service; and that he had since taken his degree at one of the universities. Probably his name was well known to other gentlemen present; and the work contained internal evidence that the author was fully competent to do justice to the subject. He was not a prejudiced friend to the college; for, where censure seemed to him necessary, he had spoken freely. This gentleman, however, wrote as follows:

"As far as regards the progress of the students, and their habits of application, it appears, as well by comparison with other collegiate bodies as by the reports of the examinations, that there has been generally great reason to be satisfied. We must follow these youths to, India, however, if we would learn the full benefit of this valuable institution. It is there a subject of universal remark, how much the writers of the present day have the advantage of their seniors in point of general education, and how much better qualified they are to enter upon the offices to which they are destined. In religious feeling and mora lity there is a decided amelioration; and gambling, a vice for which the service in India was formerly noted, is now very little practised-I might almost say entirely abandoned. The oriental languages are now so universally known, that not a single civilian enters upon his duties as a public servant, who is not able to conduct business in one or two of the vernacular dialects. In this respect there is a strik ing contrast between the elder branches of the service and their juniors, and the numerous evils which formerly arose from an imperfect intercourse (through the me dium of corrupt interpreters) between the officers of government and the people, are now entirely removed. It is true that these languages are studied in India as well as in England; but it is here that the chief difficulties are overcome, more especially if the Sanscrit language be made the object of study, and the student has in India little else to perform than the easy task of adding to his stock of words, and improving his pronunciation. On what account, then, has the East-India College disappointed public expectation; and how happens it that an opinion is enter tained by many that it would be a beneficial measure to abolish it altogether? The reason appears to be, that the evils which have been felt only at home have been proclaimed, perhaps exaggerated, by interested individuals, till they have become the subject of general animadversion, although, in point of fact, they have borne no proportion to the existing benefits."

This excellent passage would close what he had to offer on the more general grounds he had hitherto taken, and would serve as an introduction to the more direct and particular testimonies from India, to

which he was about to refer, in proof of the beneficial effects of the system at Hertford. Here, however, he would be brief. It was not necessary to quote at length the decisive testimonies of Lord Minto, General Hewitt, Captain Roebuck, and the College Council of Fort William in 1812, and Mr. Edmonstone in 1815. These had formerly been read to the Court,* and they might be found in the excellent work of Mr. Malthus on the subject of the college. Suffice it to say, that the effect of these testimonies might be concentrated in the words of Lord Minto, when he described the students translated from Hertford to Fort William as "honourably distinguished for regular attendance, for obedience to the statutes and discipline of the college, for orderly and decorous demeanour, for moderation in expense, and consequently in the amount of their debt; and, in a word, for those decencies of conduct which denote men well born, and characters well trained." But, in order to appreciate the weight and force of these testimonies, it was necessary to observe two things. First, the state of the service subsequent to the establishment of Haileybury College must be compared with its state previously to that period. Now, read only the striking picture given in Lord Wellesley's minute of the position of the young civilians," abandoned (as he says) at the age of sixteen or eighteen, with affluent incomes, to pursue their own inclinations, without the superintendance or controul of parent, guardian, or master."

Or read the forcible statements of Mr. Tytler, himself a civilian, in his "Considerations on the present Political State of India;" remembering that the descriptions given by Mr. Tytler, though penned about 1812, apply to his own experience of a residence in the college of Fort William, which terminated in or before 1808. Independently of individual cases of young writers incurring expenses to a degree absolutely enormous, Mr. Tytler states, "that he is certain he confines himself within bounds, when he gives the average sum of 10,000 rupees to clear off the tradesmen's bills contracted during a residence in college." And the rest of his delineation is in exact keeping with this single feature. Contrasted with such descriptions, the admitted improvement among the junior servants would appear in its proper light. But, secondly, it was particularly important to remember that all the testimonies, from Lord Minto and other authorities in India, in favour of Haileybury College, were casual and spontaneous testimonies; they had not been applied for, or in any manner elicited; they were not answers to enquiries. from this country. Those eminent persons

