General Report on Public Instruction in the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (1850-51)/Report of The Council of Education for 1850-51

Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/13 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/14 manner in which they discharged the duties of the office referred to.

Dr. Mouat resumed charge on the 16th of June last.

The late J. E. D. Bethune

As the last testimony which the Council have it in their power to offer to the memory of their late lamented colleague, they have resolved to embody, in their own report, the addresses made by him in February and March last to the students of the Kishnaghur and Dacca Colleges, after the distribution of prizes in those Institutions.

The former contains an able vindication of the course of study contained in the Council's scheme, and the latter abounds in the sound lessons of practical wisdom which Mr. Bethune always endeavoured to inculcate, when he had an opportunity of coming into personal contact with the pupils of the Institutions under our charge.

Address at Kishnaghur

"This is my third visit to Kishnaghur: and I hope that all among you, who were assembled to meet me here on the last occasion of my coming among you, are able to give a good account of the past year; and are conscious not only of having stored your minds and memories with new words and ideas, but of having improved your reasoning faculties, and strengthened your powers of independent thought. For it is a truth of which you will become more and more convinced as you advance in years that, valuable as the information is which you imbibe in your scholastic lessons, the great end to be sought in any scheme of education, worthy of the name, is to enable you to think for yourselves in your future life; and, by the habits of patient study which you acquire here to gain a facility and the right temper of mind for meeting and overcoming difficulties which you may find in your future career, when you have to apply your sharpened intellect to the right apprehension of the world in which you will have to live, and your own moral and social duties with respect to the position you may occupy in it.

"And it is by this test, of their fitness for leading to such results, that the importance of the studies should be tried which are adopted in our Colleges.

"I have been led into the train of thought which has given rise to these remarks by observing that Omesh Chunder Dutt of this College, who was the first senior scholar of last year, would have re-appeared in the same place, if he had not fallen so far behind his successful competitor, Sreenath Doss, of the Hindu College, in mathematics and natural philosophy. It has been frequently said of late, either ignorantly or maliciously, but at all events very untruly, that for some years an undue preference has been given in our Colleges to the study of science, in discouragement of literature; and this has been attributed to my personal predilection for that branch of knowledge. It may not therefore be useless to explain my views of the function which such studies are meant to fulfil: because the remarks to which I allude, though crude and shallow, have been extensively circulated; and, if left wholly unanswered, may give rise to misapprehension among the real friends of Education in this country.

"The study of foreign languages has ever been a favourite pursuit in almost every celebrated place of Education in modern Europe: and those who are opposed to the particular system of our English schools and colleges, have found ample ground for attack in the inordinate time which, according to their views, is wasted in mastering the difficulties of two dead languages, Greek and Latin. The moderate defenders of that system, admitting that some changes in the plan of study might be desirable, have grounded their defence, not only on the fact that the study of these powerful and elegant languages purifies and elevates the taste and genius of those who become familar with the masterpieces of poetry, oratory, and historical narrative which are enshrined in their literature, but also on this, that the difficulty of mastering the artificial subtlety of their construction affords an excellent mental discipline for preparing a young student for the acquisition of any other kind of knowledge which he desires. But they do not supply all that is needed. Assuredly it would not be to them that we should resort for a code of ethics or of moral and political philosophy: for the minds which should be filled only with the precepts of the master-spirits of antiquity, on such topics, would possess at least as much of error and positive falsehood as of truth, however harmonious and concisely elegant might be its embodied expression. The founders of these institutions, therefore, feeling that the human intellect is never more nobly or more profitably employed than in the search after truth, would have thought their schools very imperfectly endowed, if they had not made some special provision for training the minds of their pupils for entering upon that study. In the colleges of this country, the principle is the same, though the details are different. The English language here supplies the place which is filled in England by the Latin and Greek: inferior for the purposes of education in some respects, far superior to them in others. I do not consider it an overstrained assertion that those languages do not surpass English in majesty and power of diction more than English is superior to them in the real instrinsic value of the knowledge that is to be gained by studying the works of the best classical authors in each. The want, therefore, to which I have referred is not quite so great for the Hindu student of English, as for the English student of Greek; yet still even here something more is needed: some branch of study in which the attention of the learner shall be fixed exclusively or almost exclusively on the truth taught, and little or not at all on the form of the vehicle through which it is conveyed.

"There are three subjects of science which have been prominently put forward for accomplishing this purpose, each of which is preferably cultivated at one of three famous British universities. Without meaning to allege of any of them that its attention is exclusively devoted to its favourite science, I may say that the study of logic has met with most favour at Oxford, metaphysics at Edinburgh, and physics, by which term I include mathematics and natural philosophy, at my own university of Cambridge.

"The advocates of logic, by which is meant the science of pure reasoning, without reference to the subjects of its propositions, seem to consider that they have established their claim to preference when they find that their assertion cannot be denied, that no legitimate reasoning can be carried on, which in any way sins against the rules which it formally teaches.

"There is, however, another question behind, whether most of those rules are not elaborate and complicated expressions for elementary and almost intuitive truths. I frankly own that, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of some eminent persons, I have never been able to bring myself to attach much value to the study of logic as a formal science, at least as usually taught: and I believe that all in it that is of any practical use is learned with much greater facility by every mathematical student, who has advanced as far as to understand the doctrine of simple algebraical equation: and that, as soon as he has mastered the tolerably obvious principle that he must be careful not to change the meaning of his symbols in the course of his investigations, he is as safe from being misled by the usual fallacies tbat are put forward in treatises on logic as exercises in the art, as if he had been regularly trained to discourse of an illicit process of the minor, or an undistributed middle term. Dr. Whateley's treatise, is, I believe, considered a text book on this subject, and at the end of it, he has given more than an hundred examples of propositions which may be taken fairly enough as tests of the value of all the precepts that precede them. I took the trouble to read them through lately, and I own that I should be grievously disappointed if any of those whom I see in the front benches before me would find much difficulty in distinguishing on the first perusal which are true and which are false inferences among them; though probably there are few, if any, who can use the received logical phraseology in describing the process by which he arrived at his conviction in each case.

