Dr. Whitehead has lived for nearly forty years in India,
first as educationist and then' as bishop. He has therefore special qualifications for writing the two main sections of his book which deal with the Christian Church in India and with education. He writes from the standpoint of the missionary bishop, and is strongly convinced that the political future of India lies in the uplift and conversion of the, outcastes. His natural prepossessions have led him to give an account of Hinduism and of Islam, which, though it conforms to Western popular opinion, would probably be rejected by any Hindu or Moslem philosopher ; • but this section of the book is not vital. He is profoundly disturbed by the possible effect which complete Swaraj in India would have upon the future of the Church, but he is not afraid of the new Nationalism which would break off from the super- vision of Canterbury and establish a national Church on Indian lines. The Bishop writes of education, as indeed thrOughout the book, in a pleasant conversational style, drawing largely for illustration upon his own experiences. Most people will endorse his condemnation of Macaulay's fateful minute of 1835, and his chief complaint is that by making English the medium of instruction we have increased tenfold .the difficulties of learning and have encouraged cramming for examinations by the process of getting by heart: -When he gets to politics Dr. Whitehead puts off the mantle of the missionary bishop, and though still entitled to our respect, he has less to tell us that is new. Throughout the section the dominant idea seems to be -the arrogance of the European in the East, and he has told some home truths ; but was it necessary to rake up again the embers of Amritsar and to probe the open sore of Kenya ?
Previous page
