consolidated the British dominion in this country ;every character of our situation seems to mark the present æra, as that intended by Providence, for our taking into consideration the moral and religious state of our subjects in the East; and for Britain's bringing up her long arrear of duty, and settling her account honorably with her Indian Empire.

The perpetuity of the Christian faith among Europeans in India, and the civilization of the natives, must rest equally on a foundation which, as yet we have not; and that is, an Ecclesiastical Establishment. The first part of this Memoir shall be wholly confined to a consideration of the means of preserving the Christian religion among our own countrymen.

MEMOIR,

&c.

PART I.

ON THE MEANS OF PRESERVING THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AMONG OUR COUNTRYMEN IN INDIA.

CHAPTER I.

Present state of the English church in India.

1. THE present establishment of English chap

lains for the British empire in India, is not much greater than the factorial establishment in the time of Lord Clive.

2. There are six military chaplains for Bengal, Bahar, Oude, the Dooab, and Orissa. There are three chaplains in the town of Calcutta, five at the Presidency of Madras, and four at the Presidency of Bombay. Nor is that list ever full. Two-thirds of the number is the average for the last ten years.

3. Some islands in the West Indies have a more regular church establishment, and more extensive Christian advantages than the British empire in the East. Jamaica has eighteen churches; English India has three; one at Calcutta, one at Madras, and one at Bombay.

4. At the establishment of Bencoolen, at the factory at Canton, at the flourishing settlement of Prince of Wales's Island, at Malacca, at Amboyna, and at the other islands to the eastward now in our possession, there is not a single clergyman of the English church to perform the rite of Baptism, or to celebrate any

R

other Christian office. The two British armies in Hindostan, and in the Dekhan, lately in the field, had not one chaplain.

5. The want of an ecclesiastical establishment has produced a system, not only of extreme irregularity in the discipline of our church, but of positive offence against Christian institution. Marriages, burials, and sometimes baptisms, by the civil magistrate or by a military officer, are not only performed, but are in a manner sanctioned by a precedent of thirty years.

6. And as to the state of religion among the people who have no divine service, it is such as might be expected. After a residence for some years at a station where there is no visible church; and where the superstitions of the natives are constantly visible, all respect for Christian institutions wears away; and the Christian Sabbath is no otherwise distinguished than by the display of the British flag.

7. Were we, on the other hand, to state particularly the regard paid by our countrymen to Christian instruction, wherever it is regularly afforded, it would be an additional argument for granting the means of affording it. Wherever the Christian minister solicits attention, he finds an audience. In whatever part of British India he is stationed, there will be a disposition to respect the religion of early life, when its public ordinances shall have been revived.

CHAPTER II.

Of the establishment of the Romish Church in the East.

THERE are three archbishops and seventeen bishops of the Romish church established in the East. The natives naturally suppose that no such dignity belongs to the English church. In Bengal alone there are eight Romish churches; four Armenian churches; and two Greek churches. In confirmation of this statement, we shall subjoin an authentic Report of the Roman Catholic establishments, which has been transmitted by the Archbishop of Goa.

Establishment of the Roman Catholic church in the East.

Archbishop of Goa, Metropolitan and

Primate of the Orient

Archbishop of Cranganore in Malabar
Bishop of Cochin, Malabar

Bishop of St. Thomas, at Madras,*

His diocese includes Calcutta ;

where he has a legate

Bishop of Malacca

Bishop of Macao

Bishop of Pekin

Two Bishops in the interior of China

Bishop of Mozambique

Bishop of Siam

Bishop of Pegu

Bishop of Varapoli, Malabar

Bishop of Bombay

Bishop of Thibet

Prefect of the Romish Mission at
Nepaul †

One archbishop and three bishops at
Manilla, and the Philippine islands

Bishop of Pondicherry. Vacant

Presented by

>the King of

Portugal.

Presented by the Pope.

Presented by the College,

De Propaganda Fide.

Presented by the King of Spain. Presented by the late King of France.

Churches in Bengal, and number of Priests attached to each.

Church at Calcutta

Church at Serampore

Church at Chinsurah
Church at Bandel

Three priests

One priest.
One priest.
Three priests.

[The Danish missionaries, Bartholomew Ziegenbalgius and John Ernest Grundler, in a Letter to the Society in England for Promoting Christian Knowledge, dated "Tranquebar, January 9 1713," observe, "The Roman Missionaries themselves confessed to us at Madras, that their Congregation in that place consisted of twelve thousand members." Amer. Ed.]

† See Paper by him in Asiatic Researches, Vol. II.

1. The above establishments are at present full with the exception of the bishopric of Pondicherry, which was formerly presented by the King of France; and it is stated that the revenues are the same granted at the first endowment, with some exceptions of increase.

2. On a view of the ancient and respectable establishment of the Romish church, we naturally desire to know its present character, and whether it can boast of a religious or civilizing efficiency.

The Romish church in India is coeval with the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the East; and though both empires are now in ruins, the church remains. Sacred property has been respected in the different revolutions; for it is agreeable to Asiatic principle to reverence religious institutions. The revenues are in general small, as is the case in the Roman Catholic countries at home; but the priests live every where in respectable or decent circumstances. Divine service is regularly performed, and the churches are generally well attended; ecclesiastical discipline is preserved; the canonical European ceremonies are retained; and the benefactions of the people are liberal. It has been