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The Baptist Missionaries of Serampore and the Government of India, 1792–1813
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
Extract
Prior to 1813 the Honourable East India Company, in whose hands was vested the government of British India, exercised a monopoly over Britain's trade to that territory. As a result, persons not connected with the Company were legally required to obtain a licence from its Board of Directors in London. The passage by the British Parliament in 1813 of an Act to extend the Charter of the Company for a further twenty years wrought many changes: in addition to depriving the Company of its trade monopoly, the Charter contained a clause declaring it to be the duty of Britain to ‘promote the interest and happiness’ of the people of India by taking ‘such measures … as may tend to the introduction … of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral improvement’ —among other ways, by granting licences to missionaries so that they could assist in the work ‘of accomplishing those benevolent designs’.
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References
page 229 note 1 Parliamentary Debates, 1812–13, ii, 15: Charter Renewal Bill as amended by the Committee of 28 June 1813.
page 229 note 2 Hereinafter referred to as the B.M.S.
page 230 note 1 B.M.S. MSS.: Andrew Fuller to J. Saffery, Kettering, 30 May 1793. Manuscripts prefixed by ‘B.M.S. MSS.’ are deposited in the B.M.S. Archives at 93–97 Gloucester Place, London, W. 1. There are no shelf numbers for these documents which are arranged, with few exceptions, loosely in boxes bearing the name of the author of the MSS. placed therein. Scholars can find any particular MS. easily and quickly by noting the name of the author (first name listed where more than one signatory to a letter) and the date of the letter or journal fragment.
page 230 note 2 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Carey, 10 November 1793.
page 230 note 3 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Madnabatty, 16 November 1796.
page 230 note 4 Ibid.
page 230 note 5 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to the B.M.S., Hooghly River, 10 January 1799.
page 230 note 6 Pearson, Hugh, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, 3rd ed., London 1819, i, 189Google Scholar.
page 230 note 7 Angus Library, Oxford (typed copy). Andrew Fuller to John Fountain, Kettering,
page 230 note 7 September 1799. Manuscripts and copies thereof deposited in this Library (which are not arranged in any order whatsoever) are hereinafter prefixed by ‘A.L. Copy’.
page 230 note 8 Marsham, J. C., Life and Times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, London 1859, i, 75Google Scholar.
page 230 note 9 B.M.S. MSS.: John Fountain to the B.M.S., Madnabatty, 11 November 1796.
page 231 note 1 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Carey, Kettering, 15 April 1799.
page 231 note 2 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, i, 7 October 1799.
page 231 note 3 Martin, R. M. (ed.), Despatches, Minutes and Correspondence of Marquis Richard Colley Wellesley during his Administration in India, London 1836–37Google Scholar, ii, 204: Earl of Mornington to Henry Dundas, 30 January 1800.
page 231 note 4 Marshman, op. cit., i, 111.
page 231 note 5 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, i, 16 October 1799.
page 231 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Andrew Fuller to John Sutcliffe, Kettering, 8 July 1800.
page 231 note 7 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Personal Records’, iv, 301–2: ‘Advertisement strictly forbidding the embarkation of British Subjects to India without License’, dated East India House, 1799.
page 232 note 1 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Dr. Rippon, 7 October 1799.
page 232 note 2 Fuller Baptist Church (Kettering) MSS.: Henry Thornton to Andrew Fuller, London, 1 September 1796.
page 232 note 3 Fuller Baptist Church (Kettering) MSS.: Zachary Macaulay to Andrew Fuller, Thornton Hall, 8 February 1797.
page 232 note 4 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to John Sutcliffe, Serampore, 4 December 1800.
page 232 note 5 Padwick, Constance, Henry Martyn, London 1922, 159Google Scholar.
page 232 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to John Sutcliffe, Serampore, 13 April 1801.
page 232 note 7 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, i, 29 June 1800.
page 233 note 1 Ibid., iii, 15 March 1806.
page 233 note 2 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 27 February 1804.
page 233 note 3 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, i, 6 February 1800.
page 233 note 4 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Serampore, 21 January 1802.
page 233 note 5 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Kettering, 27 October 1804.
