THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY
 
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 THE 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 GEORGE ALFRED (LEFROY 
 
 D.D., BISHOP OF CALCUTTA, AND METROPOLITAN 
 
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 THE 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 GEORGE ALFRED (LEFROY 
 
 D.D., BISHOP OF CALCUTTA, AND METROPOLITAN 
 
 BY 
 
 H. H. MONTGOMERY, D.D., D.C.L. 
 
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 TO 
 
 HIS MOTHER 
 
 AS HE WOULD HAVE WISHED
 
 PREFACE 
 
 WHEN the relatives of the late Bishop of Calcutta approached 
 me with a request that I would write his "Life," it was 
 impossible to refuse. He had been a warm friend of many 
 years. I had just been freed from the S.P.G., and was 
 myself born in India, with a family name not unknown in 
 the Punjab. Moreover, I had spent six weeks in Delhi in 1913. 
 
 If the charm of a Biography depends in great part upon 
 letters, then this volume ought to find a welcome ; and no 
 biographer can have been more highly favoured than I have 
 been by the wealth of the bright, hopeful, thoughtful corre- 
 spondence placed at my disposal by the family. For thirty- 
 nine years this devoted son and brother wrote almost weekly 
 to one or other of the home circle. All these letters have 
 been preserved and are in truth an unconscious autobiography 
 of utmost value. My difficulty has consisted in choosing 
 among them. No son or brother, again, could ever have 
 poured out his soul more fully to his own people than did 
 George Lefroy : and at the same time no family has ever 
 been more honourably reticent in regard to these confidences 
 than the brothers and sisters who were privileged to receive 
 such an education, for such indeed it is, in missionary problems. 
 
 To Miss Helena Lefroy I have to give my deepest thanks. 
 She has read all the proofs and has made the index. Though 
 I am solely responsible for all that is published, Miss Lefroy's 
 counsel at every stage has been quite invaluable, and through 
 her I have been in touch with all the other members of 
 the family. In regard to the portraits, we all agreed that 
 the photograph which forms the frontispiece gives the best 
 impression of the man while he was still physically in 
 his prime. The picture of Lefroy as Bishop of Calcutta, a 
 reproduction of which is given, was painted by Mr. Goldsborough 
 Anderson, and is the property of Mr. Edward Lefroy. 
 
 Perhaps the friends who have helped me most for the 
 delineation of character, are the Bishop of Bombay, Bishop 
 Foss Westcott (now the Metropolitan), and Archdeacon
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 Firminger, of Calcutta. To the Bishop of Madras, to many 
 members of the Delhi Mission, chiefly to the Rev. F. J. 
 Western, to the Bishop of Lahore and many members of the 
 Diocese, past and present, as for example the Rev. H. U. W. 
 Stanton, to many clergy and friends in the Diocese of Cal- 
 cutta, especially the Rev. J. Godber, I desire to freely express 
 my gratitude for help given. 
 
 It will be noted also how delightful a contribution has 
 been made by a group of Indian gentlemen, both Christian 
 and Moslem : nor have women missionaries in India failed 
 to add their quota. 
 
 Those who knew Lefroy at school and college have been 
 most helpful : and Mr. H. P. K. Skipton, secretary of the 
 Indian Church Aid Association, most generously placed at my 
 disposal all his material after writing the charming apprecia- 
 tion of one whom he loved and revered. This article is 
 now published separately. My wife and Miss Fletcher gave 
 me invaluable aid in copying letters, and Mr. A. W. Nott 
 has been a constant helper. 
 
 In regard to the book itself, I have always held that 
 biographies are spoilt by lengthiness, and that one volume is 
 several times better than two, except in very exceptional circum- 
 stances. The best praise a book can receive is a wish that 
 it had been longer. The central point of interest for most 
 people will, I have no doubt, be found in the chapters which deal 
 with the work of Lefroy in his relations with the Moslems. 
 These I believe will be of permanent value, and I specially 
 desire to explain that in regard to questions of Mahommedan 
 controversy and criticisms of the tenets of Islam, I have 
 not introduced any new matter. I have only quoted from 
 articles written by Lefroy many years ago, such treatises being 
 still available for purchase. 
 
 With regret I complete my task, wishing that I had 
 accomplished it better. I can truly say that no one will have 
 gained more than I have myself by the study of the life 
 work of so great, so lovable, so bright and hopeful a man of God. 
 
 H. H. MONTGOMERY (Bishop). 
 
 CHISWICK, 
 
 January, 1920.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. HOME AND SCHOOL LIFE i 
 
 II. CAMBRIDGE 9 
 
 III. DELHI 14 
 
 IV. THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 29 
 
 V. RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN MISSION SCHOOLS .... 42 
 
 VI. HEADSHIP OF THE MISSION 51 
 
 VII. LEFROY AND ISLAM 63 
 
 VIII. LEFROY AND ISLAM (continued} 87 
 
 IX. MAHOMMEDANISM, ITS STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS . 97 
 
 X. LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 104 
 
 XI. THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, FROM 1899 TO 1905 ... 128 
 
 XII. HOLIDAYS IN THE HIMALAYAS 140 
 
 XIII. LAHORE: 1905 TO 1912 149 
 
 XIV. PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 158 
 
 XV. THE ATTITUDE OF THE BRITISH RACE IN INDIA TO- 
 WARDS EDUCATED INDIANS 170 
 
 XVI. SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS OF DOCTRINE 
 
 AND DISCIPLINE 195 
 
 XVII. THE CALCUTTA EPISCOPATE 221 
 
 XVIII. THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR . . 232 
 
 XIX. THE LAST MONTHS 250 
 
 INDEX 263
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 PORTRAIT-. BISHOP OF LAHORE Frontispiece 
 
 (From a photograph by Elliot and Fry, Ltd.) 
 
 AGHADERG RECTORY 2 
 
 ST. STEPHEN'S CHURCH, DELHI 20 
 
 CAMBRIDGE BROTHERHOOD, 1904 128 
 
 LAHORE CATHEDRAL 149 
 
 THE BISHOP'S MOTHER 152 
 
 PORTRAIT : BISHOP OF CALCUTTA 221 
 
 (From the painting by Mr. C. Goldsborough Anderson) 
 
 CALCUTTA CATHEDRAL ... 222
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HOME AND SCHOOL LIFE 
 
 THE Lefroys trace their descent from a family which fled from 
 the Netherlands during the Spanish wars. They arrived in 
 England in 1569 and settled first in Canterbury ; afterwards 
 at Ewshott in Hampshire. Then in 1763 one branch of the 
 family is found in Ireland. George Alfred Lefroy's great- 
 grandfather was an officer in the British army, and was 
 quartered in Ireland for many years, and so founded the 
 Irish branch. The grandfather, Thomas Langlois, an 
 eminent Irish lawyer, became Chief Justice of the Queen's 
 Bench, and married the daughter of Sir Robert Paul of 
 Silversprings, County Waterford. Four sons and three 
 daughters were born to them. The third son, Jeffry, was 
 the father of the future Metropolitan of India. He took 
 Holy Orders, and in 1836 became Rector of Aghaderg in the 
 Diocese of Dromore, County Down, and here he remained 
 for fifty years, dying in 1885 in the Rectory where all his 
 family were reared. The Rev. Jeffry Lefroy was the 
 humblest of men, and was genuinely surprised when honours 
 fell to him. In 1876 his Bishop conferred upon him the 
 Deanery of Dromore, some seven miles from Aghaderg ; this, 
 however, did not mean departure from home and parish. 
 Naturally, too, he served on all important Bodies, such as the 
 General Synod of the Church of Ireland, the Representative 
 Church Body, and the chief Diocesan Committees. It will 
 be seen later what his son, the Bishop, owed to his father's 
 
 B
 
 2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 character and influence. In 1844 the Rector of Aghaderg 
 married Helena, eldest daughter of the Rev. Frederick 
 Stewart and Lady Helena Trench of Kilmorony near Athy. 
 Six sons and three daughters were born to them, George 
 Alfred being the fourth son, born August n, 1854. 
 
 No mother ever had a nobler influence on her children 
 than the wife of the Rector of Aghaderg. Two of her 
 children have written a memoir of their mother for private 
 circulation, a beautiful story, and I regret that I can only 
 summarise the account there given of a very gracious person- 
 ality. Mrs. Lefroy, nee Trench, was born in Dublin in 1820, 
 her mother, Lady Helena, being the daughter of the first 
 Lord Arden, an elder brother of Spencer Perceval, who was 
 assassinated in the Lobby of the House of Commons in 1812. 
 
 The Trenches moved to Kilmorony when Helena was 
 fourteen. Here she became not only a first-rate horsewoman, 
 a gardener and a botanist, but was also thoroughly grounded 
 in the classics by her father, and learnt to read and to speak 
 French, German and Italian. Her father, the Rector of Athy, 
 was one of the old-fashioned Evangelical clergy, one of the 
 best of them, deeply versed in Bible and Prayer-book, imbuing 
 his family with a solid personal religion, a splendid founda- 
 tion on which to build wider convictions of the Church and 
 its Sacraments. These last influences were soon felt by the 
 Trench family through Sir William Heathcote, of Hursley 
 Park, the friend and patron of John Keble, the former having 
 married Lady Caroline Perceval, another daughter of Lord 
 Arden. Sir William often visited Kilmorony, and in 1841 
 the Trenches met Dr. Pusey in Ireland, being introduced by 
 John Keble. In 1844 Helena married Mr. Lefroy, and left 
 Kilmorony for the Rectory of Aghaderg. It may be noted 
 that from her earliest days she had felt the true importance 
 of missions and had consistently supported the S.P.G. In 
 1853 she heard George Augustus Selwyn preach, and then 
 and there she dedicated to God, and for the work of the 
 Church abroad, her yet unborn babe, to be baptized in due 
 course George Alfred. 
 
 The Lefroys, and George not least, have always looked 
 back with joy to the summer holidays, annually repeated, 
 the whole family in patriarchal fashion migrated from
 
 AGHADERG RECTORY.
 
 HOME AND SCHOOL LIFE 3 
 
 the Rectory in a body to Newcastle at the foot of the 
 Mourne mountains, then a little fishing village. The cow 
 and the pony, and the cart with the luggage, started in the 
 evening, the family in an old-fashioned carriage began their 
 migration next morning. Once settled in, the whole party 
 engaged in constant excursions into the hills ; they bathed 
 and boated, of course, and it was the mother who rejoiced 
 to arrange all the plans and picnics. Forty years afterwards, 
 George and a brother were in the Orkneys and struck up a 
 friendship with other visitors at the inn, when one of them 
 said, " Are you the Lefroys who used to go off the pier at 
 Newcastle ? " 
 
 In the years that followed, the mother took the greatest 
 pains to keep in touch with her sons, and was an indefatigable 
 letter writer. Her handwriting was beautiful, for she had 
 been brought up to believe that letters should be written 
 with care and accuracy. There is no doubt that her example 
 in this respect moulded George's own habits all through his 
 life, and it may be as well to state here that the future 
 missionary wrote almost weekly throughout his Indian career 
 either to his mother or to one of his sisters ; long and careful 
 letters they almost all are, and clearly written. All these 
 have been preserved, and the biographer's perplexity consists 
 in choosing his material from a mass of wealth almost 
 unprecedented in amount and quality. 
 
 But there is another member of the Aghaderg circle of 
 whom special mention must be made. Happy is the house- 
 hold which has possessed a nurse beloved and honoured, 
 only next in affection to the mother. Among this august 
 band Sarah Anne Curtis must be given a high place ; for 
 forty years she was the nurse of the successive children in 
 their infancy, and the friend of all of them in maturer years. 
 She was evidently possessed of great gifts ; besides this, she 
 was a very godly woman, well versed in Scripture ; also she 
 had an unfailing supply of stories, and was an expert at all 
 games, puzzles, and charades, being at the same time a 
 stern disciplinarian. Perhaps what she was all in all may be 
 summed up in a remark of the mother : " Yes, I always 
 thought there must be some good in me because I was never 
 jealous of Curty."
 
 4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 In 1885 Dean Lefroy died : Mrs. Lefroy lived on for her 
 children, believing in the wisdom of the old saying, " It is not 
 so important to do extraordinary things as to do common 
 things extraordinarily well." Another trait in her character 
 deserves attention : " There was never in her a trace of that 
 hurry and rush which is more common than attractive in the 
 lives of many self-denying people. No one ever saw her 
 fussed, or what is called ' put out.' It was the result not of 
 carelessness or easy-goingness but of an intensely, but un- 
 obtrusively, methodical, disciplined, and thorough life, a calm, 
 strong and happy temperament." There can be no doubt 
 that her son George did not fail to recognise the beauty of 
 this lesson from his mother's character. The day came when 
 as Bishop of Lahore it was his duty at Bannu to preach at 
 a service attended by the present King and Queen. He 
 took as his text the words " Fret not." The Princess, as she 
 then was, asked the Bishop for a copy of his sermon, and I 
 am deeply indebted to her Majesty for giving me permission 
 to use her copy in order to give many others the benefit of 
 the lesson so well inculcated by the Bishop. The sermon will 
 be found on pp. 152 et seq, given almost in full. Mrs. Lefroy 
 had another gift She read beautifully, and her sons and 
 daughters tell of the delight with which they listened to 
 Scott's novels, and to many of Miss Yonge's works especially 
 the " Heir of Redclyffe " read to them of evenings. 
 
 After the death of the Rector of Aghaderg the family 
 moved to Killiney, County Dublin, the mother giving as the 
 reason for her choice that her sons were in England ; no, she 
 would not go to England. " I shall stay in Ireland, but I shall 
 settle as near England as I can, so that whenever my sons 
 want to come to me they can do so as easily as possible." 
 Killiney church was a long mile off, but up to the time when 
 Mrs. Lefroy was eighty years of age she walked to church 
 and back again Sunday after Sunday. Of course it was an 
 immense joy to the mother when her son George, whom she 
 had dedicated to God when yet unborn, was consecrated 
 Bishop of Lahore in 1899. The Bishop came home in 1908, 
 visiting Palestine on his way, in order to attend the Pan 
 Anglican Congress and the Lambeth Conference, and was in 
 time to see his mother once more. She passed away in that
 
 HOME AND SCHOOL LIFE 5 
 
 year in her eighty-eighth year. They tell how she repeated the 
 2/th Psalm perfectly and accurately as was her wont, almost 
 as her last words. Characteristically, too, when asked how 
 she felt, she answered, " Oh ! failing, failing, failing ; but oh ! 
 how I wish that matters would hurry up a little." She was 
 buried beside her husband at Loughbrickland, and great 
 was the gathering at the funeral ; all classes and religious 
 denominations were present. A dozen times the bearers 
 were changed, so eager were as many as possible to help to 
 carry " the mistress " to her last resting-place. 
 
 The history of one to whom the subject of this memoir 
 owed so much is the best possible background for all that is 
 to follow. Let the Bishop speak for himself. In a sermon 
 preached at Simla on " Womanhood " he said, " Think of the 
 mother's influence and of how she herself not what she says, 
 not what she does, but above all what she is is impressed 
 upon the life of her child, and moulds it and shapes it in a 
 thousand ways which we can never trace, of which mother and 
 child may alike be wholly unconscious, but which are as 
 certain as the influence on us of any other of the natural 
 surroundings and circumstances amid which the young plastic 
 life develops and is formed. Nor is it restricted to the time 
 of infancy or childhood only, though even if it were the 
 impress so made, the seed so sown must necessarily be of the 
 greatest possible potency in the development of the whole 
 life. I stand before you myself, as one, and I doubt not 
 there are other men in the congregation who could say the 
 same, to whom the mother is still the guiding power of my 
 life. I turn to her still, not only for counsel in difficulties, 
 though that too, but also which is of infinitely more import- 
 ance, for that sense of restfulness and calm and quiet, for the 
 inspiration of all things pure and true and beautiful and good, 
 and for the sense of God's presence coming very close to 
 human life, which are surely amongst the most strengthening 
 and helpful influences which can enter into the life of any of 
 us. I owe more to my mother than to any other human 
 influence of which I am conscious." A noble tribute from a 
 son to a mother. 
 
 George must early have imbibed influences from his mother 
 since it is related of him that even before he could speak
 
 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 plainly, if asked what he intended to be, he used to lisp " I 
 want to be a Missionary in New Zealand." But we pass on 
 to schooldays. 
 
 At ten years of age he was sent with an elder brother to 
 Temple Grove near Mortlake, a famous school, occupying the 
 house of Sir William Temple, ambassador in Holland in the 
 reign of William III., and where Swift was Secretary and 
 where also it is said he first met Stella. George only spent 
 one year there, and in 1865 he went to Marlborough, where he 
 remained for nine years. Starting at the bottom of the school 
 he worked his way up to the top. Strong in body he suc- 
 ceeded in winning the school mile after several efforts ; but 
 his happiest memories were connected with many a ramble in 
 Savernake Forest, where he gained a love for wild life which 
 led him in after years to seek his recreation as often as possible 
 in the higher Himalayas ; letters in due time will reveal his 
 joy in expeditions at altitudes up to 15,000 feet and within 
 view of mighty peaks. 
 
 Memories of George's school life as given by school fellows 
 and masters are all delightful, and the following lines seem to 
 reveal the man as we knew him up to the end. 
 The Rev. G. H. Purdue writes : 
 
 "I was at Marlborough with him in 1869-73 and for the 
 last two or three years he was one of my chief friends. He 
 was a splendid type of a public-school boy, a first class mile- 
 runner winning the mile his last year as a ' dark horse ' owing 
 to his splendid stamina and pluck but above all things high- 
 principled and not ashamed to show his colours when neces- 
 sary, always cheery and good tempered. It would be difficult 
 to find a finer character in the rough and tumble of public- 
 school life in those days. One incident respecting him I 
 always recall with gratitude. Knowing that I like himself 
 was hoping to be ordained, he suggested that we should meet 
 in his study and read Greek Testament together. This we 
 did on several occasions. It was one of the most precious 
 memories of my friendship with him. No wonder that a boy 
 of his age who could, with so many claims on his time, so 
 propose a plan for his friend's benefit, should have lived to 
 become the much loved and honoured helper and friend of so 
 many souls." 
 
 " Lefroy had a charming disposition which disarmed
 
 opposition and won him friends among all classes. I remember 
 on one occasion how he took me to the house of a farmer who 
 lived near Marlborough. Farmers and College boys were not 
 always the best of friends, but in this instance we were gene- 
 rously entertained to walnuts and wine. It appeared that 
 previously to this the farmer had caught Lefroy trespassing 
 on his ground. Lefroy explained that he had done no harm 
 and would do no harm. Thus a friendship commenced and 
 peace reigned in the place of war." 
 
 From the Rev. W. H. Churchill (1880) to Mrs. Lefroy: 
 
 " Frank sent me George's letter to read which I am now 
 returning. I am so glad to see he is cheery and well, but I 
 doubt if it is possible for him to be otherwise. I have known 
 him for 14 years now : we went to Marlborough together as 
 small bairns, and I never knew him say or do anything 
 that would have brought a blush to your cheek. In after life 
 it was just the same. At our ordination we saw a great deal 
 of each other, and there he was, a man of such disinterested 
 holiness, together with such winning, tolerant, unselfish ways, 
 that it made one hang down one's head and sigh to be a little 
 more like him. You who know him will know that this is not 
 extravagance, but merely the truth. It is honour enough to 
 have such a friend : what joy it must be to have such a son." 
 
 " Thank you so much for letting me see George's letter. I 
 have just packed off one to him, 15 pages of sermon sheets, 
 giving an account of Trinity Sunday at Ely. Many a time my 
 thoughts wandered back a year and visions of George, on his 
 knees, alone with me, made me wish, not a little, that he too 
 were there. He is one of those men whose very presence 
 drives sin away. Good-bye." 
 
 From the Rev. C. W. Bourne (his house master) : 
 
 " The impression that Lefroy's character made on me was 
 of ' straightness ' and ' alertness.' He was one of those persons 
 whom one always took for granted : that he would under all 
 circumstances do the right thing in the right way seemed to be 
 a matter of course. Such a character goes on its way, sweeten- 
 ing all its surroundings, but so unostentatiously that one does 
 not realise at first how much good such a person is doing. I 
 have tried to recall some of those who were boys with him in 
 the same house at Marlborough. I fancy I am correct in 
 naming the following : R. E. Prothero (now Lord Ernie) ; 
 H. Vassall, the famous Oxford footballer, and his cousin 
 R. L. S. Vassall, who died while serving in one of our frontier
 
 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 campaigns in India ; C. L. M. Des Gray, the diplomatist ; A. P. 
 Codd, the most brilliant mathematician I ever taught ; R. G. 
 Kekewich, the defender of Kimberley, and his cousin, H. L. 
 Lopes ; J. B. Kite, Dean of Hobart ; G. W. Grey, at that time 
 a Queen's Page ; G. Mackintosh and W. L. Mackintosh, two 
 brothers who have done great things, one in the service of the 
 Army, and the other of the Church ; K. W. Murray, the 
 Genealogist ; R.W. Doyne,the well-known ophthalmic surgeon ; 
 and two notable trios of brothers, Sieveking and Pickard- 
 Cambridge. I kept in touch with Lefroy till he went out to 
 India, but after that time ill-luck always prevented my seeing 
 anything of him in his visits to England."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 IN 1874, George Lefroy went up to Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. So far as I can judge he did not exhibit in his 
 University life any special indication that he would be dis- 
 tinguished in after years. But undoubtedly he did not 
 neglect his studies since in 1878 he gained a first class in the 
 Theological Tripos. Speaking of Lefroy, Dr. Stanton writes, 
 " Emphatically he was one of those Christian lads from our 
 great English Public Schools of whom Archbishop Benson 
 once said, 'The army of Heaven which follows the Son of man 
 on white horses has no more fair, more beautiful recruits.' " 
 Home, School, University were training the man, and he 
 was one who had no need for a special moment of conversion. 
 Continuing in one stay he grew, and there is a noble work in 
 a world that needs all types of Christian life for those who 
 by all testimony go from strength to strength, earning the 
 gratitude of schoolmasters and college tutors, and carrying 
 on for themselves the happiest of associations of their early 
 days for after life. It was during his time at Cambridge that 
 he was brought into touch with those who were planning a 
 Cambridge Mission to Delhi. The story has already been 
 well and completely told by Canon Bickersteth in his Life 
 of his brother, 1 and I am permitted to give the substance of 
 what is there stated as well as to print an extract from one 
 of Le froy's letters which appears in that volume. 
 
 The conception of such a Mission seems to have occurred 
 first to Edward Bickersteth some time in 1875 and under the 
 influence of two distinguished men, Dr. Valpy French, some 
 time fellow of University College, Oxford, a great missionary 
 and linguist and soon to become Bishop of Lahore, and also of 
 
 1 " Life and Letters of Edward Bickersteth " (Sampson Low). 
 9
 
 io LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Professor Westcott at Cambridge. French, of course, had been 
 visiting Cambridge in the cause of Missions in the Punjab. 
 Both these men felt that, in the words of Dr. Westcott, " the 
 Universities are providentially fitted to train men who shall 
 interpret the Faith of the West to the East and bring back to 
 us new illustrations of the one infinite and eternal Gospel." 
 In 1876 the scheme was proposed in papers read before the 
 Cambridge University Church Society and the Cambridge 
 Graduates Mission Aid Society, by Dr. French and the Rev. 
 E. Bickersteth. The general idea was " the formation of a 
 band of fellow workers whose special object should be, in 
 addition to evangelistic labours, to promote higher education, 
 to provide a home for Christian students, and to undertake 
 literary and other work which might reach the more educated 
 and thoughtful." The S.P.G. promised cordial assistance ; 
 Delhi was proposed as the best centre, and Sir Bartle Frere 
 wrote a letter warmly supporting the scheme and pointing out 
 the advantage to be gained by associating Cambridge with 
 the fine work already being carried out at Delhi by the Rev. 
 R. R. Winter under the auspices of the S.P.G. The Rev. E. 
 Bickersteth and the Rev. J. D. M. Murray actually joined Mr. 
 Winter in Delhi in 1877. In 1878 Mr. Winter took furlough 
 and the whole of the Mission work in Delhi was entrusted 
 temporarily to the two Cambridge men. In 1878 the Rev. H. 
 C. Carl yon and the Rev. H. F. Blackett joined the others in 
 Delhi. All four were either fellows or scholars of their colleges. 
 But to return to Lefroy at Cambridge. After taking 
 his degree he spent the greater part of his time at 
 Cambridge in the study of Hebrew and Persian. He also 
 began to teach in Jesus Lane Sunday school, and to give 
 lectures in Barnwell to young men. In that year he writes 
 home upon a subject which earns for him the intense sympathy 
 of his biographer : " I was asked," he says, " not only to teach 
 in the Sunday school but also to collect subscriptions for the 
 C.M.S. It is terrible work, about the most unpleasant I think 
 that I was ever employed on, but I try to keep my naturally 
 depressed spirits as high as possible, and I believe that so far 
 I have met with average success." It may help if I add my 
 experience to Lefroy's. As a Sunday school teacher at Jesus 
 Lane throughout my Cambridge career I was given a list of
 
 CAMBRIDGE n 
 
 names at Trinity of men whom I was to visit for the purpose 
 of obtaining sums of $s. for the C.M.S. Nothing I have ever 
 had to do since has seemed formidable after that experience ! 
 I can understand better how Lefroy could face angry crowds 
 in the Delhi Bazaar since he also persevered in obtaining those 
 sums (at what a cost !). To knock at a man's door, probably 
 a senior man, to find him at breakfast with others, to explain 
 in halting terms what I wanted to a man who may have had 
 the dimmest idea of the C.M.S., and to be asked in return how 
 much I wanted in order to get rid of me as soon as possible, 
 and to feel that 5-r. was a cheap riddance ! No, nothing in after 
 life has been a more distressing duty. But to continue : let 
 Lefroy speak for himself in regard to his early associations 
 with Bickersteth. 
 
 " My recollections of contact at Cambridge with Edward 
 Bickersteth, before the mission started for Delhi, are very 
 slight indeed. I remember a walk in the Botanical Gardens 
 shortly after I had, in consequence of a sermon preached by 
 Dr. Lightfoot in Great St. Mary's, asked to be accepted as a 
 member of the Brotherhood. One or two similar walks I 
 know followed, and then I have a clear recollection of a 
 characteristically University gathering at which, the full 
 number of six who had been asked for to start the mission 
 having been completed, we inaugurated our undertaking by a 
 breakfast in Pembroke College in the rooms of our leader. 
 And I have often thought that it was a marked sign of the 
 hand of our God upon us for good from the first, that although 
 of the six who so sat down to breakfast in the spring of 1877 
 only two were able to go out that year, two more the next 
 year, and the remaining two not till the autumn of 1879, yet 
 eventually, without a single loss or withdrawal from any 
 cause, the same six met in December, 1879, for breakfast and 
 a truly " common " life in Delhi. Of the subjects of conversa- 
 tion in those first walks I remember nothing, but I do know 
 that the sense of enthusiasm and of keen, though restrained, 
 energy which so markedly characterised Bickersteth did not 
 wholly fail of their due effect upon me." 
 
 In June, 1879, George Lefroy was ordained Deacon by the 
 Bishop of Ely. He came home for a few weeks before he 
 sailed in November for India. And it happened that on his 
 last Sunday at Aghaderg he read the lesson (Ezekiel ii.) in
 
 12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 which the words occur " to preach the word, whether they will 
 hear or whether they will forbear." For his sermon ere he 
 left, his text was " Brethren, pray for us," and his words were 
 long remembered by many of his hearers. His companion 
 for the voyage was the Rev. S. S. Allnutt, these two making 
 up the number of the Cambridge mission to six : And it is 
 surely a touching and inspiring fact to remember that three 
 of them have just passed away all within a year, forty years 
 after they went to India : all three, Allnutt, Lefroy, Carlyon, 
 lie buried among the people for whom they gave their lives. 
 Lefroy's brother, the Rev. F. Lefroy, gives us the last peep 
 of the young missionary in a letter to his mother written from 
 his grandmother, Lady Helena Trench's house, at Rownhams. 
 
 " You will like to hear about old George. . . . He met us 
 yesterday just before we got here and we had a delightful 
 talk together on such a perfect evening, still and clear with 
 a glorious sunset. Then there was service at five and a chat 
 with Grandmother and dinner altogether with a sit round the 
 fire and gossip with Uncle very like a bit of home. We didn't 
 go to bed very early for we had a good deal to say, and we 
 thought it might be some time before we had an opportunity 
 for an evening chat again. Then this morning we had 
 Communion at eight to strengthen and refresh us, and then a 
 big breakfast party at the Parsonage, and about ten thirty we 
 three G., E., and I set off for Southampton. We found the great 
 steamer lying alongside in the docks and went down at once 
 to inspect the cabin. George and Allnutt are together in a 
 very tiny place, but they are glad to be alone and there is just 
 room to turn round, but no more. . . . We met Dickinson on 
 board, who had come from town to see his tutor off, and when 
 we had made things straight on board we went up into the 
 town again. It is needless to say that there were several 
 little things which G. wanted to buy including a housewife and 
 thimble. We had a good luncheon together and directly 
 afterwards walked to the steamer again. There we met Mr. 
 Winter, Mr. Allnutt and his father and had a good deal of 
 pleasant talk with them. They seemed to appreciate George 
 as much as we could wish. And so the time passed too quickly 
 until the bell rang for all who were not passengers to leave the 
 ship. . . . We ran round as hard as we could to the mouth of 
 the dock through which she had to pass, and we got so near 
 again that we were able to speak to him and hear him speak 
 to us and then there was nothing more for it but to wave and
 
 CAMBRIDGE 13 
 
 watch and wave as long as we could until the dear figure 
 became quite indistinguishable. ... I needn't say that old 
 George was himself up to the very last, and it is impossible 
 for us to realise that we are not to see him again for who 
 knows how long. I could not believe it right to see so little 
 comparatively of those whom we love best and revere most in 
 this life if it were not that we hope to know and love them 
 infinitely better in another. How wonderfully the Epistle 
 came in at the morning's Communion, Eph. vi. 10."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 DELHI 
 
 BEFORE George Lefroy reaches Delhi let us consider the 
 situation. Cambridge under the influence of Dr. Westcott 
 had just planted in India "the first Community Mission sent 
 out by any University in modern times." Oxford was soon 
 to follow, then Dublin, but much depended upon the pioneers, 
 and without question the first Cambridge missionaries worthily 
 created a tradition for the new movement : Lefroy was the 
 sixth member and the youngest. Let him speak for himself, 
 especially in regard to the magnetism of the leader of the 
 band, Edward Bickersteth. The following lines have already 
 appeared in Bickersteth's " Life," written in 1898 : 
 
 " In Delhi, while as quite the youngest and most in- 
 experienced member of the mission I was unable to enter 
 so thoroughly into the plans and difficulties of our Head as 
 the elder members, such as Murray, Carlyon, and Allnutt, 
 yet, on the other hand, just because of my youth I was 
 brought into specially close contact with him of another kind, 
 acting as a kind of curate to him in several departments 
 of our work, notably the ministerial charge of Daryaganj, 
 one of the most important of the city districts, and also of 
 Mehrowli, a principal out-station lying some eleven miles to 
 the south of Delhi. After the lapse of more than fifteen 
 years, handicapped as I am by an abnormally weak memory, 
 I am quite unable to recall specific incidents illustrative of 
 the relationship so established, and of what it became to me, 
 yet I do know that in our quiet walks home, late on Sunday 
 night, from Daryaganj to our own house, a distance of about 
 two miles, along a road often bathed in the glorious Indian 
 moonlight, and running between the old Mogul fort of Delhi 
 on our right hand and the solemn and beautiful Jama Musjid 
 on the left, while further on we passed through the historic
 
 DELHI 15 
 
 Kashmir Gate, with its undying Mutiny associations, ideals 
 were suggested to me, and a force of character and depth 
 of piety brought home to me, which in those first days of my 
 ministerial life were of simply priceless value, and to which 
 I believe I owe more of inspiration and strength for that life 
 than to any other individual influence outside the innermost 
 circle of my own home. The drives out to Mehrowli, too, 
 were full of interest and helpfulness, though that part of our 
 work together is more saddened in recollection by its frequent 
 connection with weakness or suffering on Bickersteth's part, 
 for it was often resorted to when overstrain of work or fever 
 in Delhi made some little change imperative. And how fre- 
 quent such occasions were I have realised more than I ever 
 did before by reading through, for the purpose of these notes, 
 a diary I used to keep at that time. It is of the very barest 
 kind and scarcely suggestive of anything of interest for my 
 present purpose, but it is remarkable that out of a large 
 number of allusions to Bickersteth in it nearly half consist 
 of such remarks as ' E. B. very seedy,' ' bad night,' ' high 
 fever,' ' headache,' or the like. In point of fact, there is no 
 doubt that almost from the first the intense summer heat 
 told unduly on a mind and body which was always working 
 at the highest possible point of energy and intensity. I 
 know that often, as we lay out on the roof at night side by 
 side, I would turn over in a sleep which, though somewhat 
 disturbed by the heat, had yet plenty of restorative power in 
 it, to find Bickersteth literally gasping alongside of me, and 
 quite unable to get to sleep at all. 
 
 "Then two distinct experiences stand out in my mind 
 with special clearness the one my ordination to the priest- 
 hood at Amballa, the other a walk deep into the Himalayas 
 from Simla which Bickersteth and I took in the autumn 
 of 1881. 
 
 "For the ordination, on Trinity Sunday, June 12, in the 
 very greatest heat of a hot year, we stayed at the Chaplain's 
 house. There were together for about four days before the 
 Sunday, Bishop French, that true father in God to so many 
 of us in the Punjab, Bickersteth, as examining chaplain, 
 another Englishman besides myself for Priest's orders, and 
 a native, still working with an unblemished name and very 
 high character in one of the C.M.S. stations of the Punjab, 
 also for Priest's orders. 
 
 "As in other cases, so here, in rny inability to recall 
 details I can only say that the whole time, the close contact 
 with, and the addresses of, the saintly Bishop, the walks with
 
 16 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Bickersteth, and his sermon at the ordination itself, formed 
 one of the most impressive experiences of my life. 
 
 " In our Himalayan walk we were naturally brought into 
 the closest and most continuous contact that I enjoyed during 
 that two years and three-quarters of life together in India. 
 Away from all the engrossing occupations and distractions 
 of Delhi work, we were for nearly a month practically quite 
 alone together, scarcely meeting another Englishman along 
 the road, usually sleeping in the same room, walking, talking, 
 playing chess together. Into this trip also, however, the 
 experience of sickness entered, as both on our outward and 
 homeward march we had to lie by for one or two days owing 
 to slight attacks of, as I believe, the very same trouble which 
 at last took him from us. 
 
 "And from all these diverse experiences, while the 
 separate details which went to form them have passed from 
 my mind, a figure stands out of the clearest, most impressive, 
 most unforgettable personality possible. If I were to try 
 and single out special features of it which is difficult to do 
 I think I should give the first place to two piety and 
 energy. 
 
 " All he did was, as we knew and recognised instinctively, 
 based on prayer and communion with God. His devotional 
 addresses were full of the deepest spiritual power. One of 
 the most distinct contributions of all that he made to the 
 organisation of the work of the Delhi Mission was the deepen- 
 ing in the native agents the sense of the supreme need of 
 earnest personal prayer, and of systematic Bible study for 
 the efficient discharge of the very difficult work to which they 
 were called. Additional opportunities and services for this 
 end were afforded, while he regularly every week had any 
 catechist, or other agent with whom he was in direct contact, 
 to his own room for conversation and prayer together. Far 
 as we have fallen short of his standard in this respect, I do 
 yet hope and believe that the principles which he instilled 
 into us, and on which he based the early life of our Brotherhood, 
 have not been lost 
 
 " And then there was his incessant energy of body and 
 mind. I always think of him as living at the highest possible 
 strain of all his powers. If he walked it was, even in the 
 middle of the hot weather, at a pace which few cared to keep 
 up with, at any rate without protests, uttered or thought ; 
 if he rode and this he frequently did, though it always 
 seemed to me as though he was not a true horseman in the 
 sense of enjoying the riding for its own sake, but that he 
 simply viewed it as a convenient and rapid means of getting
 
 DELHI 17 
 
 from place to place no grass grew under the pony's feet. 
 So it was in his study of Urdu and Persian, so it was in 
 every single thing he took in hand. That this intensity 
 of disposition was, at any rate at that comparatively early 
 part of his life, accompanied by some of the defects which 
 almost inevitably go with that type of character cannot, I 
 think, be doubted. There was at times a tendency to 
 impatience, and not infrequently the worries and difficulties 
 inseparable from a work and life such as ours, and which on 
 some occasions became very grave indeed in connection with 
 our position and work in Delhi, told upon him in a way that 
 he was, I am sure, himself the first to regret. 
 
 " But, on the other hand, the spirit of high enthusiasm, 
 the thoroughness, the devotion to work as also to play, 
 while he was at it the high aims, the wise, large-hearted 
 plans for their attainment, and the depth of personal holiness 
 and of striving after an ever closer and closer walk with 
 God, which were embodied in him, were both to the mission 
 as a whole and to each of us individually an inspiration such 
 as we can never forget, and have, especially in conjunction 
 with his peculiar position as the first Head and one of the 
 first founders of the mission, secured a quite unique position 
 in the annals of the Cambridge Mission to the name of 
 Edward Bickersteth." 
 
 Lefroy prepared himself at once specially to be an 
 Evangelist, and I think it was a joy to him. It is not the 
 easiest course : to be a pastor comes more naturally to 
 most men, but this young Irishman brimful of energy 
 and physical health girded himself with a loving and 
 sympathetic heart to commend the Gospel to those who 
 stood outside it. Moreover, he recognised at once that the 
 hardest task committed to an Evangelist is to carry the 
 Gospel to Moslems. Many faithful men, when a choice 
 exists, turn consciously or unconsciously from the Moslem 
 to those of another faith. The two religions which are the 
 least attractive for aggressive work are the Jewish and the 
 Mahommedan. Lefroy, however, did not hesitate, and 
 became one of the outstanding authorities on missions to 
 the Moslem world. Yet though no man ever bore a more 
 faithful or a fuller witness to the truth as he conceived it, his 
 generous nature, and perhaps here his Irish descent and 
 humour helped him, and made him not only respected but 
 
 C
 
 1 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 beloved by those with whom he was engaged in controversy. 
 It is true, I think, to say that all through his Delhi period 
 he stood out more and more as a missionary to Moslems. 
 He will speak for himself. My own task, indeed, has been 
 made difficult not from the paucity but from the superabund- 
 an ce of his letters. Nor are they superficial : on the con- 
 trary, he made his immediate family his confidants, pouring 
 out through many and carefully written pages, not only his 
 acts, but his hopes and ideals. It has indeed been a per- 
 plexing task to choose among this mass of fine material. It 
 may also be assumed that if no name or initial is given, the 
 letter in question is addressed to a member of his family 
 circle. The following letters are the first from India, and 
 are written with all the freshness of a new-comer : 
 
 "Delhi: Friday, Dec. 12, 1879. 
 
 " At last Delhi. It is Friday evening, just 7 o'clock, and 
 the mail goes out soon, but just one word must go with it 
 from the long-looked-for goal. ... I reached Delhi on 
 Thursday at 3 p.m. You may imagine what a meeting it was 
 as the six of us stood together on the platform or indeed 
 eight, for besides our six selves of the Cambridge Mission 
 there was Winter and another old missionary who is stopping 
 with us at present. We quite took the station by storm. A 
 quarter of an hour's drive brought us to our temporary quarters, 
 viz. a very nice bungalow rather less than a mile outside the 
 city walls. It is very comfortable and healthy, but too far 
 from our work for a permanency. After dinner we went to 
 the church for Evening Service which is daily, as well as 
 Service in the morning. 
 
 " I have this moment come back from a service which 
 Winter took in a little outlying hamlet. It was a strange, 
 and naturally to me, a very impressive sight ; twenty or 
 thirty of the natives, all poor, squatting round us in their 
 strange attitudes ; of course I could not understand anything 
 of the service, though to lose no time I had my first interview 
 with a Munshi (tutor) to-day. I can tell you I felt uncom- 
 monly helpless as the door closed and left me, who know 
 scarcely a word of Hindustanee with a gentleman of colour 
 who knew no word of English however, by the help of a 
 dictionary, pen, ink and paper, we soon got on a little, and I 
 hope the worst of it will soon be broke."
 
 DELHI 19 
 
 !>'* " January 7, 1880. 
 
 " We have had a terrible disappointment in one way this 
 week. A nice quiet looking Mahommedan came to Bicker- 
 steth one morning saying he had been attending the Bazaar 
 preaching and would like to know more about Christianity. 
 Of course B. gave him some help and arranged to read with 
 him regularly. The next day he came to say he had been 
 beaten and turned out of house and home for coming to us. 
 The upshot of it was that we took him in here. He was a 
 nice-looking man, apparently of good family and you know 
 converts from Mahommedans of this class are very rare and 
 we all liked him very much. And then yesterday it turned 
 out to be all a sham. He was baptised by the Baptists some 
 months back, and his story to us had been a tissue of lies. 
 It was a terrible blow to Bickersteth, and shows how careful 
 one must be in baptising even now we cannot make out his 
 motive." 
 
 " March 10, 1880. 
 
 " I should like at some time to tell you more about the 
 peculiar circumstances of the Mission our hopes and fears 
 and plans regarding it, but this much I can say now that day 
 by day there grows on each of us the conviction that the very 
 heart of our teaching, both foundation and corner-stone, must 
 be Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We all need all your 
 prayers, and I feel we are not without them." 
 
 The influence of caste. 
 
 " Delhi : April 7, 1880. 
 
 " It is almost impossible to realise their scrupulosity in 
 matters of food. It has even spread in great measure to the 
 Mahommedans, e.g., C. a few days ago wanting a little brass 
 vessel for some purpose, and seeing one in the hands of one 
 of our bearers a Mahommedan asked him to show it to him. 
 It was his regular drinking vessel, his lota each man has one 
 and it is as dear to him almost as his life, as important to 
 be kept from impurity or profanation. The man brought it 
 and showed it to C. who unwittingly put out his hand to take 
 it. The man drew quickly back, but his finger had touched 
 it ! ' Never mind, Sahib,' said the man (really a most respect- 
 ful servant), ' I can wash it clean ! ' A., hearing that this 
 same man was ill with fever, sent him out a dose of quinine, 
 the effects of which they know and value highly ; but it was 
 in one of our glasses, so the man absolutely refused to touch 
 it even if it were poured into his own lota it had already 
 contracted contamination. In the total absence of spirituality
 
 20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 in their religion, I suppose it is inevitable that a very religi- 
 ously minded people should supply the need of scrupulous 
 heed to points of this kind. . . . Then there is our Chaukedar, 
 or night watchman, a member of a celebrated caste of thieves 
 who levy a regular blackmail, inasmuch as you must engage one 
 of the confraternity as your watchman, or you will be robbed 
 to a certainty. If you do have him the odds are very much 
 against your losing anything. 
 
 The position of the Mission House. 
 
 " I believe that our position as the ruling power puts a 
 dead weight on missionary enterprise which nothing but the 
 direct grace of God can possibly enable us to lift. As long as 
 we are out here we are simply of the Bara Sahibs, doubtless 
 employed by Government to seduce the people from their 
 religion by bribery and every means, fair or foul, but equally 
 doubtless drawing a good stipend, and here (as all the 
 civilians and military, and in fact every Englishman is here) 
 primarily for his own sake ; secondarily, or rather infinitely 
 afterwards, for the sake of the natives ! Shall we then move 
 into the City ? We have found a site which would do very 
 fairly, but there is the one fact that no European does live 
 in the city, and we should have to count on our lease of life 
 being very distinctly shortened." 
 
 I may as well here insert the after history of the location 
 of the Cambridge Brotherhood. The Cambridge men lived 
 on in the house outside the walls till 1893. They then came 
 into the S.P.G. Mission House within the city, where they 
 have resided up to the present time. This house belonged to 
 one of the Indian nobles till the Mutiny, when it was con- 
 fiscated by the Government, and sold to the Delhi Mission, 
 and is held by the S.P.G. as a Trust for the Diocese. The 
 Rev. R. R. Winter came to live there in 1860. In 1919 it has 
 been determined to remove the Mission to another house in 
 a more open part, but still within the precincts of the city. 
 St. Stephen's Church is of course retained. 
 
 The following, written six months later than the last 
 letter, refers to the same subject : 
 
 " A Loft, Melrowli : Dec. 7, 1 880. 
 
 " You may know that I have all along been the strong and 
 persistent advocate of going into the city for our dwelling- 
 place, and the present, when I was going entirely alone,
 
 DELHI 21 
 
 seemed a good time to try the experiment though, of course, 
 my very imperfect acquaintance with the language must needs 
 prevent the practical success of the experiment, even though 
 it were proved to be theoretically correct. Accordingly I 
 added to my personal equipage a camp chair, a piece of 
 carpet, which serves as a chair for as many people as can sit 
 on it, a camp table, a cooking canteen containing all sorts of 
 wonderful things in the smallest possible space, a supply of 
 bread, meat and rice for curry, my india-rubber bath (? Mis- 
 sionary simplicity) and started forth prepared for any fortune. 
 On the way out there was a little village school to visit, so I 
 sent on my servant, a Christian boy, with the things, telling 
 him to get breakfast ready at the Dak Bungalow and cast his 
 eyes about for some other suitable lodging in the village. . . . 
 After examining the village and trying to talk to a little 
 knot of the more important men of the place (small farmers 
 who were gathered together chatting, there being little to do 
 at this time of the year in the farm, and an absolutely illimit- 
 able flow of conversation being possessed by all these people) 
 I made my way back to the main road, and soon found myself 
 under shelter of the Dak Bungalow, and quite ready for the 
 breakfast my boy had prepared. 
 
 " The search for the room seemed to have resulted satis- 
 factorily. In the very centre of the little Bazaar a lodging 
 was pronounced as procurable. . . . There was an old gate- 
 way opening on to a sort of courtyard in the very middle of 
 the village street, which we had always chosen as the site of 
 our preaching ; entering this and ascending a staircase on to 
 the roof of the shops in the street, I discovered six little rooms 
 in a row, looking more like stables than anything else, each 
 about sixteen feet long by seven feet broad, quite empty and 
 clean looking, a door in the middle at the back for entering 
 at and two opening on to a tiny verandah over the street. 
 It was the very thing. This I therefore engaged at the 
 extensive rent of Ri (1/8) for as long as I wished to stay 
 not exceeding five days, and sent for my things. . . . After 
 visiting the Chamar Christians in their Busti I took my stand 
 about 5 p.m. by the side of the Catechist beneath the arch- 
 way, and heard him deliver a discourse. ... In the middle 
 of a little conversation which developed I managed to slip in 
 as best as I could that, though unable to preach to them yet, 
 I should be very glad to see any one who would call on me. 
 
 " After the preaching I sent off the Catechist and retired 
 to my quarters, ordering dinner and sitting down to begin 
 this letter to you. I had not finished the first page when, to
 
 32 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 my intense surprise, I looked up and saw three men standing 
 in the doorway two of them as fine men, and with as good 
 faces as you would meet in England. 
 
 " I welcomed them, and kicking off their shoes they came 
 in and sat down on the carpet. We soon fell a-talking, as 
 they had come up all. prepared with some questions. Not 
 much came of our conversation for two chief reasons one 
 was that the two big ones were Hindus of a tribe called 
 Chattes, who brought in so many Hindi words that I could 
 scarcely understand a sentence they said. And still more 
 fatal was the other difficulty that the third was a Mahomme- 
 dan, and though Mahommedans and Hindus, leaving religious 
 questions on one side, may sometimes unite against a foreigner, 
 yet on religious questions the Mahommedan has necessarily 
 a far greater affinity to the Christian than to the Hindoo. 
 Consequently no sooner had one party got his objection satis- 
 factorily stated than the other was up in arms at such a 
 horrible idea, and they fell to fighting with such a will that 
 it was with the utmost difficulty I sometimes managed to get 
 in a word. . . . They retired after some time . . . but with 
 a promise (whether to be fulfilled or not time must show) to 
 come again to-night, and every night I stop here. I think 
 possibly they will, as I learn to-day the Hindoos were two of 
 the chief men of the place who have some money and plenty 
 of time on their hands." 
 
 HIGHER EDUCATION 
 
 But the Mission had soon to face a big problem. Repre- 
 senting a great English University they were surely called to 
 help in Higher Education. There had been a Government 
 College in Delhi but closed some four years ago, and it had 
 been, of course, on a secular basis. The Government put out 
 feelers to the Cambridge men to discover what they would 
 undertake. Would they open classes for those who desire 
 to take the B.A. degree ? Would they in that case confine 
 themselves to Christian students, or welcome all ? Perhaps 
 in the dim distance some had begun to inquire whether the 
 Mission would be responsible for a complete College. The 
 following letters give Lefroy's attitude : 
 
 " Delhi : May 26, 1880. 
 
 " The Bishop has been strongly urging us to open a 
 University College here to train men up to the Degree
 
 DELHI 23 
 
 standard. It is an immensely large and difficult subject. 
 Once again, pray for us. If we do open we must strain every 
 nerve to make it the best in this part of India. There is no 
 reason ultimately why it should not be the best in India." 
 
 " Delhi : June (or July), 1880. 
 
 " Difficult questions are pressing on us for solution. The 
 last is the relation which we are to assume towards the old 
 Delhi College which was shut up some four years ago by 
 Government orders, chiefly for lack of funds, and is now being 
 opened again by a sort of joint movement of chief Natives, 
 chief Englishmen, privately, and Government. They would 
 be glad enough to get hold of one or two of us as lecturers, 
 partly perhaps because they are not very flush of money, 
 partly because the name of the thing would help them at least 
 at starting. It's hard to see what to do. On the one hand, 
 we are distinctly pledged by our position to influence in any 
 way we can the highest education of the native boys, and so 
 if we don't throw ourselves into this movement we seem to 
 me pledged to open another College of our own for the boys 
 from our own school. On the other hand, neither of these 
 courses is free from serious objection, in a Native College 
 our position as Missionaries must be more or less anomalous, 
 might become untenable if (as is too often the case out here) 
 the European at its head were a professed Sceptic. On the 
 other hand, a College of our own would be a formidable under- 
 taking involving some expense, much trouble and responsi- 
 bility, and possibly a decided severance of those chiefly 
 engaged in it from other work because of the extreme 
 difficulty of mastering the Urdu language if constantly 
 teaching in English." 
 
 Two years later the responsibility was accepted. 
 
 "Delhi: March 7, 1882. 
 
 " I found an important piece of news awaiting me on my 
 return to Delhi, namely that the long-waited-for final answer 
 from Government had come at last about the College, and was 
 wholly satisfactory, as they grant us the whole sum in aid we 
 had asked for 45 a month and 200 for purchase of 
 scientific apparatus, and it ended by thanking us for the 
 promptness with which we had accepted their proposals in the 
 cause of higher education in the Punjaub. So we are fairly 
 in for it now. It is really a most solemn step, and it is a 
 terrible thought that possibly we may not be in the right after
 
 24 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 all, in so far at least that one may be giving up one's life to a 
 line of work which though good in itself is not as good, as 
 productive, as others might be. This is B.'s view and the view 
 I know of many wise and good men. But A. and I have been 
 comforting ourselves with the thought that we have by no 
 means sought this enlargement of our work, but it has 
 come to us gradually and from outside, while we have 
 been strongly urged by many whom we respect, and notably 
 our Bishop who is entirely a missionary at heart, to take it up. 
 I pray and trust that God's Holy Spirit may be guiding us 
 into that path which he sees best for us. ... It will be of 
 course our ground for another and urgent appeal to Cambridge 
 for at least one more man. May he be granted to us. ... 
 The Bishop is with us, working round Delhi as his head centre." 
 
 Thus there came into existence an Institution which has for 
 years been a boon to India and a cause of pride for Cambridge. 
 I give a few instances of the indirect but precious results of 
 the influence exerted over those who were not Christians. 
 
 Extract from one of the College boy's letters. 
 
 1883- 
 
 " I cannot find words to express the kindnesses and 
 favours you have shown all times to me, and for which I am 
 indebted to you for the whole of my life. The moral educa- 
 tion which has been sown by your and Mr. Lefroy's lectures 
 cannot vanish and will serve a good part in the remainder of 
 my years and on my part I will also try to attain that high 
 aim you were discussing in the lectures." 
 
 A humorous touch. 
 
 "Delhi: Sept. I, 1883. 
 
 " This morning we had our prize distribution. The only 
 direct share I had in the work to-day was in the speech which 
 was one which Dr. Westcott had very kindly sent out for the 
 occasion and the translation of which had been entrusted to 
 me. If you know anything of his ordinary style you will 
 recognise that the translation of it was likely to be a task of 
 some magnitude : but really in the present instance it was 
 on the whole an easier job than might have been expected, 
 for he had so completely out-Heroded Herod that very few 
 of us could make out much of the English, which left me the 
 more free to follow the bent of my own sweet imagination, 
 which I did to a pretty considerable extent"
 
 DELHI 25 
 
 After a letter referring to two students. 
 
 "Delhi: January 15, 1884. 
 
 " I was very much struck myself with the attitude of these 
 same two boys a short time ago since this happened. It was 
 in our Scripture lesson where we are doing our Lord's miracles. 
 I found them really pleading with me (I scarcely think I can 
 use any other word) to let them hold to Jesus Christ as the 
 highest type of humanity that ever existed and to which they 
 should try most entirely to conform their own lives but without 
 accepting the Divinity and consequent present Lordship. 
 
 " Of course I had to tell them frankly that I believed the 
 position could not stand in the long run that all which they 
 so admired in Him and were so ready to accept was so bound 
 up with His more mysterious teaching about Himself and 
 with the claims that He makes on our allegiance that the day 
 must come for any thoughtful mind when he must definitely 
 face these claims and either accept them and go forward to a 
 full faith, or reject them and say that his previous estimate 
 had been mistaken, for that character could not be thought 
 blameless or otherwise than most fearfully presumptuous and 
 blameworthy which being only man would yet make Himself 
 out God. One cannot, I believe, be wrong in definitely 
 insisting on this from the first." 
 
 Delhi climatic conditions. 
 
 The summer in Delhi is often dreaded both by Europeans 
 and also by Indians from other regions. The winter is 
 delightful and bracing, but there is something about the 
 summer heat which makes the sun one's enemy. In St. 
 Stephen's Hospital, whilst an inmate myself, I was told that 
 in summer there are days when most of the patients have to 
 be " packed " in cold water, or ice if procurable. Lefroy took 
 the matter with complete good humour. 
 
 " Delhi : May 21, 1881. 
 
 " At present we have just entered the 903 in our rooms, 
 but hitherto any great heat has always been driven off by a 
 dust-storm. These latter are novel experiences to me for 
 though we had one or two last year, still they were always at 
 mid-day when we were all in the house. This year they have 
 come just at the outing time 5-6 p.m. I have been caught 
 in three and certainly they are very unpleasant. After a dull 
 quiet afternoon, something like that which precedes thunder,
 
 26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 you see a dark cloud rising on the horizon this at first looks 
 like rain but as it gets very quickly nearer you see that it is 
 not quite the colour of rain, too browny, and then in a moment 
 it is on you, a high wind and a cloud of dust absolutely 
 darkening everything so that lamps have to be lighted 
 dashing the sand and gravel into your eyes, mouth, nose and 
 ears and penetrating into every corner of the house. It is 
 really a more or less painful experience to be caught out in 
 one, but they lighten the air and reduce the temperature." 
 
 "Delhi: August 13, 1881. 
 
 " I hear it has been up to 98 in the shade in London that's 
 pretty hot certainly. I can't say what it would be here. W. 
 put his thermo out one day in his verandah, a deep verandah 
 on which the sun had not yet fallen, and at 120 degrees it 
 expired, burst. We haven't repeated the experiment. And 
 you must remember that we have had nothing like the heat 
 this year we had last. 
 
 " The fact of the matter is it is the wind which makes all 
 the difference. One gets a hot muggy day in England, hot just 
 because there is no breeze, but whatever breeze does come is 
 always so far an alleviation. With us you know it is just the 
 opposite, and our most dreaded enemy is the Lulu the furnace 
 blast which comes all across the sand deserts of Scind and 
 Rajputana and gives us the benefit of it all. We have scarcely 
 had it this year : not at all at night, which is the most trying 
 thing, though once or twice when I had to go out before the 
 evening it made one catch one's breath with a funny sort of 
 feel." 
 
 By way of contrast let me insert a letter from the 
 Himalayas. The hills were Lefroy's delight and refreshment. 
 I think it was his first trip. For obvious reasons I have 
 omitted names. 
 
 Bungalow: October, 1881. 
 
 " It is just over three weeks since we left Delhi for the 
 hills and a very pleasant time it has been. After spending a 
 week in Simla drinking in the air and trying to get one's 
 mountain legs a little bit (which go most hopelessly in the plains 
 where, as you know, not only is the country itself for the most 
 part as flat as a table, but there isn't so much as a stair in the 
 houses to keep you in training), we started for the interior of 
 the Himalayas. 
 
 " We set out on September 21, having just three weeks to 
 get 140 miles in and as many back again . . . our road has
 
 DELHI 27 
 
 been running, not through British territory but through the 
 possessions of one of the many little Rajahs who abound in these 
 hills twenty-four of them being under the supervision of the 
 Deputy-Commissioner of Simla alone ! He gave us a letter to 
 
 the Rajah informing him that two distinguished travellers 
 
 were coming through his dominions and expressing a hope 
 that every consideration would be shown to them. On reaching 
 the Rajah's capital a village somewhat smaller and infinitely 
 less respectable than Loughbrickland we presented our 
 credentials. At that time we were not able to see him (for he 
 was under the influence of drink) but his prime minister sent 
 us a letter ordering all loyal subjects on pain of heavy punish- 
 ment to supply us liberally with milk, eggs and fowl the last 
 two being abominations in their eyes as articles of food and 
 to offer us no annoyance : and what was more to the point, a 
 man was sent with us for the rest of our journey to see that 
 we got what we wanted. 
 
 " On our return journey we found him sober, though how we 
 were to see him seemed a difficulty, as we got in late at night 
 and proposed to be off by 6.30 the next morning, as we had a 
 double stage to do and even in the hills the sun has to be avoided 
 as much as possible : however, we had heard that the Rajah 
 was always very eager for a chat with Englishmen especially 
 that he might find out the correct time and readjust his watch 
 so we were not very much surprised when, just as we were 
 starting at 6.30 from the bungalow (or rest house) in which 
 we had spent the night, we heard cries of ' Maharaj : Salaam, 
 Salaam,' and were informed that his Highness was at hand. It 
 was somewhat early for a royal visit and the extent of the 
 furniture which the bungalow could supply us with was three 
 hopelessly broken and decrepit old chairs ; however, we 
 arranged them as we best might in the verandah and received 
 the little man. He came up carried in a sort of sedan chair 
 raised on the shoulders of eight men. It is probably the only 
 means of conveyance he has, and there is not a road in his 
 whole territory on which a wheeled vehicle could go. He is 
 a sharp looking little fellow, by no means wanting in dignity, 
 and talks capital English. It was not long before an enormous 
 old turnip (watch) was produced with great care, and he 
 inquired solemnly of each of us, ' What is the time by your 
 Honour's watch ? ' He was much satisfied to find that he was 
 approximately right his watch having been set the day before 
 by two other Englishmen whom we had met before seeing 
 him. He then proceeded to inspect my gun, and begged four or 
 five cartridges of me ! I thought as a prince I could not give him
 
 28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 less than a dozen, whereat he was much delighted. . . . We 
 had a very pleasant march of about 13 miles last night all 
 
 along the valley of the by bright moonlight. The sun is 
 
 really a terrible drawback even to walking in these hills. At 
 least I don't much mind it, especially if one can keep at an 
 elevation of over 7000 or 8000 feet ; but now we are down in a 
 valley of only about 3000 and E. B. being seedy we have to 
 keep close literally the entire day, 'never crossing the threshold 
 till the sun sets in the evening. . . . Each night we reached 
 a bungalow to sleep in, but whether you got a bedstead or not 
 was a chance though, in fact, I have only slept twice on the 
 floor (we had a travelling bedstead for E. B.), and the servant 
 whom we brought with us as cook was new to the work, and 
 though he did his best, did not reach any very high standard."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 
 
 IT will be understood that the Cambridge Mission were called 
 to arrange, on their arrival, how their own work should dovetail 
 into that of the Rev. R. R. Winter, which was supported by 
 the S.P.G. and formed part of regular Diocesan schemes. 
 The Cambridge men took over responsibility for Bazaar 
 preaching, the charge of St. Stephen's High School, the 
 Christian Boys' Boarding School, and the superintendence of 
 three out of the eight divisions in the city, and three out of 
 eight out-stations. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, how it came about that Lefroy was 
 brought into close connection with the Chumars or leather 
 workers. They are a low caste community and have been in 
 the past ill educated. They live in " Bustis " (dwelling places), 
 but the term at Delhi, at all events, had come to be confined 
 to " little groups of houses in which the poorer castes live by 
 families or clans." As soon as Lefroy could be relieved from 
 High School work he eagerly turned to the Chumars, and 
 meanwhile he was generally preparing himself for the harder 
 and far more intellectual duty of the Moslem problem. 
 The following letter takes us step by step through a day or 
 two of a missionary journey in India : 
 
 "Mehrowli (in the Delhi District): 
 
 "Begun New Year's Eve, 1881, II p.m. 
 
 " I am out here once more with B. in the same village and 
 indeed the same room from which I wrote last year when I 
 was settled here alone for a few days, trying to get close to 
 and more intimate with the people than one can when living 
 in state in Dak Bungalow. Our attempt has not this time 
 proved very successful in the matter of attracting visitors and 
 
 29
 
 30 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 inquirers, for I don't think one has come near us since we 
 have been here, but notwithstanding I do not think that even 
 from this point of view our trouble in coming here has been 
 wasted, for we have at any rate done what in us lies to come 
 to them and give them an opportunity of getting at us, and 
 even if they do not at once avail themselves of it, I cannot but 
 think that it must in time suggest a difference in the relation 
 which we wish to occupy towards them from that of the Govern- 
 ment officials with whom at present we are terribly liable to 
 be confounded and help them to understand that we come 
 bearing a weighty message which we would press on their 
 acceptance. Meantime, though visitors do not take up as 
 much of our time as we could have wished we are not altogether 
 
 idle 
 
 " I think it might amuse you and give you a little idea of the 
 very varied conditions under which we have to carry on our 
 work here if I just gave you a sketch of our morning's work. 
 I will take yesterday. After breakfast at 7.30 I started off 
 alone this time, as the Catechist had to stop and make prepara- 
 tions for a supper which we wished to give a little congregation 
 here in the evening taking a cross-country path which I was 
 told would lead me to two or three villages. The first signs of 
 habitation I reached after about an hour's walk was a Hindoo 
 temple with its customary little red flag waving from the 
 branches of the sacred tree under which it stood. On entering 
 the enclosure I found myself face to face with the Faqir or 
 Indian monk. He was a very fine looking man and told me 
 he was one of four who lived together in a kind of monastic 
 life, the other three being at the time out begging their daily 
 supplies. This much I got from him, but his dialect was so 
 hopelessly bad, to my ears at least, that I felt any further 
 attempt at conversation would be but time thrown away, so 
 I bade him good morning and went my way. The next place 
 I came to about half a mile further on was a Hindoo village. 
 Here, however, there were very few men as there happened to 
 be a good well in the neighbourhood from which they were 
 engaged in watering their fields, and as the one or two who 
 were about did not seem at all to relish my visit I once again 
 moved on. As I was walking to the next village I met a 
 Faqir returning from his morning round of begging, and con- 
 jecturing that he was one of those whose home I had visited, 
 I accosted him, and finding his speech rather more understand- 
 able I had some talk with him. He told me that the man 
 whom I had seen at their temple was the Guru or teacher and 
 the others were merely disciples, and he claimed for his Guru
 
 THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 31 
 
 the power of miracles, saying that if he laid his hands on any 
 sick person he recovered. 
 
 " It is remarkable how deep-rooted and widespread is the 
 recognition of miracles as an almost essential evidence of a 
 heaven-sent teacher so that they have to be invented when 
 not really present. He incidentally stated that he understood 
 we were great sun-worshippers ! How this idea got abroad I 
 cannot say whether from some one who noticed the identity 
 of sun and Sunday or otherwise. In the next village I 
 reached I found some men loitering about and as they seemed 
 ready for a chat I sat down on the steps of an old stone tomb 
 which occupied the centre of their little square, and soon had 
 a little group of listeners round me. These turned out to be 
 Mussalmans of the Shiah sect however, while it is the other 
 great sect who immensely preponderate in Delhi the Sunnis. 
 When they found out definitely what I was after there was 
 some inclination, especially on the part of the elders of the 
 group, to decline the religious discussion, suggesting that I 
 had better go to Delhi, where I would find educated men in 
 plenty ready and worthy to discuss it with me and not waste 
 my time on poor unlettered villagers like themselves. 
 
 " It is really very characteristic this shrinking from dis- 
 cussion on the articles of their faith on the part of the 
 Mussalmans when contrasted with the Hindoos, who are 
 ever ready to hear and discuss any view which may be put 
 before them, however new or strange it may be, or however 
 hostile to their own beliefs or ideas. However, I persuaded 
 them with some difficulty that this was by no means a subject 
 for learned men alone, but rather for every one to whom God 
 has given a soul to be saved, and the power of thought to 
 seek out the way of salvation. 
 
 " After this we got on very well together, and they were 
 especially struck with the story of the raising of Lazarus 
 . . . our friendship was cemented by a good bowl of milk, 
 which they offered me when I was getting up to go away, 
 and which I was very glad to accept, both for its own sake 
 and for the sake of those who gave it, for they are by no 
 means hospitable as a rule in this sort of way in these parts 
 at least the Mahommedans are not ; perhaps the Hindoos, 
 who must be largely trained to it by that giving to Faqirs 
 which forms so integral a part of their religion, are more 
 ready givers. 
 
 " I was also pleased at the very unusual privilege of being 
 allowed to drink it out of the actual vessel of the donor. . . . 
 Another tramp across fields looking very brown and dry and
 
 32 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 I come to a third village. Hindoo this time. Again I pro- 
 duce my book and sit down, but fail practically to get an 
 audience a cart with a broken wheel, which has just been 
 brought in for repair, proving quite too strong a counter- 
 attraction. And now I knew I was near the end of my 
 morning's walk, for I had been all the time steering for a 
 village in which we had previously had a little school amongst 
 the poor Chumars, who form the largest section of the com- 
 munity in this village, as indeed they do in most of the 
 villages around, if they can be said to form a section who 
 are rigidly shut off from all contact or intercourse with the 
 other farmer inhabitants, living in a part of the village which 
 is set aside for them, and into which one of the higher caste 
 will never put his foot any more than these may enter the 
 farmer's quarters : the very children I believe never mix in 
 play. 
 
 " It was just before entering this village that I had a 
 striking proof of the tremendously adverse influence which 
 our connection with these despised Chumars exercises on all 
 our attempts at contact with the higher classes. It is, of 
 course, a fact for which we must be deeply thankful, that the 
 Gospel has obtained some entrance at least even if it be 
 so far a most weak and uncertain one into one of the 
 great classes of this country, but when this class is the lowest 
 of all it is impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact that the 
 very success in one quarter raises up in all others one more 
 and most formidable obstacle to be added to all those which 
 already make our work in this country seem so almost 
 humanly hopeless. For when, as is my usual custom before 
 going into the Chumar quarter, I went up to a little group 
 of farmers who were sitting chatting together and tried to 
 enter into conversation with them, they just looked at me 
 for a moment to make sure of my identity, and then told me 
 most bluntly that they did not want me, I had better go to 
 my friends the Chumars. And how much such rudeness 
 means out here how far more than it would in England 
 one sees when one remembers how naturally polite even to 
 servility all the Hindoos are to any superior, and how 
 intensely so to any of that wondrous race of Sahibs who, in 
 some of the more remote country districts at any rate, are to 
 them little less than the gods come down in the likeness of 
 men. Of course, I had nothing left but to follow their advice, 
 so 1 turned aside to the Chumars, and after a little talk with 
 my brother in the Faith I set out homewards, and reached 
 it somewhat tired and hungry about 12.30."
 
 THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 33 
 
 The three letters that follow adequately define the 
 problem among low caste people in India : 
 
 " Delhi : June 10, 1882. 
 
 "We had a Council meeting yesterday evening, and at 
 it a plan was proposed for discussion in which I take a deep 
 interest. It concerned our poor Chumar Christians. You 
 know how often I have told you of their unsatisfactory state. 
 . . . One obvious cause of difficulty and falling is the close 
 contact which they keep with their heathen surroundings. 
 You see this is a temptation which does not assail the better 
 class convert because he knows that, whether he likes it or 
 not, the day he receives Baptism (or at least for in some, 
 though not in many cases, there is a curious distinction 
 observed the day he partakes of the Holy Communion) he 
 will be cut off from kith and kin, and the doors of his own 
 and all his relatives' and friends' houses will be closed upon 
 him for ever at least this is slightly exaggerated, for after a 
 time, some years, if the man settles down quietly and respect- 
 ably, and really lives a consistent Christian life, he wins his 
 way back to a certain extent though only to a slight one 
 among his old surroundings though, of course, in the matter 
 of food the Rubicon is absolute and unalterable. . . . All 
 this difficulty, however which however trying for the 
 convert, is yet in one sense of the highest value as testing 
 his real sincerity is wanting in the case of our low caste 
 Christians. . . . These poor fellows being all utterly out of 
 caste as it is (and also perhaps influenced in greater or less 
 degree by the current representation of Christianity to which 
 I have already alluded) have never 'closed the pipe and 
 water,' as the phrase is, for expelling from caste fellowship. 
 Consequently our Christian converts live in the same Busti 
 cheek by jowl with the heathen, see their lives, hear their 
 songs, mix in their feasts and amusements, and altogether so 
 completely identify themselves, or rather continue their old 
 identification with them, that it is well-nigh impossible to 
 even hope for better things so long as this lasted. The best 
 of them are just beginning to feel that their life is not quite 
 what it ought to be ; but, as one of them said to me, ' We 
 really are not strong enough to shut our eyes and close our 
 ears when some wandering Faqir comes and sits down in the 
 middle of our Busti exactly opposite our door and sings his 
 songs and performs his idol worship. We must look on, and 
 if it is amusing and interesting we almost must take a part.' 
 And it's quite true especially considering what babes in 
 knowledge and spiritual life they still are. 
 
