APPENDIX. xliii 



most distinguished Oriental Scholars in England, under the direct patronage of His 

 Majesty and the Royal Family; of the First Lord of the Treasury; of the heads of 

 the Cliurch, Navy, and Army, and of many of the most powerful and distinguished 

 individuals in Great Britain. 



The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 



The high character which the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge hold in the esti- 

 mation of the Government and of the people of England, the talents and erudition of their 

 Members, the influence which they naturally exercise over the education, and the reli- 

 gious and moral opinions and feelings of the leading men in the country, the collections 

 which they possess of Oriental works, the attention which they pay to Oriental litera- 

 ture, the eflBcient aid which they can afford, by means of their printing presses, to the print- 

 ing of Oriental manuscripts, and of the English translations of them, must render their 

 co-operation of the utmost importance to any Society in England that is engaged in 

 researches into Oriental literature and science, many parts of wiiich are often of so much 

 use, in illustrating and explaining subjects which are intimately connected with the true 

 reading and perfect understanding of the most remarkable passages in the Holy Scriptures. 

 Tlie Committee, therefore, took the earliest opportunity of opening a communication with 

 both these learned bodies. With respect to Oxford, they have to report that Mr. Peel, 

 as soon as he was informed by Sir Alexander Johnston of the objects of the Society, and 

 the wishes of the Committee, not only promised his own support to their proceedings 

 but, with the liberal feeling and spirit which he evinces on every occasion in which the 

 interests of literature and science are concerned, immediately wrote upon the subject to 

 the Bishop of Oxford, on whose suggestion such a communication as the Committee 

 had wished was soon after opened between the Delegates of the Clarendon press and the 

 Royal Asiatic Society. With respect to Cambridge the Committee have to report, that 

 through Professor Lee, a similar communication has been opened between some of the 

 leading Members of that University and the Society, and that the result of these com- 

 munications is that the two Universities approve of the proceedings of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society, and that there is reason to believe they will afford tlie Society such assistance as 

 their respective institutions will permit. 



The Royal Institution. 

 The variety of the combinations of different metals which are used for domestic 

 and other purposes by the natives of India; the variety of the materials which they 

 manufacture, and of the substances of which their dyes are composed; the sim- 

 plicity of the processes to which they have recourse in their several manufactures, 

 render researches concerning them an object of interest to the public, and make it 

 necessary that the Society should have the means of communicating with an institution, 

 whose members and establishment are peculiarly fitted for obtaining and circulating 

 useful information, relative to such researches. The Royal Institution, from the 

 manner in which it is constituted, from the lectures which are delivered at its regular 



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