COLONEL HENRY OLCOTT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2646, 30 November 1904, Page 76

COLONEL HENRY OLCOTT.

— Pen Picture of the Man Who, With Mine. Blavatsky, Founded the Cult — Philanthropic Work for the Education oi the Hindoos. — A broad, shallow estuary, with the Bay of Bengal, across a low, sandy bar, stretching to the far horizon on the east ; on the landward side, reaching nine miks up the low-lying coast, northward ajid three miles westward, the city of Madras, with its 500,000 inhabitants, its area of 30 square miles, comprising a curious mixture of densely populated slums and rural villages, peopled here by busy town bees, swarming in narrow, sweltering streets, there by lowly ryots, scratching the surfaces of tiny fields with bullock-drawn ploughs. On the quiet shores of this estuary, which forms with the Aclyar Kiver running into it the southernmost Jimit of the city, stand groves, having as a background dark belts of casuarinas, "making music out of silent air." Flank-ed by detached Dalustraded bungalows, half hidden among the trees, and presenting to the w ater s edge a bare exterior of black walis and heavily Venetianed windows, this big red .house wears an air of strangeness and mystery which one vaguely feels to be m keeping with its purpose and its occupants. For it is the omcial headquaiters of the Theosophical Society, -nUb its mahatr.ias, chelas, astral and devachanic planes, karma, and all the other jargon of esoteric and esoteric Orientalism. — Society's Headquarters in India. — It is a fine, imposing building, standing in extensive, well-wooded grounds, like most of the "garden houses'' occupied by Europeans in Madras. In former times, indeed, it was occupied! by Anglo-Indian officials or merchants ; but in the later seventies it was secured by tlie then nevrl}'--formed Theosophical Societ}*, and in the early eighties became tne society's absolute property. Since then it has been considerably added to and improved, until now-, with its h'and&ome convention hall and library — the latter containing quantities of Eastern manuscripts, books, symbols, and curic3 collected b$ the piesid^ent founder and othcis — it presents, both ■exteriorly and interiorly, unique features. Eeie for the last quarter of a century has lived the society's pxesident-founder and chief prophet, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, an American who says he has found in the dreamy regions of the East) the surest antidotes against the delusions of th« materialistic West. A striking figure of a man is the colonel. In outward appearance he certainly fits the part of prophet and teacher. Like General Booth, of the Salvation Army, and Dr Do^ ie, the prophet of Zion, he '"runs to hair," as the saying goes. His abundant i>no\\ -wait© locks, brushsd far back from the forehead, and "his flowing snow-white btdid, leaching to the waist, impait to him a venerableness of appearance which is certainly imposing, despite his. medium stature, and full-bodied figure. Come into conversational contact with him, however, and you find that he is no dreamy philosopher, and not much of a religious enthusiast. You find him, rather, alert, active, and) woiidy-wise, essentially a business man, an organi&er, rather than a studious recluse. Born in New York 70 odd years ago,, he first came into prominence in 1855 as an exponent of scientific agriculture, andi one of the conductors of the Working Farmer. With some money that was loft to him he started a school of scientific agriculture at llmuhc \ T enion, N.Y., and devoted murh attention to sorghum as a cheap sugar-yielding substitute for sugar cane, publishing his ex} ■erienoes in a book entitled, "Soigho and linphee, the Cimi-eso and African Sugar Canes." His farm school lnving failed, he wag appointed to the a;iicultmal staff of the New York Tribune. At the outbreak o2

