Minute on Education by Mountstuart Elphinstone, March 1824

I HAVE the honour to lay before the Board a letter from the Secretary to the Education Society, enclosing a report from a Special Committee of that Association.

        2. As it is principally at my recommendation that the Society has come to solicit the aid of Government, I am bound to afford every support I can to their application. I have, however, some suggestions to offer in addition to those of the Committee; and the late order of the Court of Directors against the foundation of a Native College at Bombay, obliges me to advert to topics which I did not mean to have connected with the Society, and to give a wider range to the discussion than is required by the letter now before us.

        3. I have attended, as far as was in my power since I have been in Bombay, to the means of promoting education among the natives, and from all that I have observed and learned by correspondence, I am perfectly convinced that without great assistance from Government, no progress can be made in that important undertaking. A great deal appears to have been performed by the Education Society in Bengal, and it may be expected that the same effects should produced by the same means at this Presidency. But the number of Europeans here is so small and our connection with the natives so recent, that much great exertions are requisite on this side of India than on the other.

        4. The circumstance of our having lately succeeded to a Brahmin Government likewise, by making it dangerous to encourage the labours of the missionary deprives. The cause of education of the services of body of men who have more zeal and more time devote to the object than any other class of Europeans can be expected to possess.

        5. If it be admitted that the assistance of Government is necessary, the next question is, How it can best be afforded ? and there are two ways which present themselves for consideration. The Government may take the education of the natives entirely on itself, or may increase the means and stimulate the exertions the Society already formed for that purpose. The best result will probably be produced by a combination these two modes of proceeding. Many of the measures necessary for the diffusion of education must depend the spontaneous zeal of individuals; and could not be effected by any resolutions of the Government. The promotion of those measures, therefore, should be committed to the Society; but there are others which require an organized system, and a greater degree regularity and permanence than can be expected for any plan the success of which is to depend up personal character. This last branch, therefore, must be undertaken by the Government.

        6. It would, however, be requisite, when so much was entrusted by Government to the Society, that the material proceedings of that body should be made known to Government, and that it should be clearly understood that neither religion nor any topic likely to excite discontent among the natives should ever be touched on in its schools or publications.

        7. The following are the principal measures required for the diffusion of knowledge among the natives: 1st, to improve the mode of teaching at the native schools, and to increase the number of schools; 2nd, to supply them with school-books; 3rd, to hold out some encouragement to the lower orders of natives to avail themselves of the means of instruction thus afforded them; 4th, to establish schools for teaching the European sciences and improvements in the higher branches of education; 5th, to provide for the preparation and publication of books of moral and physical science in native languages; 6th, to establish schools for the purpose of teaching English to those disposed to pursue it as a classical language, and as a means of acquiring a knowledge of the European discoveries; 7th, to hold forth encouragement to the natives in the pursuit of these last branches of knowledge.

        8. First, the improvement of schools must be almost entirely left to the Education Society, with such pecuniary assistance as Government may think it expedient to afford. The constant and minute superintendence which will be requisite over the schools in all parts of the country, is such as can only be expected from a very general spirit of anxiety to promote the object. Any attempt to produce it on the part of Government would require a large and expensive establishment, and, after all, would have very little chance of success.

        9. The establishment now recommended by the committee for teaching schoolmasters may be sanctioned. It will be some time, perhaps, before properly qualified persons are found, but no slackness show appear on the part of Government in providing the means of securing their employment. It ought at the same time to be communicated to the Committee of Government would be gratified by receiving occasions: accounts of the progress made, and of the number schoolmasters to whom instruction had been afforded. In the meantime it appears probable that a very beneficial effect would be produced if an attempt were made to disseminate the improved method of teaching means of the press. For this purpose a very concise treatise might be prepared in each of the native languages, containing a few rules for the management of schools in the modern way, along with a short exposition of the advantages which would accrue both masters and scholars from the adoption of these improvements. The same tract might contain a notification of the persons from whom schoolbooks might be procured, and likewise of the manner in which prizes might be obtained by persons properly qualified in this stage of education. The circulation of the tracts, and a few corresponding ones in English, together with the superintendence and assistance which might be voluntarily bestowed by gentlemen throughout the country, and the aid from the vaccinators which will presently be explained, would probably effect much towards the improvement of common schools, and would pave the way for the employment of those schoolmasters who are to be trained under the institution proposed by the Committee.

        10. The means by which the direct exertions of Government can be best applied to promote school is by endeavouring to increase their number, and of this I am of opinion that no pains should be spared. The country is at present exactly in the state in which an attempt of the sort is likely to be most effectual. The great body of the people are quite illiterate; yet there is a certain class in which men capable of reading, writing, and instructing exist in much greater numbers than are required, or can find employment. This is a state of things which cannot long continue. The present abundance of people of education is owing to the demand there was for such persons under the Mahratha Government. That cause has now ceased, the effect will soon follow, and unless some exertion is made by the Government, the country will certainly be in a worse state under our rule than it was under the Peshwa's. I do not confine this observation to what is called learning, which, in its present form, must unavoidably fall off under us, but to the humbler acts of reading and writing, which, if left to themselves, will decline among the Brahmins without increasing among the other castes.

        11. The advantage of the present time is not confined to the facility of finding masters. The funds are more easily obtained at present than they will be hereafter. The Gram Kharch (village expenses), except in the old districts, have not yet undergone regulation, and many Warshasans, Nemnuks, allowances to fakirs, etc., might now be turned to this useful purpose, that will soon be lost altogether.

        12. Mr. Chaplin formerly suggested an allowance of from three to ten rupees from the Gram Kharch should be offered to any properly educated master who would undertake to teach a village; and if the smallest of these sums should seem too little for the poorest village, it may be increased by consolidating the funds in all cases where villages are sufficiently near each other. It would not, however, be politic (as Mr. Chaplin has since remarked) that this expense should fall directly on the village; such a measure would too closely connect the ideas of education and taxation, and the Rayats might endeavour to bring about the failure of the school in hopes that they might thus get rid of the impost. The school-money, therefore, should be taken from the gross income of the village before the Government share is separated, and the amount should be made good by reductions in the Gram Kharch. If the saving does not cover the expense, the loss will still be very small either to Government or the Rayats when compared with the advantage gained.

