Philip Edmond Wodehouse

“ No step more serious can be taken, and no such step ought to be taken without a thorough conviction of the consequences that may ensue. At the same time, gentlemen, feeling that such is the case—feeling that this is the assistance to which alone the police must look, and being fully aware that the festival termed the Mohurrum is close at hand, the Government is sensible that it cannot possibly expect the police to sustain for many days together their prolonged exertions, and to alone preserve the public peace. ”

“ It rests with you to complete the work begun here, and if you look forward to the day when the Government of this country is to be in your hands, it is not only necessary that the governing classes should be educated and enlightened, but that the governed should be as a nation so improved as to co-operate with you in accepting honestly and intelligently the principles of administration upon which the fabric of society and Government is built. ”

“ I have shown that no exaggerated notions of the salary to which Native students are entitled in the Government service ought to be entertained; but there is a further mistaken notion which I believe is not uncommon amongst those to whom we have offered the advantages of education to which I wish to advert. Many of you, gentlemen, are inclined to think that the close of your College career closes at once the necessity for further effort on your part for further instruction. This is not so. The education given you here is but the basis on which you should build your own self-improvement. ”

“ But it mast be done by themselves, the Government cannot do it for them. If they persist in permitting their inferiors to pass them on the career of learning, they will have but themselves to blame, and when too late they will have cause to regret their apathy and indifference. With the advantages with which their historical position and social connexions surround them, it becomes them to take the lead in self-advancement and education and fit themselves for dealing with difficulties which the advance of education amongst the masses will bring with it. ”

“ It has been my fortune to see many of the largest cities in India, but I think that though others may boast of greater antiquity, and have more interesting objects to show in them, yet I consider that there is no city in India which can take precedence of Bombay in respect of public buildings of superior architecture. I am aware, gentlemen, that it is customary on these occasions for the Chancellor of the University to review, as it were, the educational operations of the past year. ”

“ I say further that there is no power in the Legislature of this Government to provide, off-hand, full legal powers to do what is necessary on the spot for keeping down such disturbances. I believe prompt punishments to be the essence of dealing with disturbances of this nature. I find also that there is apparently a general disinclination to take an active part in the operations of the established police of the city; that there is a disposition to leave them to cope as they best can with all the disturbances—disturbances breaking out first in one quarter and then in another! ”

“ Sickness which at home serves to draw closer all family ties, becomes here in most cases the signal for separation; in not a few the separation is final. The ordinary termination to the official career in India is to return to England with moderate means to commence life anew. For all these drawbacks the only remedy has hitherto been money—a poor one no doubt, but a better probably will not be found,—and so it has happened that the salaries of the principal public servants have been fixed at the present rates. ”

“ Therefore, it is naturally quite unreasonable to suppose that the British Government here would be justified in imposing upon the people of the country for the payment of their own fellow-countrymen higher salaries than we charge our own people at home for the maintenance of those who serve them. I hope, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, that those who can hear me among the Native gentlemen present will fully see that it is their duty and their interest to take advantage of the education offered at this University. And so far as Government is able to make use of their services, it will not fail to do so. ”

“ My object has been to satisfy the people of this country, here in the presence of the leading members of every class of society, that the Government was fully alive to its duty of protecting life and property, while fully commiserating with those who have suffered, and was prepared to do its duty to the utmost during these disturbances. ”

“ I hope and trust that we shall have, as we have a right to expect, the assistance of all honest and good men, of all classes, to put an end to these disturbances. But we do not trust to the efforts of independent people outside. We yesterday decided that troops must be sent for in such numbers that further attempts at violence will be put an end to. The consequence is as the result of yesterday's orders, that one regiment is now in Bombay, half a European regiment will be here this evening, and cavalry will be here tomorrow. ”

“ We cannot have therefore in India most of those enjoyments and advantages which exists in our own country, and which the Natives of this country in Government employ can rely upon. We cannot have our children educated here, we cannot maintain the same style of living as we are accustomed to at the cost which we can in your own country. ”

