Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/78

 in their minds the taste for all that is refined, the love of what is wise and good, and place them in communion with the lofty spirits who, in every language of the world, have embalmed their thoughts in the precious literature which has come down to us. I would have them not consider the benefits which the University confers as limited to that scroll of parchment which I have handed to them to-day, to be valued as a certificate of a certain proficiency in various kinds of knowledge, but as an earnest of future progress and renewed labour, remembering, above all, the latter words that I addressed to them when conferring their degrees upon them—"that ever hereafter, in their lives and conversation, they would prove themselves worthy of the distinction which the University had conferred upon them." Now, don't let me be misunderstood. I do not wish them to think that I undervalue these distinctions for their own sake. They have a certain practical value in the eyes of the world as rendering them eligible for employment and profitable occupations in life, and the struggle of life is so keen that every advantage which can aid them in their future is rightly to be prized. I would only have them not to prize their learning only for what it can bring; let them strive after knowledge for its own sake. In this, as in every other pursuit and aim, their cry should be "Higher, and higher yet!" and if they persevere, great indeed will be their reward. And now let me say a few more general words to the assembly as to the prospects of academic institutions in this country. Each year that I have been in India I have been more and more convinced of the incalculable value of the University that we have established. Prominent among the many advantages which have flowed from British rule in India, I look upon Universities as institutions which are day by day conferring the widest and the greatest possible benefits upon the natives of this country. It is not merely that the University diffuses among the population a thirst for knowledge and an intellectual cultivation that was before unattainable to them, but it is preparing and fitting a class of men well fitted to render public service to their country in every department of the State. I have often thought that Europeans in this country are very much given to try everything by the hard and fast rules of a European standard; that our system of government, our legislation, our administration, are not sufficiently imbued with the spirit which enlists the sympathies of the natives of this country, and which those who love their country would like to see exhibited; and I therefore rejoice to see a class of men growing up who necessarily possess a thorough knowledge of the wants and the wishes of