.w . . »" « Af^- A «l "' ■ L . '•? r . j -m »:2 i^^j '^'t ^m^HrfA M fISi €ffuvtf^ antr ^tate in Kntita ^ MINUTE BY THE HON. THEODORE C. HOPE, C.S.I, CLE. ORDINARY MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA DATED SEPTEMBER 27, 1883 EDITED WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES BY H. J. MATTHEW, M.A. ARCHDEACON OF LAHORE RIVINGTONS WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON MDCCCLXXXV r ^■tt' f » PREFACE. AMOxa the subjects selected for consideration at the approaching Church Congress at Plymouth, is " The Work of the Church in India among Europeans and Eurasians." It is a subject which has certainly not hitherto received too much attention from Churchmen at home, who are chiefly interested in India as a field for Missions. Nor can the conditions of our work among our own countrymen be understood without a fuller acquaintance than is generally possessed by Churchpeople in England of the relations be- tween Church and State in India, and of the grounds upon which the moderate provision made from public funds for Christian ordinances and ministrations rests. Eecent experience has shown how easily the question may be misrepresented, and the ecclesiastical grants described as a tax laid upon Hindus and Mohammedans to enable well-to-do Christians to go to church without cost, and enjoy all the means of grace at no expense to themselves. The present time, there- fore, seems a peculiarly fitting opportunity for 4 Pi^eface. placing within tliQ reach of English Churchmen the most complete exposition which this subject has yet received. The State Paper which is here reprinted may be found in a Parliamentary Blue Book,^ which is obtainable by any who are disposed to make further inquiry into the question. When the subject of the ecclesiastical grants was before the Governor- Greneral's Council in 1883, a minority, consisting of the late Yiceroy (Marquis of Eipon) and Mr. Ilbert, was in favour of limit- ing the obligations of the Grovernment to sup- plying the spiritual needs of European soldiers and British-born servants employed on State railways, where congregated in considerable numbers. It was not proposed to make the reduc- tion suddenly, but to fill up no vacancies upon the Ecclesiastical Establishment until it was reduced to the proportions considered adequate to give effect to the proposed policy. On the other hand, three members of the Council — the Commander-in-Chief (Sir Donald Stewart), Lieut.-General Wilson, and Sir Stewart Bay ley — contended that the obligations of Grovern- ment, reasonably viewed, extended not only to the military, but to all other Christian servants of Government and their families, though not to the outside public. They advocated the status quo as to the provision for stations exclusively military, or with a mixed military and civil ^ Keturn, East India Ecclesiastical Grants, March 6, 1883.^ — [Ed.] Preface. 5 population ; the ceasing to appoint chaplains to any non-military stations, except the seats of Grovernment or Cathedral towns ; and that this should be done gradually, and not by sudden abolition. With respect to stations with a civil population, they proposed a system of grants in aid, regulated according to the number of Govern- ment servants and their families. While object- ing to Mr. Hope's plan, on the ground that it provided from Government funds for services over which Government would exercise no direct control, they expressed their assent to it in other respects, as maintaining the existing obligation of Government without incurring increased expen- diture ; and preferred to give it their support rather than abandon altogether the obligations which, in respect of providing spiritual ministra- tions for its servants, the Government of India has hitherto recognized. It will be observed that every member of the Supreme Council who has had an Indian career, with the experience accruing therefrom, was con- vinced of the importance of maintaining some such provision as at present exists, for religious purposes. The English character is not strong on the side of imagination, and it may be difficult for those at home to realize the attitude of the Oriental mind towards religion in general, and in particular towards a foreign faith professed by 6 Preface. the ruling power. To the mass of any Eastern community the idea of the State dissociating itself from the support of all religions whatsoever, would be not only unintelligible but repulsive. To Hindu and Mussulman alike the State is a power resting upon a religious sanction. Neither the one nor the other (unless the notion be sug- gested from without) finds any grievance in the provision made by the ruler for the rites of his own religion from State resources. Mr. Hope has drawn attention to a remarkable debate in the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements, when disestablishment had been resolved upon by the Colonial Office. Debate it could scarcely be called ; for, although the Church of England was the only religious body which received aid from the State, and the majority of the Council, including its President, belonged to other denomi- nations, yet every member — Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican alike — rose in turn to express his conviction that the withdrawal of State recognition and material assistance from the one favoured Church, would be a grave political error, and entirely misunderstood by the native popula- tion, chiefly Mohammedan. So unanimous, so earnest, so manifestly disinterested was the testi- mony of this legislative body, that it availed in arrest of judgment, and the despatch from the Colonial Office was withdrawn. The same unan- imity, it will be seen, substantially exists among Preface. 7 Indian officials of experience, who appreciate the attitude of the native mind towards such questions. As an illustration of the fact that the natives of India like to see their rulers make much of their religion, I may be forgiven for recalling an incident in my own experience as an Indian chaplain. Some fifteen years ago, when I was garrison chaplain of Fort William, Calcutta, a native regiment, in the ranks of which there was not a single Christian, received new colours. The commandant of the regiment requested me to take part in the ceremony and to consecrate the colours with a religious service. I must confess to having at first demurred, owing to the absence of precedent, and knowing with how much jealousy the authorities regard any interference of chaplains with their sepoys. At my request, the colonel called his native officers together to consult them, and received an unqualified assur- ance that, so far from the Christian consecration being resented, the men would rather sympathize with the wish of their officers. The result was that when the regiment was paraded to receive from the general commanding the division their new standard, I conducted the English service for the consecration of colours with my surpliced choir. It is not, however, my desire to enter here into arguments which will be found more ably stated in the Minute which follows. Mr. Hope, it will be observed, does not merely defend the principle 8 Preface. upon which the ecclesiastical grants are made, or justify their amount, but goes on to advocate a permanent settlement on the basis of concurrent endowment, recognizing the equal rights of the various Christian bodies to a share in the distri- bution, together with equal independence of State control. The Church of England would, no doubt, be to some extent a pecuniary loser by the adop- tion of Mr. Hope's scheme, while the Nonconfor- mists and Roman Catholics would receive a larger share of the allotment than at present. But there would be a full equivalent for any small surrender the Church might be called upon to make, in the stimulus given to corporate life and individual liberality, and in bringing the clergy into a more homogeneous body. One of the weakest points in our Indian Church system is the marked separation which exists between various sections of clergy serving the same Church — Grovernment chaplains, aided clergy, and missionaries — not in doctrine and opinion, but in sphere of work and status. Nothing would do more to consolidate the Church and to unify her work than a frank recognition that the Grovernment endowment was meant for the benefit of all its professing members, whether official or non-official, whether Native or Anglo- Indian, or British-born. H. J. M. Simla, July 17, 1885. INTRODUCTION. 4/ In February, 1880, her Majesty's Secretary of State for India laid before the House of Commons certain returns, prepared on the motion of Mr. Baxter, showing the expenditure in the Eccle- siastical Department for the year 1876-77, to- gether with the numbers and emoluments of all clergy in the service of Government, and the average attendance of civil and military servants of the Queen at services conducted by them, for the year 1879. To the returns were appended an important letter from the Metropolitan, and useful explanatory remarks by the Archdeacon of Cal- cutta. From these returns were excluded, under a strict interpretation of the motion, not only the families of the higher civil and military servants, but the whole body of inferior Government clerks, pensioners, and servants of municipalities, as well as the entire non-official population, although the clergy are officially required to provide ministra- tions for all such. The returns were further 1 The first three paragraphs are not reprinted, as they refer exclu- sively to the opinions of Mr. Hope's colleagues in Council. But it has been thought more convenient to adhere to the original numbering of paragraphs. — [Ed.] lo Church a7td State in India. reduced by the absence of a large portion of the army in Afghanistan. 5. In consequence of certain questions by Mr. Baxter, the Secretary of State for India inquired of the Government of India (No. 55, dated 17th June, 1880) whether any chaplains were appointed where they were not really required. In reply, the Grovernment of India forwarded, with an ex- pression of their general concurrence, a letter from the Metropolitan, explaining that no stations were served at all unless they contained a suffi- cient number of Government servants ; that the smaller stations could only be visited periodically by the clergy of larger stations (often at a con- siderable distance), with which they were grouped ; that even thus the number of clergy was inade- quate to prevent gaps sometimes remaining long unfilled, and that stations where there were no officials supported their own clergy entirely. 6. In reply to this communication, the Secre- tary of State observed (No. 68, dated 23rd June, 1881) that the facts unquestionably showed that the number of chaplains was not in excess of what the Metropolitan deemed to be the spiritual necessities of his charge, but that this was not the point. His Lordship considered the point to be, " whether the number of chaplains goes beyond the obligations of Government reasonably under- stood," and required that " the Government of India should express specifically its own opinion " Church and State in India. upon it, " in order to enable me to deal adequately with the subject in Parliament, and also on account of its own importance." 7. The issue now before the Government of India is, therefore, perfectly plain. In view of its vast importance, no less than of the neces- sity, in order to its due consideration, of bringing together into an accessible form the mass of infor- mation relevant to it which is now buried in the records, I propose to deal with it at some length, offering, first, a sketch of the existing system ; next, a comparison of it with the reasonably- understood obligations of Government ; thirdly, a discussion of the principal objections to it ; and, finally, some suggestions as to the course which I consider should be adopted for the future. Sketch of the Existing System. 