THE SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL STUDIES. T HE issue of the Charter

constituting the School of Oriental Studies marks a distinct onward step in the improvement of the educational system of this country, and also removes a stain from the reputation of the British Government and nation. More- over, it affords satisfactory proof that, although the official coach moves so slowly as at times to cause those who are interested in its progress almost to despair, it nevertheless eventually reaches its goal, more especially if its driver is constantly subject to the pressure of outside public opinion. It is, indeed, little short of a public scandal that whilst for a long time past Germany, Austria, France, Russia, and Italy have possessed establishments where Oriental languages are taught, Great Britain, with her three hundred and fifty millions of Asiatic and African subjects, and her huge trade with the East, involving a turnover of more than two hundred millions a year, should have lagged behind, and should not long ago have established any adequate system for instructing British administrative and commercial agents in either the languages, customs, religions, or history of the populations with whom they were destined to be brought in contact.

As usually happens in this country, the first impulse towards the inauguration of an improved state of things came, not from the Government, but from the public. In December, 1906, the then Prime Minister (Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman) was approached by representatives of all the leading Societies which, in different capacities, are concerned in Eastern affairs. They set forth that

" in London there is no properly organized School providing instruc- tion in Oriental languages. The efficient teaching which is given is due to the efforts of scattered Colleges and Societies whose finances are heavily burdened by other charges, with the result that in almost every case the teachers, whose merits are generally recognized, are inadequately paid, and hence are unable to give more than a small portion of their time to the teaching of their subjects. The number of students who avail themselves of the existing facilities is very limited, and would be largely increased if due recognition were given to these studies."

The result of these representations was that a powerful Committee was appointed, under the presidency of Lord Reay, to whose un- tiring efforts in the cause much of the ultimate success is due, to

report on the subject. The Committee found that, so far from a knowledge of the vernacular languages having increased of late amongst Englishmen resident in the East, the tendency was rather in the opposite direction. This, at all events in so far as India is concerned, will surprise no one whose Indian experience is not of recent date. The regime of the old East India Company was, without doubt, in many respects very defective, but it possessed certain merits. Of these, one of the chief was that, by reason of the absence of rapid communication with Europe, the semi-patri- archal forms of government which still existed in many parts of the country, and other causes, the agents of the Company made their permanent homes in India, and lived amongst the people far more than is at present the case.

Another circumstance which, in India, has tended to discourage the study of the vernacular languages amongst Englishmen is the growth of a large class of Indians who have acquired a thorough knowledge of English. It might, at first sight, be thought that, from an administrative point of view, this would be an advantage ; and so to a limited extent it is ; but it is a very doubtful advantage. It prevents English officials from being brought into close contact with the Indians. Mr. Sayyid Husain Bilgrami, who was at one time member of the India Council, stated that " the curse of India is the number of people who come between the district officer and the people." But there is another and more formidable obstacle, based on racial prejudice and conceit, which often stands in the way of acquiring linguistic efficiency. I cannot say that in the course of my own experience I have ever come across one of my countrymen who, in the words of Sir Valentine Chirol, "considered it rather bad form to sweat at beastly Chinese " ; but Sir Adam Block, speaking with a prolonged experience and deep knowledge of the Near East, was unquestionably right when he said that " our British communities try to live exactly the same life as they live over here [i.e., in England], and to shut themselves off entirely from the natives." It must be admitted that this social exclusive- ness, which is everywhere a marked characteristic of British de- meanour, however stupid and prejudiced it may appear, carries with it this advantage, that those special qualities which tend to the creation of an Imperial race are preserved intact. An English- man rarely becomes either Orientalized, or, I may add, Levantinized.

On the other hand, when, as not unfrequently happens, it is pushed to an extreme point, it connotes the fatal defect, which is specially

prominent in cases where the indigenous races are wholly or partially civilized, of stifling mutual sympathy and reciprocal understanding.

Perhaps the most important point of principle which came under the consideration of Lord Reay's Committee was whether young men destined to an Eastern career should receive preliminary instruction in Oriental languages before leaving this country, or whether reliance should wholly be placed on their aptitude to " pick up " the vernacular languages after they had arrived at their respective destinations. With a very few exceptions, amongst whom Sir Ernest Satow was the most distinguished, all the witnesses examined by the Committee were strongly in favour of preliminary instruction being afforded in England. In the East, the difference between the language ordinarily used

by the educated and that used by the uneducated classes is far greater than that which exists, for instance, between an Oxford Professor and an East Anglian ploughboy. I remember that on one occasion a distinguished Indian Judge visited Cairoi He was able to converse fluently in Koranic Arabio with the Ulema of the El Azhar University, but would have experienced much difficulty in conveying his meaning to the driver of a cab picked up in the streets of Cairo or Alexandria. Of course, a

thorough colloquial knowledge, which can only be acquired on the spot, is essential from both the administrative and commercial

