CHAPTER XIV.

REMOVAL TO CALCUTTA.

It was not without regret that Mr. Corrie quitted a place which he had found (to use his own words,) “a scene of delightful labour.” In anticipation of his probable removal from Benares, he had written some time before

TO THE REV. MR. SIMEON.

“I am at a loss to decide how to act should my removal be determined on by Government. You will see a report of our Church Missionary proceedings here, no doubt, by Mr. Thomason. There is a great deal too much said in it about me, especially should I be removed soon, so as to be prevented establishing the plans in agitation. But I pray I may be able to go on in simplicity of mind, in obedience to the will of God’s providence, and seek nothing for myself; who am indeed nothing, and deserve to be the ‘off-scouring of all.’ If I were professedly a Missionary, and had the same prospect of entrance into this very citadel of Idolatry, I should consider it a call to live and die in this place; but as a Chaplain of the Government, am I not to consider the disposal of Government, as the voice of providence to me? I can truly say that, in the prospect of leaving this place, ‘I am oppressed; O Lord, undertake for me!’”

Before proceeding, however, to Calcutta, Mr. C. visited Chunar, and there administered the Lord’s Supper to sixty communicants, of whom half were native Christians. He drew up a plan, also, for the future guidance of those who were engaged in the mission at that place and Benares, with a view to secure regularity and efficiency to their exertions: and in this he so arranged as to secure the cooperation of all the parties, for whose guidance his directions were intended. It may be mentioned, too, in connexion with the mission at Chunar, that Mr. C. had employed himself, during his residence at Benares, in carefully examining and correcting a revision of Mr. Martyn’s Hindoostanee translation of the New Testament, into Hindoowee, which Mr. Bowley had found it necessary to undertake for the sake of the native population, among whom he laboured; and which was afterwards printed by the Bible Society. At the close of the year 1818, Mr. Corrie commenced his journey to Calcutta. On the way thither he touched at Buxar, a place to which he had frequently paid missionary visits; and where a great desire had often been manifested on the part of the Christian inhabitants, to have a schoolmaster or Missionary located among them. As a proof of the anxiety which these Christians still cherished for the advantages of a stated ministry, there was now placed in Mr. Corrie’s hands a list of about seventy persons, (chiefly of the less wealthy class,) who were willing to contribute certain monthly payments toward building a church, and the maintenance of a Missionary.

On reaching Calcutta, among the first objects of Mr. Corrie’s care was, the placing under proper instruction some Hindoostanee youths, who had accompanied him from Benares. He had for some time been in the habit of devoting much attention to their education, with a view to their future usefulness as teachers; and he now placed them in a school for Hindoostanee boys, which the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society had just established in that city. With reference to the importance of such an Institution, Mr. Corrie had long entertained a decided opinion. In a letter, anterior to this period, he had observed to Mr. Sherer,

“I see so strongly, and experience also in my connection with the adult converts, the improbability of finding steady, judicious pastors, except from among those who have been educated in Christian studies, that I should like to devote the rest of my days to the instruction of native youths, with a view to the ministry. That may be better done in Calcutta than elsewhere, from the greater readiness with which books may be had, and especially help for the instruction of others got ready. Besides, future Missionaries will act with greater effect, aided by well-educated native brethren. So that in every point of view this appears to be a prime object, to educate for the ministry.”

As respected himself, it is scarcely necessary to state that the scene of labour at the Presidency was, in most respects, widely different from that to which Mr. Corrie had been accustomed in the provinces. In a letter to his brother, dated early in 1819, Mr. C. relates, as a specimen of his engagements,--

“Mr. Parson and myself go on happily in our joint Chaplaincy. The Bishop is absent at Madras, where, we hear, he is confirming, in his sermons, all Mr. Thompson’s labours. He is in many respects a valuable man.

“I have lately been appointed Honorary Chaplain to the [Military] Orphan Institution,[109] where I officiate every Sunday Morning soon after six o’clock. At the Cathedral I read prayers or preach at nine; and the same at eight in the evening. I take the weekly occasional duties in turn. I am, also, _ex officio_, a Governor of the Free School, and a member of the Select Vestry; who are Trustees of charities distributed to the monthly amount of 3,411 rupees, among 568 Pensioners.”

The connexion with the “Select Vestry” here mentioned, did not however prove without its difficulties; for it happened that Mr. Corrie commenced his duties at the Presidency before a dispute had subsided, respecting the mode in which that Vestry was constituted, and the authority which they claimed to exercise. It seems to have been the custom for the members of the Vestry to re-elect themselves annually, so as to admit new members into their body only as vacancies occurred by deaths, resignations, or departures for England. They had customarily, also, appointed the officers connected with the Church, now called the Cathedral. But it appears that at the Easter preceding Mr. Corrie’s connection with the Cathedral, a certain number of persons opposed the re-election of the Select Vestry, as being contrary to the practice usual in England; and the senior Chaplain, at the same time, claimed the right to nominate the churchwardens. The Select Vestry, on the other hand, regarded themselves (and had long been so recognized by government) as special Trustees for a Church which had been originally built by private individuals; and for the due distribution of certain funds, arising mainly from legacies left for charitable purposes, and under the administration of the Vestry. However much, therefore, to be deplored, might be the animosity and indecorous language, into which some of the parties concerned in the dispute, seem to have been betrayed, it cannot be a matter of surprise that the Vestry, as a body, should hesitate to abandon long-acknowledged claims, and to hand over to other persons, the distribution of certain charities which they conceived to be legally entrusted to the Vestry. To such a length, however, had the dispute respecting this matter been carried, that both parties complained to the Governor General in Council; and the Government had given it as an opinion, rather than as a decision, that the vestry should remain in possession of its accustomed functions, until the authorities in England might judge it proper to interfere. But notwithstanding this opinion on the part of Government, the opponents of the Vestry revived the dispute, at the Easter of 1819. Much correspondence seems to have taken place on the subject, and many hard words again to have been used; and Mr. Corrie as one, among others, who considered it their duty to maintain themselves in the position which had been thus sanctioned by Government, became, as a matter of course, the subject of reprehension on the part of those, who opposed the claims of the Vestry. Yet it is stated by those who were in Calcutta at the time, and were also well acquainted with the facts of the case, that the subject of these Memoirs was enabled so far to keep apart from the bitterness of this strife, as to exhibit throughout “the prudence and meekness becoming the minister of Christ.”

With the exception, however, of passing occurrences such as these, there was but little diversity in the duties which now fell to Mr. Corrie’s lot, beyond what may be found in the life of a parochial clergyman. The history of any one day was, to a great extent therefore, the history of the succeeding month; and so on, from month to month: for as it was not yet certain, whether the senior Chaplain, who had gone to the Cape, would return to India or not, Mr. Corrie could not regard himself as more than a temporary resident at the Presidency, and did not therefore feel at liberty to engage so actively in the concerns of several religious societies in Calcutta, as he afterwards felt called upon to do. But when intelligence reached India, early in 1820, that the senior Chaplain had proceeded to England, and Mr. C. thus became entitled to succeed to the vacant chaplaincy, he began to lay himself out for some steady course of missionary labour in Calcutta and the neighbourhood. One of his first movements was, to endeavour to collect a native congregation in Calcutta, by means of Mr. Bowley, who had come down from Chunar to superintend the printing of that revised Hindoowee translation of the New Testament, which has been already mentioned.[110] The ulterior object Mr. Corrie had in view in this was, to provide a sphere of labour for Abdool Messeeh, who was expected to reach Calcutta in the spring of 1820, and whose state of health might probably render it desirable that he should remain there for the future. Mr. Corrie was, also, desirous to excite a deeper interest for missionary objects, among the poorer classes about the Presidency, in the belief that less attention had hitherto been given to effect this, than, on every christian principle, seemed necessary. As having now, also, undertaken the office of Secretary to the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta, Mr. C. was in better circumstances to direct these missionary plans. Some account of his occupations, is given in a letter to his sister, who had returned to England:--

“May 19, 1820.