* Vide Asiatic Journal, vol. iii. pp. 385, 586, &c.

were not called on to say any thing respecting Haileybury, either favourable or otherwise; they had been led to volunteer their praise, merely from the strong impressions produced by what they saw and experienced. It was this circumstance which stamped on their attestations a peculiar value. While, however, he would forbear from fatiguing the Court by reiterating testimonies formerly cited, he felt it to be important to adduce some which had had no existence at the period of the former discussions respecting the college. And here let Lord Hastings be referred to. In his public discourse to the college of Fort William, on the 30th June 1817, the Noble Visitor expressed himself as follows:

"The interest felt in the concerns of your institution is not confined to the public of this country; it is an object of attention to a large portion of the public of England and of Europe. In tracing the causes of the singular success with which this great and distant empire is governed with so much apparent ease, and preserved in such tranquillity; the attention of every observer must be arrested by those institutions which are destined to form the future legislators and statesmen of India, and which have already contributed so largely to the general improvement in the administration of affairs. The institutions of Hertford and of Fort William will necessarily become objects of the deepest interest. The institution at Hertford has but very lately been subjected to the minutest scrutiny of the public at home, and it has passed the ordeal with an increase of honour and reputation, which, to those who from its effects in this country see its value, cannot but be a source of high gratification."

Was this, however, the only testimony from Lord Hastings? In a subsequent discourse, delivered on the 15th August 1818, he thus spoke :

"It probably has never happened to any other nation, that individuals belonging to it should be placed in situations of active pre-eminence and extensive superintendence, at so early an age as is the case with the British gentlemen sent out for the Hon. Company's services. From my own personal opportunities of observation, I can say that, almost without an exception, the persons invested with those high trusts, at what appears so premature a period of life, prove that wisdom standeth not in the length of years.' Their probity and mildness in the administration of justice, their patient and impartial in vestigation of complicated disputes, and their kindly honourable feelings towards the natives, reflect the greatest credit on that general system of education at home, which prepares youth to discharge such important functions so competently. This groundwork is, without doubt, possessed

by the students whom the present examination pronounces unqualified for the service."

With respect to Bengal, these citations would surely be held conclusive. As to the other presidencies, if direct written testimonies were not produced, yet the most satisfactory evidence would be furnished, on referring to competent and unprejudiced civilians recently returned from those presidencies; and opportunities of such reference must be within the reach of every member of the Court. With regard to Madras, in particular, he would beg again to refer to the very valuable authority of his Hon. Friend beside him (Mr. Hodgson), who had allowed him to say, that having originally felt great doubts as to the probable utility of the college at Haileybury, he had become a warm advocate for it from having witnessed its beneficial effects in India. The same gentleman had informed him that, in consequence of the modifications introduced into the system of Indian administration by Sir Thos. Munro, modifications tending to an union of the judicial and financial departments, important judicial duties had, in many instances, been thrown on the junior civilians employed as sub-collectors of revenue; and that, for the discharge of these duties, they had, in a surprising degree, been found prepared by the excellent general education which they had received at home. In corroboration of these statements, he might also refer to Mr. Edward Greenway, a civilian on the Madras establishment, who had lately returned to this country with a high reputation, and who was a disinterested witness, never having been connected with the college at Haileybury, and a peculiarly competent witness, having long been an active mem ber of the Superintending Board of the college at Fort St. George. This gentleman, however, had kindly permitted him to use his name, in confirmation both of the fact of a general improvement in the junior division of the civil service at Madras, and of the opinion that the system of education at Haileybury constituted one very efficient cause of that improvement. With regard to the good effects of the Haileybury system, in grounding the students in the oriental languages, he was very unwilling to occupy the time of the Court. Mr. Malthus, in his admirable work, had stated some very striking facts on this topic. One of his authorities, Lord Minto, had distinctly asserted the proved utility of the elementary institution in the oriental languages at Haileybury, as tending to abridge the time allotted to the study of those languages in India; and the reports and other public documents of the colleges of Fort William and Fort St. George, during a series of past years—

