BY PROF. P. SESHADRI, M.A.

INTRODUCTION

Among the numerous personalities of note I had occasion to meet during my recent travels abroad, it is perhaps not surprising that I should have been drawn with special interest to some eminent educational leaders. Three well-known scholars of Oxford today stand out prominently in my recollection. Sir Michael Sadler; the Master of University College; the Rt. Hon. H. A. L. Fisher, the Warden of New College and Prof. Gilbert Murray, the Regius Professor of Greek at the University, though my acquaintance with the last was made not on the banks of the Isis, but on the shores of the Lake of Geneva at the Headquarters of the League of Nations. Recalling my impressions, I realise how fortunate must be the individual whose reminiscences of travel include not merely the picturesque sights of foreign lands, but also at least a few inspiring examples in them of noble human achievement.

SIR MICHAEL SADLER

Having had the privilege of knowing Sir Michael Sadler since the days about fifteen years ago, when he was in India as Chairman of the Calcutta University Commission, it was only a pleasant renewal of old memories, when at the end of a delightful day in Oxford this summer, I was his guest at dinner and found that the intervening years had not aged his appearance, or dimmed his powers. The company naturally consisted of University men, though only one of them wore a beard and looked somewhat forbiddding in appearance, and there were some juniors looking with a certain amount of awe at the experience and reputation gathered at the head of the table. It was a delight to watch Sir Michael talk, Signior Mussolini and Fascism coming in for a good deal of attention that evening owing to some accident or other. With the inbred love of freedom characteristic of an Englishman, he would not reconcile himself, in any measure, to the curtailment of individual liberty and the autocracy of a single man's rule which were the prominent features of the Fascist regime today. There were not wanting people at the table who ventured to point out how Signior Mussolini's administration had resulted in efficiency of various kinds and Italy seemed to have turned a new chapter in her history, but Sir Michael was unconvinced as no material prosperity or good government could be adequate compensation for such slavery, and he thanked his stars that his lot was cast in Britain!

After dinner, we walked on the beautiful lawn in his private quadrangle at the back, immediately below the room which Shelley occupied when he was an undergraduate at the college. Sir Michael pointed out the quarters with almost visible emotion and was proud that even the glass-panes of the window had not been changed since his time. He was obvious1y quite distressed that it was one of his predecessors in office who had performed the odious task of rusticating the great genius, but In the Interests of fairness, he was also at pains to explain the precise circumstances in which the expulsion had occurred, dwelling on the public agitation and the influence exercised by the Church. Having seen the monument of Shelley in the college only an hour earlier, the delicate body of the poet represented in its nakedness as it was when taken out of the Gulf of Spezzia in which he was drowned, it was some consolation to feel that a later Master of the very college which had sent him out seemed to be doing penance on behalf of the institution. As evening was setting in and the stars began to twinkle one by one, Sir Michael was still vigorously striding the lawn with me, discussing the communal problem in India, the present economic depression of the world, the heaviness of the income-tax and the styles of architecture in the college buildings of Oxford. The tyranny of the railway time-table however stopped the conversation after some time, as I had to catch the last train to London and had therefore to say good-bye to him though with considerable reluctance. He was not unforgetful of little details and did not see me off at the gates of the Masters’ Lodge, till he was satisfied that I had put on my overcoat and it protected me sufficiently against any danger of catching cold.

THE RT. HON. H.A.L. FISHER

Transition from membership of the Cabinet of an Empire to the headship of a college would probably be a startling proposition in many countries, but it has actually happened in the case of the Rt. Hon'ble Mr. Fisher whose Presidentship of the Board of Education some years ago was a period of remarkable expansion and progress. He is today installed as the Warden (Principal) of New College and he calmly looks out from his study at the top of his lodge lined with bookshelves to the ceiling, into the college quadrangle below and not at the serried ranks of members of Parliament whom he faced at one time. This record which is perhaps as complimentary to the ex-Minister as it is to Oxford, has again been matched this year by Sir William Birdwood's assumption of the headship of Peterhouse immediately after laying down the Field-Marshal's baton in India. Introduced by a mutual friend, it was with a cordial welcome that I was greeted as I mounted the steps leading to his library, led by his charming daughter who opened the door for me. The conversation turned promptly on the service he had rendered during his ministership to the members of the teaching profession in England and the great improvements he had effected in their emoluments and conditions of work. It was very great satisfaction to him to hear from me, as the result of my own observation of schools in England, that teachers seemed bright and comfortable and were not looking poor and discontented as was generally the case in many countries of the world. He felt thankful that the country had reposed confidence in him during his ministership and had no hesitation in thinking that the improvement of the teachers’ lot was an essential condition of educational efficiency. He hoped that the efforts of the All-India Teachers’ Federation would result in similar improvements in India and Indian Ministers of Education in the future constitution would take the matter in hand. The future of the Universities of India was the other, topic which occupied our attention and while pleased with the ability of some of the Indian students he has had, he wished the Universities in India to develop to such a high degree of efficiency that there would practically be no need for our young men to go abroad for education, except in some special cases.

