regular Ecclesiastical Establishment, as well as by measures fully conceding to all classes of Christians the right of carrying forward missionary operations within the limits of British rule in India.

The year 1833 saw. the subdivision of the see of Calcutta into the dioceses of Madras and Bombay; and from that period also dates the opening of the services of Government to all classes of native subjects, without distinction of creed, Christian as well as Hindoo or Mahometan; while the close of this second period has witnessed one of the most important steps, in furtherance of the propagation of the Gospel, which has been taken since India came under British rule, in the abolition, by law, of all those disabilities under which converts from Hindooism to Christianity lay, and which subjected to all the penalties of confiscation all such converts. At length perfect toleration and legal protection, and that only, has been secured to the native Christian subjects of the British crown.

This latter period has also witnessed the extensive development of all those schemes of secular education of the natives in the English language and literature, which must have, for good or for evil, so momentous a bearing upon the religious condition and enlightenment of the future generations of the natives of British India. And, lastly, the same period has seen the all but entire dissociation of the British Government from all support of, or connexion with, the religious institutions both of Hindoos and Mahometans.

Surely, with the ground thus cleared, it will be the fault of Christian England, and above all, of the Church of England, if the year 1853 be not made the starting-point whence to date fresh triumphs for the Cross, and the enlargement of the basis, and expansion of the growth, of the Church of Christ in that land. What will be wanted, will be a bold and faithful appreciation of the relation of the Church to the present condition of the world, and to the probable secular arrangements of the British empire in India; a disposition not to shrink from new schemes, in a state of things so novel in its character; and, above all, a fixed determination and resolve, under the blessing of God, to make the Church of Christ in that country indigenous-not a foreign exotic, nor a mere ecclesiastical establishment, but a native plant-the Church of India.

Two full years are before us. Let them be diligently employed in a careful survey of what has been gained, and what remains to be gained,-of what has not been done, or what might be done better. Such preliminary inquiry and careful consideration may prove of great value to the heads of the Church when they come to be consulted on the ecclesiastical

provisions of the new Charter; and for such a purpose they cannot now be commenced too soon.

It seems, therefore, most desirable that there should be a systematic treatment of this great subject, and that the contributions, not of one thinker, but of many, should be thus early obtained, especially of those now resident in India itself, or who have been resident there, with a view of getting together the largest possible amount of information upon the state of Christianity generally, and the condition of the Church of England in particular, in that country. Thus we may hope ultimately to clear the way to just views of what steps remain to be taken for the more effectual furtherance of the Gospel, and extension and rooting of the Church of Christ in India,―steps which might well commence with the era of the renewal of the Charter in 1853.1

The following heads are suggested, upon which Reports might with great advantage be made, and upon which careful and wellselected information would be most valuable.

1. A comparative view of the state of Christianity, and the extent of its spread in the years 1813 and 1833, with reference, 1. To the Church of England.

2. To all other Christian communities.

2. A detailed and statistical account of the Church of England in the Dioceses of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, in the year 1851. The number of Clergy, Churches, Communicants, &c. under the two heads,

A. Of British congregations.

B. Of Native congregations.

3. An economical view of the same subject. The expenses of the ecclesiastical establishment of the East India Company, and of the various Missionary Societies of the Church, specifying to what extent the voluntary principle has been called out.

4. A condensed history of the operations of the Missionary Societies of the Church, showing, what ground has been lost or abandoned, and what gained, and where the prospects of success seem most promising.

5. A special account of the Missionary educational establishments of the Church of England in the three Dioceses.

6. Special Reports upon such changes as might be advantageously made in the organization of the British congregations in India, the status of the clergy, parochial rights, &c.

7. Special Reports on the best mode of rendering the Native church indigenous and self-supporting; how far Government might be called on to aid its development, or endowment, on the principle of applying the funds of extinct or disused temples.

'The Editor of the Colonial Church Chronicle will gladly receive any contribųtions of the kind, and forward them to the writer of the above article.

8. Detailed accounts of all the various Missionary establishments external to the Church of England, both Roman Catholic and Protestant.

9. Reports upon the distinctive plans adopted in such Missions, e.g. the Free Kirk, Roman Catholics, &c.

10. Accounts and lists of the various charitable institutions in India connected with Christianity, and springing from it. 11. Reports upon the various translations of the Scriptures and the Prayer-Book at present existing, their respective excellences or defects. What facilities and institutions exist for such translations, and what translations remain yet to be made.

12. Lists of all such translations of Theological books or others, as exist, bearing upon Missionary work:

1. Of the Church of England.

2. Of other bodies.

13. Report upon the ecclesiastical law of the Church of England in India, e. g. law of marriage, powers of the Diocesan, discipline of the clergy.

14. Hints upon the formation of a body of Missionary Canons for the Church of England.

15. An account of the Government establishments for secular education, with lists of books; Report how far any change in it, in a Christian direction, might rightly be sought for. Might Christian colleges, after the fashion of the Irish, be affiliated, and so partly maintained by the State?

16. A special Report upon those tribes and districts which have hitherto been quite unvisited by the Gospel, e. g. the Ghond, Seikhs, &c.

