world, as a writer of some celebrity, on the manners and customs of India, we do not think, that his present work would have earned for him either a great, or a lasting fame. It is due to him, indeed, to acknowledge, that he wraps his opinions in no ambiguous language-he says at once, You will never convert the Hindoos to Christianity; but, after all, his only ground for taking up this opinion is, because you never have yet done it, and have for ever lost the time for conversion. This is not satisfactory to us; and although we cannot, like the Abbe, boast of "thirty-two years of confidential, and quite unrestrained intercourse among the natives of India," we can say, that our little experience of them induces us to believe, as we hope and trust, that there is no such absolute impossibility in the measure, provided the proper means be used, as Dubois infers from his own want of success; we are almost tempted to smile, when he gravely speaks of "the desperateness" of such an attempt. It would appear in his hands, indeed, to have been eminently unsuccessful; and he tells us honestly, that the "inutility of his pursuits rendered him entirely disgusted," with his duty. All this, we doubt not, is true; but the sequitur is not so clear, that no other person should attempt the task.

and

In September 1821, our author had, according to the account of a traveller in Southern India *, made up his mind, to leave his bones among his flock; and as we very soon afterwards find him in Europe, we may conclude, that his resolution to leave them was somewhat sudden. The traveller, to whom we refer, has given us a description of the Abbe, who, it appears, is a Jesuit, about six feet high, with lively intelligent eyes, a manly countenance and figure, and a long silver beard. He wore at that time the dress of a Hindu Brah.. nin, a handsome shawl, and a pair of Turkish yellow slippers; and our traveller was led from conversation with him to remark, that "it is a dangerous snare for Christian humility, to be at once a Jesuit, and a man of talent." Dubois seems to have then held the same opinions, in regard to the conversion of the Hindoos, which he has now published: but we are somewhat at a loss to reconcile his trust, as expressed by

Vid. Diary of a Tour through Southern India, &c. in 1821-22, by a FieldOfficer of Cavalry.

himself, that labouring even against hope, his poor services would be rewarded in a better world, with his often repeated opinion, that the attempt to convert the natives of India to Christianity would, if successful, to the extent of opening their eyes to the folly of their own faith, only land them in Atheism, and all manner of immorality.

The Abbe divides the question into two parts :-Is there a possibility of making real converts to Christianity? And are the means employed for that purpose, and above all, the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the idioms of the country, likely to conduce to this desirable object? To both of these he answers, No: and it is a little singular, that after giving this answer to the former, the worthy Abhe did not see the absolute absurdity of even putting the latter of these queries. He goes on, however, to tell us, that there was a time, when no such impossibility existed; for he particularizes a harvest of conversion on the Coromandel coast alone, of 245,000 Neophytes. Unless, therefore, Mons. Dubois intends to take shelter under the phrase "real converts to Christianity," we shall have something like limits to his impos. sibility.

The Abbe, himself a Jesuit, in the canonical acceptation of the word, is undoubtedly of the order, in his apprehension of the doctrine, that the end justifies the means, and that pious frauds may sometimes be not only allowable, but highly praiseworthy. In the detail he gives of the work of conversion under the first Roman Catholic missionaries that visited India, he represents their success, as owing to their having practised various deceptions on the natives; and speaks of it, as in proportion to their talents, in hoodwinking the simple people. It seems, however, that there was at this time more honesty at Rome, than Rome generally gets credit for; and the Pope came to a determination, for which we cannot blame him, although the Abbe appears to do, that if children were to be got in India for the holy see, they should at least be legitimately procured. The consequence was, that a bull was issued to prevent the Indian missionaries from trepanning the Hindoos into a profession of Christianity, under pre→ tence that it was only another edition of Hindooism: and when we reflect, that the consequence of the Roman Catho

lic missionaries succeeding in propagating this belief, must have been to confirm the Hindoos more and more in their errors, by convincing them, that they were embraced by the astronomers and physicians, who so much gained their admiration by their knowledge in these sciences, we really do not much wonder, that even a pope should have felt some reluctance to sanction such a system. The Abbe admits the charge brought against the Jesuits, that instead of converting the Hindoos to Christianity, they were themselves conforming to Hindooism, to have had some degree of foundation; but he ascribes the accusation chiefly, and we dare say with great truth, to the jealousy of rival friars, who were not succeeding so well as the Jesuits, and the defeat of his order to the supe1ior influence of these rivals. Be this as it may, two events conspired to put a stop to the conversion of the Hindoos, and to render it for ever after "impossible"-the arrival in India of the Cardinal de Tornon, under the title of Apostolic Legate-and the invasion of the country by the vile Fringys. The former of these events led to the rigorous bull of Benedict XIV. of which we have already spoken; and the latter served still more completely, to wash the skins, and unpaint the noses of the Roman Catholic missionaries, displaying them to their converts, as no better than contemptible Fringys. Hence, says the Abbe, a great number of proselytes renounced the new religion, and no more conversions were made. This, we think, was very naturally to be expected; and this is what the learned Abbe Dubois calls an abridged history of the rise, the progress, and the decline of the Christian religion in India! followed by a prophecy, that within less than fifty years, there will, he fears, remain no vestige of Christianity among the natives of this country.