"Ménage probably meant nothing more than a lively joke when he defined logic to be 'the art of talking unintelligibly of things of which we are ignorant'; for to take this sarcasm seriously would imply a complete misapprehension of the objects of the science: nevertheless, it is not denied by any who are acquainted with the history of philosophy in Europe, it is indeed admitted by the friends of formal logic, though of course they seek to avoid the inference drawn from their admission, that men never reasoned worse than when the science of formal reasoning was in greatest vogue and reputation. I have been informed that the Hindus possess a Sanscrit form of the same science, which does not appear to have been more fortunate as an improver of the reasoning faculty in man, than its European brother.

"The study of metaphysics, which term I do not now use in the extensive sense given to it by some German philosophers, according to whom it seems to include almost every possible branch of human knowledge, but with the more confined and yet still sufficiently wide meaning of the study of the laws of human perceptions, thoughts and feelings, is most interesting and important: but the vagueness of it, still more than the difficulty, renders it in my opinion ill-suited for the purpose which I now have in view. The real progress that has been made in it is very slight, and the primary truths, on which its conclusions must be made to rest, cannot be exhibited as it were experimentally and objectively by the teacher: he is forced to call on his pupils to exercise a process of self-examination, in order to understand and assent to his theory, which even highly cultivated minds find difficult to sustain long, and which presupposes a considerable amount of mental training in the minds of its recipients. There is also considerable danger, from the very nature of the ideas with which this science is conversant, that it should foster a tendency to dreamy barren speculation, which I believe to be a prevalent intellectual vice of the inhabitants of this country: the remoteness and indistinctness of its images do not supply that healthy corrective which is needed for a people whose philosophy has much in it everywhere which is cognate to their old cosmical theory, explaining the stability of the earth by supposing it supported by an elephant, the elephant upon a tortoise, and the tortoise they know not upon what; and so considering the difficulty disposed of when removed two steps farther out of the reach of sense and observation.

"Now mathematics and natural philosophy, when rightly taught, are exactly and excellently well calculated to supply this defect.

"Through the hard, dry, incontestable truths of elementary arithmetic and geometry, founded upon our simplest conceptions of number and form, we are able to give good practical lessons in the art, if not in the science of logic: and this application of logical reasoning I believe to furnish a far better mental discipline than the formal science itself affords; and that there is an incalculable advantage in forcing the young student to perceive that there is such a thing as abstract truth, not in any way dependent upon the opinions and authority of his instructors, but derived from the very nature of the subject of his thoughts; and in accustoming him, when he has seized such truth, to follow it boldly and steadily into its remote consequences, as unassailable as the principles from which they are derived.

"Accordingly, a favorite reproach against mathematical studies by those who, it is charitable to think, have little knowledge of their nature, scope, and tendency, is that they make men too logical; that the habit of strict reasoning to which they become accustomed unfits them for balancing probabilities, and weighing one kind of evidence against another, expertness in which makes a shrewd practical man of business. I apprehend this to be an utter mistake; and the probability of its being so seems in some degree supported by the great number of distinguished mathematicians who have become acute lawyers, skilful physicians, and eminent statesmen. Besides, it is a complete misapprehension to suppose that the study of physics deals solely with certainties. Even in the purely mathematical branch we have the elegant and abstruse theory of probabilities, specially concerned with those propositions only of which we have only obscure and imperfect evidence; and it may be questioned whether the wit of man ever produced anything more admirably subtle than Laplace's great work on this subject. But not to dwell on this, such objections surely overlook the application of mathematics to natural philosophy, in the pursuit of which many of the most valuable faculties of the mind are called into action. Industry and acuteness of observation for collecting phenomena; judgment in discriminating between appearances resembling but not wholly identical with each other; invention for the discovery of crucial experiments to test the merits of conflicting theories, and decide between them: while the powerful resources of mathematical calculation stand ever ready to the hand of the adept to solve mere difficulties of intricate combination, like some mighty engine, by which a man can wield at will masses of matter far beyond his unassisted strength to lift; and extricate from among the data of observation and experiment the hidden consequences which lie too deeply buried in involved circumstances for undisciplined reason to discover.

"To select one among the many beautiful applications of mathematical knowledge,—what science can be thought more magnificent, or better suited to raise the intellect than Astronomy?

"To those who have not painfully followed the successive steps of demonstration, each resting on what went before, and patiently built up from the most elementary propositions of Euclid to the sublime speculations of Newton and his followers, does it not appear little short of miraculous, that human sagacity, unaided by divine revelation, should have soared so far beyond the world in which mankind are placed as to have detected the laws which link the whole visible creation into one mighty and stupendous system? that the astronomer can predict with unerring skill the paths and motions of those points of starry light,—points of light to the ignorant, but rolling worlds to him,—so far removed from our sphere that many are even invisible to our sense, but for the assistance of wonderful instruments, which also are of his invention? that he shows them wandering in their all but boundless career, obedient to the same universal law, which governs the motions of a ripe fruit or withered leaf falling at our feet?

"Let me bring this more vividly before you by illustration. Go with me in imagination where I was a few years ago, in one of the busiest thoroughfares of London, the busiest city of the world, into the study of a philosopher, the late Francis Bailey, a stock-broker by profession, but by taste and genius a mathematician and an astronomer. How is he occupied? Great part of his room is filled with the framework of machinery, the object of which is to make massive globes of metal alternately approach and recede from a light pendulous body, hanging from the roof by a slight silken fibre. This he is carefully watching, and is diligently noting its vibrations through a small telescope from another corner of the room. Can you guess what he is about? These are the scales with which he is weighing the mass of "this great globe which we inherit," and which this apparatus will enable him to ascertain with greater accuracy than you could arrive at, if you were to undertake to determine the weight of this building in which we are now assembled.

"Not let me go to the most recent and most admirable triumph of mathematical skill. Look on this young student in Paris! He is unprovided with any telescope, or any mechanical apparatus but the pen in his hand. Many volumes, however, lie open before him, in which he finds recorded the differences between the observed and computed places of the planets; and, carefully transcribing these, he appears buried in the most intricate calculations. What result has he obtained that makes his cheek flush with truimph! Let me attempt shortly to explain it to you. He has just completed an examination of the irregularities of the most distant planet then known to belong to our system. This remote body, be it observed by the way, was itself discovered to be a planet only some sixty or seventy years ago; and, since it is so distant from the sun that its year is about as long as 84 of our's, it has not yet completed one revolution round the sun, since its real nature was discovered by the late Sir William Herschel. Yet, already, the path in which it ought to move according to the then state of our knowledge was so well known, by the application of the same general laws on which innumerable previous verifications had led astronomers to place implicit reliance, that its deviations from the course they had by anticipation marked out for it, began to fill them with uneasiness. How are these irregularities to be accounted for?

