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BV 3277 .084 M64 1887 j 
 Moffat, James Clement, 1811 
 1890 I 
 
 The story of a dedicated 
 
 1 A £^ 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OP 
 
 J^e<£pk Owen 
 
 A DEDICATED LIFE 
 
 REV. JAMES C. '^MOFFAT, D. D. 
 
 CIk ^riuteton ^ress : 
 
 C. 8. ROBINSON & CO.. PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 1887. 
 
Copyright, 1887, by 
 James C. Moffat, D.D. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Days of Education, .--.-.--l 
 
 Chapter II. 
 A voyage round the Cape of Good Hope, _ . . - 9 
 
 Chapter III. 
 A missionary voyage on the Ganges fifty years ago, - - 17 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Allahabad — its religious character — the mission station — 
 
 preliminary work of the missionary, - - - - 33 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Population, languages, and religious changes in Upper India, 
 
 and the relations of the Presbyterian Mission thereto, 46 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 Education of the Heathen, -------61 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 General progress, and the events of missionary work, - 74 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 Translation and publication, - - - - - - 89 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 The mission at Allahabad during the Sepoy mutiny, - - 100 
 
 Chapter X. 
 An attempt at return to mission work, - - - - 122 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 From Calcutta to Furrukhabad, in the trail of the mutiny, 
 
 and through Lord Clyde's army, . - - - - 134 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 Restoration of the mission, ------- 156 
 
 Chapter XIII. 
 A trip to Simla, and in the Himalaya, ----- 172 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 Work completed, ---- 178 
 
THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 DAYS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Among the youth pursuing their studies at Princeton, 
 in the year 1834, there were a few, who regularly met 
 weekly, for rehgious improvement. Their association was 
 called the Philadelphian Society, from its purpose to pro- 
 mote the feeling of Christian brotherhood in its members 
 and through them among mankind. Singly, or in commit- 
 tees, they collected information of the moral and religious 
 condition of their own and other countries. And among 
 the enterprises of the time most interesting to them was 
 that of Christian missions to the heathen. 
 
 On entering the society in those days, there were some 
 names with which a newcomer soon became familiar, not 
 because those who bore them were obtrusive in any way, 
 but from the general deference paid to their characters 
 and opinions. Such were especially Morrison, Dougherty, 
 Freeman, Owen, Janvier, and Canfield. It is pleasant to 
 think of them as they were then, just entering upon man- 
 hood, or aj^proaching it, full of energy, buoyant with hope 
 and elevated with the sentiment of a lofty purpose. The 
 burden of their conversation, at all times, among them- 
 selves, was alleviation of the ills of human life, the salva- 
 tion of souls, the glory of God, the Saviour, and the means 
 through which they hoped to be useful to those ends. 
 There is a nobility in the self -forgetting consecration of 
 
2 DAYS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 pious youth. In many cases it wearies and fails in the 
 struggle with the world. In the case of that little group, 
 it never suffered debasement. The purj^ose of their youth 
 ripened into the execution of their maturer years. At a 
 time when foreign missionary work was still new to most 
 of our Protestant churches, and viewed with more appre- 
 hension, and attended with more privation and danger 
 than it is now, they all offered themselves on the altar of 
 that sacrifice, and never afterwards shrunk from the duties 
 thus incurred, or ever revoked their choice. 
 
 Joseph Owen, then about twenty years of age, was 
 already marked by a maturity of purpose, which, while it 
 made him unattractive to those who lived for pleasure, 
 enlisted on his behalf the respect of earnest and studious 
 men. Of stature above the medium, of staid demeanor, 
 profoundly modest, and yet self-possessed, there was a 
 gentle dignity in his address, which effectually defended 
 him against offensive intrusion, and could easily become 
 severe upon violation of its bounds, while always ready to 
 warm into a beam of affection for a friend. He was a 
 native of Bedford, Westchester County, New York, a son 
 of James and Lucretia Merrit Owen, born on the 14th of 
 June, 1814. His father, a man of highly estimable char- 
 acter, died while his son was yet under ten years of age. 
 His mother, a pious member of the Presbyterian church in 
 Bedford, endeavored to bring up her children in the knowl- 
 edge and fear of the Lord. Joseph early evinced a superior 
 capacity for acquisition of learning, and a desire to become 
 a minister of the Gospel. 
 
 In the course of his studies with a view to that end, he 
 was encouraged by his pastor, the Rev. Jacob G-reen, who 
 also employed him, during college vacations, in Christian 
 
DATS OF EDUCATION. 6 
 
 effort, equally profitable to his own spiritual life, and pre- 
 paratory for his contemplated work. Mr. Green was one 
 of those who formed the Presbyterian Board of Foreign 
 Missions, and was its recording secretary for many years. 
 To him and his excellent lady was Mr. Owen greatly in- 
 debted for that Christian influence which entered into the 
 formation of his character. In October, 1832, he entered 
 the Sophomore class at Princeton. Before the session had 
 far advanced, he was ranked among the best scholars of 
 the class, and had taken his place with those who in the 
 Philadelphian Society were banded together in the cause of 
 practical rehgion. 
 
 Oren K. Canfield was a man of few words, whose reli- 
 gion was severe, and his deportment grave. He had taken 
 leave of the world when he gave himself to Christ, and no 
 longer admitted of tampering with any of its ways. But 
 the sombre manner covered warm and gentle affections, 
 which needed only the approach of Christian fellowship to 
 elicit. He was a moderate scholar, and faithful in appli- 
 cation, but believed that all effort after class honors, and 
 all manifestations of himself, belonged to that spirit of the 
 world which he sought to resist and mortify. Severe to 
 himself, he was considerate and forgiving to others, and 
 willing to be spent for the salvation of his fellow-men. 
 Maturer experience might have taught him that a man 
 hmits his usefulness in thus denying himself; but his 
 serious, single minded, devoted life was early laid down, 
 in the front rank — the forlorn hope of missionary effort on 
 the west coast of Africa. And I have no doubt that it was 
 laid down as bravely, with as complete a resignation as if 
 it had followed a victory. When I think of that quiet, 
 self-contained, seldom speaking young man, moving about 
 
4 DAYS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 among us, with only one great aim absorbing his being, 
 not despising perhaps, but having no heart for our college 
 distinctions, his careful and solemn spiritual preparation 
 for his contemplated work, and his death in the breach, 
 before a foothold within the fortress was won, there are 
 none of my young companions whom I remember with a 
 more respectful tenderness than Oren K. Canfield. 
 
 John E. Freeman had come from the workshop. Schol- 
 arship was to him only means to an end, in itself nothing — 
 a mere retort, which might be broken and thrown away 
 when the end it was made for was accomplished. And that 
 end, as far as he was concerned, was preparation for the 
 (xospel ministry among the heathen. Converted from the 
 midst of profligate companions, whom he saw hastening on 
 to ruin, he was filled with a sense of the atrocity of sin, its 
 prevalence and power in the world, and of the calamitous 
 condition of the nations where no gospel interfered with 
 the full development of its fruits in misery. Anything 
 was, in his estimation, valuable which went to qualify him 
 the better to proclaim the Grospel to the heathen, that he 
 might be the means of staying, as much as he possibly 
 could, the overwhelming tide of sin. What did not look to 
 that end was nothing in his eyes. Classics, Philosophy, 
 Science, professors the most learned or the most eloquent ; 
 were nothing in themselves, only means. The gi'eat end in 
 view swallowed up everything. From the day of his con- 
 version until he left his native land was one unabating 
 rush of preparation. He could not wait to complete his 
 apprenticeshiiD, nor proceed by the slow method of self- 
 education, but bought up the remainder of his time, rapidly 
 finished his preparation in the Grammar School, went im- 
 mediately from College into the Theological Seminary, and 
 
DAYS OF EDUCATION. 5 
 
 was ready to set out for the foreign field assigned him, as 
 soon as he had completed the theological course. Every- 
 thing undertaken by him was marked by the same almost 
 impatient rapidity. What was once done, was done ; if 
 perfectly, well ; if imperfectly, so much the worse, but never 
 to be recurred to, unless it belonged to the tasks of recur- 
 ring duty. His rapidity of movement, the sparkle of his 
 eye, his quick, but clear and distinct utterance, and the 
 animation and firmness of his countenance all spoke the 
 man of resolute purpose and dispatch in execution. Such, 
 not as a scholar, but in whatever was put into his hands 
 to do, was his clear exj3editious discharge of duty, until the 
 day when he fell in the massacre at Cawnpore. 
 
 A careful culture from infancy in a refined Christian 
 family had prepared Levi Janvier to take with facility a 
 place among the first honor men of his class. His scholar- 
 ship was not extensive but precise and true, firmly appre- 
 hended, and held at deliberate command. There was no 
 halting in his recitations: they were clear and complete. 
 But beyond the studies assigned to the class, in that direc- 
 tion, he cared not to go. Scholarship, although he ex- 
 celled and took pleasure in it, was not his aim; it was pre- 
 paration to preach the Grospel ; and he labored to be well 
 prepared. His opinions were as precise as his scholarship. 
 Earnestly above all other things desiring the salvation of 
 men, he did not conceive of that end as being attainable 
 except by the path of sound Calvinism. The same precision 
 was a feature of his manner and dei3ortment. And yet 
 there was about him always and invariably, and in him 
 intrinsically, a sweet and gentle courtesy, the genuine out- 
 growth of a heart glowing with Christian love. Another 
 such combination of wann, really tender outgoing affec- 
 
6 DATS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 tion, with severe, precise self-culture I have never known. 
 It was always the same. The two features of character 
 did not alternate in him, they were harmoniously blended. 
 Whatever moods of mind he may have been subject to, 
 they never ruffled the serenity of his outer life. In maturer 
 years, it was the gentler element of his nature which 
 preponderated. His death in India by the hands of an 
 assassin was an event which no common passion could 
 explain. 
 
 Joseph Owen associated freely with his fellow-students, 
 but with those now mentioned his relations were most in- 
 timate, through both his collegiate and theological course. 
 And the benefit which he derived from their society was 
 perhaps well balanced by that which he conferred. Of all 
 the group he alone took a real interest in learning, not 
 merely for the ends to be reached by it, but also for its 
 own sake. In that love of knowledge which wrestles with 
 difficulties cordially, and rests not until they are mastered, 
 he was excelled by none of his compeers, while the eleva- 
 tion and equableness of his Christian life was often a sup- 
 port to friends subject to more fluctuating moods. After 
 receiving his first degree in College in September, 1835, he 
 entered the Theological Seminary in Princeton. There 
 employed in studies more completely within the range of 
 his purposes for life, he distinguished himself by great 
 superiority of attainment. Especially in the department 
 of Biblical literature, and Oriental languages, he earned 
 the highest commendations of Dr. Joseph Addison Alex- 
 ander, then entering upon the prime of his own brilliant 
 career. His theological course was extended to four years, 
 during three of which he was also mathematical tutor in 
 college; and in that capacity acquitted himself with his 
 
DAYS OF EDUCATION. 7 
 
 usual industry and success. It was with a view the better 
 to prepare for his contemplated work in an oriental mis- 
 sion by fortifying himself in the oriental languages under 
 the instructions of Professors Alexander and Nordheimer 
 that he took the additional year. With the latter he pur- 
 sued the study of Arabic and Sanskrit. By the end of 
 that time he had read with strict grammatical care the 
 whole of the Hebrew Bible, and in Arabic the whole of the 
 Koran, and made considerable progress in the classical 
 language of India, besides exceeding the measure of the 
 studies assigned to the classes in other departments. 
 
 At the close of the session of 1839, which then occurred 
 in September, he left Princeton, and was ordained by the 
 Presbytery of Westchester at Bedford on the second of 
 October following. Immediately afterwards he was ap- 
 pointed by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to 
 their recently selected field in Northern India. For a few 
 months, including the winter of 1839-40, and the succeed- 
 ing Spring, he acted as an agent of the Board in some of 
 the middle States. His friends, Morrison and Freeman, 
 had already preceded him to India, the fonner, in 1838, 
 and the latter, in 1839. And in the same year in which 
 Morrison went to the east, Dougherty had gone to the 
 west, and commenced his mission among the Chippewa 
 and Ottawa tribes, to whose spiritual interests his life was, 
 in all its best energies, devoted. 
 
 On the third of August, 1840, Mr. Owen took leave of 
 his mother and sisters and younger brother and of all the 
 nearest and dearest to him, to go forth in the service of his 
 Lord to preach the Grospel to the heathen. That parting 
 cost him inexpressible suffering; he never recurs to it in 
 his journals or letters without a fresh outburst of emotion; 
 
8 DAYS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 for he was a man in whom the social affections were warm 
 and tender. But even in that crisis of trial I feel assured 
 that the thought of drawing back, — the thought that this is 
 a too expensive way of doing good — never for a moment 
 occurred. Dedication to missionary work had become a 
 part of himself. It had ceased to be a question before his 
 mind. As such it had been closed up long ago, never more 
 to be opened. It was the decree of God for him. He knew 
 that it would cost self-denial. But his mind was made up 
 for self-denial. What it would cost was no longer to be 
 considered. He had summed up all that when he gave 
 himself to the Lord. Nor was this separation from all 
 he loved most dearly upon earth designed to be temporary. 
 In his view it was final. The devotion of himself was 
 without reserve. It was to live and die in his work. When 
 a friend remonstrated with him, "Why incur such ex- 
 posure to an unhealthy climate ? You may not live long," 
 " I do not expect to live long," was his reply, "Some must 
 go to begin the work." His going to what he felt to be 
 duty was not to depend upon the chances of life. Yet that 
 entire self -dedication was not made in a stem and gloomy 
 spirit: he did not go to his life's work like one going to 
 execution ; for asceticism was no part of his nature, which 
 was genial and sociable; but not the less was the self- 
 consecration irreversible. 
 
 On the second morning after that parting, Mr. Owen 
 sailed from Boston, in the barque "Eugene," Captain 
 Whitney, upon the long voyage round the Cape of G-ood 
 Hope. He went in company with his friends of the Theol- 
 ogical Seminary, the Eev. John C. Rankin, and Wilham H. 
 M'Auley, who with their wives and Miss Jane Vanderveer, 
 a teacher, were all appointed to the missions of the Pres- 
 byterian Church in Northern India. 
 
VOYAOE TO INDIA. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A VOYAGE ROUND THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
 
 A montli after leaving Boston the missionaries were far 
 down on the coast of Africa, opposite Sierra Leone. And 
 thus did Mr. Owen express himself: "We have been sailing 
 about thirty hours nearly east, and drawing nearer and 
 nearer to that dark and benighted peninsula. It is indeed 
 melancholy to think of the millions, now so near us, that 
 are sunk to the lowest depths of degradation and wretch- 
 edness." A few months earlier, his friend and fellow- 
 member of the Philadelphian Society, the Rev. Oren K. 
 Canfield, in company with Mr. Pinney and Jonathan P. 
 Alward, a younger member of the same society, and stu- 
 dent of the Theological Seminary in Princeton, had passed 
 along that coast, on an exploring visit, to select a place for 
 a missionary station. They had determined upon one 
 among the Kroo people, about half way between Cape 
 Palmas and Monrovia; and now were again at home 
 preparing for the occupation of it. Four months later, in 
 February, 1841, Canfield and Alward returned to begin 
 their work with buoyant hopes in the new and vast 
 field which lay before them, — hopes early disappointed. 
 The malaria of that fatal coast carried off Alward almost 
 as soon as he approached it ; and in May of the next year, 
 Canfield followed him to the grave. Their companions 
 returned home, with exception of one colored teacher, who 
 survived to conduct his work. But self-sacrifice for that 
 part of Africa was not at an end. The Rev. Robert Sawyer, 
 
10 VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 also of the Philadelphian Society, arrived with his wife at 
 Monrovia in December, 1841, and proceeded to Settra Kroo, 
 to take up the work of those departed friends, whom he 
 had expected to assist. He did not long survive them. 
 In December, 1843, he also fell a victim to the climate. 
 But ere that date the work of Christian instruction had 
 been successfully established, schools had been put into 
 prosperous operation, which Mrs. Sawyer continued to 
 conduct after her husband's death, while educated colored 
 men were introduced to teach and preach the gospel to 
 their countrymen. 
 
 After thirty days' sailing down the coast of Africa, 
 though never once coming in sight of it, the " Eugene" 
 had passed beyond the extreme point of the continent into 
 the Southern ocean. On the third of October, Mr. Owen 
 wrote in his journal, "We are now far in the dreary 
 South, where we seem to ourselves to be almost out of the 
 world. We expect to cross the meridian of London to- 
 morrow. We are south of the Cape of G-ood Hope, but on 
 account of a strong current which sets in from Madagascar, 
 it is customary on an outward voyage to India, to sail as 
 far up as the 38th or 39th degree of south latitude, before 
 making much easting. What is called ' Doubling the Cape' 
 is therefore sailing thus far south, and then turning and 
 / going east about five or six thousand miles. We expect to 
 \ be in cold weather about a month, and truly the prospect 
 is not a very cheering one. We can have no fire, and with 
 all the bundling-up convenient for us, we can hardly keep 
 warm. October 4th. Sabbath. My thoughts have been 
 much in Bedford to-day. how delighted would my 
 heart have been to join with my dear friends once more in 
 commemorating the Saviour's dying love. I love to think 
 
VOYAGE TO INDIA. 11 
 
 of that place where I first pubhcly dedicated myself to 
 God, where I was for years fed with the sincere milk of 
 the Word, where I have often held sweet communion with 
 many dear Christian friends, where I received license to 
 preach the everlasting Gospel, and where I was solemnly 
 ordained to the work of the holy ministry." 
 
 Without any event worthy of notice, the protracted 
 imprisonment of the missionaries terminated on the twenty- 
 fourth of December, by their landing at Calcutta. 
 
 " The natural scenery, which we pass in going up 
 the river, is very beautiful. The deep rich green, which 
 covers the banks, is most delightful to the eyes, after see- 
 ing nothing but ocean and sky for nearly five months. 
 This evening, when walking the deck, I could not wonder 
 that India had been painted by so many as a sort of fairy 
 land. All was calm, nothing was to be heard but the 
 voice of natives on the shore, or from the water, and the 
 paddling of their oars up and down the yellow Hoogly. 
 The water was smooth as glass, and gave a perfect reflec- 
 tion of the western sky, after the sun had sunk beneath the 
 horizon. Here indeed 
 
 'Every prospect pleases 
 And only man is vile.' 
 
 The noble array of palaces, gardens and gi'oves, on both 
 sides of us, as we passed, presented a picture of luxury and 
 magnificence. There was, however, a defect in the appear- 
 ance of the buildings : they were too low, not more than 
 two stories high. There was also a sameness in the scen- 
 ery, which I could not help contrasting with the beauti- 
 ful variety of that on the Hudson." 
 
 On the dav following their arrival in Calcutta, thev met 
 
12 VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 with Gopinath Nundy, from the mission at Futtehgurh, 
 who proved of great assistance to them in making arrange- 
 ments for their journey. 
 
 In Calcutta they found true friends among the Eng- 
 .H.<wv I ]-gj^ g^j^^ American residents, who extended to them every 
 kindness they could expect. During the two weeks spent 
 in that city Mr. Owen visited some of the public institu- 
 tions of which he wrote home interesting accounts. On 
 his first Sunday in Calcutta he worshipped at the Scottish 
 Kirk and heard Dr. Duff preach in the morning, and Dr. 
 Charles in the evening. Some of Dr. Duff's speeches and 
 sermons had been much admired in America, and Mr. 
 Owen's expectations were high. He testifies that they 
 were not disappointed. That first Lord's Day in a heathen 
 land made a deep impression upon his mind. " The streets 
 of Calcutta present the same appearance on the Sabbath 
 as on other days. The multitudes that we see during the 
 week are also thronging the streets to-day, and are busied 
 about their usual concerns. Their shops and bazars, or 
 markets, are all open, some are carrying palkis, others 
 driving carts loaded with goods, the Bhistis, or water car- 
 riers, are going about with their leathern water bags hang- 
 ing from their shoulders, hawkers are going about the 
 streets trying to sell light articles, and others are going to 
 and fro, seeming hardly to know where. Under my win- 
 dow there is a constant hum of voices engaged either in 
 business or amiisement. Think of the difficulty of keeping 
 one's heart in such circumstances. If this is admitted to 
 be so difficult in a Christian land, where so many external 
 advantages combine to favor one's efforts, what must it be 
 here, where everything is unfavorable, where Satan reigns 
 with almost unlimited control ? But the name of the 
 
VOYAGE TO INDIA. 13 
 
 Lord is a strong tower, to which the righteous may con- 
 tinually resoi-t." 
 
 Some delay being occasioned by difficulty in procuring 
 suitable boats and other necessaries for the voyage up the 
 river, Mr. Owen took the opportunity to see many objects 
 of interest in the great Anglo-Indian city. Among other 
 such, he visited the premises of the Baptist mission, on 
 what is called the Circular Eoad, and the Bishop's college 
 down the river. 
 
 On the second of January he writes as follows: "No 
 words are adequate to express the feelings raised by what 
 I have seen to-day. I have been at the Scotch school, V 
 where six hundred heathen youth are receiving a Christian 
 education. And such an exhibition of order, mental vigor, 
 and thorough instruction, I have never before seen. This 
 school is uprooting in the minds of all who are taught in 
 it, the whole system of Hinduism. It was formed little 
 more than ten years ago, stands near the centre of the 
 native town, in an extensive open place, and is advantage- 
 ously situated for coolness, the greatest object toward 
 comfortable living to be attained in the selecting of build- 
 ing locations in this country. The school building has 
 only one story, and is therefore spread over a large surface 
 of ground." 
 
 "It was delightful on entering the school room of Dr 
 Duff, to cast the eye over five hundred Hindu childi-en, 
 di'essed in the native costume, arranged in classes, each of 
 which was formed into a square with a monitor standing 
 within proposing questions and hearing the recitations. 
 Most of their countenances were sprightly and intelligent. 
 We were first taken to the lowest class, and went from 
 that up. These were most of them very young children. 
 
14 VOYAGE TO INDIA; 
 
 say from five to eight years of age, all learning the English 
 alphabet, through the medium of Bengali, their native 
 tongue, and taught by natives. The next two or three 
 classes were small grades higher, consisting of those who 
 had learned to combine the letters into syllables or short 
 words. A little further on were classes learning Scrij^ture 
 truths in the way of question and answer, as ' Who made 
 all things?' 'G-od.' ' What is Grod ? ' 'He is a spirit.' 
 *Can He see you?' 'Yes.' 'Can you see Him?' 'No.' — 
 a new idea to a Hindu mind, and striking at the root of 
 their enormous fabric of superstition. Still higher were 
 those who could read, and further on were classes learn- 
 ing English Grammar, then Arithmetic, G-eography, and 
 some simply composed history. In an adjoining room 
 were classes studying some more extended works on G-eo- 
 graphy and History, and learning Euclid's Elements and 
 Astronomy." 
 
 "After this we went into another department, where 
 some of the highest branches of mathematics, history, the 
 physical sciences, mental and moral science, evidences of 
 Christianity and doctrinal theology are taught." 
 
 "I can truly say that I never before saw such an ad- 
 mirable display of mind as was exhibited during this 
 examination. It is not extravagant to say that it was far 
 beyond anything that may be seen among the large major- 
 ity of students in our colleges and theological seminaries. 
 The young men showed that they had not only read on 
 those subjects, but had thought carefully and profoundly 
 for themselves. 
 
 " The ages of the members of this department were, I 
 should judge, from sixteen to twenty-four, or twenty-six. 
 They have learned to speak English with ease, and most of 
 
VOYAGE TO INDIA. 15 
 
 them take pleasure in reading the Bible in our language. 
 A lecture is delivered to them every Sabbath evening in 
 the institution, which is well attended. I was present 
 last Sabbath evening, and saw almost every eye directed 
 towards the speaker, and whenever he referred to a text of 
 Scripture, they had their Bibles at hand, and readily 
 found it. None of them board in the institution, and it is 
 entirely optional with them whether they shall attend any 
 of the exercises of the school or not. It is remarkable that 
 even during their great festivals, they nearly all come. 
 The Bible is carefully taught every day, yet so great is 
 their desire to obtain a knowledge of the English language, 
 that they are willing to learn the Christian religion for the 
 sake of the language, through which it is communicated. 
 Science seems to assume a religious importance in this 
 country. Nothing does more towards the subversion of 
 Hinduism than the teaching of true notions connected 
 with the physical sciences, since a large part of it is based 
 on and mingled with false assumptions in reference to the 
 natural world. The government schools, established in 
 different parts of the country, teach the English language, 
 and give the pupils access to our sciences, but carefully ex- 
 clude the Christian religion from their course of instruc- 
 tion. The consequence of this must be that as they lose 
 confidence in their own religion, and have no other to sub- 
 stitute in the place of it, they will be transformed from 
 idolators into sceptics and infidels. Such a result every 
 Christian heart must deprecate." 
 
 On the fifth of January, he writes: "I went this morn- 
 ing to a missionary prayer meeting. It is customary with 
 the missionaries in Calcutta of all denominations, on the 
 first Tuesday morning of every month, to meet at half -past 
 
16 VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 seven for prayer. They have breakfast at the place where 
 they assemble, and then spend some hours together in con- 
 ference, discussing questions of practical importance to 
 them in the prosecution of their labors." 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 17 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 A MISSIONARY VOYAGE ON THE GANGES, FIFTY YEARS AGO. 
 
 The enterprise, which Mr. Owen and his companions 
 were now proceeding to join, was commenced in the year 
 1834, by the Eev. John C. Lowrie, under direction of the 
 Western Foreign Missionary Society. In the Presbyterian 
 Church of the United States, foreign missionary effort 
 made its beginning in the action of the Synod of Pitts- 
 burgh, October, 1831. On that occasion the society now 
 mentioned was organized, "with the hope of calHng into 
 action the slumbering energies of the Presbyterian Church 
 in the gi*eat work of sending the Gospel of salvation to the 
 perishing heathen." Its appeal to the church declared 
 that, although the Society "originated in the Synod of 
 Pittsburg, it was composed of the ministers, sessions and 
 churches, not only of that body, but of any other Synod or 
 Synods, Presbytery or Presbyteries, that formally unite 
 with them." In 1837, the G-eneral Assembly of the Pres- 
 byterian church appointed a Board of Foreign Missions. 
 And to that the Western Society transferred itself with all 
 its missions and funds. 
 
 In 1833 the Western Foreign Missionary Society 
 resolved to attempt something toward aiding in the evan- 
 gelization of India. In October of that year the first mis- 
 sionaries, the Eev. Messrs. W. Eeed and J. C. Lowrie with 
 their wives, arrived at Calcutta. There they took counsel 
 of English Christians, long resident in India, among whom 
 were the Eev. William Pearce, of the English Baptist mis- 
 
18 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 sion, the Rev. Dr. Duff, of the Scottish mission, and Sir 
 Charles Trevelyan, one of the secretaries in the civil service 
 of the East India Company, who had resided in the upper 
 country. They were on all hands encouraged, according to 
 their first j^urpose, to proceed to the extreme northwest 
 of the provinces then under British rule. It was a country 
 recently opened to missionary effort, but in great measure 
 unoccupied ; it lay in a relation to other heathen countries 
 west and north of it, "which suggested the hope that the 
 Gospel might be eventually extended from thence into the 
 heart of central Asia," and the superior energy of its 
 people as compared with those of the lower provinces sug- 
 gested greater expectations from their instrumentality in 
 subsequent progress. 
 
 Lodiana, a city on the river Sutlej, the most eastern 
 tributary of the Indus, was selected as the station to be 
 first occupied. But only one member of that company was 
 ever to see the place. Mrs. Lowrie died in Calcutta, and 
 Mr. Reed's failing health constrained him to abandon the 
 attempt to proceed further. Accompanied by his wife he 
 turned his face homeward, but died on the way. Mr. 
 Lowrie, having arrived at Lodiana in November, 1834, 
 was almost immediately prostrated by disease, and upon 
 his recovery urged by his medical advisors to return home, 
 as his constitution could not stand that climate. Still un- 
 willing to leave the post until others should arrive to 
 occupy it, he remained over a year doing pioneer work, 
 which proved of value to his successors. 
 
 In December, 1835, the Rev. John Newton and the 
 Rev. James Wilson, with their wives arrived, and took up 
 the work which Mr. Lowrie had begun. Thus relieved he 
 left Lodiana, and at Calcutta, in the month of March, met 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 19 
 
 a third company, consisting of William S. Rogers, James 
 R. Campbell, James M'Ewen, Jesse M. Jamieson, and 
 Joseph Porter, ministers, with their wives. It was his 
 privilege to welcome them upon their landing, and to aid 
 them in preparing for their inland journey. By this com- 
 pany three new stations were occupied, Allahabad, at the 
 jimction of the Granges and Jumna ; Saharunpur, about 
 one hundred and thirty miles southeast of Lodiana, and 
 Sabathu, one hundred and ten miles to the northeast from 
 the same place. 
 
 The station at Allahabad was planted by M'Ewen, in 
 1836, and a church of thirteen members constituted next 
 January. " Besides preaching M'Ewen gave part of his 
 time to the charge of schools, in which he was greatly 
 assisted by his equally devoted wife. But they were not 
 permitted to continue long in those labors." From loss of 
 health M'Ewen was constrained to leave India, in 1838; 
 and as the station was of too much importance to be left 
 unoccupied, Wilson came from Lodiana to take his place. 
 
 At Calcutta, M'Ewen met a fourth company, consist- 
 ing of three ministers, John H. Morrison, Henry R. Wilson, 
 and Joseph Caldwell, with James Craig, a teacher, and 
 Reese Morris, a printer, with their wives. Mrs. Morrison 
 died before leaving Calcutta. The rest proceeded to vari- 
 ous stations abeady planted, Morrison to Allahabad, to 
 assist Wilson, Caldwell and Craig to Saharunpur, and 
 Morris to Lodiana. H. R. Wilson, on his way to Lodiana, 
 was induced to stop at Futtehgurh on the Granges, two 
 himdred miles above Allahabad. 
 
 During the terrible famine which prevailed in the pre- 
 ceding year, (1837) a number of destitute and starving 
 children had been collected and provided for at Futtehghur 
 
20 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 by Dr. Madden, a pious physician in the East India Com- 
 pany's service. Captain Wheeler, also in the same neigh- 
 borhood, had gathered a similar group of helpless outcasts, 
 and earnestly wished to find some person to take charge of 
 them, who might be better qualified for the task than he 
 thought himself to be. H. E. Wilson was applied to, and 
 took up his residence at Futtehgurh. There with his 
 interesting charge of orphan children, and assisted by 
 Gopinath Nundy, a native teacher, previously employed in 
 their instruction, he entered upon important labors, which, 
 ; although doomed to a fearful interruption, have been 
 •steadily prosecuted by other hands. 
 
 Five stations were now constituted, but still only feebly 
 manned. A fifth company arrived in the spring of 1839, 
 consisting of the Rev. Messrs. John E. Freeman, Joseph 
 Warren, and James L. Scott, with their wives, who were 
 all assigned to the lower stations. Freeman and Warren 
 remained at Allahabad, and Scott joined H. E. Wilson at 
 Futtehgurh. 
 
 It was with no little pleasure that the missionaries 
 thus already on the ground, heard of a new company on its 
 way to join them. According to orders received from the 
 Board, before leaving their native land, the members of that 
 sixth comj)any were j^roceeding, Joseph Owen to Allahabad, 
 and M'Auley and Eankin and Miss Vanderveer to Futteh- 
 gurh. 
 
 Of the five stations the most important, it was thought, 
 were Lodiana and Allahabad, at the northwestern and 
 southeastern extremities respectively of the field occupied. 
 Lodiana was of importance as looking to the then un- 
 occupied and independent Punjab ; Allahabad, as a central 
 point in Northern India, an important business depot, and 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 21 
 
 a place of great resort for Hindu and Mohammedan 
 pilgrims. ^cK.^ 7 - ^:>-^v^^\ 3 -^^ 
 
 In their voyage up the Ganges, the missionaries availed 
 themselves of every opportunity to learn the character and 
 habits of the people, as well as to mark with interest the 
 footsteps of preceding Christian enterprise. On the morn- 
 ing after leaving Calcutta, being Sunday, they anchored 
 off Serampore, a place associated in their minds with the 
 first Baptist mission to India. A thick fog prevented them 
 from getting ashore in time to attend church in the fore- 
 noon, and they had service on the boat; but in the even- 
 ing they went ashore, and were received with kindness by 
 the missionaries. In compliance with an urgent invitation, 
 they returned next morning, and visited the house in which 
 Dr. Carey had lived, and other premises of the Baptist 
 mission, and with especial interest their printing and pub- 
 lishing establishment, where their whole business of book- 
 making was carried on. But a sense of duty and desire to 
 be at their own field of labor caused the visit to be brief. 
 
 The scenery through which they passed, for a great dis- 
 tance, Mr. Owen describes as beautiful exceedingly, as some 
 creation of fancy might be, gardens, sumptuous residences, 
 cultivated grounds, and temples on the margin of the 
 river, among trees of richest verdure, and animated by 
 multitudes of people. But a nearer sight of the inhab- 
 itants was always of a nature to dispel enchantment. One 
 evening they fastened their budgerows by a sandy beach, 
 and Owen, with M'Auley and G-opinath, went out on shore 
 for a walk. At a short distance back from the river they 
 came to a village, and while in the bazar, they heard a 
 loud singing and drumming at a distance. "I had the curi- 
 ositv," writes Mr. Owen, "to see what it was. As we came 
 
22 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 near, Gopee could distinguish their words (they were 
 Bengali) and found that they were singing to the honor 
 of one of their gods. It was a comj^lete frolic, and looked 
 more like what we call a rowdy, than like anything con- 
 nected with religion. I was glad to turn away from the 
 unpleasant sight." 
 
 The journey up the river was slow, only from eight to 
 twelve miles a day : and sometimes the boats were delayed 
 for several hours, allowing walks of considerable length 
 into the country. On one such occasion, they stopped at 
 the large village of Calna. While the other missionaries 
 went to purchase provisions, Mr. Owen started out on a 
 walk to see what was worth seeing. " The dwellings 
 were all of native construction, built of mud, and not a 
 single European building could be seen. On ascending 
 the bank, I observed some Hindu temples back of the 
 village, and determining to gratify my curiosity, went to 
 them, although without any guide. I passed the thronged 
 streets unmolested, every one giving way to the Sahih. As 
 I came near, I found that the temj^les were within a high 
 enclosure. On the outside was a large bazar crowded with 
 people, but all gave way to me, and I passed along as 
 though I was perfectly acquainted with them, their country 
 and their language. I determined to see all I could, and 
 go on until I was stoj^ped. After going back of the high 
 white enclosure, I came to a large pool of water in a 
 grove, where many were bathing. A little further on was 
 a temple perfectly round, but I could see no entrance. In 
 a small yard near, stood a camel, and at a short distance 
 was a car, on which were images of gods and carved 
 horses. I now found an entrance to the large enclosure, 
 and walked in. Here was a large and beautiful garden. 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 23 
 
 containing a great variety of flowers, and laid out and kept 
 with much care. These flowers are raised for the jDurj^ose 
 of being carried into the temples and offered to the gods. 
 I had a great desire to enter one of the temples, to see what 
 was there. As I came to the door of one, I met two men, 
 and asked them if I might enter. Although I could not 
 understand a word they said, I perceived they wished me 
 not to go. One of my feet was just over the threshold of 
 the gate, but as they seemed to remonstrate, I desisted. 
 Gopee told me that had I gone in, I would probably have 
 lost my life, as they think their temples profaned by the 
 footsteps of a Sahib, and that they have a right, in such 
 circumstances to kill him." 
 
 The missionaries were now coasting along the borders 
 of Beerbhoom, the ancient Aryan land of heroes, a country 
 which after having suffered from ages of reckless despot- 
 ism, had latterly been more than half desolated under the 
 combined calamities of famine and the ravages of banditti 
 and of wild animals. Fifty years before, approach to the 
 river's bank would have been made at the risk of life from 
 the attacks of tigers, bears and wild elephants. Now, 
 through the regularity and efficient protection of a wiser 
 government, industry had prevailed over the wilderness. 
 The jungle had again been reclaimed, the tigers extermin- 
 ated, and the elephants reduced to servitude. A rich and 
 productive country and a peaceful population presented 
 themselves on every side. Quietly industrious and patient, 
 the peasantry seemed to be more disposed to dwell upon 
 the observances and hopes of their religion than upon 
 schemes of avarice or ambition. It seemed as if only the 
 Grospel was needed to put them in possession of the best 
 popular elements of civihzation.^ 
 
 1. Hunter's Annals of Rural Bengal. 
 
24 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of January, the season for the 
 worship of the goddess of Knowledge, the boats stopped 
 in the evening at a large village called Jungipur, where 
 there was an English station. Next morning, Mr. Owen 
 in company with Mr. M'Auley walked into the village. 
 "Almost at every corner stood a small temple. The Hindu 
 temples, as far as I have yet seen, are quite small. At 
 length we came to a large garden, the walks of which were 
 paved, and on each was carved work of stone of various 
 kinds. We entered, and saw an exhibition of considerable 
 taste in its plan and execution. We saw the image of the 
 goddess of Knowledge, adorned with various kinds of 
 trinkets, fixed under a booth, with an image on each side 
 of her, and before them were cast garlands of flowers in 
 profusion, as offerings from the deluded i)eoj)le." 
 
