!t\; V /^s fyvmll Utttomitg pilratig THE (SIFT OF ..>riiiL>AfL...ii^.. !^...m„o.2..'g ?.l(,..h.4.. 4553 The date sho>¥s when this volume was taken. ^^ ; AH books not in use for instruction or re- search are limited to all borrowers, Vbluines of periodi- cals and of pamphlets comprise so inany sub- jects, that they are held ,,in the library, as much as possible/'. For spe- cial purposes they are gi,ven out for a limited \tiine. . Graduates ^nd seh^ iors are allowed 'five volumes for twoweeks. Other students may h^e two vols, from the circulating library for two weeks._ Books not needed during recess periods should be returned to the library, or arrange-, ments made for their return duritfg borsow- er's absence.if wanted. Books needed by more .than one person are held on the reserve list. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Cornell University Library PK 119.M74 Orignal papers illustratina t[^|^,,,[X% PREFACE. The following papers were intrusted to me for publi- cation by Sir Charles Trevelyan, the present Governor of the Madras Presidency, on his departure from England, under the conviction that the first germ and subsequent growth of what now seems destined to become a mighty movement should be placed on permanent public record. My task has been very simple. I have merely arranged the various docu- ments in chronological order, and left them to speak for themselves. Even the errors in orthography, which I might have corrected with little trouble, have been allowed to stand. My duty has been to lay be- fore the public a series of original papers and articles, in such a shape as to present a complete history of a great enterprise ; and I have acted on the principle that even inaccuracies of scholarship, when regarded as historical, become interesting and instructive. The intelligent reader wUl, of course, bear in mind that more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the date of the first of these papers, and that the state of things under the pressure of which they were written is greatly changed. We live now in an age of toleration and conciliation. Controversy in these days is conducted with less party-spirit, less prejudice, less asperity; and men bring to the discus- A 3 VI PREFACE. sion of disputed questions a more disciplined taste, greater logical precision of argument, and more ju- dicial calmness of mind. We have also the advantage of greater accuracy of information, and a better acquaintance with the niceties of scholarship. Moreover, every moot-point is now subjected to the salutary ordeal of a thorough " ventilation" (according to the modem phrase) in the public press, and especially in the columns of that mighty organ of public opinion, the "Times" news- paper. Whatever be the topic of debate, it is there agi- tated in the fresh air of free discussion; and, if it sur- vive a long exposure to the storms of controversy, its whole aspect becomes purified and invigorated. Such has happily been the case with the investigation into the respective merits of the Eastern and Western al- phabets. For a long period the idea of applying the Roman character to the Indian languages struggled doubtfully for existence. Nevertheless, gradually but surely, amidst much contempt and opposition, it gathered strength, till at last, in the healthy atmo- sphere of open and liberal inquiry, this grand concep- tion has acquired a force and a vitality which nothing can now extinguish. In introducing, then, to the notice of the public, the interesting papers which describe the course of this movement from its earliest commencement to the present time, it may justly be expected that I should prepare the way by an outline of its most prominent features. Great discoveries which have worked stu- pendous changes, and conferred incalculable benefits on the human race, have had insignificant beginnings. PREFACE. VU The lifting of the lid of a boiling kettle suggested the notion of the first steam-engine. In like manner the idea of applying the Roman letters to the languages of India, which promises to act like steam-power on the progress of Eastern civilisation, had its origin in a very simple circumstance. It happened on this wise. More than twenty-five years ago Mr. Thomp- son, a missionary, at the instigation of Mr. Trevelyan, then a youthful and active member of the Bengal Civil Service, wrote an English and Urdu Dictio- nary in the Roman character. This somewhat crude ofi'spring of Mr. Thompson's brain stood in need of a sponsor to recoimnend it to the notice of the Com- mittee of the Calcutta School-book Society; where- upon the Rev. Dr. Yates stood forth in this capacity, and in a letter to the Committee submitted the book to their notice, and advised their subscribing for 200 copies. It might have been supposed that a request so modest, preferred by a man like Dr. Yates, would have met with immediate favour; and probably no objec- tion would have been raised, had not the book been entirely printed in Roman type. Here, then, was a barbarous innovation which shocked the orthodox notions of two great Oriental scholars, Messrs. Prin- sep and Tytler. In two contemptuous minutes they record their protest against what they consider the ultra-radicalism of the author of the Dictionary. This opposition was, it must be confessed, quite natural in these gentlemen, and withal excusable. Some of us may remember what happened when it was proposed to disturb the classic shades of Oxford A 4 VUl PREFACE. by the introduction of the broad gauge. The cas- socked Dignitaries of Christchurch stood aghast. They were slow to discern the signs of the times, and little suspected that sooner or later the broad gauge must come to their very doors, and be welcomed as a boon. Let us not to be too hard, then, on Messrs. Prinsep and Tytler. As scholars, they only did what most other scholars would have done twenty- five years ago. They opposed a doubtful innovation, and did their best to crush the too audacious author of it. In the double grasp of these two learned giants the meek unpresuming missionary had like to have been annihilated. But, happUy for him, succour was at hand. All Englishmen are lovers of fair play. An uncontrollable impulse prompts us to take the part of the weaker side ; and this feeling would pro- bably have led Mr. Trevelyan (who was even then noted for his liberal views) to enter the lists and do battle for the oppressed, even if he had not been in a manner committed to the defence of Mr. Thompson, by having originally suggested the compilation of his Dictionary. Here, then, may be said to terminate the First Act of the history. Messrs. Prinsep and Tytler are seen bearing down the unresisting mis- sionary, when a champion appears in the person of Mr. Trevelyan, who in true knightly style advances to the rescue. The Second Act opens with the actual combat, and right valiantly does Mr. Thompson's champion quit himself in the field. The tilt may be said to com- mence at Paper 4, by a long thrust from Mr. Tre- velyan, and the contest is carried on by alternate PREFACE. IX lunge and parry to the end of Paper 8. Thougli the odds are against him, no one can read the particulars of this encounter without feeling that Mr, Trevelyan has the best of it. His defence of Mr. Thompson marks an important epoch. It is the first recorded vindication of the Roman system as applicable to the languages of India. ' The Third Act brings another combatant on the arena, who not only declares for the champion of the Eoman alphabet, but turns out himself to be a mighty man of valour — no less a person, in fact, than the now noted Dr. DuflF. Let any one read his Papers (signed Alpha, and numbered 9, 10, 11), and say whether he does not fight on the winning side, and by his hard knocks contribute to the victory. The warmth of his zeal may betray him now and then into tedious amplification, but the accumulated weight of his arguments is irresistible, and the shrewdness with which he exposes Mr. Ty tier's fallacy in con- founding the Roman alphabet with English so-called orthography is worthy of all praise. The conclusion of this period sees an ofiensive and defensive alliance entered into between Mr. Trevelyan and the four Baptist missionaries, Messrs. Duff, Yates, Pearce, and Thomas. A regular scheme is then promulgated for theprinting and circulation of useful vernacular books in the Roman character, the first book printed being the " Sermon on the Mount" in Romanised Hindustdni. The Fourth Act of the history presents to our view Mr. Trevelyan carrying on the contest in conjunc- tion mth the three remaining Baptist missionaries, after the departure of Dr. Duff for England. The X PREFACE. most noticeable feature in this period is the contro- versy which takes place between Mr, H. T. Prinsep and Mr. Trevelyan ; the former advocating the adop- tion of Dr. Gilchrist's system of Romanising, the latter defending in an able paper the method of Sir William Jones. (See pp. 138—161.) Further allusion wiU be made to this subject before con- cluding the Preface. During this period also two or three interesting episodes occur. The four cham- pions of the Eoman alphabet (Messrs. Trevelyan, Yates, Pearce, and Thomas) meet together, and ad- dress a circular letter to missionary students in the United States, inviting their aid in support of the cause. They also draw up a series of resolutions with the object of establishing a permanent fund for the publication of books, and the promotion of the Roman system generally. These resolutions are given at p. 175, and are followed by an enumeration of fifty-seven useful books in Hindiistdni, Bengali, Uriya, &c., printed in Roman type, which were either published or in the press at the end of 1836, only three years after the commencement of the movement. In the year 1838 Mr. Trevelyan leaves India for England, and here occurs an interval of no less than twenty years. This chasm, however, is bridged over by the letter of the Rev. R. C. Mather to Mr. (now Sir Charles) Trevelyan, describing the progress made in the application of the Roman alphabet to Indian languages up to the great mutiny in 1857. (See p. 202.) The Fifth and concluding period of the history em- PREFACE. XI braces the revival of the controversy in the columns of the English press during the past year, and includes nearly aU the articles and letters which have appeared in various journals, whether in favour of or in oppo- sition to the scheme, up to the commencement of 1859. (See pp. 210— 274.) Haviag thus sketched a rough outline of the five principal stages which mark the progress of the movement, it remains to draw attention to one or two points which have suggested themselves to my mind in perusing these remarkable papers. The first observation I have to make is, that it must strike a casual reader as very curious, that Mr. Tytler and other controversialists of his school should have run their heads against the fallacy of confusing the Eoman letters with the English alphabetical system. They will have it that the advocates of the Eoman letters want to warp and distort the Indian languages, by forcing them into conformity with our so-called English orthography. The reverse, how- ever, as Mr. Trevelyan shows, is the case. It is the Roman system, and not the English abuse of it, that is advocated. The Sanskrit and Latin lan- guages are, as every scholar now knows, derived from a common source. Their alphabets (though one has been carried to an excess of elaboration, the other to an extreme of simplicity) are capable of mutual adjustment and assimilation, both as regards the powers of the letters and their classification. Our English alphabet, on the other hand, is an entire perversion of the proper powers of the Latin letters, and especially of the vowels, to the confusion Xll FREPACE, of all sounds. Nothing can possibly be imagined more irregular and systemless, than our use, or rather abuse, of the Roman vowel symbols. We take the symbols a, i, u, e, o, and instead of making each the fixed representative of one invariable sound, we allow each to stand for almost any sound. Thus a repre- sents five different sounds in the words tape^ tap^ tall, tar, mortar ; and each of the five vowels may stand for the sound of u in gun, as in the words organ, sir, gun, her, son ; and the sound of a in tall may be equally represented by o, au, oa, ou, and eo, in the words nor, taught, groat, thought, George. Any attempt, therefore, to bring the Oriental vowel system into conformity with the English must fail, for the plain reason that in English we have no system. But why is our contempt of all method to be laid at the door of an alphabet which is capable of the most regular and methodical adjustment? If we have perverted that alphabet to the subversion of all order, and made a Balaklava out of what might have been systematised, that is merely the result of our usual careless habit of letting matters take their course. Let us not confound two things which are as distinct as light from darkness, — the simple, flexible, sym- metrical Roman alphabet, and the pseudographical perversion of it caUed by a delicate euphemism English orthography. Even the great Dr. GUchrist fell into this mistake. His system of Romanising Oriental words is a partial attempt to write them according to the more com- mon English pronunciation of the Roman vowels and especially of the vowel u. This plan, however PREFACE. Xlll attractive to the eye of an Englishman, is radically unsound. That of Sir WiUiam Jones on the other hand, which is a symmetrical system of transliteration (see the Table at p. 162), is now universally acknow- ledged to be the only successful adaptation of the Roman alphabet to the expression of Indian lan- guages. Another point which deserves notice is, that the controversialists have perhaps dwelt with unneces- sary prolixity on the advantages to be derived from substituting the simple Roman for the complicated Eastern symbols. These advantages are patent to all sensible people. It cannot for a moment be doubted that both Europeans and Asiatics would save them- selves enormous trouble, and gain enormous benefits, by using the same common alphabet to express their respective languages. The great question is, whether the force of association and the inveteracy of habit in the Hindu mind are too strong to be overcome by any considerations of advantage; — whether, in other words, the Hindii, whilst admitting the superiority of our alphabet, as he does of our religion, will not still regard his own system of writing as a sacred institu- .tion, inherited from his forefathers, hallowed by their use, and therefore not to be abandoned. This point is forcibly treated by some of the advocates of the Roman letters, and it is well shown that, as the Hindus have already accepted a totally new alphabet from their Musalmdn rulers, so, a fortiori, they will not hesitate in due course of time to adopt that of their English masters. But more stress might perhaps have been laid on this aspect of the question. It XIV PREFACE. might, I think, have been shown that the Hindiis are more utilitarian in their views, and greater worship- pers of expediency, than we are apt to imagine. After all, a Brahmin and an Englishman are offshoots from the same Indo-European stock, as their lan- guages can testify. Many of their household words are the same ; and although climate and the force of circumstances have caused vast diversities, yet their national characters have features of similarity, and there is much common ground on which they can take their stand. A Brahmin thinks a great deal about caste and social distinctions ; so does an Eng- lishman. Your true Saxon, however, is rarely dis- posed to permit his pride of caste to stand in the way of any prospect of advantage or profit to himself. Nor does the most bigoted of Brahmins yield in this respect to the most exclusive of Englishmen. When his interest is concerned he holds religiously to his caste ; but drops it without the smallest compunction when it suits his convenience. He has a horror of leather, and shrinks from leather-dressers as from polluted objects. But leather shoes are found to be very convenient things, and he uses them accordingly. He abominates animal fat, and is up in arms at the bare notion of being asked to use a greased cartridge ; yet the very Sepoys who make this a pretext for revolt think nothing of biting the same cartridges when they want to shoot their masters. It was thought that the severity of caste regulations would seriously afifect the passenger traffic on Indian railroads. High caste and low caste, it was said, would never consent to travel by the same train. But what is found to PREFACE. XV be the fact? The natives of India of all classes have as keen an appreciation of the convenience of railways as Europeans, and throw their pride to the winds under the levelling influences of steam and the loco- motive engine. In much the same spirit have they adopted all the improvements which the industry and ingenuity of Englishmen have introduced into India. Railroads, electric telegraphs, gasometers, postage stamps, — nothing comes amiss. With the utmost complacency they are ready to acquiesce in any innovation, provided it holds out a prospect of profit or advantage which they can appropriate to themselves or in any way turn to account. And so will it be with the Roman alphabet. We have only to convince them that their interest is involved in its introduction, and they wUl be eager to adopt it. One more remark, and my task is ended. Let all who desire the welfare of the people of India join heart and hand in this good cause, without waiting for the Government to take the lead. It is the glory of England that, unlike other great empires, its go- vernment is moved by the community, and not the community by the government. Though the Queen be supreme, the will of the majority rules the land. Public opinion, therefore, must be brought to bear on the Executive, ere that power can accord the weight of its sanction to the introduction of changes. But let the public will once be unmistakably expressed, and the Executive authority must bend to its decision. It is but little that the advocates of the Roman al- phabet solicit. All they ask of the Government of India is that their system shall be allowed fair play XVI PREFACE, and perfect toleration. If this be conceded, if there be no unfair preferences, no undue truckling to pre- judices or caprice, no uncalled for patronage of antiquated customs, it is not too much to predict that the general adoption of the Roman alphabet, as a common medium of expression for the Indian vernaculars, must soon take its place amongst the "accomplished facts" of this wonder-working century. MONIER WILLIAMS. Cheltenham: March, 1859. CONTENTS. Page 1. Letter of the Rev. W. Yates to the President, Vice-Presidents, and Committee of the Calcutta School-Book Society, sub- mitting to their notice Mr. Thompson's English and Urdu Dictionary in the Koman Character - - - 1 2. Mr. James Prinsep's First Minute, objecting to Mr. Thomp- son's Dictionary - - - ' - - - 2 3. Mr. J. Tytler's First Minute, objecting to Mr. Thompson's Dictionary ...... 3 4. Mr. Trevelyan's First Minute in support of Mr. Thompson's Dictionary, and of the Application of the Koman Alphabet to Hindustani ...... 3 5. Mr. James Prinsep's Second Minute - - - - 33 6. Mr. J. Tytler's Second Minute - - - 35 7. Mr. Trevelyan's Second Minute - - - - 35 8. Mr. Tytler's, Reply to Mr. Trevelyan - - 40 9. The Rev. A. Duff on the Possibility, Practicability, and Ex- pediency of substituting the Roman in place of the Indian Alphabet - - - - - - 64 10. The Rev. A. Duff's Proposal of a Scheme for representing the Deva-nagari and Persian Alphabets in Roman Characters - 77 1 1 . The Rev. A. Duff's Representation in Roman Characters of the principal Alphabets in Eastern India, with Notices of Dialectic Peculiarities, Specimens of the Mode of applying the Letters in practice, and Answers to Objections - SI a XVlll CONTENTS. Page 12. Address to the People of Hinduatin, by " A True Friend to the Natives" 130 13. Mr. H. T. Prinsep's Paper on the Adaptation of the Boman Alphabet to the Orthography of Oriental Languages, and the Superiority of Dr. Gilchrist's System - - - 138 14. Mr. Trevelyan's Defence of Sir William Jones's System - 148 15. Circular Letter addressed by the Originators of the General Application of the Roman Letters to the Languages of the East, to the Principal, Tutors, and Students, especially Stu- dents preparing for the Ministerial and Missionary Work, at the different Colleges in the United States - - 163 16. Resolutions passed by the Boman Alphabet Propagation Com- mittee with reference to the Formation of a Reproductive Fund for the Publication of Books and the Promotion of the Roman System - - - - - -175 17. List of Books in the Native Languages and the Roman Charac- ter, published, or in the Press, at the end of the year 1836 - 176 18. Review of the Romanising System up to the year 1837, by Mr. Trevelyan - - - - - -179 19. Letter from the Rev. R. C. Mather to Sir Charles Trevelyan, showing the Progress made in applying the Roman Letters to the Languages of India up to the Commencement of the Great Mutiny in 1857 - . - . . 202 20. On the DiflSculty of the Oriental Characters, and the Advan- tages of applying the Roman Alphabet to the Languages of Lidia. (Fromthe"Times"of Nov. 10th, 1858) - - 210 21. Letter to the "Times," on the Reduced Price of Indian Books printed in the Native Characters, by Messrs. Richardson Brothers. (From the "Times" of Nov. 13tb, 1858) - 215 22. Letter to the " Times " in Reply to the above. By " Pater- familias." (From the "Times" of Nov. 18th, 1858) - 216 23. On Roman Types in India. (From the " Leader " of Nov. 20th, 1858) - - - - . - 216 24. Letter from Sir Charles Trevelyan to the Editor of the " Leader," on Roman Type in India - - . 222 25. The New Alphabet for India. (From the " Homeward Mail " of Dec. 6th, 1858) - - - . - 223 26. The same. (From the " Globe" of Dec. 18th, 1858) - . 225 CONTENTS. Xix 27. Letter of Mr. W. Edwaxds, of the Bengal Civil Service, to the "*° Editor of the "Times," on the Advantage of using the Eoman Character, instead of the Native, in all Official Docu- ments and Petitions ..... 228 28. The Battle of the Alphabets. (From the "Watchman and "Wesleyan Advertiser" of Dec. 15th, 1858) - - 230 29. The Roman Alphabet applied to Eastern Languages. (From the "London Review" of October, 1858) ... 234 30. First Letter of Professor Jarrett to the Editor of the " Times." (From the "Times" of Nov. 12th, 1858) - - - 245 31. Letter of " Indophilus " to the Editor of the " Times " - 247 32. Second Letter of Professor Jarrett to the Editor of the "Times" - - - - - . - 251 33. First Letter of Professor Monier Williams to the Editor of the " Times," on the Native Alphabets of India. (From the"Times"ofDeo. 31, 1858) - - - - 254 34. Third Letter of Professor Jarrett to the Editor of the " Times " 265 35. Second Letter of Professor Monier Williams to the Editor of the " Times." (From the " Times" of Jan. 8th, 1859) - 268 36. Letter of Sir Charles Trevelyan and Sir John Login to the Secretaries of the Bible Society .... 274 TO THE BINDER. Extract from Map of the Dooab to face page 144. ORIGINAL PAPERS DESCRlPTIVi: OF THE lUSTOKT OF THE APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. (1.) LETTER OF THE EETEEEND W. YATES TO THE PRESIDENT, VICE- PRESIDENTS, AND COMMITTEE OF THE CALCUTTA SCHOOL- BOOK SOCIETY, SUBMITTING TO THEIR NOTICE MR. THOMPSON'S ENGLISH AND URDU DICTIONARY IN THE ROMAN CHARACTER. Dear Grentlemen, I have the pleasure to submit to your notice an English and Oordoo Dictionary, prepared by Mr. Thompson of Delhi* at the request of Mr. Trevelyan, who from acquaintance with his talents considered him well capable of executing such a work. It is designed to assist natives in the Upper Pro- vinces in the acquisition of English, and Europeans in the study of Oordoo. It was expected that the work, if approved, would be printed at the expense of the Society, and as usual 150 copies allowed to the author as a remuneration for his labour ; but from a private letter of Mr. Thompson's it ap- pears that 1000 rupees is the least he would expect if the Society accept the work, and that he thinks he could realise considerably more than this by printing it himself. Under this view of the case, Mr. Trevelyan and myself think it would be best for the Society to subscribe for 200 copies, and let Mr. T. print for himself. It seems, however, desu-able * Mr. Thompson's widow and daughters were killed in the recent massacre at Delhi. — M.W- 2 APPLICATION OF THE BOMAN ALPHABET that this subscription for two hundred copies should be made on the express condition that, while the Society consent to Mr. Thompson's receiving the benefit of any edition he may print, he shall allow them to print for themselves if they deem it necessary. Past experience has proved that it is not an eligible plan to employ the resources of the Society in the patronising of works over which they can have no control, and after the adoption of which into their depository list they cannot pledge themselves for a regular supply. It is better not to adopt, than after having adopted, to be obliged to discard. Should the book be generally approved, and should Ml-. T. be willing to submit to these conditions, then I suppose he may be left at Uberty to print it where he pleases, stipulating only that it shall be on good English paper, in cloth covers, and not exceeding four rupees a copy. I remain. Dear Grentlemen, Yours very sincerely, • (Signed) W. YATES, Searetary. Calcutta School-Book Society's Depository, 20th November, 1833. (2.) MS. JAMES PEINSEP'S FIRST MINUTE, OBJECTING TO ME. Thompson's dictionabt. Mr. Thompson's work will doubtless find a ready sale among Europeans, but I trust that none of our colleges has it in contemplation to teach Arabic, Persian, or Hindee words in Eoman characters. This would, indeed, be ultra-radicalism, and I cannot therefore vote for any sanction being given by the School-Book Society, even in receiving a dedication from the author, imless the words " for the use of European students " be inserted in the title-page. Besides, before giving coun- tenance to such an important work as a Dictionary, we should have a report on its execution from some competent person. (Signed) J. P. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 3 (3.) MK. J. TITLEE's first MINUTE, OBJECTING TO ME. THOMPSON'S DICTIONAET. We shall compromise our character very much, particularly with European scholars, in whose eyes the Oriental literature of Calcutta does not, I fear, stand very high at present, if we go back to the old system of printing Oriental books in Roman characters. This is, indeed, " to mistake the infancy of science for its maturity," and I cannot give my vote for doing so. I am aware that a School-Booh Society is not to publish books of too high an order, but the present appears to me even below our general run of publications, and I am at a loss to see for what class of pupils it can be intended, as it appeal's ill calculated for any. It is a mere naked voca- bulary destitute of every principle of scientific philology, in which the words are thrown together in a heap, and full of mistranslations and misapprehensions. A hundred instances might be picked out in a few minutes. In this state it can only serve to puzzle beginners, and will certainly be thrown aside by those who have made the least advance. I think on the whole that the encoui-agement of such works is a mere waste of funds, and therefore vote against it. (Signed) J. TYTLEE. (4.) ME. C. E. TEETELTAn'S FIRST MINUTE IN SUPPOET OF MB. THOMP- SON'S DICTIONAET AND OF THE APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET TO HINDtJSTANI. I owe an apology to the Committee for having suffered a proposition with which my name was connected to be sub- mitted for their decision unaccompanied by any explanation on my part, for I am convinced that if this precaution had been taken, the objections which have been brought forward B 2 4 APPLICATION or THE EOMAN ALPHABET to Mr. Thompson's work would have been obviated, and the scope and motives of it would have appeared to the members of the Committee in a clearer point of view than has actually been the case. It will now be my endeavour to supply the deficiency as far as it can be done at this late period of the discussion, and I am encouraged to adopt this course by observing that several gentlemen for whose opinions I enter- tain a high respect, are inclined to view the proposition with favoui-, while our highly honoured President has suspended the expression of his opinion untU the question shall have received more complete elucidation. I shall now proceed to consider each of the objections in the order in which they have been brought forward. Mr. Prinsep " trusts that none of our colleges has in con- " templation to teach Arabic, Persian, and Hindee words in " Eoman characters. This," he observes, " woidd indeed be " ultra-radicalism." This is the sole objection assigned by this gentleman to the plan, that it would be " ultra-radi- " calism." Let us consider therefore what vdtra-radicalism is. It means an entire change. Now change is a relative term which may be either good or bad according to the cir- cumstances of each particular case. If the change is good, it is of course desirable that it should be radical ; and if it is bad, it were better that it did not take place at all. This is not the first ultra-radicalism in the department of education which has emanated from Delhi. At Calcutta scarcely any encouragement is offered to the Mahomedans to study English, while they are bribed at an expense of more than 30 rupees a month for every student to cultivate Arabic * ; the consequence of which is that there is scarcely a single Mahomedan to be found at Calcutta who has received a tolerable education. At Delhi equal encourage- ment is held out to Mahomedans and Hindoos to prosecute * The following description of this Monkish institution is taken from a liote of tlie Secretary to the Committee of Public Instruction : " I deem it my duty to notice that the Madrissa, has only 74 students, all of whom it supports by pecuniary allowances, and that (without takincr into consideration the heavy items of printing) the board and tuition o{ each student costs 320 rupees per annum, a rate greatly exceedino- the expenditure on the pupils of any other institution. It is possible the ex- cess may be counterbalanced by great public advimlages." TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 5 the study of English literature and science, and the youth of both denominations are pursuing it there in neai-ly equal numbers and with equal success. This is an ultra-radicalism. At Calcutta the division of society into castes is carefully cherished and perpetuated by maintaining separate institutions for Christians, Mahomedans, and Hindoos. At Delhi the youth of every religion and caste pursue their studies together in the same institution. This is another ultra-radicalism, and so little was it anticipated by Mr. Wilson that at the first formation of the Delhi College, among other branches of study proposed by him for the new institution, one was the " scheme of castes" in all its complicated ramifications. Happily this kind of propagandism did not take there. Be- nares has always been more under the influence of Calcutta, and the institutions at that place present an exact counter- part to those at the capital. I have now submitted to the Committee two instances of ultra-radicalism, and I fearlessly allege that they are both good and contain in themselves the seeds of great prospective improvement. A third has now been produced emanating from the same place, and before Mr. Prinsep can justly call upon the Committee to condemn it, he is bound to show that it is of a bad and not of a good description. This he has omitted to do, and as yet he has not favoured us with a single reason against the more general introduction of the Eoman letters to which he so strongly objects. The subject, however, is of so much importance that I cannot suffer it to be thus cursorily passed over, and I will proceed to answer, as briefly as possible, all the difficulties with which the change can be supposed to be attended. Perhaps it may be thought that the Eoman letters are so strange and foreign to the people of this country, that the extensive use of them in writing the Indian languages cannot reasonably be anticipated. To this I would reply that these letters, which were at first used only for the Latin tongue within the limits of the little territory of Latium, have gradually been adopted to express all the languages of Europe, America, Australia, and part of Africa and Asia. The Greek, the German, and the Eussian characters are the B 3 6 AMPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET sole exceptions to the general uniformity in the mode of writing in Europe, and at least two of these are rapidly falling into disuse. The old Grerman text is now almost entirely abandoned, and few new books are published in Grermany except in the Eoman character. In Greece the revival of letters has been marked by the simultaneous adoption of the universal written character of the civilised world, and Eomaic or modern Greek School-Books, Testaments, and, I believe, newspapers also, expressed in Eoman letters, are daily be- coming multiplied. Both in North and South America, whe- ther the language be English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese, the Eoman characters prevail, without any exception, and the same in the Australian continent, which is in progress of being peopled as yet by Englishmen only. The letters which have been adopted to express the languages of the South Sea islanders are also the Eoman, with only such modifications as are necessary to denote the sounds peculiar to their tongues, and mimerous printing-presses are at this moment employed in spreading these universal harbingers of civilisa- tion throughout the great Southern Archipelago. The same plan has been pursued in Java, the Celebes, and wherever else the Dutch have had authority, and, as a specimen, I have the honour to submit to the Committee a Testament in the Malay language and Eoman character. The Eoman letters have actually been adopted to express the popular languages of India. The plan was introduced by Sir William Jones and zealoiisly followed up by Mr. G-il- christ, and had the latter gentleman been supported by a Society like ours, the system would no doubt by this time have been fully established. Unfortunately, however, for the cause of popular education, the Oriental rage was, at the period when Grilchrist laboured, at its height, and he was overborne by a host of learned Orientalists, who, in making knowledge simple, foresaw the ruin of their craft" Every- body must be aware that when the popular languages of the East are once disencumbered of their Persian or Sanskrit dress, the gentlemen who are the depositories of Asiatic lore will no longer be looked up to with the same degree of wonder and admiration as they are at present, and they will TO THE LAHaUAGES OF INDIA. 7 greatly sink in the estimation of their learned brethren in the West. The Eoman system of letters has now been adopted in India for the third time under happier auspices. The ex- clusive taste for Oriental studies never extended in its full force to the extremities of the empire. The focus of this influence was at Calcutta, where its intensity was concentrated by a profusion of honours and rewards in the shape of pro- fessorships both for Natives and Europeans, secretaryships to Oriental colleges, moonsheeships, Arabic translationships at the rate of 750 rupees per 50 pages, studentships in the Arabic College at an expense to the state of more than 30 rupees a month, &c. &c. There was nothing of this kind in the Upper Provinces. Occasionally, indeed, a stray Ori- entalist made his appearance there, but Unfortunately for the profession, his quaMcations in other respects did not always sufficiently correspond with his attainments in the science of words to gain many admirers for the system. In the Upper Provinces, therefore, there were no predilections to stand in the way of the new letters, and there was no danger of their being strangled as soon as they were born, as they had formerly been at Calcutta. Another circumstance which augurs very favourably for the success which is likely to attend the reproduction of the old system, is, that the measure has not been adopted until the necessity of it became self-evident. Great numbers of the youth of Delhi, who are brought up at the English College, have no acquaintance whatever either with the Nagree or Persian character. They know English as their language of education, and Hindoostanee as their vernacular tongue, but the only character with which they are acquainted is the Eoman, and this they employ to write both languages. For their use, therefore, (and they are a very intelligent and an- nually increasing class,) an English and Hindoostanee Dic- tionary was indispensable. Under these circumstances Mr. Thompson undertook the compilation of a small vocabulary, which met with such eminent success that he was encouraged to apply himself to the task of preparing the larger work to which the patronage of the Committee is now solicited. The B 4 8 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET vocabulary is circulated herewith, and it is deserving of at- tention as the first fruits of a system of letters which will eventually become universal throughout the East, and will contribute in a high degree to hasten the period when India will possess a national literature of her own equal to any other in the world. The plan which the Committee is requested to support is, therefore, anything but an uncertain experiment suggested by the expectation of probable advantage. It is a measure called for by urgent necessity, and proved to be advantageous by the result of a trial which has been already made. If there was anything of speculation in the matter, it was in the original essay made by Mr. Thompson, and not in the measure now adopted to follow up a plan the soundness of which has been fully established. I beg leave to call the attrition of the Committee to the commentary furnished by the facts which have been stated upon the cry now raised of ultra-radicalism. The first great change was effected when the Eoman letters surpassed the ancient limits of the territory of Rome, and, since that time, by a succession of ultra-radicalisms, they have been adopted by one nation after another, until at last they bid fair to be- come the universal written character of the whole world. Every one of these changes was, no doubt, condemned by the lovers of ancient lore of the day ; and, if their advice had been attended to, every nation would to this day have had its own separate character, as well as language, and one more barrier would have been added to those which already stand in the way of the general fraternisation of the human race, and the general enlightenment of the human mind. In England the Eoman letters did not acquire their present well established ascendency until after several struggles; and the lovers of the Saxon, Norman, Old English, com-t hand, &c., no doubt, each in their day, strenuously maintained that their own way of wi-iting English was the only one in which the force and beauties of the language could be pro- perly expressed. The ultra-radicalism has actually been per- petrated in this country. The Eoman letters have taken their place in Indian literature, and, notwithstanding the TO THE LANaUAGES OF INDIA. 9 opposition which may be raised by learned Orientalists, I am convinced that they will continue to advance by a slow, but sure, progress, until that day shall arrive when the curse of Babel will be removed, and all mankind will be united in the enjoyment of a common language and a common mode of expressing it. The Eoman is not the first foreign character which has been adopted to express the popular language of India. The Persian and Arabic characters are equally foreign, and they are not nearly so distinct or so easy to be used in printing as the Eoman. The Nagree character also, although quite foreign to the languages of Persia and Arabia, is used to ex- press words of pure Arabic and Persian origin. The Eoman letters are capable of being adapted to the popular languages of India in a much more complete manner than they have been to that of England. Nothing can be more preposterous than our English system of writing, for it is not deserving of the name of Orthography. For instance, hare, hair, heir, were, pear, are all written differently, al- though the vowels have precisely the same sound; but in adapting the Eoman letters to the popular languages of India, whether Sir Wm. Jones's, Mr. Gilchrist's, or Mr. Thompson's scheme ultimately come into general use, an exact corre- -spondence between the writing and the pronunciation will be preserved. In the different schemes of letters which have been devised, the varying sounds of the Indian consonants which are not represented by a corresponding letter in the Eoman alphabet have been distinguished by some peculiar mark, or by some modification of the kindred letter. I know that the lovers of Arabic and Sanskrit will reply to this, that if any modifications of the Eoman alphabet are admitted for the purpose of denoting sounds peculiar to the Indian languages, the system of letters which it is proposed to bring into more extended use will then be neither one thing nor the other, neither Eoman nor Indian. I rejoin by asking whether the Persian character, as used in writing Hindoostanee, is more pure? It is far from being so. In order to adapt the Persian characters to the language of Hindoostan it was necessary to invent signs 10 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET to distinoTiish the different vaiiations of sound in the Sanskrit consonants, and the letters peculiar to the Arabic (ain, ghain, toe, zoe) were introduced without any alteration in the forms in which they are used in writing the original language. The Persian alphabet, therefore, as used in writing theHindoostanee language, is as great a mongrel as ever the Koman letters can be when they are applied to the same purpose, being made up, partly of pure Persian characters, partly of letters intro- duced from the Arabic, and partly of certain modified forms of Persian letters which have been invented by the Fort William philologists to represent those sounds of the Sanskrit letters which are not to be found in the Persian. This adap- tation was not completed until of late years, when the subject was taken up by the learned Orientalists of the College of Fort William. They might just as well have modified the Eoman as the Persian characters to express the language of this coimtry. They are both equally foreign, and equally applicable to it with some slight alterations. We are not such pedants as to desire to sacrifice both sense and usefulness in the attempt to attain an ideal uniformity. The basis only of the Indo-Eoman character is Eoman, as the basis of the Indo-Persian character is Persian, and where additions or modifications are required they have been made. So far as the languages agree, the pm-e Eoman character is used for both ; and, so far as they differ, a modification of it has been devised suited to meet the exigency of the case. The particulars in which the languages coincide are made evident to the student from the similarity of character, and the points in which they differ are rendered plain to him by the pecu- liar marks. This, it must be admitted, is a great assistance both to the Englishman learning the Indian, and to the Indian learning the English language ; and besides this, by clearly pointing out the discrepancies between the tongues, a tendency has been created to produce a more exact coiTe- spondence between them. If it were to be asked what advantages are to be expected from adopting the Eoman letters as the medium for express- ing the Indian languages, I would answer as follows : Fir&t The Eoman character, whether it be written or XO THE LANGITAGES OF INDIA. 11 printed, is more distinct than any other which can be adopted for expressing the languages of India, whether they be de- rived from the Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, or English source, or whether they be mixed and compounded of the whole or any number of these tongues. The superiority of the Eoman letters may be inferred from the circumstance of their having gradually been adopted, in spite of every opposition, to ex- press the language of so many different nations in different parts of the world ; and, notwithstanding the continuance of the same opposition, they are still spreading to a degree far exceeding any other character. One main cause of the supe- rior distinctness of the Eoman character is that the vowels are expressed, instead of being either entirely omitted, or distinguished by diacritical points, which are continually liable to be misplaced and left out ; and, even when every pre- caution is taken, it is more difficult to read Hebrew, Arabic, or Persian, in which the vowels are represented by minute points, placed above or below the line, than any language printed in Eoman characters in which they are denoted by a separate letter standing in its place in the line. Another reason is the extreme neatness of the printed Eoman cha- racter. The art of printing has been carried to a far higher degree of perfection in these letters than in any others. As they are the universal character of the civilised world, they have been more extensively used in printing than any other, and, from the first invention of the art to the present day, they have been gradually elaborated and improved in the manner which has been found by experience best adapted to meet the difficulties which from time to time have suggested themselves. They have the result of nearly three hundred years' experience in their favour, and I put it to the Com- mittee whether it be more desirable to adopt the Eoman character, thus perfected and improved, or to go on with the tedious process of elaborating Nagree and Persian by a suc- cession of changes, which must be carried through a long series of years before we can hope to arrive at the same de- gree of perfection. Secondly. Printing can be carried on in Eoman characters much cheaper and more expeditiously than it can either in 12 APPLICATION OF THE BOMAN ALPHABET Persian or in Nagree. For instance, Mr. Pearce informs me that it would cost one third more, and take up double the time, to print Mr. Thompson's manuscript in Eoman and Nagree and Persian characters united, as it would to print it in Eoman characters alone ; and, after all, it would not be so perfect, if Persian characters formed part of the design, on account of the liability of the numerous vowel and other points used in writing that language to break, to be misplaced, to be omitted, or not to be correctly ascertained ; their ap- plication varying according to the authority of different dictionaries. In laying the foundation of a national litera- ture, it is of great importance to select a character which will cause as small an expenditure as possible of the time and money of the nation. It is not easy to imagine how much of these important elements of human affairs might be saved in the course of one hundred years, by having all our books printed in Eoman characters only, which cost one third less, instead of Persian or Nagree, which cost one third more. To make knowledge cheap and bring books down to the level of the means even of the poorest class of people, it must be admitted, is an object of some importance. Thirdly. A still greater advantage which will be gained by the plan will be, that the adoption of the Eoman cha- racters in India will lead to the gradual disuse of the Na- gree and Persian and Arabic, and we shall thus have three characters less than we had before. Need I point out the advantages of such a consummation? Next to the multi- plicity of languages, the intellect of India is oppressed by the multiplicity of letters ; and it is shocking to think how much human time, which might be directed to the best purposes, is wasted in gaining a knowledge of the many barbarous cha- racters with which the country abounds. The student of Hindoostanee now has to learn both the Nagree and Persian characters, and, if he would commence the study of Eno-lish he must learn the Eoman also ; but, under the new plan, the Eoman characters will do for all. The infancy of every nation in the pursuit of knowledge is always marked by a diversity of languages and letters, and, as it improves in civilisation. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 13 they gradually become assimilated and ultimately merge in one common character and tongue. The natural and just tendency of everything is to simplicity. Fourthly. It is generally admitted that our endeavours should be mainly directed to the gradual formation of a national literature embodying in itself the selected knowledge of the whole civilised world, and it forms a strong recom- mendation of the plan now imder consideration that it will greatly tend to facilitate the accomplishment of this highly important object. Wben the languages of England and of India shall become expressed in a character common to both, the obstacles which stand in the way of their assimilation will be materially diminished. The path from one language to the other will be in a manner smoothed to every student, as he will have the words only to learn and not the symbols whereby they are expressed. The person who knows English will be more easily induced to cultivate a tongue embodied in a character with which he is already acquainted, and into which he can introduce pure English words without any glaring impropriety ; thereby gratifying his literary taste at the same time that he will be able to convey his meaning with greater readiness and precision in terms taken from the more scientific and cultivated language ; while, on the other hand, the Hindoostanee scholar will, for the same reason, enter with greater ease upon the study of English, and draw from it, in like manner, stores of expressive words for the improvement of his native dialect. In either case, whether the English scholar descend to Hindoostanee, or the Hindoo- stanee scholar ascend to English, the transition will be made much easier to them both by the use of a common character ; and the certain result of this intimate connexion between the two languages will be, that the national literature will be enriched by plentiful supplies of words and ideas derived from the English source. The words of the English language are so generally indeclinable that their introduction into the Indian dialects may be accomplished with peculiar ease. How desirable would it be to engraft upon the popular lan- guages of the East such words as virtue, honour, gratitude. 