"It cannot surely be, that, having reached the confines of our solar system, the laws which we acknowledge are faintly and imperfectly followed there, as might be the case in some distant province of a mighty empire? No: the laws which the Great Architect of the Universe has impressed on His creation are not as those of earthly potentates; they are felt and obeyed throughout His works. There must then be some cause of which we have been hitherto ignorant, and of which consequently in our calculations we have taken no account. We know that every visible planet exercises some influence on the motion of this distant one; for all these we have already made allowance. Can there be another planet beyond all which have been yet discovered, but the existence of which makes itself apparent to us by these unexplained irregularities of that which we have seen and measured? If so, where is it?—what is its size?—which way is it travelling?—and with what velocity?

"These are the questions this young French student has proposed to himself: and he feels that his science will enable him to find an answer to them. By a singular coincidence, the same daring exploit is tried almost at the same time, with some priority indeed, by another young man at Cambridge, Mr. Adams, each ignorant of what the other is doing, and each succeeding by his own independent processes of investigation. But let us return to Paris. I will not endeavor to explain to you the steps of the calculation: you will probably be satisfied by my assuring you that they are most intricate and laborious. But the work is done: the results are beginning to appear, and at last M. Leverrier is able to say, with the confidence of consummate skill, 'Yes: I have found it! There is such a planet. Human eye has never yet looked on it, with the true appreciation of its nature: but it has been walking its appointed round from immemorial time: here is an account of its mass; this is the direction in which it is moving; this is the point where, at this moment, if you will look for it, you will find it.' All this the young astronomer, who himself has not yet seen this new world, except upon the paper of his elaborate calculations, dares to announce to a friend at Berlin, better furnished than himself with the means of making the actual observation. A new celestial atlas is then in course of publication in Prussia; and, by a happy chance, the sheet has just issued from the press which exhibits that portion of the skies in which Leverrier has placed his unseen planet. This is eagerly compared with an old map; and, almost exactly in the spot fixed on by the young Frenchman, a star is marked, not noted in the older map. The telescope is instantly turned to it and the discovery is complete; the planet is there! Surely, it is not without reason that one of our poets has said—

"An undevout astronomer is mad!"

and, when he uttered that sentiment I believe that his mind was not more filled with the thought of the Almighty power by which these worlds, scattered through infinite space, are bound to follow the laws which their creator has imposed on them, than with the reflection that the same God who made this mighty universe, made also the intellect of man; instilled into him the wish, and endowed him with the power, to look with intelligent admiration on his Maker’s works. I know not how others may feel; but, for my part, I can hardly conceive any other study better calculated to lead to serious and improving thought. What am I, in the midst of these marvellous works, which I am permitted to observe and partly to understand? Why am I here? What is the fittest and best use I can make of those powers, of which I feel myself to be possessed, while my own consciousness, not less than my helplessness and insignificance among these majestic wonders, the mere contemplation of which almost appals and overpowers my imagination, is sufficient proof that I have them not of my own will; and, if so, that I shall probably be made responsible for their being rightly employed to him who gave them. If these evidences are worth anything it is only to mathematicians that they can appear in their full force. Others indeed may receive and repeat at second hand whatever they please to believe of them, but the conviction which belongs to the perception of demonstrated truth must be wanting.

"It is in this spirit I would have the study of mathematics pursued in our Colleges. First, I should wish to see them cultivated, in their abstract form, as far as is necessary to furnish rules and exercises in the art of reasoning: for which purpose I may say, by the way, that on the whole, I consider objective geometrical processes, as far as they can go, much more useful than dealing with the more compendious and more powerful formulas of algebraical analysis; and secondly, I would have the mathematical knowledge, so acquired, brought to bear upon the physical sciences, which together make up a knowledge of the material world by which we are surrounded: and the more complete is the view we thus obtain of its wondrous and consistent structure, of the obvious adaptation of means to an end, and of the excellent perfection of the means employed, the more constrained shall we become to feel and utter not only the old maxim that knowledge is power, but also that knowledge is humility; that knowledge is awe; that knowledge is adoration!

"I miss among you the intelligent countenance of one who last year was counted among the brightest ornaments of your College, and whose premature death, in the blossom of his youth, has excited the regret alike of his teachers and his class-fellows, poor Ombica Churn Ghose! I saw his eye lighten last year, when from this chair I exhorted you to exert yourselves to maintain the honor of your College, and assuredly I reckoned that he would not have failed to do his part. He has been taken from us; it has pleased God that the promise of his early years, should not ripen to bear its mature fruits; but though he is dead, his name and memory live among us. I noticed with melancholy pleasure the monumental tablet your kindly recollection of your late companion has placed on the walls of your College, and by which, while seeking to record his merits, you have also done honor to yourselves. Look on it not merely as a memorial of departed worth, but as a pledge that you will endeavour to take him for an example; that you, who have known how to appreciate his intellectual pre-eminence and his moral excellence, will seek to emulate his industry, his docility, his virtuous disposition; when you feel tempted to act in any way of which you know that he would have been ashamed, pause and reflect, that his eulogium be not turned to your condemnation.

"And you, Omesh Chunder Dutt, whom I have so often had occasion to mark out for praise, be assured of this that not even in that moment, which you probably thought the proudest in your life, when from this place I hailed you as the first scholar of your year throughout Bengal, not even then did I look on you with so kindly a feeling or so hearty a desire to serve you, as when I heard of your affectionate kindness to your dying friend and competitor; when I learned how carefully you had tended him in his malignant disorder, undeterred by the terror of contagion, which is often found powerful enough to break through stronger natural ties than those which bound you to your departed friend. I doubt not that your own approving conscience has already amply rewarded you: for it is in the plan of the All-wise contriver of the world that every sincere act of kindness to a fellow creature carries with it its own peculiar inimitable joy: but it is also my pleasing right to tell you that your behaviour in this matter has not been unobserved, and that by it you have raised yourself higher in the good opinion of those, whose good opinion I believe you are desirous of deserving. May such examples multiply among us! May we have many such students as Ombica Churn Ghose! May your conduct one toward another be so marked with brotherly love, that it shall cease to call for particular notice or special commendation. Let these be the fruits of knowledge, and who shall then venture to say that a blessing is not upon the tree."

