the French power being annihilated-and every native state either tributary or an ally! This was a glorious state of things and, he doubted not, if it pleased God to spare the Marquis of Hastings, he would leave their Indian territories in that same situation. With this feeling, the noble Marquis Hastings possessed his confidence and demanded his applause. He differed notwithstanding from the Marquis Wellesley, on the subject of the college at Calcutta, and on the occasion of moving his resolution in the general court in 1805; he stated the grounds of that difference of opinion, and the proprietors agreed with him in the proposition he submitted to them. He opposed the college at Calcutta, because Lord Wellesley, instead of erecting a school for the purpose of giving instruction in the oriental languages, created an university for all sorts of languages, and for every species of learning. He disliked the idea of sending out professors in every branch of literature, with immense stipends, who, on coming back to this country, upon a few years residence, would have expected large pensions, by which the funds of the Company must have been overburdened. He did not wonder that one of the most elegant scholars of the age-that a nobleman of such talents-should, in his anxious desire to forward the interests of learning, promote such an establishment. He conceived, however, that it would not answer the object sought to be obtained. It was too much to expect, that young gentlemen would descend from the rostrum,-where they had been displaying their acquirements in philosophy, political economy, jurisprudence, mathematics, natural philosophy, the law of nations, and other high branches of human knowledge, to count bales and to measure muslins. (Laughter.) He felt that it was not right nor necessary to make all their young servants doctors and magistrates, before they had gone through subordinate situations with credit, and obtained that rigid integrity, that immoveable firmness of character. which years only could supply-before they had learned, that, which was most important to a great commercial body, a perfect knowledge of the Company's trade.-(Hear! Hear!) Surely, if they wished to form a good and active merchant, they would not commence by making him a Doctor of Laws or an expounder of philosophy. This constituted one strong ground of objection. Another was this:-He always thought that their young servants ought to be bred in the British land, under the immediate eye of their parents and tutors, who, if they manifested any vicious propensities, could at once place a salutary check on them-while those who sup

ported the Calcutta establishment, proposed that the young men should pass three years of their early life in a debilitating climate, and surrounded by every incentive to vice; for they all knew well, that there were not wanting persons in India, who, relying on the expectancies of young gentlemen, would lend them money, in the hope of receiving exorbitant interest, at a future day. He, on the contrary, was anxious that this critical period of life, when the seeds of vice or of virtue were always sown, should be spent in England, where the mind and the body would be invigorated and im proved, instead of sending the youths to a country, where the probability was that both would be threatened, if not destroyed. His honourable friend did him the justice to admit, that, in opposing the Calcutta college, money was not the motive by which he was actuated. Certainly it was not. His opposition was not founded on the desire of effecting a paltry saving. No-the mind was far above all questions of money-and this was a question of mind. He stated this at the time

and he stated farther, that he did not wish to exchange one university for another-that he did not want that fault to be committed here, which he regretted had been committed in India. But, the proprietors had no sooner countenanced a seminary for 80 or 90 students, than the gentlemen behind the bar ran wild. Instead of a school they immediately created an university. As if the mania of India had reached the directors in England, they instantly appointed professorships of all descriptions-of philosophy, of the ology, of humanity and philology, of civil jurisprudeuce, of the law of nations, of the political economy and finance of rhetoric, of mathematics, and of history. Instead of sending out writers qualified for the purposes of commerce, they prepared to pervade India with an army of young Grotiuses and Puffendorfs,—whose qualifications were too high for the situations they were intended to fill,—whose minds could not descend to the drudgery of the counting-house, after they had been stimulated, by honours and rewards, to become proficients in every species of literary attainment. This was not the insti tution that he had contemplated, although he might be charged with favouring the system. Happily, however, writing re mained when words were forgotten-and he now held in his hand, the resolutions moved by himself in 1805, on which the institution at Hertford was founded. His views would clearly appear from that do cument, which he begged leave to be read:"Resolved, That this court doth highly approve of an establishment in the country, for the education of youth de

