tended with, but the causes have been fully explained in the Report, and will no doubt be gradually overcome. It is not surprising that they who subsist upon charity, or whose daily bread depends in any measure upon their own exertions, should be unable to attend with regularity. The only surprise is that the desire of obtaining education should be so strong as to lead them under such circumstances to attend at all, nor is it to be wondered at that in a country where the people in general are wretchedly poor, there should exist an unwillingness on the part of parents to pay for the education of their children-the wonder is that notwithstanding such poverty they are still willing to pay as far as they can for education, if not otherwise obtainable. I confess that upon these very facts I found much of my expectation of the ultimate success of all these institutions, and I have no doubt that every succeeding examination will exhibit progressive improvement in every respect. We As this is probably the last time I shall ever have the pleasure of presiding at these anniversaries, I beg leave to express my best acknowledgments to the Principal, the Professor of Mathematics, the Head Master, and all the instructors for what has already been done, and my earnest hope that they will unite in carrying on the work, which has been so well begun, with unremitting perseverance. must not deceive ourselves by expecting to see it brought to perfection in our own day-the regeneration of a country which has been reduced to the lowest state of ignorance and superstition by ages of oppression and misrule, can only be effected, humanly speaking, by the continued efforts of succesive generations-but it is something to have had the opportunity of assisting in laying the foundation of such a work, and of being an instrument, however humble in the accomplishment of designs, calculated in so high a degree to prove a blessing to our fellow creatures. |