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far outdone by the destruction of the Alexandrine library itself! But it could not be supposed, that the Government of a great country could mean to withdraw its support and patronage altogether from the indigenous literature of India, however it might have determined to separate this object from the business of the Committee of Public Instruction, and to confine the efforts and the funds of the latter to the support and superintendence of schools and purely normal education. It only required a public body, independent of such functions, and offering a guarantee of competency for the task, to step forward and solicit to be entrusted by the Government with this momentous object. None could so properly proffer its services as the Asiatic Society, supported by all the eminent Orientalists of the country he had already the assurance of many both in Calcutta and in the interior, that they would cordially join. He would then move the following resolutions: "1st. That a Committee be formed in the Asiatic Society, to be called the "Oriental Publication Committee," consisting of the President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries as ex-officio members, and of such members as may express a desire to join it; as well as of all distinguished Oriental scholars, or patrons of Oriental literature, Europeans or natives, resident in India, who not being members of the Asiatic Society may be desirous of joining in the objects of the Committee.

2nd. That the Governor General be requested to accept the office of Patron. 3rd. That no monthly contribution shall be expected from ordinary or from associated members, but that subscriptions for specific objects may be occasionally invited, as may be determined on in committee.

4th. That the principal object of the Association is the completion of the publication of those Oriental works which have been hitherto printed under the auspices of the Committee of Public Instruction; but which, by a late resolution of Government, have been suspended, in order that the funds devoted thereto, might be wholly appropriated for purposes of Education by means of the English language.

5th. That the Asiatic Society do present an humble but urgent Memorial to the Government of India, or if necessary, to the Court of Directors, setting forth the great national importance of continuing the publication of the series of Oriental classical literature it had commenced; the high value set upon this undertaking by all the learned of Europe; the difficulty of re-organizing the same establishment, or one equally well trained for conducting through the Press any Sanscrit or Arabic works, if the Pandits, Maulavís, and compositors now employed be discharged and dispersed ;-and soliciting, therefore, that the Government will still continue its patronage to these Oriental works, granting as a separate boon a sum of money equivalent to what has hitherto been expended, or such sum as may be sufficient for the object, and placing its expenditure under the Asiatic Society, or the Oriental Committee, with such means of audit or control as may seem advisable, to prevent misappropriation.

6th. That the Society will engage to devote its attention gratuitously to the careful and creditable execution of the important charge entrusted to it.

7th. That it will bring to the notice of Government other works which are worthy of being printed, and use its utmost exertion to secure the careful collation of manuscripts and correction of the press.

8th. That it requests of Government the same advantages as the Committee of Education has hitherto enjoyed for this purpose, in the use of the Pandits and Maulavís of the Pátsálá and Madrassá.

9th. That the Oriental Translation Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain be invited to unite with the Committee, as far as they have a common object in view, namely, that of placing in a permanent form the ancient classical literature of the country-by the printing of standard editions, with or without translations in the English or Latin language. That to that end the Oriental Fund Branch Committee of Calcutta might properly merge into the new Association."

The Secretary concluded by reading a letter from Mr. HODGSON, Resident in Nipal, whose experience of the natives, and acquaintance with Bauddha and Brahminical literature, entitled his opinions to the utmost respect. [We may perhaps find room hereafter for the insertion of this letter at length.]

Mr. W. H. MACNAGHTEN thought it would be useless in the Society to form a Committee, until it were assured that Government would grant the same pecuniary support as heretofore, or at any rate, a sufficient aid; he would therefore first propose that a memorial should be presented to Government, or if necessary, to the Court of Directors, expressing the sentiments of the Society as a body, on the late resolution, and praying to be allowed to continue the suspended pub. lications at the public expence, in case no other arrangement was contemplated for their completion.

His own view of the effects of the measure on the education of the people, he had expressed in another place--but he could not consent to relinquish these arguments in an appeal from the Society, which was as much as any body open to conviction that the improvement of the vernacular dialects, nay the very grammatical formation of them, required the cultivation and preservation of the parent and classical languages.

The Rev. Dr. MILL entirely concurred in these views. To discourage systematically the study of the learned languages of the east,—was, as far as in us lies, to barbarize the native dialects, and render them incapable of being the vehicles of science and improved knowledge. This capability was now eminently possessed by many of them, entirely through their natural connexion with the Sanscrit, an advantage which it was chimerical to think of supplying by means of artificial and exotic derivation from the English. Another observation had forcibly struck him with respect to the late measure. There were two distinct classes of publications overthrown by it, of which he feared only one would or could be provided for by the Society's proposal; namely, the perpetuation of the most venerated monuments of Sanscrit, Arabic, or other oriental literature, but the other class, comprising the 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of the works enumerated above, which are intended to communicate the advanced knowledge and science of Europe, through the medium of the learned languages of India, either by translations or original treatises, and thus indirectly, but most powerfully, to encourage the study of English among learned natives, fell peculiarly under the scope of an Education Committee. It did not come within the Asiatic Society's province to attempt this, otherwise than by commenting on existing native systems of science; and although the object was so important as to warrant some latitude in the exercise of its proposed functions, it seemed doubtful whether they could properly undertake the completion of the four works thus suspended, already prepared and half printed at so great an expence.

