1841.
Life of Dr. Morrison.
35
from his native shores; so vain and heartless is the applause and assent of man! Probably, if he had remained on the spot and con- tinued to set that example which we know he did during his visit, of promptness "to teach," and to forward those who attended at the institution, his coadjutors might have been stimulated. But it was not so, and we have at this day to lament the passing away of another promising institution, as a proof of the fickleness of humanity. However, we have to congratulate ourselves, that at length something has been done to afford the willing student an opportunity of study- ing the Chinese language in his own country. Dr. Morrison carried with him to England a Chinese library, numbering 10,000 volumes, "many of them scarce and expensive, so that the cost of the whole amounted to upwards of £2,000." With his characteristic liberality of mind, he proposed offering this library as a gift to either of the then existing universities, on condition of their instituting a professor- ship of the Chinese language, for the instruction of individuals desirous of studying it, for religious, or other, purposes.
To this effect he wrote to the Rev. J. Dealtry, during his stay in London:
"On Tuesday morning last, I had to regret that indisposition prevented your meeting us at Mr. Ware's, for the purpose of conversing on the in-- troduction of the Chinese language into one or both of the Universities. The' desirableness of such a measure may be made apparent to three different' departments of the community. First, the knowledge of Chinese language and literature by the Christian philanthropist, for the communication of re-: vealed religion to China, Japan, Corea, Loochoo Islands, and Cochinchina,, which countries contain a population equal at least to one fourth of mankind., As all these nations read the Chinese language, there is an immense reading, population, with, I believe, scarcely any other than pagan books to read. I believe that it is practicable to acquire the Chinese language in this country" sufficiently well, to write in it Christian Chinese books, for the instruction of all those nations.
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"In the next place, as the British possessions in the East gradually ap- proach the Chinese empire and the territories of Cochinchina, and there is a very valuable commercial intercourse with China, which will probably require the attention of government at no distant period; a knowledge of the; Chinese language seems desirable to his majesty's government. The French Governinent, although it has no immediate connexion with China, has estab- lished, in Paris, a Royal Professorship of Chinese. Again, to the literary part of the British public, the knowledge of one of the most ancient languages of the world, in which is found a great variety of ancient and modern publica- tions, is surely a desirable acquisition. The philosophy of language is in- complete if it exclude the Chinese,