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 NDiAN Institute, Oxford. | bC 
 
RECORD 
 
 OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE 
 
 INDIAN INSTITUTE 
 
 IN TKE. • ., ;• •.' > ^ • • "" 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 BEING 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH 
 , LED TO ITS FOUNDATION 
 
 AND OF THE LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE 
 BY H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS OF THE BUILDING WITH REPORTS OF THE 
 
 ADDRESSES OF THE BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND OF THE 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA ON ITS COMPLETION 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 A BALANCE-SHEET OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE 
 
 Oxford: Cotnptfcb for t^t 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS TO THE INDIAN INSTITUTE FUND 
 
 AND PRINTED BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 1897 
 
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 • ) o o 
 
 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 INDIAN INSTITUTE. 
 
 The establishment of an Indian Institute in the 
 University of Oxford was first proposed by the Boden 
 Professor of Sanskrit, Mr. (now Sir) M. Monier- 
 WiUiams, K.C.I.E., in a Congregation held on May 13, 
 
 1875- 
 
 In his speeches on that and subsequent occasions 
 
 he asserted that, in view of the immense importance of 
 a better knowledge of the ever-increasing Indian popula- 
 tions subject to our rule, the establishment of such an 
 Institution was much needed to form a centre of teaching, 
 inquiry, and information on all subjects relative to India 
 and its inhabitants ; to promote, stimulate, and encourage 
 Indian studies of all kinds ; to concentrate and dis- 
 seminate correct ideas about India by concerted and 
 combined action. The following is a quotation from 
 one of his statements in promulgating the proposal : — 
 
 Books without number are written upon Indian matters ; in- 
 formation is tendered by persons not always competent to give it ; 
 and there is no lack of teaching carried on in different places in an 
 unconnected and unsystematic manner. An Indian Institute, if 
 established at Oxford, will effect its object by scholarly union and 
 
 A 2 
 
 4-47085 
 
4 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 co-operation. It will ha-y^ m. view the great advantage to be 
 derived fron? conve\ang mstruction through the interaction of ear 
 and eyfi. Its Lectr>re-iocm:-, Library, and Museum will by their 
 interdependence and intercommunication aid and illustrate each 
 other. Its Library will offer for daily use a collection of Indian 
 manuscripts, books, maps, and plans, many of them too rare and 
 costly to be procurable b}^ private means. Its Reading-room will 
 be supplied with all kinds of Indian newspapers and periodicals, 
 some of them in the native languages. Its Museum will present 
 to the eye a typical collection of specimens and examples, which, 
 judiciously selected and arranged, will give, so to speak, a concise 
 synopsis of India — of the country and its material products — of the 
 people and their moral condition. Assuredly neither Library nor 
 Museum will aim at attracting mere sight-seers, curiosity-hunters, 
 and excursionists. Their sole raison d'etre, their one final cause, 
 will be to assist in the prosecution of Oriental research — to subserve 
 the acquisition of Oriental knowledge, whether acquired in the 
 adjoining Lecture-rooms or by self-tuition. 
 
 Three other special objects to be effected by such an Institute 
 would be : — 
 
 1. To act as an attractive meeting-place for students of all countries 
 who may be engaged in Indian or Oriental research, and to 
 encourage personal intercourse, and promote interchange of ideas 
 among them. It will therefore invite distinguished Indian adminis- 
 trators, able Indologists and Orientalists of all nationalities, and 
 eminent natives of India who may visit this country, to meet 
 and deliver addresses in its Lecture-rooms or Library. There also 
 conversaziones and social gatherings will occasionally be held 
 with a view to more sympathetic action in arousing an interest in 
 Indian subjects and in making England and India better acquainted 
 with each other, 
 
 2. To draw together and assist the selected candidates for the 
 Civil Service of India, who are now required to reside at a 
 University. 
 
 3. To befriend and aid all native students from India who may 
 matriculate or reside at Oxford, whether holders of Government 
 Scholarships, or members of any College, or who may not belong to 
 the University but simply have lodgings in the city. Books and other 
 apphances would be set apart in the Building for their special use, 
 and the Boden Professor of Sanskrit would undertake to watch 
 over their interests and help them with advice. 
 
 It is believed that the Government and the Princes of India will 
 in time found Scholarships for deserving young Indians who may 
 be sent to complete their education at Oxford. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 5 
 
 It is to be hoped, too, that in process of time Scholarships and 
 Prizes may be estabhshed by EngHsh benefactors for encouraging 
 the cultivation of Indian languages among Englishmen— four 
 Scholarships already existing for proficiency in Sanskrit. 
 
 While making these proposals in Congregation the 
 Boden Professor also advocated the establishment by 
 the University of an Honour School of Oriental Studies 
 as an optional part of the curriculum for obtaining 
 degrees. 
 
 In the autumn of 1875 the Boden Professor— with 
 a view to the more effective furtherance of this project 
 —obtained leave from the Vice-Chancellor, and under- 
 took, at his own expense, a journey to India, making 
 provision during his absence for the stipend of a 
 Deputy Professor in accordance with the terms of the 
 Boden Statute. There he held meetings in many of 
 the largest towns (for example, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, 
 Lahore), explained the nature of his proposal, and 
 asked for aid. The proposal was received with favour 
 and approbation by His Royal Highness the Prince 
 of Wales— then in India— who graciously promised his 
 support; by Lord Northbrook, then Governor-General; 
 by many eminent members of the Civil Service, and by 
 all the leading native Princes. 
 
 The Professor also advocated the establishment of 
 six Government Scholarships to enable deserving 
 natives of India to complete their education at Oxford 
 in connexion with the Institute. 
 
 On his return to England the Professor gave several 
 public lectures, and put forth a printed statement of 
 the result of his efforts. 
 
 Towards the close of 1876, the Professor went a 
 second time at his own expense to India, extending 
 his journey to the extreme South, and to Ceylon. 
 Everywhere he met with similar encouragement. 
 
6 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 Soon after his return from his second journey, he 
 pubUshed a further statement, and gave lectures and 
 addresses not only in Oxford, but in London and else- 
 where, striving to arouse an interest in Indian subjects, 
 and labouring to show that our possession of so vast 
 an Empire involved two special duties — first, the formal 
 recognition of Indian studies at our Universities as 
 a special department of every University curriculum, 
 and secondly, the establishment of Institutions in 
 central positions, the direct object of which should be 
 to form material centres of Oriental knowledge and 
 research, to assist and encourage all engaged in Indian 
 studies, to disseminate correct information on Indian 
 subjects, and generally to make India and England 
 better known to each other. 
 
 An important accession to the cause next followed. 
 
 The project of founding an Indian Institute at Oxford 
 received the approval and support of Her Majesty the 
 Queen and the Royal Princes, who graciously became 
 contributors to the Fund. 
 
 At Oxford the Boden Professor was assisted in the 
 first stages of his work by the sympathy and co- 
 operation of the Master and Fellows of Balliol College, 
 and other members of the University. 
 
 He succeeded in obtaining pecuniary aid — as well as 
 
 donations of various kinds, and many of great value, for 
 
 the Library and Museum — from numerous well-wishers 
 
 to the undertaking. Their names, to the number of more 
 
 than six hundred, have been published from time to time 
 
 in separate lists and statements. Some of those who 
 
 contributed to the amount of ^50 and upwards may be 
 
 reprinted here : — 
 
 By far the largest contributor towards the Indian Institute Fund 
 has been His Excellency Lord Brassey, K.C.B., M.A., and Hon. 
 D.C.L., of University College, Oxford, some time M.P. for Hastings, 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 7 
 
 Civil Lord and Secretary to the Admiralty, and now Governor of 
 Victoria, Australia. It is not too much to say that Lord Brassey, by 
 his munificent donation of nearly ^9,000 (amounting with accrued 
 interest to at least ^10,000), ought to be regarded as having aided 
 more than any other person in its foundation. Next to Lord 
 Brassey comes H. H. the Thakur Sahib of Gondal (mentioned 
 below). The late Mr. Edward Cazalet contributed ^1,100; Mr. 
 Bertram Currie, ;i^35o ; Mr. C. Morrison, /300 ; the Marquis of 
 Ripon, ^250; late Earl of Derby, ^225; the late Mrs. Henry 
 Rogers (of Ross), ^250 ; Mr. Albert Brassey, ^200 ; the chief City 
 Companies together, ^1,621 (the Mercers' having contributed ^420 
 out of that sum) ; Earl of Lytton, ^100 ; Marquis of SaHsbury, /loo ; 
 Earl of Rosebery, ^100 ; Earl of Dalhousie, ^100 ; Warden and 
 Fellows of Merton College, ^100 ; Marquis of Tweeddale, ^100; 
 General Lord Mark Ker, ^100; Messrs. Baring, /loo ; T. Baring, Esq., 
 ;^ioo; J. Sutherland Law, Esq., /loo ; Baroness Burdett-Coutts, 
 ;^io5; Alfred Morrison, Esq., ;^ioo; thelateJohnWalter,Esq.,^ioo; 
 Duke of Devonshire, ^50 ; Marquis of Bute, /50 ; late Lord Hather- 
 le}^ /75 ; Marquis of Lansdowne, ^50 ; late Sir Le Grand Jacob, 
 £^0 ; late G. M. Tagore, Esq., /50 ; late Dr. Symons, /50 ; Messrs. 
 Coutts, ^50 ; Sir William Markby, £^0 ; Earl of Northbrook, ^50 ; 
 Viscount Cranbrook, /50 ; Earl of Pembroke, ^50 ; late Master of 
 Balliol, /50 ; Bernhard Samuelson, Esq., ^50 ; Prof Sir M. Monier- 
 WiUiams, ;^350, and about six hundred more contributors whose 
 names have been printed and published at various times. 
 
 To the above selection of names may be added the names of 
 a few chief contributors among Indian Princes and eminent men in 
 India ; for example — Sir Bhagvat Sinhjee, Thakur Sahib of Gondal, 
 ^4,500; the Maharaja of Travancore, ^600; the late Nizam of 
 Hyderabad, ^^4°° ! the MaharaijI of Vizianagaram, ^1,000; the 
 Maharani Surnomoyee, ;^3oo ; and the following Maharajas — 
 Mysore, ;^200 ; Baroda, ;i{^2oo; Cashmere (late), ^200; Jhallawar, 
 ^100; Patiala, ^200; Raja Sir Sourindro Mohan Tagore, CLE., 
 Mus. Doc, Oxon, ^200 ; and many contributors of valuable objects 
 to the Museum, whose names have been printed at various times. 
 
 So soon as sufficient money had been paid, the Boden 
 Professor of Sanskrit invested the whole sum in the names 
 of three Trustees — the late Lord Lawrence (succeeded 
 in the Trusteeship by Sir Thomas (now Lord) Brassey, 
 K.C.B.), the late Sir Edward Colebrooke, Bart., M.P., 
 and himself — and the first step towards a practical 
 
8 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 result was taken. Rooms were hired at No. 8 Broad 
 Street, opposite to Balliol College. There the Pro- 
 fessor gave his official lectures and formed the nucleus 
 of a Library and Museum by the gradual acquisition of 
 a select number of manuscripts, books, and objects 
 of interest, some of which were purchased in India 
 with the grant of ^loo from the University Chest. 
 He was encouraged in this part of his work by gifts 
 and grants received from the Secretary of State for 
 India in Council, from the Roj^al Gardens, Kew, and 
 from many private Donors. 
 
 One portion of the Collection was, by permission, 
 temporarily deposited in the basement of the Ash- 
 molean Museum ; another portion in the store-rooms 
 at the top of the Clarendon Building, and the books 
 in Balliol College Library. 
 
 The next advance effected was by means of a Decree 
 of Convocation on June i, 1880. By that Decree a site 
 was granted for the Indian Institute in the University 
 Park, but only by a majority of one vote. Subse- 
 quently great dissatisfaction was expressed at the 
 prospect of appl3'ing a portion of the Park to building 
 purposes. Hence, the idea of granting a site was 
 abandoned, but on November 18, 1880, a Decree 
 was proposed to Convocation and carried by a large 
 majority pledging the University to the adoption of the 
 Indian Institute, and to its endowment — from the date 
 of its opening — with an annual grant of ^250 from the 
 University Chest. 
 
 At the same time the purchase of some suitable site 
 and the erection of a building were left to the Boden 
 Professor of Sanskrit, as acting Trustee of the funds 
 already subscribed or promised. 
 
 After friendly negotiations with the Warden and 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 9 
 
 Fellows of Merton College, who liberally subscribed i^ioo 
 to the fund, and consented to part with the most central 
 site in Oxford for an object of national importance, the 
 Professor succeeded in overcoming the difficulties con- 
 nected with the sale of land leased and sublet to different 
 tenants, and the best site in Oxford (at one end of Broad 
 Street, close to the Bodleian Library) was secured, the 
 price being ;^7,8oo— a sum, which, considering the ex- 
 cellence of the position, cannot be thought excessive. 
 
 The Memorial or Corner stone of the Building was 
 laid, according to Masonic forms, in the turret at the 
 junction of Broad Street and Holywell by the Grand 
 Master, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, on 
 May 2, 1883. 
 
 The following is an account of the proceedings ex- 
 tracted from the reports in the Times, Daily News, and 
 Oxford Chronicle, published after the ceremony. 
 
 The visit of the Prince of Wales to Oxford, for the purpose of 
 laying the Memorial Stone of the Indian Institute, which is in 
 course of erection on an excellent site at the Holywell end of 
 Broad Street, has been the occasion of a series of ceremonials 
 and festivities of the most brilliant and interesting character. 
 The announcement of His Royal Highness's intended visit to his 
 Alma Mater created the liveliest satisfaction among all classes 
 both in the University and City, and tradesmen and others re- 
 siding in the principal streets prepared, at somewhat short notice, 
 to do honour to the gratifying event. The result was that the 
 colleges, public buildings, and leading business establishments in 
 High Street, Queen Street, Cornmarket Street, and St. Aldates 
 Street, were gaily decorated with flags, flowers, and bunting, 
 while at night the illuminations were on a scale which is rarely 
 witnessed in Oxford. The weather, too, despite a somewhat cold 
 north-easterly wind, was upon the whole favourable, and as a 
 consequence all the leading thoroughfares were densely packed 
 with eager sight-seers. The entire adult population of the City, 
 with large contingents from the neighbouring villages, seemed 
 to have turned out on Tuesday evening to welcome the Prince of 
 Wales on his arrival as well as to witness tlje illuminations two or 
 three hours later. 
 
lo RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 The ceremony of laying the stone was performed on Wednesday 
 morning (May 2, 1883) at half-past twelve, according to Masonic 
 forms. The building, which occupies the site of six houses, 
 including that of the late Professor Donkin, at the head of 
 Broad Street, is being erected from the designs of Mr. Basil 
 Champneys in the Elizabethan style. The site is perhaps the 
 best and most central in Oxford. The chief object of the Institute 
 is to be a head-quarters of Oriental studies generally, and of 
 Indian studies especially. The scheme originated with the Boden 
 Professor of Sanskrit, Mr. Monier- Williams, and has been carried 
 out by his exertions. In 1875 and again in 1876 he undertook 
 journeys to India, and obtained large native support for his 
 scheme. The Prince of Wales, who was in India on the occasion 
 of the Professor's first journey, then promised his support to the 
 undertaking, at the carrying out of which he has now assisted. 
 Convocation, in November, 1880, passed a Decree pledging the 
 University to the adoption of the Indian Institute, and endowing 
 it under certain conditions with a sum of ^250 a year. The 
 purchase of a site and the erection of the building were, how- 
 ever, thrown upon the Boden Professor of Sanskrit. He is to be 
 congratulated upon the success with which his untiring efforts 
 have been crowned, and his triumph over the many difficulties 
 which lay in his way. It may be hoped that not only the Indian 
 Civil Service, but Oriental studies in general, may receive an 
 impetus and find a rallying-point in this latest addition to the 
 public institutions of the ancient University. 
 
 His Royal Highness drove from the Deanery shortly before 
 twelve o'clock to the Convocation House, where the Provincial 
 Grand Lodge of Oxfordshire was opened by the Deputy Provin- 
 cial Grand Master, Bro. Reginald Bird. 
 
 About twelve o'clock the members of the various Lodges, fully 
 clothed in Masonic costume, marched in procession to the places 
 allotted to them on the platform. They were followed by the 
 Mayor (A. Wheeler, Esq.), preceded by the mace-bearer and the 
 following members of the Corporation wearing their official robes : 
 
 Mr. Sheriff R.Buckell, Aldermen Randall, Carr, Hughes, Spiers, Eagleston, 
 and Saunders, and the Town Clerk (Mr. J. J. Bickerton). A little later, 
 loud cheers greeted the appearance of the Academic procession which had 
 been marshalled in All Souls College. First in order came the Bedels in 
 single file, followed by the Marquis of Salisbury attired in his black and gold 
 robes as Chancellor of the University. He was followed by the Vice- 
 Chancellor (the Master of Balliol) and the two Proctors (Rev. W. Lock and 
 Mr. R. Prothero). Next came the Trustees of the Indian Institute— Sir 
 Thomas Brassey, Sir Edward Colebrooke, and Professor Monier-Williams 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE ii 
 
 — followed by the Archbishop of York, the Members for the University 
 (Sir John Mowbray and Mr. J. G. Talbot), the Duke of Buckingham, Lord 
 Northbrook, Lord Cranbrook, Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Kimberley, the 
 Principal of Jesus (Dr. Harper), the Provost of Queen's (Dr. Magrath), 
 the Warden of Wadham (Mr. G. E. Thorley), the Dean of Christ Church 
 (Dr. Liddell), the President of St. John's (Dr. Bellamy), the Principal of 
 St. Edmund Hall (Dr. Moore), Dr. Markby, Dr. Ince, Professors Bartholomew 
 Price and R. B. Clifton, the Rev. E. T. Turner, Mr. A. Robinson, the Provost 
 of Oriel (Mr. D. B. Monro), the Public Orator (the Rev. W. W. Merry), 
 the Keeper of the Archives (Dr. Griffiths), the Assessor of the Vice- 
 Chancellor's Court (Mr. T. E. Holland), the Radcliffe Librarian (Dr. Acland), 
 Canon Heurtley, Canon King, the Ven. Archdeacon Palmer, Canon Driver, 
 the Warden of Merton (the Hon. G. Brodrick), the Warden of All Souls 
 (Sir William Anson), the Principal of Brasenose (Dr. Cradock), the President 
 of Trinity (the Rev. J. Percival), the Provost of Worcester (the Rev. 
 W. Inge), the Warden of Keble (the Rev. E. S. Talbot), the Principal of 
 Hertford (the Rev. H. Boyd), the Warden of New College (Dr. Sewell), 
 the Principal of St. Mary Hall (Dr. Chase), Professors Dicey, Pritchard, 
 W. Odling, M. H. N. Story Maskelyne, J. Prestwich, H. N. Moseley, 
 J. O. Westwood, H. Nettleship, R. Gandell, G. F. Nicholl, J. Legge, J. Rhys, 
 J. Earle, W. Wallace, H. W. Chandler, G. Rawlinson, and Bonamy Price. 
 
