tion. There seems to be no medium in this study, no place reserved for him who attains a moderate degree of proficiency. The Sanskrit scholars are divided into two sets, between whom there is no break, or gradual succession of steps: one or two hasten onward, and give promise of future excellence, but the greater part are unconscious of the slightest effort to advance. The unwilling labourer, forced to toil for two years at a language which he is told will not enable him to exchange a single word with any native of any part of India, drags his slow length along' for a period of four terms, happy if Sanskrit does not prove the indirect means of an additional six months' residence in college, and of a corresponding degradation in the ranks of his cotemporaries. It must, however, be added, that in the event of the abolition of Sanskrit, there would be an inevitable increase in the number of subjects studied; and we are bound to state what appears to us the only valid argument for its retention. A fair knowledge of that parent language places the Uriya, the Bengali, the Hindi and Mahratta dialects at the absolute disposal of the student. He has but to extend his arm in order to obtain a complete victory over any or all of these; whilst if destitute of the substratum of Sanskrit, the future Bombay Civilian would commence Mahratta unaided, and the Bengali apply himself to Hindi or to the current vernacular of Bengal without the slightest previous smoothing of the way.* Apart from all considerations of the intrinsic value of the language as the great storehouse of the Hindu's religious ceremonies, and the mainspring of his daily avocations, we must allow that Sanskrit bestows on its votary a commanding influence over very many of the Indian dialects, such as it is utterly vain to expect any where else. Arabic, it is true, gives an easy access to Persian; Persian in its turn, when combined with a slight knowledge of Arabic, places the most polished form of Urdu within a single day's march. But there are very few of the vernacular tongues in which Sanskrit is not largely mixed up. Even in the Deccan languages, which present many distinct and original features, a considerable proportion of Sanskrit vocables have been inserted, and the Sanskrit scholar seems to stand on an eminence overlooking the mighty peninsula of India, from whence far as he may cast his eyes, from the Panjab to Cape Comorin, he beholds a confusion of varied tongues, (thirty-two is the number enumerated by orientalists), from all of which, like a feudal sovereign from his vassals, he may fairly be said to have some * Are those civilians who came out before Mr. Wilson's reign, hampered by an ignorance of Sanskrit in mastering the vernacular? Let our readers decide. We leave the question open. means claim to obedience. It is but just that we should state clearly this one great argument by which the study of Sanskrit finds supporters in England. Its premises are unquestionable, but on the other hand we very much doubt if such a knowledge as would really assist in mastering the derivatives of Sanskrit, is ever acquired by any save one or two students out of the whole body. A glance at the way in which the examination test is generally got up will best serve to illustrate our meaning. The portion absolutely exacted from all amounts to about 300 lines! The indolent student on his attendance at lectures has not contrived to retain much of what is going on: if called upon to translate, he has managed by some to come off, not exactly with credit, but not absolutely with dishonor. At the final examination, however, he begins to entertain fears of his reaching the mark, and he accordingly sets to without delay to make up in a couple of nights for the idly spent hours of a whole term. The process by which he accomplishes this desired end is curious. A verbal analysis of the whole-such a one as contains the translation of the minutest and constantly recurring particles-is procured from some partner in trouble, and by asssiduously poring ever this some half dozen times, he at last becomes enabled to recognise most of the words in the original. Not that he would know them again if met with in a different book, or even if transposed from the order he has been accustomed to; but by a judicious series of pencil marks and other equally legitimate hieroglyphics, he is enabled to pass muster when translating from his own book, and shuts his hated volume with a degree of satisfaction, rejoicing that for one more term he has escaped being numbered with the victims of rejection. We were amused a short time ago in reading the report of the Muhammadan College at Hooghly, to see that few of the Arabic or Persian Scholars could read a word out of any book except their own. It would seem that the idle and the careless present the same features in every quarter of the world, and resort to the same devices in order to hide their ignorance on the banks of the Lea as on the banks of the Hooghly. Of the general tone of the place in which such despicable subterfuges are upheld we leave our readers to form their own opinion without comment from us. It may perhaps not be generally known that the Sanskrit system at Haileybury is the offspring of Mr. Wilson. We have ere this given his reasons for the same, but on a fair and calm survey of the whole we cannot conscientiously subscribe to his undisguised preference for that over all other languages. We would encourage by all means the true Sanskrit scholar, we would reward him for his drudgery and enrich him with prizes, but the toil and the reward should be left for such eager spirits as would voluntarily undertake any thing however arduous which shall render them more efficient members of the profession. Many students who have been discouraged by the grim aspect of Sanskrit have shown themselves above the average in Persian, Urdu or Bengali, and although the test required in the former is by no means outrageous, it has often proved the means of disheartening a workman otherwise ready to put his shoulder to the wheel. We grieve that we should have to differ from so high an authority as Mr. Wilson: we would urge all who feel conscious of the will to dare and the power to execute, to acquire a fair proficiency in that language, after which the resistance of others, though determined, shall seem tame and spiritless by comparison; but with all our consciousness of the fund of utility which may be extracted from its stores, or the vantage ground which is gained by ascending its slippery heights, with all our strong desire to see its study more general and its worth more accurately known, we dare not advocate its being forced on all who enter the East India College. We have shown on what footing we could wish to see it placed: let it but have a fair trial after our fashion: the result will hardly produce fewer decent scholars than have as yet appeared under