 D
 
 34 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " Of course the obvious remedy for all this is to segregate 
 one's Christians and make them live somewhere together 
 apart from the heathen ; but, on the one hand, in places where 
 this has been tried it has by no means always succeeded 
 (owing, I cannot help thinking, rather to want of management 
 and skill than to any inherent fault in the plan, but anyhow 
 producing an exotic, weakly non-self-propagating Christianity); 
 and on the other, W. has been so dead against anything 
 of this sort that we have never been able to think of it 
 
 practically. It is exactly 's theory that if they are a 
 
 little better if they be but farthing dips still they will do 
 something to lighten the darkness around, and that anything 
 like sharp distinctions between Christians and non-Christians 
 (as they are euphemiously called) was above all things to be 
 avoided. A good deal of it is very true, and no doubt other 
 Missions have, so far as we can judge, often gone to the other 
 extreme, but after all one feels that if you expose a farthing 
 dip on a stormy night there is another alternative possible 
 besides that of illuminating the darkness in however slight 
 a degree. At any rate, we have come more and more to 
 think that something of this sort must be done if any pro- 
 gress is to be made. . . . Anyhow the scheme of a Christian 
 Busti has been brought forward and theoretically approved 
 of by the Council, though for further consideration the matter 
 has been deferred till next month, during which time we 
 must try and obtain some details and think over practical 
 points for of practical difficulties I need not say there are 
 many. First of all, there is the initial outlay. There is a 
 good suitable piece of ground for sale at one rupee a square 
 yard, and we might take 1000 yards or so of this to begin 
 with if we can get the money . . . and even when this initial 
 difficulty is overcome there will be plenty left behind chief 
 among these the collection of rent, for on the one hand, of 
 course, the thought of all these poor people will be ' What 
 does the Padre Sahib with his horse and carriage want with 
 my few pence ? ' and yet, on the other hand, we are firmly 
 persuaded that to admit them without any rent, or to make 
 it only nominal, would be the most certain way of lowering 
 the tone and strength of the Christian life of the Busti. 
 Christian paupers are about as: " poor as most other paupers. 
 All this has to be settled somehow or other, and I trust we 
 may have wisdom given to us to settle it aright" 
 
 " Delhi : August 12, 1882. 
 
 " There is a little colony of our poor Chumar Christians 
 here for whom we had a service on the Sunday morning,
 
 THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 35 
 
 when I preached to them on St. James, whose day had just 
 come, leaving his father, nets, etc., to follow Christ. Poor 
 people, it is little idea they have at present, I fear, of self- 
 sacrifice or any kind of sacrifice for Christ, the chief idea 
 seeming to be what they can make by the profession of His 
 Name, and worse still, one hardly sees how they are to get 
 any idea of anything else when they see us who preach to 
 them of self-denial living as Sahibs ourselves. It is hard 
 indeed to know what one ought to do in such matters, but 
 I suppose the best way is to strive and pray for a better 
 spirit of self-denial for oneself and them, and believe that 
 somehow or other it will be given. The middle of Sunday 
 was not the pleasantest part of my time, for work goes on on 
 the new line on which M. is engaged just the same as other 
 days, and the bustle and stir of work was not helpful. It is 
 more or less of a difficult question, though there is no doubt 
 that it could quite easily be settled in the right way if only 
 the authorities chose to have it so. Of course, in laying 
 out railways, etc., the great part of the actual work is given 
 out to native contractors who work with native gangs. These 
 protest that they cannot keep their men idle on Sunday or 
 their contract will fail ; accordingly the arrangement is sup- 
 posed to be that these may go on working through the 
 Sunday, but that any European who wishes may take the 
 day free ; but, of course, this in point of fact means nothing 
 for as these tell you ' If work is to go on in one part of a 
 system it must go on throughout, and it can't go on without 
 the directing and responsible heads being present if it does 
 it merely comes to undoing on Monday all the work done on 
 Sunday.' This is obvious, and every one knows that the 
 only way of really getting the Sunday for any is to compel 
 it on all, in so far at least as the suspension of all Government 
 or public works compels it allowing for such extra delay 
 in the contracts ; but this means increased expense, and 
 there's the rub. So the result is that no general order is 
 given in the matter, but it is left in each Department or each 
 piece of work for the head to arrange this as he likes, and 
 unfortunately the executive Engineer of this new line does 
 not the least care for Sunday himself, so doesn't want any 
 one else to care for it, or get it if they do care for it ; but it 
 is not exactly what one conceives of as suitable to hear, as I 
 did, M. telling a Hindu contractor, ' Now remember, whether 
 you like it or not, you must keep open all Sunday.' How- 
 ever, I believe M. makes it as much as he can a quiet day 
 with his wife. In the evening we had Urdu Service at 6
 
 36 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 without a sermon, and English with one at 7.30, in the room 
 of the Zenana Mission House : there was a nice little con- 
 gregation including one or two well-educated English-speaking 
 Hindoos." 
 
 Employment for Indian Christians. 
 
 "Jan. 23, 1882. 
 
 " I want to explain a little why it is so necessary to 
 provide in every possible way an outlet for Christians in 
 other words, why the existing outlets are so small and in- 
 sufficient even for the moderate number of claimants that 
 there are. The fact is that almost all the professions, and all 
 the trades, such as we mostly understand them, are closed to 
 them ; and this for the simple reason that before you can be 
 a master in any trade you must be an apprentice ; but an 
 apprenticeship is just what our native Christians can't get. 
 And here one ought to remember that it is not only the 
 religious difference which makes a master unwilling to take a 
 Christian apprentice, but it is also the immemorial laws of 
 caste usage which make it practically imperative on the son 
 to follow the profession of his father whatever that may be, 
 and so to take a young outsider, of whom they know nothing, 
 is just what our Aryan brethren of this country are never 
 asked to do, and never do. . . . The chief outlets at present for 
 Christians are two the printing presses, which require a large 
 number of young hands, and being chiefly in Government or 
 Mission hands are open to all; and employment in the Mission 
 in some way or other ; but, obviously, the one of these is as 
 unsatisfactory as the other is insufficient. I mean to say that 
 the presses must soon, and indeed it seems that they have 
 already got their full complement, while one sees at once 
 that many a man may be called to be a Christian and yet 
 not be fitted to put forward as a representative of Christianity 
 before his fellow-countrymen, in the way in which he is when 
 he becomes a paid agent of the Mission ; not to speak of the 
 ready imputation of bad motives to which they are laid open 
 by the fact of so often obtaining a position and income better 
 and far more assured to them than theirs was before their 
 Baptism. It is under some such circumstances as these that 
 we have thought it right to try and open one more outlet for 
 our native brothers in the Faith. Domestic service. It 
 must, of course, at best be a very diminutive one, but if it 
 were only a dozen or so that we could dispose of in as 
 many years still this would be better than letting the same 
 number go to the bad just because they have nothing to do."
 
 THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 37 
 
 In 1884 Lefroy reviewed the work of the Mission to the 
 Chumars in a letter to Dr. Westcott, which was printed as an 
 " Occasional Paper," but now out of print. It is too long to 
 reprint here, and I proceed to give the substance of it. First, 
 he meets the criticism that it was not the business of the 
 Cambridge Brother to work among the low castes. He 
 replies that the circumstances were such as to make this 
 step inevitable. They found an over-burdened Mission 
 which had been in existence twenty years. From 1877 up 
 to 1 88 1 there had been large accessions owing probably to 
 famine. They found some eight hundred persons who were 
 supposed to be Christians, but who could only be so termed 
 in a most superficial sense. The so-called Christians of this 
 class were entangled with caste in all their old customs. 
 They could not be left in that condition without scandal to 
 the Mission, and without incurring probably the criticism of 
 educated Hindus and Moslems. Secondly, how could these 
 so-called Christians be helped ? Mr. Winter had persistently 
 held that they ought to be left with their caste relatives and 
 neighbours to act as leaven. He was not in favour of segrega- 
 tion. On the other hand, the Cambridge men, after two years' 
 observation, considered that the leaven was such only in 
 name, and would soon lose its character, and that some form of 
 segregation must be attempted. Mr. Winter gave his consent 
 to the experiment, and Lefroy proceeded to create Christian 
 Bustis at Daryaganj. At the same time he was quite aware 
 of the danger of fostering an exotic growth not fitted to 
 battle with success against surrounding temptations. A little 
 square of eight houses was built and Christian families were 
 admitted on condition that they observed three rules: (i) to 
 observe Sunday as a rest day ; (2) to use Christian rites 
 exclusively at times of birth, marriage, and death ; (3) to 
 abstain from the use of " charas " (drugs). The families 
 established themselves in the Busti. Then in due time came 
 the clash with the old-time customs, and it was necessary to 
 take some drastic step in order to make the dividing line 
 clear between the old life and the new. The plan adopted 
 was to hold a Panchayat a meeting, well understood in 
 Indian life. Lefroy gives a graphic picture of the scene, full 
 of dramatic incidents. The two forces met half an hour
 
 38 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 after midnight, with the European missionaries as spectators. 
 The lights were little flickering points, but these were 
 sufficient to illumine faces engaged in controversy, subtle, 
 endless in length. So the hours passed. The Europeans 
 would not intervene. It was for Indian Christians to settle 
 their position against the others. Finally a bowl of Ganges 
 water was introduced by the caste people, and all were asked 
 to lift it up as an act of worship if they still adhered to the 
 caste. When daylight came the remnant was small, but 
 these at 7.30 a.m. went into their chapel for worship. The 
 exhausted missionaries returned, convinced that it was their 
 duty to obtain reality at the cost of losing thereby the merely 
 nominal adherents. 
 
 I print here for convenience, and to emphasize the deter- 
 mination of the Mission to sustain reality, two letters written 
 three years afterwards. 
 
 "Delhi: April 12, 1887. 
 
 " In our Mission Council this morning we discussed a 
 question which has been looming in the distance, has only 
 been staved off so long by R. R. W.'s reluctance to touch 
 it, and must, as every one knows, come sooner or later. Do 
 you at all realise the principle involved in the big night 
 meeting in Daryaganj of which I wrote an account in an 
 Occasional Paper? Out of the many baptized Christians who 
 were living in the old ties and customs of the old Chumar 
 brotherhood a few determined, as the only way of attaining 
 to any kind of really Christian standpoint, to definitely sever 
 all connection with the old Brotherhood. These constitute 
 the inmates of ray ' Bastis.' It was, of course, hoped at the 
 time that this example would be followed by many more. 
 Sad to say it has not been so, and year by year we are 
 becoming more conscious of the dead weight round our 
 necks in all further efforts for the spread of Christ's kingdom 
 which the pressure of such a mass of absolutely nominal 
 Christians is. The time is therefore coming very near when 
 we (not the Padres only, but the body of the Christian 
 Church here which has in any degree attained to a higher 
 life) must take measures to call upon these men to do one 
 thing or other, either to confess themselves Chumars, and 
 have their names struck off our lists and be no more 
 recognised as Christians, or to come out as Christians in 
 some more or less real way. That it will, of course, mean the 
 lapse of a great number there can, I fear, be no douht ; but
 
 THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 39 
 
 indeed lapse is not the right word to use, when it is no 
 actual fall, but a simple realisation and honest declaration of 
 a state of things which has existed all through. . . . We 
 bring the matter before our Easter Vestry next Tuesday, and 
 start the ball thus." 
 
 "Delhi: Mays, 1887. 
 
 " We are having a good deal of stir just now in various 
 ways. First of all, there is the movement towards discipline 
 among our poor Chumar Christians, to which I alluded in 
 some previous letter. It will mean a great searching of 
 hearts, and the lapse, I fear, of the vast majority of our 
 present nominal Christians ; but, terrible as such a remedy 
 must be, I do from my heart of hearts believe that it is 
 better than our present state, and indeed, under the circum- 
 stances, the condition of any internal growth or onward 
 progress. But besides this there are beginning to be signs, 
 I feel almost sure, of something stirring among our College 
 students. There are at present two definite cases on : one 
 a Hindu who has been reading privately with A. for some 
 time, and is now, I think, trying to make up his mind for the 
 wrench of Baptism ; the other, a more remarkable one, a 
 young Parsee (than whom as a race there are scarcely any 
 stronger opponents of Christianity) who is high in his class 
 in the College, and a few weeks ago was deeply stirred, 
 chiefly as far as we can make out by the 5ist Psalm, and is 
 coming to W. wanting almost immediate Baptism. It is a 
 terrible thing to say, and to have to feel, but in all cases out 
 here one has under the sad teachings of experience to ask is 
 there any possible underlying motive (other than the apparent 
 one) one cannot tell ; there does not in this case seem to be. 
 But whether or not we have any disappointment in the case 
 of these individuals, which I trust in God's mercy we may 
 not have, they may still, I believe, be taken as first signs of 
 a coming movement. It will be a very great privilege if we 
 are permitted so soon to see definite incoming;; of our labour. 
 Of course it may very possibly not be so, but the thought of 
 it helps to invigorate one for a stronger, more earnest life." 
 
 ."Delhi: May 28, 1887. 
 
 " We had the big Panchayat of which I spoke in my 
 letter to H. C. C. on Wednesday last about 6-10.30 p.m. It 
 was certainly a very momentous occasion, and I hope to tell 
 you more about it some day. In numbers it was even worse 
 than any of us, I believe, had contemplated. Out of a 
 nominal roll of 500 or 600 at least, about 50 or 60 were
 
 40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 present. These, however, made rather a firmer stand than we 
 had expected. Practically, then, with a great sweep of the 
 work of years we start again anew with this remnant. It 
 seems a terrible thing, and one may well ask whether the 
 evils of the present system could be great enough to justify 
 such extreme action ; but I have myself no doubt whatever 
 that it was right to do it, and I humbly and earnestly believe 
 that the building up of a real congregation may be taken to 
 date almost from this." 
 
 A scene at Kohat emphasises the same point. The letter 
 is written many years later, when he was Bishop of Lahore. 
 
 Kohat : Feb. I, 1905. 
 
 " A man had, after years of work and waiting on the part 
 of the missionaries, come forward and asked for Baptism, and, 
 as there is, alas ! no clerical missionary at this station, only 
 two doctors, I was to baptise him, and a very memorable 
 scene, for me at least, it was. Dr. Pennell much counselled 
 the baptism to be in public and disabuse the people's mind of 
 the common idea that we make a man a Christian by feeding 
 him with swine's flesh and giving him beer to drink (their 
 chief conception of an Englishman's religion !) and letting them 
 see what baptism really is. Accordingly, it was to take place 
 in the little open square in the centre of the village. The 
 clouds were so threatening (there had been unusually heavy 
 rain during the last week which made much of the going, 
 frequently across fields, never on any proper road, very heavy 
 for the horses, also the cold has been great, unlike anything 
 I have ever before felt in India) that to the last moment we 
 did not know whether the service could take place in the open ; 
 but at last we sallied forth, armed with an umbrella for my 
 protection if the rain should come down. Just as we entered 
 the square a rather untoward little incident, tell it not in Gath, 
 occurred. We had to cross a little bridge, the earth was 
 slippery with the rain, and as I stepped down from it, heading 
 the procession, remember in full vestments, my feet slid from 
 under me and, without a chance of saving myself, I measured 
 my length in the mud, almost into the stream, fortunately not 
 quite. No harm was done whatever, though the Rochet did 
 not look at its best. I rather dreaded the effect of the incident, 
 as an omen, on the new convert ; but it was interesting to be 
 told that it was sure not to strike the people in that light at all, 
 because rain is so essentially the great blessing in this land 
 that all connected with it, including apparently mud, slipperi-
 
 THE LEATHER WORKERS OF DELHI 41 
 
 ness and falls, is viewed as of evidently good omen. A funny 
 point of view to us ! Anyhow they were quite clear that the 
 fact of rain falling on the day was so marked a sign of God's 
 hand on us for good as more than to outweigh any such little 
 incident as my fall 
 
 " Then the Baptism took place, the man answering clearly 
 and decidedly, and his two little boys, quite little, being 
 baptised with him, while many of the villagers were gathered 
 round the edge of the square, watching and listening keenly 
 though saying nothing. It was an experience to thank 
 God for."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN MISSION SCHOOLS 
 
 IN 1883 Lefroy wrote another " Occasional Paper" on the 
 above subject. It seems to me to be of permanent value. 
 Nor do I know that further experience has tended in any way 
 to modify what this young Cambridge man set down after 
 three years' experience. Advisedly, I print full extracts on 
 this subject in close juxtaposition with the work among the 
 low castes. In both spheres, so utterly different, George 
 Lefroy was evincing the qualities of a sane and trusted leader. 
 
 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN MISSION SCHOOLS. 
 
 " I have been asked to put shortly on paper my impressions 
 as to the moral influence which the system of Education that 
 we are now pursuing is calculated to bring to bear on the boys 
 attending our schools, and also as to the effects of it if any 
 which may already have become discernible. . . . 
 
 " And first as to the opportunities which we have for forming 
 any opinion on the subject at all. These are principally 
 threefold 
 
 " (a) The Regular Religious Lesson with which we begin 
 
 each day's work in school and college. 
 " () The more personal and private interviews and conver- 
 sations which we are able to have with a few of our 
 pupils who come to us out of school hours for help, 
 either in their regular subjects or more frequently 
 in some extra piece of reading which they are taking 
 up for themselves and which does not come into 
 the course of the regular lessons. 
 
 " (c) A prize essay which we set them usually on some sub- 
 ject more or less directly religious twice a year, and 
 in which we try to elicit an honest statement of their 
 own opinions. It is in this, of course, that we get 
 the most direct assertions of beliefs and disbeliefs, 
 42
 
 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN MISSION SCHOOLS 43 
 
 though there must always remain a question as 
 to the value of such assertions representing truly 
 and honestly the writer's mind. 
 
 " Of these the most important as it is the most frequent 
 and the most methodical is probably the regular class lesson, 
 and yet it is, perhaps for the very reason of its regularity, the 
 one in regard to which I find it most difficult to form an 
 opinion as to its probable or achieved influence. 
 
 " That it may be made thoroughly interesting that it is 
 very often quite the reverse is an opinion from which probably 
 but few religious teachers of any country or any class will 
 dissent, as also that the difference in this respect depends 
 principally on the teacher, on his own interest in the work and 
 the care and thoroughness with which he has prepared it for 
 his pupils beforehand. 
 
 " That the generality of the boys and young men of this 
 country show any special aptitude for or interest in religious 
 teaching is an opinion from which I should be inclined to 
 differ. 
 
 " It is, I believe, often said that the native mind is naturally 
 religious, and there can be no doubt that it is so if by this is 
 meant that they are greatly interested in and show a most 
 remarkable aptitude for the Philosophy of Religion (by which 
 I mean abstract speculation as to the Divine Essence, the 
 nature of life, and such like), or for the outward ceremonial and 
 detail of religion. 
 
 " Of this one meets with most abundant proof, not only in 
 the more educated minds with which we come in contact in 
 schools and colleges, but in the case of the commonest 
 tradesman or mechanic who often interrupt the Bazaar preach- 
 ing with a question of such metaphysical or speculative depth 
 as would be, I believe, quite beyond the reach of the ordinary 
 Englishman either to originate or appreciate, as they certainly 
 are most difficult to answer. If, on the other hand, by ' reli- 
 gious ' is meant that they are possessed of that acute moral 
 sense which we believe to lie at the very foundation of all truly 
 practical religion, there can, I think, be no doubt that Hindus 
 and Mahommedans alike so far from being highly possessed 
 of this lack it in an almost incredible degree. To this the 
 Pantheism of the one and the absolute predestinarianism of 
 the other most probably largely contribute, but whatever the 
 causes may be the effect can scarcely be denied by any one 
 who either meets them personally or is at all acquainted with 
 their religious maxims or doctrines on the subject of sin. 
 " And further, in addition to this blunted sense of moral
 
 44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 responsibility, there is an aversion to, or at any rate an incom- 
 petence to appreciate, anything like Historical Evidences 
 which often sorely troubles us when dealing with a religion 
 essentially so historical as Christianity. It will therefore be 
 seen that while in some respects we find greater receptivity, in 
 others, and these perhaps more important ones, we find greater 
 bluntness and want of interest than would usually be the case 
 in England. 
 
 " And yet I hope that our work of these three years has not 
 been altogether in vain. Allnutt has been occupied with a 
 lengthy course on Natural Religion, the need of Revelation, 
 the characteristics of a true Religion, and so on, while I have 
 been engaged with Biblical subjects, at first parts of the 
 Historical books of the O.T., and latterly the opening of the 
 Epistle to the Romans. This last has certainly, as might have 
 been expected, worked more interest than any of my previous 
 subjects, but besides this there is, I think, a distinctly per- 
 ceptible advance in the Hindus, who form the bulk of our 
 senior class, in the definiteness of their perception of a present 
 personal God a belief almost wholly lacking to Hinduism 
 and in the one Mahommedan whom we have, in the recognition 
 of the need of some high standard of morality, though at 
 present he chiefly confines himself to moral maxims and advice, 
 not realising their insufficiency and the need of their being 
 backed by some practical and enabling power. I don't think 
 one can say very much more about the daily lesson. . . . 
 
 "In the way of private intercourse I have personally seen 
 most of two boys ; the Hindu, of whom I have just been 
 speaking, and the Mahommedan, to whom I have alluded as 
 the only one in the uppermost class. Of the former I have 
 not much to add to what I have already said. Our conversa- 
 tion did not often turn on directly religious subjects, though 
 a book he showed me one day was an indication of the turn 
 his thoughts were taking ; it was a collection of essays by 
 some of the leading Hindu reformers who are now making so 
 much way in Calcutta and other places, and whose effort is to 
 fall back from the corruptions of later Hinduism on the purer 
 teaching of the Vedas. A letter we have just received from 
 this boy is also interesting as showing the view he has taken 
 of our religious instruction, especially just at the present time, 
 when a Delhi local paper has been urging against us with 
 great vigour that we compel the attendance of our students at 
 religious services and teaching in opposition alike to the wishes 
 of the parents and of the boys. He writes, and I believe, from 
 his personal character, that he means much at any rate of what
 
 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN MISSION SCHOOLS 45 
 
 he says, already quoted on p. 24 : 'I cannot find words to 
 express,' etc. The conclusion may verge on bathos, but I 
 believe it is not the less genuine. . . . 
 
 " I don't think anything is left for me to say now, except to 
 make a few quotations from the essays to which I have 
 previously alluded, but first a word as to the object and nature 
 of these. In many missionary schools it has been, and I 
 suppose is, the habit, following in this the precedent of the 
 great Duff, to instruct the boys thoroughly, not merely in the 
 rudiments, but also in the deepest and most mysterious 
 doctrines of our Christian faith, and then set questions, or an 
 essay, intended to draw out the knowledge so imparted, it of 
 course being understood that the scholars wrote from the head 
 only, in no way expressing their own conviction or sincerely 
 accepting the truth of what they, in many cases most ably, put 
 on paper. Without expressing any opinion on this method I 
 want it to be most clearly understood that it is not one which we 
 follow ourselves. On the other hand, our chiefest endeavour is 
 to elicit an expression of really honest opinion, whether or not 
 it be in accordance with what we would fain see believed : 
 this the very wording of the subject for our last essay 
 sufficiently shows. It ran thus : 
 
 " ' In what way do you think it probable that Indian society 
 will be affected as regards 
 
 (a) Its prevalent modes of thought, 
 
 (b) its religions, 
 
 (c) its manners, customs, and beliefs, scientific or other- 
 
 wise, 
 
 by the continuance and development of education on its 
 present lines.' 
 
 " I need hardly say that we did not so stultify ourselves as 
 to endeavour, either by suggestions of our own or by references 
 to books, to supply them with an answer to a question so 
 couched. Furthermore, I believe that the boys know we do 
 want them honestly to say what they think, and that they are 
 not the least more likely to get the prize if they say what is 
 in accordance with our views than if they vigorously maintain 
 the opposite. That this is so may, I think, be proved by a 
 passage in one of these two essays where the writer defends 
 on philosophical grounds the prevailing idolatry as practised 
 by the more educated and thoughtful Hindus. He says, 
 
 " ' The native students maintain their belief in the worship of 
 deities, on the reason that they do not worship them merely as stones, 
 but as representing the figure of God in different incarnations, such
 
 46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 as Krishna, Rama, and Siva, preserving the unity of God under 
 different names.' 
 
 " This, while from personal knowledge I believe it does 
 thoroughly represent the writer's own standpoint, is hardly the 
 line that would have been taken had it been sought to curry 
 favour by an incipient Christianity. On the other hand, I do 
 not mean to say that one can always be certain in the case of 
 these writers, any more than of others, that they quite mean 
 all they say. They may of course, as much as others, be 
 induced by motives of supposed expediency to suppress 
 opinions they really hold, or express others of which they are 
 at best but half convinced. I merely want to point out what 
 our own intention is in setting these essays, and I think the 
 words I have quoted, as well as others, which will follow, show 
 that that intention is to a large extent understood and acted 
 on. Having said thus much I will now quote a few passages 
 from each paper. The Hindu describing the spread of a more 
 liberal and thoughtful spirit, says, 
 
 " ' The most important effect of the Western education is that the 
 natives have begun forming societies in which they try to remove 
 their social and customary abuses. As an illustration of the fact let 
 us choose two chief castes of the Hindus, viz. Kayasth and Khattri. 
 These two castes are generally more educated than others, and 
 consequently the effect on their minds has been greater than on 
 others. The Kayasths have formed a National Society in which 
 different subjects are discussed for the improvement of mutual 
 advantage, viz. the abolition of those customs which are superfluously 
 expensive, the restrictions in the expense of marriage ceremonies and 
 such other things. . . . These societies represent marked distinctions 
 between the old men who are uneducated in Western sciences and 
 the young educated students. The former wish to retain as far as 
 possible the old customs, the latter wishing to abolish them and form 
 new rules about them.' 
 
 "Again, as to the obliteration of sharp caste distinction in 
 the matter of trades, he says, 
 
 " ' The distinction of caste or rather of trade-holders is quite gone 
 away by the Western education. Previously every caste had its own 
 profession, and was not allowed under any circumstances to alter it. 
 Now when the Western education welcomed all kinds of persons 
 whether high or low, the thoughts of each of them equally improved 
 and they were left to adopt whatever line of trade they may choose 
 or to improve their own.' 
 
 " Again, as to the decrease of superstition, 
 
 " ' The natives held and still hold superstitious thoughts in all
 
 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN MISSION SCHOOLS 47 
 
 their actions. Whenever they go to some work or leave their home 
 to go to some other.city they looked for good omens, viz. whether it is 
 a favourable time for them to do so or not. They consulted with 
 the Monks or Faqirs about their future fate and considered them as 
 supernatural persons who also pretended to foretell their fates and 
 thus earned much money while apparently suffering very much by 
 excessive hard life, by which they might be considered as being 
 deeply engaged in the thought of God. The educated natives do 
 not consider them in any respect higher than themselves, but on the 
 contrary think them as wicked persons cheating the people and 
 earning money by false means.' 
 
 " Remarking on the fact, that Hindus have been so far much 
 more affected by Western education than the Mahommedans, 
 he traces it to three causes : (i) The ignorance of their religion 
 prevailing among young Hindus ; (2) The failure of historical 
 or geographical proof; (3) The inevitable result on native 
 worship of even a slight acquaintance with science. Thus, he 
 says, 
 
 " ' i. The Hindu students in their school life have no knowledge 
 whatever of their religion, and in that course of time (viz. boyhood) 
 they go on to perform their religious ceremonies without knowing 
 what they mean ; they simply obey the will of their parents in doing 
 so, for some of these ceremonies seem troublesome and needless to 
 the young student. When such is the condition of their knowledge 
 of their own religion it is not very difficult that they can be made 
 more doubtful about the truth of their religion by the well-developed 
 and scientific education. 
 
 " ' 2. Another reason of their having become less superstitious or 
 rather possessing opposite views of their religion is that Hinduism 
 fails entirely to prove its historical evidences. There are great 
 exaggerations in mentioning the geographical positions of the places 
 which are the scenes of the great works of their religious heroes, or 
 which are the worshipping places. These exaggerations are found 
 to be utterly false by a very little knowledge of the Western education. 
 The student is thus left to choose which side he likes, either he should 
 leave his religion or he should not accept the testimonies of the great 
 scientific explorers. As an example of the controversy between the 
 Hindu religion and Western science we may state as follows. The 
 Hindu Religious books teach that the source of the river Ganges is 
 Heaven, and that it flows from the head of Siva. The truth of this 
 legend can be easily rejected by the knowledge of the geography of 
 India where we find that the Ganges derives its source from the 
 Himalayan Mountains and pursues a regular course. 
 
 " ' 3. The worship of nature, such as fire, water, and rain, which is 
 an essential part of the Hindu Religion, is not of much satisfaction 
 to the educated students ; they have rejected it, or rather they can 
 reject it by a little knowledge of Physics and Chemistry in which
 
 48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 they learn what these elements of nature are ; how they are guided by 
 the established rules of cause and effect, and have no sense of being 
 considered as things of worship.' 
 
 " He concludes with what is, I think, a very remarkable 
 appeal for further information respecting Hinduism in order 
 that he, and others in the like position, may have the materials 
 necessary for a final decision. 
 
 " ' All the above arguments show that the Western education has 
 decidedly disturbed the educated minds and weakened their belief in 
 their own Religion. In the end it is better to say that if a little 
 knowledge of Hinduism will be given to the native students it will 
 remove all kinds of doubt which they possess and their minds will 
 become clear. Either they will adhere to their own religion with 
 firmness and will throw off the thoughts of swinging between the two, 
 or they will entirely reject Hinduism and adopt any other religion in 
 which they might find more truth and reasonable facts.' 
 
 "And now turning for a moment to the Mahommedan's 
 essay, there are just a few points, I think, one may notice. 
 Not many, for though it got the first prize, and is very 
 decidedly better than the other as well in depth and arrange- 
 ment of thought as in style, yet it contains fewer passages fitted, 
 by definite allusion and distinct expression of opinion on 
 matters of detail, for quotation in such a paper as this. 
 Alluding to effects already achieved and due in his opinion to 
 Western education, he says : 
 
 " ' Every one knows that it has raised the tone of the native Public 
 Service, purified the native Bench and improved the native Bar, 
 though more particularly in Bengal, Bombay, and Madras ; but these 
 being parts of India and inhabited by our own brethren, we may 
 hope the day will come when Upper India also will be on a level 
 with them.' 
 
 " Again, he notes an improvement in tone and manner of 
 thought among the people generally : 
 
 " ' The impurity and wildness of thought which have been for 
 centuries notorious characteristics of our society are now dying out. 
 Bear in mind that when I say they are dying out, I do not mean that 
 they have died out. But still it (i.e. what has been already accom- 
 plished) is a great achievement of the English education, seeing that 
 they were for many centuries the pith and point of our thoughts. 
 The probability that this healthy effect is due chiefly to English 
 education, arises from the consideration that the impurity and wild- 
 ness began to lose their ground only when English education began 
 to spread, i.e. it was only twenty years ago that they began to vanish.
 
 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN MISSION SCHOOLS 49 
 
 Credulity has passed off, though leaving scepticism in its place as its 
 deputy in many cases, especially with regard to Religion.' 
 
 " And further on as to the cause of this, on the whole, 
 undoubted improvement : 
 
 " ' Then to what cause is this amelioration due ? The answer is 
 evident. To nothing else most probably than the influence of English 
 education. The sense of duty, estimation of virtue, importance of 
 truthfulness and honesty, love of their country, and liberty in thought, 
 word, and deed, have begun to take the place of the old impurity and 
 wildness in thought, and credulity of our society.' 
 
 " Deficiency in moral courage accounts for the results not 
 being greater than they actually are : 
 
 " ' The reason why the above mentioned qualities and others like 
 them have not yet begun to be displayed in public is, I believe, that 
 the age of practice has not yet come, and the age of theory is still 
 lingering, i,e. the age in which men rest satisfied merely with knowing 
 the meaning and value of some good principles and do not act upon 
 them, having got no mental courage enough to show them by actions.' 
 
 " The same is the case with religion : 
 
 " ' Still later (i.e. after Hinduism and Buddism) they were thrown 
 into doubt by having now Mahommedanism forced upon themselves, 
 then Christianity presented to them ; but doubt alone could not have 
 been sufficient to prevent them from deciding upon a pure religion, 
 had they not been silenced by the base fear of being out-casted ; in 
 other words, had they not been bound by the ties of caste-distinction 
 an intricate snare first laid down by the earliest selfish Brahmans, 
 and then kept on firm by ignorance.' 
 
 " And the purely secular character of the Government 
 teaching is further responsible for this : 
 
 " ' We must not expect too much from Indian society as to this 
 point, seeing that an effect is adequate to its cause, in other words, 
 bearing in mind that English education has been up to this time 
 neither a religious nor a philosophical one, and hence imperfect. 
 But religion is a matter of heart not of head ; it appeals to the heart 
 alone which is improved and purified only by a religious and moral 
 education. We are not, however, unaware of how much the mis- 
 sionaries here in India are doing towards it. Hence we are obliged, 
 dividing the present education into two kinds, Government non- 
 religious education and Missionary religious education, to treat of their 
 effects separately. The effects of Government non-religious education 
 lie chiefly in the direction of destroying the beliefs, directly or 
 indirectly, of the natives, whether they be Hindus, Mahommedans, 
 Bengalis, Punjabis, Sikhs, or Parsis. No one believes the Ganges as 
 

 
 So LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 coming down from heaven, or from a finger of some God therein, or 
 eclipses as wrathful expressions of God's tumultuous contests, or some 
 seven seas of delicious fluids as flowing round the world. Still such 
 destructive effects are the first most necessary steps towards gaining 
 truth. No one can appreciate truth adequately unless he knows the 
 absurdities of falsehood. 
 
 " ' The effects of Mission religious education operate chiefly in two 
 directions. 
 
 " ' (i) In that of edifying the natives of this country directly and 
 indirectly, while at the same time it carries on its work of destruction 
 more effectually. . . . 
 
 " ' (2) In the direction of creating in the hearts of the natives a 
 strong desire for search after truth a fact attested by the bustle of 
 so many truth-searching societies as the Arya, Brahma, Prarthana 
 Samajes, or as the Theosophical and Sayyid Ahmed Khan societies, 
 which all clearly point to the strong desire to search for truth. As to 
 the future probable effects of English education on Indian society 
 with regard to religion, all the above facts combine to point out that 
 the day will come when these numerous societies will find out one 
 common universal truth by the light of Western enlightenment and 
 decide upon it The day will come when the natives of this country, 
 getting sufficient moral strength from English education, will bid 
 adieu to this age of theory and will publicly acknowledge what 
 religious opinions they hold, and on what firm religious moral 
 principles they act.' 
 
 "One more quotation and I have done, and this on the 
 need of a higher family life. 
 
 " ' But as regards their family life the absence of two things is felt 
 more painfully. 
 
 " ' (i) The absence of domestic warmth and happiness. 
 
 " ' (2) The absence of real order and wise management of house- 
 hold things and affairs. 
 
 " ' These are chiefly owing to the ignorant and degraded condition 
 of our women, in which they are generally kept, though a few Hindu 
 and Mahommedan families have begun to have their daughters 
 educated by English ladies. But these families, few as they are, lead 
 us to hope for and expect the day when Indian daughters will 
 generally be found educated and enlightened like their Western 
 sisters making their houses warm and happy.' 
 
 " On such passages as these I think I need say nothing. 
 This much at any rate they show, that the long fallow ground 
 is being at least has commenced to be broken up, and that 
 seeds of deeper thought and higher aspiration are being sown. 
 It remains only for us to pray that in His own good time the 
 Lord of the harvest may give the increase." 
 
 CAMBRIDGE MISSION, DELHI. 
 February^ 1883.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 HEADSHIP OF THE MISSION 
 
 ENOUGH has been said to prove George Lefroy's intellectual 
 capacity. He possessed the power of growth, and was 
 steadily exhibiting such signs of leadership that no one will 
 be surprised that, though the youngest member of the original 
 band, men began to speak of him as the head of the Mission 
 when Bickersteth's resignation owing to ill-health had to be 
 accepted. One subject, however, still has to be handled, the 
 deeper question of spirituality and habits of devotion. In 
 1885 his father died, and portions of letters written in quick 
 succession tell their own tale. 
 
 Just after hearing of his father's call home. 
 
 " Delhi : Dec. 15, 1885. 
 
 "... I don't know anything which has been as great a 
 help to me during the last few years in deepening the inner 
 life as death. As one after another of those dear to us pass 
 through the veil it seems to be in a very real sense ' torn in 
 twain/ and the other world becomes very real and present to 
 us, and it is not only that we are able to keep hold of them, 
 but by keeping hold of them we enter more and more into 
 the consciousness of the Communion of Saints, and realise 
 that we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- 
 citizens with the Saints and of the household of God." 
 
 "Dec. 22, 1885. 
 
 " Two verses have come very much home to me during my 
 reading this week, and have been a great help to me. The 
 first seems to me to bear such a close reference to dear father 
 himself at present. ' Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest 
 and receivest unto Thyself. He shall dwell in Thy courts 
 and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of Thy House, even 
 of Thy holy Temple.' Isn't it a bright thought that our own 
 
 51
 
 52 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 father is one of the last who has been so chosen and received, 
 and is now entering into that perfect ' Satisfaction ' sharing 
 in the worship of the Blessed ones, being changed from glory 
 unto glory, and growing continually in the likeness to his 
 dear Lord, and ours because seeing Him in open Vision as 
 He is ? It seems to me a very bright message, and if one can 
 only realise it, it seems to put us so into touch with the 
 unseen world now that we have such a great treasure there, 
 and are granted in Christ to maintain our relation to him. 
 
 " ' Round the altar Priests confess 
 
 If their robes are white as snow, 
 'Tis the Saviour's righteousness 
 
 And His blood that made them so.' 
 
 " I do think really that as one after another of those we 
 love pass in through the door to the other world they leave 
 it if we will, and by the grace of God a little bit more 
 ajar each time, and make it easier for us to go in and out 
 and find pasture and refreshment in Christ. I am sure this 
 is one way, at any rate, in which a beautiful thought of our 
 dear old Bishop's, in a letter I have just got from him, is 
 fulfilled. I think I must quote it to you. ' On my journeys 
 I trust it may be given me to bear you and yours in my 
 heart in prayerful recollection and commendation to Him 
 whose wellsprings of strength and comfort are not exhausted, 
 though some of the purest streams which fetched and brought 
 their refreshments to us seem for the present to fail us ; as 
 to how far even these do fail us we know but little.' But 
 since they do, at any rate, seem to fail us, then comes in my 
 other verse : ' They thirsted not when He led them through 
 the desert. Yea, He caused water to flow out of the rock 
 for them. He smote the rock also and the water gushed 
 out.' Isn't that exactly how it is ? It is the desert, and in 
 one sense it must be so ; but it is a desert into which He has 
 led us and therefore the desert itself shall ' gush out with 
 water' for us, and what seems its very hardest places shall 
 be ' wellsprings of strength and comfort.' You will not mind 
 my just talking on like this. You can understand what a 
 solemn and, almost, mysterious position it is to be in just to 
 know by the one telegram or the two that the dear father is 
 no longer with us here below, but to know nothing more 
 nothing that would seem in any way, so to speak, to lead up 
 to it and bring it into its true connection with the whole of 
 life. You can imagine with what a solemn interest I wait 
 your letters, now to note how the Master's call first made
 
 HEADSHIP OF THE MISSION 53 
 
 itself heard, and then to learn whatever you can tell as to 
 the end itself the end which yet, as Phillips Brooks so 
 insists, is not the end of life, but an experience in life. 
 
 " Your long and welcome Christmas letter reached me on 
 the very day, the day which in some ways never seemed to 
 have so deep a meaning as this year in its message of 
 restored communion between heaven and earth, of the God- 
 man linking the two natures into closest and most indis- 
 soluble union. I think we have special need this Christmas 
 to turn from the outer more superficial aspect to the deeper, 
 truer one, and thank God for that one-ness in Him which 
 was restored to us as on this day, and before which all 
 separations can only be temporary, must have an end. And 
 how continually the thought recurs in the Bible (rather is it 
 not the one great underlying thought never really absent 
 from a single page ?) that it is in the presence of God, and in 
 that alone, that we find really true and perfect rest, and that 
 all our lives and our loves are strong and permanent and 
 raised above the power of death just so far as they are lived 
 and loved in God. ' My Presence shall go with thee, and I 
 will give thee rest.' ... Of all the notes given us of the 
 heavenly life this is, I suppose, almost the most prominent 
 and emphatic. 'They rest.' It is glorious to think of our 
 own dear ones kept safe in that rest, under the wings of that 
 love till we shall be permitted to join them there." 
 
 "Delhi: Feb. 9, 1886. 
 
 " I was very much struck a few days back by a talk I had 
 with our leading native Christian, Pandit Janki Nath, formerly 
 a Brahman of good position, but now our head schoolmaster, 
 and a very earnest and devout Christian. He was saying 
 that recently two or three deaths had occurred among his old 
 relations, at which he had been present (for though, of course, 
 cut off from ordinary social intercourse, they still recognise 
 his relationship in various ways), and they had brought home 
 to him as nothing ever had before, the special power of the 
 Christian faith in the presence of death. He said it was 
 only when he saw the absolutely unbroken gloom of death, 
 its utter blankness and deep pathetic despair in the eyes of 
 his Hindu relatives, that he realised what Christ had done 
 for him in this respect, and how absolutely the very nature of 
 death was changed to those who are in Christ. I can well 
 imagine how intense and vivid the contrast must appear to 
 such a man so placed, and how he would be able to enter 
 into the ' I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am 
 alive for evermore, and have the keys of death.' "
 
 54 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 There followed in due time a letter from the parishioners 
 of Aghaderg asking whether " Mr. George " would follow his 
 father as Rector. His answer was to be anticipated. 
 
 "Jan. 19, 1886. 
 
 " I have written just a few lines not such as I would, but 
 such as alone I could to the dear people at home whose 
 wish for me mother's last letter told me of. You do not 
 need to be told what in substance my reply has been, and 
 you would not, I know, any of you in the deep of your 
 hearts have had it other, though from what it has been for 
 me when I realised, less I fear for the parish than for the 
 home, and the dear ones of home, what the alternatives 
 meant, I know what the struggle has probably been for you, 
 though I do not believe that any feeling of suspense will 
 have been added, for you will have known so fully that I 
 cannot go otherwise than as the Lord leads me, or leave the 
 work to which, if we can read His calling at all, He has been 
 calling me all these years past, and is still calling me. I 
 won't say anything more about it, for you know all that lies 
 behind what I say, and what it costs, even though, in God's 
 mercy, there is scarcely the shadow there is really not the 
 shadow of a doubt superadded to make decision still more 
 difficult and painful. And I have also the unspeakable 
 comfort of knowing that even if others may possibly think 
 differently at any rate mother and you two are entirely at 
 one with me in our wishes and in one's reading of God's 
 guidance. It has been a very sad thought indeed to realise 
 that the old home must go so soon, and that I must not look 
 forward to find you there once more in July, if I am per- 
 mitted to get away from here then ; but I can only hope that 
 in this, too. we shall be enabled to reach down and grasp the 
 teaching which He has for us in it, and through the symbol find 
 the reality and turn our hearts more closely than ever round 
 Him Who is the one eternal home the everlasting Rock." 
 
 "Jan 26, 1886. 
 
 " Following on father's death came this sorrow about home 
 first of all, just the realisation that I could never be in it as 
 home with you all again, and then the necessity of finally 
 making this certain by my own act. Then there came a 
 great disappointment and trouble in my work here. I won't 
 stop to tell you any details about it now ; not so much 
 because I do not wish to add sorrow to your sorrow, as 
 because I think partly that I exaggerated it owing, perhaps,
 
 HEADSHIP OF THE MISSION 55 
 
 in part to my mental attitude at the time, and already things 
 seem beginning to pull round much better than I had hoped 
 and thought possible ; and partly because I can now see very 
 distinctly how it was part of the Father's loving dealing with 
 me, to complete His work still further, and drive me back 
 from all outer comforts or resting-places on His arm alone 
 and His presence ; and then, lastly, there came, what may 
 seem trivial, but is not so to me, at any rate, circumstanced 
 as I then was, a slight attack of liver, very slight, but just 
 sufficient to give that heavy drowsiness in the evening and 
 early morning which, of all things, makes devotion most 
 difficult, and at any rate destroys all the side of conscious 
 comfort and satisfaction in one's prayers. This also, however, 
 I now know was a part of the same loving discipline for me, 
 and I can only trust that the time I then went through in a 
 sense of supreme emptiness, of being cut off from outward 
 comfort and support of all kind, and of lying, if I may use 
 the expression, which came home to me very vividly then, 
 crushed and bruised under His mighty hand, has not been 
 thrown away but has done, in some measure at any rate, 
 what He would have in driving me in and in on the ultimate 
 basis of Faith and finding comfort, confidence, and strength 
 in Him alone, and the consciousness of His constant Presence. 
 ' Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee,' that hymn has been 
 very much present with me. You will not mind my talking 
 so much about myself." 
 
 And here I may as well summarise scattered notices con- 
 tributed by those most closely associated with Lefroy in 
 regard to his devotional habits. Those habits were early 
 formed, and were never intermitted. 
 
 The Bishop of Singapore, J. Ferguson Davie, once his 
 domestic chaplain, writes : 
 
 " He was an early riser : in Lahore his hour was half-past 
 five in winter and earlier in the summer, and woe betide his 
 ' boy ' if he did not wake him punctually. By thus rising 
 early he got nearly two hours for prayer and reading before 
 he set out to walk to the cathedral daily service, which 
 began at eight ; I do not remember his ever missing this 
 when he was well, and only definite engagements prevented 
 him from being present at the daily Evensong also. Only 
 in August, 1918, while staying with me in Singapore he 
 referred to all that the Lahore Cathedral had been to him, 
 and the regular midday prayers in the little chapel at
 
 56 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Bishopsbourne in Lahore, or in ' Harvington ' at Simla, were 
 indeed periods of time spent with God. It would have 
 seemed unnatural not to have them with absolute regularity 
 and punctuality." 
 
 The Rev. B. K. Cunningham, who joined the Delhi 
 Mission in 1893, writes : 
 
 " While it was perhaps the big humanity and the keen 
 Irish humour of the man which drew one so closely to him, 
 I think what made the deepest impression upon me, as a 
 layman working with him in the Cambridge Mission, was the 
 intensity of Lefroy's belief in the Unseen. ' God ' was so 
 real to him that he could turn from a conversation, it might 
 be the most ordinary or witty, to talk about God or to God 
 without giving the least impression of un naturalness. 
 
 " It used to be my privilege often to accompany Lefroy 
 down to his work in the Daryaganj suburb of Delhi : he 
 would spend there many hours of an evening instructing, 
 visiting, cheering the people, or settling quarrels domestic or 
 general, never hustling even the most stupid of his flock, 
 infinitely patient with the patience which India demands, 
 and which does not come very easily to most Irishmen : all 
 this pastoral work took a great deal out of him and would 
 leave him utterly tired out, and I remember how again and 
 again as we walked home under the stars Lefroy, after 
 talking over the events of the visit, and appreciating keenly 
 any humour which might be in them, would turn to God 
 repeating aloud some hymn of praise, most often 
 
 " ' The day is over with its lights and shadows, 
 The vesper-tide shines tranquil in the west, 
 Then turn thee, O my soul, from things created, 
 
 Unto thy Rest.' 
 Or 
 
 " ' Hail, gladdening light ! ' 
 
 " The former was, I think, his special favourite he told 
 me how strengthening and quieting he found it to be, lifting 
 one right out of self up to God. 
 
 " In the same way it seemed an obvious matter of course 
 for Lefroy to refer any experience at once to God. On one 
 occasion we were on a walking tour, such as he used to love, 
 up in the Himalayas : we were miles from anywhere, we had 
 completely lost our way, the forest was dense and darkness 
 was falling, the position was not without danger. We had a
 
 HEADSHIP OF THE MISSION 57 
 
 sharp division of opinion as to what course to adopt (I had 
 never before contradicted Lefroy so rudely) ; after a pause 
 he gave way, with care and great difficulty we retraced our 
 way step by step to a certain landmark which gave us our 
 bearing. I remember the frankness with which he said 
 ' You were quite right, it might have been very awkward if 
 I had had my way. Let us kneel and give thanks to God.' 
 
 " On another occasion, after Papillon's death, and after 
 the strain of nursing, in which Lefroy in addition to his 
 other work took more than his share, I went down with 
 swine fever. Lefroy was, I knew, anxious and worried, and 
 prayed over me earnestly ; after a couple of days my tem- 
 perature fell suddenly and unaccountably. Lefroy, when he 
 had verified the fact, without another word knelt by the 
 bedside and poured out his heart in thanks to God. 
 
 " These incidents, small in themselves as no doubt they 
 are, and too personal perhaps for publication, are thoroughly 
 illustrative. One learnt from living and working with Lefroy 
 what a happy and strong thing it is to live never very far 
 from the realisation of God's Presence." 
 
 The Rev. J. Godber, Domestic Chaplain in the Calcutta 
 days, writes : 
 
 " Six times every day did he seek guidance in prayer and 
 meditation, and no work of any kind was undertaken without 
 first a few moments in silent prayer. He rose every day at 
 
 6 a.m., no matter how late he had been up the night before, 
 or how sleepless during the night, and from 6.45 a.m. until 
 he went to the cathedral at 7.30 for Holy Communion or 
 Matins, he spent his time in his chapel: and again from 
 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. in prayer and study in the chapel. No 
 newspaper was opened and, as a rule, no business was done 
 before breakfast at 9. At noon every day and at 2 o'clock, 
 
 7 o'clock, and 9.30 every evening he would be found in his 
 chapel, and even when travelling he always tried to keep 
 these times of prayer." 
 
 The cumulative effect of these memories of Lefroy's inner 
 life will act as the spiritual background of all I have to relate. 
 
 A few words about the personnel of the Brotherhood. 
 Murray and Blackett, two of the original six, were compelled 
 to retire in 1880 owing to ill-health. Maitland, a name to 
 be remembered for his work and his great generosity to 
 the Mission, came out in 1881. In the next year, 1882,
 
 58 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Bickersteth's health failed, and after struggling to return he 
 finally resigned in 1884. A. Haig joined in 1883: W. S. 
 Kelly in 1886. In 1884 it became the duty of the Com- 
 mittee, in concert with the Brotherhood and the Bishop of 
 Lahore, to suggest the new Head. Let Lefroy tell the story 
 of events : 
 
 " Delhi : October 7, 1884. 
 
 " A postcard has I think been the extent of my com- 
 munications with you since we heard the news, which is 
 giving us so much sorrow and occasion for thought, of Mr. 
 Bickersteth's loss. [He had been forbidden by the doctors 
 to return.] It is a very heavy blow to us all, as you know, 
 and in some ways I fancy to me almost specially. . . . And 
 it is not we alone, but the whole Mission, and everybody big 
 or little who came across him, feel that a big man is gone 
 from among us. He has not, however, gone without leaving 
 an example which ought to do much, and now we can only 
 hope and pray that by his removal we may, on the one hand, 
 be stirred up to greater keenness and energy of work both 
 to imitate him and to take his place ; and on the other, that 
 we may be the more thrown back on to the One Who is the 
 only One to Whom we can always look, and from Whom all 
 capacity for good work of any kind alone can come. You 
 will easily understand, too, that besides his personal loss there 
 are many questions of weight and difficulty opened up, 
 especially the apportionment of work between us, and the 
 matter of another head. On the latter point we are a good 
 deal stirred in our minds just at present by the announce- 
 ment that the Home Committee propose to proceed without 
 further delay to an election. . . . We hold that, considering 
 our distance from home, the nature of our headship, etc., etc., 
 it is very desirable that we should at least have a prominent 
 voice, if not the actual right of nomination, subject to the 
 approval of the Home Committee. Who is to be the head 
 after it all I don't know, but I fancy Allnutt." 
 
 "Delhi: April 6, 1886. 
 
 " The formal permission to nominate a head with the 
 practical promise that our nomination would be confirmed 
 by the Home Committee, reached us a few days ago, and we 
 fixed on to-day as the first day available for our meeting. 
 Of course, it is the first occasion of the kind among us, and so 
 we have no precedent to fall back upon, and perhaps another
 
 HEADSHIP OF THE MISSION 59 
 
 time we might make it more formal. ... At 6.30 we met in 
 our little private chapel, just the five of us, for Holy Com- 
 munion. H. C. C. celebrated, and we used the Collect, 
 Epistle and Gospel for Whit Sunday, the ' right judgment.' 
 Then after an interval for private prayer we adjourned to 
 our main room, and there after a few words just like himself 
 in their intense humility and simplicity from H. C. C. about 
 the loss we have sustained from being so long without a 
 regular head, and the hope he had that things would go 
 better when we had one, he proposed me. A. seconded, and 
 in a very few words I said I would try. I said how difficult 
 I had found the thought, less on account of the Mission work 
 than for the kind of change it would seem to make in our 
 internal relations, but that I knew it was honestly the wish 
 of both my seniors. And so it was settled. We telegraphed 
 result to Dr. Westcott and probably he will wire confirmation." 
 
 "Delhi: May 18, 1886. 
 
 " It is a solemn evening for me, for to-morrow morning we 
 have our induction of the Superior of the Brotherhood, as we 
 have now come to define the process and the position. A few 
 days since the Bishop wrote to say he could not come, press 
 of work elsewhere making it, to his great regret, quite 
 impossible. We are going to make it very quiet. We meet 
 at 7 for Celebration. H. C. takes the first part of the service 
 to the Gospel. Then he reads a very short statement of the 
 Nomination of the Brotherhood, and its confirmation from 
 home, then asks me a few questions (taken from a service for 
 the purpose in the Priests' Prayer-book), then a few prayers, 
 and then I continue the office and celebrate. After the 
 service we will sit in Chapter and read our rule. That's all, 
 and it could scarcely be less formal, I think ; and yet you 
 know I think in some degree what it means for me. God in 
 His great mercy give me grace to do this and any work to 
 which He calls me." 
 
 In 1887 Bishop Westcott mentions "the great hope which 
 I have entertained of Mr. Lefroy's general influence at Delhi. 
 His missionary work will I am sure be of very wide power and 
 tend to bring the Faith in its real meaning before those who 
 cannot apprehend it as it is commonly offered to them. I 
 cannot express too strongly my joy that he has the guidance 
 of the Mission, and every member of the Mission shares 
 the joy."
 
 60 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 THE MORAL TONE AND ATMOSPHERE OF INDIA 
 
 It is of special interest that upon his appointment as Head 
 of the Brotherhood, Lefroy should have summed up, first in a 
 sermon in Westminster Abbey in August, 1886, and then in an 
 " Occasional Paper " addressed as a letter to Dr. Westcott, his 
 general view of the tone and atmosphere of Indian life as it 
 affected the Delhi Brotherhood. I give his leading thoughts 
 as drawn out in twelve printed pages. Behind all temporary or 
 local causes of difficulty " there lies as the most serious difficulty 
 of all that we encounter an intensely low moral tone which 
 has permeated and now broods over the whole country, 
 checking really healthy progress in well-nigh every direction, 
 and above all blunting the power of conscience and the 
 consciousness of sin." He claims that there has been secured 
 by the Gospel a definite advance in public morality. What 
 strikes him after seven years is the want of faith in man as man, 
 the atmosphere of suspicion of one another which prevents the 
 Government or the missionary from progress. It is felt in 
 political life. In Delhi an Indian judge said, " I have been 
 put here by the English authorities and what I mean to do is 
 to keep them content and to give such decisions as may be 
 most agreeable to them." An Indian gentleman said to a 
 high-placed Englishman, " The secret of your rule is the 
 extraordinary way you hang together. In old days the Delhi 
 Emperor scarcely ever sent a Governor into one of the distant 
 provinces without the feeling that in all likelihood the man 
 would throw off his allegiance. With you it never seems to 
 suggest itself to the Viceroy that any of you might do this." 
 Again, it is a common belief among the poorest Christians in 
 Delhi that money sent from England for their support is seized 
 and kept back by the missionaries. So also bribery of officials 
 is looked upon as natural and to be expected. In com- 
 mercial life it is this lack of trust which prevents co-opera- 
 tion. A recent writer in the eighties, computed that bullion 
 to the value of 350 millions sterling had been buried in the 
 last forty years. Partnership in business is shrunk from through 
 mutual mistrust. The same lack of moral tone is apparent in 
 family life. There is a want of faith in the purity of women 
 and in the honour of men which is a fatal bar to the frank
 
 HEADSHIP OF THE MISSION 61 
 
 relation between the sexes. There is another point : " We 
 live in a country where nine-tenths of religious inquirers end 
 their visit with a request for pecuniary help, for instruction 
 in the English language, or for a recommendation to some 
 official post." " Nine-tenths, or considerably more, of the 
 servants seem absolutely incapable of giving you a simple 
 straight answer to the most ordinary indifferent question." 
 Yet there is no reason to despair. I have quoted Lefroy as 
 he wrote thirty-three years ago. Who can doubt that there 
 has been an enormous improvement now in all departments 
 of life in India ? 
 
 The following is a graphic account of strange Indian 
 climatic conditions : 
 
 "Delhi: May 15, 1888. 
 
 " I have seen two strange natural phenomena lately. In the 
 middle of this heat there sometimes comes a violent dust-storm, 
 accompanied often with a thunder shower and sometimes, at 
 the beginning of the hot whether, with hail ; though it is hard 
 enough to fancy where the hail manages to get formed in such 
 an atmosphere. About a fortnight ago we were sitting at 
 tiffin, when such a storm blew up. Presently hail began and 
 we went out into the verandah to watch and saw that it was 
 falling much bigger than usual. We ran out and picked up 
 some as large as very large marbles. Presently, however, we 
 heard a crash on a tin verandah near that told us matters were 
 getting more serious, and looking round we saw a solid ball of 
 ice, at least as large as a good-sized tennis ball. We shouted 
 to the boys and all to get under cover, and presently it began 
 a regular cannonade of these things. I don't mean that it 
 came down as thick as ordinary hail, but at the end of about 
 the five minutes that it lasted you could have counted 
 hundreds of these great balls lying all around. Maitland 
 weighed one after it had fallen into a tank of warm water and 
 certainly lost some of its weight, and found it 5 oz. A child 
 was killed near by. Another town not very far off got it far 
 worse, and about 150 people were killed by the hailstones. 
 I never saw anything like it, and never expect to again. 
 
 " Then a few days since I was walking across the country 
 between two of my out-stations, and I saw a little whirlwind 
 blowing up across the fields. These, too, are not uncommon in 
 the hot whether : just little columns of rapidly circulating air 
 which move across the fields whirling up bits of straw, leaves, 
 etc. I saw, however, that this was much bigger than usual.
 
 62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 When I was about 200 yards off it, the air where I was became 
 perfectly still while the column advanced, the air revolving with 
 such fury that I think it is a question whether I could have 
 stood upright in it, and raising such a cloud of dust that I 
 couldn't the least see through it. I went close up to its track, 
 and it passed about 10 yards in front of me, scarcely affecting 
 the air where I was, and yet raging round its own centre."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 
 
 I HAVE reached at length that period of Lefroy's life work 
 which will be considered by most as of central interest. 
 Reverence for the testimony he gave will grow as they read 
 of his courage, temper, and devotion. They breathe through- 
 out his own letters, albeit unconsciously. In no heroic mood 
 but as a simple piece of ordinary duty George Lefroy prepared 
 himself for his mission to Moslems in the Lord's name. He 
 continued the study of Hebrew, and added Arabic to it. He 
 had already become an eloquent speaker in Urdu : he studied 
 the Koran, and many Moslem classics, as well as the best 
 and most generous books on the Christian side. Then he 
 flung himself into the hottest part of the fight, namely, the 
 bazaars, for preaching and disputation, till he won the dis- 
 tinction, surely almost unique, of being invited to meet 
 thousands of Moslems in their own mosques. We shall 
 also accord him our full sympathy when he sadly reflects on 
 the fact that the most arduous and responsible work he had 
 to do should come of necessity at the end of the day, of days 
 too often crowded with numberless details of business which 
 would seem, on the surface at least, to be mere serving of 
 tables. 
 
 As regards his views of the Mahommedan religion it is 
 not to be expected that he would have anything new to say, 
 but I will presently summarise the chief points in two impor- 
 tant printed papers of his own on the subject. It is the letters 
 which will be read with deep feeling, written as they were to 
 his home circle, and often directly after his return from the 
 bazaar, almost worn out. One difficulty I have had to face, 
 and in the true interest, as I believe, of the Church of God, I 
 
 63
 
 64 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 have had to consider whether I ought to print so many letters 
 of Lefroy's referring to a brother beloved, whom we have 
 long known as the blind Maulvi. After much anxious 
 thought I have decided that it is impossible to keep from the 
 Church, any more than St. Paul could keep back the story 
 of his conversion, and of his own previous persecutions of 
 Christians, the steps which led our brother finally, and for 
 ever, to the feet of Christ. Without question the letters I 
 print will not bring one word of reproach to him, who is now 
 a standard-bearer among us. All I publish will be read with 
 instructed sympathy, at times almost with tears. We shall 
 be taught once more, and in a signal manner, how hard is the 
 path of those who continue to show forth the miracles of 
 grace in our own day, and after conversion, by winning their 
 crown through much tribulation, and after many a stumble. 
 No history of George Lefroy would be complete without such 
 a record. Moreover, we shall also note how his open-hearted, 
 generous, and courteous nature won for him the respect of 
 thousands of Moslems who, so far as we know, remained 
 unmoved by his presentation to them of the Faith of Christ. 
 The fact is, and it should be widely known, that a Moslem 
 respects a religious man who is not only not ashamed of his 
 belief, but is also prepared to stand up for it, and spread it. 
 Only let his Christian protagonist be generous, fair-minded, 
 and ever courteous, and he will give him reverence. The 
 histories of British soldiers and civilians in India, quite as 
 much as of missionaries, have emphasised this fact over and 
 over again. The few Englishmen who actually became 
 objects of worship among some of the Indian race were all 
 godly Christians, and fervently attached to the cause of 
 Christian missions, being also respectful gentlemen. The 
 earliest letter is specially interesting : 
 
 "April 22, 1884. 
 
 "Just before leaving Delhi I had some interesting talks 
 with a Mahommedan Maulvi though I regret to say they 
 came to nothing which I should like to tell you a little 
 about. The way I came across him was this. I was standing 
 one day in the Bazaar listening to a Catechist discoursing on 
 the two parts of the Jewish Law -the Ceremonial from which 
 we are freed, and the Spiritual which we still hold. It is a
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 65 
 
 common point out here, naturally, where the ' Law ' is one of 
 the points we hold in common with Mahommedans, though 
 we take a widely different view of it. At the same time the 
 subject is a difficult one, and I have rarely heard the distinc- 
 tions brought out in a way that seemed to me wholly satis- 
 factory. When he had done a Mahommedan and this, too, 
 usually follows stood forward, and proceeded to show the 
 people that while we in words respect the Law yet in fact we 
 obey no part of it, while the Mahommedans respect both the 
 Ceremonial and the Spiritual. The position is, of course, 
 hopelessly absurd, and merely means that they have not got 
 the least conception of what the Old Testament contains. 
 After he had talked a bit I stepped forward, and said I 
 wanted to ask him a question. Of course he was quite 
 prepared to answer it, so I asked him how often he had been 
 to Jerusalem ? Jerusalem ! why never, of course ; he had 
 been to Mecca, and that was enough for any good Ma- 
 hommedan, etc. Of course the poor man did not, in his 
 ignorance, even see the drift of my question. Then I read 
 him the verse directing that every male should present himself 
 three times a year in Jerusalem, and asked how he had 
 observed this. That, of course, was the end of him ; but 
 then a very superior looking man stepped forward and said 
 he didn't want to make a fool of himself as his brother in the 
 faith had been doing (candid and complimentary I thought), 
 but had some difficulties which he would gladly talk to me 
 about if I would name some suitable place and time. This, 
 of course, is just what we want most of all to get ; so I gladly 
 agreed, only stipulating that as I supposed he wanted not an 
 argumentative victory but the truth on definite points, he 
 should send me his questions in writing beforehand so as to 
 enable me to talk them over with my friends, and reply to 
 him to the best of my power. To this he gladly assented, 
 and in a few days a paper appeared containing several points 
 but chiefly three, (a) Is our Gospel corrupted in its text ? 
 a common point springing out of critical exegesis, and specially 
 stimulated just now by the New Version, which they take to 
 be a new edition of the Bible ! (b} The Divinity of our Lord. 
 (c) The Trinity these two being of course the stock Mahom- 
 medan objections. On one point we had a little dispute : he 
 wanted to have a number of people present ' in order that the 
 more souls might be benefited and a larger number be brought 
 to a saving knowledge of the truth ; ' while I entirely refused 
 on the ground that such saving knowledge comes not from 
 an intellectual discussion but in answer to a humble and
 
 66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 earnest spirit, and that this was a qualification in which crowds 
 so collected were for the most part singularly lacking. I was 
 firm, so he gave way. The first day I met him we took his 
 first point, the various readings of the New Testament. There 
 were about half a dozen of his friends there, but all perfectly 
 quiet and well-behaved, and singularly fair in their attitude 
 towards the argument, recognising a point of mine if sound, 
 or refusing one of his if the reverse with equal readiness. I 
 was much pleased. The question, however, was so entirely 
 technical and scholastic that it was really, at least so I found 
 it, hopeless to try and discuss it with those who have no idea 
 of the very first rules of the critical sciences, and after about 
 two hours we separated, he recognising some of what I had 
 said but stating that he was not satisfied, which was fair 
 enough. For the next meeting I proposed that I should be 
 the interlocutor, for I pointed out that attack is, in these 
 matters, far easier than defence ; that it is often far easier, 
 especially in the mysteries of religious faith, to make objec- 
 tions than to answer them, and therefore it was only fair we 
 should occupy these positions alternately, more especially as 
 I had some difficulties about Mahommedanism I should be 
 glad to have removed. The question I propounded may 
 seem rather a strange one, for it was the origin of evil ; and 
 that it is a point that we Christians do not profess to be able 
 to teach much on ; but therein lies the point, the Mahomme- 
 dans do profess to understand it, and put it down without 
 hesitation to God ; the absolute sovereignty of the God of 
 Islam makes it inconceivable to them that anything should 
 happen in the world otherwise than according to His will, 
 and by His direct command. Hence their teaching about 
 Kismet or fate, which has so fearfully sapped the distinction 
 between good and evil, and has led to the necessary and 
 essentially logical belief that since all alike is by God's 
 decree, the difference of virtue and vice, etc., can be only 
 apparent and superficial. It is this, I believe, which more 
 than anything else hinders our work in this country. There 
 is, and under predestinarianism of this type there can be, no 
 consciousness of sin. In one way he beat me, for he declared 
 it was taught in the Gospel, which he knew well, and quoted 
 Romans ix., to which I could answer nothing ; for, however 
 from a Christian standpoint one may reconcile the teaching 
 there with the simple original and instinctive belief which 
 such teaching seems to contravene (God is good, and cannot 
 therefore be the Author of evil), yet I felt that to have 
 attempted an explanation to them would have seemed mere
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 67 
 
 equivocation, an attempt to escape the obvious teaching of 
 the passage. So I conceded it, and then getting back as far 
 as possible to the original question, I tried to make him say 
 how God can be good if He is really the Author of all the 
 horrible evil we see around us, and which we so loathe : and 
 to show you what Mahommedanism in the logical outcome 
 of its teaching does necessarily lead to (and I believe no 
 learned Mahommedan would dissent from his conclusion) he 
 said, when pressed, though he had sufficient moral instinct 
 not to like to say it, that God was no doubt really responsible 
 for all the evil, but escaped, so to say, the imputation, because 
 there was no higher tribunal which could call Him to account. 
 If there were such, he admitted that he did not see how God's 
 character could be cleared. Is it not an awful position, cut- 
 ting away the very fundamentals of religion beneath us ? ... 
 All he could do was to insist with great earnestness that we 
 poor worms have no right to presume, even in thought, to 
 judge God for a moment, and that we must regard Him as 
 pure. Certainly human nature is better than its creeds 
 sometimes as here : though when I asked him honestly to say 
 whether he thought it possible to love a God of whose inmost 
 character we must thus conceive, he had nothing to say, 
 and could only deprecate the whole question as one beyond 
 our grasp, and here I agreed with him, only asking that we 
 should admit it really beyond our grasp rather than dishonour 
 God by attempting an explanation which leads to such dire 
 conclusions." 
 
 " Nov. 1 8, 1884. 
 
 " I have just this moment come in from a long and excited 
 Bazaar preaching. I think it is perhaps tlte one of our 
 'experiences' that I should most entirely despair of ever 
 bringing home to you ; the whole line of thought and style of 
 objection, not to speak of the temper and genius of the people 
 is so wholly Oriental, for the most part Mahommedan, and 
 unlike anything you know. I have a good deal of fun with 
 them sometimes, and on the whole it is, I think, a very good 
 weapon, if not used unkindly. This evening there was a 
 tremendously impetuous little chap, an old friend of such 
 occasions, who would insist on pouring out torrents of 
 objections and defying me to answer them, supremely regard- 
 less of the fact that I had expressly said that I did not intend 
 to try to do anything of the kind : at last I could only bring 
 home my position to him and the crowd, which was a large 
 one, i.e. some seventy or eighty, by stopping my ears or rather
 
 68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 one, for I could not get at the other: but it did as an 
 illustration and really did make them understand that I was 
 not going to listen. I got the mass of them quite on my side 
 by the end, and the poor little objector was treated with rather 
 scant ceremony. It is perhaps the hardest work of any we 
 have to do, if it is to be done well ; and I do think that, well 
 done, it is about the best, and badly done very much the 
 worst of all we do. We do indeed stand in need of very 
 many and diverse gifts to go through with it successfully, 
 though of course one quality is a necessity, temper and 
 good humour, and this is not always easy." 
 
