DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22901#0108
94
HISTORY OF THE PARSIS.
[CHAP. II.
knighthood to her Indian subjects was, and ever must be, a
source of deep personal gratification to myself. But to receive
the congratulations of my fellow-countrymen in a manner at
once so kind and flattering,—to have this auspicious event com-
memorated by the creation of a charity, to be connected with my
name, and in the objects of which I so cordially concur, is a
source of inward pride and satisfaction, which, rising higher
than the gratification of mere worldly titles, will live with
me to my dying day.
" Your too kind and favourable mention of my acts of charity
has much affected me. The only merit I have a right to claim
for them is that they proceeded from a pure and heartfelt desire,
out of the abundance with which Providence has blessed me, to
ameliorate the condition of my fellow-creatures. With this no
unworthy motive was mixed; I sought neither public honours
nor private applause, and, conscious of a singleness of purpose, I
have long since had my reward. When, therefore, Her Majesty's
most gracious intentions Avere communicated to me, I felt deeply
gratified that I had unconsciously been the means of eliciting so
signal a mark of the good feelings of England towards the people
of India, and it is in this light that I prefer to consider the dis-
tinguished honour Her Majesty has conferred upon me, and that
also which I have received at your hands this day.
" Nothing could please me more than the purposes to which
you propose to devote the funds that have been submitted. I
shall ever wish my name to be connected with every endeavour
to diffuse knowledge amongst our people; and the surest way to
incite them to elevate and improve themselves, to fit them to
appreciate the blessings of the Government under which they live,
and to deserve those honours which have now for the first time
been extended to India, is to spread far and wide amongst them,
gratuitously or in a cheap form, translations into our own
language of the most approved authors. Connected with this
subject is a scheme that I have long contemplated for relieving
the distresses of the Parsi poor of Bombay, Surat, and its neigh-
bourhood. You know full well the state of misery in which
many of our people are living, and the hopeless ignorance in which
their children are permitted to grow up. My object is to create
HISTORY OF THE PARSIS.
[CHAP. II.
knighthood to her Indian subjects was, and ever must be, a
source of deep personal gratification to myself. But to receive
the congratulations of my fellow-countrymen in a manner at
once so kind and flattering,—to have this auspicious event com-
memorated by the creation of a charity, to be connected with my
name, and in the objects of which I so cordially concur, is a
source of inward pride and satisfaction, which, rising higher
than the gratification of mere worldly titles, will live with
me to my dying day.
" Your too kind and favourable mention of my acts of charity
has much affected me. The only merit I have a right to claim
for them is that they proceeded from a pure and heartfelt desire,
out of the abundance with which Providence has blessed me, to
ameliorate the condition of my fellow-creatures. With this no
unworthy motive was mixed; I sought neither public honours
nor private applause, and, conscious of a singleness of purpose, I
have long since had my reward. When, therefore, Her Majesty's
most gracious intentions Avere communicated to me, I felt deeply
gratified that I had unconsciously been the means of eliciting so
signal a mark of the good feelings of England towards the people
of India, and it is in this light that I prefer to consider the dis-
tinguished honour Her Majesty has conferred upon me, and that
also which I have received at your hands this day.
" Nothing could please me more than the purposes to which
you propose to devote the funds that have been submitted. I
shall ever wish my name to be connected with every endeavour
to diffuse knowledge amongst our people; and the surest way to
incite them to elevate and improve themselves, to fit them to
appreciate the blessings of the Government under which they live,
and to deserve those honours which have now for the first time
been extended to India, is to spread far and wide amongst them,
gratuitously or in a cheap form, translations into our own
language of the most approved authors. Connected with this
subject is a scheme that I have long contemplated for relieving
the distresses of the Parsi poor of Bombay, Surat, and its neigh-
bourhood. You know full well the state of misery in which
many of our people are living, and the hopeless ignorance in which
their children are permitted to grow up. My object is to create