Honorable Justice Innes.

“ To obtain a hold on the popular mind the growth of the fundamental institutions must be slow and gradual. Those who are impatient for changes of a more crucial and obvious character, should not forget what has been already effected. While bearing in mind the advance in social order and well-being which they have themselves witnessed in their own day, they should not lose sight of the condition of anarchy into which the country had fallen when first the English took upon themselves the functions of Government. ”

“ Prejudices against higher education. Many of the grounds for condemning it have in the course of years been shown to be devoid of foundation; but it has been admitted to be open to criticism in some respects. Thus one who has had great experience in tuition, and whose opinion would on other grounds, always claim respectful attention, has said, "I believe it is true, looking to the great body of our students, that while there is plenty of industry, there is too little thought." ”

“ For Orissa had been absorbed by the Mogul armies late in the seventeenth century, and Mysore was being ground under the heel of Hyder, who himself avoided assuming the position of royalty. The Mogul was sovereign of India from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin; but the best energies of the dynasty had long been spent, and when strength was put forth at the seat of Government, the extreme boundaries of the empire, if they felt it at all, were sensible of but a feeble vibration. ”

“ English opens to you a treasury of literature which no other nation can offer, and with it the entire philosophy of the Western world. The currents of European and of Indian thought are essentially conflicting, and by reason of your education you are, as it were, tossed about by the contending forces of these two opposing currents. But you are in a better position than your English brethren for observing, the extent to which the measures of the English Government are accepted and become naturalized on the soil of India ”

“ But what that sagacious Historian, Mill, when examined before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1832 thought then "utterly out of the question," can scarcely even after the lapse of 44 years be very near at hand. Now the Government is in this position, that while it is not possible for it to withhold from the young a knowledge of the principles of free Government, it may for a long period be incapable of bestowing in its completeness what the students of history find held up to such well-founded admiration. ”

“ Such institutions are not indigenous in this country. But if there is one more over-mastering determination of the national mind in England than any other, it is that everyone of her dependencies shall, as far as is consistent with good and orderly government, be placed in a position to enjoy the freedom she herself enjoys. The national determination finds expression in periodical movements. History shows that at certain intervals decided steps in advance are taken, always in the direction of improved government. What has from time to time been done in India is this. ”

“ Extortion, violation of the liberty of the person, and oppression of every kind had, by generations of misrule, come to be regarded as the normal exercise of authority. Slavery and various cruel and murderous practices existed in many parts of the country as institutions sanctioned by human and divine laws. General and equal laws have been enacted by the British Government, the habit of official tyranny has to a great extent been extinguished, inhuman practices have been repressed. ”

“ It is rather a process of naturalizing than mere sowing, and your rulers are no doubt compelled to proceed cautiously on a path which may abound with pitfalls, a path to which history affords no guide, and which the light of political science fails to irradiate. ”

“ Slavery is no longer recognized by law, and though in the relations between the agricultural labourers and their employers in some parts of the country, the spirit of it may still be seen at work, it survives no longer as an institution. A system of education, with the Universities to guide it in their several Presidencies, has been initiated with a successful effect upon the administration of the territory under the British Government, and of not a few of the Native Principalities. ”

“ To Physical Science is also due the faculty which we now possess of the rapid transmission of thought, which makes bo account of distance, and which has linked together into one vast market the farthest-severed trade centres of the world. This power is every day tending to a widespread diffusion among the masses of the fruits of the earth and the products of industry, and therewith to the increase of the general welfare of mankind. The bonds of human brotherhood are drawn closer by daily and hourly intercourse. ”

“ You have so mastered the English tongue that you can use it as a clear and graceful interpreter of thought, and if by further study you so assimilate it as to make it part of your nature, you will find that it will serve to create and animate thought as well as to interpret it. ”

“ Believe me that we have sympathized with you in your long labours, and experience, in common with all who value education, a heartfelt delight in being thus able to congratulate you. While some of your body will no doubt enter upon a fresh academical course, with a view to further honours, others of you will probably at once enroll yourselves in some honourable profession. ”

“ But great as are the advantages which do and may arise out of the study of Physical Science, Importance of the English language to Indians. I do not wish to undervalue the other branches of learning which you have pursued, which are no less a desirable part of a liberal education, and no less important to the purpose of fitting you for taking your place in the great world of men, and exercising the unfailing influence of minds better and more highly instructed than the generality. ”

“ Misunderstandings become less frequent; differences are more easily composed. There appears to be no limit to the possible conquests of Physical Science. Nor does it seem presumptuous to hope that it may yet disclose to us a method of compelling the atmosphere to do our bidding and to disgorge those stores of fertilizing moisture which it often penuriously withholds from a thirsty soil, and a famine-stricken people ”

“ A constitution is most efficacious, when, like branch from trunk, or like fruit from tree, it issues from the natural or acquired "tendencies, the general belief and the collective consciousness of the people." ”

“ The system which the English Government is cautiously pursuing may eventually disclose a considerable aptitude for local self-government which, duly fostered, may lead in time to the fullest development of representative institutions. ”

“ After a good deal of labour spent in the mere reception of knowledge, there is a very natural shrinking from the further mental task of taking that thorough survey of the subject which is suggested as necessary to the proper comprehension of it; and the requisite habit of mind is not very readily acquired. ”

“ In an education which ranges over a variety of subjects, Representative Government in India. that of constitutional government will not unuaturally have received some attention from you ; and your study of it will enable yon to exercise a beneficial influence upon a class of your countrymen, who condemn the system of government in India and demand that India should enjoy the freedom of England. ”

“ To be effective, it should be the fruit and outcome of a tendency, natural or acquired, by which the individuals of a nation identify themselves with surrounding 'interests and willingly take part in the duties and burdens of local affairs. ”

“ It has been successfully applied to the advancement of innumerable industries, and has especially opened to us a better knowledge of our mineral resources and of the means of multiplying the earth's productive powers. ”