No. 46. — 1895.] JUBILEE COMMEMORATION. 



81 



Into the record of times more recent I will not enter. The 

 genuine sympathy which Sir A. H. Gordon, now Lord 

 Stanmore, showed to the Society, the great services of the 

 late Sir John F. Dickson, the valuable Papers which under 

 his Presidency were contributed, especially by Members 

 of the Civil Service — these are fresh in the memory of most 

 of us. 



f The Outlook; and in Conclusion. 



Nor is our present outlook wanting in promise. We have 

 lost many men whom we valued : the names of Ferguson and 

 Wall — to name no others — will be long cherished amongst 

 us ; but we are a larger body than at any previous time ; and 

 the younger generation will do work — let us not doubt it — as 

 good as ever was done by those who have gone before. Our 

 field of work has indeed been narrowed by the assignment 

 to other agencies of large branches of study ; and the work 

 of pioneering has been done, in many directions, once for 

 all. But let us never think that for real students discovery 

 or progress can ever limit the field or close the paths. On 

 the contrary, the more is learnt the more is found to learn, 

 and the range of view is only widened as point after point 

 is gained. 



His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor said : — " Ladies and 

 gentlemen, — I am sure that I truly express the feeling of the Members 

 and friends of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society when I 

 say that they are very grateful to his Lordship for the address which 

 he has given to us with that scholarly ability and that attractiveness 

 which so distinguishes him on these occasions, and which so eminently 

 fits him for the position of President of this Society. (Applause.) 

 The sacrifice of time at the expense of the calls of duty which even 

 his Lordship has to make in preparing such an address as he has read 

 to us must add to our appreciation of the good and kind work which he 

 has done this evening. (Applause.) 



" He has given us a most interesting historical account of the life of 

 the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. In it I have learned 

 much that I did not know before. I have heard for the first time of 

 the extent to which the Society has been the parent of much work 

 that is now considered within the functions of the Government, and 

 in that respect and to that extent the Government are under a special 

 obligation to the Society. I trust that by the address which has been 

 read by his Lordship, and by the gratifying size of the attendance here, 

 a proper interest will be aroused in the proceedings of the Society. 



15—95 G 



