There are ample materials for arriving at correct views regarding the condition of India and the way in which it is governed. No Parliamentary Committee, no Royal Commission, is required to elicit the facts. The recently completed "Gazeteer" of India, in which Dr. Hunter and his assistants had been engaged for years, furnishes full and reliable information. The state of India is described in that imperial work with a frankness and fulness which leave nothing to be desired. If one of our great writers, who has secured the ears of our country, would set to the drawing up of a volume of moderate size, founded on the "Gazeteer," showing in a readable interesting form what has been done and what has been left undone, what has been done well and what has been done ill, and if the intelligent people of our country could be induced to give it a careful perusal, untold good would be done both to England and to India. Nothing would please Indian officials more than the eye of England being thus fixed on their doings and misdoings, that the whole truth might be known, and praise and censure be justly distributed, and still more that the changes most beneficial to the people might be effected.

[Sidenote: THE BEST GOVERNORS FOR INDIA.]

It is undeniable, as already said, that our rule because foreign lies under great disadvantages. When the ancestors of the present Hindus crossed the Indus and gradually made their way into the Continent before them, they subdued and to a great degree enslaved its inhabitants. For many a day their rule was foreign. This was also the case with the successive Muhammadan conquerors. Rule founded on the suffrages of the people remains to the present day unknown. There is, however, this difference between the previous rulers of India and the English, that they remained in the country, and gradually became amalgamated with its inhabitants, while we show no disposition to make India our home. As we do not, it would be far better if Hindustanees were the rulers of Hindustan, Bengalees of Bengal, the members of other Indian nations of their respective nations, provided they were qualified by character, attainments, and the estimate entertained of them by the ruled, with a strong central power to secure order throughout the Continent, while leaving unfettered the general administration. Towards this ideal strenuous efforts should be directed; but when we look at India as it is now, with its divergent and antagonistic elements, with the weakness induced by ages of superstition and despotism, what a long road has it to travel before it can reach this goal! The question, then, is not what is absolutely best, but what is practicable. Thus regarded, we are shut up to the continuance of our rule. Every friend of India must desire that it may be improved in every possible way, so that it may be in an increasing degree a blessing to its teeming population.

No one can predict the future of India. Within its borders there are many who for various reasons would be delighted with our overthrow, while I believe the vast majority in the parts of India I know best would deprecate our departure as a dire calamity. It is a notable fact that when our own native soldiers, sworn to uphold our rule, rose fiercely against us, and rebellion in many districts followed in the wake of mutiny, not a single native prince of the highest rank availed himself of the opportunity to throw off the suzerainty of our Queen. The army of the Prince of Gwalior rose against us, but by doing so they rebelled against their own sovereign. When in 1877 we were in a native state in Rajputana, a gentleman, who knew well the temper of the people, said that if our control was withdrawn the Rajputs and Mahrattas would be at each other's throats in a month. Our army has something better to do than to uphold an alien government. It has to prevent the outbreak of war which would desolate India from one end to the other. Happily its prestige is sufficient to avert this terrible evil, but the prestige can only continue while the army exists. By the suppression of the Mutiny our prowess was shown in a manner which has made an indelible impression. It is scarcely conceivable we can again have to encounter a similar outbreak, though trouble may come from unanticipated quarters. Our immensely improved means of communication contribute largely to our security. Good government, the conferring of manifest benefits on the people, will do more to establish our rule than all other things combined. It is obvious to all who have any just conception of our position in India, that never was a nation charged with greater responsibilities, never was such a tremendous task committed to a people, and never was there a more urgent call for the highest qualities, if the duties devolving on us are to be worthily discharged. Our Government cannot, and ought not, to undertake its evangelization, but if the work of government be rightly done, it will indirectly, but very effectually, help the Christian Church in giving the Gospel to the millions of India, which, when accepted by them, will purify and elevate their character, improve their condition, and fit them for true, healthy, national life, while securing their spiritual and eternal good.



STATISTICS.

Area of India and British Burma, 1,495,574 sq. miles. Population in 1881, 254,899,516.

Under British rule 197,815,508 Under Native rule 57,084,008

Hindus 187,931,450 Muhammadans 50,127,585 Buddhists—almost entirely in British Burma 3,418,884 Sikhs 853,426 Aborigines—mainly Demon worshippers 6,426,511

Christians Europeans[4] 142,000 Eurasians 62,000 Protestant Native Christians[5] 492,882 Roman Catholics 865,643 Syrians—about 300,000 ———— 1,862,525 Other Creeds not specified 4,479,135

The increase of the Native Christian community connected with Protestant Missions from 1851 to 1861 was 53 per cent.; from 1861 to 1871, 61 per cent.; and from 1871 to 1881, 86 per cent. The number of communicants rose from 14,000 in 1851 to 113,000 in 1881. Within the last decade the number of native ordained agents has risen from 225 to 461; of native lay preachers from 1,900 to 2,400; of native Christian teachers from 1,900 to 3,400; of native Christian female agents from 800 to 1,600. The number of male pupils in Mission schools in 1851 was 50,000; in 1881, 129,000. The female pupils increased within that period from 11,000 to 56,000. The increase in Zenana pupils was from 1,900 in 1871 to 9,100 in 1881.

[Footnote 4: Including 65,000 British soldiers.]

[Footnote 5: Including 75,510 in British Burma, but not the 35,708 in Ceylon.]



UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.



[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors from the original edition have been corrected.

In Chapter III, in the sentence beginning "Forty-four years have elapsed" the word "sittting" has been changed to "sitting".

In Chapter XI, in the sentence beginning "It was my privilege for years" the word "intineracies" has been changed to "itineracies".

In Chapter XVII, in the sentence beginning "So great was the danger" the word "thouands" has been changed to "thousands".

In Chapter XXII, in the sentence beginning "The Government has now entered" the word "largerly" has been changed to "largely".

In Chapter XXV, in the sentence beginning "I am surprised when Christians speak" the word "achieve" has been inserted between "to" and "full"; in the sentence beginning "I have been confining my remarks" the phrase "who his still" has been changed to "who is still"; and in the sentence beginning "Looking beyond our Benares missions" the word "beyound" has been changed to "beyond".

In Chapter XXVI, in the sentence beginning "It occurred to me" the word "occured" has been changed to "occurred".

In Chapter XXXI, in the sentence beginning "The great officers of state" the phrase "must he highly paid" has been changed to "must be highly paid".]

THE END