17. What changes affecting the Church of England would it be desirable to seek for at the renewal of the Charter?

MISSION TO KURDISTAN IN 1842.1

THE exterior differed little from one of the ordinary mud rooms I have described. There being no aperture in the roof or walls to admit the light, we took tapers in our hands, and entered first into a low and narrow portico, which led to another still smaller entrance, through which we were obliged almost to crawl. The interior measured about eighteen feet square, and seven feet high and the roof was supported by four upright beams of fir, reddened and polished with age. A few boards put up at one end, somewhat in the form of a cupboard with a door, made the enclosure for the wooden altar, on which stood a painting of the Holy Virgin and Child, very tolerably executed. On either side of the altar were two other paintings, one of a bishop, the other of a martyr, apparently by the same

:

1 Continued from p. 173.

hand. Near by were two trunks, in which lay the shattered remains of the Church books, and a small box which once served to contain the contributions of the congregation. The roof was black with smoke-as these poor people have been obliged for many ages to worship God in secret, or without the light of day, and, consequently, have been under the necessity of using candles, or the blaze of a fire, during the time of Divine service. Everything left in the church had been destroyed, and the little church itself looked as if it had been deserted for ages. There is one priest in the village, who still remains faithful to his post, and continues to instruct his little flock from house to house. I was agreeably surprised to find. that almost all the Christian parents and children seem able to read; they begged me to give them books in Armenian, a desire I regret I could not gratify, having none to bestow. They informed us that the day before an English Balios, or consul, had passed through the village, and had distributed tracts among them. On inquiry, I found that the American Missionary was the person they alluded to.

The priest called and offered to sell me a few old Roman coins in silver, which had been found in the vicinity of the village. He wept as he parted with his little treasure, upon the sale of which he had evidently depended in order to realize a little money. Poor man, he is obliged to work as a common labourer in the fields to help to maintain himself. He informed me that the Armenians here were under the jurisdiction of their Bishop at Cæsarea, who has a Chorepiscopos at Malatiya. Provisions are very cheap and good at this village; an oke (equal to three pounds) of bread, is sold for five farthings, and an equal quantity of excellent mutton for fourpence. Honey of an exquisite flavour abounds in the vicinity.

Oct. 17.-Left Hekim Khan at 4 A.M. and travelled for two hours over a rough country covered with dwarf oak, during which time we passed the dangerous ascent called the "Camel's Back," a narrow hill dividing two deep valleys, and very much sloped on both sides. Soon after we came to an extensive level, known as the Sultanun Yaylisi, or, Sultan's Pasture Land, where Murad encamped with his army on his way to besiege Bagdad. We now descended into a narrow valley through which the Yaylisi Tchai runs, and near which it takes its rise. Following the course of this stream for upwards of an hour, we came to a good bridge lately constructed for the passage of caravans and travellers, which before had frequently to wait for a week together until the stream, swollen by the rains and melting snow, had sufficiently decreased to be fordable without danger. An hour beyond, we crossed the Sook

ootli Tchai, and at the distance of four hours and a half from Hekim Khan, the small Mussulman village of Mullah Ibraheem Oglou, three miles to the right of our road.

The country, as we approached Mullah Yoosoof Oglou, became barren again. Near this village is a small castle, once the residence of an Aga, or Mutsellim. On observing that the whole was in ruins, I inquired of our Mohammedan Sooroojee1 the cause of its abandonment. He answered emphatically, "Oppression." After descending into the valley through which the Mamman Tchai runs, we commenced crossing over an undulating plain, well cultivated. To the left of the road on the banks of the stream is the small village of Kurnuk; to our right, bounded by a range of high mountains, was an extensive plain of hills, somewhat resembling a sea covered with mighty waves. At 8 P.M. we reached Tahir Kioi, a village containing forty families of the followers of Hussein Ali.

Oct. 18.-Left Tahir Kioi at 6 A.M. and reached Kabban Maaden at 2, the mules not arriving until 6 P.M.; the country between was undulating and occasionally well cultivated. We saw but a few villages at some distance from the road, and, in the course of the day, crossed the Eleghi Soo, and the Savokli Soo, both tributaries of the Euphrates. As we approached the town, the region around was romantic and grand in the extreme; the high and barren hills, of twenty different shades, were heaped together, as if at the time of their formation an attempt had been made to compress them into the smallest space possible; nor could we conceive, until we abruptly came in sight of its waters, how the Euphrates found its way through the pent-up mass of hills. The river, where we crossed it in a boat, in company with our horses, was now about a hundred yards wide. Of these boats, there are but two on the ferry, made very much in the form of an immense slipper, with an open stern and flat bottom for the better accommodation of quadrupeds of all descriptions, which walk into them as orderly as possible, and take their passage across the water.

The town of Kabban Maaden appears to be in a more flourishing state than any other we had yet passed: the Christians here did not complain of oppression-a singular exception, without a parallel in our journey. There are in the town, besides Moslem, 200 Greek families, with two churches and a monastery in the vicinity; it is also the seat of a Greek Bishop. The Armenians number 400 families, they also have two churches, and are reckoned under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Sivas. Oct. 19.-Early this morning we went to see the smelting of

1 The postilion who comes in charge of the post-horses.