the University of Oxford at St. Mary's, on Tuesday, June 23, 1846:

"Allow me here to urge on you for an instant the claims of India. I entreat you, Christian brethren, to send out your dovoted Missionaries to the benighted millions placed under your rule, and waiting for salvation at your hands. Let the first youth of the University be ambitious of being heralds of Christ. Let learning, and talent, and piety, and the vigour of your best years, be dedicated to this high service. Let the devout medical student carry his science to the aid of his perishing fellow-creatures.

But let it be the pure Gospel which they carry out. Popery and semipopery instead of illuminating, can only mislead.

And here we fall back insensibly on the main argument of the Apostle. Nothing but the sound doctrine of the Gospel can produce the regeneration of a lost world. What can external shows do, which only seduce the senses? What can bells, and music, and incense, and picture-books and illuminated lives of saints, and crucifixes, and images of the Virgin do, but betray you into the wiles of an apostate Church?

Nor let the assumption of terms of piety, of claims to divine influence, and the ascription of conversions to the immediate power of the Holy Spirit, deceive you. The language of devotion is admirable, indeed, when based on the solid doctrine of St. Paul; but when associated with superstition, brought in by Jesuits for the sake of argument, and employed to gild the harlot cup of spiritual intoxication, it is poisonous and deadly.

Bewilder not yourselves also with subtle disputations on minute questions and pretended developments, which only lead to scepticism and infidelity, and which indeed proceed on the principle that the Scriptures are not able

to make men wise unto salvation.

Let me entreat the younger Members ef the University to employ the precious moments of their academical course, which is too short for its high purpose, in amassing sound learning, in maturing their powers of discernment and judgment, and in preparing for those weighty duties of future life, for which trifling superstitions unfit them.

Let them base every thing on the solid, manly doctrine of St. Paul; connecting with this a firm and enlightened attachment to our own Protestant Church in her Orders, her Polity, her Articles, her Liturgy, her Baptismal Offices, her Homilies, as settled at the Reformation; and not as developed, that is, corrupted, by vain tradition.

In the nature of things, master-principles of one kind or other will govern the man. The grand question is, whether our master-principles shall be those of St. Paul, as set forth in the passage before us, or those of the Divines, who follow now the vain Cretan teachers. If you attempt to build on the commandments of men, the foundation is rotten, and will not sustain any solid edifice; and ungodliness and worldly lusts, aggravated by a false religion, will in one form or other rule and carry off the soul.

But if our master-principles are based on a humble and lively faith in the grace of God in salvation, on a consideration of the love of Christ in giving himself for us, and on a blessed hope of the second coming of our great God and Saviour; then will the foundation sustain the building, and you will remain firm and stable amidst the agitations of an evil day. Eleven times does the Apostle in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus warn those Bishops against the danger.

I must confess I tremble for our Apostolical National Church, which has been for three centuries the bulwark and glory of the Protestant Faith.

Antichrist seems to be resuming his arrogance; and in a fallen world like ours, when errors become popular, they soon spread. Superstition has charms for the minds of unsettled young students and ministers, who have some religious sensibilities, but small experience and less judgment. It is a short way to authority and self-importance."

But to return;-as was the design of Middleton in founding Bishop's College, so will be its destiny, should the original design be developed and carried out in all its parts. The mechanism is complete; it only wants the moving power, the master mind. Truth, unmixed truth; sympathy, identity with the students, a constant, watchful supervision, a practical acquaintance with Missionary work, an ardent zeal for the conversion of the heathen, the all-powerful life of Christianity-these combined would give the requisite impulse, and render Bishop's College, a praise and blessing in the land." When matters have reached the worst, they begin to mend; the crisis, we trust, has passed; the paralysis of twenty-six years' duration cannot last much longer-the day of better things must be at hand. We boldly avow that at present the Indian public has no confidence in Bishop's College. It is scarcely possible that they should, when the truly venerable Bishop of the diocese has recently expressed his deep regret at the present state of the College. The Bishop of Calcutta, in his address to the Society for the Propagation of the gospel, speaks with evident reluctance, what, had truth permitted, he would undoubtedly, with far more satisfaction have left unsaid:

You particularly refer, in your Address, to your admirable Institution of Bishop's College; and you express a hope, "that the general conduct of the Institution will ever be such as to commend it to the confidence and approval of the Bishop as visitor."

