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CH. IX.]

SCHOOLS AT SINGAPORE.

237

parable of the Sower-the wayside, the stony places, the thorns the uniform answer was, 'His heart is not changed by the Holy Spirit.' We were also struck, on the one hand, by the ugliness of the girls, and on the other, by the sweetness of their voices. Doubtless the institution of the school is a very great blessing, and its objects and efforts truly Christian; and I trust that I shall never get so intellectual and so sensitive to the defective details of the evangelical or any other system, as to overlook or undervalue work diligently carried on for Christ's sake, and instrumental in stopping sin and ignorance, and building up His kingdom. . . . .

January 25.-To-day I consecrated the new church, St. Andrew's; a large and very striking building, copied, mutatis mutandis, from Netley Abbey, and certainly good, both in general design and detail; but ill adapted for hearing, and embarrassed by an apse, which, though in itself pretty, has the bad effect of presenting an unmeaning and unused space behind the communion-table. I preached on Romans xii. 1, and afterwards held a conference with the chaplain and lay trustees as to the best position of the pulpit, so that the preacher may be audible.

January 26.-At 8 A.M. I confirmed thirty-one candidates, and administered the Communion to about seventy persons, including all who were confirmed. Among them about twelve were Chinese, and eight Madrassees, so that the more important parts of the service were translated into Chinese and Tamil. It was interesting to confirm these Chinese converts in their full national dress, with their long pigtails and other peculiarities. And it is plain that real work is going on in the mission, and of a peculiarly hopeful kind, because the Chinese population here is a floating one; and when those who come here have made money, they return to the cities of the empire; so that we may trust that a little Christian leaven is perpetually passing from Singapore to the vast multitude at home. Miss Cooke's girls were in pink dresses, like great nightshirts, with wide embroidered trousers, and turned-up slippers.

Singapore will doubtless become a place of great importance, and we have been pleased and interested by our visit; yet there is, however, a slightly colonial tone about it, and wealth and prosperity produce a sort of self-importance and independence

which must make it a difficult place to govern politically or to guide spiritually. For my part, convinced that a guiding spirit is wanted for missionary operations here, and that I cannot give them much help from Calcutta, nor enter with practical earnestness into a line of missionary work so wholly unlike that of India, I shall be very glad if I can get rid of the Straits. A missionary bishop ought to be able to minister to his various flocks in their own language; but only Mithridates or Mezzofanti could do so in Bengali, Hindustani, Burmese, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, which is the smallest list of languages now required from an ideal bishop of Calcutta. . . .

Calcutta, February 24.-At half-past 7 we landed at Lushington's Ghât, and thankfully and joyfully breakfasted in our own house. Thank God for all His mercies, through Jesus Christ. We return indeed with sad remembrances of the mournful events, public and private, which have marked the tour, and especially of one who went out with us but has not come back again. Yet I hope that it is a sign that I am getting more devoted to my Indian life and work. I am thoroughly glad to find myself again in Calcutta, and in the midst of its people, its duties, its interests, its refreshments. May God give me grace to use my increased familiarity with them for His glory, and for fulfilling the office and ministry to which He has called me.

The preceding extract summed up the record of events during four months' absence from Calcutta. Lady Canning and the Prince Consort had passed away. He who had gone forth in November and returned no more, was the Bishop's temporary domestic chaplain, the Rev. J. Rofe. He left Calcutta ill, in hopes that the sea voyage might arrest an acute attack of dysentery; but he grew worse, was ordered to England from Rangoon, and died before reaching India. Though young in years and in the service, he was full of promise in all ways, and especially as a preacher. His short career amply justified the mode of his appointment; for he had been nominated by St. John's, Cambridge, when Lord Stanley, as Secretary for India, placed two chaplaincies at the disposal of that College and of Trinity. A long succession of public and

CH. IX.]

DEPARTURE OF LORD CANNING.

239

private losses was mournfully completed when, almost immediately after the return to Calcutta, Mr. Ritchie, the legal member of Council and Vice-Chancellor of the University, was called, through one of the sudden and rapid illnesses of India, from his life of goodness and usefulness and from a large circle of friends. Early in March the Bishop consecrated the cemetery in the Barrackpore gardens, where Lady Canning was buried. As the sun of a hot Indian day was setting, the ceremony was simply and quietly performed over the solitary tomb and circumjacent ground, henceforth to be set apart, as the petition for consecration declared, for the families of the Governor-Generals of India. When all was concluded, Lord Canning kindly greeted the few who were present: he turned to the Bishop and said, I think the ground is large enough to justify consecration,' and then walked away slowly and alone to the desolate house hard by.

Almost immediately afterwards the scene changed to State ceremonies and formalities, attending the retirement of one Viceroy and the reception of another; addresses were presented and replied to, and large parties were gathered each evening at Government House. On the 18th of March,' in the Bishop's words, 'the dignitaries of Church and State assembled at Government House, shook hands with Lord Canning, and then hastened to Prinsep's Ghât, where the Governor-General's barge was moored. Lord Canning came down to the river in state, got on board the barge, thence to the "Sunamucki," the flat which was to be towed by the steamer "Celerity" to Kedgeree, where the "Feroze" was waiting to convey him to Suez. There was a considerable crowd at the Ghât; a good English cheer was heard, and a very bad native imitation of it; the ships were dressed with flags, the guns boomed from the fort, hats and handkerchiefs were waved as the steamer began to move, and last, but not least, in the way of adding splendour to the scene, the great red sun was blazing

away in its evening majesty, just about to sink below the horizon, and lighting up with golden fire the waters of the Hooghly. So departed one of the most conscientious and upright of Indian Governors, and one who, more than any of his predecessors, has been tried by a combination of public anxiety and private sorrow.'

CH. X.]

EXTENSION OF MISSIONS.

241

CHAPTER X.

JOURNEY TO DARJEELING-SUGGESTIONS FOR THE EXTENSION OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE-THE ADDITIONAL CLERGY SOCIETY-ADVICE TO THE COMMITTEE-DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF THE BURIAL SERVICE-LETTER TO ARCHDEACON PRATT-KEEN ENJOYMENT OF HIMALAYAN SCENERY-JOURNAL EXTRACTS.

THE hot months of 1862, from April to November, were spent at Darjeeling, in the Eastern Himalayas-the most beautiful, the most rainy, and in some respects the least civilised of hill-stations. Once more settled for a time, the Bishop as usual took in hand some definite branches of business, in order to deal with them more in detail than was possible among the distractions of travelling. He had at this time much at heart an extension of the Propagation Society's work in the north-east of India. Reference has already been made to his desire that the Moulmein and Singapore missions should be maintained with vigour; but these only formed integral portions of a larger scheme for bringing within the range of the Society's operations an immense extent of territory peculiarly destitute of pastoral care, and therefore lying open to any missionary body that would go up and possess the land. He lived to witness only a very partial accomplishment of his wishes; but his letters on this occasion, as on others when similar objects were in view, remain as records of the method and arrangement which pervaded his programmes of evangelistic work, and of the clear principle that prompted all his suggestions or recommendations to the parent Societies. The scope of the particular exten

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