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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
THE CHUECH IN MADKAS
THE VEN. THOMAS ROBINSON. ARCHDEACON OF MADRAS, 1828-1835.
THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
BEING
THE HISTORY OF THE
ECCLESIASTICAL AND MISSIONARY ACTION
OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
IN THE PRESIDENCY OF MADRAS
FROM 1805 TO 1835
BY THE
REV. FRANK PENNY, LL.M.
LATE CHAPLAIN IN H.M. INDIAN SERVICE (MADRAS ESTABLISHMENT)
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
VOL. II
LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1912
[All rights reserved]
First Edition (Smith, Elder £ Co.) .... October, 1912 Taken over by John Murray ..... Jamcary, 1917
Printed in Great Britain by Spottiaivoode, Ballantyne rf- Co. Ltd., Printer.s, New-street Sqiuire, Lmulon.
/1 70
TO THE MEMORY OF
THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY
THIS RECOED OF
THEIR ECCLESIASTICAL POLICY AND ACTION
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED
870136
PREFACE
This volume of ' The Church in Madras ' advances the story from 1805 to 1835, when the first Bishop of Madras arrived on the coast.
As was stated in the Preface of Vol. I, the book is not intended to be an exhaustive ecclesiastical or rehgious history of the period. Missionary effort is included ; but it is dealt with principally from the point of view of the Hon. East India Company, of the local Government of Fort St. George, and of the servants of the Company in the Carnatic during the period. Other ecclesiastical matters are recorded and discussed from the same point of view. But in order that the record should not be entirely one-sided, a great number of mission reports, minutes of missionary society committees, and missionary biographies have been read, and are quoted when necessary to explain either missionary or Government action.
It seemed necessary to make a fresh inquiry with regard to what took place in Parliament in 1813. Mr. J. W. Kaye, to whose literary charm I make my bow, made such an inquiry in order to produce his ' Christianity in India.' But he did not do it very thoroughly ; and, in consequence, he never really understood what the several parties were contending for. It must be doubted if he read all the pamphlets of the period on the subject of the so-called ' rehgious clauses ' of the Act of 1813 ; and it is probable that he had not access to as many documents as I have had the privilege of consulting. The result was a misleading of pubhc opinion on the attitude and the contention of the East India Company with regard to missionary work in India.
No excuse is required for the defence of the moral character of the Company's British servants in India during the period
viii PREFACE
dealt with. It is necessary to defend as long as attacks are made. The latest defence, one of inspiring generosity, was made by the present Metropolitan of India in 1910. It was published by the Indian Church Aid Association.
The opinions recorded and expressed in the chapter on the ownership of the Church buildings and the legal effect of con- secration on ownership are those which existed during the period under review. Neither the local Government nor the Court of Directors showed any inclination to do otherwise than abide by the law of England on the question. When the question of ownership was raised it was referred to the law officers of the Crown, and their decision was esteemed to be final. It amounts to this, that a consecrated building is trust property, held in trust for the purposes for which it is consecrated.
In giving a brief historj^ of the building of each Church for the use of Europeans and Eurasians between 1805 and 1835, I have ventured, as in the former volume, to bring the outline of its history up to the present time, so as not to have to refer to it again in the future. For the pictures of these Churches I am indebted to amateur photographers in the different stations ; if I mention especially the Ven. Archdeacon Cox and the Eev. B. M. Morton, it is because they were able to render me more aid in this matter than others equally kind.
For copies of the Archdeacon's records and the Bishop of Calcutta's Act Books between 1814 and 1835, 1 am indebted to the Ven. H. B. Hyde, formerly Archdeacon of Madras.
I desire to acknowledge with gratitude the courteous help I have received from the officials connected with the records at the India Office ; and especially from Mr. W. Foster, the Superintendent of Eecords, who has been always ready to place his knowledge and his services at my disposal.
I have throughout referred to letters written by the Court of Directors to the Government of Madras as Despatches ; and to those written by the Government of Madras to the Directors as Letters. Strictly speaking they are all despatches. It has been merely a matter of convenience to call them by different names.
F. P.
Aitfjtiit l'>12
CONTENTS
I. The Charter Renewal Contentions, 1793 to 1813 . 1
II. The Charter of 1813 27
III. The Building, Consecration, and Ownership of
Churches ........ 51
IV. Churches Built between 1805 and 1815 ... 68 V. Men and Manners 95
VI. Churches Built BETWEEN 1805 AND 1816 . . .115 VII. The Archdeaconry of Madras under the Bishops
OF Calcutta 131
VIII. The Archdeaconry of Madras under the Bishops
OF Calcutta (continued) . . ■ . .151
IX. Churches Built between 1805 and 1815 . . . 175
X. The Coming of the Missionaries 197
XI. Mission Property and Administration . . . 216
XII. Committee Eule in the Mission Field, 1824 to 1835 . 237
XIII. Churches Built between 1815 and 1825 . . . 247
XIV. Discipline and the Consistorial Court . . . 267 XV. Churches Built between 1825 and 1835 . . . 279
XVI. Eeligious, Social and Educational Progress, 1805 to
1835 297
XVII. Churches Built between 1825 and 1835 . . . 320
XVIII. Some other Ecclesiastical Matters, 1813 to 1835 . 338 XIX. Chaplains in the Honourable East India Company's
Service, Madras Establishment, 1805 to 1835 . 356
XX. The Missionaries . , 387
APPENDICES
Appendix T. Correction of Errors, Vol. I . . . . 400
„ II. The Trichinopoly Vestry 405
„ III. The Tanjore Vestry 411
,, IV. The Bengal Government and the Missionaries,
1807 413
INDEX
417
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Ven. Thomas Eobinson, Archdeacon of Madras 1828-1835
The Fort Church, Bangaxore
St. Mark's, Bangalore
St. Mark's Church, Bangalore, 1912 (heightened and lengthened) .....
Cantonment Church, Bellary
Holy Trinity Church, Fort, Bellary .
St. G-eorge's Cathedral, Choultry Plain, Madras
St. G-eorge's Cathedral
St. John's Church, Secunderabad
St. Mary's Church, Argot (Ranipett) .
The Ven. Edward Vaughan, Archdeacon of Madras 1819-1828
St. John's, Masulipatam (the dismantled the Fort)
Church in
St. Mary's Church, Masulipatam
Cantonment Church, Cannanore .
St. John's Church, Trichinopoly
St. John's Church, Trichinopoly
St. Mary Magdalen Church, Poonamallee
Church Mission Chapel, Black Town, Madras
St. John's Church, Tellicherry .
St. Thomas' Church, St. Thomas' Mount .
The Cantonment Church, Pallaveram
Fvonti To face v.
72
76
80
92 118 128
144
178 182 186 192 196 260 260 266 284 286
Xll
ILLUSTRATIONS
Holy Trinity Church, Auraxgabad .... Tofacep. 288
St. Thomas' Church, Quilo.v (now in the Diocese of
Travancore) ........,, 292
Church Mission Chapel, John Pereiras, Madras . ,, 296
The Rev. R. H". Kerr, Senior Presidency Chaplain . „ 304
St. Stephen's Church, Ootacamund . . . . „ 322
St. Bartholomew's Church, Mysore . . . . „ 328
Christ Church, Kamptee (now in the Diocese of
Nagpore) ,,332
St. Peter's Church, Saugor (now in the Diocese of
Nagpore) „ 334
St. Peter's Church, Saugor „ 336
All Saints' Church, Nagpore (now the Cathedral of
the Nagpore Diocese) .....,, 338
Errata.
Page 5, line 21, for 1794 read 1804. „ 129, lines 23-25, for They belonged to the period . . . 1759 and 1760. read They belonged to the period between the occupation of the fort in 1760 and its gallant defence by Flint in 1780. ,, 132, line 7 from end, /or occufus read oculus. „ 135, lines 6, 7, omit the eminent physician . . . Cathedral. „ 185, line 1, for Tippoo Sultan read Hycler Ali. „ „ ;, 6, for Hyder Ali read Tippoo Sultan. „ 280, „ 6 from end, o?nit who had just raised the siege. „ 304, „ 25, for Archbishops read Archbishop. ,,311, „ 2 from end, /or 1851 read 1815. ,, 354, ,, 12, /or practical read practicable. „ 386, „ 1, /or establishment read department. „ 402, lines 23, 24, omit Colonel Love, E..E. . . . Fort. „ 422, add to Index Pettitt, G., 394.
The Church iu M£i4i'ai. Tol. ii
THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
CHAPTEE I
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS, 1793 TO 1813
The Pam'phleteers, Petitioners, and Deputations
The Charter obligations of the Company, 1698. Altered conditions in the eighteenth century made new obligations necessary a hundred years later. The Wilberforce resolutions of 1793. Their omission from the Charter. The cause of their omission. Mission work up to 1807. The indiscretion of the Baptist missionaries in Calcutta in that year. The result and the Despatch of the Directors on the subject. A question of method. Charles Grant's scheme. Sir John Shore's scheme. Buchanan's scheme in 1805 ; its two parts. The opposing pamphleteers, Waring, Twining, the Christian Observer, Waring, Owen, Lord Teignmouth (Sir John Shore) ; missionary reports, &c. Claudius Buchanan and his sermon. Chatfield and Barrow. The general effect upon the public. Wilberforce's modified scheme, after interview with Percival. Lord Liverpool's partial acceptance of it. The Earl of Buckinghamshire and licences. The Quarterly Review on the question. Meetings in London and in the country. Resolutions passed thereat. The action of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Bebb's pamphlet. The meaning and necessity of the licence. The eccle- siastical points were not really the most important part of the new Charter.
It is proverbially as difficult to see a large historic subject, as it is to see a large building, if you are too near to it. Time lessens the difficulty of seeing the large subject in all its various bearings. Enough time has now elapsed to enable a juster view to be taken of the charter controversy than has hitherto been possible.
The Charter of 1698 ^ was renewed periodically during the eighteenth century. Each time some alteration was made to
' The Church in Madras, vol. i. pp. 122-23. VOL. II. B
2 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
suit the new conditions of affairs in policy and administration. As the Company increased, more by accident than design, as a governing power, it was brought more and more under the control of the Government of Great Britain. It was inevitable that it should be so. A private trading company could not possibly be allowed to employ a powerful army, to have the power of entering into treaties with Native States, to exercise the power of hfe and death over miUions of subject peoples and of making laws for their peaceable governance, ^^ithout some control from the central authority of the King- dom. The changes that were made in the successive Charters had reference to these matters. Two subjects only remained unchanged durmg the century, those of trade and of eccle- siastical procedure.
The Charter of 1698 obliged the Company to provide Chaplains and schoolmasters for their factories, and Chaplains for their larger ships ; and made it obhgatory on the part of the shore Chaplains to learn the Portuguese language with a view to ministering to those subordinates and residents in the different factories who spoke the Portuguese language. These obhgations remained all through the eighteenth century, being renewed with the Charter from time to time without alteration or dispute. But times had changed though the obhgations had not. After the first quarter of the century there was no necessity for the Chaplains to learn the PortU" guese language in order to instruct and minister to the domi- ciled Eurasians. They of Portuguese descent learned the language of their rulers ; and they of British descent naturally used the language of their fathers. The obhgation was therefore, to all intents and purposes, a dead letter, and was regarded as such by successive Chaplains. The other obligation to provide Chaplains and schoolmasters for every factory was still necessary and possible ; but even if it had been complied with in the last quarter of the century, the purely military stations which were not factories would still have been without both the one and the other.
The alteration in the Charter ecclesiastically required in 1793 was the substitution of a clause obhging the Company to employ Chaplains and elementary schoolmasters at all their
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 3
larger civil and military stations. This would have brought the old obligations into line with the requirements of the time ; for at all the larger civil and military stations there were children of soldiers and other Europeans needing the instruction and education which it was the covenant duty of the Company to supply.
During the Parliamentary session of 1793 when the renewal of the Charter was the subject of discussion, the House of Commons went into Committee and resolved i on the motion of William Wilberforce
' that it is the opinion of this Committee that sufficient means of religious worship and instruction be provided for all persons of the Protestant communion in the service or under the protection of the East India Company in Asia, proper ministers being from time to time sent out from Great Britain for those purposes ; and that a Chaplain be maintained on board every ship of 700 tons burthen and upwards in the East India Com- pany's employ ; and moreover that no such Ministers or Chaplains shall be sent out, or appointed, until they shall first have been approved of by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London for the time being.'
This resolution of the Committee was agreed to by the House. There was nothing in it to show that the persons intended to receive the benefit were not the same persons provided for in the Charter of 1698, namely the Europeans and Eurasians and their children. Three days afterwards it was further agreed by the House to add two clauses to the Resolution : (i) empowering the Court of Directors to send out school- masters and persons approved by the Archbishop of Canter- bury or the Bishop of London for the rehgious and moral improvement of the native inhabitants of the British dominions in India ; and (ii) requiring the Court of Directors to settle the destination and provide for the decent maintenance of the said several persons.
It is doubtful if the House understood the real drift of these clauses, namely the establishment of Missionary Departments in the three Presidencies. But the Directors and others
1 Commons' Journal, May 14, 1793, p. 778.
B 2
4 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
conversant \\ith Indian affairs understood, and at once took alarm. It was one thing for them to assist in a quiet unosten- tatious way the efforts of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Royal Danish Mission ; it was quite another thing for them to establish departments for the official prosecution of the work. And the result of their representa- tion was that all the resolutions were omitted on the third reading of the Bill.
Their omission was a great disappointment to Wilberforce ; more especially as when the Bill went up to the House of Lords the Bishops gave him no help to have the clauses reinserted. He wanted the National Church to carry on mission work in British India in a Church way, by means of approved Church agents, not as it had hitherto been done by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge ; he wanted the work to be done systematically by men appointed by and under the orders of the local governments ; and he wanted the work to be paid for out of the trade profits or other revenues of the East India Company.
They who opposed him were men who knew something of the history of India, and remembered that the policy advocated was the policy pursued by the Portuguese two centuries before with disastrous results to themselves. They have been sub- jected by successive writers to the severest criticism as persons without morals, Oriental and Brahminised in their opinions, without religion and almost without shame. i But it is impossible not to see now that they were right in their contention, even though they may have contended in the wrong way. When Mr. Dundas paid a well-deserved compliment to Wilberforce for the ability and restrained power with which he had put forward his proposals, he added that he had difficulties as to the wisdom of the course recommended, and that he could not support it. Neither Mr. Dundas nor the best of the other opponents were opposed to the prosecution of missionary work in a missionary way ; all their efforts were directed against the creation of a Government Missionary Estabhshment. A
' Hough's Ohriatianity in India, 1839, iv. 1-160 ; J. C. Marshman, Lives of Carey, d-c, 1859, i. 38-40 ; and many subsequent writers who have followed their lead.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 5
distinguished writer, i whose history of this period has for fifty years held the field, whose opinions and statements have been copied by one after another of mission historians, says that ' the door of India was locked against the introduction of Christian and secular knowledge by the House of Commons in 1793.' It is sufficient to say that at that time the great evan- gelists Schwartz, Jaenicke, Gericke, Pohle, Kohlhoff, John, were still alive and delivering their message to the Tamils, not only without official opposition, but actually with consider- able official sympathy and help.
It has been necessary to review what took place in 1793 in order to understand the contention which took place between 1807 and 1813. For fourteen years after the renewal of the Charter in 1793 missionary affairs in India remained in much the same condition as they had been before that date. In the south the Danes employed by the Royal Danish Mission of Copenhagen continued their work in the Company's territories ; the Germans employed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge did the same ; Roman Catholic missionaries had the same liberty of action ; and the London Missionary Society sent two men to Madras in 1794— George Cran, a Presbyterian, and Augustus des Granges, a French Protestant— who worked at Vizagapatam with financial assistance from the Government and from the local officials till 1809 and 1810 respectively, when they died. In the north the Baptist missionaries worked from their centre at Serampore not only with the tacit approval of the authorities, but with the active co-operation of Buchanan and Brown, two of the Company's Chaplains, and with the distinguished support of Sir John Shore - and the Marquis of Wellesley.3 All seemed to be going on well, when, in 1807, an indiscretion on the part of one of the Serampore missionaries brought them into conflict \vith the Bengal authorities.* With a httle tact Buchanan might easily have set matters right. The Bengal Government had favoured the missionaries so long that the missionaries must have known that the Government had no objection to their work, as long as their methods were
' J. C. Marshman.
- Afterwards Lord Teignmouth, Governor-General 1793-98.
^ Governor-General 1798-1805. ■* Appendix IV.
6 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
not calculated to arouse ill feelings and to produce breaches of the peace. ^Yhat the missionaries appear to have done was to preach and distribute tracts in the Calcutta bazaars on the want of wisdom, the foolishness, of the sacred books of the Hindus, and to belittle the character of Mahomed the prophet of Islam. No action so provoking could be permitted by the Government. Buchanan's zeal outran his discretion. He might easily have influenced the missionaries to adopt other methods. Instead of doing this he sided with them against the Government, and encouraged them to continue their un- wisdom. The principal results of continued opposition to the orders of Government were (1) a withdrawal of patronage from the scheme i of translating the Holy Scriptures, (2) withdrawal of permission to publish any more tracts or books for the purpose of converting the natives, (3) a prohibition of bazaar preaching. These distinct acts of opposition to the work of the Serampore missionaries were brought about by the action of the missionaries themselves, and by want of judgment on the part of Claudius Buchanan. On November 2, 1807, the Bengal Government reported " what they had done to the Directors. At the same time Buchanan memorialised ^ the Governor-General, Lord Minto, on the subject. On Decem- ber 7, 1907, the Bengal Government forwarded this memorial to the Directors with their remarks.
The Directors replied in 1808 ^- in a manner which should be more generally known than it is ; they acknowledged the receipt of the letters of November and December 1807, on the subject of the publications which issued from the Serampore missionary press, and of the proceedings adopted in conse- quence. They lamented that circumstances should have occurred to call for interference in the matter of the intro- duction of Christianity into India. And they continued :
• We are anxious that it should be distinctly miderstood tliat we are very far from being averse to the introduction of Chris-
' Pearson's Life of BucJmnan, i. 384.
- Parliamentary Papers relating to East Indian Affairs, 1813. •• 'Bxichana.n'H Apology for Promoting Christianity in India (see Appendix IV). ■• Despatch to Bengal. September 7, 1808, Public. The letters and despatches are printed in Buchanan's Apology^ Appendix I.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 7
tianity into India . . . but we have a fixed and settled opinion that nothing could be more unwise or impolitic, — more likely to frustrate the hopes of those who aim at this object, than any imprudent or injudicious attempt to introduce it by ^'^ means which should irritate and alarm the religious prejudices of the Natives.'
The Directors then affirmed as a principle the desirability of imparting the knowledge of Christianity to the natives ; they said that they had no objection to the circulation of the Scrip- tures ; they recommended the Government of Bengal to try the effect of a private communication with the missionaries if they were acting in the wrong way, instead of issuing pro- hibitions ; but under the circumstances they approved of the prohibition of public preaching, except in proper places of worship. They continued :
' You are, of course, aware that many of the meritorious individuals who have devoted themselves to these labours are not British subjects, or living under our authority ; and that none of the missionaries have proceeded to Bengal with our licence. We rely on your discretion that you will abstain from all unnecessary or ostentatious interference with their proceedings.'
The principles of the Directors are quite plain from this despatch.! The kindliness of the Government of Bengal towards the missionaries ^ and their work up to 1807 is equally plain from their actions. Both the Directors and the Bengal Government sympathised with the missionary intentions ; but they objected to some of the methods, which in their judgment ' exposed to hazard the pubhc safety without pro- moting the intended object.'
In 1793 Wilberforce and his party were at issue with the Directors on the question of method. In 1807 the Serampore missionaries were at issue with the Bengal Government on the same question. The great principle of the duty of promoting ^ Christian knowledge was common to all parties. They differed ^^
1 See also Despatch to Fort St. George, May 29, 1807, Political. - Carey was made Professor of Oriental Languages in the Government College with a salary of Rs.800 a month.
8 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
as to how the duty could best be done. When the news reached India m 1794 of the failure of Wilberforce and his party to get the establishment and payment clauses inserted in the 1793 Act of Parhament, Sir John Shore ^ was Governor-General of Bengal. He was a personal friend of Charles Grant, who, like himself, was an old mcml^er of the Bengal Civil Service. Charles Grant went home in 1790, and was the right hand of Wilbeiiorce during the year of charter contention in 1793. Before he left India he had devised a scheme,^ with the assist- ance of David Brown, Presidency Chaplain, for the estabHsh- ment of a Government Missionary Establishment. The pro- posals of Wilberforce in 1793, if they had been accepted by Parhament and inserted in the Charter, would have enabled Grant to carry out his original scheme. Sir John Shore doubt- less saw the hand of his old friend in the proposals ; and as he did not agree with them he wrote to him, and said ^ that ' if the attempt [to disseminate Christian principles amongst the natives of Lidia] were made with the declared support and authority of Government, it would excite alarm by means of misrepresentation.' His own plan was different ; he was not averse to obtaining some assistance from the Government, but he was opposed to the attempt to proselytise by means of an official establishment. His plan was, as expressed in the same letter, that ' the Company should erect chapels for Christians, and appoint Chaplains on salaries not exceeding Rs.l50 a month ' to minister to any Christian natives who chose of their own accord to attend them. ' The natural children of soldiers,' he added, ' will be the first to receive instruction.'
Sir John Shore went home on the expiration of his term of office in 1798, and took his opinions with him. He was created a peer,* and advanced to a seat on the Board of Control. Charles Grant became a Director of the East India Company ; and in course of time occupied the position of Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors. He still shared
' Afterwards Lord Teignraouth.
2 Charles Grant, by Henry Morris, S.P.C.K. 1898, pp. 30-31.
•' Memoir of the Life of Lord Teignmouth, i. 291.
* Lord Teignmouth.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 9
the views of Wilberforce ; but there can be no doubt that his views were modified by those of Lord Teignmouth.
When these two distinguished Bengal civihans went home, they left behind them two Chaplains, David Brown and Claudius Buchanan, who had taken part with them in the administra- tion of local missionary matters. Both were keenly interested in the question. Brown practically and Buchanan theoretically. Brown ministered for many years at the old Society for Pro- moting Christian Knowledge Mission Church and superintended the affairs of the mission. Buchanan studied missionary problems, and devised plans of missionary enterprise. The question was allowed to rest, more or less, until 1805, when Buchanan pubhshed, ^vith a dedication to the Archbishop of Canterbury, his 'Memoir of the Expediency of an Ecclesias- tical Estabhshment in Lidia.' He entered into no detail, but with considerable abihty he advanced various arguments in favour of the old Grant-Wilberforce scheme. In Part I of his Memoir he pleaded for an establishment of European clergy, such as would be adequate and useful to the large number of British subjects, including soldiers, then in India. In Part II he pleaded for an establishment of missionaries and schoolmasters for the civilisation and moral improvement of the natives of India living under the protection of the British flag. Both estabhshments were to be organised, controlled and financed by the Hon. East India Company. In the same year were preached sermons before the University of Oxford by the Rev. Dr. Barrow, and before the University of Cam- bridge by the Rev. P. Wrangham,i which not only attracted University attention, but, being published, helped to draw attention to a subject which was beginning to cry out for treatment.
Buchanan's Memoir and the sermons, together with the reports of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and of the British and Foreign Bible Society pubhshed at the begmning of the year 1807, showed that a fresh effort was about to be made to insert the rejected clauses of 1793 in the East India Company's Charter when application for its renewal
' Vol. 385, Tracts, India Office Library.
10 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
should be made in 1813. The rejection by Parliament of an official missionary establishment had not caused Buchanan and Wilberforce and their supporters to doubt the wisdom of their plan. Their persistency raised up a new set of oppo- nents, who called in question not only the expediency of having an official missionary establishment in India, but the expedi- ency of having any English missionaries in the country at all. Major J. S. Waring pubHshcd his first pamphlet in 1807.^ Within a short time of its pubHcation the news of the Vellore mutiny reached England ; this news increased his fear of the danger of interfering with the religious beliefs of the natives of India. He therefore published a new edition of the tract, and added seventy-six pages of preface to accentuate his argu- ments by means of what had taken place at Vellore. As a matter of fact the Vellore mutiny was due to political and social ^ causes. But the suggestion led to much acrimonious controversy, which lasted through the whole of the year 1808.
Waring's tract was followed by one from the pen of Mr. Thomas Twining,'^ a Director of the Company, who voiced the opinion of many of his fellow Directors and Proprietors that there was a real danger in interfering with the religious opinions of the natives of India in the way suggested by Buchanan.
Buchanan had founded his argument in favour of a mission- ary establishment on the degraded nature of some of the worship and some of the social customs of the Hindus ; he made the most of their ignorance, their foolish superstitions, their unreliability, and other characteristics, and he left the impression that these qualities were common to all Hindus. This gave occasion to a Bengal officer to vindicate their char- acter,* and to explain that though it was true of some it was not true of all, and that Hindus had, as a people, many good qualities as well.
In view of the hard things which have been said of these
' Observations on the. Present State of the East India Company, 1807, 2nd ed. 1808.
- Military intci-ference with caste practices.
•* A Letter to the Chairman of the East India Company, 1807.
■• Vindication of the Hindus, part i. 1807 ; part ii. 1808.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS U
and other opponents of missionary enterprise in India at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it is only bare justice to them to call attention to their point of view. Thomas Twining was a Bengal civilian, who was shocked at some of the methods of the Serampore missionaries, and at Buchanan's suggestion that ' we should use every means of coercing the contemptuous spirits of our Native subjects,' and of ' chastising the enormity of their superstitions at the fountain head.' There is hardly any doubt i that the means Buchanan referred to were educa- tional, but he did not make this plain ; and the result was that he created opposition by the seeming intolerance of his views. It was to Twining's personal interest, as well as his interest as a member of the East India Company, that there should be a complete absence of all religious strife in the Company's settlements. This was the danger he foresaw in Buchanan's proposals ; and he pleaded that the natives of India should be let alone in their own religious prejudices and absurdities ' until it shall please the omnipotent power of Heaven to lead them into the paths of Light and Truth.' He was not opposed to the first part of Buchanan's scheme.
The Bengal officer and others who wrote to vindicate the character of the Hindus were engaged in a generous attempt to do justice to a race of men from whom they had received — like many before them and hke many since — the most loyal and faithful service. Thoughtlessly they have been called ' Brahminised,' whatever that may mean, and there is no reason to suppose that it was meant to be anything but offen- sive, but really they spoke the language of justice and gratitude ; English gentlemen could hardly do less, when they to whom they were so much indebted were being for a purpose abused.
Major Scott Waring's attitude is more difficult to under- stand ; he was a prolific writer and was continually changing his ground. In his first pamphlet he combated the view that it was the duty of the Church of England to preach the gospel abroad, he urged that it was limited by law to exercise its activities in England, and he pleaded that interference with the religions of other countries was no lousiness of ours. He
' Cursory Remarks on Twining's Letter, India Office Tracts, vol. 96.
12 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
criticised the unwise language of Buchanan, the unwise methods of the Serarapore Baptists, and the action of the Bengal and Madras Governments in calling for reports on the history and nature of the Christian religion on the coast of Malabar. And he referred to Buchanan's plan as wild, impracticable and impossible — a suggestion of bigotry. When this tract had been replied to, he wrote another ^ and took up a fresh attitude, in which he vigorously denounced the sectarians,^ their revolt against authority, and their independent methods, and especially the sectarians of Bengal. He gave long extracts from the reports <^ of the Baptist Missionaries in order to show the absurdity of their arrogant attitude towards the natives of India. He said that he was not hostile to Christian missions, if carried on by means of foreigners, as in the case of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, but he was against the work being done by Englishmen, whether Churchmen or sect- arians, on the ground that the natives would look upon every English missionary as the emissary of the British Government. He urged that the Chaplains should do what they were paid to do — European work only — that the distribution of vernacular tracts should be stopped, and that every English missionary should be recalled. When this tract had been duly replied to ho wrote another,^' in which he again effected a change of ground. In this he showed that he had been converted to some extent by the arguments of some of his opponents, such as Dr. Barrow, Lord Teignmouth, and the Eev. John Owen. He said : ' If it be practicable to convert the natives of India to Christianity, it ought to be made a national concern.' He agreed with Dr. Barrow and others in authority that the work should be done; by the National Church, under the authority and regulations of the Legislature. He said : ' I concur entirely with the Jacobin Review that the Government and the Church should do all that in prudence can be done for
' Letter to the Conductors oj the Chririian Observer, 1808.
- Scott Waring uses the Moid sectarian as it Mas used in his day, meaning one separated irom the Churcli.
•'' Thepc differ considerablj' from J. C. Marshman's history in his Lives of Carey, tt-c.
'' Remarks on the General Question, 1808.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 13
the propagation of the Gospel in India.' He praised the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge for having acted in co-operation with the Company and kept the rules ; and he denounced as before the sectarian societies i for acting against all rules and violating the law of the land. Incidentally he defended the character of Europeans in India against the ' vulgar abuse ' bestowed upon them by the ' sectarian bigots ' ; he cited the testimony of Buchanan himself that ' where the service of the Church is performed, it is well attended and seriously listened to ' ; and he mentioned that he had heard on every side of the ' liigh respect in which the clergy were held.'
There is nothing offensive in any of these arguments. There is nothing in them to show a combination of infidels which, to use the language of Buchanan, ' rages against genuine vital Christianity in India, in order to destroy it in its infancy.' Scott Waring repudiated the charge of any such combination. The chief thing they show is their general weakness as argu- ments against the prosecution of mission work. The plan before the public was that the Company, which already had at each Presidency a civil, military, ecclesiastical and medical estabhshment, should add one more, namely, a missionary estabhshment, and bear the cost of its maintenance. The opponents should have made more of the undesirability of an official establishment. They lost sight of the main principle they were opposing in the discussion of the details of Hinduism and of missionary action at Calcutta.
These pamphlets were quickly answered by others,^ most of which exhibited the same fault as those to which they were rephes. The Rev. John Owen, formerly a Bengal Chaplain and afterwards Chaplain-General of His Majesty's Forces, contented himself with defending the Bible Society, its policy and its work ; and with criticising Twining's opinions with
' The London and the Baptist Missionary Societies.
- Address to the Chairman, East India Company, by the Rev. J. Owen, on the letter of Thomas T^vining, 1807 ; Letter to the President, Board of Control, on the Letter of Thomas Tivining (anonymous), 1807 ; A Few Cursory Remarks on the same (anonymous), 1807 ; Review of Twining's letter in the Christian Observer, 1808 ; Vindication of the Hindus, by a Bengal oificer, 1808 ; Consider- ations on the Practicability, dc. of Communicating the Knowledge of Christianity to the Natives of India, by a late resident in Bengal, 1808.
14 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
acuteness and vigour. The anonymous writer of the letter to the President of the Board of Control argued in favour of mission work being attempted in India, without touching upon Buchanan's plan or suggesting any other method. He was an optimist as regards the result of such work ; and pleaded that missionaries of peaceable disposition and gentle manners, who were not controversialists, would not be the cause of any embarrassment to the rulers of British India. The anonymous author of ' A Few Cursory Remarks ' confined himself to the task of defending Buchanan, and explaining the meaning of the coercion he advocated. The article on Twining's letter in the Christian Observer was a vigorous defence of missionary work in any heathen country, and especially of the work of the Serampore missionaries in Calcutta. The writer drew atten- tion to the growth of the desire in England to spread the know- ledge of Christianity abroad, and urged the wisdom of giving way to the rising clamour lest they who clamoured should vote for the abolition of the Company's privileges. This veiled threat was a tactical blunder. No man nor body of men likes to be threatened. Lord Teignmouth was the author of the ' Considerations,' though he published anonymously. They were a reply to Waring and Twining at the same time. It was by far the most notaljle of all the pamphlets on the subject. The author retained his old opinion about an official estabhsh- ment ; and though he said that his anxiety was that the natives of India should become Christians by persuasion, not by violence, nor by Government influence, he did not show with sufficient clearness that he was opposed to Buchanan's plan. As to the alarm which it was apprehended would be felt in India, if more missionaries were allowed to go there, he said :
' It will require something more than opinions and assertions to convince the puljlic that the natives of a country who have known missionaries for more than a century,i among whom the Scriptures have been so long circulated, and where a Schwartz was revered, should take alarm at proceedings to which they have been so long famiharised. If these circum-
1 They bad actually known them for more than three centuries.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 15
stances be fairly considered it will by no means appear probable that any increase of missionaries would alarm the apprehension of the natives.'
As to Twining's and Scott Waring's suggestions that missionaries should be excluded from India, he said that the effect of exclusion would be to annihilate what had been done during the last hundred years. And he concluded with a solemn appeal that the religion of God should not be banished from India and its debased inhabitants ; adding that ' to teach them higher and better things than they know will be no invasion of their civil and religious rights.'
The unwisdom of a portion of the article in the Christian Observer and the vigour of Owen's criticisms were the joint cause of a number of fresh pamphlets ^ of a militant type. Lord Teignmouth's weighty words, on the other hand, were as oil on troubled waters. One more pamphlet " was published, one which showed a partial conversion to better views ; and then for a time the controversy ceased.
The discussion of the missionary problem was not confined to a limited number of essayists. Missionary reports, addresses, and sermons reached a larger audience than the pamphlets. These were spoken or written from the missionary point of view. In them were detailed the actions, the hopes and the experience of the various ^ English societies at work in India. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge always spoke gratefully of the long series of kindly acts of sympathy and assistance on the part of the Company, The London Mission, whose earhest agents had fortunately gone to Madras and had been impressed by the missionaries already there with the importance of strict obedience to the rules and regulations of the Company and its local Government, were able to report also the kindly reception of their workers, and the liberality of the Government and of the servants of Government in providing them with allowances for their maintenance. The Baptist
• Letter to the Rev. J. Owen, by J. S. Waring, Jan. 1808 ; Letter to the Conductors of the Christian Observer, by Waring, Nov. 1808,
" Remarks on the General Question, by Waring, 1808.
•^ The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the London and the Baptist Societies.
16 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Society, though it could record with some pride that its earhest agents had become Oriental professors and were employed by the Government of Bengal at high salaries to teach and to translate, was the only societ_y which at this period had com- plaints to make against the official treatment of their agents. It was represented by them, bj^ their agents, and by their friends that the local Government was hostile to their work, qua mission work, and to their agents qua missionaries. ^ This representation was quite sufficient to stir up among an important class of Englishmen a zeal for the liberty of pro- phesjdng which took no account of methods and mere political precautions.
Claudius Buchanan arrived in England in August 1808. The governing bodies of the various mission societies received his account of the Calcutta occurrences, and were established in their views of them by his. In the following February he preached at Bristol a remarkable mission sermon on the text ' We have seen His star in the East,' which was printed by request and had an immense sale all over the country. The enthusiasm kindled by his sermon was one of the causes of the widespread acceptance of his views on this subject, and of his proposal for an official missionary estabhshment.
On the other hand there were wiser men who counselled the necessity of submission to authority, and deprecated the use of any Idnd of official pressure or coercion. The Arch- bishop of Canterbury wrote in 1809 to Buchanan, and approved the former part of his scheme for ' maintaining the Christianity of Christians ' ; ^ and added, ' if it shall please God through these means to spread the blessings of Christianity, it is a result devoutly to be wished, but not impatiently pursued.' The eminent author of the ' Historical View of Hindustan,' ■' in the chapter relating to Christianity in India, considered Buchanan's proposals, and condemned any kind of compulsion or coercion as against reason and justice ; he admitted that it was the plain duty of the Church to promote the knowledge of
' This wag not really the case ; the Government of Bengal principally objected to their method of doing the \\ ork. - Pearson's Life of Buchanan, 1817, ii. 198. ■' By the Rev. Robert Chatfield, pubhshed 1808,
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 17
Christianity in India, but by patient independent work, not by force nor by authority. Dr. Barrow in his University sermon in 1805 laid down the same great principle.
The general public, however, sided with Buchanan. They were partly influenced by the belief that the East India Company were hostile to missionaries in general ; partly by the long- standing jealousy of the Company, which pervaded the trading and mercantile classes by reason of the Company's monopoHes and exclusive privileges ; and partly by the boldness of the proposals themselves. These were so romantic, they were urged with so much genuine earnestness, that it was quite forgotten whether they were politically possible or expedient from the missionary and Christian point of view.
During the next three years public controversy languished. Buchanan's scheme was accepted by his party as the one to be put forward when the proper time came. At the same time the Court of Directors of the East India Company, under the influence of Lord Teignmouth and the guidance of Charles Grant, had made up their minds as to how much of this plan it was expedient to accept, and how much it was expedient in the truest interest of the missionary cause to reject. Wilber- force and Buchanan must have come in contact with these eminent men and known their views ; but they maintained their beHef in the clauses of 1793, and in the necessity of making them operative by Act of ParHament.
Early in 1812 Wilberforce waited upon Percival, the Prime Minister, and put before him the scheme which was near to his heart. Percival, who, like the Directors of the East India Company, was favourable to the policy of introducing Chris- tianity into India, saw difficulties in the scheme presented to him. Wilberforce consulted with his friends, who were mostly on the Council of the Church Missionary Society, and they consulted with Buchanan. It was plain to afl of them that it was not practicable to press a scheme which the Prime Minister and the Government could not endorse. Buchanan then drew up a modified prospectus of what was required, omitting the clauses which were considered impossible by the Company and by their servants abroad and at home, namely, those which would have obhged the Company to create a missionary
18 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
establishmont und to maintain it. This modilied scheme was submitted by the Church Missionary Society to the ministers of the Crown, and was then printed and pubhshed.i The Church ^lissionar}' Society was at this period only fourteen years old ; but as some of the members were persons of considerable social and religious influence, the Society plaj^ed an important part in the negotiations. They relied to a large extent upon Buchanan for information and guidance. He tried to modify lus scheme in such a way as to make it acceptable to the pubhc opinion he had so largely helped to create, and at the same time acceptable to the Directors of the Company. But the compromise still contained a provision which was not accept- able to the latter. He was in favour (i) of a State-translated and a State-distributed Bible, and (ii) of a State-Pastoral and a State-missionary establishment. x\s to the latter, he said : ' It is not intended to urge the legislature to adopt any du'ect means in the way of expensive establishment for prose- lytising ' the natives. All that is expected at present in regard to the Natives is that the Governing Power would {sic) not show itself hostile to the measure of instructing them, which certainly, with some exceptions, has hitherto been the case.' He then admitted that the instruction of the natives of India was not a primary duty, and that England owed her primary obhgations to her own children. ' Let us first give religious advantages to our own countrymen ; ' and he thought that the other would follow in due time.
Buchanan meant the State-missionary establishment to be for the benefit of native Christians only. He acknowledged their ignorance, and said that they must remain ignorant ' till the British Parliament shall be graciously pleased to afford them the advantage of Christian superintendence and instruction.' For the purpose of benefiting the native Christian community his proposed estabhshment " included a certain number of native Chaplains, catechists, and school- masters ; and three seminaries — one in each Presidency — where these persons were to be taught and trained for their work. He went very thoroughly into the detail of his proposal,
' Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 188.
- Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishments, published 1813, pp. 91-200.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 19
and produced u scheme whose excellence it is difficult to deny ; but it was not one which the Directors could with wisdom adopt. They ruled over Christians of several kinds, and the great majority of them were Eoman Catholics ; the scheme would in no wa}^ have benefited them, nor the Syrians of the Malabar coast, nor the Armenians, nor even, perhaps, the Lutherans of the Tranquebar Mission ; for it was the essence of the scheme that the native agents should be of the Church of England.
After the sad death of Percival, Lord Liverpool became Prime Minister. Li July 1812 a deputation consisting of Wilberforce, Babington, Grant, and others waited upon him and found him prepared to accede to the more important of their modified wishes and to go a little beyond them. He undertook to include in the Government measure :
(i) The establishment of the seminaries.
(ii) The licensing of missionaries by the Board of Control over the heads of the Directors.
(iii) The consecration of Bishops.
It is evident that Lord Liverpool had not studied the question in all its bearings, and that he did not realise the importance of the principle for which Lord Teignmouth and the Company were contending. But he realised it later on and withdrew the undertaking he had given.
The Earl of Buckinghamshire was at this time President of the Board of Control. As Lord Hobart he had been Governor of Fort St. George and its dependencies ; he knew of the mission- ary work in that Presidency, of the great respect in which the missionaries were held, and of the perfect liberty and toleration they enjoyed ; so that when the Baptist Missionary Society sent a deputation to him to ask for the legal toleration of mission- aries in India, he inquired what further toleration they required than they enjoyed. The same deputation waited upon Lord Liverpool and Lord Castlereagh, and asked for the abolition of the Company's power to grant and recall licences to reside in India in the case of missionaries. Lord Liverpool replied : ' We cannot allow you to send out persons without leave. When there, they must be, like all other Europeans, subject to the control of the local Governments.'
c 2
20 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
111 October 1812 the Quarterly Beview took up the question, and pubHshed an article which had more than a httle intiuence in its determination. The writer regretted that so few and feeble endeavours had been made to accomplish the moral and rehgious improvement of the Hindus. He suggested the institution of public schools, in which the Enghsh language should be exclusively used, as a means which would scarcely fail to mfuse into their minds Enghsh feelings. ^ ' But the legislature will do well to pause before it complies with wishes of some well-meaning and pious persons who petition for the introduction of a clause in the new Act in favour of missions to the East. The dissemination of the Gospel will not be accelerated by Act of Parhament missionaries.' In ^March 1813 the JRevieiv published another article on the same subject. ' With respect to chartered missionaries we trust that such will be excluded. Let them go as heretofore, or let them go under those restrictions which it may be necessary to impose on all ; let them have full scope to preach the gospel, translate the Scriptures, and establish schools on their own account and at their own risk.' The writer deprecated any official connection between them and the Government, and continued : ' For our own parts we are fully persuaded that there are only two ways which hold out any hopes of effectual success in the conversion of the Hindus :
' (i) A Church establishment, served by sensible, zealous and discreet ministers, " not by such as talk of coercing the proud and contemptuous spirit of the Natives."
' (ii) The estabhshment of public schools with the English language.'
These articles were only two of several signs that public opinion was being led along more reasonable channels than in previous years. The merchants and tradesmen of the City of London knew the opinion of the Directors of the East India Company ; it was the common talk of the city where most of them lived ; and they recognised the justice of their contention
' Like the Sullivan-Schwartz schools established in 1785. See The Church in Madrm, vol. i. p. 518. The Rev. C. S. John of the Royal Danish Mission, Tranquebar, established similar schools in his district twenty years later in 18U3. See bis letter in vol. 95, Trucls, India OflBce.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 21
that it would be dangerous to their interests to do what Wilber- torce wanted them to do. The clergy of the country, who were still looked upon as the proper persons to take the lead in their several parishes in matters of religion and morals, must have been influenced by the pamphlet of Lord Teignmouth, the learned history of Robert Chatfield, or by some similar means. For when meetings were held in the early part of the year 1813 all over the country, for the purpose of passing resolutions, and signing petitions to both Houses of Parliament, it was found that Lord Teignmouth's views prevailed, and that there was a universal silence on the subject of compelling the Company to establish and maintain a Government Missionary Department.
The City of London meeting was one of great importance, for the citizens led the way in laying down principles of action which were at once wise, just and prudent, and which they knew the Companj^ would not oppose. They passed their resolutions and petitioned in accordance with them as follows : 1
' That your petitioners are deeply impressed with the moral degradation of the immense population of the British dominions in India, and lament that so little has hitherto been done to remove it, although the Hon. House of Commons was pleased in the year 1793 to resolve " that it is the peculiar and bounded duty of the Legislature to promote by all just and prudent means the interest and happiness of the inhabitants of the British dominions in India ; and that for these ends such measures ought to be adopted as may gradually tend to their advancement in useful knowledge, and to their religious and moral improvement." That your petitioners most cordially concur in the just and humane sentiments contained in the above resolutions.
' Your petitioners therefore implore your Lordships that such provisions may be inserted in the new Charter to be granted to the East India Company as shall afford sufficient facilities to those benevolent persons who shall be desirous of going to India for the purpose of communicating to its population the blessings of useful knowledge and moral and spiritual religious improvement ; and also such provisions as shall prevent the
' MimUes of Evidence, taken before the House of Commons, 1813, p. 45;
22 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
obstruction of their endeavours for promoting their object in tliat countr3% so long as they shall conduct themselves in a peaceable and orderly manner.'
The 1703 resolutions meant that the desired measures should be adopted by the East India Company, The 1813 petition meant that the Company should allow measures to be adopted by private persons, in association or othermse, and should not hinder them as long as they conformed to regulations for the good government of the whole community.
There was in London at the time a Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty, who thought that the principles they lived to uphold were at stake. They also met and passed resolutions, and sent them not only to the Houses of Parliament but to the Directors of the Company as well.i They esteemed the power possessed and exercised by the Company to exclude unlicensed and undesirable persons from their dominions as the greatest impediment to the progress of Christianity in India, and inconsistent with the religious liberty they must defend. They contended that this power should not be renewed to the Company, but that Christians of every sect should be permitted unlicensed to reside in India for their missionary purposes.
The question of licensing had nothing to do with that of religious liberty. The Company at the time ruled over Hindus, Mahomedans, and Christians of several kinds, including Roman Catholics, Armenians, Syrians, Lutherans, Baptists, Congregationalists, English Churchmen, and perhaps others ; they held the scales of justice between all, and gave to all the most complete toleration and liberty. The necessity of licensing those who were not in their service, and only permitting those who were thus licensed to reside in their settlements arose from a different cause, which can easily be understood by anyone who has knowledge of colonial settlements and adventurous Europeans, and is gifted with imagination. If it be pleaded that no such precaution was necessary in the case of missionaries, whether priests or laymen, the reply is
' A^aira of the En-it India Company/, vol. 57, Record Dept. India OflSce, pp. 275, 312.
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 23
that it ought not to have been, but that in the experience of the Company it was.i
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge '^ were ' prompted to take part in the pubhc soHcitude regarding the spiritual welfare of the East,' as they had been so long engaged in efforts to extend the knowledge of the truth there. Indi- vidually and collectively they knew better than any other men or body of men in England what the East India Company and the Government of Fort St. George had done for the mission cause in India. They confessed in their series of resolutions that they were ' sensible of the anxious care the Rulers have for the ruled in India,' and that they did not ' pretend to have a greater care.' The intention of their resolutions was to ' add another motive to the various inducements pressed upon the authorities ' to establish pastoral superintendence in India, as the only means of putting upon a proper foundation the spiritual interests of British subjects. They thanked the Hon. Company for many aids in their designs, and for the favour shown to their missionaries and missions, ' the recruit of which is now almost entirely cut off.' And they expressed a respectful hope ' that the permanent foundations of the Christian Church according to its best form be laid in India by the settlement of Bishops in the Presidencies, by the foundation of seminaries, by the building of Churches, &c., the want of all which has been felt and acknowledged for more than a century.'
Nine hundred petitions were presented to the Houses of Parhament between March and July 1813 from various towns and parishes all over the country. A great number of these were expressed in a similar manner to the petition of the meeting in the City of London. And a great number went further and asked for a Church establishment as well.
The publication of Buchanan's modified scheme, which
' The \n'iter does not Avish to be misunderstood in this matter. The Chap- lains and the missionaries in India in the eighteenth century v^eve a highly respectable body of men, some of them eminent. But some of them disregarded the Company's rules as to trading, as to lending money on mortgage to native landowners, and as to prompt submission to all local regulations pending appeal against them to higher authority. See Parochial Annals of Bengal, by H. B. Hyde ; The Church in Madras, 1904 ; and Buchanan's Apology, passim.
- Report for 1812, Appendix IV.
24 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
included the establishment and maintenance of three seminaries for training native mission agents, had the effect of producing more controversial literature. The most important of the pamphlets was one i by Mr. John Bebb, who from a long ex- perience of India knew how unwise it would be for the Govern- ment to take any part officially in missionary enterprise. He drew attention to the fact that meetings were being held and petitions presented in favour of obtaining the co-operation of the East India Company in the scheme of converting the natives of India. He begged the Directors to have nothing to do with the scheme. He reminded them of the proselytising efforts of the Portuguese in the old days ; their missionary establishments at Goa ; their loss of native confidence, and their consequent loss of political power. He evidently had a great distrust of the whole scheme, for he even deprecated the consecration of a Bishop for India.
Some of the petitioners and agitators had asked for complete liberty of action, freedom from all control and interference. Others had asked for the financial co-operation of the Company. The very extremity of the demands created the extreme oppo- nent ; so that many of the pamphleteers dealt with the question whether Christianity ought to be propagated in India at all, and not whether it should be done in any particular way.
At the assembhng of the Parliament, in which this great question was to be decided, there were three contending parties carrying on a triangular fight. There was the Company, which for nearly ninety years had shown a very practical sympathy with the mission work in India, and which had quite recently affirmed in a despatch to Bengal - the desirability of imparting the knowledge of Christianity to the natives, but which was steadily opposed to taking any official part in the work. There were the zealous friends of missionary endeavour, good Christian men, who wanted the work done, and saw no reason why the Company, the Rulers of British India, should not co-operate and partly pay for it. And there were the friends of the Company, many of them distinguished old servants,
' Letter from John Jiebb, Esq., to the Co^irt of Directors, vol. 110, Tracts, iDclia Office.
- Despatch, Sept. 7, 1808, Public (see Appendix IV).
THE CHARTER RENEWAL CONTENTIONS 25
who had some right also to the title of friends of India, who sided with the Company in their opposition to the proposed missionary estabhshment, but who used some arguments in their contention which the Company would not have endorsed. One more pamphlet must be noticed ; i it was so carefully expressed in well-rounded, nervous English sentences that it attracted a good deal of attention, and passed through three editions, the last being pubHshed in 1815, long after the conten- tion was settled. But it must be noticed simply because it was one of those which misled the public. Mr. Hall was only like other stay-at-home Englishmen in failing to understand the necessity of a licence from the governing authorities for all Europeans not in the service of the East India Company. It was a permission to reside which was granted after taking a kind of oath of allegiance to the Company ; an undertaking not to transgress its rules and regulations, and not to call in question its decisions. The hcence was the only possible bond of subordination of a private individual to the governing power ; it was the chief testimony of nationality for those who went beyond the Company's borders ; and it was the ground of their clann to protection if they got into any trouble with the country powers. Some friends of the mission cause — not Teignmouth nor Grant nor Buchanan, who knew better — thought and wrote as if the licence were an engine of oppression invented by the Company to exclude missionaries. It was intended to exclude all who could not undertake under a penal bond to be of good behaviour during their residence in India. A number of would-be missionaries, both from England and America, tried to evade this undertaking, and to insist upon the right of Christian evangelists to go where they pleased for the purpose of preaching the gospel, without asking any man's permission, just as it seemed to them that the apostles must have done at the beginning. In their eyes it was an unreason- able, not to say an unchristian, claim.^ Mr. Hall, regretting the ' obstructions ' placed in the way of the missionaries, and
1 Address by the Rev. Robert Hcdl, M.A., vol. 66, Tracts, India Office.
" Before ordination in the Church of England, every candidate still has to take the oath of allegiance and the oath of supremacy, and is not allowed to minister till he has done so. Rom. xiii. 1-8.
26 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
the vexatious prevention of their ' quiet efforts to plant the Christian faith,' proceeded to say : ' It must surely be considered an extraordinary fact that, in a country under the government of a people professing Christianity, that religion should be the only one that is discountenanced and suppressed.' This is the underlying fallacy of the whole address. The implication of persecution, hostilit}^ suppression was an argument that appealed very strongly to English people, and probably won for the petitions which were presented to Parhament more signatures than all the other arguments put together. Yet it was not strictly true. The whole address was written without an accurate knowledge of the facts.
The begiiming of the year 1813 saw the commencement of a straggle between persons and bodies of persons holding different views on two completely different subjects : (i) the Company's monopoly of trade ; (ii) the promotion of Christianity in the Company's territories. The Company considered the former subject much more important than the latter, for the reason that their very existence as a trading company was bound up with it. An attempt was being made by some of the most important manufacturing towns, and by some of the largest ports in England, to abolish the monopoly of the port of London in the East Indian carrying trade, and the monopoly of trade itself possessed by the Company. This important question was growing more and more ready for settlement. Twenty years later it was settled in favour of free commercial intercourse. Tlie reason why it was not ready for settlement in 1813 was the unsettled state of political affairs at the time. The battle of Waterloo, which gave peace to Europe, made the way easy for the inevitable change. The bulk of the questions, when evidence was being taken before the Committees of the two Houses of Parliament, were on the subject of trade. When the Houses debated the provisions of the Bill, the greater part of the discussion was taken up with the same subject. The ecclesiastical provisions, which seem so important from the ecclesiastical point of view, were adequately discussed ; but there can be no douljt that the Court of Directors and the members of both Houses of Parliament considered them of less importance than the others.
CHAPTER II
THE CHARTER OF 1813
27(6 Parliamentanj Struggle
Committees of both Houses of Pai-liament examine witnesses. Sir John Malcohn. Warren Hastings. Lord Teignmouth. William Cooper. Thomas Graham. The result of the inquiry. Lord Castlereagh's resolu- tions of March 22. The opinions of the General Court of Proprietors in favour of the policy of the Directors. The debate. Randle Jackson. Joseph Hume. Thomas Lowndes. The Rev. Mr. Thirh\aU. Lord Wellesley in the House of Lords, April 9. Wilberforce in the House of Commons, May 18. House of Commons in committee, May 31 to June 3. First twelve clauses passed, June IG. Debate on clause xiii. Lord Castle- reagh. Sir Henry Montgomery. Wilberforce, &c. Passed June IC. The Court of Proprietors, June 26. Joseph Hume. Thomas Lowndes. Mr. Villiers, &c. House of Commons Committee preparatory to third reading, June 28. Lord Castlereagh. Charles Grant. William Smith. House of Commons Committee, July 1. Lord Castlereagh. Sir Thomas Sutton. Charles Marsh. Wilberforce. Prendergast and his much-quoted opinion. Report Stage, July 12. Solemn protest by Mr. Whitshed Keene and Mr. Forbes. Wilberforce. Bill passed Commons, July 13. Bill passed Lords, July 16. Accepted by Court of Directors, July 21. The clause as passed. The other ecclesiastical clauses. The character of the clauses. The honours of victory divided.
Early in 1813 the two Houses of Parliament resolved them- selves into committees for the pm-pose of hearing evidence on the various points connected with the renewal of the Charter raised by the Company, the pamphleteers, the petitioners, and the deputations. About forty witnesses were examined by . the Lords ; of these twenty had resided in India and two in China ; eight were in the marine service, and the rest were connected with commerce and trade in England. Only two of these were examined on the ecclesiastical proposals, Warren Hastings and Sir John Malcolm. In considering their evidence
28 THE CHURCH IN IVIADRAS
it must l>e borne in mind that the ecclesiastical proposals before the public included a Government missionary seminary in each Presidency. Sir John Malcolm, who served in the Madras army before he entered the political department, and who appears to have known something of the mission work in the south of India, said ^ that ' attempts to introduce the Christian religion among the natives [in the way proposed] would bo attended with dangerous political consequences ' ; that ' in a government so large there must be many who desire its sub- version, and who would be ready to employ any means they could to effect that object. Such [persons] would find those means in any attempt that was made to convert the natives of India upon a scale that warranted them in a belief [that it] had the encom'agement of the British Government.' He added : ' The missionaries sent to India by nations who have not established any political power in that quarter have a much better chance of effecting their object than those under other circumstances.' Warren Hastings said " that ' in con- sequence of the fermentation there appears to be in the minds of the natives that the Government is in some way going to encroach on their religious liberties, and endeavour to effect their conversion, it would be unwise at present to introduce a Church establishment,'^ considering the question at present a political one.' He added : ' But I can conceive that in a proper time and season it would be advantageous to the interests of religion, and highly creditable to the Company and the nation, if the ecclesiastical establishment in India were rendered complete in all its branches.'
The Committee of the House of Commons examined about twenty witnesses, seventeen of whom had resided in India. Only four witnesses were examined on the ecclesiastical ques- tion : Warren Hastings, Lord Tcignmouth, and Messieurs William Cooper and Thomas Graham, who had all served on the Bengal estaljlishmont. The Committee wanted the experience and the opinion of those whom it esteemed most capable of forming a reliable judgment. They made a mistake in calling
' Minnte-H of Evidence, Lorda' Committee, 1813, p. 25.
-' Ibid. p. 10.
■* Such as the one proposed.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 29
Thomas Graham ; for though he had travelled in the south and seen Schwartz's work, he knew very little about it. They ought to have called John Sullivan, the former Resident at the Court of Tanjore, and the originator of English education in India for natives of the higher classes. The Committee wanted to know if the plan before the country as to a Church establishment in India (including, as it did, the Government seminaries) were a wise plan or otherwise. They wanted expert opinions on the subject of the licence, which the Seram- pore missionaries and their friends wished to have abolished ; and they equally desired the opinions of experts on the subject of the official restraint and control of method which the same missionaries resented.
Warren Hastings declared himself to be in favour both of the licence and of the control. He said : ' If missionaries had demeaned themselves properly when I held the first place in the government of India, I should have taken no notice of them ; but if they had given occasion to the belief that the Govern- ment tacitly encouraged their designs, I should certainly have checked the attempt and withdrawn them to Calcutta from an apprehension of the consequences which such a belief would produce upon the minds of the people.' He maintained i that missionaries ought not to be allowed ' to preach publicly with a view to the conversion of the native Indians that Mahomed is an impostor, or to speak in opprobrious terms of the Brahmins and their religious rites. It would not be consistent with the security of the British Empire in India to treat the religions established in the countries of their dominion with contempt and opprobrium ; nor with common humanity.' He reminded the committee that there had occurred in the course of history such things as religious riots and massacres and wars ; ' our government is not exempt from the chances of their recurrence.'
With regard to the proposed establishment he could not conjecture in what way it could affect the peace of the country without knowing the religious use to which it was proposed to put it. And he proceeded :
' May I say, without offence, that I wish any other time
' Minulefi of Evidence, Commons Committee, 1813, p. 13.
30 THE CHURCH IN JMADRAS
had been chosen for it. A surmise has gone forth of an inten- tion in this Government to force our rehgion upon the consciences of the people of India, who are subjected to the authority of the Company ; it has pervaded every one of the three estabhsli- ments of Bengal, Fort St. George, and Bombay ; and has un- happil}' impressed itself with peculiar force upon the minds of our native Infantry, the men on whom we must depend in the last resort for our protection against any disturbances which might be the effect of such surmises. Much would depend upon the temper, conduct, and demeanour of the person elevated to that sacred ofhce.' I dare not say all that is in my mind upon this subject ; but it is one of great hazard.'
Warren Hastings was not opposed to a Church establish- ment, but he thought the present time inopportune ; it being too soon after the minds of some had been disturbed by Buchanan's unfortunate use of the word coercion. He was also in favour of the licence and in the power of restraint as to missionary method.
Lord Teignmouth was examined next, and at some length. The Committee wished to know if his experience and opinion tallied with those of Warren Hastings, with regard (i) to indiscreet missionary methods, and (ii) to the present danger of the proposed establishment. He agreed with his eminent predecessor as to (i), and to a certain extent as to (ii). In reply to a question about indiscreet public preaching, he said that it would be attended with danger, but that it was not necessary to adopt such a course for converting purposes ; that public preaching was different from private conferences, and that what might properly be said in private might not necessarily be said with propriety in public ; that the early Danish missionaries proceeded largely by means of private conferences, and that he had never heard of any dangers or inconveniences attending their efforts .^ ' The discreet and well-regulated efforts of missionaries, as they have generally conducted themselves hitherto in India, would not be dangerous to the peace and security of the British dominions in India.'
' He meant the office of J3ishop.
- The Ro^al Danish Mission at Tranqucbar was patronised and linaucially supported by the King of Denmarli.
THE CHARTER OP 1813 31
He testified that the character of a missionary was not offen- sive to the people of India ; and that if his conduct was prudent and pious, he would be highly esteemed by them. But he repeated that the dangers attending an indiscreet zeal would be considerable, and that it would be advisable to leave the control of teachers of Christianity at the discretion of the Government, who are better judges of the kind of prudence required.!
Lord Teignmouth was then asked a question on the other matter upon which Warren Hastings had pronounced an opinion, namely, on the wisdom of sending out a Bishop if there were such a widespread idea as Warren Hastings men- tioned. He gave his opinion that the sending out of a Bishop would be viewed with perfect indifference by the natives ; that the empowering of missionaries or others by Act of Parlia- ment to go from England to India for the purpose of converting the Hindus would not form a handle by which the enemies of England would be able to set the country of India in a tlame. He explained that the Hindus and Mahomedans knew by experience that the Government paid every attention to their prejudices, civil and religious, and that the freest toleration was allowed ; that by regulation the Government left them free in their religious ordinances, and that molestation was punished. He added : ' I do not apprehend that they would be brought to believe ^ that this Government ever meant to impose upon them the religion of this country.' Being further pressed with the opinion of Warren Hastmgs, he said : ' If a law were to be enacted for converting the natives of India to Christianity in such a manner as to have the appearance of a compulsory law upon their consciences, I have no hesitation in saying that in that case it would be attended with very
' Minides of Evidence, Commons Committee, pp. 20, 31.
- The reference to the enemies of England and to the possibility of some one inducing the natives to believe as above was a reference to a real danger at the time, but which is now mostly forgotten. ^Ve were still at war with France, and there were many Frenchmen in India who had been for some time past using every means to undermine British authority and power in the country. If there had been any deliberate intention on the part of the Government to convert the natives of India, these French emissaries would have used the intention as an argument to further their designs.
32 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
great danger. If an enactment goes only to allow persons to reside in India for the purpose of instructing the natives in the doctrmes of Christianity, I mean as far as they are willing to receive them, I should see no danger in it.'
Lord Teignmouth was then asked what the effect upon the native mind would be if it apprehended that the Govern- ment were secretly favourable to the propagation of Christian- ity among them ; and he replied, none ' as long as they were convmced that no forcible attempts would be made to con- vert them.' By the word secretly the questioner probably referred to a possible sympathy not openly declared nor acted upon, a tacit co-operation with missionary action. He stated that he had never heard of any discontent in consequence of the missionary work of Schwartz and his fellows ; nor in con- sequence of the existence and work of Koman Catholic Bishops in India ; and it did not occur to him that the appearance of English Bishops and Archdeacons would encourage any appre- hension among the natives that force would be used to establish Christianity among them.i Being asked if the Government had ever shown any discouragement of a fair and judicious attempt on the part of discreet persons to introduce Christian- ity, he replied that when he was in India the question never occurred for them to show either encouragement or discourage- ment ; and that he had never heard, since he left India, that they had shown any discouragement. ^
The next witness was William Cooper. The value of his evidence consisted in its corroboration of that of Lord Teign- mouth and Warren Hastings. He did not know as much as they did about the mission work that had already been done in India ; he confessed that he had never heard of the S.P.C.K., nor of its work in the south ; '^ that though he knew Schwartz by name and reputation, he had never heard of Gericke or any others ; and that he knew nothing about the numbers of their converts. The only missionary he knew was Kiernander ; he testified that no evil consequences had arisen from his proceed- ings, and gave an opinion that none would arise at any time provided the influence of Government were not employed to
' Minvies of Evidence, 1813, pp. 31-34.
■ P. 33. •' Pp. 58-60.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 33
aid them. Several times he declared that if an Act of Parlia- ment indicated any intention on the part of the British Govern- ment to attempt the conversion of the people of India to Christianity, or to encourage such attempts, the greatest alarm would be created in their minds. He was most decidedly against any official assistance or official recognition of mission- ary endeavour ; and he thought that the plan before the public, and the resolutions passed at many pubhc meetings, including that in the City of London, pressed for both.i He thought that the agitation to make the Company into a missionary Company, and to press the resolution of 1793, had been made use of by the fomentors of the Vellore mutiny in 1806.3 At the same time he knew of no measures having been taken officially in consequence of that resolution ; ' had any measures been taken which could have induced the smallest suspicion on the part of the natives that any interference whatever with their religious tenets was intended, I am satisfied that the most dangerous effects would have been produced by it.' Mr. Cooper was not in any way hostile to missionaries ; but to their being trained or encouraged or officially assisted by the Company. He said, as Lord Teignmouth said,^ ' If the mission- aries came and worked as hitherto without authority no mis- chief would be done ; if they were sent with the authority of Government the utmost danger to our dominion would be the consequence.'
William Cooper could only look at the proposed additions to the Church establishment through the same spectacles. He said that two days ago he should have answered in favour of the increased establishment, provided that the right person were chosen as Bishop, that it was intended to support the dignity of our own Church, and that there was no intention to inter- fere in any form with the religion of the natives. But that in consequence of som.e reports of meetings, at which resolutions were passed in which the religions of. India were abused as
1 P. 48.
- Pp. 52-53. He was then told that the resolution of 1793 had never received the sanction of Government. This fact is hardly remembered in the present day.
=* P. 42. VOL. n. p
34 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
inhuman and degrading, and a bar to the progress of the people in civihsation, which would ultimately find their way to India, he apprehended that the people of India would associate the proposal with an effort to interfere with their customs and prejudices by force, and that the appointment of a new ecclesi- astical establishment of a Bishop and Archdeacons would at the present time cause a ferment. No alarm, he said, would be excited by the addition of a few dignitaries, if such addition were stated to be necessary to supply the spiritual wants of the Company's European servants in India.
By means of these two inquiries before committees of the two Houses of Parliament, the Government found out exactly what it wanted to know. The Lords' committee confined itself almost entirely to trade and the licence question. They wanted to Imow especially if and why the licence was necessary in the case of Europeans not in the Company's service. By the evidence of some of the best of the Company's servants they discovered that the licence in those unsettled times was still necessary, that it was no greater hardship for a missionary to take the quasi oath of allegiance to the Company than for any other person, and that it was not in any way a bar to mission- ary labour to be under the government and control of the local authorities. One hundred years of quiet missionary work in the south by well-ordered men, who obeyed the rules and regulations of the higher powers, were sufficient evidence to convince the Government that the contention was groundless.
The Commons' Committee asked no questions on this point. They wanted to know if there was any good reason why a complete Church establishment should not be given to India for the better care of religion and morals ; and if there was any good reason why the Company's local governments should not take a part in the mission work which the bulk of the religious-minded people of England wished to see done. The answers to their searching questions, by those whom they esteemed to be the fittest witnesses, decided them as to what was best. The missionary seminaries must be left out of account ; they plainly meant official co-operation ; and this was unanimously condemned by the Directors themselves and by their individual servants. As for the estabhshment they
THE CHARTER OF 1813 35
contemplated, none of the witnesses thought that it would be a source of political danger if detached from official missionary co-operation. The Government now knew what ecclesiastical provisions to introduce into their Bill, and what to omit.
If there was any triumph in this conclusion i it was a triumph for the Company against both sets of their opponents ; one set wishing them to do more than was wise, the other wishing them to do less than was right. Wilberforce, Buchanan, and the Clapham set " were full of Christian zeal, but wanting in discretion. Scott Waring, Twining, and their set were full of discretion and the caution bred of experience, but were wanting in Christian zeal. The best of the Company's Directors and servants were full of both, and contended from the beginning to the end of the controversy for the settlement that was finally decreed. Hough describes^ the contest as one 'between the friends and enemies of Indian missions ; the one party seeking to have the door opened wider for the missionary's entrance into the country ; the other desiring to see it shut more closely against them.' This statement is not without truth ; but to guard against coming to wrong conclusions, it is necessary to add that the Company was neither on the side of the latter party, nor opposed to the former.
On March 22, 1813, Lord Castlereagh, the leader of the House of Commons, submitted a number of resolutions to the House, indicating what the Government proposed to include in the Bill for granting an extension of the Charter to the Company. The principal resolutions related to administration, trade monopol}^ and mihtary matters. The twelfth and thirteenth were as follows :
' That it is expedient that the Church establishment in the British territories in the East Indies should be placed under the superintendence of a Bishop and three Archdeacons, and that adequate provision should be made from the territorial revenues of India for their maintenance.
* Kaye's Christianity in India, 1859, pp. 257-60.
- Not sect ; their historic title is the Clapham set, but somehow the word became changed into sect before the middle of the nineteenth century. Sir J. Stephen uses it {Essays in Eccl. Biog.).
■* Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 252-53.
d2
36 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
' That it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British dominions in India ; and that such measures ought to 1)6 adopted as may tend to the introduction among them of useful knowledge and of religious and moral improvement. That in the furtherance of the above objects sufficient facihties should be afforded bj^ law to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs.
* Provided always that the authority of the local Govern- ments respecting the intercourse of Europeans with the interior of the country be preserved ; and that the principles of the British Government, on which the natives of India have hitherto rehed for the free exercise of their religion, be inviolably main- tained.'
On March 24, 1813, the General Court of Proprietors of East Indian Stock met to consider the propositions. It must be understood that this meeting was a shareholders' meeting ; that the Directors were in no way responsible for the opinions expressed ; and that when those of the shareholders who wished to express an opinion had done so, the General Court approved of the policy of the Directors. The debate was principally on the subject of the trade clauses.^ Mr. Handle Jackson was the first to touch upon the ecclesiastical clauses. He deprecated the proposed additions to the Church establishment on the ground that they would be a temptation to the present estab- lishment to aspire to place, power, and authority. He desired to preserve spiritual humility among the Company's Chaplains, uninfluenced by temporal ambition. He did not want to introduce into India ' that sort of high vaulting ambition which he knew to be inseparable from the possession of Church dignity.' He repeated the same sentiments in slightly different language over and over again. Mr. Joseph Hume also deprecated the additions, but on different grounds. He was anxious that there should be no want of religious instructors in India ; he thought that there were at present enough of them to satisfy all needs, and he opposed the increase on the ground of economy. He questioned the political wisdom of sending out such high dignitaries. It would be impossible to keep them
1 Debates on the East India Charter, 1813, vol i.
I
THE CHARTER OF 1813 37
from interfering with the poHtics of India, and consequently affecting the councils of the Government. He deprecated the poHcy of attempting to convert natives ; when converted they were outcasted and rendered miserable in every way by their own people, so that conversion was not calculated to make them happy. Mr. Thomas Lowndes also opposed the additions. i He objected to them on the ground of reHgion, politics, and economy. He never knew, he said, a Bishop or an Archdeacon to forward religion, and he was called to order. He had the highest respect for the Church estabhshment of England ; but ' the moment a Bishop was sent to India he would be at once placed in a situation higher than the Governor-General himself. Hitherto the Company had had humble, meek and unassuming pastors, who discharged their duties in a humble, meek and unassuming manner. But if they were to send out a high priest the consequence would be that the mild spirit and the unassum- ing character of the present priesthood would vanish, the cause of rehgion would suffer, and rehgious dissensions and rehgious animosities would arise.' The Eev. Mr. Thirlwall warmly sup- ported the clauses, citing America, Nova Scotia, and Scotland as places where episcopacy existed without temporal power. He reminded the Proprietors that episcopacy was on the side of civil liberty, and brought forward the example of the six bishops at the Eevolution. He spoke equally warmly in favour of giving Hindus the benefit of the superior knowledge of divine things Christians possessed.
These four were all who spoke on ecclesiastical matters at this meeting. The opinions of the three opponents are given to show that they can hardly be described as Philo-Hindus contending against Christians,^ nor their opinions as Brah- minised.3
On April 9 Lord Wellesley ^ in the House of Lords moved for certain papers and spoke unreservedly in favour of the
' Mr. Lowndes, an Oxford graduate, was generally recognised by the Proprietors at this and subsequent debates to be wanting in seriousness ; he was witty and whimsical, quaint in his metaphors and turns of speech ; he frequently caused laughter, and was frequently called to order.
- Kaye's Christianity in India, p. 274.
^ J. C. Marshman's Lives of Carey, dhc, 1859, pp. 38-40.
■• Governor-General of Bengal 1798-1805.
38 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
proposed addition to the Church estabhshment in India, provided that care was taken by Hmiting the powers of the Bishop to avoid colhsions between him and the Government as to their respective aiitliorities. He thought the Bishop's position would be a dehcate one, and that there was a possibihty of its causing at first, owing to recent events ^ which had taken place in India, some alarm among the natives. As to mission- aries he generously praised those whom he knew in Calcutta ; described them as learned men, quiet, orderly and discreet (luring his time, who were engaged with his unofficial encourage- ment in the translation of the Scriptures, As to the encourage- ment given to them, ' a Christian Governor could not have done less,' and * a British Governor ought not to do more.'
On May 18 Mr. Wilberforce, in presenting a petition from the Baptist Missionary Society to the House of Commons, endeavoured to correct a misapprehension that the members of this sect had petitioned for leave to propagate their peculiar tenets ; he stated that their object was to promote Christianity generally without reference to sectarian doctrines. He then bore witness to their high character and their linguistic attainments, and read the testimonies of Lords Wellesley and Minto in their favour. He added that one of them had been appointed a language Professor in the college at Calcutta.^ This testimony was necessary at the time, and did the cause in which Wilberforce was interested good service, because it helped to soften the widespread prejudice against the mission- aries in consequence of their being dissenters.
On May 31 the House of Commons went into Committee to consider the clauses of the proposed Bill. The discussion circled round the first three clauses, which referred to the constitution of the Company, its jurisdiction, its privileges, monopolies, and trade. On the third day these were passed ;
' It is not certain what he referred to ; it may have been the attempt on the part of the enemies of England to create disaffection among the natives by spreading a report that the Company contemplated interference with their religious liberties.
- The pay was £1000 a year. Carey imitated the German missionaries in the south by adding the money he thus earned to the common stock for the extension of his missionary ^^ork.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 39
the rest were passed in block ; and the resolutions of the Committee were reported to the House on June 3.
On June 11 and 14 amendments were brought forward with a view to abolish the sovereign power of the Company in India, and their monopoly in trade; but these were negatived. i On June 16 the first twelve clauses of the Bill were passed, and the thirteenth came on for discussion. Lord Castlereagh, in introducing it, said that it was not intended to encourage an unrestrained and unregulated resort of persons to India for religious purposes, as this would not be consonant with the tranquillity and security of the British dominions ; but that no danger would arise if a certain number of persons were allowed to proceed to India under the cognisance of the Court of Directors. The thirteenth clause provided control both as regarded the number and the character of the persons sent. He saw no ground for apprehending any alarm or adverse feeling on the part of Hindus by the appearance of more missionaries in India ; he thought that under proper control no evil was likely to follow the movement ; and he said that the work should rather be done by such persons than by the Government.
Sir Henry Montgomery made a provocative speech in opposi- tion. He had no knowledge of the mission work in the south, but spoke as if he had. He said that during a residence of twenty years in India he had never known an instance of any convert being made to Christianity. This was quite possible, as he had not been near to any centre of evangelistic work. He added that he had never heard of any, ' except one, who was converted by that very respectable individual, Mr. Schwartz.' He continued : ' It was said that that gentleman, who, by-the- bye, was a politician, had many converts ; it was true that he was followed by several persons of the lowest class in the scarce season ; these were called rice Christians.' ' None had ever succeeded in making, converts except by force.'
' Quite apart fi'om the ecclesiastical proposals was the opposition to the whole Bill on the part of various members. Some desired to see the sovereignty of India transferred from the Company to the Crown, and the trade thrown open. Others (including Thcnas Creevy) objected to renewing the Charter without some monetary consideration from the Company in return for monopoly, as on all former occasions of renewal.
40 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
' Christians in India were not converts but the descendants of Christian settlers.' * Attempts to mtroduce Christianity had never succeeded.' He then compared the morals of India with those of England to the great disadvantage of the latter. He admitted that missionaries were not the cause of the mutiny at Vellore, but that if the missionaries were allowed to act without restriction ^ m India, there would probably be a repeti- tion of it in other parts ; and he was ' more anxious to save the lives of 30,000 of his fellow-countrymen in India than the souls of all the Hindus.' In this last sentence is afforded possibly a glimpse of what was at the back of his mind. It can hardly be said that his arguments could be described as Brahminised or as Philo-Hindu ; they were founded upon ignorance of mission work, ignorance of what the Government proposed to do, and they mvolved the mischief of an inference from a false premise. But their very badness resulted in a great good ; for they mspired William Wilberforce to make his famous reply. ^
Li this reply he took pains to let it be known that he was no longer of opinion that the regular clergy in India should be employed as missionaries ; nor that the appointment and maintenance of missionaries should rest with the Government or the Company ; he said ' it ought to be left to the spontaneous zeal of individual Christians, controlled of course by the dis- cretion of Government ' ; and further ' that the missionaries should be clearly understood to be armed with no authority, furnished with no commission, from the governing power of the country.' He assured the House that in this matter he ab- horred compulsion, disclaimed all use of the authority and influence of the Government, and trusted altogether to the effects of reason and truth. In this matter he had clearly modified some of his earlier views, had forsaken Buchanan for Lord Teignmouth, and was enunciating the views of the Directors of the East India Company. Then he proceeded to reply to Sir Henry Montgomery ; this he did without passion or reproach, unerringly, justly and temperately, so that in
' It was not proposed that they should.
- Hansard's Parliamentary Debates ; and it is bound up in one of the volumes of Tracts at the India Office.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 41
his argument he carried the House with him. His speech is one of his several monuments.
Ten other members spoke on the same day, five supporting and five opposing the clause. One of the five opponents had no objection to missionaries going to India as heretofore, but disliked a legislative enactment in their favour, on the ground that it might be misunderstood in India. i Another objected on the ground that the enactment would defeat its own object by the declaration of its purpose, believing that everything that was desirable to be done could be done under the licensing clause as in times past.2 Two others opposed apparently on purely party grounds. The one genuine opponent of all missionary endeavour m India was Mr. Prendergast, who had had the unpleasant experience of witnessing, and assisting to quell, the riot in Calcutta caused by the indiscretion of the Serampore Baptist missionaries. Without being either Brah- minised or a Philo-Hindu he was whole-hearted in his opposi- tion because of his experience. The resolution that clause xiii. stand part of the Bill was carried that night by 89 to 36. The Bill was then read a second time without further division.
On June 26 there was another meeting of the Court of Proprietors. The discussion 3 was principally on the subject of trade, but six of the speakers referred to clauses xii. and xiii. ; of these four were in favour of them. Mr. Joseph Hume de- precated the increase of the Church establishment on the score of expense ; he did not oppose it from a religious point of view, but because the Company could not afford it ; he thought it would be oppressive to the Company's means ; he was sure the hierarchy could do no more than the Company's Chaplains had done or could do. He accused the Government of wishing for the increase in order to have another source of patronage, and suggested that if H.M.'s Ministers had this plan so much at heart, they should pay for it themselves. As to mission- aries, he would not forbid them to go ; it was the poHcy of the Company to permit every man to go who obeyed the laws and conducted himself properly, and he saw no reason for making an exception in the case of missionaries provided they
1 Mr. Forbes of Bengal. - Sir T. Sutton,
• ^ Debates on the East India Charter, vol. ii.
42 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
behaved discreetly, peaceably, and without violating the people's prejudices. All who read the correspondence between the Government of Bengal and the Board of Control would be satisfied that the Company were disposed to afford every facility for the propagation of Christianity, as long as the effort was consistent with public tranquillity, and that they interfered only when opposite measures were taken. He trusted that every rational being in this country would set his face against any attempt to convert the natives by the force of official authority. If the business of conversion were left to the pious zeal of private persons he saw no harm in their being allowed to do the work ; but he deprecated all ostensible countenance of such proceedings by the Company's Govern- ments, and therefore deprecated the appointment of a Bishop and Archdeacons. He concluded by conjuring the Court of Directors not to venture on a proceeding which involved so much risk.
Mr. Thomas Lowndes spoke ^ in much the same way as at the last Proprietors' meeting. He was called to order twice. Nobody seemed to pay any serious attention to what he said, so there is no reason why anyone should now. He was opposed to an increased establishment because of the expense — because the love of power was so inherent in a Church dignitary that the Government of India would be made uneasy and uncomfortable — and because if once a Bishop were admitted, they would have in a few years a Bishop in every province of the Indian empire. He had no objection to a proper supply of clergy, Anglican, Roman, and Scotch ; ' Anglican and Roman were monarchy men, whose principles were congenial with the government and principles of the British Constitution ; Scotch Presbyterians were a decent orderly set of men ; as to Sectarians ' — ^ho objected to them all, and said some hard things, and was called to order. His opinions would not be noticed here, if it were not that they seem to include the worst that could be said against the clauses.
Mr. Villiei-s brought the discussion back to the plane of reason and argument." He said that it was not a question of forcing
' Debates on the East India Charter, ii. 217. - Ibid. 1813, ii. 227.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 43
Christianity on the country, or of proceeding by fraud to do it ; it was a question whether a person who vokmteered bis services to communicate his feehngs to those who, chose to hear him should or should not be permitted to go to'India. He would vote against power or force or violence of any kind ; as he understood it, the intention was to urge the doctrines of Christ- ianity by the influence of persuasion and the conviction of truth ; he would vote for allowing the piety and zeal of individ- uals under proper control to do what they could, Mr. Howarth urged caution. Mr. Bacon supported the clauses. Mr. Eobert Grant expressed the general view of the Directors and of the authorities in India, when he said that ' it would be impossible to permit any free circulation of missionaries of any persuasion whatever, without having them completely under the power and control of the local Governments ' ; as the clause stood this control was provided for ; therefore there was no occasion to oppose it, nor to put any impediment in the way of their going out.
On June 28 Lord Castlereagh in the House of Commons moved the order of the day for going into conmiittee preparatory to the third reading. It was on this day that the Grants, father and son, both spoke ; they said little about the twelfth and thirteenth clauses ; both were at pains to vindicate the Court of Directors from some imputations which had been deliberately cast upon them in the course of the discussion. Lushington was decided in his opposition ; his experience on the west coast of India was that conversions were possible, but that they created ill-feeling and quarrellmg among the people. William Smith saw and said that * gentleman of equal respectability and knowledge had given evidence on each side of the question ' ; he asked how were they then to act ? and suggested they should take the side to which the precepts of Scripture leaned. He was moderate in his demand ; for he did not contend for the employment of any force or official influence, but only that Christianity should not be prevented from taking root in a soil calculated for its reception.
On July 1 the House again went into committee. Lord Castlereagh asked that the clause regarding the propagation of Christianity might be allowed to pass without discussion, as it
44 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
could be discussed at the report stage if further discussion was necessary. But the opponents— neither they who were opposing the Government for party reasons, nor they who feared missionary enterprise in India, nor they who thought the attempt ridiculous — would not allow the thirteenth clause to pass without further opposition.
Sir Thomas Sutton repeated his former objections, not to the principle of the clause, but to the impolitic way in which, in his opinion, it was sought to carry it out. Lord Castlereagh defended the terms of the clause in a manner which showed that he was in sympathy with the views of Lord Teignmouth, Charles Grant, and the Directors of the East India Company. Then a remarkable thing happened. Mr. Charles Marsh,-^ a barrister, rose and replied to the speech which Wilberforce had made in favour of the second reading. He advanced no argument which had not been advanced before ; but he clothed all the old arguments with logic and orderly sequence, and launched them with the power of eloquence. He mentioned the probability of alarm among the natives when the text of the clauses reached India, with the speeches, resolutions, petitions, all couched in no uncertain language, to serve as commentaries upon them. He pointed out the imprudence of altering the licence system in such a manner that persons would be able to set at defiance the local Governments. As a matter of fact this contingency was provided against. He brought forward the argument of the Vellore mutiny, as the direct result of an unwise order which interfered with a caste practice, and the indirect result of Christian activity. He denounced Buchanan and Kerr as * zealous patrons of sectarian missionaries.' He praised the policy of non-interference, on the ground that though our sub- jects in India uphold our empire by the willing service of attach- ment, still there are limits to their allegiance. He pointed out the danger of making experiments on a machine so delicate and
' Charles Marsh went to Madras in 1809 to practise his profession in the High Court there. Apparently he did not find sufficient scope for the exercise of his undoubtedly great powers as an advocate and special pleader, for he returned home in 1810. His exceedingly clever speech was published in pam- phlet form (vol. 7~), Tracts, India Office), and he made a reputation by it. At Madras he defended with conspicuous abihty the officers who were prosecuted in connection with the officers' mutiny.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 45
complex as our empire in India. The question, he said, was not of the duty of diffusing Christianity, but of the time, place, and opportunity. His opinion was that the time had not come, the place was not ready, and that the opportunity was being made instead of waited for. He then referred to the difficulty of the task, and the impenetrability of the caste barrier, which only they who have been to India realise ; and he took occasion to rebuke Wilberforce for speaking of the difficulties as ' bug- bears that haunt the imagination of that part of the House, who having been to India are the least competent to pronounce on the subject.' That was the only vulnerable part in Wilber- force's speech ; it was of course a foolish thing to say, especially as he had on his side some of the most famous Anglo-Indian administrators and politicals. Marsh replied : ' It savours somewhat of paradox that we should be disqualified from bearing testimony by the only circumstance that can entitle us to credence.'
Marsh referred to the missionary as quite undisturbed as to what might be the political result of his action ; the missionary simply argued that the Hindus were sunk in gross heathenism, their superstitions were brutal, their characters were contempt- ible, and that therefore the duty of converting them was over- whelming. He then defended the Hindus against some accusations that had been brought against them. This was not difficult, for they had been represented as little better than savages and barbarians for controversial purposes. Finally he attacked the missionaries, and regretted that they were to be sent out from all sects and persuasions and opinions. * No one cares whether the Christianity to be taught is the genuine language of its author or the dream of mysticism and folly.' And he asked if the blessings of a corrupted Christianity could outweigh the evils of a tolerably enlightened heathenism. He drew a mental picture of the jarring and contradictory doctrines of the missionaries themselves, and said that there seemed to be no anxiety to introduce that unity of faith on which the mind of man could rest and repose. ' The Parliament of Great Britain is called upon to grant facilities for the diffusion of dissent and schism from every doctrine which the law and the civil magistrate have sanctioned.'
46 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
The speech, whose eloquence was acknowledged by Wilber- force in his reply, had a considerable influence upon the House ; and had it not been for the spiteful attack upon the mission- aries, who were not commonly regarded as dangerous but only as harmless lunatics, the effect would probably have been greater. Wilberforce took advantage of the blunder in his reply, and made the most of it. He admitted that there was a risk in attempting even by reasonable and prudent methods to introduce into India the blessings of Christian truth and moral improvement ; but he thought the risk ought to be taken. He was evidently fearful lest the eloquence of Marsh should have had a greater effect than it really had, for he pleaded for the clause as if it were in danger. His anxiety was quite unnecessary ; the eloquence and logic of Marsh were manifestly a pleasure to the listeners, but the speech had no true ring of truth and conviction in it ; it was a great forensic display, a clever piece of special pleading, an able and artistic placing of a case before a jury. The House admired but was not moved as it had been by Wilberforce a fortnight before. Wilberforce had to reply ; he might have done this without either anxiety or resentment.
M'. Prendergast opposed the clause and repeated his old arguments. It was on this occasion that he said ^ that ' the attempt to convert the Hindus was the most absurd infatuation that ever besotted the weakest mind.' Seven other speakers repeated their old arguments, and then the clause was carried by 54 to 32.
On July 12, 1813, the report of the Bill was brought up. Mr. Whitshed Keene made a solemn protest against the measure, as containing a clause which was full of danger, because appear- ing to identify the Government with the missionary cause. Mr. Forbes was opposed to the introduction of Christianity into India in the manner suggested. He had been a Bengal civilian. He was neither Brahminised nor an indifferent Christian. He said that he was the son, the brother, and the father of a clergyman, and that he had assisted to translate the Gospels into the Hindu language. It may be taken that he, like several other Anglo-Indians, was opposed to the method
' Hansard's Debates, 1813, May to July, p. 1080.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 47
rather than to the principle of the clause. Like Mr. Tierney, who spoke subsequently, he had no objection to Christianity being propagated, but he objected to the intention being proclaimed aloud and incorporated in an Act of Parliament ; he had no objection to missionaries going to India as heretofore, but objected to such facilities being made the object of legis- lative enactment.
Wilberforce answered objections ; Mr. Stephen pleaded that the mere permission given to go was innocuous ; Lord Castlereagh warmly supported the clause ; the amendment was defeated by 48 to 24, and the Bill was read a third time on July 13, 1813.
The House of Lords went into committee on the East India Resolutions on June 21. The Earl of Buckinghamshire i moved them. An amendment to postpone their reception was defeated by 49 to 14, and on June 22 they were agreed to. On July 16 the Bill came up for second reading. Very little was said about Eesolations xii. and xiii. Lord Lauderdale trusted that the aid of the civil power would not be called in to attempt to give effect to the propagation of Christianity in India ; he was reassured by Earl Stanhope and by the Earl of Buckinghamshire, the latter of whom pointed to the clause in the Bill which made it imperative on the Government of India to secure to the natives the free exercise of their religion. The Bill was then agreed to, and it received the royal assent later.
On July 15 and 21 it was minutely considered by a Com- mittee of the whole Board of Directors. Some provisions were objected to, but not those which related to ecclesiastical and missionary matters. Finally the Board resolved to accept it, and to try to fulfil all the new duties it imposed. The Bill was a lengthy one. It embodied the substance of the resolu- tions proposed m the House of Commons on February 22, 1813 ; but in the process of dealing with the prmciples in detail, the resolutions had grown into about sixty clauses or chapters." The first thirty-two of these referred to trade and
1 Formerly Lord Hobart, Governor of Fort St. George. ■^ For convenience I have referred to the two main ecclesiastical and mission- ary provisions as Resolutions or clauses xii. and xiii, throughout.
48 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
administration and militaiy matters. The thirty-third referred to persons proceedmg to India. It finally received the royal assent in this form : i
' 33. And whereas it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the Native inhabitants of the British Dominions in India, and such measures ought to be adopted as may lead to the introduction among them of useful knowledge and of religious and moral improvement ; and in furtherance of the above objects sufficient facilities ought to ]je afforded by law to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs ; so as the authority of the local Governments respecting the intercourse of Europeans with the interior of the country be preserved ; and the principles of the British Government on which the natives of India have hitherto relied for the free exercise of their religion be inviolably maintained : And whereas it is expedient to make provision for granting permission to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India for the above purposes, and also to persons desirous of going to and remaining there for other purposes ;
' Be it therefore enacted that when and as often as any application shall be made to the said Court of Directors for or on behalf of any person or persons desirous of proceeding to the East Indies for permission so to do, the said Court shall, unless they shall think fit to comply therewith, transmit every such application within one month from the receipt thereof to the said Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India ; and in case the said Commissioners shall not see any sufficient objection thereto, it shall and may be lawful for the said Commissioners to direct that such person or persons shall, at his or their own special charge, be permitted to proceed to any of the said principal settlements of the said Company, and that such person or persons shall be furnished by the said Court of Directors with a certificate or certificates, according to such form as the said Commissioners shall prescribe, signifying that such person or persons hath or have so proceeded with the cognisance and under the sanction of the said Court of Directors ; and that all such certificates shall entitle the persons obtaining the same, so long as they shall properly conduct themselves, to the countenance and protection of the several Governments
' Affairs of the East India Company, Ivii. 425.
THE CHARTER OF 1813 49
of the said Company in the East Indies and parts aforesaid in their respective pursuits ; subject to all such provisions and restrictions as are now in force, or may hereafter be judged necessary with regard to persons residing in India.'
It was enacted that all such persons should be subject to the regulations of the local Governments ; ^ and that the local Governments might declare the licences to be void if it should appear to them that the persons to whom they had been granted had forfeited their claim to countenance and protection ; - and that the local Governments should retain their power of sending home persons, licensed or unlicensed, whose presence in India was for any good reason undesirable.
Then followed the clauses establishing a Bishop and three Archdeacons for the better superintendence of ecclesiastical matters, — the clauses relating to their jurisdiction, the power of recalling them, their pay and pension, — the clauses relating to the visitatorial power of the Bishop of London over the Company's civil and military colleges of Haileybury and Addiscombe, — and a clause directing that all payments for ecclesiastical purposes should be made out of the Company's territorial revenues. This clause was put in to satisfy those proprietors of East Lidia stock whose objections were based on the supposition that the expense of the new establishment would be paid out of trade profits. It also satisfies those of later times, who, since the introduction of imperial taxes, might on principle object to the payment of an ecclesiastical department out of taxes raised from people of the several different religions of India. -^
^ Clause or chapter 35. - Clause or chapter 36.
^ The East India Company were, like the British Government are now, the landlords of British India. They derived an income from ground rents as well as from trade. The profits from trade, after paying the expenses of the same, were the legitimate property of the proprietors of shares. Out of the territorial revenues were paid the cost of the civil, military, naval, ecclesiastical and medical establishments, the administration of justice, the making and maintaining of roads and other means of improving and developing the country which had undesignedly come under British rule. As landlords of India the Company calculated their rent year by year according to the yield of the crops, taking a definite proportion of the profit and leaving a definite proportion for the cultivator. This just system of calculating rent is still pursued in the Madras Presidency.
VOL. U. E
50 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Li order that there might be no risk of the Bishop's authority clashing with that of the civil Government, it was si^ecially enacted that the Bishop's jmisdiction was to be limited by the Letters Patent which gave him authority to act. And to satisfy the doubts of those who professed to think that the new Church officials would only be new free merchants under another name, it was further enacted that the Bishop and Arch- deacons were neither to take fees nor perquisites, nor to trade.
The passing of the Act was a triumph for the British Govern- ment of the day, for they carried a measure through Parliament which has been of the greatest service to the causes of religion and morals in Lidia among all classes of residents, European, Eurasian, and native. It was a triumph also for the Hon. East India Company, who, through the judicious persistence of their wisest members and their most distinguished servants, per- suaded the Government to adopt all the wise provisions which made it a prudent measure. And it was a triumph for the religious-mmded people of England, the friends of the mission cause, as against those who opposed it on different grounds, or who were supremely indifferent to it. The additions to the Chm'ch estabHshment in India came very short of Dr. Buchanan's suggestions,'^ and the missionary scheme did not come up to the original demands of the party at Wilberforce's back ; but it was a triumph all the same that by Act of Parliament men of good character and assured mcome " should be licensed to go to India for moral, religious and educational purposes.
' As Hough admits; Christianity in India, iv, 194.
- If men had been allowed to go without an assured income from private sources, they might have become chargeable to the Company or to the charity of the Company's servants.
CHAPTEE III
THE BUILDING, CONSECRATION, AND OWNERSHIP OF CHURCHES
The early policy of not building. The policy of making grants-in-aid. In- crease of Chaplains after the fall of Seringapatam. The policy of building in military stations and paying the whole cost. The cheap building. Further increase of Chaplains, The transition period between the old policy and the new. The Military Board. Tho ordinary procedure between 1807 and 1833. Churches built during that period. Tho supply of furniture according to the 1833 Rules. Third period of Church building. Ownership of Churches. Trustee owners. The consecration of the Churches. The effect of consecration. The limited powers of trustee owners.
The history of Church building in India may be divided into several periods corresponding with tho changing policy of the Directors. From the commencement of their ventures in the East the Directors had a very distinct religious policy. As practical business men they knew that they would be best served by men of religious principle and practice; and they knew perfectly well how great is the restraining influence of a good minister. From the beginning, therefore, they appointed Chaplains to their ships and factories. In each factory the largest room was used for the common purposes of the mer- chants. It was theu" consultation room, their commercial exchange room, and their dining-room. And the Dkectors ordered that the room should also be used for divine service on Sundays, and for the daily prayers on other days.
Some of the early merchants recognised the incongruity of the uses to which the room was put, and remembered with regret the Churches m the city of London where they had learned their duty to God and man. Streynsham Master at Surat was the hrst man to translate this feeling into action,
£ 2
52 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
and to raise money among his fellow merchants for a separate Church building. Before he had carried out the scheme he was transferred to Fort St. George ; but he took his feelings with him and was instrumental in buildhig St. Mary's Church in the Fort, the first English Church in India.
In this effort the Dnectors had no part ; they looked on with encouragement, but they gave no linancial help. They obtamed the deeds and instruments necessary for the consecra- tion of the Church from the Bishop of London, and probaljly paid all the fees ; but they made no grant from their funds for the building expenses. They approved, but they stood outside the movement altogether. This was in 1680. Later on, when a Church was built at Calcutta in 1709, the Directors assisted with a grant of money and building material. i And in 1715, when the merchants at Bombay were building their Church, the Directors agam co-operated with a gi'ant.
In the Carnatic the policy of approval and co-operation was pursued during the eighteenth century. Christ Church, Trichinopoly, was completed in 1766 with the Company's assistance," and Christ Church, Tanjore, was similarly com- pleted in 1780.'^ The Directors also approved of assistance bemg given hi the building of the Churches at Vellore, Eamnad, Ellore, and North Black To\mi, and in the repair of the Churches at Vepery and Cuddalore. In none of these cases did they take the initiative. But they knew of the value of Churches to then- civil and military servants, and they assisted in then- building and reparation.
