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"The civil service of India, from which the executive, financial, judicial, and commercial departments are supplied, from the provincial magistracy to a seat at the Council Board (or sometimes to the governor-generalship), originates principally from the students of Haileybury College, an establishment founded by the East India Company for the better and surer supply of men qualified to fill the important duties which devolve on an English official, when transplanted to shores where the happiness or misery of millions depends upon his talent, his integrity, and moral firmness of character. The students at Haileybury, who must enter between the ages of sixteen and twenty, are classed in four successive terms of six months each; two entire days in every week are given to oriental literature, and part of other days. There are four European departments; seven months in the year are devoted to lectures on variQus subjects; for instance, a student who remains two years at the college, receives in three terms from seventy to eighty hours of law tuition, and altogether ninety hours; he is instructed in elemental knowledge on the limits between morals and law, political and civil rights; in the English and Mahomedan criminal law, and on the law of evidence; the moral and legal obligations of government are also inculcated; the laws affecting property, promises and contracts, and the obligations arising from public and private relations, are carefully taught, as well as the classics, mathematics, and in fact every branch of education which can be requisite for a statesman on the most extensive field of action.

"The ablest masters in every language, European or Asiatic, are employed at the college: for Sanscrit as well as Greek, Persian as well as Latin, and Hindoostanee and Bengalee as well as French and Italian, are sedulously cultivated; the most learned professors of philosophy are also in attendance, and every day, except Sunday, there are lectures."

That equally efficient instruction is bestowed upon the military cadets, is proved by the high authority of the Duke of Wellington, who declared that the attainments of the engineer and artillery officers educated in the East India Company's institution at Addiscombe surpassed those of officers of similar standing in the royal army.

Neither has the education of its subjects in India been neglected by the Company, as appears from the following authentic statement, taken from the same work.

"It was stipulated at the last renewal of the charter, that 10,0002. should be annually devoted from the surplus territorial revenue of India to the purpose of education; by the following extract from a parliamentary return in 1832 (No. 7), it will be seen that the company have doubled, and in some years trebled, the amount laid down in the Act, although there was no surplus revenue in India.

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"As an instance of the efforts making for the diffusion of intelligence throughout the British dominions, I may quote the testimony before Parliament of the Honourable Holt Mackenzie, who states that since the renewal of the last charter, the Bengal Government have established a college at Calcutta for the Hindoos, and reformed very much the old Moslem College; that colleges have been established at Delhi and Agra, for both Hindoos and Moslems; the Hindoo College at Benares has been reformed; at the several institutions it has been the object of government to extend the study of the English language, and good books have been supplied, &c.; that seminaries have been established in different parts of the country, and schools established by individuals have been aided by government."

General science is indebted to them for the longest meridian line ever measured, which was accomplished at their expense by the late Colonel Lambton; that stupendous work, the trigonometrical survey of Hindustan has been nearly completed under their auspices, and the results are in the course of publication on a very extensive scale. The map of India, in the construction of which Colonel Reynolds of the Bombay establishment was for nearly thirty years employed, cost them from 100,000l. to 150,000/. They have also a magnificent botanical garden at Calcutta, and another at Sahárunpúr; the superintendent of the former, Dr. Wallich, after forming an immense collection of plants in Nepal and Ava, was permitted to come home for the purpose of selecting and arranging the most curious specimens for publication. His work was generously patronized by the Company, and his salary was continued during his residence in England, although contrary to the letter of the act of parliament. The duplicates of the plants brought over by Dr. Wallich, as well as of other collections in the Company's Museum, were liberally distributed to the various scientific institutions, both in this country and on the continent; in fact there was neither labour nor expense spared to make the results of Dr. Wallich's researches ast extensively useful to science as possible. The publication of Buchanan's statistical survey of India, in three quarto volumes, under the patronage and chiefly at the expense of the Company, must also be mentioned; nor should we forget the presentation of a copy of that gentleman's valuable manuscripts to the library of the Royal Asiatic Society, for the use of its members. Every work that could be practically useful in India, or that had even a remote tendency to illustrate oriental literature, they have liberally patronized; and the list of works edited both by Europeans and natives, which have issued at their expense from the presses of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, extends to a goodly catalogue. They gave 10,000l. for the collection of coins, antiquities, gems, books, and manuscripts made by the late Colonel Colin Mackenzie of Madras. They purchased the late Dr. Leyden's books,

with delicate generosity, from his family. They have sent out ample supplies of astronomical instruments to India and appointed an astronomer. And they afford every inducement to their young officers to study the Persian and Hindustani languages, by appointing interpreters to their several corps. But alas! what is all this when compared to the per contra balance— they took only six copies of Professor Schlegel's Hitôpâdêsa!

We have no interest in being the advocates of the East India Company, but common justice and common honesty imperatively demand that we should bear testimony to their constant patronage of oriental literature. In the words of Junius, "these praises have been wrung from us, but they will wear well, for they have been dearly earned."

