Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/159

Rh only indirectly connected with my subject. A very general opinion has prevailed for some years past, that Persian ought to be discarded; but there was not the same concurrence of sentiment as to what language ought to be substituted for it. One party advocated the use of English, on the ground, that it was of more importance that the judges who had to decide a case should thoroughly understand it, than the persons themselves who were interested in it: that if the European officers used their own language in official proceedings, they would be much more independent of the pernicious influence of their administrative officers; and that the general encouragement which would be given to the study of English, by its adoption as the official language, would give a powerful impulse to the progress of native enlightenment. Some years ago this opinion was the prevailing one among those who were favourable to the plan of giving the natives a liberal European education; and it was even adopted by the Bengal government, as will be seen by the extract at the foot of the page, from a letter from the secretary in the Persian department, to the Committee of Public Instruction, dated the 26th June, 1829.