George Thompson

“ In almost every part of the immense field of human labour, from the obscure corner in which toils the manual craftsman to the arena of the enlightened statesman, the highly educated man has incalculable advantages. The outlets for his ambition are numerous and are ever increasing. The immense machinery requisite for the purposes of primary education in Southern India must be provided by the University. Without the higher education the lower becomes impossible. ”

“ The extent of the good you can accomplish will depend on your acquaintance with the momentous social changes ever going on around you, on your familiarity with the thoughts of the leading minds of the age, but mainly on your own energy of character. Never forget that your own work, however humble, forms a real part of that present from which the future is evolved. It will assuredly be your own fault if you fail to be recognized as centres of moral and intellectual life; as men who under all circumstances will stand up for what is right and true ”

“ Whatever your difference of caste and creed, of mother-tongue and race, the higher education will form among you a bond of union for the great work of doing battle with ignorance and superstition, and disseminating light and knowledge throughout the length and breadth of the land. ”

“ Gentlemen, on you and such as you depends the future of India. Stive to be true and enlightened patriots. In the bustle of professional life you may have little time or opportunity to give much thought to the higher concerns of humanity. But use your time well, and each of you without stepping out of his way to do so will find it in his power to increase in some degree the stock of human happiness and wisdom. ”

“ You have been trained to read, to speak and to think in one of the leading languages of the West—a language which possesses the richest and most varied literature in all departments of human thought, and which for you constitutes the only pathway to all that is best in Philosophy, in History and in Science. ”

“ While thus aiming at complete mastery over the one thing which is to be your chief work in life, you should also endeavour to counteract the prejudicial influence of a narrow line of thought by acquiring a sound general knowledge of the leading subjects of human interest. "A man of the highest education knows something of every thing and every thing of something." ”

“ The University to which you have now the honor to belong has been in existence only some eighteen years. Nature of Indian University. We cannot, therefore, point to an Institution invested with the authority of antiquity, nor stimulate you to action by bringing forward the illustrious example of a brilliant array of men famous in the annals of their country. But we have no mean counterbalancing advantages. ”

“ Whatever be your occupation, you will find in it ample scope for all your energies. The road to eminence. Your honest endeavour to master it and everything connected with it will open out for you a field of knowledge which is literally boundless. ”

“ Hitherto your course has been shaped and your education directed by others; 'now you must think and act for yourselves, and realize the rules and principles you have been taught. You are able to appreciate in some degree the merits and defects of the culture you have received. Your knowledge of the laws of matter, force and mind, rudimentary though it may be at present, is yet sufficient to place you on the ladder of intellectual progress, and your own efforts well directed, will enable you to ascend. ”

“ This is the aim and end of all real education, and cannot be gained by desultory or intermittent efforts. Habits must be formed.
"For use almost can change the stamp of nature."
Let action ever be your watchword. Action. The man of energy and decision takes at the flood the tide which leads on to fortune. ”

“ In words which do much more justice to the subject—"who can contemplate our globe in this orderly system of the universe with all the delicate adjustments that astronomy reveals, and all the splendid mechanism of the heavens; contemplate our atmosphere with all its mechanical, chemical, and physical properties—the distant sun darting its light and heat and power on the globe, and fostering all the varied and beautiful animal and vegetable life, giving rise to winds and showers and fruitful seasons, and beauties of form and richness of colour, filling our hearts with food and gladness ”

“ We cannot, gentlemen, accept the view "that most of you are likely to find University distinction a disadvantage rather than an advantage in after-life." You cannot, of course, all expect to get situations under Government or rise to high worldly position. ”

“ But his sphere of labour is after all a narrow one, and the symbolical language he uses is by no means calculated to promote acquaintance with his own vernacular.
The education cannot now be regarded as complete, unless natural knowledge has received a large share of attention. Value of Science. The great fact of our age is the advance of science. It numbers among its votaries many of the greatest intellects of the day. It leads to the possession of the most elevating ideas. It brings us face to face with physical nature and with the relations of cause to effect. ”

“ You will endeavour to correct these tendencies, to lead the student to value culture for its own sake as well as for what it brings, to despise mere position in University lists in comparison with his higher interests, and to look beyond the glittering and evanescent honours of a College, career to the requirements of after-life.
When the higher education is still in its infancy, When can we look for original research. we can scarcely look among you for the highest learning or for original research. ”

“ Without presuming to say what should or should not be done at present, I may observe that in the University of London, on which ours is closely modelled, a competent knowledge in Latin, Greek, English, and either French or German is required in every candidate for the B.A. degree. No doubt, the educational machinery in England is far in advance of what it is now, or what it will be for some time, in India. Intellect of the average Hindu. ”

“ The path will not always be smooth and level, sometimes it will be rough and angular, leading through dense jungle and over pathless and rocky mountains, but at every stage disclosing beauties which yield a lifelong pleasure. ”

“ We have neither the difficult, the tedious, task of modifications and reform, nor, should change become desirable, have we, on the score of sentiment^ to retain any organization which is not the best of its kind. Your University has already expanded far beyond what could have been supposed possible even by those who were most sanguine of its success. It is a great power in the land. ”

“ But, in point of intellect, the average Hindu is not One whit behind the average Englishman, and what can now be reasonably expected from the latter may soon be looked for from the former. The time then, we trust, is not far distant when those who occupy the place which you do now shall have been taught a classical language as well as their own vernacular. ”

“ It develops the powers of reason and observation, and enables the mind to draw accurate general conclusions from particular facts. ^^ It removes those superstitions, those fantastic persuasions and prepossessions, which are the fog and pestilence, the mist and malaria of the mind/' It is an indispensable preparation for the more complicated problems which meet us in the science of life. But not only is the knowledge gained in the pursuit of science wide and elevating, and excellent as a mental training, but it is also essential to success in life ”

“ It is by this combination alone that you can hope to become trustworthy leaders of public opinion in the great questions with which your generation will have to deal, or produce anything really great in any department of human thought. ”

“ Whatever your trade or your profession may be, you will encounter keen competition and will assuredly be left behind in the race, if you are not alive to the movements of the scientific world and ready to press scientific discovery into jour service. ”

“ The value of the discovery will, in most cases, be commensurate with the difficulty of the search, and the difficulty itself, the healthful exercise of your mental powers, will form not a small portion of the pleasure. ”

“ Its influence permeates every school and shapes the course of study in every college. Its honours are eagerly sought after by yearly increasing numbers. It is a centre of national life and of national unity. ”

“ You cannot expect to reach the lofty peak untrodden but by the foot of Newton, nor yet perhaps the lower level of a Faraday or a Kirchhoff. Template:Left sidenotes But you can imitate these illustrious men in their earnest, their untiring, search for truth. ”