the civil war he joined the Northern forces and saw a year's active service in the Carolinas, when he was invalided). On his recovery he was selected by Secretary Stanton to investigate some fraudulent practices in the mustering and disbursing office in New York. So well did he per- j form his duties that he was subsequently j selected to root out abus-es in the navy yards on the Atlantic seaboard. Here, again, he seems to have earned much honour for himself. — A Prosperous New York Lawyer. — After the war he was admitted to the bar, and was soon enjoying a large income as counsel in customs and revenue cases. The turning point of his career came in 1874, when, meeting Mme. Blavatsky, he "became deeply interested in the problems of Eastern occult science and) philosophy, j Having become disgusted with worldly | affairs, he formed with her the Theosophi- j cal Society, relinquished his profitable, practice and. "transferred his residence in 18 f8 to India, first to Bombay, and then to Madras, where he has lived ever since. Despite his long residence in -enervating, sun-steeped India, despite his long and frequent journeyings in Eastern countries holding more or less intimate intercourse with Orientals, from Japan in the north to Ceylon in the south, and despite his long and laborious dabbling in Eastern religions and philosophies, Colonel Olcott is still to all appearances a "'very much alive" Westerner. With him the '"business" of the Theosophieal Society is the first care, the exposition in its '•searrhings after truth" being left for the most part to others more expert than himself, like Mrs Annie Besant, C. W. Leadbeater, A. P. Sinnett, and G. It. S. Mead. In the poise of Colonel Olcott's head when he is talking one can see his alertness, and also perhaps a tr ice of the vanity which has grown upon him as his society has expanded. A peculiar cast in one eye, which in most men would produce a sinister effect, seems to give him, as it did in. the case of Cornwallis, a more piercing look than he would otherwise possess, and is attractive rather than repellent. And his character would seem to be as composite as his eyes, though whatever obliquity there may be it is certainly not sinister or vicious. There are many who regard his society as an imposing and presumptuous fraud, ■which, with many pi'etensions and exaggerations and its diverse "occult" jugglrogs and excursions, expounds unscientifically and superficially doctrines and ideas in Eastern religions and philosophies that Trear totally different aspects when examined by scholars and experts who have no society to push and nothing to gain by self-advertisement. There are many knowing him only by one' s_ opinions of the Theosophical Society and its pretensions, one is bound to acknowledge with regard to its presidentfounder that he is not the religious quack and charlatan that many suppose him to be. He errs certainly on the side of credulity — "a psychologised baby," Lis tricky companion Mme. Blavatsky once called him. .So far from being leud. pretentious, and overbearing like some who in these latter days have founded and directed religious sects and societies, he is, on the other hand, mildly mannered, and, as the French say, something of the bon enfant. In fact, there i« that in him, when one knows him, which makes for liking. That Colonel Olcott is in earnest, however mistaken his methods and purpose, , as some may think, can hardly be doubted ; for no man at his age would elect to live in the debilitating climate of India and travel frequently in tropical lands" unless ihe felt sure faith in his objects and ambitions. There are many knowing him only by name who entertain vague suspicions that he enjoys in India a life of Oriental luxury — including even the harem of an Eastern potentate. All I can. say is that if that had been the case it could not; have been hidden for a single day from every intelligent person m Madras. On the contrary, so far as persons in Madras can see, he lives a sober and retired life at the Adyar in the companionship of the- society's headquarters officials for the time being. He does not live ascetically on an Indian, sage's fare, for he appears to have found that a, Western dietary is necessary for his health's sake. But his food is reported to be simple and inexpensive, while alcohol of all kinds is eschewed within the society's portals. Again, when Colonel Olcott is seen taking the air in Madras it is in a vehicle ■which most Anglo-Indians would despise as shabby. He says he meets all his personal expeases from the small profits on the Theosophist, and this despite the faefc that the society's headquarters enjoys a large income from members' subscriptions, branch contributions, casual donatioES, and endowment funds. Last year it amounted to a> little more than £1000 (5000dol). Colonel Olcott is not often seen at public assemblies or in, social circles in Madras, but occasionally he attends a citizens' meeting when any important question is being discussed, and occasionally he is a guest, at dinners and entertainments at Government House. Of course, at all meetings under the auspices of the Theosophical Society he is very much to the fore. On the beautiful Nilgiri Hills at Ootacamund ("the queen of the Indian Hill stations," as Lord Roberts calls it) Colonel Olcott has a little woodland cottage in a remote corner of the station, to which he sometimes retires in the hottest weather; but he is even less often seen there than in Mp-dras. In the society s earlier aays, when 3ime. Blavatsky was so assiduously pulling the puppet strings of the mysterious Mahatma, Koot Hoomi, and producing "occult"' manifestations (the vulgar"tricke±-y of which was so ruthlessly exposed by Scotch missionaries, by the Psychical Research Society, t~>d later by Edmund Garrett), matters

were otherwise, and the society was a neverceding source of comment. As for Colonel Olcott> he was, perhaps, as much sinned against as sinning. Ths ■whole story of ihe Mahatma fooleries — including the later "manifestations," in which Mrs Annie Besant was involved, and which resulted in, the "split" between Colonel Olcott and William Q. Judge, the society's j leader in America — is told by Garr-ett in I '"Jsis Very Much Unveiled," a skit on the title of one of Mmc Piavatsky's books. No study of the society's history is complete -.rithout a perusal of this humiliating expose. Conceived by Mme. Blavatsky with a view to excite public curiosity and attract adherents, and engineered so cleverly as to deceive her credulous followers, these "Mahatma performances" were .successful enough for a time, but were bound to end in discredit, and leave a lega-cy of wilful deceit, from which it was I difficult for the society to purge itself, even ! partially. — Society's Intellectual Leaders. — Thus men like Mead, Leadbeater, Sinnett, and Keightley have supplied the intellectual force which is raidoubtdly lacking in the president-founder himself." But the latter, though he Ir.cks that commanding intellect which one would suppo* c to be reces-sary in the leader of a s-ociety which is nothing if not intellectual, has nevertheless in other ways maintained his position as its nominal chief and figurehead. To many it is a puzzle how he has managed to do so. But the reasons seem to be — first, the prsstigs that he enjoys us the originator of the society ; second*, the tactful and bonhomie with which he is naturally endowed, and which endear him to his supporters; third, the whole-hearted zeal and constancy with which he has devoted his life to the society, sticking to it through good report and evil repoit, and remaining at his post in a climate that to ir.ost men cf his age would be intolerably irksome aud enervating; and, lastly, the rkill with which he manages the financial and other affairs of the society — a skill which is usually so lacking r.mong "intellectuals" and ''cranks" that the chances are the society would long ago' have collapsed had it lacked Colonel Olcott's aid. To describe adequately the origin and growth of the Theocophical Society would require a volume at least, bufc the good that- the society is doing in India lies not so much in the region of philosophical speculation and religious inquiry as in the realm of practical education. In the extraordinarily successful Hindoocollege at Benares, established under the auspices of the society, and especially of Mrs Annie Besant, who resides there, a thoroughly up-to-date university education is being given, to Hindoo youths, who at the same time are being carefully instructed in their own religion. That is not done anywhere else in India, both the State colleges and ihe missionary colleges being barred for different reasons from imparting any such instruction. ° The consequence is that the educated youths of India, saturated with Western science and learning, have been v gradually breaking loose from their ancestral beliefs. ! and, finding no substitute, have degenerated in nwnv rases into Fres thinkers. In Madras, again, Colonel Oleott has i lately interested himself in ths elementary education of the downtrodden pariahs and outcasts, and has, with the *oid of an ■enthusiastic expert — Mrs Court right established model free schools, v, hick" are doin^ excellent work. =