We must now say a few words respecting the proceedings of the committee of the Oriental Translation Fund, a body whose institution we hailed with sincere delight, whose progress we have watched with ardent sympathy, and whose present triumphant position we contemplate with equal pride and pleasure. It commenced operations in the beginning of the year 1828; its professed designs were to open the scientific and literary treasures of the East to the natives of Europe, to facilitate the acquisition of the Asiatic languages both by supplying accurate translations and furnishing correct texts of works possessing a philological value; and subsidiary to these great objects, was the stimulating students of oriental literature, by affording them facilities for publishing the fruit of their labours and offering rewards for successful exertions. We refer to the list of their published works as a proof of the valuable results that have already followed from the institution, merely reminding the reader that, though the operations of the committee are closely and jealously watched, one only of their translations has as yet afforded room for the severity of criticism. It is our pleasing duty to add, that the benefits of the institution have not been confined to England; they have been felt all over the continent, and have given a new stimulus to the exertions of oriental scholars. We are particularly delighted to find that a branch-committee has been formed at Rome; the literary treasures accumulated during many ages in the libraries of "the Eternal City," have never been properly examined; we have reason to hope that among them will be found translations of the most valuable Greek and Latin classics; the Armenian version of the Chronicle of Eusebius so recently obtained shows what fruit may be derived from exploring more diligently the stores of monasteries. In treating of this part of our subject we cannot pass over in silence the exertions of the Earl of Munster, to whose indefatigable zeal and personal influence in procuring subscriptions the Oriental Translation Fund is not only

largely indebted, but may almost be said to owe its existence; it was by him that the "Branch corresponding Committee at Rome" was organized; it was he that "secured the sanction aud approbation of the Roman government, and obtained the active and willing co-operation of the various learned bodies in that city and their erudite members, and acquired the aid of that powerful institution the College de Propaganda Fide." Through him too, we may add, Professor Schlegel was afforded the most ample opportunities of learning the nature and objects of the Oriental Translation Fund during his recent visit to England. But though the Professor seems not to have availed himself of such advantages, we are assured that the honourable exertions of this nobleman to forward the cause of oriental literature, will be duly appreciated by the scholars both of England and the continent.

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That an institution formed for such noble objects, and pursuing them with such enlightened zeal, should have avoided rather than courted notoriety, has always appeared to us unaccountable. To this cause alone we attribute the brevity of the subscription list, for were the merits of the Oriental Translation Fund thoroughly known, it would, ere now, have reckoned among supporters every true lover of literature in the empire. It would also have received offers of literary assistance from those, who, though not deeply read as oriental scholars, yet possess learning which would illustrate oriental subjects. We should gladly see the Armenian writers illustrated by notes from the cotemporary Byzantine Historians; the late edition of Mirkhond might have been rendered more valuable if his statements had been contrasted with those of the Grecian writers. If, as we ardently hope, the whole of Mirkhond shall appear, we trust that the notes will illustrate the interesting era of the Sassanides from Procopius, Agathias, and the scarcely examined pages of the Talmud. All the literary men of England are interested in the success of the committee; all should be ready to tender it assistance, and by a judicious division of labours the future works will be rendered worthy of the age, the country and the institution. Perhaps the publication of some work, such as the beautiful romance of Hatim Tai, in a more popular form, or a selection of judicious extracts from the books on the committee's list, might call the attention of the great body of the nation to the pleasure, the interest, and the advantage that must result from the cultivation of eastern literature; and prove the truth in modern, as well as ancient times, of the sentence so appropriately chosen by the committee for their motto-" Ex Oriente Lux."

ART. III.-Physiologie Végétale, ou Exposition des Forces et des Fonctions vitales des Végétaux, pour servir de suite à l'Organographie Végétale, et d'Introduction à la Botanique Géographique et Agricole. Par M. Aug. Pyr. De Candolle. 3 tom. 8vo. Paris. 1832.

THE great importance of vegetable physiology is sufficiently evident. The agriculturist and the horticulturist can expect increased success in their several departments, in proportion only as their practice reposes on an improving knowledge of the laws which regulate the phenomena of vegetable life. We have long wanted a work in which the more recent discoveries of modern observers should be collected, and their facts generalized; and the present volumes will be found to supply this want in a very efficient manner. The great progress which has been made of late years in this subject, could be known only from consulting the papers of various contributors, scattered through the pages of different scientific journals; and there existed no complete treatise to which the botanist might refer for an extensive and combined view of the several laws aud principles which had been either clearly established or strongly suggested by a closer examination of the complicated phenomena of vegetation than had previously been attempted. On the continent, a long list of names might be enumerated of those who have devoted their attention to vegetable physiology; but in England, with a few rare exceptions, our best botanists have suffered their continental brethren to outstrip them in this superior department of the science. Whilst we possess at least a sufficient number of works exclusively devoted to "descriptive botany," we can scarcely name one that makes any pretension to a close acquaintance with the more recent discoveries in "vegetable physiology."* Mrs. Marcet's little work, entitled, "Conversations on Vegetable Physiology," is, indeed, excellent of its kind, and may be read with advantage and pleasure by every one who wishes to obtain a superficial knowledge of the subject. It professes merely to give an exposition of some of the leading topics of M. De Candolle's lectures, in his annual course at Geneva. We have now, however, the views of De Candolle detailed by himself, and we turn to them in the full expectation of finding ample justice done to his subject. Not that we may expect to learn that all, or indeed that very many physiological questions have been settled by him, be

Whilst preparing this article we have received Professor Lindley's “ Introduction to Botany," in which the physiology of plants forms the subject of one book. The well-known proficiency of this eminent botanist will satisfy every one that he has here rendered an important service to this science.

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