1837.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 493 



VII. — Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 



Wednesday Evening, the bth July, 1837. , 



The Hon'ble Sir Edward Ryan, President, in the chair. 



Mr. J. Muir, C. S., proposed by Captain Cautley, seconded by the 

 Secretary, at the last meeting, was elected a Member. 



The Baron Schilling, of Cronstadt, was, upon the favorable report of 

 the Committee of Papers, elected an Honorary Member. 



Rcstamji' Cowasji', was proposed by Baboo Ra'm Comal Sen, seconded 

 by Sir E. Ryan. 



Baboo Sutt Churn Ghosal, proposed by the Secretary, seconded by 

 Mr. Hare. 



Captain Bogle, proposed by Mr. Walters, seconded by Captain Pem- 



BERTON. 



Read a letter from Dr. J. Swiney, acknowledging his election as a 

 Member. 



Read the following correspondence regarding the museum, consequent 

 upon the resolution of the last meeting. 



To the Right Honorable George, Lord Auckland, &c. &c. &c. 



Governor General of India in Council. 

 My Lord, 



I have heen requested by the Asiatic Society to become the organ of a respectful 

 representation to your Lordship in Council on a topic of great importance to the 

 interests of the Society, which was made the subject of a Resolution passed at a 

 general meeting held on the 7th instant. 



I have now accordingly the honor to suhmit a copy of that Resolution, and with 

 every deference and respect to solicit for the prayer of it, the most favorable consi- 

 deration of your Lordship's Government. 



The Asiatic Society has been in existence for'more than half a century. Founded hy 

 the illustrious Sir William Jones, with the concurrence and support of the no less 

 illustrious Warren Hastings, it has uniformly enjoyed the countenance and pro- 

 tection of the high officers placed at the head of the Indian administration, many of 

 whom have joined in its objects with more than the formal interest of nominal patrons, 

 and have contributed individually to its records of literature, or to its collection of 

 antiquities and of curious natural production*. 



It would be quite superfluous to enumerate, in addressing the Society's official 

 patron, the many eminent men whose names have adorned and still adorn ils list of 

 members, or to recal the services they have severally rendered to science and to 

 literature ; but it is by no means to these alone that the Institution owes its efficiency, 

 its stability, and its reputation. Without the co-operation of the many, the talents and 

 abstract studies of the few would have been comparatively ineffectual ; and the learned 

 world in many cases would have been deprived of the chief benefit of their studies and 

 knowledge but for the combination which is so necessary to effect undertakings of 

 magnitude and expence, and for the stimulus which emulation, and publicity, and a 

 common interest never fail to excite. 



Since its foundation the Asiatic Society has expended more than three lakhs of 

 rupees upon the prosecution and publication of its Reseaches in the languages, the 

 philosophy, the history, the geography, physical, and statistical of India ; and there is 

 no branch of useful knowledge connected with this country that has not received 

 illustration through the judicious employment of its funds. 



On one or two occasions the Society has received handsome donations from indivi- 

 duals, but it has never yet solicited or received public aid from the Government of the 

 country. In venturing therefore to propose a measure for which there was no prece- 

 dent in its history, the Committee of papers, with whom the suggestion originated, 

 deemed it incumbent on them to shew the Society at large the grounds upon which 

 they rested their recommendation : and the substance of the arguments they then 

 used I am now requested by the Society to lay before your Lordship in Council. 



It is not from a declining Society that an appeal is made, to save it from impending 

 ruin or to enable it to support its expences on the same scale of efficiency as hereto- 

 fore. On the contrary, the Society never had a more flourishing list of contributing 

 Members, nor was it ever more actively engaged on the multiplied objects of its 

 attention. Indeed it would be difficult to mention any department in which its 

 duties have not materially increased within the last few years. 

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