Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/558

rulers to raise us from a state of ignorance and moral stagnation to a state of comparative clearness of intellectual vision and moral activity. Ask by all means for what more you may want, but ask in such a way that there may be no doubt or misgiving in regard to your loyalty and obedience to established authority. And before you ask for more, satisfy yourself that what you ask for is desirable and necessary. Those who have given so much are entitled to credit for willingness to give us all that it is good for us to have. You who have received a liberal education are peculiarly bound to guide your fellow-countrymen with wise and moderate counsel. It is at once your duty and your privilege to act as interpreters between the rulers and the ruled. See that you interpret aright to the ruled the motives and intentions of the rulers, and help the governing authorities by faithfully making known to them the wishes and feelings of the people. The task that a Government like that of British India has to do is a rough and trying task. Do not make it harder by wilful misrepresentation. The teachings of our religion and philosophy, the traditions of the past, and the best interests of the present are all on the side of loyalty and fidelity, and approving as I do all reasonable desire on your part to make yourselves useful in the sphere of political administration, I call upon you as the inheritors of an ancient civilization to steer clear of courses of conduct that will do no good, but may do much harm by rousing into activity such unhealthy feelings as jealousy and disaffection. There has, of late years, been a great deal of talk and writing about local self-government, talk and writing for the most part misleading. According to some, the people of India will never be fit to govern themselves; according to others they possess already the necessary fitness, let a jealous bureaucracy deny it as stoutly as they may. Let me advise you to reflect on one aspect of the question. Self-government ordinarily means the governing of a people by themselves, but it may also mean the governing of one's self by one's self. The true measure of the people's fitness for self-government in the former sense is to be found in their fitness for self-government in the latter sense. Only those are fit to command who have learnt to obey. If a great majority of the individuals composing a community are characterized by weakness of purpose, error of judgment, blind adhesion to custom, and ill-regulated desires, it is idle to expect such a people to possess in a collective capacity the intellectual and moral virtues required for a wise and beneficial management of their own affairs. Your first duty then is clear. Raise yourselves individually. Acquire a sound knowledge of the laws of human well-being and 34