        13. The schoolmasters should be allowed to take the usual fees from their boys besides this allowance, and should receive a certain degree of assistance in printed tables and books of the cheapest description.

        14. An important addition to the resources applicable to the maintenance of schools might be obtained by diverting towards that purpose other funds derived from the Government Treasury, and not from villages, which are at the present employed on objects of no utility, and which are equally lost to the State and to the people. Occasions continually occur in which Haks, Warshasans, Inams, and other lands and allowances are granted unconditionally, from humanity or policy, to persons claiming them on doubtful titles; in all such cases the grantee might be obliged to submit to a small annual payment towards a fund for maintaining schools. There are also many religious allowances which it would be impolitic to resume, but which might by proper management be diverted to this purpose. Lands and allowances are also often held on condition of performing religious or other services; it would be unpopular to exact a payment in commutation for those services if the benefit went to Government, but it might easily be levied for an object so advantageous to the people themselves. In most cases, however, the purpose for which any deduction is made from an allowance should be kept entirely out of sight, to avoid raising odium against our plans of education. It at first seemed to me to be practicable by giving a small addition in money to the allowances enjoyed by village priests, astrologers, etc., on condition of their teaching a certain number of boys, to induce them to undertake amore useful profession, which might gradually supersede their original one; but many objections presented themselves to the arrangement, of which the most important was that it necessarily rendered the situation of schoolmaster hereditary in all instances where it was adopted.

        15. Even if funds were provided for the support of schools, we should still feel the difficulty of securing the useful employment of them. If we could at all depend either on a judicious selection of schoolmasters in the first instance, or on a moderately careful supervision afterwards, there could be no doubt of the entire success of the proposed measure; but the over-employment of the Europeans and the indolence and indifference of the natives make both of most difficult attainment. The object, however, is too important to be given up without an effort. The collector might have the general charge, of all schools which derived any aid from Government, and a power to resume the allowance in all cases of gross neglect. At stations where many Europeans reside, some might probably be found to undertake the care of the schools in the neighbourhood. The Education Society might perk induce some to charge themselves with this task, all officers, of whatever description, who had any share in the management of schools, should be encouraged to correspond with the Society and to promote improvements.

        16. In all subordinate villages a great deal may probably expected from the vaccinators. If these gentlemen should enter with zeal into the promotion of education, there are none by whom so much assistance could be afforded. They belong to a learned; liberal profession, and are selected for their activity, humanity. Their duties lead them on tours precisely of the nature of those required for the superintendence of schools, and bring them into contact with all clan of the people. Their duties also at each place must soon be transacted, and a good deal of time left applicable to such employments as are now recommend. Some remuneration ought to be given for additional trouble; perhaps 150 rupees, with the actual expenses of carrying books, might be sufficient. The line of each person's charge should be well marked, to prevent all mistakes which would be likely to damp zeal. The vaccinator should be quite independent in all places of which he took charge, and the collector should be requested to attend to his suggestions on all points connected with his schools. Any person who voluntarily took charge of a school should receive similar support, and should be encouraged to procure a successor to take up his charge when he should be removed from the station. On this subject, however, the Education Society will be best qualified to suggest the most desirable mode of proceeding.

        17. Inquiries relating to the possibility of providing salaries for teachers out of the Gram Kharch, or even by a small addition to that fund, and likewise regarding the possibility of diverting any of the religious or other Mahratha grants, in the manner before alluded to, should immediately be addressed to the collectors (those in the Deccan through the Commissioner), who may also be requested to send a statement, showing the villages in their district, and the number of schools in each, accompanied by such a general report on the state of schools as they may have the means of affording. They might, for instance, give a guess at the number of boys taught at each, the learning they acquire at each, and the particular classes who attend them, whether only those whose trade requires a knowledge of reading and writing, or others also. Their opinion should likewise be solicited as to the persons who could, with most advantage, be employed as schoolmasters, and as to any other expedients that may seem practicable for promoting the object at a small expense. I am aware that a reference of this sort is usually fatal to a proposal for improvement. The tune of public officers is so fully occupied by current business, that they have little leisure for general inquiries, and must commonly lay aside the letter in despair of being able to answer it; while we, equally suffering under the pressure of current business, often allow a long period to elapse before we revive a subject which has been disposed of by such a reference. One important question, however, in the present instance-that of the number of schools and scholars-can be ascertained through the Commavisdars and Shekdars with the utmost facility, and on the others a few reports from intelligent collectors is all we can expect. The Secretary will also be able, by making the questions distinct and simple in the first instance, and by occasionally repeating the call in cases of delay, to prevent the usual fatality from attending this highly import and interesting inquiry. It is a very great satisfaction to me that, since the draft of this minute was finished a plan nearly of the same nature has been proposed by Major Robertson, who has also pointed out fun for supporting it. I consider this voluntary opinion from so experienced a collector to be of the greater value, and recommend that his proposal should sanctioned without delay; at the same time, a copy this minute, if agreed to, may be sent to him.

        18. The expense of printing school-books may, for the present, be undertaken by the Government; the superintendence of the printing and the distribution, except in certain cases, must be, managed by the Society.

