PAPER READ BY JOHN CRAWFURD, ESQ., F.R.S. BEFORE THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, ON FEBRUARY 14TH, 1866. Read before the Ethnological Society, March 27th, 1866. BY DADABHAI NAOROJI. LONDON: TRÜBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1866. THE EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC RACES. I FEEL very thankful to Mr. Crawfurd and the Council for allowing me to make a few observations upon Mr. Crawfurd's paper," on the European and Asiatic Races." Mr. Crawfurd tells us, in illustration of the mental inferiority of the Asiatics, that in the seminaries at eighteen the native is left far behind by the European, and never after recovers his lost ground. What are the facts? Only a few mails ago, The Friend of India tells us, that at the Calcutta University there were then above 1200 candidates for entrance; that 447 underwent the first examination, and that 120 had applied to compete for the B.A. degree. The Friend remarks, "These examinations are assuming a Chinese magnitude, and present a spectacle at once curious and gratifying." The result of my own experience as a teacher and professor for ten years in the Elphinstone Institution, and of my observations for ten years more, is entirely contrary to Mr. Crawfurd's statement. Gambier, Perry, Lewin, Sims, Warden, and others, have given similar opinions in their evidence before Parliament. The mistake made by Mr. Crawfurd is one of those which foreign travellers and writers are very apt to fall into from superficial observation and imperfect information. When English seminaries were first opened in India, boys were principally sent there with the object of acquiring a sufficient knowledge of the English language to enable them to get a situation in government offices, or to talk and write English. The consequence was, that for some time these seminaries did not produce any scholars, the pupils generally leaving on attaining their main object. With the imperfect |