14 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABKT patriotism, public spvrit, and some others for which it is at present diflBcult to find any synonyme in them ! Lastly. By means of the assimilation proposed, the mutual good understanding between the two races wiU be greatly promoted. When their languages shall be expressed in a character common to both, the English will learn more Indian, and the Indians will learn more English. If Latin were to be written in Hebrew, and French in Greek, characters, is it likely that we English should know so much about those languages as we do ? Mr. Prinsep observes : " Mr. Thompson's work will doubtless find a ready sale among Europeans. I cannot vote for any sanction being given by the Society even in receiving a dedi- cation from the author, unless the words for the use of European students be inscribed on the title-page;" from which we must infer, that, in Mr. Prinsep's opinion, the cu- cumstance that it will also be of use to European students constitutes a ground of objection to the book. For my part, I entertain exactly the contrary opinion, and that it will be equally useful to all classes appears to me to be a clear indi- cation that the work is founded on sound principles. If, through the medium of our Society, books can be provided which shaU not only facilitate the acquisition of the English language by the natives of India, but shall also assist the natives of England in acquiring a knowledge of the Indian languages, surely no wiser or nobler application could be made of our patronage. This appears to me to be the exact point of union towards which we should direct all oui- efforts, as far as mere language is concerned. It is asked what class of people will make use of such a Dictionary as Mr. Thompson's. I reply briefly : First. Those native students of the English language who, like the Delhi youths, are not acquainted with any cha- racter except the Eoman. Secondly. Every native who is engaged in studying the English language. In order to acquire even the slightest knowledge of English, every student must learn the Eoma character ; and it is obvious that the same degree of acquaint TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 15 ance with it which enables him to reaxi English imperfectly, would enable him to read his own language fluently. It will be a good way for children to begin to learn the Eoman character by reading their own language in it, since a familiarity with any written character is more easily acquired through the medium of one's own than through that of a foreign language. If we wished to teach an English boy the Eoman character, we should first set him to read English, and not Latin. % Thirdly. Every person, whether Indian or European, who is already acquainted with English and wishes to obtain an acquaintance with Hindoostanee. In short, every Englishman who wishes to learn Hindoo- stanee, and every Indian who wishes to learn English, will take the first four rupees he has to spare to Mr. Thompson's stall. In his love for Oriental hieroglyphics, Mr. Prinsep has over- looked the fact that to use any Hindoostanee and English Dictionary a native must understand the Roman letters, unless indeed that gentleman, in his ultra-toryism, would ex- press our English words in Sanskrit, Arabic, or Persian cha- racters. The Eoman letters must be used and understood, at any rate, and why, therefore, should we increase the price of our Dictionary and puzzle the brains of our readers by the addition of barbarous Persian ? Before I conclude this part of the subject, I may as well observe, that it is not expected that the Eoman letters can be generally introduced at once. Their complete establishment throughout India, to the exclusion of every other character, must be a work perhaps of several generations. The principle I advocate is the on« which is understood to form the leading maxim of our Society, viz. that we should prepare books of a kind suited for every class of readers, and leave it to the popular taste to determine which shall be ultimately adopted and which rejected. I have shown that there are at present large classes of people to whom a Hindoostanee Dictionary printed in the Eoman character would be highly acceptable, and, having done so, I conceive that I have made out a suffi- 16 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET cient claim for the patronage of the Comraittee. If the de- mand for books printed in the Eoman character spreads, so much the better ; and, if not, we shall only have done our duty in supplying an actual call for the means of instruction. Although, therefore, the change of which I am the humble advocate may some day become radical, in the meantime it will only be gradual. I shall now proceed to answer the objections brought for- ward by Mr. Tytler. The learned gentleman is of opinion that we " shall compromise our character, particularly with European scholars, in whose eyes the Oriental Literature of Calcutta does not stand very high at present, if we go back to the old system of printing Oriental books in Eoman characters." To this I reply that our Committee was not established for the pm-pose of raising the reputation of Calcutta as a seat of Oriental Literature, but for the purpose of providing the means of cheap and easy instruction for the people of the Bengal Presidency. These two objects have heretofore been too much confounded, or to speak more correctly, the latter, which is by far the more important, involving the intellectual and moral welfare of about sixty millions of people, has in a lamentable degree been sacrificed to the former. So long as we remained engrossed in the pursuit of the higher branches of Oriental lore, the education of the people was almost en- tirely lost sight of by us. The rage for Orientalism com- menced in the time of Marquis Wellesley. The object which that nobleman had in view was to educate Europeans in the languages of the East. Our object is to educate Asiatics in the sciences of the West. The means adopted by Marquis Wellesley, therefore, whether they were well adapted or not for the ends which he had in view, are totally unsuited to forward the design of our society. If Lord Wellesley 's Oriental system had been confined within its proper limits, although it might not have done any good, yet it would not have done much harm ; but, instead of this, it soon exceeded all due bounds and deluged the country with such an inundation of Sanskrit and Arabic, as had not been TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 17 seen since the time of King Bhoj or Mulimood of Ghuznee. Instead of a revival of sound learning, it was only a revival of antiquated errors, and omr Orientalists fondly imagined that, while they were propagating the long-exploded absurcjities of Avicenna or the profligacies of the Sanskrit dramas, they were promoting the cause of public instruction. This era of the history of India affords a curious instance of the natural tendency of the human mihd to attach an un- due degree of importance to those particular pursuits with which it happens to be conversant. The study of Sanskrit and Ai-abic is unobjectionable as a curious branch of inquiry, to be pursued by men of leisure and literary curiosity who happen to have a turn for the study of different languages, but it is absurd to suppose that the spread of true knowledge and the elevation of the morals of a nation can be promoted by such means. For about thirty years, all the influence of the state was employed in directing the talent of the country towards the exclusive cultivation of the three dead languages, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian *, and a high standard of acquirement in any of them formed a certain avenue to civil employ. There * The languages of Arabia and Persia, as known in India, are dead languages. If we except a few Arab and Persian merchants, they are the living spoken languages of no one class of people ; and, when the natives of the country wish to cultivate them, they are under the ne- cessity of commencing the study of them from the beginning, as they would of any other disused tongue. There was a time, no doubt, when they were the living languages of large classes of people in India. But that period has long since passed by, and English has taken the place which they once occupied. The spoken languages of India are the Hin- doostanee, Bengalee, &c., whicli are the languages of the many, and English, which is the language of the few ; but, although it be the lan- guage of the few, English possesses an importance far out of proportion to the numerical amount of the people by whom it is spoken, arising, as well from the superior influence inseparable from our situation in India, as from the superior stores of learning which our language contains. The English language is the source from which we must draw for the improve- ment of Native literature, and we might as well separate the stream from the fountain or the bread from the leaven which leavens it, as the verna- cular dialects from the English language. The two will go on together through successive generations till they meet in a common language, equal for variety and power of expression, and for the amount of knowledge which it contains, to any of which the world can boast. 18 APPLICATION OP THE ROMAN ALPHABET was also another, and a still more powerful, motive to en- coui-age the taste for Orientalism, particularly among the English portion of the community. This is the one alluded to by Mr. Tytler. By means of the three dead languages, an European reputation was to be acquired. Here was a meed worthy of the most aspiring ambition! By the successful study of Sanski-itj'Arabic, and Persian, a person not only be- comes well known i« England, but his name is familiarised to the "European scholars" of France and Grermany and almost every other European country, for there is none which does not boast of some Orientalist. This woxild be very well in an Antiquarian Society of Eu- ropean gentlemen, but it will not suflBce for our Society, which has in view the improvement of an intellectually ignorant and morally degraded people. Let Mr. Tytler continue to pursue his Arabic studies, in the prosecution of which I wish him every success ; but let us not suffer ourselves to be persuaded by him that we are instructing the Indians, while we are only gratifying the peculiar literary taste, and I fear, too generally, the vanity, of a few European scholars who happen to have turned their attention to the Sanskrit and Arabic languages. Our business is not with Europe, but with India ; and our object is to instruct the people of India by the united means of English and of the popular languages, and not to gain a reputation in Europe by a patronage of the learned few who have leisure and inclination to devote themselves to the study of Sanskiit and Arabic. The objection that we shall fail to acquire for ourselves an European reputation, and that the bounds of the continent of India will also form the limits of our fame, can therefore have no influence with us. We never meant to aspire to the honour of knighthood, nor did the prospect of filling the Oriental chairs in the universities of England evei- enter into our imaginations, and when we travel abroad, we shall not feel mortified if we pass unrecog- nised by the literati of Paris, Bonn, and Vienna, never having expected any attention from them. These honours are the rewards of encouraging Sanskrit and Arabic lore. But we shall enjoy the humble satisfaction of having done good TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 19 in our day and generation, and I am sure that there are some gentlemen on our Committee whose souls are susceptible of being influenced by such a motive. We desii'e not to claim fraternity with Messrs. Bopp and Schlegel, but we recognise the duty of pro^^iding for the mental cultivation and moral improvement of millions of our fellow-subjects, and to this cause we are ready to devote time and talents and property, and all we possess that can be spared from other claims. It may be thought that I have exaggerated the extent to which the instruction of the many has been sacrificed to the literary taste of the few. I beg leave to assure the Commit- tee that such is far from being the case. A statement is annexed of the entire sum which has been expended by the General Committee of Public Instruction, from the date of its institution up to the 30th April, 1832, in the printing of Oriental works, or in assisting the authors to print them, by taking a certain number of copies off their hands. From an examination of this document it will be seen, that the patronage of the General Committee has been bestowed in the following proportions up to the above-mentioned date : — Sanskrit 13,000 volumes. Arabic 5,600 ditto. Persian 2,500 ditto. Hindee 2,000 ditto. Not a single Bengalee or Oordoo book has been printed by the General Committee, nor has one translation been made through their medium into the popular languages. It is true that four Hindee works have been published by them (Sabha BilS,s, Eajniti, Chhatraprak5,sa, and DdyabhSga), but none of these convey any European information. Not one of them is a translation of any European book, but they ai-e either reprints of original Hindee books or of old Hindee translations from Sanskrit books ; and they are all classical works, formed on an exclusively Sanskrit model, without a knowledge of which language they are almost unintelligible, and are therefore quite unfit to be used as a medium of po- piilar instruction. c 2 20 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET Will it now be said that I have exaggerated ? These books were printed at the expense of a fund consecrated by the Parliament of Grreat Britain to the cause of popular edu- cation, and they form the result of twelve years' labours of the Committee of Public Instruction in that highly important branch of their duty which consists in the provision of Oriental books for the instruction of the public. Some of these books are of such a nature that the members of the General Committee would at once repudiate the idea of their being intended for the instruction of youth, or even of their being at all put into their hands. The Sanskrit drama called the Mricchhakati, or Toy Cart, for instance, is all about a prosti- tute. The Sanskrit poem called Naishadha, or Nala Damayanti, now reprinting at a great expense in twenty-two cantos, is another of this nature. The whole object of the poet appears to be to display his critical acquaintance with the Sanskrit lan- guage and his exquisite taste for sensuality. At times the author positively revels in licentiousness, and Don Juan is a tyro compared with him. The Committee will be able to judge of the character of the work when I inform them that the plot of the poem is as follows. Nala is rendered invisible and introduced by the god Indra into the harem of Damayanti to make love on his behalf to the beautiful mortal, but, as might have been expected, Nala fell in love himself and married the lady. A large portion of the poem is taken up in the detail of all that Nala observed in the interior of the harem in the most unguarded^ hours of its inmates, while he himself preserved his invisible form. Eepasts of this kind may contribute very much to the gratification of the Oriental scholars of Europe and India. The book was of course iatended exclusively for theu- perusal, and I strongly disclaim the idea of supposing that the members of the Greneral Committee ever intended to pollute the minds of the youth of this country by teaching them lechery under its most seductive forms. These two books are only specimens of a great variety of the same character that might be named. If the sum which has been employed by the Greneral Com- mittee of Public Instruction in providing books for the TO THE LAN atr AGES OF INDIA. 21 amiisement of Oriental scholars in Europe had been devoted to the supply of books of popular instruction, there would now be scarcely a school in the country which might not have been provided with some easy tracts of sound knowledge and pure morality. With the exception of the Sanskrit dra- mas, the works referred to are almost all quarto volumes of seven hundred or eight hundred pages each ; and, for the same cost at which one of these great books is got up, twenty or thirty, nay sometimes eighty or a hundred, school-books might be supplied. Among other honours with which the administration of Lord WUliam Bentinck will descend to posterity, it will not be the least that in his time the Oriental mania, which broke out under Lord Wellesley's Government, advanced under Lord Minto's, was in the height of its career under Lord Hastings, and began to flag under Lord Amherst's, has com- pletely exhausted itself. Orientalism has, at length, ceased to be considered the exclusive test of merit, and the public mind has completely awoke to the fact that the shortest and most effectual way of communicating knowledge to the' people of this country is by educating the youth in English Utera- ture, and, where this is impracticable, by providing them with translations of books on European science in their owti lan- guages. All classes now concur in the expediency of opening in India the pure fount of English literature, and, where the parent source happens to be inaccessible to the student from the existence of other claims upon his time, he may at least be enabled to imbibe sound knowledge, though to a more limited extent, by means of translations in his native tongue. According to the best of my judgment the truth lies in this opinion ; but, whether this be the case or not, it is certain that in proportion as the public have advanced towards this point, the majority of the Committee of PubUc Instruction have receded from it. By referring again to the annexed state- ment, it will be seen that in 1832 and 1833 seven Sanskrit and the same number of Arabic books were printed by the Committee and only one Hindee (which, like the others, was c 3 22 APPLJGATIOIS OF THE KOMAN ALPHAUEX on an exclusively Sanskrit model), and none in Bengalee or Oordoo ; while on the 2nd November last, when the return was furnished, there were four Sanskrit and ten Arabic books in the press, and none in Hindee, Oordoo, or Bengalee. A change, therefore, has taken place, but it is all on the side of the learned languages and against popular instruction ; and while Sanskrit used to be the principal object of the Commit- tee's patronage, the tide has since turned in favour of Arabic. These learned languages seem to have just changed places in the estimation of the General Committee, and as there were 25 Sanskrit and 12 Arabic books published by them up to the end of 1831 and 1832, so there are now 10 Arabic and 4 Sanskrit books in the press ; that is to say, while Sanskrit was formerly twice as much encouraged as Arabic, so now Arabic is twice as much encom'agedas Sanskrit. In the years 1832 and 1833 the two languages were treated with equal favour, there having been exactly seven books published in each in that year. It will also be seen from the return that there are at this moment a number of translations into Arabic going through the press for the purpose oi popular instruction, but there is no account of what they cost. Compared with the limited use which can be made of them, owing to the small number of persons in India capable of reading and understanding Arabic books, the expense of these translations is very heavy. Indeed it is the rarity of acquire- ments like Mr. Tytler's which is supposed to confer such a high value upon his labours. He is said to be the only per- son in India who is qualified for the task of translating Eng- lish science into Arabic, from which we may form some conception of the limited number of individuals who possess such a pra,ctical acquaintance with this language as to render it easier for them to acquire knowledge through its medium than through that of any other. The Committee of the Agra College have for months past been advertising for a native professor to fill the vacant chair in the department of Arabic Grrammar, and no person possessing the necessaay qualifica- tions has yet made his appearance. The following is a state- ment of Mr. Tytler's receipts, as Ai-abic translator general, from September 1829 to Mai-ch 1833 : — TO THE LANGUAOES OF INDIA. 23 Works translated From what date. Remuneration for Translation. Hooper's Vade Me- cum Sept. 1829 - 1,000 Oct. „ - 1,000 Nov. „ - 1,000 Feb. 1830 - 1,000 March „ 1,000 April „ 1,000 M.y „ - 1,000 July „ 1,000 1 1 months at 742 Ks. per month. Hutton's Mathema- Sept. „ 8,000 1,000 tics, vol. 1st Crocker's Land- Sur- Oct. „ 1,000 2,000 Es. 2 months at veying Crocker's Laud- Sur- 1,000 Ks. per month. Nov. „ 1,000 veying Jan. 1831 - 1,000 2,000 Ks. 3 months at 666 10 8 ditto. May „ - 1,000 Hutton's Mathema- tics Sept. „ - 1,000 2,000 Es. 5 months at 400 ditto. Medical Books Ditto 1832 - 750 Nov. „ 750 Feb. 1833 - 750 March „ 7,'50 3,000 Es. 7 months at 428 9 ditto. Abstract. Eemuneration received by Dr. Tytler for translating Hooper's Ana. Vade Mecum 8,000 Ditto one half Hutton's Mathematics, vol. 1st . . . 2,000 Ditto Crocker's Land-Surveying 4,000 Ditto Hooper's Physician's Vade Mecum .... 3,000 Being 42 months at 400 Es. a month. Es. 17,000 This new light only lately broke ia upon the majority of the General Committee, and it never seems to have been imagined before, that translations into Arabic were good for public instruction. The prevailing taste used to be entirely on the side of Sanskrit. Brighter days, however, have at length begun to dawn upon India, and both Sanskrit and Arabic, after many a hard-fought battle, are slowly retiring from the field of popular education. The Arabic translations c 4 24 APPLICATION OF THE HOMAN ALPHABET have been put a stop to, with the exception only of about 3,000 rupees which were saved out of the fire, on the ground that Hopper's Anatomist's Vade Mecum was still incomplete. At the period when this change took place 65,000 Rs. re- 'mained to he expended in completing Arahic translations of only six hooks, that is 32,000 Ms. for five Medical works, and 33,000 Rs. for the untranslated part of Hutton " with something extra for diagrams." This is according to Mr. Tytler's own estimate. I am far from wishing to discourage the prosecution of Oriental studies within their proper limits. If it be the duty of Grovernment to preserve the knowledge of Sanskrit and Arabic as a branch of curious literary inquiry, after the public voice has decided against them as a medium of national in- struction, let professorships be established, and a certain portion of the public revenue set apart for this particular purpose ; but let us not give out that we are instructing the people of India, while we are really only endeavouring to support our own reputation for Oriental learning. K we were real Orientalists, we should make the welfare of the East the main object of our efforts, and should endeavour to draw from the ample stores of Western learning intellectual food for the improvement of our Asiatic brethren, but our conduct is really exactly the reverse of this. Nothing effectual is done for popiilar education in the East. No efforts are made to naturaUse in this country the knowledge which we have so largely to bestow, and a considerable portion even of the scanty fi^nd which has been assigned by the British Parlia- ment for the purpose of Indian popular instruction has been alienated by us, to cater for the taste of the lovers of Oriental learning in Europe. It seems to have been overlooked, that the annual lakh of rupees was assigned by Parliament for the education of the youth of India, and that it was never intended from this sotirce to provide matter for the lucubra- tions of Messrs. Bopp and Schlegel, or even to gratify the taste of the professors to the English Universities. However it may have been recognised elsewhere, I trust that the prin- ciples of the Orientalists will not be admitted into our Com- mittee, and that a book of populai- instruction will not be TO THE LANGTTAGES OF INDIA. 25 rejected, because it is suggested that its puUication may " compromise our character with European scholars." Mr. Tytler further observes that Mr. Thompson's book ap- pears to be " even below our general run of publications," and he adds that " it is a mere naked vocabulary destitute of every priuciple of scientific philology." These remarks afford a singular illustration of how diametrically opposite different people may think on the same subject. The very reasons for which Mr. Tytler objects to the book form the ground on which I have presumed to recommend it to the notice of the Committee. All the English and Oordoo Dictionaries which have yet been published are above both the comprehension and the purses of the people, and they are too scientific for their edification. They are inaccessible to the poor and un- intelligible to the unlearned and to children. The lowest price at which Gilchrist's, Shakespear's, and the other exist- ing English and Oordoo Dictionaries are to be obtained, places them beyond the reach of any except the highest class of the people ; and they are often so much crowded with synonymes drawn fresh from Arabic and Sanskrit, and quite unknown in common parlance, and contain such a profusion of learned etymologies, as to puzzle and confound the minds of the un- initiated. Under these circumstances Mr. Thompson designed the plan of his " School Dictionary," intending to make it so cheap as to be within everybody's reach, and so popular in its character as to be universally intelligible. The work has now been completed, and it is submitted to the Committee in the hope that the author may be enabled through their assist- ance to bring it before the world. The price of each copy will be 4 rupees, which is only one fifth part of the cost of the Dictionaries hitherto published, and great care has been taken in the compilation of it to explain the meaning of the English words only by such synonymes as are in general use. The existing Dictionaries have all been formed more or less upon the Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian models, and their authors appear to have taken a pride in displaying their in- timate acquaintance with barbaric lore. Their columns are swelled with foreign words taken wholesale from Kichardson. 26 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET and Wilson, without in the least considering whether or not they form part of the language of the country ; and the general tendency to fall into this error has been greatly aggravated by the pedantic spirit of the native assistants of the lexicogra^ phers, who were almost always learned Mouluvees and Pundits puffed up with literary pride, and more conversant with musty volumes than with the spoken language of the land. Mr. Thompson's Dictionaiy, on the contrary, has been drawn up strictly on the popular model, and it has been steadily kept in view, as the main principle of the imdertaking, to admit no word which is not in familiar use in the towns and villages of Upper India. , " Scientific Philology " has been discarded from the work, 'on principle, and " popular philology " has been adopted in its room ; and it is therefore as reasonable to expect that it should fail to conciliate the regard of the " man of letters," as that it should be accepted with pleasure by every one who considers the instruction of the many as an object of superior importance to the literary celebrity of the few. The education of the natives at large has too long been made a sacrifice to the exclusive taste of our Orientalists ; and philo- logy, which is only one out of many branches of science, is the only one which has yet received any considerable cultiva- tion in thjg country. We do not want a Babel of dead lan- guages, but the living languages of the English and Indians. We do not want an ocean of words, but an influx of ideas. In a late series of letters, signed with a Grerman T, and published in the India Gazette, those persons who wish to encourage the Indians in their laudable endeavours to acquire our language were taimted with the " extraordinary fact, that, amidst all the zeal at present manifested for teaching Eng- lish, no one step has been taken, either by individuals or Societies, however much they profess to have the object at heart, for compiling either an English Grammar or Dictionaiy for the use of the natives." An effort has now been made to supply one of these requisites ; the step, the absence of which was lamented by the gentleman who designated himself by the Grerman T, has been taken, and it was therefore reason- able to expect that Mr. Tytler, who evidently belongs to the same school with his Grerman namesake, would have hailed TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 27 the event with satisfaction, and congratulated our Committee upon having provided a Dictionary which, although it did not come up to his standard of perfection, at any rate brought the means of learning English down to the level of every native, however narrow his circiimstances might be ; but, instead of this, he condemned the work because it is " below our general run of publications," and because it would " compromise our character, particularly with European scholars." The same letter contains Mr. ©'s notion of a popular Dic- tionary, which it will be useful to transcribe, as it furnishes a happy illustration of the motives which have induced his learned friend to reject Mr. Thompson's performance. " The Grammar must be accompanied by a copious Dictionary, com- prising not a list of mere vocables, with a string of Oriental words thrown after them in a random heap, but a philoso- phical account of each word, explaiming its etymology, its radical and metaphorical meanings in all theik shades, its synonymes and cognates, its modes of construction, and the various idioms with which it is connected, which in English are so numerous and so capricious, yet so necessary to be understood ; the whole to be clothed in a simple style of the native language which is that of the scholars, and the points of svnilarity and difference between the English and Oriental phraseology pointed out as they occur." The letter also contains a curious prospectus of a, popular Gram- mar, but as it does not immediately relate to the subject before us, I will not allude to it further than by observing that it is worthy of perusal. A copy of the India Gazette containing Mr. ®'s letter is annexed to this paper. Mr. Tytler states that the School Dictionary is a " mere naked vocabulary destitute of every principle of scientific philology," to which I fully assent, in the sense and for the reasons above stated ; but then the learned gentleman goes on to say, " in which the words are thrown together in a heap " and " full of mistranslations and misapprehensions," which I deny. The term " thrown together in a heap " would lead one to suppose that the Dictionary is of a complex cha- racter, and that it is burdened with a number of useless syno- nymes, whereas the opposite to this is really the case. The 28 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPBTABET plan of the work is of the simplest kind, and, as no word has been introduced which is not in general use, the synonymes are very few. Grenerally speaking there is only one, and there are seldom more than two or three. Any recourse to the Sanskrit or Arabic Dictionary was expressly excluded by the plan of the work, and there was, therefore, no source from which synonymes coidd be drawn except popular par- lance. The assertion that the book is " full of mistranslations and misapprehensions," could only be completely met' by chal- lenging an examination of it by a Committee of unprejudiced persons, which I should not hesitate to do if the copyright belonged to me, which it does not. The book is the property of Mr. Thompson, who depends in a great measure upon the produce of his literary labours for the means of providing for a numerous family, and I do not know how far he might be disposed to subject it to the risk of being condemned. He might think that the object to be attained by success would not compensate the loss which might ensue from defeat, be- cause he could only gain the patronage of the School-Book Society if the book were to be approved of, whereas he might lose not only their patronage, but the patronage of the public also, by its formal condemnation. Perhaps also he might not place suflScient confidence in the gentlemen who have hitherto acquired a reputation as " great Orientalists," to trust them with passing a decision upon the value of his property. It would at once occur to him that they would be likely to judge of his work by a standard which he does not acknowledge ; and the language of Hindoostan is as yet so unfixed, that, if a work were ever so perfect, it might be condemned, according as one or another criterion might be adopted' as the rule of de- cision. A lover of Sanskiit might condemn it, because it did not sufi&ciently approach to the Sanskrit model. An Arabic scholar might object to it, because many highly expressive words, which are probably in daily familiar use between the scholar and his Moonshee, are omitted ; while others ai-e used in a sense in which they are not to be found in the original Arabic : and in the same way the Persian scholar might con- demn it, because the thent Hindee is sometimes preferred to a TO THE LANGUAGES OP INDIA. 29 more elegant Persian synonyme. That such is not unlikely to be the case, we have already had a convincing proof, since the moment the book came to Mr. Tytler he condemned it, because it had not been formed upon his model of " scientific philology." There is a great difference also in the kind of Hindoostanee spoken at different places, and although the work might be perfectly identical with the language spoken at the majority of places and by the majority of persons in Upper India, it might differ greatly from that which is spoken at some places and by some persons. Sometimes Sanskrit, and sometimes Arabic and Persian, predominate in the lan- guage of different places, and even of different persons in the same places; so that, if Mr. Thompson did not happen to hit off that particular modification of the language with which the members of the examining Committee were familiar, he might be condemned, though entirely without fault, to lose the reward of all his labours. The Arabian Hindoostanee, which has grown up at Calcutta under the fostering patronage of Grovernment, and is spoken by the Moonshees of the Col- lege of Fort William, and the Mouluvees and students of the Mahomedan College, is quite a different language from that which prevails in any other part of India. In judging of a work of this kind, a great deal must depend on the qualifications of the author and the character which he has at stake. Although he may not be known to all the members of the Committee, Mr. Thompson is a person of tried ability for the task which he has now brought to com- pletion. He has resided for so many years in the Upper Provinces, and has been brought by the nature of his duties into such frequent and familiar intercourse with people of all classes both in town and country, that he possesses a thorough acquaintance with the popular language ; and, besides this, he has had gi-eat experience in the preparation of books for the instruction of the people, through his connexion with the Se- rampore Mission. One of his last works was the Vocabulary to which the attention of the Committee has been already called. This little book is exactly on the same plan as the School Dictionary, only on a much smaller scale, and, as before stated, it was the success attending this publication which 30 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN^ ALPHABET encouraged Mr. Thompson to undertake the larger work. Owing to his reduced circumstances, he has not now the means of paying the expense of printing his Dictionary, and he therefore requests the assistance of the School-Book Society, which, by taking a certain number of copies, may enable him to print the work ; at the same time that the Society itself cannot be a loser by the transaction, as all the copies taken by it will readily sell at the price agreed on, or four rupees a copy, and the assistance given to him will therefore reaUy be of the nature of an advance, to enable a deserving man to bring out a work of great popular utility. Mr. Thompson's letter is annexed, which will throw some additional light on the above remarks. For my part, I have spent some years in different parts of Upper India in constant communication with all classes of the people, and I can assure the Committee that the School Dictionaiy contains the nearest approximation to the popular language which I have yet seen. No doubt it has some faults, like every other human production, but these may be rectified and great improvements may be made in subsequent editions. (Signed) C. E. TKEVELYAN. Calcutta, January, 1834. Appendix to Mr. Trevelyarts Minute, skoioing the Number of Books printed by the Calcutta School-Book Society in the Native Characters up to the 30 ? ^ ?. u n J ^ ^ a, a, i, i, &c. i worv; as vow- J 2 t g^ els, u, 6, or au. J zh <_if i h (^ s o lS y ; as vowels, i, ^■1 sh ^k e, or ai. u^ s ^g i> 5 J 1 Concludi/ng Remarks. I. In the above scheme for Nagari consonants, the inherent vowel or short ^ has been omitted. It may however be supplied by any one in reading the alphabet thus, ka, kha — ga, gha — na, &c., the a being the obscure short a in America^ or like a in adrift. It is more agreeable to the genius of the Eoman alphabet to supply this vowel in writing of printing, instead- of leaving it to be understood. When no vowel is subjoined to a consonant, it is supposed to be quiescent; and the small mark ( " ) that usually indicates a silent consonant is not subscribed, in order to preserve a uniformity between the Ndgari and Persian al- phabets The lettef ^ ox h was represented by Sir WilliaHi JoneS by c, and the letter 7[ or sh by s'. The former has been altered as too indefinite, and the latter as not being uniform. For the sake of distinction the accentual mark ( ' ) has been applied only to vowels and not to consonants : besides it is now universally acknowledged that sh, as in short, is the true sound. The nasals also have been more minutely distinguished by diacritical marks. For all languages derived from the Sanskrit, such as the o 4 88 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET Bengali, Hindui, Uriya, Marathi, tbe above scheme may be successfully applied. II. The greatest difficulty in the Persian Alphabet has been the representation of the different s, t, and zs. The practical difficulty, however, is greater ia appearance than in reality, as those letters with the diacritical marks are of unfrequent occurrence. Indeed it has been adopted as a standing rule, that these marks should be used as sparingly as possible; and, when used, should be restricted to those letters that more rarely enter into the composition of words. To prevent misconception, it may be proper to explain here somewhat more fully the Persian system of vowels. There are three short vowels, — zabar, — zer, — pesh ; zabar and pesh being written above, and zer below, the letter which it follows in the enunciation ; thus, j ba, j hi, j bu. A letter having one of these accompanying it, expressed or understood, is said to be harkat, or movable by that vowel ; thus, in J ba, 6 is movable by zabar ; in j bi, 6 is movable by zer; in j bu, h is movable by pesh. If there is no short vowel expressed or understood, the consonant is said to be sakm, or quiescent; thus, j bar, not hara, ban, or ba7'U, &c. \ Alif, when beginning a word or syllable, is reckoned by Oriental grammarians a very slight aspirate, like h in hour. But its chief purpose is to subserve the expression of short or long vowels; thus, 1 a, 1 i, W, short vowels. Again, 1 with .- above it, generally written 1, is the long vowel d. So <, when the last letter of a word or syllable, preceded by another letter with zabar ( ' ) above it (and it is always so preceded), becomes the long vowel &, as in U ba, &c. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 89 J Wao, when movable by a short vowel, or beginning a word or syllable, is a consonant like w in with, and sometimes as V in void ; thus, . wa, &c. But , quiescent, i. e. ter- minating a word or syllable, when preceded by a letter movable by zabar ( ' ) forms the diphthong au, like au as pronounced by many in caustic, or ou in loud; thus, jj hau, &c. Again, , quiescent, preceded by a letter movable by pesh (') forms the long vowel u, like w in t^ude, or oo in moon; thus .j bu, &c. This combination, however, in Persian has often the power of long 6, as o in whole, more, f &c. ; thus, »j m,ay he sounded ho, &c. ^ Ya, when movable by a short vowel, or beginning a word or syllable, is a consonant like y in yet; thus, ^ ya, &c. But ^ quiescent, when preceded by a letter movable by zabar ( ' ) forms the diphthong ai, like ai in aisle, or i in fine, &c. ; thus, j hai, &c. Again, j_^ quiescent, preceded by a letter movable by zer (~) forms the long vowel i, like i in mMrine, or ee in feel ; thus, i hi, &c. But in Persian this combination has often the soimd of long broad e, like the French ^ in naivete, &c.* Hence it appears that in Persian there are three short and five long vowels, and two diphthongs. - f - f Three short, as in 1 a, 1 i, | u : or in j ba, j hi, i bu. Five long, as in 1 d, or I ba ; ^^ bi or be ; jj bu or bo. Two diphthongs, as in ^ bai ; jj bau. In Eoman characters three short, a, i, u : five long, k, i, e, u, 6 : two diphthongs, ai, au. * Whoever wishes for a simple and concise view of Persian Grammar will find it in the admirable elementary works of Messrs. Arnot and Forbes of the London Oriental Institution. To be had of Messrs. Thacker and Co., Calcutta. 90 A.PPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET Hence, in reading Eomanised Persdan, nothing can be easier than to reverse the process, by substituting, if required, the Persian in place of the Eoman letters. The scheme now proposed will suffice for all languages which bear a close affinity to the Persian, such as the Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldee, Samaritan, &c. III. It would be easy to find other Eoman letters which might express the sounds of the N^ari and Persian alphabets. For instance, a might be short u, and a might be au, aw, eo, o, oa, or ou, as in taught, law, George, nor, groat, thought, &c. Instead of i and i ; we might have i, ee, ie, &c. In- stead of u, H; we might have oo, ou, eu, ew, &c. Instead of i, ai ; we might have ay, ai, i, oi, &c. Instead of o, ou ; we might have oa, ow, &c. But it is conceived impossible for any letters to represent the sounds in question more concisely or more appropriately than those which have been adopted. If this has been fully substantiated, (and it can readily be verified by any one who will take the trouble to ponder the subject in all its bearings,) then, for the sake of that imi- formity which is so truly desirable, it is to be hoped that every one will be disposed to merge private differences in one grand general plan for the securing of national benefits : it is to be hoped that one and all will be cheerfully prepared to sacrifice little partialities and peculiarities of opinion at the shrine of the PnBLic Groon. P. S. — The author, in behalf of several others who with himself advocate the substitution of the Eoman character, embraces this opportunity to notify that it was once their intention to make a direct personal application to Oriental scholars, generally, for their opinion as to the best practical, method to be adopted in the proposed substitutionary process. On further consideration, however, it has been deemed most expedient, in order to save time and labour, and prevent unintentional partialities, to make this general appeal to all those literati who take an interest in the subject. Be it then understood, that, if any individual has any suggestions to TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 91 offer, he is hereby solicited to make known the same, through the medium of the Christian Observer, or any other public journal. Conscious only of a sincere desire to promote the welfare of the people of India, we are open to sound advice, from whatever quarter it may proceed. Any real improvement that may be pointed out will receive speedy and due attention. But should none be suggested which is nicely to meet with general approbation, the schema now propounded m,ay be considered as final. Not to swell this paper to an inordinate length, it is pro- posed to insert in the next Observer a complete representation of all the principal alphabets in Eastern India, together with specimens of the different languages and dialects in Eoman characters. In conclusion, the author has here gratefully to acknowledge the valuable assistance derived, in drawing up the preceding paper, from the suggestions of the Eev. Messrs. Yates and Pearce, gentlemen whose separate and united labours in the cause of native improvement are too well known to require any statement on his pai't. ALPHA. (11.) THE EEV. A. duff's EEPEESENTATION IN ROMAN CHAEACTEE OF THE PEINCIPAL AXPHABETS IN EASTERN INDIA, WITH NOTICES OF DIALECTIC PECULIAEITIES, SPECIMENS OF THE MODE OF APPLYING THE LETTEES IN PEACTICE, AND ANSWEES TO OBJECTIONS. {Extracted from the Calcutta Cheistian OBSEEVEB/or Jane, 1834.) The scheme developed in the last Observer for representing the Deva Nagari and Persian alphabets in Eoman characters has excited a warmer interest, and secured a more general acquiescence, than could well have been anticipated. It has led in some quarters to frequent conversations and repeated discussions, and drawn forth from others various communica- tions of a nature, at once friendly and instructive. Every 92 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET thing around us seems decisively to prognosticate the ultimate triumph of our designs. When " the scheme " was put forth, observations were soli- cited from all whose course of study might qualify them to form a practical judgment on the subject. Nor was the soli- citation fruitless. While approbation of by far the greater part has been expressed, a few, and only a very few, altera- tions have been proposed. These it is proper now briefly to notice. They may be divided into two classes : those that may, and those that cannot, well be adopted. 1. The latter class, or that which includes the alterations that cannot well be adopted, refers exclusively to certain letters, which, though originally identical in sound, and though still retained in the original form, yet, in consequence of the mutations to which all things human are liable, have become, in dififerent alphabets, somewhat changed in phonic power. To exemplify what is meant, take the first letter in every Indian alphabet, the DevaN&gari ^ or short a. "This," says Sir William Jones, " is the simplest element of articula- tion, or vocal sound. The word America begins and ends with it. In our own anomalous language, we commonly mark this elementary sound by our fifth vowel (or short u). The Nagari letter is acir ; but it is pronounced in Bengal like our fowrth vowel (or short o) ; and in the west of India like our first." In Hindustani, our short m, as in up, sun, &c., would exactly represent this letter ; hence it is so represented by Dr. Gilchrist. Our short u being thus pre-occupied, the Doctor was obliged to express vg- and ^, or our short obtuse and long obtuse u, as in push, cube, by the symbols oo and oo. Now, if we had to do only with Hindustani, this probably might be the most appropriate notation. But our object is totally different, we have to provide for all the Indian alpha- bets. The question is not, what will suit best one particular alphabet ; but what, so far as we can judge, will suit every alphabet best, so as to secure the nearest possible approxima- tion to a universal conformity ? How, for instance, would Dr. Gilchrist's short u, as in vp, answer in the Bengali, where TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 93 the letter is sounded like our short o ? How would it suit in those dialects where it is pronounced like our a ? Would it, in these several instances, answer the purpose better than short a, as in America ? Surely not. And if not^ since we have to make provision for all the alphabets, and forestall the peculiar deviations from the parent stock in each, is it not better, more consistent, more uniform, to employ the letter which exactly represents the corresponding one in the priTni- tive Indian alphabets, and mark as anomalous in any parti- cular dialect the retention of the original letter, while the pronunciation is more or less varied? In this case, most palpable it is that the anomaly Ues not in our system of re- presentation, but is wholly chargeable on the varying powers of the literal form represented. And if it be distinctly borne in mind, that our concern is not with what may answer best in this or that language, but with what may, on the whole, answer best in all the Indian languages, sure we are that this single circumstance of paramount importance were enough to obviate every difficulty, and remove every objection that can possibly arise on the present head. 2. The other class, or that which embraces alterations that may well be adopted, appears to be restricted to the two vowel sounds e and o, and to the nasals 9, q, n. In no Indian language are the vowels e and short. They retain invariably the long sound. Still, as we find the short and long sound of a, i, and u perpetually occurring, and as it was necessary to mark this difference, it was proposed, in accordance with established usage, to let the simple letters express the short sound, and distinguish the long sound by accents placed above them ; thus a, d, &c. Since then an accent became the special symbol of an elongated sound, it was deemed proper, for the sake of uniformity, to place it over e and o, as well as over long a, i, and u. And it cannot for a moment be doubted that this preserves the unity and harmony of the system, by effectually excluding any thing like inconsistency or contradiction. On the other hand, it has been urged that these letters (e and 0), and especially e, pervade the language to a greater extent than perhaps any 94 APPLICATION -OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET others; and that we ourselves laid down the indisputable canon, that " it is expedient to employ diacritic and other marks as sparingly as possible." Influenced by these and other reasons, we have resolved to drop the accent from the long vowels e and o, assured that no mistake can arise, when we apprise the learner that these, in every Indian lan- guage and dialect, possess invariably the long sound, the former nearly Hke e in there or exactly like e in the French tempSte, and the latter like o in Tiote. Again, with reference to the nasals, it has been suggested that the notation may in practice be simplified. Of this no doubt was ever entertained. In "the scheme " it was shown, how by a few dots these nasals might be distinguished with the utmost precision. To save repetition, let the reader con- sult the explanation there given. He will find that the different classes of gutturals and palatines have each a nasal n, marked respectively n, n. Now it so happens that these are never interchanged, i. e. the n belonging to the gutturals never precedes a palatal letter, the n belonging to the pa- latals never precedes a guttural. In this case, the notation of n in practice may be perfectly intelligible without further precision. That is, if n without any dot be found preceding a guttural, the reader may be sure it can be none other than n ; if preceding a palatal, it can be none other than n ; and if preceding s or sh, h or a semivowel, none other than ng. By attending to this plain remark we shall get quit of several dots, and so simplify the practical use of the Eoman cha- racter. Altogether, when we consider the conflicting state of opinions on this subject amongst Orientalists, we have been delightfully surprised at the average rate of unanimity that now prevails amongst those friendly to the substitution, an auspicious concord, that must proceed from the noble resolve to sacrifice selfish partialities on the altar of social well-being and national prosperity. These preliminary remarks we shall now follow up by giving in separate tables the two parent alphabetic stocks, with the derivatives principally employed in Eastern India, TO THE LANGUAGfES OF INDIA, 95 1. — The Deva Ndgari and its branches. VOWELS, BengSli. Beva Nagari. Kaithi NSgarl. MahrSthi. Uriya. Burman. Butan. Sound in Roman character. : ''T "^ ^ ^ ei S3 w a ^ ^ vpn W «it yyo ^ a ^ ?; ^ tP ^ ^ i ^ t € Ef •^ ^ i ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ § !S u . ^ ^ ^1 ^ •^ § •¥• u . % ^ m ^ ^ ri - m ■m ^ ^ ^* r -^ rl ^ 1 U 8* r Iri ^ ^ ^ •u r Iri •^ "^ IT- •27 ^ d # e ■ ^ 5 'S ■57 ^. ^ <^ ai « l^T ^ ^ oo^o # ^ % I^ ^ ^ QJ^d 'as au OS • « « o ^ I^ ang % • « • « • 8 €S8 m ah * Sounded ru, ril, Ij-u, in the Uriyau alphabet. 96 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET CONSONANTS BengSl!. Drta Nigari. Kaithi NSgarf. Mahr^thS Uriya. Burmaa Butan. Sound in Roman character. ^ ^ JR rr % CO 'q A «t ^ n? m •SI 9 p kh ^ T 3T 5T <1 o 'R a sr ^ ^ ^ CI ID f 17 gh ^ ^. ^ 3= 6> C «T if ft ^ ^ 2T ^ s © ^* eh ^ ^ ^C tr g so ^* chh ^ sr ST 5T Si @ t* j ^ ^ ^ ^ t ^ ^ jh sr ^ ^ i ^ ^ S n ^ T F 3- ^ ^ € t ^ 7 * ar o 3 B th ^ ^ 3^ T ® P d TJ ^ 7 r © 4h q TO! m or €1 oo n ^ ft ^ 7[ s^ OO 1 t «t ^ ^ 3 8J 00 g th Jf ^ €." ?7 ^ ^ d < ^r ^ tr ^l o 1 dh ST ^ ^ ^ ^ o C9 « nounced TO The languages Ofi inwa. 97 2. — The Arabic and its Branches. HindnstSnt. Persian. Arabic. Roman., Hindusl&n! Fereiao. Arabic. ■ -J Roman. \\\J 1 . \ a,a,,i,u. *7 rh i -■ i ■ J : b A J — ^ zh € 1 "■ bh ■ Md Ml mJ s V y V P ■ Ji> A sh «i — ^ Pb >a >o .« s J J J t •a >i *D z f' — - , ,— ■ th\ L. ■ k ■!?„ t j -■ — .. ■t li- ■ 1^ li z 4 ' ■ th ,'fi c K a^iu i.^ ■ 'J s ^i i £-■ gh" p^ ' ■>- T "J i i ' i ■ f «=r , " jb "» ii ' 3 q »- S>- ch 'i K, k «r . chh ^ kh p- .>- ^^- ,h r r g £i- ri- r>- .. -k "4: gb J • J - -d 1, \ 1 St>^ . dh r ^ -« ■< m J d "U u u, n AJ "~dh u n j 3' . J z ,^ J J ; w J J,- : J - r » e i h J — r J J I : y Note.— In the above tables, all the regular letters, with their proper sound, arb given. This is fn acuordahce. with our plan of reserving ex- planations of particular vaxiations or anomalies for each of the alphabets separately. But ere we proceed farther, it may be interesting and use- ful to collect an,d arrange-in one tabulaj! view all the Romaip characters, combinatiuns, &c., with such points and marks as have been adopted to complete the representation of the Indian alphabets. H 98 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET Out of all the Alphabets cenaes thefoUowi/ng complete Movum Alphabet. Letter. Name. Sonnd. a ak&r, as in .America. & &k&T, — art. a a &c. aign, — jama. ai aik^r. — aisle. au aukdr, as ow in cow. ang anuswar. as in sung. ah visarga. — ah. b ba, — but. bh bha. — hob-houae. ch cha. -- chvach. chh chha. — churcA-AilL d da, — duke. dh dha. — mad-Aouse. d da, ._ had cold. dh dha. _ cold-Aand. e ekSr, — there. f fa. — /it. g ga. — fl'ot. gh gha. — dogr-Aouse. gt gha. — gkastij. h ha. — Aave. h ha, — ^use. * 1 ikdr. — in. i ikar. — police. J ja. — JSLTO., jh jba. — collegre-AAll. k ka. — Aeep. kh kha. — mil^^use kh kha. _ locA (Scotch). ksha ksha, — brici^hop 1 la. — ^d. TO THE LANOUAGES OF INDIA. 99 I^etter. Kame. Sound. Iri lrikS,r, as in ixM-riW. Iri Irikar, — ixM-reel. m ma. — man. n na, — Tiap. 5. na. — not. n na. — bon (French). okar, note. P pa, — jt)an. ph pha, — \x]p-h\\\. q qa. — ciiquQ. r ra. — race. r ra. — etemel (French). rh rha — BoerAaave (Greek). ri rikar. — rip. ri rikar. — reel s sa, — sin. s sa, — sahib. 5 g. — hiss. sh sha. — s/iall. gh sha, — s^ot. t ta. — pof. th tha. — poi-^use. t ta. — M. th tha. — fat-Aen, u ukar. — push. u ukar, — mbe. V va. — vain. w wa. — ' wet. y ya. — 2/our. z za. — s^eal. z za, — z za. — 2;one. ? ?a, — zephyr. zh zha. ' — azure. It has been already stated, that in the derivative alphabets certain anomalies, such as the retention of the origmal H 2 100 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET letter, with a different prommciation, &c., have in the lapse of time slowly crept* in. This circumstance alone were * We cannot in connexion with this subject refrain from quoting a few extracts from the truly admirable grammar of the Gaelic language by the late Rev Dr. Alexander Stewart : " In the first exhibition," says he, " of the sounds of a living language, by alphabetical characters, it is probable that the principle which regulated the system of orthography was, that every elementary sound should be represented by a correspond- ing character, either simple or compounded; and that the same sound should be represented by the same character. If different sounds were represented by the same letter ; if the. same sound were represented by different letters ; if more letters were employed than were necessary to exhibit the sound ; or if any sound were not represented by a corre- sponding character ; then the written language would not be an adequate representation of the spoken. It is hardly to be supposed that, in the first rude attempt at alphabetical writing, the principle above laid down could be strictly and uniformly followed. And though it bad, yet in the course of a few generations many causes would occur to bring about considerable departures from it- A gradual refinement of ear, and in- creasing attention to euphonia ; contractions and elisions brought into vogue by the carelessness or the rapidity of colloquial speech, or by the practice of popular speakers ; above all, the mixture of the speech of different nations, would introduce numberless varieties into the pronun- ciation. Still those who wrote the language might choose to adhere to the original orthography, for the sake of retaining the radical parts, and preserving the etymon of vocables undisguised ; and for maintaining an uniformity in the mechanism of the inflections. Hence the pronunciation and the orthography would disagree in many instances, till at length it would be found expedient to alter the orthography, and to adapt it to such changes in the speech or spoken language as long use had esta- blished ; in order to maintain what was most necessary of all, a due correspondence between the mode of speaking and the mode of writing the same language. " It will probably be found on inquiry, that in all languages, when the speech has undergone material and striking changes, the written language also has varied in a considerable degree, in conformity to these chan Proper sound. Anomalous sound. da ra dha rha va ba — wa jna m<^ ksha MaiP' an an The first letter, '^f a, is generally corrupted by the people of Bengal into an obscure sound like short o in dot, cot, &c. This must be remembered by all who read the Bengali Ro- manised. 