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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XVII. 



Mr. P. E. Morgappah supported the motion on behalf of the 

 Tamil community. 



Mr. F. M. Mackwood, before putting the Resolution to the Meeting, 

 said he thought they all realized that the words which had fallen from 

 the speakers were not mere lip language, but that they bad come 

 from the hearts of all of them and appealed to the hearts of all of 

 them. They were realizing what happened to them often in life. 

 They possessed much that they valued ; but it was only when they 

 came to losing that they appreciated the full and real value of what 

 they possessed. They were now losing that which they had always 

 known to be of service and of great value, but never of the service 

 and of the value which they now realized that it had been. (Applause.) 

 There was no need for him to say more. The things that welled 

 from the heart could never be fully and adequately expressed in 

 words. He put the Resolution to the Meeting. 



The Resolution having been unanimously approved, Mr. Mackwood 

 presented it to His Lordship the Bishop. 



8. His Lordship the Bishop in reply, said : — Mr. Ferguson, ladies, 

 and gentlemen, — I will not claim any such privilege as might entitle 

 me to meet this kind resolution by a mere brief statement of my 

 gratitude. I know that you expect me to say something in reply to 

 it, although, in attempting to do so, I find myself in a novel position. 

 For so ]ong a time my experience has been that of one who bids 

 farewell to others, and proposes, or puts to the vote, resolutions 

 on their departure, that I have got into the habit of regarding my- 

 self as a sort of professional sender-off of other people. (Laughter.) 

 At last my own turn has come ; and I find myself upon the 

 other side to receive these kind expressions, to feel how unworthy 

 I am of the generous recognition which my little services have met 

 with, and to express this difficulty of speaking where one's feelings 

 are deepest. What might have been only an ordinary compliment has 

 been raised, I think, this evening, by the language of those who have 

 proposed it, and especially by that of my friend, Mr. Ferguson, into 

 something very much more than that, — into a touching and most wel- 

 come expression of friendship and of kindness. (Hear, hear.) And 

 therefore, I think that I am meeting something more than a recogni- 

 tion of speeches made, or Papers read, or Resolutions published within 

 the Meetings of this Society. 



I welcome the expression "friendship," which has been cemented by 

 each Meeting here and by our co-operation in the Meetings of the 

 Council, and in our social Meetings on occasions of our more learned 

 Papers here. (Hear, hear.) I cannot feel that my services have 

 deserved, from any point of view, any large fraction of the tribute 

 that has been paid to me. I am afraid that many years have passed 

 since I have done anything out of my own resources to add to the 

 learning of any Member of the Society ; nor have I succeeded in 

 stirring up much enthusiasm, nor in eliciting many Papers from 

 others. One of those who supported this Resolution described me as 

 having been on one occasion a President'looking for a quorum, and I 

 am sorry to say that I have been for a long time a President looking 

 for a Paper, or at any rate, for more than a very few. (Laughter.) 



