# Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras/Part 2/Honorable Mr. Justice Muthusamy Aiyar

TWENTY-FIFTH CONVOCATION.
(By The Honorable Mr. Justice Muthusami Iyer.)
Gentlemen,—It is the pleasure of the Chancellor that I should deliver the customary address this year. By accepting this honor, I have also accepted an obligation, which is, perhaps, more onerous than I can hope to discharge with adequate success. You will certainly miss this evening the ability, the learning, and the eloquence with which graduates have been addressed in former years ; but I may add that I felt, when I undertook this important work, and I do still feel, that Hindu members of the Senate should occasionally come forward and communicate to you the opinions which they have formed from observation and experience concerning your interests and duties as graduates of this University. These interests and duties have many sides, and may well be considered from several stand-points.
In the name of the Senate, I congratulate you on the success which has crowned your studies, and you carry with you our best wishes for your success in life. You may justly be proud of the position which you have attained amongst your countrymen; but I should be glad if, by any words of mine, I could induce you to realize the responsibilities attaching to that position. You all know that knowledge is power, and you may have also heard that it is a wealth which increases as you bestow it upon others, but I desire to impress upon your minds on this solemn occasion, that it is a power which has its obligations as well as its privileges, and that it is a wealth which has its duties as well as its enjoyments.
The pleasures, the prizes, and the duties of University culture are so many and so varied in their character, Advice to Graduates. that I must pass over many matters deserving of your attention, and I shall, therefore, confine my remarks to what this University expects from you, to what you are bound to do for your country, and to a few special obligations in connection with those professions which you usually follow in life.
The value of your University education consists less in the general knowledge which you have already acquired than in the capacity to add to it which you have been taught to cultivate. You should continue to study amidst the pleasures and engagements of life, and carefully cultivate the habit of observing men and things, in order to learn almost every ​day of your life something that is new. You should compare yourselves not with such of your countrymen as have not had the advantages which you have, but with men of culture in progressive societies. Whilst you thus endeavour to improve and enrich your mind by observation and study, you should also remember that the capacity for sustained mental energy varies with the attention which you pay to your physique, and that bodily health and strength, add in no small measure to the usefulness of a vigorous and well-furnished mind. It is to be regretted that from a desire to secure University honors at a comparatively early age, Hindu parents at times allow the energies of their children to be taxed beyond their strength, and you should, therefore, not only set a better example in this respect in after-life, but also take good care that your own growth into the prime of life is like the growth of a healthy plant into a tree which is rich in its blossoms and fruits.
I would next ask you to endeavour to do in all stations and relations of life, what you consider to be your duty, as well in the hour of disappointment and difficulty as in that of success and hope. In its widest acceptation, duty includes every quality and virtue which men of culture ought to cultivate and cherish, and a strong sense of duty is the keynote of a high moral nature. Let neither insidious flattery nor blind censure; nor the contumely and ridicule of interested prejudice or vanity, turn you aside, even when some personal risk stares you in the face, from the straight path of duty ; and it is only by clinging to it with fidelity and devotion that you will in the long run best help yourselves and serve this University, your Sovereign, and your country. Remember that he who has no force of character, but who suffers himself to be seduced into false principles by the necessities of ambition or of self-interest, or by the partialities of relationship or friendship, cannot respect himself in the sober intervals of reflection, however talented he may be, and whatever success he may secure for a time ; and that he who has no self-respect has no right to expect that others should respect him. Remember also that whilst you firmly and consistently do your duty, your manner should always be modest and unostentatious, and that you should studiedly avoid self-assertion in all its forms.
In connection with the several promises which you have this day made and with your duty in life to the cause of progress I desire to draw your attention to one improtant element of success. All success in relation to national advancement will depend, in the present state of the country, not so much on ​desultory individual efforts, as on the steady co-operation of various mental energies. In the gown and hood which you have been authorized to wear, you should recognize a badge of common service in the cause of your country, and a bond of brotherhood between you and those who advance the interests of civilization, and you should forget all differences in caste or creed, in social position, rank or wealth. Unless you learn to subordinate what is personal to what is due to the public, and to sacrifice individual idiosyncrasies to the requirements of your country, you will never succeed in materially aiding progress. I desire, also, to point out to you that your labours on behalf of your country should not be irregular and spasmodic, but that they should be steady and consistent, and be guided and controlled by organization and design. You should form in different parts of this Presidency associations of graduates and of men of intelligence, education and integrity for discussing, considering and dealing with questions of social and general interest; for it is only by meaus of organized associations that you will be able to establish a basis of healthy co-operation, and create an intelligent public opinion which will at once command respect and attention in the country. There is sufficient material in many districts for forming associations such as I mention, and there is also material in the Presidency Town for forming a central association which may give a consistency and unity of purpose to the labours of the several provincial associations. Remember that your value to this University consists not in the official position, or professional eminence you may attain to, not in the fortune, or name you may make for yourselves, but in the extent to which you disseminate the principles and influences awakened in you by culture, and convert them, as well in the case of others as in your own, from mere general opinions into impulses of action and rules of conduct.
