The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-27 00:00:00

which they gave to Thucydides, to Cicero, and to
Newton. The duties of a civil servant of the East
India Company are of so high a nature that in his
case it is peculiarly desirable that an excellent
genaral education, such as may. enlarge and
strengthen his understanding, should precede the
special education which must qualify him to de-
spatch the business of his cutcherry.
It therefore seems to us quite clear that those
vernacular Indian languages, which are of
no value, except for the purpose of commu-
nicating with natives of India, ought not to
be subjects of examination. But we are
inclined, though with much. distrust of our own
judgment, to think that a distinction may properly
be made between the vernacular languages, and two
languages which may be called the classical lan-
guages of India, the Sanscrit and the Arabic. These
classical languages are by no means without intrin-
sic value in the eyes both of philologists and of men
of taste. The Sanscrit is the great parent stock
from which most of the vernacular languages of
India are derived, and stands to them in a relation
similar to that in which the Latin stands to the
French, the Italian, the Spanish, and the Portu-
guese. The Arabic has contributed, though not
in the same degree with Sanscrit, to the forma-
tion of the vocabularies of India; and it is the,
source from which all the Mahoinetan nations
draw their religion, their jurisprudence, and- their
science. These two langu ages are already studied by a
few young men at the great English seats of learn-
ing. They can be learned as well here as in the edst, and
are not likely to be studied ih the East unless some
attention has been paid to thbm here. It will, we
apprehend, very seldom hatkop that a candidate;
will offer
brhuit, a m ses suiffocrh examin Sanserit or in
Arabic; instaucts may occur, we think
it expedient to include those languages in the list
of subjects.
As to the other subjects we speak with more con-
fidence. Foremost amongst those subjects we place
our own language and literature. One or more
themes for English composition ought to be pro-
posed. Two papers of questions ought to be set.
One of those papers should be so framed as to
enable the candidates to show their knowledge of
the history and constitution of our country ; the
other ought to be so framed as to enable them to
show the extent of their knowledge of our poets,
wits, and philosophers.
In the two great ancient languages there ought to
be an examination not less severe than those exa-
minations by which the highest classical distinc-
tions are awarded at Oxford and Cambridge. At
least three passages from Latin writers ought to
bo set, to be translated into English. Subjects
should be proposed for original composition, both
in Latin verse and Latin prose ; and passages of
English verse and prose should be set, to be turned
into Latin. At least six passages from Greek wri-:
tera should be set, to be translated. nto English.
Of these passages, one should be taken from the
Homeric poems, one from some historian of the
best age, one from some philosopher of the best -
age, one from some Attic orator, and at least one
from the Attic drama. The candidates ought to
have a full opportunity of exhibiting their skill in
translating both English prose and English verse
into Greek ; and there should be a paper of ques-
tions which would enable thana to show their know-
ledge of ancient history, both political and literary.
We think that three of the modern languages of
the continent, the French, the Italian, and the
German, ought to be among the subjects of exami-
nation. Several passages in every one of those lan-
guages should be set,
.to be turned into English
passages taken from English writers should be set,
to be turned into French, Italian, and German ;
and papers of questions should be framed which
would enable a candidate to show his knowledge
of the civil and literary history of France, Italy,
and Germany. -
The examination in pure and mixed mathematics
ought to be of such a nature as to enable the judges
to place in proper order all the candidates, from
those who have never gone beyond Euclid's Ele-
ments and the first part of algebra up to those who
possess the highest acquirenaents. We think it
important, however, that not only the acquirements
but also the mental powers and resources of the com-
petitors should be brought to the test. With this
view the examination papers should contain a due
proportion of criginal problems and of questions
ealeula.ted to ascertain winither the principles of
inatherna.ticat science aro tliorut.gniy understood.
I(1 those eminent men who have lately been modera-
tors be
in detailsth the
University
willv probably be best arranged by some
Cambridge, and who know
yo
by experience how to conduct the examinations of
large numbers of persons simultaneously. It must,
however, bo borne in mind that the;exteut and di-
rection ofi mathematical reading, especially in the
higher branches, differ greatly at the different uni-
versities of the united kingdom. The mathema-
tical examination for the Indian service must,
thetefore, in order to do justice to all candidates,
embrace a wider range of questions than is usual
at Cambridge, Oxford, or Dublin.
Of late years some natural sciences which do not
fall under the head of mixed mathematics, and es-
pecially chemistry, geology, mineralogy, botany,
and zoology, have been introduced as a part of
general education into several of our universities
and colleges. There may be some practical diffi-
culty in arranging the details of an examination in
these sciences, but it is a difficulty which has, we
believe, been at some seats of learning already
overcome. We have no hesitation in recommend-
ing that there should be at least one paper of ques-
tions relating to these branches of knowledge.
' We propose to include the moral sciences in the
scheme of examination. Those sciences are, it is
well known, much studied both at Oxford and at
the Scottish Universities. Whether this study shall
have to do with mere words or things, whether it
shall degenerate into a formal and scholastic pe-
dantry,lor shall train the mind for the highest pur-
poses of active life, will depend, to a great extent,
on the way in which the examination is conducted.
We are of opinion that the examination should be
conducted in the freest manner, that mere techni-
calities should be avoided, and that 'the candidate
should not be confined to any. particular system.
The 'subjects which fall under this head arethe ele-
ments of moral and political philosophy, the history
of the ancient and modern schools of moral and poli-
tical philosophy, the science of logic, and the in-
ductive .method, of which the Novum Organum, is
the great text-book. The object of the examiners
should be rather to put to the test the candidate's
powers of mind than to ascertain the extent of his
metaphysical reading.
The whole examination ought, we think, to be
carried on by means of written papers. The candi-
dates ought not to be allowed the help of any book;
nor ought they, after once a subject for composition
has been proposed to them, or a paper of questions
placed before them, to leave the place of examina-
tion till they have finished their work.
It is, of course, not to be expected that any man
of 22 will have made considerable proficiency in all
the subjects of examination. An excellent mathe-
matician will often haVe little Greek, and an excel-
lent Greek scholar will be entirely ignorant of
French and Italian. Nothing can be further from
our wish than to hold out premiums -for know-
ledge of wide surface and of small depth. We are
of opinion that a candidate ought to be allowed no
credit at all for taking up a subject in which he is
a mere smatterer. Profound and accurate ac-
quaintance with a single language ought to tell
more than bad translations and themes in six
languages. A single paper which shows that the
writer thoroughly understands the principles of
the differential calculus ought to tell 'more than 20
superficial and incorrect answers to questions about
chemistry, botany, mineralogy, metaphysics, logic,
and English history.
It will be necessary that a certain number of
marks should be assigned to each subject, and that
the place of a candidate should be determined by
the sum total of the marks which he has gained.
The marks ought, wo conceive, to be distributed
among the subjects of examination in such a
manner that no part of the kingdom, and no class
of schools, shall exclusively furnish servants to the
East India Company. It would be, grossly unjust,
for example, to the great academical institutions of
England, not to allow skill in Greek and Latin
versification to have a considerable share in deter-
mining the issue of the competition. Skill in
Greek and Latin versification has, indeed, no direct
tendency to form a judge, a financier, or a diploma-
tist. But the youth who does best what all the
ablest and niost ambitious youths about him are
trying to do well will
generally prove a supe-
rior man ; nor can we doubt that an accomplish-
ment by which Fox and Canning, Grenville and
Wellesley, Mansfield and Tenterden, first dis-
I tinguished themselves above their fellows, indi-
cates powers of mind, which, properly trained and
directed, may do groat service to the State. On the
other hand, we must remember that in the north
of this island the art of metrical composition in the
ancient languages is very little cultivated, and that
men so eminent as Dugald Stewart, Homer, Jef-
frey., and Mackintosh would probably have been
quite unable to write a good copy of Latin alcaics,

