LANGUAGE AND THE ENGLISH CIVIL SERVICE. 157 



ing he cannot help postulating to himself, as an indispensable fiction, 

 that his pupils are some clay or other to hear, to read, to speak, or to 

 write, the language. 



The intense conservatism in the matter of languages, the alacrity 

 to prescribe languages on all sides, without inquiring whether they 

 are likely to be turned to account, may be referred to various causes. 

 For one thing, the remark may seem ungracious and invidious that 

 many minds, not always of the highest force, are absorbed and in- 

 toxicated by languages. But apart from this they are, by compari- 

 son, easy to teach and easy to examine upon. Now, if there is any 

 motive in education more powerful than another, it is ease in the 

 work itself. We are all, without exception, copyists of that Irish 

 celebrity who, when he came to a good bit of road, paced it to and 

 fro a number of times before going forward on the rougher footing. 



So far I may seem to be arguing against the teaching of language 

 at all, or, at any rate, the languages expressively called dead. I am 

 not, however, pressing this point further than as an illustration. I do 

 not ask any one to give an opinion against classics as a subject of in- 

 struction ; although, undoubtedly, if this opinion were prevalent, my 

 principal task would be very much lightened. I have merely ana- 

 lyzed the utilities ascribed to the ancient and modern languages, with 

 a view to settling their place in competitive examinations. 



My thesis, then, is that languages are not a proper subject for 

 competition with a view to professional appointments. The explana- 

 tion falls under two heads : 



In the first place, there are certain avocations where a foreign 

 language must be known, because it has to be used in actual business. 

 Such are the Indian spoken languages. Now, it is clear that in such 

 cases the knowledge of the language, as being a sine qua non, must 

 be made imperative. This, however, as I think, is not a case for com- 

 petition, but for a sufficient pass. There is a certain pitch of attain- 

 ment that is desirable even at first entering the service; no one 

 should fall below this, and to rise much above it cannot matter a 

 great deal. At all events, I think the measure should be absolute and 

 not relative. I would not give a man merit in a competition because 

 another man happens to be worse than himself in a matter that all 

 must know ; both the men may be absolutely bad. 



It may be the case that certain languages are so admirably con- 

 structed and so full of beauties that to study them is a liberal educa- 

 tion in itself. But this does not necessarily hold of every language 

 that an official of the British Empire may happen to need. It does 

 not apply to the Indian tongues, nor to Chinese, nor, I should sup- 

 pose, to the Feejee dialects. The only human faculty that is tested and 

 brought into play in these acquisitions is the commonest kind of mem- 

 ory exercised for a certain time. The value to the service of the man 

 that can excel in spoken languages does not lie in his superior admin- 



