Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/121

Rh ance of popularity, would really have been preserved from falling into disuse only by the patronage of government.

The result of the experiment has been most satisfactory. Formerly we kept needy boys in pay, to train them up to be bigoted maulavees and pundits; now multitudes of the upper and middle classes flock to our seminaries to learn, without fee or reward, all that English literature can teach them. The practice of giving stipends to students was part of the general system by which learning was confined to particular castes; this monopoly has now been broken down, and all are invited to attend who are really anxious to learn. Where formerly we paid both teachers and students, we now only pay the teachers; and our means of extending our operations have been proportionably increased; yet, so great is the demand for teachers, that if we could only increase their number at will, we might have almost any number of students.

It is constantly urged by the advocates of oriental learning that the result of all our efforts will only be to extend a smattering of English throughout India, and that the question is between a profound knowledge of Sanskrit and Arabic literature on the one side, and a super-