The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-09-27 00:00:00

DI. CACIIEIST'S SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

The CHAIRMAN then submitted the following reso-
Intion to the Court of Proprietors :
" That the Court having in the year 1818 resolved to
encourage Dr. John Borthwick Gilchrist in his Lectures
in the Ilindostanee language, by granting to him for
the term of three years a salary of 2001. per annum, sod
the Court having on the 29th ultimo come to a resolu-
tion to continue that salary for the further term of three
years, and to grant to Dr. Gilchrist for that period an
allowance of 130/. per annum to enable him to provide a
suitable lecture-room, the same be now allowed."
. .

Before the question was put upon this resolution—
At the request of Mr. Hume the resolution of the
Court of Directors of the 4th of November, 1818, was
reads it was expressive of the opinion of the Di-
rectdvs, that all medical assistants going out to India
should previously attend to the study of the [Endo!.
tanee language under Dr. Gilchrist, for at least two
months, and that before their embarkation they should
produce a certificate of such attendance from the
Doctor. Three guineas were named as the remunera-
tion to be paid for attending the course of lectures.
Mr. Hume then said, that he never rose in that
Court with so much satisfaction as at present, when
he meant to call their attention to the state of educa-
tion in their possessions in India. There was no
grea r question connected with the policy of their
rya fgo Gent in India than that of education;
and very remarkable, that while a similar sub-
ject occupied universal attention both in England and
indeed in Europe, so little had been done to consider
its imperative necessity in India, where it affected a
populltion of 80 or 90 millions of human beings. It
was a blot upon the system of their Indian govern
meat, that so little had been done in a long coarse of
years for diffusing a knowledge of the colloquial lan-
,ruage of the natives, under circumstances and in a
mmsi-
tuation where that knowledge was so important in its
consequences to the interest and happiness of so many
millions of people. What had they done for educa-
tion in India since the year 1805? On the 31tli of Fe-
bruary of that year, the Court adopted a resolu-
tion, declaratory of the importance of the education
of their civil servants in the native lan:Nage a'
India, and for the purpose of more effectually
giving it, the College system was established for the
Company's servants. Now, o.e object of that College
was unquestionably the diffusion of a superior civil and
oriental education for their servants appointed to office
in India, and a great expense had been incurred; hut
the practical results fell very far short of what they
would have been, had a different plan been pursued. It
could not be said that a system of economy bad inter-
posed to prevent the realization of their Dopes; for, ac-
cording to the aggregate accounts of the years 1818 and
1819, the expenditure incurred amounted to 53,8331. a
year: that expenditure was fur the colleges both at home
and in India. Such a stun as that was more than a 4
quate to provide education for the whole of their ser-
vants. Yet, notwithstanding the large amount lie bad
just stated, the education it conferred did not cotnpre-
bend more than in the proportion of one to six of the
Company's servants. He had no doubt that Dr. Gil-
christ would do considerably more for the expenditure
of 3501. a year than had been previously done for the
50,0001.; indeed, the Doctor, with proper regulations,
would educate the whole of their civil and military see-'
rants in Hindostanee. Of 434 cadets sent out last rrer.
only 55 had been educated in Ilindostanee at Addis.
combo. All the rest had gone out to India, at least at
far as the Company were concerned, without any adequate
education. Ile wished that the resolution, which had
been read as referable to medical assistants should be
rendered applicable to the whole of their servants, for it
was obvious that to the whole the necessity of know-
ing of Hindostanee applied ; and the evils which prac-
tically arose from a want of it were often imminent
and serious. The honourable gentleman here referred
to several high authorities for the purpose of showing
the comparative inattention paid towards inculcating
the necessary knowledge of the rudiments of those
native languages which were indispensible for the pro
per performance of the new ditties to which the atten-
don of the Company's servants were called upon their
arrival in India. The Marquess of Hastings particu-
larly pointed out the ill consequences which had re-
sulted from an inattention generally to the rudiments
of the Hindostanee language in the education of the
Company's servants destined for active duties among
the natives. Mr. Colebrooke's and Lord Minto's
opinions were also referred t) by the hoe. member,
for the purpose of more effectually pointing the at-
tention of the Court to the great advantages which
mast practically flow from the dissetnination of Dr.
laikhrieirs plan for teaching the Hindostanee, which,
se was well said, was the common vehicle of all col-
loquial intercourse in a large portion of the Company's
'territories. Lord Minto pointed eat bow compara-
tively oldies it was' to tend oat persons conversant in
Soused', itYlich4as a dead language, instead of Hie-

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