 As the members of the several processions took up their position 
 on the dais the scene was a briUiant one, the scarlet gowns of the 
 learned Doctors, with the clothing and decorations of the Masons, 
 together with the varied uniforms of other invited guests, vieing 
 with the elegant toilets of the ladies. Nor was a local Indian 
 colour wanting, as there were present several native gentlemen, 
 resplendent in attire of gold and silver cloth, profusely decorated 
 with jewels. Amongst those were Prince Harbhamji of Morvi, 
 Pandit Shyamaji Krishnavarma, Ramdas Chubildas, Tahrir Uddin 
 Ahmed, Hamid Ali Khan, Khush Wakt, Rai Abdul Rashid, 
 Sakharat Hossein, and Habib Ullah. Among the ladies were the 
 Marchioness of Salisbury, Lady Northcote, the Marchioness of 
 Tavistock, Lady C. Greville, Lady Brassey, Mrs. Liddell, Lady 
 E. Baring, Mrs. Monier-Williams and others. Hardly had they 
 settled into their places when renewed cheers that almost drowned 
 the strains of the National Anthem played by the band, announced 
 that the Prince of Wales, with his entourage of the officers of 
 the Grand Lodge of England, had emerged from the Convocation 
 House, where they had assembled. 
 
 The following was the order of the procession : — 
 
 The Grand Tyler. 
 
 The Grand Director of Ceremonies (Sir Albert Woods). 
 
 The Grand Chaplain (the Rev. Mr. Moss). 
 
12 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 Three Grand Officers, bearing the Cornucopia and Ewers, 
 
 with wine and oil (Mr. F. P. Morrell, Mr. Reginald Bird, 
 
 Brother Wigram). 
 
 The Grand Secretary, bearing a plate with the Inscription 
 
 for the Foundation Stone (Colonel Shadwell-Clerke). 
 
 The President of the Board of General Purposes, 
 
 with Mallet (Sir John Monckton). 
 
 The Grand Registrar, bearing the Great Seal 
 
 (Mr. Mclntyre, Q.C.). 
 
 The Grand Treasurer, bearing a Phial containing Coins 
 
 (Mr. J. Dent Alcroft). 
 
 The Junior Grand Warden, with the Plumb Rule 
 
 (Col. Stanley, M.P.). 
 
 The Senior Grand Warden, with the Level (Lord Milltown). 
 
 The Deputy Grand Master, with the Square (Earl Lathom). 
 
 The Provincial Grand Master. 
 
 The Grand Sword Bearer (Lieut.-Col. Peters). 
 
 THE MOST WORSHIPFUL THE GRAND MASTER. 
 
 The Senio Grand Deacons 
 
 (Mr. Frank Green and Dr. Gooding). 
 
 On arriving at the entrance H.R.H. the Grand Master was 
 received by Professor Monier- Williams and conducted to the dais. 
 The religious ceremony was then commenced by the Vice- 
 Chancellor, the hymn, ' All people that on earth do dwell,' being 
 beautifully rendered by a choir consisting of gentlemen from 
 Christ Church, Magdalen, and New College. 
 
 The Professor of Sanskrit next addressed the Grand Master, 
 and requested His Royal Highness to lay the Foundation Stone, 
 to which the Prince gave a gracious assent, and was conducted by 
 the officers of the Grand Lodge to the north-east corner of the 
 building, where the stone lay on the bed intended for it. The 
 vessels with corn, wine, and oil having been deposited on a 
 pedestal placed ready for their reception, the upper stone was 
 raised and the lower one adjusted by H.R.H. the Grand Master, 
 who delivered the following address : — 
 
 ' Men and Brethren, here assembled to behold this ceremony, 
 be it known unto you that we be lawful masons, true and faithful 
 to the laws of our country, and engaged by solemn obligations to 
 erect handsome buildings to be serviceable to the brethren, and 
 to fear God, the Great Architect of the Universe. We have 
 among us, concealed from the eyes of all men, secrets which may 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 13 
 
 not be revealed, and which no man has discovered, but these 
 secrets are lawful and honourable, and not repugnant to the laws 
 of God and man. They were entrusted in peace and honour to 
 masons of ancient times, and having been faithfully transmitted 
 to us, it is our duty to convey them unimpaired to the latest 
 posterity. Unless our craft were good and our calling honourable, 
 we should not have lasted for so many centuries, nor should we 
 have had so many illustrious brothers in our Order, ready to 
 promote our laws and further our interests. We are assembled 
 here to-day in the presence of you all to erect this building to the 
 honour and glory of the Most High, which we pray God may 
 prosper as it seems good to Him ; and as the first duty of masons 
 in any undertaking is to invoke the blessing of the Great Architect 
 of the Universe on their work, I call upon you to unite with our 
 Grand Chaplain in an address to the Throne of Grace.' 
 
 The Grmid Chaplain offered the following prayer : — 
 
 ' O Almighty and Eternal God, the Great Architect and Ruler 
 of the Universe, by whose word all things first were made, we 
 humbly implore Thee of Thine infinite goodness to pour down 
 Thy blessing on this undertaking. Vouchsafe Thy gracious aid 
 and guidance to all who ever labour here, seeking for wisdom, 
 light, and knowledge, that so they may be as pillars in the house 
 of our God ; and that while reaping here, in this life, the just 
 reward of their labours, they may follow in the steps of Boaz the 
 reaper, a Prince and ruler in Israel, and having strength to imitate 
 the example of his purity and charity, may attain to dwell in the 
 presence of the true Boaz eternally. 
 
 ' And to all who teach or bear rule in this place, grant the true 
 light which shines from the East. Lead them, like the royal 
 Solomon, to seek wisdom from the Lord, that this foundation (as 
 the mystic ear of corn growing by the water-side) may afford 
 strength and refreshment to the pilgrims of darkness, while 
 passing them on to the realms of light. 
 
 ' Finally, we beseech the Most High that loyalty, peace, and 
 wisdom, may ever abound in our land, and that the nations of 
 the Empire, united together as one Grand Lodge under one Royal 
 Head, may continually increase in unity and brotherly love, till 
 masters and craftsmen alike be summoned to meet the eternal 
 Solomon, and dwell in His presence evermore.' 
 
 Grand Master— \ now declare it to be my will and pleasure that 
 the corner-stone of this Institution be laid. Brother Grand 
 Secretary, you will read the inscription on the plate. 
 
 The Grand Secretary then read the inscription as follows : — 
 
 'This Memorial Stone was laid by His Royal Highness Albert 
 
14 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 Edward Prince of Wales, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the 
 Garter, on the 2nd day of May, 1883. Sir Thomas Brassey, K.C.B., 
 Sir Edward Colebroke, Bart., Monier Williams, CLE., Trustees.' 
 
 The Grand Treasurer next, at the Grand Master's request, 
 deposited in the cavity of the stone a copy of the Times and 
 Standard nevjs'pa^ers of the day, silver coins new from the mint, 
 a rupee, and a half rupee. 
 
 Prof. Monier- Williams delivered the silver trowel to the Prince, 
 which bore the following inscription : — 
 
 ' With this trowel the Memorial Stone of the Indian Institute in 
 the University of Oxford was laid by His Royal Highness Albert 
 Edward Prince of Wales, on May 2nd, 1883.' 
 
 The Grand Master proved the stone by the plumb rule. 
 
 Grand Master — I find this stone to be plumb, and that the crafts- 
 men have proved it to be true and trusty. 
 
 The Grand Master proved the stone by the level. 
 
 Grand Master— \ find this stone to be level, and that the craftsmen 
 have laboured skilfully. 
 
 The Grand Master proved the stone by the square. 
 
 Grand Master — I find this stone to be plumb, level, and square, 
 and I declare it to be duly prepared and truly laid, and that the 
 craftsmen have worked well. 
 
 The Grand Master tested the stone. 
 
 The Grand Master strewed corn. 
 
 Grand Master — I scatter corn on this stone as the emblem of 
 plenty and abundance. May blessings of morality and virtue 
 flourish within this building, producing fruit an hundredfold. 
 
 The Grand Master poured out wine. 
 
 Grand Master — I pour out wine upon this stone, as an emblem 
 of joy and gladness. 
 
 The Grand Master sprinkled oil on the stone. 
 
 Grand Master—! sprinkle oil upon this stone, the emblem of 
 peace and unanimity. May prosperity, happiness, and goodwill 
 ever prevail amongst those who will assemble in this Institute to 
 the glory of the Most High, until time shall be no more. 
 
 Prof. Monier- Williams — May it please your Royal Highness, 
 I have the honour to present to you Mr. Basil Champneys, the 
 architect of the building. 
 
 The Grand Master — I now place in your hands the plans of 
 this intended building, together with the necessary tools, not 
 doubting your skill and ability as a craftsman, and I desire 
 that you will proceed without loss of time to the completion 
 of the work in conformity with the plans and designs now 
 intrusted to you. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 15 
 
 At the close of the Masonic ritual, the religious ceremony, which 
 included the hymn, ' O God our help in ages past,' was resumed. 
 
 The Archbishop of York offered the following prayer for the 
 Builders : — 
 
 ' O God, Who art the shield and defence of Thy people, be ever 
 at hand, we beseech Thee, to protect and succour the builders of 
 this house : keep them in their building from all sin and profane- 
 ness, and shelter them from all accident and peril ; that the work 
 which, through Thy mercy, hath been now begun, may be brought 
 in Thee to a happy end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.' 
 
 This was followed by a prayer written by the Vice-Chancellor : — 
 
 ' O God, in Whose presence all the inhabitants of the earth hve 
 and move, we pray Thee to grant a blessing on our Indian fellow- 
 subjects ; may the light of a true religion shine upon them ; may 
 they be delivered from famine and pestilence and all other evils ; 
 may they dwell together with us in peace and goodwill, and may 
 we act justly towards them in all things ; through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Amen.' 
 
 The ceremony concluded with the Benediction and the National 
 Anthem, in which the whole company joined, the strains being 
 taken up and repeated by the crowd outside. On the conclusion 
 of the proceedings, the Prince led the way to the Sheldonian 
 Theatre, where he was saluted by the Provincial Grand Lodge 
 of Oxfordshire. The Prince on entering his carriage was warmly 
 cheered by the crowd. 
 
 In the afternoon, Professor Jowett, as Vice-Chancellor and 
 Master of Balliol, entertained about two hundred ladies and gentle- 
 men at luncheon in Balliol College hall. Amongst the guests 
 were the Prince of Wales, the Marquis and Marchioness of 
 Sahsbury, the Duke of Buckingham, Sir Stafford and Lady 
 Northcote, the Marquis and Marchioness of Tavistock, the 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Northbrook and Lady 
 E. Baring, the Earl of Kimberley, Lord Camperdown, Sir T. and 
 Lady Brassey, Sir Edward and Lady Colebroke, Professor and 
 Mrs. Monier- Williams, the Earl of Lathom, Lord Milltown, the 
 Dean of Christ Church, Sir J. Fayrer, Lord Cranbrook, Sir John 
 Mowbray, M.P., Mr. Talbot, M.P., the Bishop of Calcutta, Lord 
 Weymouth, the Garter King-at-Arms, Sir Lewis Pelly, Sir R. 
 Temple, Wardens, Principals, Provosts, Professors, and other 
 University dignitaries, and the Mayor and Aldermen of Oxford. 
 
 The Queen's health was the first toast. 
 
 The Vice-Chancellor congvatnXaXed those present and Professor 
 Monier- Williams in particular on the event of that day. He 
 hoped he should see this building completed with all its fair 
 
i6 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 proportions presenting a fine front to Broad Street. (Applause.) 
 Another name he wished to connect with this was that of Sir 
 Thomas Brassey, a great supporter of Mr. Monier-WilHams in 
 this work, who bestowed his wealth in the same noble spirit 
 in which his honoured father had acquired it. (Applause.) With 
 their leave he would saj' a word or two about the event of that 
 day. They were sensible that here in Oxford they had not done 
 enough for Oriental studies, which had not formed a part of their 
 system or entered into their examinations, but had been rather 
 left out in the cold. If it had not occurred to Col. Boden to found 
 the Professorship of Sanskrit and four Scholarships, he believed that 
 that most ancient language would have been wholly unknown to 
 them, as unknown as Persian and Arabic, the two other great 
 classical languages of the East, were still, except to one or two 
 persons there, such as his friends Mr. Platts and Professor Nicholl. 
 These studies could hardly be made the basis of education in the 
 same way as the classics were, nor could they enter into their 
 religious life as the Hebrew Scriptures did, yet they had a 
 surpassing interest, for they took them back to the beginning 
 of civilization, and they found there was still something beyond, 
 a vast period which they could not at all span. There was another 
 aspect he wished to bring before them. Of all studies they were 
 the most practical, for Englishmen had to govern India, and could 
 not govern a people without understanding it and feeling with it, 
 and the understanding of it must be through a knowledge of its 
 languages, its literature, its institutions, its customs, its poetry and 
 mythology, its land and agriculture. They did not wish to force 
 upon Indians English ideas of religion or political economj^, and the 
 like, but they sought to arouse the best that was in themselves, 
 and so lead them on to something better. This was the spirit in 
 which they hoped those who were destined for the Government 
 of India might be trained, and they hoped also that the University 
 of Oxford might, in some measure, contribute to this, and that 
 from the event of that day some good might flow to the countless 
 multitude of their fellow-subjects in India. (Loud applause.) He 
 would now propose a toast which all Englishmen were glad to 
 drink, viz. ' Her Majesty the Queen.' (Applause.) 
 
 The toast was heartily drunk. 
 
 The health of the Prince of Wales was proposed by the Dean 
 of Christ Church, who recalled the time, four-and-twenty years 
 ago, when the late Prince Consort sent for him to arrange about 
 the University career of his Royal Highness. 
 
 The Prince of Wales, in reply, said : — My Lord Chancellor, 
 Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Ladies, and Gentlemen, — I feel deeply 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 17 
 
 grateful to my old and valued friend, the Dean of Christ 
 Church, for the kind way in which he has proposed this toast. 
 It is, I can assure everybody here, always a sincere pleasure 
 to me to revisit the University of Oxford (cheers), having been 
 connected with it for nearly a quarter of a century, and I only 
 regret that of late years my visits have, like those of the angels, 
 been few and far between. (Laughter and cheers.) The Uni- 
 versity may rest assured that my interest in all that concerns it 
 has in no wise diminished, and that, whenever the opportunity 
 arises that I may come here and be engaged in any useful work 
 which may benefit the University, it will always be a sincere 
 pleasure to me. (Cheers.) There have been, during the years 
 I have been connected with the University, many changes, but 
 this is not an occasion on which it would be right for me to allude 
 to them. But still, when I come and see the many fine buildings 
 which have sprung up, it is a striking proof of the great progress 
 which is being made, and I can only say how gratified I was, and 
 the pleasure I felt, at being in the beautiful building in which 
 I was last night— the University Schools (cheers) — and how glad 
 I was to see that they were also used for recreation, such as the 
 concert last night. I only hope that the University authorities may 
 see their way to the buildings being used for further recreation, in 
 which the ladies especially take so great an interest. (Cheers.) 
 The immediate cause of my coming here was to lay the Memorial 
 Stone of the Indian Institute. Apart from the great interest it has 
 given me to lay the stone of the building, which I cannot help 
 thinking will not only be of great use in our country but also in 
 India, it is of peculiar interest to me, having been in India, and 
 having had the opportunity — though but for a short time— of 
 travelling over the vast expanse of the Empire, and of becoming 
 acquainted with a great many distinguished Indians. I feel con- 
 vinced that this Institute will draw nearer together those bonds 
 of brotherhood and affection which are so desirable between Her 
 Majesty's Indian subjects and the Mother Country. (Cheers.) 
 It must also be a matter of some importance to students, not 
 only of this country, but of many other neighbouring countries, 
 and not only of students residing in the University itself, but 
 of outsiders who may wish to come and study the languages of 
 India, its topography, its geography, its history, and in fact to 
 make themselves more thoroughly acquainted witli the country 
 which, from its immense distance, it is difficult for many to visit. 
 Most cordially do I endorse the words which have fallen from 
 the lips of the Vice-Chancellor and the Dean of Christ Church, 
 that this enterprise, so successfully begun by Professor Monier- 
 
 B 
 
1 8 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 Williams, may be successful in every respect. (Cheers.) It is 
 due to his energy — that energy which I think is the boast of every 
 Englishman ; and I must congratulate him, after many years of 
 labour, that he has seen the day come when the foundation stone 
 is laid ; and I trust before many months are over, that the edifice 
 will be erected, and that we shall hear of many within its walls 
 deriving all those advantages for which it has been instituted. 
 (Cheers.) As our time is short to-day, I will not detain you 
 longer, but thank you once more for your kind reception of me, 
 and also for the kind mention of the name of the Princess of 
 Wales, who I deeply regret was unable to accompany me, and also 
 my brother, the Duke of Albany, who is so sorry that he was not 
 able to accompanjrme on this interesting occasion. (Loud cheers.) 
 Sir Stafford Northcote proposed ' The Health of the Chancellor, 
 Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford.' He said that 
 the Vice-Chancellor and he became members of Balliol College 
 together and took their degrees together, and that the Chancellor 
 of the University and himself had also been colleagues in the 
 representation of one important constituency in this country, when 
 they felt that their relations were somewhat delicate. They were 
 the representatives of Stamford, and they were reminded when 
 they took their position there that in their Colleges they had 
 sworn to renounce the University of Stamford. The University 
 of Stamford was now a thing of the past, but the University of 
 Oxford they felt was living and growing, and had a great future 
 before it. He and his friend Mr. Monier- Williams were students 
 of the same College ; they rowed in the boat together and they 
 carried it to the head of the river (cheers) ; and he could well 
 see that the same energy and spirit which Professor Williams 
 developed on that occasion had dwelt with him through life and 
 made him foremost in everything that he undertook. (Cheers.) 
 When they saw what the Universities were doing throughout the 
 world, what new Universities were being created and developed, 
 giving an education of all kinds, it made one proud to feel that 
 Oxford still held her pre-eminence over all other movements, that 
 it was not by slowness of advance as it were, but by her own 
 great efforts, that she was able to hold the position which was 
 hers by right. It was not merely the learning that the Universities 
 communicated, but the moral influence they exercised, the effect 
 they produced on the minds of those who were trained in them, and 
 the efiect they were capable of producing on all who were in com- 
 munication with them that made them so valuable. He rejoiced 
 that Oxford had spread her influence over other parts of the British 
 Empire. He rejoiced to see the work that day, and he thought 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 19 
 
 it held out bright hopes for the future. Recently a decision had 
 been taken which had brought the University into more direct 
 relations with other Universities throughout the British Empire. 
 It was desirable in every possible way to make the University 
 teaching of England better known in India, and to make Indian life 
 better known to England ; to make them capable of appreciating 
 the feelings, the wants, and powers of our great Empire in India, 
 and, at the same time, to send out to that country men who should 
 properly represent the feeling of the University class in England. 
 It was of the greatest importance that, in selecting the men who 
 were to maintain British authority and exercise British rule in 
 India, they should send men who had the best culture that the 
 country could afford, because their great object was to rule, not 
 by the sword, nor by material force, but by that grand pressure 
 of moral valour which the University life of England was so 
 capable of developing. (Cheers.) It was because he approved 
 the work, and because of his affection for his old University 
 and his old College, that he asked them to drink the toast. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 The Marquis of Salisbury, in responding, said he believed they 
 were assembled for a double purpose— that of doing honour to 
 the Royal College of Music, and that of celebrating the laying the 
 Memorial Stone of the new Indian Institute. He congratulated 
 the University. He ventured to congratulate His Royal High- 
 ness most sincerely on the great success which so powerful an 
 instrument of education as the Royal College of Music had attained, 
 and was likely to attain. (Cheers.) With respect to the subject of 
 their meeting that day, their first feeling would be to congratulate 
 Professor Monier-Williams on the result of so many years of 
 unstinted labour and unflagging faith in the cause. (Cheers.) He 
 had accomplished a task which a man of less energy could not 
 have attained, and the building, which it had been his privilege to 
 commence and would shortly complete, would be an enduring 
 monument of his energy and his influence. He looked at it with 
 special interest, because it was part of the apparatus of the work 
 to which the University of Oxford had been called in recent years, 
 and which it was eminently fitted to perform. It had seemed 
 good to those who had the charge of their Indian Empire, that 
 the servants who were appointed to govern it should be equipped 
 for their work by that most valuable of all preparations for a life's 
 work, the education at a University, and the University stepped 
 forward and secured for itself no small share in this enviable duty. 
 (Cheers.) He believed it was destined to acquire a still larger 
 influence in the education of those to whom their Indian Empire 
 