 " Delhi : Oct. 20, 1885. 
 
 " I am just this moment in from Bazaar preaching, from 
 which fact, if you know anything at all of our work, you may 
 safely predicate that this epistle is not likely to be a long one. 
 I think nothing takes it out of one like Bazaar preaching. . . . 
 To-day the famous Brahman Christian, Nehemiah Goreh, 
 came to us to spend a couple of nights. You probably know 
 him by name, as he has been once at least in England, oftener, 
 I think. He is supposed to be about the best Sanskrit Christian 
 scholar there is and, I believe, a very fine man. 
 
 " We have been in a great deal of anxiety about one of our 
 young converts lately, and indeed are not out of it yet. It is 
 
 , that is, ' dedicated to Christ,' the young Mahommedan 
 
 convert of whom A. wrote an account some time ago in a letter 
 for private circulation, which you have, I hope, seen. In August 
 the college holidays began, and he asked leave to go down and 
 see his old Mahommedan relations a long way off beyond 
 Patna. It meant a very serious risk and a very severe strain 
 to the boy's Christian principle, as, like all Mahommedans, 
 his people are tremendously keen against Christianity and we 
 know they would do their utmost to seduce him from his 
 faith. However, the wish to go was so entirely his own, and 
 his reliance on Christ for help and guidance in all his difficulties 
 seemed then, as it always has been, so entire that we did not like 
 to dissuade him, and so let him go. He himself was confident 
 that family love would prove stronger than religious differences, 
 and that they would at any rate receive him warmly and listen 
 to what he had to say. This, however, was not what Christ 
 seems to foretell when He says that a man's foes shall be they 
 of his own household, nor did it prove so with him ; for very 
 soon after he got there he began to write in a tone which 
 showed that he was beginning to see that he had underrated 
 the difficulties of his task, and that, though he was still looking
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 69 
 
 humbly and confidently to the right quarter for help, yet he 
 was beginning to feel the strain very severe. And soon the 
 news got worse, for he wrote in great distress of mind and 
 sickness of body ; he spoke of a betrothal with a heathen girl 
 into which they were trying to force him in order to form 
 a fresh bond with Mahommedanism, and which, though 
 thoroughly disliking it, he did not seem to have strength left 
 to resist as he ought. It happened that A. was taking his 
 holiday not very far from where the boy was. C. accordingly 
 wrote to him to ask him to go and try to see the boy and get 
 him away at once before he was fatally involved. A. accord- 
 ingly set out for the place. From various reasons, however, 
 chiefly extensive floods, he did not succeed in reaching the 
 village or seeing the boy, but he got one or two letters from 
 him of a tone which reassured him very much and which 
 enabled him to return to Delhi, where college work was need- 
 ing him very much, without having accomplished his object 
 and yet fairly happy in mind and believing that the boy would 
 follow in a few days. I do indeed trust and hope it may 
 be so." 
 
 In 1890, and in the ensuing years, the letters deal more 
 and more with the work to which he was specially devoting 
 himself. The Bickersteth Hall also was about to be opened 
 for discussions. 
 
 "June 10, 1890. 
 
 " Just at present I am specially interested in some work of 
 which I wrote to F. a couple of weeks ago. I have been 
 meeting some Mahommedans in a much more intelligent and 
 reasonable way than I ever did before in one of their mosques, 
 and really trying to get them to understand our creed. I 
 must say they have been on the whole wonderfully courteous 
 and willing to understand, which is to me a wholly new 
 experience of them. I had a close set-to of three hours last 
 Friday morning with one of their leading teachers here, and am 
 pledged to go back again and renew it next Friday morning 
 at six o'clock. I hope in this way I may keep it up, for it is 
 exactly the kind of work which I most long for, but which 
 only a short time since seemed so difficult, almost impossible 
 to attain. It is, however, as you may imagine, terrible work 
 arguing on the Trinity and such-like subjects in Hindostanee. 
 One has to tackle such questions with them, for they are just 
 like the Greek Church of old and must deal with such matters. 
 It involves a terrible danger to them, for maxims like " the
 
 70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 pure in heart shall see God," are apt to be wholly lost to 
 sight, and to become very distasteful. Still I believe we must 
 meet them on such ground and try to draw them on. This 
 work has been accompanied by another and less welcome 
 experience ; whether connected as cause and effect in any way, 
 or a pure coincidence, I do not know. We are encountering 
 in our open street Bazaar preaching, a degree of bigoted 
 opposition such as I have never been through before. One 
 more especially, a blind Mahommedan preacher, about whom 
 I told you I think when I was at home, but who has become 
 much more violent since, jumps up on the footpath alongside 
 of me, as I am preaching, and simply begins to bawl out 
 a sermon of his own, or rather for the most part a declamation 
 against the Christian faith, so as simply to drown my voice 
 and make preaching impossible. If I shift my place, he comes 
 after me, though hitherto he has always stopped at a certain 
 point, and I have been able eventually to shake him off and 
 go on. It seems as if his conscience did come in somewhere, 
 though I certainly could wish its intervention were a little bit 
 more speedy ! I believe I could have such purely boisterous 
 opposition stopped by the police, but I am most anxious not 
 to have recourse to them but if possible to live it down by 
 patience and forbearance. I am sure if one can, the victory 
 so gained is worth much more. Even now many, usually I 
 think a majority of the crowd, are definitely on our side and 
 resent such purely factious disturbance and try to shut them 
 up ; but this is not easy, and it is hard for them to take very 
 active measures when the taunt is hurled at them of being 
 Christians in heart themselves. I do fully believe that if we 
 can bear it in the right spirit, ' the mind of Christ,' it will do 
 more to win people to us than a great deal of purely passive 
 listening to uninterrupted preaching. And we always hold 
 that any kind of opposition is a better sign than stolid 
 indifference. I do really hope it means that they are beginning 
 to feel we are a power which has to be definitely reckoned 
 with, and this is the way the coarser spirits take to deal with 
 us. It is, however, terribly trying on judgment and temper, 
 especially in an atmosphere of 105 or so! Do use that 
 Confirmation Collect especially for me in this difficulty. I 
 have promised to meet a lot of the more boisterous men in 
 my room in the town next Sunday to try to talk a little with 
 them. It will be a trying scene I suspect, and I do not know 
 whether any good will come of it, but I want in any and 
 every way to meet them, to get across the great gulf which 
 separates us."
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 71 
 
 "Delhi : June 24, 1890. 
 
 "The other night I went to the Bazaar at 6.15 p.m. and 
 got into discussion with a man and only came away at five 
 minutes to midnight. This is of course exhausting. It was 
 also disappointing, for I only did it because being a most 
 violent and factious opponent he promised not to interrupt us 
 again if I gave him one good talk. At the end he refused to 
 ratify his promise. I know, however, that many of the 
 Mahommedans are themselves very indignant with him for 
 his faithlessness ; and as he has not come for two nights 
 since, perhaps he is thinking better of it." 
 
 The Bickersteth Hall. 
 
 " Delhi : July 22, 1890. 
 
 " I don't know whether you will remember a scheme 
 Bickersteth had very much at heart and for which he collected 
 money (some probably from you), of building a Preaching 
 Hall on one of the main streets, so that we might have 
 preaching very much of the present type, i.e. addressed to the 
 same kind of miscellaneous and chance audience, but carried 
 on under rather more favourable conditions of quiet, order, 
 shelter, etc. It has been hanging fire for a long time, chiefly 
 because none of us were strong enough for such Bazaar 
 preaching as this would seem to involve. But in my present 
 spasm of energy I have pushed it on (the money has been 
 lying funded in my name ever since), have secured, I hope, a 
 good site, and propose to begin building very soon. I hope 
 the message may come home to some empty and weary 
 hearts there too some day, though they are about as little 
 conscious of any emptiness or weariness (so far as we can 
 see) as well can be." 
 
 "C.M.D. : Aug. 12, 1890. 
 
 " I am just getting in for another bit of building to which I 
 think I recently referred, the Preaching Hall which B. had so 
 much at heart, but which has hung fire ever since he went. 
 We are pushing it on now, partly because bricks and mortar 
 are catching, partly because of the trouble we have been 
 having in the Bazaar preaching. I purchased a site on 
 Saturday last. Think of having to pay 600 in florins, i.e. 
 rupees ! no notes or anything of the kind accepted. I had to 
 take my carriage (a grand word for a very simple vehicle) to 
 carry it to the spot, and the process of weighing it out (they 
 fortunately did not insist on counting) took about three- 
 quarters of an hour. The site I have got is not first class, 
 not being in one of the best or most crowded thoroughfares,
 
 72 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 but it is getting increasingly difficult to get any property in 
 Delhi, we having slept during the years when it would have 
 been easy, and now we must take what we can. I hope it 
 will prove an onward step. 
 
 " In the Bazaar we are having sore trouble. I accept it 
 all as a sign in various ways of progress, as well as a means 
 of disciplining, but it is not easy to rejoice in it. After last 
 Friday, I am sorry to say, I had at last to write to the police 
 authorities and ask for their interference. I have never had 
 to do this before, and was very loth now ; I am now not more 
 than half convinced that it was right to do so ; but the pro- 
 vocation was great and especially hard on our native agents. 
 They are both more exposed to abuse, etc., and have less 
 power of forbearance, and knowing we had the law at our 
 backs and could get saved from the worst of the trouble any 
 time, if we would apply for it, they could not understand or 
 appreciate our not doing so. The police officer himself did 
 not much care for the job. He is not the least sympathetic 
 in our work, and extremely afraid of the Mahommedan rowdy 
 population that is so prominent in Delhi. TheD.C., however, 
 who is the supreme executive officer, took a very strong line 
 as to the lawfulness of our occupation, and therefore our 
 right to protection from anything like gross abuse or open 
 violence (not that the latter has been in any real sense 
 attempted), and issued orders accordingly. I am going down 
 now in a few minutes for the first time to preach, and shall see 
 what the effect will be. If the blind Maulvi, of whom I have 
 spoken before, and who is our only really strong antagonist, 
 elects for martyrdom, which is just possible, we shall have 
 probably a bad quarter of an hour. He may think it good 
 value to pose as oppressed by the English strong arm on 
 behalf of the faith. Probably, however, he will more or less 
 draw back. I will tell you before I send this how it goes. . . . 
 It has been very trying again ; the opposition was very keen, 
 and so arranged that, while on the one hand it to all intents 
 and purposes stops the preaching, on the other hand I am not 
 sure how far the law will be able to help me in checking it. 
 Well, if not, we must get over it in other ways, and in some 
 ways I should be happier if it were so. God will work out 
 His purposes through it one way or another. It is, however, 
 very killing work." 
 
 The invitation to a mosque, and the action of the blind Maulvi. 
 
 "C.M.D. : Jan. 7, 1891. 
 
 " I don't know how far F. and B. have been keeping you 
 informed of what is going on, both in a general way and also
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 73 
 
 in the renewal on a much larger scale of my meetings with 
 the Mahommedans which is just at present an immense 
 interest to me. I have been rather slack in writing myself, 
 partly because I have been looking to them to do most of the 
 correspondence, so I don't know how much you have heard. 
 They commenced just over a chance discussion, as we call it, 
 in the Bazaar one night. A point arose which we could not 
 finish, and they said they would like to go on with it ; so I 
 said, ' Why don't you ask me to a mosque ? I will come 
 anywhere.' So they did, to the large mosque in which the 
 last few of my previous conversations had been. The day we 
 appointed was not a very fortunate one, for I had been out 
 in the district the night before, and got back to Delhi very 
 hungry indeed at two o'clock, the very time I was due at the 
 mosque ! However, good Mrs. Scott was equal to the 
 emergency, and met me at the station with a bottle of soup 
 and some sandwiches. I got to the mosque as soon as I 
 could, and instead of the twenty or thirty men I had been 
 accustomed to meet previously, I found two hundred or three 
 hundred all packed in, a table spread with books for discussion, 
 and all on a grand scale. I felt I was in for it. We were at 
 it for four hours, talking chiefly over internal discrepancies in 
 the Gospel accounts, e.g., did both thieves abuse our Lord or 
 only one ? etc., etc. One very interesting incident occurred in 
 the middle, though exactly what it meant we do not yet know. 
 They had dressed up the blind Maulvi, of whom you have 
 heard as our most determined opponent all through the 
 summer, in good clothes and put him in the chair as a 
 President ; about halfway through he got excited over some- 
 thing that was said, and got up and said that they might as 
 well know that he had been for some time thinking about 
 Christianity, and he thought there was much in it, and, if no 
 more argument was adduced on their side, he would take the 
 Padre's hand and leave the mosque with him. The words 
 caused, I need hardly say, a profound sensation, and I hardly 
 knew what would happen. They quieted him down, however, 
 promising to prove that there are plenty of prophecies of 
 Mahommedanism in the Old and New Testaments, and so we 
 came away without him ; I almost dead. I scarcely know 
 how far he was in earnest, but for some months our preachers 
 have thought there was a decided change in his manner, and 
 since then he has been with me, one day for three hours, 
 definitely expressing his wish to be a Christian. It will be a 
 remarkable instance of the working of Grace if he does come 
 in to Christ in earnestness and humility ; but he has much
 
 74 LIFE AND' LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 difficulty before him in any case. After that I had two more 
 meetings with the same disputant ; one a very large one, over 
 1000 men packed quietly and listening for three hours. Then 
 these ended, a proclamation appearing in print (I may just 
 say) a few days afterwards to announce the utter defeat in 
 discussion of Rev. G. A. Lefroy, who had been unable to say 
 a word, and who was now invited to take refuge in Islam ! 
 This was to be expected as a matter of course, and does not 
 in the least signify. Most of them know perfectly how to 
 value it, and it could not affect the fact that I had an un- 
 rivalled opportunity of stating quietly, and at length, various 
 points of Christian doctrine. 
 
 " Then in a few days another man, decidedly superior to 
 the previous one (though also not one of the really leading 
 Maulvies in the city, who fight very shy of this kind of thing 
 and will not meet me), said he wanted to have some public 
 meetings. I gladly assented, and we have had two. They 
 will not allow me now to use the mosque, but yesterday we 
 had a tent up in W.'s garden, and carpets laid down, and 
 there were, I should say, 700 or 800 men quietly sitting there 
 for nearly three hours, while we each expounded the position 
 which Jesus Christ occupied in our respective systems. You 
 would be astonished to hear how they speak of Him, putting 
 Him into the very highest place among men, but quite 
 denying the Incarnation and Atonement. We resume next 
 Wednesday. You will understand how much it all means 
 to me." 
 
 "Jan. 15, 1891. 
 
 " I cannot write more now, but yesterday I had a splendid 
 meeting ; far the best so far as my consciousness of strength 
 and effect goes, though perhaps that is not always a reliable 
 test. I do trust good will come. Over a thousand perfectly 
 quiet for three hours. It is an absolutely new experience. 
 Do pray much for us. If only I could be amongst them now 
 night and day ! but this seems at present impossible," 
 
 " April 30, 1891. 
 
 "Ups and downs. I am in one of my lower phases at 
 present. You know that too, don't you ? when letters won't 
 get written, and work won't get done, and arrears accumulate, 
 all for no apparent reason, and one feels slack and unsatisfactory 
 within. That's me more or less at present with no ostensible 
 reason. I hope things will mend again soon. I often wonder 
 whether such ebbs ought to be connected with some specific 
 shortcoming, or with a general failure to attribute sufficiently
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 75 
 
 the better times, when they come, to a Power other than our- 
 selves. Or whether we must just accept them as one of the 
 laws of progress in the moral as well as in so many spheres of 
 the physical world (ebbs and flows), without trying to assign 
 them to any specific cause. I suppose two and three really 
 run into each other. I mean if they are a law it is because 
 we all do in point of fact fail in some such direction as No. 2, 
 and therefore need the law. Work is slack. The men 
 whom I hoped I had rather got a hold of from among the 
 Mahommedans a few months back have dropped off again, 
 and don't show up at the preaching or elsewhere. I don't 
 know why. Still I must, and do, hope that what has been 
 done in spite of all its imperfections and much of unwisdom 
 is a step onward. The Preaching Hall is advancing rapidly, 
 and will look very nice, I think. May it also help to another 
 forward move ! " 
 
 "C.M.D.: Junes, 1891. 
 
 "At present it is the Mahommedan question that is 
 developing every day, and becoming to me very absorbing. 
 I am just beginning to get a little bit on to Arabic, and at 
 once feel how much additional force it will give one. It may 
 bring home to you how very far the people with whom we 
 have to deal are from black savages (though I should apologise 
 for thinking you in need of such a correction). These have 
 all the scholar's appreciation of a man who knows the original 
 language of a book, and is able to discourse upon it ; and, 
 unfortunately for me, all the scholar's contempt for a man 
 not so situated. I don't mean that they are necessarily all 
 real scholars themselves ; in point of fact, in the case of most 
 of those with whom I- have to deal the very reverse is the 
 case ; but there is enough of the scholar's instinct in the air 
 for them to be able to work on, and hold up to scorn a man 
 who presumes to attack a religious belief without showing his 
 knowledge in a sufficient knowledge of long words. I am 
 only just getting a smattering of it as yet, but even that 
 little helps greatly, and I hope I shall soon shoot ahead. My 
 knowledge of Hebrew stands me in very good stead, as they 
 are very kindred languages. I am writing a small book on 
 prophecy strictly for Mahommedan consumption, in the 
 vernacular : my first literary enterprise, and want very much 
 to get out one or two papers on other disputed points if I 
 have time." 
 
 "C.M.D. : June 3, 1891. 
 
 " Last night I had a long talk in the Bazaar with a very 
 old antagonist over a specific point in their religious teaching
 
 76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 (the formal permission of lying on specific occasions, these 
 including a man to his wife, and a wife to her husband, in 
 the most general and indiscriminate way !), and I have never 
 before had such a complete walk-over. I really think even 
 the Mahommedan crowd that was standing there, and ready 
 to give him tenfold credit for any decent point he could 
 make, felt how complete the breakdown was. Our Preaching 
 Hall is nearly ready, I am thankful to say, and I shall value 
 it enormously ; especially for occasions of this kind, when a 
 specific question is being discussed, and books, usually tomes 
 of portentous dimensions, have to be invoked. It will be 
 invaluable. Whether it will be able to take the place of the 
 more ordinary Bazaar preaching is a question ; but so far as 
 it can the relief to voice and mind and everything will be 
 great." 
 
 "June 10, 1891. 
 
 " I am very happy this morning. We had last night the 
 best preaching I think I have ever had. It began about 
 6.30 poorly enough with constant interruptions, but then I 
 settled down to it with the old blind Maulvi, and God was 
 with me and I got well on to it and we went on till 8 o'clock, 
 when I finished in entire darkness, but with a considerable 
 crowd all around listening in perfect silence while I spoke 
 of the Atonement as the supreme manifestation of the love 
 of God, i.e. of the one power adequate to wean such as us 
 from our habits of sin. The opponent seemed really only to 
 act as a foil for the setting forth of the truth ; and what is 
 more I cannot help thinking that the great weakness he has 
 shown recently, in contrast with both the virulence and the 
 skill with which he used to attack, bears witness to some 
 shaking of old convictions within. Of course, if it does 
 mean this, it is tenfold welcome. It is extraordinary how 
 one's experiences at the Bazaar preaching differ. One night 
 one comes away with an almost hopeless sense of having 
 done nothing, got nothing by the right end, and brought out 
 nothing in a way that could really help the listeners ; and 
 then again one gets an experience like last night, when I 
 came away tingling all over with excitement and the sense 
 of having got thoroughly home. However, I am quite sure 
 the one thing one ought not to do is to assume that what 
 seems to go best is really most spiritual value and vice versd. 
 If the lessons of our Lord's life are true for us, it is evident 
 that it is rather through apparent defeat and failure than 
 through conscious triumph that victory in the true sense
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 77 
 
 of the word is won ; so one believes that all alike, good and 
 bad, defeat and apparent success, is being taken up by Him 
 and knit into the building up of the Kingdom here. The 
 Preaching Hall is nearly ready, and I am longing for it. 
 Every week I seem to be getting a little more into touch 
 with these Mahommedans, and it may possibly please God 
 to give one some real power amongst them during the coming 
 years." 
 
 By 1891 the pressure of his special vocation at this time 
 as against other duties begins to tell. 
 
 "C.M.D. : July 22, 1891. 
 
 " We got through some more or less important business 
 this morning (on the Sanitation Sub-Committee) and I have 
 just got away in time to send this off by the mail. At the 
 same time I feel that probably my days on the Municipal 
 Committee are numbered. For one thing, I am not as happy 
 on it as I was ; I mean about my being in place on it. I 
 think this probably means that I have got the good from it 
 I was intended to get (and I believe that to be very great) and 
 now one may lay it aside. Also my more direct preaching 
 work is getting a larger and larger claim on me as the 
 scope for it develops by my getting in touch with the 
 Mahommedans ; and this must push out secondary occupa- 
 tions, which were very well in their own time, but never 
 could constitute a primary charge on one's time or thought. 
 Then in the second place, if, as is now very much most 
 probable, I have very shortly to take the Headship of the 
 entire Mission, I should at once resign. It is not so much 
 that the increase of work would make continuance of 
 membership difficult, as that even now I only get to the 
 special meetings, which are held the first Monday of each 
 month ; but for the paymaster and general boss of the 
 Mission the first few days of each month are the hardest 
 of all, and are hopelessly blocked. Catechists, readers, 
 et tioc genus omne in from district and villages, each, besides 
 wanting his pay, having some proposal to make, some hard- 
 ship to be remedied, or some shortcoming to be dropped on 
 for, etc., etc. I never could send them away saying I had 
 to attend a Municipal Committee, for they feel much more 
 strongly about its worldliness than we do. To them, of 
 course, in this country sacred and secular have always been 
 absolutely demarcated. There has never been an attempt 
 at the peculiar secret of Christianity claiming all life for God,
 
 78 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 refusing to consider anything in one sense secular. The 
 world has been given up to the devil as his natural posses- 
 sion, and those who wished to save their souls did it in as 
 entire separation from the world as was possible. This, so 
 far as I know, is the highest any religion but our own has 
 reached, and therefore as I say these people regard this part 
 of my work with no favour, and it is more or less in violence 
 to their prejudices that I do it. Still one has to do this 
 sometimes to teach lessons." 
 
 A typical detail of controversy. 
 
 " August 4, 1891. 
 
 "To-night we had a very large crowd, 300 I should 
 think, decent, quiet and respectful, while I had another go 
 in with the blind Maulvi. It was not on a point of much 
 importance. To illustrate our work I will tell you. He had 
 urged that the conduct of the Apostles at the time of the 
 death of Christ, the betrayal by one, the denial by another, 
 the defection by all, showed how little power or effect there 
 had been in the teaching of Christ. I replied first of all by 
 showing that the more stress you laid on their weakness at 
 this time (that having also been clearly foreseen and declared 
 by Christ), the greater was the evidence of something wonder- 
 ful having happened to make those weak disciples the men 
 they were afterwards, ready to go through anything for the 
 sake of Christ, etc., etc. Then turning to Mahomet I said 
 I thought I remembered that the same objection might be 
 laid against him, for at his death there was a defection of a 
 large number of his followers ; only I thought the means 
 employed to win them back were not quite the same as those 
 by which the disciples of the early Church rallied round again. 
 This he indignantly denied, saying that no doubt a few who 
 did not like to pay the required tax to Mahomet's family 
 turned from the faith, but the mass were true. I said (this 
 was last week) that it was no good fighting over a question 
 which was simply one of historical fact, and next week I 
 would either bring some authority of theirs to prove my 
 assertion, or admit that it was an erroneous one. 
 
 " I found in their most standard Persian history a far 
 more sweeping statement than any I had used, to the effect 
 that on the news of Mahomet's death, the whole of Arabia 
 except his own tribe (the Koreish) abandoned Islam. I went 
 down armed with this, and, of course, though he wriggled, as 
 I think people out here alone know how to wriggle, there 
 was nothing to be said. I pointed out too the very simple 
 means employed to bring the recusants back ; not a word
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 79 
 
 of preaching, teaching, or the like ; but out of the small body 
 who remained faithful, eleven expeditions were formed and 
 sent out, sword in hand, to various parts of the country with 
 very summary orders." 
 
 The serving of tables. 
 
 "Delhi: September, 1891. 
 
 " It does so terribly grieve me when it happens as it did 
 to-day, that while one has had the whole day at mere 
 machinery and organisation and accounts, and then it comes 
 to the evening, and one is too done to do the true work 
 what I am here for, and what I long to be about : telling the 
 people of what has enriched my life. It almost seems as if 
 one's whole method must be wrong when such results are 
 possible. It is, of course, just the worst time of all, the first 
 of the month, when all bills have to be settled, and endless 
 interviews with all kinds of people gone through ; but it is 
 Tuesday, my favourite preaching evening, and then to feel 
 as the time drew near that it could not be, that one could not 
 keep going much longer, at any rate not for that extra strain, 
 it was sad. It is such a pity that the preaching always 
 comes, apparently must come, at the end of the day, when 
 all kinds of things have had first pull at one, and taken 
 most of the go and life out. However, then also one can 
 bear witness to another Power." 
 
 I insert here an account by an eyewitness of a scene 
 never to be forgotten in Christian annals. The Bishop of 
 Nagpur (Dr. Eyre Chatterton) printed it in the Nagpitr 
 Division Magazine^ from which I extract it. Writing after 
 Lefroy's death of his visit to Delhi in 1892 he says : 
 
 " But the crowning memory of my visit was reserved for 
 the last night. For some years previously wherever he had 
 gone to deliver his message, whether in the bazaars of Delhi, or 
 in its surrounding villages, there was one person almost always 
 present and always ready to contradict every word he said. 
 This strange being was a certain blind Maulvi or teacher who 
 had done his pilgrimage to Mecca and was therefore 
 honoured with the title of Hadji. And on this my last night 
 in Delhi, a great event was to take place. For months this 
 blind Maulvi had been wavering in his conviction as a 
 Moslem, and on this night he had decided to openly confess 
 his faith in Christ before his baptism. It was a bold course 
 for the man to take, and perhaps an even bolder one for Lefroy
 
 8o LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 to allow, but, as the blind Maulvi had so bitterly opposed the 
 teaching of the Cross, it was felt that it might strengthen his 
 faith if he passed safely through the ordeal. 
 
 " The Bickersteth Hall was crowded to overflowing with 
 Mahommedans long before the meeting started, and it was 
 soon evident that we were not going to spend a quiet evening. 
 First of all an old Pathan Christian Catechist arose a man 
 who had been a faithful Christian for many years. He was 
 listened to respectfully. Hardly, however, had the blind 
 Maulvi begun to speak than murmurs of strong displeasure 
 were heard on all sides. Certainly there was nothing in the 
 least conciliatory about his voice. Doubtless in the blind 
 the sense of sound is more acute than in those of us 
 who can see, and clearly the loud murmurs of anger and 
 disapproval of his compatriots penetrated more deeply into 
 the Maulvi's soul than one at first realised. Suffice it to 
 say that there was suddenly an ominous pause in his 
 utterances, and during this pause almost immediately Bedlam 
 seemed let loose, and in less than three minutes the Hall 
 was empty, and the blind Maulvi was gone carried off in 
 triumph by his audience to a neighbouring mosque. For a 
 moment terror had filled his soul and his faith had failed 
 him. It was after all but a short triumph for these Moslems, 
 for a few months later the blind Maulvi returned to the 
 Cambridge Mission in bitter shame and repentance for his 
 cowardice, and after a long and stern probation was eventually 
 baptised. Since then for more than twenty years he has 
 been preaching the faith which he once so bitterly opposed. 
 
 "But perhaps even more than this strangely exciting 
 scene, there remains in my memory the picture of our late 
 Metropolitan on that eventful night. We left him before 
 midnight at his special request, and all night long he 
 remained alone in that Hall in prayer. His was a bitter 
 disappointment, and in the silence of the night he found 
 solace alone with his God. Over and over again the memory 
 of that night of January, 1892, has come back to me. Like 
 some bright flash of lightning which reveals for a moment on 
 a dark night what would otherwise be unseen, that night 
 revealed to one the intense devotion for souls which lay at 
 the back of all Lefroy's life's work." 
 
 But to return to Lefroy's own account : 
 
 "Jan. 27, 1892. We are on the eve of a crisis. The blind 
 Mahommedan preacher who has been the very forefront of 
 ail the bitterest opposition to our work for some years, has
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 81 
 
 come to me to express his wish for baptism. He says he will 
 make a public confession of his faith after a lecture I am to give 
 in our new Preaching Hall to-morrow night. In this country 
 motives are terribly difficult to sift, and I had at one time 
 special reason to mistrust his. All I can say is that I have 
 done my very best to test him even to the extent of serious 
 discouragement, and now I feel it would not be right to delay 
 more ; and I do myself believe he is true, at any rate in a 
 large measure. If he does come really under the power of 
 the Spirit it will be a remarkable thing, and in all probability 
 will open a new chapter in our work. The excitement will 
 be great, and he fears for his life. I can't say what will 
 happen, but I hope nothing very bad. Pray much for him 
 and for me, for such cases need singular gifts." 
 
 "Feb.1%. There is much more I should like to tell you of, 
 especially about the blind man who has been very near con- 
 fession of the Faith but failed at the eleventh hour for want of 
 courage. I am writing something about it in our Report which 
 goes home by this mail, so you will see it some time. He is in 
 an extraordinary position at present, vowing allegiance to me 
 and yet living among the Mahommedans and egged on by 
 them to opposition. This sort of thing can't last long. He 
 must either respond to the Spirit and come forward, or 
 quench it and fall back. 
 
 " I had an extraordinary two days in an out-station 3 5 miles 
 off, to which I went last Sunday, and was followed by him 
 and another zealous Mahommedan, partly in friendliness, 
 partly in opposition. We all breakfasted together in the 
 utmost good fellowship, and then adjourned to the bazaar 
 for an argument. I tremble to think of the length my jaw 
 will grow to, but pray for me that my heart may in it all be 
 kept child-like and humble and pure." 
 
 "March 9, '92. More interest than I can well say centres in 
 my heart at least round the now famous blind Maulvi. Since 
 I last wrote he came to a second meeting, declaring he was 
 going to confess Christ, and after another very severe inward 
 struggle he failed. Now the Mahommedans have got him away 
 to Lahore and are doing all they can to prevent his return here. 
 They know that his heart is not with them any longer. I 
 got, however, a short note from him last night saying he 
 would certainly return in a few days and come to me. It is 
 an extraordinary instance of the power of Christ's attraction. 
 I am offering him nothing, and he knows how much of insult 
 and difficulty it will mean. The Mahommedans are offering 
 him anything he likes to keep him happy. Yet it is as 
 
 G
 
 82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 though Christ had caught him and was slowly bringing him 
 to land in spite of his struggles. Of course we know He will 
 not land him if the struggles really continue, but I cannot 
 help hoping he may be brought in now. It is essentially a 
 case for prayer. I feel even here on the spot I can give him 
 no other so effectual help as this." 
 
 "March 16. At this moment as I write the blind Maulvi has 
 come in to see me. I believe he is now thoroughly in earnest 
 and that in all probability he will leave the Mosque again, and 
 come to us in a day or two and then be admitted as a 
 Catechumen after a few days' probation. I believe, God 
 knows. Certainly his whole temper and manner have altered 
 for the better in the most remarkable degree. He is quieter 
 and humbler than I should have believed a couple of years ago 
 he could ever be. If it is as I believe really the grace of 
 God working in him, the result ought to be very great. I 
 can imagine him one day exercising a great influence in Delhi. 
 He will have, however, to be largely recreated first ; but that 
 is just what he can be in Christ Jesus." 
 
 "March 24. You will be glad to hear that the blind Maulvi 
 is now living in the house of our leading native preacher, having 
 left the Mahommedans (as I believe) in good earnest once and 
 for all. He came three days ago. It has been along anxious 
 time, when we could do nothing but pray. I was determined 
 not to put pressure on him in any way to come ; to let him 
 feel, if I may so say, that I did not want him the least unless 
 he was really being drawn by Christ, in which case he would 
 not want much pressure from me. Of course, in such method 
 of dealing one always risks much, and perhaps sometimes 
 one who might have been brought in by more energetic 
 personal dealing fails altogether. But I think when it does 
 succeed it yields the truest and firmest fruits. I believe he 
 has now thoroughly taken stock of the whole position and 
 came because he felt he could not help it. His manner has 
 changed in the most extraordinary degree. I go to teach 
 him an hour daily, and as he sits before me listening quietly 
 and humbly it sometimes seems almost a dream that it can 
 be the same man as used to rave in the streets two years 
 back. Through it all we have to remember that to feel quite 
 sure of where you are with these people, or to rely on their 
 steadfastness, is almost impossible. We have had cases 
 before which we have thought almost as certainly signs of 
 God's working, and they have turned out to be either 
 deliberate hypocrites or quite unstable. So much so that 
 one hardly wonders at the attitude of disbelief which the
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 83 
 
 ordinary Anglo-Indian takes up towards the whole question. 
 Still it is obvious that many failures, while they may 
 legitimately (and I am sure are meant to) teach us great 
 caution and slowness in action, cannot justify us in giving up 
 the conviction that sooner or later God will call them, and 
 really work in them as He has in other countries, and 
 recreate them : and I believe this is such a case. Should it 
 turn out otherwise we must not be unduly discouraged but 
 expect the next. So far the Mahommedans have made no 
 sign whatever. I think it is very likely they will not this 
 time, for I believe during the last months they have felt him 
 gradually slipping away from their power and from the sway 
 of their thought ; and having done all they could in every 
 way, bribery, argument, threats, etc., they now feel they may 
 as well accept the inevitable. This is how I at least interpret 
 their present quietude. 
 
 " I am having poor nights and that makes poor days. 
 You know I am down in the city house. The mosquitoes 
 are simply magnificent. Last night I went on to the roof, 
 as it is now warming up rapidly, to try and escape them. 
 There was, however, such a chorus of stray dogs making the 
 night hideous with their row all round the house that sleep 
 was difficult, and not rendered easier by the parting message 
 of the man watching the house as I went upstairs, ' You had 
 better take a good stick with you as the monkeys sometimes 
 come round at night.' They are perfectly harmless, I believe, 
 but they are great big brutes and the prospect of a nocturnal 
 visit did not soothe my nerves. However, my nerves are not 
 a delicate part of my organisation, and I don't know that it 
 made much odds. 
 
 " There is a leading druggist here, a Mahommedan, who 
 has been my chief antagonist (ever since the blind Maulvi, 
 who was his great ally, lost heart in the cause) in the Bazaar 
 and everywhere ; though in a private capacity we get on well 
 together. Yesterday morning Carlyon, myself, and two of 
 the Baptist Mission clergy were in committee discussing the 
 affairs of a new cemetery which Government has recently 
 given us, when a note was brought me from this man with a 
 lump of camphor. The note literally translated ran, 'The 
 market of death is brisk among us to-day ; many lives are 
 wrapped up in your life, and the desires of many unsatisfied 
 ones are realised in you. Do take care of your life. May 
 God protect you, and please keep this camphor constantly on 
 your person.' Camphor is the preventive they chiefly believe 
 in. It was touching, wasn't it ? Later in the day I went to
 
 84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 thank him for it. There was a disreputable old 
 
 Mission Christian sitting there. The latter addressed me as 
 ' Padre Sahib,' when the Mahommedan said : ' Shut up ! 
 What do you mean by calling him Padre ? He is our Padre 
 Sahib/ as though he had an infinitely prior claim on me to a 
 
 Mission man, at any rate such a disreputable specimen 
 
 of the genus. I don't know what it means, but I believe some- 
 thing is working in his heart too ; anyhow, it is a gift of God 
 to be very grateful for that he has allowed me to have this 
 kind of intercourse and popularity with the Mahommedans ; 
 and cause for infinite sorrow and humility that I use it so 
 little to the glory of His Name. Pray for us. 
 
 " I was reading with the blind Maulvi yesterday when a 
 respectable Mahommedan, an official in the mosque in which he 
 used to live, came to the door. When admitted we found out, 
 after a little beating about the bush, that he had come to ascer- 
 tain the truth of a report that is about the city that the Maulvi 
 had repented again of his action and wished to rejoin the Mahom- 
 medans, whereupon I, with laudable promptitude, had poisoned 
 him and sent his body to Lahore for burial ! They are an 
 interesting folk in many ways. I sent very respectful thanks 
 to those who had formed so high an idea of my capabilities 
 and decisiveness as a religious teacher. I think the rumour ex- 
 presses what they would uncommonly like to do if they got the 
 chance. The Maulvi's reply was nice. After saying that on 
 the whole he felt rather alive and kicking, he added, ' There 
 is this element of truth in it, that I have no doubt died to you 
 and to my old life.' I had been reading Romans vi. with him 
 the day before. He had been greatly struck by it, and I 
 expect this had stuck in his mind. After much hesitation we 
 have decided to baptise him on Saturday, Easter Eve. I hope 
 there won't be a row. I don't think there will, but on such 
 occasions there is rather apt to be. In all such cases, after the 
 experience we have had, we cannot but rejoice with trembling, 
 but I do rejoice. So far as any judgment can go he is being 
 really laid hold on by God's Spirit, the rest the future will 
 show. 
 
 <l We hope also another nice fellow, a Brahman clerk in the 
 D.C.'s office at Rohtak with two or three little children, may 
 be baptised at the same time. He has been thinking of it for 
 some long time, but recently got very much more decided, and 
 has now taken a month's leave and come into Delhi to be 
 baptised. He was all right and very firm and happy the day 
 before yesterday, though his wife was in a very sad state, 
 opposing him utterly and almost ready to kill herself.
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 85 
 
 Yesterday morning, however, we heard that late the night 
 before he had heard that his wife's people were very ill at a 
 town some hundred miles off, and had gone with her to see 
 them. I do not think there is anything wrong on his part 
 but I have no doubt the report of sickness was only got up to* 
 get him away, and one cannot tell what will happen." 
 
 A fine train incident. 
 
 " May 5, 1892. The blind man, Ahmed Masih, is no longer 
 here. I took him to Karnal last Wednesday to spend a month 
 with Papillon to try to really master the characters of the Bible 
 for the blind. I have one volume of it in Urdu. It is, of course, 
 difficult for him, but if he can once acquire it the gain will be 
 enormous, and I think now he will acquire it. We had rather an 
 amusing scene in the train going down. I took him with me 
 in what is called an intermediate class carriage, above the 
 very crowded third class and below the second, chiefly used 
 by respectable natives. The whole carriage is open throughout, 
 the different compartments being only separated by iron bars. 
 We were immediately recognised by several persons and the 
 keenest questioning began. One man said, ' Come now, 
 Hafiz ' (literally, a man knowing the whole Koran by heart 
 and always a term of honour), ' tell us what it all means. I 
 heard a rumour in Delhi of your having become a Christian, 
 but I utterly refused to believe it, for I had heard you preach- 
 ing and arguing with the Sahib before, and I thought you 
 were the most obstinate individual in Delhi.' The questioner 
 was a Hindu, and did not mince his words. The Maulvi replied 
 very simply that it was perfectly true whether they could 
 understand it or not , that he was a Christian and hoped to 
 live and die as such. Then there was a pause, after which the 
 same questioner coming close up to the bars said to me : ' Now, 
 Sahib, do give us a discourse. I don't want controversy or 
 anything. Just preach to us and tell us what it all means. 
 We are all men of one faith in this compartment ' (I found 
 they were Jains, degenerate descendants of Buddhism), ' and 
 we want to know what it all means.' I tried, of course, in 
 response to such an invitation, but could not get far. As an 
 Oriental he was bound to begin controversy and propound 
 speculations, and I found they really were to all intents and 
 purposes hopeless and avowed atheists with whom it was 
 almost impossible to get any common ground at all. How- 
 ever we got on well together, and when we neared the station, 
 a respectable town of 1 2,000 or 1 3,000 inhabitants between 
 Delhi and Karnal, they said : ' Now you must get out and
 
 86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 stay the night with us. There are plenty of people here in- 
 terested in these things ; and in the morning we'll get up the 
 biggest meeting ever you saw, and we'll put a Hindu, a Jain, 
 and a Mahommedan, and you can all talk and things will go 
 on like a house on fire.' They were very keen and it was not 
 easy to refuse them, but I felt pledged to Papillon, and 
 besides I did not want the new convert to get plunged at 
 once in the waters of controversy ; so I said I had an 
 appointment which I must keep so could not stop then, but 
 would try to come back as I should enjoy such a meeting 
 very much. Now I have written to ask whether they will 
 arrange for one next Tuesday."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM (continued] 
 
 A sequel to the train adventure. 
 
 " May 12, 1892. 
 
 " I THINK I told you in my last of a meeting to which I had 
 been invited for religious discussion at a town a little distance 
 out of Delhi. It came off the day before yesterday, and 
 though not altogether a success, was by no means a failure. 
 The chief difficulty was the presence of a number of Delhi 
 Mahommedans who came down on purpose. They will 
 let me go nowhere alone now, but follow me about to preach 
 against the Faith. I hope it shows at least that they have 
 a certain sense of their position being pressed. When I went 
 down to the train at 4.45 a.m. there were about a dozen of 
 them. We all got into the carriage together and chatted 
 away with the utmost friendliness, for we are on excellent 
 terms personally. But at the time of meeting for discussion 
 they made it difficult in various ways. It was a curious 
 scene ! an upper room not nearly large enough for the 
 purpose, packed to overflowing with people of three creeds, 
 Mahommedans, Hinduism, and Jainism (a degenerate sur- 
 vivor of Buddhism), and of all ages and social positions. I 
 suppose there were 300 in a room that we might consider 
 would hold 100. There were four speakers, one of each of 
 the above faiths, and myself. I was most courteously treated. 
 I had to speak first, which in a kind of way is bad, at least 
 one gets in a controversial kind of way to think so, as it 
 leaves the others to take away the taste. However, little 
 or nothing was said directly against what I said on our Faith ; 
 and I do hope that if there were any there whose hearts have 
 been in any way touched by God and made conscious of sin, 
 they may have felt the difference in the style of the appeal. 
 I had prepared a long address, but when the time came I 
 found we were very limited, as some had to go back to 
 Delhi by an evening train, so we had only half an hour apiece. 
 
 87
 
 88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 This was rather fatal. I spent most of the time not in 
 actual statement of Christianity, but in drawing out the 
 temper and conditions in which the search for any true faith 
 must be made in order to have a success. In some ways 
 one scarcely likes giving up such an opportunity to such 
 merely preparatory work : but this preparatory work must be 
 done and it is no good for us to try to hurry matters. It 
 is not the quickest method that always yields the most 
 lasting fruit. It was sad to hear the Jain lecturer get up and 
 argue for either black atheism or absolute agnosticism. 
 Would God one could get some light to them." 
 
 "May 31, 1892. Another Bazaar preaching has just inter- 
 vened and I am more or less in the usual state. It was rather a 
 stormy one, yet not on the whole bad. I managed to keep 
 my hold fairly on them, and carried at any rate some of the 
 best with me, if not in all my arguments, yet in the sense of 
 a better tone and way of dealing with such things, than my 
 opponents showed. Once a man went on persistently breaking 
 in with some rude and almost blasphemous questions, so 
 after waiting a few moments I said, ' Shame, shame on Mahom- 
 medans who will stand and listen to such stuff and laugh 
 instead of being indignant ; for your own honour turn him 
 out ! ' and they did right away and listened quietly for a few 
 minutes. I had a tremendous meeting last Friday, the 
 biggest I have yet had in the Bickersteth Hall, which will 
 prove I believe of immense value in my work. It was not a 
 particularly satisfactory one, but all works together, I hope, 
 for the great end. It is so hot and I am so streaming I cannot 
 go inside, and the light has failed so utterly I cannot see my 
 lines so 1 must stop. The blind man came back from Karnal 
 to-day. He has almost mastered the alphabet for the blind ; 
 I am greatly pleased. If he really ponders God's word he 
 must grow. I do not want him to preach publicly yet ; it 
 would make a great excitement and I should fear that he has 
 still too much of the old Mahommedan controversial blood 
 in him to be able to stand the attacks of the Bazaar well ; but 
 to talk quietly with a few who are interested, and explain 
 what he has found in Christ, is a thing which I trust and 
 think he will do well. It was a great delight to me last 
 night on coming back from the Bazaar, after a very fairly good 
 preaching, to find him sitting in this way with three men 
 round him talking quietly and well. If God's grace is really 
 with him this will do more than much Bazaar preaching, for 
 he has plenty of ability and seems really getting a hold of the 
 Gospel. They are certainly wonderfully abstemious. When
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 89 
 
 I saw him thus in the evening (I had not been at the house 
 during the day) I said to my companion, at whose house he 
 is living, 'Has he been down here all day ? ' ' Yes/ he 
 said quite casually, ' he has been here : he hasn't had any food 
 yet.' This was 8 p.m. and he came down here at 7 a.m. 
 He may have had a mouthful before he came, but certainly 
 not more, very probably not that, yet it was not regarded as 
 anything remarkable. Is it any wonder that they look on us 
 as poor creatures of a very inferior kind, who make a terrible 
 fuss if we go without one of the many meals with which 
 the day is crowded ? Religious teachers indeed ! Bloated 
 aldermen rather is what they really regard us as." 
 
 At length there came to Delhi their old Head on a 
 memorable visit from Japan. 
 
 "Feb. 2, 1893. 
 
 " We are having at present the very great delight of a 
 visit from our dear old Head, Bishop Bickersteth, of Japan. 
 I suppose there is hardly any one in the world to whom I can 
 talk on Delhi matters with such entire freedom and comfort. 
 He is regularly my master. I always look up to him as 
 having started me on lines of work here, and what we owe 
 now to the impetus he gave us ten years ago, it is hard to 
 say. He also knows, of course, all the ins and outs of the 
 place perfectly ; he is as interested in it as I am ; and lastly 
 (or not lastly for there are a dozen other reasons) his later 
 experience is in some respects so similar to my own. Of 
 course his sphere is enormously larger and more responsible, 
 but in our respective spheres our positions are very similar : 
 so to compare notes and ask advice was very delightful 
 and all the subjects we got through ! the increase of the 
 Indian Episcopate, the development of our Rohtak scheme, 
 some pretty deep Theology, and so on. He was very keen 
 that I should not consider six men a final limit of our band 
 in Delhi itself. He was surprised and delighted beyond 
 measure at our educational work, which surpassed all he had 
 dreamt of ; but you know this department never had his 
 fullest adhesion, and while he does not grudge the large 
 amount of strength it absorbs, yet he thinks that if it needs 
 so many, we should increase our whole staff so as to have 
 more men at leisure to help me and do more direct evangelistic 
 work." 
 
 "Feb. 1 6, 1893. The Bishops Barry and Bickersteth have 
 come and we enjoyed them both, especially the latter. With
 
 90 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Bishop Barry I had a talk about the Archbishop's speech 
 (Benson's) on Mahommedanism and the effect it had had here. 
 He said he had been greatly surprised and dismayed at the 
 speech, and that he thought the Archbishop ought to know 
 the sort of thing I was telling him. He wanted me to 
 write direct. This, however, I said I was not prepared to do, 
 though I am getting up the subject for my next occasional 
 paper and will express my views with some clearness I hope 
 then. I believe the Archbishop always reads our papers. 
 Then Bishop Barry said that though he could not write 
 direct to the Archbishop he could to Bishop Davidson, and 
 if I would put down on paper what I had said he would 
 forward it ; so I am going to do this. 
 
 " I was so very grieved to hear yesterday of Phillips Brooks' 
 death, you know how much he has helped me, and he felt 
 very warmly towards our work." 
 
 It is only right to give here that part of the speech of 
 Archbishop Benson to which Lefroy alludes. It was made at 
 the annual meeting of the S.P.G. in St. James's Hall on 
 Thursday, June 16, 1892. The Archbishop, after a generous 
 survey of the religions and philosophies of the world, said : 
 
 "We often do undervalue the importance to mankind of 
 such a religion as Mahommedanism. I would say that those 
 who know Mahommedanism best, know that in many directions 
 there are noble characters formed under its influence men of 
 justice, men of piety, men of truth whom all who know them 
 intimately respect. These characters are the strength of that or of 
 any other religion. It is not what is to be found in books, what 
 is to be said or prayed in temples which are its true strength the 
 pillar of its strength among the populace. When we find 
 Mahommedanism so hard to break, so irresistible, so impregnable a 
 citadel, so impenetrable a rock, it is not because it is a religion which 
 ministers to pride, to lust, and cruelty. I deprecate very much setting 
 to work I do not believe we shall ever succeed if we set to work 
 believing that the religion of any nation which God has allowed to 
 grow up in it, and to be its teacher up to this point, until Christianity 
 is ready to approach it I do not believe we should succeed if we 
 held that the religion itself ministered to pride, to lust, and cruelty. 
 It would be as reasonable if we were to impute to the Gospel the 
 sins of London. We know what the sins of Mahommedanism are, 
 but do we not know what the sins of Europe and London are ? Do 
 we not know what the sins are of other places where the Gospel is 
 preached most earnestly and sedulously ? We mistake if we do not 
 look at the root of the evils; you must look into the region of 
 human nature, and first accept a religion as having done what it could
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 91 
 
 for the moral and spiritual welfare of its followers : having done that, 
 and in that spirit, you can move forward, and offer yourselves as 
 those who have a more excellent way to present to the nations living 
 in the faith of these old religions. Mahommedanism does form high 
 characters. No one can go into a Mahommedan place of worship 
 without being struck by the evidence of sincerity, gravity, absorbed- 
 ness, and solemnity in the worshippers. We must not approach 
 them as if they knew they were themselves deficient, and that it was 
 only pride and obstinacy that prevented them from listening to us. 
 We must go to them acknowledging that God has brought them a 
 long way on the road to Him, We must take them up where they 
 are, and remember that they do not look upon themselves as behind 
 Europeans or the English nation. They look upon their sacred 
 books as an advance on Christianity, and until we are able to meet 
 them on their own ground, until we have thoroughly mastered theirs, 
 until we know exactly what their position has been in the formation 
 of character and thought unless we recognise the deep spring of 
 devotion they exhibit, unless we are prepared to find the formation 
 of noble characters among them due to the same cause as the 
 formation of noble characters among ourselves we shall have no 
 chance in dealing with a religion like Mahommedanism. It is a 
 religion which requires to be thoroughly understood and deeply 
 mastered. We want the colleges, we want the institutions and the 
 great students who shall fortify and prepare our missionaries, to send 
 them out, not with the idea that being Englishmen and Christians they 
 ought at once to carry everything before them, but with the notion 
 that they have a fierce battle to fight, a hard strife to encounter, and 
 that they must be prepared to follow misbeliefs and misunderstandings 
 to their very root and origin. The stubbornness of the Mahom- 
 medans in resisting Christianity gives me more hope of what they 
 will be when we have gone to them, properly armed to face them 
 to those who fully believe they could come to London and improve 
 it, and give us a purer and better religion than our own their 
 stubbornness in maintaining and supporting their religion gives me 
 more hope than the levity with which some nations are ready to give 
 up old truths and take up a new religion, which they think will lead 
 them to Western civilisation and wealth." 
 
 Lefroy makes answer in a note in his " Occasional Paper," 
 first writing in the body of the Paper " First, a word as to 
 whether it is right to look for, or to expect to find, such 
 positive blots, such grievous errors in an alien creed at all." 
 He then appends a note : 
 
 "The consideration of the point was suggested by the speech 
 of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Annual 
 S.P.G. Meeting of 1892 as reported in the August number of
 
 92 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 the Mission Field of that year. It must be with the extremest 
 deference that I venture to dissent from the views of his Grace, 
 to whom we owe so much and to whose teaching we so heartily 
 look up. To the praise which he bestows on certain sides of 
 Mahommedanism we (I am speaking for myself and my 
 brethren at Delhi) desire to offer no objection. Undoubtedly 
 the lesson on which he insists, that Christian missionaries must 
 recognise the good in it and other non-Christian systems more 
 fully than often they have done, is one that we need to lay to 
 heart. But we here cannot help perceiving the danger in ignor- 
 ing, as he seemed to do, the positively evil side, not only in the 
 character of its professors who do not live up to their creed, but 
 in the religion itself. To show how liable his speech was to 
 be misunderstood I may mention the following. Only a few 
 weeks after its publication a Mahommedan gentleman one 
 with whom I have much intercourse and who is prominent in 
 our meetings in the Hall came to me in great triumph. 
 He had been referred to the report of the speech by an 
 Englishman as showing how mistaken the attitude of the 
 missionaries was in regard to Mahommedanism, and how far 
 the leading authorities of their Church were from endorsing it. 
 He burst in upon me with, ' Well, now at any rate you must 
 admit that if you still resist the truth and refuse to recognise 
 Mahomed as the Seal of theProphets.it is simply your obstinacy 
 and hardness of heart, for you see the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury has himself accepted him ! ' ' Scarcely that,' I replied. 
 ' Well,' was the retort, ' if he does not say so in so many 
 words, and of course, occupying the position he does he could 
 not do that, it practically follows from what he does admit.' 
 I know it is not fair to hold any one responsible for the 
 distortions, or entire misapprehension of his words, but I simply 
 state the impression that was left on this gentleman's mind, 
 and, as I know, not on his alone." 
 
 In August, 1892, Lefroy mentions the great excitement 
 caused by a pamphlet published in the Punjab by the Rev. 
 T. Williams, of Rewari. No doubt the cause of it was the 
 speech of Archbishop Benson, and was a reaction, an unfair 
 and provocative attack upon the character of Mahommed. 
 A deputation of the Moslem community waited upon the 
 Lieutenant-Governor at Simla, and the pamphlet was with- 
 drawn from circulation. As I have been unable to examine 
 this pamphlet I can give no accurate account of it. Experience 
 teaches that unbalanced utterances on the one side lead to
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 93 
 
 the same errors on the other side. I believe it will be 
 acknowledged that Lefroy held the balance true. 
 
 The story of our Indian brother's path upward and 
 onward reads like the working out of a drama, followed by 
 all of us each step of the way with prayers and at length 
 with thankfulness and with nothing but sympathy. 
 
 Falling back. 
 
 " March 1, 1893. I have a most sad piece of news to give 
 you. Last Friday the blind Maulvi left the Faith and made 
 confession of Mahommedanism in the great mosque here. 
 The shock is the greater because up to the very last moment 
 it was wholly unexpected either by me or by any of our native 
 Christians. For some, few weeks I had not been happy 
 about him myself, and feared things were going wrong : and 
 early last week he came and told me the allowance I was 
 giving him to live upon was not enough and he must have 
 more. I was giving him intentionally a small amount because 
 it is of extreme importance to show in the beginning of our 
 work, and especially in a notable case like this, that we will 
 not offer money inducements to a man to become a Christian. 
 But it was enough for actual needs. I told him I could not, 
 in duty to himself and the principle at stake, increase it He 
 then said he must go elsewhere and try to better himself in 
 some other Mission. I pointed out to him the danger he 
 would be in if he once gave such considerations a dominant 
 place in his mind, but said he was perfectly free to go where 
 he pleased as he was a servant of Christ's not of mine. On 
 Thursday, as he said definitely he wished to go to Lahore, I 
 gave him a letter of introduction to Mr. Shirreff, the able and 
 excellent C.M.S. missionary there, and money for the journey. 
 I was uneasy about him. That evening I went out for a 
 few days in the district and on Friday at the big prayers at 
 midday, without a syllable to any of our people, he went off 
 and turned Mahommedan and was immediately sent off to 
 Bhopal (a strong Mahommedan native state in Bengal) under 
 the charge of a well-known Delhi Maulvi. You can imagine 
 how great the sorrow is to all of us and specially to me. How 
 long the deterioration has been going on or when it commenced 
 I cannot say. Sometimes I think even now that till the last 
 he did not mean to take this step but was over-persuaded 
 and threatened into it. The sorrow is very great, yet even 
 now I can believe and perhaps in some faint measure see
 
 94 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 that God will not suffer His work to be injured through it, 
 but out of man's evil will somehow good will come." 
 
 "March 23, 1893. The blind man is back ; by no means 
 satisfactorily, and with still very much of doubt about the 
 future ; but still I believe really sorry for what has happened 
 and wishing to be with us. May God deepen his repentance 
 and make him more humble and distrustful of self, and 
 therefore more steadfast and strong for the future." 
 
 "March 30, 1893. The blind man goes on very well indeed 
 and I really have higher hopes of his being a true spiritual 
 Christian than I ever had before. Last Sunday was arranged 
 for his confession in Church and pardon, with at the same 
 time penance imposed, of exclusion from Holy Communion 
 till Christmas, to occupy till that time the place of penitent. 
 The effect was very great indeed upon him. He faced it, how- 
 ever, I believe in the best spirit possible. At his own request 
 he spent the whole of Saturday alone in the church preparing 
 for the ordeal. I went for a short time and sat by him 
 reading Heb. xii. and trying to explain Christian discipline : 
 that it is not meant merely to humiliate and crush, but to 
 chasten and elevate and is a proof of God's love. He was 
 very nice over it, and on Sunday the service, though very sad, 
 was I believe true and helpful. He is still here, the future 
 is uncertain. He must leave Delhi for a time certainly, but 
 where he should go is not yet settled, probably Lahore. I 
 am going on my roof for evening prayer every night this 
 week and watching the Paschal moon waxing and trying to 
 think what it must have meant to our Lord when He watched 
 it waxing each night from the Mount of Olives and realised 
 all that it meant to Him when it should reach its full." 
 
 "May 17, 1893. The great thing, I wish I could attain it 
 more, is to feel that one is not meant or wished to do more 
 than one can find time to do thoroughly and quietly. If one 
 could stick to this how infinitely more lasting and better 
 value the work one did would be ! But it is not easy." 
 
 "Delhi : Sept., 1894. You asked in one letter about the 
 Mahommedan belief in a coming ascendancy of the Christian 
 Faith. I am quite familiar with the thought, and believed I 
 could lay my hand on some definite statement of theirs con- 
 cerning it, but this I have not yet been able to do, though I 
 have looked through one or two books. They certainly do 
 hold that there will be a great apostasy before the end, and 
 the Cross will largely triumph till, a strange conclusion, our 
 Lord Himself will return, alighting on a minaret of a mosque 
 in Damascus, and vindicate again Islam as the true Faith ! . . .
 
 LEFROY AND ISLAM 95 
 
 " The blind man was married last Wednesday. He had 
 long wished to take this step. I do feel the difficulties of 
 loneliness, want of attention, etc., imposed on him by his 
 blindness to be so very real and so difficult to be adequately 
 met in any other way. He had seen something (without eyes) 
 of a girl from our Boarding School who had been working for 
 some time in the Hospital. She is herself of Mahommedan 
 extraction, though brought up from childhood as a Christian, 
 and this gives them a strong draw towards each other. He 
 is very happy at present, and I earnestly hope the change 
 may make him happier and stronger in his hold on Faith." 
 
 For years now Maulvi Ahmad Masih has lived a Christian. 
 He has never tried to emphasise the great change in any un- 
 necessary way by outward alteration of living nor in dress. 
 He has lived in the Mission Compound, and his form is one 
 of the most familiar to visitors ; and his house is the one 
 most resorted to by non-Christians, and probably by Christians. 
 His work has been chiefly to preach in the bazaars, and as 
 there are now certain authorised spots for preaching, the 
 authorities impartially allotting these to representatives of 
 different faiths on fixed afternoons, there is none now of the 
 old feeling of antagonism. It is possible now for a small body 
 of Indian Christians to preach at such places without the 
 protection of any European missionary. The situation has 
 changed since Lefroy's days. Of late years Ahmad Masih 
 has been drawn to the problem of Hinduism, and especially 
 of the Arya Samaj, and many of the discussions in the 
 Bickersteth Hall have been between him and a professor of 
 that cult. A parallel instance is that of Professor Ram 
 Chandra, the most eminent of Delhi Christians, who though 
 born a Hindu gave the best years of his life to the Moslem 
 problem. The blind Maulvi is held in high esteem by the 
 Chamar Christians, and often he is chosen as arbitrator to 
 decide cases among them. His intellectual powers are, of 
 course, considerable, since in spite of blindness, and the 
 almost total lack of books for the blind, he is able to keep 
 abreast of controversies. He knows the whole Koran by 
 heart in Arabic. Indeed, he has an amazing power of dia- 
 lectic. At its best this is exhibited in the wonderful skill 
 with which he can turn even frivolous and obstructionist
 
 96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 objections into opportunities for driving home Christian 
 truth. Of course, any one with such gifts is tempted at 
 times to think more of "scoring off" an opponent and of 
 gaining an immediate victory than of keeping on the higher 
 levels, with an eye to a nobler triumph in due time. This 
 was a lesson which Lefroy always drove home, and it has 
 ever been in the Maulvi's mind. The lesson is of abiding 
 value for all controversialists. It is also of permanent im- 
 portance to evangelists to remember what are often abiding 
 influences in one who has been brought up in another faith. 
 For example, a convert from Islam does not find it easy to 
 get away from methods of interpretation to which he was 
 formerly accustomed, whether dealing with non-Christian or 
 Christian Scriptures. "A rigidly literal conception of in- 
 spiration is fundamental in Mahommedanism, and one of 
 Lefroy 's chief efforts used to consist in the attempt to 
 explain and justify the Christian conception, and thereby 
 to cut off at the root whole forests of disputings on verses 
 torn from their context." 
 
 The above reflections are condensed from two valuable 
 letters from men who have been in close touch with the 
 Maulvi, and are proud to be enrolled among his friends.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MAHOMMEDANISM, ITS STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS 
 
 I HAVE already stated that Lefroy published two articles on 
 Mahommedanism. In 1894 there appeared "An Occasional 
 Paper," and after thirteen years an article in " Mankind and 
 the Church." The following is a summary of his views in the 
 first of these. He begins by saying that he had tried to 
 enter as fully as possible, and with sympathy, into the truths 
 in that religion. And in this connection he speaks warmly of 
 Archbishop Trench's Hulsean Lectures, " Christ the Desire of 
 all Nations," published in 1845, commending them as giving 
 the wise and generous attitude towards all religions. Lefroy 
 could not believe that " any who have been created in the 
 image of God can wander wholly away into the blackness of 
 error." The main points in the pamphlet are as follows : 
 The study of Mahommedanism ostensibly based on the Old 
 Testament and on some New Testament stories in dis- 
 torted form, is of peculiar interest because of the extra- 
 ordinary moral problem which it presents, for " nowhere 
 have light and darkness been so interwoven the one with 
 the other. Nowhere have high truths of God and man 
 been so clearly stated, and yet at the same time so 
 neutralised in their practical effect, if not perverted to 
 evil results, by the admixture of falsehood in its system." 
 The strength of Islam consists in belief in One Living 
 God, in the general Resurrection, and in the fact of Reve- 
 lation followed by an intense guardianship of it. Again, 
 it consists in the position assigned to Jesus Christ ; it holds 
 the Virgin Birth and His entire and unique sinlessness. The 
 Ascension is taught, but not the Resurrection, for the fact of 
 
 97 H
 
 98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 the Crucifixion is denied. His Second Coming is an article 
 of faith ; not, however, to judge the world, but to prepare the 
 way for a great Mahommedan revival. The titles given to 
 Christ are the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Lefroy 
 then turns to the dark side : where the Mahommedan Creed 
 has had fullest and most urestrained scope, there error has 
 prevented enlightenment, progress, and the happiness of 
 mankind. 
 
 " I believe Mahommedanism and so far as I know all 
 uninspired faiths to be the reflection of the dual character of 
 man. There are in it still the traces of God's Holy Spirit, 
 there is a feeling upward toward God, but there is also present 
 in it, in very high degree, the craft and power of the devil 
 marring the work of God's Spirit and dragging man down." 
 " Just because I do want that we should be fair to 
 Mahommedanism, I deplore the more that indiscriminate 
 partisanship of it, for I believe it will do the utmost injury to 
 the cause which we have so much at heart, and by provoking 
 a certain reaction will land us again in that position of un- 
 reasoning denunciation and unqualified abuse from which we 
 are trying to escape." He speaks, next, of the evils inherent 
 in the Mahommedan system. The conception of God is 
 fundamentally erroneous. Stress is laid on the metaphysical 
 and intellectual attributes almost to the exclusion of the 
 moral. Power being put as a primary attribute, the dominant 
 conception of God is of Arbitrary Will. He speaks of "the 
 arbitrary character of the Quranic morality." There was 
 nothing blasphemous to Mahommed in attributing certain 
 decrees of God about women, "since such decrees are not 
 necessarily and irrevocably opposed to His nature." "All 
 true idea of God as the pattern and standard of man's life, or 
 of a true loving fellowship with Him has vanished." Again, 
 the nature of their worship is fearfully mechanical. The low 
 views of paradise and of its bliss are a very sad fact. Lefroy 
 relates how a Judge of the Sessions Court, " an Englishman 
 without much hold on definite Christian belief, and inclined 
 to an eclectic attitude towards creeds generally," once said to 
 him, " I put Mahommedanism at the very bottom of all other 
 faiths ; short of actual fetishism I think it stands as low as 
 possible." In this connection Lefroy speaks sadly of
 
 MAHOMMEDANISM 99 
 
 Mahommed's own attitude towards women, and refers specially 
 to three of his acts : (a) his declaration that God had freed 
 him from laws laid down for all others ; (b] his marriage with 
 Zeinab, the wife of Zeid, his adopted son ; (c) the affair with 
 Mary, an Egyptian slave. He concludes by saying, " It 
 should be remembered that Mahommed was not merely a 
 teacher occupying, so to speak, an external position towards 
 the creed which he taught, but his own life down to his most 
 trivial words and acts and habits has been treasured up, and 
 constitutes for all time the standard and pattern of the true 
 believer." "I believe that with the access of power there 
 came a fatal lowering of aims, and of the tone of his whole 
 life till from regarding himself so long as the mouthpiece of 
 God he permitted himself first to disregard his conscience, 
 and then to take that last and awful step, in which he is not 
 alone among those whom God has called to noble aims and 
 privileges, of identifying the voice of God with the promptings 
 even of his lower nature, and claiming the divine authority 
 for that which he ought to have repelled as, what it indeed 
 was, the very tempting of the evil one himself." 
 
 In 1907 Lefroy wrote in "Mankind and the Church" 1 
 on "The Attempt to Estimate the Contribution of Great 
 Races to the Fulness of the Church of God." He points 
 out that Islam cuts across racial differences, and impresses 
 upon all it touches the characteristics of a religious system. 
 " It is one of the striking proofs of the strength of the creed 
 of Islam that it does thus force into the background the dis- 
 tinguishing racial characteristics of the people to which it has 
 come." " The Mahommedan type of character is as definite 
 and clear cut a thing as possible." The following points are 
 worth noting in his attempt to do justice to the good in Islam. 
 By it " a need of our own time is met when it is shown on a 
 large scale of human life that a truth about God lies at the base 
 of one of the strongest social and political structures which the 
 world has ever seen, and that this strength and power is due 
 rather to a religious truth than to any maxims of practical 
 morality." " It is the knowledge of God which lies at the base 
 of human life and gives strength to human society." Islam 
 
 1 " Mankind and the Church," by Seven Bishops. Edited by Bishop Mont- 
 gomery (Longmans),
 
 ioo LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 also makes its power felt from what may be called the in- 
 stitutional side of religion : the regularity of the ordinances 
 for prayer in large bodies is noticeable, " utterly different from 
 a vast mass of modern religious sentiment which is almost 
 Manichaean in its fear of the body and of bodily acts . . . and 
 has almost lost the sense of the power of corporate acts of 
 worship." Notable also is the chivalrous pride which the 
 Mahommedan takes in his faith. " A Christian will allow the 
 name of our Blessed Lord to be abused in his presence far 
 more easily than a Mahommedan would allow the name of 
 his own prophet to be so treated." Nor does he consider 
 ritual unreal or effeminate. "In Islam we find one of the 
 most ritualistic peoples in the world essentially manly and 
 strong." Again, " the brotherhood of believers is another vital 
 and much needed truth which, it may well be, Mahommedan 
 converts will help to reaffirm and press home on the Christian 
 consciousness." 
 
 It must be specially noted that these extracts are chosen 
 to illustrate only the good in Islam. The whole article 
 should be read in order to gain the balance on the other side. 
 I have already given the two sides on pp. 97, 98. 
 
 The two following letters give the fruits of labour : 
 
 New and happy experiences. 
 
 "This week Haig and I have been twice, for nearly four 
 hours each time, to a Mahommedan mosque, where we have 
 found a Mahommedan priest and a certain number of his 
 disciples ready and willing to have a really good talk over 
 matters, and on sensible lines with Commentaries, etc., and 
 really very nearly without prejudice and unfairness. I cannot 
 in the least convey to you what it has been to me. It must 
 seem to you very simple and probably the sort of thing you 
 supposed we had been doing all along ; but in point of fact, 
 in this particular form, it is to me a perfectly new experience 
 and one of the very happiest and most promising kind. He 
 certainly does load us with blessings, even when we are least 
 worthily using those already received. The chief thing one 
 needs more and more is to remember that all one has is given 
 to one by Him ; each such gift by all reason and common sense 
 ought to do so much more to make one humble and yet it may 
 so easily be perverted to an exactly opposite purpose. This 
 is as distinct an answer to prayer as anything could be, and it
 
 MAHOMMEDANISM 101 
 
 is the more pleasant that it did not come originally to me, but 
 it was Haig who came upon the man first, and got the invita- 
 tion which led on to the whole thing. I do trust now we may 
 be able to keep it up and extend it." 
 