2. — AnoTnalies m Hmdui. The ^ d and ^ dha are often pronounced ra and rha, as in Bengali, by reverting the tip of the tongue to the palate. Tg' and ^, therefore, are represented by ra and rha. ^ sha is commonly sounded as kha. It is, in this case, expressed by kha. '^ ksha is sounded like chha, and is expressed by chha. T able of Anoma ilies etters. Proper sound. Anom^ons sound. ^ (Ja ra 5 dha rha ^ sha kha '^ ksha Mia B 4 104 APPLICATION OP THE ROMAN ALPHABET 3. — Anomalies in Hi/nd/usta/m, &c. The letters j da and j[,5 dha are often sounded ra and rha, and must be expressed as before, ra, rha. ~ Anomalous sounds of various letters in the other languages might here be pointed out, such as tij, which in Arabic is often sounded th, &c., "with more important variations in Butan, Burman, &c. ; but we purposely omit them at pre- sent, because not immediately required, and because it is our intention to prefix to every book that may be prepared in any language or dialect a table of regular and anomalous sounds in the alphabet of the particular language or dialect ; which tabular representation may form the key to the easy and infallible deciphering of the contents of the work. And the specimens now given in Beng&li, Hindui, and IIindustS,ni may serve as illustrations of the facility with which not only ordinary, but extraordinary, sounds may be represented in Eoman character. Having thus unfolded the common and anomalous sounds in the three Indian alphabets that more i/nVmediately con- cern us, we now present a few specimens in the Eomanised form: — BENGA'LI'. PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. In Bengdli character, Luke XV. 11 — 24. tt ji^ -^Sf^ ^ ^ f^ ; ^JSt^ ^fk^ ♦r^ f^TSTC^ ^^ ^f|^, c^ 'f*t^8, csw? fw?? pr '5r<'^*r [n-^ iT''"'^tT vS^t^yl fTfsr i *fr<[ (^ Cf^ ^ gf^^ ^*ff^ ^;^, '^^'"' '*T5» ^l^ld* TtT^ *tt^3t? r^^ClJ ^^^ CT^f'SltRtrlH ?tf^, ifi^Tjft C5W? *rw ^rfsnri ft-stJts ^^ t^ -frr ^^ ^^ ^ fh^ s^^ '^ ^^^ 1%'^ f»R:^ ^ ^5^ w^i ^f^ ^^ ^ffr ^iT'^i ^T 5^ ttTzt w^^ t>^t ^rr- s^S ^R ^ f^ Tf^ IIT 1^ m '^IT ft»T ^"t- satisfied only when happiness, harmony, and love shall proclaim the invincible kindness of Truth. And those treasures of knowledge which surpass a thousandfold what Rome in her proudest days ever possessed, we shall disperse through the medium of forms which her inventive genius has supplied. And thus, along distant streams and fertile valleys, never visited by the Impe- rial Eagle, shall the name of " Eoman " fiourish in connexion with the mental emancipation of millions, when all other stately monuments that recall the remembrance of Roman greatness shall have crumbled into dust. ALPHA. P.S. — It has been already stated, that during the last month several friendly communications have been received respect- ing the substitution of the Roman in place of the Indian alphabets, and our "scheme" for accomplishing that end. Amongst these is one from a gentleman in the Upper Pro- vinces, well acquainted with the Oriental languages, and successfully engaged in the instruction of native youth, on which accounts we deem his remarks particularly entitled to attention. Besides this, his letter briefly alludes to certain advantages attending the proposed substitution that wholly escaped our notice ; we have, therefore, much satisfaction in making from it the following weighty extract. After various introductory remarks, the author thus proceeds : — " I entirely agree with you, not because the idea is yours, but because the measure is fraught with incalculable advan- tages to India. It is, I really and truly believe, the most effectual mode of any, of diffusing knowledge, both Asiatic and European, among the people at large. The grand barrier TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 129 to improvement in this country has been the want of print- ing, or the being obliged to impai-t knowledge through the slow, limited, difficult process of manuscripts. It is a most expensive and Herculean labour, to print in the Arabic, or Persian, or Deva N&gari chai-acter. It would be quite as easy as printing any English work, to print books and news- papers, &c., in Eoman characters, though the language be different. The benefits of prvntimg their own books in this way would be a thousandfold, but the benefits of printing in the Urdu dialect, and Eoman characters, the substance of our literature, are quite incalculable. Nothing could impart a greater impulse to civilisation. Every gentleman almost might then publish translations ; for there are but few indeed who cannot explain in Urdu their thoughts, or the substance of any written work. Epistolary correspondence between Europeans and natives (now next to impossible, owing to the necessity of employing a third person as the medium of communication) would become as common as correspondence is between two Europeans or two natives in their respective tongues. A judge might then read all the proceedings himself, and write his orders hvmself. Public functionaries would then perform, singly and unaided, twice the work which they now cannot perform without the assist- ance of three or four natives. It would lead to the adoption of thousands of European words in the Urdu books and compositions, and thus the native literature would be en- riched most rapidly : but there is no end to the advantages I anticipate from this most ingenious plan." &c. &c. 130 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET (12.) ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF HIND'^STIn, By a True Friend to the Natives. All who read newspapers, those winged messengers of intelligence, now know that a proposal has lately been made to write Sanskrit, Persian, Bang^li, and other Indian lan- guages in the letters of the EngHsh alphabet. But many do not exactly understand the natv/re and object of the pro- posal. These, therefore, it is proper briefly to explain, and let the wise and intelhgent among the natives of India lend an attentive ear. Fwst. The nature of the proposal is -simply this: That in writing and printing words, sentences, or books, in Sans- krit, Persian, BangS,li, &c., English, characters should be used for all, instead of Deva-N5.gari, Persian, or Bangdli characters. Thus, instead of using the word f^^^ iu Nfi.- gari characters, we might write kisi in English characters : instead of ^^-jIj in Persian, bS,pse in English characters : instead of fH'STC^ in Bang&H, pitS,ke in English characters : and so, in like manner, might we write all other words in every Indian language in English characters. In this way, one alphabet, i. e. the English, might answer the purpose of all the Indian alphabets. Now, why should this proposal appear strange to the natives of India? Have not they themselves long been accustomed to write the words of one language in letters belonging to another ? Is not this fact known to all except Haris, Majurs, Dh&ngars, &c., who are so miserably ignorant that they know nothing? For example: has not the Per- sian character been often practically used in representing Indian words, particularly in the Upper and Western Pro- TO THE LANGTIAaES OP INBIA. 131 vinces? And on the other hand, has not the NS,gari character been employed in expressing Persian and Ai-abic terms? The Urdu, which is a compound of Persian and Indian words, has been represented indifferently by Persian or N5,gar£ letters. And if so, why not this, and other Indian languages, by the English ? Besides, do not Brahman Pun- dits, the Kulin editor of the Chundrika, the Mahd E^ja Kalikrishan BdhS-dur, and all other learned and respectable natives, write Sanskrit words and slokes in Bangali characters? And if so, why might they not write Sanskrit slokes in English characters? the characters of the language of the rulers of this land, a language which is dignified also by possessing boundless treasures of knowledge to make men good and wise, great and powerful ? . To show how easily this might be done, we here present one or two specimens : — SANSKRIT SLOKES. In Deva-Ndgari Characters. w^ ^W^ mi^ ^m iT^-s^ Ti^ ^: ii In Bangali. ■smTis (eTt^o^ ■»rr^°^ j^s Tt^j^ 'Si^ Wo 11 In Roman. Aneka-sanshayochchhedi paroksharthasya darshakang Sarvasya lochanang sh^strang yasya n5,styandha eva sah. Meaning. He who is not possessed of learning, which dispels many doubts, points out hidden things, and is the organ of sight to all, is even as a blind man. E 2 132 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET STANZA. Arabic. Persmw. Isna binS, mS. anta lahu ahluhu, Wa la tafal binS, md nahnu lahu ahlutrn. Meaning. Do Thou unto us what is worthy of Thyself; but do not to us what we deserve. Second, The object of the proposal may be briefly stated to be the benefit of the people. Some thi'ough ignorance, and others from sinister motives, have declared that the object is to perplex and injure the natives by destroying their vernacular languages. Now the opposite of this is the true statement. Otw grand object is to benefit the people by preserving, enriching, and facilitating the study of the nutive languages. Instead of perplexing people's minds, the proposal of substituting one in place of a multiplicity of different alphabets, is the only sure way of delivering them out of all perplexity. If a Hindu* has several khejur1[ trees in his garden, and if his neighbour proposes to cut them down and plant a niml^ * Wherever Hindu occurs in these remarks, it denotes a native of Hindust&n, whether Hindus or Mussalm&ns, f A tree that produces an inferior sort of fruit, j A tree whose fruit cannot be eaten. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 133 tree in their place, — this proposal must be injtirious. But if his neighbour proposes to cut down the khejur trees, and plant a very large mango tree, which will every year be covered with the finest fruit, in their place, — would this proposal be injurious? No, all will unanimously reply, it would not be attended with injury, but real benefit. Pre- cisely similar is the case in regard to the present proposal. It is not intended to supplant the native alphabets by the introduction of another of inferior value, for that would not be good ; but it is proposed to supplant these alphabets by the introduction of one that shall secure numberless ad/van- tages, which all the rest combined do not possess, — and must not this be pronounced good ? Siurely it must. And in order that no one may any longer impose upon you in this matter, some of the benefits of the proposal will now be stated. We speak to the wise and intelligent among the Hindus. Let the wise and intelligent judge. 1. In most of the Indian alphabets, there are about fifty letters, with innumerable compounds, which greatly perplex and retard learners. Now all these can be perfectly repre- sented by 24 simple English letters, with the occasional use of these three simple marks, (') (.) (-). This, it is plain, must make the progress of every learner more easy and rapid. 2. All who wish to be useful in business, renowned for learning, or exalted to high situations and responsible offices, must learn the English language. If then, all learn to read and write the English alphabet from the time of infancy, when learning their own mother tongue, much valuable time and much useless trouble must be saved in acquiring a knowledge of the English language. 3. Besides learning English, great numbers of Hindus are obliged to learn several Indian languages. But it is well known that much valuable time is consumed by the majority of man- kind in learning the new characters of any language. And a vast deal of time is spent in acquiring the sam^ facility and speed in reading and writing these characters, as is enjoyed in reading and writing those with which they are long familiar. Now whole months or even whole years of un- 134 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET profitable labour may be saved by the universal introduction of the English characters. 4. The Sanskrit is the common root of all the Indian dialects. But at present each dialect has letters of a different figure ; and this leads the Hindus of one province to suppose that the Hindus of another province speak a totally different language. Consequently, they are apt to regard each other as strangers and foreigners. Now, if all the Indian dialects were presented in the satm, English character, it would be seen and fdt that the natives are not divided into so many sections of foreigners to each other; that they have all funda- menfitally the same language ; and that, without much diffi- culty, a community of interest and a beneficial reciprocation of thought might be effected to an extent at present un- known, and from the repulsive aspect of so many written characters deemed utterly impracticable. 5. It follows from this statement, that as almost all In- dian dialects are derived from the Sanskrit, when a native thoroughly masters one dialect, he is already acquainted with the meaning of numberless words in every other. If all were, therefore, represented in the same English character, instead of learning one, or two, or three languages, as at present, a Pandit, Shdstri, or Munshi might in the course of his lifetime master all the languages of Hindustan. Surely, that proposal which would lead to the accumulation of so much learning in the mind of one person must be superexcellent. 6. By the admirable contrivance of Capital and Italic letters in the English alphabet, the facility of reading with propriety, and referring to names and particular passages, is mightily increased; but, from the nature and shape of the Indian letters, this contrivance cannot be imitated. If then English letters be substituted in their place, the thousands and the tens of thousands of Hindu youth may have the un- speakable benefit of this simple and beautiful contrivance in learning to read and write their own vernacular languages. Stops in all their several gradations, marks of interrogation and admiration, inverted commas, and other aids to the correct reading and understanding of books and manuscripts, which the native literature at present either does not possess at all, TO' fHi! LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 135 or possesses in a very imperfect degree, will be at the same time introduced ; and this, it must be acknowledged, will save time, increase knowledge, and lead to the native lan- guages becoming fixed and cultivated much sooner than it would be possible for them to become without such helps. 7. It is a fact that, from the intricacy, the complexity, of most of the Indian characters, it is utterly impossible to re- duce them to so small a size as the Eoman may be, without rendering them altogether indistinct, or even illegible. In this way, twice the quantity of paper, and nearly twice the quantity of binding materials and labour, must be lavished for nought. In other words, books printed in the Indian characters wiU cost nearly double what the same books would cost if printed in the English characters- And must not Hindu parents rejoice at the success of a plan that promises to save half the amount which they would otherwise have to pay for books in the education of their children? And must hot the proposal that would save so many rupees to every Hindu parent annually be one of the best ever announced in this land ? 8. As the multiplicity of different characters creates num- berless diflSculties in the way of studying the native languages, the mines of learning which those are said to possess remain unexplored from age to age. Consequently, the treasures of knowledge contained in them continue hidden and concealed, not only from Europeans, but from natives themselves. No native, not even a Bhattfi,chS.rjya, though so learned as to deserve the epithet of Mahl,-mahopidhyS,, can ever expect to know a tenth part of the lucubrations of his ancestors, so long as there is such a variety of written characters. And if even a Hindu Pandit cannot know a tenth part of the strange and rare histories, philologies, rhetorics, logics, metaphysics, as- tronomies, geographies, and theologies, which have been accumulated by the sages of Hindust§,n, will not unlearned natives and the Pandits of other countries begin to suspect that there are no such stores in existence ? How then can such suspicions be removed ? How can it be shown to all people, in every land, that the Hindus possess such wonderftd piles of written shasters, which at present lie concealed from K 4 136 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET view, behind thick jungles of new and strangely varied cha- racters ? What plan can be imagined half so well adapted to this purpose as that now proposed, viz. to transcribe the whole of their writings, if the Hindus so wish it, into owe uniform character that is already universally hrvown — known by all the civilised and learned in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America ? If they were to do this, the Hindus would only be following the example of the English themselves. Formerly the English language was written in various peculiar characters, which were known by the names of Saxon, German text, &c., but by degrees all these were discarded, and the Roman character (which is the one at present used in writing English) was adopted in place of them all. Now do you suppose that the existing English literature was obscured by this change ? On the contrary, as the language now became transferred into a character which was universally current throughout the civi- lised world, the general knowledge of it was greatly promoted ; and to this day, when it is desired to bring into notice books or manuscripts in any of the old characters, they are as a matter of course turned into the Eoman characters, and they then become at once accessible to the whole world. If, there- fore, anybody should hereafter object to the plan of changing the character, let this be your answer, that the most civilised a/nd prosperous nations in the world have already tried it, and that the experiment has been attended with complete success. What ground of confidence as to what is good can "we have so sure as the experience of the wise ? Instead, therefore, of obscuring the Hindu literature, and tarnishing the merits of Hindu authors, as some ignorantly suppose, this plan is the best possible for bringing the whole range of Hindu literature to lights and loading the Hindu authors with such honours as they deserve. The change of characters produces no change in words, dates, or names. All the words of the Indian languages, all historical dates, and all proper names of persons, places, and events, remain unchanged, and so far as this plan is concerned, unchangeable. If, then, the Hindus really wish that they should no longer be accounted ignorant or barbarous, if they really wish that all nations on XO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 137 earth should know what prodigious masses of singular writings they possess, they ought immediately to combine in one grand association, and resolve to wi-ite, print, and publish all their books in English characters. If they do this, the whole civilised world may know the extent of their merits. That no one may presume to doubt the truth of this repre- sentation, we refer to the No. of the Quarterly Eeview pub- lished in London, in the month of October, last year. This work, as many of the learned Hindus already know, is one of the highest literary authorities, not only in Europe, but in the whole world. Now hear what the Quarterly Eeview says. " If the Sanskrit were printed in European (meaning Eoman or English) characters, we are convinced that a large class of persons would acquire at least its rudiments, who are now deterred from similar studies by the formidable appear- ance of a new character looking them in the face at the very outset." Here then is a glorious field of ambition open to the wise and learned among the Hindus. If they transcribe all their works in English characters, their literature, science, and religion will be known throughout Europe, and every country of the civilised world. Who then is so blind, as not to discern the marvellous excellencies of the plan now proposed ? The foregoing are some of the manifold advantages which would attend the substitution of the English in place of the Indian alphabets. They may be thus briefly summed up: — 1. The substitution of the English alphabet would facili- tate the progress of a Hindu in learning his own vernacular language. 2. It would facilitate his progress in learning the English language. 3. It would facilitate his progress in learning several other languages, necessary to the carrying on of business. 4. It would break down the barriers that at present sepa- rate the Hindus from one another, and lead to free communi- cation, and a beneficial interchange of sentiment throughout the land. 5. It would enable Hindus of ordinary ability and per- 138 APPLICATION OF THE SOMAN ALPHABET severance to master almost all the languages of India, and so put it in their power to benefit its countless tribes and families. 6. It -would greatly assist young and old in reading, writing, &c., any language, with precision and propriety. 7. It would save a great deal of money, to every Hindu parent, by greatly diminishing the price of books. 8. It would bring to light the entire mass of Hindu lite- rature, science, and theology, and make the claims of Hindu authors known to all the learned in the four quarters of the world. More advantages might easily be enumerated ; but are not these amply sufficient to prove the excellency of the present proposal ? Are not these more than sufficient to demonstrate that it is fraught with the richest blessings to the people of HindustS,n? And if so, however unintentionally, are not those the enemies of the people who object to and oppose it? And are not those the best friends of the people, who are its most strenuous advocates ? We speak unto you as unto wise ; judge ye. A Tkue Friend to the Natives. (13.) ME. H. T. PRINSEP'S PAPER ON THE ADAPTATION OP THE ROMAN ALPHABET TO THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES, AND THE SFPEHIORITY OF DR. GILCHRIST's SYSTEM. {Extracted from the Journal or the Asiatic Socikiy for June, 1834.) All who have devoted themselves to the acquirement of any of the languages of India must have experienced, in the irre- concilable difference of the alphabets of the East and West, a stximbling-block in the porch of their studies, and a source of constant doubt and difficulty whenever the occasion has arisen for expressing in the letters of their mother tongue sounds and vocables belonging to any of those languages. It is' the TO THE tANGUAGES OK INDIA. 139 scholar's object to write the "words so that they shall be read with a correct promonciation by the uninitiated, and at the same time show the true spelling of the original. He seeks therefore the letters of known pronunciation that come nearest, not only to the sounds he desires to represent, but likewise to the letters used iu the language from which the word is taken. Unfortunately it is not always easy to find letters that will answer this double purpose, and the difficulty is much increased by the circumstance, that all the vowels and several of the consonants in use have more than one sound in the same language of Europe, and some of them half a dozen sounds at least, if the varieties of all the countries which use the Eoman alphabet are taken into account. What then was to be done when India fell into European hands, and the necessity arose for continually writing Indian words in books and public correspondence ? Every one at first of course had to decide for himself, and unfortunately they who commenced the work of writing Asiatic names in the alpha- bets of Europe were not scholars. At present we shall con- fine ourselves to the proceedings of our own countrymen in this respect, putting out of view all reference to the modes of writing adopted in France and Grermany and elsewhere, and those in particular which have been adopted recently, in consequence of the efi'orts making by the literati of Europe to bring into vogue the Sanskrit language and its literature, at the very time that the half-informed of our countrymen are seeking to discredit both here. It would appear that they who first had occasion to write in English the names or words of the East, bethought them- selves of the sounds in that language which came nearest to those they desired to represent, and spelled the words accord- ingly : thus sipahee was very generally spelt seapoy, doubt- less from the similarity of its sound to the well-known word teapoy, and in the jargon of the day, Surajood-doula was corrupted into Sir Roger Bowler, and Allahabad became known as the Isle of Bats. Many absurdities of this descrip- tion might be pointed out were it our object to seek them : even Grovemor Hoi well, though himself a Bengalee scholar, has in his printed tracts, Morattors — Shaw Zadda. — Oenana 140 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET Patsha — Shaw Allum — Phirmaund — Metre (for Mitur), &c. &c. He had also Sou Raja Dowla, which is nearly as ridiculous as the English knighthood of that Nuwab. This method of writing from the ear did very well so long as it was the half-informed addressing the absolutely igno- rant. The transmutations were precisely of the same descrip- tion as those of which we find examples, not only in the Greek and Eoman methods of writing Teutonic and Asiatic names, but in the Leghorn and Gales of the old English writers of the past century, the Naples and Venice of the present day, and the Ecosse and Gralles and Espagne, into which the less pronounceable native names of those countries have been softened in France. But as the knowledge of the languages of the East ex- tended, and they who had to write became themselves well acquainted with the true pronunciation and orthography of the words and names they were using, and felt likewise that they were addressing others as well informed upon the sub- ject as themselves, they began to seek the means of spelling true, that is, of using in English corresponding letters for those used in the language from which the word or name might be taken. The Persian and Arabic are languages that have long been known in Europe, and the force and power of each of the letters of those alphabets have accordingly been attempted to be expressed in various ways, according to the native country of the interpreter; but the first we believe who accurately gave to the public the Nagree, Devanagree, and Bengalee alphabets was Mr. Halhed in the Preface to his version of the Code of Hindoo Law, compiled under the orders of Warren Hastings in 1775. His consonants corre- spond very nearly with those of Sir William Jones's alphabet, except that he makes no distinction between the hard and soft d, t, dh, and th. The short vowel ^ he writes with a short e, the letter ^ with a double ee, bearing similarly the short mark : ^, is expressed by ae ; '^ he writes i and ^^ du» Every vowel according to this system had its long or short mark above it, which was very inconvenient either for printino- or writing. TO THE LANGrAGES OF INDIA. 141 When the Asiatic Society was established, Sir William Jones saw the necessity of introducing a consistent mode of writing all Indian words. Not satisfied with the system of Mr. Halhed, he devised the alphabet that bears his name, and is still used by that learned body in its Proceedings ; but neither the influence nor the reputation of this great linguist was sufficient to procure for his alphabet the general adoption so desirable, and indeed so essential, to the purpose he had in view. It continued as a sort of Devanagree for the learned par excellence ; a style of writing to be reverenced and re- spected, but not imitated. In spite of every endeavour to recommend the Society's alphabet for universal use, the busi- ness of the country continued to be conducted either in the jargon spelling first adopted from similarity of sound, or with the ad libitum improvements of those who, knowing the correct spelling of the original, adopted the letters they thought best calculated to express the true sound of the words properly pronounced. It is now near fifty years since the attempt was first made to introduce this obvious benefit of a consistent and correct alphabet, and yet Sir William Jones's mode of writing has gained no ground in India, what- ever may have been its fate elsewhere. What can have been the reason for this ? Does not the fact itself afibrd irrefraga- ble evidence that there must be some inherent defect in the system that induced its rejection, and led to others being pre- ferred. There it -was, recommended by the Asiatic Society, composed of the principal civil servants, and of all in the military, clerical, and medical professions, who were entitled by knowledge of the subject, or by situation, to take the lead in such a matter. There was this Society, periodically putting forth its volumes, and all its principal members publishing their works according to the orthography of the illustrious founder ; yet no one out of the pale, and not all of those within it, could be brought to spell names, in their correspond- ence, as the Society spelt them. For fifty years this tree of Sir William Jones's planting has been stationary, or has grown like the aloe, repulsive and disagreeable, living still but putting forth no branches and yielding no fruit. Who after this can say that there must not be something in this 142 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET system repugnant to the ideas and preconceived notions of those whose language is English ? The powers and pronun- ciations given to the different letters are manifestly not such as have been recognised and adopted as just and appropriate by those who read and write that language. Another system has gained ground in its stead, and to its prejudice, and this in spite of the great names of Jones and Colebrooke and Wilson, whose adherence to the antiquated style has pre- vented its sinking into absolute disuse and oblivion. Let us inquire then what is this other system, and what the claims it possesses to the preference of the unlearned. Towards the close of Lord Cornwallis's government. Dr. John Boethwick Gtilchkist produced his Dictionary and Grammar of the Hindoostanee language, and, as matter of necessity, prefaced both by explaining the force of all the letters in use in the language, and the corresponding vowels and consonants of the Roman alphabet by which he proposed to express them. The difference between his system and that of Sir William Jones lies entirely in the vowels: the short unexpressed letter '^ which Mr. Halhed wrote e was written a by Sir William Jones and u by Dr. Gilchrist; the ee and ee of Halhed, * ^ of Sir W. Jones, were rendered i and ee by Gilchrist; the do oo of Halhed, u u of Jones, were expressed by oo ; and the i ai of the two former sys- tems by y, corrected but not improved to ue; and, lastly, the ou of Halhed and au of Jones by ou corrected to uo. The more taking and popular part of this system lies evidently in the use of the short u instead of a, for the silent unexpressed inherent letter of the languages of India : people could not be brought to write bat for the sound of but, tab for tub, and patee for putee. Having the choice, therefore, they discarded the letter which never in any of the words of any of the languages within their knowledge had the sound it was proposed to give to it. The adoption of oo, instead of Sir W. Jones's u, followed as a necessary consequence of the appropriation of u to the short sound ; and au for the sound of ow in how was so unnatural, that it was gladly discarded for ou. TO THE LANGUAGES. OE INDIA, 143 It does not appear that the Grovernment took any part, until very recently, in promoting the use of one or other of these systems : they had each therefore a fair field and no favour for thirty years at least. During the whole of that period the knowledge of the languages was extending, and the old jargon was disappearing from all the public depart- ments, finding only a sanctuary and stronghold that bade defiance to aU reform within the precincts of the Supreme Court. The issue was in a decided leaning from the first to the system of Gilchrist. This has now been that of all oflScial correspondence for fifteen or twenty years at least, whereas it will not be found that the orthography of Sir "William Jones has taken root in any single department, per- tinaciously as certain learned individuals of high authority have adhered to it. In 1822, the design was conceived of forming an accurate record in the English language and character of all the land tenures of the country. It was felt to be necessary to deter- mine upon some alphabet or system for the conversion of names correctly, prior to the formation of these registers, and then first did the Grovernment officers indicate any system under authority for preference. The merits of each method were fully weighed and considered, prior to the determination, and the scheme of Grilchrist was adopted, simplified by the rejection of some of his quaint methods of expressing the nicer distinctions of sound. This alphabet was circulated, and great progress was made all over the coimtry in produc- ing registers in which the names of persons and places and properties were so written, that no one coxild hereafter find difficulty in writing them back into any given character upon baare inspection. Contemporaneously with this measure, and as part of the same scheme, revenue surveys were put in hand, and maps on a large scale were constructed, in which the name of every place or object was accm'ately entered according to the same system. Up to this time no attempt had ever been made to make this grand improvement in the geography of India. The maps of Bengal were copied to the letter from the surveys of Eennell made in the era of jargon, and though better 144 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET spelt than most of the documents of that period, yet still par- taking largely of the miscellaneous mode of writing so liable to mislead. All the surveyors subsequently employed had been left to pick up the names of places by the ear, and it had never been made an instruction to them to ascertain how they were written in any dialect or language of India, and to transfer them according to system into their maps. The surveyors too, unfortunately, were very seldom scholars. In order to show the consequences of this neglect, and to expose at once the absurdity of trusting to the ear in a matter of this kind, an extract is annexed* from a map of the Dooab, com- piled not ten years ago, and now in our possession : it bears the official signature of the surveyor-general of the day, and professes to be from the best materials then in the archives of that department. In this extract it will be seen that the well known road from Cawnpoor (Kanhpoor) to Ukburpoor is laid down double, being taken apparently from two routes made with compasses or theodolites varying in a small degree, so as to give a different direction ; and the copyists of the surveyor-geineral's department have not discovered that the routes are the same, because all the names are spelled differently. There are regularly — Kuttra, Gittera, Chichehree, Chichindy, Bhysour, Bhysawn, Bheisawn, (Bhenoui- ?) Fattip'. Futtehp'. Reneea, Runneah, Oomrun, Oomeron, with sundry other names, till one road comes to Akberpoor and the other to Akbarpoor, the relative distances of all these places being the same. Like absurdities might be shown in many maps similarly constructed from materials in which the names have been set down by the ear, without the observance of any system of spelling. It is no fault of the map-compiler, if he has not recognised Chicheree to be the same place as * See Plate. TO THE LANGUAaES OF INDIA. 145 Chichindy, and Kuttra as Gittera, when they stand in two maps in positions not exactly corresponding. The fault was in the employment of an officer to survey, without instructing him specifically how he was to write the names of his map. The revenue surveys, so far as they went, effectually corrected this error ; and what is more, the maps constructed by the officers employed in this department are capable of being converted with confidence into any character, without each name being, as at present, an object of separate inquiry and research, whenever it is desired to publish a map in the Persian, the Hindee, or in any other character of the country. But to return to our subject: the Eecord Committees, wheresoever they were established, succeeded entirely in re- forming the orthography of names in the zila dufturs. That they did not do more, but after involving considerable ex- pense failed to provide the desired land registers, was owing to many causes which need not be discussed here. The effect of these institutions in confirming the use of the Grilchristian system is all we have now to do with : that effect will, we presume, not be denied. The leaning had been to this system for thirty years before, but at last the act of Grovern- ment, and the specific exertions of all public officers through- out the country, continued for nearly eight years consecutively while the Committees lasted, fixed and established this system of Gilchrist as the orthography of office and of business. Even though there were not in it any innate inherent supe- riority or grounds for preference, even were it the inferior system of the two, still this fact ought, one would think, to secure it from any hasty attempt at change. Except there be some obvious apparent defects pointed out, the undoubted ascertainment of which has been the result of actual ex- perience, would it not be madness to think of discarding what had been so established ? What then is to be thought of this new attempt of Mr. Trevelyan to set up again the rejected alphabet of Sir William Jones, and by the gratuitous circula- tion of thousands of copies to diffuse and disseminate, as if from authority, a system fully and formally tried and found wanting ? L 146 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET The Journal of the Asiatic Society, being a work of science conducted under the special countenance and support of that Society, will always be respected for the matter it con- tains ; and it signifies little in what garb it may choose to present its Asiatic names. Allowance will be made for the consistency of the Society's adherence to the system of its venerable founder, and all that read its proceedings know weU what they have to expect, and are prepared to encounter familiar letters applied to strange uses after the manner practised by this Society for half a century. But now that the Grilchristian method of writing has been so long established for record, for surveys, and for making familiar to the unini- tiated public the sounds and names of Hindoostan, every official man and every man of sense must protest against the present attempt to introduce once more the discarded system, one too that from its use of the a for the short u would change the spelling of every word and name from one end of India to the other. Let the Sir William Jones's system, his a and his i i and his long and short u, be reserved, like the Devanagree, for recondite science : there his alphabet has its footing, and no one desires to eject it from its stronghold: but for business let us have our curi-ent Nagree, the short u and the ee and the 00, which have grown into use from their ready adapta- tion to the ear, and from the preference secured for them by all the associations of sound to letters which we have been accustomed to from our infancy. In the pages of the Journal there has appeared a notice laudatory of Mr. Trevelyan's attempt to effect by a coup de Tumn a change in all the established methods of writing mo- fussil names. As this Journal has now for itself so wide a circulation in the interior, it is necessary that its pages should not be made to serve the party views of the advocates of any one exclusive system, but that the merits of each in its particular line should be fairly stated. The Sanskrit scholar will perhaps find his advantage in following the alphabet of Sir William Jones, which is that of the grammars and dic- tionaries, and of most of the translations from that language ; but he that is content with the Persic, Oordoo, or the familiar TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 147 literature of Hindoostan, the man of business and of the world, will find all the books, the dictionaries and grammars and vocabularies to which he is in the habit of referring, and all the records and public documents that fall under his observation, written uniformly in the character of Gilchrist. There is little fear that even the weight of the Journal's recommendation will be successful in superseding what is so established. If the world were not wide enough to hold both systems, — if the order had gone forth from Caesar that one only should stand, and the issue were a bellum ad inter- necionem between the two, — then might the Journal fitly advocate the cause of its scientific mode of writing to save it from destruction and the sponge : but so long as there is no attempt to encroach on the ground it occupies, or to iaterfere with its peculiar province in literature ; while it is suffered to luxuriate in the paradise of Sanslcrit, without any attempt to foist in its rival, even as an humble companion of its pleasures in that Eden of joy; why should the votaries of this learned system strive to gain for it a universal dominion for which it has been found unfitted, and assume the offensive against the system in use for business ? Let each retain its own, and both abide together in peace and good will and harmony; holding forth, in the facilities they jointly offer, an invitation to all people to adopt either the one or the other accordingly as they find either most convenient for their purpose; and under the assurance that the object, which is to obtain such a method of writing as shall afford a ready means of transfer- ring the word back into its native character, will equally be accomplished, whichever may be the character adopted. Both systems represent perfectly to the scholar the letters used in the original languages, but it is contended that the Gilchrist alphabet, as now generally introduced and used in the public offices of this presidency, conveys to the uninitiated a more correct and true notion of the proper pronunciation, than the antiquated and rejected system of Sir William Jones, and therefore is the best adapted to business. Through the pages of the Journal let the European public of India be unde- ceived on this point. The attempt to dislodge the system of L 2 148 APPLICATION OF THE llOMAN ALPHABET Grilchrist is entirely a matter of individual speculation, and is certainly not the result of any inconvenience felt, or dis^ satisfaction expressed with it, by the Grovemment, or by any class of public officers or persons whatsoever. H. T. P. (14.) MR. C. E. TEEVELTAn's DEFENCE OF SIB WILUAM JONES's SYSTEM.* It seems now to be admitted with scarcely a dissenting voice, that the plan of expressing the languages of the East * This paper, as well as those numbered 15 and 18, was reprinted by Sir C. E. Trevelyan in 1854 (in a pamphlet entitled "Papers originally published at Calcutta, in 1834 — 1836, on the Application of the Roman Letters to the Languages of India"), under the circumstances described in the following Preface : — " The recent International Conference, held under the auspices of His Excellency Chevalier Bunsen, for the purpose of establishing a standard Missionary Alphabet, required that information should be furnished re- lative to the undertaking commenced at Calcutta in the year 1834, to introduce into Asia the popular use of the Roman character, as a corol- lary and complement to the greater enterprise of making English the language of higher education and the fountain from which the nascent vernacular literatures of the East might be vivified and enriched ; and with this view the three following papers have been selected for republi- cation out of a much larger number published at the time in India. The pourse adopted in 1834 was a simple transliteration of the admirable Deva-N&gari or Sanskrit alphabet, adding what was wanted to repre- sent the peculiar sounds imported into the Indian languages from the Arabic (thus combining the elementary languages of the Japhetic and Shemitic races), and giving to the whole, as nearly as possible, the same powers as the Roman letters possessed in the original Latin and the de- rivative Italian, according to the system first advocated by Sir William Jones. During the twenty years which have since elapsed, this applica- tion of the Roman letters has made silent but steady progress ; and, besides its increasing use by the natives of India, it has been extensively adopted by Missionary Establishments, by teachers of Oriental languages in this country, and, almost without exception, by authors of wonts re- lating to the East, who desire to express Asiatic words in an exact and uniform manner. "London, 1854. " [It will be seen from the above that the selections from the Calcutta Papers were first reprinted for tlie purpose of explaining what had taken place on this subject in India to the International Conference held at the residence of the Prussian Minister in London, in 1854, in order to settle a universal Missionary Alphabet.] " TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 149 in the English character offers the best and nearest prospect of fixing and enriching the native dialects, and of establish- ing a common medium of communication, epistolary as well as oral, between the people and their rulers ; that great desideratum, the absence of which has always so much impeded the due administration of justice in this country, and stood in the way of our taking root in the affections of our subjects to the extent which the rectitude of our acts and intentions might entitle us to expect. The principle, therefore, that the languages of the East should be expressed in the character of the West, and that by degrees one written character should be made to pervade the whole world, has been admitted by a decided majority of those persons who from their education and habits of mind are qualified to give an opinion on the subject. The only question which remains to be discussed is the particular orthography, or, in other words, the particular mode of applying the European characters to the Asiatic languages, which it is most desirable to adopt. Hitherto public opinion has been divided between two systems ; one of which (the Italian system), from its having been first introduced into the East, by Sir William Jones, is generally known by that distinguished scholar's name, and the other system was invented by Mr. Gilchrist, and is called after his name. It is necessary to premise, that, as far as the consonants are concerned, there is no discrepancy between the two systems worth contending about. The only difference be- tween them is in the vowels and diphthongs, and even in this case only in some of them, while in others both systems exactly agree : but in order that the reader may have the subject clearly before him, we will subjoin a table of the vowels and diphthongs of both systems. Sir William Jones's. a as in above i as in in u as in push e as in there as in note a as in art i as in police u as in rale ai as in aisle. au as in caasa [Latin pronunciation] I. 3 150 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET Dr. Gilchrist's. u as in cull* a as in call. i as in kill e as in keel* oo as in wool* oo as in cool* e as in there ue as in chyle* o as in cole uo as in cowl* Out of ten vowel and diphthong sounds, therefore, four are expressed alike in both systems, which reduces the field of contest between the two systems to within very narrow limits. Taking consonants and vowels together, there are about seventy different variations of sounds in Hindusthani, of which only six are expressed differently. This is the utmost extent of the quarrel between the shade of Sir William Jones and Dr. Gilchrist. We shall endeavour to state as briefly as possible the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two systems. Sir William Jones's Plan is systematic and complete in all its parts, so that in every case in which an analogy exists between different sounds, a corresponding analogy will be found to pervade the signs by which they are represented. Thus the long sound of a is a, of i, i ; and of u, u ; and the diphthong ai, which is compounded of a and i, is represented by those letters and au {ow) ; which is compounded of a and u, by au. The consequence of this strict attention to pre- serve an analogy in the sign corresponding to the variations in the sound is, that the acquisition of the alphabet is greatly facilitated to the learner, who in fact has to make himself acquainted with only five elementary signs which are the representatives of as many original sounds, and the remaining five are only elongated forms or compo- sites of these. He has to learn a, i, u, e, o; and d is only the long form of a distinguished by the usual mark, i of i, and u of u, and ai is the composite of a and i, and au of a and u. In Dr. Gilchrist's Plan, with a single exception, there * The letters marked thus * are expressed differently in the two systems. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 151 is 110 analogy whatever between the long and short forms of the vowels, and between the diphthongs and their compo- nent vowels. Thus in his system a is the long form of XL, ee of'i, and the diphthongal is represented by ue and au by uo. It is needless to dilate on the confusion which this want of system must produce in the mind of every learner. No help is here provided for him; and instead of being guided from step to step by a change in the form of the character suflficient to distinguish the modification in the sound, while enough is retained of the original letter to mark the elementary connexion, he is perplexed by a variety of characters between which no kind of analogy is capable of being traced, In short, instead of having only five signs to get by heart, he has no less than nine. In tracing the analogy between corresponding modifications of sound, this plan is worse than if no assistance were afforded him. In this eccentric system of letters long vowels are actually divorced from their partners, and so disguised as to render it impossible to recognise the original connexion between them ; and diphthongs are in like manner kidnapped from their parent vowels, and disfigured worse than gipsy children. Who would suppose that u is the legitimate hus- band of a, that ee is the devoted wife of i, that ue is the inte- resting offspring of a and i, and uo the eldest hope of a and u. This is not a system of orthograpTiy, but, if I may be allowed to invent a word, of kakography, of confusion, mys- tification, and absurdity. It is singular that when a man sat down with a carte blanche before him to invent a system of letters, he was not able to devise something better than this ; and it is still more so, that, having the labours of his learned predecessor Sir William Jones to profit by, when he altered, he should have altered so much for the worse. Another advantage of Sir William Jones's plan is, that besides being complete in itself, owing to the perfect analogy which exists between the different letters, it bears a strict correspondence throughout to the great Indian or Deva Nagari alphabet. All the alphabets derived from the latter are very systematic, and a scheme which is otherwise cannot L 4 152 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET properly represent them. But Sir William Jones does it exactly, as will be seen from the following table : — T '• t ^ TT e ^ at The natives of India are, therefore, already quite fami- liar with the idea of distinguishing the modification of sound by a corresponding modification of sign ; and when they see the same plan adopted in the Anglified version of the alphabet, they immediately recognise the propriety of it, and enter into the spirit of the scheme. As the new ortho- graphy is mainly intended for the people of India, the cir- cumstance of its being entirely coincident with their precon-' ceived feelings and ideas must be allowed to be an advantage of no small importance. It is hardly necessary to observe that no kind of analogy exists between Dr. Gilchrist's and the Indian or Deva Nagari alphabet. When an Indian reads • Sir WiUiam Jones's alphabet, he sees a long a immediately succeeding the short a; a long i the short i, and a long u the short u (the long vowel being in each case distinguished by a mark as in the Sanskrit), which is just what his previous knowledge would lead him to expect ; but when he comes to Dr. Gil- christ's plan, he finds a following u, and ee following i. What therefore would be his opinion of the comparative merits of the two systems ? Would he not say, that one is in every respect as complete as the Alphabet of the Gods (Deva Ndgari), while the other is an inexplicable mass of confusion ? Another advantage attending Sir WiUiam Jones's system is, that it is not only analogous to but is the very system itself which is used in expressing Latin and all its deri- vatives ; that is, Italian, Spanish, French, &c. It is true TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 153 that in England we do not pronounce Latin in this way, but this is only because we have barbarised it, and made it accord with our Saxon pronunciation. Even in Scotland and Ireland, to say nothing of continental Europe, they read Latin exactly in the way in which it is now proposed to read Hindusthani. This entire coincidence of the new Hindusthani orthography with the orthography of the learned language of the whole of Europe, and with that of most of its colloquial languages, is a point of great import- ance. Even in the present age its advantage will be felt, in so far as the learned all over Europe, and in most cases the vulgar also, will by'this means obtain direct access to our Indian literature ; and, what is still more deserving of con- sideration, a foundation will be laid for the establishment in due time of a uniform system of orthography throughout the world. This is an object which, however distant the prospect of accomplishing it may be, no man who has the slightest regard for posterity should ever lose sight of. Next to the establishment of a universal language, that grand desideratum of the philosopher and the philanthropist, the establishment of a universal system of orthography will most tend to the production of unrestricted freedom of inter- course between all the families of the human race ; and the one has also a direct tendency to bring about the other. Now, if Gilchrist's plan were to be generally maintained in India, ■ so far from having advanced a step towards this grand result, we should make a decidedly retrograde movement, and the proceeding would be tantamount to shutting the door on the possibility of a uniform system of writing and printing being ever adopted in the eastern and western hemispheres. Gilchrist's plan is utterly abhorrent from the Roman family of languages, and it does not even coincide with the English, as will be shown hereafter. Sir William Jones's plan has a simple character for every simple sound, while in Dr. Gilchrist's simple sounds are in three instances expressed by double letters [ee, oo, and oo]. This, to say the best of it, is an extremely clumsy contrivance, and in the business of nations and course of ages it would lead to an immense unnecessary expenditure 154 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET of time and money. That this is the case, may be seen by taking the example of a single sentence, Jub soobh hoo-ee wuzeer-zadee bhee puhoonchee, which in Sir William Jones's orthography would be Jab subh liii-i -wazir-zidi bhi pahunchi. There are thirty-eight letters in this sentence written according to Dr. Gilchrist's plan, and only thirty if It be written according to Jones ; that is to say, in only six words the former exceeds the latter by no less than eight letters. Apply this to a book, and conceive the waste of types, paper, and valuable time which must result from it. Supposing an octavo volume printed according to Sir William Jones's plan to consist of 500 pages, and each page to contain on an average 304 words, the total number of words in the volume would be 152,000; and. if the same volume were printed according to Mr. Gilchrist's plan, then, at the rate of eight additional letters for every six words, the number of extra letters will amount to 190,000, which would make an addition to the book of 136 pages, and instead of consisting of 500 pages it would consist of 636. Apply this to the entire literature of half the world .through a succession of ages, and conceive the result if you can. If this average is considered to be above the mark, I have no objection to suppose that every six of Gilchrist's words contain only half the number of double letters which those above instanced do, and at this rate the book printed according to Gilchrist's plan would exceed what it would be if printed according to Sir William Jones's plan by 68 pages. Lastly, there are three characters in Gilchrist's alphabet which do not belong to English or to any other language under the sun which we have ever heard of. These are oo, ue and uo. With the exception of the pupils of Dr. Gil- christ, who, from early associations and respect to their master, may naturally be expected to be admirers of his scheme, these characters are utterly barbarous to every de- scription of people ; and it is therefore impossible for them to secure a general recognition for tliemselves in the breasts TO THE LANGTJAGES OF INDIA. 