 B 2 
 
20 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 was intrusted, and there could be no greater gift with which they 
 could send them forth to their splendid task, than that of preparing 
 them to improve the ancient civilization of the East by all the 
 knowledge which the civilization and the culture of our English 
 Universities could afford. With respect to the other part of their 
 work — viz. the hospitable reception which that University desired 
 to give to visitors from their distant dependency — some might think 
 that the work of Professor Monier- Williams was a little premature. 
 Even if that were so, which he did not admit, it was better to be 
 too soon than too late. (Hear, hear.) But they had to consider 
 that the small number of those who came over from India to this 
 country now, was not necessarily any measure of the number who 
 might come within a comparatively short space of time. They 
 were, after all, prevented from coming, not by any want of interest, 
 but by the pressure and restrictions of caste, and it was the nature 
 of any system of error that it did not fall gradually. It was under- 
 mined gradually, and when the forces that supported it had been 
 withdrawn, and the social pressure by which it was sustained was 
 gradually diminished, it suddenly fell with surprising rapidity, and 
 they might find that the impediments which had hitherto restricted 
 that free intercourse between the reason and learning of the youth 
 of India, and the reason and learning of the youth of England, 
 were suddenly removed, and it would then be well that by the 
 prevision of Professor Monier- Williams and of his friends, a fit 
 preparation towards providing a new order of things could be 
 obtained in the University of Oxford. (Cheers.) This was a point 
 of great interest, not so much in the political as in the intellectual 
 history of the country. They were standing at the point where 
 two great streams of intellectual tradition were beginning to 
 meet, and the Institute which they had founded that day was 
 the indication that they were making, and would tend to make, 
 the combination more complete. What the results of that day 
 might be who could say? When they compared the increased 
 culture and civilization of England, strengthened by the power 
 of a dominant Empire resting upon an unbroken and conquering 
 religion, when they compared it with the civilization of India, 
 which had barely maintained itself, they were accustomed to think 
 that the influence must be all on one side, and it was only for 
 England to exert her influence and power on India ; but the 
 intellectual force which across so many centuries of political 
 depression and political subjugation had yet maintained itself 
 alive, was not a power to be despised. It might be that they 
 too had their lessons to learn, that they too had modifications in 
 their intellectual habits and intellectual traditions to undergo, but 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 21 
 
 whatever the future might have in store for them in that respect, 
 the more close the combination of races so highly distinguished in 
 the world of thought, and who perhaps had much to teach each 
 other, could not but be productive of great advantage for the 
 culture and progress of the human race ; and he would add that 
 they could not in their results do otherwise than reflect on, and 
 increase the lustre and utility and the wide-spread influence of 
 the University of Oxford. (Cheers.) 
 
 The Earl of Kimbcrley said he had been asked to propose 
 'Success to the Indian Institute'; and that duty no doubt had 
 been confided to him in his capacity of Secretary of State for 
 India. But when he asked himself whether officially he ought 
 to assume that character, he confessed that he felt a little doubt, 
 because the Government of India was bound not to countenance 
 one University or another, but to look with favour on all attempts 
 to extend the connexion between India and all the Universities ; 
 but he felt there was something peculiarly appropriate in the 
 extension of Indian education in that University, when he 
 remembered the men that Oxford had produced connected with 
 the Government of India. (Cheers.) Christ Church, to which 
 he belonged, had produced such men as Lord Dalhousie, Lord 
 Elgin, Lord Canning, and the Duke of Buckingham, which made 
 one feel how close was the connexion between the education 
 for political life — which he thought could be no better obtained 
 than at that University (cheers)— between their Universities and 
 their great Empire abroad. They must all have been struck by 
 the extraordinary mechanical facilities of recent years, whether 
 of railway or telegraph, and these must show that they were 
 not insensible to the immense importance of bringing the natives 
 of the West and East together in harmony, and in a cordial and 
 friendly spirit. That he took to be the sentiment which presided 
 over the foundation of an Institution of that kind. (Cheers.) 
 Those who were connected with the Government of India were 
 deeply interested in the progress of the experiment which was 
 being tried at the instance very much of the Chancellor of the 
 University, who was formerly Secretary of State for India, to 
 connect the Civil Service students with the University. What- 
 ever might be the merits of the scheme of education which now 
 prevailed, he thought he must wish success to the portion of it 
 which would bring the students into close connexion with our 
 Universities. He confessed it tended to promote interest in special 
 studies that men should have a local habitation in the University. 
 Professor Monier-Williams had left no stone unturned, and he 
 must feel that to him this was a day of great satisfaction and pride 
 
22 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 that he had at last accompHshed the foundation of a work in which 
 he had been so long successfully engaged. 
 
 Professor Monier-Willimfis, in responding, said he had not to 
 speak of himself, but of others, and especially of the help he had 
 received from those present. He held in his hand a long list of 
 450 subscribers, at the head of whom stood Her Majesty the 
 Queen and the illustrious Prince who had graciously aided the 
 cause of the Indian Institute by the ceremony he had performed 
 that day. He could not of course find words to express adequately 
 his gratitude to all his helpers. Nor, indeed, ought he to say too 
 much lest his gratitude might appear to take the form of a lively 
 expectation of more help to come. He trusted, however, that His 
 Royal Highness would permit him to say how deeply he was 
 indebted to him, and would pardon him if he exceeded the bounds 
 of propriety in speaking with admiration of the energy which 
 impelled him to visit India with the object of proving to the people 
 of that country his personal interest in their welfare. (Cheers.) 
 When he was at Bombay at the time of his Royal Highness's 
 arrival, he sent for him (Professor Monier-WilHams) on board 
 the ' Serapis,' and was the first to encourage him, at a time when 
 he most needed sympathy, to persevere in his efforts to do some- 
 thing to promote a better knowledge of our great dependency. 
 (Cheers.) He (Professor Monier- Williams) pleaded the cause of 
 the Indian Institute in Calcutta, and the Prince again helped him 
 by his countenance and approval. And now he had as it were 
 put the coping-stone on his previous acts. (Cheers.) Fitly was 
 the stone which he had laid that day called a Memorial Stone. 
 It was a memorial of his Royal Highness's invariable encourage- 
 ment of every good work— a memorial of the earnest desire which 
 animated the Queen on her throne, the whole Royal Family, and 
 the whole Government and nation to do justice to India and 
 promote her prosperity. (Cheers.) Perhaps it was not generally 
 known that a religious ceremony was also performed in India on 
 the inauguration of a new building. It was a solemn service — for 
 the Hindoos were a religious people — accompanied by prayers 
 and repetition of Vedic texts ; but he was sorry to say that in 
 ancient times a young girl or boy was on special occasions buried 
 alive under the foundation stone to propitiate the deity of the soil 
 and keep away the evil spirits who might otherwise haunt the 
 dwelling. That might appear incredible to them, but it was after 
 all no worse than the burning of widows, the killing of female 
 infants, the burying alive of lepers, and the strangling of travellers 
 in the name of the goddess Kali. From all these evils, and many 
 more, our rule had delivered India, as every educated person knew 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 23 
 
 full well, and as our Indian fellow-subjects would themselves 
 acknowledge. But he feared we were inclined to dwell too much 
 on our administrative achievements, and to forget that India had 
 a glorious past history of her own of which she might well be 
 proud, an ancient civilization to which Europeans were deeply 
 indebted, a classical literature well worthy of our highest respect 
 and admiration. (Applause.) And might they not look forward 
 to the day when, assisted by us, she would again rise to her 
 ancient elevation ; again take the place among the foremost nations 
 of the earth. (Hear, hear.) The Indian Institute, so auspiciously 
 inaugurated by His Royal Highness that day, was an earnest of 
 their wish to know and understand her better, to make her better 
 known and understood, and to raise her by degrees to her ancient 
 proud position. (Applause.) Its aim would be to create a respect 
 for Indian literature and Indian studies, to encourage interchange 
 of ideas between the East and West, and to be a centre of accurate 
 teaching on all Indian subjects. (Applause.) But he must not 
 repeat what he had often said before. He would merely ask to 
 be allowed to make special mention of two or three of his chief 
 helpers. Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey were on their celebrated 
 voyage round the world in the ' Sunbeam,' when he (Professor 
 Monier-Williams) was first in India, and he feared he must plead 
 guilty to having pursued them to the very uttermost ends of the 
 earth with his letters and pamphlets. But Sir Thomas Brassey did 
 what he was sorry to say every one else did not do, he answered 
 his letters and responded to his appeal, and responded in such 
 a w'ay that if it had not been for his munificence the present 
 building could not have been erected. (Applause.) He ought also 
 to make special mention of the help he received from enlightened 
 Indian Princes and eminent Indians of all ranks. For example, 
 the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Nawab of Junagarh, the Maharajas 
 of Cashmere, Travancore, Cochin, Patiala, Benares, Darbhanga, 
 Hutva, Kuch Behar, Kolhapur, Babu Debendranath Tagore, the 
 Gaikwar of Baroda, two noble Indian ladies, the Maharanee of 
 Vizianagaram and the Maharanee Surnomoyee. (Applause.) One 
 other name was on his lips, it was that of the Vice-Chancellor, 
 who was also Master of Balliol— a College to which he (Professor 
 Monier-Williams) felt proud to belong. He (the Master of Balliol) 
 was the first to take him by the hand on his return from India. 
 (Applause.) He had held him up and supported him ever since 
 through all his difficulties. He must also thank Sir Stafford North- 
 cote for his kind mention of their old friendship, and would remind 
 him that the Rev. Wm. Rogers, who sat near, also helped them to 
 carr}' the Balliol boat to the head of the river. Would he might do 
 
24 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 honour to other names, Lord Northbrook, Lord Lytton, Lord Ripon, 
 Sir Richard Temple, the late Mr. Cazalet, Mr, Currie, Mr. Morrison, 
 and many others. His chief feeling that day next to thankfulness 
 was humility. He was humbled to see how small a beginning so 
 many years' work had produced. It was, as they had seen, 
 a mere germ, but a germ which he trusted would be one day 
 developed into a wide-spreading useful plant, if only they would 
 continue watering it with the dew of their sympathy and the 
 stream of their goodwill. (Applause.) 
 
 The compan}^ then separated, and the Prince returned 
 by special train to London. 
 
 Towards the end of 1883, ^^^d during the progress 
 of the first building operations, the Boden Professor 
 made a third journey to India, one of his chief objects 
 being to induce the Viceroy and his Council to found 
 the six scholarships— to which allusion has already 
 been made— for deserving natives of India to be attached 
 to the Institute. He spent a month at Calcutta, and at 
 the end of that period succeeded in procuring the assent 
 of the Government of India to his proposal. 
 
 During his stay a pubhc Meeting was held in the 
 great Senate Hall of the University of Calcutta, on 
 January 10, 1884, ^^d the following report of the pro- 
 ceedings appeared in the Calcutta newspapers. 
 
 His Excellency the Viceroy (the Marquis of Ripon) took the 
 Chair and said : — 
 
 Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen :— I have been 
 requested to perform on this occasion a duty which seems to me 
 to be wholly unnecessary. I have been asked to introduce to 
 you Professor Monier-WiUiams— the Boden Professor of Sanskrit 
 at Oxford. But I am not sorry that I have been asked to under- 
 take this duty, because it affords me an excuse for saying a few 
 words, and xhey shall be very few, upon the work in connexion 
 with India which has brought Professor Monier-WilHams to his 
 country, and upon which he is about to address you. Most of j^ou, 
 doubtless, have heard of the proposed Indian Institute at Oxford, 
 and you will remember that the corner-stone of it was laid last 
 May by the Prince of Wales, affording another proof, if any were 
 needed, of the deep interest which His Royal Highness feels in 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 25 
 
 everything which concerns India. (Applause.) You may, however, 
 not be thoroughly acquainted with the objects for which that 
 Institution is about to be opened, and although I do not desire 
 to trench upon the proper functions of Mr. Monier-Williams, I 
 will nevertheless express my conviction that those objects will 
 secure, if adequately carried out, as I am confident they will be, 
 an extended knowledge in England of the literature and resources 
 of India, and of the character and genius of her inhabitants. But, 
 speaking for myself, it is not so much those general objects, 
 important as they are in themselves, which have induced me to 
 take a very special interest in this undertaking. Over and above 
 the purposes to which I have just adverted, there are two other 
 objects to which I attach a special importance, and to which 
 I desire to draw your particular attention on this occasion. In 
 the first place, it is in_tended that this Institute should afford 
 a means of drawing together those young men who, having passed 
 thVexamination for the Indian Civil Service, go as probationers 
 to the Universities for a certain space of time. It so happens, 
 I understand, that the majority of these probationers are in the 
 habit of going to the University of Oxford, and it is to give to their 
 studies there a local habitation that this Institute has, as one of 
 its objects, been""established— that is to say— to afford to those 
 young men who are about to come out to India to discharge for 
 the best portion of their lives the important duties of Indian Civil 
 Servants, at the commencement of their career, even before they 
 reach these shores, something of an Indian atmosphere, and thus 
 to supply a want which, if I mistake not, many persons have 
 felt since the abolition of the East India College, Haileybury 
 — to afford, too, a means of arousing that esprit de corps, which 
 was one of the advantages that ancient Institution possessed, and 
 to give to those young men, after they have chosen their career, 
 but before they have entered upon it, as close and intimate an 
 acquaintance with Indian literature and habits of thought, and 
 with the circumstances of this country, as it is possible to give 
 them before they have actually landed on our shores. I look 
 upon that purpose of the Indian Institute as one of great value, 
 and as hkely to supply a want which is beginning to make itself 
 very much felt. There are at Oxford able teachers and pro- 
 fessors of subjects connected with India — law and languages and 
 other kindred subjects. In this Institute will be their lecture 
 rooms ; there will be a library, reading-rooms, and museum 
 connected with India ; there will be a centre of thought connected 
 with the literature and interest of this country, and I cannot but 
 think that that will be an advantage of a very valuable kind. But 
 
26 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 there is another contemplated feature of the Institute which 
 I regard with even greater satisfaction. I learn that in the 
 building which is now in course of erection, and part of which 
 I understand will be ready to be opened in the course of next 
 autumn, there are to be rooms intended to be used by native 
 students proceeding from this country to study at the English 
 Universities. I rejoice greatly to hear that, for I look upon it 
 that everything which tends to facilitate the practice of Indian 
 young men going to England to complete their education, as 
 a matter of very great importance. I do not desire them to go 
 there as mere tourists, though advantage may even be derived 
 from that. What I should wish to see is that they should go there 
 as real students under strict academical discipline, and that they 
 should not be cast loose to wander about amidst all the dangers 
 and temptations of a great city hke London (applause), but that 
 they should have the means of prosecuting their studies in a great 
 English University hke Oxford. (Applause.) And when I say 
 Oxford, my excellent friend Mr. Monier-Williams will, I am 
 sure, agree with me when I add that I by no means intend to 
 exclude Cambridge or any other University. I have but one more 
 observation to make, and that is that however these students may 
 be chosen— by whatever means they may be enabled to prose- 
 cute their studies, it is in my judgement essentially necessary 
 that they should be selected young men, that they should be 
 young men capable of upholding the character and reputation of 
 the Indian people, not only by their intellectual but by their moral 
 quahfications. (Applause.) It is no use sending dunces to Oxford 
 to come away no wiser than they went ; and it is worse still to 
 send there men who will degrade the character and tarnish the 
 good fame of the natives of this country. (Applause.) Therefore 
 I hope that care will be taken that the great advantage which 
 a residence at Oxford will afford will only be given to those who, 
 by their mental and moral qualities are calculated to make the 
 best use of it. (Applause.) 
 
 Professor Monier-Williains then said : — Let me begin by 
 thanking his Excellency for the kind manner in which he 
 has spoken of me and of my efforts. It is now exactly eight 
 years since I stood up here in Calcutta to ask your aid for the 
 founding of an Indian Institute at Oxford. I was at that time 
 supported in my first efforts by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, 
 then at Calcutta, by Lord Northbrook, then Viceroy, and by Sir 
 Richard Temple, then Lieutenant-Governor, and no sooner did 
 his Excellency the present Viceroy take his seat as Governor- 
 General of India, than he promised me his aid, gave a most 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 27 
 
 liberal pecuniary donation, and encouraged me by word and deed 
 in the kindest possible manner. And here I am once more, in 
 response to his Excellency's most considerate invitation. It is 
 through his Lordship's kindness that I am able once again to 
 stand before you, not to ask you to inaugurate a new undertaking, 
 but to tell you how the undertaking you have already inaugurated 
 eight years ago has advanced ; not to ispeak of the difficulties 
 I have encountered and the obstacles I have had to contend with, 
 but to thank you for having assisted me to overcome them. And 
 let me begin by saying that I have learnt two important lessons 
 since I was last here. The first is, that difficulties are opportunities, 
 and obstacles are instruments of success to those who by God's 
 help turn them to proper account. The second is, that one of the 
 best helpers in a really good cause is that mighty potentate Time. 
 Yes, I have learnt that no great work can be accomplished in this 
 world, no great progress made, no great success achieved, without 
 constant effort, persistent labour and long battling with difficulties 
 and obstacles ; and all this requires the aid of time. What then 
 Rave I effected by God's help, by the help of you, my friends, and 
 by the help of time, since I was here eight years ago.? The 
 details will be found in the pamphlet I hold in my hand, copies 
 of which I shall be happy to give to all 'applicants. And here, 
 too, will be found a balance sheet of receipts and expenditure, 
 corrected up to the present date— except that the names of the 
 Maharajas of Jhallawar, Ulwar, Bhurtpore, Dholepur, Raja 
 Harendra Krishna Bahadur, and of the eminent musician Raja 
 Sourindro Mohan Tagore (who has promised a complete collection 
 of musical instruments) must be added to the list of supporters. 
 All I can now do is to give a general idea of results. In brief, 
 then, the germ of a great educational institution has been planted 
 in one of the finest fields in the world. It has been watered and 
 tended, and a strong plant is now rooted in the soil. It is growing 
 fast, and will soon become a vigorous tree— a tree which will, 
 I trust, ere long, send down roots from its branches, like the wide- 
 spreading fig-tree of India, to form fresh centres of vitality in other 
 places. For how is it, let me ask, that amid all the crowd of 
 Institutes established in every town throughout Great Britain, for 
 every conceivable object, literary, scientific, philosophical, com- 
 mercial, and religious, not a single Institution has yet been 
 founded with the direct aim of diftusing a knowledge of India 
 and imparting correct information on subjects connected with 
 the well-being of our Eastern Empire? And let there be no 
 misunderstanding as to the aim and objects of the Institution thus 
 planted at Oxford, It will have two sides ; one standing for the 
 