This polic}^ came to an end m 1807. The fall of Seringa- patam was the cause of the change. By the breakmg up of the power of Mysore nearly the whole of the south of India came under the jurisdiction of the Company. Before that conquest took place British territory in the south was small in extent. The Nawab of the Carnatic was the nominal owner and ruler. The Company upheld his power by placing garrisons m various forts in his dommions. But they did not feel themselves called upon to build Churches for the different garrisons. When the temtory becanje then* own, and the garrisons were increased in
' The Pariah of Bengal, by the Ven. H. B. Hyde, p. 23.
- The Church in Madras, vol. i. p. 580. ■* Ibid. i>. 007.
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 53
number and strength, the question assumed a new aspect and the old pohcy was altered.
There was a Brigade at the new cantonment at Trichinopoly, three miles from the Fort ; also at Secunderabad, Cannanore, Bangalore, Bellary, and Masuhpatam, and detachments at smaller stations. None of these new cantonments had Churches in 1807 ; only two of them had Chaplains. In the year 1805 the Governor in Council strongly recommended the Directors to appoint more Chaplains. He enclosed in his letter a report of the Senior Chaplain, Dr. Kerr, on the general neglect of public worship, and the general deterioration of morals. The Court replied by increasing the number.^ Before they arrived the Vellore mutiny took place, and the Commander-in-Chief was called upon to report upon the cause of it. There was a suspicion in India on the part of some that the mutiny was due to a fear that the Government had some design of forcibly converting the people to Christianity. The Commander-in- Chief, General Hay MacDowall, wrote thus : ~
' If there is an idea remote from all apparent probabilit}^ and remote from every direct cause of its being suggested to the minds of the people, the intention on the part of Government of converting them to Christianity by force is of that descrip- tion. In no situation has so much toleration and such an unlimited freedom of religious opinions and ceremonials been displayed as under the British Government in India ; and in no situation have so few measures been pursued by British subjects for the conversion of the people to the religion which we profess. No Englishmen have hitherto been employed on this duty in the Provinces of the Peninsula ; and from the almost total absence of religious establishments in the interior of the country, from the habits of life prevalent among military men, it is a melancholy truth that so infrequent are the religious observances of officers doing duty with Battalions that tlie sepoys have not until very lately discovered the nature of the religion professed by the English.'
With the expression of so strong an opinion the matter could not be allowed to rest. The Commander-in-Chief was
1 Despatch, April 9, 1806, 104-18, Public. - Despatch, May 29, 1807, 17, Political.
54 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
asked to give his opinion as to what should be done. He recommended ^ that chapels should be erected at all military stations where European troops arc quartered, ' whatever may be urged to the contrary,' and reminded the Government that this pohcy had been pursued in Bengal since 1798. Copies of this letter were sent to the Directors both by the Public and the jMilitar}' Departments ; '-^ and the Directors replied to Ihem,^ authorising the buildmg of chapels (upon the same cheap plan as in Bengal) at all permanent military stations to which a Chaplain is attached, where no convenient place exists for the celebration of public worship.
From this time the Government embarked on the new policy of taking the initiative in military stations and paying the cost of buildmg. The mention of the cheap buildmg suggests that they were only half in earnest. What they meant was a building without architectural adornment ; plain, perhaps ugly, l)ut solid. And as if to show that they did not mtend their plan to fail through the adoption of half measures, they sanctioned the purchase of sacramental plate for every station to which a Chaplain was attached, and a supply of Bibles and Prayer-books.
When the six Churches ^* were finished preparations were made for their consecration. The erection of the buildings was at once followed by an mcrease in the number of Chaplains. The Directors were probably advised b}'' their law officers of the restriction of the use of consecrated buildings by the Act of Uniforiiiity, and knew that none except those in Holy Orders could be licensed to officiate in them. They therefore increased the number of Chaplains from fifteen to eighteen.^ Their mind and intention can be gathered from the first draft of paragraph six of the despatch. They wrote : ^'
' We have recentty been led to review the scale of the
' His letter to the Government is dated Nov. 19, 1807.
' Letter, Dec. 14, 1807, 49-52, Military ; Letter, Jan. 'M, 1808, 120, Public. '■' Despatch, Jan. 11, 1809, 153, Public.
•• The Churches and burial-grounds at Cannanore, Bangalore, Bellary, St. John's, Trichinopoly, and the two Churches at Masulipatam. •' Despatch, April 29, 1814, U, Pubhc. * Draft Despatches, India OfiSce Records.
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 55
Ecclesiastical establishment of your Presidency, particularly with reference to the enlargement which the Act lately passed relative to the Company affords to missionary exertions in India. It may hence be expected that in process of time persons of different religious denominations will appear in that country ; and the zeal which carries them thither may naturally be expected to dispose them to offer their ministra- tions to any communities of Europeans where there is no stated clergymen. Without meaning to impeach the motive which might thus actuate them, we nevertheless think it would be desirable that there should be a regular supply of Chaplains of the estabhshed Church of England not only at all the prin- cipal stations, civil and military, but at the larger stations of the secondary class, civil or military, not yet provided with a Chaplain, and where there is a competent community of Christians.'
This draft was discussed by the Court of Directors and rejected. It did not appear to them to be necessary to give any reason for their action, and they substituted a plain state- ment that they proposed to increase the estabhshment to eighteen. The draft shows, however, very plainly that they never intended the Churches they were building and helping to build to be used by any other rehgious body than that of the Church of England.
The Company's new policy of providing buildings came so suddenly upon the old policy of leaving their civil and military servants to provide buildings for themselves, that in some stations at a distance from the Presidency town the old method was pursued for some time after the new policy had been declared. Of the six Churches above mentioned as ready for consecration, one was built entirely without the assistance of the Government, namely St. Mary's, Masulipatam ; and the other, St. John's, Masulipatam, was built almost entirely at the cost of the civil and military officers of the station. The Chaplains were doubtful if the new policy was intended entirely to supersede the old. At some of the smaller stations they proceeded to act as if the old policy were still in force, and erected small buildings at the cost of subscribers. Such a building was erected at Tellicherry on the west coast. It was neither well built nor well designed. Consequently the
56 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Government of Fort ISt. George issued an injunction in 1818 that no place of worship should thereafter be erected without the permission of the Government previously obtained. There were two reasons for this order. One was that missionaries might give offence by erecting chapels in too close a proximity to Hindu temples or Maliomedan mosques, or within the boundaries of a special Maliomedan or Hindu quarter. And the other was the possibility of being called upon to repair the chapels erected in civil or militarj^ stations. If the Government was expected to repair, it was only right that they should be certified before erection of the adequacy of the foundations and the thickness of the walls and such like particulars.
In the Madras Presidency a different system was pursued from that which existed in the other Presidencies. The Military Board considered and decided the expediency of erecting and repairing all military buildings, including the chapels in military stations. The Directors wished i the matter to be considered in the Public Dej)artment upon a report from the military authorities. The Government of Fort St. George replied that their system was not attended with any disadvantage or in- convenience, and that they did not therefore judge it requisite to make any altera tion.^ The Directors acquiesced ^ in their resolution to retain their own procedure.
Before 1833 there were no special rules regulating the erection of Churches and other buildings. Every fresh case was submitted to the Military Board, and was settled by them on its merits. If approved by them it was sanctioned by the Government and reported to the Directors for their consent. If the Directors withheld their consent, as they sometimes did, their reply was generally too late to prevent the carrying out of the sanctioned scheme ; for the long period of one and a half years had to elapse before a reply to a letter could be received.
The system of providing everything necessary for public worship in military stations lasted till 1833. During the period twenty -tlnee Churches and chapels were built for the use
1 Despatch, April 8, 1819, 104, 100, 111, IIG, Military. ■ Letter, Jan. 9, 1821, 119, 120, Military. 3 Pespatch, May 13, 1823, 22, Military.
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 57
of Europeans and Eurasians. Of these three were mission chapels intended also for the use of native Christians. Of the whole number fifteen were built and furnished by the Government, two were assisted with grants, and six were built without Government assistance.
The fifteen were : 1808 Fort Chapel, Bangalore. 1818 C.M.S. Chapel, Black
1811 St. Mark's, Bangalore. Town.
— Cannanore. 1828 Quilon.
— St. John's, Trichinopoly. 1829 St. Stephen's, Ootaca-
— Fort Church, Bellary. mund.
1812 Secunderabad. — Tripassore. 1816 Arcot. 1832 Nagpore.
— St. Thomas' Mount. 1833 Kamptee.
— Poonamallee.
The two were :
1810 St. John's, Masulipatam. 1827 St. Matthias, Yepery
(S.P.C.K.). The six were :
1810 St. Mary's, Masulipatam. 1823 John Pereiras Chapel 1815 St. George's (Cathedral). (C.M.S.).
1820 Tellicherry. 1832 Mysore. 1828 Aurangabad.
In the year 1833 the Government of Bengal asked the Directors to communicate their ' general views regarding the provision of places of worship, their fittings and the supply of sacred furniture.' They replied i that they had long since laid it down as a principle that such edifices as might be necessary should be plain and simple in style, so as to avoid unnecessary expense, and that they should be built only at stations where there was a resident Chaplain. They continued :
' With regard to the supply of sacred furniture we are quite aware that such articles as Fonts and Communion Plate cannot be dispensed with; and considering them as forming the component parts of the Churches, they must be provided by Government. But we are of opinion that Bells and such like
» Despatch to Bengal, Sept. 4, 1833, 3, 4, Eccl.
58 THE CHURCH IN IMADRAS
appendages are not indispensable requisites, if requisites at all, and that the Company should not be subjected to the expense of providing them. We are also of opinioji that if the congrega- tions desire to have organs, they and not the Company should defray the charge of providing them, as well as the salaries of the Organists ; and you will distinctly understand that we shall not sanction an}' disbursement for these or any other objects not essentially necessary for the due performance of Divine service.'
This order drew a distinction between fittings that were necessary and fittings that were luxuries, and threw the cost of providing the latter upon those who used the Churches. Perhaps they were right in reckoning altar fittings, hangings, and organs among the luxuries ; they were hardly right in including bells, and excusably wrong in including punkahs. The order as to bells remamed in force till 1851,i and in the following year punkahs were included in the list of necessary furniture in military Churches.^ There was a certain amount of injustice to officers and men, who marched to Church by order, in the exclusion of punkahs. They were practically told either to provide them themselves or to go without. It took many years to persuade the Directors that the Church is gener- ally the hottest building in the cantonment, and that sweltering in perspiration is not conducive to effective public worship.
In April 1850 the Government of Fort St. George caused to be collected together all the directions, cases, and precedents scattered about in the records of the Mihtary Board and in their own Ecclesiastical Proceedings, and published as a code of rules for the guidance of all concerned in the future. The Directors approved of this code,"^ and it remained in force until it was superseded in 1865.
The third period of Church building, which lasted from 1833 to 1865, differed from the second period in this respect. In the second period the Directors had in their minds chiefly and principally those stations where British soldiers were quartered, and they paid the whole cost of the Church building and
' Despatch, July 16, 1851, 17, Eccl. - iJespatch, March 31, 1852, 4, Eccl. =' Despatch, August 31, 1853, 9, Eccl.
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 59
furnishing. By the year 1833 all the larger military stations in the Southern Presidency were provided for. Beside these there were many civil stations where there was also a native regiment with British officers, and some civil stations where there were no troops at all. The religious needs of these stations were ignored in the second period. During the third period there was an effort to supply them. The local Govern- ment pursued the earher system of giving grants-in-aid to build Churches in the smaller stations where a Chaplain was resident. In 1844 they promulgated a rule i that in all cases the congregation should bear half the expense of furnishing a Church, exception being made in special cases where the con- gregation was small. This exception was quite against the rules of the Company. Their rule had hitherto been to do nothing for small congregations. The Government proposed to do everything for them. The Directors did not approve. They regarded the new rule as at variance with all precedent.
A little later the Government requested mstructions for future guidance in the matter of assisting to build Churches at out-stations. The Directors replied " that in most cases the expense need not be incurred, but that under certain circum- stances it might be necessary for Government to contribute.
Before the period came to an end the principle of assisting in all cases was established and followed, and the amount to be raised locally both for building and furnishing was fixed at one half the total cost.
It was during this period that the system of making grants towards the cost of building Eoman Catholic chapels was com- menced. The first grant was made in 1840. The grant for Kamptee was Rs.4000 ; Bellary, Es.2000 ; Bangalore, Es.4000 ; St. Thomas' Mount, Ks.2000 ; Secunderabad, Es.2000; Jaulnah, Es.lOOO, &c. And it was also during this period that the Eoman Catholic missionaries began to receive allow- ances for their ministrations to British soldiers of their faith.
When the first Bishop of Madras arrived on the coast in October 1835, he found that the second period of Church building had come to an end, and that the new poHcy had begun. In
1 Despatch, March 10, 1847, 8, Eccl.; Despatch, Dec. 30, 1844. - Despatch, Oct. 20, 1847, 50, Eccl.
60 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
cantonments where there were troops the mihtary authorities still took the initiative, and the Government erected buildings and paid all or most of the cost. In all other cases the initiative was taken by the local civilians. Sometimes they erected the ])uilding themselves and paid the whole cost of it. Sometimes a local building committee was formed. Subscriptions were paid to its honorary secretary. The services of the Company's engineer were placed at its disposal ; and when the cost of the building was known the Government paid its half share to the local connnittee, who paid the contractor by instalments as the work progressed. This system continued until 1865.
The change of policy with regard to the ownership of the Churches which took place during the period under review (1805-35) is one of the noteworthy events of the time. Up to 1805 the Government had no desire to possess the buildings. They acquired Church buildings in the eighteenth century from the French at Vepery and Cuddalore, and from the Dutch at Negapatam, Pulicat, Cochin, Tuticorin, and Sadras. They helped liberally in the building of the churches at Tanjore and Trichinopoly. But though they were all used by the Europeans in their service, and were occasionally repaired at the Government expense, they handed them all over to the S.P.C.K. Mission for their pastoral and missionary purposes. They did not want them. They gave a liberal donation to the jjuilding fund of the North Black Town Church at the begimaing of the nineteenth century, but they made no claim to o^vner- ship. They regarded the building as held in trust by the Vestry of St. Mary's, Fort St. George, in the same way as St. Mary's itself was held.
In 1807 they were ordered to baild Churches in several military stations. The Judges of the Supreme Court had declared that Vestries in India were not qualified to hold property. Some who were troubled by the decision moved the Government to create a trust or a series of trusts by enactment. The Directors to whom the question was referred replied that the Government itself was by Charter qualified to act as trustee of every kind of property. Bishop ]\Iiddleton was anxious that all the new Church buildings should be put into a special trust in the same kind of way as St. George's. But he was told
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 61
that this was quite unnecessary, and that the Government would be the trustees in every case. As to the buildings erected entirely at the expense of Government or purchased by them, there was never any question as to their being the property of the Government. It is true that the proprietary rights were limited by the Acts of Consecration. Still the Government were the founders and the patrons, and had all the rights and duties which belong by British law to such persons.
But as to buildings erected partly at the expense of Government and partly at the expense of others, the ownership did not appear to be so clear, especially if the others were not inclined to part with their rights. Consecration had the legal effect of preserving the rights of private builders and subscribers ; for it prevented the use of the Church in a way they would not have approved. It was more of a happy thought than a deliberate act of poHcy that Archdeacon Eobinson drew up the Kules of 1829 which made the Chaplain and two senior officers a Board of Trustees, a committee of management ; placed them hi charge of the Church, burial-ground, school and parish funds ; and made them responsible for the care of the whole of the local Church property. The Eules, which evaded the question of ownership, were promulgated with the consent and the approbation of the Madras Government, and were welcomed by those who were jealous of their rights as an appropriate compromise. These rules postponed the question of ownership for a generation. For twenty years the Court of Directors looked upon the local Government, and the local Government regarded themselves, as ' in charge ' of the Church buildings generally, and holding them in trust for the purposes for which they were built and consecrated. The question of property was, however, bound to arise at some time ; for some of the Churches built were only slightly assisted by the Government, and some were built without such assistance. It arose in 1849. The civil and military residents at Waltair had built themselves a Church in 1838 without the assistance of the Government. In 1849 they asked the Government to carry out certain repairs. The Government assented, and took the opportunity of asking the Directors ^ if the Church ' should be brought on the list of
' Letter, May 8, 1849, 5-8, Eccl.
62 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Churches to be repaired by the Government,' according to the recommendation of the MiHtary Board. The Government evaded the question of ownership, and the Directors did the same thmg m then' reply ; they said : ^
' We are of opinion that subject to the consideration of the particular circumstances of each case. Churches built by sub- scription either at stations where there are Chaplains resident, or at out-stations periodically visited by them, may very properly be taken under your charge, and repaired at the public expense.'
This meant that they should be regarded as in the same position as other station Churches for Europeans ; that is, that they should be held in trust and protected, and placed under the Rules relating to Lay Trustees.
The question again arose in 1851. The residents in Mercara raised over Rs.6000 for the erection of a Church and asked the Government to contribute Rs.2000, The Bishop also asked that the Church when complete might be vested in himself and the Archdeacon ' in trust for the use of the Church of England.' The Government referred ^ this question to the Court of Directors, who replied as follows : ^
' We are not prepared without further information to consent to the transfer of the Church when completed (as requested). As at present informed we think that the property in all Churches built either wholly or in part at the public expense should be vested in the Government, the Church being maintained and repaired at the expense of the Govern- ment. As uniformity of practice, however, is desirable on this point we direct that a reference be made to the Government of Bengal for the purpose of ascertaining the forms observed in the Diocese of Calcutta previously to the consecration of Churches ; and that if the practice there be found conformable to the views we have expressed above, you at once adopt that practice as the rule hi the case of Churches built with the aid of your Government.'
1 Despatch, July 30, 1851, 15, Eccl.
« Letter, June 26, 1851, Eccl.
•> Despatch, Feb. 18, 1852, 2, Ecol.
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 63
Eeference was accordingly made to the Government of Bengal, and the reply was sent ^ to the Du'ectors. The answer of the Court was this : "
' In accordance with the practice prevailing in Bengal the Churches built within the Madras Presidency either wholly or in part at the Government expense will remain vested in the Government, whose consent will be apphed for previously to the performance of the act of Consecration.'
The word ' remain ' left the question unsettled as to future buildings ; but nothing further was done in the matter during the rule of the Hon. East India Company, because the great majority of Europeans and Eurasians for whom the Churches were built were satisfied that the Government, in whom they had implicit confidence, were the most trustworthy of all possible trustees.
Of the twenty-three Churches and Chapels built between 1805 and 1835, eighteen were consecrated with the permission and co-operation of the founders and builders. The exceptions were : (I) the Fort Chapel, Bangalore, which is a small tiled building, originally erected for what was regarded as a tempo- rary need only ; (2) the Cannanore Chapel, which was in the list of those to be consecrated in 1813 by commission from the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, but which was for some unknown reason afterwards forgotten ; (3) the Tripassore Chapel, which was erected for the use of the Company's Veteran Battalion then stationed there ; soon afterwards the battalion was moved elsewhere for sanitary reasons and the station deserted ; (4) the C.M.S. Chapel, Black Town, and (5) the C.M.S. Chapel, John Pereiras, both in Madras. The Church Missionary Society retains its hold as absolute owner upon its missionary chapels. There is no reason to suppose that the Society does this with the intention of using them in some way the Bishop would not approve. The act of consecration is omitted through a mis- apprehension of its meaning and effect. The secretary of the Madras Corresponding Committee of the C.M.S. gave this explanation : ' They are not consecrated because the native
1 Letter, August 10, 1852, 8-10, Eccl. - Despatch, August 31, 1853, 10, Eccl.
64 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Church has an interest m them, and it is not desirable to make them the property of a foreign corporation, the Church of England m India.'
Since a similar misapprehension existed in the imaginations of the Scotch Presbyterians, who laid claim to the use of the consecrated Churches in Lidia in 1897-1902, it may be well to explain what their consecration means. The Presbyterians asserted that the Churches by the act of consecration were filched by the Church of England from the Government. This assertion means that the property in the buildings was trans- ferred by stealth from one body to another body.
In the lii'st place the Church of England is not a corporate body, and is not capable therefore of holding property. Then consecration is not an act of transfer. It is and always has been from the earliest times m the history of religions a solemn setting aside for religious purposes. Persons, places, things, and buildings can be thus set aside. With regard to persons, they whose lives are consecrated to religious use are ' not their own ' ; they are ' bought with a price ' ; and they are required to hold their lives in trust for the purpose for which they are conse- crated. With regard to places, things, and buildings consecra- tion has a similar effect, for it limits the powers of ownership. Consecrated articles cease to be private property ; they are held in trust for a purpose. Before the act of consecration the person or persons or representative persons who provide the funds can legitimately exercise all the rights of ownership. After the act they cannot. They can neither make alterations nor additions, nor keep the key of the building, nor lend the building to whom they please, nor make arrangements for the conduct of services in it. After consecration their absolute ownership and their power over the building is at an end. Henceforth the building is held in trust for the purposes for which it was set aside.
In England the trustees are the Patron, the Diocesan, and the parochial authorities together. They have certain legal relationships and methods of action. They may not proceed to alter, demolish, add or re-arrange independently of one another. Each set of trustees must be consulted before any change of the permanent structure is made ; and this because
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 65
every change affects the rights of those by whom and for whom the trust is held. The power of the trustees over the building is not absolute because their ownership is not absolute. For his own protection against any autocratic action on the part of the Bishop or the Patron, the building is the freehold of the Parson, but he holds it as a freeholder, not as a lord, and is subject to the customs of tenancy. The wardens are the officers of the Bishop and are admitted to office by his authority ; but they are nominated to office by the Parson and the people. The Bishop is the Judge in all disputes between the Patron, the Parson, and the people concerning the building, its furniture, its services, and its funds ; but he is to hear and determine all questions in open Court in a lawful and regular way. Conse- cration creates a trust m which all the parties concerned have to subordinate their individual will to the purpose for which the trust is held. The Patron nominates the Minister and the Bishop appoints him ; but both are limited in their choice to such as have been ordained Priest in the prescribed way. The Minister conducts the services, but he is not at liberty to conduct any kind of service except the prescribed service without the consent of the Bishop. The Wardens keep the building and its furniture in proper repair, but they are not allowed to carry out repairs and alterations without the consent of the Bishop and the Parson.
In this way the buildings and their contents are held in trust for the community, and the rights of the people are guarded from any autocratic action on the part of any one trustee by the necessity of obtaining the consent and co-opera- tion of the others before he can act.
In India consecration means nothing more than this. There is no transfer of property, but only the insurance of its use for its consecrated purpose. When Bishops were consecrated and sent out to India, their jurisdiction and ecclesiastical rights were secured to them in the Royal Letters Patent constitutmg their appointment. Thus : i
' We command and by these presents for Us, Our heirs and successors, do strictly enjoin as well the Court of Directors of the
1 Letters Patent, May 2, 54 Geo. Ill, and June 13, 5 Will. VI. VOL. II. p
66 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
said United Company, and their Governors, Officers and Servants, as all and singular our Governors, Judges and Jus- tices, and all and singular Chaplains, Ministers, and other Our subjects within the parts aforesaid, that they and every one of them he in and by all lawful ways and means aiding and assisting to the said Bishop and Archdeacons and his and their successors in the execution of the premises in all things.'
The premises mentioned are the early paragraphs of the Acts m which the sees of Calcutta and Madras were constituted, and then limits defined, and in which it is decreed that the Bishops shall be appointed to exercise the episcopal office within those limits, and to perform the various duties belonging to their office.
It is partly the duty of a Bishop to control the use and prevent the abuse of the Church buildings and burial-grounds which by consecration are set apart. In the performance of this duty he is associated with others in a trust. In India he is generally associated with the local Government and the ecclesiastical officials appointed by it.
The Lay Trustees created by the Madras Government in 1829 on the recommendation of Archdeacon Robinson corre- spond in many respects with Churchwardens in England. The important difference is that they are both the nominees of the Chaplain and they are both communicants. In seeking trustees with a view to submitting their names to Government through the Bishop, the Chaplain must approach the highest civil or military officers in the station first ; if they are unwilluig or unable to serve he must approach those next in rank, till he finds persons both willing and qualified. Their duties are regulated from time to time by the Government in consultation with the Bishop. The importance of their position consists in the fact that, havmg been nominated by the Chaplain, recom- mended by the Bishop, and appointed by the Government by means of a notification in the Gazette, they are officially associated with all three parties in the trusteeship of the property. In India, therefore, the three sets of trustees are the Government, the Bishop, and the local Church Committee (the Chaplain and Lay Trustees). The Government does not alter, improve, or even repair the building, except on the
THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES 67
representation of the local trustees through the Bishop. The local trustees can make no change without the consent of the Bishop and the Government. The Bishop cannot decree changes and alterations without the consent of his co-trustees. Thus in India the rights of Church people are guarded from any- autocratic action on the part of any one trustee by the necessity of his obtaining the consent and co-operation of the rest.
The value of consecration appears in the rigid guardianship of all rights and duties. Long may it continue ; but in order that it may do so, all parties must clearly understand its far- reaching value.
F 2
CHAPTEE IV
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815
St. Mark's, Bangalore. — The cantonment and the site of the Church. The cost. Its consecration and that of t\\o burial-grounds. The earl}' Chaplains and the Mission. The Fort burial-ground. Tablets in the Church. The fu'st organ and the gallery. The first scheme of enlargement, 1833. The sugges- tion of a second Church, 1837. The second scheme of enlargement, 1840. Second Church sanctioned, 1844. Pensioners' Chapel at Mootoocherry (now St. John's Hill). Third scheme of enlai'gement. 1859. Fourth scheme of enlargement, 1895. Tlie Churchyard wall and well. Allotment of seats. The benches. Education. Soldiers' Reading-room, Mootoocherry. Pen- sioners' Reading-room at Richmond To^^'n. The ^vork of the Chaplains. The furniture.
Holy Trinity, Bellary. — History of the Fort. The Church. The early Chap- lains. The Orphanage. Enlargement of the Church. Its consecration. The new barracks and Dr. Powell's new Church. Its collapse. Christ Church, Bellary. The local mission. Fort Church furniture. Some of the Chaplains. Monuments in Church and cemeterj*.
St. George's, Choultry Plain (now the Cathedral). — History. Its building and its cost. The design. Its consecration. The trust deeds. The allotment of seats. The clock presented by the Directors. The burial-ground. The furniture. The 18G5 alterations. The organ and the organists. The inner roof. Memorial gifts. The Archdeacon made joint Chaplain, 1854. Some Chaplains. Memorials of the dead.
St. Mark's, Bangalore. — After the capture of Seringapatam and the destruction of the power of Tippoo Sultan, a consider- able force was left in the State of Mysore to overawe the country. At first the headquarters of the force were at Seringapatam itself, and there were detachments at Bangalore, Nundidroog, Eayapott, Mysore, and some other forts in the country. The whole province is a tableland about 3000 feet above the level of the sea. It was anticipated that every fort would be a health station for the British troops of the Madras army. But in this hope the authorities were disappointed. Seringapatam itself soon proved to be a most unheal th}^ station ;
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 69
the detached forts hero and there were httle better ; so that it became necessary for the mihtary authorities to choose a new sjjot for a camp, supply it with drains and sanitary apphances, and build barracks such as the troops could live in without danger to their bodily health.
They pitched upon an undulating piece of ground about one mile from the Fort of Bangalore. Lieutenant John Blakiston of the Madras Engineers prepared the plans of the new cantonment ; and when they were approved, he set to work and completed in less than a year barracks for two regiments of Europeans, five regiments of native infantry and artillery, besides hospitals, magazines, and other requirements. He was at Bangalore from 1806 to 1809 ; and ho had the satisfaction of seeing the cantonment grow into tho first military station on the Madras Establishment. ^
Bangalore was included in the list of places where the Commander-in-Chief recommended the erection of a place of worship in 1807. The site was probably fixed upon soon after the recommendation was made ; for the grave of Major Joseph Dickson, who died in 1808, was made in such a position on the site itself as to be just outside the building that was to be erected. The same kind of delay took place in the building of the Church as at Cannanore, Trichinopoly, and other stations. It was not commenced until two years after Blakiston had left Bangalore. He tells us in his memoirs that before he left India in 1813 he had the satisfaction of displaying his * archi- tectural talents in the erection of a Church or two.' ~ This was probably one of them. At the beginning of 1811 the General, in a letter to Government,^ expressed his opinion that the Church ought to be built. It was thereupon sanctioned and proceeded with without waiting for further orders from the Directors.
In choosing the site, allowance had to be made for the fact that the Church was intended for the troops in the Fort as well as for those in the new barracks. A place was therefore pitched upon midway between the Fort and the furthest barrack in the cantonment, and about a mile from each. When the building
^ Vibart's History of the Madras Engineers, i. 429; Blakiston's Twelve Years, dhc, i. 315. - Blakiston's Twelve Years, dhc, i. 279.
'^ Letter, March 15, 1811, 93S-41, Mil.
70 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
was opened for service in 1812 it was a strong but exceedingly plain structure, according to the intention and order of the Government. It measured 110 X 53 X 20 feet ^ and could accommodate about 450 men. To make this accommodation possible the font was placed in the west verandah, and the pulpit b}^ the side of the altar rails against the east wall of the nave. According to the 1852 Return the cost of the building was Es. 30,349. As in other cases, this probably mcluded the total cost of building, repairs, and alterations up to the date of the inquiry ; for the original sanctioned estimate was 5000 pagodas or Es.20,000.
When Bishop Turner of Calcutta visited the station in 1830 he consecrated the building and two burial-grounds, one at the Bangalore Fort and the other in the cantonment.
At the beginning of the century the troops at Seringapatam had two Chaplains with them. Both were appointed by the Government of Madras, but neither of them was in the Hon. Company's service. The Rev. A. T. Clarke ministered at Seringapatam from 1799 to 1805, when he died ; ^ and the Rev. I. G. Holtzbcrg, of the S.P.C.K. Mission, ministered to the men of the de Meuron Regiment.'^ There was no Chaplain in the Mysore command from 1805 to 1809, when the Rev. John Dunsterville was sent to Bangalore. He was succeeded in 1811 by the Rev. William Thomas, who remained in the station till 1820. Thomas saw the building and the opening of the Church. Ho originated and established the local mission ; for fifty years this was managed by the Chaplains in the station by means of local subscriptions, but in 1872 the work had grown beyond them, and it was taken over by the S.P.G.
Of the other Chaplains during the nineteenth century, they who exercised most influence in the station, perhaps because of their long tenures, were :
Years.
William Malkin .... 1820-31
George Trevor 1838-45
W. W. Lutyens .... 1840-54
S. T. Pettigrew .... 1865-72
' Official Return dated 1852 ; but the accuracy of the length is doubtful. - See The Church in Madras, i. 686. '■' Letter, Feb. 12, 1800, 23^-40, Mil.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 71
All the Chaplains were enthusiastic educationists and established schools at various centres in the cantonment for European and Eurasian children, Trevor and Pettigrevvr had the missionary spirit ; the former built the mission chapel of St. Paul, the latter enlarged it ; both of them greatly streng- thened the mission by their encouragement. Irevor tried hard for the enlargement of the Church. Lutyens saw the building of Holy Trinity and St. John's. Pettigrew established the Bishop Cotton Schools and built All Saints'. Others not mentioned, such as J. Morant (1845-49), G. Knox i (1849-54), were not far behind them in their missionary, pastoral and educational zeal.
The Fort burial-ground at Bangalore dates from 1791, the first year of the first Mysore war. It contained memorial stones and monuments of the officers and men who fell at the storming of the town and fort in that year. They were mentioned in Eobert Home's ' Select Views of Mysore ' (1794), but no longer exist. In their place there is a cenotaph, erected by the Mysore Government, recording the names, &c., of all the officers who fell in that war.- The oldest monument in the cemetery is dated 1807. The old cantonment cemetery was laid out with the rest of the cantonment. The date of the oldest monument is 1809. It is not known exactly when the ground was first used. There were no register books at Bangalore before the Church was built. As soon as it was ready they were suppHed, and a correct record of all burials has been kept from 1812.
There have been no burials inside the Church, and there is only one monument inside it of general interest, that to the memory of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Walter Scott of the 15th Hussars, who was the son and heir of the first baronet, the great novehst. He died at sea on his voyage home in 1847.
The old cemetery, which contains the mortal remains of many a distinguished and gallant soldier, was closed for burials in 1868, and a new cemetery was opened farther away from the barracks.
The Eev. Joseph Wright arrived from Trichinopoly in 1831,
1 The father of the present Bishop of Manchester. - J. J. Cotton's Inscriptions, p. 378.
72 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
and at once began to raise money to purchase an organ. In this he was successful. He and the Lay Trustees then asked the Government to request the Directors to allow the instrument to be sent out freight free,i and the request was granted.^ The organ was placed m the west gallery ; there is no record to show that the Government erected the gallery ; it was probably erected by the military engineer and paid for by the congregation.
It was at about this time, soon after the visit of Bishop Turner, that the first application for the enlargement of the Church was made. At the same time it was proposed to build a belfry. The joint cost of the belfiy and the enlargement would have exceeded Rs. 10,000. The Government were not inclined to incur the expense, and the question dropped.
In May 1836 the Church Committee suggested the building of another Church on a site chosen by Bishop Come of Madras, at the east end of the parade ground, near the cavalry ban-acks.^ Six months later the Chaplain, Vincent Shortland, wrote to the Bishop making a similar suggestion, and adding that St. Mark's might be used as a Chapel of Ease.
At the beginning of 1837 the Church Committee wTote to the Archdeacon urging the necessity of another Church. They laid stress on the distance of St. Mark's from the cavalry barracks, mentioning the reason why the site was chosen ; they pointed out the unsuitableness of barrack rooms for divine service ; and they pressed the erection of a new Church on the site chosen by Bishop Corrie.
These appeals were without effect, and the question re- mained in abeyance till 1840.
Meanwhile the Eev. George Trevor had come to the station, and was shocked to see the font in the west verandah, where it had been placed to make more sitting room inside the building. This arrangement he was instrumental in getting altered.*
In March 1840 the Church Committee addressed the
1 Letter, Feb. 15, 1833, Eccl.
■ Despatch, July 3 and Dec. 4, 1833, 11, Eccl,
•'' Now the infantry barracks.
•* St. Mark's Records, Correspondence Book, 1838.
ST. MARKS, BANGALORE.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 73
Government again. They mentioned the three previous proposals :
(1) to enlarge the Church ;
(2) to demolish it and build a new one near the cavalry
barracks, using the old materials ;
(3) to leave the old Church as a Chapel of Ease and to build
a new one ; and they made a new proposal, namely, to leave St. Mark's as it was, and to enlarge the Soldiers' Eeading-room at the east end of the parade ground, so that it might be used for divine ser-vice on Sundays instead of the barrack rooms. ^
The Government asked the Directors to sanction No. 1 scheme, the enlargement of the Church to seat 1000 persons at the cost of Es.l3,312.~ This they did.3 But there was a necessity at this time to build new barracks for the cavalry and artillery. The Government wrote to the Directors on this necessity,* and the Directors suggested that the chief engineer, Colonel D. Sim, should be deputed to Bangalore to report on the real needs of the garrison. '^
Opinions were divided at Bangalore ; the Rev. George Trevor still wanted another Church as well as the enlarge- ment of St. Mark's. The Government were equally of two minds as to what ought to be done. Colonel Sim reported the necessity of new barracks and a new Charch, and the advisa- bility of leaving St. Mark's as it was. The Government was satisfied with his report and recommended its adoption. The Directors accordingly sanctioned the building of a second Church.*^
The congregation took a practical interest in the question of enlargement. In 1837 the Eev. J. Wright collected from the civil and military officers of the station about 800 rupees to assist to carry out the project. This he paid to the Treasurer of the Diocesan Church Building Fund. It passed from Trea- surer to Treasurer until in 1849 it was repaid with its interest
' St. Mark's Letters, Correspondence Book, 1840.
2 Letters, Nov. 13 and Dec. 18, 1840, 2, Eccl.
=* Despatch, July 2, 1841, 30, Eccl.
* Letter, July 8, 1842, 31, Mil. '^ Despatch, Jan. 25. 1843, Mil.
« Despatch, r)ec. 4, 1844, 11, 12, Mil.
74 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
to the Church Committee of St. Mark's. It then amounted to Rs.ll69. Tlie Church Committee resolved to divide the sum between the Committee of the new Church (Holy Trinity) and the Committee of the old ; so that it might be spent in Bangalore as nearly as possible in accordance with the original intention. In 1850 half the money was spent in the enlargement of the Pensioners' chapel at Mootoocherry, a small building in existence before the erection of St. John's. ^
By the year 1848 the necessity of the enlargement of St. Mark's again came to the fore, and plans and estimates were prepared ; but the Government would not consider the question till the new Church was finished and in use."
The question rested till 1859, when the Rev, J. Gorton was Chaplain. Then he and the Lay Trustees proposed to remove the pillars, raise the walls 5 feet, buttress them, lengthen the nave 35 feet, build two transepts 35 X 24 feet, cover with a trussed roof, add a chancel 47 X 24 feet, point the arches of the openings north and south to make the building look more ecclesiastical, and to add a bell tower 90 feet high. This alteration would have given accommodation for 700 persons. This plan was sanctioned, commenced and suddenly stopped in 1863.
As there appeared to be no likelihood of the Church being enlarged, the next Chaplain, the Eev. S. T. Pettigrew, applied for extensive repairs. The Government granted a sum of Rs.l413 and Mr. Pettigrew raised locally another Rs.lOOO. The old organ was displaced by a reed harmonium, and the furniture was greatly improved.
In the year 1895 another vigorous effort was made to enlarge and especially to heighten the Church. Chiefly owing to the representations of two successive and eminent residents, Sir William Lee Warner and Sir William Mackworth Young, the Government of India sanctioned the enlargement and found the money for it. This plan included a central tower, a chancel, transepts, and the raising of the roof throughout. It was carried out at the beginning of the present century ; but a fatal defect in the material of the tower caused the catastrophe of a fall, and as the tower fell it crashed through one of the transepts
• St. Mark's Records, Dec. 1850. - Consultations, May 18, 1849.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 75
and carried ruin with it. After oflEicial inquiry and some delay the Church was built again without the tower, and it is now not only a commodious building but one of the most striking erections in the station.
A wall was built round the Churchyard in 1855 and a well sunk. This enabled successive Chaplains to lay out a garden in the compound. But in course of time the well dried up, and great difficulty was experienced in keeping the garden bright with flowers.
At a very early period in the history of the Church the Government issued orders for the appropriation of seats for the civil and military officers and their families. Bangalore has such a pleasant climate that it soon became a favourite place of abode for many who had retired from the Service. They wanted seats as well as others. The Church Committee per- formed the duty of allotment for nearly fifty years, but never without contention and argument. In 1860 they asked the Government to rescind all orders allotting seats to officers except the highest, and to make all seats free ' for the sake of peace and quietness,' and the application was gi'anted. It seems hardly credible, but there is no doubt that for the first thirty years the soldiers' seats had no backs. In 1847 complaint was made to the Archdeacon that there were still no backs to the seats in the side aisles. He addressed the Government, and in 1853 they were supplied. If it was the case at other garrison Churches besides Bangalore, it is not to be wondered at that so many commanding officers complamed of the length of the sermons.i At the same time it would have been better to have complained of the backless benches to the Commander- in-Chief.
One after another the Chaplains of St. Mark's busied them- selves over the education of the European and Eurasian children of the station. A large number of pensioned soldiers had settled at Mootoocherry " by 1837. The Kev. Vincent Short- land and the Eev. George Trevor between them raised money in the station and built schools for their children. They were known as the Cantonment schools. In this venture they were
1 See Madras Consvltaiions, Nov. 1, 1853. - Now in the St. John's district.
76 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
liberally helped by the Mysore Government. The GMs' school was closed when St. John's Church was built in 1852, but the Boys' school was continued till 1867, when the St. John's schools on the one side and the Bishop Cotton schools on the other made their existence no longer necessary. An attempt was made to keep the Cantonment Boys' school alive without a grant as a St. Mark's school ; but it was manifestly not required, and was closed at the end of 1871.
Li 1853 the Eev. Robert Posnett raised money and built a reading-room for the Eurasian bandsmen and drummers of the native corps. It was midway between the lines of the two infantry regiments at Mootoocherry. Services were held in the building on Sundays, at which there was an attendance of over 100 persons. The presence of so many children induced him to raise more money and to build a schoolroom near by for them. They were too poor to pay the necessary fees at the Cantonment schools. In these ventures he was generously assisted by the Madras i and Mysore Governments as well as by the officers of the station, Posnett called it a Poor School. Pettigrew used a name for it in 1864 which was used without offence at the time in England for similar schools, and un- intentionally killed it. He called it a Ragged School. How- ever, within a short time he and Dr. ]\Iurphy of Holy Trinity were instrumental in building and opening the Cantonment Orphanage, and he crowned the efforts of all former Chaplains by establishing the Bishop Cotton schools in 1867.
Major A. K. Clark Kennedy, a Lay Trustee of St. Mark's, built a reading-room in Richmond Town for the use of the pensioners in 1862. By deed he made it the trust property of the Chaplain of St. ]\Iark's and the Brigade Major. In 1894 the old pensioners had died off, and under the new con- ditions of military service there were none to take their places. The reading-room was deserted, and was used by the Bangalore Rifle Volunteers as an armoury. However, the trustees heard of its history, and after some hesitation as to what use it could be put to most in accordance with the terms of the trust, they placed it at the disposal of the Incumbent and Churchwardens
' Letter, Sept. 8, 1854, 26-29, Public; Despatch, Sept. 26, 1855, 13, Public.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 77
of All Saints' for parochial use. They could not divest them- selves of their trust. They did their best to fulfil it.^
From 1811 to 1827 the work of the Chaplain of St. Mark's was almost entirely military. The gradual immigration of a civilian population increased the work beyond the powers of one priest, and a second Chaplain was appointed in 1827 to assist him. This arrangement of joint Chaplains continued till Holy Trinity was ready for use in 1851. Even with two the work of the Chaplaincy was very great. In 1840 there were two parade services on Sundays and two voluntary services. There were two regimental schools, two burial-grounds, five hospitals, and five out-stations which had to be visited once a quarter.^ One of the Chaplains was thus absent from Banga- lore on twenty Sundays in each year, and the other was left to do the whole Sunday work of the station single-handed. In 1843 the Rev. G. Trevor declined on the ground of physical inability to conduct two parade services on Sunday mornings. Bishop Spencer refused to order him to conduct them, for he was only legally bound to conduct one. This incident led to a measure of relief in the appointment of an extra clergyman to do the work of the Fort and of St. John's Hill.
Even with the relief given by the building of Trinity, St. John's, and All Saints', the work of the St. Mark's Chaplain continued to grow, because of the increase of the civil commun- ity and the necessary establishment of schools. At the end of the century relief was just as much required as it had been between 1840 and 1850.
Unlike other Churches in the Diocese old St. Mark's was singularly free of adornments dedicated by worshippers as memorials or otherwise. The building was so plain it did not seem to invite handsome gifts. There was no stone font before 1844. Up to that time the font was a cheap one of brick and plaster. An east window of stained glass was put in in 1854, but it only cost Rs.lOO. The Rev. J. B. Trend adorned the sanctuary between 1882 and 1887 with altar ornaments and
' The room might with great propriety be called the Clark Kennedy Room, after its founder ; he did many a kind act for the domiciled Europeans and Eurasians of Bangalore during his service.
- French Rocks, Mysore ; Hunsur ; Hosur ; Ryacottah ; and Tumkur.
78 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
a set of frontals worked by his accomplished wife, and a Eurasian member of the congregation generously gave the hanging lamps which cost him Rs.500. Ten years later a handsome carved teak-wood reredos was erected. It was Gothic in design, and was the one redeeming feature of the whole building. At the same time money was raised for a new pipe organ, and a very good instrument was obtained for about Rs. 4000.1 But, generally speaking the whole furniture of the Church was of a poor quality. When the Church was enlarged it was refurnished ; the handsome Gothic reredos was con- sidered too out of place architecturally to be re-erected, but the frontals, one of which was beautifully worked by Miss Dawson in 1895, were retained.
Holy Trinity, Bellary. — The Districts of Bellary and Cudda- pah formed part of the dominions of Tippoo Sahib, the ruler of Mysore. When his rule came to an end in 1799 they became the property of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Money was owing by this ruler to the East India Company for the loan of British troops, and the debt was paid by the cession of the two districts to the Company in 1800. They were known for a long while as the Ceded Districts, and are still occasionally called by that name. As soon as the cession took place a brigade of British and native troops was sent to Bellary Fort, so that troops have been quartered in and around the Fort for more than one hundred years. In the district there are several walled towns and fortified hills. They remain silent witnesses of the troubled times before the days of Britioh rule.
The Fort is by nature and art composed of two portions, known as the Upper and the Lower Fort. The British troops were stationed in the latter. Here were built their barracks, arsenal, stores, magazines, and Church. The cemetery was outside the walls and not far from them in a north-easterly direction.
Bellary was one of the places indicated by General Hay Mac- Dowall in 1807 where a chapel ought to be built. It was sanctioned by the Directors ; "^ but the same kind of delay took
' The subscription was commenced in 1891 by the Rev. A. A. Williams, the Chaplain (now Bishop of Tinnevelly). - Despatch, Jan. 11, 1809, 153, Public.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 79
place with regard to it as took place at Cannanore, Trichinopoly, and Bangalore. It was not commenced mitil 1811, i and then was planned to seat only 400 persons. It was included in the list of new Churches to be consecrated by the Rev. E. Vaughan, when he obtained the authority of the Archbishop of Canter- bury to perform that ceremony. When the authority arrived the Church was not ready, and the ceremony was postponed till the arrival of the newly consecrated Bishop of Calcutta. The Church and the barracks in the Lower Fort were built at the same time in the year 1811-12. Doubtless they were designed by the same military engineer.
The first Chaplain sent to minister at Bellary was the Rev. William Thomas. He arrived from England in 1806 and was sent to the Ceded Districts at once. He remained nearly three years, but there was no Church in his time. He was succeeded in 1811 by the Rev. Thomas Wetherherd, who remained at Bellary till 1819. During his time the Church was built.
In 1816 Archdeacon Mousley visited the station officially, and submitted an ecclesiastical report to the Government of Fort St. George. The Government, in commenting on the report to the Directors, mentioned that they had paid the expenses of the visitation. The Directors in reply refused to sanction the expenses on the ground that Bellary was outside the Archdeacon's jurisdiction, ' being in the Nizam's dominions.' Events had moved too fast for the Directors ; they hardly knew the extent of their own possessions.
There was an orphanage connected with the Church which was founded in those early days, intended like similar schools in other military stations for the children of British soldiers^ and especially for those who being illegitimate were not eligible for the military asylums in Madras. The orphanage at Bellary was near the Church in the Fort and was always in- timately connected with it. The Chaplain was the only ex officio member of its committee of management. He was responsible for the religious education. The children were marched to the Church services, and the boys sang in the choir. The orphanage had a long and honourable history. It was the principal charity of the station, and had been generously
» Letter, March 15, 1811, 650-52, Mil.
80 THE CHURCH IN IMADRAS
kept up by a succession of civil and military officers and other kindly residents. ^
A building to bold 400 persons was quite inadequate to meet the requirements of the station. The inconvenience of overcrowding and of duplicating the parade service was borne for twenty years. Then the Chaplain and the General Officer Commanding represented to the Government the need of enlargement. The Government assented and the Directors approved, trusting that the enlargement would ' be done with economy.' ~ But before they had received the reply of the Directors the Government, in deference to the opinion of the Military Board, declined to carry out the intention.^ The inconvenience continued for three more years, at the end of which time the Government was again appealed to. This time the enlargement was sanctioned and carried out.+ It was done by demolishing the east wall, building two transepts 33 feet from east to west, and 76 feet from the north to the south wall, adding a chancel 20 feet long by 17 feet broad, and a small vestry on each side of it measuring 14 by 10 feet. This was done at the cost of Rs.4937, and the accommodation of the building was increased to 676. It was no more than was required at the time, for the garrison had increased by the addition of a corps of Ordnance artificers, and a considerable civil population of European and Eurasian civilians had sprung up since the beginning of the century.
During the first few years of the existence of the sanctioned Churches they were protected at night by a military guard. At some stations the night guard duty was heavier than at others. Bellary and Bangalore were two of these, and there were complaints. Accordingly the military guard was with- drawn from the Churches at those two stations in 1825,^ and lascars were appointed in their place. In the year 1834
' It is now closed.
- Letter, June 21, 1833, 3-7, Eccl. ; Despatch, May 21, 1834, 9, Eccl.
^ Despatch, July 8, 1835, No. 4, Eccl., in reply to the 1834 letter from Madras.
" Consultations, April 11, 1837, Nos. 1 and 2, Eccl.; Letter, June 23, 1837, 3, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 10, 1839, Eccl.
• Letter, Sept. 9, 182.5, 40, Eccl. ; Despatch, Nov. 29, 1826, 24, Eccl.
CANTONMENT CHURCH, BEl-LARY.
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, FORT, BELLARY.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 81
military guards were withdrawn from all garrison Churches, and lascars substituted. i
In 1841 the station was visited by Bishop Spencer of Madras, when the Rev. Dr. W. P. Powell was Chaplain, and the Church was consecrated on November 14 with the consent and co- operation of the Government. In the 1852 Official Return the cost of the Church is said to have been Rs.23,435 ; this sum evidently included the cost of enlargement and of the periodical repairs up to that date.
Soon after the enlargement took place new barracks were built for the British troops about a mile to the north-west of the Upper Fort, and the men were moved from their confined quarters in the Lower Fort to them. There was only one disadvantage in the move. The old Church in the Fort had to be left behind, and the men were separated from it by more than a mile. When the Rev. Dr. Powell went to Bellary as Chaplain in 1844, he raised money in the station to build a small chapel near the new Royal Artillery lines. He built it near the boundary wall of the Parsonage compound on rising rocky ground between two higher rocks. A steep path led up to it, and it had a steeple which could be seen against the background of the rocks from all parts of the cantonment. The general appearance of the building is described as very picturesque by a lady who lived at the Parsonage from 1858 to 1863.^ The chapel was not consecrated, but he gave it the name of Christ Church, and probably hoped that it would be consecrated in course of time. According to the Official Return of 1852 it was in the form of a Latin cross ; was 60 feet long and 52 feet across the shorter arms ; accommodated about 200 persons ; cost Rs.3000, which sum was entirely raised in the station ; and was intended for the joint use of Europeans, Eurasians, and native Christians at times to be arranged by the Chaplain and the missionary. Near the chapel was a small bungalow intended for the priest in charge of the native congre- gation. Being so close to the Artillery barracks a parade service was held in the chapel for the men of the R.A. from the date of the opening until about 1864. Then the inevitable happened.
1 Letter, May 27, 1834, 1, 2, Eccl. - The daughter of the Rev. B. O'M. Deane, Chaplain. VOL. n. u
82 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
It was a cheap building without proper foundations and without proper thickness of walls. Warnmg cracks appeared, the build- ing was pronoimced unsafe, and soon after it was dismantled. ^
During these years the men of the British Infantry regiments paraded for divme service at the Fort Church ; but when Christ Church came to an end, the necessity of havmg a building near the new barracks was represented to the authorities, and a plain building, large enough to accommodate about 650 men, was soon afterwards built close to the Lifantry barracks. It is kno^vn as the Garrison Church.- It is quite a plain building, but from time to time soldiers of artistic taste have adorned the walls with texts of scripture, so that it looks less plain inside than it does outside.
From a very early period there has been a local Church Mission maintamed by the civil and military officers of the station and managed by the Chaplam. Most probably it was established by the Eev. William Thomas, who afterwards commenced the Church Mission at Bangalore. The native Christians were and are allowed to hold their services in the Fort Church. It is probable that Dr. Powell intended Christ Church to be the centre of the Church Mission, more especially as he built a bungalow near by. In the absence of documents it is not certain what he intended ; but it seems fairly certain that to him is due the practical scheme of endowing the Mission by building a parsonage. The money was raised and the house built, and an arrangement was made by which it became the recognised quarters of the Chaplain, he paying rent to the local Mission. Li course of time the Mission grew, like that at Bangalore, under the fostering miluence of successive Chaplains, till it required more time than they could give to its superintendence.'^ It is now, like those at Bangalore and Secunderabad, under the care and superintendence of the S.P.G. The transfer from the local committee to the Society took place with the approval of the Bishop m 1885.
' In the 1866 map of the Survey Department the steeple alone is shown. The old llegister Books of Christ Chui-ch are among the records of the Fort Church.
^ It is sometimes called Christ Church.
^ The Committee books of the Bellary Missionary Association are among the Fort Church records. There were difficulties of administration besides growth.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 83
When the Fort Church was first built it was furnished in much the same way as other military Churches. The Direc- tors supphed a handsome velvet altar frontal, a set of silver vessels, a font, pulpit, and a reading-desk ; they were also liberal in the supply of books ; but there was no bell, no punkah, and the commissariat benches for the soldiers had no backs. Occasionally the Government sanctioned an expenditure which the Directors would not have approved ; the Directors looked upon punkahs as a luxury ; the Government with its more exact local knowledge looked upon them as a necessity, and in more than one really hot station they allowed the necessary expendi- ture for them without reporting so small a matter home.
From time to time the Chaplain and Lay Trustees raised funds in the station to improve the furniture and the general appearance of the Church. The Eev. Henry Pope was instru- mental in getting the Church reseated in 1876. The Eev. A. A. Williams raised money for a new reed organ in 1886, and in the followmg year placed a Victoria Jubilee memorial window in the sanctuary and tiled the chancel floor, at a total cost of about Es.3500, given for those purposes in the station. Beside these things some private gifts adorn the Church, and remind worshippers of some of their predecessors who loved the House of God and tried to beautify it. Colonel Laughton presented the lectern as a thankoffering ; Colonel Henry Smalley, E.E., presented the Litany stool ; Mrs. Matthew Abraham the lamps and candelabra in 1880 ; Major and Mrs. Temple Cole the sanctuary carpets in 1890 ; and Mrs. D. Abraham the altar cross in 1892.
Of the Chaplains stationed at Bellary these are they who probably exerted most influence on the place :
Years.
Thomas Wetherherd . . .1810-19
Edward Eichard Otter William P. Powell James Morant . B. O'M. Deane. Walter Wace . A. A. Williams.
1836-41 1844-46
1850-58
1858-64 1877-84 1884-87
Wetherherd saw the building and furnishing of the Fort Church.
G 2
84 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Otter saw its enlargement and refurnishing. Powell built Christ Church and put the local Mission on a secure financial footing. Wace and Williams saw the adornment of the Churches by raising funds for the purpose and encouraging gifts. And there are other names, such as Harper and Shortland, which are not likely to be forgotten in connection with any of the chaplamcies which they served.
The old Fort cemetery contains the remains of some men with historic names. Here hes Hector Shaw, who died in 1808 ; he was the first revenue officer of the Company in the district. Here also rest the remains of the engmeer who built the Fort Church, Lieut. C. E. Trapaud of the Madras Engineers. He was a son of Major- General Elisha Trapaud of the same corps, and Chief Engineer to the Madras Government. Here also lie Charles Douglas Babmgton, who was killed in the Coorg War, 1834 ; Colonel D. A. Fenning, who died in 1852 ; Mr. Ralph Horsley of the Civil Service, who was murdered by robbers in his bungalow in 1856. There is a tablet to his memory at the Cathedral.
In the sanctuary of the Fort Church there is a tablet recording the death of the Rev. E. R. Otter, Chaplain, in 1841, who died of cholera when on a pastoral visit to Hurryhur. There is also a brass tablet to the memory of Colonel Henry Smalley, R.E., who died in 1892, a zealous officer and an equally zealous Churchman ; it was erected by some of his many friends. The officers of the 39th Regiment who fell during the Kurnool rebellion of 1839 are also recorded ; and one officer. Major Alexander Robert Dallas, of the 1st M.N. I., who was Adjutant-General of the Saugor Field Force in 1858, is commemorated on the walls of the same Church. He was stationed at Bellary when he was selected for the important appointment he held at his death.
St, George's, Choultry Plaiii. — The European officials and merchants of Madras began to build themselves houses outside the walled Fort and the walled town soon after the conclusion of peace in 1763. The position of the houses was between the Fort and the Choultry Plain, where a considerable number of troops were encamped. The pohtical condition of affairs in the south up to the end of the century was such that they who
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 85
lived in these garden houses must have been always conscious of the insecurity of being beyond the protection of the Fort guns. They had several scares ; ^ the last one was in 1791 when the cavalry of Tippoo of Mysore appeared in their vicinity .2 The conquest of Mysore gave the same security to dwellers in Madras as it did to dwellers in other parts of the Carnatic. Garden houses of various sizes at once increased in number in the different suburbs south and south-west of the Port, and the Europeans spread themselves out to enjoy the space and fresh air to which they had long been strangers. Some of the new residential districts were three and four miles from the Fort. Naturally the attendance at St. Mary's on Sundays began to decrease. Dr. Kerr made this a subject of complaint to the Governor. The Governor recognised the fact and sympathised. It came to the ears of the Directors, and they wrote somewhat severely on the neglect of public worship, as reported to them.^ But none of them traced the neglect to the right cause, namely, the want of a Church building in the neighbourhood where the people lived.
The subject was discussed locally as early as 1807 and perhaps earlier. When Dr. Kerr wrote his report to the Governor on the ecclesiastical needs of the Presidency (July 23, 1807) recommending an increase of Chaplains, he noted the places where they would be required, and allotted two civil Chaplains for a Church ' to be built on Choultry Plain.' The Directors made no reply to this suggestion, so that the burden of building it was left to the people themselves.
It was well understood locally that the policy of building Churches had been adopted by the Directors in deference to the representation of the military authorities, and because of the urgent need of some such means of instruction and restraint in the soldier's life. The Directors had no intention of bearing the whole cost of building Churches for their civil servants, though, as in the case of North Black Town, they might give a little help. The people of Madras being left to themselves
' On the Coromandel Coast, pp. 27-30.
- T/ie Church in Madras, vol. i. p. 568. ^ Ihid. pp. 420, 683.
86 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
to devise a means of raising a large sum of money, there was of course a delay. It took some time to remember what a pro- fitable source of wealth the local Lottery was. Then it took some time to settle if it would be just to all subscribers alike, European and native, which was then almost equivalent to Christian and heathen, to applj^ even a portion of the profits to promote the religion of one party and not the other. This difficulty was got over on consideration that a large portion was allotted to the upkeep of the roads, and that the natives profited from this expenditure far more than the Europeans. So it was settled ; and the Government wrote to the Directors ^ that they had authorised the erection of a Church on the Choultry Plam ; that the expense was to be defrayed out of the Lottery Fund ; and they asked that the necessary authority might be obtained from the Archbishop of Canterbury for its consecration.
The Directors in theu' reply said ~ that they concurred entirely m the propriety of affording the European residents of Madras and its vicinity an opportunity of attending divine worship ; and as the Church in Fort St. George was inadequate for the accommodation of the private families as well as the troops in garrison, they approved of the decision to build a new Church in the manner explained. By the time this despatch arrived at Madras the new building was nearly finished. The completion report was submitted to the Government early in 1815,2 showing that the cost of building had been 41,709 pagodas. The cost of the site, the expense of furnishing, including the provision of the bells and the organ, and the commission to the architect increased the total cost of the Church to 57,925 pagodas r*- and this was defrayed entirely from the Lottery Fund. When the Government made their report '^ to the Directors, they took credit to themselves for the econo- ruical spirit in which they had watched the expenditure. They said that it was proposed by the Church Committee to incur a further expense of 3600 pagodas for a wall and gates ; ' but
• Letter, Oct. 17, 1812, 128-30, PubUc. ' Despatch, June 3, 1814, 213, Public. ^ Consvltations, March 7, 1815, Public. ■• Letter, Jan, 25, 1816, 231, Public.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 87
we informed them we thought the charge might be avoided by enclosing the area with a hedge.' The wall and gates came later.
The designer of the Church was Colonel J. L. Caldwell, the Company's senior engineer at the Presidency .i For the excellent design he received the usual commission.'^ Captain De Havilland, his junior, superintended the carrying out of the design. The plan was nearly the same as that sanctioned for the military Churches in the mofussil. The chief difference was a tower and spire at the west end, with a vestry on each side of it, instead of at the east end. The portico west of the tower is of noble proportions. The spire is 139 feet high, and is almost identical in design with that of St. Giles' in the Fields, London. The arrangement of a small semicircular sanctuary at the east end of the building was in accordance with the taste and the requirements of the day. The proper place for the choir was esteemed at that period to be the gallery at the west end. Accordingly there was a gallery, and the new organ was placed in a chamber under the spire.^ The body of the Church was filled with pews which were allotted to officials and other important residents. There were besides benches under the gallery. The internal measurement of the body of the Church was 101 X 54 feet, but there was only sitting accommodation for 300 persons.
When the building was finished and furnished the Presidency Chaplains applied to the Bishop of Calcutta for a licence to use it. The licence was dated April 15, 1815, and was addressed to the newly appointed Archdeacon. It arrived in time for the Presidency Chaplains to hold divine service in the building on April 30, 1815 ; the fact is recorded in the Archdeacon's Act Book, but it is not stated what the nature of the service was. At the end of 1815 Bishop Middleton arrived in Madras. On January 8, 1816, the Church was dedicated by the trustees with a considerable amount of official ceremony, the deed of donation of the site being laid upon the altar ; and the Bishop
' On the Coromandel Coast, p. 31. Tlie Imperial Gazetteer is in error in saying that it was designed by De Ha\'illand. - Letter, Jan. 25, 1816, 231, Public. " Now the muniment room.
88 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
consecrated the building to the service of God according to the use of the Church of England.^
Before the act of consecration the Church Committee had to devise a means of securing the property in trust. They had before them the case of St. Mary's in the Fort, and they did not want a repetition of it. For want of a trust deed the new lawyers in Madras had decreed that St. Mary's Church had no owner. Consequently a trust deed was prepared. The sale of the site had been to the Church Committee ; but according to law they were not a corporate body and could not own pro- perty. Therefore it had to be pretended that the sale of the site had been to the Company. The trust deed of January 6, 1816, recited that whereas the Company was seised of the land in 1812, and did set it apart for the erection of a Church, which is now builded and licensed ; Whereas the Bishop was ready to consecrate it ; it is witnessed that for the sum of ten pagodas the said Company did sell unto the said trustees the site, the building on it called St. George's Church, together with all rights, title-deeds, and muniments. That deed secured the property at all events, and the first trustees were :
Edward Vaughan, Senior Presidency Chaplain.
M. Thompson, Junior Presidency Chaplain.
J. H. D. Ogilvie, Civil Service.
J. L. Caldwell, Lieut. -Colonel Madras Engineers.
D. Hill, Civil Service.
Richard Yeldham, Manager, Madras Bank.
No arrangement was made for facilitating succession ; the lawj^ers in Madras did not apparently Imow of a simple process by which new trustees could be substituted for those deceased or retired. Consequently a new deed was executed on February 9, 1821, between the Company and five new trustees. The new indenture cited what had been done in 1816 ; mentioned that the trustees of that date were either dead or retired ; and witnessed that in consideration of the sum of five pagodas the said Company did sell unto the new trustees the land, the building called St. George's Church, with all rights, &c. This deed mentioned their successors who were to be
' Archdeacon's Act Book.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 89
appointed under the provisions hereinafter for that purpose contained. The second set of trustees were :
William Thomas, Senior Presidency Chaplain. Morgan Davis, Junior Presidency Chaplain. J. H. D. Ogilvie, Madras Civil Service. George Garrow, Madras Civil Service. Richard Clarke, Madras Civil Service.
The succession was not kept up in a legal way in spite of this precaution. Officials came and went, but no alteration was made to the names in the trust deed, either by endorsement or otherwise. The second deed was allowed to go on until 1835, when it was endorsed as follows : ' Be it remembered that on Dec. 11, 1835 the Hon. Company by the power vested in them did remove [Thomas, Davis, Ogilvie, Garrow and Clarke] from being trustees of the within mentioned indenture ; and in their place did nominate and appoint to be trustees : '
Henry Harper, Senior Presidency Chaplain.
F. Spring, Junior Presidency Chaplain.
R. Clarke, Civil Service.
J. C. Morris, Civil Service.
W. Monteith, Lieut.-Colonel Madras Engineers.
After this there was neither a new deed, nor a new sale, nor even a new endorsement when a vacancy occurred in the trust. In such cases the names of the new trustees were published in the Fort St. George Gazette.
There was very general satisfaction in Madras on the com- pletion of the new Church. Everyone was proud of the building, and glad of the opportunities it afforded. Even the Madras Government mentioned to the Directors ' the great benefit to Society in Madras from its erection,' and the Directors expressed their pleasure.^
The allotment of official seats to the civil and military holders of appointments soon caused a difficulty. Some officers were married, some were not ; some were frequently absent on inspection tours, some were absent from choice. But whether married or single or absent on duty or from
1 Despatches, Oct. 22, 1817, 95, Eccl. ; July 28, 1824, 20, Eccl.
90 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
choice, so many seats were allotted to the holder of the office. On bemg appealed to by the trustees the Governor in Council suggested the throwing open of the pews with certain exceptions to the European public on payment of rent. This course was adopted and has been in use ever since. The Directors approved.^
There can be no doubt that the new system was popular. Church-going was general ; and there was such a demand for evening services in 182G that a system of lighting had to be introduced.-
In the year 1828 the Directors made a very handsome present ^ to the trustees of St. George's when they sent out the turret clock.
When the Church was completed, a small portion of ground in the south-east corner of the large compound was put aside for burials and enclosed with a wall. The Government com- pleted the simple arrangement of the corner in 1832 by erecting a gateway and constructing a belfry over it.
There is no record about the shape, design, or material of the furniture supplied in 1814. The only thing known about it is that it had to be renewed in 1836, which means that it only had a life of twenty-two years. The cost of renewal was Rs.7300, for there was very little of it that was not condemned. The furniture of 183G lasted till 1865, that is for twenty-nine years. On each occasion it must have been made of teak and rattan. Both these substances are strong and lasting. There- fore it must be concluded that there was some other reason for the renewal than age and infirmity. Neither in 1814 nor in 1836 had the military officers who designed the furniture any artistic ideal to look to at home. Church furnishing as a trade had not then come to the birth. By the year 1836 there was a more general taste for ecclesiastical design than there was in 1814, and by the year 1864 the taste had grown apace. It was this change of feeling in Church matters which caused the wholesale casting out of the old designs. The renewal in 1865 cost nearly Rs.20,000 ; the money was given by the congregation.
' Despatch, Sept. 5, 1827, G, Eccl. - Despatch, July 23, 1828, 8, Eccl.
■■' Despatch, March 12, 1828, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 91
Punkahs were hung m the Church in 184G. The Church- keeper's lodge was built in 1851. The chancel was lengthened and rooms built on each side of it in 1864, and from time to time the necessary repairs were executed. The cost of all these changes and alterations came from the Lottery Fund. Lotteries were suppressed by legislative enactment in India in the year 1844. The draft of the Act was forwarded from Bengal to Madras for remark. The Most Noble the Governor in Council concurred ' entirely in the principle of the proposed Act and in the expediency of its application to this Presidency.' ^ At the foot of this resolution was a statement showing the net profit of the Lotteries during the past ten years and the appro- priation of it. From this it appeared that there had been a profit of 6f lacs of rupees. Of this 6 lacs had been appropriated to the repair of the roads, and f lac had been ' transferred to St. George's Church on account of advances made to the new Church committee for that Church.' The amount transferred was actually Rs.76,447.
The object of the 1864-65 alterations was to bring the choir and the organ " from the west gallery to the chancel and to demolish the gallery, which no one could sit under with comfort. The enlarged chancel was made to end in a semicircular apse of ten feet radius. The whole length of the chancel and apse together was thirty-one feet. This made the new arrangement possible.
In 1857 the trustees obtained the services of an eminent organist in the person of Dr. Garrett, who was afterwards Professor of Music at Cambridge ; but he only remained in Madras about two years. It was his successor, Mr. Mayne, who saw the organ brought from the west to the east end. In 1887 the organ was re-erected and added to, and additional room was made for the choir by putting it back three feet. At this time Mr. W. D. St. Leger had held the position of organist for ten years.
The roof is supported by Ionic columns of brick, which are plastered with the finely polished chunam of the coast. These divide the floor space into a nave and two aisles. The nave
1 Consultations, March 5, 1844, No. 204, Public.
- The organ obtained from Hills & Sons, London, in 1857.
92 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
has a tiled roof ; the aisles have terrace roofs of masonry. Tlie tiled roof of the nave rendered it necessary to have a false roof as well. Originally this was made of lath and plaster. In 1884 it was showing signs of decay, and the trustees decided to renew it with teak wood. This was done, and after decorat- ing the wood with a pattern in papier-mache, the whole roof was painted white.
Since the last re-arrangement and renewal of the furniture in 1864, many handsome gifts, memorial and otherwise, have been made to the Church. The first of them was the font, an exceedingly handsome marble structure which was given by the congregation and cost them several thousand rupees. This was followed in 1871 by a peal of six bells, which cost Es.8000 and was also the gift of the congregation. The weights of these are 20, 14, 11, 9|, 8, and 7^ cwt. Soon after the ring was completed by Mr. George Banbury of the Madras Civil Service, who presented the two which weigh 6| and 6 cwt. When the bells were placed in position it was found that the ringing of them put too great a strain upon the stability of the spire. The Rev. Thomas Foulkes, a Chaplain, heard of the difiQculty and presented the trustees with a chiming apparatus. At about the same time the congregation presented a pair of silver candlesticks, and Surgeon- General Cornish, CLE., presented the handsome brass altar cross. In 1884 Archdeacon George Warlow died at Madras. He had many friends who were anxious to perpetuate his memory. They presented to the Cathedral trustees a very handsome brass lectern with a memorial inscription. At about the same time Mr. W. S. Whiteside of the Civil Service was doing for the Cathedral i what he had been doing for years at Chittoor, the headquarters of his district ; namely, producing carved wood- work articles of furniture for the Church. Carving was his hobby. To his skill and taste are due the carving of the Litany stool, the Bishop's throne, and the different clergy stalls. The episcopal chair in the sanctuary was the gift of Mr. F. E. Kneale in 1893, and was intended to be a memorial of his brother.
' St. George's Church, Choultry Plain, became the Cathedral Church of the Diocese in 1835 when Bishop Corrie was consecrated.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 93
From 1815 to 1855 the Archdeacon of Madras attended to his own duties and was not attached to any Chaplaincy. There were two Chaplains at St. George's to do the work of the Church and the district. In 1853 Archdeacon Shortland went to the hills on leave and took his office establishment with him. At that time the Archdeacon was looked upon, as far as business and correspondence were concerned, as the head of the eccle- siastical department. It was inconvenient to have a depart- mental head so far away from the seat of Government.^ After reference to the Directors it was decided to fix the Archdeacon at the Cathedral by making him one of the joint Chaplains.^ The appointment at the Cathedral was always regarded as the most desirable of all the appointments possible, and this quite apart from the higher pay which the Senior and Junior Presi- dency Chaplains drew. Generally speaking all the Chaplains who served at St. George's were the pick of the Service, but naturally some exercised a greater influence for good than others. Probably those who had the greatest influence before 1855 were :
Years.
Edward Vaughan . . . .1815-19 Marmaduke Thompson . . . 1815-28
Wilham Eoy 1828-31
Henry Harper ..... 1831-38
G. H. Evans 1849-51
C. D. Gibson 1852-57
After that time the Archdeacons were the men who, one after another, exercised the widest and best spiritual influence in Madras. The titles of Senior and Junior Presidency Chaplain were dropped when the Archdeacon was made Joint Chaplain. The former title would not have added to the Archdeacon's dignity. The latter title was not an object of desire to the Senior Chaplain who remained at the Cathedral.
From the very beginning the Archdeacons had insisted upon the rights granted them by Letters Patent to stand aside from parochial ministrations. In 1822 the Eev. Morgan Davis was ill and on sick leave, and the whole duty fell upon the Eev.
' Madras only at that time.
' Despatch, Oct. 25, 1854, 22, EccL, in reply to Letter, Aug. 9, 1853.
94 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
William Thomas. He proposed to discontinue the evening service. Archdeacon Vaughan declined to consent to this. The Government was appealed to, and Mr. Thomas was told that if he fomid the work of the Presidency too difdcult, some other Chaplahi would be appointed in his place. The Directors approved of this reply, ^ but it seems to modern folk that the Archdeacon might have helped Mr. Thomas out of his difficulty.
From the nature of the case the Churches in the Presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay contain memorials of many eminent men. The best men of the different depart- ments always gravitate towards the seats of Government, whither they are called to higher offices. The Hon. East India Company were not only good to their servants whilst they lived, but were also just to their memory when they passed away. There are some handsome monuments by sculptors of eminence in St. George's Cathedral. Dr. James Anderson " is commemorated by Chantrey ; Archdeacon Mousley by Flaxman ; Bishop Heber by Chantrey ; Bishop Corrie by Weekes ; Bishop Dealtry by Durham. There are besides memorials of Eichard Yeldham, C. H. Higgenson, Parry, Kindersley, Lushington, Chamier, Norton, Dent, Best, Elliott, Conolly, Horsley, Clogstoun, and Grose, all of Civil Service ; of Sir Eobert Dick, Major George Broadfoot, Colonel Drury, Colonel Dah-ymple, and other good soldiers of the old Madras Army ; of Bishop Gell, Bishop Caldwell, and others who spent their lives trying to rule justly and to do their duty.
And in the adjacent burial-ground rest the remains of equally eminent men who have no monument inside the Church. Here lie Sir George Cooper, Sir Samuel Toller, Sir George Elder, Sir Andrew McDowall, K.C.B., Colonel Syden- ham Clarke, Colonel Tredway Clarke, Major John Noble, Sir Vere Levinge, Archdeacon Warlow, Dr. Harris, and many others whose names were formerly household words in the Southern Presidency and beyond.-^
1 Despatch, Jan. 6, 1824, Eccl.
- On the Coast of Coromandcl, ]). 108.
'* See J. J. Cotton's Monumental Inscriptions.
CHAPTEE V
MEN AND MANNERS
Origin of slanders. Alexander Hamilton. Company's monopoly. Shaking the pagoda tree. The honesty of British dealings. The Tanjore loans trouble. The Carnatic loans trouble. Lord Teignmouth on the Bengal Chaplains. Lord William Bentinck on the Madras Chaplains. The ' Evangelical ' view of human de^Dravity. Henry Martyn on himself. J. Hough on Madras Society. R. H. Kerr on the same. General H. MacDowall on the cause of the Vellore mutiny. Morals of officers as described in various books. The testimony of their lives, and of the burial-ground epitaphs. The probable explanation of MacDowalFs declaration. Madras Society at the opening of the nineteenth century. The difficulties in out- garrisons. Marriages with native women. The Comjjany's attempt to supply wives from home. The position of the offspring of these native marriages. The education of English children born in India. The influence of English ladies in India on the side of religious practice and Church building.
Eeligion deals largely with morals, and strives for the better- ment of men, both as individuals and as associated commu- nities. No ecclesiastical inquiry can be complete which does not include a notice of the tastes, habits, customs, and occupa- tions of the period under review. According to what has been written during the nineteenth century it may be thought that the less that is said about the men in the Hon. Company's service and their manners at the beginning of the century the better. Esteemed historians, such as Hough, Marshman, and Kaye, have written with trenchant severity of the morals of the European officials in India at that time, and it would seem at first sight better to draw no further attention to what would appear to be a shameful page in the history of British India. But as each writer in succession is found to follow the leadership of former writers, the student of history wishes to know if the acceptance of the lead was justilied by the accuracy of the
96 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
early recorders. The fountain and origin of all the slanders ^Yhich have been hurled against the East India Company and theii' servants is the book of Alexander Hamilton. i It was he who originated the story of Job Charnoch's apostasy, which has crept into the pages of some modern serious histories and handbooks,'- as well as many other malicious stories. It will never be understood how untrustworthy a guide he is when dealing with the Company and their servants until the reason of liis malice is disclosed.
The Company was accustomed to purchase from the British Government for fixed periods the sole right to trade in the East Indies. It was a profitable trade, and a large sum used to be paid every time the Charter was renewed for the monopoly. Duiing the first two centuries of East Indian trade there were risks and dangers which do not now exist. There was the armed competition of the Dutch for trade and of the French for empire ; there was the necessity of erecting factory houses and forts capable of defence against the inland powers ; and of enlisting soldiers for defensive purposes. Every trading vessel was also a fighting vessel, armed with guns and manned by officers and men who knew that they might at any time be called upon to fight an enemy. These circumstances made the expenditure of the Company very great, so that unless they were allowed a monopoly of the trade they could not see their way to carry it on at all. Hamilton was one of those who refused to recognise the necessity of a monopoly. He wanted to share in the trade without sharing in any of the expenditure which made the trade possible. He commanded a small trading ship, and traded on his own account from one port to another. He was what the Company called an ' inter- loper.' If ho took up a cargo of any kind in India, he deprived the Company of a cargo, and thereby he lessened their profits without sharing their expenses. The question with us is not whether a monopoly was right or wrong, wise or unwise ; it existed, and that by the law of England. It was intended to protect the Company agamst loss. Hamilton and other
' New Account of the East Indies, 2 vols. 1744.
2 E. Stock's History of the C.M.S. i. 51, 1899 ; Notes on India, by E. S., p. 40, 1905.
MEN AND MANNERS 97
free traders thought that it was merely a law to exclude them from participating in legitimate commercial profits which ought to have been open to all. It was not possible that Hamilton and the Company's servants, having such different opinions, should have agreed together. At some factories they threat- ened him with the confiscation of his ship. On the ground that his ship carried guns and arms for the crew, the Governor of Fort St. George, Thomas Pitt, threatened to deal with him as a pirate. But Hamilton outlived all the threats, and eventually returned to England to publish his private opinions of his official enemies, and to tell stories about them which require to be discounted before repetition.
During the eighteenth century, and more especially the second half of it, a considerable number of the Company's servants returned home with fortunes. In the pages of the GentlemaTis Magazine of the period they are referred to as nabobs. The tone adopted towards them is not only tinged with envy, there is also a suspicion of malice in it. There must have been some reason for the expression of so much enmity towards men who had made fortunes by trade in the East, when there was no similar exhibition of envy, hatred, and malice towards other rich men who had made their fortunes by trade in other parts of the world. The reason is to be found in Hamilton's charges of apostasy, unfair dealing, iniquitous extortion, and so forth. British people have no jealousy of successful merchants ; they are quite generous in their apprecia- tion of honest success ; but where there is a suspicion of unfair- ness they are equally liberal in their attribution of blame. They believed Hamilton ; his malicious inventions obtained a long start, and the truth has not yet caught them up.
To shake the pagoda tree was and is a familiar Anglo-Indian expression of perfect innocence. A man plants, waters, digs about and manures a tree, and in due time shakes it to enjoy the fruit of his labour. Nothing more was meant by the expression in India. A merchant plans and schemes and works for years ; at last there arrives the time when the fruit of his labour is ripe, and a metaphorical shake of the tree brings the fruit into his lap. And what is the fruit that the merchant looks for ? Pagodas, gold coins, money. Several generations
VOL. II. H
98 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
of Englishmen since the pubhcation of Hamilton's book have imagined that to shake the pagoda tree is to get money in some dishonest way ; perhaps even by robbing temples, which they recollect are called pagodas somewhere. And they have used the expression with a meaning smile as if to assure others of their knowledge of the illegal and disreputable means employed. As a matter of fact there is no more meaning in such insinua- tions than there would be if used of the merchants of the City of London. All merchants alike shake in due time the trees they have planted and tended, and enjoy the fruit of them. Happy are they whose trees through good management or good fortune are loaded. They enjoy the fruits of their labours, and the hearty congratulations of their generous friends.
The conquest of Bengal after the battle of Plassey in 1757 was the means of enriching many of the Company's servants, both military and civil. But there is no reason to suppose that any one of them came by his wealth otherwise than honestly. No one who has served and lived in India can bring himself to believe that the country was ever ruled and exploited by dishonest traders or self-seeking administrators. Even if there were no records to show the great regard in which British government and British rulers have always been held, the existing high regard for both among the great mass of the people makes it impossible to believe that matters were ever otherwise. As a matter of fact, public confidence in the justice of both was established at a very early period, and this confidence has never been forfeited.
In the Presidency of Madras in the last quarter of the eighteenth century there were two cases of money-lending which were denominated scandals, but which when examined do not appear to be in any way scandalous apart from their politics. The Rajah of Tanjore required money ; the servants of the Company lent him what he required on the security of his territories at the same high interest as the Madras Govern- ment was then paying for temporary loans. The Rajah was a bad ruler, so that the lenders were in danger of losing the benefit of the interest agreed upon. They therefore foreclosed the mortgage and took possession of the estate. From a political standpoint this course was indefensible, and they
MEN AND MANNERS 99
were ordered by the Company to restore the kingdom of Tanjore to its rightful ruler. But there was nothing dishonest in what they did. The error they made was in treating the dominion of a reigning chief as if it were the private estate of a bankrupt subject.
A little later the Nawab himself was borrowing at the same high interest on the security of his revenues. The local Houses of Agency, the Company's servants, the St. Mary's Vestry, and other bodies and persons were glad to lend money on such apparently good security. But the Nawab was a spendthrift. He went on borrowing, and the more he borrowed the weaker the security became, and the interest demanded became higher and higher. In 1803 a Commission was appointed by the Government of India to settle with the Nawab 's creditors. They were repaid what they had advanced with fair interest and received about one-tenth of what they claimed. But there was nothing dishonest in their claim ; they were money-lenders lending on risky security, and they did what money-lenders always do in those circumstances. When the Government of India stepped in between them and their debtor they were quite satisfied to accept the award, and to waive the claim for the higher sum, which would never have been made if the security had been satisfactory.
From the political point of view the methods of procedure were quite wrong. The merchant Governors and members of Council were not politicians by training. They were before all things merchants, and their dealings with the country powers were coloured by their calling. If a man borrowed he must repay, and if he could not repay his goods must be distrained upon. That was good English merchant law. Still the incidents afforded an opportunity to the Company's enemies to condemn the greed of their servants abroad, and to give a forced interpretation to the metaphor of shaking the pagoda tree. Business men saw nothing more in the lending incidents than the taking of a ten-to-one chance.
The ' Memoir of Lord Teignmouth ' by his son is primarily responsible for the ungenerous estimate of the Company's Chaplains in India at the close of the eighteenth century. It is true that his remarks were only concerning those in Bengal ;
H 2
100 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
but they have been made by later writers to apply to all alike. Writmg to his wife in 1789 ^ he said : ' One of the two Chaplains at the Presidency is a man of great learning, and very general knowledge ; you find it in his preaching. The other has neither. They are both men of respectable moral character, and usually with me on this day ' (i.e. Sunday). The two referred to were John Owen, afterwards Chaplam-General to the Forces and Founder of the ' Clericus ' trust for the provision of religious and other books for soldiers ; and Thomas Blanshard. Writing to Wilberforce- m 1794 he said : ' We want a good preacher in Calcutta. A man must have respect for religion before he
can attend to the sermons of a or a .' The three
Chaplains m Calcutta at the time were Thomas Blanshard, David Brown, and Paul Limrick.3 in other letters he spoke highly of Brown ; * his reference therefore must have been to the other two. The remark was not very good-natured ; but it was made in a private letter to a friend, and was never in- tended for publication. Lord Teignmouth was a kind-hearted and just man, and he knew what everyone knows, that a man may be a faithful and good clergyman, such as Blanshard and Limrick were, without being either a learned or a popular preacher.
Writing to Wilberforce ^ again in 1795 he said :
' I am sorry also to add that our clergy in Bengal, with some exceptions, are not very respectable characters. Their situation indeed is arduous, considering the general relaxa- tion of morals ; and from which a black coat is no security. Mr. Brown, whose name you must often have heard from Mr. Grant, is an exception. His piety is sound ; his conduct exemplary and assiduous ; and his ministry and example have done important good to the society here.'
This also is a statement in a private letter to a friend not intended for publication. The three Presidency Chaplains were those already mentioned. The others in Bengal at the time were A. A. Barbor, John Loftie, Robartes Carr, and
1 Memoir of Lord Teignmouth, 1843, i. 194. - Ihid. 1843, i. 294.
=« Hyde's Parochial Annals of Bengal, Appendix E.
* Memoir of Lord Teignmouth. 1843, i. 342, 347. ^ Ibid. 1843, i. 347.
MEN AND MANNERS 101
Thomas Clark, who were the Company's military Chaplains at Dinapore, Chunar, Berhampore, and Cawnpore respectively. The Company had appointed them in the ordinary way after examination of their Diocesan characters and testimonials, and after they had been approved by the Archbishop of Canter- bury. The Venerable H. B. Hyde has made further investiga- tion 1 into their antecedents and their work in Bengal. There is nothing to show that they were not respectable, nor indeed very respectable. The Government of Bengal were bound by the Company's rules to send home any servant of the Company who brought any kind of discredit on the British character. Lord Teignmouth was himself Governor and Governor-General when he wrote ; there could not have been anything very wrong, unless it was the lack of preaching power, of which he had already complained, otherwise he would have exercised the power he possessed, Tlie opinion of a man high in place and authority has necessarily great weight, even though expressed privately. That of Lord Teignmouth has been made the most of by all subsequent writers, especially those who have had some object in making things out to be worse than they really were.
When Lord William Bentmck was Governor of Fort St. George in 1806, he called upon the Senior Presidency Chaplain, Dr. Kerr, to report upon the ecclesiastical needs of the Presi- dency. The Governor in Council received the report in due time, discussed it, accepted some of the proposals and modified others, and sent home certain recommendations to the Directors. Dr. Kerr criticised adversely in his report the Europeans in the Presidency, and pleaded for a proper establishment of good clergymen. The Governor went further than Kerr, and said in his letter to the Directors that there was a want of respecta- bility on the part of the Chaplains. The Directors refused to admit this and justified theii- appointments with some warmth.- There were only four Chaplains in the Presidency at the time : Charles Ball, James Atwood, Edward Vaughan, and E. H. Kerr himself. It is quite certain that the Governor's remark could not have been applied with justice to any
' Parochial Annals of Bengal, 1901.
- The Church in Madras, vol. i. pp. •147-o0.
102 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
of these. One cannot help noticing the similarity of the criticism to that of Lord Teignmouth eleven years before, and wondering if Wilberforce had abused the confidence of his friend.
James Hough, the historian of Christianity in India, is largely responsible for the prevailing ill opinion of men and manners in Madras at the same period. His estimate, upon which Kaye relies without independent inquiry, was not the result of personal experience, for he did not arrive on the coast till 1816. The opinion^ he expressed was certainly the opinion of R. H. Kerr and of Marmaduke Thompson. Similar opinions with regard to Calcutta society were held by David Brown, Claudius Buchanan, and Henry Martyn. All these men belonged to the new evangelical school ; they were very much in earnest, and they held views of human depravity not only with regard to others, but more or less with regard to themselves. Martyn was possessed of the spirit of self-depreciation more than the others ; but they all held the doctrine, and constantly confessed it before men. The language Martyn used of himself seems to have been exceptionally strong,- — ' utterly unclean,' — 'not discerning one hundredth part of the depth of the depravity' of his own nature, — and so on, over and over again. When Henry Martyn spoke of himself in these terms nobody believed him, for he was to all appearances a most humble and in many ways a most saintly servant of God. The question arises as to whether he and his school at that period meant more when they criticised others than they meant when they criticised themselves ;— whether their statements regarding others are to be taken as true when those regarding themselves cannot be so regarded. If all the statements they made are to ho taken as equally true, then by his own showing Henry Martyn was a very bad man. This conclusion, however logical it may be, is known to be false, and so it must be assumed that the whole series of statements bear the marks of exaggeration.
Hough's account of the low state of religion and morals in Madras is from beginning to end an exaggeration. It may
' Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 130-55. - Life of Mrs. Sherwood (chapter on ' Uinaix)re.'
MEN AND MANNERS 103
have been founded on the statements in a letter from the Directors to the Governor of Madras in 1798,i which has already been referred to ; ^ the letter was sent to the Presidency- Chaplains for their remarks ; and as the Government subse- quently repudiated the charges, it must be presumed that the Chaplains, of whom Kerr was one, were unable to endorse what was said. Hough spoke from hearsay, and hearsay had a great deal to do with the defamation of the servants of the Company all through its long history. He was a great admirer of Dr. Kerr, and was anxious to do justice to the really good work he did in Madras. But Hough was neither the first nor the last man who has made the mistake of thinking that the right way to magnify a man is to belittle his contemporaries, or that the right way to belaud a worker is to pour contempt upon all previous workers. Any reader of the ecclesiastical history of the Presidency of Madras in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is shocked by such sentences taken from Hough as these : ' In the present incipient state of Christianity at Madras,' 'marks the rise of religious feeling at this Presidency ; ' they were written on the assumption that there was no Christian feeling, nor expression of Christian feeling, no Christian faith and no Christian charity before Dr. Kerr came upon the scene.
Hough seems to have relied also to some extent upon a letter 3 which Dr. Kerr wrote to David Brown, the Bengal Chaplain :
' I have lived many years here, and I may be ashamed of my unprofitableness ; but it is no more than truth to say that if ten sincere Christians would save the whole country from fire and brimstone, I do not know where they could be found in the Company's civil or military service on this establishment.'
No one would object to the first sentence ; it breathes a proper
humility ; but there is every Christian objection to the second.
An incident connected with the mutiny which took place
at Vellore in 1806 has had greater weight in determining public
1 Despatch, May 25, 1798, Public.
^ The Church in Madras, vol. i. p. 419.
^ Hough's Chridianity in India, iv. 154.
104 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
opinion of the religious indifference of the Company's military officers than was probably intended at the time. It was stated both iii speeches and in pamphlets by the opponents of Christian missions in Lidia that the mutiny was due to attempts which had been made to convert the native troops to Christianity. Lord Teignmouth and others rephed^ to this charge, but the Court of Directors thought fit to inquire of the Madras Government into the value of the statement.
When the letter of inquiiy reached Madras, the Government sent it to the Commander-in-Chief, General Hay MacDowall, for his opinion. He replied emphatically that the mutiny was not due to any fear of conversion to Christianity; and added that the sepoys were too well aware of the indifference of their officers to then- own religion to fear any pressure from them. The plainness of this allegation of indifference is only equalled by the plainness of the original statement that the mutiny was due to a fear of missionary enterprise. The Christian public in England could not and would not beheve the latter state- ment, and their- disbelief was justified. But the same Christian public had no similar disinclmation to beheve the former statement. They would have been justified if they had refused to accept it without some kind of proof.
As far as the Madras army was concerned it is necessary to remember that there were three Church buildmgs at the period at the Presidency town, and one each at Trichinopoly, Tanjore, Cuddalore, Vellore, Palamcottah, Ramnad, Madura, and Dindigul ; that all of these had been built with the assistance of the mihtary officers of the Company and of the King, who happened to be ui the stations at the time ; and that they were frequented for public worship by a considerable number of officers and men at the very time General Hay MacDowall wrote his report. It is not to be denied that there was a great deal of indifference and worse among both officers and men. But it was not universal, as the report leaves one to suppose. No one can read through such a book as the ' Good Old Days of Hon. John Company ' 3 without plainly seeing that there was a great deal of thoughtless and outrageous behaviour, quarrel-
' Tract on The Practicability, &c., 1808, p. 7. - By W. H. Carey, Simla. 1882.
MEN AND MANNERS 105
ling, intemperance, duelling, among the younger military officers, and that there were many court-martials, imprison- ments, and dismissals. At the same time the Army Lists of the period still exist to show how other officers, less unruly, rose from rank to rank, and helped to make the old Coast Army the efficient fighting force it was. It is a mistake to generalise from the spicy extracts of the ' Good Old Days ' and similar books. If all the officers and men of the period had been debauched and drunken they could never have advanced the reputation of British endurance and fighting power as they did. Williamson! had the sense to make all his debauched villains die young, and die of their excesses. This was probably true. The others survived to shed lustre on the British character.
There is reliable evidence that indifference to religion was not universal among Madras officers. At Madras, Tanjore, and Trichinopoly parochial matters (which included the care of the Church, the school, and the poor) were managed by a Vestry,^ which consisted of both civil and military officers. There was no legal obligation to serve on these vestries ; that they did so is sufficient evidence that they were not wholly indifferent to Church affairs. At these and other places there were register books, which show how both officers and men sought the Church's blessing on their marriages, and brought their children to holy baptism. And at all these and many other places there are Churches and burial-grounds where friends and relatives raised memorials of the departed. It is not necessary to say more than that the epitaphs are Christian, and that it is impossible to believe that they who erected the memorials were insincere when they wrote the words.
On the whole, the statement of General Hay MacDowall must be regarded as an exaggeration. He himself appears to have made it with a purpose, for he added :
' On making the remark on the indifference which is mani- fested in the adoration of the Supreme Being, I must add in justice to the military character that it chiefly proceeds from a. want of places (and at several stations of clergymen) exclusively appropriated for Divine Service ; and I trust I shall be excused if
' Oriental Field t:! ports, 1819. ^ See Appendix II.
106 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
I suggest the propriety of having convenient chapels of moderate price constructed in all situations within the Company's terri- tories where European troops are likely to be quartered, what- ever may be urged to the contrary. I am convinced that such an improvement, independent of the obvious advantages, would render the British character more respected by the natives.'
General Hay MacDowall probably knew of the Churches at the older military stations, and what a boon they were to all ahke. He wanted similar buildings at the new military stations which had been occupied since the defeat of Tippoo Sultan, such as Poonamallee, Wallajahbad, Arcot, Bangalore, and Seringa- patam. It is not improbable that he shaped his reply to the Government in such a manner as not only to answer their question, but at the same time to push his own scheme, even at the expense of the character of his brother officers. In the Madras army at the time were serving many officers who had taken Lord Cornwallis as then' pattern of a Christian soldier. Some were then, or afterwards became, distinguished. The names of Sir John Malcolm, Sir Thomas Munro, Colonel John Mmiro, Colonel Charles Trotter, Colonel Colin Macaulay, and others are honourable and still honoured ; and there is no reason to suppose that, when these and others like them were letting their light shine as examples of what a Christian soldier could be and ought to be, they were not attracting others to walk in like manner.
Owing to the German missionaries there was a better provision of Churches and of Christian ministrations in the Presidency of Madras in the eighteenth century than in the other parts of India. It was this which made all the difference, social and moral, between that Presidency and the others. The difference was very great. When English men and women are within sight of a Church building, within sound of a Church bell, and under the influence of the good example of a Christian minister, it is inevitable that they should think more often of their Christian duty and conduct than those to whom such advantages are wanting. So it happens that the public and private records of social life in the south of India are less tainted with scandalous stories than those in the north. Hickey's
MEN AND MANNERS 107
Gazette i would never have flourished in Madras. Under the gracious leadership of the ladies of Government House, to whom Lady (Archibald) Campbell showed the way, Madras society was at the close of the century busy about its own harmless social diversions and the organisation of charities. In the latter pursuit they were backed up both by the missionaries and the Chaplains. In the estabhshment of the military orphan asylums Schwartz and Gericke were consulted no less than Millingchamp, Leslie, and Bell.
The dawn of the nineteenth century saw in Madras many evidences of Christian activity .^ Leslie was dead, and the people of the settlement had paid an affectionate tribute to his memory by the erection of a monument over his honoured remains and a tablet in St. Mary's Church. Schwartz and Gericke were both dead ; many soldiers' widows and children bewailed their loss, and preparations were being made to do honour to their memory in similar ways. There were many other changes; but the tradition of Christian kindliness remained with those whose lot it was to live in exile.
It is much more difficult than it seems to realise the kind of life led by Europeans in India at this time. In Madras itself the civil and military officers who could afford them had bungalows outside the Fort. The juniors lived in the Fort itself in houses which were crowded together to economise space. The sanitary arrangements were in an elementary condition ; the moat dangerously unwholesome ; the lower rooms of the houses sunless, and in the rainy seasons damp. The first line of houses effectually kept the sea-breeze from all the others. Up to 1791 there was a real danger in living beyond the reach of the Fort guns ; more than once the suburbs were raided by hostile cavalry, so that few cared to run the risk of building bungalows. After 1793, when the first Mysore war was concluded, there was no longer any danger, and a number of private residences were built on both sides of the Mount Eoad, and in other situations. At the opening of the century a large number of the more important officials and military officers and merchants had settled themselves in their
' Kaj'e's Christianity in India, 1859, p. 113. - Compare Kaye's Christianity; d:c., p. 101.
