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TEACHING IN INDIA.

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produces what he has learnt, however unconscious he may be of it. This is apparent enough in the Essays which are written by our scholars. They may seek to mask the fact under the exaggerated Oriental language which a purer taste will hereafter reprobate and expunge; but stripped off this outward clothing, we shall find that the thoughts are borrowed. This will not always continue; as the sphere of social and political freedom opens and enlarges itself, independent thought will assuredly awake; and I see no reason to fear, or to predict, that there will never be displayed by the Hindu originality of invention.

I wish to say, in conclusion, a few words on the subject of teaching. Those who walk through our Schools, especially when they are least expected, and see the masters and pupils not on parade, but as it were in their every-day dress, cannot, I think, fail to be struck by the greater degree of cordiality and geniality which exists between them, than among ourselves in England. I know not how this is to be accounted for, unless indeed it be from the greater distance, moral, physical, and intellectual, which exists here between the master and the scholar. Thus, the latter may look up with some veneration to the former; while the former may regard the latter with more sympathy which is akin to pity, and thus exhibit greater forbearance. We have no rod here; the old Winchester motto,

'Aut disce, aut discede; manet sors tertia cedi,'

is unknown here; and the Report shows that recourse to correction is very rare. We have a most enlightened system of teaching among our schools. What used to be the old wooden system in my day at home, is unknown here. I believe there is much improvement in that respect in England: but I speak of the time when a boy's merit was determined by his repeating by rote the character of Alcibiades, drawn according to the fashion of crack historians, in a series of epigram

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PROSPECTS OF INDIAN EDUCATION.

matical antitheses of opposite qualities, utterly impossible, so that the result was not a man but a monster; or in repeating the battle of Plata or Pharsalia spread over some six pages, when every petty mistake was scored down with a bad mark. We have a most enlightened system; for which I think this Presidency is much indebted to Mr. Powell, whose indefatigable, honest, earnest method has been one of the main causes of the progress we have made. Nor should I be fully discharging my duty if, on this occasion, I passed in silence over the merits of Mr. Lovery, one of Mr. Powell's earliest and most distinguished pupils, who has for many years been the Principal of this Institution, where he has followed the method of his old master; to him is mainly owing the great success of this School, and the high estimation in which it is held by the public, European as well as Native.

Looking at the past and at the present, I think we have no cause for discontent or discouragement. When I look at England, and see how backward is the cause of national education there, notwithstanding all her wealth, activity, intelligence, I cannot but think that the tree of Western knowledge, which we have transplanted among the people of the East, is one of vigour and promise; that it has already yielded much fruit; and that the time will come when it will overshadow the whole land in its length and breadth, and from Ocean to Ocean. I know that it is human nature to be impatient for results; and to look for the succession of events in the history of a Nation, following one another with the same rapidity as they crowd into human life. But there is a vast difference between the two; and the statesman and scholar must often be content to sow, with the assurance that it will be left to others who come after him to reap the harvest. In this country I do not know that is altogether the case with respect to education. It may be from

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the fact that we have started with what was altogether new, that we are more struck by the results we have produced; but I do think that we have seen, and are likely to see, very considerable products of education, even in our own day; though the results of our measures in their fullness cannot be expected for generations. But whatever the immediate effect, it is the duty of the statesman, the philosopher, the schoolmaster, the scholar, to labour on in their several vocations, for the good of their fellowmen; and they may, in the secrecy of their chambers, console themselves with the certainty that the bread cast upon the waters will be gathered, although it may be after many days. In the words of the great Italian Jurist, Filanghieri,

"It is the duty of the scholar and the sage to endeavour to eradicate errors, and to proclaim, support, and illustrate the truth. If the lights they scatter are not useful in their own times and in their own country, they may enjoy the certainty of having served other countries and succeeding generations. Citizens of the world, they are contemporaries of every age; the earth is their school; and posterity will be their disciples."

In conclusion, it only remains for me to recall to the grateful recóllection of all present, the memory of our founder PATCHEAPPAH, to whom Madras, especially the Hindu population, owes so inestimable a debt of gratitude, and of whom we may be so justly proud.

ADDRESS on the Nineteenth Anniversary of Patcheappah's Institution: 1862.

Never, Sir, was this Institution, in a more flourishing condition than on this its nineteenth anniversary: and never have I discharged my annual duty of addressing those who have honoured us with their attendance with more satisfaction than on the present occasion; because we have only to look at the concourse here assembled, and to reflect upon the educational facts of the past year, in order to feel satisfied that the love of education has sunk deep in the hearts of the Natives; that the value of education is thoroughly appreciated; and that its spread is unequivocally assured. This consummation has been of slow growth. For twenty years, National Education has been warmly debated in every possible shape. Its form: the parties to whom it should be given the terms on which; the vehicle through which; and the agency by which. Thus, whether we should place it on a secular or religious basis; whether we should commence with the upper classes and work downwards, or with the lowest and work upwards: whether it should be gratuitous and elemosynary: or payment for it should be insisted on; whether English or the Vernaculars should be the medium of communication; whether we should take our schoolmasters at hap-hazard, or if it was not a condition precedent to success, that we should have a Tutor class, set apart and specially educated in our Normal School.

All these discussions have been trying enough to those who have had to take part in them; too often have they been carried on with warmth and acrimony: but it is not my intention to open up these matters further; though it was necessary to allude to them now: at any rate, certain prin

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ciples have been agreed on; and there is a common zeal at work for a common object.

The Natives cannot but feel that the Government is honest, sincere, and in earnest; first, in affording the amplest opportunity to all such as wish for a liberal education; and secondly, in bestowing rewards, emolument, and preferment, on all such, as, having taken advantage of these opportunities, prove by a severe test, that they have profited by them, and rendered themselves worthy objects of advancement.

No one, ten years since, would have ventured to predict that such rewards for education would be offered to the Natives as we now see placed within reach of their legitimate ambition. Within the past year the highest seats in the Council Chamber, and on the judgment seat, have been opened to them. In all the Presidencies they see their countrymen in the Council Chambers of the State, sitting by their European fellow-subjects, with equal voice, rank, and honour; and so soon as the Amalgamation of the Courts shall have taken place, I doubt not that in one Presidency at least we shall immediately see a Native placed in the highest Court of the land; and certainly there is no bar now to prevent any Native from sitting on the same bench with the Honorable Chief Justice who has done us the honour to preside on this occasion.

The Natives also see Honorary Degrees conferred upon candidates from schools of all qualities and denominations, and from whatever locality. Yesterday only, we saw the pleasing spectacle, in the Banqueting Hall, of degrees conferred upon the successful competitors, after an examination of great severity. I believe that the Madras test is a very severe one. SIR ALEXANDER GRANT, who was formerly here, now at Bombay, has lately made the same remark: but in

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