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manner of vessels of most precious wood, and brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours and ointments, and frankincense and wine, and oil, and fine flour and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and fruits which the soul lusteth after, and things which are goodly and dainty, and the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters." What a catalogue is this! and what more agreeable to the natural inclinations of man! And is it not thus that idolatry presents itself? Wherever it has appeared, whether among Roman Catholics or heathens, it has had its crowds of priests, its imposing temples and altars, its images carved and molten, and many of them of gold and silver, its processions and music, its feasts and banquets, and its midnight and polluting orgies. And so dear is it to its votary, that he will starve himself and his family to support it, he will spend his time and his strength to labour for it, and he will take long and almost incredible journies to be present at its festivals and temples. It is a thing which he will hug to his bosom; and will often sooner part with his life than relinquish it. See how resolutely the children of Israel held by their idols! Though they were denounced again and again for their idolatry, though the most grievous judgments fell upon them for this very sin, though they were visited with famine to such an extent, that women ate their own children, and though they were harassed by the most bloody wars, yet all was ineffectual. If in one king's reign they were induced to pull down their idols, in the next they were moved to replace them. Look at the tenacity with which the Roman Catholics have held by their graven images; for though God hath scourged Christendom with fire, and smoke, and brimstone, and wars; yet, comparatively few have repented of the work of their own hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which can neither hear, nor see, nor walk. And we, in this country, know how fast the hearts of the people cling to their gods. Though they are fully persuaded that an idol is nothing, and will readily express their conviction of the fact, yet who or what can induce them to renounce their follies? There is something so sweet to them in their abominations, that no human persuasion will ever operate in leading them to give them up.

Now, it is impossible to account for all this, but on the supposition, that idolatry is in its nature opposed to the mind of the pure and holy God. Nothing of a different kind would thus attract, delight, and hold the affections of corrupted man. Who, then, will henceforth be found giving to the worship of idols the least aid or encouragement? Who will any more sit in the presence of the idol god, or accept of a present on the occasion of an idolatrous festival-a practice to be hated with

idolatry itself? What parent will, from this time, accustom his children (as is often most heedlessly done) to amuse themselves with images of the heathen deities in the form of toys? Who will not labour to impress his offspring with an abhorrence of every species of idolatry? How affecting is it to see those who profess to worship God in spirit and in truth, leading forth their little ones to be regaled with the sight of idolatrous processions and shews! Treated as children often are with playthings in the shape of idolatrous images; and amused as they often are by being shewn the idolatrous assembly and worship, how can they grow up with any conception of the evil of such things in the sight of God? The fact is, that few born in this country have any adequate sense of the nature of this sin. Many, indeed, though bearing the names of Europeans and Protestants, have even a kind of belief in the efficacy of brahminical blessings and curses, and in the worth of the offerings that are made in the idol's temples. This is a fact, but little known to those who come from Europe, and a fact which the East Indian and Indian European, aware of the sentiments of Europeans in general, and the ridicule with which such a belief would be assailed, most industriously conceals. The fault, however, is chiefly to be laid at the door of the parents; and to God they must give an account. Reader, lay these things to heart. Monghyr.

IV.-Chapter of Indian Correspondence, No. V.

L.

[In continuing our Chapter of Indian Correspondence, we select the following extracts which, we are persuaded, will be read with interest. The first expresses noble sentiments, well worthy of a British magistrate, which, we trust, will be re-echoed by numerous members of the service to which the writer is attached; the succeeding ones contain valuable hints, of which, we doubt not, the friends of Education will gladly avail themselves; and the last refers to an important subject as it regards the spread of knowledge in India, on which we, like the writer, should be most happy to see the opinions of competent judges. We shall gladly open our pages for its discussion.-ED.]

1.-GENEROUS ASPIRATIONS AFTER USEFULness.

Extract of a recent Letter from a Civilian in the Upper Provinces, to another in Calcutta.