signed for the Company's civil service in India, and promises itself the happiest consequences, from a system which, instead of sending out writers to India at too tender an age to admit of fixed or settled principles, proposes previously to perfect them, as much as possible, in classical and liberal learning, aud thoroughly to ground them in the religion, the constitution, and the laws of their country; so that when called upon to administer their functions abroad, they may be mindful of the high moral obligations under which they act, and of the maxims of the British government, whose character for justice, freedom, and benevolence, they will feel it their duty and their pride to support." He was quite satisfied, that such a seminary as he then contemplated would have afforded the young gentlemen an education perfectly suited to the situation in which they were to be placed. As many of them would, in time, arrive at the dignity of residents and judges, he was anxious that they should have such a liberal education as would enable them to discharge their functions with propriety. Therefore, they were to be accomplished in classical learning, and to be thoroughly grounded in the eastern languages, which must be their medium of communication with those whom they governed. During these three years they would here learn those lessons of morality, which were too frequently neglected abroad; and, when they went out to India, they would carry with them all those valuable precepts which they had imbibed at home-a deep respect for religion-a knowledge of the great and leading principles of English law-and a determination, founded on that knowledge, to render the constitution of their country revered and admired, whereever it was administered. Such was his view, when he proposed the establishment of a school. But what had the court of directors done? Their first step (and he heard it with shame and astonishment) was, to clothe those boys in the costume of Oxford and Cambridge! If any one circumstance could contribute more than another to create those difficulties and produce that insubordination which his hopourable friend had mentioned-it was the placing this dress on boys of 15 or 16, and thus nourishing sentiments of pride and arrogance in their minds till they became too strong to be managed, and set at defiance the commands of those who were placed over them. This was certainly the act best calculated to produce such effects. He wondered that the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge could suffer such a mockery in silence. He was surprised that some of those members of government who had once worn the academic gown, which must be dear to them, because it connected with it so many of the most pleasing recollecAsiatic Journ.-No, 14.

must

tions, did not remonstrate against such an assumption. If any thing prevented them from seriously noticing it, it could only be those lighter feelings which the exhibition have created. The speech of his honourable friend went to admonish the court that they ought to proceed to the abolition of the college. Now, although he objected to the manner in which it was conducted, he did not feel prepared for its abolition. He said, reform the establishment. Let the court of directors retrace their steps, and treat the students as boys, instead of filling them with ideas of manly consequence and proud independence. He would advise them to do by the young writers as they had done by their cadets at Addiscombe. He was present during the last examination at that establishment, and, so gratifying was the scene, that it was hardly possible for any person to re press the powerful feelings which it excit ed. He could scarcely avoid giving way to enthusiasm of the most ardent kind, when he saw 60 youths, clothed in the plainest manner, but still in costume, go through their various exercises with the utmost correctness and propriety. He saw them travel through different problems in the mathematics, with the same ease as an ordinary youth would repeat his French dialogues. But, what most delighted him was, the infinite modestyof their deportment, which rendered every thing they did peculiarly interesting, and lent an additional grace to their performances. (Hear! hear!) He never beheld a more interesting or a more excellent set of youths; and he never saw a band of boys more accomplished, more polite to strangers, or more obedient to their tutors. This was not a college, it was a school. Let them, then, turn Hertford college into a school

let the students be treated as at the public schools like boys, who ought to be made to feel if they would not learn-and he was convinced that subordination and regularity would soon take the place of disorder and idleness. In a few years after the institution of the college at Hertford, he found that every thing was going wrong. He heard that the boys were growing wild, and, instead of being informed that they were proceeding quietly with their studies, nothing but histories of conduct the most extravagant and disgraceful reached his ears. So shameful were the circumstances related to him, that he concluded, irregularity and audacity had been advertised as the qualifications necessary to entitle them to appear as candidates for election into the college. He thought it his duty to interpose-and he procured a new regulation to be adopted-namely, that annually there should be laid before the court an account of the number of youths in the college-their degree of proficiency in different branches of learning-reports VOL. III. Y?