8. The population of British India is found statistics of Chris- ^y the ccusus of 1880 to be divided, lan popu ation. ^^.^.Q^^jj^g ^q rcligious beliefs, in the manner shown below : — Hindus. Mahome- tans. Abori- gines. Buddh- ists. Chris- tians. Sikhs. Jains. 144,874,665 45,127,033 4,677,688 3,418,476 1,175,620 1,253,115 i 448,897 Satna- mi. Kabir- panthi. Nat. worship. Parsi. ' Jew. Brahmo and Kuin- bhipatia. Unspe- cified. Total. 358,161 294,474 143,581 73,760 9506 183a 38,463 201,895,287 12 Church and State iii India. The Christians are found in the several pro- vinces in the undermentioned proportions : — Bengal. Assam. Burma. North- western Provinces. Punjab. Ajmere. 128,135 7,093 84,219 47,673 33,699 2,225 Central Provinces. Berar. Bombay. Coorg. Madras, Total. 11,973 1,335 145,045 3,152 711,080 1,175,629 The distribution of the Christian population according to denominations and races cannot be stated with any very great precision, owing partly to the number of persons who have de- scribed themselves simply as Protestants, and partly to omission in many cases to specify race. But the following rough classification of Christians, chiefly European and Eurasian, may be useful : — Church of England | 78,154 Church of Scotland (established and free), Presbyterians, and American Church 8,673 Dissenters, Baptists, Methodists, Wesleyans, Congregationalists, Independents, Moravians, Evan- gelicals, Calvinists, and Lutherans 5,715 Church of Eome 29,083 Greek Church Syrian Church Armenian Church Plymouth Brethren Society of Friends Unspecified 177 10 126 13 9 5,276 Total 127,236 56,516 I 126,202 309,954 26,766 1,635 3,611 22,293 106 4 147 18 18 1,918 29,180 429 5,877 80,969 104 1,614 795 7,234 134,100 10,737 15,203 132,345 387 1,628 1,068 31 27 14,428 Church mid State in India. 13 9. As to the Native Christians, who number 865,675, the bulk of them are to Native Christians, i « , . .n be found m villages or communities of their own, situated chiefly in the Madras Presidency, Burma, Chutia Nagpur, and Western India. Of these, 526,725, chiefly found in Madras and around Bombay, are converts to Eoman Catholicism of the days of Portuguese rule. The apportionment of the remainder is not very clear in the census returns, but 170,000 are known to be in communion with the Church of England through the "Church Missionary" and " Propagation of the Gospel " Societies. Eeligious ministrations for the first-named are supported to some extent by old State grants similar to those enjoyed by Hindus, Mahometans, etc. ; but those for the rest are maintained principally by volun- tary contributions among themselves, supplemented largely by funds raised by Missionary Societies in India and England. Act I. of 1880 {The Reli- gious Societies Act), of the Indian Legislature, was passed to facilitate the due administration of all funds belonging to Christian Churches and reli- gious purposes. Further details regarding Native Christians appear unnecessary for the purpose now in hand. 10. The European and Eurasian (Indo-Euro- pean) community, on whose account European and \ r^ • • Eurasian Christians the State maintains, or hclps to classified. . . maintain, a certain number of 14 Church and State in India. clergy, are classed as follows bj Archdeacon Balj (Calcutta), in a very valuable letter (with elaborate appendix) addressed to the Metropolitan on the 28th April last, and among the papers now before us : — A. British soldiers of all grades, both regi- mental and on staff employ. B. European Civil Servants of Government, Covenanted and Uncovenanted. C. Europeans and Eurasians, born and settled in the country, employed in a subordi- nate capacity by Government, as clerks, etc., or being the children or descendants of those who are -or have been so em- ployed. D. European employes on the State and Guaranteed Eailways. E. Europeans and Eurasians, unconnected with Government service, and fairly well-to- do, as merchants, tradesmen, planters, etc. F. The very poor European and Eurasian population, found principally in the larger cities and stations, and in great part the children and descendants of European workmen, soldiers, and clerks. They are unemployed, living a precarious hand-to-mouth kind of life, and generally helpless and thriftless. I i Church and State in India. 15 11. As to such of these persons as belong Congregations *« ^^^ Church of England, the classified. Archdeacon points out that almost all congregations are composed of more than one class, and may be distinguished as under : — I. — Congregations principally, in some cases almost entirely, military. The latter are found only in great stations having a separate military church and chaplain, such as Allahabad, Lucknow, and Meean Meer. The civil element in military con- gregations is comparatively very small, and drawn generally from classes B and C, with a small admixture of E. II. — Congregations principally civilian, and composed generally of classes B^ (7, E and F. With a few exceptions, the great majority in civil congregations are directly or indirectly connected with the Government service, and there is in all of them a small military element, chiefly of officers on the Staff; but in some the proportion of military is very consider- able. III. — Eailway congregations, composed almost entirely, or chiefly, of class D, lY. — Mixed congregations, in which the pro- portions of civil and military are nearly equal. i6 Church ajid State in India. Eegarding the Church of Scotland or similar subsidised bodies, and the Church of Eome, the returns are somewhat imperfect; but it would seem that there are in all about 27 congregations of the former and 67 of the latter, all situated at stations of some importance, containing European troops. Eegarding the numbers comprising these con- gregations, no accurate statistics are available. The defects of those laid before Parliament have already been indicated. But in 1873 it was approximately ascertained that the average number of Europeans under a chaplain's charge was above 700, and under the other clergy from 200 to 300. 12. For these congregations the State employs, as Archdeacon Baly correctly re- The Clergy, and their , duties. marks — " in the proportion which it considers reasonable, the clergy of the three great denominations of English Christianity, viz. of the Anglican, Roman, and Presbyterian Churches, because by far the greater number of Christians belong to one or other of them. It does not, as a rule, employ the clergy of other Protestant denominations, Wesleyans, Baptists, or Congregationalists, partly because they number too few members in any one place to demand a special clergyman, partly because they differ so slightly from one or other of the two Protestant Churches whose clergy are employed, that the cases are very few indeed in which there is a conscientious difficulty of communion with either the Anglican or the Presbyterian Church." Church and State in India. 17 Denomination. Chaplains. Aided Clergy. Total. Church of England ,, Scotland „ Kome ... 160 13 23 40 9 38 200 22 61 Total 196 87 283 The numbers of the clergy so employed in the year 1879 are stated in the Parliamentary return to have been as shown in the The statistics as to the number of congregations they serve are not very com- plete or clear in the return, but they would seem to be approxi- mately 369, as marginally in- dicated, f The out-station system is explained in tlie following extract from a letter from the Metropolitan, dated 25th January, 1881 :— " The chaplains are stationed at the more important stations, and they receive from me visiting orders, of which the following is a specimen : — ' The Chaplain of Dacca will visit Comilla four times a year, Mymensingh three times a year, Furreedpore twice a year, and Sylhet four times a year ' : and in some instances the orders are to visit such and such a station once in six months, or even, in the case of very out-of-the-way stations, once in twelve months. It should be borne in mind that these visits to out-stations involve often a most serious amount of travelling, the distances being some hundreds of C Denomination. Stations. stSts.''""- Church of England „ Scotland „ Rome . . . 142 19 61 136 278 7 ' 26 4 1 6.5 Total 222 147 369 1 8 Church and State in India. miles, and the travelling being by all sorts of modes of conveyance." Besides the out-stations specified, there are many stations of small size, which receive no ecclesiastical ministrations at all. The distribu- tion of the clergy among the congregations as classified in paragraph 11 has not been ascer- tained ; but Archdeacon Baly states that of the Government chaplains, 32 are assigned to class II. against 95 to classes I. and lY. The clergy other than chaplains numbered 68 in January last, of whom 18 received no grants-in-aid from Government. Of the stations they served, 43 belong to class II., 5 to class I., 11 to class III., while 9 were special or under class lY. He also points out that in most cases the clergy have other special duties, such as the charge of jails and hospitals ; and that as regards clergy minis- tering to congregations, as under class II., the wealthy coming under their charge are far out- numbered by those of small means or quite poor, and much the larger portion of their pastoral work lies among the latter, in relieving their poverty and giving them instruction, guidance, and encouragement. 13. On this subject, as on the others, statistics are imperfect ; but it appears from Church buildings. ^ reports on the Church Building Fund and other sources that in the present dioceses of Calcutta and British Burma there are 195 Church and State in India. 19 Year. 1876-77 1S77-78 1878-79 1879-80 Amount. ' Year. Amount. £217,761 21o,596 215,596 208,254 1880-81 1881-82 1882-83 £211,314 222,099 219,692 Anglican churches, which cost £350,000/ and that £190,000 out of this sum was raised by voluntary contributions. Out of the balance of £160,000 borne by Grovernment, £60,000 was for strictly military churches. In the Punjab there are 55 churches. 14. Eegarding the cost to the State of the ecclesiastical establishments in India, I append ^ some returns, ob- tained from the Financial, Military, and Public Works Departments, for the seven years from 1876-77 to 1882-83,' both inclusive. The totals are given in the margin. But it may be remarked that the sanctioned charges are never worked up to in practice, and that the fluctuations of actual expenditure, owing to absences, vacancies, special repairs, etc., go far to account for the variations observable from year to year. Moreover, the ex- penditure shown includes contributions for church building, averaging £1,800 per annum ; but there is a set-ofP of cemetery fees amounting to about £1,000 a year. On the other hand, it does not include pensions, which are mostly paid in England. 1 In conventional sterling. 2 As the totals are given in the margin, it has not been thought necessary to reprint the returns in full. 20 Church and State m India. 15. 'This sketch of the existing system would Voluntary contribn- ^^ incomplete without draAving *^^^^- attention to the large amount of voluntary subscriptions for religious and charitable £ work which supple- CoDtributed in Enarland ... 143,755 , .i i • x* i Ditto in India 64 947 Hient the ecclesiastical Interest from special fnnds... _1U37 ^^^^^^^ ^f ^^^ g^^^^^ Total ... 220,039 rj.^^^ ^^^^^^ thrOUgh the Church of England is stated by Archdeacon Baly to be about £220,000 per annum. The sums similarly raised by the Churches of Scotland and Eome, and by the Nonconformist bodies, cannot be specified, but they are known to be large. No doubt these subscriptions, but especially the portion of them raised in England, are subject to considerable deduction for purely missionary work ; but they do not, on the other hand, comprise the contributions of congregations to the expenses of their own church, or for the relief of the European and Eurasian poor. 16. The resources for the maintenance of Christian worship in British India are thus shown to be of three kinds — (1) endowments to Roman Catholics by the old Portuguese Government, which boldly recognized its duties in this respect ; (2) annual cash grants by the British Government, of which Europeans and Eurasians derive the principal share of benefit; and (3) voluntary subscriptions raised by Christians in India and England. The distribution of the State aid \ C/mrc/i and State in India. 