page 233 note 6 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Joshua Marshman, Kettering, 8 November 1806.
page 233 note 7 Buchanan, Claudius, The College of Fort William in Bengal, London 1805, 174–5Google Scholar.
page 233 note 8 Ibid., 177.
page 233 note 9 B B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, ii, 10 February 1805.
page 233 note 10 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 14 March 1806.
page 234 note 1 A.L. (Photostat) Copy: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 15 May 1806.
page 234 note 2 Ibid.
page 234 note 3 Marshman, Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward, i, 264.
page 234 note 4 Cox, F. A., History of the Baptist Missionary Society from 1792 to 1842, London 1842, i, 160Google Scholar.
page 234 note 5 John Chamberlain had arrived in 1802. He had been followed in 1805 by Joshua Rowe, John Biss, William Moore and Richard Mardon. None of them had experienced any difficulty with the Government even though, of course, they came without licences from the Court of Directors.
page 234 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 26 August 1806.
page 234 note 7 Ibid.
page 235 note 1 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey, Joshua Marshman, Wm. Ward, Wm. Moore, Joshua Rowe, Wm. Robinson and Felix Carey to the B.M.S., Serampore, 2 September 1806.
page 235 note 2 Ibid.
page 235 note 3 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: David Brown to Charles Grant, Calcutta, 2 September 1806.
page 235 note 4 Pearson, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, ii, 42: Claudius Buchanan to Henry Thornton, 4 September 1806.
page 235 note 5 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: David Brown to Charles Grant, Calcutta, 2 September 1806.
page 235 note 6 Ibid.
page 235 note 7 Ibid.
page 235 note 8 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey, Joshua Marshman, Wm. Ward, Wm. Moore, Joshua Rowe, Wm. Robinson and Felix Carey to the B.M.S., Serampore, 2 September 1806.
page 235 note 9 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: David Brown to Charles Grant, Calcutta, 2 September 1806.
page 235 note 10 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey, Joshua Marshman, Wm. Ward, Wm. Moore, Joshua Rowe, Wm. Robinson and Felix Carey to the B.M.S., Serampore, 2 September 1806
page 236 note 1 Ibid.
page 236 note 2 Further extensions of the mission in India were still ruled out, so the Baptists sent Chater and a colleague to Burma to inaugurate Baptist work in Rangoon. By conveniently doubling Carey's salary in the College of Fort William the Government supplied the monetary means for this.
page 236 note 3 Carus, Wm. (ed.), Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Charles Simeon, London 1847, 223Google Scholar.
page 236 note 4 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Saffron-Walden, 9 July 1807.
page 236 note 5 Ibid.
page 236 note 6 Bristol Baptist College MSS.: ‘Letters from Mr. Wilberforce to Dr. Ryland’; Wm. Wilberforce to Dr. John Ryland, Brighton, 28 August 1807.
page 236 note 7 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Saffron-Walden, 9 July 1807.
page 236 note 8 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Castle Hedingham, Essex, 9 July 1807
page 236 note 9 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Saffron-Walden, 9 July 1807.
page 237 note 1 Ibid.
page 237 note 2 Ibid.
page 237 note 3 Ibid.
page 237 note 4 Bodleian MS.: ‘Correspondence on Missions in India, 1807’, Edward Parry and Charles Grant to Robert Dundas, East India House, 8 June 1807.
page 237 note 5 Ibid.
page 237 note 6 Ibid.
page 237 note 7 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Saffron-Walden, 9 July 1807.
page 238 note 1 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Castle Hedingham, Essex, 9 July 1807.
page 238 note 2 Fuller Baptist Church (Kettering) MSS.: Lord Spencer to Andrew Fuller, Whitehall, 19 December 1806.
page 238 note 3 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 11 August 1807.
page 238 note 4 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, pp. 9–13. Translation of missionary pamphlets to Muslims, certified as true copies by N. B. Edmonstone.
page 238 note 6 Ibid., 13.
page 238 note 7 Ibid., 17.
page 238 note 7 Ibid., 20–1.
page 238 note 8 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, pp. 26–9, Governor General in Council to Governor Krefting of Serampore, Fort William, 1 September 1807.
