The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

MIDDLE-CLASS EDUCATION.

LORD EBRINOTON is again before the public as author
of a plan of what he calls " middle.class education,"
which for its novelty at least deserves attention. His
pamphlet is reprinted from the Society of Arts'
weekly journal, where it first appeared. He argues
that while no effort has been left untried to educate
the children of labourers, and even of paupers, the
class next above this in the scale—too proud to ac-
cept Government assistance, too poor to pay for really
valuable teaching—is in danger of sinking lower and
lower. The deficiency cannot be supplied by elee-
mosynary institutions ; nor can our universities, even
if " poor scholars" were again to frequent them, meet
the local requirement. Lord EBRINOTON suggests
the establishment in each county town of local ex-
aminations, conducted by competent persons, who
should have the power of conferring" degrees "—that
is, of pronouncing authoritatively on the claims of
candidates—prizes and scholarships to be founded in
connection therewith, if money could be obtained for
the purpose, either from individuals or from the pro-
ceeds of fees. The subjects of examination to be
simple and practical, such as might befit an English-
man of the middle class, unable to devote, as the
rich are supposed to do, many years to the process
of instruction. Lord ERRINOTON conceives that the
value of a " degree " of this kind, as a testimonial,
would compensate both the trouble of preparation
and the slight expense of fees. We are not sanguine
of his success, but the idea is ingenious, and deserves
better than to be rejected without trial.

General Baraguay d'Hilliers has been appointed
to command the French corps d'arwthe about to be
sent into the Baltic. It is believed in Paris that
these troops will form only a portion of the force by
which Russia is threatened in that quarter, and that
the French troops will be joined not only by an
English expeditionary corps, but by a Swedish
army :

" The Bulletin lee Lois contains a decree announcing
that an extraordinary credit of 82,250,000 f. is opened from
the budget of NU to the Minister of War, to provide thr
the most urgent expenses resulting from the augmentation
of the army, and the formation of the army of the Nast.
In that sum the pay and food of troops is set down for
20 millions; clothes, equipment, and camp-furniture, for ff
millions; general remount, 8 millions; transports, 71
millions ; artillery and engineers, each 1 million ; horse
furniture, 21 millions 1 and forage, :) millions."
Fourteen neutral vessels lying in Riga have
despatched a deputation to Admiral Napier to beg
permission to pass out of the harbour. The depu-
tation is in Dantzic, awaiting Sir Charles's reply to
their request by the weekly mail.

A despatch from Turin of the 6th states that dis-
turbances had broken out at Piacenza on account of
the high price of corn. Numerous arrests have, how-
ever, been made, and the imeutes are now suppressed.

The King of Portugal and his brother, the Duke of
Oporto, arrived at Brussels on Tuesday evening. His
Majesty was received by the Duke de Brabant, the
Count de Flandre, and by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and escorted to the Palace by a detachment
of cavalry.

THE PRESS.

cuttings in zuliamtnt.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY BILL.
The second reading of this bill was moved in the
Peers on Thursday by Viscount CANNING, who in a
speech of great length described the character and
purport of the measure, detailing the process by
which the bill had been elaborated out of the recom-
mendations of the Oxford inquiry commissioners,
and then tracing the course and changes which the
plan of university reform had undergone in the other
branch of the Legislature. The noble viscount then
contended that the bill in its present shape presented
an acceptable medium between an enacting and a
permissive measure. It asserted the right of Par-
liament to deal with the system of university
management, but left all details to be decided by the
governing body created within the university itself.
Alluding to and defending other provisions contained
in the bill, Vicount Canning eulogised especially the
proposal for establishing private halls. These, he
said, would tend to lessen the expense attending a
university education, and, by creating a wholesome
degree of competition with the colleges, would im-
prove the quality of the instruction offered to the
students. Anticipating some opposition on the point,
he declared that this was a feature in the bill which
the Government would not consent to surrender.
The Earl of DERBY congratulated their lordships
that at length, on the 6th of July, one of the many
important measures which had been introduced
elsewhere had become an exception to the general
rule of rejection or abandonment. Even this bill, he
observed, bad undergone continual metamorphoses,
and passed through five editions, in each of which
some objectionable ingredients had disappeared.
With all these amendments, however, he still found
it difficult to waive the scruples which he entertained
against the very principle of the bill. Parliament
had never interfered before with the internal con-
stitution of either of the two universities, and not
only did he consider the present attempt at inter-
ference illegal, but believed that the Commission
of Inquiry on whose report it originated was equally
indefensible. Denying the charge that the uni-
versity had shown any negligence of its duties, or
any reluctance to adopt improvements, Lord Derby
declared that, even if the Legislature felt called upon
to interpose, an enabling bill would have been suf-
ficient for all necessary purposes. He then
analysed with much minuteness the provisions of
the present bill, urging many objections to the or-
ganisation of the new governing body, the con-
stitution of the " Congregation," and the extreme
powers to be assigned to the commissioners, On
this latter subject he enforced his objections with
much emphasis:—

