Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/350

290 Government in its endeavours to extend instruction to those classes whose labor gives value to the entire property of the country, and whose improvement will be its best safe-guard and protection.

Another source from which such endowments may be anticipated is the voluntary contributions of wealthy zemindars, whether called forth by a sincere desire to benefit their dependent country-men, or by the prospect of those honours and distinctions which Government can bestow, or by a combination of both motives. Who can doubt that when Government shall engage with earnestness and on a large scale in the work of instructing the people, the example will light up into a flame many a generous feeling which would otherwise be smouldering in its native seat, unseen and unknown, unblessing and unblest? I will not attempt to enumerate the benefactions that within my own recollection during the last twenty years have flowed from the liberty of native gentlemen. Roads have been constructed, bridges built, and other public works executed. They are at this moment joining heart and hand with the European community for the relief of the western provinces; they have established at their own expense and in some instances teach by their own labor English schools for the intellectual advancement of their countrymen; and they have from time to time placed large sums at the disposal of the Committee of Public Instruction for the objects of that body. No one can regret that their public spirit and philanthropy have taken these directions, but the greatest triumphs of native benevolence remain yet to be achieved in raising the body of their countrymen from the debasement of slaves and serfs to the knowledge, the self-respect, and the self-dependence of free men, and all that has been yet accomplished is only a pledge of what the native gentry can do, what they are ready to do, and what they will do, when the path is pointed out to them and the lead is taken by Government in the adoption of measures for the general education of the people. In the distribution of civil honors to those who deserve well of Government and of society, let special regard be had to all who shall make adequate provision for the education of the ryots on their estates, and a rich harvest of good to the country may be expected to spring up. I do not anticipate the want of endowments for school-masters so much as of qualified school-masters to take possession of the endowments which intelligent and wealthy zemindars will be found prepared to create for them.

There are numerous small landed tenures throughout the country, neither included in the Khas Mehals of Government, nor in the estates of endowed establishments, nor in the large zemindaries, but which constitute in the aggregate a very large proportion of the landed property of the country. They are, for the most part, owned by those who, in revenue language, are called