The sun., 1894-09-09

| uTOn thern 80 vtvidly hefOfe during the Wnoit
period Of the British rule in that part Of India;
but upon the religious moral ethical ideas. con-
vlctions. and instincts Of the Hlndus Of Madras.
the work Of Mr.. Crook throws no such light. To
illuminate these latter another work is required,
: and after this second work shall have
been published, there will still remain some
hundred and hfty millions Of Hindus,
subject 10 the British sway in various parts OF
India, north and south, upon whose ideas,
instincts. and convictions further light Will
need TO be collected by other investigator COM
petent, patient, and industrious, and 70 be made
known, before the educated mind Of Great
Britain can be really put into position which
shall give II a chance 20 come fairly judiciousy,
and effectively into touch with the mind, multi
farious and many colored OF British India"
To state these things is 10 give. perhaps, some
not wholly inadequate notion Of the dimen-
sions Of the great Anglo-Indian question.
question mado far more directly interesting
TO Americans in 1904 than IL was at the time
Of the great mutiny by the vast development
which has come upon India q grain ex-
| porting country during the last twenty years,
| and by the decisive part which, as silvcr-usinR
country, India plays In the present deranged
unwholcsomo condition Of the monetary
| changes Of tho civilized world. To-day the
| ryots Of India touch the farmers Of Minnesota
| and Dakota, jostle and elbow them in the grain
|
Indian Government Of the Indian mints TO tho
coinage OF silver is felt by every interest alike of
| producers and consumers I'm the United States.
| IL concerns us, therefore, to learn something
| really to the purpose about this far-away land
| OF mystery and tho millions by whom II IL peo-
| pied. Tho work of Mr.. Crook has significance
| for us Americans. And IL will concern us that
the further work which remains IN be done In the
| way OF Illuminating the inward life" OF the
| nf IpdI Ia eho ha dnno hos
| oughly as the work of Mr.. Crook.
| IL does not appear that this work has yet been
| undertaken by any competent person; but
there lie before me now sundry volumes, issued
most OF them by tho Clarendon Press at Oxford,
which certainly serve to show that the basis of
such awork has been laid In broad and solid
fashion by an erudlte and careful scholar. |
trained q teacher in the best schools OF OK |
ford. and made familiar. not only with the
language, but with tho literature Of the most |
important and influential Of the south Hindu |
races by residence Of moro than forty years |
In southern India. The Rev. q. N. Pope. d. D., |
chaplain of Balliol at Oxford, and q Fellow |
Of the Madras University. member Of the Royal |
Asiatc Society. and Of the German Oriental 90
cety, is now and has been for several years
at the head OF the Board which presides over
the distribution OF appointments in the civil
service In southern India. He resided as O
missionary for some forty years in the Madras
Presidency, and IL Is admitted, I believe, that he
Ia incomparably moro familiar with the Tamil
Language and literature than anv otber Eu
ropean is ever has been. 30 long ago as
1s4s he published popular catechism of tho
Tamil grammar, now very largely used in the
native schools throughout a vast region of
southern India. In 1885. while living at Tan
jore, he published a work entitled First Les
sons I'm Tamil" which has since uone tbrouub |
many editions both in England and I'm India tho
latest having been issued by him, believe from
the Indian Institute Mt OK ford I'm 1891 In 1soa
he issued from the Clarendon Press Mt OK ford a
work which may be almost called the Bible
of southern India Thi, ia n thoroughly revised
and critical text Of the 'Naladiyar /" or the four
hundred auatrains which embody the ethical
and social philosophy OF the Tamil speakinp
peoples OF India, with a carefully prepared in.
PRODUCTION, q translation at once literal and
harmonious and n copious body of notes critical
philosophical, and explanatory. DIR. Popo has
also written two booEs on Indian history. one
of them widely used in India, called th. Lit
tie Rajah's Primer OF Indian History" and tho
other A School History OF India" for the use
of English schools, both OF which, having been
published by the I,onRmans are doubtless easiIv |
TO be procured in America. The Clarendon
Press edition of tho Naladiyar Il may be ob- |
served by the WAY ia real iewel |
Of Typography, of interest to biblioma- |
MACS on that account, quite independently
of It's Importance 20 students of the religious ,
and ethical history of mankind.
The Tamil language Is rich in its vocabulary
and not less refined and elaborate in its forms
and infections The Tamil characters are
IA beautiful as those OF the sanskrit. the ,
Greek, or the Russian languages; and though
We do not here concern ourselves with thess
points except In passing, there are doubtless I'm ,
America scientists trained in the school of Prof
whitney, who will confirm with authority NV ,
drawn from the exoteric examina- 4
ton OF Dr. Pope's contributions 10 the study NJ ,
the language that the claims of Tamil. simplv .
as a language upon the attention of philoloeists
are of the first rank, | believe. indeed. that :
an American student of Tamil. Mr.. Her !
rick, now at Madura, IA devotinQ himself :
under the guidance OF DIR. Pope. 10 A special :
study of this most interesting tongue. and I :
gathered not without satisfaction from va r,o,,.