Page:The despatch of 1854, on General education in India.djvu/16

Rh ferred, the attendance upon certain lectures, and the attainment of a degree in law, may not, for the future, be made a qualification for vakeels and moonsiffs, instead of, or in addition to, the present system of examination, which must, however, be continued in places not within easy reach of an university.

31. Civil engineering is another subject of importance, the advantages of which, as a profession, are gradually becoming known to the natives of India; and while we are inclined to believe that instruction of a practical nature, such as is given at the at Roorkee, is far more useful than any lectures could possibly be, professorships of civil engineering might perhaps be attached to the universities, and degrees in civil engineering be included in their general scheme.

32. Other branches of useful learning may suggest themselves to you, in which it might be advisable that lectures should be read, and special degrees given; and it would greatly encourage the cultivation of the vernacular languages of India that professorships should be founded for those languages, and, perhaps, also for Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. A knowledge of the Sanskrit language, the root of the vernaculars of the greater part of India, is more especially necessary to those who are engaged in the work of composition in those languages; while Arabic, through Persian, is one of the component parts of the Urdu language, which extends over so large a part of Hindostan, and is, we are informed, capable of considerable development. The grammar of these languages, and their application to the improvement of the spoken languages of the country, are the points to which the attention of these professors should be mainly directed; and there will be an ample field for their labours unconnected with any instruction in the tenets of the Hindoo or Mahomedan religions. We should refuse to sanction any such teaching, as directly opposed to the principle of religious neutrality to which we have always adhered.

33. We desire that you take into your consideration the institution of universities at Calcutta and Bombay, upon the general principles which we have now explained to you, and