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graphic and other presses, of which former mode of printing favourable specimens are appended to the reports; and that it has under its control and management the several schools and establishments described in the following paragraphs :In the Central School 250 boys have been through a course of study in the English language; 50 have left it with a competent knowledge of the language, consisting of an acquaintance with geography, mathematics, and geometry. In Bombay the boys in the Mahratta School have amounted to 954, and in Guzerattee to 427. At present there are altogether 56 of the society's schools, each containing about 60 boys, amounting in the whole to 3000 boys under a course of education.'

This report contains the following further particulars :—

'Your committee observe, that the boys who have made the greatest progress in the English schools are the Hindoos; they are left longer in the schools by their parents than other boys, who, though equally intelligent, are more irregular in their attendance. Few or no Mahommedan boys ever enter the schools.

"Your committee have hitherto experienced some trouble from the jealousy of the old native schoolmasters, who are unacquainted with the mode of instruction adopted by the society, and who have attempted all they can to deter parents from sending their children to the schools. This spirit of rivalry, from a conviction of the inferiority of the old system, and a feeling of shame at opposing the progress of knowledge, has now happily subsided.'

A committee, consisting of seven gentlemen, residents in Prince of Wales' Island, was formed in November, 1815, and undertook the establishment of a school for the instruction of native children in the rudiments of the most useful branches of education. This school was to be open for the reception of all children, and the only preference to be shown in their admission was to be in favour of the most poor and friendless. Reading, writing, and the common rules of arithmetic were to be taught, and at a proper age instruction was to be given in useful mechanical employments. Malays, Chinese, and Hindoostanees, were to be instructed in their own languages by appointed teachers, care being taken to avoid offending the religious prejudices of any party. The school was opened to children of all ages between four and fourteen years.

This plan met the concurrence and pecuniary support of the government, which granted a piece of ground for the erection of two school-houses, one for boys and the other for girls. In July, 1824, the school contained 104 boys of different ages, having sent forth several promising youths, six of whom had been placed by regular indenture in the public service.'

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A further report concerning the state of this school was prepared in January, 1827, which it was proposed to publish in the Prince of Wales' Island Gazette; but this publication was prevented by the censor of the press, on the ground of the report containing observations calculated to give offence to the Catholic inhabitants. At a subsequent examination of the scholars, which took place in 1829, their progress is stated to have been highly satisfactory.

Early in 1823, Sir T. Stamford Raffles, with that enlightened zeal by which he was ever actuated for the advancement of knowledge, projected an institution at Singapore, to consist of a college, with a library and museum, for the promotion of Anglo-Chinese literature, and of branch schools, for instruction in the Chinese and Malayan languages. It was proposed to incorporate with the college that previously formed at Malacca by Drs. Milne and Morrison, but it does not appear that this part of the design has been accomplished. The sum of 15,000 dollars was raised by subscription in aid of the Singapore institution, an advantageous allotment of ground was appropriated for its use near the town, and previously to his quitting the settlement Sir Stamford Raffles laid the first stone of the building designed for the college. A monthly allowance of 300 dollars was at that time assigned for the support of the institution, which, together with the grants of land, has been subsequently confirmed by the court of directors.

It is to be regretted that so promising a commencement has not been followed by all the benefits proposed by the founder. The funds at command proved inadequate to the completion of the building upon the intended scale, so that its progress was interrupted; and under these circumstances the local government restricted the monthly allowance of 300 dollars to one-third of that sum, and further directed its application towards the support of an establishment for merely elementary education. The allowance is now 2520 rupees per annum.

The Anglo-Chinese college at Malacca, already alluded to as having been formed by Drs. Milne and Morrison, was founded in the year 1818. Its object was the instruction of Chinese youths in the English language, and in various branches of European science. It is scarcely to be regretted that the plan of removing this college to Singapore was not carried into execution. Malacca has now become a British settlement, and with a native population of quiet and peaceable habits, appears well fitted for being the sphere of such an institution.

OOT., 1833-JAN., 1834.

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The main object of this college appears to have been the reciprocal interchange of Chinese and European literature and science, rather than to render it the means of affording instruction to the unlettered natives, and the record of its transactions would therefore seem to belong to works specially devoted to science rather than to this Journal.

