303

MORAL EDUCATION.

Europeans, be they of what class they may, which may startle or give offence to the sensitive Native mind.

There is one more subject on which I must not refrain from saying a few words, though it is one of some difficulty and delicacy. It is sometimes argued that, in the system of education which prevails, no provision has been made for the development of the "higher and nobler part of man's nature." The phrase is somewhat vague, but it doubtless refers to his moral nature—of which his religious forms a part-in contradistinction to his animal and intellectual natures; if indeed man's nature' can thus be divided and chopped up. I join issue with those who assert this; for the very books through which we convey to the Native youth the knowledge of Western civilization are fraught and saturated, not, it is true, with the historical and dogmatical parts of Christianity, but with the influence of the most practical, the purest, the most divine morality, which has ever been imparted by a Teacher to the world. Why should I allude to Shakespeare and Milton, when we have Bacon's "Advancement of Learning" and Cowper's "Task" to appeal to; and when we have express evidence before us that a teacher cannot explain his subject matter to his pupils without constant reference to Christianity and the Bible?

It has been said that the result of secular education upon the Hindus, has been to destroy their own faith, without giving them another in its place; to leave them a barren cult, without any of the holy influences of religion; to make them, as it has epigrammatically been put, " clever devils." Certainly, it would be a most remarkable result of instruction in that part of our Western literature which enters into the course of the educational studies of the young, such were in reality the case. A priori, we should expect that such studies would fill the mind with moral precepts and devotional reflections; and I appeal with confidence to

if

THE VEDA SOMAJ.

304

the proved results of education in this Presidency—for I wish to confine myself to that of which I have practical knowledge and experience-to contradict the easy assertion. I say that, by education, we have made the Natives better, as well as wiser men. I appeal to the way in which the Natives have performed, and are performing, the functions and duties of offices far higher than any of their forefathers were admitted to; to the principles of honesty and charity towards their fellows which they exhibit in the appointments that they fill; and to the covenant of the Veda Somaj itself, the creed of some of the best intellects of the educated Hindus, which shows that, while abandoning to a considerable extent the old cult of their fathers, they are seeking to reform and purify their religious tenets, by a stricter recurrence to the doctrines of the Vedas.*

*The following is the Covenant' of the Members of the Veda Somaj.

1. I shall worship, through love of Him and the performance of the work He loveth, the Supreme Being, the Creator, the Preserver, the Destroyer, the Giver of salvation the Omniscient, the Omnipotent, the Blissful, the good, the formless, the One only without a second; and none of the created objects; subject to the following conditions:

2. I shall labour to compose and gradually bring into practice a ritual agreeable to the spirit of pure Theism, and free from the superstitions and absurdities which at present characterize Hindu ceremonies.

3. In the meantime, I shall observe the ceremonies now in use, but only in cases where ceremonies are indispensable, as in marriages and funerals; or where their omission will do more violence to the feelings of Hindu community than is consistent with the proper interests of the Veda Somaj, as in Shradhas. And I shall go through such ceremonies where they are not conformable to pure Theism as mere matters of routine, destitute of all religious significance-as the lifeless remains of a superstition which has passed away. 4. This sacrifice and this only shall I make to existing prejudices. But I shall never endeavour to deceive any one as to my religious opinions, and never stoop to equivocation or hypocrisy in order to avoid unpopularity.

5. I shall discard all sectarian views and animosities, and never offer any encourage. ment to them.

6. I shall, as a first step, gradually give up all distinctions and amalgamate the different branches of the same caste.

7. Rigidly as I shall adhere to all these rules, I shall be perfectly tolerant to the views of strangers and never intentionally give offence to their feelings.

8. I shall never violate the duties and virtues of humanity, justice, veracity, temperance, and chastity.

9, I shall never hold or attend or pay for nautches or otherwise hold out encouragement to prostitution.

10. I shall encourage and promote, to the best of my power, the re-marriage of widows, and discourage early marriage.

11. I shall never be guilty of bigamy or polygamy,

305

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

It may be asked what reference have these remarks to an institution like Govindoo's school, in which, from its very constitution, it is quite certain that no question as to the quality of the education to be imparted, can ever be entertained, or even arise.

