for the study of that language, which of all others is best supplied with works of wise and good men, and in which are writings most calculated to advance the interest of general learning and moral improvement. As it would be folly for Europeans to attempt imparting a knowledge to Hindoos of their own language, when natives much more qualified could be found, and as the natural tendency of that which has been acquired is to deteriorate when it passes from one to another, (and this holds in every thing except religion, which in fact becomes a second nature with those who in truth receive it, besides being upheld by divine agency,) so a knowledge of the pronunciation and power of the English language would deteriorate in the hands of one who had not acquired it as a first element of his nature. Our plan would be liable to serious objections, did we not provide against this result; we therefore consider that it is necessary an English teacher of the English language should always be retained in the institution.'

This arrangement is doubly enforced by the principle we have adopted, that the English language shall be the ultimate medium of all public instructions, which the system embraces, and which, so far as our experience goes, has been proved the most efficient for the successful issue of our efforts, nor do we imagine the justness of our view stands upon mere individual practice. There is an important truth which should not be overlooked in the plan of education, viz. "language is but the instrument conveying to us things useful to be known." "Every nation affords not experience and

tradition enough for all kind of learning," and when this is the case, as in India, the language of some nation which has been most industrious after wisdom, ought to form a principal branch of study in such an institution. Without the charge of predilection for our own country, we think we are justified in asserting that Britain stands unrivalled by any ancient or modern nation in the study of universal knowledge, and that through the English language India will receive from her conquerors and legislators an intellectual treasure far more valuable than all she has in her power to give in exchange.

As the natives in India appear never to have risen above a semi-barbarous state, their languages are at present better calculated for popular subjects than for learned discussions. An elevation of mind will speedily be produced by the spread of knowledge. General explanations on subjects of inquiry will soon prove unsatisfactory. Vague terms will awaken doubts and occasion much misunderstanding and error. If teachers are only furnished with indefinite symbols, where their language from its barrenness is unable to give better; if the knowledge they obtain be little more than what can be derived from translations already made, or which yet may be made by foreigners, we feel persuaded that the check to intellectual and moral improvement will be incalculable. We must look to the authorized public teachers for the formation of correct habits of thinking, and it is therefore necessary that the knowledge they receive should be through a medium

more definite and correct than their own tongue is or can be for a considerable period. With strict propriety we may assert, that the natives of India are unable with precision to abstract or generalize on moral subjects if they know only their own language. The philosophy of mind and theology are subjects unknown to them, except by the translations of foreigners into their dialects. To naturalize these important sciences, natives themselves must be able to secure them an introduction in a native costume. The European, as it regards correct and extensive knowledge in literature and philosophy, is soon convinced of his great superiority over the native who is comparatively well informed, but whose knowledge is confined entirely to those branches which have been cultivated by his more learned countrymen. If, from a desire to benefit his fellow-immortals, the western philanthropist seeks to impart his rich stores through the language of the people, which we shall suppose him to have acquired, two great difficulties meet him in the very vestibule; he is unable to discover terms properly to convey his meaning in his newly-acquired language—and he cannot use to the best advantage this imperfect medium. He is not familiar with the shades of meaning which phrases assume-shades, that give life and meaning, by an intuitive association from early habits, and conversation uninterruptedly free among themselves, adcessible only to few, if indeed to any, besides natives, more than by the proper meaning of the separate words. The translations made by foreigners will to a certain

degree receive a tinge from that difficulty and restraint which a newly-acquired language and a paucity of proper words will impose.

Translations made by natives who understand the English tongue will possess both an ease and vigour which will rarely if ever be found in that of a foreigner; because his mind has received an impetus in the acquisition of the language, and its powers are expanded by the great increase of useful knowledge. His free conversation with his countrymen not only discovers his superior attainments, but also gives him an opportunity of hearing the variety of their remarks clothed in their own language, and of observing how their mistakes may be rectified. He sits down to write full of hopes that he is about to bestow a valuable treasure upon his countrymen and friends; while the translations to be made are of the works which have most interested his own mind when deriving solid profit from their perusal.

These remarks are applicable to speaking in the language; and surely the habits of thinking are likely to bear proportion with the correct medium through which we receive our knowledge. A knowledge of the English tongue and its authors therefore appears to hold a place of the first importance in a plan for the intellectual and moral elevation of the Hindoos. The English language will not only prove a more correct medium of giving public instruction to the students, but it will facilitate their progress in useful knowledge. All the Indian languages have been for so many ages

the vehicle of every thing in their superstition which is morally debasing or corrupting to the mind, and so much is the grossly impure structure of heathenism wrought into the native languages, that the bare study of them often proves injurious to the mind of an European. If the Greek and Roman Classics, (after being purified from much of their alloy, and taught where only the imagination can obscurely realize the scenes described,) in very many cases are found extremely pernicious to the morals of youth; if the grossness of idea concerning divine things communicated to the mind of the student; if praises lavished on deeds denominated virtuous, but in reality splendid vices, are calculated to lead the learner to make a false estimate of things, to put darkness for light, and light for darkness, to call evil good, and good evil, the languages of India are in every respect necessarily much more pernicious and corrupting. They are the living languages of a people practising all the abominations in worship and in manner of life which are so fully and minutely described. If therefore they are adopted to convey moral truths to the mind of the student, his progress in that important branch of knowledge must be greatly retarded. Early associations in the use of terms will always be more powerfully felt by the man of application, than by such as are accustomed to think more loosely, to receive rather than impart knowledge.

When nations have arisen from a state of gross ignorance and barbarism to that of civilization and learning, it generally has been the effect of imitative