PIONEERS AND FOUNDERS, orRecent Workers in the Mission field. BY C. M. YONGE, _Author of_ "_The Heir of Radclyffe_. " {i:Portrait of Reginald Heber: p0. Jpg} London:MACMILLAN & CO1874. INTRODUCTION. It has been my endeavour in the ensuing narratives to bring together suchof the more distinguished Missionaries of the English and Americannations as might best illustrate the character and growth of Mission workin the last two centuries. It is impossible to make it a real history ofthe Missions of modern times. If I could, I would have followed in thetrack of Mr. Maclear's admirable volume, but the field is too wide, thematerial at once too numerous and too scattered, and the account of thespread of the Gospel in the distant parts of the earth has yet to bewritten in volumes far exceeding the bulk of those allotted to the"Sunday Library. " Two large classes of admirable Missions have been purposelyavoided, --namely, those of the Jesuits in Japan, China, and North andSouth America, and those of the Moravians in Greenland, the UnitedStates, and Africa. These are noble works, but they are subjects apart, and our narratives deal with men exclusively of British blood, with theexception of Schwartz, whose toils were so entirely accepted and adoptedby the Church of England, that he cannot but be reckoned among herambassadors. The object, then, has been to throw together suchbiographies as are most complete, most illustrative, and have been foundmost inciting to stir up others--representative lives, as far aspossible--from the time when the destitution of the Red Indians firststirred the heart of John Eliot, till the misery of the hunted negrobrought Charles Mackenzie to the banks of the fever-haunted Zambesi. We think it will be found that, so far from being the talking, exaggerating, unpractical men that the critical and popular mind is aptto suppose, these labourers were in general eminently practical and hard-working. They seem to us to range themselves into three classes: one, stirred up by the sight of the destitution before their eyes, and quietlytrying to supply those needs; one, inspired by fervid zeal to devotethemselves; and one, selected by others, taking that selection as a call, and toiling as a duty, as they would have toiled at any other duty setbefore them. Each and all have their place, and fulfil the work. Thehindrances and drawbacks are generally not in the men themselves, nor inthe objects of their labour, but first and foremost in the almost uniformhostility of the colonists around, who are used to consider the darkraces as subjects for servitude, and either despise or resent any attemptat raising them in the scale; and next, in the extreme difficulty ofobtaining means. This it is that has more than anything tended to bringMission work into disrepute. Many people have no regular system norprinciple of giving--the much-needed supplies can only be charmed out oftheir pockets by sensational accounts, such as the most reallyhard-working and devoted men cannot prevail on themselves to pour forth;and the work of collection is left to any of the rank and file who havethe power of speech, backed by articles where immediate results may bedwelt upon to satisfy those who will not sow in faith and wait patiently. And the Societies that do their best to regulate and collect the fundsraised by those who give, whether on impulse or principle, arenecessarily managed by home committees, who ought to unite the qualitiesof men of business with an intimate knowledge of the needs andgovernments of numerous young churches, among varied peoples, nations, and languages, each in an entirely abnormal state; and, moreover, to dealwith those great men who now and then rise to fulfil great tasks, andcannot be judged by common rules. Thus it is that home Societies areoften to be reckoned among the trials of Missionaries. But we will not dwell on such shortcomings, and will rather pass on towhat we had designed as the purpose of our present introduction; namely, to supplement the information which the biographical form of our work hasnecessitated us to leave imperfect, respecting the Missions as well asthe men. Of the Red Indians who first stirred the compassion of John Eliot, thereis little that is good to tell, or rather there is little good to tell ofthe White man's treatment of them. Self-government by the strongerpeople always falls hard on the weaker, and Mission after Mission hasbeen extinguished by the enmity of the surrounding Whites and thecorruption and decay of the Indians. A Moravian Mission has beenactually persecuted. Every here and there some good man has arisen anddone a good work on those immediately around him, and at the present timethere are some Indians living upon the reserves in the western part ofthe continent, fairly civilized, settled, and Christianized, and onlydiminishing from that law of their physical nature that forbids them toflourish without a wilderness in which to roam. But between the long-settled States of America and those upon the shoresof the Pacific, lies a territory where the Indian is still a wild andsavage man, and where hatred and slaughter prevail. The Government atWashington would fain act a humane part, and set apart reserves of landand supplies, but the agents through which the transactions are carriedon have too often proved unfaithful, and palmed off inferior goods on theIndians, or brought up old debts against them; and in the meantime mutualinjuries work up the settlers and the Red men to such a pitch ofexasperation, that horrid cruelties are perpetrated on the one side, andon the other the wild men are shot down as pitilessly as beasts of prey, while the travellers and soldiers who live in daily watch and wardagainst the "wily savage" learn to stigmatize all pity for him as a sortof sentimentalism sprung from Cooper's novels. Still, where there is peace, good men make their way, and with blessedeffect. We wish we had room for the records of the Bishopric ofMinnesota, and the details of the work among the Indians; more especiallyhow, when a rising was contemplated to massacre the White settlers allalong the border, a Christian Indian travelled all night to give warning;and how, on another occasion, no less than four hundred White women andchildren were saved by the interposition of four Christian Indian chiefs. Perhaps the Church has never made so systematic an effort upon theIndians as in Minnesota, and it is to be hoped that there may be somesuccess. For the need of system seems to me one of the great morals to be deducedfrom the lives I have here collected. I confess that I began them withthe unwilling belief that greater works had been effected by personsoutside the pale of the Church than by those within; but as I have goneon, the conviction has grown on me that even though the individuals wereoften great men, their works lacked that permanency and grasp that Churchwork, as such, has had. The equality of rank in the ministry of other bodies has prevented theoriginal great founders from being invested with the power that is reallyneeded in training and disciplining inferior and more inexperiencedassistants, and produces a want of compactness and authority which hasdisastrous effects in movements of emergency. Moreover, the lack offorms causes a deficiency of framework for religion to attach itself to, and this is almost fatal to dealing with unintellectual minds. On the whole, the East Indian Missions have prospered best. Schwartz wasthe very type of a founder, with his quiet, plodding earnestness, andpower of being generally valuable; and the impression he made had not hadtime to die away before the Episcopate brought authority to deal with thedifficulties he had left. Martyn was, like Brainerd before him, one ofthe beacons of the cause, and did more by his example than by actualteaching; and the foundation of the See of Calcutta gave stability to theformer efforts. Except Heber, the Bishops of the Indian See were notremarkable men, but their history has been put together as a whole forthe sake of the completion of the subject, as a sample of thedifficulties of the position, and likewise because of the steady progressof the labours there recorded. The Serampore brethren are too notable to be passed over, if only for thememorable fact that Carey the cobbler lighted the missionary firethroughout England and America at a time when the embers had become soextinct that our Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had to borrowworkers from Denmark and Germany. Indeed, Martyn's zeal was partlylighted by Carey, though the early termination of his labours has forcedme to place his biography before that of the longer-lived Baptistfriends--both men of curious and wonderful powers, but whose historyshows the disadvantages of the Society government, and whose achievementswere the less permanent in consequence. The Burmese branch of their workis chiefly noticeable for the characters and adventures of Dr. Judson andhis three wives, and for the interesting display of Buddhism in contactwith Christianity. According to the statistics in an American MissionaryDictionary, the work they founded has not fallen to the ground either atMoulmein or Rangoon; while there has also sprung up a hopeful EnglishChurch Mission in the same quarter. The last thing I saw about it was amention of the neatness and dexterity of Burmese girls as needlewomen. Samuel Marsden may be called the patriarch of Australasian Christianity. There is something grand in the bravery of the bullet-headedYorkshireman, now contending with the brutality of the convicts and theirmasters, now sleeping among the cannibals of New Zealand. Hisfoundations, too, have received a superstructure on which we cannotdwell; because, happily, the first Bishop of New Zealand is not yet asubject for biography, and the Melanesian Mission, which has sprung outof it, has not yet seen its first generation. The Polynesian work, of which John Williams was the martyr and therepresentative man, has chiefly been carried on by the London Mission. Ithas always been a principle with the Missionaries of the Anglican Church, whose centre has been first New Zealand, then Norfolk Island, never toenter upon any islands pre-occupied by Christian teachers of anydenomination, since there is no lack of wholly unoccupied ground, withoutperplexing the spirit of the natives with the spectacle of "our unhappydivisions;" and thus while Melanesia is for the most part left to theChurch, Polynesia is in the hands of the London Mission. Much good hasbeen effected. The difficulty is that, for want of supervision, individual Missionaries are too much left to themselves, and are indanger of becoming too despotic in their islands. At least such is theimpression they sometimes give to officers of the navy. Frenchaggression has much disturbed them both in Tahiti and in the LoyaltyIslands, and the introduction of Roman Catholic priests into theirterritory is bitterly resented. On the whole, observers tolerablyimpartial think that the civilization which these married teachers bringwith them has a happier effect as an example and stimulus to the nativesthan the solitary ascetic priest, --a true, self-devoted saint indeed butunable to win the attention of the people in their present condition. InIndia, where asceticism is the test of sanctity even among the heathen, the most self-denying preacher has the best chance of being respected;but in those luxurious islets, poverty and plainness of living, withoutthe power of showing the arts of life, get despised. If the priestscould bring their pomp of worship, and large bands of brethren or sistersto reclaim the waste, they might tell upon the minds of the people, butat present they go forth few and poor, and are little heeded in theirisolation. Unfortunately, too, the antagonism between them and theLondon Mission is desperate. The latter hold the tenets perhaps the mostwidely removed from Catholicism of any Protestant sect, and are mostlynot educated enough to understand the opposite point of view, so thateach party would almost as soon see the natives unconverted as joiningthe hostile camp: and precious time is wasted in warrings the one againstthe other. The most real enemies to Christianity in these seas are, however, thelawless traders, the English and American whalers and sandal-wooddealers, who bring uncontrolled vice and violence where they put in forwater; while they, on the one hand, corrupt the natives, on the otherthey provoke them into reprisals on the next White men who fall in theirway. That the Polynesians are good sailors and not bad workmen, hasproved another misfortune, for they are often kidnapped by unscrupulouscaptains to supply the deficiency of labour in some of the Australasiansettlements. Everywhere it seems to be the unhappy fact that Christianmen are the most fatal hinderers of God's word among the heathen. Yet most of the more accessible of the isles have a resident missionary, and keep up schools and chapels. Their chiefs have accepted a Christiancode, and the horrid atrocities of cannibalism have been entirely givenup, though there is still much evil prevalent, especially in those whichhave convenient harbours, and are in the pathway of ships. The Samoanislanders have a college, managed by an English minister and his wife, where teachers are educated not only to much good discipline, but to muchreal refinement, and go forth as admirable and self-devoted heralds ofthe Gospel into other isles. They have furnished willing martyrs, andmany have been far beyond praise. One lack, however, seems to be of thatdefinite formularies, a deficiency which leaves the teaching to dependover much on the individual impressions of the teacher. The chief remnants of cannibalism are to be found in the New Hebrides. The leader of the attack on John Williams is still alive at Erromango, and the savage defiant nature of this people has never been subdued. Theybelong more to the Melanesian than the Polynesian races. The first aremore like the Negro, the second more like the Malay. The MelanesianMissions are in the charge of the Missionary Bishop, John ColeridgePatteson, who went out as a priest with the Bishop of New Zealand in1855. The New Zealand story, as I have said, cannot be told in the lifetime ofthe chief actor in it. It is a story of startling success, and then ofdisappointment through colonial impracticability. In some points it hasbeen John Eliot's experience upon a larger scale; but in this case thepolitical quarrel led to the rise of a savage and murderous sect amongthe Maories, a sort of endeavour to combine some features of Christianityand even Judaism with the old forgotten Paganism, and yet promoting evencannibalism. It is memorable, however, that not one Maori who hadreceived Holy Orders has ever swerved from the faith, though the "Hau-Haus" have led away many hundreds of Christians. Still, a good numberremain loyal and faithful, and hold to the English in the miserable warwhich is still raging, provoked by disputes over the sale of land. The Melanesian Mission was begun from New Zealand; but whereas the islesare too hot for English constitutions, they can only be visited from thesea, and lads are brought away to be educated for teachers. New Zealandproved too cold for these natives of a tropical climate, and the collegehas been transplanted to Norfolk Island, where Bishop Patteson has fixedhis head-quarters. One of his converts from Banks's Island has receivedHoly Orders, and this latter group seems in good train to afford a supplyof native ministers to islands where few Englishmen could take up apermanent abode. The African Missions would afford much detail, but want of space hasprevented me from mentioning the Rev. George Leacock, the West Indianclergyman, who gave up everything when already an old man to pave the wayof the Gospel in the Pongas. And the Cape still retains its firstBishop, so that it is only on the side of Natal and Zululand, where theworkers have passed away, that the narrative can be complete. But theAfrican Church is extending its stakes in Graham's Town, Orange River, Zululand, and Zanzibar; and while the cry from East, West, and South isstill "Come over and help us, " we cannot but feel that, in spite of manya failure, many a disappointment, many a fatal error, still the Gospeltrumpet is being blown, and not blown in vain, even in the few spotswhose history, for the sake of their representative men, I have heretried to record. Of the Canadian and Columbian Indian Missions, of theSandwich Isles, and of many more, I have here been able to say nothing;but I hope that the pictures of these labourers in the cause may tend tosome understanding, not only of their toils, but of their joys, and mayshow that they were men not easily deceived, and thoroughly to be trustedin their own reports of their progress. CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. _March_ 16_th_, 1871. CHAPTER I. JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE OF THE RED INDIANS. Since the great efforts that Britain had made between the years 500 and1000 to bring the knowledge of the truth into the still heathen portionsof the Continent, --since the days of Columban and Gal, of Boniface andWillibrord, --there had been a cessation of missionary enterprise. Theknown portions of the world were either Christian, or were in the handsof the Mahommedans; and no doubt much of the adventurous spirit which, united with religious enthusiasm, forms the missionary, found vent in theCrusades, and training in the military orders. The temper of the age, and the hopelessness of converting a Mahommedan, made the good men of thethird 500 years use their swords rather than their tongues against theinfidel; and it was only in the case of men possessing such rare naturesas those of Francis of Assisi, or Raymond Lull, that the possibility oftrying to bring over a single Saracen to the faith was imagined. It was in the revival from the Paganism with which classical tastes hadinfected the Church, that the spirit of missions again awoke, stimulated, of course, by the wide discoveries of fresh lands that were dawning uponthe earth. If from 1000 to 1500 the progress of the Gospel was confinedto the borders of the Slavonic nation, the space of time from 1500onwards has been one of constant and unwearied effort to raise thestandard of the Cross in the new worlds beyond the Atlantic. Spain, Portugal, France, as nations, and the great company of the Jesuitsas one mighty brotherhood, were the foremost in the great undertaking;but their doings form a history of their own, and our business is withthe efforts of our own Church and country in the same great cause. Our work was not taken up so soon as theirs, partly because the spirit ofcolonization did not begin amongst us so early as in Spain and Portugal, and partly because the foundations of most of our colonies were laid byprivate enterprise, rather than by public adventure, and moreover some ofthe earlier ones in unsettled times. It may be reckoned as one peculiarity of Englishmen, that their greatestworks are usually not the outcome of enthusiastic design, but rather growupon them by degrees, as they are led in paths that they have not known, and merely undertake the duty that stands immediately before them, stepby step. The young schoolmaster at Little Baddow, near Chelmsford, who decided onfollowing in the track of the Pilgrim Fathers to New England, went simplyto enjoy liberty of conscience, and to be free to minister according tohis own views, and never intended to become the Apostle of the RedIndians. Nothing is more remarkable than the recoil from neglected truths. When, even in the earliest ages of the Church, the Second Commandment wassupposed to be a mere enhancing of the first, and therefore curtailed andomitted, there was little perception that this would lead to popular, though not theoretical, idolatry, still less that this law, when againbrought forward, would be pushed by scrupulous minds to the most strangeand unexpected consequences, to the over-powering of all authority ofancient custom, and to the repudiation of everything symbolical. This resolution against acknowledging any obligation to use either symbolor ceremony, together with the opposition of the hierarchy, led to therejection of the traditional usages of the Church and the previouslyuniversal interpretation of Scripture in favour of three orders in theministry. The elders, or presbytery, were deemed sufficient; and when, after having for many years been carried along, acquiescing, in thestream of the Reformation, the English Episcopacy tried to make a stand, the coercion was regarded as a return to bondage, and the more ardentspirits sought a new soil on which to enjoy the immunities that theyregarded as Christian freedom. The _Mayflower_ led the way in 1620, and the news of the success of thefirst Pilgrim Fathers impelled many others to follow in their track. Among these was John Eliot. He had been born in 1604 at Nasing in Essex, and had been bred up by careful parents, full of that strong craving fortheological studies that characterized the middle classes in the reign ofJames I. Nothing more is known of his youth except that he received a universityeducation, and, like others who have been foremost in missionary labours, had a gift for the comparison of languages and study of grammar. Hestudied the Holy Scriptures in the original tongues with the zeal thatwas infused into all scholars by the knowledge that the AuthorizedVersion was in hand, and by the stimulus that was afforded by the promiseof a copy of the first edition to him who should detect and correct anerror in the type. The usual fate of a scholar was to be either schoolmaster or clergyman, if not both, and young Eliot commenced his career as an assistant to Mr. John Hooker, at the Grammar School at Little Baddow. He considered thisperiod to have been that in which the strongest religious impressionswere made upon him. John Hooker was a thorough-going Puritan of greatpiety and rigid scruples, and instructed his household diligently ingodliness, both theoretical and practical. Eliot became anxious to enterthe ministry, but the reaction of Church principles, which had set inwith James I. , was an obstacle in his way; and imagining all ceremonialnot observed by the foreign Protestants to be oppressions on Christianliberty, it became the strongest resolution of the whole party to acceptnothing of all these rites, and thus ordination became impossible tothem, while the laws were stringent against any preaching or prayingpublicly by any unordained person. The instruction of youth was likewiseonly permitted to those who were licensed by the bishop of the diocese;and Mr. Hooker, failing to fulfil the required tests, was silenced, and, although forty-seven clergy petitioned on his behalf, was obliged to fleeto Holland. This decided Eliot, then twenty-seven years of age, on leaving England, and seeking a freer sphere of action in the newly-founded colonies of NewEngland, which held a charter from Government. He took leave of hisbetrothed, of whom we only know that her Christian name was Anne(gracious), and that her nature answered to her name, and sailed on the3rd of November, 1631, in the ship _Lyon_, with a company of sixtypersons, among whom were the family of Governor Winthrop. They landed at Boston, then newly rising into a city over its harbour, and there he found his services immediately required to conduct theworship in the congregation during the absence of the pastor, who hadgone to England finally to arrange his affairs. On his return, Mr. Eliot was found to be in such favour, that theBostonites strove to retain him as an assistant minister; but this herefused, knowing that many friends in England wished to found a separatesettlement of their own; and in less than a year this arrangement wasactually carried out, a steep hill in the forest-land was selected, and astaunch band of East Saxons, bringing with them the gracious Anne, cameforth. John Eliot was married, elected pastor, ordained, afterPresbyterian custom, by the laying on of the hands of the ministers insolemn assembly, and then took possession of the abode prepared for himand of the building on the top of the hill, where his ministrations wereto be conducted. These old fathers of the United States had found a soil, fair and wellwatered; and though less rich than the wondrous alluvial lands to thewest, yet with capacities to yield them plentiful provision, when clearedfrom the vast forest that covered it. Nor had they come for the sake ofwealth or luxury; the earnestness of newly-awakened, and in some degreepersecuted, religion was upon them, and they regarded a sufficiency offood and clothing as all that they had a right to seek. Indeed, thespirit of ascetiscism was one of their foremost characteristics. Eliotwas a man who lived in constant self-restraint as to both sleep and diet, and, on all occasions of special prayer, prefaced them by a rigorousfast--and he seems to have been in a continual atmosphere of devotion. One of his friends objected (oddly enough as it seems to us) to hisstooping to pick up a weed in his garden. "Sir, you tell us we must beheavenly-minded. " "It is true, " he said, "and this is no impediment unto that; for, were Isure to go to heaven to-morrow, I would do what I do to-day. " And, like many a good Christian, his outward life was to him full ofallegory. Going up the steep hill to his church, he said, "This is verylike the way to heaven. 'Tis up hill! The Lord in His grace fetch usup;" and spying a bush near him, he added, "And truly there are thornsand briars in the way, too. " He had great command of his flock at Roxbury, and was a most diligentpreacher and catechiser, declaring, in reference to the charge to St. Peter, that "the care of the lambs is one-third part of the charge to theChurch of God. " An excellent free school was founded at Roxbury, whichwas held in great repute in the time of Cotton Mather, to whom we owemost of our knowledge of this good man. The biography is put together inthe peculiar fashion of that day, not chronologically, but under headsillustrating his various virtues, so that it is not easy to pick out thecourse of his undertakings. Before passing on to that which especiallydistinguished him, we must give an anecdote or two from the "article"denominated "His exquisite charity. " His wife had become exceedinglyskilful in medicine and in dealing with wounds, no small benefit in arecent colony scant of doctors, and she gave her aid freely to all whostood in need of help. A person who had taken offence at something inone of his sermons, and had abused him passionately, both in speech andin writing, chanced to wound himself severely, whereupon he at once senthis wife to act as surgeon; and when the man, having recovered, came toreturn thanks and presents, he would accept nothing, but detained him toa friendly meal, "and, " says Mather, "by this carriage he mollified andconquered the stomach of his reviler. " "He was also a great enemy to all contention, and would ring a loud_Courfew Bell_ wherever he saw the fires of animosity. " When he heardany ministers complain that such and such in their flocks were toodifficult for them, the strain of his answer was still: "Brother, compassthem;" and, "Brother, learn the meaning of those three little words, 'bear, forbear, forgive. '" Once, when at an assembly of ministers a bundle of papers containingmatters of difference and contention between two parties--who, hethought, should rather unite--was laid on the table, Eliot rose up andput the whole upon the fire, saying, "Brethren, wonder not at that whichI have done: I did it on my knees this morning before I came among you. " But that "exquisite charity" seems a little one-sided in another anecdoterecorded of him, when "a godly gentleman of Charlestown, one Mr. Foster, with his son, was taken captive by his Turkish enemies. " {f:6} Publicprayers were offered for his release: but when tidings were received thatthe "Bloody Prince" who had enslaved him had resolved that no captiveshould be liberated in his own lifetime, and the distressed friendsconcluded, "Our hope is lost;" Mr. Eliot, "in some of his prayers beforea very solemn congregation, very broadly begged, 'Heavenly Father, workfor the redemption of Thy poor servant Foster, and if the prince whichdetains him will not, as they say, release him so long as himself lives, Lord, we pray Thee kill that cruel prince, kill him, and glorify Thyselfupon him. ' And now behold the answer. The poor captiv'd gentlemanquickly returns to us that had been mourning for him as a lost man, andbrings us news that the prince, which had hitherto held him, was come toan untimely death, by which means he was now set at liberty. " "And to turn their hearts" was a form that did not occur to the earnestsuppliant for his friend. But the "cruel prince" was far away out ofsight, and there was no lack of charity in John Eliot's heart for theheathen who came into immediate contact with him. Indeed, he was thefirst to make any real effort for their conversion. The colonists were as yet only a scanty sprinkling in easy reach of thecoast, and had done little at present to destroy the hunting-grounds ofthe Red man who had hitherto held possession of the woods and plains. The country was inhabited by the Pequot Indians, a tall, well-proportioned, and active tribe, belonging to the great Iroquoisnation. They set up their wigwams of bark, around which their squawscultivated the rapidly growing crop of maize while the men hunted thebuffalo and deer, and returning with their spoil, required everyimaginable service from their heavily-oppressed women, while theythemselves deemed the slightest exertion, except in war and hunting, beneath their dignity. Their nature had much that was high and noble;and in those days had not yet been ruined either by the White man's vicesor his cruelty. They were neither the outcast savages nor the abjectinferiors that two hundred years have rendered their descendants, but farbetter realized the description in Longfellow's "Hiawatha, " of themagnificently grave, imperturbably patient savage, the slave of his word, and hospitable to the most scrupulous extent. It was in mercy andtenderness that the character was the most deficient. The whole Europeaninstinct of forbearance and respect to woman was utterly wanting, --thesquaws were the most degraded of slaves; and to the captive the mostbarbarous cruelty was shown. Experience has shown that there issomething in the nature of the Red Indian which makes him very slow ofbeing able to endure civilization, renders wandering almost a necessityto his constitution, and generally makes him, when under restraint, evenunder the most favourable conditions, dwindle away, lose all his finenatural endowments, and become an abject and often a vicious being. Themisfortune has been that, with a few honourable exceptions, it has notbeen within the power of the better and more thoughtful portion of man tochange the Red Indian's vague belief in his "Great Spirit" to a moresystematic and stringent acceptance of other eternal verities and theirconsequent obligations, and at the same time leave him free to lead theroving life of the patriarchs of old; since, as Scripture itself showsus, it takes many generations to train the wandering hunter to a tillerof the soil, or a dweller in cities; and the shock to the wild man of asudden change is almost always fatal both to mental and bodily health. This conclusion, however, has been a matter of slow and sad experience, often confused by the wretched effects of the vice, barbarity, andavarice of the settler and seaman, which in many cases have counteractedthe effects of the missionary, and accelerated the extinction of thenative. In John Eliot's time, there was all to hope; and the community ofEnglishmen with whom he lived, though stern, fierce, intolerant, and attimes cruel in their intolerance, did not embarrass his work nor corruptthe Indians by the grosser and coarser vices, when, in his biographer'swords, "our Eliot was on such ill terms with the devil as to alarm himwith sounding the silver trumpets of Heaven in his territories, and makesome noble and zealous endeavours towards ousting him of his ancientpossessions. " The Pilgrim Fathers had obtained their land by fairpurchase, _i. E. _ if purchase could be fair where there was no real mutualunderstanding; and a good deal of interest had been felt in England inthe religious state of the Red men. The charter to the colony hadenforced their conversion on the settlers, and Dr. Lake, Bishop of Bathand Wells, declared that but for his old age and infirmities he wouldhave headed a mission to America for the purpose. Had he done so, perhaps something systematic might have been attempted. As it was thenew colonists had too severe a struggle with their own difficulties toattend to their heathen surroundings, even though the seal of theircolony of Massachusetts represented an Indian with the label in hismouth, "Come over and help us. " A few conversions had taken place, butrather owing to the interest in the White men's worship taken byindividual Indians, than to any efforts on the part of the settlers. Sixteen years, however, passed without overt aggression, though alreadywas beginning the sad story that is repeated wherever civilized manextends his frontiers. The savage finds his hunting-ground broken up, the White man's farm is ruined by the game or the chase, the luxuries ofcivilization excite the natives' desires, mistrust leads to injury, retaliation follows, and then war. In 1634, only two years after Eliot's arrival, two gentlemen, with theirboat's crew, were killed on the Connecticut river, and some of thebarbarities took place that we shall too often have to notice--attacks bythe natives on solitary dwellings or lonely travellers, and increasinganger on the part of the colonists, until they ceased to regard theirenemies as fellow-creatures. However, the Pequots were likewise at war with the Dutch and with theNarragansets, or river Indians, and they sent a deputation to endeavourto make peace with the English, and secure their assistance against theseenemies. They were appointed to return for their answer in a month'stime; and after consultation with the clergy, Mr. Dudley and Mr. Ludlow, the Governor and Deputy-Governor, decided on making a treaty with them, on condition of their delivering up the murderers of the Englishmen, andpaying down forty beaver and thirty otter skins, besides 400 fathoms ofwampum, _i. E. _ strings of the small whelks and Venus-shells that servedas current coin, a fathom being worth about five shillings. It surprises us that Eliot's name first appears in connection with theIndians as an objector to this treaty, and in a sermon too, at Roxbury;not on any grounds of injustice to the Indians, but because it had beenconducted by the magistrates without reference to the people, which wasan offence to his views of the republican rights to be exercised in thecolony. So serious was his objection deemed, that a deputation wasappointed to explain the principles on which Government had acted, andthus convince Mr. Eliot, which they did so effectually that he retractedhis censure in his next sermon. Probably this was what first awakened John Eliot's interest in the Red-skins; but for the next few years, in spite of the treaty, there was agood deal of disturbance on the frontier, and some commission ofcruelties, until the colonists became gradually roused into fury. Sometribes were friendly with them; and, uniting with these the Mohicans andriver Indians, under the conduct of Uncas, the Mohican chief, seventy-seven Englishmen made a raid into the Pequot country and drove them fromit. Then, in 1637, a battle, called "the Great Swamp Fight, " took placebetween the English, Dutch, and friendly Indians on the one hand, and thePequots on the other. It ended in the slaughter of seven hundred of thePequots and thirteen of their Sachems. The wife of one of the Sachemswas taken, and as she had protected two captive English girls she wastreated with great consideration, and was much admired for her good senseand modesty; but the other prisoners were dispersed among the settlers toserve as slaves, and a great number of the poor creatures were shippedoff to the West India Islands to work on the sugar plantations. Those who had escaped the battle were hunted down by the Mohicans andNarragansets, who continually brought their scalps in to the Englishtowns, and at last they were reduced to sue for peace when only 200braves were still living. These, with their families, were amalgamatedwith the Mohicans and Narragansets, and expelled from their formerterritory, on which the English settled. An annual tribute of a lengthof wampum, for every male in the tribe, varying according to age andrank, was paid to the English, and their supremacy was so entirelyestablished that nearly forty years of peace succeeded. Eliot's missionary enterprise, Mather allows, was first inspired by the"remarkable zeal of the Romish missionaries, " by whom he probably meansthe French Jesuits, who were working with much effect in the settlementsin Louisiana, first occupied in the time of Henri IV. Another stimuluscame from the expressions in the Royal Charter which had granted licencefor the establishment of the colony, namely, "To win and incite thenatives of that country to the knowledge and obedience of the only trueGod and Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith, in our Royalintention and the Adventurers' free profession, is the principal end ofthe Plantation. " That the devil himself was the Red men's master, and came to theirassistance when summoned by the incantations of their medicine men, wasthe universal belief of the colonists, in corroboration of which thefollowing story is given:--"The Indians in their wars with us, finding asore inconvenience by our dogs, which would make a sad yelling if in thenight they scented the approaches of them, they sacrificed a dog to thedevil, after which no English dog would bark at an Indian for diversmonths ensuing. " In the intended contest Mr. Eliot began by preaching and makingcollections from the English settlers, and likewise "he hires a native toteach him this exotick language, and, with a laborious care and skill, reduces it into a grammar, which afterwards he published. There is aletter or two of our alphabet which the Indians never had in theirs;though there were enough of the dog in their temper, there can scarce befound an R in their language, . . . But, if their alphabet be short, I amsure the words composed of it are long enough to tire the patience of anyscholar in the world; they are _Sesquipedalia verba_, of which theirlinguo is composed. For instance, if I were to translate our Loves, itmust be nothing shorter than _Noowomantamoonkanunonush_. Or to give myreader a longer word, _Kremmogkodonattootummootiteaonganunnnash_ is, inEnglish, our _question_. " The worthy Mr. Mather adds, with a sort of apology, that, having oncefound that the demons in a possessed young woman understood Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, he himself tried them with this Indian tongue, and "thedemons did seem as if they understood it. " Indeed, he thinks the wordsmust have been growing ever since the confusion of Babel! The factappears to be, that these are what are now called agglutinate languages, and, like those of all savage tribes, in a continual course ofalteration--also often using a long periphrastic description to convey anidea or form a name. A few familiar instances will occur, such as_Niagara_, "thunder of water. " This formidable language Mr. Eliot--the anagram of whose name, Matherappropriately observes, was _Toils_--mastered with the assistance of a"pregnant-witted Indian, " who had been a servant in an English family. Bythe help of his natural turn for philology, he was able to subdue thisinstrument to his great and holy end, --with what difficulty may beestimated from the sentence with which he concluded his grammar: "Prayerand pains through faith in CHRIST JESUS will do anything. " It was in the year 1646, while Cromwell was gradually obtaining apreponderating influence in England, and King Charles had gone to seekprotection in the Scottish army, that John Eliot, then in hisforty-second year, having thus prepared himself, commenced his campaign. He had had a good deal of conversation with individual Indians who cameabout the settlement at Roxbury, and who perceived the advantages of someof the English customs. They said they believed that in forty years theRed and White men would be all one, and were really anxious for thisconsummation. When Eliot declared that the superiority of the White racecame from their better knowledge of God, and offered to come and instructthem, they were full of joy and gratitude; and on the 28th of October, 1646, among the glowing autumn woods, a meeting of Indians was convoked, to which Mr. Eliot came with three companions. They were met by a chiefnamed Waban, or the Wind, who had a son at an English school, and wasalready well disposed towards them, and who led them to his wigwam, wherethe principal men of the tribe awaited them. "All the old men of the village, All the warriors of the nation, All the Jossakeeds, the prophets, The magicians, the Wabenos, And the medicine men, the medas, Came to bid the strangers welcome. 'It is well, ' they said, 'O brothers, That you came so far to see us. ' In a circle round the doorway, With their pipes they sat in silence, Waiting to behold the strangers, Waiting to receive their message, Till the Black Robe chief, the pale face, From the wigwam came to greet them, Stammering in his speech a little, Speaking words yet unfamiliar. " Mr. Eliot prayed in English, and then preached on the 9th and 10th versesof the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet is bid to call theBreath of God from the four winds of heaven to give life to the dry bonesaround. It so happened that the Indian word for breath or wind was_Waban_, and this made a great impression, and was afterwards viewed asan omen. The preacher worked up from the natural religion, of which this fine racealready had an idea, to the leading Christian truths. Then the Black Robe chief, the prophet, Told his message to the people, Told the purport of his mission, Told them of the Virgin Mary, And her blessed Son, the Saviour: How in distant lands and ages He had lived on earth as we do; How He fasted, prayed, and laboured; How the Jews, the tribe accursed, Mocked Him, scourged Him, crucified Him; How He rose from where they laid Him, Walked again with His disciples, And ascended into heaven. " The sermon lasted an hour and a quarter, but the Indians are a dignifiedand patient people, prone to long discourses themselves, and apt tolisten to them from others. When he finally asked if they hadunderstood, many voices replied that they had; and, on his encouragingthem to ask questions, many intelligent inquiries were made. The wholeconference lasted three hours, and Mr. Eliot was invited to come again, which he did at intervals of about a fortnight, and again with goodpromise. In one of these meetings they asked, very reasonably, why the Englishcalled them Indians, a question it could not have been easy to answer. The Powaws, or priests, began to make some opposition, but Waban wascontinually going about among the people, repeating portions of theinstructions he had received, and teaching his friends to pray--for somehad at first supposed that the English God might not be addressed in thenative tongue, but only in English. After some little time, he thought the Indians ripe for being taught tolive a settled life, and obtained for his congregation--"the prayingIndians, " as they were commonly called--a grant of the site of his firstinstructions. The place was named "Rejoicing, "--in Indian, a word thatsoon got corrupted into Nonantum; and, under Mr. Eliot's directions, theydivided their grounds with trenches and stone walls, for which he gavethem tools to the best of his ability. They built wigwams of a superiorconstruction, and the women learnt to spin; there was a continualmanufacture of brushes, eel-pots, and baskets, which were sold in theEnglish towns, together with turkeys, fish, venison, and fruits, according to the season. At hay and harvest times they would hirethemselves out to work for their English neighbours, but were thoughtunable or unwilling to do what sturdy Englishmen regarded as a fair day'swork. A second settlement of praying Indians followed at Neponset, around thewigwam of a Sachem named Cutshamakin, a man of rank much superior toWaban. He had already been in treaty with the English, and had promisedto observe the Ten Commandments, but had unhappily learnt also from theEnglish that love of drink which was the bane of the Indian; and whileMr. Eliot was formally instructing the family, one of the sons, a boy offifteen, when learning the fifth commandment, persisted in saying only"honour thy mother, " and, when admonished, declared that his father hadgiven him fire-water, which had intoxicated him, and had besides beenpassionate and violent with him. The boy had always been a rude, contumacious fellow, and at the next lecture day Mr. Eliot turned to theSachem, and lamented over these faults, but added that the first step toreforming him would be for his father to set the example by a confessionof his own sins, which were neither few nor light. The Sachem's pride was subdued. He stood up and openly declared hisoffences, lamenting over them with deep sincerity. The boy was sotouched that he made humble confession in his turn, and entreatedforgiveness. His parents were so much moved that they wept aloud, andthe board on which Cutshamakin stood was wet with his tears. He wassoftened then, but, poor man, he said: "My heart is but very littlebetter than it was, and I am afraid it will be as bad again as it wasbefore. I sometimes wish I might die before I be so bad again!" Poor Cutshamakin! he estimated himself truly. The Puritan discipline, which aimed at acting on the conduct rather through the conscience andfeelings than by means of grace, never entirely subdued him, and heremained a fitfully fierce, and yet repentant, savage to the end of hislife. His squaw must have been a clever woman; for, being publiclyreprimanded by the Indian preacher Nabanton, for fetching water on aSunday, she told him after the meeting that he had done more harm byraising the discussion than she had done by fetching the water. Sunday was impressed upon the natives with all the strictness peculiar tothe British Calvinists in their reaction from the ale-feasts, juggleries, and merry-makings of the almost pagan fifteenth century. It is neverhard to make savage converts observe a day of rest; they are generallyused to keep certain seasons already, and, as Mr. Eliot's Indianshonestly said, they do so little work at any time that a weeklyabstinence from it comes very easily. At Nonantum, indeed, they seem tohave emulated the Pharisees themselves in their strictness. Waban gotinto trouble for having a racoon killed to entertain two unexpectedguests; and a case was brought up at public lecture of a man who, findinghis fire nearly gone out, had violated the Sabbath by splitting one pieceof dry wood with his axe. But the "weightier matters of the law" were not by any means forgotten, and there was a continual struggle to cure the converts of their new viceof drunkenness, and their old habit of despising and maltreating theirsquaws, who in the Christian villages were raised to a state far lessdegraded; for any cruelty or tyranny towards them was made matter ofpublic censure and confession in the assembly. Several more distant journeys were taken by Mr. Eliot, some of them tothe Merrimac River to see a powerful old Sachem of a great age, namedPassaconaway, who his people believed to be able to make green leavesgrow in winter, trees dance, and water burn. He was so much afraid of the Missionary that he fled away the first timehe heard he was coming, probably thinking him a great sorcerer; but thenext time he remained, listened eagerly, expressed his intention ofpraying, and tried to induce Mr. Eliot to settle in his district. Helived to a great age, and left a charge with his children never tocontend with the English, having convinced himself that the struggle washopeless. Several other Sachems gave a sort of attention: and itappeared that the way had been in some degree prepared by a Frenchpriest, who had been wrecked on Cape Cod, had been passed from one tribeto another, and had died among them, but not without having left atradition of teaching which was by some identified with Eliot's. Of one Sachem, Mather tells a story: "While Mr. Eliot was preaching ofChrist unto the other Indians, a demon appeared unto a Prince of theEastern Indians in a shape that had some resemblance of Mr. Eliot or ofan English minister, pretending to be the Englishman's God. The spectrecommanded him 'to forbear the drinking of rum and to observe the Sabbath-day, and to deal justly with his neighbours;' all which things had beeninculcated in Mr. Eliot's ministry, promising therewithal unto him that, if he did so, at his death his soul should ascend into a happy place, otherwise descend unto miseries; but the apparition all the while neversaid one word about Christ, which was the main subject of Mr. Eliot'sministry. The Sachem received such an impression from the apparitionthat he dealt justly with all men except in the bloody tragedies andcruelties he afterwards committed on the English in our wars. He keptthe Sabbath-day like a fast, frequently attending in our congregations;he would not meddle with any rum, though usually his countrymen hadrather die than undergo such a piece of self-denial. That liquor hasmerely enchanted them. At last, and not long since, this demon appearedagain unto this pagan, requiring him to kill himself, and assuring himthat he should revive in a day or two, never to die any more. Hethereupon divers times attempted it, but his friends very carefullyprevented it; however, at length he found a _fair_ opportunity for this_foul_ business, and hanged himself, --you may be sure without hisexpected resurrection. " This story, grotesque as it sounds in the solemn simplicity of the worthyPuritan, is really only an instance of what takes place wherever thelight of the Gospel is held up to men capable of appreciating itsstandard of morality, but too proud to bend the spirit to accept thedoctrine of the Cross. The Sachem was but a red-skinned "seeker afterGod, " an "ape of Christianity, " like Marcus Aurelius, and like the manyothers we shall meet with who loved darkness rather than light, not somuch because their deeds were evil as because their hearts were proud. Like all practical men, Eliot found it absolutely necessary to do what hecalled "carrying on civility with religion, " _i. E. _ instructing theconverts in such of the arts of life as would afford them wholesomeindustry; but want of means was his great difficulty, and in the middleof a civil war England was not very likely to supply him. Still he made his Indians at Nonantum hedge and ditch, plant trees, sowcornfields, and saw planks; and some good man in England, whose name henever knew, sent him in 1648 ten pounds for schools among the natives, half of which he gave to a mistress at Cambridge, and half to a master atDorchester, under whom the Indian children made good progress, and hecatechized them himself most diligently by way of teaching both them andthe parents who looked on. He had by this time translated the Bible, but it remained in manuscriptfor want of the means of printing it; and his favourite scheme ofcreating an Indian city, with a scriptural government, well out of theway of temptation from and interference by the English, was also at astandstill, from his poverty. He likewise sustained a great loss in his friend Mr. Shepard, who hadworked with him with equal devotion and enthusiasm, but this loss reallyled to the fulfilment of his wishes, for Mr. Shepard's papers were senthome, and aroused such an interest in Calamy and others of the devoutministers in London, that the needs of the Indians of New England werebrought before Parliament, and an ordinance was passed on the 27th ofJuly, 1649, for the advancement of civilization and Christianity amongthem. Then a corporation was instituted, entitled the Society for thePropagation of the Gospel in New England, of which Judge Street was thefirst president, and Mr. Henry Ashurst the first treasurer, with powersto receive the collections that the ministers in every parish wereexhorted to make by authority of Parliament, backed up by letters fromthe two Universities. There was a good deal of opposition; people fancied it a new plan ofgetting money for Government, and were not at all interested about theIndians, but money enough was collected to purchase lands worth about500_l. _ or 600_l. _ a year, by way of foundation, at a time when theproperty of Cavaliers was going cheap, and the Society was able toundertake the cost of printing Eliot's Bible, as well as of building himan Indian college, of paying his teachers, and of supplying the greatlyneeded tools and other necessaries for his much-desired station. Still there was a great deal of difficulty and opposition, from theEnglish dislike and contempt for the Indians, who were judged _en masse_by the degraded ones who loitered about the settlements, begging anddrinking; as well as from the Powaws or medicine men who found theirdupes escaping, and tried to terrify them by every means by which it waspossible to work upon their superstition. The Sachems, likewise, werefinding out that Christians were less under their tyranny since they hadhad a higher standard, and many opposed Eliot violently, trying to drivehim from their villages with threats and menacing gestures, but he calmlyanswered, "I am engaged in the work of God, and God is with me. I fearnot all the Sachems in the country. I shall go on with my work. Touchme if you dare;" nor did he ever fail to keep the most angry in checkwhile he was present, though they hated him greatly. Uncas, the chief ofthe Mohicans, made a regular complaint to Government that Eliot and hiscolleagues prayed by name for the conversion of the Mohicans andNarragansets. Even Cutshamakin, when he heard of the project of anIndian town, broke out against it with such fury, that all the men infavour of it cowered and slunk away from his furious howls andgesticulations. Mr. Eliot was left alone to confront him, and lookingsteadily at him told him that, as this was God's work, no fear of himshould hinder it. The savage quailed before him, but afterwards came tohim and stated that his objection was that the praying Indians did notpay him their tribute. Eliot kindly answered that this had beencomplained of before, and that he had preached a sermon enforcing thisduty upon the tribe. The words were good, said Cutshamakin, but the Indians would not obeythem. So Mr. Eliot, after consultation with the ministers and elders inBoston, invited the Indians who understood English to hear a sermonthere, and in it the duty of rendering to all their due was fullyenforced. Afterwards, however, the Indians came forward declaringthemselves much surprised and mortified at being accused of not payingtheir just duty to their chief; and they specified the service and gifts:each had rendered twenty bushels of corn, six bushels of rye, fifteendeer, days spent in hunting, the building of a wigwam, reclaiming twoacres of land; and the amount when added up amazed Mr. Eliot. At hisnext lecture, then, he took for his text the rejection by the Saviour ofall the kingdoms of the world, and personally applied it to Cutshamakin, reproaching him with lust of power and worldly ambition, and warning himthat Satan was tempting him to give up the faith for the sake ofrecovering his arbitrary power. The discourse and the conversation thatfollowed again melted the Sachem, and he repented and retracted, althoughhe continued an unsafe and unstable man. At length, in 1651, Mr. Eliot was able to convene his praying Indians andwith them lay the foundation of a town on the banks of Charles River, about eighteen miles to the south-west of Boston. The spot, as hebelieved, had been indicated to him in answer to prayer, and they namedit Natick, or the place of hills. The inhabitants of Nonantum removedthither, and the work was put in hand. A bridge, eighty feet long andnine feet wide, had already been laid across the river, entirely byIndian workmen, under Mr. Eliot's superintendence; and the town was laidout in three streets, two on one side of the river and one on the other;the grounds were measured and divided, apple-trees planted, and sowingbegun. The cellars of some of the houses, it is said, remain to thepresent day. In the midst was a circular fort, palisaded with trees, anda large house built in the English style, though with only a day or twoof help from an English carpenter, the lower part of which was to serveas a place of worship on Sunday, and for a school on other days, theupper part as a wardrobe and storehouse for valuables, and with a roompartitioned off, and known as "the prophet's chamber, " for the use of Mr. Eliot on his visits to the settlement. Outside were canopies, formed bymats stretched on poles, one for Mr. Eliot and his attendants, anotherfor the men, and a third for the women. These were apparently to sheltera sort of forum, and likewise to supplement the school-chapel in warmweather. A few English-built houses were raised; but the Indians foundthem expensive and troublesome, and preferred the bark wigwams onimproved principles. The spot was secured to the Indians by the Council of Government, actingunder the Commonwealth at home; but the right of local self-governmentwas vested in each township; and Eliot, as the guide of his new settlers, could lead them to what he believed to be a truly scriptural code, suchas he longed to see prevail in his native land. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "theblessed day in England, when the Word of God shall be their Magna Cartaand chief law book, and all lawyers must be divines to study theScripture. " His commencement in carrying out this system was to preach Jethro'sadvice to Moses, and thence deduce that the Indians should dividethemselves into hundreds and into tens, and elect rulers for eachdivision, each tithing man being responsible for the ten under him, eachchief of a hundred for the ten tithings. This was done on the 6th ofAugust, 1651; and Eliot declared that it seemed to him as if he beheldthe scattered bones he had spoken of in his first sermon to the Indians, come bone to bone, and a civil political life begin. His hundreds andtithings were as much suggested by the traditional arrangements of KingAlfred as by those of Moses in the wilderness; and his next step was, inlike manner, partly founded on Scripture, partly on Englishhistory, --namely, the binding his Indians by a solemn covenant to servethe Lord, and ratifying it on a fast-day. His converts had often askedhim why he held none of the great fast-days with them that they saw theEnglish hold, and he had always replied that there was not a sufficientoccasion, but he regarded this as truly important enough. Moreover, aship containing some supplies, sent by the Society in England, had beenwrecked, and the goods, though saved, were damaged. This he regarded asa frown of Providence and a fruit of sin. Poor Cutshamakin also was introuble again, having been drawn into a great revel, where much spiritshad been drunk; and his warm though unstable temper always made him readyto serve as a public example of confession and humiliation. So when, onthe 24th of September, 1651, Mr. Eliot had conducted the fast-dayservice, it began with Cutshamakin's confession; then three Indianspreached and prayed in turn, and Mr. Eliot finally preached on Ezra'sgreat fast. There was a pause for rest; then the assembly came togetheragain, and before them Mr. Eliot solemnly recited the terms of theCovenant, by which all were to bind themselves to the service of theLord, and which included all their principal laws. He asked them whetherthey stood to the Covenant. All the chiefs first bound themselves, thenthe remainder of the people; a collection was made for the poor; and soended that "blessed day, " as the happy apostle of the Indians called it. When Governor Endicot shortly after visited the place, he was greatlystruck with the orderliness and civilization he found there. "I accountthis one of the best journeys I have made for many years, " he says. Manylittle manufactures were carried on, in particular one of drums, whichwere used for lack of bells in some of the American settlements, as asummons to come to church. There was a native schoolmaster, named Monequassum, who could write, read, and spell English correctly, and under whom the children weremaking good progress. Promising lads were trained by Mr. Eliot himself, in hopes of making them act as missionaries among their brethren. Allthis time his praying Indians were not baptized, nor what he called"gathered into a Church estate. " He seems to have been determined tohave full proof of their stability before he so accepted them; for it wasfrom no inclination to Baptist views that he so long delayed receivingthem. However, on the 13th of October, 1652, he convened his brother-ministers to hear his Indians make public confession of their faith. Whatthe converts said was perfectly satisfactory; but they were a long-windedrace, accustomed to flowing periods; and as each man spoke for himself, and his confession had to be copied down in writing, Mr. Eliot himselfowns that their "enlargement of spirit" did make "the work longsome. " Solongsome it was, that while the schoolmaster was speaking every one gotrestless, and there was a confusion; and the ministers, who had a longdark ride through the woods before them, went away, and were hard tobring back again, so that he had to finish hearing the declarations offaith alone. Still, he cut off the baptism and organization of a church till he hadsent all these confessions to be considered by the Society in England, printed and published under the title of "Tears of Repentance, " with adedication to Oliver Cromwell. Then came other delays; some from thejealousy and distrust of the English, who feared that the Indians weregoing to ally themselves to the Dutch; some from the difficulty ofgetting pastors to join in the tedious task of listening to the wordyconfessions; and some from the distressing scandal of drunkennessbreaking out among the Indians, in spite of the strict discipline thatalways punished it. It was not till 1660 that Mr. Eliot baptized anyIndians, and the next day admitted them to the Lord's Supper, nine yearsafter he had begun to preach. The numbers we do not know, but there isno doubt that he received no adults except well proved and tried personscoming up to the Puritan standard of sincerity and devotion. At this time the Society at home was in great danger; for, on theRestoration, the charter had become void, and, moreover, the principalestate that formed the endowment had been the property of a RomanCatholic, --Colonel Bedingfield, --who resumed possession, and refused torefund the purchase money, as considering the Society at an end. Itwould probably have been entirely lost, but for the excellent RobertBoyle, so notable at once for his science, piety, and beneficence. Heplaced the matter in its true light before Lord Clarendon, and obtainedby his means a fresh charter from Charles II. The judgment in the Courtof Chancery was given in favour of the Society, and Boyle himselflikewise endowed it with a third part of a grant of the forfeitedimpropriations in Ireland which he had received from the king. But allthe time there was a great disbelief in the efficacy of the work amongthe Indians both at home and in New England. It was the fashion to callall the stories of Indian conversions mere devices for getting money, andthe unhappy, proud hostility that almost always actuated the ordinaryEnglish colonist in dealing with natives, was setting in in full force. However, at Massachusetts, the general court appointed an Englishmagistrate to hold a court of judicature in conjunction with the chiefsof the Christian Indians, and to be in fact a sort of special member ofgovernment on their behalf. The first so appointed was Daniel Gookin, aman of great piety, wisdom, and excellence, and a warm friend of Mr. Eliot, with whom he worked most heartily, not only in dealing with theIndians of Natick, but with all those who came under Englishjurisdiction, providing schools, and procuring the observance of theSunday among them. It was also provided that the Christian Indiansshould set apart a tenth of all their produce for the support of theirteachers--a practice that Mr. Gookin defended from the charge of Judaism. It seems as if these good men, who went direct to the Old Testament fortheir politics, must have been hard set between their desire ofscriptural authority and their dread of Judaizing. It was well for Eliot that he had friends, for in the first flush of thetidings of the successes of the Puritans in England, he had written a setof papers upon Government, entitled the "Christian Commonwealth, " whichhad been sent to England, and there lay dormant for nine or ten years, until in the midst of all the excitement on the Restoration, thisspeculative work, the theory of a scholar upon Christian democracy, wasactually printed and launched upon the world at home, whether by an enemyor by an ill-advised friend does not appear, and without the author'sconsent. Complaints of this as a seditious book came out to New England, and John Eliot was forced to appear before the court, when he owned theauthorship, but disowned the publication, and retracted whatever mighthave declared the Government of England, by King, Lords, and Commons, tobe anti-Christian, avowing it to be "not only a lawful but eminent formof government, and professing himself ready to conform to any polity thatcould be deduced from Scripture as being of Divine authority. " The courtwas satisfied, and suppressed the book, while publishing Mr. Eliot'sretractation. Some have sneered at his conduct on this occasion as anact of moral cowardice; but it would be very hard if every man were boundto stand to all the political views expressed in an essay never meant forthe general eye, ten years old, and written in the enthusiasm of thecommencement of an experiment, which to the Presbyterian mind had proveda grievous disappointment. He had a much more important work in hand than the defence of old dreamsof the reign of the saints--for the Society for the Propagation of theGospel in New England had just finished printing his translation of theNew Testament, _Wusku Wuttestermentum_ as it was called, and in two yearsmore the Old Testament was finished. A copy was presented to CharlesII. , to the Chancellor Clarendon, and to the two Universities in England, as well as to Harvard College. It was in the Mohican dialect, which wassufficiently like that of the neighbouring tribes to serve for them, andhad all the correctness that the scholarship and philology of the timecould furnish. There is a story that Eliot wrote the whole with a singlepen. It went through a good many editions, but is now very rare, andwith Eliot's Catechism, and translations of Baxter's chief works, and ametrical version of the Psalms, remains the only vestige of the languageof the Mohicans. There were now several Indian congregations, one in especial at theisland called Martha's Vineyard, under the charge of an Indian pastor, John Hiacoomes, who is said to have been the first red-skinned convert, and who had made proof of much true Christian courage. Once in the actof prayer he received a severe blow from a Sachem, and would have beenkilled if some English had not been present; but all his answer was, "Ihave two hands. I had one hand for injuries, and the other for God. While I did receive wrong with the one, the other laid the greater holdon God. " When some of the Powaws, or medicine men, were boasting that they could, if they would, destroy all the praying Indians at once, Hiacoomes madereply: "Let all the Powaws in the island come together, I'll venturemyself in the midst among them all. Let them use all their witchcrafts. With the help of God, I'll tread upon them all!" By which defiance he wonderfully "heartened" his flock, who, Christiansas they were, had still been beset by the dread of the magic arts, inwhich, as we have seen, even their White teachers did not whollydisbelieve. Such a man as this was well worthy of promotion, and Mr. Eliot hoped toeducate his more promising scholars, so as to supply a succession oflearned and trained native pastors. Two young men, named Joel and Caleb, were sent to Harvard College, Cambridge, where they both were gainingdistinguished success, and were about to take their degree, when Joel, who had gone home on a visit, was wrecked on the Island of Nantucket, and, with the rest of the ship's company, was either drowned or murderedby the Indians. The name of Caleb, Chee-shah-teau-muck, Indus, is stillto be seen in the registers of those who took their degree, and there aretwo Latin and Greek elegies remaining, which he composed on the death ofan eminent minister, bearing his signature, with the addition, SeniorSophister. How curiously do the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin proclaimthemselves the universal languages, thus blending with the uncouthMohican word! Caleb's constitution proved unable to endure Collegediscipline and learning, and he died of decline soon after taking hisdegree. Consumption was very frequent among the Indians, as it so oftenis among savages suddenly brought to habits of civilization, and it seemsto have mown down especially the more intellectual of the Indians;Monequassum, the first schoolmaster at Natick, among them. An IndianCollege, which had been established at Cambridge, failed from the deathsof some scholars and the discouragement of others, and had to be turnedinto a printing house, and the energetic and indefatigable Eliot did thebest he could by giving courses of lectures in logic and theology tocandidates for the ministry at Natick, and even printed an "Indian logickprimer. " It was a wonderful feat, considering the loose unwieldy wordsof the language. From 1660 to 1675 were Eliot's years of chief success. His own vigourwas unabated, and he had Major Gookin's hearty co-operation. There hadbeen time for a race of his own pupils to grow up; and there had not beentime for the first love of his converts to wax cool. There had been along interval of average peace and goodwill between English and natives, and there seemed good reason to suppose that Christianity andcivilization would keep them friends, if not fuse them together. Therewere eleven hundred Christian Indians, according to Eliot and Gookin'scomputation, with six regularly constituted "churches" after the fashionof Natick, and fourteen towns, of which seven were called old and sevennew, where praying Indians lived, for the most part, in a well-conducted, peaceable manner, though now and then disorderly conduct would takeplace, chiefly from drunkenness. Several Sachems had likewise beenconverted, in especial Wanalanset, the eldest son of the famous old chiefPassaconnaway. After four years of hesitation whether he should, as hesaid, quit his old canoe and embark in a new one, he came to theconclusion that the old canoe was floating down the stream ofdestruction, and manfully embraced the faith, although at the cost oflosing many of his tribe, who deserted him on his profession ofChristianity. But there is always a period of check and disappointment in every greatand holy work. The tide of evil may be driven into ebb for a time, butit always rallies and flows back upon the servant of God, and usuallywhen the prime of his strength is past, and he is less able to withstand. Most good and great men have closed their eyes upon apparent failure anddisappointment in what is especially their own task, and, like the firstgreat Leader and Lawgiver, have had to cry, "Show Thy servants Thy work, and their children Thy glory. " Often the next generation does see thesuccess, and gather the fruits; but the strong, wise, scholarly, statesman-like Apostle of the Indians was destined to see his work sweptaway like snow before the rage and fury of man, and to leave behind himlittle save a great witness and example. At least he had the comfort ofknowing that the evil did not arise among his own children in the faith, but came from causes entirely external, and as much to be preferred aspersecution is better than corruption. The Sachem nearest to Plymouth had been at the first arrival of thePilgrim Fathers, Massasoiet, chief of the Wampanongs, who had kept thepeace out of fear. His son Alexander had followed his example, but itwas current among the English that he had died of "choler, " on beingdetected in a plot against them, and his successor, Philip, was a man ofmore than common pride, fierceness, cunning, and ability. These wereonly names given them by the English; none of them were Christians. Mr. Eliot had made some attempts upon Philip, but had been treated withscorn. The Sachem, twisting a button upon the minister's coat, told himhe cared not _that_ for his Gospel; but Major Gookin had some hopes ofhaving touched his heart. However, there were indications that he was endeavouring to unite all thesurrounding tribes in an alliance against the colony. A murder of anEnglishman had taken place, and the Government at Plymouth required allnatives to surrender the fire-arms they had obtained from the English. Even Philip consented to deliver them up until the English should see nofurther cause for detaining them. Upon this, in June 1671, Eliot wrote aremarkable letter to Mr. Prince, the Governor of Plymouth, requiring himnot to detain the arms, especially of Philip. "My reasons are, " he says, "first, lest we render ourselves more afraid of them and their guns thanindeed we are or have cause to be. Alas! it is not the gun, but the man;nor, indeed, is it the man, but our sin that we have cause to be afraidof. Secondly, your so doing will open an effectual door to theentertainment of the Gospel. " Probably Mr. Eliot was right, and thekeeping the arms only irritated the high-spirited chief, who said to themessenger of the Governor of Massachusetts, "Your governor is but asubject. I will not treat but with my brother, King Charles of England. " For four years enmity smouldered on. The rights of the dispute willnever be known. The settlers laid all upon Philip's machinations, exceptthose who lived near his wigwams and knew him best; and they said that sofar from entering into a conspiracy, he always deplored the war, but wasforced on by the rage and fury of the young braves, over whom the Sachemshad no real power, and who wanted to signalize their valour, and couldnot fail to have their pride insulted by the demeanour of the ordinaryEnglish. One instance of brutality on the river Saco is said to havebeen the immediate cause of the war in that district. Some Englishsailors, seeing a canoe with an Indian woman and her infant, and havingheard that a papoose could swim like a duck, actually upset the canoe tomake the experiment. The poor baby sank, and the mother dived andbrought it up alive, but it died so soon after, that the loss was laid tothe charge of the cruel men by the father, who was a Sachem namedSquando, of considerable dignity and influence, a great medicine man. On Philip's border to the southward, a plantation called Swawny wasattacked and burnt by the Indians in the June of 1675. He is said tohave shed tears (impassible Indian as he was) at the tidings, foreseeingthe utter ruin of his people; and, twenty days after, Squando's influenceled to another attack 200 miles off, and this was viewed as a sign ofcomplicity with Philip. There was deadly terror among the English. The Indians swarmed down atnight on lonely villages and farmhouses, slew, scalped, burnt, and nowand then carried off prisoners to be tortured to death, and children totell by and by strange tales of life in the wigwams. The militia werecalled out, but left their houses unprotected. At Newich-wannock, thefarmhouse of a man named Tozer was attacked by the Indians when onlytenanted by fifteen women and children. A girl of eighteen, who was thefirst to see the approach, bravely shut the door and set her back againstit; thus giving time for the others to escape by another door to a bettersecured building. The Indians chopped the door to pieces with theirhatchets, knocked the girl down, left her for dead, and hurried on inpursuit of the others, but only came up with two poor little children, who had not been able to get over the fence. The rest were saved, andthe brave girl recovered from her wounds; but other attacks ended farmore fatally for the sufferers, and the rage and alarm of the NewEnglanders were great. A few of the recently taught and unbaptizedIndians from what were called the "new praying towns" had joined theircountrymen; and though the great body of the converts were true andfaithful, the English confounded them all in one common hatred to the Red-skin. The magistrates and Government were not infected by this blindpassion, and did all they could to restrain it, showing trust in theChristian natives by employing them in the war, when they rendered goodand faithful service; but the commonalty, who were in the habit ofviewing the whole people as Hivites and Jebusites, treated these allieswith such distrust and contumely as was quite enough to alienate them. In July 1675, three Christian Indians were sent as guides andinterpreters to an expedition to treat with the Indians in the Nipmuckcountry. One was made prisoner, but the two officers in command gave thefullest testimony to the good conduct of the other two; nevertheless theywere so misused on their return that Mr. Gookin declared that they hadbeen, by ill-treatment, "in a manner constrained to fall off to theenemy. " One was killed by a scouting party of praying Indians; the otherwas taken, sold as a slave, and sent to Jamaica; and though Mr. Eliotprevailed to have him brought back, and redeemed his wife and children, he was still kept in captivity. The next month, August, a number of the Christian Indians were arrestedand sent up to Boston to be tried for some murders that had beencommitted at Lancaster. Eliot and Gookin succeeded in proving theirperfect innocence, but the magistrates had great difficulty in savingtheir lives from the fury of the mob, who thirsted for Indian blood, andboth minister and major were insulted and reviled, so that Gookin said onthe bench that it was not safe for him to walk in the streets; and whenEliot met with a dangerous boat accident, wishes were expressed that hehad been drowned. Natick was looked upon with so much distrust and aversion thatGovernment, fearing occasions of bloodshed, decided that the inhabitantsmust be removed to Deer Island. On the 7th of October a great fast-day, with prayer and preaching, had been held, and fierce and bitterentreaties had been uttered against the Indian Sachems, especiallyPhilip. One wonders whether Eliot--now seventy-one years old--felt itcome home to him that he knew not what spirit he had been of when he hadprayed for the death of the Moorish prince. It must have been a heart-breaking time for the aged man, to see the spot founded in so much hopeand prayer, the fruit of so much care and meditation, thus broken up andruined, and when he was too old to do the like work over again. At theend of that month of October, Captain Thomas Prentiss, with a party ofhorse and five or six carts, arrived at Natick, and made known thecommands of the Government. Sadly but patiently the Indians submitted. Two hundred men, women, and children were made to get together all theycould carry, and marched from their homes to the banks of the CharlesRiver. Here, at a spot called the Pines, Mr. Eliot met them, and theygathered round him to hear his words of comfort, as he exhorted them tomeek patience, resignation, and steadiness to the faith. The scene wasexceedingly affecting, as the white-haired pastor stood by the river-sidebeneath the tall pines, with his dark-skinned, newly reclaimed childrenabout him, clinging to him for consolation, but neither murmuring norstruggling, only praying and encouraging one another. Captain Prentissand his soldiers were deeply touched; but at midnight, when the tide washigh enough, three large boats bore the Indians over to Deer Island. Herethey were, transplanted from their comfortable homes in the beginning ofa long and very severe winter; but, well divided by the river from allsuspicion of doing violence, they fared better than the praying Indiansof the new town of Wamesit. A barn full of hay and corn had been burnt, and fourteen men of Chelmsford, the next settlement, concluding it hadbeen done by the Wamesit Red-skins, went thither, called them out oftheir wigwams, and then fired at them, killing a lad and five women andchildren. After all, the fire had been caused by some skulking heathenIndians; but though the Government obtained the arrest of the murderers, the jury would not find them guilty. The Wamesit Indians fled into theforest, and sent a piteous letter:--"We are not sorry for what we leavebehind, but we are sorry that the English have driven us from our prayingto God and from our teacher. We did begin to understand praying to God a_little_. " They were invited back, but were afraid to come till cold andhunger drove them to their old abode, and then the indefatigable Eliotand Gookin visited them, and did all in their power to bring about abetter feeling towards them in Chelmsford. This whole autumn and winter--a terribly severe one--seems to have beenspent by these good men in trying to heal the strifes between the Englishand the Indians. Wanalanset had fled, true to his father's policy ofnever resisting, and they were sent to invite him back again; but when hereturned, he found that the maize grounds of his settlement had beenploughed up by the English and sown with rye, so that his tribe had mostscanty subsistence. Several settlements of Christians were deported to Deer Island. Onelarge party had been made prisoners by their heathen countrymen and hadmanaged to escape, but when met with wandering in the woods by a party ofEnglish soldiers, were plundered of the little the heathens had leftthem, in especial of a pewter cup, their communion plate, which Mr. Eliothad given them, and which was much treasured by their native pastor. TheGeneral interfered in their behalf, but could not protect them from muchill-usage. The teacher was sent with his old father and young childrento Boston, where Mr. Eliot saw and cheered him before he was conveyed toDeer Island. There, in December, Eliot, with Gookin and other friends, frequently visited the Indians, now five hundred in number, and foundthem undergoing many privations, but patient, resigned, and unmurmuring. The snow was four feet deep in the woods by the 10th of December thatyear, and the exertion and exposure of travelling, either on snow-shoesor sledges, must have been tremendous to a man of Mr. Eliot's age; but henever seems to have intermitted his labours in carrying spiritual andtemporal succour to his people, and in endeavouring to keep the peacebetween them and the English. The hard winter had had a great effect in breaking the strength of theenemy, and they were much more feeble on the renewal of the war in thespring. The good conduct of the praying Indians had overcome the popularprejudice so much that it was decided to employ them to assist the scantyforces of the English in hunting down the hostile tribes, and Gookinboasts of their having taken and slain more than 400 foes in the courseof the summer of 1676, which one would scarcely think was very good fortheir recent Christianity. In the mean time, the absence of all the able-bodied men and hunters reduced their families to such distress thatserious illness broke out among them, and Major Gookin caused them to bebrought to the neighbourhood of Cambridge, where there was good fishing, and where he could attend to them, and provide them with food, clothing, and medicine. In August Philip was killed, the English believing themselves to "haveprayed the bullet straight into his heart;" and his head was carriedabout on a pole, in a manner we should have called worthy of the Indiansthemselves, did we not recollect that there were a good many city gatesat home with much the same kind of trophy, while his wife andchildren--miserable fate!