Page:An account of the mutinies in Oudh 1858 by Gubbins.djvu/101

Rh Countenance these, and protect the missionary in his noble enterprise. Speak well of him; employ the deserving among his converts, at least on terms of equality with the deserving Mussulman or Hindoo, and from your private resources aid the good work; but let neither the Government nor its servants take the place of the evangelist. It is not by the arm of force that our pure religion won her way; and with an ignorant, barbaric people, the alliance of the power of Government with missionary labour will but provoke suspicion, and arouse resistance; and thus retard the progress of the faith of Christ.

It must not, from the foregoing observations, either, be imagined that I am a foe to education in India; so far from this being the case, no one would more readily assist its promotion than myself. But I am of opinion that the haste with which this all-powerful engine for moving the minds and opinions of mankind was pushed on, particularly during the last years of Mr. Thomason's administration, and that of Mr. Colvin, was unwise. In my opinion, therefore, this course defeated its own object by creating alarm and dissatisfaction to a considerable extent. Before the period referred to, the progress of public education had been very gradual. It had not, probably, attracted sufficiently the notice and attention of Government. But it was at all events safe. The native mind in India had nowise been aroused in antagonism to it. Greater attention might have been bestowed on this important object, and larger funds devoted to its promotion with advantage, and without exciting public alarm. But the impulse which was given, and which began about the year 1850, was too sudden and too hasty in its action. It also was open to the serious error of laying the people under contri-