Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/398

338 certain situations to be neither stupid nor indocile. Whether the general system of cultivation be susceptible of improvement, and whether Government can successfully contribute to the accomplishment of so desirable an object, are questions, though of high moment, perhaps not easy of solution. But if an attempt at improvement is at all to be hazarded under the auspices of Government, it surely cannot be made in any way with such prospect of success as when coupled with a plan for rendering it subservient to the increase of the Government revenue as well as to the prosperity of its subjects. The nature of this attempt and the mode in which it ought to be directed would rest with those to point out whom residence in the country and an intimate acquaintance with the characters and manners of the natives may have qualified for giving advice upon such topics. It is of all things desirable to ascertain whether the rude implements and accustomed processes of the Indian peasant could be advantageously supplanted by those of Europe, and whether the establishment of experimental farms in various parts of the country hinder the superintendence of proper persons selected by Government for the purpose might not be useful, in the way of example, as a corrective of some of the vices and defects of the prevailing system. We are fully sensible that the poverty, prejudices, and indolence of the natives of India strongly operate against improvement. These are, in fact, the most inveterate enemies to improvement in all countries, but they are no where invincible when met with prudence, skill, and perseverance. We do not mean that we should vexatiously interfere with the usages of the inhabitants, or that we should attempt forcibly to change their habits,—far from it. But on the other hand, when their habits are bad, let us not plead their attachment to them as an apology perhaps for our own indolence in not endeavoring to correct them. Our efforts may for a long time be unavailing; but, if judiciously directed, we do not despair of their eventual success.”—Selections, Vol. I., p. 66, paras. 99—105.

The Honourable Court points so directly, in the concluding part of the extract, to another cause than “the poverty, prejudices, and indolence of the natives of India” operating against improvement, that it is not necessary to corroborate this prescient warning except by stating without comment that a period of about twenty-three years has elapsed since Lord Moira’s proposition was made for the establishment of houses of industry at the chief station of each zillah, and a period of about twenty-six years since the Court’s proposition for the establishment of experimental farms in various parts of the country; and that there is as much necessity now for re-urging the consideration and adoption of these or similar measures as there ever was. It may be hoped that the attention of Government will now be revived to both these designs with some practical result; and when the subject shall receive full consideration, it will probably appear that the Khas Mahals afford ample