ABSTRACT
The Bengali race might, even in the highest stage of civilisation, desire to be governed by a Bengali rather than by a British prince. Every Eolic or Attic writer felt, every English or French writer feels, himself to be a member of two communities, a smaller and a larger. A double emulation, an ambition to earn distinction for himself among his countrymen, and an ambition to earn distinction for his country among the kindred and rival nations. The Mahommedan conquest greatly deranged the Hindoo system in this, as in other respects. It introduced Arabic as its own sacred language, and Persian as its language of literature and business. The study of Sanskrit and that of Arabic are very fit objects to be pursued in India for certain special purposes. All tongues spoken in the Indian peninsula might be enriched from the latter source. Hindustani alone, or Urdoo, which is the most polished Hindustani, could derive any benefit from the former.