 In the afternoon, they went into the bazar to preach, 
 and found a large concourse of natives full of bustle, and 
 engaged in various kinds of trafiic. The duty of preaching 
 was put upon Mr. Owen, and Modu Shodun acted as inter- 
 preter. "We took our station in the street before some of 
 the shops, and soon had a crowd of people around us. 
 Just as I was about commencing, a procession came up, 
 having two images of the goddess of Knowledge, beating 
 drums, tom-toms, and other noisy instruments, making 
 ludicrous gestures, burning incense to the images, with 
 two men holding umbrellas over their heads. All their 
 actions had more the appearance of buffoonery than of 
 religious worship. In the strength of my Master I now 
 commenced preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ in 
 this stronghold of Satan, and to many souls, who had un- 
 doubtedly never heard the precious gospel before. In gen- 
 eral, good attention was given ; but it is with the Lord to 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 25 
 
 bless his truth. At the close I announced to them that 
 we had some books which would give them more informa- 
 tion about the Saviour of whom I had been preaching. 
 There was then a great and general rush, and the books 
 were almost torn from our hands. We gave away a large 
 number of tracts, and many gospels, all in Bengali. Thus 
 did we cast our bread upon the waters. 
 
 Just as I had done preaching, another procession came 
 up bearing the images that we had seen in the morning, to 
 which they were burning incense, beating drums and blow- 
 ing on musical instruments, and making all the indecent 
 gestures that accompanied the others. Soon another pro- 
 cession with similar images and accompaniments followed, 
 preceded by men on horses, and followed by men on a 
 large elephant, all painted in various ways, and making 
 horrible grimaces. It seemed indeed, as if the wicked 
 one had been let loose, and was exerting his power with- 
 out control. In the evening they brought the image of the 
 goddess down to the water with great ceremony, music, 
 noise and confusion, and amid the firing of crackers and 
 guns, threw her into the sacred stream." 
 
 How the missionaries sj)ent the Sabbath will appear 
 from the following description. "We all assembled in our 
 budgerow in the morning at ten, and had prayer and a 
 short discourse, and afterward reading of the Scriptures in 
 Bengalee and prayer in Hindustanee, by Gopeenath. In 
 the afternoon, G-opee assembled the men on the bank, and 
 read the Scriptures and talked to them. In the meantime 
 M'Auley and myself went with Modu to a village a short 
 distance from us, to preach and distribute books. We 
 passed through a field where men w^ere busy ploughing. 
 When we arrived at the village, one of the first objects 
 
26 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 that met our eyes was a large tree worshipped by the 
 natives, under which was an image of the wife of Siva, 
 one of their gods. We passed on a little further, and came 
 to a shade where were some men winding yarn. Here we 
 stationed ourselves, and Modu commenced reading a Ben- 
 gali tract to three or four men. Others, as they passed 
 by, stopped to listen, and in a short time, our assembly 
 amounted to upwards of twenty. I then commenced 
 preaching through my interpreter, telling them of the 
 nature of God, the fallen condition of man^ and what has 
 been done for our redemption. After I had been proceed- 
 ing for some time, a man who had been listening with a 
 contemptuous air and sneering countenance, seeing another 
 of some influence on horseback, at a distance, went and 
 brought him. He rode to us on his horse, and began rail- 
 ing and ridiculing, and succeeded in disturbing us for a 
 short time. Modu began to answer his objections, but I 
 knew that in present circumstances, that would be of no 
 use, and directed him to return to interpreting for me. 
 We proceeded while the man continued his scoffing. At 
 length, finding that he was not noticed, he sat and patiently 
 listened to us. After I had done, I went and gave him a 
 copy of the gospel of Mark, and some tracts, which he 
 readily received. He asked, in a jeering way, if we thought 
 these books were going to make them Christians. 
 
 After leaving this village, we went a short distance to 
 another, which w^as Mohammedan. Here we saw three 
 or four men putting straw and other things around their 
 cottages, and one of them, an old man, left his work to 
 talk with us. A seat having been brought, I began con- 
 versation with him, and asked him if he had ever heard of 
 Jesus. He rej^hed that many years ago, a man came 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 27 
 
 through their village, and told them something about him. 
 I asked him if he believed that all men were sinners. He 
 said he knew he himself was. I then explained to him, 
 as well as I could through Modu, how he could be saved 
 from the dreadful consequences of sin, and talked to him 
 a long time, while he listened with much attention. We 
 then gave him, and others around him, some books, and 
 took leave. In the evening we all met again in our 
 budgerow, for Bible class." 
 
 So far, they had been saihng on the Hooglej, one of 
 the outlets of the Granges. Next day they entered the main 
 river, and found a majestic sheet of water spread before 
 them, pouring in a current broad, deep and strong, all the 
 collected tribute which the south side of the Himalaya 
 pays to the ocean. On the evening of the succeeding day, 
 they came in sight of the Rajmahal hiils, the first hills 
 they had seen since coming to India. Central Bengal 
 is an unbroken plain, the deposit of the great river, which 
 still irrigates it with that net work of veins, by which its 
 waters find their way to the sea. Although occasionally 
 making an excursion on the shore, when their boats were 
 delayed, and some hope of doing good, or of obtaining use- 
 ful information occurred, most of their time was spent in 
 study, with a view to prepai-ation for their proper work. 
 All were busy, studying Hindi and Hindustani with Gop- 
 inath as their teacher. They were favored in many respects 
 by having him with them. He knew how to manage the 
 boatmen infinitely better than they. And his advice and 
 services as an interpreter were continually useful. Thus 
 occupied, and with their rehgious exercises among them- 
 selves, they moved on slowly through the desert country 
 of Rajmahal. On Sunday, as usual, they fastened their 
 
28 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 boats to the shore and had both English and Bengali 
 services for themselves and their servants. Nothing could 
 be done on shore ; for no habitations of men were near. 
 
 Just as the morning services closed, it was announced 
 by one of the servants that a nabob was coming to see 
 them. They immediately prepared to receive him, ''and 
 Gopee went and brought him in. Instead of seeing a large 
 man with a splendid retinue, as we expected, a boy of six- 
 teen or seventeen entered, with one servant following him. 
 He was unable to speak a word of English. We could 
 talk with him only through an interpreter. His name was 
 Prince Yasseen. His father and family are confined at 
 Calcutta as prisoners by the English. He showed us a 
 written pemiission, which he had received, to be absent 
 from Calcutta three months, for his health, and as it was 
 in our language, he wished us to tell him what was in it. 
 We told him he was going beyond the distance specified, 
 and advised him to return, but told him he need not travel 
 any more imtil to-morrow. He immediately left us, and 
 went to his budgerow, and while I was waiting to have the 
 necessary arrangements made for going to see him, to in- 
 troduce the subject of Christianity to him, found that he 
 had gone. Poor creature ! T suppose he thought we were 
 Englishmen, and was afraid we would inform the govern- 
 ment of his having gone so far." 
 
 It was in passing through that dreary part of the 
 country, where there was nothing to be seen but a sandy 
 desert and the Rajmahal hills in the distance, that the 
 missionaries made their first acc^uaintance with the Hindu 
 Mela, or fair. "Hundreds of people were collected on the 
 banks of the Granges from distant quarters, and here hav- 
 ing pitched their tents, were exposing for sale native 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 29 
 
 articles of great variety. The clouds of dust that could be 
 seen at a great distance, directed us to the spot where they 
 were, and when we arrived we found ourselves beneath a 
 perj^etual shower of sand, and it would not have been dif- 
 ficult to imagine Bedlam and Babel united, confusion 
 doubly confounded. The tents were formed by fastening 
 bamboo poles in the ground and throwing cloth over them, 
 and spreading a piece of cloth on the ground for a carpet, 
 on which the articles for sale were laid. Everything to 
 be seen was well covered with sand. I was soon satisfied 
 and glad to return to my peaceful room in the boat." 
 
 At Monghir they were met by letters from Allahabad 
 and from America, by the overland mail, filling their 
 hearts with joy. But the tedious voyage became irksome 
 to persons longing to be at the scene of their appointed 
 labors. 
 
 "Feb. 26. Heavy winds with clouds of sand greatly 
 impeding our progress. These we are now to expect every 
 day. The hot winds will soon come, and we are yet a 
 long distance from Allahabad. We all begin to be much 
 concerned. The boats move very slowly; and it is quite 
 uncertain when we shall reach our journey's end." 
 
 Having crossed the sandy waste, and entered upon the 
 productive lands of central Bengal ; on the fifth of March 
 Mr. Owen writes: "We have for a few days past been 
 travelling through a beautiful country. To-day we passed 
 Patna, a large city, highly celebrated, but as the sun was 
 shining warm, a fine breeze was wafting us on, and we were 
 desirous of making all possible speed while the wind so 
 favored us, we did not stop. I begin to stammer Hindu- 
 stani a little, and generally succeed in making myself 
 understood to our servants and the boatmen." 
 
30 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 "March 7. Dinapore. This is the spot, where the 
 devoted Henry Martyn spent a considerable part of his 
 missionary life. Here he translated the New Testament 
 into the Hindustani language. Last evening and this 
 evening, I walked with feelings of peculiar interest over 
 th3 place almost made sacred by his having dwelt here. 
 No wonder his righteous soul was vexed from day to day. 
 For not only are the natives deplorably corrupt, but some 
 of the Europeans are not much better. My feelings were 
 harrowed at the disgraceful conduct of three or four 
 Englishmen at the Ghaut this evening. No wonder Martyn 
 exclaimed 'Why do the heathen rage, and the English 
 people imagine a vain thing.' Some of the greatest 
 obstacles to the spre.id of the Gospel arise from the con- 
 duct of those whom the natives regard as Christians." 
 
 Walking on the bank of the river Mr. Owen was over- 
 taken by a European indigo planter, who seemed desirous 
 of forming his acquaintance. " He asked me if I was pass- 
 ing up the river. I replied m the affirmative, and that I 
 stopped to spend the Sabbath. 'Let me see,' said he, 'it 
 is Sunday, is n't it? Do you always stop so on Sundays?* 
 'We do, sir,' said I. 'But suppose you have a good wind, 
 would you not go on ? ' ' No, sir.' ' Ought you not to take 
 advantage of the blessing God gives us ? ' ' Certainly, and 
 the Sabbath is one of his blessings, and we take advantage 
 of it.' He then turned the conversation to some other 
 subject, and when I was about to leave, he insisted that I 
 should come and spend the day with him. I told him that 
 I had company with me at the boat. He said they must 
 all come too, and that he needed spiritual advice as well as 
 others; for he had not been inside of a church in a long 
 time. I tried to decline, but he insisted, and added that 
 
VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 31 
 
 he would send a palankeen for Mrs. M'Auley, and accom- 
 panied me to the boat to get an answer, and having re- 
 ceived one in the affirmative, he in a few minutes had a 
 palankeen sent to us, together with a dish of strawberries, 
 flowers, etc. The wind blew very hard soon after we went, 
 and the sand fle\v in such quantities as almost to suffocate. 
 We were however sheltered, and spent the day more pleas- 
 antly, in several respects, than we could have done in the 
 budgerow. 
 
 The gentleman had his family assembled, and invited 
 us to conduct worship. It was an opjDort unity of doing 
 good for which we felt truly thankful. He would not 
 allow us to leave before evening, and perhaps it would 
 have been imprudent for us to do so. We therefore had 
 opportimity for religious conversation, which I pray may 
 be followed by the divine blessing. When we left, he and 
 his family accompanied us to the boat. He afterwards 
 sent us several things to contribute to our comfort." 
 
 At Benares, Mr. Owen left the boats and his compan- 
 ions, for the purpose of visiting the British missionaries 
 stationed in that city. The day was profitably and pleas- 
 antly spent in hearing of their methods of instruction, in- 
 specting their schools, and in social intercourse. 
 
 Early next morning, a carriage and horses were ready 
 to carry him on his way to overtake the boats; and his 
 drive of seventeen miles was peculiarly pleasant. " The 
 mild coolness of the air, the brilliancy of the sky, and the 
 stillness of everything around invited to meditation. Few 
 living objects were seen but some camels and cows accom- 
 panied by their drivers. Daylight seemed to come very 
 soon and break the delightful chain of reflections, in which 
 
J<i^i 
 
 32 VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 
 
 I had been engaged. I reached Chunar a little after sun- 
 rise, and found the boats all safely anchored there." 
 ^ ,. At last, on the fifth of April, just eight months from 
 
 -^ ^ ' '' I the day of their leaving Boston, the missionaries came in 
 sight of Allahabad, and of the British colors flying over its 
 fort. Next morning they started early, but had not pro- 
 ceeded far when they were met by Mr. Warren, who came 
 down in a small boat to meet them. At the ghaut, or 
 landing, Mr. Owen found his old friend and classmate, 
 John E. Freeman, waiting to welcome him, and received a 
 warm American grasp of the hand. Mr. Morrison had left 
 Allahabad on the first of January, on his way to Saharun- 
 pur, whence, after a short residence, he proceeded to Simla. 
 "How pleasant it was to find an asylum from the heat 
 and fatigue of these last three months, to get on American 
 premises, and to meet with American faces. What a relief 
 from the cramping, smothering, suffocating, scorching and 
 baking, which we have been obliged to endure in the 
 budgerow. I think my poor sinful heart does feel grateful 
 for the goodness of my heavenly Father, in bringing me 
 through this long journey in so much mercy and safety. 
 Arrangements have been made for me to live with brother 
 Freeman, and I am now sitting in the room that has been 
 assigned to me. The doors are open, and I have a lovely 
 prospect by moonlight up and down the river." 
 
ALLAHABAD. 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ALLAHABAD. ITS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. THE MISSION 
 
 STATION. — PRELIMINARY WORK OF THE MISSIONARY. ' | 
 
 The junction of the Ganges and the Jumna has from 
 ancient times been regarded as one of the holiest places in 
 India. Prayaga, a Hindu city of great extent and beauty, 
 the capital of an independent kingdom, once stood on the 
 peninsula between those two rivers. But time and neglect, 
 and worse than all, the devastations of war, have left noth- 
 ing of it but ruins. Upon a pail of its site, and over the 
 remains of its structures of brick, arose a later city of 
 mud, to which the Mohammedan emperor Akbar gave the 
 name of Allahabad, the city of Grod. Under British rule, 
 it is the capital of a district and province of the same 
 name. It is fifty-three miles up the river from Benares, and 
 five hundred and fifty directly from Calcutta, or by the Jnir<> 
 river, eight hundred, situated in 25° 27' N. Lat., 81"^ 50' E. c^ ^ ^ 
 Long., at the centre of the great plain of India. From the 
 lower course of the Brahmaputra to the Indus, is about 
 fifteen hundred miles ; and from the foothills of the Him- 
 alaya to the high table land of Central India in one direc- 
 tion and the sea in another, is a breadth of from three 
 hundred to five hundred miles. On that vast plain, Allah- 
 abad stands about six hundred and fifty miles from the 
 eastern extremity, and about one hundred and seventy 
 from the foot of the northward mountains. 
 
 The district of Allahabad is very fertile, but not much 
 more than one third of its area is under culture. Its 
 
34 ALLAHABAD. 
 
 population in 1840, amounted to over seven hundred and 
 seventy-four thousand, in thirty-nine thousand and eighty- 
 three villages. Of that population six hundred and fifty- 
 one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven were Hindus 
 and one hundred and twenty-two thousand five hundred 
 and twelve Mohammedans. • ' 
 
 Of the city the population was sixty -five thousand and 
 forty-six, divided between twenty one thousand and thirty- 
 one Mohammedans and forty-four thousand and fifteen 
 Hindus. 
 
 An extensive and strong fortification stood on the 
 tongue of land between the Granges and the Jumna, com- 
 pletely commanding the navigation of both rivers. The 
 city now contains a permanent judicial establishment, 
 whence periodical circuits are made through the province. 
 
 The ground on which the city stands is considered by 
 the Brahmans one of the holiest places in India — the most 
 holy of all river confluences. Multitudes of pilgrims an- 
 nually visit it in the hope of earning merit thereby. As 
 many as two hundred thousand have been known to arrive 
 there, from religious motives, in one year; to bathe in the 
 sacred waters at that sacred spot being recommended to 
 them by their sacerdotal guides as of eminent religious 
 merit. 
 
 For all these reasons Allahabad was early in the 
 history of Presbyterian missions in India, selected as one 
 of the most important stations. The Rev. Mr. M'Ewen, 
 who commenced there in 1836, was constrained by ill 
 health to abandon it two years afterwards. But his place 
 was immediately supplied by the Rev. James Wilson, sus- 
 tained by the arrival of Mr. Morrison, within a few weeks, 
 and next year, by Messrs. Freeman and Warren. At the 
 
ALLAHABAD. 35 
 
 time of Mr. Owen's arrival, three missionary ministers 
 were there, Mr. Morrison having been removed to another 
 station. 
 
 The methods by which they prosecuted their work 
 were p reaching in their own chapel for native Christians, 
 and in the bazars, and melas, which at stated seasons met 
 by the river in their neighborhood, teaching the native 
 children, and distribut ing book s and tracts, and by endeav- 
 oring to live and keep everything about them in such a 
 way as t o recommend t heir Grospel message. And at proper 
 seasons in the year missionary tours w ere made with the 
 purpose of preaching and distributing books, and convers- 
 ing with the people in the adjoining country. 
 
 Next morning Mr. Owen commenced his studies with 
 the Moonshee, that is, his Hindustani teacher, whom he 
 describes as a large black man dressed in white, with a 
 white turban on his dead, and long black hair hanging 
 over his shoulders. '* He took his seat by my side to hear 
 me read, and to assist me in giving utterance to some of 
 the roughest sounds ever heard from a human throat. 
 With him I am to spend several hours each day, for a long 
 time before I can do much good to the dying souls around 
 me." When Mr. Owen showed him a copy of the Koran, 
 which he had brought with him from Americ^a, as a 
 Mohammedan, he was greatly pleased, and remarked that 
 it was beautifully written, not conceiving that it had ever 
 been desecrated by print. An arrangement was made be- 
 tween them to read a portion in it daily. Mr. Owen had 
 read the whole of it, with his American pronunciation, 
 before leaving home. 
 
 That evening the missionaries of the station held, to- 
 gether with their newly arrived friends, a meeting for 
 
36 ALLAHABAD. 
 
 prayer and thanksgiving to Grod for his care of the latter 
 during their long and tedious journey. On the following 
 Sabbath they joined the native Christians in celebrating 
 the Lord's Supper. " Before the distribution of the bread 
 and wine, Brother Wilson, who was preaching, turned and 
 addressed a few words to us, who had recently escaped the 
 perils of the deep, and of the long journey up the Ganges, 
 reminding us of how fit an occasion it was for thanksgiv- 
 ing, and renewed dedication of ourselves to the service of 
 our Saviour, and what a privilege it was to unite with those 
 dear people, who not long ago were degraded idolaters. 
 I felt that it was indeed good to be here. Delightful the 
 thought that however different Christians may be with 
 regard to country, complexion or manners, we are all one 
 in Christ. Could American Christians see what I saw to- 
 day, how could any of them withhold their efforts for the 
 conversion of the heathen. How delightful will it be to 
 ineet in heaven souls brought there through our instru- 
 mentality. This evening I preached in the English Pres- 
 byterian church." 
 
 Allahabad, being an important post of the East India 
 Company's government, contained a considerable number 
 of British residents. For their benefit there were English 
 services on the Sabbath; and persons of Presbyterian 
 persuasion worshipped with the American missionaries. 
 Accordingly there was work to be done in the English 
 language: and the missionary was not necessarily silent 
 until he had learned Hindustani. 
 
 He early became a useful member of the mission by 
 teaching in the school a class of boys already acquainted 
 with English. The morning with his Moonshee, the after- 
 noon with his class, and assisting in the frequent religious 
 
ALLAHABAD. 37 
 
 services in English belonging to the station and among the 
 British residents, fully occupied his time. He also took 
 such part as he could in occasional services among the 
 Hindu people. 
 
 But the ferv^or of the climate had also to be borne. It 
 was the first of June, when Mr. Owen wrote as follows : 
 "We have been scorching for two months, the ground is 
 dry and baked hard, and scarcely a blade of grass is to be 
 seen anywhere, the air is hot, and feels, every evening 
 when we go out, as if the atmosphere had been burning 
 all day, like an immense oven; and when morning's dawn 
 comes, after the shades of a whole night have been resting 
 upon the earth, scarcely any freshness seems to have been 
 gained." 
 
 "When I attempt to preach here, I scarcely feel like 
 the same person I was in America. All of my vigor 
 appears to be gone, and I can hardly make any exertion. 
 One can have no idea of the weakening and prostrating 
 tendency of this climate without experience." 
 
 "July 14. This morning I had a call from a young 
 Brahman, who seemed quite interested in the study of 
 geography, and was desirous of seeing a map, and especially 
 one of Hindustan. I gave him a tract in Hindi entitled 
 •Nicodemus, or the Inquirer,' written by Mr. Wilson of this 
 mission. I had seen him some weeks ago, and had given 
 him a copy of the Psalms in Sanskrit, with which he, this 
 morning, expressed himself very well pleased. I read to 
 him the first few verses of G-enesis. He is acquainted with 
 the Sanskrit language, and a great reader of Hindu books. 
 I endeavored, with as much of the Hindustani language as 
 I could command, to direct him to Jesus as the only 
 Saviour." i 
 
38 ALLAHABAD. 
 
 " July 20. This morning we found that the Jumna had 
 risen several feet during the night, and was rolling past our 
 house with great velocity. The air is now very damj), and 
 the weather unhealthy. Much sickness prevails. Many 
 of the natives are dying of cholera." 
 
 " Sept. 2. An interesting young man from Cabul has 
 recently come, and we have engaged him to remain with 
 us. He is very desirous of learning the English language, 
 which I am to teach him, while he teaches me Persian. 
 He speaks the Persian as his mother tongue. I now spend 
 three or four hours a day with him. His mind is in a 
 very interesting state in regard to religion. He unliesita- 
 tingly avows his disbelief in Mohammedanism, the religion 
 in which he was trained, and declares his belief in Christ- 
 ianity, and often takes occasion to speak his views and 
 feelings." 
 
 " Sept. 30. Last evening we met in the church, for the 
 purpose of constituting the Presbytery of Allahabad. 
 Brother Wilson being the oldest member of the mission, 
 according to the direction of the General Assembly, 
 preached the sermon from I Tim 4 : 14, and after the serv- 
 ices constituted the Presbytery with prayer, and presided 
 until a moderator was chosen." He was himself chosen 
 moderator and Mr. Owen stated clerk. 
 
 " Oct. 3. Sabbath. Administered the sacrament of the 
 Lord's SupjDer this evening, and felt much assistance and 
 freedom. Thanks to my Heavenly Father for His rich 
 mercies. O may I ever maintain a close walk with Him, 
 and live under the constant light of His countenance." 
 
 " Oct. 12. Last evening we met with the chaplain and 
 some of the pious civilians and their ladies, for prayer and 
 conversation on missionary subjects. This is designed to 
 
ALLAHABAD. 39 
 
 be a regular meeting, on the second Monday evening of 
 every month. The chaplain is a very pious man, and dis- 
 posed to be quite friendly with us. The civilians with 
 whom me met are also our warm friends, and show us 
 much kindness." 
 
 " Oct. 15. The rains have long since ceased ; the ground 
 has become dry ; the crops have nearly ripened, and the 
 cold season is fast approaching. The poor natives are now 
 very busy, day and night, in watching their grain, protect- 
 ing it from the depredations of cattle and birds. Only 
 gardens and spots of ground designed to be kept with 
 special care, are enclosed. The enclosures consist generally 
 of mud walls, sometimes of brick. As the grain is sown 
 very thick, and grows very high, it is necessary that those 
 watching it should have an elevated position, to enable 
 them to survey it thoroughly in every direction. To effect 
 this, a few poles are fixed in the ground, which are made 
 to support a rudely constructed platform, on which they 
 remain stationed, protected by a slight covering overhead 
 from the sun by day, and the dampness by night, and 
 making free use of their slings, or bows and arrows. When 
 I ride out early in the morning, a hundred shrill voices 
 may be heard driving away the immense flocks of parrots, 
 which are exceedingly destructive to the grain. o^^ 
 
 This is usually considered the most unhealthy Reason 
 of the year. Fevers are very prevalent. I have had a 
 slight attack, and have been feverish most of the time for 
 two or three weeks. Life is awfully uncertain in this 
 climate. Some have recently been very suddenly cut down. 
 Peculiarly applicable here is the admonition, Be ye always 
 ready." 
 
 Soon after penning these words he was himself laid 
 
40 ALLAHABAD. 
 
 upon a bed of sickness, to which he was confined several 
 weeks. About the middle of November, and before he had 
 entirely recovered, he set out with Mr. Wilson on a mis- 
 sionary tour, through parts of the Doiib and Bundlecund 
 districts. He returned to Allahabad soon after the begin- 
 ning of January greatly improved in health, and equipped 
 with valuable experience for another part of evangelical 
 labor. 
 
 From the Report of the Allahabad Mission made for 
 the year closing Oct. 1, 1841, we learn of the work in 
 which the missionaries were there engaged. Mr. Warren 
 superintended the press, and conducted its complicated 
 correspondence, while studying the native languages, 
 preaching in Hindustani to a small congregation in a 
 room of the printing office, and occasionally in English. 
 Mr. Freeman managed the business of bookbinding, con- 
 ducted the orphan school for boys, a Hindustani Bible 
 class and Sunday school, with occasional preaching in 
 English, study of the native languages, superintendency of 
 buildings, &c. Mr. Wilson, at that time the best versed 
 in the language, was employed in revising and translating 
 portions of the Old Testament in Hindustani, correcting 
 proofs for the press, preaching to the native church, preach- 
 ing in the bazars, superintending bazar schools, and in 
 occasional English preaching. Mr. Owen's time was given 
 chiefly to dihgent study of the native languages, to teach- 
 ing in the school, preaching in English, and going to the 
 bazar with a native assistant. His knowledge of Hindi 
 and Hindustani he was building up with great care upon 
 a broad and deep foundation in the Sanskrit, Arabic and 
 Persian : a knowledge which subsequently did him valuable 
 service in argument with learned Brahmans and Moham- 
 medans. 
 
ALLAHABAD. 41 
 
 The missionaries conducted two English services every 
 Sabbath, one in the morning and one in the evening, the 
 former being generally attended thinly, and the latter 
 very well, averaging about thirty persons. Monthly con- 
 cert of prayer was regularly observed, conducted alternately 
 by Mr. M'Intosh of the Baptist mission, and the Rev. J. 
 Wilson. They had built a neat and commodious chapel 
 on one side of the public square, in the centre of the native 
 city, where Mr. Wilson attended and preached once a week 
 and sometimes oftener, and there also Mr. M'Intosh and 
 Mr. Owen with native assistants ministered each once a 
 week. 
 
 Besides their regular stated work, they all went out, as 
 circumstances directed, to the landings on the river, and 
 other places of concourse to converse with whomsoever they 
 found accessible. 
 
 Seven bazar schools were kept up ; two at the expense 
 of the mission, in which the attendance had averaged, in 
 the course of the year, twenty, in one, and twenty-five in 
 the other. Two were supported by Mr. Montgomery, the 
 English magistrate, averaging from sixteen to twenty. And 
 three were supported by Mr. Eraser, an Enghsh resident, 
 in which the average attendance was from twelve to six- 
 teen. Mr. Eraser and some other friends of the mission 
 had built a house for one of the schools, which served also 
 the purpose of a chapel, in a small bazar. 
 
 The children, while assembled in those schools, were 
 chiefly engaged in reading the Gospels and tracts and other 
 elementary books, which the missionaries had prepared. 
 But as they were all taught by Hindus and Mussulmans, 
 the teachers embraced every oportunity to substitute their 
 own books, when thev could without detection. And the 
 
42 ALLAHABAD. 
 
 parents would often take the children away as soon as they 
 were able to earn a few jtice, hj any other means. Such 
 schools had not met expectation of them, but were con- 
 tinued in hope. Because it was found that children who 
 attended did carry away with them, and circulate in their 
 measure some acquaintance with Christianity, which tak- 
 ing its part in leavening society might facilitate future 
 labors. Latterly some of those children had begun to come 
 with their teachers to the Hindustani worship on the Sab- 
 bath. 
 
 Also to two natives, Patras and Simeon, the missiona- 
 ries express their obligations for valuable assistance. 
 
 A plan was about the same time proposed for the 
 erection of an English school, in which European science 
 should be connected with religious instruction. The mis- 
 sionaries express themselves as not very sanguine about its 
 immediate success, yet with confidence in its ultimate 
 benefits; and add, "The more we see of India, of the work 
 to be done, and of the materials with which it has to be 
 done, the more strongly are our hopes directed to good 
 English schools — schools in which a thorough English 
 education, along with a good education in the vernacular, 
 will be given, as the nurseries in which the only native 
 ministry that deserves the the name must be reared. It will 
 be, at best, a dwarfish ministry — a mere secondary auxi- 
 liary force that will, for many generations to come, be 
 gathered from among those who have merely a native 
 education, and a little Christian training." Mention is 
 made of the great results of the plan adopted by the East 
 India Company in educating young natives in thorough 
 European military tactics, and the question suggested: 
 May not "the same amount of wisdom and skill vigorously 
 
ALLAHABAD. 43 
 
 employed in drilling the native agency, which is to labor 
 in the moral renovation of India, in due time produce 
 equal results ? " 
 
 About the same time to which the above refers, that is 
 the summer of 1841, the First Presbyterian Church of 
 Albany, N. Y., procured and presented to the Board of 
 Foreign Missions a philosophical apparatus for the High 
 School at Allahabad. "" 
 
 The young man from Afghanistan, mentioned by Mr. 
 Owen, was Dost Mohammed, son of an Ameer in the 
 service of a brother of the reigning King at Cabul, Shah 
 Sujah. While studying English with Mr. Owen and 
 teaching him Persian, he often turned the conversation to 
 the subject of Christianity, and in a short time declared 
 his purpose to embrace its faith. He wrote to his father 
 to inform him of the change in his convictions. Several 
 letters were exchanged between them in the course of 
 which the father expressed his displeasure, and finally 
 broke off the correspondence. The young man seemed 
 to be greatly distressed, but adhered to his profession of 
 faith, and entered into missionary work as an assistant. 
 He would often go with Mr. Owen or Mr. Wilson to the 
 bazar, and take up the argument with Mohammedans, 
 apjx'aling to their own experience, and using his practical 
 knowledge of their religion with great effect. 
 
 From the mission press at Allahabad there had issued 
 already upwards of 73,000 copies of various works, amount- 
 ing to 3,346,880 pages. And the books of Oenesis, Exodus, 
 Psalms, Proverbs, Matthew and John, in Hindustani, had 
 been revised, and in part translated, and four original 
 tracts, two in Hindustani and two in Hindi, had been 
 prepared by Mr. Wilson. 
 
44 ALLAHABAD. 
 
 In that year, which was the first in the history of the 
 fully organized mission, the missionaries counted to Allah- 
 abad were five married ministers with their wives, and the 
 Rev. Joseph Owen. But one of the five, at the date of the 
 report, was still on his way from America, and one, on 
 account of feeble health had, from the month of January, 
 been absent in the hill country, at Sabathu. 
 
 At Lodiana, the original station, only three ministers 
 and a printer, with their wives, and a native catechist, had 
 done the work of the mission, one who was counted in the 
 report had not then arrived. To Sabathu there belonged 
 only one minister and his wife ; to Saharunpur, one mar- 
 ried minister, and one teacher, with their wives, and one 
 unmarried minister and one catechist. This station had 
 its ecclesiastical connection with the Ref. Presbyterian 
 church. 
 
 In the Furruckabad mission, only Futtehgurh was yet 
 occupied, and there four ministers with their wives were 
 employed, together with one teacher, one native catechist, 
 and one native assistant. 
 
 The nature of the work done was, with exception of 
 printing, the same at all the Stations, consisting of preach- 
 ing at regular appointed places, conversation with the 
 people, distributing books, teaching in the native and Eng- 
 lish languages, reading of the Scriptures and worship with 
 the pupils, who chose to attend, conducting boarding 
 schools for orphans, translating the Scriptures and religious 
 books and tracts, and in itinerating for preaching, conversa- 
 tion and distributing books, generally over the country. 
 
 Lodiana and Allahabad were the printing stations. At 
 the former nearly 60,000 copies of books had been issued, 
 making 2,240,000 pages, in the Hindustani and Punjabi 
 languages. 
 
ALLAHABAD. 45 
 
 All these stations excepting Saharunpur, were organized 
 into one bodv as the Synod of Northern India, consisting 
 of the three Presbyteries of Lodiana, Furruckabad and 
 Allahabad. 
 
 In March, 1842, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Janvier on their 
 way from Calcutta to Allahabad, were met by Mr. Owen 
 at Benares. They were accompanied by the Rev. J. E^y \a/a^.^ 
 
 and his wife. For a time, four of the former members of 
 the Philadelphian Society at Princeton were fellow-pres- 
 byters of the Allahabad mission. Mr. Morrison mean- 
 while was residing at Simla and pursuing work as his 
 health would admit; and as Janvier's final destination was 
 Lodiana, his residence at Allahabad was brief. 
 
46 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 POPULATION, LANGUAGES AND RELIGIOUS CHANGES IN 
 
 UPPER INDIA, AND THE RELATIONS OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN MISSION THERETO. 
 
 That part of the great valley of Upper India lying 
 westward from Allahabad, which Manu calls the " Middle 
 Land," is the purest settlement of the Aryan race east of 
 the Punjab. It was there that the Brahmanical religion 
 developed most consistently in all its rites, laws and caste 
 distinctions. One of the best authorities on the subject 
 asserts that it is the only province of India to the social 
 condition of which the laws of Manu accurately apply. 
 Elsewhere a large part of the population consists of non- 
 Aryan aboriginal tribes, or is of mixed descent, and 
 practices a great diversity of religious rites. Aryan purity 
 of blood and Brahmanical sacerdotalism, with its peculiar 
 system of religion, maintained their proudest integrity in 
 the " Middle Land." Caste, which in some other quarters 
 is the distinction between victor and vanquished, was there 
 the fruit of a peaceful development of privilege among a 
 homogeneous people, and an object of attachment to the 
 lowest as to the highest. For to have place in even an 
 humble caste was unspeakably better than to have no caste. 
 And Hindu religion was so far superior to the miserable 
 superstitions of the aboriginal tribes that it was also an 
 honorable distinction. Allahabad also stands within the 
 country where, in the sixth century B. C, Buddhism arose, 
 and estabhshed its first dominion, and from which it was 
 long subsequently expelled by reviving Brahmanism. 
 
ETHNIC CHARACTER OP UPPER INDIA. 47 
 
 In the course of the twelfth century of the Christian 
 era that Hindu integrity was invaded by the Moham- 
 medans, who planting the seat of their rule in the Punjab, 
 ultimately extended their authority over the whole land. 
 The Hindus, though subdued to foreign allegiance, re- 
 retained their religious and social practices, and the more 
 tenaciously that those practices now became the badge of 
 an endangered ethnic integrity. As their Brahmanical 
 system had formerly been the color of their superiority to 
 the aborigines whom they had subdued or expelled, so now 
 it organized their resistance to a foreign faith, maintained 
 their ethnic identity and secured for them a united, and 
 thereby a respectable position amid the multitude of their 
 invaders. The superiority of Mohammedanism, as a reli- 
 gion, to Hinduism is obvious, and yet it never made much 
 progress in converting the Hindu people. Of all the reli- 
 gions of India that which grew up on the "Middle Land" 
 has proved most tenacious of its hold upon the Hindu 
 mind. Buddhism, in its early prime, contended success- 
 fully with Brahmanism, but was ultimately overcome. The 
 tide of Mohammedanism poured in, subdued the people, and 
 possessed the land, but Brahmanism remained unshaken. 
 The Polytheism of the conquered was still holding its place 
 side by side with the Unitarianism of the conquerors, when 
 the European merchants arrived. By them it was treated 
 with a cautious, almost timid respect. And now, in the 
 settlement of the American missions, Christianity has 
 undertaken what Buddhism and Mohammedanism have 
 successively failed in. It may fairly be considered an 
 arduous undertaking. Divine grace is no doubt equal to 
 the difficulty. But Divine grace did not overcome the 
 polytheism of the Roman empire in less than three hun- 
 
48 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 dred years. And that polytheism was then a far less 
 compacted system than Brahmanism was fifty years ago. 
 
 Since the establishment of the British government in 
 that country, the Mohammedan and Hindu populations 
 live side by side in the enjoyment of equal religious free- 
 dom ; the latter resting upon the basis of national preju- 
 dice and affections, the former upon the pride of earlier 
 lordship. 
 
 The American Presbyterian missions are planted among 
 Hindus of the purest Aryan descent, and on the head- 
 quarters of the once powerful Mongul empire, and where 
 Mohammedans still form a large part of the population. 
 Consequently two languages were to be acquired, and two 
 entirely different religions encountered by the missionaries ; 
 Mohammedanism being the worship of one God, in one 
 person, without any sensible form; and Hinduism the 
 idolatry of legions of gods under various forms ; the wor- 
 ship of the one being simple prayer and praise, that of the 
 latter, ceremonial in the extreme. The two languages are 
 the Hindi and the Urdu, or Hindustani. The former, a 
 modem descendant of the Sanskrit which clings closely to 
 its ancestor in the substance of its words, with character- 
 istic changes in form, is the favorite literary language of the 
 Hindus. Hindustani is spoken in addition to their local 
 dialect by almost all natives in the northern and central 
 provinces. It appears to have been formed out of the 
 Braja Bhaka, a Sanskrit language spoken on the banks of 
 the Jumna, and the Prakrit belonging to the extensive 
 empire of which Kanouj was the capital, and after tha 
 Mohammedan invasion, intermingled with elements of 
 Arabic and Persian. By the invaders it was called Urdu- 
 Zaban, the camp language, and cultivated to its greatest 
 
ETHNIC CHAEACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 49 
 
 purity at the chief seats of Mohammedan power in Delhi 
 and Agra; but also latterly at Lucknow. 
 
