with the ready discipline he had learned under the old charter. Everything went on according to wonted custom, in spite of the Bishop, and his lawn sleeves, and his sermon on Christmas day. No one looked differently; no one felt differently; and it really seemed probable, after all, that British dominion in the east would survive the episcopal blow.

The truth is, that those of the natives-the better educated and more intelligent few-who really thought anything about the matter, thought the better of us for evincing this outward respect for our religion, and have thought the better of us and our faith ever since. All the trash, that was written and spoken about alarming the Hindus, and weakening our hold of India; all the ominous allusions to the Vellore massacre, and anticipations of new catastrophes of the same class, now appeared in their true light, and were valued at their proper worth. Mr. Buchanan's "sanguinary doctrines," as Mr. Twining ludicrously called them, in one of his pamphlets, had now been fully reduced to practice; and yet not a drop of blood had been shed-not a blow struck-not a menace uttered-not a symptom of disquiet had evinced itself. Our empire in India was then "not worth a year's purchase;" and yet now for thirty-five years has it survived that first awful episcopal sermon on Christmas day.

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Of the condition of the Church, on the arrival of Bishop Middleton,some idea may be gathered from the article on the "Ante-episcopal period" in a former number of this Review. "The total number of clergy," says Mr. LeBas, "both Civil and Military, did not, there is reason to believe, in 1814 exceed thirty-two; in the proportion of fifteen for Bengal, twelve for Madras, and five for Bombay. This number, small as it was, was subject to continual reduction, by illness, death, necessary absence, or I return to England. Such, for instance, was the amount of these casualties at Bombay on the arrival of Archdeacon Barnes, in 1814, that he found at that presidency only one efficient clergyman on the establishment; and was compelled ' himself for some time to undertake the ordinary duties of a Chaplain. Mr. Whitehead says that this computation is too high; and makes the following statement on the authority of Mr. Abbott, the Ecclesiastical Registrar-" On the arrival of Bishop Middleton in 1814, he found effective resident chaplains in Bengal, eight; in Madras, five or six; and in Bombay, one. Missionaries, under Episcopal jurisdiction, or licensed by the Bishop, there were none. India then possessed fifteen parochial clergy." We have now in the three presidencies more than two hundred clergymen of the Church of England.

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"The grand evil," writes Mr. LeBas, "next to the want of the regular episcopal superintendence, was the insufficiency of the number of the clergy; it is painful to add that, few as they were, the Churches, or places set apart for divine worship, were still fewer. At each presidency, or seat of the local 'Governments, there was one Church, and one only: for the second Church at Calcutta, was private property, and the Chaplain, who officiated there, was especially appointed to that service by the Court." (It was not less a church for all that). "In the country, there were one or two more churches at certain of the more important stations; but, in most of the places, where the clergy were called upon to officiate, no such provision was made. A mess-room, a barrack, or, in some instances, the official court of the magistrate, was the only convenience that could be obtained for the assembling of a Christian congregation, and the public exercise of prayer and praise to the Almighty." Marriages were generally performed by commanding officers, or civil authorities, and the sacrament of baptism was often administered by laymen. But there were worse things still in the opinion of the orthodox biographer; for a minister of the Church of England-on one occasion certainly, perhaps on others-had "ventured on the performance of religious functions in a character, higher than that to which he had been ordained!"

The Bishop soon began to busy himself about forms, and to exhibit much orthodox zeal in the matter of church-building, "You will be glad," he wrote to Archdeacon Barnes, "to hear that, including a chapel at the Gaol here, Surat chapel will be one of four now building in India. Pray, direct that it be placed with the altar to the East;" and again, "pray request Mr. Carr, to take care that it be built in the proper direction, east and west; so that the altar be eastward. The architects in India seem rather to affect variety than uniformity in this particular. There has been sad irregularity !" Sad, indeed !-But Brown and Buchanan, Martyn and Thomason, had not been much distressed by it; or, at all events, had borne the affliction patiently and uncomplainingly. Perhaps, they had learnt no lessons in Church architecture at Mr. Simeon's college rooms, The Simeon and Pretyman schools seem to have somewhat differed.

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The Bishop was a martyr to the prickly heat. He complained piteously of it, in his letters. "It has ignited," he said, my whole frame; and what with the sensations of pricking, and burning, and itching, and soreness, and lassitude, and irritability, I am little qualified for anything that requires

'attention." But there was something that irritated even more than the prickly heat; and that was-Dr. Bryce. The same charter, which tolerated a Bishop, tolerated also two Scotch clergymen; and the same ship, which conveyed the Bishop to Calcutta, carried also the Senior Scotch Chaplain. The shipmates had not been long landed, before, as it is said, Dr. Bryce applied to the Bishop for the alternate use of the Cathedral! The application, as might be expected, not proving successful, he obtained the use of the college hall, and there preached a sermon, in which little quarter was given to the predominance of Episcopalianism; and he published it as a "Sermon preached at the opening of the Church of Calcutta." And to crown the whole, when the first stone of St. Andrew's Church was laid, with great national demonstration, and Masonic ceremonials, Bishop Middleton was invited to attend.*

All this was gall and wormwood to the Bishop. It irritated him more than the prickly heat; and the visitation was kept alive by the astounding presumption of the Presbyterian community of Calcutta, who petitioned Parliament for the privilege of being married by their own ministers, and according to the rites of their own Church. They gained their point too. The Scottish ministers at the presidencies were permitted to perform the ceremony of marriage for members of the Scottish Church; and "it will easily be imagined," writes Mr. LeBas," that occurrences of this description were not peculiarly animating or consolatory to Bishop Middleton."+ Calcutta, indeed, was found to be a very hot-bed of schism; and the Bishop thought, as does his biographer, it was very hard that the state should have conspired to disturb the even tenor of the Church's existence at so critical a time.