 " Delhi: Aug. 7, 1895. We had great excitement down at 
 the Hall last Friday. There is a keen wave of excitement 
 passing over them in connection with our preaching and the 
 meetings have been very largely attended. I had had a 
 discussion, shorter than usual and I think satisfactory, with a 
 Mahommedan on Eternal Life as viewed from the Christian 
 and Mahommedan standpoints. Just as I was closing the 
 meeting a poor looking Eurasian stepped forward and said, 
 ' I want to become a Mahommedan.' Excitement rose to 
 white heat. I turned to the chairman, a Mahommedan, and 
 said, ' Now, you are responsible for seeing that nothing 
 further is said here. If he wants to profess Mahommedanism 
 the mosque opposite is the place. Let him go there.' He 
 was good about it, and with a good deal of difficulty got 
 the man and his own co-religionists out of the Hall and over 
 to the mosque. The Mahommedans were of course very 
 jubilant, and I hear it is all over the city that half the Padres 
 have been converted and the other half are on the brink. On 
 leaving the Hall I learned that the man had been begging 
 from Mr. Papillon in the morning, and not getting any help 
 there had apparently determined to try another quarter. 
 Subsequently, however, I learned that there were further 
 wheels within wheels. It seems that an Association of 
 Mahommedanism which has much influence in the Punjab had 
 sent a rather strong remonstrance to the chief men who come 
 to the Hall, saying that their presence gives e*clat to the 
 meetings ; if they stayed away others would not go, and 
 urging them to at once discontinue the discussions and 
 attendance. My friends did not like this, so they arranged a 
 little plan with this poor man when he went begging for some 
 help from them, that he should attend the Hall in the evening 
 and make a profession of Mahommedanism. They now point 
 to this as a magnificent result of the discussions, showing how 
 converts are won and entirely silencing the adversary. It 
 is not a very high level to move on, and gives you a little in- 
 sight into the initial difficulties of utter want of ordinary 
 honesty and moral sense which we meet with in all our work. 
 The result, however, pleases me well enough, for what I want 
 is to secure the continuance of the good meetings at which 
 many hear the Word under circumstances at any rate more 
 favourable, I think, than any others I could get them under."
 
 loa LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 "Aug. 14. I am having tremendously interesting meetings 
 at the Hall and carrying the war more into the enemy's country 
 than I usually do. I wonder if you know a very interesting 
 little book, ' The Testimony of the Koran to the Holy 
 Scriptures," by Sir W. Muir (S.P.C.K.). If so that would 
 give you the drift of my last two lectures. The last one was 
 not outwardly a success, for they marshalled a lot of Arabic 
 scholars against me and quoted verses freely, and I am not 
 scholar enough to see the real meaning and correct mistakes : 
 so, though I know my case is really overwhelmingly strong, I 
 had to suffer apparent defeat. It is such experiences, however, 
 that lead to victory. One learns what their lives are and 
 what arguments need to be met. I had a very interesting 
 talk with an able and unusually impartial Maulvi at Karnal 
 last Monday when sitting quietly in scholarly talk, with the 
 Arabic authorities before us. He entirely admitted the over- 
 whelming force of the argument as to the existence of pure 
 copies of the Scripture in Mahomet's time though he had, of 
 course, his own explanation as to their subsequent corruption 
 and disappearance. This ,is the ultimate dilemma on which I 
 believe, as learning and some sort of appreciation of other faiths 
 and positions develop amongst them, Mahommedanism must 
 split : there is the very strong assertion in the Koran of the 
 divinity and authenticity of the Bible, coupled with the denial 
 of its leading teaching. 
 
 A much later letter, and when he was a Bishop. 
 
 " Dera Ghazi Khan : Feb. 6, 1900. 
 
 " I had one experience which after twenty years in the 
 work, was quite novel. A Mahommedan of good family 
 belonging to the place was baptised a good many years ago. 
 1 admitted him to priest's orders in Advent. He is plainly 
 much respected in the place. He asked me to come to his 
 house as he wanted me to meet some of his Mahommedan 
 relatives. I went, expecting of course to meet his brothers or 
 other males. There were some of them present, but after a 
 few minutes' talk he said, ' Please come in here, some of the 
 women are in this room.' I went in and to my astonishment 
 there were six respectable Mahommedan women, one his 
 mother, the others I believe wives of brothers, who shook 
 hands with me, keeping their faces of course partially veiled 
 but by no means entirely so, and then listened for ten or 
 fifteen minutes while I spoke to them of the faith. At the 
 end the eldest brother, who is a Mahommedan (the one who 
 has been baptised is the eldest of all), asked me to pray for
 
 MAHOMMEDANISM 103 
 
 him and others of the family that they might have grace given 
 them to follow their brother's footsteps. It was very remark- 
 able altogether, and I thanked God for it. As we came out 
 my Padre brother said, ' Well, they throw the faults and fail- 
 ings of the Christians in our faces often enough, but the fact 
 remains that they wouldn't have dreamt of allowing one of 
 their own Maulvis to go in there, but they trust a Christian 
 Padre ! ' "
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 
 
 I HAVE put together in this chapter a series of letters scattered 
 over a period extending up to 1892. Taken together they 
 throw light on Lefroy's happy nature, seeing the humorous 
 side of things : also something of municipal duties, besides a 
 record of his attempt to live in the very heart of the city 
 among the people. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to emphasise the warm affection 
 which subsisted between the Cambridge men. The following 
 letter tells of the love and admiration Lefroy had for 
 Allnutt : 
 
 " C.M.D. Aug. : 13, 1887. 
 
 "We are getting A. started off for his fifteen months' 
 furlough. It has brought out in a very unusual degree the 
 way in which he has won the love and respect of all the boys 
 in the School and College. They got up a testimonial and 
 address in the college entirely of their own motion, and 
 collected over 10, which, considering most of them are quite 
 poor, and that the whole idea of giving anything to a Sahib- 
 who is supposed to be the general giver of all things is quite 
 strange to them, is I think very good. But what pleased me 
 far more, and I am sure touched him very deeply, was the 
 language used on the occasion. In the first place, it was one 
 of the most forcible evidences I have seen of the depth to 
 which our teaching really has affected them, for there was an 
 entire, or almost entire, absence of the ordinary Oriental 
 bombast and grandiloquence, and a simplicity and directness 
 which was quite Western. And conformably to this, the ex- 
 pression of the emotions was evidently so perfectly genuine 
 and sincere. As W. said to me coming back, ' I wish some 
 of those who don't believe in educational work as a true and 
 right branch of Missionary effort, could have been there 
 
 104
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 105 
 
 to-night.' I wish indeed they could, and almost more that 
 some of those who look askance at Missionary work altogether 
 and object to us as stirring up religious prejudice and ill feeling. 
 I venture to say it is very few Government officials, even of 
 those who are most punctilious in their adherence to the rules of 
 religious neutrality (a thing of all others most hopelessly out- 
 side the natives' comprehension, who have a way of thinking 
 and calling it indifference) could have evoked as hearty and 
 deep an expression of feeling. It certainly does astonish 
 oneself at times ; for after all, we are here to upset by God's 
 grace their old faiths and customs, and to recreate the country 
 in Christ Jesus ; and it is only logical to suppose that we 
 should be very much hated and objected to ; only logical, but 
 somehow hopelessly the reverse of fact. And it has been 
 more than the mere personal expression of feeling that has 
 delighted us for, besides the evidence of a deep general 
 effect having been (or being in process of being) wrought on 
 their whole tone, in various ways, in private conversation or 
 the like, one and another has given signs that he has been 
 personally and directly touched by our religious teaching. I 
 cannot help believing that, with God's blessing, we are work- 
 ing up to a real movement towards Christ in the College, and 
 even now, I believe, if one could be found strong enough to 
 take the first step, as he will surely when the time comes, he 
 would not take it alone. 
 
 "The class I am myself teaching, the head one in the 
 College, who will take their B.A. in a few months now, 
 occupies an attitude towards the Bible (in respect of some of 
 its members at any rate) which I have never experienced 
 before : e.g. I was teaching St. John xi. the other day, and d 
 propos of Martha and Mary, I remarked that, if we were 
 wanting to look at it from an evidential point of view, it had 
 often been noticed as a proof of the Gospel story how 
 perfectly true to themselves all the characters who appear in 
 glimpses here and there in the narrative are. I referred for 
 illustration to Thomas, how he was always inclined to take the 
 more despondent view, e.g. that very chapter, and I turned for 
 reference to ch. xiv. 5. I was, however, conscious that there 
 was another more forcible instance in point, but could not at 
 the moment recall it, when one of the boys sitting by me, a 
 Hindu, said, ' Yes, sir, and don't you remember it was 
 Thomas who doubted longest about the Resurrection ? ' The 
 absolutely sympathetic point of view, so to speak, with which 
 he was following and lifting me over my difficulty touched 
 me very much. And certainly if any man ever deserved
 
 io6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 a testimonial and a hearty ' Godspeed ' it is A. His work for 
 the last eight years has been simply incessant, and all so well 
 directed and concentrated and full of effect. He found the 
 school in a miserable condition. He has regenerated it ; 
 founded the College and carried it on till it takes a high place 
 among the institutions of the Punjab : enriched both with all 
 kinds of special branches of study, military drill, etc. ; reformed 
 the whole method of teaching, or is in a fair way to do 
 so ; instituted a most flourishing club on the pattern of a 
 young men's club in Cambridge (where he was engaged in 
 parochial work) to which he was much attached. This is 
 quite one of the features of our work now, unique in this part 
 of the country at any rate, and forming one of the links we 
 most value between us and the boys. Add to all this that he 
 has largely influenced the whole educational work of the 
 Punjab." 
 
 MUNICIPAL DUTIES 
 
 It was to be expected, of course, that Lefroy's practical 
 sagacity should mark him out as a man of affairs as well as a 
 spiritual leader, and the natural result followed. The citizens 
 of Delhi requested his help on the Municipal Council. Lefroy 
 responded, and delighted in further study of human nature. 
 
 " Delhi : Oct. 20, 1885. 
 
 " You will be amused to hear of the last development of 
 events and the newest opening which is presenting itself to 
 my energies. Local self-government took a mighty develop- 
 ment in India in Lord Ripon's time, finding vent chiefly in 
 Municipal Committees, which had indeed existed before, but 
 then as a mere name, while now they have really been 
 entrusted with some powers. There is talk of my being 
 elected by the English residents as member for our ward ! 
 What would you say to me as Municipal Councillor ? It is 
 not certain however. Some of the leading men have asked 
 me to stand, but by a junior section another man has been 
 put forward, and I have refused to have any fight, though I 
 have accepted the offer if the other man should withdraw, and 
 my election be unanimous. It is, of course, a very open 
 question whether it is right for me as missionary to under- 
 take the work or not, but we have talked it over amongst 
 ourselves and on the whole think it would be right to try, the 
 chief inducement being the contact into which it would bring 
 me with some of the leading men of the city, to whom our
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 107 
 
 Mission is especially supposed to address itself, but whom we 
 have so far signally failed to reach." 
 
 " C.M.D. : Feb. 8, 1887. 
 
 "And now we have a good deal going on here. I 
 specially am busy, in virtue of my office of Municipal Com- 
 missioner, in connection with the Queen's Jubilee, which we 
 are to celebrate on the i6th inst. (This date has been fixed 
 because the heat on June 2Oth would make anything like 
 public rejoicings impossible.) I am responsible for feeding 
 the schoolchildren of Delhi, amounting to about 3000, 
 and the poor people. The last sounds a specially pleasant 
 office, but is so wholly vague as to be I fear in a large city 
 like Delhi almost impossible. From the point of view of my 
 co-councillors, Hindus and Mahommedans, it would be easy 
 enough. With them it is a matter of religion, on any such 
 occasion as this, to spend a certain amount in alms. These 
 usually take the form of a dinner ; but the unfortunate part is 
 that from their point of view it does not matter the least who 
 eats it ! They have given away so much in alms and if the 
 strong fight their way in first and get the victuals, that is 
 nothing to them, their merit remaining all the same. In this 
 sort of arrangement I need scarcely say I have refused to 
 have any part. I can only join if some clear line of deserving 
 people is drawn and, so far as possible, all within that get 
 their share. This, however, it is enormously difficult to do in 
 a city like this, where the poor may be counted in thousands. 
 I have suggested limiting it to the halt, maimed, blind, etc., 
 those, >., who are simply unable to do anything for a 
 livelihood : whether this is the form it will take or not, I 
 do not yet know. All the Committee is clear about is that 
 the money (about 100) must be spent. 
 
 " But I have a much bigger thing than this on, and which 
 seems just drawing to a happy issue ; and if it does it will be 
 a matter for very great and humble thankfulness. Ever since 
 the late riots there has been a very strained feeling between 
 the Hindus and Mahommedans issuing in all kinds of little 
 annoyances and quarrels. Latterly, moreover, they have taken 
 a leaf out of the Irish book, and the Hindus have boycotted 
 four large Mahommedan merchants. It was a very serious 
 matter indeed, as it meant the stoppage of a very large trade. 
 The Government interfered, and the Deputy Commissioner 
 did his utmost both by argument, and then by the pressure 
 which in a country circumstanced as this is, Government can 
 in a thousand ways bring to bear, to make the Hindus
 
 io8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 recommence trade, but could not effect it. Then came the 
 proposal for the celebration of the Jubilee in the Municipal 
 Committee, and I went one morning fully intending to protest 
 against our doing anything unless we first reconciled our 
 own differences. That day, however, I did not seem to have 
 any opportunity for saying what was in my mind ; but the 
 next day I went to the leading Hindu and told him that I 
 could not have any heart in assisting in preparations for the 
 Jubilee so long as the city was in the state it was in. I asked 
 him if there was no possibility of some solution being arrived 
 at. He said that he thought it was possible if there were 
 some go-between who could bring the parties together with- 
 out compromising the dignity of either. I then went to the 
 leading Mahommedan. To cut the matter short, I have had a 
 number of interviews with men of both sides, with independent 
 Hindus and independent Mohammedans, with boycotted 
 Mahommedans and boycotting Hindus, and this evening I 
 found they had met together and drawn up a Committee of 
 ten persons, five Hindus and five Mahommedans (installing 
 me and another Englishman whom they had asked me to 
 associate with myself in the matter as of more standing and 
 repute in the city, as presidents), who pledge themselves to 
 stop the boycotting and then attempt to arrive at some 
 amicable settlement of the religious differences. The paper 
 has not actually been signed, and therefore it may still fall 
 through, but I am every minute waiting for it, and if it comes, 
 I shall indeed thank God and take courage." 
 
 Municipal sanitation. 
 
 "C.M.D. : June 17, 1887. 
 
 " The conservancy of the city is very bad, the mortality 
 being, according to the doctor, higher almost than is known 
 in any other city supposed to be managed in all decent 
 European habits, ranging from fifty to seventy per thousand, 
 while London is, I believe, not much over twenty. Just at 
 present the doctor and Deputy Commissioner are in a state 
 of great excitement about this, as they well may be, and are 
 trying to find remedies. Chief among them, as they believe, 
 is an entire alteration of the status of the Municipal Committee 
 in its relation to the sanitation of the city. This relation is, 
 they tell me, quite unique, or almost so, and ahead (so to 
 speak) of the position occupied by the most daring local self- 
 government corporations in England. The point is this : that 
 whereas Municipal Committees elsewhere universally appoint 
 one man, usually their secretary, whom they pay to carry out 
 all the executive work of the Board, reserving only a general
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 109 
 
 right of supervision and of dropping on the secretary if any of 
 the regulations of the Committee are not carried out in his 
 ward. Here in Delhi it is otherwise, for here each member is 
 himself in direct executive charge of his ward : all the con- 
 servancy staff being directly responsible to him and to him 
 alone, and the secretary occupying little more than the place 
 of an office clerk to keep accounts, write reports, etc. 
 
 "This plan, they say, is hopeless, most of all when the 
 Committee is composed of Orientals who, on the one hand, 
 don't know and haven't got the least idea what an Englishman 
 means by cleanliness ; and, on the other, believe rates of 
 mortality and all such matters to depend so absolutely and 
 directly on the fiat of the Divine Will that nobody but an 
 impious Englishman would dream of trying to alter it by 
 attending to such details as drainage, waterworks, etc. They 
 want, therefore, to upset the present arrangement and put all 
 direct authority into the hands of an English secretary, thus 
 securing centralisation and uniformity of action on the one 
 hand, and the prompt and business-like habits of our nation 
 on the other. So far so good, and certainly the case is a 
 strong one, but now comes the difficulty. Full of this inten- 
 tion, they came to one of the monthly meetings of the Com- 
 mittee and, a propos of a proposition which only most 
 indirectly involved the question, and which, when circulated 
 beforehand, had given neither me nor any of the other 
 members the smallest idea that such a very large and vital 
 question would turn up, they sprang their mine on the aston- 
 ished Committee. Now, per se, this did not commend itself 
 to me, as I think that if there is the name of freedom, there 
 ought to be at least some attention to the forms of freedom, 
 and the fullest notice ought to have been given of the intention 
 to introduce such a matter. Secondly, I knew how vital a 
 question it was, for without approving of it, it is a simple fact 
 that what makes the natives at present, here in Delhi, take a 
 good deal of interest in the municipality, so that there is a 
 good deal of canvassing at election times, and representatives 
 of some of the best old families are on it, is just the little direct 
 authority which, under the system I have described, they 
 do wield, and this is unspeakably dear to the mind of an 
 Oriental. That they make all kinds of bad use of it, employ 
 their authority to annoy personal enemies in a thousand of 
 the pettiest ways, use their staff of men largely to carry out 
 their private affairs, etc., goes without saying: and all this 
 might have been, in my opinion would have been, a most 
 amply valid reason for never entrusting them with the
 
 no LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 privilege of self-government at all. When however it has been 
 given them, to take it away is a different matter, except on the 
 most patent and entire incapacity beyond that which must have 
 been well known and assumed at the time of the passing of 
 the Act ; and I had little doubt that if it were now done it 
 would cause the deepest dissatisfaction, lead probably to the 
 withdrawal of most of the present members and certainly put 
 an end to all attempt at independent action, and reduce them 
 to what they originally were, a mere consultative body, whose 
 views and advice were more often disregarded than the 
 reverse. 
 
 " All this made me feel it very difficult to go in with the 
 authorities while the responsibility of opposing and perhaps 
 upsetting them on a question involving the sanitation of the 
 city and the lives perhaps of thousands was obvious. 
 
 "But now you will ask very naturally, ' Why should it so 
 very much matter what your particular views were on the 
 point, and what probability was there of the Deputy and the 
 doctor being in the least affected by them ? ' The way of 
 it is this, and it is a curious illustration of the way out in a 
 foreign country, where Englishmen are rare, you may get 
 almost pitchforked into a position entailing an authority and 
 a responsibility which many years of experience would very 
 likely not bring to you at home. Left alone with English 
 officials, the natives are merely like driven sheep, and never 
 think of opposing them. If, on the other hand, they have any 
 Englishman to give them the lead, while they still most fully 
 recognise and tremble at the official status of the Deputy 
 Commissioner, yet if they feel strongly and are strongly 
 appealed to, they may be made to move with us. However, 
 on this particular occasion I was not alone, but there was 
 another independent Englishman who was prepared most 
 fully to act with me, if not to lead the way. Finally I felt 
 moved, and spoke for some time, pointing out the difficulties 
 of the position, and finally appealing to the Deputy Commis- 
 sioner not to press the matter to a division now, but postpone 
 it till due and explicit notice of it had been given and a special 
 meeting convened to consider it. When I sat down, the 
 Deputy Commissioner knew, on the one hand, as I did, that 
 unless he abandoned all pretence of free discussion and voting, 
 and simply fell back on his personal authority, he could not 
 carry his point ; and on the other, he and the doctor are 
 personal friends of mine, and always treat me with the most 
 extreme courtesy and kindness : so the notice was withdrawn 
 and has not yet come on again."
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION in 
 
 In 1890 the Cambridge Mission determined to hire a 
 house in the centre of the city in order to get into touch 
 with the people. At the same time time they determined 
 to print a series of Papers to set forth the Faith : 
 
 "C.M.D. : March n, 1890. 
 
 " We are trying another rather interesting little experi- 
 ment just now. As you know our house is some way outside 
 the city, and consequently people, in this lazy, unenergetic 
 land, are slow to come to us, and we are not ' en evidence ' 
 to the extent we should like. We have now hired a little 
 native house right down in the very heart of the city in one 
 of the little squares where traffic is busiest, and I go there 
 pretty often in the mornings and sit most of the day. I 
 have my books and my work, and my teacher comes for 
 my Arabic lesson, etc., so I am occupied in any case ; but I 
 also hope that some may realise my accessibility in a way 
 they could not have done hitherto and drop in for talk and 
 inquiry. Hitherto the result has been remarkably small. 
 Still I think it is a right step, if only as putting us, as I say, 
 more ' en evidence.' It is not compatible with the rules of our 
 common life to go and live there, or it is what I should dearly 
 like to do ; and I believe one could get a hold of some if one 
 were to. How far it would be compatible with the rules 
 of physical life I am not quite sure." 
 
 "C.M.D. : March 24, 1890. 
 
 " I am writing this now in my little room down in the 
 city, of which I think I told you in my last letter. It is in 
 the very heart of the city, looking into a crowded market 
 with many sights and sounds that would be new to you, some 
 of them attractive, some of them distinctly the reverse. 
 Anyhow it seems to bring me closer to them, even if only 
 in my own thought, for I confess I have not so far been 
 encumbered by the rush of visitors, inquirers, or the like. 
 Still, they may come, and meantime I have my Arabic 
 teacher and work away at languages, sermons, letters, articles, 
 examination papers and what not, and feel, as I say, at any 
 rate nearer the people. And then if hunger takes me (for I 
 come down often immediately after breakfast and stay till 
 five or six o'clock) I can send out into the Bazaar and for a 
 penny procure a variety and amount of comestibles (indiges- 
 tible invariably, this characteristic departs not from them) 
 which would astonish you. But I have my Etna and a tin 
 of cocoa and milk, and this makes wonderful things go 
 down."
 
 ii2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 "April 29, 1890. 
 
 " I am not at present living with the Brotherhood, but 
 occupying the rooms I told you of in the city. It is very 
 painful to think that we have now been here ten years, and 
 with the exception of the boys in school and college, there are 
 hardly any whom I know personally, or have any real religious 
 influence on. Something I hope one is doing in the Christian 
 Church itself, and that must eventually be the true instrument 
 of conversion : still I cannot help thinking that we might 
 and ought to be able to get into more direct contact with the 
 people than we do. But, separated as our lives necessarily 
 are from theirs, and with the enormous gulf in all kinds of 
 ways that yawns between, it is very difficult to know how it 
 is to be done. A few have come to me here, and I have no 
 doubt that if one could live more as I am for these few days 
 one would gradually get far nearer them. But again this 
 seems impossible. It is incompatible with our idea of 
 brotherhood and common life, and according to ordinary 
 European belief it is mostly incompatible with health and 
 strength. Of this latter I am not so convinced, though 
 doubtless one would have to pay a certain price. At present 
 I am getting on very well. My servant brings me food 
 twice a day from the house. The nights are not a strong 
 point. The mosquitoes are very much in evidence, and then 
 just at present, it is the Mahommedan Fast, during which 
 from sunrise to sunset they may touch nothing : food, drink 
 or pipe. Consequently, they have to get in a good deal of 
 eating and drinking in the night, and to facilitate this a crier 
 comes round about 2 a.m. and makes a tremendous shouting 
 and noise to wake them all up. Then cooking, etc., goes on 
 for an hour or so. Then things get a bit quieter again. It 
 is an interesting experience, and it speaks well for their 
 earnestness and zeal; but as a simple matter of personal 
 comfort and quiet rest, I could consent that they should 
 manage things otherwise. A few weeks since we had the 
 foundation stone of the new College laid with a considerable 
 amount of eclat by Sir C. Elliott, the Head of the Public 
 Works Department in India." 
 
 Here is a cheering message sent to the missionary : 
 
 " February 28, 1888. 
 
 " i had a nice little bit of cheer just now when I was 
 feeling rather tired and needing it. An old student of our 
 College, a Hindu of good family, and who, with his brother,
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 113 
 
 is one of the nicest fellows we have turned out, came to see 
 me. He has left Delhi and is working, together with the 
 brother, in Government employment. We were talking, about 
 the education of women ; I was urging it on him, saying 
 what a hindrance it must be to them, as they advanced a 
 little in education, etc., to have such ignorant women in their 
 houses ; and I was contrasting it with what English ladies 
 were to us, and my mother had been to me ; and he said, 
 ' Yes, I know it is so in England, but it is not so here. Our 
 wives are no help to us at all, and whatever good any of the 
 males of our family have they have got from the Cambridge 
 Mission.' He said it so simply and earnestly and gratefully 
 that it was very pleasant. And then again I was asking him 
 what private reading he was keeping up now that he had left 
 the College, and he said, ' I often read the Scripture. I love 
 the Bible very much and often read it.' He^JS a boy of 
 remarkable directness and often bluntness in speech, and I 
 do not for a moment believe he would say it if he did not 
 really do so. So we may hope the leaven is spreading ' not 
 by observation,' but the ripening will come some day." 
 
 In 1891 the S.P.G. recognised Lefroy, on the nomination 
 of the Bishop, as Head of the Mission ; that is, of all the 
 Church of England work carried on in Delhi. The relations 
 between the actual Cambridge work and the rest of the 
 Delhi Mission have been so happy for many years, that my 
 readers will wonder at Lefroy's doubts. 
 
 "Delhi : October 28, 1891. 
 
 " I know you will be glad to learn that this morning 
 brought me a letter from Mr. Tucker telling me that, on the 
 Bishop's nomination, the Society recognise me as Head 
 of the Mission in succession to Mr. Winter, and ' quasi 
 incumbent ' of St. Stephen's Church. The ' quasi ' is a little 
 amusing. I wonder how they would define it if I were to 
 press them on the point ! This, however, I certainly do not 
 mean to do. They seem prepared to be friendly and 
 straight with us, and I am not going to split straws over 
 words. . . . 
 
 " Of course, one of the most difficult of all my works will 
 be the new relation to the ladies. I have plunged into this 
 already, many points (some of them not easy ones) having 
 cropped up already. The day after to-morrow I formally 
 make a beginning. The ladies have all been away for their 
 holidays, and I have asked them to get back by Friday, so 
 
 I
 
 ii4 LIFE AND LE1TERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 that I may come over to meet them all, have prayer together, 
 and talk over the new departure and work. I know there 
 will be delicate little points. I hope all may go smoothly." 
 
 "Nov. 18, 1891. 
 
 "The plot thickens about the difficult question of the 
 future of the Mission. ... I have written now to Cambridge 
 to say I will not take the Headship unless I am convinced 
 that S.P.G. are prepared to trust me, and treat me accordingly. 
 There will, in any case, be very much of difficulty and delicacy 
 in the position which I should occupy towards them, standing 
 in some degree outside their own organisation and rules, and 
 yet managing one of the largest and most important of their 
 Missions ; and this would probably become intolerable if we 
 did not at least begin with a spirit of hearty trust and mutual 
 co-operation ; much better not to begin such a relation than 
 be compelled to break it off after frictions and unpleasant- 
 nesses have arisen. How it will all settle itself I do not know ; 
 fortunately higher wisdom does. 
 
 " Meanwhile the work, especially in the Bazaar, goes 
 forward definitely. Positive results or visible progress is 
 very, very slow, but to doubt that it will come is to impugn, 
 not human nature but God's handiwork. That they need 
 something to lift them nobody, I think, who has ever come 
 in close personal contact with heathen or Mahommedan, not 
 viewing them entirely through the glasses of the Light of 
 Asia, etc., will deny." 
 
 " C.M.D. : Dec. 30, 1891. 
 
 "All the points about which I was most anxious with 
 relation to the S.P.G. have either been cleared up, or seem 
 in a fair way to be so satisfactorily. Mr. Tucker recognises 
 that my appointment carries with it the control of the ladies' 
 work ; he says the house is at my disposal, not indeed putting 
 this in a quite satisfactory way, as 1 cannot really be separated 
 from the rest, and he rather shirks the real question of whether 
 they will make it over to us, to modify considerably and to 
 occupy in force. Once, however, they have gone as far as 
 they have, they cannot, I think, draw back from this as the 
 only satisfactory settlement. I am also to be Diocesan 
 Secretary. This is all I want and, as you may say, more 
 than enough. What I shall do with it all, considering that I 
 have already my existing work, much of which I cannot, and, 
 please God, will not give up, is more or less of a problem ; 
 but if one has been called to it one will be able to carry it on
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 115 
 
 for longer or shorter ; and with such colleagues as I have 
 got a man can do anything. It means, as you will recognise, 
 entering on a new year of wider responsibilities and greater 
 trusts than I have ever held. Ask for me humility and 
 wisdom that I may honestly enter on it in strength other 
 than my own, and may have the gifts of the Spirit to carry 
 it through in such measure as it may be appointed for me 
 to do." 
 
 It will be easily understood that Lefroy was often urged 
 to give addresses and " quiet days " in places far removed 
 from Delhi. Earlier in his Indian career he undertook a 
 Mission at Karachi, and his correspondence shows how in- 
 tensely he set himself to prepare for such efforts. The 
 following letters tell of his work in important centres. His 
 voice was not altogether a pleasant one, and chiefly no doubt 
 because he had no ear for music. He used to quote a saying, 
 that he " knew two tunes, the National Anthem and another." 
 But the harshness of his voice was quite forgotten in the 
 tremendous earnestness of the man. 
 
 " Simla : June 20, 1893. 
 
 " I took all three sermons here on Sunday. It was very 
 tiring, but I think was good value. I took more or less of 
 a new line, dealing with certain popular objections to Mission 
 work with considerable frankness. I was on some delicate 
 subjects. Yesterday I was out riding, and one young officer 
 asked me most keenly after our work, and said he wished I 
 would give a lecture on it, he would so like to come, and he 
 was sure hundreds more would ; and another, an A.D.C. to 
 the C.-in-C. expressed great interest, and said he would value 
 it much if we would let him come and see us and our work 
 when he was marching through Delhi next cold weather. 
 You will understand that this sort of thing is pleasant. It 
 was certainly not by flattery I won them, for on the question 
 of their attitude towards Missions I carried the war into the 
 enemy's country with somewhat uncompromising vigour." 
 
 " Cawnpore : Oct. 26, 1893. 
 
 " I gave three addresses on Faith, Hope, and Charity. I 
 do not think Hope, as one of the very highest of the Christian 
 virtues, is at all adequately brought out nowadays, either in 
 sermon or in doctrinal books. Certainly out here, under the
 
 n6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 conditions of our work, it is a virtue that we stand eminently 
 in need of, and it is distressing to see how often even 
 missionaries fail to have it. 
 
 " You ask me about the lad whose letter I sent you to 
 read. He is not a Christian, and, so far as I know, has no 
 thought of becoming one. This is one of the aspects of life 
 and work here that I suspect home people do not at all 
 realise. There are many in his position : lads who have been 
 brought up in Mission schools and colleges who really know 
 scarcely anything of Hinduism, whose whole thoughts have 
 been coloured by the teaching they have received from us, 
 and who reflect it faithfully to a certain extent, and yet have 
 not enough moral earnestness to face the tremendous step 
 of becoming a Christian, or even it may be to receive the 
 deeper teaching, such as that on the Atonement. They are, 
 of course, in a very curious kind of position, neither Hindu nor 
 Christian. It is not a satisfactory one, and yet I am sure it 
 is by producing such that we are most of all preparing the 
 way for the wide reception of the Faith. There is, at least, a 
 congenial soil being made, and when the Heaven-sent native 
 Christian Apostle arises it is to these hearts the message will 
 come with fullest force. At present we lack the quickening 
 fire of the Holy Spirit, or see it only in very rare cases." 
 
 The next letter tells of a notable event, the unveiling of 
 Maitland's picture at St. Stephen's College. I give part of 
 Lefroy's speech on the occasion. 
 
 " Delhi : Feb. 1895. 
 
 "We are having just at present a degree of brightness 
 and hopefulness in our work the like of which I have never 
 known since we came out. . . . We are being met by many 
 evidences of the widespread preparation that is going on in 
 whole classes, and of how much nearer the Faith they are 
 now than, say, twenty years ago. ... A fortnight ago was a 
 memorable day in our College work. A portrait of Maitland, 
 subscribed for and given by the students, past and present, 
 was to be unveiled. After the picture was unveiled I spoke. 
 Then, out of the programme, a Hindu student stood up and 
 said he wanted to say something. He is a reserved young 
 fellow who keeps a good deal to himself, but with marked 
 ability. What he wanted to say was to make a confession of 
 Christ. Four or five times he said, ' I want to confess 
 something which I never had the opportunity of saying to 
 Mr. Maitland in his life,' and then he stuck and could not
 
 LIFE IN DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 117 
 
 quite get it out. What, however, he did say most explicitly, 
 and without the least fear, was that he wanted to have it 
 clearly understood that it was not the secular education given 
 in our College which he chiefly valued. He said very likely 
 as good education on this side might be given elsewhere, but 
 it was the Christian teaching which was the distinctive 
 characteristic of this place, and it was to it that he owed 
 more than he could possibly say. It had profoundly affected 
 his life. He added that in saying this he knew he was not 
 speaking for himself alone, but that other students felt the 
 same thing. This, remember, was in the face of a hall 
 crammed with students, of whom the vast majority were 
 Hindus and Mahommedans. There were also a few leading 
 gentlemen of the city present, and, what is best of all, so far 
 from there being a single sign of dissent I believe many were 
 really with him as he spoke. Of course I do not mean for a 
 moment that any considerable number would be ready to 
 take so advanced a position, and doubtless there were those 
 who disliked it, but, at any rate, there was no sign of dissent 
 or opposition whatever. And by a strange coincidence, within 
 a few days of this, one of our Zenana teachers was talking to 
 the wife of one of the students, and she said, ' Oh yes, I know 
 a lot of our young men are quite dissatisfied with their 
 present position, and they are only waiting till a sufficient 
 number of them are ready to move together, and they will 
 join you.' When a conviction like this pervades the very 
 homes of the people themselves, may we not say that the 
 battle is half won ? How much longer we may have to wait 
 before the actual ingathering begins, we cannot say ; but even 
 so, can we not wait ? These signs are evidence that the work 
 is telling, and the foundations going in deep, and, please God, 
 true and strong." 
 
 The Rev. A. C. Maitland died in July, 1894. He had 
 become acquainted with mission work at Delhi before the 
 formation of the Cambridge Brotherhood, and had assisted 
 the Rev. R. R. Winter in the days when he was obliged 
 through ill-health to leave Cambridge before his degree. 
 After his degree in 1880 he joined the Mission staff at Delhi 
 as an unpaid missionary, and was ordained deacon and priest 
 in 1882 and 1884. Never actually a member of the Cam- 
 bridge Brotherhood, he was, however, closely identified with 
 them in all their work. He died at Delhi and left a bequest
 
 n8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 to the Mission amounting to 7,300, the interest of which 
 has been of signal value to the Mission annually. 
 
 George Lefroy unveiled Maitland's picture on February 9, 
 1895. The following is an extract from his speech : 
 
 " I think one of the very best of all the good gifts which 
 God has given us is the lives of good men, lives which are 
 penetrated and made beautiful by the powers of the Divine 
 life which run through them. ... To quote from memory 
 the words of a great American preacher, ' Out of the familiar 
 windows of another human life the life of God shines forth.' 
 . . . [Then speaking of Maitland's qualities] One I should 
 like to give prominence to, the intense truthfulness and 
 devotion to duty and unflinching uprightness which was 
 so notable a feature of his life. As you know, these are 
 characteristics in which this great country is not strong. . . . 
 Let me remind you that in getting up this memorial and 
 subscribing to put up this portrait of Mr. Maitland, you not 
 only pay a well-deserved tribute to his memory, but you also 
 incur no slight responsibility. You commit yourselves to the 
 taking of that life as in some true sense the pattern of your 
 own lives. God indeed enable you so to do. ... The secret 
 of that life, and in this I ask you to accept the authority of 
 myself, was his faith in Christ crucified, risen, ascended. . . . 
 I have done. I stand here in the quiet, deliberate, absolute 
 conviction that our separation is but for awhile, that he is as 
 truly living now as when he lived and moved with us in this 
 place, and I await the day when, before the great throne of 
 God, we shall be united again in that eternal life into which 
 no separation can come." 
 
 When Lefroy sat down Lala Bala Prashad, B.A., rose and 
 spoke feelingly of the value he entertained for the distinctive 
 Christian instruction he had received in the college and from 
 his late friend and professor W. Maitland. 
 
 ADMISSION OF CONVERTS. 
 
 " 1896 (in England). 
 
 " The famine is causing much distress in Delhi and involves 
 the difficult question of how best to deal with the cases of 
 those who at such seasons always come forward to ask for 
 baptism, influenced chiefly we must believe by purely worldly 
 motives, though in some of these there may possibly have 
 been thoughts working before which have been brought by
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 119 
 
 external pressure to the surface. Allnutt writes : ' The 
 policy which our past experience seems to suggest is a clear 
 announcement all round that none will be baptised during the 
 time of poverty and famine, and not for at least six months 
 after it may please God to give rain and plenty again.' " 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES DURING LEFROY'S 
 DELHI PERIOD 
 
 The following memoranda have been sent me. I could 
 not set aside any of them. 
 
 Personal reminiscences by Mr. M. N. Dutt, M.A., some- 
 time Professor of Mathematics, Government College, Benares, 
 and retired Government Inspector of Schools, United Pro- 
 vinces : 
 
 "I knew Bishop Lefroy during the nine years 1882-91, 
 when he and I worked together in the St. Stephen's Col- 
 lege at Delhi, where I was Professor of Mathematics and 
 Economics. I met him very often at the Delhi Mission 
 Councils also, of which I was a lay member. 
 
 " His personality was magnetic. The very first sight of 
 him was enough to make him live in one's memory for ever. 
 He was then a young man, of florid countenance, in the pink 
 of health, and noted for his feats of walking. He would walk 
 for miles and then stand and preach to the people. 
 
 " His intellectual powers were of a very high order, though 
 he could not be called a very learned man. What he knew 
 he knew thoroughly, and therein lay his strength. In ideas 
 he was somewhat commonplace, and he neither made a study 
 of the modern movement nor cared for it. He had no doubts, 
 or very few, and was not very partial to those who were 
 troubled in that way. All this made him a good steady- 
 going critic. His refutation of his Moslem disputants at 
 Delhi will be long remembered as both brilliant and masterly. 
 
 "He could express himself in the classical Urdu language 
 of Delhi with as much facility as in English. He could talk 
 in Urdu even better than the average native of Delhi. His 
 command of Urdu was the wonder of his brother missionaries, 
 and his popularity with the people among whom he worked 
 was partly due to this intimate knowledge of their tongue. 
 It is sad to see some missionaries working in India lose so 
 much valuable influence because of their ridiculously poor 
 knowledge of the people and their language. One day
 
 lac LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Lefroy was preaching by the side of a busy street of Delhi. 
 His Mahommedan Maulvi opponent was holding forth to a 
 large audience near by, criticising the Christian doctrines. 
 When Lefroy began to preach, one of the Maulvi's audience, 
 a Hindu, exclaimed, ' Lefroy Sahib has come and he is 
 preaching. Let us go and hear him ; he talks Urdu like one 
 of us ; in a former birth he must have been a Hindu.' I was 
 present, and I saw with wonder the Maulvi's large audience 
 melting away and growing smaller and smaller until the 
 Maulvi was left alone addressing the air, and Lefroy had 
 all to himself of that evening's preaching. 
 
 " Bishop Lefroy's life among the citizens of Delhi was an 
 inspiration, and would be an enduring example of devoted 
 Christian effort of the highest kind. 
 
 " Dehra Dun, July 24, 1919." 
 
 Memories of Mr. P. L. Singh, Head Master, St. Columba's 
 Collegiate School, Chota Nagpur. 
 
 " Aug. I. 1919. 
 
 " My recollections of Bishop Lefroy are connected mostly 
 with the early years of his missionary career at Delhi, before 
 he became the Head of the S.P.G. and Cambridge Mission, 
 and as in those years I was either in school or in college at 
 Delhi, my recollections are those of a schoolboy or a college 
 student. I remember how, one afternoon, we, the inmates 
 of the Christian Boys' Boarding House in the Cambridge 
 Mission Compound, were told that two new missionaries were 
 coming, and I also remember how these missionaries drove 
 up in the Mission trap to the Mission House, and how we 
 welcomed them. These missionaries were Messrs. Allnutt 
 and Lefroy. We of the Boarding House were mostly boys 
 of twelve or thirteen who gave no little of our time to cricket 
 and other games. Naturally the sight of these missionaries 
 filled our minds with delight, for they were quite young, 
 especially at the prospect of their presence at our games, and 
 we looked forward to the time when they would join us. 
 
 " Mr. Lefroy's rooms were quite close to us, and so, one 
 way or another, we were able to see a great deal of him. 
 Though we were disappointed to find that he was not a 
 good cricketer, we discovered in quite a short time that he 
 was an athlete of no mean order : he was a good runner, a 
 good tennis player, and a good rider. I remember how we 
 tried to keep pace with him on his way to church, a distance 
 of about a mile, especially in cold weather, when he generally 
 did about half the distance running. He was full of vigour,
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 121 
 
 and joined us in all our games. He also accompanied us in 
 all our excursions. 
 
 " At the very commencement of our acquaintance we 
 were struck with two things : his habit of prayer, and his 
 ability in acquiring our tongue. Before him we knew 
 missionaries that were loving, but from him we learnt that 
 they could also be men of prayer. We often saw him on 
 his knees, morning and evening. As to his ability in acquir- 
 ing our tongue, that was truly marvellous. In quite a short 
 time he was able to express himself correctly, having the 
 pronunciation and accent of an Indian. Later on I heard 
 some Delhi men say that he spoke like a Delhiman. 
 
 " Having such a command of Urdu it was clear that he 
 was the proper missionary to be an evangelist. To the 
 world outside he was, I believe, known as a great bazar 
 preacher. Being a schoolboy and later a college student, I 
 was not able to see much of him at any time, in this depart- 
 ment of his life. Yet, whenever I found myself where he 
 was preaching, I noticed that he had the attention of his 
 hearers, and those who know Delhi and its crowd can realise 
 what this meant. It is not every preacher that can preach in 
 the streets of Delhi. Soon after he acquired some proficiency 
 in Urdu he set out to study Arabic to read the Quran. In 
 quite a short time he made a profound impression on all the 
 Mahommedan preachers of Delhi : I may say he raised the 
 tone of all preaching, non-Christian as well as Christian. It 
 was fascinating to see him engaged in a controversy. He 
 seemed as if he was altogether different from his opponents. 
 His opponents strove only to shut him up, not caring in the 
 least what arguments they advanced : while he strove only to 
 lead them to truth, scrupulously careful to see that he said 
 nothing that was unworthy or unfair. Whatever was said by 
 his opponents, right or wrong, he heard most patiently, never 
 losing his temper, or indulging in retorts. He had also a keen 
 sense of humour and that often stood him in good stead. 
 
 " I left Delhi in 1890, and so was not able to see anything 
 of him as Head of the S.P.G. and Cambridge Mission, or later 
 on as Bishop of Lahore. However, I saw him, now and again, 
 when he came to Calcutta as our Metropolitan. It was such 
 a joy to meet him. He took the greatest delight in talking 
 about his old Delhi days. 
 
 " I had also the joy of welcoming him, with the Mission 
 I am working with, here in Harzaribagh, a few years ago, 
 when we celebrated the coming of age of our Mission. He 
 was here for only a couple of days, but in those two days he
 
 122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 won every heart he came in contact with, Christian or non- 
 Christian, English or Indian. His lecture to educated 
 Indians made a deep impression on their minds and they 
 still sometimes speak of it. He spoke in his lecture about 
 the future of India and its place in the British Empire. 
 Every one present was struck with the broad-mindedness, 
 sympathy and hope with which he dealt with the subject. 
 
 " Last I had the joy of hearing from him at the sudden 
 death of our friend Mr. Allnutt. Little did I think that he 
 would follow so soon. They had come out to India together : 
 it was fitting that they should be called to higher work also 
 together." 
 
 Mirza Rafi ud Din Beg, one of the leading Mahommedans 
 of Delhi, writes as follows : 
 
 " The late Bishop Lefroy was a great friend of mine. At 
 any rate, I considered him as such, and this was his distinc- 
 tive characteristic : he was not haughty and exclusive. He 
 sympathised with us even in our thoughts, and acted accord- 
 ingly. ... In our numerous religious discussions he showed 
 himself invariably a gentleman, neither pressing his victory 
 too much nor taking defeat to his heart. When he became 
 a Bishop he did not become puffed up, but kept up his old 
 friendships with us just as if he was a private missionary. 
 Hence it is that I lament his death as a personal loss to 
 myself, and still remember him with great affection. . . . 
 When he departed from Delhi, as Bishop of Lahore, I wrote 
 to him, congratulating him on his new post, but adding at 
 the same time a hope that in his official capacity he would 
 do nothing to check the spontaneous growth of Islam." 
 
 The Mirza feared that his friend might use political 
 influence in the religious cause. Lefroy answered as 
 follows : 
 
 "DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I thank you much for your letter and kind greet- 
 ing. I value them sincerely as coming from the opponent 
 whom I respect far the most of any of those with whom I 
 have had to deal at Delhi. With regard to using the power 
 of the governing race for the propagation of our religion, I 
 dare say your words of warning are not superfluous, for the 
 temptation to do so in one form or another is no doubt a 
 great one. At the same time, I do know perfectly well that
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 123 
 
 to give in to that temptation is to be false to my Lord. Not 
 only did He expressly say, ' He that taketh the sword shall 
 perish by the sword,' and I am sure that this is not meant to 
 be taken in its literal sense only, but as condemning the use 
 of all unworthy and purely world means for attaining an end 
 which, if it is to be worth anything, must be a purely spiritual 
 one. But also these days through which we are passing 
 remind us Christians forcibly that the way in which the 
 greatest victory which the world ever saw (that com- 
 memorated by Easter Day) was won, was not by worldly 
 means but by gentleness, love and perfect obedience. If 
 you will look at the Epistle to the Philippians, chap, iv., 
 verses 6 and following, you will see what I mean. I trust 
 God will give me grace always to keep true to this example. 
 If you are at any time in Lahore it will be a pleasure to me 
 to see you." 
 
 The last review of Lefroy's Delhi life must be the 
 personal reminiscences of the Rev. H. M. Weitbrecht 
 Stanton, D.D. They form a connecting link between the 
 Delhi and Lahore periods. I quote, partly from Dr. 
 Stanton's obituary notice in the Record of January 19, 
 1919, but chiefly from a memorandum specially written for 
 the " Life." 
 
 " Lefroy not only brought with him (in 1878) a first-class 
 degree in theology, but that sense of the nearness of God 
 in Christ which radiated from his whole life, public and 
 private. The example of a man of affairs, instinct with 
 driving power such as few possess, who always had time 
 for devotion, and used it, profoundly influenced the life 
 of the Delhi Cambridge Mission, and of his Dioceses. 
 Especially were the Indian Christians impressed by it. ... 
 He had a great love for boxing, and I remember his telling 
 me once how badly he wanted to attend a soldiers' boxing 
 match that was being held at Jutogh. I think he was pre- 
 vented by pastoral duties, certainly not by fear of man. . . . 
 I have seen him come in from preaching in the city so 
 exhausted that before he could take up business he had to 
 lie down flat on the floor for a quarter of an hour. . . . 
 Lefroy also was strong on the matter of Christian servants. 
 He considered that it was the duty of missionaries and well- 
 to-do Christians to keep, as far as possible, Christian servants. 
 As Bishop he would always conduct Urdu prayers in his 
 chapel for them.
 
 124 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " One of the most delightful times we had together was 
 at the C.M.S. Mission House in Meerut in February, 1895. 
 Nearly three weeks were spent in the revision of the Urdu 
 translation of the Prayer-book, under the chairmanship of Dr. 
 Hooper. This revision had already been done by Bishop 
 French with a company of assessors, but the dear bishop, who 
 insisted on carrying his own opinion, had adopted so much of 
 high-flown Arabic and Persian phraseology that the book was 
 unsuited for the average congregation, and he had also made 
 certain rubrical alterations which went beyond a liberal inter- 
 pretation of the jus liturgicum and caused searchings of heart to 
 the select few who read rubrics. So it was eventually resolved 
 that the work should be gone through to correct these 
 defects. Lefroy and Foss Westcott were among the members, 
 two men marked out for distinction, though we little thought 
 that we had two future metropolitans in our committee. I 
 suppose hardly any other translation of the Prayer-book has 
 this distinction. Time ran a little short at the end of the 
 session and Dr. Hooper very gravely asked whether we 
 should leave out the marriage or the burial service. Lefroy 
 replied that the Cambridge Delhi men found themselves 
 able to dispense with the first, but even they had to provide 
 for the second, and burial was taken ! It was clear during 
 this time that Lefroy was riding for a fall in the matter of 
 health. Besides the six hours daily committee work, during 
 which he vigilantly watched especially the relevant doctrinal 
 and liturgical points, he was doing the current administrative 
 work of his mission, and not content with this he insisted 
 that I should read some German theology with him. He 
 specially wanted to be able to read it for his Islam work. I 
 asked him whether he never got a headache when he piled on 
 work like this ? No, he said, only sometimes my head gets 
 woolly and won't work. 
 
 " I can't remember why it was that Lefroy was not elected 
 a member of the Urdu Revision Committee for the New 
 Testament, but I suppose it was because of the too great 
 strain which even he realised this long-drawn task would 
 have imposed on his powers. Besides this our relations were 
 so close that he knew he could bring to bear whatever he 
 felt to be of importance through the chief reviser. As a 
 matter of fact, he was one of the most faithful contributors 
 to the criticism of the tentative revisions which were sent 
 round to capable outsiders before the sessions of the com- 
 mittee. It was through his help that the best of our non- 
 Christian assessors were secured, and all the arrangements of
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 125 
 
 the important final session at Delhi in January and February, 
 1898, were made by him. His readiness to help outside 
 his own immediate work was extraordinary. I have never 
 known him to refuse a request for needed help, whatever 
 the tax it might involve ; indeed, I fear that we his friends 
 are partly responsible for the overweight which broke him 
 down. I expressed some apprehension on this point one 
 day to a member of the Mission. His reply was : ' Oh, 
 Lefroy has broad shoulders.' 
 
 " My longest and closest connection with Lefroy was from 
 January, 1900, till July, 1911, when I left India. Throughout 
 that time I was his senior examining chaplain and more than 
 once I lived for several months in his house. His was a 
 very live mind, sensitive to interests in every direction and 
 perfectly simple, never hesitating to say : ' I don't know/ or 
 ' I never thought of that,' but very shrewd in testing search- 
 ingly propositions and theories, and often flashing out with 
 clear insight into the heart of a question, yet ever ready to 
 hear the other side. Particularly in religious controversy with 
 Muslims or Hindus he was insistent on the Christian attitude 
 of absolutely impartial fairness. 
 
 " He was a constant and careful reader. Travelling suited 
 him well and in the first-class compartment which is accorded 
 to a bishop, as a high official, on the railways, part of his 
 equipment was a neatly designed book box and a travelling 
 lamp which could be fastened up behind the reader to supple- 
 ment the defective lighting of the Indian railway carriages 
 in those days. When the train arrived at his destination in 
 the night his carriage would be detached on a siding till the 
 morning. 
 
 " He was a born organiser and the Lahore diocese gave him 
 full scope for his gift both on the Indian and the foreign side. 
 When he came to us the C.M.S. organisation was in process 
 of recasting with a view to its adjustment to the diocesan 
 constitution. It was an untold help to have a bishop who 
 could give himself to the work with an intimate touch with 
 Indian thought and feeling and also with the experience of a 
 non-established Church in Ireland. 
 
 "Lefroy has sometimes been spoken of as autocratic, 
 and he could be at times, but he was always ready to consider 
 reasoned remonstance. During his absence in England in, I 
 think, 1908, the C.M.S. Central Mission Council, feeling the 
 need of liturgical adaptation and enrichment, appointed a 
 committee to consider details and place their recommenda- 
 tions before the bishop for conference with other missions.
 
 ia6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 On his return the bishop, hearing of this, sent the secretary 
 of the Council a request to cancel this resolution as he had 
 resolved to deal with the matter himself. It was represented 
 that it was well within the competence of any body of clergy 
 to consult on possible measures of Church reform and 
 formulate their proposals for submission to the diocesan. 
 He agreed and the matter was adjusted, with the result that 
 a good scheme of liturgical advance was drawn up, though 
 its execution, I fear, hung fire after his translation. The 
 development of a scheme of synodal organisation with lay 
 representation began while Lefroy was at Lahore, but was 
 carried out at Calcutta Meanwhile, when first translated 
 he was very desirous to found a metropolitical see of Delhi 
 corresponding to the Imperial District of Delhi, but this had 
 to be dropped. 
 
 " Lefroy's missionary activity as a bishop was naturally in 
 the main of a pastoral nature, and in this he was untiring. 
 Countless were the petitions for settlement of individual 
 affairs which came to him from Indian Christians in things 
 spiritual and secular ; some of them very amusing produc- 
 tions. He was specially edified when a letter was addressed 
 to him as ' The Pope of the C.M.S Lahore.' In Delhi he 
 was affectionately known as ' Liffrye Sahib.' " 
 
 I close the Delhi period by an extract from a letter 
 written indeed December :I2, 1893, but there are many such 
 outpourings to one or other of his home circle, and through- 
 out these years. 
 
 " May God's rich blessing rest on you and on me at this 
 time and may our eyes be opened to realise more of the 
 meaning of His coming, Who is the Light of the world and 
 the Son of the Father and the Bond of union and communion 
 between God and man. Working in the cause we are, ought 
 to be the best way to enable us at such seasons to get some 
 deeper glimpse into their true meaning, and then the glimpse 
 should abide by us and stimulate us to a truer zeal and 
 more ready self-offering through the days that come. 
 Certainly no less clear declaration of God's Eternal Nature 
 and of His purposes for us and no lower pledge of redemption 
 and new strength for ourselves would be adequate to meet 
 the needs, and stand the strain of the world we have to 
 work in." 
 
 Lefroy's favourite book of private devotions was " The 
 Mantle of Prayer," chiefly from the Devotions of Bishop
 
 LIFE AT DELHI HEAD OF THE MISSION 127 
 
 Andrewes. He used to recommend this book to the clergy 
 when Bishop of Lahore. And alongside of it there was the 
 sense of humour. A letter written in London in 1896 reveals 
 his nature lighting up life with fun. 
 
 "Junes, 1896. 
 
 " He told me I had a very strong gouty tendency. 
 I thanked him for what was at any rate entirely fresh in- 
 formation, as I have never had, so far as I know, the smallest 
 symptom of it, nor does he connect it in the least with 
 present trouble. Then as regards the present, he said, after 
 beating about the bush a bit, ' I suppose you want me to 
 give you my opinion, right or wrong ? ' I intimated it was 
 rather for that purpose I had gone to him. ' Then I think 
 you are in love, and have had a violent shock to your 
 affections.' I thanked him again for further revelations, also 
 wholly new, and asked him to try again. Finally he thought, 
 in a disappointed kind of way, that if I was quite sure there 
 was nothing of this kind, possibly sleeplessness and anxiety 
 might do it, though he evidently preferred the other ex- 
 planations. Altogether I got as little value from him as I 
 did from a Dublin doctor to whom I went, and who after a 
 careful examination announced to me in a cheery manner, and 
 with the richest brogue, ' Deed, Mr. Lefroy, you're a deal 
 stronger man than I am meself to-day,' an assurance that 
 was satisfactory so far as it went, but not, as I tried delicately 
 to convey to him, exactly what I wanted to know."
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, FROM 1899 TO 1905 
 
 IN 1899 the first, some will say the unique, phase of Lefroy's 
 ministerial life was brought to a close. For twenty years he 
 had been an evangelist : he was now called to the work of 
 government in the Church as Diocesan Bishop and finally as 
 Metropolitan. This second phase was to extend over nearly 
 the same length of time as the first. 
 
 Before entering on his life as a Bishop I put down a few 
 records about the colleagues whom he was about to leave at 
 Delhi. In 1893, C. Foxley joined the Brotherhood ; in 
 1894, F. C. F. Thonger ; in 1896, G. A. Purton and Basil 
 Westcott; in 1897, F. P. W. French; in 1898, G. Hibbert 
 Ware and A. Coore. 
 
 A summary also of Lefroy's visits to England may be of 
 use. 
 
 In 1886, just after he was appointed Head of the Mission, 
 and soon after his father's death, he came home and pleaded 
 for recruits. 
 
 He returned to England again in 1889, and preached the 
 Ramsden Sermon before the University of Cambridge on 
 Whit-Sunday of that year. In 1896 a nervous breakdown 
 rendered necessary a visit home, which extended from May, 
 1896, to the end of 1897. A notable recruit obtained by 
 him on this visit was the Rev. Ferguson Davie, now Bishop 
 of Singapore, and his first domestic chaplain. In 1899, on 
 appointment to the See of Lahore, he came home from 
 May to September. 
 
 The following letter indicates his mind in accepting the call : 
 
 Extract from a letter to Mrs. Barnard. 
 
 " March 2, 1899. 
 
 "You will, I am sure, have heard from your daughter 
 that I am going to Lahore. It will be a terrible wrench 
 
 128
 
 THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, 1899 TO 1905 129 
 
 leaving the Brotherhood and the happy, strong united life 
 here of the last twenty years a worse wrench even than I at 
 all realise myself at present, and that is saying a good deal. 
 But both in my own judgment and that of almost every one 
 to whom I had a right to look for guidance at such a time it 
 would not have been right to refuse. We are approaching a 
 very delicate crisis in the development of the Church in 
 India especially as regards the relation of its English and 
 Indian sections and it does seem very important to have 
 as Bishops men who know and are in touch with Indians, 
 and who are known, and in some degree, trusted by them. 
 And many kind expressions that have reached me have 
 made me feel that I ought to count myself in some measure 
 amongst such. Of course, England could send out as many 
 men as she wished of ten times the power, but at any rate 
 at the start they would be terribly handicapped by ignorance 
 of the language and thoughts of the people, and at the age at 
 which a Bishop starts, this sort of drawback is not very easily 
 overcome. Anyhow, I have taken it, and I can only hope 
 I have done right, and I know that if the call is of God He 
 has some purpose for me in connection with it, and will 
 enable me to fulfil that purpose if I only leave myself, as 
 I try and pray to do, unreservedly in His hands. And I am 
 sure many are praying for me too." 
 
 George Lefroy was consecrated Bishop in his own 
 cathedral on All Saints' Day, 1899, by the Metropolitan, 
 Bishop Welldon, assisted by the Bishops of Bombay, Madras, 
 Lucknow, and Chota Nagpur. The Rev. S. Allnutt, who 
 came to India with him just twenty years before, preached 
 the sermon. In the middle of his first sermon as Bishop on 
 that evening in the cathedral he suddenly ceased to speak 
 English, and turning to the large number of Indians present 
 he poured out his soul to them in Urdu. The effect was 
 wonderful, and perhaps it was felt even more by the Euro- 
 peans present than by those whom he addressed with extra- 
 ordinary eloquence in their own language. But it was not a 
 sudden impulse. A letter written to his home circle says 
 that he had determined to do this if it seemed right when 
 the moment came. But he was not sure of himself nor was 
 he certain whether it would be expedient. For this reason 
 he had informed no one. There can be no doubt that his 
 action was more than justified. The new Bishop was called 
 
 K
 
 130 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 to follow great predecessors, both of whom had made their 
 mark. French, who died at Muscat, having returned to his 
 work as a missionary to Moslems ; Matthew, who died almost 
 in his cathedral. 
 
 And now Lefroy himself was brought face to face with 
 the work of a Bishop, and had some experience for it as 
 having been Examining Chaplain to his predecessor. He 
 had never held a curacy in a parish, nor had he been 
 brought into touch with the problems of soldiers on foreign 
 service ; now he was called to a diocese which contained 
 within its limits by far the largest military establishment 
 in India. Moreover, there was the responsibility of Simla 
 which in the summer is the residence of the Viceroy, and 
 of the Commander-in-Chief, and the Lieut.-Governor of 
 the Punjab, and naturally a focus for senior members of 
 the Civil Service and of the army, besides being one of the 
 most famous society resorts in India. The Sunday congre- 
 gation in the church at Simla has often been spoken of 
 with awe by preachers who have a message. Yet Lefroy 
 seems to have taken up quite simply and naturally all his 
 new duties, as if indeed to the manner born. I will group 
 the work of the first five years of his episcopate in this 
 chapter, and his own letters will follow the record of his 
 public utterances. 
 
 All who knew Lefroy agree that he had the strongest 
 aversion to what is known as one-man rule. This characteristic 
 balanced another admirably, namely a fearless courage to do 
 what appeared to him right. One who knew him well says, 
 " Lefroy had a stiff back." Once let him believe that a man 
 was not straight or honest, and he had no mercy on him. 
 The moral fibre in him was like iron, and it happened at 
 times during the next nineteen years, that in the interests of 
 the public service he may not have been sufficiently careful at 
 times of the personal claims or interests of chaplains and 
 others. He would move them regardless, so some said, of 
 their health or families or financial liabilities. However that 
 may be, it is notable that in his first charge in 1900, he 
 quoted St Cyprian's well-known words upon the necessity for 
 a Bishop to take counsel with fellow presbyters and lay 
 people, and announced that he would create a body to be
 
 THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, 1899 TO 1905 131 
 
 called " the Bishop's Council," a consultative body, composed 
 of leading European clergy, chaplains, and missionaries, Euro- 
 pean laymen, and Indian clergy and laymen. " I want the 
 Council to stand for the assertion in the eyes of the diocese, 
 and for a reminder to myself, of what I conceive to be the 
 true constitutional position of a Bishop in relation to the 
 clergy and laity of his diocese and of the lines on which it is 
 my desire to live my own Episcopate." 
 
 The other important subject handled in this charge was 
 the Bishop's duty in the military forces. 
 
 " I want to refer to the position we under normal con- 
 ditions occupy as, I believe, the diocese with a larger number 
 of British troops in it than any other diocese in the whole 
 Empire [a few years later, in an article in Church and Empire^ 
 he says that out of 38,000 European residents in the Lahore 
 diocese, 26,000 were officers or men serving with the colours, 
 with 3000 more who belonged to the families of these men], 
 and the circumstances of my own life hitherto, the fact that 
 I come myself of a family that has had very little to do with 
 the army, and that I have hardly ever before been brought 
 myself into any kind of connection with it, make me feel 
 very keenly, by contrast, the obligations and responsibilities 
 which are involved in the position in which I now find myself 
 in this most military of dioceses." He then passes on to 
 point the lesson they have to learn from " the magnificent 
 characteristics and glorious traditions" of the same army. 
 His responsibility in this direction was ever with him. In 
 February, 1902, in a Pastoral Letter to the clergy, he makes 
 the welfare of the army his chief subject. Soldiers' Homes 
 and Institutes, he urged, must be created in his diocese as 
 they were to be seen rising in the Dioceses of Madras, 
 Lucknow, and elsewhere. 
 
 " Let me repeat my own deep conviction that one of the 
 things which the soldiers need most of all, and which if we 
 can help in providing for them we are discharging a most 
 valuable part of our ministry among them, is such pleasant, 
 bright, healthy resorts." For the same reason he advocated 
 the circulation of the "Army White Cross" literature. In 
 his second Charge, in 1903, he spoke more openly upon the 
 question of Purity, beseeching the clergy to become friends
 
 132 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 of the soldiers and by means of the Institutes, quoting words 
 of one of the clergy, " The men are practically unapproach- 
 able in the mass. You cannot possibly get to know them by 
 having a word with them in the barracks. In the case of our 
 own station I feel sure that without the Institute I should 
 not have got to know the men at all intimately, but now 
 thanks to the Institute there are at least a hundred who are 
 genuinely friendly." The Bishop goes deeper. " Especially 
 in that saddest of all sides of a soldier's life that which finds 
 its expression in the Venereal Wards it is true that most 
 substantial progress in the right direction has been made. 
 I find that not a few chaplains are ignorant of the fact that 
 since the abolition of the Contagious Diseases Act the number 
 of admissions per thousand to the Venereal Wards has come 
 down to only just over half the awful figure which it had 
 reached in 1895." He does not claim that the good result 
 is owed wholly to the abolition of the Act which admitted 
 licensed prostitution. There were other factors, such as a 
 better education at home and a finer stamp of men accus- 
 tomed to self-restraint, and an immensely increased amount 
 of work demanded of the soldier, and greater care for his 
 welfare. In this connection the Bishop speaks with gratitude 
 of the Society of St. Hilda, once the Lahore Diocesan Church 
 Workers' Association, but now with an extended field of 
 work : Soldiers' Institutes are touched by them, and Anglo- 
 Indian (formerly called Eurasian) girls' schools have been 
 erected and developed by them with truly blessed results. 
 
 A great many pages of the Charge of 1903 are occupied 
 with the subject of Sunday Observance, pressing its necessity 
 for the spiritual life. 
 
 The following group of letters illustrate the subjects 
 emphasised in the Bishop's public utterances. The army 
 is ever in his thoughts. 
 
 "Nowshera: March 14, 1900. 
 
 " I have got a very anxious piece of work ahead to-night 
 in which I know your prayers will help me. I want, as you 
 have seen in my Pastoral, to make the cause of Purity of life 
 amongst the soldiers a leading note of my work. I find hardly 
 anything being done in the matter here, so I told the Chaplain 
 I should like to have a meeting expressly for this. I went to
 
 THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, 1899 TO 1905 133 
 
 the Colonel of the Regiment and one of the doctors, and they 
 have both very kindly promised to speak with me. It makes, 
 I think, the strongest possible combination for ' Tommy,' the 
 parson, the doctor, and the commanding officer. It is good 
 of them coming, as they have neither of them ever spoken 
 on the subject, and they give up their dinner and come at 
 8 o'clock. I take it as a sign of God's blessing on my effort 
 at its start. But I have never spoken, either, on it and it is 
 terribly difficult." 
 
 " April 4, 1900. 
 
 " I was pleased later on in the week to hear that some 
 young fellows who had come in for the week of gaiety and 
 been in the cathedral on Christmas Day, hearing I was to 
 preach again on the evening of the 3ist, stayed in for that 
 day, instead of going back to their stations as they had 
 purposed. Their verdict was that I seemed a ' good straight 
 kind of Johnnie.' Whether the terms will entirely satisfy 
 your ecclesiastical instincts I do not know, but I believe the 
 average young subaltern could hardly express regard for a 
 cleric in much higher ones ! " 
 
 ON TOUR 
 
 This letter is headed " The confines of civilisation or just 
 beyond them to wit " 
 
 " Datta Khel, Tochi Valley : Feb. 15, 1900. 
 
 " Yesterday I stopped half-way up at Miran Shah. I held 
 service for the officers before dinner. It was very touching, 
 every single European in the place (13 !) turned up, and the 
 little room was crammed. It does seem a shame that when 
 they are so ready to respond the Church does so little for 
 them. A charming young fellow I was talking to this morn- 
 ing said he thought there was practically no atheism, or active 
 opposition, to be found amongst the officers, but that the 
 isolation and in a certain sense I suppose the danger of 
 the life tend much in the other direction. Certainly nothing 
 could be nicer than the way in which they have met me so 
 far. I came across one young fellow at a solitary post on the 
 road up, and after talking for a bit I asked whether I might 
 have some prayer with him before I went on. He looked so 
 blankly astonished at first that I thought he might dislike it, 
 and assured him I did not wish to obtrude it, only was sorry 
 to pass a man who, for all I knew, might be glad of it without 
 giving him the offer. Then he responded in the heartiest 
 way and seemed to like it. Then the friends one comes
 
 i 3 4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 across are so curious and pleasant. The Colonel commanding 
 at the place last night had come out with me in the Egypt 
 in 1897 and we had played chess together. Here the Colonel 
 is an old Marlburian of my time and the nice young fellow 
 of whom I spoke a bit back is the son of a keen Marlburian 
 whom I met, and made great friends with at one of the hill 
 stations many years ago, when the boy was with him as a 
 child, and had many a ride on my shoulders and romp 
 with me." 
 
 " Peshawar : March 21, 1900. 
 
 "After tea I consecrated a cemetery, and then into 
 Peshawar at 6.30, jumped into dress clothes and over to the 
 Hampshire regiment mess for an early dinner, at which six 
 of the officers joined the chaplain and myself, and then at 
 8 o'clock to a crowded meeting of men, to whom I gave an 
 address on Purity of life. I am perfectly astonished at the 
 help I am getting from the officers in this matter. I meant 
 to go for it in any case. But I expected opposition, and at 
 any rate entire aloofness. But at this meeting all the six 
 officers, who actually gave up their regular mess and had an 
 early scratch dinner on purpose, were present, and the Colonel 
 and doctor spoke, well and forcibly. I hope good was done. 
 Dozens of men crowded the door and windows who could 
 not get in. The Presbyterian and Wesleyan ministers were 
 both with me on the platform." 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore: April 5, 1900. 
 
 " My feeling about the British Army has, I think, quite 
 changed. Tommy, when you come across the best type of 
 them, is certainly a wonderfully attractive specimen. Very 
 like children. It seems almost child's play after the native 
 work ! You lift your ringer and there is a response, instead 
 of hammering away for years at a brick wall. But to make 
 the brick wall into the ' living temple ' is a still bigger thing." 
 
 Three letters in relation to lepers. 
 
 "On Tour : January 9, 1901. 
 
 " I was at a very pathetic service the day before yesterday : 
 a Confirmation for lepers. There is an asylum for them near 
 here, in which there are about two hundred, in every stage of 
 disease and of decay you can imagine. A good many have 
 become Christians, and of these nine were presented for 
 Confirmation, some with no hands, some with no feet, one 
 with his throat almost gone, so that he could scarcely answer 
 the question, but made a kind of grunt of assent In spite
 
 THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, 1899 TO 1905 135 
 
 of all, however, they seemed to have their hearts in the 
 service, and, so far as one could judge, really to mean it. 
 Instead of a very formal address I, so to speak, talked with 
 them, trying to carry them along with what I was saying, and 
 their answers and interjections showed plainly that they 
 understood. It is an immense comfort to me to find that 
 my simple Delhi Urdu carries me almost anywhere. Out in 
 these villages it is not the least what the people themselves 
 talk ; that is Punjabi, a quite different speech. But Urdu 
 has become so much of a lingua franca that, if one keeps to 
 very simple words and speaks plainly, one can be understood 
 almost anywhere. It is a great mercy of God that I have 
 been thus prepared for this work. No other single language 
 would have carried me half so far, e.g. if I had myself worked 
 in Punjabi, that would be quite unintelligible in Delhi, etc. 
 There is some very fine work going on in villages round here 
 by C.M.S. missionaries and ladies. They are in the midst of 
 one of the simplest, most manly and attractive of all the 
 village populations." 
 
