ment of nearly sixty millions of British subjects, a population thrice as numerous as that of the parent country, that it may well excite the attention of every British philanthropist, and awaken his closest reflection. It is not refined or speculative improvement which these people need; they are, as respects all knowledge which can enlarge the mind or amend the heart, as low as the most savage tribes.

"What then is the law of caste? After forming the families composing the whole mass of the population into four distinct tribes, the framers of this social, or rather anti-social, institution appointed the duties of each. The work of the Brahmun is that of offering sacrifices, and presiding at the presenting of these offerings, reading and teaching the veda, offering gifts and receiving presents. The work of the Kshutriya is thus laid down: To protect the earth, its cattle, and brahmuns.' That of the Vishya is, 'to keep cattle, carry on trade, lend upon interest, cultivate land,' &c. To the shoodra is assigned the work of serving the brahmuns.'

"The law for preserving these orders for ever distinct, enjoins, that the higher order shall not have the least communion with the tribe or tribes below in marriage, in eating, or in any degree of familiar friendship, on pain of degradation, and loss of all earthly connexions.

"This institution thus affects the whole order of society, since it elevates beyond measure the highest order, and deeply oppresses the lowest, which contains the great bulk of the people (the two middle orders being little more than a name), and fixes every individual in this state of elevation and depression without the least reference to natural or moral acquisitions. "The whole of the literature of the country is assigned to the first tribe exclusively, with all its honours and emoluments. In this arrangement, the actual exceptions to this rule are all contrary to the terms and the spirit of the Hindoo institutions. Upon the shoodra who shall dare attempt to acquire a knowledge of the learning of his country, the most horrible anathemas are poured: for reading the veda a shoodra is condemned to have boiling oil poured into his throat; for hearing it, into his ears; for committing it to memory, he is to be put to death.'

"Thus all the honours of the country are confined to one hereditary class, without any regard to wealth, education, or character. But what is worse, these honours are, as is seen, connected with the CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 258.

degradation of full three-fourths of the population. The dust from the feet of a thousand brahmuns, and even of a lack, has actually been collected, and drachms of it disposed of, from time to time as a specific against various diseases. There is now living, at Calcutta, a spice-seller, named Vishnoo-sah, who believes that by a pinch of the dust shaken from the feet of a lack of brahmuns, worn as a charm, he was cured of the leprosy. Amongst others who have gathered and preserved the dust from the feet of a lack of brahmuns, are mentioned the names of Gunga Govinda-sing, and of Lala-baboo his grandson. The former, preserving this dust in a large sheet, as often as he was visited by brahmuns, took them aside, and made them shake the dust from their feet upon this sheet for the good of mankind. Even the dust collected from the feet of single brahmuns is given away in pinches, and is inclosed in gold, silver, and brass caskets worn on the body, and carried about as a charm against diseases, evil spirits, &c. When a poor Hindoo leaves his house, to proceed on some difficult business, he rubs a little of this dust on his forehead; and, if it remain on his forehead till he arrive at the place where the affair is to be adjusted, he feels certain of success.

"In addition to this mark of superstitious devotion to this tribe, we have heard that it is common, six days after the birth of a child, to rub the dust from the feet of the brahmun guests upon the forehead, the breast, and other parts of the child's body, as a security against disease.

"It is further very common for a shoodra to solicit a brahmun to dip his foot into a little water, which he brings in a cup for the purpose, that he may receive the benefits insured to the individual who drinks the water in which a brahmun has washed his feet. Some preserve in the house a quantity of water thus impregnated with divine virtue, and drink of it daily.

"The same abject subjection to this tribe of their countrymen is seen in the article of eating. To entertain a number of brahmuns is an act of transcendent merit, and to eat their offals is equally meritorious. After the sacred guest has eaten to perfect satiety, the remainder is carefully collected, and a few grains are sent as an invaluable present to each family.

"Should a brahmun beat a shoodra, and should the latter, while enduring the pain, threaten to complain to the magistrate, he is at once pacified by the representation 3 F

that the brahmun has, in this act, been really conferring a blessing on him.

