Ixxiv APPENDIX. 



the natives of Bombay while testifying their respect for the late Sir Edward West 

 are decided indications of the liberal sentiments which at present prevail, as 

 well amongst the most distinguished officers of Government as amongst the most 

 respectable natives of India, and shew the effect which such sentiments have 

 produced in promoting a love of knowledge, and in forwarding the views 

 of the Royal Asiatic Society in every part of the British territories in Asia. 

 Mr. Wynn, by making civil appointments to India a public reward for literary merit 

 at two of the most celebrated places of education in Great Britain, has secured as well 

 for Oriental literature as for the people of India the talents and services of some of 

 the most distinguished young men in Great Britain, The British Parliament, by 

 passing the Indian Jury Act, have deliberately recorded it as their opinion that the 

 natives of Britsh India arc capable, from their understanding, their education, and 

 their integrity, of receiving and exercising the most valuable rights of a free people — 

 they have set a bright and important example to future legislators — have raised 

 the people of India in the estimation of the people of England — have rendered the 

 former an object of enquiry, respect, and sympathy to the latter ; and have made the 

 subjects of Great Britain in Europe anxious to communicate to the subjects of Great 

 Britain in Asia such portions of their knowledge, science, and literature, as may suit 

 the present circumstances of that ancient people, and promote their industry, their 

 wealth, their freedom, and their happiness. The British Parliament, by calling upon 

 the natives of British India to exercise the rights of enlightened and independent 

 Jurymen, have afforded them a public opportunity of displaying their talents, their 

 integrity, and their knowledge, in defence of the lives, the liberty, and the property 

 of their countrymen; and have given them a most powerful motive for cultivating their 

 understanding, for improving their moral character, and for acquiring from Great Britain 

 every useful branch of scientific, moral, and political information. The inhabitants of 

 Bombay, by erecting professorships in the name and to the honour of the late Sir Ed ward 

 West, have shewn how highly the rights of British subjects are appreciated by them, 

 and how directly they tend to promote a desire for education and useful knowledge 

 amongst the natives of India. The person to whose memory the honour is paid 

 was a most able and independent Judge, who taught the natives of Bombay, that 

 the object of the British Legislature in framing the Jury Act was to render them 

 the guardians of the lives, the liberty, and the property of their countrymen ; and to 

 encourage them, with a view of making them worthy of that high trust, to acquire a 

 thorough knowledge of the religion, the laws, the custom.s, and the literature of their 

 country. The persons by whom the honour is paid consist amongst others of some 

 of the most distinguished of the Parsees at Bombay, who are celebrated throughout 

 Asia for the extent of their trade, for the integrity of their character, and for the 

 progress which they have made in manufactures, in ship- building, and in every branch 

 of theoretical and practical mechanics ; and who, from having themselves exercised the 

 duties of Jurymen, are aware of the practical utility and value of the institution, and 

 feel the necessity of improving their education, cultivating their understanding, and 



