that they be allowed to select their own quarters, and to pursue their studies as they think best under such control and direction as the Chinese Secretary may be able to afford.
The presence of a number of Chinese boys in the part of the College that they would occupy would be far from agreeable, added to which the establishment of the College is not at present in such a state as that they may derive from its principal such friendly Counsel and assistance and direction in study as would be valuable enough to compensate for the disadvantages of their residence in it, nor does it seem likely that the formation of a permanent staff of teachers of the Mandarin dialect would be practicable, inasmuch as most of the students would probably be removed to Consular ports as soon as their acquirements were sufficient to render them useful assistants to the Consuls and Interpreters there.
On the last point we have formed the most decided opinion. We cannot but think that in the education of native linguists, of whom one is now attached to each consulate, men who are not requiring the presence of a European interpreter, and in communications with the natives which are best made through a person born of Chinese Parents, this institution, by the mode of instruction now pursued or by some modification of it, might be of the greatest benefit to the public service. That it has not been so hitherto can hardly, we think, be attributed to any
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