Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877Kennedy, James
History
Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877
Kennedy, James
India -- Description and travel; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Biography; Missionaries; Missions -- India
I was surprised and sorry to observe the feeling with which many
Europeans regarded this class. They were looked down upon as of an
inferior grade, who, whatever might be their character or position, were
not entitled to rank with Europeans. In the dislike of natives shown by
some Europeans there was something to remind one of the American feeling
in regard to colour, though of a much milder type; but I was not
prepared for the degree in which the feeling prevailed in reference to
Eurasians, though I might have been had I remembered that the slightest
tinge of African blood, a tinge to many eyes not perceptible, had been
considered in America a fatal taint. I speedily observed the effect the
feeling had on Eurasians in producing an unpleasant sensitiveness, and
impairing the confidence and respect indispensable to social
intercourse.
Since that time I have understood the causes of this feeling much better
than I could have then done. The most candid and thoughtful of the class
will allow that as a community they labour under great disadvantages.
Though they have native blood in their veins they are entirely separate
from natives in those things to which natives attach the highest value;
and though by the profession of Christianity, by the adoption of
European habits so far as circumstances allow, and by the use of the
English language, they draw to Europeans, yet they are forced to feel
they do not belong to them. They occupy an awkward middle position, and
the knowledge that they do leads to unpleasant grating. Then they have
not had the bracing which comes from residence in a Christian land.
Though proud of their Christian name and profession, they have been
injuriously affected by the moral atmosphere of their surroundings. The
lower their social position, the closer has been their connection with
the lower class of natives, and the more hurtful have been the
influences under which they have come. Eurasians are noted for their
excellent penmanship, and a great number from generation to generation
have found employment in Government offices, the greater number as mere
copyists, but a few as confidential clerks and accountants, whose
services have been highly appreciated by their official superiors. A
considerable number have risen to important offices in the
administration of the country. An increasing number are able to take
their place in every respect abreast of their European brethren.
Individuals have gone to England, and have succeeded in getting by
competition into the Covenanted Civil Service. The class has been
steadily growing for years in intelligence and character; and as the
members of their families are enjoying educational advantages to a
greater extent than at any previous period, there is every reason to
hope progress in the future will be still more rapid than in the past.
The distinction between them and persons of pure European blood will
thus become less and less a barrier to social intercourse; they will be
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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