Address by Sir George Grey.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3476, 14 February 1880, Page 2

Address by Sir George Grey.

At the opening of the Auckland College and Grammar School, Sir George Grey delirered an inaugural address, from which we make the following extract :-—

To-day, I purpose to point out what your life should be when leaving this College, this mother who will instruct you. The world, with its trials, its duties, and temptations, is the path which you must necessarily tread. Age, iv looking upon an assemblage of youths, is unavoidably struck with many solemn thoughts. Out. of such assemblages as these must come the future rulers of the world—the guiding minds who are to dominate orer their generation—the lawgivers who are to bind or loose men from obligations which now fetter them. The weal or woe of the rising generation must rest in their hands. Now, you Northern young people will have to take your fair share in the great events which must within the next half century take place in New Zealand. Let us try to forecast in some degree what'is the nature of the difficulties you will hava to encounter—what is the noblest life you can live. Your task will be in many respects different from that which will "^ have to be achieved in the mother country 'P by the great men of the coming generation, ( We may say that the past is theirs, the future yours. Their task must be embarrassed by vested interests which hare grown up during centuries, which hare become rooted in the soil which are bound up with the prejudices and tenderest feelings of different classes. Many millions of suffering people are there, longing for changes which they believe would largely augment their well-beingand happiness. On the other hand large numbers of their fellow-countrymen dread 3uch changes, which they think would be detrimental to the interests of the classes to which they belong, and whose interests . they think could not be injured without great damage to the welfare of all. To reconcile such discordant elements is a task of vast difficulty. No such rested interests have yet been firmly rooted in this country. Here a tolerably fair field yet lies before the coming statesmen. Here you may build or aid in building up institutions better than any the world has hitherto seen; institutions based upon the knowledge and experience which many centuries of suffering and experiment have imparted to us; institutions which shall recognise the fact that the question to be solved by statesmen is the happiness,and welfare of the- immense majority of a nation, not of one or two classes out of the various ranks and interests which compose it. To successfully execute these duties, you must endeavour so to form your characters as to understand your relation to the world, and learn to fit yourselves to grapple with the difficulties which necessarily beset men, and to know how to rise to the conviction that what will best promote your own faappiness and worthiness is to live for others, not for yourselves—in short, to qualify yourselves to lead a noble life of action in the world ? This is a very great question. It is one which arises for each generation ; and it is one, which in some of its details, must receive a different answer in each age of the world. Some general principles must, however, always apply. There never has been a time, and there never will bs a time, in which a life can be truly noble the foundations of which were not based upon fortitude, truth, justice, and temperance in all things. It is at present a fashionable doctrine that the rising generation has one peculiar difficulty before it greater than the last or any previous generation had to undergo, and that is in reference to the assaults now made on Christianity. In this opinion I do not agree. I believe that each age has had, and ever will have, this difficulty to sustain, In each generation an assault on Christianity is made. These are various in character. Sometimes, however, after the lapse of many years, a great similarity will be found in the one then made to some previous assault which, in years long gone by, had exercised a great influence on the world. I think it is wisely ordered that each generation should have a different trial of this uature to endure. Its intellect is exercised by it. It has to find its own arguments to answer the reasons brought forward to oppose its belief. Its faith is fortified'by reasoning and by intellectual struggles. It does not idly rest its convictions upon the labors of the wise and good who have passed away, but it is forced to reflect and to reason for itself. That which is built up on personal labour and upon difficulties overcome, is always most., valued and is the most enduring. I believe that Christianity is fortified in each age, and is anew endeared to its professors by the efforts it is compelled to make against those who would overthrow it. But if this is no special difficulty belonging to any particular age, there is a peculiarity of that in which we at present live, against which I think it well that you should be warned. It is one, the influence of which you will have to resist. There is now a tendency to undervalue life, and the objects which can be achieved in life. It is said there is no hope for humanity in the future any more than there is any reality of good in the past. Life is worthless. In former periods a similar doctrine exercised a great influence in the world. In ancient Some, for instance, some held that it was wise continually from time to time, as you were engaged in various duties or pursuits, to ask yourself, " Is this worth living forp " The answer almost invariably would be, " No." Hence the deduction that life itself is not worth living. The error in this proceeding appears to be, the viewing of the isolated parts of life instead of looking at its whole scope and object. But let a man lay down for himself one or more noble and worthy objects, which he is resolved to accomplish in his life time. Then it is quite true that every separate action of life may not appear worth much ; yet his life, as a whole, will be of immense worth and satisfaction to him, as enabling him to accomplish that which, whilst it will be a source of continued delight to himself, will, at the same time, be the means of obtaining great advantages for his fellow men. Life, as the so-called " Pessimists " now say, is valueless, life not worth having, indeed. Let us reflect for a moment what a celestial gift this life is if rightly used. Life, if we will it, is a beneficent immortality; not only immortality of the soul, but a terrestrial immortality of a peculiar kind. Our actions, oar words, our very looks need never die out ■ of the earth so long as men endure. Looks of sympathy, of encouragement, of kindness, may re-invigorate falling men, may console the unhappy or unfortunate, changethe whole tenor of their feelings and their lives. Our words, expressing

