ciety
in which they lived. This was quite sufficient. "The 'Circular' was read
in the churches of Tanjore. It was received by the native Christians with
great displeasure, and they showed their views by seceding in a body."

Turning now to the Report of the Madras Commissioners, which was written
in 1845, we shall at once see the cause and root of this violent attack on
social usages. For the Commissioners commence their Report by stating that
the institution of caste and the divisions of society were things of
priestly invention, and that, in fact, the whole of Hindoo society, as we
at present see it, originated in, and is maintained by, Hindoo idolatry.
And they further allege that the tyranny of this institution is such as to
be perfectly unaccountable on any other supposition. How any body of
priests had the power to issue and enforce mandates regarding the
extraordinary diversities as to food and dress that we see prevailing
throughout India, where the council sat that issued these decrees, and
where the members of this council came from, they give no account. They do
not seem to have even thought of such questions, and, for evidence of
these astounding assertions, they refer us to what they call "the laws of
Manu,"[39] and to Halhed's "Gentoo Hindoo Code." Caste and idolatry,
then, according to them, are not only inextricably wound up together, but
caste itself was caused by, and is a part of, idolatry; and we are,
therefore, plainly told that it is impossible that a man should abandon
the one without abandoning the other, and that, in other words, the two
institutions must stand or fall together. Leaving this part of these
assertions to be commented on further on, I now pass on to the statement
and arguments of the Tanjore German missionaries.

Shortly after Bishop Heber's "Letter," which I have referred to at the
commencement of these remarks, he drew up a number of questions regarding
caste practices amongst native Christians, to which he required special
answers. These "Articles of Inquiry," as they are termed, were sent to the
Tanjore missionaries, and by them a statement in reply was furnished. They
were asked for their opinion in 1828, and though no date is affixed to
these statements, I conclude that they probably replied towards the close
of that year.

They commence by observing that the distinctions of caste had been
observed since the establishment of the mission by the Rev. Mr. Schwartz,
soon after