our own household. That the cause of conversion in the East must have materially suffered by such a continued neglect, cannot for a moment be doubted; for while the public services of our Church are manifestly neglected by us, when surrounded by our native brethren-in-arms, how can we as reasoning men expect to make converts to our religious persuasion ? While we are regardless of those already in the faith, such an expectation is not in accordance with common sense; nor is it in accordance with the reasoning faculties of man.

It is a lamentable, but undeniable fact, that since the conclusion of the late heroic Lord Lake's last compaign in 1804-5, there has never been one Chaplain with any one of the numerous armies that have taken the field. The fact is of such a nature-so hostile to every just notion of religion-so contradictory to the feeling of the country, and in such direct opposition to that part of the existing law, the Articles of War, that the melancholy fact will scarcely appear credible.

'The Bishop of Chester would certainly appear not to have been aware of the circumstance, when in his late discourse his Lordship takes occasion to remark, "that the recent success of our arms to the eastward of the great Peninsula, afford an opportunity of making known the truths of the gospel to a people, &c. &c." What will his Lordship say, when informed that with those several armies, by which those successes were obtained, there was not a single established Chaplain, nor even a solitary Missionary?

'It may with surprise and earnestness be asked-Can this gross omission, this dereliction of a most responsible duty, have existed for upwards of one-and-twenty years? This total inattention to His Majesty's express orders, this contemptuous disobedience of the Articles of War respecting the due performance of religious duties when British soldiers take the field, have prevailed for such a lengthened period? The reply is in the affirmative, and the assertion is most unreserved. And in order to confirm the truth of the sorrowful assertion, it will be but to travel back to the siege and capture of Kemona in 1807, at which place his Majesty's troops were employed, and where, in conjunction with those of the Company, they severely suffered. Let it be inquired if a Chaplain were present on that occasion to administer religious consolation to the wounded and dying, or to pay the last sad office to the dead. Not one! With his Majesty's troops at the storming of Callinger?-No! With his Majesty's troops at the conquest of Hattrass?-No! With his Majesty's troops at the capture of Kolunga ?-No! With his Majesty'stroops at any one period of the time when the armies were employed against Nepaul?—Not one! With his Majesty's forces against Java, or even during the several years we had possession of that island and its dependencies ?-Not one! Nor was there a single Chaplain with the 25,000 or 30,000 men lately employed against

Bhurtpoor! It has already been observed, that during the several campaigns against the Burmese, there has never been one Chaplain with any one army engaged in that war: And when the cholera morbus was spreading devastation in the camp of the late Marquis of Hastings-when hundreds were dying in a day, and the roads and camp were literally strewed with the dead-that revered and illustrious nobleman was deterred not only from appointing, but accepting, the proffered services of a Chaplain, from his Lordship's inability, on the part of the local Government, to grant him any compensation, either as covering the extra heavy, and to him ruinous, expenses he would unavoidably be obliged to incur, or as a remuneration for services of no ordinary kind, and on no ordinary occasion.

'Such are the much-to-be-lamented consequences arising from the Court of Directors' orders, dated 5th of June, 1805, and promulgated in India, on the 15th of May, 1806.-How many thousands of our gallant soldiery have expired from wounds and sickness without those consolations of religion which our Church holds out! How many thousands of them have been committed to the earth without that last duty-that last tribute of respect being paid to their remains, which that Church enjoins! and how many thousands of our Sepoys have returned, after those several campaigns, to the cultivation of their fields, extolling in the bosoms of their families our prowess, our humanity, and our faith ;-faith not towards God, but towards man ;-thus holding us up as patterns in heroism, and in every noble quality but one- -RELIGION! In her service they have had too much reason to believe that we are very deficient, or very supine; and in either case, neither they, nor their families nor connections are, with such a feeling as that apparent deficiency or evident supineness must produce in their minds, likely to become converts to the truths of the gospel.

'If we turn our eyes to the unwearied exertions of individuals in the furtherance of religious instruction to their necessitous brethren at home, this prevailing neglect of our countrymen abroad appears in still stronger colours; and not less unaccountable than to be deplored.

'In the daily prints we often read the result of meetings, whose professed object is to bring our sailors to the true knowledge of the living God and their Saviour: and however we may differ on certain points of doctrine and opinion with some of the promoters of such meetings, we can as Christians do no less than commend their efforts, and pray for their success. At one of these late meetings* the present Marquis of Cholmondley took occasion to observe, that as a Churchman he felt it his duty to state that he would not support the undertaking, if its object had been to gain proselytes from

*Port of London and Bethel Union Society.

the established religion; but as its object was to promote the eternal welfare of seamen, of whatever Christian sect they might attach themselves to, he considered it as deserving of the encouragement of every man who wished well to his fellow creatures."

'How cordially must every true Christian join in such his Lordship's sentiments; and what a sad reflection do such meetings cast on any Government that neglects the best interests of their brave defenders, or tacitly permits their own orders on a point of such vital consequence to the Church Establishment, and through her to the Constitution, as the religious instruction of the British soldier, to be treated with a contemptuous neglect. And if ever there was a subject that required a rigid investigation on the part of this Government-if ever there was a matter of importance to the State that demanded a Parliamentary inquiry-it is the contemptuous neglect which has for so many years been manifested in the nonobservance of those laws (for the Articles of War can be considered in no other light) which were enacted and still continue in force for the better securing to the British soldier the means of religious instruction and comfort, wherever he may be employed.'

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As it might here be expected that some measure be devised, whereby the existing evil may for the present be remedied, (and which, it is to be hoped, will be altogether removed by the enactment of further regulations on the renewal of the Charter) the following suggestion is respectfully submitted to the consideration of the governing powers.

