Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/545

 the constant wars, the gangs of freebooters, dacoits, thugs, the insecurity of life and property, the unchecked sweeping away of millions by pestilence and famine, in a word the state of danger, misery and discomfort, and then look upon the present. It is as though the good genius from one of your own Eastern tales had spread his wings over the land. Then think of your privileges, you can follow any religion, you can practise any profession, you can acquire any property, you can publish your, opinions on any subject, you can dwell where you please, come and go as you like, in a word shape your lives exactly as seems good to you, without let or hindrance. Is this nothing? Is this a small thing? How long have Englishmen in England enjoyed such privileges, how many nations in Europe enjoy such privileges now? These things you have not bought. They have been given you. You have paid nothing for them. Aye, but they have been bought and paid for by others, and would you know the price? Ask it of history. The blood that has enriched a hundred battle-fields, the heads that have fallen low upon a thousand, scaffolds, the smoke that has made murky the heavens from countless martyr pyres, this is the price paid by England for that which she has given you freely, fully, ungrudgingly. Trust then and be patient: all fitting things will come in fitting time. Trust the mother who has done so much for you, that she may do more and yet more: be patient that she may do it in due season, not with the ill-considered haste which breeds disaster. Trust and be patient. And if you and your fellows throughout this mighty land thus live—as individuals doing your work honestly, thoroughly, as citizens respecting your neighbours, as subjects co-operating, with and having confidence in the State, then there need be no misgiving as to the future of India. Then may we lift up a corner of the curtain that hides the great Shall-Be and look without fear on what lies beyond. There may the eye see that ■which shall make glad the heart. For the keen intellect of the East welded with the sturdy self-reliance and energy of the West shall together result in an Indian Empire indeed: an Indian Empire complete, one whole, flawless: an Indian Empire beyond the wildest dreams of a Darius, beyond the wildest hopes of an Akbar: an Indian Empire proof against traitor within and foe without: an Indian Empire ready and able to take her stand, shoulder to shoulder with her sisters of the great Anglo-Saxon federation, roekfirm against all comers, foursquare against the world.