LORD KITCFIENER'S PROJECT.
[To THE EDITOR OF TER "SPECTATOR"] Sin,—In your leader on Lord Kitchener's project in the Spectator of December 3rd you strike the right note in suggesting that the teaching ought to be in the vernacular and not in English. Some years ago, I was on sufficiently intimate terms with an Eastern Prime Minister to ask him which in his heart of hearts he liked best, us English or the Russians. He answered me perfectly frankly, saying that politically he preferred the Russians—because their policy was continuous and he knew what to expect from them, whereas he could never trust us with our continual changes—but personally he liked us best, giving several reasons which I need not quote here, and then wound up with a final reason that whereas in India our officials learn the languages of the country, and so can treat with the natives direct, the Russians in Central Asia obliged the natives to write all their petitions and approach the authori-
ties in their language.—I am, Sir, &c., R.N.
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