Protestant about 12,000; those of the Presbyterian missions of Scotland, progress, England, Ireland, and America, connected with 10 societies, 1856-1878. from 821 to 10,000; those of the missions of the London Missionary Society, from 20,077 to 48,000; and those of the Church Missionary Society and of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, from 61,442 to upwards of 164,000.1

Great

native

The increased activity of the Protestant missionary bodies increase of in India, during the past third of a century, may be seen from Protest- the table2 on the following page. Between 1851 and 1881, the ants, 1851- number of mission stations has increased nearly threefold;

1881.

while the number of Native Protestant Christians has multiplied by more than fivefold, the number of communicants by nearly tenfold, and the number of churches or congregations by sixteenfold. This is partly due to the extended employment of native agency in the work. The native ordained pastors have been increased from 21 in 1851 to 575 in 1881, and the native lay preachers from 493 to 2856. The Protestant Church Extended in India has greatly gained in strength by making a freer use of, and reposing a more generous confidence in, its native agents. Its responsible representatives report the increase of Native Christians in India, Burma, and Ceylon, from 1851 to 1861, at 53 per cent.; from 1861 to 1871, at 61 per cent.; and from 1871 to 1881, at 86 per cent.

use of native agency.

School work of Protestant missions.

The activity of the Protestant missions has not, however, been confined to the propagation of their faith. Their services to education, and especially in the instruction of the people in the vernacular languages, will hereafter be referred to. But the vast extension of these services during late years is less generally recognised. The number of pupils in Protestant mission schools and colleges has risen from 64,043 in 1851 to 196,360 in 1881, or more than threefold. The standard of instruction has risen at an equal pace, and the mission 1851-81. institutions successfully compete with the Government colleges at the examinations of the Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay Universities. Female education has always formed a subject

Its rapid develop

ment,

Female education.

1 The Rev. M. A. Sherring, in the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, August 1879.

Compiled from The Statistical Tables for 1881, issued under instructions of the Calcutta Missionary Conference (Thacker, Spink, & Co., Calcutta, 1882). It should be remembered that the statistical organization was more perfect in 1881 than in 1851. To Mr. W. Rees Philipps this chapter is indebted for many materials and figures regarding Indian Christian missions in their earlier years.

3 The table given on next page deals only with India and Burma, and excludes Ceylon. Op. cit. pp. x. and xiii.

INDIAN PROTESTANT STATISTICS.

263

of peculiar care among the missionary bodies. The number of girls' day schools belonging to Protestant missions in India. alone has risen from 285 in 1851 to 1120 in 1881. This is exclusive of girls' boarding schools and zanána work. The total number of female pupils, under Protestant mission teaching in India alone, exclusive of Burma, has multiplied from 11,193 in 1851 to 57,893 in 1881.

use of

The great success of the missionaries of late years in their Extended school work, as in their preaching, is due to the extended native use of native agency. Complete statistics are available on agency. this point only for 1871 and 1881. The number of 'Foreign'1 and Eurasian male teachers belonging to Protestant missions in India and Burma, has decreased from 146 in 1871 to 101 in 1881; while the native Christian teachers have been doubled, from 1978 in 1851 to 3675 in 1881. In 1881, there were also 2468 non-Christian native teachers employed; making a total of 6143 native teachers in missionary employ in 1881, against 101 'Foreign' and Eurasian teachers. The native female teachers, Christian and non-Christian, have increased from 863 in India and Burma in 1871, to 1996 in 1881. The following table may now be left to speak for itself:

SUMMARY OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN INDIA

a Including British, European, American, and all others, not natives of India.

The pupils for 1851 were in India only; no returns being available for Burma for that year.

The return of total pupils is exclusive of 65,728 boys and girls attending Sunday schools. The returns for 1851 and 1861 are as a whole less complete than those for 1871 and 1881.

1 Including British, European, American, and all non-Indian teachers.

General

Statistics

of Chris

lation in

India.

The foregoing pages have briefly traced the history of Christianity in India, and disclose the recent progress made tian popu- by its main branches, Catholic and Protestant, among the natives. It remains to exhibit the Christian population as a whole, including both Europeans and Indians. In comparing the results, it must be borne in mind that the figures have been derived from various sources, and that the areas of enumeration in some cases overlap each other. Thus, the jurisdictions of the Catholic vicars-apostolic supply a basis for calculation which differs from the territorial areas adopted European by the Census of British India. Every effort has been made to allow for such causes of error, and to render the following tables a true presentment of the Christian population of India, British, Feudatory, and Foreign. It will be observed that the total number of Christians has increased during the nine years from 1872 to 1881 by 365,251. In British India alone the increase has been 270,807, or 30°2 per The total number of Christians was 2,148,228 in 1881, as against 1,782,977 in 1872.

and

Native.

cent.

Denominational Statistics, 1881.

The Census of 1881 returned the Christian population in British and Native India, according to sect. This return is useful as affording a test of the figures given in the foregoing pages from the Roman Catholic and Protestant missions. It will be observed that the two sets of figures practically agree, allowing for differences in the areas of the enumeration. In the total for all India these sources of discrepancy disappear; but it must be remembered that that total includes both Europeans and natives.

265

Ecclesiastical establishment.

The Government of India maintains an ecclesiastical establishment for its European soldiers and officials. It devotes on an average £660,000 a year to their medical requirements, and £160,000 to their spiritual wants.1 The two following tables show the ecclesiastical staff, and the number of soldiers and Government servants who attend their ministrations. In making up the second table, it has not been found practicable to bring the statistics of attendance beyond the date of the last Parliamentary return of 1880. During the year 1879, to which the attendance columns in the second table refer, a large European force was absent in the field, and the church attendance of European troops was decreased by about 13,000 officers and men.

INDIAN ECCLESIASTICAL STAFF, 1884.

a The registrar of the Calcutta Diocese is also registrar of the Lahore Diocese. These are the senior Presbyterian Chaplains in the three Presidencies. This is an allowance for furnishing ecclesiastical returns for transmission to England, paid to certain Roman Catholic Bishops in official communication with the British Government. The number of Catholic Bishops is sixteen for all India.

d There is also an intermediate class on £300 per annum. In addition to their rates of pay, Roman Catholic priests receive horse allowance at £36 per

annum.

In the following table, it should be borne in mind that the salaries and number of chaplains refer to 1884, while the attendance is that of 1879, when a large force was in the field. The attendance in ordinary years is estimated

1 The average cost of the ecclesiastical establishment during the ten years ending 1883 was £160,657.