XIV APPENDIX. 
derived of many countries and many languages through them for the last two cen- 
turies; the missionaries in India, both Catholic and Protestant, from the zeal and 
perseverance with which they study the languages of the countries in which they 
reside, and from the familiar manner in which they associate with the natives of 
those countries, have been enabled to obtain at all times and in all parts of Asia, the 
most curious, and the most important information relative to the manners, the 
history, and the religion, of the people, as is distinctly proved by the numerous 
publications of the Catholic missionaries relative to China, by the accurate knowledge 
acquired by Rosertus de Nosix1gus in the seventeenth, and by Brscut in the eighteenth 
centuries, of the people and languages of the southern peninsula of India, and by 
the very great progress which has been made in Oriental literature and in the lan- 
guages of India and China within the last thirty years by the three celebrated Pro- 
testant missionaries, CarEy, Warp, and Morrison. 
The Right Hon. Cuartes Grant, a member of our society, has been recently ap- 
pointed by his Majesty to the high and responsible office of President of the Board of 
Control. The liberal and statesmanlike views which that gentleman entertains with 
respect tothe government of British India, will secure for this Society his valuable sup- 
port, and for the natives of India, such institutions as, by giving them a lively interest 
in the government of their country, will afford them a powerful motive for improving 
their understandings, and for promoting the study of European science and literature 
amongst all classes of their countrymen. 
Sir R. Witmor Horton, another member of our society, has also been recently appointed 
by his Majesty to the office of Governor of the island of Ceylon. The lectures which that 
gentleman has delivered at the London Mechanics’ Institution upon a subject of great 
importance to the interests and welfare of the different orders of society, and the very 
liberal manner in which he has discussed in print the merits of the opinions which he 
entertains upon the subject, show the activity with which he applies himself to the 
diffusion of useful knowledge amongst all classes of his countrymen, and the manly 
view which he takes of the use and the influence of the press, as an instrument for 
circulating throughout a country such ideas as may tend to the moral and political 
improvement of the people. 
Rasa Rammouun Roy, also a member of our society, a Brahman of ancient 
family, of high rank, of distinguished talents, and of great influence amongst his 
countrymen, acting upon the principles of a true patriot, has for many years written 
and published several very able works, the uniform object of which is to enlighten the 
understanding of his countrymen, and so to raise the standard of moral and political 
feeling amongst them, as to enable the Hindis of India once more to assume, by their 
proficiency in arts, science, and literature, the high station which they held in 
former ages amongst the most enlightened nations in the world. Urged by the duty 
which he owes to his country, and unmindful of the dangers which he had to encounter 
from a sea yoyage and a change of climate, he has now come to England, in order that 
he may, after having examined on the spot the practical effects of all our moral and 