page 239 note 1 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, pp. 37–9. Minute of N. B. Edmonstone, 2 September 1807.
page 239 note 2 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, pp. 47–9. J. Krefting to Lord Minto, Fredericksnagore (Serampore), 3 September 1807.
page 239 note 3 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, pp. 74–5. Wm. Carey, Joshua Marshman, Wm. Ward, Wm. Moore, Joshua Rowe and Felix Carey to Jacob Krefting, Serampore, 8 September 1807.
page 239 note 4 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series, vol. 690, pp. 51–3. Memorandum by Mr. Blacquiere, dated 6 September 1807.
page 239 note 5 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, pp. 58–9. N. B. Edmonstone to Wm. Carey, Fort William, 8 September 1807.
page 239 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, iii, 9 September 1807.
page 239 note 7 B.M.S. MSS.: Joshua Rowe to John Sutcliffe, Serampore, 20 November 1807.
page 240 note 1 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, p. 93. Wm. Carey, Joshua Marshman, Wm. Ward, Wm. Moore, Joshua Rowe and Felix Carey to Lord Minto, Serampore, 30 September 1807.
page 240 note 2 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, iii, 21 September 1807.
page 240 note 3 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, p. 125. J. Krefting to Lord Minto, Fredericksnagore, 30 September 1807.
page 240 note 4 Ibid., 124.
page 240 note 5 C.R.O. MSS.: ‘Home Miscellaneous Series’, vol. 690, pp. 137–9. Governor General Minto in Council to J. Krefting, Fort William, 5 October 1807.
page 240 note 6 Ibid.
page 240 note 7 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 14 October 1807.
page 240 note 8 Parliamentary Papers, 1812–13, viii (Papers relating to Missionaries), 46–7. Governor-General Minto in Council to the Secret Committee of the Board of Directors, Fort William, 2 November 1807. The ‘exterior agency’ refers to the supposed French threat to India.
page 241 note 1 Twining, Thomas, A Letter to the Chairman of the East India Company, on the Danger of Interfering in the Religious Opinions of the Natives of India; and on the views of the British and Foreign Bible Society, as Directed to India, 2nd ed., London 1807, 31Google Scholar.
page 241 note 2 Scott-Waring, John, Vindication of the Hindoos from The Aspersions of the Reverend Claudius Buchanan, M.A., With a Refutation of the Arguments Exhibited in His Memoir, On the Expediency of an Ecclesiastical Establishment For British India …, Part I, London 1808, 155Google Scholar.
page 241 note 3 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Castle Hedingham, Essex, 9 July 1807.
page 241 note 4 ‘A Late Resident of Bengal’ (Lord Teignmouth), Considerations on Communicating the Knowledge of Christianity to the Natives of India, London, 1808, 22Google Scholar.
page 241 note 5 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Kettering, 17 January 1808.
page 241 note 6 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to John Sutcliffe, Kettering, 16 April 1808.
page 241 note 7 Ibid.
page 242 note 1 Robert and Samuel Wilberforce (eds.), The Correspondence of William Wilberforce, ii, 139: Charles Grant to William Wilberforce, India House, 30 August 1808.
page 242 note 2 Ibid., 128: Spencer Perceval to Wm. Wilberforce, Downing Street, 19 December 1807.
page 242 note 3 Bodleian MSS. ‘Correspondence on Missions in India, 1807’, Draft Letter by Robert Dundas from Court of Directors to Governor General in Council, approved for despatch on 16 August 1808.
page 242 note 4 Parliamentary Papers, 1812–13, viii (Papers relating to Missionaries), 73: extract of a Letter of the Court of Directors to the Governor General dated 7 September 1808.
page 242 note 5 Ibid., 73–4.
page 242 note 6 Ibid., 74.
page 242 note 7 B.M.S. MSS.: Journal of Wm. Ward, iv, 11 April 1808.
page 242 note 8 Ibid.
page 243 note 1 National Library of Scotland MSS., Minto Papers, ‘Lord Minto to Lady Minto’, vol. M-36, July 1807—December 1808: Lord Minto to Lady Minto, Barrackpore, 24 May 1808.
