not satisfactory, or if no answer
be supplied at all, I would then propose to ask the public here to
consider whether it would not be better to withhold all their
subscriptions from our English, or at least transfer them to such missions
as will consent to attempt to propagate Christianity on the widest
possible base.

In considering this important subject I shall, in the first place, glance
at Bishop Heber's "Letter on Caste;" Bishop Wilson's "Circular;" the
"Report" of the Madras Commissioners; and the "Statement" of the Tanjore
German missionaries. This may seem a formidable list of documents to
commence with, but it is my intention to make only the most cursory
allusion to each, as to consider these papers at any length would occupy
far too much space. Having thus stated the difference of opinions, as
regards caste, between the Germans and the Protestant missionaries, I
shall then proceed to inquire whether caste can or can not be traced to an
idolatrous source; whether it was in any way necessarily wound up with
religion; and whether, further, it is at all necessary that, supposing it
to have been at any time wound up with religion, there should therefore
be at the present day any necessary connection between the religions of
the peoples and their caste customs.

In Bishop Heber's "Letter" of March 21st, 1826, he says that, "with regard
to the distinctions of caste as yet maintained by professing Christians,
it appears that they are manifested--(a) in desiring separate seats at
church; (b) in going up at different times to receive the Holy
Communion; (c) in insisting on their children having different sides of
the school; (d) in refusing to eat, drink, or associate with those of a
different caste."

On the first of these points the bishop observes, with great justice, that
points of precedence have constantly been granted in Christian churches to
people of noble birth and of great fortune, and that in the United States
of America these distinctions were always maintained between the whites
and the negroes. He also points out that a Christian gentleman conforms to
those rules because, if he neglected them, he would lose influence with
his own degree in society, and that a native of the better classes acts
exactly on the same principle. And on this point he concludes that
distinctions of caste in church may still be allowed, provided that due
care is taken to teach the natives that in the sight of God they are all