It is, in fact, a most strange affair, that such endeavors should have been made to impeach the purity, by at the same time degrading the respectable character of the parish-curates, more particularly at a period when, owing to partality and the scarcity of religious men, it would have seemed more natural to uphold, and by new inducements encourage the zeal and authority of the remaining few.
In a general point of view, I have alluded to the erroneous system, which during the last few years has been pursued by the government with regard to the parish-curates employed in the interior, and also sufficiently pointed out the advantages reasonably to be expected if the government, acting on a different policy, or rather guided by other motives of state, instead of following the literal text of our Indian legislation, should come to the firm determination of indirectly divesting themselves of a small portion of their authority in favor of the religious laborers who are acting on the spot.