And although the Gentoos seem to be a generation apart and distinct from the rest of mankind, and they are swayed by such differences in religion, tenets, and rites, as will necessarily render all Mussulmen aliens and profane in their eyes; and although they keep up a strangeness of ideas and practices which beget a wide difference in customs and actions, yet in process of time they drew nearer and nearer, and as soon as fear and aversion had worn away we see that this dissimilarity and alienation have terminated in friendship and union, and that the two nations have come to coalesce together into one whole, like milk and sugar that have received a simmering. In one word, we have seen them promote heartily each other's welfare, have common ideas, like brothers from one and the same mother, and feel for each other, as children of the same family.

It is not so very long ago that the cordiality, goodwill, and sympathy, so quaintly described, were general among all classes and not confined to the cultivated sections. They visited each other, joined in each other's amusements, and as neighbours and friends maintained constant intercourse. The change that the last two decades have worked is most marked. And the refusal of the Mahommedans to join the boycott movement has intensified among the more violent the antipathy of recent growth artificially fostered. In spite of the present differences, it is my firm belief that with a little devotion and self-sacrifice on the part of the best men on both sides who have a clearer insight into the needs and requirements of India, and who are not swayed by passions and prejudices, the same old relations can be re-established.

The first duty, however, seems to be to bring the official classes in touch with the people in order to promote mutual understanding, and to neutralise, to some extent, the teachings of racial animosity. The aloofness of Europeans in their general relations with Eastern people, and the inaccessibility of British officials, had, as early as 1787, formed the subject of criticism among the educated classes of India. The same writer whom I have quoted above, commenting on the conditions under the Mogul emperors and those under the Company, says:

Hence those princes lived amongst their people and amongst their nobles, as kind and condescending parents amongst their children; nor did they suffer the dust of sorrow to darken the heart of any of the creatures of God by a show of tenderness to one part of the people and of rudeness to the other; for they looked upon them all, whether conquerors or conquered, with an equal eye.

To this the English translator adds the following note:

The Emperors of Hindostan used to give public audience twice a week, and were imitated by all their lieutenants and governors; whereas the charge of inaccessibleness brought against Europeans by their Indian subjects is founded on matter of fact and on daily experience, although, after all, the charge is exaggerated.

The example of Warren Hastings and many of his notable successors led to the adoption of a system of weekly durbars held by

British officials for the reception of local magnates and prominent people. But as the administration became more complicated it gradually fell into disuse. Nowadays the overworked officer has less time, and probably fewer opportunities, to come in contact or cultivate personal relations with the people over whom he is placed. The gulf which so often separates the two to the disadvantage of both might be bridged, if the old practice were resumed with broader sympathy and a better comprehension of the results that might be attained thereby. A day might be set apart by the head of the district or sub-division to receive not only magnates and persons of education and standing, but also headmen of villages.

There need be no fear as to the derogation of authority or respect in consequence of any unbending, in these efforts. The Indian, whatever his rank in life, hardly ever fails in his respect to his superiors. Of course, the revolutionary wave we are witnessing has slackened the bonds of authority and weakened the old reverence for age and position. But to command respect is a matter of personal equation; and few officers, English or Indian, would be found deficient in that quality. I believe, if some effort were made to bring about a change in the relations of the people with the official classes, it would prove of the greatest help in removing much of the ill-will that has recently grown up among certain classes against British rule.

It is unfortunate that there is no efficient means of counteracting the deleterious influences to which many students coming from India are subjected on arrival in this country. In former years, when they were few in number, they brought introductions to personal friends of parents and relations, and generally came under the best guidance and saw the best side of English life. English society was less exclusive in those days—and its portals were open not merely to the rich. If the students were gentlemen and well educated they frequently found an entry into good circles. The situation has completely altered within the last twenty-five or thirty years. The influx of students for training and education has become greater. Courtesy to them is now regarded as the fad of the philanthropist or the duty of the Anglo-Indian official. The students have societies of their own, mostly political in character. They are often members of English clubs which advocate advanced politics. They imbibe here the lessons of political philosophy which England teaches with such success to the rest of the world. They return to their homes with not very kindly sentiments towards the somewhat autocratic government which rules their country.

Would it not be a wise policy for the Indian Government to assist the associations which are working so assiduously to promote the interests of India and her people-to establish a non-political club where Indian students would meet Englishmen and their own countrymen residing in England and acquire that spirit of frank camaraderie,

forbearance and moderation so essential in after life; where also they might cultivate an eclectic mind which would reconcile Eastern and Western civilisation? And perhaps some means might be found for the British Ministers at Washington and Tokio to come in touch with the Indian students who are now flocking in large numbers to Japan and the United States for technical training and general education.

