238 



JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. X. 



It is noteworthy that in the Report of the Census of British 

 India for 1881 there are no returns relating to nationality, 

 but language is taken as equipollent to it. Surgeon-General 

 E. Balfour, who is considered an authority on the sociology 

 of Southern India, also uses language for nationality, as for 

 instance in the following passage : — " The Haiderabad State 

 has been formed from portions of four great nationalities 

 the Canarese, the Mahratta, the Telegu, and the Gond. The 

 number speaking the Gond language is not recorded, but 

 out of a population of 9,845,594 the Telegu language is 

 spoken by 4,279,108, the Mahratta by 3,147,746, and the 

 Canarese by 1,238,519," &C. 1 Webster defines nationality to 

 be " a race or people determined by common language and 

 character and not by political bias or divisions." Professor 

 Max Miiller narrows this definition as follows : — " If there is 

 one safe exponent of national character it is language. Take 

 away," says he, " the language of a people and you destroy at 

 once that powerful chain of tradition in thought and sentiment 

 which holds all the generations of the same race together — if 

 we may use an unpleasant simile — like the chain of a gang of 

 galley slaves. These slaves, we are told, very soon fall into 

 the same pace without being aware that their movements 

 depend altogether on the movements of those who walk before 

 them. It is nearly the same with us. We imagine we are 

 altogether free in our thoughts, original and independent, 

 and we are not aware that our thoughts are manacled and 

 fettered by language, and that, without knowing and without 

 perceiving it, we have tfo keep pace with those who walked 

 before us thousands and thousands of years ago. Language 

 alone binds people together and keeps them distinct from 

 others who speak different tongues. In ancient times parti- 

 cularly 'language and nations' meant the same thing; and 

 even with us our real ancestors are those whose language we 

 speak, the fathers of our thoughts, the mothers of our hopes 

 and fears. Blood, bones, hair, and colour are mere accidents, 



1 Cited in the Indian Census Report for 1&81, vol. I., p. 201. 