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Two free schools, one for boys, the other for girls, were established at Malacca before the settlement came into the possession of the East India Company. In July, 1827, the school-rooms were put into a state of repair, and a monthly sum of 100 dollars was assigned for their support out of the company's funds. These schools were shortly afterwards placed under the management of a committee, composed of the principal inhabitants of Malacca. In October, 1829, the female school contained 50 scholars, who had made an couraging' progress in writing and arithmetic. The boys' school at the same time contained 105 scholars, who were divided into eight classes. The lowest of these were learning the alphabet and to write on sand. The second class were taught the Malay and English vocabulary, writing on slates and cyphering. The third, Murray's spelling-book, writing on slates, and cyphering. The fourth and fifth, reading the New Testament, also writing on slates and cyphering. The sixth, reading the New Testament, and repeating from it daily, also writing on paper; and the students had commenced multiplication. The seventh class was learning trades. Two were apprenticed to printing, three to shoemaking, and four to tailoring; they were occupied with their trades from eight to eleven, and at school from eleven till two, in writing on paper, reading and spelling from the New Testament, multiplication, and division.

The head class was composed of monitors; they were taught writing on paper and English grammar, with other English exercises.

The following statement, drawn out by the auditor of Indian accounts, and dated at the East India House, 13th of March, 1832, contains a statement of all the sums that have been applied to the purpose of educating the natives in India from the year 1813 to the latest period to which the same can be made out, distinguishing the amount so applied in each year. The distribution appears to have been all along very unequally made, but less so during the last four years comprehended in the statement, although even now the sum expended in Bengal amounts to nearly two-thirds of all the money contributed :

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The sums thus contributed are considerably beyond what the company is obliged, by the terms of its charter, to apply to the purpose of educating the native population of India; but when we take into account the extent of territory, and the number of the inhabitants under British authority in Hindoostan, the means contributed must appear wholly inadequate. The population directly subject to British sway in the three presidencies is stated in a return, bearing the same date as the table just given, to amount to 89,581,972: consequently the sum contributed towards their education in 1830 amounted to something short of half a farthing for each individual, and was about the four hundred and ninetieth part of the revenue collected.

An opinion has often been expressed, that considering the means by which our empire has been acquired in India, policy demands that the people should be kept in ignorance, that from the moment their minds are enlightened, they will seek to throw off the yoke under which we have brought them, and that our expulsion from Hindoostan will be inevitable. To join in this opinion, however, it appears necessary for us to suppose, that the people, when enlightened, will be wholly forgetful of the state of degradation from which they have been raised, and unmindful of their obligations towards those who will have been instrumental in securing their mental improvement, and under whom they must feel that they enjoy a larger measure of happiness and security than fell to their share during the fluctuating tyrannies to which they were formerly subjected. It is reasonable to believe, that

in proportion as knowledge is spread among them, they will become, not only better men, but better subjects, and less likely to be made the tools of the ambitious and designing. The more intelligence exists among a people, provided the government is administered with a proper regard to their true interests, the less desire will there be for change; and in particular, while they are increasing the sum of their knowledge, they will be pleased with themselves and contented with their situation.

For the information we have been able to communicate, we have been principally indebted to the report made by the select committee of the House of Commons on the affairs of the East India Company, dated 16th August, 1832, and to the numerous and very voluminous papers by which it was accompanied.

ENGLISH BOARDING-SCHOOLS.

In the present state of education in this country, boardingschools form a prominent feature. By far the greater part of the children of the middle and upper classes receive their early education at boarding-schools. Two circum

stances have materially contributed to this state of things: first, the individual wealth of so large a portion of the nation, by which parents are enabled to procure for their children boarding-school education, which, if good, is always expensive; and secondly, the absence of a general system of national instruction, and consequently a want of public schools, in every parish or village, which might be considered respectable.

Education, such as it is practicable to give at a good boarding-school, may be made, in our opinion, superior to any other, even to that received in the house of a parent. In a civilized state of society, education becomes an art, and must be studied and practised as such, by persons who make it their profession. Not many parents have the time and means for doing this; and although, with the assistance of daily teachers, they can instruct their children in the necessary branches of knowledge, the moral treatment at home will probably, in most cases, be defective. The present state of society leaves young people more exposed to external temptations at home, than at a well-managed private school. And how few parents are able constantly to maintain that composed and rational state of mind, in which they have

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