        19. The encouragement to be afforded to native school is a point of greater difficulty, but is one of the utmost importance, and one which, if properly made went to schools use of would be sufficient to secure very general improvement in the education of the lower order. The first step would be to institute examinations in the principal town or village of each Pargannah, and to distribute prizes to those who showed the most proficiency in each class. A book, such as will be published under the superintendence of Government or of the Society, would be a sufficient prize for ordinary proficiency, while those of the highest order might receive a medal; and those who are well qualified to act as writers, or Kulkarnis, might be given a certificate to that effect. The value of that certificate, however, would depend upon its being cautiously given, so that public officers in want of a person of that description might prefer taking one with a certificate as the surest means of obtaining the requisite qualifications. Prizes should likewise be given to those schoolmasters who produce the greatest number of well qualified scholars. It will be no easy matter to provide for the due adjudgment of prizes, for few English gentlemen are qualified to pronounce on the acquirements of Indians; the employment of natives would lead to corruption; and many wrong judgments, from whatever motive, would weaken or destroy the effect of the examinations. In the earliest part of education, however, this will be least felt; and if the plan of taking places were ever introduced, there would be little difficulty in allotting the prizes, as the contest for the first class might then be confined to the upper boys at different schools--say the three or four upper boys of each. With regard to the prizes for the higher acquirements to be mentioned in a subsequent part of this dispatch, the gentlemen who preside might select a certain number of natives to assist them, guarding against corruption or partiality by making a new choice each day, and giving no warning of the persons on whom it was likely to fall. The judge or a committee, consisting of the collector and the judge, might be able to spare time and attention for an annual examination at the head station, while m the smaller towns the duty might be best conducted by the vaccinators. The vaccinator himself might distribute the prizes to boys; the prizes to schoolmasters he should recommend officially to the collector, who should be instructed to pay immediate attention to his application. These prizes should consist of an honorary dress, or some other present, which would be of a nature acceptable to natives. It might be accompanied either on the part of the collector or the vaccinator with a present of such printed books or tables as are most useful in teaching a school. The vaccinators should be furnished with a considerable number of books of all descriptions to be distributed at their discretion. The present vaccinators should be requested to under this charge, and none should be appointed to it with his previous acquiescence. Henceforward the appointment should be inseparable.

        20. The following might form a tolerable scale prizes for each Pargannah; but it can be altered meet any object of convenience:

Prizes to schoolmasters (one in every two Pargannahs), a  shela  and  turban,  or other presents worth thirty rupees.

        21. In the establishment of schools for teaching the European sciences, we can do no more than lay the foundation, if, indeed, we can do more than sketch an outline of the plan. We may at present establish certain stipends to be granted to any person who can pass a prescribed examination, and to be increased when he shall obtain a certain number of scholars. These stipends should at first be very liberal; without such encouragement we would scarcely expect to procure teachers, when we remember the lucrative employments open in other departments to persons qualified for such offices. A man with such a knowledge of English as we require would easily get 150 or 200 rupees as a clerk to a merchant. The pupils of whom Mr. Cumin has had the goodness to take charge, and some who might be similarly educated by the naturalist expected from England, would probably be among the first candidates for these offices. Some of the young men educated at the English school at Bombay, which will afterwards be mentioned, might also qualify themselves to aspire to this employment, and the prospect of a handsome stipend would be a powerful incentive to all who had any prospect of success. No preference ought, however, to be given either in the choice of professors, the distribution of prizes, or any other mode of encouragement to persons educated in particular schools. Proficiency alone, however obtained, should constitute a claim. It is obvious that these sciences could not be taught without active European superintendence. As soon, therefore, as a sufficient number of native professors could be procured, it would be necessary to place a European gentleman at the head of them. He might be chosen from any line of the service where the requisite requirements could be found; although the necessity of economy in his allowances would probably confine the choice to the junior ranks of the military and medical lines.

        22. When things should have reached to this stage (which must be considered as remote), the college at Puna might be put under the same officer, and the European and native establishments might be united. By this arrangement the means of improvement would be held out to those already in pursuit of knowledge, and as the European branch might in time be expected to swallow up the Hindu one, the whole funds of the Puna College would became applicable to the diffusion of useful science. At present such a union would be fatal to both branches. The jealousy of the Brahmins would repel the approach of foreign doctrines, and the disadvantageous comparison between their own salaries and those of the new-comers would increase their hostility and would soon occasion the desertion of the college.

        23. There is one science in which great progress may immediately be made. The Commissioner was not at first able to procure a medical professor for the college at Puna, private practice being more lucrative than the salary he had to offer. This deficiency might be easily supplied, as there are few sciences in which the natives have so little to preserve, or in which we have so much to teach, and so much facility in teaching If the attention of our medical establishment could on be called to this object, we might almost without effort communicate to the natives a vast store of sour and useful knowledge. A small prize (of the value 200 or 250 rupees) might be offered to any native which could acquire a certain knowledge of anatomy, medicine or chemistry, and the warm approbation of Government might be held out to any surgeon who would impart that degree of knowledge. The situation of civil surgeon is generally reckoned desirable, and it requires no peculiar qualifications. It might with great advantage be intimated to the Medical Board, that the first vacancy in these appointments would always be conferred on any assistant-surgeon who should either produce an elementary treatise on one of the science connected with the profession in a native language, or bring a native instructed by him to a certain pitch in some one of those sciences. A medical man already a civil surgeon might be promised promotion to the superior situations of Puna, Satara, or Cutch, on the same terms; for the same temper and knowledge of the natives which would enable him to accomplish the condition, would secure his possessing the qualities peculiarly required at those stations. Each surgeon should also be indemnified for all the expense incurred on account of the native whom he instructed, provided he proved to possess the requisite knowledge. The Medical Board must, however, be required to fix with some precision the nature of the treatise to be produced and the exact amount of proficiency to be required from each native student. When so educated, these native students might be employed as a superior class of native medical assistants, and might furnish one or two professors for the college.

        24. It should be an incitement to attempt something in this branch to know that, in Bengal there is an institution with a medical gentleman at the head of it who has an allowance of 1,600 rupees a month; and a number of students who receive an exhibition for their maintenance during their studies.