After Babu Ram Lochun Ghose, the Principal Sudder Ameen of Kishnaghur had addressed the assembly in Bengali, Mr. Bethune resumed—

"I am extremely sorry that I have not been able to understand one word of what my friend Ram Lochun Ghose has been saying; the more so, because I am informed that he has been earnestly and eloquently addressing you on a subject in which you are probably aware that I feel deeply interested, and which is of the highest importance to the happiness of every one present.

"The education of your females is the next great step to be taken in the regeneration of the Hindu character, and it is a consolatory reflection that while many social reforms of which you stand greatly in need are thought to be opposed to the doctrines of your religion and customs, it is generally admitted by every learned native who has examined the question that there is no such obstacle in the way of your consenting to receive this great blessing. The practical difficulty which still in a great degree obstructs the progress of the good work is the seclusion in which you have for a long time been accustomed to think it necessary to confine your women.

"If I were addressing an assembly of Europeans only, I should content myself with observing that this custom is unreasonable: among Hindus I know that whatever arguments are brought forward to show that it is so will derive additional claims on your attention from the fact that it is an unreasonable novelty. Your old records seem to point out that it was not the ancient usage of your race: a common theory derives its origin from the customs of your Mahomedan conquerors, when it is likely enough that, partly from a courtly affectation of imitating what you found in vogue among those who were in the possession of power and consideration, partly from a real dread of the excesses in which a licentious and unscrupulous soldiery might indulge, you adopted these new habits which are now received as national among you. Both reasons have passed away, and with them should disappear their consequences, if it were not so much more easy to adopt pernicious prejudices than to get rid of them again. But the work is begun: it cannot stop now: the race of educated men whom we are training up will not much longer bear to have imposed on them mere slavish objects of sensual desire, but will seek, in the mothers of their children, for rational, well-educated, well-informed companions, the intelligent partners of their joys and sorrows, their truest friends and most faithful advisers. Your modern ethical writers teach that the nature of women is so depraved that it is only by material restraints that they are kept from seeking out and following evil: our wiser belief is that in all the elements of virtue the female character is far superior to the male; and that whatever there is of evil common to all human nature, is best combatted, not by the vain obstacles of bolts and bars, but by laying the foundation of a virtuous life in the early inculcation of sound morality, and by teaching women to respect themselves by showing that by us also they are held in honour. Were it only for selfish considerations, you ought to educate your women. Now mark me! I do not rely on these. For her own sake, and in her own right, I claim for woman her proper place in the scale of created beings. God has given her an intellect, a heart and feelings like your own, and these were not given in vain. You think your neighbours the Chinese a barbarous people, because they cripple the feet of their women. How is it that you dare to cripple their minds? But also, for your own sakes you should do it, and for the sake of your children. I am not yet so old as to have forgotten the time when I sat on the school benches. I too can recollect some youthful triumphs, and the remembrance is still strong within me how incomplete they seemed until I had her sympathy and approval, to please whom was the strongest inducement I then knew for exertion.

“Human nature is the same throughout the world, and we may confidently rely on what it teaches us. The history of every time shows the important influence that the female sex is capable of exercising, for good or for evil, on the destinies of a nation; and those stand highest in the annals of civilization in which they have been held in the highest honour, and the greatest pains taken to secure that the weight of their power should be found exerting itself on the right side. And of this you cannot be sure if you will not train them to wisdom and virtue, as you would train those who are to be influenced by them.

“The work is now begun, it will not stop; it is like a rock which may have rested long time motionless on the summit of a mountain: but, if once set in motion, though casual obstacles may obstruct its path, may determine its course in this direction or in that, it yet gathers increased force with each succeeding interval of time, and hastens irresistibly onward to its final destination. I may not live to see this desirable goal attained: but, judging from all I have witnessed of the deep feeling which is beginning to prevail on this matter, it is my firm belief that another generation will not pass away before it will be universally conceded, that whoever neglects the education of his daughter disgraces himself, and is guilty of a gross offence against her, against his own happiness, and the happiness of society.”

Speech at Dacca

“My Young Friends,—If you have derived any satisfaction from meeting me here again on this occasion, I must tell you frankly that it is a pleasure which you have fairly and honorably earned for yourselves: for there were so many obstacles in the way of my leaving Calcutta this year, that I had nearly abandoned the intention I had at first entertained of revisiting Dacca. It was, however, strongly represented to me that you had derived great encouragement from the visit of the deputation last year; and it was feared that you might be equally disheartened if it were not repeated.

“Being sensible that I had all but promised that I would return, and feeling that you had done all in your power to deserve whatever mark of my approbation it was in my power to give you, I determined to disregard all considerations of personal inconvenience; and, even at this late season of the year, to come and tell you with my own lips how well pleased I have been with your exertions during the past session. I congratulate you heartily on the result of the examination, and I assure you that what I predicted two years ago is already fully come to pass, and that the students of the Hindu College now keep an anxious eye on your progress, and are conscious that they must exert themselves, if they wish to keep their place in front of you.

“At the same time you must not be too much elated by the appearance which the printed list shows. Owing to a combination of circumstances, an unusual number of the best students quitted the Hindu College this year before the examination, leaving only two in the first class. Of these, as you are aware, Sreenath Doss heads the comparative list, and has gained for his College and for himself the honour of giving his name to the year 1850, Sreenath Doss’ year: and it is due to the other, Kally Prosunno Dutt, that it should be known here, as I explained lately in the Town Hall of Calcutta, that he was for a long time absent through illness from the classes. Feeling that he was not able to do himself justice, he came privately to me shortly before the examination, and begged to know if he might be allowed to absent himself altogether from it.