“Abdool Messeeh is here: I am daily at work with him, writing a Commentary in Hindoostanee, from six in the morning till breakfast and after, if I am not called away. We have got him a house in _Meer-jan-kee-gully_. It is a roomy (upper-roomed) house, but out of repair; so we get it for fifty rupees a month; and here he collects the poor four times a week. The Church Missionary concerns occupy me too a good deal; and we are setting up a printing-press in my go-downs.[111] To-day the first sheet of a tract is printing off, as a beginning.”

Soon after the date of the foregoing extract, Mr. Corrie had an examination of the boys of his Hindoostanee-school, in the presence of the members of the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, and of such other persons as interested themselves about missionary objects. His many avocations did not admit of his undertaking the superintendence of a larger number of scholars than that with which the school had commenced; but the result of the examination proved, that the benefit derived from being habituated to christian example and the progress which the boys had made in a knowledge of the Hindoostanee New Testament, the Hindoostanee Catechism, and the principles of the Christian religion in general, were of a very encouraging nature. Impressed, therefore, with the conviction that a Christian education was of the greatest importance as a means to render the natives themselves efficient instruments of God to their countrymen, Mr. Corrie welcomed the idea of establishing a missionary College by the Bishop. With reference to that circumstance, he wrote to his brother:--

“I am quite sure that all men will rejoice in the establishment of the College; although learning alone will do but little. It therefore appears to me more than ever necessary to maintain strenuously the labours and plans of the Church Missionary Society. Under these feelings I was led last Thursday into a long conversation with the Bishop, respecting Missionary proceedings, in which the Church Missionary Society and its views were brought forward and discussed. The Bishop’s chief objection was, that the sending out of English clergymen as Missionaries, would prevent the East India Company from making such a provision of Chaplains, as they ought to make. As far as it goes, the argument is just; but I think he ought rather to adopt such Missionaries, and by pointing out to Government the benefits produced by them, to draw forth Government support, which otherwise may not be afforded in any way.”

It may not be amiss to mention, that however much Mr. Corrie might be occupied by matters of public interest, he did not neglect the charities of social life. On the contrary, he did not allow his gate to be closed against any who might have a reason for desiring to hold communication with him. And, as in India, persons arriving from England, or visiting the Presidency were, at that time, regarded as having an almost unlimited claim on the hospitality of the residents in Calcutta, Mr. C. was seldom without his share of such guests. This circumstance, added to his natural kind-heartedness, gave occasion to one, who loved him, and who was then under his roof, to remark, ‘as long as he lives and wherever he lives, he will have as many people about him as fall in his way; until every corner be occupied, and he himself is left without a corner.’ To many of the younger portion of these visitors Mr. C. was, also, oftentimes the instrument of great moral good; and in such cases it was his custom, as occasion served or might require, to address to them a letter of encouragement or direction, after they had left him. An extract from a letter to Capt. Moyle Sherer, H. M. 34th regiment, and who had been on a visit to his brother in Calcutta, may serve to illustrate the spirit of such communications:--

“Calcutta, May 27, 1820.

“You are by this time settled with your regiment, and begin to find exactly how the minds of those around you stand affected to the principles of true religion. Some painful discoveries will probably have been made, and on the other hand, perhaps, consolation will have arisen from unexpected sources. Such is the beginning, especially of a life of piety. We are apt to wonder that what we see so clearly to be rational and necessary, is not equally seen by others when brought before them; and the result is, to make us feel more experimentally that what we have learned on these subjects, has not been from man’s teaching, but that God has been leading us by ways that we knew not. The discovery of our own inbred sin is what is most distressing at this stage. Indeed, to the end of life such ebullitions of the sin that dwelleth in us, occasionally take place, as almost confound the Christian, and send him back to his first principles; and it seems as if the whole work of religion were yet to begin. Yea, how often does this inward enemy impel him to the very brink of disgrace, and he escapes as by miracle, from temporal no less than eternal ruin. Such is my experience up to this day; and now, what with the experience upwards of forty years have supplied of the world’s insufficiency to afford happiness, and of the power of sin, unless God prevent, to work temporal and eternal ruin, the grave begins to appear a refuge, and I have a deep conviction that they only are completely blessed who are in heaven. I think you were quite right in not taking part with the Wesleyans till you know more of them. By degrees the truly sincere will draw to you as their natural superior, and you will be able to direct their reading and to regulate their affairs far more to their advantage than they can do themselves.”

During the October of 1820, Mr. Corrie was afflicted by the death of one of the elder of the Hindoostanee boys, who were in the school under his care. The youth in question was a Hindoo by birth, and when a child had been purchased up the country, from his parents, during a season of scarcity. He had therefore been under Christian instruction the greater part of his life. It seems that he died of consumption, and that during a long illness, he had afforded satisfactory evidence that he had not received a Christian education in vain. The death of this youth was not long afterwards followed by the removal of the remaining youths, to assist in the schools at different missionary stations. Before, however, Mr. Corrie’s Hindoostanee scholars had been thus dispersed, there had been admitted among them, for the purpose of receiving instruction in order to baptism, a Hindoo youth who had been servant to a converted Moonshee.[112] This youth, when full of the idea of making the pilgrimage to Juggernauth, had accidentally fallen in with the Moonshee, and accompanied him as far as Benares. In consequence, however, of the conversations, which he held with the Moonshee on the subject of religion, his faith in the efficacy of a pilgrimage to Juggernauth had entirely abated, by the time they reached Benares: and he accordingly returned back to Delhi with the Moonshee, in the capacity of servant; although he left his master, after a while, to avoid the scoffs of his Hindoo acquaintances. He could not, however, rid himself of the conviction that his master was right, and became so uneasy under that conviction, that he quitted his home in search of peace of mind. Eventually he made his way to Calcutta, and became an inmate of the Hindoostanee school there, and in due time was baptised.

It may here not be uninteresting to relate, that after Mr. Corrie became Secretary to the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, he was in the habit of employing himself as he found opportunity, in contributing to the pages of a ‘Quarterly Circular,’ which first appeared in 1820, and contained from time to time, a summary of ‘Missionary Intelligence,’ for the use of Missionaries and others, at the different stations in India. Among his contributions to this periodical may be mentioned a series of papers, containing a ‘Sketch of the progress of Christianity in Calcutta and in the provinces of the presidency of Bengal.’ Mr. Corrie had often been struck by observing the importance attached by historians to but imperfect records of former ages, provided those records happened to bear the marks of authenticity; and he conceived, therefore, that some future historian of the church of Christ in India, might possibly derive assistance from a notice of such facts and circumstances as that ‘Sketch’ might be the means of rescuing from oblivion. It may with truth be added, that no person then living was better qualified than Mr. C. to record the more recent occurrences connected with the history of Christianity in Bengal, he having himself been not only a careful observer of all that concerned the progress of true religion in that Presidency, but also the personal friend of those men of God, who had immediately preceded him, and to whose zeal and labours may be traced the first origin of almost every religious institution in Bengal. The Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Society for promoting Christian knowledge, having now, also, directed their attention to the translation of religious Tracts into the languages of India, a translation into Hindoostanee, both in the Nagree and Nustaliq character, of “Sellon’s Abridgment of the Holy Scriptures,” was assigned to the superintendence and revision of Mr. Corrie. Having been requested, moreover, by the Committee of the Calcutta Bible Society, to state for their information, such particulars illustrative of the benefit attending the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, as might have fallen under his own observation, the following was his reply:--

“Calcutta, 6th Feb. 1821.

“In compliance with your request that I would state any circumstances within my own knowledge, tending to shew the good arising from the distribution of the Scriptures alone, I have endeavoured to call to mind some facts in corroboration of my general feeling of the good arising from the measure in question. The benefit arising to professed Christians is not, I believe, within your contemplation, otherwise I might say much respecting the benefit the native Christians on this side of India have derived from the Bible Society. During the prevalence of the Mahratta power, many Christians were employed in offices of trust by the Native princes, chiefly in situations connected with the army.