It is singular, how very different conclusions men will draw from the same premises. We ascribe the little progress of Christianity in Southern India-the backgoing, if you will, of the gospel in these parts-to the very circumstances, to which Dubois attributes its success: and what he thinks will render every future attempt vain and fruitless, affords, in our estimation, the only rational channel of ultimate success, namely, the establishment of European power and influence. But let the Abbe look to the very heavy account,

which his Roman Catholic brethren have to settle, when it is admitted by him, that by practising the deceptions, which they did for so long a period without exposure, they have rendered the Christian religion in India, in his own words, “almost an object of horror." He does not tell us, if he himself painted his body black, ornamented his brows with the sandalwood ashes, and wore the cave, (or yellow garment, sacred to Hindoos,) in order to gain converts: but he says in general, he conformed to their usages; and he tells how he conducted himself, in his disputations with the natives: and we will venture to say, that if the Jesuits, instead of pursuing the plan they did, had adopted that of DUBOIS, and mixed "decorum, calmness, and forbearance," with their arguments and instructions, their success would have been great and permanent. There is indeed an honesty about our author, which is somewhat remarkably displayed, when he ascribes the little success of the Protestant mission of Tranquebar, to the circumstance of that form of Christianity being but poorly adapted, to receive attention from a sensual people: the compliment by implication to the Romish faith, in which there is the show, pomp, and outward ceremonies, which the Abbe requires, is not very flattering and really, when DUBOIS goes on, in his first letter, to point out the advantages of the Roman Catholic over the Protestant missionary, he seems to us to evince a wonderful degree of liberality for a priest. In answering his second query, in regard to the probable effect of translations of the Bible, he takes care, however, to profess his sincere attachment to the Roman Catholic faith. We shall have an opportunity of afterwards directing the attention of our readers to some of his remarks on this branch of the subject, connected with the labours of the Serampore missionaries, and in several of which we certainly agree with the learned Abbe; but in the mean time let us hear the result of his arguments. "But," says he, p. 42,

"To conclude, let Bibles, as many as you please, in every shapë and in every style, be translated and circulated among the Hindoos; let them, if you wish, be spread in every village, in every cottage, in every family; let the Christian religion be presented to these people under every possible light; I repeat it, with deep sorrow, in my humble opinion,

(an opinion grounded on twenty-five years of experience,) the time of conversion has passed away, and, under existing circumstances, there remains no human possibility to bring it back."

Now we must say, that there is more of decided dogmatism in this declaration of the Abbe, than we have met with for some time, in the writings of any man of ordinary pretensions but what will our readers say to the following strain of argument, employed to prove the impossibility of bringing back the time of conversion? Were not the subject too grave, they would not fail to smile at the ratiocination of the learned DUBOIS.

"The Christian Religion has been announced to the natives of India, without intermission, during the last three or four centuries; at the beginning with some faint hopes of success, but at present with no effect. In the mean time, the oracle of the gospel has been fulfilled with respect to the Hindoos. The divine Founder of our religion has, it is true, announced that his gospel should be preached all over the world, but, to the best of my knowledge, he has never affirmed, that it should be heard, believed, and embraced by all nations."

It is indeed amusing to observe the inconsistencies, into which such writers as the Abbe Dubois fall. After stating the argument, as above expressed, the Abbe goes on to read a lecture of forbearance and caution to those who, pronouncing that all the world must be enlightened by the gospel, strive under that hope to convert the Hindoos; and the instance he gives of his own modesty is, declaring it impossible that the Hindoos ever can be converted! "Who," he asks with the apostle," hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor ?" We put the same question to the Abbe, when he asks us to desist from every attempt to bring the natives of India to a knowledge of Christianity, as impossible.

Our author, certainly in opposition to the opinion generally entertained, asserts, that the time is past, when the support and encouragement of the civil government would have rescued Christianity from contempt; and he could not have given a more melancholy, and mortifying account of the degradation, into which it has fallen. We believe, for our part, that the time for affording this encouragement is only

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