Page:A Nation in Making.djvu/184

held at the Albert Hall, attended by many leading graduates of the Calcutta University, urging its modification, but all in vain. The rule continued in force until the Universities Act, which definitely conferred the right of election upon graduates of ten years' standing.

The most important work done, during the period I was a member of the Senate, was the framing of the regulations for the consideration of the Government. I was on the Committee. We had hard work. I cannot say that our recommendations were all accepted. In one important matter they were rejected. We recom- mended that the history of England should be a part of the curriculum for the Matriculation Examination. This recommenda- tion was negatived by a committee of the Government, which finally settled the regulations. How it is possible for a student to study English literature without a knowledge of English history is one of those enigmas that the framers of the regulations and the Govern- ment of India must solve as best they can.

When I became a member of the Senate, Sir Alexander Pedler was Vice-Chancellor. He had a leading hand in the framing of the Universities Act. He engineered it in the Legislative Council; and in the fitness of things he was placed at the head of the University of Calcutta, for which the Universities Act was chiefly meant. He was succeeded by Mr. Justice Ashutosh Mukherjea. His long familiarity with the Calcutta University, his wide grasp of educa- tional problems and his extraordinary capacity for dealing with them, made Sir Ashutosh the most commanding figure in the University. During the time he was Vice-Chancellor (and he held the office for several years) he ruled the University with a supreme sway; and it is but right to say that he enforced the regulations with a measure of discretion, a regard for all interests, that partly allayed the suspicion and anxiety they had created in the mind of the educated community of Bengal. It was during his Vice- Chancellorship that Sir Taraknath Palit and Sir Rash Behari Ghose made their princely gifts to the University for a College of Science. They had faith in his capacity, and they doubtless felt that under his able guidance the foundations of the institution, which they had contributed to build up, would be well and truly laid. A vice- chancellor with less devotion and capacity would not probably have inspired their confidence. University teaching in the higher depart- ments made a great stride during his Vice-Chancellorship.

One of the features of his administration that provoked com- ment and criticism was the abolition of the law classes in the private