পাতা:সংবাদপত্রে সেকালের কথা দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড.djvu/৭৬১

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সম্পাদকীয় ৭২১ to comply, Far be it from us to suppose that so slight a token of respect is adequate to the merit of your philanthropic exertions; but it will be a gratification to our feelings if we are permitted to keep among us a representation of the man who has breathed a new life into Hindu society, who has made a foreign land the land of his adoption, who has voluntarily become the friend of a friendless people, and set an example to his own countrymen and ours, to admire which is fame, and to imitate immortality. Waiting your kind compliance with the request contained in this address, and heartily wishing you health and strength to pursue the career which you have so long maintained, We have the pleasure to be, dear sir, Your most obedient servants, [Signed by Dukinnundun Mookerjee, and 564 other young native gentlemen]. Mr. Hare’s Answer. Gentlemen : In answer to the address you have just presented to me, I beg to apologize for the feelings that overcome me ; and I earnestly request you to bear with me. A few years after my arrival in this country, I was enabled to discover during my intercourse with several native gentlemen, that nothing but education was requisite to render the Hindoos happy, and I exerted my humble abilities to further the interests of India ; and with the sanction and support of the government, and of a few leading men of your community 1 endeavoured to promote the cause ef education. Gentlemen : I have now the gratification to observe, that the tree of education has already taken root ; the blossoms I see around me ; and if it be left to grow up for ten years more, it will acquire such a strength, that it will be impossible to eradicate it. To maintain and to continue the happy career already begun, is entirely left to your own exertions. Your countrymen expect it from you, for they look upon you as their reformers and instructors. It remains for you to gain that object, and to show the inhabitants of other countries in what manner they may render themselves useful. When I observe the multitude assembled" to offer me this token of their regard, when I see that the most respectable and learned native gentlemen have flocked around me to present this address, it is most flattering to me, for it expresses the unfeigned ఏ Tk *