 "Amritsir: February 5, 1903. 
 
 " I had a very interesting Confirmation on Sunday at 
 Taru Taran, the chief out-station, where there is a most 
 capable, genial, and delightful missionary. There were thirty- 
 four candidates, including fifteen lepers. I am glad to say it 
 was thought safe to bring them to the church for the service, 
 though things were arranged for them with some precautions. 
 I am sure it must do them good to feel, if even for an hour 
 or so, that they are not outcasts, but members of the Body. 
 It was a most pathetic sight. The plague was bad about 
 there, the first time I have come into close contact with it. 
 It brought out the callousness of the people to trouble and 
 suffering very painfully, as there was a man ill with it, a 
 Mahommedan, in one of the huts, and no one would go near 
 him to give him a drink or anything. It was not exactly 
 fear, for many of them had been inoculated, and recognised 
 themselves as practically immune, but he was a stranger, and 
 no one cared whether he lived or died. At the last I am 
 thankful to say a native Christian lady volunteered to nurse 
 him, and was with him the whole night He died next day, 
 I grieve to say, especially for their sakes, but such example 
 must do good." 
 
 11 Bishopsbourne, Lahore: March 30, 1905. 
 
 "The most interesting thing perhaps was dedicating a 
 church, which has been built in a leper asylum expressly 
 for the use of the inmates. It has been designed to meet
 
 136 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 their needs, e.g. no windows, but large window spaces covered 
 with wire netting, so as to exclude birds, etc., and yet always 
 allow a perfectly free draught of air and prevent stuffiness, etc. 
 The missionary and his wife designed it, and I think the 
 whole thing shows great skill and originality on their part. 
 At the Celebration ten lepers received, and it was intensely 
 pathetic ministering to them. In hardly any case were any 
 fingers left, in two or three cases even the hand had almost 
 entirely disappeared, and one had to put the bread into their 
 mouths. The next morning I confirmed nine more. One 
 cannot help, in ministering to these poor creatures, remember- 
 ing our Blessed Lord's special connection with them." 
 
 All should know of the life work of the Rev. R. Bateman 
 at Narowal. His " Life " has been written by Mr. R. 
 Maconachie. 
 
 "Isanagri (i.e. Christ's Village) : January 7, 1902. 
 
 ** I am having a wonderful and very interesting experience 
 with Mr. Bateman. The problem with which he has had to 
 deal is one of extreme difficulty. A very large tract of land, 
 some 100 miles long and 50 miles broad, has been reclaimed 
 from utter desert by one of the gigantic irrigation schemes 
 for which the Punjab Government is famous, and the people 
 have pressed in from the older and more congested districts, 
 with an eagerness and an earth hunger that reminds one very 
 much of our own Emerald Isle. Amongst the settlers are a 
 large number, some 2000 or 3000 in all, of Christians of the 
 lowest social rank, farm menials or serfs, for that is what 
 their position in the older districts really amounts to, who 
 have flocked here on the chance, if so it may be, of getting a 
 little bit of land, or at any rate of improving their position as 
 labourers. These have been scattered over this great district, 
 with no clue whatever as to where they may be found. 
 Moreover, the difficulty is much enhanced by the fact that 
 most of them have been baptised after very little instruction 
 
 indeed by some of the missionaries in the Punjab, and 
 
 that they bear the name of Christian, for better for worse, 
 with the vaguest possible idea of what the name involves. 
 
 "Add to all this an extreme dearth at the present time of 
 C.M.S. workers (the only Mission body of our Church in this 
 part of the land), whether European or native, and you will 
 see how difficult the position is. 1 know very few men but Mr. 
 Bateman who could have tackled it at all, but with the hour 
 God has, as usual, produced the man, and he has, assisted 
 by two or three most devoted native fellow-workers, done
 
 THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, 1896 TO 1905 137 
 
 wonders in getting the people together and building them up 
 somewhat in the faith. I have just held my third Confirma- 
 tion (these being the first ever held in the district) since 
 entering on this work three days ago, at each of the first of 
 which twenty-two were presented, and to-day I think about 
 forty. Also, on Sunday I consecrated a spacious church of 
 the very plainest type possible, as it is right that it should 
 be, but capable of seating on the floor there is not a seat 
 in the whole of it about 800 people : it has been built 
 very considerably by the efforts and out of the offerings of 
 the poor people of the place. They have an excellent and 
 most energetic native pastor resident amongst them, who has 
 pushed through the building of the church in a way that is 
 immensely to his credit." 
 
 The following letter gives a graphic account of the great 
 Durbar at Delhi in Lord Curzon's Vice-Royalty. 
 
 "Durbar Camp : December 31, 1902. 
 
 "The scene here is a marvellous one, and scarcely 
 suggestive perhaps of peace. It would baffle description so 
 utterly that I shall attempt scarcely any. Think of a vast 
 town, containing approximately 40,000 troops, another 10,000 
 Europeans, and anything up to, or beyond, 100,000 natives, 
 servants, etc., etc., all under canvas, and on a great plain, 
 where ordinarily there is no habitation or resident life what- 
 ever. It is all laid out with the most marvellous degree of 
 system and order. I am told there are about fifty miles of 
 well-made roads leading about the great camp, besides a 
 light railway running out to it from the city. Each Province 
 has its own area allotted to it. I hope to be able to get 
 to-morrow a plan of our Punjab Camp to put into this just 
 to give you an idea of how the thing is managed ; but in 
 detailed arrangement each camp differs, each Province having 
 simply had a certain area allotted to it, and being left free to 
 exercise its own ingenuity as to the best and most effective 
 laying out of it. Some of the camps belonging to the native 
 chiefs are most artistically got up and ornamented, but I 
 have not yet seen them. Our own Punjab Camp has sixty- 
 five guests (i.e. more or less leading people, who have been 
 asked by the Lieut. -Governor to be his guests for this 
 occasion), and they are a wonderfully kindly, pleasant lot. 
 There is a great mess hut, with ten tables holding six or eight 
 persons each, and it does not matter where one sits down, it 
 is always pleasant and cheery and friendly everywhere. My
 
 I 3 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 own accommodation is a tent, the inside of which is fifteen 
 square feet. This serves as bedroom, sitting-room, and every- 
 thing, except for messing. Then it has what we call the 
 outer fly, the second covering which is always put to tents 
 out here to give more efficient protection both against rain 
 and heat, and the space, about six feet wide, all round 
 between the outer and inner fly forms bathroom, etc. Of 
 course, this is (in comparison with most of my tenting 
 experiences) most sumptuous and roomy. It is a splendidly 
 healthy life, as it means practically living in the open, so far 
 as perfectly fresh air is concerned, all the twenty-four hours. 
 The first few days were very cold indeed, or rather the nights 
 and early mornings were ; the last few days have been much 
 warmer, usually a sure sign of rain coming, though as yet the 
 sky is perfectly clear. 
 
 "The great show really began on Monday, when the 
 Viceroy and Lady Curzon, and the Duke and Duchess of 
 Connaught arrived, and reached their camp from the station 
 by a marvellous procession, which went through the heart of 
 the city, round the Jama Masjid, and then out to the camp. 
 The Viceroy and royalties came first on elephants, and then 
 a long line of the great beasts, with all the ruling chiefs of 
 India, each one vying with the others in the splendour and 
 extravagance of their ' howdahs,' caparisoning, etc., some of 
 which were gorgeous beyond anything I had ever dreamed 
 of. There is no use my attempting to describe it, for you 
 will see far better accounts in any of the papers. I was in 
 the Jama Masjid, and saw the whole thing admirably. 
 To-morrow is the actual proclamation Durbar, to which I 
 have to go, probably driving myself in my own dog-cart ! in 
 full scarlet vestments. It will seem rather incongruous, with 
 the road lined with troops for miles, and the very reverse of 
 a ' churchy ' feel about the whole thing. But the scene in 
 the amphitheatre should be very gorgeous. In the evening 
 I dine, at an official dinner, with the Viceroy ; whether the 
 Duke will be there I don't know. I rather want to test the 
 royal gift for remembering faces, of which we hear so much, 
 by seeing if either of them remember me. I lunched with 
 them, you may possibly remember, quite quietly in about 
 1885, when they came over to open a Zenana Hospital, and 
 I had much chat with the Duchess. To me it would seem 
 little short of a miracle if they could remember one face 
 amidst the thousands they must meet in a similar way, all 
 this time. But we hear so much of what they can do in this 
 way that it will be interesting to see.
 
 THE LAHORE EPISCOPATE, 1899 TO 1905 139 
 
 " The Bishops of Calcutta, Madras, and Lucknow are here, 
 and this morning we had a long talk all together over a 
 variety of matters. It is most delightful having our present 
 Metropolitan. We can trust him so entirely, and he is such 
 a perfectly delightful Christian gentleman, scholar, and saint." 
 
 I have ventured to print a letter from a very gracious and 
 much honoured lady now gone to her rest. 
 
 "Vicarage Lodge, Simla: August 12, 1900. 
 " MY DEAR BISHOP, 
 
 " I feel impelled to tell you how deeply I feel the 
 lesson of your sermon this morning, and how grateful I am 
 to you for the strong and true help it is to me. 
 
 " All that you said was what I have wanted to hear for a 
 long time, as even though one tries to help others and one's 
 self, one needs the guidance of a stronger soul to tell one 
 how to live. 
 
 " Please do not trouble to answer this, I cannot help telling 
 you how real your help has been. 
 
 " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 "MARY CURZON." 
 
 Sir Mackworth Young was just resigning the post of 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore : January 2, 1902. 
 
 " I have just been breakfasting with the Mackworth Youngs 
 and taking my leave of them, as they will be gone before I 
 get back from the big tour on which I start to-morrow. It 
 will be a grievous loss for me. Ever since that summer of 
 1888 when I marched with them through Kulu, they have 
 been steady and true friends, and a more perfect, courteous, 
 high-minded Christian gentleman than Sir Mackworth no one 
 need wish to meet. When they get settled anywhere in 
 England, I will let you know the address, and if you ever 
 have the chance you must go and see them. I need not say 
 that they have promised to call if they should ever be in 
 Ireland, but there seems little likelihood of this."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 HOLIDAYS IN THE HIMALAYAS 
 
 BEFORE I record very important public utterances by the 
 Bishop, when he had fully grasped the moral, spiritual and 
 political conditions of his time, I turn aside to give Lefroy 
 a much desired holiday as it were. I have grouped together 
 in this chapter a selection of letters extending over some 
 eighteen years, from 1888 to 1906, and when he was still in 
 full possession of his fine physical strength. He tells how 
 necessary these mountaineering trips were for him if he was 
 to preserve vitality. I have prefaced the letters by one of his 
 Irish (or rather, in this case, Scotch) stories : others will follow 
 in due time. We shall not understand George Lefroy unless 
 we realise how he bubbled over with fun. Thank God he 
 had an abiding sense of humour. 
 
 " Do you know this ? 
 
 " Scotch laird meets a minister in a hotel, suggests that 
 they dine together and asks him to say grace. He mumbled 
 something as they sat down. ' A did na hear a wurrd ye 
 said.' ' A was na speakin to you.' " 
 
 " Dharamsala : September 23, 1888. 
 
 " In my post-card I just mentioned that I had had high 
 fever on Sunday and slighter through Monday night : a not 
 very auspicious commencement of a longish journey. On 
 Tuesday night I joined our old friend Mr. Maconachie in the 
 train at 9 p.m. and started northwards. Our rail destination 
 we reached at 10 p.m. the next night. This part rested me, 
 as railway travelling after the hurry-skurry of Delhi life 
 always does. Then, however, came the pull. We had 18 or 
 19 hours ahead of what is known as dhoolie dak ; i.e. we were 
 to be carried, each by 4 men, into the interior and up the hill 
 in a curious kind of contrivance. I think there is an English 
 
 140
 
 HOLIDAYS IN THE HIMALAYAS 141 
 
 word in use to describe it, but can't recollect it. It is, how- 
 ever, very like what one often sees in Japanese or Chinese 
 pictures : 4 longish kind of boxes 6 ft. long by about 3 wide 
 and 3 high, with the roof slightly curved to throw off the rain, 
 and a strong bamboo run through from end to end, just under 
 the roof, and projecting about 4 ft. at each end from which 
 the whole thing is hung, and carried by means of the pro- 
 jecting ends. It has a net bottom and as you can lie full 
 length in it, it is not per se uncomfortable. I had, however, 
 always had a great dislike to the thought of being carried by 
 men, and as a still more practical element perhaps of discom- 
 fort, the motion / found (though I have heard others speak 
 very differently of it) as uncomfortable as possible. The men 
 get along certainly at a wonderful pace, doing nearly the 5 
 miles an hour I should think, when actually in the swing, though 
 the constant reliefs and changes and little stoppages keep the 
 actual average of distance travelled down to little over 3^ miles. 
 Six men form a gang, the two odd men continually changing 
 with the others, and take you about 6 or 8 miles, according 
 to the nature of the ground, and then you find another batch 
 waiting for you. It is their summer harvest and they are 
 delighted to get as much of it as possible. Well, the night 
 went very badly with me, very little sleep, and gradually 
 getting, as you may imagine, very weary. About 7 o'clock 
 we stopped at a wayside resting house for breakfast and a 
 bath. This freshened me up a good deal and I started again 
 at 9.30 in better heart. We worked along up to I o'clock in 
 the same fashion ; then we suddenly came across ponies which 
 had been kindly sent down to meet us by our host to be, as 
 most people greatly prefer (and naturally, I am sure) to ride 
 the last part of the way. Here, then, was a crux : I was 
 thoroughly sick of the dhoolie and longed to be out of it, and 
 yet I did not know whether I had physical strength for the 
 ride. It was, moreover, threatening rain. I determined, how- 
 ever, to chance it and fortunately, after a great deal of 
 hesitation, threw my great Inverness cape round me before 
 starting. We were vague, too, as to distance, but fancied it was 
 seven or eight miles. We rode along gaily enough for about 
 half an hour and then the rain began, first quietly, then more 
 and more steadily ; then we began to come to mountain 
 torrents, dry in summer, but now flushed with recent rains, 
 which we had to ford. It's nasty work ; the great slippery 
 round boulders with scarcely an attempt at a track across. 
 Two of them were up to the girths, which meant of course 
 getting soaked up to my knees, and it was just a question
 
 I4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 whether the ponies would take them ; and as with the ever- 
 in^easing rain they were running fuller and fuller every 
 moment, we rode along in glorious doubt as to whether at 
 any moment we might come across another quite unmanage- 
 able, and then what ? It was a good deal too much for my 
 nerves. This evil, however, we escaped, but, missing our road, 
 had a 20 miles' ride all in pouring rain and all, except some 
 of the first four or five miles, at a walking pace. Toward the 
 end it was just a question, Could I sit on the pony anyhow ? 
 All things, however, come to an end at last, and we reached 
 our house with as kind friends as any in the Punjaub. I had 
 almost to be carried into the house, but there 1 got hold of 
 the quinine bottle, and ate as much they would let me, 12 or 
 15 grains I suppose, then a stiff whiskey and water hot, and 
 into bed with any amount of clothing, and a warm water bag 
 (so delicious) at my feet which really did gradually begin to 
 believe that they were still alive. A bowl of good hot soup, 
 later on a hot bread and milk sop, then about a twelve hours' 
 hard sleep, and I got up, thank God, next morning, pretty 
 slack, as you may imagine, but in no way, so far as I knew 
 (or know now), the worse." 
 
 " Kulu Valley : October IO, 1888. 
 
 " Somewhat of my goings on you will have learnt I hope 
 from my letter to Fred of last mail. Enough at any rate to 
 satisfy you that things are going not ill with me. In point 
 of fact, I think it is about the very best holidays, as regards 
 a combination of pleasure and health, that I have ever had in 
 my nine years out here. It is curious, perhaps significant 
 too, of a rule that often holds, that it is also the one that I 
 have far the least of all sought or planned, being almost thrust 
 on me as it were at the very last and to my utter surprise. 
 We have had two Sundays and look forward to a third. On 
 each we have full Service, Matins and Celebration, and I give a 
 kind of Meditation. In the evenings we just have the Service, 
 without any address, so it is light work for me. It is not very 
 easy addressing three or four people whom one is travelling 
 with on very intimate terms, and the most we have had of 
 outsiders at any service yet is two, but I feel in such thorough 
 sympathy with them that when once I get started, sitting 
 down and hiding my face in my hand, I have no effort in 
 just uttering what is within. Mr. and Mrs. Young are both 
 musical, so we can have two or three hymns. The weather 
 has been delicious with the exception of one day, when we 
 had a longish march of fourteen miles through teeming rain, 
 but it amply atoned to us during the succeeding days for the
 
 HOLIDAYS IN THE HIMALAYAS 143 
 
 rain fell as snow on all the mountains around, many of which 
 at this time would otherwise have been bare, and for the next 
 three or four days the views were of surpassing loveliness. 
 
 " I am very bad at description of scenery and the like, so 
 I will scarcely attempt it, but our route lay first through the 
 Kangra valley, where all the tea gardens are. We passed 
 acres of tea-plant, a little low shrub something like myrtle, 
 kept compact and round from constant pruning and plucking 
 of the leaves with a pretty yellowish-white flower. We went 
 over one of the largest establishments and saw how the tea is 
 prepared. It is a very quick business. In twenty-four hours 
 from the time the leaf is picked it is done up into the pound 
 packets, or larger quantities, ready to be distributed over the 
 world. We got some for our own use, and I think it is very good. 
 Then from the Kangra valley we crossed a Pass 10,000 feet 
 high into the Kulu valley. The main town is Sultanpur, 
 which you ought to find marked. After entering the valley, 
 we worked up it almost to its head, and it was there we had 
 the finest view. I shall not for many a day forget the view 
 we got the morning after the rain. We had got in, not to 
 one of the little rest houses which have sheltered us every- 
 where else, but to the house of the chief English official of 
 the valley, which used to be the palace of the Kulu Rajah 
 before we annexed the valley. 1 came out in the morning 
 on to a deep verandah and looked out Immediately under- 
 neath lay the valley with acres and acres of rice just ripening, 
 a very pretty crop ; somewhat in its evenness and general 
 effect like our flax, though all turning brown. Beautifully 
 mixed in with it were fields of rich deep red, yellow, and pink 
 Amaranth, a kind of millet ; while the little villages nestling 
 down the hillside under us were both picturesque in them- 
 selves and made much more so by the fact that all the flat 
 roofs were covered with bright red Indian corn put out to dry, 
 and lighting up the country most curiously in little patches 
 of red as the morning sun fell on them. Down the valley 
 runs the Beas, then immediately opposite rose the nearer 
 hills answering to the one we ourselves were on, running up 
 to a height perhaps of 10,000 or 11,000 feet, richly clothed 
 with Deodar, a beautiful fir, a kind of cedar, I believe, with 
 magnificent precipices of dark grey rock coming in at 
 points with the firs just clutching for a hold on every crag. 
 Then coming in at each opening between these hills, and 
 filling up the other end of the valley entirely, great masses of 
 snow running from 15,000 to 20,000 feet, such spotless purity 
 and white, it was very glorious. We spent one Sunday in
 
 144 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 the most beautiful spot of all we have visited, at the head of 
 the valley ; then retracing our steps we came down the valley, 
 passed through Sultanpur again, where we had before cut in 
 sideways from the Kangra valley, and are working on south 
 down the valley towards Simla. We have not very many 
 more days together, I grieve to say. On Tuesday next we 
 hope to reach Dularsh, the last march in Kulu, and then I 
 break off and rush across to Simla with what haste I may, 
 trying to get back to Delhi for the Sunday, while the Youngs 
 turn up through Mandi and Sukt (native hill-states) and so 
 gradually back to Jalandhar." 
 
 Three years afterwards. 
 
 " The Himalayas : September, 1891. 
 
 " We got benighted. It was about as pitch dark as it 
 could be, and we were on a mountain side with a fair foot- 
 path, but precipices continually alongside and no attempt at 
 rail or anything, and no guide. I went along, there were 
 four of us : Maitland, myself, and two servants, feeling the 
 hillside all the way with my stick, not able to see as far as 
 the end of it. To make sure, we were keeping on the inside 
 of it, and away from danger. Happily it didn't last long, for 
 we were near a village. When we got in, we found the only 
 accommodation was a kind of loft over a public room, with 
 no walls at all, just a wooden roof that kept out the rain very 
 imperfectly, and open on all four sides. We were very wet, 
 and when our baggage came up it was most of it moist. 
 This, late at night, and at 7000 feet and a keen air, was 
 pretty trying to a delicate man (Maitland). We had, more- 
 over, to spend two nights there, as the next day was very 
 wet. However, we came out of it as right as a trivet. The 
 delight of the villagers on having some Sahibs on these very 
 familiar terms was great, especially when we stripped to wash 
 not entirely, but to the waist, the delight was unbounded, 
 and the ' beautiful white legs ' were quite appreciated." 
 
 " Peshawar : March 3, 1900. 
 
 " I wonder whether an English Bishop, or Irish, on tour 
 has anything to do similar to one part of rny duties, which take 
 me a sadly long time when other work also presses so thick. 
 In every station record books are kept one for the mission, 
 where there is such, one by the Chaplain for the English 
 work and here, as in some other places, books also for the 
 Hospital, etc. And at the close of a visitation a record of 
 what has been done, with any criticisms, or encomiums there 
 may be to make, has to be written up. I suppose it is partly
 
 HOLIDAYS IN THE HIMALAYAS 145 
 
 the frequent changes in Indian life, whether in the mission 
 workers or in the Bishops which necessitates this. It no 
 doubt secures a record of great interest. I have looked 
 through the accounts of their work in this place written by 
 Bishops Cotton and Milman, before the See was divided, then 
 Bishops French and Matthew, as well as Bishop Johnson as 
 Metropolitan. And the individual characters come out in a 
 wonderful way in such reports. But the writing of them is a 
 considerable tax, especially to one like myself who, as you 
 know, has no gift of terseness with his pen, but is apt to let it 
 run on in a somewhat excessive fashion." 
 
 "Simla: August 8, 1901. 
 
 " On September 9th I hope to discard gaiters and all their 
 works and start for five weeks in the high valleys and I 
 hope on the glaciers, of Kashmir with Foss Westcott, of 
 whom, as perhaps you know, I am very fond indeed. He 
 will be a delightful companion. How solemn, and in many 
 ways how happy, the passing of the great Bishop was 
 [the Bishop of Durham], rejoining so soon his son and wife. 
 And what a magnificent tradition and life-work he has left 
 behind him. I suppose no one during the last thirty or forty 
 years has done nearly so much as he to deepen and awaken 
 religious thought, especially on the part of the clergy and 
 students generally." 
 
 " Harnaj, Kashmir, St. Michael and All Angels : 
 
 " September 29, 1901. 
 
 "The holiday is proving, I am thankful to say, a very 
 great success. The weather was not kind at first, but latterly 
 it has cleared up and been quite glorious. We are camped 
 here at over 12,000 feet. At night the cold is very great, the 
 thermometer in the tent having been down one night to 
 22 degrees. You imagine what this means when one has to 
 turn out into the open air for a wash in the morning ! At 
 times, especially in the early hours of the morning, Westcott 
 and I agree that it is an extraordinary thing that we should 
 consider it pleasure to be here. But as the sun rises all this 
 sort of feeling goes off, and it really is glorious. You know 
 that I crave cold at times and enjoy mountain climbing, and 
 certainly I have enough of both. We did our best climb on 
 Friday, getting up to a peak over 15,300 feet, and oh ! the 
 panorama ! a cloudless sky and a great line of snow giants, 
 several well over 20,000 feet, immediately in front of us. 
 The climbing itself, too, was very good, and at places deci- 
 dedly exciting. I should have been sorry to do some of 
 
 L
 
 146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 it without a rope, but there were three of us, well roped 
 together, and the leader a really expert mountaineer, and 
 most inspiring in his leadership, so the danger was really 
 very small indeed. It is impossible, for me at any rate, to 
 say why, but I do believe one gets a bracing up and an 
 increased strength of nerve and will as well as of body from 
 experiencing what may almost be called these extremes of 
 climate, and from a certain flavour of danger which we can- 
 not get in other ways, and if so, you will agree with me that 
 it is good value. But I don't expect that we shall have any 
 more quite as stiff climbing as that, and my holiday only 
 lasts another ten days. What some of my friends, who 
 delight in writing to the Guardian almost annually to protest 
 against clergymen abandoning clerical dress in Switzerland, 
 would say to my episcopal costume if they met me on some 
 of these expeditions I am unable to imagine. I can only 
 hope that mingled dismay and indignation would keep them 
 dumb. And meantime I know I am very safe from meeting 
 them in these quarters. 
 
 " May God give me grace to use indeed for Him and in 
 His service, in the way He would have me use it, the strength 
 I am now laying in." 
 
 ," On the N.W. Frontier, Samana Range : Jan. 7, 1904. 
 
 "After lunch I started off for an n-mile walk to the 
 Cemetery, which I found, though I had not previously 
 realised it, was at that distance from the fort. It was a 
 curious walk, alone, except for the first four miles which the 
 Colonel walked with me, but escorted by four men with 
 loaded rifles, two walking about twenty yards ahead, two 
 more almost treading on my heels. And to complete the 
 effect on your mind, I ought to add that these were not men 
 of the regular army, but a local militia, popularly known by 
 the somewhat suggestive name of ' Catch-'em-alive,' into the 
 etymology of which I had perhaps better not enter. They 
 look the wildest, roughest fellows imaginable. The real fact 
 is that the element of danger is of the slightest possible, but 
 as this is a fanatical Mahommedan part of the country, it is 
 always possible that a man might try to knife a Sahib if he 
 saw one alone, so Englishmen always go about escorted in 
 this way. As I was walking down with the Colonel I said 
 to him, ' If you or any of your officers go out into the country 
 about for shooting, etc., do you always take an escort ? ' I 
 indicated one part of the country as I spoke, and he said, 
 ' We are not allowed to go on that side at all, with escort or
 
 HOLIDAYS IN THE HIMALAYAS 147 
 
 without ; it is over the Frontier and not safe.' I asked where 
 the Frontier ran, and he said, ' I suppose it is this road we 
 are on : ' so one could not be much nearer to it ! " 
 
 " Sultanpur, Kulu : Oct. 8, 1905. 
 
 "I am in the midst of an idolatrous festival of a more 
 naked and blatant character than I think I have ever seen, 
 not in any morally bad or disgusting way, for to our eyes it 
 is sheer childishness, but just in being the most undisguised 
 idolatry possible. We happen to have reached this village, 
 which is the capital of the marvellously beautiful Kulu valley, 
 just at the time of their great annual Fair, when all the village 
 gods from the countryside around are brought in to greet one 
 another ; and also, I believe, to answer a sort of government 
 roll-call so as to make sure they are still there, and entitled 
 to a continuance of the remission of taxation (on land) which 
 has come down to our Government as a custom from those 
 who preceded us in the land. The type of idol is to us so 
 extraordinary. A slanting board, perhaps 5 feet by 3, 
 sloping back, like the back of an easy-chair, at perhaps 45 
 degrees, is covered with red or yellow cloth, and then on it 
 are stuck silver masks of a human (very grotesque) face, from 
 six to a dozen or more on each board. This conglomeration 
 of masks, so far as I can ascertain, constitutes the idol. It 
 is borne aloft on poles on the shoulders of half a dozen men, 
 horns are blown in front of it, fans and fly-flaps are waved 
 just over it, to keep the faces cool and the flies off them ! 
 an umbrella is usually carried high over them, etc., etc. The 
 row has been deafening all day, as one after another these 
 things have come in from outlying villages, all congregating 
 on the village green where we are ourselves encamped. Then 
 a few minutes ago the chief of them was put into a kind of 
 Juggernath's car, and dragged, by long ropes and the help 
 of many willing hands, across the ground, all the other idols 
 being borne in procession after and around it with frantic 
 beating of drums, playing of horns, etc., etc. As I say, the 
 sheer childishness of the whole thing is so uppermost that it 
 is hard to feel the moral disgust which I suppose St. Paul 
 would have felt." 
 
 " High up in the Khagan Valley : Sunday, Oct. 7, 1906. 
 " We are nearing the end of our walk, and a splendidly 
 successful one it has been. If Fred ever got my letter, and 
 if you have seen it, you know that we were turned back, by 
 rumoured difficulty, from one pass over a shoulder of Nanga 
 Parbat, and had to retrace some of our steps and try another,
 
 148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 reported easier, but also very little-known route. It did to 
 perfection. I don't know that I have ever had a more entirely 
 satisfactory and stimulating walk, while I certainly never have 
 been through so wild and little-known a country, and that 
 always has a charm of its own. In three weeks we have done 
 six passes, one (add oo throughout) of 115 ft., one of 125 ft., 
 two of 135 ft., one of 145 ft., and one of 155 ft., and most of 
 the time we have been on very high ground in between. 
 Sleeping in a little, not very well laced up, tent at 1 1,000 ft. 
 or 12,000 ft., is fresh, I can assure you. As regards the 
 novelty of one part of our route, a Colonial, the Head of the 
 A. Intelligence Department, who happened to be exploring 
 in part of the same district and whom we met, has asked me 
 to supply him with notes of our march, as it opens up a route, 
 not of course actually new in itself, but new to his Depart- 
 ment, and a better one, between two of these Frontier stations, 
 than they at present have. Health has been improving 
 throughout till I am now as fit as a fiddle, and for three 
 weeks we never saw a postman what more can I add in the 
 way of bliss ! "
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 LAHORE: 1905 TO 1912 
 
 THE five years, from 1904 to 1909, reach the high-water mark 
 of the Bishop's Lahore Episcopate, including some of his 
 most notable utterances. The sermon upon " Fret not " will 
 be valued. After these years Lefroy entered upon a period 
 of physical weakness, and the rest of his life was tortured by 
 pain in his limbs from sciatica and arthritis. Then began 
 for him a gallant, a very gallant, and brave fight with im- 
 paired powers of locomotion, and at times with acute suffering. 
 In his Pastoral Letter in 1904 the Bishop announces a 
 change of view in regard to the " Ordination of remarried 
 converts." It reveals to those who are not conversant with 
 the growth of the Faith in a non-Christian land how perplex- 
 ing are the problems of the period of transition. In 1900 
 Lefroy supported the attitude of Bishop Matthew, namely, 
 that converts who had remarried after the desertion of their 
 non-Christian wives would not be candidates for Holy Orders. 
 In 1904, after consultation with other Indian Bishops, he de- 
 termined to relax this rule. The point at issue is, May a 
 convert, who has been deserted by his non-Christian wife 
 because of his conversion and has married again during the 
 lifetime of the former wife and while she herself has not been 
 remarried, become a candidate for Ordination ? The Bishop's 
 decision now is as follows : " It will be understood that hence- 
 forth no general bar to Ordination exists in this Diocese on 
 the ground now indicated, though of course in the case of 
 any individual, who might desire to become a candidate for 
 Ordination occupying such a position, I should inquire care- 
 fully into his particular circumstances and as to how far there 
 was any likelihood of his original wife ever actually expressing 
 
 149
 
 i5o LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 a readiness to join him again. It is obvious that it would 
 be in a very special degree unfortunate if such a position, with 
 its unpleasantness and sadness, were to arise in the case of 
 one who was in Holy Orders." 
 
 In 1905 there occurred one of the most terrible earth- 
 quakes in the history of India, in the Kangra Valley. Sir 
 Charles Rivaz, the Lieutenant-Governor, postponed his de- 
 parture from the Punjab, and threw himself heartily into the 
 measures of relief: the Bishop, of course, aided in every way. 
 Some 20,000 persons were killed, and among them many 
 Europeans. 
 
 In his Pastoral Letter of 1905 he announced his concur- 
 rence in the decisions of the Episcopal Synod of 1904 regard- 
 ing a delicate and vexed question, namely, the use of 
 Consecrated Churches by other Bodies. The decision was 
 as follows, and from experience of Lefroy's style I cannot 
 doubt that this pronouncement was drafted by him : 
 
 "Consecration has not placed the churches under our con- 
 trol in such a sense that we are at liberty to deal with them 
 as we please : but on the contrary it has bound us, by unmis- 
 takable terms and under an obligation of a very sacred kind, 
 to restrain their use to the purpose to which they have been 
 expressly assigned. . . . From the express terms of the 
 trust thus laid upon us we cannot in conscience depart except 
 under circumstances of proved necessity or urgent demands 
 of charity : and then only to the extent which such considera- 
 tions imperatively require. . . . Even the great deference 
 which we wish to pay to the desires of the Government of 
 India cannot be allowed to remove this matter from the sphere 
 of our own ultimate responsibility as Bishops of Christ's 
 Church. In dealing with the trust created by Consecration 
 in the case of churches which have been provided by the 
 Government of India for the use of troops, we do not fail 
 to take into account the circumstances which make this an 
 unique case, namely, that the churches have been built in 
 whole or in part by Government and are maintained and 
 served at the cost of Government, and that the exception is 
 asked for only on behalf of His Majesty's soldiers. Dispen- 
 sations which on these or other grounds we may have made, 
 or may make, from the strict effect of Consecration in these 
 altogether peculiar cases, we should by no means make or 
 allow in regard to other churches, nor can they form any
 
 LAHORE: 1905 TO 1912 151 
 
 precedent or justification for what, in the absence of such 
 exceptional conditions, would be a grave irregularity. . . . 
 Resolved, 'That the Synod understands the regulations of 
 the Government of India, dated April 20, 1899, as relating 
 to parade services only.' This estimate of our duty is accu- 
 rately described by the Government of India in their despatch 
 to the Secretary of State, dated December n, 1902, in the 
 words, ' The Bishops understand these rules as relating to 
 parade services only, and in practice they have been so 
 interpreted up to the present.' In June, 1903, however, the 
 Government of India informed us that they were about to 
 make large provision for the erection of places of worship 
 for the Presbyterians and other denominations, and thus very 
 greatly to diminish the number of cases in which the loan of 
 our churches could be asked. We cordially recognise the 
 liberality of this determination on the part of the Govern- 
 ment. . . . We are willing therefore to permit in a small 
 number of places which will remain unprovided for ... the 
 use of consecrated churches by Presbyterian and Wesleyan 
 Ministers officiating with troops (due application having been 
 made to us) not only for parade services but also for the 
 solemnisation of Baptisms and Marriages and for such other 
 occasional services as will not interfere with the full use of 
 the churches for the worship of our own congregations : pro- 
 vided that on no account shall any marriage be solemnised 
 in them which it would not be lawful in the judgment of the 
 Bishop of the diocese for a Minister of the Church of England 
 to solemnise. It is to be understood that such permission 
 does not necessarily extend to the use of all the furniture, 
 ornaments and instruments of Divine Worship. 
 
 " We regret that we cannot extend this permission to the 
 Celebration of the Holy Communion in a consecrated church 
 by any one who is not a duly ordained Minister of our own 
 Communion." 
 
 The above is an abbreviated report of the decision of the 
 Indian Bishops. They further permit for a period of five 
 years certain specified uses " in all those churches which we 
 allow, or may hereafter allow, to be used for parade services." 
 
 In 1905 the Prince and Princess of Wales (now their 
 Majesties the King and Queen) visited India. Lefroy preached 
 at Bannu at a service attended by their Royal Highnesses, 
 and the Princess requested the Bishop to give her a copy of 
 his sermon. Her Majesty graciously consented to lend me
 
 152 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 the copy and has permitted me to reproduce it. It will be 
 noted that the lesson of the sermon was learnt from his 
 mother, as already related in an earlier chapter. 
 
 Jammu : Dec. IO, 1905. 
 
 "FRET NOT" 
 
 Ps. xxxvii. i. "Fret not" Don't worry, don't be anxious and 
 troubled about many things, don't let that feeling gain on you of 
 being rushed driven which is so painfully common nowadays, and 
 yet so wholly fatal to really good work, don't fret. The injunction 
 sounds a very homely and commonplace one, scarcely worthy, per- 
 haps, of being ranked with the larger and deeper Christian truths 
 of which a preacher may treat, and yet I think if we dwell on it for 
 a few minutes we shall see that it really does go very deep indeed, 
 and that it would mean a very great deal to our lives if only we 
 could faithfully respond to it. 
 
 1. First of all look at it merely from the physical side. Is it 
 not undeniably true that " it's not work that kills but worry " ? 
 What else is the meaning of all the " rest-cures " of which we hear 
 so much in these days but just this, that it isn't our bodies that get 
 out of order so much as our nerves, and that the trouble with them 
 comes from all the friction and care, the worry and fret of which 
 our modern life seems so terribly full ? If we could find the secret 
 of escaping all that, would not the simple gain to health be enormous, 
 and worth almost anything to us ? 
 
 2. But the trouble goes far deeper than a merely physical one. 
 Do you remember those words which come a little further on in the 
 Psalm " Fret not thyself, else shalt thou be moved to do evil" ? And 
 isn't that intensely true, haven't we known it again and again 
 perhaps very sadly in our own experience ? That bitter, cutting, 
 unkind word for which you were so heartily sorry afterwards of 
 which you felt, as we often say, that you would sooner have bitten 
 your tongue off than let it come out how did it escape you, whatever 
 possessed you to utter it ? Wasn't it just that, that you were worried, 
 irritable, fretted, you had lost control of yourself for the minute, and 
 then the harm was done, and perhaps say or do what you might 
 afterwards it couldn't be wholly undone again, it couldn't be as 
 though the word never had been spoken. Or, again, that letter 
 so smart, so crushing, so clever, which yet you had hardly sent off 
 to the post when you felt you would give anything to recall it, only 
 you couldn't, it was too late then whatever made you write it ? It 
 was just the same trouble, wasn't it? You never would have written 
 never would have dreamed of writing it if you had waited a 
 little, if you had slept on it first. But you were worried, annoyed, 
 out of temper with yourself and therefore with every one else, and 
 you just sat down and dashed it off. In what numberless cases has 
 that warning been most abundantly, most sadly, justified : " Fret 
 not thyself, else shalt thou be moved to do evil " !
 
 THE BISHOP'S MOTHER.
 
 LAHORE: 1905 TO 1912 153 
 
 3. But really the trouble goes far deeper down still. To under- 
 stand how deep it goes, think for a moment of all the stress that is 
 laid in the Bible on " Peace " that habit of mind, that temper, 
 which is the exact opposite of the worry and fuss and fret of which 
 I have been speaking. Going straight to the heart of things, we 
 know how central this emphasis on Peace is in the life and teaching 
 of our Blessed Lord Himself. We hear it from the very first message 
 which proclaimed His birth the birth of the Prince of Peace 
 " Glory to God in the highest, on earth Peace." It comes in His 
 last charge to His disciples before his death " Peace I leave with 
 you ; My Peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth, give I 
 unto you." It is the very first greeting which He gives to His 
 disciples after his Resurrection. "Jesus came and stood in the 
 midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. . . . Jesus therefore 
 said again to them, Peace be unto you." It plainly is amongst the 
 very choicest gifts which even He, Conqueror over sin, death, and 
 the grave, can give to them. 
 
 And exactly the same note runs throughout the entire Bible. 
 Think of those words in the lesson for yesterday : " The work of 
 righteousness shall be peace ; and the effect of righteousness quiet- 
 ness and assurance for ever. And My people shall dwell in a peace- 
 able habitation and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." 
 Or that wonderful passage which came only a few days ago in that 
 same book, " Thou wilt keep him in perfect Peace whose mind is 
 stayed on Thee : because he trusteth in Thee." Or words like those 
 of St. Paul, " The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly ; " or, " The 
 Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts 
 and minds in Christ Jesus." I think there are hardly any words of 
 the New Testament which " find us out " more deeply, come more 
 closely home to us, than these and other verses to the same effect, 
 and I am quite sure that to many here, as well as to myself, they 
 must often have come with a sense of soothing and calm such as 
 scarcely anything else seems to bring, and which is the very best 
 possible preparation for really strong, effective, quiet work. 
 
 Surely, then, it must, on all these grounds, be worth making a 
 very great effort indeed to respond to this injunction of the Psalmist 
 put away worry and fret out of our lives, and live, more and more 
 continually, in the shelter and strength of that " Peace which passeth 
 all understanding." 
 
 4. How, then, can we hope to attain to this ? Some answers to 
 this question will occur to us at once. Some, of course, will say, 
 " It's all a matter of temperament. Some are born that way, and 
 can take life easily. But that's not possible for me. I am a regular 
 Martha. I always have taken things rather hard, and I know I 
 always shall." And perhaps amid the implied self-commiseration 
 one detects an undernote of satisfaction that this is so, as meaning 
 that, from another point of view, the speaker feels herself to be a 
 really capable and energetic person, who, with whatever drawbacks,
 
 154 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 is worth very much more than the drone whose role it is to " take 
 life easily." 
 
 Or one may say, " It's a question of physical health it's all very 
 well, and very easy, to keep quiet and avoid worry and fret when 
 one is in robust health and strength ; but it's when one is run down 
 and out of sorts that even little things get on the nerves, and the 
 ' grasshopper becomes a burden.' " 
 
 Or once again, "It's really for the most part a question of 
 means. The man who has a good balance at the bank and is in 
 a prosperous, flourishing condition, can very well afford to preach 
 the duty of peace and quiet of mind, but when you haven't got that 
 balance and can't for the life of you think how both ends are going 
 to meet at the end of the month, it's a very different matter." 
 Answers of this kind may, of course, be multiplied endlessly e.g. 
 " It's all very well for you not to bother you have your children 
 with you out here, and can look after them yourself and know they 
 are all right ; but I had to leave mine at home, and with strangers, 
 too, and I have just heard that one of them is ill what's the use of 
 telling me not to be anxious or worried ? " 
 
 Now, with regard to all answers of this sort, it is far best to be 
 quite frank and to recognise that there really is a good deal of truth 
 in them I mean that it is undoubtedly very much easier for people 
 of one sort of temperament, or under one set of conditions, to fight 
 against the evil of which I am at present speaking, than for others. 
 A naturally happy temperament, a sound digestion, a comfortable 
 balance at the bank, the presence with you of those who are very 
 near and dear all these things and others like them are undoubtedly 
 a great help, and it would be foolish and unreal to ignore this. Yet, 
 if one thinks a little more of it, one cannot but feel that, after all, 
 these are not the things that go deepest ; these were certainly not 
 the things which were in the minds of those who, either in the Old 
 or New Testament, have laid such stress on the importance of being 
 at peace within. Think of our Blessed Lord's circumstances, stand- 
 ing as He did already within the shadow of Gethsemane and Calvary, 
 when He said, " Peace I leave with you ; My Peace I give unto 
 you." Think of St. Paul when, from the depths of a Roman prison, 
 he wrote of the " Peace of God which passeth all understanding." 
 Think of the prophets and psalmists who, amid all the wild turbulence 
 and lawlessness and disorder of those early days, could write so 
 quietly and convincingly of that " perfect Peace " which comes from 
 trusting in God, and of the immense importance of resisting the 
 spirit of worry and fret. 
 
 No, it was certainly not a comfortable balance at the bank, or 
 anything whatever connected with the outward circumstances of 
 their life, which inspired the words in all these cases. 
 
 5. Where, then, should we look for the secret? We shall find 
 it in the words of our Lord recorded in St. Matt, vi., where again 
 and again He urges on His disciples not "to be anxious" about
 
 LAHORE: 1905 TO 1912 155 
 
 outward things food, raiment, and the like. In passing, let me 
 remind you of how very great is the gain in this passage of our 
 Revised Version. You remember that in the Old Version it ran, 
 " take no thought for," etc. But that wholly misses the point. 
 Thought for the future we take, and must take, if we are not to put 
 ourselves on a level with the beasts. But not to be anxious in a 
 bad, worried, harassed way not to be troubled and overborne with 
 care, in these matters, that is a totally different thing from " taking 
 no thought," and it is this that in this passage our Blessed Lord is 
 urging with so much insistence on His disciples. Five times within 
 the space of a few verses the word recurs, showing that this was a 
 note, a characteristic, which in very special degree He desired to 
 see reproduced in those who were to be called by His Name. And 
 note the reason which He gives for this freedom from worry and care. 
 Is it because these things "life," "raiment," "food," "stature" 
 don't matter ? Not in the very least. You may hear that kind of 
 position taken sometimes in the pulpit, but then you do know in 
 your hearts that it is unreal, untrue, and you feel perfectly certain 
 as well you may that as soon as ever the preacher has come out of 
 the pulpit he will show very plainly by his actions that he is very 
 far indeed in his own heart from thinking these things of no import- 
 ance. No, you never get false spirituality of that kind in the Gospels. 
 What then ? There they are, all these needs and very urgent they 
 often are, too and our Lord recognises and admits this, and indeed 
 makes this the very basis of his injunction of rest and Peace. "iYou 
 do need these things," He says ; " and, what's more, your heavenly 
 Father knows that you need them" There we touch the real secret; 
 in that conviction, that we have indeed a Father in heaven, and that 
 He Who Himself has made us in the way in which we are made, 
 with all these needs and points of difficulty, Himself is responsible 
 for providing for them in that conviction is the secret of such deep 
 and true Peace of the heart as we can know in no other way. 
 
 We know quite well that, as a simple matter of fact, this is the 
 secret of the child-life, and of its freedom from worry and care. 
 Why is it that the little life grows up and unfolds itself so free, so 
 bright, so happy ? Is it not simply because it is folded in the shelter 
 of the parents' life, the parents' love, the parents' care ? " Oh, that'll 
 be all right. Mother will see to that ; father always manages about 
 that " are any notes of the true child-life more invariable, more 
 familiar, than the one which finds expression in some such words 
 as these ? Or are any dearer to the father's, the mother's heart ? 
 That happy childlike confidence, that perfect unwavering trust, that 
 impossibility even to dream of things not coming all right when 
 father and mother are there to see to them are they not intensely 
 precious, constituting, one may almost say, the very essence of the 
 relationship ! 
 
 They may, of course, be sometimes, no doubt, they are 
 carried a little too far. One may sometimes have to say to the
 
 156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 little one, " I wish you would think a little for yourself sometimes, 
 and not always be so very ready to leave everything to father to 
 look after." But even so, how very slight the trouble is, and how 
 entirely a different matter it would be if the difficulty were of just 
 the opposite kind if we were to see our children prematurely old, 
 as we say, worrying about their food and their education and their 
 start in life ignoring, that is, the fact of their parents' love and 
 care altogether ! We know quite well that this would wound us in 
 quite another, in an infinitely deeper and more painful, way. 
 
 But if this is what we feel about our own children and what, 
 above all else, we expect of them, what must it mean to Him, our 
 Father in heaven, the very type and pattern of all Fatherhood, from 
 whom every family ("all Fatherhood," as it is in the Greek) in 
 heaven and earth is named what must it mean to Him to see us 
 continually anxious and troubled about many things, overborne with 
 care, fretting and fussing exactly as though we were orphans and 
 had no one at our back to help us in all these things, or look after 
 them for us ? What must it mean to Him to see us going through 
 the world, knowing nothing of the great principle of deep, true 
 peace, and of all the best work which men can do, the principle of 
 " casting all your care on Him, for He careth for you " ? No one 
 can ever describe, or know except by experience, the peace, the 
 quiet strength, the power for the most solid, telling, steady work, 
 which come into the lives of those who have really anchored them- 
 selves on that rock. It was we may say it with all reverence the 
 very central note of our Blessed Lord's own life, and it was that to 
 which above all else He sought to bring all who would walk in His 
 footsteps, as He points them, in the very opening words of the 
 Prayer of all the ages, to " Our Father which art in heaven," who 
 will assuredly give us from day to day our daily bread. 
 
 And I need not remind you that, while 1 have dealt with the 
 question from the point of view of the supply of our physical, our 
 elementary, needs, the principle goes infinitely deeper, reaches in- 
 finitely wider, than this, and covers every possible problem or 
 difficulty, or cause of worry and anxiety, be it from what quarter 
 it may, which can possibly invade our life. From each and every 
 one of them we find our deliverance, our certain and unfailing 
 harbour of refuge, in exactly the same way by a deep and true 
 belief in the loving care and guidance and support of our Father 
 in heaven, by "casting all our care upon Him," knowing with an 
 absolute certainty that " He careth for us." 
 
 6. I want you, therefore, to recognise this morning that to fail 
 in this matter, to give way to the spirit of care and worry and fret 
 as I am afraid we are so terribly apt to do is not only to lose an 
 immense strength, a primary source of happiness and health out of 
 our lives is not only to run the greatest possible risk of " being 
 moved to do evil " but is nothing else than a downright dishonour- 
 ing of God and a denial in act of His Fatherhood and care and love
 
 LAHORE: 1905 TO 1912 157 
 
 for us. I ask you not to be content for an instant to put it down to 
 the fault, the misfortune, of your temperament, or any of those other 
 superficial, external causes to which I have referred, but to see it as 
 what in deed and truth it is a denial of God's Fatherhood and of 
 your own childhood alike. If only we can see it thus, surely we shall 
 long to pray and pray again 
 
 " Lord, make these faithless hearts of ours 
 Such lessons learn from birds and flowers ; 
 
 Make them from self to cease ; 
 Leave all things to a FATHER'S Will, 
 And taste, before Him lying still, 
 
 E'en in affliction, Peace ! " 
 
 That Peace, the Peace of Christ Himself, which the world can 
 neither give nor take away the Peace of God which passeth all 
 understanding may He give us increasingly, deepening our love 
 towards Him, our trust and dependence on Him, making continually 
 more vivid and more real our sense of the shelter of His Presence, 
 in which we are hid so supremely safely from every storm that can 
 rage, and our absolute conviction that in His Hands no evil can 
 possibly touch us, for that "all things work together for good to 
 them that love God."
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 
 
 THE evangelist missionary, being a Bishop, was now called to 
 face the problems specially affecting the European communities 
 in his diocese. It required, of course, a combination of forth- 
 rightness and courage, together with genuine sympathy and 
 tact, and more especially with comprehension of the difficulties 
 which beset our race in India. 
 
 I have chosen two or three subjects in order to illustrate 
 Lefroy's courage and also his statesmanlike balance of mind, 
 and I append somewhat lengthy extracts, first, from two 
 sermons preached in Christchurch, Simla, in August, 1905, on 
 Gambling, addressed to that remarkable congregation to 
 which I have already called attention. And secondly, from 
 his Charge delivered in 1906 dealing with the one outstanding 
 problem of India, the attitude of the Englishman towards the 
 Indian. Neither of the two subjects are merely Diocesan but 
 of general interest and permanent importance. Let the Bishop 
 speak for himself. And it is instructive to remember that 
 Lefroy was most cautious to obtain the exact facts before he 
 made a public utterance. An officer informs me that two 
 years before the sermons on Gambling were preached, Lefroy 
 was privately inquiring of those whom he could trust the 
 exact details connected with the gambling habit. He re- 
 marked to the officer in question that he dreaded being made 
 a laughing-stock in consequence of some ignorant statement 
 of a stupid parson, not because it was humiliating, but because 
 it spoilt his case. 
 
 A SERMON ON GAMBLING (extracts only) 
 
 It will be observed that in basing my charge against the habit of 
 gambling, I am dealing with what I conceive to be a tendency always 
 
 158
 
 PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 159 
 
 and necessarily underlying the act itself, and not merely with some of 
 those coarser abuses connected with the turf, and other special 
 centres of gambling, which are so notorious and undeniable that it 
 would be needless for me in this place to single them out for attack. 
 And I feel that in some ways the conditions of our Anglo-Indian 
 life make it especially necessary that I should be able thus to deal 
 with an essential tendency of the habit, rather than with the coarser 
 forms of its abuse, for undoubtedly the latter are not at all as 
 prominent out here as they are, by all admission, in very many cases 
 in England. Our English society out here forms a very limited and 
 somewhat select circle in which the coarser forms of welshing, etc., 
 are naturally impossible ; as are also those large prison corridors 
 (which come before us in parts of the evidence given before the 
 Committee of the House of Lords, to which I have already referred, 
 as well as from other sources), filled with clerks who have been con- 
 victed of theft, and who, it is stated, in almost every single instance, 
 trace their fall to gambling losses in some form or other. 
 
 In saying this, however, I must not be supposed in the very least 
 to imply that even out here actual crime, or the wreck of careers is 
 by any means unknown in connection with this habit. Many of you 
 will remember that quite recently an order was passed by the 
 Corporation of Calcutta forbidding, under pain of dismissal, any of 
 their employe's to indulge in the habit of betting in amounts " which 
 could possess for him more than a trifling interest." One may be 
 perfectly certain that a body like the Calcutta Corporation does not 
 deal with an exceedingly thorny and difficult subject such as that of 
 gambling, without having been compelled thereto by very specific 
 instances of the injury to their work which results from it, while for 
 me it is of special interest to note that one of the forms which such 
 injury takes, as indicated in the resolution, is exactly that of the un- 
 settlement and loss of interest in honest work, on which I have 
 myself been laying primary stress ; " when heavy winnings are the 
 result, his salary and the desire to earn it by honest labour tend to 
 become matters of comparative unimportance, and a proper interest 
 in his work disappears." The dangers attendant on heavy losses are 
 still more obvious and do not need to be pointed out. Further, I 
 can feel no doubt in my own mind that there is scarcely a military 
 man amongst you whom I am now addressing, who has not, in his 
 own experience, known of instances where non-commissioned officers 
 (would that I could say non-commissioned officers alone !) have got 
 into most serious trouble, and been dismissed from the service, for 
 defalcations in connection with canteen funds or other regimental 
 accounts, the origin of which can be traced with absolute certainty 
 to betting or gambling losses. I, at any rate, should have no 
 difficulty in laying my finger quite specifically on not a few cases 
 which have occurred during my years in India. 
 
 But still it is not on such quite overt cases of criminality and 
 disaster that I wish to lay primary stress this morning, but rather on
 
 160 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 that spirit of restlessness and unhealthy excitement which I believe 
 is a necessary characteristic of the entire practice. Thus, to take 
 the case of the Derby Sweep, which is so well known an institution 
 out here, the amount involved in which has increased so enormously 
 during the last twenty-five years, and into which now not Englishmen 
 only but Indians of every possible class and condition of life, and I 
 fear in ever-increasing numbers, put their ten rupees. Can it be 
 denied for an instant that there are men in all ranks of life, who are 
 looking year by year to a successful draw, perhaps of two lacs if by 
 rare luck they should win the first prize, or of some smaller amount, 
 as the path to that success in life for which they long; e.g., that 
 possibility of resigning the service in which they may be employed, 
 going home and settling down comfortably there, or the like ? And 
 if this is so, and I do not myself believe that any honest man in the 
 least acquainted with the real facts of the case will for an instant 
 deny it, can this be said from any conceivable standpoint to be a 
 healthy influence at work on the characters of the men who thus 
 take part in that great lottery ? 
 
 I will take, before stopping, one other instance which has been 
 brought much more closely to my own notice than that of the Derby 
 Sweep, of the very existence of which, of course, many of us may 
 remain almost wholly unaware after years in the country. I refer to 
 the sweep on the daily run, and probably the sale of the numbers on 
 the last few days of the voyage, which is, I believe, an invariable 
 accompaniment of a journey on the P. and O., and for all I know on 
 all other lines as well. I imagine that the institution is due really to 
 two causes. In the first place, there is that craving for a little 
 excitement which is so intensely natural in view of the dull monotony 
 which characterises for most of us life on shipboard. With that 
 desire for a little excitement, I need scarcely say that I entirely 
 sympathise, or rather share it in full measure myself. None the 
 less, I do hold that, before we are justified in seeking to secure it in 
 any special direction, we are bound, if we look at life in a moral 
 way and with any sense whatever of responsibility attaching to it, to 
 see whether there is anything essentially unwholesome or undesirable 
 in that pursuit. And if the charge which I am thus bringing against 
 the whole spirit and temper of gambling has anything in it, then I 
 do not think that participation in those steamer sweeps is a whole- 
 some or desirable form in which to relieve our ennui. I should like 
 to add (for I think it may affect the practice of not a few of those 
 who have really in themselves rather disliked these sweeps, but have 
 not felt any clear basis of objection to them on which to ground 
 refusal to participate) that they are in themselves undoubtedly 
 illegal, although in the conditions of ship life it would be exceedingly 
 difficult to get any one to take on himself the odium of demonstrating 
 such illegality. But I was so much annoyed myself, on a recent 
 journey to England, by the persistence with which passengers were 
 urged to join in the sweep, that I wrote to a man who has at his
 
 PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 161 
 
 fingers' ends all the legislation connected with gambling, being 
 indeed secretary to what is known as the National Anti-Gambling 
 League, to inquire of him on the subject. His reply ran : 
 
 " All sweepstakes are lotteries : all lotteries are absolutely 
 illegal by British law. The different parties can all be punished 
 under the somewhat complicated series of Lottery Acts. In each 
 case the lawyers have to determine upon the best method of 
 procedure. We have had our funds too much occupied to go at 
 those steamer sweepstakes. The penalties differ, but can be made 
 heavy if the tribunals are disposed." 
 
 As I have said, under the conditions of life on board ship, it 
 would undoubtedly be very difficult to get any one to take the 
 matter up and try to get these sweeps stopped. On the other hand, 
 I feel sure that there are not a few people amongst us who, if once 
 they recognised that gambling in this form is illegal, would entirely 
 decline to participate in it merely because, being on board ship, they 
 could not easily be got at, or proceeded against, for doing so. We 
 claim to be naturally a law-abiding people, and if that claim is not 
 made in vain, as I am sure it is not, this would seem to be a point 
 at which our law-abiding instinct might well come into play, and 
 make us abstain from participation in an amusement which is in itself 
 unquestionably illegal. 
 
 In a somewhat similar way, it would seem to me a very strange 
 thing indeed if among the officers of the British Army there were not 
 a good many with whom it goes a good deal against the grain to 
 punish N.C.O.'s or men who are brought before them for playing 
 cards for stakes, or gambling in some other form, while all the time 
 they know perfectly well that they are doing exactly the same thing 
 themselves, perhaps every night of their lives. I entirely decline to 
 believe that this can be a congenial position for Englishmen to find 
 themselves in. To refuse to punish in such cases is not indeed 
 within their power, the King's Regulations being perfectly ctear. 
 Another remedy, however, is open to them, the adoption of which 
 would seem to put them, in some ways, in a stronger position. 
 
 But to come back to the sweeps on board ship. I feel perfectly 
 certain that there is another cause always at work in such cases, 
 quite apart from the excitement which many crave, and that is the 
 deliberate desire, on the part at any rate of some of the men who 
 take a prominent part in getting up such sweeps, to annex for their 
 own purposes the money of other passengers. I know, of course, 
 how indignantly the individuals concerned would repudiate such a 
 suggestion, and maintain that they are actuated purely by sporting 
 motives, and retaliate on any one who declines to join in their 
 gamble the charge of being spoilers of sport. I likewise, however, 
 indignantly repudiate this latter charge, and most steadily maintain 
 that they are not the true spoilers of sport who object to betting in 
 connection with it, but rather they who are little by little degrading 
 every possible form of English sport by the money interest which 
 
 M
 
 162 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 they insist on associating with it, and which inevitably, sooner or 
 later, contaminates all which it touches. Thus we all deplore at the 
 present time the immense increase in professionalism in football, 
 while it would be hazardous to say that even the cricket field will 
 much longer be secure from the same disease. But professionalism, 
 as we all know in our hearts, simply spells money interest, and only 
 by getting rid of this once again can we restore our English play- 
 fields to the thoroughly healthy and valuable position which they 
 previously occupied. 
 
 No, it is just as well to be perfectly straight and honest in such 
 matters, and I repeat with the most absolute conviction, that always 
 in such cases there are some men who are trusting to what they may 
 win on the voyage either to pay the expense of their ticket, or to 
 have a much better time at home than what they would otherwise 
 have enjoyed. It is not, I hope, that I fail to sympathise with a 
 man whose means may be smaller than my own ; and if such a one 
 would come frankly and say that he was hard up and would be 
 grateful for a contribution of Rs.io or 15 towards the expenses 
 of his trip home, which he greatly wanted to take, I imagine that I, 
 and not a few others, would probably be often willing to assist in 
 such a case. But what I do emphatically and most strongly object 
 to is that, under the colour of sport, my money should be annexed 
 from what is, at the bottom, a purely mercenary motive ; and I can- 
 not help fearing that, not in this connection only, but in the matter 
 of playing cards for comparatively high stakes as well, the number 
 of those women, I fear, at least as much as men who play defi- 
 nitely for the sake of winning money, and who look to the card table 
 as a very real source of income, is steadily increasing. This, how- 
 ever, belongs to the part of the subject with which I propose to deal 
 next Sunday, and I do not want to go into it now. My desire this 
 morning has simply been to call attention to this whole question, to 
 indicate the undoubtedly great spread, as I believe, of the gambling 
 habit ; to try to make clear some of those very real evils connected 
 with it, which I know many people find it difficult to see clearly ; 
 and to ask whether amongst you who are present this morning there 
 are not some at any rate who, even in the absence of such a wholly 
 satisfactory and convincing definition of the gambling habit as would 
 finally demonstrate the evils connected with it (and no one knows 
 better than I do myself how extremely difficult it is to frame such a 
 definition), will yet be prepared to take a firmer stand with regard 
 to this matter in the future than perhaps they have done in the past, 
 and will decline entirely to have any dealings with a practice, the 
 evils of which, I am perfectely convinced, are manifold and great, 
 and in connnection with which I, for one, am wholly unable to see 
 any single redeeming feature of positive usefulness and good. . . .
 
 PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 163 
 
 SERMON II. (on Gambling) 
 
 Before passing away from this aspect of the subject which 
 occupied last Sunday, I want to say a few more words as to the 
 place and significance in our life of that element of chance, or luck, 
 which is so inevitable, and which constitutes for very many people, 
 I think, a real difficulty in connection with this question. 
 
 Again and again it has been said to me, " What can be the harm 
 of it ? Of course it is a matter of luck ; but chance comes into 
 everything. You cannot possibly eliminate it from human life, so 
 what is the good of making it out to be such a tremendous evil in 
 this particular connection ? " That sounds plausible, and I believe 
 the difficulty of perceiving the answer to that position has been a 
 contributing cause in the case of not a few persons who have been 
 drawn into the gambling habit in some form or other. But does 
 not the answer to it really lie somewhere along these lines ? Un- 
 doubtedly speaking for the moment purely from the human stand- 
 point, and leaving out of sight all thought of God's overruling 
 providence in the background undoubtedly the element of un- 
 certainty, chance, luck call it what you will in our human life is 
 very large indeed. God has put us into this world of His with a 
 most limited knowledge of, and still less control over, future events, 
 with the necessary result that uncertainty and chance enter very 
 largely into every single department of human life, and involve at 
 any rate the risk of the upset of even the best-laid human plans. 
 At the same time it should be noticed that, so far from this condition 
 of things being merely injurious, it acts in many ways as exactly the 
 reverse ; for one great function of the reasoning faculty with which 
 we have been endowed would appear to be just this to recognise 
 the inevitable presence of this feature of uncertainty in all the 
 conditions with which we have to deal, and to set itself, by careful 
 and wise foresight, to reduce it to a minimum, or if possible to 
 eliminate it altogether from the sphere of our operations. In other 
 words, the very presence of that element of uncertainty and conse- 
 quent risk has acted as a challenge to our reasoning powers and 
 stimulated them to do their very best to overcome it, and it would 
 be impossible to say how great has been the enrichment of human 
 life in every conceivable quarter from the stimulus thus imparted. 
 The agriculturist knows full well how exceedingly uncertain are the 
 conditions of weather upon which almost all the successes of his 
 arduous labour depends, he therefore sets himself with infinite industry 
 and pains to guard, to the utmost of his power, by every possible 
 resource, against these risks, and his excellence as an agriculturist 
 may be said to depend upon the success he attains in such efforts. 
 The same is true in every branch of life. The cricket captain 
 recognises the uncertainty which necessarily besets the match, he 
 makes his dispositions to overcome them, and his fitness for his post 
 is indicated by the measure of success which he secures. So, too,
 
 1 64 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 in trade, speaking now of trade in its solid, steady, honest aspect, 
 not of it on the side of that wild and unprincipled gambling, which 
 I fear enters in no small degree into too many branches of trade at 
 the present time, to its immeasurable injury and its certain eventual 
 decay. All trade, of course, has its risks, it may be very great 
 risks indeed, but the sober, careful merchant sets himself to over- 
 come these, often with a large measure of success. 
 
 From these instances it will be seen what I conceive to be the 
 normal and legitimate relation which exists between our reasoning 
 faculties and this feature of uncertainty and chance in all the con- 
 ditions of human life. Its very presence acts as a challenge to the 
 reason to eliminate it, or to reduce to the utmost extent the sphere 
 of its action and influence. 
 
 But it is obvious that the moment we turn to gambling, in any 
 form whatever, the exact opposite of this normal relation comes into 
 play, for the very idea of gambling is to enlarge the area of chance, 
 and deliberately and of set purpose, to make it predominate in the 
 affairs which are submitted to its control. Thus, what is the roulette 
 table but an invention designed expressly and exclusively for the very 
 purpose of making chance supreme in regard to the disposal of the 
 stakes which are involved ? Is it not then obvious that, while in all 
 the other operations of human life, to which I have thus referred, we 
 set ourselves to eliminate the element of risk, and to attain to the 
 highest degree of certainty possible, in gambling this is exactly 
 reversed ; for does not the whole essence of the thing depend on the 
 presence of that element of uncertainty, and does not gambling 
 become impossible exactly in proportion as this element is elimi- 
 nated ? It is recognised on all sides that there cannot be (or at any 
 rate ought not to be would that there never were !) any betting on 
 a certainty. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that the analogy which it was sought to 
 establish between the various forms of betting or gambling, and that 
 element of uncertainty and risk which forms so inevitable a part of 
 human life, fails entirely, or rather is exactly reversed, in the latter 
 instance, reason being kept on its true plane and attaining some of 
 its highest triumphs, while in the former it is, as I hold, deliberately 
 dethroned and dishonoured. 
 
 I now pass on to the subject which, as I have told you, will 
 occupy us to day, namely, that of the practice of card-playing, or 
 shall I say more especially of Bridge, when played for high stakes ; 
 though, indeed, what I want to say on this point also really applies 
 to the entire practice and spirit of gambling in whatever form it may 
 appear. But first of all let me substitute for the expression which I 
 have just used Bridge-playing for high stakes this, Bridge played 
 for any stakes in which money interest has a substantial place in the 
 mind of the players. We shall all recognise that these expressions 
 are by no means synonymous, for in the case of some, more 
 especially, perhaps, women, a very high degree of interest in the
 
 PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 165 
 
 game may be excited on what is really a monetary basis, even 
 though the amount of stakes actually involved may seem to others 
 almost absurdly small. 
 
 I know full well how immensely difficult, or rather how im- 
 possible, it is to estimate the degree to which cards are played 
 deliberately for the sake of the money involved. A friend of mine 
 asked a young captain of his acquaintance, how many men in his 
 regiment, he supposed, played chiefly for the sake of the money ; 
 and his reply was that he thought about two-thirds of them. Pre- 
 sumably the same would hold true in many other cases. On the 
 other hand, of course, I know there are many men many doubtless 
 amongst those whom I am at this moment addressing who for 
 years have had their nightly game of Whist or Bridge for quite fixed 
 stakes which never vary or increase, and which are of infinitesimal 
 value, regard being had to the position and incomes of the players. 
 Such men would, I am sure, entirely deny that they were playing for 
 the sake of the money which they might win, though at the same 
 time if I were to propose that they should substitute counters for 
 annas, it is probable that they would in a large majority of cases 
 decline. They would reply that while they were not playing for the 
 money, still just to have a little something on, adds an interest to 
 the game which would otherwise be lacking, helps to secure careful- 
 ness in play and accuracy in marking, etc. I have thought very 
 carefully over the point, and confess that I am wholly unable to 
 perceive how this can be distinguished from a genuine monetary 
 interest, however small in degree. It is always well to be clear on 
 such points, and to understand one's own position, so I would 
 suggest to any one who holds that he is not playing from any 
 interest in the money involved, that he should ask himself whether 
 he would be quite willing to substitute counters for money ; and if 
 not, to get it clear in his own mind, why not. 
 
 Or, to take another test, would not the interest of the game in 
 many cases be materially reduced, if it were known that at the close 
 of the evening a box, on behalf of some charitable institution, would 
 be passed round, into which all winnings would be put ? (To guard 
 against any possible misunderstanding, let me say at once that I am 
 not suggesting that this should be done, at any rate on behalf of any 
 charitable institutions with which I am myself connected, for nothing 
 is further from my desire than that they should be supported from 
 a source which I regard as so essentially tainted.) In this case I 
 feel no doubt that a certain number would willingly accept the pro- 
 posal ; they would say, " We have had our fun out of the game, 
 we do not in the least want to keep the money we have won, and we 
 are perfectly willing that it should go into the box." All credit to 
 them ! In such cases one may safely say that the essential money 
 interest, of which I am now speaking, is really absent. But on the 
 other hand, I doubt very much indeed whether any considerable 
 proportion at all of Bridge players would welcome the proposal, and
 
 1 66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 I venture to think that if it were enforced, the amount of Bridge- 
 playing, let me say in Simla itself, would be so materially reduced 
 as to call for no notice, at any rate from this pulpit. Further let 
 me add, with regard to those regular and small money stakes, even 
 in cases where the test which I have just suggested would not be 
 accepted, that while I may not myself think the practice entirely 
 satisfactory or wholesome, and certainly would not think of playing 
 for a money stake at all myself (as indeed I feel quite sure that the 
 great majority of you would be sorry to see me doing), yet I enter- 
 tain no very strong feeling on the subject, and most certainly should 
 not be dealing with the question from the pulpit to-day, if Bridge- 
 playing were always restricted to this. 
 
