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The introduction of the English language as the official language of India—the language
at least which opened the door to preferment and honour—carried with it the obligation, on the
part of Government, that measures should be adopted and means afforded to facilitate the study
of English by the Muhammadans. Under the Treaty of 1765 they were entitled to some special
consideration, and a more generous policy, your memorialists are inclined to believe, would
have saved them from the condition into which they have now fallen.
15. Under the Muhammadan domination besides the Omrahs and Mansabdars—the great
feudal lords and office-holders,—the Aymadars and Lakhirajdars, who held revenue-free grants
from the chiefs and sovereigns,' contributed in no small degree to the prosperity and well-being
of the community. These grants were generally made to men of learning for charitable and
pious uses. The majority of the scholastic institutions were thus supported by revenue-free
grants made by the sovereigns, or by endowments created by private individuals.
During the reign of turmoil and disturbance which followed the death of Aurungzebe in
] 707, when the Emperors lost their hold on the outlying provinces, sanads creating aymadari
rights and lakhiraj tenures were frequently granted by the local chiefs on their own authority.
From the time when the East India Company first acquired dominion over these provinces,
up to the year 1828, when the resumption proceedings were inaugurated, the British authorities,
whilst repeatedly asserting the right of the Suzerain power to all grants which had not received
the sanction of the Mogul sovereigns, advisedly abstained from taking any action to oust people
from lands which had been handed down from generation to generation for about three quarters
of a century. The resumption proceedings, which lasted for eighteen years, were conducted with
a degree of harshness which has left behind a legacy of bitterness. Hundreds of ancient
families were ruined, and the educational system of the Mussulmans, which was almost entirely
maintained by rent-free grants, received its deathblow. <f The scholastic classes of the
Muhammadans emerged from the eighteen years of harrying absolutely ruined.” The resum-
tion proceedings terminated in 1846, and since then the decline of the Muhammadans has
gone on with accelerated pace.
16. Your memorialists feel assured that the circmustances to which they have adverted
in the foregoing paragraphs will shew to Your Excellency that Muhammadan impoverishment
and Muhammadan decadence are not the results of Muhammadan apathy, or of any un-
willingness on their part to study the language of an alien race. At any rate, whatever
may have been the feeling in former times, there is not the smallest doubt that within
last quarter of a century, a strong desire has grown up among the Mussulmans for the study
of the’ English language and literature. Their backwardness is due to their general poverty.
As a m' tter of fact the well-to-do middle class—the section which forms the backbone of a
natu -has become totally extinct among the Muhammadans. Few Muhammadan parents
are i a position to give their soiu the education necessary for competing successfully with
Eurt an and Hindu youths in the various walks of life. In the majority of cases
Mui. *mmadan students are compelled, from sheer want and the indigency of their parents,
to abandon their studies at the very threshold of their scholastic career. His Honor the
present Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, who has always taken a lively interest in the
welfare of the Muhammadans, and to whom the Mussulman race owes a large debt of
gratitude for all his endeavours in the cause of Muhammadan education and improvement,
has rendered them some assistance by the establishment of a few scholarships, and by
providing for the payment by Government, in certain cases, of the schooling fees of Muhammadan
students. But your memorialists regret to say this help is a mere drop in the ocean.
17. Your norialists are fully conscious that this appeal for State assistance may
possibly be rega.. ed by ho -*e critics as betraying a weakness in the national character^
and it may be said that it is a mistake to rely upon State employment as the key-stone to
national prosperity. Yonr memorialists would, however, respectfully submit that the absence
of capital is a great stumbling-block in the path of Muhammadan enterprize, which prevents
their engaging in industrial pursuits and destroys all commercial activity.
18. Under the circumstances described in the preceding paragraphs Your Excellency
cannot be surprised to learn that the Mussulmans consider themselves grievously handicapped
in the race for material progress and prosperity. For the last twenty years the Mussulmans
have made strenuous exertions to qualify themselves to enter the lists successfully with the
Hind us, but, unfortunately, with every avenue to public employment, already jealously blocked
by members of a different race, it is almost impossible for a Muhammadan candidate to
obtain a footing in any Government office. Your memorialists do not mean by these remarks
to reflect upon the Hindu community, but desire simply to call attention to a fact which, to a
large extent, paralyzes the action of Government. In the subordinate walks of life, the
briskness of competition naturally creates jealousy, which often degenerates into intrigue; and,
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