The Press.
London, England, 1858-05-29 00:00:00

DUBLIN UNIVERSITY REFORM.

GREAT excitement)prevails in Dublin in connection
with the inquiry at present proceeding before the
visitors of the College. The state of the case is
briefly this :—At various periods durieg the last six
Tears demands for reform have been made by several
influential members of the University, but the pro-
posals have been either treated with disrespect or
quietly evaded. At the Commencements held on
last Shrove Tuesday the most Conservative of the
Junior Fellows brought before the Senate a proposi•
tion suggesting an obvious and just reform. It was,
however, treated with marked discourtesy by the
Hebdomadal or Senior Board, and the framers of
the proposal were charged by an officer with having
put forward a garbled statement. In the month of
March last there appeared in the Dublin Uonserva.
tive journal a letter upon the subject of University
Reform, the writer being Dr. Shaw, a Junior Fellow,
well known for his exertions in connection with
middle-class education. This was followed in April
by another letter upon the same question from the
Rev. Mr. Carmichael, also a Junior Fellow. For the
publication of these two letters, both written in the
most temperate terms, the twa gentlemen named were
cited before the board, and without being called
upon for any defence, or even permitted to vindicate
themselves,) the severest academic penalty was
inflicted—namely, a publio censure. It is against
the injustice of this proceeding that Dr. Shaw and
Mr. Carmichael have appealed to the visitors of the
College, and their case came on for hearing before the
Vice• Chancellor of the University and the Archbishop
of Dublin, last Monday, in the dining-hall of Trinity
College.
The counsel for the Board were Messrs. Brewster,
Q.C., Lloyd, Q.C., and Todd, LL.D. Messrs. Joy,
Q.C., and H. Smythe, Q.C., appeared for the Rev.
Mr. Carmichael, and Messrs. Lawson, Q.C., and J.
H. Mills, of the Munster Bar, for the other
appellant.
The arguments pro and con., so far as the ques-
tion of censure is at stake, were concluded on Tues-
day, but the subsequent proceedings show that the
dispute between the reformers and the board has
only commenced in earnest, and that the issue now
involved assumes an interest extending far beyond
the confines of Trinity College. After Mr. Hamilton
Smythe, Q.C., had addressed the court on the part of
the Rev. Mr. Carmichael, the Vice• Chancellor sn-
nommed that the cases mast stand for judgment.
An important discussion then ensued between coun-
sel and the court, the result of which was that Mr.
Shaw was induced to put his charge in writing to the
following effect :

My allegation is that the proportion of fees on higher
degrees, as published by the board in 1701 and 1801, has
been altered so as to give to the provost and senior fellows
amounts formerly given to Trinity College. In bringing
this charge I thir.k it right to add that I make no personal
imputation against the existing members of the board.
I further allege that the statute enacts that sub-lecturers
shall be provided to lecture in each of the four classes,
and that for the present year the board have only ap•
pointed two.

And that the court then adjourned till the Ist of
June, when we suppose judgment will be pro-
nounced. Previous to the adjournment of the court,
the Rev. Benjamin Dixon, junior fellow, gave notice
of his intention to bring forward a charge against
the board of violating one of the statutes.

Monti Aqultet anb titg lattiligenct.

FRIDAY EVENING.
Tots return of the Bank of England for the week
ending Wednesday last, the 20th inst., shows the
following changes compared with that for the week
preceding :—..
Decrease in Cirenlaticn
Increase in Public Deposits
Increase in Other Deposits 15,570
Decrease in Private Securities
Increase in Bullion
Increase in Rest
Increase in Reserve
Bullion in both Departments
Circulation, including Bank Post
Bills