“He was well aware that this would necessarily entail the forfeiture of his scholarship; but, so keen is the spirit of emulation which has been now excited, that he professed himself ready to do this, and to continue another year as a pay student of the College, rather than in his person compromise the honour of his College, and appear in what would have seemed to him a derogatory position. I could not but admire the high-minded feeling which dictated his resolution: but I encouraged him to go into the examination, and do his best: and it gave me sincere pleasure to find that he lost only one place, having given way, I think, only to Ram Sunker Sen, the first student of this College. Nevertheless you have very good reason to be satisfied with the position your College occupies; the more so, that you were under some disadvantage from the sudden removal of your late zealous professor Mr. Cargill, by his appointment to be Principal of the College at Delhi. No change of masters can take place in the middle of a course of lectures, without some detriment to the students, however great the talent of the new Professor: I regret also to hear of the state of Mr. Foggo's health, which indeed prevents his being present on this occasion.

“Two years ago your first man occupied the 20th place in the general list: last year you held the 11th, 14th and 15th places: this year you have gained the 3d, 5th, 6th, 8th and 19th: so that your fifth man this year stands one step higher than your first did two years ago. I recognise again the old names that I had to notice with honour last year. Ram Sunker Sen, Bhugwan Chunder Bhose, Gournarain Roy, and Oma Churn Bannerjea all distinguished themselves by gaining medals and prizes last year. Koylas Chunder Ghose, a young scholar, who distinguished himself so remarkably in history last year, is this year at the head of the third class in all the Colleges. These comparisons are useful and satisfactory, because they prove that our examinations really do bring out the best men: since the trials of successive years, by different examiners and on diiferent subjects, show corresponding results. You float to the top, because you are the lightest and fittest to ascend.

“You may remember that I exhorted you last year not to neglect the study of your native language, while gaining a knowledge of English literature. To some persons such advice seems superfluous and unnecessary, who probably are not aware that it is not at all difficult to find young men in our Colleges, who are able to speak and write with fluency and correctness, and even elegance, in the English language, who yet cannot write three pages of Bengali without committing gross faults of both grammar and orthography. As I am not of the number of those who entertain the idea that it is possible, even if it were desirable, that English should at any time supersede Bengali as the general language of the country, and looking to our educated students as the channels through whom mainly European ideas and opinions are to be communicated to the mass of their countrymen, I must consider it a thing deeply to be regretted, that they are not as highly distinguished by the elegance with which they speak and write their own language, as by the command which they have gained over ours. But, while I repeat and enforce the advice which I gave you last year on this topic, I desire not to be confounded with those who seem to think that the study of the vernacular languages of India cannot be promoted, without lowering at the same time the high standard of proficiency at which we have hitherto aimed for our English scholars.

“I have been led to revert to this subject by the report of a speech which I have read only since I came into this city, made by Sir Erskine Perry, the President of the Board of Education at Bombay, when lately distributing prizes to the students of the Elphinstone Institution, the principal place of education on that side of India. Not only from that speech, but from the last printed report of the proceedings of the Bombay Board of Education, I perceive that questions are yet, or have been very lately agitated there, which were formerly fiercely debated in Bengal; but which, until I thus found them re-opened, I believe to have been definitively settled. From the correspondence and minutes published on this subject under the sanction of the Government of Bombay, I learned with equal surprise and alarm that an opinion, I trust not a deliberate one, had been promulgated by a leading member of the Government, a man of great ability, high station, and much influence in the Councils of that Presidency, that the great use of our educational establishments is to improve the subordinate classes of officers in the public service; and that all systems are erroneous which do not keep steadily in view this their main purpose. I found, with more alarm than surprise, that the enunciation of this opinion had nearly led Sir Erskine Perry to resign his office of President of the Board. The immediate danger seems to have passed over: nevertheless I also take this opportunity of publicly and solemnly protesting against this declaration and doctrine. That is not the work I have been commissioned to undertake: that is not the work I would have consented to superintend. The scope of my views and that of the Government by whose authority I stand here, is far less bounded. The Government of India have in view a purpose more worthy the rulers of a mighty empire: they seek, and it is my joy and pride to be allowed to act under their orders in that good work, to raise the moral and intellectual character of the people of India. From the time when these questions first came to be discussed, they have clearly explained their designs and wishes in a series of consistent enlightened despatches. I have not here the means of referring to all that has been written on this important subject; but I find some extracts, quoted in one of our reports, from which I will read to you a few passages, which will clearly show that my view of the matter is in strict conformity with theirs, in all that I have said to you to-day. In a despatch sent to the Government of Madras so far back as the year 1830, I find these words:

"'By the measures originally contemplated by your Government no provision was made for the instruction of any portion of the natives in the higher branches of knowledge. A further extension of the elementary education which already existed, and an improvement of its quality by the multiplication and diffusion of useful books in the native languages, was all that was then aimed at. It was indeed proposed to establish at the Presidency a central school for the education of teachers; but the teachers were to be instructed only in those elementary acquirments which they were afterwards to teach in the Tuhsildaree and Collectorate schools. The improvements in education, however, which most effectually contribute to elevate the moral and intellectual condition of a people, are those which concern the education of the higher classes of the persons possessing leisure and natural influence over the minds of their countrymen. By raising the standard of instruction among these classes, you would eventually produce a much greater and more beneficial change in the ideas and feelings of the community, than you can hope to produce by acting directly on the more numerous class. You are, moreover, acquainted with our anxious desire to have at our disposal a body of natives, qualified by their habits and acquirements to take a larger share, and occupy higher situations in the civil administration of their country, than has hitherto been the practice under our Indian Governments. The measures for native education, which have as yet been adopted or planned at your Presidency, have had no tendency to produce such persons. Measures have been adopted by the Supreme Government for placing within the reach of the higher classes of natives under the Presidency of Bengal instruction in the English language, and in European literature and science. These measures have been attended with a degree of success which, considering the short time during which they have been in operation, is in the highest degree satisfactory, and justifies the most sanguine hopes with respect to the practicability of spreading useful knowledge among the natives of India, and diffusing among them the ideas and sentiments prevalent in civilized Europe.'

