Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/448

Rh

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, 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