        25. It is of comparatively little use that people are taught to read if their studies are to be confined to legends of Hindu gods; and it seems at first sight to be extremely easy at a trifling expense to supplant the few inaccurate and expensive manuscripts which are in the hands of the natives, by an abundance of simple and rational publications through the means of the press. The difficulty, however, has been found to be much greater than was thought. In four years we have only accomplished the publication of two native books, and they also are translations from the Sanscrit, undertaken more with a view to bring printed books into use than on account of any instruction they were themselves calculated to afford. The principal cause of this delay has no doubt been the extreme slowness of printing in India, at least at Bombay; but had the printing not retarded us, we should soon have been brought to a stand for want of translations to publish, The best remedy appears to be that suggested by the Society- to advertise for the best translations of particular books, or for the best elementary treatises on particular subjects in specified languages. The books recommended by the Committee in No.1 are most of them well judged; but next system of arithmetic, which is already in hand, I should think a treatise on the elements of geometry, with application of them to practice in mensuration, etc., would be desirable. A system of ethics, as suggested, would certainly be valuable, but it would be of difficult execution. In the meantime, a few tracts, or one tract containing those prudential maxims which are most important to the poor, and which are least known India, would be of the greatest utility. Those most repugnant to their prejudices, as those which discountenance the marriage of infants, expensive feasts to the caste, etc., might be introduced in the mode most likely to elude or disarm opposition; but the success of such books must depend almost entirely on their execution and they need only be undertaken by persons who feel a strong desire to inculcate the truths to which they refer.

        26. When the labour required for these translations is considered, and likewise the previous knowledge necessary to render them useful, it is obvious both the reward must be very liberal and that we need under no apprehension from the number of successful claimants. Each book should, when recommended to the Education society, be submitted to a committee of one individual appointed by Government, who should pronounce on its fitness for publication. It might be expedient to have at least two rates of reward, one for books absolutely fit for publication, and another for books which could, with moderate attention, be adapted to the press. I should propose that the remuneration should vary from 100 to 300 or 400 rupees for school books, to 4,000 or 5,000 rupees for superior productions, the amount being left to the Committee, provided it does not exceed the largest of these sums. In extraordinary cases, where a higher reward seemed due, the Committee might submit the claim to Government.

        27. If English could be at all diffused among persons who have the least time for reflections, the progress of knowledge by means of it would be accelerated in a tenfold ratio, since every man who made himself acquainted with a science through the English would be able to communicate it in his own language to his countrymen. At present, however, there is but little desire to learn English with any such view. The first step towards creating such a desire would be to establish a school at Bombay, where English might be taught classically, and where instructions might also be given in that language on history, geography, and the popular branches of science. This school might be managed under the Education Society. A master, I understand, could be found at a salary of 50 rupees, to be doubled when he should pass an examination in Mahrathi, and again increased by the amount of his original salary when he should pass in Gujaratti. He might also be allowed to take fees from the scholars that attended him, the amount of which might be fixed by the Committee. To prevent such a mixture of ranks as might prevent the higher order of natives from using the school, no boy should be admitted until he was approved by the Committee, and a preference should be given to the sons of wealthy natives and to boys that should show particular promise of talent. When the school became more extended a separate class should be instituted for the lower castes. There might be two examinations a year by the Committee, with the assistance of one or more gentlemen whom they might themselves select; and on those occasions prizes of books or medals should be distributed.

        28. Should we ever be able to extend English schools to the outstations, admittance to them might be made a reward of merit in other studies which might tend to render it an object of ambition, or at least to remove all suspicion of our wishing to force our opinions on the natives.

        29. If it is difficult to provide the means of institution the higher branches of science, it is still more, hold out a sufficient incitement to the acquisition of them. The natives being shut from all the higher employments in their own coup neither feel the want of knowledge in their ordinary transactions nor see any prospect of advancement of any perfection of it to which they can attain; nor this obstacle be removed until, by the very improvements which we are now planning, they shall be rendered at once more capable of undertaking public duties and more trustworthy in the execution of the In the meantime their progress must be in a certain degree forced and unnatural, and for this reason m require more assistance on the part of the Government than would be necessary in a better state of society.

        30. The first step in this stage also would be to give prizes. These must be of more value, and distributed with more care than the prizes formerly recommended. Part of the prizes of the Dakshina have by long custom become fixed annuities to certain persons, who are supposed for a succession of years to have best merit them; but the remainder ought henceforth to be given with a very strict attention to proficiency: and as the annuities fall in, the amount of them should be employ in the same manner. It would certainly give much disgust if any part of this fund were immediately to be applied to the encouragement of European science. A preference, has, however, already been given to the more useful branches of Hindu learning, and this might be gradually increased as well by assigning all new prizes arising from lapsed annuities to that species of attainment as by taking advantage of other opportunities that might arise. In the meantime a certain number of prizes distinct from the Dakshina should be instituted for persons who might stand an examination in particular branches of European knowledge. The exact species of knowledge ought not at first to be too nicely insisted on, but geometry, algebra, the higher branches of arithmetic, geography, and the knowledge of our system of astronomy might be among the number. The principal prizes should be of considerable value; and as they would probably not be claimed for several years, they ought to be allowed to accumulate till the amount became sufficiently dazzling to be of itself an inducement to study the elements of a science. Smaller prizes might in the meantime be granted, that even attempts at improvement might meet with some reward.

