ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lix 



India in the vernacular languages, which Major Jervis was desirous 

 of making for the missionary- schools, had funds permitted, Mr. 

 Davis, the best Chinese scholar of all Europe, speaking of the Plan 

 of Pekin, was pleased to say that it was the finest specimen of Chinese 

 writing he had ever seen, and he would compare it with the native 

 Chinese. Nor was the encouragement of native female education a 

 trifling object aimed at by Major Jervis, who felt how important the 

 example of mothers must be in after life to the rising generation. 



At the commencement of the Eussian war, Colonel Jervis examined 

 the materials forthcoming to enable the allies to gain a knowledge 

 of that country, and early fixed upon the magnificent map of the 

 Crimea which had been prepared by General Mukhin and the Russian 

 staff. He obtained permission to trace it himself at a Continental 

 library, and, having completed it and translated the names into 

 English, brought it to England to lay it before the Duke of New- 

 castle, along with other rare documents not to be procured in Eng- 

 land. After urging the subject long and frequently, and impressing 

 upon the Government the absolute necessity of having geographical 

 information for the troops, his Grace permitted him to furnish two 

 or three copies of each of these documents, officially, to commence 

 with. In ten clays — less time than he could have sent to Vienna for 

 another copy of the Austrian map of Turkey — he produced, entire in 

 twenty-one sheets, two hundred copies at the service of the Govern- 

 ment ! The map of the Crimea was also ready before the army left 

 Varna ; and by it Lord Raglan mentions that he made his flank 

 movement by MacKenzie's farm. Soon after, the Government sent 

 copies of these maps to the general-officers ; and in alluding to this 

 subject, Colonel Jervis wrote thus to the Duke of Newcastle : — (1854.) 

 " I believe it is not generally known that the present is the first war 

 in which the British forces have been supplied with the most needful 

 help to success, correct and suitable land-maps. To your Grace and 

 Lord Raglan's acceptance of my services is ascribable, as well as to 

 the exertions of the Hydrographer at the Admiralty, Admiral Sir E, 

 Beaufort, and his coadjutor Capt. Washington, R.N., that the army has 

 been furnished with the earliest and best information of the distant 

 countries in which they are now engaged. This service as regards 

 the army has been honourably recognized by the principal Staff- 

 Officers, the Commander-in-Chief, and many distinguished personages 

 in France^ and England ; nor least by her most gracious Majesty the 

 Queen, the Emperor of the French, and the Ministers of War and 

 Marine." In an unknown country, on a conflict so momentous, geo- 

 graphical information must be inestimably valuable. 



Much of this important service was carried out at his own cost and 

 by his own and his son's labour ; and he pressed upon the Government 

 in very emphatic terms the advantage which would be derived from the 

 establishment of an office in connexion with the army, similar to 

 that of the Hydrographical Office connected with the navy. 



After some months, Colonel Jervis procured from the Erench Go- 

 vernment 1476 maps of the choicest kind, and offered these as a 

 nucleus for the new office. Soon after, he was appointed, March 1855, 