points of view. Sir Valentine Chirol cited in his evidence the striking

case of an Englishman who, " by acquiring a thorough knowledge of the vernaculars of Southern China, became a commercial traveller for Coats', the big thread people, and did an enormous business for them there." But an acquaintance with the language of the educated classes is also very necessary, not only for those who wish to study Eastern history and literature, but also for those who are solely engaged in the work of administration. It is easy to raise a laugh at the inflated English occasionally used by the Bengali Babn or the Egyptian Effendi. A work such as the Life of the late Justice Onocool Chunder Mookerjee, which still lives in the memories of the older race of Anglo-Indians, is certainly provocative of good-natured merriment. But we are perhaps rather too apt to forget the effect produced on the mind of a high-class and cultivated Eastern when he is addressed by an Englishman, who is at best only his social equal, and, it may be, is sometimes his social inferior, in an Arabic or Hindustani which bears even less relation to the language he is accustomed to use than a speech delivered by Lord Rosebery or Lord Curzon does to the dialect of a London costermonger.

I can quote a couple of instances within my personal experience illustrative of the political value to be attached to knowledge of this description. On one occasion, I had to make an important speech at Khartum dealing with a number of administrative and educa- tional questions. The Sudanese notables, who were assembled to meet me, were most anxious to hear the views of the British Govern- ment on these subjects. I wrote out a carefully prepared speech in language such as I should have used to an audience of educated Englishmen. I was lintunately accompanied by an Oriental Secretary (Mr. H. Boyle) who was a master both of colloquial and of literary Arabia He gave the assembled Sheikhs and others an Arabic version of what I had said. The effect was magical. The audience were, it is true, gratified by the substance of my remarks, but their effect was enormously enhanced by the polished Arabic, in which they were delivered, and which they heard with undisguised astonishment from the mouth of an Englishman.

To quote another instance, I can well remember the first occasion on which, having acquired a knowledge of Turkish, very imperfect, indeed, but still rising somewhat above the ordinary colloquial standard of the uneducated classes, I ventured to address Mukhtar Pasha in his own language. It was a revelation to me. He expressed his ideas with a thoroughness, an eloquence, and, as it certainly appeared to me, a frankness which were conspicuously absent in former conversations when be had been obliged to have recourse to very halting French.

This kind of knowledge can best be acquired in England. A young man, when once embarked on the actual business of Indian, Chinese, or Egyptian affairs, has little time for study, and is very prone to content himself with acquiring such a smattering of the colloquial language as will suffice for ordinary purposes, but which is wholly insufficient for enabling him to deal with political or administrative problems of a high order. Lord Reay's Committee, therefore, very wisely decided to recommend the foundation of an Oriental School in this country.

Lord Reay's Committee reported in 1903. A Departmental Com- mittee was then named by the Secretary of State for India in order to elaborate the details of the proposed scheme. The main difficulty was to find a suitable site. After some lengthy negotiations, the London Institution, situated in Finsbury Circus and valued at not loss than from £150,000 to £200,000, was acquired. The Government gave a sum of from £20,000 to £25,000 in order to enable the necessary repairs and alterations to be made. The annual income required to place the new School on a thoroughly satisfactory footing will be about £14,000 a year. His Majesty's Government has promised to contribute £4,000 and the Government of India £1,250 a year. It is thought probable that the London County Council will contribute £1,000 a year to the School on certain conditions. Further, Sir Montagu Turner, with the help of a City Committee, has succeeded in obtaining promises of certain sub- scriptions. The students' fees, also, will amount to a considerable sum. On the whole, it is estimated that a balance of from £5,000 to £6,000 a year has to be found either through the medium of private subscriptions or by an increase of the Government grant. It is most earnestly to be hoped that this money will be forthcoming. In the meanwhile, the activity of the new body will have to be curtailed to the extent of temporarily abandoning instruction in such languages as are, comparatively speaking, non-essential. A satisfactory start has, however, been made. The governing body consists of twenty-six members. The principal Cfovem- ment offices, Universities, and leading commercial institutions will be adequately represented. The Government nominees are Sir John Hewett and Mr. Hartog, at present Academie Registrar of the London University. It would have been impossible

to make better selections. Sir John Hewett has a wide experience of Eastern administration. Mr. Hartog was the Secretary of Lord Reay's Committee, and also of the Departmental Committee which was subsequently appointed. The creation of the new School is largely due to the energy, intelligence, and perseverance that he has displayed in the pursuit of an object which ho has keenly at heart.

A brief allusion must be made to one further point of great importance. Linguistic knowledge is very valuable, but more than this is required in order to constitute an intellectual equipment suitable for the treatment of Easterns and of Eastern subjects. All the leading witnesses who gave evidence before Lord Reay's Com- mittee dwelt strongly on the necessity of affording instruction in Oriental history, religions, and social customs. It is to be hoped also that the governing body will from time to time secure the services of men who from actual experience will be able to direct the attention of the students towards the demeanour they should adopt in their dealings with Eastern& It would be difficult to say which course of conduct has done more harm in the treatment of Easterns—dis- courtesy and violence on the one hand, or maudlin sentimentality and nail credulity on the other. Both extremes should be