our thoughts, may teach men lessons of wisdom, inculcate morality, give rise to new rules of conduct, convey great teachings. Effects thus produced neverdie out, they pass from one to another, from friend to friend, from father to child, through successive generations, blessing each and all that they reach, ever spreading as they go until they have benefited many successive millions of human beings. Some will also, in these times, tell you that it is useless to strive to achieve great and noble objects in the world. They will «ay to you, " Near is thy forgetfulness of all things, and near the forgetfulness of thee be all. Why, then, shouldst thou labour P Everything is only for a day—both that which remembers and that which is remembered." But he who would be happy must Jove good Tor the good's sake. What is it to such a one whether he is remembered or not? He has left the world better than he found it. He has formulated thoughts and established principles which will add to the happiness of men tor immeasurable years, which will hardly die out as long as men endure. Is not that reward enough ? Conceive the content and satisfaction which arise whilst occupied in the labpr of working to attain such ends, and tfijip imagine the joy and gratitude which fill the heart when it feels that such ends are accomplished. Oh, the supreme pleasure of that man who knows that his great thoughts will never die out —that his influence for good will ever live in the world ! What is it to him that his name is forgotten—perhaps that it was, never widely known? His power, his might, his usefulness must ever remain. In like manner our actions leave their effects behind them for long periods of time. If any of you are happy enough in after life to obtain the enactment of any beneficent law, new in principle, the millions who will inhabit New Zealand may, for many hundreds of years, have reason to be grateful to a benefactor who has enabled them to enjoy a well-being which, without his efforts, they would not have known. If a great judge should arise from amongst you he will give righteous decisions, or establish or confirm legal principles which will curb tyranny or throw a shield over the poor or oppressed, and thus gladden humble homes in New Zealand as long as it shall endure as a nation. If a great and good divine shall issue from your ranks he will heap incalculable and everliving blessings npqn the country. He will confer benefits and blessings on the country and the people, the amount of which no man can estimate, or conceive what wide fields of usefulness are open to such a man in these islands of the Pacific Ocean. Imagine the blessing that is bestowed" upon a barbarous people when the Bible is first translated into the language and they have learned to read it. Think how many languages there are to which the Scriptures are even yet unknown. Conceive what usefulness may 'arise from the energy of one noble-minded man who would extend and enlarge such knowledge. The field is open to every one of you who may choose to occupy it. You may also, during your career in the world, have another difficulty. You will often hear and read discussion upon man's place in nature — upon his alleged relation to apes, for instance, or it may be to other animals — upon his instincts, his passions, &c. But his real place in nature is, if he wills it, great almost beyond conception. By his thoughts, communicated from one to another, ever spreading, and by his actions, he has influenced both worlds— the world of the living, and the world of the dead: for they who have passed away from hence have been influenced by him, and this influence of a man on the seen and unseen^world will permanently last.