the year 1762, and that he himself had been guided, partly by
his own discretion, and partly by the example of the clergy of the
Tranquebar Mission, which was started in the year 1705, by those good and
amiable men of whom I have given some account in another part of this
work. These successors of Schwartz, then, observed that they had
persistently imitated the conduct of that able and good man; but that,
while they took care to imitate his caution, and forbearance, they seized
every opportunity of softening the mutual prejudices arising from
distinctions of caste; and they also observe that, in consequence, those
distinctions of caste have gradually lost a great deal of their
importance.

Alluding, in the next place, to the assertion that castes had been
invented and entirely originated by the Brahmins, the authors of the
statement observe that, in the opinion of the most intelligent natives who
were not of the Brahminical order, the social distinctions which
constitute caste existed long before the Brahmins came into the country at
all; and they assert, further, that though the Brahmin priests blended
those social distinctions with their idolatry, and framed a convenient
legend to account for their divine institution, the whole thing was a mere
fiction, which had been invented with the view of adding to the power of
an ambitious priesthood. But the missionaries of Tanjore asserted,
further, that even if the legend of caste was a true one, and that caste
had been a part of idolatry, still those who abandoned the worshipping of
idols and superstitious rites were not therefore to be required to abandon
such practices as had nothing of idolatry about them at all, and they
distinctly declared that no rites of an idolatrous or even mixed nature
were tolerated amongst their converts.

The missionaries then pointed out that their high-caste converts simply
retained these privileges and social customs because they would lose the
respect of their neighbours if they abandoned those marks of station which
they had inherited, and which they looked upon entirely as a civil
prerogative. It was also pointed out that high-caste priests gained ready
access to the houses of the better classes, and had, therefore, bettor
chances of spreading Christianity than Pariah priests, whom no good-caste
native would allow to cross the threshold of his house.

At church those of the upper classes sat on one side, and those of the
lower on the oth