        31. An obvious means of giving effect to public instruction would be to render a certain examination a necessary preliminary to admission to all offices; but as it is essential that the selection of public functionaries should depend as much as possible on their fitness for their particular duties, it is inexpedient to embarrass the choice of them by any extraneous conditions. There are, however, instances in which stipends are enjoyed without the exaction of any corresponding service, and in these cases it would be by no means unreasonable to oblige the possessor to confer a benefit both on himself and the public by devoting some portion of his life to study. It might, therefore, at some future period be announced that no Warshashan, Nemnuk, or other religious grant or pension world be continued to the heirs of the actual incumbents, unless they show first pass a prescribed examination. The notification might be so expressed as to avoid giving perpetuity such allowances as it might be intended to resume, and a power might be reserved to dispense with the examination in cases where there might be peculiar claims. It may be a question whether a condition like the present might not be annexed to the enjoyment even of Inams when they have avowedly been granted for religious purposes, and it certainly might be attach to the succession to such pensions or jahgirs as it may be thought expedient to make hereditary, with the exception of such as are given for the maintenance of the representatives of great families. As many of the claimants to the allowances in question reside at a distance from European stations and even from the principal native towns, it would be necessary that a modern knowledge of any useful Indian science should be sufficient to entitle a person to the benefits of the grant. Where opportunities of instruction were afforded, sow knowledge of European science might be required, or least a smaller portion of European learning might be made equivalent to much more extensive qualification in the sciences of the country. All this, however, for future consideration; at present everything that likely to render large classes hostile to our views of education should be carefully avoided.

        32. We are now to see what steps are to be taken immediately. I have already recommended a reference to the collectors regarding the number of schools now in existence, and the possibility of increasing it by means of the Gram Kharch and other funds distinct from those of the Government. It will be expedient to wait their report before any decision is passed on those points.

        33. The vaccinators (should they accept the office) may, however, be authorized to commence on the granting of allowances to schoolmasters experimentally in villages where their instructions seemed likely to be well received, and where they might be able to see that their duties were not neglected.

        34. The attention of the School Society might be called to the preparation of a tract on the best mode of teaching. The whole of this minute, if concurred in, might indeed be communicated to them.

        35. The allowance proposed for the native secretary might be sanctioned as well as that for the native instructors of schoolmasters to be entertained as an experiment; and to help to cover the expense, the persons now employed in conducting translations from the Sanscrit might be discharged. A place might perhaps be found in some of the public offices (as the old sadar adalat) where the books of the Society might be safely deposited, and the native secretary might be entrusted with the care and issue of them.

        36. The necessary communication should be made to the Medical Board regarding the employment of the vaccinators and the means suggested for diffusing medical science. The vaccinators also should be consulted as to their disposition to undertake the task proposed for them.

        37. The printing of the school-books suggested by the Society should immediately be sanctioned, and the Society should be authorized to issue advertisements inviting translations and promising remuneration at the rate already mentioned.

        38. The Society might be requested to give directions for the preparation of medals, and the Persian secretary might direct some of the books already printed under his superintendence to be bound-some handsomely and some plainly as prizes. The expense of each however, should not exceed in all the sum laid down in a former paragraph, including the prime cost of the book. Those prizes might then be distributed to the collectors and to the vaccinators if they should enter into the design; and they might be requested to commence the distribution either generally or gradually and experimentally, as they thought most expedient.

        39. The Society should likewise have some of the cheaper publications which are printed under its superintendence properly bound at the expense of the Government for distribution as prizes, and the expense of prizes to schoolmasters should be authorized.

        40. The expense of the English school at Bombay may be immediately authorized, and the School Society requested to take the management of it; the expense being limited to 200 rupees a year.

        41. The professorships for English sciences cannot be promised without the sanction of the Honourable the Court of Directors, to whom the question should be referred; unless some part of the money allotted to religious purposes should become disposable, when stipends and prizes may be held out as far as the sum recovered will go. The Commissioner at Puna should be requested to avail himself of any such opportunities.

        42. There are many details to be filled up on these plans for which I must depend on the kind assistance of the secretary, and as the correspondence is chiefly with the collectors, the execution may be as well committed to the Revenue as any other department. I am led to wish it should be so on this occasion from the attention Mr. Farish has already given to the subject, and still more from the belief that Mr. Henderson is likely to be intercepted before he can make any great progress in organizing the proposed plans.

        43. I can conceive no objection that can be urged to these proposals except the greatness of the expense to which I would oppose the magnitude of the object. It is difficult to imagine an undertaking in which our duty, our interest, and our honour are more immediately concerned. It is now well understood that in all countries the happiness of the poor depends in a great measure on their education. It is by means of it alone that they can acquire those habits of prudence and self respect from which all other good qualities spring; and if ever there was a country where such habits are required, it is this. We have all often heard of the ills of early marriages and overflowing population; of the savings of a life squandered on some one occasion of festivity; of the helplessness of the Rayats which renders them a prey to money-lenders; of their indifference to good clothes or houses, which has been urged on some occasions as an argument against lowering the public demands on them; and, finally, of the vanity of all laws to protect them when no individual can be found who has spirit enough to take advantage of those enacted in their favour. There is but one remedy for all this, which is education.

        44. If there be a wish to contribute to the abolition of the horrors of self-immolation, and of infanticide, and ultimately to the destruction of superstition in India, it is scarcely necessary now to prove that the only means of success lie in the diffusion of knowledge.

        45. In the meantime, the dangers to which we are exposed from the sensitive character of the religion of the natives, and the slippery foundation of our Government, owing to the total separation between us and our subjects, require the adoption of some measure to counteract them, and the only one is, to remove their prejudices and to communicate our own principles an opinions by the diffusion of a rational education.

        46. It has been urged against our Indian Government that we have subverted the States of the East and shut up all the sources from which the magnificence of the country was derived, and that we have not ourselves constructed a single work either of utility or splendour. It may be alleged with more justice the we have dried up the fountains of native talent, an that from the nature of our conquest not only all encouragement to the advancement of knowledge is withdrawn, but even the actual learning of the nation is likely to be lost, and the productions of former genius to be forgotten. Something should surely be done to remove this reproach.

        47. It is probably some considerations like these the have induced the Legislature to render it imperative on the Indian Government to spend a portion of its revenue in the promotion of education; but whatever were the motives that led to it, the enactment itself: forms a fresh argument for our attention to the subject. It may be urged that this expense, however, well applied, ought not to fall on the Government; the those who are to benefit by education ought to pay for it themselves; and that an attempt to introduce it on any other terms will fail, from the indifference of the teachers and from the want of preparation among those for whose benefit it is intended. This would be true of the higher branches of education among a people with whom sound learning was already in request; but in India our first and greatest difficulty is to create that demand for knowledge, on the supposed existence on which the objection I have mentioned is founded.

