fall vacant. The European officers generally take so little interest in the disposal of their patronage, and are often so much at a loss for qualified candidates, that they would gladly avail themselves of this mode of replenishing the lower grades of the native service. After the young men had once been appointed, their further progress would, of course, depend upon their merits and length of service.
This plan, it will be observed, rests on a much wider basis than the Government seminaries. It is intended to encourage and reward mental cultivation wherever it exists; and to engage in the service of the country the best talent the country can afford, without any reference to particular places of education. The impulse, therefore, will be communicated to all alike. The boy from a public school will be brought into competition with the boy who has been educated in his father’s house. The students from the Government colleges will contend with the young men brought up in the missionary seminaries. The Hindus and Mahommedans will vie with Christians of every denomination. There will be no distinction made, except that of superior merit. The emulation among the young men will extend to the conductors of the seminaries at which they are trained; the merits and defects of dif-
