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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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wanner , adding , that if any further information were necessary , we would wait upon him in person . We accordingly went ; and were informed by the magistrate that if we proceeded up the country , we might possibly be sent on board a £ lup > and that his duty required him to send us back again . He informed us that if Mr . Fernandez ( whom he
judged to be an acquaintance ) would give his word for our speedy and direct return to Seramporey we might remain here for a few days . He also very obligingly informed us that he would endeavour to obtain permission for us to pursue our intended journey , stating that he saw no evil which could arise
from it : bur as we doubted the expediency of such an application , we thanked him , and declined the offer . We therefore obeyed the order , and returned to Serampore . " The two missionaries whom we stated ( vol . i . p . 493- ) to be on their voyage to India , viz . Messrs . Chater and
Robinson , arrived there August 23 , 1806 . " On presenting themselves at-the police office ,-some demur was made as to their being permitted to proceed to Serampore . Next day , on Mr . Carey ' s going to the office , he was told by one of the magistrates ,
that they had a message to him from the governor-general , and which was , * that as government did not interfere with the prejudices of the natives , it was ^ his request that Mr , Carey and his colleagues would not . * This request , as explained
by the magistrates , amounted to this—4 they were not to preach to the natives , nor suffer the native converts to preach ; they were not to distribute religious tracts , nor suffer the people to distribute them ; they were not to send forth converted natives , nor to take any step , by conversation or otherwise > for persuading the natives to embrace Christianity . ' Mr . Carey inquired whether they had
any written communication from the governor-general ; and was answered in the negative . He then took leave of them , assuring them that neither he nor his brethren , wished to do any thing disagreeable to government , from which they could conscientiously abstain . Some of the foregoing particulars , however , were softened in a subsequent conversation between the magistrates and a friend
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to the missionaries * It was not meant , * they then said * to prohibit Mr . Carey or his b . ethren from preaching ; at Serampore , or in their own house « t Calcutta , only they must not preach at the Loll Bazar . It was not intended t&
prevent their circulating the scriptures ^ * but merely the tracts abusing the Hindoo religion ; and that there was no design to forbid the native Christians eonvers- ' ing with their countrymen on Christianity , only they must not go out under * the sanction of the missionaries . * ' "'
Notwithstanding this , an order or council was passed , commanding Messrs * Chater and Robinson to return to Europe , and refusing Captain Wicfces a clearance unless he took them back with him . '* After proper explanation , " Captain Wickes was furnished with the necessary papers for' his ^ departure . As government however appear * ed to be dissatisfied with the
continuance of the * two missionaries , to remove every subject of complaint as faivas they could , a new mission to the kingdom of Burmah was contemplated ; and Mr . Chater with-another brother , agreed to go to that country , to make observa tions on its practicability * . ' *
The following extracts will serve to shew that the people of India are hi a feverish state of mind with regard to the attempts of the missionaries to convert them . "August 2 X , i 8 g *> . [ Ward ' s Journal . ] This day tl . e mother of a young enquirer , named Ghorachund , came weeping and almost distracted ,
claiming her son . I told him to go aside , and comfort his mother . iTe did so ; and another native brother explained to her the reason why he was here , and that he was happy , <\ nd was learning the way to heaven . After thus attempting to reconcile her , they came again ; but she ^ appeared quite irrecorrcileable . I then told her that no force should be
used on either side . If he wishecj to stay , he should do so : if he wished to go , he should . I then asked him whether he wished to go to with his mother . He said he would not go . He told her that ho would stay and be baptized , and would then return to her . 1 tried then
to comfort her , and invited her to come and see her son "whenever -he had op * portunity . She was going away , * and
* The other missionary , Robinson , appears to have been taken to Serampore , Hi ; name stands among . * t the signatures to the " General Letters to the Society /" This affair seems to be but partially underwood by the jnanagers of the mission at home .
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Intelligence * — Baptist Mission in India . 6 * 27
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 627, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/51/
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