Chapter XIV: Removal to Calcutta (1)

It was not without regret that Mr. Corrie quitted a place which he had found (to use his own words,) “a scene of delightful labour.” In anticipation of his probable removal from Benares, he had written some time before

TO THE REV. MR. SIMEON.

“I am at a loss to decide how to act should my removal
be determined on by Government. You will see a report
of our Church Missionary proceedings here, no doubt, by
Mr. Thomason. There is a great deal too much said in it
about me, especially should I be removed soon, so as to be
prevented establishing the plans in agitation. But I pray I
may be able to go on in simplicity of mind, in obedience to
the will of God’s providence, and seek nothing for myself;
who am indeed nothing, and deserve to be the ‘off-scouring
of all.’ If I were professedly a Missionary, and had
the same prospect of entrance into this very citadel of
Idolatry, I should consider it a call to live and die in
this place; but as a Chaplain of the Government, am I not
to consider the disposal of Government, as the voice of
providence to me? I can truly say that, in the prospect of
leaving this place, ‘I am oppressed; O Lord, undertake for
me!’”

Before proceeding, however, to Calcutta, Mr. C. visited Chunar, and there administered the Lord’s Supper to sixty communicants, of whom half were native Christians. He drew up a plan, also, for the future guidance of those who were engaged in the mission at that place and Benares, with a view to secure regularity and efficiency to their exertions: and in this he so arranged as to secure the cooperation of all the parties, for whose guidance his directions were intended. It may be mentioned, too, in connexion with the mission at Chunar, that Mr. C. had employed himself, during his residence at Benares, in carefully examining and correcting a revision of Mr. Martyn’s Hindoostanee translation of the New Testament, into Hindoowee, which Mr. Bowley had found it necessary to undertake for the sake of the native population, among whom he laboured; and which was afterwards printed by the Bible Society. At the close of the year 1818, Mr. Corrie commenced his journey to Calcutta. On the way thither he touched at Buxar, a place to which he had frequently paid missionary visits; and where a great desire had often been manifested on the part of the Christian inhabitants, to have a schoolmaster or Missionary located among them. As a proof of the anxiety which these Christians still cherished for the advantages of a stated ministry, there was now placed in Mr. Corrie’s hands a list of about seventy persons, (chiefly of the less wealthy class,) who were willing to contribute certain monthly payments toward building a church, and the maintenance of a Missionary.

On reaching Calcutta, among the first objects of Mr. Corrie’s care was, the placing under proper instruction some Hindoostanee youths, who had accompanied him from Benares. He had for some time been in the habit of devoting much attention to their education, with a view to their future usefulness as teachers; and he now placed them in a school for Hindoostanee boys, which the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society had just established in that city. With reference to the importance of such an Institution, Mr. Corrie had long entertained a decided opinion. In a letter, anterior to this period, he had observed to Mr. Sherer,

“I see so strongly, and experience also in my connection
with the adult converts, the improbability of finding
steady, judicious pastors, except from among those who
have been educated in Christian studies, that I should
like to devote the rest of my days to the instruction of
native youths, with a view to the ministry. That may be
better done in Calcutta than elsewhere, from the greater
readiness with which books may be had, and especially
help for the instruction of others got ready. Besides,
future Missionaries will act with greater effect, aided by
well-educated native brethren. So that in every point of
view this appears to be a prime object, to educate for the
ministry.”

As respected himself, it is scarcely necessary to state that the scene of labour at the Presidency was, in most respects, widely different from that to which Mr. Corrie had been accustomed in the provinces. In a letter to his brother, dated early in 1819, Mr. C. relates, as a specimen of his engagements,--

“Mr. Parson and myself go on happily in our joint
Chaplaincy. The Bishop is absent at Madras, where, we
hear, he is confirming, in his sermons, all Mr. Thompson’s
labours. He is in many respects a valuable man.

“I have lately been appointed Honorary Chaplain to the
[Military] Orphan Institution,[109] where I officiate every
Sunday Morning soon after six o’clock. At the Cathedral
I read prayers or preach at nine; and the same at eight
in the evening. I take the weekly occasional duties in
turn. I am, also, _ex officio_, a Governor of the Free
School, and a member of the Select Vestry; who are Trustees
of charities distributed to the monthly amount of 3,411
rupees, among 568 Pensioners.”

The connexion with the “Select Vestry” here mentioned, did not however prove without its difficulties; for it happened that Mr. Corrie commenced his duties at the Presidency before a dispute had subsided, respecting the mode in which that Vestry was constituted, and the authority which they claimed to exercise. It seems to have been the custom for the members of the Vestry to re-elect themselves annually, so as to admit new members into their body only as vacancies occurred by deaths, resignations, or departures for England. They had customarily, also, appointed the officers connected with the Church, now called the Cathedral. But it appears that at the Easter preceding Mr. Corrie’s connection with the Cathedral, a certain number of persons opposed the re-election of the Select Vestry, as being contrary to the practice usual in England; and the senior Chaplain, at the same time, claimed the right to nominate the churchwardens. The Select Vestry, on the other hand, regarded themselves (and had long been so recognized by government) as special Trustees for a Church which had been originally built by private individuals; and for the due distribution of certain funds, arising mainly from legacies left for charitable purposes, and under the administration of the Vestry. However much, therefore, to be deplored, might be the animosity and indecorous language, into which some of the parties concerned in the dispute, seem to have been betrayed, it cannot be a matter of surprise that the Vestry, as a body, should hesitate to abandon long-acknowledged claims, and to hand over to other persons, the distribution of certain charities which they conceived to be legally entrusted to the Vestry. To such a length, however, had the dispute respecting this matter been carried, that both parties complained to the Governor General in Council; and the Government had given it as an opinion, rather than as a decision, that the vestry should remain in possession of its accustomed functions, until the authorities in England might judge it proper to interfere. But notwithstanding this opinion on the part of Government, the opponents of the Vestry revived the dispute, at the Easter of 1819. Much correspondence seems to have taken place on the subject, and many hard words again to have been used; and Mr. Corrie as one, among others, who considered it their duty to maintain themselves in the position which had been thus sanctioned by Government, became, as a matter of course, the subject of reprehension on the part of those, who opposed the claims of the Vestry. Yet it is stated by those who were in Calcutta at the time, and were also well acquainted with the facts of the case, that the subject of these Memoirs was enabled so far to keep apart from the bitterness of this strife, as to exhibit throughout “the prudence and meekness becoming the minister of Christ.”

With the exception, however, of passing occurrences such as these, there was but little diversity in the duties which now fell to Mr. Corrie’s lot, beyond what may be found in the life of a parochial clergyman. The history of any one day was, to a great extent therefore, the history of the succeeding month; and so on, from month to month: for as it was not yet certain, whether the senior Chaplain, who had gone to the Cape, would return to India or not, Mr. Corrie could not regard himself as more than a temporary resident at the Presidency, and did not therefore feel at liberty to engage so actively in the concerns of several religious societies in Calcutta, as he afterwards felt called upon to do. But when intelligence reached India, early in 1820, that the senior Chaplain had proceeded to England, and Mr. C. thus became entitled to succeed to the vacant chaplaincy, he began to lay himself out for some steady course of missionary labour in Calcutta and the neighbourhood. One of his first movements was, to endeavour to collect a native congregation in Calcutta, by means of Mr. Bowley, who had come down from Chunar to superintend the printing of that revised Hindoowee translation of the New Testament, which has been already mentioned.[110] The ulterior object Mr. Corrie had in view in this was, to provide a sphere of labour for Abdool Messeeh, who was expected to reach Calcutta in the spring of 1820, and whose state of health might probably render it desirable that he should remain there for the future. Mr. Corrie was, also, desirous to excite a deeper interest for missionary objects, among the poorer classes about the Presidency, in the belief that less attention had hitherto been given to effect this, than, on every christian principle, seemed necessary. As having now, also, undertaken the office of Secretary to the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta, Mr. C. was in better circumstances to direct these missionary plans. Some account of his occupations, is given in a letter to his sister, who had returned to England:--

“May 19, 1820.

“Abdool Messeeh is here: I am daily at work with him,
writing a Commentary in Hindoostanee, from six in the
morning till breakfast and after, if I am not called away.
We have got him a house in _Meer-jan-kee-gully_. It is a
roomy (upper-roomed) house, but out of repair; so we get
it for fifty rupees a month; and here he collects the poor
four times a week. The Church Missionary concerns occupy
me too a good deal; and we are setting up a printing-press
in my go-downs.[111] To-day the first sheet of a tract is
printing off, as a beginning.”

Soon after the date of the foregoing extract, Mr. Corrie had an examination of the boys of his Hindoostanee-school, in the presence of the members of the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, and of such other persons as interested themselves about missionary objects. His many avocations did not admit of his undertaking the superintendence of a larger number of scholars than that with which the school had commenced; but the result of the examination proved, that the benefit derived from being habituated to christian example and the progress which the boys had made in a knowledge of the Hindoostanee New Testament, the Hindoostanee Catechism, and the principles of the Christian religion in general, were of a very encouraging nature. Impressed, therefore, with the conviction that a Christian education was of the greatest importance as a means to render the natives themselves efficient instruments of God to their countrymen, Mr. Corrie welcomed the idea of establishing a missionary College by the Bishop. With reference to that circumstance, he wrote to his brother:--

“I am quite sure that all men will rejoice in the
establishment of the College; although learning alone will
do but little. It therefore appears to me more than ever
necessary to maintain strenuously the labours and plans
of the Church Missionary Society. Under these feelings
I was led last Thursday into a long conversation with
the Bishop, respecting Missionary proceedings, in which
the Church Missionary Society and its views were brought
forward and discussed. The Bishop’s chief objection was,
that the sending out of English clergymen as Missionaries,
would prevent the East India Company from making such a
provision of Chaplains, as they ought to make. As far as it
goes, the argument is just; but I think he ought rather to
adopt such Missionaries, and by pointing out to Government
the benefits produced by them, to draw forth Government
support, which otherwise may not be afforded in any way.”

It may not be amiss to mention, that however much Mr. Corrie might be occupied by matters of public interest, he did not neglect the charities of social life. On the contrary, he did not allow his gate to be closed against any who might have a reason for desiring to hold communication with him. And, as in India, persons arriving from England, or visiting the Presidency were, at that time, regarded as having an almost unlimited claim on the hospitality of the residents in Calcutta, Mr. C. was seldom without his share of such guests. This circumstance, added to his natural kind-heartedness, gave occasion to one, who loved him, and who was then under his roof, to remark, ‘as long as he lives and wherever he lives, he will have as many people about him as fall in his way; until every corner be occupied, and he himself is left without a corner.’ To many of the younger portion of these visitors Mr. C. was, also, oftentimes the instrument of great moral good; and in such cases it was his custom, as occasion served or might require, to address to them a letter of encouragement or direction, after they had left him. An extract from a letter to Capt. Moyle Sherer, H. M. 34th regiment, and who had been on a visit to his brother in Calcutta, may serve to illustrate the spirit of such communications:--

“Calcutta, May 27, 1820.

“You are by this time settled with your regiment, and begin
to find exactly how the minds of those around you stand
affected to the principles of true religion. Some painful
discoveries will probably have been made, and on the other
hand, perhaps, consolation will have arisen from unexpected
sources. Such is the beginning, especially of a life of
piety. We are apt to wonder that what we see so clearly to
be rational and necessary, is not equally seen by others
when brought before them; and the result is, to make us
feel more experimentally that what we have learned on these
subjects, has not been from man’s teaching, but that God
has been leading us by ways that we knew not. The discovery
of our own inbred sin is what is most distressing at this
stage. Indeed, to the end of life such ebullitions of the
sin that dwelleth in us, occasionally take place, as almost
confound the Christian, and send him back to his first
principles; and it seems as if the whole work of religion
were yet to begin. Yea, how often does this inward enemy
impel him to the very brink of disgrace, and he escapes
as by miracle, from temporal no less than eternal ruin.
Such is my experience up to this day; and now, what with
the experience upwards of forty years have supplied of the
world’s insufficiency to afford happiness, and of the power
of sin, unless God prevent, to work temporal and eternal
ruin, the grave begins to appear a refuge, and I have a
deep conviction that they only are completely blessed who
are in heaven. I think you were quite right in not taking
part with the Wesleyans till you know more of them. By
degrees the truly sincere will draw to you as their natural
superior, and you will be able to direct their reading and
to regulate their affairs far more to their advantage than
they can do themselves.”

During the October of 1820, Mr. Corrie was afflicted by the death of one of the elder of the Hindoostanee boys, who were in the school under his care. The youth in question was a Hindoo by birth, and when a child had been purchased up the country, from his parents, during a season of scarcity. He had therefore been under Christian instruction the greater part of his life. It seems that he died of consumption, and that during a long illness, he had afforded satisfactory evidence that he had not received a Christian education in vain. The death of this youth was not long afterwards followed by the removal of the remaining youths, to assist in the schools at different missionary stations. Before, however, Mr. Corrie’s Hindoostanee scholars had been thus dispersed, there had been admitted among them, for the purpose of receiving instruction in order to baptism, a Hindoo youth who had been servant to a converted Moonshee.[112] This youth, when full of the idea of making the pilgrimage to Juggernauth, had accidentally fallen in with the Moonshee, and accompanied him as far as Benares. In consequence, however, of the conversations, which he held with the Moonshee on the subject of religion, his faith in the efficacy of a pilgrimage to Juggernauth had entirely abated, by the time they reached Benares: and he accordingly returned back to Delhi with the Moonshee, in the capacity of servant; although he left his master, after a while, to avoid the scoffs of his Hindoo acquaintances. He could not, however, rid himself of the conviction that his master was right, and became so uneasy under that conviction, that he quitted his home in search of peace of mind. Eventually he made his way to Calcutta, and became an inmate of the Hindoostanee school there, and in due time was baptised.

It may here not be uninteresting to relate, that after Mr. Corrie became Secretary to the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, he was in the habit of employing himself as he found opportunity, in contributing to the pages of a ‘Quarterly Circular,’ which first appeared in 1820, and contained from time to time, a summary of ‘Missionary Intelligence,’ for the use of Missionaries and others, at the different stations in India. Among his contributions to this periodical may be mentioned a series of papers, containing a ‘Sketch of the progress of Christianity in Calcutta and in the provinces of the presidency of Bengal.’ Mr. Corrie had often been struck by observing the importance attached by historians to but imperfect records of former ages, provided those records happened to bear the marks of authenticity; and he conceived, therefore, that some future historian of the church of Christ in India, might possibly derive assistance from a notice of such facts and circumstances as that ‘Sketch’ might be the means of rescuing from oblivion. It may with truth be added, that no person then living was better qualified than Mr. C. to record the more recent occurrences connected with the history of Christianity in Bengal, he having himself been not only a careful observer of all that concerned the progress of true religion in that Presidency, but also the personal friend of those men of God, who had immediately preceded him, and to whose zeal and labours may be traced the first origin of almost every religious institution in Bengal. The Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Society for promoting Christian knowledge, having now, also, directed their attention to the translation of religious Tracts into the languages of India, a translation into Hindoostanee, both in the Nagree and Nustaliq character, of “Sellon’s Abridgment of the Holy Scriptures,” was assigned to the superintendence and revision of Mr. Corrie. Having been requested, moreover, by the Committee of the Calcutta Bible Society, to state for their information, such particulars illustrative of the benefit attending the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, as might have fallen under his own observation, the following was his reply:--

“Calcutta, 6th Feb. 1821.

“In compliance with your request that I would state any
circumstances within my own knowledge, tending to shew
the good arising from the distribution of the Scriptures
alone, I have endeavoured to call to mind some facts in
corroboration of my general feeling of the good arising
from the measure in question. The benefit arising to
professed Christians is not, I believe, within your
contemplation, otherwise I might say much respecting the
benefit the native Christians on this side of India have
derived from the Bible Society. During the prevalence
of the Mahratta power, many Christians were employed
in offices of trust by the Native princes, chiefly in
situations connected with the army.

“I had, whilst residing at Agra, frequent applications from
Christians of that class, and many of them sent from far,
for copies of the Persian and Hindoostanee translations: to
shew the need they stood in of such supplies, I may just
observe, that a Christian of the class referred to, in the
service of the Burthpore Rajah, on applying personally to
me for a copy of the New Testament, was asked if he had
ever perused the Gospel in any language? he answered that
he had never even seen the Book; and in the figurative
language of the country, added, that ‘he knew not whether
the Book was made of wood or paper.’

“Among the most remarkable instances of Mahomedans and
Hindoos deriving benefit from the Scriptures alone, the
following occur to me:

“In 1813, a Mahomedan Hukeem came to me at Agra from
Burthpore, saying, that he had many years before read the
Pentateuch in Arabic, a copy of which had been given to him
by a Roman Catholic priest: that about two years before the
time he came to me, he had obtained a copy of St. Matthew’s
gospel in Persian, from reading of which he had become
convinced of the divinity of Jesus Christ. This man, with
his son, was afterwards baptized.

“The next instance that occurs to me, is of an aged Hindoo:
this man from reading the writings of Cuber, had been
led to renounce Idolatry, and finding the Law and Gospel
spoken of by Cuber, as divine books, he was for several
years anxious to possess a copy. After several ineffectual
attempts to procure a copy from English gentlemen, he at
length obtained the Gospels in the Nagree character. He was
also afterwards baptized. A third instance of good derived
from the Scriptures alone, was Burukut Museeh in 1813; he
got a manuscript copy of Job, which he perused with great
interest; afterwards he got a copy of the Psalms; then
Isaiah; and finally the New Testament in Hindoostanee.
His exemplary life and happy death are recorded in the
Missionary Register.

“The only other case that occurs to me, is that of Fuez
Musseeh, baptized in 1817. At seventeen years of age, he
became a Mahomedan purely from the abhorrence of idolatry
expressed in the Koran; he remained upwards of twenty
years a strict and indefatigable disciple of the Koran,
living as a Fakeer and obtaining great honour among his
countrymen for his supposed sanctity. At length, being
disgusted in his own mind with the practices recommended by
his spiritual guides, and wearied with his own ineffectual
labours after holiness, he abandoned all his honours as
a Religieux, and bought from a lady a copy of the New
Testament, if haply he might find in it that rest for his
soul he had hitherto sought in vain from other quarters.
He sought, and found, as his conduct hitherto leads us to
think, the object of his pursuit.

“I have met whilst residing out of Calcutta, with very many
natives, who from reading the Scriptures, have had all
prejudice against Christianity removed; and some of them,
as Joy Narain Ghossaul, at Benares, have been set upon many
works of benevolence and charity, from their knowledge
of duty as learned from the Bible, though they have not
derived _all_ the benefits to be desired from the copies
of the Scriptures circulated among them. How far this
partial good is to be appreciated, each Christian will form
his own judgment. As a preparing of the way of the Lord, it
is by no means to be undervalued, and future labourers will
reap the fruit of the precious seed which the Bible Society
has been sowing in India with so much diligence for several
years past.”

The memoranda which occur in Mr. Corrie’s Journal after his return to India, are very few, but under date of June 11, 1821, he remarks:--

“I have been endeavouring to call my ways to remembrance,
and find enough to be humbled for in the review, but a
difficulty as to how I should speak of it. This difficulty
I wish to account for. Formerly I could write of my state
with ease; lately I have neglected to make memoranda.
I have certainly been much employed in public matters.
My duties as Chaplain, and as Secretary to the Church
Missionary Society,--the schools, the press, leave me very
little time, and that little I find difficult to apply to a
good purpose. My want of retirement prevents the right use
of the little I might have. I am deeply conscious that the
evil propensities of my nature are by no means eradicated;
and I ought to be alarmed that they do not more alarm me.
I feel daily that I sin, and resolve daily against my
propensities, yet daily am more or less overcome. Oh! I
desire to awake to righteousness! I desire to be alarmed;
to be saved from sin, and quickened and made alive to God.
O Spirit of light and love, of power and of a sound mind,
work in me to will and do of thy good pleasure! I see, in
reading the epistle to Titus, that except in such points as
are agreeable to my nature, I am far from the character of
a true minister of Christ.”

There is reason, however, to hope that Mr. Corrie’s ministrations in Calcutta were not altogether in vain. At any rate, it is well known that his labours were unceasing, whether regard be had to his duties as chaplain, or those connected with the Church Missionary Society, and the superintendence of the native schools. In the December too, of this year, he was appointed to preach the sermon at the third visitation of Bishop Middleton; and in the same month printed, among the Quarterly Missionary Intelligence, a biographical sketch of his old friend Joy Narain, who had died at Benares in November.

But that which now more especially occupied the attention of Mr. C. and others, engaged in conducting the affairs of the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta, was the education of the native females of India. The state of society had until lately, seemed hopelessly to exclude the native female from all share in the benefits of education; but the success which had attended a school set on foot by the Baptist mission, had induced some friends of religion in India, to communicate with the British and Foreign School-Society in England, with a view to extend the means of instruction to the females of India, as widely as practicable. Funds were in consequence, raised for that purpose; and Miss Cooke, a lady of education and piety, arrived in Calcutta during Nov. 1821, for the purpose of devoting herself to the work.

It was early in January 1822, that the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, took measures for the formation of female schools, under the superintendence of this lady; and such was the success attending their first efforts, that three schools were in operation by the middle of February. It was then thought desirable to bring the subject more distinctly before the residents in Calcutta, in the hope that the friends to the moral and intellectual improvement of the natives of India, might be induced to assist in carrying on this important and difficult undertaking: and to Mr. Corrie it was assigned, to draw up and circulate the following address:

“NATIVE FEMALE EDUCATION.

“The importance of education, in order to the improvement
of the state of society among the natives of this country,
is now generally acknowledged, and the eagerness of the
natives themselves for instruction begins to exceed the
opportunities hitherto afforded them.

“But to render education effectual to the improvement of
society, it must obviously, be extended to both sexes. Man
requires a ‘Help-meet;’ and in every country the infant
mind receives its earliest impressions from the female
sex. Wherever, therefore, this sex is left in a state of
ignorance and degradation, the endearing and important
duties of wife and mother cannot be duly discharged; and no
great progress in general civilization and morals can, in
such a state of things, be reasonably hoped for.

“Such however, with few exceptions has hitherto been the
state of the female sex in this country; but a happy
change in this respect seems at length to be gradually
taking place. A most pleasing proof of this occurred in
the interesting fact, that thirty-five girls were among
the number of scholars, at the last examination of the
School Society, in the house of one of the most respectable
natives in Calcutta.

“The arrival of a lady of judgment and experience, at such
a crisis, for the purpose of devoting her time and talents
to the work of native female education, could not but be
regarded, by all interested in the improvement of society
among the natives of this country, as a most favourable
event.

“This lady (Miss Cooke) was recommended, in the first
instance, by the British and Foreign School Society, to the
Calcutta School Society; but the Committee of this Society,
being composed partly of native gentlemen, were not
prepared unanimously and actively to engage in any general
plan of native female education. Most of these, however,
have expressed their good-will towards such a plan, and
their intention of availing themselves, as circumstances
may admit, of Miss Cooke’s disinterested services to obtain
instruction for their families.

“Under these circumstances the corresponding Committee of
the Church Missionary Society have cordially undertaken
to promote, as they may be enabled, the objects of Miss
Cooke’s mission.

“Miss Cooke will, as she may find opportunity, afford
instruction at home to the female children of the higher
classes of natives; and at the suggestion of an enlightened
native gentleman, a separate school will be attempted,
for poor female children of high caste, with a view to
their becoming hereafter teachers in the families of their
wealthy country-women.

“Miss Cooke has already made sufficient progress in the
acquirement of Bengalee, to enable her to superintend the
establishment of schools; and having been attended in her
first attempt by a female friend, who can converse in
Bengalee, some interesting conversations took place with
the mothers of the children first collected, in which Miss
Cooke’s motives were fully explained to them. Soon after,
a petition was presented to Miss Cooke, in consequence
of which, a second female school has been established
in another quarter of the town, and a third school has
been formed in Mirzapore, near the Church Mission-House.
Thus three schools are already established under Miss
Cooke’s immediate care, containing about sixty girls; and
the disposition manifested towards these schools by the
natives, affords reason to expect that a wish to have
female schools will in time become general.

“It is intended therefore, to erect in a suitable situation
in the native town, a school-room, with a dwelling-house
attached, in which an extensive system of female education
may be attempted; and this plan, so peculiarly within their
province, is submitted, with much respect and confidence
of success, to the sympathy and patronage of the ladies
of this Presidency, by the corresponding Committee of the
Church Missionary Society. Whatever assistance may be
afforded, either as donations or monthly subscriptions,
will be exclusively applied to the purposes of female
education, and a report of progress will be submitted,
from time to time by Miss Cooke, for the information of
subscribers.”

“_Calcutta, Feb. 23, 1822._”

The result of this appeal was, that within a few weeks not less than 3,000 rupees were subscribed for the furtherance of the object contemplated; the Governor General, Lady Hastings, and others of the first distinction being among the most liberal of the contributors. Nor was it among the least remarkable circumstance connected with this great social movement, that a highly respectable Brahmin wrote and circulated a tract, for the express purpose of recommending to his countrymen the importance of female education. He urged it also, as the duty of every parent to rescue thus their female offspring from that state of degradation, to which (as he proved from history) the women in Hindoostan were not formerly subject.

With reference to these and similar occurrences, Mr. Corrie writes to his brother.

“Calcutta, April 19, 1822.

“Our missionary engagements are becoming more and more
important; and opportunities for extending our plans more
and more frequent and easy: But with all these [prospects,]
a spirit unfriendly to the gospel is gone forth amongst the
natives, and they are commencing Deistical politicians.
Four native newspapers have started in Calcutta; two in
Bengalee, one in Hindoostanee, and one in Persian. They
cannot all stand long, but they mark the spirit of the
times. They are all under an influence unfriendly to our
Church establishment: but we are getting on with our
schools, having now upwards of four hundred boys, and one
hundred and thirty-four girls, under our Church Missionary
Society, within the boundary of Calcutta; while the
Diocesan Committee have several schools in the suburbs.
The youth in these [schools] will, we hope, grow up with
impressions favourable to our views of things.”

On Wednesday, May 26, 1822, Mr. Corrie preached a sermon at the Old Church, in aid of the Society for Missions to Africa and the East. The sermon was afterwards printed with the fifth report of the Calcutta Committee of that Society, and contains some valuable remarks on the advantages connected with direct instruction in the faith of Christ, over the education which merely imparts such knowledge as has reference only to the affairs of this life. One sentence may here be cited as illustrative of the great change which the mind of India had undergone, since the time when Mr. Corrie could labour for the conversion of the heathen, only at the risk of incurring the censure of government:--

“Our Church, with reason we think, calls herself
Apostolical: now, what is this but missionary? And a
portion of missionary spirit has always resided among her
members. Time has been, indeed, when this was regarded by
many rather as a mark of dissent; but now, blessed be God,
she seems to be rising, through all her ranks, to her high
and proper character as a missionary body.”

About six weeks only had passed since the delivery of this discourse, when Mr. Corrie was summoned to attend the death-bed of the Bishop of Calcutta, who was called to his rest after but a few days’ illness. Considering the peculiar circumstances of India, and the then novelty of episcopal rule in that country, it could scarcely be expected that Mr. Corrie, among others, should be able to recognise the wisdom of every act of Bishop Middleton’s administration, and the equity of the control which that able prelate claimed to exercise over the temporal as well as spiritual affairs of the chaplains to the East India Company; but his correspondence abundantly shows that he could well appreciate the Bishop’s character. With regard more especially to the cause nearest his heart--that of missions, Mr. C. considered it to have derived from the deceased prelate, exactly that kind of sanction which was then required; it wanted only official countenance, and the reputation of orthodoxy. To labour for the moral improvement and conversion of our heathen fellow-subjects, used to be regarded as characterising a party in the church, and as proceeding from a kind of fanaticism that would endanger the stability of our oriental empire. But the interest which Bishop Middleton had taken in the Missionary cause, had given reason to believe, that official dignity combined with a high reputation for sound judgment and secular learning, were not incompatible with the conviction, that our rule in India had every thing to hope from the spread of Christianity; and that it was not fanatical to suppose, that so vast an empire had been committed to our governance for the noble purpose of making known the Son of God, to a people who were ignorant of Him.

Within two months of the death of Bishop Middleton, the Archdeacon of Calcutta fell a victim to the Cholera; and as that circumstance rendered it necessary for the Government to delegate the administration of the affairs of the See to other hands, Mr. Corrie and Mr. Parson were commissioned to exercise such jurisdiction as by law might be warranted, until a successor to Bishop Middleton should arrive from England.

In a memorandum, penned about that time, Mr. Corrie writes:--

“Sep. 28th, 1822. This day sixteen years ago I first landed
in Calcutta. How altered the state of society! Then Mr.
Brown was senior Chaplain. He had at time dear Martyn in
his house, and received Parson and myself into his family.
Now he and his wife are numbered with the dead, and all
their children returned.... How many other changes, also,
in the state of the religious society of Calcutta, so that
Mr. U. only remains of the friends of religion in his class
of society of that day. How varied has been the scene of my
own Indian-life!

“In respect of public affairs, great changes, also, have
taken place. In ecclesiastical matters great changes. A
bishop and archdeacon appointed in 1814, and Bishop’s
college has been the result. The subject of missions
has thus, by degrees, become one of acknowledged duty
and advantage to society. The bishop hurried off by
sudden death: the archdeacon taken off not two months
after, more suddenly still: Parson and I appointed to
exercise their functions _pro tempore_. I would, however,
remark especially the state of my own mind during this
long period. I came to India chiefly with a view to the
propagation of the gospel; and that view, I trust I
can say, has not been lost sight of. My time has been
principally devoted to that object. My money, too, has
chiefly gone in that cause. I trust a mission has been
established at Chunar, Agra, and Benares, through my
humble means, which will go on, and ‘increase with the
increase of God.’ In Calcutta, the labours of Secretary
to the Church Missionary Society, in addition to my own
official duties, have helped to bring on the loss of
strength I am now suffering under. But I would be aware
that the state of heart is chiefly to be attended to. And
here I can see no one duty so performed, that I dare think
of it in the view of presenting it to God; and were it not
that Jesus is the righteousness and strength of all who
believe, I could not entertain the slightest hope.

“For about three months, my ancles have swollen
occasionally, with bad digestion, and aching of the limbs
and legs. The doctor says it is the effect of climate; by
which I understand that my frame is debilitated sensibly,
by the heat. He says, rest is the only remedy, and I am
come to Pultah Ghaut[113] for rest, and retirement. My
prayer to God is that I may be made fully alive to my real
state, and may not waste away without feeling the tendency
of such a wasting. I desire to have my loins girt about and
my lamp supplied with oil; so that, whenever the bridegroom
is announced, I may be ready to enter in.

“I desire to be more spiritually minded; and to have more
of a realizing faith, as to the truths I am exercised
about day by day out of the holy word. I would fain see
religion on the increase among us; and have more abundant
fruit of the word. Oh! that the Spirit were poured upon
Europeans and natives! Oh! that the kingdom of Christ were
established in my own heart! more settled in my family; my
flock; and on all around generally. Oh! that the salvation
were come out of Zion. Then should this nation be glad and
rejoice; and He whose name is Jehovah, be acknowledged
throughout the land. Amen.”

The debility of which Mr. Corrie here complains had so increased, that the medical men decided that it would not be safe for him to remain in Calcutta during the hot weather; and moreover, advised a long sea-voyage as the best means for recruiting his impaired health. He did not, however, think a voyage to be of so much consequence; yet early in February 1823 he quitted Calcutta, accompanied by his family and Captain Stephen of the Engineers, and went to reside on the coast, near Juggernaut. For the first eight or nine weeks of his residence at Pooree, Mr. Corrie’s health had been greatly restored; but the anxiety and fatigue which he underwent in attending the sick-bed of Captain Stephen, who died at Pooree on the 10th of May, brought on a serious attack of fever. In this state he attended the funeral of his deceased friend; but being too unwell to proceed through the service, he was carried home in a state of the greatest exhaustion. In the course of the day, however, Mr. Corrie revived sufficiently to allow of his writing to Mr. Thomason, an account of the last illness of Captain Stephen; after which the fever returned with such violence that for several days the sufferer was scarcely sensible. The following is his letter:--

TO THE REV. T. THOMASON.

“Pooree, May 10, 1823.

“The last sad offices having been performed for your
beloved son-in-law, I will endeavour to recal some of
the pleasing expressions which fell from his lips during
the last week, both with a view to the comfort of his
friends, and to indulge myself on a subject which engrosses
all my thoughts. My acquaintance with the dear departed
commenced in September 1814, when I saw him almost the
whole of every day during about a week. Again in 1817
and 1818, our intercourse was renewed both at Ghazeepoor
and Benares. He was then, it is almost needless to say,
strictly correct in his conversation and general conduct,
but did not exhibit that serious impression of divine truth
which latterly appeared in him. When we went on board the
schooner, I soon discovered a marked difference in him
in that respect. There was an evident love of religious
exercises, and religious books; and I observed more than
once a serious attention to private devotion. From that
period our intercourse was unreserved, and his general
conversation and remarks, such as belong to godliness.
He joined us regularly in our morning and evening family
worship. He frequently spoke of his expectation that his
illness would end in death, but we hoped otherwise; and
nothing particular, as to his views in the prospect of
such an event was mentioned. He had never been free from
bowel-complaint since we came together, and during the
early part of the week commencing April 27, he complained
of an increase to his disorder from having taken cold,
though no such appearances as usually attend a cold
appeared about him. He kept up as usual till Friday the 2nd
of May, when he did not come to breakfast with the family,
but came out to dinner.

“On Saturday he did not leave his room. On Sunday I went
into his room, and asked if I should join him in reading
the word of God and prayer, since he no longer could join
with us. To this he gladly assented, and began to speak
of the great mercy of God towards him in preserving him
from acute pain, whilst he felt himself sinking gradually.
I read the first lesson for the day, and he made several
remarks on the applicableness of the admonitions to the
spiritual state of the Christian. Being drowsy, from the
opiates administered to allay his disease, he desired me
to defer praying till the afternoon. In the afternoon he
was quite awake, spoke of the mercies of God toward him,
complaining also of his want of gratitude to his God and
Saviour. I spoke to him of what I thought of his state
when at Ghazeepoor in 1814, and especially some remarks
he then made on hymn singing, and expressed my delight at
his now altered feeling, and the ground of encouragement
it afforded him. He said that he had strong convictions of
sin before that time; that he owed much to his deceased
Aunt Stephen, who had tried much to impress his mind with
a sense of religion; adding, ‘I know now why Christians
take so much pleasure in hymn-singing; they love to dwell
upon the ideas conveyed by the words.’ I may here observe
that he several times, since we have been at Pooree,
spoke of his Aunt Stephen, and of all his family, and the
obligations he owed her.

“To-day he also mentioned his wish to partake of the Lord’s
Supper, before his intellects should become clouded.
On Monday, May 5th, he asked me if I were prepared to
administer to him the Lord’s Supper. As no time had
been mentioned the day before, I proposed to put off
the celebration till next day, when we would make it a
family ordinance; to this he cheerfully assented. I do not
recollect any particulars of what fell from him that day,
but his conversation was always with reference to his dying
soon, and filled with thanksgiving to his God and Saviour
for the comparative ease in which he lay, and especially
for the hope of heaven which he enjoyed; often exclaiming
that it was all of mercy, and entirely flowing from the
Saviour’s merits. On Tuesday May 6, his mind was confused
all the morning from opiates; about two, P. M. seeing him
collected, I asked if he would now have the Sacrament
administered? He said he wished to be more awake and would
postpone it till the morrow; adding, ‘I have committed my
all into the hands of my blessed Saviour, and I can trust
him to keep me sleeping or waking.’

“On Wednesday he was taken up with some temporal matters,
and wrote the letter which I forwarded to you on that day.
Afterwards Mrs. Corrie and I went into his room, and we
all, I trust, by faith fed on Christ in our hearts, with
thanksgiving. Our sick brother was much alive during the
whole of the service, and read the passages in which the
congregation join, with much clearness and fervor. On going
into his room about an hour after the service, he broke
out, ‘Oh, may this dispensation be blessed to my dear
Esther, that she may give herself wholly up to God, and
fix all her love on him alone. She has a deep sense of her
own unworthiness, and I bless God for the piety that is in
her.’ On Thursday May 8th, there appeared no alteration in
the state of his disease. Two surgeons from Cuttack having
arrived, our own doctor brought them to see him. They went
into the next room to communicate their thoughts on his
case, when he heard them agree that nothing could be done
for his relief. On my going into his room after they went
away, he seized my hand with all his remaining strength,
and said, ‘Oh my dear friend, how much am I indebted to
God for placing me at this time with friends, who do all
they can for my comfort, without concealing their concern
that my soul should be prepared for death;’ adding much on
the evil too many medical men are guilty of in cherishing
hopes of life when their patients should rather be thinking
of death, and contrasting the difference of his present
circumstances with what they would have been had he gone,
on leaving Calcutta, among strangers and irreligious
persons; then adding praise and thanksgiving to God. On
the early part of this afternoon Mrs. Corrie went into
his room, when he presently began to speak to her as for
the last time, praying that her husband might be spared
to her, and her children, and to the church, adding many
expressions of his regard and affection.

“On Friday, May 9th. On my entering his room early, and
enquiring after his state, he said, ‘I have had a wretched
night, not in body, for I have been easy, but in mind. I
have been thinking of this and that treatment which might
have been used; but it is all wrong, and thus my wickedness
brings its own punishment. I have much tried to repent of
my daily wickedness, and of my wicked life.’ Adding a good
deal on the subject of God’s ordering all our affairs, and
the duty of looking above human agents--and said, ‘O never
did weary traveller desire his home more than I desire my
rest:’ most cordially acknowledging with me the duty of
submission, and joining in prayer for an increase in faith
and patience. Some favourable symptoms appeared, but he
seemed to build nothing on them. For several days we had an
European Sergeant to sit up at night. He has expressed his
surprise at the constant patience our brother manifested,
and told me, that he was much in prayer during Friday night.

“On Saturday morning, about half past three, a violent
discharge of blood took place, and again about five. I
went into his room just after the latter, and found him
prostrate indeed.

“He began at once, ‘O my God, suffer me not to fall from
thee: make my repentance sincere, and let my faith stand
firm--O! accept me, unworthy! for the merits of Jesus
Christ. I am wretched and miserable, let my soul be
cleansed in his blood and presented spotless before thee;
bless my dear wife and children, bless my dear father and
mother, bless you (addressing himself to me,) and your
family; and God make you a greater blessing than ever to
the church, but don’t waste your life in this country,
go home and do good among the poor. O God! bless all the
doctors who have attended me, and let them not forget
their own mortality amidst these scenes;’ adding prayers
for such generally as he might at any time have had
disagreement with. On my reminding him of our blessedness
in having an advocate with the Father to render these
petitions available, he added strong expressions of the
mercy of God towards him, and of his earnest desire to be
at rest with God; adding ‘O God, thou knowest that I love
thee,’ and asked me if I thought it wrong to pray for his
dismissal. He spoke of his temporal affairs as settled, and
said he had no anxiety about his children, the Lord would
provide for them. About 7, on going into his room, I spoke
respecting the little probability when we first met that
I should survive him: he began to pray for blessings for
me, adding, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
his benefits; who forgiveth all thy sins, who healeth all
thy diseases.’ Adding with emphasis, ‘_forget not all his
benefits_; that he had been forgetful all his days, but the
Lord had shewed him great mercy.’ From that time he spoke
little. Being removed to another bed, he dosed much from
medicine. About ten, observing him restless, I asked if he
wanted anything? he said ‘No.’ If he retained his peace of
mind? He said, ‘His mind had become very confused.’ And on
reminding him of the ‘Advocate with the Father,’ he faintly
added, ‘Bless God for all the way He has led me,’ or to
that effect. About eleven, seeing him restless, and less
of consciousness about him, I asked him if he knew me, he
said, ‘Yes;’ and in answer to my question, ‘If I should
pray for him?’ he said, ‘Yes;’ but there was no respond
to the few petitions I offered up, and he was no longer
sensible. At half-past one, another discharge of blood took
place, which led us to think him expiring; but the spirit
lingered till half-past two, when, we doubt not, he entered
into his much-desired rest. I may tell you, though I mean
to send a medical statement of the fact, that the three
doctors ascertained after his death, that the liver was
perfectly sound, but the colon had become ulcerated; and at
length, a blood-vessel being eaten through, the discharge
above-mentioned ensued, and brought on dissolution; but
that this must have happened at no great distance of
time, and that no change of climate or treatment, could
have prevented the fatal result. This morning the beloved
remains were committed to their parent earth, in the Pooree
burying-ground. The burying-ground is an enclosed square on
the sands of Juggernauth.