--were, like many others of the captives, soldinto slavery to the sugar planters in Jamaica. After this the war did not entirely cease, but the Christian Indians wereallowed to creep back to their old settlements at Nonantum, and even atNatick, where Mr. Eliot continued periodically to visit and instructthem; but after this unhappy war there were only four instead of fourteentowns of Christian Indians in Massachusetts, and a blow had been given tohis mission that it never recovered. Still there was a splendid energy and resolution about this undaunted oldman, now writing a narrative of the Gospel History in his seventy-fourthyear, now sending Robert Boyle new physical facts, now protesting hardagainst the cruel policy of selling captive Indians into slavery. Whatmust not the slavery of the West Indian isles, which had already killedoff their native Caribbeans, have been to these free hunters of the NorthAmerican forest, too proud to work for themselves, and bred in a climateof cold, dry, bracing air? And even in the West Indies, a shipload ofthese miserable creatures was refused in the over-stocked market, and thehorrors of the slave-ship were prolonged across the Atlantic, till atlast Mr. Eliot traced the unhappy freight to Tangier. He at once wroteto conjure the excellent Mr. Boyle to endeavour to have them redeemed andsent home, --with what success, or if any were left alive, does notappear. He had the pleasure of seeing a son of good Major Gookin become theminister of a district including Natick, and likewise of the ordinationat Natick of an Indian named Daniel Takawombgrait. Of his own sixchildren only one son and one daughter survived him. Benjamin, theyoungest son, was his coadjutor at Roxbury, and was left in charge therewhile he circulated amongst his Indians, and would have succeeded him. The loss of this son must have fallen very heavily on him; but "the goodold man would sometimes comfortably say, 'I have had six children, and Ibless God for His free grace; they are all either _with_ Christ or _in_Christ, and my mind is now at rest concerning them. '" When asked how he could bear the death of such excellent children, hisanswer was, "My desire was that they should have served God on earth, butif God will choose to have them rather serve Him in heaven, I havenothing to object against it, but His will be done. " His last letter to Mr. Boyle was written in his eighty-fourth year, andwas a farewell but a cheerful one, and he had good hopes then of arenewal of the spirit of missions among his people. But though hisChristians did not bely their name in his own generation, alcohol did itswork on some, consumption on others; and, in 1836, when Jabez Sparkswrote his biography, there was one wigwam at Natick inhabited by a fewpersons of mingled Indian and Negro blood, the sole living remnants ofthe foundation he had loved so well. Nevertheless, Eliot's work was notwasted. The spark he lit has never gone out wholly in men's minds. His wife died in 1684, at a great age, and her elegy over her coffin werethese words from himself: "Here lies my dear faithful, pious, prudent, prayerful wife. I shall go to her, but she shall not return to me. " He had become very feeble, and was wont to say, when asked how he did, "Alas! I have lost everything: my understanding leaves me, my memoryfails me, my utterance fails me, but, I thank God, my charity holds outstill; I find that rather grows than fails. " He was forced to give up the duties of his office to a new pastor, andthough often entreated to preach again, he would hardly ever do so, byreason, he said, that it would be wronging the souls of his people, whenthey had an able minister; and when he preached for the last time on afast day, on the 63rd Psalm, it was with an apology for what he calledthe poorness, and meanness, and brokenness of his meditations. "I wonder, " he used to say, "for what the Lord lets me live. He knowsthat now I can do nothing for Him. " Yet he was working for Him to the utmost of his power. A little boy inthe neighbourhood had fallen into the fire, and lost his eyesight inconsequence. The old minister took him into his house to instruct, andfirst taught him to repeat many chapters in the Bible, and to know it sothoroughly that when listening to readers he could correct them if theymissed a word; after which he taught him Latin, so that an "ordinarypiece" had become easy to him. The importation of negro slaves had already begun, and Mr. Eliot"lamented with a bleeding and a burning passion that the English usedtheir negroes but as their horses or oxen, and that so little care wastaken about their immortal souls. He look'd upon it as a prodigy, thatany bearing the name of Christians should so much have the heart ofdevils in them, as to prevent and hinder the instruction of the poorBlackamores, and confine the souls of their miserable slaves to adestroying ignorance, merely through fear of using the benefit of theirvassalage. " So, old as he was, he induced the settlers around to sendhim their negroes on certain days of the week for instruction; but he hadnot made much progress in the work before he became too feeble to carryit on. He fell into languishments attended with fever, and this heviewed as his summons. His successor, Mr. Nehemiah Walters, came to livewith him, and held a good deal of conversation with him. "There is a cloud, " he said, "a dark cloud upon the work of the Gospelamong the poor Indians. The Lord renew and prosper that work, and grantit may live when I am dead. It is a work which I have been doing muchand long about. But what was the word I spoke last? I recall that word. _My doings_. Alas! they have been poor and small, and lean doings, andI'll be the man that shall throw the first stone at them all. " Mather relates that he spake other words "little short of oracles, " andlaments that they were not correctly recorded; but it appears that hegradually sank, and died in his eighty-seventh year of age, at Roxbury, in the year 1690. His last words were, "Welcome joy. " CHAPTER II. DAVID BRAINERD, THE ENTHUSIAST. The Indian pastor of Natick, who had been trained by Mr. Eliot, died in1716, and two years later was born one of the men who did all in hispower, through his brief life, to hold up the light of truth to theunfortunate natives of America, as they were driven further and furtherto the west before the advancing tide from Europe. The fourth son among nine children, who lost both parents at a very earlyage, David Brainerd, though born above the reach of want, had manydisadvantages to contend with. Both his parents had, however, beenreligious people, the children of ministers who had come out to Americain the days of the Pilgrim Fathers, and settling at Haddam inConnecticut, trained up their families in the stern, earnest, and rigidrules and doctrines of Calvinism, which certainly, where they areaccepted by an earnest and thoughtful mind, have a great tendency tostimulate the intellect, and force forward, as it were, the religiousperceptions in early youth. David was, moreover, a delicate child, withthe seeds of (probably) hereditary decline incipient, and at seven oreight years old he drew apart from play, thinking much of death, andtrying to prepare by prayer and meditation. His parents' death increasedthese feelings, and while living at East Haddam, under the charge of hisbrothers, and employed in farm work, the boy was continually strugglingwith himself in silence, disliking all youthful mirth and amusement, fasting, watching and praying, and groaning over the state of his soul. At nineteen, the wish to become a minister came upon him, and he began tostudy hard at all spare moments; and in another year, at twenty, he wentto reside with Mr. Fiske, the minister of Haddam, and in him found, forthe first time, a friend to whom he could open his heart, who couldunderstand the anxieties and longings within him, and who gave him adviceto withdraw himself from the young companions whose gay spirits wereuncongenial to him, and spend more time with the graver and morereligious. Whether this were good advice we do not know, but a period of terribleagony had to be struggled through. It seems plain, from comparison ofdifferent lives, that in the forms of religion which make everythingdepend upon the individual person's own consciousness of the state of hisheart and feelings, instead of supporting this by any outward tokens forfaith to rest upon, the more humble and scrupulous spirits often undergofearful misery before they can attain to such security of their own faithas they believe essential. Indeed, this state of wretchedness is almostdeemed a necessary stage in the Christian life, like the Slough ofDespond in the Pilgrim's Progress; and with such a temperament as DavidBrainerd's, the horrors of the struggle for hope were dreadful and lastedfor months, before an almost physical perception of light, glory, andgrace shone out upon him, although, even to the end of his life, hope andfear, spiritual joy and depression alternated, no doubt, greatly inconsequence of his constant ill-health. In 1739, in his twenty-first year, he became a student at Yale, and, between hard work and his mental self-reproach for the worldly ambitionof distinction, his health broke down, haemorrhage from the lungs set in, and he was sent home, it was supposed, only to die. He was then in avery happy frame of mind, and was almost sorry to find himself wellenough to return to what he felt to be a scene of temptation. That sameyear, his head was entirely turned by the excitement of GeorgeWhitfield's preaching; he was carried away by religious enthusiasm, andwas in a state of indiscreet zeal, of which his better judgmentafterwards repented, so that he destroyed all the portion of his journalthat related to that year. Indeed, his vehemence cost him dear, for, inthe heat of a discussion, he had the misfortune to say, "Mr. Whittlesey, he has no more grace than this chair I am leaning upon. " Mr. Whittleseywas one of the college tutors, and a gossiping freshman who overheard thewords thought proper to report this to a meddling woman, who immediatelywalked off to the Rector of the college with the awful intelligence thatyoung Brainerd said that Mr. Whittlesey had no more grace than a chair! The Rector had not the sense to silence the silly slander; he sent forthe freshman, took his evidence, and that of the young men with whomBrainerd had been conversing, and then required him to make publicconfession and amends to Mr. Whittlesey before the whole assembledcollege, --a humiliation never previously required, except in cases ofgross moral misconduct. The fact was, that the old-fashioned hereditaryPresbyterianism, which had had time to slacken in the hundred years sincethe foundation of the colony, was dismayed at the new and vivid lifeimported by Whitfield from the Wesleyan revival in the English Church. Itwas what always happens. A mixture of genuine sober-minded dread ofextravagance, or new doctrine, and a sluggish distaste to the moresearching religion, combine to lead to a spirit of persecution. This wasthe true reason that the lad's youthful rashness of speech was treated asso grave an offence. Brainerd's spirit was up. Probably he saw no causeto alter his opinion as to Mr. Whittlesey's amount of grace, and hestoutly refused to retract his words, whereupon he was found guilty ofinsubordination, and actually expelled from Yale. A council of ministerswho assembled at Hartford petitioned for his restoration, but wererefused, the authorities deeming themselves well rid of a dangerousfanatic. Still, as a youth of blameless life and ardent piety, he was encouragedby his friends to continue his preparation for the ministry, and hepersisted in reading hard, and going out between whiles to meditate inthe depths of the glorious woods. It is curious that while his homelyand rigid system precluded any conscious admiration of the beauties ofnature, it is always evident from his journal that the lightenings ofhope and joy which relieved his too frequent depression and melancholy, were connected with the scenery and the glories of day and night. Sunriseand the aurora borealis seem to have filled him with spiritual bliss, andhe never was so happy as when deep in the woods, out of the sight of men;but his morbid, sensitive, excitable nature never seems to have beenunderstood by himself or by others. Just as John Eliot's missionary zeal was the outcome of the earnestnessthat carried the Puritans to New England, so the fresh infusion ofreligious life, brought by Whitfield, produced an ardent desire on thepart of David Brainerd to devote himself to the remainder of the Indians;and in the year 1742, at twenty-five years old, he was examined by anassembly of ministers at Danbury, and licensed to preach the Gospel, whenhe began at once with a little settlement of Indians at Kent, with such asinking of heart at his own unworthiness that he says he seemed tohimself worse than any devil, and almost expected to have been stonedrather than listened to. Indeed, something of this diffidence andsadness seems always to have weighed him down when he began to preach, though the fervour of his subject and the responding faces of hisaudience always exhilarated him and bore him up through his sermon. Tolearn the Indian language had not occurred to him as part of hispreparation, but probably these Kent Red men had been enough among theEnglish to understand him, for they seem to have been much impressed. A Scottish Society for propagating Christian Knowledge had arisen, andthe delegates hearing of the zeal of David Brainerd, desired to engagehim at a salary. The sense of his own unworthiness, and fear of keepingout a better man, brought his spirits down to the lowest ebb;nevertheless, he went to meet the representatives of the Society at NewYork, and there, though between the hubbub of the town and his ownperpetual self-condemnation he was continually wretched, they were sowell satisfied with him as to give him the appointment, on condition thathe studied the language, intending to send him to the Red men between theSusquehanna and the Delaware; but there was a dispute between these andthe Government, and it was decided to send him to a settlement calledKanaumeek, between Stockbridge and Albany. Before going, David Brainerd, having no thought beyond devotion to theIndians, and thinking his allowance enough for his wants, gave up thewhole of his inheritance to support a scholar at the University, and setforth, undaunted by such weakness of health as in ordinary eyes wouldhave fitted him for nothing but to be carefully nursed; for even then hewas continually suffering from pain and dizziness, and weakness so greatthat he could often hardly stand. In this state he arrived at Kanaumeek, with a young Indian to act as hisinterpreter, and there spent the first night sleeping on a heap of straw. It was a lonely, melancholy spot, where the Indians were herded together, watched with jealous eyes by adventurers who were always endeavouring toseize their lands, and sadly degenerated from the free, grave, high-spirited men to whom Eliot had preached. His first lodging was inthe log house of a poor Scotchman who lived among the Indians--a singlechamber, without so much as a floor, and where he shared the family mealsupon porridge, boiled corn, and girdle-cakes. The family spoke Gaelic, only the master of the house knowing any English, and that not so good asthe Indian interpreter's; and, moreover, the spot was a mile and a halffrom the Indian wigwams, no small consideration to so weakly a man, thuspoorly fed. However, the Indians were pleased with his addresses, andseemed touched by them; but the evil habits of the White men were theterrible stumbling-block. Parties of them would come into the town, andvex the missionary's ears with their foul tongues, making a scandalouscontrast to the grave, calm manners of the Indians. More than ever didhe love solitude, and when with his own hands he had built himself a loghut, where he could be alone when he pleased, his relief was great. He was not the highly educated scholar and practical theorist that hispredecessor had been: he seems to have had no plans or systems, andmerely to have tried to fulfil immediate needs; but he soon found that hecould not hope to benefit his Red flock without a school, so he made ajourney to New Jersey to entreat for means to set one up, and this wasdone, with his interpreter as master. His journey was made on horseback, and was no small undertaking, for even between Stockbridge and Kanaumeekhe had once lost his way, and had to sleep a night in the woods. He had by this time thoroughly repented of the uncharitableness andhastiness of his speech about Mr. Whittlesey, and he took a journey toNew Haven to send in a thoroughly humble and Christian-like apology, requesting to be permitted to take his degree. Twice he was refused, andthe third time was told that the only condition on which the degree wouldbe granted would be the making up his term of residence at Yale, whichwas, of course, not possible to a licensed minister in full employment, and in fact was an insulting proposal to a man of his standing andcharacter. His journey cost him dear, for as he was riding home he was attacked withviolent pain in the face and shiverings, which forced him to halt at thefirst shelter he could find, happily with kind friends, who nursed himfor a fortnight before he could return home. He believed that had hisillness seized him in his log house at home, he must certainly have diedfor want of care and attendance, although he was much beloved by his poorIndians. His life was indeed a frightfully hard one, and would have been so for ahealthy man; for he had to work with his own hands to store provisionsfor his horse in the winter, and that when weak and suffering the morefor want of proper food. He could get no bread but by riding ten orfifteen miles to procure it, and if he brought home too much it becamemouldy and sour, while, if he brought home a small quantity, he could notgo for more if he failed to catch his horse, which was turned out tograze in the woods; so that he was reduced to making little cakes ofIndian meal, which he fried in the ashes. "And then, " he says, "Iblessed God as if I had been a king. " "I have a house and many of thecomforts of life to support me, " he says with great satisfaction; and thesolitude of that house was so precious to him that, however weary he was, he would ride back twenty miles to it at night rather than spend anevening among ungodly men. By this terrible stinting of what we shoulddeem the necessaries of life, he was actually able, in fifteen months, todevote a hundred pounds to charitable purposes, besides keeping the youngman at the University. So much, however, did he love his solitude, that he counted it as norelief, but an affliction, to have to ride to Stockbridge from time totime to learn the Indian language from Mr. Sergeant, the missionary therestationed. Something of this must have been morbid feeling, somethingfrom the want of energy consequent on the condition of his frame. For aman in confirmed decline such an entry in a journal as this is notrifle:--"December 20. --Rode to Stockbridge. Was very much fatigued withmy journey, wherein I underwent great hardship; was much exposed, andvery wet by falling into a river. " Mr. Sergeant could hardly have beenprofane company, but Brainerd never enjoyed these visits, thinking thatintercourse with the world made him less familiar with heaven. Another inconvenience was the proximity of Kanaumeek to the frontier, andthese were the days of that horrid war between England and France inAmerica, when the native allies of each nation made savage descents onthe outlying settlements, inflicting all the flagrant outrages of theirwild warfare. A message came one evening to Kanaumeek from ColonelStoddart, warning all in exposed situations to secure themselves as wellas possible, since an attack might come at any moment; and this Brainerdquietly records as a salutary warning not to attach himself too much tothe _comforts of life_ he enjoyed. The attack was never made, but he came to the conclusion that his smallcongregation of Indians would be much better with their fellows atStockbridge under the care of Mr. Sergeant, and that this would leave himfree to go to more wild and untaught tribes. It was carried out, and theIndians removed. There was much mutual love between them and theirpastor, and the parting was very affectionate, though even after twoyears he was still unable to speak the language, and never seems to havetroubled himself about this trifling obstacle. Several Englishcongregations entreated him to become their minister, but he refused themall, and went to meet the Commissioners of the Scottish Society at NewJersey. They arranged with him for a mission to the Delaware Indians, inspite of his being laid up for some days at the time; and when he wentback to Kanaumeek to dispose of his books and other "comforts, " theeffects of being drenched with rain showed themselves in continuedbleeding from the lungs. He knew that he was often in an almost dyingstate, and only wished to continue in his Master's service to the end helonged for. He owns that his heart did sometimes sink at the thought ofgoing alone into the wilderness; but he thought of Abraham, and tookcourage, riding alone through the depths of the forest, so desolate andlonely day after day, that it struck terror even into his soul. Therewere scanty settlements of Dutch and Irish, where he sometimes spent anight, but the Sunday he passed among some Irish was so entirely unmarkedby them, that he felt like a "creature banished from the sight of God. " At last he reached his destination on the fork of the river Delaware, andbeing within moderate distance of Newark, there received ordination as aminister on the 11th of June, 1744. Severe illness followed the exertionof preaching and praying before the convened ministers; but as soon as hecould walk, he set forth on his return, though he was so weak that hecould hardly open his numbed hand, but his heart and hopes had begun torevive, and the little settlement of Whites with whom he lived werewilling to listen to him. The Indians were in the midst of preparing for an idolatrous feast anddance. Brainerd spent a day in the woods in an anguish of prayer, andthen went to the place of meeting, where, stranger as he was, heprevailed on them to cease their revels and attend to him. His biographer, President Jonathan Edwards, provokingly leaves out hismethod of teaching, "for the sake of brevity, " and from his own diarylittle is to be gathered but accounts of his state of feeling throughendless journeyings and terrible prostrations of strength. He was alwaystravelling about--now to the Susquehanna, now back to NewEngland--apparently at times with the restlessness of disease, for thisroving about must have prevented him from ever deepening the impressionmade by his preaching, which after all was only through an interpreter, for he never gave himself time to learn the language. Yet after some months he did find a settlement of Indians, about eightymiles from the fork of Delaware, at a place called Crossweeksung, whowere far more disposed to attend to him. They listened so eagerly, thatday after day they would travel after him from village to village, hardlytaking any heed to secure provisions for themselves. The description oftheir conduct is like that of those touched by Wesleyan preaching. Theythrew themselves on the ground, wept bitterly, and prayed aloud, with thegeneral enthusiasm of excitement, though, he expressly says, withoutfainting or convulsions, and even the White men around, who came toscoff, were deeply impressed. David Brainerd had at last his hour of bliss! He was delivered from hismelancholy by the joy of such results, and in trembling happinessbaptized his converts in the river beside their wigwams before leavingthem to proceed to a village on the Susquehanna, where he hoped for aninterview with the chief Sachem of the Delawares. The place, however, was in the wildest confusion and uproar, it being theperiod of a great festival, when every one was too tipsy to attend tohim. At an island called Juneauta, he met a very remarkable personage, aPowaw, who bore the reputation of a reformer, anxious to restore theancient religion of the Red man, which had become corrupted byintercourse with the White and his vices. His aspect was the most dreadful thing Brainerd had ever seen. He wore ashaggy bearskin coat, hood, and stockings, and a hideous, painted mask, so that no part of his person was visible, not even the hand in which heheld an instrument made of the shell of a tortoise, with dry corn within, and he came up rattling this, and dancing with all his might, and withsuch gesticulations that, though assured that he intended no injury, itwas impossible not to shrink back as this savage creature came close. Yet he was a thoughtful man, such as would have been a philosopher inancient Greece or Rome. He took the missionary into his hut, andconversed long and earnestly with him. He had revolted in spirit fromthe degradation of his countrymen, and had gone to live apart in thewoods, where he had worked out a system of natural religion for himself, which he believed the Great Spirit had taught him, and which had at lastled him to return to his people and endeavour to restore them to thatpurity which of course he believed to have once existed. He believedthere were good men somewhere, and he meant to wander till he found them;meantime, he was kindly to all who came near him, and constantly upliftedhis testimony against their vices, especially when the love of strongdrink was brought among them. When all was in vain, he would go weepingaway into the woods, and hide himself there till the hateful fire-waterwas all consumed and the madness over. Brainerd was greatly touched bythis red-skinned Epictetus, who, he said, had more honesty, sincerity, and conscientiousness than he had ever met with in an Indian, and more ofthe temper of true religion; and he expounded to him the Christiandoctrine with great carefulness and double earnestness. The self-taughtphilosopher broke in now and then with "Now that I like, "--"So the GreatSpirit has taught me;" but when the missionary came to the regions wherefaith surpasses the power of the intellect and the moral sense, theIndian would not follow him, and rejected his teaching. It was curiousthat he particularly denied the idea of a devil, declaring that there wasno such being, according to the ancient Indians. Now, the incantationsof the Powaws were generally supposed to be addressed to evil spirits, and probably the perception of the falsehood of these pretended rites ledto his disclaiming the Christian doctrine. Whether time and further teaching would have overpowered his belief inhis own inspiration does not appear, for Brainerd found the Indians toovicious and hardened to pay the least heed either to him or to their ownreformer; and he went back to Crossweeksung, where his flock was stillincreasing, and in a most satisfactory condition, renouncing theirheathen customs and their acquired vice of drunkenness, and practisingsome amount of industry. A school was set up, old and young learntEnglish, the children in three or four months could read the Bible inEnglish, and Brainerd's sermons and prayers were understood without aninterpreter. This improved condition of the Indians destroyed the shameful profits ofthe nearest settlement of Whites, whose practice it had hitherto been toentice them to drink, and then run up a heavy score against them forliquor. Finding that all endeavours to seduce them into drunkenness werenow vain, these wretches first tried to raise the country againstBrainerd, by reporting that he was a Roman Catholic in disguise; and whenthis failed, they laid claim to the lands of Crossweeksung, in dischargeof debts that they declared to have been previously contracted. Fortunately, Brainerd had it in his power to advance 82_l. _ from hisprivate means, so as to save his people from this extortion; but heafterwards thought it best to remove them from these dangerous neighboursto a new settlement, fifteen miles off, called Cranberry. He remainedhimself in his little hut at Crossweeksung, after they had proceeded toraise wigwams and prepare the ground for maize; but, whenever he rodeover to visit them, his approach was notified by the sound of a conchshell, and they all gathered round for his prayers and instruction. His success with them seems to have greatly cured his depression ofspirits, but his mind was balancing between the expedience of remainingamong them as their permanent pastor, protector, and guide, and that ofstriving to extend the kingdom of faith. Sometimes he liked the prospectof a settled home and repose, study and meditation; but, at the thoughtof gaining souls to Christ, all these considerations melted before him, and he believed that he was marked out for the life of a pilgrim andhermit by his carelessness about hardships. He had not, however, taken leave of his flock when he set forth onanother expedition to the obdurate Indians of the Susquehanna, in theSeptember of 1746. It was without result; he could obtain no attention, and the hardships of the journey, the night exposure, and the frequentdrenchings completed the wreck of his health. He came back with nightperspirations, bleeding from the lungs, and suffering greatly, feverishand coughing, and often in pain; yet, whenever he could mount his horse, riding the fifteen miles to attend to the Indians at Cranberry, orsitting in a chair before his hut, when they assembled round him. On Sunday he persisted in preaching, till generally at the end of half anhour he fainted, and was carried to his bed; and at the administration ofthe Lord's Supper he was carried to the place where he had forty Indiancommunicants, and likewise some Whites, who had learnt to reverence him, and who supported him back to his bed. He was quite happy now, for hefelt he had done all he could to the utmost of his strength; but, soonbecoming totally unable to speak at all, he felt that he must do what hecalled "consuming some time in diversions, " and try to spend the winterin a civilized place. After riding his first short stage, however, his illness increased somuch, that he was quite incapable of proceeding or returning, andremained in a friend's house at Elizabethtown, suffering from cough, asthma, and fever the whole winter. In March 1747 he had rallied enoughto ride to Cranberry, where he went from hut to hut, giving advice to andpraying with each family, and parting with them with great tenderness. Tears were shed everywhere; for, though he still hoped to return, allfelt that they should see his face no more! But, to his great comfortand joy, his poor people were not to be abandoned to themselves and theirtempters. His younger brother--John--relieved his mind by offering toassume the care of them, and under his pastorship he could thankfullyleave them. In April he set out again on his journey, at the rate of about ten milesa day, riding all the way, and on the 28th of May arrived at Northampton, where Jonathan Edwards, afterwards President of the College of NewJersey, was then minister. They were like-minded men, both disciples ofWhitfield, and the self-devoted piety of the young missionary was alreadyso well known to Mr. Edwards by report, that it was most gladly that hereceived him into his house and family. There the impression Brainerdmade was of a singularly social, entertaining person, meek andunpretending, but manly and independent. Probably rest and brightnesshad come when the terrible struggle of his early years had ceased, andmorbid despondency had given way to Christian hope, for he became at oncea bright and pleasant member of any society where he formed a part, andto the Edwards family he was like a son or brother. When he was able, Mr. Edwards wished him to lead the family devotions, and was alwaysgreatly impressed by the manner and matter of his prayers, but onepetition never failed, _i. E. _ "that we might not outlive our usefulness. "Even in saying grace there was always something about him that struck theattention. His purpose in coming to Northampton had been to consult Dr. Mather, whose verdict was that he was far gone in decline, and who gave him noadvice but to ride as much as possible. So little difference did thissentence make to him that he never noted it in his diary, though he spokeof it cheerily in the Edwards family--a large household of youngpeople--where he was so much beloved, that when he decided to go toBoston, Jerusha, the second daughter, entreated to be allowed toaccompany him, to nurse him as his sister would have done. The pure, severe simplicity of those early American manners was such, that no one seems to have been surprised at a girl of eighteen becomingthe attendant of a man of twenty-nine. Jerusha had the full consent andapprobation of her parents, and she was a great comfort and delight tohim. He told her father that she was more spiritual, self denying, andearnest to do good, than any young person he had ever known; and on doubttheir communings were far above earth, hovering, as he was well known tobe, upon the very borders of the grave. They took four days to reach Boston, and there he was received with thegreatest respect by all the ministers; but, a week after his arrival, sosevere an attack of his illness came on that he became delirious, and wasthought to be at the point of death. Again, however, he came back enoughto life to sit up in bed and write ardent letters of counsel to thebrother who had succeeded him among his Indians, and likewise to give hisfriends the assurance of his perfect peace and joy. He said that he hadcarefully examined himself, and though he had found much pride, selfishness, and corruption, he was still certain that he had felt it hisgreatest happiness to glorify and praise God; and this certainty, together with his faith in the Redeemer, had calmed all the anguish hehad suffered for years. Whenever he was able to converse he had numerous visitors, especiallyfrom the deputies of the Society in London which had assisted Eliot. Alegacy for the support of two missionaries had newly been received, andhis counsel on the mode of employing it was asked. He was able to striveto imbue others with the same zeal as himself, and to do much on behalfof his own mission, although he often lay so utterly exhausted that hesaid of himself that he could not understand how life could be retained. One of his brothers, a student at Yale, came to see him, and to tell himof the death of his favourite sister, of whose illness he had not evenheard, but it was no shock to him, for he felt far more sure of meetingher again than if she had been left on earth. The summer weather, to the surprise of all, brought back a slight revivalof strength, and some of his friends began to hope he might yet recover, but he knew his own state too well, and told them he was as assuredly adead man as if he had been shot through the heart; still he was resolvedto profit by this partial restoration to return to Northampton, chieflybecause the rumour had reached him that the Bostonians had intended togive him such a funeral as should testify their great esteem; and beingdisappointed in this, they intended to assemble and escort him publicly, while still alive, out of their city, but the bare idea naturally madehim so unhappy that they were forced to give it up. Five days were spent in the journey, and again the Edwardsesreverentially opened their doors to a guest so near heaven. For sometime he rode out two or three miles daily, and sat with the family, writing or conversing cheerfully when not engaged in prayer. His brotherJohn came from Crossweeksung and cheered him with a good account of hisIndians; and hearing of the great need of another school, he wrote to thefriends who had shown themselves so warmly interested in him at Boston, and was gratified by their reply, with a subscription of 200_l. _ for thepurpose, and of 75_l. _ for the mission to the Six Nations. His answerswere written with his own hand; but he had become so much weaker that hefelt this his last task. He had been one who, in his short life, hadsown in tears to reap in joy. He was sinking fast as the autumn cold came on, often talking tenderly tothe little ones of the house, but suffering terribly at times, andsighing, "Why is His chariot so long coming?" then blaming himself forover-haste to be released. He had a smile for Jerusha as she came into his room on Sunday morning. "Are you willing to part with me? I am willing to part with you, thoughif I thought I could not see you and be happy with you in another world, I could not bear to part. I am willing to leave all my friends. I amwilling to leave my brother, though I love him better than any creatureliving. I have committed him and all my friends to God, and can leavethem with God!" Presently, looking at the Bible in her hands, he said, "Oh that dearBook! the mysteries in it and in God's providence will soon be unfolded. " He lingered in great agony at times till the 9th of October, 1747, whencame a cessation of pain, and during this lull he breathed his last, thenwanting six months of his thirtieth birthday. He had told Jerusha thatthey should soon meet above, and, in effect, she only lived until thenext February. She told her father on her death-bed, that for years pastshe had not seen the time when she had any wish to live a moment longer, save for the sake of doing good and filling up the measure of her duty. David Brainerd's career ended at an age when John Eliot's had not begun. It was a very wonderful struggle between the frail suffering body and thedevoted, resolute spirit, both weighed down by the natural morbid temper, further depressed by the peculiar tenets of the form of doctrine in whichhe had been bred. The prudent, well-weighed measures of the ripescholar, studious theologian, and conscientious politician, formed byforty-two years' experience of an old and a new country, could not belooked for in the sickly, self-educated, enthusiastic youth who had beendebarred from the due amount of study, and started with little system butthat of "proclaiming the Gospel"--even though ignorant of the language ofthose to whom he preached. And yet that heart-whole piety and patiencewas blessed with a full measure of present success, and David Brainerd'sstory, though that of a short life, over-clouded by mental distress, hardship, and sickness, fills us with the joyful sense that there is Onethat giveth the victory. CHAPTER III. CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH SCHWARTZ, THE COUNCILLOR OF TANJORE. We must turn from America to the warmer regions of the East, from thepatriarchal savage to complicated forms of society, and from the Red-skinto the Hindoo--a man of far nearer affinity to ourselves, being, like us, of the great Indo-European race, speaking a language like our own, analtered, corrupted, and intermingled dialect of the same original tongue, and his ancestors originally professing a religion in which the sameprimary ideas may be traced as those which were held by our ancientnorthern forefathers, and which are familiar to us in the graceful dressimposed on them by the Greeks. The sacred writings of the Hindoos formthe earliest storehouse of the words of our common language, and thethoughts therein found, though recorded after the branches had partedfrom the common stock, are nearer the universal germ than those to befound anywhere else, and more nearly represent the primary notion ofreligion held by the race of Japheth, after that of Shem, to which Godrevealed Himself more distinctly, had parted from it. These oldestwritings are quaint, pure, and simple, but on them the fancies of a raceenervated by climate engrafted much that was hideous, monstrous, andloathsome, leading to gross idolatry, and much vice perpetrated in thename of religion. Mythology always degenerates with the popularcharacter, and then, so far as the character is formed by the religiousfaith, the mythology helps to debase it further, until the undying moralsense of conscience awakens again in some man, or band of men, and a newmorality arises; sometimes grafted upon philosophic reasoning, sometimesupon a newly-invented or freshly introduced religion. Thus, when Hindooism had become corrupt, the deeply meditative system ofBuddha was introduced into many parts of India, and certainly brought amuch higher theory and purer code than that founded on the garbled nature-worship of ancient India; but both religions co-existed, and, indeed, Buddhism was in one aspect an offshoot of the Hindoo faith. Christianity--planted, as is believed, by St. Thomas, on the Malabarcoast--never became wholly extinct, although tinged with Nestorianism, but it was never adopted by the natives at large, and the learning andphilosophy of the Brahmins would have required the utmost powers of themost learned fathers of the Church to cope with them, before they couldhave been convinced. The rigid distinctions of caste have made it more difficult for theChurch which "preaches the Gospel to the poor, " to be accepted in Indiathan anywhere else. Accounting himself sprung from the head of Brahma, the Brahmin deems himself, and is deemed by others, as lifted to anelevation which has no connection either with moral goodness, withwealth, or with power; and which is as much the due of the most poverty-stricken and wicked member of the caste as of the most magnificentpriest. The Sudras, the governing and warlike class, are next in order, having sprung from the god's breast, and beneath these come infinitegrades of caste, their subdivisions each including every man of eachtrade or calling which he pursues hereditarily and cannot desert orchange, save under the horrible penalty of losing caste, and becomingforsaken and despised of every creature, even the nearest kindred. Themere eating from a vessel used to contain food for a person of adifferent caste is enough to produce contamination; the separation iscomplete, and the whole constitution of body and mind have become soinured to the distinction, that the cost of becoming a convert isinfinitely severer in India than ever it could have been even in Greeceor Rome, where, though the Christian might be persecuted even to thedeath, he was not thrust out of the pale of humanity like a Hindooconvert who transgresses caste. The Christians of Malabar are a people living to themselves, and thegreat Bengalee nations never appear to have had the Gospel carried tothem. The Mahometan conquest filled India with professors of the faithof the Koran; but these were a dominant race, proud and separate from themass of people, whom they did not win to their faith, and thus the Hindooidolatry had prevailed untouched for almost the whole duration of theworld, when the wealth of India in the early days of naval enterprisefirst began to tempt small mercantile companies of Europeans to formfactories on the coast merely for purposes of traffic, without at firstany idea that these would lead to possession or conquest, and, ingeneral, without any sense of the responsibility of coming as Christiansinto a heathen world. The Portuguese did indeed strive earnestly to Christianize theirterritory at Goa; and they promoted by all means in their power thelabours of Francisco Xavier and his Jesuit companions, so effectuallythat the fruits of their teaching have remained to the present day. Neither were the Dutch, who then held Ceylon, entirely careless of theduty of instructing their subjects; and the Danes, who had obtained thetown of Tranquebar on the Coromandel coast, in 1746, sent out a missionwhich was vigorously conducted, and met with good success. Hitherto, however, the English at Madras and Calcutta had been almost whollyindifferent, and it must be remembered that theirs was not a Governmentundertaking. The East India Company was still only a strugglingcorporation of merchants and traders, who only wanted to secure thewarehouses and dwellings of those who conducted their traffic, and had asyet no thought of anything but the security of their trade; often, indeed, considering themselves pledged to no interference with thereligion of the people around, and too often forgetting their own. However, the Danish mission received grants of money and books from theSociety for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and the first Indianmissionary of any note, a German by birth, was equally connected withboth England and Denmark. Sonnenburg in Brandenburg, still an electorate at the time, was thenative home of Christian Friedrich Schwartz, of whose parents it is onlyknown that they appear to have been in easy circumstances, and that hismother, who died before he could remember, told her husband and herpastor on her death-bed, that she had dedicated her infant to the serviceof God, imploring them to cherish and forward any inclination towards theministerial office that might be visible in him. It was, of course, theLutheran form in which the child of this pious woman was bred up, and in1734 he was sent to the grammar school of Sonnenburg, where his piety wasfirst excited by a religious master, then cooled by an indifferent one;and he was then taken by his father, walking on foot the whole way, topursue his studies at Custrin. There he became beset by the temptationsthat surrounded young students, and after giving way to them for a time, was saved from further evil by the influence of the daughter of one ofthe Syndics. It does not appear to have been a matter of sentiment, butof honest friendship and good counsel, aiding the young man to follow hisbetter instead of his worse impulses; and thus giving a labourer to thevineyard. Before residing at Custrin, this lady had lived for a time at Halle, andwhat she told the young Schwartz of the professors at that university, inspired him with the desire of completing his course under them, especially August Hermann Francke, who had established an admirableorphan house, with an excellent grammar school. In his twentieth year, Schwartz entered at Halle, but lodged at theorphan house, where he became teacher to the Latin classes, and was putin charge of the evening devotions of the household. At Halle, he met aretired Danish missionary, named Schultz, who had come thither tosuperintend the printing of a version of the Bible in Tamul, the languageof Ceylon and of the Coromandel coast; and this it was that first turnedhis mind to the thought of offering himself as a worker in the greatfield of India. He was the eldest of the family, and his friends all declared that it wasimpossible that his father should consent to part with him; but when hewent home, and earnestly stated his desire, the elder Schwartz, insteadof at once refusing as all expected, desired to take three days toconsider; and when they were passed, he came gravely down from hischamber, called his son Christian, gave him his blessing, and told him todepart in God's name, charging him to forget his own country and hisfather's house, and to win many souls to Christ. And certainly that good old German's blessing went forth with his son. Christian Schwartz next resigned his share in the family property to hisbrothers and sisters; and after completing his studies at Halle, went toCopenhagen, since it was by the Danish government that he was to beauthorized. Two other young Germans, named Poltzenheigen and Hutteman, went with him. The Danes, though Lutherans in profession, have anEpiscopal hierarchy, and the three students were ordained by the DanishBishop Horreboa on the 6th of September, 1749; Christian Schwartz beingthen within a month of twenty-three. Their first stage was to England, where they had to learn the language, and were entertained at the cost of the Society for Promoting ChristianKnowledge. Mr. Ziegenhagen, German chaplain to George II. , was very kindto his countrymen, helped them in all their difficulties, and gave themdirections for which they were very grateful. He made them preach in theChapel Royal on Christmas Day. No doubt the language was German, whichmust have been acceptable to the Hanoverian ears. Their English studies were not greatly prolonged, for they arrived on the8th of December, 1749, and sailed on the 29th of January, 1750, in anEast India Company's ship, where they were allowed a free passage, andwere treated with respect and friendliness. The voyage lasted longenough to improve them in English, for they did not cast anchor atTranquebar till the 8th of October. At this considerable Danish factory, they were received into the mission-house of the Danes, and there remained while studying the language, inwhich Schwartz made so much progress that he preached his first Tamulsermon only four months after his arrival, and by the spring was able tocatechize the children who attended the school. This station atTranquebar formed the home of seven or eight missionaries, who livedtogether, attended to the services and schools, prepared candidates forbaptism, and made excursions by ones and twos into the villages thatstood thickly on the coast, where they talked and argued with thenatives, hoping to incite them to inquire further. The two greatestobstacles they met with here were the evil example of Europeans and thedifficulty of maintenance for a convert. One poor dancing girl said, onhearing that no unholy person could enter into the kingdom of heaven, "Ah! sir, then no European will;" but, on the whole, they must have metwith good success, for in 1752 there were three large classes ofcatechumens prepared and baptized at the station. In the district aroundthere were several villages, where congregations of Christians existed, and, of all those south of the river Caveri, Schwartz was after two moreyears made the superintendent. The simple habits of these German and Danish clergy eminently fitted themfor such journeys; they set out in pairs on foot, after a farewell ofunited prayer from their brethren, carrying with them their HebrewBibles, and attended by a few Christian servants and coolies; theyproceeded from village to village, sometimes sleeping in the house of aHindoo merchant, sometimes at that of one the brother ministers they hadcome to see, and at every halt conversing and arguing with Hindoo orMahometan, or sometimes with the remnants of the Christians converted bythe Portuguese, who had been so long neglected that they had littleknowledge of any faith. The character of Christian Schwartz was one to influence all around him. He seems to have had all the quiet German patience and endurance ofhardship, without much excitability, and with a steadiness of judgmentand intense honesty and integrity, that disposed every one to lean on himand rely on him for their temporal as well as their spiritualmatters--great charity and warmth of heart, and a shrewdness ofperception that made him excellent in argument. He had also that truemissionary gift, a great facility of languages, both in grammar andpronunciation, and his utter absence of all regard for his own comfort orselfish dignity, yet his due respect to times and places made him able topenetrate everywhere, from the hut to the palace. The Carnatic war was at this time an impediment, by keeping the minds ofall the natives in a state of excitement and anxiety, from dread ofMahratta incursions; but Schwartz never intermitted his rounds, and waswell supported by the Danish Governor, a good man, who often showedhimself his friend. Some of the missionaries were actually madeprisoners when the French took Cuddalore, but Count Lally Tollendal wasvery kind to them, and sent them with all their property and convertssafely away to Tranquebar. The Dutch missionaries in Ceylon had been in correspondence with those ofTranquebar, and had obtained from them copies of their Tamul Bible, andin 1760 Schwartz was sent on a visit to them. He was very well receivedby both clergy and laity; and though he was laid up by a severe illnessat Colombo, yet he was exceedingly well contented with his journey andhis conferences with his brethren. Christian Schwartz had been more than sixteen years in India, and wasforty years of age, before his really distinctive and independent workbegan, after his long training in the central station at Tranquebar. The neighbouring district of Tanjore had at different times been visited, and the ministers of the Rajah had shown themselves willing to bestowsome reflection on what they heard from the missionaries. Visits to thisplace and to Trichinopoly became frequent with him, and in 1766 theSociety for Promoting Christian Knowledge having decided on planting amission station in the latter place, he was appointed to take the chargeof it. About this time he seems to have accommodated his name to Englishpronunciation, and to have always written it Swartz. It was now that hebecame acquainted with William Chambers, Esq. , brother to the ChiefJustice of Bengal, --not a Company's servant, but a merchant, and anexcellent man, who took great interest in missionary labours, and himselftranslated a great part of St. Matthew's Gospel into Persian, the courtlanguage of India. From a letter of this gentleman, we obtain the onlydescription we possess of Swartz's appearance and manners. He says that, from the descriptions he had heard, he had expected to see a very austereand strict person, but "the first sight of him made a complete revolutionon this point. His garb, indeed, which was pretty well worn, seemedforeign and old-fashioned, but in every other respect his appearance wasthe reverse of all that could be called forbidding or morose. Figure toyourself a stout well-made man, somewhat above the middle size, erect inhis carriage and address, with a complexion rather dark though healthy, black curled hair, and a manly engaging countenance, expressive ofunaffected candour, ingenuousness, and benevolence, and you will have anidea of what Mr. Swartz appeared to be at first sight. " Mr. Chambersadds that Swartz's whole allowance at Trichinopoly was ten pagodas ayear, that is, about 48_l. _ (as Mr. Chambers estimates it). Thecommanding officer of the English garrison was ordered to supply him withquarters, and gave him a room in an old native building, where "there wasjust room for his bed and himself, and in which few men could standupright. " With this lodging he was content. His food was rice andvegetables dressed native fashion, and his clothes were made of blackdimity. The little brass lamp which he had used for his studies at theUniversity went with him to India, and served him all his life, oftenlate at night, for he never preached even to the natives without muchstudy. He found the English without church or chaplain, and had very littleknowledge of their language, having lived almost entirely among Germans, Danes, and natives; but he quickly picked it up among the soldiers, towhom his kindly simple manners commended him; and, as soon as he couldspeak it to any degree, he began to read the Church Service every Sundayto the garrison, with a printed sermon from an English divine, until hehad obtained sufficient fluency to preach extempore. At first, the placeof meeting was a large room in an old building, but he afterwardspersuaded them to build themselves a church capable of holding from 1, 500to 2, 000. His facility in learning languages must have been great, forthe English of his letters is excellent, unless his biographer, DeanPearson, has altered it. It is not at all like that of a German. Hisinfluence with the soldiers was considered as something wonderful, inthose times of neglect and immorality, and the commandant and hiswife--Colonel and Mrs. Wood--were his warmest friends; and when theGovernment at Madras heard of his voluntary services as chaplain, theygranted him, unsolicited, a salary of 100_l. _ a year, of which he devotedhalf to the service of his congregation. He was thus able to build amission-house, and an English and a Tamul school, labour and materialsbeing alike cheap. But, in spite of all his care of the Englishsoldiery, the natives were his chief thought; and he was continuallyamong them, reading and arguing home with the most thorough knowledge andexperience of their difficulties. He made expeditions from Trichinopolyto Tanjore, then under the government of a Rajah, under the protection ofthe British Government. The principal worship of the place was directedto an enormous black bull, said to be hewn out of a single block ofgranite, and so large that the temple had been built round it. The Brahmins conversed with him a good deal, and often were all _but_converted. One plainly said that love of money and pleasure alone keptthem from accepting Christianity. In 1769 he had a personal interviewwith the Rajah Tuljajee, a man of the dignity, grace, and courtesy usualin Hindoo princes, but very indolent, not even rising in the morning ifhe was told that it was not an auspicious day, though he was morecultivated than most men of his rank and period. Swartz found him seated on a couch suspended from pillars, and was placedopposite to him, on a seat. The interpreter addressed him in Persian, and Swartz replied in the same; but, perceiving that the man omitted partof his speech, he asked leave to speak Tamul. The Rajah asked questions, which led to an exposition of the Christiandoctrine, and he listened with interest; and he likewise was struck whenSwartz uttered a thanksgiving before partaking of the sweets that werecarried round on trays. He showed himself so much disappointed when helearnt that the Padre had left Tanjore, that it was resolved that Swartzshould return thither again; and for some days there were out-of-doorpreachings on the glacis of the fort, where, in spite of clouds of dustbrought by the land wind, the people collected in crowds to hear him, andexpressed ardent wishes that the Rajah would become a Christian, whenthey all could do the same. The Prince himself was much drawn towardsthe missionary; but it was the old story, --he was surrounded withministers and courtiers who feared any change, above all anyplain-speaking truth, and therefore did their best to keep the new lightat a distance. However, Tuljajee called Swartz "_his padre_, " and gavehim free entrance to his fort at Tanjore, where his arguments made a wideimpression, and still more his example. "Padre, " said a young Nabob, "wealways regarded you Europeans as ungodly men, who knew not the use ofprayers, till you came among us. " He continued to go backwards and forwards between Trichinopoly andTanjore, in both which places he began to gather catechumens round him. Unfortunately his Protestant principles brought him into collision withthe Roman Catholics at the former place. A young Hindoo, of good birth, seems to have had one of those remarkable natures that cannot restwithout truth. He had for seven years wandered to all the most famouspagodas and most sacred rivers, seeking rest for his soul, but in vain. Some Roman Catholics had given him a little brass crucifix, which he usedto set up before him as he prayed; but he had learnt little more of them, and he was mournfully gazing at "the pagodas of Sirengam" (in his ownwords), and thinking, "What is all this? what can it avail?" when some ofSwartz's catechists began to speak. "Will this be better than what Ihave found?" he said to himself. He listened, was asked to remain afortnight at the station, and soon had given his whole soul to the faith. He was baptized by the name of Nyana Pracasam, or Spiritual Light, andbecame a catechist. His father and mother were likewise led toChristianity by him, but the Roman Catholics, having begun hisconversion, considered that they had a right to him, and on one occasion, when he was found reading to a sick relative, probably a member of theirChurch, he was severely beaten, and was rescued by the heathen neighbourswhen nearly killed. Swartz seems to have regarded the Roman Catholics as in almost as muchneed of reconversion as the Hindoos and Mahometans; and as in those daystheir Church shared in that universal religious torpor that had creptover the world, it is most likely that he found them in a very debasedcondition. With the Mahometans he had some success, though he found, like all othermissionaries, that their faith, being rather a heresy than a paganism, had truth enough in it to be much harder to deal with than the Hindoopolytheism. Besides, they accepted the Persian proverb, "Every time aman argues, he loses a drop of blood from his liver. " He was impededalso by the want of a Persian translation of the entire Bible, having nomore than the Gospels to give the inquirers, and these badly translated;and with Mahometans the want of the real history of the Patriarchs wasvery serious. Some, however, were convinced and baptized, though by farthe greater number of his converts were Hindoos. In 1776, a coadjutor, either German or Danish-trained, named ChristianPohle, joined him at Trichinopoly, and thus he became free to reside moreconstantly at Tanjore, where the Rajah always protected him, thoughcontinually fluctuating in feeling towards Christianity, according to theinfluences of his ministers and the Brahmins who surrounded him, and thetoo frequent offences given by the godless officers of the Europeangarrison which was stationed in the fort. Mr. Swartz was anxiously soliciting for means to build a church for theuse of this garrison, when he was summoned to Madras, to the governor, Sir Thomas Rumbold, who promised him a grant for his church; but, at thesame time, informed him that he was to be sent on a mission to visit theformidable Hyder Ali in Mysore, in order to judge how far his intentionstowards the English were pacific. He was selected for the purpose onaccount of his perfect knowledge of Hindostanee, the simplicity of hismanner of travelling, and his perfect immunity from any of the ordinaryinfluences of interest or ambition; and he undertook it, as he tells theSociety for Promoting Christian Knowledge, because he regarded it asconducing to peace, as opening fresh doors to the Gospel, and as a tokenof gratitude to the Honourable Company for kindness he had received; "butat the same time, " he says, "I resolved to keep my hands undefiled fromany presents, by which determination the Lord enabled me to abide, sothat I have not accepted a single farthing save my travelling expenses. " On the 1st of July, 1779, he set out from Trichinopoly on this journey, taking one of his catechists, named Sattianadem, with him. He travelledin a palanquin, and took six days to reach Caroor, on the Mysorefrontier, forty miles off, where he stayed a month with a young CeyloneseDutchman in Hyder Ali's service, while sending to ask the Nabob'spermission to proceed. All this time he and his catechist preached andgave instruction in the streets. It is curious to find him, on hisjourney, contrasting the excellent state of Hyder Ali's roads and bridgeswith the careless disorganization of the public works under the Company. An epidemic fever was raging in Seringapatam, and Swartz pitched his tentoutside, where he could conveniently visit the many-pillared palace ofthe sovereign. He was much struck with the close personal supervisionthat Hyder Ali kept up over his officers, and with the terrible severityof the punishments. Two hundred men were kept armed with whips, and nota day passed without many being scourged, no rank being exempt, theNabob's two sons and sons-in-law being liable to be whipped like themeanest groom. Swartz was the unwilling spectator of the punishment ofthe collector of a district who was flogged with whips armed with nails. A few hundreds of Europeans, English, German, and French, were in Hyder'spay, encamped about the town, and a German captain lent his tent forpublic worship. No molestation was offered to any instructions thatSwartz attempted to give, and he was very courteously entreated by thePrince himself. The conferences with him were generally held in a hallof marble columns, open to a garden adorned with fruit trees, rows ofcypresses, and fountains. Hyder Ali sat on rich carpets, covering thefloor, and the Padre was placed next to him. He spoke in general termsof his desire to keep the peace, though the British had violated theirengagements, referring to an attempt that had newly been made to marchtroops through his territory without his permission. To Swartz he wasgracious in speech, but the letter he entrusted to him was full ofthreatening for this and other acts which he considered aggressive; andthe general impression brought back by the missionary was that a war wasto be expected. Hyder Ali had presented him with a bag of three hundred rupees fortravelling expenses, which it would have been a great affront to return. He, however, made it over to the Government at Madras, and when theywould not take it, asked leave to use it as the foundation for acollection for an English orphan school at Tanjore. This was granted, and proved a success. Finding that there was an intention of voting apresent to him, he begged instead that a salary might be given to Mr. Pohle at Trichinopoly; and, in consequence, both were enabled to maintaincatechists and schoolmasters; for of making a home for themselves, thesedevoted men never thought. Moreover, Swartz obtained bricks and lime forthe building of his English church within the fort; and he bought andenlarged a house half a mile from it, for his Malabar Christians toworship in. His own observations of Hyder Ali's warlike intentions ledalso to his purchasing 12, 000 bags of rice as a provision against thescarcity that too surely attends upon Indian warfare. In the summer of 1780, these apprehensions were realized. Hyder crossedthe Ghauts, and passed down into the Carnatic with 100, 000 men, directedby a staff of French officers, and plundered up to the very gates ofMadras. Everything was in the greatest confusion; the English troopswere dispersed in garrisons, and could not easily be brought together;and one small detachment under Colonel Baillie, who were made prisonersat Conjiveram, suffered a frightful captivity. Sir Eyre Coote did, indeed, keep the enemy in check, and defeat him in several battles, buthad not at first sufficient numbers or stores effectually to drive himback; and the whole province of Tanjore was horribly wasted. Theirrigation of the district had been broken up by the invaders; there wasfor three years neither seed-time nor harvest, and the miserable peasantscrawled into the towns to perish there, often with their sons carried offto form a regiment of youths whom Hyder Ali was bringing up as a sort ofJanissaries. The unhappy creatures lay dying along the sides of the road, and amongthem moved from one to another that homely figure in the black dimitydress, and his catechists with him, feeding those who could stillswallow, and speaking words of comfort to those who could hear. Some ofthe English sent a monthly subscription, which enabled Swartz to keep upthe supply, so that a hundred and twenty a day were fed; but often in themorning he found the dead lying in heaps, and in one of his letters hementions that his catechists are alive, as though he regarded it as awonder and a mercy. Indeed he seems to have been a very Joseph to theRajah, and even to the English garrison. There was absolutely nomagazine for provisions, either for the Sepoys or the Rajah's own troops, and twice he was implored, both by Tuljajee and the Company, to purchasesupplies and get them brought in, since they were unable to do so, "for awant of good understanding with the natives who still possessed eitherrice or oxen to transport it. " He was enabled to procure the supply, andthen there was no place to store it in but his own new English church, sothat he was obliged to hold three services on a Sunday in the other: fromeight till ten in English, from ten till twelve in Tamul, and from fourtill five in Portuguese! About a hundred converts were gained during thefamine; but he was forced to teach them very slowly, their mentalfaculties were so weakened by their state of exhaustion. The whole ofthe towns of Tanjore and Trichinopoly were, he says, filled with livingskeletons, there was hardly an able or vigorous man to be found, and inthis distress it was necessary to relax the ordinarily wise rule of nevergiving any assistance to a person under preparation for baptism, since towithhold succour would have been barbarous cruelty. When the whole country was overrun by the troops of Mysore, the respectpaid to the good Padre was such that he travelled from end to end of itwithout hindrance, even through the midst of the enemy's camp, and on theonly occasion when he was detained, the sentinel politely put it that "hewas waiting for orders to let him proceed. " It was on one of thesejourneys that a little lad, named Christian David, the son of one of theconverts, was attending him one evening, when, halting at a nativevillage, the supper was brought, of rice and curry. The Padre made solong a grace out of the fulness of his heart, that at last the boy brokein with a murmur that the curry would be cold! He never forgot thereproof: "What! shall our gracious God watch over us through the heat andburden of the day, and shall we devour the food which He provides for usat night, with hands which we have never raised in prayer, and lips whichhave never praised Him?" The missionaries were always safe throughoutthe war, and, when Cuddalore capitulated to the French and Mysoreans, Mr. Gericke, who was then at the head of the station, concealed some Englishofficers in his house, and likewise, by his representations to the Frenchgeneral, saved the town from being delivered up to be plundered byHyder's native troops. In the end of 1782, Hyder Ali died; his son, Tippoo Sahib, assuming thetitle of Sultan, continued the war, with the same fierceness, but withoutthe assistance of the French, who were withdrawn, in consequence of thepeace that had been concluded at home. This, together with the numerous victories that had been obtained by theEnglish forces, led to hopes that Tippoo would consent to terms of peace, and two Commissioners were appointed, whom Swartz was requested to joinas interpreter. He had no taste for political missions, but he thoughtit a duty to do all in his power for peace, and set off for the purpose, but the Mysoreans complained that the English promises had not been kept, and he was turned back again by the enemy's troops. Colonel Fullarton, who was in command of the army about to invade Mysore, writes, "Theknowledge and the integrity of this irreproachable missionary haveretrieved the character of Europeans from _imputations of generaldepravity_!" He went back to Tanjore, and there, for the first time, experienced some failure in health. He was requested again to join theCommissioners, but would not again attempt it, partly from the state ofhis health, and partly because Tippoo was far more averse to Christianitythan Hyder had been. All the 12, 000 Tanjoreen captive boys--originallyHindoos--were bred up Mahometans, and he tolerated nothing else butHindooism, persecuting the Roman Catholics in his dominions till no onedared make an open profession. A treaty was, however, concluded in 1784, and there was for a time alittle rest, greatly needed by Swartz, who had been suffering from muchweakness and exhaustion; but a journey into Tinnevelly, with his friendMr. Sullivan, seems to have restored him. There were already some dawnings of Christianity in this district. Aslong before as 1771, one of the Trichinopoly converts, namedSchavrimutta, who was living at Palamcotta, began to instruct hisneighbours from the Bible, and a young Hindoo accountant, becominginterested, went to an English sergeant and his wife, who had likewisebeen under Swartz's influence, and asked for further teaching. Thesergeant taught him the Catechism and then baptized him, rather to thedispleasure of Swartz, who always was strongly averse to hasty baptisms. Afterwards, a Brahmin's widow begged for baptism. She, it appeared, wasliving with an English officer, and Swartz was obliged to refuse herwhile this state of things continued, but he found that the Englishmanhad promised to marry her, and had begun to teach her his language andhis faith. He died without performing his promise, but Christianity hadbecome so dear to her, that she again entreated for baptism, and was thenadmitted into the Church by the name of Clarinda. She afterwards was thechief means of building a church at Palamcotta, to which Sattianadembecame the catechist; and thus was first sown a seed which has neverceased growing, for this district of Tinnevelly has always been thestronghold of Christianity in India. Meantime Swartz's poor friend, the Rajah Tuljajee at Tanjore, was in adeplorable state. He had suffered great losses during Hyder Ali'sinvasion of his country, and, moreover, was afflicted with an incurabledisease, and had lately lost, by death, his only son, daughter, andgrandson: He shut himself up in the depths of his palace, and becameharsh and moody, heaping all the treasure together that he could collect, and employing a dean or minister, named Baba, whose exactions on thefamished population were so intolerable that the people fled the country, and settled in the neighbouring districts, so that no less than 65, 000were said to have deserted the province. Sir Archibald Campbell, Governor of Madras, remonstrated, but the Rajahwas affronted, and would not dismiss his minister, and as the peasantsrefused to sow their land without some security that the crops should notbe reaped by Baba's emissaries before their very eyes, the Madrasauthorities decided on taking the management of Tanjoreen affairs intotheir hands and appointing a committee to watch over the government. SirArchibald wished to place Mr. Swartz on this committee as the person bestable to deal both with Rajah and people, and he accepted a seat, onlystipulating that he was not to share in any violent or coercive measures. When the "good Padre" assured the fugitives in the Rajah's name and hisown that oppression was at an end, 7, 000 at once returned; and when hereminded them that the season for planting their corps was nearly past, they replied that in return for his kindness they intended to work nightand day. In 1787, the childless Rajah decided on--after the fashion of many Hindooprinces--adopting an heir, who might perform the last duties which wereincumbent on a son. His choice fell upon the son of a near kinsman, achild ten years of age, whom he named Serfojee. A day or two after hesent for Mr. Swartz, and said, "This is not my son, but yours. Into yourhand I deliver him. " "May the child become a child of God, " was theanswer of Swartz. The Rajah was too ill to continue the interview, buthe sent for Swartz the next day, and said, "I appoint you guardian tothis child; I put his hands into yours. " Swartz, however, did not think it right to undertake the stateguardianship of the lad, and the administration of the province. Indeed, he knew that to do so would be absolutely to put the child's life indanger, from the cabals and jealousies which would be excited, and heinduced Tuljajee to confide the charge to his brother, Rama Swamey, afterwards called Ameer Singh. This was done, and the Rajah soon after died, in the year 1787, leavingthe boy and Ameer Singh under the protection of the Company. He hadalways listened to Swartz willingly, and treated him affectionately, andthe result of the influence of the missionary extended so far that noSuttee took place at his funeral, but he had never actually embracedChristianity, though protecting it to the utmost of his power. The brother, Ameer Singh, was not contented merely to act as regent, butcomplained that injustice was done to him, and that Tuljajee was too muchenfeebled in mind to judge of his own measures when he adopted the boySerfojee. Sir Archibald Campbell, acting for the Company, came toTanjore, and, after an examination into the circumstances, decided infavour of Ameer Singh, and confirmed him in the Rajahship, binding himover to be the faithful protector of poor little Serfojee, who, puttingthe adoption apart, was still his near relation. Ameer was not a better manager of his province than his brother had been, and he was far from kind to Serfojee, whom Swartz had not been allowed tosee for months, when the widows of the late Rajah made complaints thatthe boy was closely shut up and cruelly treated. On this Swartz appliedto Government, and obtained an order to go with another gentleman toinquire into his condition. The Rajah was much offended; but as hereigned only by the protection of the English, he could not refuse, andthe Padre was conducted to a large but dark room, where he found the poorchild sitting by lamp-light. This had been his condition for almost twoyears, ever since his adopted father's death, and on seeing the Padre, heasked piteously if it were the way in Europe to prevent children fromseeing the sun and moon. Mr. Swartz comforted him, and asked him if hehad any one to teach him. The Rajah's minister replied that he had amaster, but was too idle to learn; but Serfojee looked up and said, "Ihave none to teach me, therefore I do not know a single letter. " TheRajah was only offended at remonstrance, and at last Government sentorders that could not be resisted, and a Sepoy guard to take charge ofthe lad. Then, as a great favour, the Rajah entreated that the guardwould not enter his palace, but that for the night before Serfojee couldbe removed, the Padre would remain with him to satisfy them that he wassafe. To this Swartz consented, and the guard disappeared, whereupon theRajah told him "he might go home. " "What! and be guilty of a breach of faith?" was his resolute answer. "Even my father should not be permitted to make me such a proposal!" They were ashamed, and left him to remain that night with Serfojee, whomhe probably thus saved from foul play, since the jealous and vindictivepassions of Ameer Singh had been thoroughly excited. The captivity musthave been very wretched, for he observed that the poor boy walked lame, and found that the cause was this:--"I have not been able to sleep, " saidpoor Serfojee, "from the number of insects in my room, but have had tosit clasping my knees about with my arms. My sinews are a littlecontracted, but I hope I shall soon recover. " When taken out, the poor little fellow was delighted once more to see thesun, and to ride out again. A Brahmin master selected by Mr. Swartz wasgiven to him, and he very rapidly learnt both to read his own languageand English. Swartz also interfered on behalf of the late Rajah'sminister, Baba, who had indeed been extortionate and severe, but scarcelydeserved such a punishment as being put into a hole six feet long andfour feet broad and high. For two years Serfojee was unmolested; but, in 1792, the husband of AmeerSingh's only child died without children, and this misfortune wasattributed by the Rajah to witchcraft on the part of the widows ofTuljajee. He imagined that they were contriving against his own life, and included Serfojee in his hatred. By way of revenge, he caused a pileof chilis and other noxious plants to be burnt under Serfojee's windows, and thus nearly stifled him and his attendants. He prevented thePrince's teachers from having access to him, shut up his servants, anddenied permission to merchants to bring their wares to him. Mr. Swartzwas absent at the time, and Serfojee wrote a letter to him, begging thatthe English Government would again interfere. It was found that anyremonstrance put the Rajah into such a state of fury that the lives ofthe youth and the ladies we're really unsafe while they remained withinhis reach, and it was therefore decided that they should be transplantedto Madras. It was a wonderful step for Hindoo princesses to take, andwas only accomplished by the influence of Mr. Swartz, backed by a guardof soldiers, under whose escort all safely arrived at Madras, whereSerfojee's education could at length be properly carried on. The youth was so entirely the child of Swartz and of the Government, thatit is disappointing to find that he did not become a Christian. Nostipulation to the contrary seems to have been made by Tuljajee; but, probably, the missionary refrained from a sense of honour towards thelate Rajah, and because to bring the boy up in the Church would havedestroyed all chance of his obtaining the provinces, and probably havedeprived him of the protection of the Company, who dreaded the suspicionof proselytizing. Still it is very disappointing, and requires all ourtrust in Swartz's judgment and excellence to be satisfied that he wasright in leaving this child, who had been confided to him, all his life aheathen. Serfojee learnt the theory of Christianity, was deeply attachedto Mr. Swartz, and lived a life very superior to that of most Hindooprinces of his time. His faith in his hereditary paganism was probablyonly political, but he never made the desperate, and no doubt perilous, plunge of giving up all the world to save his own soul. Was it hisfault, or was it any shortcoming in the teaching that was laid beforehim, and was that human honour a want of faith? It puzzles us! Here wasSwartz, from early youth to hoary hairs unwavering in the work of theGospel, gathering in multitudes to the Church, often at great peril tohimself, yet holding back from bringing into the fold the child who hadbeen committed to him, and, as far as we can see, without any stipulationto the contrary. Probably he thought it right to leave Serfojee'sdecision uninfluenced until his education should be complete, and wasdisappointed that the force of old custom and the danger of change werethen too strong for him; and thus it was that Serfojee was only one ofthe many half-reclaimed Indian princes who have lived out their dreary, useless lives under English protection, without accepting the one pearlof great price which could alone have made them gainers. It is just possible that there may have been too much of a certain sortof acquiescence in Swartz's mind, missionary as he was. He did notattack the system of caste, with its multitudinous separations anddistinctions. Of course he wished it to be abolished, but he acceptedconverts without requiring its renunciation, allowed high-caste personsto sit apart in the churches, and to communicate before Pariahs, and didnot interfere with their habits of touching no food that the very fingerof a person of a different caste had defiled. He no doubt thought thesethings would wither away of themselves, but his having permitted them, left a world of difficulty to his successors. He lived, however, the life of a saint, nearly that of an ascetic. Hisalmost unfurnished house was shared with some younger missionary. Kohloff, who was one of these, related in after years how plain theirdiet was. Some tea in a jug, with boiling water poured over it and drybread broken into it, formed the breakfast, which lasted five minutes;dinner, at one, was of broth or curry; and at eight at night they hadsome meal or gruel. If wine were sent them, it was reserved for thecommunions or for the sick. Swartz only began, very late in life, totake a single glass in the middle of his Sunday services. Every morning he assembled his native catechists at early prayer, andappointed them their day's work. "You go there. " "You do this. " "Youcall on such and such families. " "You visit such a village. " About fouro'clock they returned and made their report, when their master took themall with him to the churchyard or some public place, or to the front ofthe Mission-house, according to the season of the year, and there sateither expounding the Scriptures to those who would come and listen, orconversing with inquirers and objectors among the heathen. His mannerwas mild, sometimes humorous, but very authoritative, and he would brookneither idleness nor disobedience. Over his Christian flock his authority was as complete as ever that ofSamuel could have been as a judge. If any of them did wrong, thealternative was-- "Will you go to the Rajah's court, or be punished by me?" "O Padre, you punish me!" was always the reply. "Give him twenty strokes, " said the Padre, and it was done. The universal confidence in the Padre, felt alike by Englishmen andHindoos, was inestimable in procuring and carrying out regulations forthe temporal prosperity of the peasantry at Tanjore, under the Boardwhich had pretty well taken the authority out of the hands of theinefficient and violent Ameer Singh. Districts that, partly from misery, had become full of thieves, were brought into order, and the thievesthemselves often became hopeful converts, and endured a good deal ofpersecution from their heathen neighbours. His good judgment in dealingwith all classes, high and low, English or native, does indeed seem tohave been wonderful, and almost always to have prevailed, probablythrough his perfect honesty, simplicity, and disinterestedness. The converts in Tinnevelly became more and more numerous, and Sattianademhad been ordained to the ministry, Lutheran fashion, by the assembly ofthe presbytery at Tranquebar, there being as yet no Bishop in India; andthus many, the very best of his catechists, served for many years, atPalamcotta, the first Christian minister produced by modern India. Onthe whole, Swartz could look back on the half-century of his mission withgreat joy and thankfulness; he counted his spiritual children byhundreds; and the influence he had exerted upon the whole Government hadsaved multitudes of peasants from oppression and starvation, and hadraised the whole tone of the administration. He was once or twiceunkindly attacked by Englishmen who hated or mistrusted the propagationof Christianity. One gentleman even wrote a letter in a newspapercalling a missionary a disgrace to any nation, and raking up stories ofthe malpractices of heathens who had been preached to without beingconverted, which were laid to the charge of the actual Christians; butimputations like these did not meet with faith from any one whose goodopinion was of any real consequence to Swartz. His strong health and the suitability of his constitution to the climatebrought him to a good old age in full activity. He had become thepatriarch of the community of missionaries, and had survived all thosewith whom he had at first laboured; but he was still able to circulateamong the churches he had founded, teaching, praying, preaching andcounselling, or laying any difficulty before the Government, whoseattention he had so well earned. His last care was establishing thevalidity of the adoption of Serfojee, who had grown up a thoughtful, gentle, and upright man, satisfactory on all points except on the onewhich rendered him eligible to the throne of Tanjore, his continuedheathenism. The question was referred to the Company at home, and beforethe answer could arrive, by the slow communication of those days, whenthe long voyage, and that by a sailing vessel, was the only mode ofconveyance, the venerable guardian of the young Rajah had sunk into hislast illness. This was connected with a mortification in his left foot, which had beenmore or less painful for several years, but had probably been neglected. His Danish colleague, Mr. Gericke, was with him most of the time, and itwas one of his subjects of thankfulness that he was permitted to departout of the world in the society of faithful brethren. He sufferedseverely for about three months, but it was not till the last week thathis departure was thought to be near. He liked to have the Englishchildren brought in to read to him chapters of the Bible and sing Dr. Watts's hymns to him; and the beautiful old German hymns sung by Mr. Gericke and Mr. Kohloff were his great delight. Indeed, when at the verylast, as he lay almost lifeless, with closed eyes, Mr. Gericke began tosing the hymn, "Only to Thee, Lord JESUS CHRIST, " he joined in with a clear melodious voice, and accompanied him to theend. Two hours later, about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 13th ofFebruary, 1798, Christian Friedrich Swartz breathed his last, in theseventy-second year of his age, and the forty-eighth of his missionservice in India. The cries and wailings of the poor resounded all night around the house, and Serfojee Rajah came from a distance to be present at his burial. Ithad been intended to sing a funeral hymn, but the cries and lamentationsof the poor so overcame the clergy, that they could scarcely raise theirvoices. Serfojee wept bitterly, laid a gold cloth over the bier, andremained present while Mr. Gericke read the Funeral Service, --a mostunusual departure from Hindoo custom, and a great testimony of affectionand respect. A few months later arrived the decision of the East India Company, thatthe weak and rapacious Ameer Singh should be deposed, and Serfojee placedon the throne. He conducted himself excellently as a ruler, and greatlyfavoured Christians in his territory, always assisting the variousschools, and giving liberal aid whenever the frequently-recurring faminesof India brought them into distress. Three years later, in 1801, Serfojee wrote to the Society for PromotingChristian Knowledge, to beg them to order a "monument of marble" at hisexpense, to the memory of the late Rev. Father Swartz, to be affixed tothe pillar nearest the pulpit. Accordingly, a bas-relief in white marblewas executed by Flaxman, representing the death of Swartz, Gericke behindhim, two native Christians and three children standing by, and Serfojeeclasping his hand and receiving his blessing. It was not exactly fact, but it was the monumental taste of the day; and it so much delighted theRajah, that he kept it in his palace, among the portraits of hisancestors, for two years before he could resolve on parting with it tothe church. The Prince likewise composed the epitaph which was carved onthe stone which covers the grave of Swartz, the first instance of Englishverse by a Hindoo:-- "Firm wast thou, humble and wise, Honest, pure, free from disguise; Father of orphans, the widow's support, Comfort in sorrow of every sort: To the benighted dispenser of light, Doing and pointing to that which is right. Blessing to princes, to people, to me, May I, my father, be worthy of thee, Wisheth and prayeth thy Sarabojee. " Swartz had always been striving to be poor, and never succeeding. Livingand eating in the humblest manner, and giving away all that came to him, still recognitions of services from English and natives had flowed in onhim; and, after all the hosts of poor he had fed, and of churches andschools he had founded, he was an instance of "there is that scatterethand yet increaseth;" for the property he bequeathed to the Mission wasenough to assist materially in carrying it on after his death. Moreover, Serfojee maintained the blind, lame, and decrepit members of his church, and founded an asylum for the orphan children; so that the good men, Gericke, Kohloff, Pohle, and the rest, were not absolutely dependent onEurope for assistance; and this was well, since the Orphan-house at Halleand the Society at Copenhagen had in this long course of years ceased tosend out funds. But Swartz's work under their hands continued to prosper. He had a sortof apotheosis among the heathen, such as he would have been the last tocovet; for statues were raised to him, lights burnt before him, andcrowns offered up. But about Palamcotta and throughout Tinnevelly therewas one of those sudden movements towards Christianity that sometimestakes place. The natives were asking instruction from their friends, andgoing eagerly in search of the catechists and of Sattianadem, and evenburning their idols and building chapels in preparation for the coming ofmore fully qualified teachers. Mr. Gericke made a tour among them in1803, and found their hearts so moved towards the Gospel, that hebaptized 1, 300 in the course of his journey, and the work of Sattianademand the catechists raised the number of converts to 4, 000. This was, however, this good man's last journey. On his return, he found that hisonly son, an officer in the Company's service, was dying, and, under theweight of this and other troubles, his health gave way, and he died inthe thirty-eighth year of his mission. Others of the original Danish andGerman missionaries likewise died, and scarcely any came out in theirstead. Their places were, therefore, supplied by ordinations, by theassembly of ministers, of four native catechists, of whom wasNyanapracasem, a favourite pupil of Swartz. No Church can take rootwithout a native ministry. But the absence of any central Churchgovernment was grievously felt, both as concerned the English and theHindoos. There were more than twenty English regiments in India, and nota single chaplain among them all. CHAPTER IV. HENRY MARTYN, THE SCHOLAR-MISSIONARY. Again do we find the steady, plodding labourer of a lifetime contrastedwith the warm enthusiast, whose lot seems rather to awaken others than toachieve victories in his own person. St. Stephen falls beneath thestones, but his glowing discourse is traced through many a deep argumentof St. Paul. St. James drains the cup in early manhood, but his brotherholds aloft his witness to extreme old age. The ardent zeal of the Keltic character; the religious atmosphere thatJohn Wesley had spread over Cornwall, even among those who did not enrolthemselves among his followers; the ability and sensitiveness hereditaryin the Martyn family, together with the strong influence of a universitytutor, --all combined to make such a bright and brief trail of light ofthe career of Henry Martyn, the son of the head clerk in a merchant'soffice at Truro, born on the 18th of February, 1781. This station soundslowly enough, but when we find that it was attained by a self-educatedman, who had begun life as a common miner, and taught himself in theintervals of rest, it is plain that the elder Martyn must have possessedno ordinary power. Out of a numerous family only four survived theirinfancy, and only one reached middle age, and in Henry at least greattalent was united to an extreme susceptibility and delicacy of frame, which made him as a child unusually tender and gentle in manner when athis ease, but fretful and passionate when annoyed. Of course he fared as ill with his fellow-scholars at Truro GrammarSchool as he did well with the masters; but an elder boy took him underhis protection, and not only lessened his grievances at the time, butfounded a lasting friendship. In 1795, when only fourteen, Henry Martyn was sufficiently advanced to besent up as a candidate for a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and passed a very creditable examination, though he failed inobtaining the election. Eight years later, we find him congratulatinghimself in his journal on thus having escaped the "scenes of debauchery"to which his "profligate acquaintances" might have introduced him. WasCorpus very much changed, when, only eleven years after, John Kebleentered it at the same age? Was it that Martyn's Cornish schoolfellowswere a bad set, or does this thanksgiving proceed from the sort of piouscomplacency which religious journalizing is apt to produce in the best ofmen? The failure sent Henry back to work for two years longer at the TruroGrammar School, and when at sixteen he was entered at St. John's, Cambridge (most peculiarly the college of future missionaries), heimmediately made proof of his remarkable talent. Strange to say, although his father's rise in life had begun in his mathematical ability, Henry's training in this branch had been so deficient, and the studyappeared so repugnant to him, that his first endeavour at Cambridge wasto learn the proportions of Euclid by heart, without trying to followtheir reasoning. This story is told of many persons, but perhaps of noone else who in four years' time, while still a month under twenty, wasdeclared Senior Wrangler. This was in 1801, and the intervening time had been spent in hard studyand regular habits, but neither his sister at home, nor aseriously-minded college friend, were satisfied with his religiousfeelings during the first part of the time, and he himself regarded itafterwards as a period of darkness. Indeed, his temper was under solittle control that in a passion he threw a knife at a companion, buthappily missed his aim, so that it only pierced the wall. The shock ofhorror no doubt was good for him. But the next step he recorded in hislife was his _surprise_ at hearing it maintained that the glory of God, not the praise of man, should be the chief motive of study. Afterthinking it over his mind assented, and he resolved to maintain this as anoble saying, but did not perceive that it would affect his conduct. However, the dearest, almost the only hallowed form of the praise of man, was taken from him by the death of his father in 1799, immediately afterthe delight of hearing of his standing first in the Christmasexamination. The expense of a return home was beyond his means, but hetook to reading the Bible, as a proper form to be complied with in thedays of mourning; and beginning with the Acts, as being the mostentertaining part, he felt the full weight of the doctrine of theApostles borne in on him, and was roused to renew his long-neglectedprayers. When next he went to chapel, with his soul thus awakened, hewas struck by perceiving for the first time how joy for the coming of ourLord rings through the _Magnificat_. The great religious influence of the day at Cambridge emanated from thepulpit and the rooms of the Reverend Charles Simeon, who did a trulyremarkable work in stirring up young men to a sense of theresponsibilities of the ministry. Henry Martyn regularly attended hissermons, and the newly lighted sparks were also fanned by anxious lettersfrom the good sister at home; but until the strain, pressure, andexcitement of preparing for the final examination were over, he hadlittle time or attention for any other form of mental exertion. When, however, he found himself in possession of the highest honours hisUniversity could award, he was amazed to discover how little theysatisfied him, and that he felt as if he had grasped a shadow instead ofa substance. This instinctive longing, the sure token of a mind of the higher pitch, was finding rest as he became more and more imbued with the spirit ofreligion, and ventured upon manifesting it more openly. He had hithertointended to apply himself to the law, but the example and conversation ofCharles Simeon brought him to such a perception of the greatness of theoffice of the ministry that he resolved to dedicate himself thereto. During the term after this decision was made, while he was acting as atutor at his college, he heard Mr. Simeon speak of William Carey and hisself-devotion in India; he read the Life of that kindred spirit, DavidBrainerd, and the spark of missionary zeal was kindled in his ardentnature. The commission "Go ye and teach all nations" was borne in on hismind, and, with the promptness that was a part of his nature, he at onceoffered himself to the "Society for Missions to Africa and the East, "which had been established, in the year 1800, by members of the EnglishChurch who wished to act independently of the elder Society for thePropagation of the Gospel. The name has since been altered to the"Church Missionary Society. " However, Martyn was only just twenty-one, and not of an age to take HolyOrders, and he had therefore to wait, while studying divinity, and actingas a tutor at Cambridge. All through his life he kept copious journalsof his sensations and resolutions, full of the deepest piety, alwaysreplete with sternness towards himself and others, and tinged with thatmelancholy which usually pervades the more earnest of that school whichrequires conscious feeling as the test of spiritual life. In October 1803, he went to Ely for ordination as a deacon, though stillwanting five months of twenty-three. Those were lax days, there waslittle examination, and a very low standard of fitness was required. Henry Martyn was so much scandalized by the lightness of demeanour of oneof his fellow candidates that he spoke to him in strong reproof--withwhat effect we do not know, but he records that he never ventured tospeak in rebuke, "unless he at the same time experienced a peculiarcontrition of spirit. " He became Mr. Simeon's curate, and at the same time took charge of theneighbouring parish of Lolworth. People then had small expectations ofclerical care, if a parish could be entrusted to a young deacon, non-resident, acting as tutor and examiner, and with an assistant curacybesides! His whole mind was, however, intensely full of his duties, andso unworthy did he consider all other occupations that he prayed andstruggled conscientiously against the pleasure he could not but feel, ingetting up Thucydides and Xenophon for the examinations. Everything notactually devotional seemed to him at these times under a ban, and it ispainful to see how a mind of great scope and power was cramped andcontracted, and the spirits lowered by incessant self-contemplation anddistrust of almost all enjoyment. When, at another time, he had toexamine on "Locke on the Human Understanding, " the metaphysical studyacting on his already introspective mind produced a sense of misery andanguish that he could hardly endure. It is pleasant, however, to findhim in another mood, writing, "Since I have known God in a saving manner, painting, poetry, and music have had charms unknown to me before; I havereceived what I suppose is a taste for them, for religion has refined mymind, and made it susceptible of impressions from the sublime andbeautiful. " This, no doubt, was true, but another influence had awakened his heart, earthly perhaps in itself, but so noble and so holy that it bears aheavenly light. He had become attached to a young lady in Cornwall, named Lydia Grenfell, like-minded enough to return his affection. Hisintention of volunteering for the Church Missionary Society wasoverthrown by a disaster in Cornwall which deprived himself and hisunmarried sister of all the provision that their father had made forthem, thus throwing her upon him for maintenance, and making it necessarythat he should obtain a salary that would support her. It was suggestedby some of his friends that one of the chaplaincies founded by the oldEast India Company, before the jealousy of religious teaching had set in, would both give him opportunities for missionary work and enable him toprovide for his sister at home. Application was accordingly made, and aman of his talent and character could not fail of being accepted; he waspromised the next vacant post, and went down to spend the long vacationin Cornwall, and bid farewell to all whom he loved there, for the journeywas long and expensive, and he had resolved not to trust himself amongthem again. He writes in his journal, "Parted with Lydia for ever in this life with asort of uncertain pain, which I knew would increase to violence. " And soit was, he suffered most acutely for many days, and, though calmness andcomfort came after a time, never were hopes and affections morethoroughly sacrificed, or with more anguish, than by this most trulydevoted disciple of his Master. He worked