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SIR CHARLES BRUCE, G.C.M.G., ON 



sublime that they never could be more than theories ; in 

 attempts to solve insoluble enigmas ; in exhortations to the 

 attainment of unattainable frames of mind. It could not 

 condescend to the humble office of ministry to the comfort of 

 human beings." Adopting the pragmatic method of illustrating 

 a conception by its practical consequences, Macaulay summed 

 up the results of the philosophy of Utility and Progress in a 

 memorable passage : " It has lengthened life ; it has mitigated 

 pain ; it has extinguished diseases ; it has increased the fertility 

 of the soil ; it has given new securities to the mariner ; it has 

 furnished new arms to the warrior ; it has spanned great rivers 

 and estuaries with bridges of form unknown to our fathers ; it 

 has guided the thunderbolt innocuously from heaven to earth ; 

 it has lighted up the night with the splendour of the day ; it 

 has extended the range of the human vision ; it has multiplied 

 the power of the human muscles ; it has accelerated motion ; it 

 has annihilated distance ; it has facilitated intercourse, corre- 

 spondence, all friendly offices, all despatch of business ; it has 

 enabled men to descend to the depths of the sea, to soar into the 

 air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the earth, 

 to traverse the land in cars which whirl along without horses, 

 and the ocean in ships which run ten knots an hour against the 

 wind. These are but a part of its fruits, and of its firstfruits. 

 For it is a philosophy which never rests, which has never 

 attained, which is never perfect. Its law is progress. A point 

 which yesterday was invisible is its goal to-day and will be its 

 starting point to-morrow." 



This was written in 1840, and the three score years and ten 

 — the accepted limit of a life-time — that have since passed have 

 wonderfully confirmed the assertion that the point which 

 yesterday was invisible is its goal to-day and will be its starting 

 point to-morrow. On this law of Utility and Progress is based 

 the whole educational system of the Empire in every stage of 

 gradation from the infant school to the modern University. 



Of Justice. 



In the term justice, I include the functions of the legislature 

 and the judicature. Within the administrative units of the 

 Crown Colonies and of India, is to be found a mosaic of legal 

 systems bewildering in their number and complexity, the result 

 of a principle, intimately allied with the principle of religious 

 toleration, which has governed English history throughout its 

 career of colonisation and conquest. The essence of this policy 

 has been to adapt itself to the peculiar requirements of every 