 By the beginning of the second year of his residence in 
 Allahabad, Mr. Owen had so far mastered this most com- 
 monly spoken tongue as to use it with ease in conversation 
 and preaching. Early in August, 1842, he was again 
 prostrated by fever. When recovering, partly from desire 
 to engage as soon as jDossible in such work as he Wcts al)le 
 to do, and partly with a view to strengthen his health, he 
 undertook, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Freeman, a mis- 
 sionary tour in a boat up the Ganges. 
 
 "At Karra, thirty-six miles from Allahabad in a direct 
 line, but much more by the river, we had the boat drawn 
 up into a little cove, and stopped for the night. While 
 making this movement, we passed under a very high bank, 
 a vast heap of i-uins, so cut away by the Ganges, that 
 bricks and other remnants of ancient buildings were ex- 
 posed to view, forty or fifty feet below the surface. Karra 
 is but a heap of ruins as far as the eye can reach from this 
 bank. When the great city, whose remains we see here, 
 was flourishing, I do not know that anybody can tell. 
 Certainly the date must extend back many centuries. 
 A small town now stands in the midst of the desolation." 
 As is the missionary practice, wherever the opportunity 
 offered, he went into the bazar to preach. A large number 
 were assembled, and aided by Simeon, a native assistant, 
 he continued to proclaim to them the gospel, as long as 
 his strength would allow. Next morning he rose early 
 and walked into the great burying gi*ound, for which 
 Karra is celebrated, '* It is truly an immense city of the 
 dead. It appears to be about a mile wide, and from two 
 to three miles long. Its whole appearance gives evidence 
 
50 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 that it is the work of an age long gone by. When the 
 generations, whose dust hes here, were on the stage of Ufe, 
 it is difficult to say. One thing is certain, that they were 
 all Mohammedans. For the Hindus never bury their 
 dead, while the Mohammedans do so always. The struc- 
 ture of the tombs is also in Mohammedan style. The 
 common grave is designated by an elevation of mason 
 work, constructed of brick and mortar, either round or flat 
 on the top. Where a family is interred, a i^latform of 
 brick and mortar is placed over the whole ; and from this, 
 tumuli are elevated for the individuals respectively whose 
 remains lie beneath. The higher classes have buildings of 
 di:fferent sizes, according to their wealth and rank, erected 
 over them. Those over the nobles and princes are set up 
 with great expense and splendor. Tombs of all these 
 varieties are to be seen in this vast cemetery; but those of 
 the rich as well as of the poor are crumbling to ruins. The 
 piles are falling down, the bricks are scattered about, and 
 many of the sepulchres have been almost undermined, and 
 washed away by the floods formed during the rains. The 
 whole is a dismal sight. Here was once a large, wealthy 
 and splendid city ; but all that now remains of it is this 
 scene of gloomy desolation. Probably very few, if any, 
 of the names of those whose ashes lie here, are now 
 known." 
 
 As the missionaries were imable to proceed on their 
 way, because of the strong opposing wind and rapid stream, 
 Mr. Owen returned in the evening to preach in the bazar. 
 
 "A man stood near, and attempted to interrupt me by 
 asking questions. He evidently cared very little about 
 what he said, his design being to defeat my purpose. But 
 as some of the questions were important in themselves, and 
 
ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA, 51 
 
 helped me to state some points, more explicitly than I 
 otherwise might have done, I answered them in my dis- 
 course to the people. Other questions, which were trivial, 
 I did not notice. When I had done, some attempted to 
 hoot at me, but others treated me with politeness, and fol- 
 lowed me to the boat, for books. How much love, for- 
 bearance and faith a missionary needs for his work." 
 
 Of the willingness of the people to receive books he 
 remarks that a principal motive is ''very likely curiosity, 
 and that desire which is so prominent a feature of the 
 Hindu character, to take eagerly anything of value which 
 costs them nothing. But He, whose word is contained in 
 these little volumes, is able to bless it abundantly to the 
 destruction of Satan's Kingdom, and the building up of 
 his own. May He in mercy do so, to the salvation of these 
 precious souls, and the glory of his great name." 
 
 On another occasion, when Mr. Owen was preaching in 
 a village, a Brahman attempted to interrupt him by disputa- 
 tion, and to confound him by repeating a string of words 
 from the shasters, which Mr. Owen was confident he did not 
 understand. "I told him that it was very unprofitable 
 and foohsh to stand there reciting words, which neither 
 he nor those around him knew the meaning of; and oj^en- 
 ing the Grospel of John, at the third chaj^ter, said "Here is 
 something from the true shasters, the Word of God which 
 is designed for all, not for Brahmans only, and which all 
 may understand.' As I read, I asked the people whether 
 it was not plain and intelligible : and all assented that it 
 was. I took occasion to remark how like the Pharisees of 
 old the Brahmans are, and that these are as ignorant of 
 the nature of the new birth as Nicodemus was. I read 
 and explained as far as the 16th verse, and all listened very 
 
52 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 attentively. The Bralimau said not a word in rej^ly, and 
 after I liad done walked quietly away." 
 
 During the greater part of the month of September, 
 Mr. Owen was laid up with fever and ague, contracted in 
 ascending the river. In that condition he stopped at 
 Oawn2)ore, where he found a kind host in the Rev. Mr. 
 Perkins, a missionary of the Society for the Propagation 
 of the Grospel in Foreign Parts, to whose medical skill he 
 osved his recovery.^ 
 
 On the twenty-fifth of Se23tember, a delightful Sabbath 
 morning, he is again seated in his little room in the boat 
 writing. "We are far away from any church, spending 
 the Sabbath on the shore of the Granges, about thirty miles 
 below Futtehgurh. The day without is beautiful, but a 
 little too hot to be comfortable, even to us who are in the 
 shade of the thatched roof of the boat. The sun is shin- 
 ing brightly, the westerly wind is moving briskly, birds of 
 great variety are singing, the country is covered with a 
 rich deep verdure, the early crops are hastening to matur- 
 ity, and all nature speaks the praises of a beneficent Grod. 
 But, alas! 'man is vile.' The poor boatmen, who are with 
 us, are in gross darkness, and all whom we meet, either on 
 the river or on land, are in the same deplorable condition. 
 They like very well, at least those in our employ, the bodily 
 rest which the Sabbath affords them; and, I am thank- 
 ful to say, are attentive to the instructions they receive 
 from us." 
 
 About the beginning of October, he arrived at Futteh- 
 gurh, where he met with, and enjoyed the hospitality of 
 friends, in whose company he had made the voyage to 
 India. Mr. Rankin was his host, Mr. and Mrs. Janvier 
 were there, Mr. Scott he had also known in America, and 
 
 1) For. Miss. Chron., vol. XI. p. 240. 
 
ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 53 
 
 the Other American members of that mission were Mr. and 
 Mrs. H. R. Wilson. Among them he had a variety of 
 occupations, but chiefly preaching in Urdu and Hindi ; in 
 the former, to the Orphan schools, and others who com- 
 posed the native congregation, and in the latter, to the in- 
 habitants of a village not far distant. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Janvier having been appointed to the 
 station at Lodiana, he went with them on a preaching tour, 
 as far as Delhi. The missionary method of travelling by 
 land was primitive and independent, not of choice, but of 
 necessity. All things they needed had to be carried with 
 them. Travelling was safe only during the cool of the 
 morning and evening. They had small tents to sleep in at 
 night, and meanwhile they sent on their large tents ten or 
 twelve miles forward, to be ready for their arrival before 
 the heat of the day. 
 
 "Oct. 16. Sabbath. A busy, pleasant day. Preached 
 this morning in a village to some twenty people, most of 
 whom gave good attention," "The word of God has ap- 
 peared to me very precious in this desert. Though we are 
 far away from the great congregations of God's people, we 
 are not alone nor lonel^^ and are very far from being un- 
 happy. We feel that it is good to be here, where we have 
 opportunities of making known to the poor heathen that 
 Gospel which we have found to be so precious." 
 
 In the afternoon they assembled their, servants for 
 divine service. " Soon after, a crowd from the village 
 assembled around our tents, to whom we preached until 
 we thought that prudence required us to stop. Not more 
 than two or three attempted to disturb us by asking use- 
 less questions. May the seed that we have sown to-day 
 spring up and bear fruit to the giorv of God. 
 
54 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 Daily am I made to feel that the conversion of these 
 heathen is to be accomplished not by might, nor by power, 
 but by the Spirit of Jehovah. 
 
 It is hard work to preach in the midst of a multitude 
 whose thoughts and hearts seem to be intent on any other 
 subject than on that which is nearest to the sj)eaker's 
 heart." 
 
 At the city of Aligurh, the missionary tents were 
 pitched, on the 22nd of October, near the parade ground 
 of the British military station. 
 
 "We were delighted with the beauty of the place. The 
 roads are in fine condition, made of Kankar, or a kind of 
 limestone, perfectly level and hard. One in particular we 
 admired, and thought it the most beautiful we had seen in 
 India. It extends about two miles from the station, and 
 is shaded on both sides with trees. The scenery around is 
 very pleasant, and we judged, from all that we could ob- 
 serve, that the place must be healthy. The city is large, 
 the bazar very extensive, and filled with a busy throng. I 
 wonder that no missionary has been stationed here. It 
 appears to me highly desirable that our Board should send 
 two missionaries here as soon as j)ossible." 
 
 Next day they preached to a native audience of a dif- 
 ferent character from what they had found in the villages. 
 
 "The people are far more intelligent, and the Urdu 
 language is here used. We felt the difference this morn- 
 ing very sensibly." 
 
 " Two missionaries well acquainted with the native 
 dialect, would here find a large field for preaching, and 
 might also have a school under their suj^erintendence. I am 
 more and more impressed with the importance of making 
 education a prominent branch of missionary labor. Not 
 
ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 55 
 
 that I think education should be substituted for preaching; 
 for this is the means of God's own appointment, by which 
 He will save them that believe ; but education should be 
 conducted with the special view of rendering preaching in 
 this country more efficient, that is, of raising up a native 
 ministry. We foreigners, from the nature of the case, can 
 seldom, if ever, become able to speak the language like the 
 natives ; and besides, if we could, enough preachers for the 
 whole of India can never be supplied from America and 
 Europe. The great body of preachers through whose more 
 direct instrumentality this country will be converted, must 
 be from among the natives themselves. They know their 
 own languages better than we can ever learn them, are 
 familiar with the character of their countrymen, know their 
 modes of thought, and the style of address best adapted to 
 gain their attention, and instruct and convince them, are 
 acquainted with their customs, and can also endure this 
 withering clim-ite better than we. While therefore we 
 ought to endeavor, for the present, to preach and translate 
 and write their languages as well as we can, and to be un- 
 ceasing in these labors, we ought also to be unceasing in 
 efforts to train up, as soon as possible, a learned and j^ious 
 native ministry, who may translate the Word of Grod so as 
 to be understood by all, and who may be able to address 
 all the people, in the cities and villages, in the ways best 
 adapted to enlighten and convince. If there were a dozen 
 such men in a city like this, what wonders they might ac- 
 complish through divine assistance. How happy will the 
 day be when in all the villages through which we have 
 recently been travelling, there shall be stationed village 
 pastors." 
 
 On leaving Dellii, Mr. Owen in company with Mr. Scott, 
 spent Sabbath, the 6th of November, in a neighboring vil- 
 
56 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 lage, where they preached morning and evening. Proceed- 
 ing thence upon their way, preaching in the towns and 
 villages, and distributing books and tracts, they came on 
 the fifth day afterwards to Muttra. There they stopped 
 at the Bungalow of Mr. Ross, a jmtrol officer, who enter- 
 tained them kindly. In his comj^any they visited Bindra- 
 bau, about five miles from Muttra, on the Jumna, where 
 the Hindus believe that Krishna became incarnate. Marks 
 of a pair of feet were pointed out to them where the god 
 alighted. 
 
 "At one peculiarly sacred place, we stopped, expressing 
 a desire to look into it. The men around said it could not 
 be opened then, as the god was asleep. I asked them 
 when he would awake. They replied, "At evening.'* 
 And what will he do then ? Will he arise and walk 
 out ? No. Does he never come out ? No. How do 
 you know when he is awake ? We know. How do you 
 know ? We have evidence. What evidence ? Your god 
 always stays there, never stirs, never comes out. And how 
 can you tell whether he is awake or asleep ? No definite 
 answer was given ; and I then repeated Psalm 115: 4-8, 
 and pointed to the true Grod whom we worship. After 
 speaking of his perfections, I directed their attention to 
 the true incarnation." " You say, that Krishna became 
 incarnate here. Now let me tell you who did become in- 
 carnate. The Son of the Great Grod became incarnate at 
 a village to the westward called Bethlehem. And why did 
 he become incarnate ? This question I answered. Bro. 
 Scott then preached. After this we gave away a few 
 books. But the people seemed to be mad on their idols. 
 We distributed several books through the city, as we 
 passed, and all seemed glad to receive them." 
 
ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 57 
 
 " Nov. 12. Visited Muttra this morning, and spent 
 several hours in taking a general survey of it. Its ghats 
 and temj^les are numerous and costly. It is emphatically 
 a city wholly given to idolatry. 
 
 It was anciently a very wealthy city. Mahmood, the 
 first great Mohammedan invader of India, entered it in 
 the eleventh century and found its temples most splendid, 
 filled with gigantic idols of pure gold, having eyes of 
 rubies. In one was set a sapphire of extraordinary 
 magnitude. Having reduced those rich objects to their 
 constituent elements of gold and jewels, he loaded with 
 them a long train of camels, and carried them to Grhizni." 
 From Muttra the missionaries went to Agra, where they 
 were entertained by the Rev. C. Gr. Ogauder, a G-erman ^ 
 missionary in connection with the English Church Mission- 
 ary Society. While at Agra, they visited the celebrated 
 Taj, erected by Shah Jehan, in honor of his favorite wife. 
 
 "As we came near the Taj, the first object to take our 
 attention was the lofty gate-way. Around this are large 
 Arabic inscriptions, formed by laying black stone into 
 white marble. But we could not stop to look long at these. 
 Our eyes had caught something beyond far more attractive. 
 There was a lovely garden divided by a broad avenue, 
 ornamented with courses of water and jets cV eau, and 
 bordered by Cyj^ress trees, and at the end of which, op- 
 posite to where we were, stood the exquisitely beautiful 
 Taj. No description can adequately represent this most 
 charming view. The brightest picture that the imagina- 
 tion ever conceived of the abodes of fairies might seem to 
 be here realized. The marble, of which the Taj is built, 
 had very much the appearance of mother of pearl, at that 
 distance. The octagonal body of the building itself, the 
 dome, the minarets, and the carved net-work of the win- 
 
58 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 dows, all seemed to be of this material. It stands on a 
 square, elevated ten or twelve feet above the level of the 
 ground. The steps hy which this is ascended are con- 
 cealed. The pavement is of white marble, and on each 
 corner of the square stands a minaret of the same material. 
 
 On aj^proaching the door of the Taj, a variety of Mo- 
 saic work meets the eye, principally imitations of plants, 
 and flowers, but rather stiff, and not so delicate and rich 
 as that in Delhi. On entering, the eye is almost bewildered 
 by a splendid display of the finest net work, carved from 
 pure white marble, inclosing two sarcophagi. These, to- 
 gether with the inclosure, are very richly ornamented with 
 Mosaics. On one sarcophagus is the name of Shah Jehan, 
 and on the other that of Mumtaz Mahal, his favorite 
 Queen. She was also called Taj Bibi, i. e., Lady Taj. 
 Directly beneath these, in a lower story, are two others ex- 
 actly corresponding in appearance and finish, and under 
 those is the place of sepulture. Over the room where we 
 stood was the dome. 
 
 From the platform of the Taj we looked off directly 
 into the Jumna. The garden of many acr^s appeared from 
 one of the minarets like a forest. We afterwards walked 
 around it. It is by far the most beautiful of the many 
 beautiful gardens I have seen in India. 
 
 From this we went to the fort, which also stands on the 
 Jumna. It is built of red granite. Within this the great 
 Akbar once held his' court. It is now almost entirely 
 deserted ; but time and changes of governments seem to 
 have had little effect upon its solid walls. The ground 
 entrance remains as it was, being a succession of inclined 
 planes, so constructed, the stones with which they are 
 paved being cut into grooves, that horses, and even car- 
 riages may pass up and down. The marble palace is 
 
ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 59 
 
 pleasantly situated on the banks of the Jumna. Although 
 it is rich and splendid, it draws little admiration from one 
 who has just seen the Taj. Still it is in a high degree in- 
 teresting on account of the recollections attached to it, 
 having been the residence of some of the most celebrated 
 conquerors of the east." "Here was the court of Akbar, 
 the greatest of the Mongol emperors, indeed one of the 
 greatest of eastern kings. But silence reigns throughout 
 those apartments now. The glory and power, once so far 
 famed, have long since come to an end." 
 
 " We visited the Government College, in which English, 
 Arabic and Persian are taught; the vernacular also, but 
 no religion, except the Hindu and Mohammedan." 
 
 " Nov. 15. Visited Secundra to-day. Here is Akbar's 
 tomb, a great curiosity, but difficult to describe. It stands 
 in a large garden, larger than the one in which is the Taj, 
 but not so beautiful. The gateway was once large and 
 elegant, but is now going to ruins." 
 
 " We breakfasted with Mr. Hoerle, one of Mr. Offan- 
 der's associates. He lives in the entrance to a tomb of one 
 of Akbar's queens. The girls' school is in the mausoleum 
 itself. The boys' school is in the mausoleum of another 
 of his queens, who is supposed to have been a Christian, a 
 Portuguese, as there is no inscription in the usual Moham- 
 medan style on the sarcophagus. Probably it was through 
 her influence that the Jesuit missionaries were called to 
 Akbar's court, and kept there so long. These schools, 
 under Mr. Hoerle' s care, are quite interesting. In the 
 boys' school are 161, and in the girls' 116. They earn a 
 large amount towards their support by various kinds of 
 manual labor." 
 
 " Near Mr. Offander's are some curious stones which 
 have recently been excavated. From these it appears that, 
 
60 ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 
 
 about two hundred years ago, there was in A^ra a colony 
 of Englishmen and Dutchmen, of whom we have no histor- 
 ical account. The «tones are in the Mohammedan style, 
 and of a cheap order. One of the inscriptions is this, 
 'Here lies the body of John Drake Haine, Anno Domini 
 1637. E. R. fecit. A. Domini 1647.' Of the rest, some in 
 English, and some in Dutch, the earliest date was 1627, 
 and the latest, 1679." 
 
 On their return journey the missionary party preached 
 in many large villages, in some of them several times, and 
 in general the people listened attentively. At Kanouj 
 they sjDent four days. Much interest was awakened by 
 their appearance. People came in great numbers around 
 their tents daily, and instruction was given by one or other 
 of them almost constantly. 
 
 One day they took a few hours to survey the ruins of 
 the old city. In days of Buddhist superiority, Kanouj was 
 a great Buddhist city. In the decline of that religion, it 
 passed over to the rival faith and became the centre of 
 * Orthodox Brahmanism, and supplied Brahmanical teachers 
 to Bengal, whose descendants are still known as Kulin 
 Brahmans.'^ Mahmoudof Grhizni carried from it spoils of 
 immense value. The fort was about two miles long, but 
 is now a heap of brick and earth. We saw only a small 
 piece of the ancient wall remaining. Everything of ancient 
 Hindu structure seems to have been brought entirely to 
 ruin, and almost to non-existence. One or two ancient 
 temples are in part remaining, having been changed by the 
 Mohammedans into mas j ids. 
 
 In January, 1843, Mr. Owen was again in Allahabad, 
 engaged in the ordinary duties of the station. 
 
 1) Wheeler, Hist, of India. 
 
EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 61 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN, 
 
 It is a gigantic system of si^iritual bondage under 
 which the Hindu people are enslaved. And in the heart 
 of it reigns the belief in cruel and vindictive gods, who 
 have to be propitiated by continual service, whereby every 
 individual is dependent on the priesthood who alone can 
 satisfy them. The doctrine of salvation offered freely to 
 faith by the sovereign love of God is diametrically opposed 
 to all their habits of thinking, and all that teaching which 
 from infancy has grown into the texture of their minds. 
 Although they may understand the words in which it is 
 presented, yet the meanings they receive are necessarily 
 not the christian but the heathen, those associated with all 
 their own previous use of the words. Their whole power 
 of thinking is so abused, perverted and preoccupied that 
 they cannot understand aright the terms in which the 
 gospel is offered. 
 
 There is needed a Christian education for them which 
 shall substitute Christian ideas for heathen, and accom- 
 pany and follow up the proclamation of the Grospel with 
 exposition and application of all its details, and that not 
 once in a village, but persistently, until the language itself 
 becomes imbued with a Christian meaning. Grovernment 
 schools existed only at far distant points, and reached com- 
 paratively few. For the most part, the Christian teacher 
 had to begin with his pupils at the beginning. In some 
 respects he was at a disadvantage as compared with the 
 
62 EDUCATION OP THE HEATHEN. 
 
 govemmeDt schools. At the latter, good attainments were 
 conspicuous, and put their possessor directly in the way of 
 promotion to office. Missionary schools held out no such 
 inducements, and did not profess to be neutral on the sub- 
 ject of religion. And yet, because good attainments made 
 at the mission schools, although not so directly under the 
 eye. of government, were accepted as preparation for office, 
 some parents were, for the sake of that advantage, willing 
 to risk the danger from the side of religion. * 
 
 Another class for whom instruction had to be provided, 
 consisted of destitute children and orphans collected by 
 Christian charity. 
 
 Such was a part of the work which the Presbyterian 
 missionaries in Northern India felt to be incumbent upon 
 them from the first. Schools for children were commenced 
 at all their stations ; and some of them had begun to think 
 of raising up a native ministry. Into this work of educa- 
 tion, Mr. Owen entered with all his heart. 
 
 The schools were of different kinds. First, those taught 
 in the bazars, open to all who chose to attend, and occupied 
 chiefly in teaching to read the vernacular tongue ; secondly, 
 free schools on the mission premises, and thirdly, orphan 
 schools for both boys and girls. In these latter, more ex- 
 tended instruction was attempted, including all the or- 
 dinary elementary departments, in Hindustani, Hindi, and 
 English. By way of preparing for a higher and a clerical 
 course of study, a High School was instituted at Lodiana, 
 and put, for a time, in charge of Mr. Porter, and after- 
 wards, in 1842, of Mr. Janvier.^ The mission at Allahabad, 
 in like manner, "having had in contemplation, for a length 
 of time, to establish a High School, in which a more ex- 
 
 1) For. Miss. Chron. XII. 105. 
 
EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 63 
 
 tended course of study might be imparted to the orj^han 
 boys under its care, and in which Biblical instruction 
 should hold the most prominent place, resolved to open 
 the school on the first of January, 1843, in the house 
 used as a mission chapel ; but in consequence of the mela 
 boing held at that time, it did not go into operation until 
 the beginning of February. 
 
 Notices were circulated through the city inviting the 
 natives to send their children to this school, where they 
 would be instructed in the native laaguages, and also re- 
 ceive an English education free of expense. Mr. Owen 
 was appointed to superintend the native department, and 
 assist in the English, when needed, and Mr. Wray to 
 superintend the English. Two assistants were also em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Its schools soon became an interesting feature of the 
 Mission, divided into the lour separate departments of the 
 boys' bazar schools, the girls' bazar schools, the orphan 
 girls' school, and the Mission High School. From the 
 reported list of studies pursued in the last named, it 
 appears that the chief view was had to preparation of those 
 who might be otherwise qualified for the njinistry of the 
 Gospel among their countrymen. 
 
 "April 26, 1843. Smdh is now an integral part of 
 British territory. A great battle was fought by the Brit- 
 ish army, under command of Sir Charles Napier, against 
 the Belouchees on the 17th of February, and a decisive 
 victory gainel, and another on the 24th of March, within 
 six miles of Hyderabad. The result will probably be the 
 opening of the Indus, and the introduction of civilization 
 and Christianity into Sindh." 
 
 A college had bee'^ established at Allahabad and for 
 some years supported by the British East India Grovern- 
 
64 EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 
 
 ment, for the education of native youth in the English 
 language, and learning. On the first of October, 1846, that 
 institution was transferred to the care and control of the 
 American missionaries, with the use of the building, furni- 
 ture and as much of the library as they might require.^ 
 
 As the Bible and the Christian religion had been hith- 
 erto excluded from the course of studies, it became a point 
 of much solicitude with the missionaries and their friends 
 what course would be taken by the students on finding 
 that the college was now to be conducted on Christian 
 principles. On the first day after the change, a discussion 
 took place concerning Christianity, and the members of the 
 first class, and some of the second withdrew. The rest con- 
 tinued in attendance, and new names were soon added. 
 The Bible and Christian books were introduced, as they 
 U- had been in the High School ; heathen holidays were dis- 
 
 ^ coimtenanced, and a radical change accomplished in the 
 
 religious character of the institution. In merging itself 
 into the College, the School communicated its own religi- 
 ous character. The new institution, as the Mission Col- 
 lege, was put under charge of Mr. Owen, with Mr. Wray, 
 and to some extent others as assistants.^ 
 
 At Furruckabad a similar transfer was made with a 
 valuable library of 700 volumes. In 1847 the number of 
 children and youth under instruction of the three Pres- 
 byterian Missions in Northern India amounted to about 
 one thousand.^ 
 
 Mr. Owen, in a report* of the progress of the College 
 at Allahabad for its first six months, after mentioning how 
 great was the opposition in the city against it, under its 
 
 1) For. Miss. Chron. XV. 3-25. 3) Ibid. XV. 195. 
 
 2) F. M. Chron. XV. 7i'. 4) Ibid, -257. 
 
EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 65 
 
 new management, and that he and his colleagues had to 
 proceed with caution and yet with decision, goes on to say 
 that their firm resolve was that it should be a Christian 
 institution, "that the Bible must be taught, and liberty 
 given us to explain its doctrines, otherwise we would have 
 nothing to do with it. Some good friends advised us to 
 bring it in the first day. But we thought it our duty to 
 adapt our proceedings to the peculiar circumstances. Here 
 was a seminary in which opposition to the Bible had long 
 been virtually fostered. Our position was far more dif- 
 ficult than if the pupils had been brought to us rude from 
 the city. Had the Bible been brought at once and placed 
 in their hands, the whole number would probably have 
 left. Yet the Bible was introduced the very first day, 
 and though not read by the city lads, it was heard. Our 
 orphan boys went on reading the Scriptures as usual while 
 the others sat and listened. In a few days, however, the 
 Bible was given to a class of city lads to read, at their own 
 request. They had requested to read Milton's Paradise 
 Lost, and after reading it a few days, discovered that they 
 could not understand it properly without the Bible, and 
 asked me to read it with them." It was gradually intro- 
 duced into the other classes, as they were willing to 
 receive it. 
 
 On the 10th of December, after the college had been 
 two months in connection with the mission, a public 
 examination was had, in presence of several visitors, 
 ladies and gentlemen, who expressed themselves "dehghted 
 to hear all the classes reading the Bible, except the young- 
 est, who were not yet able to read it with advantage." 
 
 About a hundred youth were present at the examina- 
 tion, although they had opened with only fifty. 
 
 IS^J 
 
6,6 % EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. , 
 
 " While the mela lasted we continued our regular recita- 
 tions daily, without any regard to the festival, though fre- 
 quently besieged by the students with requests for holi- 
 day. We would have been glad to be at the mela for 
 preaching, more than we were, but as the object of all our 
 labors is to break up the mela and every other idolatrous 
 thing, we thought it would be best promoted by remaining 
 at our proper post."i 
 
 On the first festival after the transfer of the college 
 none of the scholars attended. "When the next came, for 
 they are constantly coming, the government gave about 
 one-third of the year to them, two or three were present. 
 On the arrival of the next, the same arguments were urged, 
 for the holy day." The calm reply was, " We are Christ- 
 ians, we do not compel you to observe our sacred days, 
 why should you wish to compel us to observe yours ? We 
 allow you to follow your consciences, you should allow us 
 to follow ours. We think you are wrong in observing 
 these days, we advise you to attend to your studies, still 
 we lay no compulsion on you." G-entle firmness, with care 
 to make knowledge entertaining to them, struggled through 
 the difiiculty. With similar caution and respectful kind- 
 ness the objections to reading the Bible in College were 
 overcome. 
 
 At the end of a few months Mr. Owen could say, " I 
 spend an hour daily with all in the College department, 
 eight Sophomores and fourteen Freshmen, in the reading 
 and exposition of the oracles of G-od, and I have not a 
 more delightful hour in the whole twenty-four. We pro- 
 ceed thus : I call upon some one to repeat what he can 
 remember of the preceding day's lesson from the Old 
 
 1) F. M, Chron. XV. 320. 
 
EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. &*? 
 
 Testament, (at present Genesis,) with the exj^lanation 
 given; then we proceed to a new chapter, which they read, 
 two verses in turn, after which we go over it carefully, 
 calling attention to the most important parts, showing 
 the connection between the different parts of the historv, 
 keeping prominently in view the great fact that this is the 
 inspired history of Grod's church, and in connection with 
 this, explaining the nature of the church, pointing out the 
 doctrines, the types of the Messiah, and prophecies respect- 
 ing him, and making such practical remarks as the portion 
 read may suggest. After this is done we turn to the New 
 Testament, and after some one has given an account of the 
 preceding day's lesson from it, we proceed with a small 
 portion on a plan similar to the one used with the Old 
 Testament, varying the instruction as the subject may 
 require. We are at present reading the gospels in har- 
 mony. On Saturdays, instead of reading the Scriptures 
 they spend an hour or more in reciting two or three answers 
 from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, with proofs. In 
 this way I hope precious seed is finding soil where it shall 
 yet germinate and yield an increase to the glory of Grod's 
 grace. 
 
 The truth has already begun to work. Sometimes we 
 have most interesting conversations on some of the doc- 
 trines brought into view by the Scripture read, of which I 
 could not repeat to you the tenth part. Exclamations like 
 the following have been made, with all appearance of sin- 
 cerity, and with marked feeling : ' Oh, is this book indeed 
 true ! Is the soul really to live forever, and is its condi- 
 tion to be fixed, without any possibility of change, after 
 leaving this world ? Then I am in great fear ; my shasters 
 never told me any such thing. Is the soul hereafter to 
 
68 EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 
 
 have no transmigration, 7nust it be unchangeably fixed 
 either in heaven or in hell ? I am not fit to go to heaven ; 
 if I should die now, I must go to hell ; I am in great fear. 
 Oh, must the punishment of hell be forever ? That is 
 awful. What shall I do to be saved ? ' This last was 
 said to me one day by a young Brahman, with tears in his 
 eyes, after we had been reading the Bible. He came home 
 with me, I conversed and prayed with him ; he has fre- 
 quently been to me for private conversation and prayer 
 since that time, attends church regularly, attends also, I 
 hope, to secret prayer, reads the Scriptures with attention, 
 has read Baxter's Call, is now reading Doddridge's Rise and 
 Progress, and will, I trust, in Grod's own good time be led 
 to make a public profession of attachment to the Savior." 
 After prayer had also been introduced with the consent 
 of the students, " some who had attended church and heard 
 sinewing, wished that we might have singing also. So I 
 promised them that they should have it the next morning. 
 I got several copies of the G-eneral Assembly's former col- 
 lection of hymns, now lying out of use, since the introduc- 
 tion of the last collection, distributed them, and requested 
 that all would try to sing, as that was the only way of 
 learning. They all seemed greatly pleased. All, except a 
 strict Mohammedan, joined in trying, and as I am not 
 much of a singer, the strange variety of noises sometimes 
 almost puts me out. But they do it all with great respect 
 and sobriety, and some express a desire to learn the art of 
 singing well. The Hindus generally are such bad musi- 
 cians, so monotonous and without taste in all their per- 
 formances, whether instrumental or vocal, that the desire 
 expressed by these youth to learn the science of music is 
 rather remarkable." 
 
EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 69 
 
 Toward the end of the first year Mr. Owen wrote to the 
 Lieutenant-GToveruor, giving him an account of what had 
 been done, and asking him to become patron of the college. 
 " He replied very kindly, and freely gave his consent." 
 Several English residents became trustees. " Of course 
 they will not interfere with our regulations, but will visit 
 the institution from time to time, attend the examinations, 
 award prizes, give us their counsel, and in various ways 
 show themselves interested in its prosperity." 
 
 On the same occasion he also proposed a system of 
 scholarships, remarking that "It is very desirable to hold 
 out some inducement to our best scholars to remain in con- 
 nection with the institution, pursuing their studies a year 
 or two after j^assing through the regular course, and we 
 hope to have theological classes that will need assistance 
 from these scholarships. The course of study, as at present 
 marked out, is eight years, four for the school and four for 
 the college." 
 
 Appended to the Catalogue and Regulations of the 
 Allahabad Mission College for the year 1847, was a list of 
 contributions to its support subscribed by English gentle- 
 men of the East India Company's service, of from ten to 
 two hundred rupees annually. At the head of that list 
 stands the name of Arthur Lang, magistrate of the district 
 of Allahabad in the East India Company's service. 
 
 Next year, 1848, in the month of March, the mission 
 was strengthened by the arrival of the Eev. A. A. Hodge 
 and his wife. The Rev. ^Merrit Owen, who was to have 
 accompanied them, to join his brother, was detained 
 by sickness, and died while they were on the way. Mr. 
 Hodge was assigned to a place in the mission college ; but 
 his residence in India was brief. The declining health of 
 
70 EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 
 
 Mrs. Hoclge rendered it necessary to return to America 
 before the end of two years. ^ His place was subsequently 
 filled by Mr. Munnis, transferred from the Furrukabad 
 mission. From the beginning the method was adopted of 
 appointing native monitors, and of employing them, accord- 
 ing to their capacity, in teaching. 
 
 In 1 849, three of the bazar schools were connected with 
 the college, as a vernacular department, making the whole 
 number of scholars about three hundred. 
 
 In August 1850, reinforcements left America for all the 
 North India Missions; Mr. and Mrs. L. G. Hay, and Mr. 
 and Mrs. H. W. Shaw to join that of Allahabad, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Campbell, and Mr. Fullerton, to Furrukabad, and 
 Mr. Orbison, to Lodiana. They reached Calcutta Dec. 30, 
 1860.'^ 
 
 On the 6th of Feb., 1850, Mr. Owen made the following 
 statements respecting the progress of the college. " At the 
 examination, on the 6th of December, we had present 153 
 in the English dej^artment, and 145 in the vernacular, in 
 all 298. Of course, our Assembly Hall was nearly full. 
 We opened again, on the 4th of January, and though the 
 Mela, and immediately after that the Holi, have been in 
 progress, we have yet nearly the same number in attend- 
 ance." 
 
 "Day before yesterday (Feb. 4,) was observed by several 
 Christians in different parts of India, as a day of fasting and 
 prayer," for the blessing of God upon missionary labors in 
 this country. I had forgotten previously to announce the 
 subject to our puj^ils. They assembled, as usual, at 10 
 A. M. for prayers, in the Assembly Hall, when I had 
 
 1) F. Miss. Chron. XV. 272. F. Miss. July, 1850, p. 41. 
 
 2) F. M. Chron. 18.50, p. 74. F. M. Chron. 1851, p. 188. 
 
EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 71 
 
 worship with them, and explained why the day was thus 
 observed, and invited them to go over with me to the 
 church at 11 o'clock. Accordingly they all formed in pro- 
 cession at 11, to the number of 237, and marched with me 
 to church, where I preached to them in Hindustani, from 
 Psalm H. 10. 
 
 Mr. Thomason, our excellent Lieutenant Governor, 
 visited us about the middle of January, and expressed 
 himself much pleased with our arrangements. Seeing them 
 all assembled in the Hall, he inquired whether they could 
 sing hymns. I had made no special preparation of this 
 kind, but mentioned the hymn that first occurred to me, 
 
 " Salvation, O tlie joyful sound," &;c., 
 which they sang greatly to his delight. He kincQy sent the 
 Institution a donation of two hundred rupees, a day or 
 two afterward. 
 
 Since we have got the large room, we have prayers 
 twice daily, at the commencement and at the close of our 
 daily duties. At each time, I read a portion of Scripture, 
 and pray in Hindustani, so that all may understand, and 
 at the morning service we always sing. Sometimes I ex- 
 hibit pictures, illustrative of Scripture scenes, or incidents, 
 accompanied, of course, with explanations, and remarks in 
 Urdu." 
 
 At that date, the number of children and youth under 
 instruction of the Allahabad Missionaries amounted to 399. 
 