And let me remind you of the important duty you owe to the Government, to whom you are indebted for the liberal education you have received, of extending to your less fortunate brethren, in such measure as your opportunities allow, the light of knowledge of which you have had so considerable a share. Several of you will doubtless enter the profession of teachers, and as such, will be directly engaged in carrying on that noble work ; but whatever may be the walk of life you may find yourselves in, there will be no lack of means and opportunities for ameliorating, so far as intelligence and knowledge can do, the ​condition of the lower classes of people, coming within your influence. It is impossible to conceive a worthier object of life for every one of us, than to endeavour to make the little corner of the world, to which our influence extends, less miserable and less ignorant than it is at present. The light of knowledge imparted to you is not intended for your personal benefit merely, but for diffusion all around, and the Government to whom is committed the gigantic task of providing elementary instruction for millions of people expect to accomplish that object quite as much by creating a body of men such as you, who by virtue of superior intelligence and culture, will take the position of natural leaders of the people and afford material help in dispelling their ignorance and securing to them the light and guidance of knowledge, as by direct efforts towards that end. According as you fulfil these expectations, will the system of higher education, which the Government has so liberally supported, be judged. Already there are signs of impatience in certain quarters at the tardy results produced, and opinions are expressed that Government should recede from the position they have taken up in regard to higher education, and devote their means and energies to providing elementary instruction to the masses. But it is forgotten that 30 years have not yet elapsed since the system of liberal education was inaugurated under Government auspices, and that thirty years is but a brief interval in the life of a nation. Judged by any fair standard, and making allowance for the slow assimilation of the elements of Western culture into the habits and ideas of a conservative people, I venture to think that no candid observer can fail to note that the success hitherto achieved has been remarkable. Any one who remembers the state of the country thirty years ago, will easily realize to himself how much ol: intellectual activity and of intelligent interest in public affairs has • been called into existence, and how much the moral tone of the educated classes has improved. I do not mean that the results obtained can be compared with the state of things in European countries which have had centuries of unfettered development; but I assert that those results have not only not fallen short of reasonable expectations, but they have also proved the wisdom of the policy of which they are the outcome, and they afford promise of still more brilliant results in the future if only that policy be steadily pursued. While there are some who regard the system as a failure, there are others again who admit its success and make that very success the reason for Government disconnecting themselves with it. If the system has taken such a firm root in the country, say they, and is throughly appreciated by the people, ​why then should not Government leave it to be supported by the spontaneous efforts of indigenous agencies, and confine their attention to providing elementary instruction for the masses. Doubtless the ultimate state of things to be aimed at in regard to the higher education would be a model college in the Presidency town, supported by the State, forming as it were a focus of intel- lectual life, and having on its staff professors of eminence, who wonldbe in themselves the living embodiments of the highest forms of culture; no expense being spared by the State to maintain the instruction imparted in such an institution at the highest level of attainable perfection. Such a college the ordinary laws of demand and supply cannot be trusted to bring into existence. In the provinces would then spring up colleges, supported by the nobility and gentry, and an enlightened middle class fully alive to the advantages of liberal education, and able and willing to make large sacrifices for securing it to their children. These colleges would necessarily be influenced by the high standard maintained at the Government College, but not enslaved by it ; they would provide for a variety of forms of culture, according to the importance attached to the several branches of knowledge or methods of instruction in the communities among whom they come into existence. Admitting that this should be the final aim, I must express my conviction that the day is yet distant when such a state of things may be expected in this country. Those who have benefited by the encouragement accorded by the State to higher education hitherto, have not been the Zemin- dars and the landed aristocracy of the country, so far at least as this Presidency is concerned, and there is no such sharp distinc- tion between the rich and the poor in this country as is said to exist in European countries, and intelligence and refinement do not co-exist with wealth to the extent that it does elsewhere. It is to be feared in the present circumstances, if the State aid be suddenly withdrawn, any movement to replace it out of the private wealth of the country would not in most cases be successful. Higher education will have to