The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal has recently repeated a doctrine first
laid down, we believe, by Lord Lawrence, that while Government is bound to stand neutral as between Hindoos, Mussulmans, and Christians, it is still able to use a wider dis- cretion as regards the aboriginal tribes who have no fixed creed, and to whom we are now bringing at once vice and prosperity, without teaching them anything whatever. He has therefore entrusted the educational funds intended for them to the Mis- sionaries, who alone take the slightest trouble to raise them in the scale of civilisation. We are rather afraid of Government grants in aid of Missions, as tending to make Missionaries professionals ; but the policy here laid down is surely sound, and we do not see why it should be unpopular. The Mohammedans can fight us, if they like, and stand in such a contest on more than equal ground, while the Hindoos can hardly be annoyed. The correspondent of the Times says they are, but Hindooism is, after all, a pedigree creed ; and the higher Hindoos, like the higher Jews, do not wish for or encourage converts, who, however sincere, must still be so far beneath them.
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