“I had, whilst residing at Agra, frequent applications from Christians of that class, and many of them sent from far, for copies of the Persian and Hindoostanee translations: to shew the need they stood in of such supplies, I may just observe, that a Christian of the class referred to, in the service of the Burthpore Rajah, on applying personally to me for a copy of the New Testament, was asked if he had ever perused the Gospel in any language? he answered that he had never even seen the Book; and in the figurative language of the country, added, that ‘he knew not whether the Book was made of wood or paper.’

“Among the most remarkable instances of Mahomedans and Hindoos deriving benefit from the Scriptures alone, the following occur to me:

“In 1813, a Mahomedan Hukeem came to me at Agra from Burthpore, saying, that he had many years before read the Pentateuch in Arabic, a copy of which had been given to him by a Roman Catholic priest: that about two years before the time he came to me, he had obtained a copy of St. Matthew’s gospel in Persian, from reading of which he had become convinced of the divinity of Jesus Christ. This man, with his son, was afterwards baptized.

“The next instance that occurs to me, is of an aged Hindoo: this man from reading the writings of Cuber, had been led to renounce Idolatry, and finding the Law and Gospel spoken of by Cuber, as divine books, he was for several years anxious to possess a copy. After several ineffectual attempts to procure a copy from English gentlemen, he at length obtained the Gospels in the Nagree character. He was also afterwards baptized. A third instance of good derived from the Scriptures alone, was Burukut Museeh in 1813; he got a manuscript copy of Job, which he perused with great interest; afterwards he got a copy of the Psalms; then Isaiah; and finally the New Testament in Hindoostanee. His exemplary life and happy death are recorded in the Missionary Register.

“The only other case that occurs to me, is that of Fuez Musseeh, baptized in 1817. At seventeen years of age, he became a Mahomedan purely from the abhorrence of idolatry expressed in the Koran; he remained upwards of twenty years a strict and indefatigable disciple of the Koran, living as a Fakeer and obtaining great honour among his countrymen for his supposed sanctity. At length, being disgusted in his own mind with the practices recommended by his spiritual guides, and wearied with his own ineffectual labours after holiness, he abandoned all his honours as a Religieux, and bought from a lady a copy of the New Testament, if haply he might find in it that rest for his soul he had hitherto sought in vain from other quarters. He sought, and found, as his conduct hitherto leads us to think, the object of his pursuit.

“I have met whilst residing out of Calcutta, with very many natives, who from reading the Scriptures, have had all prejudice against Christianity removed; and some of them, as Joy Narain Ghossaul, at Benares, have been set upon many works of benevolence and charity, from their knowledge of duty as learned from the Bible, though they have not derived _all_ the benefits to be desired from the copies of the Scriptures circulated among them. How far this partial good is to be appreciated, each Christian will form his own judgment. As a preparing of the way of the Lord, it is by no means to be undervalued, and future labourers will reap the fruit of the precious seed which the Bible Society has been sowing in India with so much diligence for several years past.”

The memoranda which occur in Mr. Corrie’s Journal after his return to India, are very few, but under date of June 11, 1821, he remarks:--

“I have been endeavouring to call my ways to remembrance, and find enough to be humbled for in the review, but a difficulty as to how I should speak of it. This difficulty I wish to account for. Formerly I could write of my state with ease; lately I have neglected to make memoranda. I have certainly been much employed in public matters. My duties as Chaplain, and as Secretary to the Church Missionary Society,--the schools, the press, leave me very little time, and that little I find difficult to apply to a good purpose. My want of retirement prevents the right use of the little I might have. I am deeply conscious that the evil propensities of my nature are by no means eradicated; and I ought to be alarmed that they do not more alarm me. I feel daily that I sin, and resolve daily against my propensities, yet daily am more or less overcome. Oh! I desire to awake to righteousness! I desire to be alarmed; to be saved from sin, and quickened and made alive to God. O Spirit of light and love, of power and of a sound mind, work in me to will and do of thy good pleasure! I see, in reading the epistle to Titus, that except in such points as are agreeable to my nature, I am far from the character of a true minister of Christ.”

There is reason, however, to hope that Mr. Corrie’s ministrations in Calcutta were not altogether in vain. At any rate, it is well known that his labours were unceasing, whether regard be had to his duties as chaplain, or those connected with the Church Missionary Society, and the superintendence of the native schools. In the December too, of this year, he was appointed to preach the sermon at the third visitation of Bishop Middleton; and in the same month printed, among the Quarterly Missionary Intelligence, a biographical sketch of his old friend Joy Narain, who had died at Benares in November.

But that which now more especially occupied the attention of Mr. C. and others, engaged in conducting the affairs of the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta, was the education of the native females of India. The state of society had until lately, seemed hopelessly to exclude the native female from all share in the benefits of education; but the success which had attended a school set on foot by the Baptist mission, had induced some friends of religion in India, to communicate with the British and Foreign School-Society in England, with a view to extend the means of instruction to the females of India, as widely as practicable. Funds were in consequence, raised for that purpose; and Miss Cooke, a lady of education and piety, arrived in Calcutta during Nov. 1821, for the purpose of devoting herself to the work.

It was early in January 1822, that the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, took measures for the formation of female schools, under the superintendence of this lady; and such was the success attending their first efforts, that three schools were in operation by the middle of February. It was then thought desirable to bring the subject more distinctly before the residents in Calcutta, in the hope that the friends to the moral and intellectual improvement of the natives of India, might be induced to assist in carrying on this important and difficult undertaking: and to Mr. Corrie it was assigned, to draw up and circulate the following address:

“NATIVE FEMALE EDUCATION.

“The importance of education, in order to the improvement of the state of society among the natives of this country, is now generally acknowledged, and the eagerness of the natives themselves for instruction begins to exceed the opportunities hitherto afforded them.

“But to render education effectual to the improvement of society, it must obviously, be extended to both sexes. Man requires a ‘Help-meet;’ and in every country the infant mind receives its earliest impressions from the female sex. Wherever, therefore, this sex is left in a state of ignorance and degradation, the endearing and important duties of wife and mother cannot be duly discharged; and no great progress in general civilization and morals can, in such a state of things, be reasonably hoped for.

“Such however, with few exceptions has hitherto been the state of the female sex in this country; but a happy change in this respect seems at length to be gradually taking place. A most pleasing proof of this occurred in the interesting fact, that thirty-five girls were among the number of scholars, at the last examination of the School Society, in the house of one of the most respectable natives in Calcutta.

“The arrival of a lady of judgment and experience, at such a crisis, for the purpose of devoting her time and talents to the work of native female education, could not but be regarded, by all interested in the improvement of society among the natives of this country, as a most favourable event.

“This lady (Miss Cooke) was recommended, in the first instance, by the British and Foreign School Society, to the Calcutta School Society; but the Committee of this Society, being composed partly of native gentlemen, were not prepared unanimously and actively to engage in any general plan of native female education. Most of these, however, have expressed their good-will towards such a plan, and their intention of availing themselves, as circumstances may admit, of Miss Cooke’s disinterested services to obtain instruction for their families.

“Under these circumstances the corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society have cordially undertaken to promote, as they may be enabled, the objects of Miss Cooke’s mission.

“Miss Cooke will, as she may find opportunity, afford instruction at home to the female children of the higher classes of natives; and at the suggestion of an enlightened native gentleman, a separate school will be attempted, for poor female children of high caste, with a view to their becoming hereafter teachers in the families of their wealthy country-women.

“Miss Cooke has already made sufficient progress in the acquirement of Bengalee, to enable her to superintend the establishment of schools; and having been attended in her first attempt by a female friend, who can converse in Bengalee, some interesting conversations took place with the mothers of the children first collected, in which Miss Cooke’s motives were fully explained to them. Soon after, a petition was presented to Miss Cooke, in consequence of which, a second female school has been established in another quarter of the town, and a third school has been formed in Mirzapore, near the Church Mission-House. Thus three schools are already established under Miss Cooke’s immediate care, containing about sixty girls; and the disposition manifested towards these schools by the natives, affords reason to expect that a wish to have female schools will in time become general.