"In a despatch of the same date, addressed to the Government of Bengal, the same view which I have taken of the services to be performed by the English and vernacular languages in the common cause, is thus enforced:

"'While we attach much more importance than is attached by the two Committees (of Calcutta and Delhi) to the amount of useful instruction which can be communicated to the natives through their own languages, we fully concur with them, in thinking it highly advisable to enable and encourage a large number of the natives to acquire a thorough knowledge of English; being convinced that the higher tone and better spirit of European literature can produce their full effect only on those who become familiar with them in the original languages. While we thus approve and sanction the measures which you propose, for diffusing a knowledge of the English language, and the study of European science through its medium, we must at the same time put you on your guard against a disposition, of which we perceive some traces in the General Committee, and still more in the Local Committee, of Delhi, to underrate the importance of what may be done to spread useful knowledge among the natives, through the medium of books and oral instruction in their own languages. That more complete education, which is to commence by a thorough study of the English language can be placed within the reach of a very small proportion of the natives of India: but intelligent natives who have been thus educated may, as teachers in colleges and schools, or as the writers or translators of useful books, contribute in an eminent degree to the more general extension among their countrymen of a portion of the acquirements which they have themselves gained, and may communicate in some degree to the native literature, and to the minds of the native community, that improved spirit which, it is to be hoped, they will themselves have imbibed, from the influence of European ideas and sentiments. You should cause it to be generally known that every qualified native, who will zealously devote himself to this task, will be held in high honour by you: that every assistance and encouragement, pecuniary or otherwise, which the case may require, will be liberally afforded; and that no service, which it is in the power of a native to render to the British Government, will be more highly acceptable.'

"Again, in 1841, in a despatch to the Supreme Government of India.—'We cordially subscribe to one of the principal declarations of the resolution of 7th March 1835, that 'it should be the great object of the British Government to promote European science and literature among the natives of India,' and have no hesitation in sanctioning it, as a general principle for the conduct of our Indian Governments. Lord Auckland's suggestion to connect the provincial schools with a central college, so that the ablest scholars of the former may be transferred to the latter for the purpose of securing superior instructions, seems very judicious. We also entirely concur in His Lordship's proposal to render the highest instruction efficient in a certain number of central colleges, in preference to extending the means of inferior instruction, by adding to the number of ordinary zillah schools.'

"These extracts sufficiently show the enlarged and beneficent spirit in which the designs of the Government of India in this matter have been conceived; and this is a work in which any man may be proud to co-operate. But I at least would not have given a tithe of the time or pains I have bestowed on the subject of native education, since I came into this country, had I conceived that I was merely required to assist in training up a few clerks and writers in Government offices. True it is that, with our numerous students, among whom are seen by the side of the titled and wealthy, many from the middling and poorer classes of native society, such places are to many objects of desire; true it is that notwithstanding such assurances as I have read, notwithstanding the more recent and distinct pledge promulgated by the Government of India that, in the disposal of official patronage, a decided preference shall be shown to those who distinguish themselves in the annual examinations, and by which every officer responsible to that Government ought to feel himself as strongly bound, as if it had issued from his own lips, it is by many slightly regarded. But these are temporary matters of secondary importance. The great work we have in hand is steadily going on. The education imparted in our Colleges is gradually raising up in Bengal a new generation of independent minds and vigorous thinkers, whom the lapse of time is slowly but surely advancing to positions of increased influence and power. They are able to understand, they are able to feel the moral and social changes which are needed for the improvement and happiness of their country: and the time cannot be far distant when they will not content themselves, as for the most part they now do, with merely giving outward form and utterance to the expression of their inward thought, but will dare to act undauntedly and consistently, up to the full strength of their secret convictions.

"This is the great moral revolution which is preparing for Bengal, or rather which is already begun: this is the part which the students of our Colleges are destined to play in it, and it is for this reason that I look with so much interest on their progress and prosperity.

"There is one part of Sir Erskine Perry's speech, to which I desire particularly to direct your attention.

"'You are aware that natives educated in this Institution have evinced for years past not only such moral conduct in private life as has excited the admiration of every body, but also as high moral actions, as good citizens, as the youth of any country could display; for we see them, by their own exertions, unaided by the influence of rank or station, or patronage, spend their time in the erection of Institutions for the benefit of their fellow countrymen, their Vernacular Schools, their Literary Society, and their Vernacular publications: and these are owing to that moral training which they have had under the Professors from whom they have derived the varied attainments they possess. If then another argument was wanted in support of the demonstration I alluded to, we have a powerful one in the existence of these Institutions.—Having now discharged myself of the observations which I wished to make on this occasion, I hardly think that anything more need be said, except to encourage the young men before me in the course they are treading with so much distinction to themselves.'

"And again—

"'I need not now address you in terms of praise of the young men whom I see before me. It is not necessary: for you do not require any such stimulus to goad you on to distinction. There are two young men, however, whom it is incumbent on me to hold up to the admiration of the community, and to you as a bright example; that young man whom we have seen this morning distributing the prizes, Dadabhai Nowrozjee and his worthy colleague Mahadeo Shastree. To these two youths, under the good guidance of their instructors, Professors Patton and Reid, is due the merit of the establishment of the Female Schools in connection with the Students' Literary Society.'

"I would have you all, but especially the more advanced students among you, and those who formerly belonged to this College and to similar Institutions, lay well to your hearts this praise of the learned judge, one of the most zealous friends which the cause of education possesses in India; and study to deserve the like commendation from your President here. Do not be satisfied with merely gaining knowledge for yourselves. Be teachers as well as learners: do not think your task ended when you leave the walls of your College, when in fact it is then only rightly beginning. You should consider that, when you were privileged to enter this Institution, you, as it were, enrolled yourselves the soldiers of enlightenment and civilization, and became bound to war against ignorance and prejudice to the death. Be ever ready and bold in the cause you have embraced. I consider the educated young men of this country as placed in a truly enviable position. There is not one among them, who may not hope to win for himself a great name in the future history of India, if he will aim a powerful and successful blow at any of the social evils by which his country is now enslaved. These young men at Bombay, as you see, have set themselves earnestly and zealously to work in elevating the character of the females of their native land. I have seen the recent report of their schools, which is full of hope and good promise. I think there are three instituted for Parsee girls, and one for Hindus. Probably, they could not have selected any work more directly conducive to the happiness and improvement of their countrymen.