 But we know perfectly well, if we choose to be honest, that this 
 is not the case, but that, however many there may be who play in 
 a very harmless way indeed, yet there are not a few who do play for 
 the sake of the money involved. Some of these may be almost 
 unconscious of the fact themselves, though every one else who has 
 anything to do with them, or who watches them at play, sees it with 
 unmistakable clearness ; while some do not attempt to deny or dis- 
 guise the fact that they play quite deliberately in order to win, 
 women perhaps in order to be able to dress better, men to pay off 
 old debts, or to have a better time in some form or other. 
 
 It is of play of this kind that I now wish to speak, and the charge 
 I bring against it is that of being essentially anti-social. The word 
 may sound a little curious to you in this connection, but I hope I 
 shall be able to make my meaning clear. 
 
 I hold, then, that all play of this character is necessarily anti- 
 social in the following three respects : 
 
 (a) It is anti-social because my gain must be, nakedly and purely, 
 your loss, and conversely your gain is my loss. It is not in the 
 least like trade, in which we pay a certain price and receive in return 
 a commodity, buyer and seller alike profiting by the exchange. 
 Exactly the same applies, of course, to money spent on any form of 
 amusement, whether a seat for a concert or a play, the keep of a 
 hunter, or any other of the thousand and one ways in which money 
 may be spent, and quite legitimately spent, under this head. In each 
 case there is, or is supposed to be, some quite definite and tangible 
 return which is looked for as the value of the money spent. But in 
 the case of money lost at cards, or in any other form of gambling, 
 there is plainly nothing whatever of this kind of mutual benefit, and 
 probably this is one reason why it has been found necessary to enlist 
 in support of payment of money thus lost, the grossly absurd and 
 fictitious idea that it is peculiarly " a debt of honour." What other 
 conceivable claim can be advanced for the exceptional treatment 
 which it is thus sought to accord to money dealings of this singularly 
 unsatisfactory character, I cannot imagine. But putting that on one 
 side, I hold very strongly that there ought to be, and need tie, no 
 social dealings whatever between us on that basis of my gain being
 
 PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 167 
 
 purely and simply your loss ; I hold that it is opposed to that funda- 
 mental truth of our religion, which comes out in the verses which 
 I have chosen for my text, and in so many other passages of 
 St. Paul's writings ; in that one, for instance, where he says " There 
 should be no schism in the body ; but the members should have the 
 same care one for another. And whether one member suffereth, all 
 the members suffer with it; or one member is honoured, all the 
 members rejoice with it ; " while also I hold that it is no less opposed 
 to all that is healthiest and best in the relations of our national, 
 social, and family life. 
 
 (b) Secondly, I urge that Bridge so played is anti-social in what 
 may perhaps be called a smaller way, because in the absorption 
 which it produces, manners are in some cases lost sight of, other 
 engagements are in danger of being put aside or neglected ; guests, 
 who are not willing to take their place at the table for the recognised 
 stakes, may not perhaps be as welcome as they would otherwise be ; 
 in short, the pursuit becomes, in an unhealthy degree, engrossing. I 
 know, of course, that the same might be said of any pursuit or amuse- 
 ment carried to excess. But if frequent recent illustrations in Punch 
 are to go for anything at all (and I can scarcely doubt that they gain 
 their point from some facts which are recognised to underlie them) it 
 is at the present time more especially in connection with this game 
 that such results are conspicuous, and I do not think that we can 
 regard this as being to its credit, or doubt for an instant that it is 
 the fact of money being involved which makes it so undesirably en- 
 grossing. 
 
 (c) It is anti-social, not merely in view of the actual stakes which 
 change hands at the conclusion of the game, but from the purely 
 self-regarding and selfish standpoint which dominates the players 
 throughout. Thus, to take one point, it will of course be admitted 
 by every one that a man ought not to play for more than he can 
 afford, and that before entering on a course of play it is his duty to 
 ask himself whether he can afford to lose the amount, if luck should 
 go against him. But you cannot play Bridge alone, and I wonder 
 how often does a man ask himself, not only " Can I afford to lose 
 the amount ? " but " Can the other men with whom I am going to 
 play, who perhaps are being encouraged by my example and 
 influence to join in the game, can they also afford the amount?" 
 Here, again, I know quite well that there are many players, especially 
 older men, who certainly would do this, and would take care that 
 they were not leading a younger man to play for stakes larger than 
 he could quite well afford. But I cannot doubt either, that in a very 
 large number of cases, the reply would be, " I really cannot go into 
 that point : each man must judge for himself. I am responsible for 
 my own pocket and for my own conscience, but not for any one 
 else's ; or to put it quite plainly, ' Am I my brother's keeper ? ' " a 
 sentiment which, I may remind you, fell in the first instance from the 
 lips of a not very respectable character, Cain, just after he had killed
 
 1 68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 his brother. But this whole attitude of mind is one, which I hold 
 that we are bound most absolutely to condemn. As a simple fact, 
 whether we like it or not, we are and must be in many respects our 
 brother's keeper, in the sense, I mean, of being responsible for the 
 influence which we exercise over one another's lives. It is supremely 
 true, and do what we will we cannot alter the fact, that " no man 
 liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself," but that we are, in a 
 very wonderful and mysterious way, bound together in one bundle 
 of life one with another, so that we are in deed and in truth members 
 of one body. 
 
 Further, while this power belongs in its measure to every single 
 one amongst us, it of course is increased immeasurably by those 
 positions of authority or relationship, in which we may be placed 
 towards other lives, and obviously in such cases the guilt by the misuse 
 of so solemn a trust which has been committed to us, is proportion- 
 ately great. 
 
 Thus what are we to say of the senior officer, himself a keen 
 Bridge player, who perhaps by word of mouth or simply by the 
 influence of his example, induces some junior, who would personally 
 in his heart much prefer not to play for money at all, to join in the 
 game, and then wins his money ? I fear that if I were to characterise 
 that action exactly as it really appears to me, my language might not 
 be thought entirely suitable to the place which I at present occupy ; 
 I will therefore only say that it appears to me to be a shameful 
 prostitution of the great influence which such a one necessarily wields 
 by virtue of the relation in which he stands to the younger man. I 
 fear that this is a subject on which our English public conscience is 
 as yet in some quarters inadequately awake, but I hope and believe 
 that before very long a change will come in men's thoughts about it, 
 similar to that which the last fifty years have seen amongst us in 
 regard to drunkenness ; and the gain of such an awakening will be 
 great. 
 
 And there is one class about which I feel, if possible, still more 
 strongly even than about that of the officers in high position of whom 
 I have now spoken ; I mean the women who use their God-given 
 power of attractiveness, and that charm of influence which woman can 
 so strongly exercise over man, to draw round them guests, in order 
 to play for stakes with the deliberate intention and hope of winning 
 their money. About such a case as this again I feel it very hard 
 indeed to speak. I have a simply boundless admiration for those 
 true, gracious, sweet women who move about amongst us, purifying 
 the very air they breathe, making life a brighter and happier thing 
 for all with whom they come in contact, and strengthening us all to 
 meet more bravely and with truer manhood, the difficulties which so 
 frequently beset our life. I thank God that I have known not a few 
 such up here amongst ourselves in Simla ; I thank God that as I look 
 down into the faces of you who are sitting before me at this moment, 
 I know that there are not a few such amongst us still But in
 
 PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN LIFE 169 
 
 proportion to the strength of my admiration for true women of this 
 sort, is the strength of my feeling, of a very different kind indeed, 
 about those who so basely degrade the power which they wield, either 
 in the way I have suggested or in other similar ways, and betray the 
 sacred trust which has been committed to them by God to strengthen 
 and purify the lives of men. . . .
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 1905 TO 1912 (continued] 
 
 ATTITUDE OF THE BRITISH RACE IN INDIA TOWARDS 
 EDUCATED INDIANS 
 
 THERE is no need to emphasise to-day the paramount 
 importance of this question, and it will be of interest to note 
 what, in November, 1906, the Bishop of Lahore set down in 
 his third Triennial Charge to his diocese. I give merely a 
 series of extracts, but as such I have made no alteration in 
 the language used. 
 
 " I come to the subject to which, after much and careful thought, 
 I have decided to devote the remainder of my Charge, namely, some 
 slight consideration of the novel conditions which, by any at all 
 intelligent and sympathetic observer, are seen to be emerging in this 
 great land of India, some appreciation of the new problems con- 
 cerning the mutual relations of the English and of the educated 
 classes of this land, and the place which the latter are entitled to 
 take in the government of the country in short, the consideration 
 of all that position of affairs which, under the broad title of the 
 ' Change of Times,' has recently bulked so large in the columns of 
 our local newspapers. The fact that from one and that perhaps 
 the most obvious point of view this problem is primarily a political 
 one does not, I feel quite sure, make it in any way unsuitable for 
 treatment on an occasion such as the present, affecting as they do 
 the whole future of our relations with this land, and of all the work 
 which, on so many sides and with so many varying aims, we are 
 striving to accomplish in it. But also the very rise of these new 
 conditions is, as I hope to make plain by what I shall presently say, 
 in large part due to our national Christianity, and to the entire 
 attitude towards, and manner of dealing with, this vast Dependency, 
 which our national Christianity has imposed upon us. ... I believe 
 the present movement amongst educated Indians to be of very grave 
 importance indeed. I believe that we we Englishmen are face to 
 face with questions of such seriousness that it is scarcely too much 
 
 170
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 171 
 
 to say that we have reached ' a parting of the ways," and that our 
 whole relationship to, and power of influencing or further helping on 
 the life and thought of this great land largely depends on the temper 
 in which we meet and deal with problems which are thus at the 
 present time arising. I do not want to exaggerate in the least. I 
 am quite aware that in many of the ebullitions of political agitation 
 which have recently attracted attention, more particularly in Bengal, 
 there is a very large element that is artificial, foolish, and of no 
 serious account whatever. . . . Our English rule has struck its roots 
 very deep indeed it rests on very secure foundations, not those 
 of military strength alone, though it would be unreal and foolish to 
 ignore that kind of strength too, but on far nobler and firmer ones 
 still, which have been laid through many generations, and those 
 roots are not to be lightly torn up. ... I do desire to repeat that it 
 is my deep conviction that we have reached a point of utmost 
 gravity, and of far-reaching effect in our continued relations in this 
 land, and I most heartily wish that there were more signs that this 
 fact was clearly recognised by the bulk of Englishmen here, or 
 even in at all general and adequate degree by all our rulers 
 themselves. . . . The very first thing which, as it seems to me, it is 
 necessary to do is to ask the ' whence ' of our rule, wholly unique as 
 it is in the world's history, in India. To what are we going, ulti- 
 mately and in the last resort, to ascribe it to our own expanding 
 trade, to our own military strength, to our own national genius for 
 colonisation and government, to our own anything you please ; or 
 ultimately, and in the last resort, to the Providence of God. . . . 
 We believe in Almighty God. . . . We hold with absolute and 
 unswerving conviction that it is He, and He alone, Who has called 
 us to that extraordinary and unique position which we occupy . . . 
 and that it is to Him that we shall one day, as a nation, have to 
 give account. . . . We are here not primarily for our own sakes or 
 for anything we can get for ourselves from India, but for her sake 
 and for the extraordinary, the unique opportunity thus afforded us 
 of bringing to her of our best in every department and range of 
 life. . . . Would it not be madness to come with our English ideals, 
 our ideals of personal freedom and equality of opportunity, of local 
 self-government, established or aimed at, and of essential justice 
 between man and man, to seek by every means in our power to 
 infuse thereinto the life and thought of this land, and then then to 
 expect nothing to happen ; to expect that all things would continue 
 as they had been from the beginning ? . . . We shall recognise that 
 not stagnation, not an indefinite continuance of the relation of 
 England to India just on the lines with which we ourselves are 
 familiar but progress and movement have been looked for, and 
 their prospect welcomed and their prospect welcomed by some, at 
 any rate, of the master minds who have in the past represented us 
 in these lands. ... I most certainly hold that what we see around 
 us at the present day the discontent, the restlessness, the desire for
 
 172 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 larger life, and especially for closer and more sympathetic relation- 
 ship with us on the part of the educated classes of India I hold 
 that all this is not merely something which, on the principles and 
 methods which in our rule we have deliberately adopted, was bound 
 sooner or later to come, but also that its appearance is in part at 
 least a testimony, not to the defects or evils of our rule out here, 
 very real or grievous though these may in some respects have been, 
 but to the excellence, the nobility of our rule, and also to the success 
 which is attending it. ... There are not a few details of conduct 
 and bearing increasingly noticeable amongst the better class of 
 Indians at the present time, which inevitably jar on Englishmen, 
 and add greatly to the difficulties of cordial relationship. There is a 
 most noticeable diminution in that spirit of courtesy, and of little 
 courteous observances, which have been in such special degree a 
 characteristic, and a very attractive characteristic, of the best Indian 
 life in the past, and the passing away of which is a very real loss 
 indeed. But by a large number of Indians such little courtesies are 
 now regarded with disfavour as savouring of flattery, subserviency, or 
 servility, and are ignored up to a point which, to English habits of 
 thought, amounts merely to boorishness and rudeness. . . . There 
 is on many sides, e.g. in almost every native newspaper with which 
 I am acquainted, a tendency very noticeable at the present time to 
 see the worst of English life, ... to throw into the shade to the 
 utmost degree possible its stronger, finer sides. . . . To a certain 
 extent I can understand and sympathise with this. Englishmen 
 have assuredly not been slow to call attention to the defects which 
 they have seen in Indian life and character. . . . Yet in encouraging 
 this temper so far as is constantly done now (by Indian newspapers) 
 they are rendering in truth a very bad service to the land they 
 love. . . . Have not the educated classes of Indians a very real and 
 legitimate ground of complaint in the general attitude which is taken 
 towards them by Englishmen in this land ; the utter aloofness and 
 distance of relationship which is maintained, the grim refusal of 
 anything even approaching to a brotherly and sympathetic bear- 
 ing ? ... It is, I suppose, one of the universally recognised defects 
 of the English character that it is naturally unsympathetic, reserved, 
 cold. . . . But I do not think that any one can question that at the 
 present time, and under existing conditions in this land, it is 
 handicapping us terribly, and that it more than any other single 
 course that can be named is at the root of the difficulty which is 
 already upon us. ... To you, whether missionaries or chaplains, I 
 appeal from the bottom of my heart to be prominent in this good 
 work, to see to it to ask the Holy Spirit of His grace to grant it to 
 you that by no word or act of arrogance or contempt you deepen 
 the gulf, the existence of which, at the present time, is being so 
 forcibly brought to our notice; ... so to treat all natives with 
 whom you come in contact, and more particularly so to avail 
 yourselves of any opportunities that may present themselves of
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 173 
 
 meeting with a genuine, unaffected sympathy, respect, and friendli- 
 ness the better class of educated men, that you may each do 
 something towards lessening the friction. . . ." 
 
 Mrs. Besant. Naturally Lefroy's spirit was stirred within 
 him on the occasion of Mrs. Besant's advent in the Punjab in 
 order to lecture. The Bishop preached two sermons on the 
 subject in Christchurch, Simla, on July ist and 8th, 1906. I 
 give concluding words. 
 
 " We are told that this vision of India ever becoming a Christian 
 land is a baseless dream. I recognise instantly that the real question 
 at issue is not the wisdom of this or that particular missionary, the 
 ability of this or that missionary worker, but simply this is our 
 Blessed Lord indeed living and reigning to-day, and did He speak 
 the truth when He declared that in heaven and earth alike ail 
 authority was given unto Him, and when, in virtue of this He en- 
 trusted to His disciples the task of the evangelisation of the world, 
 promising them for its accomplishment, His own continual presence 
 day by day while time shall last, or was he laying upon them an im- 
 possible commission ? For me, at any rate, there can be but one 
 answer to this question, and I feel as certain that India one day 
 shall be indeed a Christian land, as that I am occupying this pulpit 
 this morning. We are offered a Pantheon of semi-human, semi- 
 divine teachers in which a niche is condescendingly found for the 
 man Jesus. I decline the offer not less in my own name, than in 
 yours, fellow-members with me of the living and ascended Christ, 
 and fellow-partakers, as we hope and believe, of His glory which 
 shall be revealed. Such a Pantheon is an earthly habitation built 
 upon the shifting sands of human imagination ; but to us has been 
 given the vision of the Holy City, coming down out of heaven. ... I 
 decline the offer, and lay down my life in absolute and unreserved 
 devotion at the feet of Him, my Lord and my God, the Eternal and 
 now Incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, Who loved me, yea, and 
 loves me to-day, with as direct, as quick, as personal a love as ever 
 Who loves me and gave Himself for me." 
 
 THE EPISCOPAL SYNOD 1908 
 
 Lefroy attached the greatest importance to this annual 
 meeting of Indian Bishops held in January at Calcutta. 
 Perhaps the Synod of 1908 was also specially important, since 
 the Indian Bishops, after their meeting, prepared to visit 
 England for the Pan-Anglican Congress and the Lambeth 
 Conference. Lefroy, of course, took his full share in these 
 gatherings, and he made an important speech in the Albert
 
 174 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Hall in July of that year. In preparation for the Episcopal 
 Synod he issued five statements sent confidentially to the 
 Bishops beforehand. 
 
 (i) On Unity 
 I quote one paragraph. 
 
 " I would urge that, not content with laying stress on the 
 duty, and efficacy of prayer for Unity, and on the general 
 duty of getting to understand each other better, we should 
 urge on the clergy and laity of our Communion to be more 
 ready to avail themselves of such bases of practical Unity as 
 already exist with a view to advancing towards that which we 
 have not yet got. It should be clearly pointed out that 
 united action on our part with members of other Communions 
 may rightly, and therefore most urgently should, extend as 
 far as our common basis ; in other words, we ought to unite 
 whenever possible not only in work of general philanthropy, 
 temperance, etc., etc. (in which we do already, I hope, try to 
 co-operate cordially), but in several important branches of 
 Evangelistic work, such as Literature, Bazaar preaching, 
 Missionary Conferences, Prayer-meetings, and some others. 
 I myself take part, not infrequently, in a weekly Bible and 
 Prayer-meeting held in Lahore by missionaries of our own 
 Church, of the Presbyterians, Episcopal Methodists, and any 
 others who like to come. Few things will do more to open 
 the way to closer union than cordially utilising in practice 
 such union as we already have. 
 
 " It would have to be recognised that the Holy Com- 
 munion and some other things lie at present outside this 
 range." 
 
 (2) Racial Problems and the Present Political Unrest 
 
 " I doubt whether any of the subjects which will come up 
 for consideration at the Synod touches more vitally the 
 question of the spread of Christianity in India during the 
 next few years than this one. . . . 
 
 " It is obvious that such periods of transition are fraught, 
 for the Government of the country, with the largest issues 
 and constitute the most vital possible test of its statesmanship 
 and wisdom. 
 
 " But we need to remember that this is true no less of the 
 Church than of the secular Government. 
 
 " It is certain that the attitude of educated Indians during
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 175 
 
 the next decade will be profoundly influenced by the attitude 
 which the Church at this time adopts towards the new move- 
 ments, the new aspirations, of India. An attitude of in- 
 difference or of aloofness on her part must inevitably evoke a 
 spirit of antagonism and dislike on theirs. 
 
 " I can understand that some may deprecate our dealing 
 in any public manner with these matters on the ground that 
 they do not primarily concern us. My own very strong con- 
 viction is, however, that to accept this view would be a 
 disastrous mistake. We ourselves are in the midst of our 
 work is being affected in countless ways by this stir of thought 
 and aspiration, and whether we like it or no, the educated 
 classes will insist as, in my opinion, they have a perfect 
 right to insist on our declaring our own attitude and feeling 
 with regard to them. At such a time to be silent is simply 
 to be indifferent and unsympathetic, i.e. to repel and alienate. 
 
 " As to the line which we might suitably follow I will only 
 suggest a few points : 
 
 " i. We should recognise, in the frankest and most cordial 
 manner possible, that we we as Missionaries, we as members 
 of the English race are responsible for this awakening in 
 India. We should accept it, and gladly, as the natural and 
 necessary result of our own work. We should make it plain 
 that, in our view, for no such movement to have come sooner 
 or later to the birth, would have meant the utter failure of 
 our country's and our Church's Mission to India. 
 
 "2. We should go further than this. We should make 
 some frank reference to the new sense of nationality, and to 
 the national hopes and aspirations which are stirring all 
 around, and say how wholly we sympathise with these in 
 principle however clearly we may recognise the enormous 
 difficulties that stand at present in the way of their realisa- 
 tion. . . ." 
 
 (3) The National Missionary Society of India 
 
 The Bishop gives a sketch of the venture as supplied by 
 the secretary, Mr. V. S. Azariah (now Bishop of Dornakal). 
 It shows that there were 100,000,000 of the people of India 
 outside the reach of existing missions. 
 
 " Work done. The missionary idea has been preached in 
 all the important centres in the Punjab, U.P., and Madras. 
 Two organising secretaries have travelled for the Society, 
 organising branches and creating missionary interest. As
 
 1 76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 never before it may safely be asserted the Indian Christians 
 all over India have been now reminded of their duty towards 
 their country, and more people are to-day giving their money, 
 and offering their intercessions for the evangelisation of India 
 than two years ago. The income of the first year was 
 Rs. 3,500. The first field opened by the Society was in 
 Montgomery District in the Punjab. The Punjab was chosen 
 not only because of its need, but also because the Christian 
 community in the Punjab was coming forward to the aid of 
 the Society more than most other provinces. This district 
 will be worked in conformity to the Church of England. The 
 first worker appointed is a graduate of the Punjab University, 
 and one trained in the C.M.S. Divinity School, Lahore. 
 
 " The Society would respectfully request the authorities of 
 the Church to recognise the Society as one of the channels 
 through which the missionary activities of the Indian 
 Christians will flow. The Indian Christians have begun to 
 look upon this movement as tJieir own in a peculiar sense. 
 It has created in the Indian Church a greater Christian 
 patriotism, and a nobler spirit of self-sacrifice for the evangeli- 
 sation of their own country. This is bound in its turn to 
 bring a reflexive benefit on the Church itself. Such being 
 the case it is entitled to the sympathy and prayer of those 
 presiding over that Church to which a large body of Indian 
 Christians own allegiance. By declaring their interest in and 
 sympathy with the movement in general, by advising and 
 helping in the Society's work in so far as it works in fields 
 placed under the Church, by recognising the title to Holy 
 Orders given by the Society, by admitting the converts in such 
 fields to the privileges of the Church, and by maintaining a 
 cordial relationship to the officers of the Society and the 
 workers in the Church of England fields the Bishops will 
 greatly help in strengthening the missionary spirit quickened 
 by this new organisation. 
 
 " I have cordially accepted the proposal of the Society to 
 commence work in an unoccupied district in this Diocese. 
 The man they have selected as their first missionary has 
 been trained in the Lahore C.M.S. Divinity School and is a 
 thoroughly nice young fellow. I have expressed my readiness 
 to accept the Society's appointment as a Title when the time 
 for his ordination comes, though I foresee some difficulty on 
 the subject of his training during his Diaconate. 
 
 " I hope that the Synod will be prepared to encourage and 
 assist the Society in the ways suggested by Mr. Azariah."
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 177 
 
 (4) Opium 
 
 The Bishop emphasises the difference between opium 
 eating in India and opium smoking in China and earnestly 
 urges strong action to abolish the China trade, and' refers to 
 the resolution of the House of Commons in May, 1906. 
 Then he proceeds : 
 
 "(i) We may be perfectly certain that every possible 
 effort will be made, by powerful vested interests, to deprive 
 that resolution of its force, or to postpone action under it as 
 long as possible ; and in view of this any utterance calculated 
 to stiffen the back of Government in its dealing with the 
 question will be most appropriate. 
 
 " (2) It seems to me that even the Resolution then passed 
 was an exceedingly lame one, throwing as it did so much 
 onus on the sincerity of China's efforts to rid herself of the 
 drug before we consent to reduce our share in the trade. It 
 seems impossible to doubt that whether from wholly pure 
 or partially mixed motives China does heartily desire that 
 our trade should cease or greatly lessen. Is it then for us to 
 lay down conditions under which alone we are prepared to 
 withdraw from a trade, the enormous moral injury resulting 
 from which is denied by practically no one ? We should not 
 dream of taking up such a position if we were dealing with any 
 European Power. I think also that it can scarcely be 
 doubted that there is a very real movement towards moral 
 reform in this and other matters in China at the present day, 
 however much it may be hampered and discredited by the 
 extreme official venality and corruption ; and we surely ought 
 to assist this to the utmost of our power. 
 
 "This awakening of China, which is going, one can 
 scarcely doubt, to be one of the most remarkable phenomena 
 of our days exceeding in its importance and its effect on the 
 world at large, as many hold, the wonderful awakening of 
 Japan which we have so recently witnessed invests the 
 opium question with singular importance at the present time. 
 It can scarcely be doubted that the attitude which the most 
 earnest of her moral reformers take towards Christianity in the 
 near future will depend in large measure on the attitude 
 which the Christian Church takes towards this question of 
 the opium trade." 
 
 N
 
 178 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 (5) An Indian Church Weekly Paper 
 
 " The power of the Press is a commonplace amongst us, and 
 like other commonplaces it exercises little effect on practice, at 
 any rate so far as the Church of England in India is concerned. 
 All recognise, I believe, that our representation in the Press at 
 the present time is deplorably weak. The abandonment of 
 the Indian Church Quarterly meant whatever its drawbacks 
 may have been a very real loss, for in its day it did good 
 work. No one regards the Indian Church News as satisfactory 
 or as representing the Church in any true sense. We have 
 our Diocesan Records, which serve an undoubtedly useful 
 function, but an extremely restricted one. We have no 
 weekly journal to represent effectively the Church as a whole, 
 to serve as a family newspaper, to keep the educated Church 
 laity in touch with Church life and movements, to keep alive 
 the feeling of corporate unity in the Church of the Province 
 and to unite it in the working out of a common policy. I fully 
 believe that the absence of such a journal is one cause (no doubt, 
 one amongst many) of the deplorable weakness of corporate 
 feeling in our Communion, viewed as a whole, throughout the 
 Province, and of the utterly weak-kneed character of much 
 of our Churchmanship. 
 
 " On the other hand, the Episcopal Methodists, not to refer 
 to some other Nonconformist bodies, give us a practical 
 illustration of how much success it is possible to obtain in the 
 direction I indicate, if the matter is properly taken in hand. 
 Their Indian Witness is, I believe, a thoroughly good 
 publication, with a considerable circulation, and means much 
 to the life of their Communion. 
 
 " Surely the success which they have attained is not 
 impossible for us. 
 
 " It should be remembered that, if their success is in no 
 small measure due to their addressing themselves to a social 
 class below that which we ordinarily think of as prominent in 
 our own body, we ourselves have far more members of that same 
 class in our Communion than they have, and I cannot doubt 
 that we should obtain the same response from them if we 
 bore them as clearly in mind and addressed ourselves as 
 directly to them. It may be that we are too much in the 
 habit of overlooking them, and the loss entailed by this must 
 be very great." 
 
 The above are merely extracts from the Bishop's 
 Memoranda, sufficient to give his attitude.
 
 Lefroy reached England in 1908 in time to see his mother 
 once more and to be at her bedside when she passed. He 
 had visited Palestine on his way to England, and on his 
 return to India later in the year he was accompanied by his 
 sister, Miss Lefroy, for a winter visit. 
 
 I have now to refer briefly to only two more of his 
 published utterances during the Lahore period. The time 
 was approaching for his acceptance of the call to Calcutta. 
 His fourth triennial Visitation was made in November, 1909. 
 In his charge the most important subject handled was the 
 danger which he anticipated as possible of the creation of 
 " Race Churches" I give a few extracts : 
 
 "We come preaching one Christ, the One Mediator between 
 God and man for all men everywhere alike, and we bring the 
 message of that Body in which not only there are not, but in St. 
 Paul's language there cannot be, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male 
 or female, Indian or English : so necessarily, so vitally, are all 
 who are really in Him made one also in each other. We preach 
 that. Do we show it ? Assuredly not, as those know best who are 
 most intimately acquainted with the thoughts of Indian Christian 
 Communities at the present time and know how much of estrange- 
 ment, dissatisfaction and bitterness in regard to this matter there is 
 among them. . . . 
 
 " On the one hand, there are the English congregations . . . the 
 great majority of them are avowedly birds of passage, with but a passing 
 interest in the land, and no desire to throw in their lot in any really 
 deep and permanent way at all with the people of the land, whether 
 Christian or non-Christian. Think of the bulk of the Army, who in this 
 Diocese comprise about 28,000 out of the 36,000 Europeans. . . . 
 This great system on the one hand, and on the other, the Indian 
 congregations, for the most part poor and illiterate, though with an 
 increasing proportion of men of a very different stamp and as far 
 removed in all sorts of ways from the English congregations as 
 possible. Is not the danger one might almost say the inevitable- 
 ness of Race Churches most real and unmistakable ? . . . The issue 
 as it affects us in this country is simply this. In the case of very 
 many people there is an instinctive sense of repulsion from men of 
 an alien race a repulsion of which I am sure Indians are often 
 conscious, at least as much as Englishmen, possibly more so. It is 
 not, I believe, necessarily in itself a wrong feeling, being purely 
 spontaneous and instinctive, though it very quickly becomes wrong 
 if it is given way to and allowed to influence conduct. The question, 
 then, is which in our own case is the stronger, this sense of repulsion 
 on ground of race if for us it unhappily exists, or the attraction 
 towards such an one arising from our common membership in
 
 i8o LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Christ ? . . . The difficulty, of course, is immense ; we shall gain 
 nothing whatever by minimising it : so too, assuredly no less, was 
 the difficulty which confronted St. Paul in connection with the 
 fusion of Jew and Gentile. ... To just one measure which I have 
 myself taken in connection with it I will make passing reference, I 
 mean the question of the admission of Indian Christian children of 
 suitable families, to our English boarding schools. This was perhaps 
 the most glaring instance of a colour-line being drawn in purely 
 Christian institutions that existed amongst us, and the injury that it 
 was doing was as all those most qualified to judge were agreed in 
 holding very grievous indeed. Accordingly, as most of you know, 
 I addressed in the early part of this year a letter to the committees 
 of our various schools expressing my earnest hope that they might, 
 with due safeguards, remove this barrier ; and it is with true pleasure 
 and thankfulness that I record that with one exception my request 
 was everywhere complied with everywhere, that is, where need for 
 compliance existed. ... I wish now to lay stress on the cultivation 
 of a warmer, more brotherly, more affectionate feeling in the 
 ordinary intercourse of daily life. Nothing has done more harm, 
 wounded Indian Christian feeling, I believe, more deeply than the 
 patronising tone and temper in which we those even of us who do 
 most truly desire to be friendly and draw together are so very apt 
 to meet them. Extreme care needs to be taken in regard to 
 the little things which in our daily intercourse produce in the 
 aggregrate so great an effect, e.g. that if an Indian Christian comes 
 to see us he should not be kept waiting, or left standing, in a way 
 that an Englishman of the same social standing would resent. 
 Indeed, the reverse ought to be the case. I mean that we ought to 
 be far more careful in the case of an Indian than of an Englishman, 
 both because they are naturally a more sensitive race than ourselves, 
 and because we have accumulated so woeful a balance on the 
 wrong side in the past which needs to be readjusted to the utmost of 
 our power. . . . Last Advent I held an Ordination in Hindustani in 
 Holy Trinity Church here. One of the cathedral vestrymen went 
 over to show his sympathy and interest by taking part in it, and at 
 the close of the service he came into the vestry and shook hands 
 with each of the candidates with a courtesy and an unmistakable 
 respect and reverence for the office to which they had been admitted 
 which could not have been surpassed. I cannot tell you how much 
 his action was appreciated. ... I trust it may before long be possible 
 in some stations for English and Indian members of our Church 
 to unite, more regularly and formally than is done at present, in the 
 Holy Communion, there being perhaps once a month a Celebration 
 only in one church, the Station and Mission Church alternately, 
 and all Communicants being asked to gather at the one Holy Feast of 
 Unity and love." 
 
 (I was myself present a few years ago at one such service 
 on Advent Sunday at the Station Church at Delhi, a truly
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 181 
 
 delightful occasion. The officiating clergy consisted of both 
 Europeans and Indians. H. H. M.) 
 
 In 1910, in the Bishop's Pastoral Letter, the following 
 words occur : 
 
 " I hope that Chaplains on being posted to a new station will 
 be careful to inquire whether there are any Indian Christians of 
 suitable social status to be included in their calling list, and in 
 that case will make a point of calling upon them, at as early a date 
 as they conveniently can, in exactly the same way and with the same 
 formalities as they call on English folk. . . . On the occasion of any 
 parochial or social function also it will mean much if Chaplains will 
 make a point of including in their invitations any Indian Christians 
 of suitable status there may be in the place. ... I wish also to urge 
 most strongly on missionaries their bounden duty to keep in touch 
 to the utmost degree possible with the English society of their Station. 
 I know as well as any one how difficult it often is to do this on account 
 of claims of afternoon or evening work and the like, but I am sure 
 it is worth a most real and sustained effort to effect it. It is 
 ridiculous to blame English men and women out here for holding 
 aloof from the missionaries and taking little interest in Mission 
 work if the missionaries themselves hold aloof from the English and 
 show little interest in them and their life in this land. I am sure 
 that no small portion of the responsibility for the gulf which too often 
 does exist in a Station between the English life and the missionary. 
 Indian life rests on the shoulders of the missionaries for having 
 failed in their duty in this direction." 
 
 LETTERS OF THE SAME PERIOD, 1905-1912 
 
 Difficulties of Consecration of Bishops for India have 
 long been a trouble to the Church. 
 
 The following letter refers to the problem : 
 
 " Harvington, Simla : July 6, 1905. 
 
 " Bishop Copleston ran up to see the Viceroy over some 
 matter connected with the Consecration of the new Bishop 
 for Travancore. Hitherto consecrations to that See, and as 
 I understand to Japan, China, and everything that is known 
 as ' foreign territory/ have been under the Jerusalem Bishopric 
 Act, and therefore necessarily at home. Bishop Copleston 
 greatly dislikes this (perfectly rightly, I think, so far as 
 principle is concerned), and holds that the Province ought to 
 consecrate its own Bishops. You know how keen I was to be 
 consecrated out here, believing it to be right in principle. He 
 therefore falls back from the Act, on the general powers
 
 182 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 inherent in the Church, and says of course, as we are a 
 completely constituted Province, we can consecrate him all 
 right, without any specially empowering Act, and all we want 
 is for the Governor of India to say that if he is so consecrated, 
 with the full approval of the Governor of India, they will 
 accord him due recognition as the successor of the late 
 Bishop. He apparently has got the Viceroy to his side, but 
 he recognises himself that it is very uncertain whether he will 
 be able to carry Mr. Brodrick and the other authorities at 
 home, including perhaps his Grace. I believe his position to 
 be perfectly sound from the point of view of Church principles, 
 but it rather ignores red tape and is not an easy morsel for 
 lawyers to swallow. The position is made more difficult by 
 the Bishop designate having rather taken alarm at the 
 Metropolitan's proposals, fearing that they will land him in a 
 native state with less definite status and certainty of recogni- 
 tion than his predecessors enjoyed, and having settled to go 
 off home to satisfy himself, to inquire whether the authorities 
 at home are inclined to agree and that his position is secure. 
 In this and in all ways the Metropolitan takes the very high, 
 spiritual view of things, and this is what makes it so good to 
 be in his company for a bit, so as to get down to deeper 
 ground." 
 
 And though it is two years later I insert here the next 
 letter. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore: Feb. 14, 1907. 
 
 " I saw the Metropolitan off from the Diocese last Monday. 
 It has been a very great pleasure and help being with him for 
 the ten days. It is so exceedingly good for one having to 
 take a back seat occasionally and yet so honestly difficult 
 at ordinary times for one in my position, even if I were by 
 nature far more inclined to occupy that position than I am. 
 But the ten days of lying low, and listening to another talking, 
 and attending on him- one, too, to whom I can look up with 
 such a whole-hearted respect and affection as a much wiser 
 and better man than myself have been very refreshing and 
 good. And he really is a delightful character a real ' Apostle 
 of Love.' I heard him give a number of addresses to very 
 differently constituted audiences and I think every one was 
 on love God's love to us our love to God, and to man. It 
 lifted me into a high region. And he got through the fairly 
 stiff programme I had prepared for him much better than I 
 expected. At leaving he expressed himself greatly delighted 
 with all he had seen and said that for the character of our
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 183 
 
 workers men and women for the solidity of plant, building, 
 etc., etc., and general energy and ' go ' in the work, he did 
 not think he had seen anything at all comparable to it in any 
 other part of the country. Of course the Punjab, with its 
 splendid cold weather climate, as bracing as possible, ought to 
 lead in all such respects, but it is well to think, on his 
 authority, that it does." 
 
 The next two letters show that Lefroy, in regard to an 
 acute political controversy, was strongly upon the side of Lord 
 Curzon as against Lord Kitchener. At the same time it will 
 also be noted that Lefroy's association with Lord Kitchener 
 in regard to the welfare of the army was of the happiest 
 description. 
 
 To the Viceroy, Lord Curzon. 
 
 "Simla: Aug. 21, 1905. 
 
 " May I say how very greatly 4 regret the step which I learn 
 you have at length felt compelled to take. I am quite sure 
 that in a very short time, even if it is not already the case, all 
 thinking men throughout the country will recognise how very 
 grievous has been the loss sustained by India in your 
 premature departure. For myself I would like to thank you 
 warmly for the unfailing kindness which I have experienced 
 at your hands. I have every reason to feel that in Lady 
 Curzon and yourself I lose from the country genuine 
 friends." 
 
 " Viceregal Lodge, Simla: Aug. 21, 1905. 
 
 " MY DEAR BISHOP, 
 
 " I am much touched by your kind words. I do not 
 think there is a less dejected man in India than myself, and 
 if friends like yourself, who are impartial, think that I adopted 
 the right course, great and valuable encouragement is given 
 to me in my own feeling. 
 
 " I shall always look back with pleasure upon the facts 
 that I was instrumental in offering a bishopric to so eminent 
 a man, though at that time unknown to me, and that subse- 
 quent knowledge only availed to confirm (by no means a 
 uniform experience) the wisdom of my act. 
 
 " Looking forward to our next meeting in England 
 in 1908, 
 
 " I am, 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 " CURZON."
 
 1 84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " Harvington, Simla : Aug. 24, 1905. 
 
 " I have preached my two sermons on gambling, and they 
 are to be printed, so I will send you copies. They are 
 coming out first in one of the daily papers, which is best of 
 all, as far more people see them in that way than any other. 
 I was amused at the remark of a lady at lunch last Saturday. 
 ' You are going to preach on Bridge to-morrow, are you 
 not ? ' ' Yes.' ' You are going down immediately after- 
 wards ? ' in an alarmed tone of voice, as though so only was 
 there any reasonable chance of my life being spared. A few 
 people have spoken warmly to me about them, and others I 
 hear are indignant, which is perhaps a better sign." 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore : Aug. 29, 1905. 
 
 " My gambling sermons have ' caught on ' at any rate, 
 whether anything comes of them or not. I have scarcely 
 met a fresh person this week who has not brought the subject 
 up, and last night I was told that some men here in Lahore 
 are laying their heads together to produce a reply. At any 
 rate that's more notice than all sermons secure ! Meantime 
 I have had some very nice letters from subalterns, and other 
 young fellows who are in difficulties, thanking me for what I 
 have said, and putting all sorts of problems, as to whether I 
 think it would be wrong for them to go in for the Calcutta 
 ' Derby Sweep ' simply to have the chance of helping parents 
 at home, of paying off debt, etc., etc. I can't help much in 
 such cases, but it seems as if I had got home to them." 
 
 A word of thanks is welcome. 
 
 "Viceregal Lodge, Simla: Aug. 22, 1905. 
 
 " I must write you one line to tell you how very much I 
 appreciated the Confirmation Service yesterday. I am so 
 glad Violet was one of the candidates. The rules you laid 
 down for their future lives so clearly in your address will, I 
 am sure, always be a help to her throughout her life, and 
 I feel certain that yesterday's service will always be a happy 
 recollection. 
 
 " I hope you will forgive me for sending you these few 
 lines, but I thought I should like to tell you how thoroughly 
 Violet appreciated what you said. 
 
 " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 "MARY MlNTO." 
 
 " Harvington, Simla : June 14, 1906. 
 
 " Mrs. Annie Besant has just been lecturing up here, and 
 the whole world has run after her. I suppose you know more
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 185 
 
 or less what she stands for. She is certainly a beautiful 
 speaker very eloquent, with excellent choice of words. And 
 on some points I can go with her, e.g. one lecture was simply 
 an argument for the spiritual, instead of the merely mate- 
 rialistic, view of life. I enjoyed it, without agreeing with all 
 details, and was quite glad she had given it, as there were a 
 good many present who rarely set foot in church. On the 
 other hand, much in her first lecture was wholly anti-Christian 
 in essential principle and position, yet this too appears to 
 have been greatly admired by many of our own people 
 including some good Church folk who seem wholly unable 
 to see how wholly such teaching conflicts with our blessed 
 Lord's claims, and seem to have been attracted merely by 
 her maintenance of the shallow, but so popular, position that 
 it does not matter what a man believes if his life is right. I 
 am a good deal distressed. At one time I thought of giving 
 a public lecture in reply to that first one of hers, but now I 
 don't think it would be desirable to do this. I must deal 
 with it in church some day." 
 
 " Chaman, Afghanistan : Tuesday, March 20, 1906. 
 
 " I am at one of the farthest outposts of our Empire 
 indeed beyond the Empire, properly speaking for we are 
 really in Afghanistan proper, and it was only with the utmost 
 reluctance that the late Amir let us occupy this spot on his 
 side of the mountain range which is the true boundary 
 between the countries. I believe he said that in driving the 
 tunnel through, we had ' run a borer into his vitals.' I came 
 through on the engine yesterday, the driver lighting up the 
 tunnel for me by some electric arrangement which they had 
 fitted up for T.R.H. who were here last week. It is a fine 
 engineering work, but a good deal like other tunnels. Here 
 it seems funny to find a regular English life going on the 
 young fellows at their polo, the ladies (there are only four of 
 them in the one native regiment which constitutes the entire 
 garrison) playing croquet, etc., with the boundary between 
 the two countries indicated by a line of white posts about 
 three miles off, beyond which if you set a foot you are liable 
 to be captured and put in durance vile, while the Afghan fort 
 grins at ours about seven miles off." 
 
 " Multan : March 14, 1906. 
 
 " I am enjoying my trip in special degree. At present it 
 is partly due to the splendid facilities which are being given 
 me to address the troops on moral questions. They are 
 splendid opportunities and I am most thankful for them, but
 
 1 86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 they take a good deal out of me, especially when added to 
 all the usual duties of a Visitation. 
 
 " Here almost the whole garrison was paraded in the 
 open a temporary platform made for me ; the General Com- 
 manding came up on to it with me, and for fifteen or twenty 
 minutes I talked very straight. Some of the officers said 
 afterwards they thought much good had been done. Even 
 five years ago this sort of thing would not have been thought 
 of nothing but voluntary meetings, and at them, though 
 they have some distinct advantages, you are apt not to get 
 the very men you most want to talk to." 
 
 It will be remembered that a few years before this time 
 Lefroy and Allnutt had conceived a plan for Commentaries 
 for Indian Christians. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore : Dec. 6, 1906. 
 
 " I am sending you a copy of my Charge, which is just 
 out, and also a copy of what is to me a most fascinating and 
 valuable little commentary (?) on the Philippians. In its 
 preface you will see what its special purport is and the part 
 I have taken in connection with it. If one can't write books 
 oneself, it's something to help in making other people write 
 them, and I think this little volume is a most real acquisition. 
 In its constant reference to Indian life and thought it is quite 
 unlike anything we at present have, while simply as an English 
 Commentary I think it takes a very high place. I am reading 
 it myself devotionally in the mornings and like it greatly. 
 But the chief idea of the series is that they should be trans- 
 lated into the chief vernacular, and so supply what is at 
 present a great need. It is also very pleasant and on the 
 line in which I always want to work to see how different 
 ' parties ' are drawing together in the scheme. This first 
 production is from the pen of a C.M.S. man in Madras, the 
 next will be, I expect, by Canon Brown, head of the O.M. 
 Calcutta." 
 
 It may be as well to state here the progress made in the 
 issue of these Commentaries. All are published by the 
 S.P.C.K. At the present time (1919) the following are in 
 existence besides Philippians : St. Matthew, by Dr. W. 
 Stanton ; Acts, by T. Walker ; 2 Corinthians, by A. Cros- 
 thwaite ; Hebrews, by W. H. G. Holmes ; Revelation, by 
 Dr. Waller, Bishop of Tinnevelly.
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 187 
 
 The following letters deal with the Bishop's relations with 
 Lord Kitchener, and will be welcome reading. But the first 
 refers to Lord Kitchener's brother. 
 
 "Harvington, Simla : July 2, 1903. 
 
 " I have been very greatly cheered and encouraged during 
 the last week by some intercourse with Gen. W. Kitchener, 
 brother to the Chief and at present in command of the Lahore 
 District. He was up here for a week, and came twice to see 
 me and to talk over a scheme he has for starting a tea-house 
 for the men, first of all in Lahore itself, where it appears to 
 be urgently needed, and then, if the plan succeeds, in other 
 places as well. He has thought it out all himself, though 
 now making the draft of it over to me for alteration or cor- 
 rection, wanting me to get the patronage of the Viceroy and 
 Lieut -Governor, and altogether to take a leading part in 
 running it, and his attitude in the whole matter is the nicest 
 possible. He was at the early Celebration on Sunday 
 himself." 
 
 " Harvington, Simla : 1905. 
 
 " I sat next Lord Kitchener at dinner a couple of nights 
 ago and had a lot of interesting talk. He was spinning some 
 extraordinary tales of his doings on a tour he took along the 
 Indian Frontier some time ago. He asked me to ride out 
 with him on Saturday to a country house he has, six or seven 
 miles out, to see his garden, of which he is very fond, and 
 have lunch. It should be interesting. It will mean nearly a 
 day off, as we are to start at eleven ; on my way back I have 
 to stop in the afternoon at a house for tennis, and in the 
 evening I have been compelled to go to the theatre, for 
 a variety entertainment got up on behalf of the Mayo 
 Orphanage, one of our important institutions up here, which 
 I am bound to support. The latter I would gladly be out of, 
 but the day off I can do with, as I haven't had one since I 
 came up, barring a Sunday six weeks back when I was rather 
 seedy. 
 
 " Lord Kitchener so plainly wants to be friendly and 
 civil. I heard, quite indirectly and unexpectedly, that after 
 a long talk I had with him some weeks back on questions of 
 morality in the Army, he sent round a general order to all 
 officers on one point which I had strongly urged on him, 
 though with little hope that he would take action. I hope 
 real good has been done, at any rate in this one respect, and 
 I shall have another good go-in on Saturday, all being well.
 
 188 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " Harvington, Simla: June 27, 1907. 
 
 " I had a very interesting, and in many ways enjoyable, 
 day with Lord Kitchener last Saturday. I felt the matter 
 in debate between us was of so much importance that it would 
 be better to accept his offer and ride out with him in the 
 morning. We started at n o'clock and never broke the 
 walk for the six miles to his country house, going at it 
 hammer and tongs the whole way, as well as for an hour or 
 so after arrival. I wholly failed to get out of him what I 
 wanted, which I greatly regret, but I felt again the pleasure 
 which I have always experienced in dealing with him of 
 being able to say exactly what you think, without reserve 
 or qualification, and be taken in absolute good part. I was 
 attacking vigorously a policy to which he is committed and 
 by which he sets great store, and he was as pleasant and fair 
 throughout as possible ; indeed, at the end of our talk I had 
 to admit that I believed in his place I should take very much 
 his line, however I might regret it. I still think good may 
 have been done. He knows a good many facts that he didn't 
 know on Saturday morning, and one or two of his high officers 
 are quite with me in the matter, and will go at him inde- 
 pendently on it, and the cumulative effect may come to 
 something." 
 
 " Harvington, Simla : July 26, 1906. 
 
 " I had an exceedingly interesting day with Lord K. last 
 Saturday. I rode out with one other Colonel to his house, 
 and thei^ were just the four (an A.D.C. the fourth) to lunch. 
 He got on to Omdurman, and gave many interesting details. 
 Then for a good two hours he and I were walking up and down 
 the garden paths hammering away at questions affecting the 
 morality of the army. I think it does real good having these 
 talks, even if nothing very definite comes of them. It is a 
 great pleasure being able to say to a man in that position 
 just exactly what one feels whether smooth things or 
 rough and to know that he won't mind a bit. I have never 
 had to deal with a big man in whom this characteristic was 
 more marked." 
 
 " Harvington, Simla : Aug. 15, 1907. 
 
 " I know you and mother will be interested to hear that 
 Lord Kitchener has after all taken the action which I urged 
 on him, but which at first he refused to do. The whole 
 subject is such an unpleasant one that I don't care to go into 
 details, but I hope and believe that some good will come of 
 what has now been done. I have just had a message to say
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 189 
 
 that he wants to have another talk with me on the subject, 
 so I am going over to him this afternoon, and in the evening 
 I dine with the Viceroy. 
 
 " In her last letter mother referred to Mr. Morley in con- 
 nection with my Charge. I sent him a copy and got a very 
 kind and appreciative answer through his private secretary. 
 I have just written a letter for our local paper on the present 
 position, urging more quietness and moderation and a franker 
 recognition of the large section of thoroughly loyal edu- 
 cated natives that exists. I think much harm has been 
 done, and the latter class greatly discouraged, by the 
 sweeping terms of condemnation and contempt in which it 
 is the fashion nowadays to refer to ' the educated class ' in 
 the Anglo-Indian Press." 
 
 The next letter happily closes the series. 
 
 "Simla : Aug. 17, 1909. 
 "MY DEAR BISHOP, 
 
 " Herewith a photo, which I hope you will like. 
 " I shall always remember our many conversations and 
 the kind and considerate way in which you have helped me 
 to do something to improve the moral life of the men of 
 the army. 
 
 " I hope they will keep it up. 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " KITCHENER." 
 
 The next two letters, written three months earlier, indicate 
 the Bishop's efforts to act as a mediator between the races. 
 His Charge dealt with those troubles publicly. 
 
 I preface them by facts supplied to me by Mr. Alfred 
 Nundy, an Indian and a Christian, Barrister- at- Law. 
 
 Mr. Nundy was editor of The Tribune at Lahore, and in 
 1907 he came into touch, and very helpfully, with the Bishop. 
 There had been riots which culminated in the deportation of 
 Lala Lajpat Rai. Lefroy considered that misunderstanding 
 existed between educated Indians and the Government. 
 Finally, he met on two occasions some of the Indian leaders 
 at Mr. Nundy's house. He then arranged that a deputation 
 should wait upon the Lieut.- Governor in order to explain 
 the Indian position. On another occasion Mr. Nundy made 
 his house of use by inviting the Bishop to meet the leading 
 members of Christian denominations in Lahore, he being the
 
 igo LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 only European present on the occasion. The result was 
 most happy on both sides. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore : May 16, 1907. 
 
 " I have a very big and delicate thing on this afternoon, 
 though in comparison to the support of God's grace, for which 
 I look, it is a molehill. You can understand, of course, the 
 state of tension in which we have recently been living here 
 and the bitterness of feeling between the two races which is 
 being engendered by all this rioting on one hand and repres- 
 sion on the other. Things are much worse than when I wrote 
 my Charge last October ; much worse, I think, than I have ever 
 known them since 1879. It occurred to me, meditating on 
 the sadness of the position on Sunday, that possibly there 
 might be room for some sort of intermediary between the 
 Government and the leaders of the Hindu community at 
 any rate the moderate amongst them. I went to one whom 
 I knew and asked was there a chance of my services being of 
 any use if I offered them ? He jumped at the idea and, after 
 a certain amount of palavering, some twelve or so of them are 
 to come to this house this evening. I hear they are all 
 barristers, pleaders, or men of that ilk, and I have no doubt 
 whatever that their hope will be to get me into a false 
 position of some kind, e.g. in approaching the Government 
 on behalf of this man who has been deported, or the like. 
 My own position and aim, however, is so perfectly simple 
 that I hope no harm will come of it, and possibly, by God's 
 help, good. I have no doubt there are some extremists, 
 genuinely seditious, who will decline to meet Government in 
 any way, but I am not without hope that I may be able to 
 induce some of the moderate to separate themselves openly 
 and avowedly from their party, to admit which is what the 
 native Press are trying to deny that there is real sedition 
 astir, and to disavow it. If this could be done a very real 
 step would have been gained. But just at present it is 
 delicate work for any one connected in any way with Govern- 
 ment to have dealings at all except on purely official lines 
 with those who are believed to be tainted with disloyalty." 
 
 " Bishopsbooroe, Lahore. 
 
 "Sanawar: July 23, 1907. 
 
 " The meeting with the Hindu leaders came off and was 
 very interesting. 1 can't tell you much about it without 
 going into details for which I have not time, but I think some 
 good was done. At the time hardly anything seemed to have 
 come of it, as after \\ hours' talk they politely withdrew
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 191 
 
 without taking any action. Two days afterwards, however, 
 three or four of the principal men came to see me one by 
 one, and seemed to be much more inclined to really make 
 peace with Government and knuckle under a bit. I hope it 
 may prove so." 
 
 No man ever enjoyed a bit of fun more than Lefroy, as 
 the following letter indicates. 
 
 " Harvington, Simla : July 18, 1907. 
 
 " Simla is having a woeful laugh at your son, on this wise. 
 Last week there was a sale on behalf of the Y.W.C.A. I had 
 to say something at the opening and then to do something 
 at the stalls. As you can imagine, the latter is difficult for 
 me, especially at such an essentially feminine show. However, 
 I secured a friend, a judge's wife, and said she must help me 
 to spend a certain amount of money. At one stall she said 
 to me, ' How would you like that cushion ? ' a very pretty 
 piece of hand-painting, fruit and flowers, on satin. I liked 
 it ; it was rather expensive, but I said I might as well buy 
 one good thing and discharge my obligations at once as go 
 pottering on with a lot of small things, so I got it. As we 
 walked away from the stall a lady came up and whispered to 
 my friend, ' Will you tell me what the Bishop is going to 
 do with that " sache, I think they called it anyhow, some- 
 thing for putting a lady's nightdress in ! For such in truth 
 it turned out to be, my friend asserting her own entire 
 innocence. Anyhow, Simla has got a hold of it, and is having 
 much sport. One of the Martin girls declares that a couple 
 of days ago she heard two nursery-maids on the road which 
 runs at the back of our house, and one was telling the other 
 the story and speculating on what I wanted it for. Having 
 bought it as a cushion, I hold that it is such ; I have given it 
 to Mrs. Martin, and it figures on one of her couches in the 
 drawing-room, and looks extremely pretty. I know you will 
 pity me." 
 
 AN INDIAN ARCHDEACON 
 
 In 1909 Bishop Lefroy seriously set himself to obtain the 
 services of a second Archdeacon for the superintendence of 
 missionary work, as distinct from the oversight of chaplains 
 and the care of Europeans. He also desired to appoint an 
 Indian clergyman to the post. The subject is of importance 
 ecclesiastically.
 
 1 92 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Bishop Lefroy first approached the Chief Secretary to 
 Government in the Punjab, and pointed out that in his 
 " Letters Patent " the following passage occurred : 
 
 " The said Bishop of Lahore and his successors may found 
 and constitute one or more (but not exceeding two) arch- 
 deaconries within the said Diocese of Lahore, and may 
 appoint one or more (as the case may require) fit and proper 
 persons, being a chaplain or chaplains on one of our eccle- 
 siastical establishments in India, of not less than two years' 
 standing, to be Archdeacon or Archdeacons of the said 
 archdeaconry or archdeaconries." 
 
 He said that Bishop French had tried to appoint the 
 Rev. Robert Clark, a C.M.S. missionary, and no chaplain, and 
 suggested he might be made an " Honorary Chaplain." The 
 Government refused. Bishop Lefroy now asked to have the 
 clause removed from the " Letters Patent," leaving the Bishop 
 free in the matter of a second Archdeacon, promising that it 
 should be no expense to the Government. He found State 
 limitations were hampering him in the normal and healthy 
 expansion of his Diocese. 
 
 In due time (April 26, 1909) a letter was written from the 
 India Office favourable to the idea that there should be two 
 chaplains, each with distinct duties and without any danger 
 of clashing. But they further asked how such a feat could be 
 accomplished, since they understood that an archdeaconry is 
 a territorial jurisdiction. The Bishop then wrote to his 
 Metropolitan, saying that he had looked upon an arch- 
 deaconry purely as an office and not a territory : it would not 
 be feasible to assign a territory to the second Archdeacon. 
 He needed an Archdeacon (preferably an Indian priest) who 
 would exercise jurisdiction over the Indian Christians, and in 
 no way interfere with Europeans. Suffice it to say that all 
 difficulties were removed. The Indian priest, the Rev. 
 Ihsan Ullah, was appointed Archdeacon with the hearty 
 assent of chaplains as well as missionaries. 
 
 In a letter to his home circle enclosing the correspondence, 
 and dated December 12, 1910, the Bishop says : 
 
 " You will know that the enclosed means a lot to me it 
 represents, in a sense, 2^ years of work ; though, of course, in
 
 THE BRITISH, AND EDUCATED INDIANS 193 
 
 another sense the real work in connection with it, for me and 
 for the Archdeacon, is only now beginning. But I offer thanks 
 to God for having enabled me to bring it to this stage. The 
 Archdeacon preached in the cathedral on Sunday, and 
 startled the people by his force and fire. He shouted too 
 much, but the ring of sincerity all through was unmistakable, 
 and I believe much impressed many indeed, I hear one 
 lady said she was on the verge of tears. The Lieutenant- 
 Governor was stirred." 
 
 WOMEN'S WORK 
 
 It is impossible to pass from the Lahore Episcopate of 
 Bishop Lefroy without reference to the Society of St. Hilda. 
 Moreover, it brings into prominence his earnest desire to 
 promote the welfare of Europeans settled in India, and of 
 those who are of mixed blood. These are called severally 
 the Domiciled Community and the Anglo-Indians. (The 
 name applied to the latter till of late was Eurasian.) There 
 are, of course, an increasing number of Europeans who settle 
 in India : for example, soldiers after they have completed 
 their term of service, and who fill posts on railways and places 
 of business, and it is all the more likely that they become 
 permanent dwellers in India if they marry Indian wives. 
 Thus a population of mixed blood arises, and there is no 
 class in India which needs our practical care more than this. 
 They are all Christians, and they may through neglect fall 
 very low. It is especially the girls that call forth the in- 
 structed sympathy of English people. For the sake of both 
 the classes mentioned, Bishop Matthew, Lefroy's predecessor, 
 commenced, in 1893, a Women's Settlement at Lahore, with 
 Katherine Beynon as the head. Their work grew, all the 
 more because of the great civil and military establishments 
 in the Punjab, as well as those of the railways. In 1896 
 Katherine Beynon was ordained deaconess by Bishop 
 Matthew, and made the head of St. Hilda's Society. In 
 due time the community was developed into a highly 
 organised Deaconesses' Institution in 1903, with the Bishop 
 as Warden, with Deaconess Katherine as head, with five 
 other deaconesses and twenty Churchworkers. Deaconess 
 Katherine is still the head, and Bishop Lefroy once said that 
 
 O
 
 194 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 when the history of the missions of the Church in India came 
 to be fully written, the name of Deaconess Katherine would 
 receive a very honoured place, although even then it would 
 not be known what a power of good she had been. And it 
 is good to know that she is closely related to the Lawrences. 
 Schools at Lahore, Simla, Rawulpindi, and Murree are some 
 of their responsibilities. Lefroy was probably considered by 
 women workers as rather a stern person, but wholly 
 sympathetic and with knowledge when they were in real 
 need. In regard to St. Hilda's Society he was keen that it 
 should be a united body, heart and soul ; a representative of 
 the attitude of the Church of the first days. " Remember," 
 he once said to them, "your real witness out here will be 
 what you are to one another: that relationship is what is 
 being noticed and commented upon continually by those 
 around." Again, in forming a constitution he was most 
 careful that there should be no ambiguities to lead to trouble 
 afterwards. Moreover, he had no patience with those who 
 complained of their difficulties, or that they made any special 
 work impossible. " I have yet to learn that the difficulty of 
 a post is sufficient reason for withdrawing from it." There 
 spoke the man who had graduated in bazaar preaching. In 
 all money matters Lefroy was generous to a fault. St 
 Hilda's Society does not forget that inasmuch as they could 
 not at once rebuild Auckland House at Simla, he left the 
 money for it in his will.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS OF DOCTRINE 
 AND DISCIPLINE 
 
 I HAVE reserved Lefroy's letters on these subjects for one 
 chapter, concentrating them in order that their cumulative 
 effect may indicate his character and standpoint. Of course, 
 I have only been able to make a mere selection. What will 
 strike the reader, I think, is the steady level of his own spiritual 
 life which they indicate. The letters cover some fifteen years 
 of his life, partly at Delhi and partly at Lahore. 
 
 The first two that I print are specially sacred, and are 
 precious as showing the delicacy with which Lefroy approached 
 the deepest subjects. Obviously I have given no indication 
 as to the person addressed. 
 
 " There is no need for me to tell you how very deeply I 
 
 felt the other trouble which told me of as accompanying 
 
 the physical one, or how earnestly I sympathise with and pray 
 for you in it, that you may be delivered altogether from the 
 power of the evil one. It was not, of course, altogether a 
 surprise to me, for you have often used words to me which 
 were, I think, more than half intended to convey something 
 of the sort, and I have often wondered whether I ought to 
 ask you directly what you meant, or whether you would care 
 to tell me anything more. I could not, however, be sure 
 whether you wished to be understood as referring altogether 
 to the past, and I never felt quite justified in seeming to force 
 a confidence which you did not on the whole think it quite 
 desirable to give. If I have been to blame, or if it would 
 have made it easier for you to speak if I had so spoken, or if 
 you half expected this of me, you must forgive me. It is no 
 easy thing to know just when harm may come of speaking 
 and when good. After all, however, the sadness of the news 
 
 195
 
 196 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 was not so great as the comfort of knowing what could 
 
 say, also that you were unmistakably conscious of progress 
 made in the overcoming of temptation and breaking off the 
 habit of sin before this last breakdown came. To be among 
 ' them that are overcoming ' is a high privilege. And one 
 does feel very much that whilethere is, we must believe that 
 there is, one kind of strength which comes from freedom from, 
 or ignorance of, any special form of sin, yet there is another 
 kind of strength which those only can have who have them- 
 selves wrestled with the devil, and even in the midst of defeat 
 found the power of victory which lies in the name of Jesus. 
 The struggle, as they see it in others and long to assist, must 
 have a reality which must give an immense power of sympathy, 
 and the actual experience of victory must be of untold value. 
 I read some words the other day which seemed to me helpful 
 in this, and I copied them out. You may like to see them. 
 ' It is sad to look back on our life sometimes and see what 
 we might have been and what we are. To see the great 
 rents and seams which disfigure our life, which mark where 
 sin has made its ravages and raised a living protest against 
 our broken vows. To see how want of faith has altered the 
 symmetry and fullness of our life, and want of obedience has 
 brought us into the snare. But just as a clever artist can 
 beautify the careless daub or the faulty stroke by fresh con- 
 ception or design, harmonising all in the completed work, 
 so God even where we spoil His plan and mar His designs 
 works out our very mistakes into an altered but harmonious 
 whole.' I think it is helpful, and it does seem a distinctively 
 Gospel message beyond all words. 
 
 " May you be given the grace to be able even directly 
 after a fall to look the sin in the face and say the blood of 
 Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. The genuine convic- 
 tion of forgiveness in spite of the worst shame or sin and the 
 blotting out of the past must, I suppose, be the greatest of 
 all powers in recovery. You may be glad to think that if on 
 the one hand you have inherited terrible evil, yet it lies with 
 you to cut off the entail, and this is the fight in which you are 
 not fighting alone, for the Spirit of purity is fighting for you 
 and with you and claiming you bit by bit. A text has been 
 a great help to me through these last weeks, which have been 
 to me, as you know, a time of very great sorrow and difficulty, 
 and in some ways more than you know, and I should like to 
 give it to you. ' My God shall fulfil every need of yours 
 according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.' May it 
 strengthen us both for the coming year. Please do exactly
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 197 
 
 as you like in the matter of writing at all, or ever in future 
 alluding in speaking, to this matter. We are together in 
 prayer and struggle, and the consciousness of that may well 
 suffice unless you think you could in any way be helped by 
 speaking." 
 
 A second letter to the same. 
 
 " 1896. 
 
 " This is not exactly an answer to yours, for I had just 
 started it the day before yours came but then let it lie by as 
 there was no further need of getting an answer to it, and I 
 had plenty of others to write which did need answering. As 
 you may easily imagine, I should not have left the country 
 without sending you something : it would have been strange 
 if I had, considering you have been on the whole more in my 
 thoughts than any one else. Thank God for the measure of 
 triumph of which you are able to tell, in spite of the terrible 
 strain which still lasts. You know that few things could put 
 me on my way with as clear a heart as the knowing of this. 
 And that the day will come, in spite of the awful present 
 pain, when you will be able to praise His name for His 
 goodness through it all, I have not the shadow of a doubt. 
 The measure of the pain is the measure of the depth to which 
 the cancer, largely without your knowing it, had eaten into 
 you, and He Whose love for you is too perfect to willingly 
 leave any trace of it behind, is now probing you to the exact 
 depth that is necessary to get it all out, not one hundredth 
 part of an inch deeper. Only hold on, ever tighter and 
 tighter to Him. It was part of the great disappointment 
 which it was to me to have to make up my mind to leave 
 India (on furlough), that I should not be able to be with you 
 and fight out this fight to the end side by side : I would fain 
 have had it so. But I have no doubt that He sees this is one 
 of the ways that He saw my absence for a time was best, that 
 you should go straight to Him, and only to Him. Only as 
 April draws nearer hold tighter and tighter, for be quite sure 
 that before the end does come, there will be some moment of 
 terrible temptation, probably coming in a perfectly unexpected 
 form, when nothing will stand you in stead but the habit of 
 resting in the Rock of our might. To him that overcometh. 
 If I may have one last word with you, it would be to let these 
 words, with all their warning and high stimulus, ring in your 
 ears throughout this Lent."
 
 rgS LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Bereavement. 
 
 " C.M.D. : May 20, 1890. 
 
 " On Sunday I was at an out-station taking the services 
 and staying with a young fellow who had heard two or three 
 days before of his father's death by telegram. He was in 
 great sorrow and had been absolutely alone, with not a soul 
 to talk to, and let his sorrow out. This, of course, had made 
 it worse. Do you remember a beautiful saying of Phillips 
 Brooks, that every great experience we pass through in life 
 puts into our hands, if we will but take it and use it, a key 
 ' sometimes golden, sometimes iron,' by which we may 
 unlock for others the gates of similar experiences and lead 
 them through into brighter light beyond ? I think that has 
 been partly true with me now. I think I was able to be a 
 real comfort in some degree, and even perhaps to help him to 
 lay hold more firmly on the unseen world and God than he 
 had ever done before, for he was one of those who has been 
 through many doubts and difficulties. I do hope he may see 
 light in God's light. A. is going to spend next Sunday with 
 him, and that is sure to be a help. I have had a great joy 
 this week, but it is almost too late and I am too tired to tell 
 you of it. I have been so longing, latterly especially, to get 
 into closer touch with the people, and feeling so much the 
 gulf which cuts us off from them. I seemed to have scarcely 
 any outside the College on whom one could really bring any 
 influence to bear." 
 
 To the Rev. B. K. Cunningham on his Ordination. 
 
 "Junes, 1897. 
 
 " If I do not share your surprise at the result I can none 
 the less enter very fully into your feelings of awe and half 
 shrinking. Awe there must and should be, but shrinking 
 there need not be if .we only keep clearly in mind at each 
 point that we have not chosen Him but He has chosen us and 
 sent us, and therefore He is pledged to give what we need for 
 carrying out the Commission He has entrusted. Only let it 
 grow year by year deeper into our souls that we have nothing 
 ' which we have not received,' and then no gift of His can 
 surprise or elate us but only fill us with a fresh sense of awe 
 and of responsibility for only answering to so great a trust." 
 
 To the Rev. C. Mayhew, on Confirmation. 
 
 " February 2, 1900. 
 
 " It occurs to me to add a line on another subject arising 
 out of a letter I received yesterday from F., which I enclose.
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 199 
 
 Day told me some time ago that W. was coming to work 
 there and was not confirmed, and asked about his reception 
 to the Holy Communion. I replied that I knew of no reason 
 why, in a case like this, where 'religious privileges' have 
 abounded from childhood, the plain rule of the Church of 
 England should be waived, but I said that if Mr. W. wished 
 to make any special representation on the subject, he might 
 do so to me and I would give the matter careful consideration. 
 I do not see how I can act in any other way. The laxity on 
 the subject amongst many of our native brethren is appalling, 
 and if I sanction laxity in the case of an Englishman like this, 
 what can I say to the others ? At the same time I am 
 content to leave to the individual clergyman a certain amount 
 of discretion in applying the rule, if any special circumstances 
 seem to warrant it." 
 
 To the same, on Joint Meetings. 
 
 "April I, 1900. 
 
 "You will doubtless have heard, or hear, from Bateson 
 what he and I settled upon as a working policy for the 
 A.P.A., viz., not to attempt to keep all the men who take the 
 pledge together in a very close association, as this brings in 
 the religious difficulty, it being impossible to deal with them 
 effectively on one religious basis, while it is essential that the 
 sin should be fought directly trusting to the grace of God. It 
 seems better, therefore, for the Chaplains of each denomination 
 to deal separately with his own men, striking out such line as 
 seems best to himself for helping them and keeping them 
 together. It might still be possible and well to have an 
 occasional meeting, say one or two in the year, of all the 
 members of the Association, e.g. when any good speaker is 
 prepared to address them, or as the Chaplains see fit. 
 
