The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-24 00:00:00

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.

I.

THAT portion of the Oxford Reform Bill which
concerns the relation between certain schools
and colleges has at length been brought under
the consideration of Parliament. Mr. Rous-
t:Mu. Euxxx's amendment is a sort of admis-
sion that these foundations are not, after all,
the abuses which certain parties have endea-
voured to make them out; but, pending any
definitive arrangement, it is important that the
public should bear in mind what is the precise
state of the case, and be in a position to put a
right construction upon facts of which the
bold statement is sometimes not less decep-
tive than the elaborate perversion. In proof
of this we need go no farther back than the
Times of Tuesday last, which, in an article
written throughout with perfect accuracy,
nevertheless points to conclusions which are
wholly unjustifiable. It is perfectly true that
the scholars of King's College, Cambridge,
and of New College and Christchurch, Ox-
ford, have failed to distinguish themselves
in the academic arena ; 'and it is also the fact
that they receive at school a permanent provi•
sion in the University; but he who argues
that, therefore, all such provisions are the
parents of idleness is bound to ascertain that
there are no other elements of inference which
he has neglected to notibe. Now, in the case
before us there are such; and such, moreover,
as we cannot very well suppose to have been
unknown to the writer of the article in ques-
tion. At two out of the three above named
colleges the scholars have been' till very lately
forbidden by statute to compete for univer-
sity honours • while at the third they have
never been subjected to that period of proba-
tion which jregularly enforced at the other
two. What te totally different a4lect the case
assumeil, according to our ignorance or know-
ledge of these circumstances, and how com-
pletely they invalidate the above deduction, it
iv needless to show. But this is not all.
What if there exist a ease by which such
charges are positively disproved ? If there is
a college where all the fellows are elected from
school, of whom the great majority have been
highly distinguished in the University? Yet
such a college is St. John's, and the school
which sends up thirty-seven and sometimes
more out of its fifty fellows is Merchant Tay-
lors ; while the fact that, ever since the class
schools were first established at Oxford, and
under three successive bead masters of the
school, this distinction has been maintained, is
more than enough to negative the hypothesis
that it is the result either of chance or per-
sonal influence and industry. Yet not onlY
has all this been entirely passed over by the
Times article, but Merchant Taylors has been
actually singled out for especial disparage-
ment ; for, though not mentioned by name, it
de that other can be meant by the

retaining their salaries, have abdicated their Such a victory is a virtual defeat, and in this I meet ; tor, tnougu
functions, until that which was announced as light it is regarded by all parties. lis clear that none other can be meant by a

JUNE 24, 1554.

" large and important school in the city of
" Loudon." The gentlemen who are only just
not " dunces or idiots " must be exceedingly
obliged to their candid assailant, who, had he
deigned to consult the pages of the Oxford
Calendar, would have found that to fortify his
own case the less he said about Merchant
Taylors the better.
In this school the mercantile and profes-
sional inhabitants of the city of London are es-
pecially interested, for by them it was originally
founded, and with singular fidelity it has con-
tinued to educate their children for newly
three hundred years. Yet it is dependent,
perhaps, for its very existence upon these en-
dowments, three-fourths of whose value wquld
be destroyed were the scholarship obtained at
school to be, what it is scarcely yet determined
it shall not be, converted into a terminable in-
stead of a continuous benefice. This, be it.
ever remembered, is the pith and marrow of
the question. Compel such scholars, to com-
pete for honours, make a term of probation
universally necessary—do anything but deprive .
the schools of their property. It is idle, in
the face of the example of St John's, to say
these endowments promote lethargy, while
their positive advantages are, on the other
hand, clear, great, and sacred. They beget
habits of study in the schoolboy earlier than
could be produced by any other means ; they
train him to assiduity and continual careful
ness, and accustom him to the necessity of
waiting for his reward. On the other hand, as
regards the undergraduate, the test of proba-
tion has been found to operate most benefi-
cially in keeping up a high standard of con-
duct, inasmuch as the disgrace of losing a
fellowship on the ground of immorality is suf.
ficient to affect a man 'e prospects for life,.
while the failure iu an examination is got over
with comparative ease.
Now, were the system of competition sub-
stituted for this, and every scholar compelled
to undergo a second examination before his
admission as full fellow, would the' colleges
gain anything sufficient to compensate for the
injury inflicted on the schools? We do not
see how. If a first, or even a second, class-
man is not, as a rule, good enough for any
fellowship, then is the university standard of
excellence itself worthless; but if he is, there
never need be any. lack of such for,the annual
vacancies. A large proportion of the. fellows of
St. John's, as above stated, are always first
olassmen, and there can, therefore, be norea-
son why it should not be so in the other Live
colleges as well, were certain accidental dis-
tinctions once got rid of. But, besides .all
this, it is a mistake to suppose that oollege
endowments are turned to the best account hy
invariably awarding them to the cleverest
men. These are not the class for whom they
were originally intended, or to whom they are
of the most service, while the cause of learning
in the abstract would, we are certain, be little
benefited by any measure which tended, to
exclude second and third-rate class-men from
the advantages,. social and otherwise,; of
.mu
Oxford fellowship.

IRISH PAUPERISM.
THE last report of the Irish Poor-law Commissioners
is, on the whole, decidedly satisfactory. It exhibits
considerable decrease both in the numbers relieved
and the amount expended, as compared with the pre•
ceding year. In 1852 the expenditure was 883,267/. ;
in '53, it was 785,718/. In the former year 504,844
indoor paupers were relieved, and 14,811 received
outdoor support. In the latter the indcor paupers
Were 308,4.36 ; the outdoor, 13,232. We have thus a
diminution of one-eighth in the cost, and a diminution
of nearly one•ilfth in the amount of distress, as
attested by this, the only accessible evidence of any
value. That the oast should not have decreased in
an equal ratio with the relief afforded is due to
several causes—the two principal being, the higher
price of food, and the permanent nature of that part
of the expenses which consists in salaries, rem ;rs,
and establishment charges generally.
The average weekly cost of food for each individual
is at present about Is. 01; while last year it was
about Is. 2ed. That of clothing, on the other him*
shows a reduction ; the average weekly cost not ex-
ceeding led., though a few years back it was fully
double that sum.