Mr. Wilson's plan. If any of our readers are disposed to think that too little is required in the first term, they will have no cause for complaint when told of the array of subjects which start up into life at the beginning of the second, and only terminate with the final emancipation from College. It is true that at first the range of subjects-old and new-does not seem to impose too heavy a burden on the collegian-that his days and nights may be consecrated to ease unrestrained-but the edifice is suddenly extended and based on much broader foundations. A variety of pursuits, some altogether strange, others not utterly foreign, but all tending to render the British youth worthy of the great Mission he is to fulfil, suddenly unfold their manifold stores. weekly theme is discarded, the classics languidly exist, as before, the mathematical course progresses into Algebra and Equations, the Sanskrit is retained-wrongly as we think-but a new oriental language, the captivating Persian, now appears on the stage, and the science of political economy, with the gigantic study of the Law, raise their vast forms aloft to engage the attention of the student. Of these we will first discuss the claims of the Persian to be an element in the course of education. Several years ago, when that language was still used in C The all our courts, and was employed everywhere in official transactions, the Court deemed its acquisition to be an object of such high importance that they appointed a native Persian—a gentleman of high rank and extensive acquirements-to be Professor of Arabic and Persian at Haileybury. His-place, lately vacated, was filled by a most worthy successor, Major J. R. Ouseley, who for a considerable time held the equally responsible post of examiner in the College of Fort William. In the present day, although Persian is no longer recognised as the language of our courts, yet, as might be expected, many of its peculiar terms inundate every document. Numerous Latin expressions still survive from the old law Latin of our courts at home, and seem likely to last as long as the English language itself, and Persian in the same manner maintains its ground with sturdy indifference to Act or Regulation. This, according to our way of thinking, is exactly as it should be, and though, if reconstructing our courts, we could not well recommend such a union of two jarring elements, such a reconciliation of oil and vinegar, as has actually taken place in the mixture of Persian and pure Sanskrit derivatives, still, as the fusion has been made, we view it as a really fortunate circumstance.* Law terms, like those of every science, must be somewhat recondite; and those of the Persian are as expressive and manageable as any set of their kind. It follows then that a moderate acquaintance with this language is absolutely incumbent on the Haileybury youth. With Persian he gains an easy access to the polished Urdu, he finds it recurring at every step when learning the routine of his business, and his ear may readily detect its clear and ringing tones amidst the fainter echoes of the dull sounding but no less comprehensive Bengali. The time devoted to Persian, and the quantity read during each term, is exactly sufficient to give the necessary amount of knowledge, without encroaching on studies of equal or even higher importance; and a further insight into this lively language may be gained with less distraction and with additional opportunities in the College of Fort William. We next come to the study of political economy, and it may not perhaps at first appear why this should be a regular component in the Haileybury course. A glance will make it evident. The causes of wealth and poverty, the social condition of the cultivator, the nature of land tenures, the changes in a large *This of course is only applicable to the Lower Provinces. The transition in the North West from Persian to Urdu must have been easier of accomplishment. Owing to the spread of Bengali, Persian is being more and more confined to the actual legal phrases, and the state of things in which Mr. C. Trevelyan could say that ddhesh for Hukm would not be intelligible, is now passing away. body of population, the modes in which national prosperity may be increased, will all at some future time form matter for the speculation, if not for the actual employment of the civilian. The Revenue officer will have ample opportunities for tracing the various windings of political economy, and will recognize the truth or falsity of many of its systems. Cause and effect will be to him equally familiar, and if a slight discrepancy in theory and practice does at times occur, he will acknowledge in the visible working of many great truths, the necessity of some acquaintance with the principles of the science. But in order to examine with certainty the condition of the Asiatic, he must first cast his eye over that of the European. He must be shown the causes of English wealth and prosperity before he can fully comprehend those of oriental degradation. Accordingly the series of lectures explain to him the position of the tenantry, churl and freedman, villain and serf, throughout most European states: he learns why the Irish cottier is poor, vilified, and degraded; why the French metayer, though contented and in seeming affluence, must yet in his best aspect be far removed from the genuine hearty content of an English peasant: he illustrates and compares what at first seem the discordant institutions of the East and the West, and traces with delight a resemblance between the middleman of Ireland and the Talukdar of Bengal. This is hardly the place for a disquisition on the land tenures of India, or on the science of political economy from its rise to the present day; but it may not be irrelevant to show something of the real character of a science whose most valuable discoveries may yet be far in the distant future. Some may be old enough to recollect the time when political economy was but in her cradle. Her giant truths had indeed ever been stalking over the field of history, but their importance was disowned or at least unacknowledged by the many. From the days of Munn and Malines to the dawn of the science under Adam Smith, its maxims had however been gradually stealing a faint assent from speculators more clear sighted than their neighbours. At length the clouds were rolled away and men began to run into the opposite extreme. The wildest and most unhealthy doctrines were promulgated and caught up. Unholy devices were upheld as the sole means by which the national evils resulting from a rapid increase in the population could be warded off. The public, at first thirsting for the new draught of knowledge, turned away in horror from the poison it contained. The maxims of the few were set down as those of the science itself, and the tendency of Political Economy was again hid in darkness. But under the fostering hand |