21 between denominations and races may be open to exception, but this is a matter of detail. Taken as a whole, the State aid certainly does not cover half the total necessary expenditure. Existing State Aid comparted with Obligations. 17. The obligations of the State may be described as of three kinds —documentary, moral and religious, and political. Underlying them all is the obvious qualification that they can only be held operative within reasonable limits ; so that, for instance, while, on the one hand, the nature of the duties which both civil and military officers have to perform so scatters them over India that ministrations are justly due to smaller bodies of them than would be a clergyman's full charge in England, no claim can, on the other, be set up on behalf of isolated knots of a dozen or two. 18. The first document on record, to which T. ^ our attention is invited by the Documentary ^ obligations. Secretary of State, is the charter granted by William III. to the East India Company in 1698. This requires them to provide a minister approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London, and a proper place, set apart for divine service only, in " every garrison " and '' superior factory," and in every ship of 500 tons burden or upwards, maintained by them within their limits. It is obvious that any formal 2 2 Clmrch and State in India. document of this kind may become obsolete through changes of circumstances and views. But lapse of time does not appear to have yet wrought very material effects in this instance ; for we find that its essential requirements of Christian clergy, under due ecclesiastical control, for civil (factories) as well as military servants, subject to the reasonable limit of the factory (or ship) being of a certain size, have been acted on, and are applicable, up to the present day. 19. In 1813 the growth of the Company's dominions led to the making of more adequate provision for "a Church establishment," by appointing a Bishop and three Archdeacons (53 Geo. Ill, cap. 155, sections 49-53). The broadness of the phrase quoted ^ is noticeable in connection with the next step which occurred, namely, the appointment of Presbyterian chap- lains in 1822, and with the still more important advance, on a liberal basis, which was made in 1833. I have not yet been able to trace back to its origin the grant of stipends to Roman Catholic clergy for ministrations to the troops ; but I find that such existed in 1828. 20. In 1833 (3 & 4 William IV., cap. 85, sections 89-102), on the occasion of the renewal of the Company's Charter, the Episcopate was enlarged by bishoprics for Madras and Bombay, 1 This broadness was made a ground of argument in 1833 by Mr. Shiel {Hansard, 3rd Series, vol. xx., page 44). Church and State in India, 23 the Bishop of Calcutta being constituted Metro- politan ; but two further measures of the highest importance were also enacted — -first, provision was made for chaplains of the^ Church of Scotland who were to be subject, on the analogy of the Charter of 1698, to the " spiritual and ecclesiastical juris- diction in all things of the presbytery of Edin- burgh ; " and secondly,, power was given to the Governor- General in Council of — *' granting from time to time, with the sanction of the Court of Directors and of the Commissioners for the Affairs of India, to any sect, persuasion, or community of Christians not being of the United Church of England and Ireland, or of the Church of Scotland, such sums of money as may be expedient for the purpose of instruction or for the maintenance of places of worship." 21. The history of this clause is remarkable. It was conceded by the Government in lieu of a clause proposed by Mr. Shiel, who protested against the provision, which the Bill then con- tained, in favour of the Churches of England and Scotland only. It was preceded by debates, originating with Mr. O'Connell, who urged that in India '' they could not have a dominant Church," and that " all Christians should be put upon an equal footing." In these debates the whole question of State aid to religion was gone into. The allegation that it was unjust to support Christianity out of revenues derived from Hindus and Mahometans was refuted by Mr. (afterwards I Lord) Macaulay and others ; the necessity of \ 24 Chiu^ch and State in India. religious ministrations for Christians was vin- dicated ; and Lord Morpeth, on behalf of the Dissenters, disclaimed all objection to the provi- sion for the Churches of England and Scotland. Moreover, Mr. Charles Grant, the President of the India Board, made on behalf of the Government the following declarations : — " This country had no right to send its suVijects abroad without giving them the religious advantages they enjoyed at home ; and it was bound to place within the reach of its Indian subjects the means of attaining the blessings of Christianity. . . . He did not like the idea of connecting domination with any Church. It was with the intention of providing religious instruction for the officers who were sent to govern India that he had proposed the resolution. . . . The Government would neither establish nor promote in India anything which was unfair or intolerant to any religion, meaning certainly only to do honour to the English name, and to the principles of Christianity. . . . He knew that there was a very large Eoman Catholic community in India, who deserved the peculiar regard and consideration of the Government ; and although thej'^ were not prepared to state in what mode or to what extent and under what form their claims would best be satisfied, the Government undertook to apply themselves fairly and sincerely to the task." — (^Hansard, 3rd Series, vol. xix., pages 800, 1020, and 1032 ; and vol. xx., pages 14, 29, and 44.) It should here be noted that in the statute no limitation to Government servants occurs, nor is there in the declarations more than the allusion to them just quoted, which cannot avail against the broad terms in which they and the debate generally are couched, and the references to a " community." CJmrch and State in India, 25 22. Thus was constituted for India, in 1833, a Christian ^ " National Church " in the broadest and most satisfactory sense of the term. The policy of the equality of all creeds before the State, which had already been acted upon by the Company's Grovernment with equal emphasis and success in the case of the faiths of the but lately conquered Mahometan and Hindu, was applied to the several phases of the Christianity of their rulers. This policy has never yet, that I am aware of, been authoritatively changed. Whatever discussion has since arisen has turned upon comparatively subordinate points, relating to the form which the guaranteed aid to the several denominations should assume, and the extent to which, in view of financial or other considerations, it should proceed. 23. The next authoritative utterance on the subject which I have come across is contained in a Despatch from the Court of Directors in 1840 (No. 1, dated 17th March), in which a lakh and a half of rupees are granted for a new cathedral at Calcutta, on the ground that — " the present church accommodation at Calcutta is clearly ^ The term " National Church," it will be observed, is used here and elsewhere by the writer — not of the Established Church of England or Scotland, but of the whole body of Christians — Angli- can, Roman and Nonconformist — to whom State aid is extended under the terms of the Act of 1833. And while speaking of a Christian "National Church" in this sense, he does not contemplate placing it on any more favoured footing than other recognized religions in India.— [Ed.] 26 Church and State in India. insufficient, and it has been admitted by ns to be the duty of Government adequately to provide for its civil and military functionaries the means and services of our religion. Con- sistently with this principle, and . . . we authorize the expenditure," etc. 24. Somewhat later, in 1844, the increase of the Christian population of various classes through- out Bengal and the North- Western Provinces led to the support by the Government of India of a proposal by the Metropolitan for increasing the number of the clergy by appointing Eurasians and Natives to be Uncovenanted Sub- Assistant Chaplains. That the Government at that time contemplated ministrations to the non-official com- munity is attested by the following remarks on the proposal in a Minute by the Hon'ble W. W. Bird :— " It has long been my opinion that the services of such a class of persons are urgently required for the lower orders of Christians belonging to the Established Church with whom this part of India now abounds. . . . The fact is, that the lower orders of Christians above referred to, both European and Native, are grievously neglected. . . . The Ecclesiastical, like all other Departments, must go on increasing with the increase of civilization. ... It will enable us to provide, which no increase of chaplains educated at home will ever do, for the religious wants of an increasing Christian popu- lation, half English, half Native, to which our position in this country unavoidably gives rise, and which, unless those wants are provided for, will, like the Portuguese, rapidly degenerate and become an everlasting disgrace to the British Government." And that ministrations even to Native Chris- I Church and State in India. 2 J tians were not in those days considered beyond the scope of the Government policy, appears both from the above remarks and from the following passage in a Minute by the Hon'ble F. Millett : — "Nor am I aware of any place, excepting perhaps Calcutta, where there is a congregation of Native Christians sufficiently numerous to warrant the entertainment of an ecclesiastical establishment at the expense of Government. . . . Where circumstances are favourable, I should equally advocate the employment of Natives in the manner proposed." The Court of Directors, in their reply (No. 2 of 11th March, 1846), objected to "introducing a lower grade of persons into the sacred office," but made the following remarks : — "We admit it to be our duty to provide the means of spiritual instruction according to the principles of our National Church for the Christian servants of the State and their families. In view to the accomplishment of that important object, the number of chaplains has of late years been largely increased, and we should be prepared to con- sider any proposition which you might, after due inquiry, bring before us for a further augmentation founded on a clearly ascertained exigency of the public service." 