 " I shall be very much obliged if in the course of a few 
 months you will make me a report of the lines on which you 
 are working the thing, the difficulties you experience, and 
 the possibilities you see." 
 
 To the same, on the Use of Churches. 
 
 " May 18, 1900. 
 
 " With regard to the use of the Cherat church, I am ready 
 to treat it on exactly the same footing as the others which 
 are known as Government churches, and if Mr. Scott wishes 
 it for a Parade service I will sanction its use. I should not 
 wish to introduce any new departure or further concession 
 by lending it for other than parade services. If it does come 
 to his asking for it, it might be well for him to recognise in
 
 200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 his letter that it does stand on a distinct footing, so that he 
 asks it purely and simply as a favour with not even that sort 
 of claim which the custom that has been set up may be con- 
 sidered to give in the case of the others." 
 
 To the same, on Evening Communion. 
 
 "October 8, 1900. 
 
 " I am much interested in what you say about the Cele- 
 bration in the evening. I have no doubt you were right in 
 having it then, or under similar wholly exceptional circum- 
 stances. The Sabbath is made for man, not vice versd. 
 
 "But I should not myself think that on the whole the 
 gain to individuals would compensate for the departure from 
 such very ancient custom and the other drawbacks associated 
 with evening Communions except under such special circum- 
 stances." 
 
 To Deaconess Alice Matthew. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore : March 5, 1900. 
 
 " Besides fairly regular prayer for you since you first told 
 me, I have made your admission all last week the subject 
 of my Eucharistic intercession. I believe that it means a 
 great deal for the work of the Diocese, and for the extending 
 of the Deaconess movement, of which your brother and 
 not he alone hoped such great things." 
 
 To the Rev. S. W. Key, on Sponsors. 
 
 "June 28, 1900. 
 
 " I am very sorry that I feel obliged to decline the request 
 you make to me to be godparent to your little one. The 
 family argument appeals to me very much. Perhaps just 
 because I have been for almost all my life so cut off from my 
 kith and kin I feel the family tie very much indeed. But 
 deeper still is the feeling which I have always maintained as 
 to the nature of the godparental relation. I feel sure it 
 ought to be a very real and deep and true one, and I try to 
 make it such between myself and all my godchildren. But 
 this has necessarily led me, conversely, to decline the rela- 
 tionship in those cases in which I thought this condition 
 could not be satisfied. In the case of your child I could not 
 hope to have that acquaintance with him or with the circum- 
 stances of his home and life without which it is for me almost 
 impossible to feel that responsibility or interest which I con- 
 sider to belong to the relation of godparent."
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 201 
 
 To Miss Barnard, at Delhi. 
 
 " Sunday. 
 
 " I have just heard from Mr. Allnutt that you have been 
 elected Head, and I want to lose no time in sending you a 
 word of sympathy and of cheer. I know how very far from 
 your natural inclination any such a position would be, and 
 also how sorry you will be to leave Karnal and what poor 
 Deaconess Mary will do I do not know ! But your loyalty 
 will support you, and you will remember that it is not for us 
 to choose our place a low one any more than a high one 
 according to our own tastes, but to obey God's call, and throw 
 our whole heart and soul into doing as well as we can any 
 piece of work with which He may entrust us. 
 
 "And then there is always something of a stimulus in 
 the very fact that those who have worked with us do think 
 well of us, and are willing, as in the case of the Community 
 at present, to accept our leadership and direction. One must 
 respond in some measure to such trust and long not wholly 
 to disappoint it. And so I know that you will enter on this 
 new stage of your life in quiet real dependence on God, trying 
 to feel Him very near you trying greatly to grow in this 
 inexpressibly helpful and bracing sense of His Presence, and 
 glad of any fresh opportunity of serving Him. 
 
 " You and your position flashed into my mind as I heard 
 the Epistle read this morning, and I know not what better 
 wish I can have for you, or what better prayer to make, than 
 that you may be ' strengthened with all power, according to 
 the might of His glory, unto all patience and long-suffering 
 \vithj0y; giving thanks unto the Father.' So that is what 
 I will pray for you." 
 
 To the same, on Confession. 
 
 " March 3, 1899. 
 
 " In speaking of your entire freedom in the matter of 
 Confession during holidays I was not at all thinking of the 
 furlough which comes only at such long intervals, but of the 
 annual holiday. I wanted to leave you entirely free except 
 as regards a quite systematic use of it in the mission itself. 
 You will, I am sure, understand also that this quite permits 
 (what I believe neither I nor any other clergyman would 
 have the slightest right to refuse) the asking to be received 
 to Confession at any time when special need arises in the 
 mission itself. Rightly or wrongly, I seem to see a broad 
 line of distinction between the systematic use of the ordinance 
 as a regular part of the ordering of one's religious life, even 
 at infrequent intervals, and the resort to it in exceptional
 
 202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 trouble when a distinct longing for it and its help is felt. 
 And at present it is the latter position that seems to me most 
 truly in accord with the spirit and teaching of our branch of 
 the Church Catholic. I recognise, however, increasingly the 
 great difficulty of drawing hard and fast lines on the subject, 
 especially in view of the many holy men of our Communion 
 who do use it in the other way, and I feel less and less in- 
 clined to dogmatise on it." 
 
 To the same. 
 
 " Easter Eve, 1900. 
 
 " I want to send to you, and through you to all the 
 members of the Community in Delhi, one word of heartiest 
 Easter greeting. 
 
 "Things sometimes look dark and difficult and dis- 
 couraging for us in our work out here, but never so dark 
 and discouraging as everything looked to the disciples on 
 the day of the Crucifixion ; and yet it was through the Cru- 
 cifixion that the way lay to all the joy and brightness of the 
 Easter Victory. May we have grace always to bear this well 
 in mind, and ' for the joy that is set before us ' to despise the 
 shame, and go working on steadily and strongly knowing 
 that despondency and faint-hearted ness is impossible for a 
 Christian till our Master in His own good time grants the 
 harvest. May the Peace which our blessed Lord gave His 
 disciples on Easter evening be yours abundantly." 
 
 To the same. 
 
 "Christmas Eve, 1900. 
 
 "One line of most hearty greeting to you and the 
 other members of the Community who are in Delhi. May 
 God's Holy Spirit indeed be with you to-morrow, and open 
 the eyes of your understanding so that you may see deeper 
 than ever before into the meaning and power and inspiration 
 of the marvellous truth of ' The Word became flesh.' 
 
 " Certainly ' all things are possible to him that believeth ' 
 from his heart this wonderful coming of the life of God into 
 our life. It seems as though there was no difficulty too great 
 to be faced and overcome in the strength of that great con- 
 viction, and I pray for you, and the other members of the 
 Community, that in the power of it they may be able to 
 move forward continually into a higher, stronger, more united 
 life."
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 203 
 
 A letter home. 
 
 "Fort Sandeman, Baluchistan: Sunday, Feb. 23, 1902. 
 
 " It is very unlikely that I shall ever address to you again 
 from this out-of-the-way place. One would hardly get here 
 twice in an Episcopate. But it is pleasant getting to these 
 places once, and the people seem to like it very much and 
 give me a most hearty welcome. This morning the whole 
 community turned up to service, except two or three of the 
 young officers, and I am assured they will be there this 
 evening ! There were twenty, and two or three children. 
 After service a nice young officer came up to me and said 
 rather sadly that he and one or two other young fellows had 
 not liked to stop for the Celebration, as they were not con- 
 firmed, and believed they ought not to be present without 
 that. I do so wish they had had a word with me before ; I 
 would most gladly have admitted them. In these sort of 
 places, where religious ministrations are almost nil (the last 
 clergyman's visit was in April last !), one has, I think, to be 
 vague about rubrics. I ask little more than the desire for 
 spiritual food and to be helped." 
 
 To the Rev. C. A. Gillmore, on Confession. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore : May 7, 1906. 
 
 " The position you indicate in the matter of Confession is 
 exactly my own. I do not believe that it is the intention of 
 the Church of England that it should be habitual, and in the 
 case of any who came regularly under my influence or within 
 the sphere of my teaching, I should discourage such habitual 
 use. On the other hand, the Prayer-book direction is far 
 from precise, and may be taken by different people in con- 
 siderably varying senses, and as I know that many of our 
 best and holiest men at home do now encourage a more or 
 less regular use, I do not feel able to refuse those who ask 
 this ministry of me, who are accustomed to it, and believe 
 they get help from it. As to hints of a practical kind, I fear 
 I can give you very few. I have tried to study the subject 
 a little, and inter alia have got a somewhat large book by 
 Dr. Pusey, ' Advice as to Hearing of Confessions.' It ought 
 to be just what one wants, but somehow I did not get much 
 from it myself. I can send it you if you would care to see 
 it. I have never received any definite instructions on the 
 subject, and as I do not use Confession myself I do not know 
 how other priests do in detail. If, therefore, I tell you how 
 I manage you will understand that I claim no authority 
 whatever for it.
 
 204 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " I need not say that I hear Confessions only in church. 
 I think you saw at Quetta how I had a chair put for myself. 
 That arrangement or any similar one is, I think, convenient. 
 I believe a priest ought to be habited in cassock, surplice, 
 and stole. 
 
 " I kneel down, and after a moment of private prayer say 
 the Versicles, Lord's Prayer, and Collect for Purity from 
 Holy Communion Office. 
 
 "Then I resume my chair, and the person makes his 
 confession. I give such counsel as I can ; I attach as much 
 importance myself to this counsel as to any part of this 
 ministry. Of course, one does often get a look into the inner 
 workings of the life which is not at other times easily got, 
 and we may be able to give real help. I think the chief 
 thing is to be quite natural. Give counsel just as you would 
 if any one came to you in your study and asked for help. 
 Then I try to name something in the way of Penance. This 
 I rarely do with much satisfaction to myself. Not in- 
 frequently I take a psalm appropriate to what has seemed 
 on the whole the person's leading weakness and ask them 
 to learn it by heart and use daily for a month, or the like. 
 If you can get other advice on this point I strongly advise 
 you to do so. 
 
 " I then kneel and say (omitting from ' preserve ' to ' ex- 
 pedient for him ') the prayer which follows Absolution in 
 Visitation of the Sick, then rise and give the Absolution, and 
 conclude perhaps with another Collect and the Benediction, 
 as given in that Service, or in some other form. 
 
 " Let me know if I can give you any further help." 
 
 "The Virgin Birth," written to a friend. 
 
 " First, I assume that you do not raise the question as to 
 God's power to call into life a child in the mother's womb 
 without the intervention of a man. In the Creed we speak 
 of the Holy Ghost as distinctly the ' Lord and Life giver,' 
 and any view which can be taken of God, if it is not to 
 reduce Him to a cipher, recognises that the mystery and the 
 gift of life proceeds only from Him, and can be produced 
 with or without intermediate means, or human intervention 
 of any kind whatever. I do not doubt that you recognise 
 this, and that your difficulty is as to the suitability of God's 
 acting in such a way. Still, it is just as well to be perfectly 
 clear on the first point, for I very often find that at the back 
 of objections to some particular miracle (the Resurrection, the 
 Raising of Lazarus, etc., etc.) lies an a priori view of the
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 205 
 
 impossibility of miracles in themselves, which really makes 
 all discussion of the particular miracle impossible and useless. 
 
 " I imagine your feelings to be that this method of 
 introducing a life into the world would be open to endless 
 misconceptions, and therefore it is impossible that God would 
 or did have resort to it. 
 
 " Second, to settle this point, let us clearly understand the 
 purpose for which Christ came into the world. Not merely, 
 or chiefly, to be a perfect example of a merely human life, 
 but to introduce a definitely fresh power into the world, to 
 make a fresh start of humanity. For this purpose we believe, 
 not that a pure child was born of human parents in the 
 ordinary way, but that the Eternal Word (or Son) of God 
 took human nature upon Him. (See St. John i. 1-18.) 
 Here I would say, if you do not accept this, if you do not 
 believe in the Incarnation as a real coming into the world in 
 some however mysterious sense of God, please tell me, for 
 the idea of the Virgin Birth is perfectly unintelligible on any 
 other basis. 
 
 " But supposing we do hold this belief, viz. that this Life 
 was to come into the world a truly human life and yet 
 effecting a really fresh start by cutting off the evil entail of 
 sin, that taint which so rests on every human life born in the 
 ordinary way into the world, does it not seem as though the 
 Birth from a Virgin, the life being quickened in the womb 
 by a direct exercise of Divine power (Luke i. 35), exactly 
 meets this position ? The/act that the Child so born was the 
 child of a real human mother secures that He was of true 
 human nature, while the fact that He was so born without 
 the intervention of a man, by the direct exercise of Divine 
 power, seems to express the cutting off of the evil entail of 
 sin, or the making of a fresh start for the human race in 
 about the most intelligible way possible. 
 
 " So, at least, it seems to me. 
 
 " Thirdly, you say the story thus told must give rise to 
 countless misunderstandings and unpleasant thoughts. Is 
 not the following fact a proof that such a statement is wholly 
 false ? Nothing in the history of Christianity is more certain 
 than that one of its most conspicuous achievements has been 
 the raising, in a quite immeasurable degree : 
 
 " (a) Of the whole position of women, conferring on them 
 an honour and dignity which they still wholly lack in 
 unchristian countries ; 
 
 " (b) As a consequence of this, of the whole tone and 
 sanctity of family life ; and
 
 206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " (c} Of the standard of purity of life in individuals and 
 communities. 
 
 " This is not any question of doctrine or Christian be- 
 lief. All historians, those who are not themselves Christians, 
 as well as those who are, recognise as a simple historical fact 
 that this has been one of the chief achievements of Christianity. 
 But is it conceivable that the religion would have had this 
 enormous power, have produced this splendid result, if, at the 
 heart of it, lay a story which involved, or even in the remotest 
 degree suggested, the dishonour of a woman ? 
 
 " I am absolutely certain that any one who thinks quietly 
 and calmly of the matter will answer that question with an 
 emphatic negative. But that means that the story as it 
 stands in our Bible does not in itself convey in the slightest 
 any such misapprehension as that you speak of, however 
 much it may have been suggested to you and many others in 
 this twentieth century by those who, as I believe, emphati- 
 cally do not approach the question with minds to which all 
 things are pure, and to whom in their dealing with this 
 question I think the best answer is, ' Honi soit qui mal y 
 pense.' 
 
 " I am myself convinced that this very thought, as it 
 comes before us in the New Testament, of a virgin womb 
 being an intensely pure thing, meet for and capable of being 
 touched into life by God Himself, and of the birth of a child 
 also being in itself an absolutely and supremely pure process, 
 has acted most powerfully against all those lower and baser 
 instincts and thoughts which it is so terribly easy for the 
 human mind to associate with those processes, and has acted 
 with irrepressible power in the direction of purity in all 
 directions. 
 
 "But just one other thought. Are you quite clear and 
 firm as to our Lord's Resurrection from the dead ? And if 
 so, does it seem to you a priori likely that a life which was 
 so wholly unlike every other human life, both in its course 
 on earth, and also in its way of passing from the earth (the 
 Resurrection and Ascension), yet was brought into the world 
 merely by the laws and processes which govern every other 
 human life ? To me it seems almost a logical demand that 
 a life so wholly unique in its course and in its ending (so far 
 as one can speak of an ending) should be also unique in its 
 commencement."
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 207 
 
 CO-OPERATION IN RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION WITH 
 OTHER DENOMINATIONS 
 
 The following correspondence is of real importance in 
 presenting clearly Bishop Lefroy's attitude towards co- 
 operation with other Christian Missions in religious teaching. 
 There has long been a Baptist Mission in Delhi, a noble 
 Mission staffed by missionaries of the highest character, 
 between whom and the members of our own Mission there 
 has always been close friendship. Perhaps one may select 
 Mr. Young of that Mission as the greatest and most valued 
 friend, and with justice. Those who have had actual ex- 
 perience of Mission work in a non- Christian land will 
 understand how warm such friendships may grow, and how 
 great the desire to co-operate with men and women of such 
 character who yet are not in communion with us. During 
 1911 supporters of the S.P.G. read in the Delhi Mission 
 Magazine that the Baptist missionaries were assisting in 
 religious instruction in the Cambridge-S.P.G. Delhi Missions, 
 and also were taking a prominent part in the hostel arrange- 
 ments connected with St. Stephen's College. Bishop Lefroy 
 was in England at the time, and the S.P.G. Standing Com- 
 mittee placed the facts before him for his adjudication, the 
 Bishop himself informing the S.P.G. that he had not been 
 made aware of the steps that had been taken. In November, 
 1911, the Bishop arrived in Delhi, and in due time gave 
 his decision. The Bishop's letter, given below, supplies 
 information. 
 
 On January 13, 1912, Bishop Lefroy wrote to the Rev. 
 S. S. Allnutt, head of the Delhi Mission. In this letter he 
 says : 
 
 " I entirely endorse the widely held view that in many 
 respects we in the Mission Field are more favourably situated 
 for movement in this direction than the Church at home. It 
 is no less obvious that very definite limits to such movement 
 are imposed by two considerations, out of several that might 
 be mentioned, viz. that we believe that the Church of 
 England holds in trust, on behalf of the whole Church, 
 certain very important sides of truth, which have been in 
 considerable measure, or altogether, lost sight of by other
 
 2o8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Protestant bodies, and that it is our bounden duty to maintain 
 them intact, and also that we are only a part of a world-wide 
 Communion, which has been called in God's Providence to a 
 position of extraordinary influence and responsibility in the 
 Christian Church, and that we must do nothing for the sake 
 of apparent gain in our own corner of the field which would 
 seriously imperil the unity of the Communion as a whole. 
 As general principles these positions would, I suppose, be 
 acquiesced in by all our men at Delhi, but I have to add that 
 I think due respect has not been had to them in all the 
 particular arrangements that have been effected in Delhi, 
 in the department of work with which I am now dealing, 
 during the last two or three years, and that in consequence a 
 certain amount of modification of those arrangements is 
 necessary. I have also to express the very strong sense 
 which I entertain that it is unfortunate, and not in accord- 
 ance with the best traditions of the Delhi Mission, that in 
 dealing with a question avowedly of so much delicacy and 
 difficulty, and before taking the steps referred to, much more 
 definite recourse was not had to the Bishop of the Diocese, 
 and his counsel and direction sought I will deal now with 
 the specific points that have been raised. 
 
 " The Christian Boys' Boarding House, In connection with 
 this, two points I believe came up. (i) The part taken in 
 the everyday teaching of the school, including Scripture, 
 by a Baptist master. This appears to me unsatisfactory, 
 on grounds into which I will not now enter. The defence is, 
 in large measure, that in any case the teaching of Scripture 
 in this primary school is so exceedingly elementary, consist- 
 ing for the most part simply of Bible stories, in connection 
 with which difference of doctrinal teaching can scarcely emerge, 
 that no harm is done by the fact that the teaching is given 
 by a Baptist. The answer appears to me wholly inadequate, 
 because I find it hard to understand why the standard of 
 teaching should remain at such an exceedingly elementary 
 level. It is not the case in the primary classes of our 
 European schools out here, where, in addition to the Bible 
 stories, parts of the Catechism are learnt by heart, as well as 
 Collects, etc. ; nor, I imagine, is it the case even in the lowest 
 standards of any well-managed Church school at home. It 
 seems to me, therefore, very desirable that there should be 
 improvement in this respect, and I hope not to lose sight of 
 the matter. At the same time I know quite well that there 
 are various practical difficulties in the way of the improve- 
 ment I desire, and that this may not come at once. As,
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 209 
 
 therefore, the presence of the Baptist teacher does not seem 
 injurious on the basis of the teaching at present given in the 
 school, and as to insist on his withdrawal would probably 
 mean the break-up of the arrangement by which the boys of 
 the two Missions are taught together an arrangement in 
 which I am sure there is much of gain I do not press for 
 such withdrawal at present, though I hope the considerations 
 which I have urged in this connection will not be lost sight of 
 by the member of the Mission in charge of the Boys' Hostel, 
 and that, if opportunity should occur for improvement in 
 the direction 1 desiderate, the presence of the Baptist may 
 not be allowed to prevent it. 
 
 " 2. The weekly address. I am not perfectly certain of 
 my facts -there was not, I think, entire agreement in the 
 accounts given of them at our Delhi meeting but I under- 
 stand that a religious address is given weekly to the school, 
 and this is taken, either alternately with our own men or at 
 longer intervals, by a Baptist missionary, and that there is an 
 understanding that, in view of the circumstances of the school, 
 our men should not in this address base their teaching or 
 their appeal on the fact of the Baptism of the children. If 
 this is the case, I have to ask quite definitely that any such 
 understanding should be explicitly repudiated, and that 
 absolute freedom be reserved to our men to base, at all times, 
 their teaching on the fact that in Baptism the boys of our 
 Mission whom they address have been made ' Members of 
 Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven.' I will say nothing in support of this request, for 
 its reasonableness seems to me obvious. The fact that 
 you have yourself stated, to me and to others, the difficulty 
 and constraint under which you were conscious of labour- 
 ing when taking one of these addresses, owing to the 
 existence of this understanding, is ample evidence for my 
 purpose. 
 
 " It would scarcely be fair to the Baptist missionaries, or 
 to the boys whom they send to our school, many of whom, I 
 presume, are unbaptised, to ask them to be present when 
 teaching of the kind I have indicated is given, so it will be 
 best for these weekly addresses to the whole school to be 
 discontinued altogether. If it is thought desirable, arrange- 
 ments can easily be made by which an address of the same 
 kind can be given to our own boys once a week just before the 
 regular school hours, or at some other time of the day ; but 
 this is a detail the arrangement of which I leave in the hands 
 of the superintendent of the school.
 
 zio LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " The College. Here, also, I think two points come up. 
 
 "i. The relation to the College of the Hostel originally 
 financed, I believe, by Sharp, and now by the Baptists. To 
 that relation as defined, or implied, in some passages of the 
 Mission Report for 1910 very legitimate objection might be 
 taken. I understand, however, that that position no longer 
 obtains, but that the Baptists have taken over entire control 
 of the Hostel, subject only to such supervision on the part of 
 the Principal as is required by the University Statutes, and 
 that it is a purely Baptist Mission venture, and not in any 
 way an integral part of the organisation of our own College. 
 To this position, of course, no objection can possibly be 
 taken ; on the contrary, a cordial welcome can be given to 
 such a Hostel. It is, however, important that in future 
 Reports this position should be made quite clear, and no 
 language employed with regard to this Hostel which could 
 confuse the minds of our friends and supporters at home as 
 to the position which it actually occupies. 
 
 " 2. Mr. 's position as Scripture teacher in the 
 
 College. Very real, and to me at least, very obvious 
 difficulties attach to this position. I stated these in detail 
 in our meeting at Delhi, and I will not now repeat them. I 
 have, however, come quite definitely to the opinion that, in 
 spite of those difficulties, and having regard to all the circum- 
 stances of the College, and of our own staff at the present 
 time, it would not be right to ask that such teachings should 
 
 cease. Those who stand closest to Mr. feel most 
 
 strongly as to the great gain of the personal influence which 
 he exercises in the College on behalf of Christianity, and of 
 the depth and power of his Scripture teaching, while they are 
 also perfectly certain that he scrupulously keeps clear of any 
 ground that might in any way conflict with the teaching of 
 our Church on Baptism, or on other points which may be 
 involved in questions between his body and our own. It 
 
 seems certain also that, at present, if Mr. were to be 
 
 asked to resign, his place could not be taken in a remotely 
 adequate degree by any member of our own staff. That this 
 should be the case is to me very lamentable. The College 
 is a quite definitely Church of England institution, not an un- 
 denominational or an interdenominational one, and this being 
 so it is quite certain that normally its Scripture teachers should 
 be members of our Church. For the present, however, on the 
 grounds I have briefly indicated, I am content to waive this, 
 and to welcome the very valuable help which I believe 
 Mr. to be giving. At the same time it should be
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 211 
 
 clearly recognised that I, as Bishop, to say nothing of our 
 committee and other supporters at home, view the position 
 as by no means altogether satisfactory, and that the consent 
 I give to its continuance is meant to apply simply to Mr. 
 
 himself, and in the position which he at present 
 
 occupies. In the event of his withdrawing from the work, 
 either temporarily or permanently, no other Baptist should be 
 introduced in his place without specific reference being made 
 on the point to the Bishop of the Diocese. I myself, if 
 Bishop at such time as such reference might be made, should 
 probably not settle the matter simply by my own authority, 
 but would consult the Cambridge Committee upon it. Care 
 
 should also be taken that Mr. 's present sphere of work 
 
 in the College should not be extended, or his status in it be 
 in any way made firmer, without reference to the Bishop. 
 
 " I do not think I need say more. I have not referred to 
 the question of how far it is necessary that you should com- 
 municate to the Baptist missionaries any portion of this letter, 
 or of the difficulties that have been felt in various quarters 
 with regard to the questions with which it deals. On one 
 point, indeed, some communication seems imperative, viz. as 
 to my request that the joint weekly addresses should cease. 
 This, I think, it will be best for you to convey to them as 
 from me. But for the rest I leave it entirely to your discretion 
 to communicate with them on the general question with which 
 I have dealt in this letter, or to say nothing further to them 
 about it. May the Holy Spirit of unity, counsel, and ghostly 
 strength be with all of us in dealing with this large and 
 difficult question, and guide all our endeavours to the promo- 
 tion of the glory of God and the attainment of our Blessed 
 Saviour's prayer for the Unity of His Church. 
 
 " Your's affectionately, 
 
 " G. A. LAHORE." 
 
 The Bishop's decision was, of course, loyally accepted. 
 
 THE CHANGE OF THE CAPITAL FROM CALCUTTA 
 TO DELHI 
 
 It is needless to say that so momentous a step as that 
 taken by the King-Emperor at the great Delhi Durbar 
 seriously occupied the attention of Lefroy, more especially 
 as the change coincided with his departure from the Punjab 
 to become Metropolitan. Evidently the Bishop wrote to 
 Allnutt on the subject, and the following letter is of value.
 
 2i2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 From Canon Allnutt. 
 
 "S.P.G. and Cambridge Mission, Delhi : Jan. 23, 1912. 
 
 "MY DEAR BISHOP, 
 
 "I have little, I fear, if anything to suggest in 
 regard to the possible ecclesiastical changes that may be 
 thought of, or dreamed of, as opportune in view of the one 
 momentous change in the political development of the 
 country. One sees from the trend of Andrews' bold pro- 
 gramme how easy it is to exaggerate the significance of the 
 latter, as if it meant a bouleversement of the whole Govern- 
 ment of India, whereas the change of capital will not, so far 
 as I can foresee, be likely to produce in the immediate future, 
 at any rate, any far-reaching results as affecting the whole of 
 India. It will affect Calcutta for a time, but as is already 
 seen that city has potentialities of its own that will enable it 
 before so very long to recover from the loss now involved 
 (as the King told them there), and pursue its course of 
 development perhaps in some ways more successfully than 
 when it was to a great extent overshadowed by the Govern- 
 ment of India, which did not after all really belong to it. It 
 will affect Delhi in ways we cannot at all now discern the 
 extent or significance of. Hence I cannot, myself, admit 
 that the occasion demands any such colossal scheme as that 
 propounded by C. F. A. (though it is always a gain to have 
 a man who can weave such schemes as easily as a spider 
 does its web). I should say the Bishops' conference will be 
 well advised to confine itself to the smaller but enormously 
 important and difficult enough problem of how to deal with 
 the new situation created by the Durbar announcement. 
 That problem presents itself to me thus : is it not desirable 
 that the Metropolitical See of India should be so far as 
 possible non-territorial, so that its occupant should be in the 
 main devoted to the government and development of the 
 Church of India as a whole ? On the other hand, it would, 
 I believe, be contrary to the true ideal of the episcopate that 
 he should have little or no pastoral cure of souls a Bishop is 
 always in his essential idea, I should suppose, a Chief Pastor. 
 Hence the principality of Delhi (if this is to be the political 
 peculium of the Government of India) would not seem to 
 offer a sphere of spiritual pastorship for an Archbishop. 
 Could it, therefore, be enlarged by incorporating the Western 
 Section of the Lucknow Diocese, including, say, Agra and 
 Meerut, and the adjacent parts of the United Provinces ? 
 The aim would be still to make it quite a small and easily
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 213 
 
 manageable diocese, so that the Metropolitan would have 
 leisure to devote to what would be recognised as the equally, 
 if not most, important part of his sphere of duties, those, viz., 
 of Metropolitan as distinct from ordinary episcopal duties. 
 If the result of your deliberation at Calcutta is the inception 
 of a Synod for all India, that, however small and compara- 
 tively limited its operations would be in its initial stages, 
 would be the nucleus of what would be in time, as a Pro- 
 vincial Synod when the Church is free and self-governing, 
 the centre of the Church life of India, and it would require 
 for its development all the energies and abilities of the Metro- 
 politan, together- with regular and extensive tours over the 
 whole Province during the cold weather each year. 
 
 " I only just adumbrate the idea. It may be there are 
 decisive objections, but it would not be liable to the Bishop 
 of Bombay's criticisms in para. 12. It is, I suppose, more or 
 less what Andrews proposes in his (5). But the M. would 
 still be a Bishop in the full sense of the word, and his 
 authority would not be in essence different from what it 
 is now: only that he would be able to make a reality of 
 what is now, and I suppose always has been (except, perhaps, 
 in Bishop Cotton's time), mainly a nominal jurisdiction. 
 
 "Bomford's suggestion reminds me of one I long ago 
 made to Bishop Matthew when he told me what difficulty he 
 had in supplying Simla with a really Ai man. I said that 
 as Simla draws Government officials of the highest ability 
 from all parts of India, it ought surely to be allowed that the 
 ablest Chaplain in the whole of the Province should be chosen 
 as its Pastor. I cannot recall what objection he raised to it, 
 but clearly it has not commended itself hitherto to any 
 occupant of the See. I still, however, incline to think that 
 it is a possible way out of the difficulty, which I know you 
 have still to face again and again that the Lahore Diocese 
 often does not provide a really capable man for that important 
 cure. Now, though I agree with the Bishop of Bombay that 
 Bomford's suggestion of calling out a Chaplain ad lioc from 
 home for Simla is open to obvious objection, I nevertheless 
 think my modification of it is worth considering. 
 
 " I would, in view of the longer residence of the Govern- 
 ment of India in its cold weather capital, suggest further 
 whether the Chaplain of Delhi on the cathedral staff should 
 not go to Simla with the Government of India, a junior 
 Chaplain in each place being left to take charge of the parish, 
 during the absence of the Government. I suppose the cir- 
 cumstances are quite unique in their way, and need special
 
 2i 4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 procedure to cope with the situation brought about by the 
 dual residence of the Government. Such Chaplain would 
 still, in my view, be selected by the Metropolitan from the 
 whole Province, and not from a single Diocese. 
 
 "I see, of course, how difficult, perhaps insuperably so, 
 such a project must be. But you invite suggestions, so I have 
 ventured to put down the very attenuated ones that occur to 
 me. We are all praying earnestly that the Spirit of Wisdom 
 and Judgment may be vouched to our Fathers in God in 
 their very important and critical conference next month. 
 
 " Ever your affectionately, 
 
 " S. S. ALLNUTT." 
 
 In 1911 Bishop Lefroy began to take seriously his 
 growing physical weakness, a tragic complaint for one whose 
 greatest pleasure consisted in long walks. He was suffering 
 from arthritis in the hip joints. He came home, consulted 
 the experts, and went to Aix-les-Bains, but with no perma- 
 nent results. In November of that year he was again in the 
 Punjab, but for the rest of his life he was frequently in pain. 
 Movement was often physical anguish, yet he was informed 
 that he must keep the joints exercised if he was not to be- 
 come a confirmed invalid. All who read of the rest of his life 
 work must bear in mind under what conditions he did it. 
 Never was there a more gallant fight, never a more cheery 
 spirit up to the end. 
 
 HOLIDAYS AT HOME 
 
 I here insert the story in outline of George Lefroy's home- 
 life during his furloughs, written by his brother, the Rev. 
 Frederick Lefroy. 
 
 " My sister and I feel it both a privilege and pleasure to 
 be allowed to contribute some very brief account of some of 
 these his home activities. 
 
 " Even before his ordination my brother and I, with knap- 
 sacks on our backs, had enjoyed walks both in the extreme 
 north of Ireland and in Switzerland, but it was in 1879, 
 between the time of his ordination and his start for India, 
 that we undertook the first of these excursions that may 
 be worth mentioning here. In July, Oswald Browne, a 
 Cambridge friend (afterwards a well-known and much-loved
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 215 
 
 London physician), George, and I spent some weeks in the 
 fascinating Dolomite country. At Cortina we met F. M. 
 Balfour, younger brother of the Right Hon. A. Balfour, 
 holding then, I think, a Research Fellowship at Cambridge, 
 and together they took some walks, including the ascent of 
 the Marmolato. 
 
 " Thence we made our way to Pontresina, and I have a 
 vivid recollection of his lying at full length on his back on 
 the summit of the Pitz Languard, on a perfect summer 
 morning, and reading to me the Hymn for the 9th Sunday 
 after Trinity from the ' Christian Year.' 
 
 "It was in 1886, shortly after our father's death, that he 
 took his first furlough, after seven years of such life in Delhi 
 as has been described, and spent a few months with relations 
 and friends in England and Ireland, delighting them, as he 
 always did, both by his enthusiasm for his Delhi work and 
 by his schoolboy enjoyment of a well-earned but too short 
 holiday. 
 
 "His next home visit was in 1889, and during that 
 summer, speaking both at Killiney, in Dublin, Bristol, and 
 probably in other places, he began to show that remarkable 
 power of inspiring enthusiasm for the cause of overseas 
 missions which steadily increased during all the later years 
 of his life. 
 
 " In 1896 he was obliged to take the long rest to which 
 allusion has already been made, but we have knowledge of 
 certain missionary organisations in Ireland which came into 
 being under his influence, and are still giving valuable help 
 to the Delhi Mission. 
 
 "In 1899, after his appointment to the Bishopric of 
 Lahore, in 1904, and in 1908 there were again home visits 
 marked by the same fruitful activities ; but it would give a 
 very imperfect idea of the delight which these visits gave to 
 all who knew and loved him if the impression were given 
 that missionary sermons and addresses absorbed the greater 
 part of his time. He enjoyed to the full and caused others 
 to enjoy every hour of his holidays ; and whether it was 
 excursions in Scotland or Norway, or amidst the choicest 
 scenery of the Island of Saints, if he could only secure the 
 companionship, as he generally did, of some of his younger 
 friends or relations, it would be difficult to exaggerate the 
 bubbling over of his boyish spirits, the' infection of his 
 delicious laughter, or the delight which all the young ones 
 took in his society. 
 
 " In 1908, after the Pan-Anglican Conference, our cousin,
 
 2i6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Bernard Wilson, then Vicar of Portsea, accompanied us to 
 the Austrian Tyrol, where we did a little climbing, and 
 finished up at Arolla, where on one, to me memorable, occasion 
 B. Wilson and the Bishop, climbing under the guidance of a 
 mountaineering friend, were overtaken by darkness, and only 
 got home, with the help of a small search-party, at 1.30 a.m. 
 This was probably the last occasion on which he was able 
 to do long walks unhampered by approaching infirmities. 
 
 " I cannot close this necessarily most imperfect account 
 of some of the happiest days that we ever spent together 
 without mentioning his last home furlough in 1914. He had 
 intended, after his time at Aix-les-Bains, to spend a short 
 time in Switzerland, but the sudden declaration of war caused 
 him to hurry home, and to our great delight he spent nearly 
 a month with us at Ilkley, in Yorkshire. In spite of decided 
 lameness he walked nearly every morning to the higher parts 
 of the moor, and there, sitting surrounded by a sea of heather 
 and the loud calling of the grouse, he read to me in the 
 Times of the first terrible advance of the Germans on Paris, 
 only checked by the battle of the Marne. No need to say 
 that his absolute confidence in the final victory of Right 
 never failed for an instant. He greatly valued the daily 
 Celebrations at St. Margaret's, where he was delighted to 
 find in the vicar an old Marlborough friend, and where we 
 listened with great interest and appreciation to several 
 sermons by Dr. McNeile (now Regius Professor of Divinity 
 in Trinity- College, Dublin), and he once or twice gave ad- 
 dresses to communicants. It was, I think, a special pleasure 
 to him that a young Indian friend, studying for his degree 
 at Leeds University, came and spent several days with us. 
 In spite of suffering at times and the dark overhanging 
 war-cloud, his buoyancy of spirits and his delight in the 
 companionship of his young nieces never failed. 
 
 " I saw him for the last time when he left us to spend 
 the closing days of his furlough with my sisters in Ireland, 
 and I shall always look back to that time at Ilkley as one of 
 the very happiest of our many happy holidays together." 
 
 CALCUTTA 
 
 In 1912, the Metropolitan, Bishop Copleston, resigned his 
 office, and most men felt that Lefroy must succeed him if 
 he were physically able. The Government as well as the 
 Church looked to the Bishop of Lahore to take the leading
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 217 
 
 place. There is the oft-quoted letter of Lord Morley, 
 Secretary of State for India, to Lord Minto, the Viceroy, 
 which gives the impression Lefroy produced upon the leaders : 
 
 "Yesterday the Bishop of Lahore (Lefroy) called one 
 of the most attractive men I ever met. In the midst of a 
 rather heavy day he not only interested but excited me, and 
 carried me for a while into the upper ether. Why did you 
 not recommend him to be Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab ? 
 There's an experiment for you ! His ideas delighted me." 
 
 I print a few letters written in 1912. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore : March 28, 1912. 
 
 " I spent the Sunday in a large Christian village. The 
 congregation was reported to me with much exactitude, 
 men, women and children, separately as 1400 : there may 
 have been from 900 to 1000 there. Things had been going 
 very badly for some time, with internal quarrels, law suits, 
 etc., and I spoke with a plainness not very customary in the 
 pulpit, saying that I much hoped four or five would be in 
 jail before long, or have their tails really well and effectively 
 twisted in some way, and that they had all ' made my face 
 black. 1 I was able, however, to add that I was thankful to 
 hear that recently there has been some attempt at improve- 
 ment, and I made a heart-rending appeal to them to keep it 
 up. After the service a deputation of the head men (not 
 including those I had referred to as destined for the Govern- 
 ment hospitality the individuals intended were quite well 
 known) waited on me, said they had been greatly helped and 
 encouraged by my sermon, and wanted to thank me for it. 
 So perhaps one has found the line to take in order to really 
 win attention, and get some thoughts to penetrate. Perhaps 
 it will be well not to encourage the cathedral congregation 
 quite the same way ! " 
 
 The following letter reveals the ever-present humour, the 
 delightful appreciation of jokes, and the light-hearted manner 
 in which Lefroy could throw off work and enjoy fun. 
 
 " Harvington, Simla: August I, 1912. 
 
 " Irishman goes into a boot shop in London. ' I want a 
 pair of boots.' ' Certainly, sir. What number, sir ? ' ' Ah 
 two to be sure. D'ye think I'm a centipaed.' 
 
 " ' Pat, go down and bring up a pair of boots.' ' Which 
 pair, your honour ? ' ' Ah, it doesn't matter, either pair will 
 do.' Up comes Pat with one lace boot and one button and
 
 218 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 puts them down. ' Pat, you donkey, what on earth do you 
 mean by bringing me up these did you ever see a pair of 
 boots looking like that before ? ' ' Deed, I did, your honour : 
 the pair downstairs looks just the same.' 
 
 " ' Mary, did you put the matches by my bed, as I told you ? ' 
 ' I did, mam, I put wan.' ' One, Mary : what's the good of 
 that? I may want more, or it may not strike.' 'Ah, it will, 
 mam : I tried it meself.' With such tales, and dozens more 
 all in the broadest Irish were members of a learned Educa- 
 tional Conference summoned from all over India by the 
 Government of India, to consider problems connected with 
 the education of the 'Domiciled Community' (Anglican, 
 poor whites and Eurasians), regaled during a semi-state 
 dinner given to the members, by H. Pakenham Walsh a 
 very devoted missionary till half of them were nearer rolling 
 off their chairs with laughter than being in a fit state to eat 
 their dinner. And the best of it was that Lady Butler wife 
 of Member for Education, our host whom I had taken in 
 had said to me just before, referring to H. P. W., who 
 sat opposite us with a rather cadaverous face, ' I have 
 heard that he is a most ascetic man,' and altogether 
 spoke of him in a rather awed voice, then within about ten 
 minutes these stories began, and before the evening was 
 over I think she felt a good deal mixed about her ascetic, 
 and not quite able to ' place him.' " 
 
 The project of an Anglican cathedral upon the site of 
 New Delhi was much in Lefroy's thoughts. At present, 
 though the site is secure, no further step has been taken. 
 
 "Harvington, Simla: June 13, 1912. 
 
 " I am tackling a great big problem that of a church, or 
 cathedral, in New Delhi. I am in an extraordinarily difficult 
 position over it. Everybody Viceroy, Lieutenant-Governor, 
 Town-planning Committee, as well as the general public 
 seem to be looking to me to take the lead in the matter, but, 
 as I point out to them for one thing if it is because Delhi 
 is in the Lahore Diocese, then I certainly cannot ask for a 
 cathedral (which every one in a kind of way thinks it ought 
 to be) as no Bishop has two cathedrals : if it is to be a 
 cathedral that means that a new See is to be created, in 
 which case the matter no longer concerns me. Meantime it 
 seems impossible to get forwarder in deciding whether there 
 should be a new See or not. Calcutta won't move in the 
 matter ; and there is no one else who can move. And things
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS AND PROBLEMS 219 
 
 being thus, the Town-planning Committee ask me to meet 
 them, show me a splendid site which they say they are willing 
 and would like to reserve for a fine cathedral or church if I 
 can guarantee that money will be forthcoming for the building 
 of something really worthy ; failing which something totally 
 different theatre for ought I know! will be put there. And 
 they say they must have an answer in six months' time or so, 
 as the plans for the city must go forward ! A pleasant pre- 
 dicament ! At first I thought I simply could do nothing, but 
 I am coming to feel that for the honour of the Church and 
 not to lose so splendid an opportunity if no one else will 
 move in the matter I must, and as the only possible path of 
 success that I can see, I am drafting a letter for the Times, 
 meaning to send it first to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 and ask him to take it to the King and get, if possible, both 
 a donation to head the list and some kind of imprimatur that 
 can be printed. I am asking for jioo,ooo! First of all, I 
 shall have to secure that Calcutta will not actually oppose 
 I don't think he will and then go to the Viceroy and see 
 what he would suggest as to details. Altogether it's a pretty 
 big kettle-of-fish and gives one something to think of, as you 
 may imagine. Don't talk much of this at present my letter 
 may be much modified before it goes off, and may possibly 
 never come to the birth at all, but that's what I am working 
 for at present simply because, as I say, I see no other possible 
 way in which I can prevent the offer of the site slipping 
 from us." 
 
 We all remember the attempted assassination of the Vice- 
 roy, Lord Hardinge, at his entrance into Delhi, and the splendid 
 courage of himself and Lady Hardinge. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore: Christmas Eve, 1912. 
 
 "As to yesterday's tragic occurrence. There is no good 
 trying to write about it. I have nothing really to add to 
 what you will know long before this. I am so intensely 
 grieved that it was done in dear old Delhi, though doubtless 
 the miscreant was from outside. I fear the wound is really 
 serious. Last night we got quite a bad report, but I am 
 somewhat reassured by a note I have just had. I was to 
 have lunched with H. E. to-day to talk over matters con- 
 nected with Lahore and Calcutta and my successor, etc. This 
 morning I sent a line to the Private Sec. saying it was 
 doubtless off, and have this moment had a reply that Her E. 
 would like me still to come. I do not for a moment imagine 
 this means that he can talk business, but I hope it does
 
 320 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 mean that things are not very bad. I will add a line. It will 
 be pretty difficult to know what line to take in preaching to- 
 morrow the Christmas Message and our grief joy at escape 
 anxiety still. ... I hope something may be given me. 
 
 " I had a wonderfully interesting luncheon, Lady Hardinge 
 telling me every incident and every word that passed between 
 them ; then we went into his bedroom, and I offered thanks. 
 To-day she came to service, and I preached on it, exhorting 
 the English not to exaggerate or think it represented Indian 
 attitude, and on Xmas. I had a nice wire from home some 
 days ago. ' Thanksgiving, Benediction. Cantuar.' 
 
 " Oft to Calcutta to-night." 
 
 His letter on accepting Calcutta. 
 
 " Bishopsbourne, Lahore: Dec. 12, 1912. 
 
 " The long debated issue has come at last. On Tuesday 
 I got back at five o'clock from an all-day conference, took up 
 the paper in the verandah and read the announcement of the 
 Metropolitan's resignation, came into my study and found 
 a letter from the Viceroy offering me the succession. They 
 don't lose much time nowadays. I wired, asking for a few 
 days' delay in order to take medical advice, and a board of 
 three doctors is coming here in about an hour's time to 
 advise me. I think it unlikely, on the facts I shall put 
 before them, that they will at all bar my going, and if not I 
 shall just let three more days pass and wire on Monday ; 
 or probably, unless the doctors are very encouraging, not 
 wire, but write to say I should like Lord Crewe to know, 
 before the thing is finally settled, of this element of uncer- 
 tainty, but otherwise accepting. I have hardly argued it 
 with myself at all, but I have asked much for guidance, and 
 as soon as the offer came I found my thoughts acting steadily 
 in the direction of going, and I have felt quite happy about 
 it at Celebrations and such times, so I think this is what is 
 meant for me. You know as well as any one what a wrench 
 it will be to me to leave the Punjab, but the call is a great 
 one ; these next five years ought to be very formative ones 
 in the life of the Church out here, and if it really is God's 
 will as it certainly seems to be the wish of a good many 
 people that I should be at the helm for them, one has no 
 right to refuse even if one wanted to. I will put in a line, 
 if there is time, as to the M.D.'s opinion before this goes. 
 
 " 6.30 p.m. They have come and gone, after talking me 
 well over for an hour. On the whole, the view is that 
 Calcutta is likely to be better for me than Lahore. So I shall 
 accept May God enable me."
 
 Ftoni the painting by Mr. C. Goldsborough Anderson^,
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE CALCUTTA EPISCOPATE 
 
 BISHOP LEFROY was enthroned as Bishop of Calcutta and 
 Metropolitan on Feb. 20, 1913, in his cathedral. A few days 
 previously he had received an address at Delhi from old 
 students of St. Stephen's College. Two sentences must *be 
 quoted : " It seems to us quite in the fitness of things that 
 with the rise of our city to a position of pre-eminence in 
 India, one who in the past deservedly ranked among its most 
 worthy citizens should be called to the headship of the 
 Anglican Church in India. . . . We pray that God may 
 give you grace to act not only as one of the peacemakers 
 between the various races in this country, but also that 
 through you the deepest and most wholesome influences of 
 English life may flow into the life of India." The Bishop, in 
 reply, said he stood absolutely and unhesitatingly for the 
 policy of higher education in India. Ere he concluded he 
 referred " to the foul deed of shame which had been committed 
 not long ago in their midst." They hung their heads with 
 shame, especially when they remembered how Lord Hardinge 
 had identified himself with the policy of trusting the people. 
 On leaving Lahore it had been determined that one of the 
 towers of the cathedral just being built, should be given the 
 name of " Lefroy," and that choir stalls should also be part 
 of the memorial. 
 
 George Lefroy had now come to the third and last phase 
 of his ministerial life. He came with a stricken body but 
 with a spirit unconquered, a wonderful example of pluck, and 
 all from a sense of Christian devotion. No letter of his has 
 a querulous note. All the same it is possible to suppose that 
 he might have done an even greater work than he actually
 
 222 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 accomplished, good as it was, had he been sound in limb. I 
 think I will insert here an appreciation of him given in 1919 
 by one of his leading Calcutta clergy. Let it stand in the 
 forefront as he enters Calcutta life. 
 
 " Oxford Mission House, 
 
 "42, Comwallis Street, 
 
 " Calcutta : 
 " May 13, 1919. 
 
 " If his physical strength had been equal to his endowment 
 of mind and spirit he would have been almost an ideal bishop. 
 His deep and earnest piety, his charming courtesy, and his 
 great administrative ability combined to make him so, and 
 he gave such a stimulus to the work of the diocese as, in my 
 experience of nearly forty years, it has never known. He 
 had width of outlook as well as careful attention to detail. 
 He did not profess to be a student or a scholar, but with the 
 greatest humility he would take the opinions of those who 
 were. Perhaps he relied rather too much on external advice, 
 but his decisions when they came were firm, definite and 
 clear. He was a most indefatigable worker to the utmost 
 limit of his strength and then beyond it, but he never allowed 
 himself to become absorbed in routine, and with him the 
 human element was always uppermost. I never once knew 
 him the least bit ruffled in temper. More than once he had 
 to meet attacks that were both violent and unfair, but he met 
 them with complete serenity and robbed them of their sting 
 by recognising the element a very small one of justice 
 which they contained. He always saw the best in them, and 
 by giving them full credit for it he lifted them up to higher 
 levels. His chief work in this diocese was the care he took 
 in preparing it for Synodical Government, a task which 
 involved an immense amount of laborious detail. My chief 
 regret is that he did not come to Calcutta in the fullness of 
 his powers and give it three or four times the number of 
 years which he was allowed to spend here. The position of 
 a Metropolitan See is unfortunate in this way : it so often 
 receives a bishop whose best work has been done elsewhere. 
 
 "E. F. B." 
 
 The transfer from Lahore to Calcutta was almost as great 
 a change of sphere as for the Delhi evangelist to go to the 
 See of the Punjab. Lahore was in a sense a new diocese, 
 largely missionary. The overwhelming number of the 
 European population consisted of the army. The Bishop there
 
 CALCUTTA CATHEDRAL.
 
 THE CALCUTTA EPISCOPATE 223 
 
 had a very free hand creating precedents and realising his own 
 ideals of work : traditions were few. Calcutta is much more 
 like an English diocese in the sense that the Church system 
 in it dates back to the eighteenth ^century, when there were 
 Presidency Chaplains and State-aided Vestries, and long 
 before Bishops were heard of ; there are numberless traditions 
 and many vested interests. The chaplains are numerous, 
 and one who was pre-eminently a missionary bishop with a 
 strong character and a way of expressing precisely what he 
 meant in unmistakable language might well create alarm 
 among members accustomed to a more* conservative Church 
 life. There is no doubt, indeed, that the coming of Lefroy did 
 create apprehension among a certain number, though it was 
 short-lived. Looking back upon his coming and referring to 
 the fear of some, another of his leading clergy, and one who 
 was to become his right hand and a very dear colleague, says, 
 " The hard George Alfred never came, but a great heart 
 yearning for love and, I am afraid, rather too anxious to 
 bestow that love on persons who would abuse it. We were 
 prepared to receive ' a great administrator,' some one very 
 efficient, who captured a Secretary of State, but instead came 
 a man who, if great was perhaps the humblest and kindest 
 person we had ever met with. To have seen the tears from 
 those brilliant Irish eyes running down over the story of a 
 priest's shame, and to know how little emotion was the note 
 of his temperament, was indeed a memory. It was also 
 found that no man was so ready to devolve responsiblity upon 
 others and then to leave them as free as possible, without 
 interference. Not otherwise could he have accomplished a 
 tithe of what he did." 
 
 But to return to the contrasted spheres of Lahore and 
 Calcutta. The former city was one centre among many 
 in the Punjab. The cathedral, so to speak, dominated 
 nothing. The districts were as strongly manned and their 
 representatives came almost as equals to the centre. The 
 Diocese of Calcutta means the City of Calcutta, that is, the 
 centre dominates everything, much as London stands out 
 in Middlesex. Moreover, it is a city of old-established 
 business firms with their centres very largely in London, 
 conservative, largely Scotch Presbyterian. The tone of the
 
 224 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 wealthy was undenominational in a sense ; generous, but in the 
 direction of general beneficence, not yearning for very definite 
 Churchmanship, and perhaps suspicious of a Bishop who was 
 known to be striving for self-government, assessment for 
 funds, and all by "consensual compact." But their new 
 Metropolitan was so human a person, so full of fun in spite of 
 his pain, so appreciative of others' opinions, that he conquered 
 Calcutta. 
 
 One more point may be made at once. The duties of a 
 Metropolitan had been growing continually. It had become 
 increasingly difficult to visit the whole diocese. The position 
 would have been overwhelming had not Bishop Copleston 
 prepared the way, and most generously, for a Diocese of Assam. 
 Of this I will speak again. But it was evident that another 
 division must in due course be made, a diocese with Patna as 
 its centre. Patna, an unequalled evangelistic centre, the Head- 
 quarters of a Provincial Government, a Civil Division, with a 
 University and a High Court. The new Metropolitan saw 
 Assam set on its way : he died before the Patna scheme took 
 shape. 
 
 In 1914 the Metropolitan visited England. The following 
 letter will show that he desired to use any means to regain 
 physical strength. In Calcutta in due time, as will be 
 seen, he submitted to " anointing " for healing. 
 
 " Trinity Lodge, Cambridge : 
 
 " St. Luke's Day, 1914. 
 
 " Do you remember Miss Hort writing and suggesting to 
 me that I should go to Mr. Hickson, the Faith Healer? I do 
 not remember whether I said anything about it to you in 
 Killiney, but the matter stayed in my mind, and after a good 
 deal of thought and prayer I decided to go to him. I have 
 been three times and hope to go twice more. I will try to tell 
 you more about him and his methods some time. All I will 
 say now is that he has a band of, I believe, really earnest and 
 good people who make regular intercession for those who are 
 being treated by him, and the desire to secure their help was 
 one of the things that weighed much with me in deciding to 
 go to him. That must be to the good, whatever other forms 
 of treatment one may try." 
 
 He returned to India and on December 27 in that year 
 with characteristic courage he faced the question of the
 
 THE CALCUTTA EPISCOPATE 225 
 
 Christmas message in relation to Germany and the war, 
 recognising no doubt that he would lay himself open to mis- 
 construction at such a time. Controversy arose at once both 
 in India and in England and in Belgium, and it is necessary 
 to quote a few extracts from his sermons and letters in order 
 to give his views. (December 27, 1914, in the cathedral.) 
 He asks, " Is not this war evidencing the bankruptcy and 
 failure of Christianity ? . . . If Christianity has not been tried 
 as the basis of international relationships, in what sense can it 
 be said to have failed ? " He criticises the Press. " I am 
 bound to say, and I know that in saying it I express the feel- 
 ings of many besides myself, that I deplore intensely much of 
 the tone of our Press, more especially of the comic papers, in 
 dealing with this great tragedy. Am I not right in saying that 
 the attitude of the Press, broadly speaking, may be summed 
 up as twofold, either breathing out simply a spirit of bitter 
 vengeance, of desire for the uttermost defeat and humiliation 
 to the dust of our enemies, or in the case of the comic papers, 
 indulging continually in taunt, ridicule and sneer ? " Then he 
 speaks of the magnificent contribution Germany made (before 
 she became infected by the deadly virus of philosophy 
 and teaching, etc.) in every department of civilisation. 
 
 Then he guards himself. "To prevent the misunder- 
 standing to which the preacher is constantly liable, I want 
 just to say that there is not a man in this cathedral who 
 believes more absolutely than I do myself that this fight 
 must be fought through to a finish and that the terrible spirit 
 of Prussian Militarism must be utterly broken. But what I 
 ask is that we should remember that this is only one part of 
 the process, a step towards the end, that end being the 
 recovery of a true and lasting peace on the basis of rightful 
 and mutually self-respecting international relationships." 
 
 Only extracts of the sermon were telegraphed home, and 
 the Bishop writes, " I agree as to the unsatisfactoriness of 
 the hostile criticism of my sermon which has appeared, but 
 it needs to be remembered that, so far as I know, the whole 
 sermon has not appeared anywhere at home, only that one 
 extract : so that was all the critics had to go by." 
 
 On January 2, 1915, he returned to the subject on the 
 " Day of Intercession." After referring to the difficulty of 
 
 Q
 
 226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 praying for one's enemies, and while wishing to be fair to the 
 enemy, he said, " It was of no use shutting their eyes to 
 facts. They could only get a sane and balanced judgment 
 in this matter by looking at the facts on all sides, the ugly as 
 well as the pleasant. It was on account of that German 
 teaching and of its effects that they were justified in saying 
 that the issues involved were quite definitely moral, religious, 
 and spiritual ones." In the same month the Bishop lectured 
 to the public on "The Message of Christ to the Modern 
 World." One extract is all I can give. " Can it be right, 
 can it be Christ's will and teaching that man should fight ? 
 Most of them would answer the question in the negative. 
 But was there anything He hated more than fighting ? Was 
 there anything more intolerable to Him than this resort to 
 force ? He believed there was, and illustrated his contention 
 by drawing a picture of a big bully ill-treating a helpless 
 child. Was force never justified ? " In writing home he says, 
 " I had to lecture on ' Christianity and the War ' to a number of 
 educated Hindus, and I felt the responsibility and difficulty 
 very much. The terms are so incongruous, and the incon- 
 gruity seems so much greater to them than to us. However, 
 it went off well. There was a crowded hall, about 700 
 apparently, and they remained remarkably still and attentive 
 while I talked for just about an hour." 
 
 In August, 1916, the Metropolitan preached in the 
 cathedral on " The Forgiveness of Enemies." " I want to 
 try to give guidance on one point, namely, the duty of 
 forgiving our enemies and the injunction so often given in 
 the words of Christ Himself to pray for them. I suppose 
 there can be no question whatever that this duty presents to 
 many people the greatest difficulty of all at the present time. 
 In the service which was held in this church on the 4th instant, 
 while the responses in most parts of the service were distinctly 
 good, I could not help noticing a falling off at this point" 
 He then refers to the Lord's Prayer, and to the warning, 
 " if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your 
 Father forgive your trespasses." " The fact that no such 
 warning is attached to any of the other petitions shows not 
 only how much importance He laid on this point, but also 
 how conscious He was of the great difficulties men would find
 
 THE CALCUTTA EPISCOPATE 227 
 
 in obeying the injunction. . . . It is, I know, often thought 
 that when we urge the duty of forgiving the Germans we 
 mean that as things are, the Germans still persisting in their 
 hideous wickedness . . . men ought to ignore all this, to 
 pretend that things are otherwise, and to say that they forgive 
 them. . . . This you entirely refuse, and such refusal is 
 entirely justified. . . . The point to get clear is that God's 
 own forgiveness which is offered as the pattern of ours is 
 never an unconditional forgiveness which takes effect 
 irrespective of the moral condition of the offender, regardless 
 of whether there is in him any real sorrow for his sin." He 
 points out that the Absolution in the Prayer-book is for 
 those " being penitent." But he also warns as follows : " If 
 we do not desire to secure that change in the Germans which 
 will make forgiveness possible, if we are not prepared to 
 strive for this by whatever means may be in our power, prayer 
 obviously being one of them, then we are cutting ourselves off 
 from the possibility of Divine forgiveness and showing that 
 there is not in us that temper upon which it can take 
 effect." 
 
 In connection with the Metropolitan's attitude towards the 
 war, two more facts must be mentioned. In September, 1916, 
 he presided at the 8ist commemoration of Founder's Day at 
 La Martiniere's College and animadverted upon the fact that 
 the Anglo-Indian (formerly called Eurasian) community in 
 Calcutta had not been able to contribute 240 men to the 
 Battalion specially to be recruited. " I know how much there 
 is to be said in the matter by way of explaining the poor 
 response. I mean that before the Battalion was sanctioned 
 by the Government a large number of young men and boys 
 of the community, probably in many cases the pick of it, had 
 already volunteered. . . . But no one will question that it is 
 rather in nature of an excuse for the response not having 
 been what was hoped. It would be quite impossible to 
 exaggerate the influence on the future of this country if the 
 instant the fresh call had come its leaders had sprung up and 
 said, ' At last our chance has come, the very chance we have 
 always asked for, to prove our grit.' " It is interesting to 
 know that one of the papers in Calcutta considered that the 
 Bishop was hard upon the community ; that a good many had
 
 228 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 offered but had been rejected from lack of stamina, but not 
 of willingness. 
 
 Another public utterance was in regard to the War Loan. 
 One of the Calcutta papers asked him for a message. He sent 
 one, but writes in a letter, " I wonder whether you will think 
 its sentiments quite in place for me." Those sentiments are 
 very clear. " We all recognise the immensity of the issues . . . 
 they are not in the deepest and truest sense material issues 
 but spiritual ones, touching the very roots of human life and 
 of all that makes life worth living. . . . Let there then at this 
 time be no slackers, no shirkers, but let each one do his bit 
 worthily for King and Country, for God and the Right." 
 
 BISHOP'S COLLEGE 
 
 Early in his Calcutta Episcopate the Metropolitan also 
 faced the problem of Bishop's College. That famous college, 
 perhaps the best endowed in India, founded in 1819, and 
 magnificently placed, has been in the eyes of many in the 
 past an inexplicable failure compared with the hopes enter- 
 tained of its place in the Christian life of India. Nor can 
 any blame be attached to any one in particular. Probably 
 every Bishop of Calcutta has held some such view as I have 
 expressed. In 1914 the new Metropolitan had interviews 
 with the Committee of S.P.G. when he was at home, and 
 found himself in agreement with the Society when he pro- 
 posed drastic action, and an attempt to go back to the 
 original intention of the College, making it a wholly Christian 
 institution and for the purpose of giving advanced theological 
 instruction in English to candidates for Holy Orders from all 
 parts of India. 
 
 In order to effect this it was thought best to start 
 afresh with an absolutely new staff, although this meant 
 parting with one of the most respected and high-minded of 
 Principals, the Rev. R. Gee, who was also the son-in-law of 
 Bishop Copleston, the late Metropolitan. It was solely on 
 the general principle to be adopted as wisest that Bishop 
 Lefroy could bring himself to advocate such a step, not only 
 in reference to his great friend the Principal, but also of the 
 existing staff. A three years' course was adopted. The
 
 THE CALCUTTA EPISCOPATE 229 
 
 Rev. Norman Tubbs, Principal of St. John's (C. M.S.) College, 
 Agra, was made the first Principal under the new regime, and 
 the Rev. R. L. Pelly, Vice-Principal. On July 17, 1917, the 
 College reopened, after having been closed for a few months. 
 It may also be mentioned that at one time it was even ad- 
 vocated that Bishop's College should be moved away from 
 Calcutta altogether, the site sold, and a new building erected 
 in some healthy and more retired spot, such, for example, as 
 in the Diocese of Chota Nagpur. But wiser counsels pre- 
 vailed, and the splendid, and now historic, site has been re- 
 tained. The College opened with twenty students, who hailed 
 from regions such as Burma, Tinnevelly, Travancore, Madras, 
 Chota Nagpur, Nagpur, Lucknow, and the Punjab, and soon 
 included two Syrian Malabari Christians. 
 
 As with Bishop's College, so with the education and 
 advancement of the Anglo-Indian community, Lefroy, in 
 spite of growing physical infirmity, pressed on every en- 
 deavour made on behalf of a class which has of late years 
 been neglected by the Church of England as compared with 
 the efforts made for them by other denominations. The 
 " Church Education League " received his warmest support in 
 its endeavour to give a Church of England education to the 
 Church of England children. A few figures will show how 
 important the work of the League is, especially in connec- 
 tion with Anglo-Indians. The S.P.G. has always supported 
 their claims at home, and of late years the Indian Church 
 Aid Association, with Mr. H. Skipton as Secretary, has been 
 foremost in publishing facts and soliciting and obtaining help. 
 
 The following figures refer to Bengal alone. The Roman 
 Church has of late years been prominent in this educational 
 field, and in 1912 there were in their Bengal schools for Euro- 
 peans and Anglo-Indians, 4852 pupils; in Anglican schools, 
 1412 ; in other schools, 2630. In the report of Mr. L. S. S. 
 O'Malley of the Census of the city in Calcutta, he says, " The 
 term Anglo-Indian is used under the orders of the Government 
 of India for those persons of mixed descent who have hitherto 
 been designated Eurasians. Among them the representation 
 of the Church of England and of the Church of Rome is 
 exactly the reverse of what it is among the Europeans : for 
 8350 Anglo-Indians (or nearly two-thirds) are Roman
 
 230 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 Catholics, while 4791 (or one-third) are Anglicans." But 
 the next paragraph is worthy of the sympathetic attention of 
 Churchmen who shrink from the stigma that the Church of 
 England is careless of her own members. Mr. O'Malley says, 
 " The figures (given above) are very different from those 
 returned in 1901. The Roman Catholics (in 1911) being 
 more numerous by 1240, while the Anglicans have sustained 
 a loss of 1229." The figures give good reason for the belief 
 that the Church of Rome is steadily gaining ground, whereas 
 the Church of England is losing its hold on the domiciled 
 community. Proportionately the number belonging to the 
 Church of Rome has increased by 17 per cent., while the Church 
 of England has lost 20 per cent. Only 1036 belong to other 
 denominations. Whilst 44*7 per cent, of the European and 
 Eurasian population belong to the Church of England, only 
 15-8 per cent, of the children are in Anglican schools. The 
 S.P.G. and the Indian Church Aid Association have requested 
 the Indian Bishops to place before them a scheme which 
 may cover India, and one of the last letters Lefroy ever wrote 
 to Bishop Montgomery as Secretary of the S.P.G. is an 
 answer to that request, as follows : 
 
 "The Palace, Calcutta : September I, 1916. 
 "MY DEAR BISHOP, 
 
 " Thank you very much indeed for your letter of 
 July 21, re the Anglo-Indian community. It is splendid and 
 stimulating to a degree to see that even in days like these, 
 and in spite of the distinctly discouraging way, to say the 
 least of it, in which earlier communications on the subject 
 have been met, the old Society can return to the charge with 
 such keenness and hopefulness. It is a lesson for all of us 
 and will not, I hope and believe, be lost. I have circulated 
 copies of your letter and the papers you sent, to all the 
 Bishops, as well as to some chaplains and good education- 
 alists in this Diocese, asking them for practical suggestions, 
 and I think I can at any rate promise that your offer will not 
 be ignored this time, but that a genuine effort will be made 
 to deal with the question in a spirit like your own. I need 
 not assure you that the problem has been constantly engaging, 
 for years past, many of the best wits out here, and no at all 
 adequate remedy for the difficulties at present besetting the 
 community has been found, though you must not for a
 
 THE CALCUTTA EPISCOPATE 231 
 
 moment think that by this I mean that nothing whatever is 
 being done. More than one genuinely successful attempt 
 to improve matters at one point or another is being made, 
 though I have not time to speak of them now. I have little 
 doubt myself that P. strikes the right note when he suggests 
 a Teaching Brotherhood as the most urgent need of all, and 
 I quite believe there would be a general concurrence of 
 experts in this view, but then we are at once faced with the 
 fact that at the present time men are above all else difficult 
 to come by. 
 
 "We will, however, not fail to seek the guidance and 
 strength which are available and sufficient for every need."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 
 
 I PROPOSE to devote a chapter specially to tours during 
 the years from 1913 to 1917. Lefroy was never out of pain, 
 but he does not refer to bodily infirmities, and his buoyant 
 spirit carried him through years of suffering. There is no 
 sign of weakening in his public addresses. Moreover, in 
 private life he was ever delightful company, as the memories 
 of a relative which I have printed will prove. 
 
 "Calcutta: Dec. 31, 1912. 
 
 " You and Mary will be amused by my first acts in con- 
 nection with my new office the purchase of a motor-car 
 and a billiard-table. The first I am getting not merely for 
 purposes of locomotion. There is a great stirring community 
 here, chiefly commercial, full of life; I want the car to typify 
 that my wish is to come among them as one of themselves, 
 entering in to the full tide of life and being, so to speak, 
 up to date. Also I think driving it may prove a help in 
 taking my mind off work when recreation is not as easy 
 as it used to be. The billiard-table is on behalf largely 
 of the same community. I am told there are many young 
 fellows thoroughly nice, often Public School and University 
 men but there are few who much try to get a hold of or 
 help them, and for such I should very much like the house 
 to become a place of general resort. Much will have to be 
 changed ; at present it is in appearance, not in reality, de- 
 cidedly palatial and unapproachable : e.g. a gong at the 
 entrance is struck once for every foot-caller, twice for a 
 carriage, three times for the doctor, four times for the Viceroy. 
 Think of the feelings of some shy lad of the type I mean ! 
 Few things, I expect, would attract them more than a 
 billiard-table." 
 
 232
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 233 
 His last days in the Lahore Diocese. 
 
 "Palace, Calcutta: Feb. 20, 1913. 
 
 " I do feel as never before the mistake I made in not 
 securing a wife before I entered on the event of the last few 
 days ! Only in that way would there have been any reason- 
 able chance of your being kept properly au courant. As to 
 my going into it all ! The Delhi days were very full, and if 
 Lahore didn't do much for me in the way of presentations 
 and the like, my old home made up for it. I enclose a 
 cutting with an account of the chief one. It was very nice. 
 On Sunday I had the Ordination, and immediately after it 
 a nicely illuminated Urdu address was presented on behalf 
 of the congregation, and another on behalf of the Christian 
 students of the College, the latter giving me with it a hand- 
 somely bound Bible in Bengali with suitable inscription. I 
 promised to do my best to acquire the ability to use it. 
 I really am going to have a solid shot at the language 
 though whether I shall find that I have got past the power 
 of learning it to any good purpose remains to be seen. In 
 connection with the main College presentation I ought to 
 have said that the address is enclosed in a really beautiful 
 ivory casket, with a lot of medallions on it those Delhi 
 paintings in ivory of Taj, Jama Musjid, etc., etc. Sunday 
 evening I went to Holy Trinity Church, and there my quite 
 last act of ministry in the diocese was amongst the old 
 Daryagang folk not a few of whom were there in person 
 and their compeers, amongst whom my chief ministry in 
 Delhi lay for so long. It was very happy. That night at 
 i a.m. I left for Calcutta, and you will believe that my heart 
 was pretty full as we ran over the Jumna bridge and I felt 
 the old diocese and the old life in the Punjab were behind 
 me. . . . 
 
