Page:Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society - Volume 1.djvu/35

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Mr. H. T. Colebrooke's Discourse.
xxiii

An Association, established in Great Britain, with views analogous to those, for which the parent Society of Bengal was instituted, and which happily are adopted by Societies, which have arisen at other British stations in Asia, at Bombay, at Madras, at Bencoolen, with furnish inducement to those, who, during their sojourn abroad, have contributed their effors for the promotion of knowledge, to continue their exertions after their return. It will serve to assemble scattered materials, which are now liable to be lost to the public, for want of a vehicle of publication. It will lead to a more diligent examination of the treasures of Oriental literature, preserved in public and private libraries. In cordial co-operation with the existing Societies in India, it will assist their labours, and will be assisted by them. it will tend to an object, first in importance: the increase of knowledge in Asia, by diffusion of European science. And whence can this be so effectually done, as from Great Britain?

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