" The observation which I made upon the danger of
the precedent set by this bill, though that precedent may
not be followed by any immediate evil, applies with the
greatest possible force to that which is a prominent feature
of the measure, viz., the appointment of the commissioners
who are to govern the university. I cannot but feel that
this first interference by Parliament, and this first appoint-
ment of commissioners to superintend the legislation and
conduct of the university, is a measure of very dangerous
precedent, leading to future intervention by Parliament in
a most mischievous manner in the affairs of the univer-
sity, destructive of that independent character which the
university has hitherto always enjoyed, and which I, for
one, desire it may ever continue to enjoy; and it is no
answer to me to say that, however objectionable the issue
of such a commission may be. and however exorbitant the
powers proposed to be entrusted to them, yet the commis-
sioners themselves are men of unblemished honour, of
great ability, great integrity, and men to whom may be
safely confided functions of this nature. It may be so, and
I know it is so in the present instance ; but what security
shall we have that in future there will always be a Govern •
ment professing equal friendliness with the present
towards the university, or that we shall always have com-
missioners who will exercise their powers in the same wise
and moderate manner as I am sure the proposed com-
missioners will do? The adoption of such a commission
by parliamentary authority, then, is, in my opinion, a most
fatal blow and a dangerous precedent, whatever the imme-
diate result may be to the future independent action of the
university."
Acknowledging, however, that the whole bill was
based upon the powers to be given to these commis-
sioners, and observing that no distinct expression of
dissent to their appointment had come from the
university itself, Lord Derby reluctantly abstained
from opposing this part of the bill, contenting him-
self with the endeavour, when in committee, to obtain
some further restraints upon the power to be placed
in their hands.
On another point, the estab!ishment of "private
halls," the noble earl pointed out many serious evils
and hazard that must arise from the scheme. This
step was defended principally on the plea of cheap-
ness. It was said that students could obtain the ad-
vantage of a university education with less expense
at these private halls than in the colleges. He con-
sidered this plan founded on an exaggerated repre-
sentation

SATIJP.PATI

"My noble Mend very greatly exaggerated the neces-
sary or even the probable expenses of a great numberof
young men at the university—l mean those expensesths
are strictly chargeable to the university and the colleges,
and not those which the greater wealth of the parents, and
perhaps the folly and imprudence of the young men them-
selves, lead some of the students into. These latter are
not to be taken into account in striking the average
expense of an education at the university. Now, without
going so far as the case of the servitors of Christ Church
(among whom there have been men who have attained
high honours ), and whose board and education cost very
little over a guinea per week, I am quite sure that many
and many a young man passes through the university, and
attains its highest honours, whose expenses and subscrip-
tions of all kinds, for a university education, do not exceed
from 1001. to 1201. a year—(Hear, hrar)—and I am satis-
fied that I am speaking much within the bounds when I
say that the average expenditure of young men for this
purpose, which my noble friend estimates at 8001., cer-
tainly does not reach beyond one-half the amount he has
stated. (Hear, hear.)"

The education, moreover, that could be obtained
at a private hall must be necessarily inferior to that
offered under the present system. But besides the
negative disadvantages there were worse evils to

