Page:Calcutta Review Vol. II (Oct. - Dec. 1844).pdf/311

306 field of selection would not be limited to the existing services of Government, whether covenanted or uncovenanted. The choice ultimately fell on Mr. William Adam, a gentleman possessed of many rare endowments, natural and acquired, as well as of many special qualifications for the onerous task of Educational Commissioner,—who had originally come to this country as a Baptist Missionary, and who, after unhappily lapsing into the Socinian heresy and abandoning his mission, distinguished himself as the editor of a popular Calcutta Journal—the.

In January 1835, Mr. Adam received his formal appointment from Lord William Bentinck’s Government, being placed by it under the orders of the General Committee of Public Instruction, “to conduct inquiries into the state of native education in Bengal only.” Subsequently, however, authority was received to extend these inquiries into the province of Behar. But where was he to commence his important labours? This was a point which admitted of an easy and speedy determination. When, about forty years ago, Dr. entered on the statistical investigations which he undertook by the orders of Government, the route to be pursued by him was described in these terms:—“The Governor-General in Council is of opinion that these inquiries should commence in the district of Rangpur, and that from thence you should proceed to the westward through each district on the north side of the Ganges until you reach the western boundary of the Honourable Company’s provinces. You will then proceed towards the south and east until you have examined all the districts on the south side of the great river, and afterwards proceed to Dacca and the other districts towards the eastern frontier.” “In conformity,” says Mr. Adam, “with these instructions, Dr. Buchanan visited and examined the Bengal districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, and Purniya; and when the route to be followed in the present inquiry came under consideration, it was proposed and sanctioned that the general course prescribed to Dr. Buchanan should be adopted—not retracing any of the ground already trodden by him, but beginning at the point in Bengal at which his labours appear to have been brought to a close. If his investigations had been prolonged, the district of Rajshahi, in pursuance of his instructions, would probably have received his earliest attention, and it has consequently formed the first subject of the present inquiry.”

The route and the starting point being thus determined, how was he to proceed with his investigations? As regarded his general course, was he, for example, to traverse the entire sur-