155 either of Englishmen, European foreigners, or Indians. Sir William Jones's plan, as has been before stated, contains no arbitrary sounds whatever, but is in every respect in strict accordance with the Latin and Latino-European lan- guages. Even the au, of which no example is to be found in English, is perfectly familiar to every Scotchman and Irishman who knows Latin ; and if a youth at Dublin College or the High School at Edinburgh were to pronounce causa like cawsa, he would be immediately corrected, and would be told to sound it cowsa, and the same, of course, everywhere on the continent of Europe. It will be proper in this place to say a few words in regard to the general principles of the two systems, and the causes which have led to their respective adoption. Sir William Jones well knew that the Romans and the Indians derive their origin from the same family of the human race, and that the analogy which is everywhere perceptible in their mythology and their language extends also in a high degree to their alphabets. The arrangement of both is exactly the same. In both, the same letters have exactly the same powers; and while one is the most perfect alphabet in the East, the other is acknowledged to bear the palm in the West. Sir William Jones also knew that, when the barbarous Saxon monks came to apply this alphabet to their language, they did it without any regard to system, and took no pains to preserve the original powers of the letters, i was pushed out of its place by ee, and made to do duty for ai; a was generally superseded by u ; and the services of u having been preoccupied in this manner, oo was made to officiate for it. Even this arrangement was by no means constantly adhered to, and thousands of instances might be mentioned of the application of the same letter to several different sounds, and of different letters to the same sound. The English system of spelling, in short (1 protest against its being called orthography), is a labyrinth, a chaos, an absurdity, a disgrace to our age and nation. It forms the principal difficulty of our language (which is the more provoking, as there is nothing in the structure of English which calls for it), and 156 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAK ALPHABET causes annually to increasing nnllions, in all the four quar- ters of the globe, an enormous unnecessary expenditure of valuable time, and still more valuable temper. . The amount of vexation and discouragement and loss of time which is caused every year, particularly to foreigners, by the extremely incorrect way of spelling now in use, is incalculable. But to return to the subject immediately under con- sideration, Sir William Jones and Dr. Gilchrist had two systems of letters before them ; one of which was acknow- ledged to be the most perfect which the wit of man had ever devised, and in every respect corresponded with the systems already in use in India, and on the continent of Europe ; and the other was perhaps the most imperfect the world had ever beheld, and totally differed from those which prevailed both in the East and West, England and North America alone excepted. Sir William Jones was a noble philologist. He imitated the Universal Governor as far as it is permitted to man to do so, and, embracing the whole world in his view, married the East and the West by pro- moting by his sanction and influence the adoption in both hemispheres of the same mode of writing. As his object was to fertilise the whole world, he drew from the fountain head. But Gilchrist limited himself to the narrow circle of English spelling; and, by the adoption of that corrupt eccentric system, opposed an effectual bar to his system ever extending beyond his pupils and the readers of liis own books. It should be borne in mind that Sir William Jones and Mr. Gilchrist both drew from the mine of English letters, and that the only difference between them was, that one ap- propriated the dross, while the other culled the pure gold. Gilchrist chose the most corrupt and imperfect parts of our system, while Jones selected those which were consistent with true principles, and coincided with the most perfect alphabets both of the East and West. The i in police is almost as well known in English as the double ee in feel. The u in pull is certainly better known than oo, which is pure Gilchristian. The u in rule is as familiar as the oo in cooL The ai in aisle is assuredly far more common than Me, which TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 157 is another arbitrary sign to be found nowhere except in the books printed by Dr. Gilchrist himself. The au in causa (Latin pronunciation) is also better understood than uo, ■which is another Gilchristian hieroglyphic; and even the short a, the stumbling-block of our Gilchristian friends, is quite as familiar to us as their favourite u, and anybody who will take the trouble to look in the English Dictionary will see it used at the commencement of 500 words like above, about, abound, and so forth. It has fallen to the lot of our generation to introduce the English letters into India, and the simple question for us to determine was, whether we should choose that part of the English literary system which is corrupt and limited, or that which is complete and universal. Since most Europeans in India are from their youth thoroughly imbued with Gil- christ's system, if we had desired to obtain an ephemeral popularity, we should have chosen the least perfect plan; but this was not our object. We were not concerting plans for the satisfaction of a few hundred Europeans. The benefit of the hundreds of millions of our dark-faced brethren of Asia was our aim; and therefore, undeterred by the clamour which we foresaw would be raised by a portion of our countrymen wedded by education and habit to the system we felt ourselves called upon to reject, we adopted the notation which was most perfect in the abstract, and which most nearly corresponded with Indian and European feelings. It will be satisfactory to our friends to know what we have ourselves but lately become acquainted with, that a few years ago, when the American missionaries first committed the language of the Sandwich Islands to writing, they adopted this same Italian orthography, the standard of which has now been raised in India. This is a remai'kable testi- mony to the intrinsic excellence of the system. Two bodies of people, belonging to different nations, and situated nearly on opposite sides of the globe, were called upon to deliberate, independently of each other, regarding the choice of a system of letters which it was proposed to introduce into less civilised countries; and what was the result? In their selection both fell upon the Italian system, thus confirming 158 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET what had previously been maintained regarding its superiority over all the other European systems. Ought not this fact to encourage us to proceed with energy and zeal? The Americans are the natural allies of our nation for the diffusion of every good word and work through- out the world, and we joyfully hail their accession as our colleagues in the establishment of a correct universal system of letters. The following list of Sandwich Island words, expressed both in the old and new style, extracted from a History of the American Mission in those Islands, is annexed : — NAMES OF THE ISLANDS. Improved Spelling. Former Spelling. Ha-wai-i. Hah-wye-e. Owhyh( Mau-i. Mow-ee. Mo-lo-kai. Mo-lo-kye. O-a-hu. 0-ah-hoo. Kau-ai. Kow-eye. MISSIONARY STATIONS. Ho-no-lu-lu. Ho-no-loo-loo. Wai-me-a. Wye-may-ah. La-hai-na. Lah-hye-nah. Kai-lu-a. Kye-hi-ah. Wai-a-ke-a. Wye-ah-kay-ah. NAMES OF PERSONS. Ke-o-pu-o-la-ni. Kay-o-poo-o-lah-nee. Li-ho-Li-ho. Lee-ho-Lee-ho. Ka-u-mu-a-Ii-i. Kah-oo-moo-ah-lee-ee Ho-arpi-li. Ho-ah-pee-lee. Ka-pi-o-la-ni. Kah-pee-o-lah-nee. Ku-a-ki-ni. Koo-ah-kee-nee. Po-ki. Po-kee. Wa-hi-ne-pi-o. Wah-hee-nay-pee-o. Pu-a-a-i-ki. Poo-ah-ab-ee-kee. Ka-mar-kau. Kah-mah-kow. Ka-lai-o-pu. Kay-lye-o-poo. Pau-a-hi. Pow-ah-hee. Ke-kau-o-no-hi. Ke-kow-o-no-hee. It only remains to meet an argument of our adversaries which has been put forth by one of them with an air of an- TO THE LANGtrAGES OF INDIA. 159 ticipated triumph. " Sir William Jones's Plan," they say, "has been well known for these sixty years, and yet it has made no sensible progress ;" from which they conclude that it never will make any. To this we reply, that God mocks at the short-sighted sagacity of mankind, by sometimes bring- ing to nought their best-devised schemes, and at other times He vindicates his own authority and proclaims to the world that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, by bring- ing about mighty changes by means apparently the most inadequate, and at times the most unexpected. The use of gunpowder was confined to fireworks, and steam power was treated as a plaything, long before these great elements took their proper place in the system of human affairs : but, to pass over minor instances, was not Christianity, the system which is destined to bring back the world to its obedience to the Lord of the universe, and to make It that abode of purity and peace and unalloyed felicity which it was originally iutended to be, — was not this glorious revelation confined for about 1500 years within the narrow limits of the Holy Land, until Christ appeared on earth and commanded his followers to make it known to all mankind ? There is no lack of scourges and blessings in the store- house of God, and things can be turned by Him in his own good time and way to uses of which we can at present form no conception. Is it not conformable with our experience of the rules under which the divine government of the world is carried on, that the Christian Philosopher who consecrated his learning to the glory of his God and the good of his fellow-creatures ; — that the Christian Scholar who did not hesitate to make the following solemn declaration, which will be recorded to the latest posterity : " I have regularly and attentively read the Holy Scripture ; and am of opinion that this volume, independently of its divine origin, contains more sublimity and beauty, more pure morality, more im- portant history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have been composed ;" — that such a man should be blest in the work of his hands, and that the seed 160 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET sown by him should, in God's own time, spring forth and cast its shoots far and wide throughout the East ? Let who will gainsay it, Sir Wm. Jones laid a good foundation, and future ages will bless him as the father of the literature of the Eastern hemisphere. "Cast thy grain before the waters *, and thou shalt see it after many days." To descend to secondary causes. Why has Sir "Wm. Jones's system heretofore not made greater progress? Simply because nobody ever thought of making it a popular system. Where is the Primer, the Spelling-Book, the Grammar, or the Vocabulary which was ever published on this plan with a view to popular education ? The utmost which its advocates have hitherto aimed at has been to fix it as the medium of scientific nomenclature, and in this they h&ve Julli/ succeeded. That it has not gone further is not the fault of the system, but of its admirers, who till lately never once attempted to extend it beyond these limits. As far as it has been tried, it has completely answered every expectation that was enter- tained of it, which is no small praise, and gives us promise of continued successful results. The system has completely obtained the acquiescence of the learned all over the world, and, if we mistake not, it will in the course of a few genera- tions obtain the assent of the vulgar also. On the other hand. Why has Gilchrist's system made the progress it has ? Simply because he wrote, and taught, and published. What is his system, except his books and lec- tures ? Without these it could have no existence. It is a remarkable fact, that Gilchrist's plan has never made any spontaneous progress; and we never heard of a single school except his own in which it is taught, or of a single book that was ever printed in it except by him. From this it would appear that it has no inherent virtue, no self-operating prin- ciple, calculated to secure for it success independent of the exertions of the founder. It will apparently live and die with him. It has met with just that degree of success which might have been expected from the determined perseverance * Alluding to the method of sowing in the East. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 161 of its author, and from his personal and official influence, and it has not gone a step beyond this. The doctor himself is its moving principle. Let him relax his efibrts, and it is nothing. But what a different picture does Sir William Jones's system at this moment present? After having completely stood the test of learned criticism, after having gone through a probationary period of sixty years, and approved itself to the great body of scientific men throughout the world, it has been claimed for popular use. The jewel must no longer remain shut up in a casket, but must be brought forth to shine in the face of day. The money must no longer remain hoarded in the treasury ; the time has come to spend it for the general advantage. The gold needs no assay; it has been well and thoroughly tried, and all that is required is to put it into circulation. Three Printing-Presses, of which one enjoys a more ex- tensive business than any other in Calcutta, and another is the most influential of the Provincial Presses, are at this moment actively engaged in preparing Picture Alphabets, Primers, Spelling-Books, Keaders, Dictionaries, and Gram- mars ; and two Lithographic Presses are employed in pro- viding Writing Copies and Pictorial Illustrations. Daily assurances of support are received from all parts of India ; numerous public officers, and almost all the leaders in the education of the country, are on our side; and if we make the same progress during the ensuing three months, which we have done for the last three, the system will become so firmly established that nothing short of a violent persecution would be able to uproot it. C. E. T. 27th August, 1834. [The following alphabet represents Sir William Jones' sys- tem, as applied to Hindustani books printed after this date, up to the period of Mr. Trevelyan's departure from India in. 1838.] M 162 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET THE AKaLO-HINDITSTANI ALPHABET, WITH THE POWERS OF THE 1,ETTEBS. ^ L 1 iittle . M VHokn A a woman par (./"t' A a art bdp M m •^an J^ mumk AI ai aisle u. paida N n none -W- Ti/amfiz AU au our dattx N n s««g t^yo hn"/ B b but b^h go / ko CH ch church cM P P papa 1, jpSii -/ V D d duke ddgh Q q guoit ^5 gadam E r race -.^ , rdz B d had r7^,l J^ E e there pet. S r s etemel*^-;, sin JL s^e (^ parna sal F f yind J^ /azl Sh sh sAukr G g go r/ grarm T t iakhf CrH gh ghostly ' r giham T t fa^M H h here J!?> AazS,r J*^ u u bull ,^ but I i in \ in _ * u' u u rule^j^ khub I i poKce J^ nil V V v\ue^^^ ■yildyat J j just c;V j&u w w u,as ^_^^ tuajud K k keep u^ hko. Y y 3/0" jb 2/^1' KH kh loch (♦jW- ^A^dim Z z ^eal ^b; 0aban t! and • Fi-ench Note 1. The vowels, whether long or short, with the point under them (thus, a 5, i i ) represent the ain have a guttural sound. 2. jjj and ^ are represented by h, ^^ by s, ^^ J, T^y t, andj j ^^ li by z. 3. Bh, chh, dh, jh, kh, ph, rh, th, th, are aspii-ated letters, and sounded together as the bh in ho6-/iouse by dropping the ho ; thus, bjhouse. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 163 (15.) CIECULAR LETTER ADDRESSED BY THE ORIGINATORS OP THE GENE- RAL APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN LETTERS TO THE LANGUAGES OF THE EAST, TO THE PRINCIPAL, TUTORS, AND STUDENTS, ESPECIALLT STUDENTS PREPARING FOR THE MINISTERIAL AND MISSIONARY WORK, AT THE DIFFERENT COLLEGES IN THE UNITED STATES. Dear Gentlemen, The attention of Christiana of all denominations hav- ing been lately directed to the salvation of the heathen, we cannot but entertain the hope that the necessities of the continent of India will secure from different societies that degree of consideration and effort which its magnitude de- mands ; and as almost all the colleges and theological semi- naries of your highly favoured native country contain, we understand, yoimg men in a course of education, who have generously determined to quit the endearments of home to labour for Christ in foreign lands, we trust that many such may be found among those to whom this letter is addressed, who in God's providence may be led to prosecute their bene- volent efforts in this country. "With this impression, allow us to draw your attention to a plan, which, if we mistake not, bids fair, under the blessing of God, greatly to facilitate their labours, and enlarge their usefulness. We allude to the general substitution of the Roman or English letters, for the various characters now used to express the numerous dialects of this vast continent. In drawing your attention to this subject, we would first solicit your patient perusal of the accompanying volume, entitled, " The Application of the Eoman Alphabet to all the Oriental Languages," of which we beg your acceptance. In this you will perceive fully exhibited the advantages of such a change, if it be practicable ; and satisfactory proof, 11 2 164 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET that, on the modified scheme of Sir W. Jones, it is easy to express in the Roman character, most accurately, all the sounds of all the Indian languages. Evidence in abundance has been since afforded, tbrough the general acceptance which the scheme has met with from both Europeans and natives, that, even to the furthest extremity of our empire, its universal though gradual adoption may be safely pre- dicted. As to the several advantages of the scheme, we may briefly refer to the following. By the general adoption of the Koman letters, in lieu of the various characters now used to represent the dialects of the East, — 1st. The natives of India will be able to learn our lan- guage with much greater ease than they can at present. 2nd. We shall be able to learn their language with greater ease. 3rd. The natives of every province of India will be able to learn the language of every other province with greater ease. 4th. All the existing Muhammadan and Hindu literature will gradually sink into disuse, with the exception of such por- tions of it as are worthy of being turned into the new letters. This would produce a great moral change in India in the course of a generation or two. Nothing keeps India in a state of moral and intellectual debasement so much as the false religion, false morals, and false science contained in the sacred and learned books of the Muhammadans and Hindus ; and by getting rid of these we shall stop the polluted stream at its source.* * It will be seen from the foUowdng extract from Sir C. Trevelyan's evidence before the Indian Committee, that this opinion has reference only to the bearing of the learned Oriental languages upon popular education, and is given with a full reservation of their literary and anti- quarian claims: — "Arabic is not spoken in common, nor is it learned to any extent, except a smattering of it for religious purposes by the Ma- homedans. Sanskrit, no doubt, has higher claims, as it is the foundation of all the Hindoo languages j but it is a dead language, and it is a most difficult language. A whole hfe is required to learn it properly ; and when, in consequence of the codification of the laws, there will no longer be any necessity for learning it, it will cease to be cultivated to a degree of which we are little aware; and I think it wiU seriously TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 165 5th. Just in proportion as Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian go out, English will come in ; and not only will our litera- ture be extensively studied, but its beneficial influences will reach the people by a thousand channels, through the medium of the native language. It will be a grand thing to make English literature the model of taste, and the fountain of instruction, throughout India; and if Sanskrit and Arabic and Persian become confined to the learned few, and the English and the vernacular Indian languages are expressed in the same character, there cannot be a doubt that this object will be attained. There are also other minor advantages which would result from the change of character, such as the much greater rapidity with which the Roman character can be written, the superior distinctness of both the printed and written charac- ters, superior cheapness, &c., but it is not necessary to mention them here. These advantages must be considered as important in the propagation of knowledge of all kinds. But there are one or two others which appear highly important to the Christian Church, in its attempt to introduce into this vast heathen country the blessed light of the glorious Gospel ; and to these we beg particularly to direct your attention. 1 . It offers remarkable facilities for the religious instruc- become the duty of the State to found professorships and scholarships, with a view to preserve and cultivate it, as containing the ancient reli- gious and social system of the country, and as being a key to the popular usages and opinions. The existing Sanskrit Colleges at Cal- cutta and Benares might be maintained for this purpose; but some change would be required in their plans of study, in order to adapt them to the object of preserving, and, as far as may be desirable, making more generally known, the whole of the ancient literature, science, law, and reUgion of the country. The Hindoo poetry and phi- losophy alone would require the attention of several literary men." — House of Lords' Paper No. 637 — 1 of Session 1863 : Mr. Hansard, Great Turnstile, Holbom. This Report of the India Committee of the House of Lords is interesting much beyond the usual measure of ParUamentary Blue Books. It is entirely upon education, religion, and other cognate subjects ; and, besides the evidence of Sir C. Trevelyan, con- tains that of Sir Erskine Perry, the Rev. Dr. Duff, Mr. Norton, Mr. Marsh- man, Dr. Wise, Mr. Wilberforce Bird, Professor Wilson, Mr. Cameron, the Rev. W. Keane, the Right Rev. Bishop Carr, the Rev. J. Tucker, and the Right Rev. Bishop Spencer. M 3 166 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN AXPHABET tion of classes of society otherwise inaccessible to the mis- sionary. It is a fact, that in this character the children of the most bigoted Hindus may be readily taught what they could not be taught in their own. It has been remarked by the most observant teachers of native boys, that those who have learned to read English think and speak on religious subjects, in that laiiguage, what they dare not, cannot, think and speak in their own. Now this is exactly the case in regard to Bangdli books in the English character. It occurred only a few days ago, that two most respectable Hindu gentle- men (one of whom is at the head of the bigoted Dharma Sabha), who would never have thought of putting into a school a word spoken by or written about Christ in the Bangall character, proposed of their own accord to put the Romanised Tersion of the Sermon on the Mount (or " Instruction by Christ," as it is called) into a large native school, which one supports, and the other gratuitously superintends. They seemed to feel conscious that, in the Bangdli character, some opposing bigot would interfere, and raise against them the cry of apostasy ; but that, if in the English character, the introduction of the work would be regarded as quite indif- ferent, and since it is requisite in the acquisition of a foreign character (as of the English language) to read the books usually employed, no scruple would be raised on the subject. Now, as we know the paramount influence of sentiments impressed on the minds of youth, and as for many years the circle of those who will learn their own language in the new character must be immeasurably greater than that of those who learn a foreign language like the English, it seems that by this plan Providence has supplied the Church with a powerful instrument for benefiting the bigoted part of the Hindu population, which it becomes its duty most diligently to employ. 2. There Is also another consideration well deserving the attention of Bible and Missionary Societies. It furnishes the agents of both with new and most important facilities for the promotion of their labour. A letter has just been received from an intelligent Mis- sionary in the Bombay Presidency, well acquainted with the TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 167 native languages in that part of India, in which he says that, when he was in Bengal, he brought round with him many books in different dialects of this Presidency, and that if the characters had been alike he should have easily mastered all, so as to make out the meaning of a passage as needed. He says, however, that the variety of character had rendered his progress so slow, that he had hitherto mastered only the Bangdli. " Send me," he says, " all you print in the Roman character in all your dialects, and I am persuaded that in this case I shall be able to understand a text in Bangdli, Hindui, Uriy^, &c., as readily as now I can Mah- ratti." To a translator of the Sacred Scriptures, who is anxious, in order to perfect his version in one language, to see what words or phrases have been used by preceding translators in all the other Indian languages, what an amazing advantage will be afforded when he has the opportunity of doing it without learning a new character, or being vexed or delayed by the innumerable letters, simple and compound, which otherwise must be acquired, ere the sense of a passage in any dialect can be ascertained ! Again, what a noble thing it will be for a Missionary, acquainted only with one language (be it Bangali, IJriy^, Hindui or Hindusthani), to read intelligibly and correctly the Sacred Scriptures and tracts in all these languages, when called to itinerate in the country ; or when having at his own station, on different religious festivals, to converse with strangers or others acquainted with these languages. He may thus excite attention, may prompt inquiry, and may create an interest in his efforts, leading to the salvation of many souls ! It should be remembered too, that there is a large class of nominal Christians in the country, for which our Bible Societies have hitherto made no provision. We refer parti- cularly to the descendants of the Portuguese and other Europeans ; many of whom, though familiar with the spoken languages of the country, are unable to read them, and whose limited acquaintance with English renders it impos- sible for them to understand the sacred volume in that language. Let the Bible, in what may be called their M 4 168 APPLICATION OF THE BOMAN ALPHABET mother tongue, be presented to them in the English charac- ter, and they will very soon be able to read with ease and profit its sacred contents. At present the Bible, whether in English or the native language, is to them a sealed book ; and so it is likely to remain, until those who love the Scriptures shall come forward to remove the seal, and open the sacred treasure, by presenting its contents clothed in letters with which they are acquainted, or a knowledge of which they may very soon acquire. The above advantages (besides others which we omit through fear of being tedious) are so important to the intel- lectual, moral, and religious improvement of the millions of India, that we feel persuaded you will now proceed with interest to our second Inquiry. Is the Roman alphabet a suitable medium for the repre- sentation of Indian words ; and, especially, can all the letters of every dialect in India, great In number and diversified In shape as they are, be expressed In this character ? We answer unhesitatingly in the aflSrmatlve. The Roman, as originally applied to this object by the learned Sir W. Jones, and modified as proposed in the accompanying volume, Is admirably adapted to this purpose, and in It aU the letters of the numerous languages of Asia may be most readily and correctly expressed. Proof of this you wiU find in pp. 80 to 1 13 of the volume just referred ta It has afforded us great satisfaction, since we have been led to advocate this scheme, to perceive that the American Missionaries had before adopted precisely the same system to express the language of the Sandwich Islands. This remark- able coincidence (which is more particularly dwelt on in p. 158, &c.) appears tons to afford most satisfactory evidence that the system is In a peculiar degree adapted to the power of speech, as possessed In common by natives of the remotest climes, and Is therefore well adapted to form a character destined by degrees to become universal. We need not say that, next to a universal language, a universal character, by removing nearly one half the difficulties of his task, pro- mises to a philanthropist the most glorious results. TO THE LANfiUAaES OF INDIA. 169 We therefore proceed to our 3rd inquiry, Can an altera- tion so radical and extensive as the substitution of the Roman for all the Oriental characters be anticipated in any reason- able time? To this we reply in brief, referring you to the accom- panying printed documents for fuller information : — 1st. This change has been effected throughout almost all the nations of Europe. Excepting some of them who use Greek, Russian, and German characters, all have successively surrendered their original alphabets to that of Rome. They were governed or protected by the Romans, and the latter were their superiors in all kinds of knowledge. Now, as almost all the nations of Hindusthan stand in exactly the same relation to the British, and are deriving from them the same civil and intellectual advantages which the nations of Europe did from the Romans, why should they not follow the example of the latter, and relinquish their respective alphabets for that of the English ? 2nd. Large classes of persons in the East have relin- quished their original alphabets for those of their more power- ful or better-informed native neighbours. Not to mention the thousands in Hindusthan who have adopted the Persian character, and the multitudes in the Malay Islands who have adopted the Arabic one, the Assamese, in our imme- diate neighbourhood, have lately discarded their own alphabet for the Bangali, and the hill tribes on the frontier of Naipal for the Nagari ; and why should not the Bangalis and tlindusthanis in their turn do the same, when the correspond- ing advantages are confessedly more than equal ? 3rd. The present attempt to introduce the Roman charac- ter has met with unexampled success. Only five months since, when the system now adopted was proposed to be used in gradual supersession of all the native alphabets, not more than four individuals* were friendly to the plan, while it had to contend with that large class of society who dislike all innovation, and that still larger one who dislike all trouble. Yet amidst the opposition of many, and the apathy * The Rev. Dr. Yates, the Rev. W. H. Pearce, the Rev. Dr. Duff, and Sir C. Trevelyan. 170 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET of more, it has steadily progressed. Everybody who has acquired this system has become its advocate. At various stations between Calcutta and Dihli, and even beyond the latter place, numerous gentlemen have declared themselves its friends. Christian clergymen and laymen, with Hindu and Muhammadan priests, teachers, and gentlemen, are en- gaged in preparing elementary books for publication. Various such works have already been printed in Bang^li and Hin- dusthdni ; two publications in Hindui, and others in that language and Persian are passing through the press ; and applications have been received to execute works in TJriy£ and Burman. The system has been gradually introduced into schools in this city and elsewhere, both under native and European superintendence ; and at Dihli, where it has found its way into the college, 200 pupils in one branch, and 60 in another, are become quite familiar with it ; and it is now so popular that native authors are preparing works which it is confidently expected will secure by their sale a profit, both to the editor and printer. Let the system proceed in this manner but six months longer, and its gradual establishment and general prevalence throughout India, with but moderate exertion on the part of its friends, may be considered as settled. While we are thus privileged to see the rapid success of a scheme fraught with such blessings to India, we are par- ticularly anxious that its advantages should be enjoyed by the Christian Church. It was commenced, and its success hitherto has been chiefly secured, by the unwearied exertions of friends to the evangelisation of India ; and it is our most anxious desire that to this great object its advanced progress should be directed. We know not how this can be better effected than by its being made to assist, in their acquisition of the languages of India, that interesting class to whom we have before alluded ; viz. candidates for Missionary labour ; and, with the hope that among the numerous youth who are connected with your institution, there may be some of this class, we have done ourselves the pleasure of sending for your library a copy of each of the Bangdli, Hindui, and Hindusthdni works already published. We beg also to TO THE LANGUAaES OF INDIA. 171 say, that should you favour us with a reply, and intimate in it your wish to be supplied with other books for the use of any of your students who are studying the Oriental languages with a view to Missionary labour, we shall esteem it a plea- sure to send you copies of other works in the particular languages you may specify. A Grammar and a Dictionary, in both Bangali and Hindusthani, are being prepared, and will be included among them. Allow us to add, that we greatly need more Missionaries in India, and shall be delighted to welcome them, be they of what denomination of Evangelical Christians they may. We cannot but entertain the hope that our present addi'ess may excite in some, and tend to cherish in others, the generous desire to enter on the honourable work in the boundless field of labour which Hindusthdn presents. The rapid spread of general education, which has shaken the faith in idolatry of thousands in our cities ; the growing desire to acquire a knowledge of the English language, which renders most acceptable the Missionary who will establish a school to teach it ; the conviction which is gradually pervading all classes of Europeans and many natives, that, to secure the formation of even a moral character, instruction in religious principles must not be neglected; with the approbation on the part of the British authorities of all judicious attempts to pro- mote the moral and religious improvement of their sub- jects, and the toleration which may be safely calculated on in all the independent states, furnish to the Missionaries facilities for useful exertion hitherto unknown. O that the Church Universal would awake to its duty, and by the supply of devoted men, equal to the necessities of this vast continent, would secure (what from the ordinary operations of God's providence and Spirit we may reasonably anticipate) the speedy triumph of the Cross throughout its length and breadth ! Before we conclude, we will advert to a fact which we think has not yet been sufficiently attended to by persons who desire the welfare of India. We mean that the popular literature of the whole continent is yet in quite an Incipient state. It may be said to be in the same condition as the 172 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET English literature was in the days of Chaucer. There are not more than twelve or fourteen books in Hindusthani fit for the education of the young, and not much more than twice that number in Bangdli. Does not this state of things present a noble field for Cliristian exertion? An Indian literature, that which will form the minds of one hun- dred and fifty'millions of people throughout all their genera- tions, has yet to be constructed ; and where can we find a better foundation for it than in the word of G od ? The seryants of Christ ought to esteem it an extraordinary privilege that such an opportunity has been afibrded to them ; and their vigorous and weU-combined exertions should have no less an object in view than the gradual yet rapid formation of a Christian Literature for the milhons of India, whence the spirit of it will become quickly diffused throughout the neighbouring countries, until the whole of Asia has been reduced to the obedience of Christ* The first object will be to transfer the superior knowledge of every description possessed by the inhabitants of the Western into the vernacular languages of the Eastern hemisphere ; and the whole should be done with a strict reference to * The following passage, from Sir C. IVevelyan's evidence before the Indian Committee of the House of Lords in 1853, illustrates the influence which India has always exercised over the whole of Asia : — " India ia the central country of Asia. It is an extremely rich country. It is rich in actual wealth, but it is still richer in undeveloped resources. It is inhabited by an acute, intellectual and partially cultivated people, among whom learning and learned men have, from the most an- cient times, been held in high reputation. When our ancestors were clothed with the skins of beasts and were entirely destitute of Utera- ture, and indulged in wholesale human sacrifices, the Indians were a cultivated and learned people. India has in all ages exercised a con- siderable influence over the surrounding countries. We derive from India , our beautiful system of Decimal Notation, commonly called the Arabic numerals, but which really came to us through the Arabs from India, where it has existed from time inmiemorial precisely as it was transferred to us, the forms of the figures in Sanskrit being almost iden- tical with those which we use every day. The Fables which have for ages been known to the Western world as the Fables of jEsop and Pilpay, were discovered, when Sanskrit literature began to be studied, under the name of Hitopadesa, the identity being beyond all ques- tion, although some of the stories have been clothed in a Western medium to suit Western ideas. Towards tlie East and North a yet more remarkable influence has been exercised by a reformed system of Hindooism (Buddism), bearing the same relation to the ancient TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 173 Christian principles; that is to say, everything which has a corrupting and debasing tendency should be carefully omitted ; the truths of Christianity should be recognised and enforced ; and, in all things, whether the subjects treated of relate to sacred or secular science, the mind should be led, by all practicable means, to a knowledge of God and of His will. The work of translation must, we conceive, be carried on almost entirely in this country ; but there is another de- partment of labour, in which any person of ordinary abilities in any part of the world may assist. We refer to the com- position of original works suited to the capacity of the native mind, consisting for the most part of short stories, dialogues, and biographies, written so as to enforce the general principles of virtue, and to expose the real character of the prevailing Indian vices. Should any of the bene- volent persons of either sex by whom this letter may be perused take up their pens in this holy cause, it is requested that they will forward the result of their labours, through the medium of the next post-office, to the booksellers men- tioned below, by whom they will be transmitted to Calcutta; and after the necessary corrections have been made, with a idolatrous system of India, unhappUy still the prevailing system in that country, which the refonned Mahomedanism of the Wahabees bears to the ordinary Mahomedanism. This reformed Hindooism, which originated in the district of Behar, has spread over the coun- tries to the eastward, over Burmah and Siam and China, and far among the Tartar and Mongolian tribes inhabiting Asiatic Russia, even to the shores of the Arctic sea; it includes among its votaries a larger number than any other existing religion; and the ancient verna- cular language of Behar, under the name of Pali, and to a certain extent the Sanskrit language, have become the sacred language of many of those countries. If, therefore, the resources of this great Asiatic country are developed, so that it may acquire the strength whicb properly belongs to it ; and if English education, and free dis- cussion, and Christianity are firmly established there, it wiU work a change far and wide tlirough the Asiatic countries and islands, which win be productive of the greatest blessings, and will, if I may say so reverently, subserve the designs of Providence. It will be one of the greatest distinctions of our posterity, that they belong to a nation honoiu^ed by Providence as the means of working out such a blessed change ; and it is a gratifying fact that our brethren, the people of the United States of America, are effectually co-operating with us in this good work, by means of several strong missions, which use our common English language and literature for the instrxiction of the natives, in conjunction with their own vernacular languages." 174 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET view to adapt them to local circumstances, they will be published, with pictorial illustrations and translations in the different vernacular languages on the opposite pages, and distributed throughout the country from Calcutta to Kabul, by means of depositories which have been already established at the different stations. We conceive that there is scarcely any person who has received even a moderate education who is not equal to this task ; and the ladies in particular, who know so well how to address those better feelings of our nature which are common to aU. mankind, are particularly well qualified for it. How exquisite will be the satisfaction to a person who has succeeded in writing a popular little book of this kind to know, that, while he is living in the retirement of his family in a distant country, he will yet be speaking to thousands of the heathen in different parts of India, and insensibly leading them by his interesting and affectionate appeals to a knowledge of their Saviour ! We do not hesi- tate to affirm that a successful author might in this way be so blessed in his labours as to accomplish as much, if not more, as many Missionaries who have devoted their lives to the cause. In order that it may be clearly understood what is intended, we send, in the accompanyiag collection, the first number of the Library of Entertaining Know- ledge, this day published; together with a copy of an Address which has been published on this subject in the Calcutta papers. Begging that the person into whose hands this letter may be delivered will kindly secure its being heard or perused by all connected with the Institution, we remain, with best wishes for its prosperity, Your faithful servants, W. YATES, W. H. PEAECE, C. E. TREVELYAN, Calcutta, Nov. 1834. J_ THOMAS Note.—r)t. Duff had gone to England for the recovery of his health when this letter was written. TO THE LANGrAOES OP INDIA, 175 (16.) EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTE BOOK OF THE ROMAN LETTER PROPAGATION COMMITTEE. Resolyiions, 1st. Eesolved, that it is desirable to establish a permanent fund for the extension of the plan of applying the Eoman letters to the vernacular languages of India. 2nd. That Mr. Trevelyan having offered all the books be- longing to him which remained unsold both in the Calcutta and Provincial depositories in addition to two small remittances lately received, and Mr. Pearce having offered on behalf of the Baptist Mission Press the remaining copies of the edition of the Hindustani Eeader No. 1, just published, the same shall be accepted as a foundation for a fund for the above purpose. 3rd. That the proceeds of the sale of the above books, as realised, be carried to the credit of the fund, in the Savings' Bank, and be applied to the publication, or republication of such books as may appear to the Managers to be most re- quired, and that these books be again sold and the proceeds applied as above, so as to form a permanent fund for the pro- motion of the Eoman system. 4th. That no work be commenced xmtil the sum necessary to complete it has been realised. 5th. That no work be published or encouraged by this Association, the whole of which is not imexceptionable in a moral point of view. 6th. That in case other persons should wish to republish any of the above works on their own accoimt, this Association will most cheerfully give them permission to do so. 7th. That the Committee of Management consist for the present of the undersigned. C. E. TEEVELYAN. W. H. PEAECE. W. YATES. August, 1836. J. THOMAS. 176 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET (17.) LIST OF BOOKS IN THE NATIVE LANGUAGES AND THE KOMAN CHARACTEE, PUBLISHED, OR IN THE PRESS, AT THE END OF THE TEAR 1836. {Extracted from the Christian Obsebvbe of April, 1837.) Hindustani and Anglo-Hindustani. B. A. Yates' Introduction to the Hindust&ni language, com- prising a Grrammar, Eeading Lessons, and Voca- bulary .50 The Bagh o BahSr 18 Hindustdni Eeader, No. 1, 10 Ditto ditto, No. 2, 10 Capt. Paten's Astronomy in English and Hindustani on opposite pages 10 D'Rozario's English, Bengali, and Hindustani Dic- tionary 6 6 Thompson's English and I-IindustS,ni Dictionary, 2nd edition . . . . . . . .30 Thompson's Hindustani and English ditto. U'rdu translation of the Field Exercises of the British Army, in Nagri and Eoman characters. English and Hindustani Student's Assistant, or Idio- matical Exercises in those languages, designed to assist Students of either language in acquiring an easy and correct method of expression. Part 1, Nouns .06 Student's Assistant, Part 2, Adjectives . . .04 Ditto ditto. Parts 3 and 4, Verbs and Dialogues . 8 Ditto ditto. Four Parts, complete, bound in cloth . 1 Ditto ditto, ditto ; 2nd edition, now in the Press. Cliffs Interlinear Instructor 5 Ditto ditto, another edition^ published by the School- Book Society .05 Collection of Moral Precepts (interlinear) . . .03 Krishna Eau's Polygot, being the English Instructor in English, Hindustani, Mahratta, and Persian . 1 TO THE LANaUAGES OF INDIA. 177 Grospel of St. Matthew in English and HindustS,ni on opposite pages . . . . . . .0 10 Ditto St. Mai-k, ditto ditto 8 Sermon on the Mount, ditto ditto . . . .02 Catechism on the Principles of Christianity (Tract Society's) 4 Another ditto, printed for the Eev. Mr. Bowley. Hindustani Hymns in English metre, by the Eev. Mr. Bowley 12 Primer, with a Frontispiece, by Sir C. D'Oyley . .01 Ditto Hindui 1 Picture Alphabet, per dozen . . . , .03 Copy slips (each book contains 38 copies) . .02 Library of Entertaining Knowledge. With Illustrations by Sir C. D'Oyley. No. I. The Unhappy Mother who sacrificed her In- fant, pp. 18 2 No. III. Cruelty to Animals, pp. 1 6 . . . .02 No. IV. Moral Precepts, pp. 18 . . . .02 No. V. Lucy and her Mother, pp. 18 . . .02 No. VI. Little Girl and Butterfly, Shepherd's Boy, &c. pp. 18 2 No. VIL The Greyhound and the Mastiff; Virtue and Vice contrasted; and the Countryman and Snake, pp. 18 2 No. VIII. Ibrahim and his Happy Family, pp. 32 . 4 No. IX. History of Joseph, with cuts, pp. 88 . .06 Bengali and Anglo-BengaM. Gospel of St. Matthew in English and Bengali on opposite pages ..... Sermon on the Mount, ditto ditto, 2nd edition Niti-Katha, Part 1 Ditto, Part.2 Animal Biography, No. 1 . 12 2 2 2 8 178 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET E. A. English and Bengali Student's Assistant, or Idioma- tical Exercises, Pai't 1, Nouns . . • .06 Ditto ditto. Part 2, Adjectives 4 Ditto ditto, complete in Four Parts — now in the Press. English Instructor, No. 2, interlinear translation, lite- ral translation in native, and free translation in the Eoman character . . . • • • .04 Bengali Primer, with a Frontispiece, by Sir C. D'Oy- ley Picture Alphabet, per dozen .... Copy Slips (each book contains 38 copies) D'Eozario's English, Bengali, and Hindustani Dic- tionary ....... 1 3 2 6 6 Uriya. Eeading Lessons, Eoman and Uriya character . .03 Niti-Katha, Part 1, Eoman character, pp. 18 . .02 Ditto, Part 2, ditto, pp. 18 3 Natural Philosophy, Part 1, ditto, pp. 26 . . .03 Ditto, Part 2, ditto, pp. 60 5 Asamese and Tai or Shan. Spelling-Book in English, Asamese and Tai, prepared for the use of the SadiyS, Mission Schools. The Parables of Christ in Asamese, ditto ditto. Manipuri. English, Bengali, and Manipuri Dictionary, by Capt. Grordon, PoUtical Agent at Manipur, in the Press. The above books, being 57 in all, are to be had on appli- cation to Mr. Ostell, Bookseller, Tank-Square, Calcutta ; and many others in the Eoman character have been designed and will shortly be put in hand. All sums realised by the sale of the above books are employed in printing others in the same character. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 179 (18.) REVIEW OF THE ROMANISING SYSTEM, UP TO THE TEAK 183/. BY ME. 0. E. TKEYELYAN. I have read with much interest the discussions which have lately taken place on the subject of the general application of the Koman character to the languages of India. The supe- riority of this character over the other alphabetical systems at present in use in the East, its cheapness, its distinctness, its capability of compression, which so eminently fit it to be the organ of a national literature, seem now to be scarcely ever denied. This part of the subject is put in a very clear light by a letter lately published in the Agra paper, of which the following is an extract : — "As to the character, I must confess, could I persuade myself of its practicability, I should by far prefer the Roman. It is so soon acquired, so easily read, so rapidly written, and its structure is so compact and uniform, and so well adapted for business: besides which, its stops, capitals, italicSj and other expressive marks, afford so many advantages, that no character in the world can be compared to it. Hence it is not surprising, that it should have been adopted by the wisest nations all over the globe. " Compared with this, the other characters are cumbrous and unmanageable. The Persian looks pretty indeed, but the letters are, for the most part, separate and very unsym- metrical in their structure ; then there are numerous dots to be affixed, besides other marks to distinguish the vowel sound*. As to the Deva Nagri, it is almost as bad as the heavy old English or German text, characters which might have done very well in the dark ages for the scribes and copyists to waste their time upon, but are surely very iU calculated to meet the wants of these enlightened times, when so much writing is practised and such constant communication of thought is required." V 2 180 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET Another great advantage arising from the general use of the Roman letters would be, that all the dialects of India being expressed in one common character, inter- communion of language and consequently intercommunion of thought, among the numerous races inhabiting the Penin- sula, would be greatly facilitated. This position has been assailed by the Friend of India, by what appears to me to be a very illogical argument. He says, that the majority of the European languages are expressed in a common character, but " has this happy cirdumstance produced any community of interest, any beneficial reciprocation of thought ? Let the national jealousies, the perpetual wars of these nations, for many centuries, reply to this question?" Is it meant by this, that the wars which formerly raged among the nations of Europe are a conclusive proof that no "beneficial recipro- cation of thought," no " community of interest," now exists between them? From the way in which the question is asked, this must be the inference intended, yet we all know that such is not the case. Among many causes which tend to unite nations, there are many others which have an oppo- site tendency. The study of the same languages and sciences, the similarity of the colloquial languages, and in our opinion the circumstance of those languages being expressed in one common character belong to the former, while conflicting commercial and political interests belong to the latter class. The wars which formerly prevailed merely prove that, as long as those wars lasted, the causes which produced disunion, whatever those causes were, predominated; just as the long peace which followed proves that those which tend to the existence of general harmony, whatever they were, have been since in the ascendant. Whether or not the use of a common written and printed character ist)ne of the circumstances which assist in facilitating intellectual in- tercourse, and thereby in promoting a mutual good under- standing, is a point which is left quite untouched by this argument. The Friend of India goes on to state that "the most com- plete reciprocity of thought " does exist between the English, TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 181 the Germans, and the Russians, notwithstanding their alpha- betical characters are " perfectly distinct from each other," and that " this mental reciprocity springs from a correspond- ing elevation of mind, from that community of intellectual interest which pervades Europe." It did not occur to him, apparently, that the argument which he had just used about the wars is as conclusive against this cause of reciprocity as any other. " Has this happy circumstance," we may ask in our turn, "produced any community of interest, any beneficial reciprocation of thought ? Let the national jealousies, the perpetual wars of these nations, for many centuries, reply to the question." The unsoundness of the Friend of India's reasoning is, however, kept in countenance by the incorrectness of his assertions. Who does not know that the characters used by the English, Germans, and Russians, so far from being " perfectly distinct from each other," are very closely allied. Any body who can read the English, may learn to read the German character fluently in two or three hours, and Russian is written in the Roman character with a sprinkling of Greek. Of late years, also, German,. as well as modern Greek, have been extensively printed in the Roman character. Thousands of German books which are annually imported into the United States for the use of that portion of the population whose native ' language is German, are almost entirely in this character. " This mental reciprocity," says the Friend of India, " springs from a corresponding elevation of mind, from that community of intellectual interest which pervades Europe." These expressions are rather obscure, but we understand it to be meant, that the intellectual union of the natives of Europe is owing to the general agreement in their intel- lectual pursuits. This, it appears to me, is putting the effect for the cause. When people think and feel alike, when, they have a " corresponding elevation of mind," a " com- munity of intellectual interest" follows as a matter of course. The practical question is, how this much to be desired state of things can be brought about; how this " community of intellectual interest " can best be established. N 3 182 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET It will be allowed that among the circumstances which con- duce most directly to this result is the study by different nations of each other's languages: from which it follows, that whatever facilitates that study assists in producing the desired reciprocity. Now I ask, whether if English were expressed, as it is, in the Koman, French in the Arabic, Spanish in the Nagari, Italian in the Tamul, Dutch in the Bengali character, and so on, the study of foreign languages would be as easy or as common in Europe as it is at present ? Even this does not represent the full extent of the ob- struction which the variety of different characters in India opposes to free mutual iatercoiu:Be. As the vernacular lan- guages of India are either derived from a common source or deeply impregnated by it, they are, for the most part, so similar to each other, that they ought rather to be considered as different dialects of the same language, than as different languages. If they were expressed in a common character, the same literature, with comparatively little alteration, would do for all ; and every contribution to it, from whatever quarter, would be a direct addition to the common stock. Instead of this, almost every province has a separate character, and two, and sometimes more characters are current in every district. In the Upper Provinces, for instance, the Deva-Nagari, and several varieties of the Kaithi as well as of the Persian, are used by different classes of people in the same place. There is no use in urging that the Hindu Alphabets are derived from a common origin. No ordinary observer can trace any resem- blance between the round characters of the South of India and of Arakan and Tenasserim and the square characters of the North*, and as for the Arabic character and its deriva- tive the Persian, they are not only quite unlike the Indian letters, but have an entirely separate origin from them. * In every case in which correspondence of arrangement and system now exists oetween provincial characters, it would be preserved in the Roman. The utmost extent of the change would be the substitution of signs of one shape for signs of another shape, but by this means the immense advantage of an easily learned, cheap, distinct, and a Eui'ope- anieed and uniform alphabet would bo obtained. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 183 We need not dwell upon the evil consequences which must arise from the people of adjoining districts who speak different dialects of the same language (the people of Cuttack and Bengal for instance), and different classes of people in the same province who speak nearly the same dialect (the Hindus and Mahomedans, the Pundits and Bunyans for instance), being unable to correspond with each other, or to make any use of each other's literature, owing to the variety of characters in which they are expressed. If the south of England used one character and the north another, Scotland a third, Wales a fourth, Ireland a fifth, while the middle and upper classes throughout the United Kingdom used some the Deva-N"agari, some one form or other of the Kaithi, some the Persian or Arabic, and some the Roman character, would it not be considered a great national benefit if all these local characters could be superseded by the Roman? To say nothing of the obstructions to mutual intercourse, what an obstacle it would be to national improvement if every book had to be transferred into a dozen different characters before it became generally accessible, even if they were all equally good and cheap characters, which is not likely ; and what small editions would be printed, and consequently how dear books would be, if the demand were split up into so many different sections I In many cases the limited number of readers in particular characters would prevent books from being printed at all in them. All these inconveniences are experienced in India, particularly in the Upper Provinces, where so many different characters pass current at the same place and time. Another objection which has been urged by the Friend of India is, that, by reading the native languages in the Roman character, a child acquires a bad pronunciation of English. To this I reply that in Hindi, Bengali, and Uriya the consonants, with three exceptions each distinguished by a mark, are pronounced in every respect in the same way as in English ; while, in words derived from the Persian and Arabic, there are only two additional consonants, which are also distinguished by marks ; but, as these do not occur in English, they cannot teach a bad English pronunciation. N 4 184 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET The objection, therefore, whatever it may be wortli, is almost entirely confined to the vowels. Here, undoubtedly, it was impossible to establish entire uniformity, unless we had made the Indian mode of spelling as irregular as the English. The Roman letters were applied to the English language in so clumsy and unscientific a way, that the same vowel sign sometimes expresses half a dozen difierent sounds, and each in turn expresses the sounds of all. In applying them to the Indian languages, it was necessary to avoid this error, and to take care that each vowel sign had only one sound belong- ing to it. This was done by giving them the same power as they had in the Italian, and as they are supposed to have had in the original Latin. But may not this use of them teach an incorrect pro- nunciation of English ? By no means. Whenever a person learns English, whatever may be the nature of his previous acquirements, he has to learn to pronounce the same vowel sign in several difierent ways as occasion requires. If he was acquainted with one of these uses of it before, so much the better. He has so much less that is new to him to learn. It is as easy for him to distinguish between the use to which he has been accustomed to apply the letter, and the new uses to which he is now obliged to apply it, as it is to distinguish between each of those new uses. It is absurd to talk of puzzling a person who has to learn such different uses of the same vowel signs as plough, enough, dough, through, or who, when he has learnt a-b ab, is checked when he affixes the same sound to the vowel in b-a ha. Our knowledge of the powers of the Roman letters as they are used in English or Latin, does not prevent us from affixing the proper sounds to them when we learn French or Italian. "We know that we have something to learn which we did not know before, and we keep the idea of our own and of the foreign language distinct in our minds. If there is any difficulty, it arises from the inability of our organs to pronounce sounds to which they have not been accustomed, and not from the different power of the same letter in different languages. This difficulty, we need not say, is not removed by the use of any character whatever. To the extent to which the powers of TO THE LANarrAGES OF INDIA. 185 the Roman letters in Hindustani and English are the same, it must be allowed that their uniformity is a great assistance both to the Englishman learning Hindustani and to the Indian learning English ; while to the much smaller extent to which they differ, they both have to learn to affix new powers to the letters. In either case, instead of having to learn an entirely new alphabet, they have to learn only a very few letters. There cannot be a doubt also, that English scientific terms will be much more readily and accurately adopted into the vernacular dialects, and that both the words and spirit of the English language will become much more rapidly diffused through them, after they shall have been united with English in the bond of a common written and printed character. The Friend of India admits that only one mlUion out of the thirty millions of Bengal can read. Why then does he talk about " every native in India relinquishing the native character," and of " putting the people at once in possession of our treasures " by translations into that character ? Such swelling phrases with so little meaning are of no avail. And what sort of readers are this one million? How many of them understand what they read ? How many can even pronounce fluently the mere words on a page they never saw before ? Even Pundits and Munshees, and much more the common people, read with difficulty, stopping to speU words, and repeating over and over the last two or three words while they are studying out the next. There are probably not five hundred persons in all India, not educated by Europeans, who could take up a translation in their own character of any work in philosophy, morals, or religion, and read it extempore with understanding. The present state of the question seems to be as follows. The advantage of having only one character for the whole of India, and that character a cheap and easy one like the Roman, is very generally acknowledged. The practicability only is doubted, and the persons who have been deterred from giving their support to the plan by this consideration alone would have sufficed, if they had supported it, to place its ultimate success beyond all doubt. I shall therefore 186 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET explain as briefly as possible my reasons for considering the plan practicable. 1. Their superior cheapness, which must give them the advantage of every other in popular opinion when they become sufficiently known. Mr. De Kozario's English, Bengali, and Hindusthani Dictionary is comprised in one moderately sized octavo volume, and sells for six rupees but it has been correctly asserted* that if, instead of being printed entirely in the Roman character, it had been printed in the Koman, Bengali, and Persian or Nagari characters (that is to say, in a separate character for each language contained in it), it would have required more than three times the room, and have cost nearly three times as much as it now does. In the same way Mr. De Rozario's octavo edition of the Bagh o Bahar in Roman character of a large size sells for Ir. Sas., while the cheapest edition in the Persian character cannot be had for less than double that amount. This remarkable difference of price is principally owing to the superior compactness of the Roman type, which makes it take up so much less room than any other, but not entirely. A fount of Nagari type cast at Serampore, which I have had examined, consists of no less than 700 letters, simple and compound -f- ; and yet these only afford an equivalent for the thirty ordinary letters (including the accented letters) of the Indo-Roman alphabet, and make no provision for capitals, small capitals, italics, &c. After all this quantity of type has been provided, the vowel points must still be placed on various letters ; and, owing to their resting on a thin strip of metal to allow of their being put above or below the consonants, they are very liable to be broken, and thus completely to embarrass the reader. If each consonant is cast with its proper variety of vowel points, which it has been already found necessary to do to a considerable extent, the size of the fount is increased to upwards of one thousand sepa- * See Christian Observer for September, 1836. t The great number of compound consonants in the Nagari chai'uc- ter swells the types to this extent. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 187 rate types 1 The same remarks apply in part to Bengali, although that type is somewhat less subject to breakage. Of the Persian it is not necessary to speak, as that character is already well-nigh abandoned, even by the enemies of the Koman system. The Burman fount lately cut in Calcutta requires above 900 letters; the Peguan more than 1000. Thus we might go on. Besides this, to procure a fount in a new character, or a smaller type in a character which has been already used, we are not, as in the Koman, at the mere expense of casting. A punch and a matrix must be made for each letter, at an expense of from one to two rupees each, without including the salary of the European superintendent ; making a difference in the cost at once of from 1,000 to 2,000 rs. in a single fount, besides the cost of European superin- tendence. From all this any one may see how great a difference there must be, in the cost of type, between Oriental characters and B.oman. Add to this the greater space necessarily occupied by the native characters in the smallest size in which they have yet been cut, and then judge of the propriety of adopting for the purpose of national education a character so essentially defec- tive, in contrast with one so eminently adapted for the pur- pose. The cost of paper and press-work alone for a book in Oriental letters would, on the average, be more than double what it would be in Roman, and the cost of binding would be in the same proportion. This evil is incurable. The number of double and triple letters, one underneath the other, with the arkaphola, &c., above them, render it impossible that the space now occupied by the native characters can ever be diminished so as to bear a comparison with the Roman. 2. The Eoman character is likely to become more popu- lar than the Nagari and Bengali, because it is so much easier both to read and write. In the first place, it takes much less time to learn. In Nagari, when two or more letters come together, they are done up together into a strange kind of compound containing frequently very slight traces of either of the letters taken by themselves. These compounds amount to several hundreds. Without being familiar with them, it is impossible to peruse 188 APPLICATION OF THE BOMAN ALPHABET any book or writingj and they are each nearly as difficult to learn as a separate letter. But when the same language is expressed in the Koman letters, each consonant retains its original form, however it may be placed in conjunction with others, and therefore, when the learner has mastered the thirty simple letters, he may at once commence reading. This circumstance, much more than any difference in the mode of tuition, accounts for the extraordinary difference in the length of time taken by English and native children in learning to read. To read fluently in the native character is a still more difficult task than learning to read it at alL A native boy who is taught to read in the Roman character will in the course of two or three months be able to read, without stopping, anything that is put before him, whether he understands it or not, but a fluent reader in the Nagarl or Bengali character is almost unheard of We do not pretend to be able to explain all the causes to which this difference is owing, but such is undoubtedly the fact. It must be owing to one great cause, which is that the Roman character is a better one than the native. It is of course easier for the eye to become familiarised with only thirty, than with several hundred, separate signs; and something must also be attributed to the stops and other marks with which the eye is assisted in reading the Roman character. These causes lie on the surface. When from reading we proceed to writing, the superior convenience of the Roman character is more striking than ever. The Nagari and Bengali have, in fact, no running hand.* To say nothing of the frequent occurrence of double consonants, which cannot be written without much delay and attention to exactness, the Nagari and Bengali alphabets con- sist of square-looking characters which are totally unsuited "■ Some time ago one of the teachers of the Hindu College requested one of the best Bengali copyists he knew to write as rapidly as he could in the native character while he wrote in the Roman. In thus \vriting against time the advantage in favour of the Roman characters was two and half to one ! TO THE LANGTTAGES OF INDIA. 189 by their shape to be written in quick succession, and if this is attempted, they become unintelligible even to the writer himself, and still more to other people. It would be a much easier task to introduce the Roman running hand at once, than to effect such a change in the Nagari and Bengali as would admit of their being written quickly and intelligibly. In the one case, we should only have to teach the use of a character which has been adapted by gradual improvements, made in the course of many centuries by the most refined nations in the world, to the purpose of quick and legible writing, and which is already extensively used in India both by Europeans and natives; while in the other, we should have first to change the character itself, and then to teach it to everybody after it had been so changed. If the Nagari were to be modified to the extent necessary for the formation of a running hand, it would in effect become a new character. The Roman, however, is far from being a new character in the East, being already used by great and increasing numbers of the most influential classes in every part of India ; and the Roman (viz. the English) running hand is likely to be much more easily acquired, and to be much better suited for quick and legible writing, than any which we should be able to form by a sudden alteration of the N^agari. The proper transaction of the judicial and other public business, to say nothing of private convenience, depends, it will be remem- bered, upon the adoption of a character which can be quickly and legibly written. 3. Owing to the common use of one character, the stu- dent wiU be saved the trouble of learning a new character for each language. Thus, for instance, in order to make full use of Mr. De Eozario's Dictionary, which is in three languages, the student has only to learn the Roman character ; whereas, if each of those languages were expressed in a separate character, which is what the opponents of our views wish, he would have to acquire, first the Roman, then the Bengali, and then the Nagari or Persian. In India, where so many languages pre- vail, the plan of having only one character must be allowed to 190 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET be a great advantage. It is like having one master key to unlock a number of doors. The student will now be able to turn at once from one language to another, without having first to perfect himself in a number of strange characters ; and books which are printed in more than one language (which must frequently be the case in India for a long time to come) will yet be expressed in one common character. Though it does not take long to decipher a new set of characters, it requires long practice to be able to read jiuently in them. All who have tried the experiment (let others say what they will) know and admit this. According to the new plan, as soon as a person has learned to read fluently in one Indian lan- guage, he will be able to read fluently in all, and he will also see at once how far each new language corresponds with those with which he is already acquainted. " If a book in Latin, English, French, Spanish, and Italian were presented even to an unlearned Englishman, in the Roman character, he would readily perceive that num- berless words, and roots of words, were the same in all ; and would conclude that the study of one, two, or more of these might be a comparatively easy task, in consequence of this ■palpable radical similarity. But were the book presented in Roman, modern Gothic, old Gaulish, Visigothic, and Lom- bardio characters, he could scarcely be persuaded that under forms so wholly different there could lurk any similarity at all, and the study would be regarded a forbidding and diffi- cult, if not a hopeless one. So actually stands the case in India ; the number of dialects is immense, and each dialect has letters of a difierent figure. Let then a specimen of each be presented to an unlearned Hindoo : what must be his conclusion? What can it be, except that his country abounds with totally different languages ? And if so, the attempt to hold any communication with natives not of his own province is likely to be abandoned as hopeless. Now were the whole presented in the same character, it would be seen and felt that the natives are not divided into so many sections of foreigners to each other; that they have all fundamentally the same language; and that without much TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 191 difficulty a community of interest and a beneficial recipro- cation of thought might be effected to an extent at present unknown, and from the repulsive aspect of so many written characters, deemed utterly impracticable."* 4. There is no accumulated literature in India which would be displaced by the general adoption of the Koman character. If a new mode of spelling were to be adopted in Europe, it would affect millions of volumes printed according to the existing mode: but there is no such difficulty in India. The vernacular literature is quite in its infancy. It cannot boast of a single original work of any eminence ; and the aggregate number of books composing it is so small, that they could early and easily be replaced by the existing presses. The present state of native literature, therefore, opposes no barrier to the execution of the plan. There is no sacrifice to be made. We must, at any rate, construct a native literature almost from the beginning. "What is now proposed is, to do this in a cheap and effectual manner. 5. The young are for the most part the class of persons who are to be taught the Homan character, and it is manifest that they can have no prejudice against it except that preju- dice be instilled into them by their parents. But the latter have no prejudice to instil They invite us to teach their children our language, and it would therefore be strange if they were to object to their being taught our printed and written character. Repeated declarations have been made, that the spectacle of their children reading their native language fluently in the English character has excited the surprise and pleasure of parents. The prejudices and alarms of which we have heard so much are confined, as far as can be judged from anything that has appeared, to the breasts of the alarmists themselves. The single fact that a child of three years old has no pre- dilection in favour of the Nagari or Persian letters is worth * " The Application of the Roman Alphabet to all the Oriental Lan- guages, contained in a series of papers, written by Messrs. Trevelyan, J. Prinsep, and Tytler, the Rev. A. Duff and Mr. H. T. Prinsep, and published in various Calcutta periodicals in the year 1834." — From the Serampoor Press, 1834. 192 APPLICATION OF THE BOMAN ALPHABET a thousand reasons. His interest and wishes (if he is capable of entertaining any on such a subject) can only incline him to learn the easiest character, whichever that may be. Now in teaching the youth of a country, we are really teaching the whole people. The children of to-day will be the men of twenty years hence. If we can only instruct the young (and among them the Roman system, when introduced, has been remarkably popular), it is of little consequence, as far as the progress of the plan is concerned, what the old leam or refrain from learning. Happily for India, the education of the most influential portion of her youth is at this moment in the hands of the English, either in their public or private capacity, and the education of the whole nation (a glorious charge) is rapidly coming under their superintendence. The formation of the native literature is also under their control. We may, therefore, teach what we like in our schools, and supply what books we like to the youth who have left them. The systems taught in the National schools will, there can be no doubt, in time become the prevailing systems of the country. Even one school at each Zilla station would be sufficient to secure this result. When we consider that these schools are situated in the great towns, the seats of wealth and intelligence, that they will furnish most of the masters for the subordinate schools, and that the persons educated at them are the children of the middle and upper classes, who will hereafter exercise the greatest influence in society, it is clear that it cannot be otherwise. The Kusba* and village schools, when they are established, will adopt the practice of the Zilla schools ; the books printed in the Roman character will be generally read, and thus the system wUl soon pervade every part of the country. If it be admitted that the esta- blishment of one character in every part of British India would be a national benefit, and that that character ought to be the cheapest and best, and that which will most closely connect the languages of the East with European literature, there can be no doubt of our having it in our power to effect it. The Government seminaries alone, to say nothing of * A Kusba is a small country town. To THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 193 those supported by Missionary bodies and private individuals, Avill be sufficient for the purpose. 6. Large tracts of country are entirely destitute of the use of letters of any kind, and in others they are used so sparingly as to render the introduction of the Roman letters a matter of the utmost ease. The great tract between the Brahmaputra and the Ningthi on the Eastern frontier of Bengal, and the great central space bounded by Bengal on the East, Hyderabad on the West, Cuttack and the Northern Sirkars on the South, and Nagpoor and the Saugor territory on the North, are instances in point. The obstacles which are supposed to be so formidable in other parts of India, have no existence here. As no letters are used at present, neither old nor young can be prejudiced against any par- ticular alphabetical system, however they may be against letters in general. There are also no books in any other character which would be rendered useless by the introduc- tion of the Roman. As regards districts so situated, the question is one of abstract expediency. Every character will be. equally acceptable to the people. The only point to be determined is, which is the best. The superior cheapness of the Roman character, its superior distinctness, the ease with which it may be written quickly and distinctly, and the connexion which it establishes between every language expressed in it and the literatures of the West, naturally lead to a decided preference being given to that character. The great Eastern tract between the Brahmaputra and Ningthi has been already inoculated with it at two points. A dictionary will shortly be published in the English, Ben- gali, and Manipuri languages, all expressed in the Roman character; and a press has been established at Sadiya, in. Upper Assam, at which the preparation of a series of works in the Roman character, in the languages of that quarter, has been commenced. A good press would print in one week ten times the number of books which are now to be found within 100 miles of Sadiya or Manipur. Whatever scanty literature there may be at present will soon be superseded by the productions of the English presses, or will be adopted into them, and the numerous hill languages in that quarter, 194 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN AiPHABET • in which there are at present no books of any kind, will be expressed in one commonj cheap, and excellent character, instead of being parcelled out among the Bengali, the Shan, the Burmese, or any others which may have their advocates as well as the Nagari and Persian. Except in the Cherokee language, for which a native Indian invented a new charac- ter, all versions of the Sacred Scriptures and other books pub- lished in America for the Aborigines (and they are by no means few) have been expressed in the Eoman character; nor have any diacritical marks been used, though sounds more crabbed cannot probably be found in any language on earth. The same has been done in the Sandwich Islands, and, we believe, in all the islands in the Pacific Ocean and South Sea the languages of which have been reduced to writing by the Missionaries. It was particularly satisfactory to the originators of the plan in India to find, on a compari- son of their system of orthography with that which had been adopted in the Sandwich Islands, that the two exactly cor- responded. Both parties, though acting on opposite sides of the globe, without any communication with each other, arrived at the conclusion, that, in order to establish a per- fect system, it was necessary to pass over the erroneous application of the Roman letters which had been made to the English language, and to return to their original powers in the Latin and Italian. 7. Our opponents are accustomed to argue as if we had undertaken an untried experiment. In fact, however, the experiment has not only been tried, but has succeeded, and that not in any foreign country, the circumstances of which might be very different from those of India, but in India itself. In the Upper Provinces the vernacular language is generally written by educated natives in the Persian cha- racter, which is not the original native character, but a foreign innovation. Persian was the language of education, and educated people therefore naturally used the Persian cha- racter when they wrote the vernacular language. Precisely the same cause which led to the introduction of the Persian character is now operating, not only in the same, but in a much greater degree, to introduce the Roman. The Maho- TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 195 medans had no system of popular education. Those who could aiFord to do so, educated their children ; but printing was unknown, books were very expensive, and no facilities were afibrded for obtaining instruction either by the Govern- ment or by the voluntary associations of private individuals. But as we have now all these advantages, there is every reason to suppose that in the course of a few years, fifty children will learn English for one who used to learn Persian, and the tendency towards the introduction of the English character will be in the same proportion. It is impossible that the Persian character can stand when it has once been disconnected with the Persian language. It is radically bad, both as a written and printed character; and the only circum- stance which has given it currency is, that the Persian language is written in it, and that Persian was the language of education. When the educated classes, therefore, have ceased to use the Persian character, what character will they adopt? As before stated, the English language will not only take the place of Persian as the language of education, but will occupy a much larger space than Persian ever did. It follows, therefore, that the English character, which is every way worthy of adoption on account of its intrinsic excellence, will occupy the vacant place, and be extensively used by the upper and middle classes, and ultimately, it may with safety be asserted, by the body of the people. Nor is this the only example of the successful introduction of a foreign character in the East. Amongst the numerous natives of Java, Amboyna, and the surrounding slands who embraced Christianity under the Dutch Missionaries, the Koman character has been successfully introduced, and is to the present day universally read. The number who use it is so considerable, that a few years ago a large edition of the Scriptures (3,000 copies of the whole Bible, and 3,000 additional copies of the New Testament) was exe- cuted for them at the expense of the Calcutta Bible Society.* The general use of this character in these regions, * At Amboyna alone are 20,000 persons who universally use the Malay Scriptures in the Roman character. See letters of Dr. Carey, as per accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society, vol. v. 7- o 2 196 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET SO far as the influence of education is felt, must produce on the mind of every impartial observer the well-grounded conviction, that, in our position as the national instructors of India, the friends of education have but to unite in the effort to introduce the Roman character, and they caitnot fail of success. 8. Lastly, we may fairly deduce the continued progress of the system from the progress which it has already made. Three years ago it was only an idea, a mere thought, undi- gested, unpromulgated, unreduced to practice. This germ has now grown into a system, which is actively supported by numerous persons in different parts of India. The first difficulties have been overcome. The public is daily be- coming more and more accustomed to the new letters. Several thousand books expressed in them have been already put into circulation, and several thousand more are now in the press. All the books which were first printed were formed into a fund, the proceeds of which are employed in printing other similar books ; and, which is the most satis- factory symptom of all, private speculators and benevolent societies, quite independent of the original projectors, have taken up the system and are actively engaged in the prepa- ration of new books. The Government Education Committee has hitherto very properly remained neutral. It is always safest for Governments rather to follow public opinion in such matters than to attempt to lead it themselves. No obstacle, however, is opposed by the Education Committee to the progress of the plan ; and if the local committees wish for books in the Koman character, they are left at perfect liberty to supply themselves with them. The introduction of one character, instead of the many now used in the British territories in India, is acknowledged to be most desirable. This being granted, the question arises, which shall be adopted ? Of the native characters in this Presidency (to say nothing of Madras or Bombay) we must adopt the Bengali, the Deva, or some one of the many forms of the Kai- thi Nagari, or the Persian, or Arabic, or the Uriya. As an MWJDersaZ character for India, no one has yet proposed to us to TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 197 adopt the Bengali or Uriya ; and some few who recommended the Arabic or Persian have now given that up. The only question regards, therefore, the comparative advantages of the B,oman and the Nagari. Now regarding the Nagari character, it is a fact, that some years ago, when Government proposed to print an edition, of the Regulations in the Hindui language, they sent to the principal officers of Government throughout the Upper Provinces specimens of Deva Nagari and of Kaithi Nagari printing in the most approved types, and requested them to ascertain which of these characters was generally understood by the people under their authority. The general reply to the circular was to the following effect : that while many individuals, for the most part Brahmins, were foundin each district and large town, who could read with comparative ease the Deva Nagari character, it was used by the people generally in no district whatever ; that the written cha- racter employed in the transaction of business was the Kaithi ; but that this was so different in different districts, (as any one may ascertain for himself who will compare chits and hundies* procured from different parts of the country,) that they could recommend no form of the character whatever which would be generally understood. Under what obligations, then, are we to introduce a character possessing none of the advantages of association, either with the rulers of the country or with the great majority of the population, when we have the opportu- nity of teaching in our schools whatever character we please. The truth is, that the Roman character not only is the best of those which are at present used in India, but may be brought into general use with much greater ease than any of them. We have seen that, even in those British provinces in which Deva Nagari is most prevalent, it is confined to a small minority of the educated class. The great majority of those who can read a,nd write use the Kaithi, Persian, or other characters. In any case, therefore, before one character can become general, the majority must learn some character of the minority ; and, of all the different characters which are now used, the English is the easiest to learn, and is the one to which the influential classes (who formerly learned Persian * Native Letters and Bills of Exchange. o 3 198 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET but now learn English) will soon become most attacned. A Persian Amla *, and still more an English schoolboy, would certainly prefer the English to the rugged intractable Nagari character. In Bengal and the whole of India south of the Nerbudda, the case is still more decidedly against the Nagari. Here it is not used by any class of persons. Both the verna- cular and the learned languages are written in a provincial character, which in most cases bears no resemblance to the Nagari. An attempt, which was supported by all the wealth and learning of the College of Fort William, was once made to introduce the Nagari letters into Bengal, but, as the plan was not recommended by any practical benefit (the Nagari letters being rather less, than more, convenient for printing and writing than the Bengali), it ended in failure. But how stands the question regarding the Roman cha- racter ? English is rapidly becoming the language of educa- tion from one end of India to the other. This character, therefore, is everywhere known. It is the character used in keeping a great proportion of the public records and accounts. It is used in all the higher order of schools. It is used by all persons who have received a liberal education. There is little occasion, therefore, for teaching or propa- gating this character. It is already taught and propagated, and is every day coming into more general use. Every native who receives a tolerable education learns it by learning English, and it would be a saving of time and labour to him to use it also in writing and reading his native language, instead of learning other, and more difficult, and less conve- nient characters for that purpose. All that is required to be done is to prepare books in the native languages and Homan character, and to introduce them into our schools. Provided this is done, the convenience of the educated classes, who everywhere determine the nature of the literature of a country, and the real superiority of the Roman letters over every other at present in use in India, must ultimately settle the question in their favour. The only hope, it appears to me, of the people of India ever becoming an united people, is by their being inoculated * An administrative officer of the Courts of Justice who transacts business in Persian. TO THE LANGUAGES OP INDIA. 199 at all points by English literature, by their all being recast upon the English model ; and if this be admitted, it must also be allowed that the general adoption of the English character would be a very essential aid. This character admits of the introduction of European terms, and conse- quently of European ideas, much more easily and correctly* than any other. As there would be only one character for the whole of India, those terms would be everywhere uni- formly spelt. The new literature of India would commence, as far as possible, upon a common basis. All its different tribes would have the same learned language, the same written and printed character, the same scientific terms. The ten- dencies of this state of things would all be in favour of uniformity. The vernacular languages very much resemble each other at present ; and when they are expressed in a common character, and enriched from a common source, they will every year become more and more like each other. The mass must certainly become leavened and amalgamated more speedily after all its different parts shall have been united by the bond of a common character, both among themselves and with the source whence they are to be enriched ; to which must be added the advantage of having a cheap, an easily learned, an easily written, and a distinct and easily read alphabet, to serve as the medium of the national literature, instead of others which are very deficient in most or all of these respects. I am aware that there is much repetition and desultory writing in this paper, for which I hope I may be excused, but I think that those who have had patience to follow me, must allow that it would be a great national benefit if one character could be brought into general use in India ; that the Koman character not only offers greater advantages, but * In the account which the Burmese ambassadors wrote of their mission, Enghsh names were disfigured in such a way as to render it difficult to trace them ; in explanation of which Colonel Bumey observes that " it is impossible to write many of our names in the Burmese character, particularly those having double consonants. It will at once . be allowed that if the Burmese language were expressed in the English letters, which admit of no double consonants, this difficulty would be in a great measure removed, and the same would be the case in a greater or less degree in regard to every other Eastern language." o 4 200 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET miglit be more easily diffused than any other; and that if the European community would only assist to the extent to which they find that they carry the native feeling with them, its general introduction is perfectly feasible. The Friend of India calculates (not incorrectly, I think) that there are about one million of persons in Bengal who are able to read ; and as the population of the Upper Provinces is supposed to be about equal to that of Bengal, there would, at this rate, be about two millions of persons in the British dominions on this side of India who are able to read. These, it will be remembered, are all grown up people, and the place of those who die off is supplied by the newly educated youth. But the education of the youth is already in a great meastire in our own hands, and is daily becoming more and more so. If the children be taught for a few years the Roman character, those who are ignorant of it wiU become the minority. Even now there are about six thousand youths educated at the Govern- ment seminaries alone. When a school is established at each Zilla station, there will be sixty thousand ; and when, pro- ceeding a step further, we establish Kusba and Village schools, there is no saying how many we shall have under instruc- tion ; and to these must be added those who will be educated at the Missionary and private establishments, and those who will be instructed in their own families or at native schoolsj by masters and books supplied by us. In one way or another, nearly all the readers of the forthcoming generation will be taught by European benevolence ; and it is therefore prepos- terous to say that we cannot, if we like to do so, generally introduce any character, and stUl more one which has so much to recommend it from its cheapness and intrinsic excel- lence, and from the opportunity which it affords of closely connecting all the native literatures, both among themselves and with the literature of Europe. Nobody can be the worse for the change. The number of persons who will use the old characters will annually diminish ; and as every good book will be printed both in the old and new characters as long as ' there is a demand for it in both, even they will not be sub- jected to any inconvenience. Were it otherwise, it would not be right to condemn posterity to the perpetual use of an TO THE LANGTTA&ES OF INDIA. 201 inconvenient and expensive character for the sake of a por- tion of the present existing generation which is annually diminishing in numher, and will soon entirely pass away. But, in fact, the general introduction of the Roman character will deprive nobody of anything. It will be a free gift without any corresponding sacrifice. The advocates of the Roman character ask but little. They prefer no exclusive claims. " Fair play and no favour" is their full demand. Let the native character of each pro- vince be taught to all the youth in our schools, that they may be qualified to read and understand anything either written or printed which may fall in their way; but let them be also taught the Roman character, as applied to the Indian languages, and furnished with books in that character, (they will always be twice as cheap as in any other,) as rapidly as they are needed and prepared. To this the advocates of the native characters ought not to oifer any objection, since, while it gives the pupil a knowledge of a character which must be acknowledged desirable for him to acquire, it also affords him the opportunity of deriving every advantage as to bodily support or mental improvement which a knowledge of the old characters can afford him. A process of this kind would shock no feelings, would inflict no injury, would entail no expense, and yet would gradually melt down all the native characters into the Roman, the " consummation devoutly to be wished." Are we always to have, even in the countries under British influence and government, so many characters ? Are we never to make the approximation to union of language and feeling which a common character affords ? Must literature and literary men to the remotest ages be subject to all the confusion, difficulty, and expense that now embarrass us ? All will reply : No ; in time we must do as in Europe. But many say, we must wait a fitting season. What season so fitting as the present ; when an entire literature is to be formed, and almost an entire population taught to read? When nothing is to be lost, and when scarcely any are to be incommoded. This being granted, which character shall be adopted? 202 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET The whole tenor of this paper goes to answer that question. Indeed it will seem a marvel fifty years hence that ever it could have been made a question. Let us then adopt that character which will multiply Oriental scholars, smooth the path of learning, save an expense of millions, and hasten by ages the spread of science, morals, and religion. C. E. TEEVELYAN. November 1, 1836. (19.) LETTER FROM THE REV. E. C. MATHER TO SIR CHARLES TREVE- LTAN, SHOWING THE PROGRESS MADE IN APPLYING THE EOMAN LETTERS TO THE LANGTTAGES OF INDIA UP TO THE COMMENCE- MENT OF THE GREAT MUTINY IN 1857. Waterloo Cottage, Tonbridge, January 16, 1858. Dear Sir Charles, I was surprised, but delighted, to learn in the course of a conversation I had with Dr. Duff two years ago, when, . having returned to India, he passed through Mirzapur on his way to Calcutta, that you continued to cherish aH the interest in the Komanising system which you had so signally displayed twenty-four years previously. At that time I was new to India ; but, shortly after making your ac- quaintance, I left Calcutta for Benares and Mirzapur, and commenced the study of the Hindtist^ini and Hindi lan- guages, and have ever since been engaged in communicating, through those vernaculars, both our religion and our science , orally, and by publications from the press, to the natives of the North-west Provinces. From the first I was highly impressed with the advantages connected with the general introduction of the Romanising system of Sir William Jones, as modified by yourself and the Rev. Dr. Duff and Mr. Pearce, and have aU along laboured to promote its diffusion. TO THE lAJNGtTAGES OF INDIA. 203 I am happy to say that our labours have been crowned ■with a success which, at the beginning, we did not dare to anticipate. The Roman character has spread to that extent, that not only tljose who have learned EngUsh prefer to read the vernaculars in it ; but, in addition, it is at the present time the Christian character of the North-west Provinces, since it is used by the great majority both of our mission- aries and their converts. We have in it a body of general and rehgious literature of many volimies and of thousands of pages ; and the saleableness of works in that character is progressively increasing, and now far exceeds what it was even five years ago, and much more what it was at the commencement of our efibrts. As an instance, I may say that we printed a revised and simphfied edition of Miss Bird's Geography, as one of our first school-books. That edition consisted of only five hundred copies ; but it took ten years to sell them at two shillings each. We have since printed a second edition ; and within two years nearly all have been disposed of at the same price. To a person con- versant only with the educational book-market at home, this will seem a very small result. It should be understood, however, that in the present state of the Indian mind geography is regarded not as a necessity, but a marvellous luxury ; and that Miss Bird's work is only one out of several compilations used in our schools. So viewed, the fact is important, as showing progress of a sure character ; for no native will buy what he does not believe is good and necessary for him. And here it wiU be well to add, that all our publications in the Roman character, of which I propose to give an account somewhat in detail, have been originated in the bond fide conviction that they would sell, and more than clear the outlay incurred in their pre- paration. This conviction experience has shown to be weE founded, as, in the case of the Mirzapur printing-office, one important source of support has been the sale of vernacular books printed in the Roman character. A stiU more signal proof, however, of the hold the system now has on the minds of our missionaries in the North- 204 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET west Provinces of India, who, it should be remembered, form a body of 1 02 persons, is the resolution adopted at a Con- ference of Missionaries held at Benares in January of 1857, in respect to the continued use of the character. They say, " WhUe thanliful for what has been done towards providing a literature suited to the wants of native Christians and the Hindi! and Mussulman population at large, the Conference at the same time feels the importance and need of using the utmost endeavours to enlarge and improve it. The Con- ference is generally of opinion that it is desirable to continue the use of the Eoman character, more especially for native Christians ; but at present sees no reason for supplanting the native characters in general use." It should be noted that in this Conference thirty missionaries and two chaplains of the Hon. East India Company were associated, and, with one exception, all were unanimous in the support of the resolution. On the day previous to the meeting of the Benares Con- ference, there were assembled in the same hall 150 native youths, Hindii, Mussulman, and Christian, who had come from aU parts of the Benares division to stand an examina- tion on the Sacred Scriptures, with a view to obtain certain prizes of considerable value, which had been offered to those who should show the most extensive acquaintance with Scripture truth. On that occasion, in a class of 152, 26 prizes were awarded, of the aggregate value of 1,252 rupees. Of the answers submitted in writing, 76 were written in Urdli-Persian ; 12 in Urdli-Koman ; 18 in the English language ; 46 in Hindi and Nagari. Respecting these com- parative results the editor of the Khair-Khwah-i-Hind observes : " It is worthy of observation, that while the can- didates using the English language were few compared with those nshxg the Urdll and Hindi, they have carried off the majority of prizes. The competitors using the TJrdd language, but writing the Eoman character, come next in the order of success. The only explanation we can give of this remarkable fact is, that on them European teachers had bestowed a larger measure of attention, and that their TO THE LANGTTAaES OF INDIA. 