28 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 East, the other for the West, one representing Oriental, the other 
 Occidental civilization. Or let me rather say that it will have two 
 wings. The one spreading itself to foster Eastern studies among 
 Europeans, the other extending itself to foster Western studies 
 among Indians. In other words, the Indian Institute will be 
 a great hterary repository where the treasures of two civilizations 
 will be stored, and where the wisdom and knowledge received 
 centuries ago from the East will be repaid, I trust with interest, 
 by the West. And with reference to this point I may state that 
 a statute has just been passed at Oxford to enable young Indian 
 students to substitute Sanskrit or Arabic for either Greek or 
 Latin in the University examinations. At the same time they 
 will have to acquire one classical language of Europe, while 
 Enghsh students will be allowed to ofter one Indian classical 
 language at the pass examinations in place of either Greek or 
 Latin. And this being the case, who can doubt that the Indian 
 Institute will aid in promoting an interchange of the literary 
 wealth of Asia and Europe? Young Englishmen will there 
 discover that Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian have many pearls 
 worth diving for, and young Indians wall find out that all learning 
 is not confined to Pandits, Sastris, and Maulavis, and that much 
 benefit may be gained by study of Greek and Latin literature. 
 But the Indian Institute will be more than this. As his Excellency 
 has already pointed out, it will be a home where young students 
 from India will be received ; rooms will be provided for them ; 
 their studies will be guided, and their whole career directed. 
 There, too, they will be brought into association with young 
 Englishmen who are being trained for the Indian Civil Service and 
 other professions. In this way the Indian Institute will become 
 a place for the interchange of qualities as well as knowledge. 
 It will be a place for forming the character as well as informing 
 the mind. Young Indians will there, I trust, derive from their 
 contact with young Englishmen a little of that bone and fibre 
 which constitutes strength of character. At any rate, they will 
 see in many an Oxford youth such qualities as courage, determin- 
 ation, tenacity of purpose, soundness of judgement, accuracy, 
 punctuality, powers of observation, and that manly self-respect 
 which lies at the root of both personal and political morality. 
 And 3^oung Englishmen, on the other hand, will see in young 
 Indians man}^ qualities worthy of their imitation— such as patience, 
 courtesy of manner, temperance, obedience to authority, and 
 toleration. And here let me say that as this mutual attrition 
 between different characters is a most valuable factor in educa- 
 tion, so nowhere does it operate with such force as in English 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 29 
 
 University life. For indeed without the wholesome discipline in 
 our youth of collision with those who differ from us and are 
 superior to us in character, thought, and opinions, how can a man 
 gain any real knowledge of himself and of his own true worth in 
 the eyes of others ? But other advantages will flow to young 
 Indians from contact with young Englishmen. Here in India it 
 is difficult for a young student imbued with Indian philosophical 
 thought, to get rid of the belief that life is an illusion and a dream, 
 and action a mistake and blunder, as leading to future births and 
 repeated existences. At Oxford, on the other hand, he will learn 
 that life is a solemn reality and that work is a part of religion. At 
 Oxford, too, he will see many highly educated women co-operating 
 with their husbands in good works, and thus gain a higher 
 estimate of family life. And let me here express my deep con- 
 viction that if India is to be regenerated and raised to a higher 
 position in the civilized world, one great factor in her elevation 
 must be the elevation of women and a higher ideal of home and 
 family life. And now a few words as to the Indian Institute 
 building. Certainly, mere stone walls do not constitute an Institute. 
 No, not dead walls, but men, living men, and, I trust, earnest, 
 high-minded men— earnest men who teach and are taught, learn 
 and impart learning. Yet, after all, the success of an Institute of 
 this kind must greatly depend on the commodiousness and central 
 situation of the building. I am happy, therefore, to inform my 
 kind supporters, that in my wildest dreams, when I first asked 
 your aid eight 3'ears ago, I never could have hoped to obtain such 
 a ske as that we have secured. The Indian Institute is now 
 rising in the very centre of a great and world-renowned University, 
 of which I am happy to say here our Viceroy here is an Honorary 
 D.C.L. It is surrounded by twenty-four Colleges and Halls, all 
 in close contiguity, and each with its library and staff of tutors. 
 It is only a few yards distant from the celebrated Bodleian Library, 
 with its million of books open to all students ; and only a few 
 hundred yards distant from one of the best appointed and most 
 richly endowed institutions in the world for the study of every 
 branch of natural science. Every member of the Indian Institute 
 will find himself compelled to breathe an atmosphere of high 
 culture, refinement, learning, and work ; all the University lectures 
 in languages, law, history, political economy and science will be 
 open to him ; and he will have close at hand every appliance 
 for enlarging his mind, and acquiring more knowledge and per- 
 fecting his education. I need say no more, except to thank all 
 who have aided me in this important undertaking — an under- 
 taking which, I trust, from October next, when the first half of 
 
30 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 the Institute will be opened, will contribute not a little towards 
 the accomplishment of the great work in which every right-minded 
 Englishman takes the deepest interest— the work, I mean, of 
 producing a better understanding and more mutual appreciation 
 between the inhabitants of two mighty countries, separated from 
 each other in material space, as far as the East is from the West, 
 yet descendants of one ancient race, subjects of one Empress- 
 Queen, and bound together by the closest ties of common interest, 
 reciprocal obligation and intimate political union. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. H. L. Harrison (afterwards Sir H. L. Harrison, C.S.), 
 Chairman of the Calcutta Municipal Council and Commissioner 
 of Police, then addressed the meeting, and said:— He could not 
 imagine that any one could doubt the advantages to young Indians 
 of a residence in a University ; for his Excellency had pointed 
 out that this was not a question of Oxford versus Cambridge, or 
 any other University ; but if a similar institution was founded 
 at Cambridge, all those who were now advocating the claims of 
 Oxford, would feel that the new institution, if equally well 
 furnished, deserved equal support. This was a question of 
 Universities versus the Metropohs ; and how was it possible to 
 compare the safety of a young man going up to a University, where 
 he would at once feel that he formed a part of a great Institution, 
 where he would be under the best influences, and would share 
 in all those athletic sports, pursued on the river and on the cricket- 
 field, from which he would learn the lesson, not only of how to 
 win, but how to lose .' How could they compare the circumstances 
 of a young Indian student entering at once on such a life, with 
 those of a youth cast, for the first time, into that vast wilderness 
 of human beings, called London, in which every temptation was 
 in his case accentuated by the circumstance of his being a stranger, 
 and he might say an alien ? His proposal was that they should 
 all endeavour, in the future, to persuade young men, who were 
 going to England, to join the Oxford Institute, instead of going 
 to London. They could easily form a Committee in Calcutta, who 
 would add their co-operation to this work. 
 
 Professor Monier-Williains then replied: — With his Ex- 
 cellency's permission I will add a few words to what I have 
 already said. I am most grateful to Mr. Harrison for his speech. 
 I beg to assure him that we shall be able to receive any number 
 of students, who may be willing, and may also prove themselves 
 duly qualified to be attached to our Institution ; and I have to 
 inform you that, although the six sets of rooms in the Institute 
 will be reserved for those— I trust the Viceroy will allow me to 
 say so— who will be the nominees of the Government (if it should 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 31 
 
 seem fit to the Government of India to nominate young students 
 as scholars attached to the University of Oxford), yet it will be 
 the duty of the Keeper of the Indian Institute at Oxford, whoever 
 he may be— I hope he will always be a Sanskritist who has lived 
 in India, and loves India, and knows India — to watch over and 
 protect all those who become members of the University of 
 Oxford. 
 
 A few days subsequently a Public Meeting was held in the 
 Town Hall, Calcutta. The Meeting was addressed by Mr. Harri- 
 son and by Professor Monier-Williams, and a Calcutta Committee 
 was formed for furthering and facilitating the residence of young 
 Indians at Oxford and attaching them to the Indian Institute. 
 
 On leaving Calcutta the Professor travelled through 
 Bengal, Sikkim, the N. W. Provinces, Rajputana and 
 the Bombay Presidency, obtaining additional grants of 
 books for the hbrary and objects for the Museum, 
 illustrative of the customs, arts, and industries of all 
 parts of our Indian Empire. In this he was liberally 
 aided by the Viceroy (Lord Ripon), the Governor of 
 Bombay (Sir James Fergusson), the Governor of Madras 
 (the Right Hon. Mr. (now Sir) M. E. Grant-Duff), the 
 L. Governors of the Presidencies, and many eminent 
 members of the covenanted and uncovenanted services 
 (among whom may be specially mentioned Mr. F. S. 
 Growse, C.I.E., Capt. R. C Temple, Mr. Kipling, 
 Mr. Holderness, Colonel De Free, Dr. Bidie, Dr. Tyler, 
 CLE., Dr. Stratton, Dr. M. V. Portman, and Mr. J. D. 
 Beglar). 
 
 A large meeting of influential native gentlemen was 
 held in the Hall of the Framjee Cowasjee Institute 
 on the evening of March 5, 1884. to bid farewell to 
 Professor Monier-Williams. The following is an extract 
 from the Bombay Gazette of March 7, 1884 : — 
 
 At the close of the proceedings, the Hon. Mr. Budroodin, address- 
 ing Professor Monier-Williams, said :— They were all glad that an 
 opportunity had been given them of having the pleasure of the 
 acquaintance of the Professor, of whom they had heard so much. 
 (Applause.) Mr. Budroodin had the honour of meeting him some 
 
32 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 time ago, while he was in Bombay on his way to Calcutta. The 
 project of an Indian Institute at Oxford, with the object of giving 
 greater facilities to the natives of this country, with which the 
 Professor had so greatly identified himself, was now being put 
 on a firm basis. It had the most hearty sympathy of all who had 
 the welfare of this country at heart ; and there was no one present 
 there who did not wish it every success. He (Mr. Budroodin) was 
 sorry that the learned Professor's stay in this country was so 
 short. In order that they might the better become acquainted 
 with his views regarding the project, he (Mr. Budroodin) would not 
 detain the meeting with any further remarks of his own, and 
 in conclusion wished the Professor and Mrs. Monier- Williams 
 godspeed and a pleasant voyage home. (Applause.) 
 
 Professor Monier-Wtlliains^ who was received with cheers, 
 said : — First let me say that I never come to this beautiful city of 
 Bombay, the place of my birth (cheers), without a thrill of delight, 
 and that I never leave it without a pang of regret. (Applause.) 
 You may understand, therefore, that these kind words which have 
 been addressed to me this evening are peculiarly grateful as 
 coming from so distinguished an ornament of this city, I mean the 
 Hon. Budroodin Tyabjee. (Cheers.) It is, I believe, generally 
 known that my third visit to India was undertaken in the interests 
 of the Oxford Indian Institute, the first half of which is to be 
 opened in the autumn, as well as in the hope of inducing the 
 Government of this country to establish six Government Scholar- 
 ships of ^200 a year each, for deserving students from India, who 
 would have rooms provided for them in the Indian Institute, and 
 would go through the University course under the supervision of 
 the Director of the Institute. My proposal was that one scholar- 
 ship be assigned to Bengal, a second to Bombay, a third to Madras, 
 a fourth to the North-West Provinces and Oude, a fifth to the 
 Punjab, and a sixth to the Central Provinces. 
 
 Just before my leaving England, His Royal Highness the Prince 
 of Wales wrote to me, through his Secretary, a long letter. His 
 Royal Highness was the first to encourage me in my efforts eight 
 years ago, and he has ever since graciously supported me. At 
 the end of the letter occurs the following: — 'The Prince directs 
 me to assure you that your plan, by which scholarships will be 
 placed at the disposal of a certain number of the natives of India, 
 and arrangements will be made to enable them to live in the 
 building and to attend University lectures, meets with his heartiest 
 approval. It will give H.R.H. much satisfaction to receive from 
 you on your return an account of what you have been able to 
 eff"ect.' 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 33 
 
 I therefore, on reaching India, proceeded at once to Calcutta, 
 where the Viceroy and Lady Ripon received my wife and myself 
 as their guests with the utmost kindness and hospitality. Surely 
 a more kind-hearted and high-minded man never filled the office 
 of Governor-General of India. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 No sooner did Lord Ripon hear of my Scholarship project, 
 backed up as it was by several able letters written by some of my 
 friends here, as well as by a letter from the Vice-Chancellor of the 
 University of Oxford, than he gave it his earnest attention. Nor 
 was it long before he assured me of his entire sympathy and 
 approval. I received also the most gratifying assurances of 
 sympathy from Sir Auckland Colvin, the Hon. Mr. Gibbs, Sir 
 Steuart Bayley, the Hon. Mr. Ilbert, and other members of the 
 Executive Council. Time will not permit me to tell you all. 
 Suffice it to say that, after long and careful deliberation, I laid my 
 application before the Government, and I am happy now to be 
 able to read you a telegram I have just received from a distin- 
 guished member of the Viceroy's Council (Sir Auckland Colvin) : — 
 * Despatch goes home by this mail, proposing the six Scholarships.' 
 
 Before concluding, let me say how grateful I feel to his 
 Excellency Sir James Fergusson, the Governor of Bombay, for 
 the extreme kindness and generous hospitality we hav-e received 
 at his hands during our stay here, and especially for the token of 
 his sympathy which the letter I now read to you aflFords. 
 
 ' My dear Professor Monier-Williams,— I am very glad that 
 the principal inhabitants of Bombay will have an opportunity to 
 testify to you to-morrow their sense of gratitude for the continued 
 concern which you manifest in the highest interests of the people 
 of India, and especially in extending to native students the ad- 
 vantages of the great University of which you are a professor. 
 I am extremely happy to know that j^our scheme for providing 
 scholarships for Indian students at Oxford has the approval of the 
 Government of India. I beg leave to offer my own tribute of 
 satisfaction and obligation for your efforts on behalf of these 
 students. I feel sure that the provision which you have made for 
 the safe training of those who resort to England for their higher 
 education will be highly valued by all who have the good of India 
 at heart, and that its results will be most beneficial. Believe me 
 yours very sincerely, James Fergusson.' (Applause.) 
 
 One word as to the Indian Library and Museum, which are to 
 constitute important portions of the Indian Institute. I have 
 endeavoured to make the best of my opportunities during the 
 Calcutta Exhibition, and I am happy to inform you that several 
 of the municipalities of India are collecting books and objects 
 
 C 
 
34 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 illustrative of the manners, customs, religions, arts, and industries 
 of their respective districts as gifts to the Library and Museum. 
 If the Municipality of Bombay, and any individuals here present, 
 will help in the same manner, we shall have a useful and most 
 instructive Library and Museum in Oxford. And bear in mind 
 that one great aim of the Indian Institute will be to teach the 
 people of England, and even Indians themselves, to appreciate 
 better than they have ever done before the languages, literatures, 
 arts, and industries of India. (Hear, hear.) I hope, too, it will 
 help to make known the potential fofces still latent in this land — 
 forces which will be infinitely more effective for good when every 
 woman of India, like many I am delighted to see here present 
 to-night, shall become the intelligent companion of her husband 
 and his fellow-labourer in every useful and patriotic work. 
 (Prolonged cheers.) 
 
 The Boden Professor returned to England in April, 
 1884. 
 
 On June 17, 1884, the following Statute, having been 
 previously brought before the Congregation of the 
 University of Oxford and unanimously approved, was 
 submitted to Convocation and passed {nemine con- 
 tradicettte) : — 
 
 There shall be seven Curators of the Indian Institute, namely 
 the Vice-Chancellor, the Proctors, and four Members of Con- 
 vocation elected as follows— two by the Hebdomadal Council, and 
 two by the Congregation of the University. Each of the elected 
 members shall hold office for six years and shall be re-eligible. 
 Of the four Curators first elected, the Junior elected by Council 
 and the Junior elected by Congregation shall each vacate his 
 office at the expiration of three years from the date of his election. 
 Any vacancy occurring before the expiration of the full period shall 
 be filled up only to the end of such period. 
 
 The charge and supervision of the Institute shall be assigned 
 to the Boden Professor of Sanskrit for the time being, and shall 
 be exercised by him subject to the direction and control of the 
 Curators. 
 
 The Curators shall have the disposal of any money paid by the 
 University Chest for the general expenses of the Institute. Out 
 of this money the Curators shall defray all the necessary expenses 
 of the Institute, including repairs, property tax, rates, and insurance, 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 35 
 
 and the surplus they shall apply to the use of the Institute 
 according to their discretion. 
 
 The following Decrees were also carried [nemme 
 contradicente) : — 
 
 That the thanks of the University be given to the Boden 
 Professor of Sanskrit for his zealous and unwearied efforts in 
 originating and forwarding the establishment of the Indian Institute 
 in Oxford, and to the numerous subscribers both in this country 
 and in India who have contributed the funds for the erection of 
 the Institute. 
 
 That Professor Monier-Williams be constituted an additional 
 Curator for life. 
 
 About one half of the Building was completed in 
 October 1884, from designs by Mr. Basil Champneys. 
 The style of architecture is modified Palladian, with 
 details serving to mark its Oriental uses, and with much 
 fine carved oak woodwork in the interior. Its first 
 half contained a few of the Lecture-rooms, one half of 
 the Library, a Reading-room, a few private rooms, and 
 one half the Museum, and although in an incomplete state, 
 was equipped with sufficient appliances for promoting 
 scholar-like and corporate action in the prosecution of 
 Indian studies. 
 
 The portico of the Building was also completed, and 
 the following Sanskrit inscription — written by the Boden 
 Professor (with the imprimatur of two critical Indian 
 Pandits) and engraved on a large brass plate — was fixed 
 in the wall on the left-hand side of the entrance : — 
 
 C 2 
 
36 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 A smaller plate fixed underneath gives the EngHsh 
 translation as follows : — 
 
 This Building, dedicated to Eastern sciences, was founded for 
 the use of Aryas (Indians and Englishmen) by excellent and 
 benevolent men desirous of encouraging knowledge. The High- 
 minded Heir-Apparent, named Albert Edward, Son of the Empress 
 of India, himself performed the act of inauguration. The ceremony 
 of laying the Memorial Stone took place on Wednesday, the loth 
 lunar day of the dark half of the month of Vaisakha, in the Samvat 
 year 1939 ( = Wednesday, May 2, 1883). By the favour of God 
 may the learning and literature of India be ever held in honour ; 
 and may the mutual friendship of India and England constantly 
 increase ! 
 
 The ceremony of opening the completed half of the 
 Indian Institute was performed on Tuesday, October 14, 
 1884, by the then Vice-Chancellor of the University 
 (the Rev. Professor Jowett, Master of Balliol) ac- 
 companied by the two Proctors. At the commencement 
 of the proceedings, the Boden Professor Mr. Monier- 
 Williams delivered an address before a large audience 
 (filling both Library and Museum and Galleries) on the 
 subject ' How can the University of Oxford best fulfil 
 its duty towards India?' The following full report 
 appeared afterwards in some of the papers : — 
 
 The Professor said — We are here to-day to perform a serious 
 and a difficult task. We are about to make an effort to put the 
 beginnings of life into these stone walls ; and we undertake this 
 task reverently and diffidently, conscious of the difficulties that 
 encompass it ; and yet in a spirit of hope and trust, confident that 
 with patience and perseverance the germ of life about to be now 
 planted will grow and strengthen until its full development is 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 
 
 37 
 
 attained. The Hindus, it is well known, perform in their temples 
 a consecration ceremony called ' Prana-pratishtha,' that is to say, 
 they carve an image or symbol of one of their principal gods out 
 of stone, or they even sometimes imagine a wall or slab in their 
 sacred edifices to represent their deity, and then summon their 
 priests, who, by repeating certain texts from the Veda, claim to 
 infuse divine spirit into lifeless matter. 
 