108 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
new dwellings far away from the insanitary Fort and the odoriferous river Cooum. They who were left in the Fort were either on duty or were too poor to engage better quarters outside.
There were a few up-country stations where there were small garrisons and a Civil Resident. A certain amount of uncertainty prevailed with regard to these as long as Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultan ruled in Mysore in alliance with the French. The result was that no adequate buildings were erected as residences m any of them. The civil and military ofi&cers were sometunes by chance well housed, sometimes otherwise. Theii- surroundings continually reminded them of the precarious nature of then' own position, and prevented any large expendi- ture by the Company over permanent buildings. The house accommodation of the Company's civil and military officers in Madras was bad, but in the out-garrisons it was far worse. It was not an impossible life for a European lady, but it was full of risks and discomforts, and few officers cared to ask English-bred ladies to share such a life with them.
British soldiers both in the King's and the Company's service were incomparably worse treated than any. There were no barracks anywhere before 1805. They who were stationed at Fort St. George or at places where there were forts, like Vellore and Arcot, were accommodated in dungeon-like bomb-proof casemates under the walls. They who were stationed at walled towns like Trichinopoly mostly lived in the bazaars. Beside these there were many both in Madras and elsewhere who lived in tents. There was no accommodation anywhere for married women. A certain percentage of these came out with every British regiment. They found their lives in the case- mates, in the bazaars, and in tents so unendurably hard that many of them died ; some preferred the easier life of concubinage with Europeans who were able to make their lot more tolerable. Their hardships and the result of them convinced the British soldier that his only chance of domestic comfort was to ally himself with the women of the country, who were accustomed to the heat of bazaar dwellings and wanted nothing better. The native women were in every way fitted to do what the men wanted, namely, to cook their meals, to keep clean their quarters,
MEN AND MANNERS 109
and to manage their clothes. European women could cook with a fire grate or a stove, but they did not understand how to manage with two bricks and a bundle of sticks. Neither did they understand how to keep a native-built house free of vermin. Circumstances were all against them, and all in favour of the native women. And so hundreds of alHances with the latter took place.
It must not be hastily assumed that these alHances were all of them improper and dishonourable to both parties. Officers commanding garrisons and outposts were empowered by the Fort St. George Government to join together such persons in marriage. The civil servants of the Company had similar powers with respect to persons in civil employ.! Between 1785 and 1805 all such marriages had to be reported to the Senior Presidency Chaplain at Fort St. George, and they were registered as marriages in a book kept for the purpose. After 1805 the system came to an end, for with the increase of Chap- lains it was no longer necessary. Civil marriage was not at that time recognised to be a principle of any importance. The civil and military laymen who were authorised to join couples together in marriage administered no oath, and adopted no method other than the method of the Church. They opened a Prayer-book and read the service before witnesses ; and the marriage thus performed was held by the Government to be in every way a binding contract.
In some places there were German missionaries in Lutheran orders ; these also were empowered by the Fort St. George Government to join Europeans together in wedlock. As a rule both officers and men preferred their services when they were available. The private register books they kept at Trichino- poly, Tanjore, Palamcottah, and Cuddalore, which survive to this day, show how busy the missionaries were in this respect.
Neither the laymen nor the Lutheran missionaries nor the Eoman Catholic missionaries professed to join together in marriage anyone but Christians. The marriages they cele- brated in their several ways they were convinced were Christian
^ See The Genealogist, vol. xxiii., ' Marriages at Fort St. George.'
no THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
marriages, holy matrimonies, in which non-Christians could have no part. Tlie British soldiers knew this and recognised the propriety of the exclusion ; they were more than a little rough and reckless ; but they were themselves members of Christ and children of God, and had been taught in their youth some elementary Christian doctrines. They set themselves to work to convert the women of their choice. Where there was a missionary they took them to him ; where there was none they taught them the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments themselves, and then brought them to the missionary for baptism. Then followed the marriage which the missionary registered in his book.
In several of the smaller civil and military stations there were Church buildings which had been erected by the joint effort of the visiting missionary and the resident civilians or the resident soldiers. Where there was a building the marriages took place as a rule within its walls. It was a natural feeling that the place hallowed the proceedings. Where there was no building the marriages took place in private houses. In 1793 the Civil Magistrate of Cuddalore performed a marriage in a private house, though there was a Church in the station. Horst, the Reader of Divine Service, doubted if the marriage was a legal one under the circumstances, and made this note in his register book :
' Nuptiae Bantelmanni scribae cum Maria Karr 8vo. Octobris 1793 a Civili Magistratu domi copulatorum parochiali non possunt inseri libro, quoniam eo tempore ordinatus erat V.D. minister C. F. Schwartz, cujus haec de jure erat provincia, sed qui extra templum eos copulari legibus concordare negabat.' i
There is nothing to show why the marriage took place in a private house, nor why Horst did not perform it. At Madras
' ' The nuptials of the writer Bantelman with Maria Kerr on Oct. 8, 1793, by the Civil Magistrate at a private house cannot be entered in the parish register book of married persons ; because the very learned {valde doctus) minister C. F. Schwartz, within whose jurisdiction the matter lies, has laid down the rule that they who are married outside the Church are not married according to law.'
I am indebted to Mr. J. J. Cotton, I.C.S., for this extract, of which I have given the evident sense.
MEN AND MANNERS 111
a system had been introduced by the Chaplains twenty years before by which they allowed — gave a special licence for — the celebration of marriages in private houses in return for a double fee. Some few of the richer persons adopted the system ; and perhaps the writer Bantelman thought he was following the highest and best European example when he did so too.
The Company made more than one effort to supply their servants in India with wives by sending out batches of European women, who were willing to go, to their several settlements. Some of these married and some did not, and the effort was pronounced a failure. The fault was with the Company. Their selection was bad, and they had no receiving houses at their factories where the young women could lodge under the pro- tection and care of responsible matrons. An emigration committee of ladies was wanted at home, by whom the character and suitability of the candidates could be scrutinised. A travelling companion of proper social standing was wanted on board ship, with recognised authority to mother them on their voyage out. A house and a chaperon were required at the port of arrival, to watch over the interests of the young women till their marriage. In the absence of these arrangements the scheme failed, and the Company gave it up.
The old Charity School of St. Mary's, Fort St. George, made provision for a small number of the Eurasian children of the Europeans on the coast, and was sufficient for the purpose between 1715 and 1765. After that date the increase of British regiments increased the number of Eurasian children. The Vestry schools at Trichinopoly and Tanjore provided for some of the boys. In 1785 a large school for the Eurasian daughters of soldiers was opened and endowed in Madras ; and this was followed soon afterwards by a similar school for their Eurasian sons. Officers could send their children to these schools on payment ; or they could send them to schools more private in character in Madras on the payment of higher fees. Sons of officers by native mothers, that is with 50 per cent, of European blood, were at a disadvantage. The Company would not admit them into their civil or military service, except in the lower ranks. Some accepted military service under native rulers and rose to distinction ; but the generality
112 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
of them became clerks in the pubHc offices. Their sisters generally married British officers, civil or miUtary. The children of these latter unions would have 75 per cent, of European blood, and were not barred by the Company from receiving appoint- ments and commissions hi the higher grades of their service. Many of the sons were employed, and the daughters took the social position of their father and their European grand- fathers.
Similarly sons of soldiers by native mothers were not allowed to be enlisted in the Company's European or the King's regiments, except as buglers. They became the bands- men and drummers of the native regiments. Their sisters were much sought after as wives by European soldiers, especially if they were educated at the Military Female Orphan Asylum. The children of these marriages were for the reason given above regarded as Europeans. The sons were enlisted as soldiers in British corps, and the gnls were as eagerly sought after by the young men of their generation as their mothers had been before them. The young Eurasians in the public offices requned wives as well as the soldiers, so that the girls in the Female Orphan Asylum were ui much request.
In spite of the difficulty of obtaining Enghsh wives, there were a few whose husbands were stationed m the mofussil, and more than a few in Madras itself where the conditions of life were easier. As a rule the children of such parents were sent to England for their education, and returned to India when this was completed. Some were educated in the private schools at Madras, through the inability of then parents to incur the gi'eat expense of the home journey and sojourn. But as a rule the custom then was as now, for parents to separate themselves from their children, to their own great grief but for the benefit of the children.
It is this custom, this necessary custom, this obligation in the interest of the young of both sexes, which makes Indian society so different fi'om society hi England. It creates other needs for the mothers. Men have then work, then- ambitions, and their duties. Then lives are more or less filled up with these alone. The interest of the work, the importance of the duty, the height of the ambition fill up the gaps made by the
MEN AND MANNERS 113
absence of the bairns. Mothers have not these things to fall back upon. Domestic occupations in an Indian household are too simple to occupy the whole attention. Literature and art help to pass away the time of separation, but they are not sufficiently distracting to bring content. Mothers under the circumstances require something more than ' the trivial round, the common task,' something more than pictures and books ; they want distractions ; they invent amusements. And be- cause they are as a rule both God-fearing and Christ-loving, they cannot live happily without the opportunity of religious exercise. The religion of the Church helps them to bear their cruel cross of separation, and affords them opportunity to pray for the absent ones in the most holy of all divine services. Some credit for Church building in India in the past is due to the civil and military officers, the Chaplains, and the mission- aries ; but much more is due to the wives who felt the need more severely, and who, without putting themselves in the forefront, influenced their husbands for the provision of the means of consolation they so greatly required.
Europeans in India have always been thrown back upon themselves for their amusements. Professional caterers have never found a sufficient return for their professional skill even in large stations. If society requires a dramatic representation, it must do it itself ; if it hungers after music, it must provide its own players and singers ; if its young men yearn after races, they must run their own horses and ponies, and ride them themselves. Dancing, tournaments, gymkhana competi- tions, and such like things all have their use in distracting the attention from the ills that have to be borne. The young and middle-aged alike delight in them ; the young because they are young ; the middle-aged because they know that of all possible distractions they are the most wholesome. The occasional gaiety of an Indian station is a recognised attempt to distract, and to compensate to some extent for the many climatic drawbacks of the plains.
There is no reason for the too general belief that at the • beginning of the nineteenth century all Europeans in all places in India had adopted all the habits and customs of the country which are morally indefensible. It is undoubtedly true that
VOL. n. I
114 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
some Europeans in some places had adopted some indefensible customs and habits. But this is a very different statement. WTiat prevented a general laxity of morals was the high character of the Company's servants ; the Company's rules regarding the moral conduct of those it employed ; the influence of the Chaplains, the German Missionaries of the S.P.C.K., and of the handful of Endisb ladies.
CHAPTEE VI
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815
Sf. Johi's, Secunderabad. — The cantonment. The appointment of a Chaplain. Building of the Church. Its enlargement. Its furniture. The old burial- ground. The newer ones. The consecration of the Church. The belfry. The further enlargement. Punkahs. The Parsonage. Division of the Chaplaincy. Modern additions to the furniture. Memorials in the Church and the cemetery. The Orphanage. The Mission. The St. John's Institute. The Soldiers' Institute.
St. Man/s, Arcot. — ^The historic interest of the place. The early Chaplains of Arcot. Building of the Church, Its consecration. Modern additions to the furniture. Memorials in Chui-ch and cemetery.
St. John the Baptist, Secunderabad. — After the fall of Seringapataro it was deemed prudent to have a British force permanently stationed near Hyderabad, the capital town of the Nizam's dominions, to assist the Nizam to maintain political order in his extensive territories. The force was encamped on a plain i about three miles north of the city in the year 1800, and remained there several years before permanent barracks were built. It was known as the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force, and was paid from the revenue of the Ceded Districts. At the same time the Nizam agreed to maintain out of the revenues of the District of Berar another force to garrison the important towns of Ellichpore, Aurungabad, Hingoli, Jaulnah, and Eai- chore, with headquarters at Bolarum, which was a camp about six miles from Secunderabad and N.N.E. of it. This was known as the Hyderabad Contingent.^
Up to 1850 the Secunderabad cantonment consisted only of the land required for military purposes by the troops at
' The cantonment was called Secunderabad by the Nizam himself ; see Letter, Oct. 21, 1807, Political.
2 In 1902 it waa merged in the Indian Army.
I 2
116 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Secunderabad itself. After that date new barracks were built at Trimulgherry, midway between Secunderabad and Bolarum ; the cantonment now includes all three places and measures about twenty-two square miles.
There was neither Church nor Chaplain at the station during the first twelve years of its existence. The Senior Chaplain at Fort St. George recommended the appointment of a Chaplain in his letter to the Governor in Council dated July 23, 1807, and the Government passed on the recommendation to the Court of Durectors ; but they did not see fit to sanction it.i Five years later the Government repeated the recom- mendation, and asked for an increase of four Chaplains on the Fort St. George estabhshment, in order that they might send one to four military stations, one of which was Secunderabad.'- This was one of the many cases in which the local Government had special knowledge of a special local need. They therefore acted on then: own responsibility and sent a Chaplain to the Subsidiary Force without waiting for the Directors' reply. Their previous delay seems to have been due either to a fear that the Nizam would not welcome the appointment of a Christian Minister to a station within his dominions, or that His Highness would grudge the salary of such an official being paid out of the revenues of the districts he had ceded. The Government made inquiries, found that both fears were ground- less, and wrote thus to the Directors : ^
' Having ascertained from the Resident at Hyderabad that there would be no objection to the appointment of a mihtary Chaplain to the British cantonment in its vicinity, we have nominated the Eev. Mr. Brackcnbury for that duty, and have provided for his occasional visitation of the European troops at Jaulnah at such periods as may be determined to be most convenient in communication with the Commanding Ofi&cer of the Subsidiary Force.'
In the next paragraph the Government mentioned that the Resident at Hyderabad had represented that there was no place of Divine Worship at Secunderabad, and that they had
' Despatch, AprU 26, 1809, Public. - Letter, Oct. 17, 1812, 165-66, MU. ^ Letter, Dec. 31, 1813, 230, 237, Mil.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 117
referred his suggestion on that point to the MiHtary Board for consideration. Here again was a pressing local need which the Directors had already sanctioned in principle. The Government did not therefore wait for the reply,i but built a small Church in the year 1814. It measured 66 x 47 feet and was 19 feet high, and is said to have accommodated 300 men.2 A building of those dimensions furnished with com- missariat benches without backs ought to have accommodated at least 400 men and probably did. It was a plain building with strong walls on good foundations, and like the other military Churches already mentioned it had no external or internal ornament of any kind. It cost Es. 16,300. Of this sum Es.600 was collected among the officers locally. There is nothing in the records to show why they collected this sum. There was no rule at that time about paying extra for archi- tectural adornment if it was required. It seems probable that owing to the delay in providing the building the officers of the garrison began to take the matter into their own hands, as those at Masulipatam did a little earlier, and had collected this sum when the Order of Government for the erection of the building arrived.
The Eev. Joseph Brackenbury arrived at Madras in October 1813. He was sent at once to Secunderabad. He saw the building of the Church, but he made no application to the Bishop of Calcutta to license it for Divine Service. The licence was applied for by his successor, the Eev. Henry Harper, in 1819, and arrived in June of the following year.
A Church which only seated 400 men was inadequate to the wants of the garrison. In the year 1826 it was extended eastward 36 feet, and the accommodation was increased by 200 sittings. The cost of the alteration was Es. 13,774. The new part had no ornamentation. It was a solid piece of good building like the old part. When the Government informed the Directors of the necessity of enlargement, they mentioned that the old building could not accommodate more than one- fifth of the Christian inhabitants of the station.^ The Eev.
' Despatch, June 12, 181G, 131-34, Mil.
- Official Return of Churches, 1852.
3 Letter, July 25, 1826, Eccl. ; Despatch, Sept. 5, 1827, 11, Eccl.
118 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
James Boys was the Chaplain when the extension took place. It w-as he also who, wdth the Lay Trustees, applied to the Government for a supply of better furniture for the Church in 1826. Tlie application was sanctioned.^
The old burial-ground, east of St. John's Church, was in a spot chosen at the begmning of the century when Secunderabad was merely a camp. It was not well chosen, for in the rainy season it \vas a swamp. Having been once used for this sacred purpose, there was no local inclination to change it after the cantonment was laid out. It was surrounded with a wall in 1840,"- consecrated by Bishop Spencer in 1841, and closed for burials m 1842. Notwithstandmg this, there have been occasional burials m the Nonconformist and Roman Catholic portions of it since that time. Bishop Spencer, in 1841, conse- crated the cantonment cemetery opposite the Arsenal now in use, and the burial-ground at Bolarum. In each of these there was an artificial division between the English and the Roman Catholic portions.^ In 1854 Bishop Dealtry consecrated the cemetery at Trimulgherry. If the regulations in force at the time were observed, a portion of this ground also was reserved for Nonconformist burials. The Directors wrote* in 1841 : ' We think it very desirable that on occasions of enclosing ground for cemeteries a portion of it should in every case be set apart for parties, being Christians, who may differ in thek faith from the Church of England.' It was probably on the report of Bishop Dealtry that, in 1855, the old disused cemetery was drained and its wall repaired."'
Bishop Corrie of Madras visited Secunderabad in 1836, accompanied by Archdeacon Harper. This was the first episcopal visit. He confirmed 141 persons, but did not conse- crate either the Church or the burial-grounds. The probable reason was that he had omitted to secure the consent and co-operation of the Government as owners of the land. Bishop Spencer came better prepared in 1841. He had the permission
» Letter, Dec. 15, 182G, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 23, 1828, IG, Eccl.
2 Despatch, July 2, 1841, 18, Eccl.
^ Letter, Jan. 21, 1842, 3, Mil.; Despatch, March 19, 1844, Eccl.
•» Despatch, July 2, 1841, 18, Eccl.
^ Letter, Feb. 27, 1855, G-8, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 23, 185G, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 119
of the Government to set apart from all profane and common uses by means of consecration all Churches and burial-grounds built or laid out for the use of the Church of England. On such occasions it is usual for the principal inhabitants to present a petition begging the Bishop to consecrate. The petition to consecrate the Church was signed by the Eev. G. H. Evans and others.i It shows that the building was dedicated to God in honour of St. John the Baptist. The consecration deed is dated December 12, 1841.
At this time the Eev. G. H. Evans was the Chaplain. The records show him to have been in many respects a notable man. He was instrumental in promoting the building of a Church at Bolarum and another at Chudderghaut. He persuaded the military authorities to second his efforts to get a belfry added to St. John's, not only for the accommodation of a bell, but with a view to give the plain useful building a more ecclesiastical appearance. The design was commended by the Bishop and by Archdeacon Shortland, and was carried out in 1846 at the cost of Rs.2387. It is about sixty feet high.2 Evans was also instrumental m getting the Church enlarged in 1850. He left Secunderabad in 1849 ; but it was his strong recommendation that the work should be done which induced Archdeacon Shortland to press the necessity upon the notice of Government. This time it was enlarged by building two transepts. The cost was Es.8629 ; for which sum additional accommodation was found for 150 people. At the same time a Vestry was erected at the new burial-ground for the use of the Chaplain. The Eev. John Gorton was the senior Chaplain of the station when these changes were made, but they were due to the efforts of his predecessor.
In the Official Eeturn of Churches made in 1852 the total cost of St. John's is said to have been Es.41,390. This sum included the cost of the original building, the two extensions, the belfry, and all repairs up to that date.
Secunderabad was one of the military stations on the plains which contended for a long time that punkahs were a necessity in the Church, and ought to be provided for British soldiers. Time after time the Directors refused to sanction
' St. John's Church Records. - Oflficial Return of Churches, 1852.
120 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
the expenditure. In several garrisons, Secunderabad being one of them, the British officers bore the cost and put them up, and the congregation paid the pulling establishment. In 1854 the Government of Fort St. George decided to pay half the cost of the punkahs and half the cost of the estabhshment.i This decision caused the Directors to consider the question more narrowly than they had done before. They consulted retired officers, and they sanctioned the whole cost in the year 1856.2
The Chaplain of Secunderabad is fortunate, like those of Bellary and Wellington, in having a house set apart for him. It is opposite the Church, and is known as the Parsonage. It was one of the origmal bungalows built when the cantonment was laid out, and was at that time allotted to the Chaplain. It has been almost without interruption occupied by successive Chaplains since that time. To prevent mistakes, the Govern- ment through the Commander-in-Chief asked the General Officer Commanding many years ago to regard the house as the Chaplain's official residence.
The growth of Secunderabad and of the religious work required of the Chaplains has a history somewhat like that of Bangalore. Matters came to a crisis in the sixties of the nineteenth century. The stations of the Hyderabad Contingent in Berar received a Chaplain of their own. Bolarum and Trimulgherry were made separate Chaplaincies ; Chudderghaut, by an arrangement with the Government of the Nizam, received a Minister of its own who was not connected with the Service. Notwithstanding this relief the Secunderabad Chaplain still has to visit three out-stations periodically; one of them, Yel- landu, is the centre of a new coal field, and has a small permanent Church of its own.
In 1888 St. John's Church was reseated at a cost of Rs.3000.'^ Some of the old seats had been in use since the first extension in 1827 ; some of them dated from the year of the second enlargement, 1850 ; all alike were the worse for wear. The reseating acted as an inspiration to the congregation to
' Letter, Feb. 9, 1854, 9, Eccl. ; Despatch, Aug. 29, 1855, 7, Eccl. - Letter, Dec. 24, 1855, 7, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 23, 1856, 48, Eccl. 3 G.O., June 26, 1888, No. 90, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 121
improve the general appearance of the interior, and especially of the choir and sanctuary. These were paved with ornamental tiles. The lectern, a handsome work of art, was purchased by the congregation in 1893 ; and the lectern Bible was presented by Mr. S. D'Costa as a thankoffering soon afterwards. A new organ was obtained, and one by one the altar ornaments and hangings were presented by various members of the congrega- tion. The spirit of improvement still continues ; for in the year 1908 another new organ was obtained at a cost of over Es.4000. Most of these additions to the furniture of the Church were made during the Lay Trusteeship of Mr. A. J. Dunlop, who filled that office for many years with the most sympathetic devotion.
Of the memorial tablets in the Church there are two of special interest. One records the death of Colonel Sir Augustus Floyer, K.C.B., in 1818. He commanded the troops at Secun- derabad. As an officer of the Hon. Company's 5th Eegiment of Cavalry he was in all the principal campaigns between 1783 and the date of his death. He was the son of Charles Floyer of the Companj^'s Service, who was Governor of Fort St. David from 1747 to 1750, when that fort was the principal English settlement on the coast. Charles Floyer married Catherine Carvalho at St. Mary's, Fort St. George, in 1761, and Augustus was born at the Fort in 1766. The other tablet commemorates the death of Brigadier-General A. C. McMaster, who commanded the Madras Brigade of the Afghanistan Field Force in 1879, and died at Mooltan. Both tablets were erected by their friends and comrades. There is a tablet recording the death of the wife of the Eev. James Boys, Chaplain, in 1825, but none to the memory of the two Chaplains William Tomes and Frederick William Briggs, who died at Secunderabad in 1839 and 1843 respectively.
In some of the cemeteries there are memorials of rulers and soldiers of historic fame, especially in the burial-ground of the Residency.! Here rest members of the families of Eumbold, Russell, Palmer, and Yule. Monsieur Raymond, the talented French commander of the Nizam's Foreign Contingent, a body of disciplined troops under French officers numbering 15,000
' See J. J. Cotton's Moiimnenlal Inscriptions.
122 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
men, has a monuinent on a bill called after him,i about tbree and a balf miles from Hyderabad. In the other cemeteries the bodies of many gallant officers and men are buried, some of whose names— such as Dalrymple, Desborough, Ditmas, and Cherry — are well known in the history of the southern Presidency.
At Secunderabad, as at other military stations, an orphanage for the children of soldiers was established at an early period in the life of the station. The exact date is not at present known. The oldest records show that it was managed, like similar schools elsewhere, by the Chaplams and Lay Trustees. This leads one to infer that it was not established before the year 1842, when there was only one Chaplain in the station. In that year the Eev. G. H. Evans was relieved by the appoint- ment of a Joint Chaplain. Subsequently other Churches were built, which in turn were served by fresh Chaplains and fresh Lay Trustees. These came on the committee of management as they were appointed. In the year 1859 the Rev. J. J. B. Sayers raised a fund to rebuild the school as a memorial of God's mercy m preserving the Province from the horrors of mutiny. Up to that time it had been known as the Orphanage, and sometimes as the Vestry School. Dr. Sayers, being a good Irishman,"^^ changed the name to the Protestant Orphanage and Brigade School, and there has been trouble several times in consequence.-"' For the new name seemed to imply that it was an undenominational school under undenominational manage- ment. But Dr. Sayers did not mean or intend this to be implied. The management is still with the Chaplain of St. John's, and the children attend Divine Service at that Church.
The flourishing mission at Secunderabad was originated in 1840 by the Eev. R. W. Whitford, a Chaplain ; since that time
' The natives by clipping the last syllable knew Raymond as Monsieur Raym, which they pronounced Myseram. The hill and monument are known by this name.
- The Vestry School of St. Mary's, Fort St. George, and the Orphanage at Bellary had their names similarly altered by Irish Chaplains (Despatch, March 10, 1847, Eccl.). In the former case the new name did not last. Their only inten- tion was to enhance the respectability of the schools' names.
3 See the Diocemn Becord, July and Oct. 1888. '
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 123
it has been nurtured by successive Chaplains, and greatly assisted financially and otherwise by their active interest. The pioneer native priest was the Rev, N. Paranjothy, who ministered at Secunderabad with great zeal and activity from 1842 to 1861. The native Christians worshipped at St. John's till their own Church was built in 1853. This Church was consecrated by Bishop Thomas Dealtry in 1854, and named in honour of St. Thomas the Apostle by the founders, with a possible reference to the Bishop himself. Connected with the mission are four schools and an orphanage for native Tamil and Telugu children.
Beside the Chaplains already mentioned there were many who did good service in their generation, but who were not associated with any striking ecclesiastical movements. They were of all schools of thought, and all different in their methods ; but all one in their devotion to duty. In later days the Rev. R. J. Brandon established the St. John's Institute near the Church, and the Rev. A. H. B. Brittain was instrumental in building the Soldiers' Institute at Trimulgherry and the Church at Yellandu.
St. Mary's, Banipett, Arcot. — The Port and town of Arcot was the capital and residence of the old Nawabs of the Carnatic. In the middle of the eighteenth century there was a political rebellion, and the Nawab was slain. The cause of the Pretender to the throne was adopted by the French at Pondicherry, and that of the heir by the English at Fort St. George. The Pretender led his army away from the capital to join the French in an attack on Trichinopoly. During his absence Captain Robert Clive marched with a small force to attack Arcot. The capture of the walled town and Fort was one of the most remarkable achievements of the time ; and the subsequent defence of the place against the whole force of the Pretender by Clive and his adventurous followers, of whom only about 400 were Europeans, forms one of the most thrilling stories in British military history.
The next thirty years were years of conflict. In 1758 Arcot was taken by Count Lally and his allies. In 1760 it was recovered by Sir Eyre Coote. In 1780 it was taken by Hyder
124 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Ali, who destroyed the fortifications ; but it was recovered in 1783. Since that time there has been no serious fighting in the neighbourhood. The walls of Arcot before their destruction were five miles in circumference ; nothing remains now but one gateway, called the Delhi Gate, about which of course there is more than one heroic story.
The Fort was on the south bank of the Palar river. Ten miles to the west of it is the Fort of Vellore on the same side of the river. Thirty miles to the east of it on the north bank of the river is Wallajabad. Fifteen miles south is the Fort of Arnee. Forty miles to the south-east is Wandiwash where Eyre Coote inflicted a severe defeat upon Count Lally in 1760. The whole district is of great historic interest. The military importance of this group of forts was due to their position with regard to the Mysore border. A considerable force of British and native troops was divided between them ; and Arcot became the cavalry station. As the Fort was in ruins, a cantonment was formed on the other side of the river near a village called Eanipett ; the station was always known as Arcot as long as British troops were there ; when they were withdrawn it gradually assumed the name of Eanipett. Vellore ceased to be a station for British infantry after the mutiny of 1806. Wallajabad proved to be unhealthy and was aban- doned some years later. Arnee was abandoned at the same time. Arcot remained a station for British troops till 1863.
A Chaplain was stationed at Vellore in 1789.^ His duty was to visit Arcot, Arnee, and Wallajabad. After 1806 the head- quarters of the Chaplain were fixed at Arcot, and part of his duty was to i^'isit the other three stations.^ In 1815 it was recognised that the work of those stations could not be done by one Chaplain, more especially as the civil station of Chittoor claimed a portion of his services. The number was therefore increased to tw^o,-*^ one being stationed at Arcot and the other at Chittoor. Other changes were made with regard to Vellore, Arnee, Chittoor, and Wallajabad as time went on ; but Arcot
' See The Church in Madras, i. G18-29, 081. - despatch, April 20, 1809, Public. '^ Despatch, Nov, 3, 1815, 130, Mil.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 125
had the continuous services of a Chaplain until it was aban- doned in 1863. This is the hst up to 1834 :
Years.
1789-91
The Eev. C. Wells . „ J. E. Atwood „ W. Thomas
C. Ball . „ J, Mousley „ E. Smyth „ T. Lewis ,, P. Stewart
1798-1802 and 1803-4
1808-9
1809-11
1811-13
1814-29 (died at Bangalore)
1829-33 (died at Vellore)
1833-34 (died at Arcot)
Arcot was one of the places recommended by Dr. Kerr for a permanent Chaplain in 1807. It was also one of the places recommended by General Hay MacDowall for a permanent Church in the same year. The same delay took place here as at other places with regard to the buildmg. In 1808 a house in the cantonment was hired and made to serve the purposes of a Church. But it was an unsatisfactory arrangement. When the Government of Fort St. George informed the Directors of what they had done i the reply - was :
' We approve etc. And we embrace this opportunity of acquainting you that we shall be ready to sanction the erection at a moderate expense of houses of worship at all the seven military stations specified in paragraph 9 of our Public Letter dated 5 June 1805.'
The difficulty of the local Government was chiefly financial. They had to build at this period not only barracks and hospitals, but also Court Houses, Treasuries, and other civil buildings. They had to consider how all this could be done with the money at their disposal. In 1807 a house was rented as a place of worship. In 1812 they decided to convert a native hospital at Arcot into a Church. But the Commander-in-Chief was insistent. Grave accusations had been made against the European troops in his command, and he did not want to hear them repeated.^ So the Military Board was desired to submit
' Letters, Oct. 24, 1808, 168, Public, and Oct. 24, 1808, 394, Mil. ; Despatches,. July 10, 1811, 112, Public, and Sept. 9, 1812, 182, Mil.
- Letter, Dec. 24, 1807, 233, Mil.; Despatch, Jan. 23, 1811, 141, Mil. =» Letter, Dec. 31, 1813, 100, Mil.
Plan of St. Mary's, Arcot. Tliis was the standard plan of a Church sanctioned by the Military Boarrl between 1809 and 1815. Dimensions varied according to requirements.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 127
a plan and estimate for a small Church. During the year 1814 the Church was built. The additions of the sanctuary and a Vestry room on each side of it were made in 1815. The body of the Church measured internally 48 x 42 x 22 feet.i The sanctuary extended another 12 feet ; so that the total inside length was 60 feet. With commissariat benches without backs there was sitting accommodation for the officers and about 300 men. The cost was Es. 10,332. It was consecrated by Bishop Spencer on October 20, 1844, and was named St. Mary's in honour of the Blessed Virgin.
The Senior Presidency Chaplain in 1816, the Eev. E. Vaug- han, reported that the Church at Arcot was ' nearly finished ' ^ in a return called for by the Government. It is, however, confidently stated locally that the Church was ready for use at the beginning of 1815. If so, it must have been in use before it was quite finished, which is quite possible. The Rev. Richard Smyth was the Chaplain who saw it built. He wanted it badly, and it is quite probable that he made use of it before the final touches were added. The Register Books were commenced in 1813 by the Rev. J. Mousley, when the services were held in the hired house.
In the year 1851 the old Cavalry Mess House was sold by the Government and bought by the Roman Catholics, who intended to convert it into a chapel.^ The Government on hearing of this returned the sale price and expenses to the purchasers, and ordered the materials of the building to be sold by auction. The Directors made no remark. As a rule the Government were liberal to the Roman Catholics and assisted them both to build and to keep in repair their chapels, which were in use by British troops. But they claimed to have a word as to where they were built. It cannot be known now why they adopted the course they did. The Roman Catholics did not apparently declare their intention till the purchase was completed. Perhaps that was the offence. The Mess House was probably in the very heart of the cantonment, where the military authorities did not want a chapel of any kind. That
' The 1852 Official Return says 48 x 48 x 22 feet ; a mistake.
'^ Constdtations, Jan. 27, 1816.
•' Letter, June 26, 1851, 2, Eccl. ; Despatch, March 2, 1853, 9, Eccl.
128 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
may have been the cause. The action of the Government was certainly unusual.
From time to time repau's were executed and new furniture added ; but no alteration has been made to the building from the time it was built to the present day. It never needed enlargement. The plan therefore is of interest ; for it shows exactly what the Military Board of the period considered to be the best possible design for the price to be paid. They had to consider durability and permanence as well as accommodation, and to put aside rigorously all thought of ornamentation. The Church consists of a nave with a tiled roof supported by pillars, and Hanked by two aisles with terraced roofs. Arcot is now almost deserted. It seems a pity that the building cannot be transferred to one of the many new places where a Church to accommodate about three hundred people is requu'ed.
Since the miUtary authorities abandoned the station, the buildmg has been well cared for and used by the civilians who now form the population of the place. The handsome altar vessels were provided in the early days by the Hon. Bast India Company ; they bear the Company's coat of arms, like the plate at other old military stations. The coloured glass east wmdow, representing the Crucifixion, was a thankoffering from Mr. Apothecary Chadwick on his recovery from illness. The pulpit, lectern, altar rail, and Glastonbury chairs are of teak wood handsomely carved. The carving was the handiwork of Mr. A. F. Cox of the Madras Civil Service in 1875. Mr. Cox in the early part of his career was assistant to Mr. W. S. White- side, the Collector and Chief Magistrate of North Arcot, who as a relief to official duties had taken up the hobby of wood- carving. In this art he became very efficient ; specimens of his beautiful work can be seen at the Chittoor and Vellore Churches and in the Cathedral at Madras. Mr. Cox was mfected with his enthusiasm and followed his example ; and when he was transferred to Ranipett (Arcot) in 1875, and beheld the old and dilapidated furniture in the Church, he determined to renew it as Whiteside had renewed the furniture at Chittoor. The first four benches were made under Mr. Cox's supervision. The design was copied from the seats presented by Mr. White- side to Vellore. Six similar benches were subsequently obtained
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 129
by the congregation. The rest are over seventy years old. They have perpendicular backs and are said to be very uncom- fortable; but a vertical back is better than no back at all. The lamps and the American reed organ were the gifts of Mr. J. Andrews of the Madras Civil Service. Mr. W. S. White- side was the donor of the brass altar cross and of a solid well-made altar table.
No burials have taken place inside the Church. There are, however, two monumental tablets worthy of notice. The one on the south wall is to the memory of the Eev. Eichard Smyth, who died at Bangalore ; he was Chaplain of Arcot from 1814 to 1829. The one on the north wall commemorates Captain John Stedman Cotton of the 7th Madras Light Cavalry, who died of cholera at Chittoor in 1843. He was the author of ' Tlie Tale of a Tiger,' from which ' The Tale of a Tub ' is supposed to have been derived. The tablet is by Weekes the sculptor, and includes a medallion portrait of the deceased in relief.
The cemetery has been in use since the cantonment was made, but the earliest monument in it is dated 1791. The earliest inscribed tomb at Arnee is dated 1784. The inscrip- tions on the old tombs at Wandiwash Fort have perished. They belonged to the period of the gallant defence of the Fort by Flint and Brereton in 1759 and 1760. At Arnee is the tomb and memorial of Colonel Henry Harvey Aston, who commanded the 12th Eegiment, and was killed in a duel which he provoked.^ All the cemeteries contain the mortal remains of gallant and brave men, who lived in troublous times and bore their part well. At Arcot are buried two Chaplains, Holled Coxe of the Bengal establishment, and Pointz Stewart of the Madras establishment. Coxe was on leave from Bengal for his health, and was on his way to Bangalore with his wife. He died at Arcot in 1820, aged twenty-five. The Latin inscription on his grave says : ' Juvenis etsi, Vitae tamen officiis per- functus erat, Gravi erga Deum pietate imbutus, Vix ad has oras appulsus, Animam eheu praematuram expiravit. Hoc marmor apposuere, Sui deflentes.' His wife proceeded to Bangalore, where his son, who afterwards entered the
^ Memoirs of George Elers, pp. 81-89. VOL. u. :k
130 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Company's service, was born.i Pointz Stewart was appointed to the station in 1833, and fell a victim to the heat in the month of May 1834.
The last resident Chaplain of Arcot (1861-63) was the Rev. J. W. Wynch, a lineal descendant of Mr. Alexander Wynch, who was appointed Governor of Fort St. George in 1773.
' J. J. Cotton's Monumental Inscriptions.
CHAPTEE VII
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS UNDER THE BISHOPS OF CALCUTTA
The Calcutta Bishopric. Its original extent. Functions of the Bishop and the Archdeacons. Ecclesiastical Courts. Bishops and Archdeacons to be corporations sole. Power reserved to the Crown to recall appointments. Power reserved to the Governors in Council to determine residence in their territories. Local Governments to assist the Bishop and Archdeacons. The first Bishop. The first Archdeacon of Madras. The Senior Presidency Chaplain. Archidiaconal functions. Rules of procedure. Registrars. The building of St. George's. The Bishop's Primary Visitation. Conse- cration of St. George's and of St. John's, Trichinopoly. The Second Visita- tion. Confirmations and Consecrations. Archdeacon Mousley's tour of inspection ; his death and character. Vaughan, second Archdeacon. Licensing of C.M.S. missionaries, 1824. Bishop Heber's Visitation ; his death. Chaplains' retiring allowances. Vaughan's inspection tour. Retire- ment of Vaughan. Robinson, third Archdeacon ; his conception of the office. Bishop Turner's Visitation. Confirmations, consecrations, ordina- tions, 1830. Bishop Wilson's Visitation, 1834. Confirmations, &c. The Vepery Conference on caste disputes. List of Consecrations up to 1836.
The East India Company Act of 1813 provided for the issue, ' in case it should please His Majesty,' of Royal Letters Patent under the great seal, constituting one Bishopric for the whole of the British territories in the East Indies and in other parts within the limits of the Charter of the East India Company ; and three Archdeaconries for the British territories within the jurisdiction of the three Governments of Fort William, Fort St. George, and Bombay. The Charter limits of the Company extended far beyond the boundaries of India; so that the Bishops of Calcutta at the beginning of their spiritual rule had jurisdiction not only in India itself, but also in Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, the trading stations in China, St. Helena, Cape of Good Hope, and the settlements in Australasia.
K 2
132 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
The Letters Patent, which were issued in the following year, empowered the Bishop of the new See to perform all functions peculiar to the office of a Bishop ; to exercise spiritual and ecclesiastical jurisdiction throughout the See according to the ecclesiastical laws of England ; to grant licences to officiate ; to visit, try, correct and punish all ecclesiastical persons who offended against the ecclesiastical laws ; and to administer oaths in such cases for the better administration of justice. The jurisdiction given was actually limited to the superintendence and c^ood government of the ministers of the Church establish- ment of the East India Company. In order to carry it out the Bishop was to have a Consistory Court with the usual officials.
As to the duties and functions of the Archdeacons, not much more was said than that they should assist the Bishop of Calcutta in then- archdeaconries ' in the exercise of such episcopal jurisdiction and functions, as we have been pleased to limit to the said Bishop, according to the duty of an Archdeacon, ])y the ecclesiastical laws of our realm of England.' They were to be commissaries of the Bishop within their archdeaconries. During vacancies in the See they were to exercise episcopal jurisdiction as far as the ecclesiastical law allowed. For the rest it was considered to be understood that an Archdeacon in India would have the same kind of function, power, and duty as an Archdeacon in England. Generally speaking the duty of an Archdeacon is the care and inspection of the diocese, or a portion of the diocese, in subordination to the Bishop. Under the authority of the Bishop he is to visit the parishes of the archdeaconry, and to correct and amend such matters as ought to be corrected and amended, unless they be matters of such importance as ought only to be adjudged by the Bishop himself. Every power which the Archdeacon has is derived from the Bishop. He is the occulus efisco'pi within his prescribed jurisdiction, the overseer of the Christian shepherds and the Christian flock ; he is also the vicarius e'pisco'pi, with power to act in the name of the Bishop when receiving authority to do so. The object of his oversight is the inspection of the fabric, furniture, sacred vessels, ornaments, books, and other property of the Church. For the better exercise of these powers the
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 133
Archdeacon has a Court. The chief officer of it is the Registrar, appointed by the Bishop, whose duty is to register ecclesiastical documents, records, episcopal and archidiaconal acts, and to assist in the administration of justice. It was assumed in the Statute and in the Letters Patent that these duties and functions were known, and that when Archdeacons were appointed they would perform all functions and duties that properly belonged to them.
It seems to be quite certain, from the care with which the procedure of the Archdeacon's Court and the Bishop's Court was regulated, that there was an idea at home that the Chaplains required discipline and correction. There was to be an appeal from the lower to the higher Court. It was laid down that in all grave cases the Bishop or his commissary was to proceed in due form of law to final sentence. This sentence was to be at once communicated to the local Government, which was to refer the matter to its Supreme Court. This Court might stop further proceedings by writ of prohibition or mandamus. If it upheld the proceedings there was to be an appeal to the King ; for which purpose Commissioners, consisting of the Judges of the Supreme Court at Calcutta and the members of the Calcutta Council, or any three of them, were delegated to hear it. It is to the credit of the Chaplains that no Courts were required in their generation nor for a long time after they had passed away.
The Bishop was given the right of collating to the office of Archdeacon any priest who was a Chaplain in the service of the Company. The Bishop and Archdeacons by virtue of their offices were to be corporations sole with perpetual succession for the purposes of holding property according to custom. The Crown reserved to itself the power to revoke or recall any appointment made. The Company retained the power through their Governors in Council to determine the residence of any persons within their territories. The Court of Directors, the local Governments, and all officials in India were ordered to assist the Bishops and Archdeacons in the execution of their offices.
The Letters Patent were dated May 2, 1814. Under them Dr. Thomas Fanshaw Middleton was appointed Bishop of the
134 THE CHURCH IN I^IADRAS
See of Calcutta, and the Rev. John Mousley was appointed Archdeacon of Madras. Dr. Middleton was a member of the S.P.C.K., and had taken an active part in their missionary deHberations. It was well known that he was in sympathy with the desire to promote Christian knowledge and to propa- gate the Gospel. It was the custom of the S.P.C.K. to dismiss their missionaries to their work with a prayer, a charge, and a blessing. Dr. Middleton had been selected on more than one occasion to deliver the charge. He left England with a great deal of goodwill from all religious parties and classes, and he found a similar goodwill on his arrival at Calcutta.
The first Archdeacons were nominated by the Crown. Subsequent nominations were granted by the Letters Patent to the Bishop.
Since the beginning of the century it had been the custom of the local Government to appoint one of their senior Chaplains to the Presidency Church in Fort St. George, and to make him the channel through whom all communications between themselves and the other Chaplains had to pass. In 1814 the Rev. Edward Vaughan occupied this position. The Rev. John Mousley, who was appointed a Chaplain by the Directors in 1810, was transferred from Wallajabad, in 1812, to assist Vaughan in his multifarious duties at the Presidency. There were then eleven Chaplains on the Madras establishment, and seven of these were senior to him. The probable reason why he was selected by the advisers of the King was that he had had a distinguished career at Oxford, and had been elected to a Fellowship at Balliol College. The old promotion rule of the Company, ' seniority tempered by selection,' was hardly observed in Mousley's case ; but it has to be remembered that University distinction was universally recognised at the period to be the golden key which opened the gates of high office in the Church.
It fell to the lot of Vaughan, therefore, to institute and in- duct Mousley, his junior colleague, into the Archdeaconry. Both ceremonies took place under a commission from the Bishop at St. Mary's, Fort St. George, the former on March 27, 1815, and the latter on the following day. The record of the Institution
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 135
and the Induction was drawn up by the newly appointed Registrar, Robert Orme, and was witnessed by ' four respectable inhabitants ' : namely, George Arbuthnot, the founder of the firm of Arbuthnot & Co.;i Wilham Harington, Thomas Macleane, both in the Company's Civil Service ; and Robert Anderson, M.D., the eminent physician and botanist, whose monument is in the porch of St. George's Cathedral. Archdeacon Mousley read himself in at St. Mary's on the following Sunday, This event was attested in the Archdeacon's Act Book by three civilians whose names are well known in the southern Presi- dency— Richard Clarke, G. R. Sullivan, and A. F. Hudleston. The families of Harington, Clarke, Sullivan, and Hudleston have each supplied four generations of administrators to the Indian service. Richard Clarke was the first Honorary Secre- tary of the S.P.C.K. in Madras, and did yeoman service in preserving the property of the Society when it was in great danger. On his return to England the Society wisely invited him to join their East India Committee ; he possessed a knowledge of their concerns in the East which was of great value to them in their deliberations.
Neither the Statute nor the Letters Patent made the Arch- deacon head of the ecclesiastical department. There is no ev+idence from the Archdeacon's Act Books or the Government Gazettes that the Government expected of the Archdeacon anything beyond the canonical duties of the office at first. These were judicial and disciplinary, not secretarial. The Archdeacon administered oaths, issued licences to the clergy for the Bishop, and citations for visitations. He was con- stituted Bishop's Commissary without further appointment within his Archdeaconry. There was nothing at first to prevent Vaughan from continuing his administrative duties as Senior Presidency Chaplain; and as the Government had no objection he continued to be the channel of communication between themselves and the Chaplains, and to receive all copies of register books and other returns which had to be made by the Chaplains of the different garrisons inland. The former of these duties was transferred to the Archdeacon in 1816 by the order of the Governor in Council. The latter duty remained
^ See Lawson's Memories of Madras, p. 273.
136 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
with the Senior Presidency Chaplain till 1831, when the duties and the records were transferred by order of Government to the Registrar. Thus by degrees the Archdeacon became the head of the Ecclesiastical Department, and the functions of the Senior Presidency Chaplain ceased.
The Bishop of Calcutta plamly saw that he and his officials must have administration as far as possible in their hands. He therefore moved the Governor- General of Fort William in Council to issue three rules regarding their control over and relationship to the Chaplains.^ The first rule provided that nominations to stations should originate with the Bishop, who was to communicate them to the local Governments. The second rule provided that Chaplains on appointment and arrival should report themselves to the Bishop, or the Arch- deacon in his absence. The third rule provided that all of&cial correspondence relatmg to the duties and concerns of the clergy should in future be carried on with the Bishop, or in his absence with the Archdeacons of the respective Presidencies. Had the rule said ' communications ' instead of official ' corre- spondence,' it would have mcluded the official reports from out- stations, wdiich had up to that time been sent to Government through the Senior Presidency Chaplain. The term actually used enabled Edward Vaughan to retam the substance of his old official position, whilst Archdeacon Mousley performed the new duties of his new office. This curious result would not have been arrived at if the senior of the two men had been appointed to the office and dignity of Archdeacon.
In addition to the Resolutions mentioned above the Gov- ernor-General in Council passed and published two others. One was that the Secretary in the Military Department should make a compilation of the existing rules and orders for the guidance of Chaplains for the information of the Lord Bishop, to enable him to prepare such new rules and orders as he might deem expedient for the better management of the Ecclesiastical Department confided to his charge by His Majesty's Letters Patent. The other was that copies of all the resolutions should be sent to the Military Department for transmission to the
* Resolutions of the Governor-Oeneralin Council, Nov. 1, 1815 ; Proclamation of the Governor of Fort St. George in Council, Jan. 18, 181G.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 137
military authorities at the various military stations for their guidance.
Bishop Middleton on his arrival at Calcutta found it im- possible to work without a Eegistrar in each Archdeaconry. The Letters Patent enabled him to make appointments, but gave no indication as to the source from which their salaries were to be derived. He therefore wrote to the Governor- General in Council and explained that in England registrars were remunerated by the fees on the instruments and documents they prepared and registered ; but that in India these would be comparatively few, and the returns from them inadequate. The Government recognised the import- ance of the work registrars had to do, and fixed a scale of remuneration which, added to the probable amount to be derived from fees, they thought would be sufiicient for the purpose.
During the time these changes were taking place the Church on the Choultry Plain was being built. At the time Archdeacon Mousley was instituted it was nearly finished and ready for use. After the Institution the Presidency Chaplains, Edward Vaughan and Marmaduke Thompson, and some of the principal inhabitants petitioned the Bishop for a licence to use it. The Bishop sent the licence to the Archdeacon authorising the Presidency Chaplains to perform divine service in it for two years. On April 30, 1815, they conducted the first services in the new building.
At the end of the same year the Archdeacon received a mandate from the Bishop notifying the primary visitation of the Archdeaconry of Madras, requiring the Archdeacon to cite all priests and deacons in Holy Orders to appear, and inhibiting the Archdeacon from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction during the period of the visitation. The mandate was pub- lished in the Government Gazette, together with a notice that Confirmations would be held at the Choultry Plain Church and other centres. The Bishop also sent printed copies of a Confirmation address, which were to be forwarded to all the Chaplains and read by them to their congregations.
There were no missionaries in Holy Orders at the time ;
138 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
consequently the only persons cited were the Chaplains. Of these there were fourteen :
Edward Vaughan. Morgan Davis.
Marmaduke Thompson. Thomas Wetherherd.
Charles Ball, D.D. James Hutchison, LL.D.
William Thomas. Joseph Brackenbury.
. W. A. Keating. Henry C. Bankes.
John Dunsterville. William Roy.
Richard Smyth. James Traill.
Half the number were excused attendance owing to their distance from the Presidency town ; but the following eight answered their names and took their part in. the visitatorial proceedings : Vaughan, Thompson, Ball, Thomas, Keating, Smyth, Davis, and Traill. The Bishop recognised the seniority of Vaughan, as well as the great respect in which he was locally held, by appointing him to preach the Visitation sermon.
On January 8 St. George's Church was consecrated. On the 9th the first Confirmation in the Presidency Church was held. Two hundred and seventy-eight Europeans and Eurasians were confirmed. All their names were registered in the Arch- deacon's Act Book. Many past and present Madrasis will recognise with interest such names on the list as Anderson, Balfour, Casamajor, Bazely, Bahnain, Franck, Forsyth, Goldingham, Godfrey, Hunter, Harington, Hickey, Kennet, Prendergast, and Eicketts.
On January 11 the Visitation took place. On January 22 the ground ' surrounding St. George's Church ' was consecrated. The records so far discovered do not show the precise limits of the portion so set apart. When the Church was consecrated the Bishop refused to consecrate the ground, as it was not enclosed. Between the 8th and 22nd there would not have been time to enclose the whole compound adequately. It seems most probable that a sufficient portion in the south-east corner for immediate use as a burial-ground was hastily en- closed, and then set aside by the Bishop's decree and blessing from all profane and common uses.
The Bishop then proceeded to license the eight Chaplains who were present. They subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles,
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 139
the three articles of Canon 36, the declaration of assent to the Book of Common Prayer ; they took the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and of canonical obedience ; and they were licensed as follows :
St. George's, Choultry Plain.
Vaughan
Thompson'
Keating . St. Mary's, Fort St. George.
Davis . The Church in Black Town.
These were the only three consecrated Churches at the time.
Ball . St. Thomas' Mount Chapel.
Thomas . The Chapels in the Cantonment and Fort
at Bangalore. Smyth . The Chapels at Arcot, Vellore, and
Wallajahbad. Traill . The Chapel at Poonamallee.
Before leaving Madras Bishop Middleton drew up parochial boundaries to define the jurisdiction of the Chaplains at the Presidency. To the Fort Chaplain was allotted Chintadre- pettah, Egmore, Pursewalkum, Vepery, Perambore, St. Thome, and Triplicane. To the Black Town Chaplain was allotted the whole of the military boundary of the Black Town, and the houses outside that boundary on the north. To the St. George's Chaplains was allotted the rest of Madras. The four Chaplains were ordered to take a week's duty at the St. Mary's cemetery in turn. The licences for erecting tombs were to be granted by the Chaplain to whom the funeral duties belonged. Three- fourths of the fees were to be divided between the four Chap- lains ; the other fourth was to be credited to the St. Mary's Charity School in the Fort. The St. Mary's Chaplain was to visit the military part of the General Hospital ; the Black Town Chaplain the rest.
Before the Bishop proceeded on his tour southward, the Registrar, Robert Orme, petitioned that his Lordship would excuse him and would appoint a deputy to accompany him.. The petition was granted, and William Henry Abbott, gentle- man, was appointed to perform the duties of the Registrar in Orme's place during the tour. Before assuming office
140 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Abbott was required to subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles, the lirst and third articles of Canon 36, the fii'st clause of the second article of the same canon, and to take the oaths of allegiance and sui3remacy and of his office.
The Bishop then went south and afterwards to the west coast ; and the Archdeacon's Act Book shows that during his tour he consecrated the Church of St. John at Trichinopoly, and licensed H. C. Bankes to officiate in it ; that he licensed the chapel of St. Mary at Arcot for divine service till such tune as it should be consecrated ; that he licensed John Dunsterville to officiate at Cannanorc, and James Hutchison to officiate at Quilon in the buildings then used at these places for divine worship.
There is no record of any consecrations except that of St. John's, Trichinopoly. Probably the other buildings were not fmished, or were not properly furnished, and the burial-grounds were not properly enclosed.
During the next three years the Archdeacon was the Commissary of the Bishop and licensed the clergy as they arrived.
In March 1819 the Bishop held his second triennial visitation of the Archdeaconry. As before he issued his mandate, inhibited the Archdeacon from the exercise of his jurisdiction, and instructed him to cite the clergy to appear before him at St. George's. Twenty clergy were cited, but all were excused attendance except the five in the Presidency town and the Chaplains of St. Thomas' Mount and Poonamallee.
On his arrival the Bishop mtroduced a change in the system of licensing the clergy. Three years before he followed the custom of the English Church and licensed the clergy to officiate in a fixed place. The exigencies of the service made changes of station necessary, and sometimes more than one change in the course of a year. A fresh licence for every change was a grievous and unnecessary expense to the Chaplains. The Bishop therefore introduced the system of granting a general licence to officiate in the Archdeaconry, and of endorsing the licence when a change was made from one station to another. A confirmation was held at St. George's on March 23, 181'J, and 247 persons were confirmed, among whom one note^
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 141
such well-known names as Branson, De Meuron, Dunhill, Calcler, Guest, Hitchins, Leonard, Lumsden, Mourat, Nailor, Nuthall, Pouchard, Ringrow, Saalfelt, Sewell, Starkenburg, Sherman, Vigors, and Zscherpel.
On April 8 the Bishop consecrated the St. Mary's burial- ground on the petition of the Fort Chaplains and some of the principal inhabitants. The portion consecrated included the enlargement northwards which was carried out in 1801,
On April 13 the Bishop consecrated the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Poonamallee, and the burial-ground of that station. The petition to consecrate was signed by Wilham Malkin the Chaplain, Captain John Hamilton Edwards the Commandant and other officers. By order of the Government Captain Edwards presented the necessary deeds of donation which the Bishop laid upon the altar. At the conclusion of the services the acts of consecration were duly registered.
Li the year 1811 Edward Vaughan obtained through the Directors a commission from the Archbishop of Canterbury to consecrate the cantonment Church at Masulipatam. In 1813 he obtained a similar commission to consecrate the Churches at Cannanore, Bangalore, Bellary, Trichinopoly, and the Fort Church at Masulipatam, together with their burial-grounds and the burial-ground of St. Mary's, Fort St. George.^ In 1816 Bishop Middleton consecrated the Church and burial- ground at Trichinopoly ; and it was hoped that in 1819 he would consecrate the rest. Being unable to do this, he licensed the use of the buildings at Bangalore, Secunderabad, and MasuH- patam Fort, and the Chaplains who were to officiate in them. Chaplains were licensed to officiate at Cannanore and Bellary, but by a curious oversight the buildings at those two stations were either not licensed, or the Registrar neglected to register the fact in the Act Book.
Archdeacon Mousley made an inspection tour of the Chap- laincies in 1816 or 1817 with the sanction of the Government. Unfortunately no record of it exists except the fact that it took place, and that it was reported to the Directors in the year
' Letter, Feb. 6, 1810, 296, Public ; Despatch, Feb. 22, 1811, 28, Public; Letter. Jan. 10, 1812, 38, Public ; Despatch, Jan. 29, 1813, 7, Public ; and Archdeacon's Act Book under date 1819.
142 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
1817. The Government paid his travelling expenses,^ but the Directors refused to sanction the payment. They quoted section 50 of the Act of 1813 as then authority for the refusal. This section prescribed that the salaries of the Bishop and Archdeacons ' shall be in lieu of all fees of office, perquisites, emoluments and advantages whatsoever ; and no fees of office, perquisites etc. shall be accepted, received or taken in any manner or on any account or pretence whatsoever, other than the salaries aforesaid.' The Government of Fort St. George did not agree that this section of the Act precluded the payment of travelling expenses, but as the money had been paid more than a year before the receipt of the Directors' despatch, the matter was allowed to drop.
Archdeacon Mousley died in August 1819. Bishop Middle- ton paid a generous tribute to his memory in a letter to the S.P.C.K. in London.2 He said :
' He was a man of no common endowments ; considerable as a scholar and a divine, very eminent as an Orientalist, conscientiously and affectionately attached to the Church of England, of sound and solid judgement, of sedate yet earnest piety, and ])lessed with a serenity of mind and a meekness of deportment such as I have rarely known. The honour paid to his memory on the day of his funeral evinced how highly his worth was appreciated by people of every rank in Madras. By myself his loss must be long felt ; he was my zealous but discreet coadjutor in an important part of my charge.'
The Bishop nominated Edward Vaughan to take his place, and issued a commission to the other Presidency Chaplain to witness the necessary subscriptions, receive the declarations, and administer the oaths previous to his institution and induc- tion. He was inducted on May 6, 1820, and read himself in on the following day. The witnesses who signed the record in the Archdeacon's Act Book were Eichard Yeldham, John Gwatkin, Henry Purchas, and George Cadell. The new Arch- deacon took the oaths of allegiance, abjuration, and supremacy
' Despatch, August 26, 1818, 5, 6, Eccl.
- Consultations of the East India Committee, July 24, 1820, in which is recorded his letter dated Sept. 21, 1819.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 143
in the Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras on August 28 ; but it does not appear why this course was adopted.
The death of Archdeacon Mousley created vacancies. Contrary to the terms of the Proclamation of the Governor in Council dated January 18, 1816, these were filled up by the Government, who sent the appointments to the Archdeacon to be registered, and ordered copies to be sent to the Bishop for his information. This procedure was continued from 1820 till the arrival of Bishop Heber on his primary visitation in 1826. As the Bishop endorsed the licences of those who were thus transferred from one station to another, the procedure had the Bishop's approval. It is not, however, easy to understand why the nominations were not made by the Archdeacon, who was the Bishop's Commissary for this among other purposes.
The year 1824 is memorable for the fact that by that time the C.M.S. had consented to allow their agents in India, who were in Holy Orders, to be licensed by the Bishop of Calcutta according to the custom of the English Church. Some of their ordained missionaries had been in India several years working without any licence as if they were not members of the Church. In 1824 the following appeared before the Archdeacon as Commissary of the Bishop, subscribed the usual declarations, took the appointed oaths, and were duly licensed to officiate in the Diocese among the heathen : James Eidsdale, William Sawyer, Benjamin Bailey, Henry Baker, and Joseph Fawcett Beddy. In January 1825 Samuel Eidsdale followed their example.
Bishop Heber of Calcutta arrived at Madras in February 1826 to hold his first and last visitation of the Archdeaconry. His Lordship adopted a slightly different procedure from that of Bishop Middleton. The two Presidency Chaplains, the Chaplains of Fort St. George, Black Town, St. Thomas' Mount, and Poonamallee were cited to appear. The rest were cited and excused, but were required to send their Letters of Orders. Beside these the Bishop on arrival cited the missionaries of the S.P.C.K. and the C.M.S. who were working in Madras : namely Dr. Bottler, Mr. Haubroe, Mr. James Eidsdale, Mr. Sawyer, and the new arrival Mr. John William Doran, who was licensed in March 1826.
144 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Bishop Heber was accompanied by the Rev. Thomas Robmson, his Chaplam. Tlie six Chaplains mentioned and the live missionaries were present at the Visitation, in addition to Robmson and the Archdeacon. The Bishop preached at St. George's Chm-ch more than once, at St. Mary's in the Fort, the Black Town Church, and at the new Church at Vepery. He held one Confirmation service for the four parishes at St. George's, when 475 persons were confirmed. On the following day he confii-med 104 persons at Poonamallee. Confirmations were also held at Tanjore and Trichinopoly before the death of this devoted servant of God in April 1826.
The Court of Directors had under consideration this year the increase of the retiring allowances of the Chaplains. They came to the conclusion that in order to get the kind of man they wished to have they must make the conditions of service attractive. They could offer no romance such as belongs to the work of a missionary ; no independence of effort ; no promise of organising and superintending other men's labours ; nothing but the routine of pastoral work ; nothing different from the ordinary work which the clergy carry on at home in a climate mostly congenial, with the regular enjoyment of the companionship of their wives and children, who need not be separated from them either for climatic or education or any other reason. If the men they wanted were to be attracted from the pleasant home parishes, the Company was bound to offer some compensation for leaving such pleasant prospects behind. They had already increased the pay when serving ; they now increased the retiring allowance from the pay of a Major to that of a Lieutenant-Colonel.
After the death of Bishop Heber in 1826 Archdeacon Vaughan proposed to complete the visitation which the Bishop had intended to make to Bangalore and the intermediate stations in North Arcot. A large sum of money which had been allotted for the Bishop's expenses remained unexpended. From this sum the Government paid the Archdeacon's expenses; and reported the fact to the Directors. i
The Durectors rephed ^ by referring the Governor in Council to their former despatch of 1818, and expressing their dis-
' Letter, July 25, 182G, IG, Eccl. - Despatch, Sept. 5, 1827, 12, Eccl.
THE VEN. EDWARD VAUGHAN, ARCHDEACON OF MADRAS, 1 81 9^1 828.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 145
pleasure that their ruling had been set aside. The Council were convinced of the advantage of inspection and the justice of charging the Government with the cost of it ; but they were obliged to acquiesce in the orders of the Directors, though they did so under protest. They put their case in this way : i
' The Rt. Hon. the Governor in Council regrets that the proceedings of Government on the occasion in question should not have been approved of by the Hon. Court. Chaplains in the service of the Company are allowed remuneration when they are required to travel from one station to another in discharge of the different duties required of them ; and the Archdeacon's tour of visitation, being equally one of a public nature, the Government were not aware that the restrictions [as to fees, perquisites, &c.] contained in 53 Geo. Ill, cap. 155, should be constructed to preclude the grant of travelling expenses to him also, when employed on official duty. The orders of the Hon. Court, however, on this subject will in future be strictly adhered to, unless they shall see lit on this application to direct that they be not enforced.'
In the year 1827 the Court of Directors called for 2 complete returns of all baptisms, marriages, and burials ^performed by civil and military officers at out-garrisons where no Chaplam resided, from the earliest times in which there were records, and for quarterly returns in future. The extract was sent by the Chief Secretary to Archdeacon Vaughan, requesting him to forward what was required to the Senior Chaplain at the Presidency. A procedure which had been adopted to save the dignity of Vaughan under other chcumstances no longer had that effect when he became Archdeacon.
Archdeacon Vaughan resigned all his offices and went home in. January 1828. The Directors gave him a special retiring allowance in recognition of his long and good service,^ and the Fort St. George Government appointed Dr. Eoy, the Senior Presidency Chaplain, to act as Archdeacon till the Bishop's wishes were known. The vacancy was filled up on
1 C'cmsultations, Jan. 29, 1828.
- Despatch, July 25, 1827, 17, Public.
'^ Despatch, Sept. 23, 1828, Eccl., para. 3.
146 THE CHURCH IN AIADRAS
May 7, 1828, when the Eev. Thomas Eobinson became the third Archdeacon of Madras by mduction, after making the usual declarations and takmg the usual oaths. The service at St. George's was similar to those m former years. The witnesses who signed the record m the Act Book were four civilians : Henry Sulivan Graeme, John Gwatkin, George Hadow, and George Cadell. Archdeacon Eobmson followed the example of Vaughan, and took the oaths of allegiance, abjuration, and supremacy at the Supreme Court of Judicature. He was nominated to the office by Bishop James.
The fii'st two Archdeacons, Mousley and Vaughan, had different conceptions of their office from all their successors. They regarded themselves less as Government officials than as Church officials and the commissaries of the Bishop. They modelled their conduct of affans upon that of similar dignitaries in England. They regarded their official corre- spondence with the Government as their own private matter, and took no trouble to preserve it. They looked upon it as a guide to them personally w^hich could be of no value to their successors. Archdeacon Eobinson had quite another concep- tion of his office. He regarded himself as the ecclesiastical official of the Government, appointed to rule over the eccle- siastical persons and affairs of the Archdeaconry, with power to give orders, to rebuke, to mamtain discipline, to deliver charges, and to hold visitations. His ideal prevailed for some time after the arrival of the first Bishop of Madras, and was the cause of occasional conflict betw^een his successors and the Bishops.
When Archdeacon Vaughan retned in 1828 Bishop James had just arrived in the country. The new Bishop was unable to extol the excellent qualities of his head and heart, but the Court of Dkectors showed their appreciation. Vaughan retired into private life. On the death of his first wife he married the widow of Colonel James Colebrooke, C.B., of the Company's Madras Service, and died at Kingsbridge, co. Devon, in 1849, aged 83.
Bishop James had not the opportunity during his short episcopal life of visiting the southern Archdeaconry. He was consecrated in 1827 and died in 1828. His successor. Bishop
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 147
Turner, arrived at Calcutta in 1829. In July 1830 he intimated his intention of visiting Madras. Archdeacon Robinson sent round a notice of the intention to all the clergy, printed a confirmation address, and directed the Chaplains to read it in Church before the morning service on every Sunday till the Bishop's confirmation took place. The record m the Arch- deacon's Act Book reads as if this notice were the only prepara- tion the candidates were supposed to have. But this may not have been the case. The Bishop arrived on October 16, 1830. Large numbers of young people were confirmed at various centres : St. George's, 95 ; Fort, 111 ; Vepery, 258 ; Black Town, 56 ; St. Thomas' Mount, 41 ; Poonamallee, 72. There were also confirmations at Tripassore, Vellore, Arcot, Bangalore, and Yelwall near Mysore, but the numbers of confirmees at these stations is not recorded.
Bishop Turner consecrated several Churches and burial- grounds during his visitation tour, of which hereafter. He also held at St. George's, Choultry Plain, the first Ordination service of the Church of England in southern India. On November 7, 1830, he ordained three deacons, James Payne Horsford, Edward Dent, and John Devasagaiyam of the C.M.S., and one priest, John Heavyside, of the S.P.G. The Rev. John Devasagaiyam was the first Tamil clergyman to receive Holy Orders. Arch- deacon Robinson preached the Ordination sermon.
On November 11, 1830, the Bishop held his primary visita- tion at St. George's Church, when the following clergy answered to their names :
W. Roy, St. George's. Dr. Rottler, S.P.G.
H. Harper, St. George's. J. Heavyside, S.P.G.
F. Spring, Poonamallee. E. Dent, C.M.S.
R. A. Denton, Fort. J. Devasagaiyam, C.M.S.
F. J. Darrah, Black Town. C. Blackman, C.M.S.
W. Sawyer, Bishop's Chaplain. J. Marsh, C.M.S.
Bishop Turner died at Calcutta in the following August greatly regretted. His successor Bishop Daniel Wilson was consecrated in 1832. He made his primary visitation of the Archdeaconry of Madras in 1834. He arrived with his domestic Chaplain, the Rev. Josiah Bateman, on December 10, 1834,
L 2
148 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
and commenced his episcopal duties at once. Like his pre- decessors he inhibited the Archdeacon from exercising the powers of his office dmung his stay in the Archdeaconry ; but it is not easy to see why this action was necessary. Confirma- tions took place at St. George's, 136 ; St, Mary's, 183 ; Vepery, 200; St, Thomas' Mount, 67; Cuddalore, 24; Pondicherry, 9 ; Wallajahbad, 86 ; Vizagapatam, 57. Total, 764,
The Bishop's visitation took place at St. George's on December 23, and the following answered their names :
H. Harper, St, George's. Dr. Eottler, S.P.G.
F. Spring, St. George's. C, Blackman, C.M.S. E, A, Denton, Fort, E. Dent, CM.S,
W, T. Blenkinsop, St, C. Calthrop, S.P.G,
Thomas' Mount, John Tucker, C.M.S.
G. J, Cubitt, Vepery. G. Pettitt, C.M,S, G. W. Mahon, Poonamallee.
After fulfilling his engagements in and near Madras, Bishop Wilson went to Tanjore and held an Ordination service at St. Peter's Church. The following were ordained on January 31, 1835:
Deacon. — John Ludovick Irion, S.P.G.
Priests. — Thomas Carter Simpson, S.P,G. Edward Jarrett Jones, S,P,G, Daniel Valentine Coombes, S.P.G. Adam Compton Thompson, S.P.G.
On his way back to Madras he consecrated the burial- ground at Cuddalore which had been recently enclosed by the Government, and held confirmation services at Pondicherry and Wallajahbad.
On his arrival at Madras there was an Ordination service at St. George's, when the Eev. Charles Calthrop and the Eev. John Ludovick Irion were ordamed Priests. Calthrop was a graduate of St. John's College, Cambridge, who came out to take the place of the Eev. John Heavyside at the Vepery Seminary, Heavyside had been overcome by the climate and
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 149
had been obliged to retire. The Senior Presidency Chaplain, Henry Harper, was selected to preach the sermon on this occasion. The Ordination took place on February 18, 1835.
Two other important functions Bishop Wilson fulfilled before bringing his visitation to an end ; one was the consecra- tion of the Pursewalkum (Vepery) burial-ground. Like all other consecrations this was done on the petition of the Chaplain and the principal inhabitants, and with the consent of the Government. The other was a special visitation of the old Vepery mission— origmally S.P.C.K., but at this period partly S.P.G. and partly C.M.S.— at the Vepery Church. There were present Dr. J. P. Eottler, J. L. Irion, and C. Calthrop of the S.P.G., and G. Pettitt and E. Dent of the C.M.S. Beside these there was the European catechist, Augustus Frederick Caem- merer (S.P.G.), who was soon after ordained ; all the native catechists, teachers, and schoolmasters of the two missions, and many native Christians. It was a conference on the subject of the unhappy caste disputes which were then paralysing the work of the missionaries in Madras and other places m the south. An account of it is given in the ' Life of Bishop Wilson.'
When this was over the Bishop retraced his steps northward, and held a Confirmation service at Vizagapatam on February 26, 1835. This was the last of the visitations of the Bishops of Calcutta, for before the year was out the first Bishop of Madras arrived at the Presidency.
Note
The following are the consecrations which took place in the Presidency of Madras before the establishment of the Madras Bishopric :
1. Churches.
St. Mary's, Fort St. George, by Commission from the Archbishop of Canter- bury, 1680.
St. Mark's, Black Town, by Commission from the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1804.
St. George's Cathedral, by Bishop Middleton, 1816.
St. John's, Trichinopoly, by Bishop Middleton, 1816.
St. Mary Magdalen, Poonamallee, by Bishop Middleton, 1819.
St. Thomas, St. Thomas' Mount, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
St. Mark's, Bangalore, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
St. Stephen's, Ootacamund, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
150 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
2. BuriaJ-grounds.
St. George's. Madras, b}' Bishop Middleton. 1S16.
St. Mary s. Fort St. George, by Bishop Middleton, 1S19.
St. Mary Magdalen, Poonaraallce, by Bishop Middleton, 1819.
St. Thomas' Mount, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
St. Mark's, Bangalore, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
Fort. Bangalore, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
Seringapatam, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
Churchyard, Mysore, by Bishop Turner, 1830.
Cuddalore, bj' Bishop Wilson, 1835.
Pursewalkum (Vepery), by Bishop Wilson, 1835.
CHAPTEE VIII
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS UNDER THE BISHOPS
OF CALCUTTA — Continued
Archdeacon Robinson. His first visitation. His issue of licences and faculties . His report to Government. Marriage licences. Registrars' fees. Arrival of bells from England. 1828. Government action on the Archdeacon's report. Archdeacon's second tour of inspection. His third tour. His report. The action of Government upon it. His travelling expenses. Proposed revision of registrars' fees. Sick leave for Chaplains. Lay Trustees for each station Church. Rules for their guidance. Archdeacon's directions to the Chaplains regarding Committee meetings and books. Letters testi- monial. Size of monuments limited. Code of leave rules. Chaplains to visit out-stations. Rules relating to Chaplains and their duties, 1832. Subsequently adopted in Bengal and Bombay. Henry Harper acting Archdeacon. The employment of missionaries to visit stations without Chaplains. Archdeacon Robinson's second visitation. Withdrawal of mihtary guards from Churches. Appointment of extra peons in their place. The Archdeaconry made a Bishop's See, 1835.
The Venerable Thomas Eobinson, the third Archdeacon of Madras, went to India as a Company's Chaplain on the Bombay establishment. When Bishop Heber was on his tour of visita- tion in the Bombay Presidency he met Eobinson, and being attracted by the combined elegance of his manner, mind, and scholarship, he invited hhn to become his domestic Chaplain. Henceforth Eobinson accompanied the Bishop on his tours. He was with him at Trichinopoly ; he recovered the Bishop's body from the fatal bath ; conducted the funeral service at St. John's Church in the cantonment, and preached the funeral sermon. His intimacy with the Bishop enabled him to know the Bishop's mind on various intricate ecclesiastical questions in the Archdeaconry, and the Government of Madras invited him to make a report on the ecclesiastical affaks of the places
152 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
he had visited with the Bishop, such as the Bishop himself would have made if he had lived.
On the completion of this duty he returned to Calcutta to await the arrival of the Bishop's successor. During this in- terval he officiated at the old Church, and spent his spare time in translating a portion of the Bible into Persian ; and when Dr. Mill, the Principal of Bishop's College, fell ill, he officiated as Principal till his recovery. He had an unfortunate dispute with Dr. ]\Iill, the memory of which will live long, for it is recorded m a published diary of singular interest. i According to the writer, Robmson behaved in the way one would expect from a chosen associate and friend of Heber. Bishop John Thomas James arrived at Calcutta in January 1828. Dr. Mill lost no time in placing the whole dispute before his lordship, and asking for judgment. Very soon afterwards the Archdeaconry of Madras became vacant, and the Bishop solved the knotty question at issue by promoting Robinson, and thus separating the disputants.
The new Archdeacon had a better knowledge of the eccle- siastical duties of his office than either of his predecessors. He had also studied the wording of the Royal Letters Patent creating his office, and grasped the fact that he was the Com- missary of the Bishop ex officio, without further appointment ; and he knew enough of ecclesiastical law to understand that a commissary is something more than a mere business agent. He at once put his ideas into practice, and gave notice of his primary visitation. This was held on July 14, 1828, when the following answered their names, all other Chaplains and missionaries of the Church Societies being excused on account of distance :
W. Roy, Senior Presidency Chaplain.
W. Moorsom, B.A., Junior Presidency Chaplain.
T. Lewis, M.A., St. Mary's, Fort St. George.
T. Wetherherd, M.A., Poonamallce.
J. Hallewell, M.A., Black Town.
W. T. Blonkinsop, B.A., St. Thomas' Mount.
J. P. Bottler, Ph.D., S.P.G. missionary at Vepery.
J. C. Kohlhoff, S.P.G. missionary at Pulicat.
1 The Journal of Mrs. Fenton, pp. 1G5, 184, cd. 1901.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 153
P. M. D. Wissing, S.P.G. missionary at Vepery. James Ridsdale, C.M.S. missionary at Black Town. W. Sawyer, C.M.S. missionary at Perambore. J. W. Doran, C.M.S. missionary at Perambore.
Of these Rottler and Kohlhoff were the old missionaries of the S.P.C.K., who had been transferred to the S.P.G. Wissing was much younger than either of them. He had been appointed by the S.P.G. after the transfer of the S.P.C.K. mission field to them had taken place. Eottler and Wissing were in Danish episcopal orders ; Kohlhoff was in simple Lutheran orders. Archdeacon Robinson knew the kind of work they were doing and the excellency of it. As a matter of Church order and discipline he was of opinion that the agents of the Church Societies should be recognised as fellow labourers, receive the licence of the Bishop, and be summoned to the Visitation. With this opinion Dr. Rottler agreed. Accordingly he took the required oaths, subscribed the usual declarations and articles, and was licensed on July 9, a week before the Visita- tion. Kohlhoff hesitated about the licence. He had officiated for over forty years without one, and did not see the necessity of it. Wissing, who possessed the licence of his own Danish Bishop, had made up his mind to refuse it.
Up to this time episcopal licences and faculties had been granted by the Bishop of Calcutta himself. In June 1828 Bishop James delegated his authority to the Archdeacons as his special commissaries to grant these, and to administer the oaths to registrars on their appointment. In his capacity as special commissary the Archdeacon on July 13, 1828, licensed the new Chapel at St. Thomas' Mount for divine service upon the petition of the Rev. W. T. Blenkinsop and the principal residents. He also licensed the new building at Vepery on the petition of the Rev. J. P. Rottler and others, and the new build- ings at Perambore and South Black Town on the petitions of William Sawyer, James Ridsdale, and the principal inhabi- tants of those districts respectively. On July 22 he granted a faculty for the erection of a monument in St. George's Church. The general effect of this delegation of power was convenient to all concerned. But there was an unforeseen effect. The
154 THE CHURCH IN IHADRAS
fees of the registrars at Madras and Bombay were increased, and those of the Calcutta registrar were correspondingly reduced. The latter complained, but after a long official correspondence the question was settled.
On the completion of his primary visitation of the Presidency and of the Chaplaincies within easy reach of it, the Archdeacon made a report to the Government of Fort St. George,i and embodied m it certain requests and suggestions. He began by deploring the fact that his predecessors had left no records of any kind to guide him in his official intercourse with the Government on the one hand, nor the Chaplains on the other, and he begged that copies of all official correspondence between his predecessors and the Government might be sent to him for information. Then he complained of the incompetency of the registrar to assist him in any case of legal difficulty. But he paid a tribute of praise to Dr. William Roy, ' who executed the duties of the archdeaconry ' during the vacancy, for the care, method, and exactness which he had mtroduced into the office. After this his report continues under different headings, thus :
St. George's. — The efficiency of the whole establishment was highly creditable to all concerned.
St. Mary's. — Private complaints of irregularity and omissions had been made to him, but nothing to warrant his interference ; and when he visited the Church nothing could be more decorous than the performance of divine service. But these complaints prompted him to suggest the establishment of a system of churchwardens, who could reply to inquiries by the Bishop or the Archdeacon, and be the mouthpieces of the congregation in preferring complaints when necessary. He suggested that two of the principal inhabitants of the station (one civil, if it be a civil station, and the other military) might be appointed trustees of the Church or Chaplaincy with great advantage to the Bishop, the Archdeacon, the Chaplain, and the people.
Black Town. — He reported that Mr. Hallewell was most exemplary in the discharge of his duties, but that he was reluctantly compelled to ask for sick leave on medical certificate. The Archdeacon recommended that the leave be granted, and
» Bishop's Office Records, July 1828.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 155
that the Eev. P. Spring, being the best fitted of all the Chaplains for the post, be transferred from Quilon to succeed him. He also asked for a font.
Vepery. — This populous and important district was most happy in the provision made for its spiritual wants. The two Presidency Chaplains regularly divided the work of minis- tering to a congregation of about 450 people in the mission Church. But it was necessary to contemplate the necessity of erecting a separate parish Church for the European and Eurasian congregation, and of appointing another Chaplain at the Presidency in the near future. The Archdeacon urged the expediency of appointing Chaplains to minister in these two districts, and the Government accepted the plea and recognised the claim.
St. Thomas' Mount. — He thanked the Government for building the beautiful and commodious Church at this station, which he himself had ' opened ' and licensed on July 13, 1828 ; i and he asked for the usual establishment and allowances for a Church of its size.
Poonamallee. — He represented the need of a font, and of some new furniture, includmg new rails round the altar; and especially the provision of a Depot School for the children of the pensioners, invalids, and soldiers in the station, of whom there were at that time over sixty. The school might be of the same kind as the garrison school at Vizagapatam and subject to the same regulations.
Finally, he brought to the notice of Government by order of the Bishop the curious system which had accidentally grown up in the Presidency, by which all returns of regular ecclesiasti- cal duties (baptisms, marriages, and funerals) performed by the Chaplains had been sent to the Registrar of the Archdeacon, whilst all returns of similar offices performed by laymen or missionaries had been sent to the Senior Presidency Chaplain under the old order of Government dated March 27, 1805. He represented that when the Archdeaconry was founded, the returns of the Hon. Company's Chaplains were transferred to the Archdeacon's office, but that all other returns were retained by the Senior Chaplain. And he asked that for the sake of
' The licence was registered on July 15.
156 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
uniformity all returns should be made to the Archdeacon's Registrar.
At about the same time as the arrival of Archdeacon Robmson at Madras the Registrar issued to the Chaplains, by- order of Bishop James, a circular note, calling upon them to observe strictly in the solemnisation of marriage the rules prescribed by the ecclesiastical laws of England. The Registrar issued the three rules which had been approved by the Govern- ment in 1818 and issued in that year by Archdeacon Mousley. The first of these was : ' In all cases in which a licence is not obtamed from the Right Hon. the Governor, the publication of banns must be considered indispensably necessary,' &c.
Archdeacon Robinson represented to the Bishop that it was no longer necessary for the Governor to issue licences ; the Bishop replied that he would address the Archdeacon on the subject soon, and that until then the subject was not to be mentioned. Bishop James did not live to follow it up. But it was taken up by his successor. Bishop Turner, and the rule was altered so that marriage licences according to English ecclesiastical law were to be issued by the Bishop and his surrogates in the future. His Excellency the Governor retained the power of allowing or forbidding the marriage of a Company's servant who was under age. The Hon. Company placed him in loco parentis with regard to their young civil and military officers. If he gave his consent the episcopal licence might issue ; if he withheld it, it might not.
This welcome change was accompanied by one that was not so welcome. Bishop Turner sanctioned a scale of fees payable to the registrars for preparing legal documents connected with licences, institutions, consecrations, &c., which were so high as to be severely felt by all who had to pay them. These were some of the charges :
|
Ordination fee . |
, |
. |
Rs.32 |
|
Every licence |
. |
. |
40 |
|
Letters Testimonial |
. |
. |
32 |
|
Petition for consecration |
of building |
not the |
|
|
property of the Government |
. |
32 |
|
|
Consecration of the same |
, |
. |
160 |
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 157
Petition for consecration ofburial-ground not
the property of the Government . . Rs.32
Consecration of the same . . . . 160
Tliese consecration fees were ahnost prohibitive ; very few mission Churches were consecrated in the early days of Church building ; the Societies refused to pay the fees, and there was no one else to pay them. The buildings were merely licensed, instead of being solemnly set apart from all profane and common use, and m course of time the whole reason of the omission was forgotten.
At the end of 1828 there arrived from England three large bells and twenty smaller ones. The Chief Secretary requested the Archdeacon to inform the Mihtary Board how they were to be appropriated. The Archdeacon gave directions for the disposal of two large bells, thus : St. George's, Madras, one, and Vepery one ; and of eleven small ones to these eleven Churches : St. Thomas' Mount ; Poonamallee ; Arcot ; St. Mark's, Banga- lore ; Bellary ; Secunderabad ; Nagpore ; Masulipatam Fort ; Masulipatam Pettah ; Trichinopoly Fort ; Trichinopoly St. John's. The rest to remain in store.
The Government of Fort St. George took time to consider the report of the Archdeacon on the state of the Presidency Chaplaincies. On September 4, 1829, the Chief Secretary communicated to him their resolution to carry out all his recommendations, with the exception of establishing a garrison school at Poonamallee. This did not seem to them to be necessary, for the children were being taught in a private school. The Governor in Council said nothing about the anomalous state of affairs with regard to the returns made to Government through the Senior Presidency Chaplain. They were wise in their silence. The Senior Chaplain clung to the last of his official privileges, and it was wiser to wait for the next vacancy in the office than to hurt his pride. The oppor- tunity came at the end of 1831 when William Eoy retired. The Government issued the order and the transfer was made. This is the official note of it in the Archdeacon's Act Book :
' Received this day a rattan basket, unsecured, unsealed and without cover containing sundry original and copies of returns
158 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
and register books received by and lierotofore in possession of the Eev. W. Roy as Senior Presidency Chaplain in charge of the Lay Registers which Government had ordered to be trans- ferred to mj' office. The above documents came without letter ; and the cooly who brought them said he had received them from the clerk of the Rev. W. Roy to deliver to me as the Registrar of the Archdeaconry of Madras ; the Eev. W. Roy having previously embarked for Europe.
' \^^iich I attest. Frederick Orme, Begistrar.'
Although more than a year elapsed before they gave their reply, they were fully alive to the advantage of the visitation, and of having a report on ecclesiastical matters drawn up by their chief ecclesiastical officer. Before they received the report they encouraged the Archdeacon to make a visitation of the northern stations ; to travel through Arcot, Vellore, Bangalore, Bellary, Hyderabad, Vizagapatam, Masulipatam, and Nellore ; and to report as before on the condition and ecclesiastical needs of those stations. Letters were sent to the civil officials administering those districts requesting that the Archdeacon's journey might be facilitated by all proper means, ' but that every appearance of state and ostentation might be sedulously avoided.' The Government also advanced a sum of Rs.2000 on account of necessary expenses.
The records show ^ that this northern visitation was carried out ; no report of it was copied into the Archdeacon's Act Book, and no resolution of Government on the report has been found. Not long after the arrangements were made, the Right Hon. the Governor in Council expressed an apprehen- sion that the unsettled state of the Nizam's country would render it necessary that the Archdeacon should be provided with a military escort for his personal security.
In December 1828 preparations were made for a visitation tour southward. The Archdeacon sent a proposed route to the Chief Secretar3^ It included Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Palamcottah, Quilon, Cochin, Cannanore, Mangalore, Outacanmnd, Bangalore, Vellore, Arcot. The Government agreed, advanced Rs.3000 for expenses, and in- structed all officers, civil and mihtary, through whose districts
' L\ 102.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 159
the Archdeacon passed to pay him proper respect and to attend to his requisitions. The Quartermaster-general pro- vided the following equipment by order :
2 Field Officer's tents 14 cart bullocks
2 Subaltern's tents 29 other bullocks
5 Private's tents 6 carts
2 other tents 1 Dhooly
2 elephants 18 lascars and bearers,
4 camels &c.,
and the Archdeacon started on his journey. At the end of the first stage he was attacked by fever and compelled to return.
A year elapsed before the effort was renewed. He was advised to shorten the programme, so as to be back in Madras before the hot weather began in earnest, and he wdsely listened to the warning. He was absent from Madras during the first three months of 1830, and on June 1 in that year he sent a lengthy report to the Governor in Council, The report may be summarised thus :
Tripassore, an out-station of Poonamallee, where a number of European pensioners lived under a commandant. He thanked the Government for having provided a school for the children, of whom there were about a hundred ; and a building for divine service, which he proposed to license on his return. He spoke highly of the judicious work of the Chaplain, the Eev. F. Spring, and bore witness to the regular and orderly behaviour of all in the station.
Cuddalore. — Here also were a number of European pen- sioners, but without the restraining influence of military dis- cipline. The mission had decreased in numbers, and the missionary had been sent by the Committee of the S.P.C.K. to a more important centre. The Chaplain, the Eev. J. Hallewell, rented the mission bungalow, and superintended the work of the S.P.C.K. Catechist in addition to his other duties. He managed a school for the children of the pensioned soldiers at their lines, and a second English school next to the mission Church for other Eurasian children ; and he had besides two Tamil schools. The Archdeacon reported the exemplary diligence and conduct of the Chaplain. He complained of the
160 THE CHURCH IN IVIADRAS
want of ventilation in the mission Church, and asked the Government to have this matter attended to by enlarging the east window, and making a new door at the west end. He also reported that the monthly visits of the Chaplain to Pondi- cherry, lately sanctioned at his recommendation, were most acceptable to the British residents there, who numbered about lifty adult persons, and that His Excellency the French Governor had been kind enough to give every facility for the ' decent celebration of the offices of our religion.'
Tanjore. — The Rev. Messrs. Kohlhoff and Haubroe, on the recommendation of the late Bishop Heber, were ministering to the English community as acting Chaplains ; the Archdeacon reported the great advantage and the general satisfaction of all the residents at this arrangement. He recommended that the clerk's salary of five pagodas should be paid by the Govern- ment instead of by the mission. He mentioned that a new Church had been built by the S.P.C.K., without cost to the Government,^ and that in it was provided accommodation for the European residents. He asked the Government to add what was then wanting m the Church, namely a gallery at the west end for the organ, and a bell from the Quartermaster- general's store.
Trichino'poly. — The Archdeacon was pleased with the work of the Chaplain, the Eev. Joseph Wright, and assured the Government of his zeal and dihgence in the discharge of his sacred office. He visited and examined the school of H.M.'s 89th Regiment. But what pleased him most was the Vestry School, at that time housed at Puttoor in a building erected in a corner of the compound where the Chaplain lived. He reported that the school was equally honourable to the liberality of the station and the care of the Chaplain, who had transferred it from close quarters in the fort to the healthier atmosphere of the cantonment. In this school eighteen boys, descendants of European soldiers, were boarded and educated, and a free education was given to other Eurasians not eligible for admis- sion to the charity, without any assistance from the Govern- ment ; and this by means of a fund which had been originally raised by monthly collections and judiciously invested by the
' Opened for service Dec. 1829.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 161
Vestry Trustees. The Archdeacon reported that the bell sanctioned for St. John's Church at the end of 1828 had not yet arrived. He asked the Government to build an open cupola over the western porch for its reception. He brought to the notice of the Government the condition of the Fort cemetery at Chintamony, asking that it might be enlarged and enclosed by a wall to preserve it from desecration. Finally, he thanked the Government in the name of the S.P.C.K. and in his own name for acceding to his request to rebuild the mission Church in the Fort, ' so hallowed to every Christian mind as the last scene of the earthly labours of the lamented Bishop Heber.' He reported that the work was well done ; and on the ground that the Church was used by the Europeans and Eurasians in the Fort, he asked the Government to sanction the supply of such simple articles of furniture as were necessary.
Quilon. — The Archdeacon reported that the new Church was nearly completed. Whilst regretting that it was so small that it would only accommodate a hundred people, he said that its design reflected great credit on the architect. Lieutenant Green, who had achieved all that was possible with the limited means at his disposal. He suggested that, as the old cemetery was crowded, the compound of the new Church should be extended one hundred yards eastward and enclosed with a wall and used as a burial place. He reported also that there were over fifty European children at Quilon needing a school education, and asking that the Government would sanction the establishment of a station school and would pay the schoolmaster.
Cochin. — The Archdeacon mentioned that the appointment of a Chaplain to Cochin on the recommendation of Bishop Middleton had had the best results as well as the gratitude of the numerous residents. Since the death of the first Chaplain, the Rev. W. R. M. Williams, in 1818, the congregation had been left to the voluntary ministrations of missionaries. At the time of his visit the work was being acceptably carried on by the Rev. Samuel Ridsdale, a C.M.S. missionary in Holy Orders. Since it was not possible to appomt another Chaplain to the charge, the Archdeacon asked that Mr. Ridsdale might be recognised by the Government as the actmg Chaplain, and
162 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
might receive the usual acting allowance. He also reported that the Church was kept in excellent repair by the residents, who were of Dutch extraction ; that the Government paid a clerk and sexton ; that the congregation numbered about 200 ; and that they had expressed their desire and resolution to conform m every respect with the doctrine, discipline, and ritual of the English Church. The Archdeacon found, however, that the clerk was deranged and mcapable, and that the sexton was ineJBficient and useless ; and he asked that the acting Chap- lain might be authorised to employ two other men.
Tlie Archdeacon was mformed by the congregation that there were in Cochin two charitable funds ; one amounting to Rs.2000 which was left ' for the Church ' by Mrs. Wolff ; and the other amounting to about Es.4500 which was raised by subscription in the town by the Eev. W. E. M. Williams for the establishment of a free school. The former fund was in private hands, and the latter was in the hands of the Collector ; neither of them was being put to the purpose for which it was intended. The Archdeacon asked that these sums might be vested in himself, and the income administered by the acting Chaplain and Lay Trustees, mentioning that it was for purposes of this kind that the Archdeacon was made by Act of Parliament a Body Corporate.
The report concluded with an expression of thanks to the Governor in Council for the assistance afforded during this, as well as durmg his northern tour ; ^ and for the kindness shown by all the officers of Government in the different districts through which he passed.
As before the Government took time to consider his report, and rephed to it a year afterwards.^ They agreed to alter Cuddalore Church as suggested. They refused to pay the clerk's salary or to erect a gallery at St. Peter's, Tanjore, on the ground that the Government could not make contributions to mission funds nor appear to be a party in mission concerns. They agreed to add a belfry to St. John's Church, Trichinopoly ; to enlarge and enclose the Chintamony burial-ground in the Fort ; and to supply whatever furniture was necessary for public
' This is the only evidence that the northern tour was carried out. - Letter to the Archdeacon, June 7, 1831.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 163
worship in the mission Church in the Fort (Christ Church) * lately rebuilt by Government.' They directed that the paragraphs relating to Cochin should be sent to the Resident and the Chief Magistrate of Malabar for their report. When their report was subsequently received, all the Archdeacon's suggestions were accepted and carried out.
The question of paying the cost of Archidiaconal visitations came to the front again in the year 1828. There was still a large sum unexpended which had been allotted for Bishop Heber's tour. The Government of Fort St. George, having no doubt of the administrative value of such visitations, and beheving that the Court of Directors would be convinced by their arguments, placed portions of this sum at Archdeacon Robinson's service, sanctioned his visitation of all the Chap- laincies, and wrote to the Court of Directors asking that their previous orders might not be enforced. i
The Directors were, however, inexorable. They were at that time meditating reductions in their establishments, and it is probable that the want of money influenced their judg- ment. They wrote :
' With respect to the advance of Es.2000 to the Archdeacon from the balance of the sum sanctioned by us for the Bishop's triennial visitation, which Bishop Heber left unfinished, and which the Archdeacon has been authorised to complete in his tour, we are advised that this grant is equally illegal with those which we have under Act of 53 George III, cap. 155, section 50, before repeatedly refused ; and we cannot but express our disapprobation of these endeavours to violate by a forced construction our repeated orders founded on the law of the land. The Act of 4 George IV, cap. 71, section 5, author- ised a visitation allowance to the Bishop alone, and does not authorise its being given directly or indirectly to the Arch- deacon. We of course continue to withhold our sanction from this grant.' -
It was not possible for the local Government to ignore the declared will of the Directors after the receipt of this despatch, nor to hope for their conversion. The Governor in
1 Letter, Dec. 30, 1828. 38-40, Eccl. - Despatch, April C, 1830, 6, Eccl.
M 2
164 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Council had wiitten more than once to explain the desirability and the advantage of tours of visitation, and to request that the orders of the Court m the year 1818 should not be enforced. Their representations were of no avail ; consequently the Archdeacon made no more tours after 1830, and submitted no more reports, but remained in Madras to carry on his official duties in his private house, until his retirement m January 1836.
In the year 1828 he made an attempt to have the table of ecclesiastical fees revised. It seemed to him unjust and improper to charge a missionary Es.64 for his licence. He communicated with Bishop James, and after that Bishop's death with Archdeacon Corric the Commissary. Whilst it was right that the registrar who prepared the documents should receive a fee for his trouble, he contended that it was in the power of the Bishop to fix the fee, and he suggested that fees should be fixed according to emoluments, that is, that the missionaries should pay much less than the Chaplains.