on at Cambridge till he received his appointment in the Januaryof 1805, and he then only waited to receive Priests' Orders before goingto London to prepare for his embarkation. In those times of war, a voyage to India was a perilous and lengthyundertaking. A whole fleet was collected, containing merchant, convict, and transport vessels, all under the convoy of the ships of war belongingto the Company; and, as no straggler might be left behind, the progressof the whole was dependent on the rate of sailing of the slowest, and allwere impeded by the disaster of one. The _Union_, in which a passage wasgiven to the chaplain, contained, besides the crew, passengers, the 59thRegiment, some other soldiers, and young cadets, all thrown closelytogether for many months. She sailed from Portsmouth on the 17th ofJuly; but in two days' time one of the many casualties attendant on atleast sixty vessels made the fleet put into Falmouth, where it remainedfor three weeks. This opportunity of intercourse with his family mightwell seem an especial boon of Providence to the young missionary, who haddenied himself a last visit to them, and he carried away much comfortfrom this meeting. His sister was engaged to be suitably married, sothat he was relieved from care on her account, and some hope wasentertained that Lydia would be able to come out to him in India. Acorrespondence likewise began, which has been in great part preserved. Two days after weighing anchor, the _Union_ still lingered on the coast, and the well-known outline, with Mount's Bay, the spire of St. Hilary'schurch, and all the landmarks so dear and familiar to the youngCornishman's eye and heart, were watched from morning to night with keenpain and grief, but with steadfast resolve and constant inward prayer. Then he addressed himself to the duties of the voyage. Private study ofHebrew and of Hindostanee was of course a part; but he hoped to be usefulto his companions as a friend and as a minister. He could only obtainpermission to hold one service every Sunday, but he hoped to do much byprivate conversations and prayers, and he tried to gain over the cadetsby offering to assist them in their studies, especially mathematics. Someof them had the sense to see that the teaching of a senior wrangler wasno small advantage, and these read with him throughout the voyage; but ingeneral they were but raw lads, and followed the example of theirsuperiors, who for the most part were strongly set against Mr. Martyn. Those were the times when sailors were utterly uncared for, and when_mauvais sujets_ at home were sent out to India to the corruptions of aluxurious climate and a heathen atmosphere. Men of this stamp wouldthink it bad enough to have a parson on board at all, and when they foundthat he was a faithful priest, who held himself bound not to leave themunchecked in their evil courses, they thought themselves aggrieved. Norwas his manner likely to gain them. Grave and earnest, he had never inhis life known sportiveness, and his distress and horror at the profanityand blasphemy that rang in his ears made him doubly sad and stern. Fromthe first his Sunday service was by most treated as an infliction, andthe officers, both of the ship and of the military, had so little senseof decency as to sit drinking, smoking, and talking within earshot. Thepersons who professed to attend showed no reverence of attitude; and whenhe endeavoured to make an impression on the soldiers and their wivesbetween-decks, he was met with the same rude and careless inattention. With very little experience of mankind, he imagined that these hardenedbeings could be brought to repent by terror, and his discourses were fullof denunciations of the wrath of God. He was told that, if he threatenedthem thus, they would not come to hear him, and his reply was anuncompromising sermon on the text, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God. " The bravery of the thing, and thespirit of truth and love that pervaded all he said on this solemn verse, was not lost upon all: some of the cadets were moved to tears, and animpression was made upon several persons. Indeed, there was much thatshould have induced serious thought, for, after having touched at Madeiraand the Azores, it was made known that the 59th was to be disembarked atthe Cape, to assist in the struggle then going on between the English andDutch. Moreover, there was much sickness on board, and the captainhimself, who had been always bitterly opposed to Mr. Martyn, anxiouslycalled for him to attend upon his death-bed. The 59th were landed in Table Bay just in time to take part in Sir DavidBaird's victory. Martyn went on shore the next day to do his best forthe wounded; but they were mostly in hospital, and, being Dutch, he coulddo little for them. He found congenial spirits among the Dutch clergy inCape Town, and spent a happy month there, but the latter part of hisvoyage was not more satisfactory than the first. The educated portion ofthe passengers continued to set their faces against him, treating himwith increased contempt, and even turning into ridicule the farewellsermon, in which he took an affectionate leave of all who had sailed withhim. It may be that his manner was ill-judged, but it is a fearful thing tofind that it was possible for so many Christian people to have been indaily contact with as true a saint as ever lived, and yet make him theirmock! Perhaps some of his words, and far more his example, may haveborne fruit in after years, such as he never knew of. The whole voyage had lasted nearly ten months before entering theHooghly. While ascending the stream, the lassitude produced by theclimate was so great that Martyn's spirits sank under it: he thought heshould "lead an idle, worthless life to no purpose. Exertion seemed likedeath; indeed, absolutely impossible. " Yet at the least he could write, "Even if I should never see a native converted, God may design, by mypatience and continuance, to encourage future missionaries. " This feeling of exhaustion was the prelude to a severe attack of fever, which assailed him almost immediately after his arrival; but happily nottill he was safely lodged at Aldeen, in the kindly house of the Rev. David Brown, where he was nursed till his recovery. His friends wantedto keep him among the English at Calcutta, but his heart was set onministering to the heathen, and the sights and sounds of idolatry thatconstantly met him increased his eagerness. He once rushed out at thesight of the flames of a Suttee, hoping to rescue the victim, but she hadperished before he reached the spot. His arrival was when the alarm about the meeting at Vellore was at itsheight, and when the colony at Serampore had been forbidden to preach ordistribute tracts in Calcutta. He by no means agreed with all theBaptist doctrines, but he held in great esteem and reverence such men asCarey and Marshman, was glad to profit by their experience andinstructions, and heartily sympathised in all their difficulties. Mr. Carey might well write, "A young clergyman, Mr. Martyn, is latelyarrived, who is possessed with a truly missionary spirit. " Together theSerampore missionaries, with Mr. Martyn, Mr. Corrie, and Mr. Brown, united in dedicating to the worship of God a heathen pagoda, which thelast-mentioned had succeeded in purchasing from the natives. Altogetherhe was much cheered and refreshed. During the time that he waited atAldeen he improved himself in Hindostanee, and began to study Sanscrit, and learnt the most approved method of dealing with the natives. Moreover, he found that his allowance as a chaplain was so liberal asamply to justify him in writing to urge Miss Grenfell to come out andjoin him; and, during the long period of sixteen or eighteen monthsbefore her refusal to do so reached him, he was full of the hope ofreceiving her. His appointed station was Dinapore, where his primary duty was tominister to the English troops there posted, and to the families of thecivilians; but he also hoped to establish native schools, to preach intheir own language to the Hindoos, and to scatter translations ofportions of Scripture, such as the Parables, among them. He had to read prayers to the soldiers from the drum-head by way of desk;there were no seats, and he was desired to omit the sermon: butafterwards a room was provided, and then the families of the officers andresidents began to attend, though at first they were much scandalized byhis preaching extempore. In fact there was a good deal in his whole tonethat startled old orthodoxy; and in the opposition with which he met attimes, there was some lawful and just distrust of the _onesidedness_ ofhis tenets, together with the ordinary hatred and dislike of darkness tolight. So scrupulous was he in the Jewish force given by his party tothe Fourth Commandment, that, having one Sunday conceived the plan oftranslating the Prayer-book into Hindostanee, he worked at it till he hadreached the end of the _Te Deum_; and there, doubting whether it were aproper employment for the day, desisted until the Monday, to give himselfup to prayer, singing hymns, Scripture-reading, and meditation. Theimmediate value of this work was for the poor native wives of the Englishsoldiers, whom he found professing Christianity, but utterly ignorant;and to them every Sunday, after the official English service, he repeatedthe Liturgy in the vulgar tongue. In this holy work he was the pioneer, since Swartz's service was in Tamul. While working at his translationswith his moonshee, or interpreter, a Mussulman, he had much opportunityfor conversation and for study of the Mahometan arguments, so as to bevery useful to himself; though he could not succeed in convincing theimpracticable moonshee, who had all that self-satisfaction belonging toMahometanism. "I told him that he ought to pray that God would teach himwhat the truth really is. He said he had no occasion to pray on thissubject, as the word of God is express. " With the Hindoos at Dinapore, he found, to his surprise, that there was apparently littledisinclination to "become Feringees, " as they called it, outwardly; butthe difficulty lay in his insistance on Christian faith and obedience, instead of a mere external profession. It was while he was at Dinapore that we first acquire anything like adistinct idea of Henry Martyn; for there a short halt of the 53rdRegiment brought him in contact with one who had an eye to observe, aheart to honour, and a pen to describe him; namely, Mrs. Sherwood, thewife of the paymaster, a woman of deeply religious sentiments andconsiderable powers as an author. Mutual friends had already preparedMr. Martyn to expect to find like-minded companions in the Sherwoods, invited to stay with him for the few days of their sojourn at Dinapore. "Mr. Martyn's quarters, " says that lady, "were in the smaller square--achurch-like abode, with little furniture, the rooms wide and high, withmany vast doorways, having their green jalousied doors, and longverandahs encompassing two sides of the quarters. " So scanty, indeed, was the furniture, that, though he gave up his own bedroom, Mrs. Sherwoodcould not find a pillow, not only there, but in the whole house; and, with a severe pain in her face, could get nothing to lay her head on "buta bolster stuffed as hard as a pin-cushion. " She thus describes the first sight of her host:--"He was dressed inwhite, and looked very pale, which, however, was nothing singular inIndia; his hair, a light brown, was raised from his forehead, which was aremarkably fine one. His features were not regular, but the expressionwas so luminous, so intellectual, so affectionate, so beaming with Divinecharity, that no one could have looked at his features and thought oftheir shape or form; the outbeaming of his soul would absorb theattention of every observer. There was a very decided air, too, of thegentleman about Mr. Martyn, and a perfection of manners which, from hisextreme attention to all minute civilities, might seem almostinconsistent with the general bent of his thoughts to the most serioussubjects. He was as remarkable for ease as for cheerfulness. He did notappear like one who felt the necessity of contending with the world anddenying himself its delights, but, rather, as one who was unconscious ofthe existence of any attractions in the world, or of any delights whichwere worthy of his notice. When he relaxed from his labours in thepresence of his friends, it was to play and laugh like an innocent child, more especially if children were present to play and laugh with him. " His labours were the incessant charge of the English, travelling oftengreat distances to baptize, marry, or bury, together with constantteaching in the schools he had established both for the English andnatives, attendance on the sick in the hospitals, and likewise privatearguments with Mahometans and Hindoos. Public preachings in the streetsand bazaars, like those of Swartz, Carey, and Ward, he does not seem tohave attempted at this time; but his translations were his great andserious employment, and one that gave him much delight. His thoroughclassical education and scholarship fitted him for this in an unusualdegree, and besides the Hindostanee version of the Prayer-book, thePersian--so much wanted in the Bombay Presidency--was committed to him;and an assistant was sent to him, whose history, disappointing as it is, cannot be omitted from the account of Indian missions. Sabat was an Arab of the tribe of Koreish, the same which gave birth toMahomet himself. He was born on the banks of the Euphrates, and educatedin such learning as still lingered about the city of the Khalifs; but heleft home early, and served in the Turkish army against the French atAcre. Afterwards he became a soldier in the Persian army, where he wasseveral times wounded, and in consequence retired, and, wandering intoCabul, there rose to be a royal secretary. He formed a close friendship with his colleague, Abdallah, likewise aKoreishite Arab, and very able and poetical. When the Wahabees, thestraitest sect of the Mussulmans, seized Mecca, their chief wrote aletter to the King of Cabul, which was committed to Abdallah to translateinto Persian. By way of a graceful compliment, he put his translationinto Persian verse, and the reward he received was equally strange;namely, the gift of as many pearls as could be stuffed into his mouth atonce. He was, however, observed to be unusually grave and thoughtful, and to frequent the house of an Armenian--of course a Christian: but asthis person had a beautiful daughter, she was supposed to be theattraction, and no suspicion was excited by his request to retire intohis own country. Soon after Sabat was made prisoner by the Tartars of Bokhara, and, byappealing to the king, as a descendant of the prophet, obtained hisrelease and promotion to high honour. While visiting the city ofBokhara, he recognized his old friend, Abdallah, and, perceiving that hisbeard was shaved off, examined him on the cause so closely that he wasdriven to confess that the Armenian had converted him to the Christianfaith, and that he did not wish to be known. Hereditary Christians aretolerated by the Moslem, but converts are bitterly persecuted; and Sabatflew into a great rage, argued, threatened, and at last denounced his oldfriend to the Moollahs as a recreant from Islam. Abdallah was arrested, and showed himself a true and faithful confessorand martyr. The Moollahs strove hard to make him recant. They demandedof him: "In the Gospel of Christ, is anything said of ourProphet?"--intending to extort that promise of the Comforter whichMahomet blasphemously applied to himself. Abdallah's answer was: "Yea--Beware of false prophets which come to youin sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. " This brave reply was requited by blows on the mouth till the bloodflowed, and Sabat thought of the day he had seen that same mouth filledwith pearls. Abdallah was sent back to prison, and four days wereallowed him in which to recant; after which he was brought out and setbefore an assembled multitude. Pardon was offered him if he would denyhis Lord, and, on his refusal, his left hand was cut off. The look ofdeep sorrow and pity he gave the former friend who had betrayed him sunkdeep into Sabat's heart. Again his life was offered, again he confessedhimself a Christian, and finally his martyrdom was completed by cuttingoff his head. This history Sabat told with feeling and earnestness, that convinced hishearers of its truth; and from this he did not vary, though his accountof his own subsequent adventures varied so much that it was not possibleat last to attach credence to anything he said of himself before hebecame expounder of Mohammedan Law in the Civil Court at Vizagapatam. Atany rate Abdallah's look dwelt with him; he detected discrepancies in theKoran, and became anxious to study the Christian Scriptures. He obtainedfrom Bombay a copy, first of the New Testament, then of the Old, and, having become convinced, he came to Madras, and demanded baptism from Dr. Ker, the British chaplain. After some probation, which made Sabat soimpatient that he threatened that he should accuse the minister beforeGod if he delayed, he was baptized by the name of Nathanael, and sent toSerampore as a person likely to be useful in the translations always inhand there. He was delighted with the habits there prevailing, dismissed hisattendants, dined at the common table, and altogether conformed himselfto the spirit of the place. When it was decided to send him to Dinaporeto assist Mr. Martyn in rendering the Bible into Persian, he took leaveof Serampore with tears in his eyes. He was gladly welcomed by Mr. Martyn, and they worked together at the Gospel of St. Matthew, Sabatshowing a scholar-like anxiety both for correctness and rhythm; but therewas so much of the wild Arab about him that he was a continual anxiety. The Serampore missionaries thought him a grand, dignified figure. Mrs. Sherwood paints him much less pleasantly, and says he was exactly likethe sign of the Saracen's head, with intensely flashing eyes, high nose, white teeth, and jet black eyebrows, moustache, and beard. His voice waslike rolling thunder, his dress of gorgeous material and thoroughlyOriental, silk skull-cap, jacket, jewelled girdle, loose trousers, andembroidered shoes, and he had a free and haughty manner, according withhis signature, when writing to a gentleman who had offendedhim--"Nathanael Sabat, an Arab, who never was in bondage. " In April 1809, Mr. Martyn was removed to the station at Cawnpore, wherethe Sherwoods were then residing. The time was one of the worst in thewhole year for travelling across the sandy plains, with a wind blowingthat made the air like "the mouth of an oven. " For two days and twonights, between Allahabad and Cawnpore, Mr. Martyn travelled in hispalanquin without intermission, and, having expected to arrive sooner, hehad brought no provision for the last day. "I lay in my palanquin, faint, with a headache, neither awake nor asleep, between dead and alive, the wind blowing flames. " When he arrived, Mr. Sherwood had only justtime to lead him into the bungalow before he fainted away, and the hallbeing the least heated place, a couch was made ready for him there, wherefor some days he lay very ill; and the thermometer was never below 96degrees, though the punkah never ceased. As soon as he mended a little, he enjoyed talking over his Hebrew andGreek studies and his ethnological researches with his clever and eagerhostess, who must have greatly refreshed his spirit. He delighted inmusic: his voice and ear were both excellent, and he taught her manyhymns and their tunes. He also took much pleasure in a little orphangirl whom she was bringing up. At this time she herself was almost achildless mother, all her Indian-born infants having been victims to theclimate; but a few months later Mr. Martyn christened her little daughterLucy, a child of such gentle, gracious temper that he was wont to callher Serena. Mrs. Sherwood gives a pretty picture of this littlecreature, when about eighteen months old, creeping up to Mr. Martyn as helay on a sofa with all his books about him, and perching herself on hisHebrew Lexicon, which he needed every moment, but would not touch so asto disturb her. The pale, white-clad pastor, and the child with silkyhair, bare white feet and arms, and little muslin frock, looked equallyinnocent and pure. Mr. Martyn's house at Cawnpore was at the end of an avenue of palms andaloes: there were two bungalows connected by a long passage, in one ofwhich he himself lived, the other was given up to Sabat and his wife. Thegarden was prettily laid out with shrubs and tall trees, with a raisedplatform in the centre; and on one side was a whole colony, consistingnot only of the usual number of servants allowed to a military chaplain, but of a host of pundits, moonshees, schoolmasters, and poor nominalChristians, who hung about him because there was no one else to give thema handful of rice for their daily maintenance. Here Mrs. Sherwood describes a motley entertainment, at which she was theonly lady. Her husband, in his scarlet and gold uniform, and Mr. Martyn, in his clerical black silk coat, were the only other English. The otherEuropean present was Padre Giulio Cesare, an Italian Franciscan, whom Mr. Martyn was obliged to receive when he came to minister to the numerousIrish Roman Catholics in the regiment. He wore a purple satin cassock, acord of twisted silk, a rosary of costly stones, and a little skull-cap, and his languages were French with the Sherwoods, and Italian and Latinwith Mr. Martyn. Sabat was there in his Arab dress; there was a thin, copper-coloured, half-caste gentleman in white nankeen, speaking onlyBengalee; and a Hindoo in full costume, speaking only his native tongue:so that no two of the party were in similar costume, seven languages wereemployed, and moreover the three Orientals viewed it as good breeding toshout at the very top of their voices. Unluckily, too, Mr. Martyn in his politeness suddenly recollected thatMrs. Sherwood had expressed a liking for certain mutton patties, andordered them to be brought, in a bachelor's entire oblivion whether anymutton was procurable otherwise than by killing a sheep: and the delayforced the guests to continue to sit on the platform in the dark, withthe voices and languages making too great a Babel for the night-enjoymentsometimes so valued, when Mr. Martyn would show Mrs. Sherwood our ownPole Star just above the horizon, or watch the new moon "looking like aball of ebony in a silver cup. " At last the patties were ready, and Mr. Martyn handed Mrs. Sherwood to a seat by him at the top of the table, while Sabat perched himself cross-legged upon a chair at the bottom. The good chaplain's simplicity seems to have been a great amusement tothe Sherwoods. Late one evening he quietly observed, "The coolie doesnot come with my money: I was thinking this morning how rich I should be, and now I should not wonder in the least if he has run off and taken mytreasure with him. " Thereupon it turned out that, not having drawn hispay for some time, he had sent a note to the collector at Cawnpore, asking that the amount should be forwarded by the bearer, a commoncoolie. It was all paid in silver, tied up in cotton bags, and no oneexpected that he would ever see it; however, the coolie arrived safelywith it a little later. Another time, when each household had ordered apineapple cheese, it was observed that the fissures in the two weremarvellously similar; and at last it was discovered that the servants, though paid for two cheeses, made one do duty for both, appearing in turnat the two tables, which was the easier as Mr. Martyn supped on limes andother fruits, and only produced his cheese when the Sherwoods came tosupper. He heeded little but his immediate thoughts, and, when he droveout in his gig, went on with his disquisitions on language andpronunciation, utterly unheeding what his horse was about. The hope of having Lydia with him to brighten his life and aid hislabours had by this time passed away. She had some entanglement whichprevented her from coming out to India, and his disappointment was mostacute. His letters urging her to come out to him are so strong, and fullof such anguish, that it is hard to understand that the person who couldwithstand them could have been the admirable woman Miss Grenfell isdescribed to have been in after-life--unless, indeed, Martyn did notappreciate the claims at home to which she yielded. "Why do things go sowell with them and so hardly with me?" was a thought that would come intohis mind at the weddings where he officiated as priest. Meantime he hadestablished native schools, choosing a master, usually a Mussulman, andgiving him an anna a head for each boy whom he obtained as a scholar inreading and writing. Mr. Martyn supplied books, and these weretranslations of Scripture history, of the Parables, and the like, throughwhich he hoped to lay a foundation for distinctive teaching. Here isMrs. Sherwood's description of the Cawnpore school, then in a long shedby the side of the cavalry lines:-- "The master sat at one end like a tailor on the dusty floor, and alongunder the shed sat the scholars, a pack of little urchins with no otherclothes on than a skull-cap and a piece of cloth round their loins. Theselittle ones squatted, like their master, in the sand: they had woodenimitations of slates in their hands, on which, having first written theirlessons with chalk, they recited them _a pleine gorge_, as the Frenchwould say, being sure to raise their voices on the approach of anyEuropean or native of note. Now Cawnpore is one of the most dusty placesin the world; the Sepoy lines are the most dusty part of Cawnpore; and asthe little urchins are always well greased either with cocoa-nut oil, or, in failure thereof, with rancid mustard oil, whenever there was theslightest breath of air they always looked as if they had been powderedall over with brown powder. Who that has ever heard it, can forget thesounds of the various notes with which these little people intonatedtheir 'Aleph, Zubbin ah, Zair a, Paiche oh, ' as they moved backwards andforwards in their recitations? Who can forget the self-importance of theschoolmaster, who was generally a grey-bearded, dry, old man, who had noother means of proving his superiority to the scholars than by makingmore noise than even they could?" {i:Henry Martyn's first endeavour at native preaching: p1. Jpg} In the winter of 1809, Mr. Martyn made his first endeavour at nativepreaching. The Yogis and Fakers, devotees and vagrants, haunted thestation, and every Sunday evening he opened the gates of his garden, admitted all who were collected by the assurance of the distribution of apice a head; and standing on his platform, read to them some simple verseof Scripture, and then endeavoured to make them believe there is a pureAlmighty Universal Father. A frightful crowd: they were often fivehundred in number. "No dreams, " says Mrs. Sherwood, "in the delirium ofa raging fever, could surpass the realities" of their appearance;"clothed with abominable rags, or nearly without clothes, or plasteredwith mud and cow-dung, or with long matted locks streaming down to theirheels; every countenance foul and frightful with evil passions; the lipsblack with tobacco, or crimson with henna. One man, who came in a cartdrawn by a bullock, was so bloated as to look like an enormous frog;another had kept an arm above his head with his hand clenched till thenail had come out at the back of his hand; and one very tall man had allhis bones marked on his dark skin with white chalk, like the figure ofgrim Death himself. " The assemblage, in contrast with the pure, innocent, pale face and white dress of the preacher who addressed them, must have been like some of Gustave Dore's illustrations. These addresses were jealously watched by the British authorities, andwere often interrupted by the howls and threatenings of his loathsomecongregation; while, moreover, pulmonary complaint, the enemy of hisfamily, began to manifest itself, so that the physicians insisted on histrying the effect of cessation from work, a sea-voyage, and a visit toEngland. On this plan he had at first fixed. He enters in his journal ahappy dream of a walk with Lydia, and, waking, the recollection of the16, 000 miles between them; but in the meantime he heard from the criticsat Calcutta, that his translation of the Gospels into Persian, done withthe assistance of Sabat, was too full of Arabic idioms, and in languagenot simple enough for its purpose; and he therefore made up his mind tospend his leave of absence in making his way through Persia and part ofArabia, so as to improve himself in the languages, and submit histranslation to more trustworthy scholars. Mr. Brown, on hearing of hisplan, consented in these remarkable terms: "Can I then bring myself tocut the string and let you go? I confess I could not if your bodilyframe were strong, and promised to last for half a century. But as youburn with the intenseness and rapid blaze of phosphorus, why should wenot make the most of you? Your flame may last as long, and perhapslonger, in Arabia than in India. Where should the phoenix build herodoriferous nest but in the land prophetically called the 'blessed'? Andwhere shall we ever expect but from that country the true Comforter tocome to the nations of the East?" In September, therefore, Henry Martyn made ready to set forth, and totake leave of his congregation of beggars. He had baptized one poor oldHindoo woman, and she seemed to him to be the only fruit of his toils;but though the exhortation, at the end of all his labours of the Sunday, cost him severe pain and exhaustion, he had constantly persisted, oftenbeginning in a low feeble tone, but gradually rising in fervour to thefull power of his musical voice; then himself going among the disgustingthrong to distribute their petty bribe for attendance, and often fallingafterwards, faint and speechless, on a sofa. He knew not that one seed, cast on these turbid waters, had found goodsoil, and was springing up. Sheik Salah was the son of a pundit atDelhi, and was well-learned in Persian and Arabic. When a youth he hadbecome moonshee to two English gentlemen then living at Lucknow, andwhile in their service converted a Hindoo fellow-servant from hisidolatry to Islam. Elated with his success, he gave himself such airsthat his English masters reproved him; and he left them in displeasure, vowing never to serve a Feringhee again. However, being in the pay of aMahratta chief, he was sent in company with a Mahometan envoy who hadundertaken to murder a rival of his master, and having lulled his victiminto security by an oath on the Koran that no treachery was intended, decoyed him into his tent, and there stabbed him. Sheik Salah was a deeply conscientious man, and not only did he leave theMahratta service, lest some such horrible act should be required of him, but he conceived a certain distrust of his own faith, which, though itcondemns such deeds, had not hindered them. While in search ofemployment, he came to Cawnpore, and there, one fine evening, he sat withsome other young Mussulmans, in a summer-house on the garden wall thatbounded Mr. Martyn's garden, enjoying their hookahs and sherbet, andamusing themselves with what they called the "foolishness" of theFeringhee Padre, who was discoursing to the throng of hateful lookingbeggars below. By and by, anxious to hear more, they came down, enteredthe garden, and stood in a row before the front of the bungalow; theirarms folded, their turbans placed jauntily on one side, and theircountenances expressive of the utmost contempt. But the words that Sheik Salah caught were sinking deep. They were ofthe intense purity and holiness of God and of His laws, and of the needof His power to attain to the keeping of them, as well as of HisSacrifice to atone for man's sinfulness. Sheik Salah could not restwithout hearing more, and becoming determined to obtain employment atCawnpore, he undertook to copy Persian manuscripts for Sabat, and waslodged by him in one of the numerous huts in Mr. Martyn's compound. Hewas a well-educated, graceful man, exceedingly handsome, looking like ahero of the Old Testament; and probably Sabat was afraid of a rival, forhe never mentioned to Mr. Martyn the stranger who, Sunday after Sunday, listened to his preaching, and no doubt would have as thankfully profitedby his individual teaching as he would have joyfully given it. Sabat was at this time a great trial to Mr. Martyn, who in the flush ofenthusiasm had let him be put too forward at first, and found the wildman of the desert far too strong for him. Sometimes, when they differedabout a word in the translation, Sabat would contend so violently for awhole morning that poor Mr. Martyn, when unable to bear it any longer, would order his palanquin and be carried over to the Sherwoods to escapefrom the intolerable brawling shout. What Sabat could be was plain fromthe story of his wife Amina; his seventh, as he told his friends. Whenhe was trying to convert her, she asked his views upon the future lot ofthose who remained Mahometans, and, when he consigned them to the stateof condemnation, she quietly replied that she greatly preferred hellwithout Sabat's company to heaven with him. The poor man was no doubt ingreat measure sincere, but his probation had been insufficient, and hiswild Ishmaelitish nature, so far from being overcome, gained in pride andviolence through the enthusiasm that was felt for him as a convert. Once, in a fit of indignation, he wrote a Persian letter, full of abuse of Mr. Martyn, to a friend in the service of the English resident at Lucknow. Byhim it was carried to his master, who, wishing to show Mr. Martyn thereal character of his favourite convert, sent him the letter. Instead oflooking into it, Mr. Martyn summoned Sabat, and bade him read it aloud tohim. For once the Arab was overpowered; he cowered before his calmmaster and entreated his pardon, and when Mr. Martyn put the letter intohis hands, assuring him that he had not read it, he was really touched, and showed sorrow for his violence. On the last Sunday of September 1810, Mr. Martyn took leave of Cawnpore. It was also the Sunday of the installation as chaplain of his dearestfriend, the Reverend Daniel Corrie, and of the opening of a church whichhis exertions had prevailed to raise, whereas all former services hadbeen in his own long verandah. The first sound of the bell most deeplyaffected those who had scarcely heard one since they had left theirnative country. That church has given place to the beautiful buildingwhich commemorates the horrors of 1857; but the name of Henry Martynought never to be forgotten at Cawnpore, if only as the priest to whom itwas granted first to give thanks that, in his own words, "a temple of Godwas erected and a door opened for the service of the Almighty in a placewhere, from the foundation of the world, the tabernacle of the true Godhad never stood. " After returning from church he sank, nearly fainting, on a sofa in thehall; but, as soon as he revived, begged his friends to sing to him. Thehymn was-- "O God, our help in ages past, Our hope in years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. " After the early dinner and afternoon rest, on a sickly, hazy, burningevening, he preached for the last time to his beggars; came awayfainting, and as he lay on his sofa told his friends that he did notbelieve that he had ever made the slightest impression on _one_ of hisaudience there. He knew not that Sheik Salah's heart had been touched, and so deeply thathe sought further instruction. As to Sabat, his later career waspiteous. He fell back into Mahometanism, and, after some years of awandering life, took service with the Mussulman chief of Acheen inSumatra, where, having given some offence, he was barbarously hacked topieces and thrown into the sea. Such bitter disappointments occur inmissionary life; and how should we wonder, since the like befel even St. Paul and St. John? On the 1st of October, 1810, Mr. Martyn embarked on the Ganges, and onthe last day of the month arrived at Mr. Brown's house at Aldeen. He wasthen much the stronger for the long rest to his voice and chest, but hisfriends thought him greatly changed and enfeebled, and he could not evenhold a conversation without bringing on painful symptoms. Nevertheless, he preached every Sunday but one at Calcutta until the 7th of January, 1811, when he took his last leave of his Anglo-Indian friends, and setforth on his journey to lands almost entirely strange even to hiscountrymen, in the hope of rendering the Scriptures available for thestudy of the numerous Hindoos and Mahometans who understood Persianbetter than any other literary language. He went forth, in brokenhealth, and not only without a companion, but without even an attendant, and for his further history we have only his own journals and letters todepend upon. He went by sea to Bombay with a captain who had been apupil of Swartz, and whose narratives delighted him much, and afterwardsobtained a passage in an English ship which was to cruise in the PersianGulf against Arab pirates. Here he was allowed to have public prayersevery evening, and on the 22nd of May was landed at Bushire, where he waslodged in the house of an English merchant with an Armenian wife. The time for a journey to Persia was so far favourable that the Shah, Fath' Ali, who had succeeded to the throne in 1794, owed England muchgratitude for having interfered to check the progress of Russian conquestupon his northern frontier. After Persia had long been closed fromforeign intercourse by the jealous and cruel Shah, Aga Mohammed, Fath'Ali, a comparatively enlightened prince in the prime of life, willinglyentertained envoys and travellers from European courts, and Sir GoreOuseley was resident at Shiraz as British Ambassador. Yet it was notconsidered safe for a Frank to travel through Persia without an Orientaldress, and, accordingly, Martyn had to provide himself with the tallconical cap of black Tartar lambskin, baggy blue trousers, red boots, anda chintz coat, allowing his beard and moustache to grow, and eating riceby handfuls from the general dish. Meantime he was hospitablyentertained, the Armenian ladies came in a body to kiss his hand, and thepriest placed him beside the altar in church, and incensed him four timesover, for which he was not grateful on being told "it was for the honourof our order. " An English officer joined company with him, and a muleteer undertooktheir transport to Shiraz. It was a terrible journey up the parchingmountain paths of Persia, where Alexander's army had suffered so much, with the sun glaring down upon them, never, in that rainless belt aroundthe Persian Gulf, tempered by a cloud. They travelled only by night, andencamped by day, sometimes without a tree to spread their tents under. The only mode of existing was to wrap the head in a wet cloth, and thebody in all the heavy clothing to be had, to prevent the waste ofmoisture; but even thus Martyn says his state was "a fire within my head, my skin like a cinder, the pulse violent. " The thermometer rose to 126degrees in the middle of the day, and came down to about 100 degrees inthe evening. When exhausted with fever and sleeplessness, but unable totouch food, it was needful to mount, and, in a half-dead state ofsleepiness, be carried by the sure-footed mountain pony up steep ascents, and along the verge of giddy precipices, with a general dreamy sense thatit was magnificent scenery for any one who was in a bodily condition toadmire it. Swift clear streams and emerald valleys began to refresh the travellersas they rose into the higher land above the arid region; and, after onetwenty-four hours' halt in a sort of summer-house, where Henry Martyn wastoo ill to move till he had had a few hours of sleep, they safely arrivedat the mountain-city of Shiraz, where he was kindly received by JaffierAli Khan, a Persian gentleman to whom he had brought letters ofintroduction. Persia, as is well known, has a peculiar intellectual character of itsown. Descended from the Indo-European stock, and preserved from totalenervation by their mountain air, the inhabitants have, even under Islam, retained much of the vivacity, fire, and poetry inherent in the Aryannature. Their taste for beauty, especially in form and colour, hasalways been exquisite; their delight in gardens, in music, and poetry hashad a certain refinement, and with many terrible faults--in especialfalsehood and cruelty, the absence of the Turkish stolidity, the Arabwildness, and the Hindoo pride and indolence--has always made them anattractive people. Their Mahommedanism, too, is of a different form fromthat of the Arab and Turk. Theirs is the schismatical sect of Ali, whichis less rigid, and affords more scope for the intellect and fancy, and ithas thrown off a curious body called the Soofees, a sort of philosophersin relation to Islam. The name may be either really taken from the Greek_Sophos_, wise, or else comes from the Persian _Soof_, purity. TheSoofees profess to be continually in search of truth, and seem, for themost part, to rest upon a general belief in an all-pervading Creator, with a spirit diffused through all His works. Like their (apparent)namesakes of old, they revel in argument, and delight to tell or to hearsome new thing. Thus, Jaffier Ali Khan, who belonged to this sect, made the English padrewelcome; and his brother, Seid Ali, whose title of Mirza shows him tohave been a Scribe, undertook to assist in the translation, whileMoollahs and students delighted to come and hold discussions with him;and very vain and unprofitable logomachies he found them, whether withSoofee, Mahometan, or Jew. But the life, on the whole, was interesting, since he was fulfilling his most important object of providing atrustworthy and classical version of the Scriptures, such as mightadequately express their meaning, and convey a sense of their beauty oflanguage and force of expression to the scholarly and fastidiousOriental. He made friends in the suite of the Ambassador, Sir Gore Ouseley, whosehouse he ministered on Sunday, and he was presented by him to the heir tothe throne, Prince Abbas Mirza. He had, by way of Court dress, to wear apair of red cloth stockings and high-heeled shoes, and was marched upthrough the great court of the palace, where a hundred fountains began toplay the moment the Ambassador entered. The Prince sat on the ground inhis hall of audience, and all his visitors sat in a line with their hatson, but he conversed with no one but the Ambassador, looking so gentleand amiable that Mr. Martyn could hardly believe that the tyrannical actsreported of him could be true. In the summer heat, Jaffier Ali pitched a tent for him in a gardenoutside the walls of Shiraz, where he worked with much enjoyment, "livingamong clusters of grapes, by the side of a clear stream, " and sittingunder the shade of an orange-tree. From thence he made an expedition tosee the ruins of Persepolis, greatly to the perplexity of his escort, who, after repeatedly telling him that the place was uninhabited, concluded that he had come thither to drink brandy in secret! On the New Year's Day of 1812 Martyn wrote in his journal: "The presentyear will probably be a perilous one, but my life is of littleconsequence, whether I live to finish the Persian New Testament, or donot. I look back with pity and shame on my former self, and on theimportance I then attached to my life and labours. The more I see of myown works, the more I am ashamed of them. Coarseness and clumsiness marall the works of men. I am sick when I look at man, and his wisdom, andhis doings, and am relieved only by reflecting that we have a city whosebuilder and maker is God. The least of _His_ works is refreshing to lookat. A dried leaf or a straw makes me feel myself in good company. Complacency and admiration take the place of disgust. " On the 24th of February he finished his Persian New Testament, and in sixweeks more his translation of the Psalms. His residence in Persia hadlasted just a year, and, though direct missionary work had not beenpossible to him there, he had certainly inspired his coadjutor, MirzaSeid Ali, with a much higher morality and with something very like faith. On one of the last days before his leaving Shiraz, Seid Ali saidseriously, "Though a man had no other religious society, I suppose hemight, with the aid of the Bible, live alone with God. " It was to thissolitude that Martyn left him, not attempting apparently to induce him togive up anything for the sake of embracing Christianity. Death wouldprobably have been the consequence of joining the Armenian Church inPersia, but why did Martyn's teaching stop at inward faith instead ofinsisting on outward confession, the test fixed by the Saviour Himself? On the 24th of May, Mr. Martyn and another English clergyman set out tolay his translation before the Shah, who was in his camp at Tebriz. Therethey were admitted to the presence of the Vizier, before whom twoMoollahs, the most ignorant and discourteous whom he had met in Persia, were set to argue with the English priest. The Vizier mingled in thediscussion, which ended thus: "You had better say God is God, and Mahometis His prophet. " "God is God, " repeated Henry Martyn, "and JESUS is theSon of God. " "He is neither born nor begets, " cried the Moollahs; and one said, "Whatwill you say when your tongue is burnt out for blasphemy?" He had offended against the Mohammedan doctrine most strictly held; and, knowing this well, he had kept back the confession of the core of thetrue faith till to withhold it longer would have been a denial of hisLord. After all, he was not allowed to see the Shah without theAmbassador to present him, and descended again to Sultania--a painfuljourney, from which he brought a severe ague and fever, through which hewas nursed by Sir Gore and Lady Ouseley. As soon as he had recovered, he decided on making his way toConstantinople, and thence to England, where he hoped to recruit hishealth and, it might be, induce Lydia to accompany him back to India. Hislast letter to her was written from Tebriz on the 28th of August, dreading illness on the journey, but still full of hope. In that letter, too, he alludes to Sabat as the greatest tormentor he had known, butwarns her against mentioning to others that this "star of the East, " asClaudius Buchanan had called him, had been a disappointment. His diaryis carried on as far as Tocat. The last entry is on the 6th of October. It closes thus: "Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shallappear that new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in nowise enter in anything that defileth; none of thatwickedness which has made men worse than wild beasts, none of thosecorruptions which add still more to the miseries of mortality, shall beseen or heard of any more. " No more is known of Henry Martyn save that he died at Tocat on the 16thof that same October of 1812, without a European near. It is not evenknown whether his death were caused by fever, or by the plague, which wasraging at the place. He died a pilgrim's solitary death, and lies in anunknown grave in a heathen land. What fruit has his mission zeal left? It has left one of thesoul-stirring examples that have raised up other labourers. It has leftthe Persian Bible for the blessing of all to whom that language isfamiliar. It left, for the time, a strong interest in Christianity inShiraz. It left in India many English quickened to a sense of religion;and it assuredly left Sheik Salah a true convert. Baptized afterwards bythe name of Abdul Messeh, or Servant of the Messiah, he became theteacher of no less than thirty-nine Hindoos whom he brought to HolyBaptism. Such were the reapings in Paradise that Henry Martyn has wonfrom his thirty-one years' life and his seeming failure. CHAPTER V. WILLIAM CAREY AND JOSHUA MARSHMAN, THE SERAMPOREMISSIONARIES. The English subjects and allies in India had hitherto owed their scantylessons in Christianity to Germans or Danes, and the first of our owncountrymen who attempted the work among them was, to the shame of ourGovernment be it spoken, a volunteer from among the humblest classes, ofno more education than falls to the lot of the child of a villageschoolmaster and parish clerk. In 1761, when Schwartz was just beginning to make his way in Tanjore, William Carey was born in the village of Paulerspury, inNorthamptonshire. He showed himself a diligent scholar in his father'slittle school, and had even picked up some Latin before, at fourteenyears old, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker at the neighbouring villageof Hackleton. Still he had an earnest taste for study; and, falling inwith a commentary on the New Testament full of Greek words, he copiedthem all out, and carried them for explanation to a man living in hisnative village, who had thrown away a classical education by hisdissipated habits. The young shoemaker, thus struggling on to instruct himself, fell underthe notice of Thomas Scott, the author of the Commentary on the Bible, and it was from him that Carey first received any strong religiousimpressions. Scott was a Baptist; and young Carey, who had grown up inthe days of the deadness of the Church, was naturally led to histeacher's sect, and began to preach at eighteen years of age. He alwayslooked back with humiliation to the inexperienced performances of hisuntried zeal at that time of life; but he was doing his best to study, working hard at grammar, and every morning reading his portion of theScripture for the day in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, as well as English. Well might Mr. Scott say, as he looked at the little cobbler's shop, "That was Mr. Carey's college;" for all this time he was working at histrade, and, on his master's death, took the business, and married thedaughter of the house before he was twenty. It was an unlucky marriage, for she was a dull, ignorant woman, with nofeeling for her husband's high aims or superior powers, and the businesswas not a flourishing one; but he never manifested anything but warmaffection and tenderness towards this very uncompanionable person, andperhaps, like most men of low station and unusual intellect, had no ideathat more could be expected of a wife. Perhaps, in spite of his kindness, Mrs. Carey had to endure the disasterscommon to the wives of struggling great men: for William Carey's shoeswere not equal to his sermons, and his congregation were too poor even toraise means to clothe him decently. His time was spent in long tramps tosell shoes he had made and to obtain the mending of others, and, meantime, he was constantly suffering from fever and ague. In 1786, when in his twenty-fifth year, he obtained a little Baptistchapel and the goodwill of a school at Moulton; but as a minister he onlyreceived 16_l. _ per annum, and at the same time proved, as many have donebefore him, that aptness to learn does not imply aptness to teach. Hecould not keep order, and his boys first played tricks with him and thendeserted, till he came nearly to starvation, and had to return to hislast and his leather. Yet it was the geography lessons of this poor little school that firstfound the way to the true chord of Carey's soul. Those broad tracts ofheathenism that struck his eye in the map, and the summary of nations andnumbers professing false religions, were to a mind like his no mere itemsof information to be driven into dull brains, but were terrible realitiesrepresenting souls perishing for lack of knowledge. Cook's Voyages fellinto his hands and fed the growing impulse. He hung up in his shop alarge map, composed of several sheets pasted together, and gazed at itwhen at his work, writing against each country whatever information hehad been able to collect as to the number of the inhabitants, theirreligion, government, or habits, also as to the climate and naturalhistory. After he had for some time thus dwelt on the great longing of his heart, he ventured on speaking it forth at a meeting of ministers atNorthampton, when there was a request that some topic might be named fordiscussion. Carey then modestly rose and proposed "the duty ofChristians to attempt the spread of the Gospel among the heathen. " Thewords were like a shock. The senior, who acted as president, sprang upin displeasure, and shouted out, "Young man, sit down! When God pleasesto convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine. " Andanother, namely Mr. Fuller, who afterwards became the sheet anchor of theMissions, describes himself as having thought of the words of the nobleat Jezreel, "If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such athing be?" Silenced by his brethren, Carey persevered, and proceeded to write whathe had not been allowed to speak. A Birmingham tradesman of the name ofPott, an opulent man, was induced by his earnestness to begin asubscription for the publication of Carey's pamphlet, which showedwonderful acquaintance with the state of the countries it mentioned, andmanifested talent of a remarkable order. In truth, Carey had beenendowed with that peculiar missionary gift, facility for languages. Afriend gave him a large folio in Dutch, and was amazed by his returningshortly after with a translation into English of one of the sermons whichthe book contained. He was becoming more known, and an invitation from a congregation atLeicester, in 1789, placed him in somewhat more comfortablecircumstances, and brought him into contact with persons better able toenter into his views; but it was three years more before he could eitherpublish his pamphlet or take the very first steps towards theestablishment of a Society for Promoting the Conversion of the Heathen. The first endeavour to collect a subscription resulted in 13_l. _ 2_s. _6_d. _ This was at Kettering, and at the same time Carey offered toembark for any country the Society might appoint. The committee, however, waited to collect more means, but they found it almostimpossible to awaken people's minds. At Birmingham, indeed, 70_l. _ wascollected, but in London the dissenting pastors would have nothing to dowith the cause; and the only minister of any denomination who showed anysympathy was the Rev. John Newton, that giant of his day, who had in hisyouth been captain of a slaver, and well knew what were the dark placesof the earth. The objections made at that time were perfectlyastounding. In the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, severalPresbyterian ministers pronounced it to be "highly preposterous" toattempt to spread the Gospel among barbarous nations, extolled the"simple virtues" of the untutored savage, and even declared that thefunds of Missionary Societies might be turned against Government. In India itself, the endeavours of the Danish settlement at Tranquebarhad little affected Bengal, but a few of the more religious men atCalcutta had begun to be shocked at the utter oblivion of all Christianfaith and morality by their own countrymen, and the absolute favour shownto the grossest idolatry of the heathen. Charles Grant, a member of theBoard of Trade at Calcutta, was the foremost of these, and on his returnto England brought the subject under the notice of that great champion ofChrist, William Wilberforce. The charter of the East India Company wasrenewed from time to time; and when it was brought before Parliament, Wilberforce proposed the insertion of clauses enforcing the maintenanceof chaplains, churches, and schools, so that a branch of the Church mighttake root in Hindostan. This scheme, however, excited violent and selfish alarm in the directors, chiefly men who had made their fortunes in India, and after living therefor years under no restraint were come home to enjoy their riches. Theybelieved that the natives would take umbrage at the least interferencewith their religion, and that their own wealth and power, so highlyprized, would be lost if idolatry were not merely tolerated, butflattered and supported. The souls of men and the honour of God werenothing to them; they were furious with indignation, and procured fromthe House of Commons the omission of the clauses. There was another hopein the Lords; but though Archbishop Moore and the Bishop of London spokein favour of the articles, the Bishop of St. David's said one nation hadno right to impose its faith on another. None of the other Bishopsstirred, and the charter passed without one line towards keepingEnglishmen Christians, or making Hindoos such! The lethargy of theChurch of the eighteenth century was so heavy that not only had such ason as Carey been allowed to turn from her pale in search of earnestreligion, but while she was forced to employ foreigners, bred up in theLutheran communion, as the chaplains and missionaries of her Society forthe Propagation of the Gospel, he was going forth unaccredited as avolunteer in the cause which her paralysed efforts could not support! For it was to India that the minds of the little Baptist Society wereturned by the return of one John Thomas, who seems to have been theGaultier _Sans Avoir_ of this crusade. He was Baptist by education, andhaving gone out as a surgeon to Calcutta, had been so shocked at thestate of things as to begin to preach on his own account, but he was ahot tempered, imprudent man, and quarrelled with everybody, so as to makethe cause still more unpopular with the East Indians. Yet this strange, wild character had a wonderful power of awakening enthusiasm. He hadcome home in the same ship with one Wilson, whose history was a marvel initself. He had been made prisoner by the French during the Carnatic war, and finding that the captives were to be delivered up to Hyder Ali, heresolved to escape, leapt forty feet from his prison window, and swam theriver Coleroon, in happy ignorance that it was infested with alligators;but then going up an eminence to judge of his bearings, he was seen, secured, and stripped naked, and, with his hands tied behind him, wasdriven before Hyder Ali. His account of having crossed the Coleroon wastreated as a lie. "No mortal man, " said the natives, "had ever swum theriver; did he but dip a finger in, he would be seized by the alligators, "but when evidence proved the fact, the Nabob held up his hands and cried, "This is the man of God. " Nevertheless Wilson was chained to a soldier, and, like the well-known David Baird, John Lindsay, and many others, wasdriven naked, barefoot, and wounded, 500 miles to Seringapatam; where, loaded with irons of thirty-two pounds weight, and chained in couples, they were thrust into a "black hole, " and fed so scantily that Wilsondeclared that at sight of food his jaws snapped together of themselves. Many a time in the morning corpses were unchained, and the survivorscoupled up together again. Wilson was one of the thirty-one who lived tobe released after twenty-two months, in a frightful state of exhaustionand disease. Afterwards, when commanding a ship at Bencoolen, everyEuropean under his command died, and he alone escaped, yet all this timehe was an absolute infidel; and, when having made a fortune, he wasreturning home, he appeared so utterly hardened against all the argumentsthat the zealous Thomas could bring in favour of Christianity, as to makehim in despair remark to the chief officer that he should have more hopeof converting the Lascar sailors than of Captain Wilson. However, the words were penetrating the hitherto ignorant or obdurateheart, and preparing it to attend to further instruction. After someyears of comfort at home, on hearing of plans for a mission to the SouthSea Islands, Wilson resolved to offer himself as a free and spontaneousfellow-worker, ready to sacrifice his whole self in the great cause! Meantime Thomas's fervid account of the needs of India had made theinfant Society propose to send him out with one colleague; and WilliamCarey, now thirty-three years of age, offered himself as a fellow-worker. The notion was terrible to Mrs. Carey, who flatly refused to go; but herhusband decided on leaving her at home, and only taking his eldest boy, then about ten or eleven years old. An application was made to the Boardof Directors for a licence to the two missionaries to preach, and for apassage in one of the Company's vessels; but when Mr. Grant learnt thatThomas was one of them, he refused to assist in promoting their request, though he undertook to do what he could for Carey alone. However, theBoard were certain to refuse them a passage; not because they wereunordained or dissenters, but simply because they wished to be Christianteachers. A captain with whom Thomas had sailed as surgeon, offered tosmuggle them over without permission; but while his ship was preparing, they had to wait in the Isle of Wight, and Thomas was continually indanger of being arrested by his creditors, and was constantly obliged tohide himself, till Carey became ashamed of such an associate. At last, just as they were on board, with 250_l. _ paid for their passage, and thegoods in which the money for their support had been invested, the captainreceived a letter warning him that an information was about to be laidagainst him at the India House for taking out people without permission. Not only missionaries, but Europeans of any kind, not in the publicservice, were forbidden to set foot on the Company's territories withoutspecial licence, and the danger was so great that the captain set themashore at once; and poor Carey beheld with tears the Indian fleet sailingfrom Portsmouth without him. However, by vigorous exertion, Thomas found that a Danish ship would belying in the Downs, on her way to the East Indies, and that a passage inher would cost 100_l. _ for a full-grown person and 50_l. _ for a child. Posting down to Northamptonshire, Carey made a desperate effort topersuade his wife to come with him, and succeeded at last, on conditionthat her sister, Miss Old, should come too. There were now fivechildren, and the passage-money for the whole party amounted to 600_l. _, of which their utmost efforts, including the sale of all the littleproperty the Careys possessed, could only raise half. Thomas, who really had a generous spirit, then arranged that the wholeparty should be squeezed into two cabins, and that Mr. And Mrs. Careyalone should be treated as first-class passengers. They were taken onthese terms; but the captain, an Englishman, naturalized in Denmark, gaveMr. Thomas and Miss Old each a cabin, made them dine at his own table, and treated them all most kindly. Thus they safely arrived at Calcutta; but this was only the beginning oftroubles. The goods, the sale of which was intended to maintain themission, were entrusted to Thomas, and realized next to nothing; andCarey was indebted to the goodwill of a rich Hindoo for a miserable housein an unhealthy suburb of Calcutta, where he lodged his unfortunatefamily. They had a great deal of illness, and he was able to do littlebut study the language and endeavour to translate the Bible intoBengalee. Several moves made their state rather worse than better, until, in 1795, a gentleman in the Civil Service, Mr. George Udney, offered Carey the superintendence of an indigo factory of his own atMudnabutty, where he hoped both to obtain a maintenance, and to havegreat opportunities of teaching the natives in his employment. Disaster as usual followed him: the spot was unhealthy, the family hadfevers, one of the children died, and the mother lost her reason fromgrief, so that she had to be kept under restraint for the rest of herlife. Nor was Carey a better indigo-planter than a shoe-maker; theprofits of the factory dwindled, and the buildings fell into ruin; theseasons were bad, and in three years Mr. Udney found himself obliged togive up the speculation; but in the meantime, though Carey had not beenable to produce much effect on the natives, he had completed thepreparation of the implement to which he most trusted for his work, atranslation of the New Testament; and, moreover, had been presented bygood Mr. Udney with a wooden printing-press with Bengalee type. Thewonderful-looking thing was set up in one of the side rooms at thefactory, and was supposed by the natives to be the idol of the Europeans! In the meantime he opened a school, and preached to the natives in allthe villages round, but without making much, if any, impression; indeedhe was so disheartened, that he did not even teach his own children. Thechief benefit of his residence in India was at present the example heset, and the letters he sent home, which bore in on the minds of othersthe necessities of their brethren in the East, and brought aid insubscriptions and, what was still more needed, men. In 1799, four members of the Baptist communion offered themselves to goout as missionaries to India, and two of these were men who left mostimportant traces behind them: William Ward, who had been a printer andeditor of a newspaper at Derby, and had seen Mr. Carey before his goingout to India, and Joshua Marshman. This latter was the person who, aboveall others, gave the struggling mission the strength, consistency, andprudence which it wanted. The descendant of an old Puritan officer onthe one side, and of Huguenot refugees on the other, he was brought up instrict Baptist principles by his father, who was one of the cloth weaversthen inhabiting Wiltshire in great numbers. As a child, he waspassionately fond of reading, and his huge appetite for books and greatmemory made him a wonder in his village. A London bookseller, who wasvisiting the place, heard of this clever lad, and took him into his shopas an errand boy; but Joshua found that his concern was more with theoutside of books than the inside, and came home, at the end of fivemonths, to his father's loom. He was a steady lad, with no passions save for reading and quietheartfelt religion; but though he had never been guilty of any seriousfault, the Baptist body to which his family belonged considered he hadtoo much "head-knowledge" of Christianity to have much "heart-knowledge"of its truths; and for that reason only, and their distrust and contemptof human learning, refused to admit him to baptism. However, this was no obstacle either to his marrying the daughter of aminister of his own persuasion, or taking the mastership of a school atBristol, where he found less narrow-minded co-religionists, and wasbaptized by them in 1734, when twenty-six years of age. He was asuccessful schoolmaster, and was likewise able to join the classes atBristol Academy, where he studied thoroughly Latin, Greek, Hebrew, andSyriac. His circumstances were prosperous and rapidly improving when, after five years of great comfort at Bristol, his mind became so imbuedwith the sense of the need that some one should assist Carey, that heoffered himself, together with Ward and two other young men, one of whomhe had recently brought back to Christianity from Tom Paine's infideldoctrines. Again his "human learning" stood in his way. The honest, ignorant men who were working so earnestly, fancied it connected withPharisaism, and had little idea that the Brahmin philosophy was as hardto deal with as the Greek. They accepted him, but with hesitation, and apassage for the whole party, including wives and children, was taken inan American vessel. Mr. Charles Grant advised them not to attempt to land at Calcutta, wherethey would probably be at once arrested and sent home again, but to landat the Danish colony of Serampore, and there wait for an opportunity ofjoining Carey at Mudnabutty. Serampore is on the Hooghly, sixteen miles above Calcutta, and here theyfound themselves on the 13th of October, 1799, in a town pleasantlysituated, beautiful to look at, and full of a mixed population of Danes, Dutch, English, and natives of all hues. They were preparing to setforth for Mudnabutty when, on the fifth day after their arrival, theywere informed that the British Government demanded that they should beimmediately re-embarked and sent home again, whilst a local Englishpaper, having never heard of Baptists, concluded that the word was amistake for Papists, and announced the arrival of four Popish priests, emissaries of Buonaparte. The Danish governor, Colonel Bie, was resolvedto stand his ground and not deliver them up; but they were prevented fromsetting foot upon the Company's territory, and the unwholesome, damp, little house that they were obliged to take while waiting at Seramporeproved fatal to one of their number, the young man whom Marshman hadrescued from infidelity, who died of chill and fever before hisinexperienced associates were aware of his danger. Another difficulty in the way of joining Carey and assisting in theprinting of his translations, was that papers which were thoughtdangerous to the British power had lately been issued, and the MarquisWellesley, who was then in the midst of his great war with Tippoo Sahib, was resolved not to allow any printing to be carried on except inCalcutta, where it could be under the eye of his officials. However, hehad no objection to the establishment of mission, school, or press on theDanish ground, and Colonel Bie was only desirous to keep them there; soit was decided to send Ward alone, with a Danish passport, to visit Careyat Mudnabutty, and confer with him upon his removal to Serampore, and theestablishment of a mission settlement there. All doubt was removed, while this consultation was in progress, byfinding that the jealous Anglo-Indians were prepared to arrest anymissionary whom they caught upon their ground; and Carey's five years'covenant as an indigo planter being now run out, his supposed idol wastaken down and packed up, and his four boys and poor insane wife removedto Serampore, where all their present capital was laid out in thepurchase of a piece of ground and the construction of the habitations ofthe little colony. The expenses were to be defrayed from a common stock, each missionary in turn superintending the domestic arrangements for amonth, all the household dining together at one table, and only a smallallowance being made to each head of a family for pocket money. Six families were here united, and only 200_l. _ was left to support themfor the six months until remittances could be obtained from England; butall were used to cottage fare, and were not so dependent on servants asmost Europeans in India. A piece of land attached to the house became, under Mr. Carey's care, a beautiful botanic garden. The press was set upunder the care of Ward, and on the 18th of March, 1800, the first sheetsof the Gospels in Bengalee were struck off. Mr. And Mrs. Marshman openedtwo boarding schools for European children for the maintenance of themission, and their great ability in tuition rendered these so profitableas to become its main support. This was soon followed by another schoolfor the natives, to which they eagerly thronged. Meanwhile the missionaries went out, singly or in pairs, into the streetsor the neighbourhood of the heathen temples, and attracted a crowd bysinging hymns in Bengalee, and then preached to them, offering to receiveany inquiries at the mission-house. Carey's time was almost entirelytaken up in hearing and answering these questions; but, as usual, theties of family, society, and custom almost always proved too strong to bebroken through even by the conviction of the truth of Christianity. Ram-bosoo, Mr. Carey's first Hindoo friend, was like Serfojee, ready to doanything on behalf of Christianity except to embrace it openly himself. Mr. Thomas had meantime engaged himself as superintendent of a sugarfactory at Beerbhoom, whence he came to visit his brethren at Serampore, bringing with him one of his workmen named Fukier, whom he believed thathe had converted. The man gave so good an account of his faith that themissionaries deemed him fit for baptism, and rejoiced in him as the first-fruits of seven years' labour; but he went home to take leave of hisfriends, and either they prevailed on him to give up his intention, orprivately murdered him, for he never was heard of again. However, a carpenter of Serampore named Krishnu, who had been broughtinto the mission-house with a dislocated arm for Mr. Thomas to set, wasso struck by what he heard there that he, with his wife and daughter andhis brother Goluk, were all willing to give up their caste and bebaptized. There was much, however, to render the joy of this day far from beingunmixed. Poor John Thomas, after his seventeen years of effort, fitful, indeed, but sincere, was so overjoyed at this confession of faith that hebecame frantic, and in three days was raving violently. Meanwhile, thenative mob, infuriated by hearing that Krishnu and Goluk had renouncedtheir caste, rose to the number of two thousand, and dragged them to themagistrate, but found nothing to accuse them of. The magistrate releasedthem, but they were brought back immediately after, on the plea that theperson to whom Krishnu's daughter had been betrothed had a claim uponher. This, however, the authorities disallowed, and they even gave themissionaries a guard to secure them from any interruption during the riteof Baptism, which, by the customs of their sect, was necessarily inpublic, and by immersion; but there was serious consultation whether itwere fit to use the Ganges, so superstitiously adored by the natives, forthe purpose. Some argued that the Hindoos might think that thesacredness of Gunga was thus recognized, others that they would considerthat the Christians had defiled it, and it was finally resolved to use itlike any other stream. In the meantime, Goluk and the two women had beenso much terrified that they would not come forward; and on the day of thebaptism, Sunday, the 26th of December, 1800, the only two candidates wereKrishnu and Felix Carey, the missionary's own eldest son. William Careywalked from the chapel to the ghat, or steps leading to the river, withhis son on one side and the Hindoo on the other; but the court they hadto pass resounded with the frightful imprecations of poor Mr. Thomas inone room, echoed by screams from Mrs. Carey in the other. At the ghat the Danish governor himself, together with several of hiscountrymen, some Englishmen, a large body of Portuguese, and a throng ofnatives, Hindoo and Mahometan, were waiting, and before all these thebaptism was performed by Mr. Carey. All were silent as if overawed, andColonel Bie even shed tears. The next day there was not a scholar in the native school, but the loveof learning soon filled it again. Even down till quite recently, whenthe bands of attachment to the old heathenism have become much loosened, every open conversion continued to empty the schools, though never forlong at a time. The women soon recovered from their alarm and were baptized, and themission also gained over an influential Portuguese gentleman namedFernandez, whom their tenets led them to view as in as much need ofconversion as the heathen. He proved an active assistant, and for fullthirty years laboured in their cause. In the meantime Lord Wellesley had been engaged in founding the collegeat Fort William, Calcutta, for the training of young Europeans for thecivil service in the knowledge of the numerous native tongues, laws, andcustoms with which they had to deal--and which are as various as they areimportant--not only practically, but philosophically. The only person atthat time in Bengal qualified to teach the Bengalese language was theNorthamptonshire cobbler, who had acquired it for the love of God and thespread of Gospel light! His dissent was a disqualification for any of the higher offices of thecollege, but the teachership was offered to him, with a salary of 500rupees a month--absolute affluence compared with his original condition. Yet he would not accept the post unless he were allowed still to beregarded as a missionary. No objection was made, and thus by his talentand usefulness had Carey forced from the Government which had forbiddenhim to set foot on their territories his recognition in the character hehad always claimed. Even his private secular earnings he never regardedas his own: this income, and that arising from Marshman's school, thesegood men viewed as rendering their mission from henceforth independent, and setting free the Society at home to support fresh ones. Already theaccounts they sent home were stirring up many more subscribers, and thecommendations bestowed on them in the periodical accounts pained theirhumility. Ward wrote that it was like a public show: "Very finemissionaries to be seen here! Walk in, brethren and sisters, walk in!" It was happy for the missionaries that their ground had thus been won, for the war with Denmark occasioned Serampore to be occupied by Britishtroops early in 1801, and this would, earlier in their career, infalliblyhave led to their expulsion: but, as it was, they were allowed to proceedexactly as they had done before. Their most serious difficulties were at an end before poor Thomas, thoughhe had recovered from his brain fever, died of an attack of fever andague, after having done almost an equal amount of good and harm to hiscause by his excitable nature and entire want of balance. Convertscontinued from time to time to be gathered in: Goluk took courage afterwaiting about two years, and a Brahmin named Krishnu-prisad trampled onhis brahminical cord or poita, and was baptized. He was allowed to wearit as a mark of distinction, but he gave it up voluntarily after threeyears. Moreover he broke through Indian prejudice by marrying thedaughter of Krishnu, the first convert, though of a caste far inferior tohis own. This was the occasion of a happy little wedding feast, givenunder a tree in front of the house of the bride's father, when a hymncomposed by Krishnu was sung, and native dishes served up in Easternstyle, after which the entertainment concluded with prayer. Only thenext week, in contrast to the devotion that blessed these family ties, three Hindoo widows were burnt on a pile not far from the mission-house! In still greater contrast was the first funeral among the converts of themission-house--that of a man named Gokool. The native custom is that thedead are always carried to burial by persons of their own caste, and itis intense defilement for one of another caste to touch the body. Christians were always carried by the lowest class of the Portuguese, whohad fallen into so degraded a state that they were usually known by theirown word for poor, "pobre, " and were despised by the whole population. They were generally drunk and disorderly, and their rudeness, irreverence, and quarrels were a scandal to the solemn occasion. Mr. Marshman, who was in charge of the mission at the time in Mr. Carey'sabsence, had some difficulty in persuading the Hindoo converts that itwas no shame, but a charitable work, to bear a brother's body to its lastresting-place, even though they were seen doing the work of the despisedpobres. Accordingly he resolved to set the example, and the corpse ofthe convert, within a coffin covered with white muslin, was carried tothe burial-ground by Marshman, Felix Carey, a baptized Brahmin, and abaptized Hindoo, all the procession singing a Bengalee Christian hymn. The most remarkable events that befell the Serampore Mission from thistime were either domestic, or related to their connection with theCollege at Fort William, and the sanction they received from Government. Lord Wellesley went home in 1805, Colonel Bie died the same year, andthese were most serious losses to the cause of the Serampore mission. Lord Wellesley had followed his own judgment, and carried things with ahigh hand, often against the will of the East India Company, and therewas a strong desire to reverse his policy. His successor, LordCornwallis, died two months after landing, and Sir George Barlow, whocarried on the government in the interregnum, though a good man, had notforce enough to withstand the dislike of the Anglo-Indians to themission. Mr. Ward made an attempt at Calcutta to preach in Hindoo in achapel, the ground of which had been purchased by the missionaries, butas he walked through the streets the people shouted, "That's the Hindoopadre; why dost thou destroy the caste of the people?" And when, twoSundays later, a preacher of Brahmin birth appeared, there were loudcries of indignation. "O vagabond, " cried one man, "why didst thou notcome to my house? I would have given thee a handful of rice rather thanthat thou shouldst have become a Feringhee!" In spite of these cries, however, the chapel was thronged, until, after the third Sunday, when anorder came forth from the magistrates, forbidding the missionaries eitherto preach, allow their converts to preach, distribute tracts, or evenargue with the natives--or in anyway "interfere with their prejudices"--inCalcutta; and two new missionaries, named Chater and Robinson, who hadcome out without a licence, were prohibited from proceeding to Serampore. Considering that these orders emanated only from a Provisional Governmentduring an interregnum, and that there was every hope that they might bereversed by the next Governor-General, the missionaries resolved tosubmit to them for the time, and to abstain from working in Calcutta. Early in the year 1806, however, the animosity of the English EastIndians was increased by a mutiny that broke out among the Sepoys atVellore, in the Madras Presidency, in consequence of some regulations asto their dress, which they resented as being supposed to assimilate themto Europeans. The English colonel and all his garrison were massacred, and, though the mutineers were surrounded and destroyed, great alarmprevailed. The discontent of the Sepoys was attributed to theirdispleasure at the spread of Christianity, and it was even averred thatthe lives of the English in India could only be preserved by the recallof all the missionaries! At Calcutta, Sir George Barlow sent to forbid Mr. Carey and hiscolleagues from making any further attempts at conversion, and for ashort time they were entirely restricted to the Danish territory, whileChater and Robinson were ordered to embark for England, and were onlykept by their appeal to the flag of Denmark. Upon this Mr. Chater proceeded to Rangoon, an independent province, buton the whole the current of opposition was diminishing. Lord Wellesleyand Mr. Pitt had prevailed upon Government not to permit the College atFort William to be broken up, though it was reduced and remodelled. Mr. Carey was a gainer by the change, for he was promoted to a professorship, with an increase of salary, which he said was "very good for themission. " He soon after received the diploma of a Doctor of Divinityfrom an American University. The head-quarters of the establishment continued to be at Serampore, where the missionaries and their families still lived in common, supported upon the proceeds of Mr. Carey's professorship, Mr. Marshman'sschool, and likewise the subscriptions received from England. Here weretheir chapel, their schools, and their printing-press, from whenceemanated such books and tracts in Bengalee as could be useful for theirpurpose, and likewise their great work, the translation of theScriptures, which Marshman and Carey were continually revising andimproving as their knowledge of the language became more critical. ThenceMr. Carey went to give instruction at Fort William, and thence thepreachers, as the opposition relaxed, went forth on expeditions into thecountry to teach, argue, and persuade, without any very wide-spreadsuccess, but still every year gaining a few converts--sometimes as manyas twenty--who, when they had given sufficient evidence of faith, werealways publicly baptized by immersion, according to the custom of thesect, which indeed acknowledged no other form as valid, and re-baptizedsuch members of other communions as joined them. Every missionary to theEast Indies, whether belonging to their own society or not, was certainto visit and hold council with them, as the veterans of the Christianarmy in India, and the men most experienced in the character and languageof the natives; they were the prime leaders and authorities in all thatconcerned the various vernacular translations of the Scriptures, andtheir example was as a trumpet-call to others to follow them in theirlabours; while all the time the simplicity, humility, self-denial, andactivity of the men themselves remained unspoiled. Wonderful, too, had been the effect produced by the stirring of thesluggish waters of indifference. The Society that had been with suchdifficulty established at home, was numbering multitudes of subscribersboth in England and America; it had awakened a like spirit in othersects, and whereas no dissenting minister in London had at first taken upCarey's cause, it had become a scandal for a minister not to subscribe toor promote missions to the heathen. Missionary reports were everywheredistributed, young men aspired to the work, and American Universities didhonour to the ability and scholarship of the pioneers of Serampore. Mrs. Carey died on the 7th of December, 1807, having spent twelve yearsin a state of constant melancholy and often raving insanity. Poor woman!she was from the first a victim to her husband's aspirations, which shenever understood. There is something piteous in the cobbler's daughtermarrying the apprentice to keep on the business, and finding him a geniusand a hero on her hands, starving, being laughed at, and at last carriedoff to a strange land and fatal climate, all without the leastcomprehension or sympathy for the cause, and her mind failing before thematerial prosperity came, which she might have regarded as compensation. In 1807, when some progress had been made, the grant for the translationof the Scriptures was withdrawn; but the superintendents resolved topersevere on their own account, and at the same time to collect all theinformation in their power respecting the Christians in India, so as tobe able to rouse the cold hearts at home to the perception that a realwork was in progress. For this purpose, Dr. Claudius Buchanan, theProvost of the College at Fort William, made an expedition of inquiryamong the various Christians, and his little book, "ChristianResearches, " brought much before the public at home, of which they hadhitherto been ignorant. Before his time the enormities of the worship of Jaghernauth, and thehorrors of the car, beneath which human victims threw themselves, hadhardly been realized; and his very effective style of writing broughtinto full prominence the atrocities of the Suttee, or burning of widowson the funeral pile, a custom with which it was supposed to be impossibleto interfere, but which has been proved to be entirely a corruptpractice, unsanctioned by any ancient law, only encouraged by theBrahmins out of avarice. Happily the present generation only knows ofthese atrocities as almost proverbial expressions, but when the centurycame in they were in full force. It was Buchanan, too, who first revealed to the English the existence ofthose Nestorian Christians of St. Thomas, on the coast of Malabar, whohad probably had no ecclesiastical intercourse with this country sincethe embassy of King Alfred, nine hundred years before. He also broughtinto public notice the effect of Swartz's labours, by describing a visitthat he made to Tanjore, where he had a most kind reception fromSerfojee, and greatly admired the numerous charitable foundations of thatbeneficent Rajah. He also heard the services held in three languages inSwartz's church, and was greatly struck, when the Tamul sermon began, byhearing a universal scratching and grating all round him. This wascaused, he found, by the iron pens upon the palmyra leaves upon whichmost of the native congregation were taking notes, writing nearly as fastas the minister spoke. He also heard Sattianadem--now a white-haired oldman--preach on the "Marvellous Light, " and he felt that a great man hadverily left his impress on these districts. Carey's second marriage was curiously different from his first. It wasto a lady named Charlotte Rumohr, of noble extraction, belonging to afamily of high rank, in the duchy of Schleswig. She was small andslightly deformed, but of good abilities; she had been highly educated, and being generally a prisoner on a couch, she had read deeply in manylanguages. She had come out to India in search of a warm climate, andresiding at Serampore, had fallen under the influence of themissionaries, and had some years previously been admitted to theircongregation by immersion. For the first time, Dr. Carey now enjoyed areally happy home, with a lady equal to conversing with him after thelabours of the day. But this mission, though subsisting for some years longer, hardly affordsmany more events. It was not without troubles. At times came friendlysupport; at others, opposition from the authorities--the committee athome were sometimes ignorantly meddlesome, sometimes sordid in their fitsof economy; insufficiently tested fellow-labourers came out and failed;promising converts fell away; the climate was one steady unrelaxing foe, which took victims out of every family: but all these things were as thedust of the highway, trials common to man, and only incident to the veryposition that had been so wondrously achieved, since the day when thepoor Baptist cobbler was so peremptorily silenced for but venturing tohint at the duty of converting the heathen. Lord Hastings' government was far more friendly than any previous one, and the few notable events that befell the community are quicklynumbered. In 1821, they were visited by Swartz's pupil, Serfojee, whowas staying with the Governor-General, Lord Hastings, on his way toBenares, whither, strange and sad to say, he was on pilgrimage, thoughall the time showing full intellectual understanding of, and warmexternal affection for, the Christian faith. He talked English easily, and showed much interest in all that was going on, but a heathen he stillremained. This visit only preceded by a few weeks the death of Mrs. Carey, afterthirteen years' marriage, the happiest of Dr. Carey's life; but inanother year he married a widow of forty-five, who was ready to nurse hisnow declining years. That year 1822 was a year of much sorrow; thecholera, said to have first appeared in 1817, became very virulent. TheHindoos viewed it as a visitation from the goddess of destruction, andheld services to propitiate it, and when that had passed away, a morethan usually fatal form of fever set in. Krishnu-pal, the first convert, who had for twenty years been a consistent Christian, was one of thefirst to be taken away. Dr. Carey himself, though exceedingly ill, recovered his former state of health, and continued his arduous labours, he being by this time the ablest philologist in India; but the littleband had come to the time of life when "the clouds return after therain, " and in 1823 Mr. Ward died of cholera. For twenty-three years hadthe threefold cord between Carey, Marshman, and Ward, been unbroken. Theyhad lived together like brothers, alike in aim and purposes, eachsupplying what the other lacked; and the distress of the parting wasterrible, especially to Dr. Marshman, who at the time of his friend'sillness was suffering from an attack of deafness, temporary indeed, butfor some days total, so that he could only watch the final strugglewithout hearing a single word. He wrote as if he longed to be with those whose toils and sorrows were atan end, but he still had much more to do. In 1826, he visited England, partly for the sake of pleading with the Society at home, first begun onso small a scale by Carey, but which now numbered many members anddisposed of large sums. The committee, however, were often hard to dealwith. There were among them many men of good intentions, but withoutbreadth of views, and used to small economies. They listened to falsereports, censured without sufficient information, pinched their missions, and dictated the management, so that to deal with them was but a vexationof spirit. Indeed, such annoyances are inseparable from the very fact ofthe supplies and the government being in the hands of a body at adistance from the scene of action, and destitute of personal experienceof the needs. After much argument, the matter ended in the Serampore mission beingseparated from the General Society, as indeed it had become nearly self-supporting through the numerous schools which the talents of the membersof it had been able to establish. It was an unfortunate time, however, when the two men whose abilities had earned their present position wereso far past the prime of life; and, in 1830, the failure of a greatbanking company both deprived them of a large part of their investments, and, by ruining numerous families, lessened the attendance at Dr. Marshman's school. Moreover, the American subscribers sent a mostvexatious and absurd remonstrance against any part of their contributionsfor training young men to the ministry, being employed in teachingscience. "As if, " said Dr. Marshman, "youths in America could beeducated for ministers without learning science. " Another disaster was that, on Lord William Bentinck's arrival in India in1830, the finances of the Government were found to be in sounsatisfactory a state, that salaries were everywhere reduced, and thatwhich Dr. Carey had derived from the college at Fort William was thus cutdown from 1, 000 rupees per month to 500. At this time, the missions andpreachers dependent on Serampore required 1, 500_l. _ a year for theirsupport, and only 900_l. _ was to be had, and this when both Marshman andCarey were seventy years of age, and still were toiling as hard as ever. There were other troubles, too, as to who was the owner of the buildings, whether the Baptist Society, or the missionaries as trustees, and ashaving paid a large portion of the price. A great inundation of theHooghly had nearly settled the question by washing the whole away. As itwas, it did much damage, and destroyed the beautiful botanical gardenthat had for twenty years been Dr. Carey's