documents accessible to all-presented a mass of evidence decisively establishing the same fact; evidence which it was impossible to exhibit to the Court in all its fulness, and equally impossible to abstract or condense without injustice: he should be satisfied, therefore, with a general reference to these authorities, except as to one point. He understood that a story had appeared in one of the public papers, stating that a young man, instructed in all the oriental learning which Haileybury could furnish, had found his acquisitions utterly useless on his arrival at Madras; and this, it seems, was urged as a conclusive argument against all the oriental instruction of Haileybury. Observe, that this statement was made in Feb. 1824. Now how stood facts? During the few past years of the college, no systematic instruction was afforded in the Sanscrit tongue. That language, however, if not the parent of the three languages vernacular within the range of the Madras Presidency, was at least so intimately connected with those languages, as to afford the best preparative for an acquisition of them. Prizes, indeed, were long since given for proficiency in Sanscrit; but the adoption of this, as a part of the system of the college, did not, as he be lieved, take place till 1814; when, on the recommendation of the Examining Board of the College of Fort St. George, the study of Sanscrit was established at Haileybury, and though not made actually obligatory, was enforced on all the Madras students as a matter of trial, and was also encouraged generally. The effect could not be better stated than in the words of the Examiners of Madras, writing officially, of date the 20th December 1817, that is more than six years ago; and their testimony he would cheerfully confront with the anonymous accusation to which he had referred.

"In consequence of our recommendation, the study of the Sanscrit is pursued at Haileybury by those intended for the civil service of this Presidency; and we cannot conclude this report without noticing particularly the great advantage which it has afforded to many of the junior civil servants who have latterly joined the institution, in the acquirement of the colloquial languages of the coast.

This language, which influences every tongue from the confines of China to the western limits of Persia, and is radically connected with many of the dialects spoken in Europe, may be considered as the principal key to those of India; for though the dialects of the south are not radically connected with it, its terms are liberally intermixed with the vernacular speech of the Tamil, Teloogoo, and

* "Including the Malayalam.”

Canarese nations. The acquisition of the latter, therefore, it is evident, must be greatly facilitated by a knowledge of the former, and it has accordingly been found, that the progress made by the students at the college of Fort St. George in the attainment of them, has been incomparably more rapid and satisfactory since they have studied the Sanscrit in England."

The report proceeded to name five students, Messrs. Thomas Munro, Wheatly, Robertson, Hooper, and Elliott, as distinguished for the rapidity with which they had gone through the course of instruction at the Madras College; in one and all of whom he (Mr. Grant) was gratified to find students of high eminence for proficiency at Haileybury. Were he now to enter into a narrative of particular facts, illustrative of the advantages which the young civilians in India had reaped from the lessons inculcated at Haileybury, his address would never reach its end: a single specimen or two must suffice. Mr. Stokes, most honourably distinguished at Hertford, was employed as an assistant collector under the Madras Government, and, in the absence of his superior, was unexpectedly called on to make a report to the Government on a highly interesting subject of administrative economy-he believed, on the regulations proper to be adopted in expectation of a famine; and this gentleman, then at a very early period of life, had acquitted himself on the subject so ably, that he was immediately summoned to Madras and promoted, Mr. Stephen Babington, one of the early ornaments of Haileybury, and the very first student from that institution who had ever set foot in Bombay, had owed his rise in like manner to a masterly report made on some topic of general polity; but he (Mr. Grant) had selected this instance from many others, in order to mention the sequel of this gentleman's brief but honourable career. In a humane attempt to extinguish a fire, the fall of a beam had cost him his life: but, such was the impression which his merits had made on the minds of the settlement in general, that a large subscription had been entered into, for the erection of a statue in commemoration of his talents and virtues. (Hear, hear!) Here, then, he would terminate his view of the benefits of this institution in India; merely pressing it on the reason and justice of the Court to say, whether all these good effects, which had taken place since the establishment of the college, had been produced, not by means of this institution, but in spite of it? If so, he could only wish that the same anomaly might continue; that the college might still go on, doing good by the rule of contraries; that it might still and long exhibit the phenomenon of a system, demonstrably pernicious in all its presumable

