being "thoroughly developed and the results observed."* He, therefore, saw no reason why there should be any departure from the principle of combined English and Vernacular instruction-the principle which had been acted upon to some extent even before the promulgation of Lord William Bentinck's Resolution. When a series of good vernacular class books had been prepared, the case would be somewhat altered; and it might then be considered whether, in the Provincial schools, instruction should be conveyed in English or in the vernacular languages. From March 1835, however, the General Committee had been under the presidency of Lord Macaulay; and as might have been expected, it had resolutely set itself to spread education among the upper and middle classes through the medium of English. For the next four or five years, it would listen to no modification of the system inaugurated by Lord William Bentinck. If separate vernacular schools were proposed, the proposal could not be entertained-it was contrary to the orders of Government passed after mature deliberation. If a Local Committee complained of want of success, it was exhorted to persevere. At first much misapprehension existed in various quarters in regard to the extent to which the vernacular languages were to be taught in Government schools. Some were of opinion that according to the most obvious interpretation of the Government Resolution the vernaculars were wholly excluded, and that all funds were to be employed strictly "on English education alone." The General Committee of Public Instruction declare that Instruction in the To remove all misunderstanding the General Committee made the following clear pronouncement in their Sir C. E. Trevelyan thus sums up the results of these experiments :-"It is a striking confirmation of the soundness of the prevailing plan of education, that the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies, although they set out from different quarters, and preserved no concert with each other, settled at last on exactly the same point. In Bengal we began by giving almost exclusive attention to the native classical languages, as they did in Bombay to the vernacular languages. In both cases experience has led to the conviction of the value of English, and to its having had that prominent place accorded to it which its importance demands," Annual Report for 1835:-"We are deeply sensible of the importance of encouraging the cultivation of the vernacular languages. We do not conceive that the order of the 7th March (i.e., Lord William Bentinck's Resolution) precludes us from doing this, and we have consistently acted on this construction. In the discussion which preceded that order, the claims of the vernacular language were broadly and prominently admitted by all parties; and the question submitted for the decision of Government only concerned the relative advantage of teaching English on the one side and the Learned Eastern Languages on the other . . . . We therefore conceive that the phrases European Literature and Science,' 'English education alone' and 'imparting to the native population a knowledge of English Literature and Science through the medium of the English language' are intended merely to secure the preference to European learning taught through the medium of the English language, over Oriental learning taught through the medium of the Sanskrit and Arabic languages, as regards the instruction of those natives who receive a learned education at our seminaries. These expressions have, as we understand them, no reference to the question through what ulterior medium such instruction as the mass of the people is capable of receiving is to be conveyed. If English 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 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." "" It would appear that the whole position was in general terms regulated by the principle, already mentioned on page 47, that the tendency of education was to spread from the higher ranks of society to the lower orders. Mr. Adam was no believer in this doctrine so far as Bengal was concerned. Lord Macaulay on the contrary considered it almost axiomatic. In his minute of the 31st July, 1837, he wrote :—“We do not at present aim at giving education directly to the lower classes of the people of this country. We aim at raising up an educated class who will hereafter, as we hope, be the means of diffusing among their countrymen some portion of the knowledge we have imparted to them." In his minute of the 31st December, 1837, he reiterated" we mean these youths to be conductors of knowledge to the people." This being so, "I do not," said he in another minute, "see how we can either make the present teachers of elementary knowledge more competent, or supply their places as yet with fitter men. The evil is one which time only can remedy, our schools (English) are nurseries for schoolmasters for the next generation. If we can raise up a class of educated Bengalis, they will naturally, and without any violent change, displace by degrees the present incompetent teachers.' 99 While these views were canvassed and prevailed, Mr. Adam's Report was presented to the General Committee of Public Instruction. They rejected his plan and recommendations as a whole. They were of opinion that the execution of his scheme for diffusing elementary instruction among the masses would be "almost impossible," and that, in any case, it would involve more expenditure than he might suppose. They referred to the repeated failure of the attempts made in various parts of the country, notably in Chinsurah, Dacca, Daulatpur and Bhagalpur, to improve the common village school; and they recorded "A further experience and a more mature consideration of the important subject of education in this country, has led us to adhere to the opinion formerly expressed by us, that our efforts should at first be concentrated to the chief towns or sudder stations of districts, and to the improvement of education among the higher and middle classes of the population; in the expectation that through the agency of these scholars, an educational reform will descend to the rural vernacular schools, and its benefit be rapidly transfused among all those excluded in the first instance by abject want from a participation in its advantages." Mr. Adam's Plan not given a Trial even in Schools near While in the main refusing to adopt Mr. Adam's recommendations in general, the majority of the members of the General Committee wished to give his scheme a trial on a small scale, by applying it to a circle of twenty schools in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, premising that the expense of the experiment should not fall on the funds at their disposal. The Government did not approve the proposal. Mr. Adam in disgust resigned his appointment. The Court of Directors confirmed the resolutions of the Government, and intimated that when the educational needs of the superior and middle classes had been provided for, "then Mr. Adam's proposals might be taken upon a liberal scale with some fairer prospect of success. The Members of the Education Commission in The Education Commission, in their Report on the Progress of Education in the Lower Provinces of Bengal, 1881-82, thus express themselves on the action taken by the General Committee on Mr. Adam's Report :-" If with the sums, for instance, which were at the disposal of the Committee of Public Instruction, and which barely amounted to one lakh of rupees in 1823 and to 4 lakhs in 1835, the Committee had undertaken to establish vernacular schools of their own, or to improve the hundredthousand patshalas which Bengal had been estimated to contain, or to establish small vernacular scholarships instead of substantial English scholarships as they did in 1839, they could not have achieved any tangible results. They could not have found a competent inspecting staff, nor a body of efficient teachers, nor any school books more suitable than the missionary publications of early times, which had never been able to make their way into indigenous schools. By limiting their efforts as they did, they prepared a body of useful and trustworthy public servants, stimulated the intelligence of a growing middle class, and brought vernacular authorship into existence." The General Committee declare their Intention of establishing Anglo- Fortified by the support which their policy had received from the Court of Directors the General Committee were more deeply convinced than ever of the soundness of the principles by which they had hitherto been guided, and they declared that their efforts would continue to be directed to the establishment of Anglo-Vernacular schools in the principal towns and to the improvement of education among the more influential classes of the people. At the same time they admitted the importance of vernacular education, and resolved to prevent English studies from unfairly displacing vernacular studies. To accomplish this they provided each of their schools with one set of teachers for English subjects, and another set of teachers for vernacular subjects. Plan of Instruction in Anglo-Vernacular Schools. In the new Anglo-Vernacular schools of the General Committee, the pupils, without exception, were taught to read their mother tongue, and to write it with correctness. They began the vernacular alphabet at the same time as they commenced the English alphabet, and progress in the two alphabets marched side by side. In this early stage of their education, they were required to explain in their own language the meanings of English words. The next stage was to exercise them in the translation of easy English sentences into the vernacular and vice versa. They were also at frequent intervals called upon to write paragraphs of original composition in the |