        48. With regard to the education of the poor, that must, in all stages of society, be in a great measure the charge of the Government. Even Adam Smith (the political writer, of all others, who has put the strictest limits to the interference of the Executive Government, especially in education) admits the instruction of the poor to be among the necessary expenses of the sovereign; though he scarcely allows any other expense, except for the defence of the nation and the administration of justice.

        49. I trust, therefore, that the expense would be cheerfully incurred, even if it were considerable and permanent; but that of the schools is to be borne by the villages; the prizes and professors by funds already alienated; the press, as the demand for books increases, may be left to pay itself; and when the plans I have proposed shall once have been fully organized, I hope that the whole of the arrangement, so beneficial to the public, will be accomplished without any material expense to the Company.

        50. The immediate expense may be considered according to the different branches which I have suggested.

        51. The expense of the native secretary and the head schoolmaster is to be met in part by a reduction to the same amount in the allowances to persons now employed in superintending native publications, enough having been done in that way. There will remain about 350 rupees a month to be paid.

        52. The allowances to the four vaccinators, if accepted, will be 7,200 rupees a year. The prizes are for the most part books, the charge for which will be accounted for under that head; that for medals will not be considerable, and that of the prizes to schoolmasters may be guessed at 2,000 rupees a year.

        53. I do not think we shall be required to incur a greater expense in printing, even for the first year, than we now incur for that purpose; and although the rewards for translations are considerable, I think the chance of their being often demanded extremely small perhaps three a year of different value, in all about 4,000 or 5,000 rupees, is the most we can expect but we have the satisfaction to know that any increase this branch of expenditure will bear an exact proportion to the extent of the success and utility of that part the present plan. This expense might also at any tin be stopped by advertising that no more rewards would be given after a certain time. Six months warning should, however, be given to allow people to complete any translations they had begun on.

        54. I have already drawn one example from the liberality of the supreme Government. I may now add, as applicable to the whole question, that, addition to large subscriptions to education societies, the Governor-General in Council has lately allotted the whole of the town duties, amounting to about six lay of rupees, to local improvements, of which the school form a most important branch.

        55. Annexed is a memorandum which Mr. Farish was so good as to draw up at my request, and which contains much information and many valuable suggestions. I have already availed myself of many of the ideas thrown out in it. The following points, however, still remain to be noticed and recommended:

The importation of types and sale of them at cheap rate, with a view to encourage printing;

The allotment of prizes for essays in the vernacular languages of India, and for improvements in science;

The annual report by each collector on the state of the schools;

The obligation on villages to pay for school-books after the first supply, or (as that might prevent their applying for them) the obligation to pay for such as were lost or destroyed.

        56. Some of the other plans suggested seem to me more doubtful. The payment of schoolmasters in proportion to the number of boys taught is in itself highly advisable; but in the present state of our superintendence it would lead to deceptions, while the payment of a very small fixed stipend will keep a schoolmaster to his trade, and his dependence on the contributions of his scholars for the rest of his maintenance will secure his industry.

        57. It is observed that the missionaries find the lowest castes the best pupils. But we must be careful how we offer any special encouragement to men of that description. They are not only the most despised, but among the least numerous of the great divisions of society; and it is to be feared that if our system of education first took root among them, it would never spread further, and that we might find ourselves at the head of a new class superior to the rest in useful knowledge, but hated and despised by the castes to whom these new attainments would always induce us to prefer them. Such a state of things would be desirable, if we were contented to rest our power on our army or on the attachment of a part of the population, but is inconsistent with every attempt to found it on a more extended basis.

        58 . To the mixture of religion even in the slightest degree with our plans of education I must strongly object. I cannot agree to clog with any additional difficulty a plan which has already so many obstructions to surmount. I am convinced that the conversion of the natives must infallibly result from the diffusion of knowledge among them. Fortunately, they are not aware of the connections, or all attacks on their ignorance would be as vigorously resisted as if they were on their religion. The only effect of introducing Christianity into our schools would be to sound the alarm and to warn the Brahmins of the approaching danger. Even that warning might perhaps be neglected as long as no converts were made; but it is a sufficient argument against a plan that it can only be safe, long as it is ineffectual, and in this instance the danger involves not only the failure of our plans of education but the dissolution of our empire.

        59. I take this opportunity of adverting to the remarks offered by the Honourable the Court of Directors on the institution of the Native College at Puna. Before I enter on the general merits of the question, I beg to notice three particular objections which have occurred to the Honourable Court, and which I trust I may be able to remove.

    60. The Honourable Court is pleased to observe in Paragraphs 20 and 21, that we have taken it for granted, without inquiry, that a favourable impression would be made on the minds of the natives by the institution of a college; but that experience has shown in other places that no such effect is produced. It may, however, admit of a doubt, supposing the institutions alluded to the colleges of Benares and Calcutta, for instance--to excite no visible feeling at the precise moment, when they are no longer novelties, and when the spirit of our Government is thoroughly understood, whether they may not yet have produced a most beneficial impression at the time of their first establishment. In the case of the college at Puna, the fact can scarcely be contested. One of the principal objects of the Peshwa's Government was the maintenance of the Brahmins. It is known to the Honourable Court that he annually distributed five lacs of rupees amount that order under the name of the Dakshina; but it must be observed that the Dakshina formed but a small portion of his largesses to Brahmins, and the number of persons devoted to Hindu learning and religion, who were supported by him, exceeded what would readily be supposed. With all the favour that we have shown this class of his dependents, great numbers of them are reduced to distress, and are subsisting on the sale of shawls and other articles, which they received in better tunes, while others have already reached the extremity of want which follows the consumption of all their former accumulation. Considering the numbers and the influence of this description of people, it surely cannot be reckoned unimportant towards influencing public opinion that such a sum as could be spared should be set aside for their maintenance; and as it is the object of our enemies to inculcate the opinion that we wish to change the religion and manners of the Hindus, it seems equally popular and reasonable to apply part of that sum to the encouragement of their learning.