25. In 1851-52 a discussion arose as to the selection of stations for Grovernment chaplains, in the course of which Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Peter Grant, then Secretary to the Bengal Government, wrote as follows : — " I have always understood that the old principle, which I have never heard has been authoritatively abandoned, in the distribution of the Company's chaplains, was, first, to provide fully fur the European troops ; secondly, to provide 28 Church and State in hidia. adequately for the Presidency town, where large numbers of Protestant servants of Government of all classes are congre- gated, and where this benefit has been allowed to all the Protestaut residents from very early times ; and thirdly, to distribute all that remains of the strength of the establish- ment, so as best to provide for the easily combined objects of supplying chaplains to the principal stations for civil officers and Native troops officered by Europeans, and of leaving no very large tract of country, in which European public ser- vants and private persons are scattered, wholly without the benefit of a resident clergyman. This principle is intelligible and definite," etc. Tlie Government of India, while declining to lay down any positive rule as to what places should have a chaplain, stated that the principle laid down in Mr. Grant's note appeared sound and proper. The Metropolitan similarly accepted the principle, but complained that there never had been chaplains enough to carry it into effect. Upon this, a further discussion took place, in which much the same views were expressed. Lord Dalhousie endorsing Mr. Grant's principle as " sound and proper." The Court of Directors, to whom these proceedings were reported, approved, in their reply (No. 4, dated 2nd August, 1853), of the decision to lay down no rule, and took no exception to the principle thus recognized. 26. In the proceedings summarised in the three preceding paragraphs two opposite tenden- cies will be observed. The Government of India, in harmony with the practice commencing from the times when non- officials were admitted to CJuu'ch mid State in India. 29 India, and with the absence of any restriction to officials in the Statute and Declarations of 1833, persistently counted non-officials among those to whom ministrations of clergy were to be extended. At the same time, they made their public servants of all grades the basis of their distribution of chaplains, and did not admit any liability for " miscellaneous congregations of Christians wher- ever they may grow up in this vast territory." The Court of Directors, on the other hand, un- willing, as it would seem, to give formal re- cognition of the existence of non-officials, would allude only to the needs of officials, civil as well as military, and their families y while the increased grants they gave were in reality based to a con- siderable extent upon the needs of both. I may here remark, parenthetically, that it does not seem that any limitation of support to the Church of England can be inferred from the use of the term " our National Church " in the Despatch of 1846, in face of the Statute and Declarations of 1833, coupled with the fact that Presbyterians were in receipt of State support as early as 1822, and Roman Catholics at some date prior to 1828. Moreover, the phrase itself appears to have been merely echoed from the Despatch of the Government of India, No. 10 of lYih August, 1844, into which it entered through having been used by the Metropolitan in describing his pro- posals. 30 Church and State in India. 27. Some farther steps may now be noticed, occurring after the transfer of India to the Crown. In 1859 another permanent addition to the chaplains was sanctioned by Sir Charles Wood (Despatch No. 23 of 4th November, 1859), after a discussion in which the subscriptions of the Calcutta general community to the Additional Clergy Society and charitable objects were ad- mitted as a ground for not pressing them to pay for certain of the chaplains in that city. In 1863 the system of grants-in-aid to the Additional Clergy Society, for services of their clergy at stations where Government chaplains were re- quired but not available, which had been in- troduced in 1855, was largely developed. In 1869 the system was extended to the Church of Scotland with reference to Presbyterian soldiers, and in some other cases. I may here remark that throughout the period under review the Churches both of Scotland and of Eome from time to time pressed their claims for increased support under the Declarations of 1833, and made them good to some extent in the face of considerable opposition, chiefly on financial grounds. The last material increase I know of was obtained by the Roman Catholics in 1876. 28. I must now notice a tendency adverse to the principle of State support of the Christian religion which has displayed itself during the last few years, though it has not led to much practical Church and State in India, 31 result. In 1870 the desire to improve the finances by economy in all departments led to a discussion, which continued till 1874, on the first principles on which ecclesiastical establishments in India should be regulated. Sir Richard Temple contended that the existing system of State aid should "not only be continued, but if possible extended," and that the ecclesiastical expenditure was " reasonable, and even susceptible of moderate increase, pro- vided only that the money be spent to the best possible advantage."^ Some of his colleagues advocated various degrees of withdrawal from existing obligations. This important discussion was dropped without any practical conclusion, and it does not seem to have been even before the members of the Government in 1876, when, in the course of a despatch recommending the increased allowances to Roman Catholic chaplains above alluded to, the following passage was inserted : — • " There is no ecclesiastical establishment in the sense of a State church in India. The Government of India recognize the duty, within reasonable limits, of providing the ministra- tions of religion for British-born European servants of the Crown, and especially for soldiers and their families." This passage involves the repudiation of all claim to consideration on the part not only of the non-ofEcial community, but of all servants of Government not British-born, and of the families 1 The soundness of this opinion has since been illustrated by the rapid extension of State railwaj-s, which has taxed to the utmost the resources of the Additional Clergy Societies. 32 CJiurch and State in India. of all British-born servants except soldiers. The despatch has, consequently, been deemed to be the distinct enunciation of a new policy on the subject of State aid to the Christian church in India. But I cannot admit its title to any such position, — as it appears to have issued without any dis- cussion of the vast change involved, as it does not seem to have ever been confirmed by her Majesty's Government, as it has been followed by no definite action, and as it appears to me to be at variance with both the Statute and Declarations of 1833, and the principles upon which the ecclesiastical estab- lishment has been regulated up to the present day. 29. To sum up this branch of my subject, I consider our documentary obligations to be shown to extend, within the reasonable limits already indicated in paragraph 17 — (1) to adequate pro- vision for all Christian civil and military servants of the State, of whatever grade and race, and their families and dependents ; and (2) to a certain limited aid to the European and Eurasian non-official community, wherever it is located within the same general range as the servants of the State. The case of native non -official Christians is partly met by their old State endowments, and partly by the fusion of State and voluntary aid already alluded to in paragraph 16. 30. The moral obligation may be first con- sidered. Those who would cut Moral and religious , , . . , , i , , obligations. down our obligations to the utmost Church and State in India. 33 admit that we are bound to provide religious ministrations for those of our public servants who come out from home, though not for such as are engaged in this country, and still less for the descendants of the latter. For this distinction I fail to see any reasonable ground. Such ground cannot lie in mere contract, for nothing would be easier than to notify to every civil and military servant entering the services in future that the State would make no religious provision for him^ and the supply would, I fear, remain unaffected thereby ; nor can it lie in the relative inability of those who come out from home to pay for their own religious ministrations, since the superior civil and military servants from home are un- questionably better off, as a class, than the superior servants engaged in India ; while the lowest, the soldiers, are just as able (or unable) to pay as are the half-starving classes from whom our inferior Indian-born clerks, etc., are drawn. If, however, the admission that public servants coming out from home ought to have religious ministrations at the public expense is based merely on the belief that such ministrations are for their moral or spiritual good, then the argument applies just as much to those who do not come out from home as to those who do. Possibly it may be said that we have no moral right to tempt men to come from home without providing what their con- science and training leads them to believe to be D 34 CInL7xh and State in India. for their eternal good. If so, then where is the appHcation to stop, for the children and descend- ants of those whom we have so tempted out have as good a claim on us as their fathers, if not better, for it is owing to our original action that they find themselves helplessly stranded in a foreign and heathen land. In fact, the whole European and Eurasian class, excepting such small, though growing, portions of it as have come out for com- mercial purposes, owes its existence to our original action as employers of labour. The moral obli- gation of such employers to provide religious ministrations is amply and nobly recognized in England, and the line is not there rigidly drawn, as some would draw it in India, at the employed personally, excluding their dependents, and even their wives and children. It may be said that the line there is drawn at those who are unable to provide ministrations for themselves. Granting this, it is only the measure, not the ground of the admission of the obligation ; and on applying it in India, it will embrace the whole large body to whom I plead that our obligatioDS extend. To sum up the argument under this head, I contend that the Government is under a moral obligation to provide religious ministrations for the European and Eurasian Christian community, who have been, with comparatively small excep- tions, placed in India by its direct or indirect action ; that there is no basis in loo^ic or reason Chu7xh and State in India. 35 for distinction between those who have come direct from home and those who have not ; and that there is to this obligation in India, as in all other countries where State aid to religion is recognized, the reasonable limit that those who are well-to-do, whether directly in the service of Government or not, shall relieve the general tax-payer by voluntary contributions. The obli- gation in respect of Christians generally rests not on moral, but on more general civil grounds, which will be touched upon presently. ^ 31. I now turn from the moral to the religious obligation. Here no lengthy argument is needed. Upon those who do not recognize that neither individuals nor nations can get on in the world without a god, and that god, the Christian God, my words must produce no effect ; for those who do, demonstration would be superfluous. I will therefore take my stand simply upon fact and precedent. The fact I assume is, that England is still a Christian country, and that the British power in India is still a Christian power, possessing obliga- tions as such to the Christians beneath its rule. Mr. Gladstone has long ago taught us that the State should recognize and support some religious expression of the community ; that those who hold supreme power in a State are bound to sup- port the religion which they believe to be true ; and that it is the right and duty of Christian 36 Church and State in India. rulers to use their power, influence, and means io maintain the Christian religion. The mode in which, and the extent to which, it may be suit- able to support and maintain it, under distinct or varying conditions, is of course a matter of detail. The precedent which I quote is that of those who have preceded us as rulers of India through- out the long chain of centuries, extending back beyond the Christian era. No preceding Govern- ment possessing a distinctive faith has failed to mark its accession to power by providing for that faith from the resources of the State. Persecution of rival creeds may have been at times the accom- paniment of such provision. But when we look around upon the vast extent and variety of non- Christian endowments of every age, from the most ancient to the most modern times, we see a striking monument of the bold expression by successive dynasties of their own convictions coupled with their enlightened toleration of the convictions of others. Can a Christian Grovernment repudiate its own similar obligations ? shall it dare to do nothing for the religion of the Cross ? 