be practically left in the hands of Missionarj^ agencies in no sense indigenous. I do not in the least undervalue the impor- tant services which they have rendered to the cause of education. They have been very useful auxiliaries to the Government, and by creating a healthy rivalry between Government institutions and their own, have contributed in no small degree to the success of educational efforts ; and all honor to them for it. But if all higher education is virtually committed to their hands, will it conduce to the variety of culture and the adaptation to the special needs of the country ​upon which so mucli stress is laid, in recommending the with- drawal of State support to higher education ? However this may be, it would certainly seem anomalous that, in a country com- posed of many nationalities, Hindus, Mahomedans, Budhists, we should trust for the provision for higher education which has sucli an important influence on national progress, not to indigenous agencies which there is reason to fear will take time to come into existence, not to the private wealth of the country, a considerable proportion of which still remains to be brought under the influence of culture, but to the benefactions of charitable men in England and foreign countries contri- buted for a special purpose, and to their willingness to permit such benefactions to be applied for the purpose of secular education. Apart from other objections, such a system will be without the guarantee of permanence and stability which is essen- tial to a scheme of national education. After all, I find that the State expenditure on Government Colleges or on higher education in this Presidency after deducting the portion of it which will have to be incurred under any circumstances, and the portion which is recouped by fees, donations, &c., amounts to a lakh and a quarter, or at most a lakh and a half, certainly not an extra- vagant figure, considering the importance of the object. It is earnestly hoped that the decision of the Education Commission with regard to this important question, which is looked forward to with anxious interest by the entire native community, and in regard to which I have only endeavoured to set forth their views, will be in accordance with their sentiments. But whatever may be the decision, gentlemen, your duty is plain. That the State should help those who cannot help themselves, and that those who help themselves should do so, are propositions, the truth of which cannot be denied ; and you will fail in your duty to your- selves and your countrymen if you do not steadily keep them in view and do not prepare gradually to find ways and means for giving a permanency to the system of higher education in this country, and to rest it eventually on the basis of national endowments. The Trustees of Patcheappah^s charities have set a laudable example in this direction, and it is my earnest hope that as education continues to spread, and as the aristocracy and wealth of the country begin to be sufliciently influenced by the light of culture, the day will arrive when national colleges will take the place of Government colleges. In this connection it is peculiarly gratifying to me to note that since the Local Fund and Municipal Boards were organized in this Presidency, those bodies have done much for aiding primary education. 1 also find that higher education is ​already assisting primary education, first .by supplying a cheap agency competent to take up the management of primary schools, and next by producing men who start primary schools as a pro- fession. I would ask you and all the educated men in this country to revive in villages the old healthy spirit according to which the school-master, supported by each village, was a part of the ancient village organisation, and to encourage, as your means and opportunities permit, the application of a larger share of the private wealth of the country in the interests of edu- cation.
Whilst on the subject of national education, I would say a word in connection with female education. You are peculiarly fitted for organizing and developing the system of home-teaching in this Presidency. Without it the education of the women of this country cannot be sufficiently liberal, for, from one cause or another girls are withdrawn from schools a little too soon. All of you should endeavour to secure the benefit of home- teaching to such young women as may come under your protection and guardianship, and I have no doubt that the prejudice against it will wear away in the same manner in which it was worn away in relation to girls receiving any education at all. During that anxious interval of time which must exist between the commencement of progress, and the introduction of practical reforms, it is no small gain for men whose views are liberal and who are anxious to do something for their country, to be sustained and encouraged by enlightened home-influences. After the close of your college career, you should travel at least through India and acquire some practical knowledge of the country in which you live and of the various peoples that inhabit it. I would advise those of you who can afford to pay a visit to Europe to do so and add to your knowledge the benefit of that social education which residence in civilized countries for a time, with a view to self -improvement, is likely to ensure. While I urge you to further progress, let me advise you not to merit the reproach that the knowledge of Indian students is only book-knowledge, and that their observation does not extend beyond the precincts of their village or town or district.