 This building in which we are now assembled has already had 
 its Consecration-ceremony, at which the principal officers of this 
 University assisted. It was, indeed, a Christian ceremonial of 
 a very different kind, when the Heir-Apparent to the Throne was 
 present, and a simple prayer was offered by you, Mr. Vice- 
 Chancellor, and by a large number of earnest persons assembled 
 in this place— a prayer to Almighty God that the work begun, 
 continued, and ended in Him, might be furthered by His continual 
 help. 
 
 In simple dependence, therefore, upon the continuance of the 
 help then prayed for, we are now met to impart the first pulsations 
 of, I trust, a long life of usefulness to this Institution, by making it 
 begin the appointed work for which these stone walls have been 
 erected— the work of fostering and facilitating Indian studies in 
 this University ; the work of making Englishmen, and even 
 Indians themselves, appreciate better than they have done before 
 the languages, literatures, and industries of India ; the work of 
 qualifying young Englishmen for Indian careers, and of qualifying 
 young Indians, who come to us for training and instruction, to 
 serve their own country in the most effective manner. 
 
 More than once it has been remarked tome during the progress 
 of this building, ' Why are you spending so much money on dead 
 bricks and mortar ? What we want is the teaching of living men. 
 We ask for knowledge, and you give us stones.' But such critics 
 forget that a material centre is necessary to the efficient carrying 
 out of all educational work, and that just as every living organism 
 requires a corresponding external environment which is essential 
 to its existence, and constitutes, as men of science tell us, half its 
 very being, so the knowledge of any special subject, if it is to 
 grow and thrive and become extended, requires suitable material 
 surroundings— material instruments, material appliances— without 
 which its development cannot be effected. In short, it is the old 
 truth exemplified— that mind and matter are closely inter-related, 
 closely inter-dependent. 
 
 I stand here, therefore, before you on this occasion as one whose 
 work has connected him with the Indian Civil Service and with 
 Indian studies for more than forty years, and whose power of 
 
38 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 continuing that work cannot in the course of nature be much longer 
 extended, to express my fervent hope that from this day forth the 
 Oxford Indian Institute will live and give proof of increasing 
 vitality day by day in the teaching of a vigorous and united body 
 of men — stronger indeed and more youthful than myself— men 
 eminently qualified by their knowledge of India to create an 
 appetite and respect for Indian studies, and to facilitate their 
 cultivation. And it has seemed to me that those who have in- 
 trusted me with the management of the funds so generously 
 subscribed towards the accomplishment of this important object, 
 will probably be satisfied to intrust me also with the first utterances 
 within these walls, and that those of our Indian fellow-subjects 
 who have liberally responded to my repeated applications for aid 
 will be pleased to learn that my first words have been uttered 
 in an attempt to reply to the question : ' How can the University 
 of Oxford best fulfil her duty towards India ? ' 
 
 This is indeed a difficult question, the solution of which, I am 
 happy to say, is beginning to awaken an interest in the minds of 
 many who formerly regarded it with apathy and indifference. It 
 is a question which during the whole tenure of my ofhce as Boden 
 Professor, for nearly a quarter of a century, and during three 
 sojourns in India and frequent travels through the length and 
 breadth of that country, I have endeavoured to keep constantly 
 before my mind. It is a question, too, which science is bringing 
 home to us more closely every day. For it must be evident to all, 
 that the constant acceleration of the means of locomotion by steam 
 is rapidly reducing our earth to about one quarter of its former 
 dimensions. It now makes little difference to us whether we hold 
 our Scientific Congresses in London or Montreal, or our cricket- 
 matches on English or Australian soil ; while the Universities of 
 Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras will soon be regarded as sister 
 Universities not much less accessible to us than Cambridge, 
 Edinburgh, and Dubhn. It is a question, too, the solution of which 
 the pecuhar circumstances of our position in India makes it 
 impossible for a great national University, like ours, to make light 
 of— much less to evade altogether. For if statistics prove that 
 out of the total number of 903 members of the covenanted Civil 
 Service, appointed from 1856 to 1879, at least 618 were University 
 men, it follows that a large number of the rulers of India are 
 brought under the training of this University, whilst many more 
 are indirectly subject to its influence. 
 
 Let me ask you, therefore, to consider for a moment what the 
 position of our fellow-countrymen in India really is. I need 
 scarcely remind you that we can never hope to colonize India. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 
 
 39 
 
 The Portuguese are the only European race who have per- 
 manently settled there, and they could not have done so had they 
 not by intermarriage become almost merged in the Hindu popula- 
 tion. In fact, it has been proved that the latitude and longitude, 
 taken together, of every part of India, produce climatic eftects that 
 would be fatal to the existence, in an unmixed condition, of any 
 Anglo-Saxon settlers for more than two or three generations. It 
 is on this account, therefore, that we are not at present in India 
 as colonizers, as we are in other parts of the world — for instance, 
 in Australia, where the British settlers amount to about two and 
 a half millions, while the aboriginal occupants of the soil, who are 
 rapidly becoming extinct, are probably not more than fifty thou- 
 sand. Our position in India is very different from this. We are 
 there as rulers and administrators, and as nothing more. 
 
 I need not advert to the extraordinary circumstances — well 
 known to every educated person — which forced our Indian Em- 
 pire upon us. Our relation to the inhabitants of India is quite 
 unprecedented in the history of the world. The only parallel is 
 the occupation of Britain b}^ the Romans; but in all probability the 
 population of ancient Britain in the time of the Caesars did not 
 exceed a million of semi-barbarians, who (though advancing in 
 civilization under the Druids) were easily kept in subjection by three 
 legions of disciplined Roman soldiers, distributed here and there 
 in strongly fortified camps. Contrast the present circumstances 
 of India. The last census shows that the native population has 
 risen to the enormous total of two hundred and fifty-four millions 
 (the exact figures are 253,891,821) and is rapidly increasing^ ; while 
 scattered here and there, in little groups, or solitary units, among 
 these overwhelming masses — who are not without a cultured 
 upper class, many of them enlightened men, the inheritors of an 
 ancient civilization ; nor indeed without some kind of military 
 organization, if account be taken of about 350,000 soldiers belong- 
 ing to the feudatory States ; — scattered, I say, among these count- 
 less millions, are the ruling class of, at most, one hundred and 
 forty thousand Britons — civilians and military men all told — not 
 one-fifth of the native population of Bombay alone. Bear in mind, 
 too, that this little band of foreigners, separated from their own 
 homes by six thousand miles of land and sea, differ diametrically 
 from the hosts that surround them in colour, dress, customs, 
 habits of thought, and religious opinions. Furthermore, observe 
 that of those one hundred and forty thousand men little more than 
 nine hundred members of the covenanted Civil Service are the 
 
 * The next decennial census (of 1892) made the total 288,159,672. 
 
40 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 actual administrators of the Government of the country — a country 
 about equal in area to the area of Europe, if we take away Russia, 
 Turkey, and Hungary ; Bengal alone being nearly equal to the 
 whole of France, with twice its population. 
 
 Conceive, by way of illustration, nine hundred carefully chosen 
 scientific men dotted about in small ships over the surface of the 
 Atlantic, and required by the application of elaborate chemical 
 preparations — such as oil and other similar substances, the right 
 use of which they had long studied — to control the movement of 
 storm-driven waves, counteract the power of adverse winds, and 
 maintain smooth water amid swelling tides and conflicting currents. 
 Such a fanciful conception may serve to give some idea of the sort 
 of work our little band of British administrators have to perform, 
 scattered as they are in isolated stations over the surging ocean 
 of Indian life. When these men first arrive in India — perhaps 
 at the age of little more than nineteen — they have to make up 
 their minds whether to enter the judicial or executive branch of 
 the administration ; that is to say, whether they will become in 
 process of time either Judges or Collectors. The term ' Collector,' 
 however, conveys a very inadequate idea of the duties that may 
 devolve on a man of perhaps a little over thirty, unless it be taken 
 to mean that in him all the administrative functions of districts, 
 often as big as Devonshire or Perthshire, are centred and 
 comprehended. He not only collects the revenue, he has high 
 magisterial and judicial powers. He superintends police, road- 
 making, engineering, agriculture, municipal government, sanitation, 
 education^ — every conceivable matter ; and the welfare of more than 
 a million souls may depend to a great extent on his administra- 
 tive energy and ability. He does all this as plain Magistrate and 
 Collector : but it may happen that a man who in England would 
 never rise above a position of bare mediocrity, may become Com- 
 missioner over several districts, Lieutenant-Governor of a province, 
 Governor of a Presidency, or even by a remote possibility Governor- 
 General of all India. 
 
 Think of the importance of sending out such men, well educated 
 according to the true sense of the term — well trained physically, 
 morally, and mentally, well formed in character, well informed 
 in mind, well instructed in Indian languages, law, and history, 
 carefully imbued with a respect for those they will have to govern, 
 free from all tendency to self-conceit and arrogance of manner, 
 capable of governing themselves that they may govern others, 
 able to be firm, yet not overbearing, conciliatory, yet not weak, 
 patterns of justice and morality, models of Christian truth, 
 rectitude, and integrity. Where and how is such a perfect 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 41 
 
 training to be imparted ? Nowhere, I fear, in its perfection. 
 Nevertheless, better at our Universities than elsewhere ; for 
 nowhere else is the whole man better drawn out into well-balanced 
 proportions, better moulded into symmetry and shape ; nowhere 
 else is there the same wholesome attrition and collision between 
 opposite characters, the same healthy rivalry and conflict between 
 minds of infinitely varying power and capacity. 
 
 We can well understand, therefore, how it is that the Government 
 of this country should wish to place the selected Indian Civil 
 Service Probationers under University discipline, before launching 
 them forth to enter on their responsible and arduous duties. I am 
 sorry to say, however, that those who elect to come to us here 
 are very imperfectly subject to our rule, and participate very 
 imperfectty in the benefit of University life. They have, in fact, 
 to serve two masters ; and their London masters — the Civil Service 
 Commissioners — are the more exacting of the two. What actually 
 happens under the present system is this. In the first place, the 
 Indian Probationers are selected from a large number of candidates 
 (between the ages of 17 and 19) at a competitive examination 
 held in London every June, and those who are selected — generally 
 about forty (this 3'ear thirt3'-eight) out of two or three hundred 
 candidates — are required to undergo certain subsequent special 
 examinations in the Metropolis, during two years of probation. 
 And this period of probation has to be passed at one of our 
 Universities, on pain of forfeiting the allowance of ;i{^i5o a year 
 granted to each Probationer. The selection of any one of the 
 eight Universities approved by the Secretary of State for India 
 — namely Oxford, Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
 Aberdeen, St. Andrew's, and Dublin — is left to the men them- 
 selves ; but, as a matter of fact, the majority (at present above 
 two-thirds, or 53 out of about 78 1 select Oxford, because, I appre- 
 hend, we are able to off"er them here more special advantages '. 
 
 But is this the only good they gain from their residence 
 amongst us here 1 I fear, very nearly so. Possibly they may 
 derive some benefit from social contact with other members of 
 the University, but even in this respect the advantage they gain 
 is much impaired by their enforced isolation in regard to their 
 work, and their frequent visits to the London Law Courts. They 
 are not required to pass our University examinations, or to take 
 their degrees, or to carry away with them any University stamp 
 of any kind. It is the opinion of many, and I think a very right 
 opinion, that if the present low limit of age is retained for the 
 competitive examination, every selected candidate should be 
 * The rules are now different, 1897. 
 
42 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 required to reside for three years (instead of two) at a University. 
 No option should be allowed, but every one should be compelled 
 to take his degree of B.A. at the end of that period. And indeed 
 it has recently been announced that the Government of India has 
 decided on encouraging selected candidates to stay with us for 
 three years, by promising a continuance of the annual allowance 
 to those who take creditable honours at the degree examination. 
 This concession ought to be accepted with thankfulness, though 
 I fear that few will avail themselves of the privilege, unless all are 
 compelled to do so. 
 
 I trust, however, that the time may not be far distant when the 
 Civil Service Commissioners may consent to leave the proficiency 
 of the Indian Probationers in the specially prescribed subjects 
 to be tested by the Universities, and may accept our examinations 
 in lieu of all (or at least of some) of those now conducted in 
 London. The University is entrusted with the training and 
 examining of a large number of men intended for other professions. 
 It has founded special Schools for students who have to quahfy 
 themselves for particular lines of hfe— I mean the Honour Schools 
 of Mathematics, Natural Science, Law, History, and Theology ; 
 and it is the opinion of many that we may well do the same for 
 those who have to qualify themselves for the Diplomatic and 
 Home Civil Services, and for the Indian Civil Service. At any 
 rate, it is possible that before very long the Government may 
 invite us to receive the Indian Probationers, not only as resident 
 students or simply lodgers, subject to rules of discipline and to 
 nothing more, but as Undergraduates who have to go through 
 a fixed University course, and undergo examinations in particular 
 Honour Schools suited to their special requirements. 
 
 Are we then prepared to undertake this duty ? We have 
 already done a great deal towards it ; so that it may be said that 
 we already teach almost every subject which an Indian civilian 
 ought to know. We have appointed various special readers and 
 teachers in Indian subjects, and have made it possible to offer one 
 Indian classical language, besides Indian Law, History, and 
 PoHtical Economy, as part of the subjects of the Pass Ex- 
 aminations. One duty, however, remains to be discharged, and 
 I commend this, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, to the consideration of the 
 Hebdomadal Council. We have yet to establish an Honour School 
 in Oriental Literae Humaniores. Cambridge has long established 
 a Semitic Tripos and Indian Languages Tripos, though it probably 
 has not half our number of Oriental students. We need not follow 
 exactly on the same lines ; but with an increasing number of our 
 men destined for the Diplomatic and Indian Services, and for 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 43 
 
 Mission work, and I may add for work of all kinds in the East, 
 the time has arrived when we might well establish a School of 
 Oriental Literature, which might embrace Sanskrit, Pali, Persian, 
 Arabic, Hebrew, Assyrian, and possibly Chinese, and might 
 include (like the School of Classical Literature) a wide range of 
 collateral subjects, such as Oriental History, Eastern Philosophy, 
 Indian Law, and Political Economy, and certainly not exclude 
 Modern Indian Languages. It is true that we have not yet an 
 Honour School of Modern European Languages ; but bear in 
 mind that the speakers of French, German, and Italian are not our 
 fellow-subjects hke the two hundred millions of speakers of Hindi, 
 Hindustani, MarathI, Bengali, Telugu, and Tamil. Most of these 
 Indian vernaculars have literatures of their own, of which every 
 great University ought to take cognizance, quite irrespectively of 
 the Civil Service Probationers. 
 
 Unhappily these Indian vernaculars are now rapidly dete- 
 riorating, because in the Indian Government Degree Examinations 
 they are generally slighted, while a knowledge of English is held 
 to be of paramount importance for all educated natives. But, on 
 this very account, it becomes the duty of a great English University 
 which interests itself in middle-class education, to do something 
 towards elevating and honouring these languages ; for it is certain 
 that the masses of India will never be educated and civilized 
 except through the medium of their own vernacular dialects. 
 
 I repeat, then, that we are bound to establish an Honour 
 School of Oriental Literae Humaniores, including Modern Indian 
 Languages. 
 
 And we ought to do this for the benefit of all Oriental students, 
 not merely for the Indian civilians. For assuredly we shall fulfil 
 our duty towards India very imperfectly if we confine ourselves 
 to the teaching of only one class of persons preparing for Indian 
 careers. We are bound to consider also the needs of others — for 
 example, of those who may go to India as chaplains, doctors, 
 lawyers, or of those who may be engaged in mercantile pursuits, 
 or in any kind of civil or military employment. In my Indian 
 travels I came across many such men, who, although educated at 
 Oxford, had been unable to gain a livelihood in England, and had 
 turned their steps towards India, and regretted that their Univer- 
 sity education had not done more to fit them for their work. 
 
 And are we not also in this Christian University to think of 
 giving the best possible education to our Missionaries ? An Oxford 
 Mission, as many here know, has lately been established at Cal- 
 cutta. The Mission invites periodically some of the most thoughtful 
 native students and others to attend meetings at the Mission 
 
44 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 House when discussions on important subjects take place, I was 
 myself present at an interesting debate, and came away much 
 impressed with the abihty and earnestness of those who took part 
 in it ; but the thought forced itself upon me : — How much better 
 qualified would our Missionaries be to cope with the subtle 
 arguments of Pandits and Maulavis, had we here in Oxford 
 a Professor or Reader in Oriental Philosophy, whose special 
 duty it would be to lecture on its relation to the philosophical 
 and religious thought of Europe. 
 
 And again, we have not merely to think of those who are 
 destined for work among the natives of India in their own country. 
 The time has arrived when it becomes the duty of every Univer- 
 sity to instil some general knowledge of Indian subjects into the 
 minds of its ordinary students, who, without setting foot on Indian 
 soil, may one day be called upon, as Members of Parliament, to 
 exercise supreme control over the destinies of India. For it 
 cannot be denied, that, of late years, a great change has come 
 over our Indian administrative system. Formerl}^, the ignorance 
 and apathy of Parliament were of little importance, for India was 
 governed by men who were not able to communicate telegraphically 
 with the Central Government, and were allowed much independence 
 of action in their own districts. Now, on the contrary, with the 
 extension of submarine telegraph}'^, and the increase of interest in 
 Indian subjects among Members of the House of Commons, the 
 interposition of an all-powerful Assembly, acting with the best 
 intentions, but not always according to knowledge, is apt to cause 
 administrative complications. Depend upon it, that if our Members 
 of Parliament, who are mainly trained at our Universities — and 
 a large proportion among us here — are to exercise supreme control 
 over the Administration of India, they must be taught to appreciate 
 and respect her, to understand her condition, her needs and her 
 difficulties, her prejudices and her predilections, her weakness 
 and her strength. And when and where are they likely to obtain 
 this knowledge better than at a University which possesses an 
 Institute like that we are this day opening ? 
 
 And now let me invite you to cast your eyes around these 
 walls— bare at present, but soon to be well covered. Observe 
 that the Indian Institute, which the hberality of numerous 
 subscribers has enabled us to erect on perhaps the best site in 
 Oxford, occupies at present only half its future area. These 
 rough brick partitions indicate the direction in which the exten- 
 sion will ultimately be carried out, I trust by the same eminent 
 architect, Mr. Basil Champneys. But the present half of the 
 structure will, I hope, be an earnest of its future capabilities and 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 45 
 
 usefulness. It will, in the first place, serve as a rallying-point 
 and central meeting-place for the Indian civilians, where their 
 special instruction will be received, and where a Library and 
 Reading-room supplied with books and Indian papers will be set 
 apart for their use, and opportunities afforded them of gaining 
 a personal knowledge of each other. This is the more important, 
 because to collect all these men at one college, where they have 
 no common work with the other students, and are therefore likely 
 to form themselves into a separate clique, is held to be unwise ; 
 while, on the other hand, it is equally objectionable so to distribute 
 them in different colleges as to prevent their acquiring any know- 
 ledge of each other, as fellow-workers for a common end. The 
 Institute will aim, therefore, at bringing together every day these 
 fifty or sixty men, and will in this way, I hope, tend to promote 
 esprit de corps, and act like a resuscitated Haileybury. It will also 
 be a centre of union, inquiry, and instruction for all interested in 
 Oriental studies, or preparing for Indian careers of any kind. It 
 will, at the same time, I trust, become an attractive meeting-place 
 for students of other countries who may be engaged in Indian 
 research ; for natives of India residing at our University ; and for 
 eminent Anglo-Indian administrators and officers, who, when at 
 home on furlough, or after retiring from the service, may visit 
 Oxford and be willing to give us valuable information on Indian 
 topics. 
 
