could-repress and retain India to Britain, with advantage to either for ever. PREFATORY REMARKS. xiii The authority of brute might is losing its prestige-classed amid the expedients of ignorance, crime, tyranny, and reckoned by enlightened statesmanship as the last to be adopted. Mind, in the expansion of its powers,—heart, in the culture of its affections,-truth, reaching the former,love, melting the latter;-these are now recognised by most. as real might-might, noblest in kind, most invincible in degree. We may multiply troops in Hindustan-may employ the most skilful and enthusiastic generalship; fortresses may crown its highland passes, and treacherous ravines and gullies; —we may place in the nests of native policy and plotting our most wakeful and trustworthy men, and all may seem secure and still: but if there be truth in what I have now written, and in the experience of nations, such means, however energetic in extent, and successful in immediate result, are hazardous in continuous, ultimate application, and altogether unworthy in character of a free, enlightened, Christian land. The question recurs,-India is ours,-what are we to do with it?—how are we to keep it? We have had India and the sword, and we have India and idolatry bolstered up by our country. British patronage too long has been extended to systems, in the contemplation of whose orgies and devotees the difficulty is which most to wonder at, the puerility of the worshippers, or the obscenity of the rites. We have paid homage with our national conscience to Juggernaut, amid the earnest protests of evangelical missionaries in India, and the indignant remonstrances of Christians at home,-protests and remonstrances met by the sophistry, and scarcely disturbing the repose of easy politicans, whose tenure of office had but one condition-the quieting of things through the humouring of men. It is granted, that to shelter the idol may secure the |