"For, you may be assured of this, that you will never fully understand what is meant by domestic happiness, until you have in your families virtuous, intelligent, well-educated women: your children will never be thoroughly well taught, until they have been accustomed to lisp out their first lessons of virtue and wisdom at their mother’s knee; to find in her encouraging advice their strongest inducement to early industry and exertion, in her intelligent and approving smile their best and sweetest reward. Further, you must be prepared to find that, until you consent to give woman her proper place in society, that which her Creator intended for her, when He endowed her with the same reason, the same power of apprehension and intellect, which He has bestowed on yourselves, you will be considered by the whole civilized world as little better than a nation of barbarians.

"I know that a great number of you are deeply penetrated with the truth of what I say: nevertheless, I practically know the difficulties in the way of successfully prosecuting this great and good work, and the time for commencing it here may not be yet fully come: there may be local obstructions and impediments, of which you can take better account than I can. But there is no want of work to be done in the good cause, if you have the heart to will it, the courage to undertake it, and the perseverance to perfect it. Fight error and ignorance, wherever you meet them: look on every day as lost, in which not only you have not gained additional knowledge for yourselves, but in which you have not scotched some mischievous prejudice, overthrown, or at least sapped the foundation of some pernicious error, in the mind of some one at least of your countrymen: opportunities enough will present themselves, if you will be ready to use them. But beware also, lest you give unnecessary offence, to those whom you would instruct, by any insolent affectation of superior wisdom. Truth can afford to be mild and patient, having on her side the irresistible force of reason and argument: it is only ignorance and error that are, in a certain sense, excusable, if they are rash and passionate: for, if these weapons fail them, to what can they betake themselves? It will be useful also to remember, whenever you are tempted to plume yourselves unduly on your undoubted superiority to your less instructed fellow countrymen, that it is for the most part to your better fortune rather than your greater merit that you owe your advantage. Lastly, above all things, note well the special praise given to these young men at Bombay for their irreproachable moral behaviour. Go ye all, and do likewise. Recommend the acquisition of knowledge, not merely by your precepts, but by your life and practice. Show that you become not only wiser, but also better, by what you are taught within these walls.

"The triumphs of literature and science can belong only to a gifted few, but the praise of virtue, that is to say, of temperance, of modesty, of truth and honour, of filial obedience, of friendly kindness, of forgiveness and forgetfulness of wrong, or still better of returning good for evil, of patience and forbearance, of charity and beneficence, of gratitude and piety, may be gained by every one who will sincerely resolve to earn it, and strenuously persevere in that behaviour, in those good deeds, words, and thoughts, by which it is best deserved."

SCHEME OF STUDY.

There has been no variation in the scheme of study. The result of the introduction of the stand contained in Mr. Bethune's minute has been somewhat unfavorable in regard to the number of Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/36 The examination will be held daily from 10 A. M. to 1½ P. M., and from 3 to 5½ P. M. precisely, at which hours all answers to the morning and afternoon papers, respectively, must be given in. Candidates are recommended to be in attendance a quarter of an hour earlier than the beginning of each examination, in order that no time may be lost in taking their places.

2. The subjects for the essays will be set, and the papers of questions will be prepared, in strict accordance with the scholarship rules, by the gentlemen whose names are appended to each:

English Scholarships.

Senior.

English Essay J. Kerr, Esq., M. A.

Rhetoric, R. Jones, Esq.

Literature Proper, J. Kerr, Esq., M. A.

History, H. Woodrow, Esq., M. A.

Pure Mathematics

R. Thwaytes, Esq., B. A.

Mixed Mathematics,

Vernacular Essay, The Revd. K. M. Banerjea.

Latin Essay, H. Woodrow, Esq., M. A.

Junior.

English Grammar, A. S. Harrison, Esq., B. A.

History, G. Lewis, Esq.

Geography, W. Brennand, Esq.

Mathematics, V. L. Rees, Esq.

Translation, Babu Ram Chuuder Mitter.

Arabic Scholarships.

Calcutta Mudrissa,

Senior and Junior,

Dr. A. Sprenger.

Hooghly Mudrissa, Senior and Junior,

Sanscrit Scholarships.

Senior and Junior Major G. T Marshall.

3. The following subjects were selected in 1850 as the standard in Literature, History, Pure and Mixed Mathematics, from which the examination papers of the present year will be prepared.

Senior Scholarships.

FIRST CLASS.

Literature.

Prose.—Bacon's Novum Organum, 1st Part.

Poetry—Shakspeare's Hamlet.

History.—Arnold's Lectures on Modern History, except the 2nd and the Appendix to the Inaugural Lecture.

Mental Philosophy.—Stewart's Philosophy of the Human Mind. Introduction and first five Chapters of Part II.

Mathematics.

Differential and Integral Calculus.

Optics, (as in Potter.)

Astronomy, (as in Brinkley.)

SECOND CLASS.

Literature.

(Same as First Class.)

Mathematics.

Newton's Principia, (as in Goodwyn or Evans.)

Doctrine of Limits and Elements of Differential and Integral Calculus.

Analytical Geometry and Spherical Trigonometry.

Hydrostatics, (as in Webster.)

THIRD CLASS.

Literature.

(Same as First Class.)

Mathematics.}}

Conic Sections, (as in Goodwyn.)

Theory of Algebraical Equations.

Mechanics, (as in Potter and Snowball.)

FOURTH CLASS.

Literature.

Prose.—Johnson's Rasselas.

Poetry.—Richardson's Selections from Gray and Collins.

History.—Elphinstone's India, Vol. I., except Chapter IV., Book I. and Chapters IV., V., Book II.

Mental Philosophy.—Abercombie's Intellectual Powers, as far as the end of the first Division of the fourth Section of Part III.; "Of the use of Reason in the investigation of Truth." (Calcutta Edition, page 161.)

Mathematics.

Euclid. Algebra. Plane Trigonometry.

Junior Scholarships.

Literature.

Prose.—Watts on the Improvement of the Mind, (Encyclopædia Bengalensis.)

Poetry.—Goldsmith's Traveller and Deserted Village.

Grammar.—Crombie's Etymology and Syntax, Part II.

History.—Stewart's History of Bengal.

Geography and Map Drawing.

Mathematics.

Euclid, Books VI. and XI.

Algebra, to the end of Simple Equations.

Arithmetic, and Elements of the Theory of Numbers.

Bengali.

Isser Chunder Shurma's Betalpunchabinsatee, 2nd Edition.

Shama Churn Sircar's Grammar, Parts I. and II.

