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speak ever so great a falsehood, yet it is not considered as an evil, unless you first charge them to speak the truth. When they defraud you ever so much, and you charge them with it, they coolly answer, 'It is the custom of the country.' Were you to charge any company of ten men with having amongst them liars, thieves, whoremongers, and deceitful characters, however improper it might be, owing to your want of proof, yet there would be little probability of your accusing them falsely. All the good that can with justice be said in favour of them is, they are not so ferocious as many other heathens."

I have said nothing of the Mahometans; but it is well known that they are not behind the Hindoos in superstition, and greatly exceed them in ferocity, pride, and intolerance.

In short, Sir, to every European who places virtue in the fear of God and a regard to men, and not in that which merely contributes to his own interest and inclination, the introduction of the means of Christianity, among both Hindoos and Mahometans, must appear a matter of national importance. Christianity might not be embraced, at first, by the greater part; but it would, nevertheless, have a powerful influence on society; not only on those who believed it, but, by way of example, on those who believed it not.

But Mr. Twining professes to be alarmed at the measure, as dangerous to the British interests in India. He asserts this again and again; but what has he done beyond asserting it. Has he produced a single fact that can bear upon the subject; or preferred a single charge against the conduct of the Missionaries? Neither the one nor the other. It is rather surprising, indeed, that he should not have discovered something on which to found the appearance of a charge; for I am not ignorant, Sir, that the Missionaries have on some occasions felt much, and spoken in strong language. They have frequently seen females burnt alive, and have remonstrated against the horrid deed, as an act of murder; taking occasion also from thence to prove to the people, that such a religion could not be of God. If, at such times, there had been somewhat of a local tumult, there had been nothing surprising in it. But the truth is, no such tumult has ever occurred; nor have

any means which they have used, so much as endangered their own safety.

Mr. Twining speaks of alarms among the natives; but what are they? When, or where did they manifest themselves? If, by alarms," he mean a conviction that their principles will gradually fall before the light of the gospel, there is some foundation for what he says; for considerable numbers of them have calmly acknowledged as much as this. But if he mean, that, on account of any thing done or doing by the Missionaries, they are apprehensive of their religion being suppressed by authority, there is no proof of the fact, nor so much as an attempt to prove it. Nothing can furnish stronger evidence of Mr. Twining's want of materials of this kind, than his reference to "the recent catastrophes of Buenos Ayres, Rosetta, and Vellore." (p. 27.) You need not be told, Sir, that none of these catastrophes were produced by an attempt to recommend our religious principles.

That alarms may exist in India is very possible; but if such there be, they are of a date posterior to the Vellore mutiny, and must be traced, it is probable, to the causes which produced that melancholy event. That the labours of the Missionaries, either in Bengal, or on the Coast, have been productive of any such effect, remains to be proved. The only alarm which they have excited, will be found in the minds of Europeans, who, passing under the name of Christians, are tremblingly alive to the danger of Christianity making progress in the earth.

If, by "the LIGHT and TRUTH into which the omnipotent power of heaven may some time lead these people," Mr. Twining mean Christianity, his pamphlet exhibits, to say the least, an awkward association of ideas. Of Mr. Twining, I know nothing but from the part he has taken in this business, and therefore can have no personal disrespect towards him: but I cannot understand, Sir, how a Christian could be disgusted with the idea expressed by a Swabian Catholic, of "the great shepherd and bishop of souls gathering together his sheep from all nations and religions, languages, and kingdoms :" (pp. 9, 10.) how, in searching for something which the British nation values as the Hindoos do their Shasters, and the Mahometans their Koran, he should overlook

the Bible, and instance in " Magna Charta;" (p 30.) how he can be shocked at the downfall of Mahometanism; (p. 17.) how his feelings can be so "particularly alive" on the religious opinions of the natives of India; (p. 29.) and above all, how he can be so alarmed at the progress of Christianity. It is true, he professes to feel on this subject chiefly from his "extreme apprehension of the fatal consequences to ourselves." But if so, why do his alarms extend to Turkey, and even to China? (pp. 15. 17.) Is be afraid that, if the Mahometanism of the one, and the Paganism of the other, should give place to the gospel, they would refuse to trade with us? Surely, Sir, there can be but little doubt of this gentleman's being "of a party," nor of what that party is.

May I not take it for granted, Sir, that a British Government cannot refuse to tolerate Protestant Missionaries; that a Protestant Government cannot forbid the free circulation of the scriptures; that a Christian Government cannot exclude Christianity from any part of its territories; and that if, in addition to this, the measures which have of late been pursued in India, without the least inconvenience arising from them, can be proved to be safe and wise, they will be protected, rather than suppressed? I trust I may.

