Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/261



Such a degree, if it is to possess any value, will necessarily be bestowed only on rare occasions. Accordingly we find that during the period of nearly seven years that the Act has been in force, this is the second occasion only on which this University has thought it fit to exercise its powers under the Act. It is just six years ago to-day—it was on the 18th December 1884—that an eminent statesman, the Marquis of Ripon, on retiring from the Viceroyalty of India, became associated with us, as a member of the University, by admission to a degree under the Act. To-day it is on one who is already a member of this University, who indeed for more than a quarter of a century has done work of a very high order for this University, and for the most important of the Government colleges affiliated to it, and who this day holds office as our Vice-Chancellor, that we seek to confer this honor. We seek it for one who, though he has never sought publicity or personal advancement, has yet, by force of character and great merit, attained to that eminence which the Act recognizes as a proper ground for the bestowal of an honorary degree. The name of William Wordsworth is so familiar in our ears, and is so honoured and esteemed in this Presidency, that any elaborate attempt to justify to ourselves within these walls, or to the public outside, the step we are now taking, would indeed be an idle and superfluous proceeding. Still, it is only right that, on this occasion, we should take notice of the fact that the recommendation of the Syndicate on behalf of Mr. Wordsworth was adopted, by acclamation at a very full meeting of the Senate, and that the Senate which, with such unanimity and such enthusiasm, desires to honour him is a body composed, not of men of one class or of one way of thinking, but of representatives of many races, creeds, and callings—of men separated from each other by the daily occupations of their lives, by the associations amidst which they have grown up, and by their most cherished traditions and sentiments, who yet, as members of this University!, are united by a common bond, by their single-minded interest in the advancement of learning. It is a society representing many classes, therefore, and not a mere clique or section of our varied community that now asks your Excellency to confirm and ratify its vote. And then, again, I think it will be as well if we try to realize to ourselves, for a moment, some of the grounds of the very general approval with which our action to-day is certainly regarded. We shall do well to remember that, during the period that Mr. Wordsworth has been connected with the Educational Department of the Bombay Government, a very gi.