Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/30

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HIS CAREER IN ENGLAND, AND AT THE BAR. 21 the most favored nations of Europe in their political and social institution ; and, above all, we should rejoice to have their minds freed from the yoke of traditions, and themselves liberated from the chain of those pernicious customs which continue to keep them physically and morally degraded. But we confess, we should regret nothing more than a system of false education, which would impart to us all the vices of the European, extinguish in us every spark of sympathy for our own country, and make us lose all sense of duty towards our- selves. We could not but look with horror upon such a system of training as would result in a total extinction in our mind of all respect for the great Hindu name, and for that literature and civilization which are indissolubiy connected with that name. We are afraid that the tendency of English education in India has already been, to some extent, to deprive many of us of that sympathy for our countrymen which is at present so necessary for our regeneration, and to alienate us from all those ties which ought to bind us to our own country. Is it desirable, then we ask, that English education should impart to us the vices of the European, deprive us of our own virtues, and make us look down with contempt upon our own countrymen ? Let us be Europeanized by all means, if that term means being more civilized • but let us not lose that respect which we owe to our country, our language, and our literature."* It may be satisfactory to note that Mr. Ghose has throughout his career been guided by the views ex- pressed by him nearly 24 years ago. Along with his preparation for the Civil Service, he was also a regular student at Lincoln's Inn, and in June 1 866, he was called to the Bar a few months after -his father's death in India. He came back to his mother country, in November of the same year with • The Open Competition for too Civil Service of India by ManomOhaa Ghoee published by Mobbw. Trubner & Co., London, 1866, p. 13.