CHAP. VII.
The Political Tendency of the different Systems of Education in use in India.
There can be no dispute as to what our duty as the rulers of India requires us to do. But it has been said, and may be said again, that whatever our duty may be, it is not our policy to enlighten the natives of India; that the sooner they grow to man’s estate, the sooner they will be able to do without us; and that by giving them knowledge, we are giving them power, of which they will make the first use against ourselves.
If our interest and our duty were really opposed to each other, every good man, every honest Englishman, would know which to prefer. Our national experience has given us too deep a sense of the true ends of government, to allow us to think of carrying on the administration of India except for the benefit of the people of India. A nation which made so great a sacrifice to redeem a few hundred thousand negroes from slavery, would shudder at the idea of keeping a hundred millions of Indians in the bondage of ignorance, with all
