The National Church of Scotland next demands our attention.
The growing society of the Presbyterians first brought out to Bombay
their minister, the Rev. James Clow, in 1814. There being no
church of their own, they held divine service, in 1815 in the Mess-
room of the Town Barracks, near the Shipping Office, and then in a
room in the old High Court facing H. M.'s Docks. It was a large
room on the site of the present St. Andrew's Kirk. Then after some
exertions, permission was obtained from the Court of Directors for
building the Kirk. By the aid of private and public subscriptions the
edifice was begun in 1818 and completed in 1824. In 1826 its
steeple was struck down by lightning, and the present one constructed
by Mr. John Caldecott, F.R.S. It is a plain and small building, but
substantial. Its internal arrangement is so carefully made that it
can accommodate 300 worshippers. On Mr. Clow's retirement, in
1834, the Rev. Mr. Joseph Lawrie, who had been appointed junior
minister, since 1822, succeeded him. The Rev. Dr. John Stevenson,
the well known Orientalist, whom I have referred to before, was then
46



362 THR OKTGIN OF BOMBAY.
brought on the strength of the establishment and promoted to the
senior chaplftincj in 1841, when the Rev. Mr. George Cook became
junior minister.
The disruption in the Church of Scotland had its echo in Bombirf.