 And let me point out that in this building we wish to keep in 
 view the great advantage to be derived from conveying instruction 
 through the interaction of ear and eye. Its Lecture-rooms, Read- 
 ing-rooms, Library, and Museum, are all, as you see, in close 
 juxta-position, or opening one into the other, and will by their 
 inter-communication aid and illustrate each other. 
 
 As to the Library, I am happy to say that in travelling through 
 all parts of India I have obtained grants of costly books, manu- 
 scripts, maps, and plans, nearly sufficient, with gifts from other 
 quarters, to fill the entire available space of the present half; and 
 among gifts, I may mention, besides the Lucknow Library, the 
 invaluable Library of the Rev. Dr. S. C. Malan, Vicar of Broad- 
 windsor, consisting of about four thousand volumes in more than 
 a hundred languages — furthermore a nearly complete collection of 
 all the works published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, including 
 the Bibliotheca Indica, and more than a hundred bound volumes, 
 comprising valuable Sanskrit and other Oriental works, presented 
 by Dr. John Nicholson, of f'ellside, Penrith. 
 
 With regarcf lo the Museum, I have obtained grants of objects, 
 illustrative of the industries, products, and natural history of India, 
 
46 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 and of the religious and social life of its inhabitants, more than 
 sufficient to fill the present half For instance, I have here before 
 me a printed list of the articles sent by Government from the 
 Calcutta Exhibition, and another of objects sent from the Andaman 
 and Nicobar Islands. India is itself a vast Museum of the world's 
 customs, from lower stages of barbarism to the higher stages of 
 civilization ; and this collection of ours, which will in time present 
 a fair epitome of India, is likely to prove eminently attractive, not 
 only to Indologists, but to ethnologists and anthropologists of all 
 nationalities, and highly instructive to all inquirers who come to 
 it for information. And I trust that this epitome of India, in the 
 very centre of Oxford and in the heart of a Cathedral city, will 
 put it in the power, not only of every member of the University, 
 but of every citizen also, to obtain a good general knowledge of 
 the country and its material products, of the inhabitants and their 
 moral condition. 
 
 But I have hitherto only spoken of one department of the Indian 
 Institute, namely that which has for its object the making India 
 better known to England ; I have, before concluding, to say a few 
 words in regard to its other great object, the making England 
 better known to India. And here I may notice that a great mis- 
 apprehension has prevailed with regard to the chief aim of the 
 Indian Institute. Many have inferred from the use of the 
 adjective ' Indian ' that the Institute is intended solely for Indians. 
 This is as great a mistake as to suppose that it is intended only 
 for Englishmen. My desire has always been that the Indian 
 Institute should have, so to speak, two wings, one spreading itself 
 to foster Eastern studies among Europeans, the other extending 
 itself to foster Western studies among Indians. 
 
 In this way it seemed to me that the Institute would help the 
 University of Oxford to do its duty in promoting the interchange 
 of the literary wealth of Asia and Europe, and in repaying with 
 interest the wisdom and knowledge received centuries ago from the 
 East. I therefore made a journey to Calcutta with the object of trying 
 to induce the Supreme Government there to found six Scholar- 
 ships of ^200 a year each, for deserving natives who I had hoped 
 would complete their education, and carry on their studies in this 
 building under the superintendence of the Curators. It caused 
 me great satisfaction when the Viceroy and his Council assented 
 to my proposal, and it has caused me severe disappointment to learn, 
 as I have lately done, that the Secretary of State for India in 
 Council, while sanctioning the Scholarships, has thought it right 
 not to attach them directly to this or to any particular Institution. 
 
 And I feel the disappointment the more acutely, because, from 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 47 
 
 what I have seen of the youthful natives of Indiain their own country, 
 and from my knowledge of the debilitating effects of Indian home 
 life, and the absence of all strengthening influences like those of our 
 Public School system, I am convinced that no young Indian is fit 
 to stand alone at an English University; nor do I believe that he 
 ought to be allowed as much freedom of action as is thought 
 desirable for the average English Undergraduate. I am per- 
 suaded that any youthful native of India who comes to Oxford 
 under the idea of enlarging his mind, and is left too much to him- 
 self and permitted to take an independent course, and cast adrift 
 during six months of vacation— without personal guidance and 
 guardianship— will return to India deteriorated in character rather 
 than improved. 
 
 At a large meeting held in Calcutta, in the great hall of the 
 University, at the beginning of the present year, when the Viceroy 
 took the chair and many leading Indians were present, I was 
 urgently requested to make the Indian Institute serve the purpose 
 of a home, both during Term time and Vacations, for those young 
 men who were sent to us for the completion of their education. 
 I regret that the desire I expressed to meet their wishes in regard 
 to this matter cannot be fully accomplished. Still I trust that 
 some of the scholars may become members of this University 
 and be attracted to this Institute, and I think I can promise that 
 those who avail themselves of the advantages it offers will receive 
 every possible encouragement from the Curators of the Institute ; 
 and although they will not be allowed to reside in the building, as 
 I had hoped, all the aids and appliances it contains will be freely 
 placed at their disposal. 
 
 Finally, let me express my hope that a spirit of friendly and 
 scholarly co-operation may animate all who have to teach within 
 these walls ; and, although the time is coming when some of us 
 who are advancing in years will have to make room for younger 
 men, yet, I trust, that much good work may still remain for us to 
 do, and that the day of small beginnings, which we are now com- 
 memorating, may constantly increase in illuminating power till 
 the knowledge here imparted becomes an acknowledged factor 
 in the educational benefits which this University seeks to confer, 
 and a real source of enlightenment to those of our fellow-subjects 
 in the East who come to us for training and instruction. 
 
 The Vice-Chancellor (the Rev. B. Jowett, Regius Professor of 
 Greek and Master of BaUiol) then said :— He was asked to come 
 there to open that building, but before doing so, he was sure 
 he should be only expressing their feelings if he presented to 
 
48 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 Professor Monier-Williams their warm thanks for the interesting 
 address he had given them, which had suggested so many 
 thoughts to their minds. It was to his indefatigable abihty and 
 single-minded enthusiasm for the good of India that the building 
 was due. They might regret with him that it was only half a 
 building, and therefore, he feared, was in some degree impaired 
 both in its architectural beauty and its practical usefulness. He 
 had told them that there was a great work in which they were to 
 engage. They hoped that the University of Oxford might con- 
 tribute to that work in many ways. They hoped that it might 
 create among the Indian students at Oxford a spirit of sympathy 
 with the natives, that they might be better able to understand 
 India. They must all of them see that it was absolutely impos- 
 sible to govern India — to govern 254,000,000 of people, with their 
 various races, religions, and customs, if they did not understand 
 them. They could only safely govern India if they knew it. He 
 might remind them that there was a great debt which England 
 and Europe owed to India, though it might be one in the far 
 distance. He remembered to have been told, that on the portals 
 of the College of Fortwilliam, Lord Wellesley, who was the 
 founder of that college, himself a poet and a scholar, had this half 
 verse of Virgil inscribed : — 
 
 ' Redit a nobis Aurora diemque reducit,' 
 
 which, though the audience did not need a translation, he might 
 venture to translate, ' The dayspring returns from us and brings 
 back the day to them.' It was in the work described in these 
 words that they hoped the Indian Institute might bear a part. 
 He had only to declare that Institute to be open, to be, as he 
 hoped, a sign of mutual interest and affection between Oxford and 
 India for many centuries. 
 
 The proceedings on October 14, 1884, then terminated. 
 
 The first University Curators of the Indian Institute 
 were— The Vice-Chancellor, the two Proctors, the Hon. 
 the Warden of Merton, Sir WiUiam Herschel, Bart,, 
 Professor Legge, Sir Wilham Markby, K.C.I.E., and 
 the Boden Professor of Sanskrit. 
 
 A Conversazione was held in the Building on the 
 evening of Wednesday, April 22, 1885, with the object 
 of celebrating the opening of the Xecture-rooms for 
 work, and of viewing the objects and books collected 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 49 
 
 in the Library, Museum, and Reading-room. Among 
 those present were the Marquis of Ripon (late Governor- 
 General of India), Sir Thomas (now Lord) Brassey, 
 Sir Edward Colebrooke, the Vice-Chancellor, the two 
 Proctors, and about four hundred members of the 
 University with their friends. 
 
 The following report appeared in the Times of 
 April 23, 1885 :— 
 
 The first half of the Indian Institute, the corner-stone of which 
 was laid by the Prince of Wales, in May, 1883, was opened by 
 the present Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jowett, last autumn, when 
 an address was delivered by Mr. Monier- Williams, Boden Professor 
 of Sanskrit, on the duty of the University towards India. Only 
 the Lecture-rooms and part of the Library and Museum were then 
 ready for use. In commemoration of the fact that a great part of the 
 Institute is now in full working order, a Conversazione was held in 
 the building in the evening of April 22 (1885), every room being 
 brilliantly lighted and crowded with visitors, among whom several 
 Indian gentlemen were conspicuous. The different local Govern- 
 ments of India have each promised gifts. Madras, Bengal, Assam, 
 and Burmah have already sent their contributions to the Museum, 
 and the curiosities were inspected by the visitors with the greatest 
 interest. Among those present were : — 
 
 The Marquis of Ripon, the three Trustees, (Sir Thomas Brassey, Sir 
 Edward Colebrooke, and Professor Monier- Williams), Lady Brassey, Lady 
 Colebrooke, the Vice-Chancellor, the Mayor of Oxford and Mrs. Hughes, 
 the Dean of Christ Church and Mrs. Liddell, Sir William Herschel, Sir 
 William Anson, Shrimant Sampatrao Gaikwar, Shrimant Khaskerao Jadhaw 
 Raj, and Mr. T. V. M. Samarth. 
 
 Professor Monier-Williams, addressing the assembled guests, 
 said they were now ready to help in spreading an accurate 
 knowledge of India at a critical period when such knowledge was 
 more than ever needed. (Cheers.) They were honoured that 
 evening by the presence of many who had assisted them in 
 various ways, and in different degrees, to render the Institute 
 strong and effective, among whom he was proud to say were 
 many ladies. In the name of the University, he offered them 
 their warmest thanks. He wished he could go through the whole 
 list of donors and dwell on the debt the Institute owed to each. 
 Among recent gifts he might mention the invaluable Oriental 
 Library of Dr. Malan and the unique collection of Indian musical 
 
 D "" ' 
 
50 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 instruments which had arrived two or three days ago, the gift of 
 Raja Sir Sourindro Mohan Tagore. With regard to the Museum, 
 he might say that they had no ambition to vie with South 
 Kensington ; they desired simply to bring together a useful 
 typical collection of objects suited to educational purposes and 
 sufficiently complete to give a fair idea of the industrial occupa- 
 tions, domestic and rehgious customs, of the people subject to our 
 rule. He wished to take this opportunity of gratefully acknow- 
 ledging that in the carrjang out of this aim the}' had been 
 effectively aided by the Governments of India in each Presidency, 
 Many valuable collections were now on the road, some of which 
 would have to be stored away till the other half of the building 
 was completed. He need not remind them of the interest the 
 Prince of Wales had taken in that Institution, seeing that the 
 corner-stone was laid by himself, but he had a further token in 
 a telegram just received from His Royal Highness' Private 
 Secretary^, which was as follows : — ' Pray state at the Conversazione 
 the interest the Prince of Wales takes in the success and progress 
 of the Indian Institute.' (Cheers.) And now he must say a word 
 or two about other benefactors. What the building owed to 
 Sir Thomas Brassey was beyond his power to express, and in 
 his presence it would be impertinent to say all that he felt. The 
 aid received from Lord Kimberley as Secretary of State for 
 India had greatly strengthened their hands. Of the value of 
 Lord Ripon's generous encouragement and assistance, while he 
 was pleading the cause of the Institute in India, he would only 
 say that it was incalculable. They all knew that as Viceroy Lord 
 Ripon made himself beloved by the natives of our great de- 
 pendency. He had kindly consented to speak to them that 
 evening, and he thought they would admit that no man in England 
 could speak with greater authority and was more likely to give 
 good advice to those j^outhful members of the Universit}' who 
 were soon to leave them for the East. (Cheers.) In conclusion 
 he said Lord Kimberley had promised to be present, but at the 
 last moment had telegraphed that he was prevented by urgent 
 business from keeping his engagement. 
 
 Lord Ripon said he could assure them it had afforded him 
 a very great pleasure to be able to be present that evening. In 
 the first place it was always pleasant to come to Oxford, and in 
 the second place it was the first occasion since that great Univer- 
 sity did him the honour of conferring upon him the distinction 
 of an honorary D.C.L. degree that he had been able to visit it again, 
 and he hoped they would permit him to express his deep sense of 
 obligation for the honour so given to him, and which for many 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 5^ 
 
 reasons he should always count as one of his most valued 
 possessions. It was a great pleasure to him to be there, because 
 he had long felt a very great interest in the objects and purposes 
 of the Indian Institute. He hoped and believed it would be able 
 as time went on to perform very valuable service both for 
 England and for India— for England by making India better 
 known to the English people, and for India by making the 
 people of this country better known to the natives of India. 
 (Cheers.) It was because he believed that that Institution among 
 others in the country was calculated to do a very useful work 
 in that direction that he held it to be well worthy of general 
 support. He was anxious that there should be established in 
 this country additional facilities by which intelligent young men 
 from India might be induced to prosecute their studies here, and 
 he shared the desire of Professor Monier- Williams that there 
 should be established by the English Government a certain 
 number of Scholarships which might be held by the natives of 
 India in English places of education. (Cheers.) Whether these 
 Scholarships were connected directly with that Institute or not, 
 he believed, at all events, they would before long be brought into 
 operation and that facilities would be afforded to the intelligent 
 natives of India to prosecute their studies at the great seats of 
 learning in this country. (Cheers.) The noble Marquis went on 
 to address a few kindly words of counsel to the young gentlemen 
 present who as Probationers for the Indian Civil Service were 
 now pursuing their studies in Oxford. He reminded them of 
 the important work they would be called upon to do in India, 
 and said there were still deeds as bright and noble to be done in 
 the India of to-day as any which had been performed by the 
 greatest men who in past times had belonged to the Civil Service 
 of the country. Englishmen, he continued, were essentially men 
 of business, and they did not like interruptions when they were 
 at their work, and when that was so they were apt to be impatient 
 and possibly even rough. He would remind them that the native 
 gentlemen of India were men of singular courtesy and good 
 manners. They were exceedingly sensitive upon the question 
 of the way in which others behaved to them, and more harm 
 might be done, more serious political mischief created in India, 
 by incivility or inconsiderateness than even by an act of serious 
 injury or direct injustice. It was a very high and noble work in 
 which they were engaged, and it was his earnest hope that they 
 would be enabled, with the help of Him by whom kings reign and 
 princes decree justice, to perform the great duties which would 
 be intrusted to them in India with the highest honour to them- 
 
 D 2 
 
52 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 selves and with the utmost benefit to the vast multitudes whose 
 well-being would be dependent upon the spirit and character of 
 their labours, (Cheers.) 
 
 Sir Thomas Brassey said that pressure of affairs in an anxious 
 and critical time, affairs which threw an additional burden upon 
 himself, had detained Lord Kimberley in London, He desired 
 to express his great satisfaction with the progress which had 
 been made in the completion of this structure, and he was sure 
 the subscribers and all interested in Oriental study in Oxford 
 were grateful to those who had given them these interesting gifts. 
 He would briefly put the question— What were the objects for 
 which this building had been created ? They were, as he under- 
 stood them, objects which equally concerned the Eastern and 
 Western students. They desired to convey to those who were 
 students opportunities which had not been in existence before 
 for the study of Oriental subjects. Another object which he had 
 in view in giving his support to the project— and he thought it 
 should be the policy of the country— was to give to their Oriental 
 fellow-subjects an earnest of their good will and their regard for 
 them. (Cheers.) It was their duty to govern them in that liberal, 
 that just and generous spirit which marked the administra- 
 tion of Lord Ripon. (Cheers.) If they wanted the people of 
 India to be loyal subjects of a British administration they must 
 be prepared to give them some share in the government of their 
 country. (Cheers.) If they wanted the Indian people to take 
 some part and some share in the government of their country 
 they must prepare them for their task, and he ventured to hope 
 that such an Institution as this might be one means, among many 
 others, of giving to the people of India a capacity for self-govern- 
 ment. (Hear, hear.) He could not sit down without referring 
 to the gratifying expression which had recently been made in 
 circumstances of emergency of the good will and affection which 
 existed in India for the British rule. (Cheers.) To have won, 
 as he ventured confidently to hope they had, the affection of the 
 people of India, and to be able to count certainly and surely on 
 their support in all circumstances, and through whatever trials 
 they might pass, was a great strength to this country, and he 
 earnestly hoped that the ties now existing between the two 
 countries might be strengthened with the progress of years, and 
 that in Oxford they might do something to bind together England 
 and India. (Cheers.) 
 
 Hearty votes of thanks were accorded to the speakers, and also 
 to Professor Monier- Williams for his untiring and successful 
 labours. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 53 
 
 The first half of the Indian Institute being thus 
 completed and started as a working-machine, its utility 
 in diffusing a knowledge of India and stimulating an 
 interest in Indian and Oriental subjects generally, was 
 soon proved by results. The Boden Professor and 
 Mr. A. A. Macdonell lectured in Sanskrit, Professor 
 G. F. Nicholl in Arabic and Bengali, Mr. J. T. Platts 
 in Persian, Mr. R. St. John in HindiistanI, the Rev. 
 Dr. Pope in Tamil and Telugu, Mr. St. Andrew St. John 
 in Burmese, Mr. Bellairs in Marathi, Dr. Markby in 
 Indian Law, and Mr. Sidney Owen in Indian History. 
 
 Moreover a series of public lectures were given and 
 Conversaziones held in the Library and Lecture-rooms 
 of the Institute, which excited much attention in the 
 University. All the lecturers — some of whom kindly 
 came from a distance at much personal inconvenience 
 — were greeted by large audiences, and an increased 
 interest in India resulted from their addresses. Some 
 of those who delivered public lectures were Mr. R. N. 
 Cust, LL.D., late of the Bengal Civil Service and 
 Member of the Legislative Council; the Rev. Dr. Pope, 
 Hon. M.A. ; Mr. H. G. Keene, CLE., late of the Bengal 
 Civil Service and Judge N.W.P. ; Mr. W. S. Seton-Karr, 
 late of the Bengal Civil Service and Foreign Secretary 
 to Government ; Captain R. C. Temple, Bengal Staff 
 Corps; Dr. H. U. Weitbrecht; Dr. M. A. Stein; and 
 the Boden Professor of Sanskrit. 
 
