Sm,—I am sure my countrymen are very much obliged to
Mr. H. P. Leonard for taking up the cudgels on their behalf
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sm,—I am sure my countrymen are very much obliged to Mr. H. P. Leonard for taking up the cudgels on their behalf in his letter which appeared in your issue of April 23rd. The missionary has often handicapped himself in his pros- elytising labours by his curious preconceptions regarding the inferiority of every race but his own, and Bishop Heber was
in this respect the lineal descendant of the Portuguese mis- sionary, Frey Sym.i.o de Coimbra. This latter wrote on
December 25th, 1546, to the King of Portugal, with reference to a Sinhalese Princelet whom he hoped to convert, in the fol- lowing strain :
" His thoughts are not those of a black, but of one who greatly desires to copy the Christian Kings both in his manner of life as in all else, for he says that when he becomes a Christian he is not going to have in his house any but Portuguese."
The opinion expressed by Bishop Heber regarding his unre- generate brethren reminds me of the following verse of my Cambridge days :
" 0 Anthony, Anthony Deane, 0 Anthony, where have you been ? For the lot that you knew must have been a rum crew, If you really describe what you've seen."
—I am, Sir, your obedient servant, P. E. PIERIS.
Ceylon House, Aldwvch, London, W.C.2.
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