1864,] Application of the 'Roman Alphabet. 35? 



the difficulties of fusing these opposite elements, into a composite 

 language, in the ordinary acceptation of the words, would be con- 

 siderably diminished if an alphabet could be invented that would be 

 common to both. 



The Deva Nagari alphabet is quite as unsuitable for expressing Ara- 

 bic and Persian words, as the Greek alphabet is unsuitable for express- 

 ing Sanskrit words pure and derivative, and the language as now 

 written, presents as bizarre and outre an appearance, as if a language 

 composed of English, German, and Russian words, was written in 

 Hebrew characters. In most composite languages, such as English 

 or the Eomance languges, the whole forms an amalgam in which 

 sometimes, the original materials can be recognized with difficulty, and 

 often not at all, as all will be aware who have read Dean Trench's works 

 on the English language. But in Hindustani it is different, the materials, 

 particularly those of Semitic origin, remain exactly as they were, and 

 it is the same with modern Persian in regard to its Arabic words, 

 which Sir William Jones has well illustrated in the following pas- 

 sage. " This must appear strange to an European reader • but he 

 may form some idea of this uncommon mixture, when he is told that 

 the two Asiatic languages are not always mixed like the words of 

 Eoman and Saxon origin' in this period, c The true law is right reason, 

 conformable to the nature of things, which calls us to duty by com- 

 manding, deters us from sin by forbidding ;' but as we may suppose 

 the Latin and English to be connected in the following sentence : 

 " The true lex is recta ratio, conformable naturce rerum, which by 

 commanding vocet ad officium, by forbidding a fraude deterreat" 

 But the difference in the case of Persian is, that it and Arabic have a 

 common alphabet while the two languages of which Hindustani is 

 chiefly composed, have separate and distinct alphabets. 



The obstacles again to fusion under present circumstances are great- 

 ly increased by distinctions of race and creed. Without entering 

 into nice ethnological distinctions, it will be sufficient to consider 

 that we have in India two great classes to deal with, Hindus and 

 Musalmans. The former, in writing Hindustani, use the Deva- 

 Nagari, or one of its derivative alphabets ; the latter generally use the 

 2fas TdUq or Persian character. Neither know the characters in 

 which the others write, and as the races are prevented by religious 

 differences from intermixing, there is neither inducement nor necessity 