4. The senior and junior scholarship answers will be examined by the gentlemen who set the questions.

The Arabic scholarship answers will be examined by the Principal of the Calcutta Mudrissa.

The Sanscrit scholarship answers will be examined by Major G. T. Marshall.

All reports of the results of the examinations are to be furnished before the end of the long vacation.

The examination in the Town Hall will be superintended by the Council of Education. The Secretary to the Council will daily give out the questions, and collect the answers, assisted by the other member of the Council of Education on duty.

The scholarship and other rules promulgated in 1846 were re-published, as no change had occured either in the scholarship standard, or in the mode of conducting the examination.

Subjoined are extracts from the reports of the various examiners, detailed tabular statements of the results of the senior and junior scholarship examinations being appended to this volume at p. p. clxii to clxxxv.

Mr. Thwaytes stated that—

"Calliprosonno Chatterjee, of the Hooghly College, had obtained a sufficient number of marks in Mixed Mathematics, to entitle him to the medal presented to the College by Sir Herbert Maddock."

The medal was accordingly awarded to him.

The following is the Reverend K. M. Banerjea's report on the Vernacular Essays:

"My opinion of the Essays will appear from the numbers attached to them. I will only add that I have in some cases given lower numbers than would be otherwise obtained, because of the essayists needlessly making use of grossly indelicate phrases in Sanscrit by way of rhetorical ornament, such as they would never dare to translate in plain Bengali in any decent society. I think such vicious taste should be discouraged."

Mr. Kerr reported that—

"The answers of the Hindu College in Literature appear to be superior this year to those of the other Colleges. The answers of Rajinder Nauth Mitter are remarkably good, and not less so those of Omesh Chunder Dutt, both of the Hindu College.

"It may be remarked generally that the students of the Hindu College write more correctly and with more fluency and freedom than the students of any of the other Colleges, arising, it may be, from local circumstances in their favor, such as the large English population of Calcutta, which makes English almost the Vernacular language of the place.

"The best Essays are those written by Mohendro Laul Shome of the Hindu College, and Isser Chunder Dass of the Hooghly College. As the subject of the Essays possesses local interest, and as it may be not uninteresting to some, both in this country and in England, to know the opinions of intelligent young natives of India on such a question, I beg to recommend that both of their Essays, which are nearly of equal merit, should be printed in the annual report. The papers of Rajinder Nauth Mitter in Literature, and the forenoon paper in Literature of Omes Chunder Dutt, and the afternoon paper of Mooraly Dhur Sen may also be printed, if the Council deem them worthy of it.

"The replies of the Hoogbly College in Literature, are not sufficiently full and complete. A fuller development is, in most instances, required.

"The lines

"But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill,"

are by some of the best pupils rendered into 'Look now it is morning,' which though in a manner correct, is evidently too concise and naked. The passage is stript of all its beauty and turned literally into 'plain prose.'

"Another remark which may be made, with reference to the Hooghly College, is, that there is no evidence of that decided advance in the senior scholars Cally Prossonno Chatterjee and Isser Chunder Dass, which might be expected from another year's devotion to study. The examiner is strongly inclined to think that six years is too long a period to retain a senior scholarship, and that four years, which he believes is the usual period at home, is long enough. If held for a longer period, the student is apt to relax in his diligence.

"Omes Chunder Dass, of the Dacca College, appears to have fallen off much in Literature since last year. His proficiency was then represented by the number 40, now by 27. The chief fault I found with his paper is its diffuseness. The writer wanders from the point, and says much that shows talent and is instructive, but which has no clear connection with the question. Thus in reply to the first question in Literature, simply requiring an explanation of the words 'and our vain blows malicious mockery,' he goes out of his way to take notice of the popular belief, that only 'a scholar' who knew Latin could speak to a ghost with any hope of receiving a reply. He expatiates upon this for two pages, and at the third page, comes back to the question.

"An error more or less observable in all the Colleges is, that of extracting paragraphs from books, quoted from memory, with more or less exactness, and dove-tailed into the answer without acknowledgment. An example or two may be given. Callychurn Chatterjee, in replying to the third question of the afternoon paper in Literature, says, 'here we have to carry on, along with the logical process expressed in words, another process of a far more difficult nature, that of fixing the attention upon the objects which the words we employ signify.' This is taken verbatim from Dugald Stewart. Another example may be given of a vice so common, and which perhaps is natural to young men composing in a foreign language. One of the candidates commences his Essay thus, Man, considered in himself, is a very miserable being. When we consider him only in regard to his physical constitution, he seems to be in all respects inferior to all other denizens. He is beset with dangers of all kinds and casualties which he cannot foresee and cannot prevent even if he had foreseen them. When we take into consideration the absolute helplessness of his childhood, and the imbecility of his old age, we pronounce him to be the most miserable creature in existence, &c.' This is copied almost verbatim from Herschel's beautiful discourse on the study of Natural Philosophy."

Mr. Jones, the examiner in Mental Philosophy, reported as follows:

"The answers of Mohendro Laul Shome, of the Hindu College, appear to me to be the best, both as respects style and matter, and I beg to recommend their being published.

"Many of the answers to the questions in Abercrombie's Mental Philosophy are likewise very good. The answers of the following students are among the best.

Mooraly Dhur Sen, Hindu College.

Warris AUi, Hooghly College.

Mohiny Mohun Roy, Kishnaghur College.

Thos. Kallonas, Dacca College.

"I must remark, however, that several of the papers from Dacca are disfigured by bad handwriting and bad spelling."

Scholarships Gained and Retained.

The following is a list of the scholarships gained and retained in the dilferent Institutions, placed in the order of seniority of the Colleges:

Hindu College.

Senior.

First Class.

Sreenath Das, (2nd year,) 377·6

Mohendro Laul Shome, (1st year,) 365·7

Retain their senior cholarships of 40 Rs.

Mudhusudan Chatterjee, (1st year,) 290·8

Jadub Chunder Ghose, (1st year,) 258 Promoted to 40 Rs.

Third Class.

Radha Gobind Dass, (1st year,) 364 Retains his senior scholarship of 30 Rs. Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/43 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/44 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/45 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/46 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/47 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/48 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/49 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/50 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/51 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/52 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1850-51).djvu/53