Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/16

2 course of study at these institutions was purely oriental, and the object of it was to provide a regular supply of qualified Hindu and Mohammedan law officers for the judicial administration. The next step taken was at the renewal of the Company’s charter in 1813, when 10,000l., or a lac of rupees a year, was set apart “for the revival and promotion of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories.” The subject was however regarded at that time in India with so much apathy, that no measures were adopted to fulfil the intentions of the British legislature till 1823. On the 17th of July in that year the governor general in council resolved, that “there should be constituted a general committee of public instruction for the purpose of ascertaining the state of public education, and of the public institutions designed for its promotion, and of considering, and from time to time submitting to government, the suggestion of such measures as it may appear expedient to adopt with a view to the better instruction of the people, to the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and to the improvement of their moral character.” Corresponding instructions were addressed to the