Neither Bishop James nor Archdeacon Corrie would face the question. The former gave his verbal sanction to his registrars to charge fees. The latter said that when parties were benefited a fee seemed fair, and that only in Government concerns, such as the consecration of Churches and burial- grounds for Europeans, must the monthly pay of the registrar be considered sufficient remuneration for making out the necessary papers. Archdeacon Robinson did what he could ; it was reserved for a later generation to do justice to the missionaries.
It had been the practice hitherto, when any servant of Government was ill, for him to apply for sick leave and to wait at his station till he received word that it was granted. The Rev. Henry Allen, Chaplain of Cuddalore, was sick unto death in January 1829. He applied for leave, waited, and died on the 23rd of the month. Archdeacon Robinson asked that in urgent cases where immediate action was necessary he should be empowered to grant leave for a short period and report to Government afterwards. Tlie principle of prompt action was conceded.
In the year 1805 the Supreme Court of Madras decided that Vestries in India had no legal powers of any kind. At that
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 165
time there were three in existence doing useful work, holding and administering parish funds, maintaining European and Eurasian schools, and reheving the local Eurasian poor. These were at Fort St. George, Trichinopoly, and Tanjore. The decision of the Supreme Court crushed the usefulness of the first and took the spirit out of the second ; whilst the third died a natural death. From 1805 to 1829 the Chaplains had to manage all their local concerns without the help of a Vestry. Then Archdeacon Kobinson began to see that it would be much better for the Chaplain and the congregation if a standing committee of management existed in every Chaplaincy. He had hinted this in his report to the Government after his first visitation of the Presidency. At St. Mary's, Fort St. George, he had heard certain rumours of irregularities in the conduct of divine service ; he saw none himself, and he urged that if any reports of shortcomings were to be made at all, they ought to be made by persons in the position of churchwardens with official and recognised responsibility.
Encouraged by the Government he devised a scheme of co-operation between the Chaplain and the congregation, and in September 1829 he wrote this circular letter to the Chaplains :
' The Rt. Hon. the Governor in Council having been pleased to sanction the appointment of two Lay Trustees in each chaplaincy, members of the Church of England, to act generally as representatives of the people in all matters relating to the Church, and together with yourself to form a standing committee of management, you will oblige me by mentioning the names of two gentlemen in your station of the highest civil and military situations who have no objection to undertake that office.'
In September 1830 Archdeacon Robinson was able to send a letter to the Governor in Council nominating twenty civil and military officers to ten of the principal stations outside Madras, together with rules for their guidance. Among the names were some that were well known subsequently in the history of the Presidency, such as Captain Coffin (Nagpore), Brooke Cunliffe (Cuddalore), Lieutenant Leggatt (Vepery). It is perhaps worthy of remark that Major- General the Right
166 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Hon. the Earl of Carnworth was ono of the nommated Lay Trustees of St. John's, Trichinopoly.
There is no record to show how this excellent scheme was received by the Chaplains, but there is some evidence that it was not received with enthusiasm. In December 1832 the Chief Secretary wrote to the acting Archdeacon, Henry Harper, to make inquiries ; and he sent a circular letter to the Chaplains in which he asked them to nominate fresh officers high up in their branch of the service, members of the Church of England, as trustees under the rules of 1830.
A month later he replied to the Chief Secretary that in the course of his inquiries it had come to his knowledge that the appomtment of Lay Trustees had never been fully carried out. Persons had been nominated, but they had not been furnished with instructions nor called upon to act. Some had been transferred to other stations without intimation of their departure to the Archdeacon, and there had been no nomination of successors in the trust. He therefore asked the Government to issue a general order appointing Lay Trustees and furnishing instructions for their guidance.
Accordingly it was resolved in Council on March 5, 1833, to appoint the two chief officials in each of the twelve principal out-stations as Lay Trustees, provided that they were members of the Church of England, and to notify their appointment in the Fort St. George Gazette, together with the rules drawn up by Archdeacon Robinson for their guidance, namely :
1. To act generally as representatives of the people in all matters relating to the Church.
2. To aid and assist the Chaplain in the performance of his duties.
3. To present to the Bishop or his Archdeacon at their respective visitations, or hnmediately by letter, any irregu- larity or scandal connected with Church affairs which may have occurred within the district.
4. In conjunction with the Chaplain to form a standing committee of management for all Church matters ; to take charge of the School and charity funds connected with the Chaplaincy ; to see that the churchyard and burial-ground are kept in becoming order ; to take care of the goods,
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 167
repairs, and ornaments of the Church or other building appropriated to the performance of divine service ; and to represent to Government through the Archdeacon any deficiency in these particulars which they may think it necessary or desirable to supply.
On the following day, March 6, 1833, the acting Archdeacon communicated the rules to the Chaplains, and added his opinion that as the Committee of Management was similar to a Vestry meeting in England, the Chaplain must always preside. He also directed that the record of business transacted should be kept in a separate book from that kept for the Chaplain's official correspondence.
The principle and practice of parochial administration by the Chaplain and two Lay Trustees is so sound that it exists almost as it was originated by Archdeacon Eobinson in the present day, and the credit of its origin is due to him.
Before the day of Archdeacons it had been the custom for the clergy returning home to get their letters testimonial signed by two of their brethren, one of whom was the Senior Chaplain. This primitive custom went on until 1830, when Archdeacon Robinson pointed out to the clergy its u'regularity, and told them that in future letters testimonial would be granted by the Archdeacon under the seal of the Bishop.
It had not been the custom at any time during the Company's rule to charge any fee for the erection of monuments in burial-grounds, except at stations where there were Vestries. The Company gave the grounds, and the Company's servants used them free of cost. The results of this freedom were that sometimes more ground than was actually requii-ed was taken for a burial, and that large masonry monuments were erected on the allotted site. At the present day these immense cenotaphs are regarded with an amused wonder. The Archdeacon could see for himself during his useful tours of inspection that, if there were no rule as to the size of the monuments, the space allotted for burials in up-country stations would very soon be filled up. When Bishop Turner visited Bangalore in 1830 and consecrated the burial-ground on the Agram Plain, he limited the ground area of monuments to seven feet by three and a half.
168 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
There was, however, some doubt at the time if he had sufficient authority to lav down a rule of that kind. The Archdeacon therefore seems to have collected some evidence of inconvenience fi-om other stations and addressed the Government, suggesting the propriety of liniitmg the size of monuments ' hereafter to be erected in the burial-ground of any out-station to the follow- ing dimensions which were laid down by the late Bishop for that at Bangalore, namely seven feet by three and a half.' Five days after the receipt of his letter the Governor in Council adopted his suggestion by a resolution. i
Up to the year 1830 departmental regulations had been laid down as occasion required. As the civil, military and ecclesiastical departments grew in numbers, it became necessary to have a general code of regulations, to which every officer could refer. In 1831 the Government of Fort William trans- mitted to the Government of Fort St. George a series of leave rules for Chaplains, and recommended that similar rules should be adopted in the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay. This was done by resolution, and the new rules of leave and allow- ances during leave were published in the Fort St. George Gazette.'-
In March 1832 the Court of Directors wrote to the Governor in Council at Fort St. George approving the policy of making the services of the Chaplains as extensively useful as possible, and regulating the allowances to be paid them for travelling expenses when visiting subordinate stations within reach of their headquarters."^
The codification of leave and allowance rules, and the frequent issue of special rules to meet special cases, had the effect of causing the Archdeacon to collect together all the departmental rules regarding Chaplains he could find. They were becoming too numerous to be easily remembered or to be easily found and referred to. He therefore codified them, and submitted them to the Government. He asked that thej^ might be published in General Orders and in the Gazette, and that he might have one hundred copies printed separately for distribu-
' Minute's of Consultation, May 8, 1832.
* E.M.C. (extract from Minutes of Consultation), May 31, 1831.
•^ G.O. (Government Order), July 31, 1832.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 169
tion among the Chaplains and others. The Government agreed,^ and the Archdeacon sent out copies to the Chaplains with this letter dated November 7, 1832 :
' Eeverend and Dear Sir,— Great inconvenience having been felt by the clergy from the want of a digest of the General Orders of Government in the Ecclesiastical Department, many of which are of ancient date but httle known, I have been engaged in collecting and arranging them ; and they are now published with the sanction of Government, with such sHght revisions as the change of times and circumstances have rendered expedient.
' To these I have added in their proper places such episcopal regulations as have been issued by the Bishops of Calcutta in this archdeaconry and are still in force.
' In forwarding you a copy for your information and guidance I have only to express my hope that it will be found conducive to your comfort and convenience in the discharge of your duties, and commending you to the blessing of Almighty God, I remain,' &c.
The copy contained forty-one rules. They laid down the duties of a Chaplain on arrival in the country, on arrival at his station, during the time he was in the station and on quitting the station ; what he was to do in the case of hindrance to or non-attendance upon his ministrations ; how and when he was to baptise, marry or bury, and to register such events ; that he was to pay attention to the fasts and festivals of the Church, and to discourage festivities during Holy Week ; that he was to visit the hospitals frequently, using prayer and sacraments when required ; that he was to see that the rule regarding monuments in burial-grounds was carried out ; that the Archdeacon was the channel of communication between himself and the Government, so that the Archdeacon might have the opportunity of making remarks. Besides this the rules incorporated the new leave and allowance regulations, as well as those relating to ecclesiastical and criminal offences, and those relating to letters testimonial.
Bishop Wilson drew up a similar code of rules, which he called ' Suggestions to the Clergy,' in 1844 ; they were intended
1 E.M.C., Nov. 2, 1832.
170 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
for the clergy of his diocese, and some of the rules applied only to them. Bishop Cotton revised these Suggestions in 1862 and reissued them for the benefit of the Chaplains on the Bengal estabhshment. Between times, that is in 1857, Mr. J. J. Carshore published at Calcutta ' The Bengal Chaplains' Yade Mecum.'
The Eev. William Ward Nicholls, a Bengal Chaplain, published a ' Handbook for Chaplains ' in 1867, in which all episcopal suggestions and rules sanctioned by Government were included which had not been superseded or altered. At the present time all these rules and regulations are incorporated in the Civil Service Regulations and the Indian Army Regula- tions, and are kept up to date by means of periodical corrections. But to Archdeacon Robinson belongs the credit of having originated the idea and practice of a departmental code.
At the end of the year 1832 Archdeacon Robinson went to the Cape of Good Hope on leave for six months, and the Rev. Henry Harper was appointed by the Government to act as Archdeacon during his absence. Henry Harper was two years senior in the service to Robinson and was a man of very considerable tact and abiHty. When Robinson resigned his appointment in 1836, Harper was at once appointed to succeed him. He remained at the head of the department for ten years, and guided its affairs with great skill and judgment.
One of the first things he had to do was to make the system of Lay Trustees and Church committees a reality. This has been akeady referred to. He came to his office with a practical knowledge of the work of a Chaplain at more than one large military station ; he knew how much official correspondence such Chaplains had ; and how important it was for purposes of record that their correspondence and reports should be written on official paper of the regulation size and kind. It was a period of economy and reductions ; he knew it would be of no use to ask the Government to issue stationery to the Chaplains free of cost ; but he did what was under the circum- stances the next best thing : he obtained for the Chaplains of the nine largest stations the privilege of getting official stationery from the public stores on payment.^
' Within a tshort time the stationery was granted free.
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 171
The Company under the terms of the new Charter of 1833 were about to give up all their trade, and become administrators only of the country which had — more or less by accident than design— fallen under their rule. To give up their trade meant the loss of income. Consequently there were many reductions in the subordinate establishments of all departments, and the ecclesiastical department of the southern Presidency was reduced by Rs.445 per mensem. This meant a redistribution of the duties of the Church establishments in every Chaplaincy. Each Church was allowed a clerk, a sexton, and three lascars. Harper had to define their duties, and did so thus :
Clerk ; not only to be aiding and assisting the officiating minister in all public and occasional duties, but also to keep the records, copy letters received and despatched, prepare copies and extracts from register books, and superintend the sexton and lascars.
Sexton or Church Keeper ; to be considered in charge under the Chaplain and Lay Trustees of the building and furni- ture, the books, robes, lamps, &c., and to see that all is provided for the due performance of clerical duties in Church, hospital, and burial-ground.
Lascars ; to be under the orders of the Chaplain, and the superintendence of the clerk and sexton ; to dig graves ; to keep the churchyard and burial-ground clean and in good order ; to toll the bell, prepare the lamps, &c.^
One more matter of importance came before the acting Archdeacon before the return of Archdeacon Robinson. One of the Chaplains, Lewis, died ; another, Darrah, had been transferred to Penang ; as many as the rules allowed were on leave ; and there were hardly enough men to carry on the work of the department. A number of out-stations — including Arcot, Arnee, Vellore, Chittoor, Tripassoor, Poonamallee, and the smaller stations of Pulicat, Nellore, Sadras, Chingleput, and Wallajahbad — had to remain for a time unvisited. He thought that he might be able to obtain the help of some of the mission- aries of the English Church, and he asked the Government, in
^ The revised establishments, the duties of the different Church servants, and the allowances of oil, stationery, and sacramentals were approved and sanctioned by Government, Feb. 12, 1833.
172 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
case he was successful, to pay them the same travelling and visiting allowances as were allowed by rule to the Chaplains in the Service. The request was granted.
Archdeacon Robinson returned from leave at the end of April 1833. Soon afterwards he gave notice of his second visitation, and on August 13 this was held at St. George's Church. The establishment of the Bishopric of Madras two 5'ears later rendered visitations by the Archdeacons unnecessary. Consequently the two visitations held by Archdeacon Robinson were the only two made by Archdeacons in the southern Presidency. The Chaplains and missionaries who were in or near Madras were present ; these were their names :
Henry Harper, Senior Presidency Chaplain (fourth
Archdeacon). Frederick Spring, Junior Presidency Chaplain. W. T. Blenkinsop, St. Thomas' Mount. E. A. Denton, Fort St. George. H. W. Stuart, Vepery. Vincent Shortland, a new arrival licensed to Trichi-
nopoly. J. P. Eottler, S.P.C.K. and S.P.G. C. Blackman, C.M.S. G. Pettitt, C.M.S. E. J. Jones, S.P.G. E. Dent, C.M.S.
It is a matter of regret that the Archdeacon's Charges are not extant. He combined high intellectual ability with practical common sense. His review of ecclesiastical matters, local and general, must have been both useful and appreciated.
During his absence the number of Church servants had been reduced, and the military guards had been withdrawn from Church duty in all the up-country garrisons. The immediate result was a number of Church robberies. The Archdeacon wrote to the Government in January 1834 reporting a robbery at St. Thomas' Mount and the insufficiency of the protection of the Church property at Trichinopoly. He said :
' I have received several similar statements from other chap- laincies of the great risk to which the Church property is exposed
THE ARCHDEACONRY OF MADRAS 173
from the removal of the mihtary guards formerly allowed for the protection of the buildings in military cantonments, and I think it my duty to bring the subject generally to the notice of His Excellency in Council.'
He suggested a guard of peons, if possible Christians, but gave his opinion that a military guard was the only effectual security. He also suggested the erection of sheds in the corners of the churchyards for the shelter of the guards.
The Government was not in favour of the employment of mihtary guards for the purpose. That subject had been threshed out by the Military Board. But they allowed ^ the employment of two extra peons at each of the seventeen larger stations where there was a Church, namely, the four Churches in Madras, and those at St. Thomas' Mount, Arcot, Bangalore, Ootacamund, Nagpore, Cannanore, Bellary, Secunderabad, Trichinopoly, Poonamallee, Vizagapatam, and Cuddalore. And in a subsequent order ^ grants were sanctioned for the purchase of brass plates and cloth belts for the peons.
In the Archdeacon's Act Book is entered this letter from the Secretary of the Court of Directors. It is dated East India House, June 19, 1835, and is addressed to the Chief Secretary at Fort St. George.
' Sir, — I am commanded to acquaint you for the information of the Rt. Hon. the Governor in Council that His Majesty has been graciously pleased, in accordance with the provision of the Act of 3 and 4 William IV, cap. 85, sees. 89-100, to erect the Archdeaconry of Madras into a Bishop's see, and to appoint the Rev. Daniel Corrie, LL.D., Archdeacon of Calcutta, to that Diocese. The Rt. Rev. gentleman has been duly consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and will proceed to your Presidency by the ship Exmouth.
* His Lordship will take rank immediately after the Chief Justice at your Presidency.
' The emoluments of the Bishopric of Madras have been settled by the provisions of the Act before mentioned.
' In making this communication I am at the same time to state that the Letters Patent erecting the Archdeaconry of
1 E.M.C., Feb. 14, 1834. - G.O., April 25, 1834, No. 42.
174 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Madras into a Bishop's See, also Letters Patent making a new division of the Episcopal duties of the Bishopric of Calcutta, Nvill be prepared and transmitted without delay. ' I have the honour to be, &c.,
' P. AUBER,
' Secretary.'
On October 24, 1835, Bishop Corrie arrived at Madras. On October 28, 1835, he was enthroned by the Venerable Arch- deacon Robinson. And on January 7, 1836, the Archdeacon resigned his appointments in the Company's Service, and shortly afterwards returned to England.
He was an able man, a great scholar,i full of tact, good temper and admmistrative ability, and was in the full vigour of manhood when he went home. It was intended by the Cabmet which promoted the Madras Bishopric Bill in 1833 that Archdeacon Robmson should become the first Bishop of Madras.2 Archdeacon Corrie of Calcutta was his senior in the Service, and had served the Company well in his pastoral capacity. Corrie was entirely trusted by the C.M.S., whose political influence was at that time very strong. It may be that the Court of Directors of the Company and the C.M.S. together brought their influence to bear upon the Cabinet. It may be that Archdeacon Robinson, who had been in the country twenty years, was unwilling to stay any longer from considerations of health. There is nothing in the records to show what happened ; but it is certain that when Archdeacon Robinson left Madras, India lost the services of a most distinguished man, well fitted in every way to rule a diocese faithfully.
' See p. 308. -' g^e pp. 352-3.
CHAPTER IX
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815
St. John's, Masulipatam. — History. Early Chaplains. Early Memorials. Charles Bathurst and the project of building a Church. The cost. The delay in building.
St. Mary's, Masulipatam. — General J. Pater. Major Cotgrave's claim. Chaplains in the nineteenth century. The Company's policy with regard to mission work after 1833.
Cannanore. — History. The delay in building. Extracts from the letter to the Directors. Not known to be consecrated. Its enlargement in 1850- Suggestion to rebuild it nearer the barracks. Archdeacon Shortland on the position of garrison Churches. Description of the Church.
St. John's, Trichinopoly.— History of the cantonment. The building of the Church. The Churchyard. Bishop Middleton and the design. The consecration. The Church Library. The burial of Bishop Heber. His monuments. Enlargement of bm-ial- ground, 1826. The organs and the organ gallery. Vestry fund and Vestry school transferred from the Fort to the cantonment. Sir E. K. Williams and the school. No punkahs till 1850. AboUtion of the gallery, 1871. Withdrawal of British troops, 1879. Dimensions. Memorial gifts in the Church. Intramural burials. Some Chaplains in the nineteenth century. Captain George Elers and the Trichinopoly week.
St. John the Baptist, Masulipatam. — Masulipatam is historically interesting from the fact that it was the first port on the Coromandel coast visited by the ships of the East India Company. When this occurred in 1611 the country round about it was owned by the Mahomedan Sultan of Golcondah. He had permitted the Dutch to establish a factory near the mouth of the river, and to build a small fort for the protection of themselves and their property. The Dutch permitted the newcomers to hire a factory house in the fort and to carry on trade for their Company. The Dutch were exacting in their terms and not
176 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
very friendly ; ^ but by obtaining a Phirman or licence from the ruler of Golcondah in 1632 they established their right to share in the coast trade. Business flourished until 1679, when a destructive storm and flood partially destroyed the native town and the native weaving industry upon which the Dutch and English merchants depended.
During this early period the English merchants had the occasional ministrations of a ship's Chaplain when the Com- pany's ships were in port. Neither they nor the Dutch mer- chants had a chapel set apart for the purpose. Services were held in the Council Chambers. There were three resident English Chaplains during the period :
Tears.
Joseph Thomson . . . 1653-56
Walter Hooke . . . 1656-69
Thomas Whitehead . . . 1672-76
The last two died at Masulipatam, and were buried in the ' English garden,' which was about two miles W.N.W. of the Fort and near to the houses where the Englishmen lived.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century the trade of the place was so small that the English factory was closed, and the Dutch East India Company were left in possession. They retained possession till 1750, when the Fort was taken by General Bussy under orders from M. Dupleix. In 1759 it was taken from the French by Colonel Forde, and it has remained since then an English possession.
The memorials of Dutch occupation consist principally of the monuments of those who died between 1624 and 1750. The memorial of French possession was the strengthened Fort ; but the cyclonic storm of 1864 almost completely destroyed it. The only memorial of the presence of the English merchants at the place in the seventeenth century is the tombstone of Mr. John Rowland in a burial-ground at Englishpalem near the native town. This burial-ground was probably the ' English garden ' where burials in the seventeenth century took place.
' The English Factories in India, by W. Foster, 1906; Letters received by the East India Company from their servants in India, by Biidvvood and Foster- 1896.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 177
It contains many broken stones, but only John Eowland's inscription remains legible.
When the English took possession in 1759 they laid out and enclosed a military cemetery in the north-west corner of the Fort. The oldest monument in this burial-ground is that of Captain Blacker of the 7th M.N.L, who died in 1787. After that date there is a succession of memorials until the year 1834, when the British troops were withdrawn. Among those commemorated are Colonel Charles Eraser, who died in 1795 when in command of the Northern Division — he was the father of General Hastings Eraser, and General John S. Eraser of Hyderabad ;— Michael Topping, the civil engmeer (1796) who surveyed the district and origuiated the idea of the Godavery anient and the irrigation project afterwards carried out by Sir Arthur Cotton ; and Charles Bathurst, the Chaplain (1813), who took a prominent part in the erection of St. John's Church in the Eort.
There are others also ^ whose names recall the eminent services of some civilians and soldiers who helped in their time to consolidate the Indian empire.
When St. Mary's Church was built two miles from the Eort near the European residences, a burial-ground was laid out near it. This is still in use. Here lies the body of Kobert Noble, the pioneer missionary of the C.M.S. m the Telugu country. The Government of Madras have singled out his tomb as one of historical interest and keep it in repair.
In 1795 the Brigade of British and native troops was transferred from Ellore to Masulipatam, as the former was considered a hot and unhealthy station. They were quartered in the Fort. At Ellore they had had a Chaplain and the pros- pect of a Church.- At Masulipatam they had neither. In the year 1800 a Chaplain was sent, the Eev. E. Vaughan ; but no effort to build a Church was made in his time. He was suc- ceeded in 1807 by the Eev. Charles Bathurst. The letter of Lieutenant- General MacDowall, the Commander-in-Chief, recommending the construction of chapels in all stations in the Company's territories where European troops were likely to be quartered, ' whatever may be urged to the contrary,' was
' See J. J. Cotton's Inscriptions, 1905. - See Church in Madras, i. 415.
VOL. n. N
178 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
written in November 1807. This letter enabled Cbarles Bathui'st and the civil and military officers to take up the question. They met and reported to Government that they Avere unanimous in their wishes to see a Church built. They urged that there were at the time m the station a regiment of Eui'opeans, a battery of artillery, and ' a numerous society of civil and military gentlemen ' ; and they asked the Government to assist them to carry out their desire. The Government promised to give 1000 pagodas (£400) and reported the promise to the Directors. 1 The Directors approved,- and added that according to the recommendation of the Commander-m-Chief chapels should be erected upon the same cheap plan at all permanent military stations to which a Chaplain is attached. Apparently they thought that £400 would be the total cost of each building. This placed the Government of Madras in a difficulty ; for as the estimates for building at other military stations came m, and were found to be six times as much as £400, the Government were unwilling to proceed without further reference. This made a long delay before anything was done anywhere.
The civil and military officers of Masulipatam showed their great desne for a Church by contributing 5700 pagodas towards its cost (£2280). The Government had contributed £400, and £600 more was requii'ed. They therefore solicited a further grant. The Government thereupon directed that all money subscribed by individuals for the buildmg should be paid into the Treasury, and the building completed by the Engineer of the Division.'^ The Dii'ectors approved.^ The official return of the cost of the building ^ was £3363. It is of interest to note that more than two-thirds of this amount was raised locally.
From time to time repairs and alterations were carried out both at the Fort Church and the Fort cemetery.*^ A belfry
' Letter, Jan. 31, 1808, 126, Public.
- Despatch, Jan. 11, 1809, 153, Public.
' Letter, March 15, 1811, 650-52, Mil.
' Despatch, April 29, 1814, 71, Mil.
^ Official Return of Churches, 1852.
« Letter, April 30, 1816, 21, Public ; Despatch, Oct. 22, 1817, 19, Eccl. ; Letter, Oct. 2, 1832, 9, 10, Eccl. ; Despatch, Oct. 9, 1833, 12, Eccl. ; Letter Dec. 3, 1833, 2-6, Eccl. ; Despatch, June 18, 1834, Eccl.
O *
I- Q h
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 179
and a compound wall were provided in 1846.1 By that time the European troops had been removed and the glory of Masuli- patam as a station had departed. There remained only at that date a regiment of native infantry with its European officers, a small official community of civilians, a few European mer- chants, and a small body of Eurasians, some in the service of Government and some not.
In carrying out the recommendation of the Commander-in- Chief and the will of the Government with regard to Church building there was a delay of four years. General Hay Mac- Dowall made his recommendation in November 1807. In the following month two letters in the Military Department went home" to the Directors advising compliance with his suggestion. In January 1808 a letter on the same subject was also despatched in the Public Department, and later in the year another.^ The Directors replied to the first three letters and sanctioned the necessary expenditure in 1809.* This despatch may have been lost in transit. The French had war vessels at Mauritius on purpose to intercept the Company's ships, and were success- ful sometimes in capturing them. Whatever happened the despatch of 1809 did not arrive at Madras ; for two years later the Directors wrote ^ to the Coast Government in the Military Department : ' You have already had our sentiments communicated to you in para. 153 of our Letter in the Public Department dated Jan. 11, 1809.' And six months later they wrote 6 to the same Government in the Public Department : ' We have already sanctioned in para. 153 of our Public Letter dated Jan. 11, 1809, the disbursement of Pags.lOOO for the construction of a chapel at Masulipatam.' In consequence of the delay Church building was at a standstill not only at Masulipatam, but at other military stations in the Presidency. The Port Church at Masulipatam was still unfinished when the consecration commission and instruments from Lambeth
1 Letters, May 1 and Nov. 24, 1846, Eccl. ; Despatch, Oct. 20, 1847.
2 Letters, Dec. 14, 1807, 49-52, Mil. ; Dec. 24, 1807, 46-52, Mil.
3 Letters, Jan. 31, 1808, 126, PubUc ; Oct. 24, 1808, 168-72, Public. * Despatch, Jan. 11, 1809, 153, PubHc.
5 Despatch, Jan. 23, 1811, 23, Mil.
6 Despatch, July 10, 1811, 111, 112, Public.
N 2
180 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Palace arrived in 1812.^ It remained unconsecrated till the station was visited by Bishop Spencer in 1842. Its dimensions were 71 x 52 x 21 feet. It was in use up to 1864, when a cyclonic storm, combined probably with a subaqueous volcanic disturbance,- overwhelmed the Fort and the town and every fishing village along the coast for eighty miles by means of a tidal wave. After this Masulipatam ceased to be a military station. The ruined barracks were pulled down, the Church dismantled, and the furniture handed over to the C.M.S. for use in the Pettah Church. When the building was consecrated it was dedicated to God in honour of St. John the Baptist, but it was kno^vn by this name from the time it was completed.
In 1845 occm'red one of those disputes between the Chaplain and the Commanding Officer which were not unusual at that time, since their relative duties and powers had not been exactly defined. The General Officer commanding the Northern District took upon himself to alter the position of the furniture in the Church on a certain Sunday morning before service, and claimed the right of fixing the hours of service on week days. The Government were appealed to and ruled that the General had exceeded his powers, and that it was incumbent upon him to avoid in future all similar differences and collisions with the Reverend Clergy.'^ The Dkectors approved.
St. Mari/s, Maswiipatom.— Major-General John Pater was stationed at Masulipatam in command of the Northern Division from 1809 to 1811. The death of a lady in November 1809, to whom he was greatly attached, was the indirect cause of his building this chapel in the cantonment, two miles west of the Fort ; for there was, tradition says, a burial difficulty. No one knows exactly what occurred. The story told by a native, who was an old man at the time of the cyclone and was a boy of fourteen in 1809, was that the body was embalmed, clothed in white satin and placed in a coffin with a glass lid ;
1 Letter, Jan. 10, 1812, 37, Publio.
- Mr. F. Brandt, Madi-as Civil Service, who was later one of the Judges of the High Court, Madras, says that the water, as it poured through the Collector's house with a depth of fourteen feet, was warm. For an account of this catas- trophe, in which 30,000 lives were lost, see the Kislna District Manual, by G. T. Mackenzie, M.C.S.
=* Letter, Dec. 23, 1845, 2-0, Eccl. ; Despatch, March 10, 1817, 44, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 181
that the coffin was then placed in a verandah room of the bungalow where the lady died, and remained there for nearly two years. During this time General Pater conceived the idea of building a chapel to receive her remains. He obtained the permission of the Government to do this.^ The Government reported to the Directors that they had given the necessary permission ^ to erect the building on Government land, and the Directors expressed their approval.^
When the chapel was finished the coffin was placed in a vault in its present position and covered with a polished marble slab. Over the slab was placed a rich silk carpet. This covering was destroyed by the sea water in 1864 and was not replaced.
The chapel, which only measured 60 x 30 x 20 feet, was not originally intended for public worship. It was completed at the end of 1811, but the owner did not permit its public use till four years later. There is a tablet over the north door recording the day when it was first used, December 10, 1815.
Wlien General Pater left Masulipatam in 1811 for a higher appointment in Madras, it seemed to those who were left behind that the memorial chapel might be put to some practical use. A local committee was formed for the purpose of corresponding with him.'* It consisted of Colonel Bowness, President; the four Judges, Webb, Cherry, Travers, and Tod ; the Collector, G. E. Eussell ; and Captain Burton, who commanded the Artillery. Dr. William Eoy, the Chaplain, was honorary secre- tary and treasurer. They represented to General Pater how great would be the convenience to those who lived in the canton- ment to have a place of worship nearer to them than the Port. They undertook the expense of furnishing the building and adapt- ing it to the requirements of Church worship. The General was easily persuaded to fall m with their wishes, and when the building was furnished and ready for use he presented it with- out condition to the East India Company.'^ The Government
^ Consultations, April 9, 1811.
- Letter, Jan. 10, 1812, 244, Public.
'■^ Despatch, June 3, 1814, 116, Public.
* St. Mary's Church Records.
' Consultations, April 9, 17, 23, 1816, Public.
182 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
of Madras informed the Directors of the ' munificent gift,' and reported that they had sanctioned a small establishment for the care and protection of the buildmg, and a palanquin allowance for the Chaplam.i The Directors acknowledged the gift and said, without any knowledge of the local ch'cumstances :2 ' We appreciate no less the motives which influenced him [General Pater] in constructing a chapel for divine worship than his subsequent act of presenting it to the Company.'
Lieutenant- General John Pater died at Madras m October 1817, and was buried in St. Mary's cemetery. By his will he left 300 pagodas ' to the school now forming at Masulipatam and attached to my chapel there.' Soon after his death Major Cotgrave of the Madras Engmeers, who had superin- tended the construction of the chapel, preferred a demand against the General's estate for Rs.8080, and brought a suit in the Supreme Court agamst the executors of the will. The executors could not prove that the claim had been paid, so Major Cotgrave obtained a decree. The Government of Fort St. George paid the amount claimed and reported to the Directors,^ who, when signifying their approval, declared their conviction that the debt was unknown to General Pater.
As long as there were British troops in the Fort, the Chaplain lived there, and the principal services were at the garrison Church. At St. Marj^'s Chapel there was regular evening service for the community that lived in the cantonment. After 1834, when the Fort had become very insanitary and the British troops were removed, the comparative importance of the two Churches was reversed. The Chaplain took up his abode in the cantonment, and the principal services were held at St. Mary's.
At various times repau's and alterations of the structure took place. In 1846 a l^elfry and a compound wall were added,' and ten years later it was necessary to renew the roof.^
When ,the 4tli Battalion of European Infantry w^as trans.
> Letter, Sept. 20, 1816, 105, 100, Public.
- Despatch, Oct. 22, 1817, 21, Eccl.
3 Despatch, July 28, 1824, 23, Eccl.
■» Letters, May 1 and Nov. 24, 1840, Eccl.
» Letter, Nov. 11, 1850, 7, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 183
ferred from Ellore to Masulipatam in 1795 the Rev. R. H. Kerr went with them and stayed with them for a short time. He had no successor till the year 1800. Then there was a succes- sion of Chaplains till 1834 :
Years.
1800-5
|
Charles Bathurst |
. 1807-13 |
|
William Roy . |
. 1815-20 |
|
Joseph Wright |
. 1821-23 |
|
Richard W. Moorsom |
. 1823-26 |
|
Edward P. Lewis |
. 1828-34 |
After 1834 the station was considered too small for the services of a resident Chaplain, more especially as there was a resident C.M.S. missionary who was willing to conduct a weekly service for the Europeans and Eurasians. It was, however, at this period that the Directors, who were no longer a Company of merchants but a Company of rulers, thought it incumbent upon them to sever themselves entirely from all missionary effort. What they could do and had done as a body of private merchants they considered that they ought not to do under the changed conditions of the 1833 Charter. To prevent all suspicion of co-operation with missionary endeavour they declined further clerical assistance for their European servants from the mission- ary clergy of the Church, and sent Chaplains to minister in their places. Four such Chaplains were appointed between 1844 and 1864 :
Years.
. 1844-47
. 1849-55
. 1855-60
. 1861-64
Henry Taylor . John P. Pope .
Meade N. Stone John English .
Then came the cyclone and the ruin of the station. ^ St. Mary's was not greatly damaged. The C.M.S. determined to keep open their mission. Very few Europeans remained. On the recommendation of the Bishop of Madras, St. Mary's was handed over to the C.M.S. till required for
' John English slept through it, and knew nothing about the awful visitation till next morning.
184 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
official use. The Government keep the building in repair and the cemeteries in order, and pay the watchmen. The missionaries of the C.M.S. provide English services for the few officials and others who are left in the station.
In 1879 the Church furniture of St. John's in the Fort was transferred to the C.M.S. for use until otherwise required. ^ Some of this furniture was removed to St. Mary's, hut it was old and had seen its best days, so that within a few years it was necessary to replace most of the articles with new ones. This was effected between the years 1885 and 1890, and in consideration of the kindness of the C.M.S. missionaries in providmg services for the English residents the Government paid half the cost.
St. Mary's Church was consecrated by Bishop Spencer on January 10, 1842, with the approval and co-operation of the Government. The official return of the original cost of the Church made in 1852 was Es.17,099.
There was a small Roman Catholic chapel in the Fort, dating probably from the time of the French occupation, which had been used by the Roman Catholic soldiers of the English regi- ments in succession. This was repaired by Government in 1883 at a cost of Rs.2150.2
Cannanore. — This station is on the sea coast of the District of Malabar. The District is of great interest because of its early trade connection with Egypt, Arabia, and the eastern countries of Europe. Here St. Thomas the Apostle is tradi- tionally said to have landed and pursued his apostolic labours. Here the Syrian churchmen of Asia Minor came three centuries later to the help of the Christians on the coast and impressed their own churchmanship on them. At Calicut in the same District the Portuguese adventurers, under Vasco de Gama, landed in 1498. The population is probably composed of a greater variety and mixture of races than any other part of India. There are to be found here descendants of the Aborigines, the Dravidians, Syrians, Arabs, Jews, Portuguese, Dutch, and English. The oppressive rule of the Hindu Zamorin of Calicut caused the inhabitants to seek, in 1770, the protection
> CO., April 1, 1879, No. 1, Eccl.
- G.O., Dec. 10, 1883, No. 3544, Works.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 185
of Tippoo Sultan, the Mahomedan ruler of Mysore. His oppression and bigotry caused them to seek the assistance of the English East India Company ; and in 1792 the District was ceded by treaty to the English. During the last two years of the century it was the scene of warfare and bloodshed, the opposing forces being those of Hyder Ali of Mysore and the Company. As soon as the Mysore power was crushed, British troops were stationed at Palghaut, Calicut, Tellicherry, and Cannanore. The last-named place remained an important military station for over eighty years. It was one of the seven military stations specified by the Directors in 1805 i as places where they would be ready to sanction the erection of houses of worship at a moderate expense.
A similar delay took place in carrying out their intention as took place at Masulipatam. The delay was partly owing to a consideration of the cost, and partly to the irregularity of the arrival of letters from home. It was not till 1811 ~ that the Governor in Council wrote to the Directors and informed them of their decision to erect Churches at Bangalore, Cannanore, Trichinopoly, and Bellary. They said :
938. ' The officers commanding in Mysore and in Malabar submitted for our consideration the want of a proper edifice at Bangalore and Cannanore for the purposes of pubhc worship, and proposed at the same time that buildings for that purpose should be erected at those stations respectively. We also received from the Acting Senior Chaplain ^ at the Presidency an address to the same purport, and suggesting the propriety of building suitable chapels at the different principal stations of the Army with the view of rendering the services of the clergy in this country effectual to the purposes of their appointments.'
939. ' The total want of any buildings of the description above mentioned, and the important considerations attached to the maintenance of a due spirit of religion among the European soldiery, induced us to accede to the recommendation of the Acting Senior Chaplain ; and we accordingly directed the Military Board to prepare for consideration plans and estimates of chapels calculated to accommodate a congregation of from
' Despatch, June 5, 1S05, 9, Public. 2 Letter, March 15, 1811, 938-41, Mil. ^ The Rev. Edward Vaughan.
186 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
400 to 600 persons to consist of the military and other inhabit- ants at the station in the service or otherwise.'
940. ' In obedience to our orders the Mihtary Board have submitted the plans and estimates required, which meeting with our approbation we have directed chapels to be erected at the several stations undermentioned, viz. at Bangalore, Cannanore, and Trichinopoly, capable of accommodating 600 persons, and at Bellary 400 persons.'
941. ' The chapels when finished are to be placed under the charge of the clergymen of the several stations above mentioned. The amount of the several estimates is pagodas 17,844.'
The estimated cost was about 5000 pagodas (£2000) for each of the three larger chapels, and about 3000 pagodas (£1200) for the smaller one.
At the end of 1811 the building at Cannanore was approach- ing completion. Both it and the burial-ground of the station were included by the Senior Chaplain in the list of places which it was desirable to set apart from common use by means of consecration, when he requested the Government to obtain for him from the Archbishop of Canterbury the necessary authority and powers to consecrate. i The authority and the necessary instruments were obtained and sent ; ^ the Directors paid the fees ; but the ceremony was postponed in anticipation of the early arrival of the first Bishop of Calcutta. The delay was unfortunate, for no record has been found that either the Church or the burial-ground was ever consecrated at all. It has apparently been assumed generation after generation that the consent of the Government and the authority of the Arch- bishop were acted upon when they were given. It was the intention to dedicate the building to God in honour of St. John the Evangelist, and the Church has from the beginning been known by his name ; but being without proper dedication it has no ecclesiastical right to the name by which it is known.
In 1833 military guards were withdrawn from all military Churches in India, and one or more watchmen were appointed in their place. Two such peons were allotted to Cannanore.^
» Letter, Jan. 10, 1812, 37, 38, Public.
- Despatch, Jan. 29, 1813, 7, Public.
3 Letter, May 27, 1834, 1-4, Eccl. ; Despatch, March 18. 1835, 17, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 187
In 1850 the accommodation was found insufficient, and the Government sanctioned an expenditure of Es.7600 to enlarge it by the building of wings or transepts. It was proposed locally to build a new Church in another position nearer the barracks, and the Church Committee undertook to raise a considerable portion of the cost of a new building if the Govern- ment approved of the suggestion. The reason of this desire was that the Church was 920 yards from the barracks, which seemed to all in the station an unnecessarily long distance for the soldiers to march. The Government did not approve of the suggestion. The application for rebuilding the Church was sent through the Archdeacon. In forwarding it to the Govern- ment he remarked that ' this is not the only instance in which a Church has been erected at Government expense in an ill- chosen and inconvenient situation ' ; and he added that it was so ' at almost all the principal stations in the country.' This generalisation of his was not just. He had in his mind's eye probably the situation of the Churches at Bangalore, Trichino- poly, and Secunderabad. At Bangalore and Secunderabad the cantonments were extensive, and there was one Church in each place. If it was near one set of barracks, it was bound to be some distance away from the others ; it could not be near all because they were not arranged in a circle. At Trichinopoly there was a desire to have the burial-ground round the Church, so the Church was built about 600 yards from the barracks. But in none of these cases could the sites be rightly called ill- chosen. They were all chosen with deliberation and care. The difficulty at Secunderabad and Bangalore was surmounted soon afterwards by the building of other Churches for the use of the distant portions of the garrisons.
The Government forwarded their proceedings to the Directors, I who replied : ^
29. ' We must express our regret that you sanctioned so large an expenditure &c. We do not know when the Church was built, or who is responsible for its erection such a distance from Barracks. When the inconvenience of its position had been placed before you, you should have delayed the enlargement
' Letter. Sept. 10. 1850, 7-9, Eccl.
2 Despatch, March 31, 1852, 29, 30, Eccl.
188 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
till after consulting us, especially as the Church Committee offered in the event of a new Church being sanctioned, to en- deavour to raise a considerable portion of the sum required by private contributions.'
30. ' We much regret to discover from the representations of the Archdeacon that this is not the only instance,' &c.
On receipt of this letter the Government referred the matter to the Bishop for inquiry. His report was sent to the Directors,^ who replied : "
' We learn with great satisfaction from the statement of the Bishop that the situations of the Churches throughout the Diocese of Madras are on the whole as eligible and con- venient as could have been selected. ... It is greatly to be regretted that Archdeacon Shortland made the strong obser- vations regarding the position of the Churches,' &c.
In the meantime the Church was enlarged and surrounded with a compound wall,^ and a large addition was made to the cemetery .+
The official return of the cost of the Church made in 1852 was Rs.42,369. If this was correct the original estimate was more than doubled. But perhaps the enlargement and the building of the compound wall and the various necessary repairs up to that date are included in the sum. The compound wall had to be almost rebuilt in 1865.^
The size of the Church is 70 x 47 x 41 feet. Each tran sept is 32 X 24 feet. There are two vestries flanking the sanctuary each 14 x 12 feet. The addition of the transepts makes the plan cruciform. The building has a flat terrace roof over the nave. The west end has a handsome portico with classical columns and a flight of steps, like all the other Churches built at this period by the old Madras Engineers. At the present time there is only one company of European infantry in the station, and a regiment of native infantry with European
' Letter, Aur. 10, 18.52, 21, 22, Eccl.
- Despatch, Aug. 31, 1853, 20, Eccl.
2 Letter, Nov. 11, 1851, 6, Eccl.
•» Letter, Nov. 1, 1852, 11, Eccl.
^ G.O., Aug. 31, 1865, Nos. 72C-28, Works.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 189
officers. But there is still a considerable number of civilians, official and non-official, to be ministered to. It is better that the Church should be too large than too small.
The Eoman Catholic Church in Cannanore has been very fortunate in getting assistance from the Government in the past. In 1848 it received a grant of Es.l618 for repairs ; ^ in 1868 it received a grant of Ks.2885 for enlargement ; " and in 1872 a grant of Es.5506 for the completion of the enlargement.^
The monumental tablets in the Church record the deaths of three young officers of the 51st Madras Infantry who lost their lives in the Coorg war in 1834, and of other officers of other regiments who died at or near Cannanore. There is no memorial gift in the shape of furniture ; but all the better and more expensive furniture has been provided by the congregation at various times.
The first Chaplain stationed at Cannanore was the Rev. John Dunsterville. He was there in 1808, 1811, and from 1814 to 1831, when he died. The English residents at the time erected a handsome monument over his grave in the cemetery. No other Chaplain was at the station longer than six years.
St. John's, TricJiino'poly. — The history of Trichinopoly has already been given when dealing with the story of Christ Church in the Fort.* It remams now to relate the story of St. John's. The first move outwards from the Fort in search of fresh air and health was towards the village of Warriore, where a cantonment was laid out and bungalows were built. At about the same time the 19th Dragoons were accommodated with temporary quarters on ' Trichinopoly Plain.' The Warriore cantonment was in a low-lying neighbourhood, almost on a level with the waters of the Wyacondah irrigation channel. There was a good deal of sickness in the Warriore lines from which the Dragoons on the higher ground were free. After the
1 Consultations, May 18, 1847, 19, 20, Eccl. ; June 13, 1848, 19, 20, Eccl. ; Oct. 10, 1848, 13, Eccl.
= G.O., March 25, 1868, No. 63, Eccl.
=* G.O., Sept. 19, 1871, No. 163, Eccl. ; Oct. 16, 1872, No. 191, Eccl.
^ Church in Madras, i. 584-604.
190 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Mysore war the Dragoons did not return to Trichinopoly, and their temporary barracks were allotted to the 12th Regiment in 1801.1 Tiie grovmd was not much higher, hut it was higher, and it had the advantage of being at some distance from the wet cultivation near the banks of the channel. The improve- ment in the health of the European soldiers at the new lines was so marked that in 1805 a permanent infantry barrack was built on or near the site of the temporary buildings. The new cantonment was laid out and drained, and all the European troops, except the Ordnance Artificers, some artillerymen, and an infantry guard, were withdrawn from the Fort.
The new cantonment was one of the places where the Directors sanctioned the building of a Church in 1805.2 As at other stations a long delay took place and nothing was done. The question of expense had to be considered. At the end of 1807 3 the Government sent home the recommendation of General MacDowall. They received a favourable reply, sanc- tioning the expenditure in 1809,1' a^^i they determined to build a Church at Trichinopoly m 1811 s at a cost of 5000 pagodas.
^Vhile they had the scheme under consideration the question of a new burial-ground was settled. A site was fixed upon in 1807 at the southern limit of the cantonment. The first burial was in 1808, soon after the enclosing wall was built.^
In all other military stations the cemetery was separated from the Church. At Trichinopoly there had been a burial- ground in the churchyard at the Fort as well as a separate burial-ground at Chintamony, and no evil effect had resulted from its existence. The local feeling, which was probably founded upon the sentiment of arrangements at home, was in favour of having the burial-ground and the Church together. Consequently when the building of the Church was sanctioned in 1811, it was built in the centre of the new burial-ground.
The engineer had to keep within his estimate, and to do the best he could to build a Church to hold 600 persons for
' Memoirs of George Elers, p. 133.
•^ Despatch, June 5, 1805, 9, Public.
3 Letter, Dec. 14, 1807, 49-52, Mil.
^ Despatch, January 11, 1809, 153, Public,
* Letter, March 15, 1811, 939, Mil.
« Letter, Oct. 21, 1807, 634-35, Mil.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 191
5000 pagodas. He erected a plain, strong, parallelepiped building without even a cupola for a bell. When Bishop Middleton visited the station in 1816 and in 1819 he complained to the Government of its unecclesiastical appearance, and suggested that a cupola and an entrance portico at the west end should be added, and that in future there should be some recognition of the traditional ecclesiastical character of Church buildings. In 1822 the Government sanctioned i the additions, and they were carried out. Two years later there was a further large expenditure ^ over the internal arrangements. The two expenditures amounted to over Es. 10,000, which are sufficient to show that it is not easy to build a cheap Church. Sense and sentiment equally rebel against discomfort within and plainness without. The belfry was added in 1832.3
Bishop Middleton consecrated the new Church in 1816. It was dedicated to God in honour of St. John the Evangelist. During this visit he was greatly impressed with the need of a library of standard works, especially theological, in the station, and he forthwith established one at his own expense. There were about two hundred volumes bound in leather. The bookcase stood for over sixty years in the Vestry. At the end of that time the library had become practically useless owing to the loss of so many volumes. Eoom was wanted in the Vestry, so the bookcase with the remnant of the books was removed to the Vestry school, where it is still the trust property of the Chaplain and Lay Trustees.
The year 1826 will always be remembered in Trichinopoly ; for in that year Bishop Heber was drowned and was buried in the sanctuary of St. John's on the north side of the altar.* When the body was taken from the bath the garrison surgeons did their best to restore animation. One of them, Mr. A. B. Peppin, made an official report on his examination of the body. This report came into the hands of the Eev. C. S. Kohlhoff, S.P.G. missionary of Erungalore. He presented it to the Chap- lain of Trichinopoly in 1879, and it is now in the Chaplaincy
1 Despatch, July 28, 1824, 73, EccL, in reply to 1822 letter.
" Despatch, Feb. 23, 1825, 13, EccL, in reply to 1824 letter.
^ Letter, April 24, 1832, 1, Eccl. ; Despatch, Feb. 20, 1833, 6, EccL
'' Church in Madras, i. 598.
192 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
File Book. A mural tablet was put up to his memory by the Memorial Committee, but there was no monument over his gi'ave till the Eev. Thomas Foulkes, Chaplain, went to the station in 1865. He raised money locally, and placed over the gi'ave a handsome marble slab inlaid with brass and coloured enamels. Even so, no memorial of any kind could be seen from the body of the Church. Therefore twenty years later another fund was raised, to which the Diocese was asked to subscribe, and a memorial window was placed in the sanctuary, which all in the Church could see. The window is an artistic gem.^
Shortly before the death of Bishop Heber it was found necessary to enlarge the burial-ground. A considerable portion of the space intended for burial was occupied by the Church. The military authorities therefore arranged for additional space, and with the consent of the Government enclosed it with a wall. The Directors approved. 2
In the same year 1826 the congregation raised a sum of money and purchased an organ in England. When it arrived they asked the Government to erect a teak wood gallery at the west end of the Church for the accommodation of the organ and the proposed choir. The Government assented and the Com-t of Directors approved.^ The gallery remained in posi- tion and in use until 1870, when there was a desire to bring the choir and the music to the east end of the Chm'ch. The pipe organ, which required repair, was discarded and presented to Christ Church in the Fort, and a new reed organ was purchased by the congregation in its place. It was a poor exchange, for the pipes of the old organ were good ; the instrument only required a renewal of some of its mechanism. Sixteen years later the reed organ was sold to the Tanjore Mission, and another pipe organ of good quahty was obtained from England. The ship which brought it out encountered a severe cyclone. The cargo shifted, and parts of the instrument were damaged. There was no one in the station who had any knowledge of the mechanism of an organ. But as an example of what can be
' In borrowing from the Diocesan Record of 1893, p. 88, I am merely borrowing what is my own. — F. P.
» Despatch, AprU 26, 1826, 6, Eccl.
^ Letter, Dec. 16, 1826, EccJ. ; Despatch, July 23, 1828, 4, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 193
clone when there is a will to do it, it may be mentioned that the damaged parts of the instrument were repaired, the whole organ was put together and tuned by the joint effort of a Civil Engineer, an Enghsh and a native fitter employed on the railway, and the Chaplain.
The same year 1826 saw the separation of the Chaplanicy and the mission funds. When the garrison left the Fort, they not only left behind their Church, but also their Vestry fund and their school for soldiers' children.^ A vestry composed of British officers and civilians in the Company's service had managed the fund and other parish affairs from 1771 till St. John's Church was built in 1812. Their proceedhags were recorded in a book in the same orderly way as was done at St. Mary's, Fort St. George.^ After 1812 there does not appear to have been any Vestry meeting at Christ Church. Christian Pohle continued to administer both the Vestry and the native mission funds as he had been accustomed to do. His death and the advent of a successor, who did not understand that there were two funds, were the means of raising inquiry soon after 1820 as to what was being done with the Vestry fund, which was established by the liberality of officers for the benefit of the children and descendants of British soldiers. The accounts were separated in 1826. The missionaries in the Fort kept possession of all their mission property, and the Vestry fund was placed in charge of the Vestry of the new Church. The children of the Vestry school were transferred from the Church compound in the Fort to more open premises between the new cantonment and Warriore. Schoolrooms and other premises were built for them in the corner of the compound occupied by the Chaplain, and there the school remamed till it was moved into the heart of the cantonment in 1881.
Between the years 1831 and 1834 an attempt was made by Major-General Sir E. K. Williams, K.C.B., who commanded the southern division of the Madras army, to take the Vestry school out of the hands of the Chaplain and the Vestry, and to
1 Called the Vestry School.
" This book has been found among the Mission records at the Fort Church, Trichinopoly, since I wrote on this subject in The Church in Madras, i. 595-6. In 1906 the Rev. J. A. Sharrock supplied me with a copy of all the Proceedings from 1771 to 1812. See Appendix I.
VOL. II. Q
194 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
make it a brigade school under a committee of military officers. The General did not know the history of the school, and his design failed, partly because the property of the school was held in trust by the Archdeacon of Madras as a corporation sole, and partly because the bankers refused to pay dividends to anyone but the Vestry authorities. Sir E. K. Williams was backed by the military officers in the station, who could hardly act other- wise ; but as soon as his period of command came to an end the contention ceased.
There was a long dispute between the Madras Government and the Directors as to the supply of punkahs in St. John's. The local Government knew the need and knew it well ; but the Directors refused to sanction the expense. The punkahs were supplied while the dispute was still going on, and finally it came to an end by the Directors' acquiescence in 1850.
The chm-chyard was again enlarged in 1848 in the westerly direction.^ Considerable repairs and alterations were made in 1871,2 including the destruction of the west gallery. They who had to sit underneath it were exceedingly uncomfortable, and hot ; and as there was no real necessity for it, it was carried away without regret.
In 1879 British troops were withdrawn from the garrison. At first it seemed as if the empty bungalows were going to be allowed to go to ruin. But Trichinopoly is a central place. The Government of Madras made it the headquarters of a number of different civil departments. The officials of the South Indian Railway liked its climate better than that of Negapatam, and built their central offices near the junction railway station. Consequently the houses filled, and the Chaplain found no difficulty in keeping up the Vestry school, and in carrying on various other parochial undertakings. Between 1879 and 1888 the congregation contributed over Rs.7000 for the improvement of the furniture and the adorn- ment of the Church.
In the official return of Churches made in 1852 it is stated that the cost of the Chm'ch was Rs.28,248. This sum is so much larger than the sanctioned cost that it probably includes
> Letter, Feb. 22, 1848, 15, Eccl. ; Despatch, July IG, 1851, 15, Eccl. 2 G.O., July 12, 1871, No. 117, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1805 AND 1815 195
all expenditure up to that date. Its size in the same return is said to be 130 x 67| x 22 feet. The real inside measure- ments are 82| x 70 x 22 feet. There is a nave, two aisles of the same length as the nave, and a sanctuary flanked by vestries.
Inside the building there are some handsome memorials and gifts. The font is a memorial of his wife presented by Mr. W. A. Willock of the Madras Civil Service. The pulpit was dedicated by the congregation to the memory of Mr. Charles Rundall. The lectern was given by friends of Mr. A. F. Richards, a popular young civilian who died of cholera in 1885. The brass adorn- ments of the altar were given by the Hon. Mr. Whiteside, and the handsome pulpit candelabrum was the gift of Mr. G. Duncan Irvine. Both these gentlemen were of the Civil Service. The Chaplain's stall was the gift of another civilian, Mr. A. R. McDonell. There is a window given by the Trichin- opoly Cricket Club to the memory of Mr. Arthur Williams, a young barrister who died of cholera in 1888, and another to the memory of a child who died in 1879. On the walls are com- memorated Bishop Heber, Major- General Hamilton Hall, Aeneas Ranald McDonell of the Civil Service, David Logan, Chief Engineer of the South Indian Railway, and others whose names were household words in the south of India in their generation.
There have been only two burials inside the Church itself, namely Bishop Heber, and an infant child of Mr. Charles May Lushington of the Civil Service, who died in 1815.
Of the Chaplains in the Hon. Company's service in the nineteenth century, they who exercised most influence on the ecclesiastical affairs of Trichinopoly were Richard Smyth (1811-15), who saw the building of the Church ; Joseph Wright (1823-30), who disentangled the Vestry and Mission affairs and established the Vestry school in the cantonment ; Vincent Shortland (1833-35), who on his first arrival in India had to bear the brunt of the attack of General Sir E. K. Williams on the Vestry school, and made a reputation for himself by the judicious tone of his letters ; Henry] Deane (1835-42), who succeeded in restoring unity of sentiment with regard to the management of the school ; and G. E. Morris (1848-54).
o 2
196 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Captain George Elers was with the 12th Regiment at Trichinopoly. He relates i that when he was there money was collected dming one cool season for the pm-pose of giving amusement for three days, with public breakfasts, ball, &c., and sports for the men. With more or less regularity this custom was kept up during the centmy, so that everyone in the south of India knew what was meant by the Trichinopoly Week at Christmas time. The established practice of friendliness and hospitality has made Trichinopoly with all its heat a pleasant memory to everyone who has been at any time stationed there.
1 Memoirs of George Elers, p. 130.
ST. JOHNS CHURCH, TR ICHINOPOLY.
CHAPTEK X
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES
What led to their coining. The effect of the S.P.C.K. reports. The debates of the Stock Proprietors at the India House. John Thomas. W. Carey. The London Missionary Society ; its agents. The S.P.C.K. agents. Their reception by the Company, the local Government and the officials. Ringel- taube. Cran and Des Granges. Loveless. Gordon and Lee. Hands, Pritchett. John Thompson. Judson and Newell. The Tanjore S.P.C.K. missionaries. The C.M.S. Their difficulties and their agents. Mead and Knill of the L.M.S. at Nagercoil. The kindness of Col. Munro. Norton, Bailey, Baker, and Fenn in Travancore, invited by Col. Munro. His opinion of them. The Wesleyans. Arrival of Lynch and Mo\\'att and Hoole. Hoole's autobiography. Non-interference with one another.
The last decade of the eighteenth century saw the commence- ment of a popular movement in Great Britain in favour of com- municating the knowledge of Christ and the blessings of Christianity to heathen people in foreign lands. The move- ment was due to various causes. First and foremost among all earthly causes was the steady, sober, continuous, prayerful, faithful work of the German missionaries in the south of India. Some of these were exclusively supported by the King of Denmark, and they were known as members of the Eoyal Danish Mission. They worked in the Danish territory of Tranquebar, and, with the permission of the Eajah, in those portions of the kingdom of Tanjore which were adjacent to the Danish borders. Others were supported by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and were locally known as the British missionaries. With the permission and co-operation of the Hon. East India Company they worked in the territories of the Company, and of the Company's ally, the Nabob of the Carnatic.
198 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Since 1726 it had been the custom of the Society to pubHsh annual reports of what was being done on the Coromandel coast. These reports were circulated, not widely perhaps, but sufficiently so to gain and unite genuine believers in the mission- ary idea. It was not possible that the Society should have done this for over sixty years without some effect being pro- duced on the minds and consciences of religious men. One of the symptoms of such effect appeared in 1793, when William Wilberforce moved his famous resolutions in the House of Commons. They were passed, and though they were not accepted by the Government, the debates on them in the House of Commons and in the East India House arrested the attention not only of religious men, but also of a great number of others who were only slightly interested in the propagation of the Gospel.
The unchristian natm*e of some of the arguments put forth by some of the speakers in opposition to the Resolutions at the Com-t of Proprietors of East India Stock made many men think more seriously of the duty of preaching the gospel to every creatm-e than they had ever thought before. If they had been indifferent before, they found themselves quite unable to be indifferent any longer. Something can be said in favour of the speakers, who were extremely afraid of the Resolutions as calculated to charge the Company with a great and permanent expense. It was one thing to fight against this reasonably and on principle ; it was quite another thing to do it in an unchristian way. But these matters are overruled. Perhaps if the opponents had not spoken as they did, the conscience of Christian England would not have been stirred. As it was, men had to consider which side they were on, whether they were for or against Christ, whether they were in favour of carry- ing out His wishes or opposing them. And the general result was a vast increase in the number of those in favour of doing what was manifestly right when the question was fairly faced.
Another effect of the publication of reports was seen in the result produced in individuals in various parts of Great Britain. The journey of John Thomas to Calcutta in 1790 was an individual effort to promote a
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES 199
cause 1 which he must have heard of directly or indirectly by means of reports. He was quite unfitted for the work he proposed to do, so that the friends of the mission cause in Bengal were obliged to hold aloof from him ; he was sent by no Society ; he had no private nor official income ; and he had no licence from the Company to reside in any of their settlements. Still he deserves the credit of making an individual effort to do what he was convinced ought to be done, even though he broke all the rules of prudence and good sense. The subsequent journey of William Carey to the same place was the result of a knowledge of mission work in India which could not have been obtained in any other way than by means of the S.P.C.K. reports. This also was an individual effort. Carey had at first no guaranteed salary ; he took with him a sum of money which was lost in the Hoogli as soon as he arrived ; he had no licence ; but being by temperament fitted for the work he had undertaken, he found friends among the Company's servants ; these obtained for him a subordinate post in an up-country factory, and so he was able to maintain himself during the time he was learning the languages and preparing himself for his subsequent translation work.
The most important result of the reports was their effect upon groups of like-minded men, who in the last decade of the century formed themselves into associations for the prosecution of mission work among the heathen abroad. First came the Missionary Society, afterwards known as the London Mission- ary Society. Among its original members were both Church- men and Nonconformists. It was formed in 1794. Some of its members were in favour of commencing work in India at once ; the majority wished to begin elsewhere ; so it happened that the first agents of this Society did not reach India till December 1804.
One of them was William Tobias Eingeltaube ; he was educated at Halle, and was intended for the Coromandel coast mission of the S.P.C.K. For this purpose there can be no
' Lewis' Memoir of the Rev. John Thomas, 1871. Consult also with some reserve Kaye's Christianity in India, chap. vii. Ka3'e blindly foUows J. C. Marshman {Carey, Ward, dhc), who was filially too much of a partisan to be reliable.
200 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
doubt that, like other students intended for the same mission, he studied Tamil while still at college to prepare himself for his future work. The Society, however, wanted a man at Calcutta in 1797 1 when he was ready to embark, and sent him there instead of to the coast. This alteration involved the learning of another language. Probably this difficulty had something to do with his return home m 1799. In 1803 the London Society engaged his services for work on the coast, and he arrived at Tranquebar at the end of the following year. In the same ship with him travelled George Cran and Augustus Des Granges. These men are stated to have been two years in a seminary at Gosport before being accepted by the Society for work abroad, but their nationality is not given.^
In 1805 arrived at Madras W. C. Loveless and John Taylor, sent out by the same Society. In 1806 John David Palm, a German, who had travelled as far as Colombo with Cran and Des Granges in 1805, joined his travelling companions at Vizagapatam.3 In 1809 John Gordon and William Lee arrived at Calcutta in an American ship from New York, and went to Vizagapatam the following year. John Hands, Edward Pritchett, and Jonathan Brain arrived at Madras in 1810, and John Thompson m 1812.^
Between 1790 and 1813 the following agents of the S.P.C.K. arrived in Madras and commenced work at one or another of the Society's stations : C. H. Horst, 1792 ; C. W. Paezold, 1793 ; I. G. Holtzberg, 1797 ; J. P. Bottler, 1803 ; and C. A. Jacobi, 1813. No other English Society had agents working in the Presidency ; but there were Roman Catholic priests, chiefly of French and Portuguese nationality, pursuing their own work under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Mylapore according to the regulations of the Fort St. George Government.
It is of interest to notice how these men were received and treated by the Company, their Government on the coast, and
' J. C. Diemer, the colleague of Kiernander from 1775 to 1785, and in sole charge from 1789, died in 1792. J. W. Gerlach, who joined Kiernander in 1778, died in 1791. See The Church in Madras, i. 691.
- History of the L.M.8., 1795-1895. Hough says that Cran was a Scotch- man and Des Granges a Frenchman, iv. 253-60.
■' Pearson's Life of Buchanan, vol. ii. chap, v. p. 26.
■• Rerjistcr of L.M.8. Missionaries, 1796-189G, by J. 0. Whitchouse.
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by their officials in different parts of the Presidency. It has been represented i that the tide of hostihty on the part of Europeans in India at this period ran strong against missionary operations ; that the door of India was shut against them ; that all possible discouragement was given to every effort to spread the Gospel ; ^ and many similar statements have been made by missionary historians following in the wake of Hough.^ It is not to be denied that there was friction between the authorities in Bengal and the Baptist missionaries during the year 1806 and for two years afterwards, owing to circumstances which have been detailed ; but there was no similar friction in the south of India, for the reason that the missionaries there gave no cause for it. They obeyed all rules, fulfilled all conditions, and in return they were welcomed and willingly helped by the best of the Company's civil and mihtary servants. If the Court of Directors had not plainly stated then* views on the subject of mission work in their despatch * of September 7, 1808, to the Government of Bengal, in which they affirmed as a principle the desirability of imparting the knowledge of Christianity to the natives of India ; said that they had no objection to the work being done, no objection to the Scriptures being circulated, no objection to public preaching in proper places of worship ; and concluded by advising the Government of Bengal not to interfere without necessity with the proceedings of the mission- aries ;— if the Court of Directors had not written that despatch, their policy with regard to missionaries could have been plainly seen by the generous appreciation and assistance of their servants in the Presidency of Madras.
It is unnecessary to refer again to the Eoman Catholic mission- aries and to those sent out by the S.P.C.K., for the goodwill of all the authorities towards them has been sufficiently demon- strated in the former volume of this record. It remains only to mention what kind of reception was accorded to the agents of the London Missionary Society. Under the terms of its
^ Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 252. - Eugene Stock's History of the CM. 8. 55. ^ Sherring's Protestant Missions in India, p. 78.
■• Public Department. See Appendix I of Buchanan's Apology for the whole correspondence with the Bengal C4overnment.
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Charter the Company might have directed its local Governments to send them all back to Em'ope on arrival, since the Society which employed them took no pains to obtain licences for them before they went. The Directors were quite aware of this breach of rule when they wrote the despatch mentioned above, and determined to make no use of it. They said : ' You are of course aware that many of the meritorious individuals who have devoted themselves to these labours are not British subjects nor living under om' authority, and that none of the missionaries have proceeded to Bengal with our licence.' If they had been writing to the Madras Government they would have been able to say much the same thing of some of the missionaries in the south. They took no decided action regard- ing the absence of a licence, because they did not wish to do so without a cause. The necessity of a licence remained as a rule which could be put in force at any time if the local Government considered it requisite. This policy explains their sympathetic actions in the following cases :
Eingeltaube arrived at Tranquebar i in 1804 ; he visited Madras in 1805 to take counsel with Dr. Eottler as to his sphere of work. Probably in consideration of his knowledge of Tamil he was recommended to take charge of the Tinnevelly mission ; he arrived at Palamcottah that same year, having visited Kohlhoff at Tanjore on the way and received his sanc- tion of the arrangement. At Palamcottah he was most kindly received by Colonel Charles Trotter, the commandant, and by the civil and military officers of the station.^ He did what former Lutheran missionaries had done before him ; he carried on his mission work and ministered to the Company's garrison at the same time. There is no doubt about the welcome given to him by the Company's officers. He was a restless man, and showed an inclination to commence a mission in the adjoining Travancore country. He was accordingly invited by Colonel Macaulay, the British Resident in that native state, to do so. He made his headquarters at Maladi, and before he gave up
* This Danish settlement was captured by the Madras army in 1801 ; after the Peace of Amiens it was restored to the Danes in 1803 ; on the resumption of hostilities it was retaken in 1805.
- Caldwell's Tinnevelly Mission, and The Church in Madras, i. 633.
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the work in 1815 he had established his catechists at several stations, and had several hundred communicants. ^ Eingel- taube received nothing but welcome from the officials.
George Cran and Augustus Des Granges arrived at Tranque- bar 3 with Ringeltaube in 1804. In the following year they were invited to Madras by Dr. Kerr, the Chaplain of St. Mary's, Dr. Bottler, who was in charge of the S.P.C.K. Vepery Mission, and other friends of the mission cause. They were recommended not to interfere with existing missions, but to commence work in the Telugu country where there were none. They accepted the advice, and with the permission of the Governor in Council they went to Vizagapatam with letters of introduc- tion from ' gentlemen of the first respectabihty ' in Madras. They arrived in July 1805, and were cordially received by the Chief Magistrate, Robert Alexander. Kerr and Rottler advised them to follow the policy of the Lutheran missionaries in the service of the S.P.C.K., and to make themselves useful to the English residents by conducting public worsliip according to the Book of Common Prayer. By following this advice they made themselves acceptable to the English officials and gentry, and the act turned out to be a means of blessing to themselves, which they acknowledged in a letter to Kerr. It seems to have been their first introduction to the Liturgy of the Church, for they expressed their admiration of it and of the Thirty -nine Articles, as if they had never seen them before, and they com- menced to translate them with the help of a Brahmin into Telugu. In return for this regular Sunday service they obtained from the Government on the apphcation of the Chief Magistrate an allowance of ten pagodas 3 a month as lectors or readers of divine service. It was the same amount as was given to Horst and Holtzberg at Cuddalore for a similar purpose. They were also given the privilege of franking their letters home, which was enjoyed by the Company's officials and the senior S.P.C.K. missionary. At the request of the Chief Magistrate the Zemindar gave them a piece of land for their mission buildings ; the
1 Sherring's Protestant Missions, p. 321.
2 Pearson, Lije of Buchanan, i. 40 and ii. chap. v. p. 26 ; Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 253-60 ; Buchanan's Colonial Eccl. Est. p. 165 note.
^ U.
204 THE CHURCH [IN ^MADRAS
Magistrate himself gave them permission to build ; the civil and military officers of Vizagapatam were Hberal in their linancial assistance, so that it was not long before they had built a free school and orphanage for Eurasian children and a house for themselves. Claudius Buchanan visited them on his way to the south in 1806, when John Palm was paying them a visit from Ceylon. He described them as ' three holy men.' Their wives were with them ; but Buchanan only mentions Mrs. Palm, who ' is a helpmeet in the Gospel. She learns the language faster than her husband.'
Cran died at Chicacole in 1809 and Des Granges at Vizaga- patam in 1810. All the European officers of the station attended the funeral of the latter. In the old cemetery at Vizagapatam there is a monument to his memory, on which he is described as ' having faithfully served the East India Company for the period of four years.'
In the year 1805 two more agents of the London Mission arrived at Madras, John Taylor and William Charles Loveless. They were on their way to Surat. Taylor eventually reached the Bombay Presidency. He was a surgeon, and was persuaded to enter the medical service of the Company i on the Bombay estabhshment. The newcomers met in Madras Cran and Des Granges, who had just arrived from Tranquebar, and were introduced by them to their kind friends. By these they were welcomed with cordiality.- The httle circle must have in- cluded Dr. Kerr the Chaplain and Dr. Bottler the S.P.C.K. missionary. At the time of their arrival the mastership of the Male Asylum was vacant. Dr. Kerr, being favourably im- pressed with Loveless, offered him the post, and he accepted the offer. The Asylum was governed by a committee of persons in high official positions in Madras with the Governor at its head. Loveless, the L.M.S. missionary,^ could not have obtained the post without their knowledge and consent. And thus the highest officials in Madras are found to be consenting to his arrival and conspiring to keep him. He is described by
' He is sometimes referred to as Dr. Taylor, but I cannot find that he had a doctor's degree.
- Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 272.
^ William Taylor {Memoir, d-c, ]). 128) says he came out as a catechist.
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES 205
William Taylor as very humbly talented and unpresuming. His modesty found him friends, without whom he could have done little beyond the bounds of the Asylum. He commenced at once to hold religious meetings for the Eurasians of Vepery and Black Town, among whom he officiated with great accep- tance, using the Book of Common Prayer in his ministrations. There was some opposition to his ministrations, i not from the authorities, but from the S.P.C.K. missionary at Vepery, a German whose knowledge of English was imperfect, whose English congregation was sadly thinned by the effort of the London missionary .^ Assisted by some of the European officials, especially by William Harcourt Torriano of the Madras Civil Service, he built within five years of his arrival a chapel in Black Town for services in English without the Prayer-book, with two schoolrooms attached for Eurasian boys and girls. This chapel was opened with the consent of the Government. He resigned the mastership of the Male Asylum in 1812, opened a private school in Vepery, and retired in 1824. Neither his arrival nor his occupation was in any way interfered with by the Government. On the contrary he was assisted by them and by some of the Company's officials individually.
The next agents of the L.M.S. to arrive were John Gordon and William Lee, who reached Calcutta via New York in 1809.3 They had no difficulty in joining Des Granges at Vizagapatam. In the words of Hough ' both were estimable men, and they made a great impression on all.' Here without molestation they pursued their peaceful labours of translating portions of the Bible into Telugu, and carrying on the work commenced by their predecessors.
John Hands of the same Society arrived at Madras in 1810,* Like his predecessors he was without a licence. Owing to an indiscretion on the part of the Serampore missionaries in Bengal, the local Governments of India began now to demand the production of the regulation licence from those who wished to enter the country for missionary purposes. Hands would
^ Sherring's Protestant Missions, p. 411.
- Taylor's Memoir, p. 133.
^ Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 264.
^ Hough says 1809 ; but the L.M.S. Register says 1810.
206 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
have been sent back if Marmaduke Thompson, one of the junior Ghaphiins, had not interceded with the Government for him. He was allowed to land on the miderstanding that his sole intention and object was to try and work somewhere as Cran and Des Granges had worked at Vizagapatam. There can be no doubt that he received the same advice from mission friends in Madras as they did, and was recommended not to interfere with missions already established, but to begin in some new place or in some place which for want of workers had been deserted. He actually tried to begin at Seringapatam, a very mihealthy station where fever had struck down many a British soldier as well as a notable missionary Chaplain, A. T. Clarke. But he soon passed on from this place to Bellary. Here was a brigade of European and native troops without a Chaplain, He was welcomed by the Europeans, and worked among them just as Cran and Des Granges did at their station ; he used the Prayer-book in his ministrations, and was indebted to this compliance with British prejudice for his English con- gregation. At the instance of the Chief Magistrate he received a grant from the Madras Government of eight acres of land, rent free as long as the land was appropriated to the use of the charity school and orphanage for Europeans and Eurasians, which he established with the assistance of the officers of the station. His efforts among the soldiers and their Eurasian children, which were attended with happy results, were no longer required after 1812, when the Government sent a Chaplain to guide and watch over their spiritual welfare. He then turned his principal attention to mission work, and began translating the Gospel of St. Luke into Canarese. Being joined by Joseph Taylor, a young man born of European parents in Madras, he was able to devote even more attention to transla- tion work, and commenced a Canarese Grammar and Diction- ary.^ He wrote several tracts in Canarese for his mission purposes, and appHed to the Government for permission to set up a printing press. Bearing in mind what had happened at Serampore in connection with the vernacular printing press there, the Government hesitated, and John Hands did not
' Hough's Christianity in India, iv. 280-90 ; Sherring's Protestant Missions, p. 293.
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES 207
obtain his desire till 1826. With this exception he was in no way hampered in his work by the Government or by their officials. In other respects he was greatly helped by both. Joseph Taylor needed no licence because he was born in the country. This accentuates the fact that the licence was not one to do mission work, but to reside in the Company's dominions.
The next agents of the L.M.S. to reach Madras were Edward Pritchett and Jonathan Brain. They arrived in 1810. The latter died shortly after arrival. The former was intended for Rangoon, and pursued his journey thither as soon as the ship was ready. Military troubles in Burmah obliged him to leave that country. By choice he went to Calcutta, where he arrived in February 1811. Finally, he joined Gordon and Lee at Vizagapatam in November of that year. The acknowledged excellence of the missionaries on the Telugu coast saved him from any objection or inquiry. He was a linguist of natural ability, as some men are, and he was one of the principal translators of the New Testament into Telugu, whose transla- tion was pronounced at the time to be ' a plain intelligible version.' ^ He followed quietly in the footsteps of Cran and Des Granges, and died at Vizagapatam in 1820.
John Thompson arrived at Madras in March 1812. There he lingered through illness. The authorities not knowing the cause of his detention had some reason to doubt his missionary purpose. He was therefore served with a notice on May 22 informing him that the Hon. the Governor in Council was precluded by the orders of the Supreme Government from permitting him to reside in any place under the Presidency, and directing him to return to the Isle of France or to Europe on the first opportunity .^ But he was sick unto death with abscess on the liver, and he died in June within a month of receiving the notice.
The order of the Supreme Government was the result of the arrival of some missionaries in American ships, and of the arrival of two missionary Americans early in 1812 at Calcutta. These were Judson and Newell. They meant no more harm
^ Hough's Christianity in India, iv, 269, 290. 2 The letter is quoted by Sherring, p. 412.
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to the Government than the missionaries aheady in the country ; but they came at an unfortunate time. They and their country- men were mostly of British descent and bore British names. They had declared their independence of the mother country, and were at this period of England's struggle with France showing their independence by joining with their mother's enemies against her. The circumstances of the expulsion of Judson and Newell were thus exceptional ; they were more political than missionary. As their country was in alliance with France, which had been for some time trying to injure Great Britain by stirring up strife in India, these men might be secret agents of France for all the Bengal Government knew to the contrary. As a matter of fact they were not ; but in times of war no risks can be taken, and they became the innocent victims of their countrymen's unnatural politics. Judson went to Burmah and did a great evangelistic work there. Three other Americans were deported in the following year. In spite of these deportations it is sufficiently clear that the East India Company and their officials were not antagonistic to Christian mission work, as such, in the territories of the Madras Government.
Neither the obligations of the 1813 Charter, nor the state- ments made in the heat of controversy whilst its terms were under discussion, made any difference to the Company and its officials in their attitude towards the missionaries after the new Charter was granted. The goodwill of all continued. The Rajah of Tanjore was still kind and liberal towards Kohlhoff and his assistants. If the Government had been in any way unfriendly or hostile, a single word from the British Resident would have put an end both to the liberality and the kindness. With the consent of the Directors the Government continued its contribution of 1200 pagodas a year to the Sullivan-Schwartz Enghsh schools of Tanjore, Ramnad, and Combaconum. Christopher Jacobi, a new S.P.C.K. missionary, was granted a free passage to Madras in 1813 when the debate about the terms of the Charter was going on. And the Company's servants gave the same kind of protection, encouragement, and help to the missionaries which they had given hitherto.
At this time a new society as far as India was concerned
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES 209
came upon the scene. The Church Missionary Society from the very beginning professed to consider the heathen and them alone as the objects of its care. It has been stated that the evangehcals of the period were excluded from participation in the work of the S.P.C.K.i If this was the case it is a sufficient proof that party spirit existed in a much more acute form in England than it did in India, and that the East India Company and their servants understood toleration better than it was understood at home. Under such circumstances the evangelicals had a perfect right to combine to carry on the work by themselves. According to the Eev. John Venn the projected mission was to be carried on on Church principles but not on high Church principles. There were working in India at the time the agents of the S.P.C.K., the Baptist, and London Mission Societies, and not one of these were in Holy Orders. Venn was a loyal Churchman, and probably intended that the work of the new Society should be done by rightly ordained men of his own school. But as soon as he began to look for men he experienced the same difficulty as the S.P.C.K. They were not to be found. Some of the old S.P.C.K. missions on the Coromandel coast were languishing, not for want of funds but for want of men. The Lutheran supply from Halle had been cut off by the Napoleonic wars. The English clergy were too few for the needs of their own country, so that a great number of them had to take charge of more than one benefice. Wilberforce tried to get over the difficulty by recommending the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to adopt a distinct ordination for missionaries, authorising them to work abroad but not in England.^ The C.M.S. tried to surmount it by resolving to send laymen into the mission field, who were to work as catechists till called by the Society to be ordained .3 Neither of these plans was found to bo feasible. Thus it happened that they had to do what the S.P.C.K. did, and employ Germans as their first Madras agents. In the first seventeen years of the Society's existence they employed
1 E. Stock's History of the C.M.S. i. 63-66.
2 See his Charter speech in Parliament, 1813. This was the origin of the difference between home and colonial ordination.
•* Hough's Hidory, iv. 167. VOL. u. p
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twenty-four missionaries, of whom seventeen were Germans. As far as Church principles were concerned they might, with advantage to the cause, have joined and strengthened the missionary effort of the S.P.C.K.
Between 1814 and 1836 the Society sent twenty -nine missionaries to southern India ; nine of these were Germans. There was a difference between the Germans employed by the S.P.C.K. and the C.M.S. The former were distinctly Lutherans, the latter were not. The difference was a more important one than that of mere ritual and furniture and ornament.
Before the arrival at Madras of theirfirst agents, Schnarre and Ehenius, they had begun to assist the work that was going on at Tranquebar through a committee of their friends at Calcutta, which was to all intents and purposes a corresponding com- mittee. In 1812 this committee made a generous grant to Dr. John of Tranquebar to enable him to continue the Enghsh schools which he had founded on the plan of the Sulhvan- Schwartz schools. This grant was the occasion of their sending Schnarre and Ehenius from Madras to Tranquebar in 1814. WTien they were recalled to Madras in the following year, Marmaduke Thompson w§nt through the form of asking the Government to permit them to reside in the Presidency town. The Governor granted the request ' with words of kindness and encouragement.' i Schnarre returned to Tranquebar in 1816, and Ehenius went to Palamcottah in 1820 ; not because of any want of welcome in Madras, but because their services were required elsewhere.
On the departure of Eingeltaube from South Travancore the work was taken up b}^ the two London missionaries, Charles Mead and Eichard Knill. At the suggestion and by the advice of Colonel John Munro, the Eesident, the headquarters of the mission was moved to Nagercoil in 1818. Here by the influence of the same British official a house was provided by the Eanee, who also gave 5000 pagodas for the purchase of rice fields for the endowment of the mission.
In 1815 Colonel Munro wrote to the newly formed corre- sponding committee in Madras, and invited them to send one of their missionaries to Travancore to work among the Syrian
* Hough's History.
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES 211
Christians of the State, who for want of education were in a sad condition of ignorance. The Committee sent for Thomas Norton, who was stationed in Ceylon, for the jjurpose. Two years later he was joined by Benjamin Bailey, Henry Baker, and Joseph Fenn. In 1818 Colonel Mmiro wrote to the Madras Government about these faithful priests and said : ' They are respected and loved by the people ; and the further resort of respectable missionaries to this country will be productive of eminent advantage.'
Another society commenced work in Madras in 1816. Wilham Taylor gives an account i of its commencement, which though ridiculous has an air of truth. The result was the arrival from Ceylon of Mr. Lynch of the Wesleyan Mission. He was instrumental in building the mission house and chapel at Eoyapettah, one of the districts of Madras, where no other mission work was being done at the time. James Mowatt arrived in 1820. After staying a short time at Bangalore he went to Negapatam, where the old S.P.C.K. Mission was in charge of a young German catechist. The chief magistrate, Mr. John Cotton, and the other English residents at once asked him to conduct service for them in the old S.P.C.K. Church. He did this so acceptably that at the request of Mr. Cotton the Government made him an allowance of 20 pagodas a month for his services as Eeader.
With him came in 1820 Elijah Hoole, who was quite a remarkable man. On his return home in 1829 he pubHshed an account of his mission to India. From this book the reader can see for himself the kindly spirit in which he was received by the Company's servants wherever he went. One of the first things he recorded on arrival at Madras was ' the opening of the Black Town chapel, erected by the munificence of the Government for the Church Missionary Society.' This act of munificence must have astonished him, in the hght of all he must have heard and read about the Government before leaving England. He travelled to Negapatam and was welcomed by John Cotton the Collector. Here he found that the English residents assembled in the old Dutch Church every Sunday morning for divine service, which was ' performed by our
* Taylor's Me?mif, die, p. 235.
p 2
212 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
missionary.' At Salem be received a welcome from the Collector, Montagu Cockburn, and conducted a service for the residents there. At Bangalore he was the guest of the Chaplain, the Rev. W. Malkin, by whom ho was entertained for several weeks. From this place he went to Seringapatam, and was received with friendly politeness by the Resident, the Com- mandant, and other ofdcers. The Europeans and Eurasians of the garrison had just completed the building of a chapel for themselves, large enough to accommodate a hundred persons. Here at their request he conducted service on Sundays, using of course the Church Prayer-book.
He dined with the Commandant at Seringapatam and with the Resident at Mysore, and he mentioned that he was treated by the latter— the Hon. Arthur H. Cole— with kindness and affabihty. At the Mysore Durbar he was treated by the Resident just as if he had been an English official.
Thence he went to Chittoor, ' the happy valley,' where he was most kindly received by Joseph Dacre, who was the District Judge and a zealous promoter of Christian knowledge. Here he stayed ten days ; he conducted service for the English residents in the Court House on Sunda}^ and, finding that Mr. Dacre employed catechists and schoolmasters and managed a small mission of his own among the Tamil population of the place, he paid particular attention to the work that was being done and preached to the Tamil Christians also. At Arcot he was entertained by the Company's Chaplain, the Rev. Richard Smyth, and so he returned to Madras.
Speaking of the Wesley an chapel in Popham's Broadway he mentioned that Rs.7000 out of the total cost of Rs. 10,000 were raised locally with the kind assistance of ' many of the servants of Government and other highly respected residents in Madras.' The following comment was without doubt the result of observation during his tour, that the Em'opeans and Eurasians in all stations where there was no resident Chaplain were in need of Christian teaching and ministration, and showed their need by welcoming his services and those of other missionaries ; he said : ' Were no other ends to be answered by missions to India than the maintenance of Christian Knowledge and feeling among those who akeady
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES 213
profess our holy religion, it is an object worthy of the beneficent liberality of the public at home.'
With very few exceptions i these early missionaries were careful not to make confusion by establishing themselves where others were already working. The London Mission went to Vizagapatam, Bellary, Nagercoil, and Bangalore, where none had worked before. The Wesleyans went to Mysore and Eoyapettah. The Church Mission equally disclaimed any intention of interfering with any existing society. They would have been content to commence by themselves as they did in Travancore, but they were invited to assist the old S.P.C.K. Mission at Palamcottah and in the Black Town of Madras, and they cheerfully complied. This peaceful division of labour and the entire absence of politics were the two main reasons why the Government and the servants of Government were able to give the different missionaries so warm a welcome. There was no prejudice against missionaries in a Presidency where missionaries had been working for over a hundred years ; no restraint nor interference was necessary with men who had such an experience to guide them, and who had learned by its means that the circulation of tracts abusing the religions of the country was not a wise missionary method. In addition to this they appeared to have left all their angles and politics behind them. Thus the Government was able to welcome and assist them, and Elijah Hoole was able to say :
' The union of spirit and affection generally exhibited in Madras by the missionaries of the different societies, whilst it is quite compatible with a conscientious preference for their own religious communions, affords a pleasing proof of their Christian temper as well as zeal, and has often been to each other a rich source of gratification and comfort.'
On his return to Madras Hoole commenced work at Myla- pore, three miles from the Fort. Here he was assisted by a 'respectable English inhabitant, who was educated at Harrow,' who lent one of his houses for mission purposes. But Hoole liked itinerating best, and was soon off again to the up-country
' Loveless, L.M.S., at Vepery and Squance, W.M.S., at Negapatam.
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stations, where he received the same kind of welcome from the civil and military officers which he had received on his first jom-ney. At Trichinopoly he opened a small chapel in the cantonment, which had been built by some of the men of the 1st Royals with the assistance of the Chaplain, the Rev. H. C. Bankes. At Wallajahbad, where the 69th Regiment was, he was given quarters by the commandant, Major Leslie ; he conducted service for the regiment on two occasions, once in the barrack square and once in the fives court. He was also invited by the officers to preach in the evening in the mess house. Later on, that is in 1824, a Chaplain was posted to the station, the Rev. James Boys ; the officers and men of the regiment showed their appreciation of Hoole's ministrations when they had no Chaplain by subscribing Rs.450 towards the liuilding of a schoolroom and chapel for his separate Wesleyan use, the Commandant giving the site, and the Collector the materials. At Cuddalore he was welcomed by the officers of the garrison and the civil officials, and he preached in the S.P.C.K. mission Church. Among the officials was one, Mr. Sim, whose name has been for the three generations held in honour in the Presidency. Hoole visited several other places, and recorded the same kind reception and welcome everywhere. He was far from thinking that the Government was hostile, or that the presence of Europeans was detrimental to the advance of Christianity. He bore witness that there was no political hindrance to missionary work, and added that stations occupied by Europeans were in many respects the best centres of missionary effort. In saying this he was only repeating what the German missionaries of the S.P.C.K. had been saying during the previous hundred years.
It is only necessary to mention three other evidences of Government goodwill to the mission cause.
(i) After the arrival of the first Bishop of Calcutta in the country, the system of committee administration and committee rule in the various mission enterprises was commenced. The committees of the S.P.C.K., the C.M.S., and the Bible Society were composed of officials of high standing in Madras, who willingly gave their time and attention to matters of missionary detail in order that financial difficulties should be guarded
THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES 215
against, property securely held, and the work vigorously pursued.
(ii) When Dr. Eottler had translated the English Liturgy into Tamil in 1814, he appealed to the Governor in Council for assistance towards the heavy expense of printing it. In reply the Secretary to Government wrote :
' As the Governor in Council is confident that the Hon. Court of Directors will entertain a high sense equally of the motives and of the design of your undertaking, and will feel desirous that it should receive due encouragement, I am directed to acquaint you that the Sub-Treasurer will be authorised to pay you on your receipt the sum of 500 pagodas ; for which you will hereafter deliver to Government the number of copies of your work which may cost that sum at the price at which it may be sold.'
Later on Dr. Eottler reckoned that the equivalent amounted to 125 copies, and the Government made a free gift of these copies to the Madras District Committee of the S.P.C.K. for the use of the native Tamil Christians in Madras.^
(iii) The Government erected a Church in Black Town in 1819 for the native Christians 2 of that quarter, and gave it to the C.M.S. The cost was over Rs.18,000 ; but of this more hereafter.
' Taylor's Memoir, Appendix E.
- The term -native' included at that time the Em-opeans and Eurasians born in the country.
CHAPTER XI
MISSION PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATION
The Origin and Development of Committee Bule
The beginning of the S.P.C.K. missions. The rules for missionaries, 1735. Their inapphcability and failure. The accumulation of property. Its misappropriation. The Kiernander lesson. The Society's inquiry, 1787. The missionary system of using missionary funds. Paezold at Vepery. Schwartz and his trustees. Gericke and his trustees. The omission of Paezold. The inclusion of Rottler. Rottler goes to Vepery. Formation of the Madras District Committee, 181G. Its members and its original functions. Increase of its power during Paezold's life and after his death. The M.D.C. in power in secular matters. Thanks of the Society. Its inquiry about the Vepery mission property, 1818. Proposals to transfer the trust funds to the M.D.C. ; the M.D.C. refer to the Society. The Society consults the Bishop of Calcutta. Rottler leans on the Committee, who advise under protest. Their disinclination to rule the affairs of the mission. The trustees of the Vepery and Tanjore funds invest their funds in Government bonds. The M.D.C. in power, 1824.
The long story of Committee rule begins with the coming of the first Bishop of Calcutta. There is nothing like it in any other part of the mission field of the Church, the reason being that it arose from circumstances peculiar to the Presidency of Madras. In the year 1728 the S.P.C.K. determined to follow the example of the Royal Danish Mission, and to employ mission- aries, with the consent of the Hon. East India Company, responsible entirely to themselves, within the territories of the Company. At that time the Company had two forts on the Coromandel coast and no possessions inland. With the consent of the men themselves, of their emjDloyers in Denmark (with whom the S.P.C.K. were always in friendly correspondence), of the Danish and English East India Companies, and of their local representatives at Fort St. George and Tranquebar, the
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two stations of Madras and Cuddalore were occupied as mission stations by men of the Royal Danish Mission, who transferred their services from the Danish to the Enghsh Society.
Seven years afterwards^the Society issued a paper of ' instruc- tions for the Protestant missionaries in the Enghsh colonies of Madras, Cuddalore, &c., to be observed by them in the discharge of their respective functions.' It consisted of ten sections, of which the following are the headings :
1. Of the good disposition and behaviour necessary.
2. Of the direction and business of the mission.
3. Of the behaviour of the missionaries towards each other.
4. Of the ministerial functions of a missionary.
5. Of the journeys of a missionary.
6. Of the servants of the mission.
7. Of the schools of the mission.
8. Of the money belonging to the mission.
9. Of the books to be printed and published.
10. The instructions to be read annually in conference. After a careful study of the instructions one is bound to confess that if they had been faithfully observed there would not have been any need for the interference of a District Committee. At the same time it is abundantly evident that the non-observance was not due entirely to carelessness, but partly to the growth of the mission to places far distant from the first two stations, which rendered the observance of three of the rules impossible in practice. Take, for example, the direc- tions of section 2. They contemplated a state of affairs which never existed, namely, that the missionaries would be suffi- ciently near one another to enable them to hold a weekly general conference, the senior missionary presiding, for the administration of the whole affairs of the mission.
The section ordered the catechists and the schoolmasters to attend the conference. All matters for consideration — which might include the discipline of the converts, the appoint- ment of servants, the staffing of schools, the purchase, repair, exchange, or sale of property — all such matters were to be debated and voted upon ; and the resolutions passed were to be entered in the minute book and subscribed by each missionary
218 THE CHITRCH IN MADRAS
present. A copy of the minute book was to be sent to the Society annually.
Besides this general weekly conference the missionaries were to hold a special weekly one among themselves to arrange the division of labour, to discuss such matters as did not concern the catechists and schoolmasters, and as a means of ' continuing their good correspondence Avith the missionaries at Tranquebar.'
If the mission had never extended beyond the boundaries of Madras and Cuddalore, it would have been impossible to keep the rule of this section ; but when the work of the mission extended, as it did before the end of the century, northward to Pulicat, westward to Arcot and Vellore, and southward to Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Ramnad, Palamcottah. and Tuticorin, the rule became a dead letter, and administration had to be carried on in some other way.
In drawing up section 8 the S.P.C.K. took particular care to guard the financial affairs of the mission. The mission- aries were cautioned to account for all the money they received for the use of the mission, to spend it only in the manner intended l)y the donors, to husband their resources with care and fidelity, and to send an exact account of all receipts and disbursements to the Society yearly. The missionaries were to choose every half-year a treasurer, who was to keep the cash and the accounts, and to acquaint his colleagues at the end of his term of office of the exact financial condition of the mission. Without their consent he was to incur no new expense ; he was neither to do repairs, nor invest capital, nor purchase land. The mission property in money was to be at the disposal of the missionaries in council and them alone.
Section 9 in a similar way provided for the control of the Mission Press. The Society decreed that the missionaries as a body should decide what should and should not be printed. They did their best to prevent it falling under the control of any one man.
But all these provisions were rendered inoperative by the extension of the work and the scattering of the workers. There was no half-yearly meeting to receive and pass the accounts. It was not possible. The good intentions of the Society were frustrated by circumstances, and for convenience sake each
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S.P.C.K. missionary managed the affairs of the mission where he was stationed by himself, and left his colleagues to do likewise.
The senior missionary at Madras had a duty which the other missionaries had not, a duty which came to him by reason of his being stationed at the seat of Government. He received from the parent Society all the Society had to send year by year, the pay, collections, special gifts, stores, books, and press requisites. It was his duty to deal with these and to account to the Society for everything he received. The Madras mission- ary sent his receipts ; but there was no making up of accounts in committee according to rule, nor did the receipts show that the mission money was used either in Madras or elsewhere, nor how the other things were distributed.
The accumulation of property and the failure to render accounts were the foundations and sole justification of com- mittee rule. At various times during the ministry of Fabricius and Gericke at Madras sums of money were bequeathed to the missionaries for the benefit of the mission. In 1777 Mr. Hollis left £700 ; ahttlelater Captain Eckman left £100, Mrs. Isabella Croke £60, Mr. Ziegenhagen £400, and others bequeathed smaller sums. As these did not come from the Society, the missionaries did not consider that they were under an obligation to account for them to the Society. This decision was obviously wrong ; the mission was the S.P.C.K. Mission, so that whatever property the mission had or acquired was the property of the Society in whose name it was carried on.
The rules of the Society provided for the accurate keeping and auditing of the mission accounts by the missionaries in conference. In practice the missionaries mixed up the mission accounts with their private accounts. Speaking of Gericke, W. Taylor says : ^
' I have seen his account books. When at the top of one page a balance in favour of several thousand pagodas was visible, there were in the item of disbursements a school bill for one of his children, a dozen of wine, a payment for mission catechists and schoolmasters, common household expenses, charitable payments or donations, indiscriminately mingled together.'
' Memoir, p. 95.
