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who prosecute a dead language with uncertain purpose, impelled only by natural genius or love of fame. But having been appointed to the important offices of administering the government of the country in which these languages are spoken, they apply their acquisitions immediately to useful purposes; in distributing justice to the inhabitants; in transacting the business of the state, revenual and commercial; and in maintaining official intercourse with the people, in their own tongue, and not, as hitherto, by means of an interpreter.

"The acquisitions of our students may be appreciated by their affording to the suppliant native immediate access to his principal; and by their elucidating the spirit of the regulations of our government by oral communication, and by written explanations, varied according to the circumstances and capacities of the people.

"The acquisitions of our students are appreciated at this moment by those learned Asiatics, now present in this assembly, some of them strangers from distant provinces; who wonder every man to hear in his own tongue, important subjects discussed, and new and noble principles asserted, by the youth of a foreign land.

"The literary proceedings of this day amply repay all the solicitude, labor and expense that have been bestowed on this Institution. If the expense had been a thousand times greater, it would not have equalled the immensity of the advantage, moral and political, that will ensue.

"I, now an old man, have lived for a long series of years among the Hindoos; I have been in the habit of preaching to multitudes daily, of discoursing with the Brahmins on every subject, and of superintending schools for the instruction of the Hindoo youth. Their language is nearly as familiar to me as my own. This close intercourse with the natives for so long a period, and in different parts of our empire, has afforded me opportunities of information not inferior to those which have hitherto been presented to any other person. I may say indeed that their manners, customs, habits and sentiments, are as obvious to me, as if I was my

self a native. And knowing them as I do, and hearing as I do, their daily observations on our government, character, and principles, I am warranted to say, (and I deem it my duty to embrace the public opportunity now afforded me of saying it,) that the institution of this College was wanting to complete the happiness of the natives under our dominion; for this institution will break down the barrier (our ignorance of their language) which has ever opposed the influence of our laws and principles, and has despoiled our administration of its energy and effect.

"Were, however, the Institution to cease from this moment, its salutary effects would yet remain. Good has been done, which cannot be undone. Sources of useful knowledge, moral instruction and political utility, have been opened to the natives of India, which can never be closed; and their civil improvement, like the gradual civilization of our own country, will advance in progression, for ages to come.

"One hundred original volumes in the Oriental languages and literature will preserve forever in Asia the name of the founder of this Institution. Nor are the examples frequent of a renown, possessing such utility for its basis, or pervading such a vast portion of the habitable globe. My Lord, you have raised a monument of fame, which no length of time, or reverse of fortune, is able to destroy; not chiefly because it is inscribed with Mahratta and Mysore, with the trophies of war, and the emblems of victory; but because there are inscribed on it the names of those learned youths, who have obtained degrees of honor for high proficiency in the Oriental tongues.

"These youth will rise in regular succession to the government of this country. They will extend the domain of British civilization, security, and happiness, by enlarging the bounds of Oriental literature, and thereby diffusing the spirit of Christian principles throughout the nations of Asia. These youth, who have lived so long among us, whose unwearied application to their studies we have all witnessed, whose moral and exemplary conduct has, in so solemn a manner, been publicly declared before this august assembly, on this day; and who at themoment ofenter

ing on the public service, enjoy the fame of possessing qualities (rarely combined) constituting a reputation of threefold strength for public men, genius, industry, and virtue; these illustrious scholars, my Lord, the pride of their country, and the pillars of this empire, will record your name in many a language, and secure your fame forever. Your fame is already recorded in their hearts. The whole body of youth of this service hail you as their father and their friend. Your honor will ever be safe in their hands. No revolution of opinion, or change of circumstances, can rob you of the solid glory derived from the humane, just, liberal and magnanimous principles, which have been embodied by your administration.