English language and literature :
Composition ... ... ..
History ... - ... ...
General literature ... ..

G reek
Latin
French
German
Italian...
Mathematics pure and mixed
Natural sciences
Moral sciences ...
San scrit
Arabic ...

1,500
750
750
375

. 275
. 1000
. .500
• 500

... 375
... 375

6,875
It seems to us probable that of the 6,875 marks,
which are the maximum, no candidate, will ever
obtain half. A candidate who is at once a distin-
guished classical scholar and a distinguished mathe-
matician will be, as he ought to be, certain of suc-
cess. A classical scholar who is no mathematician
or a mathematician who is no classical scholar, will
be certain of success if he is well read in the history
and literature of. his own Country:. A young man
who has scarcely any knowledge of mathematics,
little Latin, and na Greek, may pass such an ex-
amination in English, French, Italian,' German,
geology, and chemistry that he may stand at the
head of the list. _ _ _

It can scarcely be necessary for us to add that
no expense ought to be grudged which may be
necessary to secure the services of the ablest ex-
aminers in every branch of learning. Experience
justifies us in pronouncing with entire confidence
that, if the examiners be well chosen, it is utterly
impossible that the delusive show of knowledge
which is the effect of, the process popularly called
cramming can ever be successful against real learn-
ing and ability.
Whether the examinations. ought to be held half-
yearly or annually is a question which cannot, we
think, be satisfactorily determined till after the
first experiment has been made.
When the result of the examination has been de-
clared the successful candidates will not yet be civil
servants of the East India Company,'but only civil
servants elect. It appears from the 40th clause of
the act to be the intention of the Legislature, that
before they proceed to the East there should
be a period of probation and a second examina-
tion.
In what studies, then, ought the period of pro-
bation to be passed ? And what ought to be the
nature of the second examination ?
It seems to us that, from the moment at which
the successful candidates, whom we will now call
probationers, have been set apart as persons who
will, in all probability, have to bear a part in the
government of India, they should give their
whole minds to the duties of their new position.
They must now be considered as having finished
their general education, and as having finished it
with honour. Their serious studies must hence-
forth be such as have a special tendency to fit them
for their calling.
Of the special knowledge whioh a civil servant
of the company ought to possess, much" can be ao-
quired only in India, and much may be acquired
far more easily in India than in England. 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 Madras. But there are
some kinds Of knowledge whiCh are not considered
as essential parts of the liberal education of our
youth' but which it . is most important that
a civil servant of the company should possess, and
which he may acquire in England not less easily
than in India. We conceive that every proba-
tioner ought during the interval between his first
and his second examination to apply himself
vigorously to the acquiring of these kinds of
knowledge.
The subjects of thoie now studies, will, we
apprehend, bo found to range themselves under
four heads.