46

It might be naturally supposed that such a yoke as this would be so intolerable that men could never be kept under it; that they would revolt and reject such abominable pretensions as these. Let us then survey the massy walls and the iron gratings of this prison-house of the shoodras, and consider the interest which the jailors have in preventing the escape of any of their prisoners.

The penalty connected with loss of caste is the loss of the whole world. The offender is not only rejected by father, mother, brother, sister, and all that are dear to him, but by all his countrymen. He in vain looks through this inhospitable world: not a hut will open its door to him, and henceforth he can see no more the face of father, mother, brother or sister, or even of his wife or children. He must tear from his heart every tender tie and recollection, and must hide his head amongst the most degraded outcasts, with out the least hope of ever again seeing the faces of those who gave him birth. His own father and mother will run away at his presence, as from one infected by some deadly distemper. Many an individual involved in these circumstances, by his own trespasses, or those of his wife or some near relative, has abandoned the world, and become a religious mendicantor has fled to Benares as a place of refuge, -or has put an end to his existence. Others have offered a thousand, two thousand, ten thousand, a lack, of rupees, to be restored to caste, without success. Here then is a prison, far stronger than any which the civil tyrannies of the world have ever erected; a prison which immures many millions of innocent beings.

"We may judge of the interest which the brahmuns have in the continuance of the caste, from the following circumstances. After the taxes of government and the bare necessities of the body have been provided for, almost the whole property of the productive classes comes into the hands of the brahmuns. The Hindoo legislators have united religious ceremonies with almost every civil transaction: and the performance of these ceremonies is the exclusive right of the brahmuns, and they are ever connected with presents and feasts to brahmuns.

"As the guardians of the caste, we may naturally suppose that the brahmuns are ever vigilant; and though there are no officers amongst them whose express duty it is to bring delinquents to punishment, yet there is vigilance enough in the whole body on this head and the prisoners are so completely within their power, and the men of property so ready to throw in the whole weight of their influence to enforce reverence to the priests, that he must be a bold shoodra who shall

claim the right to think and act for himself. When even a brahmun offends against this law, the honour of the caste, and the dread of pollution and ruin, rouse all his relatives against him, who are obliged to abandon him, unless a powerful bribe to those at the head of his division of the tribe becomes efficacious.

"Among all the higher castes there are particular persons and families, who maintain an authority nearly as oppressive as that of the puramaniks over the shoodras. To these persons and families all the knotty cases concerning the breach of the rules of the caste are referred, and their decision is final. Amongst the rajpoots, voidyas, and kayust'has, the caste is left for its preservation to the pride of these orders, and to the operation of the terrors by which it is guarded. But among almost all the other divisions of shoodras, a class of men are found at the head of the caste, called Pramaniks or Puramaniks. When parents wish to contract for the marriage of their child, the puramanik is consulted, and his commands are solicited in reference to the family with which the alliance is proposed to be formed. Sometime he forbids the contract out of mere caprice, or because he has a private quarrel with one of the parties; and his concurrence must be purchased by bribes. The parties have no remedy if the puramanik forbid a union. When the guests, perhaps to the amount of two or three hundred, are all assembled, the father of the girl asks leave of this officer to give his daughter to the bridegroom. Sometimes he starts objections, and stifly refuses his consent till he has extorted such bribes as he thinks the parties can afford.

"The whole frame of Hindoo society is anti-social; and this afflicted people are placed under a regular system of organized oppression, extending even to the minutest domestic arrangement,interfering with every part of that intimate and endeared intercourse which can form the only solace of human society, and subjecting every thing sacred in hospitality, in friendship, and family connexions, to the cupidity, the intrusion, the despotic caprice of a wretched inquisitor. We have removed only half their miseries, by delivering them from the tyranny of the native governments: nor will any considerable portion of the good which the British Government is capable of bestowing upon Hindoostan, be realized among the governed, till the principles of eternal justice (the first principles of all rule and legislation) be applied to the interior of Hindoo society, to remove the inconceivable miseries arising out of the caste, and the other parts of this barbarous system.