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The danger of this was that in case of financial failure, such as overtook Fabricius in 1787 and Kiernander in Calcutta at about the same time, the creditors might seize mission property to satisfy their claims as well as the private property to which they were entitled. This actually happened at Calcutta. The only reason why it did not happen at Vepery was that the Church and gromids had been made over to the mission by the local Government of Fort St. George, and no creditor would have been allowed to attach them in satisfac- tion of a personal debt. There was no trust deed. The Govern- ment Order by which the property was handed over was a good title, and it was sufficient in the case of Vepery to protect not only what the Government had given, but what had been other- wise acquired as well.
When Kiernander of Calcutta failed, his creditors took possession of all his property ; in this category they included the mission Church, the schools, the bmial-ground, and the mission bmigalow. They had not been legally conveyed to the Society, nor locally registered in the Society's name. The creditors could only regard them as the private property of the missionary who l3uilt and used them for his own purposes.
This incident conveyed an alarming lesson to the mission- aries in the south, and to those who sympathised with them and their work. After seventy years of work the missionaries were faced by an old problem, which they appear to have thought they had left behind them in Europe, the problem of property. In various places they had property in land, houses, and burial-grounds. Whether these were held securely and legally was a question they had never troubled themselves about. In their simplicity they regarded it all as ' mission ' property, and they looked upon the funds as entirely at their owTi disposal. The S.P.C.K., and they who gave their money to further the mission cause, could not look at the question in the same artless way. They saw the necessity of safeguarding the property of the cause they had at heart.
The mission property in Madras, Cuddalore, Tanjore, and Trichinopoly was held under sanction of a Government Order. In some other military stations such as Palamcottah and Velloro it was protected by the co-operation of the Government
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when it was originally acquired. There were, however, pro- perties in other places not similarly held and protected. Land and buildings had been acquired in many villages ' for the mission,' especially in Tinnevelly. Mission funds had come into existence at Madras and Tanjore, and at other places which were actually in private trust, whose trustees were accountable to no one for their administration.
Shortly before the arrest of Fabricius for debt, it was known that through ignorance of business matters he was incurring risks. Some one seems to have written home to the Society on the subject. The Society therefore in 1787 made inquiries about the property of the Vepery Mission. Fabricius rephed i that ' the property or funds belonging to the Madras mission, and consequently to the Society,^ and for whose security the missionary or missionaries residing there must be answer- able,' were as follows : ^
(a) The Church, mission house and garden.
(&) The burying-ground adjoining the garden.
(c) The burying-ground in the Black Town.
(d) Schoolmasters' houses near the garden.
(e) Small house near the garden (Bonwyn legacy). (/) Piece of paddy-field.
The first three properties required no trust deed ; the latter three required one or something of the nature of one.
When Fabricius was imprisoned, the remaining missionaries determined that by a deed of resignation Fabricius should transfer to Gericke all the mission property. It was not a very wise arrangement, for it obscured the fact of ownership by the Society, though it did not deny it, and it gave to Gericke complete control over the property of the Vepery Mission, which by the S.P.C.K. regulations ought to have been exercised by the missionaries jointly.
Between 1750 and 1800 landed property in and around IVIadras was acquired, exchanged, and alienated without any reference to the Society. John Pereiras garden was purchased by one of the early missionaries. It was not included in the
1 Taylor's Memoir, p. 54, and S.P.C.K. Records (London).
- This opinion of Fabricius is noteworthy.
^ There is no mention of the property at John Perekas.
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list of property made by Fabricius. There was a piece of land at Seven Wells, which was exchanged in 1777 for a piece at Korukapettah, as the Government required the wells for their new water supply. The paddy-field bought by Fabricius was exchanged by Gericke for a piece of land near Washerman's gate, where he required a bmial-ground. The exchange was effected with the Government, who wanted the paddy-field for building purposes. There was no disadvantage to the mission in what was done, as far as is known ; but the transactions without the knowledge of the Society were surely and clearly improper. In 1799 Gericke found a difficulty in the cultivation of the paddy-fields, the padre-kotagam, at Cuddalore; so he requested the Company's District Officer to manage them for him, and handed them over. Only with difficulty were they subsequently recovered for the mission.
The wealth of some of the S.P.C.K. missionaries at this period has always been a cause of wonder to the admirers of their devoted work. They acted as bankers and money-lenders ; they were trusted with money for these purposes by persons who knew more of their honesty than of their business capacity. They used the mission funds as their capital. The pay they received from the S.P.C.K. was only £50 a year until 1798, when it was doubled. On the recommendation of Bishop Middle ton it was increased to £150 in 1818, and to £200 in 1819, and it was subsequently increased to £250 in 1821. It is easily under- stood that up to 1798 they were obliged to look to some other source of income to add to their mission pay. They who were not able to obtain allowances from the Government as Chaplains or interpreters, employed the mission money for this purpose. But the system was as clearly wrong as it was contrary to the Society's regulations. A proper representation of the inade- quacy of the pay would have probably resulted in its increase.
The fact is that the S.P.C.K. neither guided nor governed. They maintained a fixed number of missionaries, as many as their resources would permit ; they encouraged them, blessed their efforts, published annual accounts of their doings, sent them gifts of money, books and press necessaries for the furtherance of their work, and left the administration of the mission entirely to their accepted nominees. They had for-
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gotten the existence of their own regulations as completely as the missionaries themselves.
This negligence would not have mattered much if all the missionaries had been such unselfish Christian gentlemen as Schwartz. Unfortunately, there came to Vepery a missionary who was over-sensitive and hasty, and different in some impor- tant particulars from any of his predecessors. In one fit of ill- temper he gave up the English service in Vepery Church ; in another he quarrelled with his Tamil congregation and called in the police to overawe them ; in a third he closed the Printing Press, dismissed the workmen, shut up the book depository, and left the stores of books, bindings, and printing paper to take their chance among the various tropical agencies of destruction. This was the last straw which broke the back of the old system. There were several gentlemen among the Company's servants at the time, who were interested in mission work on principle, who could see that it would be better not to do the work at all than to do it in such a way and in such a spirit. They were for guidance and government.
When Schwartz died in 1798 he left all his possessions, including the mission funds, for the upkeep of the Tanjore Mission, including Palamcottah and other distant stations. He is said to have nominated C. W. Gericke and Christopher Breithaupt as his executors and trustees.i
When Gericke died he left nearly all his possessions, includ- ing the mission fmids, to five trustees, to be held by them in trust for the upkeep of the Vepery Mission and its out-stations, with special reference to Negapatam and the buildings there which had been handed over to him ' for the mission ' in 1785.^ The executors were Mr. John Hunter, his son-in-law ; ^ Mr. C. Breithaupt,^ his co-trustee in the Schwartz trust ; J. C. Kohlhoff of Tanjore; and the three Tranquebar missionaries, Eottler, Caemmerer, and John. He said in his will :
' I beg the above mentioned four missionaries to administer
^ His will has not been found.
- The w ill has not been found. It is quoted in Taylor's Memoir, App. xxx. ^ Of the firm of Hunter, Hay & Co.
'' Of the firm of Parry, Pugh & Breithaupt ; son of J. C. Breithaupt the S.P.C.K. missionary of Vepery, ^\ho died in 1782.
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together with Mr. Christopher Breithaupt the Tan j ore mission fund made b}^ the late Eev. Mr. Schwartz for the support of the mission of Tanjore and Palamcottah, agreeably to the late Rev. Mr. Schwartz' will ; and see that there be a succession of faithful administrators both to the Tanjore mission fund and to that of Vepery.'
The irregularity of this appointment of fom* fresh trustees to administer the Schwartz fmid will be seen at once. By introducing three Tranquebar missionaries into the trust he introduced an element of financial and administrative confusion, but probably without intention. All the German missionaries on the coast looked upon one another as brothers in the same holy cause. They were of the same nationality ; they were mostly educated in the same place ; and they belonged to the same (Lutheran) denomination. They consulted one another and lived in great friendship. But in financial and adminis- trative matters they were in reality separated by their em- ployment.
They at Tranquebar were employed by the Royal Danish Mission, and received their pay from the King of Denmark. Whatever mission property in buildings or land they possessed they owned as agents of His Majesty's Copenhagen Mission. They in the East India Company's territories were employed by the London S.P.C.K. ; they were not Danish but British mission- aries.i Whatever mission property they possessed they owned as agents of the S.P.C.K. Schwartz appears to have under- stood the property difficulty ; he appointed as his trustees a British missionary and a British born subject. Gericke either did not understand it, or he purposely tried to brush it aside.
When Gericke made his will at Vepery in 1803 his assistant Paezold was preparing to take up an appointment at Calcutta as Professor of Tamil in Fort William College. Perhaps this was why he was not made a trustee. At the same time there is evidence ~ to show that there was a want of sympathy and a consequent barrier between the two men.
Whether the omission was intentional or not, Gericke appointed as his executors and trustees a merchant in Madras,
' The Church in Madras, i. p. 278. - Taylor's Memoir, d^c, p. 97.
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three missionaries in Tranquebar, and one missionary at Tanjore to manage the finance of the S.P.C.K. Vepery Mission. It was obvious that one of the missionary trustees ought to be stationed at Vepery for combined missionary and finance purposes. Dr. J. P. Eottler was asked by the remaining S.P.C.K. agents, at the urgent request of the Vepery congrega- tion, and was permitted by his Tranquebar brethren, to take charge of the Vepery Mission. He arrived in December 1803, and having a good knowledge of the three languages required, English, Portuguese, and Tamil, he was welcomed by all. He was at once appointed Chaplain and Superintendent of the Military Female Orphan Asylum. This appointment alone gave him a higher salary than he had hitherto enjoyed. The transfer was made subject to the approbation of his superiors at Copenhagen, and the S.P.C.K. in London approved of it and took him into their service subject to the same provision.
Paezold's appointment in Calcutta came to an end in August 1804, and he returned to Madras. Bottler gave up the mission house to him, assisted him in the work of the mission, and remained at Vepery to fulfil his new duties as trustee of the funds and superintendent of the Asylum. The finance was managed in this way. Kohlhoff received all the income of the Schwartz fund, and applied it to needs of the Tanjore Mission. Caemmerer was paid by Rottler what Gericke had been accus- tomed to send to Negapatam for the needs of the agents and the poor, and took the responsibility of superintending the Negapatam Mission from Tranquebar. Paezold superintended the Vepery Mission ; but instead of trusting Paezold with the mission expenditure Rottler remained paymaster himself, which Paezold deeply resented.
In 1807 letters arrived in Madras from Copenhagen in which the transfer of Dr. Eottler from Tranquebar to Madras was disapproved, and his return directed. Dr. Eottler liked his new position and his increased emoluments, and resigned the service of the Eoyal Danish Mission in order to retain them. Soon after his resignation came letters from the S.P.C.K., saying that under the circumstances of disapproval at Copen- hagen they could not keep him in their service. There had always been extreme friendliness between the S.P.C.K. and the
VOL. II. Q
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Boyal Danish Mission at Copenhagen. It would have been an unfriendly act to have done otherwise than they did. The result was that Dr. Eottler remained m Madras, unconnected with either mission, but the paymaster of one of them.
This state of affairs continued until the formation of the District Committee in 1815. Eottler pursued his literary tastes in the translation of the Praj^er-book, and in the compila- tion of a Tamil dictionary. At the Female Asylum he met the Company's Chaplains, and some of the more important official and imofficial residents in Madras. Having pleasing manners he made them his friends, and obtained by their influence the post and the pay of Visiting Chaplain to the Dutch at Pulicat, and of assistant to the Chaplain of Black Town. His time was full}^ occupied, and his work at the Female Asylum was much appreciated. But his relationship to the S.P.C.K. was quite extraordinary. There is no record to show what the S.P.C.K. in London thought of it, nor if his anomalous position caused them to make any inquiry about the various properties held in their name on the coast. They seem to have had souls above bricks and mortar, rice fields, and rupees, and if it had not been for Bishop Middleton and a few interested Madras laymen, they would probably have lost their ' mission ' property m the south altogether.
Bishop Middleton before his consecration as first Bishop of Calcutta was vicar of St. Pancras, London, and a prominent member of the S.P.C.K. He knew some of the difficulties at Madras. Soon after his arrival at Calcutta he communicated his desire to the Archdeacon of Madras that a District Com- mittee of the S.P.C.K. should be formed at the Presidency to-^Ti on the plan adopted by the Society in Great Britain. The connnittee was formed in August 1815. It consisted of the Archdeacon, the three Chaplains in Madras, Messieurs John Hodgson, John Gwatkin, and Richard Clarke of the Company's Civil Service; Major de Havilland of the Madras Engineers, and Captain Ormsby. the Presidency Magistrate. The chief function of district committees was the distribution of the Society's books. The Vepery missionary, C. W. Paezold, resented the formation of the committee as an interference witli his own work. There had been no intention to hurt his
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feelings, but they were hurt. The closing of the book depository- was one result of his resentment.
Paezold had had quarrels and litigation with his Portuguese and Tamil congregations, and had alienated his English-speak- ing parishioners. He had shut up the mission press, stored away the S.P.C.K. books and printing paper in a careless way, and was manifestly inspired by quite another spirit than that which had animated his predecessors.
Tlie Bishop arrived at Madras on visitation in December 1815. He found the press shut up, the S.P.C.K. books perishing from insects, and general ill-feeling in the Vepery Mission. He ordered Paezold to place all the books sent out by the Society at the disposal of the District Committee, and to obtain an estimate of the cost of putting the press in working order. When he wrote to the Society he reported the Vepery Mission to be ' in a very moderate condition,' and he blamed ^ Paezold, ' under whom its operations had been languid and its resources misapplied.'
Up to this time the committee had merely received the remittances sent out by the Society. Now it was endowed with the charge of some of the Society's property. There is ample proof that the committee regarded Paezold with suspi- cion,2 and were prepared to take charge of all the property he was neglecting. In 1815 Dr. Rottler had completed his trans- lation of the Prayer-book into Tamil. It was for work of this kind that the Vepery Mission Press existed, and that the S.P.C.K. sent out stores of paper, type, and binding. But neither press nor paper was available, and Rottler appealed to the committee.
Paezold died in November 1817. The property and the accounts of the mission were found to be mixed up with his own, and all were in great confusion. His executors applied to the Vepery catechist for assistance to separate them. The catechist wrote to the surviving S.P.C.K. missionaries, Pohle and Kohlhoff, for advice and support. They recognised the necessity of having some person connected with the Society in charge of the mission and its property at Vepery. They
1 Le Bas' Life of Bishop Middlefon, i. 200. - Taylor's Memoir, Appendix E.
q2
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themselves had more work than they could do where they were, for in addition to their work at Trichinopoly and Tanjore they had the oversight of the work at all the mission stations south of the Coleroon, There was only one missionary at Tranquebar ; it was impossible to borrow his services, even temporarily. They knew that Dr. Rottler was in Madras. There was a difficulty in asking him to take up the work. He had done so by their request in 1803, but the Society had been prevented from retaining his services by the disinclination of the Danish Society to part with him. They determined therefore to ask the Madras District Committee to undertake the charge, probably in the hope that they would appoint or obtain the appointment for Rottler. They accordingly wrote to the Secretary of the M.D.C. ^ and said :
' The mission being deprived of a fit person to take charge of the properties belonging to the same, and to minister to the spiritual concerns of the native Christians, we humbly beg that the M.D.C. will be kindly pleased to take charge of the Hon. Society's mission at Madras, till a representation be made to his Lordship the Bishop of Calcutta, and his pleasure be made known. Trusting that the benevolence of the Committee will relieve us of our concern for the mission by their kind com- pliance with our request,' &c.
This letter was dated November 15, 1817.
A special meeting of the M.D.C. was convened to consider this request. On December 4, 1817, a series of resolutions was sent to Pohle and Kohlhoff :
1. Under the circumstances to accept the trust delegated to them.
2. To ask Dr. Rottler to resume the clerical duties of the Vepery mission Church.
3. To appoint a special committee to ascertain the nature, extent, and condition of the property of the mission at the Presidency ; to take measures for its preservation, arid for the temporary administration of the several charities connected with it.
4. To send a report of their proceedings with information
' Taylor's Memoir, p. 136.
[MISSION PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATION 229
of the present state of the mission and its concerns to the parent Society and to the Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the S.P.C.K.
5. To send a report also to the Right Hon. the Governor in Council, ' as the mission of the Venerable Society has ever been favoured with the special regard and protection of the local Government, and of the Hon. the Court of Directors.'
Dr. Eottler undertook the charge subject to certain financial conditions ; i and he undertook to co-operate with the com- mittee, and to give all the information he could regarding the Gericke trust. He immediately began to lean on the committee for support ; he wrote on December 26, 1817, asking for in- structions about the re-opening of the press and receiving orders for books, and the committee gave him loyal support in every way. They issued the following notice to the various agents and native Christians of the mission :
* The Rev. Dr. J. P. Eottler having been put in charge of the clerical superintendence of the mission concerns at Vepery, you are directed to attend to his orders as your pastor and minister.'
The Bishop of Calcutta heartily approved of what had been done. He wrote to the Society in London in 1818 and said that the M.D.C. deserved the Society's warmest thanks, and especially Mr. Richard Clarke, the honorary secretary ;3 he considered it a providential circumstance that the committee existed.^ The Society approved of all that had been done, gave the committee their best thanks, and re-appointed Dr. Rottler to their staff.
The special committee of inquiry commenced their work by overhauling the press and book store. They found abundance of books, dictionaries, grammars, Bibles, hymns, and other Tamil books ; they found a binding press which only required to be fixed and set up, and a large supply of binding materials. There was abundant cause for the intervention of the M.D.C, or of some similar body of Christian gentlemen interested in the prosecution of the Society's work.
1 W. Taylor's Memoir, pp. 138-39.
- Minutes of the East India Committee of the S.P.C.K., May 8 aud 9, 1818.
3 S.P.C.K. Report for 1818, p. 163.
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Having taken this first step in the direction of conserving the mission property, the special committee proceeded to inquire fm'ther about the property m land, houses, and funds. With the assistance of the civil authorities they obtained a correct list of all the mission houses and lands. i
In January 1818 Christian Pohle of Trichinopoly died. J. C. Kohlhoff thus became the only missionary of the Society in the Carnatic."^ He could confer with his co-trustees ^ on matters concerning the Schwartz and Gericke trusts ; but by the Society's regulations he was the sole manager and super- intendent of all the Society's concerns in the south. Wisely he declined so great and extensive a responsibility. He made the necessary arrangements for carrying on the work at Trich- inopoly, and he wi'ote to the M.D.C. reporting what he had done. It seems only a little matter, but it was one of the several steps by which the M.D.C. were led from their original position of book distribution to the more important position of general control.
The special committee were much concerned at the state of the Vcpery mission buildings. They obtained from Major de Havilland an estimate of the cost of repair ; and they wrote to the Gericke trustees and asked them to co-operate with the M.D.C. by placing fmids at then disposal to meet the cost. Bottler not only advised compliance, but expressed the desira- bility of placing the whole Gericke fund at the disposal of the committee, and of seeking release from the responsibility of fm'ther trusteeship. Breithaupt agreed and went further still ; he proposed that the committee should be asked to take over the Schwartz fund also. Caemmerer agreed with both proposals ; he had received inquiries from the committee about his ad- ministration of the grant allotted from the Gericke fund to Negapatam, ' by which it seems they are considering me under their authority ' ; he desired to be relieved of connection with
^ This list was a more complete one than that of 1787 ; it included the burial-ground and garden at John Pereiras. Taylor's Memoir, p. 164.
- The news of Rottler's and Holtzberg's re-employment had not reached Madras.
' Caemmerer of the Danish Mission, Rottler of Vcpery, and Christopher Breithaupt the merchant.
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the fund. Kohlhoff agreed with all the others ; the trusteeship was a source of great anxiety to him.
The M.D.C. were not prepared to take so much responsibiHty on their own shoulders. They were interested in mission concerns, and were appointed by the Bishop of Calcutta to promote them ; their desire was to make the mission work as effective, and the mission cause as successful as possible. At the same time they were officers in the Company's service, professional men and private merchants, who had their own work to do, and were not anxious to have their daily labours largely increased.
They therefore replied that they were not authorised by their constitution to interfere in any way with the Society's missions, and that there did not appear to be the same urgent call to accept the trust now proposed, as there was for taking charge of the Vepery branch of the mission when it was left without superintendence.! They added that they had referred to the parent Society on the subject, and would resume consider- ation of the proposal on receivmg a reply to their reference.
The proposal of Bottler was merely to unite the sources of income of the Vepery Mission into one fund for the general good of the mission. If the income of the Gericke trust fund, the rents of houses and lands, the profits of the printing press, and the profits on the sale of books were all put together and kept in one account, he thought it would be better for the mission. Breithaupt's proposal was that the M.D.C. should take charge of all the fmids and keep the accounts themselves.
The question was considered by the S.P.C.K. in July 1819. They agreed that it would be a very desirable measure to have the legacies brought under the management of the M.D.C.,^ whom they heartily thanked for their laborious care of the mission concerns. And they went further still ; they asked the Bishop of Calcutta how far the M.D.C. might with advantage manage and direct the Society's mission on the coast. The Bishop doubted 3 if the dhection of missionary proceedings by the M.D.C. would be expedient, but considered
' Taylor's Meynoir, p. 171.
2 Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., July 2, 1810.
» Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., July 24, 1820.
232 THE CHURCH IN MiU)RAS
that the financial concerns might very fitly be vested in them.
Besides the registration and repair of all the mission property in Vepery in 1818, the M.D.C. did a useful service to the missionaries in that year in connection with their pay. At the end of the yeav 1817 the Society sent out a draft for £500 to Paezold, being the salaries and gifts for that year ; this arrived after his death, and foil into the hands of his executors, who refused to give it up.i The M.D.C. acted promptly and obtained the suspension of payment by the Government. They also persuaded the Government to advance the money to them for the payment of the salaries, a bond of indemnity being entered into with the Government by three members of the committee.^ This circumstance resulted in a change of financial method. Henceforth the salaries were sent to the M.D.C. for disburse- ment instead of to the senior missionary at Vepery.
The M.D.C. had not taken over charge of the Vepery Mission very long before they came to the conclusion that the salaries given were too small. They represented this to the Bishop of Calcutta, who concurred with their opinion, and wrote strongly on the question to the Society .3 The result was that the salaries were raised from £100 to £150, and the Bishop was told that if he deemed it proper and expedient he might add on the Society's account £50 more.
Dr. Bottler sent reports of the Vepery and Negapatam missions and mission schools and of the Vepery Press to the M.D.C. both in 1818 and in subsequent years ; he spent no money over repairs without asking their consent. But this did not blind them to the fact that their powers were limited. They acknowledged the receipt of his reports ; but when he asked their permission in 1818 to amalgamate two of the mission schools,'^ they at once replied that they were not authorised to consider such questions of missionary detail. Dr. Bottler was either consciously learning to depend upon the committee, or was unconsciously falling into the habit of doing
' Minute.^ of the East India Committee of the 8.P.C.K., May 9, 1818 ; March 6, 1819 ; and Feb. 2, 1824.
* Archdeacon Mousley, the Rev. R. Keating, and Richard Clarke, Esq. ' Minutes of the Erist India Committee of the S.P.C.K., March 6, 1819. ■• The \'epery Free JSchool for Eurasians and the Tamil School.
MISSION PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATION 233
so. Ill the year 1819 he sought their advice as to where two of the three new men i who had just arrived should be stationed. The M.D.C., without any assumption of right, recommended that they should study Tamil in Madras, and reminded Rottler that it rested with him and Kohlhoff to determine the place of actual residence afterwards, subject to the approval of the Bishop. At the same time they expressed a hope that one would be stationed at Vepery. That was just what Rottler wanted. He required an assistant and did not like to give himself one. A little later he recommended that Rosen should be sent to Trichinopoly. The committee approved, and added :
' But you are aware that it does not rest with them to determine on the stationing or removing of the missionaries. The Committee will lose no time in forwarding a copy of your letter to the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, who alone can confirm the propositions agreed upon in this respect by yourselves.'
In undertaking to distribute the Society's salary grants and to take charge of their stores, the M.D.C. was making a greater fundamental change of administration than they knew. It suited Kohlhoff and Rottler, but subsequent mission- aries complained bitterly of it. They said that it reduced them from the honourable position of being direct agents of the Society to that of subordinates of a local committee. Certainly the handling of money adds importance to a person in the eyes of a native of India ; the paymaster is always held in honour.
Gradually and without any intention on their part the Committee was sHpping into the position of authority. They were anxious that the old system should continue, by which the missionaries managed their own work in their own way, but subject to the approval of the Bishop. The responsibihty of administration and control was forced upon them by the disinclination of Rottler and Kohlhoff to pursue the old policy. They sought to limit their own powers, but circumstances were against them. Control was bound to follow in the wake of grants. For several years before 1822 they had made a grant of Rs.40 each month for the upkeep of the Palamcottah
^ Rosen and Haubroe.
234 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
schools. In 1822 they called for a report of the schools and of the expeiiditiu'e of the grant. The duty of a committee which makes grants is to be assm-cd that the money is properly spent. It was along these lines that control inevitably advanced in spite of the unwillingness of the parent Society to grant it, and of the District Committee to assume it.
The Palamcottah missionary was called upon to make a report in consequence of the grant. The Committee had no intention of studying reports from stations where they made no grants. A report was sent to them soon afterwards from Cudda- lore, but they sent it on to Rottler as a matter pertaining to the missionaries themselves. All their actions showed that they had no desire to rule, nor to do anything more than protect the propert}^ and the interests of the mission.
In September 1820 another opportunity occurred of ex- tending their powers if they had had any desire to do so. There was a caste dispute in the Vepery congregation. One of the disputants appeared before the police magistrate with a com- plaint. The magistrate, Captain W. Ormsby, was a member of the M.D.C. He wrote to the Secretary asking him to inter- vene and stop the litigation. The secretary, Mr. J. Gwatkin, ck'culated the letter to his committee, and asked them to determine if they esteemed themselves competent to decide a matter so ecclesiastical. He reminded them that the S.P.C.K. made their missionaries independent of the M.D.C. in such matters, which in the first instance were to be determined by the missionaries themselves, with appeal to the Bishop. The other members of the special committee agreed that they were not competent to notice differences of opinion in the congrega- tion ; ' it is evident by every letter from England that the Society is not inclined to allow the M.D.C. to interfere with mission functions.' And so the caste contention was left untouched by the committee, possibly to the disadvantage of the Vepery Mission.
From 180B to 1823 the whole of the mission funds of the Schwartz and Gericke trusts were held by Dr. Eottler. There can be no doubt that he took counsel with the missionaries and with some member of the M.D.C. as to how he could be relieved of the charge. In 1822 he tried to achieve this by getting
MISSION PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATION 235
Haubroe co-opted to the trust, and giving up the mission accounts to him and the other Vepery missionary. But this co-option was disallowed by the Judge of the Supreme Court. In such a matter it was impossible to proceed without reference to liim. It was therefore decided by the missionaries in confer- ence to invest the whole sum in Government bonds ; to deposit the bonds for safe custody at a banking house in Madras ; and to use only the interest for mission purposes. Accordingly the Vepery missionaries ^ appeared at the office of Messrs. Arbuthnot and delivered up all the promissory notes and cash in their possession, amounting to over one and a half lacs of rupees. One cannot help seeing in this transaction the wise advice of the District Committee.
In March 1824 Eottler wrote to Kohlhoff at Tanjore and told him that the Tanjore mission fund, amounting to Es. 88,600, was to be regarded as capital, and that the half-yearly interest must be made to meet expenses ; ' if you require more than the interest ... it will be advisable to address the M.D.C. or the Bishop.'
He also wrote to the surviving trustees of the Gericke fund informing them that the Vepery mission fund amounted to Es.67,000 ; that it was invested in the Company's bonds ; and that the interest was payable on demand half-yearly by the Vepery missionaries. He added : ' These sums so invested are in my opinion entire ; so that in future no part of them can be sold ; and if you approve of the same I beg you to do it by your signature.' To this they signed their names.
In the draft of the letter, according to Wilham Taylor,^ there were pencil variations in another hand, showing that Eottler had submitted it to some one for criticism. It is no secret that he had wisely relied upon Eichard Clarke and John Gwatkin for guidance. They knew more about business matters than he did.
For a year the two funds were treated as one ; but as the Vepery and Tanjore missionaries never knew exactly what their credit balances were, the funds were separated in 1824.
At this time the Government gave notice of their intention to pay off existing loans by borrowing money at a lower rate
1 Rottler, Haubioe, and Falcke. - Taylor's Memoir, pp. 277-79.
236 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
of interest. The M.D.C. watched the process of conversion so that the mission should got the full benefit of it. It is probable that the}^ were anxious that the whole amount should be re-invested and kept entire.
The service thus rendered to the mission was very great, and none recognised its value more thoroughly than Dr. Bottler himself. From that time he leaned more and more upon the M.D.C, and Avould hardly do anything without their consent and approval. The annual accounts of all the missions were submitted to them. They were consulted before transfers were arranged and vacant stations filled up. They made their recommendations and remarks. This was a change from their former attitude. The position was not one which they had sought, mdeed they had more than once refused it; it was forced upon them by the circumstances of the case, and that so strongly that they could no longer resist it.
CHAPTEE XII
COMMITTEE RULE IN THE MISSION FIELD, 1824 TO 1835
The Committee and property. The Tanjore misappropriation. The sale of missions. The M.D.C. as a trustee. Transfer to the S.P.G. The new S.P.G. Committee. The S.P.G. rules. The new committee and the Government. Call for returns and reports. Their important work. They assume financial control. The M.D.C. rules for themselves and the missionaries. Former sanctioned by the S.P.G. Latter referred to the Bishop. The M.D.C. adopt their own rules. The Missionary rules. Justification of them. Present times.
The development of committee rule which has been traced was one of the principal results of the accumulation of property. Pure evangelistic work united the workers and the societies which employed them. Property divided both. There was property at Tranquebar in which the S.P.C.K. and its mission- aries had no part ; there was property in the Company's territories in which the Eoyal Danish Missionary Society and its Tranquebar agents had no part. The common nationality of the workers could not make such property as there was common to all.
The Madras District Committee of the S.P.C.K. watched over the mission property with a view to its preservation for the Society. The absurdity of leaving mission funds in the hands of missionaries, to be absorbed in their private estate by their executors on their death, was patent to all. The committee had fears also of misappropriation during the lifetime of the missionaries, which were not groundless. Between 1823 and 1825 Sperschneider of Tanjore, with the approval of his superior Kohlhoff, rebuilt the mission house at Tanjore at a cost of Es.13,600. On its completion he
238 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
wrote and asked Dr. Bottler to pay the cost out of the Tanjore mission fund, or to borrow the sum on the security of the fund. The expense was incurred without any previous reference to the committee or the trustees of the fund, and without the permission of anyone in authority. Considering the cheapness of local labour, it was a very large sum to spend on the building of a mission house, and Dr. Rottler was greatly upset. He wrote to the M.D.C. : ' It will, I see, be necessary to submit the whole business to the counsel and direction of the M.D.C ; and he wrote to his co-trustees, Kohlhoff and Caemmerer, telling them that he had consulted the M.D.C, and that they were of opinion that the whole matter should be laid before the Bishop on his arrival in 1826.^
Before this occurred the M.D.C. had been brought face to face with another possibility. In the year 1817 the Tranquebar missionaries, who had been left for several years without help from Denmark, proposed to the Bishop of Calcutta that he, as the representative of the S.P.C.K., should purchase the Tranquebar Mission, with all its property in Churches, school-houses, and lands, for the amount of its then indebtedness to money-lenders.^ Soon afterwards the customary supplies were renewed and the subject of transfer was dropped.'^ Supplies were again stopped in 1819, and a transfer'^ of eleven catechists, 1300 Christians, with chapels and school-houses in the Tanjore country, was made to Kohl- hoff of Tanjore, on condition that he would provide for their upkeep. Bishop Middleton approved of the transfer.^
If there was nothing to prevent the Tranquebar mission- aries from handing over their work and property to others for a consideration, there was nothing to prevent their friends and fellow-countrymen employed by the S.P.C.K. in the Company's territories from doing the same thing, if they were so minded, unless the property and the work were in some way safeguarded.
' Taylor's Memoir, p. 315.
- Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., April 20, 1818. •' Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., May 8, 1818. "• Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., July 2, 1819. ^ Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., July 2, 1821.
COMMITTEE RULE IN THE MISSION FIELD 239
To defeat all possible chances of transfer, the S.P.C.K. requested the Bishop of Calcutta to take the Tanjore and Trichinopoly Missions under his protection,! as he had already taken the Vepery Mission. They were about to withdraw from direct missionary work themselves, and to place the care of their missions with the S.P.G. Their German agents would be thus assured that the mission and its property were not deserted, and left to the workers to dispose of as they pleased.
For several years before the S.P.C.K. transferred its duties to others, it had learned to depend upon the M.D.C., and to make use of them for all purposes. There was no definite appointment or authorisation. Confidence had grown gradually. The Society was glad enough to have a body of men at Madras whom it could trust to carry out its policy and preserve its property. The Society had not desired to destroy the independence of the missionaries, nor had the District Committee ; but it was impossible to trust them at this period as completely as had been done in the past. The two seniors. Bottler and KohlhofT, were incapable of giving the younger men a lead ; the younger men in consequence went their own way. The M.D.C. were alive to the danger of their German agents failing to associate their work and the mission property with the Society which employed them. Occasionally the younger missionaries spoke of ' our mission ' in a spirit and tone of dissocia- tion.2 It seems certain that the M.D.C. preserved the whole mission to the Church of England ^ as truly as it preserved the mission property to the S.P.C.K.
The transfer was not undertaken without reason and thought. The S.P.C.K. was convinced that the missionaries would be placed on a better footing under the S.P.G. — a chartered Society under the presidency of the Primate — than under a voluntary association like their own ; ' their mission- aries will in fact be missionaries of the Church of England.'
1 Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., Dec. 13, 1824. It is not kno^vn why this was not done by Bishop Middleton ten years before, if it was not done ; probably it was done, but not reported.
- ArcMeacori's Eecc/rds; Letter of Schreyvogel to the Secretary M.D.C, March 25, 1829.
^ Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.C.K., Feb. 2, 1824.
240 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
' With Bishop's College ^ for their University and the chartered Society for their masters, a degree of national countenance will he afforded to the missions which they can never obtain under the present system.' They added that they proposed to confine their efforts to furnishing Europeans and natives with assistance and instruction by means of books and schools.
The S.P.G. accepted the oversight of the missions in southern India in 1825, A Madras District Committee was formed in 1826. But the Society was not able to send any missionary for the work until 1829. The intervening years were years of great anxiety to all concerned. The only crumb of comfort to the two societies was that their interests and their property and the mission cause were in such safe hands as those of their District Committees. The S.P.C.K. committee could not divest itself of its responsibilities all at once, because the S.P.G. committee was not prepared to take them over. They gradually divested themselves of the mission property and put the S.P.G. in possession ; but they had to wait for the time of full surrender until the working representatives of the S.P.G. arrived.
The Madras District Committee of the S.P.G. being formed, the parent Society in June 1827 prescribed its duties by resolution.- They resolved :
' That it will be the duty of the committees lately formed in aid of the Society in India to collect subscriptions in further- ance of their designs ; to superintend and support the native schools of the Society, as far as their funds will allow, within their respective Presidencies ; to correspond with and assist the missionaries in all temporal affairs without interference with their spiritual charge ; to communicate fully with the Society on all these topics ; and to transmit an abstract of their proceedings to the College ^ Council.'
The S.P.G. had rules of their own for the guidance of the
' Calcutta.
- Present : the Bishops of London and Calcutta (Turner), the Van. Dr. Barnes (first Atchdeacon of Bombay), Messieurs Campbell and Richard Clarke (late Madras Civil Service).
^ Bishop's College, Calcutta, the then recognised headquarters of the Society in India.
COMMITTEE RULE IN THE MISSION FIELD 241
missionaries in their employ, which had stood the test of use in other parts of the world for a century and a quarter.! Nothing was said in these rules about finance, property, or committees. It was not apparently contemplated that the missionaries would erect buildings, accumulate property, or even hold cash balances. However, buildings came and property too, and it became necessary to enlist the services of businesslike laymen to deal with them. The first auxihary committee was formed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1769.2 After seven years the committee found it necessary to apply to the Society for coercive power over the missionary clergy. The Society considered that such a power ' would be highly improper,' and the Halifax committee resigned.
In the 1827 rules relating to committees in India nothing was said about financial control or coercive power. The accumulation of funds and real property in the Madras missions had made it necessary for the Bishops of Calcutta to give these powers to the local committee of the S.P.C.K. Without the powers they could not have conserved the property. The new S.P.G. committee contained several members of the older S.P.C.K. committee. They had their own experience of the necessities of the case ; and because they knew it to be necessary, they exercised control and coercive power without hesitation from the moment of their existence, with the knowledge and consent of the Bishop of Calcutta.^
The committee began its reign by informing the Govern- ment of Madras of the transfer from the S.P.C.K. to the S.P.G. which had taken place, and of their own future responsibility for the superintendence of the old established missions. This incident is an interesting sidehght on the happy rela- tionship which existed then, and had existed for a hundred years before, between the Government and the mission. The letter was sent on the declared ground that ' these
' Pascoe's Two Hundred Years of the S.P.G., p. 837. These regulations were probably the foundation of those drawn up by the S.P.C.K, in 1735 for the guidance of theii- agents in India.
- Pascoe's Two Hundred Years of the S.P.G., p. 759.
^ See the correspondence in the Wissing case in The Bisho'p's Records, Madras, Aug. to Nov. 1828.
VOL. II. B
242 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
missions and the ministers had hitherto enjoyed the protec- tion and assistance of the Hon. Court of Directors as well as of the local Governments in India.'
They then requested the missionaries to furnish them with information about each mission station, and to send half-yearly school, fmancial and statistical reports. They inquired into the nature and amount of mission property administered locally. They arranged to pay the mission- aries monthly instead of half-3'"early. In less than two months they collected over Rs.6000 for the mission purposes, and began to make grants for the repair of the many mission buildings. They dealt with the misappropriations at Tanjore and Trichinopoly, which had been reported to the S.P.C.K. committee. Briefly they took up the work of guidance, government, and control at the point where that committee had laid it down.
The first four years of their existence as a committee were full of anxiety and business. The mission stafi' was inade- quate ; some of the older mission stations were not even occupied. At the suggestion of Bishop Heber they engaged the services of the Eev. D. Schreyvogel of the Tranquebar Danish Mission to carry on the work at Trichinopoly. The engagement was subject to the permission of his superior at Tranquebar.^ They purchased a mission house at Negapa- tam ; recovered from sequestration the padre-kotagam lands at Cuddalore ; and they made an attempt to carry out Bishop Heber's suggestion to use the lands as an agricultural settle- ment for Christians.^
From a certain point of view the most important thing of all was the action they took with regard to mission finance. At the beginning of each year they had before them the reports and financial returns of the several missionaries for the previous year. After examining the accounts for the year 1826, it seemed to them that it would be far better for
* It is stated by Fengcr {Ilidanj of the Tranquebar Mission) that Schrey- vogel ' joined the English Church by reordination in 182G ' ; and it has been supposed from this that ho was ordained by Bishop Heber. There is no record of the ordination. If it had been arranged or had taken place the permission of the Superior to go to Trichinopoly would not have been required.
- Coinmillce Minutes, Oct. 21, 182(j.
COMMITTEE RULE IN THE MISSION FIELD 243
all concerned if they relieved the missionaries of the manage- ment of the pecuniary concerns of the Vepery Mission by taking over the administration of the trust funds. They therefore wrote to the missionaries :
* Some time will elapse before Dr. Eottler will be able to give up in legal form the trust which ho holds of property bequeathed for mission purposes ; the Committee are of opinion that you should in the meantime have the option of being relieved from the trouble of accounts, and the responsibility of pecuniary concerns, excepting so far as presenting monthly abstracts and paying the establishment.
' The Committee are persuaded that you will readily perceive the prudence of such a measure ; for it frequently happens that the habits and pursuits of a minister of the Gospel render him averse or even incompetent to have the charge of accounts ; or if it should be otherwise, still it appears advisable that he should have as few distractions as possible from his spiritual charge.'
At their next quarterly meeting a letter was read from Dr. Eottler and his colleague at Vepery agreeing to the transfer of the Vepery mission funds to the committee, and desiring to be relieved of all matters of finance. The mission- aries offered no objection, and the committee were thus encouraged to go further. In July 1827 they passed this resolution :
' The General Meeting taking into consideration the errors and confusion which are found in most of the mission accounts, and the want of method that prevails in the statements which they have received, resolve that it be referred to the Select Committee to prepare for the approval of the General Committee such rules and regulations as shall appear best calculated to bring the accounts of the several missions under one uniform system of management, and to provide against inability and carelessness in keeping accounts.'
The Select Committee drew up two sets of rules ; one set for the guidance of the committee and the honorary secretary, and the other for the guidance of the missionaries. It must be presumed that these rules, after being adopted by
244 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
the General Committee, ^Yere sanctioned by the Bishop of Calcutta ; for the first duty of the committee was to advance the designs of the Society under the Bishop's direction.
The rules were sent home to the parent Society and were discussed by the East India Committee. Those relating to the committees and the secretary were approved and adopted. ^ The East India Committee had a difficulty with regard to the rules relating to missionaries. It did not appear to them that it was within their province to sanction them. According to the principles of the Society the missionaries were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop; if it pleased him to delegate his authority in non-spiritual matters to the Madras District Committee of the Society, it was not for them to express either approval or disapproval, but merely to acquiesce when assured that the rules had the Bishop's sanction.
The M.D.C. received in 1829 the sanction of the Society for their committee rules, with the intimation that reference was being made to the Bishop regarding the rules for the missionaries. Nothing more Avas heard of these rules until 1834. Meanwhile, the more simple rules drawn up in 1827 were in force.
In 1834 ~ the Rev. R. A. Denton, Hon. Secretary of the M.D.C, was directed to write to the Society in these terms :
' In the year 1828 two sets of rules were sent home for the approval of the Society, one referring to the Committee, the other to the missionaries. The former was confirmed im- mediately ; but the latter the Society deferred to confirm till they had the opinion of the Bishop of Calcutta ; and as no sanction '^ has ever yet reached the Committee, the missionaries have not been called upon to obey them. I now enclose a copy of these rules and am instructed to inform you that the Committee have determined henceforth to consider them applicable to the missionaries unless they hear from you to the contrary.'
The committee rules recognised the paramount authority
' Proceedings of East India Committee, S.P.G., Feb. 28, 1829, p. 292.
2 Proceedings of East India Committee, S.P.G., vol. 1830-7, p. 294.
^ I.e. the sanction of the parent fcJociety, A\hiuh the M.D.C. wished to have.
COMMITTEE RULE IN THE MISSION FIELD 245
of the Bishop, ' under whose jurisdiction all the Society's missions are placed.' This was rule 8 :
' That this Committee shall be considered to have the general superintendence and control of all matters relating to the temporal concerns of the missions and schools, including the receipt and payment of salaries ; all proposals for exchanging, repairing, and buying of houses and lands for the several missions ; with all other affairs of a general nature ; care being taken to avoid interference with the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon, to whom if at the Presidency all resolutions agreed to in his absence from the committee shall be communicated before the same are acted upon.'
The Select Committee was to consist of the Archdeacon, the Chaplains at the Presidency who were subscribers, and six laymen.
The rules relating to missionaries obliged each missionary :
(1) To produce on arrival his credentials for the informa- tion of the M.D.C., and to apply to the Bishop for his licence.
(2) To keep a journal, and to transmit a copy of it quarterly to the M.D.C. for transmission home.
(3) To make half-yearly returns to the M.D.C. of schools and sacred offices.
(4) To correspond with other Societies only through the M.D.C.
(5) To abstain from interference with the duties of the Chaplains where Chaplains were stationed.
(6) To obtain leave of absence from their station from the M.D.C.
(7) To abstain from opening new stations except with the approval of the Bishop after consideration by the M.D.C.
The rules correspond with those approved by Bishop Heber for Calcutta and Bombay in 1825.1 The consecration and arrival of a Bishop for the archdeaconry of Madras resulted, of course, in the curtailment of the power of the committee over the missionaries ; but most of the rules were retained, and the principles underlying them were still in force at the end of the nineteenth century. The difference
1 Minutes of the East India Committee, S.P.G., Nov. 17, 1830, p. 27.
246 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
made by the coming of the Bishop was that the District Coimnittees became the missionary councils of the Bishop, advising him in all matters connected with finance and secularities. The Bishops have hitherto been glad of the co-operation and practical help thus afforded.
The powers of the committee were at the beginning so extensive that it is necessary to find some justification of them. Let it suffice to say that the powers were necessary at the time they were exercised. Since then they have been more than once modified. Rules which keep men of genius and power in leading strings are always a cause of resentment and vexation. In the Diocese of Madras there have been many missionaries of this stamp in the last seventy years. It is only necessary to mention such names as Pope, Caldwell, Huxtable, Strachan, Billing, Blake, Margoschis, and Sharrock to show how necessary it has been to relax the rules and decentralise.
Some of the matters reserved in the nineteenth century for the consideration of the Madras Diocesan Committee can be adequately dealt with by the representative District Councils which were originated by Bishops Sargent, Caldwell, and Cell. Local self-government is the first step towards ecclesiastical independence. India will not have a self- contained ecclesiastical polity until native Christians have learned to manage their own affairs. The Diocesan Com- mittees must be for some time to come the trustees of pro- perty, the managers and critics of finance. They have done a valuable work as such for the past eighty years. But the necessity of their interference in all financial matters can be brought gradually to an end. More and more work and responsibility must be placed on the shoulders of the District Committees, as the only method by which the native Chris- tians of India will bo able to learn the art of self-government.
CHAPTER XIII
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825
St. Mary Mcigdalen, Poonamallee. — Poonamallee Fort. A sanatorium. Early ecclesiastical visits. The first Chaplain, 1806. The building of the Church. Its consecration, 1819. Enlargement, 1848. Hough, Sawyer, and the Mission chapel. Decision to abolish the station, 1833. Decision reversed. Modern times.
The Madras Kirlc. — Appointment of Presbyterian ministers, 1813. The building of Kirks in the Presidency towns. The Kirk Session, 1816. De Havilland's design accepted and carried out. The cost and the Directors, Proposal to reduce the number of Chaplains. Opposed by the Government of Fort St. George.
C.M.S. Chapel, Black Town. — The goodwill of the Government. The original intention of the C.M.S. Committee. Opposition of Hindu residents. De- cision of the Government to provide the building. Hesitation of the C.M.S. Committee. The proclamation regarding the building of Chui'ches and chapels. Cost of the chapel. For whom was it built. Ridsdale. Tucker. Chapel enlarged at expense of Government, 1826. Licensed, 1828. Repaired, 1872.
St. John's, Tellicherry. — Description of the place. The first Chaplain. The first Church. Government paid four-fifths of the cost. Hough's evidence. Ofier to transfer the chapel to the C.M.S. ; not accepted. Neglect of the building. Brennen's bequest. New Church built on the old site. Cost. Subscribers. Consecration, 1868. The Brennen memorials. The burial- ground.
St. Mary Magdalen, Poonamallee. — At the beginning of the eighteenth century Poonamallee was a walled town of irregular shape. An old Mahomedan fort, built by the Nawab of the Carnatic, stood a little to the south-east of the centre of the town. The fort, which was rectangular, occupied a space measuring 175 yards by 42. The rampart was 18 feet high, and there was a moat round it. The posi- tion was one of some military importance, for it was on the road from the coast to Arcot, the headquarters of the Nawab.
248 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
In the middle of the century the East India Company entered into alliance with the Nawab for mutual assistance against the combined power of Mysore and the French. During the struggle which took place between 1780 and 1800, Poona- mallee, both as a fort and a town, was a place of military importance to the Company as well as to the Nawab. Between the dates mentioned there was generally a full regiment of Europeans in the station, and it was found expedient and necessary to keep a full regiment there during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. During this time there were no proper barracks, the men lived in the fort and in the town where they could.
Poonamallee is so situated that the drainage is good, and the place is consequently healthy. Its reputation as a health resort came by degrees, but it came to stay. And when it was not considered necessary to keep a regiment of Europeans there any longer, it was retained as a convalescent depot for the European troops throughout the whole of the Madras command. A proper cantonment was laid out, barracks for 500 men were built, together with a set of married quarters, the necessary military buildings, and a Church. The fort itself w^as cleared of its buildings, and a hospital was erected in their place.
This arrangement was made before the Nilgiri hills were opened up as a health resort. The station is still used as a sanatorium for men who would not be benefited by the more rarefied and colder air of the hills.
It obtained the name of the Queen's Depot soon after it became a sanatorium. At that time the Company had some regiments of Europeans in their service. In each of the Presidency armies there were also Queen's regiments. Poona- mallee was intended specially for men of the Queen's regi- ments. Hence the name. There are not so many European troops in the southern Presidency now as there were seventy years ago. The barracks consequently give more accom- modation than is required, and the Church is larger than it need be.
Poonamallee is nine miles W.N.W.^ of St. Thomas' Mount,
' Tlie Qazetteer says five miles north ; but this i.s ^v^ong.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 249
and about fifteen miles W.S.W. of Fort St. George. This proximity to Madras and the Mount made it possible in the early days to get the services of Chaplains when they were urgently required. Archdeacon Leslie of Fort St. George and the Rev. R. Owen of the Mount paid visits to Poonamallee in 1795.^ Owen was there again in 179G. The Rev. R. H. Kerr was there in 1802, and the Rev. C. Ball of the Mount visited the station in 1803. The S.P.C.K. missionaries at Madras looked after the soldiers' native wives here as at other military stations. The Rev. C. W. Gericke is found to have paid annual visits to Poonamallee up to the year of his death, 1803. In 1806 the Rev. J. E. Atwood, the Chaplain of the Mount, was appointed also Chaplain of Poonamallee, and given a palankeen allowance " to enable him to pay frequent and regular visits. In 1814 Poonamallee was made a separate charge.^ This arrangement made the building of a Church possible; for in their despatch of January 11, 1809, 153, Public, the Directors authorised the building of a Church at all permanent military stations to which a Chaplain was attached.
The Church was built in the years 1816 and 1817. It had originally a nave 51 X 42 feet, and a chancel 16 x 12 feet, the height of the nave being 28 feet. It was intended to accommodate 300 men, and it cost Rs.8586. It was consecrated by Bishop Middleton on April 13, 1819, and named in honour of St. Mary Magdalen. The Rev. William Malkin was the Chaplain of Poonamallee when the Church was built and consecrated.
The original furniture was probably of the same kind as that at Arcot and other military Churches, consisting of commissariat benches without backs. But in 1845 this was altered, and the Directors expressed their approval.'*' The addition of benches with backs made it necessary to enlarge the building. This was done in 1848 by the addition of two transepts, each 20 x 14 feet.'^ According to the official
1 Marriages at Fort St. Oeorge, by F. E. P.
- Despatch, Jan. 11, 1809, 15G, Public.
•^ Despatch, Nov. 3, 1815, 125, Mil.
•» Consultations, Dec. 9. 1845, 3, 4, and June 29, 1847, 8, Eccl.
* Despatch, July 16, 1851, 3, Eccl.
250 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
return of 1852 there was in consequence accommodation for 415 men, and the total cost of the building up to that date was Rs. 17,268.
The Rev. James Hough succeeded Malkin in 1821. He had been ministering to the garrison at Palamcottah, which was at that time the centre of the S.P.C.K. Tinnevelly Mission. At Palamcottah he had devoted much of his time to the mission cause, and he brought with him to Poonamallee all his missionary enthusiasm. He sought the assistance of the Government to establish a school for the children of the British soldiers ; but in this effort he was unsuccessful. There was already a mission school where they were taught, and the Government thought the mission school supplied all that was necessary. It is not certain what Hough did. He was only at Poonamallee about nine months. Bishop Caldwell, a very careful historian,^ says that he erected a small native Church and two schools, English and Tamil. On the other hand the official return of Church buildings in 1852 states that the small Church was built in 1824 by the Rev. W. Sawyer, C.M.S. missionary. Probably Hough prepared the way at Poonamallee for the C.M.S. Mission, as he had previously done at Palamcottah, and left the little native Church to be built after he had left the station. It was in- tended for the native wives of the pensioners and soldiers and their children. Without benches it accommodated a hundred people. It measured internally 47 X 14 x 14 feet. It was consecrated by Bishop Spencer in 1844, and named in honour of St. Paul. This building has disappeared. But the local mission is still fathered by the Chaplain, and the native Christians hold their services in the garrison Church at times when the building is not required by the Europeans.
Between 1830 and 1833 it was under consideration to abolish the station altogether. An attempt was made to keep convalescent soldiers at their own stations without giving them the change of air and place which are now uni- versally recognised to be advantageous. The number of men at the depot was reduced, the Chaplain was withdrawn, and the Chaplain of Black Town was ordered to visit the
' CaldueU's Ilidory of the Tinnevdly Mission.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 251
station occasionally.! tj^-^ policy did not, however, last long ; it was defeated by the undoubted advantage which Poonamallee possessed over all other miUtary stations in the south for the salubrity of its climate, and its fitness to be a convalescent depot.
In 1855 the Rev. Henry Taylor, one of the best of the Chaplains on the Madras establishment, was removed from the Cathedral to Poonamallee for certain teaching of which Bishop Dealtry disapproved. Taylor appealed to the Governor in Council through Archdeacon Shortland, who defended the teaching in question. The Government sent the appeal to the Directors, who felt bound to support the authority of the Bishop. They wrote ^ that on these ques- tions the Madras Government should deal solely with the Bishop ; they regretted that Taylor's letter had been received through any other channel ; that it was in effect an appeal against the censure of his Diocesan.
Although the Church was consecrated in 1819, and a regular succession of Chaplains has ministered at Poona- mallee since 1803, there are no register or File Books before the year 1842. There are no monuments either in the Church or in the cemetery to show that any officer of rank or distinction was ever connected with the place. No individual gifts of any value have been made. In addition to the altar plate provided by the East India Company, there is a small chalice with a cover for hospital celebrations, but the name of the giver is forgotten. There is also a small perforated silver spoon for eucharistic use. It was presented by John Pitt in 1856 when Henry Taylor was Chaplain. The coloured east window was purchased by the congregation in 1892. In the same year a room in the hospital was placed at the disposal of the Chaplain to be used as a Chapel. The congre- gation provided the funds to furnish it, and grants of Prayer- books and hymn-books were made by the S.P.C.K. And when, in the year 1900, the building was put in order, the roof raised, and the furniture renewed by the Government, the congregation raised the sum of Rs.236 to adorn the altar with the usual ornaments. At the time there were about 200 men,
1 Despatch, Oct. 9, 1833, 8, Eccl. ^ Despatch, Dec. 5, 1855, 2, Eccl.
252 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
women, and children in the depot, and three commissioned officers.
The Kirlv, Madras. — When the Act of 1813, which renewed the Company's Charter mider certain conditions, was passed, there was an incHnation among some members of Parliament to press upon the Company the obligation of appointing Presbj'terian ministers to the Presidency towns in India.i The Company, however, annomiced their intention to make such appointments, and the obligation was not pressed. This is what they wrote to the three Governments of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay; : ~
' In order to show our desire to encourage by every prudent means in our power the extension of the principles of the Christian religion in India, we have unanimously resolved that an addition be made to the present clerical establishment maintained by the Company at each of our Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay of one minister of the Church of Scotland, with the same salary that is granted to the Junior Chaplain at each of the Presidencies ; and we direct that a suitable place of worship be provided or erected at each of our principal settlements of Bengal, Madras,, and Bombay for those members of the Church of Scotland whom we may permit to proceed to India to act as Chaplains at either of those places.'
From the beginning of the eighteenth century when the London Company and the English Company united, there was a succession of Scotchmen ^ in the Company's service. Two of the most notable Chaplains were Scotchmen, Stevenson and Bell."* There were two Scotch Governors during the century, and nearly all the free merchants at the beginning of the nineteenth century were Scotchmen. They were not all Presbyterians. A number of them did useful service as churchwardens and sidesmen of St. Mary's.'^ But there was sufficient national feeling among them to make them desire to see a Kirk in Madras, even though they might prefer the services of the Church. It
' Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, June 21 (Lords), July 8 (Commons), July 13 (Commons).
- Despatch to Fort St. George, Nov. 12, 1813, 2, Public.
^ The spelling of the period is retained.
■* See Church in Madras, i. G70, 078. " See ibid. i. 559, 560.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 253
is a noteworthy fact that when the Court of Dkectors decided to employ Presbyterian ministers and to build Kirks, their thoughts were not with the various Scotch regiments in India, but with their servants and the free merchants of the Presi- dency towns. The 1st Eoyal Eegiment was just completing its Indian service. The Memoir of Sergeant Butler suggests how greatly the men might have benefited all through their service from the ministrations of a Chaplain who could under- stand them and make himself understood. But the appoint- ments were to the Presidency towns, and there the Kirks were to be built.
The Directors seem to have had an idea that when they had appointed the ministers and built the Kirks their duty would be done, and that nothing more would be necessary. Li the year 1815 the Government of Fort St. George reported that a site had been purchased .i The Directors approved, and added their hope that after building the Church they would be put to no expense for upkeep."
There was a delay of five years between the arrival of the Scotch minister and the building of the Kirk. During that time Presbyterian services were held in the College Hall at Egmore.^ The records do not show that there was any general desire on the part of the local Scotchmen to forsake St. George's or St. Mary's for the sake of the new venture. There were however some, and the number was sufficient to form a Kirk Session for the management of Kirk affairs before the end of the year 1816.
The Kirk Session was authorised by the Government to purchase ' the Mason's Lodge ' for the purpose of increasing the area of their site.* It is probable that they conferred with Major de Havilland, who had succeeded Colonel Caldwell as Chief Engineer of the Presidency, to whom fell the duty of pro- viding and carrying out the design of the building. De Havil- land was more ambitious than Caldwell, and was not content to get hold of a good design and copy it. He determined to
1 Letter, Jan. 25, 1816, Public.
- Despatch, Oct. 22, 1817, Eccl.
•* Letter, Jan. 25, 1816, 233, Public.
■• Consultations, Feb. 24, 1817, Nos. 13, U, Public.
254 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
have a domed building, and to work out all the calculations himself. He lived in the Mount Road. In his own compound he erected a small domed building as an experiment. ^ From this he found out what support was required, and what outward pressure had to be provided against ; and he submitted his plans and estimates to the Governor in Council. The Governor was a Scotchman and was much interested ui the originality of the plans. Consequently the design was accepted and the estimate passed, though the latter exceeded 1| lacs of rupees.'^
Li course of time the building was finished, and a steeple was added of a somewhat similar design to that of St. George's, Choultry Plain. The outside of the east wall is decorated with the royal arms in relief. The lion has a hump like a comitry bullock, and about this there has been a good deal of amusing banter in Madras ever since."^ When the building was ready for use it was fomid that the dome caused such an echo that nothing that was said or read could be distinctly heard. The echo had to bo killed ; this was done at a further expense of Rs.4800. The Government of Madras wrote to the Directors in 1822 recording all that had been done and the cost of the work. This was the bill :
Building Es.178,037
Original cost of site .... 16,443 Further purchase of ground (paid from
Lottery Fund) * . . . . 2,406
Commission to Engineer . . . 14,746
Alteration to kill echo .... 4,800
Rs.216,432
The Directors in reply ^ expressed more than dissatisfaction ; they were angry. They said that Churches ' more capacious than that of St. Andrew's had been completed in various parts of India for one-fourth part of the sum expended ' ; they said
' It is still standing and is used as a shop. - Comullations, March 23, 1819, Nos. I, 2, Public.
■' It is supposed to represent the temper of the British lion when hia Church on the Choultry Plain was eclipsed by the new design. ^ Con.ndtntions. .Inly 26, 1822, Nos. 11, 12, Eccl. » Despatch, July 28, 1824, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 255
that the cost of the Kirk at Bombay was Es.45,354 ; they said that this sum had ' been expended in the construction of a building to hold 440 persons, and frequented on an average by not more than 40 or 50.' Included in the cost of building was a charge of Rs.6650 for bells and gateways.^ The Directors were not told of this ; if they had been told they might have said more ; for it was against their principles to provide bells, which they looked upon as a luxury which a congregation could supply without their assistance. The original estimate was exceeded ^ by Rs.21,990. However, the money was spent, and the local Government showed no sign of contrition. They had provided the gallant Scotchmen of the Presidency, who had in many ways helped to build up the British power in the south, with a Church they could be proud of ; one that cost as much as the seven new military churches at Trichinopoly, Secundera- bad, Cannanore, Arcot, Bangalore, Poonamallee, and Bellary cost altogether. After this they could not complain of neglect. The same desire to please them was exhibited in later times. In 1834 a handsome ceiling was provided at a cost of Rs.1117, and a pulpit was put in which cost Es.1714.3
The cost of the new buildings that were necessary for civil, military and ecclesiastical purposes was very great. A com- mission was appointed in 1829 to consider what could be done to reduce expenditure. They proposed among other things to abolish four English and two Scotch Chaplains. The Govern- ment of Madras deprecated any reduction of the English establishment. They said : ■^
' In the ecclesiastical estabhshment a reduction is proposed by the abohtion of four Enghsh and two Scotch Chaplains. Not being acquainted with the gromids of this recommendation we can offer upon it no detailed opinion ; but we think the honour and welfare of the Company's Service and Government deeply concerned in providing reasonable means of religious
1 Consultations, Jan. 24, 1820, Nos. 9, 10, Eccl.
2 Consultations, Nov. 30, 1821, Nos. 15, 16, Eccl.
^ Letter, May 6, 1834 ; Despatch, March 18, 1835, 9. The Directors were again angry ; they said that the charge for the pulpit ^\'as extravagant and unjustifiable.
^ Letter, Sept. 24, 1830, 65, 66, 67, Financial.
256 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
worship and communion for the several officers and servants at the principal stations of their residence ; and with this feeling we are more inclined to recommend an increase than a diminution of the English Chaplains.'
In the followmg paragraphs they regretted ' the late violent contentions ' of the two Scotch ministers, and praised ' the reverend gentlemen who now administer the rites of the English Church at the Presidency.'
The appointment of two Scotch Chaplains at Madras made it possible for one or the other to minister to any Scotch regiment which happened to be in the Madras Presidency. Since that time two others have been appointed, and two Churches built, one at Bangalore and one at Secunderabad. This has made it possible for Scotch regiments to be stationed in the Presidency without being deprived of the ministrations most of them prefer in buildings of their own.
The C.M.S. Chayel, Black Toi07i.-In the year 1818 the Government of Fort St. George commenced the building of this chapel at the public expense, and it was opened for use on October 11, 1820. In giving assistance of this kind to a mission- ary society of the Chmxh they were pursuing an old policy which has already been traced from their first co-operation with the S.P.C.K. to the year 1805.1 rpi^e Churches at Vepery and Cuddalore were their gifts to the missionaries of that Society, and the building of the Churches at Tanjore and Trichinopoly was largely assisted by them. This policy was not the ruling motive in the case of the Black Town mission chapel. The ancient goodwill remained, or the expense would not have been incurred ; but there were also other causes at work which con- tributed to the formation of their determination in 1818.
Between the years 1813 and 1818 there was an increase of missionaries in Madras carrying on their work in the name of the Church. The S.P.C.K. had two men at Vepery, Paezold and Eottler, and the work was assisted by the formation of a local committee in 1815. The C.M.S. sent out their first men in 1814,- and a corresponding committee was formed in Madras
^ See The Church in Madras, vol. i.
- The first arrivals were Rhcnius and Schnarre, who went to Tranquebar in July 1814. In July 1815 they returned to Madras.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 257
soon after their arrival. In January 1817 the secretary of this committee i wrote to the Eev. J, Pratt, secretary of the Society in London, and informed him that the committee had purchased a plot of land in the centre of Black Town, on which they intended to build a mission chapel. In the following May he wrote again, reporting the progress of the building. When he wrote in October of that same year he had to report the existence of a strong opposition to the project on the part of the Hindus in the neighbourhood, and that they had petitioned the Governor in Council to prevent the completion of the scheme. The Superintendent of Police was deputed to make inquiry, and in December 1817 all work on the building was stopped.
The Government did not require a reminder that they had allowed Mr. Loveless of the L.M.S. to reside in Madras in 1806, and to build a chapel in Davidson Street, Black Town, in 1810.^ Nor did they forget that another agent of the same Society was receiving from them encouragement and a fixed allowance for conducting services in English at Vizaga- patam. The recollection of these things made it impossible for them to treat the missionaries of the C.M.S. with less liberality than they had shown to others not connected with Church societies. After consultation the Government wrote on April 19, 1818, as follows to the Secretary of the C.M.S. Madras Committee : '■''
' The Et. Hon. the Governor in Council, as expressed in the letter of December 23, 1817, considered it equitable that the Society should be indemnified for the expense incurred by them on account of the Church the building of which was stopped by the Government ; and is also of opinion that in every point of view it will be preferable that the Government should undertake the care and expense of building a Church for the Native Protestants of Madras, either on the new site or on some other well adapted for the purpose. With these intentions a reference will be made to the Military Board to ascertain the value of the ground first chosen as a site with the
^ Mr. G. J. Casamajor of the Company's Civil Service. - Despatch, April 2, 1813, 109, Public. ■* C.M.S, Records at Salisbury Square. VOL. u. S
258 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
materials upon it, and the uses to which they may be apphcable, and to obtain a plan and estimate of a Church on the new site,' &c.
The offer of compensation, together with an offer to build a Church, would seem to ordinary people a most kind and considerate action. But the Madras Secretarj'^ of the C.M.S. suspected the Government and their offer of gifts. He wrote to the C.M.S. Secretary in London : i
' You will instantly feel how unsatisfactory this is. . . . We must request a distinct explanation whether the Church to be built at the expense of Government is to be annexed to our Mission, as the one in building was intended, under the patron- age of the C.M.S. My doubts as to the purposes of Government I must acknowledge are considerable.'
His doubts were soon set at rest ; and probably his sense of gratitude increased when he understood that the Church was a gift to the Society in addition to full compensation for all that had been expended at the forbidden site.
A year later - he wrote again to the Secretary of the C.M.S. in London and said :
' Our Mission Church is now likely to go on without delay. On digging for the foundation the Engineer ^ discovered that the soil was loose, &c. He was obliged to get the sanction of Government to build at additional expense on wells.'
The political and religious difficulty brought to the notice of the Government by the action of the C.M.S. Committee in Madras, in attempting to erect a chapel in a neighbourhood against the wish of people of other religions residing in it, was met by a proclamation * of the Government in 1818 forbidding the erection of places of Christian worship anywhere without their permission.
When the mission Church was finished the Government sent to the Directors a full account of what had taken place. They
> Letter, dated AprU 22, 1818, to Home Secretary, C.M.S.
- Letter, dated April 16, 1819, to Home Secretary, C.M.S.
^ Major de Havilland.
" Approved by the Directors, Despatch, July 28, 1824, 33, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 259
mentioned that ' in order to evince their favourable disposition towards the Missionary Society and the Native Protestants Hving under the Company's protection ' they had defrayed the building expenses already incurred by the C.M.S., and built a chapel on an unobjectionable site, and that the cost had been :
Compensation for amount expended . Es.7,934 Cost of new Church .... 21,2G2
Alterations 1,437
Rs.30,633
The Directors replied : i
' We entirely approve of your proceedings, which clearly show our Native subjects your desire to respect their religious observances, and to leave them in the uninterrupted exercise of them ; and at the same time to countenance and support the dissemination of the Christian religion.'
Some doubts have arisen in recent years as to the class of persons for whom the Church was intended. All the contem- porary documents mention the native Protestants of the neigh- bourhood. Most likely the C.M.S. intended to build for all their different purposes, that is for the benefit of European and Eurasian natives of India as well as for Christian native Indians. In 1827 the Madras secretary wrote to the C.M.S. secretary in London :^
' It will be gratifying to you to learn that the Mission Church in Black Town is well attended by the European and half-caste inhabitants of this place, particularly in the evening when the Eev. J. Ridsdale officiates.'
Mr. Ridsdale had a difficulty in acquiring a practical knowledge of foreign languages. He was therefore left in charge of the European and Eurasian work, and this work of his was much appreciated at the mission chapel.^ Ten years later the
1 Despatch, July 2S, 1824, 20, Ecol.
- Letter from the Rev. John Hallewell, Chaplain, datotl Maj^ 15, 1827, to Home Secretary, C.M.S.
^ Letters to Home Secretary, C.M.S., March 12, 1828 ; and from the Home Secretary, C.M.S., May 13, 1828 ; October 31, 1829 ; June 14, 1830.
S 2
260 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
incumbent of the chapel was the Rev. John Tucker, a clergy- man of more than usual ability and preaching power. A lady published this record of the state of affairs in 1838 : i
' In the evening we went to a chapel in Black Town, some miles from the place where we live, and so crowded that we were obliged to be there three quarters of an hour before the time in order to secure seats ; but we were well repaid for our labour and trouble ; we heard a most delightful preacher ; his sermon was clear, true and striking. . . . His chapel was originally intended for half-castes, but he is so popular that the Europeans will go there too. People complain that those for whom the chapel was built - are kept out in consequence,' &c.
Mr. Tucker was incumbent for fifteen years ; so great was his influence that the chapel became known as his, and has retained the name of Tucker's chapel down to the present day.^
There is a trust fund connected with it for the benefit of Em'asians. All this seems to show that the recent contention that the chapel was intended for native Indians only cannot be maintained.
In the year 1826-27 the Church was enlarged, the ventilation improved, and an organ gallery erected for the school children. This was done at the expense of the Government. The Directors were not pleased. They said : i' ' These expenses (for ventilation) argue great unskilfulness in those who planned and constructed the building.'
The chapel was licensed for all ecclesiastical purposes in 1828 by Bishop James of Calcutta.
After the retirement of Mr. Tucker the incumbency was held by successive headmasters of the Bishop Corrie Grammar School until the end of the century, when a native clergyman was appointed, and the old congregation was dispersed. This did not matter much, as the Holy Emmanuel Church is close
' Letters jrom Mndras (John Murray, 1843), p. 44.
- The use of the word half-caste by the authoress was the use of the period. Nothing offensive was intended. Some years afterwards it was understood to be offensive, and it dropped out of use.
^ Before Tucker's arrival it was known as Ridsdale's Chapel. Madrasiana, p. 35.
* Despatch, July 23, 1828, 5, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 261
by ; and if there were any funds connected with work among Eurasians or domiciled Em'opeans attached to the chapel, they have doubtless been transferred, so as to be used still for their benefit.
The chapel underwent extensive repairs and improvements in 1872 at a cost of about Ks.2700. In consideration of its having been so much used by Europeans the Government made a grant of Es.450 towards the expense.^
The chapel measures 100 x 50 feet, and there is sitting accommodation for about 350 persons.
St. John's, Tellicherry. — Tellicherry is on the west coast of India in the Malabar District. The East India Company established a factory there in 1683 for the purpose of carrying on the pepper trade. The site was given by the local Eajah, who profited from the trade carried on. His own profit was so great that in 1708 he built a fort for the protection of the factory. Small grants of land were made to the Company subsequently, so that they owned not only the fort but also the land immediately round it.
The place was more easily reached by sea from Bombay than from Madras. It was therefore governed from Bombay in the eighteenth century, and the merchants employed were on the Bombay establishment.
Existence at Tellicherry was comparatively peaceful until the Mj^sore wars began. Hyder Ali sent an army to overrun the district. This paralysed trade, so that in 1766 the establish- ment of the factory was greatly reduced. In 1780 the fort was besieged by the Mysore troops. It held out for two years and was then relieved by the arrival of troops from Bombay. It then became a military station of importance, as it was the western base of military operations till the fall of the Mysore power, and it retained its military importance till it was super- seded by Cannanore, where a large cantonment was laid out between 1805 and 1810. Its proximity to the French station of Mahe prevented it from being denuded of troops altogether until some time after the Peace of Paris in 1815. The troops on the west coast after the conquest of Mysore belonged to the Madras establishment. Consequently, when it was decided
1 G.O., Nov. 21, 1872, No. 220, Eccl.
262 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
to send Chaplains to Tellicherry and Cannanore, they also were of the same establishment.
The first and only Chaplain sent to Tellicherry was the Eev. Frederick Spring, who was posted to the station in 1816 and remamcd in it till 1823. Wlien he arrived there was a small garrison of Em'opeans and a number of civil administrators. There was no Church. The IMilitary Board had not recom- mended the building of one at Tellicherry, because they knew the intention of the Government to transfer the European troops to Cannanore. Mr. Spring does not appear to have made any inquiry, but ho raised a little over Rs.lOOO among the civil and military officers, advanced Rs.4000 himself, and erected a building which measured 90 X 60 feet capable of seating about 250 persons. When the building was finished the Em'opcan troops were withdrawn, and he was left with a congregation averaging 35 persons.
In 1820 he appealed to the Government of Fort St. George to repay him the Es.4000 he had expended, and to build a wall round the cemetery. The Government drew his attention to the rule of 1818 forbidding the building of Churches without previous permission, but they gave him credit for his good intentions, paid him the Es.4000, and ordered a wall to be built round the adjoining cemetery at a cost of Es.4771.i They then wrote a full accomit of what had happened to the Directors.^
In their reply the Directors ^ acknowledged Mr. Spring's purity of motive, but regarded his action as irregular and a violation of their rules about the erection of Churches.*^' They noticed the report of the Superintending Engineer that the Chm'ch was built in an unsatisfactory way and ' would at no distant date require material repair.' And they added : ' We reluctantly accede to your having granted Mr. Spring Es.4000 on account of the expense ho incurred, and shall be displeased if your orders are disregarded again.'
When Mr. Spring appealed to the Government in 1820
1 Consultations, July 25, 1820 ; Aug. IS, 1820 ; Aug. 2G, 1823, Eccl.
2 Letter, March 23, 1824, Eccl.
=' Despatch, Feb. 23, 1825, 8-11, Eccl.
^ There is no evidence as to when the Church was erected ; it may have been built before the 1818 rule reached Tellicherry.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 263
he mentioned that he had hoped to construct the Church without the assistance of the Company's funds. If the station had not been reduced, probably he would have been able to do this. As it was the Church became the property of the Govern- ment for four-fifths of its cost, the remaining fifth having been raised locally.
When the Kev, James Hough was giving evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1832 on the affairs of the East India Company, he said : i ' At Tellicherry there was a spacious Church, formerly a Chaplain, now none. I was there in 1826. Europeans and Natives used to assemble for worship. When it needed repair they appealed to Govern- ment, and the Government ordered it to be pulled down. Being on the spot I interposed and appealed to Government. The request for repairs was acceded to.' This answer must be assumed to be correct, even though some of his answers were not.2
When the repairs were completed the Government trans- ferred the building to the C.M.S., on condition that they sent an English clergyman to minister to the Europeans at the station.^ There is no evidence that the C.M.S. accepted the offer. They had missionaries working among the English and Eurasians at Cochin and at Madras, but they deprecated their agents doing this kind of work. James Eidsdale of Madras did it because he fomid a difficulty in acquiring the necessary knowledge of Tamil to work among the native Indians.^' Prob- ably Samuel Eidsdale of Cochin had a similar difficulty. The Home Committee of the Society looked upon it as an inferior undertaking for a missionary, and had high authority for adopting that point of view. They wrote ■' to James Eidsdale :
' We rejoice that it pleases God to use you as an instrument of good to any ; but never forget what the Apostle esteemed
' Question 1876.
' E.g. Questions 1880-81, relating to Cochin, and Question 1890, relating to Cannanore.
^ This was in May or June 1827. Letter from the Rev. J. Hallewell, Secretary C.M.S. Committee, Madras, to the Rev. E. Bickersteth, Secretary Home Committee, dated June 15, 1827.
^ C.M.S. Secretary's Letter to Madras, May 13, 1828.
' C.M.S. Secretary's Letter to Ridsdale, Oct. 31, 1829.
264 THE CHUROH m MADRAS
the highest office (Eom. xv. 20), nor the blessed and specia\ office to which you have been solemnly designated to minister to the Gentiles that have not yet heard of Christ.'
Havmg these views it is hardly likely that they accepted the offer of the Government. The Church gradually fell into disrepair, and before the middle of the centmy it had become a rmn.
From the year 1830 onward the station was visited i regularly by the Chaplain of Cannanore ; but there was no one living in the place of sufficient public spirit or religious inclina- tion to save the building from ruin and decay.
In the year 1859 there died at Tellicherry an old resident named Edward Brennen. He had been Master Attendant or Port Officer. Perhaps he had qualms of conscience that he had not tried to save the Church when it might have been saved. By his will he left Es.4000 to the Governor m Council for the building of a chapel on a site to be given by them, and another Es.4000 as an endowment fund to provide for its up- keep. He also left the Governor in Comicil Es.4000 to build a school, and Es.8000 as its permanent endowment. He nominated as trustees of the school and chapel the Chaplain of Cannanore, the Judge of Tellicherry, the Collector of Malabar, and the Superintendmg Surgeon of the District. These were to be subject to the control of the Governor in Comicil, who were to appoint future trustees, make necessary rules, and to use the funds in pursuance of the true meaning and intent of the will.2
There had been former experiences of the futility of erecting cheap buildings. Prudence suggested that the amomit avail- able was insufficient for the purpose, and it was agreed to let the fund accumulate at compound interest and to add to it by private subscriptions and donations. By the year 1867 the trustees had to their credit for the Chmch :
Brennen's Fund Es.4000
Accrued interest on it . . . . 1200
Private subscriptions .... 900
Diocesan Church Building Society . . 300
> Despatch, March 14, 1832, Eccl.
2 There is a copy of the will at the India Office.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1815 AND 1825 265
and they judged that the time had arrived for the plans and estimates to be prepared. The Executive Engineer estimated the cost of building at Es.7280. The Government was then approached regarding the site, permission to build, and the possibility of financial help. All that was asked for was willingly given. The site is that of the old Church : no spot could have been more appropriate ; it is on a cliff which was originally part of the old fort, adjoining the ancient garrison burial-ground where the remains of so many British soldiers and civilians rest.
The Government midertook to provide the Es.780 which was required to complete the building,! and further subscrip- tions were at once sought to fui'nish it for its sacred purpose. His Excellency the Governor, the Eight Hon. Lord Napier, gave Es.lOO to the fund to show his personal interest in the matter. The list of subscribers recalls the names of some well-known Churchmen who helped locally to bring the project to a successful conclusion :
G. A. Ballard, Esq. .Es.200 Mr. Pereira
A. W. Sullivan, Esq. . 150
J. H. Garstin, Esq. . 100
F. C. Brown, Esq. . 100
The Eev. C. H. Deane 50 The Lord Bishop of
Madras . . 150
T. B. Bassano, Esq. . 80
Mr. Thompson . Captain Baudry C. Hanyngton, Esq. F. Lewell, Esq. Lieut. F. Hole . W. Logan, Esq.
Es.50
50
80
100
100
50
100
On November 16, 1866, the foundation-stone was laid by Lord Napier himself with a silver trowel presented to him on the occasion. There were present three of the official trustees nominated by the fomider, namely the Judge (A. W. Sullivan), the Collector (G. A. Ballard), and the Chaplain of Cannanore (C. H. Deane), and of course the whole European population of the station; including the architect, Captain Bailey. The building was used for the first time on January 28, 1868, when the Eev. C. H. Deane officiated and the German missionary read the lessons ; and it was duly consecrated by the Bishop of
1 G.O., Sept. 16, 1867, No. 2862, Works ; G.O., Sept. 23, 1867, No. 227, Eccl.
266 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Madras on October 22, 1868, and named in honour of St. John the EvangeHst.
The east window is of stained glass with a geometrical pattern, and is a memorial of the fomider, who is described on it as a native of London, aged 75 at the time of his death. There is also a tablet to his memory on which he is described as ' the fomider of this Church and of Brennen's Free School ; a generous true-heartod Englishman.' He was bmied in the adjoinmg cemetery ; on his tombstone it is recorded that * he was one of God's noblest works in India, a sterling upright Englishman.' The cemetery contains the remains of some well-known persons connected with the history of the south of India, such as Disney, Clephane, Cheape, Baber, Warden, and Mm'doch Brown ; and the Judge who was present at the laying of the foundation-stone of the Church in 1867, Mr. A. W. Sullivan, was himself laid to rest in it hi August 1868.
CHAPTEE XIV
DISCIPLINE AND THE CONSISTORIAL COURT
Bishop Middleton and discipline. His inquiry about the Consistorial Court. Talk in Madras. Claim of the judges. Upheld by Directors. Bishop Heber and Archdeacon Robinson and discipline. The Court set up. Chap- lains and Commanding Officers. The ruHng of the Directors. Probable intention of Heber and Robinson. The Wissing case. The Rosen case. The Chaplains and the head of the ecclesiastical department. The Arch- deacon's friendly relations with the clergy. The baptism case at St. George's. Archdeacon protects S. Ridsdale. Rebukes H. Baker. His tact. The C.M.S. and the episcopal licence. No need of a Court. The first ritual case.
DuEiNG the first years of his episcopate Bishop Middleton travelled to the principal stations in his vast Indian diocese and made notes as to the requirements of the times. After his second visitation of the Madras Archdeaconry in 1819 he wrote a letter, which is quoted in his ' Life,' commenting upon the relationship of the Chaplains to the military officers of the Company, and deprecating the attitude of the latter towards the former. The Archdeacon's records show that on several occasions at different stations there was unpleasantness, brought about by the assumption that the Chaplains in their ministra- tions, methods, and ecclesiastical arrangements were under the orders of the commanding officers.
It is not known what was in the Bishop's mind. In 1821 inquiries were made of the Government of Madras as to the estabhshment of the Consistorial Court contemplated in the Letters Patent. It is possible that the Bishop had some intention of bringmg its powers to bear upon the military officers of whom he complained.
The Government informed the Directors of the inquiries,!
1 Letter, July 6, 1821, Eccl.
268 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
who replied that the necessary assistance should be given to his lordship of Calcutta in the formation of the Court. ^
Meanwhile, it must be presumed, the matter was talked about in Madras, and reached the ears of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature ; for early in 1824 they declared their intention of appohiting Proctors to practise in the proposed Court. This intervention seemed to be judicially necessary. If the ecclesiastical Court was merely for the purpose of correcting the doctrine, ritual, and morals of ecclesiastics, it would not matter to anyone but ecclesiastics how it was constituted or who practised in it. But if it was to be used for the purpose of correcting the conduct of the Christian laity, it was necessary, in the interest of the liberty of the subject, that it should be under the control of the Supreme Court. The Government thought that it would suffice if the new Court were mider their own control, and referred the question home.^ The Directors referred it to their standing counsel, and the reply was that the Judges might appoint Proctors to practise on the ecclesiastical side of the Court without licence or leave from the East India Company or the local Government.^
This reply was not only an answer to the question put, but was also an authoritative declaration that the proposed Con- sistorial Court would be under the authority of the Supreme Court, and could only be regarded as its ecclesiastical side. Li consequence of the contention, the formation of the new Court was postponed till the expected arrival of Bishop Heber in Madras.^
Archdeacon Mousley had no use for such a Court and made no effort to obtain it. Archdeacon Vaughan followed in his footsteps, and would have been contented to do without it. But Bishop Middleton was convinced of its necessity in 1819 ; and it must have been at his lordship's suggestion that the Archdeacon made his inquiries about it in 1821. The further references to it between that date and 1826 were
• Despatch, July 28, 1824, 54, Eccl.
- Letters, Jan: 14, July 4 and 11, 1824, Eccl,
3 Despatch, July 13, 1825, Eccl.
^ Letter, Sept. 9, 1826, 23, 24, Eccl.
DISCIPLINE AND THE CONSISTORIAL COURT 269
not promoted by Archdeacon Vaughan. They were due to a fear among the laity in Madras that an Inquisitorial Court was contemplated, and that it might prove to be an engine of oppression.
It seems likely that the question would have been allowed to rest if Bishop Heber had not been appointed to Calcutta in 1823, and if Archdeacon Robinson had not been appointed his private Chaplain first, and Archdeacon of Madras afterwards. Both were disciplinarians. Robinson's sense of discipline was nourished and enhanced by his official connection with Bishop Heber. In the Archdeacon's Act Book there is a copy of a letter, dated March 8, 1824, written by the Bishop to the Bombay Junior Presidency Chaplain, reprimanding him for acting in a certain matter without first consulting the Bishop or in his absence the Archdeacon. It appears that the Chaplain applied to the Governor in Council for permission to make use of the Hon. Company's frigate Hastings for the purpose of holding divine service on Sunday afternoons for the European seamen in the port of Bombay. Permission was granted, and the circumstance came to the knowledge of the Bishop through a paragraph in one of the Calcutta newspapers. If the proceeding was a little irregular, the intention was so good that it hardly deserved the severe expression of opinion which the Bishop felt himself called upon to give. This letter was communicated for information to the Archdeacons of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and was the foundation of a stricter departmental discipline than had hitherto existed.
Soon after his appointment as Archdeacon of Madras, Dr. Robinson inquii-ed of the Government of Madras if the Directors had authorised the establishment of such a Court. The reply was in the affirmative, and the reference given was to the Directors' Ecclesiastical Despatch of July 28, 1824, para. 54. Then the Archdeacon asked the Government to sanction the payment of rent for a house at the rate of Rs.227 a month, the wages of a clerk, two writers, and four peons ; clothing for the peons, including belts and brass plates engraved with the name Archdeacon ; and a supply of furniture for the Court House, consisting of :
270 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
1 long table with green cloth. 12 chairs.
1 small platform ^
2 larger chairs > for the Judge and Assessor.
1 small table )
2 large inkstands.
1 desk for the Apparitor.
2 Almirahs for the records.
The Government acquiesced and reported what they had done, and the Directors approved ; i but they added that the house must not be used as an official residence by the Archdeacon, nor for any other pm-pose than that of a Court, and that the establishment must not be put to any other duty.
The natural inference is that the Archdeacon had some intention with regard to discipline when he made all this preparation. Tliere is no record that any use was ever made of the Court and its machinery for the purpose. The arrival of a despatch from the Directors in January 1829 defining the relationship of the Chaplains to the military authorities had probably some effect in altermg the Archdeacon's intentions.
For some time before that date there had been occasional differences of opinion between some of the Chaplains and the military officers conmianding stations. The former denied that they were military Chaplains, alleging that they were appointed to minister to all the Company's servants, military and civil. The latter contended that Chaplains serving with troops were responsible to the military authorities and subject to Courts ]\[artial. The first reference home on this question was made by the Bengal Government in 1824 ^ on a case submitted to them by the Government of Bombay. The Court of Directors did not reply until 1827/^ when they said :
' 2. From the best consideration we have been able to apply to the several documents to which we have been referred in this para., we are induced to think that considerable misapprehen- sion has existed on the subject to which they relate.
' 3. When our Ecclesiastical EstabHshment was placed on
' Despatch, April G. 1830, 5, Eccl. -■ Letter, Dec. 31, 1824, 22, Eccl. 3 Despatch, May 23, 1827, 2-5, Mil.
DISCIPLINE AND THE CONSISTORIAL COURT 271
the footing on which it now stands it became a necessary part of the arrangement that the Indian ^ Clergy should be submitted to the general superintendence of the Bishop, and rendered subject to his ecclesiastical jurisdiction for all offences of ecclesiastical cognizance ; but it was never intended to except this portion of our servants from the jurisdiction of the tem- poral courts in the event of their being charged with any offences of a civil nature or any crimes against the peace and well-being of society.
' 4. We wish it therefore to be distinctly understood that all the Chaplains on our Establishment are amenable to the Ecclesiastical tribunals in England, and for all other offences they are hable to be tried, as all other Europeans in India are, by the ordinary tribunals of the country.
' 5. If, however, the offence should be committed out of the jurisdiction of the ordinary court, and in places where the rest of the community are subject to military law, in such a case and in such a case alone, we deem it right that our Chaplains should be subject also to military law for all offences of temporal cognizance.'
This extract from the Court's despatch was comm.unicated to the Archdeacon of Madras on January 9, 1829, and ordered to be registered in the Act Book. It must have had an im- portant influence in shaping the Archdeacon's future policy.
It may be said at once that no question of morals was involved in the reference home ; it was the question of subordina- tion of the Chaplain to the mihtary authorities. The matters in dispute sometimes referred to the time of divine service, sometimes to the length of the sermon, sometimes to the matter of it, and in one case in later years to the length of the Chaplain's surplice.
On the other hand the intention of Bishop Heber and Archdeacon Robinson may not have had reference to the laity at all. It may have referred to the missionary clergy only, and to the irresponsible position they held with respect to the Bishop. The C.M.S. clergy were not episcopally licensed before 1824 ; some received no licence till 1830. The missionaries of the S.P.C.K., even those ordamed by the Bishops of Zealand, held no licence before the days of Heber and Robinson. It
^ The European clergy in India.
272 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
may have been their intention to bring all these missionaries mider episcopal authority.
A case occiu'red in 1828. One of the S.P.G. missionaries, Peter Wissing, refused to receive the Bishop's licence. He was invited to attend upon the Archdeacon in order to take the necessary oaths and make the necessary subscriptions. He pleaded that no missionary belonging to his Society had hitherto been licensed by the Bishop in India. The Arch- deacon gave him time to communicate with his brother mission- aries ; told him that he could not be allowed to officiate in any Chm-ch or chapel of the diocese miless he were licensed ; and added that every episcopal clergyman had to be licensed before taking a cm-e in an English diocese. Wissing refused to take the oaths of allegiance and canonical obedience, though ac- knowledging and submitting to episcopal authority ' according to the nature of the Danish Church.' The Archdeacon there- upon inhibited him from performing any clerical duty in any Church or chapel in the Archdeaconry ' in conformity with the Bishop's instructions.' i
The Archdeacon then sent copies of all the letters to the Bishop and reported what he had done, though this had apparently been previously authorised by the Bishop. He had some reason to complain of the tone of Wissing's letters and did so. He also mformed the Madras District Committee of the S.P.G., and sent copies of the letters to them also.
Wissing defended his action in writing to the Bishop, by urging that when he was entertained by the S.P.G. he was not told of the necessity of subscribing the Thirty-nine Articles. He pleaded that though he objected to nothing in them, he could not heartily and willmgly subscribe them, because the doing so might be misunderstood by his brethren of the Danish Episcopal Church, and that it behoved him to look after his own interests.
Bishop James of Calcutta died before this letter reached him. It was, however, answered by the Commissary of the Diocese, Archdeacon Corrie, who said : ' I understand from other sources that yom' mam objection is to acting in connection with the District Committee ' ; and he entreated him to
' Bishop James of Calcutta.
DISCIPLINE AND THE CONSISTORIAL COURT 273
reconsider this point, showing the importance of working tvith the Committee, ' who are men of piety and influence who will encourage your labours by participating in them and obtaining means to extend them.'
Archdeacon Eobinson sent a copy of the correspondence to Kohlhoff of Tanjore. In his letter to Kohlhoff he expressed a regret that he had joined with Wissing in an appeal to the late Bishop, more especially ' from the circumstance that you are not in episcopal orders, and it is "therefore impossible for you to receive the Bishop's licence or take the necessary oaths.' He mentioned Wissing's declared difficulty, which was not one of conscience, but as to whether he could swear allegiance to a Bishop in Lidia, and subscribe his confession of faith, when he intended hereafter to live under a Bishop of Denmark. After mentioning that Dr. Eottler had received the licence without hesitation, he proceeded :
' There was nothing therefore to lead me to imagine that there was any reason of distinction between the episcopal clergymen from Denmark and ourselves, while serving under the same Bishop ; for while talking on the subject Dr. Eottler agreed with me that if the case were reversed, and I were to go into the Diocese of Copenhagen, I could not take any cure of souls there without taking the oaths and subscribing to a confession.'
In his reply Kohlhoff said that he had had no correspondence with Mr. Wissing, and that he had signed the appeal to the Bishop on the solicitation of his colleague Mr. Haubroe, by whom it was drawn up : ' I had every reason to fear that my refusal would lead him to withdraw every assistance required to direct the concerns of this extensive mission, and leave the burthen upon me.'
Wissing was inhibited on August 6, 1828. On November 24 he wrote to the Archdeacon requesting that what had passed of an uncomfortable nature might be remembered no more. With regard to his relationship with the Madras District Committee he said :
' I have always insisted upon a strict conformity to the rules of the Society ; consequently if I entertain any doubt about
274 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
the full and implicit power of the Committee, such doubts could only exist till the Society's sanction had been given to it. . . . In the Society's last resolutions of June 1827 the relation in which the missionaries stand to the respective Committees has been pointed out, and from those resolutions I should be the last man to deviate.'^
The Archdeacon in reply was obliged to point out that no regret had been expressed for the unpleasant tone of the earlier letters. ' The point at issue was wdiether clergymen of the Lutheran Chm'ch who are in episcopal orders shall serve in an Enghsh diocese without the licence of the Bishop.' With regard to Wissing's sentiments towards the Madras District Committee the Archdeacon was glad to see that they had changed.
' You are in error if j-ou imagine that a resolution of the Parent Society dated June 18, 1827 is the only source of the Committee's authority. ... I deeply deplore the unfortunate position you have assumed towards that body ; the tone of your letters at one time, no less than your silence to letters addressed to you at another, being so utterly at variance with any hope of cordial and effective co-operation. . . . They felt strongly your rejection of the Bishop's authority as well as your resistance to theirs ; so that they asked me to take steps to relieve the Society of the burden of your salary. I declined ; taking into consideration your youth and inexperience, and the evil counsels by which you were guided. . . . You are at liberty to minister to the English residents at Vellore if requested. There is no licensed building at Vellore to which the Bishop's inhibition can extend. ... I will write to the authorities at Vellore regarding your appointment there.'^
From beginning to end it was a case of discipline, but it was one of those many cases which can be dealt with without the aid of a Consistory Court. The only feature of the case worthy of remark is the difference made by Archdeacon Robinson
1 See p. 241.
" The Rev. Peter M. D. Wissing arrived at Madras in 1828, and went to Vellore at the beginning of 1829 ; he remained there till Sept. 1830, when he returned to Europe. He resigned the Society's service in 1833. In his letters to the Archdeacon he signed his name P. M. D. Wissing.
DISCIPLINE AND THE CONSISTORIAL COURT 275
between Lutheran ministers ordained in the Lutheran way by their fellow ministers, and those ordained by the Danish Bishops. He assumed that the Bishop of Copenhagen was in the apostolic succession, and therefore was as capable of a valid ordination as an Anglican Bishop ; and he regarded Wissing's objection to being licensed as frivolous and un- reasonable.i
Another case of discipline occurred in the same year. The Eev. D. Rosen had been from the time of his arrival in 1819 somewhat of a thorn in the side of the senior S.P.C.K. mission- aries Bottler, Schreyvogel, and Kohlhoff. He appears to have imbibed rationalistic doctrines before his arrival, and with these the older and not less learned missionaries had no sym- pathy. It had been the custom of the German missionaries from the commencement of their work in the Company's territories to meet together occasionally for mutual encourage- ment. At these meetings they submitted their daily journals for remark. In 1830 Rosen inserted in his journal some remarks animadverting on the conduct of one of the missionaries at Tanjore. Dr. Bottler and others who were present reproved him, and desired him to expunge the paragraphs. They thought so seriously of the matter that on his refusal they referred it to the Archdeacon. There were also in the journal some speculations on the source of evil which were not in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic creeds.
Archdeacon Bobinson therefore wrote a severe letter of expostulation, reminding him of the impropriety of sitting in judgment on his seniors, exhorting him to submit respectfully to those under whom he was called to work, and reminding him of the danger of his speculations.
This might have been a case for a Consistory Court if Bosen had been an English clergyman. The letter of reproof sufficed, for Bosen shortly afterwards resigned the Society's service and retired to Tranquebar.'^
^ On the invalidity of Danish episcopal orders see Schafi's History of the Christian Church, ii. 516 ; Mosheim, ii. 412 ; Colonial Church Chronicle, vol. xvi. (1861) ; and the Report of the Lambeth Conference, 1897.
- He was re-employed by the S.P.G. in 1834, and was stationed at Mudulur, remaining there till 1838.
T 3
276 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
In the year 1830 the Archdeacon asked the Government to prohibit the Chaplains from addressing letters direct to the Government instead of through himself as the official channel of communication. This seems to be the first recorded attempt at an internal discipline, by which the Archdeacon became the recognised head of the Ecclesiastical Department. From the beginning his position had been peculiar, and to some extent isolated from the Chaplains and the Churches. Bishop Middle- ton arranged in 1816 that he should preach at St. George's Church seven times in each year, namely on the Feast of the Circumcision, Scptuagesima, Mid Lent, Easter Day, Whit- smiday, the First Sunday in Advent, and on Christmas Day. Except for this he had no official connection with any Church in the diocese. It is to the credit of Archdeacon Robinson that whilst he was tightening the strings of discipline, his relations with the Chaplains and missionaries were most friendly and confidential. A breezy letter is extant i from the Rev. James Baker Morewood, one of the C.M.S. missionaries at Alleppee in Travancore. He was on leave at Ootacamund, and was writing to ask that he might be officially recognised as Acting Chaplain of the station. He went on to describe the beautiful country and scenery ; said that whilst staying with Captain Salmon he had been ' banging away at elk, woodcock and jungle fowl ' ; and concluded with some excellent advice to people who visit the Nilgiris.