Graduates in Arts, —
You will find soon, if you do not already know, that the time in which you live is the transitional period, or what I have already characterized as the anxious interval in the history of progress, ​
How long it will continue, and which of you will come to the front, is more than I can say, but I may state that it is incumbent on you all at such a time to aid the diffusion of knowledge and the revival of literature which must precede the inauguration of lasting reform in every progressive society. Your duty in this direction consists in paying special attention to the develop- ment of the vernacular prose literature, and in infusing into it the elements of modern culture, and in presenting to the public through the medium of the vernacular the mechanism and the advantages of a progressive social system as contrasted with an imperfect social structure which confines progress within pre- scribed limits. In the later stages of the history of the vernacular literature in this country, it was corrupted by a desire for writing verses and by a preference to a style which the learned alone could understand ; and the inevitable result was the partial exclusion of the middle classes from the light and the benefit of such knowledge as existed in the country. It is therefore a source of particular gratification to me to find that, during the last ten years, there have issued from the Press about 800 original works and 400 translations besides 3,500 re-publications of old authors. These figures show something like literary activity, and I would ask you to co-operate with those who are already in the field and add to the number of really original publications and useful trans- lations, and to see that you gain a step in advance every year in the development and enrichment of the vernacular literature. I would ask you to remember at this very early stage of your career in life that the usefulness to your country of the liberal education you have received consists not in writing bad manuals in English, but in writing good vernacular books on the models furnished by English authors. Whilst on this subject I must allude to a matter which has not hitherto attracted the attention it deserves. The study of Sanscrit and the revival of Sanscrit literature are of importance to you, not simply because Sanscrit is your classical language,, but also because it contains the key to the history, the philosophy and the principles which lie behind and sustain the outer forms and visible signs of your social and family life. Whatever has hitherto been done towards the revival of Sanscrit learning, has been done principally in Europe, and not in this country. But as you examine the structure of Sanscrit as a language, its capacity for brevity and expansion, the facilities it affords for translating new notions into idioms suited to the country, and the classic modes in which it has been handled by such men as Yalmeeki, Kalidas and Bhava Buti and others, you will cease to ridicule the tradition which speaks of it as the language of the Gods. ​ Again, social progress is, and must be, if I may so call it, a continuous development. The development in the past offers to you a rich inheritance, though it is also attended with peculiar dangers. In the great mass of general principles underlying the social system in this country, and many of which are the products of exigencies felt in archaic and other stirring times of which we can now have but an imperfect notion, there will assuredly be a mixture of error which may operate on men's minds with the traditional power of immemorial prescription, and may, from the very reverence due to their age, easily obtain dominion over you. It would be folly either to abandon from indolence or self-complacency the advantage of your position and to build up an entirely new social system even if it were possible to do so, or to accept what is as the best that can be had on the authority of prescription. To avoid the danger it is necessary to examine anew the whole body of what has descended to you from the past, and to question and trace each element to its origin. The proper spirit in which such work should be undertaken, is, to borrow from a philosophic jurist, one of intellectual freedom, of independence of all authority, but this sense of freedom should not degenerate into arrogant dogmatism, but should be tempered by that feeling of humility which would result from an unbiased contemplation of your limited individual powers. Thus, gentlemen, the revision of the labors of the past, in order to gradually eliminate what is unsuited to the requirements of modern culture and appropriate what is suited to them as your permanent posses- sion, is necessary to enable you to deal with the great problems of social life which will confront you before India is regenerated. In calling your attention to the revival of Sanscrit literature and philosophy in connexion with progress, I desire that you should recognise it as a means whereby you may improve the vernacular literature, and I may say -that until this work of revision is taken in hand by the graduates of the University, and until the results of their research and criticism are presented to the reading public through the vernacular medium, it would be premature to talk of regenerated India or of carrying the people with you when you suggest changes for the improvement of your social system. To such of you as may have a predilection for natural and physical science, I have to say a word. It is a general complaint in the country that the knowledge which you pick up at school is neither augmented nor even kept up, and that it is scarcely used in furthering the advancement of the people. The only reason I can imagine for this comparative neglect is, that it is, perhaps, not found to be directly instrumental in securing , success in the professions which you ​ordinarily choose. But depend upon it, gentlemen^ a diffusion of this brancli of knowledge is not only a powerful and effective means of correcting error, but will also materially add to the wealth of the country.
Great manufacturing industries have yet to come into existence in Southern India, and as a people, Hindus have done little or nothing towards the application of science to the improvement oi agriculture and of the productiveness of the soil. There are again other resources of the country which require to be developed, and which, wherever they are partially developed, are not developed with the aid of indigenous capital or skill. Gentlemen, there is a singular apathy in this respect ; and nothing that is worth mentioning has been done during the last 30 years that the system of liberal education has been in existence. I for one should rejoice if you would bear this in mind when you select your profession, and if those among you who may come to own landed property or possess capital, would utilize science so as to augment your own wealth and open the way to new industrial enterprize and new sources of wealth to the country. Even those whose pursuits may be chiefly literary, may aid progress by translating into the languages of the people practical treatises on natural science, and thereby enabling their countrymen to study nature as she is, without seeing a monster dragon in eclipses, or signs of approaching national calamities in meteors, comets and earth- quakes.