delight. Finally the whole ofthe right of Marshman and Carey to the buildings was sold to the Society, for a much less amount than they had paid from their own pockets; butthey were to occupy them rent free for the rest of their lives. The trouble and anxiety consequent on this question, which had been ofmany years' standing, had greatly impaired Dr. Marshman's strength bothof body and mind. Morbid attacks of depression came on, during which hewandered about, unable to apply himself so much as even to write aletter, though in the intervals he was both cheerful and full ofactivity. Dr. Carey's health was likewise failing, and, with no formedillness, he gradually sank, and died on the 9th of June, 1834, in hisseventy-third year. To him belongs the honour of the awakening of the missionary spirit inEngland. Yet, as an individual preacher and teacher, he does not seem tohave had much power. His talent was for language and philology; hisperfections were faith and perseverance. In these he was a giant; ineverything else, whether as a cobbler, schoolmaster, indigo-planter, nay, even as father of a family, he was a failure: but his steady, faithfulpurpose enabled him so to use that one talent as to make him the pioneerand the support as well as the example of numbers better qualified forthe actual work than himself. His loss left Dr. Marshman alone, and suffering from melancholy more andmore, as well as much harassed by difficulties as to the resources, andby captious complaints from home. In 1836, a great shock was given tohis nerves by the danger of his daughter. She was the wife of LieutenantHenry Havelock, a young officer, who, deeply impressed by Dr. Marshman'spiety, had joined his congregation, and who was destined to become inafter years one of the most heroic and able of the defenders of theBritish cause in India. During his absence, she and her three childrenhad been left at Landour, when their bungalow caught fire in the middleof the night, and blazed up with a rapidity due to its light, drymaterials. She rushed out with her baby in her arms, but in crossing theverandah tripped and fell, losing her hold of the child. She was draggedaway by a faithful native servant, who likewise snatched out her twoeldest boys, but the poor baby was lost in the flames, and she herselfwas so much injured and overwhelmed by the alarm and grief, that, whenher husband arrived, her state was almost hopeless, and he wrote a letterpreparing her father to hear of her death. From some untoward accident, no more tidings reached Serampore for three days, and to spirits that hadalready lost their balance the suspense was fatal. The aged fatherwandered about the house in a purposeless manner, sometimes standinggazing along the road through the Venetian blinds, sometimes talkingincoherently; and when at last the intelligence arrived that Mrs. Havelock was out of danger, though his joy and thankfulness wereecstatic, the effects of these three days were irremediable; he washardly ever seen to smile again, could take no part in the reneweddiscussions with the Baptist Society, although his mind and memory werestill clear. He died on the 5th of December, 1837, just as the Seramporemission had been re-united to the General Baptist mission. "There had been but few men at Serampore, but they were all giants, " wassaid of them by one of the dignitaries of the Church and assuredly it wasa wonderful triumph, that a shoe-maker, a schoolmaster, and a printershould in thirty-eight years not only have aroused the missionary spiritin England, but have, by their resolution and talent, established thirty-three stations for the preaching of Christianity in India; while at thetime of the death of the last survivor, forty-nine ministers were inunion with them, half of whom were natives of Hindostan, and around eachof the elder stations was a fair proportion of converts. Still moreamazingly, these self-educated men had, by their accurate knowledge anddeep study, become most eminent authorities in matters of language andphilology; and by their usefulness had actually compelled a prejudicedGovernment to depend on them for assistance, and thus to support the workfor which alone they cared. Never were the words more completelyfulfilled than in them, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and Hisrighteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. " The reverses that chequered their wonderful success were not the moreinteresting difficulties of wild country, or persecuting heathen, buttroubles with an obstructive Government, and with the Society at home, which endeavoured to rule them without understanding them. Thesevexations are inseparable from the conditions of Societies trying togovern from home instead of letting the management be carried on by ahead upon the spot. CHAPTER VI. THE JUDSON FAMILY. We must turn to an important offshoot from the Serampore mission, whichassumed extensive proportions and a character of its own, chiefly inconsequence of American zeal. Here, be it observed, was the first groundattempted by modern missions (not Roman Catholic) which belonged to anindependent sovereign. The great Burmese Empire, roughly speaking, occupies the Eastern Indiapeninsula, being separated from that of Hindostan by the Brahmapootrariver. The mountainous formation of the country, its indented coast, andnumerous rivers render it fertile, and the hills contain many valuablemetals and beautiful precious stones. The inhabitants are of the Mongolian race, short, stout, active, andbrown, with a good deal of ingenuity in arts and manufactures, but notequal to the Chinese, their neighbours. Their language is monosyllabic, their religion Buddhist, their government a despotic empire, and at thetime the mission was entered upon they had had little intercourse withstrangers, but their women were not secluded, were not wholly uneducated, and were treated with consideration. Buddha is regarded as a manifestation of Vishnu--the Hindoos say, todelude his enemies; the Buddhists, to bring a new revelation. Gautamawas the almost deified being who spread the knowledge of Buddhism, about500 B. C. In different countries the religion has assumed differentforms, but it is nearly co-extensive with the Mongolian race, and thegeneral features are the rejection of the Vedas and of most of the Hindoomyths, faith in the divinity of Buddha, and hope that the individualpersonality will be entirely absorbed in his essence, the human beinglost in the Deity. Five laws of virtue must be observed, ten kinds ofsin avoided; and the Buddhist expects that transgressions will bepunished by the transmigration of his soul into some inferior creature, whence he will rise by successive stages into another trial as a man, andgradually improving by the help of contemplation, and of a sublime stateof annihilation of all self-consciousness, may become fit for his finalabsorption into the Godhead. There is an extensive priesthood, calledLamas, who live in a state of celibacy in dwellings not at all unlikemonasteries; and, in effect, so much in their practices seems to parodythe ceremonies of Christianity that the Portuguese thought them inventedby the devil for the very purpose. However, there is no doubt thatBuddhism inculcates a much purer morality than the religion of Brahma, and far higher aims. In Burmah, however, the idea of the eternity of theDeity had evidently been lost, and Gautama had practically usurped theplace that the higher Buddhists gave to Brahma. Indeed, though the trueBuddhist system looks to the absorption in the Deity, --Nirvana, as it iscalled, --the popular notion, as received in Burmah and corrupted by lessrefined minds, made it into what was either absolute nonentity or couldnot be distinguished from it, so that the ordinary Burman's best hope forthe future was of nothing but annihilation. There was originally a Burman Empire, but it had become broken up, andthe territories of Ava, Pegu, and Siam were separated, though Ava claimedthem all, and owned a semi-barbarous magnificent court, with manygradations of dignitaries, sending out Viceroys to the differentprovinces and towns. When in 1807 strong opposition was made by Sir George Barlow's governmentto the landing of the two Baptist missionaries, Robinson and Chater, theformer obtained forbearance on account of his wife's health, but thelatter was obliged to embark; and, rather than return to England, hechose a vessel bound for Rangoon, a city at the mouth of the riverIrrawaddy, the nearest Burmese harbour. His was to be a reconnoitringexpedition to discover the condition of the Burmese Empire, the progressthat Roman Catholic missions were making there, and the possibility ofundertaking anything from the centre of Serampore. Another missionary, named Mardon, went with him. They were well received by the Europeanmerchants resident at Rangoon, and returned with an encouraging report. It was decided that the attempt should be made; and as Mr. Mardon did notfeel equal to the undertaking, fifteen days were set apart as a time ofprivate prayer for direction who should be chosen in his stead. It was Felix Carey, then nearly twenty-two, who volunteered to go withMr. Chater, of whom he was very fond. His father was unwilling to sendhim, not only on account of his youth, but because he was very valuablein the printers' work, and had an unusual amount of acquaintance withSanskrit and Bengalee, so that he could hardly be spared from thetranslations; but the majority of the council at Serampore were in favourof his going, and after a long delay, in consequence of the dangerBritish trading vessels were incurring from French privateers from theIsle of France, they set sail and arrived at Rangoon early in the year1808. There they built themselves a house, and obtained a good deal of favourfrom the gentleness and amiability of Mr. Chater, and from young Carey'susefulness. He had regularly studied medicine for some years in thehospital at Calcutta, and his skill was soon in great request, especiallyfor vaccination, which he was the first to introduce. His real turn was, however, for philology, and he was delighted to discover that the Pali, the sacred and learned language of Burmah, was really a variety of theSanskrit, cut down into agreement with the Mongolian monosyllabic speech. He began, with the assistance of a pundit, to compile a grammar, and tomake a rough beginning of a translation of the Scripture, a work indeedin which the Serampore people were apt to be almost too precipitate, notwaiting for those refinements of knowledge which are needful in dealingwith the shades of meaning of words of such intense importance anddelicate significancy. But on their principles, they could do nothingwithout vernacular Bibles, and they had not that intense reverence andtrained scholarly appreciation which made Martyn spend his life on thecorrectness of a single version, rather than send it forth with a flaw togive wrong impressions. Neither does Felix Carey seem to have been a missionary in anything butthat bent which is given by training and family impulse. He delighted inlanguages, but rather as an end than a means; and though he did what theguiding fathers at Serampore required of him, it was as a matter ofcourse, not with his whole heart. In the meantime, the fact of Mr. Chater being a married man occasioned difficulties. Like their kinsmenthe Chinese, the Burmese much objected to the residence of foreignfemales within their bounds; and when Mr. Chater obtained leave to bringhis wife, she was so forlorn that he was obliged to seek for anotherstation, and, receiving an invitation to Ceylon, left Felix alone, exceptfor his marriage with a young woman of European extraction, but born inBurmah. Soon after a dispute arose between the British and Burmese governments, and two English ships of war appeared off Rangoon. The nativeauthorities wished the young missionary to act as interpreter, and on hisrefusal he was accused of being a spy, and was forced to take refuge onboard one of the British ships where he remained for two months beforethe differences were adjusted, and he was allowed to return on conditionthat he should not refuse his services as interpreter another time. Inthe October of 1812 he came home to Serampore to print his Burmesegrammar and Gospel of St. Matthew, and not only did this, but carried apress back with him to Rangoon. A youth who was sent from thecongregation at Calcutta to co-operate with him proved unfit for thework, and was advised to return to secular business; but in the meantime, the person who was, above all others, to be identified with the Burmesemission, had heard the call and was on his way. This was Adoniram Judson, a native of New England, the eldest son of theminister of Malden, in Massachusetts, born in 1788, and bred up first ata school near home, and afterwards at Brown University. His acutenessand cleverness from infancy were great, especially in arithmetic andmathematics. During his studies, he met with a clever and brilliantfriend who had imbibed the deistical teaching of the French Revolution, and infected him with it, and he came home at seventeen the winner of allthe honours and prizes that the College afforded, but announcing himselfto his parents as a decided infidel! The pastor treated him with sterndispleasure, and argued hotly with him, but young Adoniram was thecleverer man, and felt his advantage. His mother's tears and entreatieswere less easy to answer, and the thought of them dwelt with him, do whathe would, when he set out on a sort of tour through the surroundingStates. On his journey, he stopped at a country inn, and was told, withmuch apology, that there was no choice but to give him a room next tothat of a young man who was so ill that he could scarcely live tillmorning. In fact, Adoniram's rest was broken by the groans of the dyingman and the footsteps of the nurses, and there--close to the shadow ofdeath--his infidelity, which had been but pride of intellect and fashion, began to quail, as the thought of the future haunted him. Morning came;all was still. He asked after his fellow-lodger, and heard that he wasdead. He asked his name. It was no other than the very youth who hadstaggered his faith. The shock changed his whole tone. He could not bear to continue hisjourney, but turned back to Plymouth, determined to prove to himself whatwas indeed truth; and, while deeply studying the evidences ofChristianity, he supported himself by keeping a school and writingeducational books on grammar and arithmetic. His mind was soonthoroughly made up, as, indeed, his aberrations had been only on thesurface, and he became very anxious to enter the Theological College atAndover, Massachusetts. This belonged to the most earnest of theCongregationalists, and evidence of personal conversion and piety wasrequired from the candidates; but, in his case, the professors weresatisfied, and he entered on his course of study, which included Hebrew. In the last year of his studies there he fell in with Claudius Buchanan's"Star in the East, " and the perusal directed his whole soul to the desireof missionary labour. His mind was harassed night and day with thethought of longing to do something for the enlightenment of the millionsin Asia; and, meeting with Symes' "Burmese Empire, " his thoughts turnedespecially in that direction. It was a quiet steady purpose, though hewas slow of communicating it; until, one evening at home, his fatherbegan throwing out hopes and hints of some great preferment, and hismother and sister smiled complacently, as if they were in the secret. Adoniram begged for an explanation, since it was possible their plansmight not coincide, to which his father replied there was no fear, andtold him that the minister of the biggest church in Boston wished for himas a colleague. "So near home, " said the delighted mother. He could notbear to answer her, but, when his sister chimed in, he turned to her, saying, "No, sister, I shall never live in Boston; I have much farther togo;" and then, steadily and calmly, but fervidly, he set forth the callthat he felt to be upon him. How different a communication from thatwhich he had made two years before! No doubt his family so felt it, for, though his mother and sister shed many tears, neither they nor his fatheroffered a word of opposition. Thenceforth his fate was determined, and he began to prepare himself. Hewas, in person, slightly made and delicate-looking, with an aquilineface, dark eyes, and chesnut hair; and though his constitution must havebeen immensely strong to have borne what he underwent, at this time hewas thought delicate; and therefore, with his one purpose before him, hecarefully studied physiology, and made himself a code of rules which heobeyed to the end of his life, in especial inhaling large quantities ofair, sponging the whole body with cold water, and taking daily exerciseby walking. He was a man of great vivacity and acuteness, with thepoetical spirit that accompanies strong enthusiasm, and with a fastidiousdelicacy and refinement in all personal matters, such as seemed rather tomark him as destined to be an accomplished scholar than to lead the rudelife of a missionary; and Ann Hasseltine, the young lady on whom he hadfixed his affections, was a very beautiful girl, of great cultivation andaccomplishments, but they were alike in one other great respect, --namely, in dauntless self-devotion. He began to talk of his purpose to the like-minded among his college mates, and gradually gathered a few into a verysmall missionary association, into which none were admitted who had anyduties that could forbid their going out to minister among the heathen. At the same time, and partly through their means, a wider association wasformed, which had its centre at Bradford, and which finally decided onsending Judson to England to endeavour to effect a union with the LondonMissionary Society, which had been formed in 1795, in imitation ofCarey's Baptist Society, to work in other directions by Nonconformists ofother denominations. The voyage in 1811, in the height of the continental war, was a veryperilous one. On the way the vessel was taken by the French and carriedinto Bayonne, while the young American passenger was summarily throwninto the hold with the common sailors. He became very ill, but, when theFrench doctor visited him, he could hold no communication for want of acommon language. Then it was that there came thoughts of home, and ofthe "biggest church in Boston, " and a misgiving swept over him, which hetreated at once as a suggestion of the enemy, and betook himself toprayer. Then, in the grey twilight of the hold, he felt about for hisHebrew Bible; and to keep his mind fully absorbed, began mentallyrendering the Hebrew into Latin. When the doctor came in, he took up theBible, perceived that he had a scholar to deal with, began to talk Latinto him, and arranged his release from the hold. But on landing at Bayonne, he was marched through the streets as aprisoner with the English crew. He began declaiming in his nativelanguage on the injustice of detaining an American, and obtained hispurpose by attracting the attention of an American gentleman in thestreet, who promised to do what he could for him, but advised him in themeantime to proceed quietly. The whole party were thrown into a dismalunderground vault, and the stones covered with straw, which seemed toJudson so foul that he could not bear to sit down on it, and he walked upand down, though sick and giddy with the chill, close, noisomeatmosphere. Before his walking powers were exhausted, his Americanfriend was at the door, and saying, "Let me see whether I know any ofthese poor fellows, " took up the lamp, looked at them, said "No friend ofmine, " and as he put down the lamp threw his own large cloak round Mr. Judson, and grasping his arm, led him out under it in the dark; while afee, put into the hand, first of the turnkey and then of the porter, mayhave secured that the four legs under the cloak should pass unobserved. "Now run, " said the American, as soon as they were outside, and he rushedoff to the wharf, closely followed by his young countryman, whom heplaced on board a vessel from their own country for the night. Afterwards, Judson's papers were laid before the authorities, and he wasnot only released, but allowed to travel through France to the northerncoast, and, making friends with some of the Emperor's suite on the wayhome from Spain, travelled to Paris in an Imperial carriage. Afterwards, he made his way to England, where he received a warm welcome from theLondon Missionary Society, by which he and the three friends he had leftin America--Samuel Newell, Samuel Nott, and Gordon Hall--were accepted asmissionaries; but on Judson's return to America, he found that theCongregationalist Mission Board there was able to undertake theirexpenses, and accordingly they went out, salaried by their own country. All four were dedicated to the ministry at Salem on the 6th of February, 1812, and immediately prepared to sail for the East Indies. Judson, with his wife, the beautiful dark-eyed Ann Hasseltine, and hisfriends Mr. And Mrs. Newell, also newly married, embarked in the_Caravan_; Hall, Nott, and another college mate, named Luther Rice, werein the _Harmony_. They were at once received at Serampore, on theirlanding, in the June of 1812, but Dr. Carey's expectations of them werenot high. Adoniram and Ann Judson were both delicate, slender, refined-looking people. "I have little hope from the Americans, " he wrote; "ifthey should stay in the East, American habits are too luxurious for apreparation to live among savages. " He little knew what were thecapabilities of Ann Judson, the first woman who worked effectively in thecause, the first who rose above the level of being the comfort of herhusband in his domestic moments, and was an absolute and valuableinfluence. The opposition to the arrival of missionaries was at its height, and thislarge batch so dismayed the Calcutta authorities that, declaring themBritish subjects come round by America, they required their instant re-embarkation. It was decided to go to the Isle of France, whence it washoped to find a French ship to take them to the aid of Felix Carey, butthe first vessel could only take the Newells, and the detention atSerampore drew the Judsons and Rice into the full influence of Marshman'spowerful and earnest mind. Aware that they would have to work with theBaptist mission, they had studied the tenets on the voyage, but foundwhen they arrived, that the points of difference were subjects that thetrio at Serampore did not choose to discuss, lest their work among theheathen should suffer by attention to personal controversy. However, their own thoughts and the influences of the place led them to desirebaptism by immersion; and this being done, they considered it due to theCongregationalists, who had sent them out, to resign their claim on themfor support, though this left them destitute. It was decided that Riceshould go home and appeal for their support to the American Baptists, andin this he thoroughly succeeded, while the Judsons, after sailing forMauritius, where they found poor Mrs. Newell recently dead, made theirway back to Madras, and there found a vessel bound for Rangoon. It was acrazy old craft, with a Malay crew, no one but the captain able to speaka word of English. The voyage was full of disaster. A good Europeannurse, who had been engaged to go with Mrs. Judson, fell on the floor anddied suddenly, even while the ship was getting under weigh, too late tosupply her place. Mrs. Judson became dangerously ill, and the vessel wasdriven into a perilous strait between the Great and Little AndamanIslands, where the captain was not only out of his bearings, but believedthat, if he were driven ashore, the whole ship's company would be eatenby the cannibal islanders. The alarm, however, acted as a tonic, andMrs. Judson began to recover. They reached Rangoon in safety, but Judson writes: "We had never beforeseen a place where European influence had not contributed to smooth andsoften the rough features of uncultivated nature. The prospect ofRangoon, as we approached, was quite disheartening. I went on shore, just at night, to take a view of the place and the mission-house, but sodark and cheerless and unpromising did all things appear, that theevening of that day, after my return to the ship, we have marked as themost gloomy and distressing that we ever passed. " The mission-house wasnot quite empty, though Felix Carey, who they had hoped would welcomethem, was at Ava. When Mrs. Judson, still too weak to walk, was carriedashore, she was received by his wife, who could speak Burmese, andmanaged the household, providing daily dinners of fowls stewed with riceor with cucumber. It was, however, a dismal place, near the spot where public executionstook place, and where the dead were burnt outside the walls. And allaround, among the beautiful vegetation and lovely forests on the banks ofthe broad Irrawaddy, rose the pagodas, graceful with the peculiar beautyof the far East, with gilded lacquer-work, umbrella-shaped roofs spiringupwards; huge idols with solemn contemplative faces within, and allaround swarms of yellow-robed, fat, lazy lamas. The new comers meantime applied themselves to the study of the language, after overcoming the disdain of their pundit at having to instruct awoman. He could not speak English, and had neither grammar nordictionary, so that the difficulties were great; but the eager spirit ofthe students overcame all, and they ventured to remove into town and keephouse themselves. Mrs. Judson was taken to visit the wives of the Myowoon, or Viceroy ofRangoon, by a French lady who had been admitted before. On their firstarrival the principal wife was not up, and the ladies waited, while theinferior wives examined all they wore, and tried on their gloves andbonnets; but when the great lady appeared, they all crouched together ata distance. She came in richly attired, and smoking a silver pipe, andsat down on a mat by Mrs. Judson, whom she viewed with much curiosity, asking if she were her husband's first wife. The Myowoon came in lookingwild and savage, and carrying a huge spear in his hand; but he was verypolite to Mrs. Judson, though he took very little notice of her husband. In fact the government was violent and barbarous. There were perpetualmurders and robberies, and these were punished by horrid executions, accompanied by torture; yet the Burmese regarded themselves as superiorto all other nations, and were far from understanding how greatly theyfell short even of the requirements of Buddhism. Felix Carey, meantime, had been requested by the king to vaccinate theroyal children; but he had to return to Calcutta to procure matter forthe purpose. He then visited Rangoon on his way back, and prepared tocarry up his family, property, and printing-press to Ava, with the hopeof forming a fresh station there, under royal patronage; but after tendays' voyage, the vessel was capsized by a sudden storm, and all whocould not swim were drowned. Felix tried to rescue his little son ofthree years old, but, finding himself sinking, he let the child go, andsaved himself alone. Everything in the vessel was lost; but the king gave him compensation forthe property, and took him into high favour, sending him shortly after, to conduct some negotiations with the British Government. He appeared atCalcutta with the title and gorgeous dress of a Burmese noble, and showedhimself in the streets with a train of fifty followers. Old Dr. Careywas seriously grieved at his thus "sinking from a missionary to anambassador;" and he was by no means successful in this new line; in facthis negotiations turned out so ill, that on his return to Rangoon he wasobliged to fly the country. The excitement of his life had mademissionary labour distasteful to him, and, after strange wanderings inthe wild lands eastward of Bengal, he became prime minister andgeneralissimo to a barbarous prince; and in that capacity led an armyagainst his old friends, the Burmese, sustained a defeat, and was forcedto wander in the jungle. After three years of this strange life, he fellin by chance at Chittagong with Mr. Ward, and was by him persuaded toreturn to the printing and philology, for which alone, like his father, he really was well qualified. He lived at Serampore till 1822, and thenwas carried off by the same sickly season that had proved fatal toKrishnu-pal, who had been baptized with him, and to Bishop Middleton. Meantime, Mr. And Mrs. Judson were working steadily on, and were greatlycheered by the arrival of a much less barbarous viceroy, named Mya-day-men. They were invited, with all the Europeans, to a banquet at the newofficial's house, and Mrs. Judson was entertained by the wife, whoquestioned her eagerly, and asked if she knew how to dance in the Englishway; but was satisfied on hearing that the wives of priests did notdance. As Buddhist priests are celibate, Mrs. Judson must have beenrather a puzzle to the good lady; and all this time the real work of themission had not commenced, for the preliminary operation of acquiring thelanguage had not been completed, and Judson was warned not to attemptpreaching till he was familiar with it, by Dr. Carey having told him thatafter some years in Bengal, when he imagined himself to be freely able touse the language, he had found from the remark of a young man, that hewas really not in the least understood. Private arguments with theteachers was all that could be attempted, and in these there seems tohave been some forgetfulness of St. Paul's words, "Who art thou thatjudgest another? To his own master he standeth or falleth;" since therewas a very free threatening that the souls of the pagans must be lost; towhich the pundits replied with true Eastern calmness, "Our religion isgood for us, yours for you. " During this time of perseverance andpreparation, Mrs. Judson's health became so much affected that she wasforced to go to Madras. Heroine as she was, she would not consent to lether husband break up his work to accompany her; but the solitude of herabsence fell on him most severely. She says, "He had no individualChristian with whom he could converse or unite in prayer during the sixmonths of her absence;" but he worked on heartily, and she returned inperfect health. In the spring of 1816, the death of their first-born child was a greatshock to the father's health, which was already disordered; and hecontinued in a declining state all through the summer. The Myowoon'swife, whom Mrs. Judson conveniently calls the vice-reine, was very kindto them, and took them on elephant-back to visit her country-house. Theway lay through the woods, between trees sometimes so thick that theelephants broke them down, at the mahout's word, to make way. Thirty menin red caps, with spears and guns, formed the guard; then came the vice-reine's elephant, with a gilded howdah, where the lady sat dressed in redand white silk; then the Judsons' animal, three or four more behind withgrandees, and 300 or 400 attendants followed. At a beautiful garden, full of fruit trees, a feast was spread under a noble banyan, the vice-reine causing the cloth next to her to be allotted to her guests, whomshe tended affectionately, gathering and paring fruit, cutting flowersand weaving them for them, and, unlike the Hindoos, freely eating whatthey handed her. This hospitable and amiable lady had just begun to askMrs. Judson the difference between the Christians' God and Gautama, whenshe was obliged to return to Ava. For several months Mr. Judson's illness increased; but exercise onhorseback did much to relieve him, and the comfort and encouragement ofthe arrival of a brother missionary, Mr. Hough, with his family, didmore. He weathered the attack without leaving his post, and in 1817 madehis first real step. A press had come out with Mr. Hough, and with ittwo little tracts, summarizing the chief truths of Christianity, wereprinted and distributed at Rangoon. Shortly after, a respectable-looking Burmese, attended by a servant, walked into Mr. Judson's house, and sat down. Presently he inquired, "How long a time will it take me to learn the religion of JESUS?" Mr. Judson answered, that where God gave light and wisdom, it was soonlearnt; but without, a whole lifetime would not teach a man. "But how, "he asked, "came the wish for this knowledge?" "I have seen two little books. " "And who is JESUS?" said the missionary. "He is the Son of GOD, who, pitying human creatures, came into this worldand suffered death in their stead. " "Who is GOD?" continued Mr. Judson. "He is a Being without beginning or end, who is not subject to old age ordeath, but always is. " Mr. Judson showed him the two little books, which he recognized, butbegged for more. He did not attend much to what Judson tried to teachhim by word of mouth, but begged for book. The Gospel of St. Matthew wasin hand, but could not be finished for three months; and when he was toldthis "Have you not a little of that book done, which you will graciouslygive me now?" he asked. "And I, " writes Judson, "beginning to think thatGod's time was better than man's, folded and gave him the two first half-sheets, which contain the first five chapters of St. Matthew, on which heinstantly rose, as if his business was done, and took leave. " It was long before they saw him again; though many other persons begancalling at the mission-house to inquire about what they called the newreligion; but all were so much afraid of one another, that no one wouldask any questions if a fellow-citizen were present. Mrs. Judson was alsogetting together from fifteen to twenty women every Sunday, whom shetried to instruct. One of them, like the Norseman of old, preferredcasting in her lot with her forefathers to a heaven separated from them;and when Mrs. Judson told her they would reproach her with the rejectionof the truth they had never known, and that she would regret her follywhen it was too late, she answered, "If I do, I will cry out to you to bemy intercessor. " Another combined prayers to our Lord and Gautama. The vice-reine came back from Ava, and continued to be very kind to Mrs. Judson, made her explain her doctrine, caused the little catechism to betaught to her daughter, and accepted a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which was at length completed. This being finished, Mr. Judson, afterfour years' study of the language, believed himself able to undertakemore public ministrations; but first went on a voyage to Chittagong, where he hoped to find, among the Christian converts of Burmese speech, one to assist him in communicating with the people. Mrs. Judson remained with the Houghs, and had the pleasure of receivingthe Burmese inquirer, whose long absence had been occasioned by his beingappointed governor of some villages in Pegu. He said he was thinking andreading in order to become a believer. "But I cannot yet destroy my oldmind, for, when I see a handsome patso, or a handsome gounboun, {f:130} Istill desire it. Tell the great teacher, when he returns, that I wish tosee him, though I am not a disciple of Christ. " She gave him the rest ofSt. Matthew, and a tract to each of his attendants, and he promised that, if the great teacher would come and see him, he would collect hisvillagers to hear the new doctrine preached. There was something veryattractive, meek, and unassuming about the man's whole appearance, and ofhim there was much hope; but, just about this time great anxiety fell onthe mission party. The kindly Myowoon and his wife were removed, andimmediately after a summons was sent to Mr. Hough to appear at the court-house of the city, with the intimation, "that, if he did not tell thewhole truth they would write it in his blood. " He was kept all Fridayand Saturday answering, through an interpreter, foolish questions: whowere his father and mother, how many suits of clothes he had, and thelike; all which was formally written down. On the third day, Sunday, Mrs. Judson, resolving to ascertain whether this were really done by thecommand of the Myowoon, drew up a petition, which she carried herself. She was graciously received, and it presently appeared that an order hadreally been sent for the banishment of some Portuguese priests, and thatthe petty officials of the Court had taken advantage of it to harass Mr. Hough, in the hope of extracting a reward for his liberation. At this time there was a terrible visitation of cholera, which theBurmese attributed to evil spirits, and accordingly attempted to driveaway by force of noise. It was supposed that the evil spirits would takerefuge in any house that was silent, and for three whole nights cannonwere fired from the court-house, and every human creature used the utmostpowers nature or art afforded for producing a din. The mission partywere uninfected by the contagion, but it was a time of terrible anxiety, for nothing had been heard of Mr. Judson or his ship for months; therewere reports of ill-feeling between the Burmese and British Governments, no arrivals of English at Rangoon, and no intelligence. Mrs. Judson'sfemale classes had fallen off ever since Mr. Hough's summons, and thestate of things was such, that the Houghs decided on removing to Bengal. Mrs. Judson, with her little girl, most reluctantly decided to accompanythem, but, just as the vessel in which they sailed had gone down theriver, she was ascertained not to be seaworthy; and, during this delay, Mrs. Judson's fears of her husband's finding her gone, if he everreturned to Rangoon, so increased, that she went back with her child tothe house, and, brave woman as she was, took up her abode there with thenative servants, trusting herself wholly to the protection of her God. She was rewarded by her husband's arrival, after an absence of ninemonths, caused by the captain of his ship having broken his engagement, and carried him on to Madras, where he had been detained all this timefor want of a vessel to return in. The Houghs also came back, and twoyoung men from America soon after came out, full of zeal and activity, but both fell ill very shortly afterwards, and the younger died, but hisfellow, Mr. Colman, became a valuable assistant. This era, the spring of 1819, was the first great step in the Burmesemission. Funds had been raised by the Baptist Society in America, whichwere applied to the erection of a zayat or public room, with walls ofbamboo and a thatched roof. It had two rooms, one for a school for thewomen, another for the men, who gladly learnt to read and write from Mrs. Judson and a Burmese teacher. Here, too, Mr. Judson openly held prayersand preaching on Sunday, and these attracted many, some of whom wouldcome in the week for private discussion. The first real convert was a man of thirty-five, named Moung Nau, poor, but of excellent character, and so intelligent, that he became a usefulassistant after his baptism, on the 27th of June, 1819. Others wereinquiring, among whom the most interesting was Moung Shwaygnong, aschoolmaster or tutor by profession, at a village a little way fromRangoon, and already a philosopher, "half deist, half sceptic, the firstof the sort I have seen among the Burmans" (our quotations are from Mr. Judson's journal), who, however, worshipped at the pagodas, and conformedto national observances. The second time he came the conversation seemedto have made "no impression on his proud sceptical heart, yet he promisedto pray to the eternal God, through the Saviour. " It appeared that, about eight years previously, it had come before him that there is indeedOne Eternal God, and that this thought had been working in him eversince. A copy of Mr. Judson's tract which fell in his way chimed in withthis primary belief, and next came the question of the Scripturerevelation, which he argued over with much metaphysical power andacuteness, being a very powerful reasoner, and well trained in theliterature of his own country. Meantime three simpler minds--MoungThaahlah, Moung Byaay, and Moung Ing--had been thoroughly convinced, and, though aware that they would expose themselves to considerable danger, resolved to become Christians. The Viceroy had remarked the zayat, and notice was taken that men werethere led "to forsake the religion of the country. " The alarm clearedthe zayat of all the audience, and emptied Mrs. Judson's class of women, but Thaahlah {f:133} and Byaay sent in a letter, entreating to beadmitted to baptism, and Ing would have followed their example, but thathis trade as a fisherman carried him off to sea. They begged not to bebaptized openly, as Nau had been, in a piece of water near the town andpresided over by an image of Gautama; and Mr. Judson yielded so far, thathe conducted the preliminary devotions in the zayat, and baptized them inthe same pool two hours after dark. Shwaygnong had in the meantime takenalarm at being interrogated by the Government, had apologized, andapparently fallen away; but he could not keep aloof, and soon came backagain. After a good deal of fencing and putting forth metaphysicalcavils, he allowed that it was all for the sake of experiment, anddeclared that he really believed both in God and in the Atonement. "Said I, " writes Mr. Judson, "knowing his deistical weakness, do youbelieve all that is contained in the book of St. Matthew which I gaveyou? In particular, do you believe that the Son of God died on a cross?" "Ah!" he replied, "you have caught me now. I believe that He suffereddeath, but I cannot admit that He suffered the shameful death of thecross. " "Therefore, " said I, "you are not a disciple of Christ. A true discipleinquires not whether a fact is agreeable to his own reason, but whetherit is in the Book. His pride has yielded to Divine testimony. Teacher, your pride is unbroken. Break down your pride, and yield to the Word ofGod. " He stopped and thought. "As you utter these words, " said he, "I see myerror. I have been trusting in my own reason, not in the Word of God. " Some interruption now occurred. When we were again alone, he said, "Thisday is different from all the days on which I have visited you. I see myerror in trusting to my own reason, and I now believe the Crucifixion ofChrist, because it is contained in the Scripture. " The profession of Christianity had become more perilous since theJudsons' arrival in Burmah. The old Emperor had died in 1819, and hadbeen succeeded by his grandson, who was far more zealous for Buddhismthan he had been, and who had appointed a viceroy at Rangoon, very minutein exacting observances--so much so, as to put forth an edict forbiddingany person with hat, shoes, umbrella, or horse, to pass through thegrounds belonging to the great pagoda, Shwaay Dagon, which extended halfa mile from the building, and were crossed by all the chief roads. Atthe same time, he was new gilding the pagoda, a specially sacred one, ascontaining some bits of hair of Gautama. It was plain that the mission had little chance of succeeding, unlesssome sanction could be obtained from royalty; and Mr. Judson thereforedetermined to go to Ava and petition the Emperor to grant him permissionto teach at Rangoon. So he obtained a pass from the Viceroy "to go up tothe golden feet, and lift up our eyes to the golden face, " and hired aboat to take him and Mr. Colman, with ten oarsmen, a headman, asteersman, a washerman, and two cooks, of whom Moung Nau was one. Theyhad invited Shwaygnong to accompany them, but he refused, though heappeared waving his hand to them on the bank as they pushed off from theland. They took with them, as the most appropriate present, a Bible, bound in six volumes, in gold leaf, intending to ask permission totranslate it. They arrived at Ava on the 28th of January, 1820, and beheld the gildedroofs of the pagodas and palace. Two English residents welcomed them, and Mya-day-men, the Viceroy who had been their friend at Rangoon, undertook to present them to the Emperor. They were taken to the palace, and were explaining their wishes to thePrime Minister, Moung Zah, when it was announced that "the golden footwas about to advance, " and he had to hasten to attend the Emperor. Thedome whither the missionaries followed him was dazzling with splendour, very lofty, and supported on pillars entirely covered with gold, andforming long avenues, through one of which the Emperor advanced alone, with the proud gait and majesty of an Eastern monarch, with agold-sheathed sword in his hand. Every one prostrated his forehead inthe dust except the two Americans, who merely knelt with folded hands. Hepaused before them, and demanded who they were. "The teachers, great king, " replied Mr. Judson. "What? You speak Burmese--the priests that I heard of last night? Whendid you arrive? Are you like the Portuguese priests? Are you married?"and so on, he asked; then placing himself on a high seat, with his handon the hilt of his sword, he listened to the petition read aloud by MoungZah. He then held out his hand for it; Moung Zah crawled forward andgave it; the Emperor read it through to himself, and held out his handfor the little tract which was handed to him in like manner. The heartsof the missionaries throbbed with hope and prayer; but, after reading thetwo first sentences, the Emperor threw it from him, and when the gift waspresented would not notice it. The answer communicated through Moung Zahwas: "In regard to the objects of your petition, his Majesty gives noorder. In regard to your sacred books, his Majesty has no use for them;take them away. " Something was said of Colman's skill in medicine; uponwhich the Emperor desired that both should be taken to the Portuguesepriest, who acted as his physician, to ascertain whether they could beuseful in that line, and then lay down on his cushions to listen tomusic. They were taken two miles to the residence of the Portuguese, who ofcourse perceived that they brought no wonderful secret of medicine, andthen returned to their boat. They afterwards saw Moung Zah in private, and heard that the Burmese laws tolerated foreign religions, but thatthere was no security for natives who embraced them, and that it was anunpardonable offence even to propose it. The English collector went tothe Emperor, but could obtain nothing from him but permission for them toreturn to Rangoon, where they might find some of their countrymen toteach. There was no actual prohibition against teaching Burmesesubjects, but there was no security that the converts would not bepersecuted; and the collector told them that fifteen years previously aBurmese teacher who had been converted by the Portuguese, and had evenvisited Rome, was denounced on his return by his nephew and commanded torecant. On his refusal, he was tortured with the iron mall--hammered, namely, from his feet upwards till he was all one livid wound as far ashis breast, pronouncing the name of Christ at every blow. Some personsat last told the Emperor that he was a mere madman, on which he wasspared, and the Portuguese contrived to send him away to Bengal, where hedied. The nephew was high in the favour of the present Sovereign, whowas besides far more attached than his grandfather had ever been to theBuddhist doctrine. Only four Portuguese clergy were in the country, andthey confined themselves to ministrations to the descendants of theconverts of the old Jesuit mission, instead of attempting to extend theirChurch. Nothing was to be done but to return to Rangoon, and for this apassport was necessary, the obtaining of which cost thirty dollars inpresents. Mr. Judson was advised also to procure a royal order forpersonal protection, otherwise, when it became known that the royalpatronage had been refused, he might be molested by ill-disposed persons;but finding that this would be exceedingly costly, he preferred "trustingin the Lord to keep us and our poor disciples. " It was encouraging that at Pyece, a place on the banks of the Irrawaddy, the missionaries met Shwaygnong, who had come thither to visit a sickfriend, and came on board eagerly to know the result of their journey. They told him all, even of the good confession beneath the iron mall, andhe seemed less affected and intimidated than they expected, though he hadnearly made up his mind to cast in his lot with them. "If I die, I shalldie in a good cause, " he said. "I know it is the cause of truth. " Andthen he repeated his actual faith: "I believe in the Eternal God, in HisSon Jesus Christ, in the Atonement which Christ has made, and in thewritings of the Apostles as the true and one Word of God. " He also saidhe had never, since their last conversation, lifted up his folded handsbefore a pagoda, though on the day of worship, to avoid persecution, hewould walk up one side of the building and down the other. To this Mr. Judson replied, "You may be a disciple of Christ in heart, but you arenot a full disciple. You have not faith and resolution enough to keepall the commands of Christ, particularly that which commands you to bebaptized though in the face of persecution and death. Consider the wordsof JESUS--'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. '" He listened in profound silence, and with the manner with which he alwaysreceived what he considered deeply; but there was still a long struggleto come, and many fluctuations, and the simpler minds were the stay andcomfort of the missionaries, when on their return to Rangoon theyconsidered what steps to take. Their first proposal was to move to adistrict between Bengal and Arracan, where were several Christian nativesnow destitute of a pastor, and where the language was very like Burmese, though the place was beyond the power of the Emperor, and to take theirthree baptized converts with them. Nau and Thaahlah were ready to followthem everywhere, but Byaay was married, and no Burmese woman was allowedto leave the country. He, with several others who were on the point ofconversion, entreated the missionaries not to leave them, and Thaahlahmade a remarkable speech. "Be it remembered, " he said, "that this workis not yours or ours, but the work of God. If He give light, thereligion will spread. " It was decided, according to the earnest wish of these poor people, thatthey should not be deserted till there were enough of them to form acongregation and have a teacher from among themselves set over them, andthis--as the sect to which the Judsons belonged has no form of settingapart for the ministry--was all that they regarded as requisite. TheArracan converts were not, however, to be neglected, and Mr. Colmantherefore was to go to Chittagong, and there establish a station, whichmight receive those from Rangoon in case it should become needful toleave the place. He was doing well there, when he died from an attack offever. The Judsons remained, and held their worship in the zayat on Sunday withthe doors closed and only the initiated present; but it seemed as if thefear of losing their teachers quickened the zeal of the Christianconverts in bringing their friends to inquire. Shwaygnong had long beenunconsciously preparing the way by his philosophical instructions, goingso much deeper than the popular Buddhism, and he brought several of hispupils, both male and female, telling them that "he had found the truewisdom;" but he still hung back. {f:137} Mr. Judson suspected him ofwanting a companion of his own rank to keep him in countenance, anddoubted whether it were fear of the world or pride of heart that kept himback; but he seems to have had a genuine battle with his own scepticalspirit, and the acceptance of such ordinances as the Baptists requiredwas a difficulty to him. Four or five later converts were baptizedbefore him, and at last he kept away from the mission for so long thatMr. Judson thought they had lost him; but when he reappeared it turnedout that he had been ill with fever, and had had much sickness in hisfamily, and had meantime fought out his mental conflict, and made up hismind to the full acceptance of Christianity at all risks. He came again with five disciples, one of them a woman of fifty-one yearsold, named Mah-menlay, with her husband, all formally requesting baptism;but Mr. Judson was not sufficiently satisfied of the earnestness of anyto receive them at once, excepting Shwaygnong himself, whom Mr. Judsonkept till evening; and then, after reading the history of St. Philip'sbaptism of the Ethiopian, and praying, led him down to the water in thewoods and baptized him, like others, in the pool, by the light of thestars in the tropical night. That same night Mah-menlay came back, entreating so earnestly for baptism, that she, too, was led down to thewater and baptized. "Now, " she said, "I have taken the oath ofallegiance to JESUS CHRIST, and I have nothing to do but to commitmyself, soul and body, to the hands of my Lord, assured that He willnever suffer me to fall away. " This was the last thing before the Judsons embarked for Serampore, ajourney necessitated by a severe attack of liver complaint, from whichMrs. Judson had long been suffering and their little girl had also died. To these devoted people a visit to Calcutta was a change for the sake ofhealth! On their return, after half a year's absence, the first thingthey heard was that their kind friend Mya-day-men had come as Myowoon toRangoon, and they were met on the wharf by all their disciples, led byShwaygnong, in a state of rapture. They found that such as had lived inthe yard of the mission had been subjected to a petty officialpersecution, which had made them fly to the woods; but that the good Mya-day-men had refused to hear an accusation brought against MoungShwaygnong by the lamas and officials of the village, who had him beforethe tribunal, accusing him of trying "to turn the priest's rice-potbottom upwards. " "What matters it, " said the Myowoon; "let the priests turn it backagain. " This was enough to ensure the safety of the Christians during hisviceroyalty, though at first he paid little attention to Mr. Judson, being absorbed in grief for the death of his favourite daughter, one ofthe wives of the Emperor. She does not seem to have been the child ofthe amiable Vice-reine, or, as her title had now become, Woon-gyee-gaadaw, who had been promoted to the right of riding in a_wau_, a vehicle carried by forty or fifty men, but who had not forgottenMrs. Judson, and received her affectionately. There were now twenty-five disciples. Ing likewise joined them havingreturned from his voyage, and was shortly after baptized. Mah-menlayopened a school for little girls, and Shwaygnong was regularly engaged byMr. Judson to revise his translation of the Epistle to the Ephesians andthe first part of the Book of Acts, before they were printed. Anotherremarkable man came to study the subject, Moung Long, a philosopher ofthe most metaphysical kind, whose domestic conversations with his wifewere reported to be of this description. --The wife would tell him, "Therice is ready. " "Rice! what is rice? Is it matter or spirit? Is it an idea or anonentity?" If she answered, "It is matter, " he would reply, "And what is matter? Areyou sure there is such a thing in existence, or are you merely subject toa delusion of the senses?" Mr. Judson was struck with the expression of this man's one eye, whichhad "as great a quantity of being as half-a-dozen common eyes. " Afterthe first exposition of the Christian doctrine, the philosopher beganwith extreme suavity and politeness: "Your lordship says that in thebeginning God created one man and one woman. I do not understand (I begyour lordship's pardon) what a man is, and why he is called a man. " Mr. Judson does not record his own line of argument, only that theBuddhist sceptic was foiled, and Shwaygnong, who had often argued withhim, was delighted to see his old adversary posed. He came again andagain, and so did his wife, the ablest woman whom Mrs. Judson had met, asking questions on the possibility of sin finding entrance to a puremind, and they were soon promising catechumens; but in the midst of allthis hopefulness, a season of cholera and fever set in, both the Judsonswere taken ill at the same time, and could not even help one another, andthe effect on Ann's health was such that, as the only means of saving herlife, she was sent off at once to England, while her husband remained athis post quite alone, for Colman had died a martyr to the climate. She was warmly welcomed by the Missionary Societies in London andEdinburgh, and thence returned to America, where her mother and sisterswere still living to hail her return. Her narratives, backed by hernatural sweetness, eloquence and beauty, had a great effect in stirringup the mission spirit among both her countrymen and countrywomen, andthere was no lack of recruits willing to return with her and share hertoil. The account of Colman's devotion and death had had an especial effectupon a young girl named Sarah Hall, of Salem, Massachusetts, one of thosenatures that seem peculiarly gifted with poetic enthusiasm, yet able tostand the brunt of the severest test of practice. She was the daughterof one of those old-fashioned New England families, where a considerableamount of prosperity and a good deal of mental culture is compatible withmuch personal homely exertion. As the eldest of thirteen, Sarah had towork hard, but all the time she kept a prim little journal, recording, atan age when one is surprised to see her able to write at all, that hermother is too busy to let her go to school, and she must improve herselfat home; and this she really did, for her notes, as she grew older, speakof studying Butler's Analogy, Paley's Evidences, logic, geometry, andLatin. Her library of poetry is said to have consisted only of Thomson'sCastle of Indolence, and Macpherson's Ossian; but hymns must have filledher ear with the ring of rhyme, for she was continually versifying, sometimes passages of Scripture, sometimes Ossian, long before she washalfway through her teens. Very foolish, sing-song, emotional specimensthey are, but notable as showing the bent of nature that forms itselfinto heroism. Her family were Baptists, and she was sixteen when thesense of religion came on her so strongly as to lead her to seek baptism. Remarkably enough, the thought of the ignorance of the heathen, and thedesire to teach them, began to haunt her from that time, and is recordedin the last page of her childish journal, dated a month later than herbaptism. In fact, her zeal seems to have been pretty strong towards the personsaround her. While staying at a friend's house, she found a pack of cardsleft by a young man on the table, and wrote on it the text beginning, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, " &c. Hearing thatthe owner was very curious to know the perpetrator, she wrote down thisverse for him: "And wouldst thou know what friend sincere Reminds thee of thy day of doom? Repress the wish, yet thou mayst hear She shed for thee a pitying tear, For thine are paths of gloom. " She also says that she had been for six weeks engaged, with theassistance of a gentleman, in working out proofs of the immortality ofthe soul, apart from those in Scripture. She had prayer-meetings for heryoung friends in her own room, and distributed tracts in the town, whilestill acting at home, as her mother's right hand, among her littlebrothers and sisters. But her vocation she felt to be for missionary life. At one time shethought of joining a mission to the Red Indians, and her verses were fullof the subject. Her ode on Colman's death expressed the feeling of hersoul in the verse: "The spirit of love from on high The hearts of the righteous hath fired; Lo! they come, and with transport they cry, 'We will go where our brother expired, And labour and die. '" The words fall sadly short of the feeling, --a very real one, but the odenot only satisfied Sarah's critics and obtained circulation, but it firedthe heart of George Dana Boardman, a young student at Waterville College, intended for the Baptist ministry; and he never rested till he had foundout the authoress, met her, and asked her to be his partner in "labouringand dying, " as Colman had done before them. There was no illusion in her mind; she knew her task would be full oftoil and suffering; but her feeling was the desire to devote her wholeself to the work of the Redeemer, who had done so much for her. Mr. AndMrs. Hall were at first reluctant, but after a time heartily consented, and she was introduced to Mrs. Judson as a future companion in her toils. With very questionable taste, some of her friends insisted on her readingher own elegy on Colman, aloud, before a whole circle of friends thatthey might see Mrs. Judson listen to it. Blushes and refusals were of noavail; she was dragged out, and the paper thrust into her hand; shebegan, faltering, but as she proceeded the strong purpose of her soulinspired her, and she ended with firmness and enthusiasm--but was sooverpowered that, without daring to look up and see that Mrs. Judson'seyes were overflowing, she crept away to hide in a corner the burningtears on her own cheeks. Twenty years after she spoke of it as one ofthe most painful moments of her life. At first it had been proposed that Mr. Boardman and Sarah shouldaccompany Mrs. Judson on her return, but it was thought better that heshould spend a little more time on his studies, and Ann Judson thereforesailed in 1823, with Mr. And Mrs. Wade as her companions. In the meantime Judson himself had been going on with his work atRangoon, among many troubles. Another accusation was drawn up by the lamas against Shwaygnong, and theViceroy, on reading it, pronounced him worthy of death; but before hecould be arrested, he took boat, came down to the mission-house with hisfamily, obtained a supply of tracts and portions of Scripture, and thensecretly fled up the river to a town named Shway-doung, where he began toargue and distribute the tracts. So little regular communication wasthere between different places in Burmah, that this could be done withcomparative safety; but the accusation and his flight created so muchalarm at Rangoon, that Mr. Judson had to shut up the zayat, and onlyassemble his converts in the mission-house. They suffered another lossin Moung Thaahlah, their second convert, who died of cholera, afternineteen hours' illness. He had seven months before married a youngChristian woman, this being the first Burmese Christian wedding; and ashe was a youth of much promise and good education, he was a serious lossto the mission. All this time Mr. Judson was alone, until the arrival ofJonathan Price, who had wisely qualified himself to act as a physician, and no sooner did a report of his skill reach Ava, than the King sent forhim; and as he had no time to learn the language, Judson went with him asinterpreter. Dr. Price says, "The King is a man of small stature, verystraight, steps with a natural air of superiority, but has not the leastappearance of it in conversation. He wears a red, finely-striped silkcloth from his waist to his knees, and a blue-and-white handkerchief onhis head. He has apparently the good of his people as well as the gloryof his kingdom at heart, and is encouraging foreign merchants, andespecially artisans to settle in his capital. A watchmaker at thismoment could obtain any favour he should please to ask. " As soon as the missionaries arrived, he sent for them and received themin an open court, where they were seated on a bamboo floor about ten feetfrom his chair. He took no notice of Judson, except as an interpreter, but interrogated Price as to his skill in surgery, sent for hismedicines, looked at them and at his instrument, and was greatly amusedwith his galvanic battery; he then dismissed them with orders to choose aspot on which a house should be built for them, and to look up thediseased to try Price's skill upon. Moung Zah, the former minister, recognized Judson kindly, and after atime the King took notice of him: "You in black, what are you, a medicalman too?" "Not a medical man, but a teacher of religion, your Majesty. " After a few questions about his religion the King proceeded to askwhether any Burmese had embraced it. "Not here, " diplomatically said Judson. "Are there any in Rangoon?" "There are a few. " "Are they foreigners?" Mr. Judson says he trembled for the consequences of an answer, but thetruth must be spoken at all risks, and he replied, "Some foreigners andsome Burmese. " The King showed no displeasure, but asked questions on religion, geography, and astronomy, as though his temper was quite changed. Hisbrother, a fine young man of twenty-eight, who suffered from paralysis, became a patient of Dr. Price, and had much conversation with Judson, showing great eagerness for instruction. He assured the missionariesthat under the present reign there was no danger to the nativeChristians, and after a successful operation for cataract, performed byDr. Price, the missionaries were so much in favour that while Priceremained at Ava and there married a native lady, Judson was desired onlyto go back to Rangoon to meet his wife on her return, and bring her toreside at Ava. Their good and tolerant friend, the Viceroy, was dead, and his successorwas a severe and unjust man, so that the people had fled in numbers fromthe place, and few Christians remained except at Moung Shwaygnong'svillage. There was thus the less to leave, when in December 1823 Mrs. Judson safely arrived, and two fresh missionaries with her, to whom theflock at Rangoon could be left. There is a most happy letter written onthe voyage up the Irrawaddy to Ava, when it seemed as though all thetroubles and difficulties of four years had been smoothed away. Themission had been kindly welcomed at Ava, and established in the promisedhouse, when the first of the English wars with Burmah broke out, ongrounds on which it is needless to enter. It is enough to say that aftermany mutual offences, Sir Archibald Campbell, with a fleet and army, entered Rangoon, and occupied it without resistance, the Viceroy beingabsent at the time. The Court of Ava were exceedingly amazed at the insolence of theforeigners. An army supposed to be irresistible was sent off, dancingand singing, in boats down the river, and all the fear was lest the alarmshould drive away the white strangers with the "cock-feather chief"before there was time to catch any for slaves. A lady sent a commissionfor four to manage the affairs of her household, as she heard they weretrustworthy; a courtier, for six to row his boat. The capture of Rangoon was supposed by national pride to be wholly owingto the treachery of spies, and three English merchants were fixed upon asthose spies and put under arrest. The King was advised likewise tosecure the persons of the missionaries, but he answered, "They are quietmen; let them alone. " Unfortunately, however, a receipt for some moneypaid to Adoniram Judson was found among the papers of one of themerchants, and this to the Burmese mind was proof of his complicity inthe plot. Suddenly, an official, accompanied by a dozen men, one of whomhad his face marked with spots, to denote his being an executioner, madehis appearance demanding Mr. Judson. "You are called by the King, " saidthe official, and at the same moment the executioner produced a cord, threw Mr. Judson on the floor, and tied his arms behind his back. Hiswife vainly offered money to have his arms unbound, and he was led away, the faithful Ing following at a distance to see what was done with him, while Mrs. Judson retired to her room and poured out her soul "to Him whofor our sakes was bound and led away to execution, " and great was hercomfort even in that moment. She was immediately after summoned to beexamined by a magistrate in the verandah, and after hastily destroyingall journals and papers, went out to meet him. He took down her name andage, those of four little Burmese girls she had charge of, and of twoBengal servants; pronounced them all slaves to the King, and set a guardover them. Mrs. Judson fastened herself and her children into the innerroom, while the guards threatened her savagely if she would not showherself, and even put her servants' feet in the stocks till she hadobtained their release by promises of money. Moung Ing had ascertained that his master was in prison; and when, afterthe most dreadful night she had ever spent, she sent him again in themorning, with a piece of silver to obtain admittance, he brought wordthat both Judson and Price, with the three English merchants, were in thedeath-prison, each wearing three pairs of iron fetters and fastened to along pole. Mrs. Judson immediately sent to the governor of the city withan entreaty to be allowed to visit him with a present. This procured hera favourable reception, and he promised to make the condition of theprisoners more comfortable, but told her that she must consult his headwriter as to the means. This man, a brutal-looking fellow, extorted fromher a huge bribe, and then promised to release the two teachers from thepole, and to put them into another building where she might send themfood daily, and pillows and mats to sleep on. She obtained an order foran interview with her husband, whose looks were so wretched and ghastlythat she lost no time in fulfilling these exorbitant demands. Her hope was in a petition to the Queen, but being under arrest herself, she could not go to the Queen in person, and had to approach her throughher sister-in-law--a proud, haughty dame, who received her in the mostcold, discouraging manner, but who undertook to present the petition. Shethen went to the prison again, but the head writer would not allow her toenter; and on her return home she found that all the property in themission-house was to undergo a scrutiny; but this was humanely done, andwas only inventoried, not seized--_i. E. _ the King did not seize it, butthe officials helped themselves to whatever took their fancy. The nextday the Queen's answer was obtained--"He is not to be executed; let himremain where he is. " The poor lady's heart fainted within her, but she thought of the widowand the unjust judge, and persevered day after day in applying to everymember of the royal family or of Government to entreat for her husband'sliberation. The King's mother, sisters, and brother were all interestedin his favour, but none of them ventured to apply direct to the King lestthey should offend the favourite Queen. All failed, but the hopes thatfrom time to time were excited, kept up the spirits of the sufferers. During the long weary months while the missionaries continued in fetters, _i. E. _ chained by the feet to a bar of bamboo, Mrs. Judson was often notallowed to visit them for ten days at a time, and then only by walking tothe prison after dark, two miles, unattended. She could, however, communicate with her husband by means of the provisions she sent himdaily. At first she used to write on the dough of a flat cake, which sheafterwards baked and concealed in a bowl of rice, while he answered bywriting on a tile, where the inscription disappeared when dry but wasvisible when wet; but latterly they found it most convenient to write ona roll of paper hidden in the long nose of a coffee-pot, in which tea wassent to the prisoners. Mrs. Judson delighted to send him little surprises, once a mince-pie, which Moung Ing carried with the utmost pride to his imprisoned master. Mrs. Judson found herself obliged to wear the native dress, though shewas so much taller than the Burmese women that she could be hardly takenfor one of them. It was a becoming dress; her hair was drawn into a knoton the forehead, with a cocoa-blossom, like a white plume, drooping fromit; a saffron vest open in front to show a crimson tunic below; and atight skirt of rich silk, sloping down behind, made her look toadvantage, so that her husband liked to remember her as she stood at hisprison door. She never was allowed to come further. For twenty days she was absent, and then she came with a tiny, pale, wailing, blue-eyed baby on her breast. Poor Judson, clanking up to thedoor in his chains to welcome his little daughter, commemorated hisfeelings in some touching verses ending:-- "And when in future years Thou know'st thy father's tongue, These lines will show thee how he felt, How o'er his babe he sung. " Every defeat by the European forces added to the perils of captives. Afavourite old general named Bundoolah had promised, when sent to commandthe army against Rangoon, that he would release all the white prisonerson his return as a conqueror; and when he was totally defeated, the wrathof the Burmese was so great that at this time the King himself seems tohave scarcely acted at all. He was gentle, indolent and indifferent, more intelligent than those around him, scarcely a Buddhist in belief, and very kind-hearted: indeed Judson believed that it was hisinterposition alone that prevented the lives of the captives from beingtaken at once; but he was demoralized by self-indulgence, and allowedhimself to be governed by his queen, the daughter of a superintendent ofgaols; and through her, by her brother, who was cruel, rapacious andviolent, and the chief author of all the sufferings inflicted on theprisoners. Among these were seven or eight British officers, and theKing had commanded that a daily allowance of rice should be served tothese, but scarcely half of it ever reached them; Mrs. Judson did herbest to supply them as well as her husband, but their health gave wayunder their sufferings, and all died but one. At the end of seven months, it was reported that the English army wasadvancing into the interior; and in the passionate alarm thus excited, the English captives were all loaded with five pairs of fetters andthrown into the common prison among Burman thieves and robbers, --ahundred in a room without a window, and that in the hottest season of theyear. Mrs. Judson again besought the governor to relieve them from thishorrible condition, by at least allowing them to sit outside the door, and he actually shed tears at her distress, but he told her that he hadbeen commanded to put them all to death privately, and that he was doinghis best for them by massing them with the rest. The Queen's brother hadreally given this order, but the governor delayed the execution in casethey should be required of him by the King, and they continued in thisfrightful state for a whole month, until Mr. Judson sickened with violentfever, and the governor permitted him to be removed into a little bambooroom, six feet long and four wide, where his wife was allowed to visithim and bring him food and medicine, she meantime living in a bamboohouse in the governor's compound, where the thermometer rose daily to 106degrees, but where she thought herself happy as she saw her husband beginto recover. One day, however, when the governor had sent for her and was kindlyconversing with her, a servant came in and whispered to him that thewhite strangers had suddenly been taken away, no one knew whither. Thegovernor pretended to be taken by surprise, but there could be no doubtthat he had occupied Mrs. Judson to hinder her from witnessing theremoval; and it was not till the evening that she learnt that theprisoners had been taken to Umerapoonah, whither she proceeded with herthree months old baby and one servant. There she found that theprisoners had been sent on two hours before to a sort of penal settlementcalled Oung-pen-lay, whither she followed, to find her husband in alamentable state. He had been dragged out of his little room, allowed noclothing but his shirt and trowsers, a rope had been tied round hiswaist, and he had been literally driven ten miles in the hottest part ofthe day. His feet were so lacerated that he was absolutely falling, whena servant of one of the merchants tore a piece from his turban, and thiswrapped round his feet enabled him to proceed, but he could not stand forsix weeks after; indeed the scars remained for life. In this state helay chained to Dr. Price. The intention was to sacrifice them both, inorder to obtain success for an intended expedition; but before this couldbe done, a different woongye, or prime minister, came in, and theircondition was somewhat improved, for they only wore one bamboo, throughtwo slits in which their feet were forced, and they were allowed to crawlinto the enclosure. Meantime, a poor lion, once a great favourite, whichwas thought to be connected with the lions on the English colours, wasplaced in a bamboo cage in sight of the prisoners, and there starved todeath, in hopes of thus abating the force of the enemy. When its carcasewas removed, Mr. Judson, at his own earnest entreaty, was allowed thereversion of its cage, and there, to his great joy, Moung Ing brought himhis MS. Translation of part of the Burmese Bible, which he had kept inhis pillow at Ava till it was torn away by the jailors on his removal. The faithful Ing, thinking only to secure a relic of his master, hadpicked up the pillow and secured the treasure. Solitude was the greatest boon to Judson, whose fastidious delicacysuffered greatly in the thronged prison, but his faithful Ann wassuffering terribly. One of the little Burmese girls who lived with herhad caught the small-pox, and was very ill: Mrs. Judson inoculated theother child and her own little Maria, but Maria's inoculation did nottake effect, and she caught the disease, and had it very severely. ThenMrs. Judson herself fell ill of a fever, and remained for two monthsunable to visit her husband, both of them owing all their food to theexertions of their good Bengalee cook. Poor little Maria was nearlystarved, no milk was to be had, and the only food she obtained was whenthe jailers were bribed to let her father carry her round the village tobeg a little nourishment from the nursing mothers. Her moans at nightrent the heart of her sick mother, and it is scarcely possible to imaginehow either survived. By this time, the English troops were so faradvancing that the King was reduced to negotiate, and, being in need ofan interpreter, he sent an order for Mr. Judson's release; but as hiswife was not named in it, she had great difficulty in effecting herdeparture, and half-way through the journey a guard came down and carriedhim off to Ava without her. Arriving next day, she found him in prison, but under orders to embark in a little boat and go at once to the camp atMaloun. She hastened to prepare all that was needful for his comfort, but all was stolen except a mattress, pillow, and one blanket. The boathad no awning, and was so crowded that there was no room to lie down forthe three days and three nights of alternate scorching heat and heavydew; there was no food but a bag of refuse-rice, and the banks on eitherside of the Irrawaddy were bordered with glittering white sand, which insunlight emitted a metallic glare intolerable to the eyes, and heat likea burning furnace. The fever returned upon Judson, and, when he reachedMaloun, he was almost helpless; but he found himself lodged in a smallbamboo hut in the middle of the white sand, where he could not admit airby rolling up the matting without letting in the distressing glare, andwhere the heat reflected from the sand was like a furnace. He could notstir when the officers came to summon him to the presence of the Burmesegeneral, and they thought it stubbornness, and threatened him; then theybrought him papers and commanded him to translate them, while he writhedin torture and only longed that the fever in his brain would deprive himof his senses. This it must have done, for he had only a confusedimpression of feet around him, and of fancying that he was going to beburnt alive, until he found himself on a bed in a somewhat cooler room. As he lay there, papers were continually brought him to explain andtranslate, and he found that the greatest difficulty was in making theBurmese understand that a State paper could mean what it said, or thattruth and honesty were possible. Sometimes, as he tried to explain thecommonest principle: of good faith and fair dealing among Christiannations, his auditors would exclaim, "That is noble, " "That is as itshould be;" but then they would shake their heads and say, "The teacherdreams; he has a heavenly spirit, and so he thinks himself in the land ofthe dwellers in heaven. " He remained here six weeks, suffering much at night from cold, for hisonly covering was a small rug and his well-worn blanket. Then, on theadvance of the English, he was sent back to Ava, but was marched straightto the court-house without being suffered to halt for a moment at his ownabode, to discover whether his wife was there. He was placed in a shed, guarded all day, and left without food, till Moung Ing found him out inthe evening, and replied to his questions, that the Mamma Judson and thechild were well; yet there was something about his manner that wasunsatisfactory, and Judson, thinking it over, became terribly uneasy, andin the morning, being sent for by the governor of the jail, obtainedpermission to go to his own house. At the door he saw a fat, half-naked Burmese woman with a child in herarms, so dark with dirt that it never occurred to him that it could behis own; and entering, he found, lying across the foot of the bed, hiswife, ghastly white and emaciated, her hair all cut away, and her wholeappearance that of a corpse. She woke as he knelt down by her indespair! She had been ill all this time with a horrible spotted fever. The day she had fallen ill, the Burmese woman had offered to take chargeof little Maria, and the Bengalee cook had attended on her. Dr. Pricewas released from prison and had cut off her hair, bled, and blisteredher, but she could hardly move when the tidings came of her husband beingin the town, and she had sent Moung Ing to him. The husband and wifewere at last together again, and Dr. Price was sent to conduct the treatyat the English camp. As soon as Sir Archibald Campbell heard of the sufferings of the Judsons, he demanded them as well as the English subjects; but the King was awarethat they were not English, and would not let them go. This attempt at atreaty failed; but its failure, and the alarm consequent upon a report ofthe advance of the English, led to Mr. Judson's being sent off, almost byforce, with two officials, to promise a ransom if Ava were spared. SirArchibald Campbell undertook that the city should not be attacked, provided his terms were complied with before he reached it; and amongthese was the stipulation that not only English subjects, but allforeigners should have free choice whether to go or to stay. Some of theofficials tried to persuade Mr. Judson to stay, declaring that he wouldbecome a great man, but he could not refuse the freedom offered him aftersuch cruel sufferings, and he was wont to declare that the joy of findinghimself floating down the Irrawaddy in a boat with his wife and baby, made up for their twenty-one months of peril and misery. They were received with courtesy, and indeed with gratitude, respect, andveneration at the English camp. The Englishmen who had been in captivitybore witness to the kindness with which Mrs. Judson had relieved theirwants, as well as those of her husband: how she had brought them food, mended their clothes, obtained new ones, and, as they believed, by herarguments and appeals to the ignorant and barbarous Government, had notonly saved their lives, but convinced the authorities of the necessity ofaccepting the British terms of peace. These terms included the cession of a large portion of the Burmeseterritory; and this it was that decided the missionaries to leave Ava;for the state of exasperation and intolerance into which this brought theCourt, made it vain to think of continuing to give instruction where theywould be regarded with enmity and suspicion. Meantime, the officers inthe English camp, who had not seen a lady for nearly two years, could notmake enough of the graceful, gentle woman, so pale and fragile, yet sucha dauntless heroine, and always ready to exert herself beyond herstrength for every sufferer who came in her way. There was a curious scene at a dinner given to the Burmese commissioners, in a magnificent tent, with all the military pomp the camp could furnish. When Sir Archibald appeared with Mrs. Judson on his arm, and seated herby his side, there was such a look of discomfiture on the faces of theguests, that he asked her if they were not old acquaintance who hadtreated her ill. "That fellow with the pointed beard, " he said, "seemstaken with an ague fit. " Then Mrs. Judson told how, when her husband layin a burning fever with the five pairs of fetters, she had walked severalmiles with a petition to this man, had been kept waiting till thenoontide sun was at its height, and not only was she refused, but as shedeparted her silk umbrella was torn out of her hand by his greediness;and when she begged at least to let her have a paper one to go home with, the officer only laughed at her, and told her that she was too thin to bein danger of a sunstroke! The English gentlemen could not restrain theircountenances at least from expressing their indignation; and the Burmese, who thought she was asking for their heads, or to have them laid out inthe sun with weights upon their chests, were yellow with fright, andtrembled visibly. Mrs. Judson kindly turned to them with a smile, assuring them that they had nothing to fear, and, on repeating her wordsto Sir Archibald Campbell, he confirmed them to the frightenedbarbarians. That visit to the English camp was one of the few spaces of comfort orrepose in those busy lives. It concluded by the husband and wife beingforwarded to their old home at Rangoon. It was in the height of the war, when anxieties for the fate of Mr. AndMrs. Judson were at the utmost, that, on the 4th of July, 1825, GeorgeBoardman and Sarah Hall were married, and sailed for Calcutta, thinkingit possible that they might find their predecessors martyred, and thatthey were coming "to step where their comrades stood. " At Calcutta they found Mr. And Mrs. Wade, who had with great difficultyescaped, and soon after they heard of the rescue of the Judsons, andwelcomed Dr. Price. Rangoon, in the meantime, had been occupied by theEnglish, and then besieged by the Peguans; the mission-house was ruined, and the people dispersed, and Moung Shwaygnong had died of cholera, faithful to the last. The city was to be restored to the Burmese, andthe King, though willing to employ Judson politically, refused tolerationto his subjects; so that, as the provinces on the Martaban river were tobe ceded to the English, it seemed wise to take advantage of thereputation which the Judsons had established to found a mission-stationunder their protection in the new town of Amherst, which Sir ArchibaldCampbell proposed to build on the banks of the Martaban river. Hither was transported the old zayat of Rangoon; and Mount Ing, MoungShwaba, and a few other of the flock accompanied their teachers, to formthe nucleus of the mission. Sir Archibald Campbell had made a greatpoint of Mr. Judson's accompanying the English embassy that was toconclude the treaty at Ava; and he, hoping to obtain something for theChristian cause, complied, leaving that most brave and patient woman, hiswife, with her little delicate girl, in a temporary house in Amherst, which, as yet, consisted only of barracks, officers' houses, and fiftynative huts by the riverside in the space of freshly-cleared jungle. There she set to work with energy that enfeebled health could not daunt, to prepare the way for the Wades and the Boardmans, to superintend alittle school, of which Moung Ing was master, and to have a house builtfor her husband. She had just moved into it, when she was attacked with remittent fever, and, though attended by an English army surgeon and nursed by a soldier'swife, she sank under it, and died on the 24th of October, 1826. She wasburied under a _hopia_, or, as her friends loved to call it, a hope tree;and the Wades, coming shortly after, took charge of poor little Maria, who lived to be embraced by her father, on his arrival after threemonths' absence; but she continued to pine away, and only survived hermother six months. Judson endured patiently, thought of his wife's sufferings as gems in hercrown, wrote cheerful letters, and toiled indefatigably, without breakingdown, but he was never the same man again. Amherst was probablyunhealthy, for several of the Rangoon converts died there, among them oneof the little Burmese girls who had been with Mrs. Judson throughout hertroubles. Those who died almost always spoke with joy of their hope ofseeing Mamma Judson in heaven. "But first, " said one woman, "I shallfall down before the Saviour's feet, and thank Him for sending us ourteachers. " It was shortly before little Maria's death that Mr. And Mrs. Boardmanarrived, bringing with them a daughter born at Calcutta. Moulmein, thetown near at hand, was decided on as their station, and they removed to amission-house on the border of the jungle, about a mile from thecantonments, with a beautiful range of hills behind them, and the riverin front. Opposite lay the Burman province of Martaban, which had beendesolated during the war, and was now the haunt of terrible Malaypirates, who came and robbed in the town, and then fled securely to theopposite bank, where they could not be pursued. The English officers hadentreated the Boardmans to reside within the cantonments, but they wishedto be among the people, so as to learn the language more readily andbecome acquainted with them. One night, Mrs. Boardman awoke and found the lamp gone out. She rose andre-lighted it. Every box and drawer lay overthrown and rifled, nothingleft but what the thieves deemed not worth taking. She turned round tothe mosquito curtain which concealed her husband; it was cut by two longgashes, the one close to his head, the other to his feet. There therobber-sentry must have kept watch, ready to destroy the sleepers if theyhad wakened for a moment! Nearly every valuable had been carried away, and not a trace of any was ever found. After this, Sir ArchibaldCampbell gave them a Sepoy guard; and, as population increased, thedanger diminished. Indeed, Amherst proved an unsuccessful attempt, andwas gradually abandoned in favour of Moulmein, which became thehead-quarters both of Government and of the Mission. The Boardmans were specially devoted to that, because of the work whichregarded the Karens. These were a wandering race who occupied a strip ofjungle, a hilly country to the south of Burmah, living chiefly by huntingand fishing, making canoes, and clothed in cotton cloth. They had veryscanty ideas either of religion or civilization, but were not idolaters, and had a good many of what Judson calls the gentler virtues of savages, though their habits were lazy and dirty. They had been a good dealmisused by the Burmese, but occasionally wandered into the cities; andthere Judson had asked questions about them which had roused the interestof his Burman converts. During the war, one of these Burmese found apoor Karen, named Ko-Thah-byoo, in bondage for debt, paid the amount, made him his own servant, and, on the removal to Moulmein, brought himthither. He proved susceptible of instruction, and full of energy andzeal; and not only embraced Christianity heartily himself, but introducedit to his tribe, and assisted the missionaries in acquiring the language. To be nearer to these people, the Boardmans removed to Tavoy, where theyhad a Burmese congregation; and Mr. Boardman made an expedition among theKarens, who were, for the most part, by no means unwilling to listen, andwith little tradition to pre-occupy their minds, as well as intelligenceenough to receive new ideas. At one place, the people were found devotedto an object that was thought to have magic power, and which they keptwith great veneration, wrapt up in many coverings. It proved to be anEnglish Common Prayer Book, printed at Oxford, which had been left behindby a Mahometan traveller. On the whole, this has been a flourishingmission; the Karens were delighted to have their language reduced towriting, and the influence of their teachers began to raise them in thescale; but all was done under the terrible drawback of climate. Mrs. Boardman never was well from the time she landed at Moulmein, and herbeautiful flower-covered house at Tavoy was the constant haunt ofsickness, under which her elder child, Sarah, died, after showing allthat precocity that white children often do in these fatal regions. Alittle boy named George had by this time been born, and shared with hismother the dangers of the Tavoy rebellion, an insurrection stirred up bya prince of the Burmese royal blood, in hopes of wresting the provincefrom the English. One night, a Burmese lad belonging to the school close to the Boardmans'house, was awakened by steps; and, peeping through the braided bamboowalls of his hut, saw parties of men talking in an undertone about lostbuffaloes. Some went into the town, others gathered about the gate, and, when their numbers began to thicken, a cloud of smoke was seen in themorning dawn, and yells from a thousand voices proclaimed, "Tavoy hasrisen!" Boardman awoke and rushed out to the door, but a friendly voice told himthat no harm was intended him. The revolt was against the English, andnever was a movement more perilous. The commandant, Colonel Burney, wasabsent at Moulmein, the English officer next in command was ill of afatal disease, the gunner was ill, and the whole defence of a long, straggling city was in the hands of a hundred Sepoys, commanded by a veryyoung surgeon, assisted by Mrs. Burney, who had a babe of three weeksold. The chief of the fight was at the powder magazine, not very farfrom the Boardmans' abode. It was attacked by two hundred men withclubs, knives, spears, but happily with very few muskets, and defended byonly six Sepoys, who showed great readiness and faithfulness. Just astheir bullets seemed to be likely to endanger the frightened littlefamily, a savage-looking troop of natives were seen consulting, withthreatening gestures aimed at the mission-house, and Mr. Boardman, fullyexpecting to be massacred, made his wife