At the beginning of 1830 there was a dispute between the Archdeacon and the Chaplains of St. George's Church, which was sooner or later inevitable. It was a question of authority. The dispute was about the baptism of a child in St. George's Church. The Archdeacon being requested by the parents to baptise the child, did so without taking care that permission should be obtained from the licensed Chaplains. Dr. Roy hearing of the intention removed the register book to his own house, contending that the Chaplains of the Church were the proper persons to make the entry in the register book.
' If however,' he wrote, ' you particularly wish to register the baptism in question, I shall readily consent to it so soon as
' Archdeacon's Records.
DISCIPLINE AND THE CONSISTORIAL COURT 277
my permission has been asked by Sir James Home or by your- self on his part. But I beg respectfully to state to you, as Archdeacon, my objection to any person making an entry in any of the register books of my Church without my permission previously obtained.'
The Archdeacon allowed the justice of Dr. Roy's contention. On one occasion the Archdeacon protected the Rev. Samuel Ridsdale, C.M.S. missionary at Cochin, when he was reported to Government by a local subordinate official for refusing to baptise his child. The case was sent to the Archdeacon for investigation and report. It appears that the refusal was to accept the father as a sponsor, not being qualified in any way to undertake the Christian education of a child. Mr. Ridsdale actually gave another reason, one which was vahd enough but not usually recognised to be valid. The Archdeacon supported him ; but at the same time he pointed out to Mr. Ridsdale that he was officiating among Europeans without a licence, and that he must not expect protection from the ecclesiastical authorities unless he put himself in the right by obtaining one.
On another occasion he rebuked the Rev. Henry Baker, a C.M.S. missionary at Cottayam in Travancore, for a breach of Church order in opening a chapel at Cannanore, intended for the joint use of ministers of all denominations. He quoted from Bishop Heber's letter i on the necessity of order and co-operation among the clergy and due subordination to authority, and pointed out that there was already a Church in the station that he could borrow, and a Chaplain whom he had not consulted.
Archdeacon Robinson was so tactful and judicious in his methods, and such a master of style in his correspondence, that he won the confidence of all the clergy, both Chaplains and missionaries. At the beginning of a caste dispute at Trichino- poly in 1830 the S.P.G. missionary Schreyvogel consulted the Archdeacon in his difficulty. There were some in the Arch- deaconry, such as Rottler and Kohlhoff, who had longer ex- perience and greater knowledge of the matter, but it was Archdeacon Robinson who was consulted.
The C.M.S. forbade their earliest missionaries to seek a licence to officiate in the ^Archdeaconry. There is some
> Dated March 8, 1824, referred to above.
278 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
obscmity as to the reason of this. It has been asserted that the Society wished their missionaries to have no hcence to preach the gospel except their own. It may have been due to the high fee which was payable when the licence was gi*anted. \Vlien the Society removed the prohibition in 1824, several of the C.M.S. missionaries had landed at Madras, and had gone to their distant stations southward and westward, without taking the oaths of canonical obedience, &c., and receiving the formal episcopal licence. Even as late as 1830 the Rev. Henrj^ Baker, who arrived in 1818, wrote from Cottayam that he had had no opportunity of obtaining a licence, and that he and his colleague J. B. Morewood hoped to be able to do so soon.
In a quiet and conciliatory way Archdeacon Robinson was the originator of officialism in the Ecclesiastical Department and of Church order among all the clergy of the Archdeaconry. None of the cases he had to deal with required a Consistorial Court. They were all capable of solution by means of wise counsel and good judgment. And these were the means which the Archdeacon employed.
During his term of office there was only one case of ritual irregularity. In January 1829 the S.P.G. committee decided to inquire if the missionaries at Cuddalore, Tanjore, and Trichin- opoly followed the service book and ritual of the Church of England. Rosen at Cuddalore replied in the affirmative ; Kohlhoff and Haubroe at Tanjore made the same reply ; but Schreyvogel at Trichinopoly was only able to reply in this way of the morning service. The afternoon service consisted of a prayer, a hymn, and a sermon. The S.P.G. committee com- municated these replies to the Archdeacon, who accordingly wrote to Schreyvogel requesting that the Tamil version of the Liturgy should be invariably used. It was a small matter, and it seems now hardly worth while to have corrected it ; but the period was one of transition from individual missionary inde- pendence to Church order and subjection to episcopal authority. What had to be done was done in the kindliest way, and the excellent German missionaries employed by the S.P.C.K. understood that they were no longer in ecclesiastical matters a law unto themselves.
CHAPTEE XV
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835
St. Thomas', St. Thomas' Mount. — History. Early missionaries and
Chaplains. The building of the Church. The mission chapel. St.
John's Library. Plan and consecration of Church. The altar piece.
The monuments. Pallaveram Cantonment Chapel.— The building. Plan and cost of adaptation.
The furniture and donors. Holy Trinity, Aurangabad. — Historj'. The first Church. Sale of the building,
1875. The new Church. Furniture. First resident Chaplain. Transfer
to C.M.S. Tripassore Cantonment Chapel. — History. Origin of the chapel. Archdeacon
Robinson's visit. The C.M.S. Mission and its chapel given up. Buildings
transferred to the London Missionary Society. St. Thomas', Quilon. — History. First Chaplain. Church sanctioned, 1809.
Built, 1827. Size and cost. Consecration. Burial-ground. Modern
adornments. Early Chaplains. John Pereiras Chapel, Madras. — The garden site. The chapel built. Assistance
given by the Government.
St. Thomas', St. Thomas' Mount.— Yrom the ecclesiastical point of view St. Thomas' Mount is one of the most interesting places in India. There is a very ancient tradition that St. Thomas the Apostle landed on the west coast of India, made his way to the east coast, and suffered martyrdom at the Mount now known by his name. There is nothing improbable in the story, though it may refer to a later Thomas who came from Syria in the eighth century. It is quite certain that there have been Christians on both coasts from a very early period, and that they have kept up communication with the Christians of the eastern Churches of Syria and Assyria from that early period to the present day. It is also certain that in 1547 the Portuguese fomid at the Mount a grave with a cross in relief on it, and a dove with extended wings. It had a Pahlevi inscription, which Dr. Burnell ascribes to the eighth
280 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
century. 1 Tlie whole evidence in favour of the tradition has been marshalled with great sldll by scholars in recent years,2 and need not bo repeated. There is a good deal to be said in its favour, and a good deal against it ; nothing certain can be proved on either side. The historical investigations of the scholars mentioned are worthy of attention. But even if the tradition could be proved to refer to no earlier period than the eighth century, the Mount would still be from the Christian point of view one of the most interesting places in India.
The Portuguese who found the remains built a chapel over the spot, and used the monumental slab as a reredos of the altar. The chapel has been in the charge of the Goanese Mission ever since, and year by year a festival is held on St. Thomas' Day at the Momit, which large numbers of Portuguese Christians from all parts of India attend. The name given to the Mount by the natives is Parangamalai, that is, the hill of the Feringhi. This name cannot be more ancient than the establishment of the Frankish empire in Europe ; and the probability is that it is not older than the end of the seventeenth century, when the Mahomedan power was extended to the south of India. For it was the Mahomedans of Western Asia who applied the term Feringhi to Europeans generally, not the Dravidians of the Coromandel coast.
The eighteenth century gave the Mount ^ an importance of another kind. It was on the high road to the French settle- ment of Pondicherry, the Danish settlement of Tranquebar, the Dutch settlement of Negapatam, and to the principal towns belonging to om- allies, the Nawab of the Carnatic and the Eajah of Tanjore. Its position gave it a military importance to the Government of Fort St. George. In 1759 a fierce contest took place at the foot of the Mount between the British troops under Colonel Caillaud, who was marching from the south to the relief of Fort St. George, and the French troops under Count Lally, who had just raised the siege. The battle lasted twelve hours and resulted in the retreat of the French
' Indian Antiqiuiry, 1874, p. 313.
- By the Rev. Dr. C. E. Kennet in the Indian Church Quarterly Review, 1888. and by the Rev. Dr. Medlycott in his Christians of St. Thomas. 3 The Mount is nine miles S.W. of Fort St. George.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 281
force. 1 Fifteen years later, 1774, it was made the headquarters of the Madras Artillery, and it remained so till 1858, when the Company's European troops became the soldiers of the Queen.^
In 1776 Lord Pigot, the Governor of Fort St. George, was caballed against by some of the military officers in the Presi- dency, taken prisoner, and confined in the house of Major Matthew Home, the Artillery Commandant at the Mount. There is a rare print of the Mount bound up with a poem by Eyles Irwin, dated 1774, in which this house, a large two- storey bungalow, is shown.
In 1781 Sir Eyre Coote assembled the army here previous to taking the field against Hyder Ali and the French.
It is a remarkable fact that though the Mount was only nine miles from Fort St. George, there is no record of a visit of a Chaplain to the station before 1795. The Vepery mission- aries of the S.P.C.K. began religious work in the cantonment at an early period in its history among the soldiers and their native and Eurasian wives. They included the account of their work at the Mount in their annual reports to the Society .^ The soldiers and their families who desired religious ministra- tions were not therefore left without them. These voluntary and unofficial efforts were appreciated by more than a few, as at other military stations where the Society's missionaries worked. In 1794 the Rev. R. Owen was appointed to officiate at Poona- mallee, from which place he paid periodical visits to the Mount during 1795, during one of which he celebrated a marriage. From that date till 1803 the marriage returns show the station was sometimes visited by the Chaplain of Poonamallee, some- times by the Chaplain of Fort St. George, and sometimes by the Vepery missionary.
In 1804 the Rev. J. E. Atwood was permanently stationed at the Mount with orders to visit Poonamallee.'^ In 1810 the two stations were separated and a Chaplain allotted to each.^
• See the Imperial Gazetteer, ' St. Thomas' Mount.'
- For terms of transfer and distinguished service of the old Madras Artillery- see Wilson's History of the Madras Army, iv. 411.
^ Mr. Paezold reported in a letter of March 9, 1811, a visit to the Mount, when there were twenty-nine communicants.
4 Despatch, April 9, 1806, 37, Public.
5 Despatch, Nov. 3, 1815, 125, Mil.
282 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
As soon as Atwood took up his abode in the station there was a general desire to have a building for divine service. The Officer Commanding represented to the Government the necessity of providing a chapel. i The Government called upon the Military Board to provide a plan and estimate, and meanwhile authorised the Commanding Officer to rent a house at thirty-five pagodas a month, which would serve the double purpose of a place of worship and accommodation for the Chaplain .2 Tlie Military Board submitted a plan of a Church which would have cost 7472 pagodas, which is under £3000. Tlie Government at that early period in its experience of Church building thought the price exor- bitant, and postponed the question for a season.^ The Rev. J. E. Atwood, who was so anxious to have the chapel, died in 1810 without seeing it. His successor, the Rev. C. Ball, applied in 1811 to have the hired house adapted to the purpose for which it was used. This was done by the Government in this way ; the dividing walls of the rooms below were taken down, and the three rooms thrown into one at the cost of 754 pagodas.* This building sufficed till 1825, though the accommodation was much smaller than what was required.
In 1817 Major-General Bell proposed to sell to the Govern- ment a site for the construction of a chapel for Rs.5622. The hired house required substantial repair, and the Government thought this a good opportunity to erect a more appropriate building. They therefore sanctioned '" a buildmg to seat 460 persons and to cost Rs.30,168, and agreed to purchase General Bell's property at his price. They did not, however, take any action till they had received the Directors' reply. This was given in 1824, when the building was sanctioned at a total cost of Rs.35,000.^' Before acting upon the sanction the Government altered their plans. They found that there was a block of
• Letter, March 8, 1805, 172, Mil. ; Despatch, July 30, 1806, 537, Mil. - It was ' a little way up the hill' {Madrasiana, p. 65). ^ Letter, April 22, 1805, 418, Mil. ; Despatch, Sept. 7, 1808, 119, MU. " Letter, March 15, 1811, 941, Mil. ; Despatch, April 29, 1814, 145, Mil. '= Comnltalions, Nov. 10, 1820, 25-26, Eccl.
<= Despatch, July 28, 1824, 34, 35, 37, Eccl. ; Conaullatims, March 18, 1825, 1, 2. Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 283
land available to the south of the parade ground which was their own property, and that it was not necessary to purchase a site from General Bell. They also found out that a Church to seat 460 would not be large enough for the garrison. They called for fresh plans and estimates, and informed the Directors that they had sanctioned the erection of a building to seat 600 at a cost of Es.39,455, which was Rs.4455 more than the Directors had authorised.! In arranging for the additional accommodation the Government had an idea that one Church would suffice for the Mount and Pallaveram, a cantonment four miles away, and the Directors took this into consideration in authorising the increased expenditure. Soon after the date of the letter home the work of building was begun, and it was continued through most of the year 1826.
In the year 1823 the Government sanctioned a palankeen allowance of Es.70 a month to the Chaplain in consideration of his having to extend his services to the ' Presidency Canton- ment ' of Pallaveram.'' The sanction of a Church with suffi- cient accommodation for both stations looks as if they contem- plated saving the palankeen allowance. This was not done at once. The order came in 1832 ^ for the discontinuance of the evening service at Pallaveram and the transfer of it to the Mount. Then, of course, the allowance was stopped, and there was a sanctioned grant of Es.593 to supply wall lamps for the Mount Church .4 On the completion of the building the compound was surrounded with a wall and railing.^
The original agitation for the building of the Church began when the Rev. J. E. Atwood was Chaplain in 1805. It was continued in 1817 when the Rev. C. Ball was the Chaplain. The sanction of Government to a building was obtained in 1820 during the Chaplaincy of the Rev. William Roy. The erection took place in 1825-26 when the Rev. John Hallewell was at the Mount. He had the original arrangement of the furniture.
The Rev. W. T. Blenkinsop was Chaplain of the Mount
1 Letter, Sept. 9, 1825, 17, Ecc!. ; Despatch, Nov. 29, 182G, 13, 14, Eccl.
- Despatch, Feb. 23, 1825, 12, Eccl.
3 Letter, June 1, 1832, 3, Eccl. ; Despatch, Feb. 20, 1833, 27, Eccl.
" Letter, Jan. 4, 1833, 10, Eccl. ; Despatch. May 21, 1834, 12, 13, Eccl.
'" Consultations, April 24, 1829, 1, 2, Eccl.
284 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
from 1827 to 1843. During his time a small chapel was put up in the soldiers' parcherry for the benefit of the native Christian soldiers of the Company's Artillery, the Eurasians of the native regiments, and other Christian natives in the station. The original building in 1832 was small, but it sufficed. In 1848 it was enlarged by the Rev. W. P. Powell. It then measured 59 X 35 X 29 feet, seated 200 persons, and cost over Rs.4500. The money to erect the building was raised in the station ; the building was put in charge of the S.P.G.^
Either Mr. Powell or the Rev. J. Richards was responsible for the adapted building known as the St. John's Library in 1849. Possibly both had a hand in raising the money to establish it. It is a club and recreation resort, containing a billiard-room, games room, library, and reading-room ; it was intended to benefit the men of the domiciled European and Eurasian community of the station. The Chaplain is the president and manager, and it is used for various kinds of social and religious purposes.
The plan of the station Church was the usual one supplied by the Military Board at the period. It measures 133 X 66 X 33 feet. In the Official Return of Churches in 1852 it is said to have cost Rs. 42,714 ; but this includes the building itself, the wall, the punkahs ^ supplied in 1845 ' instead of more expensive improvements designed to obviate the heat of the building,' and the repairs up to that date. It was solemnly consecrated and named in honour of St. Thomas on October 31, 1830, by Bishop Turner of Calcutta.
The Church is handsomely furnished ; this has been done chiefly by the civil and military officers of the station in times past. Over the altar is a large and striking picture of the appearance of our Lord to St. Thomas and the other apostles after the Resurrection. It is the work of Major J. B. Richard- son, formerly in command of one of the batteries. It was restored and renovated by a professional artist during the Governorship of Sir Arthur Havelock.
There are thirteen tablets in the Church to officers of the old Madras Artillery, including Lieut. -Colonel John Noble, who
» Official Return of Churches, 1852.
2 Letter, June 10, 1845, 2, 3, Eccl. ; Despatch, March 10, 1847, 18, Eccl.
ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, ST. THOMAS' MOUNT.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 285
formed and commanded the first troop of Horse Artillery, and died in 1827. The names of Porteous, Byam, Foulis, Cullen, Oakes, and Blundell will be familiar to many Madrasis. Major- General William Sydenham has a monument in the churchyard. On the race-course is a monument over the remains of Major Donald Mackay, dated 1783, who desired to be buried in front of the lines of the Army.
Pallaveram. — In the year 1847, when the Kev. W. P. Powell was Chaplain, the question of providing the pensioners, veterans, and troops at Pallaveram with facilities for divine worship again came to the front. It was recognised to be absurd to assume that they would or even could walk four miles to the Mount and back again for the purpose. The Government, taking this into consideration, and also the fact that there were many children in the place growing up without proper education, adapted the main guard to religious and educational use by furnishing the large room above as a Church, and the smaller rooms below as a school. ^ The actual outlay was Es.l065, of which the residents gave Es.283. The Government then en- closed the cemetery, and placed the Mount Chaplain in charge of the station with an allowance for the extra work and the journeying to and fro. The large upper room is well furnished ; it measures 53 X 42 feet, and seats about 200 persons. Paha- veram has seen a succession of right-minded workers, who have cared greatly for all things connected with the Church. The name of Mrs. Parker, the Army schoolmistress, will long be remembered with gratitude ; she gave her services as organist and Sunday-school teacher from 1869 to 1889, and was the main mover and organiser of every kind of Christian work in the place during that time.
The building is known as St. Stephen's, but it is not a consecrated building, and has never had any name officially given to it. In the list of consecrated Churches in the diocese is that of Vallaveram, which is a place in the Chingleput District generally known now as Villapuram. Some one misread the name Pallaveram, and quoted the official list as evidence that
> Letters, Dec. 21, 1847, 8, 11, ami Jan. 12, 1849, 12, Eccl. ; Despatches, Aug. 22, 1849, 21, and July 30, 1851, G, Eccl. ; Consultations, Nov. 9, 1849, 5, 6, and Sept. 11, 1849, 1, 2, EccJ.
286 THE CHURCH IN IVIADRAS
the Pcallaveram Main Guard building was consecrated and named in honour of St. Stephen.
In the year 1883, when the Kev. W. Leeming was Chaplain, extensive alterations and improvements were made at the expense of the congregation. Colonel Henry Smallcy, R.E., was one of the moving spirits. Lieutenant F .Wilson gave a new lectern ; Mr. J. A. Dring gave a prayer desk ; Mrs. Tarrant worked the altar frontal ; the congregation raised enough money to purchase a new American organ, and to renew the lamps. And all this was done with the greatest goodwill and pleasure. The infection was caught no doubt from Mrs. Parker, who loved the little sanctuary for the spiritual help it gave her, and could never do too much to adorn and beautify it. Since 1847 the Mount and Pallaveram have been linked together as one Chaplaincy. Guindy Park, the country resi- dence of the Governor, is within the limits of the parish. The occasional presence of the Governors at St. Thomas' Church, when in residence at Guindy, has been an advantage to the building and its furniture. The Mount is near enough to the Presidency to enable the Chaplain to draw an extra allowance for house rent to meet the extra cost of living. This and the allowance for Pallaveram and the enjoyment of sea-breeze have made the Chaplaincy the most desirable of all in the diocese after the Cathedral and St. Mary's, Fort St. George.
Hohj Trinity Church, Aurangahad. — Aurangabad is in the north-west corner of the Nizam's dominions, an historic corner which includes the site of the battle of Assaye. In the year 1600 A.D. the Moghuls entered the District. Thirty-live years later Aurangzebe became Viceroy of the Deccan and took up his abode in it. In 1637 the District was annexed to the Moghul empire and incorporated in the Deccan Province. The Viceroy changed the name of the old Mahratta capital to Aurangabad. Here he plotted against his father and brothers, and from this centre he carried on his long conflicts with Sivaji the Mahratta, and with the kingdoms of Bijapore and Golcondah.
On his death in 1707 his general Asaf Jah declared his independence of the Moghul empire, made Hyderabad his capital, and assumed the title of Nizam. The next hundred
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 287
years were years of continual conflict and destruction. In 1803 Colonel Welsh described Aurangabad as a heap of splendid ruins. 1 There were a few palaces and houses undestroyed, among them the beautiful white marble mosque and mausoleum which Aurangzebo built to the memory of his favourite wife after the model of the Taj Mahal. The modern city is to the east of the old city, and the cantonment on the west side of it. At the time Colonel Welsh visited it the place was principally famous for its gardens and fruits.
After the Mahratta war of 1803-5 the cantonment was garrisoned by three regiments of the Hyderabad Contingent, two of infantry and one of cavalry. This arrangement con- tinued for some time. There was also a regiment at Jaulnah and at Mominabad in the neighbourhood.
The ecclesiastical records commence in the year 1828, when the officers of the station built themselves a small Church at their own expense. The plan of it included a nave 37 X 20 feet, two aisles each 37 X 10 feet, a chancel 16x8 feet, and two vestries at the west end each 13 x 8 feet. The nave was divided from the aisles by two arches. The roof was flat ; there was no belfry, so that there was no external sign of its ecclesiastical character. The building served its purpose for nearly fifty years. Only once was it repaired by the Madras Government.'
Some time between 1872 and 1877 a local desire was mani- fested to have a building which looked more like a Church The consent of all the necessary persons was obtained, and the building was sold to the military authorities for Es.5000 and converted into a staff office. In appearance it was like an ordinary bungalow. It was neither consecrated nor licensed, so that there was no difficulty in making the alteration.
To the money thus obtained was added Es.5000 from the Nizam's Government, and the present building was erected. The plan and the size were almost the same as those of the old building. The only difference was in the external appearance. Some of the old furniture was transferred to the new building, some was renewed by the Government ; but the pulpit, lectern,
1 Reminiscences, i. 167. - G.O., Oct. 20, 1865, No. 279, Eccl.
288 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
the altar and its hangings were provided by the officers of the station, who also enclosed the compound with a railing, planted trees, made the roadway, filled the windows with coloured glass and floored the sanctuary of the Church. The harmonium was the gift of Colonel Adye in 1893. The new Church was conse- crated by Bishop Gell on November 22, 1879, and named in honour of the Hoi}' Trinity.
Up to 1864 there was no resident Chaplain. Aurangabad had been visited periodically by the Chaplain of Jaulnah. On the reduction of the Jaulnah garrison Aurangabad became the more important of the two stations, and the Chaplain was ordered to reside there. This arrangement continued until 1897, when the Chaplain was withdrawn, and the C.M.S. commenced a mission in the place. The Church was placed at the disposal of the missionary in return for his services to the Europeans of the station.
Aurangabad was a difficult place to get at before the time of railways, and even now it is a difficult journey. But the climate is good, the scenery charming ; the historic remains of the Buddhists, Jains, Hindus, and Mahomedans are interesting ; the gardens, fruit, and vegetables are attractive ; so that they who have been stationed there speak of the place with affection. But with the reduced garrisons there is not enough work for a resident Chaplain, more especially as there is neither a European school nor Eurasian poor.
Tripassore. — This is a small station in the Chingleput Dis- trict Avithin easy reach of Poonamallee. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century the Government of Fort St. George established a small cantonment in the town of Cuddalore for the benefit of the newly arrived cadets in the Company's service. Here they were collected together under a com- mandant and supplied with Munshis for the purpose of learning the languages of the country. Cuddalore was esteemed to be after a time too far off from Madras, and preparation was made to receive the cadets at Tripassoro. Small bungalows were built in lines and a Mess House erected, but no record has been found that the cadets were ever sent there. The better plan was evolved at headquarters of sending the young men straight to different regiments for purposes of discipline, with instructions
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 289
to the commanding officers to allow them time for language study.
The newly built bungalows at Tripassore were allotted to pensioned soldiers of the King's and the Company's service, who, by reason of having married Eurasians or natives, desired to remain in the country. They were enrolled in a veteran battalion and were under a commandant. Shortly before the visit of Archdeacon Eobinson in 1829 the Government altered the Mess House and furnished it as a chapel for the community. i The Archdeacon, acting as Commissary for the Bishop of Calcutta, licensed it for all ecclesiastical purposes on June 14, 1830.
The building measured 58 X 36 x 14 feet, and accommodated 150 persons. 2 According to the inspection report of Archdeacon Eobinson, there were in 1829 one hundred Eurasian children in the local school.^ The chapel was not therefore any larger than was required. It was placed in the charge of the Poonamallee Chaplain, who had to visit the station periodically. The first Chaplain was the Kev. F. Spring, whose ' judicious work ' was praised by the Archdeacon.
A Church of England mission was commenced in the station before the Government built quarters for the cadets. This was originated by the Eev. W. Sawyer, an energetic missionary of the C.M.S., who built a small chapel for the Christian Tamil wives of the pensioners in 1824. It measured only 33 x 12x10 feet and accommodated seventy-two persons."* The mission was given up soon after 1855, when the local Government was recommended by the Directors not to encourage European pensioners to settle in Tripassore."'
As long as the pensioners and their descendants were in the place the Government kept the old Mess House in good repair as a chapel, and ordered the Poonamallee Chaplain to pay regular visits to the station. Extensive repairs and alterations
1 Consultations, Aug. 25, 1829, Nos. 5, 6, Eccl. The cost of the alteration was Rs.1987.
- Official Return of Churches, 1852. ^ Archdeacon's Records. •* Official Return of Churches, 1852.
^ Letter, Dec. 30, 1854, 15-19, Eccl. ; Despatch, Aug. 29, 1855, 47, Eccl. VOL. n. xj
290 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
were made in 1847 and in 1862.^ But the Eurasian population gradually dwindled, till in the year 1897 there were only four elderly women left. In the meanwhile the L.M.S. had taken up the work dropped by the C.M.S., and sent a native agent to reside and take charge of it. Two of the four women attended the ministrations of the L.M.S. agent and were satisfied with them. Under these circumstances the visiting Chaplam of Poonamallee recommended that the station should he given up and the building made over to the L.M.S. for their use until again required. This was done.^ Times and circum- stances change. Tripassore is at the present time of so little importance that it is not even mentioned in the Iviperial Gazetteer.
St. Thomas', Quilon. — Quilon has with other places on the Malabar coast an ancient Christian connection and history. It is referred to in authenticated documents of the seventh century as ' the most southern point of Christian influence.' It is the Coilum of Marco Polo. The Portuguese established their influence here at the end of the fifteenth century. They were displaced by the Dutch East India Company in 1662 ; and the British influence of the English East India Company commenced in 1789. The Maharajah of Travancore, in whose territory Quilon is situated, was in that year threatened with invasion by Tippoo Sahib of Mysore. He therefore entered into a treaty with the Government of Fort St. George, and agreed to maintain a subsidiary force of British troops ^ at Quilon for the defence of his country. At the same time a British political officer, called the Eesident, was appointed to guide the external policy of the Maharajah's Government. The State of Travancore was successfully defended against aggression during the life of Tippoo. After his death and defeat the Travancoreans seem to have thought that a subsidiary force of British troops at Quilon was no longer necessary, and the subsidy fell into arrears. At the end of the year 1808 the Resident, Lieut. -Colonel Macaulay, took certain measures, and
> Consultations, July 29, 1845 and April 13, 1847, Eccl. ; G.O., Oct. 11, 1862, No. 300, Eccl.
■ CO., June 7, 1898, No. 03, Eccl.
' This term includes the sepoys of the^Company's'native regiments.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 291
a widespread rebellion against the British occupation of Quilon was at once unmasked. After some hard fighting i the Eajah submitted, and paid the arrears of the subsidy and the expenses of the war.
The result of this rebellion against the East India Company's policy was that the Quilon cantonment was enlarged and tem- porary barracks built to accommodate a regiment of Europeans and a battery of European artillery. The European infantry garrisoned Quilon until 1817, when their services were required in the Mahratta country.
The policy of appointing Chaplains to minister to British troops originated in 1795, but it only applied to European troops. The European officers of native corps were not supposed to need such ministrations. Consequently there was no intention or application or even suggestion of sending a Chaplain to Quilon between 1789 and 1809. After this latter date there was a desire among the officers and the men both for a Chaplain and a Church. The only Chaplain on the Malabar coast at the time was in charge of the garrisons at Tellicherry, Cannanore, and Mangalore. In the year 1812 he was ordered to visit Quilon.2 The necessity of appointing a Chaplain was in this way ascertained, and Quilon was mentioned as a place where one ought to be sent when the local Government asked for an increase of Chaplains.-^ In the early part of 1814 the Eev. James Hutchison arrived at Fort St. George and was at once posted to Quilon, and there he remained till 1821.
The year before his arrival the Political Eesident in Travan- core, Lieut.-Colonel John Munro, recommended the erection of a chapel, but the Military Board were not in favour of this, because it was intended to withdraw the regiment of European infantry from the station.* The Directors, however, recom- mended that one should be built.
In 1816 the Bishop of Calcutta visited Quilon. He also recommended that a Church should be built.^ The Government
1 Wilson's History of the Madras Army.
2 Letter, Oct. 17, 1812, lf)5-66, Mil. ; Despatch, Nov. 3, 1815, 129, Mil.
3 Despatch, April 29, 1814, 5, Public.
" Letter, Dec. 31, 1813, 236-38, Mil. ; Despatch, June 12, 1816, 131-34 Mil.
» Letter, Sept. 26, 1816, 107, Public.
V 2
292 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
informed the Directors, who wrote in reply that the recom- mendation had been forestalled by themselves. They said : i ' In para. 153 of Despatch dated 11 Jan. 1809, Public, we authorised the building of chapels at all permanent military stations to which a Chaplain is attached,' &c. ' We do not therefore understand why a chapel has not been built at Quilon.' And they added : ' In considering how far it may be advisable to erect Churches upon the territories of our alhes, or in situations where the residence of our troops cannot be considered as permanent, it may be a question whether the consecration of a Church upon ground over which the laws of England have no control may not at some future period be productive of em- barrassing consequences.' This was the whole difficulty with the local Government. At the time this despatch was being written, trouble was brewing in the Mahratta country ; the European regiment was soon afterwards removed from Quilon, and the Government shelved the question of building a Church.
At this time Colonel Welsh was stationed at Quilon. He says that the cantonment was extensive ; that it included temporary barracks for a thousand British infantry, three native corps, and a hundred European artillerymen.^ He regretted that there was no Church ; ' this privation is the more felt from the proximity to several large Roman Catholic Churches.'
Colonel Welsh praised the scenery and said that the Resi- dency was in one of the loveliest spots in the world. In 1824 he was appointed to command the Quilon garrison, which consisted of three regiments of Madras infantry and a company of Madras artiller3\ There was no longer any need for European infantry. Colonel Newall was the Resident. Both he and Colonel Welsh agreed that a Church ought to bo built, and the need was represented to the Madras Government. Estimates were prepared by the Military Board in 1825 ; the lower one amounted to Rs. 12,000 ; it was not sanctioned, because of the uncertainty of the continuance of so large a force at the station, and the Directors approved of the decision arrived at.^
' Despatcli, Oct. 22, 1817. 20, 28, 30, Eccl.
- Welsh's Reminiscences, ii. 100.
- Letter, April 29, 1825, 49, Political ; Despatch, July 23, 1828, 23, Eccl.
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CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 293
The Resident was however persistent, and in 1827 fresh plans and estimates were prepared. i These were sanctioned,^ and the building was soon afterwards commenced. According to the 1852 Official Eeturn the size of the building was 62 X 34 X 17 feet ; this included the sanctuary and two vestries. The estimated cost was Es.7769 for the building and Rs.l327 for the furniture, but the estimate was exceeded by nearly Rs.800. Lieutenant Green of the Madras Engineers was the designer and builder ; the accommodation was for 150 persons. Archdeacon Robinson arrived at Quilon on his tour of inspection in January 1829. Li his report to the Government he said that the design reflected great credit on Lieutenant Green, but that the Church was small and would only acconniiodate a hundred persons.^ The Directors called for a report on this point and on that of cost. The Govern- ment sent all the documents, and the Directors were satisfied.^ The building was solemnly dedicated to God, and conse- crated by Bishop Spencer of Madras on St. Thomas' Day, 1840, and was named in honour of that Apostle.
Between 1814 and 1864 various causes combined to reduce the importance of Quilon. The European infantry were re- moved in 1817 ; the Maharani set up her court at Trevandrum about 1820 ; two of the native regiments were taken away later on, and when the Resident removed his headquarters to Trevandrum, there were few Europeans left in the place to minister to. Up to that time Trevandrum was the out-station of Quilon. After all these changes Quilon became the out- station of Trevandrum. The Rev. S. T. Pettigrew, who visited Quilon from Trevandrum in the years 1874-77, speaks '" of the departed splendour of the old Residency, the natural beauty of its position, and the interesting character of the old engravings on the walls within it.
Like all other Churches held in trust by the Government the
' Consultations, Nov. 23, 1827, Political. - Consultations, June 20, 1828, 1, 2, Eccl.
3 Letter, Jan. 4, 1833, 2, Eccl. ; Despatch, May 21, 1834, 4, 5, Eccl. •* Without reckoning the sanctuary and the vestries the floor space of the Church is 166 sq. yds.
■' Episodes in the Life of an Indian Chaplai7i.
294 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
building has always been kept in good repair. The porch had to be reconstructed in 1871, and extensive restorations were carried out ten years later. The burial-ground, where so many soldiers of the 12th and 69th regiments rest, was fenced in 1837, and has been well kept since. Sometimes the officers of the native regiment at Quilon have taken a deep interest in the Church. In 1898 the officers subscribed money to put in a coloured glass window and to tile the sanctuary floor. At about the same time Colonel Lowry presented the Church with a handsome carved teak wood altar rail.
The first Chaplain of Quilon was the Rev. James Hutchi- son. After ministering seven years the Commanding Officer complained ' that his discourses were not calculated to improve the morals of his hearers.' There is nothing on the records to show the nature of the complaint. The Government of Fort St. George read between the lines that there was friction between the Chaplain and the Commanding Officer. They therefore gazetted Dr. Hutchison to another station,^ and left Quilon without a Chaplain for a period.
The Rev. Frederick Spring was the Chaplain who saw the building and the consecration of the Church. The Rev. R. W. Whitford, an eccentric man who was full of the missionary spirit, established a native mission in Quilon in 1842. This was superintended by successive Chaplains, but was nearly broken up in 1863 when Trevandrum was made their headquarters. One of the Chaplains established a free school for Eurasians, but it cannot be ascertained whether this was done by Dr. Hutchison or his successor, Christopher Jeaffreson. The Rev. R. W. Whitford was dismissed the Company's service ^ in 1848 for insubordination to the Bishop. Among other things he unjustifiably detained for over three and a half years the funds of the Quilon Free School after his transfer. Among other Chaplains of Quilon there were Vincent Shortland, who estabhshed the native Church mission at Trevandrum ; G. B. Howard, who pubhshed reliable information on the Syrian Christians and their Liturgies ; and S. T. Pettigrew, who published his reminiscences as a Chaplain.
1 Letter, July 0, 1821, EccL ; Despatch, July 28, 1821, Gl, l^ccl. - Despatch, Sept. 20, 1848, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 295
Both Quilon and Trevandrum are now in the diocese of Travancore,
Trinity Church, John Pereiras. — From the missionary point of view the spot known as John Pereiras is one of the most interesting in Madras. It was purchased in 1729 together with a house standing on it by Schultze/ one of the first of the German missionaries in the employ of the S.P.C.K. The house was destroyed during the occupation of Madras by the French in 1746-49, but the site remained the property of the Vepery Mission." From this date until 1828 the site was used as a garden and burial-ground for native Christians ; but a certain number of native Christians had ' squatted ' on the property and erected small dwellings on it. In the year 1818 the Madras District Committee of the S.P.C.K. made a list of the Society's property in Madras,'^ and included the ' Mission burying- ground at John Pereiras, around which are some houses built on it by Christians.' In 1826 the squatters resisted the measure- ment of the ground * by the Collector of Madras, who was proceeding at the request of the S.P.C.K. Committee. There is no doubt that the property belonged to the S.P.C.K. from 1729 to 1826.
At the latter date the Eev, J. Kidsdale had begun his ministrations among the John Pereiras community. Neither the S.P.C.K. nor the S.P.G. had men for the purpose. In the absence of documents it must be assumed that the S.P.C.K. Madras Committee had no title-deeds to prove their ownership. In 1828 Eidsdale purchased the ground from a builder in Black Town, Mr. Stringer, who had appropriated it, and built a chapel upon it.
Eidsdale was a zealous missionary, well known and trusted not only by his own Society, but also by the Archdeacon and other Churchmen of the Presidency town. He raised the money to build the chapel, which cost over Es.6000, but came to the end of his resources before the furnishing of it could be finished. In this dilemma he appealed to the trustees of St. George's Church, who were then renewing some of their furniture. The Archdeacon proposed that the old furniture should be given to
> The Church in Madras, i. 195. ^ W. Tajdor's Memoir, jjp. 11, 13, 17. 3 Hid. p. 165. •* Hid. p. 334.
296 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
him. The trustees said that there was none to be removed that would be of any use, and suggested that a Government grant of Es.oOO would be more acceptable. The Government therefore gave a donation of Es.oOO. When they wrote to the Directors ^ they explained that it was on account of a small chapel, ' the shell of which has been completed in the midst of a large population of the poorest class, who have raised a sub- scription for it exceeding Es.6000, but seats and furniture were required for litting it up for pubHc worship, and the people had no funds for the purpose. We therefore authorised,' &c. And the Directors sanctioned the grant.
Mr. Eidsdale built the chapel for the use of the Eurasians as well as the native Indian Christians of the district, and it has been regularly used for this twofold purpose up to the present time. In consideration of this the Government assisted with a grant of Es.400 the repair of the chapel in 1871.^
After Mr. Eidsdalc's death the building was put into trust for the C.M.S., and is now held by the Church Missionary Trust Association. It has not been consecrated, nor officially named, but it is generally known as Trinity Church. It was licensed in 1833 by Archdeacon Eobinson, as Commissary of the Bishop of Calcutta, for all ecclesiastical purposes.
Between 1816 and 1833 both the C.M.S. and the S.P.G. had reason to be thankful to the Directors and the Government of Fort St. George for their HberaHty and goodwill. The former Society had a handsome Church built for them in Black Town, and received assistance for the John Pereiras chapel. The latter Society were greatly helped in the building of the new Vepery Church, and in the extensive repairs of the buildings at Trichinopoly and Cuddalore.
1 Letter, Jan. 18, 1833, 7, Eccl. ; Despatch, Dec. 4, 1833, 10, Eccl. ' 0.0. , Dec. 8, 1871, No. 211, Eccl.
CHAPTER [XVI
RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS, 1805 TO 1835
Settlement of the country. Increase of stations and Chaplains. Building of Churches. The Christians of India. Buchanan's and Kerr's researches. Rules for Chaplains. Marriages by civil, military and naval officers. Com- fort of British soldiers in India. Bishop Middleton's libraries. Soldiers' libraries suggested by the Governor-General. The views of the Commander- in-Chief of the Madras army. The books. Building of fives courts, racquet courts, and swimming baths. Native education and the Company. Bengal follows the lead of the Madras Government. Grants to missionary schools for their secular work. Definition of the term 'native.' Europeans and Eurasians born in the country excluded. The advantage and disadvantage of this to the latter.
The more important ecclesiastical events and changes have been recorded. But this record would not be complete without mentioning some of the less important events and the causes which led to them.
Ecclesiastical changes during the whole history of the rule of the East India Company waited upon political changes. Up to the end of the eighteenth century the Company's inter- ests— civil, miHtary, mercantile, and religious — were small compared with those which arose after its completion. The difference was due to the defeat and the extinction of the power of the native State of Mysore.
As soon as this great and ever-threatening power was reduced there were vast political and social changes throughout the peninsula. There was no longer any necessity to keep British troops within the walls of forts and towns, or encamped under their guns. With the exception of Cochin and Travan- core the whole of South India came under the rule of the Government of Fort St. George. This necessitated the increase of the civil and mihtary establishments, the division of the
298 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
country into districts, the formation of new military centres, the building of barracks and military hospitals, and the erection of Court houses and jails for the proper administration of justice.
By the year 1807 the Madras army was distributed through- out the southern Presidency in three divisions : the northern, centre, and southern. Within these commands there were brigades and smaller garrisons : at many different places, and a subsidiary force at Secunderabad.^ The chief town of each new district was fixed upon as the headquarters of the revenue, judicial, and other civil officials. Owing to these causes a large number of separate communities of Europeans were created, some civil, some military, and some both.
In certain circles in England, known then as ' the religious world,' a considerable amount of curiosity had arisen as to the histor}^ and condition of existing Christian bodies in India. The Directors wrote to the Bengal Government in 1798,^ and sent a copy of their letter to the Madras Government in June 1800, suggesting the advisability of making inquiries on the subject. The time was inopportune for both Governments, and it was not till 1806 that they were able to act on the suggestion. In that year the Bengal Government deputed ^ the Rev. Claudius Buchanan ' to investigate the state of superstition at the most celebrated temples of the Hindus ; to examine the Churches and libraries of the Eomish, Syrian, and Protestant Christians ; to ascertain the present state and recent history of the Eastern Jews ; to discover what persons might be fit instruments for the promotion of learning in their respective countries and for maintaining a future correspondence on the subject of dis- seminating the scriptures in India.'
Buchanan left Calcutta in May 1806. Before he reached Madras the Governor of Fort St. George, who had received from the Directors in 1803 a suggestion to acquire some facts relating to the history of Christianity in India, wrote a minute on the subject and submitted it to his Council.^ He pointed out that the British Government allowed universal toleration of all
' H.H. the Nizam conferred this name on the cantonments of the subsidiary force. Letter, Oct. 21, 1807, Political.
2 Despatch to Bengal, May 25, 1798, Public. •'' The Bengal Government paid all expenses. ■* Comultalions, Juno 27, 180G.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 299
religions. ' We seem called upon in the strongest manner to take under our particular charge the whole Catholic Church of Christ.' ' The differences between Christians arc trifling compared with the differences between Cliristians, Hindus and Mahomedans.' ' Their adherence to this or that Church is a point in my opinion of secondary consideration.' ' All Christians should mutually support and befriend each other.' He then proposed that the Rev. Dr. Kerr — at that time in Mysore on leave — should report to Government the history and state of Christianity on the Malabar coast. This was agreed to, and the following letter was sent to him :
' Reverend Sir, — The Rt. Hon. the Governor in Council, being desirous of availing himself of your vicinity to the Malabar Coast to obtain every possible information in regard to the establishment &c. of the Christian religion in that part of the peninsula ; I am directed by his Lordship in Council to desire that as soon as the state of your health and the season will permit, you will proceed to the provinces on that coast ; and that you will forward to me for the information of Government such accounts as you may be able to collect of the lirst intro- duction of Christianity into India, of the arrival of the different sects who have been or may be in existence, of their general history, of the persecutions to which they may have been exposed, of their success in making proselytes, of their Church establishments, of the source from which they are maintained, with all other circumstances connected with this important subject.' ' G. C. Keble,
Sec. to Gov.'
Dr. Kerr was in bad health. No evidence has been found that he proceeded to the west coast. But he submitted a report on November 4, 1806, and this was entered in the Council's Consultation Book three days later. In this report he gave the history of early Christianity in India, of the St. Thome or Jacobite Christians, of the Syrian Roman Catholics, and of the Latin Roman Catholics, quoting from La Croze's ' History of Christianity in India,' ^ and he concluded with some
^ This book was published in 1724 at the Hague to expose the high-handed action of the Roman Catholics against the Syrian Malabar Christians, especially through the Synod of Diamper, 1599. The author was Librarian to the King of Prussia.
300 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
general observations.^ The report was sent home to the Directors in March 1807. In their reply they said that it did credit to the zeal and ability of Dr. Kerr, and added : ' We must not be understood to concur in every opinion and suggestion to be found in his pages.' -
The determination of the two Governments of Bengal and Madras to make the investigation was arrived at almost simul- taneously. It was probably due to a little pressure brought to bear on the Court of Directors by the Bishop of London. Buchanan's report to the Government of Fort William was afterwards published by the Bishop. It was an original and scholarly effort, and had deservedly a very wide circulation. Both the investigations were made with the consent and at the expense of the East India Company.
The decision of the Directors to increase the number of Chaplains^ led the Governor in Council to consider the expediency of dra%\ing up some rules for their guidance. Lord William Bentinck therefore wrote the following minute, and submitted it to his colleagues : ^
' The clergy of the different Presidencies being under the solo direction and superintendence of the local Governments, we are called upon to watch with vigilant attention this part of our charge. The late orders from home are particularly urgent on this subject. I cannot take upon myself to say that the service of the Church at outstations is or is not regularly per- formed. But I am of opinion that much good might arise if a code of regulations were framed in which the various duties required of every clergyman might be exactly defined.
' This object would be further answered by the trans- mission of periodical reports, specifying the duties done, and such other particulars as might be required.
' If these sentiments should meet with the concurrence of the Board I would beg leave to propose that the Senior Chaplain be directed to draw up a code of regulations for the guidance of the clergy and to submit them for the approbation of the Governor in Council. W. Bentinck.'
'April 29, 1806.'
• See The Church in Madras, i. 684.
- Despatch, Jan. 11, 1809, 84-86, Public,
••' Despatch, June 5, 1805, 7-18, Public.
' India Office Record.'s, Homo Series, Misc., vol. 59.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 301
The Council acquiesced. The Rev. Dr. Kerr drew up forth- with sixteen rules, and these were approved by the Government, with some slight alterations, and promulgated on July 3, 1806. Briefly they were as follows : ^
1. Every Chaplain to conduct divine service every Sunday morning for the Europeans, civil and mihtary, residing in the garrison to which he is appointed ; saying the whole of morning prayer and preaching a sermon.
2. If there is no church the Chaplain to apply to the CO. or the Chief Civilian to allot a room for the purpose ; if no room is available the Chaplain to apply to the CO. for a range of tents.
3. In case of hindrance, or non-attendance, or the opening of shops, he is to complain in writing to the CO. or Senior Civilian (as the case may be) ; if no redress, to forward copy of complaint to the Senior Chaplain, to be laid before the Right Hon. the Governor in Council.
4. Christmas Day and Good Friday to be kept holy, and the usual solemnities of the Church to be duly observed.
5. If through illness or other cause any service of the Church is omitted a letter of explanation is to be sent to the Senior Chaplain.
6. Private baptisms in houses to be discouraged except in cases of necessity.
7. Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be administered four times a year, Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, and the thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
8. Marriages : (1) to obtain the Governor's permission to marry those in the higher ranks ; or the permission of the chief civil or military officer in the case of those of the lower ranks ; (2) to perform the ceremony in canonical hours in the Church or building usually used for divdne service. Any deviation of this rule to be reported to the Senior Chaplain.
9. Women to be Churched only in the face of the congrega- tion, and at the time of public prayer.
10. Funerals at 6.30 a.m. or 5 p.m.
11. Chaplains to observe the fasts and festivals of the Church, and to use their influence to prevent public amusements in Holy Week.
' Approved by the Court of Directors, Despatch, Sept. 7, 1808, 119, Mil.
302 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
12. To visit frequently the sick in hospital, to pray by those who wish such consolation, and to administer the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper.
13. Not to carry on any trade or traffic directly or indirectly.
14. The Order of Government of March 27, 1805, regarding returns of sacred offices in oat-garrisons to be strictly observed.
15. The junior clergy to make quarterly reports to the Senior Chaplain on the state of religion, pointing out any irregularities tending to disturb the peace of society or to subvert the principles of true religion and virtue.
16. The Senior Chaplain to communicate to Government all matters relating to the Church. All communications from the junior clergy to the Government to be addressed to the Senior Chaplain, in order that he may make such remarks thereon as he may think proper. The Senior Chaplain is not hereby authorised to keep back any letter which may be forwarded to him.
For some time before this the Chaplains, and even the Lutheran missionaries in the employ of the S.P.C.K., had been much exercised in their minds as to the validity of the baptisms and marriages performed by the civil and military officers in the out-garrisons, under the sanction of the Government. The Senior Chaplain, Dr. Kerr, seems to have addressed the Government on the subject ; for in 1807 the Government issued some regulations for the performance of the different offices of the Church in the absence of a clergyman, hmiting baptism and marriage to the Civil Magistrates and the Commanding Officers of stations and corps, and in the same year permitted Dr. Kerr to address the Archbishop of Canterbury on this and other perplexing questions.
The Government informed the Directors of their new regu- lations,^ and the Directors approved of the limitation mentioned.^ Dr. Kerr's letter to the Archbishop was dated July 21, 1807. It reached the India House in December, and was at once sent to His Grace with a letter signed by Edward Parry and Charles Grant, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Company.^
1 Letter, Oct. 21, 1807, 817-19, Mil.
2 Despatch, April 25, 1810, 315, Mil.
^ India Office Records, Home Series, Misc. vol. 59.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 303
Dr. Kerr informed the Archbishop of the existence of St. Mary's Church. He said that the first Chaplain
' tried to assimilate the parish regulations at Madras as much as possible to the usages in England. A Vestry was therefore appointed &c. The authorities took an interest in its concerns and attended it until about three years ago when the Vestry had in its possession for charitable use about £25,000.
' Now a legal opinion has declared that Madras is no parish, the inhabitants no Vestry, nor had they a right to hold funds ; the clergy were merely Chaplains, neither Rectors nor Vicars ; and the Church a private Chapel.
' On the declaration of these legal opinions I declined to take any further responsibility on myself with regard to the appropriation of public money, thus declared to be dispensed in an illegal manner. I recommended to a meeting of the inhabitants that the Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras might be requested to appoint trustees for the management of our funds.'
He added that this suggestion was adopted two years before, that nothing had been done since, that the funds were locked up, which was unfortunate, as the scarcity in the Carnatic had greatly increased the number of poor in the last twenty-five years .^
He asked for rehef , suggesting that Madras should be made a parish, that the Ministers and Churchwardens and others (either elected by vote or nominated by Government) should be incorporated for the purpose of holding and administering funds, and that the former acts of the Vestry should be legalised.
As to baptism and marriage by laymen in the absence of a lawful minister, he enclosed a copy of an opinion of Sir James Macintosh, which ' if it be correct will produce many distressing inconveniences.' He suggested a private Act of Parhament legitimating the marriages performed by laymen, and asked for guidance as to the future.
Dr. Kerr enclosed the opinion of the Advocate-General at
Dr. Kerr was still thinking of bis native Workhouse scheme, which was at the bottom of all the dissension in the Vestry. See The Church in Madras, 1. 541-51.
304 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Madras,^ date November 20, 1804 ; also the opinion of Sir James Macintosh on (1) the status of Chaplains ; (2) the St. Mary's Yestry, Fort St. George; and (3) on the validity of certain marriages. Tliis opinion is dated April 15, 1803.- He says :
' (a) The Chaplains of the factories abroad are subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
' {h) A parish properly so called cannot exist in India. The Vestry of ]\Iadras is a voluntary body, not corporate ; it cannot sue nor be sued.
' (c) The marriage Act 26 George II, cap. 83, does not extend to India. Marriages solemnised beyond the seas are expressly excepted in section 18 of the Act. But I apprehend that the law of England requires certain formalities to constitute a valid marriage, I do not know that a marriage so solemnised by a Layman was ever allowed to be vahd between English subjects residing in any place to which the laws of England extend. It is necessary, I think, that a clergyman should officiate ; and it is at least in the highest degree fit that banns should be proclaimed, and all those precautions taken which are calculated to prevent fraud and surprises.
' Within the settlement of Madras I am of opinion that no declaration made by parties before a layman can amount to a marriage.'
The importance of the matters submitted to the judgment of the Archbishops of Canterbury is unquestionable. What advice His Grace gave or what steps he took cannot be known, for there is no record of any reply. But there is some indirect evidence that the Archbishop took some steps in the matter, for in 1812 the Government of Madras issued an Order pre- cluding laymen from celebrating marriages and baptisms. They informed the Directors of this Order in their Public Letter of March 5, 1813 y' but in their Military Letter of the same date^ they said :
' It has been our desire that the ceremonies of baptism and marriage at the different stations of European troops should cease to be performed by laymen in any instance ; but in the
' See The Church in Madras, i. 54.'5.
- India Office Records, Home Series, Misc., vol. 59.
^ Paras. 43, 44. ■* Paras. 165, 166.
THE' REV. R. H. KERR, SENIOR PRESIDENCY CHAPLAIN.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 305
present state of the Ecclesiastical Establishment it has been found impracticable to carry our intention into full effect, and we have been obliged to modify the Order which we issued for confining the discharge of these duties to the military Chaplains. ' It appears desirable to make a better provision for the solemn duties of the Church, and that the present irregular practice should not continue longer than necessary. So we have asked the Senior Chaplain to state the number of clergy who ought to be added to the establishment. We enclose his [Mr. Vaughan's] reply and recommend the addition of six more.'
In the margin of the letter are these references, which show that there was a good deal of thought and consultation on the subject before the Order of October 1812 was suspended,
1. Gov. Order, Oct. 23, 1812.
2. Consultations, Jan. 19 and 26, 1813.
3. G.O., Jan. 26, 1813.
4. Consultations, Feb. 5 and 9, 1813.
5. G.O., Feb. 9, 1813.
6. Consultations, Feb. 19 and 26, 1813.
In their reply i the Directors noted the contradiction of the two letters, and accepted what the Government of Fort St. George had done without comment.
The Government issued the order with good intentions in October 1812, and on the recommendation of the military authorities rescinded it in February 1813. There appeared to the latter some reasons m morals why the old sj^stem should be allowed to continue till it was rendered unnecessary by the appointment of more Chaplains ; and there did not appear to the Government any valid reason why it should not. The Company's earliest Charter gave them complete power to administer their affairs, and to appoint officials to rule over their factories according to the ordinary rules of civilised society. This had always been held to include the power of civil marriage. The commanders of their ships had the power, and occasionally exercised it. When the local Governments delegated the power to their subordinate officials, they did so in the belief that they were within their rights. The marriages
1 Despatch, June 3, 1814, 271, Public.
306 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
were certainly irregular, but their validity was covered by the Charter rights of the Company.
In the year 1783 the Government ordered that all such marriages were to be reported to the Chaplain of St. Mary's, Fort St. George, for registration in a book to be kept for the purpose.^ There is evidence, however, that many up-country marriages were effected by Magistrates and Commanding Oificers before that date. There is a letter in the ' Report of the Histor- ical Manuscripts Commission ' ~ from Mr. Thomas Hughes to Sir Llo3'd Kenyon dated Windsor, December 26, 1785, mentioning that his sister was married at Ganjam in 1778 by the chief local magistrate at a private house, and asking if the marriage were legal for all purposes in England, as his sister had some doubts about it. He added that there were many similar marriages both before and at about the same time that the one m question took place. No reply has been found, but the letter indicates that the system was being pursued some time before any registrations were made.
In the Marriage Register Book of St. Mark's, Bangalore, the following entry shows that sometimes these civil marriages were afterwards solemnised and blessed in Church :
' John Hughes and Elizabeth his wife were reunited in matrimony this March 29, 1815, having been before so united on board the Hon. Co.'s Ship Carnatic by the Captain of the same ship, Archibald Swinton, May 16, 1811, the clerical ceremony having been performed by me, W. Thomas, Chaplain.'
The old practice of giving poAvcr to legalise marriages to certain lay ollicials in either civil or military or naval authority has its counterpart in the universal practice of giving such power to national representatives in foreign countries. Our consuls abroad have had these powers for many a long year.
In India it did not long survive the advent of the Bishop of Calcutta and the increase of the three establishments of Chaplains. As soon as it was no longer necessary that the civil and military ojQicers should possess such powers they were withdrawn. But something just as irregular as far as the
> fSee Marriwjes at Fort St. George, by F. E. Penny, 1907. ' Appendix, part iv. C. 7571 of 1894.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 307
letter of the law is concerned remained. The difiiculty of the officiant was got over by increasing the estabhshment of Chaplains. But it was hardly possible to build a Church in every small station. Consequently the difficulty of the licensed building remained. Many marriages between 1813 and 1863 were solemnised by Chaplains in the drawing- rooms of magistrates without any special hcence. They were irregular, but no one would venture to contend that they were invalid.
The legal opinion of Sir. James Macintosh was without doubt correct with regard to marriage in England. It was based on the Clandestine Marriage Act of George II, but this Act had no reference to India. Sir James was not the legal adviser of the Hon. East India Company. If the Directors had required legal advice on the matter they would have referred to their own standing Counsel. The inference is that the opinion was obtained by the Rev. Dr. Kerr for his own purpose, which was the submission of the whole question to the judgment of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
It is pleasing to be able to record some instances in which the Chaplains, the local Government, and the Directors co- operated for the spiritual, moral and intellectual good of the British soldiers of the Madras army. It was highly advan- tageous to the men when they were relieved of the necessity of living in the bazaars, and were housed in commodious barracks of their own. By degrees their surroundings and circumstances were improved. In 1812 mess tables and benches were sanc- tioned and introduced. Up to that time the men had been accustomed to eat their meals seated on their cots. It was probably an oversight that tables and benches were not pro- vided when the barracks were built. But the men had not to wait long after the omission became known.
The Directors had been for many years hberal in the supply of Bibles and Prayer-books. In the year 1812 they despatched 144 of each for the use of the soldiers at the Presidency, and 520 of each for the use of soldiers at the out-garrisons, i.e. forty of each kind for each of the military Chaplains.^ In fixing the number they took as their guide the indents of 1803 and 1805.
1 Despatch, Oct. 28, 1812, 67, Mil.
X 2
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Li the year 1816 they sent out 400 Bibles in the Gaehc language for the use of the Scotch soldiers ou the Madras establishment at the request of the Eev. Dr. Ball, then stationed at St. Thomas' Mount. 1 In the year 1827 they resolved ~ that the system which prevailed in H.M.'s Service of furnishing a Bible and a Prayer-book to every soldier who could read should be extended to the European soldiers of their own regiments in India. After this date the supplies of religious books were perhaps a little more regular, but not more generous than they were before the Directors imposed upon themselves the obligation of supply.
Something more than religious Ijooks was, however, required. A small number of the Company's civil and military officers were highly intellectual men. They were inclined to study the philosophies, the religions, the history, the fauna, the flora, and generally speaking the productive possibilities of the country. Such names as those of Sir W. Jones, Chambers, Anderson, Sir Edward Colebrooke, Roxburgh, Jerdon, Harris, &c., suggest study and research of the best kind. One can see from the Government gazettes and the newspapers of the period that a great number of books were imported into India at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. The literati of Bengal formed the Asiatic Society and published the Asiatic Journal in the first decade of the century. Their example was soon followed in Madras, where other literati pursued similar studies. When Bishop Middleton made his first visitation tour in the south in 1816, he found this literary activity much in evidence in Madras itself, which seemed to be w^ell supplied with good books of all kinds. But when he arrived at Trichinopoly, the headquarters of the Southern Command, there was neither a public library nor a private literary society. He determined, therefore, to supply the literary need by founding a local library of standard works in connection with St. John's Church in the cantonment. His gift comprised about 200 volumes of well-bound books on various philosophical, scientific and theological subjects. The remnant of it is still in existence, but many of the volumes have been lost.
» Despatch, Feb. 9, ISKi, 5, Public. 2 Despatch, July 25, 1827, 10, Mil.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 309
The books were manifestly intended for the civil and military officers of the station. On his return to Calcutta Bishop Middleton pursued the scheme and extended it so as to embrace the needs of the British soldier. After a time he approached the Govern or- General of Bengal and put the scheme before him. The Governor- General, when reporting on the state of the regimental schools, took the opportunity of suggesting that it would be advantageous to oljtain a certain number of books adapted to the formation of soldiers' libraries. The Directors considered the suggestion, and agreed that the establishment of such libraries would have considerable influence on the condition, conduct, and morals of the men ; they went beyond the request, and with praiseworthy liberality directed that seven sets of books, comprising fifty in each set, should be sent to Bengal to form soldiers' libraries at the principal stations of the army.
Some time afterwards the Directors wrote i to the Govern- ment of Fort St. George suggesting the formation of similar libraries in the chief military stations of the southern Presi- dency. They informed the Government of what had been done in Bengal, and sent a list of the fifty books recommended. On receipt of this despatch the Governor in Council sent ~ the suggestion with the list of books to the Commander-in-Chief of the Madras army for his opinion and remarks.
After due inquiry the Commander-in-Chief replied : ^
' The European soldiery in India certainly require resources and means of amusement and instruction more than those in any other part of the globe.
' Much of their time is necessarily passed in the barracks owing to the pernicious and destructive consequences of exposure to the sun and the easy procurement of deleterious liquors, if they are suffered to go abroad. Severe measures are frequently resorted to to enforce obedience to this indis- pensable regulation. If the men can be kept within the prescribed limits without coercion, and if the means of rendering their confinement less irksome can be found, nothing should be
1 Despatch, March 6, 1822, Mil.
- Sec. to Go\i;. to the Mil. Sec. C.-in-C, July 23, 1822. •* Mil. Sec. to C.-in-C. to the Sec. to Govt., Jan. 16, 1824. [Bishop's Office Records, Madras.] The C-in-C. was General Sir Alexander Campbell.
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left untried to effect it. The question is how their health can be watched on the one hand, and their idle liabits can be resisted on the other.
' His Excellency considers that the establishment of small libraries at the different stations is well adapted to answer the desirable end. He is of opinion that they should be com- posed of books calculated to afford amusement both to the grave and the gay ; and that such expensive theological works as those of Paley, and such abstruse ones as the " Homilies of the Church of England " with a few others noted in the Catalogue should be omitted, and that others better suited to the capacities of the soldiers should be substituted.
' There can be but Uttle expectation of reclaiming the habits of the old offenders by this or any other institution ; but the future benefits arising from it may be important, as it will afford opportunity to the well disposed and to the young men on first joining their regiments to look for amuse- ment and instruction at home. Most of them fall into the habits of the bad from w^ant of occupation or employment ; and this is the great if not the principal source of the evils into which the soldiers are betrayed.'
The Commander-in-Chief proposed that the following stations should each receive a set of books : Fort St. George, St. Thomas' Mount, Wallajahbad, Poonamallee, Cuddalore, Vizagapatam, Masulipatam, Bangalore, Triehinopoly, Secun- derabad, Bellar^^ and Cannanore. He continued :
' At each of these stations there is a Chaplain, and as the institution [i.e. the Library] is connected with the regimental schools, from the reports of which it originated, and which it is the duty of the Chaplains to visit occasionally, it ma}^ tend to ensure all the good that can be expected from the establish- ment, if the libraries were placed under the superintendence of the Chaplains aided by a steady non-commissioned officer, to wdiom a small allowance may be granted for the preservation of the books.'
The list of books sent out l)y the Directors to Bengal was as follows. It affords some proof of the high opinion the}^ entertained of the taste and the mental capacity of the British soldiers in India.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 311
1. Religious and Moral
A Family Bible. Harvey's Meditations.
Osterwald's Abridgement of Economy of Human Life.
the Bible. Cooper's Sermons.
Homilies of the Chm'ch of Sterne's Reflections.
England. Paley's Theological Works.
2. Histonj and Travel Robertson's America. Goldsmith's Roman History.
Robertson's Scotland. Goldsmith's Grecian History.
History of England. Mayor's Voyages and Travels.
3. Natural History Ray's Wisdom of Creation. Goldsmith's Animated Nature.
Abridgement of Buffon.
4. Poetry Cowper's Poems. Crabbe's Poems.
Burns' Poems. Bloomfield's Poems.
5. Miscellaneous British Plutarch. Joyce's Dialogues.
British Nepos. Adye's Pocket Gunner.
Life of Colonel Gardiner. Naval Chronicle.
Life of Peter the Great. Military Chronicle.
Hundred Wonders of the Elegant Extracts.
World. Military Library.
Goldsmith's Geography. Military Memoirs.
Gay's Fables. Battles and Stratagems of
Accounts of the Battle of War.
Waterloo. Military Mentor.
Spectator. Military Cabinet.
Class Book.
Letters from a General Officer to his son.
Historical Memoir of the Battle of Maida (1806).
Narrative of Recent Events in Ceylon.
Warner's Thoughts and Anecdotes.
Martial Achievements of Great Britain (1800-14).
Historical Sketch of the Campaign of 1851.
Life of Field-Marshal Blucher,
312 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
The Court of Directors intimated their intention to forward from time to time such other hooks as might appear suitable to the object in view, and they authorised the addition of some Hindustani grammars and dictionaries.
The Government of Fort St. George and the Court of Directors co-operated in a real effort to promote the health, comfort, and happiness of the Europeans in their service. Courts for fives and racquets were built at the principal mihtary stations, and open-air plunge baths were constructed, wherever a sufficiency of water was available, between the years 1810 and 1816.
Not less important than these efforts was the practical policy pursued in iho matter of native education. The co-operation of the authorities began in the southern Presidency in the year 1785, when Mr. John Sullivan, the Pohtical Resident at Tanjore, conceived the scheme of teaching English subjects in English to the higher class of native youths.i This beginning of imparting Enghsh ideas and principles preceded by some years anything of the kind attempted in any other part of India. The Directors sanctioned the scheme and supported it liberally.
The venture answered all expectations ; at the beginning of the nineteenth century the schools at Tanjore and Combaconum enjoyed a good reputation. One of the Tranquebar mission- aries. Dr. John, extended the system to other places in the Carnatic and to Ceylon. The benefit of the teaching given was recognised in high quarters, and the report of it not only reached London but Calcutta as well. In 1816 the Hindu natives of Calcutta subscribed over a lac of rupees, and founded a college for Hindu youths which was known as the Vidyalaya. In it were taught the English language, Sanscrit, Hindi, and some of the sciences of the West. Within the next few years schools were estabhshed in the Delhi districts by a Bengal civilian, Mr. Eraser, at his own expense. Officers of the Bengal Medical Service took an active part in promoting the educa- tional cause. Dr. Gerard made a proposition to the Govern- ment respecting the education of the hill people of Sabathu. Dr. Lumsden acted as secretary of the Calcutta Madrissa for
' See The Church in Madra^f, i. 518.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 313
Mahomedans. The success of the private efforts at Calcutta and elsewhere, especially in the south of India, brought the question of education to the front. It showed the real desire of the natives to profit from Western teaching. Dr. Carey the missionary was taking as much advantage of this desire in Bengal as Dr. John in the south. So that by the year 1820 the Government of Bengal began to stir in the matter. They began, of course, by collecting information and digesting it. Then in 1822 they appointed a General Committee of Instruc- tion, and appropriated a lac of rupees for the promotion of the cause. 1
The Court of Directors made no comment when they received the Bengal letter conveying the intimation of this educational grant. They waited till they received a further report showing either the success or the failure of the effort. This arrived three years later,^ and they replied the following year.^
The duty of the General Committee of Instruction was to ascertain the state of public education at the time, and of the public institutions designed for its promotion ; to consider and submit to Government suggestions for the improvement of the instruction of the people, for the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and for the improvement of their moral character.
The Directors reviewed their report almost sentence by sentence, and said that it gave them great satisfaction. The General Committee regarded their plan as experimental, and reserved to themselves power to vary it in any way that ex- perience might suggest. The teaching was entirely vernacular ; ' hereafter it may be desirable to provide the means of teaching English and science . . . but at present it seems premature.' The Directors agreed : ' Keep utility steadily in view,' they said ; ' don't introduce alterations more rapidly than a regard to the feelings of the natives will prescribe ';...' a little skill and address remove prejudices.' Towards the end of their despatch they referred to the daily increasing demand for the employ- ment of natives in the business of the country, and said ' the
' Letter from Bengal, July 30, 1823, 104-109, Rev. - Letter from Bengal, Jan. 27, 1826, Public. =* Despatch to Bengal, Sept. 5, 1827, Public.
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first object of improved education should be to prepare a body of individuals for discharging public duties.' They expressed a hope that the education would ' contribute to raise the moral character of those who, Sea. . . . and supply you with servants to whose probity you may \nth increased confidence commit oflices of trust. To this the last and highest object of education we expect that a large share of your attention will be applied.' They also hoped that discipline would be directed towards raising ' that rational self-esteem which is the best security against degrading vices, and creating habits of veracity and fidelity.' ' We approve of your intention to avail yourselves for the service of Government of the superior qualifications which may be expected from a better education, and of making appointment to office an encouragement to study and good conduct.'
In one paragraph only did the Directors strike a wrong note. They said : ' We trust you will be careful in the way of salaries for teachers ; the more you can save in that way the more you will have to apply for the wider extension of the benefit of instruction.'
The colleges referred to in the report under review were those at Calcutta, Agra, Benares, and Delhi. The pupils were drawn from the superior and middle classes of the natives, from which classes Government native agents were generally drawn. The scheme did not include elementary education, nor had it any reference to existing missionary schools. The idea was to supply the need of education themselves, and to make use of the educated native for their own purposes.
A second report of progress was sent home in 1829,^ and the Directors replied in 1830.^ They expressed their great satis- faction at the success of the measures taken, which (they said) exceeded their most sanguine expectations. They sent expres- sions of their warmest approbation, and agreed with the Bengal Government that the higher classes of their Hindu and Maho- medan suljjects were ripe for a still further extension among them of English education in English subjects. At the Vidya- laya College, established by natives themselves, there were 436
' Letter from Bengal, Aug. 21, 1829, Public. - Despatch to Bengal, Sept, 29, 1830, Public.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 315
students ; at the Madrissa, Calcutta, 78 ; at the Sanscrit College, estabhshed at Calcutta for Hindu students, there were 176 ; at Delhi, 199 ; and at Agra, 198. ' We learn with extreme pleasure the opinion of the General Committee . . . that the time has arrived when English tuition will be widely acceptable to the natives in the Upper Provinces ;'...' of the spirit which prevails in the Lower Provinces the establishment and success of the Anglo-Indian college is sufficient evidence.'
The suggestion to estabhsh separate English colleges, that is, for the study of English and the cultivation of European knowledge through the medium of English, came through the Committee of Public Instruction from the local Delhi Committee. Their idea was that the teaching of science would be less likely to conflict with the teaching of the sacred books of the Hindus and Mahomedans, if it were taught in English. In order to avoid any possible conflict they established English colleges at Delhi and Benares. The Directors approved without even asking what the expense was ; and added : ' It is of the greatest importance to the native youth that means should be afforded of cultivating the English language and literature, of acquiring a knowledge of European science, and a famiharity with Euro- pean ideas, in a higher degree than has yet been within their power.' At the same time they warned the General Committee not to underrate the importance of vernacular instruction. They thought that the two courses of study, vernacular and English, might be carried on in the same establishment, for the reason that education in English could only be placed within reach of the few. These few might as teachers or translators contribute to the general extension of knowledge, and might communicate ' that improved spirit, which it is to be hoped they themselves will have imbibed from the influence of European ideas and sentiments.'
Some of the money to establish these Government colleges was given by native gentlemen of social position, and some was given by the Government itself. The Directors cheerfully sanctioned all that had been done, and promised supplies of educational books. They pressed their own utilitarian views of education by repeating them.
' The exertions you are now making are calculated to raise
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up a class of persons qualified hj their intelligence and morality for high employment in the civil administration of India. As the means of bringing about this most desirable object we rely chieliy on their becoming, through a familiarity with European literature and science, imbued with the ideas and feelings of civilised Europe. . . . We wish you to consider this as our deliberate view of the scope and end to which all your endeavours with respect to the education of the natives should refer.'
The Directors concluded their despatch by ordering the Government of Bengal to communicate all their educational proceedings to the Governments of Fort St, George and Bombay, as ' it is our wish that the establishments for native education should be conducted on the same principles in all the Presi- dencies.'
These extracts show that the Government scheme of educat- ing some of the superior classes in India originated with certain persons in India itself, and was not pressed upon the Directors by public opinion at home. They also show the hearty agree- ment of the Directors with the views of those in Bengal wdio set the scheme on foot in that Presidency.
The practice of the Government of Fort St. George for nearly forty years before the Bengal scheme was planned had been to make substantial grants to the Sulhvan schools at Tanjore and Combaconum under the superintendence of the Tanjore S.P.C.K. missionaries, and to give occasional help to the mission schools at Tricliinopoly and Madras. The Government took advantage of the good results of the education given by the S.P.C.K. missionaries, and made use of the well-educated men the schools sent forth.
The proceedings of the General Committee of Instruction in Bengal lietween the years 1823 and 1830 were not entirely unknown in Madras, so that when the correspondence between the Directors and Bengal was sent to Madras the Governor in Council was prepared for it. It only remained to adopt the new policy and to establish some purely Government institu- tions. When the Government of Fort St. George made a grant of Rs.5440 for the mission schools at Trichinopoly in 1829, they informed the S.P.G. Committee in Madras that it was foreign
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 317
to the designs of the Government that mission schools should be maintained at their expense or under their superintendence.^ This was the iirst intimation to the missionaries of a change of policy.
The schools of the missionaries were efficient, and were answering every purpose the Directors had in view. Under these circumstances it did not seem necessary to bring the old policy to a sudden end. It was therefore continued. Grants were given to the missionaries for the secular teaching in their schools ; and all superior schools that were efficient participated in the grants given. The Eoman Catholic missionaries at Madras obtained their first grant in 1836.'^ The system was good in itself, and actually continued in force until 1842, when the Government established a series of superior schools in the mof ussil, and a central High School and College in the Presidency town. When the new system was established the old one with its various advantages was not forgotten. It was looked back upon with regret, and in course of time it was reintroduced with a scale of helpful grants-in-aid for all schools whose secular teaching was sufficiently good to satisfy the requirements of the Educational Department.
It only remains to mention how large a part in the education of the young has been taken by the Chaplains and the mission- aries in the territories ruled over by the Government of Fort St. George from the time there were permanent Chaplains (1670) and permanent missionaries (1726) until the present day. Among the former -^ may be mentioned William Stevenson, M.A. (afterwards Prebendary of Salisbury), founder of the St. Mary's Vestry School ; Andrew Bell, D.D. (afterwards Canon of Westminster), founder of the Military Male Orphan Asylum ; Richard Hall Kerr, B.A., founder of the Male Asylum Press ; Morgan Davis, founder of the Civil Orphan Asylums ; James Hough, M.A. (the historian), founder of the Palamcottah C.M.S. mission schools. And among the many eminent educational missionaries may be mentioned the names of Schultz, Fabricius, Schwartz, Pohle, Eottler, John, Noble, and G. H. Pope. These
1 Despatch to Madras, Sept. 15, 1830, 1, Public.
' Despatch, Aug. 30, 1837.
^ See The Church in Madras, vol. i.
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lists only include a few who were in India before 1850. Many of their successors in the latter half of the nineteenth century were equally eminent and worthy of the highest praise for the educational work they were able to acconi})lish.
The change of policy with regard to native education was one of the causes which rendered it necessary to define the term ' native.' The other cause was the payment of the widows and children of soldiers from the Olive Fund.^ The benefit of this fund was for those whose paternal and maternal grandfathers were of pure European blood. The children of native mothers were excluded from it. The term ' native ' had been used for a long time for anyone born in the country, whether of pure European blood, mixed blood, or pure native blood. The despatches of the Directors have many references to this use of the term. In the year 1818 Mr. E. P. Lys was described as a native, and permitted to return to India. ^ He was the son of Europeans and was born in the country, his father being a merchant in Madras. In 1822 Mr. Joseph Freeman Hazle- wood was similarly described and permitted to return.^ His parents were Europeans, and his father was an oflicer in the Company's service. In 1824 and 1825 Mr. William Pollock,^ Mrs. H. Chambers,^ Mr. Charles Buchan ^' and several others are referred to in the same way. In every succeeding year up to 1833 there are lists of Europeans permitted to return to India who are described as natives of India.
In apportioning pensions from the Clive Fund the Military Auditor General found it necessary that exact terms should be used to denote different kinds of persons.
The matter was considered in Council, and a Government Order was issued 7 directing that in future all marriage certifi- cates of soldiers under the rank of commissioned officer should specify the birth of the female, whether European, Indo-
' The first Lord Clive left a large fund for the payment of pensions to the widows and children of the Company's European soldiers of all ranks. - Despatch, March 4, 1818, 138, Public. ■i Despatch, Jan. 9, 1822, Public. ■' Despatch, Nov. 10, 1824, 9, Public. » Despatch, March 23, 1825, Public. •5 Despatch, July 13, 1825, 8, Public. ^ G.O., Sept. 11, 1829.
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Briton, or native. Archdeacon Robinson communicated the order to all the Chaplains and mentioned that much incon- venience had arisen, and the payment of widows' pensions endangered by incorrect statements in the certificates.
By this order the domiciled Eurasian community obtained a certain advantage. They were released from the old custom which described them as natives, and enabled without question to enjoy the benefit of the Clive bequest. But at the same time they were precluded from enjoying the benefit of the new native education grants. The community petitioned in 1847 for a share in the grant, and the reply given was that such as are natives of India can already benefit by the use of the seminaries already founded. For such as did not come strictly under that denomination the funds were not intended. This was understood to mean that if they liked to be regarded as natives the seminaries were open to them, but the Clive fund was not. But if they repudiated the status of native, the Clive fund was open to them but the seminaries were not. They could not have the advantage both ways. In the present day they are not excluded from the Government schools and colleges, but they have a very great disinclination to join them.
CHAPTER XVII
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835
St. Stephen s, Ootacamund. — History. Building of the Church. Its dedication and consecration. Plan and cost. First Chaplains. Enlargement. Ventilation. Chancel. Windows. Furniture. Memorials. Schools.
St. Bartholomew' s, Mysore. — History. Consecration of the site. Building of the Church. The Wesleyan missionaries and the use of the building. The French Rocks chapel. The first Chaplains of Mysore. The Mysore Church handed over to the Government and consecrated. Refurnishing in 1871. Memorial tablets.
Central Provinces. — History. Christ Church, Mhow. Christ Church, Kamp- tee. Its foimdations. Bell. Altar vessels. St. Peter's, Sangor. Christ Church, Jubbulpore. Hoshangabad. All Saints', Nagpore. The early Madras Chaplains. Origin of Bengal ill-will towards Madras. Protection of the burial-grounds. Nagpore separated from Kamptee. The early Nagpore Chaplains.
St. Stephen's, Ootacamund. — It is scarcely necessary to describe Ootacamund ; so many travellers and visitors and sportsmen have done so already. Lord Macaulay, Lady Canning, and even the matter-of-fact official compiler of the ' District Manual ' have expressed their enthusiasm about the climate, the scenery, and the sport. There is nothing more to be said, it only remains to enjoy.
The Nilgiris, or Blue Mountains, were in the territory of the ruler of Mysore. Both Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan had posts of observation on various spurs of the hills for their own offensive and defensive purposes. Some overlooked the plains on the west, one at least overlooked the Coimbatore valley southwards. All movements on the plains could be discerned and anticipated ; there was no getting to the hills till this hostile power was crushed.
In the year 1818 two young civilians from Coimbatore climbed the ghaut and had a look round. The nature of the
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 321
report they made we can imagine. In the following year Mr. John SiiHivan, the Collector and Chief Magistrate, went to see for himself. He reached the site of Ootacamund and built a small house on what is still known as Stonehouse Hill. During the next eight years there was much talk on the plains about the new discovery of a temperate climate 350 miles from Madras, and there were many expeditions to verify it. At the end of that time, namely the year 1827, when the Right Hon. Stephen Rumbold Lushington became Governor of Port St. George, Ootacamund was formally recognised as the sanatorium of the Presidency. It is 7000 feet above sea level ; it consists of square miles of undulating downs of grass, surrounded by four great hills all under snow range.^ The possibilities of invigorat- ing air and outdoor exercise in a climate which enables flowers of a temperate region to grow in profusion all the year round were beyond calculation. The Governor did the right thing when he assisted in the opening out of the hills himself.
It was not long before there was a rush to enjoy the newly discovered boon. Some went just for an ordinary rest and change ; some went to recover from sickness ; some went who were sick unto death. It was manifestly a place where both a Chaplain and a Church were required. The Governor saw the need in 1829 ; without waiting for the previous permission of the Directors he laid the foundation-stone of the future Church, and in consultation with the Members of Council sanctioned the estimated cost of it.
The foundation-stone records that it was laid on St. George's Day, 1829 ; that the Church was j&nished and opened for divine service on Easter Day, 1831, and that Captain J, J. Underwood of the Madras Engineers was the architect. Shortly before it was completely finished and furnished Bishop Turner of Calcutta visited the station, and advantage was taken of his presence to have the building consecrated. The foundation- stone records that the Church was solemnly set apart for the service of Almighty God on December 5, 1830. It was dedi- cated to God in honour of St. Stephen. It was generally under- stood locally that this particular choice of a patron saint involved an inoffensive reference to the founder.
' One of them, Dodabetta, is 8762 feet high.
322 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
It is not possible to say that the designs were good. The ground plan gave a long narrow nave, 63 X 20 x 20 feet, with a long narrow aisle on each side 68 X 8| X 16-| feet. West of tlie nave was the tower 14 X 14 X 48 feet, and west of that was the porch 14 x 16 feet. So that there was a total length of 91 feet and a total breadth of 37 feet. The congregation erected the organ loft at the west end of the nave and purchased the organ. There is no record that they supplied any of the furniture. The accommodation was for 338 persons, and the cost was Rs.30,562.^
A year after the opening of the Church the Government of Madras wrote to the Directors informing them of the building and consecration of it,2 and the appointment of a Chaplain to serve it. The Dii-ectors were not pleased. Indeed they began their reply, ' We much disapprove,' &c.3 They complained that although the Governor in Council had determined in 1829 to authorise the erection of the Church, yet no communication whatever had been made to them on the subject till 1832, long after the building had been finished. They also complained that the Governor had stated in his minute of January 22, 1830, that the building was to be erected at the joint expense of the Company and the C.M.S., aided by private subscriptions, at an estimated cost of Es.8000 ; and that they now learned that the whole expense had been borne by the Company, and that it had exceeded Es.24,000. They blamed the Engineer for exceeding his estimates, and they blamed the Government for building without obtaining their approval.
The first Chaplain was the Rev. William Sawyer. He was permitted by the Government to act as Chaplain to the Bishop of Calcutta during his tour, and he accompanied the Bishop to Ootacamund in December 1830. Having already worked in the country on the plains for eight years, he needed the kind of change which the hills afforded, and the Bishop recommended that he should be appointed Chaplain of Ootacamund. This was done, and Bishop Turner left him in charge. Sawyer did
' Cmmltations, June 21, 1831, 1-4, Eccl. The 1852 Official Return of Churches says the cost was Rs.24,864. -' Letter, April 24, 1832, G-8. Eccl. =* Despatch, Feb. 20, 1833, 10-16, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 323
all a sick man could, but he died on January 7, 1832, and was buried in the churchyard.
The Government reported his death,' and the temporary appointment of the Eev. J. B. Morewood to the post on Es.70 a month. Morewood was an ordained missionary of the C.M.S., and was in charge of that Society's mission on the Nilgn-is. They also mentioned that Captain Underwood's Ijill for laying out the churchyard as a burial-ground amounted to Rs.583. The Directors had no objection to Morewood's appointment,^ but the mention of Underwood's name roused afresh their resentment, and they passed his bill with renewed censure.
Morewood acted as Chaplain from 1832 to 1836. Then the Rev. H. W. Stuart in the Company's Service was appointed, and he retained the post for seven years. In 1843 it was made a two years' appointment, so that more of the Chaplains might enjoy the benefit of a change to the hill station. Among the Chaplains have been Archdeacons Harper, Dealtry, Drury, Warlow, Elwes, and Williams ; •"» such excellent men as Trevor,* Lugard, Pettigrew, Gilbert Cooper, and Pigot James were Chaplains without having risen to the rank and office of Arch- deacons.
In the year 1845 the Rev. Edward Whitehead was officiating at St. Stephen's. One of the Lay Trustees, Captain Moore, complained to the Bishop of the teaching in one of Whitehead's sermons. The Bishop investigated the case and sent all the papers to the Government with his remarks. The Governor in Council ruled that Captain Moore's criticism was not justified, and added ' that it was incumbent on him to avoid in future all similar differences and collisions with the reverend Clergy.' The Directors were asked to express an opinion on the matter, and approved of what the Government had done.^ The incident is only of importance as showing how the local Govern- ment almost invariably treat the disputes and complaints of officers in the Service ; they patiently hear and determine them.
' Letter, Oct. 2, 1832, 3, 4, Eccl. - Despatch, Oct. 9, 1833, 9, 10, Eccl. 3 The Right Rev. A. A. Williams, Bishop of TinneveUy. * Afterwards Canon of York,
^ Letter, Dec. 23, 1845, 2-6, Eccl. ; Despatch, March 10, 1847, 44, Eccl.
Y 2
324 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
St. Stephen's was not a military Church. The Government pursued the regular policy of keeping it in repair, but if any addition or improvement or alteration were required they looked to the congregation to find a considerable portion of the expense. In 1851 the European pojiulation of the station had increased so greatly that the Church Committee found it necessary to enlarge the building. The enlargement cost Es.3000 : the Government gave Rs.l200 towards the amount.^ At the same time the congregation purchased a clock and bell for the tower, and the Government remitted the import duty. They had recently approved of the principle of giving assistance to the efforts made by private individuals for the erection of Churches, and they pointed out that the principle was equally api)licable to the extension of accommodation and the provision of furniture.
In 1858 the necessity of better ventilation arose. The Church Committee contended that the need of it was due entirely to the faultiness of the original design. On this ground the Government paid the cost of the necessary altera- tion.- In 1887 the same difficulty arose, and the Government again tried to solve it without raising the height of the roof of the nave.2 In 1899 it was clear to everyone that no ven- tilating plan was of much practical use which did not include the raising of the roof. To do this and to build two new vestries would cost nearly Rs.7500. The Government agreed to pay Es.3500 if the congregation found the rest of the money.-* In this way the ventilation was finally perfected.
There was no chancel before 1876. In that year Mrs. Mclvor built a chancel to the memory of her husband, and adorned the Church with five stained- glass windows. Beside these there is a window which was presented by Colonel W. Hughes Hallet in memory of his wife, and two others erected in 1893, one in memory of William and Ann Higgins by their friends, and one in memory of Mrs. Wentworth Watson.
There are few Churches in India which have received so
1 Letter, Nov. 11, 1851, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 1, 1852, 2, 3, Eccl.
"- G.O., July 20, 1858, 241, Eccl.
3 G.O., May 11, 1887, No. 1286, Works.
* CO., June 29, 1899, No. 77, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 325
many handsome memorial gifts, some from individuals and some from the congregation as a body. The carved litany desk and the service books were the gift of Sir Henry Bliss in memory of his wife. The altar-rail kneeler was given by Mrs. Mclvor. Colonel and Mrs. Liardet gave the curtains, Lady Price the frontals, and the Sisters of the Church gave a set of stoles. The congregation gave the tubular bells and the chiming apparatus, the rich sanctuary carpet, the reredos, the standard lights, and the organ. The consequence of all this goodwill is that there is no Church in the diocese, with the possible exception of the Cathedral, which is so well appointed.
There are some interesting memorial tablets on the walls of the building. One is to the memory of Lady Harriet Eumbold. She was the daughter and co-heiress of Lord Eainclift'e, and the wife of Sir William Eumbold, Bart., who was the grandson of Sir Thomas Eumbold, Bart., Governor of Fort St. George in 1778. Another is in memory of Mrs. Caroline Elizabeth Havelock, the widow of Lieut. -Colonel Wilham Havelock, K.H., who commanded the 14th Light Dragoons in 1848, and led the regiment when it made its historic charge on the Sikh army at Eamnugger, himself being killed. The tablet was erected by their third son. Sir Arthur Havelock, G.C.S.I., &c., Governor of Fort St. George from 1895 to 1900.^ Among those whose bodies rest in the churchyard are Major Eobertson, the friend of Colonel Welsh,- William Sawyer, the first Chaplain, and many well-known civil and militarj'- officers who helped in the past to make Madras history. The names of Oakes, Gough, Wahab, Casamajor, Hay, Harington, Wedder- burn, Breeks, Oucherlony, and Babington suggest deeds and events of more or less importance to the Indian historian.
St. Stephen's churchj-ard was closed as a place of burial when the newer churchyard of St. Thomas was laid out and consecrated.
Within a short time of the occupation of the station European soldier pensioners were attracted to it, and it became necessary for the Chaplain to establish a school for their children. The opening of the Breeks Memorial High
' J. J. Cotton's Monumental Inscriptions. - Welsh's Reminiscences, ii. 215.
326 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
School in 1876 provided for the education of the boys of the district, and the St. Stephen's School became one for girls only. The Breeks school commemorated the Commissionship of Mr. James Wilkinson Breeks, who was private secretary and son-in-law of Sir William Denison, Governor of Fort St. George. The school was vested in four trustees, of whorn the Chaplain was one. The Bishop of Madras was Patron and Visitor. The Chajjlain was the responsible Manager and gave rehgious instruction to the Christian boys of the school. It was not intended for Europeans and Eurasians only, but for respectable natives as well.
The Sisters of the Church established a high-class school for girls at Ootacamund in 1893. The educational oppor- tunities of the place are therefore good.
St. Bartholomew's, Mysore. — Mysore was the ancient dynastic capital of the Hindu Maharajahs of Mysore. It was superseded at the beginning of the seventeenth century by Seringapatam. Hyder Ali, the Mahomedan soldier of fortune, when he set aside the reigning family and took their place, retained Seringa- patam as his capital. His son Tippu demolished the fort of the old capital and carried away the material to build a fort elsewhere for his own military purposes. On the fall of Seringa- patam in 1799 it was decided, partly for sanitary reasons and partly because of the Mahomedan traditions which had gathered round the place, to abandon Seringapatam as a royal residence and to restore the old glory of Mysore. Accordingly the stones which had been removed by Tippu were brought back, the fort was rebuilt, and a new palace was erected by Captain de Havilland in 1805. Among the many public and private buildings which were erected at the same time was an imposing house for the Political Resident, Sir John Malcolm.
The British force for the protection of the restored Maha- rajah and his State was concentrated at Seringapatam. But there was a small military detachment at ]\Iysore for the protec- tion of the Resident. The officers of the Detachment and the civil officials under the orders of the Resident made a small European community in the Mysore capital. This state of affairs continued till the year 1830. By that time the European community began to feel the need of a Church. The necessary
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 327
leader was at hand in the person of Mr. Francis Lewis. He died in 1861. In the Church is a tablet to his memory, which was erected by his widow and children. It is described as ' a monument of his pious and indefatigable zeal ; feeling the need of a Christian sanctuary in this place, and impelled by a desire of promoting the glory of God, he began the good work, which by the aid and co-operation of Christian friends he was enabled to bring to a happy termination.' Bishop Turner of Calcutta included Mysore in his tour of inspection at the close of the year 1830. The ground for the intended Church was marked out, and the Bishop consecrated the ground on November 29.
Owing to his extravagance and bad government the Maha- rajah was deprived of power in 1831, and a commission of officers under Colonel Sir Mark Cubbon was appointed to administer the affairs of the State. This increased the number of Europeans in the station, so that the building of the Church was a less difficult matter than it would have been under previous circumstances. Mysore was not a military station, nor had it a resident Chaplain ; the Government could not therefore under their rules give any assistance. The resident civil and military officers built for themselves at their own expense. The building was completed in 1832. It measured 57 X 37 X 19 feet, having a nave and two side aisles. The cost of it was Rs.3500,1 and the accommodation was for 110 persons. Soon after its completion one of the two Chaplains at Bangalore Avas ordered to pay a quarterly visit to Mysore ; this arrangement continued till the year 1858.
There was at Mysore at the time of the building of the Church a flourishing Wesleyan Mission. The work of the missionaries was the preaching of the Gospel to the natives. They them- selves were simple God-fearing men, who were much respected by the European officials. They had no fault to find with the liturgy of the Church, no marked political views, no difference of opinion with Church people about religious education. It was too near to the time of Charles Wesley for them to have separated in any great degree from the Church of their fathers. It was quite in accordance with what was esteemed to be the
' Official Return of Churches, 1852.
328 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
fitness of things that these Wesley an missionaries should be asked to conduct the services of the new Church in the absence of the visiting Chaplain. This arrangement continued for fifteen years.
Li the 3-ear 1847 they assumed more power than the Euro- pean community at Mysore had conferred upon them. The Chaplains at Bangalore were appealed to, and they in turn inquired of Archdeacon Shortland as to whether the building was a Church of England building or not. The Archdeacon replied that it was ; he enclosed a copy of the deed of consecra- tion of the ground on which it stood, and a memorandum of the proceedmgs of the consecration dated November 29, 1830.1 The deed was signed by the British Resident in Mysore and fifteen other Europeans. The Wesleyan missionaries were not satisfied. They appear to have thought that they had some proprietary rights in the building. In June 1848 the Lay Trustee reported to the Chaplains at Bangalore that one of the mission- aries had ' forcibly altered the position of the pulpit ' ; that he had therefore fixed it in the position ordered by the Chaplains, and that the Wesleyan missionaries had consequently declined to ofiiciate. He asked if it were allowable for a lay member of the Church to read the service between the Chaplain's periodical visits.
The question was submitted to Archdeacon Shortland, who praised the Lay Trustee and recommended that the services should always be conducted at Mysore by a layman of the Church. He attributed the disorder which had arisen to a ' compromise of the Church's principles by allowing the Methodist preachers to officiate at all.' On the receipt of this letter it was decided at Mysore at a meeting of the Church Committee to ask the Commandant, Major Codrington, to arrange for the services between the visits of the Chaplains.
Seven miles from Mysore is the cantonment known as French Rocks. Here a native infantry regiment had been quartered from the year 1830, when Seringapatam was given up, by reason of its unhealthiness, as a military station. In the year 1840 the officers of the 2nd M.N.I, built a chapel, where they could have divine service. It cost Es.515. As they did not want it on any day except Sunday they allowed the
' The \\hole correspondence is in the File Book of St. Mark's, Bangalore.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 329
Wesleyan missionary to use it for his school purposes on the other days of the week, and they placed it in his charge. When the 2nd M.N.I, had left the station the missionary appears to have persuaded himself that the building was handed over to him in fee simple, and he gave it in trust to six Wesleyan missionaries, one of whom was John Garrett, to be held by them for the Wesleyan Missionary Society.
^Vhen the Chaplains from Bangalore visited French Kocks they had to borrow this building for the services of the Church. The intention of the officers of the 2nd M.N.I, was that they should use it as of right, but there is no doubt that they ex- pressed their intention badly. In 1849 the Archdeacon was appealed to. He knew nothing about it.i An attempt was made to purchase the building, and the Archdeacon offered on the part of the S.P.C.K. (London) £50 towards the expense, and a set of service books. The attempt failed, and the Bangalore Chaplains began to collect money to build a chapel of their own. The Archdeacon wrote ^ expressing sympathy with their intention, and promised £50 from S.P.C.K. funds as soon as the property was transferred to the Bishop and Archdeacon in trust. In September 1851 the Bangalore Chaplains applied to the acting Archdeacon for the promised grant, but the promise was subject to the condition that the building was finished and placed in trust ownership. While these negotiations were going on John Garrett had begun to make inquiries, and he came to the right conclusion that the building had never been handed over to the Wesleyan Missionary Society by the officers who built it. However he had possession, and was evidently anxious to do what was right. He therefore executed a deed conveying the school chapel in trust to the Bishop and Arch- deacon on condition ' that evangelical protestant missionaries, who are willing to use the Church liturg}^ shall not be excluded from performing divine worship in it, when not being used by the Chaplain, and when required to do so by the commandant of the station.' •"
' Archdeacon's letter, Dec. 17, 1849, at St. Mark's, Bangalore.
- Archdeacon's letter, March 10, 1851, at St. Mark's, Bangalore.
^ The building was transferred to the Government in 1863. G.O., March 4 and 27, 1863, Eccl. In this Order it is stated that it was originally built by the Wesleyan Mission ; but this statement is not correct.