“It is intended therefore, to erect in a suitable situation in the native town, a school-room, with a dwelling-house attached, in which an extensive system of female education may be attempted; and this plan, so peculiarly within their province, is submitted, with much respect and confidence of success, to the sympathy and patronage of the ladies of this Presidency, by the corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society. Whatever assistance may be afforded, either as donations or monthly subscriptions, will be exclusively applied to the purposes of female education, and a report of progress will be submitted, from time to time by Miss Cooke, for the information of subscribers.”

“_Calcutta, Feb. 23, 1822._”

The result of this appeal was, that within a few weeks not less than 3,000 rupees were subscribed for the furtherance of the object contemplated; the Governor General, Lady Hastings, and others of the first distinction being among the most liberal of the contributors. Nor was it among the least remarkable circumstance connected with this great social movement, that a highly respectable Brahmin wrote and circulated a tract, for the express purpose of recommending to his countrymen the importance of female education. He urged it also, as the duty of every parent to rescue thus their female offspring from that state of degradation, to which (as he proved from history) the women in Hindoostan were not formerly subject.

With reference to these and similar occurrences, Mr. Corrie writes to his brother.

“Calcutta, April 19, 1822.

“Our missionary engagements are becoming more and more important; and opportunities for extending our plans more and more frequent and easy: But with all these [prospects,] a spirit unfriendly to the gospel is gone forth amongst the natives, and they are commencing Deistical politicians. Four native newspapers have started in Calcutta; two in Bengalee, one in Hindoostanee, and one in Persian. They cannot all stand long, but they mark the spirit of the times. They are all under an influence unfriendly to our Church establishment: but we are getting on with our schools, having now upwards of four hundred boys, and one hundred and thirty-four girls, under our Church Missionary Society, within the boundary of Calcutta; while the Diocesan Committee have several schools in the suburbs. The youth in these [schools] will, we hope, grow up with impressions favourable to our views of things.”

On Wednesday, May 26, 1822, Mr. Corrie preached a sermon at the Old Church, in aid of the Society for Missions to Africa and the East. The sermon was afterwards printed with the fifth report of the Calcutta Committee of that Society, and contains some valuable remarks on the advantages connected with direct instruction in the faith of Christ, over the education which merely imparts such knowledge as has reference only to the affairs of this life. One sentence may here be cited as illustrative of the great change which the mind of India had undergone, since the time when Mr. Corrie could labour for the conversion of the heathen, only at the risk of incurring the censure of government:--

“Our Church, with reason we think, calls herself Apostolical: now, what is this but missionary? And a portion of missionary spirit has always resided among her members. Time has been, indeed, when this was regarded by many rather as a mark of dissent; but now, blessed be God, she seems to be rising, through all her ranks, to her high and proper character as a missionary body.”

About six weeks only had passed since the delivery of this discourse, when Mr. Corrie was summoned to attend the death-bed of the Bishop of Calcutta, who was called to his rest after but a few days’ illness. Considering the peculiar circumstances of India, and the then novelty of episcopal rule in that country, it could scarcely be expected that Mr. Corrie, among others, should be able to recognise the wisdom of every act of Bishop Middleton’s administration, and the equity of the control which that able prelate claimed to exercise over the temporal as well as spiritual affairs of the chaplains to the East India Company; but his correspondence abundantly shows that he could well appreciate the Bishop’s character. With regard more especially to the cause nearest his heart--that of missions, Mr. C. considered it to have derived from the deceased prelate, exactly that kind of sanction which was then required; it wanted only official countenance, and the reputation of orthodoxy. To labour for the moral improvement and conversion of our heathen fellow-subjects, used to be regarded as characterising a party in the church, and as proceeding from a kind of fanaticism that would endanger the stability of our oriental empire. But the interest which Bishop Middleton had taken in the Missionary cause, had given reason to believe, that official dignity combined with a high reputation for sound judgment and secular learning, were not incompatible with the conviction, that our rule in India had every thing to hope from the spread of Christianity; and that it was not fanatical to suppose, that so vast an empire had been committed to our governance for the noble purpose of making known the Son of God, to a people who were ignorant of Him.

Within two months of the death of Bishop Middleton, the Archdeacon of Calcutta fell a victim to the Cholera; and as that circumstance rendered it necessary for the Government to delegate the administration of the affairs of the See to other hands, Mr. Corrie and Mr. Parson were commissioned to exercise such jurisdiction as by law might be warranted, until a successor to Bishop Middleton should arrive from England.

In a memorandum, penned about that time, Mr. Corrie writes:--

“Sep. 28th, 1822. This day sixteen years ago I first landed in Calcutta. How altered the state of society! Then Mr. Brown was senior Chaplain. He had at time dear Martyn in his house, and received Parson and myself into his family. Now he and his wife are numbered with the dead, and all their children returned.... How many other changes, also, in the state of the religious society of Calcutta, so that Mr. U. only remains of the friends of religion in his class of society of that day. How varied has been the scene of my own Indian-life!

“In respect of public affairs, great changes, also, have taken place. In ecclesiastical matters great changes. A bishop and archdeacon appointed in 1814, and Bishop’s college has been the result. The subject of missions has thus, by degrees, become one of acknowledged duty and advantage to society. The bishop hurried off by sudden death: the archdeacon taken off not two months after, more suddenly still: Parson and I appointed to exercise their functions _pro tempore_. I would, however, remark especially the state of my own mind during this long period. I came to India chiefly with a view to the propagation of the gospel; and that view, I trust I can say, has not been lost sight of. My time has been principally devoted to that object. My money, too, has chiefly gone in that cause. I trust a mission has been established at Chunar, Agra, and Benares, through my humble means, which will go on, and ‘increase with the increase of God.’ In Calcutta, the labours of Secretary to the Church Missionary Society, in addition to my own official duties, have helped to bring on the loss of strength I am now suffering under. But I would be aware that the state of heart is chiefly to be attended to. And here I can see no one duty so performed, that I dare think of it in the view of presenting it to God; and were it not that Jesus is the righteousness and strength of all who believe, I could not entertain the slightest hope.

“For about three months, my ancles have swollen occasionally, with bad digestion, and aching of the limbs and legs. The doctor says it is the effect of climate; by which I understand that my frame is debilitated sensibly, by the heat. He says, rest is the only remedy, and I am come to Pultah Ghaut[113] for rest, and retirement. My prayer to God is that I may be made fully alive to my real state, and may not waste away without feeling the tendency of such a wasting. I desire to have my loins girt about and my lamp supplied with oil; so that, whenever the bridegroom is announced, I may be ready to enter in.

“I desire to be more spiritually minded; and to have more of a realizing faith, as to the truths I am exercised about day by day out of the holy word. I would fain see religion on the increase among us; and have more abundant fruit of the word. Oh! that the Spirit were poured upon Europeans and natives! Oh! that the kingdom of Christ were established in my own heart! more settled in my family; my flock; and on all around generally. Oh! that the salvation were come out of Zion. Then should this nation be glad and rejoice; and He whose name is Jehovah, be acknowledged throughout the land. Amen.”

The debility of which Mr. Corrie here complains had so increased, that the medical men decided that it would not be safe for him to remain in Calcutta during the hot weather; and moreover, advised a long sea-voyage as the best means for recruiting his impaired health. He did not, however, think a voyage to be of so much consequence; yet early in February 1823 he quitted Calcutta, accompanied by his family and Captain Stephen of the Engineers, and went to reside on the coast, near Juggernaut. For the first eight or nine weeks of his residence at Pooree, Mr. Corrie’s health had been greatly restored; but the anxiety and fatigue which he underwent in attending the sick-bed of Captain Stephen, who died at Pooree on the 10th of May, brought on a serious attack of fever. In this state he attended the funeral of his deceased friend; but being too unwell to proceed through the service, he was carried home in a state of the greatest exhaustion. In the course of the day, however, Mr. Corrie revived sufficiently to allow of his writing to Mr. Thomason, an account of the last illness of Captain Stephen; after which the fever returned with such violence that for several days the sufferer was scarcely sensible. The following is his letter:--

TO THE REV. T. THOMASON.

“Pooree, May 10, 1823.