apprehend:—
" Not only will these halls not give a good or an econo-
mical classical and scientific education, but they will alto-
gether subvert and destroy the discipline of the university.
(Hear.) You withdraw a certain number of the young
men from the control of the university and college authori-
ties, and thus establish a distinction between them and the
other members of the university, which in itself is highly
mischievous • but which also, by their relaxation from the
bonds of discipline, will render the members of the other
colleges dissatisfied with their severe restraint, and thereby
interpose a most serious obstacle to the effective manage-
ment of the university itself What, therefore, exoept
it be to encourage what is called free trade in education,
can be the possible use of authorising masters of arts to set
up private halls, and withdrawing the students from all
college discipline and control ? This is a most dangerous
principle, and it will become infinitely more so if you
adopt the clauses abolishing the necessity for taking any
oath on matriculation, or admission to a bachelor's degree.
These two changes must materially affect the working of
each other. if these private halls are to be exempted alto-
gether from the discipline of the colleges, and the obliga-
tions of the university, and, above all, from the obligatiorls
which practically enforce education upon the principles of
the Church of England, they may become the nurseries of
sectarianism. If any master of arts who may have fallen
away from the Church of England, and who in Oxford, I
am afraid, would find too many nearly akin to his views,
may by this bill set up a hall in the centre of the univer •
sity, and if all the various dissenting bodies may do so
likewise in the university, in order to the propagation of
their own peculiar opinions, you will introduce an element
of discord and confusion that must prove absolutely de-
structive of the well-working of the university."
Passing on to the subject of university oaths,
Lord Derby said:-
1
" I have always held that the imposition upon a young
man of seventeen or eighteen of the obligation to subscribe
to the Thirty-nine Articles on his first entrance to the
university is, not as bearing on the dissenters simply, but
on the members of the Church of England, to• say tie
least of it, a most injudicious proceeding. (Hear.) I
go farther, and say it is trifling with a very serious matter,
and I believe no injury can result to the university, but
the contrary, from young men whose parents may be or
have been dissenters not having the doors of the univer-
sity shut in their faces at their first entrance, provided
they are willing to become members of the colleges, at-
tend their services, and submit to their rules and obliga-
tions. But in saying this I wish not to be misunderstood .
object to the placing of a preliminary bar to admission
to the university, either in the way of serious-minded
youths of the Church of England or among the Dissenters,
which it is felt that subscription to the Thirty-nine Arti-
cles interposes. But if I thought the effect of this or the
succeeding clause was in the slightest degree to dissociate
the university and the colleges from their close and in-
timate connection with the Church of England, if I
thought the least pretext could be set up on the part
of the dissenters that for the purpose -of accommodating
their views the principles and practices of the univer-
sity were to be altered, I then should look on this (pet-
tion in a very different light ; and as I am desirous
of removing the bar to their admission, so I am equally
sincerely, cordially, and determinedly opposed to the
severance of the intimate and close connection be-
tween the University and the Established Church.
I never will sacrifice the inestimable advantage of having
the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge as nurseries
for the Church of England, and fur the raising up of men
who, on comparatively easy terms, have the means of as-
sociating with persons of all ranks and degrees of life, and
who subsequently go forth to discharge all those sacred
duties which they have first been taught by the faithful
training in the universities, and where the connections
that they have formed will be a source of gratification to
them through life. Therefore I desire to hear from the
Government, before we proceed to decide upon the second
clause. a distinct declaration that, in their judgment, .no
such consequence follows, or is intended by them, as that,
in the admission of the dissenters, a claim is sanctioned
on their part to the alteration of the systo-rn and teaching
of the university. I hope we shall have a satisfactory ex-
planation from the Government on all these subjects; and
on that explanation may depend the vote which I shall
give, certainly with regard to the second, and perhaps even
with regard to the first, of these clauses. But this I say,
that these clauses assume avery different abstracter if this

I

JULY 8, 1854.

house should unfortunately and unhappily sanction the
establishment of private halls. Although lam ready to
admit that the intermixture of a swell and unimportant
portion of dissenters among the colleges, to whose rules
they were subject, might be unobjectionable, I am not pre-
pared to establish congregations of dissenting young men
in the centre of the university, or to encourage the props-
. .

gation in Orford either of Protestant dissent on the one
hand, or the inculcation of Roman Catholic opinions on the
then"

The noble lord concluded by briefly indicating the
nature of the changes which he should propose when
the bill came up to committee :
"In the amendments I ;,;se,.)ie to submit, my principal
object will be to Impose iu.tuer restrictions upon the
arbitrary power of the commissiohers ; to provide further
checks against mismanagement ; to give greater weight and
influence than in some cases is given by the bill, or rather
taken away by it, to the voice and opinions of the visitors
of the several colleges ; and, above all, to provide that in
your legislation you shall adhere—l will not say strictly to
all the obligations and all the injunctions of the wills of
founders—but that you shall most scrupulously and care-
fully guard against altering the disputation of the trust
funds of the university and the fundamental statutes of the
colleges by provisions that shall not be consistent with the
main and principal designs of founders. (Hear, hear.)
Subject to that limitation, I for one do not object to any
amount of extension which the colleges and the university
may give in order to render them more generally accept.
able, to free them from obsolete and onerous obligations, to
extend and increase, as they are daily, the range of study
and the amount of instruction, and, if it be possible, to
embrace within their walls and subject to their discipline a
larger portion of the population. 1-/ear, hear, hear.) 1
earnestly hope that by the joint endeavours of this and
the other house of Parliament, though involving a mis•
chievous and dangerous principle which cannot be eradi-
cated, this bill may be so amended as to have much of the
evils which it originally contained removed from it, and
that many of the benefits originally contemplated may be
confirmed and carried into effect in a manner more advan-
tageous than they would be by the bill in its present state.
In the hope, and I will even say in the expectation and
desire, of all your lordships and all the friends of the
Church of England and the University, that, once settled,
the question may be closed once and for all, that Parlia-
ment should not year after year be called upon to interfere
with the constitution and internal management of the mai-
versity, and in the hope and expectation, and even desire,
that the bill should pass in the course of this session,
whatever may be my objections to the principle of it, I
waive them so far, and concur in the motion for the second
reading of the bill. (Hear.)"
Viscount CANNING offered a few remarks by way
of reply, and the bill was read a second time.