Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/161

 TWENTY-THIRD CONVOCATION.

(By H. E. Sir James Fergusson, Bart., K.C.M.G., C.I.E.)

Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen of the Senate,—At this great annual gathering, which marks another year that has passed in the history of this University, it is most gratifying to admit to the degrees and licence so many young men who to-day receive the reward of their industry and their self-denial, and I trust they will advance to-day another step in their career with higher hopes and increased aspirations to public usefulness. I trust that the interest—the enduring and increasing interest—which is taken in these annual meetings, will tend to increase in their minds the importance of a University degree, seeing that it is the hall-mark of their scholarship, and that it not only qualifies them for admission to the highest employment open to their ranks in this country, but will so stimulate them, I trust, to rise still higher in the career which they have chosen for themselves. I need not, I hope, caution them against supposing that the success which has so far attended their efforts is all that they ought to aspire to. Too many suppose that the knowledge which they have gained entitles them to criticise and dogmatise; true knowledge should always be modest, because, as the searcher proceeds, he sees how much there remains behind to attain. It should stimulate the modest and thoughtful mind rather to diffidence than to self-confidence. I hope that the idea, which some years ago was deprecated, of the right of those who attain to degrees in the University to public State employment is fast disappearing. It would be, indeed, unfortunate if neither learning was loved for itself or its possession was held to render a humble occupation unworthy of the holder. In the countries where learning has been most widely diffused—take, for instance, the Kingdom of Prussia, it is thought by no means derogatory for those who obtain successes in the Universities to pursue humble callings. Not only should knowledge respect labour, but it should seek to produce increased discoveries for the benefit of its profession and of mankind. Gentlemen, the year has not been an eventful one in the sense of any extraordinary occurrence in the history of this University. We have pursued the even tenor of our way without any very extraordinary event having marked the year 1883; but yet we can congratulate ourselves on the increased numbers of those who have offered themselves for the Matriculation Examination, and the increased proportion of those who have been successful is shown by the larger number of those who have attended to take