32. The obligations of the Grovernment in Political obiiga- their political aspect may next be *^°^^' considered — that is, the duty of the civil ruler to govern wisely, or with prudence and equity, as applied to this matter. It has been said by Gibbon, in a well-known passage, that at Church and State in India. 37 the time when Christianity presented itself to the Roman Empire for serious consideration, — " the various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true ; by the philosopher as equally false ; and by the magistrate as equally useful." — {Decline and Fall, Chapter II.) The Indian statesman, while holding with the Roman philosopher as to the falsity of the religions of at least an overwhelming majority of those over whom he is called to rule, can hardlv refuse to concur with the Roman statesman in what has been happily termed " the sound view that every religion, so far as it does not circulate doctrines inconsistent with morality or dangerous to the State, tends to make better men, and therefore better citizens." 33. I shall not waste time in enlarging upon the fact, which does not seem to be denied, though it is often ignored, that the poor European and Eurasian population in India are in very special need of the ''moral police" which religion sup- plies. Living often from hand to mouth, sur- rounded by every temptation to intemperance and vice, scattered so as to be relieved from the influence of the public opinion of their fellows, they are too often on the verge of falling into debauchery, violence, and crime, and of becoming a source of danger to the native population and a public scandal to the British name. Our strict laws for dealing with European vagrants are 38 Church and State in India. founded upon this fact ; but they aim at summary cure rather than prevention, which can only grow- out of gentler and higher influences. It is no reply to pleas for this moral police for the special benefit of the European and Eurasian poor, to remind us that the State has equal obligations in respect of its non-Christian subjects. We may readily admit the theoretical liability, and offer the twofold reply, that it is partly met by our subsidies to their religions, and partly minimised by the fact of the decency, domestic order, and thrift of Oriental populations. As to the good influences of religion upon the more well-to-do, and even the higher classes, their proof is involved in the maxim of the Roman statesman, and recorded in the history of the civilization of Europe. 34. More serious notice must, however, be accorded to the contention that all these good influences might be as well, if not better, secured by religious institutions unsupported by the State. It may be readily conceded both that, as long as funds are sufficient, the source from which they are derived is immaterial, and that State control is no advantage, but the reverse, to religious institutions. But the real question is one of fact, whether the withdrawal of State aid (leaving out of view its injustice) would lead in India to the filling of the pecuniary void from other sources. I venture to think that few who are intimately Church and State m hidia. 39 acquainted with the circumstances of Europeans in India would answer this in the affirmative. The great body of Europeans in India are ex- tremely poor ; the class above them are in by no means affluent circumstances, and harassed by the calls which the education of their children in England or the failing of health thrust upon them ; while those who can really afford to give largely for the most part already do so, but are very few in number. I entirely agree with the following statement by Archdeacon Baly : — " Owing to the frequent transfers in the course of service, the necessity of living in small and scattered communities, or to poverty, the condition of by far the greater portion of the European population is such that it is unable to procure for itself either a medical or clerical staff adequate to its bodily and spiritual needs. . . . " If the religious grant were entirely withdrawn, the Christian communities, both civil and military, in nearly all the mofussil stations would be at once deprived of Christian ordinances. No doubt the Additional Clergy Society and other voluntary agencies would endeavour to supply the want ; but at best it could only be done by slow degrees and to a partial extent, and the money applied to this purpose would be diverted from other necessary objects — education, the relief of Christian poverty, etc. The only places, as a rule, where the European congregations are permanent, large and wealthy enough to provide for their own religious needs from their own resources, would be the seats of the Provincial Governments and some of the hill stations. But these are precisely the congregations which contribute now most largely to the religious, charitable, and educational institutions of the country, and carry on work both in their own stations and elsewhere, which otherwise must be left undone or be paid for by the State. It mufst be considered also that such 40 Church and State in India. congregations are very far from being composed entirely of wealthy persons, official or unofficial." Supposing State aid to be confined exclusively to the troops and State railway servants, the result would be little different. All the smaller stations would still suffer, and the partial relief to a few of the larger or middle-sized would not make good the loss. It has been suggested that resources in England might be drawn upon. It bas been shown in paragraph 15 that England is largely drawn upon already ; but the proselytising spirit accounts for most of this, and it may be doubted whether a call to spend money away from where it is more legitimately applicable, in order to support a local church for Europeans in India, would meet with much sympathy or response. Upon the whole, therefore, I cannot doubt that the result of withdrawing any of the existing State aid would be disastrous in the extreme. 35. Independently of the actual ultimate results of any policy proposed to him, however, the statesman cannot ignore its probable effect upon the minds of the people. Sentiment, it need scarcely be said, is an important element in human affairs. 36. There can be little doubt that the with- drawal of State aid from religion would arouse a general and very bitter feeling of resentment among Europeans in India, to which the Press would give effective expression, exposing without Church and State in India. 41 reserve the Nonconformist, Latitudinarian, or other influences to which they might fancy the measure attributable. This feeling would certainly command a large amount of sympathy in England, not merely from the religious world, but from large sections of both political parties at home, who are friends of religious equality, or con- current endowment, or the maintenance of the British reputation in the East. On this subject Sir John Strachey has observed : — " In all our proceedings it must be remembered tbat we are dealing with subjects which closely touch the religious feelings of a very large number of our countrymen. Although the present proposals will be in complete accordance with the views of that important section of the Christian com- munity which objects to any interference by the State in such matters, there can be little doubt that the opinions of a still larger number will be different, and that the withdrawal of the aid of Government will be looked upon as a serious discouragement to the cause of religion. Whether the latter views be right or wrong, they ought to be treated with tenderness and respect." 37. Upon the native mind, on the other hand, the effect will be that of wonder, contempt, and suspicion. I have not served for nearly thirty years among and in intimate association with Orientals, without being convinced that they have a very strong appreciation of religion in itself, evidenced by their habits, ceremonies, and auste- rities, and that they invariably respect those who show similar feelings, while they wonder at and despise those Europeans who are conspicuous for 42 Chtt7xh and State in India. their indifference in such matters. As to the absence of any real grievance, and the hoUowness of complaints which occasionally appear in native prints, there can be no doubt. The view I main- tain is well expressed by members of the Straits Legislature, in a recent debate on the proposal to disendow the local Christian Church, from which I make the following extracts : — Jfr. Currie. — " As a Dissenter, and a member of an un- endowed Church, I extremely regret the decision, the imme- diate effect of which will be, I think, to curtail the revenues of those Churches which are dependent on their support for voluntary contributions ; nor can it fail to check the outflow of that private charity which has always so generously responded to the frequent calls upon it. But, sir, I also maintain that it is the duty of this Government to make provision for the religious instruction of those who are unable to provide it for themselves. . . . But I go further. I hold it is the duty of a Christian Government in the midst of an overwhelmingly large anti-Christian population, to give visible expression to its faith. The connection between Church and State is familiar to all Eastern nations. . . . Surely, then, to them it must appear both right and fitting that we should dedicate a portion of our revenue to the support of that religion to which we owe so much." Gajptain H. E. McCallum, B.E. — " I only wish to point out that this Government has been founded, that this Govern- ment exists, amongst nations which are imbued with strong religious beliefs ; that they have been accustomed to regard the profession of our faith, the support of our ministers, and the maintenance of our Church buildings, as part and parcel of our rule, and they have seen that faith upheld and reverenced as that cherished in our mother country. What, then, will be the feelings of these people, many of them almost fanatics in religious matters, when they learn that the Government uninvitedly abandons her Church? . . . Church and State in India. 43 What guarantee have they that a Government who would thus ruthlessly undermine the foundations of its own religious fabric will not, sooner or later, interfere with those rites which are as dear and sacred to them as is our Church tous?"i 38. But, besides wonder and contempt, those who would deprive Christianity in India of State aid have to reckon with suspicion. To the thinking portion of the Native community it must inevitably be apparent that the arguments which are used to justify the withdrawal apply with equal force to the confiscation of their own religious endowments. And they will know likewise that change of circumstances and change of views have been held to warrant, in the cases of Ireland, of Ceylon, of English burial-grounds, the abroga- tion of treaty guarantees, legislative enactments, and even private trusts. How can they doubt that a Government which has just destroyed its own religious institutions will, sooner or later, adopt a similar course with theirs ? And such ideas among the educated may at any time take among the ignorant the form of rumours of definite intention. If an absurd fancy about a cartridge set India in a blaze, what may not an obviously reasonable and logical inference effect ? The Court of Directors, in 1832, stopped an innocent statistical 1 The whole of this remarkable debate will repay perusal. It took place on February 16th, 1882, in the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements, on the proposal to disendow the local Christian Church. — {Parliamentary Faptr, C 3228, June, 1882.) 