Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/333

Rh ryot is generally so very small that the value of that portion of the produce which falls to him as wages or profits barely supports him and his family even in the most favourable seasons, and in times of scarcity leaves him without resource. With such a vast agricultural population, upon the proper application of whose labor the entire prosperity of the country and the Government depends, what duty can be more imperative than to instruct them in the best use of all the circumstances of their condition?

The third book of the series might be made explanatory of the moral and legal relations, obligations, and rights, whether personal, domestic, civil, or religions, of men living in a state of society and under the existing Government. A reference should be maintained throughout to the peculiar circumstances, wants, and character of the people. Thus, the expenditure of the people is in general so profuse and ill-directed as to account for much of the wretchedness of their condition. Inculcate, therefore, a prudent economy, and show not only by precept, but by examples and illustrations drawn from savings’ banks, &c., the advantages of steady industry and small accumulations as contrasted with the tyranny on the one hand, the slavery on the other, and the general distrust between man and man, arising out of the established system of money-lending and borrowing at exorbitant rates of interest. Again, the produce of their labor is often diminished by the illegal exactions of money-lenders, landlords, settlers, and the native officers of Government, whether of justice, revenue, or police. Teach the people their civil rights, the disposition of Government to protect them in the enjoyment of those rights, and the modes in which they may be most effectually protected. Still further, law to be obeyed, the violations of law to be shunned, and the punishments attached to those violations to be feared, should be known. But its requisitions, its prohibitions, and its sanctions are unknown to the body of the people, and law is to them, for the most part, the arbitrary will of the judge. In the absense of other means to make the penal laws generally known, let this school-book explain their principal provisions for the protection of person and property, the equal subjection of all to their authority, and the obligation and utility of contributing each person to the defence and security of every other subject of the State.

The fourth book of the series might be employed to correct, enlarge, and systematize the knowledge of the learner respecting his native country, other countries, and the system of the world. If prepared for Bengali schools, it would explain the natural features and resources of Bengal, the political Government of British India, the physical and political geography of the other countries of the world, and the leading facts and principles of modern astronomy.