        61. The Honourable Court has on these grounds been pleased to approve of the partial continuance of the Dakshina; but by the approbation expressed of Mr. Prendergast's objections to the college on the score of expense (Paragraph 32), the Honourable Court appears to understand that a new and considerable addition to our charges is to be occasioned by that institution. The fact, however, is that the whole expense of the college has been saved out of the Dakshina, and not one rupee has been expended for the encouragement of learning that was not already required to prevent popular discontent.

        62. I may here observe that I must have expressed myself indistinctly in my report, as the Honourable Court has understood my sentiments to be adverse to an institution like the present. It was my intention in the passage quoted in Paragraph 33 to say that instead of expending two lacs of rupees on religious charges, including two colleges, I intended to allot 50,000 rupees to the Dakshina, giving the prizes as much as possible to proficients in law, mathematics, etc., to support a certain number of professors who might teach those sciences, and to circulate a few well-chosen books. The only deviations from this plan that have taken place are that the professors have been paid out of the funds allotted to the Dakshina, and that some of those appointed are meant to teach Hindu divinity and mythology. It cannot be denied that this is an unprofitable part of the establishment, and it is to these branches of learning that Mr. Chaplin alludes when he says that some are worse than useless; but we must not forget that we are founding (or rather keeping up with modifications) a seminary among a most bigoted people, where knowledge has always been in the hands of the priesthood, and where science itself is considered as a branch of religion. In such circumstances, and supporting the expense from a fund devoted to religious purposes, I do not think we could possibly have excluded the usual theological professorships without showing a hostility to the Hindu faith which it was our object to avoid, and irritating those prejudices of the people which it was the professed design of the institution to soothe or to remove. I trust these arguments may be satisfactory to the Honourable Court ; but at all events I may venture to assure it that the measure was not undertaken without very full investigation of its probable effect, and that I am rather afraid that my inquiries while Commissioner in the Deccan, may have led the Mahrattas to expect some more important measures in favour of the learned of their nation than it has been found expedient to carry into execution.

        63. I come now to the question whether, considering the establishment of the college, without reference to the conciliation of the people, it was desirable for its own sake to encourage the learning of the country. It must be clearly understood that the question is not whether we are to encourage Brahmin learning or European learning, but whether we are to encourage Brahmin learning or none at all. The early part of this minute has shown that we do not possess the means of teaching in the native languages the very rudiments of European sciences; and that if we did possess them, we should find few or none among the natives who are disposed or fitted to receive our instructions. The only point to discuss therefore is, whether or not the knowledge now in existence is to be allowed to be extinguished. It may be supposed that as Hindu learning formerly subsisted independent of our aid, it might continue to do so without our incurring the expense of a college; but this conclusion would be entirely erroneous. The Dakshina, which has already been mentioned, was expressly designed to encourage learning: it formerly amounted to eight or ten lacs of rupees, and though Bajee Row reduced the expenses, he still gave a small sum to each of 50,000 Brahmins, besides large prizes to all who distinguished themselves by their learning. Both he and all his sirdars and ministers employed many learned Brahmins in various offices connected with the Hindu ritual; and all, on a religious principle, allowed stipends and grants of land to many others for whose services they had no call. Add to this that learning was a certain title to he countenance of the great and to the respect of the people, and we may estimate the incentives to the acquisition of it which were destroyed by our conquest. It is true that this encouragement may not have been judiciously directed, but the effects of it on the whole were beneficial, and such as I cannot but think that it is still desirable to preserve. A class of men was maintained whose time was devoted to the cultivation of their understanding; their learning may have been obscure and degenerate, but still it bore some affinity to real science, into which it might in time have been improved. They were not, perhaps, much inferior to those monks among whom the seeds of European learning were long kept alive; and their extinction, if it did not occasion the loss of much present wisdom, would have cut off all hope for the future.

        64. These arguments are founded on the supposition that the Puna College was always to remain unaltered, but this was by no means a necessary consequence of the institution; when once the college had become an established place of resort for Brahmins, it would be easy to introduce by degrees improvements into the system of education, and thus render the institution a powerful instrument for the diffusion of civilization. Some such alterations are suggested in the course of this minute, and others must be the fruit of time, and cannot be adopted until we have instruments better fitted to impart instruction as well as auditors better prepared to receive it.

        65. At no time, however, could I wish that the purely Hindu part of the course should be totally abandoned. It would surely be a preposterous way of adding to the intellectual treasures of a nation to begin by the destruction of its indigenous literature; and I cannot but think that the future attainments of the natives will be increased in extent as well as in variety by being, as it were, engrafted on their own previous knowledge, and imbued with their own original and peculiar character.

        66. The attention of the Honourable Court has been attracted to the appointment among others of a professor of poetry. That class was admitted without much reflection as one that exists in all Hindu colleges. At first sight it seems of little practical utility, but on a closer examination it will probably appear worthy of being looked on with more favour. The Honourable Court are aware how large a portion of the Hindu literature is formed by Sanscrit poetry. It is this part which seems to have the most intrinsic merit, and which has called forth the enthusiastic admiration of no mean judges among ourselves. It is this part also which it is both most practicable and most desirable to preserve. Even without the example and assistance of a more civilized nation, the science possessed by every people is gradually superseded by their own discoveries as they advance in knowledge, and their early works fall into disuse and into oblivion. But it is otherwise, with their poetry; the standard works maintain their reputation undiminished in every age, they form the models of composition and the fountains of classical language; and the writers of the rudest ages are those who contribute the most to the delight and refinement of the most improved of their posterity.

