Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/31

 such an institution. Here too he met with opposition ; but this was overcome, and by the 1st of January 1857 there were 104 students in attendance. One step more remained — the foundation of scholarships in connection with the Central School, for the maintenance of a few of the best of these students, during the completion of their education in the Agra College. One such scholarship he recommended to the Government in memory of his lamented friend and coadjutor Koour AjeetSing ; another he proposed to found himself ; and he hoped that some of the local gentlemen might in this matter be induced to follow his example.

Upon this happy development of peace and progress the Mutiny of May 1857 fell like a thunderbolt. Yet, after two years, when order had been re-established, Mr. Hume was able to report, on the 25th of January 1859, that his system of education was again in active life : "This system even the past revolution failed to obliterate ; some of the schools remained open from first to last, and now though it is but a few months since we finally regained possession of the whole district, the schools are once more numbered by hundreds, the scholars by thousands." Unfortunately, following the Mutiny, official opinion appears to have suffered a reaction on the question of popular education, and he expressed his concern that many "entirely disapprove of any efforts to cultivate the native mind ; many condemn, as unconditionally, a merely secular education." In this report, therefore, of January 1859 he vindicated the policy of enlightenment, declaring that "assert its supremacy as it may at the bayonet's point, a free and civilized government must look for its stability and permanence to the enlightenment of the people, and their moral and intellectual capacity to appreciate its blessings." The reactionary spirit showed itself shortly afterwards in a