The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

THE SECOND EXAMINATION FOR THIS
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.

In the Report on the Ind an Civil Service pre-
sented to Sir Chas. Wood by Mr. Macaulay, Lord
Ashburton, the Rev. H. Melvill, the Rev. B. Jowett,
and Mr. J. G. Shaw Lefevre, it was proposed that
there should be two examinations—one general and
one special ; the one to select young men who are
to be probationers for the Indian Civil Service; the
other to confirm their appointment as actual ser-
vants of the East India Company.
The first examination has been held. It was con-
fined to those branches of knowledge to which it is
desirable that English gentlemen who remain at
home should pay some attention. It was to be a
test of that liberal education which can be obtained
at public schools and universities ; which opens,
invigorates, and enriches the mind, and should
precede that special education which must qualify
a man for his professional career, whether at home
or abroad.

A
concession made in favour of Sanscrit and
Arabic was indeed a slight deviation from this prin-
ciple. But the number of marks which can be ob-
tained by these two languages is so small that no
young man will be induced to study them for the
purpose of this examination. He can obtain no
more marks by Sanscrit and Arabic than by French
and Italian, and the provision has avowedly bean
made to meet the case of persons who have com-
menced the study of these Eastern dialects at
Oxford or Cambridge, and who will thus be
enabled to bring up Sanscrit and Arabic in place
of German and Italian. There were but three
candidates who wished to be examined in Oriental
languages at the first examination, and one only
obtained any considerable number of marks, he
having been brought up in India.
According to all accounts, the result of the first
examination has been successful. The best 20 can-
didates have been elected probationers. They have
been told that in a year or two they will have to
undergo a second examination, and that their
studies must now fake a more special tendency to
fit them for their appointments in India.
What is the second examination to be, and how
are the selected candidates expected to prepare
for it?

We have only two official documents on this sub-
ject—the Report of Mr. Macaulay, and the Regu-
lations drawn by Mr. R. Lowe, and signed by Sir
C. Wood, the former President of the Board of
Control, Jan. 26, 1855.
These two documents are at variance nn some
essential points, and it is probable that new Regu-
lations will have to be published. In the meantime
we beg to offer the following remarks with particu-
lar reference to the study of Oriental languages and
literature :

It was at first proposed that a probationer shou:d
spend the interval between the first and second ex-
amination at Haileybury. But, as the College of
Haileybury is to be abolished, a young man, after
beingmade a civil servant elect, will now be allowed
to fit himself for his final examination in London
or wherever his circumstances may render it most
expedient.
According to the report, this second or special
examination was to comprehend four branches :-
1. The history of India, ancient and modern.
2. The general principles of jurisprudence.
3. Financial and commercial science.

4. The vernacular languages of India.
To each of these branches—and this is an essen-
tial feature of the Report—an equal number, of
marks was assigned by Mr. Macaulay and his col-
leagues. A knowledge of one Oriental language
would therefore have given to a probationer the
same distinction as a knowledge of law, or his-
tory, or political economy. But a further provi-
sion was made to encourage the unattractive, but,
according to the opinion of the reporters, most
important study of the languages of India.
" Sometimes," it is said in the Report, " a
probationer may study more than one of
these vernacular languages among which he
is at liberty to make his choice, or may,
in addition to one or more of the vernacular
languages of India, learn Sanscrit or Arabic. We
think it reasonable that to every language in which
he offers himself for examination an equal number
of marks should be assigned."
This was an important provision, and the more
so as comit, from the pen of Mr. Macaulay, who
during his stay in India was supposed to entertain
no very high opinion of the advantages which a
civil servant might derive from a knowledge of file
ancient and modern languages and. literature of that
country. It was a clause probably not fixed upon
without a full and mature consideration of the
objections against the study of Oriental languages
in this ccimatry._.

Notwithstanding the Regulations drawn up by
Mr. R. Lowe, and signed by Sir C. Wood, entirely
omit this essential feature of the Report ; and
by assigning a more subordinate position to the
languages of India, ancient and modern, they have
changed most materially the character of the second
examination.

