CALCUTTA. 
249 
recent failure of the Catholic and other missionaries ; they therefore 
wish to argue, that, something inefficient or unsuitable has entered 
into ail their measures ; " but is it not more reasonable to sup- 
pose that there are insurmountable obstacles in the habits, laws, 
and rehgious prejudices of the inhabitants, that have prevented the 
pure doctrines of Christianity from having the same force over the 
minds of the Indians that they acquired over the Japanese, Chinese, 
and other nations? Has not the Mussulmaun religion met with the 
same resistance from its first appearance, through the plenitude of 
its power, to its present decay ? The Sultauns found they could 
destroy their subjects, they could raze their temples, but they could 
not convert them; not from any antipathy to the religion of their 
masters, but from an attachment to their own. Yet we should 
remember, that the Sultauns had advantages that we have not; they 
had a real, a physical power in the country, which rendered them 
superior to any risk of rebellion. 
Very little encouragement is afforded therefore by past expe- 
rience to expect that the future exertions of xMissionaries should 
prove successful in converting the Hindoos from a religion to which 
they are so bigottedly attached, and which is interwoven with their 
whole civil polity; while the danger of such attempts, if apparently 
favoured by the British Government, is manifest and urgent. 
I cannot forbear expressing my dissent from an opinion supported 
by Dr. Buchanan and other advocates for conversion, that if the 
Hindoos were to become Christians, they would be better subjects 
to the British dominion. I have no doubt that should this point be 
attained, they would presently cease to be subjects altogether. At 
present the Hindoo is irrevocably bound by the law of casts, to 
