PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTILIC.O. 882
انس
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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who enjoy a like privilege; inasmuch as by their extensive commercial business as well as by their local industries, they contribute much more towards the public revenue than these Christians. And from the inconvenience under which they labour in respect of auch schools at present, as pointed out in the preceding paragraphs, it is morally certain that they will be forced to abandon their present attitude of apparent indifference towards political concerns, in order to have this wish realised.
11. I beg therefore, my Lord, respectfully to suggest that, in the redistribution of the ecclesiastical grant, instead of handing over to the Roman Catholic Church any portion of this grant of which the Church of England might be deprived in that redistribution, such portion should be applied to the establishment of primary schools among the Indian population, such as now described. Moralisation and Christianity need not fear this course; according to the universal law of the survival of the fittest religion to suit the existing circumstances of society, when the British laws, which the Indian population admire for their justness, are impartially administered, and the Bible allowed free sale like any other book, Christianity is certain eventually to prevail. It is a reproach to this religion at present, that it has to be supported in this Colony out of the revenue chiefly contributed by non-Christians, whilst these latter receive no such support.
12. Should your Lordship deem the amount of which the Church of England would probably be deprived, as inadequate to meet the suggestion here ventured, I would also respectfully submit, that the peculiar circumstances of the Indian population would justify an increase, in their behalf, in the grant which the local government annually allows towards aided schools; or a reduction of the amount of that grant heretofore enjoyed by each of the Christian churches, as well as of grants for missionary purposes. The present occasion afforded by the contention of these churches themselves in respect of the redistribution of the ecclesiastical grant in general, would be the most opportune for such reduction; although it must be confessed that, as the great majority of the laity of both churches have taken no interest whatever in these contentions which the clergy, by the aid of a very few laymen whom they induced in some measure to espouse their respective causes, have kept up; it would seem hard that these very persons who have thus kept aloof from such contentions would be those who would suffer most by these reductions.
13. I submit, my Lord, that all religions professed by a considerable proportion of the Indian community, however imperfect they may appear to the unreflecting, are, if judiciously handled, subservient to some useful ends which could not be so easily realised through any other means. They should all therefore be duly respected; and as far as convenient, encouraged; in order that these ends which were, no doubt, the purpose intended by Providence in permitting their existence, should be effected. The religious and moral principles of any people are more efficaciously developed through the medium of the religion which they themselves possess, than through instruction in any other while rejecting their own. This principle is exemplified in the case of mission schools. For although many missionaries of both parties over zealous for their cause, have some- times manifested a spirit of sectarianism, it cannot be denied that among them there have been also many kind-hearted and self-denying men who sacrificed their lives for the good of humanity; yet, from the practice of discouraging the original religion of the converts, while instructing them in Christianity, these converts in many cases, lost all regard for religion itself; and instead of being moralised as intended, they became demoralised.
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The
14. This is not a conclusion which I have hastily adopted; but it is the result of observation, through many years' study of the religions of India in their relation to Christianity; in confirmation of which I would refer your Lordship to pages 34 and 35 of a pamphlet on the spirit of the Bible herewith forwarded as enclosure No. 2. principle there expressed in relation to the use of the native religion, is precisely applicable to the use of the vernacular tongue in primary schools as the proper medium of instruction. When this tongue is employed in schools, under the control of teachers of the same religious creed as the children, and supervised by inspectors of a like creed, there must necessarily be a greater moral development than could be effected through the ordinary ** moralisation system. The favour which I have therefore here requested for the Indian population would not only be the remedying of a state of things which, so long as it exists, is calculated to be a source of dissatisfaction to these people, but it would also eventually be beneficial to the community in general, from the greater respect cultivated for the religious and moral principle itself. Furthermore, if the Indians were allowed this favour, the source of contention among the Christian churches would, from the nature of the case, be very much diminished.
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15. Having been accustomed to regard the question of ecclesiastical endowments from the principle of a regard for the religious and moral culture of the community in general, rather than from an exclusively missionary or denominational point of view, or as a special favour to any particular creed in Mauritius, I thought it more consistent with such a principle, to forward your Lordship this private memorial on the question of the redistribution of these endowments in this Colony, than (to) act in concert with one creed against another. And I earnestly trust that, whether this redistribution should be deemed advisable at the present, or independently thereof, provision will be soon made to satisfy the claims and wishes of the Indian population now constituting the most industrious and wealthy section of the Mauritian community, by allowing them, in the matter of the education of their children in the primary schools, the same privileges that are enjoyed in this respect by their Christian fellow subjects.
I have, &c. Port Louis,
(Signed) STEPHEN WALSHE,
SIR,
January 7, 1890.
Incumbent of St. Nicholas' Church.
Enclosure 2 in No. 23.
St. James' Vestry, January 8, 1890. I RECEIVED last evening the documents herewith in due course enclosed to your Excellency, viz., a memorial, two annexures, and the Rev. S. Walshe's covering letter to me, the three former (printed papers) being in triplicate, according to regulations.
In order not to delay complying with Mr. Walshe's request, I have the honour to forward them to your Excellency at once, but it is not, I regret to say, possible for me to append any suitable remarks between the present date and that of the departure of the mail of the 10th.
There are, however, it seems to me, some mistakes and inadvertencies in a few matters of fact, as well as, I think, some rather serious misapprehensions, and to say the least doubtful appreciations, upon which it may be my duty to comment briefly as soon as possible, and I request therefore that I may be allowed by your Excellency to send in my observations a little later on.
I have no copies left with me by the Rev. Mr. Walshe for this purpose, or for record, but I take for granted there will be no difficulty in my obtaining them. In any case, however, I have no doubt I should be allowed the favour of access to the copies retained by the Colonial Secretary, should the occasion arise, which I do not at all anticipate, in order to supply the information needed.
2501.
No. 24.
I have, &c. (Signed) A. D. MATHEW8,
Archdeacon and Commissary.
BISHOP ROYSTON to COLONIAL OFFICE.
Sandown, Isle of Wight, February 6, 1890.
MY LORD,
I RECEIVED On the 4th a copy of the memorial of the Diocesan Council of the Church of England in Mauritius on the subject of the proposed transfer to the Church of Rome of Rs. 21,396 (more than a balf) of all the Governmental allowances annually made to us there. And according to your Lordship's permission I now hasten to subunit
the following remarks.
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2. I much wish that the memorial had been shorter and some of its expressions less strong. But I am assured that the feelings of the Council were so unanimous and deep that lew incisive terms were disallowed. And when I notice the names of the leading members of our Communion which are attached to this document, men of practical experience and candour, intimately conversant with all that is going on in the Colony, I feel that nothing but a very deep sense of the gravity of the situation could have led to this issue. Having premised thus much, and believing as I do that this movement is really much
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