 While laboring thus to create a centre of Christian 
 education, and to raise up a class of men to take the place 
 of Christian ministers for their native land, Mr. Owen con- 
 ceived also the plan of having a system of branch schools, 
 connected with preaching stations, within the district of 
 Allahabad, to be conducted by some of the best prepared 
 
72 EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 
 
 graduates of the Mission College. An English gentleman 
 having generously offered to assist in " some private ben- 
 evolent scheme," Mr. Owen stated to him his views on this 
 subject. A branch school was forthwith commenced at 
 Phulpur, a town some 18 or 20 miles from Allahabad, 
 under instruction of two native teachers. Mr. Owen him- 
 self spent four days there making arrangements. "If this 
 experiment succeeds, I have another place in view, and we 
 have two young men qualified to occupy it. Indeed, I have 
 half a dozen places in view, and shall not feel satisfied till 
 the whole district of Allahabad is dotted over with Chris- 
 tian schools and stations." 
 
 A similar branch school was soon after (Nov., 1853)^ 
 commenced at Banda. At the end of the first year, it 
 numbered 154 scholars. In April, 1854, we find Mr. Owen 
 on a visit to that place,^ for the purpose of securmg greater 
 conveniences of accommodation, in suitable dwellings, and 
 a school-house for the branch mission there. "Am thank- 
 ful," he writes, "to record that we have now 1137 Rupees 
 in the school treasury, with which to commence buying 
 and building, if we are all spared till after the rains." At 
 the examination in Oct., 1854, Mr. Owen was present, to- 
 gether with an English gentleman, who published a com- 
 mendatory account of it.^ 
 
 At the end of that year the principal school at Alla- 
 habad closed its session with five hundred and fifty scholars. 
 It was subsequently assigned to other superintendency. 
 And at the end of three years, a great calamity befell the 
 country, putting that and all other missionary work to a 
 stop. 
 
 1) F. M. 1855, p. 255. 
 
 2) Ibid, 1854, p. 224. 3) F. M. for Nov., 1854. Nov., 1855, p. 170. May, 1856. 
 
EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 
 
 73 
 
 In 1854 the G-overnmeDt of India provided for extend- 
 ing their system of education, in the creating of univers- 
 ities and common schools, which were to be open to all 
 ranks and colors, and teachers were to be allowed to give 
 Bible instruction to any of their scholars who might wish 
 it, out of school hours. But such instruction was not to 
 be subject of examination by the visitors appointed under 
 government.^ 
 
 A larger portion of Mr. Owen's time was now given to 
 translation, revision of translation, and exposition of 
 Scripture. 
 
 1) F. M. Jan., 1855, p. 254. 
 
74 GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERAL PROGRESS, AND EVENTS OF MISSIONARY WORK. 
 
 Although true religion has no such peculiar adapta- 
 bility to one branch of mankind as to unfit it for another, 
 yet Jihere are certain ethnic natures of a more religious 
 disposition than others. The Chinese, when they rise 
 above superstition, are merely moral or formal, and the 
 Turks when not fatalists, lean to rationalism; but there 
 are two oriental races which, from the earliest dawn of 
 their history, have been distinguished by the devotional 
 element of character. These two are the Hebrew and the 
 Hindu. Equally prone in their devotionalism to worship 
 anything that can be conceived of as representative of 
 God, the former have through all their history been 
 guarded against the errors of that tendency, the latter 
 abandoned to it without restraint; the former has been 
 made the means of maintaining the present monotheism; 
 the latter has developed the most complex and artificial 
 system of polytheism. The monotheistic faith of the 
 Hebrews is devotional, contemplates a personal God, and 
 abhors the generalization of the rationalist ; so the poly- 
 theism of the Hindu, though comprehended in the theory 
 of a pantheistic philosophy, is practically devotional and 
 rests on manifold objects of idolatry. Similarly endowed 
 natures have, under different styles of treatment, been 
 brought to religious positions diametrically opposite; one 
 to the highest, and the other to the lowest occupied by 
 civilized man. Among the religions of the far east the 
 
GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 75 
 
 Hindu stands, as the Hebrew among those of the west. 
 His is the oldest religion of the ruling race, to the east of 
 Assyria and short of China. From it has set off the gi'eat- 
 est and most pervasive reforms of all the further east, 
 Avestanism and Buddhism; and its productivity in sects 
 continues to this hour. To such a degree have spiritual 
 and eternal things always occupied the mind of the Hindu, 
 that those of the present life have been overlooked and 
 undervalued. The spiritual has been regarded as the only 
 reality and material things but seeming — mere illusion, the 
 Maya of their mythology. Hebrews M'ere abundantly 
 realistic, and from their ancient Scriptures it appears as 
 prone to idolatry as the Hindoos. That they did not reach 
 the same depth was due to the interposition of a better 
 instruction. May we not hope that the same instruction 
 impressed uj^on the Hindus may work a similar effect 
 upon them, and through them upon the world of which 
 they form so large a part. The race which has given the 
 self-sacrificing devotees of Brahmanism, and the propa- 
 gandists of Buddhism, if converted to a purer faith, one 
 more satisfactory to both the heart and understanding, 
 may be expected, when imbued by the lessons of the Gosj^el, 
 to furnish the most devoted of its ministers. In this light, 
 an interesting fact of the American missions in Northern 
 India is that they are planted among a Hindu people. 
 
 The Mohammedans of that country are descended of 
 the foreign conquerors who ruled it, before the arrival of 
 the British. From Oude westward to the Indus was the 
 scene of their principal residence. And their authority, 
 planted at Delhi or Agra, made Allahabad one of its strong 
 places. Not Arabs, but Persians and Afghans were those 
 invaders. And although the Arabic language was intro- 
 
76 GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 duced by them in worship and the observances of religion, 
 Persian was their language of business and of state. Their 
 religion presented itself to the Hindu as utterly foreign. 
 The strong jDoint of Mohammedanism, the certain truth 
 of the oneness of God, answers the purpose of making its 
 believers boldly confident in the whole of their creed, 
 haughty, overbearing and intolerant. In discussion with 
 them, Mr. Owen found his famiHar knowledge of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures and of the Koran in Arabic of great 
 advantage. Copies of both he carried with him on his 
 missionary tours, always ready to verify or refute an 
 alleged quotation. If his acquaintance with Sanskrit was 
 not equally extensive, it was enough to furnish the means 
 of encountering the common Brahmanical opposition from 
 that quarter, as well as a help in the work of translation 
 into Hindi, which soon fell to his lot. In accordance with 
 a resolution of the G-eneral Assembly of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States, adopted in 1841, the missions 
 of Lodiana, Allahabad, and Furrukabad were constituted 
 Presbyteries, and organized into a Synod, to be called the 
 Synod of Northern India. Intervening changes, and the 
 distances and expense of travelling occasioned much delay 
 in carrying that act of Assembly into effect. The first 
 meeting of the Synod was to have been at Futtehgurh, on 
 the 7th of December, 1844, and Messrs. Owen and Warren 
 were requested, by the missionaries at Allahabad, to rep- 
 resent their station. 
 
 On the 7th of November preceding, Mr. Owen was 
 married to Augusta Margaret, daughter of Major G-eneral 
 Proctor of the British army. Upon the death of her father, 
 Miss Proctor had accej^ted the invitation of her cousin, 
 Mrs. Lang, wife of Arthur Lang, magistrate of the district 
 
GENERAL PROGRESS OV THE MISSION. 77 
 
 of Allahabad, and removed thither in 1842. His union 
 with that amiable and accompHshed Christian lady,l)rought 
 Mr. Owen into more intimate social relations with the 
 British residents, both civil and military, greatly extend- 
 ing the sphere of his influence. 
 
 On the day of their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Owen set 
 out on a missionary tour, which was to terminate in the 
 meeting of synod at Futtehgurh. They travelled by 
 budgerow, on the Granges ; and at all stopping places, Mr. 
 Owen availed himself, as usual, of opportunities to preach 
 the Gospel by oral instruction and distribution of books. 
 
 They reached Futtehgurh on the 2d of December, and 
 on the 7th, the day appointed for the meeting of synod, 
 the members present assembled in the orj)han school 
 chapel; but in consequence of the absence of representa- 
 tion from Lodiana, were unable to organize the synod. 
 They however met in convention, and transacted some 
 business, the most important of which were two resolu- 
 tions in regard to translation. First, "That a revision of 
 the Hindi and Urdu versions of the Scriptures now in use 
 is desirable so soon as the work can be done." And 
 second, " That in order to expedite the translation of the 
 standards of the church, the three Presbyteries constitut- 
 ing the Synod be requested to divide the work among them- 
 selves, as follows, Allahabad to translate the Larger and 
 Shorter Catechisms; Furrukabad, the Form of Grovern- 
 ment and Directory, and Lodiana, the Confession of Faith. 
 These are to be prepared both in Urdu and Hindi, and 
 ready to be presented to Synod for its approval whenever 
 that body may meet." 
 
 It had also been thought advisable by the mission to 
 print for circulation among the native population a volume 
 
78 GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 of sermons in the Urdu lan^ua^e. The text undertaken 
 by Mr. Owen was the first Psalm. His work upon it 
 proved, in course of time, to be the beginning of a transla- 
 tion and exposition of the whole book of Psalms in Urdu. 
 
 The events of the Sikh war disturbed only the mission 
 at Lodiana, but the interests concerned belonged equally 
 to all the stations. The missionaries felt that the cause of 
 the British government in that conflict was the cause of 
 Christianity in India. On their part, the authorities did 
 everything in their power, to protect the missionaries of 
 Lodiana, who were inclosed within the military move- 
 ments. 
 
 "Jan. 6th, 1846. The close of the year was marked by 
 important events in the Northwest — occurrences that will 
 no doubt make a prominent figure in Indian history. The 
 British army encountered a large army of the Sikhs, who 
 had made aggression on this side of the Sutlej, on the 
 18th, 21st, and 22d of December, and, though with great 
 loss, drove them from the field. The first battle was at 
 Moodkee, twenty-two miles from Firozpur, the engage- 
 ments on the 21st and 22d at Firozshahr near Firozpur. 
 The loss on both sides has been sad, though all particulars 
 are not yet known." 
 
 " Feb. 18. If it had not been the Lord that was on 
 our side, when men rose iip against us, surely we had been 
 destroyed, or driven from India. Why was not our army 
 vanquished at Firozshahr, when weakened by hunger and 
 fatigue they were led against a well disciplined and num- 
 erous foe thirsting for our blood, and whose artillery did 
 such awful execution ? The hand of Ood was there. Why 
 have not the natives in every direction around us created 
 revolt, and why was a conspiracy at Patna detected and 
 
GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 79 
 
 suppressed ? God has been for us. Every observer of 
 Providence must perceive that the Great Ruler has the 
 direction of all the occurrences that have been taking place, 
 and are still going on. On the 28th of January a division 
 of the army, under command of Sir Harry Smith, attacked 
 the Sikhs in their entrenchments, and drove them over the 
 river with great loss." 
 
 "Again we have heard of a most decisive victory gained 
 on the 10th instant. The loss on the Sikh side must have 
 been awful. They were driven from their entrenchments 
 into the river, and their bridge having been destroyed, 
 they were upwards of half an hour in crossing, during 
 which time an awful file firing of eight or ten regiments 
 was pouring upon an immense mass of them, and the 
 hoise artillery driving grape into them. The slaughter 
 must have been awful." 
 
 "April 10th. Occupied, in the morning, at the Third 
 Psalm, after breakfast, reading Urdu and correspondence, 
 and a little of the Quran with the Tafsir i Husaini. In 
 school with the first class, on the first and second of 
 Joshua, having finished the Pentateuch in Hebrew, also in 
 assisting them to commence Greek. Am pleased with their 
 improvement in Euclid and history. Preached in the 
 evening at Kydganj chapel, from John 8:12 to a rather 
 attentive audience." 
 
 ** May 6th. Overland letters bringing me tidings for 
 which! was somewhat prepared, — the death of dear George. 
 Cannot be sufficiently thankful for the grace given to 
 prepare him to meet death. Afflicted family ! Dear mother, 
 dear father, breach upon breach. Yet they can sing of 
 mercy as well as of judgment. The rod of our Heavenly 
 Father has been heavily laid upon us. May we be humbled. 
 
80 GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 and brought nearer to him. Three sisters and one brother 
 at Grod's right hand, to meet me the moment I depart 
 hence to be with Christ. O how holy I ought to be in all 
 holy conversation and godliness, how instant in prayer, 
 how strong in faith, how pure and fervent in love, how 
 ardent in zeal, how dead to this world, how alive to 
 heavenly things ! O my God, take Thou full possession 
 «^ of my soul. Let me not be so stupid, so cold and sluggish 
 in prayer, so lacking in a due regard to Thy Kingdom. 
 Dear Jesus, comfort my friends at home, give them that 
 joy and peace, which Thou alone canst impart," 
 
 "Aug. 8th. Occupied the last three days with Bro. 
 Warren and native assistants in revising the translation of 
 the Shorter Catechism, and preparing it for the approval 
 of Synod : a pleasant though difficult work. Its words of 
 grace are pleasant to go over, because drawn from the 
 Bible. 
 
 Two of my dear boys, Greorge and Yunas, are to join 
 us in the communion to-morrow evening. Hope and 
 rejoice, yet with trembUng. Edwin applied, but was defer- 
 red till next time. Do not see the large boys as earnest 
 for the salvation of the youuger ones as I wish. When 
 shall we have more like Koilas Chunder Mookerjee ? " 
 
 "Aug. 9th. . . . Lord's Supper in Hindustani, in the 
 evening, services conducted by Bro. Freeman. Happy, 
 very happy, to see George and Yunas among the com- 
 municants. Had little Gulal, an orphan sent here a few 
 months ago by Mr. Moncton, baptized by the name Albert 
 Dod. May he be baptized by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 " Sept. 26th. A Brahman, after service, wished to have 
 a talk, and began with Sanskrit. I repeated a sliloh from 
 Manu, and demanded its meaning, before we could proceed. 
 
^ 
 
 GENERAL PROGRESS OP THE MISSION. 81 
 
 This he was unable to give, and after several fruitless 
 attempts at evasion, he backed out of the crowd, went into 
 the street, and at the safe distance of several rods, poured 
 forth another volley of the language in which he professed 
 to be so learned." 
 
 The missions of the American Presbyterian Church in 
 India had now increased to eight stations classed under 
 the heads of the Lodiana, Furrukhabad, and Allahabad r 
 missions. To the first belonged the stations at Lodiana, 
 Saharunpur, Sabathu, and Merut; to the second, Furruk- 
 hal)ad, or Futtehgurh, Mynpury and Agra; and to the 
 last, that of the city and district of Allahabad. 
 
 At Lodiana and Allahabad printing presses were in 
 operation issuing books and tracts in Hindustani and 
 Hindi : at Lodiana also in Punjabi and at Allahabad also 
 in Sanskrit and English. At Lodiana, Saharunpur, Fur- 
 rukhabad, Mynpury and Allahabad, there were schools for 
 children, and at Lodiana and Allahabad, high schools for 
 pupils further advanced; that at Allahabad chiefly for the 
 purpose of preparing young men to be ministers of the 
 Grospel and helpers in Christian work. 
 
 At Lodiana were stationed the Rev. , Messrs. Porter, 
 Janvier and Morrison, with Grolok Nath, a native licentiate; 
 at Saharunpur, the Rev. J. R. Campbell with assistant 
 teachers ; at Sabathu, the Rev. Messrs. Newton and Jamie- 
 son; at Merut, the Rev. J, Caldwell with Mrs. Caldwelb 
 and Gabriel, a native assistant. At Furrukhabad the mis- 
 sionaries were the Rev. J. L. Scott, W. H. M'Auley and 
 Mrs. Nundy, with native teachers; at Mynpury, the Rev. 
 J. J. Walsh, Mrs. Walsh, Hulasi, a native assistant, and 
 native teachers; at Agra, the Rev. Messrs. J. Wilson, J. C. 
 Rankin, Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Rankin ; and at Allahabad, 
 
82 GENERAL PROGRESS Off THE MISSION. 
 
 the Rev. Messrc. Warren, Freeman, Owen, Wray, and their 
 wives, with native assistants and teachers. And on their 
 way to India, designed for the Furrukhabad mission, were 
 the Rev. Messrs. Irving and Seeley, with their wives, and 
 Robert M. Munnis, a licentiate preacher. 
 
 The printing press at Lodiana had commenced work, 
 after a destructive fire; that at Allahabad had issued in 
 the course of the preceding year, 4,579,000 pages in four 
 different languages, Hindi, Hindustani, Sanskrit and 
 English. 
 
 In the schools, the missionaries encouraged by all 
 means at their command the study of the English language, 
 and of the vernaculars ; the former, in order that their 
 pupils might have free access to the Christian literature, 
 which they were prepared to put into thair hands ; and the 
 latter, that the knowledge acquired by the student through 
 the English language might at once be available through 
 his own mother tongue. 
 
 One of the results of the Sikh war was to extend the 
 field of missions into the Punjab. On the first of January, 
 1847, Golok Nath was ordained as an evangelist, by the 
 Presbytery of Lodiana, and appointed to occupy the city 
 of Jalandar, about 35 miles west of Lodiana, and the 
 capital of the Doul) called by its name, the first district of 
 the Punjab annexed to the British empire.' Lahor was 
 occupied by Messrs. Newton and Forman in 1849, Nov. 21, 
 and a school was commenced on the 19th of December.'' 
 In 1848, Mr. J. UUmann, a German long resident in India, 
 was licensed by the Presbytery of Furrukhabad to preach 
 the G-ospel, and added to the force of Allahabad.^ A new 
 
 1) For. Miss. Chron. XV. p. 148, 225. 2) For. Miss. Feb., 1856, p 263. 
 3) For. Miss. Chron. XVII, p. 48. 
 
GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 83 
 
 station was constituted at Ambala, and occupied by Mr. 
 and Mrs. Jamieson, in the beginning of the year 1848.' Mr. 
 Morrison was transferred to Sabathu in the course of the 
 same year.'^ Futtehpore, as a branch of the Allahal)ad 
 mission, was occujjied by Mr. Munnis and four native 
 helpers.^ Subsequently to the annexation of the whole 
 Punjab, Rawal Pindi was assumed as a mission station 
 for the northwest of that province, and also as a position 
 from which to operate upon the Afghans. An English 
 Christian friend made the oifer of $7,500 to the Board if 
 a mission were established for that people, and the New 
 Testament translated into their language. Nearly at the 
 same time the services of five brethren were placed at the 
 disposal of the committee for India. One of these, Mr. 
 Lowenthal, from the Theological Seminary at Princeton, 
 was considered to be peculiarly fitted, by his linguistic 
 talents and acquirements, for the mission to the Afghans. 
 The Lodiana missionaries were requested to select two of 
 their number, and assign them to whatever point in the 
 Punjab was deemed most eligible, one of them from the 
 older missionaries to be still employed in Hindu work, 
 and the other, from the newly arrived, to take up Pushtoo 
 studies. Missionary effort within Afghanistan was not 
 yet practicable. The result was the choice of Rawal Pindi, 
 as the station, and of Messrs. Morrison and Lowenthal as 
 the missionaries. They were soon afterward separated, 
 and while Mr. Morrison remained in Rawal Pindi, Mr. 
 Lowenthal was located nearer to the field which his views 
 contemplated, at Peshawar, on the west side of the Indus. 
 Under the influence of accumulating Christian intel- 
 ligence and culture, a society of young men, native Hindus, 
 
 1) Ibid. XVI. p. 212. 2) F. M. Chron. XVI. p. 113. 3) Ibid. Sept., 1852, 
 p. 72. 
 
84 GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 trained in the schools to Christian science and Enghsh 
 literature, but not spiritually prepared to accept the 
 Gospel, was formed by themselves at Agra, under the 
 name of the " Young Bengal Literary Society of Agra," 
 in relation to the part}^ in Calcutta calling themselves 
 "Young Bengal," and associated for mutual support in 
 casting off the practices and prejudices of Hinduism. The 
 work of the Society consisted mostly in " debating, read- 
 ing essays, and supporting and teaching an English school. 
 In religion, they rejected Hinduism without l)ecoming 
 Christian, but taking the ground of pure Monotheism, In 
 their meetings and exercises they used the English lan- 
 guage; and regarded the Bible as an aathority to be ap- 
 pealed to in questions of right and wrong. Actual pro- 
 fessions of Christian faith were still few ; but increasing 
 in number in all the missions. And in the conversion of 
 some, who had never been under the personal instruction 
 of the missionaries, evidence was furnished that the in- 
 fluence of their books and pupils was operating beyond the 
 bounds of the stations.^ Many of these enterprises received 
 liberal contributions from British residents, and even from 
 a few natives of rank and wealth, among whom were the 
 Rajah of Kapurthala and the Sikh Prince Dhuleep Singh. 
 The latter professed Christianity and was baptized by the 
 English Chaplain at Futtehgurh in 1863.'^ At Futtehgurh 
 a village was erected for the accommodation of Christian 
 natives, in which they could pursue their oc(mpations, en- 
 joy society and their religious privileges without inter- 
 ruption, or offense. And some native villages in that 
 quarter, applied through their own authorities, for regular 
 
 1) P. M. Nov. p. 104. 
 
 2> F. M. for July, 1853, p. 46. Also for Oct. p. 90. 
 
GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 85 
 
 instruction in the Christian religion. A similar movement 
 took place at Rawal Pindee, where a number of people 
 rejecte<l Hinduism, ^ and accepted what thej knew of 
 Christianity. 
 
 Mr. Campl)ell at Saharunpur reported that twelve 
 Hindus in that city had renounced idolatry, and were in 
 the habit of assembling daily to read the Christian Scrip- 
 tures, and inquire about Christianity.* They were headed 
 by a learned Pundit. 
 
 At the melas at Allahabad, a greater number gave 
 attention, and more serious attention, to the preaching of 
 the Gospel.^ Mr. Woodside of the Lodiana mission com- 
 menced about the same time his work at Dehra, where 
 although encountering much opposition from Grovernment 
 officials as well as natives, he was favored with encouraging 
 success. He opened his school January 1st. 1854, with two 
 pupils and closed its first session at the end of September 
 with nearly eighty. He adds in his letter on the subject, 
 " I have a very respectable congregation of Europeans 
 every Sabbath, and a prayer meeting on Thursday evening. 
 I have gathered around me a little native community of 
 about twenty souls, who all attend our exercises." * 
 
 By that date also, British roads, canals, telegraphs, 
 railways, steamboats and industrial methods were estab- 
 lishing an unanswerable argument for the superiority of 
 Education among Christians, and effacing the prestige of 
 Hindu antiquity while providing increased facilities for 
 prosecution of Christian work."* 
 
 On the other hand, opposition began to be more sys- 
 tematically organized. The society of educated but un- 
 
 1) F. M. Jan. 1854, p. 158. 2) F. M. May,lS54, p. 285. 3) F. M. June, 1854, 28, 
 4) F. M., Feb., 1855, p. 258. 5) F. M,. June, 1855, p. 2-^. 
 
86 GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 believing Hindus, who having lost respect for their native 
 religion had no faith in that of Christ, operated to promote 
 unbelief. Infidel books were procured from Europe, which 
 they reprinted and distributed among their countrymen. 
 
 Mr. Morrison, who had already acted as a pioneer in 
 several directions, in the year 1855, made a tour of explora- 
 tion from Labor through the west and north of the Punjab, 
 between the Jelum and the Indus, and described new 
 fields of missionary labor. Already the mission had schools 
 in that region, at Rawal Pindi, Jelum, and Pind Dadal 
 Khan,^ and ere the close of next year, the stations had been 
 increased by the addition of Rurkee and Peshawar. 
 
 About the same date occurred the annexation of Oude 
 to the British dominions. " This," writes Mr. UUmann, 
 " opens a new field of missionary labor, and may perhaps 
 by and by be taken up by the Furrukhabad mission, as it 
 is close to us, its western boundary stretching along the 
 left bank of the Granges, almost from Allahabad to Furruk- 
 habad. Three of our converts during the last year were 
 from that province. Lucknow, the capital of Oude, num- 
 bers not less than 300,000 inhabitants, probably more. 
 Some estimate it as high as 600,000 or 800,000. Con- 
 sidering the nature of the country and its inhabitants, it 
 will no doubt one day become a most important field for 
 missionary operations." ^ 
 
 By the Rep<^>rt of the year closing with October 1, 1856, 
 the stations comprehended under the two Missions of 
 Lodiana and Furrukhabad extended across the Punjab 
 including Peshawar,^ Rawal Pindi, Labor and Jalundar ; 
 and in a belt of the same direction southeastward, includ- 
 
 1) F. M., Sept.. 1855, p. 98-100. 2) F. M., June, IS^, p. 17. 
 3) Ibid., March, 1857. p. 333. 
 
GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 87 
 
 ing Lodiana, Sabathu, Ambala, Dehra, Sahanmpur and 
 Roorkee then under the head of Furriikhabad, Futtehgurh, 
 Agra, Mynpury, Futtehpur, Banda and Allahabad. The 
 stations connected with Fnrrukhabad lay at some distance 
 from those of the Lodiana connection, but they continued 
 the direction as a belt of Christian schools, along the great 
 routes of communication between Bengal and Afghanistan, 
 from the junction of the Ganges and Jumna to the west 
 bank of the Indus. The stations of Saharunpur, Dehra, 
 and Rurkee were manned by missionaries of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church of the United States.* 
 
 Over this field, the men, with whom our narrative 
 began, were dispersed at several important points. Mor- 
 rison was at Rawal Piudi, where he had just organized a 
 Christian church and school ; Janvier was at Lodiana, 
 together with a few fellow laborers of kindred devotion, 
 sustaining the heavy work of that mother-mission and 
 centre of the larger group of stations ; Freeman was at 
 Mynpurie alone with only one or two native helpers, and 
 Owen, at Allahabad, having been recently transferred from 
 the charge of the Mission College, which he had built up 
 to an unexpected prosperity, to other duties in which more 
 of his time could be secured for translation and exposition 
 of Scripture. They were associated with others no less 
 zealous and laborious. Altogether, and without any in- 
 vidious comparison with others, or among themselves, the 
 missionaries who then occupied that ground, as a har- 
 monious company of Christian workers, both men and 
 women, are entitled to one common tribute of respect, as 
 the founders of the church in Northern India. And so 
 firmly was their work done, as far as it went, that even 
 
 1) F. M., April, 1863, p. 341. 
 
88 GENEEAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 the terrible convulsion, which upturned for a time the civil 
 government, and broke to pieces the army, although it 
 shook the structure of that mission church, did not dis- 
 place a single stone of its foundation. 
 
TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 To the mission work of preacliiug and teaching, it was 
 found expedient to add that of writing? and superintending 
 the printing and publishing of books. Of course, in that 
 department, the object is to issue such works as shall com- 
 municate Christion knowledge in a way to arrest attention. 
 Their publication is effected by the agency of the mission - 
 aries themselves freely distributing them to persons who 
 can read, and seem likely to make a proper use of them . 
 On that head mistakes are no doubt often mad?, and books 
 given to persons who never read them, if they do not even 
 destroy them. But many do read, and are thereby led to 
 inquire further after the way of life. Upon their preach- 
 ing tours the missionaries take supplies of books and 
 tracts with them, and give them away, with the view of 
 confirming and deepening the impression of their preach - 
 ing. At the Melas, where Hindus assemble in vast mul- 
 titudes, they make a point of being present, with a goodly 
 number of their printed messengers. Sometimes two or 
 more missionaries go in company to those assemblages, and 
 keep up the work of preaching and conversing with the 
 people, and distributing books most of the time. 
 
 At Allahabad the Mission Press was set up and con- 
 ducted for several years by the Rev. Joseph Warren, and 
 upon the removal of Mr. Warren to Agra, in 1851, was 
 carried on by the Rev. Lawrence G. Hay.' 
 
 1) F. Miss., January, 1852, p. 128. 
 
90 TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 An important agency in this work was the North India 
 Bible Society, auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible 
 Society, which was formed at Agra in the year 1845. It 
 was constituted and supported by the missionaries and the 
 friends of missions in Upper India. Though not enjoying 
 a large income, that society proved to be eminently useful 
 in " promoting the translation, and the revision of trans- 
 lations already made, of the Sacred Scriptures into several 
 Indian dialects, and the printing and circulating of the 
 sacred volume." ^ It was in connection with this institu- 
 tion that some of Mr. Owen's most laborious wort was 
 executed, consisting chiefly in translation, revision of trans- 
 lation, and exposition of Scripture. 
 
 One of the earliest of these enterprises by the mission- 
 aries of Allahabad was that of a volume of Urdu sermons, 
 expository of select portions of Scripture, for which Mr. 
 Owen undertook to furnish an exposition of some of the 
 Psalms,^ a work which ultimately extended to a com- 
 mentary upon the whole book of Psalms. Among the 
 resolutions adopted by the tentative meeting of Synod at 
 Futtehgurh, Dec, 1844, was one for expediting the trans- 
 lation into Hindi and Urdu of the standards of the church, 
 in which the Larger and Shorter Catechisms were assigned 
 to the missionaries of Allahabad. By another, a revision 
 of the Hindi and Urdu versions of the Scriptures, then in 
 use, w.is recommended as soon as the work could be done. 
 
 The former resolution was adopted by the first regular 
 meeting, Nov., 1845, and a committee appointed to inquire 
 into and report as to what had been done, and to recom- 
 mend some plan for the accomplishment of that important 
 object. The committee reported the action of the ten- 
 
 1) F. M., May, 1852, p. 188. 2} For. Miss., January, 1852, p. 203-20«. 
 
TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 91 
 
 talive meeting, and that the translators had made con- 
 siderable progress, and recommended to the Synod thai 
 the Presbyteries be instructed to continue those commit- 
 tees, directing them to make over their respective portions 
 to a committee of revision to be appointed by Synod, who 
 should revise the whole when completed. The report was 
 accepted and adopted. 
 
 Among the works prepared for worship and for instruct- 
 ing native Christians and inquirers, the book of Psalms 
 and Hymns was prepared by Messrs. Janvier and Ullmann, 
 and practical expositions of Isaiah, Daniel, the Creation and 
 Fall of Man, by Mr. Owen.^ As Secretary of the Hindi 
 Sub-committee of the North India Bible Society, Mr. Owen 
 undertook to revise the Hindi translation of the Old 
 Testament made by the Rev. William Bowley. The whole 
 was carefully compared with the Hebrew, and altered in so 
 many places to make it more conformable to the original, 
 that the result was almost a new version. Of that work, 
 to which the reviser, although he did not feel that it would 
 be just to Mr. Bowley to place his name on the title page, 
 in a note prefixed assigns to him all the credit of original 
 translation, the first volume, from Genesis to the second 
 book of Kings inclusive, was printed in 1851 at the Mission 
 Press of Allahabad, then under the superintendence of the 
 Rev. L. a. Hay. 
 
 It was also thought desirable to draw up a systematic 
 treatise of Christian Theology adapted to the understand- 
 ing of the Hindu people, and for purposes of education. 
 This also was prepared by Mr. Owen. 
 
 While engaged in these labors, additional to the ordi- 
 nary duties of the station, about the beginning of the year 
 
 1) F. M., October, 1856, p. 154. 
 
92 TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 1856, Mr. Owen felt called upon to submit to one of those 
 trials, incident to missionary life in a heathen land, among 
 the hardest to bear. With all the care expended in building 
 up a system of instruction for heathen youth, it was still 
 in the midst of heathen influences, struggling against 
 them, and suffering from them, — influences to which the 
 missionaries could not subject their own children, in that 
 period of life when the character is so largely formed by 
 comparisons, Mr. and Mrs. Owen perceived that they 
 ought no longer to delay the apprehended separation. 
 While he should remain at his work, Mrs. Owen under- 
 took to bring their son to America, for the further pro- 
 secution of his studies among his father's kindred. Mr. 
 Owen accompanied his wife and son as far as practicable, 
 and parted from them on the 20th of February in the 
 Bay of Bengal. 
 
 It was the season of religious anniversaries in Calcutta. 
 He accord Dgly remained a few days in that city for the 
 purpose of attending some of the religious meetings, 
 enjoying at the same time the hospitality and society of 
 highly valued friends, in business circles as well as among 
 missionaries. At the Scottish Free Church, he had the 
 pleasure of listening to the preaching of the Rev. John 
 Milne ; and at the Baptist church to that of Mr. Leslie ; 
 spent an evening with Dr. Mullens at his own house, 
 where he met with the venerable missionary Lacroix, 
 went out to see Dr. Duff then residing with his daughter, 
 Mrs. Watson, at some distance from Calcutta, and in 
 passing through Serampore made the valuable acquaint- 
 ance of Mr. Townsend, editor of the Friend of India. 
 
 Returning to Calcutta, he visited the church mission 
 school at Mirzapore, the Sanskrit College, School of In- 
 
TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 93 
 
 dustrial Ai't, G-eiieral Hospital, Medical CoUei^e, the London 
 Missionary Society's Home, and other institutions of mis- 
 sionary and general Christian benevolence. His return to 
 Allahabad was a diiferent kind of progress from that 
 which he made in 1841. Leaving Calcutta on the 1st of 
 March, on the morning of the 5th he "opened the carriage 
 door in a delightful fragrance of mango blossoms, within 
 a few miles of Benares." " About half- past seven I came 
 in sight of the Ganges, and soon found myself on the ghat, 
 surrounded by large athletic forms, presenting a marked 
 contrast to the diminutive Bengalis. I also heard my own 
 Urdu and Hindi again, and could scarcely realize that I 
 had left the Bengali Schehari mekari so far behind." A 
 partly executed railway had wrought the change. 
 
 March 9th, he preached at Allahabad in Hindustani, 
 and resumed his usual lecture in the afternoon, and on 
 Monday recommenced his Hindustani worship with the 
 boys, at the usual morning hour. 
 
 Among other occupations, he writes of being at work 
 upon his exposition of the Psalms, the printing of which 
 was going forward. 
 
 For many months his journal letters constitute one 
 long but diversified, " Tristia," containing details of the 
 station, of his friends, the tenderest and warmest express- 
 ions of attachment and respect for the Munises, the Hays, 
 and others, their toils, their joys, their sorrows and 
 bereavements, and their mutual support, their social work 
 and devotions, their hopes and fears for the native youth 
 under their charge, in the midst of which not one harsh or 
 censorious word occurs. Every day's news is the record 
 of Christian work, of Christian life in a little isolated 
 Christian community, breathing nothing but tender Chris- 
 
94 TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 tian affections, and closes with some variation on the same 
 refrain, a prayer for his absent wife and child. 
 
 "April 10th, 1856." The Ex-kiig of Oude entered 
 Allahabad yesterday morning under a salute of 21 ^uns. 
 He is on his way to Calcutta, and some say to England. 
 The latter I doubt. I question if he knows where Eng- 
 land is. He has lost his kingdom without firing a shot in 
 its defence. It ought to have been taken from him long 
 ago. The arrangements for its government, under the 
 Company's rule, are going on quietly and surely. Oude is 
 now an open mission field. I have offered myself to the 
 mission to send me to Banda or to Oude, or to wherever 
 else they may think best. They think that I ought to 
 stay here, for the present." The kingdom of Oude was 
 formally annexed to the British possessions on Feb. 7, 
 1856, by the Grovernor General, the Marquis of Dalhousie. 
 
 "April 22. Mr. Bradford returned this evening from 
 Oude. He gives a glowing account of the resources of the 
 country, and of the civility of the inhabitants, and their 
 joy at the establishment of the British rule. None regret 
 it except the chakladars and others who formerly had it in 
 their power to oppress the people."' 
 
 Meanwhile in addition to all his other occupations Mr. 
 Owen was working up his exposition of the Psalms in 
 Urdu, his Hindi New Testament and Urdu Theology in 
 parallel lines of labor, carrying on the printing of the first 
 at the same time, and wishing he could get on faster. 
 
 May 19th. "The sickness and mortality around us are 
 very melancholy." Mr. Hay and his family had to retreat 
 to Landour. Other missionary families had also gone to 
 the mountains, and many of the natives connected with 
 
 1) MS. Jour, of 1856. 
 
TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 95 
 
 the school were ill of fever. Still, under Ihe oppressively 
 hot easterly wind, Mr. Owen pressed forward his work. 
 
 Mrs. Owen lauded in England on the 24th of May. 
 Through the kindness of friends, her son was entered at 
 Eton school, where he remained during the period of her 
 stay in England. 
 
 At the Mela of that year Mr. Owen had the assistance 
 of only native helpers. " Simeon and George were on the 
 ground when I arrived, and Mirza and Caleb, Yuuas and 
 Joel soon came. I then divided the forces, stationing 
 Simeon, Yunas and Calel) at one place, and Mirza, G-eorge 
 and Joel at another, and divided my own time as equally 
 as possible between the two stations. In this way we 
 kept up continued preaching and discussion at each station 
 until near twelve o'clock. I was particularly pleased with 
 the spirited manner in which the preachers carried on their 
 labors. The day was cloudy without rain, and therefore 
 very pleasant." 
 
 August 16. " Tucker has been writing to me about a 
 new edition of the Hindi Bible, towards which he and his 
 brother are ready to give Rs. 4000. He wishes a stand- 
 ard edition brought out, and I have proposed that it be 
 in one volume, instead of three, as at present. We have 
 both written to the Agra Bible Society on the subject." 
 
 Sept. 26. "Have just received orders from the Agra ^^i^Cf, 
 Bible Society to enlarge the edition of the Hindi New 
 Testament from 2,500 to 5000 copies, and besides to print 
 5000 copies extra of Luke and Acts, to be bound up to- 
 gether, and 5000 copies of Matthew and John." 
 
