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-ducated native youth's, was could be in a position to render valuable services interpreters, to spread a favourable estimate of British Alianity & civilization, & raise generally the tone of international intercourse.
Past experience proves that such an Institution without public support, will be exposed to all the fluctuations of individual benevolence, & after a time languish & fall. The dissolution of the Morrison Education Society in Hong Kong, furnishes a recent instance of this kind.
Seven of the most advanced pupils from that Institution have been transferred to us, & form a commencement nucleus suitable for the opiscopal college. A Chinese youth also accompanies me from this country, as a monitor in the Institution under probation for admission to holy orders.
I may be permitted also to state to Your Lordship that Sir John Davis, the last Governor of Hong Kong, has become a member of one of the local Committees (printed document) which have been organized for raising funds towards assisting me in the proposed Episcopal College.
The Bishop asks a grant of £500 a year from the friends of the Institution. I am sensible of the great advantage which the proposed college would bring, & I fear it is feebly contributing on the part of those out of my power to encourage any effectual effort towards carrying out the design.
I remain, Your Lordship's obedient humble servant,
Victoria
FOR
PROSPECTUS OF MISSIONARY PLANS
FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHINESE,
BY THE
RIGHT REV. GEORGE SMITH, D.D.
BISHOP OF VICTORIA,
THE Island of Hong Kong, as a Dependency of the British Crown, and the Seat of an English Bishopric, involves no common responsibilities and claims. Situated off the Coast of Canton Province, and within ninety miles of the provincial capital itself, it labours indeed under the disadvantage of being in the vicinity of a Chinese population who have been long accustomed to regard with dislike, and to treat with contempt, the subjects of European Nations.
The Chinese Immigrants to the new Colony are also likely to be, for some time, composed of the least respectable portion of the inhabitants of the adjacent mainland. A motley population, attracted from different parts, and formed of heterogeneous elements, presents, also, considerable difficulties, from the variety of dialects spoken by them.
But notwithstanding these disadvantages, arising from the character of the population and the diversity of dialects, Hong Kong presents facilities, in point of permanency and centralization, not easily obtainable elsewhere; and, as a scene of educational measures of a high order and on a large scale, may be considered as the most eligible locality for a central base of indirect Missionary Operations in China.
The more northerly ports of China present the most favourable field for direct Missionary Exertion, considered in reference to the Chinese Empire at large. In the two most northerly cities of Shanghai and Ningpo (where the Church Missionary Society have established their Mission) the climate is favourable; the Boundary Regulations permit a considerable extent of Missionary Exertion; the people are friendly and respectful to foreigners; and the Rulers evince no disposition to oppose the efforts of Missionaries.
Their central situation, in regard to the whole of China, and their important future bearings on the possible enlargement of our intercourse with the interior, combine, with the advantages which have been previously enumerated, to render these two cities the most promising field for the direct Missionary Efforts of the Church of England on the mainland of China.
There are, however, two highly-important Objects, for the prosecution of which the British Settlement of Hong Kong presents great advantages. These are, the Training of Chinese Evangelists; and, the Use of the Press for Christian Purposes.
I. With regard to the first of these it may be observed, that the peculiarities of the Chinese language, the complex variety of its written symbols, the number of its spoken dialects,—differing in various parts as much as the different languages of Europe, and the great difficulty of a foreign student attaining the delicate intonations essential to a perfect pronunciation, all point out the great importance of a Native Agency, as the grand desideratum and hope for Christian Missions in that country.
II. In regard to the second Object, it is obvious that the Christian Press is destined to become an agency of extraordinary value for propagating the Gospel in China; and Hong