44 Church and State in India, inquiry regarding religious endowments for fear of its political consequences. And are we, in our maturer wisdom, to throw away the good moral effects of religion, to stir up strife within and create danger without, for — what? A sentiment, and £200,000 in a revenue of seventy millions! The statesman of any creed, or none, may well pause before such a hazard for such a stake. 39. To sum up this section, our documentary obligations, our moral and religious duty, together with the political expediency of maintaining the repute of the European in India, and avoiding danger to our Empire — all combine to necessitate the continuance of State aid to Christianity. Principal Objections discussed, 40. The first point which I may notice under this head is the disposition to make light of documentary obligations. I have endeavoured to show that these are not by any means so indefinite as has been assumed ; and were the difficulty of access to and search of the old records not so great as it is, I believe, from various cir- cumstances and allusions I have noticed, that those obligations would be found to have been intelligibly and progressively developed into the .system now existing. With regard to the obli- gatory value of old documents, it must of course be readily admitted to be subject to variation I Church and State in India. 45 through change of circumstances and change of views ; but, then, this objection to them may be applied in more directions than one. When we find the circumstances of a factory transformed into those of an empire, it is as legitimate in principle to expand the limitations of old docu- ments to suit the needs of the mixed community which our action has both indirectly and directly created, and the rights to religious equality to which the admission of strange faiths into our pale has given birth, as to insist on their present impracticability for the purpose of evading incon- venient and expensive duties, or of applying theories which belong to European and not to Oriental society. 41. Another disposition to be remarked is that of trying to whittle down the measure of State aid to religion, without denying its abstract necessity. I need touch but lightly on such devices for minimising as the use of statistics of males only, or of church attendance on a particular day, or of gazetted Government servants only. These eliminations, as has been trenchantly remarked, have no advantage except that of enabling those who use them " to point to the very small residuum" left, "and then to inquire triumphantly if it is worth while to keep up a separate chaplain for such a very few sheep in the wilderness." The repudiation of the claims, prescriptive and 46 Church and State in India, original as well as documentary, of the whole non-official class, without any practical suggestion as to what other source except the State can in the main supply their wants, has already been discussed in paragraph 28. The distinction attempted to be drawn between Government servants coming out from home and those born in India, has already been alluded to (paragraph 30). Being essentially unsound, it of course leads to a series of dilemmas. If there be any need for clergy at all, the need of the Indian-born, who are poorer and more ignorant as a class, must be greater than that of the British-born. Again, if we grant doctors to both alike, why not clergy ? The soundness of this analogy is not shaken by the remark that doctors are of no creed. True ; yet their ministrations are often none the less restricted, either by their special qualifications, or by the special duties as- signed to them. It is as easy in a large station to have separate clergy for two denominations as to have separate doctors for staff and civil work. Moreover, as doctors can make a living by private practice, their ministrations are more generally procurable than those of the clergy. Fortunately, the distinction is unworkable in practice. Another repudiation suggested is that of the claims of all civil employes who do happen to be able to avail themselves of ministrations primarily provided for the military, the ground being that Church and State in India. 47 some few of them who come from England are well enough paid to get what they need for themselves. But as those thus deprived will, hy the hypothesis, be scattered in small non-military stations, how can they possibly pay a clergyman for themselves ? And with what justice can the whole cost of providing for the body of ill-paid officials in the same localities be imposed upon them ? Those, however, who whittle down so far, unite in admitting the need for State aid in the case of soldiers and their families and State rail- way servants. Why ? They are not poorer than the bulk of the lower clerks and non-official population. Neither are they more ignorant. A.re they supposed to be more degraded and wicked? Are their families more in need of clergy than anybody else's ? Why should not the rich civilians and merchants be made to pay for them too? Why should not the better-paid military officers and State railway servants help to pay for the poor clerks and non-officials ? Why, finally, should not the charitable public at home be drawn freely upon for the help of all ? This climax of the whittling down process, the restric- tion of State aid to soldiers and their families and State railway servants, is complete in its incon- sistency and unique in its injustice. The State must, within reasonable limits, afford religious ministrations to all alike, or to none. \ 48 Church and State in India. 42. The financial objection may be briefly noticed, because it has been made the ground for some niggardliness in satisfying the reasonable claims of the Presbyterian and other denomina- tioDS, and the fear of it has overshadowed such disposition to make efficient religious provision upon the basis of religious equality as has from time to time appeared. But, like other spectres of the imagination, it disappears on examination. A late Finance Minister, Sir Eichard Temple, maintained, at a time when the finances were not nearly so flourishing as at present, that the ecclesiastical expenditure was "reasonable, and even susceptible of moderate increase." It cannot seriously be held that £220,000, or even £300,000,^ cannot be spared for such a purpose as this out of our larg-e revenue. Nor has the fear that a more liberal policy as to grants-in-aid, and their exten- sion to various denominations, would lead to large additional demands, any foundation. If the rule of " reasonable limits " were kept in view, the admis- sible claims would be very moderate, justice would be satisfied, and all ground of discontent removed. 43. I will next consider an objection which is, perhaps, the most important of any which have been brought forward, since it not only turns up at the bottom of many chains of argument 1 I have calculated that, even if the arrangements proposed further on should involve any increase of charge, it could not possibly exceed this siun, and probably would not approach it, and the settlement would be final. Church and State m India. 49 which have been used in India, but is mainly relied upon by Mr. Baxter, the Greneral Baptist Missionary Society, and others who take a leading part at home in the attack on the Christian Church in India. This objection is stated in the letter from that Society, dated 5th April, 1881, which has been forwarded to the Government of India by the Secretary of State with his despatch now under reply, in the form of a proposition — that it is " as unjust to tax Hindus and Muhamma- dans to support Christian ministers as it woidd he to tax Christians to support Brahmins and Moulvies!' The reply is, that each now is taxed to support the religion of the other, and that a gross injustice and breach of religious equality would be perpe- trated if any of the aid now given to Christians were withdrawn, because, to use in its true bear- ing a phrase in the Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society's letter, " why should one class of her Majesty's subjects have religious teachers provided at public exjDense and not another ? " 44. It is evident that those who prefer this objection are under a serious misconception of fact. The facts are these. Hindu, Mahometan, Sikh, and other non-Christian religious institutions are in possession of endowments, in some cases in the form of annual cash payments from the Treasury, but more frequently in that of estates exempted from the payment of land revenue to Government. Scarcely a temple or a mosque can be found 50 Church and State in India. throughout India which does not receive a grant from the State in one form or the other. The aggregate value of these grants is uncertain, be- cause they mostly do not pass through the public accounts, because the Government have long since (Act XX. of 1863) divested themselves of even the formal control which they had inherited from preceding rulers, and because the Court of Directors many years ago decided that it would be impolitic to make any general inquiries. But it is known to be very large, and the estimate of between three and four millions sterling, which has been offered, is probably not at all excessive. In India, I need scarcely say, all land is originally vested in the State, and all immunity from paying revenue for it to the State flows originally from the grant of the State itself. But for these " alienations," as they are officially called, their amount, whatever it may be, would come to credit of the State in the public accounts. It is undeniable, therefore, that they necessitate other equivalent taxation. But for them, license tax, or customs duties, or some other impost, might be dispensed with. The Christian pays his share of general taxes, and it is as true to assert that he is taxed to support Hinduism and Mahometanism as to assert that Hindus and Mahometans are taxed to support Christian ministers/ Surely Christians have as ^ The Calcutta Statesman has ohjected that, even admitting, on the ground of these heathen endowments, that the Christian is taxed Church and State in India. 51 good a right as their fellow subjects to State support for their religion. Assuming the number of taxpayers to be two hundred millions in round numbers, and the sum granted by the State for Christian ministrations to be 22 lakhs of rupees (£220,000 conventional sterling), this amounts to 2*1 pies (2 pies = 1 farthing) per head per annum. The grant for non-Christian ministrations, on the other hand, taken (to be well within the mark) at 3 J crores, or millions of conventional sterling, gives a contribution of 2 annas and 9-6 pies for about fourpence farthing) per head per annum. Thus, the individual European pays about seventeen times as much for non-Christian ministrations as the individual Native pays for Christian minis- trations.^ 45. A fact so destructive of the argument of those who would assail State aid to Christianity in India has, naturally, not been left without attempts to explain it away. Two lines of pleading have been used for this end. indirectly to support the Hindu and Mohammedan religions, he gets an undue share of Government aid when the Christian population is compared with the Native. Undoubtedly the cost of providing for the Englishman's spiritual wants is greater per head ; but this applies, not only to the ecclesiastical, but to every other form of establishment The English magistrate, military officer, doctor, policeman, newspaper editor, is of necessity a more costly article in India than his Native equivalent. It is, therefore, impossible to provide for the spiritual needs of a hundred thousand English Christians at the same rate as for a similar number of Hindus or Mohammedans. — [Ed.] ^ This passage is adapted from one in Archdeacon Baly's letter of April 28th, 1882, the figures in which are not quite correct. 