“ I believe there is a feeling among the heads of the College and those interested in it, that there is not sufficient encouragement given by those who represent the Government in the Department of Public Works to those who distinguish themselves at the Civil Engineering College. But, on the other hand, I for one, cannot wonder that there should be some objections on the part of our Public Works officers to entrust to theoretic students who have no practical experience important works throughout the country. ”

“ It has been represented to me that hitherto the main bulk of those who seek education in our schools and Colleges are young men of very limited circumstances and that the wealthy and independent sections of society have regarded the improvement of their minds with indifference. ”

“ It is satisfactory also to notice the gradual but decided increase in the number of schools whence students are sent for Matriculation, an increase tending to show that the means of obtaining good education are not confined to the few great towns, but are being gradually extended to the remote parts of the Presidency. Indeed candidates have been admitted from beyond those limits, from Akola in Berar and from Indore, and we may hope that in future years our institutions may extend their usefulness to an increasing number of the educated classes of Central India and of Nagpur and Berar. ”

“ It has been the fortune of Bombay, whenever it felt in want of institutions adapted to the advancing civilization of the age, to find among its own citizens those who were both ready and proud to devote to the supply of these wants large contributions from the wealth which their energy and ability and experience have enabled them to accumulate. In connection with the present building I may make a few remarks. ”

“ The case of the medical profession is very different; the students are much more numerous and they have obtained a singular degree of success. Out of the comparatively limited number of those who came up for examination, a very large proportion have obtained their degrees. With regard to Civil Engineering I think the Government is at present placed in a somewhat singular position. It seems to be thought the business of Government to provide employment for those who acquire the theory in our schools. ”

“ It is not alone for the money that the gift is so valuable. It is still more acceptable as the indication of the interest taken by the Rao in the efforts which Her Majesty's Government is making to extend education, as the pledge that he is anxious to assist his own subjects in obtaining education, and finally as a proof that he will be ready to give protection and encouragement to those who after the satisfactory completion of their studies may return to his territories. ”

“ They must feel that the success of their endeavours is very limited, as long as the affluent and independent classes choose to remain wholly indifferent to the attractions of literature. It must make them fear that literature and education are not sought for their own selves. ”

“ Our acts must be such as are considered sound, and wise, and honest in England. It follows therefore that while we ought to avail ourselves freely of the services of able and distinguished natives of India, we cannot cease to introduce and promote to high office a certain proportion of our countrymen from England adequate to sustain the national spirit of our Government. In the matter of salaries also it is very essential that at the Why Englishmen are paid higher salaries. ”

“ To me it appears to be most improbable, that if the admission to the higher posts of native gentlemen should become general, the present scale of salaries could be maintained; nor would it be reasonable. We are here no doubt about it—we are here now, and to my mind we ever shall be. as foreigners. The climate and other circumstances make it impossible for us, English, at any time to become what is commonly called naturalized in this country. ”

“ It may be hoped that this is in some degree to be accepted as a sign that the wealthier classes, those who can afford to provide their children with private tuition, are becoming more alive to the value of education, and are disposed to meet the cost of it. Advice to the wealthy. ”

“ It appears to be that Government must have recourse to what in England, and, so far as I have seen, to what in other countries governed on English principles, is always approached with the greater caution—with the fullest possible consideration for what may be the result, that is, the interposition of the military aid to support the police! ”

“ They work on for forty years, rising to the highest stations in their respective departments. They are entrusted with business affecting the whole world—most confidential and intricate—and at the end of the forty years they arrive at a salary of £1,000. That is a fair description of the position of public servants of the best ability and education in England. ”

“ I had always thought that in this country a recourse to law was the most popular of remedies, but certainly the study of it seems to occupy the attention of very few students, for only one Degree has been conferred in that Faculty. ”

“ But no exaggerated notion of the salaries to which they may be entitled should be drawn from comparison of the payments made to Englishmen who are serving the Crown in a foreign country. I trust that those educated here may not be content with the instruction afforded to themselves, but will endeavour to spread it amongst all the people of this land. ”