GOVERNOR OF BOMBAY 195
with school-books; (3) to hold out some encouragement to the lower orders of natives to avail themselves of the means of instruction thus aforded them ; (4) to establish schools for teaching the European sciences and improvements in the higher branches of education ; (5) to provide for the preparation and publication of books of moral and physical science in native languages ; (6) to establish schools for the purpose of teaching English to those disposed to pursue it as a classical language, and as a means of acquiring a knowledge of the European discoveries ; (7) to hold forth encouragement to the natives in the pursuit of these last branches of knowledge.'
When judged by the standard to which education in Bombay has long ago attained, this programme may not appear very ambitious ; but it was then as much in advance of the spirit of the age as it now is behind it. Elphinstone was himself careful to conciliate the Court of Directors, by arguing that the cost would only to a moderate extent fall upon the Company : that of the schools was to be borne by the villages ; that of the prizes and professors by funds already alienated ; the press, as the demand for books increased, would be self-supporting; while the services of the vaccinators were to be enlisted as voluntary school-inspectors. At least one member of Council objected to any interference with village schools, arguing that the Government should confine its assistance to English education. No step involving expenditure could be taken without a reference to the authorities at home ; and the necessary sanction seems not to have arrived until after Elphinstone had left India. In 1828, theN 2
