Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras/Part 1/Sir W. R. Fitzgerald, D.C.L. G.C.S.I.
ELEVENTH CONVOCATION.
(By H. E. Sir W. R. Fitzgerald, M.A., D.C.L., G.C.S.I.)
Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen of the Senate,—I am little fit, from somewhat severe indisposition, which oppresses me even as I speak, to address you on the present occasion, and I fear therefore that the difficulty which is always felt in this room of making the voice heard will prevent my words from being audible, even to those who are nearest to me, upon an occasion when I should wish what I say to reach the more distant parts of the chamber where the younger members of this assembly are seated. But upon this the last occasion that I shall have an opportunity of presiding over your Convocation, I have thought that I should be wanting in respect to you, and in duty to the University, if I devolved this duty upon my friend near me, the Vice-Chancellor, and I gladly avail myself of my privilege to address you in order that I may, before I say farewell, make my acknowledgments to the authorities of the University, who have made, during the whole time I have been here, my office as Chancellor practically a sinecure, so that I have been called upon only to preside over your annual meetings and express my sympathy with your labours. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I desire to tender my warmest thanks for the assistance you have upon every occasion rendered to me, and for the zeal, ability, and judgment with which you have fulfilled the duties of your high office. To the distinguished scholar who held the same post which you. Sir, now fill, at the time when I arrived in this country, and who has since been appointed to preside permanently over one of the most distinguished of the academical institutions of his native country, I was much indebted for the constant and sedulous attention he paid to the interests of the University. To your predecessor, whom I also see present, I would tender my hearty acknowledgments, and I am sure I speak only the sentiments of everybody around me when I say that we are all glad to see Dr. Wilson once more among us, invigorated, and as young as ever, and as desirous to fulfil the same loving labours which have marked his course hitherto in the promotion of the welfare, moral and social, of the population of India. But, Sir, before I make the more general observations which are dictated by the recollection that this is the last occasion on which I shall address you, there are some particular remarks suggested by a perusal of the records of examinations in the past years which I wish to address to the younger members of this University. From the reports which I have perused to-day, it appears that in some respects the position of this University is satisfactory and improving.
As regards the Matriculation Examination it is satisfactory to find that there are less failures this year than in the one that has immediately preceded it. There are forty-one less candidates than there were last year, but ninety-five more candidates have passed, showing that young men who have come up to begin their studies at the University have come up better prepared; and it is a source of unmixed gratification to me, as I am sure it must be to every one who has the interests of the University at heart, that this result has been obtained, not by any lowering of our standard or requiring less information or less acquirements on the part of the candidates, but from the fact that the institutions throughout the country in which the preliminary education of our students is obtained, are successfully fulfilling the objects for which they were founded. I wish. Sir, I could say that every other fact which has been disclosed to me by a perusal of the records of past years was equally a subject of gratification, but there is one point upon which I desire to say a few words of warning and counsel to those who come to this University to receive these academical honours.
I find too much reason to believe that most of the young men Contentment with first success—a spirit of "Rest and be thankful." who come up to this University are content with their first successes, and consider that in taking their first degree they have done all that is necessary. I find that out of 116 candidates who have passed here and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts, only twenty-four, or about one-fifth, have taken the degree of Master of Arts. Of these twentyfour Masters of Arts only six obtained honours in the first class, and of twenty-five who have obtained the degree of Bachelor of Laws there have only been five who have obtained first class honours. Similarly, of ten Licentiates of Medicine only five have obtained the first class, while of those who have obtained the degree of Licentiate of the College of Civil Engineers, not one has obtained first class honours. Now, what has been the result of this? Why, that the Forbes Medal, founded in 1868 in connection with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, has never in the course of four years been awarded to a single student, and the gold medal, which it was a pleasure to me to offer to the University, and which the University did me the honour of accepting, in connection with the degree of Master of Arts, that again for the second year has not been awarded. Now I argue from this, and I think it may be fairly inferred, that those who come to this University are content to look to the first honour they obtain as the only object for which they come to the University. They look upon the honour as a sort of certificate which will enable them to obtain preferment and emolument, and do not seek to obtain University honours for the sake of learning and intellectual culture. Now I think that this is a source of very serious regret to everybody who has the interests of this University at heart. A very illustrious citizen of the city of London, in days long gone by. Sir Thomas Gresham, erected a fountain near the residence of the chief magistrate, with a stone shelf upon which the weary porters could lay their loads while resting, and upon this stone was inscribed the legend "Rest and be thankful." Now it appears to me that the junior members of the University treat the learning they acquire pretty much as the overloaded porter treats his load. They are content to be relieved at the earliest moment from their labours and be at ease, and think the sooner this is obtained the better; and then, like the weary labourer, their motto is "Rest and be thankful." Strive after knowledge for its own sake. Now I would impress upon my young friends not to look on the honours they may gain in what I may call a sordid light; not to regard the honours of the University merely as an introduction or a certificate of character or competency, and desirable only from what may be termed their commercial value; to do this is to introduce into the Temple of Learning the spirit of the market and the exchange. I would have them consider that the honours which they here obtain are but the first step on the ladder of learning. Their first course here is really their probation, a training that will fit them for greater efforts and for higher culture, which, if steadily and earnestly continued, will develop 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. Benefits of University education. 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 the people of their country, and who combine that knowledge with the refined education and more sober habits of thought which a European education gives. I believe that it is in this,—in training a class of men who will in future times, perhaps in no distant future, largely administer the affairs of their country in the various departments,—that a pervading and beneficial influence is being established by the University, which even already is beginning to be felt. But there is another benefit which I think will be specially felt in this country from the establishment of University education. It is very difficult to explain to you, gentlemen, here, the influence of University education on European society—I speak now of its social, not intellectual influence. The fact that a man has belonged to the same University appears to establish a relation between individuals which is at once recognised. Thus, when a man takes a high position in literature, science, art, or politics, there are hundreds who eagerly say "I was with him at Oxford, or at the same College with him at Cambridge." In this country, where you have so many religions and so many social distinctions which separate you so widely one from the other, every incident is of infinite value that may tend to lessen or obliterate them. Everything that tends to bring you together is to be encouraged and cherished; and I do not doubt, as years roll on, and social and historic recollections begin to cluster round our young University, a like feeling of academic brotherhood will arise among you; you will cherish the feeling that you belong to the same Alma Mater, and that feeling will establish among the alumni of this University the same sympathy, cordiality, and good-will which is ever found among the sons of the ancient Universities of England. I must now bring my observations to a close, but there remains to me one duty—a painful duty, but yet a grateful one, upon this my last appearance amongst you as your Chancellor,—to bid you farewell. I cannot look forward, as long as my pulses beat, to lead a life of indolence or ease,—such a life would be incompatible with my habits and my tastes. I trust I may, if I am spared, yet devote some years to the active duties of a public life. It may be, although I may not be clothed with official responsibility, in my power to render some service to the country in the affairs of which I have administered for the last five years, and show the interest, the lively interest, I shall ever take in the welfare, both moral and social, of its people. I have already said that I believe one of the great benefits of this University is that it is daily training up men who will hereafter be able to devote themselves in the various walks of life to the advancement of their country. There may be some who listen to me to-day who may be able hereafter to realise this aspiration, and I would have them remember me as one who, though severed from them by sea and by clime, will be ever ready to assist their efforts to advance the interests of their country, and I would assure them that they may ever rely upon my most cordial cooperation. And now, Mr. Vice Chancellor, Gentlemen of the Senate, and Members of the University, it remains for me only to conclude with the wish—Floreat Academia; and with these parting words I wish you all farewell.