 " I dreaded the first address in Calcutta a good deal, as 
 on both the previous occasions that I have occupied this pulpit 
 I have been thoroughly uncomfortable, so you will believe 
 what a happiness it was to find the moment I began that I 
 was all right and could talk to them in my natural way. I 
 had lain awake since 2.30 and was feeling rather cheap, but 
 perhaps on the whole this was a help, as it threw me back 
 more entirely on help from above, and I tried to give myself 
 up entirely to the influence of the Holy Spirit. . . . 
 
 " I am sitting in the beautiful great study, where all 
 Episcopal Synods have been held. Such a perfect room to 
 work in, an inspiration, while Thompson is arranging the 
 books in the shelves."
 
 234 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 I make no apology for printing the following memories 
 of a lady, a relative, and a missionary : 
 
 " He was a delightful host, so thoughtful for detail in 
 arranging for one's comfort and enjoyment as well as being 
 most interesting and amusing ; at times he kept the whole 
 table entertained with Irish stories, and especially at the time 
 of the Bishop of Assam's wedding in Calcutta, Christmas, 
 1917, when the latter had two anxious days waiting for his 
 fiancee to arrive from Ireland. The two bishops were full of 
 fun, capping each other's stories. The two or three following 
 ones are examples. 
 
 "IRISH FUN 
 
 " i. Mrs. Lefroy (the Bishop's mother), on arriving in 
 Killiney, went to see the woman who was to supply her with 
 milk, and examined the pans, etc. Mrs. Lefroy : ' Now you 
 will really send me good milk, won't you ? ' Woman : ' Why, 
 yes, m'am, sure ; I will send it to you just as the Lord Almighty 
 sends it to me.' 
 
 "2. Miss Lefroy talking to her gardener about a rock 
 garden, he wished to show her his plans. She said, ' Wait 
 while I go in for a cloak ; ' to which he replied, ' Why, sure, 
 you are not wanting a wrap ; you're as hardy as a wild 
 goose.' " 
 
 It was always the amusing side of an incident or of a 
 person which struck him first, and one often saw a quiver at 
 the corner of his mouth and a twinkle in his eye. Also he 
 was very observant, and nothing escaped his notice. 
 
 In Simla he had the photograph of a number of most 
 grotesque gargoyles in his room, and he said that when he 
 was hard up for the subject of a sermon he studied the 
 gargoyles' faces and they always gave him an inspiration. 
 
 On his study table in Calcutta he kept a child's toy, a 
 little painted wooden Humpty Dumpty. Sitting one side up 
 he was grinning, and turned the other side up the corners of 
 his mouth were down. When worried over some problem or 
 tired with writing, he would glance at Humpty Dumpty, and 
 if he found him looking doleful he would say, " Let us turn 
 him up the other way and we shall get along better." And 
 all the time in pain.
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 235 
 
 To the Rev. C. Mayhew. 
 
 "July 10, 1914. 
 
 " The past two months have been the worst of my life as 
 regards health. I went down with an obstinate attack of 
 fever less than a week after reaching home, and since then I 
 have never been out of the doctor's hands, while there has 
 been much severe treatment (including all teeth out !) and 
 another longish go of fever. I don't want to pile up the 
 agony, and the M.D.'s declare that it will all work out for 
 good, and that they believe that they have now got at the 
 bottom of my arthritis and can arrest further progress (God 
 grant it !), but you will not be surprised if I have not been 
 able to keep level with correspondence." 
 
 There follow a series of letters telling of his tours. Inter- 
 spersed are some commenting on the work of which an 
 account has already been given. 
 
 "The Palace, Calcutta: March 20, 1913. 
 
 " I have had some quaint language experiences during 
 the last week. On Sunday I celebrated and preached in one 
 of the chief Bengali congregations here the simple method 
 being that I took all my parts in English, they theirs in 
 Bengali. The great majority of them were educated and 
 could follow English fairly or so I was assured and it was 
 wonderful how easily and smoothly everything seemed to go. 
 I tried to be slow, clear, and simple in preaching, and alto- 
 gether the service seemed to me a quite satisfactory one. 
 The congregation represented a much higher type, socially, 
 of Indian Christians than I have had to deal with before, one 
 family having come in its motor ! Then last week there was 
 a Bengali Confirmation in the Cathedral, and while the 
 greater part was taken for me by a Bengali Canon, who 
 translated, and, I imagine, greatly improved upon, some 
 notes of an address I had given him, I had learnt up the 
 Bengali of the central part of the service and tackled it 
 boldly. It wasn't mere parrot-work, for I recognised most 
 of the words from Urdu and Hindi and knew their meaning, 
 though of course I knew no other words of the language. 
 I was greatly encouraged by the way in which my efforts 
 were received, the pronunciation being quite approved of, 
 and as Bishop Copleston told me this was the real difficulty 
 of the language, it means a lot to me. I cannot spare a 
 minute in the day for its study here, but I am arranging to 
 take a teacher up to Darjeeling and make a real attempt to 
 tackle it"
 
 236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " On the banks of the Brahma Putra : April 21, 1913. 
 " I am just ending my Assam tour ; to-morrow I start 
 for Darjeeling. It has been very interesting, though the 
 sense of how wholly inadequate the spiritual ministrations 
 are has been very saddening. There are actually fewer clergy 
 in these parts than there were eight or ten years ago. It 
 makes me feel how much the Assam Bishopric is required, 
 and I shall begin to correspond with people at home on this 
 as soon as possible. I have seen a lot of the tea planters 
 and have been most favourably impressed on the whole a 
 wonderfully good type of men and of their hospitality you 
 can form some idea when I tell you that at one house Chota 
 haziri comprised three hot meat courses and two cold, to say 
 nothing of such details as porridge, eggs, etc. My heart 
 rather sank when I remembered that within three or four 
 hours at most we should be expected to deal and deal 
 faithfully with Bara Haziri ! " 
 
 "Darjeeling: June II, 1913. 
 
 " I had a delightful holiday, if short, last week ; what 
 wouldn't I have given to have had you two and Mother or 
 Fred with me ! The flora and colouring of all sorts were 
 amazing : orchids of every kind tree and ground ; one 
 very beautiful for that matter they all were the ' Bamboo 
 Orchid,' a graceful plant, of bamboo appearance, some six 
 or seven feet high, and on top one of the exquisitely delicate 
 orchis flowers. Then the ferns ! There were tree ferns thirty 
 or forty feet high, growing like a palm a straight stem, but 
 then the glorious fern sprays bursting out at the top. Growth 
 everywhere ferns, creepers, moss covering every tree and 
 every spot of ground. In one or two places I noticed a sort 
 of chaplet of ferns, some pinnate kind, springing out of a 
 tree, not where there was a bough, or anything that we could 
 see to give the least hold, but simply ringing round the bare 
 stem, standing almost straight up to a height of two or three 
 feet. It was all very wonderful. An old gentleman, at whose 
 bungalow, on a tea estate, we spent one night, told us he 
 had on one occasion accurately measured the growth of a 
 bamboo and found it to be twenty-two inches in twenty-four 
 hours. A very remarkable old man he was came out, the 
 son of a Scotch gardener, but by quiet perseverance, and real 
 ability, has made himself quite the leading naturalist in all 
 these parts, and you can imagine the scope for such! His 
 collections of ferns, flowers, butterflies, and almost everything 
 you could think of were endless. We had neither the time
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 237 
 
 to go through them nor the knowledge to appreciate them. 
 He showed us specimens of the Atlas Moth, measuring eleven 
 inches from tip to tip and most gloriously marked. Then 
 we had 2^ days at the St. Andrew's Homes, which were our 
 special objective. A wonderful work for some of the poorest 
 Eurasians is going on there. Most wise and practical train- 
 ing under a hard-headed Scotchman, and every help given 
 them for character-forming. There were 400 children, half 
 of them being Church of England, and for these hardly any 
 special provision exists, as regards religious teaching and 
 training, It was especially to consult with the head as to 
 what could be done to remedy this that I went. He is most 
 liberal and sympathetic, and I think something will come of 
 it. On Sunday afternoon I was going to have service in a 
 schoolroom for Church of England children, but he asked me 
 whether I would not use their church he knocking off their 
 service altogether, and the Scotch community coming to our 
 service. I gladly assented, and we had a most hearty service, 
 the minister, Dr. Graham, reading the lessons for me. I don't 
 honestly feel sure that I have heard the last of it, for if one of 
 them more warm-hearted than wise sends a flaming notice 
 to the papers, 'joint Church service conducted by the Metro- 
 politan and the Presbyterian Minister,' or something to that 
 effect, the fat will be in the fire especially in view of the 
 great suspicion with which I am at present regarded by all 
 the ' spikey ' ones. But I am perfectly clear in my own 
 mind that there was no compromise of principle of any sort, 
 I am thankful to say." 
 
 THE PROVINCIAL SYNOD 
 
 "Train for Madras : June 25, 1913. 
 
 " Bangalore Thursday Wednesday passed as Tuesday 
 very satisfactorily, and at 10 p.m. I got here and was met on 
 the platform by the Bishop of Madras, looking very well and 
 as cheery as ever. I cannot tell you how I am looking for- 
 ward to these next four weeks here. Indian bishops have 
 never got together before for anything like so long, and I 
 think especially in view of our three personalities, markedly 
 differing, in temperament, antecedents and everything it 
 ought to have great value. I hope there will be a real out- 
 put of constructive work, Synod Constitution, etc., etc. ; but 
 be this at it may, I cannot doubt that by God's goodness it 
 will mean a drawing of us all three still closer together in 
 bonds of mutual understanding, sympathy and affection,
 
 2 3 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 and this itself ought to mean a lot for the Church in the 
 big and difficult days that are coming. The Bishop of 
 Madras has taken a fine big house for us out here, and the 
 weather is sufficiently pleasant, what they call cool in this 
 poor misguided South." 
 
 " Bangalore : July 23, 1913. 
 
 " It is the last day of our meeting in Bangalore. To- 
 morrow early I start for Calcutta, getting in on Saturday, 
 and after a very full few days there, get oft for Simla on the 
 3 1st for consecration of the new Bishop of Lahore. We have 
 been four Bishops in the house for the last few days, Dornakal 
 having joined us, and Tinnevelly also will be with us to-day. 
 It has been a time of very great interest and I hope will 
 yield permanent results, though we can put out nothing 
 whatever as yet, all conclusions being too tentative and 
 provisional. But the contact of the three of us has had all 
 the value I hoped for, and I am sure we have been much 
 helped by the Holy Spirit. Three more differently consti- 
 tuted minds it would, I think, be hard to find, and this of 
 course had added greatly to the interest of meeting. It has 
 not facilitated conclusions, for continually entirely fresh 
 aspects were presented and one line of thought cut clean 
 across another, but I think it did secure that all questions 
 were viewed from a variety of standpoints and looked at all 
 round, and I am sure the importance of this when we are 
 making a start on an immensely big enterprise of this kind 
 fraught necessarily with so much of weal or woe to the 
 Church is great. We have differed very sharply, but the 
 utmost harmony and good feeling have prevailed, and 
 eventually we have been able to come together on all issues 
 except two." 
 
 In August, 1913, the Metropolitan consecrated the Rev. 
 H. B. Durrant, Bishop of Lahore. 
 
 "Viceregal Lodge, Simla: Aug. 7, 1913. 
 
 " The consecration went off very happily yesterday, all 
 being as nice as possible, bar the weather, which was most 
 unkind. I thought it would keep many away, as it was an 
 unceasing pour from early morning, but it scarcely seemed 
 to affect the attendance at all, which shows what real interest 
 was being taken in the event. The only actual loss was that 
 we couldn't have a photograph taken, for which I am really 
 rather sorry. The Bishop of Dornakal was with us, and was 
 one of the presenting Bishops. I believe his appearance in
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 239 
 
 this way, in so important a function, at the centre of the 
 Empire, will do real good bring home to many who had 
 given the matter little or no thought what we have done in 
 making him a Bishop. I think every one was favourably 
 impressed by his appearance and manner. Almost the 
 whole of official Simla was there, including the Viceroy and 
 Lady Hardinge. The Viceroy told me the Lieut.-Governor 
 himself, who is absent on tour, had expressed his entire 
 readiness to return for the occasion if H.E. would like it. 
 (Sir Michael O'Dwyer is a member of the Church of Rome.) 
 " I am just going to have an interview with H.E. to find 
 out how things are going, re title of Archbishop and one or 
 two other matters." 
 
 Later. 
 
 " He tells me his Council have unanimously agreed not 
 to recommend the change of title to the Secretary of State. 
 It is a disappointment to me, and I think the reasons he 
 gives are quite without weight, but I imagine this ends it, and 
 I am only glad that it is not a matter which has a more 
 intimate relationship to the well-being and progress of the 
 Church's work out here. I don't know whether my letter 
 will go home to the Secretary of State at all. Have I told 
 you that the Archbishop of Canterbury has talked to Lord 
 Crewe about it, and he has expressed himself as decidedly 
 favourable to the proposal ? I pointed out to Lord Hardinge 
 that the refusal of a perfectly reasonable and constitutional 
 request of this kind must mean a good deal to us at the 
 present time when we are feeling that movement ahead in 
 various directions is essential, and we hoped to find the State 
 sympathetic and helpful." 
 
 In 1914 the Metropolitan paid his last visit to England. 
 He went on arrival to Lambeth Palace, and was struck down 
 with a severe attack of malaria. Needless to say he was 
 tenderly nursed by the Archbishop and Mrs. Davidson. He 
 had a second attack after returning to his brother Edward's 
 house, always his headquarters when he was in England, but 
 in due time he was able to travel with his sister to Aix-les- 
 Bains and tried every remedy there, including a process 
 called "passive movements," which gave intense pain. It 
 was to no purpose. At the beginning of that fateful August 
 he was at Chamonuix ; the hotels were closed, and they 
 managed to reach England, and he went to his brother Fred
 
 2 4 o LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 at Ilkley, a never-to-be-forgotten visit ; then to the Irish 
 home, and then for the last time he returned to India. 
 
 The Assam Bishopric. The proposal to create a separate 
 Bishopric for Assam was first made in 1901 by the Bishop 
 of Calcutta (Dr. Copleston). No one was more insistent 
 about it than Bishop Copleston for the sake of Assam and as 
 a relief to the Metropolitan. To this end he spent much 
 time in Assam laying foundations. He even went so far as 
 to undertake the work of Chaplain at Shillong when that 
 post was vacant Indeed, his practical interest in that 
 district was so great that he incurred criticism at Calcutta. 
 He had, moreover, subscribed 1000 to the Endowment 
 Fund before he resigned in 1912. He also agreed to give 
 100 a year towards the stipend of the Bishop, if it were 
 necessary, in order that there should be no delay in conse- 
 crating a Bishop. Meanwhile Bishop Wilkinson (of Northern 
 and Central Europe) had warmly advocated the cause and 
 continued to raise funds towards the endowment until the 
 date of his death. Originally the Endowment Fund for the 
 Bishop's stipend had been fixed at ^"20,000. The S.P.G. 
 provided 2000; the S.P.C.K. ,1000; the Colonial Bishoprics' 
 Fund 1000. The Indian Church Aid Association in 1911 
 gave 4000, in addition to other monies raised by them. 
 Bishop Lefroy left as a bequest a sufficient sum to make up 
 the necessary Endowment Fund. The stipend to accrue 
 from the fund was fixed at 800 a year. In 1914 Letters 
 Patent were obtained for the Consecration of the Bishop, 
 and the Rev. H. Pakenham Walsh was consecrated at 
 Epiphany, 1915, by the Metropolitan in Calcutta. 
 
 A UNITY RETREAT 
 
 " Serampore : April 21, 1915. 
 
 " I am not sure whether I have told you anything of the 
 object which has brought me to this place a Baptist college 
 chiefly for training ordinands, on the banks of the Hooghly, 
 about fifteen miles up from Calcutta. We are having what 
 we have called a ' Unity Retreat.' The idea came to me at 
 any rate originally from Mr. Holland, the very interesting 
 and keen C.M.S. Missionary in Calcutta of whom I see so 
 much. Then I took it up, and have taken the lead. We
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 241 
 
 have come together, nineteen I think in all, all leading ministers 
 of various denominations in or near Calcutta, Presbyterians, 
 Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, and various others ; 
 we came out on Tuesday night and spent yesterday and to- 
 day in joint devotion and conference, most of us returning to 
 Calcutta late to-night. I was responsible for the ' devotional 
 exercises ' yesterday, a Presbyterian M.D. to-day. The subject 
 for discussion was ' What do I mean by the Church ?' papers 
 on it being prepared and circulated previously from three 
 standpoints, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Congregational. 
 Our paper was written by a member of the Oxford Mission, 
 and, as most of the other Anglicans present are C.M.S. men, 
 you may imagine that it contained statements at least as 
 difficult for them to receive as for the ' separated Brethren.' 
 But they have been very good and have not proclaimed our 
 differences. You see that we have not shrunk from tackling 
 a very burning question. We believed we could venture it, 
 trusting to a really happy atmosphere and sense of mutual 
 trust, and I think the results have quite justified us. Of 
 course we have not attained any very tangible result, but I 
 do not think it is too much to say that not a word has 
 been spoken which one would have wished unsaid, and a 
 spirit of brotherliness and desire for mutual understanding 
 and approach has been manifest throughout. I do not think 
 there can be any question that, as individuals, we separate 
 with kindlier feelings and some greater degree of under- 
 standing of mutual positions and difficulties than when 
 we met." 
 
 ON TOUR IN THE SOUTH 
 
 " Quiton, Travancore : Sept. 13, 1915. 
 
 " We have just got in by motor from Trevandrum which 
 you ought to find on a map the capital of Travancore, 
 forty-three miles. I had a variety of interesting functions 
 this morning especially a visit to a very remarkable 
 C.E.Z.M.S. girls' school. It is built under the very shadow 
 of the Maharajah's palace a home of all strictest Hindu 
 orthodoxy and largely supported by H.H. Of course there 
 is a long history behind it into which I cannot go. Now 
 there are over 400 girls, all Brahmins or other high-castes, 
 who are under daily Christian influence and teaching of the 
 most direct sort. A number of them sang in Tamil, 'Jesus 
 loves me, this I know,' as a sort of festive song, and with 
 expressions of deep devotion. I have myself rather mixed 
 
 R
 
 2 4 2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 feelings about this sort of thing, as I cannot doubt that the 
 majority of them would sing it just as keenly, or more so, 
 if you substituted the name of some Hindu god, and there is 
 an element of unreality in it as things are. It is, however, 
 very remarkable, and, our Lord being the living power He 
 is, one cannot doubt that the underlying truth does find a 
 way into not a few of the little susceptible and very affec- 
 tionate hearts. 
 
 " Then I had a variety of interviews, chiefly in connection 
 with what I can see will be a central object of effort through- 
 out my tour in the Diocese. I scarcely suppose you know 
 anything about the existence of an old Syrian Church (the 
 epithet has no reference whatever to race or blood, but simply 
 to ecclesiastical connection : for a good long time past they 
 have been connected with Antioch, and their Bishops, or 
 ' Metrans,' are consecrated by the Patriarch of Antioch) in 
 these parts. Very great interest attaches to it, and the 
 thoughts of many Anglicans are turning increasingly to it as 
 a possible leader in the work of evangelisation in India 
 because its Christianity is so truly indigenous. But one 
 feature a very sad one stands out prominently. Such a 
 history of faction and constant ecclesiastical splits and 
 schisms I hardly thought any Christian Church could show. 
 At present it is troubled and any potentiality for spiritual 
 effort in the cause of Christ is fatally hampered by one of 
 these, which has originated since Rae's book was written, so 
 is not referred to there but exactly of the type of which he 
 gives many instances. Obviously the most urgent need for 
 the Church's welfare is that the breach should be healed. 
 They are, of course, quite distinct from the Anglican Com- 
 munion, and in fact view us theoretically at least with a 
 good deal of suspicion, much as the Russian Church does, 
 but at the same time, ever since Bishop Middleton's time 
 there have been friendly relations between us and them, and 
 they are inclined to look to the Bishop of Calcutta with a 
 certain amount of respect. Before I started on the tour the 
 idea had been mooted in the papers that 1 might be called 
 on to arbitrate in some way between the conflicting parties. 
 I much doubt if they would either of them really agree 
 to this, and assuredly I would not accept the position, for 
 reasons into which I cannot enter, but 1 am throwing myself 
 keenly into the matter on other lines, urging upon the leaders 
 the horrible dishonour they are bringing on our Lord's name, 
 and the fatal injury they are doing to His Church, and trying 
 to arouse in them some fresh sense of the urgency of bringing
 
 their litigation to a close and healing their breaches. Of 
 course it means a very big job, and I don't suppose I shall 
 see any practical result whatever, but I am sure I am on the 
 right lines, along which alone a real cure for the disease can 
 be found and that is enough for me." 
 
 "(Rice Fields) Tour : September 3, 1915. 
 
 " I could write you sheets about a tour I took recently of 
 about six days in one of the rice districts to the south of 
 Calcutta, worked by brothers and sisters of the Oxford 
 Mission, if only limitation of time did not prevent my 
 writing more than about half as many lines ! The method 
 of travel was wholly novel to me. All from Calcutta to the 
 sea is an immense flat delta intersected by endless waterways 
 of every imaginable dimension, from great broad rivers to 
 tiniest channels. By these most transport, and transit, in the 
 district is made all the year round. (The whole country is 
 under rice.) But at this season it is all flooded to a uniform 
 depth of about four to five inches, the rice, however, keeping 
 pace with the water, and standing at present about two inches 
 above the surface. When excessive floods come, and the 
 level rises so rapidly that the rice cannot keep pace, then it 
 gets 'drowned' and famine follows. This is the case this 
 year in considerable parts of Bengal, though not where I was. 
 We moved about in a small, but very comfortable, house- 
 boat of the sisters, with draught of only about two inches, 
 but quite roomy. We would go along a water-channel, with 
 beautiful green crops stretching as far as the eye could see 
 on every side, you might imagine it to be flax, on ordinary 
 dry ground, except that, of course, the water shows in places. 
 Then you want to get to a village, so you just leave the 
 waterway and the boat is poled and punted in any direction 
 you please across the field doing, of course, no harm what- 
 ever to the rice, which is just brushed aside to let it pass. It 
 brings home to one the amazing flatness of the country. Not 
 once did we come across a single inequality of surface, say of 
 three inches, in which the boat would have grounded. Rate 
 of progression from one to one and a half miles per hour so, 
 after motors and the like, there was a distinct sense of rest- 
 fulness ! And the work of the brothers and sisters is simply 
 magnificent in kindness and devotion." 
 
 The following is the only letter in which the Metropolitan 
 refers to the problems of the German Missions in India, at 
 least to his home circle. The subject, I suppose, was too 
 serious and complicated.
 
 H4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 " Ranch! : July 16, 1915. 
 
 " I am enjoying my visit here very much. Negotiations 
 are going on daily with regard to this very big matter of the 
 making over by Government of all the German Mission work 
 in these parts to the Church of England ; in fact, I believe 
 the Bishop is at this very time interviewing the head of the 
 German Mission on behalf of the Government, and telling 
 him exactly what their intentions are. It is perfectly de- 
 lightful to see how completely he has won the confidence and 
 support of his Government, while the papers are shrieking at 
 him as a pro-German. I do not suppose there is any other 
 Province in India where anything approaching to the same 
 intimacy of relationship exists between the administration 
 and the Bishop. Of course, in some ways the conditions are 
 much easier, for it is a very small province, with quite a 
 small knot of administrators almost all of them earnest 
 Churchmen and the whole thing is rather in the nature of 
 a family gathering. Two days ago the Bishop and I went 
 out by motor to Murhu, some thirty miles off, where Dr. and 
 Mrs. Kennedy are working, and had a most enjoyable visit 
 There is a splendid spirit in the place, and life evident 
 everywhere. I meant to have said that the C.M.S. in the 
 Diocese are rising splendidly to this sudden need and 
 opportunity, and placing three or four good men at the 
 Bishop's disposal, without even waiting to consult, or get the 
 permission of, their home committee. All are viewing it as 
 a call to the whole Church." 
 
 The Calcutta Diocesan Conference, and its first session 
 under the new regulations. 
 
 " Darjeeling : April 27, 1916. 
 
 "Yours of the 2gth reached me two days ago, and I 
 expect the letters of the following mail this afternoon, so we 
 are catching up. You ask about the Diocesan Conference. 
 I secured the Town Hall: one large room served for our 
 debate, and dinner was laid in the central hall, where we 
 could have seated 300 just as easily as 150. We did not ask 
 members to pay ; one night they were my guests (about ^30), 
 tor the other two nights I sent round a paper to the members 
 of our regular Diocesan Council, a standing body, including 
 some wealthy merchants, and the amount needed was easily 
 raised. The club objections were, as you suppose, aroused 
 by fears of too much influence being given to Indians. They 
 caught chiefly at two points. I spoke, of course, of the whole
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 245 
 
 movement as an advance in self-government on the part of 
 the Church. Self-government is a term in constant use out 
 here, always in the sense of developing the Indian sphere as 
 distinct from, often in opposition to, the English : con- 
 sequently, the term is very suspect with most Englishmen. 
 I did not, at first, make it sufficiently clear that in our case 
 the term was being used in quite a different connotation, not 
 Indian v. English at all, but the whole Church seeking 
 greater liberty of action. When this was really made clear, 
 opposition on the point disappeared, though suspicions may 
 have remained. Then, in the draft constitution I put before 
 them, there was a proposal to call our Church ' The Church 
 of India in communion with the Church of England,' instead 
 of simply the ' Church of England.' In reality this clause 
 ought not to have appeared ; it was carried over from the 
 draft originally prepared for a full and authoritative Synod, 
 in which case we meant to propose this, but had no place in 
 the constitution of a mere council. It gave great umbrage 
 again in the general line of being 'pro-native,' and asking 
 Englishmen to take a back seat. I apologised for the 
 mistake of its insertion, and struck it out to their great 
 satisfaction. I think the feeling continues that the conference 
 did real good : I have had just one word about it with my 
 Diocesan Registrar, a barrister, extremely nice fellow, and 
 entirely in touch with the sahibs, and he said he thought it 
 was ' magnificent ! ' " 
 
 I turn aside here to give as briefly as possible Bishop 
 Lefroy's efforts to win full self-government for the Indian 
 Church. Thirty years before this, Bishop Johnson had 
 created a Diocesan Council for Calcutta, but it was for advice 
 only. Bishop Copleston had advanced much further. He 
 was the author of the Episcopal Synod. The Indian Bishops 
 meet in session annually for conference, but in Bishop 
 Copleston's opinion it was not possible for synods, whether 
 diocesan or provincial, to have coercive power under the 
 present constitution of the Church of England. Such meet- 
 ings could only be advisory. Ere Bishop Copleston resigned 
 he recommended the addition of both clergy and laity to the 
 Episcopal Synod, making it in a fuller sense provincial, but 
 still only as an advisory council. In his last Episcopal 
 Synod Bishop Copleston invited the Bishops to progress in 
 this direction. Now all the while Lefroy was urging stronger
 
 246 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 action. As Bishop of Lahore he pressed for diocesan and 
 provincial synods with coercive powers, and on the basis of 
 " consensual compact" 
 
 The Episcopal Synod, at the beginning of December, 
 1912, adopted Lefroy's view, and formed a committee to 
 draft a constitution for a Provincial Council, consisting of 
 the Metropolitan (Lefroy) and the Bishops of Madras and 
 Bombay. Meanwhile, the Indian Bishops went back to 
 their dioceses, and almost all of them created diocesan 
 synods. The committee of three had, in fact, before them 
 the schemes from Bombay, Lucknow, Travancore, Nagpur, 
 Rangoon, and Chota Nagpur. They spent two months over 
 their provincial scheme, first meeting at Bangalore and then 
 at Ranchi. Lefroy was, of course, suffering pain, but all 
 along he was the chief motive force, the Bishop of Bombay 
 taking upon himself the drafting of the clauses. At the 
 conclusion of the two months' conference, the Bishop of 
 Madras wrote to the Metropolitan to thank him "for the 
 patient and able chairmanship, which enabled us to get 
 through such a heavy programme without omitting anything 
 of importance." Having completed their draft, the three 
 Bishops took counsel's opinion whether a scheme of coercive 
 character, and based on consensual compact was legally 
 possible. The lawyers stated that it was not possible. 
 Whereupon Lefroy pressed that the scheme should be so 
 modified that it might become operative in the fullest sense 
 some day with the smallest amount of change. The term 
 " council " was, therefore, substituted for " synod," and all 
 allusion to consensual compact was struck out, as well as of 
 coercive power. 
 
 But the Church in India was preparing for the day when 
 disestablishment might come, by living at once as nearly as 
 possible under a system of government like that of the 
 Church of Ireland, or of South Africa. 
 
 This draft constitution was placed before the Episcopal 
 Synod of 1918, Bishop Lefroy presiding, was passed by it 
 after having considered criticisms from all the dioceses which 
 had created diocesan synods, and in February, 1920, an 
 Assembly of the Church is to be held, which may resolve 
 itself into the first Provincial Council. Whatever may be the
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 247 
 
 practical result, no one can fail to see how keen was Lefroy's 
 desire to press forward true self-government. 
 
 ON TOUR 
 
 " River Steamer : March 8, 1916. 
 
 "This river trip, which I think I mentioned last week, 
 is proving as delightful a rest-cure as possible. If only 
 you and M. could be with me ! You would be fascinated. 
 But description, I fear, is beyond me. We (Robson and 
 myself) came on board on Monday night, and very early in 
 the morning we dropped down the river. Calcutta is about 
 eighty miles up the Hooghly : we followed it for perhaps 
 fifty miles, and then got into the regular delta, an interlacing 
 mass of waterways running across in every possible direction 
 and of all sizes. We then turned east, making our way some- 
 times along the shore of an estuary, and then along channels just 
 wide enough to take the boat comfortably. It is now 10 a.m. 
 on Wednesday (Ash Wednesday), and for twenty hours or so 
 we have been in the narrower kind, constantly twisting and 
 turning. We carry an electric searchlight, which enables 
 night travelling, though how they don't lose their way, by 
 night or by day, seems a marvel. In parts there is no sign 
 of habitation, the banks being covered right down to the 
 water's edge with mangroves and various primitive forms of 
 shrubs and trees. A constant interest is the chance of 
 coming on a tiger swimming across the stream. I believe it 
 is not infrequent, although all I have yet seen was a beautiful 
 speckled deer on a grassy point that we rounded early this 
 morning. It wasn't a hundred yards off, and didn't mind 
 the steamer in the very least. Also, in our bathroom this 
 morning, there was the most glorious moth, an 'Atlas/ I 
 think it is called, wings spread out, and measuring from tip 
 to tip about 9 inches, with the richest colouring of browns 
 and reds and purples. I think its race is well-nigh run, and we 
 may be able to carry it off. Just now we are running through 
 a part where the land is a little higher, doubtless rather older 
 formation, and it is being brought under cultivation, with 
 primitive little homesteads springing up, and the usual 
 abundance of little brown, stark-naked babies and children, 
 all looking supremely happy. The steamer is a fair-sized, 
 flat-bottomed one, bound eventually for Assam, up some of 
 the larger waterways, the Brahma Putra, I think. She is 
 cargo entirely, i.e. not carrying native passengers, but with
 
 248 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 about half a dozen nice cabins on an upper deck for 
 Europeans. The manager of the company is a devout 
 Churchman, indeed I confirmed him, to his wife's great joy, 
 about a year ago in my chapel, and he is doing me well, 
 having selected a particularly nice steamer for the run, and 
 plainly charged the servants to do us very well. Robson 
 and I are alone, so it is really almost like a private yacht. 
 When I add that the fare for each for a three days' trip 
 (missionary rates !) is "js. 6d., plus 5-r. per day for food, of 
 which there is the greatest abundance, with fruit, etc., etc., 
 you will agree that we are rather in clover." 
 
 "Train: February 6, 1917. 
 
 "At Ellore, my first halt on this tour, a thing happened 
 which gave me deeper happiness, I think, than anything for 
 long. There were about seven C.M.S. clergy, one Indian 
 priest (Canon of Madras), Bishop Whitehead, and myself, 
 and the clergy expressed their wish to be transferred from 
 the diocese of Madras to that of Dornakal. I believe I am 
 right in saying that four years ago some of them had 
 expressed very strongly their determination not to work 
 under an Indian Bishop. Certainly many of the Madras 
 missionaries took this position. The change is a most 
 wonderful testimony to the depth and power of Bishop 
 Azariah's work. A more splendid indication of the wisdom 
 of making the experiment could hardly be imagined. I know 
 how intensely delighted Bishop Copleston would be, and I 
 should greatly like to tell him of it at once, but I am not doing 
 so as the matter is (N.B.) strictly confidential at present, and 
 I don't think Bishop Azariah himself has the least idea the 
 proposal is coming. I promised to say nothing myself. But 
 I hope action will be taken before at all long, and I quite 
 hope that such difficulties as there are may be overcome, and 
 the step taken. It will be very splendid. It was delightful 
 seeing Bishop Azariah among his people ; the true leader- 
 ship, together with the entire sympathy and mutual 
 understanding." 
 
 It was during the course of 1918 that the Metropolitan 
 heard that the army authorities had at length given orders 
 that brothels in cantonments should disappear. It is a 
 painful subject. The Metropolitan never ceased pressing the 
 Christian view, and he tells how the Salvation Army and 
 others were splendid advocates. The two points steadily 
 made were : (i) the women ; the causes which led them to the
 
 THE METROPOLITAN IN CALCUTTA AND ON TOUR 249 
 
 life, their life whilst engaged in such a trade, and their end ; 
 (2) the moral effect upon the soldiers. Often in Lefroy's letters 
 there came phrases such as " Continue in prayer about it." 
 Once more at Darjeeling. 
 
 " May 28, 1918. 
 
 " I got up here last week and am in clover, being looked 
 after, in the most filial way, by the Governor's Private 
 Secretary and his wife, staunch Calcutta friends and very 
 religious Presbyterians. The Governor kindly asked me to 
 stay with him ; but Mr. Gourlay explained that their smaller 
 house, with no stairs, and no dinner parties, was more in my 
 line just now. But we are in the grounds, just alongside the 
 big house and I have the most natty little set of apartments 
 such as my heart delights in, beautiful office table alongside an 
 open window, with telephone at my elbow, etc., etc. I wish 
 all these little things didn't mean so much to me, and that 
 there was more of the faqir spirit, but so it is. I have an 
 unlimited invitation, and I know that it would not be easy 
 really to outstay my welcome, but I don't want to be shame- 
 less, so I am making it three weeks in all, i.e. another fortnight 
 from to-day. Then I move across to Kalimpong, but instead 
 of halting for one night en route at a delightful tea garden, I 
 have asked them to keep me for about a week. It will be 
 the most entire quiet and rest, though of course the daily post. 
 Then about a week at Kalimpong, the idea of these halts 
 being to fill in the time till the rains break about the end of 
 June, without cadging too much on any one household. It is a 
 little amusing, all my hosts are Presbyterians ! We get on 
 none the less well, and they are all kindness itself. The 
 weather is tolerable, not too cold, but little sunshine, much 
 fog and cloud when not raining, looking out of my window 
 this moment I can't see 100 yards. I think I must send you 
 the enclosed from Ferguson Davie, which reached me three 
 days ago. I am really much touched by the way in which he 
 writes. He at any rate has no doubt as to where I ought to 
 settle down if I do have to quit ! You must let me have 
 it back. I had not thought, recently, of taking any leave, 
 and I don't suppose the cure he speaks of would do 
 much for me, but all the same I am rather tempted. It 
 is morally, even if not physically, good to go on trying things : 
 a little head rest after three and a half years of very strenuous 
 work would do me no harm, I have no engagements of 
 importance pending, and I think the Diocese would heave 
 a sigh of relief at the prospect of a little quiet, and I might 
 get good."
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE LAST MONTHS 
 
 I MUST go back to December, 1917, to give a letter from 
 St. Paul's Home, Calcutta, to Bishop Pakenham Walsh in 
 Assam. 
 
 " December igth, 1917. 
 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 "We are girls of St. Paul's Home and our Bishop 
 is getting an increase of the sickness which troubles him, 
 so we hope you will not mind us asking you to use your 
 great powers of Prayer and healing because we believe that 
 his illness can be lessened by the power of God. We hope 
 you will not mind our request. We enclose a paper we have 
 received in which we are asked to pray for our Bishop. We 
 will be very grateful to you if you can grant our request. 
 
 " We are, My Lord, 
 
 " Your obedient children, 
 
 Then follow the names of eleven girls. 
 
 On February 10, 1918, Lefroy writes home : 
 
 " You will be interested to know that I have to-day been 
 anointed for healing by Herbert Pakenham Walsh. A few 
 weeks ago he sent on to me a letter which he had received 
 from some Eurasian school girls in a very poor parish here. 
 He has anointed several persons in that parish, with, I 
 understand, good results ; at any rate, they believe in his 
 power, and when the children knew I was getting worse, they 
 wrote asking him to see if he could not help me. It was 
 rather touching, and coming in this way I did not like simply 
 to ignore the suggestion, so when he came down for the Synod 
 I had a talk with him, explained my position, of mind and 
 belief, on the subject, and said I should be quite glad to be 
 anointed if he thought it might do good. He said he would 
 like to anoint me, so after morning service to-day we came 
 together in my house-chapel, just a few of my closest friends, 
 ' Molly,' Mr. Godber, Foss Westcott, and Bishop of Madras, 
 
 250
 
 THE LAST MONTHS 251 
 
 Bishop of Bombay and his wife, and Mrs. Walsh. A senior 
 priest in Calcutta, who has often taken part with Herbert in 
 such services, joined in the laying on of hands. It was very 
 quiet and reverent, and I am sure will be helpful some way or 
 other." 
 
 I must also print Lefroy's letter to his old friend Allnutt 
 on December 4, 1917. Both were soon to pass through the 
 veil. 
 
 "Mv DEAR ALLNUTT, 
 
 " ' Thirty-eight years ago to-day ' l (Ps. xxiii. 6). 
 " I am sending out the enclosed rather widely though of 
 course chiefly only in the diocese. Would you distribute to 
 those in the old Mission who really know me and you think 
 would like to have a copy. Of course I will send more if 
 you want them. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " G. A. CALCUTTA." 
 
 "The Bishop is suffering from a disease which has 
 recently advanced considerably, and makes it uncertain how 
 long he will be able to retain charge of the diocese. He 
 would value prayer : 
 
 " i. That if it be God's will the disease may be arrested. 
 " 2. That he may be able to accept whole-heartedly and 
 
 gladly whatever proves to be God's will in the 
 
 matter. 
 
 " Calcutta. November 26, 1917." 
 
 In July, 1918, Lefroy determined to pay a visit to 
 his old friend and chaplain, Bishop Ferguson Davie, at 
 Singapore, and distinctly to give himself a chance of improved 
 health. The result was disastrous, yet he had the best of 
 attendance and nursing, Mrs. Ferguson Davie being a fully 
 trained doctor. Apparently the Metropolitan had heard news 
 of special treatment, and sulphur springs for arthritis, in or 
 near Singapore. There seemed to be nothing of the kind. 
 From Singapore he went to Java. I give two Java letters. 
 
 " Sungoriti, near Sourabaja, Java, E. : 
 "September 4, 1918. 
 
 " At last, to-day, I have reached my ultima thule, and it 
 remains to be seen what comes of it. In some ways it seems 
 
 1 They arrived at Delhi.
 
 252 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 to me the most daft performance of my life, coming off to 
 this strange and distant land, with practically no single 
 point of contact or friendship, in the present unsatisfactory 
 condition of my health. I am not, however, going to attempt 
 fuller explanation or justification at present, in part because 
 I fancy my last two (one of these never arrived) letters from 
 Singapore will have enabled you to understand something of 
 the difficulties by which I was surrounded, in part because I 
 am a bit tired with the day's journey, my temperature is 
 going up again a little, and I don't think it would be wise to 
 write much, and the mail leaves at 5 a.m. to-morrow. I had 
 a satisfactory interview with a keen little Dutch doctor in 
 Sourabaja yesterday. He examined me all over, pronounced 
 me absolutely sound in every respect, maintained that I ought 
 not to take the lameness, etc., too seriously, as it was some- 
 times far worse ! and quite approved of my coming on to this 
 little health resort (you will not find it marked on any map, it 
 is merely an hotel and some natural hot sulphur springs) to 
 get the freshness I have been so pining for and to try the 
 baths, though he doesn't lay much stress on these and regards it 
 as purely experimental. The air is pleasant, though it is not so 
 high as I had been told, only about 2000 feet. The hotel is 
 very empty, not a trace of an English face, all Dutch or 
 German, I think chiefly the former. I have been most 
 fortunate in securing a ' courier ' to bring me up here, the one 
 Church of England chaplain in Java, meeting me at Batavia, 
 the first port of call, and then coming on the two days in the 
 steamer and then bringing me up here. Unfortunately he has 
 to start back at 5 a.m. to-morrow, so as to be in time for his 
 Sunday work in Batavia, and then I shall be left wholly 
 alone. How long I shall be able to stick it, or what will 
 come of the whole quaint enterprise, I haven't an idea, the 
 one thing that has driven me to it being the extraordinary 
 difficulty of knowing what else to do or where else to go. 
 Unless I make improvement fairly quickly, I shall simply 
 make a rush back to India by the very first boat I can get, 
 though in these days that leaves a very large margin of un- 
 certainty. But I begin to feel that, whatever there may be to 
 be said on the other side, I simply must get back to friends 
 again. There is a weekly mail from here to Singapore, and I 
 am writing for that, what subsequent delays there may be 
 before the letter travels westwards, no one can say in the 
 least. The low fever in the evenings has not broken yet, and 
 the hip pain is pretty bad, but I think things will improve 
 now. You won't be anxious knowing in Whose keeping I
 
 THE LAST MONTHS 253 
 
 am. Mr. Colman and I have just read Evensong with the 
 xxiii. Psalm." 
 
 "Sungoriti: September II, 1918. 
 
 " How very nice it would be if I could give you something 
 in a brighter strain than my last few effusions, but it would 
 only be unreal if I were to try to do so to-day. Apparently 
 things have got to get worse before they can get better, at 
 any rate, I am very nearly^on my beam ends, or is it beam's 
 end ! I have put in just a week here to-day : in many ways 
 the place is quite nice, with charming quiet, and I am taking 
 the hot sulphur baths twice daily, though without the smallest 
 perceptible result. But the pain in my hip has got worse, 
 and sometimes I feel that I cannot stick it out longer up 
 here, cut off from doctors and all medical appliances, and 
 must make a bolt for Sourabaja, where I believe they have a 
 quite good European hospital, and see what they can do for 
 me in it. The fever also returns regularly every day, and 
 altogether perhaps you can imagine that things don't look 
 rosy. One little relief to my loneliness I have found, a nice 
 young Dutchman living in the hotel comes in every evening 
 to translate the war news for me from his Dutch newspaper. 
 He knows very little English and the process is quaint, but I 
 have procured a dictionary, and we get along somehow. Also, 
 as a return, I gave him a beating at chess yesterday. But as 
 to one thing I have quite made up my mind at last, and I 
 think it will be a relief to you, to get back to India as soon 
 as I possibly can so as to be amongst friends again, with 
 proper appliances, etc., etc. Of course it doesn't mean that I 
 shall resume charge at once. I am utterly unfit for that at 
 present, indeed, the whole future is wrapt in uncertainty at 
 present, and I am not even trying to look ahead. But I am 
 simply craving to be back, it outweighs every consideration. 
 Sailings are, however, most irregular in these parts, and it is 
 one thing to say I have determined to get back as quick as I 
 can, quite another to make the least forecast as to when that 
 will be. I was told in Sourabaja, where I was the guest of 
 one of the partners in the chief shipping firm, that there may 
 be a cargo boat sailing very shortly from there direct to 
 Calcutta. This would mean a great deal to me, and I have 
 asked my friend to do all he can to manage it. The 
 alternative is to go back to Singapore, sailing from here 
 D.V. I Qth inst., then get a steamer for Penang, about thirty- 
 six hours, then wait there for one to Rangoon, six or seven 
 days' run, and from there boats go twice weekly to Calcutta. 
 But you can imagine what all this knocking about would
 
 254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 mean in my present condition. Well, my very dear ones, I 
 won't depress you further or needlessly. As you know, I am 
 all the time in the very best of keeping and things will work 
 together for good some way or other. I will do my best to 
 write cheerier before long." 
 
 Wearily but as courageous as ever, Lefroy returned to 
 India, and to Ranchi to Foss Westcott. 
 
 " Bishop's Lodge, Ranchi : October 16, 1918. 
 
 " I reached my Mecca this morning, with thankfulness 
 and joy. The drier, colder air, for which I have been pining 
 so long, when I awoke this morning acted like a tonic, and I 
 feel better, and in better heart, than I have for long. 1 ' 
 
 On October 29 he writes to Archdeacon Firminger pre- 
 paring him for resignation. In November he wrote home 
 for the first time by another hand, preparing his relatives for 
 it. He was taken to Calcutta on December 3, with what care 
 some letters I give will show. Then on December 6 he wrote 
 his last letter home. 
 
 " Woodburn Ward, Presidency General Hospital, Calcutta : 
 
 "December 6, 1918. 
 "MY DARLING SISTERS, 
 
 " Once again a communication in this way is the only 
 alternative to silence practicable, viz., by an amanuensis. 
 
 " Three days ago I received your letters of October I4th, 
 23rd, and 28th. I will not stop to comment on them, though 
 there is so much to say, especially about the Leinster (!) but 
 will proceed at once to give you what I know you chiefly 
 desire, the latest news about myself. I haven't got here a 
 copy of my letter to you covering the Archbishop's, but I 
 fancy that was the last thing to bring you up to date. Not 
 long after that, the doctor in whose charge I was at Ranchi 
 advised me to return to Calcutta, not as being in any way 
 better but because he thought the cold was too great there, 
 and that the milder climate of Calcutta would be better. It 
 was a great pleasure to me. I must say a word about the 
 railway journey down, for it really was very remarkable. The 
 first part, at any rate, of the road, is very jolty and shaky, 
 and every one was anxious as to how it would affect me in 
 view of the great tenderness of my right leg. I fully shared 
 the feeling myself. In the result I reached Calcutta having 
 had a much better night than I had had in my own bed for
 
 THE LAST MONTHS 255 
 
 some time past, having had no single twinge of pain, and 
 slept well. Of course all kinds of arrangements had been 
 made for me beforehand to soften the difficulties of the 
 journey, but I cannot help thinking that this is very re- 
 markable. I reached Calcutta on Wednesday and the 
 pleasure of being in my own bed again was greater than I 
 can tell you. And then, lo ! this morning my doctor came 
 and said he was quite sure that I was not giving myself the 
 best chance by staying in my own house with somewhat im- 
 perfect nursing and other arrangements, and he very strongly 
 advised me to move across to a first-class European hospital 
 there is here, name at the top of the paper. Of course I did 
 what he advised, but the disappointment was very great. 
 When I tell you that the only way in which I could get 
 from the station to my house and from there to the hospital 
 was by being carried on a stretcher in a motor ambulance, 
 you will understand a little the condition of impotence to 
 which I am reduced. Here, however, I am in the hands of 
 what many consider the leading doctor in Calcutta, while a 
 wonderful man, whose name may possibly have reached you, 
 Sir Leonard Rogers, a great bacteriologist, has also thrown 
 himself keenly into the case, and most assuredly they will do 
 all that lies in their power. 
 
 " I will not disguise from you that personally I consider 
 the issue very uncertain, though I have no doubt whatever as 
 to the necessity of my resignation at a comparatively early 
 date. It is very sad indeed that at such a time, when it 
 would mean so much to us to be together, we are so very, 
 very far apart, but this is part of God's ordering for our life, 
 and there is nothing more to be said. 
 
 " May the Heavenly Father bless and keep you at all 
 times." 
 
 It is not easy to decide how much he of whom I am 
 honoured to write would have cared to have details of his 
 illness published, but his thousands of friends will be glad if 
 I add a few words from some who tended him in his last 
 days. 
 
 Bishop Foss Westcott writes from Ranchi : 
 
 " The fever baffled the Ranchi doctors, as it had those else- 
 where, and when it refused to yield to treatment it seemed 
 best that he should be moved to the Cottage Hospital where 
 he could receive the skilled attendance he needed. The 
 hospital had only recently been opened and is beautifully
 
 256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 fitted up, and he could not have been more comfortable than 
 he was there. It is situated about a mile and a half from the 
 Mission, which imposed limits on the frequency of one's visits, 
 but I saw him daily, and other members of the missionary 
 body looked in from time to time, for he liked to receive visitors 
 and missed the friends who would have called to see him had 
 he been in Calcutta. Despite the fever he continued to deal 
 with his correspondence and spoke of various subjects which 
 were occupying his thoughts at the time. One matter in 
 particular weighed much upon his mind a case of discipline 
 dating back to the time when he was Bishop of Lahore in 
 which while accepted at the time, the justice of his action had 
 later been called in question. He dwelt upon this subject much, 
 and it deeply troubled him ; he felt that he could not modify 
 his decision in the matter, and that misunderstanding was 
 largely responsible for the situation that had arisen. Believing 
 that C. F. Andrews might be able to help him in the case he 
 wired an invitation to him to come up to Ranchi, which met 
 with a ready response, though Andrews was at the time on the 
 opposite side of India. The interview was encouraging, for 
 Lefroy was able to explain certain features of the case which 
 Andrews had not rightly understood before, and he left full 
 of hope that he would be able to remove the misunderstand- 
 ings and secure the recognition of the essential justice 
 of the Bishop's action. Shortly afterwards Lefroy received 
 letters both from Andrews and the priest concerned which 
 greatly cheered him, and before the Bishop's death Andrews 
 was able to assure him that the matter was completely 
 settled, an assurance which brought immense relief to the 
 Bishop's mind, 
 
 " Ranchi is fortunate in that the Civil Surgeon has at his 
 command a supply of radium, and the doctors, without being 
 able to give any sure prediction of benefit from its application 
 in the Bishop's case, thought that at least it was worth while 
 trying it. Accordingly the trial was made, but was continued 
 only a short time, for certain distressing symptoms which later 
 supervened were at any rate in the Bishop's mind definitely 
 associated with its application. 
 
 " On Thursdays and Sundays when in Ranchi I celebrated 
 the Holy Communion in his room, and in my absence the 
 Rev. R. Gee was generally able to do so. I had to leave 
 Ranchi on the 1 3th of November to attend the annual meeting 
 of the National Missionary Council at Benares. Of that 
 Council the Bishop had been president since its first inception, 
 and in that capacity he had won the affection and admiration
 
 THE LAST MONTHS 257 
 
 of all its members. As chairman at its meetings, his trans- 
 parent fairness, the patience with which he listened to every one 
 who felt he had views to express, the delightful humour which 
 often relieved the tension when divergent opinions seemed to 
 threaten the maintenance of harmony, and above all his deep 
 spirituality which helped us at all times to feel the reality of 
 the Divine Presence, and never allowed us to forget that the 
 business on which we were engaged was the King's business, and 
 our aim His glory. The account I had to give of the Bishop's 
 health evoked deep sympathy, and a message was sent him. On 
 the second day of our meeting a telegram reached me saying 
 that pneumonia had supervened on an attack of influenza, and 
 that he was very low. While in doubt as to whether I ought 
 not to return a second message brought more reassuring news, 
 and from that time he made good progress. His chaplain, the 
 Rev. J. Godber, had by now returned from his duty in Kashmir, 
 to the great relief of the Bishop who had sorely missed him 
 from the office in Calcutta. He at once went up to Ranchi to 
 see the Bishop, and during the week he spent there was able 
 to assist the Bishop in clearing off various items of business, to 
 his great relief, for he intensely disliked delay in dealing with 
 matters which were brought before him. At this time he sent 
 out a letter to the Bishops of the Province preparing them for 
 resignation. 
 
 " But it was not only the cooler atmosphere of Ranchi that 
 he had longed for, the Bishop had a great capacity for friend- 
 ship and he had felt keenly the absence of any companion on 
 his journey. On more than one occasion he had spoken to 
 me in Calcutta of his sense of isolation, and as the advance 
 of the arthritis had increasingly limited his powers of getting 
 about this sense of loneliness had grown upon him. During 
 his voyage he was left practically entirely to himself, and he 
 longed for a companion. Before he left India his friends had 
 been doubtful as to the wisdom of his going, but he felt 
 himself that he must get out of India to gain that complete 
 rest from his work which was imperative, and no other way 
 seemed open to him. Moreover, just when other doors had 
 been closed the invitation from his old friend the Bishop of 
 Singapore arrived, and it seemed providential. To one who 
 lived so constantly under the sense of the reality of God's 
 guidance, this was a sufficient argument for taking the journey, 
 and when speaking of the long tour afterwards he would 
 always say, ' From the point of view of health it has been a 
 grievous disappointment,' and one felt that he believed that it 
 had served some higher purpose and had not been in vain."
 
 2 5 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 Miss Violet Saunders writes : 
 
 " Of his visit to Singapore in the summer of 1918 he wrote 
 on his return saying, ' I can safely say it has been the worst 
 experience in my life, it is like a nightmare to look back 
 upon.' The pain in his hip gave him indescribable agony. 
 He had with him all the time a most faithful and devoted 
 Christian servant who helped him in every way he could, but 
 the knocking about and the damp climate did him much harm, 
 from which he never recovered." 
 
 On Dec. 3, the Metropolitan supported by loving friends, 
 see his letter of Dec. 6, returned to Calcutta and entered the 
 hospital, where he was nursed by Sister Katherine Maud, of 
 the Clewer Community, and ministered to by his devoted 
 chaplain the Rev. J. Godber as well as Canon Stuart. Near 
 him all the while were also Mrs. McGuire, and his faithful 
 Indian servant, Selwan. Mrs. McGuire was for years the 
 faithful servant of Bishop Matthew. When Bishop Matthew 
 was succeeded by George Lefroy as Bishop of Lahore, Mrs. 
 McGuire continued her services at Lahore and at Simla, and 
 accompanied the Bishop to Calcutta, and remained with him 
 to the end, much beloved, and Bishop Lefroy has provided 
 for her generously in his will. And here it may be as well to 
 say that, with the exception of a few legacies, the Bishop 
 bequeathed all his property for the advancement of Church 
 work in India, directing that the endowment of the Assam 
 Bishopric should have the first claim if the necessary funds 
 had not been obtained at the time of his death. The residue 
 he divided between the Cambridge Mission, Delhi the 
 S.P.G. educational work in the Diocese of Lahore, and the 
 Calcutta Diocesan Council. It will also be of interest to 
 know that the Assam Bishopric Endowment Fund had been 
 completed by the time of the Bishop's death. But to con- 
 tinue, the Metropolitan was able to transact business at first 
 and went to the extreme limit of strength to do so. A notice 
 outside his room precluded visitors, but in spite of this he 
 used to say, "If there are any wishing to speak to me let them 
 come : go and see if any one is waiting outside. I am sure 
 many want to speak to me. I would rather hurt myself a 
 little than harm the Church." He even used to raise his voice
 
 THE LAST MONTHS 259 
 
 and say, " If any one is waiting outside let him come in." It 
 had been arranged that the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, should 
 pay him a visit ; but the doctor suggested postponement. 
 Lefroy said, " I think it would be better to ask His Excellency 
 to postpone his visit until the day before he leaves Calcutta." 
 It was on that day, indeed, that the Viceroy came, but it was 
 to attend his funeral. Throughout those days of Advent he 
 received the sacrament when he could, but could endure fatigue 
 less and less, and begged those round him to pray that he 
 might keep his attention. About Christmas Day he became 
 gradually unconscious, but at times ejaculated sentences, such 
 as, " Dear Father of mankind, I only want to do Thy Will : I 
 just want strength to do it." Just as at Ranchi he was con- 
 tinually ministered to by the Rev. R. Gee and Mrs. Gee, so in 
 Calcutta the Rev. T. Godber and Mrs. Godber and Miss Violet 
 Saunders were ever at hand. On Dec. 25 he finally signed his 
 deed of resignation, dated for Jan. I, 1919. On that very date, 
 the Feast of the Circumcision, he passed away late at night. 
 As soon as he had breathed his last he was clad in his robes 
 and taken to the Palace. On Jan. 2, in the evening, the body 
 was removed to the cathedral, the Processional Cross and 
 Pastoral Staff were laid upon the coffin and the clergy kept 
 watch all night. At 7.30 a.m. on Jan. 3 there was a celebra- 
 tion of Holy Communion, and a very large company. At 
 8.30 a.m the Funeral Service was attended by the Viceroy 
 and Lady Chelmsford, the Commander-in-Chief, the Governor 
 of Bengal, and by a great concourse of people, and it added 
 a delightful touch to the Funeral Service that the Greek Archi- 
 mandrite not only attended but offered a prayer. The body 
 was borne to the grave by officers of the Calcutta Light Horse 
 and laid between two beautiful trees at the east end of the 
 cathedral, the Cross and Staff having previously been taken 
 from off the coffin and placed on the altar of the cathedral. 
 All felt that there was nothing sad about the service : it was 
 the passing in triumph of one of the Lord's standard bearers, 
 and as the band played the last hymn, " Now the labourer's 
 task is o'er," perhaps there was joy that a life of heroic suffer- 
 ing had been ended, and the river crossed to where "the 
 trumpets sounded."
 
 260 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ALFRED LEFROY 
 
 TESTIMONIES 
 
 I gather up a few expressions of the feelings of those who 
 knew him best, in public or in private life, as they looked back 
 on his completed earthly life. 
 
 Lord Curzon writes : " He was a man for whom I had the 
 warmest regard and admiration. Bishop Lefroy seemed to 
 me to combine in a wholly exceptional degree personal 
 sanctity of character and life, with mundane sympathies and 
 practical ability. He had the zeal of a crusader, the heart of 
 a woman, and the spirits of a boy. He was a man to love 
 and to remember." 
 
 In 1913 Canon and Mrs. Barnett visited the Punjab on 
 their Indian tour. The following extract is from a letter in 
 Canon Barnett's " Life " : " We spent ten days with Lefroy, 
 and remember him as a man with the power of God in 
 him. I hope indeed he may be consulted so that govern- 
 ment may be carried on as in the presence of God." 
 
 The Harvest Field of February, 1919, voices the opinion of 
 the Free Churches, as follows : " India is the poorer for the 
 translation of Bishop Lefroy from earth to heaven. . . . We 
 interviewed him for the Harvest Field more than thirty years 
 ago, and we were then impressed with his courtesy, frankness, 
 and high Christian principle. The idea was current that the 
 members of the Cambridge Brotherhood had embraced a life 
 of asceticism and devotion. He assured us that they had all 
 they needed, and that from a temporal point of view they 
 lacked nothing, nevertheless one could see that these scholarly 
 men had made the supreme sacrifice. The offering in 
 Lefroy's case was never recalled. The sacrifice remained on 
 the altar to the end. Advancement in ecclesiastical rank 
 made no difference." 
 
 A lady writes : " He had no idea how he was honoured 
 for his saintly life and for the humble dignity with which he 
 filled his office." 
 
 The above will suffice as quotations. Appreciations of 
 him are piled beside me, but I think he of whom I have 
 written would rather I reproduced no more. 
 
 I will try and gather up the words of love and reverence 
 of all who knew him in as few sentences as possible. Surely
 
 THE LAST MONTHS 261 
 
 he was, if I may use a phrase already consecrated, "a very 
 gallant gentleman." 
 
 One of his striking graces was generosity. He always 
 judged generously, with the result that persons so judged 
 lived up to the estimate. In the same way his acts of kind- 
 ness gained by the manner in which they were done. Nor 
 can any one doubt that there never was an honester or more 
 outspoken person. Evidently it was hard for him to keep 
 anything back, and his extreme candour was occasionally a 
 source of trouble to those who gave him advice, presumably 
 confidential, about the merits or otherwise of individuals. 
 
 A glance at his face would, I think, tell any one that 
 he was not a man to browbeat or threaten. Then he became 
 adamant, and would take action regardless of consequences. 
 Nor can any one help being struck by the fearlessness of 
 his utterances. It seemed natural to him, after observing 
 the existence of an abuse, to devote himself to its extinction, 
 and such was the transparency of his character that he ex- 
 cited admiration rather than hostility even among those 
 whom he attacked. If we couple with this his Irish humour, 
 his love of fun, his boyish spirits, his immense courage under 
 the attacks of pain and disablement, we get a character to 
 be loved and reverenced. Add once more an intensely de- 
 votional nature, a faith which never had a cloud upon it, a 
 life of prayer if ever there was one in the case of a first-rate 
 man of affairs, and we may assert that he adorned the offices 
 he held. High and noble indeed are the traditions of Indian 
 missionaries and of Indian bishops. It would be impossible 
 to raise them higher ; all that the best can do is to sustain 
 them, to add one more example for inspiration for succeed- 
 ing generations. George Lefroy was not found wanting ; he 
 did sustain the highest of those traditions as a fearless and 
 devoted missionary, and as a great Bishop and Metropolitan. 
 He lies, where I think he would desire to be laid, among 
 the people for whom he gave his whole working life ; with 
 Allnutt and Carlyon, his earliest companions as missionaries ; 
 with the majority of the Bishops of Calcutta ; a very gallant 
 Christian gentleman. 
 
 S 2
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury, at my request, has sent 
 me the following words. There could be no better conclusion 
 for this biography. 
 
 " I do not think that among the scores of men with whom I am 
 in constant or occasional touch about the Missionary problems of 
 the world there is any one who has given me quite the same sense 
 of continued enthusiasm and steadiness. The width of his know- 
 ledge was great. But what impressed me, time after time, even 
 more than what he knew, was the deep Christian sanity of the man 
 himself. He was in many respects my ideal of a Missionary leader, 
 and I have been deeply stirred by noticing the impression he left 
 upon statesmen and other public men to whom I introduced him. 
 In regard to our larger Missionary polity I can truly say that I miss 
 him at every turn."
 
 INDEX 
 
 ADMISSION of converts, 118 
 
 Aghaderg, I, n, 54 
 
 Ahmed Masih, 85, 88, 95 
 
 Aix-les-Bains, 239 
 
 Allnutt, Rev. S. S., 12, 58, 104, 129, 
 
 251 
 
 Ambala, 15 
 
 Andrew's Homes, St., 237 
 Anglo-Indians, 227, 229 
 Anointing, 250 
 Arabic, 63, 75 
 Archdeacon, Indian, 191 
 Army White Cross, 131 
 Assam, Bishop of, 250 
 Assam, Diocese of, 224, 240 
 Assam, tour in, 236 
 Athy, 2 
 
 BANNU, 4 
 
 Baptist Mission, 207 
 
 Barnard, Miss H., 201 
 
 Barry, Bishop, 90 
 
 Bateman, Rev. R., 136 
 
 Bazaar preaching, 29, 63, 67, 72 
 
 Bengali, 235 
 
 Benson, Archbishop, 90, 92 
 
 Besant, Mrs., 173, 184 
 
 Beynon, Deaconess K., 193 
 
 Bickersteth, Rev. E., 9, 14, 58, 89 
 
 Bickersteth Hall, 69, 71, 80, 88 
 
 Bishops' College, 228 
 
 Bishops' Council, 131 
 
 Blackett, Rev. H. F., 10, 57 
 
 Bourne, Rev. C. W., 7 
 
 Busti, Christian, 37 
 
 CALCUTTA, 223 
 
 Calcutta, appointment to, 220 
 
 Calcutta Diocesan Conference, 244 
 
 Cambridge, 9 
 
 Carlyon, Rev. H. C., IO 
 
 Change of Capital, 211 
 
 Chelmsford, Lord, 259 
 
 China, 177 
 
 Chumars, 21, 29, 32 
 
 Church Education League, 229 
 
 Churches, use of, 150 
 
 Churchill, Rev. W., 7 
 
 Climate, 25 
 
 College, life at, 22 
 
 Commentaries, 186 
 
 Conciliation, 107 
 
 Confession, 203 
 
 Copleston, Bishop, 139, 182, 216 
 
 Cunningham, Rev. B. K., 56 
 
 Curtis, 3 
 
 Curzon, Lord, 183, 260 
 
 DARYAZANJ, 14, 37, 56 
 
 Delhi, new, 218 
 
 Devotional habits, 51 
 
 Dornakal, Bishop of, 175, 238, 248 
 
 Duke and Duchess of Connaught, 138 
 
 Durbar, Delhi, 137 
 
 Durrant, Bishop, 238 
 
 Dust-storm, 25, 61 
 
 EARTHQUAKE, 150 
 Elliott, Sir G., 112 
 Ely, Bishop of, 1 1 
 Episcopal Synod, 173 
 
 FAITH-HEALING, 224 
 Faquir, 30, 33 
 Father's death, 51 
 Forgiveness of enemies, 226 
 French, Bishop Valpy, 9, 15, 130 
 Frere, Sir Bartle, 10 
 "Fret not" sermon, 152 
 Frontier tour, 146 
 Funeral, 259 
 
 GAMBLING, sermons on, 158, 184 
 
 Ganges water, 38 
 
 Gee, Rev. R., 228, 256, 259 
 
 German Missions, 244 
 
 Godber, Rev. J., 57, 257 
 
 Godparents, 200 
 
 Gulf, bridging the, 112 
 
 HAIG, Rev. A., 100 
 Hailstorm, 6 1 
 Hardinge, Lord, 219 
 Harvington, 56 
 Hazaribagh, 121
 
 264 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Headship of Mission, 113 
 Hilda's, St., 132, 193 
 Himalayas, 26, 140, 144 
 Holidays at home, 214 
 Holland, Rev. W., 240 
 Hooper, Dr., 124 
 
 IDOLATRY, 147 
 
 Indian Church Paper, 178 
 
 Islam, 63, 87, 96 
 
 JAMA MUSJID, 138 
 
 Jammu, 87 
 
 Jerusalem, 64 
 
 Jesus Lane Sunday School, 10 
 
 KALIMPONG, Z49 
 
 Kashmir, 145 
 
 Keble, 2 
 
 Kelley, Rev. W., 58 
 
 Kennedy, Dr., 244 
 
 Killiney, 4 
 
 Kilmorony, 2 
 
 Kitchener, General, 187 
 
 Kitchener, Lord, 183, 187, 189 
 
 Kohat, 40 
 
 Kulu Valley, 142 
 
 LAMBETH Conference, 4 
 Lambeth Palace, 239 
 Lepers, 134 
 Lightfoot, Dr., n 
 Loughbrickland, 5 
 Lulu wind, 26 
 
 MACONOCHIE, Mr., 136, 140 
 Maitland, Rev. A., 57, 116, 144 
 Mahommedanism, 90, 97, 102 
 Mankind and the Church, 97, 99 
 Mantle of Prayer, the, 126 
 Maulvi, the blind, 64, 72, 76, 93 
 Marlborough, 6, 134 
 McGuire, Mrs., 258 
 Mediator between Races, 189 
 Mehrowli, 14, 20, 29 
 Metrans, 242 
 Midleton, Bishop, 242 
 Minto, Lady, 184 
 Mission House, 20, in 
 Mirar Shah, 133 
 Morley, Lord, 189, 217 
 Moslems, 17, 122 
 Moral tone of India, 60 
 Murray, Rev. J. D., 10, 57 
 Municipal Work, 106, 108 
 Muscat, 130 
 Mutiny, 20 
 
 NAGPUR, Bishop of, 79 
 National Missionary Council, 256 
 
 National Missionary Society, 175 
 Nehemiah Goreh, 68 
 Newcastle, 3 
 
 OPIUM trade, 177 
 Ordination Candidates, 149 
 Orkneys, 3 
 Oxford Mission, 241, 243 
 
 PALESTINE, 4 
 
 Pan- Anglican Congress, 173 
 
 Panchayat, 37, 39 
 
 Pennell, Dr., 40 
 
 Personal Reminiscences, 119 
 
 Peshawar, 134, 144 
 
 Phillips Brooks, 90 
 
 Prince and Princess of Wales, 151 
 
 Princess, 4 
 
 Provincial Council, 246 
 
 Provincial Synod, 237 
 
 Pundit Janki Nath, 53 
 
 Purdue, Rev. G., 6 
 
 Purity in Army, 248 
 
 Pusey, Dr., 2 
 
 QUEEN'S Jubilee, 107 
 
 RACE Churches, 179 
 
 Racial Problems, 170, 174 
 
 Rajah, 27 
 
 Ram Chandra, Professor, 95 
 
 Ranchi, 254 
 
 Religious Education, 42, 117 
 
 Rice fields, 243 
 
 River travelling, 247 
 
 Rivaz, Sir Charles, 150 
 
 Route, new, 148 
 
 Rownhams, 12 
 
 SAUNDERS, Miss V., 258 
 
 Savernake Forest, 6 
 
 Selwyn, Bishop, 2 
 
 Scott, Mrs. Winckworth, 75 
 
 Shirreff, Rev. J., 93 
 
 Simla, 5, 130 
 
 Singapore, Bishop of, 55, 251 
 
 Singh, Mr. P. L., 120 
 
 Skipton, Mr. H., 229 
 
 Soldiers' Homes, 131 
 
 Southampton, 12 
 
 Spiritual letters, 195 
 
 Stanton, Dr., 9 
 
 Stan ton, Dr. W., 123 
 
 St. Stephen's College, 221 
 
 St. Stephen's High School, 29 
 
 Sunday observance, 35 
 
 Sungoriti, 253 
 
 Syrian Church, 242
 
 INDEX 
 
 265 
 
 TARN Taran, 135 
 Tea Gardens, 143 
 Temple Grove, 6 
 Title, change of, 239 
 Train, discussion in, 85, 87 
 Travancore, 1 8 1, 241 
 Trench, 2, 12, 97 
 Trinity College, 9 
 Tubbs, Rev. N., 229 
 Tucker, Rev., 113 
 
 UNITY, 174 
 
 Unity Retreat, 240 
 Urdu, 119, 129, 135 
 
 WAR, Sermons on, 225 
 Welldon, Bishop, 129 
 Westcott, Bishop, 10, 59, 145 
 Westcott, Dr. Foss, 145, 255 
 Williams, Rev. , 92 
 Winter, Rev. R., 10, 20, 29 
 Womanhood, Sermon on, 5 
 Women's Work, 193 
 
 YOUNG, Sir Mackworth, 139 
 
 THE END 
 
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