We must not pass over the death of Dr. Alexander
Duff, of the Scotch Free Church, by far the greatest and most successful Missionary of our day. Dr. Duff landed in Calcutta in 1830, and at once adopted the plan he never afterwards abandoned. He firmly believed that India was to be converted through edu- cation, penetrated with a Christian spirit and conveyed in Eng- lish, and amid scorn and opposition he founded, with only five pupils, the General Assembly's Institution, which has become the -exemplar of a system of vast schools on the same basis, which have already educated tens of thousands of Hindoos. Possessed of singular powers of tuition, unwearied in labour, and able to -enchain men with an oratory which we have never heard surpassed, -and under which listeners who hated Missions would sit rapt fOr hours, Dr. Duff had another faculty, which served him more than all. He was a born diplomatist in the highest sense, and for years he mediated between the religious world and the Govern- ment of -India, until he acquired the perfect confidence of both, and , was able to exercise a most beneficent influence over all moral, educational, and philanthropic legislation. He never sur- rendered a principle, but official objections seemed to vanish before his arguments and his persuasiveness: For many years he
held a kind of Popedom in Calcutta, using his powers, however, with great mildness and judgment, until at length his broken health forced him to return. Whether his system was a wise one time must show. We doubt it, if the end is the Christianisation of 'India, but no man ever gave himself up for others more unre- servedly, or exerted a nobler influence, or displayed more splendid powers with a more complete suppression of himself.
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