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1836.
Mode of teaching the Chinese Language.
61

Chaliang committed treason and withdrew many people from the government.

Year 809. Chaliang made an assault upon Pitsanulok, but did not succeed in plundering it to any great extent. He then proceeded to Kampéngpet and continued his siege seven days without success. Boromatrylokanát and Indra rájá marched to the aid of Kampéngpet and arrived in season to save it. Indra rája routed Phyá Kían, got wounded in the forehead by a gun-shot, and the Laos retreated home. In 810, Boromatrylokanát built the wat Chulamani. And in 811, he became a priest for eight months.

[Note. Both in compiling the first article in our present number, and in correcting the proofs of the present one, we have found much difficulty in the orthography of the names of places, &c. To those who are familiar with the affairs of India, the great and numerous discrepancies which now exist may not cause any perplexity, but they will always confuse and disgust those who are not intimately acquainted with the history and present state of that country. If any arguments of ours could have influence in this case, we would recommend strongly that a convention of literary gentlemen, from the various parts of the British empire in India, be immediately convened, to adopt a system, which should serve as a standard. The "system" of our Correspondent is very incomplete; and in private letters from Siam, we find an orthography which is still worse, with diacritical marks introduced without any key of explanation to them, making a complete abracadabra. The list of vowels and diphthongs is very imperfect; and the consonants, though "generally as in English," are most surely not always so. The mode of writing proper names too, is capable of being improved. Rájátirát, written also Rájá tirát, we suppose to be intended for the rájá Tirát, being the name and title of an individual. And so of Indra rájá. For prince William, we never write Princewilliam. We deem it sufficient simply to turn the attention of our Correspondent to these points, assured he is able to put the whole matter in a clear light. His second communication has reached us, and shall appear in our next number. Instead of writing Lopburi and Loppuri, it would be well, we think, to write uniformly puri or púr, the Siamese b notwithstanding.]

Art. III. Mode of teaching the Chinese language; defects of the present method; desirableness of a new one, with suggestions respecting its introduction.

In a former number of the Repository (vol. iv., page 167), we offered some remarks on the desirableness of having an alphabetic language employed by the Chinese instead of that now in use among them. Our opinion of the importance and practicability of this is strengthened by every hour's additional reflection on the subject. We hope it will be done soon. Yet as we cannot expect that it will come into general use for some years, it is desirable, in the mean time, to make the best use we can of the cumbrous medium of communication, which their present character affords. We intimated in the article referred to, that we believe the language might be acquired in much less