Graduates in Medicine, —
The profession you elect to follow is second to none in its dignity or in its usefulness to the people, and as, in this country, it is not so crowded as other professions are, it is also likely to prove lucrative. Your professional knowledge and skill will, on the one hand, enable you to drive quacks out of practice, whilst your knowledge of the habits of the people and your sympathy with them will secure you, on the other, a cordial reception in native homes. There is no other profession in which professional skill is so readily and generally appreciated and professional service so gratefully remembered. There is an impression in certain quarters of Hindu society that the medicinal properties of Indian plants are not either fully studied or utilized in the treatment of Hindu patients, and you will, perhaps, do well to refute this impression by a careful study of Indian Botany, and, if necessary, also of indigenous treatises in Sanscrit, on medicine, and I am sure that your labours in this direction, if any, will meet with substantial reward. ​ Graduates in Civil Engineering,—
The profession to which you belong is of considerable importance to an agricultural community like the Hindus. Though I cannot speak to you with any pretension to authority on matters professional^ still I may be allowed to say that there are several districts in this Presidency which owe their prosperity to important irrigation works and to their maintenance in good repair. Let those works which you may construct be cheap and durable, and try, as far as your opportunities allow, to suggest schemes for developing the resources of the country ; and to check peculation and fraud. Let me entreat you not to despise, in the exercise of your profession, whatever is good and beautiful in the ancient architecture of the country. Remember that you represent a profession which presents to the public view the triumphs which Art gains over Nature, and which often strike the imagination and excite admiration, and that your career in life should, therefore, some time or other, leave a mark on your country worthy of the profession to which you belong.
Graduates in Law, —
The profession which you have chosen is one of the most honorable, but at the same time you should not forget that it is a profession crowded with men of merit, that competition is very keen and professional success difficult to secure without years of close application to study, and a careful cultivation of the habit of speaking with simplicity, readiness and precision. You should remember, if you desire to rise to professional eminence, that law is both a science and an art, and that your success, whether at the bar or on the bench, will depend on the clearness with which you understand the principles of the science, and on the readiness with which you will pass through a complicated mass of facts, in the midst of animated and often eloquent addresses, taking in as it were by intuition each fact, referring it to its appropriate principle, and estimating its legal value within a given time. The study of law, it has been well said, is in its higher sense, the study of the philosophy of social life. The art you have to practise is one of the noblest ; its object is the protection of human interest in all the relations of life, and the methods by which rules of decision are deduced must satisfy at once the requirements of legal science and of substantial justice. In the practice of this art, you should also remember that you owe special obligations to the cause of truth and justicor Those of you who may enter the bar ought never to forget that the knowledge you ​acquire by virtue of your relation to your clients is their exclusive property, and should never be used for unworthy ends. In identifying yourselves with your clients for purposes of advocacy, you should never lose sight of the fact, even in the heat of debate and amidst the prospect of defeat, that you belong to an honourable profession, and that you should never say or do aught that is inconsistent with its dignity. Try always to prevent fraud upon justice, and steadily keep in view what one of your own ancient Law-givers has said. The Court of Justice, says Manu, is a sacred temple, the Judges presiding over it are, though men, humble instruments in the hands of an unseen deity who influences their judgments in the interests of truth, and those who enter this holy edifice with unholy thoughts or desecrate it with unworthy actions, are traitors to their God and country. Those of you who may rise to the Bench should recollect that the power you may be called upon to exercise in the name of your Sovereign is, according to another of your ancestors, a power divine. You should never be hasty or impulsive, and thereby shut out even the faintest ray of light from forensic discussion. You should never heed any appeal to your passion or frailty, and never allow your attention to stray from the legal points of a case either amidst violent declamation or pathetic appeals, and always see before you pronounce your decision that the responsibility rests not with you individually, but either with the Law-giver or with the science of jurisprudence. You should not Continue to learn Hindu Law, as is usually the case, solely from English translations. Sanscrit manuscripts are fast dying out in the country, and you should hasten to eompare, criticise and publish critical editions of your Smrities, Upasmrities, and Digests, and so much of your cere- monial law as is necessary to their elucidation. Some of you should also publish treatises on the relations of life and on their aims and scope as recognized at different periods, carefully noting the successive changes due to new social necessities, and thus compile an authentic history of the past as supplied by legal literature. Before the bar becomes a power