cided with those of the government. The natives also were now for the first time admitted to take a share in the deliberations on the subject of national instruction. This was done by conferring

on the managers of the Hindu college the privilege of electing two of their number in rotation. as members of the committee, and a Mohammedan gentleman was soon after appointed a member of it. Six new seminaries were immediately established with a portion of the fund which had been placed at the disposal of the committee by the cessation of the Arabic and Sanskrit printing and translating, and six more were established at the commencement of the following year. Rules were devised for bringing the proceedings in the provincial seminaries periodically under the review of the general committee, and for stimulating exertion by rewarding the most deserving students. It was resolved to annex a good library to each seminary, and a large supply of books suited to all ages was ordered from England. By permitting every body to make use of the books on payment of a fixed subscription, these libraries have become the means of diffusing knowledge much beyond the immediate circle of the government seminaries, and being now objects of general interest, many valuable contributions are from time to time made to

them.* Scientific apparatus of various kinds was ordered from England. Professor Peacock, of Trinity college, Cambridge, at the request of the committee, selected and sent out the mathematical class books required at the different institutions. Arrangements were made with the school-book society for the publication of a book of selections from the English poets, from Chaucer downwards, and the expediency of publishing a corresponding volume in prose is now under consideration.

When these operations commenced there were fourteen seminaries under the control of the Committee: there are now forty. At the first-mentioned period there were about 3,398 pupils, of whom 1,818 were learning English, 218 Arabic, and 473 Sanskrit. There are now upwards of 6,000. The number of Sanskrit and Arabic students is smaller than before. A small number study Persian, or learn the vernacular language only; all the rest receive an English education. The seminary which was last established completely exhausted the funds at the disposal of the

* As most young men take out a stock of books with them to India, while few bring any back, the common English standard works have accumulated there to a great extent. The public libraries which have been established by the committee in the principal towns form a nucleus round which these and many other books collect.

committee. It was for the district of Dinajpoor, which is computed to contain 6,000 square miles, above 12,000 towns and villages, and a population exceeding 2,300,000; and it is a district remarkable even in Bengal for the darkness of the ignorance which prevails in it. Though many of the leading inhabitants concurred with the European authorities in desiring that some effectual steps should be taken to enlighten this part of the country, the utmost the committee was able to afford was seventy rupees a month.

As the general superintendence of the system is vested in a "general committee," residing at Calcutta, so the management of each particular seminary is intrusted to a local committee residing on the spot. The members of these committees are appointed by the government from all classes of the community, native as well as European. Care is taken in the selection to secure for the support of the system as much zeal, influence, and information as possible, and nobody who has the cause at heart, and can really aid it, need be without a share in the management. It is the wish of the general committee to employ the government fund only in the payment of the salaries of teachers; by this means the permanence of the institutions will be secured, at the

same time that full scope will be left for the exercise of private munificence; and as the outlay of the committee will be confined to fixed payments, easily susceptible of control, no inconvenience will be likely to ensue from the wide extension of the system. The pupils themselves are expected to pay for the ordinary school-books used by them, and it is intended to demand a small fixed sum in part of payment for their instruction. More regular attendance is thus secured; nominal students, who injure the discipline and retard the progress of the institutions, become rare; the system is raised in general estimation, and additional means are acquired for improving and extending it. Boarding-houses are beginning to be established in connection with some of the seminaries, for the accommodation of pupils who reside at a distance.

In all the new institutions the important principle has been established of admitting boys of every caste without distinction. A different practice prevailed in the older institutions; the Sanskrit colleges were appropriated to Brahmins; the Arabic colleges, with a few exceptions, to Mohammedans; and even at the Anglo-Indian institution, which goes by the name of the Hindu college, none but Hindus of good caste were ad

mitted. This practice was found to encourage the prejudice which it was meant to conciliate. The opposite practice has been attended with no inconvenience of any kind; Christian, Mohammedan, and Hindu boys, of every shade of colour and variety of descent, may be seen standing side by side in the same class, engaged in the common pursuit of English literature, contending for the same honours, and forced to acknowledge the existence of superior merit in their comrades of the lowest, as well as in those of the highest caște. This is a great point gained. The artificial institution of caste cannot long survive the period when the youth of India, instead of being trained to observe it, shall be led by the daily habit of their lives to disregard it. All we have to do is to bring them together, to impress the same character on them, and to leave the yielding and affectionate mind of youth to its natural impulse. Habits of friendly communication will thus be established between all classes, they will insensibly become one people, and the process of enlightening our subjects will proceed simultaneously with that of uniting them among themselves.

In the long discussions which preceded the change in the plan of the committee, there was