urther this primitive mode of
procedure, already a good deal discredited, will no doubt be
superseded altogether.

Unfortunately, even in more august tribunals where the desire to be
true and just is uppermost, false evidence is so rife that there has
to be a good deal of guesswork, and calculations of probabilities,
when trying to come to a right decision. It has lately been advocated
that magistrates should, when practicable, hold their preliminary
trial of offences in the village where the misdemeanour is alleged to
have taken place. The witnesses under these circumstances are more
disposed to give a true account of what has happened. They are
surrounded by neighbours who know, to some extent, whether they are
speaking the truth or not, and are apt to betray them in case of
falsehood. But if the inquiry takes place at a city police-court, the
witnesses come in contact with the false witnesses, and bad
characters, and petty lawyers (or "pleaders" as they are called), who
hang about in the vicinity, and the usual result is that having been
tampered with by some interested person, all hopes of an honest
narrative are at an end.

There is a laudable desire to adapt Indian customs to the needs of
Indian Christians. The result has not always been the success which
was hoped for. The truth is, that what may be advantageous in the
heathen world may be quite otherwise when applied to the circumstances
of the Christian community. Because it was the old custom in Hindu
villages to settle difficulties, secular and religious, by a
Panchayat, it was thought that it would be advantageous to exercise
discipline in the Church in the same way. It was well to give it a
trial, but many begin to doubt its applicability. The Indian often is,
like many others, a man of strong prejudices, and even Christianity is
not altogether successful in uprooting this fault. His likes and
dislikes are pronounced, and are not always according to reason.
Certain excellent people will side with a pronounced wrongdoer, for no
apparent cause; not necessarily from a charitable desire to give him
another chance. Also, the pleasing Indian characteristic of regard for
family relationship, which is so strong, leads to an anxiety to
belittle the wrongdoings of anyone who can claim kinship, and this may
be carried even to the verge of distortion, or suppression of the
truth. Anyhow, the conclusions of the Christian Panchayat are, not
unfrequently, singularly at