INDIA 



INDIANA. 



. and very often offenders have been 

 handed over to the British to exact justice 

 from their persons for the murder of the police 

 or for similar crimes. But it is from the Au- 

 :imi Na,'!i-i that most trouble has come. These 

 li"ll a portion of the hills which stretch be- 

 i Assam and Munnipoor. The Rajah of 

 Munnipoor, at whose court the British have 

 an agent, originally sought their protection 

 from the tyranny of the Burmese ruler. The 

 Rajah, acting under the advice of the British 

 representative, has governed his little state to 

 their entire satisfaction; but ho has himself 

 been beset by frontier difficulties with those 

 very Augami Nagas who had given the British 

 so much trouble for over fifty years, and who 

 were again the aggressors. The attack took 

 place at Konoma, in the heart of the Angami 

 country. Immediately after the murder of 

 Mr. I>nmant, together with some seventy of 

 his followers, at Konoma, the Nagas of that 

 village marched upon Kohiraa, and were joined 

 by thousands of their tribesmen. The little 

 garrison then consisted of Lieutenant Reid and 

 a small detachment of the 43d regiment ; Mr. 

 Ohorley, of the police, with his wife and his 

 children ; Mr. Hinde, of the police, and Mrs. 

 Damant, who, with all the terrible affliction 

 that had just fallen upon her, had now to go 

 through the miseries and privations of a siege. 

 At the most there were only 150 men whose 

 loyalty could be depended upon, in a hostile 

 village of 1,200 houses, while they were, in 

 addition, completely hemmed in by a horde of 

 savages, who were wrought up to the highest 

 pitch of excitement. Mr. Hinde with 100 po- 

 lice was the first of several relief parties to 

 roach the garrison, but was not strong enough 

 to assail the Nagas. Colonel Johnstone, the 

 political agent of Munnipoor, with 60 regulars, 

 60 police, and 2,000 tribesmen, reached Kohi- 

 ma on October 27th. He was only just in 

 time. The Nagas were besieging in regular 

 form behind intrenchments. The garrison, 

 after thirteen days of defense, was reduced to 

 the last extremity. Major Evans, with 200 men, 

 arrived later^ and the whole party fell back 

 on Samugating. A force under General Nation 

 was assembled at Golaghat, and in the early 

 part of November set out to punish the Nagas. 

 Several villages were occupied and burned, and 

 on the 26th the village of Konoma was at- 

 tacked by the British. After a severe struggle 

 the natives retreated to some neighboring 

 heights, and the village was burned on the 

 following day. This virtually put an end to 

 the hostilities. 



Christianity has of late begun to make con- 

 siderable progress. According to the latest 

 attainable statistics of the Protestant mission- 

 ary societies, their total force in India was 

 represented in 1879 by 1,833 ordained and as- 

 sistant missionaries, and 88,149 communicant 

 members. This statement is based only in 

 part on the reports for 1878-'79, since several 

 of the societies have not recently published 



detailed reports, and it does not include the 

 very large accessions of 1H77 and 1878 to the 

 two Anglican societies. The growth of the 

 missions is indicated by the fact that u careful 

 census taken by the Rev. M. A. Sheering in 

 1871 gave the number of communicants in In- 

 dia, Ceylon, and Burmah at 78,494, and the 

 number of persons connected with the Christian 

 community as 818,363, while the figures given 

 in the above statement for 1878-'7tf are for In- 

 dia alone. The present number of the Chris- 

 tian communities in India, Ceylon, and Bur- 

 mah is reckoned by Mr. Sherring at 460,000 

 souls. An unprecedented accession of adher- 

 ents took place in 1877 and 1878 to the Angli- 

 can and Baptist missions in southern India, 

 amounting in all to about 45,000 persons. The 

 most rapid progress has been made hitherto 

 among the aboriginal and Dravidian races and 

 the lower castes. The higher castes have been 

 until recently nearly inaccessible. Conversions 

 have, however, lately begun to take place 

 among the Brahmans, but are still so rare as 

 to be generally deemed worthy of especial 

 mention. The Methodist, Presbyterian, and 

 Anglican missions in the Northwest Provinces 

 and the Punjaub are among a Mohammedan 

 population, who are represented as becoming 

 gradually more amenable to their influence. 

 The Anglican mission at Peshawer has out- 

 posts among the Afghans, and records several 

 persons of that nation among its converts. 

 The most extended and successful operations 

 of the women's missionary societies are among 

 the zenanas of the Hindoo women, through 

 which and the schools connected with them 

 the families of the higher castes, otherwise in- 

 accessible, are brought under missionary influ- 

 ence. The missionary schools are elementary 

 or vernacular, middle or high vernacular, 

 and Anglo-vernacular schools, and colleges in 

 which the course prescribed by the University 

 is followed and instruction is given in English. 

 The number of pupils in these schools in 1872 

 was 122,872, and is now estimated at 140,000, 

 of whom about 20 per cent, are girls. Secular 

 education has been greatly encouraged by the 

 introduction of competitive examinations for 

 civil appointments, but the same influence has 

 been found to work detrimentally to the reli- 

 gions side of education. Eight colleges are 

 connected with the Protestant missions, all of 

 which are affiliated with one or another of the 

 Indian universities. 



INDIANA. The biennial session of the 

 Legislature of Indiana commenced on January 

 9th. Lioutenant-Governor Gray presided in 

 the Senate ; in the House Henry S. Cawthorne 

 was elected Speaker. At the end of sixty 

 days the regular session expired ; a special ses- 

 sion then followed, and the final adjournment 

 took place on March 81st. More than twice 

 as many bills were passed at the special session 

 as during the regular one. 



A Senator of the United States was elected 

 on January 24th. In the House Daniel W. 