52 Chu7xh and State in India. 46. Under the first of these, it is stated that there is an imphed contract with these temples and mosques, and that we could not justly resume the property which had been already alienated by our predecessors, any more than we could justly interfere with whatever other rights of private property had accrued prior to the period of British rule. It is added that only new grants in the course of British rule to non-Christian religious ministrations (which have never been made) could be used in justification of State aid to Christianity. Admitting this proposition, it cannot alter \hQ fact that the non-Christian grants come out of the revenues of the State, or the truth that a breach of religious equality is as unjust as a breach of faith. The " simple test " by which we are told that this point may be settled is not only no test at all, but entirely irrelevant. But the proposition can by no means be admitted, for we are told, and rightly, that old engagements may be modified by change of circumstances and change of views, and that the Charter of William III. may be treated as obsolete. Moreover, we have before us the actual disregard by her Majesty's Grovernment, on this ground, of the capitulation with the Dutch of so recent a date as 1796, in the case of the Wolfendahl Church in Ceylon {Parliamentary Paper, C 2983, I88I); as also the twice-repeated disendowment of the Irish Church, and the open- ing of Church burial-grounds in 1880. In the Church and State in India. 53 Irish Church debates of 1868-69, Mr. Bright argued that, " if endowments are found to be mischievous. Parliament may put them to other uses ; " while Sir Eoundell Palmer admitted that " the nation has a large interest in and control over every species of public property," and that Church endowments are such property {Hansard, vol. cxciv., pp. 1893 and 1933). The non-Chris- tian grants are, doubtless, practically unresumable as a whole ; but the cause is, not any legal diffi- culty, but simply that those who would despoil without scruple the faith of their countrymen do not dare to despoil the faith of the Mahometan and the Hindu. 47. The second line of argument is that the State cannot be said to grant that which it never acquired, and that it never acquired those lands or their revenue, because, when it acquired the territories in which the lands were situated, the latter were expressly reserved to their existing purposes, either by treaty or by notification. This proposition suggests its own refutation. In any cases in which lands were reserved to their, exist- ing purposes by treaty or notification, they were none the less acquired by conquest. What oc- curred may be said to have been analogous to the action of the Commissioners in whom the property of the Irish Church was vested, which was de- scribed by Mr. Gladstone as "technically in the nature of a re-endowment" {^Hansard, vol. cxciv., 54 Chu7'-ch and State m India. p. 421). Moreover, when so re-granted, or when confirmed to their holders by treaty or engage- ment, they were so upon the same tenure under which they were held under the rulers whom we superseded, which involved a liability to resump- tion. Finally, the argument goes too far, and would preclude the State from all dealing with secular alienations, as much as with religious ones. But, as a matter of fact, any such reservations by treaty or notification were so rare, that they may almost be described as non-existent. Proclama- tions, such as that of Mountstuart Elphinstone, merely assured the conquered people against indis- criminate confiscation of private rights, but in no way barred the legitimate action of the State. Private property, whether secular or religious, was generally left alone on our acquisitions of territory, and was subsequently dealt with as its nature and the circumstances appeared to demand. In Western India, for instance, the laws eventually codified into the '' Eegulations of 1827 " contem- plated inquiries into titles to alienations and resumptions under various circumstances ; the " Rules of 1842 " similarly dealt specially with cash allowances for religious objects ; Act XI. of 1852 provided more stringently for such investi- gations ; and a vast number of alienations were partially assessed under the Bombay Summary Settlement Acts of 1863 ; and besides this, a general power to assess rent-free lands for State Church and State m India, 55 purposes, reserved from the beginning of British rule, still exists under section 45 of the Revenue Code of 1879. Speaking broadly of alienations throughout India, it may be said that they are almost all taxable under various local laws or the common law of India ; they are all resumable under the one or the other, and both rights have been exercised in numerous instances, though only of course under very special circumstances justi- fying such a course. These well-known incidents of Indian land tenure have been recognized by law courts and text books, and are attested by revenue settlements and alienation sanads. They are acted upon occasionally in the Native States around us. 48. It will be understood that I have, in the preceding paragraph, confined myself to broad general statements, such as are applicable to India as a whole, though not necessarily to every part of it, because such treatment appeared to be sufficient for the present paper. Should the occasion arise, I am perfectly prepared to main- tain these statements by an exhaustive examin- ation of public engagements, local laws, and authoritative rulings. I trust, however, that such may be superfluous in the face of obvious facts. I would also not be understood as implying that, because all non-Christian alienations are in their nature and in law resumable grants by the State, they therefore might be actually resumed. India might be lost in the attempt to do so. The 56 Ch2i7^ch and State in India. following remarks fell from Mr. (afterwards Lord) Macaulay, then Secretary to the India Board, during the debate of 1833, on the clause increasing the Indian Episcopate : — ■ " The only thing increased by this proposition was the efficiency of the episcopate. Was that an evil ? But, then, it was said that it was going upon the principle of the Irish establishment — an indefensible enormity. Did hon'ble gentlemen consider the magnitude of the religious establish- ments of the Pagans and Mahometans drawing from the State several millions ? They ought not to complain of this small sum being appropriated to the religion of their fellow- subjects. Instead of being a parallel case with that of Ireland, it was more like that of France, when Napoleon gave a large income to the rhany and a small income to the few. Not only were Mahometanism, Paganism, and the Church of England supported in India, but Presbyterianism and Catholicism. . . . Why, then, object to £11,000 being given to the Church of the dominant nation, when every religion was supported out of the revenues of the State in proportion to its extent." — (Hansard, 3rd Series, vol. xix., page 801.) It would seem that the objection is met for ever by this effective refutation. 49. There is another aspect of this question of taxation for religious purposes which may be briefly noticed. If it be contended, as by Mr. Buckingham in 1833 (Hanmrd, vol. xix., page 33), that " every religion should be supported by those who believed in it, and who on that ground would be willing to give it their aid," then it is just as true to assert that this is the system actually in force in India as to assert the converse, that one Church and State in India. 57 portion of the community is taxed to maintain the religion of another. The three and a half millions given to non-Christian ministrations may be said to come exclusively out of the far larger amount of taxation borne by them, and the grants to Christianity may similarly be charged to the taxation borne by Christians, which, though just now abnormally light, would undoubtedly far more than cover them. The State will, of course, on independent grounds, hold the balance of general taxation fairly between one class of the community and another. 50. The fact that in India all non-Christian religions (and the Portuguese Eoman Catholic, too) are endowed by the State, when honestly realized, cuts the ground from under all argu- ments for reducing Christian ecclesiastical estab- lishments — nay, it would justify the moderate increase in them which Sir Richard Temple advocated in any instance in which it was satis- factorily proved that justice, absolute or relative, required it. By the light of this fact, it becomes unseemly to draw upon the resources of the charitable in England for the maintenance of a local Christian church. When temples and mosques are supported out of the general revenue, it is unnecessary to prove the impossibility of meeting the cost of Christian clergy from other sources before resorting to it for that object. It is just as legitimate to support both Christian and 58 Chtti'ch and State in India. non-Christian religious ministrations out of that revenue as it would be to defray the charges of each out of special taxes levied exclusively on the classes for whose benefit each exists. Nor is there any injustice in drawing upon the same source for such moral police as the inferior European and Eurasian population may be found to stand in need of. If there be injustice anywhere, it lies in the small amount which the Christian receives in comparison with the non-Christian, and in the insufficient aid which some denomin- ations of Christians obtain. Future system proposed. 51. It may have been inferred from what has gone before that I am in favour of leaving matters as they are, with perhaps a slight extension of the grant-in-aid system. But this is by no means so. I am well aware that the existing system is open to certain objections which will leave it constantly subject to attack, that now that the general question has been raised there are those who will never let it rest till they obtain modi- fications more or less consonant with their peculiar views. What the Church has most to fear is gradual death from inanition, brought about by successive minor withdrawals of support on the ground of a financial necessity which has no real existence, or by insidious limitations, such as that placed upon grants-in-aid in the Provincial con- Chu7^ch and State in India. 59 tract arrangements of 1878. It, therefore, appears to me to be necessary to put the Christian eccle- siastical house in order forthwith, in accordance with logic, equity, and the national Church system existing in India. 52. As to the principles of action, I am in entire accord with those who express the belief that " no sure standing-ground is to be found short of the principle of religious equality ; " that '' the equality of all creeds before the State " should be "as fundamental an axiom of modern civilization as the equality of all men before the law ; " and that the State should support all religions or none. In some countries, where the religion of the State or of tlie dominant class has ceased to be that of the vast majority of the nation, and the latter receive no State aid, it may possibly be necessary to withdraw from the '' established " religion the State aid which it receives. But in India we have no " established " religion, and are free from the embarrassments it produces. We have no need to cast about to devise a system, for there is one already in existence — that of concurrent endowment — under which the non-Christian re- ligions have received State aid for centuries, into which the Christian religion first entered when the Portuguese made their endowments, which was developed by ourselves as soon as our merchant's adventure was transformed into a State, and which was perfected on a truly national basis by the 6o Church and State in India, recognition of the denominations of Christianity in the Statute and Declarations of 1833. That a system of concurrent endowment is sound in principle appears beyond dispute ; that it is work- able in practice is evident, not only from the great Indian non-Christian institution, but from the example of West Australia and other colonies into which it has been harmoniously and successfully introduced {Parliamentary Papers, C 2983, 1881, p. 14; and C 3184, p. 5). I am, of course, aware that it was impracticable in Ireland, and will be generally admitted to be equally so in Great Britain. But that need be no bar to its adoption in quite differently circumstanced com- munities to which it is well suited, or to its ex- tension where it is already in successful operation. 