Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/188

174 is at present only a limited demand for books in the vernacular languages. But what is the remedy proposed? To print more books. To print more books than are wanted, because they are not wanted! This scheme, though in appearance more popular, would be, in reality, just as useless as that of the Arabic translations: the books would rot on the shelves; and, as they would not be read, nothing would be gained by their being in a known, instead of an unknown, tongue. The chance that anything worth reading will be produced by salaried translators, who are certain of being paid whether their books are good or bad, is also very small indeed. If such a plan were to answer in any degree, it would be likely to do so at the expense of pitching the national taste at the outset at a very low standard.

In order to create a vernacular literature, we must begin by creating a demand for one. The adoption of the vernacular language, as the language of public business, will contribute more towards the formation of a vernacular literature than if the Government were to spend a crore of rupees in translating and printing books. It will have the same effect as the substitution of English for Norman-French in legal proceedings, and for Latin in the exercises of religion had in England.