'That the former regulations relating to the appointment of a Chaplain by the Commander in Chief, as one of his own personal staff, be renewed-that such Chaplain be considered under the special orders of his Excellency—that he be at all times ready to accompany the King's troops on active service, both when his Excellency assumes the personal command on those occasions, or in his judgment thinks from the number of Europeans so employed the services of such Chaplain are expedient and that the extra pay and allowances as drawn by the Rev. Dr. M'Kinnon, when with the army under the personal command of the late Lord Lake, be continued till some other and adequate provision or compensation for the arduous duties and extra heavy expense attendant on the situation of a Chaplain General, or the only Chaplain to an Indian army (for it must be recollected that a Chaplain for each brigade, as with our troops on the continent of Europe, is not procurable in India,) be finally adjusted.

'When the Court, in their order of the 5th of June, 1805, abolished all extra allowances paid to Chaplains for extra duties, it may fairly be presumed, that they never took into consideration the probability or possibility of a Chaplain being in the execution of his

duty, put to any extra and unavoidable expence. At Muttra, there are two regiments, one of cavalry, the other of infantry; and the lines occupied by them are at a considerable distance from each other: the two regiments at Khanpore are similarly situated, being at the extremes of that extensive cantonment, and therefore, in visiting the hospitals, and in the ordinary execution of his duty, the Chaplain must incur additional expense; and also additional exposure and trouble to that which falls to the lot of Chaplains at those stations where there is not one, or more than one, European regiment stationed. Why then should not the Pay and Batta, according to his Majesty's warrant, bearing date Sept. 3, 1796, be enforced at all stations where two, or more than two of his Majesty's regiments are cantoned ? And this is the more reasonable when the regulations, relative to extra pay and allowances, in favour of their Civil and Military servants, are taken into consideration. Whenever a Civil servant is sent on any extra duty he receives extra pay, under the title of Deputation Allowance, and whenever a Military servant takes a command, he is entitled to the batta of a superior rank, in consideration that from such command he is liable to additional expenses. And as a datum to direct us in respect to the fair claim that every Chaplain has to some consideration, where there are two regiments cantoned, the following order is annexed, in the earnest hope that it may meet the benevolent attention of those in authority, who will not forget that “the labourer is worthy of his hire," and, that a Chaplain has often a wife and family to look up to him as perhaps the only earthly source from which they can obtain present support, or future provision.

'It may here be not unaptly remarked, that an officer, when directed or appointed on any occasion to read prayers to the troops, under the absurd designation of acting Chaplain, has been allowed to draw the extra allowance, that very extra allowance for extra duty which has been refused to a regular Chaplain. Among the instances that may be produced, one will be sufficient for the present purpose. Was not Lieut. G. J. Hendy appointed by the late Sir Stamford Raffles to read prayers on certain occasions; and did he not draw the pay and batta of a regular Chaplain, as acting Chaplain at that station That the necessity for adopting such a measure was unnecessary, will be best proved by the following undeniable circumstannce :-The author, on reaching Calcutta, about two days after the departure of Earl Minto on the expedition to Batavia, and finding transports still in the river, waited on Colonel Carey, Sir G. Hewitt's Military Secretary, and tendered his services, expressing his readiness to embark with a detachment of artillery, then preparing to join the armament proceeding to Java. The Colonel received his proffer with polite attention; but declined it, observing, that there was no provision made for a Chaplain, either to meet his expenses, or to remunerate him for his services; and

added, that the whole of the tonnage was taken up by the officers and men, and that there was no part appropriated for a Military Chaplain.

'It may here be enquired, whether a prelate of our Church was then in the country. Not at this time. But Bishop Middleton arrived soon after, and was in the country while Lieut. Hendy was performing the sacerdotal functions of a Priest: and the only way to account for his Lordship's non-interference, was his non-acquaintance with the fact. And such facts as the foregoing prove the expediency of giving the Bishop a seat in Council, so that his Lordship may personally attend whenever he has any thing to propose regarding the Church establishment. The reasonableness, and indeed fitness of his Lordship's presence in support of such matters as he may deem proper to press upon the attention of Government, relative to Religion, must be unquestionable; but his Lordship's voice should, of course, be strictly confined to the concerns of the Church, and never raised excepting when questions affecting her interests, or those of her ministers, come under the cognizance or discussion of Council.'

On the subject of furloughs and resignations, the following observations are deserving of attention :—

'The number of Chaplains in the Company's service, if effectively kept up according to the late increase, may be fairly considered as sufficient for the due performance of the several duties required of them. But as, from the remoteness of India, a district remains long unsupplied with a Clergyman, on a vacancy occurring, by the furlough, resignation, or death of the Chaplain or incumbent, the number cannot be regarded as effectively kept up, without six or eight extra Chaplains being in the country ready to officiate at any vacant district. For the future, therefore, the Chaplains should not be ap pointed as heretofore specifically to either Presidency, but to India generally, and placed at the disposal of the Bishop, who would thus be enabled to supply the place of a Chaplain who may be absent on sick-certificate or three years' furlough. And whenever a vacancy should occur by resignation or death, the Court should without delay send out to the Bishop another supernumerary Chaplain, who in his turn should succeed to a fixed appointment. Such an arrangement would not interfere with the actual patronage of the Court, and would in some measure obviate a most serious evil, for it has occurred that one-third of the stations on the Bengal establishment has been vacant at one time-an evil the present regulations, in regard to furlough, are more calculated to increase than to rectify. For a Chaplain in the Hon. Company's employ becomes entitled to a three years' furlough after an actual residence of seven years in India; and this without any restriction as to the number of Chaplains who may be present in the discharge of their official duties; so that out of thirty on the establishment, twenty may at Oriental Herald, Vol. 23.

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