Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/460

 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