This invites, and indeed compels me, however reluctantly, to advert to it. My ardent attachment to that College from my first landing, and the opinion I formed of the high reputation and eminent learning and attainments of the late Principal, as well as my sincere love and esteem for the present, scarcely inferior to him in some respects, though with another cast of talents, are known to the Society.

But the College is still not going on so well as I could wish. It is quite true, that in one or two recent ordinations I have detected no positive doctrinal errors on the points adverted to in my Charges, and have, in some cases, been pleased with the attainments and devotedness of the candidates, as I was eager to state to the Society in my letter of November 1843. But the hope which I then warmly, perhaps too warmly, expressed, of a steady improvement in the College, does not seem to me to have been as yet realized.

What the Society may now think it right to do, I will not even presume to conjecture. My best services are still at their disposal; and if my life is spared, all will, I trust, be gradually remedied. But I confess that I am not without considerable anxiety.

One immediate effect of the state of things to which I have referred, is the diminution of confidence with the public, and the failure of the funds of the Calcutta Diocesan Society. We ought to go a long way towards supporting your Missions and Bishop's College, with the exception of the buildings and salaries. If we could relieve you from this burden, it would be of the greatest importance under your present financial embarrassments. As it is, we have done, for the last few years, little, comparatively speaking. I laboured all I could during the Visitations just closed to encourage subscriptions."

To the same effect, though more strongly expressed, is the sentiment of the Rev. Mr. Wilkinson, who has been long and favorably known as any of the most zealous Missionaries of the Church of England in India :—

It is not necessary to detail minutely in this sketch the commencement and progress of the institution under the superintendence of the Bishops Middleton, Heber, and Turner, as the records are before the public, and, the writer would hope, familiar to all who feel any interest about the spread of the Gospel. A very important query presents itself to the mind, namely, -How far the objects proposed by the venerable bishop have been realized.

It is deeply to be lamented, that after a vast expenditure of money on buildings, principals, and professors, &c., scarcely anything of good has been accomplished. say not this acrimoniously, but with the deepest and most heartfelt regret. I loved the institution-I watched its progress with more than common interest, and when it was proposed to have a Church Missionary seminary in Calcutta, I gave my opinion against it, fearing it might look like a rival institution; I loved Bishop's College, and I looked forward to the sending of my own sons to graduate there with intense pleasure.

1. But what has it done in instructing native youth, &c. in order to their becoming preachers, catechists, and schoolmasters, during a period of more than twenty years?

2. For the teaching of the elements of useful knowledge and the English language to Mussulmans and Hindus, &c. ?

3. For translating the Scriptures, the Liturgy, and moral and religious tracts?

4. For the reception of English missionaries, &c.?

Scarcely anything has been done in either of these departments. Not a portion of the Scriptures, or of the Liturgy, has been translated by any of the College Establishment, and now, nothing is being done but what had better be left undone. Sure I am, that if sainted spirits can weep, Bishop Middleton is now weeping in heaven over the idol of his heart."