205 minds had consequently been better trained. The Urdu and Hindi competitors have, perhaps, as a whole, given a larger measure of fact and quotation ; but in original com- position, in independent thought indicative of an under- standing of the subject, in grasp of mind, they have, as a class, been left far behind." You will be pleased to read this statement, as demonstrating what was long ago asserted as a probable result, — that the Roman character would be an important help in the communication and reception of knowledge in its clearest and most exact forms. The system current amongst us is that which you origi- nated, with two exceptions. Instead of expressing ^ ^J gh> we express it by g ; also for the £ we write the vowel repre- sented by it, with a comma before or after the letter ; but on the top of the line, instead of below it, as jUcl we write A'amdl. The system of Romanising has been applied amongst us only to the Hindustani as current in the North- Western Provinces : or, if to the Hindi at aU, only in the case of a Hindi Primer. The library of Urdll-Roman school- books, originated by yourself and Messrs. Duff and Yates, formed the basis of the school and general library since is- sued from the press. Before you left India, Henry Martyn's four Gospels and Acts had been printed in the Roman cha- racter by the Bible Society, at your suggestion and under your superintendence. Since then, two separate translations of the entire New Testament have been Romanised and printed. After these had seen the light, the whole Bible appeared iu the Roman character, under the editorial care of the Rev. J. A. Shurmag.. This edition consisted of 3,000 copies, and has since been exhausted. A second edition of the Old Testament left the press a short time ago, partly under the care of Mr. Shurman, and subsequently under my care. This, too, consists of 3,000 copies. The New Testa- ment, uniform with the Old, is now being completed at Mirzapur under the care of the Rev. M. A. Sherring. The four Gospels and the Acts have also been recently pub- lished by the Eev. Mr. Lewis in the language of the in- habitants of the Khasia Hills. 206 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET Next to the Scriptures, in. order of time, was commenced our native newspaper, the Khair-Khwdh-i-Hind. This was started in September, 1837; and, up to the time of the mutinous outbreaks of May last, has been regularly printed both in the Persian and Roman characters. The new series alone, commencing with the year 1845, forms a volume of 1,200 closely printed pages. This periodical is taken by all the missions in Northern India, and aims to be the organ of the native Christian community. It has often been sug- gested to us that it would be well to reprint large portions of the work, that continuity might be imparted to subjects which have been treated in sections written at different periods; and a plan was submitted to the Agra government to reprint the natural history articles with illustrations, both woodcuts and lithographs ; and it was then estimated that the first volume on the Mammalia would extend to 600 duodecimo pages. The Pilgrim's Progress, abridged by the Rev. W. Bowley, next appeared in Urdd-Roman ; then a volimie of Hymns in Hindustani by the same author was passed through the press by yourself. Of this little work there have been two or three editions, and it is in universal use by our native Christiana. After this came Miss Bird's Geography, sim- plified and enlarged by the Rev. Messrs. Mather and Glen, of the Mirzapur mission. What have subsequently appeared I will insert m a tabular form, arranging the publications, not in keeping with the order of time, but similarity of subject, or the classes of persons for whose benefit they have been written. SCHOOL-BOOKS. Urdu-Roman. PAGES 1. History of India. (Marshman.) Duodecimo, about 300 2. Moral Precepts in Verse. (Capt. Paton.) . „ 150 3. Mirzapur Picture-Books, eight Numbers. By Mrs. Mather „ 1 40 4. The Peep of Day. By Mrs. Leupolt . . „ 150 10 THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 207 PAGES 5. Ancient History. By Rev. J. A. Shurman . about 300 6. A Treatise on Astronomy. (Paton.) . . „ 80 7. The B^gh-o-Bah^r. ' 8. The GuHst^n. 9. A Catechism of the Principles of the Christian Religion. 10. The Assembly's Shorter Catechism. 11. Gallaudet's Book on the Soul. By the Rev. J. Wilson. MANUALS FOR NATIVE CATECHISTS. Urdu-Roman. 12. A Manual of Theology. By Rev. Messrs. Mather and Glen . . . . „ 310 13. A Companion to the Bible. By ditto . . „ 386 14. A Manual of Church History. By Rev. J. H. Budden, W. Muir, Esq., and- Rev. Messrs. Mather and Glen „ 298 1 5. A Commentary on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis. By Rev. J. Owen . . . „ .300 16. Dr. Hodges' Way of Life. By the Rev. J. Warren „ 300 A LIBRARY FOR THE NATIVE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. Urdu-Rofnan. 17. Gallaudet's Ruth. By Rev. J. Wilson. 1 8. A Volume of Sermons by various Authors. Edited by Rev. J. Warren . . . „ 300 19. Jesus, the Child's Best Teacher. 20. Flavel's Fountain of Life. By Rev. J. War- ren. Abridged „ 350 21. Watts and Henry on Prayer. Abridged by Rev. J. Warren. 22. True Wisdom : Eight Sermons. By Rev. J. Warren. 23. Mrs. Sherwood's Little Henrj'- and his Bearer. By Rev. J. H. Budden. 208 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET 24. One Hundred and Fifty Hymns. By the Rev. W. Bowley. 25. Four Hundred and Forty-fiVe Psalms and Hymns. By Rev. W. Bowley and others. 26. Rev. J. A. James's Anxious Enquirer. By Rev. W. Buyers. 27. Legh Richmond's Dairyman's Daughter. By Rev. J. Warren. 28. Legh Richmond's Young Cottager. By Rev. J. Warren. 29. Life of Africaner. By Rev. Messrs, Mather and Glen. SO. Life of the Egyptian Martyr, Muhammad Sha'ab^n. By Rev. Messrs. Mather and Glen. 31. Moffat's Forsaken Mother. By Rev. Messrs. Mather and Glen. 32. Mrs. Sherwood's Indian Pilgrim. By Harl Babti. Revised by Rev. R. C. Mather. 33. Bunyan's PUgrim'sTrogress. Parts I. and II. Translated in full by Baboo Hari John. 34. The Narrative of the German Cripple. By Rev. W. Glen. 35. The Narrative of the Man that killed his Neighbour. By Rev. W. Glen. 36. Little Louis. By Rev. P. Sandberg. 37. Little Anna. By Rev. P. Sandberg. 38. Our Lord's Last Command : or, Communi- cant's Manual. By J. Mackay, Esq. 39. A Threefold Cord : or, A Precept, Promise, and a Prayer for every Day in the Year. By Rev. R. C. Mather. 40. A Sermon on the Sins that do so easily beset us. By Rev. R. C. Mather. 41. The Confession of Faith. By Rev. Dr. Campbell. 42. The Book of Common Prayer. By Rev. W. Smith. TO THE LANGUAOES OF INDIA, 209 PAGES 43. The Qur^n (Koran). With Introduction, Notes, and Index. By the Rev. J. Wil- son and E. Frazer, Esq. . . . about 550 44. Hindusth^ni and English, and English and Hindusth^nl Dictionary. By De Rozario. 45. Thompson's Hindusth^ni and English Dic- tionary. 46. Nathaniel Brice's Hindusth^nl and English Dictionary. The above list contains, I think, aU the works that have been published in Urdli-Roman. Probably the matter would fill 11,000 to 12,000 duodecimo pages, were it all transferred to that form. This is a result wl)ich, were it now only a possibility in the future, instead of an actual fact, would seem to us very important. Before closing this letter, I will suggest a most practicable mode of rendering the Romanising system popular amongst all classes of the natives of India. It is only necessary that Government should announce its willingness to receive petitions in the vernacular, but written in any character. The natives naturally wish that their petitions should be read, and their real meaning understood ; and, as they suppose that their English rulers understand their own cha- racters best, they would of their own accord get their peti- tions written in those characters. How much good such an usage would accomplish in putting a check on the dupUcity and frauds of the native officials, it is easy for any one who has been in India to understand. What an amazing benefit would result, also, were all the accounts of Government kept in the Roman character ! The despatch of business would be immensely facilitated, and the perpetration of frauds would become proportionately difficult. It has always seemed to me most unwise to permit the use of the Shikasta (Persian running-hand) in our law courts. Next to the benefits arising from the introduction of the Roman character, would be the benefits that would 210 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET result were it made imperative that all legal documents should be executed by Khush Nawises (engrossing clerks) •writing in the NastaKq form (answering to our round hand) ; or if in the Hindi language, in the well-made Deva N^ari letters. I am, &c. (Signed) RoBEET Cotton Mathee. Si/r a E. Trevelyan, K.C.B. &c. &c. &c. (20.) ON THE DIFFICTTLTT OF THE OHIENTAL CHAKACTEKS, AND THE ADTANTAGES OF APPLYING THE EOMAN ALPHABET TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. {Extracted from the Times, November 10, 1858.) One of the greatest difficulties with which we have to contend in the government of India arises out of the fact that there we ai'e, in a peculiar sense, aliens in language. After a full century of possession the complaint has been heard that the representatives who hold this empire for us nowadays know less of the native dialects than those who built it up in the bygone time. The traditionary nabob, who was supposed to have with all his wealth a miserable conscience and a diseased liver, and the more recent " old Indian," who came home, generally a bachelor, to end his days among expectant relatives, could speak with the natives, and therefore sym- pathised with them more than the cadet who in these days of the overland route goes to India scarcely feeling that he has left England, and who counts the weeks till he shall obtain furlough or leave the country for ever. It is sui-ely a curious result of bringing England nearer to India, that it should be the means of severing the Englishman from the native, of widening the vast gulf that separates the European from the Indian. Yet such is the fact, and it is to our ignorance of TO THE liANaUAGES OF I»DIA. 211 the native dialects, it is to the want of intercourse which that ignorance involves, that we must in great measure attri- bute the ti-emendous surprise with which we had to face the mutiny of last year. Now, if we were to ask, where is the great difficulty of learning a native language during a residence of some twenty years, — of learning, say, Hindustani, which is throughout India what French is throughout Europe, — we should be told that the difficulty lies at the very threshold of the study ; it is in the alphabet. So great is this difficulty, and so urgent is the necessity of surmounting it, that — as we had some time ago occasion to point out — it has been pro- posed, and we think wisely, to substitute for the compUcated Oriental alphabets the Eoman letters which are in use throughout Europe. Nor is this a measure of utiUty proposed merely for ourselves. It is of still greater importance to the natives, as without it they can have but Uttle education, and no literature. And when it is understood that the alphabet it is proposed to adapt to the Oriental languages as the standard of pronunciation is not the English alphabet, which especially in its vowel sounds is exceedingly anomalous, but the Italian or Eoman, — the same which the American mis- sionaries have employed with most perfect success in reducing the languages of the South Sea Islands to writing, and which the Dutch have in like manner introduced into Java and Amboyna, — it will be evident that the suggested improvement is to be regarded, not as the yoke imposed by victors upon a conquered race, but as a necessity of civilisation, and as the homage which the most useful alphabet in existence demands from others that are deiicient and impracticable. As from India we obtained through the Arabs those numerals which are now in use throughout almost the entire globe, so it is proposed to give India in return the benefit of those letters which we ourselves obtained from our Eoman conquerors. The various languages of India are so nearly allied, that, properly speaking, they are but different dialects of the same language; and, if they were all written in the same character, the unity of speech would be apparent, while with but trifling alteration one literature would do for all, and a contribution to any particular dialect would be an addition not, merely to f 2 212 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET the literature of that variety, but also to the common stock. Where every dialect, however, has its separate alphabet, and every province is distracted by the currency of two or three alphabets, the utmost confusion prevails, and people who un- derstand each other in speaking — Hindoos and Mahomedans, Pundits and Bunyans — are unable to correspond with each other in writing, or to make use of each other's books. Even were it possible out of the fourteen current alphabets of India to select one for universal use, the difficulties in the way of adopting it would be almost insuperable. There is not one of them which it is not extremely difficult to read, difficult to write, and difficult to print. As for reading, it is well known that the natives themselves cannot read them fluently. Even the pundits and moonshees are continually obliged to stop for the pm-pose of spelling the words. A fluent reader of any of the native characters is almost unheard of, while a mere boy who is taught the Eoman characters will in the course of a few months read anything that is given to him without stopping. Writing, it may well be imagined, is still more difficult. As a general rule, it is impossible to write fast in the native alphabets without making so many blim^ders and omissions that the manuscript becomes an unintelligible scrawl. Taking a most favourable example, however, we may mention an experiment which was tried by one of the teachers of the Hindoo College. He asked one of the best Bengali copyists to write as rapidly as he could in the native charac- ter, while he himself wrote in the Eoman ; and the result of the competition was in favour of the latter by two and a half to one. This is bad enough. The greatest difficulty of all, however, occurs in printing. For one dialect a fount of type is required consisting of not less than 700 letters, simple and compound ; another requires 900 letters ; a third, 1,000, and so on. Apart from the cost of preparing such a fount, consider the difficulty which the compositor has to contend with in having a " case" before him with this prodigious collection of characters, which, after all, makes no provision for such con- venient indications as we have in our capitals, small capitals, and italics. Consider the labour, not only of selecting all these letters, but of placing now above and now below the TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 213 consonants those incomprehensible vowel points, which, as resting on a thin strip of metal, are very liable to be broken, and to embarrass compositor and reader ahke. Consider the enormous space, too, which these characters must occupy, and the waste of paper and press-work which follows. Consider the impossibility of producing those varieties of large and small type which are so useful in books printed in Eoman letters. The wonder is, that, having to surmount these enor- mous difficulties, it has ever been possible to print in the Oriental character. Our Indian cadets are recommended to buy Shakespear's Hindustanee Dictionary, but the cost is five guineas ; they are advised to buy his grammar and two other works, but the cost is four guineas more. No doubt they are cheap, if the labour bestowed upon them be taken into account j but to the young cadet they are dear, they are bulky, and they are by no means inviting. The dictionary might be sold for half a sovereign if it were printed in the Eoman character ; it would be intelligible at first sight, and it would be reduced to respectable dimensions. There is, indeed, nothing like the Eoman alphabet for utihty, — easily read, easily written, with a thousand little conveniences in print which no other can boast of, as no other can be compared with it for compactness. By slightly increasing the number of its sounds, and this is easily done by accenting in various ways the existing letters,^ it is capable of being substituted for the most copious of the Oriental alphabets. The strange multiplication of characters in the Oriental orthography is created by the compound sounds; a compound being formed by the union of two or more letters which, when written together, bear but slight traces of what they originally were, and to all intents and purposes form a new letter. No such difficulty presents itself in the Eoman alphabet, the simplicity of which so commends itself even to the natives of India that not only is it used in writing by great and increasing numbers of the most influen- tial classes, but also Hindustani newspapers are actually printed in it and preferred by those who understand it. These facts prove what we have said, that the introduction of the Eoman letters into India would not only be useful to ourselves, but is the condition on which alone the education V 3 214 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET of the natives and the growth of a vernacular literature are possible. If we desire the personal influence of English- men to be brought more strongly to bear upon the Mussul- man and the Hindoo ; if we desire to bridge over the chasm that now separates the victor from the vanquished, the ruling from the subject race ; if we desire to educate the natives, and to bring them under the domiaance of European ideas and a Christian civilisation ; if, too, we would wipe away the reproach which has been so often brought against us, and raise a monument of ourselves in that land, less imposing it may be, but certainly more enduring than the most mag- nificent of public works, then the best thing we can do — the stepping-stone to all else — is to set about this very simple work of establishing the use of the Eoman alphabet throughout India. A good deal has been done already in this direction. The proposal was originally made nearly a quarter of a century back ; and, though at first received with oppo- sition, it has gradually come into favour, especially since the terrible event of last year aroused the English public to the consideration of Indian affairs. As a first-fruit of this movement, the British and Foreign Bible Society have under- taken to publish a large edition of the New Testament in the Hindustani language, but in the Eoman characters, the English version being printed in parallel columns, as in the polyglot bibles; and what is the object? — to induce the soldiers in the Queen's army, as well as others now in India, to study the language and to acqmre the ^biHty of associating with the natives. It is hoped, also, that the Grovernment of India may be induced to give some encouragement to the scheme, the promoters of which are certainly modest in their expectations, if it be true, as we believe, that they limit their requirements to the three following points, namely, 1st, that Grovernment would simply permit petitions and othef docu- ments in the Eoman character to be received in their courts and offices ; 2nd, that they would publish a set of the Acts of the Indian Grovernment in the Eoman character ; and, 3rd, that in the same character they would publish an edition of the vernacular Grovernment Gazette, including, of course, projects of law and other documents relating to current legislation. TO THE I/ANQUAGBS OF INDIA. 215 These demands are so moderate, and the object to be attained is so desirable, that we trust it is only necessary to propound the scheme in order to bespeak for it the favourable consider- ation of the Indian Council. (21.) ON THE HIGH PEICE OF INDIAN BOOKS PKINTED IN THE NATIVE CHAKACTEKS. (Extracted from the Times of Nov. 13, 1858.) To the Editor of the Times. Sir, — In an article which appeared in your issue of yester- day under the above heading, reference is made to the cost of Shakespear's Hindustani Dictionary as five guineas, and to his Grammar and two other works as costing four guineas more. We beg to say that an advertisement has several times appeared in your columns and elsewhere dm-ing the last six months, showing that the whole of Mr. Shakespear's works can be purchased for 61. 14s. ; viz. : — £ s. d. Hindustani Dictionary 3 3 „ Grammar 14 „ Introduction 110 „ Selections (2 vols ) .... 1 16 6 14 The prominence given to the erroneous statement of the cost of these works is so calculated to injure their sale, that we trust to your giving equal prominence to this communica- tion. We remain. Sir, Your obedient servants, EICHAEDSON BKOTHEES. 23, Cornhill, E.G., Nov. 18. p 4 216 APPLICAIION or THE BOMAH ALPHABET (22.) ON THE HIGH PRICE OF INDIAN BOOKS PRINTED IN THE NATIVE CHARACTERS. (^Extracted from the Times of Noo. 18, 1858.) To the E'Vilor of the Times. Sir, — In the Times of Saturday, Messrs. Eichardsoa state that the whole of Mr. Shakespear's works can be pur- chased for 6^. 14s., as follows: — £ s. d. Hindustani Dictionary 3 3 „ Grammar 14 „ Introduction 110 „ Selections (2 vols.) .... 1 16 6 14 I lately procured these works from my son's outfitter, who made a favour- of obtaining them for me bound, at the price of the books in boards at the booksellers'. The charges in the outfitter's bill were as follows : — £ s. d. Dictionary 550 Grammar 14 6 Introduction 1 10 Selections , , 1 16 9 5 6 I am, &c., London, Nov. 17. PATERFAMILIAS. (23.) ON ROMAN. TTPES IN INDIA. (^Extracted from the Leader of November 20, 1868.) The extension of the Roman types in India has reached a further practical stage in the shape of an article in the TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 217 Times, a stage of importance in all measures, but more par- ticularly in reference to this, because it not only makes it known to the great mass of the EngUsh public, but brings the public mind of England to bear on the public mind of India, — an influence very much wanted, for greater conversance with the subject on the part of Indian officials is not neces- sarily attended with the formation of sound opinions, inas- much as local prejudices are too often brought to bear against general conclusions, and to warp the judgment. We have already brought the subject forward as one of no mean im- portance in connexion with the progress of India, because it will smooth the way to the acquisition of Western knowledge, and facilitate the intercourse of the Indian nations. The system of vowels to be adopted is, we consider, of less importance than the determination to introduce the Eoman type and script, for these will adjust themselves. It is cer- tainly desirable that the best system should be adopted at once ; but while we wait for the determination of this and the agreement of men's minds, the opportunities are being lost of going to work. We would let each Presidency and each jurisdiction adopt its own system of representation if it liked, whether Sir W. Jones's, advocated by Sir Charles Trevelyan, or Dr. Grilchrist's ; whether Professor Newman's, or the system of following wholly and bodily English spelling. We have already referred to the exposition of the Jones or Italian system, advocated in the well-known papers of Sir C. Trevelyan, Mr. W. Yates, Mr. W. H. Pearce, Mr. J Thomas, and the Eev. Dr. Duff at Calcutta, in November, 1834, and which- were republished by Longmans in 1854. This system depends chiefly on the adoption of Italian soimds for the vowels, and it has great prospects of success, though it is ill suited for the accomplishment of one important pur- pose, namely, preparing the Hindoo student for reading English. It is one known in India from the time of Sir W. Jones, and adopted by a large section of Indian scholars ; and, since its promulgation for the representation of Indian dia- lects in 1834, it has made steady progress, being adopted by natives of India, by teachers of Oriental languages in Eng- land, and by authors of works relating to the East. It has this 218 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET recommendation, that it is, as well expressed by Sir Charles Trevelyan, a simple transliteration into Eoman of the Deva Nagari, or Sanskrit alphabet, adding what was wanted to represent the pecidiar sounds imported into the Indian lan- guages from the Arabic. Professor Newman's system is of the same class, but he employed another mode of pointing. Dr. Gilchrist's does not depend on any preconceived system, but is the concoction of the learned author, and very difficult to follow out. It has, however, the support of a large sec- tion of Indian officials, trained in his system. This method cannot stand, for it is wearing away under the silent influence of the Trevelyan system, and, though it shows a bold front now, it has no vitality in it. The great advantage of the Trevelyan system is that it well represents the Indian dialects and is truly a translitera- tion. This is its stronghold, for it is a great help to the European student of the Indian dialects, and is useful for natives wishing to refer to other Indian dialects. It has na- turally received the adhesion of Continental scholars because it is conformable to their own pronunciation. Where it fails is, that, so far from assistiug the native in the study of the English language, it creates a special impediment. The system of spelling for the English language unfortunately adopted in the middle ages, in preference to the Flemish system or. a modification of the Anglo-Saxon, has placed English spelling in a class by itself. This spelling, however, is a broad fact which we must admit, for there is no imme- diate likelihood of England and the United States adopting any other method. The phonetic type has been consigned to oblivion, and even such a simple amendment as Webster's spelling has been little adopted, and is set at defiance by the printers. We have, therefore, two courses in which to work, one to comply with the requirements of the Indian languages, and another to comply with the requirements of the English language. When we consider of how little importance for imparting knowledge are the vernacular languages of India, we may be induced to place less stress on their development. Although Persia has a literature, it is now yearly falling more and more TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 219 into the status of a foreign language, and within a few years it will get out of use in India ; but, further, no particular regard need be paid to Persian or Arabic, because neither possesses the literature of progress, nor is the language of large masses of the people. "With regard to the vernacular languages, although they are now required to be written for legal purposes, for corre- • spondence, for translations from English works, and for native newspapers, yet they cannot be regarded as of such importance or such permanent interest, that their requirements are to be preferentially consulted. The result of Indian administrative reform must be to extend the use of the English language for legal purposes, to suppress native written documents and apparatus for perjury, to conduct the examination in English, and to create English court records. The best evidence points to these results, and in all new arrangements for non- regulation districts they are being realised. For mercantile correspondence English will become of more use, and as the vernacular literature will not supply the demands of the population for knowledge, so EngUsh books will be more con- sulted and native books less. Many of the Indian languages and dialects prevail over small areas, and they will never obtain a competent literature, any more than the Finns, the Frisians, the Welsh, the Irish, the Basques, or any small nationality of Europe. Thus everything tends to the increased use of the English language, and instruction in the vernacular schools must be looked upon, not as opening the whole curriculum of educa- tion to the student, but as preparing him for the study of English. The grand end and aim, therefore, should be to facilitate this result, and to make Indian spelling conform as near as possible to English spelling, and not to create a fresh barrier after abolishing the Deva Nagari, the Persian, and the other characters. It is of no importance for Indian purposes, or for English purposes, that a Frenchman, a German, or an Italian can read Bengalese or Canarese with facility, or that a Bengalee or Malabar will have greater facility in acquiring French or Grerman ; these are not objects to be consulted, and are of no practical use. What has to be done is to facilitate 220 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET mtercommunication between England and India, and to make the literature, civilisation, institutions, and commerce of the English race available for India. This is the end to be ac- complished, and the acquirement of the Indian languages by Englishmen will be facilitated by any system based upon such principles ; for the English student will be facilitated by Eng- lish spelling rather than by the Trevelyan method. With regard to the measures to be adopted for establishing Eoman spelling, various propositions have been made. An able writer in the National Review, whose article on the Zouave and kindred languages was noticed in the Leader, took occasion, while discussing the application of the Eoman character to Arabic and Kabyle, to make some remarks on its Indian application. He very well observes that to adapt systematically a Eoman type for extra-European languages would not only add great facilities to comparative grammar and ethnological linguistry, but would be of service to us politically in India, religiously in every missionary station. He proposes that the Indian Grovernment should appoint a committee of three to report on the best mode of adapting the Eoman alphabet to the Indian languages, the committee to consist of one printer, one person acquainted with several * Indian languages, and one English man of letters. His ob- ject in naming a printer is, of course, to have a practical judgment on the relative value of diacritical points, accents, and other marks as affecting type-founding, composing, and correcting ; because it will be desirable to mark some of the vowels, and necessarj'' to distinguish such consonant sounds as are not to be found in English, and require new combinations of the Eoman alphabet for their representation. We doubt whether an English man of letters would be the best member of the committee, for he would have literary prepossessions like the Indian member, and we think it far better that a merchant or man of business should be appointed, who can appreciate the inconveniences of a new system of pronuncia- tion and of a special script. As the Trevelyan method is worked through the missionaries, so the National Reviewer proposes to take advantage of the railway, and that the com- mittee should request every Indian railway boai-d to set up TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 221 every notice at every station in a twofold type, first in the Indian, next in the Eoman. In Wales, the notices of the Rhylffordd are set up in English and Welsh, but the Eng- lish first ; and very curious specimens of composition are Rhylffordd notices in Welsh, being half English terms ttirned into Welsh ; and in Bengalee the like notices will be half English. The reviewer then urges that all Grovernment pro- clamations shall be printed on the Kke system; but, as we think, it will be far better and simpler to print the proclama- tions all Eoman, without any local type, and in parallel columns of English and the local language, because the Eo- man alphabet can be readily taught to adults and youths who can read, and there would be the greater encouragement to read the Eomanised publications. The Trevelyan method, as announced by " Indophilus " in the Times this week, has been put in a very effective shape by the adoption of a measure for the publication of cheap books in this country in the Eoman type. The Bible Society has sagaciously aided in this movement, and is about to pro- duce thirty thousand Eoman-Hindostanee Testaments at a low price. These the religious public will buy up, and give as presents to every official, emigrant, and private soldier proceed- ing to India, many of whom will acquire a readier knowledge of Hindostanee, while the greater proportion of the books will, on their arrival in India, be got rid of and dispersed among the natives, and become a further means of propagating Eoman type. This will be a useful step for the introduction of Eoman type and script for all regimental orders in corps where Hindostanee is used. Mr. Jarrett has pxit himself forward as an opponent of " In- dophilus," and presents but a sorry case. 222 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET (24.) LETTEE FEOM SIK CHAELES TEETELTAN ON EOMAN TYPE IN INDIA. To the Editor of the Leader. Sir, — I beg to submit for your consideration the following points in reference to your recent able and interesting article on the application of the Eoman character to the languages of India : — 1. In expressing Oriental languages in the Eoman charac- ter, literary and scientific men throughout the civilised world have, after the example of Sir William Jones, adopted that application of the Eoman letters which comes nearest to their powers in Latin and the languages derived from it. 2. The Eoman letters, according to the same application of them, have become firmly established as the missionary and Christian character of Upper India, as will be seen in de- tail from the accompanying letter from the Eev. E. C. Mather, of the London Missionary Society. 3. The Eoman consonants have the same power, according to this application of them, in the Oriental languages as in English, the exceptional sound which some of them have, in addition to their ordinary use, being distinguished by a diacritical mark ; and — - 4. As the five Eoman vowels are applied to the English language in an extremely irregular manner, so that the same letter often represents several different sounds, any attempt to follow the English practice, in this part of the system, would have tended rather to mislead than to assist. The consonants, therefore, are substantially identical ; while, although the vowels represent only one of the different powers of the same letters in English, and that not always the most usual, yet, having been adjusted to the symmetric^ scale common to Sanskrit and Latin and their derivatives, they can never be confused, in their application to the Oriental languages, with any of their various conventional uses in English; and the superior compactness, cheapness TO THE LANGUAaES OF INDIA. 223 and distinctness of the Eoman letters, the various sizes and forms of type, the capital letters, italics, stops, and other aids to modern printing, equally apply to vowels and consonants. This intrinsic superiority of the Eoman- character, and the facilities it affords of bringing all the languages and dialects of Asia into a closer relation with each other and with the languages of Em'ope, constitute the essence of the change which was commenced twenty-five years ago at Calcutta. I have the honour to be, Sir, Yours very faithfully, C. E. Teeveltan. London, 22nd November, 1858. [We shall resume the subject to which Sir Charles Trevelyan refers at an early period, for it is one of the most important subjects connected with the advancement of civilisation in India.— Ed. Leader.] (25.) THE NEW ALPHABET FOK INDIA. (Extracted from the Homewaed Mail of Dec. 6, 1858.) The Persian running-hand is, as is well known to all Indians, hard to decipher, and by no means such that he that runs may read. Some may think that it is called Shikastah, or " the broken," because he that attempts to read it wiU rend the collar of patience and break the strings of perseverance. India was long afflicted with the curse of this inscrutable character, and only grey-bearded munshis, who in learning it had forgotten all else, could penetrate its mysteries. At length Time, the great mediciner, produced the decree which swept it, for ever it is to be hoped, from the offices of the Sdhibdn i R'lishdn, that is, of the English gentlemen, and from general use. Unfortunately, the same decree substituted a dozen curses for the one defunct, in prescribing the use of the 224 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET vernacular dialects. Of these the Urdu is the least formidable, being a very mild approach to the terrible Sbikastah. The written character of the Hindi, however, compensates amply for all that is gained by the comparative facility of the Urdu. It is called the Kaithi, from the Kayasths, or writing class of natives, who use it, and who, if they can read what they write, must be men of extremely subtle parts. The diflSculty of the Kaithi, again, is barely equal to that of the written character in the South of India, where the Telugu, Kanarese, and Tamil rejoice in a system of scratches which can be made revpltingly obscure. All these, however, must hide their diminished heads before the Mod, or letter character of the Mard,thi. This ingenious mode of torment is said to have been invented by one Himak. Pant in the end of the eighth century A. d., who, if he was really sensible of the miseries he was about to inflict by it on a large family of mankind, must, indeed, have been a fiend in human shape. Some ingenious persons, with more imagination than etymological truth, have supposed the name Mod to come from a word signifying " an ant," and to imply that the character is such as if ants, escap- ing from an iuky grave, had run over the paper and blotted and scrawled its fair surface. But Mor, " ant," is a Persian word, and the odious Mod is MS,rathi, from a Sanskrit root which signifies " to twist or break." Mod, therefore, in Ma- r&thi, corresponds in sense to Shikastah in Persian, and hope- lessly illegible as it is, it sinks into utter insignificance in that respect when compared with the M5,rwS,ri and Sindhi. Con- cerning these latter scribbUngs many strange tales are told ; as of a pleasant gentleman, who having received a letter announcing something undecipherable that had happened to his son, went through the ceremony of lamenting for his de- cease in the morning, and gave a fUe in honour of his nuptials at night, not knowing which of the two events had occurred. The above is a very frigid and tame account of some of the difficulties which attend what may be called the InsJid i Har- karan, or general correspondence in India. Now as life, leisure, and vision are all limited, it does seem an utter absurdity to hesitate about the adoption of an easy substitute TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 225 for the abominable scrawls used by the natives. The English alphabet, properly adapted to express the Indian letters, is that substitute, and to Indophiltts is due the gratitude of all parties for recommending it. This is not a question as to the disuse of the Indian languages in business transactions and official proceedings. Such a proposal would be preposterous ; but it is" simply a suggestion for an alteration which would be as convenient and beneficial to the natives as to ourselves. We are well aware, indeed, of the difficulty attending all such changes ; but, in the meantime, we give to the proposal of Indophiltts our heartiest good wishes and support. (26.) THE NEW INDIAN ALPHABET. (^Extraetedfrom the Globe of Dec. 10, 1858.) Philanthropists and philosophers will trace civilisation to many origins, but amongst the most powerful instruments . have been the most simple ; and perhaps familiarity prevents us from sufficiently estimating the profit that we have derived from one of them. It is nothing more than the letters which we teach our children when they are infants, that Eoman alphabet which Sir Charles Trevelyan is so perseveringly and so sagaciously striving to introduce into India. Probably no obstacle to the introduction of civilisation, with all the ideas that the word implies, is so serious as the various kinds of alphabets which the races of India employ for recording and transmitting their thoughts. Caste itself is not more power- ful. It is an obstruction alike to the communication and to the growth of ideas. Any man who has studied the working of the mind will observe, that except with relation to tangible subjects, which themselves serve the purpose of memoranda, the mind is scarcely capable of establishing one set of ideas, and passing to the next, until the former shall have been written down. But how can a man handle thoughts who Q 226 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET pillories them in characters like those upon a Chinese tea- chest ? We have not specimens of the characters at hand, or the thing would be apparent. One of the commonest alphabets in India is the Nagari, the first letter of which is like a Eoman capital A, the two legs standing wide apart, with three beams radiating downwards, from the cross bar; the figure then being set upon one of its beam ends, and looking somewhat like a monstrous letter F turned the wrong way. But the same letter a in its broader sound has the same ciimbrous character, with the addition of something like a capital I following it. The letter i is like the capital letter T with a very elaborate worm-like substitute, tail curled upwards, for the upright stem. The e is like a capital U, with a tail to it ; u like a figure 3, with a tail rising up to the top, and a broad cross-bar at the top ; o Hke the elabo- rate A aforesaid, with a large comma laid horizontally over it, and a capital I after it. All the letters of the alphabet are of the same elaborate construction. For the purposes of writing there is no running hand. The combination of let- ters to express different sounds is as cumbrous as the simple characters are ; so that, for purposes of printing, the indivi- dual characters are multiplied by a process almost like per- mutation. Thus a " fount " of Nagari type consisted of no less than 700 letters, and these only equivalents for the 24 letters of the Italic alphabet, and six more which are required for an Indo-Eoman alphabet. The set of 700, however, makes no provision for capitals, small capitals, italics, or the other adjuncts of printing. Nor is the Nagari the most elaborate ; the Birman fount requires 900, the Peguan more than 1,000. Even yet we have not exhausted the causes of complication. In India " the number of dialects is immense, and each dialect has letters of a different figure." The effect in preserving severance of nation between races identical in origin is com- plete. In Europe, with a common character, we readily per- ceive that most of the languages have in common many words radically the same, and the study of tongues is comparatively easy. In India, Dutch and German, — Tuscan, Neapolitan, TO THE LANGUAGES^ QF . INDIA. _ 227 Genoese, and Venetian, — English and lowland Scotch, are, by their alphabets, separate languages. But dialect prevents the growth of national thought as well as language ; even idiom has a tendency to compel stereotyped forms of thought, and with the progress of ideas our own language is becoming less idiomatic. While there are these solid reasons for the adoption of a common and a simple alphabet, the reasons against it are futile and imaginary. It would not, — as the " phonetic " reform would have done with us if it had established any claims to notice, throw the whole library out of use, for the vernacular literature of India is still a literature of the future. Already the efforts to introduce the plan have been to some extent successful ; and it is an instructive fact, that of the prize students examined at the last Missionary Conference at Benares, in January, 1857, although the candidates using the English language were few, they carried off the majority of the prizes, and that those using Urdu language and the Roman character came next in eflS.ciency. If the Eoman character be adopted, of course, as Sir William Jones advised, the Italian powers would be adopted also, simply because in Italian those powers are fixed, without any such variations of value for the same characters as in our words, ought, bough, cough, dough, rough, and through, with the surname Gough, and the poetic sough, — the last as Tmascertained in sound as the thing it represents, the big sigh of the wind among the trees. And if Sir Charles Trevelyan were to be the final Cadmus for en- dowing India with letters, one of the first improvements we might expect would be, fixed modes of spelling native proper names, with intelligible " Telegraphic Intelligence " from India. Q 2 228 APPUCATION OF IHE EOMAN ALPHABET (27.) LETTER OF MK. W. EDWARDS, OF THE BENGAL CIVIL SEKTICE, ON THE ADVANTAGE OF TTSING THE EOMAN CHARACTEE INSTEAD OF THE HATIVB, IN ALL OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS AND PETITIONS. {ExtracUdfrom the Times of Dec. 15, 1858.) To the Editor of the Tvmes, Sir, — As a proposal to introduce tlie Koman printed character into India has lately formed a subject of remark in your columns, I am anxious, through you, to draw attention to the great advantage likely to accrue from the adoption of the written character in supersession of the dilBBcult and crabbed native ones now in use. Our Indian Grovemment must always be more or less one of record; and, from the difiSculty of the character in which the proceedings of all departments of our internal administration are at present recorded, a vast amount of power and influence falls into the hands of our native officials termed " Amlah." These functionaries, well aware of the advantages they thence derive, perpetuate the evil by writing systematically so illegibly that few, save -their own immediate brethren similarly employed under the state, can decipher the writing without great pains and difficulty. I can read both Urdu and Hindee characters with con- siderable facility, and often would I have gladly taken up the proceedings in cases pending before me as collector, magistrate, or judge, to find out for myself the important points therein, but the writing was prohibitive, and, in the multitude of cases to be disposed of, I could not spare the time to spell out the manuscript, but must content myself with listening to it read out by one of the " Amlah." As long as the native characters remain in use for re- cording all our proceedings we must remain an "Amlah- ridden Grovernment," and a greater misfortune could not happen to us, or a more prolific source of weakness be conceived. TO THE LAN&UAGES OF INDIA. 229 I think tlie present time affords a very favourable oppor- tunity for introducing a change, as almost all our Mofussil offices have to be reorganised, in consequence of the defection of nearly all our old " Amlah " to the rebels and the destruc- tion of our records. Orders might with advantage be issued for recording all proceedings of our Courts in future in the native languages in English running-hand, — there are plenty of persons duly qualified for this duty procurable for all our Mofussil offices and for our most important police posts, — for it would be of incalculable advantage to magistrates to have their daily as well as particular reports written in English character, so as to be at once readable by themselves wher- ever or whenever they may .reach them. Writers should, as now, be attached to our offices, who could give in their own character copies of all official documents to parties duly applying for them. Petitions also should in future be written in the English character. Petitioners, it is well known, "never write their own petitions, but employ persons who make a living by writing them. No greater expense would be in- curred in having these documents written in the English character than in Hindee and Urdu, as at present. I always had a box, of which I kept the key, for petitions at my gate, and generally returned from my rides or walks morning and evening with many in my pockets. How advantageous would it have been had I been able to read through these petitions myself; but the time which would have been consumed in deciphering them could not have been spared ! What confidence would it give the people, and how much more should we Mofussil officials know of the real state of the country, if petitioners felt assured that the presiding au- thorities would themselves read their petitions, without the intervention of " Amlah," who have at present so much real power in their hands that the people regard them with the greatest dread! They are generally fixtures in a district, while the European officers are constantly changed. They contrive to suiTound themselves with a number of relations and dependents dispersed through all the offices in a district, so as to keep themselves constantly informed of whatever occurs. The real power thus falls into their hands, and they Q 3 230 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET use it, of course, for their own purposes. The change 1 ad- vocate would effectually turn the tables, and deprive them of all undue influence and power. District officers would be able to read for themselves, and also — which is most im- portant — pass and record their own orders in their own handwriting, in the English character in Urdu, on each docu- ment as it was placed before them. I really believe, from my own pretty extensive experience in all departments of the State, that if the change I advocate were introduced, it would give us a hold over the people and an intimate knowledge of the country equal to 40,000 men at least. Now is the time to act. All that is wanted is an order of Grovernment directing the change. Six months or a year hence we shall be all in the old track ; establishments will have been reappointed to each office, records will have accu- mulated, and the opportunity will have been lost. Coiild the new Indian Council be moved to send out the necessary instructions ? I remain. Sir, your obedient servant, W. EDWARDS, Djc. I 3. Bengal Civil Service. (28.) THE BATTLE OF THE ALPHABETS. (Extracted from tAe Watchman and Wesleyan Advertisee, Dec. 15, 1858.) Not long ago, it was often said that if the English were driven out of India they would leave behind no lasting mo- nument of their dominion. That reproach is seldom heard now, and, if the rule of the Crown continue only for as long a period as that of the Company, lines of telegraphs and rail- ways, if these were all, would memorialise the British name as lastingly as the camps, the walls, and the Eoman roads in this country, do the sway of the Csesars. But it is a more lofty ambition to leave an imperishable record in the mind of the remotest generations, and to bequeath to those whom we TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 231 have subjected a higher civilisation, a nobler and purer lite- rature, and the one true religion. Something of this it is doubtless in our power to do, as the education of the people is under our direction, and our presses supply the books which they read; From the same causes we can certainly give them the best medium of literature and science in the alphabet which we ourselves employ ; and however presump- tuous it may be thought to speak of displacing the " alphabet of the gods" (the Sanskrit or Devanagari), and the many other characters, whether of native invention or borrowed from Persian and Mohammedan invaders, which are used in India, the proposal is held by competent authorities to be perfectly feasible, and those of us who are not Oriental scholars may easily enough see that its accomplishment would be an incalculable benefit. Twenty or thirty years ago it was but a proposal or rather the revival and popularisation of the idea of Sir William Jones ; but now it is so far actually re- presented that a small library of valuable works has been published in the vernaculars of India, but in the Eoman cha- racter, which has been called the Christian alphabet of the North- West Provinces. The Chinese, it is well known, employ symbolic or hiero- glyphic characters, which, being addressed rather to the eye than to the ear, become an intelligible medium of communi- cation to all the literary classes, however their dialects may vary, who inhabit the continent and the islands between Tartary and Japan; a fact which so much impressed the earlier missionaries that they supposed tTiis species of abbre- viated delineation — not word-painting but idea-picturing — might be accepted as a universal means of wi-iting, intelli- gible at sight, all over the world. They did not sufficiently allow for the diflSculty of first mastering the multitude of signs. Such are the advantages of phonetic characters, which represent not the infinite variety of objects of sense or thought directly, but those few primary sounds of the human voice by the various combinations of which we arbitrarily denote them, that there can be little doubt the Chinese them- selves will in time abandon their clumsy alphabet, and Romanise like other people. The Indian alphabets, of native Q 4 232 APPLICATION OP THE KOMAN ALPHABET or foreign origin, are all phonetic; but are so cumbrous and difficult, that in several instances it is nearly as hard to read fluently as it is to master the language ; and they are so many and so various, that dialects "which, when spoken, are as near kin to each other as the Italian and Spanish, look when written as little allied as Eussian and Grerman. Sir Charles. Trevelyan has lately republished the letters in which he, in concert with Dr. Dufif and others, discussed this subject two and twenty years ago ; and has added to them that interesting statement of the Eev. E. C. Mather, (first communicated to the Eeviewer in the London Quarterly^ in which the progress made in applying the Eoman letters to the languages of India is traced up to the present time. In this pamphlet we are told that it is with much difficulty, and never without stopping to spell, that the educated Hindu himself reads his own language in his own characters. If the case is so bad when the book is printed, it may be imagined what the confusion must be when it is attempted to throw the native characters into a running-hand. In a letter pub- lished this morning by a contemporary from a gentleman of the Bengal Civil Service, giving the results of his own experience, the writer says : "I can read both Urdu and Hindi characters with considerable facihty, and often would I have gladly taken up the proceedings in cases pending before me as collector, magistrate, or judge, to find out for myself the important points therein ; but the writing was prohibitive, and, in the multitude of cases to be disposed of I could not spare the time to spell out the manuscript, but must content myself with listening to it read out by one of the ' Amlah.' As long as the native characters remain in use for recording all our proceedings we must remain an ' Amlah-ridden Government,' and a greater misfortune could not happen to us, or a more prolific source of weakness be conceived." Surely the Government, both for its own sake and for that of the natives, will be induced to make the change which intelligent and practised officials in its service urgently recommend. In giving to Oriental races, and to the inhabitants of islands where missionaries are sent, the Eoman alphabet, it is under- TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 233 stood that we do not spoil the boon by coupling with it our peculiar English pronunciation of the vowels, or our still more abnormal spelling. With us the one is too well fortified by use, and the other by an immense literature, to be the subject of experiment. The orthography of an English word often points to its etymology, and only children are sensible of the inconvenience of modifying the power of a letter by placing one or two others, themselves silent, before or on each side of it. It is no trouble to the English student of an Indian language, which he has presented to him in the easy dress of his own alphabet, to remember that the vowels and diphthongs are to be sounded as they are in all European languages which are derived from the Latia, except his own ; but to the Hindu it would be utterly disheai-tening to begin with our barbarous double vowels, which have no accord- ance with anything in his own alphabets, while the Italian system is strictly analogous with that of the Bevanagari. Even in this country we commonly accept the Italian spelling of the names of persons and places belonging to the East, or to the islands of the Pacific where the missionaries have introduced it. Feejee, so pronounced, we now spell as we should have done at first, Fiji ; Owhyhee, HawaA ; Hindoo, Hindu ; and this . not only in missionary publications, but in our literary jour- nals. Thus in the AthencBum of last Saturday we find Ajmir, Jaypur, Majput, and also Sanskrit, though in the last word our English C is not so intolerable as Mr. Grrote has found it in the spelling of classical names, in which it sometimes de- ceives both eye and ear. One can imagine a person in this coimtry old-fashioned enough to be offended with the better spelHng, but it is strange that it should be rejected by well- informed men in India. Yet we have before us a recent letter, (too long, we beg to inform om- friendly Correspondent, for republication,) in which the names of the first four successors of Mohammed are so written, very much on the inelegant and barbarous plan of Gilchrist, that they are scarcely recogni- sable; for 'which there is the less excuse, as Gibbon and the French authorities whom he followed had made the precedent of a more convenient orthography perfectly familiar to English readers. This branch of the question. 