 Oct. 7. " We had a pleasant meeting of Presbytery 
 this evening. Gopinath, the moderator, preached a good 
 Hindustani sermon, after which we proceeded to business. 
 
96 TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 Among other items, we received reports from the cate- 
 chists of their labors during the last five months. Greorge 
 and Joel applied to be received as catechists under the 
 care and direction of the Presbytery. We proceeded at 
 once to examine them, and kept them under examination 
 until after ten o'clock. The examination was all in Hind- 
 ustani, and it was pleasant to see the interest the native 
 audience seemed to take in it. The result was, they were 
 received. We have now under the care and direction of 
 the Presbytery six catechists, viz: Mirza, Simeon, Yunas, 
 George, Kasim Ali, and Joel. 
 
 In November, 1856, Mr. Butler, of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church of America, visited Allahabad in the course 
 of a tour, undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining where 
 his church could be most useful in missionary work in 
 Northern India. Mr. Owen had received letters from him, 
 and had expressed a readiness to afford him any aid in 
 his power. 
 
 "Nov. 21. This afternoon, while I was at dinner, a 
 dak carriage came to the door, and the servants came tell- 
 ing me that a gentleman was enquiring after me. I w^ent 
 out, and found Mr. and Mrs. Butler. They had started 
 from Benares to go through Oude to Eohilcund; but sud- 
 denly turned and came to Allahabad, I had them at once 
 seated at the table with me, and have given them a room, 
 in which I hope they will be comfortable. He has been 
 asking me a good deal about India this evening; and with 
 maps spread before us, I have been giving him all the in- 
 formation, of the kind he requires, which I possess. He 
 appears to be a very go(Kl man, well informed, and of good 
 abilities. He proposes going to Kohilcund, and thence 
 down to Benares, in time for the conference in January; 
 
TRANSLAtldN AND PUBLICATION. 97 
 
 and talks of joining me in Bimdelciind, to look at that 
 field, should he, after survoyiug Rohilc\md, not fix upou 
 that as the field of labor for their ehurcli." The conference, 
 here referred to, was a general meeting of missionaries 
 called to meet in Benares. 
 
 "Mr. Butler has applied to our misvsion for a native 
 assistant. He comes from our own country, and in an 
 honest manly way asks for assistance. I applied to the 
 other l)rethren, but no one seems able to give him a man, 
 I have therefore given him Joel; and with the sanction 
 of the mission, poor Joel is preparing to go. It is a bitter 
 trial to him, and a severe one to me. But it is our duty 
 as well as privilege to help a Christian l)rother in need. 
 It is doing what we would lie thankful to have done for 
 us m similar circumstances. Joel is an excellent vouno- 
 man. I have nothmg l)ut good to say of him, and can 
 without reserve recommend him to Mr. Butler as worthy 
 of all confidence." Mr. Butler was then on his wav to 
 Bareilly, the station selected for the mission of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. 
 
 " Feb. 5. Mullens and Beaumont arrived this evenini^-. 
 At the close of the Benares conference, they started for 
 Agra, Delhi and other places up the country, and are now 
 on their return to Calcutta." 
 
 "Feb. 6. Went with Mullens and Beaumont this 
 morning to the Mela and Fort." Mr. Mullens took photo- 
 graphic views of the principal objects of interest, making 
 also particular inquiries about all, — inquiries which few 
 residents of the place were as well qualified to answer as 
 Mr. Owen. 
 
 "Feb. 16. My dear venerable friend, Mr. Lacroix, left 
 me this afternoon for Benares. I have indeed had a treat 
 
98 TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 
 
 in his society. He is in every sense a noble man. And 
 his fine natural and acquired endowments are sanctified 
 in a very eminent degree by God's grace." "His visit to 
 me has been like the visit of an angel." 
 
 " We are daily expecting the MacMuUins from Calcutta. 
 Hay told me to-day that he had heard from them from 
 Benares." The persons here mentioned were Mr. and Mrs. 
 Robert M'Mullin, who had left Philadelphia on the 11th 
 of the preceding September, and after a voyage round the 
 Cape were now coming up the country to their appointed 
 station at Futtehgurh. On the 18th of February, Mr. 
 Owen welcomed their arrival at Allahabad. 
 
 Mr. Owen's Christian charity, his cordial courtesy, and 
 sound judgment secured for him the highest respect and 
 confidence of British residents in both the civil and mili- 
 tary service. With some of them it amounted to affec- 
 tionate friendship. And many were ready to contribute 
 generously to enterprises in which he was concerned. 
 Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, who seemed to truly 
 love the Lord, were alike welcomed to his house and 
 taken to his heart. His long, almost uninterrupted 
 residence at Allahabad, with the interest which he took in 
 its public affairs, rendered him, in many respects, a valu- 
 able advisor to the officers of government. His discrim- 
 ination of character, though softened by Christian charity, 
 was quick and clear. Men who resisted the cause he loved, 
 or sought to defeat efforts on behalf of it, did not escape a 
 keen criticism of their action, although, where not neces- 
 sary to a public good, such dissections were confided to his 
 journal alone. At the date to which our narrative has 
 arrived, by reason of death, and changes in office, and 
 return of missionaries to America, he had become one of 
 
TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 99 
 
 the oldest foreii^n residents at the station, and his opinions 
 the more highly esteemed by men of all the Christian 
 denominations there represented. 
 
 March 10th, 1857. "Our new Grovernor General lacks 
 the pre-eminent ability of Lord Dalliousie, and we are 
 approaching a crisis, in which a man of pre-eminent ability 
 will be required." 
 
 March 21st, he writes: "There are signs of trouble 
 abroad in the native community. The Sepoys are becom- 
 ing troublesome and mutinous. Hitherto, the matter has 
 been dealt with leniently, but the probability is, that it 
 must be put down with a strong hand. The chief trouble 
 has been at Barrackpore and Berhampore. I got a letter 
 from Beaumont the other day, who wrote that they were 
 obliged to send a steamer off in haste to Maulmein to 
 bring up a European regiment for putting down a mutiny 
 at Barrackpore." 
 
 " Several regiments have lately become mutinous, and 
 given no little anxiety. The 19th was disbanded the other 
 day, at Barrackpore. The Mohammedans talk of wishing 
 to massacre all the infidel English. God is our protector." 
 
 Mrs. Owen had now reached the home of her husband's 
 relations at Bedford, in the State of New York, to whose 
 care their son was to be intrusted for his education. 
 
100 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE MISSION AT ALLAHABAD DURING THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 Apprehensions of danger had been abroad in the atmos- 
 phere of India for weeks. Rumors vague and aiithorless 
 were passed from neighbor to neighbor, and the European 
 residents scarcely knew to what sources they were indebted 
 for the impressions of alann they received. On the 14th of 
 May, 1857, Mr. Owen had been busy all day translating 
 and explaining the Scriptures for the pupils of his school, 
 and his little congregation of converts, and with a view to 
 that Christian reading pul)lic, to which he looked forward 
 in faith, as the fruit of missionary effort. Toward even- 
 ing, he rose from his work, and Avent out to a friend's 
 house, to learn if any positive news had arrived in the 
 course of the day. His friend, Mr. Court, the magistrate 
 of Allalial)ad, in' the East India Company's service, had 
 just come from the fort, and was in possession of the latest 
 military intelligence. It was, to some extent, positive 
 enough. Dissatisfaction existed extensively in the native 
 army. The actual disbanding at Barrackpore was already 
 known. Other cases of insubordination were now reported 
 at Calcutta, at Madras, and in the Punjab. And at 
 Ambala, Lucknow, Benares, Meerut and Agra it was told 
 that things . looked threatening. "And here," said Mr. 
 Court, " they are getting guns into position in the fort. 
 There is a suppressed rumor among the natives of an in- 
 tended general massacre of the Europeans at the station." 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 101 
 
 Mr. Owen's family were still absent in the United 
 States. But over and above the danger threatening the 
 Europeans, his fellow-missionaries and himself, the fate 
 which might befall the Christian converts of his charge, 
 and whether they would prove faithfid in the day of trial, 
 occasioned him great anxiety. Next morning rose peace- 
 fully. At an early hour, he called at the house of his 
 fellow missionary, Mr. Munnis, and there heard of inflam- 
 matory notices in circulation among the natives. The 
 character of the military forces at the place also created 
 apprehension. And thus he wrote : " The Sixth Regiment 
 of North India, now stationed here, are said to be in a very 
 disaffected state. Ther* are no European troops at this 
 place. This is very wrong to leave so large a station and 
 magazine so unprotected. A few companies of Sikhs have 
 lately l)een got into the fort, and the whole garrison is in 
 their hands. They may prove loyal, in case of an outbreak. 
 Most people think they will." " Hitherto I have kept mv 
 mind easy, hoping that the storm might blow over, with- 
 out much injury. But the events of the last few days, up 
 the country, are of a very alarming character. I have 
 received a letter from Vere, dated Agra, May 11th, in which 
 he says, that they had learned, by telegraph from Meerut, 
 of a mutiny of the Third Native Cavalry, who had set fire 
 to their own lines, and to several bungalows, and killed 
 and wounded some European officers and soldiers. After- 
 wards we heard that the ch'ik from Meerut was stopped, 
 and that the telegraph wires were cut. Then came in 
 alarming rumors of the state of things in this city, of the 
 willingness, on the part of a large number, to join the 6th 
 Regiment in breaking open the jail, plundering the city, 
 and massacring the European residents. A public notice 
 
102 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 of a conciliatory kind, sent through the city by Mr. Court, 
 has tended greatly to quiet the minds of the j^eople." 
 
 May 16th. " Last night, I drove to Mr. Court's to get 
 the news from up the country. Full particulars from 
 Meerut have not yet reached us. For there is no dnk on 
 that road from a nearer point than Allygurh. The attack 
 appears to have taken place last Sunday night (10th inst.), 
 and to have come chiefly from the 3rd Regiment of Native 
 Cavalry, though the 11th N. I. are also implicated, as well 
 as several others. Regimental lines and government offices 
 have been burned down, and a vast number of private 
 bungalows, the jails also, and the felons let loose. The 
 telegraph office has been burned, and all the dale horses 
 cut to pieces. The country for thirty miles around is said 
 to have joined in revolt. 
 
 " Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant Governor, has telegraphed 
 from Agra down to this station, that the treasure at 
 Meerut is safe, and that they are forming parties to scour 
 the cotintry. At Meerut they have three European 
 regiments. 
 
 " When I came home, I found the Munnises in a state 
 of great alann. Simeon had just been telling them that 
 there was a panic and religious frenzy in the city, that an 
 outbreak might be expected at any moment, and that the 
 missionaries would be the first objects of attack. Hitherto 
 my rest at night has not been disturbed by these things, 
 but I did not sleep much last night, after such excitement. 
 I had, however, a comfortable season of prayer, and medi- 
 tation on the divine Word, 'The foundation of Grod 
 standeth sure, having this seal: The Lord knoweth them 
 that are his.' I came to India to give my life for this land. 
 My life is in God's hands, to be disposed of as he shall see 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 103 
 
 best for the interests of his own church. I have been a 
 very unprofitable servant. If God sees best now to remove 
 nie, he can easily fill my place with one far more faithful 
 and efficient. May I be found in Christ." 
 
 On the 31st of May Mr. Owen received a letter from 
 Mr. Freeman of Futtehgurh, bringing intelligence that all 
 the missionaries in Delhi had been murdered, and that in 
 the massacre there were not less than two hundred Europe- 
 an and East Indian victims. As yet few of the particulars 
 were certainly known at Allahabad. 
 
 " June 4th. Last Sabbath evening, about church time, 
 Mr. Mantell, of the railway, drove over to say that we were 
 in great danger ; that the people at the railway station 
 had all been warned into the station, and that an attack 
 was expected. We got through the night without any 
 disturbance. On Monday morning I went over to the 
 station to ascertain the true cause of alarm. It was a 
 telegraphic message from Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow, 
 that the Sepoys there had mutinied on Saturday night, 
 that they had a fight, and that three European officers had 
 been wounded, and three killed.' Etaweh also had been 
 burned, and Mr. Hume, the magistrate, escaped in an 
 Ayah's dress. On Sunday night, the mutineers at Luck- 
 now made another attack and killed some Europeans, but 
 were driven out from the station fifteen miles. We were 
 apprehensive lest they might come this way, but after- 
 wards heard that they had gone off toward Seetapore, in a 
 northwesterly direction from Lucknow, and were conse- 
 quently anxious about that station and Futtehgurh." 
 
 " June 5th (Friday). We have had no mail from 
 Cawnpore for three days past. 
 
 1) At Lucknow the mutiny broke out on the SOth of May. 
 
104 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 "This morning the mail from Calcutta came in, and the 
 man who drove the cart, brought the news that Benares 
 was in a blaze, and that he could not come throuo^h that 
 station. 
 
 "We are now all ordered into the fort to night. It is 
 supposed that the mutineers from Benares will make a 
 dash at Allahabad ; and arrangements have been made t o 
 meet them. We are all gathering up a few articles of 
 clothing to take with us, into the fort. 'No beds, no 
 baggage, light kits the order of the day.' Go])inathsays 
 he mil not go, and prefers remaining here. For he says 
 the Sikhs may turn and butcher us all." 
 
 "June 9th, Tuesday. Here lam, in the fort, living in 
 a small tent with all the property I have left in the world, 
 comprised in a few changes of clothes, my Hebrew Bible, 
 Greek Testament, Turretin's Theology, Witsius' Economy 
 of the Covenants, and a few other odd volumes. All my 
 furniture, my library, and most of my private manuscripts 
 and papers have been consumed. Our dear Jumna house 
 has been burned. The church has been robbed, also the 
 mission college, and the whole place completely sacked. 
 The native Christians have been scattered I know not 
 where. I can only see the place from the ramparts of the 
 fort, but cannot go there to inquire ; nor have I yet been 
 able to ascertain the particulars of their condition. We 
 feared they were all murdered, but hear that their lives 
 have been spared. The station and cantonments of Allah- 
 abad are in ashes. Mr. Hay's house has been burned, and 
 we hear that the press has also gone. Scarcely a bungalow 
 seems to have been left. The work of conflagration is still 
 in progress. Day and night new fires are added to the 
 vast scene of desolation and smoking embers. Here we are 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 105 
 
 shut up in the fort, and not an effort has been made to 
 arrest the work of destruction. 
 
 "On Friday night, June 5th, I assisted in watching the 
 fort with a company of volunteers. For we had no 
 European troops, and were quite at the mercy of the 
 Sepoys and Sikhs. Of course I got no sleep that night, 
 and went home to our bungalow, on Saturday, and got a 
 good rest under the punkah. All there was so quiet that 
 T felt strongly inclined to remain next night. Gopinath 
 and his family had spent two or three nights in the fort., 
 but thought themselves more insecure there than at our 
 house. They were extremely afraid, not only of the Sepoys, 
 but also of the Sikhs. I tried to get them to come in, on 
 Saturday night, but they chose to remain, and I left Kalian 
 there, with an order to make them as comfortable as pos- 
 sible. All seemed to be expecting something that night, 
 and were on the alert. The volunteers, amounting to some 
 eighty, were divided into three squads, one to protect the 
 flagstaff, where it was supposed an enemy might attempt 
 to scale the walls, another to protect a weak point on the 
 Jumna, and the third to be with the main guard at the 
 gate. At nine o'clock the volunteers met and were told 
 off to their respective duties for the night, The moon was 
 full, and shining beautifully. It was impossible to reahze, 
 when (coming through the bazar, that danger was near. 
 The shops were open and the people were quietly at their 
 occupations. 
 
 "Arrangements had been made to meet the mutineers on 
 their arrival from Benares. A detachment of the 6th R. 
 N. I. were stationed at the Daragunge bridge, with two 
 nine-pounders, and a complement of native artillerymen. 
 Sowars (native cavalry) were placed on the Benares road 
 
106 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 to watch the approach of men from that direction, and on 
 their coming to fall back at a gallop, and to give notice to 
 the officer commanding at the bridge. Lieut. Alexander, 
 with his irregular cavalry, was at Alopee Bagh. It was 
 therefore hoped that if the mutineers came, they would 
 meet with a warm recej^tion, and soon be overcome. I had 
 little confidence in the regiment, and in this feeling was 
 far fnmi lieing alone. All the officers, however, placed 
 implicit reliance on the Sepoys, perpetually singing the 
 praises of their loyalty. They apj^eared to me the worst 
 set of Sepoys I ever saw. Their coimtenances seemed 
 equal to any amount of barbarity and brutality. My ima- 
 gination had probably been tinged by recent occurrences 
 elsewhere. Having no European troops, we were shut up 
 to hope for the best. What madness in the authorities to 
 leave such a garrison as this, with 33,000 stand of arms, 
 entirely in the hands of natives. Had the Sikhs chosen 
 to join the regiment against us, not one of us would have 
 been left alive. 
 
 "On Saturday evening, about nine o'clock, Court walked 
 up to me, as I was standing near the old pillar, remarking, 
 'You must not be surprised if we have something to-night ; 
 for the telegraphic wire from Benares has just been cut, 
 in the midst of a message,' requesting me at the same 
 time to stay with the ladies, if anything should occur. 
 I came up and joined in worship with the Hays and Muu- 
 nises and was on my way back to the tent, when we began 
 to hear a rattling of musketry in cantonments. The alarm 
 was immediately sounded, and all the volunteers rushed 
 to their posts. I ran up and gave notice to our friends. 
 They were soon out on the balcony, where in a few minutes 
 all the women, leaving the tents, were collected. Hay, 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 107 
 
 Munnis and myself then closed all the doors leading from 
 the stairways and stood with loaded pistols, ready to shoot 
 down the tirst native who might attempt an assault upon 
 the ladies and children. We saw a native quietly sitting 
 among the ladies with a sword in his hand, whom we dis- 
 armed and turned out iu double quick time. The rattling 
 of musketry continued about half an hour, the sound 
 reaching us from various points between cantonments and 
 the bridge. We thought that the mutineers had probably 
 got in, and made a combined attack at those various 
 points, and hoped they were getting a good cutting up." 
 
 "A few days previously the Sepoys at Allahabad had 
 seized and delivered up to the authorities, two men, who, 
 they said, had come from the city to incite them to rebel- 
 lion. They had also expressed very deep regi*et that the 
 ladies of the station had not all assembled in one building, 
 and placed themselves under their protection, instead of 
 coining into the fort ! On the previous Monday they 
 offered their services to the government to go and fight the 
 rebels, and on Saturday evening at 6 o'clock, on parade, 
 they received the thanks of the Governor General, and 
 acknowledged it by three hearty cheers. The officers' wives 
 were, of course, deeply anxious about their husbands, who 
 were in the midst of all that firing. One after another 
 came to me asking, 'Do you think the Sepoys will be 
 loyal?' I could only say, in the effort to comfort them, 
 ' I hope so.' Others were highly indignant that any such 
 question should be asked, or that the least doubt should 
 be entertained of their loyalty." 
 
 " Some time after the firing ceased, we saw a gentle- 
 man coming from the main gate to the barracks. Hitherto 
 we knew nothing of what had occurred. I went and 
 
108 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 opeiK^cl a door and called him. His first words were, 
 'Alexander is Ijin^ dead outside. But tell Mrs. Harvard 
 and Mrs. Simpson that their husbands are safe here in the 
 fort; although Col. Simpson's horse has been riddled 
 through with bullets. The 6th are in open mutiny.' 
 There was a general rush to me to know what had hap- 
 pened. The ladies, who a few minutes before were so 
 strongly standing up for the Sepoys, were utterly con- 
 founded. I went to Mrs. Simpson and delivered the mes- 
 sage. She seized my hand, and fell on my arm with a 
 loud ery. In a few minutes Col. Simpson came up with 
 his clothes covered with blood, and gave an account of his 
 almost miraculous escape. I must however mention what 
 occurred at the gate, before the Col. came up to his quar- 
 ters, which was the turning point with us in the fort . 
 
 "The one hundred Sepoys at the main gate, who were 
 mounted 0:1 the main guard, were commanded by Lieu- 
 tenant Brasyer to give up their guns. Two nine-pounders 
 were brought close to them, and the torches ready to touch 
 them off, in case of disobedience. The volunteers were 
 also before them with loaded muskets, cocked and fingers 
 on the trigger. At the command to pile their arms there 
 seemed a slight hesitation, but they at once gave them up ; 
 then partly rushed back to them, but finding themselves 
 overpowered eventually yielded. This was the critical 
 moment for the four hundred Sikhs to join them, had they 
 been so disposed. Had they done so, not one of us could 
 have escaped. The massacre would have been universal, 
 and then the Allahabad fort, with its vast magazine and 
 armory, would have been in the hands of the mutineers, 
 and the whole of the northwestern provinces must have 
 gone from under British rule. You may imagine our 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 109 
 
 relief and joy when word was (quietly passed on to us, 
 'The Sikhs are staunch.' 
 
 Mr. Owen was not then aware, but subsequently he 
 mentions that a train had been laid to the magazine, and 
 an officer appointed to fire it, should the fort fall into the 
 hands of the mutineers. 
 
 " The Sepoys were all ready to start an outl)reak in the 
 fort; for their muskets were loaded, and, contrary to 
 orders, capped, and in this condition were taken from 
 them." "It may be said that, under God, we owe our 
 safety to Brasyer especially and to the volunteers. Most 
 of these are railway people, and for securing them we owe 
 all thanks to Mr. Hodgson, who sent out train after train, 
 and brought them in from the distance of more than 
 twenty miles. Their presence doul)tless did much to turn 
 the scale in our favor. For I have no confidence in the 
 Sikhs. At Benares they actually did fire upon the Eu- 
 ropean soldiers, but instantly received a shower of grape, 
 which cut up about eighty of them. They then turned 
 and fought with the Europeans against the Sepoys." 
 
 " Meanwhile Harvard and Hicks were at the brido-e 
 with the guns. The only Europeans with them were two 
 young ensigns just come out from England. An order 
 was sent down for Harvard to bring the guns bacrk into 
 the fort, under an escort of sixteen Sepoys. The order 
 reached him about 8 o'clock. He sent out word to make 
 ready to move oft" the guns. The Havildar returned and 
 informed him that the Sepoys refused to obey. Hicks 
 went out and tried to reason with them ; but instead of 
 listening to reason, one man leveled his musket at him, 
 which however was immediately knocked down by his 
 neighbor. About this time, the Sepoys at the bridge seat 
 
110 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 up three rockets, as a si|c^al to those in the cantonments 
 that they had commenced. They were seen from the fort, 
 but were taken at the time for fire-works connected with 
 some native weddinsf. The outbreak in cantonments in- 
 stantly commenced, and the Sepoys at the bridge took the 
 guns and went off in that direction. After they left. 
 Harvard walked up to Alopee Bagh. where Alexander was 
 stationed, with his irregular cavalry. Alexander immedi- 
 atelv had his horse ready and gave one to Harvard, and 
 got several men into the saddle as soon as possible. The 
 deserters were overtaken, but in the attempt to rescue the 
 guns Alexander was killed, his cavalry joined the mutin- 
 eers, and Harvard finding himself alone, and very near the 
 parade ground, fell back to the fort, which he reached in 
 safety. The guns were taken to the parade ground, which 
 they reached about 9 o'clock. Col. Simpson soon after 
 leaving the Mess, heard an alarm at the parade ground, 
 and rode over. As he passed each guard he was saluted 
 with a shower of bullets. The other officers had gone over, 
 and some of them had already been shot down. The 
 Sepoys sounded an alarm on purpose to call out the 
 officers, and shoot them all at once. The dead bodies of 
 seven are still lying there. Col. Simpson rode on to the 
 Treasury, where he was met by another shower of bullets, 
 and as he passed the Mess house, the guard there gave him 
 another volley. His horse was shot in many places, yet 
 had sufficient strength left to bring his rider to the fort. 
 The Colonel heard the bullets flying about his head. One 
 hit the top of his cap, and a spent one his wrist, which was 
 slightly lamed. His clothes were drenched with his horse's 
 blood. Lieut. Currie had his horse shot from under him, 
 but managed to escape. Capt. Grordon was concealed by 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. Ill 
 
 some of the Sepoys until the firing had ceased, and then 
 quietly taken hv them to a safe })laee, and requested to 
 flee to the fort, as fast as possible. Out of seventeen 
 officers who sat down to dinner at the Mess, on Saturday 
 evening, only three are known to survive. It is possible, 
 however, that others may yet turn up, for we have received 
 some vague native rumors of Europeans hiding in the 
 jungles in a most destitute state. 
 
 "When the guns left the bridge, about twenty Sepoys 
 took Hicks and the two young ensigns prisoners, and con- 
 ducted them through the Daragunge up to the station, and 
 left them at Birch's house, and went on to join the main 
 party, who were robbing the Grovernment treasury at the 
 collector's cutchery. Hicks and the ensigns then walked 
 on to Staig's bungalow, took a horse and buggv, and in- 
 stead of driving directly down the Fort road, where thev 
 would doubtless have been intercepted, drove over towards 
 the Ganges, left the buggy there, and went on till they 
 reached the river, and plunged in. They swam down 
 stream about a mile and a half, crossed to the Jhoosie side, 
 made a detour of two or three miles through the country, 
 having blackened themselves with mud. reached the side 
 of the river opposite the fort, again j^lunged in, and came 
 out by the fort, near the flagstaff. They then crept around, 
 close under the fort till they reached the entrance of the 
 main gate, where the volunteers, having disarmed the 
 Sepoys, were with the Sikhs, keeping guard. I was con- 
 versing with Hicks' sister in the balcony, when a call was 
 made to her, ' Mrs. Hicks. Mrs. Hicks, somebody is 
 knocking at your door.' She ran and found her brother 
 and sister-in-law happy once more. Morning came and 
 nothing was heard of poor Birch. During Sunday, we 
 heard of his death. 
 
112 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 "Toward morning, the Colonel went out to the 100 
 Sepoys of the 6th who had been disarmed, and told them 
 that if they would go home, and not join the rebels, they 
 should get pensions according to the time they had served 
 the government, — and this to men who a few hours before 
 had laid down their muskets loaded and capped, and whose 
 comrades, in conspiracy with them, had butchered so many 
 Europeans ! Who is to know whether they went home, 
 like good boys, or not r'" 
 
 " Morning came, and such a dismal morning I have 
 never seen. I walked out to the main gate and there saw a 
 dooly, in which were the remains of ])oor Alexander lying 
 in the riding dress in which he was shot down. He was 
 a very amiable young man. We all deeply lament his 
 loss in the bloom of life. His body was laid at evening in 
 the trenches." 
 
 "The morning passed on, and until 11 o'clock, our 
 bungalow appeared, from the top of the barracks, all safe. 
 In reality, however, it was not so. From an early hour 
 the Pathan of Durg{il)ad, from whom we rent the land, 
 and to whom we have shown nothing but kindness, was 
 there, with some hundred of low-caste Mohammedans, 
 plundering all our property and burning our books. Of 
 this I knew nothing at the time. Mr. Spry (the Church 
 of England chaplain) appointed a short service at 12 
 o'clock, in the verandah of the barracks. Just before 
 it began, I ran up to the top of the barracks, and saw the 
 smoke rising from the roof of our bungalow. It caused a 
 bitter pang, but I was enabled with calmness to look uj) 
 to G-od, and say * All is right. Thy will be done.' As we 
 sat at worship in the verandah I could see the thick column 
 of smoke rising from it. Mr. Spry read the 86th Psalm 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 113 
 
 and the 9th chapter of Dauiel and prayed, and then gave 
 the Bible to me. I selected the 46th Psalm and read it 
 with a few cursory remarks, and prayed, and then Mr. 
 Spry pronounced the i^enediction. The service was very 
 short and attended by few. Most of the gentlemen were 
 engaged in guarding the fort, and several ladies were over- 
 whelmed with grief at the recent loss of their husbands. 
 
 "The burning went on during the whole of Sunday, and 
 no effort was made from the fort to arrest it." 
 
 " Some sixty or seventy of the 1st Madras fusileers 
 (Europeans) arrived from Benares, and were brought 
 across by a steamer that haj^pened to be here. In the 
 afternoon the rebels came close under the fort, and burned 
 the bungalow at Arail. The incendiaries continued the 
 whole night unchecked." 
 
 "On Mou'lay (yesterday) we heard that the Moham- 
 medans had planted their standard in the city, and that a 
 Maulawi, at the gardens, had set up as the Lieutenant 
 G-overnor of the king of Delhi, and offers two thousand 
 five hundred Rupees for Mr. Court's head. The parade 
 ground is occupied by Mohammedan troops, and it is at 
 present impossible to recover the bodies of the seven 
 officers who fell there. We hear distressing reports about 
 our native Christians and Gropinath. Last night a com- 
 pany of three women and seven children found their way 
 into the fort, in a most desolate condition." "Mrs. 
 Thomas, in trying to escape, was overtaken by a Moham- 
 medan, who struck her in the neck with a sword. She 
 fell with a faint cry. She then got up and walked a 
 few steps, and sat down and asked for water. The Moham- 
 medan ran up, saying, * you want water, do you ? ' and 
 gave her another sword cut on the other side of her neck. 
 
114 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 which ended her Kfe. He also killed one of the children." 
 Eeports of other like atrocities were brought in by the 
 same parties. 
 
 " We are almost starving here, hving on half rations. 
 We can get nothing from the outside. The people of the 
 town seem determined to starve us out, at least the 
 Mohammedan portion, and have forbidden supplies of any 
 kind to be sent in. The commissariat was very badly sup- 
 plied, and we are all suffering. The heat, too, is excessive, 
 and the filth allowed to accumulate, abominable. It will 
 be wonderful if we have not a pestilence, should we stay 
 here long, and things remain as they are. I have no 
 quarters, but sleep in a tent at night. I have no furni- 
 ture, except two chairs. I care little for my furniture; 
 but my dear books are a sad loss. For I do not know how 
 to get on without them. But Grod will provide." 
 
 "June 10th (Wednesday). This morning Major Byres, 
 Mr. Snow and several others came in from about twenty- 
 four miles up the railway. I was at the Jumna water- 
 gate on Monday, and took in a letter brought from Mr. 
 Snow, telling us of their danger, and where they were. 
 Mr. Court sent fourteen Sowars of the 25th Irregular 
 Cavalry, who remained loyal, promising them 1400 Rupees 
 if they brought the whole party in safe. Byres and his 
 party were on a Tank, surrounded by thousands of natives, 
 thirsting for their blood. Their bungalows were burned, 
 and their property plundered before their eyes. The 
 Sowars reached them yesterday afternoon. Just as the 
 moment of deliverance had come, Mrs. Byres died of sun- 
 stroke. They brought the body on to the Ganges, and 
 were In the act of reading the burial service over it, when 
 an alarm was given that the enemy was upon them. 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 115 
 
 Hastily they covered it up, and escaped. They walked 
 their horses all night, avoiding villages, coming through 
 ravines, and keeping quite out of the way of the city in 
 their approach to the fort." 
 
 "June 11th. This morning Mrs. Boilard found her 
 way into the fort. We had heard that she and her hus- 
 band had been killed. Yesterday a message came that 
 she was alive. Two Sowars were sent out for her. They 
 got a third horse, dressed her up as a Sowar, placed her on 
 the horse, and thus brought her in. On the way, they 
 were asked who the third rider was. They said, they had 
 with them one of the Maulawi's Sowars." She says, the 
 rebels are enjoying a glorious revel at the station. Brandy 
 is selling for a pice a bottle, champagne and beer for 
 almost nothing. A butcher bought Mr. Court's carriage 
 and pair for 30 Rs. Her husband was alive at 10 A. M. 
 on Sunday. Since then she has not heard from him. 
 
 "We have this afternoon been cheered by the arrival of 
 Col. Neill, who behaved so gallantly in the outbreak at 
 Benares, and to whom, under Grod, that station owes its 
 continued safety." 
 
 "June 12th. Col. ISTeili seems determined not to let 
 the grass grow under his feet. Immediately after his 
 arrival yesterday, he had preparation made for an attack 
 on Daragunge. This morning at daybreak all was astir. 
 Hitherto the mutineers have had it all their own way. 
 Daragunge, a nest of Pryagwals, has been very trouble- 
 some in stopping communication over the Granges. When 
 this morning the fusileers were getting ready for their 
 work. Col. Neill, to whom I had not been introduced, came 
 and spoke kindly to me and said he was ' going to clear 
 away that village, out there.' The troops were soon mov- 
 
116 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 iag out of the fort, sixty fusileers, three hundred Sikhs 
 and thirty cavalry. They marched ofl: in the direction of 
 Alopee Bagh, there to wait for the cannouadinsj to cease. 
 The guns from two batteries opened about sunrise. I stood 
 near the outer battery, and saw where ahnost every ball 
 struck. The dust arose from Daragunge in clouds. When 
 the firing stopped, the troops moved in, and we saw no 
 more. They returned about ten o'clock, having reopened 
 the communication across the Granges. 
 
 ''June 13th. Active skirmishing was now kept up in 
 the neighborhood of the fort. " Col. Neill requested me 
 this morning to speak to my colleagues about going with 
 their families to Calcutta. All ladies and non-military 
 men are to go as soon as possible. I told him that my 
 family were not here, and that I would like somehow to 
 stay, and after the restoration of order, try to gather up 
 the fragments of our mission. He gave me leave to re- 
 main, and said he would make arrangements for me, but 
 requested that the others with their families prepare at 
 once to remove. Troops are now on the way and all the 
 space in the fort will very soon be required. Besides, this 
 is not the place for ladies, especially if sickness should 
 break out." Mr. Owen presents their discomforts as in- 
 describable, scantiness of food and the poorness of its 
 quality, the people outside, either by constraint or of their 
 malignant purpose, withholding from them all supplies. 
 
 "June 14th, Sabbath. This morning I attended wor- 
 ship in the fort chai^el. Mr. Spry conducted the services 
 in a very appropriate manner." " The Sabbath has not 
 been spent as any of us desired ; but our confusion was 
 unavoidable. I accompanied the Hays on board, this even- 
 ing, truly sorry to part from them. They have been very 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 117 
 
 kind to me. I love and esteem them the more I know 
 them, and shall feel lonely without them ; but they, I 
 believe, are in the way of duty in going. The flat, on 
 which they are, is crowded with people, the steamer also. 
 A number of armed volunteers protect both steamer and 
 flat. Major Gary, an officer of the late "Illustrious 6th," 
 goes as military commander of the whole. There are not 
 cabins for one- third of the passengers. Screens and 
 curtains are fitted up all over the decks, and the poor 
 people jumbled in as thick as they can stand. The steamer 
 is at the water-gate, and leaves early to-morrow morning." 
 
 "June 15th. A steamer was this morning sent up the 
 Jumna with fifty or sixty fusileers and a twelve pound 
 howitzer, for the purpose of harassing the rebels in that 
 quarter. 
 
 " The fusileers upon landing found themselves face to 
 face with thousands. But the Sikhs who went up by 
 land soon joined them, and fought bravely. The Sikhs, 
 ever since two or three of their number were killed by 
 the Mohammedans, have been impatient to get revenge, 
 and this morning they have had an opportunity. The 
 fighting continued about four hours. We heard the 
 firing very distinctly, and the dark columns of smoke, 
 rising from the city, marked the course the troops were 
 taking." " While they were at work, a battery from the 
 fort was throwing shot and shell upon Pryagwalitolah. 
 Col. Neill is much grieved at losing some of his brave men." 
 
 " I omitted mentioning an interesting occurrence of 
 yesterday — the arrival of thirty-seven fugitives from Oude, 
 under Jjieut. G-rant, assistant commissioner. Most of them 
 are from Sultanj^ore. About the time of the outbreak 
 here, they heard alarming rumors, and started for Purtah- 
 
118 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 gurh, where Lieut. G-rant was stationed. There they heard 
 that Allahabad had fallen, and that all the Euroj^eans had 
 been massacred. Ajeet Singh, a powerful Zamindjir, pro- 
 fessed to protect them several days, though in reality they 
 were his prisoners. G-rant managed to get a letter for- 
 warded to Court, who immediately sent out some native 
 cavalry to escort them in. When Ajeet Singh heard that 
 the Europeans at Allahabad were still safe in the fort, he 
 at once became most loyal, and came in with the party 
 himself, bringing with him a native escort of two thousand 
 men. About 10 o'clock yesterday morning they arrived. 
 I saw them come in just as I was retiring to my tent, and 
 immediately went among them to render any assistance in 
 my power. At Court's recjuest, I took a list of all, and 
 assisted in getting them refreshment. They came in a 
 most forlorn state. Nearly the whole party were sent on 
 board the stepaner at once, without change of clothes — 
 without anything, and pushed off to Calcutta. Lieutenant 
 Grant remains, and shares my tent with me — indeed I 
 have made it quite over to him, and have come into the 
 quarters vacated by the Hays. 
 
 "My fare is very simple, dail, rice, and chupatties. The 
 rations drawn in my name I make over to the poor rail- 
 way people, who are working hard as volunteer militia- 
 men, and in reward, are almost starving. I now pay for 
 the little food I am able to get with my own money. The 
 heat is dreadful. I fear we shall have sickness here, in 
 the rains. It is w^ell that the Colonel is pushing off the 
 people to Calcutta, as fast as possible. For cholera, or any 
 other epidemic, in this crowded fort would make fearful 
 work." 
 