When the venerable bishop and the experienced missionary write thus, it is not at all wonderful that the public generally should place very little confidence in the education imparted in the Collage. If a parent or guardian place a youth there, he is indeed certain that he will be furnished with cap, cassock and surplice, that he will have his regular chapels, lectures and dinners in hall; he is certain that after his allotted residence, the youth will be sent forth as a catechist, to become in due time a deacon and a priest; but he is not so

6

certain that any proper supervision will be maintained by the authorities,that, in fact, after College hours, the young man will not be left entirely to himself. He is not so certain that the Professor will be the father and guide-the faithful corrector and kind adviser of the youth; that when the catechist leaves his Alma Mater,' he may not leave it in a state of lamentable ignorance with regard to Missionary work; a novice lifted up with pride, regarding with contempt his fellow laborers of other denominations, and carefully avoiding all friendly co-operation with them in their work of love. He is not so certain that the young priest will not look upon his surplice as a pure, immaculate, sacrificial robe,-that he will not hold the sacraments to be the only means of grace-that he will not be sadly deficient in the great and distinguishing doctrines of the Bible-that he will not unduly exalt the church and enthrone her as the idol of his worship-the queen of heaven;-he is not at all certain, that the young man, simply from the education which he has received, and the principles which he has imbibed at College, will not be disqualified for a Missionary. He has, on the contrary, every reason to fear that no permanent success will attend his efforts and that while the field is white unto harvest,' the incapacity of the laborer will allow the grain to be lost, when it might have been gathered for the granary of heaven. In fact, the public are doubtful whether the christianity of the reformation or the christianity of Rome be inculcated at the College, and they question if it be not the latter system which enervates and paralyzes the body, and which, like a great spiritual incubus, keeps it inert, and as a Missionary institution all but totally uninfluential. But let the confidence of the public be restored; or, rather, let the causes which have shaken, and well nigh destroyed it, be removed, and our firm belief is that Bishop's College will become a great and useful Institution. Then, many a Missionary will look back with pleasure and gratitude on the happy and profitable hours which he spent within its walls; and many a simple villager will then feel that the design of the excellent Middleton has been carried into effect; and that through his instrumentality he has been provided with a pastor, guide, and friend, to cheer, instruct and lead him onwards to the resting place of his soul.

:

ART. VI.-1. London Quarterly Review, No. 155, June 1846. Article IX.

2. Ditto, No. 57, Dec. 1846 Note.

THE general diffusion among our countrymen in India of a spirit of fair and candid enquiry, is a marked and gratifying sign of the progress of improvement. A course of enlightened and consistent policy in a Ruler is now certain of being met with calm and dispassionate consideration, and, when shown to be characterised by integrity and honesty of purpose, of being received with cordial approval.

We may, therefore, safely predict that the administration of Lord Hardinge which has become, by his departure from India, matter of History, will be unanimously praised by all who make Indian affairs their study; and that the Eastern career of this soldier-statesman will commend itself to their judgment and approval as strongly as it evidently has done to that of the Court of Directors and both sides of both houses of Parliament.

We proceed to detail those acts; prefacing them with a few words regarding the early and Peninsular career of Lord Hardinge, chiefly compiled from the Memoir of Lieutenant-General Sir Benjamin D'Urban.

Lord Hardinge is descended from an old Royalist family of King's Newton, county Derby; through which he traces his ancestry up to the conquest. His immediate ancestor raised troops for Charles 1st, hazarded his life and lost his estates in the service of the Stuarts. Lord Hardinge's uncle, Richard Hardinge, of Bellisle, county Fermanagh, was created a Baronet in the year 1801, and was succeeded by His Lordship's elder brother, the Reverend Charles Hardinge, of Bounds Park, Kent, and Rector of Tunbridge. Lord Hardinge had three other brothers; of whom one died young: Col. Richard Hardinge of the Royal Artillery still alive; and Captain Nicholas Hardinge, who, in his 27th year, when in command of the " San Fiorenzo," fell in the moment of victory at the close of a three days' action with "La Piedmontaise," an enemy's ship of far superior force. A monument in St. Paul's Cathedral, records his achievements.

Before Lord Hardinge had attained his fifteenth year, he joined his Regiment in Canada. At the peace of Amiens he returned to England, and having studied at the Royal Military College, was selected for a situation on the Quarter Master General's Staff with the expedition, in 1807, under Sir B. Spencer, to the coast of Spain. He was actively employed under Sir A.