1824.]

Church thereupon; and it is a circumstance not less remarkable than true, that another native named Omichund, who died in Calcutta in 1763, gave by will 30,000 rupees towards the same object. The East India Company gave the same sum. The contributions of individuals were many of them highly respectable. Mr. Grant, in particular, who was then at Malda, contributed 500 rupees, and undertook to superintend a supply of marble from the ruins of Gour for the pavement of the Church. Various other sums were appropriated by the Government to wards the erection of this Church; particularly a portion of the restitution money paid by Nabob Meer Jaffier Khan, as successor of Surajah ul Dowlah; the produce of a church lottery being rs. 10,764 12 9; and the proceeds of an embroidered tent, and of confiscated property taken from the enemy, rs. 14,957. In addition to pecuniary aid, the East India Company gave furniture to the new Church, consisting of communion plate, an organ, a clock, bells, and a velvet cloth for the pulpit and desk. Sir John Zoffany, the painter, who was then in India, contributed a splendid altar-piece of his own painting, representing the Last Supper.

The plan of the Church, which was finally approved, was a copy of the Church of St. Stephen in Walbrook, London, of which drafts were made by Colonel Polier, Colonel Fortnam, and others; and in January 1784, Lieutenant James Agg, of the Engi neer corps, a professed architect, of fered his services to the Committee, which were accepted, and he was chosen to superintend the building of the proposed edifice, of which the first stone was laid on Tuesday, April 6, 1784. On the morning of that day, Mr. Wheeler, acting president, gave a public breakfast at the old courthouse; whence he proceeded, attended by the principal servants of the Company, and chief inhabitants of Cal

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cutta to the ground upon which the church was to be erected, when the first stone was laid by Mr. Wheeler, with the usual ceremonies, and a prayer, written for the occasion, read by Mr. Johnson. The following inscription was engraved on a plate of copper, and grooved into the foundation stone:

The first stone of this sacred building, raised by the liberal and voluntary subscription of BRITISH SUBJECTS and others, was laid under the auspices of the Honourable Warren Hastings, Esq Governor-General of India, on the 6th day of April, 1784, and in the 23d year of his government."

In addition to the pecuniary and other aids already mentioned, Mr. Ar thur Davis, who had made ornamen tal painting his study, offered his ser vices to the Committee to decorate the Church. Mr. Phineas Hall, à barrister, offered his services in drawing up the contracts with such people as the Committee had occasion to employ. Mr. Wilkins superintended the moulding of stones prepared at Benares; and Captain Caldwell dispatched the stones cut from the quarries at Chunar; Mr. Champion of Boglepore procured agate for the inside plastering of the Church; and, lastly, Earl Cornwallis, in Dec. 1786, enriched the fund by a private subscription of 3000 sicca rupees.

On Sunday, the 24th of June, 1787, the Church being finished, was conseerated, and dedicated to St. John; the Governor General, Gen. Carnac, Sir Robert Chambers, Mr. Justice Hyde, and many other persons of distinction, being present. After the act of consecration, a sermon was preached by the senior chaplain, and the Sacrament administered. The two children of Messrs. R. C. Plowden and John Burgh were baptized, and public baptism recommended to the congregation. Upon the same day, the ground which surrounds the Church was consecrated *.

Upon the 28th of June, a Select Vestry was held at the new Church,

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under the orders of the Governor General, at which his Lordship presided. There were also present the Rev. Messrs. W. Johnson and T. Blanchard, chaplains; E. Hay and R. Johnson, esq. churchwardens; C. Thornhill and C. Sealy, esq. sidesmen. At this Vestry, a provisional arrange ment for the government of the Church and charity funds, founded on the analogy of English law, was made by the Governor General, by virtue of his special powers. In this arrangement, it was expressly stated, that "as Calcutta is not of itself a parish, though in a parish, and as there are no legal powers to levy church-rates in it, or to compel the performance of some of the functions properly belonging to the office of churchwardens, the persons acting as churchwardens in Calcutta cannot be considered by the law as properly described under that specification, but they must be considered to act with the consent of the inhabitants, for whose advantage and good they perform the duty *.

The charity stock, which was at this time between two and three lacks of rupees, together with the management of the charity school, was placed in the hands of the Select Vestry.

No very material incident occurred in the history of the third Church of Calcutta from its completion till the arrival of a Diocesan. The occasional repairs, alterations, and enlargements, which took place, were chiefly at the expence of the Government, by whom also the establishment was and still is maintained; its annual cost was 4,6331. The arrival of Dr. Middleton in 1814 augmented this charge on the revenues 5,4871. 11s. 7d. making together 10,1117. 14s. 5d. per annum ; but at the same time converted the Church of St. John at Calcutta into the Metropolitan Church of an English Bishop, and established a power in British India, capable, as it is administered, of rendering either service or injury to the interests of religion there.

Not the least observable feature in

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[March,

In

the history of this edifice is the liberal co-operation of natives in its erection; particularly the bequest of Omichund. He had, indeed, during the whole course of his life, been in connexion with the English, and had acquired much of his property in trading with them as a contractor for clothes. the oldest map of Calcutta that I have seen, which, as I have already stated, was made when its external defence consisted merely of palisadoes, a spot is marked within the Company's bounds as the garden-house of Omichund, who, nevertheless, while enjoying the British protection within their bounds, availed himself of every opportunity to cheat them, and was more than once smartly fined for his conduct in that respect. The inferior agents of his knavery being in the employ of the English, received punishment of a more summary kind. Upon some trying occasions Omichund appears also to have been a political agent of no small value to the English Government; particularly to Lord Clive and Mr. Watts in 1757, 1758, and 1759. He died in 1763. His will was written in the Mahajuis Nagree character; and it has been since stated by Mr. Chambers that the will does not make a direct bequest for an English Church, but gives the remainder of his fortune, after certain bequests, to Gooroo-Govind, his tutelary saint, to be bestowed for charitable uses in the way of his religion, appointing Huzooree Mull his executor and almoner in that matter.

This statement derives great probability from the fact that the Church was not commenced, although contemplated, for more than 20 years after Omichund's decease, and transfers from him to his executor the credit of the actual appropriation of the sum of 30,000 rs. to this object. From the mention of Gooroo Govind, in Omichund's will, it would appear that he was of the sect of the Sikhs, of whose very peculiar manners and tenets Sir John Malcolm published an interesting sketch in 1817, 8vo. Yours, &c. T. FISHER.