Mr. TREVELYAN came purposely to support the formation of the new Committee. He thought the preservation of standard editions of the classics of the country a national object, although he had done his utmost to disconnect it from the business of national instruction. He had himself had a narrow escape of being a great orientalist, for he had attained some credit for his progress in Sanscrit at College: but his Dictionary fell overboard on his voyage to this country, and thus he was saved from the bias which an enthusiastic devotion to this ancient tongue might have given to his views of education.

The PRESIDENT thought, it would be proper to confine the object of the Society's motion, to the simple question of the completion of the oriental works, which it was given to understand had been discontinued. He also agreed with Mr. MACNAGHTEN, that the first step must be to ascertain whether Government would continue its support, and to what extent; for this he recommended, that Mr. MACNAGHTen and Dr. MILL should be requested, in conjunction with the Secretaries, Mr. J. PRINSEP and Bábu RAM KOMEL SEN, to draw up an urgent memorial to the Government, avoiding to the utmost all controversial points, and to submit it for the approval of the Society at the next meeting. This proposition was unanimously agreed to.

[The meeting was less numerously attended than usual, in consequence of the usual notices to members having been omitted. At the last meeting it was directed, "that in future the day of meeting should be fixed regularly for the first Wednesday of every month, and that notice should be only inserted in the "public engagement" column of the daily papers."]

Day of the Month.

Standard

Barometer

at 32°.

Wet Baro

meter, do.

Aqs. Ten.

rological Register, kept at the Assay Office, Calcutta, for the Month of April, 1835.

Metr

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29,014

8,896 1,118 82,4 6,713,0

73,860,572

,971,8121,159 83,8 5,2 11,4 80.60,490 1,370 88,7 20,6 20,4 ,996 880 1,116 82,3 10,0 9,0 88,899,498 1,401 89,4 ,968 788 1,180 84,4 7,6 6,7 92 892,498 1,394 89,7 ,936 ,781 1,175 84,7 7,7 6,2 92,812,475 1,337 88,0 ,920 7141,206 85,0 8,2 8,6 91,738,411 1,327 88,2 ,809,557 1,252 86,1 ,961,928 1,033 80,7 6,4 6,2 93,810,620 1,190 83,4 ,887,750 1,137 83,1 4,5 4,0 96,737,397 1,340 87,1 ,908 737 1,171 83,9 5,4 6,0 92,772,430 ,342 87,8 ,882,632 1,250 85,8 6,8 5,5 92,764,400 1,364 88,7

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12,7 13,3 10,9 11,2

,822,582 1,240 85,9 8,2 8,5 93,729,216 1,513 89,9 ,879,6101,269 86,3 9,7 10,1 85,799,212 1,567 91,0 ,838,598 1,240 86,6 8,7 8,9 89,721,272 1,449 90,0 ,768 ,398 1,370 89,3 13,0 12,7 82,654 ,245 1,409 92,7 ,770,437 1,333 87,4 7,6 7,1 93,643,249 1,394 90,3 ,758,430 1,328 87,3 8,1 7,7 92,604,226 1,378 89,3 ,849,622 1,227 84,3 6,1 5,2 94 ,691,458 [1,233 85,8 ,834,615 1,219 85,0 5,6 4,9 96,721,378 1,243 88,6 ,872,808 1,064 82,3 7,0 5,5 95,784,573 1,211 84,4 ,838,700 1,138 82,9 7,7 6,4 93,710,421 1,289 86,1 ,794,648 1,146 83,9 6,8 6,0 94,637,264 1,373 88,3 ,890,690 1,200 83,9 9,0 8,0 89,754,539 1,215 84,9 ,858,670 1,188 83,8 7,6 7,3 91,729,399 1,330 88,1 ,826,648 1,178 | 84,0| 7,6 6,2 93 ,798,554 1,254 85,4 7,7 7,0 92,672,190 1,482 90,4

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Rain, inches.

60 63,7

63,0 131,5

131,5

66,5❘ 132,7 70,4❘ 115,1 73,0❘ 109,2

73,1❘ 104,0 8,0 8,5 90 68,2 92,0 7,4 6,2 92 64,2 106,2 9,7 5,0 66,0 121,2 10,8 9,8 81 73,2 129,8 12,0 12,5

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80 69,5 121,0 73,0 125,0

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Morning.

10 A. M.

حر

Evening.

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A second opportunity of comparing the Assay Office Barometer with the standard instrument of the Royal Society of London has been furnished by the careful comparison of Sir Edward Ryan's Barometer with that of Sir J. Herschel at the Cape observatory. The result is that my Barometer stands 0.007 too high. The former comparison (ee Met. Reg. Nov. 1834) made it 0-010 too low. The mean shews as near an accordance between the two instruments as could be desired.-J. P.

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