To promote the establishment of better relations between Hindus and Mahommedans I would suggest the formation of social clubs where educated members of the two communities might meet for purposes of friendly intercourse and reunion. There is no dearth among either people of public-spirited men willing to undertake the task of forming such societies. And if the same recognition which is now accorded to rich men founding schools and dispensaries were extended to those who interested themselves in the formation and maintenance of friendly clubs, we would soon see no lack of enterprise in this direction.

With a similar object the akharas which have recently sprung up in Eastern Bengal to teach the youths of the provinces the hitherto unaccustomed and unpopular art of plying the lethal weapon might be converted into students' clubs for self-improvement; whilst the practice among young students of carrying daggers and sword-sticks, pistols and revolvers, which offers such strong incentives to rowdyism, might, however gently, be discouraged.

These suggestions are offered in all diffidence as the result of a long study of a problem the solution of which is becoming daily more and more difficult. Some might seem weak, others hardly feasible. But, whatever view may be held with regard to them, in my opinion the time has come when steps must be taken to reach the heart of the people.

AMEER ALI.

ARE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN INDIA
A FAILURE ?

It is often asserted quite confidently, by people whose opinions are entitled to respect, that mission work in India during the last century has been a failure. And undoubtedly they can appeal to many facts which would seem to prove that they are right. The main efforts of nearly all missionary societies have been directed towards the conversion of the Brahmins, higher castes and educated classes of Hindu society in the larger towns and cities. When I first went out to Calcutta, twenty-three years ago, it was the general belief that Christianity must, as a matter of course, first establish itself in the great centres of commerce, education and political life, and then from them spread out to the villages; and that it must first win the higher castes and educated men, and from them permeate down to the lower strata of society. That has been the plan of campaign for the last sixty or seventy years, and, naturally, missions stand or fall in the eyes of the public by its success or failure. But it would certainly be difficult to prove that it has been a conspicuous success. The number of converts from among the higher castes has been extremely small, the power of the caste system remains unbroken, and the antagonism to Christianity is almost as strong as ever. No doubt there has been a general diffusion of Christian ideas and sentiments among the higher castes, and the majority of educated men have imbibed a sincere admiration for the human life and character of Christ; but against anything like the acceptance of the Christian creed the higher ranks of Hindu society present a solid and unbroken front. So far as I can judge, they are no nearer to the Christian Church to-day than they were twenty-five years ago; indeed, in some respects, I think that they are further off. The advance of higher education has perceptibly increased the friction and antagonism between Europeans and Indians, and this has necessarily reacted strongly upon the attitude of educated Indians towards Christianity. To anyone, then, who looked exclusively at this part of the mission work, it might well appear that Christian missions in India for the last fifty years have been almost a complete failure. And this is

precisely the part of the work that looms large in the eyes of Europeans living in India and visitors from Europe. Their time is passed in the larger towns and cities, or in the military cantonments, where they see something of the local missions, and, if they are of a religious turn, make friends with the missionaries and their wives. Then they go back to England and say that they have lived for some forty years or travelled for some four months in India, have studied the work of Christian missions in many different places, have talked to the missionaries themselves and to the educated and intelligent natives, and can state positively from what they have seen and heard that missions are a failure. And what they say is largely true, so far as it goes. They see the attacks which have been made for the last fifty years upon positions of almost impregnable strength, and they are substantially right in saying that these attacks have failed. It would not, indeed, be true to say that they have done no good and effected nothing. On the contrary, they have done an immense service to the cause of Christianity in India. But, at the same time, they undoubtedly have failed so far as the main purpose of Christian missions is concerned, viz. the winning of converts to faith in Christ and the building up of the Christian Church.

But now let us look to another part of the field and see what has been going on during the last fifty years in remote village districts, where few Europeans ever penetrate, and among classes of the population which European travellers and the vast majority of European residents in India know nothing about. A few statistics taken from the returns of the Government census reports will serve to show that something has been going on there which, judged by its outward results, certainly does not look like failure. In the Telugu country to the north of the Madras Presidency the number of Christians increased from 19,132 in 1871 to 222,150 in 1901. Here we have an increase of over 200,000 in thirty years, or over 6,000 converts a year. In the native States of Travancore and Cochin the Christians form a third of the whole population, and according to the Government census their numbers rose from about 738,000 in 1881 to 896,000 in 1901. Here again we find an increase of nearly 160,000 in twenty years, or about 8,000 a year. In Chhota Nagpur, in Bengal, there were only about 40,000 Christians in 1881, and there were over 144,000 in 1901, an increase of 104,000 in twenty years.

The idea, then, that Christian missions have been a failure has only been possible because both their friends and critics have had their eyes fixed on just that part of the work which has been to a large extent unprogressive. But how great the progress has been in the village districts is shown by the simple fact that during the decade between the Government census of 1891 and the census of 1901, while the population of India as a whole increased at the rate