by the phrase. We sometimes speak as if it meant the extension of our trade. But the extension of trade is not necessarily a blessing if it only means the creation of artificial wants in native races in order that we may make money by supplying them. Even just and orderly government may not be in itself an altogether unmixed blessing, for we may by firm government destroy not only disorder but vitality. We owe something more to the races whom we govern than merely to keep them in order. The truth is that, in speaking of 'civilization,' we are apt to confuse means and end. The end of all civilization is surely the increase of the opportunities of noble living. Commerce, government, education, are only means to this end. But, unless there be some effective and continuous reminder of the true end, then the means become ends in themselves. It is for the Church, for religion, to prevent this tendency—to witness to the duty which we owe to all the subjects of the Empire—a disinterested desire to strengthen the resources of noble life; and to supply a succession of men in every part of the Empire who will keep this ideal steadily in view.
3. This second point leads to a third. We look to the Church to help in counteracting the dissolving and disintegrating influence with which our Western civilization inevitably affects the races whom it touches. A mummy in the British Museum, if left untouched and secure from the outer air, may defy the ravages of time for thousands of years; but let the air enter, let a living hand only touch it, and it crumbles into dust. So systems of religion and conduct, preserved by the traditions of centuries, dissolve at the touch of the white man's hand. If they are to be preserved, it is not the missionary but the trader and the teacher who must be kept out. Take as a single illustration the European education which we offer to the natives of India. In the words of a distinguished civil servant, 'the effect inevitably is that in proportion as these young men have been trained in English-speaking