Do

"You will be rejoiced to hear that I have succeeded in getting for my school, from the Agra college, a young man, whom Mr. Duncan praises most highly, as an accomplished Persian, and an excellent English scholar. He is said to be a youth of first-rate talent. It will be my first care to read with him some of our best historical and moral books. you recollect Robertson's sermon on the Dissemination of the Christian religion? What an insight into human nature does that same Robertson give us; and how lucidly, how elegantly he unfolds to us the causes of the advances of Europe in civilization. The perusal of his works made me in one month, ten years older in wisdom.

In my new situation, what vastly increased powers shall I command of promoting the cause of education and civilization! By making some examination successfully undergone in certain studies necessary to enable a candidate to hold office, I shall at once fill my school-rooms with the most zealous students.

"The love-sick Orpheus could sing only of his Eurydice-Eurydice! The cause of truth and education is my, as well as your, engrossing theme

'Te, dulcis conjux, te solo in littore secum,

Te, veniente die, te decedente canebat.'

"All our other labours in rendering justice to individuals, indispensable and primary though they be, are of little benefit in comparison with those which, creating a spirit of dispassionate and ardent inquiry after truth, will tend to raise the nation in the scale of civilization.

"We have a high commission-whether as servants of the British Government, to support the majesty of its name, by the uprightness of all our decrees; or as servants and children of a still higher Power, to work each to the utmost of his abilities, to the fullest extent of his influence, be it personal and springing from high moral attributes, or official and lent by his position in the world, for the good of his fellow-servants, and brotherIs not the sentiment of this Sanskrit verse admirable

men.

च्चयं निजो प!वेति गणना लघुचेतसां ।

azıcafcaraig agûa gefaa ||

"The man of contracted affections regulates his actions towards men by the consideration, that such an one is of kin to me, and such another, a stranger; but the man of high-minded benevolence regards all mankind as his brethren,'

"I am losing time in dwelling on this subject to one who requires less than any other man in India, to be reminded of the fearful responsibility attaching to superior ability and high influence but there is a satisfaction in having an audience of a congenial spirit. The generality of my friends esteem a man half mad, who gives a free course to the impulses of the most generous benevolence. You gratify my vanity by telling me that my influence, direct and indirect, is extensive. I certainly labour hard to stand well in the eyes of the meanest of my dependents and those around me ; but it is not with the view of self-aggrandizement; it is that I may attain a moral influence over men's minds, which I may use so as to best promote their own good."

2.-VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS ON NATIVE EDUCATION.

Extract from a Letter from a Political Officer in Rijputáná.

"I concur in every word of your Committee's splendid Report on Native Medical Education. But recollect the difference of our circumstances. Those educated here in English will find no use for it at present. For Malwá and Rajputáná nothing, literally nothing had been done till I began with the subject of education. Truth, and a spirit of inquiry, are daily spreading in and the neighbourhood. Give me every facility for disseminating it, and without reckoning on superabundant zeal from many others, which I regret to say would be in vain, I engage to work a great change in two or three years.

"I have adopted the Hindustání, and so has in all our judicial proceedings. Your anti-Persian pamphlets I have read and explained to

all about me, and have heard no dissentient voice raised against the introduction of Hindustání. As was to be expected, the Persian writers can neither read it, nor write it, as yet, with the fluency with which they can read and write in Persian, but this obstruction will be overcome in another month.

"A friend in Malwa writes me as follows:

"The use of the Persian has ceased for many years on the Bombay establishment. It is to be regretted that we did not, as the French would have done, begin to plant our own language in the soil of India half a century ago. Half a century hence we shall be, in this respect, in the condition which we ought now to be in. I should like to see English schools established to the utmost. At and near the presidencies they flourish wonderfully. Here nothing is done, nor likely to be; and yet there is no place where there are so many young lads of rank as the rájás of Dhar, Amjherra, Jabua, the Nawab of Jowra, &c. whose education might now be turned to account. But our non-interference system keeps them in a continual state of alarm, and it as much as some of them can do to keep their positions. The poor little rájá of Jabua is hunted about like a fox, and domestic peace and comfort must precede education in such cases.