"To whatever situation the course of future events may call you, the youth of this service will ever remain the pledges of the wisdom and purity of your government. Your evening of life will be constantly cheered with new testimonies of their reverence and affection; with new proofs of the advantages of the education you have afforded them; and with a demonstration of the numerous benefits, moral, religious, and political, resulting from this institution ;-benefits which will consolidate the happiness of millions in Asia, with the glory and welfare of our country."*

* See Primitæ Orientales, Vol. III. page 111, [The preceding chapter has given so very concise an account of the Protestant Mission in India, that the reader may be gratified with a few additional sketches of it. The king of Denmark early settled on the missionaries 2000 crowns a year, payable from the post office, to defray the necessary charges of the mission; and this sum was often doubled by extraordinary presents. Germany also sent large sums toward the support of the mission; but the greatest contributions came from England. From the year 1709, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge very liberally assisted it; and in 1713, the sum sent from England amounted to 1194 sterling. From that time England continued to assist the mission of Tranquebar, and alone sustained the missions of Madras and St. David. In 1715 a college was erected at Copenhagen by the king of Denmark, for facilitating and enlarging the work of the Mission in the East Indies. The very worthy su perintendant, Ziegenbalgius, died Februray 25, 1719; and Mr. Grundler, his faithful assistant, survived him but a year. The mission of Tranquebar was still supported; and in 1742 it was under the direction of 8 missionaries, 2 national priests, 3 catechists of the first order, besides those of an inferior rank, with a proportional number of assistants. It was but seven years after, that the venerable Swartz commenced his mission, which continued until the close of the century. Amer. Edit.]

APPENDIX.

A

RECORD of the superstitious practices of the Hindoos, now subsisting, which inflict immediate death, or tend to death; deduced from the evidence of the Pundits and learned Brahmins in the College of Fort-William.

I.

The offering of children to Gunga.*

THE natives of Hindostan, particularly the inhabitants of Orissa, and of the eastern parts of Bengal, sometimes make offerings of their children to the goddess Gunga.

When a woman, who has been long married, has no child, she and her husband make a vow to the goddess Gunga, "That if she will bestow on them the blessing of children, they will devote to her their first born." If, after this vow, they have a child or children, the first born is preserved, till they have a convenient opportunity of returning to the river at the period of assembling at the holy places. They then take the child with them; and at the time of bathing, it is encouraged to walk into deep water, till it is carried away by the stream. If it be unwilling to go forward, it is pushed off by its parents. Sometimes a stranger attends, and catches the perishing infant, and brings it up as his own; but if no such person happen to be near, it is infallibly drowned, being deserted by the parents the moment it floats in the river.

This species of human sacrifice is publicly commited at Gunga Saugor, in the last day of Pous; and on the day of full moon in Kartic. At Bydyabatee, Trivence, Nuddeea, Agradeep, and other places accounted

*The river Ganges.

holy, it is committed on the 13th day of the Dark fortnight of the moon Chytra, and on the 10th of the bright fortnight in Jystha.

All the Pundits declare that this practice is not commanded in any Shaster.*

II

Kamya Moron, or voluntary death.

1. When a person is in distress, or has incurred the contempt of his society; and often when there is no other cause than his belief that it is meritorious to die in the river Gunga, he forms the resolution of parting with life in the sacred stream.

2. Such persons, at the times mentioned in the preceding article, go to the holy places, where many thousands of people are assembled for the purpose of sacred ablution. Some of them abstain from food, that life may depart from them in the holy place: but the greater number drown themselves in the presence of the surrounding multitude. Their children and other relations generally attend them. It is not uncommon for a father to be pushed again into the river by his sons, if he attempt to swim back to land.

3. At Saugor it is accounted a propitious sign if the person be soon seized by a shark or a crocodile; but his future happiness is considered doubtful if he stay long in the water without being destroyed.t

4. The only passage in the Shasters which has been submitted as countenancing this suicide is the following: "If a person be afflicted with an incurable disease, so painful that it cannot be borne, he is permitted to throw himself from a precipice, or to drown himself in the river."

5. During the Pooja of the Rutt Jattra, some devote themselves to death by falling under the wheels of a

* This practice is now abolished by regulation of government. See Appendix C.

The sharks and alligators are numerous at this place, particularly at the time of the annual festival; owing, it is supposed, to the human prey devoted to them from time immemorial.

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