1866.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 107 



posed Resolution which, as it required no previous notice, it had been 

 intended to bring up before the April meeting. For some reason 

 which, not having been present at that meeting, he was unaware of, the 

 Resolution had been deferred, and the subject to which it had reference, 

 was now an occurrence of three months ago. The meeting would re- 

 member that the Hon'ble Mr. Macleod had, in his reply to the address, 

 then presented to him by the native chiefs and others, who had pro- 

 jected the foundation of the Oriental College at Lahore, offered them 

 some excellent advice. Among other things he laid stress on the im- 

 portance of cultivating their own literature, and it was to this part of 

 the reply that the Council's resolution called attention. It seemed 

 natural that the Society which had so long endeavoured to push 

 Oriental research, and which was now making, as Mr. Grote believed, 

 the best use of a liberal Grovernment grant for the publication of a 

 series of classical and historical works in the Sanskrit and Persian 

 languages, should acknowledge the assistance which their efforts deriv- 

 ed from such a declaration, as that lately made by the head of the 

 Punjab Grovernment. The Hon'ble Mr. Macleod was one of the oldest 

 members of the Society, and there was room to hope that, under his 

 auspices, the Auxiliary Society lately established at Lahore would 

 grow and nourish, and thus bring additional strength to the parent 

 Society, by increasing its own small but industrious knot of native 

 orientalists. 



Mr. Campbell asked, if he could see a copy of Mr. Macleod's address ; 

 and understanding that it was not then to be had, said that he would 

 like to suggest whether some caution was not necessary. The meet- 

 ing might have a general confidence that anything said by Mr. Mac- 

 leod would be wise and good, but still the Society might be commit- 

 ting itself to what might seem like an expression of opinion on a 

 matter of some nicety. No one, he believed, would doubt that the 

 vernacular must be the medium for instructing the masses ; but the 

 Oriental University proposed, he understood, to go farther, and to use 

 the vernacular as the medium of higher instruction in Arts, Science 

 and Philosophy, such as would entitle to University degrees. That 

 might be a very good principle, and a very practicable plan ; he was 

 not at all inclined to deny it, but still it was something differ- 

 ent from the practice hitherto adopted ; it was a new experiment, and 



