sula. Brahmanism reigns there with its most extravagant pretensions. Mrs. Murray Mitchell, in a volume entitled "In Southern India," refers to Brahmanism as found in that section as follows: "Caste is intensely and exceptionally strong, and, as elsewhere, stands in the way of all progress. The degradation of the low castes, consequent on the absurd and oppressive laws of caste, is terrible here, and hardly to be believed. For example, no native Christian, however educated and intelligent, nor any person of low caste, can obtain employment in a public office, for fear of polluting those officials who may be of higher caste. Then the school difficulties are endless. The children of some of the inferior castes dare not even approach a school where higher-caste lads are taught. The disabilities are inconceivable and so are the injustice and inequality of the laws. Women, too, are degraded to a degree one hardly finds equalled in these days of reform in any other part of India. It is terrible to look at some of the poor, miserable-looking creatures, with hardly any clothing and no sense even of decency."1

Some representative opinions on caste.

A consensus of influential opinion as to the evils of caste by both foreign and native students of Indian history and society might be given at considerable length. Some of the most distinguished and intelligent natives of India have had the courage-and it has required great moral heroism-to renounce caste, and in some instances eminent Indians have done valiant service in seeking to deliver their countrymen from its stupendous bondage. Among them may be mentioned the late Rev. Dr. Krishna Mohun Banerjea, Pandit Bishan Narayan Dar, Raja Rammohun Roy, Keshub Chunder Sen, Sasipada Banerjee, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Sir Tanjore Madhava Row, Protab Chunder Mozumdar, Pandit Shiva Nath Sastri, and Mr. Behramji M. Malabari, the accomplished editor of The Indian Spectator, to live in the main village, but occupy huts outside the village boundary. Although English law seeks to treat all classes alike, owing to the prejudices of the subordinate officials, who are Hindus, Pariahs are, as a rule, prevented from entering hospitals, courts, post-offices, and similar public buildings. Every attempt on the part of people belonging to these stations in life to improve their position calls forth the bitterest opposition of the higher classes."-Rev. W. Howard Campbell (L. M. S.), Cuddapah, Madras, India.

1 Quoted in Bailey, "A Glimpse at the Indian Mission Field and Leper Asylums," pp. 33, 34.

Cf. also "The Condition of the Pariah Outcastes in India," by the Rev. James Johnston, in The Missionary Review of the World, April, 1895, p. 276; The Baptist Missionary Review (India), February, 1895, p. 56; March, 1895, p. 97; and " The Wrongs of the Pariah," by the Rev. George Patterson, in Work and Workers in the Mission Field, June, 1892, p. 70.

who, although born a Parsi, had a Hindu mother and knew the system through and through. In the sketch of his life and times by Mr. R. P. Karkaria an instance is given (p. 116) of what it means for a Hindu to break caste. Other names might be given, and several of the native papers of India might be designated which have done excellent service in this direction, although edited by Hindus.

midable barrier to

social progress.

As viewed from a missionary standpoint, the present workings of caste in Hindu society must be regarded as a social evil of immensely depressing and paralyzing power.2 Missionaries. An indefensible and for- are not alone in this opinion, as learned students, such as Sir M. Monier-Williams and Professor Max Müller, have expressed most emphatic judgments as to the indefensible pretensions and terrible social evils of caste. Anglo-Indian officials of distinction have also united in this verdict. In the "Madras Census Report for 1871" Dr. Cornish, in an "Introduction on Caste," expresses it as his conclusion that it "is now the greatest bar to the advance of the Indian people in civilization and aptitude for self-government."3 In agreement with this is the judgment of Sir

1 "The complex machinery of caste, which unites Hindus and holds them as in a dead man's embrace, is set against them. The horrors of excommunication hang constantly over their heads. The social reformer's task is thus of a most trying nature. Many a stout heart has been broken under the strain of persecution. A man may not care for himself; he may in his own person defy any persecution, however bitter; but when his whole family is condemned along with him, and severed from all intercourse with the society around them,—when for his zeal his near and dear ones are made to suffer with him,-nothing short of heroism can bear him up. It is unreasonable to expect such heroism from many. Karsandas Mulji, a Hindu of Gujarat, showed such courage in the last generation, and for a long time defied caste and superstition. But he too had to yield at last. His last days were embittered by the helpless state to which his family had been reduced. He died in grief and solitude. Caste had proved too strong for his individual efforts. His family could not defy it. They retracted, and underwent a humiliating penance in order to be taken back into the fold of their caste. Superstition and bigotry thus triumphed." -Karkaria, "India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform," p. 116.