 On May 26, 1885, the following new Decree was 
 brought before Convocation, and passed unanimously : — 
 
 That the Decree of November 18, 1880, relating to the Indian 
 Institute be rescinded, and that a sum of ^300 a year be paid 
 from the University Chest for the general expenses of the Institute, 
 such yearly payment to begin from October i, 1884, and to be 
 subject to the condition that the remainder of the Subscription 
 Fund already paid or promised, after payment of the expenses 
 
54 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 incurred for the site, building, fittings, &c., be held in trust for the 
 purchase of the remainder of the site and for the completion of the 
 building. 
 
 It was not till February, 1886, that the Despatch from 
 the Government of India, recommending the six Scholar- 
 ships, was finally accepted by the Secretary of State, 
 although unhappily Lord Kimberley refused to make 
 their connexion with the Indian Institute obligatory. 
 The following announcement appeared in the Times 
 newspaper of February 15, 1886 : — 
 
 'The scheme for encouraging native youths to proceed to 
 England for the purpose of completing their education at Oxford 
 or Cambridge has at last taken definite form, after having been 
 under consideration many years. The Government has announced 
 its intention of founding six Scholarships, each w^orth /200 yearly, 
 tenable in England by persons coming under the statutory 
 description of natives of India The Scholarships will be placed 
 at the disposal of the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, 
 and Lahore in rotation. In announcing this scheme the Governor- 
 General in Council records his acknowledgements to Professor Sir 
 Monier Williams, with whom it originated, and who has always 
 taken a deep interest in measures designed to promote the 
 educational progress of the natives.' 
 
 Two Scholars soon afterwards arrived and attached themselves 
 to the University, viz. Mr. PestonjT Sorabjl Kotval, of Bombay, 
 and Mr. J. D. Gupta, of Calcutta. Though debarred from residing 
 in the Institute, thy made use of it, both for lectures and for 
 study. 
 
 Another important result of the increased interest 
 in Oriental Studies was that a statute passed Convoca- 
 tion on March 16, 1886, of which the following are the 
 first six clauses : — 
 
 Of the Honour School of Oriental Studies 
 IN THE University of Oxford. 
 I. There shall be two Examinations in the Honour School of 
 Oriental Studies, an Examination in Indian Studies, and an 
 Examination in Semitic Studies. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 55 
 
 2. The general subjects of the Examination in Indian Studies 
 shall be the History of India, and the following languages, viz. 
 Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Hindustani, Hindi, MarathI, Bengali, 
 Tamil, and Telugu. 
 
 3. The general subjects of the Examination in Semitic Studies 
 shall be Arabian and Jewish History and the following languages, 
 viz. Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic (including Chaldee, Samaritan, 
 and Syriac). 
 
 4. Each of the Examinations shall include special subjects, 
 being departments or periods of history, or subjects studied in 
 connexion with any of the above-mentioned languages. For the 
 purposes of this provision the study of history shall include 
 social and economical history, systems of law, and the history of 
 literature, learning, philosophy, and religion ; and the study 
 of language shall include the comparative study of languages, or of 
 different periods of a language. Candidates who offer Sanskrit or 
 Persian may be permitted to offer Zend as a special subject : and 
 Candidates in the Examination in Semitic Studies may be per- 
 mitted to offer Assyrian and Ethiopic as special subjects. 
 
 5. Every Candidate in the Examination in Indian Studies shall 
 be required to offer either Sanskrit or Persian or Arabic, the 
 General History of India, and one special subject. Candidates 
 who aim at the highest Honours shall be required to offer two 
 additional languages or an additional language and an additional 
 special subject. 
 
 6. Ever}' Candidate in the Examination in Semitic Studies shall 
 be required to offer either Arabic or Hebrew or Aramaic, the 
 General History either of the Jews or of the Arabs, and one special 
 subject. Candidates who aim at the highest Honours shall be 
 required to offer an additional language and an additional special 
 subject. 
 
 There is nothing noteworthy to add to the foregoing 
 record until the year 1891. It was then that the Boden 
 Professor began to feel anxious as to his liabilities in 
 regard to the completion of the Institute building. He 
 had signed a Deed holding himself, as acting Trustee, 
 responsible to Merton College for the purchase of the 
 two old houses adjoining the first half of the Institute 
 and for the completion of the second half of the building 
 on the site to be obtained by the demoHtion of those 
 houses. 
 
56 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 The purchase money of that extension-site (^3,600) 
 had to be forthcoming on April 5, 1892, when the leases 
 of the two houses were to fall in, and the entire fabric 
 of the Institute had to be completed by 1895. The 
 estimated cost of finishing the second half of the structure 
 (including the purchase of the site) was about ^^12,500, 
 and the Professor, as acting Trustee, had only a balance 
 of about ;^5,6oo of the Trust-fund available. By great 
 exertions he collected from subscribers, old and new, 
 an additional sum of i^i,ooo, and to that amount, when 
 invested with the remainder of the Trust-money in Canada 
 Government Stock, H. H. the Thakur Sahib of Gondal 
 (one of the most liberal and highly cultured of India's 
 Princes) most munificently added a donation of ;^2,ooo. 
 The munificence of the gift will be better understood 
 if it be borne in mind that for ^2,000 sterling, at the rate 
 of exchange in November, 1891, H. H. the Thakur had 
 to pay 28,600 rupees. 
 
 The Professor had thus at his command about i^8,6oo 
 which enabled him to purchase the site required for the 
 extension, and to complete the Library and the whole 
 facade of the Institute by the beginning of 1894. 
 
 The proceedings at the formal opening of this 
 extension were reported in the Times and Oxford 
 Chronicle of June 5, 1894, as follows : — 
 
 The opening of the new buildings forming the extension, 
 recently completed, of the Indian Institute, which is situated in 
 Broad Street, Oxford, took place on Saturday afternoon, there 
 being a large number of ladies and gentlemen connected with 
 the University present. The Vice-Chancellor, the Principal of 
 Hertford, Dr. Boyd, presided, and there were also present : — 
 
 Sir Monier Monier- Williams (Professor of Sanskrit', Sir W. W. Hunter, 
 Sir Charles and Lady Aitchison, Sir William and Lady Markby, the Senior 
 and Junior Proctors, the Provost of Queen's, the Rector of Exeter, the 
 Provost of Worcester, the Archdeacon of Oxford (Dr. Palmer), the Principal 
 of St. Mary Hall, Professor Burrows, Professor Odling, Professor Legge, 
 and others, together with several Indian students. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 57 
 
 The new portion gives a much needed addition to the Library, 
 and provides a large Lecture-room beneath, and with this enlarge- 
 ment the exterior/rt'frt<y<? of the building is complete. 
 
 The V ice-Chancellor said they were met together to con- 
 gratulate the University and Sir M. Monier-Williams, the Professor 
 of Sanskrit, on the large addition which had been made to the 
 Institute. He was pleased to be able to announce that the Professor 
 had intimated his intention of presenting his large and valuable 
 library of Oriental books to the Library of the Institute, which 
 would then indeed be well furnished. 
 
 Sir M. Monier-Williams thanked the Vice-Chancellor for the kind 
 way he had spoken of him. He regretted that Lord Brassey, the 
 most munificent of all the contributors to the Indian Institute, was 
 unable to be present, as he had hoped. But Sir William Hunter, 
 whose name was so well known to them all as an authority on 
 Indian affairs had kindly consented to give them a short address. 
 It would, therefore, be impertinent on his part to detain them 
 long. He would merely say a few words as Keeper of the 
 Institute, in regard to its past and its future. As to its past 
 histor}', its life hitherto had been that of a growing organism ; 
 full, he hoped, of energy, but with powers not fully developed. 
 This had arisen, as every one there knew, from the force of 
 circumstances, not from any want of sympathy with the progress 
 of that great country, or rather that collection of countries which 
 this Institute represented. He was happy to say that they had 
 now this good Lecture-room in which they were assembled, 
 besides several sm.aller ones in other parts of the building. They 
 had also a Reading-room well supplied with Indian newspapers 
 and periodicals. And their now completed Library, to which 
 they would presently adjourn, was he thought,~imsurpassed by 
 any other room in Oxford, in respect of the convenience of its 
 arrangements and the beauty of its proportions. He ventured to 
 assert that owing to the valuable grants and gifts which he was 
 privileged to obtain in the past from various donors (among whom 
 the Rev. Dr. Malan might be named in the first rank), it was 
 likely to become one of the most important Oriental Libraries 
 in the kingdom. Recently they had gratefully accepted from 
 Mrs. Batty a gift of /500, the interest of which is to be applied 
 e'very year to the purchase of books throwing light on the -7 
 religions of India. It was true, as the Vice-Chancellor had 
 announced, that he was about to present his own Oriental Library 
 (a printed catalogue of which he held in his hand) under certain 
 conditions, to the Institute. (Applause.) As to the Museum, it 
 was still only half finished, and some of the valuable collections 
 
58 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 obtained by him during his travels in India were useless through 
 want of sufficient space for their proper exhibition. The principal 
 Lecture-room had also still to be added. Happily, he was now 
 able to notify that H. H. the Thakur of Gondal, to whose 
 munificence the extension of the present building was largely 
 due, had intimated through a telegram from India, just received, 
 that he would grant the money needed for the finishing of the 
 entire structure. (Applause.) They were all of them members of 
 the great Indo-European race. Might then this Indian Institute 
 long stand in this central position as a link of connexion between 
 Europe and India, as a bond of union between the United Kingdom 
 and her great Eastern Dependency, and as an evidence of what 
 the East owed to the West and the West to the East. (Applause.) 
 Sir WillJmn IV. Hunter then delivered a highly interesting 
 address on Indian education. 
 
 In accordance with the announcement made during 
 the course of the foregoing proceedings, H. H. the 
 Thakur Sahib of Gondal remitted (on June 27, 1894) 
 a further sum of ^2,500, making the total amount of 
 his munificent gift .^4,500. 
 
 The Professor was thus placed in a position to enable 
 him to fulfil his pledge, and to take immediate steps 
 for the completion of the entire structure of the Indian 
 Institute. 
 
 The concluding building-operations were successfully 
 carried out by the end of 1895, and a public lecture 
 was given by Sir M. Monier- Williams in the large new 
 lecture-room in May 1896 ; but the formal opening of the 
 finished building, by the Secretary of State for India 
 (Lord George Hamilton), was postponed to July i, 1896. 
 
 The proceedings on that occasion were reported in 
 the Times of July 2, 1896, as follows^ : — 
 
 The Secretary of State for India, Lord George Hamilton, 
 formally opened the completed buildings of the Indian Institute at 
 Oxford yesterday afternoon in the presence of a large and dis- 
 
 * The address of the Boden Professor of Sanskrit (Sir M. Monier- Williams 
 K.C.I.E. ) as acting Trustee of the Trust-Fund, and as Keeper and Curator 
 of the Institute was abbreviated in the Times, but is here given in full. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 59 
 
 tinguished company. A special train from Paddington brought 
 a considerable number of guests. At the luncheon given by the 
 Vice-Chancellor and Mrs. Magrath at Queen's College, among 
 those present were : — 
 
 Their Highnesses the Thakur Sahib and MaharanI of Gondal, Lord and 
 Lady George Hamilton, the Earl and Countess of Abingdon, the Keeper of 
 the Indian Institute (Sir M. Monier-Williams) and Lady Monier-Williams, 
 Sir William and Lady Hunter, Sir Mountstuart and Lady Grant-Duff, 
 Sir George Bowen, Sir Joseph Fayrer, Sir Steuart Bayley, Sir James Peile, 
 Sir Juland Danvers, Lord Francis Hervey, Sir Owen Burne, Sir Charles 
 and Lady Elliott, Sir Edwin Arnold, Sir Gerald FitzGerald, Sir Alfred Lyall, 
 Sir William and Lady Markby, Sir Raymond West, Sir Henry and Miss 
 Acland, Sir William Herschel, Sir Arnold Kemball, Mr. Bhownaggree, M.P., 
 the Warden of Merton, the Provost of Oriel, the Warden of New College, 
 the Warden of Keble, the Mayor of Oxford, the Master of the Mercers' 
 Company, Professor Macdonell, the Senior and Junior Proctors, and many 
 members of the University, the guests numbering upwards of one hundred. 
 
 Shortly after 2 o'clock the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. J. R Magrath, 
 preceded by the Bedels, went with his guests to the Indian 
 Institute, where the inauguration ceremony took place in the large 
 Museum, which was crowded. The new buildings consist of the 
 completion of the Museum and an additional Lecture-room. 
 
 The Keeper of the Indian Institute (Sir M. Monier-Williams), in 
 addressing the gathering, said : Through the generosity of numerous 
 friends of India this Institute, the aim of which is to be a centre of 
 teaching and knowledge on all Indian subjects, is at length finished 
 in all its parts ; and, as acting Trustee of the funds entrusted to 
 Lord Brassey and myself, it has become my duty to give an 
 account of my stewardship, and, in the name of the subscribers 
 and donors, to present the building to the University, in the 
 completeness of its original design — a design worthy of Mr. Basil 
 Champne^^s, its architect ; worthy, I think, of Oxford ; and worthy, 
 I hope, of our great Eastern Dependency. 
 
 For some time it has stood in the very midst of our Colleges, 
 eloquent with the silent reproach of a half-finished structure ; 
 and suggestive, as some have thought, of a half-hearted zeal in the 
 carrying out of that important object which led to the laying of the 
 foundation-stone by the Heir-apparent to the Throne. 
 
 In real fact difficulties connected with the extension of the site, 
 and still more, pecuniary deficiencies, have impeded the accom- 
 plishment of the work. 
 
 It is to his Highness the Thakur Sahib of Gondal, with whose 
 presence we are honoured to-day, that the removal of the reproach 
 of incompleteness is mainly due. His two donations (amounting 
 
6o RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 to ^4,500) have enabled us to complete the building, and, in 
 commemoration of his munificence, we have called our best 
 Lecture-room the ' Gondal Room.' 
 
 But his Highness would assuredly blame me if I were to allow 
 his recent benefactions to cast any shade of forgetfulness over 
 those of previous donors. 
 
 At least a thousand persons, including many ladies, must have 
 aided in the production of this building and the enrichment of its 
 Library and Museum, and I may be permitted to mention that not 
 the least effective aid has been received from my own wife. Un- 
 happily I have not the thousand tongues of the mythical Serpent 
 of India, or I might perhaps be able to name them all in the time 
 allotted to me. So far as I know, every subscriber and benefactor 
 living within a day's journey of Oxford, whose address it has been 
 possible to ascertain, has been invited here on the present occasion. 
 The majority have written to express their regret at not being able 
 to attend. 
 
 Many, alas! have been removed by death. Nor need this 
 surprise us when we call to mind that those who have co-operated 
 in the accomplishment of this undertaking have been, so to speak, 
 pioneers. They have been the first to break ground in a pre- 
 viously untrodden field of effort, and the process has taken time. 
 
 It is now twenty-one years since, standing in our Convocation 
 house, close to this spot, I first advocated the founding of a centre 
 of Indian studies in our University. 
 
 It seemed to me that, if it was the duty of a University to extend 
 the limits of knowledge on all subjects, we in Oxford were bound 
 to do something more than merely encourage the teaching of 
 Sanskrit ; we were bound to promote a knowledge of the spoken 
 languages, literatures, religions and customs of those 290 millions 
 of fellow-subjects whose destinies and well-being the Providence of 
 God has entrusted to the Government of the United Kingdom. 
 
 My proposition met with immediate acceptance, and to make 
 a beginning I sailed for India in October, 1875. 
 
 There I lost no time in waylaying the Prince of Wales as he 
 was landing from the Serapis in Bombay Harbour. His Royal 
 Highness at once promised his support, and we all know how 
 faithfully he kept his promise and how much we owe to his aid. 
 
 Then followed the gracious help of Her Majesty and other 
 members of the Royal Family. 
 
 Is there a single good work projected anywhere in our native 
 land which is not encouraged by our gracious Queen and the 
 Royal Princes and Princesses, not only by their sympathy and 
 influence, but by their active and substantial assistance ? 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 6i 
 
 Then my next step, I am almost ashamed to say, was to pursue 
 Lord Brassey, who in 1875 and 1876 was circumnavigating the 
 globe. I followed him everywhere, if not personally, at least by 
 letter upon letter. 
 
 The result you know. He became Co-Trustee with myself, of 
 all the moneys subscribed, and he was himself the largest con- 
 tributor. His contribution with accruing interest has amounted to - 
 about /io,ooo. 
 
 Time would fail me even if I restricted myself to the naming of 
 only the principal donors of either money or of other gifts. All 
 the names have been printed and published from time to time. 
 
 Pecuniary aid has been accorded to us by our Chancellor, 
 Lord Salisbury', by successive Viceroys, Governors, and Secre- 
 taries of State, and we have Lord George Hamilton here to-day, 
 to crown his previous kind assistance by inaugurating the com- 
 pletion of the building in person. 
 
 Then we have received large grants of money and other gifts 
 from the Native Princes of India— from the Maharajas of Baroda, 
 Travancore, Mysore, the MaharanI of Vizianagaram, the MaharanI 
 Surnomoyee, the late Nizam of Hyderabad, and many others, and 
 most of all, as I have before stated, from the Thakur Sahib of Gondal. 
 Many of our London City Companies have been as liberal 
 towards us as they always are in supporting every important and 
 useful undertaking. At the head of all stands the Mercers' 
 Company, whose Master we are glad to welcome here to-day. 
 "'A balance-sheet will be drawn up by a Chartered Accountant 
 and printed, so soon as the latest accounts have been settled. 
 
 And may I not confidently say to those subscribers and donors 
 who have come to witness this act of inauguration :— Look around 
 and tell me, have you not here good value for your money ? Do 
 you not feel solid ground for satisfaction in the contemplation of 
 what your liberality has effected ? 
 
 First— you have the most central site in the University. I 
 confess that for a long time I felt that the hope of acquiring such 
 a site was a mere dream of my ambition ; and now I acknowledge 
 with gratitude the public-spirited willingness of the Warden and 
 Fellows of Merton College to part vv-ith the block of houses 
 formerly occupying this spot, for an object which they believed 
 to be of national importance, and at a price which, considering 
 the excellence of the position, was not excessive. 
 
 Then you have an Oriental Library which will soon be second 
 
 to none in Europe. A" large number of liberal benefactors might 
 
 here be named, and among them Mrs. Braithwaite- Batty, of Oxford. 
 
 And I must by no means omit to mention that the late learned 
 
62 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 Dr. Malan, whose son I am happy to say is here to-day, has been 
 in this respect our greatest benefactor, as you may judge for 
 yourselves by inspecting the ' Malan Library ' in the room set apart 
 for its reception. Even the Bodleian over the way, with all its 
 \ plethora of wealth, has not some of the treasures to be found on 
 - our shelves. 
 
 Again, you have a Museum sufficiently large and already 
 sufficiently well filled to illustrate the industrial, religious, and 
 social life of the whole of India. 
 
 In brief, both Library and Museum will offer an epitome of that 
 wonderful country, of its multifarious races and peoples — peoples 
 whose literature is the admiration of the Western world, who 
 invented for themselves the sciences of grammar, arithmetic, 
 astronomy, logic, and music, and who, however far behind Europe 
 they may be in physical research, are certainly our equals, if not 
 our superiors, in metaphysics and philosophy. 
 
 Henceforth the portal of this Institution, standing open in the 
 very heart of this Cathedral City, will invite every passer by to 
 enter, and gain some knowledge of his Eastern fellow-subjects— of 
 their thoughts, words, works, and ways. And I trust a time is 
 coming when it will not be possible, with any colour of justice, to 
 say that India is in more danger from the ignorance and apathy of 
 her rulers than from the invasion of her enemies. 
 
