The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-22 00:00:00

THE SECONIND DN
CIV EXAMILINATION
SERVICE FOR THE
lA.

( Continued from our impression of Saturday.)
At Madras the civilian is expected to pass in
Telugu and Tamil ; and these again have been
found insufficient, so that it has ben deemed ne-
cessary to offer rewards for the acquirement of
Kanarese, Malayalim, Mahrattee, alid Hindos-
tanee.
At Bombay the required languages are Hindos-
tanee, with either Mahrattee or Guzeratee, and
now Scindee forms a useful addition, making 13
languages, every one of which islof greater or lesser

necessity.
Professor Wilson, who is more competent to give
an opinion on this subject than anybody else, says—
" It is of vital importance that the young civilian
should be qualified for the public service in the shortest
period practicable after his arrival in India. Until he is
ro qualified he is a dead weight upon the Government.
lie is paid for rendering himself serviceable, doing no
service for his pay. Delay is also full of peril to him-
self, exposing him to the allurements of idleness, if not
of vice, and draw ing-himinto extravagance and debt, the
effect of which may seriously embarrass him through a

great part of his subsequent career, and materially- his
value as a public servant. On both public and private
grounds, therefoie, it is most expedient to shorten the
period f his probation in India."
The report seems, indeed, to have considered
this difficulty, but the remedy•which it suggests
can hardly prove effectual. It is said—
" A probationer may sometimes study more than one
of the vernacular languages, or may in addition learn
Sanscrit or Arabic. We think it reasonable that to
every language in which he offers himself for examina-
tion an equal number of marks should be assigned."
Now, either a probationer must obtain a mini-
mum of marks in every one of the four branches of
knowledge laid down by the report and the regula-
tions, and in this case what can be his inducement
to study more than one Oriental language He
cannot gain anything by it, for the chief object
of the second examination is not so much to
award honours as to confirm or to cancel the pre-
vious appointment. Thus, by giving part of his
time to the study of an additional language, a pro-
betioner might actually diminish the chances of his
Success in the other branches. Or supposing a pro-
"Dationer need not pass in every one of the four
Drenches, in this case we should have the following
dilemma. It an equal number of marks is assigned
to each branch, and if a probatipner is not ex-
pected to gain more than half of the sum total of
marks, the study of languages would in most cases
be neglected altogether. To learn a new alphabet
and to practise the paradigms of declension and
conjugation are not likely to prove more at-
tractive than history, law, and political eco-
nomy. But the most learned historian, the
most able jurist, the most ingenious political eco-
nomist would be useless for one or two years after
their arrival in India without a knowledge of

