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

/SAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, 3/ 103 to 6/ 68 : clovey ditto,
3/ 153 to 6/ 103 ; and straw, 11 Ss Od to 11129 Od per loss'
d fair average supply and a sluggish demand.
CUDILIERLAND.—Meadow hay, 3/ 12s to 616 s ; clove: do.,
31 15s to 6/ 103 ; and straw, 11 7s to 11 12s per low:.
Supply moderato, and trade rather dull.
WHITEOHAPEL.—AIeadow hay, 3/ lOs to 6165; clover do.,
31 153 to Cl lOs; and straw, 1/ Ss to 11 124 nar load.
Both hay and straw moved off slowly, at our quotatiors.

THE SECOND EXAMINATION POI? 2'H.
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.

-
In the Report on tho Ind:an Civil Service pre-
sented to Sir Chas. Wood by Mr. Macaulay, Lord.
Ashburton, the Rev. H. IVlelvill, 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 then 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 been
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 take a more special tendency to
fit them for their appointments in India.
What is the second examination to be, and haw
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 on 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
beinginade a civil servant elect, will now be allowed
to fit himself for his final examination in London
or wherever his circumstances may reader it most
expedient . .

According to the report, this second or special
examination was to comprehend four branches :-
1. The history of ludia, 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 wa•: assigned by Mr. Macaulay and his col-
leagues. A knowledge of one Oriental language
would therefore have giv. 11 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 be
at liberty b 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 is which
ho offers himself far examination an equal number
of marlls should be assigned."
This was an important provision, and the more
so as coming 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 the
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 country.
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 :-
1. 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 selected
candidate shall have given notice of his desire to be

examined, 200 marks.
The bearing of these changes requires a careful
consideration.

As a graduated scale of marks bas 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 pess his second examination if
lie 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 Italia, because he could obtain
1,800 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 cornissioners, 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 for a dif-
ferent object. We may therefore remove this gra-
duated scale of marks, in which case a probationer
wit 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
whether an examination in one modern lau.guala"'n".
sufficient, and whether the choice of this one
guage can be left free to the probationer
routed to
_
Accord-
ing to the Regulations, a candidate mowafelc)ige
of
any
India if he
andn it is entirely
one of the vernacular langu?geehsls
possesses a competent k
choice betty een
left to each candidate to. make
referring to s.ec-
the 13 languages spoken in British India. But this
;2- read—
" Their tion 7 of the regulations,
.d a
is probably a mere oversight
res; ency of India to which
4, Their choice of ttieshapi
I be determined by the order
they shall be aPPQintea the list of the first
in which they stand OD
examination."
to the report, we find
Referringthe same provi-
sion, and at the same time a statement of the object
for which it was made
seems to us, therefore, advisable that the distri-
bution rf the civil servants among the presidencies, if it
c,,nnot be made the means of rewarding merit, should
be left to chance. After the allotment, of courie, any
two probationers should be at liberty to make an ex-
change by con-ent. Bat, in whatever manner the dis-
tribreion may be made, it ought to be made as soon as
the issue of the first examination is decided ; for, tip 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 can-
date shall have given notice of his desire to be
examined." Certain languages must be fixed for
each presidency. A probationer allotted to the
Presidency of Bengal cannot be allowed to briblinu:
Tamil ; nor one appointed to Madras,
°elected
up Bengalee. It is high time that the. at.
Un-
candidate should be informed on this oubjec
ay all study
der the present regulations they.
In
for them
whatever language is most convenienteng
alee—wbich.
Hindostanee, for instance, or
to the Civil Set-
would cause serious inconvenience
Presidency.
A .
vice of the Madras or Bombay
_Premlia3 y. Again,
even after this distribution of laep ges 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 u . e fully availab)e for public
employment.
In Bengal, for the Lower Provinces, he must
pass an examination in Hindostanee and Bengalee;
for the Upper Provinces, in Provinces iii Persian
and Efindee. And these are far from meeting all the
possible wants of the service, especially now that
the Punja.ub is added to the Upper Provinces, and
pegli to the Lower, each having a sepa rate lan-
guage.

To be continued.