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 ASSEMBLING AND WELCOME. 95 ters, but to be free likewise in religious matters. Therefore, it is to be hoped that from this day will date the dawn of that period when, throughout the whole of the universe, in every nation, the idea of oppress- ing any man for his religion will be swept away. I think I can say in the name of the young country I represent, in the name of New Zealand and the Church of Australasia, that has made such a marvelous progress in our time, that we hope God will speed that day. The interest of this long protracted session eliminated in the brief closing address of the Buddhist delegate, Mr. H. Dharmapala, of Ceylon. The person and utterance of this speaker made an impression on the assembly that is preserved in a letter published at the time. " With his black, curly locks thrown back from his broad brow, his keen, clear eye fixed upon the audience, his long brown fingers emphasizing the utterances of his vibrant voice, he looked the very image of a propagandist, and one trembled to know that such a figure stood at the head of the movement to consolidate all the disciples of Buddha and to spread 'the liij^ht of Asia' throughout the civilized world." ^ SPEECH OF H. DHARMAPALA. Friends, — I bring to you the good wishes of four hundred and seventy- five millions of Buddhists, the blessings and peace of the religious founder of that system which has prevailed so many centuries in Asia, which has made Asia mild, and which is to-day, in its twenty-fourth century of exist- ence, the prevailing religion of those countries, I have sacrificed the greatest of all work to attend this Parliament; I have left the work of consolidating the different Buddhist countries, which is the most important work in the history of modern Buddhism. When I read the program of this Parlia- ment of Religions I saw it was simply the re-echo of a great consummation which the Indian Buddhists accomplished twenty-four centuries ago. At that time Asoka, the great emperor, held a council, in the city of Patna, of a thousand scholars, which was in session for seven months. The proceedings were epitomized and carved on rock and scattered all over the Indian peninsula and the then known globe. After the consum- mation of that program the great Emperor sent the gentle teachers, the mild disciples of Buddha, in the garb that you see on this platform, to instruct the world. In that plain garb they went across the deep rivers, across the Himalayas, to the plains of Mongolia and of China and to the far-off beautiful isles, the empire of the rising sun ; and the influence I S^, Louis Obseriwr, Septemlier 21, 1893.