Instead of allowing, with Mr. Macaulay, an
equal number of marks, to history, law, financial
science, and languages, Mr. Lowe has changed; the
order of these four branches of knowledge, and as-
signed to each an unequal number of marks :-
71. Law, including the ordinary rules of taking
evidence and the mode of conducting civil and
criminal trials, 1,000 marks.
2. The History of India, 400 marks.
3. Political Economy, 400 marks.
4. Any language of India on which the sekcted
candidate shall have given notice of his desire to too
examined, 200 ranks.

The bearing of these changes requires a careful
consideration.

As a graduated scale of marks has been adopted
by Mr. Lowe for the second as well as the first exa-
mination, and as it is stated in the Report that in
the first examination, where the principle of a gra-
duated scale had been recommended by the commis•
sioners, no candidate can be expected to gain more
than half the number of the sum total of marks, it
would be possible, under Mr. Lowe's Regulations,
for a probationer to pass his seeond examination if
he gains his 1,000 marks in law. He need not offer
himself for examination in history, political eco-
nomy, and the languages of India. At all events,
he might altogether dispense with the study of the
languages spoken in India, because he could obtain
1,500 out of 2,000 marks without any knowledge of
even an Oriental alphabet.
As this, however, would be too much against the
wishes expressed by the comissioners' we may be
allowed to suppose that the adoption of a graduated
scale of marks at the second examination arose
from a misapprehension, or was intended fora dif-
ferent object. We may therefore remove this gra-
duated scale of marks, in which case a probationer
be bound to pass in every one of the four
branches of knowledge recommended by Mr. Ma-
caulay and his colleagues as equally conducive to
the proper discharge of those special duties which
devolve on the Civil Service in India.
The next question which has to be determined is
in n
whether an examination modern languageoe n
ais
sufficient, and whether the choice of
Accord-
is n
Accord-
ing to the Regulations,
olive can be left free to the probationer of t
a candidate
mtiomay proceed to
India if ho possesses a competent owl ed ge of any
one of the vernacular language_s,. and it is entirely
left to each candidate to make his choice between
the 13 languages spoken in British India. I3ut this
is probably a mere oversight ; for, referring to sec.
be appointed shall be determined by the order
Their choice of the presidency of India to which
tion 7 of the regulations, we read--
i the llthey stand onlist of the first examination."
Referring to the report, we find the same provi-
sion,itn he
which s
and at the same time a statement of the object
for which it was made :
ult seems to us, therefore, advisable that the distri-
bution of the civil servants among the presidencies, if it
cannot be made the means of rewarding merit, should
be left to chance. After the allotment, of course, any
two probationers should be at liberty to make an ex-
change by consent. But, in whatever manner the dis-
tribution may be made, it ought to be made as soon as
the issue of the first examination is decided ; for, till the
distribution is made, it will be impossible for any pro-
bationer to know what vernacular language of India it
would be most expedient for him to study."
It will be necessary, therefore, to alter the Re-
gulations on this point. It is not sufficient to say,
" Any language of India in which the selected cap-
date shall have given notice of his desire
fixed for
be
examined." Certain languages must b
each presidency. A probationer al
Presidency of Bengal cannot be allowed
Tamil ; nor one appointed to Madras,lottteoedfibxrtiongtluipe
eal lthsetmu
up Bengalee. It is high time tehaist
subject,
to bring
jescetl. uectead
candidate should be informed on .
dy
wdehrattheveer languagepresentisregulationsmo
Hindostanee, for instance, or Bengalee—which
would cause serious inconvenience to the Civil Ser-
vicest c nt hveeyn i
mnatyfor
of the Madras or Bombay Presidency. Again,
even after this distribution of languages has been
made, another difficulty still remains.
Under the existing regulations of the Indian
Government, a certain proficiency in two of the
spoken languages must be acquired by a junior
civil servant before he is fully available for public
employment.
In Bengal, for the Lower Provinces, be must
pass an examination in Hindostanee and Bengalee;
for the Upper Provinces, in Provinces in Persian
and Hindee. And those are far from meeting all the
possible wants of the service, especially now that
the Puniaub is added to the Upper Provinces, and
Pegul to the Lower, each having a separate ctlan-
guage

To be continued.