 Nor must I omit to draw your special attention to the originality 
 and peculiarity of India's music, because its most eminent living 
 exponent. Raja Sir Sourindro Mohan Tagore of Calcutta, has not 
 only presented us with a priceless collection of musical instru- 
 ments, but has sent us a hundred additional costly gifts to be 
 added to our Museum, as a memorial of his interest in this day's 
 proceedings ; and, further, has written and set to music expressly 
 for the occasion some Sanskrit odes dedicated to the Institute, and 
 the singing of which he desires may accompany the gifts. 
 
 You see some of these gifts before you, and Mr. A. F. Ferguson, 
 B.A., of Magdalen College, with the advice and assistance of Sir 
 John Stainer, Dr. Mee, and Mr. FuUer-Maitland of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, has kindly made a selection from the odes, and will 
 sing them before the close of our proceedings. 
 
 Then lastly, and most emphatically of all, you have in this 
 building not merely an outward, visible, and concrete sign of the 
 nation's interest in India. You have in it a really working Institu- 
 tion. Work is its raison d'etre. Work is its life. Its numerous 
 Lecture-rooms, Reading-rooms, Library, and Museum, all inter- 
 communicating and interdependent, aid each other by conveying 
 instruction through the interaction of ear and eye. 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 63 
 
 Even in its incomplete state this Institute has already done 
 much good and useful work. Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Hindu- 
 stani, MarathI, GujaratI, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Burmese, Turkish, 
 have been effectively taught here by able lecturers, and public 
 lectures have also been given on the literatures, laws, history, and 
 religions of India ; and the only reward sought for is the power 
 and the means of accomplishing still more effective work in the 
 future. 
 
 I need not speak for it any more. The Institute is now of age. 
 It can speak for itself. Nevertheless, although twenty-one years 
 have elapsed since its first rudimentary origin, it has not yet 
 attained to the full measure of its stature and capacities. Life 
 and growth are essential to each other. The Institute has hitherto 
 expanded gradually by a succession of increments, and has still 
 before it a vista of potential increasing usefulness, if only its 
 growing energies are properly nourished and adequately fed. 
 
 And let me, before concluding, express my regret that in one 
 respect this Institute falls short of its original aim. 
 
 My desire always has been that it should have, so to speak, two 
 arms— one extending itself to aid Europeans in the pursuit of 
 Eastern studies, the other stretching out a helping hand to young 
 Indians in the prosecution of Western studies. 
 
 I therefore made a second voyage to India in 1876-77 and 
 a third in 1883-84, and ultimately succeeded in inducing the 
 Supreme Government there to found six Scholarships of ^200 
 a year each, for deserving natives who were to have been attached 
 to this Institute, and to have gone through their University course 
 under the supervision of its Keeper and Curators, or of some 
 Tutor appointed by them. 
 
 The Viceroy and his Council assented to my proposal. The 
 Scholarships were founded, but Lord Kimberley— then Secretary 
 of State for India— declined to sanction their necessary connexion 
 with this or with any particular Institution. 
 
 His decision has been a source of abiding disappointment to me, 
 because I feel now, as I felt then, that youthful natives of India 
 who come to our Universities for the completion of their education, 
 and are left too much to themselves, and cast adrift during six 
 months of vacation— without personal guidance and guardianship 
 — run a great risk of becoming deteriorated in character rather 
 than improved. 
 
 I therefore earnestly trust that the duty of undertaking such 
 guidance and guardianship may one day be committed to some 
 officer of this Institute. 
 
 Unhappily our Institute is very insufficiently endowed. Its 
 
64 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 income suffices for the maintenance of its material structure, but 
 not of its working machinery. There is not even a proper stipend 
 for its Librarian, and we cannot afford a Curator for its valuable 
 Museum. 
 
 We are told that the times are hard, that the University is 
 threatened with pecuniary straits, that even the Hospitals are 
 starving, that philanthropy is everywhere crying out for an increase 
 of resources, and that millionaires who endow great public Institu- 
 tions are likely to become as extinct as the dodo— yet only the 
 other day a sum of £6&o was given for a penny Mauritius post- 
 office stamp. 
 
 And most certainly the Indian Institute has hitherto had no 
 cause to complain of any lack of generous assistance. 
 
 I do not therefore despair of an increase of means which shall 
 keep pace with its advancing powers and capabilities ; and in that 
 confident expectation I now, in the name of the subscribers and 
 donors, make over the completed building to j'ou, Mr. Vice- 
 Chancellor, and merge m}' Trusteeship in that of this University, 
 which you so ably and courteously represent. 
 
 The Vice-Chancellor (Dr. J. R. Magrath) said he gratefully 
 accepted, on behalf of the University the completed building which 
 Sir Monier Monier- Williams now handed over to them on behalf of 
 the subscribers. This building would always remain as a monu- 
 ment of Sir Monier s devoted energy and self-denying assistance. 
 (Cheers.) He trusted also that it would be increasingly useful 
 to at least three classes of students. He hoped, even though Sir 
 Monier's scheme of Scholarships failed, it might still be useful to 
 natives of India coming there, to those who hereafter would go 
 forth to undertake in India their share in its administration, and 
 to an increasing body of students who might desire scientifically 
 to study the multifold phenomena of that great Dependency. He 
 would ask the Secretary of State for India, who had been kind 
 enough to come there on that occasion, to open the Institute. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 Lord George Hamilton, who was heartily received, said he 
 willingly responded to the Vice-Chancellor's request to declare 
 the building open, but before he did so perhaps they would allow 
 him to preface that ceremony with a very few observations. In 
 the first place, let him heartily re-echo the congratulations which 
 the Vice-Chancellor had already expressed to Sir M. Monier- 
 Williams upon the successful completion, after twenty-one years' 
 work, ofhis self-imposed task. (Cheers.) He had worked at this object 
 with unflagging assiduity during that period ; he had drawn upon 
 his time, his energy, and his own financial resources without stint, 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 65 
 
 and he thought he now might be proud ot" tlic result of his exertions. 
 (Cheers.) It was, he thought, thirteen years ago since the 
 foundation-stone of tlic Institute was laid by the Prince of Wales, 
 and he had been looking at tlic list of the distinguished men and 
 scholars who were then present. He was sorry that that thirteen 
 3'ears had deprived them of so many well-known names. Jowett, 
 Northcote, Green, Toynbee, Stanley, and many others, were no 
 longer among them. But this sorrowful reflection he thought at 
 least was tempered by the proof, if any proof were necessary, 
 that if once a beneficent and far-reaching enterprise was started 
 and its utility was proved, that work would go on and prosper, 
 even although the original workers might be changed and have 
 disappeared. But Sir Monier's energy and enterprise would of 
 themselves have been insufficient to accomphsh this great task 
 unless he had been able to appeal to the liberality of Indian 
 princes, noblemen, and the British public. And well had they 
 responded. Such had been the successful result of the operations 
 of Sir M. Monier- Williams, but he thought there was one observa- 
 tion which fell from him in his address which was noteworthy. 
 He thought, he said, that this was the only Institute in the United 
 Kingdom which was solely devoted to Indian objects and studies. 
 They were proud of their performances as a nation in different 
 parts of the globe, but he thought none of their feats were com- 
 parable to that which they had accomplished in India. In other 
 parts of the world they had done equal deeds of heroism, and 
 perhaps equal administrative ability might have been shown, but 
 the remarkable result of their performances in India was that the 
 exploits of a few had benefited the existence of many, and that 
 the Government, a progressive and enlightened Government as it 
 was, had had its foundation securely laid upon the shoulders and 
 labours of a few individuals. There were many distinguished 
 persons present there, and the Indian Civil Service was well 
 represented. He was no hero worshipper, and he did not say it 
 out of any wish to flatter them, but if there was any body of men 
 to whom he would willingly take off his hat as benefactors of 
 humanity, it was the Indian Civil Service. (Cheers.) It was very 
 difficult for any of them who had never been in India to conceive, 
 or even to realize, what the nature and magnitude of their work 
 was. Just let them try and conceive it by reversing the picture. 
 Let them assume for a moment that Europe was India and that 
 a small portion of that India was England. There were diver- 
 sities of race, of religion, of customs and institutions, on the Con- 
 tinent of Europe, but these varieties were not one whit greater 
 than those which abounded in the continent of India. Let them 
 
 E 
 
66 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 conceive the whole Government and administration of Europe, 
 with all these diversities, to be carried on by a few natives from 
 India, who were annually recruited by a draft of young men from 
 that country. The task, they would say, was an impossible task 
 and beyond the capacity of human administration ; and yet the 
 Indian Civil Service had undertaken that task, and they had 
 performed it so equitably, so thoroughly, and so incorruptibly that 
 within a few generations the Indian Government had developed 
 into one of the most perfect executive machines the world had 
 ever seen. (Cheers.) Well, then, anything that could affect the 
 education or training of men who were entrusted with duties 
 of such supreme importance was a matter, he would not say of 
 national, but of Imperial interest, and the Vice-Chancellor, in 
 thanking Sir M. Monier-Williams for transferring this building to 
 the University, spoke of the inestimable value which the Institute 
 might be to those who had to discharge duties of administration 
 in India. Let them for a moment look at what the Institute might 
 do from an educational point of view. High as was his apprecia- 
 tion of the work done in India, incalculable as were the benefits 
 which our Government conferred upon the people, still, some- 
 times a qualm passed through his mind that those who were so 
 admirably performing this work were not increasing in popularity 
 on the scene of their labours, and that the hiatus between the 
 governed and the governing was not being as sensibly diminished 
 as they could wish. The Indian civilian now had to work under 
 widely different conditions from those which surrounded his 
 predecessor. Facilities of communication and of locomotion had 
 brought with them great benefits. But, in his judgement, they had 
 not been a wholly unmixed benefit so far as the administration 
 of India was concerned. (Hear, hear.) England now was so 
 accessible from India that India was not so great a home of the 
 Indian civilian as in the past. The facilities of communication 
 placed upon Indian administrators an enormous additional amount 
 of work. Year by year the mechanical, he would say the 
 automatic, part of their duties was taking more and more of 
 their time, and they had less spare time for intercourse with the 
 outside or unofficial natives ; and it was, as they knew, a rudimen- 
 tary maxim in government that no man or body of men could 
 hope to thoroughly succeed in governing any people unless they 
 could understand the people whom they governed. If they 
 would allow him a minute or two he would ask their attention 
 to this particular point, for it was of supreme importance, so far 
 as the future was concerned. Many years ago, when he first had 
 the honour of being Under-Secretary of State for India, there was 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 67 
 
 on tlic Council a most remarkable man, whose name was well 
 known to all his Indian colleagues who were present— Sir George 
 Clark. Perhaps he was the last of those great patriarchal pro- 
 Consuls, if he might so call them, who governed large portions 
 of India through the magnetic influence of a strong moral 
 character based on a thorough knowledge of those with whom 
 he came in contact He retired, being then upwards of 80 years 
 of age, from the India Council, and on his retirement he was good 
 enough to come and see him, and he spoke very frankly his 
 mind on this particular subject. He said : ' You are a young man, 
 and what I want you to do is to devote 3^our energy to destroying 
 the Suez Canal and cutting every telegraph wire that connects 
 England with India, and all the telegraph wires inside India, and 
 when you have done that you must reduce your European army 
 in India to 20,000 men, and then you will be able to test the young 
 Englishman how far he has gone.' He asked Sir George Clark 
 to explain these rather bold and vandalistic theories, and he in 
 a very few words put before him his experience and contrasted it 
 with that of those who came after him. He said that when he 
 was a young man he was sent to India with a knowledge only of 
 the vernacular, and after a short time was sent up to a district 
 where there was not a European within many miles of him. He 
 had to keep that district quiet and to govern it by his own 
 resources. And the only way he accomplished that task was by 
 making friends of the notables of the district, governing to a large 
 extent through them and by their opinions. And then Sir George 
 went on to say — ' In these days you send out young men far 
 superior to myself in mental equipment, and they go out to a 
 district with a Code under one arm and a telegraph wire under 
 the other. They have to enforce their Code, and, if they cannot, 
 all they have to do is to telegraph for somebody to help them to 
 do so. That is not the way to make good administrators.' There 
 was a good deal of force in those observations. They could not 
 put the clock back ; they must take the increased facilities of 
 locomotion with its advantages and disadvantages. They could 
 not alter the conditions which surrounded the Indian civilian, and, 
 if they could not, might they not do something to meet the 
 difficulties which Sir George Clark predicted during their training 
 in this country ? It was, he thought, this Institute and its 
 associations which might be of the utmost educational service. 
 (Cheers.) He thought Oxford might be proud of the fact that, 
 since the probationers for the Indian Civil Service were permitted 
 to take up residence in the University, Oxford had, he thought, 
 absorbed something like two-thirds of the total number of those 
 
 E 2 
 
68 RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 probationers. (Cheers.) Therefore, upon the University of Oxford 
 was imposed the task, which he was sure they would readily 
 accept, of, to a certain extent, moulding the minds and dispositions 
 of those who went to administer and to govern India. They got 
 them at a plastic period of life, and might this Institute not have 
 a very beneficial effect upon them ? Early in life he thought they 
 had a rather exaggerated idea of what they could do. If any 
 young English probationer had an opinion of his inherent power 
 of governing, because he was descended from a conquering and 
 self-governing race, many there would be able to show him by 
 certain accepted linguistic affinities that India could claim a race 
 of men of whom they might be proud. If he was proud of the 
 intellectual past of his countrymen and their literature he would 
 be shown, inside the walls of that Institute, that at the time when 
 his ancestors were unclothed savages there was a literature in 
 India well worthy of being preserved. And if he was proud of 
 the utilitarian tendencies of his countrymen, of their architectural 
 works, and of the great works of public utility which had been 
 carried out in this country, inside that Institute he would know 
 that, notwithstanding all the mechanical appliances they had now, 
 they had not been able to surpass the enterprise and architecture 
 which they found in existence when they went to India. The 
 evidence therefore of the old civilization, and the great feats 
 which, under that civilization, the various Indian nationalities 
 achieved, could not fail to bring home to the mind of any young 
 man a respect and regard for such nationalities, and out of 
 that respect and that regard must naturally grow sympathy 
 and esteem. And sympathy and sentiment, as facilities of com- 
 munication increased, were becoming more and more important 
 factors in consohdating communities and races. Of the many 
 great men whom England had recently sent to India, there was 
 none perhaps who devoted more time to this problem which he 
 had just sketched out than that distinguished jurist and thinker, 
 Sir Henry Maine. They could not stop, because there would be 
 no reform; they must not go too fast, or there would be no 
 security ; they must move, but they must take full cognizance 
 of counteractive force behind. It was because these difficulties 
 existed, and might increase, that he looked with pleasure upon 
 any movement or any enterprise which would tend in any way 
 to solve them. He did not wish to exaggerate the possibilities 
 of any movement with which he might be associated as he was 
 now, but he could not help thinking that, if this Institute were fully 
 utilized and properly directed, it might tend to gauge and possibly 
 surmount sonic of the difficulties he had enumerated, and that 
 
OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE 69 
 
 it might succeed in producing even closer and more sym- 
 pathetic relations than those which now existed between the 
 English and Indian peoples. He thought they might be sure that 
 the principles which would always regulate and underlie the 
 Government of India would be those of justice and bcneiicence 
 and progress, but it was upon the disposition and the demeanour 
 of those who had the administration of those principles that the 
 popularity of the Government must largely depend. He hoped 
 and believed that year by year the roots of their administration 
 in India would strike deeper among the sentiments and affections 
 of the Indian people, and he hoped that the University of Oxford, 
 through the medium of that Institute, might play no small part in 
 bringing about this most desirable result. (Cheers.) He had to 
 thank the Vice-Chancellor for having, in the name of the 
 University, invited him and other members of the Indian Council 
 to be present. He highly prized that invitation, and for his own 
 part he should always look back with pleasure upon having in his 
 official capacity been associated for a brief period with them in 
 a great work, the consummation of which he now celebrated by 
 declaring the Institute to be open. (Cheers.) 
 
 Sir M. E. Grant-Duff proposed a vote of thanks to Lord George 
 Hamilton for attending and for his address. 
 
 Sir WilliatH W. Hunter said it gave him very great pleasure to 
 second the vote of thanks, because he saw before him many men 
 who had taken part in the administration of that great world of 
 colonies and dependencies which made up Greater Britain ; and 
 as one of the humblest of them he should like to say how very 
 deeply they were touched by the kind words which fell from Lord 
 George Hamilton's lips. He had truly said that the difficulties 
 of administering India had increased. There was a time when 
 a panacea was proposed by Sir George Clark of abolishing the 
 Suez Canal and cutting the Indo-European telegraph. Well, the 
 Suez Canal was useful for short leave, and the telegraph to India 
 was very useful for the announcing of domestic occurrences ; but if 
 Sir George Clark had really had the courage to propose so drastic 
 a remedy, he thought he should have proposed to abolish the 
 Secretary of State. (Laughter.) The Secretary of State was 
 really more than the Suez Canal and the telegraph put together, 
 because just as the telegraph and the Suez Canal represented the 
 Imperial connexion between England and India, so the Secretary 
 of State represented that much more than Imperial connexion — 
 that great spiritual force by which Great Britain governed India. 
 There came every now and again an opportunity when the 
 Secretary of State or Parliament might make Indians feel that the 
 
7Q RECORD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 connexion between India and England was not merely one of 
 governing but also of sympathy ; and the Thakur Sahib of 
 Gondal would be able to convey to the tributary princes, and 
 Mr. Bhownaggree, who was there that day and who represented 
 in a very special manner the people of India, would be able to 
 convey to those who were really his constituents and were really 
 his clients, their grateful sense of what Lord George had said to 
 them that day. 
 
 The proposition having been heartily adopted, 
 
 Lord George Hamilton, in acknowledgement, said that the great 
 charm of being associated with the India Office was that rarely, 
 if ever, were questions connected with Indian government discussed 
 from a purely partisan point of view. Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duft' 
 was always a kind friend and generous opponent. Indian questions 
 were discussed upon their merits, and they did not sit up all night 
 fighting over trivial things. He could assure them that it was a 
 genuine relief to visit Oxford and discuss something of utility. He 
 hoped that the anticipations of the various speakers of what the 
 Institute might do, might hereafter be realized. 
 
 Some Indian melodies, composed by the Raja Sir Sourindro 
 Mohan Tagore, were then sung in Sanskrit by Mr. Ferguson, of 
 Magdalen College, and a reception by Sir Monier and Lady 
 Monier- Williams was subsequently held at the Institute. 
 
 By a fortunate coincidence, Balliol College held in the evening 
 the annual dinner given by the Master and Fellows to past and 
 present members. The guests included Viscount Peel, Sir 
 William W. Hunter, Sir M. Grant-Duff, and others of those who had 
 come by special train to the Indian Institute ceremonial. 
 
 As Stated in Sir M. Monier-Williams' concluding 
 address, the Trust-Fund accounts were closed in July, 
 1896, and a balance of ;:^235 1^- ^^^- has been handed over 
 to the Curators of the Indian Institute to be invested for 
 its benefit. 
 
 The following balance-sheet has been drawn up by 
 Mr. Percy Ashworth, Chartered Accountant (of Portland 
 House, Basinghall Street, E.C.), who will supply sub- 
 scribers with any information that may be desired as to 
 the detail : — 
 
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