53. But it is necessary, as I have said, to put the Christian ecclesiastical house in order. For this purpose, two measures are indispensable. First, to liberate the State from the embarrass- ments, and the Christian Church from the disad- vantages, of patronage and control ; and secondly, to examine, and to revise if necessary, the distri- bution of State aid between the several Christian denominations. 54. As to the desirability of the first measure, I would point out that to the State the possession of Church patronage and control is disadvantageous and theoretically indefensible. In the case of non- Christian religions, the Government respects and Church and State in India. 6i supports them all, but interferes with none ; in the case of Christianity, the Grovernment supports it too (in an imperfect manner), but it goes farther than this — it enrols the ministers of religions among its regular services, supervises their dis- tribution, regulates minutely their ministrations, and interferes generally in Church administration. On the other hand. State patronage and control are inconsistent with the principle of concurrent endowment, and the non-Christian, but State-aided religions of India are not subject to either the one or the other. Moreover, it will hardly be ques- tioned that both are prejudicial to the interests of the Church. State aid, while on no certain footing, checks private donations ; State regula- tions enhance the cost and hamper the action of the clergy, create a chasm between them and missionary bodies, and even interfere with their profitable distribution. Were the Church free and left to her own efforts for development, existing funds would be made to go much farther, and private contributions would- be focussed and in- creased. One notable result would probably be the gradual redistribution of total Church resources, so as to give the Native Christians more direct aid and to throw the Europeans more on the voluntary income than at present. The State connection, in short, divides the forces of the Church, cripples her efforts, and limits her means. 55. The abstract equity of the second proposed 62 Church and State in hidia. measure — namely, a scrutiny, and a revision, if necessary, of the distribution of State aid between tlie several Christian denominations — is obvious. That it will lead to any very material changes, I do not believe. It has already been shown (para- graph 12) that in India the very large majority of European and Eurasian Christians belong to the Anglican, Roman, or Presbyterian Church, and that such Christians as do not are few in number, and have, for the most part., no difficulty in availing themselves of the ministrations of one or other of these. When the latter are sufficiently numerous, they should, of course, receive separate aid, if they desire it. The condition of affairs is, therefore, the reverse of that which existed in Ceylon, where it is officially stated {Lord Kim- herleys Despatch, No. 4 of November 19th, 1880 ; Parliamentary Paper, C 2983, 1881) that "the main burden of the work performed by Protestant ministers in Ceylon falls upon those who receive no assistance from the State." There is, conse- quently, no risk of a flood of demands from count- less sects, which no one can see the end of If the revision be once approved of, there need be no difficulty in securing fair treatment and distinct administration of funds for each. There already exists in India a Body termed the " Union Church," which raises funds and provides Church accommodation available to all the principal sec- tions of Presbyterians and Nonconformists. This Church and State m India. 63 Body^ would perhaps consent to develop itself into a mixed representative Body, such as was constituted in New Zealand with the consent of Bishop Selwyn and the Archbishop of Canterbury {Parliamentary Paper, C 3184, 1882, p. 5), to be charged with the distribution of State aid to all except the Anglican and Eoman Catholic Churches. This, however, is a matter of compara- tive detail, which, I am confident, could easily be settled hereafter — the more so in that the different sections of Christians in India, in view of their position in face of the heathen, are happily free, individually and collectively, from that rancour and desire for mastery which is too often ob- served in England. Supposing that, under these arrangements, any sect remained unprovided for, it could only be so through individual idiosyncrasy combined with insignificant numbers, such as would practically also deprive any petty knot of Anglicans or Roman Catholics of State aid. In other words, it would be excluded by the rule of " reasonable limits." 56. My proposal, put provisionally into a cate- gorical shape subject to minor adjustment here- after, is as follows : — 1 The proposal for a " UDion Church" Body has been objected to on the ground that it would be impossible for the various Presbyterian and Nonconformist denominations to act as one Body. Mr. Hope does not contemplate the slightest interference with the separate organization of each sect or congregation, but simply to employ the representative Board to distribute, according to well-defined rules, the Government grant. — [Ed.] 64 Church and State in India. \st. — Three Church Bodies to be recognized (and if not already formally and legally existing, to be constituted), which shall respectively repre- sent, for all India, the Church of England, the Church of Rome, and the " Union Church " Bodies. ^nd. — The Anglican and Roman Bodies to have full control of both the funds and the execu- tive administration of their respective churches. The Union Body to have merely control over the distribution of funds to the other various Protes- tant denominations, leaving the internal applica- tion of grants, together with all administrative functions, to the several denominations to whom the former were allotted. 3r(i. — Payment to be made by the State to these Bodies respectively for ministrations to soldiers and State railway servants (with the families and dependents of such), on the system of capitation grants ^ now adopted in the case of Presbyterian soldiers. The Body to be entitled to receive such grants at any station where, and as long as, a fixed minimum number of such soldiers or servants was maintained, and to be bound to supply clerical ministrations accordingly. Mil. — The funds at the disposal of the Bodies ^ A speaker at the Calcutta Church Coni'erence, held in January last, could see no reason why these capitation grants should be con- fined to soldiers and State railway servants. A sufficient reason might be found in the fact that these are the only classes of servants of the State who are imported into India in any considerable numbers, and in the great and sudden fluctuations (especially in the case of European troops) to which those numbers are liable. — [Ed,] Church and State in India. 65 to consist of tlie existing State grants, with possibly some moderate augmentation in the cases of the Bodies other than the Anglican, but after deduction, in all cases, proportionate to the amount likely to be drawn, on an average, as capitation grants under the preceding clause. bth. — The ecclesiastical establishments or ser- vices now paid by the State to be handed over to the absolute control of the Bodies to which they respectively appertain, with obligation to respect and maintain all existing rights and vested in- terests, but with full power over all organization and patronage in the future. 6^A. — All exclusively military churches to be retained and kept in repair by the State. All other churches to be handed over to, and legally vested in, the Bodies to which they respectively appertain, subject only, in cases where the State has contributed to their erection, to a preferential right to their use by soldiers and State railway servants (with their families and dependents), for whom capitation grants may be made under clause 3. "Ith. — The annual funds placed at the disposal of the Bodies to be derived from Government promissory notes, or similar securities to be legally vested in them, and not from budget grants from year to year. 8^A. — The financial settlement thus made with the Bodies to be once for all and permanent ; no 66 Church ana State in India. reductions to be made, and no claims for increase to be admissible, in future/ 57. In explanation of the above, I have only one remark to make — that the principle of con- current endowment is quite distinct from the measure of it. It is consistent with it that the State should endow wholly or in part, progres- sively or once for all. Under the Native dynasties which preceded us, concurrent endowment of non- Christian religions was progressive ; but since our accession to power we have necessarily and wisely drawn the line at the status quo. We make no new grants to Hinduism, Mahometanism, etc., and, speaking broadly, we take none away (though we might do so, as I have shown). The same course should now be pursued in respect to the con- current endowment of Christianity in its several phases. Consistency demands this, and also ex- pediency, because if the settlement now made be not permanent, additional State aid will become a bone of contention between sects, and a petty dis- turbance to the finances. The present financial status quo, with perhaps some moderate revision or even increase as suggested, will be fair to the Bodies of Christians among themselves : in view 1 Exception has been taken to the finality of this settlement, on the ground that conversions to Christianity may lead to many more native Christians being found in the ranks of the army, or of the public service, and to an increased provision being required. It must be remembered that the Hindu and Musalman endowments having been fixed and not progressive, equity demands that the same principle should be applied to the endowment of Christianity. — [Ed.] Church and State in India. 67 of the facts put forward in paragraph 44, it is unquestionably reasonable in comparison with the State aid enjoyed by the non-Christian section of the community. For meeting the demands which growing population may create in future, Christians and non-Christians will be equally left to their own resources, as the latter already have been for some three-quarters of a century. 58. In conclusion, I would appeal to all " friends of religious equality," all '^ believers in the principle of freedom of religion from State patronage and State control," all who are con- vinced of the truth of Christianity, all who recog nize the civil expediency of continuing its beneficial influence to the poor Europeans and Eurasians in India, all who would still the strife and jealousy between rival creeds and sects, to unite with me in promoting a settlement which appears to be equally consistent with logic, good policy, and religion. T. C. HOPE. Simla, 27^/i September, 1883. mtm» m 9 '",l| 1^ V'f4fl|t;jpi o >Bn '^m^ i l«^, .«■•' ;? " ; ■« i'-^.it