103 
1868, after his appointment as Principal of the University of Edin- 
burgh, affirms that he had “ undoubtedly set his mark on the history 
of education in India.” It adds — “ While supporting the complete 
independence of the University, he used it as the crown of the 
Government educational system.” In a despatch written about the 
same time to the Governor of the Presidency, the Duke of Argyll, 
then Secretary of State for India, speaks of “ the solidity and 
reality of his administration,” and concludes with expressing “con- 
currence in the just remarks recorded by your Excellency in Council, 
relative to the very valuable services rendered by Sir A. Grant to 
the cause of education in India.” A minute of the University of 
Bombay, of the same time, speaks of “ his ability in administration,” 
of “ his important suggestions and effective aid in the revision of 
the bye-laws of the University, especially as bearing on the exten- 
sion, arrangement, and balance of studies,” of “ his temper and tact 
when discharging the duties of the chair,” and of “ his extensive 
influence with the public in the matter of endowments and bene- 
ficiaries.” Great as his intellectual gifts of organisation and adminis- 
tration were, the power of his personality was still more remarkable. 
Along with his general interest in Indian education he combined 
a warm personal interest in individuals, and the aid which he 
afforded to the advancement of able and deserving men among them 
is still gratefully remembered by natives of India. 
He entered on his duties in Edinburgh in the beginning of the winter 
session of 1868-69, and continued during the remainder of his life to 
perform them with ever-growing capacity and knowledge, and with 
the most loyal attachment to the institution to which he came as a 
complete stranger. With his sound practical sagacity he combined 
a high imaginative faculty, and while minutely attending to and 
mastering the details of business, he set constantly before himself the 
ideal of what the University ought to be as a nursery of intellect and 
character, and as an organ for the elevation of national life. He 
gained the entire confidence of his colleagues in the Senatus, 
whether they agreed or disagreed with him on particular questions, 
by the impression he produced of absolute devotion to the good of 
the University. He gained the regard and admiration of the students 
by his frank, dignified, and cordial bearing in all his relations with 
them, and by his genuine sympathy with them in their aspirations, 
