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Government, and thus that bark which carries the 

 best fortunes of the people, is left to drift whither 

 the currents of the varying- and crude opinions of 

 half a dozen Directors of Public Instruction may 

 carry it. Yet, I have no hesitation in saying*, that 

 the greatest, indeed the only great obstacle to the in- 

 troduction of the policy her Majesty's Government 

 are so anxious to induct, is the ignorance of the 

 people. In their present state of intellectual de- 

 velopment, it is utterly impossible that the people 

 can understand their own interests, and assuming 

 their interests to be the object of Government, it 

 requires no logic to establish, that until they do 

 know it, the action of the Government and its sub- 

 jects will be opposed to one another. I have no 

 hesitation in stating- that had the people of India 

 not been ig-norant and superstitious, the rebellion of 

 1857 would have been an impossibility. 



It will be arg-ued that the process sug-g-ested is 

 long, and there is no doubt of it. But if there is 

 no doubt of it, there is, unfortunately, no help for 

 it; and, consequently, there is the greater reason 

 why no time should be lost in straining- every nerve 

 in completing-, consolidating-, and perfecting the 

 measures at present in operation. Nor will it fol- 

 low that, in the meantime, any measures of good 

 Government suitable to the progressive development 

 of society, should be delayed one moment beyond 

 that time when the condition of the people renders 

 them desirable. No inventions of modern times 



