Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/34

20 mitted. This practice was found to encourage the prejudice which it was meant to conciliate. The opposite practice has been attended with no inconvenience of any kind; Christian, Mohammedan, and Hindu boys, of every shade of colour and variety of descent, may be seen standing side by side in the same class, engaged in the common pursuit of English literature, contending for the same honours, and forced to acknowledge the existence of superior merit in their comrades of the lowest, as well as in those of the highest caste. This is a great point gained. The artificial institution of caste cannot long survive the period when the youth of India, instead of being trained to observe it, shall be led by the daily habit of their lives to disregard it. All we have to do is to bring them together, to impress the same character on them, and to leave the yielding and affectionate mind of youth to its natural impulse. Habits of friendly communication will thus be established between all classes, they will insensibly become one people, and the process of enlightening our subjects will proceed simultaneously with that of uniting them among themselves.

In the long discussions which preceded the change in the plan of the committee, there was