634 Abbe Dubois' StaU of 



To both luferro?atories I will answer 

 tn the negative : it is my decided opinion, 

 first, tliat under existing circumstances 

 there is no human possibility of convert- 

 ing the Hindoos, to any sect of Chris- 

 tianity, and, secondly, that the transla- 

 tion of the Holy Scriptures circulated 

 among them, so far from conducing to 

 this end, will, on the contrary, increase 

 the prejudices of the natives against the 

 Christian leligion, and prove in many 

 respects detrimental to it. These as- 

 sertions, coming from a person of my 

 profession, may to many appear bold and 

 extracjrdiuary ; I will therefore support 

 them by such arguments and proofs as 

 a long experience and practice in the 

 career of proselytism have enabled me 

 to adduce. 



PAST EFFORTS. 



The Christian religion of the catholic 

 persuasion was introduced into India a 

 little more than three hundred years ago; 

 at the epoch of the Portuguese inva- 

 sions. One of the first missionaries was 

 the famous St. Fianris Xavier, a Span- 

 ish Jesuit of the greatest merit, and ani- 

 mated with a truly apostolical zeal, and 

 still known under the appellation of the 

 Apostle (if India. He traversed several 

 provinces of India, and is said to have 

 made many thousand converts, at a pe- 

 riod when the prejudices of the natives 

 against the Christian religion were far 

 from reaching the height they have since 

 attained. The cast of fisherman at Cape 

 Comorin, who are all Christians, still 

 pride themselves in being the oSspring 

 of the first proselytes made by that 

 apostle. 



Xavier soon discovered in the man- 

 ners and prejudices of the natives an 

 insurmountable bar to the progress of 

 ciiristianity among them, as appears 

 from the printed litters still extant, 

 which he « rote to St. Ignatius de 

 Loyola, his superior, and the founder of 

 the order of the Jesuits. 



At last Francis Xavier, entirely dis- 

 heartened by the invincible obstacles he 

 every where met in his apostolic career, 

 and by the apparent impossibility of 

 making real converts, left tiie country in 

 disgust, after a stay in it of only two or 

 three years; and he embarked for Japan, 

 ■where his spiritual labours were crowned 

 with far greater success, and laid the 

 foundation of those once numerous and 

 flourishing congregation of Japanese 

 christians, who within a period of less 

 than a century, amounted to more than 

 a million of souls. Ai this time their 

 dailv-increasing numbers threatening lo 



Christianity in India. 



supplant the religion of the cnnntryj 

 awakened the jealously and alarm of 

 the Bonzes and other directors of the 

 popular faith, and gave rise to one of 

 the severest persecutions ever recorded 

 in the annals of Christianity, and which 

 ended in the total extermination of the 

 christians. After an interval of nearly 

 two hundred years, this spirit of intole- 

 rance and persecution is still continued, 

 as appears from the conduct observed to 

 this day by the Japanese government 

 towards the Europeans trading to their 

 shores, and from some other circum- 

 stances. 



The disappointment and want of 

 success of Xavier ought to have been 

 sufficient to damp the most fervent zeal 

 of the persons disposed to enter tlio 

 same career. When a man of his tem- 

 per, talents, and virtues, had been baf- 

 fled in all his endeavours to introduce 

 Christianity into India, his successors 

 could scarcely flatter themselves with 

 thehope of being more fortunate. How- 

 ever, this was not the case. His Jesuit 

 brethren in Europe were not to be deter- 

 red by difficulties or contradictions in the 

 undertaking, where the cause of religion 

 was at stake. In eonsccpirnce, Jesuits 

 were sent from every catholic country 

 to India, to forward the interests of the 

 gospel. 



By degrees those missionaries intro- 

 duced themselves into the inland coun- 

 try. They saw that, in order to fix the 

 attention of these pco|)le, gain their eon- 

 fidenee, and get a hearing, it was indis- 

 pensably necessary to respect their pre- 

 judices, and even to conform to their 

 dress, their manner of living, and forms 

 of society ; in short, scrupulously to 

 adojit the costumes and practices of the 

 country. 



With this persuasion, they at their 

 first outset announced themselves as 

 European Brahmins come from a dis- 

 tance of five thousand leagues from the 

 western parts of the Djamboody, for the 

 double purpose of imparting and re- 

 ceiving knowledge from their brother 

 Brahmins in India. Almost all these 

 first missionaries were more or less ac- 

 quainted with astronomy or medicine; 

 the two sciences best calculated to iu- 

 gratiate them with the natives of every 

 description. 



Afterannouncing themselves as Brah- 

 mins, they made it their study to imitate 

 that tribe : they put on a Hindoo dress 

 of cavy, or yellow colour, the same as 

 that used by tiie Indian religious teach- 

 ers and penitents; they made frequent 

 ablutions ; 