        67. The Honourable Court draws anticipations unfavourable to the college at Puna from the ill success of those at Calcutta and Benares; but I am not sure that such a fact, even admitted in its utmost extent, would form an argument against the plan adopted. Every institution is liable to fall in time into neglect and inefficiency; and of all others the most liable are those which have the maintenance of learning for their object. Other establishments derive strength from their connection with the transactions of common life, but those for the cultivation of letters have no such support, and it is for this reason that the aid of Government is required to enable them to subsist. It would perhaps be giving way too readily to despondency to suppose that because the colleges in Bengal have admitted of some abuses, that they neither have been nor will be of great utility. In the want of leisure for careful superintendence among the Europeans such establishments must be exposed to fluctuations. They will be neglected under one Government. They will be reformed under another; and on the whole they will go on and flourish, a monument of the genius of the great man who planned them in the midst of pressing difficulties and dangers, and of the liberality of the Honourable Court which has supported them, notwithstanding occasional discouragement and temporary ill success.

        68. Having been led so far into the consideration of the despatch of the Honourable the Court of Directors, I shall proceed to that part which relates to the college which it was intended to establish at the Residency for the education of young civil servants; and I shall propose such a substitute as occurs to me for the plan which has been forbidden by the Court.

        69. The great advantages of a college are, that it affords the best opportunities of instruction both from. European professors and native munshis, that it supplies books, that it affords some superintendence over the conduct of the young men, so that in the event of idleness or dissipation it - can be checked before it has had time to reach any very injurious pitch. The examinations, rewards, and degrees of honour complete the advantages of the college system.

        70. Its disadvantages are that it brings young men too much together, that it detains them at the Presidency, and, above all, that by regulating and watching over a young man's studies it takes from him the stimulus which he would derive from the consciousness that his good or ill success was in his own hands.

        71. These advantages are so great that they in some measure reconcile me to the loss of the proposed college, as far, at least, as the young civil servants are concerned.

        72. We must now endeavour, as well as our means permit, to unite the benefits and avoid the disadvantages of both plans of instruction.

        73. With the aid of European professors it is necessary we should dispense, but something might be done to increase the number of native munshies, provided it could be effected without so great an addition as would render their business insufficient to support properly qualified men. If they could not be found here, men with every requisite qualification might easily be procured from Calcutta. On this subject we could not perhaps do better than consult the gentlemen who have hitherto had the goodness to examine the students. The same gentlemen might be requested to state what they conceived to be the best books for young students, and means might be taken to procure sufficient numbers from Calcutta, or to print them here. Superintendence will not be required if we can succeed in preserving the impression that young men themselves at present entertain of the importance of their acquiring a sufficient knowledge to enable them to pass the examination. If a young man knows that such a trial must be submitted to before he can enter on the advantages of his profession, and that he has nothing to trust to for carrying him through it but his own industry and attention, it is not too much to expect that those qualities will excited.

        74. The examinations, I understand, are at present much easier than those in Calcutta. Something might be added to the difficulty, but it ought not to be so great as either to discourage the student or to detain him too long among the temptations of a Presidency, and at a distance from the active employments of the service.

        75. The grammatical part of the languages should be particularly attended to. If that be once completely mastered, the rest must follow from practice.

        76. The accompanying note by Captain Ruddell, one of the Examiners to the College of Fort William, will show the plan pursued there.

        77. The whole of this plan depending on the examination, it becomes necessary to take care that it shall be effectual. We have hitherto been able to accomplish the object by the voluntary assistance of such gentlemen as have happened to possess the requisite qualifications at the Presidency; but such a casual aid can scarcely be relied on in a matter of so much importance, especially after the regulation Committee shall have been dissolved.

        78. The best plan will probably be to appoint a junior member to be also secretary, with such a salary as may secure the occasional services of an eminent linguist. This gentleman, with the Persian secretary, will always make us sure of two efficient members, and we may trust to accident for a third.

        79. The Examining Committee may continue to meet as at present, once in three months, and every student should be required, at the first meeting after his arrival, to declare whether it is his intention to stand the examination at the next meeting. If such should not be his intention, he should immediately be appointed to a station up the country, as has been ordered by the Court of Directors. I think this better than sending every young man up the country at once, according to the letter of the Court's order, because much time is lost and expense incurred in the journey; and if a young man has a disposition to study, it is better that he should at once have done with the Presidency, and enter on the duties of his profession.

        80. It has occurred to me to make it obligatory on every student to pass an examination in Marathi, or in Gujarathi, as well as in Hindustani; and experience has shown that, without such a rule, those languages will not be studied. My unwillingness to keep young men at the Presidency, however, induces me to abandon that proposal, and to recommend in its stead the publication of a rule that no young man shall henceforward be promoted to the second step in his line (whether from Assistant-Registrar to Registrar, or from third Assistant-Collector to second) until he has been examined in the language of the district where he has been stationed. This second examination, however, might be conducted by a committee on the spot.

        81. All these expedients are designed to secure a bare sufficiency of knowledge to provide for the discharge of ordinary duties. To obtain higher proficiency, other measures must be devised; and, for that purpose, I know no means more likely to be effectual than the system of prizes already in use in Calcutta. I subjoin a copy of the statute on that subject, and I would have it understood that a separate prize will be given for each language; so that if any one obtains the required proficiency in three languages, he will receive 2,400 rupees instead of 800.

        82. It is my anxious wish that the higher degrees of those prizes should be thrown open to military men. It is the encouragement of Oriental learning rather than the transaction of business that they are designed to promote, and it cannot be the object of Government to exclude any labourers from a field the extent of which is so much beyond our power of cultivation.

        83. The orders of the Court of Directors to the Supreme Government are, however, so positive against the admission of military men, that I can only propose the address of an earnest representation to the Honourable Court to induce them to permit its adoption.

From: Selections from the Minutes and Other Official Writings of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone.  Edited by George W. Forrest.  London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1884, 79-116.