o for the Hindoo what they have done for
the Tartar."

This Minute, which in its original shape is long enough for an article
in a quarterly review, and as businesslike as a Report of a Royal
Commission, set the question at rest at once and for ever. On the 7th of
March, 1835, Lord William Bentinck decided that "the great object of the
British Government ought to be the promotion of European literature and
science among the natives of India;" two of the Orientalists retired
from the Committee of Public Instruction; several new members, both
English and native, were appointed; and Macaulay entered upon the
functions of President with an energy and assiduity which in his case
was an infallible proof that his work was to his mind.

The post was no sinecure. It was an arduous task to plan, found, and
construct, in all its grades, the education of such a country as
India. The means at Macaulay's disposal were utterly inadequate for the
undertaking on which he was engaged. Nothing resembling an organised
staff was as yet in existence. There were no Inspectors of Schools.
There were no training colleges for masters. There were no boards of
experienced managers. The machinery consisted of voluntary committees
acting on the spot, and corresponding directly with the superintending
body at Calcutta. Macaulay rose to the occasion, and threw himself
into the routine of administration and control with zeal sustained
by diligence and tempered by tact. "We were hardly prepared," said a
competent critic, "for the amount of conciliation which he evinces in
dealing with irritable colleagues and subordinates, and for the strong,
sterling, practical common sense with which he sweeps away rubbish, or
cuts the knots of local and departmental problems." The mastery which a
man exercises over himself, and the patience and forbearance displayed
in his dealings with others, are generally in proportion to the value
which he sets upon the objects of his pursuit. If we judge Macaulay by
this standard, it is plain that he cared a great deal more for providing
our Eastern Empire with an educational outfit that would work and wear
than he ever cared for keeping his own seat in Parliament or pushing his
own fortunes in Downing Street. Throughout his innumerable Minutes, on
all subjects from the broadest principle to the narrowest detail, he
is everywhere free from crotchets and susceptibilities; and everywhere
ready to humour any person who will make h