and her baby hide in a littleshed, crouching to escape the bullets; but this alarm passed off, and, atthe end of an hour, the whole of the gates had been regained by theSepoys, and the attack on the magazine repulsed. Mr. Boardman took thisopportunity of carrying his family to the Government house, where theywere warmly welcomed by Mrs. Burney; but it was impossible to continuethe defence of so large an extent as the town occupied, and therefore thetiny garrison decided on retiring to a large wooden building on thewharf, whither the Sepoys conveyed three cannon and as much powder asthey expected to want, throwing the rest down wells. This was not donewithout constant skirmishing, and was not completed till three o'clock, when the refugees were collected, --namely, a hundred Sepoys, with theirwives and children, stripped of all their ornaments, which they hadburied; some Hindoo and Burmese servants; a few Portuguese traders; awily old Mussulman; Mrs. Boardman and Mrs. Burney, each with her baby;and seven Englishmen besides Mr. Boardman. Among them rode the ghastlyfigure of the sick officer, who had been taken from his bed, but whohoped to encourage his men by appearing on horseback; but his almostorange skin, wasted form, sunken eyes, and perfect helplessness, were toMrs. Boardman even more terrible than the yells of the insurgents aroundand the shots of their scanty escort. Three hundred persons were crowded together in the wooden shed, roofedover, and supported on posts above the water, with no partitions. Thesituation was miserable enough, but they trusted that the enemy, beingonly armed with spears, could not reach them. By and by, however, thereport of a cannon dismayed them. The jingals, or small field-pieces, were brought up, but not till evening; and the inexperienced rebels tooksuch bad aim that all the balls passed over the wharf into the sea, andthe dense darkness put a stop to the attempt; but all night the tremblinginmates were awakened by savage yells; and a Sepoy, detecting a spark oflight through the chinks of the floor, fired, and killed an enemy who hadcome beneath in a boat to set fire to the frail shelter! In the morning the firing from the walls was renewed, but at longintervals, for there was a great scarcity of powder, though the unhappybesieged apprehended every moment that the right direction would be hitupon, and then that the balls would be among them. They could sendnowhere for help, though there was a Chinese junk within their reach, forit could not put to sea under the fire of the rebels; and two more days, and two still more terrible nights, passed in what must have been almosta black hole. The fifth night was the worst of all, for the town was seton fire around, and by the light of the flames the enemy made a furiousattack; but just in time to prevent the fire from attaining the frailwooden structure, a providential storm quenched it, and the muskets ofthe Sepoys again repulsed the enemy. By this time the provisions wereall but exhausted, and there were few among even the defenders who werenot seriously ill from the alternate burning sun and drenching rain. Death seemed hovering over the devoted wharf from every quarter; when atlast, soon after sunrise on the fifth day, the young doctor quietlybeckoned the Colonel's wife to the door that opened upon the sea, andpointed to the horizon, where a little cloudy thread of smoke was rising. It was the steamer bringing Colonel Burney back, in perfect ignorance ofthe peril of Tavoy and of his wife! But he understood all at a glance. The women and children were instantly transferred to the steamer, and shewas sent back to Moulmein, but Colonel Burney and the few men who camewith him landed, and restored courage and spirit to the besieged. Notonly was a breastwork thrown up to protect the wharf, but the Colonel leda trusty little band of Sepoys to the wall where the cannon stood, recaptured them, and had absolutely regained Tavoy before the tidings ofthe insurrection had reached Moulmein. Mrs. Burney's babe died soonafter the steamer had brought the two mothers and their infants to theirrefuge; but little George Boardman did not suffer any ill effects fromthese dreadful days and nights, and was, in fact, the only child of hispatents who outlived infancy. Another son, born a few months afterwards, soon ended a feeble existence, and Mrs. Boardman was ill for many months. Her husband, delicate from the first, never entirely recovered thesufferings at the wharf; yet in spite of an affection of the lungs, hewould often walk twenty miles a day through the Karen villages, teachingand preaching, and at night have no food but rice, and sleep on a mat onthe floor of an open zayat. The Moulmein station was a comparative rest, and the husband and wiferemoved thither to supply the place of Judson and of the Wades, who weremaking another attempt upon Burmah Proper; the Wades taking up theirresidence at Rangoon, and Judson going on to Prome, the ancient capital, where he preached in the zayats, distributed tracts, and argued with theteachers in his old fashion; but the Ava Government had become far moresuspicious, and interfered as soon as he began to make anything likeprogress, requesting the English officer now in residence at the Court toremonstrate with him, and desire him not to proceed further than Rangoon. He was obliged to yield, and again to float down the river in his littleboat, baffled, but patient and hopeful. A great change had come upon the bright, enthusiastic, lively young manwho had set out, with his beautiful Ann, to explore the unknown Easternworld. Suffering of body had not altered him so much as bereavement, andbereavement without rest in which to face and recover the shock. Astrong ascetic spirit was growing on him. Already on his first return toMoulmein, after joining in the embassy, he had thought it right to cutshort the ordinary intercourse of society, to which his residence in thecamp had given rise, and had announced his intention in a letter to SirArchibald Campbell. He was much regretted, for he was a particularlyagreeable man; and it is evident, both from all testimony and from thelively tone of his letters, that he was full of good-natured sympathy, and, however sad at heart, was a cheerful and even merry companion. But through these years, throughout constant care and unrelaxed activityof mind and body, his heart was aching for the wife he had no time tomourn; and the agony thus suppressed led to an utter loathing for allthat he thought held him back from perfect likeness to the glorifiedSaint whom he loved. He took delight in the most spiritual mysticalwritings he could find, --a Kempis, Madame Guyon, Fenelon, and thelike, --and endeavoured to fulfil the Gospel measure of holiness. He gaveup his whole patrimony to the American Baptist Mission Board (nowseparate from England and Serampore), mortified to the very utmost hisfastidious delicacy by ministering to the most loathsome diseases; and tocrush his love of honour, he burnt a letter of thanks for his servicesfrom the Governor-General of India, and other documents of the same kind. He fasted severely, and having by nature a peculiar horror of the decayand mouldering of death, he deemed it pride and self-love, and dug agrave beside which he would sit meditating on the appearance of the bodyafter death. He had a bamboo hermitage on the borders of the jungle, where he would live on rice for weeks together--only holding conversewith those who came to him for religious instruction; and once, when wornout with his work of translation, he went far into the depths of thewildest jungle, near a deserted pagoda, and there sat down to read, pray, and meditate. The next day, on returning to the spot, he found a seat ofbamboo, and the branches woven together for a shelter. Judson neverlearnt whose work this was, but it was done by a loving disciple, who hadovercome the fear of tigers to provide by night for his comfort, thoughthe place was thought so dangerous that his safety, during the forty daysthat he haunted it, was viewed by the natives as a miracle. He spentseveral months in retirement. It was indeed four years after hisbereavement, but it is plain that he was taking the needful rest and calmthat his whole nature required after the shock that he had undergone, butwhich he had in a manner deferred until the numbers of workers were soincreased that his constant labour could be dispensed with. He cameforth from his retirement renovated in spirit, for the second period ofhis toils. Meantime, the Boardmans had returned to Tavoy, where they were eagerlywelcomed by their Karen flock, and found many candidates for baptism. Weak as he was, Mr. Boardman examined them. He was sometimes able to situp in his chair and speak for himself, but oftener so weak that his wifesat on his couch and interpreted his feeble whispers; but he was so happythat tears of joy often filled his eyes. The actual baptism, performedby going down into the water like Philip with the Ethiopian, could hardlyhave been carried out by a man in his state; but Moung Ing, who had beenadmitted to the pastorate, touched at Moulmein, on a mission to Mergui, and undertook the baptisms. The Karens carried Mr. Boardman to the waterin his cot, along a street filled with lamaseries, whence theyellow-clothed priests looked down in scorn, and the common people hootedand reviled: "See! see your teacher, a living man borne as if he werealready dead!" with still worse unfeeling taunts. The Christians, aboutfifty in number, reached the spot, a beautiful lake, nearly a mile incircumference, and bordered by green grass overshadowed by trees. Therethey all knelt down and prayed, and then Moung Ing baptized the nineteennew disciples, while the pastor lay pale and happy, and his wife watchedhim with her heart full of the last baptism, when it had been he whopoured the water and spoke the words. Mr. Boardman lived on into the year 1831, and welcomed a new arrival fromAmerica, Francis Mason and his wife, on the 23rd of January, and a weeklater set out to introduce the former to the Karens, a band of whom hadcome down to convey the party. Mr. Boardman was carried on his bed, hiswife in a chair, and on the third day they reached a spot where theKarens, of their own accord, had erected a bamboo chapel beside abeautiful stream beneath a range of mountains. Nearly a hundred hadassembled there, of whom half were candidates for baptism. They cooked, ate, and slept in the open air, but they had made a small shed for Mr. Mason, and another for the Boardmans, too small to stand upright in, andso ill-enclosed as to be exposed to sun by day and cold air by night. The sufferer rapidly became worse, but he had an ardent desire to seethis last baptism, and all the thirty-four women, who were sufficientlyprepared, were baptized in his sight, though he was so spent as scarcelyto be able to breathe without the fan and smelling-bottle. In theevening he contrived to speak a few words of exhortation to thedisciples, and to give them each a tract or a portion of Scripture. Thenext morning the party set out on their return, but in the afternoon wereovertaken by a great storm of thunder and lightning, with rain thatdrenched his mattress and pillows; and when they reached a house, theyfound it belonged to heathens, who would scarcely let the strange teacherlie in the verandah. His cot was so wet that he was forced to lie on the bamboo floor, and therain continued all night. A boat was expected at twelve the next day, and it was resolved to wait for this, while the Tavoyans looked grimlyon, and refused even to sell a chicken to make broth for the sick man. Bynine o'clock he was evidently dying, and the Karens rubbed his hands andfeet as they grew cold. Almost immediately after being conveyed to theboat, the last struggles came on, and in a few minutes he had passedaway. He was buried at Tavoy, beside his little Sarah; all the Europeansin the town attending, as well as a grateful multitude of Burmese andKarens. "The tree to which the frail creeper clung Still lifts its stately head, But he, on whom my spirit hung, Is sleeping with the dead, " wrote Sarah Boardman; and her first thought was of course to go home withher child, but the Masons had not learnt the languages, and had noexperience, and, without her, there would be no schools, no possibilityof instruction for the converts of either people until they could speakfreely, and she therefore resolved not to desert her work. She waskeeping school, attending to all comers, and interpreting from sunrisetill ten o'clock at night, besides having the care of her little boy, andher schools were so good that, when the British Government establishedsome, orders were given for conducting them on the same system. She tried to learn Karen, but never had time, and it was the less needfulthat a little Burmese was known to some Karens, and thus she could alwayshave an interpreter. She sometimes made mission tours to keep up thespirit of the Karens till Mr. Mason should be qualified to come amongthem. Her little George was carried by her attendants, and there is anote to Mrs. Mason, sent back from one of the stages of her journey, which shows what her travels must have been: "Perhaps you had better sendthe chair, as it is convenient to be carried over the streams when theyare deep. You will laugh when I tell you that I have forded all thesmaller ones. " But there is scarcely any record of these journeys ofhers, she was too modest and shy to dwell on what only related toherself; and though she several times, with the help of her Burmeseinterpreter, led the devotions of two or three hundred Karens, it wasalways with a sense of reluctance, and only under necessity. She had been a widow four years, when Adoniram Judson, who had returnedfrom Rangoon, and was about to take charge of the station at Moulmein, made her his second wife, on the 10th of April, 1834. At the same time, an opportunity offered of sending little George back to America foreducation; but year after year filled the house at Moulmein with otherlittle ones, --careful comforts, in that fatal climate, which had begun totell on the health of both the parents. Pain and sorrow went for littlewith this devoted pair. To be as holy as the Apostles though withouttheir power, was the endeavour which Judson set before himself, and thework of such a man was one of spirit that drew all to hear and followhim. The Burmese converts were numbered by hundreds, and one of themissionaries in the Karen country could write: "I no longer date from aheathen land. Heathenism has fled from these banks; I eat the rice andfruits cultivated by Christian hands, look on the fields of Christians, see no dwellings but those of Christian families. I am seated in themidst of a Christian village, surrounded by a people that live asChristians, converse as Christians, act as Christians, and, to my eyes, look like Christians. " All this, like every other popular conversion, involved many individualdisappointments from persons not keeping up to the Christian standard, and from coolness setting in when the excitement of the change was over;and great attention had to be paid to rules, discipline, &c. , as well asto providing books and schools. Judson himself had to work hard at thecompletion and correction of the Burmese Bible, to which he devotedhimself, the more entirely because an affection of the throat and coughcame on, and for some time prevented him from preaching. In 1839, hetried to alleviate it by a voyage to Calcutta, where he was received byboth Bishop Wilson and by the Marshman family at Serampore; but, as heobserves, "the glory of Serampore had departed, " and his stay there musthave been full of sad associations. His work upon the Scriptures wasfinished in 1840, and he then began a complete Burmese dictionary, whilehis wife was translating the Pilgrim's Progress; but both were completelyshattered in health, and their children, four in number, had all beenbrought low by the hooping cough, and then by other complaints. A voyageto Calcutta was imperatively enjoined on all; but it was stormy and fullof suffering, and soon after they arrived at Serampore their youngestchild, little Henry, died. A still further voyage was thought advisable, and the whole family went as far as the Isle of France, where theyrecovered some measure of health, and their toil at Moulmein was resumed. Four more years passed, three more children were born, and then thestrength that had been for nineteen years so severely tried, gave way, and the doctors pronounced that Sarah Judson's life could only be savedby a voyage to America. The three elder children were to go with her, but the three little ones were to remain, since their father onlyintended to go as far as the Isle of France, and then return to hislabour. The last words she ever wrote were pencilled on a slip of paper, intended to be given to him to comfort him at their farewell:-- "We part on this green islet, love: Thou for the Eastern main, I for the setting sun, love; Oh! when to meet again? My heart is sad for thee, love, For lone thy way will be; And oft thy tears will fall, love, For thy children and for me. The music of thy daughter's voice Thou'lt miss for many a year, And the merry shout of thine elder boys Thou'lt list in vain to hear. * * * * * Yet my spirit clings to thine, love, Thy soul remains with me, And oft we'll hold communion sweet O'er the dark and distant sea. And who can paint our mutual joy When, all our wanderings o'er, We both shall clasp our infants three At home on Burmah's shore? But higher shall our raptures glow On yon celestial plain, When the loved and parted here below Meet, ne'er to part again. Then gird thine armour on, love, Nor faint thou by the way Till Boodh shall fall, and Burmah's sons Shall own Messiah's sway. " What a trumpet-note for a soldier to leave after nineteen years service"through peril, toil, and pain, " undaunted to the last! For by the timethe ship left the Isle of France, she was fading so rapidly that herhusband could not quit her, and sailed on with her to St. Helena. Shewas fast dying, but so composed about her children, that some oneobserved that she seemed to have forgotten the three babes. "Can amother forget?" was all her answer. She died on board the ship, atanchor in the bay of St. Helena, and was carried to the burial-ground, where all the colonial clergy in the island attended, and she was laidbeside Mrs. Chater, the wife of that Serampore missionary whose expulsionhad led to the first pioneering at Rangoon, and who had since worked inCeylon. She was just forty-two, and died September 1st, 1845. Her husband found her beautiful farewell; and, as he copied it out, hewrote after the last verse, "Gird thine armour on, " "And so, God willing, I will yet endeavour to do; and while her prostrate form finds repose onthe rock of the ocean, and her sanctified spirit enjoys sweeter repose onthe bosom of JESUS, let me continue to toil on all my appointed time, until my change too shall come. " On the evening of the day of her burial, he sailed with the threechildren, and arrived at Boston on the 15th of October, 1845. Heremained in his native country only nine months, and, if a universalwelcome could have delighted him, he received it to the utmost. Solittle did he know of his own fame, that, returning after thirty years, he had been in pain to know where to procure a night's lodging at Boston, whereas he found half the city ready to compete for the honour ofreceiving him, and every one wanted to meet him. Places of worship wherehe was to preach were thronged, and every public meeting where he wasexpected to speak was fully attended; but all this fervour of welcome wasa distress to him, his affection of the throat made oratory painful andoften impossible, and the mere going silently to an evening assembly soexcited his nerves that he could not sleep for the whole night after. Anysort of display was misery to him; he could not bear to sit still andhear the usual laudation of his achievements; and, when distinguished andexcellent men were introduced to him, he received them with chillingshyness and coldness, too humble to believe that it was for his goodnessand greatness that they sought to know him, but fancying it was out ofmere curiosity. His whole desire was to get back to his work and escape from Americannotoriety, and, disregarding all representations that longer residence inthe north might confirm his health, he intended to seize the firstopportunity of returning to Moulmein. But a wife was almost a necessityboth to himself and his mission, and even now, at his mature age andbroken health, he was able to win a woman of qualities almost if notquite equal to those of the Ann and Sarah who had gone before her. Emily Chubbuck, born in 1817, was the daughter of parents of the Baptistpersuasion, living in the State of New York. She was the fifth child ofa large family in such poor circumstances that, when she was only elevenyears old, she was sent to work at a woollen factory, where herrecollections were only of "noise and filth, bleeding hands and achingfeet, and a very sad heart;" but happily for her, the frost stopped theworks during the winter months, and she was able to go to school; and, after two years, the family removed to a country farm. They were allvery delicate, and her elder sisters were one after the other slowlydying of decline. This, with their "conversions" and baptisms, deepenedEmily's longing to give the tokens required by her sect for Christianmembership, but they came slowly and tardily with her, and she quaintlytold how one day she was addressed by one of the congregation whoseprayers had been asked for her, "What! this little girl not convertedyet? How do you suppose we can waste any more time in praying for you?"Her intelligence was very great, and in 1832, when her mother wanted herto become a milliner, she entreated to be allowed to engage herself as aschool teacher. "I stood as tall as I could, " she says, when she went tooffer herself, and she was accepted, although only fifteen. The systemwas that of "boarding round"--_i. E. _ the young mistress had to live aweek alternately at each house, and went from thence to her school, butshe found this so uncomfortable that she ended by sleeping at home everynight. She struggled on, teaching in various schools, doing needleworkin after-hours, trying to improve herself, and always contending withgreat delicacy of health, which must have made it most trying to copewith what she calls in one of her letters "a little regiment of wildcats" for about seven years, when some of the friends she had madeobtained of two sisters who kept a boarding school at Utica that sheshould be admitted there to pursue the higher branches of study for ayear or two, and then to repay them by her services as a teacher. The two ladies, Miss Urania and Miss Cynthia Sheldon, and their widowedsister, Mrs. Anable, proved Emily's kindest friends, and made athoroughly happy home for her. She was very frail and nervous, but ofgreat power of influence, and even while still only a pupil had thisgift. Here she spent the rest of her maiden days, and here she suppliedthe failure of her labours in needlework by contributions to magazines, generally under the _nom de plume_ of Fanny Forester. They were chieflypoems and short tales, and were popular enough to bring in a sum that wasvery important to the Chubbuck family. The day's employment was veryfull, and she stole the time required from her rest. Late one night, Miss Sheldon seeing a light in the room looked in, and found hertrembling in nervous agitation, holding her head with her hands and hermanuscript before her; and when gently rebuked, and entreated to lie downat once, she exclaimed with a burst of tears, "Oh! Miss Urania, I mustwrite; I must help my poor parents. " Her brave and dutiful endeavours prospered so much that she was actuallyable to buy a house for them. It was during her stay at Utica that shewas baptized, and several of her writings were expressly for the BaptistSunday School Union; and though others were of a more secular cast, allwere such as could only be composed by a religious woman. A little bookof hers fell into the hands of Dr. Judson, and struck him so much that hesaid, "I should be glad to know her. A lady who writes so well ought towrite better. " She was then at Philadelphia, and at the moment of hisintroduction to her was undergoing the process of vaccination. As soonas it was over he entered into conversation with her with someabruptness, demanding of her how she could employ her talents in writingsso trifling and so little spiritual as those he had read. Emily met the rebuke without offence, but defended herself by describingthe necessity of her case, with her indigent parents depending upon her;so that her work must almost of necessity be popular and profitable, though, as a duty, she avoided all that could be of doubtful tendency. The missionary was thoroughly softened, and not only acquitted her, butbegged her to undertake the biography of his wife Sarah: and this threwthem much together. He was fifty-seven, she twenty-eight, when heoffered himself to her in the following letter, sent with a watch:-- "I hand you, dearest, a charmed watch. It always comes back to me, andbrings its wearer with it. I gave it to Ann when a hemisphere dividedus, and it brought her safely and surely to my arms. I gave it to Sarahduring her husband's lifetime (not then aware of the secret), and thecharm, though slow in its operation, was true at last. " The charm worked. Emily Chubbuck was ready to follow Dr. Judson to thedeadly climate of Burmah, to share his labours, and become a mother tothe babies he had left there. They were married on the 2nd of June, 1846, and five weeks later sailedfor Burmah, leaving the three children at school. Emily seems to have differed from Ann and Sarah, in that she had lessactual missionary zeal than they. Sarah at least was a missionary inheart, and, as such, became a wife; but Emily was more the wife, workingas her husband worked. She had much more literary power than either; herletters to her friends were full of vivid description, playful accountsof their adventures, and lively colouring even of misfortunes, pain, andsickness. She arrived at Moulmein in November. One little boy had diedduring Dr. Judson's absence, but the other two were tenderly cared for bythe new Mrs. Judson, who threw herself into all the work and interests ofthe mission with great animation. It proved, however, that both theBurman and Karen missions were well supplied with teachers; and Dr. Judson thought he should be more useful at Rangoon, where there had, since one attempt on the part of the Wades, been no resident missionary. He heard accounts of the Court which made him hope to recover a footingat Ava, and decided on again living at Rangoon; but he soon heard thatthere was less hope than ever at Ava. The king whom he had known wasdead, and had been succeeded by a devoted Buddhist, whose brother andheir, "having been prevented from being a lama, " writes Dr. Judson, "poorman! does all that he can. He descends from his prince-regal seat, pounds and winnows the rice with his own hands, washes and boils it inhis own cook-house, and then, on bended knees, presents it to thepriests. This strong pulsation at the heart has thrown fresh bloodthrough the once shrivelled system of the national superstition, and nowevery one vies with his neighbour in building pagodas and makingofferings to the priests. What can one poor missionary effect, accompanied by his yet speechless wife, and followed by three men and onewoman from Moulmein, and summoning to his aid the aged pastor of Rangoonand eight or ten surviving members of the church?" The Vice-governor, or Raywoon, was a violent and cruel savage, whosehouse and court-yard rang with shrieks from the tortured, and the oldremnant of Christians were sadly scattered. When they were collected toworship on Sunday, they durst not either come in or go out in company, and used to arrive with their garments tucked up to look like Coolies, orcarrying fruit or parcels, while the Karens crept down from the hills insmall parties. The Governor was friendly, but a weak man, whoseauthority the Raywoon openly set at defiance; and all sorts of pettyannoyances were set in action against the teachers, while the probabilitythat the converts would suffer actual persecution daily increased. Dr. Judson used to call the present difficulties the Splugen Pass, andillness, of course, added to their troubles. The great Buddhist fast of the year had never before been imposed onstrangers, but now the markets contained nothing but boiled rice, fruit, or decaying fish, and terrible illness was the consequence both withthemselves and the children, until some boxes of biscuit arrived fromMoulmein, and a Mahometan was bribed to supply fowls. But the finances of the Society at home were at a low ebb, and it wasthought needful to diminish the number of stations. The intolerance ofthe Burmese Government led to the decision that there was less benefit inmaintaining that at Rangoon than those in the British provinces; and, asDr. Judson had no private means, he was obliged to obey and return toMoulmein. Here he had a curious correspondence with the Prince of Siam, whose letter began in his own English: "Venerable sir, having receivedvery often your far-famed qualities, honesty, faithfulness, righteousness, gracefulness, and very kindness to poor nation, &c. , fromreading the book of your ancient wife's memoir and journal. " . . . Theobject of this letter was to ask for some of his Burmese translations, and, in return for them, his Royal Highness sent "a few artificialflowers, two passion flowers, one mognayet or surnamed flower, and threeroses manufactured by most celebrated princess the daughter of the latesecond king or sub-king. " The Dictionary continued to be Judson's chief occupation, for hisaffection of the voice rendered him unable to take charge of acongregation. He continued to work at it till the November of 1849, whenhe caught a severe cold, which brought on an attack of fever, and fromthat time he never entirely rallied. One of the last pleasures of his life deserves to be mentioned. He hadalways had a strong feeling for the Jews, and had longed to work fortheir conversion, praying that he might at least do something towards it. After his last illness had begun, a letter was read to him by his wife, giving an account of a German Jew who had been led, by reading thehistory of his toils in Burmah in the Gospel cause, to study Christianityand believe. "Love, " he said presently, his eyes full of tears, "thisfrightens me. I do not know what to make of it. " "What?" "What youhave just been reading. I never was deeply interested in any object; Inever prayed sincerely and fervently for anything, but it came at sometime--no matter how distant a day--somehow, in some shape, probably thelast I should have devised, it came. And yet I have always had so littlefaith. " After spending a month at Amherst in the vain hope of improvement, a sea-voyage was recommended; but his reluctance was great, for his wife wasexpecting a second child, and could not go with him. There are somelines of hers describing her night-watches, so exquisite and descriptive, that we must transcribe them:-- "Sleep, love, sleep! The dusty day is done. Lo! from afar the freshening breezes sweep Wide over groves of balm, Down from the towering palm, In at the open casement cooling run; And round thy lowly bed, Thy bed of pain, Bathing thy patient head, Like grateful showers of rain They come; While the white curtains, waving to and fro, Fan the sick air; And pityingly the shadows come and go, With gentle human care, Compassionate and dumb. The dusty day is done, The night begun; While prayerful watch I keep, Sleep, love, sleep! Is there no magic in the touch Of fingers thou dost love so much? Fain would they scatter poppies o'er thee now; Or, with its mute caress, The tremulous lip some soft nepenthe press Upon thy weary lid and aching brow; While prayerful watch I keep, Sleep, love, sleep! On the pagoda spire The bells are swinging, Their little golden circlet in a flutter With tales the wooing winds have dared to utter, Till all are ringing, As if a choir Of golden-nested birds in heaven were singing; And with a lulling sound The music floats around, And drops like balm into the drowsy ear; Commingling with the hum Of the Sepoy's distant drum, And lazy beetle ever droning near. Sounds these of deepest silence born, Like night made visible by morn; So silent that I sometimes start To hear the throbbings of my heart, And watch, with shivering sense of pain, To see thy pale lids lift again. The lizard, with his mouse-like eyes, Peeps from the mortise in surprise At such strange quiet after day's hard din; Then boldly ventures out, And looks around, And with his hollow feet Treads his small evening beat, Darting upon his prey In such a tricksy, winsome sort of way, His delicate marauding seems no sin. And still the curtains swing, But noiselessly; The bells a melancholy murmur ring, As tears were in the sky: More heavily the shadows fall, Like the black foldings of a pall, Where juts the rough beam from the wall; The candles flare With fresher gusts of air; The beetle's drone Turns to a dirge-like, solitary moan; Night deepens, and I sit, in cheerless doubt, alone. " In spite of all this tender care, Dr. Judson became so much worse that, as a last resource, a passage was taken for him and another missionary, named Ramney, on board a French vessel bound for the Isle of Bourbon. Theoutset of the voyage was very rough, and this produced such an increaseof illness, that his life closed on the 12th of April, 1850, only afortnight after parting from his wife, though it was not for four monthsthat she could be informed of his loss. During this time she had givenbirth to a dead babe, and had suffered fearfully from sorrow andsuspense. She had become valuable enough to the mission for there to be muchanxiety to retain her, and at first she thought of remaining; but herhealth was too much broken, and in a few months she carried home herlittle girl and her two step-sons. She collected the family together, and spent her time in the care of them, and in contributing materials forthe Life of her husband; but the hereditary disease of her family hadalready laid its grasp on her, and she died on the 1st of June, 1854, thelast of a truly devoted group of workers, as remarkable for theircheerfulness as for their heroism. CHAPTER VII. THE BISHOPRIC OF CALCUTTA: THOMAS MIDDLETON, REGINALDHEBER, DANIEL WILSON. Perhaps dying in a cause is the surest way of leading to its success. Henry Martyn was sinking on his homeward journey, while in England therenewal of the Charter of the East India Company was leading to therenewal of those discussions on the promotion of religion in Hindostanwhich had been so entirely quashed twenty years before, in 1793. ClaudiusBuchanan had published his "Christian Researches, " the Life of Schwartzhad become known, the labours of Marshman and Carey were reported, andthe Legislature at length attended to the representations, made throughArchbishop Manners Sutton, by the Society for Promoting ChristianKnowledge, and consented to sanction the establishment of a branch of theChurch, with a Bishop to govern it at Calcutta, and an Archdeacon thereand also at Madras and Bombay; the Bishop to have 5, 000_l. _ a year but nohouse, and each Archdeacon 2, 000_l. _ Such was all that the efforts ofWilberforce could wring from the East India Company for a diocese, inlength twenty degrees, in breadth ten, and where the inconvenience ofdistances was infinitely increased by the difficulties and dangers oftravelling. One excuse for the insufficiency of this provision had more weight withthe supporters of the Church than we can understand. England had formore than a thousand years been accustomed to connect temporal grandeurwith the Episcopacy; a Bishop not in the House of Lords seemed ananomaly, and it was imagined that to create chief pastors without aconsiderable endowment would serve to bring them into contempt; whereasto many minds, that very wealth and station was an absolute stumbling-block. However, a beginning was made, and a year after Henry Martyn'sdeath, in 1814, the first of the Colonial Bishops of England wasappointed, namely, Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, the son of a Derbyshireclergyman, who had been educated at Christ's Hospital, and PembrokeCollege, Cambridge, and had since been known as an excellent Greekscholar, and an active clergyman in the diocese of Lincoln. Thence heremoved to the rectory of St. Pancras, London, where he strove hard toaccomplish the building of a new church, but could not succeed, such wasthe dead indifference of the period. He was also Archdeacon ofHuntingdon, and one of a firmly compacted body of friends who were doingmuch in a resolute though quiet way for the awakening of the nation fromits apathy towards religion. Joshua Watson, a merchant, might beregarded as the lay-manager and leader, as having more leisure, and morehabit of business than the clergy, with and for whom he worked. This isno place for detailing their home labours, but it may be well to mentionthat to their exertions we owe the National Society for the education ofthe poor, and likewise that edition of the Holy Scriptures, with notes, which is commonly known as Mant's Bible. They were the chief managers atthat time of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and when, in1813, a Danish missionary was sent out by that Society to take charge ofthe congregations left by Schwartz and his colleagues, it was ArchdeaconMiddleton who was selected to deliver a charge to him. It was a verypowerful and impressive speech, and perhaps occasioned Dr. Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln, to recommend the speaker to the Earl ofBuckinghamshire for the bishopric created the next year. The office would be, humanly speaking, most trying, laborious andperplexing, and neither Archdeacon Middleton's age (forty-five) nor hishabits inclined to enthusiasm. He shrank from it at first, then"suspected, " as he says, "that I had yielded to some unmanlyconsiderations, " and decided that it was his duty to accept the charge asa call from his Master. He was consecrated in the chapel at Lambeth, byArchbishop Manners Sutton, with the Bishops of London, Lincoln, andSalisbury assisting. The sermon was preached by Dr. Rennell, Dean ofWinchester, but was withheld from publication for the strange reason thatthere was so strong an aversion to the establishment of episcopacy inIndia, that it was thought better not to attract attention to the factthat had just been accomplished. Bishop Middleton, his wife, and two of his Archdeacons (the third wasalready in India) sailed on the 8th of June, 1814, and they landed atCalcutta on the 28th of November. There was no public reception, forfear of alarming the natives, though, on the other hand, they were foundto entertain a better opinion of the English on finding they respectedtheir own religion. The difficulties of the Bishop's arrival wereincreased by the absence of Lord Moira, the Governor-General, who wasengaged in the Nepaulese war; and as no house had been provided for theBishop, he had to be the guest of Mr. Seton, a member of the Council, till a house could be procured, at a high rent. One of the first visitors was a Hindoo gentleman, who told him, "SirWilliam Jones was a great man and understood our books, but he attendedonly to our law. Your lordship will study our religion; your peoplemistake our religion; it is not in our books. The Brahminee religion andyour lordship's are the same; we mean the same thing. " The man seems to have been one of those of whom there are now only toomany in India, who have thrown off their old superstitions only tobelieve in nothing, save the existence of a Supreme Being, and who fancythat all other religions can be simplified into the like. This is theclass that has, for the seventy years during which Christianity has beenpreached in earnest, been the alternate hope and anxiety of themissionary; intellectually renouncing their own paganism, but withheld bythe prejudices of their families from giving up the heathenish customs ofcaste; admiring divine morality, but not perceiving the inability of manto attain the standard; and refusing to accept the mysteries in thesupernatural portion of Revelation. Such was probably Serfojee; such wasthe celebrated Brahmin Ram Mohun Roy, with whom Bishop Middleton had muchdiscussion, and of whom he had at one time many hopes, a man of veryremarkable powers of mind and clear practical intelligence. Roy'sendeavour at first was to purify the native forms of religion, and, recurring to the Vedas, to find a high philosophy in them; but he and thefriends he gathered round him soon became convinced that these containedno system of reasonable theology, still less of morality, and they thenconstructed for themselves a theory culled from Christianity, butrejecting whatever did not approve itself to their intellect, in especialthe holy mysteries regarding the nature of the Godhead and theIncarnation of our Lord. This teaching, called Brahmoism, from Brahma, the purest and highest of Hindoo divinities, is, under another form, theNeo-Platonism of the Greeks, or the Soofeeism of the Persians. There waseven the germ of it in the grotesque medicine-man encountered by DavidBrainerd. It is the form of opposition which the spirit of evil alwaysstirs up, wherever the natural character is elevated enough to appreciatethe beauty of Christian morality. It only prevails where there arerefined and cultivated men, afraid of all belief in the supernatural, asa humbling of their intellect to superstition; and just at present a formof it is very prevalent in India, owing to the amount of education whichthe natives receive, which uproots the old belief, but does not alwaysimplant the new. Whether it will become a stepping-stone toChristianity, or whether it has substance to become a separate sect, remains to be proved. To return to Bishop Middleton. He knew when he left home that his workwould be heavy, and that to set in order the things that were wantingmust be his first undertaking; but no words could have conveyed the deadweight of care and toil that lay on him. The huge diocese was shamefullydeficient in all that was needful for the keeping up of religiousordinances; the Company's chaplains, few in number, were stationed atimmense distances apart, and for the most part had no attempt at a properchurch for their congregations. Verandahs or dining-rooms were used onSundays; and at Meerut, an edifice was actually built for the purpose ofa riding-school in the week, and a place of worship on Sunday. Moreover, these chaplains were accustomed to look to the Governor-General as theironly superior, and, living so far apart, each followed his ownindependent line of action, as if entirely unaccountable. Some, such asMr. Corrie at Cawnpore, were admirable and earnest men; but HenryMartyn's successor at Dinapore had let the place sink into a lamentablestate, and there were several chaplains who greatly resented the beingbrought under authority. The brunt of the battle fell of course upon thefirst Bishop, and being a man as sensitive as he was firm, it tried himseverely. His entreaty was constantly for more men; and in order toobtain a ministry beyond that which the East India Company would providefor, he occupied himself in procuring the foundation of Bishop's College, close to Calcutta, a seminary where young men, both European and native, could receive a good theological and classical education, and be preparedfor Holy Orders. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge granted5, 000_l. _ for the purpose, and private subscriptions came in, until onthe 15th of December, 1820, the Bishop was enabled to lay the foundation-stone of an institution that has, now for half a century, admirablyanswered its purpose. It has long been found that Christianity cannot take root without anative ministry, and Bishop Middleton was most anxious to ordain suchcatechists of Schwartz's training as were ready; but he found greattechnical difficulties in the way, since the ordination form in thePrayer Book left no opening for persons who, not being British subjects, could not be expected to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy; and, moreover, it was not certain what language ought to be used with men notspeaking English. The arrangement of these difficulties hindered himfrom ordaining Christian David, the godson and pupil of Schwartz, and asubject of Tanjore, on his visitation to the Presidency. This good manmet him, together with the minister of Palamcotta, bringing a deputationabout thirty in number. The minister was an exceedingly dark man, with avery interesting countenance. Addresses, interpreted by Christian, weremade on either side, and the thirty sang a psalm of thanksgiving inTamul. They were only a small deputation, for there were severalChristian villages in Tinnevelly, with churches built of unburnt brick, and roofed with palmyra leaves, where the English Liturgy was used, having been translated into Tamul by David. At Tanjore, the Bishop was received in the most friendly manner bySerfojee, who came down from his throne to welcome him, and caused Mrs. Middleton to be conducted to visit the ladies of his zenana. Heconducted the Bishop into his library, which contained books in variousEuropean languages; also on medicine and anatomy, this being hisfavourite study, to assist him in which he had an ivory skeleton. Hereturned the visit in great state, with six elephants, two of enormoussize, going before him, and accompanied by his troops, with a wild, horrid dissonance of cannon and native music. Two thousand personsescorted the Rajah to the Bishop's tent, where he conversed very sensiblyon various subjects, especially English history, or as he called it, "theGenerations of English Kings. " He was keeping up the good works he hadestablished, under the encouragement of the British resident, ColonelBlackburne, and in this district the native Christians numbered about500, who were under the direction of Schwartz's companion, Pohle. On the Malabar coast Bishop Middleton had much intercourse with theChristians of St. Thomas, visited their churches, and held muchconversation with their Bishop, convincing himself that the distinctivetenets of Nestorianism had died out among them, and arranging for theirreceiving assistance in books and teachers. His visit to Ceylon followed, and was always regarded by him as a time ofmuch gratification; the good Governor, Sir Robert Brownrigg, had done somuch for the improvement of the people, and the missions were flourishingso well. Here Christian David became a catechist, and on the Bishop'ssecond visitation, in 1821, he ordained as deacon a man named Armour, whose history one longs to know more fully. He had come out to Ceylonoriginally as a private soldier, and finding a number of natives, probably the remnant of the Dutch Mission, whose profession ofChristianity was only nominal, he had taken upon himself "almost the workof an evangelist, " never varying from the teaching and services of theEnglish Church. He had taught himself to speak and preach fluently inCingalese, and could use the Dutch and Portuguese languages freely. Hehad even some knowledge of Latin and Greek, and was so staunch Churchmanthat he had resisted all invitations from the Baptists to join them. Hehad gone through frightful difficulties and dangers in the swamp and thejungle, and travelled thousands of miles; and when he came to the Bishopit was with deep humility, and the hope that he had not been presumptuousin taking on himself the charge of souls without sanction. It was hisgreat desire to obtain this commission, and the Bishop, finding how soundin faith, pious, and excellent he was, admitted him to deacon's ordersbefore leaving Colombo. Ceylon was erected into an archdeaconry and attached to the Bishopric ofCalcutta, and shortly after the same arrangement was made respectingAustralia--an archdeaconry a great deal larger than the continent ofEurope! Thence Bishop Middleton received and attended to the petition ofthe Rev. Samuel Marsden, a devoted worker in the vineyard, of whom ournext chapter will speak. Distinct missionary labour was scarcely possible to a man overtasked likeBishop Middleton. The district that kept St. Paul in continual"journeyings often" would have been but a quarter of that which dependedon him for "the care of all the churches, " and the long journeys by seaand land were by far the least harassing part of his life; for he had tofight the battles, sometimes of his Church, sometimes of the wholeChristian cause, with unfair and prejudiced officials, and a malignantnewspaper press, by which the bitterest attacks were circulated againsthim and his doings. And, "besides those things that were without, " therewere the troubles of dealing with men used to do "that which was right intheir own eyes, " and determined to oppose or neglect one whose powerscould only thoroughly be defined by actual practice. To go into theseconflicts would be wearisome and vain. They have lost their interestnow; but it must be remembered that it is by manfully and firmly enduringvexations such as these, that systems are established which form theframework and foundation of more visible labours, which gain more praisefor those who are allowed to carry them out. The constant wearing effort, the daily vexation, the inability to gainsupport, the binding of his hands from free action by the machinery ofState regulations only applicable to home ecclesiastics, the continualmaking beginnings that never were allowed to progress--or, as he himselfcalled it, the continual rolling of the stone of Sisyphus--could not butexhaust his powers, above all in such a climate; and that same sicklysummer of 1822 which proved fatal to Felix Carey was his last. In July, one of his clergy, on whom he had been obliged to pass censure, instituted proceedings against him in the Supreme Court--a most improperand disloyal act, which much grieved and agitated him. He had to spendeight hours in writing in preparation for this painful matter, andafterwards went out in the carriage with his wife, but too early in theevening, for the slanting rays of the sun, not yet down, fell full onhim, and their force is always especially dreaded at that damp and sicklyseason. He immediately said that the sun had struck him, and returnedhome; a most distressing fever, chiefly on the nerves, and accompanied bygrievous restlessness and afterwards delirium, set in, and he died on the8th of July, 1822, in his fifty-fourth year, absolutely worn out by toiland worry. But his career had established both the needfulness and theposition of a Bishop, and his successor was appointed without the sameopposition, still to a path perhaps only less thorny because briefer. Of a Yorkshire family, where the eldest son was always bred up as thecountry gentleman, the younger ones usually prepared to hold the familylivings, Reginald Heber was born on the 21st of April, 1783, at Malpas, in Cheshire, a rectory held by his father, who was the clerical secondson, but soon after became head of the house by the death of his squire-brother. He was twice married, and had a son by his first wife, so thatReginald was born, as it were, to the prospect of taking Holy Orders; andthis fact seems to have in a certain degree coloured his whole boyhood, and acted as a consecration, not saddening, but brightening his life. A happy, eager, docile childhood seems to have been his; so obedient, that when an attack on the lungs necessitated the use of very painfulremedies, the physician said that the chances of his recovery turned uponhis being the most tractable of children; and with such a love andknowledge of the Bible that, when only five years old, his father couldconsult him like a little Concordance, and withal full of boyish mirthand daring. When sent to school at Neasdon, he was so excited by thestory of an African traveller overawing a wild bull by the calm defianceof the eye, as to attempt the like process upon one that he found grazingin a field, but without the like success; for he provoked so furious acharge that he was forced to escape ignominiously over a high paling, whence he descended into a muddy pond. Neasdon was the place of education of his whole boyhood, among twelveother pupils. Mr. John Thornton, the schoolfellow friend andcorrespondent of his life, describes him as having been much belovedthere. He had no scruple as to fighting rather than submitting totyranny from a bigger boy, but his unfailing good nature andunselfishness generally prevented such collisions; he was full of fun, and excellent at games of all sorts; and though at one time evil talk wasprevalent among the boys, his perfect purity of mind and power ofcreating innocent amusement destroyed the habit, without estranging theother lads from him. He took many of his stories from books not read bythem, for he was an omnivorous reader, taking special delight in poetry, loving nothing better than a solitary walk with Spenser's "Faerie Queen"in his hand, and often himself composing verses above the average for soyoung a boy. He was always thoughtful, and there is a letter of his to his friendThornton, written when only seventeen, which shows that he had begun tothink over Church questions, was deeply sensible of the sacredness of theapostolical commission to the ministry, and of the evils of Stateinterference. That same year, 1800, began his University education, atBrasenose College, Oxford. His course there was alike blameless in lifeand brilliant in scholarship; his talents and industry could not fail tosecure him honours in the schools. Another young man was at the very same time at Oxford, whose course hadbeen steered thither with more difficulties than Reginald Heber's. DanielWilson's father was a wealthy silk manufacturer, at Spitalfields, wherehe was born in the year 1778. He was educated at a private school atHackney, kept by a clergyman named Eyre, who must have had a good deal ofdiscernment of character, for he said, "There is no milk and water inthat boy. He will be either something very bad or very good. " One day, when he was in an obstinate and impracticable state of idleness, Mr. Eyresaid, "Daniel, you are not worth flogging, or I would flog you, " which sostung him that he never fell into similar disgrace again; nay, onemorning when he had failed in his appointed task, he refused food saying, "No! If my head will not work, my body shall not eat. " He hadconsiderable powers, and when his own theme on a given subject wasfinished, would find "sense" for all the dull boys--varying the matterbut keeping to the point in all: but his education ceased at fourteen, when he was bound apprentice to his uncle, who followed the same trade ashis father, and lived in Cheapside. He was a widower with sevenchildren, one of whom in after years became Daniel's wife. It was astrictly religious household, and whereas Daniel's parents had been wontto attend church or meeting as suited them best, his uncle was a regularchurchman, and took his whole family constantly with him, as decidedly ashe kept up discipline in his warehouse, where the young men had so littleliberty, that for weeks together they never had occasion to put on theirhats except on Sunday. Daniel was a thoughtless, irreverent lad, full of schoolboy restlessnesswhen first he came; but though he was at first remarkable for his ill-behaviour in church, his attendance insensibly took effect upon him, asit brought his mind under the influence of the two chief powers for goodthen in London, John Newton and Richard Cecil. The vehement struggle forconversion and sense of individual salvation that their teaching deemedthe beginning of grace took place, and he turned for aid to them and tohis old schoolmaster, Mr. Eyre. It was from his hands in 1797, at theage of nineteen, that he received his first Communion, with so muchemotion and such trembling, that he writes to his mother, "I have nodoubt I appeared very foolish to those about me, " but he adds in anotherletter to a friend that it had been the happiest day of his life. "Andto you I confess it, " he says, "(though it ought perhaps to be a causefor shame, ) that I have felt great desire to go or do anything for thelove of JESUS, and that I have even wished, if it were the Lord's will, to go as a missionary to foreign lands. " It is very remarkable that this thought should have occurred at such amoment to one who only became a missionary thirty-five years later, at asummons from without, not from within. The distinct mission impulsepassed away, but a strong desire remained to devote himself to theministry of the Church. He tried to stifle it at first, lest it shouldbe a form of conceit or pride; but it only grew upon him, and at last hespoke to Mr. Eyre, who promised to broach the subject to his parents. His father was strongly averse to it, as an overthrow to all his plans, and Mr. Eyre, after hearing both sides, said that he should give noopinion for a year; it would not hurt Daniel to remain another year inthe warehouse, to fulfil the term of his apprenticeship, and it wouldthen be proper time to decide whether to press his father to change hismind. It was a very sore trial to the young man, who had many reasonsfor deeming this sheer waste of time, though he owned he had not lostmuch of his school learning, having always loved it so much as to read asmuch Latin as he could in his leisure hours. He submitted at first, butwas uneasy under his submission, and asked counsel from all the clergymenhe revered, who seem all to have advised _him_ to be patient, but to haveurged his father to yield, which he finally did before the year was out;so that Daniel Wilson was entered at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, on the1st of May, 1798. He struggled with the eagerness of one whose desirehad grown by meeting with obstacles. In order to acquire a good Latinstyle, he translated all Cicero's letters into English, and then backinto Latin; and when he went up for his degree, he took, besides hisLatin and Greek books, the whole Hebrew Bible, but was only examined inthe Psalms. He gained a triumphant first-class, and the next year, 1803, he carried off the English prose essay prize. The theme was "CommonSense. " He had not in the least expected to gain the prize, and had noteven mentioned the competition to his friends, so that their delight andsurprise were equal. That same year, Reginald Heber was happy in thesubject for Sir Roger Newdegate's prize for English verse, namely, "Palestine, " which in this case had fallen to a poet too real to becrushed by the greatness of his subject. Reginald Heber was used to society of high talent and cultivation. Hiselder brother, Richard, was an elegant scholar and antiquary, and wasintimate with Mr. Marriott, of Rokeby; with Mr. Surtees, the beauty ofwhose forged ballads almost makes us forgive him for having palmed themoff as genuine; and with Walter Scott, then chiefly known as "thecompiler of the 'Border Minstrelsy, '" but who a few years laterimmortalized his friendship for Richard Heber by the sixth of hisintroductions to "Marmion, "--the best known, as it contains thedescription of the Christmas of the olden time. It concludes with thewish-- "Adieu, dear Heber, life and health! And store of literary wealth. " Just as Reginald was finishing his prize poem, Scott was on a tourthrough England, and breakfasted at Richard Heber's rooms at Oxford, whenon the way to lionize Blenheim. The young brother's poem was broughtforward and read aloud, and Scott's opinion was anxiously looked for. Itwas thoroughly favourable, "but, " said Scott, "you have missed onestriking circumstance in your account of the building of the Temple, thatno tools were used in its erection. " Before the party broke up the lines had been added: "No workman's steel, no ponderous axes rung; Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung; Majestic silence--" The prose essay on "Common Sense" was first recited from the rostrum inthe Sheldonian theatre, and Wilson always remembered the hearty applauseof the young man who sat waiting his turn. But the effect of therecitation of "Palestine" was entirely unrivalled on that as on any otheroccasion. Reginald Heber, --a graceful, fine-looking, rather pale youngman of twenty, --with his younger brother Thomas beside him as prompter, stood in the rostrum, and commenced in a clear, beautiful, melancholyvoice, with perfect declamation, which overcame all the stir andtumultuous restlessness of the audience by the power and sweetness ofwords and action: "Reft of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn, Mourn, widow'd queen; forgotten Zion, mourn. Is this thy place, sad city, this thy throne, Where the wild desert rears its craggy stone; While suns unblest their angry lustre fling, And wayworn pilgrims seek the scanty spring?" On flowed the harmonious lines, looking back to the call of the Chosen, the victory of Joshua, the glory of Solomon, the hidden glory of theGreater than Solomon, the crime of crimes, the destruction, the renewalby the Empress Helena, the Crusades, and after a tribute (excusable atthe time of excitement) to Sir Sidney Smith's defence of Acre, graduallyrising to a magnificent description of the heavenly Jerusalem. "Ten thousand harps attune the mystic throng, Ten thousand thousand saints the strain prolong. 'Worthy the Lamb, omnipotent to save! Who died, Who lives triumphant o'er the grave. " The enthusiasm, the hush, the feeling, the acclamations have ever sincebeen remembered at Oxford as unequalled. Heber's parents were bothpresent, and his mother, repairing at once in her joy to his rooms, foundhim kneeling by his bedside, laying the burthen of honour and successupon his God. His father, recently recovered from illness, was soovercome and shaken by the pressure of the throng and the thunder ofapplause as never entirely to recover the fatigue, and he died eightmonths later, early in 1804. The two youths who were in juxtaposition at the rostrum were not to meetagain. Daniel Wilson was ordained to the curacy of Chobham, under Mr. Cecil, an excellent master for impressing hard study on his curates. Hewrites: "What should a young minister do? His office says, 'Go to yourbooks, go to retirement, go to prayer. ' 'No, ' says the enthusiast, 'goto preach, go and be a witness. '" "'A witness of what?' "'He don't know!'" While Wilson worked under Cecil, Heber, who was still too young for thefamily living of Hodnet, in Shropshire, after taking his bachelor'sdegree, obtaining a fellowship at All Souls College, and gaining theprize for the prose essay, accompanied John Thornton on a tour throughnorthern and eastern Europe, the only portions then accessible to thetraveller; and, returning in 1806, was welcomed at home by his brother'stenants with a banquet, for which three sheep were slaughtered, and atwhich he appeared in the red coat of the volunteer regiment in which hehad taken an eager share during former years. It was his last appearance in a military character, for in 1807 he wasordained, and entered on his duties as Rector of Hodnet. Two years laterhe married Amelia Shipley, the daughter of the Dean of St. Asaph. Floating thus easily into preferment, without a shoal or rock in hiscourse, fairly wealthy, and belonging to a well-esteemed county family, connected through his brother with the very _elite_ of literary society, it seemed as though, in the laxity of the early part of the century, Reginald Heber could hardly have helped falling into the indolence oflearned ease, the peril of the well-beneficed clergy of his day, especially among those who had not accepted the peculiarities of theawakening school of the period. But such was not the case. He was at once an earnest parish priest, working hard to win his people, not only to attend at church, but tobecome regular communicants, and to give up their prevalent evil courses. We find him in one letter mentioning the writing of an article on Pindarin the _Quarterly Review_, planning for a village-school on theLancastrian principle, and endeavouring to improve the psalmody. "Atleast, " he says, "I have a better reason to plead for silence than theCambridge man who, on being asked in what pursuit he was then engaged, replied that he was diligently employed in suffering his hair to grow. " These "endeavours to improve the psalmody" were a forestalling of thevictory over the version of Tate and Brady. The Olney Hymns, produced byCowper, under the guidance of John Newton, had been introduced by Heberon his first arrival in the parish, but he felt the lack of somethingmore thoroughly in accordance with the course of the Christian year, lesspersonal and meditative, and more congregational. Therefore he producedby degrees a series of hymns, which he described as designed to be sungbetween the Nicene Creed and the Sermon, and to be connected in somedegree with the Collects and Gospels for the day. Thus he was the realoriginator in England of the great system of appropriate hymnology, whichhas become almost universal, and many of his own are among the mostbeautiful voices of praise our Church possesses. We would instance Nos. 135 and 263 in "Hymns Ancient and Modern, "--that for the 21st Sundayafter Trinity, a magnificent Christian battle-song; and that forInnocents' Day, an imitation of the old Latin hymn "_Salvete floresMartyrum_. " They were put together, with others by Dean Milman and a fewmore, into a little volume, which Heber requested Dr. Howley, then Bishopof London, to lay before the Archbishop, that it might be recommended foruse in churches, but the timidity of the time prevented this from beingcarried into effect. A deep student of church history, his letters show him trying everypractical question by the tests of ancient authority as well asinstructive piety, and, on these principles, already deploring the undueelevation of the pulpit and debasement of the Altar to which exclusivepreference of preaching had led. Missions had, since the days of Carey'sfirst opening of the subject become so predominant a thought with theNonconformist bodies, and were often conducted so irregularly, that therewas certain dread and distrust of them among the sober-minded andorthodox; but Heber was one of the first English churchmen who perceivedthat to enlarge her borders and strengthen her stakes was the boundenduty of the living Church. He was a fervent admirer of Henry Martyn, whose biography was published soon after the news of his death reachedEngland, and his feeling found vent in that hymn so familiar to usall--"From Greenland's icy mountains. " He was meantime rising in influence and station, --Canon of St. Asaph, Preacher at Lincoln's Inn, Select Preacher before the University. He wasbeloved by all ranks: by the poor for his boundless charity and sympathy;and by his equals, not only for these qualities, but for his sunnytemper, bright wit, and playfulness, which showed in his conversation, his letters, and in many a droll, elegant, and scholarly _jeu d'esprit_, thrown off by a mind that could do nothing without gracefulness. Allthis prosperity was alloyed only by such domestic sorrow as might befitly termed gentle chastening. The death of his next brother, Thomas, who had acted as his curate, was a severe loss to him; and in the desireto make every affliction a stepping-stone in Christian progress, hebegan, from that date, a custom of composing a short collect-like prayer, veiled in Latin, on every marked occurrence in his life. The nextoccasion was, after several years of marriage, the birth of a littledaughter, whom (in his own words) "he had the pleasure of seeing andcaressing for six months, " ere she faded away, and died just before theChristmas of 1817. He never could speak of her without tears, and (hiswife tells us) ever after added to his private prayers a petition to beworthy to rejoin his "sinless child. " His grief and his faith furtherfound voice in the hymn, each verse of which begins with "Thou art goneto the grave, but we will not deplore thee, " and which finishes-- "Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, Whose God was thy ransom, thy Guardian and Guide. He gave thee, He took thee, and He will restore thee, And death has no sting, for the Saviour has died. " Such had been the training of Reginald Heber, through the pleasant pathsof successful scholarship and literature, and of well-beneficed countrypastorship; a life perilous to spirituality and earnestness, but which hekept full of the salt of piety, charity and unwearied activity as parishpriest, and as one of the voices of the Church. Such had been his lifeup to 1822, when, on the tidings of the death of Dr. Middleton, Bishop ofCalcutta, his friend Charles Williams Wynn, President of the Board ofCommissioners for the affairs of India, offered him the appointment. To a man of his present position, talents, and prospects at home, thepreferment was not advantageous: the income, with the heavy attendantexpenses, would very little increase his means; the promotion threw himout of the chances of the like at home; and the labour and toil of thehalf-constituted and enormous diocese, the needful struggles with Englishirreligion and native heathenism, and the perils of climate, offered atrying exchange for all that had made life delightful at Hodnet Rectory. A second little daughter too, whom he could not of course look toeducating in India, rendered the decision more trying. But in his ownpeculiarly calm and simple way, he wrote: "I really should not thinkmyself justified in declining a situation of so great usefulness, and forwhich, without vanity, I think myself not ill adapted, either from a lovefor the society and friendship of England, or from a hope, which maynever be realized, of being some time or other in a situation of moreimportance at home. " At first, however, the fear for the child's healthinduced him to decline, but only if anyone else equally suitable could befound; and finally he accepted it, with apparent coolness, veiling thedeep spirit of zeal and enthusiasm that glowed within. It was not theardent vehemence that enables some to follow their inward call, overcoming all obstacles, but it was calm obedience to a call fromwithout. "After all, " he wrote, "I hope I am not enthusiastic inthinking that a clergyman is, like a soldier or a sailor, bound to go onany service, however remote or undesirable, where the course of his dutyleads him, and my destiny (though there are some circumstances attendingit which make my heart ache) has many, very many, advantages in anextended sphere of professional activity, in the indulgence of literarycuriosity, and, what to me has many charms, the opportunity of seeingnature in some of its wildest and most majestic features. " In the spring of 1823, he took leave of Hodnet, amid the tears of hisparishioners; and on the 18th of May preached his last sermon inLincoln's Inn chapel, on the Atonement. On coming out, one of the mostleading men among the Wesleyan Methodists could only express his feelingsby exclaiming, "Thank God for that man! Thank God for that man!" It is striking to find him in the full pressure of business, whilepreparing in London for his consecration and his voyage, making time fora letter to one of the Hodnet farmers, to warn him against habits ofdrunkenness, hoping that it would dwell with him "as a voice from thedead. " On the 1st of June, 1823, Reginald Heber was consecrated atLambeth, and on the 10th sailed for India! He made several sketchesalong the southern coast, under one of which he wrote:-- "And we must have danger, and fever, and pain, Ere we look on the white rocks of Albion again. " A few days later, when passing the western coast of France on a Sunday, the sound of the bells suggested the following meditative verses:-- "Bounding along the obedient surges, Cheerly on her onward way, Her course the gallant vessel urges Across thy stormy gulf, Biscay. In the sun the bright waves glisten; Rising slow with solemn swell, Hark, hark, what sound unwonted? Listen-- Listen--'tis the Sabbath bell. It tells of ties which duties sever, Of hearts so fondly knit to thee, Kind hands, kind looks, which, wanderer, never Thy hand shall grasp, thine eye shall see. It tells of home and all its pleasures, Of scenes where memory loves to dwell, And bids thee count thy heart's best treasures Far, far away, that Sabbath bell. Listen again! Thy wounded spirit Shall soar from earth and seek above That kingdom which the blest inherit, The mansions of eternal love. Earth and her lowly cares forsaking, Bemoaned too keenly, loved too well, To faith and hope thy soul awaking, Thou hear'st with joy that Sabbath bell. " By the 28th of September, the vessel was in sight of the Temple ofJaghernauth, and on the 3rd of October was anchored close to the islandof Saugor. All through his voyage and residence in India, the Bishop kept a journalof the doings and scenes of each day, full of interesting sketches, bothin pen and pencil. The beauty of the villages on the Hooghly, "thegreenhouse-like smell and temperature of the atmosphere, " and the gentlecountenances and manners of the natives, struck him greatly, as he says, "with a very solemn and earnest wish that I might in some degree, howeversmall, be enabled to conduce to the spiritual advantage of creatures sogoodly, so gentle, and now so misled and blinded. '_Angili forent siessent Christiani_. '" On the 10th of October the Heber family entered their temporary abode inthe Fort at Calcutta, and were received by two Sepoy sentries and a longtrain of servants in cotton dresses and turbans, one of them with a longsilver stick, another with a mace. There, too, were assembled theneighbouring clergy--alas! far too few--and the next day the Bishop wasinstalled in his cathedral. Then began a life of very severe labour, for not only had the arrears ofepiscopal business after the interregnum to be made up, but thedeficiency of clergy rendered the Sunday duties very heavy; and theBishop took as full a share of them as any working parish priest; andeven though he authorized the Church Missionary Society's teachers toread prayers and to preach, the lack of sufficient ministrations wasgreat. Bishop's College had, however, been completed, and what Middletonhad founded was opened by Heber, with the happiest effect, which haslasted to the present time. The difficulties as to the form of ordination of such as were not Britishsubjects had also been overcome, and Christian David was to be sent upfrom Ceylon in company with Mr. Armour, who was to receive Priest'sorders. The latter excellent man died just before he was to set off, andthis delayed David until the next spring, when he came to Calcutta, waslodged in Bishop's College, passed an excellent examination, and wasordained deacon on Holy Thursday, 1824, and priest on the ensuing TrinitySunday. He is memorable as the first man of the dark-skinned racesadmitted by the Church of England to her ministry. An excellent and well-expressed letter from him, on the difficulties respecting thedistinctions of caste, is given in Bishop Heber's Life. This, indeed, was one of the greatest troubles in dealing with converts. The Seramporemissionaries had striven to destroy it, but Ziegenbalg, Schwartz, andtheir elder companions, regarded it as a distinction of society--notreligious--and, though discouraging it, had not so opposed it as toinsist on high and low castes mingling indiscriminately in church or atmeals. The younger men who had since come out had been scandalized, andtried to make a change, which had led to much heartburning. Next to his hymns, Bishop Heber is best known by the journal he kept ofhis visitation tour, not intended for publication but containing so muchof vivid description of scenery and manners, that it forms a valuablepicture of the condition of Hindostan as it then was. His first stage, in barges along the Ganges, brought him to Dacca, wherehe was delayed by the illness and death of his much esteemed and belovedchaplain. He then went on to Bhaugulpore, where he was much interestedin a wild tribe called the Puharries, who inhabit the Rajmahal hills, remnants of the aborigines of India. They carried bows and arrows, livedby the chase, and were viewed as great marauders; but they had aprimitive faith, free from idolatry, hated falsehood, and, having noobservance of caste and a great respect for Europeans, seemed promisingobjects for a mission; but unfortunately the climate of their mountainswas so injurious to European life, that the clergyman, Mr. ThomasChristian, a scholar of Bishop's College, whom the Bishop appointed tothis mission, was only able to spend three months in the hills in thecourse of the year, while for the other nine he took the children underhis instruction back with him to Bhaugulpore. At Bankipore, the Bishop met Padre Giulio Cesare, still a remarkablyhandsome and intelligent-looking little man, and speaking warmly of HenryMartyn. Dinapore, that first station of Martyn's, had since his timefallen into a very unsatisfactory state, owing to the carelessness of hissuccessor, though it was newly come into better hands. On the contrary, at Buxar, the Fort-adjutant, Captain Field, had soinfluenced all around, though without a chaplain, that, though the Bishopcould not give the place a Sunday, his Saturday evening service in theverandah was thronged, the English soldiers coming with Prayer-books andmaking the responses, besides numerous Hindoos, many of them theChristian wives and children of the soldiers. There was a boys' schoolkept by a converted Mahometan, and one for girls by "Mrs. Simpson, " anative of Agra, converted by Mr. Corrie, and the widow of a sergeant. She, however, got no scholars but the half-caste daughters of thesoldiers. A little boy of four years old, son to an English sergeantwith a native wife, was baptized, and the Bishop was delighted with thereverent devotion of the spectators. Cureem Musseh, once a Sepoyhavildar, had his sword and sash hung over the desk, where, in a cleanwhite cotton dress and turban, he presided over his scholars, whom he hadtaught to read Hindostanee, and to say the Creed, Lord's Prayer, andCommandments, with a short exposition of each. The school served themlikewise to hold prayer-meetings in, and, on rare occasions, a clergymanvisited them. The Bishop's entrance into the sacred city of Benares he describes to hiswife thus: "I will endeavour to give you an account of the concert, vocaland instrumental, which saluted us as we entered the town:-- "_First beggar_. --Agha Sahib! Judge Sahib, Burra Sahib, give me somepice; I am a fakir; I am a priest; I am dying of hunger! "_Bearers trotting under the tonjon_. --Ugh! ugh!--Ugh! ugh! "_Musicians_. --Tingle, tangle; tingle, tangle; bray, bray, bray. "_Chuprassee_, _clearing the way with his sheathed sabre_. --Silence! Roomfor the Lord Judge, the Lord Priest. Get out of the way! Quick! (_Thengently patting and stroking the broad back of a Brahmin bull_. ) Oh, goodman, move. "_Bull_, _scarcely moving_. --Bu-u-uh. "_Second beggar_, _counting his beads_, _rolling his eyes_, _and movinghis body backwards and forwards_. --Ram, ram; ram, ram!" Benares, said to be founded on the point of Siva's trident, as the mostsacred city of all Hindostan, swarmed with beggars, fakirs, sacredanimals, and idols of every description; but close beside it was a churchfor consecration and thirty candidates for confirmation, of whom fourteenwere natives. The next day the Bishop was taken to see a school foundedby a rich Bengalee baboo, whom Mr. Corrie had almost persuaded to be aChristian, but who had settled down into a sort of general admiration forthe beauty of the Gospel, and a wish to improve his countrymen. He hadmade over the house where the school was kept to the Church MissionarySociety, and the staff consisted of an English schoolmaster, a Persianmoonshee, and two Hindostanee writing masters, the whole presided over byan English catechist, a candidate for Holy Orders. There were severalclass rooms, and a large, lofty hall, supported by pillars, where theBishop examined the 140, who read Persian and English, answered questionsin Hindostanee and English, and showed great proficiency in writing, arithmetic, and geography. No objection was made to their reading theNew Testament. Afterwards, when the Bishop looked into a little pagoda, richly carved, and containing an image of Siva, crowned with scarlet flowers, with lampsburning before him, and a painted bull in front, a little boy, one of thebrightest scholars in the school, came forward, and showing hisBrahminical string, told, in tolerable English, the histories of thedeities with which the walls were painted. "This, " says the Bishop, "opened my eyes more fully to a danger which had before struck me aspossible, that some of the boys brought up in our schools might grow upaccomplished hypocrites, playing the part of Christian with us, and withtheir own people of zealous followers of Brahma, or else that they wouldsettle down in a sort of compromise between the two creeds, allowing thatChristianity was the best for us, but that idolatry was necessary andcommendable in persons of their own nation. " This in fact seems to havebeen ever since the state of a large proportion of the educated Hindoos. May it be only a transition state! The street preaching employed by the Serampore community had not beenresorted to by the Church Missionary Society, and Bishop Heber decidedthat in the fanatic population, amid the crowds of bulls, beggars, andsacred apes, it was far wiser not to attempt it; but the missionarieswere often sent for to private houses to converse with natives of rank, on their doctrine. One notable Hindoo, Amrut Row, who had at one timebeen Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who had retired to Benares, used on thefeast of his patron god to give a portion of rice and a rupee to everyBrahmin and blind or lame person who applied between sunrise and sunset. He had a large garden with four gates, three of which were set open forthe three classes of applicants; the fourth served himself and hisservants. As each person received his dole, he was shown into thegarden, and detained there to prevent his applying twice, but there heenjoyed plenty of shade, water, company, and idols! This day'sdistribution often amounted to above 50, 000 rupees, and his charitiesaltogether were three times as great in the course of every year. He wasa good kind man, religious to the best of his knowledge; and just beforethe Bishop's visit, he had sent a message to Mr. Morris, the clergyman atSealcote, to call on him in the middle of the next week as he wished toinquire further into Christianity. Alas! before the appointed day AmrutRow was dead, and his ashes were still smoking when the Bishop quittedBenares. What had become of Henry Martyn's church does not appear, for at Cawnporehe found none, but service was alternately performed in a bungalow and inthe riding-school. He went as far north as Oude, and found at Chinear amuch larger native congregation than he expected, though the women stillretained so much of Eastern customs that they would not even raise theirveils when receiving the Holy Communion. Almost all were the converts ofthe excellent Mr. Corrie, Henry Martyn's friend. Arriving at Surat, after a journey of ten months, he there embarked forBombay, where his wife and eldest child came from Calcutta, by sea, tomeet him, and thence, after a stay in Ceylon for some weeks, returned toCalcutta, where, in December, he ordained Abdul Messeh, the man who hadbeen won by Henry Martyn's garden preachings. It was a very remarkableordination, for Father Abraham, the Armenian Suffragan from the Patriarchof Jerusalem, was present, in the black robes of his convent, and laidhis hand on the heads of the candidates, and the service was inHindostanee, whenever Abdul Messeh was individually concerned. AbdulMesseh was a most valuable worker among his countrymen, but he onlysurvived about eighteen months. In his last letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, theBishop records the reception into Bishop's College of Mesrop David, thekinsman of the Armenian Bishop and already a deacon; also of two nativeyouths from Ceylon, one Tamul and one Cingalese. This college, though awork which had none of the romance of adventure about it, afforded thesurest and most important means of thoroughly implanting the Gospel, andforming a native priesthood fit for the varying needs of the variouspeople. Nor could such a task be committed to any but superior men. Onlysuch as have abilities that would win them distinction in England, arefit to cope with the difficulties of dealing with intellects quite asargumentative as, and even more subtle than, those of the ordinary levelof Englishmen. Soon after writing this letter, Bishop Heber set forth on what was toprove his last visitation. On the voyage to Madras, he spent much timeupon some invalid soldiers who were being sent home, and confirmed one ofthem on board. Also he devoted himself to comforting a poor lady whosebaby died on the voyage, not only when with her in her cabin, butArchdeacon Robinson, his chaplain, could hear him weeping and praying forher when alone in his own. At Madras, he was lodged in the house of Sir Thomas Munro, the governor, who had done much by the help of his excellent wife to promote all thatwas good. At Vepery, close at hand, the Bishop found, nearly finished, the first church built in the Gothic style in India. He was greatlydelighted with it, and especially that the desk and pulpit had not beenallowed to obstruct the view of the altar, which had more dignity thanwas usual in the churches of 1826. A monstrous pulpit in another littlechurch at Poonamalee, a depot for recruits, and an asylum for pensionersand soldiers' children, he caused to be removed. He had a confirmationat this place, or rather two, for some unexpected candidates presentedthemselves, and he desired Archdeacon Robinson to examine them, so thatthey might be confirmed later in the day. Among them was an oldpensioner, and a sickly-looking young woman with a little boy, whom theArchdeacon thought too young, and recommended her to keep back foranother opportunity. She wept much, and the Bishop said, "Bring themboth to me; who knows whether they may live to wish for it again?" Thenative Christians, poor people employed on the beach, remnants of the oldPortuguese Missions, had built a church at their own expense, and, beingunable to obtain regular ministrations from their own clergy, begged theBishop to consecrate their building, and give them a clergyman, and thishe hoped to do on his return. Meantime, he went in his robes to present Lady Munro with a vote ofthanks from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, for the goodworks in the schools of her husband's government. "I have seldomwitnessed a more interesting or affecting picture, " writes ArchdeaconRobinson: "the beauty and gracefulness of Lady Munro, the grave andcommanding figure of the Governor, the youthful appearance and simpledignity of the dear Bishop, the beloved of all beholders, presented ascene such as few can ever hope to witness. " "My lord, " said Sir Thomas, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, "it will be vain for me afterthis to preach humility to Lady Munro; she will be proud of this day tothe latest hour she lives. " "God bless you, Sir Thomas!" was all the Bishop could utter. "And God bless _you_, my lord!" was the fervent answer. Before eighteen months had passed the two good men who exchanged thisblessing, had met in Paradise! The Bishop went on from Madras, travelling by dak, and encamping duringthe heat of the day. He soon came into the field of labour of the DanishMissions, and was disappointed to find how poor and forlorn the Christianconverts about Cuddalore were, and the great want of employment for them. Things were better in the Tanjore territory, where the Bishop was muchinterested by a visit from the native pastor of one of the villages, afine, venerable old man. When about to take leave, he lingered, and theBishop was told that the Tamul Christians never quitted a ministerwithout receiving his blessing. He was greatly touched. "I will blessthem all, the good people, " he said, after blessing the pastor. Arriving at Tanjore, the Bishop thus describes Serfojee:--"I have beenpassing the last four days in the society of a Hindoo Prince, the Rajahof Tanjore, who quotes Fourcroy, Lavoilier, Linnaeus, and Buffonfluently; has formed a more accurate judgment of the poetical merits ofShakespeare than that so felicitously expressed by Lord Byron; and hasactually emitted English poetry, very superior indeed to Rousseau'sepitaph on Shenstone; at the same time that he is much respected by theEnglish officers in his neighbourhood, as a real good judge of a horse, and a cool, bold, and deadly shot at a tiger. The truth is, that he isan extraordinary man, who, having in early youth received such aneducation as old Schwartz, the celebrated missionary, could give him, hasever since continued, in the midst of many disadvantages, to preserve histaste for, and extend his knowledge of, European literature: while he hasnever neglected the active exercises and frank, soldierly bearing whichbecome the descendant of the old Mahratta conquerors; and by which only, in the present state of things, he has it in his power to gratify theprejudices of his people, and prolong his popularity among them. Had helived in the days of Hyder, he would have been a formidable ally orenemy; for he is, by the testimony of all in his neighbourhood, frugal, bold, popular, and insinuating. At present, with less power than anEnglish nobleman, he holds his head high, and appears contented; and theprint of Buonaparte, which hangs in his library, is so neutralized bythat of Lord Hastings in full costume, that it can do no harm to anybody. . . . To finish the portrait of Maha Raja Sarbojee, I should tell youthat he is a strong-built and very handsome middle-aged man, with eyesand nose like a fine hawk, and very bushy grey mustachios, generallysplendidly dressed, but with no effeminacy of ornament, and looking andtalking more like a favourable specimen of a French general officer thanany other object of comparison which occurs to me. His son, RajaSeroojee (so named after their great ancestor), is a pale, sickly-lookinglad of seventeen, who also speaks English, but imperfectly, and on whoseaccount his father lamented, with much apparent concern, theimpossibility which he found of obtaining any tolerable instruction inTanjore. I was moved at this, and offered to take him on my tour, andafterwards to Calcutta, where he might have apartments in my house, andbe introduced into good English society; at the same time that I wouldsuperintend his studies, and procure for him the best masters which Indiaaffords. The father and son, in different ways, --the one catching at theidea with great eagerness, the other as if he were afraid to say all hewished, --seemed both well pleased with the proposal. Both, however, onconsulting together, expressed a doubt of the mother's concurrence; and, accordingly, next day I had a very civil message, through the Resident, that the Rannee had already lost two sons; that this survivor was asickly boy; that she was sure he would not come back alive, and it wouldkill her to part with him; but that all the family joined in gratitude, &c. So poor Seroojee must chew betel and sit in the zenana, and pursuethe other amusements of the common race of Hindoo princes, till he isgathered to those heroic forms who, girded with long swords with hawks ontheir wrists, and garments like those of the king of spades (whoseportrait-painter, as I guess, has been retained by this family), adornthe principal room in the palace. " To the Bishop's great indignation, he found that whereas while the Rajahhad retained his dominions, Christians had been eligible to all thedifferent offices of State, there was now an order from the Company'sGovernment against their admission to any employment. "Surely, " he says, "we are, in matters of religion, the most lukewarm and cowardly people onthe face of the earth. I mean to make this and some other things I haveseen a matter of formal representation to all the three Governments ofIndia, and to the Board of Control. " It is highly probable that this systematic dread of encouraging God'sservice on the part of the Company assisted in keeping Serfojee aheathen, in spite of the many prayers offered up for him. Almost thelast in Heber's book of private devotions was for the Rajah; and he drewup one, to be translated into Tamul, for use in all the churches in histerritory; this last not directly for his conversion, but for histemporal and spiritual welfare. It is pleasant to know that the last Easter of Heber's life was madejoyful by ministering to Schwartz's spiritual children. He preached inthat church which Schwartz had raised, and where his monument stood. Histext was, "I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. " Many English-speaking natives went there, and others besides;and at the Holy Eucharist that followed there were thirty English andfifty-seven native communicants. The delight and admiration of theBishop were speedily apparent. In the evening he attended a Tamulservice, where the prayers were said by a Hindoo, the sermon preached bya Dane, and the blessing delivered by the Bishop in Tamul, to thesurprise and pleasure of the congregation, which numbered no less than1, 300, all reverent, all making the responses, joining in the Easterhymn, and in the 100th Psalm. Never had the Bishop been happier! As hewas taking off his robes, he exclaimed, "Gladly would I exchange years ofcommon