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A new source of inquietude arose from the defective provi

Speaking of the appointment of the Scotch Chaplains, and the erection of the Scotch Churches in the three presidencies, Mr. LeBas observes that "it was shown incontestably, that there was no occasion for such a movement, by the fact, that, when the new congregation was formed in Calcutta, it withdrew no more than 100 members from our communion, and that in the other presidencies the defection was still more insignificant." This is very inconclusive. There may have been many others, not withdrawn from Episcopal communion, because never in it. Mr. LeBas should estimate the want by the number, who joined the Scotch congregation, when the Church was erected.

In the celebrated "steeple" controversy also, the pugnacious Dr. Bryce was again victorious. The vexation of Mr. Lebas, in relating this fresh instance of Presbyterian presumption, is not a little amusing. "St. Andrew's Church in Calcutta," writes he, "is a much more stately fabric than St. John's Cathedral, while the Scotch Church at Madras is, perhaps, the noblest Christian edifice in Hindustan. It was built after the model of a Church in Italy, with two fine domes, and to these, was added a spire, which, like that at Calcutta, towers very considerably above the steeple of every English place of worship!" The Bishop's biographer however consoles himself with the reflection, that the Court of Directors agreed to erect the Bombay spire as a matter of indifference, not as a matter of right! p 247.

sions of the letters patent. He was a Bishop without a clergy. There were clergymen in India-but there was no parochial clergy. There was no clergy, over which he had supreme autho rity. The chaplains were Government chaplains, amenable to the orders of the secular authorities-sent hither and thither, in general orders, like a Deputy Collector, or a Captain of Engineers. The Bishop had really no power over them; and of this complaint was not unreasonably made. The GovernorGeneral-Lord Moira-decided in favour of the authority of the Bishop; but the Court of Directors repealed the decision; and the Bishop was no longer suffered to be commandant of the regiment of chaplains.*

In July 1815, the office of confirmation was performed for the first time in Calcutta; and December of the same year witnessed the Bishop's first visitation. On the 18th of that month, he left Calcutta for Madras. In the latter presidency, he found church affairs even in a less encouraging condition, than in that which he had just left. In his own words, "within two years, a clergyman of good character was put under arrest by his commanding officer. In another instance, a military officer chose to have notice of the sacrament inserted in regimental orders; and, in a third, an officer ordered a chaplain to 'do the duty in a place so offensive, that no body could 6 attend." The secular authorities were getting the upper hand sadly. But there was consolation and encouragement for him, at all events in one circumstance, that greeted his arrival at Madras. There was a splendid new church (St. George's) to consecrate. "Yesterday," he wrote, "I consecrated a handsomer Church than any, which I recollect in London, supported on eighteen Ionic columns, which no English eye would distinguish from marble; with a lofty and elegant spire, and standing in a field (also to be consecrated) of five or six acres, surrounded with rows of palm trees. The whole conveys a magnificent idea of Christianity in the East. I was assisted, on this occasion, by seven of my clergy, a great number to bring together in this country; and the solemnity seems to have been very gratifying to the inhabitants. This morning I confirmed nearly 300, of whom I rejoiced to find a large portion were adults......A respect for the ordinances of our religion is gaining ground. To-morrow morning, I am to receive, at ten o'clock, a deputation from the Armenian

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* A later order of the Court, however, directs the Government to attend to the Bishop's recommendations; and we believe, that, in Bengal and the N, W. Provinces at least, this is invariably done.

nation, who are numerous at Madras; and at eleven, no less a person than his highness the Nabob of the Carnatic, who returns my visit; and, on which occasion, the guns will be fired 'from the fort." At these interviews the Nabob embraced him very affectionately, without, after the manner of Sivají, sticking a knife into his bowels; and it does not appear that his highness, or any other potentate of Heathendom, felt the least alarm for their hereditary faith, from the appearance of the Lord Padre Sahib of the Feringhis at their gates.

But the secular authorities of Madras were not equally confident. They had not forgotten the Vellore affair. Visions of blood were still floating before their eyes. They thought a Bishop a most dangerous, revolutionary personage the representative of a pestilential heresy; and they anticipated that his visit to the southward would be the signal for another massacre. But the Bishop started, with his family, and his suite; visited the Seven Pagodas, inspected the Capuchin Church and Jesuit's College at Pondicherry, where the Romanists, with courteous toleration, made him a present of books; halted at Cuddalore, the seat of some of our earliest Protestant labours; proceeded thence to the great Pagodas of Chillumbrum, where the Brahmans pressed forward to look at him, showed him the lions of their temple, and, instead of anticipating that he would demolish it, asked for a little money for its repair. It is not recorded in history, that the episcopal tour produced either a rebellion, or an earthquake.

The popu

At Tranquebar, he was received with open arms. lation went out to meet him in the streets, or greeted him from the windows and the house-tops. "The place," he wrote, "is in great distress; and the people are living on incomes, which, in this country, appear still smaller by comparison; but I never saw poverty more respectable. The mission there is everything, and the missionaries are the regular clergy of the place." Here he lived with the Governor, entertained him and the municipal officers in turn, contributed, at the expense of the Christian Knowledge Society, two hundred pounds to the Mission; and then pursued his journey towards Tanjore, the seat of the illustrious labours of the apostolic Schwartz. The Rajah, who had been educated by the Missionary, and who still called himself the good man's son, sent his minister to the Christian Bishop, invited him to the palace, where, descending from the musnud, he "received him at the steps of the durbar, embraced him ' with the warmest cordiality and courtesy, and, after the customary enquiries respecting his health, expressed the grati