“The last sad offices having been performed for your beloved son-in-law, I will endeavour to recal some of the pleasing expressions which fell from his lips during the last week, both with a view to the comfort of his friends, and to indulge myself on a subject which engrosses all my thoughts. My acquaintance with the dear departed commenced in September 1814, when I saw him almost the whole of every day during about a week. Again in 1817 and 1818, our intercourse was renewed both at Ghazeepoor and Benares. He was then, it is almost needless to say, strictly correct in his conversation and general conduct, but did not exhibit that serious impression of divine truth which latterly appeared in him. When we went on board the schooner, I soon discovered a marked difference in him in that respect. There was an evident love of religious exercises, and religious books; and I observed more than once a serious attention to private devotion. From that period our intercourse was unreserved, and his general conversation and remarks, such as belong to godliness. He joined us regularly in our morning and evening family worship. He frequently spoke of his expectation that his illness would end in death, but we hoped otherwise; and nothing particular, as to his views in the prospect of such an event was mentioned. He had never been free from bowel-complaint since we came together, and during the early part of the week commencing April 27, he complained of an increase to his disorder from having taken cold, though no such appearances as usually attend a cold appeared about him. He kept up as usual till Friday the 2nd of May, when he did not come to breakfast with the family, but came out to dinner.

“On Saturday he did not leave his room. On Sunday I went into his room, and asked if I should join him in reading the word of God and prayer, since he no longer could join with us. To this he gladly assented, and began to speak of the great mercy of God towards him in preserving him from acute pain, whilst he felt himself sinking gradually. I read the first lesson for the day, and he made several remarks on the applicableness of the admonitions to the spiritual state of the Christian. Being drowsy, from the opiates administered to allay his disease, he desired me to defer praying till the afternoon. In the afternoon he was quite awake, spoke of the mercies of God toward him, complaining also of his want of gratitude to his God and Saviour. I spoke to him of what I thought of his state when at Ghazeepoor in 1814, and especially some remarks he then made on hymn singing, and expressed my delight at his now altered feeling, and the ground of encouragement it afforded him. He said that he had strong convictions of sin before that time; that he owed much to his deceased Aunt Stephen, who had tried much to impress his mind with a sense of religion; adding, ‘I know now why Christians take so much pleasure in hymn-singing; they love to dwell upon the ideas conveyed by the words.’ I may here observe that he several times, since we have been at Pooree, spoke of his Aunt Stephen, and of all his family, and the obligations he owed her.

“To-day he also mentioned his wish to partake of the Lord’s Supper, before his intellects should become clouded. On Monday, May 5th, he asked me if I were prepared to administer to him the Lord’s Supper. As no time had been mentioned the day before, I proposed to put off the celebration till next day, when we would make it a family ordinance; to this he cheerfully assented. I do not recollect any particulars of what fell from him that day, but his conversation was always with reference to his dying soon, and filled with thanksgiving to his God and Saviour for the comparative ease in which he lay, and especially for the hope of heaven which he enjoyed; often exclaiming that it was all of mercy, and entirely flowing from the Saviour’s merits. On Tuesday May 6, his mind was confused all the morning from opiates; about two, P. M. seeing him collected, I asked if he would now have the Sacrament administered? He said he wished to be more awake and would postpone it till the morrow; adding, ‘I have committed my all into the hands of my blessed Saviour, and I can trust him to keep me sleeping or waking.’

“On Wednesday he was taken up with some temporal matters, and wrote the letter which I forwarded to you on that day. Afterwards Mrs. Corrie and I went into his room, and we all, I trust, by faith fed on Christ in our hearts, with thanksgiving. Our sick brother was much alive during the whole of the service, and read the passages in which the congregation join, with much clearness and fervor. On going into his room about an hour after the service, he broke out, ‘Oh, may this dispensation be blessed to my dear Esther, that she may give herself wholly up to God, and fix all her love on him alone. She has a deep sense of her own unworthiness, and I bless God for the piety that is in her.’ On Thursday May 8th, there appeared no alteration in the state of his disease. Two surgeons from Cuttack having arrived, our own doctor brought them to see him. They went into the next room to communicate their thoughts on his case, when he heard them agree that nothing could be done for his relief. On my going into his room after they went away, he seized my hand with all his remaining strength, and said, ‘Oh my dear friend, how much am I indebted to God for placing me at this time with friends, who do all they can for my comfort, without concealing their concern that my soul should be prepared for death;’ adding much on the evil too many medical men are guilty of in cherishing hopes of life when their patients should rather be thinking of death, and contrasting the difference of his present circumstances with what they would have been had he gone, on leaving Calcutta, among strangers and irreligious persons; then adding praise and thanksgiving to God. On the early part of this afternoon Mrs. Corrie went into his room, when he presently began to speak to her as for the last time, praying that her husband might be spared to her, and her children, and to the church, adding many expressions of his regard and affection.

“On Friday, May 9th. On my entering his room early, and enquiring after his state, he said, ‘I have had a wretched night, not in body, for I have been easy, but in mind. I have been thinking of this and that treatment which might have been used; but it is all wrong, and thus my wickedness brings its own punishment. I have much tried to repent of my daily wickedness, and of my wicked life.’ Adding a good deal on the subject of God’s ordering all our affairs, and the duty of looking above human agents--and said, ‘O never did weary traveller desire his home more than I desire my rest:’ most cordially acknowledging with me the duty of submission, and joining in prayer for an increase in faith and patience. Some favourable symptoms appeared, but he seemed to build nothing on them. For several days we had an European Sergeant to sit up at night. He has expressed his surprise at the constant patience our brother manifested, and told me, that he was much in prayer during Friday night.

“On Saturday morning, about half past three, a violent discharge of blood took place, and again about five. I went into his room just after the latter, and found him prostrate indeed.

“He began at once, ‘O my God, suffer me not to fall from thee: make my repentance sincere, and let my faith stand firm--O! accept me, unworthy! for the merits of Jesus Christ. I am wretched and miserable, let my soul be cleansed in his blood and presented spotless before thee; bless my dear wife and children, bless my dear father and mother, bless you (addressing himself to me,) and your family; and God make you a greater blessing than ever to the church, but don’t waste your life in this country, go home and do good among the poor. O God! bless all the doctors who have attended me, and let them not forget their own mortality amidst these scenes;’ adding prayers for such generally as he might at any time have had disagreement with. On my reminding him of our blessedness in having an advocate with the Father to render these petitions available, he added strong expressions of the mercy of God towards him, and of his earnest desire to be at rest with God; adding ‘O God, thou knowest that I love thee,’ and asked me if I thought it wrong to pray for his dismissal. He spoke of his temporal affairs as settled, and said he had no anxiety about his children, the Lord would provide for them. About 7, on going into his room, I spoke respecting the little probability when we first met that I should survive him: he began to pray for blessings for me, adding, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thy sins, who healeth all thy diseases.’ Adding with emphasis, ‘_forget not all his benefits_; that he had been forgetful all his days, but the Lord had shewed him great mercy.’ From that time he spoke little. Being removed to another bed, he dosed much from medicine. About ten, observing him restless, I asked if he wanted anything? he said ‘No.’ If he retained his peace of mind? He said, ‘His mind had become very confused.’ And on reminding him of the ‘Advocate with the Father,’ he faintly added, ‘Bless God for all the way He has led me,’ or to that effect. About eleven, seeing him restless, and less of consciousness about him, I asked him if he knew me, he said, ‘Yes;’ and in answer to my question, ‘If I should pray for him?’ he said, ‘Yes;’ but there was no respond to the few petitions I offered up, and he was no longer sensible. At half-past one, another discharge of blood took place, which led us to think him expiring; but the spirit lingered till half-past two, when, we doubt not, he entered into his much-desired rest. I may tell you, though I mean to send a medical statement of the fact, that the three doctors ascertained after his death, that the liver was perfectly sound, but the colon had become ulcerated; and at length, a blood-vessel being eaten through, the discharge above-mentioned ensued, and brought on dissolution; but that this must have happened at no great distance of time, and that no change of climate or treatment, could have prevented the fatal result. This morning the beloved remains were committed to their parent earth, in the Pooree burying-ground. The burying-ground is an enclosed square on the sands of Juggernauth.