tendencies, and unspeakably beneficial in all its actual results. (Loud cries of hear !) Having now taken a survey of the effects of this institution abroad, he would turn his attention to its operations at home; still looking at the system rather in a practical, than a theoretical point of view. He would not enter into details, but confine himself to this general proposition-that every person who sent his child to a seminary had intended him to derive from it one or more of these three advantages: the communication of instruction, the acquisition of friendships, and the formation of habits. It was with a view to some of these objects, he would take it for granted, that a parent would make the selection of a particular seminary. Let the system of education pursued at Hertford College be briefly viewed in reference to these points; and especially let it be considered in contrast with the proposed plan of a public examination, and the establishment of a test of qualification.

With regard to the first point, he would not contend that a perfect system of literary instruction was to be found at the college: but, as far as his information had extended, he was not acquainted with any establishment in which so much was ef fected, in proportion to the means adopted, the number of students, and the length of stay allowed to each. The course of education was indeed appropriate; and here he could not help noticing the question of an Hon. Proprietor, who asked whether more learning and preparation were required in statesmen and diplomatists in India, than were necessary to public functionaries holding parallel situations in this country? He could not answer this question better than in the words of the Marquess Wellesley. That eminent person had observed, respecting the civil servants of the Company, "they are required to discharge the functions of magistrates, judges, ambassadors, and governors of provinces, in all the complicated and extensive relations of those sacred trusts and exalted stations; and under peculiar circumstances, which greatly enhance the solemnity of every public obligation, and the difficulty of every public charge. Their duties are those of statesmen in every other part of the world; with no other characteristic differences, than the obstacles offered by an unfavourable climate, a foreign language, the peculiar usages and laws of India, and the manners of its inhabitants." Therefore, he had the authority of Lord Wellesley for asserting, that it was a still more arduous work to qualify a statesman or diplomatist for India, than, other things being equal, for the worthy discharge of those duties, on ordinary occasions, might be deemed necessary for this country. And it stood to reason, that a seminary intended to Asiatic Journ.-No. 100.

educate the Indian statesman, ought to give him that which he might elsewhere acquire for the peculiar duties of his sta tion, and to superadd whatever was peculiar to the qualifications requisite for a statesman in India. He did not know of the existence of any seminary which concentrated, in any measure equal to Hertford College, the advantages that were requisite for the purposes stated. Law, history, political economy, were not taught systematically any where but here. The oriental languages were not elsewhere to be had with any certainty; and, in short, both his own observation, and the testimony of persons who were by no means interested in giving false representations, led to the establishment of the impression on his mind, that the system was superior to all others for its purposes. He would refer to the contents of a letter, which on a former occasion had, with a laudable candour, been produced by the Hon. Member for Aberdeen, and which was to be found in the fourth volume of the Asiatic Journal, page 72. It was written by a gentleman who had a son educated at Haileybury, and who thus expressed himself:

"The young man went to Hertford, he studied his four terms, and I have not any reason to regret the advice which I received. On the contrary, I am perfectly satisfied, that not only in political economy and Oriental science, but in Greek and Latin, in polite literature of all kinds, in general taste, in the use of the English language, and I may add in manners, he received a higher measure of cultivation than he could have received under any other institution that I ever heard of.

"As to his morals, I got him back just as I parted with him, honest and modest, strong in sound feeling and self-command; and I know that mine is not a singular case. Another young man from this place ran the same course, and with at least equal success-I believe much greater. I heard of many names more distinguish. ed than either, and I have no doubt their conduct was still more creditable."