of their progress in oriental literaturetogether with a statement of the expenses of the institution. Here he must observe, that the sum originally voted, did not, he believed, more than half build and furnish the college. But he would not quarrel upon that account. He would not find fault with their magnificence. A great and sovereign corporation ought to act fully up to their dignity, he therefore had not repined at hearing that the directors had erected a splendid pile; he had never seen it, but such was his information. It might indeed appear whimsical, but such was the fact, that he, who, by his motion in that court, had as far as respected the authority of the proprietors, laid the corner stone of the institution, had never seen the outside of the edifice at Hertford. This circumstance did not create any feelings of acerbity in his mind. But it was at least whimsical, that the individual who moved that there should be such an institution, had not a card to admit him to witness the laying of the first stone of the building.-Hear! hear!) But, though he had not viewed the edifice, he had kept a strict eye on the conduct within-and he felt the utmost degree of shame and compunction at hearing that the students were in the frequent commission of every species of offence. Not only rustications had taken place, but expulsion after expulsion was resorted to, without effect. Some of the students, as stated by his honourable friend, had been dragged before the magistrates for outra geous assaults, if not for something worse. Insurrections, and every kind of disorder and irregularity were continually occurring. The young lads were not principally to blame. The executive body were accountable for this misrule-they who had invested them with robes and thus turned their brains with vanity and folly. He had seen with what feelings of pride it filled the youthful breast, at the university, where, during the first year, the wearer of the gown would often sally forth in order to display it-and where among much older subjects than the youths at Hertford, the excess of self-importance would sometimes generate licentiousness.--It would, Mr.Jackson said, have been a great consolation to him, if the court of directors, in their places, making an honest report to the proprietors, had been able to say: It is very true, all those offences, all those irregularities, all those errors, which you so justly reprobate, and which are so highly reprehensible, have taken place-but see what has been accomplished as to learning. See what men we are about to send out as the ornaments and upholders of our Indian territories. Behold what proficients they are in the oriental languages, in philosophy, in juris prudence, in classics, in mathematics! We admit, they have been a little turbulent, but that was merely the effect of

momentary extravagance, and has passed away. You should not forget what great and splendid characters have, in their early career of life, been marked by faults and even vices-who have nevertheless by their learning and their accomplishments made ample atonement for their juvenile errors. So, you will say, these young men have done, when you see how deeply they are read in oriental and classical learning when you mark their great progress in the mathematics, in the study of philosophy-and of every other species of knowledge: when you refer to that re port which your standing order directs should be annually laid before you, you will see how they eclipse all their predecessors-and delighted with the account you will exclaim, "let us continue the college with all its errors, provided we can send out such prodigies of learning and ability!" But let the court check its exultation; let it look at the very last reports of the progress of education at the college, and they would find but little room for pride. These reports were evidently drawn up with all that tenderness which usually characterized instruments of this kind. He did not mean to condemn the feelings which influenced preceptors to lean as lightly as possible on the errors of their pupils. It was a good and praiseworthy principle.

"Be to their faults a little blind,
"Be to their virtues very kind,

"And clap a padlock on the mind;" it was the wise and proper medium by which the conduct of tutors ought to be regulated.

He would now refer to the "minutes of the general court held in September, for the purpose of receiving the report of the college council, as to the result of the general examination of the students." He had, when that report was laid before them in September last, professedly avoided entering into its consideration, but intimated that he should call the attention of the court to it on some future occasion; and he would inform the proprietors why, when the report was introduced, more had not been said on it. About the period when it was deemed necessary to bring this question forward, five or six young men were under sentence of expulsion, and their friends were at the feet of every gentleman who was in the habit of stating his sentiments in that court, beseeching them not to stir the question at that moment, as they hoped to soften and propitiate the college council towards their misguided relatives. His hon. friend (Mr. Hume) though completely possessed of all the materials necessary to place the matter fully before the court, would not, in consequence of this application, bring it forward. "I will not," said his hon. friend, "be the means of adding one pang to

