346 BUDDHISM.

great organisation for the promotion of knowledge as that of the Ecole l-‘rancaise d‘ Extreme-Orient, it can still relieve its guests of the vreary and tedious- business of finding for themselves the archaeological monuments the} came to see.

V

A matter which we would commend to the serious llfllBl and

[uummn consideration of the local authorities. and to all who have

the well-being of Burma at heart, is the lamentable lack, ir. the present ststcnt of Angln-Yernactilar education. of any provision \\liittsnc\el' tor the inculcatitin of those principles of morality which should form the basis of evc|'_\' well-considered educational scheme. And the re- sult is v~r_v sad. tnanifesting itself as it docs and as it must continue to do until stirne alteration is made. in a visible and ever-increasing dege- neration in the truthfulness. the tipriglttness and the honesty of the men “in: have been passed thiotigh the tduczttitmal mill. Readers of the first edition of The Sou! q/ a Prop/i will remember how the Author of that gracefn work expressed sin-prise at one manifestation at least of the old-time virtue of the Burmese race :——“ Nothing, l think, was more strik- ing than the universal confession of criminals on their arrest. liven now. despite the spread of la\\"_vers and notions of law. in country districts ac- cused nien always confess. stimetintes even they surrender themselves." 'lliis passaw; also appears in the new liourth l-Idttion. but appended to it is the lolloning ominous footnote :~ s“ This was written in i396. ln too: it is \er_v diflerent. The increase of all forms of perjury and false evi- dcnte is unittrsal." Six tears has sulticetl to make a change of such por- tt-ittous meaning in the character of the people of Upper Burma atpparcnt men in the c-ourts of lawl So ntuch for perjury. and, on other scores also, there is constant evidence oi the degeneration of Burmese virtues and litirmese uprightness. No one can study the criminal statistics of Upper and Lower Burma without being struck h_\’ the fact that it is in Lower PIUFIHZL, the Province which has been the longest under British rule, in which \\'estern liducatititt is most disseminated, where every species of violent crime is itiost rile; and on every hand there are complaints of increasing corruption zimongst the minor tiilicials. llurmans with a \\'esterti education.

And tit: reason is not far to seek. lt is a recognised fact in every civilised country that children are not, so to speak, born honest; but that the ntoral faculties, as much if not more than any others, require