2་ Undoubtedly caste is the first and greatest social evil in this section of India." -Rev. D. Downie, D.D. (A. B. M. U.), Nellore, India.

"The system amounts to a stupid, selfish, proud, stagnant, degrading tyranny, difficult for us to conceive."-Rev. Robert Morrison (P. B. F. M. N.), Lahore, India.

"Caste is one of the greatest evils that are to be found in Hindu society. It separates man from man, fosters pride on the one hand and envy on the other, and effectually destroys individuality by bringing all classes under the yoke of a multitude of minute and vexatious formulæ."—Rev. W. Howard Campbell (L. M. S.), Cuddapah, Madras, India.

3" Madras Census Report, 1871," p. 130.

Henry Maine that caste is "the most disastrous and blighting of all human institutions." There is evidently a hard fight, in fact a social convulsion, which must come in connection with the break-up of this tremendous system. Its solidarity is something which no mere words can describe.1 It will be one of the most signal triumphs of Christianity over human ignorance, superstition, pride, and stout-hearted defiance when it shall finally make a successful breach in these massive ramparts. The disciples of caste are no doubt aware that their system can never assimilate modern civilization, and can never coalesce with the spirit of the Gospel. It is now the policy of Christian missions not to recognize caste in the Church.

The effort to fix caste disabilities upon native Christians.

In some sections of India, especially in the Native States, the position of native Christians is one of difficulty, and characterized by many unjust disabilities. They are even regarded as outcastes, and have been visited with some of the ignominy and ostracism which are common in the case of non-caste people. Their property rights have been declared as forfeited in the Province of Mysore.2 There is serious interference with the custody of children, prohibition of the use of public wells, and other minor annoyances. The Bangalore Native Christian Association has presented an address to the Lord Bishop of Madras, recounting the objectionable features of this situation, and in view of the fact that there are 30,000 Christians in the Province of Mysore, its members requested his aid to secure the removal of these

1 "We conceive that so peculiarly tenacious is the caste cement which binds the courses of its social masonry that the dislodgment of individual stones does nothing to impair the structural integrity of the edifice. The wall of its circumvallation is massive and smooth, and the separation of a fragment from its face is imperceptible in the solidity of the whole. The breach seems to close again of itself, and the defenses, instead of crumbling, seem only the more indurated by their slight and temporary disturbance."- The Church Missionary Intelligencer, July, 1893, p. 500.

2 "A convert to Christianity in Mysore has no rights at all. Act XXI. of 1850, which confers rights of property on converts in British India, is not in force in Mysore, and consequently a convert cannot claim any share of the family property. If he had by his own earnings brought a large amount of property to the family, he would not be able to claim it in case he changed his creed. The Courts of Mysore would declare that he was patita (fallen from caste), and therefore entitled to no consideration whatever. The embracing of Christianity would make a rich man poor, and deprive the poor of the little he possessed; and the Mysore Courts would not interfere to redress the wrong." See paper on "" The Position and Disabilities of Native Christians in the Province of Mysore," by the Rev. H. Gulliford, presented to the Bangalore Native Christian Association, October 9, 1895, and subsequently published as a supplement to The Christian Patriot of Madras.

disabilities. A similar movement is in operation for the Native State of Travancore, where the situation is still more trying.1

Milder forms of caste spirit in other lands.