life for _one_ such day as this!" Even at night he could not helpcoming back to Archdeacon Robinson's room to rejoice, discuss, andfinally pray over this blessed fruit of the toils of a holy man, who hadbeen at rest thirty-eight years, yet whose work still increased. Thenext day he confirmed a large number; and Kohloff, a contemporarymissionary of Schwartz, preached in Tamul. After this happy Easter, the Bishop continued his route to Trichinopoly, where he preached and confirmed on the Sunday, but complained of a slightheadache, and allowed himself to be persuaded not to go to the nativeservice in the evening, though he spent a good deal of time conversingwith Mr. Robinson, who was unwell enough to be lying in bed. On Monday, the 3rd of April, he went at daybreak to hold a Tamulconfirmation at the poor little neglected native church; then looked atthe schools, but found that the want of ventilation rendered them toooppressive for him to remain; and afterwards received and graciouslyanswered an address from the poor Christians, praying him to send them apastor, for they had been without one for two years. He came back, stillin his robes, to Mr. Robinson's bedroom, and, with great eagerness, talked over what he had seen and heard; speaking of the destitution ofthis poor church, and of the needfulness that a Bishop should receiveregular reports of every station; also mentioning a Danish missionarywhom he intended to appoint. He then went to his own room, and, according to Indian habit after exertion, went out in order to bathe. Thebath was in a separate building. It was fifteen feet long, eight broad, and with stone steps descending into it to a depth of seven feet, and itwas perfectly full of water. The servant sitting outside wondered at thelength of time and unbroken silence, and at last looked in; but ReginaldHeber had, by that time, long been lifeless in the cold bath! He was only in his forty-fourth year; but medical opinion declared thatthere had been, unsuspected, the seeds of fatal disease, accelerated byclimate, exertion, and excitement, and such as would probably have causedlong helplessness and inaction, unless thus suddenly developed. He was buried the next day at Trichinopoly church, where the muraltablet, with most touching and appropriate simplicity, bears noinscription in laudation, but merely the holy words, "Be ye also ready. " Thus ended a life of inward and outward brightness, which comes like astream of sunshine among the shadows through which most of the labourershad to struggle, either for want of means of education, or from povertyor melancholy, and yet as true and as exhilarating a course as was everone of theirs. May we not read his description in the verse:-- "And there are souls that seem to dwell Above this earth--so rich a spell Floats round their steps where'er they move, Of hopes fulfilled, and mutual love: Such, if on high their hopes are set, Nor in the stream the source forget; If, prompt to quit the bliss they know, Following the Lamb where'er He go, By purest pleasures unbeguiled To idolize or wife or child, Such wedded souls our God shall own For faultless virgins round His throne. " Mrs. Heber published soon after her return her husband's journals, andthese, bearing the impress of his graceful, scholarly hand, attractedmany readers who care merely for information and amusement; and thus, bytheir mere mundane qualities, his writings did much to spread knowledgeof, and therefore interest in, the field of labour in which he died. Large subscriptions came into the societies, and in a few years a churchand three schools for the natives, with the pastor he had indicated, served as the best monument of that Low Sunday at Trichinopoly. His successor was John Thomas James: the most memorable event in whoselife was a halt at the Cape of Good Hope. This was the first time thatcolony had ever been visited by a Bishop, and there was no church, thougha piece of land had been newly granted for one, which he consecratedbefore proceeding on his voyage. He arrived in 1828, but the climate ofCalcutta struck him for death almost immediately. He was only able toperform one ordination, one confirmation, and one charge to the Calcuttaclergy, then was forced to embark, and died at sea within a few months ofhis arrival. During this time Daniel Wilson had been working under Mr. Cecil atChobham, where he remained for three years, when a tutorship at St. Edmund's Hall was offered to him, which enabled him to marry his cousinAnn, combining the small living of Warton with his tutorship. On thedeath of the Rev. Richard Cecil he took, by his especial wish, hisproprietary chapel in Bloomsbury, and there continued till 1824 as one ofthe most marked London clergy, keeping up the earnestness that Newton andCecil had been noted for, with quite as much energy; and though withoutthe same originality, there was a _telling_ force about his sermons whichmade a young man exclaim the first time he heard him, "I will never hearDaniel Wilson again, " but something led him happily to infringe theresolution, and then it became, "I will always, if possible, hear DanielWilson. " Sentences of his were very memorable; for instance, "Nineteen-twentieths of sanctification consist in holy tempers, " and, besidesexhibiting a pithy force of language, his sermons were prepared withinfinite care and labour. When at St. John's, where he had no parochialcharge, he selected his text on Monday and carried it about with him, soto speak, all the week, chewing the cud of it as it were, looking it upin every authority, ancient or modern, within his reach, and conversingon the subject with any one whom he thought likely to give him a hint. The sermons were written in a large legible shorthand, only on one sideof the paper, and on the opposite page were copied out extracts oftranslations from illustrative authors, often as many as eight to asingle sermon, so that he had in fact a huge secretion of stores, whichhe could adapt according to the needs of his congregation, and he madenotes of what he found fall flat and incomprehensible, or what he feltwas stirring the souls of his audience; and this time was most profitablyspent, not only for his immediate congregation, but in laying up aprovision for the busier days of after-life, when the same amount ofstudy was out of his power. And the benefit of such painstaking may beestimated by the words of a gentleman when introduced to a relative ofhis in after-years, "I am only one of very many who do not know and neverspoke to Mr. Wilson, but to whom he has been a father in CHRIST. Henever will know, and he never ought to know, the good that he has beenthe means of doing, for no man could bear it. " Proprietary chapels have now nearly become extinct. They were an effectof the neglect of the heathenish eighteenth century, and one of the meansof providing church room by private speculation; and thus they almostnecessarily were liable to the abuses of popularity-hunting and of lackof care for individuals, especially the poor: but a man in thoroughearnestness is sure to draw good even out of a defective system; andDaniel Wilson, sitting in his study which was connected with the chapel, became the counsellor of hundreds who sought spiritual advice andassistance, chiefly of the upper and well-to-do classes, but he took careto avoid wasting time over these conferences, and when it came to meretalk would put people's hats and umbrellas into their hands. There werealso large Sunday-schools connected with his chapel, and taught by themembers of his congregation, and these led to the first organization of adistrict visitors' society, one of the earliest attempts of the slowlyreviving English Church to show her laity how to minister to the poorunder pastoral direction. His father-in-law, Mr. William Wilson, had purchased the advowson of theliving of Islington, and, when it became vacant in 1824, presented it tohim, when he carried thither all his vigour and thoroughness. Churchbuilding was his first necessity, and he absolutely prevailed on hisparish to rate themselves for the purpose, so that three churches werebegun almost at once, and by the time his Life was written in 1860 thegreat suburb had multiplied its single church in thirty-six years intofifteen. At Islington the chief sorrows of his life befel him. He hadhad six children, of whom one died an infant and two more in earlychildhood. The second son, John, after a boyhood of great promise, fellinto temptation at the University and led a wild and degrading course;ending by his retirement to the Continent, where he died in 1833, after avery painful illness, in which he had evinced great agony of mind, whichsoftened at length into repentance and hope. The eldest son, Daniel, whoattended him on his death-bed, had taken holy orders and succeeded to hisfather's former living of Warton; and one daughter, Eliza, born in 1814, survived to cheer his home when his wife, after some years of invalidism, died in 1827. Zealous, resolute, and hardworking, he never allowedsorrow to interfere with his work, and was soon in the midst of hisconfirmation classes, and of a scheme for educating young tradespeople ona more thorough and religious system. In the meantime he had always loved and urged the missionary cause, andhad consulted with Bishop Turner before he went out. When the news ofhis decease was received (the fourth Bishop to die at his post withinnine years), the appointment began to be looked on as a sentence ofdeath, and it was declined in succession by several eminent clergymen. Daniel Wilson had anxiously watched for the answer in each case, and wassuggesting several persons to Mr. Charles Grant, when the thought struckhim, "Here I am, send me. " A widower of fifty-four years old, of muchstrength, and with no young children, seemed to him the fit person tovolunteer to fill the breach; and he wrote stating, that if no one elsecould be found for the post, he was willing to offer himself. Theappointment was accordingly given to him, after an interval of ninemonths since the see had become vacant, and an infinity of toil andarrangements crowded on him. Islington was resigned to his son Daniel, and he was consecrated by Archbishop Howley on the 29th of April, 1832, "the day of my espousals to CHRIST my Saviour, " as he wrote in hisjournal; and on the ensuing 18th of June he sailed with his daughter forCalcutta. The ship touched at the Cape, which under the government ofSir Lowry Cole was by no means in the same hopeless state of neglect aswhen Martyn had visited it. Bishop Wilson there held an ordination and aconfirmation, the first for himself as well as for South Africa, whoseEpiscopate was not founded till twenty-three years later. He landed at Calcutta on the 5th of November, 1832, and took possessionof the large unfurnished house that had at last been wrung out ofGovernment. He found only just enough chairs and tables, placed there bythe Archdeacon, to suffice for immediate use; and was answered, when heasked why his orders that the place should be completely fitted up hadnot been attended to, "I thought this would be enough to last for sixmonths, "--this being the term for which a Bishop of Calcutta was thoughtlikely to need earthly furniture. But Bishop Wilson was resolved to takereasonable precaution, and not to be daunted, or to act as if he wereafraid. He furnished the place, and rented a pleasant country-house, called the Hive, at Tittaghur, where he spent a few days of every week;and, having been told that much danger was incurred by the exertion ofvisitation tours before the constitution had become accustomed to theclimate, he resolved to wait for two years before making any longjourney; and, in the meantime, he was able to collect a great amount ofinformation, as well as attending to the regulation of matters at head-quarters. He kept up more formality and state than Bishop Heber haddone; and, of course, as the one had been censured for his simplicity, sothe other was found fault with for pomp and stiffness. But these wereminor points, chiefly belonging to the character of the two men, whosewhole natures were in curious accordance with their prize performances atOxford, --the one with all the warmth, fire, and animation of the poet ofPalestine, sensitive to every impression, and making all serve to lighthis altar-flame; the other all common-sense, sincere, deep, andlaborious, but with a narrower range of sympathies, and afraid of allthat might distract attention from the one great subject. Generalliterature had no charms for Wilson. He is believed never to have readone of Scott's poems or novels; and the playful mirth that enlivened allHeber's paths was not with him, though he had the equable cheerfulness ofa faithful servant doing his Lord's work. His daughter, soon after hisarrival, married her cousin, Josiah Bateman, his chaplain (andbiographer), and thus continued to be the mistress of her father's house. On the Whitsunday of 1833 the Bishop baptized one of those Hindoogentlemen who are among the most satisfactory of Christian converts; theyare free from the suspicion of interested motives which has alwaysattached to the pariahs and low-caste people who hung about Serampore andits dependent stations, and, justly or unjustly, were accused of turningChristians when they had exhausted other resources of idleness andknavery. A curious instance of a thorough conversion happened the sameyear. A lad, educated like most other well-to-do Hindoos in the schoolsof the Church Missionary at Mirzampore, when about fifteen, becamepersuaded of the saving grace of Christianity, and determined to bebaptized and openly forsake his idols. His parents persecuted him, andhe fled to a friend, a Hindoo convert; but he was seized by hisrelations, and the case was referred to the Supreme Court, who decidedthat the father's power over the son must not be interfered with; and thepoor boy was dragged away, clinging to the barrister's table, amid theshouts of the heathen and the tears of the Christians. The boy remainedstaunch, and three years later came again and received baptism; but hissufferings had injured his health, both of mind and body, and his promiseof superior intelligence was blighted. In 1834, the Bishop set off on his first long journey, which includedPenang and Moulmein, where the Judsons had taken refuge after the Burmesewar, and where he found, in the midst of half-cleared jungle and Buddhisttemples full of enormous idols, a school kept by an American master, sofull of notions of equality, that, at the examination, he expected theBishop to go to each class, not the class to the Bishop. The Commissioner had built a church, the walls of teak slabs, and thepillars each a single teak-tree, and it was ready for consecration. Afterthis and a confirmation, the Bishop went on his way to Ceylon, and thento the Madras Presidency, where he had already had a long correspondencewith the pastors of the Christian congregations on the question of caste. Things had not prospered of late; and, to the dismay of the Bishop, hefound that, in the course of the last year, 168 Christians had fallenback to heathenism, where, not having broken their caste, they couldstill be received and find a place. The truth was that, though castemight appear only a distinction of mere social rank, it was derived froma pagan superstition, and was a stronghold of heathenism. Schwartz wasall his life trying to make it wear and die out, lest the violentrenunciation should be too much for his converts' faith. But hissuccessors had allowed the feeling to retrograde; and Bishop Wilson foundseparate services, sides of the church allotted to the high and lowcastes, and the most unchristian distinctions made between them. Hedecided that toleration of the prejudice was only doing harm, and issuedorders that henceforth catechumens preparing for baptism, confirmation, or communion, should be called on to renounce caste as a condition ofadmittance; and that, though the adult communicants should be gentlydealt with, there should be no recognition of the distinction in theplaces in church, in the order of administering the Holy Communion, inmarriages or processions, and that differences of food or dress, or markson the forehead, should be discontinued. The clergy were inconsternation, and made an appeal before they published the Bishop'sletter to their flocks; but they found his mind made up, and yielded. Thelesser stations complied without much difficulty; but at Trichinopoly, Vepery, and Tanjore, there were many Soodras, the soldier-caste, professing to have come from Brahma's shoulders, and second only to theBrahmins. They were desperately offended. At Trichinopoly, only sevenSoodra families continued to attend the services, although the secedersbehaved quietly, and offered no insults either to the clergy or thepariahs. At Vepery, on the reading of the Bishop's letter, the wholeSoodra population walked out _en masse_, except one catechist, who joinedthem afterwards. They then drew up a paper, declaring that they wouldnot yield, and would neither come to church nor send their children toschool, unless they continued to be distinguished; and they set up aservice of their own in a chapel lent them by a missionary belonging tothe London Society. He was, however, reprimanded for this by thecommittee which employed him at Madras, and the chapel was withdrawn;upon which the Soodras remained without any public worship whatever forfive months, when the catechists and schoolmasters came forward andacknowledged their pride and contumacy, the children dropped into theschools, and the grown-up people, one by one, returned to church, but intheir own way. At Tanjore, the contest was a much harder one. Serfojee had died in1834, and the son whom Bishop Heber had vainly tried to obtain foreducation was one of the ordinary specimens of indolent, useless rajahs, enjoying ease and display under British protection; but the Mission hadgone on thriving as to numbers, though scarcely as to earnestness orenergy; and the Christians numbered 7, 000, with 107 catechists and fournative clergy, under the management of Mr. Kohloff, almost the last ofSchwartz's fellow-workers. The Bishop's letter was read aloud by him, after the sermon, on the 10th of November, 1833. There was an immediateclamour of all the Soodras, who would not be hushed by being remindedthat they were in church, and, while Mr. Kohloff was being assisted fromthe pulpit, gathered round his wife and insulted her. Letters passed between the Soodras and the missionaries. There was nodenial that the Bishop's command was right in itself; but an immensevariety of excuses were offered for not complying with it, and only oneof the four priests consented, --Nyanapracasem, an old man of eighty, whomay be remembered as one of Schwartz's earliest converts, and of the fourpriests ordained by the Lutherans, --with three catechists, and ten of thegeneral body; all the others remained in a state of secession. When thefirst death took place among them, Nyanapracasem, the one conformingpriest, was appointed to read the funeral service; but he fell sick, andthe only substitute available on the spot was a low-caste catechist, avery respectable man, but whom the Soodras silenced with threats, employing one of their own people in his stead. Next time, they borrowedthe Roman Catholic burial-ground, and services were carried on, onSunday, by one of the dissentient priests, but marriages were celebratedin the heathen fashion, and there was evidently a strong disposition toform a schism, which the reckless, easy, self-willed conduct of theSoodras showed would be Christianity only in name. There had even beenan appeal to the Governor-General, and the Bishop felt the whole tone ofChristianity in India to be at stake. It was in the height of this crisis that his journey to Madras was madein the track of Bishop Heber. Twice he preached at Vepery, and theSoodras attended; but he asked no questions, and let them placethemselves as they chose, and take precedence, intending to fight out thequestion at Tanjore. There, at seven o'clock in the morning of January 10, 1835, on the bankof the Cavery River, he was received by all the faithful Christians andschool-children, headed by Kohloff and Nyanapracasem, These were the tworemaining fellow-workers of Schwartz. Kohloff, now becoming aged, hadhis hair long and loose round his florid German face; he was still a trueGerman, full of simple kindness, and his English had a good deal ofaccent. His Hindoo companion was a beautiful old man, with long snowyhair flowing over his long white robes, who took the Bishop's handbetween both of his, and blessed God for his coming, hoping that asElijah brought back the stiff-necked Israelites, so the Bishop might turnthe hearts of the Soodras. Late that afternoon, a great party of these assembled to lay theircomplaints before the Bishop, bringing their two dissentient priests. Onewas of doubtful character, and was unnoticed; but to the other, JohnPillay, the Bishop addressed himself, telling him to assure the otherChristians that his heart was full of love, and that he would hear theirgrievances, and answer them another time, when less weary with hisjourney. Several spoke, and the Bishop listened to their individual cases. Theywere anxious to come and hear his sermon, but would only do so if allowedto sit apart; and to this, as one great object was to obtain theirattention, the Bishop consented, with a reservation that it was only forthat once. The church was thronged, and after a Tamul service, theBishop preached, pausing after every sentence that a catechist mightrender his words into Tamul. The text was, "Walk in love, as Christ alsoloved us, " and the latter part of his discourse was on the lesson fromthe Good Samaritan, as to "who is my neighbour. " There was at the end along pause of breathless silence, and then he called on everyone presentto offer up the following prayer: "Lord, give me a broken heart toreceive the love of Christ, and obey His commands. " The wholecongregation repeated the words aloud in Tamul, and then he gave theblessing and dismissed them. After this there were a great number of private conferences. People cameand owned that they had been very unhappy; religion had died in theirhearts, and they had had no peace; but their wives were the greatobjectors--they feared whether they should marry their daughters, &c. &c. The two priests especially saw the badness of their standing-ground, butthey should lose respect, they said. No Pariah seems to have been inholy orders, but if a Pariah catechist visited a sick person, he was notallowed to come under the roof, and the patient was carried out into theverandah. And then came a rather stormy conference with about 150Soodras, which occupied two days, since every sentence had to passthrough an interpreter. The objections were various, but as a body theresistance continued, and it was only individuals that came over; some ofthese, however, did, and it was so clear from all that had passed that topermit the distinctions was but a truckling to heathenism, that theBishop was more than ever resolved on firmness. Two of the priests hadconformed, and the Christianity of those who would not do so was plainlynot worth having. There was some polite intercourse with Serfojee's son, whose taste wasvisible in the alteration of a fine statue of his father by Flaxman, fromwhich the white marble turban had been removed to substitute a colouredone, with black feathers and tassels. In him the family has becomeextinct, since he only left a daughter, and the adoption of a son, afterthe old Hindoo fashion, has not been permitted by Government. Thence, Bishop Wilson proceeded towards Trichinopoly. He encamped, bythe way, at a place called Muttooputty, a large station on the Coleroonriver, where the way had been so prepared for him that there was a grandthrong of native Christians, untroubled about caste, and he was obligedliterally to lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes of the largetent used as a chapel. It was one of the memorable days of joy that comenow and then to support the laborious spirit of the faithful servant. "One such day as we have just passed is worth years of common service. " At Trichinopoly, with the deepest sense of reverence, he visited thescene of Heber's death, ministered at the same altar, and preached fromthe same pulpit, after an interval of nine years. Here, his mode of dealing with the caste-question was thus: When he camerobed into the church, he saw groups of natives standing about, insteadof placing themselves like the others of the congregation. He went up totwo, led them to seats, and his chaplain following, did the same; therest were seated in like manner without resistance. When the Celebration took place, the Bishop had given directions as tothe order of things. First, a Soodra catechist communicated, then twoPariah catechists, then an English gentleman, next a Pariah, then twoEurasians; and thus without distinction, 147 communicated. The barrierwas broken down, and the nucleus of a church without caste was formed. This presidency of Madras was immediately after formed into a separatesee, and given to Daniel Corrie, the friend of Martyn, while Dr. ThomasCarr became Bishop of Bombay. On Wilson's return to Tanjore he found an increasing though still smallnumber had conformed, and before he left the place there were hopes oflarger numbers. On his way back to Calcutta, he visited the horriblepagoda of Juggernaut (properly Jaghanatha, Lord of the World), which wasstill the centre of worship and pilgrimage; and though theself-immolation of the pilgrims beneath the car had been prohibited, yetthe Company's Government still fancied themselves justified in receivinga toll from the visitors to this shrine of cruelty and all uncleanness, up to 1839, when the disgrace was done away by Lord Auckland. In the year 1836 another journey was made, first to Bombay and thenfurther into the interior, to many places, never visited by a bishopbefore, and with no chaplain or anything to keep up the sense ofreligion. At Aurungabad, the utter ignorance of the English officers wasappalling. The old Colonel-commandant had not heard a sermon for twentyyears, and thought every sentence on the text, "Walk in love, " was apersonal attack on himself. He refused to attend another service, or tobid the Bishop farewell! And when the Holy Communion was celebrated, nobody knew what the offertory meant, and scarcely any one was preparedto respond. Yet in contrast to these English, a small band of Hindoos, four men, sixwomen, and five children, presented themselves, asking permission to joinin the service, and to have their children baptized. They had been onceRoman Catholics, but an old Dutchwoman from Ceylon had taught them mostof what they knew; and they had a Hindostanee prayer-book, whence theyheld a service every Sunday, but leaving out the Absolution andBenediction, which they rightly perceived to be priestly functions. Twoof them were servants to an English officer, and they were all nearlyrelated. They were perfectly respectable and trustworthy, and lookedwell dressed and intelligent. The Bishop tried to bring about anapplication from the Company to the Nizam, to defray the expenses of anoccasional visit from a chaplain to the Christian officers and residentsin his employ, but he was answered that "it would form a dangerousprecedent. " The next step was into the Bengal presidency, always with the same kindof adventures; quaint civilities of the presentation of flowery garlandsbedecking the neck and arms, given by the native princes, with asprinkling of rose-water, and sometimes an anointing with oil; and thenan endeavour to stir into Christian life the neglected English militaryand civil officers stationed in their dominions. One of these, a gentleman of good birth and repute, actually went onsmoking and gurgling his hookah when the Bishop was beginning familyprayers, apparently with no more perception that it was anything thatconcerned him than if he had seen a Mahometan turning to Mecca, or aParsee saluting the rising sun. Indeed many of these Company's servantshad been sent out when fourteen or fifteen years old; and, if in a remotestation, had been left without anything external whatever to remind themof Christianity. This journey extended to the Himalayas, where the Bishop had four months'repose at Simlah, then in its infancy as a resort for wearied EastIndians; and on his descent from thence, his first halting-place wasKurnaul, where he found the church in a state of efficiency, owing, ingreat part, to an officer whose conversion to a religious life had beenvery remarkable. Once, when in a large party, where gambling was goingon to a reckless extent, he saw one of the players take out a hideouslittle black figure, supposed to represent the devil, to which headdressed himself with a mixture of entreaties and threats, involvingsuch blasphemy that this officer, utterly horrified, withdrew from thecompany, spent the night in tears and prayers, and from that time becamea religious man. There was also an active chaplain, a large church, anda bungalow, built by the soldiers of an English regiment, the centre partarranged for service, and the surrounding verandah partitioned intolittle cells, where the soldiers could retire for private prayer orreading. It was called St. John's Chapel, and was in the hands of thechaplain. Here the Bishop remained for two Sundays, and ordained AnundMusseeh, who had been fifteen years a Christian, and had been known toBishop Heber. The difficulty in his case was the rule not to ordain aperson who had a heathen family, since he had not been able to converthis wife. His excellence outweighed the objection, and he was the firstBrahmin who received holy orders from an English bishop; but in after-times the heathen influence at home told upon him; and this failureperhaps rendered Bishop Daniel Wilson somewhat over-cautious and backwardin ordaining a native ministry. The next stage was Delhi, where a very interesting interview awaited him. An officer of Anglo-Indian birth, James Skinner by name, who had raisedand commanded a capital body of light horse, had twenty years beforeentered Delhi with a conquering army, and, gazing on the countless domesand minarets, vowed that if ever he should be able, he would build anEnglish church to raise its cross among them. He had persevered, thoughthe cost far exceeded the estimate, and though the failure of houses ofbusiness had greatly lessened his means; and now he came, a tall, stout, dark man of fifty-six, in a uniform of blue, silver, and steel, a helmeton his head and a red ribbon on his breast, to beg for consecration forhis church. His sons were Christians, but his wife was a Mahometan, though, he said with tears, that "for thirty years a better wife no manever had. " The church was of Greek architecture, shaped as a Greek cross, withporticoes with flights of steps at each extremity except the east, whichformed the chancel, and at the intersection was a dome and cupola. Itwas paved with marble, and the whole effect was beautiful. After theconsecration a confirmation followed, and the first to receive theapostolic rite were the noble old Colonel himself and his three sons. Twenty years later this fine building was filled with dying men, andshared in the horrors of the siege of Delhi; but it has now returned toits rightful use, and as a church of martyrs. Indeed, all the places that the Bishop visited in this excursion havesince been associated with the Mutiny. Cawnpore was not much moresatisfactory than when Heber had visited it; an irreligious commandantand a dissipated regiment had done much harm; and an imprudent letter ofone of the chaplains had led to a quarrel, in which the clergymanunfortunately put himself in the wrong. Happily, a new commandingofficer and better conducted regiment had replaced the first, and the ill-feeling was so entirely removed that the Bishop wrote, "Never did I entera station with such despondency, nor leave one with so much joy. " Andthus he prepared Cawnpore for that which was in store for it! His visit to Allahabad was chiefly memorable for his horror at the largeresort of pilgrims to bathe in the Ganges, and at the tax by which aChristian government profited by their pagan superstition, with all itsgrossness and cruelty. He brought home a little ticket, with the number76902 stamped on it, such as was issued to the pilgrims, and made astrong appeal to the Governor-General, as well as to persons in England. The next year both this tax and that on the pilgrims to Jaghernauth weresuppressed. Here he heard of the death of Bishop Corrie, after havingheld the see of Madras only a year and a quarter, but having spent manyyears in India, and worked there for a whole lifetime, in which he hadseen the very dawn of missionary efforts, and had watched the EnglishChurch spread from a few scattered chaplains to three bishoprics. Lord Auckland and his sisters were more sincere friends of Christianefforts than any Governor-General had yet been, but these were tryingtimes. Mr. Bateman, his daughter's husband, fell ill, and his wife wasobliged to return to England with him; the Bishop's other chaplain died, and also some of his best friends. On going, a few years later, toconsecrate a church at Singapore, he visited Moulmein, and was introducedto Dr. Judson, with whom he was very much struck. The great work connected with Daniel Wilson's name, as that of Bishop'sCollege is with Middleton's, is the building of the Cathedral ofCalcutta. "What do you say, my four children, " he writes, "to yourfather's attempting to build a cathedral to the name of the Lord his Godin this heathen land?" It had been the desire of Bishop Middleton, butthere had been too much to do during his nine years, and it was only nowthat at last the times were ripe. Subscriptions were opened, and theBishop devoted a large amount of his income to the fund; plans were drawnup, land granted freely, and on the 9th of October, 1839, the first stoneof St. Paul's Cathedral was laid by the Bishop. Just at this time there was a most remarkable move made towardsChristianity. Krishnaghur, 130 miles from Calcutta, was the great centreof the worship of Krishna, one of the manifestations of Vishnu. Here twomissionaries of the Church Missionary Society had been at work; and whenthe Bishop was there in 1837, he described them as having made "a littlebeginning, " by keeping schools and holding conferences with the people, but they had then no adult convert. A year after a message was broughtby a native, entreating for further help. There were 1, 200 seriouslyinquiring into the doctrine, with many candidates for baptism, and atmany places around it was the same. In the year 1840, the Bishop setforth to visit the spot and the adjacent districts, where almost all thevillages seemed to be actuated by the same impulse. The missionaries didtheir utmost to distinguish between mere fashion and hope of gain and atrue faith; but after all their siftings, large numbers were ready forbaptism, and the hope was so great that the Bishop was full of thankfulecstasy, and could hardly sleep from agitation, joy, and anxiety. Onehundred and fifty converts were baptized at once, at a place calledAnunda Bass. The examination was thus, the Bishop standing in themidst:-- "Are you sinners?" "Yes, we are. " "How do you hope to obtain forgiveness?" "By the sacrifice of Christ. " "What was that sacrifice?" "We were sinners, and Christ died in our stead. " "How is your heart to be changed?" "By the Holy Ghost. " "Will you renounce all idolatry, feasts, poojahs, and caste?" "Yes, we renounce them all. " "Will you renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil?" "Yes. " "Will you suffer for Christ's sake?" "Yes. " "Will you forgive injuries?" "Yes. " These converts had been under preparation for more than a year, andseemed thoroughly convinced and fairly instructed. Therefore thebaptismal service was read by Mr. Deerr; and when the vows were reached, the Bishop turned to the Christians around and asked if they would bewitnesses and godparents to these candidates; and, with one voice, theyshouted that they would. Each candidate was singly baptized, and thencame up to the Bishop, by whom the words receiving him into the Ark ofChrist's Church were spoken. At Ranobunda there was another baptism of250, and, in the whole district, full a thousand were admitted. It wasnot in over-confident joy. "Time will show, " said the Bishop, "who arewheat and who are tares. " It was impossible among so many that allshould be perfect Christians, but it was a real foundation; the flamethen lighted burns on steadily, and the Christian faith has a firm andstrong hold in the district of Krishnaghur. Anxieties of course crossed his work. The Church Missionary Society, after being used to control its clergy, was not properly ready to allowtheir canonical obedience to a Bishop; and the troubles that thus arosemade him once speak of Heber as happy in being shielded by his earlydeath from the class of vexations connected with societies. To his greatgrief, too, a lady who had worked for years at the education of girls andorphans at Calcutta seceded to the Plymouth Brethren, and was necessarilyobliged to give up the charge. It was to him "as if a standard-bearerfainteth. " The Oxford controversy also vexed him a good deal. Theschool of Newton and Cecil, in which he had been brought up, was at themost distant point that the Church permitted from the doctrines of theTracts for the Times; and few men are able or willing candidly to judgeor appreciate opinions that have grown up since their own budget wascompleted, especially after they have been for some time in the exerciseof authority. Thus he set his mind very strongly against all the clergyholding those views who came to work in the diocese; and thereby impededa good deal that might have worked heartily with him if he had only beenable to believe it, and to understand that the maintenance of the voiceof the Church is truly the maintenance of the voice of Christ. In November 1844, when on a visitation at Umballah, he had his firstserious illness, a fever, he being then in his sixty-sixth year and inthe thirteenth of his residence in India. For about a week he was ingreat danger, but rallied, and was able to be removed by slow stages, though not without an attack of inflammation on the lungs before reachingCalcutta; and his constitution was altogether so much shaken that he wasordered home, without loss of time, to recruit his health. He returned to England by the Overland route, and after a short respiterecovered much of his strength, so as to be able to preach in manychurches and appear at numerous meetings; and in a year's time thevigorous old man was on his way back to his diocese, where he arrived intime to keep the Christmas of 1846, just two years after he had beenstricken down by fever. In the October of the next year he consecratedhis cathedral, towards which 20, 000_l. _ had been his own donation, halftowards the building, half towards the endowment. His strength was notquite what it had been before, but he still had abundant energy, and newbranches of the Church were springing up around him; not only the threedioceses that had branched from his own in India, but Ceylon had a Bishopof its own, Australia had five, and the Cape and New Zealand and the Isleof Hong Kong had each received a Bishop. The principle had come to berecognized that to send out isolated workers without a head to organizewas a plan that could hardly be reasonably expected to succeed; and inthe long run prosperity has certainly attended the contrary arrangement. Not to speak of the Divine authority, the action of a body under arecognized head and superior on the spot must be far readier ofadaptation to circumstances than that of a number of equals, accountableonly to some necessarily half-informed Society at home. In his 73rd year, just after a visitation tour, it somewhat dismayedBishop Wilson to find a letter from the Bishop of London sending him toconsecrate the new church erected by Sir James Brooke, at Sarawak. Fewcareers have been more remarkable than that of the truly great man whosubdued Malay piracy, and gained the confidence of the natives of Borneo;and when the effort of the fourteen weeks' voyage had been made, theBishop returned full of joy and hope, and not long after, together withthe Bishops of Madras and Victoria, joined in consecrating the missionaryBishop of Labuan to the new field of work there opening. On the lastjourney of his life he also visited Rangoon, and there consecrated thechurch, finding the clergy hard at work and numerous converts. During the year 1856 he had many attacks of illness, more or less severe;and in December, in going across the room in haste, he struck himselfagainst a wooden screen, and was thrown down. His thigh was broken, andhis age was such that great fears for his life were entertained, but herecovered, and was able to pray with, cheer, and comfort the many anxioushearts at Calcutta during the dreadful days of the Indian mutiny of 1857, when the churches he had consecrated were stained with the blood of theworshippers. But there was no cause for despondency in the attitude of the converts. The districts where Christianity had been so widely diffused remainedtranquil, and the Christians in the cities where the mutineers wereraging did not apostatize; but, unless they could conceal themselves, suffered with the whites. There was a great day of fasting andhumiliation appointed by him for the 24th of July, 1857. That day Bishop Wilson preached his last sermon. The text was fromHabakkuk i. 12. "Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine HolyOne? we shall not die. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment;and, O mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction. " Calcuttawas then trembling under the tidings of the horrors of Cawnpore, thedeath of Sir Henry Lawrence, and the siege of Lucknow; and no one knewwhat peril might be the next. Slaughter seemed at the very gates, whenthe old man stood forth to console and encourage, but yet to give warningstrong and clear that these frightful catastrophes were in great measurethe effect of our sins, our fostering of heathenism, our recognition ofcaste, and were especially a judgment on the viciousness and irreligionthat had been the curse of English life in India. It was in openChristianity alone that he beheld hope. The day was observed by all the clergy, but the Governor-General for somereason declined to make it official, and, only when the worst of thedanger was over, appointed the 4th of October as a fast-day. The Bishoparranged the services, but was too unwell to attend them. This was thebeginning of his last illness; and though he held an ordination someweeks later, these latter weeks were all sinking, and increasingfeebleness. A sea-voyage was twice attempted, but without success; andon the 1st of January, 1858, his trembling hand wrote, "All going onwell, but I am dead almost. --D. C. Firm in hope. " Daniel Calcutta, whom these initials indicated, wrote these words at half-past seven at night. By the same hour in the morning he had peacefullypassed to his rest. One more Bishop of Calcutta we have since mourned; though the shortnessof his career was owing to accident, not disease or climate. But withDaniel Wilson the see of Calcutta became established as a metropolitanbishopric, and ceased to possess that character of gradual extensionwhich rendered its first holders necessarily missionaries. True, itneeds many subdivisions. Four Bishops are a scanty allowance for ourvast Indian Empire, and the see of Calcutta has a boundary scarce limitedto the north; but these are better days than when it included the Cape, Australia, and New Zealand. The Bishop has now more to do with thedevelopment of old missions than with the working of new ones; and therecan be no doubt that though there has been much of disappointment, andthe progress is very slow, yet progress there is. The older convertsform more and more of a nucleus, and although there is a large class whohang about missions from interested motives, there are also multitudes ofquiet and contented villagers whose simplicity and remoteness shield themfrom the notice of the travellers who sneer at Christianity and callmission reports _couleur de rose_, because they have been taken in bysome cunning scamp against whom any missionary would have warned them. The towns and the neighbourhood of troops are not favourable places forobserving the effects of Christianity. The work of the schools in thegreat cities tells but very slowly. At present, out of a hundred boyswho go thither and receive the facts of Christianity intellectually, onlythe minority are practically affected by it; and of these, some lose allfaith in their own system, but retain it outwardly in deference to theirfamilies, while others try to take Christian morality without Christiandoctrine; and only one or two perhaps may be sincere and open believers. But even if only one is gained, is not that an exceeding gain? It tookthree hundred years of apostolic teaching to make the Roman EmpireChristian. Why should we "faint, and say 'tis vain, " after one hundredin India? CHAPTER VIII. SAMUEL MARSDEN, THE AUSTRALIAN CHAPLAIN AND FRIEND OF THEMAORI. It has been mentioned that the island of Australia was considered as anarchdeaconry of the see of Calcutta. This enormous island, firstdiscovered in 1607 by Luis de Torres, and inhabited only by the verylowest race of savages, appeared to the Government of George III. Aconvenient spot for forming a penal settlement; and in 1787 the firstconvict ships carried out an instalment from the English jails to NewSouth Wales, where the city of Sydney was founded by Governor Phillip. As usual in those days, the provision made for the moral or religioustraining of this felon population was lamentably and even absurdlydeficient; for it seemed to be considered, that so long as the criminalswere safe out of England, it did not greatly matter to her what became ofthem. But the power of grace is sure to work sooner or later whereverthe Christian name has been carried, and a holy man rose up, not only tofight hard with the mass of corruption in Australia, but to carry on thelight to the more distant shores of the Southern Ocean. This good man, Samuel Marsden, was the son of a small farmer at Farsley, near Calverley, in Yorkshire, and was educated at the free Grammar Schoolat Hull by Dr. Joseph Milner, whose Church History used to be a standardbook in the early part of this century. He began his career as atradesman at Leeds, but his school influences had given him higheraspirations; and a body termed the Elland Society, whose object was toeducate young men of small means and suitable character for the ministry, and whose chief supporters were Wilberforce, Simeon, and Thornton, selected him as one of their scholars, and placed him at St. John'sCollege, Cambridge. He had not even taken his degree when, to hissurprise, he was offered a chaplaincy in New South Wales! The post wasno doubt a difficult one to fill, --for who would willingly undertake tobe one of two clergymen sent to labour among an untamed multitude ofcriminals?--and Mr. Wilberforce was, no doubt, glad to suggest a youngman so blameless and full of zeal, and of whom, from personal observationat Cambridge, Mr. Simeon had so high an opinion. Samuel Marsden wished to decline it at first; but finding that no oneelse would come forward to undertake the charge, he accepted it; and inthe spring of 1793 he was ordained, and married, being then nearly twenty-nine years of age. His wife, Elizabeth Tristan, was thoroughly worthy ofhim, and ruled his house admirably, never calling him back from any duty, but so managing that his open-handed charity never brought him intodifficulties. They were obliged to take their passage in a convict ship, which was to sail from Hull. Marsden was engaged to preach in a churchnear the harbour, and was just about to enter the pulpit when the signal-gun was fired to summon the passengers on board. He took off his gown, gave his arm to his bride at her pew door, and walked to the beach, thewhole congregation streaming out after them down to the boat, where theyoung clergyman stood for a few moments ere pushing off, to give hisparting benedictions. The ship went round to Portsmouth to receive her load of convicts; andwhile she was lying there, Marsden visited the Isle of Wight, and oneSunday preached in Brading Church. The effect of his sermon in touchingthe heart of one young woman was long remembered, in consequence of amemoir of her, entitled "The Dairyman's Daughter, " which was drawn upafter her death by the clergyman of her parish, the Rev. Legh Richmond. It was as trying a voyage as Henry Martyn's, except that even less was tobe expected from his shipmates. The captain was unwilling to allowprayers to be read even on Sunday, saying he had never known a religioussailor; and though, after a time, Mr. Marsden prevailed, he never felthimself making much impression for good. One of his books on the voyagewas the Life of David Brainerd, that torch of missionaries, and whoproved the example which served to stir Mr. Marsden to look beyond hisown immediate field of labour, severe though that was, and unflinching aswas his toil. His arrival at Paramatta, his new home, was in the March of 1794, whenthe convict system had prevailed about seven years, and had beensufficient to form a population disgraceful to human nature. None ofthose endeavours to reclaim the prisoner which now prevail had then beenattempted, and jails were schools and hotbeds of crime, whence thetransported were sent forth to corrupt each other more and more on boardship; and then, though employed on Government works or assigned to freesettlers as servants, so soon as they had worked out their time ofservitude they were let loose to live after their own will. Such as had any capacity for steady industry soon made their fortunes onthe parcels of land allotted to them by Government, to which they addedby purchase; and these persons, by the influence of wealth and property, rose into colonial rank and authority, though without any such realtraining in the sense of uprightness or morality as could fit them forthe posts they occupied. The least tainted by crime were the Irish, whohad been deported by wholesale after the rebellion, some without even aform of trial, but these were idle and prone to violence; while of theregular convicts there was a large proportion addicted to every brutalitythat vice could conceive, and their numbers were continually beingrecruited by fresh shiploads after the assizes at home. The only attemptat securing order and tolerable safety was by visiting every offence, even the slightest, of which a convict was accused in a court of justice, with the most unrelenting severity; and this, of course, had the effectof further brutalizing these felon people, making them reckless of thedeeds they committed, and often driving them to becomebush-rangers--outlawed wild men of the woods--a terror to the colony. Apowerful military force was kept up to repress these wretched beings byphysical force, but of moral training there was only what was afforded bythe openings for industry in a new country, and religious teaching wasrepresented by--two chaplains, for convicts, soldiers, settlers, and all!No wonder that the senior soon broke down under the hopeless toil of sucha position, and left the junior to struggle with it alone. And nobly hedid struggle! Wilberforce had made a wise choice of a man in the primeof youth, whose bullet-headed portrait speaks of the most doggeddetermination, with nerves, health, and weight enough to contend for awhole lifetime with the horrible depravity around him--the onlyclergyman, and with three settlements far apart dependent on hisministry. And in the outset he was severely tried by domestic sorrows;for his eldest son, at two years old, was thrown out of his mother's armsby a jolt to the carriage over the rough road, and killed on the spot;and a younger child, who was shortly after left at home from dread of asimilar accident, was allowed by its attendant to stray into the kitchen, where it fell backwards into a pan of boiling water and was fatallyscalded. The father bore these calamities as one who had steadfast faith andresignation--"one who felt much and said little. " The demands on histime, indeed, left him no leisure for giving way to grief. Spiritualmatters were not all that came upon him. In the utter lack ofconscientious men to perform the functions of the magistracy, he was atonce appointed to the bench; nor, indeed, was there the same feeling inEngland then as now against the combination of the clergyman and justiceof the peace. The most exemplary parish priests viewed it as a duty toadminister justice in their villages; and the first, and till quiterecently the sole manual of prayers to be used with prisoners, was theproduction of one of these clerical magistrates. A Yorkshire farmer'sson could not be expected to know much about law, but good sense, uprightness, perception of justice, and intense determination, he had, aswell as Christian humanity; and in these he was superior to any of hiscolleagues on the Paramatta bench, whom he was continually striving toraise to some comprehension of the commonest rules of justice, mercy, anddecency; and in this, after a long course of years, he in some measuresucceeded; but not till after his strong hand, impartial justice, andhatred of vice, had made him enemies among all parties; and it is onlytoo probable that his secular authority, though always nobly wielded, impeded rather than otherwise his pastoral influence. His farming education served him well when he received a grant of land, and of thirteen convicts to bring it into order. It was part of hispayment, almost indispensable for procuring to his family the necessariesof life, and it gave him, besides, the means of imparting instruction inhonest labour. His property became the model farm of New South Wales, and the profits afforded him the means of establishing the schools, benevolent institutions, and missions, for which there were few, if anypurses to draw upon. He won himself respect on all sides, especiallyfrom the Governor of the colony, Captain King, a hasty, violent, but good-hearted man, with whom more than once he had misunderstandings, but suchas were made up again. On one of these occasions, the chaplain's advicewas asked by the Governor, and promised on condition that he might speakas to a private individual. So, when they met, Mr. Marsden locked thedoor, and, in plain and forcible terms, gave _Captain_ King athoroughgoing remonstrance on the faults of _Governor_ King, which wastaken in perfect good part. Nevertheless, the whole construction of Society was so atrocious, thatnothing could effect any improvement but interference from higherauthority. The Court of Judicature in New South Wales was the mostshamelessly corrupt and abandoned in existence, and a rebellious spiritbroke out which imperilled the military authority of the Governor. Mr. Marsden saw no hope, except in laying a full statement in person beforethe home Government; and therefore, at the end of fourteen years, whenGovernor King was about to return home, he resolved to go himself, andmake a strong personal representation to Government. The two familiessailed in the same ship, the _Buffalo_, which proved to be leaky; and, when a heavy gale was expected, it was proposed that the passengersshould quit her, and take refuge in a stronger vessel; but Mrs. King wastoo unwell to be moved, and Mrs. Marsden would not leave her, so that theproposal was abandoned, and most providentially, for the ship that hadbeen thought secure was lost in the night and never seen more! The voyage was a slow one; and the first thing Mr. Marsden heard onarriving was, that the insurrection he had expected had actually brokenout. This rendered Lord Castlereagh, then Colonial Secretary, the moreanxious to obtain the advice of a sensible, clear-headed man like SamuelMarsden, and he was encouraged to explain his views. First, he wasanxious for whatever would tend to reform the convicts; and havingobserved that the most respectable of these were such as had married, orwhose wives had come out to them, he begged that, for the future, thefamilies of the married men might be sent out with them. This wasrefused; but his representation that the convicts ought to be instructedin trades was attended to, when he showed that, by this means, the wholeexpense of their clothing might be saved. He had discerned the wonderfulcapacities of Australia for sheep farming, and having brought home somewool, and found it much approved by the manufacturers, he thereuponventured to petition the King for a couple of merino {f:221} sheep fromthe royal farm at Windsor, to improve the breed. The request was after"Farmer George's" own heart; he gave five, and thus Mr. Marsden did thework of agricultural improvement of the Benedictines of old. He alsoobtained that three more clergymen and three schoolmasters should be sentout; and he strove hard for other institutions, chiefly for thereformation of the female convicts, which he could not at the time getcarried out. He likewise conducted an immense correspondence on behalfof persons who had not found any other means of communicating with theirhomes; and, at the same time, he became personally acquainted withWilberforce, and many others of the supporters of the cause of religion. Above all, it was in this visit to England that Mr. Marsden laid thefoundations of the missions to New Zealand, and prepared to become theapostle of the Maori race. These great islands of New Zealand had beendiscovered and named by Tasman in 1642, and first visited by Captain Cookin 1769. He found them inhabited by a brave, high-spirited, and quick-witted set of natives, with as large a proportion of the fine qualitiessometimes found in a wild race as ever savages possessed, but theirtribes continually at war, and the custom of cannibalism prevailing: hehad been on friendly terms with them, and presented them with pigs, fowls, and potatoes--no small boon in a land where there was no quadrupedbigger than a rat, and very few esculent vegetables. From this time, whalers occasionally stopped to take in water, &c. , and kept up a sort ofintercourse with the Maori, sometimes amiable, and resulting in thenatives taking voyages on board the vessels, but sometimes quarrelsome, and characterized by mutual outrages, when, if a white man were madeprisoner, he was sure to be killed and eaten, to serve as a sort oftriumphal and sacrificial banquet. Nevertheless, it was plain that these Maories were of a much higher typeof humanity than the Australian natives, whom Mr. Marsden had found sofar entirely unteachable and untameable, but for whom he was trying toestablish some plan of training and protection. Such a spirit ofcuriosity and enterprise possessed some of the New Zealand chieftains, that they would come on visits to Australia, and on these occasions Mr. Marsden always gave them a welcome at his parsonage at Paramatta. At onetime there were thirty staying there, over whom he had great influence. Once, when he was absent from home, the nephew of one of the chiefs died, and his uncle immediately prepared to sacrifice a slave; nor could Mrs. Marsden prevent it, otherwise than by hiding the intended victim till herhusband came home, who made the chief understand that it was not to bedone, though the man continued to lament that his nephew was deprived ofhis proper attendant in the other world, and seemed afraid to returnhome, lest the father of the youth should reproach him with the omission. Mr. Marsden made known all that he had been able to gather of thepromising nature of the field of labour in New Zealand, and sought aidfrom the Church Missionary Society, since the Society for the Propagationof the Gospel was then unable to reach beyond the colonies. The almostuniversal indifference of the upper classes to missionary labour wasterribly crippling in the matter of means; and perhaps the fact was thatthe underbred class of agents of the Societies stirred up by the exampleof Marshman and Carey, together with the vulgarly-sensational appealsagainst which Ward's good taste so strongly protested, greatly tended tomake them incredulous. It was not till the statements of scholars andgentlemen, like Henry Martyn and Bishop Heber, became generally known, that the work was looked on without sarcasm, provoked by vulgarity, evenwhere there was great devotion. No clergyman could be found to undertake the mission to New Zealand; butWilliam Hall and John King, two laymen, undertook to act as pioneers, with instructions to establish family worship, converse on religion withthe natives, and instruct their children; trying, at the same time, toshow the benefits of civilization, but to take care it was not confoundedwith Christianity. These two good men, who were presently followed by Thomas Kendall, sailedin the same ship with Mr. Marsden, when, in August 1809, he paid his lastfarewell to his native land, and sailed in the _Ann_ for New South Wales. Strange to say, this very ship contained a Maori, on his return home! Hewas a young chief named Duaterra, who had, in a spirit of adventure, embarked on board a whaler named the _Argo_, and worked as a sailor forsix months, till the captain, having no further occasion for hisservices, put him ashore at Port Jackson, without payment or friends. However, he embarked in another whaler, and worked his way home, but soonwas on board of a third English ship, the _Santa Anna_, in search of seal-skins, and having conceived a great desire to see the country whencethese vessels came forth, and to know its chief, he engaged to come toEngland in it, the captain and sailors not scrupling to promise him anintroduction to King George. When the _Santa Anna_ reached England, thecrew had grown tired of him, used him roughly and harshly, and tried toput him off his pertinacious recollection of the promise of seeing theking, by telling him that King George's house could not be found; whilehe was worked beyond his strength, and scarcely ever suffered to go onshore. When, in fifteen days, the cargo was all discharged, the captainput him on board the _Ann_, to be taken back to Australia, and when heasked for his wages, to provide some clothing, told him that the owner ofthe ship would give him two muskets when he should reach Port Jackson. The poor fellow was little likely to reach it, for lung disease, thegreat foe of the Maori, had set in; and he was in a pitiable conditionwhen Mr. Marsden, by chance, remarked his brown face on the forecastle, and inquired into his history, which was confirmed by the master of the_Ann_, and was really only a specimen of a sailor's vague promises, andincapacity to understand that a dark skin ought to be treated with thesame justice as a white one. Duaterra was a man of much intelligence, and even under these most unfavourable circumstances had been greatlyimpressed with the civilization of England, and was so desirous ofimprovement that, on arriving at Port Jackson, Mr. Marsden took him tohis farm, where he applied eagerly to the learning of husbandry. Duaterra was not the only Maori ill-treated by British sailors. Anotherchief having been used in like manner, or worse, on board the _Boyd_, bided his time till the ship was in the Bay of Islands, and then broughthis tribe, armed with clubs and hatchets, to revenge his sufferings. Theyoverpowered the crew, slaughtered and feasted upon them, burning theship, and only retaining as captives two women and a boy. Nevertheless, Hall and King were ready to take the missionaries to this dangerous spot, but Mr. Marsden thought it best to give time for the passions thusexcited to cool down. Meantime Governor Macquarie had come out to take charge of New SouthWales. He was a man of great determination and despotic will, andcarried out many regulations that were of exceeding benefit to thecolony, but he did not know the limits of his authority, dealt with thechaplains as with subordinate officials, and sometimes met with staunchopposition from the sturdy Yorkshireman, his senior chaplain, so thatthey were in a state of almost constant feud throughout his government, although at the end of his career he bore the strongest testimony to themerits of the only man who durst resist him. The old game of Ambrose andTheodosius, Hildebrand and Henry, Becket and Plantagenet, has to beplayed over and over again, wherever the State refuses to understand thatspiritual matters lie beyond its grasp; and when Governor Macquarieprescribed the doctrines to be preached and the hymns to be used in thechurches, and commanded the most unsuitable secular notices to bepromulgated by the clergy, if Mr. Marsden had not resisted the Churchwould have been absolutely degraded. When convicts of wealth andstation, but still leading most vicious lives, were raised to themagistrates' bench, Mr. Marsden could not but refuse to associate or actwith them, and even tendered his resignation of the magistracy, butMacquarie would not accept it. How uncompromising these sermons were isevidenced by an anecdote of a man, who, being stung to the quick, fanciedthat the words had been individually aimed at him, and determined to berevenged. Accordingly, as soon as he saw the chaplain riding near apiece of water he jumped in, and when Mr. Marsden at once sprung afterhim, did his utmost to drown his intended deliverer; but after a violentstruggle the Yorkshire muscles prevailed, and the man was dragged out, sostartled by the shock that he confessed his intention, and, under thecounsel he had so fiercely spurned at first, became truly penitent, andwarmly attached to Mr. Marsden, whose service he ultimately entered. The square short face and sturdy form of Samuel Marsden show the force, vigour, and determination of his nature, which told on beast as well asman. On the road between Sydney and Paramatta, he used to let the reinslie loose on the splash-board of his gig and read, saying that "the horsethat could not keep itself up was not worth driving, " and though one ofthe pair he usually drove was unmanageable in other hands, nothing everwent amiss with it when it went out with its master. Such a spirit ofdetermination produced an impress even on those who opposed him most, andmany works were carried out in the teeth of the difficulties thrown intheir way; such as the erection of schools, of a factory for thereception of the female convicts, and of a sort of model farm, where itwas intended to collect, tame, and civilize the aborigines. This was atfirst planned between the governor and chaplain, but when it was readyMarsden was under Colonel Macquarie's displeasure, and was thereforeexcluded from all share in the management, though the site was actuallyin his own parish of Paramatta. The experiment was a failure, probablynot on this account, but from the restless character of the blacks, whoseintellect was too small, and their wants too few, to feel any comfort acompensation for their freedom and wandering life. Mr. Marsden and theother chaplains repeatedly tried bringing up children, --some too young toretain any memory of their native habits, but they always relapsed intosavage life on the first opportunity, and though here and thereindividuals may have better come up to the hopes of their devotedfriends, yet as a race they seem too little above the animal to besusceptible of being raised. Governor Macquarie was an iron-handed man, who could not brookopposition, or endure any scheme that did not originate with himself. Sowhen Mr. Marsden laid before him a project for diminishing the appallingmisery and vice in which the utter neglect of Government left the femaleconvicts, he acknowledged the letter, but did not act upon it. Afterwaiting eighteen months for him to take some measure, the chaplain sent astatement of the condition of these poor creatures to the ColonialOffice; it was laid before Parliament, and Lord Bathurst, the ColonialSecretary, sent a letter of inquiry to the Governor. Macquarie's furywas intense on finding that the chaplain had dared to look above andbeyond him; and he gave a willing encouragement to whatever resisted theattempts of Marsden at establishing some sense of religion and morality. After refusing to accept his resignation of his post as a magistrate, hedismissed him ignominiously, and all the underlings of Government knewthat any attack from them would be regarded with favour. A vile andslanderous letter, full of infamous libels, not only against SamuelMarsden, as a man and a Christian priest, but against the missionaries, and signed "Philo-free, " appeared in the _Sydney Herald_, the Governmentpaper, and was traced to Macquarie's own secretary! The libel was suchthat Mr. Marsden felt it due to his cause to bring an action against thepublisher, and in spite of the prejudice against him, after a trial ofthree days, he gained a complete victory and damages of 200 pounds; butthe newspaper published such a false and scandalous report of the trialthat he was obliged a second time to prosecute, and again obtained averdict in his favour. The officers of the 46th Regiment, on leaving the colony, presented himwith a testimonial, and an address most gratifying, amid the generalobloquy, and showing a feeling most honourable to themselves. Every onewho cared for the cause of virtue at home, especially Wilberforce, Simeon, and Mrs. Fry, wrote encouraging letters to him; and LordBathurst, on receiving a despatch from Macquarie, full of charges againstthe chaplain as man, magistrate, and minister, sent out a commission ofinquiry, which, coming with fresh eyes from England, was horrified at theabuses to which the Australian world was accustomed, found every word ofMr. Marsden's perfectly justified, and at last extracted the followingconfession from Colonel Macquarie: "The Governor admits that Mr. Marsden's manner to him has been constantly civil and accommodating, andthat nothing in his manner could provoke the Governor's warmth. TheGovernor admits his qualifications, his activity, and his unremittingvigilance as a magistrate, and in society his cheerful disposition andreadiness to please. " The report of this commission resulted, amongother more important consequences, in the unsolicited grant of 400 poundsa year additional stipend to Mr. Marsden, "in consideration of his long, laborious, and praiseworthy exertions in behalf of religion andmorality. " This was only fitting compensation on the part of Government, for the accusation of avarice had brought to light how many schools andasylums, the proper work of the Government, had been built, and werebeing maintained, out of the proceeds of the farm which had prospered soexcellently. As long as Macquarie continued in office, Mr. Marsden was out of favour, but Sir Thomas Brisbane, who came out in 1821, was friendly with him, andknew his value, insisting on his returning to the bench of magistrates. He did all he could to avoid it, till the judges and almost every one inthe colony so urged him to accept that he yielded; but in 1824 a caseoccurred in which a rich and insolent culprit was severely punished bythe Paramatta bench, and contrived to raise such an outrageous storm thatSir Thomas Brisbane, who, if better disposed, was more timid than hispredecessor, dismissed the whole five magistrates. The offender's wishhad been merely to overthrow Mr. Marsden, but this was found impossible. The whole fury of the colony again rose against this fearless man, andaccusations absolutely absurd were trumped up. One was that he allowedhis windmill to work on Sunday! The fact turned out to be, wheninvestigated, that somebody had once seen the sails turning on a Sunday, some time before Mr. Marsden had purchased the land on which the millstood. A real act of persecution affected him more seriously, as it wasthe ruin of another person in whom he was interested. There was an oldregulation forbidding the hiring out of convicts who were assigned toresidents as domestic servants, but this had been virtually repealed byanother under Macquarie, permitting such hiring out on the ownerscomplying with certain rules. These had been duly attended to by Mr. Marsden in the case of one James Ring, a plumber and glazier, who, as areward for good conduct, was allowed to go out to work in Paramatta forhis own profit. Being ill-used and beaten by another servant, hesummoned the man before the bench of magistrates, but these, who had beenput in when Mr. Marsden and his colleagues were dismissed, immediatelycommitted Ring to jail for being at large. His master went to demand hisrelease, showing that the rules had been observed, but the magistratesreplied by levying a fine of two-and-sixpence for every day that Ring hadbeen at work, and as Marsden did not offer to pay, they sent a convictconstable to his house to seize property to that amount, while poor Ringhimself was sent to work in irons with the penal gang; though at thatvery moment one of the magistrates had a servant, a tailor, at work inMr. Marsden's house; and another person had two hired convicts of anotherof these justices employed at his home. In fact, it was the onlysentence of the kind ever inflicted, yet Sir Thomas Brisbane was afraidto interfere; whereupon Mr. Marsden caused his case to be tried beforethe Supreme Court, and so completely proved it, that restitution of theillegal fine was commanded, though the spirit of persecution was stillshown in the absurdly small sum of damages allotted to him. What wasworse was that he could not procure the release of Ring, for while he wassending an appeal to England the unhappy man lost patience, ran away fromthe gang where he was working in irons on the roads, and escaped to NewZealand, but was never heard of more. Had he but borne with his misery alittle longer he would have been restored to his kind master, for acommission came out which a second time resulted in the complete triumphof Mr. Marsden, and the entire discomfiture of his persecutors. We have gone through the history of his home troubles before entering onthe part that concerned his missionary labours. It is a painful picture, but the staunch firmness that never failed to "boldly rebuke vice, " istoo essential a part of the picture to be passed over. The Apostle ofNew Zealand was the Baptist of the Herods of Australia. We return to theyear 1816, when, after some months' training in agriculture at Mr. Marsden's farm, Duaterra had sailed for his home, but only again tosuffer from the perfidy of the master of the ship. The ordinary Englishmind seemed incapable of perceiving that any faith need be kept with adark-coloured man, and Duaterra was defrauded of his share of the oilprocured from the whales he had helped to catch, carried past his ownshores, only two miles from the _pah_ where the master had engaged toland him, and turned adrift in the then uninhabited Norfolk Island, wherea whaler picked him up almost starved, and brought him back to Australia. However, Mr. Marsden found another ship, which did fulfil itsengagements, and Duaterra was at last set ashore in the Bay of Islands, close to the northern point of New Zealand, with a supply of wheat whichMr. Marsden had given him. Two years had passed, and Mr. Marsden had been trying to procure from theSociety at home a mission ship to carry teachers to the islands, visitthem, and supply their wants there, but he had not as yet succeeded, andhe therefore decided on purchasing a small one from Australia at his ownexpense. This was the _Active_, the first of the mission vessels thatnow bear the Cross in several quarters of the globe. In her Hall andKing sailed, and Mr. Marsden would have accompanied them but for theexpress prohibition of Governor Macquarie, who, little as he loved hissenior chaplain, did not choose to lose him on what he regarded as ascheme of almost fanatic folly. The two teachers were not to settle onshore, nor even to sleep there, but they were to visit Duaterra, reconnoitre the ground, and see whether it would be possible to settlethere as they had at first proposed. To their delight, Duaterra came eagerly to meet them, very anxious fortheir assistance with his corn. He had shown it to his tribe, tellingthem that hence came the bread and biscuit they had eaten in Englishships, and great had been their disappointment when neither the ear northe root of the wheat proved at all like these articles. However, he hadbeen successful in his farmer operations, but was entirely puzzled bythose of the miller, only knowing that the grain ought to be ground, andunable to contrive it, though he had borrowed a coffee-mill from atrading vessel. When the new comers produced a hand-mill he wasdelighted. His kindred, to whom he had been a laughing-stock foraverring that biscuit had any connection with his new grass, crowdedround incredulously to watch the mill, showed unbounded amazement as thewhite flour streamed forth, and when a cake was hastily made and baked ina frying-pan they leapt about shouting and dancing for joy. Duaterra, his uncle Hunghi, a very powerful chief, and five more, accepted aninvitation to come and confer with Mr. Marsden, and the _Active_ broughtthem back to New South Wales. They were very anxious for the benefitswhich they hoped to derive from intercourse with the whites, and readilyundertook to secure Hall and King from all danger. Even GovernorMacquarie was so far satisfied that he consented to let Mr. Marsden goout and arrange the new settlement, to which he presented two cows and abull. These, with three horses, and some sheep and poultry, wereembarked on board the _Active_, with a motley collection of passengers, the eight Maories, the three missionaries with their wives and children, a sawyer, a smith, Mr. Marsden, and another gentleman named John LydiardNicholas, the master of the vessel, his wife, son, and crew, whichincluded two Tahitians, and lastly a runaway convict who had secretedhimself on board. Their arrival might have been rendered dangerous bythe conduct of a whaling crew at Wangaroa, in the northern island of NewZealand, who, by way of retaliation for the massacre of the _Boyd's_ ship-company, had murdered a chief named Tippahee with all his family, withoutwaiting to find out whether he had been concerned in the slaughter. Nevertheless, these brave men were ready to dare to the utmost, and thefame of Mr. Marsden, "the friend of the Maori, " had preceded him, and the_Active_ was welcomed with presents of fish and visits from the natives. They found that Tippahee's people at Wangaroa had accused the tribe ofthe Bay of Islands of leading the English to murder their chief, thatthere was in consequence a deadly feud, and that several desperatebattles had been fought. Marsden knew that if he came as the friend ofDuaterra and his tribe alone, party spirit would entirely alienate therest of the islanders, and he therefore determined at once to prove thathe came not as the ally of one party, but as the friend of both. Hetherefore determined to prove to the Wangaroans his confidence in them bynot only landing among them unarmed, but actually spending the nightamong them. His friend Mr. Nicholas accompanied him in this, one of themost intrepid actions ever performed, when it is remembered that thistribe consisted of the cannibals who had eaten his own countrymen, andhad of late been freshly provoked. The two gentlemen supped in Hunghi'shut on potatoes and fish, and then quietly walked over to the hostilecamp, where they met with a friendly welcome. One of the natives who hadsailed in an English vessel was able to interpret, and with hisassistance Mr. Marsden explained the purpose of the missionaries, and thedesirableness of peace. Maories appreciate being spoken to at length andwith due respect, and they listened politely, making speeches in theirown fashion in return, until towards eleven, when most had gone to rest. The two Englishmen wrapped themselves in their great coats and lay down, the interpreter bidding them lie near him. It was a clear night, countless stars shining above, the sea in front smooth, all around aforest of spears stuck upright in the earth, and on the ground themultitude of human beings in their scanty loose garb of tapa cloth lyingfast asleep, while the man who had come as an apostle to them spent thenight in thought and prayer. Such a scene can never be forgotten! In the morning the ship's boat came to fetch him off, and he took thechiefs back with him to the ship to receive presents and be introduced tothose who were to live among them. There was also a formalreconciliation with Duaterra and his tribe, and the wondering Maoriestook their travelled brother into high estimation when they really beheldthe animals they had imagined to be mere creations of his fancy, and werespecially amazed at the sight of Mr. Marsden mounted on horseback. Duaterra, meantime, of his own accord, was making preparations for thefirst Sunday service held in New Zealand. It was likewise the ChristmasDay of 1815, and Mr. Marsden felt it a most appropriate moment for hisfirst proclamation of the good tidings of great joy among this mostdistant of the nations. Duaterra's ideas of a church consisted inenclosing about half an acre of land with a fence, and erecting in themidst a reading-desk three feet, and a pulpit six feet high, both madeout of canoes, covered with either black native cloth or some canvas hehad brought from Port Jackson, and ranging near them some bottoms of oldcanoes, as seats for the English part of the congregation, and on thehill above he hoisted, of his own accord, the British flag. On the Sunday morning Duaterra, his uncle, and Koro Koro, another chiefwho had been in Australia, all appeared in regimentals given them byGovernor Macquarie, swords by their sides, and switches in their hands, and all their men drawn up behind them. When the English had entered, the chiefs arranged their tribes, and Mr. Marsden began by singing theOld Hundredth Psalm, the first note of praise to the Creator that everrung from the bays and rocks of New Zealand. Then he went through theChristmas Day service, his twenty-two English joining in it, and KoroKoro making signs with his switch to the natives when to stand and whento sit. Mr. Marsden ended with a sermon on the Angelic greeting, andwhen the natives complained that they could not understand, Duaterrapromised to explain afterwards, and this he performed--it may be feared, after a fashion of his own, for as yet he was very ignorant, althoughvery acute. Mr. Marsden's principle was not that of Eliot, to begin with the faith, then come to civilization. He thought that the benefits of civilizationwould lead to the acceptance of the faith; and, besides, he had onlylaymen to act as teachers; and, as his system was that of the Church, hecould only employ them in laying foundations, in preparing instead ofadmitting converts, while his own duties only permitted of his makingflying visits. So he established his settlers to show the benefits ofpeace, industry, and morality, and thus bring the natives to look higher. Seed, tools, clothing, he assisted them in procuring and using, but hissmith was expressly forbidden ever to make or repair any warlike weapon, or the settlers ever to barter muskets or powder for any possession ofwhatever value with the natives. He likewise strove, in hisconversations with the chiefs, to show the evils of their vices in such amanner as their shrewd minds could enter into, trying to make them seethe disgrace and horror of cannibalism, and the inconveniences ofpolygamy, thus hoping to raise their standard. In order that the mission settlement might have some security, hepurchased a plot of land in the name of the Church Missionary Society, drawing up a regular deed of sale, to which his signature was affixed, together with a likeness of the tattooed pattern of the Maori chieftain'sface. Duaterra walked about with him in delight, talking of the timewhen the church should be built, and planning the spot; but the poorfellow had probably never recovered the injury his constitution hadsuffered, for he fell ill, and his state was soon hopeless. It was agreat grief to Mr. Marsden, who had reckoned much on his assistance, andfound it hard to acquiesce in the will of Providence, more especially asthe poor young man was not yet so entirely a Christian as to warrantbaptizing him. He begged Mr. Marsden to pray with him, but he kept hisheathen priest at hand, and his mind was tossed to and fro between thenew truth and the old superstition. In this state Mr. Marsden was forcedto leave him, four days before his death, when Kendall, who visited himto the last, was shocked at the savage manner in which his relativesgashed themselves, to show their grief, and far more when his favouritewife stole out and hung herself, according to a frequent custom, regardedas rather honourable than otherwise! Soon after his death fresh wars broke out, and a hostile tribe encampednear the mission settlement, loudly threatening to kill and devour theinhabitants, who, for months together, had to keep watch day and night, put their children to bed in their clothes ready for instant flight, andhad their boat always afloat with oars and sails; but they remainedsteadfast, and the danger passed over. The _Active_ plied backwards and forwards, supplying them with thenecessaries of life, and bringing guests to the farm at Paramatta, whereMr. Marsden provided instruction for them. Two, named Tooi and Teterree, were sent in charge of Mr. Nicholas to visit England in a King's ship, where they had learnt to speak English tolerably, and to follow thecustoms of civilized society. They were gentle and intelligent, andeager to learn, but no one could reckon on what would interest or excitethem. They were taken to see St. Paul's Cathedral, which did not seem tostrike them at all; but, as they were walking along Fleet Street, theycame to a sudden stand before a hairdresser's shop, screaming out, "Women, women, " as they beheld the display of waxen busts, which theythought did credit to the Pakeha, or English, style of preserving driedhuman heads! Like Duaterra, their great anxiety was to see King George;but, in 1817, the apology recorded in Teterree's English letter was onlytoo true, --"I never see the King of England, he very poorly; and QueenCharlotte very poorly too. " On their return to Paramatta, Mr. Marsden made a second visit to NewZealand, taking them back, and also going to instal some freshmissionaries and mechanics on a new settlement. There was greatcompetition among the chiefs; for the possession of a Pakeha, orEnglishman, was greatly coveted as a means of bringing the material goodthings of life, and Mr. Marsden was eagerly assured that there was nodanger of the English being killed and eaten, since the Maori flesh wasmuch sweeter, because the whites ate so much salt. There was as yet noconvert, but Mr. Marsden's resolution by no means failed him; hebelieved--and he was right--that kindness, truth, and uprightness, inthose who could confer temporal benefits, would, in time, lead theseintelligent men to appreciate the spiritual blessings that were offeredto them. Presents of hoes, with which to plant the sweet potato, were greatlyappreciated. Hunghi's head wife was working away with a wooden spade, though perfectly blind, and was delighted with the new instrument. Indeed, Hunghi was one of the most eager friends of the mission, thoughthe splendidly tattooed heads of his enemies decorated his abode, and hedefended cannibalism, on the ground that animals preyed upon one another, and that the gods devoured each other. His manners had all the high-bredcourtesy that marked the chief, and he was a noble-looking creature, fullof native majesty and gentleness. Every hope was entertained of him, andhe was sent, in 1820, to visit England, where he had an interview withGeorge IV. , and received presents of weapons from him. But the moralHunghi brought home was, "There is but one king in England. There shallbe but one in New Zealand. " And this consummation he endeavoured tobring about by challenging a hostile chief whom he met on his way backfrom Sydney to New Zealand. He gained the battle, by arranging his menin the form of a wedge, and likewise by the number of muskets with whichhe was able to arm them. When the chief himself fell by his hand, hedrank his fresh blood, and devoured his eye, in the belief that it thusbecame a star in the firmament, and conferred glory on himself; and thewhole battle-field was covered with the ovens in which his followerscooked the flesh of the prisoners whom they did not keep as slaves! This horrible scene took place while Mr. Marsden was in Australia, but hecould hardly have prevented it. Probably the chief's ferocity, so longrepressed, was in a state of reaction; for, though the missionaries werenot molested, their efforts seemed lost. Hunghi declared that he wishedhis children to learn to fight, not to read; and the Maoris insisted onbeing paid for any service to the missionaries in fire-arms and powder. When this was refused they became insolent and mischievous, intrudinginto the houses, demanding food, breaking down the fences, and stealingwhatever they could seize; and there was reason to fear that anyexcitement might lead to absolute danger. In this crisis some of themissionaries failed, sold ammunition, and otherwise were wanting in thetestimony they were intended to maintain. The tidings determined Mr. Marsden on making a fourth visit to New Zealand: and this time he wasable to take with him a clergyman, the Rev. Henry Williams, who lived tobecome Bishop of a Maori district. It was nine years since the firstlanding there, and, in spite of all disappointments, he found many of thenatives much improved, and the friendly chiefs quite able to understandhis prohibition against the sale of powder, although they were at firstinclined to be angry at his having sent home a missionary on thataccount. The other missionaries expressed repentance for their errors, but he was not thoroughly satisfied with them, though allowing much fortheir isolation from Christian society and ordinances. A Wesleyan mission had been established at Wangaroa, which he visited andassisted, and finding Mr. Leigh, the chief minister, very ill, offeredhim a passage to Sydney for advice, but this ship had scarcely weighedanchor before a great storm came on; the ship was lost, and the crew andpassengers had to land in boats, and return for two months longer beforea ship could be found to bring them home, and in this time he did all inhis power to bring the Maories to agree to some settled form ofgovernment under a single chief; but though any chief, especially Hunghi, was quite willing to be that one, nobody would be anything secondary, andthus the project failed. He also set the missionaries the task ofendeavouring to collect a fixed vocabulary and grammar, which might beavailable in future translations. The great kindness shown him at hisshipwreck had greatly touched his heart, especially in contrast with theusage he was meeting with in Australia, for this was in the height of thepersecution about Ring, which detained him at home for more than twoyears. During this time Mr. Williams was joined by his brother William, also a priest of the English Church, but the wars of the Maories hadbecome so desperate that the peril of the missionaries had been muchincreased; indeed, the Wesleyans had had the whole of their premisesravaged, so that the minister came as a fugitive to find a refuge atParamatta, as a guest of Mr. Marsden. That brave soldier of his Lord decided on going at once to the scene ofperil. Though sixty-three years old, he sailed as soon as possible inH. M. S. _Rainbow_, but found peace restored and the danger to his missionsover. He therefore came back, after remaining only five days at hislabours in New South Wales, to the superintendence of the translation ofseveral chapters of Holy Scripture, and to the instruction of the youngMaories at the sort of college he had tried from the first to keep up atParamatta, but which he was forced to abandon, since the delicate lungsof the Maories could not endure the parching dryness of the Australianclimate. By the time he went again to New Zealand, in 1830, Hunghi had been killedin battle, and the nation was fast dwindling between war and a diseaseresembling the influenza. It was estimated that in twenty years thenumbers had diminished by one-half, and in the meantime English settlerswere entering on the lands so numerously that it was evident that beforelong the islands would be annexed to the British crown. Mr. Marsden hadhoped at first that this brave and intelligent people might have beenChristianized and civilized, so as to stand alone, but finding that theirdeadly feuds and internecine savagery rendered this impossible, hethought it best to prepare them to come willingly under a curb that hetrusted would be no more than beneficial. He found the missionaries much alarmed, for a horrible battle had justbeen fought, caused by the misconduct and insulting behaviour of the crewof an English ship. One tribe had taken their part, another had risen torevenge the affront, and a great mutual slaughter had taken place;victory had remained with the avengers, and though the offending crew hadsailed away, it was apprehended that all the English might suffer intheir stead. There was not an hour to be lost. Mr. Marsden and Mr. Williams crossed the bay and entered the camp of the English allies, where they were affectionately greeted, and allowed to carry proposals ofpeace to the victorious party, but there they met with a less friendlyreception, being told that they were answerable for the lives of thosewho had fallen in the battle, since it had been occasioned by themisconduct of their countrymen. When Mr. Marsden promised to write toEngland