Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/192

178 make the copyright of any value. Now, however, large editions of many works, both in English and the vernacular languages, are called for; and anxiety is felt by publishers on account of their liability to be deprived of their profits by piratical editions.

Although my remarks have been particularly directed to the state of things in the Bengal and Agra presidencies, they are, for the most part, equally applicable to the rest of British India. The plan which has been found to be best adapted for enlightening the people in Bengal, is not likely to be less efficacious at Madras and Bombay. Those presidencies will suffer less by the start of a few years, which Bengal has had, than they will gain by being placed in possession of a well devised and well tested plan of proceeding, without having had any of the trouble or expense of making the experiment.

At Madras, where least has been done for native education, there are, perhaps, more abundant materials and fewer obstacles than in any of the other presidencies. Native learning is even more thinly spread than in Bengal, and no institutions have been established by us to confirm its hold upon the country. On the other hand, a colloquial knowledge of English is a much more common acquirement than it is in Bengal. There are seve-