4

The overshadowing import of caste as found in India seems to render it a comparatively insignificant matter in other lands. It is, indeed, not found in China 2 or Japan, although the old feudal distinctions were nearly as pronounced as caste classification in India. A powerful class spirit, however, is still found in Japanese society, but perhaps not more so than elsewhere.3 It is not found at all in Siam, although it prevails in all its intensity just north in Assam. We have mild phases of it in Korea, chiefly in connection with trade distinctions, for example, the butchers as a class were obliged to observe certain restrictions, which, however, have recently been abolished, largely through Christian influence, by official action of the Korean Government. In some of the South Sea Islands there is a strong caste feeling,5 and in certain sections of Africa it is quite pronounced, as in Dahomey and Bechuanaland.6

1 See editorial on "The Disabilities of Native Christians in the Travancore State," in The Christian Patriot, Madras, November 21, 1895.

2 " Caste, in the Indian sense of the word, is not found here."-Rev. Jonathan Lees (L. M. S.), Tientsin, North China.

"Class spirit once existed in Japan, and with great power. It certainly still exists in a modified form. It cannot be said that the Japanese, even in the Christian Church, are wholly above the influence of the once powerful class spirit. But the manifestations of this spirit here are so seldom and so meagre compared with former times that the Japanese would themselves be almost ready to say that it does not exist. Christian civilization is a leveller, and this phase of the influence of Christianity upon Japan is specially prevalent. The once despised merchant and mechanic classes are rising in power, and are becoming more and more respected by the literary and social classes. The class distinctions that begin to prevail are those which come naturally to society in any land.”—Rev. David S. Spencer (M. E. M. S.), Nagoya, Japan.

4 "There is no caste, and the separation between the two extremes of society is not so marked as in Christian lands to-day."-Rev. Daniel McGilvary (P. B. F. M. N.), Chieng Mai, Laos.

5 "In the northern part of the New Hebrides Group the system of caste has as firm a hold upon the natives as it has in India. They belong to different castes according to rank. The women and children are outside the pale of caste.”—Rev. William Gunn (F. C. S.), Futuna, New Hebrides.

6 Illustrated Africa, June, 1895, p. 9; Work and Workers in the Mission Field, February, 1893, p. 63.

V. THE NATIONAL GROUP

(Evils which afflict society through the misuse of the governing power)

The dignity of the State, and the perils of power.

Government is a fundamental and universal necessity to the prosperity and efficiency of the social organism. In its rudimentary as well as its more perfected forms it has been an inevitable feature of associate life through all history. No one form of government, patriarchal, tribal, monarchical, oligarchical, or even constitutional, can claim exclusive excellence or pose as the only possible system which can secure the common welfare. Good or bad rule does not depend so much on the form as on the spirit and method with which government is conducted. Any system may be abused or become the instrument of tyranny, although it is no doubt true that an immensely preponderating danger in this respect attends all forms of personal as distinguished from constitutional authority, since the balancing restraint of recognized responsibility is far more imperfectly realized in the exercise of personal than of constitutional power. The great and legitimate function of government is to secure and conserve the rights of subjects, while ministering to the good order, prosperity, liberty, and higher welfare of society. It has upon occasion the further duty of protecting its authority and its geographical domain from aggression, that it may preserve its title to independent existence. The State has a right to be as an essential condition of social order and safety. It is in reality the necessary outgrowth of the family, and as the family is divine in its origin, so the State is both established and sanctioned by God as the enlargement of family life.1 It is the evolution of primitive patriarchal and family relationships. In this sense "the powers that be are ordained of God" for the benefit of the larger life of man. The history of the world, however, shows what fearful misuse has been made of the governing power. The record of what the world has suffered from bad government is indeed a dark and melancholy chapter in human annals.2 The good of the people has been often heedlessly

1 "The original State was a family. Historically the State of to-day may be regarded as in an important sense only an enlarged family: State is family writ large."-Woodrow Wilson, "The State," p. 3.

2 On misgovernment under the Roman emperors, especially Diocletian, see extract from Lactantius, in "Selections from Early Writers," by Henry Melville Gwatkin, p. 151.