to prevent the return of the offenders, the savages desired hewould do no such thing, since they only desired vengeance. However, theyagreed to hold a meeting with the hostile tribe, and endeavour to come toterms. Early the next morning thirty-six canoes arrived opposite to themission station, some containing forty men; and notice was given that ifthe commissioners appointed on either side did not come to terms, thewhite men would be the sacrifice. The day was spent in conferences, but at night the chief of the hostiletribe clove a stick in two, in token that his anger was broken, and thetwo parties joined in a hideous war-dance, frequently firing theirmuskets; but peace was ratified, and Mr. Marsden found that real progresshad been made among the natives around the stations. Many had becometrue and sincere Christians, among them the widow and daughters ofHunghi. A Maori Christian woman was married by Mr. Marsden to anEnglishman. She made all the responses in good English, and appeared indecent English clothes of her own sewing. He also married a young man, free, and of good family, to a girl who had been a slave taken in war, who was redeemed from her master for five blankets, an axe, and an ironpot. A number of natives lived round the missions, attending theservices, and working with a good deal of industry and intelligence, andan increasingly large proportion of these were openly baptizedChristians. A seventh visit was paid by Mr. Marsden in 1837, when seventy-two yearsof age. On his return an officer in the ship observed: "I think, sir, you may look on this as your last visit to New Zealand. " "No, " heanswered, "I intend to be off again in about six weeks; the people in thecolony are becoming too fine for me now. I am too old to preach beforethem, but I can talk to the New Zealanders. " He adhered to his purpose, and his daughter, Martha, who had been with him on his last voyage, accompanied him again in this. There had been some quarrels with thecrews of ships, but the natives always separated Mr. Marsden from themisdeeds of his people, and the old chiefs were delighted to see him. "Stay with us and learn our language, " one of them said: "become ourfather and our friend, and we will build you a house. " "No, " repliedanother, "we cannot build a house good enough, but we will hire Europeansto do it for us. " Wherever he went, he was hailed as the friend of the Maori, and he made aprogress through all the mission stations, which were growing upnumerously, and whence Christianity was fast spreading by the agency ofthe Maories themselves. A chief named Koromona, made captive in Hunghi'sgreat war, who had become blind, had been converted by Mr. WilliamWilliams, and soon learnt the whole Liturgy, with many chapters of theBible, and hymns, by heart, and was fit to be sent as a teacher among theother tribes. Sunday was generally observed, cannibalism and polygamywere retreating into the more remote and heathenish regions, and therewas every token that the noble Apostle of New Zealand had verilyconquered a country and people for the Church of God. Terrible warsamong the tribes, provoking all the old ferocities, still were liable toarise, and the whaling crews, among whom might be found some of the mostunscrupulous, licentious, and violent of mankind, continued to takeadvantage of there being no regular jurisdiction to commit outrages, which spread corruption or provoked retaliation, and for this there wasno remedy but annexation to the British crown, which the influence of themission was leading the natives themselves to desire, though this was notcarried out till after Mr. Marsden's death. This last visit took place in 1837. By that time the persecutions andtroubles of Mr. Marsden's colonial life had been outlived, --though evenas late as 1828, he writes about a pamphlet which actually charged himwith inflicting torture to extract confession! But his characteroutweighed all such absurd charges, and as a more respectable class ofsettlers flowed into the colony he was better appreciated. What the tonemust have been may be guessed from the fact that when, in 1825, GovernorDarling began regularly to attend church with his wife and family, it wasregarded as an unexampled act in the supreme magistrate! Mr. Marsden lost his wife in 1835, but his daughter did her best tominister to his happiness, and was his companion and assistant in all heundertook. Once, when she was driving with him, two of the most terribleof the bushrangers, who were feared by the whole country, broke forthupon them, seized the horse, and holding a loaded pistol to Mr. Marsden'sbreast, bade her empty his pockets into their hands, threatening to shootthem both if either said a word. Nevertheless, the fearless old mancontinued to remonstrate with them on their wicked life, telling themthat he should see them again upon the gallows, and though they chargedhim with savage threats not to follow them with his eyes, he turned roundand continued to warn them of the consequences of a life like theirs. Ina few months' time they were captured, and it did actually fall to hislot to attend them to the scaffold. Yet, though of this fearless mould, he was one of the most loveable ofmen; everyone on his farm, as well as all little children, and thesavages he conversed with, all loved him passionately. Some youngMaories, whom he brought back on his last voyage, used to race after hisgig to catch his eye, and when they took hold of any book, used to pointupwards, as if whatever was associated with Matua, as they called him, must lead to heaven. He was fond of playing with children, and never wasso happy as when he yearly collected the schoolchildren of Paramatta onhis lawn, for a feast and games after it. In 1834, the Rev. William Grant Broughton, one of the clergy ofAustralia, took home an account of the spiritual destitution of New SouthWales, and the effect was that in 1836 a bishopric was there created, andthe first presentation given to him. Some thought that this was apassing over of the chaplain who had laboured so hard for so many years, but Mr. Marsden himself only observed that it was better thus: he was tooold a man, and it was with sincere goodwill that he handed over thecharge he had held for more than forty years, so that only the parish ofParamatta remained to him, and there he continued his ministry in church, to the sick, and among the poor to the end. On the last Sunday of his life he seemed in his usual health; but for thefirst time he did not take part in the service, and at the celebration heseemed to be so overcome by his feelings as not to move from his place tocommunicate, when, after a pause, his son-in-law went to him with thesacred elements. There were many tears shed by those who foreboded thathis hand would never administer to them again. On the Tuesday he set outfor a short journey, but apparently he took a chill on the way to thehouse of his friend, Mr. Styles, at Windsor, and arrived unwell;erysipelas in the head came on, with a stupor of the faculties, and hedied on Saturday, the 12th of May, 1838, --a man much tried, but resolute, staunch, and gallant, and, in the end, blessedly successful. Two years later, New Zealand, by the wish of the Maories themselves, wasadded to the British dominions, a bishopric was erected there, and, didnot our bounds forbid us to speak of those who are still among us, wecould tell much of the development, under Bishop Selwyn, of SamuelMarsden's work: though, alas! there is a tale to tell that disgraces, notour Government, but our people, --a story of lust of land and of gain, andof pertinacious unfairness towards the Maori, which has alienated a largenumber of that promising and noble people, led to their relapse into thehorrors from which they had been freed, overthrown their flourishingChurch in favour of a horrid, bloodthirsty superstition, and willprobably finish its work by the destruction of the gallant race that onceasked our protection. CHAPTER IX. JOHN WILLIAMS, THE MARTYR OF ERROMANGO. Of Welsh extraction, and respectable though humble parentage, the pioneerand martyr of Polynesia, John Williams, was born at Tottenham High Court, London, in the year 1796. His parents were Nonconformists, and he waseducated at a "commercial" school at Edmonton, where the teaching did notaim at much beyond writing and accounts, all that was supposed, at thattime, to be needful for a young tradesman. The chief point remembered ofhis childhood was an aptitude and handiness which caused all littlebreakages to be kept for John to repair, --a small quality, but one of nosmall importance in the life of a missionary, who often finds readyresource essential to safety and to influence. His mother was a good and religious woman, whose one great purpose inchoosing a situation was to place him in a family where he might beinfluenced for good; and she was fortunate in finding a furnishingironmonger whose care of his apprentices exactly met her views. Whileserving his time, John Williams was observed to delight in the hardpractical work of the forge far more than in the easier and more popularemployments of the shop, and he was always eager to be sent out toexecute repairs, a task that was rather despised by his companions. Hewas not regarded as a religious youth till he was about eighteen; heconsidered that a serious direction had been given to his mind one Sundayevening, when his master's wife, finding him just about to enter a tea-garden with some idle companions, persuaded him to come with her tochapel, where he heard an impressive sermon that gave a colour to hislife. After this, distinct habits of piety were formed, Williams was admittedto full membership at the chapel called the Tabernacle, and, togetherwith others of the more earnest young men of the congregation, formed asociety called "The Youths' Class, " one of those associations which, under whatever form, have, in all ages of Christianity, been found a mostpowerful and salutary means of quickening, uniting, and strengthening theyoung by the sense of fellowship. The lads met every Monday evening fordiscussion, and every eighteenth Monday was devoted to special prayer. The minister of the chapel did not naturally preside, but would oftenlook in, say a few words on the subject in hand, and thus keep watch thatthe debates were properly conducted. It was through this pastor, Mr. Wilks, that John Williams first imbibedhis interest in the missionary cause, --an interest that gradually grewupon him so much, that in his twentieth year he decided upon devotinghimself to the task. Good Mr. Wilks freely gave the young ironmongerassistance in supplying the deficiencies of his education, and in July1816 he was presented to the directors of the London Missionary Society, and passed an examination, after which he was accepted, before he was outof his apprenticeship. According to rule, so young and so insufficientlyinstructed a man would ordinarily have had some years of training beforeactually undertaking to labour among the heathen, but there was at themoment an urgent call for aid from various branches, and it was decided, by a special vote of the committee, to send him out as soon as possibleto the South Sea Islands. His master willingly released him from theseven months that remained of his term; nor had his time ofapprenticeship been by any means wasted, for the mechanical skill he hadacquired was of great importance to his success as a civilizer. Marriagewas always recommended to the missionaries of the Baptist Societies, andWilliams's fate was no sooner decided than he chose Mary Channer, aconstant attendant at the Tabernacle, and a woman helpful, kind, andbrave, as befitted a missionary's wife. A great meeting was soon after held, as a sort of dedication of the newlabourers, nine in number, who were thence to go forth, --five to SouthAfrica, four to Polynesia. Among the Africans was Robert Moffat, a namememorable, both on his own account and as the father-in-law ofLivingstone. An elderly minister stood forth and questioned the youngmen in the face of the congregation on their faith, their opinions, theirmotives, and their intentions; and then a Bible was solemnly presented toeach by an elder minister, John Angell James, of Birmingham, one of themost able and highly reputed Nonconformists then living; and anotherminister, Dr. Waugh, addressing himself to Williams, who was much theyoungest of the nine, said, "Go, my dear young brother, and if yourtongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, let it be with telling poorsinners the love of JESUS CHRIST; and if your arms drop from theirshoulders, let it be with knocking at men's hearts to gain admittance forHim there. " The impression never left John Williams, and the injunction was fulfilledto the utmost of his power. He was a man of strong and vigorous frame, well fitted to encounter the perils of climate; and with much enterprise, hardihood, and ingenuity. That his mind was in some degree narrowed bywant of education, perhaps mattered less in the peculiar field of hislabours, where he was seldom brought in contact with wide questions. Hehad the excellent quality of ready sympathy and adaptability to thepersons around him, whether civilized or savage, and was so good-naturedand yielding in unimportant matters, that the strength and firmness withwhich he would stand up for whatever he viewed as a matter of conscience, always took his opponents by surprise; but it was always long before thispoint was reached, and he was perhaps too ready to give up when it wasjudgment rather than right and wrong that came into play. Williams'sface, as given in the portrait attached to his "History of MissionaryEnterprise in the South Sea, " curiously agrees with his history. Thereis much power about the brow, much enterprise in the strong, somewhataquiline nose, great softness and sweetness in the eyes, but thethickness of the lips and chin betray the want of cultivation; indeed, the curious manner in which the mouth is pursed up, would seem toindicate that an eager temper naturally kept it unclosed, and that therestraint of sitting for a picture rendered the expression uncomfortablyprim. The Polynesian Mission on which John Williams was sent, had beencommenced in 1796 by the London Missionary Society, partly in consequenceof the death-bed entreaties of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who hadbeen exceedingly interested by the accounts of the South Sea Islands inCaptain Cook's Voyages. The subscriptions amounted to 10, 000_l. _, andwere sufficient to purchase a ship called the _Duff_, which was commandedby that Captain Wilson whose wonderful history has been noticed in thelives of the Serampore body. Twenty-five missionaries were taken out, and received at Tahiti with grotesque dances and caperings. Thedwelling, which had been erected when Captain Bligh was collecting bread-fruit, was given to them, and several were placed there, while the _Duff_carried others to the Friendly and Marquesan Islands, and, after visitingthem all a second time, returned home for reinforcements. On the next voyage, however, with a different captain, the _Duff_ wascaptured by a French privateer, the captain of which, when he understoodthe purpose of the voyage, greatly regretted what he had done, anddeclared that he would rather have given 500_l. _ than have interferedwith it. He landed the missionaries at Monte Video, and assisted them inobtaining a passage home, in the course of which they were again capturedby a Portuguese, whose treatment of them was a wretched contrast to thatof the friendly Frenchman. Meantime, many disasters had befallen the unassisted missionaries, whosuffered from the hostility of a section of the natives, though the king, Pomare, always protected them. One of their number insisted on marryinga native woman still unconverted, separated from his brethren, and wassoon after murdered by the natives. Another was lost in a still sadderway. He reasoned himself into doubts of the Divine power and of theimmortality of the soul, and finally left the island, nor was he heard ofagain for many years, though prayer was constantly made for him, and atlength it became known that he had wandered to Serampore, where theinfluence of Marshman and Carey had prevailed to bring back his faith, but he had since been lost at sea. What wonderful glimpses we get ofstrange wild lives! But the Tahitian Mission had not included any one leading character, sothat it may be enough to state that, after years of patient effort andoften of danger, the missionaries beheld King Pomare II. , the successorof him whom they had found on the throne, solemnly burn his idols, andprofess himself a Christian. From that time the island has been Christian. The standard of moralityhas been by no means as high as it ought to be, and there is muchdisappointment in dealing with any nation, with none more so than with anindolent and voluptuous people, in a climate disposing them to inertness, and in a part subject to the visits of lawless seamen of all nations. However, the mission kept its hold of Tahiti, until the French, in 1844, began a series of aggressions, which ended in their establishing aprotectorate over the islands, introducing their Church, and doing all intheir power to discourage the London Mission, to which, however, many ofthe natives still adhere. This, however, is anticipating. When the five young men sailed in 1817, and after a kindly welcome on their way from Mr. Marsden at Sydney, things were in the full blush of promise. Eight hundred peopleworshipped at the chapel of Erineo, near the landing-place. It was acircular building, a good deal like a haystack, with walls of stakes, athatch of large leaves, and a desk in the centre of the floor for thepreacher. This was his first station, and whilst there he gave hisassistance in building a ship, to enable King Pomare to open a trade withNew South Wales. He stayed in this place till he had become familiarwith the language, and his first child was born there. Not long after some allies of Pomare, from Huahime, struck with thebenefits produced among the Tahitians by the missionaries, entreated thatsome might be sent to them likewise; and Williams, his wife and child, with two other married pairs, and an interpreter, were told off for themission. They were welcomed eagerly, had oval huts assigned to them, and no lackof pork and yams, but Mr. Williams did not long remain there, beingcalled away by an invitation from Raiatea. This is one of the loveliestof tropical islands, the largest of the Society Islands. Huge mountainmasses rise from the centre of an isle, about fifty miles incircumference, and give it the grandeur of the rock, the precipice, andthe waterfall; but all around and below, the sides are clothed with theexquisite verdure of the southern clime, the palm, the bread-fruit, theyam, and all that can delight the eye; and both this and a littlesatellite islet are fenced in by an encircling coral reef, within whichis clear still deep water, fit for navies to ride in, and approachablethrough numerous inlets in its natural breakwater. It was a spot of muchdistinction, containing the temple of the god Oro, who was revered by allthe surrounding groups, as the god of war, to whom children werededicated to make them courageous. There dreadful human sacrifices wereoffered, concluded by cannibal feasts. Whenever such a sacrifice wasrequired, the priest and king despatched messengers to the chiefs of thedistricts around to inquire whether they had a broken calabash, or arotten cocoa-nut. These terms indicated a man whom they would be willingto give up. The victim was then either knocked down with a blow of asmall stone at the back of his head, or else speared in his own house;and when one man of a family had thus been sacrificed, all the rest hadthe same horrid preference. The last human victim of Tahiti was verily a martyr. He was designatedbecause he had begun to pray. The emissaries came to his house and askedhis wife where he was. Then, borrowing from her the ironwood stick usedfor breaking open cocoa-nuts, they went after him, and knocked him downwith it, binding him hand and foot, and placing him in a long basket madeof cocoa-nut leaves. His wife rushed forward, but was kept away, as thetouch or breath of a woman is considered to pollute a sacrifice. Theman, however, recovered the blow, and spoke out boldly: "Friends, I knowwhat you intend to do with me. You are about to kill me, and offer me upas a _tabae_ to your savage gods. I know it is vain for me to beg formercy, for you will not spare my life. You may kill my body, but youcannot hurt my soul, for I have begun to pray to JESUS. " On hearing this, his bearers set him on the ground, put one stone underhis head, and beat out his brains with another, and thus died the lastTahitian sacrifice, truly baptized in his own blood. The other godsbesides Oro were numerous, and there were also many animals supposed tobe possessed with familiar spirits. A chief was once in the cabin of aship where there was a talking cockatoo: the moment the bird spoke herushed away in the utmost terror, leapt overboard, and swam for his life, convinced that he had heard the captain's demon. The chief of Raiatea was named Tamatoa, and was a man of considerablepower. Two years previously the Tahitian king, Pomare, nineteen of hissubjects, and a missionary named Wilson had been driven thither in acanoe by stress of weather; and what Tamatoa had heard from them had soimpressed him that he had persuaded his people to build a place ofworship, observe the Sunday, and meet to repeat together the scantlessons they had been able to receive during the visit of the Tahitians. This led to a resolve to entreat for the presence of a missionary amongthem; and the chieftain himself came to Huahime to make the request. Williams longed to go, but, as the youngest minister, waited till all therest had decided to the contrary, and then gladly accepted his lot to gowith Tamatoa. There was a joyous welcome, and a feast was brought, consisting of five pigs for Mr. Williams, five for his wife, and five fortheir baby-boy; besides crates of yams, bananas, and cocoa-nuts, which, however, they were not required to eat themselves, only to see eaten intheir house. The islanders were ready to give up their idols and call themselvesChristians, to hear Mr. Williams preach, and to observe the Sabbath;being, in fact, like the Red Indians of Eliot's experience, so idle thata day of no work made no difference to them. Their indolence, the effectof their enervating climate, was well-nigh invincible; they preferredhunger to trouble, and withal their customs were abhorrent to Christianmorality. Most islets of the South Seas have much the same experience. The people, taken on their best side, show themselves gentle andintelligent, and their chiefs are dignified gentlemen; but there is ahorrible background of ferocity and barbarism--often cannibalism. Itgenerally proves comparatively easy to obtain a recognition ofChristianity, and the cruelty and violence are usually laid aside; but tobring purity and morality to bear upon these races is a much moredifficult thing, and the apparent failures have been at once the griefand reproach of missionaries, while those who assail them with scoffsforget the difficulty of dealing with the inveterate customs of a wholepeople, in a luxurious climate, and with little or no inducement to suchindustrial occupations or refinements of mind, as are the bestauxiliaries of religion in raising the tone. Lands where cold is unknown, and where fruit grows as freely as inParadise, offer no inducement to labour; and the missionaries, strivingin vain to lead the people to think occupation a duty, were deserted asbeing troublesome when they bade them to work. A school which theWilliams's set up was more popular; the Polynesians had no lack ofbrains, and reading and writing were pleasanter than digging andbuilding, or carrying logs. Thinking that examples of the civilization that the islanders had neverseen would do more for their advance than anything else, Mr. Williams, with such assistance as he could obtain from the natives, built himself ahouse with eight rooms, sash windows with Venetian blinds, a verandah, and a most beautiful garden, and filled it with polished furniture, madeby his own clever mechanical hands. With the assistance of one or twoother missionaries who joined him, he succeeded in thus exciting acertain emulation among the natives. The king had a house built for himlike that of the white men, others followed, and thus a very importantstep was made out of the degraded customs encouraged by the old ovalhuts. The coral, made into lime, afforded excellent material forplaster, and trades began to be fostered among the natives; they becamecarpenters, blacksmiths, plasterers, boat-builders, and acquired someideas of agriculture. By the end of the second year, the chapel andschool stood in the midst of white cottages; the population still woreclothing made of their own bark cloth, but in imitation of that of theirteachers, and the open savagery of the island was gone. The congregationassembled three times on Sunday, and there was family prayer in almostevery house. Cannibalism was ended, and so was infanticide, one of themost terrible customs of the island, for there was scarcely a woman abovethirty who had not put to death several of her infants. Much had beendone, although the good man to whom so much was owing did not feelsatisfied that the profession in many cases was thoroughly deep, and hestill knew of many an inveterate evil, that only time, discipline, andabove all heartfelt religion, could uproot. A large chapel, built with all the taste and ornament that he couldachieve, was erected, the sides wattled, the roof supported by pillars oftree-trunks, and the floors and pews, the pulpit and desk, which were allto which the young ironmonger at the Tabernacle attached the notion of aworthy place of worship, were solid and well finished. He even fashionedsome chandeliers for evening service, and these so astonished theRaiateans, that on first entering the chapel, they broke out into a cryof amaze, "Oh, Britannia! Britannia!" and gave the name to England of"the land whose customs were without end. " The opening of this chapel was one great step in Mr. Williams's work; thenext was the inducing Tamatoa and the other chiefs to bind themselves togovern by a code of Christian laws, not complex, but based on the TenCommandments, and agreeing with those newly established by Pomare inTahiti, but with this difference, that Williams ventured to introducetrial by jury, in the hope that it would tend to qualify the despoticpower of the chiefs. Tamatoa's brother, Pahi, was appointed judge, andthe community was arranged on a Christian basis. The congregation waslikewise put under regular discipline after the example of theIndependents in England, with ruling pastors and elders appointed fromamong the people; and an auxiliary Missionary Society was formed forassisting in the conversion of the other isles. Just as this was thoroughly arranged, in about the fourth year of hismission, Williams suffered from a malady which seemed to him and hiscompanion, Mr. Threlkeld, to necessitate his return home. Theinformation was received by the islanders with something like despair. Old King Tamatoa came to him and said, "Viriamu, I have been thinking youare a strange man. JESUS did not take care of His body. He did not evenshrink from death, and now you are afflicted you are going to leave us. " Prayer was offered all over the island, and in the midst of all thepreparations for departure the disease began to ameliorate, and Mr. Williams recovered for a time, though the next year a recurrence of theattack made him resolve upon a visit to Sydney, not only for the sake ofadvice, but in the hope of establishing a market for the produce of theSociety Isles, which might give a motive to the industry he was soanxious to promote, and likewise to obtain a vessel to be used for themissions. Two Raiatean teachers instructed by him were landed at the island ofAitutake on the way, after the chiefs had pledged themselves to supportand protect them, and the voyage was continued to Australia, where therewas as usual a warm reception from Mr. Marsden. It was a very importantvisit. Parts of the Holy Scriptures, catechisms, and spelling-books, were printed; the ship, with the assistance of the Society of whichMarsden was agent, was purchased, a schooner of ninety tons, and named_Te Matama_, the Beginner; a person named Scott secured, at 150_l. _ perannum, to instruct the natives in the cultivation of sugar and tobacco, and stores laid in of presents for the natives, clothes for the women, shoes, stockings, tea-kettles, tea-cups, saucers, and tea. The nativeshad a great liking for tea, and as they could not cherish cups andsaucers without shelves to put them on, all this was an indirect mode ofintroducing European comforts and decencies. As to shoes, there can beno spade husbandry with an unshod foot, and thus the system of hoeing-women doing all the labour was attacked. On the way back to Raiatea, Mr. Williams visited New Zealand, but not ata favourable moment, for the chiefs were at war, and he had to hurryaway. The cargo was gladly welcomed at Raiatea, and the desire topurchase European dress was found a great incentive to industry. In 1823, Mr. Williams began a series of missionary voyages. The eventsof these have almost too much sameness for description, though full ofinterest in detail. The people, when taken on their right side, werealmost always ready to admit teachers, and adopt certain externals, though the true essentials of Christianity were of much slower growth. Our limits prevent us from giving much of detail of his intercourse withthese isles. Raiatea was his first home, Rarotonga his second. There heplaced his family, which long consisted of his one boy, John, born inTahiti, all Mrs. Williams's subsequent babes scarcely living to see thelight, until, in the sixteenth year of her Polynesian life, another sonrejoiced her. She became a centre and pattern of domestic life, andinstructed the women in feminine habits, and she patiently encounteredthe anxieties and perils, chiefly from storm and hurricane, that besether life. The chief troubles that Mr. Williams encountered at Raiatea, were the vices that civilization brought. After old Tamatoa's death, hisson allowed a distillery to be established, and drunkenness threatened tooverthrow the habits so diligently taught. May be, the Puritanical formof religion and the acquired tastes of the London tradesman did not allowbrightness and beauty enough to these children of the South, and temptedthem by proscribing things innocent, but there is no telling: nothing butstrictness seemed a sufficient protection from the foul rites ofidolatry, and all that his judgment or devotion could devise for thesepeople Williams and his fellows did. The Samoan group of islands was one of those where the people showed themost intelligence. They were already great cultivators of the toilette. A Samoan beau glistened from the head to the hips with sweet-scented oil, and was tastefully tattooed from the hips to the knees; he wore a bandageof red leaves oiled and shining, a head-dress formed of a pearly disk ofnautilus-shell, and a string of small white shells round each arm. Hislady was not tattooed, but spotted all over, and when in full attire, wore a beautiful white silky mat at her waist, a wreath of sweet flowersround her head, rows of large blue beads round her neck, and the upperpart of her person was tinged with turmeric rouge. These Samoans, though they deified many animals, had no temples, idols, priests, nor sacrifices, and thus were more than usually amenable toChristian ideas; and on Mr. Williams's second visit to the island, he hada numerous congregation, but so arranged that he could hardly keep hiscountenance. Some had their long hair greased and stiffened intoseparate locks, standing erect like quills upon the fretful porcupine;while others wore it cultivated into one huge bush, stiffened with coralline, diversified with turmeric. Indeed, there is no rest for such headsas these--none of their wearers dares to sleep without a little stool tosupport his neck, so as not to crush his _chevelure_ against the ground. These fine gentlemen had a readiness and intelligence about them thatwarmed to the first rays of light. They listened eagerly, and theirattachment to the missionary was expressed in a song sung in what theycalled a "heavenly dance" of the ladies in his honour, when he hadremained with them long enough to plant the good seed of a growingchurch. "Let us talk of Viriamu, Let cocoa-nuts glow in peace for months; When strong the east winds blow, our hearts forget him not. Let us greatly love the Christian land of the great white chief. All victors are we now, for we all have one God. No food is sacred now. All kinds of fish we catch and eat, Even the sting-ray. The birds are crying for Viriamu, His ship has sailed another way. The birds are crying for Viriamu, Long time is he in coming. Will he ever come again? Will he ever come again?" It was some time before he could come again; for, after eighteen years ofunremitting labour in the isles of Raiatea and Rarotonga, and of voyagestouching on many other isles, he had made up his mind to visit England. He came home in 1834, and remained about four years, doing much for hiscause by his personal narratives and vivid accounts of the people to whomhe had devoted his life. Curiously enough, his son, now a youth oftwenty, was introduced to Earl Fitzwilliam's gardener, who proved to havebeen one of the mission party who had been captured in the _Duff_ on thesecond voyage, and who was delighted to hear of the wonderful progress ofthe cause from which he himself had been turned back. A subscription was raised for the purchase of a mission ship, exceedingin size and suitability such craft as could be purchased or hired inAustralia; and the _Camden_, a vessel admirably fitted for the purpose, was obtained and equipped at a cost of 2, 600_l. _, the command of hergiven to Captain Morgan, who was well experienced in the navigation ofthe Polynesian seas, and had, moreover, such a reputation for piety, thatthe natives termed his vessel "the praying ship. " In this vessel a large reinforcement of missionaries was taken out, including a married pair for Samoa, and likewise young John Williams, whohad found himself an English wife; but his little brother was left athome for education. The intention of Williams was to station themissionaries upon the friendly isles, and himself circulate among them inthe _Camden_, breaking fresh ground in yet unvisited isles, andstationing first native and then English teachers, as they were preparedfor them. Among the Samoans he remained a good while. He estimated the populationat 60, 000, of whom nearly 50, 000 were under instruction. Several placesof worship were opened with feasts, at which huge hecatombs of swine wereconsumed--1, 370 at one festival. One young chief under instructionbecame so good a preacher, that Williams called him the Whitfield ofSamoa; and these islands have, under the training then set on foot, furnished many a missionary and even martyr to the isles around, and are, to the present day, one of the happiest specimens of the effects ofmissionary labour. The want of extended views in good Mr. Williams was shown in his mannerof regarding the expected arrival of some Roman Catholic priests in thePolynesian seas. He set to work to translate Foxe's "Book of Martyrs, "and begged that a present offered him for his people might be expended inslides illustrating it for a beautiful magic lantern which he alreadypossessed, and whose Scripture scenes drew tears from the natives. Hehad not Church knowledge enough to rise above the ordinary popular viewof "Popery, " and did not understand its Christianity enough to see theevils of sowing the bitterest seeds of the Protestant controversy amongscarcely reclaimed heathens. On their side, the Roman Catholics would have done better to enter onuntrodden ground, of which there was such an infinity, than to forcethemselves where, if they did not find their Church, at least they foundfaith in the Saviour. But the Society Isles were coveted, for politicalreasons, by the existing French Government, and the struggle was therebeginning, of which Mr. Williams was not destined to see the unfortunateconclusion. Raiatea he found much improving; and at Rarotonga civilization had madesuch progress, that the chiefs house was two storeys high, with tenbedrooms, and good furniture made in imitation of English, and any linenMr. Williams left in his room was immediately washed, ironed, and laidready for use. Much of the lurking heathenism was giving way, and fairprogress being made in religious feeling, when, after a stay in Samoa, where Mrs. Williams now chiefly resided, John Williams set out on anexploring voyage in the _Camden_. Strangely enough, his last text in preaching to the Samoans was, "Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should seehis face no more;" and the people, who always grieved whenever he leftthem, wept as bitterly at the words as if they had known them to be anomen. He was bent on an attempt on the heathen isle of Erromango, whichhis wife viewed with a foreboding terror, that made her in vain try toextract a promise from him not to land there. But he viewed the New Hebrides as an important link, leading perhaps toreaching the Papuan race in New Guinea. He hoped to gain a footingthere, and make the spot such a centre as Tahiti, Raiatea, Rarotonga, andSamoa had successively been; and, as the _Camden_ glided along the shoresof the island, he talked of his schemes, and of a certain sense of fearthat they gave him, lest they were too vast to be accomplished by hismeans and in his lifetime, but with the sanguine buoyancy of a man stillin full vigour, and who had met with almost unmixed success. On the 20th of November, 1839, the vessel entered Dillon's Bay, and acanoe with three men paddled up to her. A boat was lowered, in which Mr. Williams, two other missionaries named Harris and Cunningham, CaptainMorgan, and four sailors seated themselves. They tried to converse withthe natives, but the language proved to be unlike any in use in Polynesia(it is, in fact, one of the Melanesian dialects), and not a word could bemade out. Pulling into a creek, some beads and a small looking-glass were thrown tothe natives, and water asked for by signs. It was brought, and this gavemore confidence. Harris then waded ashore. At first the people ranaway, but Mr. Williams called to him to sit down, and, on his doing so, they came nearer, and offered him some cocoa-nut milk. Mr. Williamsobserved little boys at play, and thought it a good sign. Captain Morganwished they had been women, because the natives always send their wivesout of the way when they mean violence. However, Williams landed, anddivided some cloth among those who stood nearest. Then Harris began towalk forward into the bush, Williams following, and, with a crowd ofnatives round him, was counting in Samoan, trying whether the boys aroundwould recognize the names of the figures. Cunningham did not like thecountenances of the natives, and remarked it to him, but was not heard. Stooping to pick up a shell, Cunningham was startled by a yell, andHarris came rushing along, pursued by a native. Williams turned andlooked, a blast on a shell was heard, and he too fled. Cunninghamreached the boat in safety, but Harris fell in crossing a small brook, and the natives were at once upon him with their clubs. Williams hadmade for the sea, apparently intending to swim off and let the boat pickhim up, but the beach was stony; he fell as he reached the water, and thenatives with their clubs and arrows had fallen upon him before Morgancould turn his boat's head to the spot, under a shower of arrows, whichforced him to put off. He saw the body lying on the beach, and fired a gun, loaded with powder, in hopes of driving away the natives and rescuing it; but they dragged itaway into the bush, and all that was left for him to do was to sail forSydney, whence a Queen's ship, the _Favourite_, was despatched toendeavour to recover the remains, and to convey the tidings to Samoa. By the 26th of February the vessel arrived. The war-conch was heard, andthe savages were seen flying in all directions; but, as there was nointention of exacting a revenge, means of communication were at lastarranged, and it was discovered that these two good men had furnished acannibal feast, but that their skulls and many of their bones had beenpreserved, and these were recovered and carried on board ship. TheErromangans have always been an exceptionally treacherous and savagerace, and, even to the present day, are more hostile to white men, andmore addicted to cannibalism, than any of the other islanders. The _Favourite_ then proceeded to Samoa, where the weeping and wailing ofthe tender-hearted race was overwhelming. Mrs. Williams, in her silentEnglish sorrow, was made the centre of a multitude of frantic mourners. "Aue kriamu, aue Viriamu, our father, our father! He has turned his facefrom us! We shall never see him more! He that brought us the good wordof salvation is gone! Oh, cruel heathen, they knew not what they did. How great a man they have destroyed!" Such laments went on round the widow in the wild poetic language of thepoor Samoans, till the other teachers, by their prayers and sermons, hadproduced a somewhat calmer tone; and the funeral took place beside thechapel, attended by the officers and crew of the _Favourite_, and a greatconcourse of natives. "Alas, Viriamu!" was the cry in every Christian Polynesian island formany a day; and well it might be, for, in spite of the shortcomings of apoorly-educated ministry and a tropical and feeble race, there are fewwho ever turned more men from darkness to light, from cannibal fury toChristian love, than the Martyr of Erromango, --John Williams, --one of thehappiest of missionaries, in that to him was given the martyr's crown, inthe full tide of his success and hope. CHAPTER X. ALLEN GARDINER, THE SAILOR MARTYR. The biography we next have to turn to is not that of a founder, scarcelythat of a pioneer, but rather of a brave guerilla, whose efforts werelittle availing because wanting in combination, and undirected, but who, nevertheless, has left behind him a heart-thrilling name won byunflinching self-devotion even unto death. Allen Francis Gardiner, the fifth son of a Berkshire squire, was born in1794. He was a born sailor, and became a midshipman before the end ofthe great war of the French revolution; but the only naval action inwhich he was engaged was against the American vessel _Essex_, which wascaptured by his ship, the _Phoebe_, off Valparaiso. Allen Gardiner hadbeen carefully brought up by a good mother, but her death in his earlyyouth cast him loose and left him without any influence to keep upserious impressions. He drifted into carelessness and godlessness, though at times some old remembrance, roused by danger or by a comrade'sdeath, would sting him sharply. Once, feeling ashamed of havingforgotten the very words of Scripture, he made up his mind to buy aBible, and then was so full of false shame that he waited about in thestreet till the shop should be empty, and then only thought how odd hisdemand must seem to the bookseller. Most likely this was at Portsmouth, for he had there met a lady who hadbeen with his mother at her death, and had given him a narrative of herlast days, which his father had written, but from some sense of want ofsympathy had withheld from the son. The friend judged him better. Thecopy in his own handwriting bears the date, "Portsmouth, November 18, 1818, " and therewith was a little Bible with the same date written in it. For two years, however, this produced no effect; but in 1820, when atPenang, as a lieutenant in the _Dauntless_, Allen received a letter ofgrave reproof from his father, and one of warm kindness and expostulationfrom the same lady, his mother's friend, together with some books. Nothing would have seemed more hopeless than the chance that a letterfrom a religious old lady would make an impression on a dashing youngnaval officer, and yet Allen Gardiner always considered this as theturning-point of his life, and connected it with his mother's prayers. It was when his thoughts were directed to religious subjects, and hisintelligence freshly excited, that he visited the coasts of SouthAmerica, the region above all others where the Roman Catholic Church isseen to the most disadvantage. Two things most especially struck him, the remnants of the Inquisition at Lima, and the discovery that the poorwere buried without prayer or mass. Such scenes as these gave him anextreme horror of Romanism and all that he supposed to be connectedtherewith, and his next station at Tahiti, in all the freshness of thenewly established mission, full of devout people, filled him with strongenthusiasm for the good men who were carrying out the work. Shortlyafter he was invalided home, and as soon as he was fit for employment heoffered himself to the London Missionary Society, begging them to sendhim to the neglected Indians of South America; but this did not suittheir plans, and his ardour was slackened by the more common affairs oflife. He fell in love and married a young lady named Julia Reade, andhis only voyage was in his naval, not his missionary capacity. But hiswife's health was exceedingly frail, and after eleven years of marriageshe died, leaving four children, a fifth having preceded her to thegrave. Beside her death-bed Allen Gardiner made a solemn dedication ofhimself to act as a pioneer in one or other of the most neglected partsof the earth, not so much to establish missions himself as to reconnoitrethe ground and prepare the way for their establishment. Africa was the country to which his attention was first called. His wifedied in May 1834, and the 24th of August was the last Sunday he spent inEngland, at Calbourne, the native parish of Charles Simeon. He sailed atonce for Cape Colony, where the English, who had in the course of theRevolutionary war obtained possession of the ground from the originalsettlers, the Dutch, were making progress in every direction, and cominginto collision, not with the spiritless Hottentots of the Cape of GoodHope itself, but with that far more spirited and intellectual race, theKaffirs--unbelievers, as the name meant--they being in fact of Arabdescent, though Africanized by their transition through tropicallatitudes, and not Mahometans. Such traditional religion as theypossessed seemed to be vanishing, since only a few of the elders retaineda curious legend of a supreme Deity who sent another Divine being to"publish the news, " and divide the sexes. A message was sent to him fromthe Power in heaven to announce that man should not die, but this wascommitted to that tardy reptile the chameleon; then another message thatman should die was given to the lizard, who outran the chameleon, andthus brought death into the world. Sir Benjamin D'Urban had just been appointed Governor, and it wasapprehended that a war must take place, since the settlers werecontinually liable to sudden attacks by these wild Kaffirs, who burnt, slew, and robbed any homestead they fell upon. Captain Gardiner thought, and justly, that it would be better to begin by proclaiming the gladtidings of peace to these wild and ignorant people rather than to meetthem with the strong hand of war. The colony was lamentably deficient inclergy, and the missions that existed were chiefly to the Hottentots andBushmen. The Moravians, whose work we have not mentioned because it is ahistory in itself, had some excellent establishments, but no one had yetattempted to penetrate into the home of the Kaffirs themselves, the Zulucountry, to endeavour to deal with their chieftains. This was AllenGardiner's intention, and on his outward voyage he met with a Polishrefugee named Berken, who had intended to settle in Australia, but wasinduced to become his companion in his explorations in South Africa. They rode together from Capetown to Grahamstown, where they obtained aninterpreter named George Cyrus, and began to travel in the regular SouthAfrican fashion, namely, with waggons fitted for sleeping in, and drawnby huge teams of oxen, and taking seven horses with them. Their firstadventure during a halt at the Buffalo river was the loss of all theiroxen, who were driven off by some natives. They applied to the chief ofthe tribe, named Tzatzoe, who recovered the cattle for them, but showedhimself an insatiable beggar, even asking why, as Mr. Berken had twoshoes, he could not spare him one of them. However, he was honestenough, when Mr. Berken chanced to leave his umbrella behind him, to sendafter him to ask whether he knew that he had left his _house_. The next anxiety was at a spot called the Yellow-wood River, where themid-day halt was disturbed by an assembly of natives with a hostileappearance. Captain Gardiner sent orders to collect the oxen, and in-span (_i. E. _ harness) them as soon as possible, but without appearance ofalarm, and in the meantime he tried to keep the natives occupied. To onehe lent his penknife, and after the man had vainly tried to cut off hisown beard with it, he offered to shave him, lathered him well, andperformed the operation like a true barber, then showed him his face in aglass. His only disappointment was that the moustache had not beenremoved, and as by this time the razor was past work, Captain Gardinerhad to pacify him by assuring him that such was the appearance of manyEnglish warriors (for these were the days when moustaches were confinedto the cavalry). The amusement this excited occupied them nearly longenough, but hostile murmurs then began to be heard--"One of our chiefshas been killed by the white men, no more shall enter our country!"Fearing that an angry word would be fatal, Captain Gardiner asked for awar-song, promising some tobacco at the conclusion. Accordingly theydanced madly, and shouted at the top of their voices, "No white man shall drink our milk, No white man shall eat our children's bread. Ho-how! ho-how! ho-how!" But this couplet often repeated seemed to work off their rage; theyaccepted the tobacco, and sullenly said the travellers might pass, butthey were the last who should. This was in the Amakosa country, lyingbetween the Grahamstown settlement and Port Natal, and to the present dayunannexed, though even then there were traders' stations at intervals, sofilthy and wretched as to be little above the huts of the natives. TheseAmakosa tribes were such thieves that great vigilance was needed toprevent property being stolen; but the next tribes, the Amapondas, werescrupulously honest and friendly to the English. Their chief was foundby Gardiner and Berken dressed in a leopard's skin, sitting in stateunder a canopy of shields, trying a rain-maker, who had failed to bringshowers in consequence of not having his dues of cattle delivered to him!The chief advised them not to proceed, as he said the Zulus were angrypeople who would kill them; but they pushed on, though finding that thejourney occupied much longer than they expected, so that provisionsbecame a difficulty. A full month had passed since leaving Grahamstown, and Gardiner decidedon pressing on upon horseback, leaving Mr. Berken to bring up thewaggons, and taking with him the interpreter and two natives. Thedistance was 180 miles, and a terrible journey it was. A few waggontracks had made a sort of road, but this was not always to bedistinguished from hippopotamus paths, which led into horrible morasses, where the horses almost entirely disappeared, and had to be scooped outas it were by the hands; moreover, scarcely any food was to be had. Incrossing one river one of the horses was so irretrievably stuck in aquicksand that humanity required it to be shot, and at the next, theUmkamas, the stream was so swollen that the Captain had to devise a canoeby sewing two cowskins together with sinews and stretching it uponbranches, in which, as no one save himself had any notion of boating, heshoved off alone. The stream was too strong for him, and he had toreturn and obtain the help of the only good swimmer among his party. Withhim he crossed, but with no food save a canister of sugar! However, thenative swam back and fetched a loaf of bread, while Captain Gardinerwaited among the reeds, hearing the snorting and grunting of hippopotamiall round. The transit of the natives was secured by the holding a sortof float made of a bundle of reeds, and in the morning, as the river wastoo high for the rest of the party to cross, he brought over a fewnecessaries, and a horse, with which the Captain was able to proceed toPort Natal, where he found English traders, and sent back supplies tothose in the rear. The Zulus, on whom his attention was fixed, inhabit a fine country to thenorth of the Tugela, which is considered as the boundary of the Britishterritory. The nation is full of intelligence and spirit, and by nomeans incapable of improvement, and their princes have been forgenerations past men of considerable natural ability, and of iron will, but often savagely cruel. The first known to Englishmen was namedCharka, a great warrior, who kept his armies in a rude but thoroughdiscipline, and had made considerable conquests. About the year 1829, Charka had been murdered by his brother Dingarn, who had reigned eversince, and was the terror of the English settlers, who were beginning toimmigrate into the fertile terraced country of Natal. His forays mightat any time sweep away farms and homesteads; and his subjects werecontinually fleeing from his violence across the Tugela, and thus mightbring him down as a pursuer. Allen Gardiner's plan was to go to the fountain head and endeavour todeal with the chief himself, so as to make him a Christian instead of anenemy. With this end he set out absolutely unaccompanied, except byCyrus the interpreter, and a Zulu servant whom he had hired namedUmpondombeni, and this with the knowledge that an English officer hadshortly before been treacherously murdered, and that Dingarn was a blood-stained savage. The king had been informed of his coming, and had pronounced that he was_his_ white man, and should make haste to Umkingoglove, his presentabode. The first view of this place, with a double circular fence aroundit, resembled a race-course, the huts being ranged along the ring of theenclosure so as to leave the centre free for the reviews and war dancesof the Kaffirs. Gardiner was very near entering by the wrong gate, inwhich case all his escort would have been put to death. A hut wasassigned to him, a sort of beehive of grass and mud, with a hole to enterby. His own lines, strung together in his many unoccupied moments forhis children's benefit, are so good a description of the Kaffir huts thatform a kraal or village, as to be worth inserting:-- "I see them now, those four low props That held the haystack o'er my head, The dusky framework from their tops Like a large mouse-trap round me spread. To stand erect I never tried, For reasons you may guess: Full fourteen feet my hut was wide, Its height was nine feet less. My furniture, a scanty store, On saddle-bags beside me laid, A hurdle, used to close the door, Raised upon stones, my table made. " There he received a bundle of the native sugar-cane, a bowl of maize beerfrom Dingarn, and was invited to his palace. This was surrounded by a fence, outside which the Captain was desired tosit down. Presently a black head and very stout pair of shouldersappeared above it, and a keen sable visage eyed the visitor fixedly forsome time, in silence, which was only broken by these words, whileindicating an ox, "There is the beast I give you to slaughter. " Hisblack majesty then vanished, but presently to reappear from beneath thegateway dressed in a long blue cloak, with a white collar, and devices atthe back. After directing the distribution of some heaps of freshlyslain oxen that lay around, he stood like a statue till a seat wasbrought him, and then entered into conversation. Captain Gardiner madehim understand that trade was not the object of the visit; but the realpurpose was quite beyond him; he seemed to regard what was proposed tohim as an impossibility, and began to inquire after the presents, which, unfortunately, were still on the road. The delay exposed the Captain to some inconvenience and danger, and two_indunas_, or chiefs, a sort of prime ministers, who were offended withhim for not having applied to the king through them, treated him withincreasing insolence. At last he persuaded them that he had better senda note to hasten the coming of the presents, and he also managed to writea letter for England, on his last half-sheet of paper, by the light of alamp made of a rag wick floating in native butter in a calabash. Fromtime to time he was called upon to witness the wonderful evolutions, manoeuvres, and mock fights in the camp. The men were solely soldiers;the women did all the work, planting maize, weeding corn, and herdingcattle, and thus the more wives a man had the more slaves he couldemploy. Every wife had a value, and could only be obtained from herfather for a certain price in cattle, varying according to his rank. Ifthe full rate were not paid, she remained, as well as her children, theproperty of her father or the head of her family. The king, having thepower to help himself, had an establishment of ninety women, who on gala-days, or when his army was going to take the field, were drawn up in aregiment, all wearing two long feathers on the top of their heads, a veilof strings of coloured beads over their faces, bead skirts, and brassrings over their throats and arms; these beads being the current coin ofthe traders. They approached and retreated in files, flourishing theirarms like bell-ringers, while they sang:-- "Arise, vulture, Thou art the bird that eateth other birds. " These were, however, not wives, only female slaves. Either from jealousyof possible sons growing up, or from the desire not to be considered asin the ranks of the _umpagati_--elders or married men--neither Charka norDingarn would marry, and no man could take a wife without the king'spermission. Dingarn wore his head closely shaven, whereas the marriedtrained their woolly hair to fasten over a circle of reed, so as to lookmuch as if they had an inverted saucepan on their heads. Besides thisthey wore nothing but a sort of apron of skin before and behind, exceptwhen gaily arrayed in beads, or ornaments of leopard's fur and teeth, fordancing or for battle. Their wealth was their cattle, and their mealieor maize grounds; their food, beef, mealies, and curdled milk; theirdrink, beer, made of maize; their great luxury, snuff, made of drieddacca and burnt aloes, and taken from an ivory spoon. Though sometimesacting with great cruelty, and wholly ignorant, they were by no means adull or indolent people; they were full of courage and spirit, excellentwalkers and runners, capable of learning and of thinking, and with muchreadiness to receive new ideas. The presents arrived, and the red cloak, made of the long scarlet napoften used in linings, was presented, and gave infinite satisfaction; theking tried it on first himself, then judged of the effect upon the backof one of his servants, caused it to be carried flowing through the air, and finally hung it up outside his palace for the admiration of hissubjects, then laid it by for the great national festival at the feast offirst-fruits. Captain Gardiner's object was to obtain a house and piece of land andprotection for a Christian missionary, and with this object he remainedat the kraal, trying to make some impression on Dingarn, and the twoindunas, who assured him that they were the king's eyes and ears. Thushe became witness to much horrible barbarity. One of the least shockingof Dingarn's acts was the exhibiting the powers of a burning-glass thathad been given him, by burning a hole in the wrist of one of hisservants; and his indifference to the pain and death of others wasfrightful. His own brother, the next in succession, was, with his twoservants, put to death through some jealousy; and, more horrible still, every living creature in thirty villages belonging to him was massacredas a matter of course. Captain Gardiner, though often horrified and sickened by the sights hewas obliged to witness, remained for a month, and then, afteraccompanying the king on his march, and seeing some astonishing reviewsand dances of his wild warriors, made another effort; but the kingreferred him to the two indunas, and the indunas were positive that theydid not wish to learn, either they or their people. They would neverhear nor understand his book, but if he would instruct them in the use ofthe musket he was welcome to stay. Dingarn pronounced, "I will notoverrule the decision of my indunas;" but, probably looking on the whiteman as a mine of presents, he politely invited Gardiner to return. So ended his first attempt, and with no possessions remaining except hisclothes, his saddle, a spoon, and a Testament, he proceeded to theTugela, where he met his friend Berken, who had made up his mind tosettle in Natal, and he set out to return to England for the purchase ofstock and implements; but the vessel in which he sailed was never heardof more. Captain Gardiner remained at Port Natal, which in 1835 consisted of acluster of huts, all of them built Kaffir-fashion, like so many hollowhaycocks, except Mr. Collis's, which was regarded as English because ithad upright sides, with a good garden surrounded by reeds. About thirtyEnglish and a few Hottentots clustered around, and some three thousandZulus, refugees from Dingarn's cruelty, who showed themselves ready andwilling to work for hire, but who exposed their masters to the danger ofthe king coming after them with fire and assagai. Hitherto on such analarm the whole settlement had been wont to take to the woods, but theirnumbers were so increasing that they were beginning to erect a stockadeand think of defence. To this little germ of a colony, Allen Gardiner brought the firstrecollection of Christian faith and duty. On Sunday mornings he stoodunder a tree, as he had been wont to do on the deck of his ship, and readthe Church Service in English to such as would come round him and bereminded of their homes; in the afternoon, by the help of hisinterpreter, he prayed with and for the Kaffirs, and expounded the truthsof the Gospel; and in the week, he kept school for such Kaffir childrenas he could collect, dressing them decently in printed calico. He beganwith very few, partly because many parents fancied he would steal andmake slaves of them, and partly because he wished to train a few to be inadvance and act as monitors to the rest. The English were on very goodterms with him, and allotted a piece of land for a missionary settlement, which he called Berea, and began to build upon it in the fashion of thecountry. Fresh threats from Dingarn led the settlers to try to come to a treatywith him, by which he was to leave them unmolested with all theirKaffirs, on their undertaking to harbour no more of his deserters. Therewas something hard in this, considering the horrid barbarities from whichthe deserters fled, and the impossibility of carrying out the agreement, as no one could undertake to watch the Tugela; but Captain Gardiner, always eager and hasty, thinking that he should thus secure safety forthe colony and opportunities for the mission, undertook the embassy, andset forth in a waggon with two Zulus and Cyrus, falling in on the waywith one of the grotesque parties of European hunters, who were wont togo on expeditions after the elephant, hippopotamus, and buffalo, with ahunting train of Hottentots and Kaffirs in their company. On whoseaspect he remarks truly:-- "I've seen the savage in his wildest mood, And marked him reeked with human blood, But never so repulsive made. Something incongruous strikes the mind Whene'er a barbarous race we find With shreds of civil life displayed. There's more of symmetry, however bare, In what a savage deigns to wear, In keeping with the scene. These, each deformed by what he wears, Like apes that dance at country fairs, Seemed but a link between. " Dingarn proved to be at Congella, another circular town or kraal, on thetop of a hill. He gave a ready welcome to the Captain, and hispresents--some looking-glasses, a pair of epaulettes, and some colouredprints, especially full-lengths of George IV. And William IV. Thecollection in a place such as Natal then was must have been very hard tomake, but it was very successful, and still more so was the Captain'spresenting himself in his uniform when he went to propose the treaty. Dingarn said he must look at it before he could do anything else, andfully appreciated the compliment when the sailor said it was his wardress, in which he appeared before King William. He agreed to thetreaty, but declared that the English would be the first to break it. TheCaptain answered that a true Englishman never broke a treaty, and thatany white man who deceived was not the right sort of Englishman; and theking responded that "now a great chief was come, to whom he could speakhis heart. " Captain Gardiner tried to impress on him that it was thefear of God that made himself an honourable man, and to persuade him thatthe knowledge of the "Book" would make him and his people still greater;and the next time of meeting set forth an outline of the morality andpromises of Revelation. Dingarn was attentive, and said they were goodwords, and that he would hear more of them, but in the meantime Gardinermust go back to Natal and see that his people kept the treaty. It was agood deal more than he could do. A Kaffir inkosikase, or femalechieftain, who, with two servants and three children, was fleeing intoNatal at the time of his return, was sent back, with all her companions. The poor creatures pleaded hard that the Captain would accompany them andsave them, and he returned with them, and interceded for them with allhis might, but soon found they were being starved to death. "Their bondsmust kill them, " said Dingarn. A second great effort resulted in alittle food being sent, and a kind of promise that their lives should bespared; but this was only made to get rid of him, and they all perishedafter his departure. Deserters, as Gardiner called the fugitives to reconcile the surrender tohis loyal English conscience, were hardly such as these: they were theonly ones ever sent back, and the loose wild traders, who he ought tohave known would never be bound by treaties, were at that very timeenticing Kaffirs, who could be useful as herdsmen and labourers, acrossthe frontier. This led to great indignation from Dingarn, and hedeclared that no Englishman save his favourite great chief should comenear him. Meantime Gardiner was assisting an assembly of traders and hunters whohad decided on building a town--all shaggy, unkempt, bearded men of thewoods, who decided the spot, the name, the arrangements, the spot forchurch and magistrate's house, by vote, on the 25th of June, 1835, thebirthday of the town of Durban, so called after Sir Benjamin D'Urban, Governor of the Cape, while the Portuguese name of Natal passed to theentire territory. The dispute with Dingarn continuing, the Captain was again sent tonegotiate. This time he was received in the royal mansion, a magnifiedbeehive, where the king was lying on a mat with his head on one of thelittle stools made to act as pillows, with about fifty women rangedround. As to the matter in question, Gardiner was able to declare that, in the white settlement itself, no deserters had found a home since thetreaty, and that none should do so; Dingarn said he considered him thechief of the whites there, and should look to him to keep them in order. Gardiner explained that he had no authority. "You must have power, " saidDingarn. "I give you all the country of the white people's ford. " Thiswas a piece of land extending from the Tugela to the Nouzincoolu, fromthe Snowy Mountains to the sea--in fact, the present whole colony ofNatal. A smaller portion, including the district about Natal, was to behis own immediate property. Dingarn was perfectly in earnest, and thusintended to make him responsible for the conduct of every individual ofthe motley population of Natal, declaring that he should receive notrader who did not bring credentials from him. It was as curious asituation as ever commander in the navy was placed in. All he could dowas to return to Durban, explain matters to Mr. Collis and the othertraders, and then set out for the Cape to consult Sir Benjamin Durban. His journey across the mountains was very perilous and difficult, andtook much longer than his sanguine nature had reckoned; but he reachedGrahamstown at last, and explained matters to the Governor, who instantlysent off a British officer to assume authority over the settlement atNatal, and try to keep the peace with Dingarn, while Captain Gardinerembarked for England to lay the state of things before Government and theChurch Missionary Society, at whose disposal he placed all his ownpersonal grant from Dingarn. When the prospects of the mission wereproclaimed, the Rev. Francis Owen volunteered for it, and CaptainGardiner collected all that he thought needful for the great work hehoped to carry out. He married Miss Marsh, of Hampstead, and, with herand his three children, Mr. Owen and his wife and sister, sailed on the24th of December, 1836; but the arrival was a sorrowful one, for hiseldest child, a girl, of twelve years old, was slowly declining. Shedied just as they entered Durban Bay, and was buried at Berea immediatelyon their arrival. As soon as the Kaffirs heard of Captain Gardiner'slanding, they flocked in to express their willingness to live under hisauthority. He chose a pleasant spot for his home, and having settled hisfamily there, went up to see Dingarn. The presents this time were indeedecstatically received, and especially a watch and seals, and a huge pairof gay worsted slippers. "He took my measure before he went, " criedDingarn, who had tried a pair of boots before, but could not get them on. The king was made to understand that his gift of land must be not to theCaptain, but to the King of England, and with this he complied. He wasalso persuaded to modify his demands; as to the fugitives, Gardinerundertook not to encourage or employ them, but would not search them outor return them. Mr. Owen was also favourably received, as the_umfundisi_ or teacher; a hut was allotted to him, and he was allowed topreach. He took up his abode at Umkingoglove, the first town whereCaptain Gardiner had seen the king, held services and opened a school, often holding conversations with the king. "Has God commanded kings andindunas to learn His word?" demanded Dingarn; and he actually did learnto read the words printed upon a card for the children. Meantime Captain Gardiner was forming his settlement at a place which hehad named in the Kaffir tongue, Hambanati, "Go with us, " in allusion toMoses' invitation to Hobab: "Go with us, and we will do thee good. " Itwas half-way between Durban Bay and the Tugela, on a hill-side in themidst of the beautiful undulating ground and rich wood characteristic ofthe country, and with a river in front. There he had raised a thatchedhouse for himself, and around it Zulu huts were continually multiplying. The English carpenter and labourers whom he had brought out instructedthe Kaffirs in various kinds of labour, for which they were quitewilling; and as they wore decent garments, they were called the clothedtribe. School was kept for the children in the week; for the grown-uppeople on Sunday; and on every alternate morning some Scripture fact wasread and explained to them, the Captain still being obliged to act aschaplain, until the arrival of Mr. Hewetson, whom the Church MissionarySociety were sending out. Never had the generous toil of a devoted man seemed likely to meet withbetter success, when a storm came from a most unexpected quarter. Theoriginal colonists of the Cape of Good Hope were Dutch, and the wholedistrict was peopled with boers or farmers of that nation, stolid, prosperous, and entirely uncontrolled by public opinion. They hadtreated the unfortunate Hottentots as slaves, with all the cruelty ofstupidity, and imported Malays and Negroes to work in the same manner;and they had shown, even when under their native state, a sort of grimturbulence that made them very hard to deal with. When in 1834 theBritish Government emancipated their slaves, and made cruelty penal andlabour necessarily remunerative, their discontent was immense, and agreat number sold their farms, and moved off into the interior to form anindependent settlement on the Orange River. A large number of them, however, hearing of Dingarn's liberality to Captain Gardiner, weredetermined to extort a similar grant to themselves by a display of power. First came a letter, which Mr. Owen had to read and interpret to thechief, and not long after a large deputation arrived, armed and mountedon strong horses. Dingarn showed them a war-dance, and they in returnsaid they would show how the boers danced on horseback, and exhibited asham-fight, which did indeed alarm the savage, but, so far from dauntinghim, only excited his treachery and fierceness. He gave a sort ofgeneral answer, and the messengers retired. But from that time hisinterest in Mr. Owen's teaching flagged; he wanted fire-arms instead ofreligion, and preachings led to cavillings. Indications of evilintentions likewise reached Captain Gardiner, who sent to warn Mr. Owen, and to offer him a refuge at Hambanati in case of need. Still Mr. Owencould gather nothing; he was called from time to time to read theDutchmen's letters, but was never told how they were to be dealt with. Infact, Dingarn had replied by an offer of the very district he had givenCaptain Gardiner, on condition that the new-comers would recover somecattle which had been carried off by a hostile tribe. This was done, andthe detachment which had been employed on the service arrived atUmkingoglove, where they were welcomed with war-dances, and exhibitedtheir own sham-fights; but in the midst of the ensuing meal they weresuddenly surrounded by a huge circle of the Zulus, as if for another war-dance. The black ring came nearer and nearer still, and finally rushedin upon the unhappy boers, and slaughtered every man of them. Mr. Owen had suspected nothing of what was passing, till he received amessage from Dingarn that he need not fear; the boers had been killed forplotting, but the umfundisi should not be hurt. A time of terribleanxiety followed, during which the Owen family saw large bodies of theKaffir army marching towards the Tugela, and in effect they fell upon theDutch camp, and upwards of a hundred and fifty white men, women, andchildren were massacred. This horrible act, showing that no reliancecould be placed on Dingarn's promise, made the Owens decide on leavingUmkingoglove, and they arrived at Hambanati, whence they proceeded toDurban. The Gardiner family waited for another week; but, finding thewhole of the settlers infuriated, and bent on joining the Dutch in a warof extermination against Dingarn, they were obliged to retreat to thecoast. First, however, Captain Gardiner assembled his Kaffirs, andpromised to do his utmost to find another tract, where they might settlein peace, if they would abstain from all share in the coming war. Theypromised; but in his absence the promise was not easy to keep; theyjoined in the fight, many were killed, and the settlement entirely brokenup. The cause seemed to Gardiner hopeless; and, after waiting for ashort time in Algoa Bay, he decided on leaving the scene of action, wherepeaceful teaching could not prevail for some time to come. Whether itwould not have been better to have tarried a little while, and then tohave availed himself of the confidence and affection he had inspired, soas to gather the remnants of his mission again, we cannot say. At anyrate, he consoled himself for the disastrous failure at Natal by settingforth on a fresh scheme of Christian knight-errantry on behalf of theIndians of South America. Long ago, in Brazil, the Jesuits had done their best to Christianize andprotect the Indians; but the Portuguese settlers had, as usual, savagelyresented any interference with their cruel oppressions, broken up theJesuit settlement, and sold their unfortunate converts as slaves. Afterthis, the Jesuit Fathers had formed excellent establishments in the moreindependent country of Paraguay, lying to the south, where they had manychurches, and peaceful, prosperous, happy communities of ChristianIndians around them. South American Indians are essentially childishbeings; and the Jesuits, when providing labour enough to occupy themwholesomely, found themselves obliged to undertake the disposal of theproduce, thus not merely rendering their mission self-supporting, but soincreasing the wealth of the already powerful Order as to render it astill greater object of jealousy to the European potentates; and when, inthe eighteenth century, the tide of opposition set strongly against it, the unecclesiastical traffic of the settlements in Paraguay was one ofthe accusations. The result was, that the Jesuit Fathers were banishedfrom South America in 1767; and whether it was that they had neglected totrain the Indians in self-reliance, or whether it was impossible to doso, their departure led to an immediate collapse into barbarism; nor hadanything since been done on behalf of the neglected race. Indeed, thebreak-up of all Spanish authority had been doubly fatal to the natives, by removing all protection, and leaving them to the self-interestedviolence of the petty republics, unrestrained by any loftierconsideration. In the Republic of Buenos Ayres, under the dictatorship of General Rosas, the lot of these poor creatures was specially cruel. A war ofextermination was carried on against them, and eighty had at one timebeen shot together in the market-place of the capital. Nothing could bedone towards reclaiming them while so savage a warfare lasted; butGardiner hoped to push on to the more northerly tribes, on the borders ofChili, and he took a journey to reconnoitre across the Pampas, with manystrange hardships and adventures; but he found always the same story, --theIndians regarded as wild beasts, and, acting only too much as such, falling by night on solitary ranchos, or on lonely travellers, andmurdering them, and, on the other hand, being shot down wherever theywere found. With great difficulty and perseverance he made his way to the Biobioriver, leaving his family at Concepcion, the nearest comparativelycivilized place. Here he meant to make his way to a village ofindependent Indians, with whose chief, Corbalan, he had hopes of enteringinto relations. To cross the rapid stream of the Biobio, he had to use a primitive raft, formed of four trunks of trees, about eighteen feet long, lashed togetherby hide-thongs to two poles, one at each end. A horse was fastened toit, by knotting his tail to the tow-rope, and on his back was a boy, holding on by the single lock of the mane that is allowed to remain onChilian horses, who guided him across with much entreating, urging, andcoaxing. On the other side appeared Corbalan, the Indian chief onhorseback, and in a dark poncho, a sort of round cloak, with a hole toadmit the head, much worn all over South America. He took CaptainGardiner to his house, an oval, with wattled side-walls, about five feethigh and thirty-five long, neatly thatched with grass, with a fireplacein the centre, where a sheep was cooked for supper. Corbalan could speakSpanish, and seemed to be pleased with the visit, making an agreementthat he should teach Gardiner his Indian tongue, and, in return, beinstructed in the way of God and heaven. He had convened forty-five ofhis people, among whom were five chiefs, each of whom made the visitorthe offering of a boiled chicken, while he gave them some coloured cottonhandkerchiefs and some brass buttons. It was a beautiful country, andreminded the guest so much of some parts of England, that it needed aglance at the brown skin, flowing hair, and long poncho of Corbalan todispel the illusion that he was near home. Things looked so favourable, that he had even selected a site for the mission-house, when some changeof sentiment came over Corbalan, probably from the remonstrances of hisfellow-chiefs: he declared that a warlike tribe near at hand would notsuffer him to harbour a stranger, and that he must therefore withdraw hisinvitation. So ended this attempt; and the indefatigable Captain turned his attentionto the Indians to the southward, but he found that these were on goodterms with the Chilian Government, and that no one could come among themwithout a pass from thence; and, as there was a cautious attempt atChristianizing then going on, by persuading the cacique to be baptizedand to admit priests to their villages, there was both the less need andthe less opening for him. So, picking up his wife and children again at Concepcion, he sailed withthem for Valdivia, where, as wandering Europeans were always supposed tobe in search of objects for museums, and perhaps from some confusionabout his name, he was called "El Botanico. " Again he plunged among theIndians; but, wherever he came to a peaceable tribe, they were under theinfluence of Spanish clergy, who were, of course, determined to excludehim, while the warlike and independent Indians could not understand thedifference between him and their Spanish enemies; and thus, after twoyears of effort, he found that no opening existed for reaching these wildpeople. A proposal was made to him to remain and act as an agent for theBible and Tract Societies among the South American Roman Catholics, butthis he rejected. "No, " he said; "I have devoted myself to God, to seekfor openings among the heathen, and I cannot go back or modify my vow. " The Malay Archipelago was his next goal. He sailed with his wife andchildren from Valparaiso for Sydney on the 29th of May, 1839, but thevessel got out of her course, and was forced to put in at Tahiti, wherehe found things sadly changed by the aggression of Louis Philippe'sGovernment, which had claimed the protectorate. The troubles of QueenPomare's reign were at their height, and the conflict between French andEnglish, Roman Catholic and Protestant, prevented any efficient struggleagainst the corruption introduced by the crews of all nations. The great savage island of New Guinea seemed to Captain Gardiner a fieldcalling for labour, and, on his arrival in Australia, he found that theRoman Catholic Bishop of Sydney was trying to organize a mission. Heleft Australia, hoping to obtain permission from the Dutch authorities atTimor to proceed to Papua, to take steps for being beforehand with theAustralian expedition. He reached the place with great difficulty, andhe himself, and all his family, began to suffer severely from fever. TheDutch governor told him that he might as well try to teach the monkeys asthe Papuans, and the Dutch clergy gave him very little encouragement. Heremained in these strange and beautiful islands for several months, trying one Dutch governor after another, and always finding them civilbut impenetrable; for, in fact, they could not believe that an officer inher Britannic Majesty's Navy could be purely actuated by missionary zeal, but thought that it concealed some political object. They were not moregracious even to clergy of other nations. He found an Americanmissionary at Macassar, whom they had detained, and some Germans, whowere vainly entreating to be allowed to proceed to Borneo; and hisefforts met only with the most baffling, passive, but systematic denial. It was reserved for the enterprise and prudence of Sir James Brooke toopen a way in this quarter. The health of the Gardiner family had been much injured by theirresidence in those lovely but unwholesome countries, but the voyage toCapetown restored it; and immediately after they sailed again for SouthAmerica, where the Captain had heard of an Indian tribe in the passes ofthe Cordilleras, who seemed more possible of access. Here again he wasbaffled in his dealings with the local government by the suspicions ofthe priests, and never could obtain the means of penetrating beyond thecity of San Carlos, so that he decided at last to repair to the FalklandIslands, and make an endeavour thence to reach the people of Patagoniaand Tierra del Fuego, where no hostile Church should put stumbling-blocksin his way. A doleful region he found those Falkland Isles, covered only with theirpeculiar grass and short heather, and without a tree. A little woodencottage, brought from Valparaiso, sheltered the much-enduring Mrs. Gardiner and the two children, while the Captain looked out for a vesselto take him to Patagonia; but he found that no one ever went there, andthe whalers who made these dismal islands their station did not wish togo out of their course. Captain Gardiner offered 200_l. _, the probablevalue of a whole whale, as the price of his passage; but the skipperstold him that, though they would willingly take him anywhere for nothing, they could not go out of their course. To seek the most hopeless and uncultivated was always this good man'sobject. The Falkland Isles were dreary enough, but they were a paradisecompared to the desolate fag-end of the American world, --a cluster ofbarren rocks, intersected by arms of the sea, which divide them intonumerous islets, the larger ones bearing stunted forests of beech andbirch, on the skirts of hills covered with perpetual snow, and sendingdown blue glaciers to the water's edge. The narrower channels are veryshallow; the wider, rough and storm-tossed; and scarcely anything ediblegrows on the islands. The Fuegians are as degraded a people as any onthe face of the earth, with just intelligence enough to maintainthemselves by hunting and fishing, by the help of dogs, which, it issaid, they prize so much that they would rather, in time of scarcity, eatup an old mother than a dog; and they are churlishly inhospitable tostrangers, although with an unusual facility for imitating theirlanguage, nor had any one ever attempted their conversion. However, the master of the _Montgomery_, who had brought the Gardinersout to the Falkland Islands, hearing of the offer, undertook such aprofitable expedition; but his schooner was utterly frail, had to becaulked and to borrow a sail, and, as he was losing no whales, CaptainGardiner refused to give more than 100_l. _, a sufficiently exorbitantsum, for the passage of himself and a servant named Johnstone. While thecrazy vessel was refitting a Sunday intervened, during which he offeredto hold a service, but only two men attended it, the rest were all absentor intoxicated. The poor little ship put to sea, and struggled into the Straits ofMagelhaen, drifting near the Fuegian coast. Landing, the Captain lighteda fire to attract the attention of the natives, and some came down andshouted. The English did not, however, think it safe to go further fromthe boat, and presently the Fuegians likewise kindled their fire, whereupon Gardiner heaped more fuel on his own, and continued hissignals, when two men advanced, descending to the beach. They were cladin cloaks of the skin of the guanaco, a small kind of llama, and wereabout five feet ten in height, with broad shoulders and chests, but lean, disproportionate legs. Each carried a bow and quiver of arrows; and theyspoke loudly, making evident signs that the strangers were unwelcome. Presents were offered them; brass buttons, a clasp knife, and worstedcomforter; and they sat down, but apparently with a sullen resolution notto relax their faces, nor utter another word. A small looking-glass washanded to one of them, and he was grimly putting it under his cloak whenCaptain Gardiner held it up to him, and he laughed at the reflection ofhis own face; and his friend then looked at the knife, as if expecting itto produce the same effect, but, though they seemed to appreciate it, they made no friendly sign, and appeared unmoved when spoken to either inSpanish or in the few Patagonian phrases that Captain Gardiner hadmanaged to pick up; nor did anything seem to afford them any satisfactionexcept demonstrations of departure. Nothing seemed practicable with these uncouth, distrustful beings, andthe Captain therefore went on in search of a tribe of Patagonians, amongwhich, he was told, was a Creole Spaniard named San Leon, who hadacquired great influence by his reckless courage and daring, and throughwhom it might be possible to have some communication with them. The campof these people on the main continent, near Cape Gregory, was discoverednewly deserted, with hollow places in the ground where fires had beenmade, and many marks of footsteps. This extreme point of the continentwas by no means so dreary as the Land of Fire; it bore thorny bushes tenfeet high, wild celery and clover, and cranberry-bushes covered with redberries. Indeed, the Patagonians--so called because their big splayboots made Magelhaen conclude they walked on _patas_ (paws), likebears--are a superior race to the Fuegians, larger in stature than mostEuropeans, great riders, and clever in catching guanacos by means ofbolas, _i. E. _ two round stones attached to a string. If the Fuegians areAntarctic Esquimaux, the Patagonians are Antarctic Tartars, leading awandering life under tents made of skins of horses and guanacos, andhating all settled habits, but not so utterly inhospitable andimpracticable as their neighbours beyond the Strait. In truth, thedivision is not clearly marked, for there are Fuegians on the continentand Patagonians in the islands. Ascending a height, the Captain took asurvey of the country, and, seeing two wreaths of smoke near OazyHarbour, sailed in, cast anchor, and in the morning was visited by thenatives of their own accord, after which he returned with them to theircamp, consisting of horse-hide tents, semicircular in form, and entirelyopen. They were full of men, women, and children, and among them SanLeon, to whom it was possible to talk in Spanish, and indeed severalnatives, from intercourse with ships, knew a few words of English. SanLeon had been with the tribe for twelve years, and said that Americanmissionaries had visited them, but that they had gone away because theFuegians who crossed the Strait were such thieves that they ate up theirprovisions and cut up their books. However, no objection was made toGardiner's remaining, so he set up a tarred canvas tent, closed at eachend with bullock-hides, and slept on shore, a good deal disturbed by thedogs, who gnawed at the bullock-hides, till a coat of tar laid over themprevented them. Not so, however, with another visitor, a hugePatagonian, who walked in with the words, "I go sleep, " and leisurelycoiled himself up for the purpose, unheeding Johnstone's discourse; butthe Captain, pointing with his finger, and emphatically saying "Go, "produced the desired effect. Then followed the erection of seventeenskin tents, all in a row, set up by the women. These Patagonians behavedwell and quietly; but, in the meantime, the master of the schooner hadasked San Leon to obtain some guanaco meat for the crew, and the nativeswho went in search of the animals insisted on being paid, though they hadcaught nothing. These however were Fuegians, and the Patagonians werevery angry with them. Captain Gardiner even ventured to remain alonewith Johnstone among this people, while San Leon went on to Port Faminein the _Montgomery_, which was in search of wood; but, in the meantime, he could do nothing but hold a little monosyllabic communication; andonce, when he and his servant both went out at the same time, they losttheir dinner, which, left to simmer over the fire, proved irresistible tothe Patagonians. They, however, differed from the Fuegians in notordinarily being thieves. A chief named Wissale arrived with a body of his tribe with whom he hadbeen purchasing horses on the Rio Negro, and bringing with him anAmerican negro named Isaac, who had three years since run away from awhaler, and who spoke enough English to be a useful interpreter. Wissale, with Isaac's help, was made to perceive Captain Gardiner'sintentions sufficiently to promise to make him welcome if he shouldreturn, and to declare that he should be glad to learn good things. Thereseemed so favourable an opening that the Captain made up his mind to takeup his abode there with his family to prepare the way for a missionary inHoly Orders, for whom he never deemed himself more than a pioneer. After distributing presents to the friendly Patagonians, he embarked, andmaking a weary passage, reached the Falkland Islands, where he found thetwo ships _Erebus_ and _Terror_ anchored, in the course of their voyageof Antarctic discovery. The presence of the two captains and theirofficers was a great pleasure and enlivenment to the Gardiners, whoreceived from them many comforts very needful in that inclement climateto people lately come from some of the hottest regions of the southernhemisphere. Whalers continually put in, but not one, even though Captain Gardiner'soffers rose to 300_l. _, would undertake to go out of his course toPatagonia to convey him and his family, and he would not trust his wifeand children on board that wretched craft the _Montgomery_, so he waitedon at the Falkland Islands, doing what good he could there, and expectingthe answer of a letter he had despatched to the Church MissionarySociety, begging for the appointment of a clergyman to this field oflabour. After six months' delay, the letter came, and proved to beunfavourable; there was a falling off in the funds of the Society, and anew and doubtful mission was thought undesirable. The Captain believedthat nothing but personal representations