The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

MIDDLE-CLASS EDUCATION.

THE relative positions of the Universities of
London and Oxford are a curious subject of
contemplation. The one seems to be putting
on the cast-off clothes of the other. Oxford is
becoming liberal, and London is becoming ex•
elusive. We have not far to search for the
origin of this curious metamorphose. The
elder University, relying on her prestige and
the deeply-rooted attachment of a most influ-
ential class in the community, has resolved to
venture on an experiment which her younger
sister, as yet jealous of her position and tena-
cious of her privileges, is afraid to attempt.
The one is so used to her dignity that she has
no fear• of losing it. To the other• it is so new
that she cannot lose a chance of parading it.
Our readers will perceive that we are allud-
ing to the different spirit in which the dues •
Lion of " Middle-class Education" has been
taken up by the two Universities. The Uni-
versity of Oxford proposes to establish an order
of " associates," composed of men who shall
be willing to undergo a certain examination,
but who cannot afford the expense of collegiate
residence ; the University of London refuses
to acknowledge this system, by rejecting the
proposal of conferring a degree on a candidate
without evidence of an academic course.
Now, though we must in fairness acknow-
ledge that in the contrast thus presented the
advantage is in favour of the University of
Oxford, yet we are unhappily perverse enough
to feel that we are not satisfied with the con-
duct of either University. Hitherto the
University of Oxford has represented a defi-
nite species of education—narrow it might be,
unpractical it might be, but it was, of its kind,
complete. It made gentlemen and it made
scholars. Pedants and original philosophers
it did not seek to make. But it was a sound
centre of refinement and learning and poetry
to this huge whirling society of commerce and
politics, from which radiated in all directions
rills of sentiment and culture, purifying the
mass of society, and making the name of an
English gentleman a proverb for what is culti-
vated, honourable, and manly. Was not
the University in reality conferring a
greater benefit on the people by main-
taining this system intact—a system, be it
remembered. which only an institution like
the University of Oxford, with its noble tra•
ditions and (poetical atmosphere, -Ares able to
sustain—than by impairing this exclusiveness
and lessening the value of this influence, for
. the ay.ke of instruction, which any other insti•

571

tution in the kingdom was equally competen t
to impart ?
On the other hand, we cannot help thinking
that the University of London has been as
untrue to her own mission by the rejection of
this idea, as Oxford has been to hers by its
adoption. Exactly in proportion to the extent
to which the former University endeavours to
compete with the latter upon her own ground
will be her failure in public utility. The Uni-
versity of London has no traditions, no esprit du
corps—no body of resident students, animated
by a common religion and a common an,
from the existence of which springs two-
thirds of the influence of Oxford and Cam-
bridge. The benefits of the collegiate, as
opposed to the University system, she can
never hope to carry out. Her chance of use-
fulness and success lies in her adopting tho
latter principle to its fullest extent, and in
taking up the encouragement of " general and
" diffusive reading " as her special mission.
We think, therefore, that each University
has its special and appropriate province, to
confound which is to impair their respective
efficacy, and to waste their peculiar powers.
London should represent dissemination, Ox-
ford concentration. The latter should seek to
maintain a high standard, accessible to only a
few ; the former to place the masses in a
position to profit by the existence of such
a standard. From the one would permeate a
refining and elevating influence ; from the
other might be derived the tone of mind pre-
disposed to the reception of such influence.
These are their respective works. and we are
truly sorry that they should be misunderstood
by those on whom rests the responsibility of
their promotion.

MILITARY EDVCATION.-Sir De Lacy Evens will
move the following resolutions on Military Education
in the House of Comm ons on the 30th inst.:—
That as the numerical strength of the British army
available for European war is far less than that of any other
great power, and as our Government have for many years
neglected the education of the commissioned ranks of the
service, while other Go►ernments have been devoting to
this object large annual sums and very great attention, it
is the opinion of this house that a higher standard of
professional instruction than of late deemed requisite
ought to be established for our officers generally, but espe-
cially for those of the staff. That this cannot be effectively
accomplished in this country, where powerful influences
obstruct the best intentions of those invested with patron-
age, without having recourse to the principle of competi.
tive examination, in conformity with the recommendation
of her Majesty's Commissioners on Civil and Military
Appointments and Education, recorded in their reports re-
cently presented to Parliament. That the candidates
nominated by the Commander•in-Chief for commissions in
the line be therefore subject to the condition of competi-
tive examination previously to their being appointed to
commissions ; and that officers of a sufficient term of
regimental service, desirous of qualifying themselves for
the staff in the senior department of instruction or staff
school, should receive theiradmissions and final certificates
of qualification on the same principle. That commission.
era, consisting of an equal number of military officers and
civilians, should be nominated by the Secretary of State for
the purpose of superintending these examinations, and that
the educational establishments for the line and staff be under
the direction of the Secretary of State, who is responsible
to Parliament for the administration of the army, and who
is already charged with the control of the existing schools
and examinations for the artillery, engineers, and the non-
commissioned officers and privates of the army.