But it must not be lost sight of, that the only door to the great mass of temporal advantages and rewards of education, is the Government competitive examination; and therefore the Government system of education, the very books it prescribes for study, do practically control and govern the system and quality of instruction imparted at every Seminary in the Presidency, be it Government, Missionary, or Native. GOVINDOO's school will be a feeder to PATCHEAPPAH'S; that is already a very important feeder of the Government school13 out of 17 Candidates for Matriculation have just passed from PATCHEAPPAH'S; and thus a certain harmony and uniformity of tuition prevails in all schools, be their origin and supervision what they may.

With regard then to religion, as with regard to caste, I conceive the course is clear. We have given you a system of education which trains the judgment to be an instrument capable of deciding for itself. Possibly, in the course of tuition, we may have overset some old errors, and of necessity we have enforced many principles of the highest morality. We are satisfied, you must be satisfied yourselves, that the educated Hindu is superior to the old uneducated man, not only intellectually, but morally. Further than that we do not seek to interfere. If, in your

religion, your better in

12. I shall grant my aid towards the issue in the Vernaculars, of elementary PrayerBooks and religious tracts, and also of a monthly journal whose chief object shall be to improve the social and moral condition of the community.

13. I shall advance the cause of general and female education and enlightment, and particularly in my own family circle.

14. I shall study the Sanscrit language and its literature (especially theological) and promote the cultivation of it by means not calculated to promote superstition.

NEUTRALITY-TRUTH-THE HARVEST.

306

assurances.

structed judgment should induce you to think that there is any thing in cult or in tenet, that requires reform or supercession, it is for yourselves to look to it. We have no right to meddle or interfere. Our interference, however well intended, would probably defeat its own object. It might possibly be even dangerous. It is certainly in contravention of our We admit for you what we claim for ourselves, perfect neutrality and toleration in the matter of conscience and religion. Without even saying that this or that particular form of religion is the truth, or that its history or dogmata rest upon better evidence or foundation than all others; this much we are at perfect liberty to predict, with some hope of its fulfilment, that Truth, whatever it may ultimately be found to be, will sooner or later establish itself, one, indivisible, and eternal, over the face of the whole created Earth. There is a heavy responsibility on those who inaugurate a new system of education in a country like India, to take care that there is nothing baneful in what they introduce; that the moral nature, as far as circumstances will permit, is cultivated equally with the intellectual; that the judgment is not dwarfed or warped by class prejudices, but developed into the most perfect instrument possible for investigation and decision, be the subjects submitted to it what they may, in point of magnitude and importance. Having done this in all honesty of purpose, and to the best of our ability, having sown the seed, we may wait patiently for the harvest, which Providence in its own good time will assuredly raise up and reap.

ADDRESS on the first Anniversary of the Hindu Reading Room*: 1854.

GENTLEMEN. Though I know that the duties of Chairman are ordinarily best fulfilled by his scrupulous observance of silence, I may be pardoned if I wish, on the present occasion, to address a few words to this meeting: indeed it may be expected of me, if not as Chairman, yet as Patron of this Institution, that I should not suffer the interesting occasion of your first anniversary to pass over altogether in silence on my part.

When I was requested last year to connect myself with this Association, I had to consider its objects and its prospects; and it was because I thought it calculated to supply a void much felt among the Hindoo community, and because it appeared to me to contain within itself the elements and germs of good, that I was induced to join it. I think that the Report just read shows that I was right in my opinion; because the fact that you have enlisted in your favor the good-will not only of many estimable members of the European Society, but that of his Highness the Rajah of Travancore, a Prince well known for his liberal patronage of learning; that you have been honored by the assistance of the Local Government, and even of the Supreme Government of India; shows me that this Society, in the opinion of others as well as myself, is one calculated to effect great good.

At the same time, I could not but be aware that there were dangers and difficulties sure to beset the path of the

* No good report can be found of the Address delivered in the previous year at the opening of the Institution.