in India, you will have to divide yourselves into two classes of labourers, and bring into existence two schools of thought, the historic and the critical school. I must also note that the Native bar, as it exists at present, is without an organization and therefore, without much power for good. The time has come for the formation of a Vakil's association which may, in the course of time, take up a position analogous to the Inns of Court in England, and thereby bring the whole ​body of legal practitioners in the country under wholesome professional control. This association should always stand forward as a public body ever ready and competent to aid the legislature with its opinion and advice, and the administration of justice by throwing light on the usages of the people. It should always endeavour to guard and preserve the supremacy of law in the country, and realize the fact that the empire of law is the keystone of liberty, of intellectual and material wealth, and of whatever is dear and precious to man in this life- To those of you who may enter the Government service, I shall say a word. You must remember that you should learn to obey before you aspire to command. You must go through a considerable amount of what you may call drudgery, for no one who has not some time or other given attention to details is fit to lay down with any pretension to authority, general rules bearing on the administration of the country. It is your good fortune that you live under a Government which offers several brilliant prizes to those of you who may prove themselves capable of sustaining great responsibilities and in the extended sphere of usefulness which is year after year being widened by our Gracious Sovereign, you may have to work side by side with men of English culture who combine in them whatever is great and good in English society, literature and philosophy. If you will only rise equal to the occasion, and add to culture persevering industry and a constant desire to learn and improve, I may say that you will find that there is nothing in this life which is beyond the reach of cultivated intelligence, well-directed industry and honest devotion to duty. I must now conclude. This day marks an epoch in your life, for, it is the day from which you are to enter the battle of life, and your conduct is to be guided and controlled by your own judgment and conscience. It is also the day from which you are to compete with men before Judges who will value your worth not by your good intentions or abortive efforts, but by the actual results of your work and conduct in life in relation to the requirements of your profession and country. The prizes you have to seek consist no longer in books, medals and scholarships, but consist in the gains and honors of literary and professional merit, in the pleasures of an enlightened home; in the rewards of a virtuous and an honorable career in life, and, above all, in the distinction and fame which await those who seek to raise the level of their country in intellectual and moral advancement. How far you will be able to look back to this day in the evening of life with satisfaction and pride, will depend on yourselves and on the way in which you will work and conduct yourselves, and on the aims and ends by which you will direct ​and sustain your energies. Eemember through life your teachers to whom you owe so much. Let your thought and action be always guided by a profound feeling of loyalty to our gracious Sovereign and to the British nation to whom you owe a debt of gratitude, which you can never adequately repay. Look to the past and compare it with the present, and say to what else you owe, if not to the British rule, the era of peace, of progress, of freedom and of material prosperity which has set in. Gentlemen, as surely as I stand here, the day will come, though you and I may not live to see it, when some one in this country will tell his grateful countrymen in prose or verse how the two branches of the Aryan race once dwelt together in their ancient Caspian home, how they separated, how centuries of separation enstranged them from each other, how each in its turn aided civilization, how they again met in India under Grod^s Providence, in what stirring words of Royal love and wisdom the Mission of England in India, viz., that she would not only rule India well but also raise her in civilization, was announced, what alternations of hope and fear chequered the path of progress, how the grandest of all spectacles, and the noblest of all triumphs, that of one nation raising another in civilization, was eventually realized and achieved by England in India. Meanwhile, gentlemen, toil on. Rely on yourselves for success in life. Let constant industry, honest devotion to duty, simplicity of character, and unflinching integrity of conduct and a modest estimate of your worth be your ladder to eminence. Take care, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are fortunate or otherwise, that you are always gentlemen, and remember for the sake of your own happiness both in prosperity and adversity that it is mind that makes " a Heaven of hell and a hell of Heaven." Never denationalize yourselves, never blush to own that you are Hindus, and never barter the influence which you possess among your countrymen and which you may exercise for their good, for the petty vanities of dress or taste. Remember what an eminent English statesman once said, 'Before all things and above all things I am an English gentleman." Be gentlemen, in the sense in which the great statesman used the word, and take with you as words of farewell the following advice of the greatest of English poets :
"Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty;
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues; be just and fear not;
Let all the ends thou aimst at be thy country's,
Thy God's and truth's.