124 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [June, 



tiou at their own expense." The Society did not, however, allow the 

 matter to rest ; but memorialized the Court of Directors on the sub- 

 ject ; and bringing all the influence, both official and private, it could 

 command, to the support of the cause it so earnestly and so ably 

 advocated, succeeded finally in obtaining that grant of Rs. 500 a 

 month which has been mainly instrumental in enabling it to print 

 that large series of very valuable oriental works, which have been 

 published in the Bibliotheca Indica. Indeed so faithfully has the 

 Society discharged its trust to the oriental world in this respect, that 

 it was remarked in a late Annual Report of the Societe Asiatique, 

 that never was a grant for similar purposes more admirably adminis- 

 tered. 



" This Society has ever been the faithful and solitary guardian of 

 oriental literature and oriental studies in India, and had it not been 

 for its existence, it is difficult to say to what extent they would have 

 been neglected. It was the cradle, I may say, of all the knowledge 

 which the West of late years has obtained from the East ; for it is to 

 the early efforts of its members, that the oriental languages owe the 

 important position they have now attained in Europe. It is since 

 the study of the Sanskrit language has been developed, that language 

 itself has attained to the dignity of science, and while such value 

 is attributed to the oriental classics in the West — while scholars 

 pursue their study with such enthusiasm and such success, it is 

 melancholy to observe the decay of oriental learning in its natural 

 home, proceeding so steadily and so surely that there is some fear 

 that soon we may look for an oriental scholar, European or Native, 

 and look in vain. Most of us sitting round this table are Govern- 

 ment servants, but we do not sit here as such, but in a higher capa- 

 city. We are here, rather, cautiously to watch its action in all matters 

 connected with those high objects we have in view, and respectfully 

 to express our opinions on their effects, as they appear to us to 

 be injurious, or the contrary, to the progress of ancient literature and 

 science. It is notorious that the Government of Great Britain does 

 least of any of the great Governments of Europe for the direct 

 encouragement of science. Almost everything that is done in 

 England for ■ the advancement of science, is accomplished by private 

 Societies Societies such as that, which we here represent. When 



