Transactions of the second session held at London, in September, 1874 / edited by R.K. Douglas.

  • International Congress of Orientalists
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Transactions of the second session held at London, in September, 1874 / edited by R.K. Douglas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of various tongues and sites in that East which is to-day the object of our meeting and the subject of our thoughts. In order that the Congress of Paris might have a successor, it was necessary to elect a President in this country, and the nomination fell upon myself. In undertaking the duties of such an office, I was well aware of the difficulties involved in the task. A President, gentlemen, at the present day is not merely a name or a sinecure, he is a reality, an administrator; and, however ably seconded by his secretaries and his committee, he has yet a great deal of detail to manage and many arrangements to effect. In the presence of so many who are more versed in the duties of affairs than myself, there is but one thing to ask you, and that is your cordial co-operation with one who accepted the office under the feeling of his own deficiencies for the task, and of the necessity that some one should promptly step forward to continue the work which had been begun, and which promises to he of such great advantage to Orientalists. Our first duty is to announce the favour with which the movement has been received by the different States and Sovereignties of Europe, delegates from whom are present here to-day. Besides those gentle- men who appear as representatives of the different powers of the North and West, others have come from the far East to add by their presence, by the information they bring and the obj ects they display, to the pleasure it will afford us to make their acquaintance. Here, gentlemen, I must tell you that the application made to the Secretary of State for India was received in the most kind and prompt manner, and that the Hindoo savants designated as likely to contribute by their presence to the success of the Aryan Section were at once consulted by the Indian Government, who offered to send them to Europe to be present to-day at our first meeting. If from various causes they are not here, India is not without its representatives. An eminent Civil Servant of the Indian Government is here from the Presidency of Bombay, and will, I am sure, carry back with him to that Presidency the remembrance of the warm reception which you will accord him. There has been every desire on the part of the India Office to do all that has either been asked or lies in its power on behalf of the Con- gress, and you will see on the occasion of your visit to that Office that an admirable museum and an extensive library show that the Office is not indifferent to Oriental learning and studies.
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