the languages through which alone their attain
ments can be beneficially applied. Or again,
if an equal number of marks is assigned to each
language, say a thousand, it might happen that a
civilian confined his studies exclusively to scholar-
ship, and in this case the Indian Civil Service might
become a refuge for sickly philologists.
It will be necessary, therefore, to adopt some
plan by which the study of languages may be en-
couraged, and so regulated and directed as to prove
most useful in whatever presidency a civil servant
may afterwards be stationed.
It is not advisable that the study of the modern
languages of India should be carried very far in
this country. A knowledge of the alphabet and
the grammar, and construing an easy book, should
be sufficient. It would evidently be a mere waste
of time to employ a month here in learning what
may be better learnt in a week at Calcutta or Ma-
dras. Now, what can be better learnt at Calcutta
the pronunciation and the conversational use of
Hindostanee ; what can be taught better in London
is the grammar and the first exercises in construing
and translating. It is a matter of experience that
a few months at Paris aro more useful for learning
to speak French than years of private lessons in
London. But it is equally certain that those who
410 not yet know the elements of French grammar
have to spend quite as much time at Paris in learn-
ing the declensions and conjugations as in London,
at the same time depriving themselves of the oppor-
tunity of learning at Paris what can be learnt at
Paris only pronunciation and conversation.
Again, it might happen that a probationer, ap-
pointed to the Presidency of Bengal, after having
spent much time on the study of Bengalee, was em-
ployed in Pegu or the Punjaub, and in either place
his knowledge of Bengalee would be useless. Nor
would his acquaintance with Bengalee literature
repay him for his exertions. For none of these
modern dialects of India can boast as yet of clas-
sical writers whose works might be of use to the
student in supplying him with authentic infor-
mation on the history, the laws, or religion of India.
But, while the great variety of the spoken dialects
of India creates a difficulty which it might seem
almost impossible to overcome, a remedy has been
found in one language which, though no longer
spoken except by the learned, is really the source of
all the modern languages of India, and will be as
useful to the civilian in learning any one of the
spoken dialects as Latin is to us in learning Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Wallachian ;
nay, almost as much as ancient Greek in learning
modern Greek—l mean the Sanscrit.
Sanscrit supplies the dictionary of all the spoken
languages of India, even of those which, like Telugu
and Tamil, belong in their grammatical system to
anotherfamily of speech. The proportion of Sanscrit
words in Hindostanee, Bengalee, Hindee, Pun-
jabee, Mahrattee, Guzeratee, Scindee, &c., has been
variously stated at between three-fourths and nine-
tenths of the vocabularies of each of these dialects.
It is in reality impossible to fix it exactly, because
every day new Sanscrit words, whether by deriva-
tion or composition, are added to the stores of the
modern dialects. " Every person acquainted with
the spoken speech of India knows perfectly well
that its elevation to the dignity and usefulness of
written speech has depended, and must still depend,
upon its borrowing largely from its parent or kin-
dred stock ; that no man who is ignorant of Sans-
crit can write Hindostanee or Bengalee with ele-
gance purity, or precision." New ideas which are
brought before the Hindoo mind by the intercourse
with Europeans must invariably be expressed by
Sanscrit derivatives, and all expressions relating to
religion, and Christianity in particular, can be ob-
tained rom that source alone.
Sanscrit, again, offers the key to the grammatical
system of all Indian dialects, with the exception of
the Deccan languages, such as Tamil, Telugu, (Cc.
Although the grammar of the modern vernaculars
of India is by no means perplexing, yet it becomes
far easier and more intelligible if we know the 'ori-
ginal Sanscrit, from which all the grammatical
forms of the modern dialects are derived by means
of abbreviation, corruption, and composition. The
grammar of French is not difficult ; yet it is embar-
rassing to explain some of its peculiarities to per-sons ignorant of Latin, and there are certain
mis-
takes to which such persons are liable in speakig
French or Italian which a Latin scholar would
avoid as if by instinct. The same applies to the
mo _tern languages of India. What can be more
puzzling to a person unacquainted with the origin
of the grammar of Hindostanee and Mahratee
than to find that in them the genitive of every
substantive takes the signs of the masculine, feeee_
nine, and neuter genders ; that if we say the King
of England, England must take the masculine
gender, while, if we speak of the Queen of Enc.-
land, the genitive takes the feminine sign of the
genitive ! To a Sanscrit scholar this peculiarity
has nothing strange or irregular, because he recog-
nises in what is called the termination of the gem-
tive the same syllables by which Sanscrit adjectives
are formed, and which are liable to the changes of
gender on the same principle as adjectives in Latin,
where we may say Rex .Romanus and _Regina Re-
mane, in the sense of Rex Rowe.
Here, then, we have a language which will prove
equally useful to all civilians, whatever their presi-
dency or station may be. It can be learnt with
greater advantage in England than in India, be-
cause our grammars and dictionaries are composed
on a more rational plan than those of the native
grammarians. To learn Sanscrit from a Pundit in
India, according to the native system of grammar,
takes at least five times as much labour as in
Europe.
The difficulty of acquiring a knowledge of San-
scrit is generally much exaggerated. 50 years ago
Sanscrit was a difficult language, because there were
no good grammars and dictionaries from which it
could be learnt. But at present we have both, and
the ancient classical language of India may now be
learnt by
anybody, whether he has a turn for lan-
guage or not. Industry alone is required for it
and perseverance, but neither talent nor genius.—
Times.

o—lvGinliir
ictE::;
()CCU
A_NoTRES GLOErCESTERSHIRErr3NeIn
i- ' .
TER, Friday.—A. 170:38,TEiRnYv.
strange
feared, the death of an individual, has happened at
Haresfield, about six miles from this city. This morning,
as the early down goods train on the Midland line of
railway was proceeding from Gloucester to Bristol, on
arriving within sight of Haresfield station, the driver of
the train, perceiving some co fusion in the signal lights,
whistled, but no alteration taking place he
stopped h's
train, and walked along the line to the station. At
ct
he equld find no one there, but looking about / _ll.e per
ceived the signal man lying
apparently dead upon the
station platform, ;with. a fearful wound upon his head.
It was found that he watr still living, and he was re-
moved, tut remained insensible and had not recover° 1
his power of speech when the last account left Clon-
caster. No other person was at the station when the
occurrence is supposed to have latitikl.ed.