330 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
There were several small communities of Europeans in the State of Mysore beside that at French Rocks. The}^ were visited and ministered to by the Bangalore Chaplains until 1858, when a separate Chaplain was assigned to Mysore and its out-stations. The Rev. W. W. Gilbert Cooper was the first Chaplain. In 1861 he was succeeded by the Rev. S. A. Godfrey, a Eurasian clergj-man who had been educated at Bishop's College, Calcutta, and ordained by Bishop Spencer of Madras. He officiated at Mysore from 1861 to 1866.
During his tenure of office there was a local desire that the Mysore Church should be transferred to the Government. The officers of the Mysore Commission considered that they had a right to the ministrations of one of the Service Chaplains, and they thought that their chance of getting one would be improved if their Church were the trust property of the Govern- ment. Accordingly in 1864 a special meeting of the Vestry was held, and it was resolved to carry the transfer into effect. No difficulty was apprehended. The resolution noted that the building was unquestionably the property of the Church of England ; that it was built by members of the Church of England for themselves on ground given to them for the purpose by H.H. the Maharajah ; that the ground was solemnly set apart and consecrated by Bishop Turner of Calcutta ; and that the repairs and expenses had been borne from the beginning by the Church of England community.^ The Government of Madras and the Government of India approved of the transfer, and the Church was placed on the list of those to be kept in repair by the Department of Public Works.^ From that time a Chaplain has been stationed at Mysore. In 1865 Bishop Gell of Madras consecrated the Church and dedicated it to the service of God in honour of St. Bartholomew.
One of the duties of the Mysore Chaplain was to visit French Rocks once a month. The Rev. J. W. Wynch was appointed to Mysore in 1869. He found that the French Rocks chapel was unfurnished. It had been the custom up to that time to get chairs, &c., from the regimental mess when services were
' Mysore Vestry Minute Book, 18G4.
2 CO., Nov. 15, 1864, No. .5480, Home Dept. ; CO., Aug. 10, 18G5, No. 205, Home Dept. ; CO., Nov. 21, 1868, No. 243, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 331
held. With the co-ojuTatioii of the Government and the officers of the 30th M.N. I., he furnished the building. He made a raised sanctuary with a step for the use of communicants ; he put in an altar, vested it worthily and adorned it in the usual way ; he purchased an old ship's bell in Madras, a bell that had been recovered from a wreck on the coast, and attached it to the building ; and he made the interior more like a place of worship than it had ever been before. The Government paid a portion of the total expense.^
At Mysore also Mr. Wynch was instrumental in improving the appearance of St. Bartholomew's in the same kind of way ; the altar, the font, the lectern, the carved teakwood screens, and the altar ornaments were all due to him and a small band of like-minded workers, chief among whom was Colonel Malle- son, the young Maharajah's guardian.
The rendition of the Mysore State to the Maharajah took place in 1881. The Commission came to an end, the native regiment was withdrawn from French Kocks, but the Maharajah wisely kept some British officers of experience in his service. There was not quite the same need for a Chaplain as there was before, nor was there at Mercara, eighty miles away in the Coorg District. An arrangement was therefore made by which Mysore, Mercara, and several small stations shared a Chaplain between them.
Besides the tablet in the Church already mentioned there is one to the memory of Lieut.-Colonel T. M. McHutchin (1873), one to the memory of Lieut.-Colonel A. H. Macintire (1897), both erected by their brother officers and friends ; and one to the memory of a gracious lady, Mrs. Mary Eden Benson (1895), who endeared herself to a large circle of friends of all classes in Mysore by ' her loving, unselhsh and sympathetic life.' By them the tablet was erected.
The Central Provinces. — The territories which have been known by this designation since 1860 were part of the Moghul empire up to 1743. Then the Mahrattas took possession of them and divided them among themselves. In 1803 Scindiah of Gwalior and the Eajah of Berar combined against the East India Company. Nagpore was then the capital of Berar.
' CO., July 12, 1871, No. 117, Eccl.
332 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
The confederacy was defeated by General Wellesley and the troops under his command ; these belonged to the Madras army. This was the original connection between the Madras Government and the Central Provinces.
In 1 SI 6 the reigning Rajah of Nagpore appointed a regent named Moodajee, generally known as Appa Sahib. Moodajee entered into a treaty with the Governor-General, by w^hich the Eajah agreed to receive a permanent Subsidiary Force for his protection in return for a fixed payment. He then changed his mind. He caused the Rajah to be strangled, combined with other Mahratta chiefs against the British, and attacked the Subsidiary Force on the hills of Seetabuldee between the town of Nagpore and the Residency. After two defeats Moodajee Hed, and order was re-established. The fighting was severe, for Moodajee had with him a large number of trained Mahratta and Arab troops.^
After the second Mahratta war, brigades were stationed at Jaulnah, just outside Berar ; at Kamptee, ten miles from Nag- pore ; and at Mhow, near Holkar's capital of Indore. Later on the headquarters of the two brigades at Mhow and Kamptee were established at Saugor, and later on at Jubbulpore. In 1822 the Madras troops at Kamptee were relieved by Bengal troops. The Resident at Nagpore wrote to Colonel Hopeton Scott eulogising the force under his command.^ Two years later Kamptee was again made a station for Madras troops, and it became a first-class command.
Christ Church, Mhow. — According to the Official Return of Churches in the Presidency of Madras dated 1852 the Church at Mhow was built by the Government of Fort St. George in 1826 and enlarged in 1840. It measured 66 x 45 X 21 feet, had sittings for 280 persons, and cost Rs. 24,669. It is quite certain, however, that no Chaplain on the Madras establish- ment was ever permanently stationed there. The last time repairs were carried out at the expense of the Government of Madras was in ISSS."^
Christ Church, Karnj)tee. — The next Church to be built
' Wilson's Hialory of the Madras Army, iv. 35-55. - Wilson's History oj the Madras Army, iv. 215. •* Consvltations, April 1, 1853, No. IG, Public.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 333
was at Kamptee. The Directors sanctioned its erection in 1828, but it was not taken in hand until 1831. There was a difficulty about the foundations, for the soil at Kamptee is black cotton soil. The dimensions of the Church are 120 X 60 X 24 feet ; the accommodation is for 800 persons ; Lieutenant Douglas of the Madras Engineers was the architect ; the cost was Es.43,679 ; and it was completed in 1832.1 Before the Church was completed services must have been held in some barrack building set apart for the purpose ; for in 1880 Archdeacon Robinson applied to Government for the allow- ances of a first-class Church, which means that the usual four or five native servants were necessary to keep the building clean and safe. According to rule, however, the grant could not be sanctioned till the real Church building was completed and in use.'^
The completion report did not arrive in Madras until too late for the homeward ships of 1832. It was sent in 1833, and the Directors received it at the end of that year.^ It was five years after they had sanctioned it, and they had forgotten all about it. They were not pleased that the Church had been erected without having the style, dimensions, and plan sub- mitted to them, but they trusted that ' there were grounds to justify the expenditure,' and said no more about it.'^
The burial-grounds at all the out-garrisons were left un- provided with enclosing walls until the middle of the nineteenth century. Kamptee was no exception. Its burial-ground was surrounded by a hedge in 1834, and the Government thought this quite sufficient as a protection.'"^
The Church had scarcely stood for ten years when the treacherous nature of black cotton soil as a foundation began to show itself.''' Tlie engineer found it necessary to build heavy buttresses on both sides of the building in 1841. These
1 Consiiltafions, Jan. 15, 1828, 1, 2, Eccl. ; Official Return of Churches, 1852.
- Archdeacon's Application, April 17, 1830; referred to Civil Auditor, June 10, 1831 ; Letter, July 31, 1832, 1, Eccl. ; Despatch, Oct. 9, 1833, 2, Eccl.
s Letter, June 21, 1833, 1, 2, Eccl.
•» Despatch, May 21, 1834, 7, 8, Eccl.
s Letter, May 27, 1834, 3, 4, Eccl. ; Despatch, March 18, 1835, 17, Eccl.
6 Consultations, March 8, 1842, 1, 2, Eccl. ; Feb. 6, 1844, 5, Eccl.
334 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
have effectually prevented its collapse up to the present time. The Directors were angry. ^ They said : * We agree with Mr. Lusliington that these perpetual repairs of Churches, bridges, and buildings do not appear very creditable to the Engineers' Department.' But neither they nor Mr. Lushington had any experience of trying to eiect l)uildings in a l)lack cotton soil country.
In 1848 Archdeacon Shortland applied to the Government for a bell for the Church at Kamptee. The reply was that a belfry would be built if the congregation paid for the bell. The question was kept alive during the next three years. In 1851 the Directors sanctioned bells ' for Church of England places of worship where Divine Service is habitually conducted by a Chaplain in the service of the Company.' And the conten- tion came to an end by the erection of both bell and belfry at Kamptee and elsewhere.^ The soldiers got their punkahs in 1855.-
The Directors had been accustomed for man}^ years to pro\dde the garrison Churches with sets of altar vessels. These were of silver, handsome and heavy, made in the city of London, and engi-aved with the arms of the East India Company. It must needs be added that the vessels were somewhat cumbrous, and that the makers did not quite understand what is required in such vessels. But because of their handsome character the Chaplains have as a rule retained them in use, in spite of their inconvenience. In 1858 permission was sought by the Chaplain of Kamptee to have the old vessels melted down at the Mint in order that a new and more convenient set might be provided.' Many will agree that both the request and the subsequent sanction to do this were ill-advised, even though the Directors approved of the step.
The Chaplain appointed to Kamptee was regarded as the Chaplain of the Nagpore and Nerbudda Province. His duty was to visit the various civil and military stations round about ;
» Letter, April 19, 1842, 2, 3, 4, Eccl. ; Despatch, March 19, 1844, 12, Eecl.
- Letter, May 9, 1848, 2-4, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 16, 1851, 17, Eccl. ; Letters, Nov. 11, 1851, 8, Eccl., and Feb. 9, 1854, 21-25, Eccl. ; Despatches, March 2, 1858, 17, Eccl., and Aug. 29, 1855, 36, Eccl.
3 Letter, July 6. 1855, 9, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 23, 1856, Eccl.
^ Letter, Feb. IG, 1858, 6-8, Eccl. ; Despatch. Sept. 29, 1858, No. 1, Eccl.
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CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 335
namely Saugor, Mhow, Jubbulpore, Hoshangabad, and Seeta- buldee (as the station of Nagpore was called). The first two were over 100 miles distant. Travelhng by bullock coach is graphically described ^ by the Rev. S. T. Pettigrew, as it was between 1856 and 1863. The first Chaplain appointed was the Rev. E. P. Lewis, who was at Kamptee from 1825-27. He was succeeded by the Rev. Christopher Jeaffreson, who saw the building and furnishing of the Church in 1881-32, and remained at the station till 1838. The succeeding Chaplains who were resident in the station long enough to exercise more than a little influence in the place were :
The Rev. John McEvoy . . . 1843-51
The Rev. Alfred Kinloch . . . 1852-57
The Rev. S. T. Pettigrew . . . 1857-63
The Rev. Alexander Taylor . . 1863-72
Taylor was the last Chaplain of the Madras establishment appointed to the Province. The completion of the Bengal- Nagpore railway made it more easy to reach the station from Calcutta than from Madras ; consequently the Province was transferred to the Bengal Government. Pettigrew was long remembered as the padre who laid out the cemetery as a garden and planted flowers and trees in it.^ He was an artistic designer, and he left various monumental patterns for future native sculptors in order to improve the appearance of the burial-ground. Kinloch was attached to the Saugor Field Force in 1857. After the Mutiny he was ordered home to give evidence in the Banda-Kirwee Prize Money case, and he spent the last seven years of his service in England doing this.-^
' Episodes in the Life of an Indian Chaplain, pp. 132-39.
- Episodes, pp. 126-29.
•^ The Madras army was successful in making good its claim to the prize monej', and the other Presidencies of Bengal and Bombay took their defeat badly. For nearly forty j'ears afterwards no contumelious expression was too contumelious for Bengal and Bombay officers to use towards Madras, all its officers, soldiers, and sepoys, all its population, its customs, habits, and ways. The Press of the north joined in ; it had to live. It would have been better for the general cause of good comradeship in the whole Indian army if the case could have been settled amicablv.
336 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
St. Peter's, Saugor, was built in 1836 ; it measured 74 X 32 X 20 feet, accommodated 164 persons, and cost Rs.11,900. Of tliis sum the Government paid Rs. 10,250, the local subscribers Rs.l250, and the Bengal Church Building Fund Rs.400. Saugor was one of the frontier stations, surrounded by native States, some being Mahratta, some Rajpoot, and some Mahomedan, It became a more important station after the IMutiny than it was before. The Church was enlarged by the building of two large transepts, and was afterwards handsomely adorned by the congregation between 1872 and 1877, when the Rev. Baldwin Hammond was Chaplain.
Christ Churcli, Jiibbulpore, was built in 1843 by the officers and residents in the station. It measured then 60 X 30 x 21 feet, and was built to accommodate 100 persons. The cost was Rs.3850 ; of this Rs.500 came from the Bengal Church Building Fund, established by Bishop Wilson, and the rest was sub- scribed locally. In 1845 a large vestry was added measuring 80 X 22 X 17 feet. When the station was made an im- portant military centre, the Church was made over to the Bengal Government and enlarged at its expense.
All Saints', Nag-pore. — This Church was built in 1851. It was projected and sanctioned by the Government of Madras in 1848 1 at a cost not exceeding Rs.2000. At that time the station was known as Seetabuldee. The Directors were con- sulted before building was commenced.^ The body measured 36 X 25 X 20 feet, the sacrarium 7 X 12 feet ; Lieut. R. H. Sankey "' of the Madras Engineers was the architect ; and the cost, which was very little in excess of the estimate, was borne by the Government of Madras,
In the year 1848 the same Government declined to surround the Seetabuldee burial-ground with a wall ; they thought a hedge sufficient protection.' This was almost the last refusal to secure a Christian burial-ground for Europeans against profanation and desecration of various kinds on the part of
' Consultations, Sept. 26, 1848, No. 15, Eccl. ; July 17, 1849, Nos. 2, 3,
EccL
2 Letters, Jan. 17, 1848, 9, Eccl. ; Feb. 22, 1848, 10-13, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 19, 1848, 2, Eccl.
3 Later Sir R. H. Sankey, K.C.B.
•* Letter, Aug. 8, 1848, 22, Eccl. ; Despatch, July 16, 1851, 42, Eccl.
CHURCHES BUILT BETWEEN 1825 AND 1835 337
cattle, goats, and human beings. A wall was built here and at Kamptee in 1856,^ and during the next ten years at many other stations in the Presidency. Until the cemeteries were thus protected, neither the Chaplains nor others who like to see the burial-place of their friends and countrymen well kept, would do anything to improve their appearance. But since they have been protected many a cemetery has become one of the brightest spots in the cantonment.
After the Mutiny, Nagpore became a more important administrative centre than it had been before. The civil rulers belonged to the Bengal establishment ; the troops to Madras until 1868 ; and a Madras Chaplain ministered to the community until that date. The first Chaplain appointed to the separate charge of Nagpore was the Eev. H. P. James, who remained in the station from 1856 to 1863. He was succeeded by the Eev. W. S. Trotman (1865-67) and by the Eev. T. A. C. Pratt (1867-68) ; then the Chaplaincy was transferred to Bengal. The Church was enlarged in 1879 and a tower built partly at the expense of the congregation. Since Nagpore was made the Cathedral town of the new Central Provinces Diocese, the Church has been again enlarged. But this does not belong to Madras history.
1 Letter, Aug. 9, 1856, 7, Eccl. ; Despatch, Aug. 5, 1857, 8, Eccl.
CHAPTEE XVIII
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS, 1813 TO 1835
Commissions to consecrate Churches and burial-grounds. Obtained by the Company from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Fees paid by the Company. Bishop JNIiddleton and the missionaries. The architecture of the Company's military Engineers. The old Military Fund. Disabilities of native Christians. Caste troubles. Petition of native Christians to the Governor-General. His reference to the Directors. The Directors' ruling. Overwork of the Bishop of Calcutta. Efforts to relieve him. The Select Committee of the House of Commons. The minute of Mr. Charles Grant, then a Cabinet Minister, 1832. His second minute, 1834. The Royal Letters Patent, June 1835. The Sigillum of the See. Arrival of Bishop Corrie at Madras, October 1835.
It has already been related how St. Mary's, Fort St. George, was consecrated by commission in 1680, and how the Black Town Chapel (St. Mark's) was similarly consecrated in 1804.^ Both these consecrations were carried out with the consent and the co-operation of the Government. In the year 1807 the Directors were asked to sanction the building of Churches in some of the larger mihtary stations.- In anticipation o^ sanction work was commenced, and the first of these to be completed was that at Masulipatam. When it was approaching completion at the end of 1809 the Senior Chaplain, the Eev. E. Vaughan, obtained the permission of the Government for its consecration. He addressed the Archbishop of Canterbury on the subject, and sent his letter through the usual official channel. In forwarding the letter to the Directors the Governor in Council said : •' ' We herewith forward a letter addressed by the acting senior Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
' The Church in Madras, i. 82, 439, 650. * Letter, Dec. 24, 1807. 46-52, Mil. •* Letter, Feb. 6, 1810, 296, Pubhc.
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 339
requesting His Grace to uuthorise the consecration of the new Church which is at present constructing at MasuUpatam.'
The Directors sent on the appHcation to the Archbishop, obtained the various instruments that were necessary for the consecration, and rephed as follows : ^
' We have received the letter referred to in 296th para, of your Pubhc Despatch dated Feb. 6, 1810, addressed by the acting senior Chaplain at your Presidency to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, requesting His Grace to authorise the consecration of the new Church then constructing at Masuli- patam. The same was forwarded to the Archbishop, and we have received from the Rev. Christopher Hodgson at Lambeth Palace the commission, sentences, and order of consecration of the Church at Masulipatam and of the Burial Ground, which we forward to you in the packet by the ship Castle Eden, and direct that you desire the Rev. Mr. Vaughan to certify to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the usual manner the time the ceremony is performed.'
The certiiicate mentioned was necessary to enable the deed of consecration to be registered in the Archbishop's Act Book. Vaughan received the instruments and the power to act in October 1811, but he did not use them, as he explains in the following letter to the Government : -
' Having had the honour to receive a commission from the Most Rev. the Archbishop of Canterbury to consecrate a Church at Masulipatam, I take the hberty to state for the information of the Hon. the Governor in Council, that unforeseen circum- stances having occurred at the time of collecting the materials for building the place of worship, occasioned considerable delay in carrying on the work. I have reason to believe it is not positively in a state of greater forwardness than the other chapels, which soon after application had been made to His Grace were directed ^ by Government to be built at all the principal stations of the army on the Madras Estabhshment.
1 Despatch, Feb. 22, 1811, 28, Publie.
- Act Book of the Archdeacon of Madras under date 1819, Avhen Bishop Middleton ordered the old letters to be registered. This letter is dated Oct. 10 1811.
^ This order was apparently given at the beginning of 1811. The Directors sanctioned the building of Churches at all military stations for European troops in their Pubhc Despatch dated Jan. 11, 1809, para. 153.
z 2
340 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
' I therefore take this opportunity to submit to the Hon. Sir George BarloAv, Governor in Council, whether it might not be proper to apply in due time for the Most Eev. the Archbishop's authority for consocratmg the several Churches at the respective stations here enumerated, Cannanore, Banga- lore, Bellary, Trichinopoly and their Burial Grounds, and at Masulipatam where a chapel is now building to serve as a chapel of case to the new Church at that settlement, either by separate connnissions for these purposes, or by a special one to include them all, as might meet the approbation of the Most Eev. the Archbishop.
' A considerable space of ground was a few years ago allotted to our public burial place' at the Presidency, which has not received the advantage of consecration ; the necessity of soon employing this space for the general purposes of interment (the former part being crow"ded with, tombs and monuments) has induced me to propose the introducing this also to the notice of His Grace.'
The Government approved of the suggestion and wrote as follows in their next letter to the Directors : -
' We beg leave to recommend to the attention of your Honourable Court a letter from the acting Senior Chaplain, which will be found in our proceedings noted in the margin, requesting that authority may be obtained from His Grace the Most Eev. the x\rchbishop of Canterbury for consecrating the Churches and burying-grounds at Cannanore, Bangalore, Bellary, and Trichinopoly, as well as the chapel of ease which Major-General Pater is building at Masulipatam, and the new burying-ground at the Presidency.'
The Directors communicated with the Archbishop, obtained all the necessary papers, instruments, and directions, and wrote as follows : ^
' Agreeably to the recommendation contained in the 38th paragraph of your public letter dated January 10 last, we applied to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury requesting
' The St. Mary's burial-ground, enlarged in 1801. 2 Letter, Jan. 10, 1812, 38, Public. =* Despatch, Jan. 29, 1813, 7, 8, Public.
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 341
that he would be pleased to furnish us with the necessary papers for the consecration of the Churches and Burial Grounds at the several places therein mentioned, and the same having been transmitted to us by His Grace's secretary, we now forward them to you, a number in the packet, by the ship Rose.
' The Archbishop having signified to us his wish to be informed of the consecrations when the same shall have been completed, we direct that you cause the necessary directions to be given to your senior Chaplain, the Eev. Mr. Vaughan, in order that he may certify to the Archbishop in the usual manner the time when the consecrations take place,'
This despatch was received in Madras in July 1813. No immediate action was taken about the consecrations, for it was known to all, clergy and laity alike, that a plan was at that very time being discussed for supplying India with a Bishop of its own. The news of the creation of the Calcutta Bishopric arrived in April 1814,^ though it was not officially communicated till the first Bishop had been nominated. The good news caused Vaughan to hold his hand and to postpone the religious cere- monies till the arrival of the new Bishop. 3
The following extracts from the Act Book of the Arch- bishop 3 record the granting of the Commissions :
' Nov. 1, 1810. His Grace granted a commission to Edward Vaughan, Clerk, Senior Chaplain of the Presidency of Fort St. George in the East Indies, to consecrate the Church and Churchyard at Masuhpatam.'
' Nov. 11, 1812. Application having been made to His Grace by the Court of Directors of the East India Co. in pursuance of a representation made to them by their Governor in Council at Fort St. George that the Rev. Edward Vaughan, Senior Chaplain at that Presidency, had requested authority might be obtained from His Grace for the consecration of the following Churches and Burial grounds (list as above).
' His Grace was pleased to grant separate commissions to the said Edward Vaughan for the purpose of consecrating the
' Despatch, Nov. 12, 1813, 2, Public. - Despatch. Feb. 22. 1814, 2, Public. •' At Lambeth Palace Library,
342 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
said Churches and Burial grounds, which were written on parchment and stamped with a live shilHng stamp each, and sent to Mr. Ramsey at the East India House with a form of consecration for eacli written in a hook.'
When the Directors sent out these documents they made no mention of the payment of the fees and stamp duties. Quite naturally they paid all the ecclesiastical and legal dues them- selves.
As a matter of fact none of these six Churches nor six hurial- grounds were consecrated at this time. But the process hy which consecration was sought and the permission to consecrate was obtained is here transferred from the records in order to show how consecrations were brought about. Without the knowledge which these records afford, strange ideas are apt to prevail and stranger statements to be made,^
The arrival of Bishop Middleton at Calcutta was un- accompanied by any outward show of welcome. But there was a hearty welcome in the hearts of the best of the Company's servants all the same. This was the case in all the three Presidencies. He had a specially warm welcome from the Chaplains, of whom there were lifteen on the Madras establish- ment at the time of his arrival.'- As to the missionaries, those
' In the year 1809 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland asserted the right of Presbyterian ministers in India to use the buildings consecrated to the service of the Church of England in that countrj' on the grounds that they were built for the use of all Protestant soldiers, — that the Bishops had by fraud consecrated thera, and thus filched them from the general undenomina- tional use for which they were built. The Assembly was misled by one of its members who did not know the facts of the case. In a letter to the Times in August of that year he likened Presbyterian soldiers to men who had been robbed of their possessions ; he rang a series of changes on the expressions ' built at the public cost for Protestant troops,' ' Anglican misappropriation,' ' injustice,' ' national insult,' ' insolent Mrong,' ' artful conduct,' and so on. But there weie some in the General Assembly and some retired Indian Pres- byterian Chaplains who made a protest against the violence and inaccuracy of the language used. They, and especially the latter, knew something of the facts of the case. It is reasonable to suppose that if the facts had been generally known, the question would have been treated by the Assembly in an entirely different way.
- Le Bas (Life of Bisliop Middleton) said twelve. Abbott [Analysis, <fcc.) said five or six. The correct number is fifteen. All of these were cited to appear at his firat Visitation of the Archdeaconry of Madras in Dec. 1815.
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 343
employed by the S.P.C.K,, both in the southern Presidency and in Ctilcutta, were Lutherans ; those of the London Mission in the south were Independents or Congregationahsts. The only other missionaries were Roman Catholics and Baptists ; of the latter there were three, all in Bengal. The Lutheran missionaries welcomed the Bishop with moderate enthusiasm. He inspected their work and supplied them with funds to prosecute it, and he gradually won their confidence and esteem.
Whatever he had to do in Calcutta the Bishop was under no necessity to preach the virtue of toleration towards missionaries to the Government of Fort St. George. He found that two Independent missionaries were residing with permission at Vizagapatam, one at Bellary, and one at Madras ; that well- educated Lutherans were stationed at other places and were receiving from the Government help of various kinds ; and that the Government had authorised the erection of a Dissenting chapel in the Black Town of Madras.-*^ The toleration and assistance enjoyed by the missionaries in the south was due to the good conduct and subordination to authority of the Germans employed by the S.P.C.K, during the previous eighty-five years.
At the time of his arrival the local Governments were erecting plain buildings for use as Churches in various up-country stations. The Bishop was struck with the plainness, perhaps one may say the ugliness, of the new buildings, and it was not long before he addressed letters to the authorities on the subject. At the beginning of 1816 he wrote to the Governor in Council at Fort St. George recommending that certain improvements should be made in the appearance of several Churches he had visited, and in all Churches built in the future. The Government forwarded his letter to the Directors,^ who replied ^ as follows :
' We consider the suggestion of the Bishop for giving to Churches in India a more distinct and appropriate character
1 Letter, March 15, 1811, 80, 290, 292, 293, Public ; Despatch, April 2, 1813 80, 107, 108, 109, Public.
- Letter, Sept. 26, 1816, 107, Public. 3 Despatch, Oct. 22, 1817, 29, Eccl.
344 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
by attaching to such as require it a cupola for a bell, and encompassing the Church with a fence, to be entitled to mature consideration.'
Tliey added that if a move ecclesiastical design could be carried out at a reasonable expense, they considered it desirable, but they would not sanction it till they knew what the expense was. The result was the adoption of a less plain design, so that the Churches after the year 1818 were not so deplorabh' ugly as those built in up-country stations before that date.
Reference has been made in a former chapter to the fund usually known as the Clive Fund, but officially known to the East India Company and in India as the Military Fund. Lord Clive established the fund by means of a munificent gift after the conquest of Bengal. His intention was to benefit the widows and children of soldiers who died in the service of the Company. The local Governments were to administer the fund, and were to grant pensions to widows and children accord- ing to the rank of their deceased husbands and fathers. Later on the scheme w^as made contributary on the part of officers, by means of an agreement between the Company and Lord Clive. And still later it was made obligatory on the part of every military officer in the Company's Service to join it. Compulsory contribution altered the character of the fund and made it an insurance fund. And as the amount of the contributions were calculated on business principles, its eleemosynary character was entirely taken away.
Up to the year 1824 the Company's Chaplains and medical officers were not included in the scheme, and there was some dissatisfaction in consequence. The question was referred home, and the Directors decreed ^ that both should be included. Senior Chaplains were allowed to enter the fund as Majors and Junior Chaplains as Captains. By paying a donation on entry, and a monthly sum thereafter, a pension was assured to the widows, and the children up to a certain age, of the subscribing officers. The obligation to join the fund was one of the provisions of the covenant entered into by the
1 Despatch, Jime 9, 1824, 2, Military.
t
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 345
Chaplains when they joined the Service. It exists at the present day, and is known as the Indian Service Family Pension Fund.
From the Church point of view the most important of all the questions which came to the front during this period were the civil and political disabilities of the native Christians. There was no intention on the part of the Directors or the Government of Fort St. George to place them under any dis- abilities whatever. The disabilities grew up with the changed circumstances of the converts. As Hindus they were parts of a system which embraced every relationship of life. When they gave up Hinduism as a religion, they probably thought that they would still be subject to Hinduism as a legal, social and political system. Nothing is recorded by the Roman Catholic missionaries of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, nor by the Lutheran missionaries in the service of the English S.P.C.K. in the seventeenth century, to explain why they deliberately kept up the system of caste among their converts. But when the social and political disabilities, under which their converts would have suffered if they had not maintained the system, are taken into consideration, it seems probable that they were choosing the lesser of two evils as a temporary expedient, so as not to subject their caste converts to too great a strain.
The arrival of many new missionaries in the first and second decade of the nineteenth century brought the matter to a climax. They could only look at it from the religious point of view. They saw a number of native Christians holding themselves aloof from their fellow Christians, refusing not only to drink from the same Cup of Blessing, and to take their places beside them as fellow worshippers in the House of God, but refusing also to have any social dealings with them. The old missionaries did not consider it part of their duty to interfere with the political and social affairs of the people. They were simply preaching the gospel, and persuading as many as possible of every grade of society to acknowledge Christ. As to the social habits of the people, if they did not conform with the Christian standard, they would in course of time, when the Christian standard was better understood, and
346 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
they left all political questions, including law and status, severely alone.
In the year 1807 the agents of the L.M.S. sent home to their employers a report, m which they severely criticised the system hitherto pursued. It was issued as a pamphlet by the Society for the benelit of subscribers. The following year it reached Madras, and was received by the old missionaries TN-ith some indignation. Kohlhoff and Horst, then stationed at Tanjore, addressed the following letter to the London S.P.C.K. : 1
' Averse as we are to altercations of every kind, we think it incumbent on us to advert to some late animadversions injurious to our character, and especially to that of our respect- able predecessor,^ whose memory we justly revere, and to tread in whose steps will ever be our endeavour and our glory. In a pamphlet, called the " Transactions of the Missionary Society, No. 15," there are several sentiments which to us seem to be dictated by prejudice. To charge all protestant missionaries who went before Messieurs Cran and Desgranges (nearly fifty in the first mission centur}') as deviating from the Scriptures, because they allowed the caste, — i.e. the differences between nobility, gentry, and common people, — to subsist, appears to us highly uncharitable ; and to say that if they were to tolerate the difference of caste, they would soon have wonderful accounts to transmit of their success (which none of all the missionaries before Mr. Gericke was able to do) betrays a deal of self-conceit and want of humility.'
After referring to several accusations made by the writers of the report against the S.P.C.K. missionaries and the Chaplains, Messieurs Kohlhoft' and Horst defended their conduct with regard to their teaching the various grades of society m India separately, and allowing the native Christians to maintain their own social customs, and concluded thus :
' We do not feel ourselves warranted to require of the higher ranks such an unscriptural surrender of their birthright, to which no nobleman or gentleman in our own country would submit.'
This defence of the S.P.C.K. agents shows how they regarded
' S.P.C.K. Report for 1809. - C F. Schwartz.
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 347
the question. Their converts and those of their predecessors were mostly of the Sudra castes, i.e. the middle-class population of the country — tradesmen and cultivators. Their conver- sion to Christianity was not an act which by itself would cause them to be put out of caste by their fellow caste people. In order to be thus expelled it was necessary for them to break the caste rules in some definite social way. As long as these were not broken the converts retained their caste membership with all its social privileges and rights of marriage, succession, and inheritance.
The contention of the new men ultimately prevailed. Bishop Middleton made no effort to stop it. He regarded the system entirely from the religious standpoint. Bishop Heber favoured the social view of the old S.P.C.K. missionaries. Bishop Wilson took a most decided line of condemnation. Between 1807 and 1827 the authorities and the missionaries of the Church had decided to oppose all caste practices among the native Christians, and to try and stamp them out as an evil in the mission field. At first they obliged the converts to perform some action which would definitely result in their being degraded from their caste ; but in later years this senseless policy was discontinued. The result was that nearly all our Christians became outcasted. Some who would not lose their caste standing and social rights became Roman Catholics and Lutherans. Some reverted to Hinduism. The Church of England lost an immense number of adherents. As to those who remained their name of Christian became synonymous with outcaste, and they suffered most of the civil disal)ilities of the lowest native classes.
In the year 1829 the native Christians, many of whom were educated men of good social descent and standing, peti- tioned the Governor- General in Council on the subject. The missionaries ^ of the S.P.C.K. sent to the Society in London their remarks,^ when appealing for more helpers. The Governor- General sent the petition to the Directors in 1830, and there can be no doubt that they conferred with the members of the East
^ KohlhofE and Haubroe of Tanjoi'e, Rottler and Irion of Madras, Rosen of Cuddalore, and Schrej'vogel of Trichinopoly. - S.P.C.K. Report far 1829, pp. 219-21.
348 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Lidia Committee of the Society. In their reply i the Directors called the attention of the Governor- General in Council to the fact that in the northern Presidency native Christians were excluded from the posts of moonsif, vakil, and other legal appointments ; that in the southern Presidency they were excluded from the post of Sudder Ameen, refused enlistment in the cavalry, and debarred promotion in the infantry, in common with the lowest and most degraded class of persons. They then explained that the ' neutrality which we think it our duty to observe does not require that converts to Christian- ity should be placed by law in a less advantageous situation than other persons,' and that ' no disabihties should exist by regulation on account of religious belief.' They directed that native Christians should be appointed moonsifs or vakils if ciualified, in the discretion of the person who nominated to those appointments ; and that they should not be excluded from non-commissioned rank if fitted to hold it, and if the commanding officer wished to promote them on account of merit. They also called upon the Government to report on the allegation of the loss of property, status, and civil rights on conversion to Christianity, and to suggest measures of relief.
Neither the Directors nor the local Governments of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay were parties to the injustice which existed. When the Government of Madras took over the administration of the country in the south after the fall of Seringapatam, they did not make new laws nor transfer to the new country the laws of their own. They found laws existing about propert}^ succession, marriage, &c., which the people well understood and with which they were satisfied. These were Hindu laws mostly, and the Company's Magistrates and Judges set to work to administer them to the best of their ability. Religious questions did not come before them. They left them for the consideration of the native caste courts and councils. The Magistrates were satisfied if justice was done according to native caste rules in these courts. The native Christian was forgotten, not intentionallj^ l)ut accidentally,
' Despatch to Fort William, Feb. 2, 1831, Public. Also printed in the Appendix to the Report of the House of Commons Committee on the East India Company .'i Affairs, 1830-32, vol, viii.
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 349
and principally because he was in such a small minority. At the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century native Christians had grown in numbers and in educational im- portance. Their cause was adopted by the missionaries and by the Bishop of Calcutta. The time had arrived for the proper consideration of their claims, and the Directors did what was right and just in ordering the removal of their disabilities. Even now they labour under some disadvantages in some country districts and in some native States. But one by one their disadvantages have been removed, and are still being removed when necessary.^
It is very well known now, though it was not so well known at the time, that the early Bishops of Calcutta were over- weighted by the work which they were appointed to do. It was a great triumph to have obtained the appointment of a Bishop, and to have secured his support by the wealthy East India Company. They who specially worked for this end were so far satisfied with their endeavours that they failed to reahse that they had been instrumental in giving a man a work far beyond a man's strength. Bishop Middleton arrived in 1815. He died in 1822. The next nine years saw the arrival and death of three of his successors. It was manifest to Bishop Turner, the fourth occupant of the See, that the labour of the office should be divided, and he wrote to the Governor-General in Council on the subject.^^ His proposal was that India should
' It is an open question whetlier the delay in doing them justice has not been partly due to the well-intentioned action of the missionaries in compelling their converts to sacrifice their caste — i.e. to give up their social position among their countrymen — on their conversion. By following this drastic policy the missionaries seem to have made their own task more difficult. The early missionaries in Europe were very patient of native customs and habits. They had time and the operation of the Holy Spirit on their side. Is it not possible that more patience is required in deaUng ^\ith the law and practice of caste in the present day ? Bishop Heber of Calcutta and Bishop Gell of Madras would have said yes. Some caste practices are in direct opposition to the teaching of the New Testament ; some are not. There is reason to suppose that among Christians the unchristian practices would gradually be modified and dropped in course of time. A policy of patience would seem to be more in accordance with the mind of Christ than one of uprooting and destruction.
- Letter dated Sept. 26, 1830 ; printed in the Report of the House of Commons Committee, Appendix, 1830-32, vol. viii. East India Company's Affairs.
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be divided iuto two dioceses, Calcutta and Madras, the latter diocese to include the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay. The Diocese of Calcutta at that time included the eastern colonial possessions of the Crown, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Ceylon, and the colonised portions of Australia. His suggestion was that these should be under the superin- tendence of the two Indian Bishops, and should be visited once in three years by one of them.
Earlier in the year the Bengal Civil Finance Committee reported to the Governor-General in Council, and proposed the reduction of the Madras establishment of Chaplains from twenty-three to nineteen for the sake of economy. This proposal was submitted by the Bengal Government to the Bishop of Calcutta, who gave a dignified reply against false economy, and the proposal was dropped.^
This Bishop's proposal was sent home to the Directors. At the same time Bishop Turner sent a similar letter to the S.P.C.K. and the S.P.G. in London. This enabled the project to be discussed by tln-ee different sets of interested persons. When the House of Commons appointed a select committee to consider the affairs of the East India Company in 1832, evidence was taken of the ecclesiastical as well as of other needs of Lidia, and special inquiries were made in connection with Bishop Turner's suggestion.
Among those who gave evidence was Mr. John Sullivan, the originator of English schools for natives,"- and the friend of Christian Schwartz. He was altogether in favour of an increase of Chaplains and Church buildings, and was of opinion that one Bishop for India and the East was not sufficient. He referred to a correspondence between the Directors and the S.P.G. on the increase of the Episcopate, and said that the authorities were not unwilling to increase the number, but had a difficulty about the funds.
The Rev. James Hough gave some valuable testimony to the increase of Christians among the Sudra and out-caste population in the south. He mentioned 23,000 as the number
' House of Commons Committee, on Affairs of the Ead India Company, Appendix P to Report, vol. viii. p. 781. - See The Church in Madras, i. 518-19.
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 351
of Christians under the care of the S.P.C.K. and the C.M.S. when he left Tinnevelly in 1821. In his opinion more Chap- lains were required ; and he went beyond the modest demand of Bishop Turner by pleadmg for three Bishops in India and one in Ceylon. He did this on the ground that each former increase in the ecclesiastical establishment had produced a marked effect on the conduct of the Company's servants, to whom the ministrations of religion had been a welcome boon. He gave a remarkable instance of the special respect paid by the natives to those of the Company's servants who paid attention to their religious duties.
Others gave similar evidence of the advantage which must result from having a well-superintended religious establish- ment. Captain Henry Harkness of the Company's Military Establishment, who travelled with Bishop Heber as com- mandant of the escort and was with him at his death, expressed a favourable opinion of the many thousand native Christians he had then seen, and gave evidence of the need of increasing the staff of Chaplains for the benefit of the Europeans in the country, and of appointing more Bishops for the exercise of their special functions.
The facts elicited by the Committee enabled the Cabinet to form an opinion of what was required. Mr, Charles Grant ^ was in charge of a measure of relief. In June 1832 he wrote a minute for the information of his colleagues in the Cabinet.^ He requested their ' immediate attention to a subject of great importance and public interest, the necessity of giving some assistance to the Bishop of Calcutta by the appointment of subordinate Bishops at Madras and Bombay.' He urged that :
(1) Since the death of Bishop Heber the matter had been pressed upon the Board of Control by the S.P.C.K., the S.P.G., and the C.M.S. ; and that the resolutions of the S.P.C.K. (the Archbishop of Canterbury presiding) had been sent to the President of the Board of Control and to the First Lord of the Treasury.
(2) Their opinion was that no person was physically strong
^ The son of Charles Grant, the Bengal civilian, who was afterwards Chairman of the Board of Directors.
^ India Office Records, Home Series, Miscellaneous, vol. 59.
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enough to undertake so great a charge as the whole of India, and that this opinion was concurred in generally by a large and influential portion of the public.
(3) They drew attention to the attempts of Bishops Middle- ton, Heber, James, and Turner to cope with the difficulties ; and noted that, owing to their premature deaths, six j-ears of supervision had been lost since the death of Bishop Middleton in 1822.
(■i) Li addition to the Company's Chaplains there were twenty-eight missionaries in Holy Orders, but that it was not the number of clergy so much as the distances which made the work impossible for one man.
(5) Feeling it imperative to suggest an arrangement of relief, he had been in communication Avith the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London. He proposed that :
(6) the Archdeaconries of Madras and Bombay should be abolished, and that in lieu of them Suffragan or Assistant Bishops should be appointed on salaries exceeding only by £500 each the present pay of the Archdeacons.
(7) The Senior Chaplains at Madras and Bombay should be made commissaries to assist the Bishops in the performance of the duties which belong to the office of Archdeacon, on allow- ances of £200 or £250 per annum.
(8) The office of Archdeacon in Bombay being vacant, the Suffragan Bishop of Bombay can be consecrated in England ; and the two Bishops of Calcutta and Bombay can consecrate a third Bishop in India, ' by which means the necessity of recalling the Archdeacon of Madras to this country will be avoided.' ^
(9) Dioceses should be commensurate with Presidencies. Mr. Grant expressed his assurance of the concurrence of the
Court of Directors, and his opinion that there was no good reason for delay. He concluded by saying that though the measure would be opposed by a few in the House of Commons, it would be hailed with satisfaction by the majority of the nation. ' In short it is a measure just, humane, moderate and popular.'
' It Avas intended to appoint Archdeacon Robinson of Madras to the bishopric of Madras.
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 353
The Bill was passed in 1833.^ It provided that ' in case it shall please His Majesty to erect, found, and constitute two Bishoprics, one to be styled the Bishopric of Madras and the other the Bishopric of Bombay, and from time to time to nominate and appoint Bishops to such Bishoprics,' the salaries of the Bishops should be paid out of the territorial revenues and should be fixed at Rs. 24,000 per annum. The jurisdiction of the Bishops was to be fixed by His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, and was to be varied from time to time if His Majesty saw fit. In similar language the limits of the dioceses were to be fixed, and power retained to vary them in the future under Royal Letters Patent.^ The Archdeacons of Madras and Bombay were not abolished, but their salaries were reduced to Rs.3000 per annum.
The year 1834 passed without the issue of the Royal Letters Patent, owing to a financial difficulty. At the end of that year ^ Mr. Charles Grant wrote a minute explaining the diffi- culty for the information of his successor at the India Board. He said that :
(1) He desired to state the position in which the question of the two new Bishoprics in India then stood.
(2) It was his desire to recommend His Majesty without delay to appoint Bishops for Madras and Bombay, in order to diminish the labours of the Bishop of Calcutta.
(3) To effect this purpose in a way judicious, prompt and economical, he would have advised His Majesty to nominate to one of the Bishoprics Archdeacon Daniel Corrie of Calcutta ; and he would have tried to find a fit and proper person in this country ^ for the other, who with the Bishop of Calcutta might have consecrated Corrie in India under provisions of section 99 of the Act.
(4) But he found that until the salaries of the Archdeacons can be placed on the reduced scale mentioned in section 101,
1 It is known as 3 & 4 William IV. c. 85.
- Section 93.
^ The Minute is^dated Dec. 9, 1834. India Office Records, Home Series, Miscellaneous, vol. 59.
"* By this time Mr. Charles Grant had given up Archdeacon Robinson of Madras, his first choice, for Archdeacon Corrie of Calcutta, who was several years senior to Robinson.
VOL. II. 2 A
354 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
it is impracticable to give the Bishops of Madras and Bombay the salaries assigned in section 89, and at the same time to keep the whole expense of Bishops and Archdeacons together within the limits prescribed by section 101.
(5) He was therefore compelled to narrow his views to the appointment of one additional Bishop ; and after consultation with Earl Grey and the Archbishop of Canterbury it was deter- mined that Mr. Corrie should be the new Bishop, and that his Bishopric should be Madras and not Bombay.
(6) Mr. Grant, having received the sanction of His Majesty to the selection of Mr. Corrie, wrote to that gentleman and desired that ho would with all practical despatch come home for consecration.
The reduction of the salaries of the Archdeacons of Madras and Bombay was not intended to affect those holding the ofl&ces at the time of the passing of the Act. The vacancy of the office at Bombay enabled the authorities to appoint a Bishop to one of the intended Sees. The other had to wait for an occupant until the Archdeacon of Madras either retired or resigned, in order that his salary might be transferred for the new purpose. Archdeacon Robinson resigned shortly after the arrival of Bishop Corrie in Madras ; and within a short time a Bishop was nominated and consecrated for Bombay.
The King issued the Royal Letters Patent establishing the See of Madras in June 1835. The Letters commenced by reciting all that had been done by the Letters Patent of 1813 establishing the See of Calcutta. Then they continued :
' Now know ye that, to the end that our intention may be further carried into effect. We do by these presents ordain and declare Our Royal will and pleasure to be, that from and after the tenth day of October next. Our territories within the limits of the Presidency of Madras and Our territories within the Island of Ceylon shall be erected into a Bishop's See, and We do by these presents erect, found, ordain, make and constitute [such territories] to be a Bishop's See accordingly.'
Then follows the appointment of Dr. Daniel Corrie to the Bishopric, subject to the rights of revocation and resignation, and his subordination to the Bishop of Calcutta as Metropohtan
SOME OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS 355
of the Province. Episcopal powers and coercive jurisdiction were then given to the Bishop and his successors, together with the right to appoint to the office of Archdeacon a Chaplain in the service of the East India Company, and to the office of Registrar ' a proper and sufficient person.' There were also powers to hear and determine suits in the ecclesiastical court, subject to the right of appeal to the Government of Fort St. George. The Bishop was made a body corporate with power to purchase and hold property in trust, and to use a corporate seal.
On June 30, 1835, the authorities of the Heralds' College registered the armorial bearings granted by the King to the Bishop of Madras and his successors, which were : Argent, on a mount vert in front of a banian tree, a kid on the dexter couchant looking towards the sinister, and on the sinister a leopard couchant guardant, all proper ; a chief azure, thereon a dove rising, in the beak an olive branch, also proper, between two crosses patee or.
On October 24, 1835, Bishop Corrie arrived at Madras.
2 A 2
CHAPTEE XIX
CHAPLAINS IN THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S SERVICE, MADRAS ESTABLISHMENT
1805 to 1835 "i
William Thomas. — Son of Richard Thomas of Shrewsbury. Born 1779. Educated at Shrewsbury. Matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, 1797, but did not graduate. Appointed by the Directors 1805. Served at Bellary 1806-8 ; Cannanore and the West Coast stations 1808-12 ; Bangalore 1812-20 ; the Presi- dency Church (St. George's) 1820-24, when he retired. At Bellary and Bangalore he originated local missions, which were carried on by means of monthly subscriptions among the civil and military officers of the garrisons, and were unconnected with either of the missionarj^ societies of the Church. Fifty years after, when they had grown beyond the management of the Chaplain, they were taken over by the S.P.G. Thomas served the whole of his time without taking leave to Europe. He probably suffered in health in consequence, for on his return home he was unable to do any regular work.
Marmaduke Thoni'pson. — Fifth son of Thomas Thompson of London, merchant. Born 1776. Matriculated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, 1796. Graduated B.A. 1800, M.A. 1803 ; appointed 1806. He was one of the first five Chaplains nomin- ated by the Rev. Charles Simeon at the request of the Directors. On his arrival he was sent to Cuddalore to minister to the cadets at that station. The cadets were removed in 1809, and Thomp- son was selected by the Governor of Fort St. George to be Junior Presidency Chaplain. The Senior Presidency Chaplain was Edward Vaughan. These two, with the Chaplain of Black- town, shared the whole work of the Fort, the town of Madras,
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 357
and the suburbs west and south. He assisted the Black Town Committee to found the Civil Male Orphan Asylum in the absence of the Black Town Chaplain. When the old St. Mary's Poor Fund came to an end he was instrumental in founding the Friend in Need Society, and became its first President in 1813. He was the first secretary of the C.M.S. Corresponding Com- mittee at Madras, and as such he helped the Society to obtain the goodwill of many of the Company's civil and military officers. When St. George's Church was ready for use in 1815, Vaughan and Thompson were transferred to it and became the first Chaplains of St. George's. Hough says that there was a party in Madras who tried to prevent Thompson's appointment to the new Church, but there is nothing in the records to show this. At the time of the appointment he had been Junior Presidency Chaplain for nearly six years. His wife died at Madras in 1819, and he went on leave to England soon after- wards. During his furlough he was selected by the C.M.S. to preach the annual sermon to members of that Society at St. Bride's, Fleet Street. He returned to India in 1823 as Senior Presidency Chaplain, and retired in 1825. In many respects he was a notable Chaplain. As C.M.S. secretary he w^as instru- mental in obtaining for the Society a site for their first Church in Madras, and he was a diligent and sympathetic worker among the members of the Eurasian i community. In 1831 he became Eector of Brightwell in Berkshire.
CJiarles Baihurst was appointed by the Directors in 1806. He was probably an undergraduate at Cambridge at the time of his nomination, for at that time Simeon selected the candi- dates. On arrival at Madras he was sent to Masulipatam ; after six years he fell a victim to the climate in common with many other Europeans, and died in 1813. The officers of the garrison erected a monument to his memory in the Church within the Fort.- On this he is styled M.A. ; as a matter of fact he was not a graduate.
John Kerr. — Son of Hugh Kerr, merchant, of the county of Longford in Ireland. Born 1782. Matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1796, but did not graduate. Accompanied
^ Called in his time Indo-Briton.
2 Archdeacon's Records, June 22, 1820.
358 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
his cousin, the Eev. R. H. Kerr, to India in 1803, and assisted him as schoohnaster and superintendent of the Male Asylum Press until 1806. He then returned to Ireland and was ordained Deacon and Priest in October of that year. Being approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury ^ he "was appointed Chaplain b}^ the Directors and arrived at Madras in August 1807. He was appointed at once to the charge of the Black Town Church, and superintendent of the Male Asylum Press. In the following October his health broke down and he had to go on sick leave to the Cape of Good Hope. There he remained for nearly two years. At the end of 1809 he was back in Madras. He struggled on with his work during 1810, but at the beginning of the following year he had to take sick leave to Bangalore. There he died on April 2, 1811. There is a monument over his grave in the old cemetery. He was unmarried. In his will he mentioned his sister, Jane Ellis Kerr of Madras, and Mrs. Lewis Kerr of Dublin, presumably the mother of the Rev. E. H. Kerr and his aunt.
William Avihoor Keating was born in 1779 at Amboor in the North Arcot District, being the son of Lieut. -Colonel William Cooper Keating, an officer belonging to the Madras Military Establishment of the Hon. Company's Service. He matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, in 1798, but did not proceed to a degree. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1808. His first station was Trichinopoly. The heat there was more than he could bear and he had to take furlough in 1810. On his return to India he officiated for a short time at Poonamallee, and in 1813 he was appointed Chaplain of St. Mary's, Fort St. George, in succession to Vaughan and Thompson, who were transferred to St. George's. These two retained the titles and the emoluments of their office as Senior and Junior Presi- dency Chaplains, and Keating was the first Chaplain of the Fort after the appointment had been shorn of half its honour and glory. In 1820 he was attacked by cholera whilst conducting the morning parade service, and he died the same evening, aged forty-one. Colonel Welsh says he was the best preacher he ever heard in the East.-
' I was not long personally acquainted with him, l)ut all
' Lambeth Acl Book, Jan. 3, 1807. - Reminiscences, ii. 170.
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 359
that I had an opportunity of seeing in his behaviour, both pubHcly and privately, made me lament his untimely fate. In society he was mild, modest and gentlemanly ; in the pulpit pious, zealous and energetic ; with the clearest and most melodious voice I ever heard. His reading of the Communion Service in particular was the most affecting and eloquent that the mind of man could conceive,' &c.
Keating's remains rest in St. Mary's burial-ground. He left a widow, Margaret Wray Keating, and a son, William.
Joh7i Dunsterville was the son of Bartholomew Dunsterville of Plymouth. Born 1776. Matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1794, and graduated B.A. in 1798. He was appointed a Chaplain in the Company's Service in 1808. He spent twenty years at Cannanore and four years at Bangalore, dying at the former place in 1831, aged 55. He buried the Kev. John Kerr at Bangalore in 1811. He is mentioned with respect by Colonel E. G. Wallace in his book ' Fifteen Years in India.' He left descendants, some of whom were well known in the Presidency during the nineteenth century.
Bicfiard Smyth was born in 1774, being the son of Eichard Smith of Eeading in Berkshire. He matriculated at Hertford College, Oxford, in 1792 ; graduated B.A. 1798, and M.A. 1800 ; and appointed Chaplain in 1808. The first five years of his service were spent at Trichinopoly, and the last fifteen in the North Arcot District, where a strong brigade was divided between Arcot, Arnee, Vellore, and Wallajahbad. At the end of 1829 he went on sick leave to Bangalore and died there on the last day of the year in the fifty-seventh year of his age. He was buried in the old cemetery. The inscription on the monument shows that his widow Maria was buried in the same grave in 1841.
John Mousleij was the son of John Mousley of Boswell in the county of Warwick. Born 1771. Matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, 1793 ; graduated B.A. 1800, M.A. 1802 ; he was elected Fellow of Balliol in 1802 and retained his fellow- ship until 1816. In 1818 he was granted the B.D. and D.D. degrees by decree. He was appointed Chaplain in 1810 ; served with the Arcot brigade in 1811 ; was recalled to Madras in 1812, and officiated as Junior Presidency Chaplain at St.
360 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Marj^'s, Fort St. George. In the following year he was nomin- ated first Archdeacon of Madras by the Board of Directors. He had only three years' service to his credit, but he was a recognised classical and Oriental scholar. Before going to India he had translated some of the Persian manuscripts in the Bodleian Library into Latin, and made them accessible to English scholars. His desire to study Persian further and to master the language for literary purposes was the probable cause of his seeking and obtaining a Chaplaincy. He died at Madras in 1819, aged 48, and was buried in the church- yard of St. George's Cathedral. On his tomb is a sculptured figure of Faith by Flaxman. The Latin epitaph praises his piety, his scholarship, his large-hearted toleration, and his Christian faith. It is said to have been written by Bishop Middleton of Calcutta. He left no ofiice records and he died intestate.
Morgan Davis was born in 1774, according to the inscription on his monument. He was appointed in 1810, and on his arrival in Madras was placed at St. Mark's, Black Town, to carry on the work commenced by the Eev. E. H. Kerr and his cousin the Eev. John Kerr. Like them he had charge of the Male Asj'lum and the Press in connection with it. In 1808 a com- mittee of domiciled Europeans and Indo-Britons (as the Eurasians were then called) estabhshed, with the assistance and advice of Marmaduke Thompson, one of the Fort Chaplains, the Civil Male Orphan Asylum, and placed it close to St. Mark's Church, in order that the St. Mark's Chaplain might be able to supervise the management, discipline, and religious teaching. When Davis arrived he found that a similar committee was estabhshing a Civil Female Orphan Asylum, and were about to place it near the Male Asylum. He threw himself into the scheme and assisted to bring it to a successful issue, and for nearly twelve years he watched over the institu- tions and helped to place them on a sound financial footing. This was his principal work at Black Town. In 1817 the spiritual charge of the Hospital and the Jail was added to his duties. In 1822 he had to take sick leave to the Cape of Good Hope, and died there on November 28, aged 48. There is a tablet to his memory at St. Mark's, which was erected by his parisliioners.
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 361
Charles Henry Samjpson was the eldest son of James Sampson of Hanover Square, London. Born 1768. Matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1802 ; graduated B.A. 1805, M.A. 1810. In that year he was appointed a Chaplain. On arrival at Madras he was posted to Cannanore, where he served for two years. He returned home in 1813, took the degrees of B.D. and D.D. at Oxford the same year, and resigned the service in 1815.
Thomas Wetherherd was the son of Theophilus Wetherherd of Leeds. He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1793 ; migrated to St. Peter's College, where he was elected a scholar in 1797 ; graduated B.A. in 1798 in mathematical honours, and M.A, in 1804. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1810. He served at Bellary from 1811 to 1823, and at St. Thomas' Mount from 1823 to 1829, when he retired. He died in 1839.
James Hutchison was the son of Kev. Alexander Hutchison of Hamilton, co. Lanark, Clerk in Holy Orders. Born 1782. Matriculated at Balhol College, Oxford, in 1800 ; graduated B.A. in 1804 and M.A. in 1806. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1813. He served at Quilon till 1821, and then at Palam- cottah till his return to England in 1829. He retired from the service in 1831, and died in 1858.
Jose'ph Brackenbunj was the son of Joseph Brackenbury of Spilsby, CO. Lincoln. Born 1788. Matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1806, and was soon afterwards elected to a foundation scholarship. A year later he obtained scholarships on the foundations of Bishop Mawson and Dean Spencer. He graduated B.A. in 1811. While an under- graduate he published a volume of poems by subscription. The list of subscribers shows that he had many relations in his county. He was appointed Chaplain in 1813. He served at Secunderabad and Jaulnah from 1814 to 1818, when he returned home and resigned. He took his M.A. degree in 1819. In 1841 he became Chaplain and Secretary of the Magdalen Asylum, London, and retained this post till 1863, when he became Vicar of Quendon, Essex. He died in 1864.
Samuel Jones was appointed in 1813, but resigned before leaving England. He was an Irishman of Trinity College, Dubhn, and graduated B.A. in 1796. He was appointed
362 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Canon of Limerick in 1817, and took his M.A. degree at Dublin in 1832.
Henry Cartwright Bankes was the son of William Bankes of Boraston, Shropshire. Born 1787. Matriculated at All Souls College, Oxford, in 1806. He migrated to St. Alban's Hall before graduating B.A. in 1812. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1814 ; served at Trichinopoly from 1815 till 1823, and then for a short time at Secunderabad. He died in India in 1824.
Charles Norman matriculated at Pembroke College, Cam- bridge, in 1811, and migrated to St. Catherine's College a month ;later. While still an undergraduate he was nomi- nated to a Chaplaincy in 1814 ; he accepted the nomination but resigned almost immediately afterwards. He graduated B.A. in 1815.
William Rojj was the eldest son of Kobert Roy, the Principal of a private school in Kensington ; his mother was Mary Forsyth. Both parents belonged to the county of Elgin in Scotland. Educated by his father, William Eoy matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1811, but left the University without taking a degree. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1814. After serving at Masulipatam for four years, where he attracted the notice of Edward Vaughan, the Senior Presidency Chaplain, he was posted to St. Thomas' Mount and thus brought nearer to the seat of Government. Here he remained three years, and was then brought nearer still, namely to Black Town, through the influence of Vaughan, who became Archdeacon in 1819. At Black Town he had spiritual charge of the Hospital, the Jail, the Civil Orphan Asylums, as well as the ordinary parochial work, and he acquitted himself so well that in 1824 he was made Junior Presidency Chaplain and transferred to St. George's, Choultry Plain. In the following year he succeeded Marmaduke Thompson as Senior Presidency Chaplain, and he retained this position till he returned to England in 1831. On the death of Vaughan he acted as Archdeacon till the arrival of his successor. Roy was a prominent and valuable member of the S.P.C.K. and S.P.G. District Committees, and took a leading part in the preservation of the mission property when it was in jeopardy. He married Anne Catherine Gascoigne in Madras, and had a family of nine
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 18.35 363
children. In 1833 he was presented to the Eectory of Skirbeck in the county of Lincoln, of which he purchased the advowson a few years later. At Skirbeck he found plenty of scope for his abilities and his natural energy. He was elected Chairman of the newly constituted Board of Guardians for Boston, which office he retained till his death. He was Chairman of the local Bench of Magistrates. He built the Church and schools of Holy Trinity, Skirbeck, in 1848, and in the same year he rebuilt the Eectory house, which had been burnt down in the previous year. He died in 1852, and was buried beneath the altar of Holy Trinity Church. He was a learned and able man, who showed in all the various positions he occupied an excellent judgment and a calm, dispassionate temper. He was known both in India and in England as Dr. Roy. Whether the title was assumed or given him by admiring friends is unknow^n, but it is certain that it was not conferred upon him by any Univer- sity in Great Britain or Ireland.
Henry Harper was a native of Devon and was born in 1791. He matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1809 ; migrated to Queen's College in 1811 ; and graduated B.A. from that college in 1813. On the nomination of the Rev. Charles Simeon he was appointed a Chaplain in 1814. After service at Chittoor, Secunderabad, and St. Thomas' Mount, he went home in 1824, and took his M.A. degree at Cambridge. On his return to India he served at Bellary, Vizagapatam, and Black Town, and in 1831 was nominated by Archdeacon Robinson as Junior Presidency Chaplain at St. George's. In 1832 he acted as Archdeacon for six months during the absence of the Ven. T. Robinson. In 1886 he was appointed Archdeacon by Bishop Corrie of Madras. This appointment he held till 1846, when he returned home. From 1847 to 1856 he lived in retirement at Cambridge. He then accepted the Rectory of Elvedon in Suffolk, and there he died in 1865. Archdeacon Harper had to succeed an Archdeacon of great administrative ability, of recognised scholarship, of courtly address, and of grave judgment. His position was difficult, but he had the abihty to rise to the occasion, and not to suffer by contrast with his predecessor. Both men were nominees of Charles Simeon. Both outlived the narrowness of their early views and were
364 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
able to do work of lasting excellence in the Hon. East India Company's Service.
James Traill was nominated by Simeon and appointed in 1815. He was not a graduate, but was probably a Cambridge man who came under the notice and influence of his patron while still a student. He served at Vizagapatam from 1817 to 1819, when his health gave way and he had to return to England. He resigned the Service in 1822.
Thomas Lewis was born in 1789 ; he was a son of Thomas Lewis, M.D., of London. Matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, 1806; graduated B.A. 1810, and M.A. 1815. He became a student of Lincoln's Inn 1809, but gave up the study of the law for theology before he was called to the bar. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1815, and on arrival at Madras was posted to Fort St. George. He retained this much coveted position for fourteen years, and in 1830 was appointed Chaplain to the North Arcot Brigade. On February 20, 1833, he died at Vellore. No monument was raised to his memory at that station nor at Arcot. In his will he mentioned his brother, Edward Page Lewis, Chaplain of Bunder (Masulipatam), and his sister, Margaret Wray Lewis, presumably the wife of his brother and the widow of William Amboor Keating.
James Hough was a native of Cumberland and w^as born in 1789. He was nominated by Charles Simeon and was appointed to a Chaplaincy in 1S15. The fact of his nomination by Simeon leads one to suppose that he was a student at Cambridge at the time. He arrived at Madras in 1816, and was welcomed and entertained by Marmaduke Thompson till he was sent to Palamcottah. Here he remained five years, devoting his chief attention to the mission work of the district. His proper work as a Chaplain was among the European officers, soldiers, and civilians of the station ; but he was much more interested in mission work than in the pastoral care of his countrymen. He nursed the old S.P.C.K. Mission established by Schwartz, superintended the native catechists and schoolmasters, and repaired the mission schoolrooms and chapels in Palamcottah and the surrounding villages. As the S.P.C.K. could not send a European missionary to shepherd the many Christians of the district, he paved the way for the C.M.S. by purchasing some
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 365
land for them.^ In 1821 he was transferred to Poonamallee. Here his health broke down, so that after a year's work he was obliged to go to England. On his return in 1824 he was, at the instance of Marmaduke Thompson, made Junior Presidency- Chaplain at St. George's. But he was unable to bear the heat of the climate. In 1826 he travelled through the Nilgiris to the west coast, and went home in that year not to return. In 1828 he entered as a Fellow Commoner at Queen's College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1832 and M.A. in 1835.
Hough wrote and published many books during his furlough to England and after his retirement from the Company's Service. His first book was a reply to the Abbe Dubois (1824), who took a gloomy view of the prospect of any missionary success in Lidia. His second book (1829) was a collection of letters on the climate, scenery, and productions of the Nilgiris. Then came some volumes of sermons, ' The Missionary's Vade Mecum ' (1832), and an informing booklet on the immolation of Hindu widows (1833). In 1837 the missionary work of the Church in India was violently attacked by Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Wiseman. Hough replied to the attack and vindi- cated the methods employed. But his greatest work was the ' History of Christianity in India ' in five volumes, which he compiled between 1839 and 1847 with the assistance of his son. In 1834 he became vicar of Ham in Surrey, and in the same year the C.M.S. wisely invited him to join their committee, and to give them the benefit of his local knowledge of Madras missionary affairs. He died at Hastings and was buried at Ham in 1847, being succeeded in the vicarage by his son, the Eev, T. G. P. Hough, who assisted him in the compilation of his history and saw the work through the press.
Edward Martin John Jackson matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1812 as Edward Jackson, and graduated B.A. in 1816 under his full name. He married in 1814, while still an undergraduate, Fanny, the daughter of James Lardner of Teignmouth, Devon. At Cambridge he came under the influence of Charles Simeon, and was recommended by him for a Chaplaincy in the Company's Service. He was appointed in 1816 as Edward Martin Jackson ; arrived in 1817 and was sent
' The Church in Madras, i. 634.
366 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
to Vellore. There he died in 1821. He left a widow and two children ; the son was named Edward Marriott Jackson. He signed his will with his full name.
William Malkin was born in 1791, being the son of Samuel Malkin of London. He was educated at a private school at Islington, which was then ' a village near London ' ; matriculated at Magdalen College, Cambridge, 1811, and graduated B.A. 1816. Nominated by Simeon he was appointed a Chaplain, and arrived at Madras at the end of that year. He served at Poonamallee till 1820 ; then he succeeded William Thomas at Bangalore, and remained there till his retirement in 1832. In 1817 he married at Madras the eldest daughter of Sir Samuel Toller, the Advocate-General. In 1825 he published a volume of sermons by subscription, which he dedicated to the officers of H.M.'s and the Hon. East India Company's Service ' who have either permanently or occasionally attended the ministry of the author.' The preface is dated Bangalore, 1824. The appen- dix contains a list of the subscribers ; it includes a large number of civil and military officers on the Madras establishment. In 1833 he became Vicar of St. Ives, Cornwall. He resigned in 1850, and lived in Jersey till 1866, when he became vicar of Hunningham, Leamington. This work he resigned in 1867. He died at Leamington in 1874.
Charles Church was one of the sons of the Rev. Charles Cobb Church, J.P., Rector of Gosforth and Incumbent of Trinity Church, Whitehaven. His mother was the daughter of Anthony BennofHensingham House, Cumberland. Born 1785. Educated at St. Bees Grammar School ; matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1804 ; migrated to Jesus College and graduated in honours B.A. 1807, M.A. 1811. He was ordained to the curacy of Beckermont and afterwards became vicar of Hensing- ham. He was nominated for a Chaplaincy by Simeon and appointed in 1816. He arrived at Madras with his wife and child in 1817, and was hospitably entertained by Marmaduke Thomp- son. His first station was Cuddalore, one of the oldest mission stations of the S.P.C.K. This was unfortunate for both the mis- sion and the Society. Kerr, Thompson, and Church belonged to'the new ' evangelical ' party which had been to some extent frowned upon by the S.P.C.K. and those in authority. Other
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 367
nominees of Charles Simeon belonged to the same party, but only these three carried their antagonism to the Society to India with them. Church ignored the old S.P.C.K. Mission at Cuddalore and its historic chapel. He held services for Euro- peans in the Magistrate's office in New Town, and hired a house in Old Town for similar purposes. He opened two mission schools in opposition to the S.P.C.K. missionary, and supported them at his own expense. On the other hand he acquired a knowledge of Tamil with a view to making himself useful in his missionary ventures. In 1819 he was sent to Vizagapatam in the Telugu district, where his knowledge of Tamil was of very little use to him. Here he had to minister to 500 British soldiers in the Fort, and a few families of civilians at Waltair ' in the country four miles off.' In 1820 he was appointed Chaplain of Black Town, Madras, and became secretary of the C.M.S. Corresponding Committee and President of the Friend in Need Society, in succession to Marmaduke Thompson, who had gone to England on furlough. He founded the Madras Auxiliary Bible Society and was its first honorary secretary. One of his duties was to visit the military station of Poonamallee. This he did in 1821.^ At this time his own health began to suffer, and he lost two of his children. He left India on sick leave in March 1822, and died at sea the following month.
The ' Life of Church ' was written by a Madras civiUan, J. M. Strachan, and James Hough wrote the preface. Strachan was of the ' evangelical ' school and took a pessimistic view of human nature. He harps upon the wickedness of other people. He says that in Church's time there were ' only a few pious Chaplains, of a different class a large proportion.' Church himself adopted a similar tone. He wrote from Cuddalore : ' Some time ago religion was never thought or heard of in India ; now there are several really pious Europeans ' (p. 97). He expressed the lowest opinion of the soldiers at Vizagapatam — ' sunk below the heathen around them.' From Poonamallee he wrote of the * awful wickedness of the garrison.' At the same time, like others of the same school, he spoke of his own awful
' He mentions the Asjduin for orphans of British soldiers at Poonamallee, which cannot be traced. He probably meant the Military Asylum in the Poona- mallee Road at Madras.
368 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
wickedness. Strachan and Hough both write of him as an exceptionally good, righteous, and conscientious man. It is therefore conceivable that his denunciations of himself and his contemporaries were merely figures of speech. It is quite certain that the Europeans of the period resented the opinions he and Marmaduke Thompson and others held about them.
Thomas Bohinson was born in 1790, being the son of the Eev. Thomas Robinson, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Vicar of St. Mary's, Leicester. He was educated at Rugby ; matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1809, and elected to a scholarship ; graduated B.A. 1813 (thirteenth wrangler and second classical medallist) and elected to a Fellowship ; M.A. 1816. He was appointed a Chaplain on the Bombay establishment on the nomination of Charles Simeon in 1816, and proceeded at once to India. Whilst serving at Seroor and Poonah he studied Persian and began to translate the Bible into that language at the latter station. Li 1825 he attracted the notice of Bishop Heber ; on becoming his Chaplain he was transferred to the Bengal establishment, and he remained Heber's constant companion till his death. He then preached his funeral sermon at St. John's, Trichinopoly, and sent a report to the Madras Government as to what was in the Bishop's mind at the time of his death. The Government reverently carried out all the Bishop's wishes. In 1828 he was nominated by Bishop James of Calcutta to the Archdeaconry of Madras, and was transferred to the Madras establishment. He held this appointment till the arrival of the first Bishop of Madras in 1835, when he resigned the Company's Service and returned to England. The office of Archdeacon seemed to be his natural vocation, and he performed its duties as if he had been accustomed to them all his life. He visited every station of importance in the Archdeaconry, and brought to the notice of Government every requirement. When he was obliged to report negligence he did so with restraint ; when he was able to praise he praised generously. It was intended by the promoter of the Madras Bishopric Bill that Archdeacon Robinson should be the first Bishop of Madras ; but other counsels prevailed, and the Bishopric was bestowed upon the Archdeacon of Calcutta, who was Robinson's senior in the Service by several years.
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 369
Dr. Kobinson held various positions of importance and dignity after his return to England, including that of Master of the Temple, He died at Rochester in 1873, being one of the Canons of that Cathedral Church. Further details of his distinguished career are to be found in the ' Dictionary of National Biography.' He was the author of many books and pamphlets. He translated the Old Testament into Persian, and these were his other notable works about India :
1819. * A Volume of Sermons preached in India.'
1821. ' Difficulties of the Clergy in India.'
1826. ' Funeral Sermon of Bishop Heber.'
1829. ' Last Days of Bishop Heber.'
1835. ' Ordination Sermon at Tanjore.'
1888. ' Lecture on Oriental Studies at Cambridge.' (He was Reader in Arabic there.)
1845. ' Letter to the S.P.G. on the Tinnevelly Missions.'
1845. ' Rise and Progress of Missions in Tinnevelly.'
His interest in mission work was not the least interesting characteristic of the man. When the S.P.G. took over the work and the property of the S.P.C.K. in India, Archdeacon Robinson formed the Madras District Committee for managing its concerns in his archdeaconry.
Frederick S'pring was born in 1790, being the second son of James Spring of St. Marylebone, London. Matriculated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, 1808 ; graduated B.A. 1813, and M.A. 1824 while on furlough from India. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1816. He served on the west coast from 1817 to 1829, first at Tellicherry, then at Quilon. At Tellicheny he was instrumental in building the Chm'ch. Dming this period he studied the Malayalim language, and in 1839 he published at Madras his ' Outlines of the Malayalim Grammar,' a quarto volume of acknowledged merit, which b}' permission was dedi- cated to the Right Hon. Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Fort St. George. He officiated at Poonamallee from 1829 to 1832, being at the same time in spiritual charge of the Chelsea pensioners who formed the Veteran battalion at Tripassore. The pensioners were grateful for his ministrations, and presented him on leaving Poonamallee with a copy of Cranmer's works. From 1833 to 1843 he officiated successively as Junior and Senior
370 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Presidency Chaplain at St. George's, Madras. In 1843 he died. No monmnent marks his resting-place in the St. George's buiial-gi'ound, though he was in several respects a notable Chaplain. He was married twice and left two sons and two daughters.
Walter Eees Morgan Williams was born in 1790, being the son of Walter Wilhams of Devynnock in the county of Brecon. He matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, 1808, of which college he was a scholar ; graduated B.A. 1812, M.A. 1815. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1816. He served at Cochin from 1817 till the end of the following year, when his health gave w^ay. He took sick leave to the Cape and died at sea on December 27, 1818. During the short time he was at Cochin he was instrumental in establishing a school for the Em'asian and other Christian boys ^ of the station, and raising money for its endowment. This fund was afterwards vested in the Archdeacon of Madras as a corporation sole. He died un- married.
Frederick White was born in 1783, being the son of Eobert WTiite of Cambridge. He was educated at Baldock School ; matriculated at Trinit}'^ College, Cambridge, 1800 ; graduated B.A. 1805, M.A. 1808. He was the last of the six Chaplains appointed to Madras in 1816. His appointment was made under unusual circumstances. He entered the Royal Navy as a Chaplain, and accompanied Admiral Sir George Burlton to India on board H.M.S. Cornwallis. Sir George died in 1815, and WTiite petitioned the Eight Hon. Hugh Elliot, Governor of Fort St. George, to be appointed a Chaplain on the Madras establishment. The Governor forwarded the petition to the Chairman of the Company ; and the Directors,- ' out of regard to Mr. Elliot and as a special mark of our favour,' appointed Mr. White to succeed to the first vacancy on the Madras estab- lishment, subject to the approbation of the Bishop of London. This involved the necessity of Mr. White going to England and then waiting an indefinite time. The appointment was not accepted.
Joseph IFn^/ii matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1815. He is described in the College entrance book as
1 The Church in Madras, i. 245. - Despatch, Aug. 28, 1816, Mil.
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 371
Middlesexiensis. He graduated B.A. in 1819, and in 1821 was appointed a Chaplain. After serving at Masulipatam for a year he went to Trichinopoly in 1823 and remained tliere till 1830. Here he was instrumental in having the Vestry School moved from the Fort to Puttur, and in saving the Vestry Fund, which was originally raised for the support of the Vestry School, from being used for mission purposes. After a year at Poonamallee he was gazetted to Bangalore in 1832 and there he remained till his retirement in 1837. At Bangalore he was active in the cause of Eurasian education, as he had been at Trichinopoly. He founded the Cantonment Girls' School, which maintained a high character as a place of education until it was superseded by the Bishop Cotton Girls' School in a more open and favourable position. His effort in 1836 to get St. Mark's Church enlarged, or rebuilt at the east end of the Parade Ground, was not successful. He died soon after his retirement.
John Owen Parr was born in 1799, being the son of John Parr of Bloomsbury, ' near London.' He matriculated at Brasenose College,Oxford, 1815, and was elected to a scholarship. He graduated B.A. 1818 ; was ordained 1821, and was appointed a Chaplain the same year. He served at the Presidency one year only and then returned home. He became Vicar of Durnford in Wilts in 1824 ; proceeded M.A. in 1830 ; Vicar of Preston in Lancashire in 1840 ; Honorary Canon of Manchester 1853 ; and died in 1877.
Cliristopher Jeaffreson matriculated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1816. He proceeded M.A. in 1828 when on furlough. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1821. He served at Quilon seven years. After his return from furlough he was sent to the Central Provinces, and was Chaplain to the Nagpore garrison at Kamptee for eight years. After that he served at Jaulnah for a year, and then finished his service at Cannanore on the west coast. He retired in 1839; He became Chaplain to the Edmonton Union in 1846, and retained this appointment till his death in 1870.
Pointz Stewart was born in 1797, being the eldest son of Pointz Stewart of Hartley Court in the county of Berks. He was educated at Edinburgh under the Eev. J. Porteous ;
2 E 2
372 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
matriculated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 1814 ; graduated B.A. 1819 ; and appointed a Chaplain in 1821. During his service he assumed the additional name of Seymour before his surname. He died at Arcot in 1834. During his twelve years of service he was at six different stations ; this was an unusual number in days when travelling was more difficult and more costly than it has since become. Some men like to be left in a station as long as possible, that they may be allowed to see some result of their labours. Some like changes and are always ready to see new places. The unmarried move about more easily than the married, so that as a rule they are called upon to fill acting appointments rendered vacant by unlooked-for circumstances. Stewart served at St. Thomas' Mount, Bellary, Belgaum, Quilon, Cannanore, and Arcot.
Richard William Moorsom was born in 1795, being the son of William Moorsom of Scarborough. He was educated at St. Peter's School, York ; matriculated at Queen's College, Cambridge, 1817, where he resided four terms. He then migrated to Jesus College, which he entered as a Fellow Com- moner in December 1818 ; graduated B.A. 1821 ; appointed a Chaplain 1822. After serving four years at Masulipatam he was promoted to be Junior Presidency Chaplain in 1826. At the end of another four years his health gave way and he had to take sick leave and a sea voyage. He died at sea on the voyage to Mauritius in May 1830. He was unmarried.
Robert Ahercromhie Denton was born in 1798 near London. He was educated at Eton ; admitted a Scholar of King's College, Cambridge, 1816 ; awarded the Betham scholarship in 1817 ; graduated in honours B.A. 1821, and elected Fellow of King's. He proceeded to M.A. on retirement from the Com- pany's Service in 1839. He was ordained in 1822 and appointed a Chaplain in 1823. He served at Black Town, Madras, 1824 to 1828 ; Penang 1828 to 1830 ; Fort St. George 1830 to 1839. On retirement he returned to King's College and was Bursar from 1840 to 1844, when he accepted the college living of Stower Provost with Todbere in the county of Dorset, and married. He died at Stower Provost in 1857, leaving a widow.
Denton was at Fort St. George during a critical period in
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 373
the history of the St. Mary's Vestry Fund. In 1806 the administration of the fund was taken out of the hands of the Vestry by the decision of the High Court, which decreed with legal accuracy that there was no such thing as a Vestry in India. The Government took charge of the fund and asked the Directors how they were to dispose of it. For the next quarter of a century the Government regarded the fund as more or less in Chancery. They doled out sufficient money monthly to pay the establishment of the Church and the school, and to keep the school going as it was, without allowing it either to decrease or increase. Denton respectfully represented the propriety of spending the whole income of the fund on the special objects for which it had been raised, in the same way as had been done in the previous century. The Government were agreeable, but they seem to have been afraid of the new High Court and the lawyers it had brought with it. Denton's representations were referred to the Government of India, ^ and the question was referred home to the law officers of the Company and the Crown. Meanwhile the school buildings on the Fort were repaired out of the fund in 1831 ; - the number of boys was kept up to fifty ; St. Mary's Church was repaired at the expense of the fund in 1834; and the establishments of the Church and the school were re-arranged. ^^ After some delay Denton's contention was acceptedj't and the fund has ever since been applied to the objects for which it was got together.
Denton was active in all matters connected with the educa- tion of Europeans and Eurasians. In this he was following the example of all former Chaplains ; all his successors similarly walked in their footsteps. Besides being in charge of the St. Mary's School, he was also in spiritual charge of the Military Male Orphan Asylum at Egmore. He was keenly interested in the appearance of the St. Mary's burial-ground, and he per- suaded the Government to spend some money over the resting- place of the European officers and men of former times. His
' Letter, Aug. 21, 1835, 8, Eccl. ; Despatch. March 30, 1836, 10, Eccl. ■ Despatch, Oct. 9, 1833, 18, Eccl. ■■» Despatch, March 18. 1835. 10, Eccl. 4 Despatch, July 10, 1839, 11, Eccl.
374 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
influence in Madras was always good, and he helped on all good causes with unsparing zeal.
The office of Archdeacon became vacant in 1836. There were four good men in the diocese at the time, all of whom would have adorned the post — Harper, Spring, Wright, and Denton. Harper was the senior and was appointed, and the chance of promotion was lost to the others.
James' Boys w\as horn in 1794, being the son of John Boys of Betshanger in the county of Kent. He matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, 1811 ; graduated B.A. 1815, M.A. 1818 ; appointed a Chaplain 1823. He served at Wallajahbad in 1824 and suffered there in health like other Europeans ; from 1825 to 1829 he was Chaplain of Secunderabad. In the latter year he was invalided home. He stopped at St. Helena on the way, and filled a vacancy as Chaplain for two years ; he then returned to England and retired in 1833. He was pre- sented to the Rectory of St. Mary in the Marsh, New Romney, by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1836 ; and he became Rector of Biddenden, Kent, in 1841. There he died in 1882.
John HalJcwell was born in 1795, being the son of the Rev. John Hallewell, Vicar of Boroughbridge in the county of York. He was educated at Thorp Arch School, under the Rev. John Peers. He matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, 1813 ; was elected to a scholarship 1815 ; graduated B.A. in honours (twenty-seventh wrangler) 1818 ; M.A. 1821 ; elected Fellow of Christ's 1818 ; ordained 1820 ; curate of St. Andrew's, Cam- bridge, 1821 ; prelector and junior Dean 1821 ; appointed Chaplain 1823. He served at St. Thomas' Mount three years, Fort St. George one year. Black Town one year, and Cuddalore ten years (1829 to 1839),Avhen he returned to England and retired. In 1844 he was presented by the Lord Chancellor to the Rectory of Chillenden in Kent. This he resigned in 1853, and took up his residence at Stroud in Gloucestershire, where he died in 1871.
Henry Allen was born in 1797, being the son of James Allen of Lymington in Hampshire. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, 1815 ; graduated B.A. 1822 ; appointed a Chaplain 1823. On arrival at Madras he was gazetted to Cuddalore. Rosen was then in charge of the old S.P.C.K.
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 375
Mission.^ Both used the mission Church for their rehgious purposes, and Allen showed the best possible spirit towards Rosen and his missionary work. Allen died at Cuddalore in January 1829, much regretted by the European and the native Christian community. A tablet was put up to his memory in the old mission Church. He left a widow, who married Mr. F. A. West of the Madras Civil Service in 1831.
Edward Page Lewis was born in 1802, being the younger son of Thomas Lewis, M.D., of London, and a brother of the Rev. Thomas Lewis who was appointed a Chaplain in 1815. E. P. Lewis was educated at Ealing School under Dr. Nicholas ; he matriculated at Caius College, Cambridge, 1819 ; graduated B.A. 1823, and M.A. when on furlough from India in 1835. He was ordained priest in London 1824, his title being a Chap- laincy in India. This was the case with several others at this period. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1825. He served at Nagpore (Kamptee) five years, at Masulipatam twelve years, at Trichinopoly one year, and retired in 1844. He married the widow of the Rev. W. A. Keating, the Chaplain who died in 1820. His health did not allow him to undertake work in England. He died at Paddmgton in 1870.
Frederick James Darrah was an Irish clergyman ; he was described in the India List as a Bachelor of Arts, and on his memorial tablet in St. Mark's, Madras, he is denominated a Master of Arts, but it cannot be discovered at what University he took these degrees. He was appointed m 1826. After work- ing at Vizagapatam and Secunderabad for seven years, he was brought to the Presidency on the recommendation of Arch- deacon Robinson in 1833 to be Chaplain of Black Town. It is characteristic of the man, and a sufficient proof that he was active in his ministry, that when he died four years later he was Chaplain of the Military Female Orphan Asylum, Hon. Sec. of the S.P.G., President of the Philanthropic Association, President of the Friend in Need Society, and Chaplain and educational manager of the Civil Male and Female Orphan Asylums in Black Town. He was cut off suddenly in the midst of his activities. His wife died of cholera on September 25, 1837, and he succumbed to the same disease four days later. 1 The Church in Madras, i. 295.
376 THE CHURCH IN JMADRAS
The parishioners erected a tablet to his memory in St. Mark's Church. In his will he provided for his mother Ann Darrah, his sister Elizabeth Shanklin, and his two children. One of the executors was Sir Allen Edward Bellingham ' of Castle Belling- ham South.'
Charles Kneller Graeme was born in India 1785, being the son of Charles Graeme of the Bengal Civil Service. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, 1802 ; gi-aduated B.A. 1807, M.A. 1810. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1826 at the unusual age of fortj^-one, and it is worthy of remark that he served his allotted time for his pension in spite of his age. His stations were Bangalore (seven years), Quilon (three years), Vizaga- patam (one year), and Palamcottah (six j^ears). He retired from the service in 1846. His name is not to be found in any Clergy List after that date. He died in 1870.
William Thomas Blenkinsop was born in 1802 at Windsor, being the second son of the Rev. Henry Blenkinsop, minor canon of St. George's Chapel. He was educated at Eton College ; matriculated at Lincoln College, Oxford, 1820 ; graduated B.A. from St. Alban's Hall 1824 ; appointed Chap- lam 1827. He served at St. Thomas' Mount from 1827 to 1844 ; was Junior Presidency Chaplain at St. George's Cathedral 1844-45 ; Chaplain of Ootacamund 1845-47 ; then he became Chaplain of Cuddalore and remained there till his retirement in 1861. The appointment to Cuddalore was probably made at his own request. Cuddalore was a station with four out- stations which had to be visited by the Chaplain periodically. The Directors approved of this system of visitation in 1832,^ and sanctioned an extra allowance to each Chaplain for the period of such visits to cover the cost of travelling and main- tenance. The limit of this allowance was Rs.200 a month. The allowance was a matter of importance to Blenkinsop, for he had married twice and had nineteen children. His second wife was Louisa, third daughter of the Rev. William Chester, Chaplain of Vizagapatam. Two of his sons were afterwards well-known officers in the Madras Service. On his retirement Blenkinsop became Vicar of Little Maplestead, Essex, and afterwards Rector of Wambrook in Somerset. When he
' Despatch, March 14, 1832, Eccl.
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 377
retired from active work he settled at Bath, and died there in 1871, aged sixty-nine.
Samuel Harto'p'p Knapp was appointed Chaplain in 1827. He arrived at the end of that year and was sent to Vellore. In 1829 he was selected by Bishop Turner to be his Chaplain. But he fell ill, and before the end of the year had to take sick leave and go home. He resigned the service in 1830. He was Eector of Letchworth, Herts, from 1831 to 1858, when he died.
William Drayton Carter was born in 1796, being the son of William Grover Carter of Portsmouth. He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1818, but took no degree. Ap- pointed 1829 ; arrived at Madras at the close of that year ; but he was not physically strong enough to bear the heat, so he obtained leave at once and returned to England. His name was kept on the establishment list for five years according to rule, to give him the opportunity of changing his mind, and at the end of that time it was struck off. He was Vicar of Wye, Kent, from 1836 to 1846 ; Rector of Ridlington, Rutland, 1846 to 1858 ; Vicar of Kirby Moorside, Yorks, 1859 to 1864, when he died.
Jackson Muspratt Williams was born at Southampton. He matriculated at Queen's College, Cambridge, 1824 ; graduated B.A. 1829, and was appointed Chaplain the same year. He officiated for a short time at Poonamallee, and was then sent to Vizagapatam. At the end of two years he fell sick, and was sent to Madras for embarkation for the Cape ; he died on arrival at Madras on September 3, 1832. He left a widow.
William Sawyer began his Indian career as a missionary. He was born in 1797 in Yorkshire. Two of his brothers were mentioned in his will ; one was George Sawyer of Hedon, co. York, and the other was Robert Henry Sawyer of Staple Inn, London. In the year 1818, when living at Holme near Rougham, he offered his services to the C.M.S. for missionary work abroad. He was accepted, trained, and ordained, and went out to Madras with his wife in 1822. He was stationed at Peram- bore, about five miles west of Madras, and had charge of a mission district which included the cantonments of Poonamallee and Tripassore. He prosecuted his mission work with great
378 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
zeal, and built chapels for his converts at all three stations. He also ministered to the British soldiers and their families at Poonamallee and Tripassore during the absence of the Chaplain. His zeal attracted the notice of Archdeacon Robin- son, who recommended the Directors to take him into their service. He Avent home in the spring of 1829, and after an interview with the Directors and the Bishop of London he was appointed to a Chaplaincy. He arrived at Madras in July 1830. In the following November Bishop Turner visited the southern Presidency, and appointed Sawyer as his domestic Chaplain during his visitation of the mission stations. This was due to Sawyer's knowledge of Tamil. The Bishop arrived at Ootacamunci in December 1830, and recommended the Government to appoint Sawyer Chaplain of that station. He became the fn-st Chaplain of Ootacamund. He was the second missionary taken into the service of the Company.i He died at Ootacamund in January 1832. He married twice and left a widow and a daughter. In his will he directed that his house, garden, land, and Church built thereon at Perambore should be sold for the benefit of his widow and child. There is no record to show how the chapel erected in the name of the C.M.S. at Perambore became his private property.
William John Aislahie was born in London in 1805, being the son of Benjamin Aislabie. He was educated at Eton ; matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1826 ; graduated in honours B.A. 1830 ; and won the Tyrwhitt Hebrew scholar- ship the same year. He was appointed Chaplain 1830. He served at Secunderabad from 1831 to 1834, when he obtained an appointment in Van Diemen's Land and left India.^ He was appointed Rector of Alpheton in Suffolk in 1848, andjretained the appointment till his death in 1876.
Hennj William Stuart was born at Lincoln. He matricu- lated at Queen's College, Cambridge, in 1824 ; graduated B.A. in 1830 ; and was appointed a Chaplain in 1831. He served at Vepery 1832-34 ; Bangalore 1834-37 ; Ootacamund 1837-43 ; Trichinopoly 1843-46 ; Senior Presidency Chaplain at St. George's Cathedral 1846-47, when he retired. He lived for
1 A. T. Clarke was the first ; The Church in Madras, i. 686. - Despatch, March 19, 1839, Eccl.
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1S35 379
the next six years in Bath, and then became Vicar of Northaw in Hertfordshire. He died in 1857.
John Cliallice Street belonged to the county of Devon. He matriculated at Queen's College, Cambridge, in 1827, and gradu- ated B.A. in 1831. He obtained a Chaplaincy the same year, and went out to India with his college friend, H. W. Stuart. He served at Cannanore four years, at Vizagapatam six years, and at six other stations for short periods. He retired in 1854. In the following year he became Vicar of St. Andrew's, Plymouth ; this charge he resigned in 1868 ; he died in 1871.
George James Cubitt was born in 1804, being the son of the Eev. John Cubitt, Eector of South Kepps, co. Norfolk. He was educated at Norwich under Dr. Valpy ; matriculated at Caius College, Cambridge, 1823 ; graduated B.A. 1827, and M.A. 1832. He was ordained priest at Norwich in 1829, and was appointed Chaplain in 1832. He served for short periods at Bellary, Vepery, and Bangalore until 1839, when he returned to England and retired from the Company's Service. When at Bellary, in 1834, he pubhshed a pastoral letter to his parishioners, which was affectionate and earnest in tone. In 1838 he and the Eev. George Trevor were the joint authors of a similar pastoral letter to their parishioners at Bangalore. In this letter they strongly recommended lay baptism to European and Eurasian parents in isolated stations ; they urged that in cases of necessity parents should baptise their children themselves, and report the act to the nearest Chaplain, rather than leave the children unbaptised, or take them to strange ministers of doubtful faith. He married at Madras in 1834 a daughter of Colonel Garrard. In 1844 he became Eector of St. Thomas', Winchester. He published a volume of sermons preached at Winchester in 1849. He was greatly interested in mission work, and was a valuable and valued member of the C.M.S. Committee till his death in 1855. In his younger days he was a vigorous and popular preacher.
At Winchester he found that St. Thomas' Church was too small for the needs of the parish, and he was instrumental in building the present handsome structure. When he died the Church was complete with the exception of the tower and spire. The feeling roused in Winchester by his sudden death was so
380 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
strong that the parishioners and others decided to finish what they considered to be his work as a memorial of him. They also erected a tablet in the Church recording their appreciation of him. Cubitt was Chaplain of the troops at Winchester as well as Rector of St. Thomas'.
Vinceni Sliortland was born in Oxfordshire. He entered as a Fellow Commoner at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, in 1830, but left the University without taking a degree. This he afterwards regretted, and in 1842, during his first furlough from India, he passed the necessary theological examination and took the degree of B.D. He obtained a Chaplaincy in 1832, and arrived at Madras in 1833. During the next seven years he served for short periods at Trichinopoly, Bellary, Bangalore, Quilon, and Yizagapatam. At Trichinopoly and Bangalore he left voluminous con-espondence in the Letter Books, for at both stations he had to contend. He was not by choice a contentious man, but he found at those two stations certain conditions which he was convinced ought to be contended against. He was gifted with the art of expressing himself with elegance, ease, and moderation, so that his letters are models of contention. On returning from furlough in 1843 he was posted to St. Thomas' Mount, and came under the special notice of Bishop Spencer. By him he was appointed Arch- deacon in 1847, and he retained this office till his retirement in 1859. On his return to England he did not undertake any regular cure of souls. He lived in Guernsey and died there in 1890.
William CI tester was born in 1787. He was a descendant of Sir Robert Chester, owner of the manor of Cockerhatch in the county of Herts. His father, William Chester, who died in 1812, married a daughter of Henry Seymor, who owned property in the county of Dorset. William Chester married Marj^ Anne Harcourt, and had eleven children before he entered the service of the East India Company in 1833. He was instituted to the Rectory of Walpole in the county of Norfolk in 1824, but there is no local evidence that he ever resided there. He was permitted apparently to appoint a curate to carry on the parochial work. On arrival at Madras he was sent to Yizaga- patam, and there he died in 1836. He was accompanied to
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 381
India by his wife and seven of his children. Some of these were afterwards well known in the Presidency. One son was in the Madras Civil Service ; another was in the Madras army ; four of the daughters married officers in the Company's Service, one of them being the wife of the Kev. W. T. Blenkinsop. It must be presumed that it was for the benefit of his family that he took the serious risk of commencing life in the tropics at the age of forty-six.
George Willia7n MaJion was born in 1808, being the only son of William Mahon of Swansea. He matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1824, and was elected a scholar the same year. He graduated B.A. m honours 1828 and was elected to a Fellowship, which he held till 1837, and proceeded M.A. 1831. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1834. Htiving served at St. Thomas' Mount, Bangalore, and Black Town for short periods, he became Garrison Chaplain of Fort St. George in 1839. He retained this position till he was removed from it in 1849 over a case of suicide, so deliberate that there was in his opinion no question of insanity, and therefore no obligation to conduct the solemn burial office of the Church. Vincent Shortland's case at Bangalore was a precisely similar one. In both cases the Chaplains suffered, but their suffering bore fruit ; for it was soon afterwards ruled that the insanity of a suicide must be tested by evidence before a properly constituted court of inquiry. Mahon took furlough on his removal from the Fort and went home. He retired from the Service in 1852. He translated ' Beschi's Tamil Grammar ' in 1848, and published a ' Guide to the Sculptures at Mamallaipur ' (seven Pagodas), with a learned introduction, in 1869. Mahon was an Irishman by descent, and had the special affection of an Irish Churchman for the word Protestant. He altered the name of the St. Mary's Vestry School to that of the Protestant Orphanage, but the name did not last longer than his term of office. After his retirement he lived at x\spley, Woburn, Bedfordshire, where he died in 1866.
John McEvoij was born in 1789, being the son of Andrew McEvoy, a merchant of King's County. He matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1806, and graduated B.A. in 1813. He was admitted a member of St. John's College, Cambridge,
382 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
in 1825, and was granted the ad eundem degree of M.A. in the University in 1826. He was appointed a Chaplain in 1834 at the age of forty-five. His first station was Secimderabad, with the duty of visiting Jauhiah occasionally. Here he stayed seven years, and was uistrnniental in carrying out some necessary alterations and hnprovenients in the Church. In 1841 he was transferred to the Nagpore cantonment, known to soldiers then and smce as Kamptee. There he remained till 1851, when his health broke down. He died at sea in July of that year on his way home. He married a daughter of William Tucker of Westminster, and left three sons and a daughter.