Now, he referred to this testimony, not only because it was in every view unexceptionable, but because the commendation which it gave of the education at Haileybury, accurately corresponded with that which he had heard from numerous individuals, fully competent to speak on the subject. In fact, he did not rely on any single opinion: he had taken means to collect information from a variety of independent and trustworthy sources. particular, he had consulted two gentlemen, one of Cambridge, the other of Oxford; who, themselves unconnected with the India College, had had the opportunity of accurately observing and becoming acquainted with its system. One VOL. XVII. 3 G

In

of these had for several months watched the progress, through the college of Haileybury, of a very near and dear relation, who had previously distinguished himself at the public schools in a very remarkable manner; yet it was the surprise and admiration of the friend to whom he had just referred, to witness the extraordinary improvement of his young relation under the course of education at Haileybury. As he had no written opinion to produce from the gentleman, he would take the liberty of naming him: it was the Rev. Mr. Venu. Indeed, he (Mr. Grant) was bound to declare his impression to be, that so far from being deficient and inadequate to the communication of necessary instruction, the system, if open to any doubt at all, and he requested to be understood merely as stating an unformed doubt, might, perhaps, be questioned as straining to too great a pitch the faculties of the student, as applying too potent a stimulus to the youthful mind. The other gentleman to whom he referred had resided at the college six months, and had afterwards gone to Oxford, where he also distinguished himself at a very distinguished college. He held in his hand a letter from this gentleman, fully and ably entering into the whole of the present subject; and to any inquirer, he would willingly both communicate the whole letter, and reveal the name of the writer. At present, he would read only that part which concerned the system of instruction at Haileybury.

"The system of education there pursued, is an instance of the practice of the most difficult theory ever proposed to learned men-a general education. The college is literally an university; and not one where the students may choose their branch of learning, one man studying mathematics, another classics, another oriental literature, another law, and another history; but where any student that distinguishes himself creditably, is bound to attend to each distinct branch. In all my stay at Oxford, I never saw more intense competition for honours, than I witnessed at the East-India College; whether I consider the number of hours required for preparing to attend the various lectures, or the great variety of subjects to which the attention is directed without intermission, without a single day of relaxation, for more than four months together in each term. I must confess, I am not so much astonished at the great proficiency which the studious attain in every department, as at the circumstance of so few turning restive, and refusing to be driven at a rate, to which one should judge the minds of such young men to be unequal."

He would now advert to the objections urged against the system of examination purSed at Haileybury, and the proposed substitution of a public examination. These

objections might be stated to comprize two heads: first, it was complained that the examination was not a public one; and secondly, that it was conducted exclusively by the professors of the college.

As to the first objection, he had always felt, and had long since taken opportunities of expressing a sufficiently strong opinion on the inexpediency of viva voce examinations, properly so called. In the Senate-house of Cambridge (where, perhaps, was exemplified the best actual system of examination in existence), there prevailed a mixed process; the trial being partly in writing, and partly by viva voce. But any one would have an improper idea of the latter mode, who supposed that it was conducted in the usual manner of viva voce examinations. In the former case, the examination was conducted wholly in writing in the other, the examiner propounded his questions viva voce; but they were put to the whole of a class at once, and the answers were all given in writing, and read by the the examiners afterwards. In his opinion, an examination conducted in writing, was unquestionably the best; he considered it as the only method by which you could fairly bring to one com! mon measure, the talents and acquirements of a variety of young men. Sup. pose, for instance, a classical examination: if an examiner presented a book to a number of young men, in order to determine their comparative merits, how was it possible for him to select passages for each student which should present an exact equality of difficulty to each, and, therefore, furnish an accurate test of comparison amongst the several members of the body? It was perfectly impossible to do so. An examination in writing was the only criterion, which would in the most effectual manner compass these objects. This was his first reason for preferring such a mode of examination. His second was, that it was impossible for any examiner, whatever might be his faculties, to carry in his mind, the merits of each student out of a long line of persons, so as accurately to classify them by the force of his memory alone.. Nor could any use of notes hastily made, as he listened to each probationer, enable him to measure together the relative proficiencies of all. The only satisfactory method was to have the answers in writing: for then he was possessed of preservable documents, which he might mutually compare at leisure, and with deliberation. His third reason was, that in many subjects of examination, not only was writing expedient, but nothing could be done without it. In construing a book in a foreign language which presented easy passages, or in the elementary parts of mathematics, or geometry, it would mostly be in the power of the student to give his answers viva voce with