The Sun.
London, England, 1824-03-12 00:00:00

INDIA.

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
" We have just heard of two measures, lateiy
adopted by this Government, which we are sure our readers
will rejoice to learn. The one is the Establishment of a General
Committee of Public Instruction, which is, we understand, not
only to direct its labours to the extension and improvement of
existing Institutions, but is also authorized gradually to intro-
duce European Arts and Sciences; and has at its disposal
Funds fur the purpose.
This arrangement cannot fail to bring to the recollection
of our readers the feeling and paternal speech of our late
respected Governor-General, on the occasion of his
tonal Address to the College Students. The pledge there
given that " the attention of the Governor General in
Council is sedulously directed to the important subject of
public instruction," has been amply redeemed, and redeemed
in just such a manner as might be expected from the remain-
thr of the address from which we have taken the above extract,
and which, we imagine defines, the wise and wholesome prin-
ciples on which the work of improvement is to be conducted.
What man, who is at all alive to the feelings of humanity,
but must rejoice from the inmost recesses of his heart at this
practical effort at the diffusion of knowledge and moral cultiva-
tion of mind, joined with 'paternal attention to the social com-
forts of his fellow-men ?'1 he other measure to which we have
referred, is the appropriation of the whole of the Town
Duties throughout the Country to the purposes first of local,
and afterwards of general improvement. The funds derived
from the Town Duties are to be placed under the controul
of Committees to be appointed at the several Towns and Cities,
with very full powers to devote them to works conducive to the
health and comfort of the people—such as opening new streets,
making new roads, paving and widening old ones, clearing large
and unwholesome tanks, filling up stagnant pools, &c. These
improvements are in the first instance to be chiefly confined to
the City or Town in which the duties are collected but as the
most urgent and necessary desiderata are completed, the Com-
mittees are authorised to extend the benefit of this most noble
boon to parts adjacent, even eventually to the extent of the
province.

We may first, therefore, congratulate our Calcutta Readers on
the additional stimulus which will be thus given to the suc-
cessful effbrts which have already been made to add, not only
to the health and beauty of the City, but even to the minor com-
forts of its inhabitants. Much aaas been done, this additional
aid, in the hands of the active and able individuals who have
hitherto so judiciously disposed of the funds derived from the
Lottery, cannot fail to be felt, and we have no doubt but the
effects will be shortly seen.
The extension of the plan adopted in Calcutta, as far as re-
lates to the Committee, throughout the whole of the territory,
at once gives to the Mofussil public the advantages of local im-
provement which have hitherto been confined to Calcutta.
The means of defraying the expences of these improvements,
too, are those best calculated to answer the purpose ; for it
is clearly evident that as the means of communication be-
come improved, the inland commerce must increase, inde-
pendently of the natural stimulus which is every where given to
it as the comforts of the inhabitants are multiplied. We
cannot in this place even allude one hundreth part of the
advantages which press upon our minds, and which mus:
inevitably take place on any given spot ; but when we. con-
template the vast extent of country over which these projects
are simultaneously and simply to act, shedding the blessings of
moral improvement, political and social comfort over millions,
we are lost in admiration at the simplicity with which so much
good is to be effected, and are ready to exclaim happy are the
people that have such a Government.'
The combination of these simultaneous improvements mu-
tually increases the intrinsic value of each. Mere worldly com-
fort and prosperity, without a mind properly disposed to appre-
ciate them, scarcely reach beyond animal enjoyment—and the
Government which thus studies to combine the two, at the same
time that it secures to the people the means of comfort and hap-
piness within thar.e:ves, ev :nee* a desire to obtain the affection
and regard of its subjects on the most secure and praise-worthy
grounds.
No human eye can foresee the full extent of the advantages
which the above two projects united are calculated to produce.
—lf we write warmly, weftel 30 : but we feel that we have not
done justice to our feelings, nor do we think that any one who,
for a moment, considers the prospects here held out, can abstain
from joining with us in a grateful acknowledgment to that Go-
vernment, which has evinced such a disposition to foster and
protect the millions committed to their charge."—(Cakatta
1823. )