"This institution appears to have been formed without any just view of the powers of man, and without any desire to extend the operations of the human faculties. Society can make progress only when every

member has the rewards of merit laid open to him. That the labours assigned to the priesthood, the military, the merchant, the agriculturalist, and the labourer are essentially connected with social order, is certain; nor can society be preserved without religion, police, trade, and the use of servants: yet it must be evident to every man, that piety, enterprize, and diligence, wherever found, should lead to respect and elevation, and that vice and idleness should be connected with degradation. Capacity, and talent for the discharge of the duties required in the social state, are diffused pretty equally among the different orders of the community and it is a most shocking principle of legislation when the institutions of a country, instead of encouraging mutual good-will and reciprocal kind attentions, say to the great bulk of the people,Neither piety, talent, nor exertion shall avail you: you were born in a degraded class you have no inheritance in the learned institutions of your country, and it would be a crime were you allowed to become rich. You can perform no duty so meritorious as that of serving a brahmun without fee or reward.' To prevent, by a law connected with penalties equal to death, all intercommunity between the different orders into which the population is divided, is to destroy all the social feelings by which the comforts of society are preserved. And to make trades and professions hereditary in certain families, and confine them there, is to war against every principle of our nature, and to prevent all improvement in the state of the arts. That this is the very point of stagnation in which the arts among the Hindoos are found at this moment, is known to every one who possesses any information upon the subject.

"A long continued and dreadful experiment has thus been made on an immense population, and the Hindoo caste stands condemned as one of the most barbarous institutions that human depravity ever formed; and one than which none ever more effectually kept the people in a state of complete ignorance, inaction, and slavery."

sailed from Nice, early in March, accompaned by the Rev. Mr. Lewis, the missionary just alluded to. His object will be, to collect accurate information as to the state and disposition of the Jews-to circulate among them Hebrew Bibles, Testaments, and tracts-and to call the attention both of Jews and Christians to the objects of the Society. At Nice, Mr, Way had frequent conversations with the rabbi of that place, who came to hear him preach,andfurther testified his candour and good will by giving him a letter of introduction to a brother rabbi at Jerusalem, Subscriptions were also entered into for a "Palestine fund for the erection and maintenance of chapels, schools, &c. and for other missionary purposes, within the precincts of the holy land." Upwards of 2301, were contributed towards this object. In consequence of this gratifying intelligence, the Committee have felt themselves called upon to adopt a plan so auspiciously commenced by their friends at Nice, and have opened a "special fund for the support of a mission to Palestine." They entertain no doubt that many friends of Israel will gladly pour in their offerings to so interesting a department of the Society's treasury.

"Nor are your Committee," it is added, "without much encouragement to enter upon this work. What they have learned, during the past year, concerning the Jews in Palestine and the adjacent countries, has strongly confirmed their previous persuasion that a prospect of very extensive usefulness lies open to the Society in these regions.

his

"It will be remembered that Mr. Wolff, a Jewish convert, who had been sent out, under the direction of one or two benevolent individuals in this country, as a missionary to his brethren in the East, was stated, in the last Report, to be proceeding on his way from Cairo to Jerusalem. Reference was also made to the favourable testimonies which had been transmitted respecting him from various quarters, and to the encouraging reception which he had met with from his countrymen, in the different places at which he touched on his way to Egypt. During he very frequently had long and amicable residence in that country, temporary discussions with learned Jews from various parts of the world, who came in large bodies to his room, treated him with the greatest kindness, and even with respect, and willingly received from him the New Testament and other Christian publications. On his departure from Cairo he carried with him recommendations from the Jews who had resorted to him there, to some of the chief rabbies at Jerusalem, who, on his arrival, seemed to vie with their brethren, in Egypt, in demonstrations of cordiality and good will towards him.