could prevail, and thereforedecided on going home to plead the cause of his Patagonians. He sailedwith his family for Rio in a small vessel, and the voyage could not havebeen one of the least of the dangers, for the skipper was a Guacho whohad been a shoemaker, and knew nothing about seafaring, and there was nota spare rope in the ship. From Rio Gardiner took a passage home, andsafely arrived, after six years of brave pioneering in three differentquarters of the globe. He found, however, that the Church Missionary Society could not undertakethe Patagonian Mission, and neither could the London nor WesleyanSocieties. He declared that every one grew cold when they heard of SouthAmerica, and viewed it as the natural inheritance of Giants Pope andPagan; and for this very reason he was the more bent upon doing hisutmost. Failing in his attack on Pagan he made an assault on Pope, obtaining a grant of Bibles, Testaments, and tracts from the BibleSociety, and in 1843 sailed for Rio to distribute them; this time, however, going alone, as his children were of an age to require anEnglish education and an English home. He undertook this mission, in fact, chiefly for the purpose of continuinghis attempts to reach the Indian tribes. His journey was, as usual, wildand adventurous, and its principal result was an acquaintance with theEnglish chaplains and congregations at several of the chief SouthAmerican ports, from whom he received a promise of 100_l. _, per annum forthe support of a mission to Patagonia. With this beginning he returned home, and while residing at Brighton, hisearnestness so stirred people's minds that a Society was formed with anincome of 500_l. _, and Mr. Robert Hunt, giving up the mastership of anendowed school, offered himself to the Church Missionary Society. Aclergyman could not immediately be found, and it was determined thatthese two should go first and prepare the way. In 1844, then, theylanded in Oazy Harbour in Magelhaen's Straits, and set up three tents, one for stores, one for cooking, and one for sleeping. One Fuegian hutwas near, where the people were inoffensive, and presently there arriveda Chilian deserter named Mariano, who said that he had run away from thefort at Port Famine with another man named Cruz, who had remained amongthe Patagonians. He reported that Wissale had lost much of hisauthority, and that San Leon was now chief of the tribe; also that therewas a Padre Domingo at Port Famine, who was teaching the Patagonians tobecome "Catolicos. " To learn the truth as soon as possible, the Captain and Mr. Hunt lockedup two of their huts, leaving the other for Mariano, and set off insearch of the Patagonians; and a severe journey it was, as they had tocarry the heavy clothing required to keep up warmth at night, besidestheir food, gun, powder, and shot. The fatigue was too much for Hunt, who was at one time obliged to lie down exhausted while the Captain wentin search of water; and after four days they were obliged to return totheir huts, where shortly after Wissale arrived, but with a very scantyfollowing, only ten or twelve horses, and himself and family very hungry;but though ready to eat whatever Captain Gardiner would give him, hiswhole manner was changed by his disasters. He was surly and quarrelsome, and evidently under the influence of the deserter Cruz, who was resolvedto set him against the new-comers, and so worked upon him that he oncethreatened the Captain with his dirk. Moreover, a Chilian vesselarrived, bringing Padre Mariano himself, a Spanish South American, with areal zeal for conversion, though he was very courteous to the Englishmen. An English vessel arrived about the same time, and Gardiner, thinking thecause for the present hopeless, accepted a homeward passage, writing inhis journal, "We can never do wrong in casting the Gospel net on any sideor in any place. During many a dark and wearisome night we may appear tohave toiled in vain, but it will not be always so. If we will but waitthe appointed time, the promise, though long delayed, will assuredly cometo pass. " But if he was not daunted his supporters were, and nothing but hisintense earnestness, and assurance that he should never abandon SouthAmerica, prevented the whole cause from being dropped. His next attemptwas to reach the Indians beyond Bolivia, in the company of FederigoGonzales, a Spaniard, who had become a Protestant, and was to have goneon the Patagonian Mission. Here fever became their enemy, but after muchsuffering and opposition Gonzales was settled at Potosi, studying theQuichuan language, and hoping to work upon the Indians, while theunwearied Gardiner again returned to England to strain every nerve forthe Fuegian Mission, which lay nearest of all to his heart. He travelled all over England and Scotland, lecturing and makingcollections, speaking with the same energy whether he had few or manyauditors. At one town, when asked what sort of a meeting he had had, heanswered, "Not very good, but better than sometimes. " "How many were present?" "Not one; but no meeting is better than a bad one. " He could not obtain means enough for a well-appointed expedition such ashe wished for; but he urged that a small experimental one might be sentout, consisting of himself, four sailors, one carpenter, with threeboats, two huts, and provisions for half a year. He hoped to establish astation on Staten Island, whence the Fuegians could be visited, and thestores kept out of their reach. Having found the men, he embarked on board the barque _Clymene_, whichwas bound for Payta, in Peru, and was landed on Picton Island; but beforethe vessel had departed the Fuegians had beset the little party, andshown themselves so obstinately and mischievously thievish, that it wasplainly impossible for so small a party to hold their ground among them. Before there could be a possibility of convincing them of even thetemporal benefit of the white man's residence among them, they would havestripped and carried off everything from persons who would refrain fromhurting them. So, once more, the Captain drew up the net which had takennothing, decided that the only mission which would suit the Fuegians mustbe afloat, and went on to Payta in the _Clymene_. While in Peru, he met with a Spanish lady, who asked if he knew a friendof hers who came from Genoa, and then proceeded to inquire which was thelargest city, Genoa or Italy, and if Europe was not a little on this sideof Spain, while a priest asked if London was a part of France. Afterspending a little time in distributing Bibles in Peru, he made his wayhome by the way of Panama, and on his arrival made an attempt to interestthe Moravians in the cause so near his heart, thinking that what they haddone in Greenland proved their power of dealing with that savage apathythat springs from inclemency of climate, but the mission was by thempronounced impracticable. In the meantime, his former ground, Port Natal, was in a more hopefulstate. Tremendous battles had been fought between Dingarn and the boers;but, in 1839, Panda, Dingarn's brother, finding his life threatened, wentover to the enemy, carrying 4, 000 men with him, and thus turned thescale. Dingarn was routed, fled, and was murdered by the tribe with whomhe had taken refuge, and Panda became Zulu king, while the boers occupiedNatal, and founded the city of Pieter Maritzburg as the capital of aRepublic; but the disputes between them and the Zulus led to theinterference of the Governor of the Cape, and finally Natal was made aBritish colony, with the Tugela for a boundary; and, as Panda'sgovernment was exceedingly violent and bloody, his subjects werecontinually flocking across the river to put themselves under Britishprotection, and were received on condition of paying a small yearly ratefor every hut in each kraal, and conforming themselves to English law, sofar as regarded the suppression of violence and theft. One of thesurvivors of Gardiner's old pupils, meeting a gentleman who was going toEngland, sent him the following message: "Tell Cappan Garna he promise tocome again if his hair was as white as his shirt, and we are waiting forhim;" and he added a little calabash snuff-box as a token. But theCaptain had made his promise to return contingent upon the Kaffirs of hissettlement taking no part in the war, and they, poor things, had, withthe single exception of his own personal attendant, Umpondombeni, brokenthis condition; so that he did not deem himself bound by it. Moreover, means were being taken for providing a mission for Natal, and Christianteachers were already there, while he regarded his own personal exertionsas the only hope for the desolate natives of Cape Horn. So he only senta letter and a present to the man, urging him to attach himself to amission-station, and then turned again to his unwearied labour in thePatagonian and Fuegian cause. His little Society found it impossible toraise means for the purchase of a brigantine, and he therefore limitedhis plans to the equipment of two launches and two smaller boats. Hewould store in these provisions for six months, and take a crew ofCornish fishermen, used to the stormy Irish Sea. As to the funds, a ladyat Cheltenham gave 700_l. _, he himself 300_l. _ The boats were purchased, three Cornishmen, named Pearce, Badcock, and Bryant, all of goodcharacter, volunteered from the same village; Joseph Erwin, thecarpenter, who had been with him before, begged to go with him again, because, he said, "being with Captain Gardiner was like a heaven uponearth; he was such a man of prayer. " One catechist was Richard Williams, a surgeon; the other John Maidment, who was pointed out by the secretaryof the Young Men's Association in London; and these seven persons, withtheir two launches, the _Pioneer_ and the _Speedwell_, were embarked onboard the _Ocean Queen_, and sailed from Liverpool on the 7th ofSeptember, 1850. They carried with them six months' provisions, and thecommittee were to send the same quantity out in due time, but they failedto find a ship that would undertake to go out of its course to PictonIsland, and therefore could only send the stores to the Falklands, to bethence despatched by a ship that was reported to go monthly to Tierra delFuego for wood. Meantime, the seven, with their boats and their provisions, were landedon Picton Island, and the _Ocean Queen_ pursued her way. Time passed on, and no more was heard of them. The Governor of the Falklands had twicemade arrangements for ships to touch at Picton Island, but the firstmaster was wrecked, the second disobeyed him; and in great anxiety, onthe discovery of this second failure, he sent, in October 1851, a vesselon purpose to search for them. At the same time, the _Dido_, CaptainWilliam Morshead, had been commanded by the Admiralty to touch at theisles of Cape Horn and carry relief to the missionaries. On the 21st of October, in a lonely little bay called Spaniards' Harbour, in Picton Island, the Falkland Island vessel found the _Speedwell_ on thebeach, and near it an open grave. In the boat lay one body, near thegrave another. They returned with these tidings, and in the meantime the_Dido_ having come out, her boats explored the coast, and a mile and ahalf beyond the first found the other boat, beside which lay a skeleton, the dress of which showed it to be the remains of Allen Gardiner. Nearat hand was a cavern, outside which were these words painted, beneath ahand:-- "My soul, wait thou still upon God, for my hope is in Him. "He truly is my strength and my salvation; He is my defence, so that I shall not fall. "In God is my strength and my glory; the rock of my might, and in God is my trust. " Within the cave lay another body, that of Maidment. Reverent handscollected the remains and dug a grave; the funeral service was read byone of the officers, the ship's colours were hung half-mast high, andthree volleys of musketry fired over the grave--"the only tribute ofrespect, " says Captain Morshead, "I could pay to this lofty-minded manand his devoted companions who have perished in the cause of the Gospel. "There was no doubt of the cause and manner of their death, for CaptainGardiner's diary was found written up to probably the last day of hislife. It appeared that in their first voyage, on the 20th of December, they hadfallen in with a heavy sea, and a great drift of seaweed, in which theanchor of the _Speedwell_ and the two lesser boats had been hopelesslyentangled and lost. It was found impossible for such small numbers tomanage the launches in the stormy channels while loaded, and it wastherefore resolved to lighten them by burying the stores at Banner Cove, and, while this was being done, it was discovered that all theammunition, except one flask and a half of powder, had been left behindin the _Ocean Queen_; so that there was no means of obtaining eitherguanacos or birds. Attempts were made at establishing friendly barterwith the natives, but no sooner did these perceive the smallness of thenumber of the strangers, than they beset them with obstinate hostility. Meantime, Gardiner's object was to reach a certain Button Island, wherewas a man called Jemmy Button, who had had much intercourse with Englishsailors, and who, he hoped, might pave the way for a better understandingwith the natives. But the _Pioneer_ had been damaged from the first, and could not go sofar. At Banner Cove the natives were hostile and troublesome, andSpaniards' Harbour was the only refuge, and even there a furious wind, onthe 1st of February, drove the _Pioneer_ ashore against the jagged rootof a tree, so as to damage her past all her crew's power of mending, though they hauled her higher up on the beach, and, by the help of atent, made a lodging for the night of the wreck close to the cave, whichthey called after her name. The question then was, whether to place all the seven in the _Speedwell_with some of the provisions and make for Button Island, and this mightprobably have saved their lives; but they had already experienced theexceeding difficulty of navigating the launch in the heavy seas. Boththeir landing boats were lost, and they therefore decided to remain wherethey were until the arrival of the vessel with supplies, which theyconfidently expected either from home or from the Falklands. Indeed, their power of moving away was soon lost, for Williams, the surgeon, andBadcock, one of the Cornishmen, both fell ill of the scurvy. The coldwas severe, and neither fresh meat nor green food was to be had, and thisin February--the southern August. However, the patients improved enoughto enable the party to make a last expedition to Banner Cove to recovermore of the provisions buried there, and to paint notices upon the rocksto guide the hoped-for relief to Spaniards' Harbour; but this was noteffected without much molestation from the Fuegians. Then passed sixweary months of patient expectation and hope deferred. There was nomurmuring, no insubordination, while these seven men waited--waited--waitedin vain, through the dismal Antarctic winter for the relief that came toolate. The journals of Williams and Gardiner breathe nothing but hopeful, resigned trust, and comfort in the heavenly-minded resolution of each ofthe devoted band, who may almost be said to have been the Theban legionof the nineteenth century. For a month they were able to procure fish, and were not put on shortallowance till April, when Williams and Badcock both became worse, andBryant began to fail, though he never took to his bed. They, with Erwin, were lodged in the _Speedwell_ at Blomfield Harbour, a sheltered inlet, about a mile and a half from the wreck of the _Pioneer_, where, to leavethe sick more room, Captain Gardiner lodged with Maidment and Pearce. With the months whose names spoke of English summer, storms and terriblecold began to set in. The verses that Gardiner wrote in his diary duringthis frightful period are inexpressibly touching in the wondrous strengthof their faith and cheerfulness. "Let that sweet word our spirits cheer Which quelled the tossed disciples' fear: 'Be not afraid!' He who could bid the tempest cease Can keep our souls in perfect peace, If on Him stayed. And we shall own 'twas good to wait: No blessing ever came too late. " This was written on the 4th of June; on the 8th their fishing-net wastorn to pieces by blocks of drifting ice. On the 28th Badcock died, begging his comrades to sing a hymn to him in his last moments. InAugust, Gardiner, hitherto the healthiest, was obliged to take to his bedin the _Pioneer_, and there heard of the death of Erwin on the 23rd ofAugust, and of Bryant on the 27th. Maidment buried them both, and cameback to Captain Gardiner, who, as he lay in bed, had continued hisjournal, and written his farewell letters to his wife and children. Hitherto, the stores of food had been eked out by mussels and wildcelery, but there was now no one to search for them. Gardiner, wishingto save Maidment the journeys to and fro, determined to try to reach the_Speedwell_, and Maidment cut two forked sticks to serve as crutches, butthe Captain found himself too weak for the walk, and had to return. Thiswas on the 30th of August. On Sunday, the 31st, there is no record inthe diary, but the markers stand in his Prayer-book at the Psalms for theday and the Collect for the Sunday. On the 3rd of September, Maidmentwas so much exhausted that he could not leave his bed till noon, andGardiner never saw him again. He must have died in the _Pioneer_ cavern, being unable to return. The diary continues five days longer. A littlepeppermint-water had been left by the solitary sufferer's bed, and alittle fresh water he also managed to scoop up from the sides of the boatin an india-rubber shoe. This was all the sustenance he had. On the 6thof September he wrote--"Yet a little while, and through grace we may jointhat blessed throng to sing the praises of Christ throughout eternity. Ineither hunger nor thirst, though five days without food! Marvellousloving-kindness to me, a sinner. Your affectionate brother inCHRIST, --ALLEN F. GARDINER. " These last words were in a letter to Williams. He must afterwards haveleft the boat, perhaps to catch more water, and have been too weak toclimb back into it, for his remains were on the beach. Williams lost thepower of writing sooner, and no more is known of his end, though probablyhe died first, and Pearce must have been trying to prepare his grave whenhe, too, sank. What words can befit this piteous history better than "This is thepatience of the saints"? The memorial to Allen Gardiner has been a mission-ship bearing his name, with her head-quarters at the Falkland Isles. We believe that theseisles are to become a Bishop's See. Assuredly a branch of the Churchshould spring up where the seed of so patient and devoted a martyrdom hasbeen sown. CHAPTER XI. CHARLES FREDERICK MACKENZIE, THE MARTYR OF THE ZAMBESI. That Zulu country where poor Allen Gardiner had made his first attemptbecame doubly interesting to the English when the adjoining district ofNatal became a British colony. It fell under the superintendence ofBishop Robert Gray, of Capetown, who still lives and labours, andtherefore cannot be here spoken of; and mainly by his exertions it wasformed into a separate Episcopal See in the year 1853. Most of theactors in the founding of the Church of Natal are still living, but thereare some of whom it can truly be said that-- "Death hath moulded into calm completeness The statue of their life. " Charles Frederick Mackenzie was born in 1825 of an old Scottish Toryfamily, members from the first of the Scottish Church in the days of herpersecution. His father, Colin Mackenzie, was one of Walter Scott'sfellow-Clerks of Session, and is commemorated by one of the Introductionsto "Marmion, " as-- "He whose absence we deplore, Who breathes the gales of Devon's shore; The longer missed, bewailed the more. " His mother was Elizabeth Forbes, and he was the youngest of so unusuallylarge a family that the elders had been launched into the world beforethe younger ones were born, so that they never were all together underone roof. The father's delicacy of health kept the mother muchengrossed; the elder girls were therefore appointed as little mothers tothe younger children, and it was to his eldest sister, Elizabeth(afterwards Mrs. Dundas), that the young Charles always looked with thetender reverence that is felt towards the earliest strong influence forgood. From the first he had one of those pure and stainless natures that seemto be good without effort, but his talents were only consideredremarkable for arithmetic. His elder brothers used to set him up on atable and try to puzzle him with questions, which he could often answermentally before they had worked them out on their slates. His fatherdied in 1830, after so much invalidism and separation that his five-year-old boy had no personal recollection of him. The eldest son, Mr. ForbesMackenzie, succeeded to the estate of Portmore, and the rest of thefamily resided in Edinburgh for education. Charles attended the Academytill he was fifteen, when he was sent to the Grange School at Bishop'sWearmouth, all along showing a predominant taste for mathematics, whichhe would study for his own amusement and assist his elder brothers in. His perfect modesty prevented them from ever feeling hurt by hissuperiority in this branch, and he held his place well in classics, though they were not the same delight to him, and were studied rather asa duty and as a step to the ministry of the Church, the desire of hisheart from the first. At school, his companions respected him heartily, and loved him for his unselfish kindness and sweetness, while a few ofthe more graceless were inclined to brand him as soft or slow, because henever consented to join in anything blameable, and was not devoted toboyish sports, though at times he would join in them with great vigour, and was always perfectly fearless. From the Grange he passed to Cambridge, and was entered at St. John's, but finding that his Scottish birth was a disadvantage according torestrictions now removed, he transferred himself to Caius College. Hekept up a constant correspondence with his eldest sister, Mrs. Dundas, and from it may be gathered much of his inner life, while outwardly hewas working steadily on, as a very able and studious undergraduate. Withhopes of the ministry before his eyes, he begged one of the parochialclergy to give him work that would serve as training, and accordingly hewas requested to read and pray with a set of old people living in anasylum. The effort cost his bashfulness much, but he persevered, withthe sense that if he did not go "no one else would, " and that hisattempts were "better than nothing. " This was the key to all his life. At the same time he felt, what biography shows many another to have done, the influence of the more constant and complete worship then enjoined bycollege rules. Daily service was new to him, and was accepted of courseas college discipline, but after a time it gathered force and power overhis mind, and as the _Magnificat_ had been a revelation to Henry Martyn, so Charles Mackenzie's affection first fixed upon the GeneralThanksgiving, and on the commemoration of the departed in the prayer forthe Church Militant. His fellow-collegians thought of him as a steady, religious-minded man, but not peculiarly devout, and indeed the just balance of his mind madehim perceive that the prime duty of an undergraduate was industry ratherthan attempts to exercise his yet unformed and uncultivated powers. In1848 he was second wrangler. There were two prizes, called Dr. Smith's, for the two most distinguished mathematicians of the year. The seniorwrangler's papers had the first of these; for the second, Mackenzie wasneck and neck with a Trinity College man, and the question was onlydecided by the fact that Dr. Smith had desired that his own college(Trinity) should have the preference. After this he became tutor and fellow of his college, taking privatepupils, and at the same time preparing for Holy Orders, not only by studyof books, but by work among the poor, with whom his exceeding kindnessand intense reality gave him especial influence at all times. He was ordained on the Trinity Sunday of 1851, and took an assistantcuracy at a short distance from Cambridge, his vigorous powers of walkingenabling him to give it full attention as well as to his pupils and tothe University offices he filled. His great characteristic seems alwaysto have been the tenderest kindness and consideration; and in the yearwhen he was public examiner, this was especially felt by the young menundergoing an ordeal so terrible to strained and excited intellect andnerves, when a little hastiness or harshness often destroys the hopes ofa man's youth. With this combination of pastoral work and college life Mackenzie wasperfectly satisfied and happy, but in another year the turning-point ofhis life was reached. A mission at Delhi to the natives was in prospect, and the Rev. J. S. Jackson, who belonged to the same college with him, came to Cambridge in search of a fellow-labourer therein. During theconversations and consultations as to who could be asked, the thoughtcame upon Mackenzie, why should he strive to send forth others withoutgoing himself. He could not put it from his mind. He read HenryMartyn's life, and resolved on praying for guidance as to his own duty. In the words of his letter to Mrs. Dundas, "I thought chiefly of thecommand, 'Go ye and baptize all nations, ' and how some one ought to go;and I thought how in another world one would look back and rejoice athaving seized this opportunity of taking the good news of the Gospel tothose who had never heard of it; but for whom, as well as for us, Christdied. I thought of the Saviour sitting in heaven, and looking down uponthis world, and seeing us, who have heard the news, selfishly keeping itto ourselves, and only one or two, or eight or ten, going out in the yearto preach to His other sheep, who must be brought, that there may be onefold and one Shepherd; and I thought that if other men would go abroad, then I might stay at home, but as no one, or so few, would go out, thenit was the duty of every one that could go to go. . . . And I thought, what right have I to say to young men here, 'You had better go out toIndia, ' when I am hugging myself in my comfortable place at home. " Andafterwards, "Now, dear Lizzie, I have always looked to you as my motherand early teacher. To you I owe more than I can ever repay, more than Ican well tell. I do hope you will pray for me and give me your advice. " Mrs. Dundas's reply to this letter was a most wise and full expression ofsympathy with the aspiration, given with the deep consideration of apeculiarly calm and devotional spirit, which perceived that it is farbetter for a man to work up to his fullest perception of right, andhighest aims, than to linger in a sphere which does not occupy hisfullest soul and highest self; and she also recognized the influence thatthe fact of one of a family being engaged in such work exercises on thoseconnected with them. Others of the family, however, were startled, and some of his Cambridgefriends did not think him adapted to the Delhi Mission, and thistherefore was given up, but without altering the bent that his mind hadreceived; and indeed Mrs. Dundas, in one of her beautiful letters, advised him to keep the aim once set before him in view, and thus hisinterest became more and more turned towards the support of missionarywork at home. In 1854, the first Primate of New Zealand, George Augustus Selwyn, visited England, after twelve years of labour spent in building up theColonial and Maori Church, and of pioneering for missions in theMelanesian Isles, over which his vast see then extended. He preached acourse of four sermons at Cambridge; Mackenzie was an eager listener, andthose forcible, heart-stirring discourses clenched his long growingresolution to obey the first call to missionary labour that should cometo him, though, on the other hand, he desired so far to follow theleadings of Providence that he would not choose nor volunteer, but waitfor the summons--whither he knew not. Ere long the invitation came. The erection of the colony of Natal into aBishop's See had been decided upon a year before, and it had been offeredto John William Colenso, a clergyman known as active in the support ofthe missionary cause, and a member of the University of Cambridge. Onhis appointment he had gone out in company with the Bishop of Capetown toinspect his diocese and study its needs, as well as to lay thefoundations of future work. In the party who then sailed for Natal was alady who had recently been left a widow, Henrietta Woodrow by name, ardent in zeal for the conversion of the heathen, and hoping that thewarm climate of Africa would enable her to devote herself to good worksmore entirely than her delicate health permitted at home. Pieter Maritzburg had by this time risen into a capital, with a strangemixture of Dutch and English buildings; but the English populationstrongly predominated. Panda was king of the Kaffirs, and fearfullybloody massacres had taken place in his dominions, causing an immensenumber of refugees to take shelter in the English territory. Youngpeople who thus came were bound apprentices to persons who would takecharge of them for the sake of their services, and thus the missions andthose connected with them gained considerable influence for a time. AKaffir, who must have been Captain Gardiner's faithful Umpondobeni, though he was now called by another name, inquired for his former goodmaster, and fell into an agony of distress on hearing of his fate. Mrs. Woodrow at once opened an orphanage for the destitute Englishchildren that are sure to be found in a new colony, where the parents, ifunsuccessful, are soon tempted to drink, and then fall victims to climateand accident. The Kaffir servant whom she engaged had already beenconverted, and was baptized by the name of Abraham, soon after he enteredher service; but "Boy, "--the name at first given to him, --became a sortof surname to him and to his family. While watching over the little bandof children, Mrs. Woodrow was already--even though as yet only learningthe language--preparing the way for the coming Church. She wrote of theKaffirs: "They come to me of all ages, men and women, some old men fromthe country, with their rings upon their heads, and wrapped in theirhouse blankets. Then they sit down on the kitchen floor, our 'Boy'telling them, in his earnest way, about JESUS CHRIST. These I cannotspeak to, but I manage to let them know that I care for them, and 'Boy'says they go away with 'tears in their hearts. '" About two years previously, a Scottish colonist at the Cape, named RobertRobertson, had been touched by the need of ministers; had been ordainedby the Bishop of Capetown, and sent to Natal as missionary clergyman tothe Zulus. Early in 1855 these two devoted workers were married, and, taking up their abode at Durban, continued together their care of theEnglish orphans, and of the Kaffir children whom they could collect. In the meantime, Bishop Colenso, having taken his survey of the colony, had returned to England to collect his staff of fellow-workers; and oneof his first requests was that Charles Mackenzie would accompany him asArchdeacon of Pieter Maritzburg. There was not such entire willingnessin Mrs. Dundas's mind to part with him on this mission as on the formerproposal; not that she wished to hold him back from the task to which hehad in a manner dedicated himself, but she preferred his going outwithout the title of a dignitary, and, from the tone of the new Bishop'sletters, she foresaw that doctrinal difficulties and differences mightarise. Her brother had, however, made up his mind that no great work would everbe done, if those who co-operated were too minute in seeking for perfectaccordance of opinions; and that boundless charity which was his greatcharacteristic made him perhaps underrate the importance of the fissurewhich his sister even then perceived between the ways of thinking ofhimself and his Bishop. His next sister, Anne, whose health was toodelicate for a northern climate, was to accompany him; and the entireparty who went out with Bishop Colenso numbered thirty or forty persons, including several ladies, who were to devote themselves to education, both of the white and black inhabitants. They sailed in the barque _JaneMorice_ early in the March of 1855, and, after a pleasant and prosperousvoyage, entered Durban Bay in the ensuing May. The first home of the brother and sister was at Durban, among the Englishcolonists. It somewhat disappointed the Archdeacon, as those who comeout for purely missionary aims always are disappointed, when called tothe equally needful but less interesting field of labour among their owncountrymen; put as he says, he satisfied his mind by recollecting, "Icame out here simply because there was a scarcity of people that couldand would come. I did not come because I thought the work more importantthan that I was leaving. " So he set himself heartily to gather andconfirm the congregation that had had its first commencement when AllenGardiner used to read prayers to the first few settlers; and, at the sametime, Kaffir services were held for the some thousand persons in the townin the employment of the whites. The Archdeacon read prayers in Kaffir, and Mr. Robertson preached on theSunday evenings. The numbers of attendants were not large, and the mostwork was done by the school that the Robertsons collected round them. Theindifference and slackness of the English at Durban made it all theharder to work upon the Kaffirs; and, in truth, Archdeacon Mackenzie'sresidence there was a troublous time. The endeavour, by the wish of theBishop, to establish a weekly offertory, was angrily received by thecolonists, who were furious at the sight of the surplice in the pulpit, and, no doubt, disguised much real enmity, both to holiness of life andto true discipline, under their censure of what they called a badge ofparty. Their treatment of the Archdeacon, when they found him resolute, amounted to persecution; the most malignant rumours were set afloat, andnothing but his strength and calmness, perfect forgiveness, and yetunswerving determination, carried him through what was probably the mosttrying period of his life. Intercourse with the Robertsons was the great refreshment in thoseanxious days. A grant from Government had been made for a Church Missionstation upon the coast, and upon the river Umlazi, not many miles fromDurban; and here Mr. And Mrs. Robertson stationed themselves with theirlittle company of orphans, refugees, and Kaffirs; also a Hottentotfamily, whose children they were bringing up. Their own house had straight walls, coffee-coloured, a brown thatchedroof, and a boarded floor, in consideration of Mrs. Robertson's exceedingdelicacy of health; but such boards! loose, and so springy that thefurniture leapt and danced when the floor was crossed. It was all on theground-floor, partitioned by screens; and the thatched roof continued agood way out, supported on posts, so as to form a wide verandah; andscattered all around were the beehive dwellings of the Kaffir following, and huts raised for the nonce for European guests. At six o'clock in the morning a large bell was rung. At eight, Kaffirprayers were read by Mr. Robertson, for his own servants, in theverandah, and for some who would come in from the neighbouring kraals;then followed breakfast; then English matins; and, by that time, Kaffirchildren were creeping up to the verandah to be taught. They were firstwashed, and then taught their letters, with some hymns translated intotheir language, and a little religious instruction. The children weregenerally particularly pleasant to deal with, bright and intelligent, andwith a natural amiability of disposition that rendered quarrels andjealousies rare. Good temper seems, indeed, to be quite a Zulucharacteristic; the large mixed families of the numerous wives livetogether harmoniously, and the gift of a kraal to one member isacknowledged by all the rest. Revenge, violence, and passion are to befound among them, but not fretfulness and quarrelsomeness. After the work of instruction, there was generally a ride into theneighbouring kraals, to converse with the people, and invite the childrento school. They had to be propitiated with packets of sugar, and shownthe happy faces of the home flock. There was, at first, a good deal ofinclination to distrust; and the endeavour to bring the women and girlsto wear clothes had to be most cautiously managed, as a little over-hastewould make them take fright and desert altogether. The Kaffir customs of marriage proved one of the most serious impedimentsin the way of the missionaries. The female sex had its value asfurnishing servants and cultivators of the ground, and every man wishedto own as many wives as possible. Not only did the question what was tobe done in the case of many-wived converts come under consideration, butthe fathers objected to their daughters acquiring the rudiments ofcivilization, lest it should lessen their capabilities to act as beastsof burden, and thus spoil their price in cattle, (the true _pecunia_ ofthe Zulu). Practically, it was found, that no polygamist ever becamemore than an inquirer; the way of life seemed to harden the heart orblind the eyes against conviction; but the difficulty as regarded theyounger people was great, since as long as a girl remained the lawfulproperty of the head of her kraal, she was liable to be sold to anypolygamist of any age who might pay her value; and thus it became aquestion whether it were safe to baptize her. Even Christian Zulusmarrying Christian women according to the English rite could not besecure of them unless the cows were duly paid over; and as these Kaffirsare a really fine race, with more of the elements of true love in themthan is usual in savages, adventures fit for a novel would sometimesoccur, when maidens came flying to the mission station to avoid some oldhusband who had made large offers to their father; and the real loverwould arrive entreating protection for the lady of his heart until hecould earn the requisite amount of cows to satisfy her father. Mr. Robertson was always called the umfundisi, or teacher. He held hisSunday Kaffir service in a clearing in the bush, and gained many heartsto himself, and some souls for the Church, while toiling with his handsas well as setting forth the truth with his lips. Mrs. Robertson at thesame time worked upon the women by her tenderness to their little ones, offering them little frocks if they would wash them, caressing them withall a woman's true love for babies, and then training their elderchildren and girls, teaching them needlework, and whatever could lead toaspirations towards modesty and the other graces of Christian womanhood. Often extremely ill, always fragile, her energy never failed; and therewas a grace and dignity about her whole deportment and manner whichcaused "the Lady" to be the emphatic title always given to her by herhusband and his friends. Of these the Mackenzie family were among thewarmest, and the Archdeacon gladly gave valuable assistance to Mr. Robertson by supplementing an education which had not been definitelyclerical, but rather of that order which seems to render an able Scotsmanfit to apply himself to almost anything. In February 1857 another sister, named Alice, joined the Mackenziefamily, when they were on a visit to the Umlazi station. Her quickpowers and enthusiastic spirit fitted her in a wonderful manner formissionary labour, and she was at once in such sympathy with the Kaffirsthat it was a playful arrangement among the home party that Anne shouldbe the white and Alice the black sister. Just after her arrival, it was determined that the Archdeacon shouldleave Durban, where, indeed, he had been only filling the post of anabsent clergyman, and take a district on the Umhlali river, forty milesfrom Durban, containing a number of English settlements, a camp, and alarge amount of Kaffir kraals. Every Sunday he had five services atdifferent places, one of them eighteen miles from the nearest, a spacethat had to be ridden at speed in the mid-day sun. There was no house, but a couple of rooms with perpendicular sides and a verandah, one forchapel, the other for sitting-room, while Kaffir beehive huts were thebedrooms of all. For a long time blankets and plaids did the part ofdoors and shutters; and just as the accommodations were improving, thewhole grass and wattle structure was burnt down, and it was many monthsbefore the tardy labour of colonial workmen enabled the family to takepossession of the new house, in a better situation, which they namedSeaforth, after the title of the former head of the Mackenzie clan. All this time the whole party had been working. A school was collectedevery morning of both boys and girls; not many in number, but from alarge area: children of white settlers, varying in rank, gentlemen orfarmers, but all alike running wild for want of time and means toinstruct them. They came riding on horses or oxen, attended by theirKaffirs, and were generally found exceedingly ignorant of all Englishlearning, but precocious and independent in practical matters: young boysable to shoot, ride, and often entrusted with difficult commissions bytheir fathers at an age when their cousins at home would scarcely be at apublic school, and little girls accustomed to superintend the Kaffirs inall household business; both far excelling their parents in familiaritywith the language, but accustomed to tyrannize over the black servants, and in danger of imbibing unsuspected evil from their heathen converse. It was a task of no small importance to endeavour to raise the tone, improve the manners, and instruct the minds of these young colonists, andit could only be attempted by teaching them as friends upon an equality. With the Kaffirs, at the same time, the treatment was moulded on that ofMr. And Mrs. Robertson, who at one time paid the Umhlali a visit, bringing with them their whole train of converts, servants, orphans, andadopted children, who could be easily accommodated by putting up freshgrass huts, to which even the Europeans of the party had become soaccustomed, that they viewed a chameleon tumbling down on thedinner-table with rather more indifference than we do the intrusion of anearwig, quite acquiesced in periodically remaking the clay floor when thewhite ants were coming up through it, scorpions being found in theArchdeacon's whiskers, and green snakes, instead of mice, being killed bythe cat. The sight of Christian Kaffirs was very beneficial to the learners, towhom it was a great stumbling block to have no fellows within their ken, but to be totally separated from all of their own race and colour. AtSeaforth, the wedding was celebrated of two of Mr. Robertson's converts, named Benjamin and Louisa, the marriage Psalms being chanted in Kaffir, and the Holy Communion celebrated, when there were seven Kaffircommunicants. The bride wore a white checked muslin and a wreath ofwhite natural flowers on her head. This was the first Christian Zuluwedding, and it has been followed by many more, and we believe that in nocase has there been a relapse into heathenism or polygamy. The Mackenzies continued at Seaforth until the early part of the year1859. The work was peaceful and cheerful. There were no such remarkablesuccesses in conversion as the Robertsons met with, probably because inthe further and wilder district the work was more pioneering, and theRobertsons had never been without a nucleus of Christians, besides whichthe gifts of both appear to have been surpassing in their power ofdealing with natives, and producing thorough conversions. Moreover, theyhad no cure but of the Kaffirs, whereas Archdeacon Mackenzie was thepastor of a widely scattered population, and his time and strength onSundays employed to their very uttermost. Church affairs weighed heavilyupon him; and another heavy sorrow fell on him in the death of theguardian elder sister, Mrs. Dundas. Her illness, typhus fever, left timefor the preparation of knowing of her danger, and a letter written to herby her brother during the suspense breathes his resigned hope:--"DearLizzie, you may now be among the members of the Church in heaven, whohave washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Ifso, we shall never meet again on earth. But what a meeting in heaven!Any two of us to meet so would be, more than we can conceive, to be madeperfect, and never more to part. " And when writing to the bereavedhusband after the blow had fallen, he says: "Surely we ought not to thinkit strange if the brightest gems are sometimes removed from the workshopto the immediate presence of the Great King. " But the grief, though borne in such a spirit, probably made himsusceptible to the only illness he experienced while in Natal. Theimmediate cause was riding in the burning sun of a southern February, andthe drinking cold water, the result of which was a fever, that kept himat home for about a month. There was at this time a strong desire to send a mission into independentZululand, with a Bishop at its head. Bishop Colenso was at firstinclined to undertake the lead himself, resigning Natal; and next a planarose that Archdeacon Mackenzie should become the missionary Bishop. Theplan was to be submitted to the Society for the Propagation of theGospel, and for this purpose the Archdeacon was despatched to England, taking Miss Mackenzie with him; but the younger sister, Alice, having sorecently arrived, and being so valuable as a worker among the natives, remained to assist in the school of young chiefs who had been gatheredtogether by Bishop Colenso. The time of the return of the brother and sister was just when Dr. Livingstone's account of the interior of Africa, and of the character ofthe chiefs on the Zambesi, had excited an immense enthusiasm throughoutEngland. He had appealed to the Universities to found a mission, andfound it they would, on a truly grand scale, commensurate with theirwealth and numbers. It was to have a Bishop at the head, and a strongstaff of clergy, vessels built on purpose to navigate the rivers, andevery requisite amply provided. Crowded meetings were held at eachUniversity, and the enthusiasm produced by the appeal of Dr. Livingstone, a Scottish Presbyterian, to the English Universities, as the only bodiescapable of such an effort, produced unspeakable excitement. At a hugemeeting at Cambridge, attended by the most distinguished of EnglishChurchmen, Archdeacon Mackenzie was present. His quiet remark to thefriend beside him, was, "I am _afraid_ of this. Most great works havebeen carried on by one or two men in a quieter way, and have had a morehumble beginning. " In fact, Bishop Gray, of Capetown, had long beenthinking of a Central African Mission; but his plan, and that whichMackenzie would have preferred, was to work gradually northwards from theplaces already Christian, or partially so, instead of commencing anisolated station at so great a distance, not only from all aid to theworkers, but from all example or mode of bringing civilized life to thepupils. But Livingstone had so thoroughly won the sympathies of thecountry that only the exact plan which he advocated could obtain favour, and it was therefore felt that it was better to accept and co-operatewith his spirit than to give any check, or divide the flow by contrarysuggestions. Thus Livingstone became almost as much the guide and referee of theZambesi expedition as ever a Cardinal Legate was of a crusade. Nor couldthis be wondered at, for the ordinary Englishman is generally almostignorant of missions and their history, and in this case an able andinteresting book of travels had stirred the mind of the nation; nor hadexperience then shown how much more there was of the explorer than of themissionary in the writer. From the first, Archdeacon Mackenzie was designated as the chief of themission. He felt the appointment a call not to be rejected. His sisterAnne viewed it in the same spirit, and was ready to cast in her lot withhim, and letters were written to the other sister in Natal proposing toher to accompany them. Then came a year of constant travelling andoratory in churches and on platforms, collecting means and rousinginterest in the mission--a year that would have been a mere whirl to anyone not possessed of the wonderful calmness and simplicity thatcharacterized Mackenzie, and made him just do the work that came to handin the best manner in his power, without question or choice as to whatthat work might be. By the October of 1860 all was ready, and the brother and sister hadtaken leave of the remaining members of their family, and embarked atSouthampton, together with two clergymen, a lay superintendent, acarpenter and a labourer, and likewise Miss Fanny Woodrow, Mrs. Robertson's niece, who was to join in her work. Their first stage wasCapetown, where it had been arranged that the consecration should takeplace, since it is best that a Missionary Bishop governing persons notunder English government should not be fettered by regulations thatconcern her Prelates, not as belonging to the Church, but to theEstablishment. There was some delay in collecting the bishops of SouthAfrica, so that the _Pioneer_, placed at Dr. Livingstone's disposal, could not wait; and the two clergy, Mr. Waller and Mr. Scudamore, proceeded without their chief. On the 1st of January, 1861, the rite took place, memorable as the firstEnglish consecration of a Missionary Bishop, and an example was set thathas happily been since duly followed, as the Church has more and morebeen roused to the fulfilment of the parting command, "Go ye, and teach_all_ nations. " And, on the 7th, the new Bishop sailed in H. M. S. _Lyra_, CaptainOldfield, which had been appointed, in the course of its East Africancruise, to take him to the scene of his labours, on the way setting downthe Bishop of Natal at his diocese. The first exploration and formationof a settlement had been decided to be too arduous and perilous forwomen, especially for such an invalid as Miss Mackenzie, and she wastherefore left at Capetown, to follow as soon as things should be madeready for her. The so-called black sister, who then fully intended alsoto be a member of the Central African Mission, came down to meet herbrother at Durban, and a few days of exceeding peace and joy were herespent. The victory over his opponents at Durban had been won by therecollection of his unfailing meekness and love; they hailed him withardent affection and joy, expressed their regret for all that had beenunfriendly, and eagerly sought for all pastoral offices at his hand. Heconsecrated a church, and held a confirmation at the Umlazi; but theRobertsons were not there to welcome him. The long-contemplated missioninto independent Zululand had devolved upon Mr. Robertson, and he and hiswife, and the choicest and most trustworthy of their converts, hadremoved across the Tugela into the territories of old King Panda, thelast of the terrible brotherhood, and now himself greatly ruled by theablest and most successful of his sons, Ketchewayo by name. The work wasvery near Bishop Mackenzie's heart, and, both with substantial aid, prayers, blessings, and encouragements, he endeavoured to forward it. His last day in Natal was spent in a service with a confirmation atClaremont, and an evening service at Durban. "As we were returning, "wrote his sister Alice, "we saw a rocket from the sea; a gun fired, themail was in; and the captain, who was with us, said he would let us knowthe first thing in the morning the hour he would sail. Well, after this, there was little peace or quiet. We were too tired to sit up that night, and next morning there was much to arrange, and everybody was coming andgoing, and we heard we were to go by the half-past two train. A greatmany friends were with us, but on the shore we slipped away, and, leaningtogether on a heap of bricks, had a few sweet, quiet collects together, till we were warned we must go to the boat. We went on board the tug, and stood together high up on the captain's place; we were washed againand again by the great waves. When he went, and I had his last kiss andblessing, his own bright, beautiful spirit infected mine, and I couldreturn his parting words without flinching; I saw him go without even atear dimming my eye: so that I could watch him to the last, looking afterour little boat again crossing the bar, till we could distinguish eachother no more. "In speaking one day of happiness, he said, 'I have given up looking forthat altogether. Now, till death, my post is one of unrest and care. Tobe the sharer of everyone's sorrow, the comforter of everyone's grief, the strengthener of everyone's weakness: to do this as much as in me liesis now my aim and object; for, you know, when the members suffer, thepain must always fly to the head. ' He said this with a smile, and oh!the peace in his face; it seemed as if nothing _could_ shake it. " The last photograph, taken during this visit to Durban, with the highcalm brow, and the quiet contemplative eye, bears out this beautiful, sisterly description of that last look. The _Lyra_ next proceeded to the Kongone mouth of the Zambesi, where thetwo parties who had gone forward, including Dr. Livingstone himself, weremet, and a consultation took place. The Bishop was anxious to goforward, arrange his settlement, and commence his work at once; but Dr. Livingstone thought the season a bad one, and was anxious to explore theRiver Rovuma, to see whether its banks afforded a better opening; and itended in the Bishop feeling obliged to give way to his experience, although against his own judgment. He therefore, with Mr. Rowley, who had joined him at Durban, accompaniedLivingstone in the _Pioneer_, leaving the others at Johanna, a littleisland used as a depot for coal. The expedition was not successful; there was only water enough in thechannel to enable the _Pioneer_ to go thirty miles up in five days, andit failed more and more in the descent. The steamer, too, though builtfor the purpose of navigating the shallows of rivers, drew more waterthan had been expected; the current when among shoals made the descentworse than the ascent; there was a continual necessity for landing to cutwood to feed the engine; and, in five days, the _Pioneer_ had not madeten miles. The Bishop worked as hard as any of the crew, once narrowlyescaped the jaws of a crocodile, and had a slight touch of fever, sotrifling that it perhaps disposed him to think lightly of the danger; buthe was still weak when he came back to Johanna, and, by way of remedy, set out before breakfast for a mountain walk, and came back exhausted, and obliged to lie still, thoroughly depressed in mind as well as bodyfor two days. The expedition proved the more unfortunate, that itdelayed the start for the Zambesi from February, when the stream wasfull, till May, when the water was so low that a great quantity of thestores had to be left behind, in order that the _Pioneer_ might not drawtoo much water. The chief assistants were the Malokolo, a portion of atribe who had attached themselves to Dr. Livingstone, and had beenawaiting his return on the banks of the river. The Bishop would fainhave gone without weapons of any sort, but Dr. Livingstone decided thatthis was impracticable. He said, by all means take guns, and use them, if needed, and they would prove the best pacificators; and Mackenzie, asusual, yielded his own judgment, and heartily accepted what was decidedon for him. All those left at Johanna had suffered from fever, and were relieved thatthe time of inaction was over when they embarked in the _Pioneer_ on the1st of May, and in due time ascended the Zambesi, and again the Shire, but very slowly, for much time was consumed in cutting wood for theengines, every _stick_ in the mud costing three days' labour, and inthree weeks going only six or seven miles, seeing numerous crocodiles andhippopotami by the way. It was not till the middle of July that they reached the landing-place. As soon as the goods had been landed the whole party set out on anexploration, intending to seek for a place, high enough on the hills tobe healthy, on which to form their settlement. Their goods were carried by negroes, and a good many by themselves, theBishop's share being in one hand a loaded gun, in the other a crozier, infront a can of oil, behind, a bag of seeds. "I thought, " he writes, "ofthe contrast between my weapon and my staff, the one like Jacob, theother like Abraham, who armed all his trained servants to rescue Lot. Ithought also of the seed which we must sow in the hearts of the people, and of the oil of the Spirit that must strengthen us in all we do. " The example of Abraham going forth to rescue Lot was brought suddenlybefore the mission party. While halting at a negro village, a sound washeard like the blowing of penny trumpets, and six men, with muskets, cameinto the village, driving with them eighty-four slaves, men, women, andchildren, whom they had collected for Portuguese slave-dealers at Tette. The Bishop and Mr. Scudamore had gone out of the village to bathe justbefore they arrived; but Dr. Livingstone, recognizing one of the drivers, whom he had seen at Tette, took him by the wrist, saying, "What are youdoing here, killing people? I shall kill you to-day. " The man answered: "I do not kill; I am not making war. I bought thesepeople. " Then Livingstone turned to the slaves. Two men said, "We were bought. "Six said, "We were captured. " And several of the women, "Our husbandsand relatives were killed, and here we are. " Whereupon Livingstone began to cut the bonds of cord that fastened themtogether, while the slave-catchers ran away. All this was over beforethe Bishop returned; and Livingstone was explaining to the rescuednegroes that they might either return to their homes, go to Tette, orremain under English protection, while they expressed their joy andgratitude by a slow clapping of the hands. They told a terrible story, of women shot for trying to escape, and of a babe whose brains weredashed out, because its mother could not carry it and her brotherstogether. If asked by what authority he did these things, Livingstone would haveanswered, by the right of a Christian man to protect the weak fromdevilish cruelty. There was no doubt in his mind that these slaves, eventhough purchased, were deprived of their liberty so unjustly, that theirdeliverance was only a sacred duty, and that their owners had no right ofproperty in them. If a British cruiser descended on a slave-ship, andreleased her freight, should he not also deliver the captive wherever hemet him? And, with this, another question was raised, namely, that of the use ofweapons. The party were in the country of the Man-gnaja, a tribe ofnegroes who were continually harried by the fiercer and more powerfulneighbour-tribe of Ajawa, great slave-catchers, who supplied the slave-hunters who came out from Tette to collect their human droves. Thesewere mostly Arabs, with some Portuguese admixture; and the blacks, afterbeing disposed of in the market at Tette, were usually shipped off tosupply the demand in Arabia and Egypt, where, to tell the truth, theirlot was a far easier one than befell the slaves of the West, the toilersamong sugar and cotton. A crusade against slave-catching could not be carried on without, atleast, a show of force; and, this granted, a further difficulty presenteditself, in the fact that, out of the scanty number of white men, one wasa bishop and two were priests of the English Church, and one aPresbyterian minister. In all former cases, the missionaries had freelyventured themselves, using no means of self-defence, and marking thedifference between themselves and others by the absence of all weapons. But, in those places, it was self-defence that was given up; here thepoint was, whether to deliver the captive, or, by silence, to acquiescein the wrong done to him; and if his rescue were attempted, it was invain, unless the clergy assisted; and thus it was that the mission partydid not march so much as men of peace as deliverers of the captive andbreakers of the yoke. The captives had no power of returning home, andchose to remain with their deliverers; and the next day the party reacheda negro village, called Chibisa's, after the chief who had ruled it atthe time of Dr. Livingstone's first visit. He was now dead, but hissuccessor, Chigunda, begged the white men to remain, to protect him fromthe Ajawa, who were only five or ten miles off, and from whom an attackwas expected. It was decided to forestall it by marching towards them. On the wayanother great convoy of slaves was encountered, and with the merest showof force, no bloodshed at all, more than forty were liberated--the menfrom forked clogs to their necks, consisting of a pole as thick as aman's thigh, branched at the top like the letter Y, so that the neck ofthe prisoner could be inserted, and fastened with an iron pin. The large number of these liberated captives made it necessary to choosea home, but Chibisa's was not the place selected, but a spot some sixtymiles further on, called Magomero. It was on a plain 3, 000 feet abovethe level of the sea, or rather in a hole on the plain; for it was chosenbecause the bend of a river encircled it on three sides, so that astockade on the fourth would serve for defence, in case of an attack fromthe Ajawa; and this consideration made Livingstone enforce the choiceupon the Bishop, who again yielded to his opinion. The higher groundaround was not unhealthy; the air was pure, the heat never excessive; butthe river was too near, and brought fever to a spot soon overcrowded. Itwas occupied, however, with high hope and cheerfulness; huts, formed ofpoles and roofed with piles of grass, were erected, a larger one setapart for a church, and a system established of regular training for thenumerous troop of clients, now amounting to above a hundred. To givethem regular religious instruction, without being secure of the language, was thought by the Bishop inexpedient, and he therefore desired, atfirst, to prepare the way by the effects of physical training anddiscipline. This was a Magomero day:--English matins at early morning;breakfast on fowls or goats'-flesh, yam, beans, and porridge; then avisit to the sick; for, alas! already the whole thirteen of the missionstaff were never well at the same time. After this, the negroes werecollected, answered to their names, and had breakfast served out to them;two women being found to receive and apportion the shares of the lesserchildren, and this they did carefully and kindly. The tender sweetness of Mackenzie told greatly in dealing with these poorcreatures. He did not think it waste of time to spend an hour a daytrying to teach the little ones their letters; and Mr. Rowley draws abeautiful picture of him feeding, with a bottle, a black babe, whosemother had not nutriment enough to sustain it, --the little naked thingnestling up to his big beard, and going to sleep against his broad chest. Work followed. One whith man drilled the boys, one command being forthem all to leap into the river at the same moment to bathe; onebargained with the vendors of mealies, beer, goats, fowls, yams, &c. , whocame in numbers from the villages round, and received payment in beads, and a blue cotton manufacture, called selampore, which is the currentcoin of Central Africa. Others worked, and showed how to work, at thebuildings till one o'clock, when the dinner was served, only differingfrom breakfast in the drink being native beer instead of coffee. Restfollowed till five, when there were two hours' more work, nearly tillsunset, which, even on the longest day, was before half-past six; thentea, evensong, and bed. The great need was of some female element, to train and deal with thewomen and girls; and there was an earnest desire for the arrival of thesisters. But, in the meantime, the occupation of Magomero proved farfrom peaceful. The Ajawa were always coming down upon the Man-gnaja toburn their villages and steal slaves, and the Man-gnaja called upon thewhites as invincible allies. The Bishop and his clergy (Livingstone had now left them, and gone on toLake Nyassa) thought that to present a resolute front to the Ajawa woulddrive them back for good and all; and that the Man-gnaja could be boundover henceforth to give up slave-dealing, and, on this condition, theydid not refuse their assistance. Subsequent events have led to thebelief that this warfare of the Ajawa was really the advance of one ofthose great tides of nations that take place from time to time, and thatthey were a much finer people than the cowardly and false Man-gnaja; but, of course, a small company of strangers, almost ignorant of the language, and communicating with the natives through a released and educated negro, could not enter into the state of things, and could only struggle againstthe immediate acts of oppression that came before them. There were thus about three expeditions to drive back the Ajawa anddeliver the rescued slaves--bloodless expeditions, for the sight of thewhite men and their guns was quite enough to produce a general flight, and a large colony of the rescued had gathered at Magomero in the courseof a few months. Meantime another clergyman, the Rev. H. De Wint Burrup, with his newly-married wife and three lay members of the mission, hadarrived at Capetown, and, leaving Mrs. Burrup there with Miss Mackenzie, had come on to join the others. Mr. Burrup and Mr. Dickinson (a surgeon)actually made their way in canoes and river boats from Quillinane up toChibisa's, where the _Pioneer_ was lying, Dr. Livingstone having justreturned from his three months' expedition. It was an absolute exploit in travelling, but a very perilous one, sincethese open boats, in the rain and on the low level of the river, exposedthem to the greatest danger of fever; and there can be no doubt thattheir constitutions were injured, although, no serious symptomsappearing, the mission party were still further induced to underrate thenecessity of precaution. The Bishop coming down to visit Livingstone (seventy miles in thirtyhours on foot), gladly hailed the new-comers, and returned rapidly withMr. Burrup, both a good deal over-fatigued; and, indeed, the Bishop neverthoroughly recovered this reckless expenditure of strength. Heconsidered that things were now forward enough for a summons to theladies at Capetown. Communication was very difficult, and thearrangements had therefore to be made somewhat blindly; but his plan was, that his sisters and Mrs. Burrup should try to obtain a passage toKongone, where the _Pioneer_ should meet them, and bring them up therivers to the landing-place at Chibisa's. He did not know of his sisterAlice's marriage at Natal, though he would have rejoiced at it if he hadknown. He himself intended to come down to the spot where the riversShire and Ruo meet, and there greet the sister and the wife on board the_Pioneer_, and return with them to Magomero. The way by the river and by Chibisa's was a great circuit, and it wasthought that a more direct way might be found by exploration. Mr. Procter and Mr. Scudamore, with the black interpreter, Charles Thomas, and some of the negroes, started to pioneer a way. After five daysCharles appeared at Magomero, exhausted, foot-sore, ragged, and famished, having had no food for forty-eight hours, and just able to say "the Man-gnaja attacked us; I am the only one who has escaped. " When he had had some soup, he told that the party had come to a villagewhere they had been taken for slave-dealers, and the natives, on findingthey were not, put on a hostile appearance, and as they pushed on cameout in great numbers with bows and arrows, insisting on their return. After consulting they thought it would be better to turn back andconciliate the chief, rather than leave a nest of enemies in their rear, and they therefore turned. Unfortunately the negroes had caught sight ofthe 140 yards of selampore that they were taking with them as cash forthe journey, and though the chief, who had been at Senna and Quillinane, was civil, there was much discontent at their not expending more inpurchases of provisions; and Charles told them that their bearers hadoverheard plans for burning their huts in the night, killing them andtaking their goods. They decided to escape; and occupying the chief'sattention by a present of a bright scarf, they bade their men get underweigh. A cry arose, "They are running away. " There was a rush uponthem, and Charles managed to break through. He heard two shots fired, and was pursued for some distance, but, as darkness came on, effected hisescape. It seems to have been just one of the cases when a little hesitation anduncertainty on the part of the civilized men did all the mischief byemboldening the savages. Of course it was necessary to rescue them, butas the Ajawa were but twenty miles off, and Magomero must be guarded, there was no choice but to have recourse to the Makololo, and thus letloose one set of savages against another. Just, however, as a messagewas being despatched to bring them, the two clergymen were seenreturning. They too had walked eighty-five miles in forty-eight hours, and had had but one fowl between them. They had in fact got out of thevillage almost immediately after Charles, but closely beset with nativesarmed with bows and poisoned arrows. Some tried to wrest Mr. Procter'sgun from him, and even got him down, when he defended himself with hisheels, until Mr. Scudamore, who was a little in advance, fired on hisassailants, when they gave back; but an arrow aimed at him penetrated thestock of his gun so deeply that the head remained embedded in it. Firingboth barrels, he produced a panic, under cover of which they made theirway into the bush, and contrived with much difficulty to reach home. Six of their eight bearers gradually straggled in, and the last broughtthe following message from a chief in the next village: "I am not inblame for this war; Manasomba has tried to kill the English, has stolentheir baggage and their boy, and has kept two of your men. He says ifthe English want the men, let them come and buy them out, or else fightfor them. " It appeared that Manasomba was not a Man-gnaja, and that his suspicionswere excited by anything so inexplicable to the negro mind as white mengoing about with so much cloth without buying slaves nor much of anythingelse. There were still two men to be rescued, and the question was, whether towait for Livingstone, who was armed with authority to give a lesson tothe negroes, or for the mission party to undertake it themselves, especially in the haste which was needful in order to be in time for themeeting with the _Pioneer_. They decided on the march, so as to releasethe men, and thus were forced to break up the calm of the Christmasfeast. "If it is right to do it at all, it is right to do it on a holyday, " was the Bishop's argument, and so the Christmas Day was spent, partly in walking, partly at Chipoka's village, where was held the HolyCommunion feast. "How wondrous, " wrote the Bishop, "the feeling ofactual instantaneous communion with all you dear ones, though thedistance and means of earthly communication are so great and sodifficult!" The negroes of the neighbouring villages joined them, andthey proceeded. Near Manasomba's village they met a large body of men, with whom the Bishop attempted to hold a parley, but they ran away, andonly discharged a few arrows. The village was deserted except by a fewsheep, goats, and Muscovy ducks, and these were driven out and the hutsset on fire. This punishment was as a "vindication of the English name, " and as an actof self-defence, since any faltering in resolution among such savageswould have been fatal; but, after all, the men were not recovered, andthe expedition had been so exhausting that none of the party were reallyfit to push on for the place of meeting with the _Pioneer_, nor wouldChipoka give them guides or bearers in that direction, saying it was alloccupied by Manasomba's friends. They came back to Magomero grievously exhausted; Scudamore fell down on abed only just alive, and even the Bishop, though he tried to act andspeak with vigour, was evidently suffering from illness and over-fatigue. But there was the appointment to be kept with Livingstone and the ladiesat the Ruo, and, unfit as he was, he persevered, setting off with Burrup, sadly enough, for Scudamore was lying in a dangerous state; but no oneguessed that they would never meet again upon earth. It was on the 4th of January, 1862, that they started with a few Malokoloand the interpreter Charles, and it was six weeks before the colony atMagomero heard any tidings. There the stores were all but exhausted, andhaving hardly any goods left for barter, there was little food to beobtained but green corn and pumpkin, most unsuited to the Englishmen'spresent state of health. Meanwhile, in constant rain and through swollen streams, Mackenzie andBurrup had made their way down to the river, and there with muchdifficulty obtained a canoe. On the first night of the voyage all theparty, except the Bishop, wished to go on, because the mosquitoesrendered rest impossible. He thought moving on in the dark imprudent, but gave up his own will, and even wrote jestingly afterwards on theconvenience of making the mosquitoes act as a spur. The consequence wasthat they came suddenly upon a projecting bend; the boat upset, andeverything they had was in the water. They spent more than an hour inrecovering what could be brought up; but their powder and theirprovisions were spoilt, and, what was still worse, their medicines:including the quinine, almost essential to life, and that when they werethoroughly drenched in the middle of an African night. Making sure, however, of speedily meeting Dr. Livingstone, they pushedon; but when they came to Malo, the isle at the confluence of the Ruo andShire, they learnt from the natives that the _Pioneer_ had gone down thestream. The negroes could give no clear account of how long ago it hadbeen. If they had known that it had been only five days, they wouldprobably have put forth their speed and have overtaken her, but theythought that a much longer time was intended, and that waiting for thereturn would be not only more prudent, but might enable them to makefriends with the chief, and prepare for a station to be established onthe island. A hut was given them, and there was plenty of wholesome foodon the island. Inaction, is, however the most fatal curse in that land of fever. Thereis a cheerful letter written by the Bishop to his home friends, on the14th and 15th of January; but his vigour was flagging. He spoke withdisappointment of the inability of Dr. Livingstone to bring up stores toChibisa's, and longed much for his sisters' arrival, telling hiscompanion it would break his heart if they did not now come. He alsowrote a strong letter to the Secretary of the Universities' Mission, begging for a steam launch to keep up the supplies, where the _Pioneer_had failed. Soon after this, both became grievously ill; the Bishop'sfever grew violent, he perceived his danger, and told the Malokolo thatJESUS would come to take him, but he presently became delirious andinsensible, in which condition he lay for five days, the Malokolo waitingon him as well as they could under Burrup's superintendence. The negro tribes have an exceeding dread of death, and a hut which hashad a corpse in it is shut up for three years. Probably for this reasonthe chief begged that the dying man might be carried to another hut lessneedful to himself, and as he had been kind and friendly throughout Mr. Burrup thought it right to comply. Shortly after, on the afternoon ofthe 31st of January, the pure, gentle, and noble spirit passed away. Thechief, from superstitious fear, insisted that the body should beimmediately interred, and not on the island, and Mr. Burrup and theMalokolo therefore laid it in their canoe, and paddled to the mainland, where a spot was cleared in the bush, the grave dug, and as it was bythis time too dark to see to read, Mr. Burrup said all that he couldremember of the burial service, the four blacks standing wondering andmournful by. He saw that for himself the only hope was in a return to Magomero. Thecanoe was tried, but the current was so strong that such small numberscould not make head against it. He therefore proceeded on foot, but felldown repeatedly from weakness, and was only dragged on by his strong willand the aid of the Malokolo. They behaved admirably, and when he reachedChibisa's, and could walk no longer, they and the villagers contrived apalanquin of wood, and carried him on in it. The chief, finding that hisstore of cloth (_i. E. _ coin) was expended, actually offered him a presentof some to carry him on. On the 14th of February, one of the Malokolo appeared before the anxiouscolonists at Magomero. His face was that of a bearer of evil tidings, and when they asked for the Bishop, he hid his face in his hands. Whenthey pressed further, he said, "_wafa_, _wafa_" (he is dead, he is dead). And while they stood round stunned, he made them understand that Burrupwas at hand, so ill as to be carried on men's shoulders. There was nothing to be done but to hurry out to meet him, taking thelast drop of wine remaining. He had become the very shadow of himself, but even then he slightly rallied, and could he have had nourishing food, wine or brandy, the strength of his constitution would probably havecarried him through; but the stores were exhausted, there was nothing torecruit his powers, and on the 23rd of February he likewise died. Meantime, his young wife, with Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. Livingstone, hadsailed in December in a wretchedly uncomfortable little craft, called the_Hetty Ellen_. On reaching the Kongone they saw no token of the_Pioneer_, but after waiting in great discomfort, tossing at the mouth ofthe river, the vessel made for Mozambique. There they fell in withH. M. S. _Gorgon_. Captain Wilson, resolved to render them every servicein his power, took the ladies on board, the vessel in tow, and carriedthem to Quillinane, where they presently fell in with Dr. Livingstone andthe _Pioneer_. His little lake steamer, the _Lady Nyassa_, had been packed on board the_Hetty Ellen_, and had formed the only shelter Miss Mackenzie had fromthe sun, and the transference of this occupied some time. Then theunhappy _Pioneer_ began to proceed at her snail's pace, one day on a sand-bank, another with the machinery out of order, continually halting forsupplies of wood, and thinking a couple of miles a good day's work. Captain Wilson, shocked at the notion of women spending weeks inlabouring up that pestiferous stream, beset with mosquitoes by night andtsetse flies by day, offered to man his gig and take them up himself. Sodesperate a journey was it for a frail invalid like Miss Mackenzie, thatone of the sailors took a spade to dig her grave with; and in fact shewas soon prostrated with fever. None of the party knew who lay sleepingin his grave under the trees. The natives on the island entirely deniedhaving seen or heard anything of the Bishop, and never gave Mr. Burrup'sletter, fearing perhaps that some revenge might fall on them. Baffled bynot meeting him, Captain Wilson still would not leave the ladies till heshould have seen them safe among their friends, and pushed on his boatwith speed very unlike that of the tardy _Pioneer_, and thus, in a dayand a half, arrived at Chibisa's, where the Malokolo came down to theboat, with tidings that, though their language was but imperfectlyunderstood, were only too certain. The brave and tender-hearted leaderof the mission was dead! Still there was hope of Mr. Burrup; but CaptainWilson would not allow the young wife to take the difficult journey onlyto find desolation, but went on by land himself, leaving her with MissMackenzie, under charge of his ship's surgeon, Dr. Ramsay. He came backafter a few days, having become too ill by the way to get further thanSoche, where he had been met by three of the mission party, who nowreturned with him to Chibisa's, with the tidings in all their sadfulness; and the mournful party set forth upon their return. On comingto the island, he demanded Mr. Burrup's letter, and the negroes looked atone another, saying, "It is all known. " They gave him the letter, but itwas with very great difficulty that they could be persuaded to show himthe grave, over which he set up a cross of reeds, and then continuingthis sad voyage, placed the ladies on board his ship, and carried themback to Capetown. Bishop Mackenzie had executed a will not six weeks before his death, bequeathing to the Additional Bishoprics Fund his property, and to themission his books, except those specially connected with his personaldevotions, which were to go to his family, and which Captain Wilsonbrought down with him, the Bible, Prayer-book, and "Christian Year, "bearing tokens of that immersion in the water which, by the destructionof the medicines, may be believed to have been the chief cause of hisdeath. Until the arrival of a new Bishop, or of instructions from theMetropolitan of Capetown, the headship of the mission was to remain withthe senior clergyman, or failing him, of the senior layman. Thus thelittle colony had their instructions to wait and carry on the work: butfurther difficulties soon arose. Stores were still wanting, feverprevailed even among the negroes. All the class of little children whomthe Bishop used to teach had died under it, each being baptized beforeits death, and the Ajawa began to threaten again. The lessened force, without a head, decided that, though their advance might drive the enemyback, it was better to avoid further warfare, and relinquish the post atMagomero. With the long train of helpless natives, then, the few whitemen set forth, and after several days' tedious and weary march came toChibisa's, where they founded a new station on a hill-side, above thenative village, and tried to continue their old system; but by ChristmasMr. Scudamore had become fatally ill, and he died on the morning of NewYear's Day, 1863, greatly lamented, not only by the remnant of his ownparty, but by all the negroes; and on the 17th of March he was followedby Dr. Dickinson. We do not deal with those still living, therefore we will only furthermention that on the 26th of June following Bishop Tozer arrived atChibisa's. He decided on removing to a place called Morumbala, a stationnearer Quillinane, which he hoped might prove healthier, and out of thereach of the Ajawa. The remaining clergy of the mission were greatlyconcerned at this, for they had hopes of influencing the Ajawa, andbesides, the negroes whom they had rescued, who had been now more than ayear under their care, could not for the most part be taken to Morumbala;for, though grieving much at losing their "English fathers, " they wouldbe placed at a distance from their own tribe, among strangers andpossible enemies. The families who could provide for themselves were left at Chibisa's, Mr. Waller making the best terms in his power for them. It was sad to leavethem without having more thoroughly Christianized them, but the frequentsicknesses of the clergy, the loss of the chief pastor, and the want ofsome one to take the lead, had prevented their instruction from being allthat could have been hoped. They had become warmly attached to theEnglish, and had in many respects much improved, and it is hoped thatthey may keep alive the memory of the training they have received, andprepare the way for better things. There were about twenty orphan boys, for whom Bishop Tozer undertook toprovide; but there were also ten or twelve women and girls, the formerold and infirm, the latter orphans, and these Mr. Waller could not bearto abandon, so he carried them with him to Morumbala, and supported themat his own expense, until at the end of five months it was decided togive up Morumbala, and fix the head-quarters of the Central AfricanMission at Zanzibar. Then, as it was not easy to convey the boys, orprovide for them there, Mr. Waller took the charge of them likewise, and, with Dr. Livingstone's assistance, conveyed both them and the women andchildren to Capetown, where he succeeded in procuring homes for them indifferent families and mission schools or stations. All are nowChristians, and show themselves gentle, and susceptible of training andeducation; nor have they much of that disposition so familiar to us inthe transplanted negroes of Western Africa. Four boys were brought toEngland, but the climate would soon have been fatal to them, and it isevident that Capetown or Natal and its dependencies must be the meetingground of the English and African races, since there alone can bothretain their vigour in the same climate. Thus ended the first venture of the University mission, in the sacrificeof four lives, which may be well esteemed as freely laid down in thecause of the Gospel. Such lives and such deaths are the seed of theChurch. It is they that speak the loudest in calling for the freshlabourers; and though the Zanzibar Mission has drifted far away from thefield of Mackenzie's labours, and has adopted a different system, andthough his toils in Natal never were allowed to continue long enough in asingle spot for him personally to reap their fruits upon earth, not onlyhas his name become a trumpet call, but out of his grave has sprung, asit were, a mission in the very quarter where, had he been permitted, hewould have spent his best efforts, namely, the free Zulu country, Panda'skingdom, to the north of the Tugela. It has been already mentioned that Mr. And Mrs. Robertson had removedthither, from their station upon the Umlazi, taking with them a selectionof their Christian Kaffirs, and settling, with the king's permission, ata place called Kwamagwaza. At first they lived in a waggon and tents, for, delicate and often ill as was Mrs. Robertson, she shrank from nohardship or exertion. She writes, "My own health has been wonderful, inspite of much real suffering from the closeness of the waggon, andexposure to rain or hot sun, which is even more trying. I often have tosleep with the waggon open, and a damp foggy air flowing through to keepme from fainting, and I have often told myself, 'You might be worse offin the cabin of a steamer, ' that I might not pity myself too much. " A hut was soon raised, and Mrs. Robertson here ruled in her ownpeculiarly dignified and tender way as the mother of the whole station, keeping guard there while her husband went on expeditions to visit theking and his son Ketchewayo, the chief executive authority. Another hutwas raised to serve as a church, and the days were arranged much as thoseon the Umlazi had been. Children were born to the Christian couples, andMrs. Robertson spent much time and care in teaching the mothers how todeal with them after a civilized and Christian fashion. Other childrenwere sometimes brought to her to be adopted, and when entirely made overby their parents were baptized and bred up as Christians. The generaltrust in Mr. Robertson's skill as a doctor brought many people under hisinfluence, and likewise gave some, though very slight assistance, incombating the belief in witchcraft, the worst enemy with whichChristianity has to contend. Whenever a person falls sick or meets with an accident, a conjurer issent for, who attributes the disaster to some other person, on whomrevenge must be taken. In the British territory, no more can be donethan to treat the supposed wizard with contumely, such as to render hislife a burthen to him, and he can generally escape this by entering somewhite man's service, or attaching himself to a mission-station; but inindependent Zululand, any disaster to prince or great chief was sure tobe followed by a horrible massacre of the whole family of the supposedoffender, unless he had time to escape across the border. Many a timedid wounded women and children fly from the slaughter to Kwamagwaza, andMr. And Mrs. Robertson protect them from the first fury of the pursuers, and then almost force consent from Ketchewayo to their living under theprotection of the umfundisi. Visits to Ketchewayo formed a very important part of the work, since theygradually established his confidence in Mr. Robertson, and obtainedconcessions that facilitated the Christianizing of his people. One ofhis great objections was the fear of losing their services as warriors. The regiments still assemble at his camp as in the days of Dingarn, gothrough their exercises and sing their war-songs, into some of which areintroduced lines in contempt of the Kaffirs who have passed the Tugela tolive under British law:-- "The Natal people have no king, They eat salt; To every tag-rag white man they say, 'Your Excellency!'" Mrs. Robertson's niece, Miss Fanny Woodrow, who had come out to join her, arrived at Durban, and was there met by Mrs. Robertson herself, in herwaggon, after the long and perilous journey undertaken alone with theKaffirs. Her residence at Kwamagwaza was a time of much interest andprosperity; she threw herself into the work, and much assisted in thetraining of the women and children, and one or two visits she made toKetchewayo greatly delighted the prince. She came in June 1861, but shehad become engaged on her way out to the Rev. Lovell Procter, and whenthe mission at Chibisa's was given up, he was in such a state of healthas not to be able to continue with the University Mission. Therefore heset out on his return, and, coming to Natal by the way, arrived atKwamagwaza early in 1864. He was the first brother clergyman Mr. Robertson had seen since coming into Zululand, and the mingling of joy atthe meeting, and of sorrow for Bishop Mackenzie, were almostoverwhelming. At Easter Mr. Procter and Miss Woodrow were married, inthe little mission church, built of bricks made by Mr. Robertson's ownhands and those of his pupils; and soon after Mr. And Mrs. Robertson setout in their waggon to escort the newly-married pair to Durban, takingwith them several of their converts, and all their flock of adoptedchildren. The stay in Durban, and Pieter Maritzburg, among old friends, was full ofcomfort and pleasure; but the indefatigable missionary and his wife weresoon on their way home, their waggon heavily loaded with boxes sent byfriends in England, containing much that they had longed for--among otherthings, iron-work for fitting their church. On the 18th of June, whenthey were three days' journey across the Tugela, while Mr. Robertson waswalking in front of the waggon to secure a safe track for it, the wheels, in coming down a descent, slid along on some slippery grass, and therewas a complete overturn, the waggon falling on its side with the wheelsin the air, and Mrs. Robertson, and a little Kaffir boy of three yearsold, under the whole of the front portion of the load. Her husband and the Kaffirs cut away the side of the waggon with axes, and tried to draw her out, but she was too fast wedged in. She said in acalm voice, "Oh, remove the boxes, " but before this could be done she hadbreathed her last, apparently from suffocation, for her limbs were notcrushed, and her exceeding delicacy of frame and shortness of breathprobably made the weight and suffocation fatal to her. The little boysuffered no injury. The spot was near a Norwegian mission station, where the kindest help wasimmediately offered to the husband. A coffin was made of plank that hadbeen bought at Durban to be made into church doors, and when her husbandhad kept lonely vigil all night over her remains, Henrietta Robertson waslaid in her grave, where the Norwegians hope to build their church, Mr. Robertson himself reading the service over her. But her work has not died with her. Mr. Robertson returned to his lonelytask, helped and tended by the converted man and his wife, Usajabula andChristina, whom she had trained, and whose child had been with her in thefatal overturn. A clergyman returning from the Zanzibar Mission came tohim and aided him for a while; other helpers have come out from time totime, and meantime, Miss Mackenzie exerted herself to the utmost, straining every nerve to obtain funds for the establishment of aMissionary Bishopric in Zululand, as the most fitting memorial to herbrother, since it was here that, had he chosen for himself, his workwould have lain. After several years of endeavour she has succeeded, and, even as these last pages are written, we hold in our hands theaccount of the arrival of the new Bishop at Kwamagwaza. So it is that the work never perishes, but the very extinction of onelight seems to cause the lighting of many more; and thus it is that theword is being gradually fulfilled that the Gospel shall be preached toall nations, and that "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge ofthe glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. " Footnotes: {f:6} At first sight this seems one of the last misfortunes likely tohave befallen a godly gentleman of Charlestown; but throughout theseventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Algerine pirates swept the seasup to the very coasts of England, as Sir John Eliot's biographytestifies. Dr. James Yonge, of Plymouth, an ancestor only four removesfrom the writer, was at one time in captivity to them; and there wasstill probability enough of such a catastrophe for Priscilla Wakefield tointroduce it in her "Juvenile Travellers, " written about 1780. {f:130} Articles of dress. {f:133} The Judsons always use the universal prefix Moung, which weomit, as evidently is a general title. {f:137} All along in these letters, written journal fashion, it is to beobserved how careful and even distrustful Mr. Judson is. {f:221} Merino sheep, so called in Spain because the breed came frombeyond the sea (_Mer_), having been introduced from England by Constance, daughter of John of Gaunt, and wife of Juan II. LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL.