other religious denominations, dissenting from the Church of England. 5. Each of the proposed Dioceses is of so great extent, that it is like a kingdom within itself. Its internal arrangements must therefore be directed by circumstances, which are peculiar and local, and which may differ totally from those of the other Dioceses. 6. The proposed Establishment is by no means fully adequate to the religious wants of British India. For example, the whole number of Chaplains, European and Native, for Bengal, will be only about forty; whereas there are upwards of sixty stations, civil and military, dependent on that Presidency. But the present may suffice as a commencing Establishment, to be improved hereafter, both in extent and design. It is not to be expected, that an Institution of this nature can arrive at the practicable perfection, but by experience and repeated revision. On this account, therefore, and on account of some collateral objects which shall be noticed immediately, it is highly expedient, that a review of the Ecclesiastical Establishment in India should be taken by Parliament every fifth year, during the continuance of the Company's Charter. Having finished the Observations on the particular departments of the proposed Establishment, we shall now notice some other matters, which relate immediately to the religious improvement of British India. And first, of the state of the Half-casts, a subject which is very imperfectly understood in England. VIII. OF THE HALF-CASTS IN INDIA. 1. It appears from the calculation in the Appendix, that there are, in Bengal alone, 13,308 Europeans, men only, viz. : Civil and Military Officers, and European men. These 13,308 men have mostly families. Perhaps 2000 may be married to European woFrom those who have native women, married or unmarried, proceeds the race of Half-cast, or Hindoo-English Cast. The number has increased so greatly within the last forty years, that the Indian Government have serious apprehension in regard to the result. Many plans have been proposed to check the progress of the evil; but nothing effective has been done. And we may add, that nothing can be done to arrest its progress, until India shall be laid open to the free admission of European women. Nothing can be done, until our Indian system shall encourage the natural and honourable union of English men with English women.-Observe the enormity of the case, as circumstances now stand. Thirty thousand men are sent to India, who absolutely govern the country, and have all things at command. Of these 30,000 but few return. No English woman is permitted to go to India, but by express permission of the East-India Company; and even if there were no restriction, the difficulty and expense of conveyance amounts, in present circumstances (in regard to women not of the superior class), to nearly a prohibition. 2. The Half-cast children are generally brought up Protestant Christians: but there are many, who, for want of Protestant instruction, become Roman Catholics; and some secede to the Cast of their mothers, and become Mahometans or Hindoos. 3. Some data for ascertaining the number of the Half-casts in Bengal, may be obtained from the following statement: Half-cast Children in the Schools of Calcutta, in the Year 1806. In the Free School, about In the Military Orphan Institution Upper 250 250 In the Military Lower School, for Privates' 700 13 Private Schools in Calcutta, containing instructing the Children of indigent "Christians," that the children of the various classes of Christians in the city of Calcutta, for whose relief the "Benevolent Institution is intended, "include scarcely less than two thou 650 If then there be 3850 Half-cast Children, at one * See Address of Benevolent Society, Calcutta, 14th August, 1811. time, in Calcutta alone, the whole number of persons of that description, including adults, in all the cities and towns of the whole Province of Bengal, must be very considerable. They have been estimated at 100,000. In our general calculation of Protestants before mentioned, we have taken them at 50,000; and so, in proportion, at the other Presidencies of Madras and Bombay. 4. Moral State of the Half-casts.-Many of them succeed to respectable situations, the just reward of their ability and virtues. Many enjoy the benefits of a liberal education, and adorn society in India and in England. But, as to the state of the people in general, it is painful to describe it. By a Regulation of the Honourable Company, this description of Protestant Christians is excluded from all the higher situations in their service, civil or military. This prohibition of Government, and the circumstances of their birth, conspire to cast them into a state of the deepest degradation. Those of them who are taken in by the Military Schools, are generally appointed drummers and fifers in the army. Those who have not a claim on the schools, are thus described by the Benevolent Society: 66 These persons" (the 2000 above mentioned) are not, in general, the children of European |