It was pleasant to bear that the only regret he had during his ministership was that he was practically cut off from his books. He took me round his private library which was only a part of his collection and which included, as he was keen on mentioning, not merely books on History, but also books on my subject of English literature. If, as the classical historians have narrated, Cincinnatus returned to his plough when he laid down the robes of his dictatorship, here was a modern scholar who did not seem to regret his refuge in books after all the dazzle and glory of life on the treasury benches at Westminster!

PROFESSOR GILBERT MURRAY

The name of Prof. Gilbert Murray is one which is honoured wherever classical scholarship is held in respect, and one of the attractions to me of my membership of the Educational Experts Committee of the League of Nations was that he was our Chairman. The absence of previous acquaintance was made very easy for me by his coming up to me by himself in the meeting room at the office of the League of Nations and shaking hands with the new member. He was also so kind as to offer me a special welcome in his opening speech at the Committee met to consider the best means for popularising the League among young people. The translator of Euripides and the greatest living authority on Greek literature, one may wrongly imagine him to be a crabbed scholar steeped in the musty records of times which are past, but Sir Gilbert is keenly alive to the world of today and he can discuss the complications of world-politics, or the material problems of modern life with the facility with which he can discourse on the beauties of a Greek couplet, or the limitations of an ancient dramatist. It was therefore with pleasure that I found myself sitting next to him at a dinner and at a lunch, besides enjoying the privilege of membership of the same Committee. We talked of tragedy and Indian dramatic literature which lacked in this element, in spite of its excellence in many directions. Discussing the doctrine of Karma, it was interesting to find that he was aware of its exact significance and did not confound it, as is popularly done, with the fatalism of the Greeks. Talking of his translations, he said that his first consideration was always to see that the lines read well. He did not mind if he exceeded the number of words in

the original Greek, provided he made the translation attractive. Prof. Murray regretted he could not have the privilege of presenting any of his books to me as I already happened to possess them all, but looked forward to the pleasure of sending me his forthcoming translation from Euripides and was particularly anxious that I should not buy a copy of the book. As he was not living on the lake this year at Geneva, he was sorry he could not indulge in his usual pastime of swimming every morning, and he acknowledged with a smile my remark that he seemed to share the ancient Greeks’ fondness for water, being steeped in their literature! Anything appreciative of Greek literature pleased him immensely and I could see how his face brightened when our German hostess at dinner said that she was quite fond of Homer and read him very often. With a singularly broad forehead and a face of considerable intellectual refinement, Prof. Murray has a personality which marks him out in any company and I should probably have recognised him even without an introduction. I need hardly add that I look forward eagerly to my collaboration with him at future meetings of the Educational Experts Committee, even apart from the special work with which we are concerned.

A notorious danger of the profession of teaching and. scholarship is its tendency to segregate one from the world, but the most striking characteristic of all these scholars may be said to be their interest in life. Another handicap usually noticed in senior members of the teaching profession, particularly in those who rise to headship of colleges, is their inability to sympathise with the feelings and aspirations of youth, but here are three scholars of Oxford whose minds are as fresh as those of the youngest undergraduates of today, in spite of the weight of their years and the somewhat deadening discipline of the daily routine of educational work. If you can combine effectively the details of daily administration with the achievements of higher intellectual life, the wisdom of age with the fire of youth and the experience of the past with the aspirations of the future–what other element is necessary for the making of a really great educational leader?

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