"I was delighted to get an application from one of Sindia's ámils, from whom I little expected it, for a Hindi map of the world; but as I had none to send him, I have been obliged to get some of my pupils to make rude copies for him. It is these spontaneous requisitions from men in authority that I rejoice to receive. One single one, though originating only in curiosity, in such a quarter, begets an anxious desire to master the subject from a dozen of his dependents. By getting good maps printed in the Nágarí character, you will do a vast deal of good. They are explained in half an hour, and without any effort they are understood at once. They contain proofs of our correctness and truth, which must be entertained before any disposition to learn from us can be inspired. I want them as a support and evidence of the truth of those higher precepts I would inculcate. For the same reason, I want to see an edition of the most popular Siddhántas, or of Mullari's Commentary on the Graha Lághavu printed. You must not for an instant fancy that I lay any stress upon these, as of themselves essential, or as the end of my instructions. They prove a valuable and most powerful support to establish the superiority of what I would teach in morals, history, and the sciences.

Extract from a recent Letter from a Civilian.

"Have you no globes or maps in the Devanagari character? None can I procure, yet nothing is so much sought after. Why don't some of our scholars give a map of India, in that universal character for Hindus, tempting them to the study of geography by exhibiting and reviving their own nomenclature juxtaposed with ours, at least in regard to the provincial divisions and to the towns and cities of note: for example—

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An outline map of this sort, done in Devanagarí, would attract the Hindus, and especially the pandits, to the gradual study of our geography, above all other means, for they still retain a passion for their own geographical nomenclature, which their want of skill in map-making, when that nomenclature prevailed, prevents the gratification of satisfying from any of their own books. They are familiar still with Canára Des, Tailanga Des, O'r

Des, Drávír Des, Mithila Des, &c. but they have no conception almost of their just relative positions, and modern names. Enable the Hindus to realize a just idea of their own and sacred geography, and you will attract them to the study generally by the strongest of all inducements ;not to mention the use which such a map, as I speak of, would be of to all European students of Indian antiquities."

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3.-AMALGAMATION OF HINDUI AND HINDUSTA'NI'. Extract from a Letter from a Missionary at Banáras, dated July, 1835. "There is a question arising from the state of society in Banáras, upon which I should like to have your opinion. Here we have two distinct languages, the Hindi and the Urdú; and the difficulty has been ever felt by Missionaries, as to which they should preach in, or as to both. The pure Hindi, as existing in all our modern tracts, and as preached first, I think, by Mr. Bowley, and now by several others, is not understood by Musalmáns, nor yet perfectly by the lower orders of Hindus. Again, the Urdú of Martyn's Testament is not understood by the Hindus, nor yet by the lower order of Musalmáns. Between these two, however, there is a language, Urdú and Hindí, of which I suppose it is possible to form a lexicon, so that for the most part every word in it would be understood by all classes, except perhaps the ganwárs. The advantages of having only one lan guage are immense; but the difficulties about taste, classical style, purity, &c. are almost insuperable, with those who have been trained after the mode of English discipline. What shall be done? If we follow the manner of our own nation, we should cultivate only the common language; and sacrifice present feelings to the thought of the future strength and beauty that would accrue to it. For I suppose, a medley of Sanskrit, Hindi, Fársí and Arabic, would, in a short time, make no worse appearance than the medley of Latin, Saxon, Norman French, &c. which is now known by the name of the masculine, copious, and polished English language ;-the depositary of sonfe of the finest works of taste, and the most splendid works of science."

V.-On Female Infanticide in India.

We have been favored by a zealous correspondent in England, with a copy of an Address to the Right Hon. Robert Grant, Governor of Bombay, lately presented by Ministers and Members of various denominations of Christians, deeply interested in the progress of the Societies established in Britain for the promulgation of our common Christianity in India. It is intended to express their high satisfaction at Mr. Grant's appointment to the important station of Governor of the Presidency of Bombay, and their pleasing anticipations, that his "enlightened administration of Indian affairs will be signalized and commended by all succeeding generations, for its annihilation of Female Infanticide, a measure not less important than that of the (late) magnanimous Governor General of India,the abolition of the inhuman rite of Suttee (Satí).”

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