Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/37

Rh lish had been rejected, and the learned eastern tongues adopted, the people must equally have received their knowledge through the vernacular dialects. It was therefore quite unnecessary for the government, in deciding the question between the rival languages, to take any notice of the vernacular tongues, and consequently we have thought that nothing could reasonably be inferred from its omission to take such notice.

“We conceive the formation of a vernacular literature to be the ultimate object to which all our efforts must be directed. At present, the extensive cultivation of some foreign language, which is always very improving to the mind, is rendered indispensable by the almost total absence of a vernacular literature, and the consequent impossibility of obtaining a tolerable education from that source only. The study of English, to which many circumstances induce the natives to give the preference, and with it the knowledge of the learning of the west, is therefore daily spreading. This, as it appears to us, is the first stage in the process by which India is to be enlightened. The natives must learn before they can teach. The best educated among them must be placed in possession of our knowledge, before they can transfer it into their own language. We trust that the number