He should, in the first place make himself
well acquainted with the history of India, in the
largest sense of the word history.' He should
study that history, not merely in the works of
Orme, Wilks, and of Mill, but also in the travels
of Bernier, in the odes of Sir William Jones, and
in the journals of Heber. Ho should be well
onnshdea moraliri
tel
iiqualitiesoann religions
abouthi fi
have so powerful an influence on the population.
informed about the geography of the country,
fact ur eci si
ft arnebenoz
tuat
racesatl
re itpe
sNi
whys los)
about its natural productions, about its rnanu-
tthhee doctrines
lifeeahlthai
He should trace with peculiar care the progress
of the British power. He should understand
the constitution of our Government, and the nature
of the relations between that Government and its
vassals, Mussulman, Mahratta, and Rajpoot. He
should consult the most important Parliamentary
reports and debates on Indian affairs. All this
may bo done with very much greater facility in
England than in India, except at the three seats of
Government, if, indeed, the three seats of Govern-
ment ought to be excepted.
2. It seems to 3 us to be desirable that every
probationer should bestow some attention on the
general prindiples of jurisprvdence. The great ma-
jority of the civil servants of the East India'Com-
pany are employed in the administration of justice.
A. large proportion of them are judges ; and some
of the most important functions of the collectors
are strictly judicial. That the general principles of
jurisprudence may be studied here with more ad-
vantage than in India will be universally acknow-
ledged.
3. We think that every probationer ought to
prepare himself for the discharge of his duties by
paying some attention to financial and commercial
science. He should understand the mode of keep-
ing and checking accounts, the principles of bank-
ing, the laws which regulate the exchanges, the
nature of public debts, funded and unfunded, and
the effect produced by different systems of taxation
on the prosperity of nations. We would by no
means require him to subscribe any article of faith
touching any controverted point in the science of
political economy ; but it is not too much to expect
that he will make himself acquainted with those
treatises on political economy which have become
standard works. These studies can undoubtedly
be prosecuted with more advantage in England
than in India. •
4. We think that the study of the vernacular
languages of India may with great advantage be be-
gun in England. It is, indeed, only by intercourse
with the native population that an Englishman can
acquire the power of talking Bengalee or Telugu
with fluency. But familiarity with the Bengalee or
Telugu alphabet, skill in tracing the Bengalee or
Telugu character, and knowledge of the Bengalee or
Telugu grammar, may be acquired as quickly in this
country as in the East. Nay, we are inclined' to
believe that an English student will, at his first in-
troduction to an Indian language, make more rapid
progress under good English teachers than under
pundits,, to whom he is often unable to explain his
difficulties. We are, therefore, of opinion that
every probationer should acquire in this country
an elementary knowledge of at least one Indian
language.
If this recommendation be adopted, it will be
desirable that the probationers should, immediately
after the first examination, be distributed among
the presidencies. It will, indeed, be desirable that
the division of 'the Bengal civil service into two
parts, one destined far the upper and the other for
the lower provinces, should be made here at the ear-
liest possible moment, instead of being made, as it
now is, at Calcutta.
In what manner the distribution of civil ser-
vants among the presidencies ought henceforth to
be made is a question which, though it has been re-
ferred to us, is yet so closely connected with the
questions which have been referred to us, that 'we
have been forced to take it into consideration. We
are disposed to think that it might be advisable to
allow the probationers, according to the order in
which they stand at the first examination, to choose
shh
their' presidencies. The only objection to this
arrangement ited to
s, hat, as
at be the the the Presi
redencon which
y of
the
icenal is
Y suppo
of a civil servant may be most advantage-
gaobeunisileiytriaedislisplayed, all the most distinguished young
men would choose Bengal, and would leave Madras
and Bombay to those who stood at the bottom of
the list. We admit that this would be an evil, but
it would be an evil which must, we conceive,
speedily cure itself ; for as soon as it becomes noto-
rious that the ablest men in the civil service are
all collected in one part of India, and are there
stopping each other's way, a probationer who is
free to make his choice will prefer some other part of
Indialwhere,though the prima may be a little less at-