 Since the fifth of June, ten days had now elapsed since 
 all who survived of the European residents of Allahabad 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 119 
 
 entered that stroughold. Many of the nou-iuilitarv part 
 of them had been sent, under escort, to Calcutta. Of the 
 American mission all who remained, besides Mr. Owen, 
 were Mr. and Mrs, Munnis and their children. 
 
 " June 16th. We have been most anxious respecting 
 our native Christians, only two or three have found their 
 way in the fort. Of the rest we have no definite intel- 
 ligence. From the accounts received, we apprehended the 
 most concerning Gro pinath and hi s family, wtiom I left in 
 my house on Saturday, the 6th inst. Judge then of my 
 agreeable surprise, this morning, on receiving from him a 
 short note, written from our school-building, assuring me 
 of the safety of all his family, and requesting me to get a 
 party to go up and bring them, and Conductor Coleman 
 and family, and Ensign Cheek of the 6th, down to the 
 Fort. Gulzar, our Sais, brought me the note. I went to 
 Mr. Court, who had just received a similar note, and was 
 preparing to go. I could get no writing materials, and 
 was obliged to send a verbal message, that we were coming 
 at once. Court asked me to breakfast with him, and go 
 up with the steamer that was to take the escort. We 
 went on the steamer Jumna with sixty Fusileers and a 
 twelve-pounder. As we approached the dear old place, 
 the scene of desolation was most sad. The Fusileers and 
 Mr. Court landed, but the officer in charge would not 
 allow any of the others to go ashore. Dr. Irving was 
 with us to take care of the wounded, but not a shot was 
 fired. The party went up to the school building, but 
 found no one there. They brought back a dismal account 
 of the desolation which they had seen. When we returned 
 to the fort, I found Gropinath and his family in my quar- 
 ters. Grulzar had mistaken mv messasje, and told them to 
 
120 THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
 
 start, and that I would meet them on the way ! They, 
 therefore, came alone to the Fort, and entered in a most 
 forlorn state, with scarcely a rag of clothing on. They 
 had before sent their clothes into the Fort, and therefore 
 had a supply at hand. But I had scarcely anything for 
 them to eat. They expected, on reaching the Fort, to find 
 abundant supplies; but actually found us almost starving. 
 I immediately secured for Ihem a passage to Calcutta, on 
 board the flat that leaves to-morrow morning, in tow of 
 the steamer Jumna, secured for them all the comforts I 
 could on the passage, had their things taken on board, and 
 accompanied them on board this evening. 
 
 " Poor Gropinath has suffered much. For two or three 
 days he and his family were wandering about in the greatest 
 distress. He had been robbed of all the money about him, 
 and was reduced to the condition of a beggar. At last he 
 fell into the hands of the Maulawi, who had set up his gov- 
 ernment at the G-ardens. He was kept there in the serai 
 with his feet in the stocks four days and four nights. 
 His poor wife was dragged by the hair of her head on the 
 stones, and greatly bruised. They threatened several 
 times to kill him ; and having found out that he was a 
 Christian Padre were very bitter against him. But he 
 stood firm, and witnessed a good confession. Young En- 
 sign Cheek, who was wounded on the night of the out- 
 break, and had been wandering about, hiding sometimes 
 in the jungles, sometimes on trees, sometimes standing 
 in the water, was suffering most excruciating pain, while 
 with Gopinath in the serai. Not the least of his suffering 
 was from thirst, and almost night and day, he was calling 
 for water. In the midst of all his sufferings, he exhorted 
 Gopinath to stand finn, saying ' Padre Sahib, hold on to 
 
THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 121 
 
 your faith. Don't give it up.' When the Mohammedans 
 saw Gopinath trying to show kindness to Cheek, they put 
 him at a distance, and tried to prevent all further inter- 
 course between them. 
 
 " Poor Cheek died this evening, from exposure and the 
 long neglect of his wounds. Gropinath, this afternoon, 
 remarked that he had a relative living at Bancoorah. It 
 struck me that he might be a relative of Dr. Cheek, and I 
 immediately went down to the hospital to see him, and see 
 if he had any message to his friends. But he was past 
 speaking. Mr. Spry had seen and prayed with him. 
 
 "The heat here is so great that I cannot think of sleep- 
 ing in the quarters before the rains set in. Hitherto, I 
 have slept out of doors almost every night since I entered 
 the Fort, and have not once undressed at night. Last 
 night I slept on the ramparts with Hodgson's squad of 
 volunteers, over the Main G-uard . It is the coolest place 
 in the Fort." 
 
122 ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 AN ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 
 
 Next morning, June 17th, Mr. Owen, after reflecting 
 upon what was best for him to do, determined to walk up 
 to the mission school building, find out how things stood, 
 and try what sort of a residence he could find, there. Of 
 the dangers to be encountered he seems to have taken little 
 account, except that some native fugitives had come 
 through safelv. 
 
 " I walked up in an awfully hot sun, about eleven 
 o'clock, and met with no molestation on the way. I might 
 almost have fancied mvself walking: through a city of the 
 dead. The school Imilding I found dreadfully broken, all 
 the bars aud l)olts torn from the doors, the glass of the 
 windows broken out, many of the doors taken away, books 
 torn and scattered in every room and all about the com- 
 pound, pieces of broken ajjparatus lying here and there, 
 and everything as desolate as possible. But no Sepoys 
 were to be seen. All was silent and desolate, without in- 
 habitant. From the school I went to the church, which 
 I found sadly broken, and comj^letely robbed. Scarcely a 
 door remains in it. All the furniture — chairs, seats, 
 lamps. Bibles, have been carried away. The bell is in the 
 hands of the Pryagwals, who have taken it for one of 
 their Hindu temi)les." 
 
 His house on the Jumna he found in ruins. Its bare 
 walls filled with rubbish. "I soon left it, quite heartsick. 
 Several of the native Christians ran to me, and got others 
 
ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 123 
 
 from their hiding places, among whom was Yunas. I re- 
 quested him with his family, and all the native christians, 
 to come into the school building, and promised to come 
 there, and live there with them. The poor things seemed 
 very glad to see me, and still more glad of what I pro- 
 posed. We went into a garden in front of the mission 
 compound, where I found pieces of our furniture scattered 
 about, and Mrs. Pearson's piano all smashed. They told 
 me I would find some of our things in an adjoining house 
 belonging to Abdullah (a Mohammedan), one of Mr. 
 Court's police officers. I walked in, and found no one 
 there. I picked up two or three of mv towels, which I 
 was glad to get, and a few other things. The native Chris- 
 tians also found some articles belonging to them. Pres- 
 ently we discovered a mound of fresh earth. I got dig- 
 gers, and soon came to some boards ; which when I had 
 taken up, I found a deep cellar, in which many things 
 were stowed away. These were taken out, and the native 
 Christians selected from them their own property. The 
 rest I directed to be left there. The only article of Abdul- 
 lah's, which I took away, was his splendid copy of the 
 Koran, which I gave to Lieut, (or as he is called. Major) 
 Brasyer, commander of the Sikhs, as a trophy. Brasyer 
 has promised to give me a guard of Sikhs at the school 
 building. He and Col, Neil and others were amused at 
 my report of where I had been, and what I had done. 
 Several in the fort had l)een asking after me during the 
 day, not knowing where I had gone," 
 
 The adventurous missionary had unawares made an 
 important reconnoisance, and discovered that the Sepoys 
 were withdrawn from all parts of the Jumna bank which 
 he had visited : the verv direction which the military officers 
 
124 ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 
 
 had it in view to explore. " I found them," he writes, 
 " arranging for a grand expedition to morrow. Harvard 
 has asked to accompany the party. We are to start at 
 gun-fire to morrow morning." 
 
 " June 18. I slept under a tree near my tent last 
 night, and early this morning heard the preparation and 
 then the marching of troops. 1 was soon on the steamer, 
 and about sunrise we were off." The reconnoisance proved 
 that the Sepoys had entirely withdrawn. When it was 
 completed and the soldiers returned to the Fort, Mr. Owen 
 remained with the native Christians, among the ruins. 
 
 " It is pleasant to get among the native Christians 
 again, but I do not feel so comfortable as I expected, some 
 of them having become half Mohammedans. Yunas re- 
 peated the Kalima, i. e., their confession of faith — There 
 is no god but God, and Mohammed is his prophet ? So did 
 Mrs. Fitz Gibbons and others. Not one of them, except 
 Gopinath, has shown the spirit of a martyr. 
 
 " Brasyer has kindly sent a guard of Sikhs this even- 
 ing, consisting of two Havildars, two Naiks, and twenty 
 men. I have got a supply of sugar to give them, to put 
 into their water for making sherbet. I expect to go up on 
 the roof, where they are stationed, and sleep in the midst 
 of them. ' I will lay me down in peace and sleep : for 
 thou. Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety.' 
 
 " June 19. Rose early this morning, and began to set 
 my house in order. In the midst of my labors, Mrs. Carr 
 and her daughters rushed up from the fort in a panic, say- 
 ing that the cholera had there broken out, and begging me 
 to give them shelter. I sent the native Christians out into 
 the long school house, and gave Mrs. Carr and her daugh- 
 ters rooms in the east part of the college building, where 
 
ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK, 125 
 
 they were soou joined bv Mr. Carr. Then came Mr. Rob- 
 inson asking for shelter, which was given. Then Edward 
 Hamilton and his clerk, Mr. Knight, came ninning up, 
 saying the cholera in the fort was fearful, and that people 
 were fleeing for their lives in all directions. I gave them 
 shelter also. 
 
 " During the day, I have picked up a few books in quite 
 a ruined state. Yesterday, while marching with the troops 
 through Durgabad, I saw stray leaves, here and there, of 
 my Poole's Synopsis, Howe's works, Warburton, and other 
 standard authors, that had been torn and scattered to the 
 four winds by those Durgabad scoundrels. 
 
 " I slept soundly last night on the top of the house 
 quite alone among the Sikhs. Badhi, the Punkahwala, 
 sat near me. My little Pussy, that used to sit so comfort- 
 able under the Punkah on my study -table in the bungalow, 
 had been a wanderer ever since the outbreak. Last night 
 she came calling for me, and as soon as she found me out, 
 ran up purring with the greatest satisfaction, followed me 
 to the house-toj), and there spent the night with me. 
 
 The cholera was raging at a fearful rate at the Fort, to 
 day." ' 
 
 Upon going into the fort, the first duty which was de- 
 manded of him was to conduct the funeral of a victim of 
 that terrible plague, the wife of an officer, while others 
 were lying at the point of death. On the way to the 
 burial ground they overtook Mr. Spry, the Church of Eng- 
 land chaplain, outside the main gate, accompanying the 
 coffin of another lady, who had just died of cholera, borne 
 by European soldiers. They took that coffin also on the 
 carriage. " Mr, Spry read the burial service for both at 
 once. He then returned to the trenches and read the ser- 
 
126 ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 
 
 vice over the bodies of eis^hteen European soldiers, who 
 had all died of cholera during the day. They were buried 
 without coffins, by twos and threes, in narrow graves just 
 wide enough to admit them. Their poor comrades who 
 were killed in action the other day, in Durgabad, were 
 never buried. A party went out to recover the bodies, but 
 found they had been cut to pieces by the Mohammedans, 
 and treated with every manner of indignity." 
 
 When he returned from the burial to the quarters, he 
 found more deaths, running up the number by cholera to 
 twenty-one on that day. He returned to his ruined school 
 house in the evening. "I had to walk up quite alone and 
 in the dark ; and could scarcely stand when I reached this 
 place, which I found filled to overflowing. The Sikh G-uard 
 is on the top, and I take my station with them, for the 
 night. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; 
 and unless he keep us, the watchmen watch in vain." 
 
 " June 20. Had a good refreshing sleep last night, and 
 feel well again to-day. The heat is intense, and we have 
 — at least I have — neither tatties nor punkahs, and the 
 glass windows are out, and the dust flying into my room 
 in clouds. 
 
 ■' I saw and had a very pleasant talk with Mr. and Mrs. 
 Spry in the Fort to-day. In these times it is truly refresh- 
 ing to find those who take an interest in things of Zion. I 
 miss the Hays very much in this respect. Allahabad never 
 appeared more godless than it does now. While in the 
 Fort I could scarcely walk about without hearing profane 
 language from various directions. I never saw the Euro- 
 pean character in a more unfavorable aspect. 
 
 "June 21. Sabbath. We had service to-day in English, 
 which I conducted. Afterwards I collected the native 
 
ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 127 
 
 Christians, and had service with them in Hindustani. It 
 was pleasant to see them assembled for worship once more, 
 although I fear several of them, to save their lives, have 
 professed the Mohammedan belief. This is very melan- 
 choly, and casts a bitter alloy into the pleasure of meeting 
 them again, 
 
 " The native reports which have reached us from Fut- 
 tehgurh are of the most discouraging character. We have 
 painful fears regarding the safety of our dear friends there. 
 No Cawnpore Dak for more than two weeks past. The 
 Futtehpore station has been destroyed, and Mr. Robert 
 Tucker killed. All the other residents have fled, and are 
 supposed to be safe. 
 
 " June 22. Walked this morning to the Press. The 
 scene of desolation on the way is beyond all description. 
 The Native Hospital, and Blind and Leper Asylums have 
 been burned. The bones of the poor officers who fell on 
 the Parade ground, have been gathered up and buried. ^ 
 The desolation at the Press is dismal. All the bound ' '' 
 books in the Depository, and all the unbound sheets in 
 the binding room, and the store rooms adjoining, in value 
 not to be counted in Rupees, have all been consumed. My 
 commentary on the Psalms, printed as far as the 60th 
 Psalm, has been burnt. I have a copy of the printed 
 sheets, which 1 happened to take with me into the Fort. 
 Much of my manuscript, which was in the Press, has also 
 been destroyed, and of this I have no second copy. The 
 manuscript of the Psalms, which I left in our bungalow, 
 has also been destroyed beyond recovery. 
 
 " June 27. During the past week, I have been attend- 
 ing to the comfort and security of the native Christians. 
 Joel has just come from Bareilly, from which place he and 
 
128 ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 
 
 Emma, with a child in arms, walked the whole way. The 
 outbreak there occurred on the 30th of May. Dr. Hay, 
 Mr. Robinson, the Judge, and Dr. Hansbrow, have been 
 killed, also Mr. Poynder the chaplain, and his wife, and 
 many others. The Butlers are safe at Nynee Tal, but all 
 their property has been plundered and their houses 
 burned. All Rohilcund seems to have fallen. Bareilly 
 appears to have been attacked by the mutinous regiment 
 (18th) on Sabbath, the 30th of May, just as the people 
 were leaving church. The peoj^le at Shahjehanpore are 
 said to have been attacked in church, and most of them 
 then and there killed. Joel came through Shahjehanpore, 
 and saw it a scene of perfect desolation, no Europeans 
 there. He also came through Lucknow and Cawnpore, 
 where Sir Henry Lawrence and Sir Hugh Wheeler were 
 holding out in their resj^ective entrenchments against the 
 rebels. Sir Henry Lawrence seems safe at Lucknow ; but 
 great apprehensions are entertained for the safety of Sir 
 Hugh Wheeler's force at Cawnpore, closely hemmed in as 
 they are by overwhelming odds, and with limited ammuni- 
 tion and supplies. 
 
 " Babu Hari walked to Lucknow, then to Cawnpore, 
 and so back to Allahabad. I seut him, on his arrival, to 
 Col. Neill, to give an account of what he had seen. "We 
 have no up country Dah in these days, and have great 
 difficulty in getting any authentic intelligence. A very 
 bad report has reached us from Cawnpore, which the Babu 
 confirms. Several days since, it is said, some forty boats, 
 with 132 Europeans from Futtehgurh, were passing Cawn- 
 pore, on their way to Allahabad. When they reached 
 Bithoor, eight miles above Cawnpore, the Nana Sahib, a 
 Mahratta, who has for several vears resided at Bithoor, 
 
ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 129 
 
 fired upon them, and brought them all into Cawnpore, 
 where he had them taken upon the parade "ground and 
 slain. The party is said to have comprised all the non- 
 military people of Futtehgurh, and if so, our missionary 
 friends must have been among them. A few days before 
 the outbreak here, I received a letter from Freeman 
 informing me that all the missionaries in Delhi had been 
 murdered. He wrote in a desponding style. Poor fellow, 
 I still hope that he and the rest may be all right. For 
 there is a counter flying report that the 10th Eegiment at 
 Futtehgurh have not mutinied, and that that station is 
 still safe. The missionary brethren there have for some 
 time back been on the lookout, and have had native 
 dresses for themselves and their families all ready to 
 attempt their esjape. They were all living in one com- 
 pound and had prayer meetings daily. 
 
 " June 28. The quiet rest of the Sabbath has been 
 very refreshing. I have not been able to get the European 
 portion of the population together, but have had service 
 quietly with the native Christians. 
 
 " June 30. This afternoon 400 or 500 Europeans and 
 700 to 800 Sikhs started for Cawnpore, amidst great 
 cheering. The force is commanded by Major Eenaud of 
 the first Madras Fusileers. 
 
 " July 7. Another force, under Gen. Havelock, went 
 off this afternoon." Immediately on the breaking out of 
 the mutiny the forces were recalled from Persia, the war 
 there being ended. Col. Havelock with two regiments, the 
 78th and 64th, was delayed on the voyage by shipwreck 
 but reached Calcutta on the 17th of June. He was at 
 once raised to the rank of Brigadier G-eneral, and appointed 
 to command the troops sent to relieve Sir Hugh Wheeler 
 
130 ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 
 
 at Cawnpore and Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow. He 
 arrived at Allahabad June 30. " We fear," writes Mr. 
 Owen, " they are now too late to relieve Cawnpore. The 
 force there is reported to have been all cut up, and several 
 European ladies to be yet alive in the hands of the rebels." 
 
 "July 14th. Gen. Havelock's force pushed on and 
 joined the advance column, and last Sunday, at Futteh- 
 pore, were attacked by the rebels, whom they defeated. 
 There were three regiments of infantry and two of cavalry 
 on the side of the enemy. 
 
 "July 16th. Yesterday, Havelock again fought the 
 rebels at PandooNuddy, about 15 miles this side of Cawn- 
 pore. G-en. Neill has pushed on to join him with a few 
 more troops. 
 
 "July 18th. Day before yesterday Havelock entered 
 Cawnpore, after hard fighting about four miles this side 
 of that place. The women, who had been in the hands of 
 the rebels, were all murdered, a few hours before the 
 British forces entered. In one house the troops found a 
 pool of fresh blood with arms, legs and heads, and traced 
 the blood to a well near by, from which were taken the 
 bodies of twenty-five women to whom they had belonged, 
 all recently murdered. In the same house was found the 
 journal of a lady kept until the day she was slain. 
 
 "Edmonstone, formerly of Futtehpore, and recently 
 officiating as judge at Banda, has just arrived here. The 
 fugitives from Futtehpore went to Banda, where they were 
 joined by most of the residents of that station ; and thence 
 went to Nagode, farther south, thence to Mirzapore, whence 
 the ladies, Mrs. Edmonstone and Mrs. Webster, went to 
 Calcutta, and the gentlemen came here. At Humeerpore, 
 Mr. Lovd and Mr. Donald Grant were blown from a gun. 
 
ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 131 
 
 Bruce and Benjamin, at Banda, have been killed by the 
 Mohammedans. At Jhansi all the Euroi^eans have been 
 killed. Our prospects are now darker than ever. Sir 
 Henry Lawrence, at Lucknow, was wounded on the 2nd 
 and died on the 4th inst. A sad loss to India at this time. 
 
 "July 19th. Baptized Old Maulawi Mohammed Taki, 
 who was examined last Monday by the session. At the 
 same time Yunas appeared and confessed his having re- 
 peated the Kalima to save his wife, sister-in-law, and 
 mother-in-law from being dishonored, and to-day he asked 
 forgiveness of the church. 
 
 "August 10th. Havelock started to go on to Lucknow, 
 but has been obliged to fall back to Cawnpore. All Oude 
 is in arms. Lucknow still holds out, but is in great 
 danger. Should that place fall, the rebels may make a 
 rush at Allahabad, and we may be besieged in the fort 
 again. Great preparations are going forward in the fort 
 to be ready for such an event. Delhi is still in the hands 
 of the rebels, and the British troops have been there try- 
 ing to retake it ever since the 8th of June. The station and 
 cantonments of Agra are in the hands of the insurgents; 
 but the Europeans are all safe in the fort. In all the 
 Northwestern Provinces there is no such thing as order 
 and government, excejDt in the few garrisons over which 
 the British flag is still waving. 
 
 "August 18th. No dak from Calcutta for several 
 days past. The native troops at Dinapore have mutinied, 
 and are now scattered over the province of Behar, and 
 stopping the mail carts. Prospects are still very dark. 
 In the Fort preparations are made for blowing up the 
 whole place, in case it should be necessary to evacuate 
 Allahabad, The Munnises have just left by steamer for 
 Calcutta. 
 
132 ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 
 
 "August 19t]i. I am here alone with Mr. Sandys. 
 We have better news from Agra and Delhi. If Lucknow 
 could be relieved, we might hope to see things soon begin- 
 ning to mend. Calcutta dak and telegraph still closed. 
 The Cawnpore dak and wire have alsD been closed again. 
 
 " August 23. Yesterday a rumor reached us that 
 Lucknow had fallen, and that the Cawnpore tragedy had 
 been there re-enacted ; also that Lohunda was in the hands 
 of the rebels, who were tearing up the railway. 
 
 " To-day I received a letter from Scott, dated July 
 25th, the first letter from any of our brethren up the 
 country since May 14th. He has heard of the murder of 
 our dear Futtehgurh brethren and sisters. The station of 
 Agra has been burned and destroyed. 
 
 " August 24th, Allahabad Fort. On Saturday I was 
 warned not to remain at the Jumna alone. The Muharam 
 has just commenced, and the Mohammedans have vowed 
 destruction to all the " infidels " they can lay hold of. 
 Walter Freehng kindly sent me up a note from the Fort 
 that Lieut. Jenkins would gladly allow me to come into 
 his quarters. I came down and received a kind welcome. 
 I slept here on Saturday night and went up to the Jumna 
 yesterday, and spent a quiet Sabbath with the native 
 Christians. I returned last night, have now become the 
 guest of the mess, to which Freeling, Jenkins, Christopher 
 and other pleasant gentlemen belong, and receive from 
 them all great kindness ; am making arrangements to have 
 the native Christians brought within the outer entrench- 
 ments." 
 
 At this point Mr. Owen's journal letters come to an 
 end. Having a^one to Calcutta to meet his wife, on her 
 return from America, he was there detained for four 
 
ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 133 
 
 months by the unsettled state of the country. Allahabad 
 had become the base of military operations for the northern 
 provinces. Mission work was entirely swept from the 
 field of all that group of stations comprehended under the 
 name of Furrukhabad. The laborious and prayerful work 
 of twenty years seemed to have been expended in vain ; 
 all its fruits utterly extinguished. 
 
134 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 RETURNING TO WORK. FROM CALCUTTA TO FURRUKHABAD 
 IN THE TRAIL OF THE MUTINY, AND THROUGH 
 
 LORD Clyde's army. 
 
 On the 15tli of September, Mr. Owen reached Calcutta, 
 where his wife landed on the 21st ; he did not leave that 
 * city on his return to the north until January next. Mean- 
 I (^ while occurred Havelock's final march on Lucknow, and 
 
 reinforcement of the European garrison there. Lord Clyde's 
 victories at Cawnpore and Alumbagh, and relief of the 
 Residency of Lucknow, the recapture of Delhi by Oeneral 
 Wilson, and protection of Agra by Colonel G-reathed. 
 But Lucknow, although humiliated, and her prey wrested 
 out of her grasp, was still, at the beginning of 1858, 
 unsubdued ; and the mutineers, who now made that city 
 their headc|uarters, remained a numerous, well organized, 
 and well equipped army. Oude and the adjoining country 
 across the Ganges were still occupied by conflicting forces. 
 Missionary oj^erations were still impracticable in the 
 region of Allahabad. 
 
 Mr. Owen, at Calcutta, remained imimtiently listening 
 to every report of the movements which seemed to be 
 opening the way for return to his work. On the 24th of 
 Nov. he writes, " We spent Saturday wiih Dr. and Mrs. 
 Duff, and went with him again over his noble institution. 
 Last night we were in company of upwards of thirty 
 Christian friends, where we saw all the Lacroix party. We 
 see them frequently, and have much delighful intercourse 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 135 
 
 with them." " I have much to be thankful for, life spared, 
 wife and sou spared, the sympathy and affection of dear 
 friends, a hope in the Blessed Redeemer." 
 
 On the 19th of January, 1858, Mr. Owen left Calcutta 
 alone, for the field of his mission. The journey was one 
 of exploration amon^ ruins, to find out where to recom- 
 mence, and what remained that could be useful. From 
 Calcutta the railway then extended as far north as Ranee- 
 gunge. At that station he was detained most of two days, 
 all the garis (carriages) being engaged for the transporta- 
 tion of troops. Part of that time he spent in visiting the 
 camp and hospital, in talking with the men on the interest 
 of their souls, and reading the Scriptures to them. In 
 the hosj^ital, " When I suggested having worship with 
 them, they immediately got me a desk and a Bible, and 
 were all very attentive, some of them following me in 
 their Bibles while I read." 
 
 On leaving Raneegunge, he went in company with cer- 
 tain military officers on their way to Lucknow. "A gen- 
 tleman accustomed to the use of fire arms kindly loaded 
 my revolver for me, and put the caps on. I heard the 
 driver giving notice, during the night, to some»natives, that 
 I was armed. Our carriages continued near each other all 
 night. We passed two or three detachments of troops by 
 the way, and hundreds of carts laden with supplies. My 
 carriage was a comfortable one; but the night was very 
 cold. This morning a cold north wind was blowing down 
 from the hills. I wrapped myself up in my cloak, and 
 enjoyed it greatly. The scenery in all directions is beauti- 
 ful and the mountain air bracing." 
 
 It was through a constant stream of military, coming 
 and going, that Mr. Owen had to make his way. Upon 
 
136 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 his arrival at the station of Nimeaghant, the officer in 
 command there, whose duty it was to receive troops on 
 their way, feed them, and pass them on, had just received 
 orders to have rations for two hundred men a day, for 
 several days to C(mie, whi(;h seemed to confirm the rumors 
 of hard fighting up the country. ''They say all is safe as 
 far as Sasseram, and if there is any danger beyond, the 
 officer commanding there will not allow us to go on, until 
 the road is quite clear. If all goes well, we reach Sasseram 
 the day after to-morrow." At various places he found the 
 road blocked up with bullock carts, conveying troops to 
 the north, not a promising symptom for the conditions of 
 m.issionary work. 
 
 Next day he met a rumor that Amar Singh was in 
 force at Roletas Gurh, and that the British troops were to 
 attack him from Sasseram in a few days. " The people are 
 quietly pursuing their occupations." 
 
 On arrival at Sasseram, he found the report correct as 
 to the intended attack upon Roletas Gurh. But as that 
 was not to be made for a few days, and no impediment 
 was put in his way, he determined to push forward. At 
 Sasseram he spent the Sabbath, and had religious services 
 with some of the soldiers. He mentions with affection 
 some officers in whose company he had travelled so far, 
 'and with whom he had worship on Sabbath evening. 
 " After we rose, (from kneeling in prayer) they all thanked 
 me. Poor dear fellows, they seem very friendly. They 
 all seem to have been well brought up in the Church of 
 England." 
 
 At Sasseram Mr. Owen parted from his military friends, 
 who had to wait there for their men to come up. At 
 Benares he found some of his old missionary friends ; but 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 137 
 
 their kindness failed to induce him to stay more than part 
 
 of three days with them. Through crowds of Karanchies 
 
 laden with European soldiers, and accepting conveyance 
 
 with a military friend, Capt. Bunbury, in a government 
 
 van, he pushed on his way, and reached Allahabad the next 
 
 morning. Along the road between Benares and Allahabad ^/ 
 
 he remarks that he had never seen the country in a better 
 
 state of cultivation. "The poor cultivators seem to have iA/-^i.-o^ 
 
 taken little in teres^ in the rebellion, either against or for 
 
 us." "I saw the outlines of the old fort by moonlight. 
 
 Many hearts feel grateful for the protection it afforded 
 
 last June. The esplanade in front is covered with tents. 
 
 As we came up the road leading from the fort to the 
 
 station, I saw the plain on our left covered with a sea of 
 
 canvas, the encampment of the Queen's Second Dragoon 
 
 Guards." 
 
 "The part near the station is covered with a park of 
 artillery, and in the part where the Sepoy lines were, 
 European barracks are in course of rapid preparation." 
 " We entered the Mission Press compound shortly before 
 one o'clock this morning." "Babu John Hari, and Mirza, 
 and other native Christians were soon up, and came to 
 assist in taking my things off the van. I was cold, and 
 felt too much excited to sleep. I was early up, and walked 
 with Kennedy to the fort to find Dr. Gruise." His tent 
 was on the esplanade. " One of his servants took us to 
 the scene of his laborious duties." " We had then a long 
 walk through the hospitals, in which are 430 sick and 
 wounded. It would be impossible to speak too highly in 
 praise of the perfect neatness and cleanliness, in which we 
 saw the poor fellows, in their comfortable wards and beds. 
 Every thing is done for them that human skill and kind- 
 
138 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 ness can do." "Col. Greathed, the hero of Delhi and Agra, 
 is now here, on his way to Calcutta, a very soldierly look- 
 ing man." 
 
 Entertained by Mr. Court, the magistrate, as his guest 
 in the mess for the few days which intervened before he 
 could proceed to Futtehgurh where he expected to meet 
 some brethren from the northern stations, Mr. Owen was 
 in the way of hearing, from both civilians and military 
 men, the news of what was going on in both departments 
 of the public service, and being deeply interested in having 
 the native Christians recognized as worthy of government 
 confidence, consistently defended their caus3, in that com- 
 pany. He collected many examples of their loyalty, self- 
 reliance and enterprise, when trusted as soldiers, or other- 
 wise. Some of them, to save their lives and those of iheir 
 families, had sul^mitted to repeat the Mohammedan creed; 
 and now came to him lamenting their lapse, and begging to 
 be taken back into the church. Many of them, through 
 all their trials had clung to the ruins of the Mission prem- 
 ises, and that neighborhood. Babu John Hari had mended 
 one of the broken presses, and commenced printing jobs. 
 For that purpose he had obtained a government license. 
 
 Allahabad was at that time in the midst of a revolu- 
 tion, going to make it for a time the seat of the general 
 government, and the centre of military operations. Changes 
 were taking place in every direction, and every thing unset- 
 tled, mission work was still impracticable. Hindu Melas 
 were also susy^encled. " The Pryagwals have nearly all 
 left Pryagwalitolah. Several of them live in Daragunge ; 
 and, as the people are prohibited from going to the Tribeni 
 in large companies, the Pryagwals go down themselves, 
 one or two at a time, and luring a lotah of water from the 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 139 
 
 sacred point of the junction, mix it with other Ganges 
 water in Daragunge, and there bathe the few people from 
 the city, who persist in patronizing them." 
 
 " The ungodly lives of Europeans have been no incon- 
 siderable hindrance to the progress of the Grospel in 
 India." " Chester was highly indignant at a man called 
 De Cruz, for turning Mussulman. De Cruz was asked if 
 he had become a Mussulman. He very coolly replied, ' Yes, 
 as a temporary measure.' Chester was for hanging him." 
 
 Feb. 2nd, "I have received a letter from Scott at 
 Landour, where he was writing from the midst of a snow 
 storm. He intended going down to Agra, in a week or 
 two, and wishes me to try and come there. Fullerton is 
 at Futtehgurh, a^id I have written to him to stand fast 
 there, until I come. I hope to start in a day or two. To 
 get as far as Cawnpore is easy enough by Government 
 dak ; but beyond there is no dak, but the mail cart ; and 
 that passes twenty miles from Futtehgurh. However, I 
 hope to get on somehow." 
 
 Feb. 6th, Camp Futtehpore. " On Saturday morning 
 I got an order from the Brigadier for a government dah at 
 my own expense. He gave me also a pass for the train to 
 Khaga, and my passage to that place cost me nothing. 
 The train was a very long one, bringing us commissariat 
 stores, and munitions of war." The commander-in-chief 
 was expected to meet him by the way ; but at Khaga 
 heard that he was at Cawnpore, crossing his troops into 
 Oude. 
 
 While the engineer was taking in water, I conversed 
 with some of the Sepoys who mutinied at Nowgong. 
 About 80 of them remained staunch, and protected their 
 Major. The Government have committed to their charge 
 
140 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 the railway works at Bawari. I asked them why their 
 comrades mutinied. They professed entire ignorance of 
 the cause, simply saying "God made them bad." I asked 
 them whether they would shoot any of their old comrades, 
 if they should meet them. " Yes, certainly," said they, 
 for if we did not, they would shoot us." 
 
 The country through which we passed is under cultiva- 
 tion, and the crops seem as usual. 
 
 From Khaga, I came on to Futtehpore, 22 miles, by 
 government van, paying for myself. The dak bungalows 
 between Allahabad and Futtehpore, were all burned during 
 the rebellion, except the one at Lohunda ; the telegraph 
 wires all destroyed, and nearly all the telegraph posts. 
 The wire is now supported by temporary posts of bamboo, 
 and whatever else material came first to hand. At Belinda, 
 four miles from Futtehpore, where Havelock was first 
 attacked, a id whence he proceeded and fought the battle 
 of Futtt'bp >re, Sunday morning, July 12, the first advan- 
 tage gained by us, after the dreadful events of June, we 
 stopped to change horses. I asked the people of the vil- 
 lage about it. They saw it, and said they were all loyal, 
 and furnished our troops with supplies. 
 
 I drove to the Camp, not knowing where I was to find 
 shelter, but inquiring for Mr. Marcy's tent. The driver 
 brought me into the cutchery compound to the military 
 camp, and I was met immediately, by a pleasant gentle- 
 man on horseback, Major Babington, of the 17th Madras 
 Native Infantry, with a kind "How do you do, sir? Are 
 you going up the country ? You'll stop and give us service 
 to-morrow ? But unfortunately we are going out on a 
 tour, to be gone several days. But there's my tent, occupy 
 it as long as you like. We dine at six, this evening, and 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 141 
 
 shall be happy to have you with us. Take your things to 
 my tent, and I'll be back in a few minutes. I deposited 
 my things in my new home, and drove off on the van to 
 look at the mission premises." It was in G-opeenath's con- 
 gregation. The property had been seriously injured, and 
 some of the houses burned, but some of them were still in- 
 habited by native Christians. And Mr. Owen thought that 
 as *' the walls were standing, if covered over before the 
 next rains, they would with some repairing, be as good as 
 ever." 
 
 Mr. Owen then visited the civil camp, and meeting 
 some acquaintances there, dismissed his van, and in their 
 company took a walk among the ruins in other parts of the 
 city, describing the desolation, which the mutiny and its 
 punishment had left behind them. Dining with Major 
 Babington that evening, he was introduced to the principal 
 officers of the station, by whom he was treated with the 
 kindest courtesy. Next day he preached in the camp. 
 The conclusion of his observations was that Futtehj^ore 
 was quite safe, and that if Gropeenath were there he might 
 recommence missionary operations on a small scale. His 
 next letter was from " Cawjipore, Feb. 9th. Here I am, 
 in the station, which of all that have suffered by the rebel- 
 lion, has been the scene of most suffering, cruelty and 
 slaughter. I left the Major's tent at half-jmst eight. I 
 passed the mission premises, and left money, and an order 
 with Henry to have the four catechists' houses repaired 
 immediately. The natives should see as soon as possible 
 that we have not been driven from the ground. I think 
 Futtehpore will now remain safe. The only fear, so far as 
 I can see, is that the rebels, when driven from Lucknow 
 and Oude, may make a dash that way. But the authorities 
 
142 
 
 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 must protect the railway, and other property there, and 
 not allow the enemy again to take possession. The com- 
 mander-in-chief went over to Allahabad on Sunday morn- 
 ing, and passed through Futtehpore on his return to Cawn- 
 pore early this morning, having left Allahabad on Monday 
 night. The horses had been well used up, and consequently 
 I came on slowly, and reached Cawnpore just before sun- 
 set. The road is well kept open, and quite safe. I came 
 comfortably in one of the government vans. The country 
 is under cultivation, and the crops appear as usual ; but 
 the road to-day bore more evident marks of the rebellion 
 than any part I have seen, except at the stations of Allah- 
 abad and Futtehpore. Most of the villages had been plun- 
 dered and burnt, and the people are just beginning to settle 
 in them again. The telegraph posts had nearly all been 
 cut, and temporary posts have been put up. The bare 
 walls of the two dah bungalows, at KuUianpoor and Sir- 
 soul are standing. KuUianpoor, the second dah bungalow 
 from Cawnpore, is the place to which ihe revolted regi- 
 ments had gone, on their way to Allahabad, when the 
 Nana went out and brought them back to Cawnpore. At 
 Aung I saw the entrenchment, or a part of it, from behind 
 which the rebels attempted to oppose Havelock's progress, 
 after the battle of Futtehpore. They were driven from 
 their position, and fell back three miles to the Pandoo 
 Nuddi. There they began to break down the Pakha 
 bridge; but had not time to do much, before Havelock 
 was again upon them. They had another entrenchment 
 on this side of the bridge, a portion of which is still there. 
 After two hours fighting, the rebels retreated towards 
 Cawnpore and made a stand, on the 15th of July, at the 
 place where the road into cantonment forks from the trunk 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 143 
 
 road. After Havelock had defeated them at this last 
 place, the Nana came into Cawnpore, and caused every 
 European here, about 150, to be butchered that night. 
 Havelock came in the next mornins^, and found the 
 slaughter house and the well. The scene, as we approached 
 and entered the station, was sad — sad beyond description. 
 The ruin is more extensive and complete, and the desola- 
 tion much more visible and striking than in Allahabad. 
 
