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dishonesty, and want of truthfulness to a fearful extent ; there is also a 
want of purity of thought and word, as well as of deed, which is fearfully 
common. 
Mr. Sinclair. — As compared with England ? 
Bishop Claughton. — Yes, as compared with England. Do not suppose I 
do not know that there is a vast amount of evil of that kind in England ; 
but on these points, I must confess, the amount of evil in Ceylon is terrible . 
In our own country, no sensible parents will allow their children to be too 
much with their servants, it is not desirable ; but there it is not simply a 
matter of caution but a matter of absolute necessity, for otherwise the most 
improper things are placed before them. But, on the other hand, there is 
nothing in the religion of these people to teach them differently. In our 
schools and pulpits here we teach certain morals to old and young, rich and 
poor, but there there is nothing of the kind. It is true there are certain 
lessons from the sacred books read out, but few of them contain moral 
precepts ; they consist rather of telling the people to commit particular 
things to heart, but they do not answer to our moral teaching at all. But 
the great comparison that I would make is this : here there are bad men 
and good men, and sometimes what are called good men are tempted to evil 
and lapse into badness. There, if a man who is naturally a good, kind- 
hearted man, and not at all cruel, happen to have the besetting sin of covet- 
ousness — which is common enough among all these races, not the Bhuddists 
in particular — and somebody interferes with his interests, he thinks no more 
of putting the man out of life than you would think of killing a noxious 
animal, even if the person he has to deal with be his friend, his relation, 
even his father. With us, if an infant dies under suspicious circumstances 
there is a coroner’s inquest ; but they cannot understand that human life is 
so sacred, the very notion is a wonder to them. It is not that they are 
worse than we as natural men, but things that would horrify us, with all our 
faults, they are not surprised at. But it is not a part of my argument to 
make a comparison of this kind, in reference to a people from whom I 
received much kindness, and to whom I have owed my life. I do not like 
to stand forth as their accuser, but if you ask me honestly, there is no 
comparison at all between them and our own people, with all our faults 
and badness. I should like to say that when I was in Ceylon I was 
always on the side of those who were the advocates of the native race, 
and if there was anything that excited my own indignation it was when 
Englishmen expressed themselves unkindly or harshly of the people among 
whom they were living ; and the very things we blamed in them were partly 
our own fault. If you dealt with them like children, or as Dr. Arnold dealt 
with his boys, and said, u I will trust you,” you could teach them any- 
thing, if they were not lost to begin with. I do not believe my servants ever 
robbed me, and I could trust them thoroughly, but I taught them, first by 
showing and telling them that I trusted them. But I want to say again that 
I wish it to be considered that in anything I have said against these people 
I am an unwilling witness. I do not wish to bring anything against them, 
M 2 