Permit me, Sir, to copy an extract or two from the letters of the Missionaries on this subject. "No political evil," says Mr. Carey," can reasonably be feared from the spread of Christianity now for it has been publicly preached in different parts of Bengal for about twenty years past, without the smallest symptom of the kind. Within the last five years, an edition of the New Testament, of two thousand copies, nearly one of the Pentateuch of a thousand, one of Matthew of five hundred, and one of the Psalms and Isaiah of a thousand, besides many copies of a second edition of the New Testament, and of the Poetical Books of scripture, from Job to Canticles, and many religious tracts have been distributed among the natives without a single instance of disturbance, unless the abusive language of a few loose persons may be so called. To this might be added, the experience of the Missionaries on the Coast, who have taught Christianity for a hundred years, and reckon about forty thousand persons to have embraced it. Such long-continued exertions to spread the gospel, carried on to

such an extent, and in such different situations, without producing the smallest inconvenience, may, we presume, furnish a course of experience sufficient to remove every suspicion of political evil arising from the introduction of Christianity.

"The tongue of slander itself," says Mr. Marshman, “has not been able to charge us, nor any of the native converts, with the least deviation from the laws and government under which we live. How should it; when we are devoted from our very hearts to the British government; and this, not from a blind partiality, but from a firm conviction of its being a blessing to the country? Had we been sent hither for the sole purpose of conciliating the natives to it, and of supporting it by every means in our power, we could not have been more cordially attached to it, nor have pursued a line of conduct more adapted to the end. Nothing will so effectually establish the British dominion in India, as the introduction of Christianity, provided it be merely by persuasion; and nothing is more safe, and under a divine blessing, more easy.

With regard to safety, there is nothing to be feared from the attempt. The Hindoos resemble an immense number of particles of sand, which are incapable of forming a solid mass. There is no bond of union among them, nor any principle capable of effecting it. Their hierarchy has no head, no influential body, no subordinate orders. The brahmans, as well as the nation at large, are a vast number of disconnected atoms, totally incapable of cohesion. In this country, sin seems to have given the fullest sample of its disuniting, debilitating power. The children are opposed to the parents, and the parents to the children; brother totally disregards brother; and a brahman will see another brahman perish with the greatest apathy. Yea, for the sake of a little gain, a brahman will write against his gods, satisfying himself with this, that the sin belongs to his employer, and that he only does something to support himself. When to this are added, their natural imbecility and the enervating influence of climate, it will be evident that nothing is less to be apprehended than a steady, concerted opposition to the spread of Christianity. Nothing will ever appear beyond that individual contempt and hatred of the gospel which are insep arable from the vicious mind.

"Instead of the introduction of Christianity endangering the safety of the state, the danger arises from the other side. No one, unacquainted with the natives, can know the heart of an idolater. We have about a hundred servants in our different departments; and they have been treated with a kindness which, in England, would have conciliated affection and created attachment. But so far are these effects from being produced in them, that not an individual can be found amongst them, who would not cheat us to any extent; or who would not plunder us of every thing we have, were it in their power. How can it be otherwise? Their religion frees them from every tie of justice. If their own benefit can be secured by any action, this renders it lawful, or at least venial, though it were fraud, robbery, or even murder. Often have we heard it affirmed, that a robber who should spend the whole night in the most atrocious deeds, and secure plunder to the amount of a hundred rupees, would wipe off all the stain in the morning, by giving one of them to a brahman! Attachment to a master, a fam

ily, or a government of a different religion, is that which cannot be produced in the mind of a Hindoo, while under the power of his gooroo or his debta. But if they lose cast, and embrace Christianity, not by force, but from pure conviction, they become other Even those who, as it may prove, have not embraced it cordially, are considerably influenced by it. If once they lose cast, the charm is broken, and they become capable of attachment to government.

men.

"These remarks are abundantly proved by what is seen in our native converts. We have baptized above a hundred of them: and we dare affirm, that the British government has not a hundred better subjects, and more cordial friends, among the natives of Hindostan. The gloomy and faithless demon of superstition is dethroned from their hearts. They cannot fear a brahman nor a debta, as heretofore. While they feel an attachment to us, to which they had been strangers, they are also cordially attached to the governors who protect them in the exercise of their religion, and whom they consider as their friends and brethren.

"Such is the ease with which Christianity, under the divine blessing could be disseminated, that it may seem to some incredi