BABOO ENGLISH.
rro TO* Eonetz 07 THE " SPECTATOR."] Si,—What Sir William Markby says in your last issue of the Etiglish attainments of the young Indians who passed nto the Indian Civil Service last year is equally applicable to the 13eagalis of a previous generation who showed the way to Indian ambitions. Not to mention Mr. Thakur, the first Bengali who succeeded in passing the Open Coinpetition, in 1869 Mr. Romesh Chunder Dutt entered the Bengal Civil Service, and was followed in 1871 by Mr. Krishna Govinda Gtipta, and in 1873 by Mr. trajendranath be, all three Benaalia educated in Calcutta Colleges. Those who are interested in Anglo-Indian litetature know that Mr. R. C. Dtitt la hot only an excellent Writer of English prose, but bat rendered many Of the masterpieces of Sanscrit poetry into aedomplished .Engliah verse. Mr. K. G. Gupta is, of eonise, knoten to all your readers as one of the two Indian gentlemen recently :Selected by Mr. Morley to take a place in his Council. Mr. Brajendranath De was in 1873 tenth in Order of merit in Eaglish Composition out of two hundred and twenty-three Competitors, and eighth among the thirty-five Candidates who were finally selected. He would. be a singu- larly gifted English lad who should Occupy so high a place among two hundred and twenty-three foreigners in an eaatilination in the use of their. native language. There are Many 13eiagalis as gifted, as industrious, and as ambitious in the present generation, and the fact that some Bengali students of English only get as far as "Baboo English" does not prose that good teaching is not to be had ia Bengal. The difficulty is this. We have trained hundreds of young Indians to be bilingual; they know almost, if not quite, as much as we do about Western civilisation; they know their own eontitry tut no Anglishinan can pretend to kno* it. The problem is to make them loyal and Contented stipportere of British rule in India. This is the difficult task to which Mr. Morley and Lord Minto have addressed themselves. As most of those who follow Indian polities ske aware, Lord Minto is the most aeceeeible of Viceroys, and is doing his best #6 find out What educated India really Wants and how far it is possible to gratify its ambitions. He had the advan- tage Of knoWing India before he assuined the necessarily liolated dignity of the Viceregal post. May it not be well to Wait and see boat big sttettipt to conciliate Indian public Opinion fares ? There is always the risk that Conciliation May be Mistaken fOr timidity. But, if the Viceroy is aontent to face that obainue att., itresponaible lookeis-on should at least give hitti redit for a not too eon:anon forth Of moral ootikage. If any ot your readera have still any doubts tts to the capaeity Of natives of India to write idiomatic English, may I suggest that they Should procure a copy Of, say, Mr. Malabari's adinitable Magazine, East and West, or of the Modaaa Heviezo, published at Allababad? The illustrations in the latter se astonishing to those who retnetnber what Indian art was twenty years ago. Babu Abanindranath Tagore's charming water-colona sketches show that the Bengalis may yet rival the Japanese in artistic expression. .Unhappily there are Indians who put their bilingual dexterity to More sinister uses and foment disaffec- tion with a recklessness which is causing serious anxiety to the officials, and is hampering the benevolent exertions of the Viceroy. That is a form of Baboo English. which is much more seriously to be taken into account than foolish begging- letters. Prosecutions only beget popular "martyrs," and the difficulty of dealing with utiprOvoketl; unjast, and dangerously provocatiae attacks Oh the Adiiiiiiiittatioh is such as can
hardly be realised in England.-1 am, Sir, &c., J. D. A.
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