“Those sands, after almost a year from the Rutt Jattra, are still strewed with the whitened bones of the wretched victims of this Indian Moloch, and I indulged the idea, whilst standing by the grave, that we were taking possession of the land in the name of Jesus our Lord. Without disparagement to a few other remains there interred, and of whose history I know nothing, I _knew_ that we were committing to the earth the remains of a member of His mystical body; and will He not bring in the remnant of His elect, and shall not these, at present, wretched Hindoos, bow to His sceptre, and confess Him ‘Lord, to the glory of God the Father?’ Then, instead of that heartless brutality with which idolatrous remains are treated, decent burial will be given them; and instead of the howling of jackalls and wild dogs over their remains, ‘Devout men will make lamentation,’ though they will not sorrow as ‘those who have no hope.’ These remarks, dearest brother, are indulged in, rather to ease my own heart, than to comfort you and your sorrowing family. I am inexpressibly afflicted for this my brother, but what is my grief compared with his family’s? I send off this blotted and only copy, both that you may receive it within a due time of your knowledge of the afflicting event; and that no discretion may remain with me as to multiplying copies. Mrs. Corrie joins me in tender sympathy to all your house.”

For the remaining portion of the month of May, Mr. Corrie continued to gain no strength. A change of air was, therefore recommended, and he removed to Cuttack, about fifty miles inland. There it pleased God to recover him surprisingly fast. But in a letter to Mr. Sherer, dated June 13, 1823, he observed:--

“By the frequent attacks of illness I have of late experienced, our thoughts are sometimes directed towards you [in England]; but I must remain another year in order to the pension. The Lord only knows what time may bring forth. I feel most reluctant to leave India, and nothing but necessity shall lead me to leave it at present.”

Ten days later Mr. Corrie writes to his brother:

“Cuttack, Orissa, June 23, 1823.

“You will have heard the reason for my being here, so I will not repeat the history of my ailment. I am, through Divine mercy, much better, but this enfeebling climate is not favourable to the recovery of strength, especially at the age of forty-six. You accuse me of writing despondingly, I am not aware of any such feeling; though sickness induces reflection, and ‘it is a serious thing to die.’ Although my faith in the Redeemer is unshaken, and affords at times strong consolation, yet the presence of sin often clouds the view. But I will not fill my paper with such reflections.

“On the death of the Archdeacon about two months after that of the Bishop, Parson and I were appointed Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The Archdeacon of Bombay remonstrated against our appointment, and some of the Chaplains have acted without reference to us. We have gone on quietly; as in fact, there is little for us to do officially; and I should not wonder to see in some of the high church Reviews, (if opportunity offer) accusations of neglect. The fact is, the Bishop has no authority whatever beyond what his personal character may procure him. The late Bishop laboured all his Indian life, to establish an authority independent of the local Government. This was resisted covertly by the Government, and was felt to be a grievance by the Chaplains. I rejoice greatly in Mr. Heber’s appointment, and trust it is a token for good to the established church in India. Nothing short of annihilation as a society, will be refused him by the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta; and in truth, everything short of a separate existence for it, was repeatedly offered to the late Bishop.

“I should not have entered on this subject, except to tell you how in the providence of God, I have been affected by events.”

During Mr. Corrie’s absence from the Presidency, the Rev. Isaac Wilson arrived from England, and the Calcutta corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society having thus obtained the aid of a clergyman, whom they could appoint as secretary, decided on forming a Church Missionary Association, as had been done at Madras. Up to this time, it will be remembered, the concerns of the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, had been conducted in Bengal by a Committee appointed originally from England; so that although the friends of religion had by this arrangement possessed the means of substantially contributing to the support of Missions, yet they had not been formally embodied in a Society. The jealousy and opposition of Government to Missionary operations having now, however, somewhat abated, it was thought important to take advantage of the first favourable opportunity that presented itself, to place the Church Missionary Society on a more definite footing. The arrival in India of an episcopally ordained Missionary, who could render essential aid to an object that appeared so desirable, decided the corresponding Committee to take measures for the formation of an Association so soon as ever Mr. Corrie should return to the Presidency. This he was enabled to do during the month of July, and accordingly on the 31st of that month, the best means for forming such an Association were taken into consideration. On the 11th of August another meeting of the corresponding Committee and their friends was held, at which rules for the conducting of a Church Missionary Association were provisionally agreed upon; and with a view to a public meeting towards the end of the month, copies of the proceedings of the Committee were in the meantime printed and circulated for the information of the subscribers to Church Missions in Bengal. On the 28th of August a public meeting was held, and the Calcutta Church Missionary Association was formed, Mr. Corrie being chosen the first President. In the Report of the proceedings on the latter occasion, it is stated that

“The Rev. D. Corrie, in accepting the office of President of the Association, addressed the meeting in a speech which breathed an ardent spirit of piety, of affection, and of zeal for the sacred cause of Missions. It would be impossible to convey any adequate idea of it by a cursory mention in this place of the persuasive topics then so feelingly urged. Suffice it, therefore, to say, that, as Mr. Corrie himself was deeply affected, so he made a deep impression upon the whole audience.”

The formation of this Association was not, however, effected without some little opposition, but as that appears to have arisen from a misunderstanding of the motives and relative positions of the parties concerned, and was speedily allayed, it is therefore here mentioned merely in deference to the truth of history.

Respecting his own affairs Mr. Corrie wrote to Mr. Sherer, then in England:--

“Calcutta, Sep. 11, 1823.

“We are all, through mercy, quite well. We cannot be so much alone as my state of body requires, but we are more alone than when you were here, and our souls and bodies benefit by it; though I cannot but regret the partial exclusion it occasions from some of the excellent of the earth.

“Of public affairs I can say nothing, except that a Committee for public Instruction is formed. This was planned under Mr. Adam’s reign. A picture of him was voted after Lord Amherst’s arrival, by a great meeting at the Town-hall. Mr. A. is gone to Bombay in very bad health.

“Our great man, the Bishop, will soon, we hope, be here. He will come opportunely for our Missionary affairs, and his coming will prove, we trust, a blessing to many. They say he means to make the senior Chaplain Archdeacon; whether that means Mr. Shepherd, or myself, I know not, and am not anxious about it. I should lose in point of emolument, but the ease would suit me in my present state of health. I trust I can bless God for an increasing indifference as to outward things and distinctions.

“Mr. Jetter, about a fortnight since, baptized a young Brahmin; and inquirers increase at Mirzapore. The place is becoming known. It is now, also, assuming a pleasing appearance.”

According to expectation, Bishop Heber reached India at the beginning of Oct. 1823. So soon as ever it was known that the Bishop had reached Saugur, Mr. Corrie, as senior chaplain, Mr. Abbott as registrar of the diocese, and Principal Mill of Bishop’s College, went down the river in the government yacht, to conduct his lordship to Calcutta. On Saturday, Oct. 18th, the Bishop was installed in the Cathedral, and on the following Monday was pleased to appoint Mr. Corrie to the Archdeaconry of Calcutta. With reference to that circumstance Bishop Heber wrote to Mr. Williams Wynn.[114]

“I have bestowed the Archdeaconry, much to my satisfaction, on the senior resident chaplain, Mr. Corrie, who is extremely popular in the place, and one of the most amiable and gentlemanly men in manners and temper, I ever met with.”

In a letter from Dum Dum, Nov. 3, 1823, announcing his appointment to the Archdeaconry, Mr. Corrie also informs Mr. Sherer:--

“We are miserably off for Chaplains, and you will see from the date that I am at Dum Dum doing duty there until we get a reinforcement. I am, however, but weak, being on the recovery from a fever which was brought on by going out in the heat, to marry a couple about the middle of October. I had become quite unfit for the Presidency duties. The sight of the Cathedral used to make me ill, from the weak state into which I had fallen; and I trembled like a leaf in the breeze when I ascended the steps of either desk or pulpit. At the same time I could not leave the country, not being entitled to the pension, for a year to come. I am now relieved from those distressing occasions, and my mind is eased of a burden. I feel that, humanly speaking, I may yet be strong here, and do a little in the Missionary cause.”

