-It may not be improper to add, that, at the close of the preceding sermon, a collection was made to the amount of 6000 rupees, a sum highly creditable to the liberality of the congregation, for the benefit of "the Calcutta Charitable Fund," instituted in the year 1800 by the Rev. David Brown, under the auspices of Marquis Wellesley, for the relief of distressed Europeans, Mohammedans, and Hindoos; of which Mr. Buchanan some years afterwards observed, that it had been a fountain of mercy to thousands.

CHAP. III.

THE college of Fort William, according to the regulation of Lord Wellesley, in obedience to the decision of the Court of Directors, was to close on the 81st of December 1803. It was, however, a very gratifying circumstance to the friends of that institution, that on the 3d of January 1804, a despatch announced to the Governor General the determination of the Court, that the college should for the present continue on its original footing. The business and examinations of the students accordingly proceeded in their usual train, or rather with additional spirit.

"An example of idleness," says Mr. Buchanan in a letter to a friend, " is a rare thing. The ap"pointments to the service continue to be made "according to the college list, that is, according "to merit."

The annual disputations in the oriental languages were held this year on the 20th of September, in the presence of the Governor General, accompanied, as usual, by the principal officers of the Presidency, with the addition, on this occasion, of Soliman Aga, the envoy from Bagdad.

* See "The College of Fort William," page 124.

The subjects of the disputations were, "the Shan"scrit, as the parent language of India," in Hindostanee; "the figurative sense of the poems of Hafiz," in Persian; "the utility of translations "of the best works extant in the Shanscrit into "the popular languages of India," in Bengalee; and, in Arabic, “the importance of the Arabic to a "grammatical knowledge of the Persian language." A declamation was afterwards pronounced in Shanscrit, for the first time, by one of the students; which was followed by a speech in the same language by the Rev. Mr. Carey, the Moderator and Professor.

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Prizes were at the same time awarded for the best English essays on "the utility of the Persian language in India," on " the progress of civiliza"tion in India under the British government," and on "the decline and fall of the Mohammedan "empire in India." Honorary rewards of books were also adjudged to the best proficients in the Greek and Latin classics, and in the French language.

The several compositions of this year were afterwards published in the third volume of the " Pri"mitiæ Orientales."

In the speech with which Marquis Wellesley closed the proceedings of the day, his Lordship de

2 For a translation of this eloquent and interesting speech, see "The College of Fort William," p. 168.

clared, that in each successive year the standard of comparative merit had been progressive in the highest classes of the college, and expressed his cordial satisfaction at the proficiency and good conduct of the students.

"The observance of all the statutes," said his Lordship, "is equally essential to the interests and "honour of the students; nor is their duty con"fined merely to the diligent pursuit of the pre"scribed course of study. The intention of the "statutes is not only to provide instruction in the "oriental languages, and in the several branches "of study immediately connected with the per"formance of official functions, but to prescribe "habits of regularity and good order. My prin"cipal purpose in founding this institution was, to "secure the junior servants of the Company from "all undue influence in the discharge of their of"ficial functions, and to introduce them into the public service in perfect freedom and independ❝ence, exempt from every restraint, excepting the high and sacred obligations of their civil, moral, "and religious duty."

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In the course of the year 1804, several circumstances occurred, connected with Mr. Buchanan and the college of Fort William, which will be best introduced by a few extracts from his letters. He thus wrote to Major Sandys in the month of February.

"We are much the same in church, state, and

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college, as when you left us; only in respect to "myself my various labours have increased, are "increasing, and, I fear, will not be diminished.

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"I am literally left alone in many matters of a public nature, particularly in a battle now fighting, (the worst I have yet had,) with Mussulman "and Hindoo prejudices against translations of "the Scriptures. Their clamour has assailed the "government. Lord Wellesley and Mr. Barlow "are neuter; but the old civil servants fan the "flame. A folio volume would not detail the par"ticulars; but I trust you will soon hear of the

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good effect. In the mean time, I am growing "infirm in body, and long for more holy employ "than that of hewing wood only for our future "sanctuary in India. I know that what is doing " is useful; but spiritual comforts do not accom

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pany the occupation in the degree I desire, and "look forward to, when I have peace from public "conflict."

The particular circumstance to which Mr. Buchanan probably referred in the preceding extract was a memorial which about this time was addressed to the Governor General, in consequence of the following subject having been proposed, among others, for discussion by the students of the college, at the annual disputations which have been just mentioned; viz. "The advantage "which the natives of this country might derive

from translations, in the vernacular tongues,