page 243 note 2 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to John Ryland, Calcutta, 27 April 1808. One of the many subscribers was none other than N. B. Edmonstone, perpetuator of ‘the late storm’, who donated 300 Rupees besides subscribing to other of Serampore's works.
page 243 note 3 National Library of Scotland MSS., Minto Papers, ‘Copy letter-book of Minto, vol. 159: Minto to Joshua Marshman, Barrackpore, 21 April 1808.
page 243 note 4 National Library of Scotland, MSS., Minto Papers, ‘India-Memoirs, etc., Statistical and Literary’, vol. 191; John Leyden to Lord Minto (no place or date).
page 243 note 5 The first Governor General to call officially upon the missionaries was Lord Hastings (in 1815).
page 243 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Joshua Rowe to John Ryland, Serampore, 9 August 1809.
page 243 note 7 B.M.S. MSS. typed copy: Wm. Carey to John Ryland, Calcutta, 13 October 1809.
page 243 note 8 B.M.S. MSS. typed copy: Wm. Carey to John Ryland, 15 March 1810.
page 244 note 1 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: ‘Rev. J. Marshman's Correspondence, 1799–1826’: Joshua Marshman to N. B. Edmonstone, Serampore, 18 June 1812.
page 244 note 2 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: ‘Rev. J. Marshman's Correspondence, 1799–1826’: N. B. Edmondstone to Joshua Marshman, Calcutta, 23 June 1812.
page 244 note 3 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 30 July 1812.
page 244 note 4 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: ‘Rev. J. Marshman's Correspondence, 1799–1826’: N. B. Edmonstone to Joshua Marshman, 13 September 1811.
page 244 note 5 Ibid.
page 244 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Mrs. John Chamberlain to Mrs. Burls, Serampore, 21 October 1812.
page 244 note 7 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 30 July 1812.
page 244 note 8 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey, Joshua Marshman and Wm. Ward to John Chamberlain, Serampore, 25 July 1812.
page 245 note 1 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: C. M. Ricketts to Joshua Marshman, Calcutta, 7 January 1813.
page 245 note 2 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: Joshua Marshman to C. M. Ricketts, Serampore, 9 January 1813.
page 245 note 3 B.M.S. MSS. Copy: C. M. Ricketts to Joshua Marshman, Calcutta, 5 March 1813.
page 245 note 4 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to John Sutcliffe, Calcutta, 29 March 1813.
page 245 note 5 Serampore had been captured, upon receipt of news in India of the outbreak of war in Europe between Britain and Denmark, by the British in 1807. It was handed back to the Danes in 1815.
page 245 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to John Sutcliffe, Calcutta, 29 March 1813.
page 245 note 7 Johns returned to India in 1819 and went back to England, voluntarily, following his wife's death two years later.
page 245 note 8 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to John Sutcliffe, Calcutta, 29 March 1813.
page 245 note 9 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 5 May 1813.
page 246 note 1 B.M.S. MSS.: Joshua Marshman to Andrew Fuller, Serampore, 23 November 1812.
page 246 note 2 Smith, George, Henry Martyn: Saint and Scholar: First Modern Missionary to the Mohammedans, 1781–1812, London 1892, 183Google Scholar: Henry Martyn to Charles Simeon, Calcutta, 1 September 1806.
page 246 note 3 A.L. Copy: Andrew Fuller to Wm. Ward, Kettering, 6 November 1809.
page 246 note 4 Roebuck, Thomas, The Annals of the College of Fort William, Calcutta 1819, 371–2Google Scholar: speech of Lord Minto at the Twelfth Public Disputations in the Oriental Languages at Fort William College, 22 September 1813.
page 246 note 5 Robert, and Wilberforce, Samuel, The Life of William Wilberforce, London 1838, iv, 103Google Scholar: Wm. Wilberforce to Hannah More, 23 March 1813.
page 246 note 6 B.M.S. MSS.: Wm. Carey to Andrew Fuller, Calcutta, 5 May 1813.
page 246 note 7 J. C. Marshman, Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward, ii, 41–2.