Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/65

Rh and the cry of indignation of the Calcutta literati was re-echoed with more than its original bitterness from the colleges of France and Germany.

In order to understand these phenomena, it will be necessary to go back a few years in the history of India. When Lord established the college of Fort William, he provided munificently for the encouragement of oriental learning. For a long time after, that learning was nearly the sole test of merit among the junior members of the civil service, and such military and medical officers as aspired to civil employment. A superior knowledge of Sanskrit and Arabic was sure to be rewarded by a good place. The reputations of many members of the government and of nearly all the secretaries had been founded on this basis. The literary circle of Calcutta was almost exclusively composed of orientalists. The education committee was formed when this state of things was at its height, and hence the decidedly oriental cast of its first proceedings.

By degrees the rage for orientalism subsided among the Europeans, while the taste for European literature rose to a great height among the natives. A modification of the committee’s proceedings suited to this altered state of things was called for; but the persons who had been trained under the