"He soon found out a small colony of Caraite Jews; was introduced to the syna gogue by the rabbi himself, and presented them with copies of the Hebrew Testament, which they received thankfully, and read in his presence. A Talmudistic rabbi called upon him shortly after he arrived, stating that he had heard of his connexion with Jews in Egypt-welcomed him to the holy city-offered him every civility in his power-conversed freely with him on the subject of religion -spoke favourably of the Hebrew New Testament, which he had not only seen, but even read through with great attention, when at Aleppo, in the house of a rabbi at that place; acknowledging that those passages of the Old Testament which are cited in the New do undoubtedly speak of the Messiah, and that the New Testament cites them faithfully. The chief rabbi of the Polish Jews residing at Jerusalem-generally acknowledged, even by the Spanish Jews, as the greatest divine of the present age, and regarded, by his own disciples, as a prodigy of Biblical learning-sent for him, with an apology for not waiting, in the first instance, upon him,-offered to read Hebrew with him gratuitously, every day, and to converse with him on the subject of religion, argued with him in the presence of his disciples, receiving with meekness his answers to the Talmudical interpretations of the Old Testament, consented to receive a copy of the New Testament, promising to read it,-and told him that, knowing from himself that he was once a Jew, he would be more kind to him than before he knew it. Numbers of rabbies came, separately and in bodies, to his room, applying for Hebrew Bibles, Testaments, and tracts, and remained some time with him, reading them and proposing questions about them, frequently with considerable candour. One rabbi, in particular, gave him much hope that a deep impression was made upon his mind. He read the New Testament diligently from day to day heard Mr. Wolff preach the Gospel very attentively, and seemed much affected; and, after hearing and reading daily for nearly a month, confessed, with tears in his eyes, that he was convinced Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, and said that he should now speak with his wife and mother about Christ Jesus the Lord."

"That all this should be suffered to go on without opposition, is more than could be expected: in fact, considerable enmity appears at last to have been excited against Mr. Wolff, even among those with whom he had been allowed freely to converse; so much so that some of the rabbies prohibited further discussion with him, threatened to anathematize those who should dare any longer to argue with him, and ordered the Bibles and Testaments which he had distributed to be burned. But the

majority of them (says Mr. Wolff) declared that they would not in any case regard the anathema of the rabbies; and one rabbi declared_publicly, that he was reading the New Testament to examine it, and to tell me his candid opinion about it;' and, in spite of the injunctions of the superiors, even rabbies continued to apply to him for the New Testament and to read it."

Mr. Wolff thus sums up the effects of his visit:

"The whole result of my conversation with the Jewish high priests, at Jerusalem, was this, that they perceived and became persuaded that a better spirit must exist among the Christians in England than among those in the Levant; that the Gospel does not contain the superstitious tenets which the Christians of this country practise; and they perceived that they must give to Judaism a more spiritual dress, in order to gain ground with truly spiritually minded Christians. I gained so much their confidence, that they consulted with me about their own business: they made me acquainted with the history of Jerusalem in the last century, and copied for me the poetry of their famous rabbies about Jerusalem's condition, which I shall send to you the next opportunity. The great Solomon Sapira, who is considered as the greatest Hebrew critical scholar at Jerusalem, has written a criticism about the Hebrew New Testament and the Hebrew Bible I gave to him; but as he had not yet finished when I left Jerusalem, he wrote to me a very kind letter to Jaffa, and desired me to go back to Jerusalem; for he does not dare to trust the letter to any body else."

The Committee feel the difficulty of pronouncing upon the evidence before them, unsupported as it necessarily is by collateral testimony; yet they think that the result of Mr. Wolff's visit to Jerusalem has been such as fully to justify the expectations of those at whose desire it was undertaken.

Mr. Wolff went from Jerusalem to Antioch and Aleppo, where (to use his own words) several Jews" seriously confessed, openly confessed, that the truth of the Gospel cannot be denied." He adds, "The Austrian, Danish, Russian, and Prussian Consul-Generals, who are Jews, visited me often, as did several hundred of the most learned Jews of Aleppo, so that it was necessary to place a guard at the entrance of the house to keep them in order; for Mussulmen, desirous to hear my arguments with the Jews, accompanied them."

Mr. Wolff had quitted Aleppo and Antioch only a day or two before that tremendous earthquake "by which," as he says, "all the towns, villages, and cities, twenty leagues around Aleppo, were utterly destroyed, and very many thousands of

our fellow-creatures lost their lives." He himself most providentially escaped the wide wasting destruction, by sleeping in the fields, near Lattachia. From thence he proceeded to Alexandria, and thence to Malta, intending to return to this country. But on his arrival at that island, finding it to be the wish of his friends in England that he should repeat his visit to Jerusalem, he sailed thither on the third of January last, in company with two American Missionaries destined to the same spot.

