Biographical Sketch 
[March 
78 
nothing too great for their grasp. Others again, with a short sighted and narrow eco- 
nomy, could find no inducement to sanction an expense for the attainment of objects 
falling so little within the compass of their ideas of utility. It has been made a 
question before now, whether men in office might not render their services more 
valuable to the state, if furnished with some portion of useful knowledge ; if possess- 
ed of some notion, however faint, of the nature and objects of science. “ It is very 
little known or considered how deeply government and its officers are called on for 
scientific knowledge, and how widely and seriously they are daily engaged in carry- 
ing on operations which depend often purely on science, often on technical know- 
ledge, or knowledge of the arts, and on a different kind of education from that 
which is considered an education in business; operations also which cannot be 
conducted without these kinds of knowledge whence-ever it is to come 1 .” To parti- 
cularize, we need only mention such questions as those of the currency, the mint, 
the bank, extensive plans of public improvement, such as drainage of marshes, 
improvements in navigation, manufacture of gunpowder, &c. No one can seri- 
ously suppose that questions of this kind can be satisfactorily treated by m e n whose 
acquirements, if they have any, are purely literary, whatever may be their know- 
ledge of official routine. To understand and judge of such subjects, knowledge, not 
learning is required; and it is obvious to all how much a government may o-o 
astray and become the dupes of interested or crack-brained projectors, as they 
may often also lose the services of useful and able men, if not competent to decide 
on their attainments by their own lights. 
I he members oi the finance Committee at Madras appear to have had great dif- 
ficulty in comprehending the object of Captain Lambton’s survey. The manner 
in which one of their leading members illustrated the opinion of the Committee is 
sufficiently original to be worthy of preservation in the history of the operation. ’‘It 
any traveller,” he says, “ wished to proceed to Seringapatam, he need only sav so 
to his head palankeen bearer, and he vouched that he would find his wav to that 
place without having recourse to Col. Lambton’s map.” A most undeniable truth ! 
Whether however the sole use ot a map, or of correct geographical knowledge, is to 
ena le a dawk traveller to hnd Ins way to his station, appears to admit of some 
doubts. 1 o us it appears that it is perhaps one of the least importance : the gentle- 
man in question, however, thought otherwise, and accordingly decided against the 
s uiwey. Tins committee, as it may be supposed, plagued Captain Lambton with 
endless absurd questions and comments ; and he having consulted his feelings rather 
than las Judgment m some of ins answers, offence was taken, and the inatter re- 
potted to Loid Y\ . Bentinck at the time governor of Madras. His Lordship who 
patronised the work, out of kindness, warned him against giving way to his feeling 
m a public correspondence ; but he would make no concession/ indi declared “ tb ! 
if he were o be placed, any how, under the control of persons who could o 
possibly understand the nature of his business, and who acted with ill * 2 
him, he begged to withdraw from his undertaking!’’ £ or d Ren trtl l , 
to overlook this proof of sturdiness, and even promised him hk Ck f^ dS p . 
would learn to temporise and attend to the of official fornm ' ’ I ’ r ° r ‘ de ‘ 1Lt 
Such was the opposition he met with, and such the nreiuri;™ i i ^ 
come. But on the other hand he was hannv J^i P J C6S he had t0 ovcr ' 
of enlarged v h w s ^ ami , C fortunately foT him^^of sufficknSn^ patr0l ff oflI,eQ 
sition and neutralise this prejudice. Besides his sSf. f e’, ° defeat oppo ' 
there were others who distinguished uS by a " *^1 
was often of the greatest use when the fate of the S.irr^T ’ ! sup Pf 
scales. The late Mr- William Petrie formerly i y ^ Ung Ambling in the 
Governor of Fort Saint George and suhspnnpnri )er of council and acting 
justly obtained the title of The Maecenas t fS , th ^ Gtn ’ ernor °f Penang, who so 
the work, and gave it his support, not only officially buf uHv 77 ^7^1 patl '° U ° f 
ot an extensive correspondence carried ' h i- F r ) lateIy ’ through the means 
John Munro, late Quarter Master General at Lieutenant-Colonel 
a very important service to the cause of the sun-eV en ? bled P ert0, ; ia 
eventtul presidency of Sir G Barlow u„7- ^ urvc / and of science during the 
tern plated the abolition of the Survey, he wffited^th^G ^ Go / ern , ment c0,1 ‘ 
of representing the utility of the 77^7*7 • Gover oor for the purpose 
especially as exhibited in the results of tho m & 1 * ldltar ) r point of view, more 
the triangles of which rested on the n opogiaphical Survey then carrying on, 
This survey was the woJkof the ‘ ^ Captain Lambton. 
^nder the superintendence of Captain A had been established 
yei, tor the purpose of teaching 
* Westminster Review, vol. ix. p. 34 6 . 