those you already feel; 'till the business is settled and decided, I will not say a word about it." He had scrupulously kept his promise-but the time was now come, when it was necessary that every circumstance connected with the subject should be stated. What then said the report of Dec. 1815" the Chairman stated, he found that the determination of the court, on the application of the students, was to dispense with the test in favour of those who had failed in passing the orientul test.” This, observed Mr. Jackson, was a college instituted for the express purpose of attaining perfection in the oriental languages-it was to render unnecessary the establishments at Calcutta and Madras, in order that, through it, the eastern tongues should be studied at home--and here, at at the very outset of the report there appeared to be a failure in the primary object for the attainment of which it was instituted. The report proceeded thus"the determination of the court, on the recommendation of the oriental professors and visitor, had not been communicated to the college council, The number of students who had failed, and who consequently applied to the court to dispense with the oriental test, was only five, and the court's determination was to comply with their application. The Chairman remarked, however, to them, that the court had complied with the recommendation of the said professors and visitor, to dispense with the test, in favour of those students, but that he should take care the minute was so worded, as not to give any encouragement to future remissness-it being impossible that the like indulgence could be again granted." Thus the proprietors were paying £20,000 a year, for the support of this college, including interest on the money expended in building, &c. in the expectation that it would supersede all other establishments of a similar nature, and what was the result? the young men were unable to get over this miserable test known to be a set law they applied to the court of directors for indulgence, who immediately furnished them with certificates of ignorance -and sent them out to India.-(Laughter.)-But it might be said, "the oriental languages are, we know, difficult of pronunciation, and the characters are a little cramp, so that a young man cannot immediately familiarise his tongue to the one, nor his optics to the other. Well, well, let us overlook this test in the eastern languages, which seem so very hard. Doubt less the young men are deeply skilled in the dead languages, and one would not be too severe on such accomplished classics." He would, by and by, state to the court their proficiency in classical and mathematical knowledge, which appeared to equal that, displayed by them in oriental

This

learning. The next paragraph of the report was as follows:-" the examination lists annexed to these minutes were then laid before the committee, and that of the students who have obtained medals, prizes, and other honourable distinctions, was read to them by the principal, who remarked that, notwithstanding the late un fortunate proceedings, the great body of the students had remained orderly-(orderly! exclaimed Mr. Jackson, the lads at the charter.house would have been flogged to death for the flagitious conduct indulged in at Hertford college!)—" and the literature of the college did not appear to have sustained any material injury." was pretty consolation indeed!-Well, six months of reflection having been given to the young gentlemen, he now came to the last examination, which took place in May, 1816: Minutes of the committee of college, held on the 30th of May 1816, for the purpose of receiving the report of the college council, as to the result of the general examination of the students. The council had consequently laid before the committee of college a report, which was read in general court, containing a view of the literature of the college in the term then on the point of expiration. By this report it appeared, that the Asiatic languages had seldom been cultivated with greater zeal and success than by a considerable proportion of the senior students; that the condition of the European literature was not quite so favourable, the importance of the classical and mathematical branches not appearing to be so highly appreciated by the generality of the students, as it had been in some former periods." This was a pretty specimen of subordination and docility. It was here admitted that the students were the masters. They were to select the branches of literature, which it was proper to study

they, not their tutors, were to appreciate the value of different kinds of learning; and, when a young gentleman found the study of Greek and Latin to be a bore, he had only to put on his cap and gown, and stroll into Hertford in search of society.—(Laughter.)—In his time, when the youth walked about in this manner, they were accustomed to call it lounging, and many of them thought it much better than learning-but, one time or other they were undeceived. "But," continued the report," the council were willing to hope, that that state of feeling" (out of which, said Mr. Jackson,) the students ought to have been whipped) "would not become permanent in the college, or prevail to such a degree as to defeat those wise and liberal views which embraced a sound European education, as one of the most es sential objects of the institution; that the class last admitted had not shewn any disposition to withdraw themselves” (they