 " I am in Nir Muhammed's Hotel, rather a rough affair, 
 but a great convenience just now. One is glad to get any 
 shelter, in such a time as this. The Commander-in-chief's 
 camp is here, and troops are crossing on two or three 
 bridges, day and night. The whole place is full of bustle 
 and dust, swarming with red coats. In the compound of 
 the Hotel are encamped the ladies, who have just come 
 down with a convoy from Agra. 
 
 '* One's heart sickens in going over this vast scene of des- 
 olation and ruins, with the recollection of what Cawnpore 
 was only a few Dionths since, and that all the recent 
 occupants of these walls are now in eternity, sent there, 
 alas! sadly unprepared. Cawnpore is like a city of the 
 dead. I can scarcely recognize places with which I was 
 (mce acquainted. After surveying the new fort, we drove 
 to the chief's camp, and called on Major Norman, the son 
 of my old friend, and fellow-passenger round the Cape. 
 I expect to leave early on Friday morning, by G-overnment 
 van, for Agra. I have just ^'eceived a letter from Fuller- 
 ton, who has returned to that city; also one from Butler, 
 from Meerut. 
 
 " This evening I drove out to find some of the places. 
 which have obtained such a sad notoriety. No native 
 that I met would tell me the way to the House of Murder. 
 
144 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 Thev all feign entire ignorance of its locality, and of what 
 occurred there. At last I got a drummer bov of the 34th 
 to come with me and show me the way. He is a bright 
 little fellow, and told me of their recent hard fighting with 
 the Gwalior rebels, and pointed out the places where some 
 of the severest struggles took place. The slaughter house 
 has been blown up and the well in which the bodies were 
 thrown, has been filled. A very beautiful monument 
 "To the Memory of the Women and Children of H. M. 
 32nd, who were massacred near this place," has been 
 erected by twenty men of that regiment, who passed 
 through Cawnpore in November. The well into which 
 Miss Wheeler threw herself, a few feet distant, has also 
 been covered over. The trees, against which the Sepoys 
 dashed the children, have been cut down. They were just 
 back of the house, between that and the well. The bark 
 which was stained with the children's blood, has been 
 taken off ; but the trees are lying there still. 
 
 The slaughter house is in ruins, and one cannot see 
 what it was, but the entrenchment, if such it may be 
 called, is just as it was when Wheeler capitulated. There 
 is no entrenchment, only a mud bank, scarcely as high as 
 one's knee, a few rods in front of the buildings they 
 occupied; in some places no bank at all. It is perfectly 
 astonishing that they were held so long, by so weak a force, 
 against such overwhelming odds, and proves, more than 
 anything I have yet seen, the rebels' want of skill and 
 courage. In the defence were only 150 of the Queen's 
 32nd, 15 of the Madras Fusileers, and a few other fighting 
 men, and 6 small guns. The place is very extensive, and, 
 even if really well entrenched, would require at least 500 
 men to defend the works. It was surrounded by at least 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 145 
 
 20,000 of the Nana's forces, who had not less than 50 or 
 60 guns battering it day and night from every direction. 
 I never saw buildings so thoroughly battered and riddled. 
 No wonder the poor people lost all heai-t, balls constantly 
 cominsf in upon them, bricks falling and walls tumbling 
 about their ears, no quiet day or night, many being killed 
 daily, others dying of wounds, and sunstroke. This is 
 the most dismal of all the dismal scenes of desolation 
 that I have yet seen caused by this rebellion. It makes 
 one's heart sick to walk about and think of the grief 
 and suffering these battered and riddled walls have wit- 
 nessed. Some who died are buried in a small garden, 
 most however were thrown into a well near one of the 
 buildings. On some of the walls are still marks of blood. 
 The place is still marked where young Wheeler, the gen- 
 eral's son and aide-de-camp, was killed by a round shot, 
 throwing his blood all over the wall.^ How our people 
 managed to hold out those 20 days is matter of astonish- 
 ment. Ec[ually astonishing is the fatuity evinced in 
 entrenching there. They were exposed on every side, 
 without any cover from the enemy's cannon and musketry, 
 and in every direction the walls are battered and broken 
 in, and heaps of brick lying all about. 
 
 "Lieut. Thompson, one of the only three survivors of 
 Cawnpore, whom I met this evening, says the place is just 
 as they left it. Thompson is a particularly pleasant man, 
 and gives a most interesting account of what he has seen 
 and suffered. He was wounded the other day at Calpee, 
 and can scarcely walk. He and Delafosse and private 
 Murphy are the only survivors of all who went into the 
 
 1) Another account is that young Wheelei- was fatally wounded 
 in a sally on the 20th, and died next day. 
 
146 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 entrenchments here on the 6th of last June. Groverument 
 ought to pension and title them, instead of exposing them 
 to further danger. Murphy is fighting at Lucknow, and 
 Thompson will be at it again as soon as his wound heals. 
 Delafosse, they say, is half mad. 
 
 " Wheeler capitulated with the Nana on the 26th of 
 June, and the ladies began to move to the boats about 6 
 o'clock on the morning of the 27th, and by eight A. M., 
 all were on board. They were not without suspicions of 
 foul play, but had no idea that it could be so bad. I have 
 heard from native reports that when the ladies came out 
 of the entrenchments to go on board, they could scarcely 
 be distinguished from native women, they were so sun- 
 burnt and covered with dust and smoke. Willock told me 
 this evening that our European soldiers, when going into 
 action, to urge each other on, often call out ' Cawnpore, 
 Cawnpore,' and the Sikhs cry ' Cawnpore h/i badla — 
 Cawnpore ha badla ! ' — ' Revenge of Cawnpore ! ' 
 
 "Feb. 11. Breakfasted this morning with G-regson, and 
 afterwards drove with him over the ground of the late 
 disasters under Wyndham ; also to the church and grave- 
 yard. The roof of the church was burnt, and fell in; but 
 an awning of Sirka grass has been run over it, a shelter 
 from the sun, but not for rain, rude seats placed inside, 
 something like a pulpit set up, and service is conducted 
 there on Sundays. The walls are all blackened with smoke. 
 They seem good, and the tower is still standing. The 
 place is sadly dilapidated. The monuments in the burial 
 ground are much broken." " On returning I found here 
 Debi Din, one of the native Christians, who came with the 
 missionaries from Futtehgurh, and was with them until 
 they were seized at Nawabgunge. His account is most 
 
RETURNING TO WORK, 147 
 
 touching. I have determined to remain here a day or two 
 longer, and take down his statement, before going on to 
 Agra. His account agrees, for the most part, with what 
 I have heard, but adds further particulars. 
 
 " A large number (132) of Europeans left Futtehgurh, 
 on the 4th of June, in boats, to make their escape down 
 the river, either to Cawnpore, or Allahabad. Our mission- 
 ary friends. Freeman and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, 
 Campbell, his wife and two children, and Mr. and Mrs. 
 M'Mullin, were with others on one of the boats. They 
 proceeded with very great difficulty, in some places giving 
 the natives money to be allowed to proceed, and in others, 
 fighting their way through crowds of rebels." 
 
 "They were not taken at Bithoor, as we had heard, but 
 five miles further down, and five miles above Cawnpore, 
 at Nawabgunge. There they saw with spy-glasses, guns 
 placed on the banks to oppose their progress down the 
 river, and wrote a letter to G-eneral Wheeler, asking for 
 assistance to get up to his entrenchments, and offered a 
 man, who afterward proved to be a spy of the ISTana's, 
 200 Rs., to take the letter up to Wheeler. They heard the 
 booming of cannon, and knew that all Caw d pore was up 
 and that the Europeans were somewhere in one place 
 defending themselves. There they remained, near a small 
 island in the river, about two days, unable to get on down 
 the river, and unable to get assistance from the English. 
 At last, hundreds of people, Budmashes, Sepoys, Sowars, 
 cultivators from the villages, men, women and children, 
 surrounded them. They fought as long as they could, 
 the ladies loading and the gentlemen firing the muskets. 
 A round shot broke a hole in the large boat, on which 
 they had all been obliged to get. The boat began to sink. 
 
148 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 and all got out on the small island, the ladies holding their 
 children in their arms, under the scorching sun of June, 
 the hots blowing in full blast. All knelt down, and Mr. 
 Campbell led them in prayer. Then they directed the 
 servants on the boat to break all the weapons and throw 
 them into the river. They were soon beset with mul- 
 titudes, who took away their watches, all they had in their 
 pockets, their hats, shoes, stockings, coats, every thing ex- 
 cept a slight covering from the waist downward. Then all 
 were put into a large boat and brought to the Cawupore 
 side. Mr. Campbell requested the three native Christians, 
 who were with them, to escape and get back to Futteh- 
 gurh, and warn all there to flee, and try to save them- 
 selves, 
 
 " Debi Din saw the whole party brought to the shore, 
 the ladies brought off first, and made to sit on the ground ; 
 then the gentlemen were brought off and tied with a long 
 rope arm to arm. The Sowars rode near the ladies while 
 thus sitting on the ground. The ladies joined their hands 
 and in an attitude of entreaty, begged for their lives. The 
 Sowars replied to them in abiisive and obscene language, 
 shook their swords over them, and told them not one of 
 them should live. When the gentlemen had all been tied 
 together in a ring, the ladies were placed within the ring, 
 and thus, they were all marched off. Mr. Campbell gave 
 a farewell salam to the native Christians ; and the latter 
 gazed after the company, till a bazar, through which they 
 were taken, covered them from view. 
 
 "A native here says that he saw a number of European 
 ladies and gentlemen, with their children, being killed by 
 Sepoys and Sowars, one morning, about ten o'clock, on the 
 plain in front of the Savadah Kothi, the house formerly 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 149 
 
 occupied by Perkins. The Sepoys shot them with their 
 muskets, and the Sowars with their pistols and then cut 
 them to pieces with their swords. The man can give me 
 no dates. ^ I hope yet to learn further particulars." 
 
 Next morning in company with a friend, Mr. Owen 
 walked up to the Savadah Kothi, and recognized the main 
 features of the place remaining as he had formerly known 
 them. There also he found a man who told him that "he 
 saw a company of Europeans, gentlemen, ladies, and 
 children, being led bound from the direction of the 
 Savadah Kothi, to the plain below, between that place and 
 Wheeler's entrenchment, and there, by order of the Nana, 
 who was present on horseback, shot and afterwards cut to 
 pieces with swords. 
 
 " We have no doubt that all is well with them, that they 
 have long since been at rest. The struggle was doubtless 
 sharp, yet short. Christ was near, who has said ' I will 
 never leave you nor forsake you." " We have been busy 
 all day taking the statements of some native Christians 
 from Futtehgurh." 
 
 On the following day, Mr. Owen visited the scene of 
 the fearful treachery to Wheeler and his .party after their 
 capitulation. " The road from the entrenchment down to 
 the river is pretty direct. Some walked, others went on 
 carts and in doolies, and some of the sick and wounded 
 were taken on elephants, Wheeler walked down support- 
 ing his two daughters on his arms, accompanied by Thomp- 
 son, At the ghat is a large Hindu temple. Below the 
 temple, on the shore, is a line of native houses. On a rising 
 ground beyond these houses, were planted three guns. Near 
 
 1) It was subsequently ascertained to have occuiTed on the 13th 
 of June. The party had been taken oif the island on the 12th. 
 
150 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 a bungalow still higher up the river, was another gun, and 
 two more were on the Oude side. In the river is a sand 
 bank, which at that time was covered with about a foot of 
 water. The boats, about 40, were therefore confined in a 
 narrow creek, near the shore. Just as they were pushing 
 off, the guns opened upon them with grape, killing many 
 in the boats near. Some of the boats went on. These 
 were hit by round shot and sunk. The one in which 
 Thompson was, took fire, and he swam to another ahead. 
 Another near this was sinking, and all the passengers, in- 
 cluding about 60 women and children, were taken on 
 board. This boat and another managed to get beyond 
 the reach of the guns, and went on down several miles. 
 The rebels pursued, firing upon them with muskets, from 
 the bank. At last a party of 14 went ashore, to clear them 
 out. They succeeded, but lost just half their number. 
 The remaining seven, finding themselves closely pressed, 
 made a stand in a Hindu temple. They saw nothing 
 more of the boats they had left. Finding themselves cut 
 off from returning to the boats, they started to swim down 
 stream. They swam several miles ; but three of the seven 
 were either drowned or killed by the enemy, who followed 
 them, firing upon them. When no longer pursued, and quite 
 exhausted, they saw some natives on shore beckoning to 
 them. They stopped, and had a parley with them, standing 
 in the water, at a distance. They distrusted, but had no 
 alternative, and so gave themselves up. The natives were 
 kind and faithful, and through their assistance, Lieutenants 
 Thompson and Delafosse, and privates Muq^hy and Sul- 
 livan, the only survivors of the party, who embarked at 
 the Gola Ghat, were taken into Havelock's camj), near 
 Futtehpore. Sullivan has since died, Murphy is said to 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 161 
 
 have been killed at Alumbagh, and Delafosse has partly 
 gone mad. Thompson is here, wounded from a ball he 
 got the other day at Calpee." 
 
 " Feb. 14, Sabbath. To-day at 11 A. M., I had worship 
 in Hindustani here in the tent, with four of our Futteh- 
 gurh Christians, and a few others." "I long to get settled 
 at my work again. 1 would not exchange my calling as 
 a missionary for all the honors and emoluments in the 
 gift of either my native land, or G-reat Britain. And yet, 
 if I look at what I have done, I have reason for nothing 
 but the deepest humiliation. For I can see nothing of 
 my work remaining. We must however remember that 
 the progress of G-od's Kingdom does not depend on our 
 individual efforts any further than his good pleasure 
 makes it so. He may own and bless our faith and labor, 
 and make them to advance His glory, in a way of which 
 we have no conception. Through the united faith and 
 prayer and effort of his church, he will manifest his glory 
 among the heathen, and extend and establish his kingdom 
 throughout the whole earth. The ruins of Allahabad, and 
 Futtehpore, and Cawnpore, and Futtehgurh, and Agra, 
 and Delhi, if not all in a material, yet in a spiritual sense, 
 shall be built up, and Christ's kingdom appear great and 
 glorious in all these places. It is comforting to know that 
 all these things are in the hand of our God, and that 
 though we die, Jesus Christ remains the same yesterday, 
 to-day and forever." 
 
 "The ploughmen, artisans, and shopkeepers are, in 
 general, passively and negatively loyal. Most of these are 
 Hindus. Passing through the country, you would scarcely, 
 without previous knowledge of the fact, suppose the 
 people in a state of rebellion. To a certain extent they 
 
152 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 are not, and to a certain extent they are. The revolt is 
 something more than a military mutiny; and yet, with 
 the exception of Oude, Eohilkund and Bundelkund, can 
 scarcely be called a national rebellion. The ignorant, 
 unstable, selfish people are always ready for anything 
 that promises a greater j^resent good, having little fore- 
 sight as to the future. The Bible, and the Bible alone, 
 can raise them from their ignorance, superstition and degra- 
 dation, and make real men of them. When they become 
 Christians, then we may look for something good, amiable 
 and noble in them. Some of the natives, and Sepoys too, 
 have stuck to us nobly. This is a fact not to be forgotten. 
 When the gospel works upon their hearts, we shall have a 
 good, amiable, if not a great people." 
 
 " Is it not remarkable that the Punjab, where Sir John 
 Lawrence and Mr. Montgomery have, all through the 
 mutiny, openly favored Missionary operations, has remained 
 so quiet, and in fact, been the means of saving India ? 
 Major Edwards, at Peshawar, has from the beginning of 
 his rule in that place, favored missionary work." " How 
 remarkably has Grod fulfilled his word, as regards the 
 rulers of the Punjab." ' Them that honor me I will honor.' 
 
 " How different things are in the Regulation Provinces, 
 where the old traditional and conciliation policy is the 
 order of the day ! 
 
 "Mr. Grant, our present Lieut. -Grovernor, seldom, if 
 ever, goes to church, and clings to the anti-Christian policy. 
 The missionaries in Benares raised a corps of about 400 
 native Christians for Grovernment service. Mr. Grant 
 declined taking them, lest the Hindus and Mohammedans 
 should take offence ! The missionaries in Krishnaghur, 
 in Bengal, not long since, wished the native Christians to 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 153 
 
 enlist in Grovernment service, and the native Christians 
 themselves desired to do so ; but Lord Canning and Mr. 
 Halliday refused to accept them ! All that we want is 
 that the native Christians have fair plaij, not be favored 
 because they are Christians, nor be rejected on that account; 
 but if they are otherwise qualified, that they be, equally 
 with Mohammedans and Hindus, eligible to Grovemment 
 service. The native Christian, whom I sent with Walter 
 Freeling, followed his master on the 25th of September, 
 through that terrible firing into the Residency, and I hear 
 has done very well. Walter wrote me a gratifying account 
 of him. I sent a company of them to engage in Govern- 
 ment service under Court. All the officers, who have had 
 them on service, speak well of them. 
 
 " I long to get settled at my work again. I came here 
 hoping to be able to get on to Agra, and consult with my 
 brethren there about our future labors, so as to secure, as 
 far as possible, unity in our plans. The road to Agra has 
 been opened, and G-overnment vans have been running. 
 Within a day or two, however, they say it has become 
 unsafe, and that rebels are crossing from Oude to get into 
 Central India." 
 
 " I am awkwardly situated, having no books, having 
 lost all but my Hebrew Bible, Greek Testament, and a 
 very few others. I have no lexicons, nor commentaries, or 
 other books of reference. However, Jehovah Jireh. For 
 the present I shall give myself, as much as possible, to 
 native preaching." 
 
 " May the blessed Gospel soon bring peace and happi- 
 ness to this now distracted and wretched land. Though 
 all is now shaken, yet God's promises remain the same, 
 and his foundation stands sure. Mv own work, so far as 
 
154 RETURNING TO WORK. 
 
 I see, has been destroyed ; but I am not discouraged. Nil 
 desjperandum, Jesu diice. The work is not ours, but Grod's. 
 It may be his will to burn up all our wood, hay and stub- 
 ble, in order to bring out more distinctly and gloriously to 
 view, his own immovable foundation, and to render the 
 glory of his name illustrious. To his name be all glory. 
 Though cast down, we are not destroyed ; though faint, 
 we are still pursuing. O that we might be more than ever 
 devoted to him, who loved us and gave himself for us." 
 On the 19th of Feb., the road being deemed safe, Mr. 
 j^-* Owen proceeded in a Government van to Agra. Along the 
 
 way, for twenty miles or more from Cawnpore, he found 
 detachments of military, and mounted patrols guarding the 
 fords of the Granges, and the country in every direction, 
 to keep the Nana and his people from crossing and molest- 
 ing the great convoy of ladies, now on the way from Agra 
 to Allahabad. " I stopped a few minutes to see the mission 
 bungalow at Mynpurie, which has been burnt. The walls 
 are good, and the chapel might soon be set right." At Agra 
 he met with the missionaries Fullerton, Scott, and Wil- 
 liams, and a few other friends, held the desired conference 
 in relation to their future operations, examined with them 
 the ruins of the Mission premises, and on the 26th left 
 Agra, on his way to Futtehgurh, which he reached on the 
 evening of the 27th." " I directed the driver to take me 
 at once to the Mission premises, at Rakha. As we 
 approached, I saw the Mission Church by moonlight at a 
 distance. When we came up, I found it all in ruins, only 
 the walls and steeple standing. The mission bungalows 
 had been burned in June, and their walls, and the walls of 
 all the adjoining buildings, present a dismal scene of 
 desolation." 
 
RETURNING TO WORK. 155 
 
 Mr. Owen collected as many as he could of the native 
 Christians, encouraged them, and spent the Sabbath and 
 held divine service with them. And next Wednesday was 
 in Cawnpore, from which he proceeded without impedi- 
 ment on his return to Allahabad. 
 
156 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 On the 1 9th of March, 1858, the capture of Lucknow 
 was completed. The rebellion lost the force of concentra- 
 tion, and it only remained to reduce the sej)arate groups 
 of mutineers who held " some of the strongholds of Cen- 
 tral India and Rajpootana," or who roved about the coun- 
 try for plunder. By the beginning of April, Mr. Owen 
 had again taken up his residence in the school building at 
 Allahabad, having repaired it far enough for the accom- 
 modation of his wife and himself. " I am preaching," he 
 writes, " to the people in the city almost every day, and 
 they attend pretty well." " The railway is open as far as 
 Futtehpore, and the train runs there and back daily. 
 They expec t to open it as far as Cawnpore in June or July, 
 so I hope the rebels will not be able to do much more 
 mischief in this part of the country. I am expecting 
 Gopeenath and his family from Calcutta very soon, to 
 make arrangements for beginning the missionary work at 
 Futtehpore again. These troubles must not discourage us, 
 but we must pray and labor more earnestly than ever 
 for these poor heathen. The worse they are, the more 
 need have they of the gospel." 
 
 Allahabad was now occupied as the seat of Grovern- 
 ment for the Northwestern Provinces; and the erection 
 of public buildings, for both civil and military service, 
 brought a great increase of European population and ren- 
 dered it more than ever important as a missionary station. 
 At first the whole work of resumption had to be done by 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 157 
 
 Mr. Owen alone. He had to see to the necessary repairs 
 of the buildings which admitted of being repaired, and of 
 building new, where the ruin was complete. He gathered 
 the little native congregation together and conducted 
 regular religious service with them, discharging among 
 them the duties of a missionary pastor. As Secretary of 
 the North India Bible and Tract Societies, he had to carry 
 on a large correspondence. Besides the care of his own 
 station he found himself also called upon by the circum- 
 stances of the case to act as a transit agent in general for 
 boxes and parcels without number coming from Calcutta 
 for friends up the country ; while his house and much of 
 his time was occupied by a constant succession of friends 
 passing up and down. 
 
 In prosecuting the war to its termination in Oude both 
 Lord Canning, the Grovernor-G-eneral, and Lord Clyde the 
 commander-in-chief, made their head-quarters in Allahabad, 
 and with^the forces thereby assembled in that city, mission 
 work could be conducted with safety, but in circumstances 
 far from favorable to success. 
 
 As late as October 15, Mr. Owen wrote: "The general 
 hope is that by the close of this cold weather, order and 
 authority will be re-established. The old chief is slow in 
 making a beginning. I hear he is not to leave Allahabad 
 before the 20th; portions of the trunk road will probably 
 become unsafe again for a time. It is supposed by some 
 that the rebels, when driven from Oude, may attempt to 
 cross the Doab, and effect a junction with Tantia Topi in 
 the south. ^ But if we are on the alert, there is no serious 
 ground of apprehension regarding the result. 
 
 1) Tantia Topi, in whose hands the mutiny terminated in a kind 
 of guerilla warfare in Central India, was captured, tried by court 
 martial and hanged, April 18, 1859. 
 
158 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 "I have been busy repairing our Mission church for 
 several months past, and a few weeks since we re-opened 
 it for service. The press we shal l not re-establish. Pend- 
 ing the decision of that question by our home committee, 
 I had one of the old iron presses repaired, and began job 
 work at my own risk, with the few types we picked up 
 after the mutiny. During the few months of waiting for 
 the Committee's decision, the native Christian workmen 
 carried it on so vigorously that when the answer came, I 
 had in hand, after paying their wages in full, and all the 
 other expenses of the establishment, and making up some 
 back pay, one thousand Rupees to hand over to the Mission 
 Treasury. With the Board's sanction, I have sold the 
 remains of the press to the native brethren, and they are 
 now carrying it on, on their own account. With their 
 savings they are laying in a new stock, and 1 trust they 
 will succeed well. I have no pecuniary responsibility in 
 regard to them, but assist them in every way I can, as a 
 friend." 
 
 Tn reconstructing the mission at Allahabad, it was 
 deemed necessary to greatly reduce the extent of oper- 
 ations. And Mr. Owen, though he did not change his 
 mind respecting the importance of education, now thought 
 that, for the time then being, it would be better to have 
 the teaching done by an auxiliary society, that all the 
 funds of the Foreign Mission Board might be devoted 
 entirely to the work of preaching the Gospel. 
 
 As Secretary of the North India Bible and Tract Socie- 
 ties, the headquarters of which had been removed from 
 Agra to Allahabad, Mr. Owen had much to do in the way 
 of supplying the European soldiers in the Northern Prov- 
 inces with Bibles, tracts and other Christian books. In 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 159 
 
 that work he was sometimes cheered by receiving letters 
 from chaplains and others, telling of the good which those 
 books were doing among the soldiers. December 20, 1858, 
 he writes, " There has been a revival of religion in one of 
 the Highland regiments, and several of the soldiers have 
 become hopefully converted. In some of the regiments, 
 even on the field of battle, prayer-meetings are regularly 
 kept up." 
 
 " I am preparing to reprint my commentary on the 
 Psalms, which was burnt here during the mutiny. Much 
 of it I have to re- write, but hope to get it ready by and 
 by. I am also going on with preaching. We need an out- 
 pouring of the Holy Spirit, such as the Church in America 
 has been enjoying." "We have a weekly union prayer- 
 meeting, attended by Episcopalians, Baptists and Presby- 
 terians, held in the Bible Depository. I trust it may re- 
 sult in good." 
 
 In January following (1859) Mr. and Mrs. Ownen en- 
 joyed a few days relaxation in a visit to their kinsman Mr. 
 Arthur Lang, at Lucknow. Under his experienced guid- 
 ance the places renowned in the war were visited with a 
 still fresh and vivid interest. 
 
 "This morning he took us over Havelock's route, from 
 the Char Bagh bridge on the Cawnpore road, down to the 
 Residency. What a wonderful place that Residency is. 
 I wonder more and more that any one came out of it alive. 
 Truly, God has been with us, and we may regard His 
 merciful dealings with us as pledges of the good in store 
 for India." 
 
 " Oude is now quiet, and we have the blessing of peace 
 once more. Mr, Montgomery has done a great work for 
 this province, during the few months of his rule. He 
 
160 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 leaves in February, to the regi-et of all here, to return to 
 Lahor, to take Sir John Lawrence's place, as Lieutenant- 
 Grovernor of the Punjab. It is wonderful to see how the 
 British power has again settled down here, on a firmer 
 basis than ever. The greatest energy is apparent in all 
 departments." 
 
 "The Commander-in-chief is here, on his way from the 
 campaign, which is now over. It has been admirably 
 arranged, and well carried out. The old chief will go 
 home laden with honors, to the enjoyment of domestic life. 
 The troops are going off to their quarters, and everything 
 seems settling down to a peace establishment. 
 
 "Tantia Topi, in Central India, may give trouble some 
 little time longer. The Nana and Begum have been 
 driven off into the Nepal hills. If they are caught the 
 Grovernment will likely pardon — perhaps pension — them. 
 The Nawab of Furrukhabad, who blew away English 
 ladies from guns, has been pardoned." 
 
 "The missions here have made an encouraging begin- 
 ning. The Episcopalians occupy the east, and the Metho- 
 dists the west side of the city. Crowds of people come 
 round the preachers, many from curiosity, preaching being 
 a new thing here, some probably from fear of the Euro- 
 peans, and possibly a few from a spirit of inquiry. I 
 preached, the other evening, a few rods from the Metho- 
 dist mission, to a large, motley crowd, numbering, one of 
 the missionaries told me, about five hundred. The brethren 
 in both missions feel much encouraged. The field is 
 indeed wide, and I think a promising one." 
 
 After a few days at Lucknow, Mr. and Mrs. Owen 
 returned by way of Cawnpore and Futtehpore. At the 
 latter, they partook of the hospitality of Gropeenath, who 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 161 
 
 was busy restoring the mission there. " We are in a tent 
 in G-opeenath's compound, near his chapel and bungalow, 
 which are rapidly going on to completion." " We are 
 gradually rebuilding our mission at Allahabad, Futtehpore 
 and Futtehgurh." "Allahabad is undergoing great changes. 
 We have now a bi-weekly newspaper pubhshed there, 
 called the New Times. The changes at Cawnpore are also 
 great, especially the railway station, a magnificent pile of 
 buildings, which has sprung up within about eight months. 
 But Cawnpore is a desolate gloomy place, especially ren- 
 dered such by the recollection of our disasters there." 
 
 "Allahabad, January 29, 1859. We have a united 
 Protestant prayer meeting here, held weekly at the Bible 
 Depository. It is a Protestant prayer meeting, not Pres- 
 byterian, Baptist, or Episcopalian, and it is held at the 
 Bible Depository rather than any particular church, the 
 Bible being the rallying point for Protestants. We began 
 several weeks ago with only five or sis, but with a deter- 
 mination to persevere, and now the room can scarcely hold 
 all that come. It is conducted in turn by Mr. Mackay, 
 the chaplain, Mr. Williams, the Baptist minister, and 
 myself. The interest in it seems to be increasing. How 
 delightful it is to hear what Grod is doing in America and 
 in Great Britain. We communicate, at these meetings, 
 the most recent religious intelligence we receive." "At 
 several stations in India, these union prayer meetings are 
 coming into existence." 
 
 At this time, however busily Mr. Owen was engaged 
 in re-organization of the mission, preparing books for 
 instruction of Christian converts, Bible and Tract Society 
 work, and otherwise, he was not prevented from preaching 
 to the people almost every day. 
 
162 RESTORATION OP THE MISSION. 
 
 The Lodiana Mission, although it suffered severely in 
 the mutiny, was not completely broken up, like that of 
 Furrukhabad ; an advantage mainly due to the prompt 
 and efficient management of Lawrence and Montgomery 
 in the Punjab, and the means taken by them to repel the 
 advance of mutiny northward, but partly also to the 
 policy adopted, after some wavering, by the Sikhs. Mutiny, 
 instead of spreading northward over the regions in which 
 the Lodiana stations lie, was soon constrained to the south 
 east of those northern provinces. Its greatest strength 
 and fiercest atrocities were exhibited on the field of the 
 Furrukhabad stations, and the adjoining countries of Delhi, 
 Eohilcund, and Oude. In the Lodiana stations some 
 damage was done to property, and missionary operations 
 were obstructed, but no lives were lost. Reconstruction 
 was also practicable there at an earlier date. The usual 
 routine of labor was resumed soon after October, 1857, 
 although for the succeeding year, most of the time had to 
 be spent in repairing and in some cases rebuilding from 
 the foundation. Occasion was also taken to enlarge the 
 accommodations, for which means were supplied from an 
 indemnity fund provided by the civil authorities. 
 
 Some stations of that mission had been regularly 
 occupied most of the time. Sabbath services had been 
 kept up ; and even preaching tours made into the Punjab, 
 as early as October, 1857, by Messrs. Thackwell and New- 
 ton. The schools at Lodiana continued in operation, 
 although with diminished numbers. The printing estab- 
 Hshment, greatly damaged in the outbreak, was soon 
 repaired, and printing resumed towards the end of 1857. 
 The poor house and leper asylum were also continued in 
 operation.^ 
 
 1) F. M., May 1859, p. 365. 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 163 
 
 Of the Furrukhabad mission, consisting of six stations, 
 at Agra, Mvnpurie, Futtehgurh, Futtehpore, Allahabad 
 and Banda, only that of Agra escaped entire deprivation 
 of its missionaries. TJllmann of Mjnpurie escaped to 
 Agra,^ those of Futtehgurh were all slain, except Walsh who 
 was then in America.^ From Futtehpore Gopeenath was 
 driven to seek refuge in Calcutta, All, except Owen, were 
 sent from Allahabad, in the beginning of the outbreak, 
 and the station at Banda was at that crisis occupied by a 
 native catechist and teacher with his assistant. The native 
 Christians were subjected to great hardships, and some of 
 them to death ; and all valuable property was plundered 
 or destroyed. 
 
 Resumption of work at those stations was slow, as 
 everything had to be recommenced almost from the begin- 
 ning, the means were scanty, and the workmen few. 
 Besides the three brethren at Agra, and Ullmann who had 
 taken refuge with them, the only missionary in any of the 
 stations wasOwen. His operations were chiefly on behalf 
 of Allahabad, and through G-opeenath, of Futtehpore; 
 but he also cooperated with the brethren at Agra, for the 
 revival of the stations at Futtehgurh and . Mvnpurie. It 
 was for this purpose, that while the conflict of arms was 
 still going on, he undertook his journey from Calcutta 
 into the very heart of the theatre of war, that he might 
 begin work at his own station, and hold conference with 
 those brethren, at the earliest date possible. 
 
 In that mission, the stations had all to recommence 
 with greatly limited means. At Agra and Allahabad some 
 additional inconvenience was also, for a time, created by 
 transfer of the seat of government. 
 
 1) F. M., April 1858, p. 351. 2) F. M.,May 1858, p. 377. 
 
164 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 At Allahabad the Mela was suspended in the first sea- 
 son after the mutiny. *' European soldiers stood upon the 
 ramparts of the fort, and threatened to shoot any native, 
 who might attempt to go and bathe at the sacred place." 
 Next year a few assembled ; and the following year the 
 number amounted to a few thousands. Mr. Owen began 
 to preach among them and found attentive hsteners. 
 
 At Futtehgurh, the only missionaries were Mr. and 
 Mrs. J. L. Scott, who had been stationed at Agra before 
 and durint? the mutiny. They were also assisted by a 
 number of native helpers.' Mr. Fullerton, another of the 
 Agra brethren, was, at the close of the mutiny, transferred 
 to the second station of Futtehgurh, more properly called 
 that of Furrukhabad. Mynpurie remained unoccupied by 
 a missionary, the native teacher, Babu Hulas Eoy, alone 
 sustaining the cause at that station. In this depleted 
 condition were the stations of the southern mission at 
 a time, when also it was felt by the missionaries on 
 the ground, that at least two more stations, Allygurh 
 and Etawah should be added to the number.'^ 
 
 Mr. Owen was enabled to sustain the amount of work, 
 which thus fell to his share, only by persevering regularity 
 and order. October 31, 1860, he writes: "My health is 
 good, never strong, but with care usually comfortable. 
 A little imprudence would at any time upset me, and 
 render a trip to the hills, or a voyage home necessary. 
 People here sometimes wonder at my having been nearly 
 twenty years in India and never yet having seen the hills, 
 and young missionaries seeing me in such good health, 
 after so long an uninterrupted residence on the plains. 
 
 1) F. M., May 1860, p. 379 comp. with July, 1867, p. 35. 
 
 2) F. M., May 1860, p. 401. 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 166 
 
 take courage for themselves." It had however been re- 
 commended to him that a trip to the mountains, or his 
 native land would be prudent, as a measure of precaution. 
 A visit to America had many attractions, which he began 
 to cherish the hope of enjoying, but his work in India was 
 dear to him, there was yet no person in whose hands he 
 could leave it ; and in the end of 1860, his explanation of 
 the Psalms for native Christians was being slowly earned 
 thr<^ugh the press by the North India Tract Society, he 
 could not expect to see it finished before another hot 
 season, and then it v\rould be too late to set out on his 
 homeward journey. So the project was of necessity post- 
 poned for another year. And ere that year had far ad- 
 vanced, the news from home was such as to render a 
 further postponement advisable. By the improved facilities 
 of transport in India, intelligence of the American civil 
 war had reached the northern provinces early in the month 
 of June, 1861. In that conflict Mr. Owen took a strong 
 interest from the beginning on the loyal side, and on 
 behalf of the good of the whole country. "The sad state 
 of things at home is almost a constant subject of my 
 thoughts, and is a subject of my daily prayer." 
 
 The Urdu commentary on the Psalms was completed 
 and published the ensuing year, and a corresponding work 
 on Isaiah undertaken. 
 
 At the same time, in the famine prevailing In the 
 neighborhood of Agra, to which he had been removed, 
 Mr. Owen, as a member of the Local Eelief Committee, 
 was brought into intimate relations with many of the 
 sufferers, and made eye witness of an ap»palling calamity, 
 which has so often befallen India, but which no govern- 
 ment in that country until the British ever alleviated. 
 
166 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 Thousands in both city and country were daily fed at the 
 public expense, and by private benevolence. The famine 
 was most severe in the districts where the mutiny began. 
 
 It was in February, 1861, that Mr. Owen was removed 
 to Agra. The missionary brethren wished him to go. 
 His own judgment, which was not favorable to the change, 
 he yielded to their wishes. On the same occasion he 
 resigned his place as Secretary of the North India Bible 
 and Tract Societies, which he had held about three years. 
 His apprehensions in respect to the change proved to be 
 well founded, and at the end of two years he was recalled 
 to his old station, to which he returned in the beginning 
 of March, 1863, and was soon re-installed in his house by 
 the Jumna, which had been rebuilt since its destruction 
 in the mutiny. Again he was left in charge of the whole 
 mission, the school, two native churches and bazar-preach- 
 ing, besides his press work, which he steadily carried for- 
 ward. But he remarks: "I have a good staff of native 
 preachers and assistants, foremost among whom is my dear 
 old pupil Yunas. He has become an excellent man, and 
 is greatly respected, not only for his scholarship, but also 
 for his high character." Moreover, he had now no Eng- 
 lish services to conduct, the church of Scotland having 
 appointed a chaplain for the British residents of Presby- 
 terian persuasion. Mr. Williamson, the chaplain, and Mr. 
 Owen soon became intimately related in their respective 
 work. " I occasionally," writes Mr. Owen, "assist him, 
 taking charge of his congregation, when he goes to look 
 after his Presbyterian flocks at Benares, Cawnpore, and 
 Lucknow." 
 