Nor were these Mr. Corrie’s anticipations with respect to his health premature; for being now released from the duties of the Cathedral, he gradually recovered his strength, and attained to such a healthiness of appearance, that persons who had not seen him for some time, could scarcely imagine that he had been so seriously ill.

But besides the beneficial change which had thus been effected in Archdeacon Corrie’s personal condition, it was no small satisfaction to him to find, that in carrying on the affairs of the Church Missionary Society, he could now have the advantage of the support and direction of his Diocesan. For the difficulties in the way of co-operating with that society, which appeared insuperable to the late Bishop Middleton, having been either surmounted or removed, it became the pleasant duty of the Archdeacon, to propose that the Bishop of Calcutta should be respectfully requested to accept the office of President of the Auxiliary Church Missionary Society, which was formed in that city, on the 1st of December 1823. Nor, after the active part which he had taken in the proceedings of the Society, could it be otherwise than gratifying to the Archdeacon, to hear Bishop Heber, on that occasion, publicly express his lordship’s conviction, that the Church Missionary Society, in conjunction with others of a similar nature, had been the means of accomplishing extensive good.

For the two months following the occasion here referred to, Archdeacon Corrie was chiefly resident at Dum Dum. To his brother he writes from

“Calcutta, March 11, 1824.

“Our hot season has commenced. During the cold season we have been residing chiefly at Dum Dum, the Artillery station, seven miles from the fort, where, since my preferment, I have done the Chaplain’s duty. Mr. Crauford, now Chaplain of the Old Church, having friends in the Artillery regiment, with whom he spends some days every week, has agreed to take the duties of Dum Dum for the present, leaving to me the charge of the old church. In this Mr. Wilson, a Church Missionary, assists me; so that I have had, as yet, no relief, except from the occasional duties of this large place. And indeed, this was all I desired, as, when not exposed to the sun and consequent fatigue, I am as well as I am likely, with my nervous frame, to be anywhere. We must now consider ourselves fixed here for seven years, should life be prolonged. What may be necessary for our children in that period, we know not. Hitherto they have enjoyed good health; and if it please God to continue it to them, we do not mean to separate them from us. But we experience in fact, I trust, as well as in theory, our dependence on a higher power, and are disposed to do what may be His holy will, as we discover it.

“Of our public affairs you hear through public channels. Of private and family affairs I do not like to say much on paper. The bishop has proved toward myself most disinterested and kind. Had he been less impartial and less feeling than he is, I should not now have been here. Repeated attacks of fever had so weakened me, that I could not go through my duties; and here no unemployed clergyman is at hand to help a friend in need. I was therefore, preparing for a voyage to the Cape, which by draining our resources would both have kept us low in circumstances, and would have sent me back to what had proved a distressing situation. We cannot therefore, but feel the hand of Providence in the very considerate kindness of the Bishop. He has met with much annoyance, I fear, in consequence, from quarters where submission to Episcopal authority used to be the order of the day; but which, like all order not founded on Scripture principles, is only submitted to when on their own side. I do not say that Episcopacy is not founded on Scripture, but that, _all obedience_ to it does not rest on the same foundation. I can truly say, I never took a step in our Church Missionary proceedings which had not the sanction of episcopal principles.

“We have now three Missionaries from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The College has begun operations, and I feel no little satisfaction that the first student is a youth previously prepared by the Church Missionary Society. He is given up to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, partly because they have funds unappropriated, and the Church Missionary Society has not, and partly because I could not find among our friends the support I wished for in respect of this youth. Alas! how much of human infirmity cleaves to us all; for I do not pretend to be free from it, and others see more, perhaps than I should like to acknowledge. Our Bishop is the most free from party-views of any man I ever met with. In a ruler this is beautiful, and I have felt the benefit resulting from it. But a few years ago it seemed as if it was impossible to exercise such a spirit. Certainly Bishop Heber in those days, would not have been raised to the Bench; when unlimited submission was the only condition of cooperation. Some would have given up the Church Missionary Society, and have resolved all the Episcopal Societies into the Diocesan Committee. I withstood it, and held what is now acknowledged, that the Bishop is (such) in his office alone, and that whenever he sits in committee, he sits as a private member, and not as Bishop. Hence he can sit in any Society conducted on episcopal principles. The time indeed seems approaching when all societies will send out men of a similar spirit, and then our co-operation will be complete. The three men, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, appear truly pious, though as yet they manifest not that love of prayer and religious exercises which maintain religion in its power.

“I long to hear more of you all, but we must be content, I believe, to endure this longing as a necessary concomitant of our voluntary banishment. I earnestly wish you would, as you have opportunity, direct the attention of young men of piety to this country. Of twenty-six Chaplains allowed for Bengal, only thirteen are present; the distress consequently is great, especially in Calcutta. No one of us can be ill, or omit a sermon, without casting additional labour on men already fully employed, whilst the Dissenters are in number strong; both exhibiting variety to draw people, and relieving each other from too much work.

“Our Government has declared war against the king of Burmah, and an expedition is ordered against that country. We have had skirmishing already on the borders, and have lost some officers. Happily there is no power in the interior to disturb us at present. Runjeet Sing, the king of Lahore, is moving on the banks of the Indus; and it is said an army of observation is forming on the Bombay side, to watch him. We are all well, and expecting a journey through the Upper Provinces in company with the Bishop and family, to commence in June.”

Before the time arrived for undertaking the journey here mentioned as in prospect, Archdeacon Corrie was called upon to officiate at the ordination of Christian David, a native of Malabar. This person had been a pupil of Schwartz, and had for many years been employed as a catechist in Ceylon, by the Society for promoting Christian knowledge. He had proved himself to be so faithful a labourer, in the Christian cause, that except for some legal scruple on the part of Bishop Middleton, he would have received ordination from that prelate in 1821. He now came to Calcutta, bringing with him the recommendation of Archdeacon Twistleton, and for a title, a colonial chaplaincy to which he had been appointed by Sir Edward Barnes, the Governor of Ceylon. The day fixed upon by Bishop Heber, for the ordination of Christian David, was Ascension-day (May 27, 1824,) and on the following Trinity Sunday, he was ordained priest. With reference to that most interesting event, Archdeacon Corrie wrote

TO MR. SHERER.

“Calcutta, June 10, 1824.

“I had to examine him on such points as a missionary to the heathen, unacquainted with Western science should know. The Bishop was so pleased with my questions and Christian David’s answers, that he has sent a copy of them to the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

After some observations on private matters, the Archdeacon then adds:

“All public religious affairs you will learn from the Missionary Register. A Ladies’ Society for promoting native female education; Lady Amherst, Patroness!![115] Who would have dreamt of this a few years ago?

“We set out next week with the Bishop, but a difficulty has arisen about my being absent at the same time [with him] I being _ex officio_ Commissary. This will in all probability bring us back from Chunar. I have got over the hot season without a fever, and am now tolerably well, though constrained to keep in doors. I look forward to coming to England as a dream of which the reality is barely probable. O, may we be more in the contemplation of our heavenly home! I have no reason to be dissatisfied with the world, further than as sin renders it uneasy to me, sometimes me to it; and my children will perhaps be better off by my remaining here. For the rest, I have but little anxiety; and home is home, in a Christian, as well as in a worldly sense; nor shall we be at home until we get to heaven.”

The difficulty referred to in the foregoing letter, as regarded the absence of both Bishop and Archdeacon from Calcutta at the same time, having been surmounted, Bishop Heber, accompanied by his Chaplain, Mr. Stowe, commenced his journey toward the upper provinces on the 15th of June, 1824. Archdeacon Corrie, with his wife and children, followed in a separate budgerow. After three days voyage on the river, they parted company; the Bishop and his chaplain proceeding to Dacca, whilst the Archdeacon and his family passed on by Berhampore, and Malda, to Bhaugulpore, where they were to wait for the Bishop. But in the meantime Mr. Stowe was taken dangerously ill at Dacca, and died there on the 17th of July.[116] Bishop Heber joined the Archdeacon’s party on the 10th of August, and proceeded to visit the several stations of Monghyr, Patna, Dinapore, Buxar, Benares, Chunar, &c., in succession.[117] When, near Allahabad, the Archdeacon wrote to his brother:--

“Sept. 12, 1824.