234 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET however, is certain to rectify itself spontaneously. The method of Eomanising the -wi-itten and printed languages of India is one so convenient to the Grovernment, so useful to the student, so propitious to the native mind, so conducive to the spread of the science and ideas of the West, and so likely to be subservient to Christianity, that, though no one wishes to obliterate all the native alphabets, we hope it will, in the course of another century, gradually supersede them in po- pular use. The prejudices against it are fast disappearing, and both in public and private we find it warmly advocated and applauded. (29.) THE KOMAN ALPHABET APPLIED TO EASTERN LANGUAGES. (^Extracted from the London Eeview of October 1858.) If the reader wishes to beguile an hour of leisure or indisposi- tion, let him turn over the leaves of the Bi^le of Every Land, ■ published by Messrs. Bagster and Sons. Those spirited pub- lishers have presented in one quarto volume specimens of the Holy Scriptm-es in nearly all the languages into which they have been translated, together with notices of the ancient and modern worthies who effected the translations, and a sum- mary of the labours of the several benevolent and religious Societies, by whose aid and patronage many of the versions have been obtained. The maps, prepared and coloured spe- cially for the volume, form a complete atlas, enabling the eye at once to trace the spread and prevalence of each family of lan- guages in past and present times ; and the wonderful variety of alphabets by which it has pleased human ingenuity to ex- press the sounds formed by the organs of speech is fully illus- trated by beautiful lithographs, or types, some of the latter having been lent for this publication from the Imperial Printing-Office in Vienna. Specimens of the languages of all Asia, and especially of those of India, are given with great success. But to confine TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 235 ourselves to those of India, we find at least twenty various alphabets in which those languages are written. We have given some attention to these alphabets ; the most pretentious of them all is the Devan&gari, which may be called a most splen- did system of short-hand, difiScult to write, and still more difficult to read* ; with such a copious variety of combinations, that, according to the testimony of the Boden Professor of Sanski-it at Oxford, one word of three syllables may be written in one hundred and eight different ways.f The Grant-ham, in which Sanskrit is written in the South of India, is said to have no less than eleven hundred and twenty-eight different combinations of the letters of the alpha- bet, each combination requiring a separate and distinct cha- racter, which the student must learn before he can read the * The manner in which the vowels are joined to the consonants in forming syllables is one great difficulty in the way of a learner. One vowel is stated to be in the consonant ; another is placed a/ier the con- sonant ; one is placed over it ; another under it ; and a fifth is placed one half before it, and the other half after it. Thus : — i k spells ka ; ka spell ka ; k spell ki ; k spell ku ; ek spell ke ; aik spell u kai ; eka spell ko ; and ekl spell kou ! i i i i In Tamul the word Kristu, or Christ, is written k, r, s, t, krst (Kristu). u u i i In Telugu and Canarese the same word is written k, su, ksu (Kristu). r t rt In Sanskrit it is written i, k, s, iks (Kristu). r t rt u u The time will come when these puzzling ingenuities will be left to the Brahmans, who probably invented them to make learning difficult ; and Englishmen will have every language of India written straight on in their own clear characters. [This note has some errors for which I do not hold myself responsible. — M. W.] •j- The derivatives of the compound of sam, ' cum,' and kri, ' to make,' may be written in a variety of manners : sanskartd, for instance, may be written in a hundred and eight ways. These are, however, matters merely of orthoepical conceit. — Professor Wilson's Introduction to the Orammar of the Sanshrit Language, p. 22. [The writer of this article has misapprehended Prof. Wilson's meaning. — M. W.] 236 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET language.* Whether we adopt the Devanigari, or the Grantr ham, it is a heavy task to learn to read Sanskrit ; and we are prepared to believe the assertion of a learned Brahman in Madras, that of one thousand Brahmans who profess a knowledge of Sanskrit, not more than one hundred can read it ; and that of one hundred who can read, not more than three can understand it ! A friend of ours in India, an Eng- lishman, well versed in one Indian language, informed us that he was unable to read the DevanS,gari after two years' hard study. Even the Tamul, which is the simplest alphabet of India, has had its sixteen original characters so amplified by the example of the Sanskrit, that it has two hundred and sixteen combinations of characters in its ordinary style. Is it not time that the students of the languages of India should agree among themselves to write them in the Eoman character, and that for all ordinary purposes the English al- phabet should be made to suffice ? When the Messrs. Bagster issue a second edition of their book, which we understand is in progress, they will add greatly to its value to students of the languages of India, if they will accompany each original specimen with a version of the same in the Eoman character. Sir William Jones employed a method of writing the Sans- krit in the Eoman character which was considered to be an improvement on that of Wilkins.! More recently. Dr. Lepsius and other Continental scholars have written Sanskrit in Eoman characters.^ Bopp, at the end of his Sanskrit Grammar, gives * " Quare eodem sedulo Operas dirigeiite, hujus idiomatis elaborati typi et characteres conflati nur.c primum sunt in hao typographiae nostras x>ffic!na regio plane sumptu et apparatu ; quandoquidem cum xi. radicales litterje censeantur, xvi. nempe vocales, et xxxv. consonantes, ex quibus dein alise, veluti secundariae procedunt, quas compositas, seu potius litterarum nexus appellaveris, eo sane processit characterum seu typorum copia, ut Mcxxviii. numerentur, atque ex ea non leve etiam typogra- phis in perquirendis ao slmul etiam nectendis singulis harum litterarum formis confletur negotium." — Alphahetum Orandonico-Malabaricum sive Samscrudnnicum (Romae, MDCCLXXII. Typis Sac. Congregationis de Propag. Fide), p. vi. tTlie Works of Sir William Jones, 4to. edition, vol. i. p. 206. Standard Alphabet for reducing unwritten Languages and foreign graphic Systems to a uniform Orthography in European Letters. By TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 237 several half-pages of Sanskrit in the Eoman or Italic character on a very neat and compact system, accompanied by the ori- ginal DevanSgari.* Dr. Caldwell, in his Comparative Grammar of the Dr^vidian or South-Indian languages, eleven in number, uses only Eoman letters throughout his admirable work f ; an example which may be profitably followed by those who wish to make the native languages easy of acquisition and use to mere English readers. As already intimated. Professor Bopp's system of expressing Sanskrit sounds, and especially those of the aspirated consonants, is more compact than any other, and may come into general use. For instance, the word Bhav^ni, , he writes B'avdni, making the inverted comma express the aspirate ; and the two syllables, achchha, which appear bar- barous, he writes ap p 'a, using the French or Spanish p to ex- press ch. It is necessary here to note the history of a change which is likely to lead to great results. Sir William Jones's object was limited to expressing in an uniform manner, in the Eo- man character, such Oriental words as might be used by European scholars. The application of the system to the pur- poses of national literature and popular instruction is of modern date. It was only in the year 1834, that Sir C. E. Trevelyan, with Messrs. Duff, Yates, and Pearce, adopted Sir W. Jones's orthography with some modifications, for printing books in the vernacular languages, as the foundation of a new system of national literatui-e and popular instfuction. The pamphlet entitled " Papers originally published at Calcutta in 1834 and 1836, on the Application of the Eoman Letters to the Languages of Asia," explains the nature and objects of this Dr. K. Lepsius, Professor at the University, and Member of the Koyal Academy, Berlin. Dr. Max Miiller, of Oxford, has also published a system in which all accents and diacritical marks may be dispensed with, by using italic letters for those accented on other systems. * Kritische Grammatik der Sanscrita-Sprache in Kurzerer Fassung Von Franz Bopp, Berlin, 1845, pp. 369 — 375. - t A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages. By the Rev. R.Caldwell, D.D., Missionary of the So- ciety fo" the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, at Edeyenkoody, Tinnevelly, Southern India! 238 APPLICATION OV THE BOM AH ALPHABET undertaking ; and Mr. Mather's letter given towards the close of this paper describes the progress which had been made in it to the time of the mutiny. Professor Wilson has adopted the same modifications of Sir William Jones's orthography, and there is no substantial difference between Sir C. E. Trevelyan's and his.* The comparison of the several versions of the Holy Scrip- tures in. the languages of India would be an easy task if tho^e translations were given us in the Eoman character, and the desired uniformity in the adoption and use of theological terms would become practicable. For an instance, in illus- tration of this subject, let us take one verse of the Grospel according to St. John. The word " beginning " is rendered by Dr. Carey into Sanskrit, ddi ; the same word, adi, is used in the same sense in Tamul, Telugu, Canarese, Malayalim, and many other languages. Let the word ddi be retained for that special rendering in every language in which it is found, and the advantage is obvious. The particle "in "is expressed by an affix denoting the case, which differs in the several languages. But whether we read, " In the beginning," dd-ou, as in Sanscrit ; ddi-andu, as in Telugu ; ddir4lla, as in Canarese ; ddi-il, as in Malayalim ; or ddi-il4, as in Tamul, &c., the difference is only inflexional, the word " ddi " expresses the meaning of our word "beginning." So also the word vdk-yaTYi is used to express the meaning of " the Word," in Yates's SansKrit translation. It is used in the same sense in the other languages enumerated; but the translators have * SANSKRIT ALPHABET IN" EOMAN CHARACTEES. BY PEOrESSOB H. H. WILSON. Vowels, a, a, i, i, u, u, ri, ri, Iri, Iri, (e) e, ai, (o) 5, ou. Consonanis. Gutturals . . . ka, kha, ga, gha, A. Palatals Cerebrals Dentals Labials Semivowels cha, chba, ja, jha, n. ta, tha, da, cjha, n. ta, tha, da, dfaa, n. pa, pha, ba, bha, m. ya, ra, la, va. Sibilants and Aspirate . sa, sha, sa, ha. To these may be added, an and ah. TO THE . LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 239 not uniformly adopted it, as tbey might have done. The Telugu and the Canarese use vdk-yam, ; and the other ver- sions use vdda, Sanskrit ; vardai, Tamul ; wdchanam, Malay- alim ; wdchana, Singhalese. This unnecessary and unde- sirable variation in the use of terms will probably begin to disappear when all the versions shall be rendered into the Eoman character. So, also, for the word "God," Deva, Bevam, or D&vanu, is known in all the languages alluded to ; but the Sanskrit versions use I'swara and Mahiswara ; the Tamul, Pardharan ; while the rest use I>6vudu, Telugu ; Devaru, Canai-ese ; Bevam, Malayalim ; Beviyan, Singhalese. We commend the Eomanising of the several versions of the Scriptures in India to the attention of Bible and Missionary Societies, as one grand step towards the perfection and unifor- mity of the translations, an object greatly to be desired. Had the several translators of the Holy Scriptures possessed in the Eoman character the labours of their fellow-labom-ers in other Indian languages, their several versions would have come much nearer to each other than they now do. It may be conceded that much advantage has resulted from the independent action and unrestrained research of the several translators, each in the language he cultivated ; but it is now practicable to give to all the translations the benefit of these wide-spread labours. It will be seen at a glance that the fol- lowing versions of John i. 1 might have been so nearly alike in each language as to reduce the labour of the European student and Scripture reader very considerably : John i. 1 : " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Telugd. 'Adi-andu V&kyamu kaddu; 'A V^yamu D^vunitd undenu; Ma- rinni k Vak-yame Devudai undenu. Canakese. Old Version. Adiyalli vakeavembavaniddanu ; a vakeavembavanu Devarasangadalid- danu ; i vakeavembavane Devaru. New Version. 'Adiyalli vSkyavii ittu. A vikyavu d^vara beliyalli ittu. 'A vik- yavii devar4 ^ttu. 240 APPLICATION OE THE KOMAN ALPEABET Malataum. 'Adiyil wachanam und&yiriuu, k wachanam Deivattdda kiide ayirunu, & wachanam Deivavnm &yininuu. SlNGHAJ^ESE. Patangammehi wachariaya wuyeya. E wacbanaya dewJvanwahanse samagaya. E wachanaya dewiyanwahanseya. • Tamul. 'Adi-yile V^ttei irundadu. Av-Varttei paribaranidattil irundadu. Alldmalum av-Varttei-ye, Pai4baran. We have no wish to see the various alphabets now used in India entirely abolished. They are monuments of human ingenuity, and as such should be respected and presei-ved. Rut while the natives should be taught each to read his own language in its own character, they ought to be taught it also in the Eoman character, as one step toward their acquisition of the English language. Every language in India, if for no other reason, yet as one token of British rule, ought to be reduced into the Eomaji character, in its grammar and dic- tionaries : and, above all, in its version of the Holy Scriptures. The direct benefit would be great to the natives themselves ; and the indirect benefit, by enabling Europeans to acquire and use the languages with greater facility, would soon tell, with good effect, on the interests of India. If we wish to diffuse among the masses in India a knowledge of Divine truth, we must employ an agency much more extensive than that of the missionaries and their assistants : we must make it possible for English ladies to read the Scriptures to their domestic servants ; we must place the Bible in a form in which they can read it, in the hands of the thousands of educated East Indians of Eiu'opean origin, who aU speak the vernacular, but, with few and rare exceptions, never learn to read the native characters ;' and make pious British soldiers also Scripture-readers to the poor heathen who are employed to wait upon them and drudge in their service. The English-speaking population of India deserve special mention in this place. They are, for the most part, descendants of the English in every grade of the two services. They are professors of the Christian religion ; ajid, with rarely an ex- ception, highly value the minister and his work. Many of them are devotedly pious, and are even zealous for the truth TO THE LANatlAGES OF INDIA. 241 among their own people and among the natives. They gene- rally marry young, and have moderately large families. In Madras and many other large towns they form the bulk of the English congregations of the missionaries ; in some cases they support their own missionary, and build their own chapels. These estimable people are not eligible to the higher departments of the service of the government ; they are, however, employed in the arsenals as artificers, and as musicians in the army. They are clerks, traders, merchants, printers, bookbinders, watchmakers, and of any other occu- pation not of a servile character. The comfort and respect- abiUty of their style of living command the admiration of strangers ; and, as the material and moral interests of India advance, this class will also advance in position and influence. The moral conquest of India is to be effected by a process less rapid and less obvious to public view, than that of its subjugation physically and politically by the courage of our soldiers, and the wisdom of our legislature. We have never despaired of British interests in India ; much less have we despaired of the interests of Christianity. But our hopes are dependent on the diffusion of Divine knowledge by means of the Holy Scriptures. At the renewal of the East India Company's charter forty- five years ago, (in 1813,) British India was reluctantly, and under certain vexatious restrictions, thrown open to Chris- tian teaching. So recent are the fecilities which have been 60 largely improved by Societies and individuals zealous for the spread of Divine truth ! There were, indeed, Protestant missionaries in India previous to the year 1813; but they were to be found, not under the government of the Honourable Company, but in the Danish settlements of Tranquebar and Serampore, or under the patronage of the Eajah of Tanjore and other native chiefs. Within the last forty-five years, there has been more attempted and effected for the improve- ment of our Indian fellow-subjects by private benevolence, without the aid or patronage of Government, than in the pre- vious 3000 years during which India has been known to Europe. The Brahmans, the Jews, the Nestorians so called, the Mahommedans, and the Jesuits, have in their turn E 242 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET penetrated India, each claiming to be teachers of religion; but it is the undisputed glory of British Christians to have given to India, in its several languages, the whole Word of God, which is a light to them that sit in darkness and m the shadow of death. Dr. Caldwell is correct in his opinion that the dark-com- plexioned, Tamul-speaking, devil-worshipping aborigines of India gained little advantage in religion and morals by their subjugation to the fair and learned Brahmans of Central Asia, The Brahmans brought with them the Sanskrit language, the Devandgari character, and the Vedic hymns. That language has enlarged and improved itself by its contact with the Tamul * ; and in return has expanded the sixteen original rock- inscription letters, which tradition assigns to the Tamul, into the Grant-ham, or book alphabet, containing, as noticed above, eleven hundred and twenty-eight different combinations. The Brahman has taught the native the existence of a supreme God, who is not to be worshipped ; has withheld from him the Vedic hymns, — no great disadvantage, — and has given him a litera- ture exquisite in its grammar, but worthless in respect to real knowledge and mental improvement. We find less that is objectionable in religion, and more that is commendable in morals and corrective of the faults of human nature, in the poems of the low-caste Tamul natives Tiruvalluver and the woman Avveiar, in the imperishable Rural annotated by Parimelazager, and in other popular poems, than in all the Puranas and other Brahmanical compositions professed to be founded on the Vedas. It would be too much to expect from the Israelites of the first dispersion, who found theii- way from Assyria or Babylon to India some centuries before the Christian era, that they should have contended successfully against the polytheism of India. Some of their descendants, and those of theu* pro- * " The [Tamul] langunge retains an alphabet which tradition affirms to have heretofore consisted of but sixteen letters ; and which, so far from resembling the very perfect alphabet of the Sanskrit, wants nearly half its characters, and has several letters of peculinr powers [such as r cere- bral, r hard, 1 cerebral, &c.]." — Benjamin Babington, Madras Civil Ser- vice, Gooroo Paramartan, p. ii. TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 243 selyted slaves the black Jews of Cochin, are found still ad- hering, in outward profession, to the law of Moses ; but great numbers of the Beni-Israel, still retaining that distinguishing appellation, are worshippers of Hindu idols, and in appear- ance and customs differ little, if at all, from the Pagans around them. We have no evidence that the Israelites gave the law of Moses to the Hindus in their own language. If the Christians of St. Thomas, who can be traced back to the fourth century, met with any success in the conversion of the Hindus, it was necessarily limited to the results of oral instruction ; as it does not appear that they ever trans- lated either the Holy Scriptures, or their Liturgy, into the language of the natives. "We may pass over the wonderful story of the early Jesuit missionaries. They gave to the astonished Hindus the refine- ments of the schools, and the marvels of Eomish tradition, with here and there fragmentary portions of the Word of God, accommodated to their own immediate purposes. To Ziegenbalg, the first Protestant missionary to the Hindus, belongs the honour of having first given to India a translation of the Holy Scriptures into a native language. We have seen a copy of this great man's translation, printed with types which he himself cast, on paper of his own manufactiue, and bound in several thick quarto volumes under his own direction. Ziegenbalg's history presents an example of labour and success which may be studied to advantage by every man who aspires to the honour of taking part in the evange- lisation of India. Ziegenbalg, with commendable singleness of purpose, directed his attention to the natives only. He left it to his colleague, Grriindler, to labour for the benefit of the Portu- guese-speaking population. It is for his successors, after a lapse of one hundred and fifty years, to be witnesses of a numerous and wide-spread population in India, European or of European origin, mixing with the natives in every- day life, and in every department of it, speaking their seve- ral languages, — a possible agency for the diffusion of the knowledge of truth in religion and science, such as does not exist in any other pagan country. What are the objections 244 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET. to furnishing this peculiar class of East Indians, as well as the natives themselves, with the translations already made, in the Eoman or English character ? We may grant that each people in India prefers its own alphabet to any other : but is that a sufficient reason why they should not be accustomed to read their own language in the simple and useful character now used by more than half the civilised world? We may also admit that each alphabet expresses precisely the sounds of its own language : but the same sounds can be also represented in the Eoman character. The Grerman, the Frenchman, and the Spaniard equally express the widely different sounds of their own languages by the Eoman alphabet. Why should not each Hindu be taught to follow the example ? It may be objected that an English- man attempting to read an Indian language in Eoman cha- racters will only make himself ridiculous. The remark will equally apply to French or German. The system is adapted for persons who know the language conversationally, and require only a little practice to enable them to read it. This whole subject is fully discussed in a volume which issued from the Serampore press in 1834, consisting of a series of papers written by Messrs. Trevelyan (now Sir Charles Trevelyan, the "Indophilus" of the Tvmes), J. Prinsep, and Tytler, Eev. Dr. Duff, and Mr. H. T. Prinsep; which shows that the system at that time was in successful operation. Since this article was commenced. Sir Chaales Trevelyan has placed at our disposal a letter from an eminent missionary in the North-West of India, which cannot fail to afford satis- faction to those who take an interest in the welfare of India ; and which we earnestly commend to the attention of all mis- sionaries in India, to the Committee of the Bible Society, and to all who are practically engaged in missionary and educa- tional pursuits for the benefit of our Hindu fellow-subjects.* We hope it will no longer be matter of doubt whether the whole of the languages of India ought not to be Eomanised forthwith. We have found the objections to this proposal to * The letter here alluded to is that of the Rev. E. C, Mather, which has been already given in extenso at p. 202, TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 245 be comparatively trivial, and the advantages to be of the greatest moment. If, by reducing these languages into the Roman character, we can enlist a large body of Indo-Britons into the corps of instructors of the Hindus in the Word of God ; if, at the same time, we can afford the greatest faci- lities to translators and missionaries for perfecting their labours ; and if, by the use of the Eoman character, we can elevate and encourage the natives of India in civilisation and general knowledge, and especially such portions of them as profess the Christian religion ; it appears to us that there is a work to be done which invites the cooperation of all the true friends of India. Let missionaries transcribe for the press in the Eoman character the translations which have been made into Indian languages ; let the vernacular-speak- ing descendants of Europeans, as well as the natives them- selves, be supplied with Eomanised versions of the Holy Scriptures ; let the use of the Eoman character be encouraged in the courts of law, and in the transaction of Grovernment business throughout India ; and an impulse will be given to the native mind which cannot fail to be most beneficial in its operation and final results. (30.) FIRST LETTER OP PEOFESSOR JAERETT.* To the Editor of the Times. Sir, — Allow me to suggest that the writer of an article in the Times of November 10th, on " The Native Langua,ges of India," has somewhat overstated his case against the native alphabets. All these alphabets are modifications of two — tha Devanigari or Sanskrit and the Arabic. The nature of the former is such that any person who has learned the forms and * This letter appeared in the "Times" of November 12th, before the papers numbered 21 — 28. B 3 246 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET sounds of about sixty characters, mostly of a very simple form, can pronounce with certainty any word he meets with, pro- vided no contractions are used. It is these needless contrac- tions that cause the whole of the difficulty referred to in that article. If, then, the rule were laid down by authority that no contractions would be allowed in legal documents, the 700, 900, or 1,000 types spoken of by the writer would be reduced to 60. The Arabic alphabet contains 28 characters, and four marks to determine the vowels, and by means of additional diacritical points it is adapted to the sounds of the Persian, Turkish, Hindustani, and Malay languages. The great fault committed by those who use the alphabet is the common omission of the vowel poiats, in which case no one can read a word if he does not know its meaning. If, however, the very simple system invented by Professor Shakespear is employed, the greater part of these vowel points may be omitted without causing any ambiguity in the sound of a word. The difficulty experienced by the moonshees in reading arises either from the careless omission of diacritical points, or from the silly habit of using ornamental writing; but the difficulty itself is not greater than that which you, Sir, must daUy have to encounter in reading English correspondence. The author of the article is a Uttle mistaken in supposing that by using the Eoman alphabet " unity of language would become apparent " among the natives of India. There is, I believe, no sort of connexion between the dialects of Northern and Southern India, although the latter borrow words of a technical character from the former, so that the identity which would be seen would resemble the likeness between English and Greek if the King of Greece were to enjoin the use of our alphabet. However desirable, then, a common alphabet for all languages may seem, there are grave objections to its use, for every language that has been long written possesses pre- scriptive right to its own alphabet, and in most cases 8,11 attempts to transcribe it in any other will fail to attain accu- racy. On this account it is to be feared that the British and Foreign Bible Society will be disappointed in the result of their publishing the HindustS,ni New Testament in Eoman TO THE LAKauAGES OF INDIA. 247 characters. Their funds would have been better employed in printing that work in the Niskhi character, with Shakespear's vowel system. I am. Sir, Your obedient servant, Nov. 10th. THOMAS JAEEETT. (31.) LETTER OF INDOPHILUS. To the Editor of the Times. Sir, — In my former letters I adverted to the objectionable nature of some, and the expensive character of all, the usual Indian class-books. Considerable progress has now been made in the preparation of an improved series, which I will briefly describe. The first is An Easy Introduction to the Study of Hindus- tani, by Mr. Monier Williams, late Professor at the East India College, Haileybury ; including Eeading Lessons, Dialogues, and Vocabulary, by Mr. Cotton Mather, Assistant Professor of Hindustdni at Addiscombe College. This has just been pub- lished by Messrs. Longman at the remarkably low price of half a crown. Owing to the simplicity of the styl^ and to the circumstance that the meaning is already generally known, the New Testa- ment and Psalms are superior to every other book, even as a manual for learning a foreign language ; and the Bible Society has, with much liberality, determined to print, for the common use of Europeans and of the natives of India, an edition of 20,000 copies of the New Testament and Psalms in Hindus- tani and English in parallel columns, and another edition of 10,000 copies in Hindustg,ni only. TheSe will shortly be pub- lished at a very low price; and a separate edition of the B 4 248 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET entire Bible in folio, with copious references, is in an advanced state. All three are being edited by the Eev. E. C. Mather. A Clavis of the New Testament and Psalms, in Hindustani and English, is also being prepared concurrently with the principal work, and a foundation has been laid for the publi- cation of other books of the same general nature as soon as these have been put out of hand. These books are all in the Eoman character, the use of which removes the first and greatest difficulty in the acquisi- tion of a foreign language ; and if the tastes or necessities of the student should afterwards induce him to acquire any of the other characters by which Hindustani is expressed in dif- ferent provinces, or by different classes of people in the same province, he will bring to the task the great advantage of a familiar acquaintance with the words. There is no reason now why Hindust&ni should not be taught to every recruit going to India, or why every English lady there should not be able to learn enough of the language to read the Bible to her servants. These are only some of the results of the applica- tion of the Eoman character to the numerous languages and dialects of India, the advantages of which may be summed up as follows : — That it substitutes a cheap and legible, for an expensive and indistinct character ; that it facilitates the acquisition of the native languages by the English, and of the English language by the natives ; and that, by making one character serve for many languages and dialects, which have already more or less in common, it will greatly assist general intercourse and create a tendency towards a common Indian language, of which English will be the connecting link and the Christian religion the source of inspii-ation. As I wish to avoid controversy, I had not intended to answer Mr. Jarrett's letter which appeared in the Times of the 12th inst. ; but I find that, owing to the want of correct information, his letter has made a certain impression. My answer is, that his remedy would be worse than the disease. The 700, 900, or 1000 separate types alluded to by him as required for the DevanS,gari and its derivatives aie intended to reduce the excessive diffusiveness of the character, by representing in a more compact form different combinations TO THE LANUrAGES OF INDIA. 249 of letters ; and if no contractions were allowerl, as Mr. Jarrett proposes, the expense and buUc of printed books, which is already too great, would become intolerable. In like manner he suggests that, in order to render the Persian character intelligible, the vowel points should be inserted, and "the silly habit of using ornamental writing " should be discon- tinued. A degree of legibility superior to that which belongs to ordinary Persian writing would, no doubt, be attained by these means, though it would still fall far short of the clearness of Eoman writing, in which the vowels are inserted in the lines ; but writing would become as slow as a schoolboy's copy. The Persian letters are subject to this unfortunate condition, that if written quickly they are illegible, and if written legibly they require too much time, and in printing, too much expense and space, for the vowel points must be put either above or below the line. As regards the connexion between the different Indian dialects, the short statement of the case is, that, setting aside barbarous hill tribes which have no written character, the languages north of the Kishna and Grodaveri bear the same relation to Sanskrit as Spanish and Italian do to Latin ; and the languages south of those rivers bear a closer relation to Sanskrit than English does to Latin and its derivative Norman French, because the Brahminical invaders communicated to those Southern people their religion, their literature, their science, and, to a great extent, their governmental, artistic, and social terms. What does Mr. Jarrett mean by saying, in reference to Hindustani: "Every language that has long been written possesses prescriptive right to its own alphabet, and in most cases all attempts to transcribe it in any other will fail to attain accuracy " ? Is he not aware that the same langtiage, with only a difference of dialect which is less than prevailed when I was a boy between Somersetshire and Northumber- land, is expressed by one set of characters in the Punjab, by another in Eajpootana, by another in Behar and Benares, and so on ; and that the Mahomedans and those who have been educated in the Mahomedan fashion use, in writing the same language, the Persian character, which is different from 250 APPLICATIQN OP THE KOMAN ALPHABET all the rest ? Even this does not represent the full extent of this Babel of letters, for in the same district and place the Pundit uses one character, the local shopkeeper (Bunyan) another, the general merchant another, the person who has received a Persian education another different from them all, and so on. To which of these alphabets has the Hindustani language a " prescriptive right " ? And if " in most cases all attempts to transcribe it in any other will fail to attain ac- curacy," how has wi-itten intercourse been carried on at all among these tens of millions of people speaking the same language? Lastly, to what character have the 99 people out of every 100 who cannot read or write at all a "prescrip- tive right," and what is the system of letters specially appli- cable to the rising generation of this great population, which it is our high duty and privilege to train to a knowledge of better things ? Mr. Jarrett has, I fear, failed to appreciate both the facts of the case and the true nature and scope of the mission of this country in India. In the Times of Saturday, Messrs. Eichardson complaia that Mr. Shakespear's Dictionary, Grammar, Introduction, and Selections are stated to cost nine guineas, whereas they can be purchased for 61. 14s. Many parents, who could ill afford it, know to their grief that the alternative was between the first-mentioned price and depriving their sons of the means of professional instruction ; but I am quite satisfied with the standard of comparison which Messrs. Eichardson's modified statement affords. As no private soldier, and but few persons going to India in the mercantile, indigo, railway, public works, and other occupations, can afford to give 61. 14s. for books which, however desirable, are not absolutely neces- sary; and a considerable proportion even of those who go out in the military, medical, and marine services are obliged to confine themselves to indispensable articles of outfit; it follows that the key of this most important knowledge for themselves, for the people of India, for our whole nation, is taken away from the great majority of our countrymen pro- ceeding thither. But by the simple expedient of the adoption of those letters to which the art of printing was first applied, TO THE LANGtTAGES OF INDIA. 251 and which have been elaborated by the ingentiity of successive generations to a degree of distinctness, compactness, and simplicity which belongs to no other, this difficulty has been overcome. Professor Williams' and Cotton Mather's Easy Introduction, for instance, which comprehends grammar, reading lessons, dialogues, and vocabulary, is to be had for 2s. Qd. Any person of moderate education and ordinary in- telligence might, with the help of this, acquire a fair practical knowledge of Hindustani in three months ; and when to this is added the Bible Society's Anglo-HindustS,ni New Testa- ment and Psalms for say Is., and the Clavis or Dictionary for perhaps 2s., the outfit of the ordinary student will be completed. I am, &c, London, Nov. 15. INDOPHILUS. (32.) SECOND lETTEE OF PEOFESSOK JAKEETT. To the Editor of the Times. Sir, — Having admired the wisdom shown in the letters that have appeared in your paper under the signature of " Indophilus," I feel some hesitation in appearing as in any degree his opponent ; but since he has, in your impression of to-day, appealed to me by name in consequence of my letter of the 12th, I must request you to allow me to reply in a few words. The object of my letter was to show that the difficulty of acquiring an Indian dialect is not necessarily increased to any great amount by the labour of learning the native alphabets ; that the long array of such alphabets might be reduced to two, the Sanskrit and the Arabic ; and, lastly, that unity of language does not really exist throughout India. " Indophilus " says : " I had not intended to answer Mr. 252 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET Jajrett's letter; but I find that, owing to the want of correct information, his letter has made a certain impression. My answer is, that his remedy would be worse than the disease." My reply is, that the disease consists in the use of nu- merous alphabets in writing the various dialects ; the remedy is, to employ only two, from the one or other of which they are all derived, and to write each of these in the simplest possible form. This last condition excludes about 100 con- tractions employed in writing the Sanskrit character, some of which are of a very complicated nature. It is true that by laying aside these contractions we should employ more paper, but we should secure perspicuity, the most important element in every composition, and thus gain time, which is of more worth than paper. To this it may be added, that the disuse of contractions would lead to the employment of smaller types, and thus the "bulk of printed books" need not become intolerable. As to the Arabic character, I did not recommend that all the vowels should be inserted, but that Shakespeax's method should be adopted, which allows of the omission of nearly half the vowel points. " Indophilus " assumes that I am mistaken in supposing that by using the Roman alphabet unity of language would not become apparent throughout India, and in saying, as I did, " There is, I believe, no sort of connexion between the dialects of Northern and Southern India, although the latter borrow words of a technical character from the former;" while " Indophilus " says, " The Southern bear a closer relation to. Sanskrit than English does to Latin and its derivative Norman French." I must, however, demur to this last state- ment ; for, unless we are misinformed by those who have studied the relations existing between the so-called A'ryan and DrSvidian languages, the primitives in these two families of tongues are wholly different. The reasonableness, moreover, of my thinking that the use of the Eoman alphabet would not bring to light the asserted unity of language will be seen by comparing the languages of England and Wales. These are written in the same character, and are, to a great extent, founded on the same primitives, and yet very few Englishmen TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 253 can identify many words in a Welsh book with those he him- self employs. "Indophilus" inquires: " What does Mr. Jarrett mean by say- ing, in reference to Hindustdni, ' Every language that has long been written possesses prescriptive right to its own alphabet ; and, in most cases, all attempts to transcribe it in any other will fail to attain accuracy ' ? " What I mean is this : Greek words are best written in Greek letters, and consequently the Greek patriots were not a little astonished, some years ago, at being invited by a Philhellene to adopt the Eoman alphabet. Hebrew Bibles are best printed in the Hebrew character ; the Persians and Turks having long used the Arabic alphabet, it would be something like presumption to ask them all to lay it aside ; the Sanskrit character, in its various modifications, having been for many ages employed inwriting A'ryan words, it would be unwise to replace it by another ; while the Hin- dustani being derived mainly, in various proportions, from Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic, should be written'in the simplest form, either of the Sanskrit or Arabic character, and in no other. " Indophilus " asks further, " To what character have the 99 people out of 100 who cannot read or write at all a prescriptive right ? " I reply, to that character which best suits their language, and least separates them from the rest of their nation, without reference to their present ignorance. I am. Sir, Your obedient servant, THOS. JAEEETT. The College, Ely, Nov. 16. 254 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET (33.) FIRST LETTEK OF PROFESSOR MONIER WILLIAMS ON THE NATIVE ALPHABETS OP INDIA. To the Editor of the Tvmes.* Sir, — I have watched with interest the controversy relative to the Indian alphabets. The subject is most important as con- nected with the progress of European civilisation in the East, and you have earned the gratitude of every friend of India by opening your columns to its discussion. This question, how- ever, like every other, has two sides, or rather is multilateral, and it is characteristic of the cautious Englishman to weigh and balance conflicting views before committing himself to the adoption of any new theory. The truth is, we are not naturally a crotchety people. If crotchety men there be among us, they are not trusted. They are looked upon with almost as much suspicion as monomaniacs. No scheme wiU " go down " with the English public, which is not founded on plain practical common sense. If, therefore, the theory of introducing one simple alphabet throughout India be the conceit of an enthusiast, we have only to leave it alone. Its doom is inevitable. If, on the other hand, it rests on sound principles of reason and feasibility, its adoption becomes a mere question of time. Truth is too strong for prejudice, and though the battle be long, the victory must come at last. The whole matter is safe in the hands of a shrewd, matter of fact, discriminating British pubUc. As, however, all sides have now had their say, I may, per- haps, be permitted to pass briefly in review the various phases which this question has assumed. And first, let me observe that the principle on which " In- dophilus" and the other advocates of the Roman alphabet found their arguments seems to be absolutely incontrovertible. No one can dispute the desirableness of one common medium of expression for the Babel of languages current in our Indian * This letter appeared in the "Times" of December 31st, 1858. TO THE LANGl/AGES OF INDIA. 255 empire ; and no one, I presume, will call in question the com- parative simplicity of the Eoman alphabet, and the superior facility it affords for cheap and easy printing. Accordingly the opponents of Indophilus have not at- tempted to contravene these propositions. Their tactics have been different. Some have tried ridicule. This is always a popular method of attack. No weapons are so easily wielded as those which meet arguments by sneers. But steel your- self, " Indophilus." George Stephenson, before you, bore the brunt of a whole nation of sneerers. Fortunately he was not troubled with too sensitive a cuticle, and the world is now blessed with railroads. A few have resorted to personal scurrility, and have imputed mercenary motives to the origi- nators of this movement. These are even less deserving of notice than the last. Our business is more with those antagonists who assume what may be called the orthodox attitude. These deliver their opinion with temper and courtesy, and are worthy of deference. First, then, we have had it asserted by one of your corre- spondents that there are only two principa^l alphabets in India, the Devan5,gari or Sanskrit, and the Arabic, and that all the others are modifications of these two. The most that can be said of this statement (though no one, by the by, has yet contradicted it) is that it conveys a very inadequate, if not erroneous, impression of the fact. Instead of two principal alphabets there are at least five, as follows: — 1st. The Devanigari, or Nagari, read from left to right, for the learned Sanskrit, and all the Hindu dialects founded on Sanskrit, such as Hindi, Mardthi, Grujarathi, Bengali, Uriya, Sindhi, and Kasmirian. Each of the latter, however, has its own modifications, or rather corruptions, amotmting in some cases to almost separate alphabets, so that even in the Bengali, which is the most nearly allied to the Sanskrit, some of the letters are totally different in shape. 2. The Arabic, read from right to left, for Arabic, and modified considerably for Persian, Hindustani, and Pushtu, being all Muhammadan languages. As the Arabic and Sans- krit languages are utterly distinct, and have nothing what- 256 APPLICATION OP THE HOMAN ALPHABET ever in common, so no two systems of writing could possibly be imagined more opposed to each other in every particular than the Devan^gari and Arabic. 3. The Telugu, for its own language and for Kanarese (the former being spoken in the Niz&m's country and the Circars, the latter in part of Mysore and Kanara). This is quite a distinct character, though, like the Devandgari, it is read from left to right, and has equivalents for all the Sanskrit sounds. As the square symmetry of the N&ga.ii and the flowing cm-ves of the Persi-Arabic symbolise the characteristic peculiarities of the Sanskrit and Persian languages respec- tively, so the rounded shape of the Telugu letters is typical of the softness of this Italian of the East. 4. The Tamil, for its own language (spoken at Madras and southwards to Cape Comorin). This, again, is quite a dis- tinct character from any of the preceding, and differs also from the Telugu in being too scanty to represent all the sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet. 5. The MalayS,lam, for its own language, called also Mala- bar (spoken in Travancore and Malabar). This, also, is quite a separate character, although, like the Telugu, it has equi- valents for all the Sanskrit sounds. Whatever may be said about remote affinities, each of the above five alphabets has an individuality of its own so decided, that a knowledge of any one of the five would not lessen the amount of labour required for the mastery of any one of the others. Moreover, the first, or Devandgari, has so many corruptions, that a description of them with anything short of the unlimited range of your columns would be impossible. Suffice it to say that they dififer in every province, and that in most instances the debasement is so complete as to create a nearly distinct alphabet. For example, let a Sanskrit Scholar be asked to read for the first time a sentence either in the Kaithi or Mah&jani as commonly written by the natives. Not a word would he be able to decipher, although these are said to be nothing but modifications of the NS,garL Again, it was stated by the same correspondent that every language has a prescriptive right to its own character. The G-reeks, it is said, would be rather astonished at being asked TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 257 to adopt the Eoman character. This is specious enough. The answer, however, is plain. The Greek character being quite as simple as the Eoman, and equally convenient for printing and reading, no one would of course think of sup- planting it by the Roman, especially as the difference between European alphabets is so small. But if in Europe there were 22 languages, each with a character to all practical purposes distinct from the other ; if most of these, again, had their two or three corrupt forms, and if one and all, from the peculiar structure of the letters, from the number of com- pound forms and the total absence of punctuation, were quite unadapted to meet the demands of a growing civilisation for an abundant supply of cheap, clearly printed, readable books, then I think this orthodox notion of "prescriptive right" must give way to other considerations of infinitely greater moment. The Hindu has a prescriptive right to his own religion with its million gods, to his own science, his own mechanical arts and usages of all kinds. But does any one in his senses hold that this is any reason why we should not give him the advantage of our superiority in all these respects by any means in our power, if, at least, our mission in India is to be anything but a mockery ? But it is said : " Every language has its own character, which properly belongs to it, and must therefore suit it best, and all attempts to transcribe it into any other must fail of accuracy." This sounds very just and sensible ; but a more untenable proposition with reference to Hindustg-ni could scarcely have been advanced. Hindustani (or Urdu, as it is sometimes called) is a dialect which cannot be much older than the 14th century of owe era. In one respect it resembles all other languages. It reflects exactly the history of the people who speak it. These, like ourselves, are a mixed race, formed by the conglomeration of successive immigrants, such as Brahmins (or A'ryans), Arabs, Moguls, Persians, Portu- guese, French, and English, with an aboriginal tribe of inhabitants. The natural result of this jumbling together of dissimilar races has been a very patchwork mosaic-like dia- lect, even more composite in its structure than onir own mother-tongue. This mixed language, then, taking its origin 258 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET in the court and camp of the Mogul emperors at Delhi, and settling down into the vernacular speech of the north-western districts, has within the last two centuries diffused itself all over India as a common medium of communication, which educated people acquire, like French in Europe, as a sup- plement to their native tongue. When, however, the Eng- lish appeared in the East, Hindustani was hardly a written language. The question then arose. What alphabet was to he employed in writing it? Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, all claimed it as their own. Was it to be the Arabic ? — but this alphabet wanted four letters which are common enough in Persian words viz. p, ch, zh, and g. Was it, then, to be the Persian (i. e. Persianised Arabic)? — but this alphabet again wanted three letters much used in words purely Hindu, and denoted in Eoman type by t, d, and r. Lastly, Was it to be the Sanskrit? — but this was the most unsuitable of all, for it could not express nine very common letters, some of which must occur in every Une of Hindustani, viz. the four z's, the Persian zh, the three guttural consonants khe, 'ain gain, and the labial fe. The difficulty, therefore, of finding a suitable alphabet ended in a compromise. It was decided that, as four new letters had been added by the Persians to the Arabic alphabet, so three others should be invented to adapt the Persian to the expression of Hindust&m. This was a necessary concession to the Persian element in Hin- dustS,ni ; for in those days Persian was the language of edu- cation and the vehicle of higher learning among Indian Musalmfi,ns. But a similar concession had to be made to the Hindu element; and the Devandgari, which wanted nine letters, was forced to adapt itself to Arabic and Persian words by the employment of various awkward diacritical marks. Hence it came about that Hindust&ni, which had no alphabet of its own, was written sometimes in Persian, sometimes in DevanS.gdri characters, according to the promi- nence given to the MusalmS,n or Hindu element. Now, however, that our own language is gradually winning its way to the position formerly occupied by Persian, and the influences which once operated in favoui" of the usages of the Musalmdn conquerors now act more strongly in the direction TO THE LANGUAaES OF INDIA. 259 of the English, --so much so, indeed, that the ideas, speech, literature, and laws of Hindus and Musalmfins are daily becoming more Anglicised, — it follows that the mixed dialect which is meant to be the medium of intercourse between the races (whether called Hindustani, Urdu, Eekhta, or by any other name) has as much right to be written in the Eoman as in the Persian or NS-gari alphabets. And since, cceteris paribus, the Eoman alphabet is by far the most simple and flexible of the three, being more easily adapted to Persian and NS,gari words than either Nagari to Persian and English, or Persian to NS.gari and English ; and since, moreover, it has already been employed increasingly for twenty-five years in expressing this mixed dialect, it does not seem too much to predict that our good old English A B C is likely ere long to establish its claim to be considered the Hindustani alphabet. But the correspondents of some journals have demurred to the assertion that the Indian alphabetical signs are wanting in simplicity, and deny that they need cause any difficulty either to the printer or the reader. The mastery of these alphabets, say they, is " an affair of twenty-four or at the most of forty-eight hours." * Those who make such allega- tions can have had small experience of teaching Englishmen to read Oriental characters. Nor would their statements have passed unchallenged, did they not shelter themselves under cover of the ignorance that prevails on the subject of Indian writing. Permit me, then, in consideration of the vast moment of the topic under discussion, to trespass further on your space by a brief account of the Arabic and Deva-n%arl systems, as the two most important of the five I have described as current in India. * Diligent and apt scholars may perhaps acquire a certain knowledge of the Persian letters in that time ; but mere knowledge of the letters is one thing and fluent reading is another. Even in English we should be much hindered by the absence of all vowels. Much more so in Persian or Hindustini, where the dots which constitute the sole dis- tinction between many of the consonants are also often omitted or dis- placed. As to the Nagari alphabet, my own experience of teaching it to 600 or 700 students at Haileybury enables me to afiirm that it requires at least two months for the most apt scholar to read it fluently ; that the majority do not master it in twice that time, and that some, though they know all the letters, never acquire the power of reading it without hesi- tation. 8 2 260 APPLICATION OP THE ROMAN ALPHABET And first as tb the Ai-abic. It is a mistake to suppose that the Indian Musalmans make use of the regular Arabic cha- racter, commonly called Naskhi. What they do use is the Persianised Arabic, called Ta'lik ; a beautiful flowing cha^ racter, which, though derived from the Naskhi, differs from it even more than round-hand from print. Let the merely Arabic scholar be presented with a book lithographed in this type (in the manner of all Indian Musalman books), and he could read little or nothing of it. But the character in vogue for common correspondence is neither the Naskhi nor the Ta'lik, but the Shikasta, or " broken " writing, which stands in the same relation to the Ta'lik that the most frightful scrawl of some overworked M.P. might be supposed to bear to the broad text-hand of his secretary. Years of practice are necessary to enable a man to read this character readily. But the difficulty of reading both the Ta'lik and the Shikasta is not caused by the number of letters in the Persian alphabet, though this is greater than in the Eoman, and complicated, moreover, by no less than four z's, besides duplicates and triplicates of other symbols. "What creates the difficulty is, that every letter has four separate forms, according as it is initial, medial, final, or detached ; and that groups of three, four, five, or even six letters are shaped exactly alike, being only distinguishable from each other by the number and position of their dots. Further hindrance to the reader is caused by the omission of the vowel-points, which do, in fact, court neglect, for the simple reason that they are not written continuously with the other letters of a word, but added after- wards above and below the line. A Musalm&n leaves out his vowels much as an Englishman leaves out the dots to his i's, only more systematically. Furthermore, he has far less scruple about amputating, decapitating, or otherwise mutilat- ing his consonants than we have ; and this looseness is not confined to handwriting, but is often carried into printed or lithographed books. Nor could the case be well otherwise, when, by the very nature of the character, nearly all the vowels and consonants depend for their distinction on supple- ;mentary points or marks, like our two letters i and t. The less broadly marked the differences of alphabetical signs, the TO THE LANGUAGES OP INDIA. 261 more, of course, will any inaccuracy or omission affect legi- bility. What confusion worse confounded would result in English if the vowels were formed by strokes above and below the line, and if many of the consonants (as, for example, b, p, t, n, y, s) had no distinction of shape excepting in the position of minute dots, which in printing were liable to break off or run into each other, and in writing were per- petually omitted or displaced I And yet this is exactly what takes places in the Persian character, shortening, it may be, the process of writing, but reducing it to a species of hopelessly difficult stenography. But fm-ther, the Musalmfin being forbidden by his religion to paint animals, is forced to de- velope his SBSthetical tendencies in the direction of calli- graphy. For every-day purposes he pens the vilest scrawl; but on other occasions he makes a picture of his writing ; he sets about it as he would about drawing or miniature-painting ; every stroke is studied ; he dispenses with all vowel points because they offend the eye ; he groups his dots as he would .the figures in a landscape; he allows himself unlimited license in the way of ciirves and flomishes ; he cares nothing about legibility ; his sole object is to carry out his ideas of " the beautiful " in penmanship. For these reasons, then, the Persi-Arabic character, how- ever pleasing in appearance, can never be anything but very unreadable, very unprintable, and wholly unadapted to meet the requirements of advancing knowledge and civilisation in the East. And now a few words in explanation of the Deva-ndgari or Hindu system. This, although deficient in two important symbols (represented in the Eoman by z and /), is on the whole the most perfect and symmetrical of all known alphabets. The evil is, that, like Lord EUenborough's Bill for the government of India, it is too perfect for the practical purposes of this utilitarian age. The Hindus hold that it came directly from the gods (whence its name) ; and truly its wonderful adaptation to the symmetry of the sacred Sanskrit seems almost to raise it above the levelof human invention?. One main feature of this system is that the vowel a is never written, unless initial. This sound is supposed to be in-u s 3 262 APPLICATION OF THE KOMAN ALPHABET herent in every simple coneonant, so that to denote its absence consonants have to he linked together into one compound. For example, in writing such a word as " kirtsnya," to prevent the sounding of "a " excepting at the end, the letters "rtsny " require to be tied together in a sort of complex knot or mo- nogram. Hences arises the necessity for 400 or 500 compound letters in addition to these 60 simple ones. Indeed, no Sans- krit fount of types is complete without 600, 700, or even 800 different sorts, simple and compound. One of your corre- spondents proposes to deal very summarily with these trouble- some compounds. Without more ado he would oblige the natives to get rid of them altogether, and content themselves with the moderate allowance of 60 simple letters. I submit, however, that these conjunct consonants are essential to the integrity of the Deva-nS.gari system, and to ask the natives to dispense with them is to ask them to do rather more than to accept the Eoman character. It is to tell them to abolish everything which makes their own revered system of writing the most perfect and elaborate in the world. Unfortunately, ^ in this instance perfection is associated with utter unsuit- ableness to the common necessities of the age; in further proof of which it may be mentioned that in this character the vowel i, when not initial, has to be written before the letter after which it is pronoimced. Thus, such a word as the English " innings " wotdd have to be written " iinnngs ; " again, in such a word as " armed," the e and r would have to change places. Good reasons might be given for these alpha- betical niceties, but if we are to infuse any of our practical spirit into the Hindu mind, it is impossible that such a system of writing, however theoretically correct, can long be applied to the expression of the vernacular dialects. We have no need to meddle with the sacred Sanskrit. This time-honoured and venerable language, the repository of all the learning and literature of the Hindus, may be allowed undisputed possession of its own " divine " character, to which it has the exclusive right. But Sanskrit, be it re- membered, is now a dead language. Nay, more; it was never spoken and never intended to be spoken in the way it is at present written. The spoken Sanskrit, which is found TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 263 on the rock-inscriptions of 300 years B.C., and which is the direct source of all the languages now current among the Hindus, was a kind of patois, as different from the learned Sanskrit as Italian from Latin ; and this patois had its own written character quite distinct from the present form of the Deva-nagarL* As for the common purposes of speech a less artificial language was required, so for ordinary writing it was necessary to employ a less elaborate chai-acter. And if this was the case in olden times, why shoiild not the vernaculars of the present day be more suitably expressed by the simpler Eoman alphabet ? Even the majestic Sanskrit condescends to bend to this unpretending, yet all-embracing character. In Oriental books printed in England and Calcutta English types have been applied with complete success to the ex- pression of Sanskrit words. But our concern is not with the dead. Let Sanskrit lie embalmed in its hallowed Deva-na- gari. For the living languages alone we ask a commoner alphabet, more suited to a workday age. A great deal has been said about the danger of " disgusting the susceptibilities " and offending the tastes of the natives of India, as if the attempt to introduce the Eoman character might bring about a second mutiny. Be it known, however, that there is no more wish to force this alphabet on our Indian fellow-subjects than there is to force them to adopt our views of religion and science. The only desire we have is, that every opportunity be taken of placing the Eoman character before them, and of inducing them to use itf ; that * Although no traces of the present Deva-n&gari are discoverable till about the 10th century of our era, yet it must have existed long before; for how could the imperfect inscription characters have expressed the perfect Sanskrit, which had its P4nini, its Manu, its Eam4yana, &c., in the 3rd century B.C. ? The Sanskrit-speaking immigrants must have brought with them their own character, or invented it very early, reserving to it the exclusive privilege of expressing their sacred language. The Brahmins themselves never addressed the people in these inscriptions, as they never sought political power. Those who did so would of course employ the spoken patois, and the vulgar characters current among the people. f What could be more reasonable than the suggestion which has appeared in the Times, that natives should be allowed to write their petitions in the Roman character ? They would thus insure the perusal of these documents by the authorities to whom they were addressed. S 4 264 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET after convincing themselves of its practical superiority to their own, they may voluntarily adopt it. The talk about the impolicy of encouraging Englishmen to neglect the study of the native characters, as if that involved a neglect of the languages, is equally superfluous. Let it be plainly understood, that, by printing the Indian vernaculars in English letters, we have no intention of subserving the indolence of a number of young men, who are bound, as the future rulers of the country, to acquire a thorough knowledge of these languages. What we hold, however, is, that we are likely to have more good scholars by rendering the study of the Oriental dialects easier and less repulsive to Englishmen at first, than by disgusting them with a strange and diflBcult tongue, and a still stranger and more diflficult character, simultaneously ; and that while we aim at the adoption of our own alphabet by Hindus and MusalmS,ns, we do not there- fore desire the neglect of the native alphabets by Englishmen. On the contrary, as long as the inhabitants of India use their own systems of writing, it is the plain duty of all Anglo- Indians to study them. We only affirm, with the great Dr. GKlchrist, that the pronunciation and inflection of words, with the general construction of Indian languages, are more obvious to Englishmen in an English dress, and that "there is nothing to prevent learners from afterwards making them- selves masters of whatever character they find most essential." In short, we have no wish by this movement to encourage negUgence in the study of the native dialects, but the reverse. Nor have we any hope, for generations to come, of fusing the twenty-two languages of India into one common tongue, or of ever supplanting them by English. We cannot change the organs of speech; but what we can do let us do by all means, and with all speed consistent with discretion. Let us gradually, and in a Chiistian spirit of conciliation, induce our Indian fellow-subjects to adopt our views of religion and science, to study our language and literature, to benefit by our mechanical knowledge and our various appliances for economising time, labour, and money. As a principal means to this end let us take every opportunity of commending to theu' use a common character, adapted to the expression TO THE LANOTAOES OF INDIA. 265 of all then' languages, and bringing all those languages into community, so far, with our own; a character which, in- suring cheap and rapid printing on the one hand, and easy- reading on the other, may be made a potent engine, not only for promoting intercourse between the European and Asiatic races, but for diffusing education among the millions of Hindus who have never yet learned to read and write. As surely as railroads, electric telegraphs, steam-printing, penny postage, and every other Em-opean improvement, must in due time find their way into the remotest corners of om" Eastern empire, so surely must the simple Eoman alphabet, with Christian instruction in its train, take the place of the complicated symbols which now obstruct the path of knowledge and enlightenment. I have the honour to be, Sii-, Your faithful servant, MONIEE WILLIAMS. Cheltenham, Decemher 29, 1858. (34.) THIRD LETTER OF PROFESSOR JARRETT. To the, Editor of the Trnies. Sir, -r- Two letters from me on this subject appeared in the Times, one on the 12th of November, and a second on the 18th of that month, the former being occasioned by an unsigned article which appeared November the 10th, and the latter by a letter signed " Indophilus " in your paper of November the 16th, in which I was called on by name to explain my first letter. Professor Monier Williams, in a letter published in the Times of December the 31st, calls in question the accuracy of my statement as to the essentially difierent alphabets used in India. I said on the 18th of November: "The object of my letter was to show that the difficulty of acquiring an Indian dialect is not necessarily increased to any great 266 APPLIOATIOH OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET amount by the labour of learning the native alphabets ; that the long array of such alphabets might be reduced to two, the Sanskrit and the Arabic ; and, lastly, that unity of lan- guage does not really exist throughout India." Professor Williams remarks : " The most that can be said of this statement (though no one, by the by, has yet con- tradicted it) is that it conveys a very inadequate, if not erroneous, impression of the fact. Instead of two principal alphabets, there are at least five." The three additional alphabets mentioned by Professor WiUiams are the Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam. In answer to this charge of iu- accuracy I may be permitted to quote, first, the Eev. E. Caldwell, the best authority I know on the subject, and then Professor Williams himself. The former gentleman, in his most valuable Comparatwe Gram/mar of the Drdvidian or South-Indian Fa/mUy of Languages, has this passage, page 93 : — " There are three different Dr&vidian alphabets at present in use, viz. the Tamil, the Malayalam, and the Telugu- Canarese." These, " together with their older, but now obsolete shapes, and the ' Grrantham,' or character iu which Sanskrit is written in the Tarnil country, have aU been derived, I conceive, from the early Deva-nS,gari, or from the still earlier characters that are contained in the cave iuscrip- tions, — characters which have been altered and disguised by natural and local influences, and especially by the custom, universal in the Deccan, of writing on the leaf of the palmyra palm with an iron stylus. Thus, there is reason to conclude that all the alphabetical characters which are used, or known, •in Southern India have a common origin, and that their origin is the same as that of all the existing alphabets of Northern India, namely, the system of characters in which Sanskrit was written by the ancient Brahmans." Thus far Mr. Caldwell. Professor Monier Williams has prefixed to his very useful Sanskrit Grrammar what he calls, "a table of the various modifications of the Deva-n&gari alphabet, both ancient and modern, from the date of the earliest in- scriptions to the present time." This table, then, teaches us to consider the modern character (which Professor Wil- TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 267 liams calls perfect) as the best representative of 13 different forms, among which are those which Mr. Caldwell pro- nounces to be the origin of all the Southern alphabets. Surely, then, I did not say anything very inaccurate when I affirmed that the modern Deva-nagari might be conve- niently and advantageously used for all of them, seeing that they all are modifications of the same characters, and were meant to express^ the same sounds. Professor Williams says, also : " No Sanskrit fount of types is complete without 600, 700, or even 800 sorts, simple and compoimd. One of your correspondents proposes to deal very summarily with these troublesome compounds. Without more ado, he would oblige the natives to get rid of them altogether, and content themselves with the moderate allowance of 60 simple letters. I submit, however, that these conjunct consonants are essential to the integrity of the Deva-nS,gari system, and to ask the natives to dispense with them is to ask them to do rather more than accept the Roman character. It is to tell them to abolish everything which makes their own revered system of writing the most perfect and elaborate in the world." In answer to this, allow me to say that, though I have been familiar with the Sanskrit alphabet for nearly thirty years, this is the first time I have heard that " conjunct consonants are essential" to that alphabet. Professor Wil- liams knows full well that by using the virdma all such " monograms " may be avoided ; and in a note to his letter he supplies the strongest possible argument against their use. He there says: "As to the Nagari alphabet, my own ex- perience of teaching it to 600 or 700 students at Haileybury enables me to affirm that it requires at least two months for the most apt scholar to read it fluently ; that the majority do not master it in twice that time, and that some, though they know all the letters, never acquire the power to read it without hesitation." Surely this statement is enough to prove that these monograms merit the fate of those Greek contractions that formerly puzzled ingenious youth. If they are thus laid aside, I venture to predict that a week will be ample time for any youth of average talent to learn to read Sanskrit words with fluency. 268 APPLICATION OF THE SOMAN ALPHABET With reference to the Arabic alphabet, as enlarged by diacritical points. Professor Williams accuses me of main- taining a most untenable proposition, in saying that Hin- dustani ought to be written either in that character or Sanskrit. As a matter of fact, it is written sometimes in one and sometimes in the other. It is true that additional diacritical points are needed to express certain modifications of t, d, and r, and it is also true that double letters are re- quired to express by the Arabic alphabet the Sanskrit aspi- rates ; but it is equally true that Professor WilHams needs both these contrivances to express HindustS,ni sounds by Eoman characters. If, then, the Muslims of India will cease from " developing sesthetical tendencies in the direc- tion of calligi'aphy," and confine themselves to writing a plain hand on a uniform model; and if this is rigorously exacted in official documents, we shall hear little more of the difficulty of reading Hindustani when written in the native character, I am, Sir, Your faithful servant, Ely, January 4, 1859. THOMAS JABRETT. (35.) SECOND LETTER OF PKOFESSOE MONIEE WILLIAMS. To the Editor of the Times. Sir, — I had hoped that, a long interval having elapsed since the publication of Professor Jarrett's first letters on the alphabets of India, my own communication might have been regarded as a general review of the question, rather than as an opening for further controversy, especially as I carefully abstained from mentioning names. Your readers are doubtless weary of the topic, and I feel reluctant to trespass further on your indulgence and their patience. Nevertheless, it is only due to the vast importance of this TO THE LANGUAOES OF INDIA, 269 inquiry to attempt to clear the ground of the perplexity in which it has hecome involved by Professor Jarrett's last letter. I must, therefore, crave permission to recapitulate in a few words my former statements. 1. There are five quite distinct characters current in India, viz. the Nigari, the Arabic, the Telugu, the Tamil, and the Malay^lam. 2. The corruptions of these, and especially of the N^ari, which are also current in various provinces, depart so widely from their first models, that a large number of additional alphabets are created, practically distinct from the original five. 3. One and all of these alphabets (and especially the two principal), from the peculiar structure of the letters, from the number of compound forms, from the absence of punctiiation, and other considerations, are quite unadapted to meet the demands of advancing knowledge for a supply of cheap, clearly printed, readable books. 4. The Eoman alphabet, however inferior in beauty and elaboration to the native systems, possesses manifest advan- tages in compactness, clearness, simplicity, cheapness, and an ample equipment of stops and other modern appliances. 5. Hindustani, which is the mixed dialect used all over India as a common medium of communication, is written with as much suitableness in the Eoman character as in the Arabic, Persian, or N&gari, and has been so written increas- ingly for the last 25 years. 6. To advance the cause of Christianity and civilisatioD, to promote intercourse between the mixed races of India, and to bring their languages into some sort of community with each other and with our own, every means should be taken to familiarise the natives with our simple alphabet, by allow- ing them to write their petitions in this character, by em- ploying it in Grovemment documents, by teaching it in missionary and other schools, by circulating vernacular books printed in English type throughout the length and breadth of the land. Such is the substance of what I advanced in my first letter, and to these propositions, with all deference to Professor 270 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET Jarrett, whose opinion is entitled to respect, I still adhere. In replying to them, Professor Jarrett has, in fact, confined himself to the first, to that part of the third which relates to the NS.gari, and to the fifth. As to the first, if Professor Jarrett wished to prove to the satisfaction of the puhlic that the Telugu, Tamil, and Malay- Slam alphabets are all three merely modifications of the Deva-nS,gari, he ought to have pointed out in what respects they resemble that character and each other ; instead of which he has first quoted a passage from Mr. Gald/welVs Comparative Oram/mwr, and then, by a reference to a table in my Sanslcrit Gram/mar, attempted to show that I am inconsistent with myself. It must strike every one as unsatisfactory that he should found all his arguments against me on a detached passage, separated from its context. Heresies of all kinds have been supported in a similar manner. I could of course just as easily extract a sentence or two from Mi-, Caldwell's book in corroboration of my own views. As it happens, how- ever, I had the very passage quoted by Professor Jarrett in my mind when I wrote in my first letter, " Whatever may be said about remote aflBnities, each of the five alphabets (of India) has an individuality of its own so decided, that a knowledge of any one of the five would not lessen the amount of labour required for the mastery of any one of the others." "What does it signify that four alphabets are said to have had a primeval relationship, or to have started from a common source, if they are known to have diverged in opposite direc- tions, and settled down into shapes as wide asunder as the four quarters of the compass ? Let comparative philologists, if they will, trace all the languages and all the alphabets of the world to a common origin. We practical Englishmen look only to present differences. It is enough for us that the five alphabets of India are now as distinct in shape as any five alphabets can be. What consolation is it to poor matter of fact students, who have to toil up five separate steep and rugged paths, to be told that they all have a common point of departure ? The differences to us are real, whatever philo- logists may say. We know the story of Dr, Johnson, who, when he was told by a philosopher that matter had no real TO THE LANatTAGES OF INDIA. 271 existence, kicked his foot against some hai-d substance, proving thereby that, to himself at least, it had. In like manner, let every one who doubts the real distinction of the five Indian alphabets satisfy himself by merely using his eyes and examining them. But Professor Jarrett appeals to a table in my Sanskrit Grammar. This table is not mine, but Mr. James Prinsep's, as stated in my note. It was originally procured to illustrate an elaborate edition of Mr. Prinsep's Essays, by Mr. Thomas, and was lent to me by the editor and publisher of that work. Its use in my book is to show that the modern perfect N%ari is generally quite distinct in shape from the old imperfect inscription characters, and that its corruptions also are so distinct as to constitute nearly separate systems. This is consistent with what I formerly asserted, and as the Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam alphabets have no place in the table, I do not see what the table has to do with the question. It is true that the South-Indian characters, especially the Telugu, are said to be derived from the inscription symbols ; but if these latter bear no direct resemblance to the modern NS,gari, that can only prove that the South-Indian and DevanS,gari are distinct. The fact is, that as the South-Indian languages have no essential community with the Sanskrit, so the characters which express them are essentially different. It may be safely af- firmed that a native of India, who only knew any one of the South-Indian alphabets, would have far more difficulty in learning to write N^gari than our Eoman letters. If, then, he is to be compelled to give up his own system for an alphabet quite different in shape, he had better adopt the simple Eoman than the complex Sanskrit. Professor Jarrett reminds me that I said the Sanskrit was "perfect;" let me also remind him that I added that it was too perfect and too elaborate for the wants of a workday age. As to the part of my third statement which is explanatory of the Sanskrit alphabetical system. Professor Jarrett says that "it is the first time he has heard that conjunct consonants are essential to the Sanskrit alphabet." I submit that I made no such assertion. What I said was that conjxmct con- 272 APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET sonants are essential to the integrity of the Devanftgari system, and this I still maintain. It is a mere confusion of the question to compare the Nfigari compound letters with the Grreek contractions. They have no real analogy. The Sans- krit conjunct consonants (which, indeed, are not always con- tractions *) arose out of what I described as a main feature of the Ndgari system, viz. the inherence of the vowel a in every consonant. They may he said to constitute the very backbone of that system, because without them the rules for the conjunction of letters (called Sandhi) could not hold together with consistency. Professor Jarrett alleges that the mark called virwma might always be employed to prevent the use of these conjunct letters. Let me explain that the mrdma is a stroke like one of our stops, placed under a con- sonant to denote that no vowel is pronounced after it. The natives, however, only use it as a stop at the end of a sentence terminating in a consonant. In printing Oriental books in England we have sometimes applied this symbol, with what Pundits would consider undue license, to separate words whose final and initial consonants are strictly in conjunction. Even in this country, however, we have never gone the length of perverting the virama to the aboUtion of all com- pound letters. This would be, in the eyes of a Pimdit, to destroy the very vertebrje of the Sanskrit system of Sandhi. What would a Brahmin think of being made to write kdrtsnya (Anglice, " the whole " ) with four vi/ra/mas or stops in the middle of the word ? His prejudices would be less shocked by asking him to write it in the Roman character. Let the Brahmin, then, keep his Sanskrit and his Sandhi intact. Why mutilate and disfigure his venerated alphabet? We cannot bring life out of a dead thing by cutting it in pieces. This " rigorous exaction " of stops in the middle of words would only offend the educated natives, without adapting their alphabet to the requirements of living tongues in an age of rapidly advancing knowledge. I now come to the only other proposition disputed by Professor Jarrett. In order to prove that Hindustfi.ni, or the * In many compounds (sucb as dw, nk, kk, khw) there is no contrac- tion, the letters being merely placed one above the other. TO THE LANGXTAGES OP INDIA. 273 mixed dialect, cannot suitably be expressed by English letters, he says that diacritical points are needed in the Eoman type just as much as in the Arabic and NS,gari. . Granted. But this does not place the Eoman type in a worse position than the others. They all three labour alike under this disadvantage ; but let any one note the advantages which I have described as possessed by the Eoman alphabet over the Arabic and NS.gari in other respects, especially in its better adaptation to English, 'N&gari, and Persian words, than either the N^gari to English and Persian, or the Persian to English and Ndgari. The other day a copy of the Queen's proclamation in Hiur dustani or Urdu (i. e. the mixed language of the camp), published in an Indian Grovernment gazette, and printed in Persian characters, came in my way. I found that a con- siderable portion of the words (such as " governor-general," " government," " council," " East India Company,'' &c.) in- troduced into the Urdu were English. All these words would have been far more suitably expressed in Eoman type than in Persian ; and when our permanent Urdu, or camp, of 80,000 soldiers shall have settled down in different parts of India, will not the Urdu, or camp language, which is meant to supply a medium of communication between the English soldiers and the natives, have a greater claim than ever to be expressed in English letters ? The inquiry may be thus summed up. A perfect maze of alphabets exists in India. They may be compared to a con- fusion of roads, leading in opposite directions, crossing and recrossing each other and branching into a complication of by-paths. They are all, however, so hilly, so circuitous, so blocked up with thorns and surrounded with difficulties, that traffic and intercourse are much impeded. Two remedies are proposed for this state of things. Professor Jarrett's proposi- tion is that nothing new should be introduced. He would take the means of communication already existing, and merge them all into two broad trunk roads (which we may call the Arabic and Nigari). Not a single other road would he allow, and all cross-paths he would utterly abolish. " Indophilus," on the other hand, proposes to leave all the existing highways and cross-roads undisturbed. They are T 274 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET revered by the natives, and the very hills over which they lead are held sacred. Moreover, we cannot level mountains, or make a labyrinth anything but perplexing. But what we can do he considers should be done. Side by side with the native highways, but piercing instead of traversing the hills, we may introduce the simple, straight, level English railroad. We have no need to force the natives to abandon their old means of intercourse. We have only to commend our own greater facilities to their use, and in the end we may be sure they will adopt that method of communication (that alpha- bet, I mean) which combiaes the several requisites of simpli- city, ease, rapidity, cheapness, and adaptation to the necessities of a growing civilisation. Enough, then, of controversy. Let a discriminating public decide which of these courses is the most judicious and practicable. I am. Sir, Your faithful and obliged servant, MONIER WILLIAMS. Cheltenham, Jan. 8th, 1859. (36.) The following letter, from Sir Charles Trevelyan and Sir John Login to the Secretaries of the Bible Society, contains a good summary of the leading objects of the movement, and the appendix marks the practical results to which it has led in this country. Treasury, 2nd December, 1857. Reverend Grentlemen, We beg to recommend to the Committee of the Bible Society, the publication of two editions of the New Testa- ment in the Roman character, — one of them in Hindustani only, and the other in Hindustani and English in parallel columns ; the orthography to be that of Sir William Jones TO THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 275 as modified by the result of the discussions which took place at Calcutta in the year 1834, and now generally adopted by the missionary bodies in the Bengal and Agra Presidencies. The Eev. Cotton Mather, who is editing for the Society the complete HiQdustS.ni Bible with notes and references accord- ing to^the same orthography, informs us that he is ready to undertake to pass these separate editions of the New Testa- ment through the press, without delaying the progress of the principal work. Independently of the general advantages of the applica- tion of the Eoman character to the numerous languages and dialects of India — (which may be summed up as follows : that it substitutes a cheap and legible, for an expensive and indistinct, character ; that it facilitates the acquisition of the native languages by the Enghsh, and of the Enghsh language by the natives ; and that, by making one charac- ter serve for many languages and dialects which have already more or less in common, it will greatly assist general inter- course, and create a tendency towards a common Indian language, of which English will be the connecting link, and the Christian religion the source of inspiration), — the extra- ordinary circumstances of the present time appear in an espe- cial manner to require that all Europeans of whatever rank, proceeding to India to reside there, should be enabled at the smallest possible cost of time and money to become ac- quainted with the native languages, of which Hindustani is the most generally diffused, forming already to a great extent a common medium of communication among all classes of persons in India ; and, for many obvious reasons, no instrument could be had recourse to for this purpose, which would be so replete with benefits of various kinds as the New Testament. We have the honour to be. Reverend Grentlemen, Yoxxr faithful and obedient Servants, (Signed) C. E. TREVELYAN. (Signed) J. LOGIN. The Rev. The Secretaries of the Bible Society. 276 APPLICATION OF THE EOMAN ALPHABET, ETC. [The Bible Society answered this appeal by determining to print 30,000 copies of the Anglo-HindustS,ni New Testa- ment, — 20,000 in English and Hindustani in parallel columns, and 10,000 in Hiadust§,ni only, — all in the Eoman character. These will soon be ready, and will be sold at a very mo- derate price. The following works in the Eoman character have also just issued from the press in this country, or are about to appear : — 1. An Easy Introduction to the Study of Hindustani, ac- companied by a full Syntax, Selections, Vocabulary, and Dia- logues. Price 2s. 6c?. Now ready. 2. A HindustS,ni and English Clavis to the New Testament and Psalms. 3. The B&g-o-Bahi.r, carefully revised, with Preface and Notes. Price about 4s. or 5s. — This is the standard Hin- dustani class-book. 4. An English Translation of the Bdg-o-BahS,r. 5. The Grulist&n, or Eose Garden, by Shaikh Sa'di. — This is the well-known Persian class-book. 6. An English translation of the Grulist^n, 7. The Prem S&gai'. — This is the Hindi class-book, and considered a model of correct Hindi. 8. A translation of the Prem S&gar. All published by Messrs. Longman and Co., of Pater- noster Eow, and all in Eoman type. It is also in contemplation to publish a very simple Hin- dustS,ni Grrammar, for the use of English soldiers in India, to be called "The English Soldier's Hindusta,ni Primer." This will soon, it is hoped, be followed by similar primers in BengS-li and the other vernaculars.] THE END. LONDON PRINTED BY SI'OTTISWOODG AND CO. NBW-STnEET SQtlAltB. LIST of TOEKS in GENEEAL LITEEATUEE rUBLISHED BY Messrs. LON.GMAN, BEOWN, G-EBEN, LONQMANS, and EOBEETS, 39 PATEENOSTEE EOW, LONDOF, CLASSIFIED INDEX. , AgriGnlture and Rural AfEairs. Bayldon on Valuing Bents, &c. - i Cecil's Stud Farm - - - 6 HoikynB'a Talpa - - - - 10 Loudon's Agriculture - - - 12 Low's Elements of Airrieultuifl - 13 Morton on Landed Fropertj' 16 ArtSj Manufactures, and Architecture. Bourne on the Screw Propeller - 4 Brande's Dictionai^ ofSciencCjAc. 4 " Organic ChemiBtry- - i Chevreul on Colour - - - 6 ! Cresy'B Civil Engineering - - 6 j Fairbairn's Informa. for Engineers 7 Gwilt'sEncyclo. of Architecture - 8 Harford's Plates from M. Angelo - 8 I Humphreys's Parables Illuminated 10 j Janaeson'ii Sacred &Legeudary Art 11 " Comraonplace-Book - 11 I Konig's Pictorial Life of Luther - 8 I Loudon's Rural Architecture - 13 ! MacDougall's Campaigns of Han- ! nibal 13 r " Theory of War 13 I Moseley'B Engineering - - 16 ' Piesse's Art of Perfumery - - 17 Richardson's Avt of Horsemanship IS ' Scoffern on Projectiles, &c, - - 19 Scrtvenor on the Iron Trade - - 19 Stark's Printing - - - - ' 22 Steam-Eneine, By the Artisan Club 4 I Ure's Dictionary of ArtSj &c. - 33 Biograpliy. Arago'B Autobiography - - 22 " Lives ofScientific Men - 3 Bodenstedt and Wagner's Schamyl 22 Briftlmont'B Wellington - - 4 Bunsen's Hippolytus - - - 6 Capgrave's Henries - - - g Cockayne's Marshal Turenne - 22 Crosse'B (Andrew) Memorials 7 Forater's De Foe and Churchill 22 Green's Princesses of Enifland - 8 Harford's Life of Michael Angelo - B Hayward'B Chesterfield and Selwyn 22 Holcroft'B Memoirs - - - 22 Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopsedia - 12 Maunder'sBiographical Treasury- 14 Memoir of the DukeofWellington 22 Mountain's (Col.) Memoirs - - 16 Parry's (Admiral) Memoirs - - 17 Rogers's Life and Genius of Fuller 22 EuaseU'B Memoirs of Moore - - IS " (Dr.) Mezzofiinti - - 19 SchimmelPenninck's (Mrs.) Life - 19 Sonthey's Life of Wesley - - 21 •* Life and Correspondence 21 Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography 21 Strickland's Queens of England - 21 Sydney Smith's Memoirs - - 20 Symond's (Admiral) Memoirs - 21 Taylor's Loyola - - - - 21 " Wesley - - 21 ■ Uwins's Memoirs - . - - - 23 Waterton'B Autobiography AEssays 24 , Books of General Utility. 1 Acton's Bread-Book - - - 5 " Cookery - " " " ? Black's Treatise on Brewing - - * Cabinet Gazetteer- - - ° « Lawyer - -, - ° Cuat's Invalid's Own Book - - 1 Gilbart'B Logic for the Million - 8 Hints on Etiquette - - - » How to Nurse Sick Children - - 10 Hudson's Executor's Guide - - 10 " on Making Wills - - 10 Kesteven'B Domestic Medicine - H Lardner's Cabinet Cycloptedia - 13 Loudon's Lady's Country Corapa- Maunder'8 Treasury of Knowledge 34 " Biographical Treasury 14 " Geographical Treasury 15 Maunder's Scientific Treasury - 11 " Treasury of History - 14 '* Natural History - - 14 Piesse's Art of Perfumery - - 17 Pocket and the Stud - . - 8 Pycroft's English Reading - - 18 Reece'B Medical Guide - - - 18 Rich's Comp, to Latin Dictionary 18 Richardson's Art of Horsemanship 18 Riddle's Latin Dictionaries - - 18 Roget'B English Thesauius - - 19 Rowton'a Debater - - - - 19 Short Whiat 20 Thomson's Interest Tables - - 23 Webster's Domestic Economy - 24 West on Children's Diseases - - 24 Willich's Popular Tables - - 24 Wilmofa Blackstone - - - 24 Botany and Gardening. Hasaall's British Freshwater Algie 9 Hooker's British Flora - - - 9 " Guide to Kew Gardens - 9 " " " Kew Museum - 9 Lindley's Introduction to Botany li " Theory of Horticulture - Loudon's Hortus Britannicua \H " Trees and Shrubs - 12 " Gardening . - - 12 « Plants - - - - Fereira's Materia Medica 17 Rivera's Rose-Amateur's Guide 19 Wilson's British Mosses 24 Chronology. Blair's Chronological Tables - 4 Brewer's Historical Atlas - - 4 Bunsen's Ancient Egypt - - 5 Calendars of Engliah State Papers 5 Haydn's Beatson's Index - - 9 Jaquemet's Chronology - - 11 " Abridged Chronology- 11 NicolaB's Chronology of History - 12 Commerce and Mercantile Affairs- Gilbart'a Treatise on Banking - fi Lorimer's Young Master Mariner 12 Macleod's Banking - ~ - H M'CuUoch'sCommerce & Navigation 14 Murray on French Finance - - 16 Scrivenor on Iron Trade - - 19 Thomson's Interest Tables - - 23 Tooke's History of Piices - - 23 Criticism, History, and memoirs. Blair's Chron. and Hietor. Tables - 4 Bi-ewer's Historical Atlas - - - 4 ' Bunsen's Ancient Egypt - 5 " Hippolytus - - - 5 Calendars of English State Papers 5 Chapman's G ustavus Adolphus - 6 Chronicles & Memorials of England 6 Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul Connolly's Sappers and Miners - Crowe's History of France Gleig's Essays - - " Leipsic Campaign Gurney's Historical Sketches Hayward's Essays - - - - Herschers Essays and Addresses - Jeffrey's (Lord)'ContributionB Kemble's Anglo-Saxons Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopsedia Macaulay's Crit. and Hist. Essays " History of England - : " Speeches - - - ' Mackintosh's Miscellaneous Works " History of England - : M'Culloch'sGeographicalDictionary : Maunder's Treasuryof History - 1 Memoir of the Duke of Wellington J Merivale's History of Rome - - J ■* Roman Republic - - J Milner'B Church History - - 1 Moore's (Thomas) MemoirSj&c. - 1 Mure's Greek Literature - - 1 Normanby's Year of Revolution - l7 Pcrry'a Franks . - - - I7 Raikes's Journal - - - - 18 Ranke'B Ferdinand & Maximilian 22 Riddle's Latin Lexicon - 19 Rogers's Essays from Edinb. ReriflWig Rogat'a English Thesaurus - - 19 Schmitz'g History of Greece . - 19 Southey'H Doctor - - - - 21 Stephen's Ecclesiastical Blqgraphv 21 " Lectures on French History 21 Sydney Smith's Works - - - 20 " Select Works - 22 " Lectures - - 21 " Memoirs - - 20 Taylor's LoyoU - - - -- 21 " IVesley - - - . 21 Thlrlwall'sHlatoryof Greece - 23 Thomas's Historical Notes - - 5 Townsend's State Trials - - 23 Turkey and Christendom - - 22 Turner's Anglo-Saxons - - 23 " Middle Ages - - - 23 " Sacred Hist, of the World 23 Uwins's Memoirs - - - - 23 Vehae'B Austrian Court - - - 23 Wade's England's Greatness - 2i Young's Christ of History - - 24 Geography and Atlases. Brewer's Historical Atlas - - 4 Butler'sGeography and Atlases - 5 Cabinet Gazetteer - - - 5 Cornwall: ItsMines^&c. - 22 Durrieu's Morocco - - - ,22 Hughes's Australian Colonies - - 22 Johnston's General Gazetteer - II M'CuUooh's GeographicalDictionary 14 " " Russia and Turkey - 22 Maunder's Treasury of Geography 15 Mayne's Arctic Discoveries - - 22 Murray's Encyclo. of Geography - 16 Sharp's British Gazetteer - - 20 Juvenile Booksi Amy Herbert - - - _ 20 CleveHall ----- 20 Earl's Daughter (The) - - - 20 Experience of Life - - - 20 Gertrude ----- gu Howitt'B Boy's Country Book - 10 " (Mary) Children's Year - 10 Ivors --_-__ 20 Katharine Ashton - 20 Laneton Parsonage - - - 20 Margaret Percival - - - - 20 Pycroft's Collegian's Guide - - 18 Ursula -,<■--- 20 Medicine^ Surg^ery, &c. Brodie's Psychological Inquiries - 4 BuU'e Hints to Mothers - - - 5 " Managementof Children - 5 Copland's Dictionary of Medicine - 6 Cust's Invalid's Own Book - - 7 Holland's Mental Physiology - 9 " Medical Notes ana Reflect. 9 How to Nurse Sick Children - - 10 Kesteven'fi Domestic Medicine - H Fereira's Materia Medica - - 17 Reece's Medical Guide - - - 18 Richardson's Cold- Water Cure - 18 Spencer's Psychology - - - 21 H, Weston Diseases of Infancy- • 21 Miscellaneous and General Iiiteratnre. Bacon's (Lord) Works - - - 3 Carlisle's Lectures and Addresses 22 BeTence oT Eclipse 0/ Faith - - 7 Eclipse of Faith - - - - 7 Fischer's Bacoa and Realistic Phi- losophy - _ . . , 7 Greathed's Letters from Delhi 6 Greyson's Select Correspondence - 8 Gurney's Evening Recreations - 8 HassalrsAdultsrationsDetected,&c. 9 Haydn's Book of Dignities - - 9 Holland's Mental Physiology - 9 Hooker's Kew Guides - - - 9 CLASSIFIED nSDEX. Howitt'B Hural Life of Englaod - 10 " 'VieitetoReinarkablePlaceBlO JameBoo'sCommoiiplace-BDok - 11 Lae^t of the 0ia-SquiiM - - 17 Lettera of a Betrothed - - - 11 Macaulay'H Speechea - - - 13 Mackintoah'BMiscellaneouB'Worlis U Memoirs of a MaJtre-d'ArmeB - 22 Martineau'B MiscellanieB - ' l^ Printing : Ite Origin, &c. - - 22 PycroffBEnplish Reading - - 1° Raikes on Indian fiCTOlt - - 18 Beea's Siege of Lucknow - - 18 Bich'B Comp. to Latin Dictionary IS Riddle's Latin DictionarieB - - 18 Sowton'B Debater - . - 19 Seaward'B Narrative oJhiii ShlpwrecklS Sir Roger De Coverley - Southey'B Doctor, &c. - Souvestre's Attic Philosopher - ** ' Confessions of a'Workiog Man 22 21 Spencer's Essaya ^tow'B Training System ThomBon's Laws of Thought Tighe and DaTia'B 'WindBOi - Townsend'e State Tfiale WiUich'B Popular Tables Tonge'a English-Greek Leiicon " Latin Gradus Sumpt's Latin Gianunar 7 24 NaturalHistorylngeneral. Catlow's Popular Conchology 6 Ephemera's Book ofthe Salmon ^ Gariratt'B Marvels of Instinct - 8 GoBse's Natural History of Jamaica 8 Kemp's Natural History of Creation 22 Kirby and Spence's Entomology - 11 Lee's Elements of Natural History 11 Maunder's Natural History - - 14 Quatrefa^ce' Naturalist's Rambles 18 Stonehenee on the Dog - - 21 Tui^n'sShellsortbeBritLBhlslandB 23 Van derHoeven'B Zoology - - 23 VonTschudi'sSketcheslntheAlpB 22 Waterton'e Essays on Natural Hist. 24 Youatfe Thu Dog - - - - 24 " The Horse 24 l-Volume Enisyclopsedlas and Dictionaries. Blaine's Rural Sports - - - - 4 Brande's Science, Literature, and Art 4 Coplanil'sDictionary of Medicine - 6 Cresy'a Civil Engineering - - 8 Gwilt's Architecture - - - 8 Johnston's Geographical Dictionary 11 London's AgricnltUTe - - - 12 " Rural Architecture - 13 " Gardening - - - 13 " Plants - - - - 13 " Trees and Shinlia - - 13 M'Culloch'sGeo^aphicalDictionary 14 " Dictionary ofCommerce 14 Murraj'BEncyclo. of Geography - 16 Sharp's British Gaaetteer - - 20 Ure'sDictionary of Art8,&c. - - 23 Webster's Domestic Economy - 24 Religions & Moral VTorks. . Amy Herbert " -' . _ - 20 Bloomfield's Greek Testament - 4 Calrert's Wife's- Manual - . e CleveH«ll 20 Conybeare and Honson's St. Paul 6 Cotton's luEtructionB in Christianity 6 Dale's Domestic Liturgy - _ 7 Defence ot EcUpae 0/ Faith - - T Earl's Daughter (The) - ->■ - 20 Eclipse of Faith - - _ 7 EngUshmao's Greek Concordance 7 " ■ '. Heb.ftChald.GoBcord . 7 Experience (The) of Life - - 20 Gertrude Harrison's Light ofthe Forge - 8 Home's Introduction to ScrlptureB 9 " Abridgment of ditto - 10 Hue's Christianity in China - - 10 Humphreys's ParaftiM Illuminated 10 Ivors ; or, the Two Cousins - 20 ilBmeMjn's Sacred Legends - - 11 "\ Monastic Legends - - 11 " Legendflof the Madonna 11 Lectures on Female Em- ployment 11 Jeremy Taylor's Works - - - Ijl Katharine Ashton - . zo Kflnig's Pictorial Life of Luthei - 8 Laneton ParaonaBe ■■ - -- 20 Letters to my Unknoiva Friends - 11 " on Happinesb - - - 11 Lyra Germanica - - - B Maguire'B Rome - - - - U Marparet Perclval - - . - 20 Marlinean's ChriBtian Life - - 14 " HymnB - - - 14 Martineau's Studiee of Christianity 14 Merlvale'8 Christian Records - 15 . Milner's Church of Christ - -15 Moore on the Use ofthe Body - 15 " " Soul and Body - 16 " 's Man and his MotiveB - 15 Mormonism ----- 22 Morning Clouds - - - - 16 Neale's Closing Scene - - - 17 Pattison's Earth and Word - - 17 Powell's ChriBtianity withouK Ju- daism ------ 18 Ranke's Ferdinand & Maximilian 22 Readings for Lent - - - 20 "^ Confirmation - - 20 Riddle's Household Prayers - - 16 Robinson's Lexicon to the Greek Testament - - - - - 19 Saints our Example - - - 19 Sermon in the Mount - - 19 Sinclair's Journey of Life - - 20 Smith's (Sydney) Moral Fbilotophy 21 " (G.T.lA-BsyTianPctmheCiM 20 " fG.) WesleyanMethodiBm 20 " (J.) St. Paul's Shipwreck - 20 Southey'B Life of Wesley - - 20 Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biogiuphy 21 Taylor's Loyola - _ - - 21 " Wesley - - - - 21 Tbeologfa Germanica - - - S Thumb Bible (The) - - 21 Turner's Sacred History- - - 23 Ursula - - - - - - 20 Toung's Christ of History - 24 " Mystery - - 24 Poetry and the Drama. Aikin's (Dr.) British Poets - 3 Arnold's Merope . - - - - 3 " Poems - - - _ 8 Baillie's (Joanna) Poetical Works 3 Goldsmith's Poems, illustrated - 8 L. E. L.'s Poetical Works - 1 1 Linwood's Anthologia Oxoniensls- 12 Lyra Germanica - - - - 5 Macaulav'sLaysof Ancient Rome 13 Mac Donald's WilJiin and Without 13 " Poems - - - 13 Montgomery's Poetical Works - 16 Moore's Poetical Work* - - 16 " Selections (illustrated} - 16 " Lalla Rookh - - - I6 " Irish Melodies - - - 16 " National Melodies - - 16 " Sacred Songs ftoitJiSfusic) 16 " Songs and Bfulads - - 15 Reade's Poetical Works - - 18 Shakspeare, by Bowdler - - 19 Southey'B Poetical Works - - 21 Thomson's Seasons, illustrated - 23 Political Economy and Statistics. Laing's Notes of a Traveller - - 22 Macleod's Political Economy - 14 M'Culloch'sGeQ$.StatiBt.&c.Dict. 14 " Dictionary of Commerce 14 " London - - - 22 Willich's Popular Tables - - 24 The Sciences in general and Ktathematies, Arago's Meteorological Essays 3 " Popular Astronomy - . - 3 Bourne on the Screw Propeller - 4 " >8 Catechism of Steam-Engine 4 Boyd's Naval Cadet's Manual - 4 Brande's Dictionary of Science, ftc. 4 " Lectures on Organic Chemistry 4 Cresy's Civil Engineering - - 6 DclaBeche'sGeoloKyofCormvaII,&c. 7 De la Rive's Electricity - - 7 Grove's Correla. of PhysicalForces 8 Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy 9 Holland's Mental Physiology - 9 Humboldt's Aspects of Nature - 10 " Cosmos - - - 10 Hunt on Light Lardner'B Cabinet Qyclopsedia Marcet'e (Mrs.) ConvenmtionB Morell's Elements of Piychology - 16 Moseley'BEnglneerlng&Architectureie Ogilvie'B Master- Builder's Plan - 17 Our Coal-Fields and our Coal-Pits 22 Owen's Lectureson Comp. 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