 After a year more of steady, persistent work among his 
 beloved converts but all alone as an American Missionary 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 167 
 
 at the station, the desire grew upon him to see once more 
 his native land. Writing to his mother May 7, 1864, he 
 sajs: "I have long been wishing to go home and pay you 
 a visit, before vour departure from this world, but am be- 
 ginning sincerely to fear that I shall never enjoy this 
 great pleasure. In the present crippled state of our mis- 
 sion it would be quite impossible to leave without serious 
 injury to the work. Here I am, alone at this station, 
 where there should be, at least, three missionaries ; and 
 should I go, there is no one to take my place, without 
 leaving another station vacant. I do wish the Board 
 would send us a good reinforcement soon. There are 
 plenty of young men to volunteer for the war ; but there 
 seems to. be but few volunteers for the missionary work. 
 This should be done, while the other should not be left un- 
 done. I have never seen cause to regret that I became a 
 missionary. My only cause of regret is that I have not 
 been a more faithful and devoted one. When we meet in 
 heaven, I will tell you how thankful I have reason to be 
 that I was a missionary ; and you will be thankful that 
 your son became a missionary. The time passes rapidly, 
 and soon we shall be there — soon we shall be with our 
 blessed Savior. May he give us grace to be faithful unto 
 death." 
 
 Meanwhile the laborious missionary, alone, as such, in 
 the management of his station, in the midst of a vast 
 populace of Europeans, Hindus and Mohammedans, where 
 he felt his sole efforts to be as nothing, and his appeals 
 for more workmen unheeded, was not forgotten nor un- 
 heeded at home. Fellow workmen were getting ready to 
 go out to join him ; and in recognition of his scholarship, 
 his Biblical labors, and heroic efforts during the mutiny, 
 
168 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 and in re-establishing the station, Princeton College at the 
 commencement in 1864, conferred upon him the degree of 
 Doctor in Divinity. 
 
 Within the same year, another of his early friends in 
 College, and fellow laborers on Indian ground, fell by the 
 hand of violence. In a letter of date June 2, 1864, he 
 thus relates the event. Levi Janvier " was one of my 
 dearest and most intimate friends in College and since we 
 came to India. He had been preaching at a Mela at 
 Arraudpoor. He and Mr. Carleton, and Mrs. Carleton and 
 Mrs. Janvier with their native assistants had been there 
 for several days. Mrs. Janvier and Mrs. Carleton, with 
 the assistance of some native Bible women, had obtained 
 access to several native women, while the gentlemen had 
 labored among the crowds. Nothing unpleasant had 
 occurred, no unpleasant discussion of any kind. On the 
 contrary, all seemed most respectful and attentive. On 
 the last day of the Mela, the 24th of March, Mr. Janvier 
 labored very hard. Towards evening he preached on the 
 coming of our Lord, and seemed unusually solemn. At 
 the close of the day he proposed that they should have the 
 communion. The native Christians expressed surprise, as 
 it was not Sunday. But he said it would be most appro- 
 priate, as they were all to separate on the following morn- 
 ing and go different ways. So, at 7 o'clock in the evening, 
 they surrounded the communion table in his tent, he leading 
 the services, and singing with his usual vigor the hymn 
 beginning with the words, — 
 
 " Arasta ho, Ai meri jan," 
 (Be ready, O my soul,) 
 
 a Hindustani hymn often sung at our communion seasons. 
 At 9 o'clock he went out to make arrangements for march- 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 169 
 
 ing on the following morning, and as he stepped to a cart 
 to give an order, a Sikh fanatic suddenly struck him insen- 
 sible with two blows on the head, one of which fractured 
 his skull over the right eye. The man instantly attempted 
 to run away, but was pursued, and seized by the servants 
 and native Christians, while Mr. Carleton carried his 
 bleeding brother into the tent. He lay groaning, but 
 quite unconscious, during the whole night, and expired 
 early on the following morning. 
 
 His remains were taken to Hoshiarpore, for a post 
 mortem examination, and then sent on to Lodiana, and 
 interred by the side of his first wife. He was a man of 
 superior scholarship, and of eminent qualifications for his 
 great missionary work." 
 
 On the 26th of April, another laborer in the same 
 field was slain — shot by his chaukidar at Peshawar. 
 •' Isidore Lowenthal, a Polish Jew, by birth, but a natur- 
 alized American citizen, had translated the New Testa- 
 ment into Pushtu— -the language of the Affghans, and was 
 eminent in Oriental scholarship. His death too is a great 
 loss to us." 
 
 Mr. Lowenthal was a graduate of Lafayette College, 
 and of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, where he 
 left a reputation for extraordinary oriental learning. His 
 object in making those attainments was to preach the 
 gospel among the heathen of the eastern world. A pious 
 British Officer in the Indian Army, deeply interested in 
 the conversion of the Affghans, offered to the American 
 missionaries of the north-west a sum of money to establish 
 a mission at Peshawar, with an ultimate view to that 
 people, and for the immediate purpose of translating the 
 New Testament into their language, furnished the amount of 
 
170 RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 seven thousand five hundred dollars. No question could 
 be raised as to the propriety of appointing Mr. Lowenthal 
 to that service. He commenced, in company with Dr. 
 Morrison, at Eawal Pindee, in 1855, but two years after- 
 wards, removed to Peshawar. By the middle of April, 
 1864, his work was complete — the New Testament was 
 rendered into Pushtu, and ready to be sent over the dan- 
 gerous border, which no missionary had yet dared to 
 pass. No Presbyterian successor has taken the place, at 
 which Lowenthal fell. 
 
 Before the same year closed, a nearer calamity clouded 
 Dr. Owen's own household. The prudent and affectionate 
 companion of his cares and labors for twenty years was 
 removed from his side by death. Mrs. Owen was a woman 
 of excellent judgment in practical matters, quiet and 
 cheerful in manner, of eminent piety, deeply interested in 
 her husband's work, an ornament to his household, and as 
 he expressed it, "a sweet companion, a stay and support 
 and ^reat comfort to me to the last minute of her life." 
 She died on the 14th of December, 1864. Her social qual- 
 ities had endeared her to the better class of European 
 residents, and her unostentatious, but ever active efforts to 
 do good among them, to the poor Christian natives. A 
 great assemblage of both attended her remains to their 
 last resting place. And although her happy death in 
 Christ removed from friends the bitterness of sorrow, 
 many lamented it as a personal bereavement to themselves. 
 
 During his wife's long illness of more than two months, 
 much of Dr. Owen's work stood still, and after her death^ 
 his friends, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Lang, then residing at 
 Simla, urged him to withdraw from the station for a time, 
 and seek recuperation for his own depressed health, in a 
 visit to themselves among the hills. Others suggested a 
 
RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 171 
 
 visit to England or his native countrv. But when his 
 thoughts could be collected again about his work, he felt 
 too much the importance of what needed to be done, to 
 take anv time from it : and moreover, the season he 
 thought unsuitable. Postponing his trip to the hills until 
 the hot weather, he at once j^lunged into the round of 
 daily missionary duties, and the enterprises bj which he 
 hoped to extend the influence of the gospel beyond the 
 sound of his own voice. He had already made some pro- 
 gress in a second revision of the Hindi Bible, and in 
 bringing out an explanation of Isaiah for the purpose of 
 instructing the native Christians in the gospel argument 
 from Prophecy. He also found much comfort in the daily 
 exercises of the week of prayer, which followed soon upon 
 his bereavement. Three months later he writes, " It seems 
 an age since I saw her, so long has each day appeared 
 since her departure. It has been mercifully ordered that 
 I have so much work to fully occupy my time and 
 thoughts. I would like much to go home at once, but have 
 work in hand, which I cannot leave. If spared in health, 
 I hope to have all so settled as to be able to leave in about 
 two years, to go home for some two years, and then return 
 for the rest of my days." 
 
 His home was now lonely and desolate. He removed 
 to rooms in the Printing house, where he lived with Mr. 
 Wilson, now his colleague, and devoted himself with un- 
 remitting assiduity to his tasks. But as the succeeding 
 spring advanced, the necessity of that relaxation, so often 
 contemplated and so often postponed, began to be apparent 
 to himself as well as others. In accordance with the 
 urgent advice of friends, a trip was undertaken to the 
 mountains, which eventually extended into regions seldom 
 visited by Europeans. 
 
172 A TRIP TO SIMLA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A TRIP TO SIMLA. 
 
 •• Walks over high mountains and rugged cliffs, and 
 through regions of cold and snow, during the month of 
 June, when the plains of India are in a blaze, have given 
 health and vigor beyond what I have enjoyed for years 
 past. 
 
 " On the 24th of April, 1865, when the heat had already 
 become terrific, I left Allahabad for Simla, with a view of 
 accompanying friends as far as Chini and Pangi in upper 
 Kanawar, fifteen marches from Simla. The journey ulti- 
 mately extended as far as Shipki, the frontier town of 
 Chinese Thibet, eight marches beyond Pangi. 
 
 " Thp first sight of the Himalaya slightly disappointed 
 me, as I expected to see them rising more abruptly from 
 the plains, whereas the spurs about Kalka seemed not 
 higher than such spurs of the Vindhyas as touch the 
 district of Allahabad. With as little delay as possible, 
 I prepared for the ascent, and having made all needed 
 arrangements, took my seat in that strange conveyance 
 called the jampan, a kind of chair carried on men's 
 shoulders, peculiar to the hills. Taking a narrow path, 
 about six feet wide, which winds about the mountain sides, 
 as we ascended, lovely views opened in every direction. 
 I was not prepared to see such beautiful verdure on the 
 hill sides. This prevails all through the lower Himalaya, 
 but in the upper Himalaya, near and above Chini, the 
 appearance is quite different. The terrace cultivation seen 
 on our way up, in some places rising by regular steps from 
 
A TRIP TO SIMLA. 173 
 
 the bottom of deep valleys up the sides, nearly to the top, 
 is very picturesque; and almost equally so are the path- 
 ways made by the cattle around the sides of the hills when 
 grazing, rising above each other like steps. By and by 
 we came into the midst of wildflowers, when the air was 
 filled with fragrance. The oppressive heat of the plains 
 was left behind, and I got out and walked a few miles, 
 with a new delight. The house of my friends was ap- 
 proached by a steep path down the side of a mountain, 
 where I at once found myself in a pleasant home, in a 
 grove of oak, cedar and rhododendron, with lovely views 
 of the snowy range, from the verandah, and in air of 
 delicious coolness, where a blanket, instead of a punka, 
 was necessary at night, and where broadcloth, instead of 
 the white summercloth, was requisite for comfort during 
 the day. It was pleasant to see snow again, even at a 
 distance, after an interval of a quarter of a century. The 
 walks about Simla, at almost every turn, furnished some 
 new and interesting views in different directions. The sun, 
 from the rarefied atmosphere, at an elevation of 7,000 feet, 
 had still great power, althous^h it was delightfully cool in 
 the shade. 
 
 " Simla is not a favorable place for a missionary station. 
 The native population, attracted here to make as much out 
 of the European population as possible, is not a promising 
 one to work upon. And the missionary's great personal 
 danger would be that of becoming lost in the vortex of 
 European society. I found, among old friends and a few 
 new ones, a pleasant group of God's dear people, with 
 whom in the prayer-meetins^ and the social circle, I enjoyed 
 edifying intercourse. I preached a few times among the 
 natives, but spent most of my time in a course of reading I 
 
174 IN THE HIMALAYA. 
 
 had marked out for my holiday. In this way, diversified by 
 long pleasant walks and excursions among lovely scenery, 
 the time rapidly passed away until the date of our depart- 
 ure into the interior of the Himalaya." 
 
 In the succeeding j)art of his tour, Dr. Owen and his 
 companions pursued, in general, the course of the Sutlej, 
 which traverses circuitously the whole breadth of the 
 mountain band, winding round, or cutting through suc- 
 cessive ridges, and descending from its sources in Thibet 
 to the plains of India, about ten thousand feet. In many 
 places its channel is confined to a deep and narrow gorge, 
 compelling the traveler to seek his way by mountain passes, 
 in some cases of great elevation and difficulty. 
 
 On the 15th of June the party crossed another range 
 of the Himalaya, by the Runung Pass, 14,354 feet high, 
 from which another commanding view was obtained of the. 
 multitude of summits among which they were travelling. 
 Their lodging place for the night was Sungnum more than 
 3000 feet below. So far on the way. Dr. Owen had preached 
 to the people of the villages in Hindi, and found himself 
 understood ; but in Sungnum that language was known by 
 very few. Next day they had not proceeded far beyond 
 Sungnum, when they met Mr. Pagell, a Moravian mission- 
 ary, whose station was at Spoe, a place several miles 
 further on. Mr. Pagell was astonished to see Europeans 
 so far into the heart of the mountains, but greatly pleased 
 to see a brother missionary. He was then going to the 
 forests for building material, but invited them, on their 
 arrival at Spoe, to pitch their tents on his ground. Next 
 morning he joined them at breakfast. They now learned 
 from him that he had opposition to encounter at Spoe, and 
 that a deputation had been sent to the Eaja of Bussahir, 
 
IN THE HIMALAYA. 175 
 
 through the commissioner at Simla, to effect his removal. 
 That morning he had received the good news that the 
 Raja was his friend, in a letter to his address the Raja in- 
 formed him that he had the delegates flogged, and another 
 party, called the Wazir, reprimanded. 
 
 The travelling party accepted Mr. Pagell's invitation 
 and pitched their tents on his ground. He had in fact no 
 better accommodation for himself, having bought two fields 
 from the Raja of Bussahir, he thereon set up his tent for 
 himself with his wife and child, until he could erect a house, 
 which he should have to build with his own hands. 
 The advantages of the site chosen were that it was out of 
 the way of rocks that often come rolling down from the 
 mountains, out of the way of avalanches, and well supplied 
 with snow water. There men, women and children all 
 spoke the Thibetan language, and there the solitary mis- 
 sionary intended to establish Thibetan vernacular schools. 
 Of this Moravian station in the heart of the Himalaya Dr. 
 Owen writes: "We spent a Sarbbath, the 18th of June, in 
 Spoe, where I heard Mr. Pagell discourse to twenty-two 
 people, near his tent, in the Thibetan language. The 
 audience was quite different from any I had ever seen, 
 some with Chinese, the rest with Tartar features. Spoe is 
 the door to Thibet, and here, nominally under protection 
 of the Raja of Bussahir, but virtually under the British 
 protection, I trust the Moravian Brethren, will in time, 
 find an open door into that region and nation. Mr. Pagell 
 here, like his brethren in Lahaul, is, four months of the 
 year, quite shut in by snow from the outer world. He is 
 alone with his wife and child, two hundred miles away 
 from any of his brethren." 
 
 The journey and residence in the Himalaya, de- 
 signed to be limited to a month, were prolonged through 
 
176 
 
 IN THE HIMALAYA. 
 
 the hot season and far into the succeeding. Dr. Owen did 
 not see Allahabad again until the middle of December. 
 With mind and body greatly refreshed, he returned to the 
 full routine of duty. 
 
 Next three years were years of almost uninterrupted 
 toil. Then, in the midst of frequent preaching in English 
 and the native languages, in the church, in the bazars, in 
 the school, and at the Melas, with much daily routine 
 work, which eats into a man's time and energies indescrib- 
 ably, and occasional periods of discouraging despondency, 
 his second edition and revision of the Old Testament 
 Bible in Hindi, and his exposition of Isaiah, for Hindu- 
 stani readers, were completed. 
 
 While thus laboring under a sense of desolateness, he 
 formed the acquaintance of one who was to become a new 
 Hght to his household, the affectionate and helpful com- 
 panion of his later years. On the 16th of April, 1867, he 
 was married to Miss Mary Jane Bell, daughter of Dr. D. 
 C. Bell, of the Bombay Medical service, but after her 
 father's death a resident in the family of Mr. Court, at 
 Allahabad. 
 
 " Soon after the revision of the New Testament, a 
 Committee, consisting of Messrs. Schneider, Leupoldt, Ken- 
 nedy, and Owen, was appointed to revise the Old Testament. 
 This edition of two volumes, under the superintendence of 
 Dr. Owen, was brought out at the Allahabad Mission Press 
 in 1852 and 1855. The edition was destroyed in the Mutiny; 
 and now another edition and revision have been completed, 
 under the superintendence of the former editor : of this 
 the first volume was issued in 1866, and the second in the 
 beginning of 1869."' 
 
 1) British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 
LATER WORK. 177 
 
 Meanwhile the fellow-laborers of his earlier years at 
 Allahabad, and other stations of the lower mission had all 
 disappeared from the field. Some had returned home, 
 and some had gone to their final rest. Of those who had 
 been his companions in College, Freeman and Janvier had 
 met with violent death. His friends among the civil resi- 
 dents and military officers were also diminished in num- 
 ber, and their places supplied by strangers. The very 
 changes which were improvement upon the city and 
 neighborhood, went to remove some features of the place 
 which had taken hold of his affections. In the midst of 
 his work, when for an hour he occasionally sought relaxa- 
 tion in society, the absence of old friends impressed him 
 sadly. 
 
178 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 The last proof sheet of Dr. Owen's revision of the Hindi 
 Old Testament was returned to the printer on the 22nd of 
 January, 1869, and that of the commentary on Isaiah, on 
 the fifth of February following. On the 9th of the same 
 month, at the end of eight and twenty years from his 
 arrival in India, he left Allahabad on the long projected 
 visit to his native country. It was his purpose to visit on 
 the way Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Italy, France, G-ermany 
 and the British Isles ; to spend two years upon the jour- 
 ney and in the United States, and then to return and de- 
 vote the rest of his days to India. The evangelization of 
 India was ever uppermost in his mind, first and last of all 
 earthly things. 
 
 When it was known in Allahabad that Dr. Owen had 
 fully decided upon a visit to Europe and America, various 
 testimonials to his industry, learning, missionary zeal and 
 social virtues were given by different classes of the resi- 
 dents and native Christians. The session of the Scottish 
 Presbyterian church for British Residents in Allahabad, 
 very warmly expressed their obligations to him for assis- 
 tance rendered both in word and deed. And the North 
 India Bible Society recognized the value of his Bible work 
 by resolutions of thanks and by contributing towards the 
 expenses of his contemplated journey. 
 
WORK COMPLETED. 179 
 
 With profound gratitude to God did Dr. Owen con- 
 template the completion of labors, which had so lonjj^ 
 occupied his time and thoughts. And now with a sense 
 of freedom, as having one week's work done, he turned 
 his face buoyantly towards his native land, for day of rest. 
 The railway to Bombay was in operation to a great length, 
 at both ends, but not yet complete. From Jubulj^ore to 
 Nagpore the connection was made by horse dah. At the 
 latter place, Dr. and Mrs. Owen spent a pleasant dav in 
 visiting the schools of the Free Church of Scotland Mis- 
 sion. Next day they proceeded by train to Poona, where 
 they spent the Sabbath, and where Dr. Owen preached in 
 the Scottish Church. 
 
 '' And now, I am on my way home. What changes 
 there smce I left. No mother, no brothers, no sisters. 
 My native country has become to me a strange land. In 
 looking back upon my career, I feel ashamed of much — 
 very much. I love the missionary work, but alas, how 
 little have I done. ' To Thee belongeth mercy, but to me 
 confusion of face.'" 
 
 At Bombay they were entertained at the house of Dr. 
 Wilson, where they met Narayan Sheshadri, and other 
 learned Hindus. After visiting the caves and temples of 
 Elephanta, and other objects of curiosity in and about 
 that great Indo-Anglican city, they embarked on the 
 steamer for Suez. On the fifth of March they came to 
 anchor in the harbor of Aden. 
 
 The contemplated visit to Egypt, Palestine and G-reece 
 was leisurely accomplished, and recorded. The rest of the 
 journey was now pursued with little delay, by way of 
 Cyprus and Rhodes to Smyrna, thence, after a hasty visit 
 to Athens, continued to Constantinople. His journal 
 
180 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 abounds with reminiscences of classical reading, and notes 
 of missionary enterprise. After a brief stay with the mis- 
 sionaries at Constantinople, he went by the Black Sea to 
 Varna, and up the Danube to Vienna, where he was joined 
 by his son, who had for some time been pursuing his 
 studies in Germany. The little party now fell into the 
 coDimon routes of travel, by Trieste, Venice, Northern 
 Italy, Switzerland, and the Ehine, and after a short resi- 
 dence at Bonn, to Scotland. On the 20th of July they 
 arrived in Edinburgh, intending to spend the autumn and 
 winter among friends in that city. Next summer they 
 would all go to the United States, and in the end of that 
 year return to India. 
 
 In the society of a widening circle of learned and pious 
 people, the succeeding autumn and winter passed by, not 
 without profit, spiritual and intellectual. Nor did the 
 zealous missionary fail to avail himself of occasions, by 
 public addresses and otherwise, to quicken a Christian 
 interest in the work of sending the gospel to the heathen. 
 About the beginning of April following, with Mrs. 
 Owen, he went into England, and spent a few weeks at Har- 
 row, and in the vicinity, among friends, the family of Mr. 
 Lang, and others, with whom he had been pleasantly asso^ 
 elated many years before in India. With all the interest 
 of a copious reader of English historical literature, he 
 visited London, Windsor, Eton, and the Universities of 
 Cambridge and Oxford, in the latter making among other 
 highly esteemed acquaintances, that of Prof. Max Miiller. 
 In May he was again in Edinburgh, in time to attend the 
 sessions of the G-eneral Assemblies, before one of which, 
 that of the Free Church, he delivered an address on the 
 subject ever dearest to his heart. 
 
WORK COMPLETED, 181 
 
 On the evening of July 17th, he wrote, "At this quiet 
 hour, at the close of a peaceful day during which a happv 
 Sabbath calm has prevailed, it is difficult to realize that on 
 the other side of the channel two powerful nations are 
 rushing to war." Mrs. Owen had been absent for a short 
 time in G-ermany. In view of the declaration of war, 
 although her safety was in no danger, there was cause for 
 anxiety about her being detained. She returned imme- 
 diately. In recording his thanks to Grod for her safe 
 restoration to the British side of the sea, he adds : "It 
 IS not yet a week since the declaration of war, though it 
 seems more like a month, so many events have been 
 crowded into this short period. The Emperor chose the 
 Sabbath for sending his declaration of war to Berlin. On 
 the 19th Prevost Paradol committed suicide in Washing- 
 ton, shooting himself through the heart. This terrible 
 war is bringing ruin to thousands, apart from the suffering 
 and loss of life to tens of thousands, victims of an un- 
 principled man." It was not then publicly known that 
 the motives to the attack on Prussia did not originate 
 with Napoleon, who bore for a time the reproach of pro- 
 voking a disastrous conflict for a ridiculously inadequate 
 cause. 
 
 The visit to the United States was now postponed until 
 the hot weather should be over: and although Dr. Owen 
 was apparently in good health, it was thought that he 
 might lay in a supply of energy, for his contemplated 
 future labors in India, by a residence of a few weeks in 
 the bracing air of the Scottish Highlands. Accordingly the 
 summer was spent in Scotland. On the 6th of September 
 he was at Corriesyke, Lochgoilhead, with his family. 
 
 " We came here on the 3rd of August. Since that date 
 wonderful events have taken place. Watching these from 
 
182 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 day to day has been a matter of absorbing attention. The 
 Emperor's pantomime at Saarbriiek, on the 2nd of August, 
 the terrible battles of Wessenburg and Forbach, on the 
 sixth, in which the armies of MacMahon and Froisard were 
 completely broken and scattered, and those near Metz, &c.» 
 on the fourth, sixteenth, and eighteenth, in which Bazaine 
 was driven back into Metz, and those in the neighborhood 
 of Montmedy and Sedan, last week, on the 29th, 30th, 31st 
 of August, and the 1st of September, in which the army of 
 MacMahon was completely driven back upon Sedan, and 
 surrounded, the surrender of the Emperor on the 2nd, 
 and capitulation of MacMahon' s army. These occurrences 
 and their accompaniments have made the month one of 
 the most eventful in history. In this qniet retreat, at the 
 head of this beautiful loch, they have been studied and 
 thought over, and talked over, sometimes climbing the 
 hills or boating on the loch, or walking, or sitting on its 
 shores. The invigorating fresh air has given new life to 
 us all." 
 
 These words were the last D r. Owen was ever to enter 
 in his journal. A few days later, his health began to 
 decline ; and upon his return to Edinburgh, became 
 gradually worse. This part of the narrative can be best 
 told in the words of one who watched over him with the 
 tender solicitude of appreciating love. 
 
 " Throughout his trying illness he exhibited a patient, 
 unselfish spirit. He felt that his end might be near. But 
 the thought gave no alarm, though it occasioned deep 
 solemnity of spirit, and increased pray erf ulness. He had 
 long walked with G-od, had devoted his life to His service, 
 and was ready, his lamp lit and his loins girt, waiting for 
 his Lord. Though ready to depart, yet he had for many 
 
WORK COMPLETED. 183 
 
 days prayed for recovery, and said to me, 'I shall be 
 thankful if Grod spares me to work a little longer in his 
 vineyard, and to be with you. But perhaps He has done 
 with me for this world.' At another time, when speaking 
 of his mission work, he said, ' If I had to choose over again 
 now, I should choose as I have done.' Again, with calm 
 delight, he would say, as he lay with uplifted eyes, 'Absent 
 from the body^ — -present with the Lord — Forever — ^with — 
 the Lord,' pausing on each word. 'How delightful it will 
 be to he forever with the Lord.' 
 
 "On Saturday evening, the 3rd of December, he seemed 
 to be very weak, and had a good deal of pain, and often, 
 during the night, exclaimed, "Come, Lord Jesus, come 
 quickly," and he was much in silent prayer. Still we did 
 not think his end was so near. It was not until about 
 eight o'clock next morning — Sabbath, the 4th December — 
 that the Doctor, on being called to see him, spoke to me 
 the bitter words, " He cannot live through the day," and 
 then I seemed to realize the truth. Harry came, and I 
 took his tenderly loved babe to receive her last kiss. So 
 all his dear ones were around him. God graciously granted 
 that his complaint should cease to trouble him, and he 
 gathered strength to speak to all around him ; and to send 
 loving messages to many in America and India. We were 
 privileged to witness from that time till 4 P. M., when his 
 gentle spirit fled away, the power of the peace-speaking 
 blood of Christ, the Christian's victory over Death, through 
 Christ his risen Saviour. Among those he particularly 
 mentioned on his death bed, were Dr. Moffat, at Princeton, 
 his earliest and dearest friend, and the venerable Dr. 
 Hodge. To the native Christians at Allahabad, he sent 
 the following, "Tell them to be steadfast, unmovable. 
 
184 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 always abounding in the work of the Lord, not seeking 
 merely after worldly advancement, but seeking first the ser- 
 vice of Christ." Words of kindness, love and blessing were 
 spoken to those around him. Whilst full of humility and 
 simple trust in his Savior's merits alone, yet in faith and 
 with joy he could say, "I have fought the good fight, I 
 have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth 
 there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." "We 
 know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were 
 dissolved, we have a building of Grod, a house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens." "Unto me, who am 
 less than the least of all saints, hath this grace been given 
 that I should preach among the G-entiles the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ. But I am a poor wretched creature in 
 myself. Oh, that I had been more faithful." As the bells 
 were ringing for forenoon service, Dr. Candlish came in, 
 and after saying a few words, repeated, "I have fought the 
 good fight," &c. "I thank Gi-od," he exclaimed *with much 
 emphasis. Dr. Candlish's comforting words and his prayer 
 he enjoyed much, and on parting said, "Farewell, dear 
 brother, we may not meet again in the flesh." "No," 
 replied Dr. Candlish, "but it may not be long." 
 
 An hour later, Dr. Duff received the following note. 
 
 Sabbath Morning 10:30. 
 My Dear Dr. Duff :— 
 
 I am sitting beside Dr. Oweu, who is drawing very near his 
 end— in great— in sweetest peace. He wants much to see you 
 before his departure, if it is at all within your power, and the 
 sooner the better. For our beloved friend will not be long on 
 this side Jordan. I hope you will be able to come at once. 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 Robert S. Candlish. 
 
WORK COMPLETED. 185 
 
 No time was lost in respondinpf to that invitation. Dr. 
 Duff subsequently wrote as follows : '* I found our dear 
 friend very weak, but in perfect consciousness. He warmly 
 grasped my hand, saying how glad he was I had come, 
 saying it was kind, &c. Blessed words of Scripture he 
 responded to. Every now and then he said "Jesus, 
 blessed Jesus " — almost in a gentle rapture. After pray- 
 ing with him, he fell into a tranquil slumber. So I left 
 for my work, rejoicing at the grace of G-od. I afterwards 
 learned that our beloved friend gently fell asleep in Jesus, 
 at 4 o'clock." 
 
 "I fear," says one who knew Dr. Owen well, "that it 
 will be impossible to have a faithful record of his unob- 
 trusive, though useful and laborious life, and of his manly, 
 his sweet simplicity of character, and his childlike trust 
 in his Grod and Savior, his eye single to the glory of G-od, 
 and advancement of his Kingdom. All praise be to God's 
 grace in him." 
 
 When the news of Dr. Owen's death reached Allaha- 
 bad, the Eev. J. Williamson, Chaplain of the Scottish 
 Established Church in that city, preached a sermon before 
 his congregation from 2 Tim. iv. 7, "I have fought the 
 good fight, &c.," from which 1 am permitted to make the 
 following quotation. 
 
 ** Since last I preached in this pulpit, there has come 
 to us the intelligence that one who regularly worshipped in 
 this church, who frequently dispensed to you the bread of 
 life, has been taken from us, regarding whom I can with 
 perfect confidence say, that through God's grace, he could 
 give this testimony, "I have fought the good fight." I 
 refer to our friend Dr. Owen. For 28 years, without once 
 leaving this country, he had borne the burden and heat of 
 
186 
 
 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 the day. And much useful, permanent work had our 
 friend crowded into that period. He arrived in this 
 country with a high reputation for solid scholarship, and 
 genuine piety, which his subsequent career fully justified. 
 From his first landing in India he threw himself heartily 
 into mission work. He acquired soon a thorough and 
 accurate knowledge of the vernaculars. Whatsoever his 
 hand found to do in mission work, that he did with all his 
 might. We find him for some time superintending the 
 large Jumna school, which he raised to the highest state 
 of efficiency ; and there are now native Christian ministers, 
 and catechists who testify the deep obligations under which 
 Dr. Owen laid them when his pupils, bj giving them a 
 good solid, high class education, fitting them for being 
 workmen that need not be ashamed in the field of labor 
 in which they have been called to work, He willingly 
 responded to the request of the North India Bible Society's 
 Committee to assist in bringing out a new edition of the 
 Hindi Old Testament ; a work which was accomplished to 
 the entire satisfaction of the Christian public in Northern 
 India. We find him, after the mutiny of 1857, acting as 
 secretary of the North India Bible and Tract Societies, 
 making every exertion to enlist the sympathies of the 
 Christians in these provinces in the important work of 
 replacing the large stock of Scriptures and religious books 
 that had then been destroyed. Later still, when another 
 edition of the Hindi Old Testament was required, all eyes 
 were turned towards him, as the missionary best qualified 
 to bring out the work, — a work which he had just com- 
 pleted when he left for England. 
 
 "Again his ripe scholarship, and acoustic knowledge of 
 Urdii was brought into requisition to bring out exhaustive 
 
WORK COMPLETED. 187 
 
 commentaries in Urdii on the Psalms and Isaiah, which are 
 an immense boon to the native Christian church. No more 
 will the living voice of our dear friend be heard by the 
 natives of this country, on whose behalf he was willing to 
 spend and be spent ; but through his Hindi Old Testa- 
 ment, and commentaries, he being dead yet speaketh, in 
 exhorting the heathen to turn from dumb idols to serve 
 the living God : the Mohammedans to believe in Jesus, as 
 the only true prophet, who can reveal the will of God for 
 their salvation, and in building up the native Christians 
 in faith and holiness. 
 
 '* You know what a warm interest Dr Owen took in 
 everything that concerned our English congregation. 
 When I first came to Allahabad, he cheerfully handed 
 over to me the care of the church ; and as an office bearer, 
 was always ready to strengthen my hands, and encourage 
 my heart in the work to which our Heavenly Father had 
 here called me. He frequently preached to you, and his 
 great theme was "Christ crucified." He was never absent 
 from his pew on Sabbath, except when calls of necessity 
 and mercy prevented him from worshipping with us, and 
 as our communion season came round, and he gave into 
 our hands the elements representing Christ's broken body 
 and shed blood, we all felt that he who then bore the 
 vessels of the sanctuary, was a true son of Aaron, — a 
 priest of the living God. You know that it was owing to 
 him that our prayer meeting was started in 1858, — that 
 meeting which perhaps more than any other means of 
 grace has fostered the spiritual life of our cong-regation. 
 Not long before he left us, in order to connect you more 
 directly as a congregation with some definite missionary 
 work, he established the mission school in our Kutra 
 
188 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 church, which was to be supj^orted by you. And the need 
 for this school is shown by the fact that it is attended by 
 about 150 boys, who there receive a good plain religious 
 education. 
 
 '* As a member of our community, Dr. Owen was uni- 
 versally respected and beloved, and while scoffers would 
 point to the inconsistent conduct of this and that profes- 
 sor of religion, there was never breathed a whisper of de- 
 traction against him." " It was a privilege for us to have 
 in our midst one whose acted motto was, ' For me to live 
 is Christ.' He has left us an example that we should fol- 
 low his sieps. Let us all seek for grace to use faithfully 
 the talents entrusted to us. So that when our race is run, 
 our warfare is ended, we can take up these grand words of 
 the apostle, ' I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
 my course, I have kept the faith.' " 
 
 Although the coincidence is not strange that the same 
 passage of Scripture occurred to Dr. Candlish upon his 
 last visit to the death bed of his friend, and to Dr. 
 Duff three hours later, and was chosen by Mr. William- 
 son for the memorial sermon in India, it certainly testifies 
 to a common impression that Dr. Owen's missionary life 
 had been faithful, laborious and efficient. 
 
 To his large christian charity, ever ready to embrace 
 true followers of the Lord under any name, many testi- 
 monies might be quoted. 
 
 The Eev. G-eorge Smith, Editor of the *' Frie7id of 
 India,'* writes of him as "an ornament to our common 
 Presbyterianism, while so catholic as to belong to the 
 whole church." 
 
 And the Eev. Theodore S. Wynkoop, a missionary for 
 several years at the station with which Dr. Owen was so 
 
WORK COMPLETED. 189 
 
 long connected, in a letter to the ''Presbyterian," writes 
 as follows. 
 
 " When I tirst arrived in Allahabad, in January, 1869, 
 Dr. Owen was completing his preparations for leaving 
 India for a time. He was looking fresh and strong, with 
 every appearance of perfect health — although, as appeared 
 after his death, the disease, which developed into abscess 
 of the liver, had already come upon him. He was a man 
 of fine personal appearance ; and none who knew him will 
 soon forget the grace and dignity of his bearing, the 
 sweetness and courtesy of his manner. It was with regret 
 that we parted with him, for what we hoped would be but 
 an absence of a year or two." 
 
 " Throughout all his missionary life Dr. Owen took a 
 deep interest in the education of young men. He taught 
 in the mission schools, be gathered young men about him, 
 and did all that was in his power for their intellectual and 
 moral improvement ; and there are many now, both among 
 our native Christians, and those who have not professed 
 the faith, who owe their training and j^osition, under God, 
 to him." *' He was especially interested in the native 
 church, and ever sought its welfare. A man of marked 
 scholarly tastes and accomplishments, he became unusually 
 well versed in the languages of Hindustan, as well as in 
 the G-reek and particularly the Hebrew. He was thus 
 fitted for that most useful and ennobhng of all uninspired 
 tasks — the translation of the Word of God. He was 
 largely concerned, some years ago, in the revision of the 
 first translation of the Hindi Bible ; and at the time of 
 his leaving India had just carried through the press a still 
 further revision of the Old Testament in Hindi, which was 
 entrusted to him alone. This work gave great satisfaction 
 
190 WORK COMPLETED. 
 
 to the Committee of the North India Bible Society. I was 
 present at a meeting of that committee in January, 1869, 
 at which a purse of five hundred rupees was presented to 
 him by them as a token of their appreciation of his services. 
 This was entirely unexpected to Dr. Owen, and was re- 
 ceived by him with much emotion. The amount was suffi- 
 cient to enable him on his homeward route to visit Jeru- 
 salem and the Holy Land, a visit which fulfilled the desires 
 of many years and gave him keen delight. 
 
 " Dr. Owen's translation of the Book of Psalms into 
 the Hindustani language is regarded as a very able and 
 useful work. He also published, besides smaller writings, 
 a Treatise on Theology in the Hindustani, which is used as 
 a text-book for all our students of theology, as are also his 
 Commentaries on the Book of Psalms and the Prophecies 
 of Isaiah. To these, he devoted much time and labor, and 
 they will remain as standard volumes in the Christian lit- 
 erature of India." 
 
 The character of Dr. Owen has been delineated in his 
 work. Its principal feature, from youth to age, was single- 
 hearted consecration to the Lord in the preaching of His 
 G-ospel to the Heathen. 
 
DATE DUE i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTEOINU.S.A