Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/477

 health, life, or mental and physical vigor, while the abuse of strong drinks, at any rate, has proved a curse- to the Northern peoples. I would have you, in the words of the poet,

The simplicity of your habits in eating and drinking, which climatic considerations have imposed* upon you, has had the advantage of enabling you to solve a problem which still troubles and perplexes more advanced nations. I allude to the maintenance of the poor. India, to its credit be it said, has needed no poor law. The obligation to feed the poor, and more unfortunate members of a family has always been regarded as a sacred duty by its principal members. The simplicity of your domestic life has enabled even the poorest members of society to fulfil these obligations, and I can vouch for the fact that they are fulfilled except when great natural calamity causes a failure of the food supplies, and there is no bread to give to him that asketh. During the great famine of 1876-77 there were not wanting critics, (chiefly of the carping order) who protested that the wise and humane policy of the Madras Government in State relief would result in the chronic pauperisation of the industrial classes. The prophecy was a cruel libel on the toilers and workers of your countrymen, and women, and has been completely falsified, for the broad truth remains, that immediately on the cessation of the food scarcity, the people everywhere resumed their normal habits of providing for the necessities of their dependants, and for years past the State has incurred no expenditure in the relief of Indian paupers. Having seen the people of the land in times of prosperity, and also bowed down in adversity, under the influence of a terrible national calamity, let me add that I entertain a profound and lasting respect for their many virtues, and a high admiration of their keen sense of self-respect.

And now, gentlemen, before concluding, I must add yet a few last words. Time will not suffice me to touch upon a variety of subjects of deep and vital import, but I should like you to understand that your educational training, ending with the ceremonial of to-day, has been conducted with the view of making you better and stronger men, physically, morally, and intellectually. If that training has been successful, your future lives will prove. As you have living examples of graduates of former years, many of whom I am pleased to see around me, leading noble, pure,