Henri) Deane was born 1807, being the son of WilHam Deane of Stretton, Suffolk. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, 1825 ; graduated B.A. 1829, M.A. 1834 ; and in the same year was appointed a Chaplain. He had only three stations during his service, Trichinopoly, Cannanore, and Ootacamund. This enabled him to do some really effective work in the cause of Eurasian education, in which he greatly interested himself. At Trichuiopoly he brought the Vestry School to a high state of efficiency. In 1855 he became Rector of Hintlesham in Suffolk, and remamed there till 1870. He married at Trichin- opoly, in 1840, Am-ora Cavendish Lewis, and had a family ; one of the sons afterwards obtamed a commission in the Madras Cavalry. He died ui 1891, aged eighty-four.
William Tomes was born 1786, being the son of John Tomes of Dublin. He matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1805 ; was elected to a scholarship 1809 ; graduated B.A. 1811 ; and appointed a Chaplain in 1835 at the age of forty-nine. On arrival at Madras he was sent to Arcot ; he had to visit the out- stations of Arnee and Wallajahbad. Here he remained from 1836 to 1839, when he was transferred to Secmiderabad. He did not live through the year. Like some others at this period he began life in the tropics at too advanced an age ; he suc- cumbed to the climate in October 1839, leaving a widow.
Henry Cotterill was born in 1811, being the son of the Rev. Joseph Cotterill, Rector of Blakeney, Norfolk. He matricu- lated at St. John's College, Cambridge, 1829. His name was taken off the books shortly afterwards, but he was re-admitted in February 1881. In the following year he obtained the Bell
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 383
scholarship. In 1835 he graduated B.A., being senior wrangler, first Smith prizeman, and ninth classic, and was elected to a Fellowship. He graduated M.A. 1836, and was appointed a Chaplain the same year. From the time of his arrival at Madras till 1845, that is for nine years, he was Chaplain of Vepery. He then returned to England and retired from the Company's Service. In 1846 he was appointed Vice-Principal of Brighton College ; in 1851 Principal. He was consecrated Bishop of Grahamstown in 1856, and translated to Edinburgh in 1872. His life out of India has been recorded in the ' Dictionary of National Biography.' It is sufficient to mention here that his ministrations at Vepery were very acceptable to the parish. The services of the Church were frequent and crowded. The building was intended for native Christians as well as Euro- peans. Cotterill's popularity had the effect of ousting the former from their fair share in the use of the Church. The missionary of course complained, and the final result was that a separate building for the native Christians was erected. ^ This was largely due to Cotterill's initiative. He married before going to India.
George Trevor was born in 1809, being the sixth son of Charles Trevor of Bridgwater. From 1825 to 1835 he was in the service of the East India Company at the India House, London. In 1832, while still holding this appointment, he matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and was allowed by the Directors to keep his terms. At Oxford he was a prominent speaker at the Union, and succeeded Mr. Gladstone as leader of the House. His literary work began in 1833 with contributions to Black- wood's Magazine, which were highly esteemed by the editor. In 1835 he resigned his post at the India House, and was ordained. In the following year the Directors appointed him a Chaplain on their Madras estabhshment. He served with Cotterill as joint Chaplain of Vepery for two years. No wonder the services of the Church were crowded. Then he was posted to Bangalore and remained there seven years. He returned to England in 1845, and retired from the Company's Service, which he had adorned for twenty years. In 1839 he published a volume of sermons preached at Vepery. In 1844
^ The Church in Madras, i. 577.
384 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
he published a sermon preached at St. Mark's, Bangalore, at the parade service of the 2nd European Jjight Infantr}-. The same year he preached the Ordination sermon at Ootacamund, and this was published at the request of Bishop Spencer. The last sermon he preached in India was at St. George's Cathedral, Madras, before the Governor, when he ventured to deprecate strongly, though in restrained language, the exclusion of the Bible from the system of public education, which was at the time in its infanc}'. Ho would have made the study of it optional ; he would not have excluded it.
When at Bangalore he revived and refounded the Tamil ^Mission, which had been originated by the Eev. William Thomas twenty years before. Trevor was under the impres- sion that he founded the mission, and said so in the pamphlet called ' The Company's Eaj.' This statement has been embodied in the * Dictionary of National Biography.' What happened was this. The mission consisted of a Catechist and a schoolmaster, who worked under the Chaplain's supervision. The native congregation worshipped at St. Mark's ; the Catechist conducted the service. The baptisms, &c., of converts were entered in the St. Mark's register books. Notwithstanding his heavy civil and military duties, Trevor took an active part in the missionary work, and baptised a good many converts himself. This use of the Government register books and the Church was objected to, as seeming to involve the Government in the work of missionary endeavour. Trevor thereupon ob- tained a site for a separate Church and school buildings for the native congregation from Sir Mark Cubbon, the Chief Com- missioner in Mysore, and raised the money to build them. The Church was consecrated in 1844 by Bishop Spencer and named in honour of St. Paul. The service was attended by Sir Mark Cubbon ; Lord Gough, who commanded the Bangalore Division ; and the chief civil and military officers of the station. The new Church was provided with register books of its own. On his return to England he graduated B.A. at Oxford in 1846 and M.A. in 1847. He took many opportunities in later years of defending and explaining the missionary policy of the Company. In his last sermon at Madras Cathedral he referred to the Queen's declaration of non-interference with the religions
THE CHAPLAINS, 1805 TO 1835 385
of the people of India, and said that it was likely to prove more injurious than a declaration of neutrality would have been.
In 1847 he became Vicar of All Saints, York, and in 1848 was made Canon of York Cathedral. From that time till his death in 1888 he had a distinguished career, which is related in the ' Dictionary of National Biography.'
His principal works connected with India are ' The Com- pany's Kaj ' (1858) ; ' India, its Natives and Missions ' (1859). At the time the government of India was transferred to the Crown, a number of articles, pamphlets, and booklets appeared containing harsh and unjust judgments of the policy, the procedure, and even the probity of the East India Company. Canon Trevor defended the Company warmly and with per- suasive ability.
Of the fifty-seven Chaplains appointed between 1805 and 1835 twenty-two died in India. This number would have been less if it had not been for the appointment of some men in the third decade, too old to commence life in the tropics. Six were Fellows of colleges at Oxford or Cambridge ; several others graduated in honours. Of the rest one distinguished himself as an historian. Hough ; and another, Trevor, as a controversia- Hst and Christian apologist. The latter was a Canon of York. Eight of the Chaplains appointed left their University without taking a degree ; three were not members of any University. On the whole the Directors selected their Chaplains with care and consideration. They were probably influenced by the knowledge that their nominees had to be approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury or by the Bishop of London or both. In the seventeenth century the Directors were their own ' triers ' ; they submitted all tests themselves. In the nine- teenth century they contented themselves with finding men of good education and manners, and left all theological tests to the episcopal authorities. In consequence they were able to obtain excellent men for their different estabhshments in India.
Up to 1790 all the Chaplains were on the civil estabhshment. From that date until 1817, when a separate ecclesiastical
VOL. n. 2 c
386 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
establishment was formed, some of the Chaplains were on the civil establishment and some on the military, according to their emplo3'ment. After 1817 they were included in one list for purposes of leave, pay, promotion, &c., and formed the ecclesiastical establishment of the Presidency. They were known as the Company's Chaplains, and wrote H.E.I.C.S. after their names like others in the Company's Service.
There were no clergymen in the Archdeaconry before 1835, except the Chaplains and the missionaries. There were no railwa3's, mines, nor plantations, and no extra clergymen were required, such as are now imported to minister to the Europeans and Eurasians engaged in these industries.
CHAPTER XX
THE MISSIONARIES
The S.P.C.K. 1805 to 1835
In the year 1805 the following S.P.C.K. missionaries were carrying on the work of the Society : Pohle at Trichinopoly ; Kohlhoff at Tanjore ; Holtzberg at Cuddalore ; Horst at Tanjore ; and Paezold at Madras. These have been already mentioned.! Subsequently the following appointments were made :
William Tobias Bingeltauhe was born m Silesia 1770 ; educated at Halle ; ordained according to the Lutheran rite at Wernigerode 1796 ; recommended to and accepted by the S.P.C.K. in 1797, in which year he and Holtzberg were charged by the Eev. John Owen at the S.P.C.K. office before their departure for India. Ringeltaube went to Calcutta and was welcomed by David Brown the Chaplain. There he remained less than two years, and returned to Europe in 1799 to the great disappointment of the S.P.C.K.^ He then associated himself with the Moravians, and in 1803 offered his services to the L.M.S. and was accepted. He arrived at Tranquebar in July 1804 and remained there till January 1806. His stay was not a happy one, for he had as great a difficulty in living at peace with the Tranquebar missionaries as he had had at Calcutta with David Brown. He was then per- suaded by Kohlhoff, the head of the S.P.C.K. Mission at Tanjore, to take charge of the Palamcottah Mission in Tinne- velly, where a European missionary was urgently required. This move placed him again on the staff of the S.P.C.K. He
* The Church in Madras, vol. i.
2 Hyde's Parochial Annals of Bengal, p. 253.
2 c 2
388 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
tried to fulfil his duties,^ but his position was difficult if not impossible. He was a Moravian, subject nominally to the L.M.S., at that thne an interdenominational society, and actual^ subject to Kohlhoff of Tanjore, a Lutheran in the service of the S.P.C.K. At the same time Eingeltaube was a man of great mdependence of mind and character. At Palam- cottah he did his work well, and made no attempt to puzzle the native Christians by foundmg a new society. In 1807 he left Palamcottah and went to Travancore, where he was free of the S.P.C.K. and its limitations. There he laid the founda- tion of a strong L.M.S. Mission, with the assistance of one of his Palamcottah converts named Vedamanickam. He remained in Travancore, prmcipally at Maziladi, till 1815, when he returned to Madras with liver complaint in an advanced stage. There he met William Taylor and Marmaduke Thompson the Chaplain, who were impressed with his wild unconventionality and eccentricity as well as by his missionary zeal and Christian conversation. He then sailed to Colombo with a view to embark on a sea voyage to the Cape. As there was no ship going in that direction, he sailed for Malacca and was not again heard of. Probably he died and was buried at sea. His monument was in the hearts of his Travancore converts, who looked kindly on his peculiarities, and understood him next best to his own family. (Fenger, Hough, Taylor, Hyde, and articles in the Madras Mail, March 1905.)
Christian Augustin Jacobi was born in Saxony, 1791 ; he was educated at Leipzig and Halle ; ordained by the Bishop of Zealand at Copenhagen in 1812 ; accepted by the S.P.C.K. in 1813 ; arrived at Tanjore in that year ; and died there in February 1814.
John Peter Bottler was born at Strasburg in 1749 ; he was educated at his native place ; he arrived at Tranquebar in 1776 and remained there till 1806. He then went to Madras as trustee of the Gericke Fund to manage the financial concerns of the mission. Though unconnected with the S.P.C.K. until 1817, he found mission work m the Presidency town, and was placed in charge of the Black Town congregation. His work and counsel were so valuable that the District Committee of the
' The Church in Madras, i. 633.
THE MISSIONARIES 389
S.P.C.K. recommended that he should be permanently employed by the Society. He worked in the Vepery Mission for nineteen years and died in 1836, aged eighty-seven. A tablet in Vepery Church records his work and his many virtues. This was put up by public subscription in Madras ; the S.P.G. added £25 at the request of Mr. E. Clarke. He was an eminent botanist as well as a linguist, grammarian, and translator. His principal works were a translation of the English Book of Common Prayer, and a Tamil dictionary. By will he left his valuable herbarium to the Madras Diocesan Committee of the S.P.G.
J. G. P. Sjperschneider was born at Blankenburg in 1794 ; educated at Leipzig and Jena ; ordained according to the Lutheran rite at Halle in 1818 ; accepted by the S.P.C.K. in 1819, in which year he arrived at Tanjore. Although nominally under Kohlhoff he seems to have had the power of spending the mission money. This he did lavishly in building a mission house. No one has heard of the old Tanjore Vestry Fund since his time. The Madras District Committee were vexed at his extravagance, and recommended his dismissal. His connection with the Society was dissolved in 1828. He appealed to be reinstated, but was refused.
Lawrence Peter Hauhroe was born at Copenhagen in 1791, where he was also educated. He was ordained by the Bishop of Zealand in 1818 ; was accepted by the S.P.C.K. in 1819, and arrived at Madras the same year. There he worked till 1827, when he was moved to Tanjore in consequence of congregational disputes in which he took a prominent part.^ He was a zealous missionary but irritable, and his irritability was probably increased by the climate of Madras. He died at Tanjore in 1830.
David Bosen was born at Ebeltoft in Denmark in 1791, and was educated at Copenhagen. He was ordained by the Bishop of Zealand in 1818 ; was accepted by the S.P.C.K. in 1819, and arrived at Madras the same year. He began his missionary work at Trichinopoly, where he remained till 1824. He was then placed in charge of the mission at Cuddalore, and remained there till 1829. He was then sent to Palamcottah, and remained
' Taylor's Memoir, pp. 307-1-i. Archdeacon Robinson approved of his line of action ; but it was considered w ise to move him to another station.
390 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
there till he was appointed head of a Danish colonisation scheme in the Nicobar Islands. He was accepted by the S.P.G. on the recommendation of Bishop Wilson of Calcutta, and was sent to Mudulur in 1834 ; he retm-ned to Europe sick in 1838, and was gi-anted an allowance of £100 by the S.P.G. during his sickness. He was appointed Pastor of a parish in Zealand, and died m 1862. Rosen was a man of intellectual power and of rationalistic views in his early days. He found it difficult to live with other men less gifted and less informed than himself, and he frequently gave offence to his more simple brethren.
Ernest Auguste George Falke was born in Hanover in 1784 ; he studied at Hehnstadt ; was ordained deacon and priest b}^ the Bishop of London in 1821 ; arrived in Madras in 1822. He frequently visited Vellore as an out-station of the Vepery Mission, and took up his abode there as resident missionary m 1824. At the end of that year he died of cholera at Vepery, greatly regretted by all with whom he had come in contact. ^ He left his personal property to the S.P.C.K. Mission.
The C.M.S. 1814 to 1835
In the year 1814, when the first C.M.S. missionary arrived, the number of S.P.C.K. missionaries in the Carnatic had been reduced to four by the death of Horst. Paezold was at Madras, Pohle at Trichinopoly, Kohlhoff at Tanjore, and Holtzberg at Cuddalore. Dr. Bottler was working at Madras, but he was unconnected with any society at this time. There had been two additions to the S.P.C.K. staff since 1805 ; one died and the other left the Society. Pohle was sixty -nine years of age and Eottler sixty-five ; the three others were men in the prime of life.
John Christian Schnarre.^ — Educated at the Berlin Seminary ; Lutheran orders ; one and a half years under the Rev. T. Scott in England; 1814 to Madras; 1816 to Tranquebar; 1820 to Palamcottah ; died there 1820.
Charles Theophilus Ewald Bhenius. — Born 1790 ; Berlin Seminary ; Lutheran orders ; one and a half years under the Rev. T. Scott ; 1814 to Madras ; 1820 to Palamcottah, invited
' Taylor's Memoir, p. 290.
THE MISSIONARIES 391
by the Eev. J. Hough ; died at Palamcottah 1838. He was the author of a Tamil grammar, and various Tamil translations. His life was written by his son, the Eev. C. J, Ehenius, Chaplain H.E.I.C.S. Ehenius came into collision with the Society's Church principles by ordaining pastors in the Lutheran manner, as the S.P.C.K. missionaries had done in the eighteenth century. Their necessity was the absence of a Bishop in India ; there was no such necessity in 1835. He followed his own will, left the service of the C.M.S., and formed a separate Christian com- munity in Palamcottah and in the District of Tinnevelly. The schism was not healed till after the death of Ehenius in 1838. (See Pettitt's ' Tinnevelly Mission.') He married a Miss Van Someren. His son became a C.M.S. missionary, and his daughter married another C.M.S. missionary, J. J. Muller.
Thomas Norto7i. — Born 1780 ; was trained under the Eev. T, Scott from 1809 to 1813 ; ordained to curacy of St. Saviour's, York, 1813 ; to Alleppee in Travancore 1815, where he died in 1840. Ke was the first English clergyman in the service of the C.M.S. in Southern India. He helped to revise the Malayalim scriptures. He married four times ; one of his sons was a C.M.S. missionary.
Benjaynin Bailey. — Born 1791 at Dewsbury, Yorks ; was trained under the Eev. T. Scott from 1812 to 1815 ; ordained to curacy of Harewood, Yorks, 1815 ; to Cottayam, Travancore, 1816 ; retired 1850. Elected Hon. Life Governor of the C.M.S. ; Eector of Sheinton, Salop, and Eural Dean 1862 to 1871, when he died. He was the founder of the Cottayam Mission. He established the Cottayam Printing Press ; built the Church which is now the Cathedral ; translated the Bible, the Prayer- book, and many other books into Malayalim for his missionary pm-poses. Mrs. Bailey was the first to assist native Syrian Christian girls to an English education.
Thomas Dawson. — Born 1793 at Wakefield, Yorks ; trained under the Eev. T. Scott from 1812 to 1815 ; ordained to curacy of Wetherby, Yorks, 1815 ; to Cochin 1816 ; his health failed and he had to return 1818 ; he married Bailey's sister ; died 1828.
The first three English missionaries in southern India in the service of the C.M.S. were Yorkshiremen.
392 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Bernard E.Sclimidi. — Born 1787 ; educated at the University of Jena ; Lutheran orders ; 1817 to Mayaveram ; 1820 to Palamcottah, where he co-operated with Rhenius. His sym- pathies were with Rhenius in the schism of 1835; he left the coimtry in 1837 before the schism was healed.
Henry Baker. — Born 1793 at Walton on the Naze, Essex ; trained imder the Rev. T. Scott at Dewsbury ; ordained at Gloucester ; went to Travancore 1817 ; died at Cottayam 1866 ; married the niece of the Rev. J. C. Kohlhoff of Tanjore (S.P.C.K.) Mission, and became the father of missionaries — one son and three daughters. He translated various books and pamphlets and tracts into Malayalim.
George Theopliilus Barcnbruck. — Educated at the Berlin Seminary ; Lutheran orders ; underwent several months' trahiing in England under the Rev. T. Scott ; 1817 to Madras ; 1823 to Tranquebar ; 1824 to Mayaveram ; 1831 returned home and retired.
Joseph Fenn. — Born 1790 in the county of Norfolk ; ordained at Norwich 1816 to the ciu-acy of Pakefield ; 1817 to Cottayam, where he was first Principal of the College ; 1826 retired ; became Vicar of Blackheath, and was elected in 1837 an Hon. Life Governor of the C.M.S. ; died in 1878 ; David Fenn, the devoted missionary of the C.M.S. in the south of India, was his son.
James Bidsdalc. — Born 1794 at Hull ; was trained under the Vicar of Dewsbury ; ordained deacon and priest 1819 ; arrived at Madras 1820. He had a difficulty in learning Tamil, and therefore mhiistered to a Eurasian congregation in the John Pereiras district of Madras. He was instrumental in building the Church and the school at that place ; he fell a victim to cholera in 1831.
Isaac Wilso7i. — Born at Hull; trained at Dewsbury and ordained at York 1820 and 1821 ; arrived at Madras 1821. His health gave way and he was sent to Tranquebar, and thence to Bengal for the sea voyage ; died at sea on his way home 1828.
William Sawyer. — Born 1797 at Holme, Yorks. See list of Chaplains, p. 377.
Joseph Fawcett Beddy. — Born 1795 in Ireland ; educated at Trinity College, Dublin ; ordained deacon and priest and
THE MISSIONARIES 393
arrived at Madras 1824 ; ministered at Nellore to Europeans, Eurasians, and native Christians from 1824 to 1826, when his health gave way and he went home. His wife died on the voyage. He graduated B.A. 1826, M.A. 1829, and became Vicar of St. Thomas', Monmouth, in 1832.
Samuel Bidsdale. — Born 1799 at Hull ; trained at Dewsbury 1820 to 1823 ; ordained at York ; arrived at Madras 1824, and was sent to Cochin, where he ministered to Europeans, Eurasians, and natives till 1839 ; died at Stoke Newington, near London, in 1840. He married Juliana Marshall, sister of the Vicar of St. Bride's, Fleet Street ; she died at Stoke Newington in 1874.
John William Dor an. — Born 1800 in Ireland ; educated at Trinity College, Dublin ; B.A. 1824 ; ordained and arrived at Madras 1825 ; succeeded Joseph Femi as Principal of Cottayam College 1826 ; retired 1830. He took the degree of LL.D. soon after his return home. From 1834 to 1846 he was Asso- ciation Secretary of the C.M.S. ; he became Kector of Beeston St. Lawrence, Norfolk, in 1854 ; and died in 1862. He was the first graduate missionary of the C.M.S. in the south of India, for Beddy did not graduate till he had given up mission work.
John Kindlinger. — Born in Austria 1792 ; educated at Basle Seminary ; joined the Netherlands Missionary Society 1820 ; transferred to the C.M.S. and stationed at Pulicat 1827. There he ministered to the Dutch Em-asians and native Christians till 1829, when he died. He married a Miss Van Someren.
John Christian Wincklcr. — Born at Stuttgart 1800 ; educated at Basle Seminary ; joined the Netherlands Missionary Society 1823 ; transferred to the C.M.S. 1827, and retired in 1834.
Paul Pacifique Shafjter. — Born in Switzerland 1801 ; edu- cated at Basle Seminary and the C.M.S. College, Islington ; arrived at Madras 1827, and stationed at Mayaveram ; Palam- cottah, 1831 ; left the C.M.S. with Ehenius 1835 ; re-entertained on the death of Ehenius 1838 ; died at Suviseshapuram in N. Tinnevelly in 1861. He married a Miss Van Someren.
James Baker Morewood. — Born at Beading 1804 ; educated at the Beading Grammar School, and the C.M.S. College, Islington ; ordained at London ; arrived at Madras 1828 ; took charge of the school at Ootacamund for the children of missionaries, and commenced the Nilgiri Mission ; resigned 1835.
394 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
He acted as Chaplain of Ootacamimd on the death of Sawyer in 1832. On his return home he became Chaplain of St. George's Hospital, London.
Charles Blackman. — Born at Chatham 1801 ; educated at the C.M.S. College, Islington ; ordained at London ; arrived at Madras 1830, and appointed headmaster of the school for the sons of missionaries ; in 1831 he succeeded Sawyer as head of the Peramboro Mission ; in 1835 he was sent to Palamcottah to assist Pettitt to restore order in that mission ; returned home and resigned 1842. He became Vicar of Chesham Bois, Bucks, and died in 1868.
Joseph Marsh. — Born at Bonsall, Derbyshire, in 1802 ; educated at the C.M.S. College, Islington ; ordained at London ; arrived at Madras 1830, and died in 1831. He was head of the C.M.S. Institution for the Training of Catechists.
Edward Dent. — Eurasian member of a well-known Madras family ; educated at the Madras Institution for Catechists ; ordained by Bishop Turner of Calcutta 1830. Before ordination he worked as a Catechist in Tinnevelly. His connection with the Society ceased in 1849.
John James Muller. — Born in Wurtemburg 1808 ; educated at the Basle Seminary and the C.M.S. College, Islington; ordained deacon at London 1831 ; and arrived at Madras the same year ; he was sent to Palamcottah to assist Rhenius ; he left the C.M.S. Mission with Rhenius (whose daughter he married) in 1835 ; was re-entertained in 1840 ; died at Madras 1843.
Joseph Peet. — Born near London 1802 ; educated at the C.M.S. College, Islington ; ordained at London ; arrived at Madras 1833, and was at once appointed Principal of the Cottayam College in Travancore ; there he remained for over thirty years, and died in 1865. He translated several works into Malayalim.
George Pettitt. — Born at Birmingham 1808 ; educated at the C.M.S. College, Islington ; ordained at London ; arrived at Madras 1833 ; was sent specially to Palamcottah, and remained there till he returned home in 1847. His patience and wisdom were instrumental in healing the schism of Rhenius, He built the Church. He was the author of ' The Tinnevelly Mission,'
THE MISSIONARIES 395
* Sowing and Reaping,' * Tamil Hymns and Sermons.' In 1856 he became Vicar of St. Jude's, Birmingham ; he died in 1873.
John Tucker was a member of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and graduated in honours (double second class) B.A. 1813. He proceeded M.A. in 1817, and was elected Fellow of his College. After his ordination he was appointed to the charge of the parish of Southborough in Kent. There he remained till 1833, when he went to Madras as secretary of the C.M.S. Corresponding Committee, and Incumbent of the C.M.S. chapel in Black Town ; he was an attractive preacher.
Jolin Michael Lechler. — Born in Wurtemburg 1807 ; edu- cated at Basle Seminary, and the C.M.S. College, Islington ; ordained deacon at London ; arrived at Madras 1833, and sent to Palamcottah. He sided with Rhenius in 1835, and resigned his employment under the C.M.S. On the death of Rhenius he applied to the C.M.S. to be reinstated, but his application was refused after much consideration. He then joined the L.M.S.
William John Woodcock. — Born in London 1809 ; educated at the C.M.S. College, Islington ; ordained at London ; arrived at Madras 1834, and sent at once to Cottayam ; there he remained till 1837, when he was transferred to Jamaica ; he afterwards went to Australia and became Archdeacon of Adelaide.
The S.P.G. 1826 to 1835
When the S.P.G. consented to take over the property and reinforce the mission work of the S.P.C.K. in 1826, there were only five S.P.C.K. missionaries in the south of Lidia : namely, Rottler and Haubroe at Madras ; Kohlhofi: and Sperschneider at Tanjore ; and Rosen at Cuddalore. Since 1814 three of their agents had died : Pohle, Paezold, and Holtzberg. They obtained the services of four other men, Rottler, Haubroe, Sperschneider, and Falke ; but Falke died in 1824. Of the agents at work in 1826 Rottler was seventy-seven years of age and Kohlhoff sixty-four ; the others were young men. At the same time the C.M.S. had eleven agents working in the Archdeaconry. Six were in the Carnatic : namely, Rhenius and Schmidt at
396 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Palaincottah ; Wilson and Barenbruck in the Tranquebar portion of the Tanjore District ; Sawj^er and J. Ridsdale in and around Madras. Their other five missionaries, Norton, Bailey, Baker, Doran, and S. Eidsdale, were on the west coast. The S.P.G. appointed the following men :
Daniel Schreyvogel. — ^Born in Bavaria 1777 ; worked in the Royal Danish ]\Iission at Tranquebar from 1803 to 1826, when he was accepted by Bishop Heber for work under the S.P.G. at Trichinopoly. The Society gave him two years' leave on full pay in 1833. He died in 1840 and was buried at Cuddalore. There are tablets to his memory both at that place and at Trichinopoly.
Peter M. D. Wissing was ordained by the Bishop of Zea- land, and accepted for mission work by the S.P.G. in 1827 ; arrived at Madras 1828. He declined to be licensed by the Archdeacon, and was moved from Madras to Vellore in 1830 ; his health gave way in 1831 and he returned home.
John Heavy side was the fii'st English-born missionary of the S.P.G. in India ; educated at St. Bees ; when accepted by the Society in 1829 he was described as of Wakefield in the county of York. He was ordained deacon at London 1829, and priest at St. George's Church, Madras, in 1830 ; his appointment was that of Headmaster of the Vepery Seminary for Catechists. In 1831 his health failed and he returned to England. He applied for leave to go back to his work, but the Society refused on the ground that the climate was too much for him ; but they recommended him to the Colonial Office for an appointment as a colonial Chaplain in South Africa. He was sent to Grahams- town in 1833, and remained there for over a quarter of a century. During that time he built the Church at Fort Beaufort ; the S.P.G. contributed £100 towards the cost.
George Bunhar Haugldon. — Born 1808 ; second son of the Eev. John Haughton of St. Giles', Reading, Berks ; matriculated at Worcester College, Oxford, 1826 ; B.A. 1829 ; accepted by the Society 1830 ; ordained at London. He was the first graduate in the service of the S.P.G. in South India. He arrived in Madras in 1830, but he was forced by ill health to return to England in 1831. He was not beneficed on his return home. He was living at Basingstoke in 1842.
THE MISSIONARIES 397
Adam Compton TJiomjpson ^ was accepted by the S.P.G. in 1830. He was then master of a grammar school at Wooler in the county of Northumberland ; he submitted testhnonials from the authorities of the University of Edinburgh, but he did not graduate there ; he was ordained priest at Tanjore in January 1835. On arrival he was stationed at Tanjore 1830 ; Negapatam 1833 ; Headmaster of the Vepery Seminary for Catechists 1836. He was reheved of this charge by the Madras Diocesan Committee in 1837 without the sanction of the Bishop, and the S.P.G. drew their attention to this infringement of rule. In 1839 he was made secretary of the M.D.C., but owing to the illness of his wife he returned to England in that year. The M.D.C. wrote (Secretary, the Eev. G. Knox, Chaplain) in 1840 to the Society that they did not wish him to return and resume office. The Standing Committee acquiesced without impugning his character 3 as a missionary. They recommended him for a colonial chaplaincy in Australia, and he did good work at Melbourne from 1840 to 1847.
Charles Calthwp was educated at St. John's College, Cam- bridge ; graduated B.A. in 1833 ; ordained deacon at London the same year. On arrival he was stationed at Madras 1833 ; ordained priest at Madras 1835 ; Tanjore 1836 ; and was brought back to Madras in 1840 to be Head of the Vepery Seminary. He died in 1841.
Valentine Daniel Coomhes. — Born in Lidia and educated at Bishop's College, Calcutta ; accepted by the Society in 1835 on the recommendation of the Bishop of Calcutta ; ordained deacon at Calcutta 1833 and priest 1835 at Tanjore. He was stationed at Tanjore 1834 ; Combaconum 1837, where he died in 1844.
Thomas Carter Simpson. — Educated at the Clergy Orphan School, which was then near London, and at Bishop's College, Calcutta, where he was from 1825 to 1828. He was ordained deacon at Calcutta and priest at Tanjore in January 1835. He was stationed at Tanjore 1833 ; Trichinopoly 1834 ; Negapatam 1836-37. He then went to Australia on sick leave.
^ In the records his name is sometimes spelled Thomson. - The action of the M.D.C. was due to their suspicion that A. C. Thompson's views were Tractarian.
398 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
On his return to Lidia he was stationed at Calcutta till 1849, when he returned home owing to ill health.
Edward Jarrett Jones. — Born 1810 ; arrived at Calcutta in 1832 with Bishop Wilson of Calcutta ; was a student at Bishop's College, Calcutta ; ordained deacon at Calcutta 1833 and priest at Tanjore 1835. Stationed at Tanjore 1833-34, and at Cuddalore 1834-42, when he died. It is recorded on the monument over his grave that he was at the time of his death domestic missionary Chaplain to the Bishop of Madras. He ministered at Cuddalore to Europeans and Eurasians whilst carrymg on his mission work. All joined together in placmg a tablet in the old Church to his memory and recording ' the exemplary performance of his pastoral duties,' and his affec- tionate disposition which ' gained for him the most fihal love and confidence of his people.'
Dauid Rosen.— Bee the S.P.C.K. list, p. 389.
John Ludovick Irion was a Lutheran minister employed by the C.M.S. In 1828 the C.M.S. were reducing expenditure, and consented that Won should be transferred to the S.P.G., if required. The transfer was recommended by Archdeacon Robinson, and the Society consented ' if he has been episco- pally ordained, or willing to be.' Meanwhile he remained in Madras as assistant to Dr. Eottler. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Wilson at Tanjore in January 1835, and priest at St. George's Church, Madras, on February 18 following. He was stationed at Nazareth from that date until 1839, when he went to England on sick leave. Being unable to return through continued ill health he was pensioned by the Society.
Of the forty-nine missionaries working in the Archdeaconry of Madras between 1805 and 1835 twenty-seven died in the country, five were invalided home, and seventeen retired after various periods of work.
The S.P.C.K. missionaries were mostly trained in German or Danish Universities.
Of the C.M.S. missionaries one was educated at the Jena University, three at the Berlin Seminary ; five at the Basle Seminary ; two came fi'om Trinity College, Dublin ; one from
I
THE MISSIONARIES 399
Oxford, who was also a Fellow of his college ; and the rest were either at the C.M.S. College, Islington, or privately trained in England.
Of the S.P.G. missionaries one was at the Copenhagen University ; one at St. Bees ; one at Edinburgh ; one was a graduate of Oxford and one of Cambridge ; and the rest were either at Bishop's College, Calcutta, or were privately trained in England.
All alike were men of fair literary standing and of educational accomplishments.
ArPENDICES
APPENDIX I
NOTES AND CORRECTIONS OF ERRORS IN THE FORMER VOLUME
Page 8. Henry Golding died at Surat in 1620. It was another clergyman of the same name who became Vicar of Marks Tey in 1633."
Page 9, line 14. Delete the ' not.' Sec ' Notes and Queries/ 9th S. iii. 285.
Page 182, line 14. For ' Chaplains ' read ' Chaplain.'
Page 218, lines 3-9. In ' The Founding of Fort St. George,' by W. Foster, there is a letter on p. 16 dated 1661, in which it is stated that the two French Capucliins were found at Madraspatam when the English first went there. The story of Hough is different, and is borne out by Pere Norbert, the Capuchin historian, who says :
' On June 8, 1642, the Portuguese inhabitants of Fort St. George petitioned the President that F. Ephraim de Nevers, French mission- ary Capuchin, be appointed as Cure. Andrew Cogan, Thomas Vinter, and Henry Greenhill thereupon called upon Padre Ephraim to state his wishes. Padre Ephraim replied that his wish was to be sent on to Pegu, but that he would submit himself to the Governor's orders. On the same date the above Council ordered Ephraim to stay. The Governor added : "Je veux et ordonne que Ton batisse une Eglise dans un Ueu convenable." ' — ' Memoirs, &c.,' by Pere Norbert, pp. 93-95, ed. 1742.
Page 219, line 18. See the ' Storia do Mogor,' by Manuchi-Irvine, iv. 456.
Page 230, note 2. See also ' India Office Records,' Home Series, Miscellaneous, vol. 59, in which there is a copy of the Decree of the Congreg. Gen. de Prop. Fide. ' The missionaries Apostoliques, principally the regular clergy called Theatins, in every part of the world are subject only to us.'
Page 231, note 7. For ' Cranganore ' read ' Goa.'
Page 246, line 1. Substitute ' which continued until Mr. Duncan became deranged, and was removed from his office by Archdeacon Robinson at his Visitation in 1830 ' (Archdeacon's Records).
APPENDIX I 401
Page 255, line 6 from bottom. The inscription is more correctly this— 'Zion's Kirkes Alter Beqeri Tranquebar Forfoerdiset Anno 1689 Af H. C. Winther i Kiobenhavn.' Alter beqeri is the Altar cup (beaker).
Page 2bQ, lines 2 to 10. Read ' Blauenhan, Dotter, Pauch.'
Page 256, line 12. Substitute for ' Denmark ' ' the Diocesan Registry Madras.' When the Venerable H. B. Hyde was Arch- deacon, the records of the Registrar were overhauled, and many interesting Dutch, Danish, and English records and documents were found.
Page 286, line 10 from bottom. Read ' Geister.'
Page 288, line 6. The property consists of about 114 acres of wet land.
Page 295, line 2 from bottom. For ' Joseph ' write ' George ' ; also in Index.
Page 296, line U. For ' 1891 ' read ' 1894.'
Page 368, line 10. The burial of Sir Eyre Coote took place under the gallery. The gallery stood out further in the Church in those days ; the grave was in a hne with the north and south doors. See De Rozario's ' Complete Monumental Register,' 1815, p. 194. Also ' Selections from Calcutta Gazettes,' by Seton Karr, ii. 322.
Page 380, line 7 from bottom. ' Archdeacon ' Leslie. See p. 678.
Page 385, lines 10 and 11 from bottom. For ' southern ' read ' northern ' and for ' north ' read ' south.'
Page 398, line 3. The burial of Colonel Moorhouse took place under the gallery, close to the spot where Sir Eyre Coote was buried. See ■ Selections from Calcutta Gazettes,' by Seton Karr, ii. 321, where the Madras Courier of December 22, 1791, is quoted.
Page 398, line 24. The wife of Governor ElHot was buried by Bishop Middleton, who had just arrived on his second Visitation tour. See W. Taylor's ' First Hundred Years,' &c., p. 182.
Page 400. James Wooley. The spelhng of this name has been altered in course of time. He spelt his name himself with one ' 1.' Wooley lost his Ufe in a duel at Pondicherry. See ' Selections from Calcutta Gazettes,' by Seton Karr, ii. 212, 215.
Page 410, line 15. For ' George ' read ' Christopher.'
Page 469, line 11. Read ' Monsignor de Tabraca, whose assistant was the titular Bishop of DoUche.' This place with a Greek name was in north-east Syria. Pierre Brigot, titular Bishop of Tabraca, Vicar Apostolic of Siam, was appointed Superior of the Roman Catholic Mission at Pondicherry in 1776. He died in 1791. Nicholas Champenois, titular Bishop of Doliche, was consecrated coadjutor to Bishop Brigot in 1787, and succeeded him as Superior of the Pondicherry Mission in 1791. He died at Pondicherry in 1810. See ' Madras R. C. Directory for 1872,' p. 109.
Page 490, line 14. This son, Captain George Frederick Gericke, died in 1801, aged thirty.
VOL. II. 2 D
402 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Page 504, note. Beside the three portrait painters mentioned, Smart, Humphrey, and Wheatley, there were four others in India at about the same period : namely, Zoft'any, who painted Mrs. Warren Hastings ; Devis, who painted her illustrious husband ; Home ; and Thomas Hickey. The portrait given by the Rajah to Bishop Middle- ton is now in the Board Room of the S.P.C.K. at Northumberland Avenue. It is somewhat different from the portrait engraved in Pearson's " Life.' As a work of art it occupies a high place.
Pa(je 50G, line 9. For ' 1774 ' read ' 1778.'
Page 518. In the space in the middle of the page should be this heading : ' The Sullivan Schools.'
Page 555, line 4. The position of the two houses owned by the Vestry is uncertain. According to the Vestry Minute Book, under date 1768, one of the houses was in James Street. The position of James Street is the subject of doubt. On page 100 there is a diagram of the Fort and its streets as they were in 1687. James Street was then on the south side of the Fort. In a map dated 1733, which is reproduced in Mrs. Penny's " History of Fort St. George,' p. 152, James Street and James Alley disappeared altogether ; James Street became Church Street. I suggest that this change of nomenclature was made for poUtical reasons. In 1768 the name James Street appears again. Whether it was the original James Street, or another street, is uncertain. Colonel Love, R.E., thinks that it was another street in the northern part of the Fort.
Page 562. There is a mistake in the diagram of the ' Church Lodging.' Instead of being separated from the tower of the Church, as shown in the diagram, the Chaplain's house abutted the tower on all three sides ; on the west side, entirely ; on the north and south sides, about one-third of the tower's length.
Page 575, line 10 from bottom. Bishop Heber died on April 3, 1826. St. Matthias', Vepery, was dedicated to God for worship soon afterwards. At first the two Presidency Chaplains, Roy and Moorsom, conducted the Enghsh services, and the missionaries conducted the Tamil and Portuguese services.^
Page bll, line 10. Besides the sum of Rs.27,813 paid for the building, the Government paid Rs.6500 for the purchase of a site for the new mission Church. ^
Page 582, line 13 from bottom. ' Diener ' was intended ; but the Dutch would probably have used another word.
Page 588, line 4. The second explosion at Trichinopoly took place on February 14, 1772. See Appeiidix II.
Page 588, line 7 jrom bottom. The old Vestry Minute Book was found among the mission records by the Rev. J. A. Sharrock in 1905. See Appendix II.
' Taylor's First Hundred Years, p. 336. - Despatch, July 19, 1848, 5, Eccl.
APPENDIX I 403
Page 596, line 10 from bottom. For ' 1807 ' read ' 1811/
Page 598, line 16 from bottom. For ' ordained ' read ' appointed.' Search has been made for evidence of Fenger's assertion of Schrey- vogel's ordination, but without success.
Page 599. Delete Note 3.
As to General Matthew Home it is of interest to note that he served at Manilla under Draper, and at the defence of Fort St. George in 1758 ; he was the friend and A.D.C. of General Joseph Smith (' Selections from Calcutta Gazettes,' ii. 505).
Page 602, line 13. For ' 1833 ' read ' 1840.' The rebelhon of the ruler of Kurnoul took place in 1838.
Page 625, last line. For ' 1826 ' read ' 1828,' and for ' Wessing ' read ' Wissing.'
Page 632, line 7. Jaenicke's headquarters were at Tanjore ; he itinerated in the Districts of Madura and Tinnevelly ; his diary is preserved at Tanjore.
Page 634, line 13 from bottom. For ' 1820 ' read ' 1821.'
Page 640, last line. Colonel Martinz was born in 1740 and died in 1810. (See J. J. Cotton's " Inscriptions.') WiHiam Wheatley died the same year.
Page 642. The chapel built at Ramnad by Colonel Martinz fell down in 1824, with the exception of the porch. The side walls were too slender to support the heavy arched roof. (S.P.G. Report, 1826.) This shows that the pattern was the same as that of Christ Church, Trichinopoly. It was rebuilt in 1826 at the expense of the Zemiudari Charity Fund by order of Mr. D. Bannerman, the Sub-Collector, and was finished by Mr. R. Nelson, his successor. Mr. Rous Peter, known by the natives as ' the Pandian,' was the Collector of Madura at the time. The new chapel measured 40 X 20 feet and had a tiled roof. The porch measured 12 X 15 feet. At the entrance this inscription was graven on stone :
Repaired from the Charity Fund of the Zemindari. a.d. 1826.
The cost was Rs.ll50, and the number of Christians in the place was one hundred.
This was the Church that was pulled down about 1860 to make room for a better one. The walls of the new Church were raised a few feet when the missionary, Thomas Henry Suter, died, and the work was stopped. Nothing was done till 1873, when George Bilhng went to Ramnad. He raised about 5000 rupees and completed the building in 1875. A good photograph of it was reproduced in ' The Steep Ascent,' by Miss Thomas.
Page 663, last line. Robert Tutchin was a Puritan and a ' Trier ' for examining candidates for the Puritan ministry, 1646 (Bayley's ' Civil War in Dorset,' pp. 435, 444).
Page 664, last lines. Patrick Warner's Orders are uncertain.
2 D 2
404 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
His being a Scotchman does not necessarily mean that he was a Presbyterian.
Page 675, line 3 from bottom. Before the word ' roll ' read ' graduate.' Charles Griffiths matriculated at Hertford College, Oxford, 1744-45, aged eighteen, being the son of Thomas Griffiths of Woolaston, Northamptonshire ; but he did not graduate.
Page 680, lines 9 and 10 fro)n bottom. Delete all the words from
■ the chapel ' to ' London ' inclusive. The plate was given to the episcopal chapel of St. Andrews, N.B., and a duplicate of it was given to the chapel of the National School, Ely Place, London (see Lawson's
■ Memories of Madras,' p. 214).
Page 681, line 20. For ' George ' read ' Christopher.' From the ' Register of Outgarrisons' preserved at Fort St. George and published by Mrs. F. Penny (Pollard, Exeter, 1907), it appears that Dr. Wells was at Vellore in 1789, and at Wallajahbad, Tripassore, Madras, Vellore, and Caroor in 1790.
Page 681, line 11 from bottom. Delete the words from ' preferred ' to ' fleet ' inclusive. Dr. Wells died at Bangalore at the end of the year 1791. Urquhart says : ' The Rev. Dr. Wells, a man of the utmost suavity of manners and genuine piety. He was Chaplain and Pay- master to the Army in the Field, Chaplain to the Earl of Harecourt, and to the Hon. Commodore Cornwallis, and Rector of Leigh in the county of Worcester ' (Urquhart's ' Obituary,' ii. 76).
Page 681. Richard Hall Kerr and Richard Kerr were one and the same person. By taking the extra name of Hall he made identifica- tion difficult. He graduated B.A. at Dublin in 1788. Kerr had a child baptised at Fort St. George in 1800 by name Charles Lewis, which connects him with the Rev. Lewis Kerr. In the will of the Rev, John Kerr, R. H. Kerr's cousin, mention is made of Lewis Kerr, R. H. Kerr's father, and John Kerr's uncle.
Page 682, line 8 from bottom. The date is April 1803.
Page 684, line 7 from bottom. Compare Sullivan's views on p. 518.
Page 688. James Estcourt Atwood was born in 1758, being the son of the Rev. Thomas Atwood, Curate and Lecturer of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and grandson of the Venerable Archdeacon Atwood of Taunton. His brother George Atwood was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge (' Encyclop. Brit.').
J. E. Atwood entered Westminster School 1768, and matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1775. He is said to have entered the army in 1780 and served in the 99th Regt. previous to his ordination in 1783. He became Rector of Saxhngliamin Norfolk, and Chaplain to the Duke of St. Albans. He died at St. Thomas' Mount in 1810, and was buried by the Rev. John Kerr. The officers of the Madras Artillery erected a monument over his grave.
Page 689. Edward Vaughan married secondly Harriette, widow of Colonel James Colebrooke, C.B., of the Madras Army. On retire-
APPENDIX II
405
ment he lived at Loddiswell House, near Kingsbridge, Devon, and died there in 1849, leaving a family. The Commission of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury referred to is mentioned in the following documents :
Letter, February G, 1810, 296, Pubhc.
Despatch, February 22, 1811, 28, Public
Letter, January 10, 1812, 38, Public.
Despatch, January 29, 1813, 7, Public.
Archdeacon's Act Book under date 1819.
Page 690. Nearly all those Lutheran missionaries were ordained by the Bishop of Zealand.
Page 691. Gericke is mentioned in Benjamin Heyne's Tour. Schreyvogel ; for ' ordained ' read ' accepted.' Holtzberg was Chaplain of the Regiment de Meuron after it came into the Company's Service (see Letter, February 12, 1806, 239, 240, Mihtary).
Pafje 692, line 8. For ' 1802 ' read ' 1803.'
Rosen resigned his S.P.C.K. work in 1830 ; he was re-emploved by the S.P.G. from 1834 to 1838 at Mudulur.
Index. Add :
Baptism bonus, 107
Catechism bonus, 73
Company :
Discouragement of connection with mission work, 247, 271, 576, 600, 637
Covenant, 439
Croke, Isabella, 399
Cornwallis, Commodore, after- wards K.C.B. and Naval C.-in-C, 377
De Meuron, 290
Gericke, Capt. G. F., 490
Knipe, Charles, Major, 177, 302
Morals, 419
Probate of R. C. Wills, 205
Read, Alexander, Capt., 532
Ringeltaube, 633
Roman Catholics :
St. Andrew's, 236, 238, 331, 335, 457 S.P.G. :
European and Eurasian policy in India, 247-49, 601 Schwartz :
Portraits, 504 Wissing, P.. 625-26
APPENDIX II
THE TRICHINOPOLY VESTRY
The first minute book of the proceedings of the Vestry was found by the Rev. J. A. Sharrock among the mission records at Christ Church in the Fort in 1905. The Rev. Joseph Wright, who was Chaplain of Trichinopoly in 1826, had had access to this book. He had to contend with Schreyvogel as to the separate existence of the Vestry Fund and the Mission Fund. He made use of the direct proof which this book affords.
406 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
The account given in the former vokime i of the origin of the Vestry Fund and the Vestry School is now found to be correct. Schwartz had been given 600 pagodas, as has been rehated, for the benefit of the orphan Eurasiun children. From time to time collec- tions were made in the garrison for the same purpose. The whole of the money was in the charge of the Paymaster. Schwartz managed the school. In February 1771 both he and the officers desired a meeting of subscribers ' for the settling of collections made for the benefit of the Poor children.' A meeting took place on March 2.1771. There were present eight military officers, the Paymaster (a civilian), and Schwartz the Chaplain. It was not a Vestry meet- ing, there was no Vestry at the time ; there was desire for one, in order that the parish funds might be properly held and accounted for, and the concerns of the Church and school administered. Mr. James Hay, the Paymaster, presented his accounts, which showed a credit balance of 1021 pagodas, and the gentlemen present resolved to meet again ' on Monday the 4th of the month for the nominating and appointing proper Churchwardens for setthng the number of cliildren to be educated, maiutained and clothed by the said Church Fund, and also the amount that may be thought necessary to be allowed for the same.'
They met accordingly ~ and appointed a Vestry, viz. :
Mr. James Hay ) Churchwardens.
Major Edward James I
Captain Robert Kellvl o- ^
n X ■ T> T -n " bidesmen.
Captam P. 1. Povery j
Lieut. James Lambellais, Secretary.
The newly constituted Vestry resolved to maintain ten children in the Vestry School and appoint two schoolmasters to teach them. They calculated the cost would be 214 pagodas per annum, and they reckoned upon meeting this cost by means of the interest on their capital and by monthly collections in the Church.
This was the origin of the Vestry, the Vestry Fund, and the Vestry School. The fund and the school had existed from the time of the first explosion in 1763; but they were not called Vestry Fund and Vestry School till the Vestry was formally established in 1771.
The Vestry Fund, Uke that at St. Mary's, Fort St. George, was not intended for the sole purpose of supporting the school. At this same meeting Mr. Schwartz was asked to give an account of his expenditure over the furniture '■'> of the Church, in order that he
• Pp. 585 and 588. - Vestry Meeting, March 4, 1771.
•' ' And he [the Rev. Mr. Schwartz] Mill likewise be so good at the same time to give in an account of whatever other charges he has been at for the sundrj' things found by him for the use of the said Church, such as tables, benches, chairs, &c., that the same may be brought to account accordingly.' Nothing was said about the cost of the building.
APPENDIX II 407
might be repaid. And at the next meeting it was resolved not only to purchase two houses in the Churchyard for the scliool children, but to erect a singing gallery at the west end of the Church for the boys, and to carry out some necessary repairs of the building.
At the same meeting an inventory was made of the furniture of the Church and recorded in the Minute Book as the property of the Vestry. It included :
One silver cup. Forty-nine benches.
Two silver plates. Four tables.
Two brass candlesticks. One piece of red silk.
Three couches. Three shades.
Nine chairs. Two side globes.
From this time forward there were regular meetings of the Vestry whenever they were required. The Vestry Fund was lent at 12 per cent. ; and the monthly collections were more than sufl&- cient to defray the cost of the school and to pay the Church expenses.
The Church building was damaged by the explosion of February 1772, and was repaired at the cost of the Vestry Fund. Following the example of the St. Mary's Vestry at Fort St. George, the Trichinopoly Vestry resolved to make a charge of Ils.20 for opening a grave in the Churchyard, and placing the money to the credit of the Vestry Fund. The first persons to pay the fee were the executors of Colonel James Butler.
In 1773 the Church collections averaged 15 pagodas a month.
In 1774 the Vestry had 2000 pagodas invested at 10 per cent. This enabled them to increase the number of children. They there- fore took into their care some orphan Eurasian girls, and placed them in charge of the schoolmasters' wives. In this same year it is recorded that Mr. Alexander Davidson presented the Church with two branch chandeliers, and Mr. William Wynch became Cash Keeper.
In 1775 the number of girls was increased, and it was resolved to acquaint parents that they must not interfere in any way whatsoever with their children while in the Charity School without the permission of the Vestry.
In 1778 Schwartz went to Tanjore and was succeeded by the Rev. Christian Pohle. Wynch was succeeded as Paymaster by Thomas Palk, who became Cash Keeper like his predecessors.
In 1782 the Vestry Fund amounted to 2500 pagodas, and it was invested in the Company's Cash at 10 per cent.
In the first ten years of the school the majority of the children had German and Swiss names. The Company had in their service at the time many soldiers of those nationahties. In 1785 the majority of the children had British names. Some were paid for by their fathers ; some had no fathers living.
408 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
General Sir Henry Cosby presided at one meeting in 1785, and General Matthew Home at another.
In 1786 the invested capital amounted to 3300 pagodas. Some repairs were carried out at the Church and the number of boys was increased to fourteen. In the follo^ving year the capital was in- creased to 3600 pagodas ; some more repairs were done at the Church and the school-house ; the number of the (children was increased to fifteen, and the domestic staff was added to.
In 1787 the Vestry resolved that in future no children should be permitted to benefit from the Church Charity unless their relations consented to let the Vestry have the entire disposal of them, ' as they are the best judges how to situate them.' And they further resolved that if any of the parents of the children then in the school were unwilHng to leave the disposal of the children to the Vestry, the children should be returned to them.
The disposal of the children has always been a difficulty from the time Eurasian schools existed. The custom of the Trichinopoly Vestry was to apprentice them at about the age of fourteen to officers and their wives. As a rule tlie boys became bandsmen ; some were apprenticed to the Company's Surgeons, and the girls found husbands ; but the mothers were not always satisfied with the arrangements made.
Schwartz and Pohle were missionaries and Chaplains at the same time. It was certain that without extreme care the property of the Vestry and the mission would be mixed up. To prevent this Schwartz went over to Trichinopoly from Tanjore in 1787 and attended the July Vestry meeting ' in order to clear up some doubts relative to the disposal of the houses and buildings attached to the Church,' and laid before the Vestry the following written explanation :
' The Church was built by the kind subscription of the garrison. Three different subscriptions were made by which about 2000 pagodas were collected. Colonel Wood, knowing that that sum would not suffice to finish the building, particularly if we met with any accident, contributed privately above 500 pagodas.
' When all was finished I was indebted to Governor Abbeste above 200 pagodas and 40 to Mr. Hay for teak planks and iron, which I paid from my salary, 19 months.i
' The gentlemen of the Vestry, among whom were Colonel James, Mr. Hay and Colonel Kelly, proposed to reimburse me from the Church money ; which offer, though proceeding from kindness, I did not think proper to accept of. The Vestry thanked me for it in a minute which accidentally is torn out.3
' Schwartz' salary at that time was £50 a j'ear from the Government as Chaplain + £50 a year from the S.P.C.K. as missionary. Pagodas 240 = £96. Possibly 19 is a copyist's error.
- See Vestry, March 4, 1771, p. 400.
APPENDIX II 409
' Having paid off all which I owed I began to repair my house, having previously obtained permission from His Highness the Nabob by means of Mr. Boswell.
' Colonel Wood made me a present of timber. I went on slowly in my work, being obliged to make many a stop in it.
' Having 1000 pagodas which I got at Madura, partly from the Nabob, partly from the army, I used the interest to build the house for the schoolmaster and some teachers of natives ; I built their houses, except the last, which the Vestry built for the second school- master.
' Not knowing the future circumstances which may happen in the country the Vestry at Tanjore admonished me to have it minuted down by whom the houses in Tanjore were built ; and so I request the same favour of the gentlemen of the Vestry at Trichinopoly.
' Totally disclaiming all private property, I intend only by this true enumeration to have the right of the mission and future missionaries ascertained, that the public may lay no claim on those houses as long as the mission continueth.
' Likewise are the ten houses in the Fort and those in Warriore in two places built by me for the benefit of poor widows.'
' Resolution. — The Vestry having taken the Rev. Mr. Schwartz' letter into consideration are unanimously of opinion that the house and buildings alluded to in that address are the sole property of the Mission at Trichinopoly, and cannot with propriety be taken from them as long as the Mission continues at that station.' •
This resolution was signed by all ' the gentlemen of the Vestry ' in July 1787. They were General Matthew Home, Mr. Thomas Palk, the Rev. Christian Pohle, Mr. James Whyte, and Captain Richard Chase. The resolution and the letter make it quite clear that the Vestry property was different and apart from the mission property.
After this there was no meeting for more than two years. Mr. Samuel Johnson, the Paymaster, remained Treasurer of the Vestry Fund. But no meeting is recorded in the Minute Book. The exodus of the bulk of the British troops from the Fort in 1785 prob- ably had a good deal to do with this absence of meetings. When the officers of the garrison lived at some distance outside the Fort it was not so easy for them to attend Vestry meetings as it was before. There were two meetings in 1790, one in 1791, and no other meeting till August 1793.
' These could not have been the houses purchased for the school purposes in 1771, for Schwartz ^\•as privy to their purchase. This is the record of it. ' A vestry being called by the Rev. Mr. Schwartz met this morning and pro- ceeded to settle with Flora Johnson and Manuel for their houses, which being built on the Church ground, the Vestry think proper to buj' for the use of the Charity boys ; and have agreed to pay the former twenty and the latter five pagodas for their goodwill of them.' — Vestry Meeting, March 28, 1771.
410 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
In 1794 Major-General Floyd commanded the Southern Division. He took a Uvely interest in the affairs of the Church. In that year tliere were four Vestry meetings ; at one of them it was resolved to ask the Government to repair the Church, and the request was ac?eded to. Reguhir meetings were held during his tenure of the command until 1798. There were two meetings in 1799, and then a gap of two years, when Major-General Bridges presided at a meeting in March 1801. Eighteen months passed before another meeting took place. By that time Major-General Pater had arrived. During his command there was an annual meeting of the Vestry. His successors, Major-Generals Gowdie, Fuller, and Wilkinson, continued the annual meetings till 1812, when St. John's Church in the new cantonment was opened.
When there were no Vestry meetings Pohle made notes of what he did on his own authority in the Minute Book, and his actions came up for sanction at the next meeting.
The principal work of the Vestry was the care of the Church and school buildings, the administration of the Vestry School itself, and the investment of the Vestry Fund.
Up to 1782 the fund had been lent out on interest locally. In that year it was decided to invest it in Government Bonds. From that time mi til 1790 there was some inconvenience felt in having the Bond at Trichinopoly, so far away from Madras where the interest was paid. It was therefore resolved to ask Mr. W. Duflfin of the Company's Medical Service, at that time stationed at Madras, to take charge of the Bond and to act as agent of the Vestry. Duffin was formerly stationed at Trichinopoly and knew the affairs of the Vestry.i At the end of 1791 he embarked for England, and by request of the Vestry handed over the Bond to the Rev. C. W. Gericke, the S.P.C.K. missionary at Madras, who kept possession of it till his death in 1803. It was then deposited with a firm of Madras agents. Messieurs Harington & Co. With them it remained until 1812, when the Bond was paid off. When the money was re- invested the interest was made payable at Madras ' to my agent, Frederick Zscherpel, Conductor.' This action of Pohle's was approved at the Vestry held on December 22, 1812, at which Colonel John Dighton and Mr, John Read, the Senior Judge, were present.
Between 1771 and 1812 the fund was carefully nursed by the Vestry, and at the latter date it amounted to a little more than 5000 pagodas. During that time it was used as at the beginning for Vestry purposes, namely the expenses and repairs of the Church and furniture and the upkeep of the Vestry School.
After 1812 it would appear in the absence of evidence to have been administered by Christian Pohle alone until his death in 1818.
' He was a friend of Schwartz, and is frequently mentioned in Dean Pearson's Life of Schwartz,
APPENDIX III 411
Being sucli a man as he was there is no reason to doubt that he used it for the purposes for which it was raised. His death made a differ- ence, for he was succeeded by men who did not know what those purposes were, and who had no Vestry to remind them. They used it for their mission purposes as well until 1826, and then contended that the fund was a mission fund. The Rev, Joseph Wright, the Chaplain, did well to open an inquiry about it, and the authorities did the right thing when they transferred the administration of the fund to the new Vestr}'- of St. John's, and the Vestry School to the cantonment.
The following Civil Servants of the Company were Paymasters of the Trichinopoly garrison, and Treasurers of the Vestry Fund from 1771 to 1805 :
|
Year. |
Tear. |
||
|
James Hay . |
. 1771 |
Thomas Palk |
. 1780 |
|
Samuel Johnson |
. 1772 |
Samuel Johnson |
. 1787 |
|
Alexander Davidson |
. 1772 |
Edward Garrow |
. 1790 |
|
William Wynch |
. 1774 |
WiUiam Hawkins . |
. 1793 |
|
Henry Morris |
. 1779 |
Then succeeded Christian Pohle in 1805.
There is no doubt that this valuable old record book should be in the charge of the Chaplain of Trichinopoly.
APPENDIX III
THE TANJORE VESTRY
The discovery of the Trichinopoly Vestry Minute Book throws some light also upon the existence of a similar Vestry and Vestry Fund at Tan j ore. References were made to both in the former volume, but it was not possible to give much information about either. In the old Trichinopoly Minute Book there are two references to the Tanjore Vestry.
1. Before the meeting of October 25, 1786, is inserted a copy of a portion of the ' Proceedings of the Tanjore Vestry ' dated October 10, 1786. Thus :
' Vestry
Fort Tanjore, October 10, 1786.
' The Rev. Mr. Schwartz represents that his school at present consists of thirty children of European officers, privates, &c., and children of natives who desire to learn the English language ; that of the above number ten children of Europeans are maintained by their parents or from the funds of their deceased parents ; the remainder are subsisted from his own income besides the schoolmasters who receive a' salary.
412 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
' He represents that His Excellency the Rajah had promised yearly an aid of 500 pagodas ; but from the exigency of liis situation it had not yet been fiilfilled. He submits whether it would be improper to state to the Honourable Government of Madras the condition of the school, and so pray their aid in support of it ; and he conceives from the experience of many years that many children who are instructed in writing might be made useful i to the Honourable Company in their various offices at the Presidency and the out- garrisons.
' The Vestry are of opinion that it would be by no means improper to submit the foregoing statement to the Honourable the Governor, and to humbly solicit his influence with Government to patronise so laudable an Institution.
' The Commandant of the garrison, the Resident, and the Pay- master have severally agreed to contribute 10 pagodas per month to the Institution, and enter a minute of Vestry recommending a similar contribution to their successors in office ; and the Rev, Mr. Schwartz is requested to address the Hon. the Governor on the subject.
(Signed) J. S. which stands for John Sullivan.
I. C. H. „ „ J. C. Hudleston.
C. F. S. „ „ C. F. Schwartz.
W. H.' „ „ W. Harington.
Then follows Schwartz' letter :
' Hon'ble Sir,
■ It has been my sincere wish to promote the education of the neglected children of officers and soldiers in this country. As far as I could I have tried to make them useful members of society. With some I have succeeded. But as my endeavours were not equal to my wishes, I have more than once addressed the Hon. Government to help me, that I might be able to keep proper school- masters, not only to teach English but Malabar and Moorish likewise ; and I had the satisfaction of their full approbation and promise of aid, but the frequent confusion of war engaged the first attention of Government to the quelling of those disturbances. Peace being now restored, I set about building a proper house in the Fort for the purpose of the education of children. I have about 30. ... If I were somewliat assisted '^ . . . The gentlemen of the Vestry observing my intention have declared themselves -willing to assist my under- taking by their intercession and purse. This their willingness to coincide with my intention has occasioned this address which I humbly offer to your kind consideration.'
The Tanjore Vestry Minute Book, from which the foregoing is manifestly an extract, is not known to be in existence now.
The Madras Government recommended the Directors to sanction
' The Church in Madras, i. 518. '^ Copy imperfect.
APPENDIX IV 413
help ill 1786. The Directors did so in the following year, granting 250 pagodas per annum. The Tanjore English school was for Eurasian and higher class native boys.
2. The Trichinopoly Vestry Minute Book contains a statement which Schwartz made in writing to the Trichinopoly Vestry, which is inserted in the record of the meeting of July 1787. In this written statement there is this reference to the Tanjore Vestry : ' Not knowing the future circumstances which may happen in the country the Vestry at Tanjore admonished me to have it minuted down by whom the houses in Tanjore were built ; and so I request the same favour of the gentlemen of the Vestry at Trichinopoly.'
The existence of the Vestry, the fund, and the school is mentioned in the former volume on the pages indicated in the index. The above references are additional testimonies to its existence and its work. The first reference is specially interesting on account of the initials of the members in 1786, which are easily identified.
APPENDIX IV
THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL AND THE MISSIONARIES, 1807
The letter from Bengal to the Directors and the replies are of great length. They are only epitomised here. They may be seen at the India Office on inquiry at the Library. Some of them are printed as an appendix in Buchanan's ' Apology,' which may be found at the Library and also at the British Museum. In the originals the paragraphs are numbered. The figures below refer to the paragraphs.
The Government of Bengal wrote to the Directors on November 2, 1807, in the Secret Department,^ detaihng what the Serampore missionaries had recently done to stir up fanatical strife in the Calcutta Bazaars, and what the Government had done to prevent a repetition of such indiscretions.
The reply of the Directors was dated September 7, 1808,
Para. 2. They approved of what the Government of Bengal had done. They enclosed a copy of a Despatch to Fort St. George dated May 29, 1807 ; and they added : ' We still wish to aflirm as a principle the desirableness of imparting the knowledge of Christianity to the natives of British India ; but we must also contend that the means to be used shall be free from any political danger or alarm.'
Para. 3. ' With our position your 39th para, corresponds : " Our duty as guardians of the public welfare, and even a consen- taneous solicitude for the diffusion of the blessings of Christianity
' It was their custom to write in the Secret Department about matters which Avere more or less private and confidential ; and which did not come under the ordinary headings of trade, politics, military or civil administration _
v/'
414 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
merely require us to restrain the efforts of that commendable zeal within those Hmits, the transgression of which would in our decided judgement expose to hazard the public safety and tranquilUty." '
Para. 4. We note the temperate and respectful conduct of the missionaries . . . ; we approve of your permission to let them remain at Serampore . • . ; the progress of the missionaries . . . for a long series of years has not been attended with serious conse- quences . . . ; their numbers are small, their conduct prudent and conciUatory . . . ; we have no reason to suppose that the circulation of the Scriptures is likely to be attended with dangerous consequences.
Para. 5. Caution is demanded from us . . . and the protection of the natives and their religious usages . . . and a care that they are not harassed by overzealous attempts to convert them.
Para. 6. We approve of the control you have determined to exercise. The missionaries must know that their zeal may sometimes require a check. The responsibility of the Government for public tranquiUity will force it to direct its views to those political con- siderations which the zeal of the missionaries might overlook.
Para. 7. If you could have foreseen their submissiveness, you need not have held a public proceeding on their acts. In future we suggest that if the interference of Government is necessary it may be desirable to see if a private communication from the Governor- General might Jiot effect all that is desired.
Para. 8. In objecting to pubUc preaching we do not understand you to object to preaching in chapels or rooms, to which admission is given to converts or other Christians.
Para. 10. ' We rely on your discretion that you will abstain from all unnecessary or ostentatious interference with their pro- ceedings. On the other hand it will be your bounden duty vigilantly to guard the public tranquillity from interruption, and to impress upon the minds of all the inhabitants of India that the British faith, on which they rely for the free exercise of their religion, will be in- violably maintained.'
In the ordinary way the above two letters, one reporting an incident and the measures taken in consequence, and the other approving what was done and suggesting a principle of action in the future, would have closed the subject.
Unfortunately the Rev. C. Buchanan wrote a letter to the Government of Bengal within a month of the despatch of their letter home, i.e. in November 1807, which caused the Government to write again to the Directors, to report this unlooked-for development.!
Para. 1. They sent to the Directors Buchanan's letter and memorial on the measures adopted by the Government.
' The memorial contains animadversions on our measures '—
' Letter, Dec. 7, 1807, Secret Dcpt.
APPENDIX IV 415
' personally disrespectful to the Government '— ' ascribing motives and principles injurious to the character of the British administration in India.'
Para. 2. ' The principal acts complained of are those of which we acquainted you in our letter of November 2, 1807. Mr. Buchanan has ascribed to the late and present Government the adoption of measures to prevent the progress of Christianity in India.' ^ Mr. Buchanan's comments on the late measures ' are founded on the disrespectful presumption that the Governor-General has blindly submitted to the guidance of the subordinate officers of Government, and has adopted measures without a knowledge of the nature of them.'
Para. 4. It suffices to notice those points on which is founded the imputation of a design and an attempt on the part of the Govern- ment to support the interests of the religions of this country by preventing the diffusion of Christianity in British India.
Para. 5. They notice that Mr. Buchanan contrasts the supposed opposition to Christianity under the present Government with the former ^ encouragement under previous Governments.
Para. 7. They explain that the particular means adopted by the missionaries threatened consequences prejudicial to the public repose.
Para. 8. Considerations of public safety must guide Government action.
Para. 12. Our action was guided by considerations of prudence and precaution, the neglect of which would hazard the stability of the British dominion in India.
Para. 14. The expediency and necessity of protecting our native subjects in the enjoyment of their religious usages and opinions have been recognised by the Court of Directors.''
Para. 15. Mr. Buchanan in ascribing to us a disposition hostile to Christianity ' has assumed a latitude of censure equally disre- spectful in its nature and unwarranted by facts.'
Paras. 22, 23, 26. For the preservation of public tranquiUity it is necessary to exercise control over the pubUcation of printed matter, and over pubHc religious discussions.
^ This assertion of Buchanan's is the origin of the well-known and not yet worn-out charges against the Bengal Government. The charges have s^^ ollen and grown in course of time. They were not true in their original form ; they are far from true in the form in which one comes across them in the speeches, sermons, and books of some missionaries.
2 The charge of the present time has grown to this, that the East India Company and its officials were always hostile to mission work. See E. Stock's History of the C.M.S. But even Buchanan admits that there had been a former encouragement.
'•'• Despatch to Fort St. George, May 29, 1807, regarding the Vellore Mutiny.
416 THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Para. 33. No innovation has taken place, no new form of imprimatur ; but the old restrictions have been extended to theological tracts, as they seemed to expose the public peace to hazard.
Para. 35. Our solicitude for the pubhc safety is combined with a regard for the successful propagation of the truths of Christianity in a manner " unconnected with the language of irritation, with revilings of the religions of the country, and with prophetic denun- ciations of their immediate subversion.'
Para. 3G. It has never been in the contemplation either of the present or the preceding administration ' to control or impede the pious labours of the Missionaries, wliile conducted in the manner which prudence dictates, and which the orders of the Hon. Court have distinctly prescribed. IBut when the mistaken zeal of the mission- aries exceeded those limits which considerations of public safety . . . have wisely imposed,— when publications and public preachings calculated not to conciliate and convince, but to irritate the minds of the people, were brought to the notice of the Government, the interposition of the ruling power became necessary.
(Signed) Minto.
G. Hewitt. G. H. Barlow. J. Lumsden.
This letter, explaining the pohcy of the Government of Bengal, which all fair-minded men will admit to be right and judicious, arrived in London just as the Directors had finished their Despatch of September 7, 1808. To this Despatch they added a postscript.
Para. 12. Since writing the above we have received your letter of December 7, 1807, with copies of the letter and the memorial of the Rev. C. Buchanan to the Governor- General.
Para. 13. We entirely approve your proceedings.
Para. 14. They notice the improper style of Dr. Buchanan's address, and remark that they who preach Christianity in India should adopt the conduct of Schwartz as their model.
It only remains to add that this unfortunate contention had nothing to do with Madras or Bombay. It was purely a Bengal matter. The Serampore missionaries acknowledged their mistake, and submitted to the ruhng of Government regarding their pubHca- tions and their bazaar preaching. The matter would have rested there if Dr. Claudius Buchanan had not brought accusations against the Bengal Government, which rendered it necessary for them to assert their proper authority.
It is much to the credit of Buchanan that he published the letters of the Bengal Government refuting his own charges in his ' Apology/ &c. Li spite of this, writers on mission work in India have for more than one hundred years repeated the charges without noticing the refutations.
INDEX
Abbott, W. H., 139 Abraham, Mrs., 83 Adye, Col., 288 Agricultural settlements, 242 Aislabie, Rev. W. J., 378 Alexander, R., M.C.S., 203 AUen, Rev. H., 164, 374 Allowances to Chaplains, 144 Altar plate, 57, 334 Amusements, 113 Anderson, Dr. J., 94
R., 135 Andrews, J., M.C.S., 129 Archbishop of Canterbury, 3, 16, 338 Archdeacon of Madras : —
Made Joint Chaplain of Cathedral, 93
Head of Ecclesiastical Department, 276 Archidiaconal functions, 132, 145 Architecture of Churches, 343 Arcot : —
History, 123
Early Chaplains, 125
St. Mary's, 127
Consecration, 127
Furniture, 128
Memorials, 129 Arbuthnot, G., 135 Aston, Col. H. H., 129 Atwood, Rev. J. E., 101, 125, 249,
281, 282, 283 Aurangabad : —
History, 286
First Church, 287
Second Church, 287
Consecrated, 288
Transferred to C.M.S., 288
Babingtov, C. D., 84 Bacon, Mr., M.P., 43 Bailey, Rev. B., 211, 391
Baker, Rev. H., 211, 392
BaU. Rev. C, 101, 125, 138, 249, 282,
283 BaUard, G. A., M.C.S., 265 Banbury, G., M.C.S., 92 Bangalore, St. Mark's : —
History, 68
Consecration, 70
Enlargement, 73, 74
Furniture, 75
Allotment of seats, 75 Bankes, Rev. H. C, 138, 214, 362 Baptism by laymen, 302 Baptist Mission, 5, 6, 12, 15, 38, 41
Demands, 19 Barenbruck, Rev. G. T., 392 Barlow, Sir G., 340 Barrack improvements, 307, 312 Barrow, Rev. Dr., 9, 12, 17, 23 Bateman, Rev. J., 147 Bathurst, Rev. C, 177, 183, 357 Bebb, Mr. J., 24 Beddy, Rev. J. F., 392 Bell, Major-General, 282 Bellary : —
History, 78
Church and school, 79
Enlargement of Church, 80
Consecration, 81
Dr. Powell's Chapel, 81
Garrison Church, 82
Furniture and memorials, 83--4 BeUs, 57, 157, 334 Bengal ill-feehng, 35, note Bentinck, Lord William C, 101, 300 Bequests to the Mission, 219 Bibles, supply of, 307 Billing, Rev. G., 246 Bishop of London, 3, 385 Blacker, Captain, 177 Blackman, Rev. C, 147, 148, 172,
394 Blake, Rev. W. H., 246 Blakiston, Lieut. J., 69 Blenkinsop, Rev. W. T., 148, 152, 153, 283, 376
3e
418
THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Bliss, Sir H., M.C.S., 325 BoMness, Col., 181 Boys, Rev. J., 121, 214, 374 Brackenbury, Rev. J., 117, 138,
361 Brain. J., 200
Brandon, Rev. Dr. R. J., 123 Brandt, F., M.C.S.. 180 Bieeks, J. W., M.C.S., 325 Brennen, E., 204. 266 Briggs, Rev. F. W., 121 British reputation. 97 Brittain, Rev. A. H. B., 123 Broadfoot. Major G., 94 Bro\\'n, Rev. D., 5, 8, 9 Bro\\Ti. F. C, M.C.S., 265 Buchanan, Rev. C, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11,
12. 14. 16, 17, 18, 30, 35, 40, 50,
204. 298 Buckinghamshire, Earl of, 19, 47 Burton, Captain, 181
C.M.S., 17, 18, 209
C.M.S. Chapel. Black Town, 256-61
Cadell, G., M.C.S., 146
Caemmerer, Rev. A. F., 225, 230,
238 CaldweU, Bishop, 94, 246
Col. J. L., 87, 88 Calthrop, Rev. C. 148, 149, 397 Campbell, Lady, 107 Cannanore : —
History, 184
The Church, 185
Proposed rebuilding, 187
Enlargement, 188
Cost, 188
The R.C. Church, 189 Canning, Lady, 328 Carey, WiUiam, 199 Carnatic scandal, 99 Carnworth, Earl of, 166 Carter, Rev. W. D.. 377 Caste, 149, 234, 345 Castlereagh, Lord, 19, 35, 39 Cemetery walls, 336 Central Provinces, 331 Chadwick, Mr., 128 Chaplains : —
Character, 99
For troops. 291
Rules for, 136, 139, 300
Biographies, 385
The CUve Fund, 344 Character of Europeans, 13
Charnock, Job, 96 Charter of 1698.. 1,2
Proposed alterations, 1793. .3
Contentions, 24 Chatfield. Rev. R., 16, 31 Chester, Rev. W., 380 Chiistians in India, 298 Church, Rev. C, 366 Church building policy, 51, 54, 56 Church furniture, 57
Building rules, 59
Trust ownership, 59
Trustees, 61
Designs, 343
Wardens, 154 Churches built 1805-35. .57 City of London Resolutions, 21 Civil Christian marriages, 109 Clapham Set, 35 Clarke, Rev. A. T., 70, 206
Richard, M.C.S., 89, 135, 226
Col. Sydenham, 94
Col. Tred^ay, 94 Clauses as passed 1813. .48 Clive Fund, 344
Cochin, Church and school, 161-2 Cockburn, M., M.C.S., 212 Codrington, Major, 328 Coffin, Captain, 165 Cole, Major Temple, 83
Hon. A. H., M.C.S., 212 Commissions to consecrate, 54, 339 Committee of Inquiry, 27 Commons', House of. Inquiry, 34 Company's attempt to provide ynvea,
111 Confirmation addresses, 137, 147
Candidates, 138, 141, 144, 147, 148 Consecrations, 63, 65, 140, 141, 147,
149, 339-42 Consistorial Court, 267, 269 Coombes, Rev. D. V., 148, 397 Cooper, W., 28, 32, 33
Sir G., 94 Cornish, Surgeon-General, 92 Cornwallis, Lord, 106 Corrie, Bishop, 94, 118, 174, 353, 355 Cotgrave, Major, 182 Cotterill, Bishop, 382 Cotton, Sir A., 177
J., M.C.S., 211
Captain J. S., 129 Court of Proprietors, 36, 41 Cox, A. F., M.C.S., 128 Cran, G., 5, 200 Cubitt. Rev. G. J.. 148, 379 Cuddalore. 159, 242 CunlifEe, Brooke, 165
INDEX
419
D
Dacre, J., M.C.S.. 212 DaUas, Major A. R., 84 Dalrymple. Col., 94 Danish Episcopal Orders, 275
Mission, 4, 5 Darrah, Rev. F. J., 147, 375 Davis, Rev. M., 89, 93, 138, IGO Dawson, Rev. T.. 391 Dealtry, Bishop, 94, 118, 251 Deane, Rev. B. O'M., 83
Rev. C. H., 265
Rev. H., 195, 382 De Havilland, Major, 226, 230, 253 De Meuron Regiment. 70 Dent, Rev. E., 147, 172. 394 Denton, Rev. R. A., 147, 148, 172,
244, 372 Des Granges, A., 5, 200 Devasagaivam, Rev. J., 147 Dick, Sir R., 94 Dickson, Major J., 69 Disabilities of Native Christians, 345,
348 Discipline, 267, 269, 275, 277 Distance of Churches from barracks,
187 District Councils, 246 Domestic drawbacks, 109 Doran, Rev. J. W., 143, 152, 393 Douglas, Lieutenant, 333 Dring, J. A., 286 Drury, Col. A., 94 Dundas, Mr., M.P., 4 Dunlop, A. J.. 121
Dunsterville, Rev. J., 70, 138, 189. 359
Ecclesiastical Court, 133, 267
Returns, 155
Codes, 168 Education, 71, 75, 76, 312. 313 Educational Chaplains, 317
Missionaries, 317 Elder, Sir G., 94 Elers, Captain G., 196 English, Rev. J., 183 Errors in Vol. I, 400 Eurasians and Schools, 111 Evans, Rev. G. H., 93, 119
Fabricius, Rev. J. P., 220 Falke, Rev. E. A. G., 390 Fees for monuments, 167
Fenn, Rev. J., 211, 392
Fenning, Col., 84
Floyer, Sir A., 121
Fonts, 57
Forbes, Mr., 41, 46
Fort St. George, St. Mary's, 154
Foulkes, Rev. T., 92, 192
Fraser. Col. C, 177
French Rocks Chapel, 328
G
Garrett, Dr., 91
Garrow, G., M.C.S., 89
Garstin, J. H., M.C.S., 265
Gell, Bishop, 94, 246, 330
Gericke, Rev. C. W.. 5, 32, 107, 2 ID,
249 Gibson, Rev. C. D., 93 Gilbert Cooper, Rev. W. W., 330 Godfrey, Rev. S. A., 330 Good influence of English women, 114 Gordon, J., 200 Gorton, Ven. J., 74, 119 Government good-will to missions,
214, 296 Graeme, H. S.. M.C.S., 146
Rev. C. K., 376 Graham, T., M.P., 28 Grant, Sir Charles, 8, 17, 19, 43
Charles, junior, 351, 353
Robert, 43 Green, Lieutenant. 293 Gwatkin, J., M.C.S., 146, 226
H
Hadow, G., M.C.S., 146
HaU, Rev. R., 25
Hallewell, Rev. J., 152, 154, 159,
283, 374 Hamilton, Alexander, 96, 97 Hamilton-Hall, General, 195 Hands, J., 200 Hanvngton, C, M.C.S., 265 Harington, W., M.C.S., 135 Harkness, Captain H., 351 Harper, Ven. H., 84, 89, 93, 117, 118,
147, 149, 166, 170, 172. 363 Hastings, Warren, 28, 29, 30, 31 Haubroe, Rev. L. P., 143, 160, 273,
278, 389 Haughton, Rev. G. D., 396 Havelock, Sir Arthur, 284
Mrs. C. E., 325 Heavyside, Rev. J., 147, 396
2e2
n
420
THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
Heber. Bishop. 143. 144. 151, 191,
195. 245. 269. 271, 347 Higsinson. C. H., M.C.S., 94 Hill D.. M.C.S.. 88 Hodiison. Rev. C, 339
J.,"M.C.S.. 226 Holtzbers. Rev. I. C... 70. 200. 203 Hoole, Elijah. 211, 213 Horsford. Rev. J. P.. 147 Horslev, Ralph. M.C.S.. 84 Horst.'Rev. C. H.. 110, 200. 203 Houah. Rev. J.. 4, 95, 102, 103. 205.
250. 263. 350. 304 Howard, Rev. G. B., 294 Howarth, Mr., 43 Hudleston, A. F., M.C.S., 135 Hughes Hallett, Col. W., 324 Hume. Joseph. 36. 41 Hutchison. Rev. J.. 138, 291, 294, 3G1 Huxtable, Bishop, 246 Hyde, Ven. H. B., 101
Increase of Chaplains, 305 Bishops. 349, 351
Indo-Britons, 111
Influence of missionaries, 106
Inspection tours : —
Archdeacon Mousley, 141 Archdeacon Vaughan, 144 Archdeacon Robinson, 154, 158
Irion, Rev. J. L., 148, 149, 398
Irvine, G. Duncan, M.C.S., 195
Jackson, Rev. E. M. J., 365
RancUe, 36 Jacobi, Rev. C. A., 200, 208, 388 Jaenicke. Rev. J. D., 5 James, Bishop, 146, 152, 153, 272
Rev. H. P., 337 Jeaffreson, Rev. C, 294, 371 .John, Rev. Dr. C. S., 5, 210, 313 John Pcreiras Chapel, 295-6 Jones, Rev. E. J., 148, 172, 398
Rev. S., 361 Jubbulpore Church, 336
K
Kamptee Church, 332-5 Kaye, W. H., 95, 102 Keating, Rev. W. A., 138, 358 Keble, G. C, M.C.S., 299
Keene, Whitshed. 46 Kennedy, Major A. J. Clark, 76 Kerr, Rev. J., 357 Rev. R. H., 85, 101, 103. 203, 204, 249, 299 Kiernander, Rev. J. Z., 32, 220 Kindlinger, Rev. J., 393 Kinlock, Rev. A., 335 Kirk, Madras, 252^ Knapp, Rev. S. H., 377 Kneale, F. E., 92 Knill. R., 210 Kohlhoff, Rev. C. S., 191
Rev. J. C, 5. 152. 160, 202, 208, 225, 230, 231. 237, 239, 273, 275, 277, 278, 346
Lauderdale, Lord, 47 Laughton, Col., 83 Lay baptism, 303-5
Marriage, 109-10, 303-7 Trustees, 165-6 Leave Rules for Chaplains, 5 Lechler, Rev. J. M., 395 Lee, W.. 205 Leeming, Rev. W., 286 Lee Warner, Sir W., 74 Leggatt. Lieutenant, 165 Leslie, Major, 214
Ven. R., 249 Letters Patent. 1814. . 131 1835.. 354 Testimonial, 167 Levinge, Sir Vere. Bart., M.C.S., 94 Lewell, F., M.C.S., 265 Lewis, Rev. E. P., 183, 375 Francis, 327 Rev. T., 125, 152, 364 Liardet, Col., 325 Libraries, 308
Library at Trichinopoly, 191 Licences to C.M.S. Clergy, 271, 277 To reside in India, 22, 25 To officiate, 1816.. 138 To officiate, 1819.. 140 To officiate, 1824.. 143 Liverpool, Lord, 19 Logan, D., 195
W., M.C.S., 265 London Mission, 5, 15, 199 City of. Resolutions, 21 Lords', House of. Inquiry, 34 Loundes, Thomas, 37, 42 Loveless, W. C, 200, 205 Lowrv, Col., 294 Lushington, C. M., M.C.S., 195
INDEX
421
Lushington, Mr., M.P., 43
Stephen R., 321 Lutheran Ordination, 275 Lutyens, Rev. W., 70 Lynch, Mr., 211
M
Macatjlay, Col. C, 106, 202
Lord, 320 McDoneU, JE. R., M.C.S., 195 MacDowall, General Hay. 53, 78, 104, 105, 106, 177, 179, 190
Sir Andrew, 94 McEvoy, Rev. J., 335, 381 McHutchin, Col., 331 Macintire, Col., 331 Mclvor, Mrs., 325 MacKay, Major D., 285 Mackenzie, G. T., M.C.S., 180 Mackintosh, Sir James, 304, 307 Macleane, T., M.C.S., 135 McMaster, General A. C, 121 Madras : —
St. George's, 84-94
Churches, 1828.. 154 Mahon, Rev. G. W., 148, 381 Malcolm, Sir J., 28, 106, 326 Malkin, Rev. W., 70, 212, 366 Malleson, Col., 331 Margoschis, Rev. Canon, 246 Marriage ^^'ith natives, 109
Licences, 156
By laymen, 302-7 Marsh, Charles, 44, 45
Rev. J., 147, 394 Marshman, J. C, 4, 95 MasuUpatam, 175-84, 338 Mead, C, 210 Mercara Church, 62 Mhow Church, 332 Middleton, Bishop, 133, 137, 161, 226, 227, 267, 268, 276, 308, 342, 347 Military Fund, 344
Guards for Churches, 80
Officers and Chaplains, 267, 270 Minto, Earl of, 6 Mission : —
Bangalore, 70
Bellary, 82
Reports, 197
House, Tanjore, 237 Missionaries : —
Cited to Visitations, 143
To act as Chaplains, 171
Welcomed in Madras, 201-7
1805-1835.. 398
And the Bengal Government, 5, 413
Missionary compact, 213
Pay, 222, 232 Monopoly, 96 Monteith, Lt.-Col. W., 89 Montgomery, Sir H., 39, 40 Monuments, 167 Moore, Captain, 323 Moorsom, Rev. W., 152, 183, 372 Morals, 95 Morant, Rev. J., 83 Morewood, Rev. J. B., 276, 323, 393 Morris, Rev. G. E., 195
J. C, M.C.S., 89 Mousley, Ven. J., 79, 125, 134, 137,
141, 142, 268, 359 Mowatt, J., 211 Muller, Rev. J. J., 394 Munro, Col. J., 210
Sir Thomas, 106 Murphy, Rev. Dr., 76 Mysore Church, 326-30
N
Nagpore, 336, 337 Native of India, 318 NewaU, Col., 292 Noble, Lt.-Col. J., 94, 284
Rev. Robert, 177 Norman, Rev. C, 362 Norton, Rev. T., 211, 391
0
Officialism, 278
Ogilvie, J. H. D., M.C.S., 88, 89
Ootacamund Church, 320-5
Ordinations, 147, 148
Organ : —
Bangalore, 72
BeUary, 83
Secunderabad, 121
Trichinopoly, 192 Organs, 58 Orme, Robert, 139 Ormsby, Captain, 226, 234 Orphanage : —
Bangalore, 76
BeUary, 79
Secunderabad, 122
Trichinopoly, 193 Otter, Rev. E. R., 83, 84 Out-station allowances, 168 Owen, Rev. R., 249, 281
Rev. J., 12, 13 Ownership of Churches, 60-65
2 e3
422
THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
PAEZ0IJ5. Rev. C. W., 200, 224. 225,
Pallaveram Church, 283-6 Palm. J. D.. 200
Parochial boundaries, Madras, 1816. . 139
Duties and fees. 139 Parr. Rev. J. 0.. 371 Pater, General J.. 180, 182 Peet, Rev. J., 394 Peppin, Surgeon A. B., 191 Percival. S.. 17. 19 Petitions to Parliament. 23 Pettigrew. Rev. S. T., 70, 74. 76. 293,
294. 335 Pohle, Rev. C. 5 Pondicherry, 160 Poonamallee Church, 155, 247-51 Pope, Rev. Dr. G. U., 246, 317
Rev. J. P., 183
Rev. H., 83 Posnett. Rev. R.. 76 PoweU, Rev. Dr. W. P., 81, 82, 83, 284 Prendergast, Mr., 41
His memorable statement, 46 Presbyterian Chaplains. 252 Presidency Chaplain, title abolished,
93 Price, Lady, 325 Pritchett, E., 200 Property problem, 237 Protestant Society's Resolutions, 22 Punkahs, 58, 83, 91, 119. 194
Quarterly Review on Missions, 20 Quilon Church and school, 161, 290-4
R
R.C. Mission, 5
Building grants, 59 RajTnond, General, 121 Reduction of expenditure, 171 Registrar's salary, 137
Fees, 156, 164 Researches : —
Buchanan, 298
Kerr, 299 Residence, power to determine, 133 Resolutions of 1813. .36 Rhenius, Rev. C. T. E., 210, 390 Richards. A. F.. M.C.S., 195
Rev. J., 284
Richardson, Major, 284
Ridsdale, Rev. J., 143, 153, 295, 392
Rev. S.. 161, 277. 393 Ringeltaube, Rev. W. T., 199, 210, 387 Ritual irregularity, 278 Robberies from Churches, 172 Robinson. Yen. T., 144. 146. 151-74,
269, 271, 273-5, 277, 289, 368 Reports and returns, 242 Rosen, Rev. D., 275. 278, 389 Rottler. Rev. Dr., 143, 147, 149, 153, 172, 200, 202-^, 210. 225-8. 230, 238-9. 243, 273. 275, 277, 388 Roy, Rev. W.. 93. 138, 145, 147, 152,
154, 181, 183, 276, 283, 362 Rules for Chaplains : —
Coded 1806.. 300
Coded 1816.. 136
Coded 1832.. 169
Lay Trustees, 166 Rum'bold. Lady H., 325 Rundall. C, 195 RusseU, G. E., M.C.S., 181
S
S.P.C.K., 4. 5. 9. 12, 13. 15, 23, 32,
217-36, 239, 281 S.P.G., 240-6. 284 St. Leger, W.D., 91 St. Thomas' Mount Church, 155,
279-84 Sampson. Rev. C. H., 361 Sankey, Lieut. R. H., 336 Sargent. Bishop, 246 Saugor Church. 336 Sawyer, Rev. W.. 143, 147, 153, 250,
289, 322, 377 Sayers, Rev. Dr. J. J. B., 122 Scandal : —
Tanjore. 98
Carnatic. 99 Schaffter, Rev. P. P.. 393 Schmidt, Rev. B. E., 392 Schnarre, Rev. J. C, 210, 390 Schools : —
Bangalore, 71, 75
Bellary, 79
Government, 316
Madras, 111
Secunderabad, 122
Sullivan, 316
Tellicherry, 264
Trichinopoly, 193 Schreyvogel, Rev. D., 242, 275, 278,
396 Schwartz, Rev. C. F., 5, 14, 29. 32, 107, 110
INDEX
423
Scott, Lt.-Col. Sir W., 71
Seal of the See, 355
Secunderabad Church, 115-22
Seetabuldee ; see Nagpore
Separation of families, 122
Serampore, 5. 29
Shaking the pagoda tree, 97
Sharrock, Rev. J. A., 193, 246, 405
ShaAv, Hector, 84
Shore, Sir John, 5, 8
Shortland, Ven. V., 72, 75, 84, 119, 172, 187, 195, 251, 294, 334, 380
Sick leave, 164
Sim, Col. D., 73
Simpson, Rev. T. C, 148, 397
SmaUey, Col. H., 83, 84, 286
Smith, WiUiam, 43
Smyth, Rev. R., 125, 127, 129, 138,
195, 212, 359 Spencer, Bishop, 81, 118, 293 Sperschneider, Rev. J. G. P., 237,
389 Spring, Rev. F., 89, 147, 148, 155, 159,
172, 262, 289, 294, 369 Stanhope, Earl, 47 Station amusements, 113 Status of Chaplains, 270 Stewart, Rev. P., 125, 129, 371 Stone, Rev. M. N., 183 Strachan, Bishop, 246 Street, Rev. J. C, 379 Strictures on Chaplains, 99 Stuart, Rev. H. W., 172, 323, 378 SuUivan, A. W., M.C.S., 265 G. R., M.C.S., 135 John, M.C.S., 29, 350 John, junr., M.C.S., 321 Sutton, Sir T., 41, 44 Sydenham, Major-Gen. W., 285 Syrian Christians, 12
Tanjoee, 1828 . . 160
Mission house, 237
Scandal, 98
Vestry, 411 Tarrant, Mrs., 286 Taylor, Rev. A., 335
Rev. H., 183, 251
John, 200
Joseph. 207
W., 205, 211, 219 Teignmouth, Lord, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 21, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 40, 99, 100, 101 Tellicherry Church, 261-6
Thirlwall, Rev. Mr., 37 Thomas, Rev. W., 70, 79, 82, 94, 125, 139, 356 John, 198 Thompson, Rev. A. C, 148, 397 John, 200, 207
Rev. M., 88, 93, 102, 138, 139, 206, 210, 356 Tierney, Mr., M.P., 47 Toleration, 19, 209, 343 Toller, Sir S., 94 Tomes, Rev. W., 121, 382 Topping, Michael, 177 Torriano, W. H., M.C.S., 205 Traill, Rev. J., 139, 364 Tranquebar Mission for sale, 238
Partly transferred, 238 Transfer (S.P.C.K. to S.P.G.), 239 Trapaud, Lieut. C. E., 84 Travelling Archdeacons, 142, 144 Trend, Rev. J. B., 77 Trevor, Rev. G., 70, 72, 75, 77, 383 Trichinopoly, 1828.. 161, 162 Church, 190-5 Library, 308 Vestry, 405 Tripassore, 1828.. 159
Chapel, 288-90 Trotman, Rev. W. S., 337 Trotter, Col. C, 101, 202 Tucker, Rev. J., 148, 260, 395 Turner, Bishop, 147, 284, 322, 349 Twining, Thomas, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 35
Unchristian speeches, 198 Underwood, Captain, 323
Vatjghan, Ven. E., 79, 88, 93, 94, 101, 127, 134, 138, 139, 142, 144, 145, 146, 177, 183, 269, 338 Vepery new Church, 155 Vestry question referred, 303 Villiers, Mr., 42
Visitation expenses, 142, 144, 163 Visitations : —
181G, Middleton, 137
1819, Middleton, 140
1826, Heber, 143
1830, Turner, 147
1834, Wilson, 147
1828, Archdeacon Robinson, 152
424
THE CHURCH IN MADRAS
W
Wace. Rev. Walter, 92, 94
Waltair Church. 61
Waring, Major J. Scott, 10, 11, 14, 15,
35 Wallow, Van. G., 92, 94 Webbe, J., M.C.S., 181 WeUeslev. Marquis of, 5, 37 Welsh, Col., 287, 292 Wetherherd, Rev. T., 79, 83, 138, 152,
361 White, Rev. R, 370 Whitehead, Rev. T., 323 Whiteside, W. S., M.C.S., 92, 128, 129,
195 Whitford, Rev. R. W., 122, 294 Wilberforce, W., 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17,
21, 38, 40, 45, 46, 50, 100 Williams, Arthur, 195 Rev. A. A., 83
Williams, Sir E. K., 193
Rev. J. M., 377
Rev. W. R. M., 161, 370 Willock, W. A., M.C.S., 195 Wilson, Bishop, 147, 336, 347
Lieut. F., 286
Rev. I., 392 Winckler, Rev. J. C, 393 Wissing, Rev. P. M. D., 153, 272, 396 Wives, provision of. 111 Woodcock, Rev. W. J., 395 AVrangham, Rev. F., 9 AVright, Rev. J., 71, 73, 160, 183,
195, 370 Wj'nch, Rev. J. W., 130, 330
Yeldham, R., 88, 94 Young, Sir W. Mackworth, 74
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