We have before us an address delivered by Mr. Wolff at Malta in December last, giving a succinct account of his late journey; from which we copy the following particulars as a supplement to this part of the Society's Report.

"I left Malta August 25, 1821, and arrived at Alexandria, the 5th of September. I visited the burial-ground of the Jews, where I ascertained from the inscriptions that there must have been very many Jews at Alexandria 900 years ago, and among them great and learned men. There are now perhaps 250 families residing there, a few of them well acquainted with their Law. These few well-informed persons did not only receive from me, with the greatest readiness, the New Testament and tracts, but even desired them with the greatest eagerness: and two Jews called on me on my second arrival in Alexandria, as I returned from Jerusalem, and desired New Testaments and Bibles; and both of them expressed their high veneration for the Christian religion, as it is believed by Protestants. I dined one Sabbath-day with a whole party of Alexandrian Jews. One of them desired to learn from me the reasons why the English have translated the New Testament into the holy language of the Jews? I replied, The English Christians are anxious to make the Jews acquainted with the doctrines of Christianity; and many Jews have read it, and have either been convinced of the truth of Christianity, or have published their objections against it.' They asked me whether those Jews who have stated their objections against the New Testament, had not been punished by the English; and they were surprised to learn, that the English Christians have not only been very far from punishing those Jews who have candidly stated their difficulties, but that they were even rejoiced to observe an inquiring spirit among the Jews. They told me that no Jew throughout Egypt would even dare to state to a Mohammedan their objections against the Coran. I had here then a good opportunity of making those Jews acquainted with the true spirit of Christianity, which consists in meekness, patience, forbearance, long-suffering, gentleness, and kindness, and which teaches us when we are reviled, not to revile again. They became anxious to read the New

Testament, and to see what it contains, and to state the difficulties they met with.

"I had, at Alexandria, the satisfaction of being visited by aged Jews, who came not with the intent of arguing, but, as they expressed themselves, to hear from me words of peace.' There came Jews to me, who were already in possession of the New Testament, and were acquainted and delighted with the contents of it. They received me most kindly, when I entered their synagogues, and even gave me permission to read aloud to them in their Law. They complained to me of the decline of learning among the Jews at Alexandria, of which the plague, which prevents them sending their children to school, is one of the chief causes.

"I had likewise the satisfaction of observing a great eagerness among Gentiles, as well Catholics as Greeks, to receive the word of God, and other publications, which prove the doctrines of Christianity, with which I was able to furnish them, and for which I must here express publicly my Christian thanks and obligations to the Malta Bible Society, who kindly supplied me with them before my departure to the Levant.

"At Cairo there are two sects of Jews. The first and most numerous are the Talmudists, who take for their guide not only the Old Testament, but likewise the Talmud, a compilation by the rabbies about the time of Christ. The second sect of Jews at Cairo are the Caraites, who admit only the authority of the Old Testament, and reject entirely the Talmudical traditions.

"In the Consul's house at Cairo I expounded the word of God every Sunday to Catholics, Protestants, two renegadoes, and one Jew. They all kneeled down, and said, Amen, when I addressed myself to our Lord Jesus Christ, and besought him to bring back the lost sheep, and to receive kindly the prodigal son. disciples of the modern philosophy advised me, however, to preach the Gospel only to learned men: I told them it was my duty to communicate the glad tidings of peace even to babes.

Some

"From Cairo I went to the Red Sea, and mount Horeb, and Sinai. The monks in the convent on mount Sinai, twentyfive in number, received the word of God with great readiness.

"From Sinai I returned to Cairo, and then went through the desert to Judea. I came first to Gaza, then to Askelon, and then to Jaffa. 1 met at Jaffa with two of the descendants of the ancient Samaritans, so often mentioned in the Bible. When I came to Jaffa a second time, I observed, to my great joy, that one of them had read through the whole New Testament, and was delighted with the conversation our Lord had with one of their countrywomen; and he mentioned with