“We have seen much done here in the way of preparation; but then it is much only as compared with the former state of things. With reference to what remains to be done, nothing comparatively has been accomplished. The country near Allahabad, which the English possessed when I arrived in Bengal, extended in length about twelve hundred miles, by an average breadth of one hundred and fifty or two hundred. That constituted the Bengal Presidency. The Ganges may be considered a line running through the length of the tract, dividing it into two parts. Throughout this extent, there was only one place of Protestant worship [and that] in Calcutta; and not a _building_ appropriated to worship out of Calcutta, belonging to the English. There are now in Calcutta four places of worship in the Established Church; besides the Mission College, and three Dissenting Chapels. There is a Church at Dacca, Benares, Chunar, Futtyghur, and Meerut. Churches are in the course of erection at Agra and Cawnpore. Whilst at the old stations of Dinapore and Berhampore, public worship is still performed in an empty barrack. There are at Monghyr and Benares, dissenting Chapels, and perhaps at some of the upper stations also. All this has not been accomplished without considerable individual exertion, as well as public support: and though individual piety is still lamentably scarce, yet much more of public attention to religious observances prevails than formerly; and also much more of individual piety. With respect to the natives, when I arrived in the country, a few converts were found at Serampore; and a few, I believe existed at Dinapore: nor were there any attempts [to convert the natives] entered upon beyond those places, except at Cutwa, where the late missionary, Chamberlain,[118] had settled. Now, we have a few native converts in Calcutta, at Burdwan, and at Cutwa and its branch in Beerbhoom; at Monghyr, Buxar, Benares, Chunar and Meerut. In each of these places, a few converts are found; and what will eventually work greatly for the good of the heathen, some of the Roman Catholic converts, and descendants of Europeans, who had become quite native in their habits and language, are attracted by the labours of the missionaries at those places; and in some of them, as at Chunar, where the native congregation is the largest on the side of India, [the Roman Catholics] constitute the chief part. Besides these, I might mention Meerut, and Futtyghur, where missionaries are labouring, and some converts have been gained. Thus where all was darkness, now, here and there, a glimmering of light begins to appear. But a reference to the situation of these places on a map, and of the small number to whom the means of grace have proved effectual at each place, will shew you how little has yet been accomplished. How much remains to be done, ere this people can possess even the means of knowing the way of life! We are now, as you know, attending the Bishop. His visit cannot fail to increase the disposition of the British to help on the work of missions. At Buxar, he sat down in the hut of the native catechist, and heard the Christians read; and questioned them in their catechisms; at Benares, he went in his robes to the Hindoostanee chapel, where Mr. Morris officiates, and pronounced the blessing; and the same at Chunar. He has acquired sufficient Hindoostanee to give the blessing in that language. Also at Benares, he administered Confirmation to fourteen native Christians, and afterwards the Lord’s Supper: and at Chunar to fifty-seven native Christians. He asked the questions and pronounced the prayer, in Confirmation, in Hindoostanee, and also the words addressed in giving the elements in the Lord’s Supper. In the latter ordinance, he was assisted at Benares by Mr. Morris; and at Chunar by myself. But, in general, I have not been able to do more than attend him in public; my state of weakness not allowing of visiting or dining from home. Some of the old alarmists still remain, who, by these proceedings, are silenced if not convinced; and scoffers are put to shame. The Bishop, also, visits all the missionary native schools, as he proceeds; and the Missionaries are greatly encouraged by the interest he takes in their proceedings.”

The Archdeacon then adds:--

“I must say a few words about myself. The season has not been favourable, as yet, for restoring my strength. We have had comparatively little rain; and the east wind failed by the 20th of August. Since then the west-wind has blown: and now in the afternoon blows hot. The river is fallen as much as is usual in November. Notwithstanding, I am greatly stronger than when in Calcutta, and have no positive disease: at least I think so. We now begin to feel the coolness at night--the forerunner of the cool season. Six weeks will bring it here. I then hope, with care, to recruit, and feel much the goodness of God in allowing me this hope.”

On the 27th of November 1824, Archdeacon Corrie addressed the following letter to Mr. Buckworth, from Cawnpore:--

“You will have heard, from my friends, of the debilitating effects this climate has at length began to have on my frame; but I am thankful to be able to say, that I am better this year than last. Knowing the cooler nature of this part of the country, at this season [of the year,] the Bishop kindly invited me to accompany him [on his visitation], and here we arrived early in October. The latitude is five degrees higher [North] than that of Calcutta; and, being within two hundred miles of the Snowy Mountains, is more than proportionably cooler. Your parish news is very interesting to me; and the increase of your places of worship must be a source of great gratification to you. If it should be given me to be your helper in one of these Churches, separate from occasional duties, some day, it would, I trust, be a comfort to both of us. But it becomes us more than ever not to boast, or lay plans respecting the morrow. We have now passed a fair proportion of the days usually assigned to man; and besides this, we have both personal experience of a dying nature. I feel for my own part, how sickness even may lose the effect of impressing the idea of death; and have hourly need to pray for more of that quickening Spirit, who alone makes us and keeps us alive to God and things divine and eternal. Our situation here is quite different from yours,--we have no parish annals to record. I arrived at this [station] on the day fourteen years after sainted Martyn had dedicated the Church. The house he occupied stands close by. The view of the place, and the remembrance of what had passed, greatly affected me. I arrived on the Sunday morning, after divine service had begun; (the Bishop having come on the day before) and, as the Chaplain is sick, I had to assist in administering the Sacrament; and well it was, on the whole, that none present could enter into my feelings, or I should have been overcome.

“You wish to hear tidings of our Bishop; and, from public sources, you will have heard of the favour he shews generally to the righteous cause. Of the natural amiability of the man, it is impossible to convey an adequate idea. Our children speak of him always as ‘the dear Bishop.’ I merely mention this to shew how lovely he appears in his general temper and habits. His conversation is very lively; and from his large acquaintance with books and men, very instructive, and tending to improve those he meets with; whilst he industriously seeks opportunities of public worship, Sunday and week day; and urges on all the importance of attending on the means of grace. Surely this land has cause of praise to God, that such an one has been placed at the head of affairs here!

“At this station, there are about two thousand five hundred Christians, and the chaplain being sick I remained here, to do the parochial duties. Having accompanied the Bishop to Lucknow, where we were entertained by the King of Oude, I returned hither. The Bishop presented the King with a Bible, and a Book of Common Prayer, in the native language; and the King was so taken with the Bishop, that he begged to have his picture; which was accordingly taken immediately, by an eminent English artist, whom the King keeps in constant pay. The Bishop went on his way to Meerut, Delhi, and Agra; at the latter place I hope to meet him, about Christmas; I am now therefore in a sphere I greatly like. On Sunday last I had two full services; and attended a meeting with the Dragoon regiment on Wednesday, and with the Foot regiment last night, and feel no ill effects; by which you will judge of the bodily strength which is mercifully renewed to me. I have one of the learned native converts with me; and he is collecting the few native Christians here, and we shall, I hope, be useful to them also.”

[109] Instituted in the year 1782.

[110] See above,--p.322.

[111] A printer and printing-press, sent out by the Church Missionary Society, had just arrived from England.

[112] Moonshee Mooneef Masseeh, who was baptised at Chunar in 1818.

[113] A place on the river Hooghley.

[114] Journal, &c., vol. 3. p. 230, 2nd edit.

[115] “The Ladies Society for Native female education in Calcutta, and its vicinity,” was formed on the 25th of March 1824.

[116] See Life of Bishop Heber, Vol. ii. pp. 217, &c.

[117] It has not been thought necessary to notice in detail, the many interesting occurrences which have already been related in Bishop Heber’s Journal and Correspondence.

[118] One of the Baptists.