The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-06 00:00:00

It was in the committee of Monday that the
true aim of the bill was exposed. We must
glance at some of its details to explain the
proceedings of that sitting.
The governing body of the University, the
Hebdomadal Board, is to be changed to an
Hebdomadal Council, and, instead of consisting
as at present of the heads of houses, it is to con-
sist of heads of houses, professors, and members
of Convocation. The constituency electing the
Council is to be reconstituted also, and for this
purpose one of those "revivals" is to be accom-
plished of which a certain party in our Church
is so fond. The body of Congregation is to be
restored, but with the number of its members
increased, and its powers greatly augmented.
This Congregation is to be mainly composed
of heads of houses, professors, and college
tutors ; but, while it seems to be made up of
mixed elements, one only would prevail in it.
The tutors would have a preponderating in-
fluence.

For these changes there is no warrant in
that report of the Commission on which the
bill professes to be founded. The system to
be subverted was not felt as a grievance.
To the new body of Congregation is to be
transferred not only the election of the govern-
ing council, but in effect all that control which
has previously been exercised by the whole
body of Convocation. The three or four thou-
sand members of the University who form a
varied, enlightened, and really national body
of voters are to be set aside that a purely
clerical oligarchy may be established. Mr.
GLADSTONE denies that " Convocation was
" to be deprived of any power which it pos-
" sessed." But what, then, becomes of the
arguments in favour of the change? Why is
it so strongly urged that Convocation is unfit
to be entrusted with the powers it now exer-
cises ? Why is its intelligence run down and
its opinions sneered at? Why is it proclaimed
from the Treasury bench that Convocation is
often " made a tool of in the most shameful
" manner," and that nothing can be more ab-
surd than that " gentlemen should be gathered
" from all the four points of the compass, and
" obliged to travel four hundred or five hun-
" dred miles, to record their votes upon a
" question on which they scarcely knew any-
" thing whatever ?" One supporter of the
change asserts that it is necessary to abridge
the power of Convocation, while another denies
that its power will be abridged at all.
The practical effect of the new system would
be that Convocation would fall into dis-
use. It is of too popular a character to suit
Mr. GLADSTONE and his friends, and its action
inconveniently prevents the realisation of their
ideas. They would destroy it because it is
acted on too strongly by " external or worldly
influences," and Lord JOHN RussEtt. because
CHATHAM accused it of Jacobitism, and be-
cause it had in later years shown a Conserva-
tive spirit, which Lord JOHN himself could not
admire. Both charges may be just : it may
not be monkish enough for Mr. GLADSTONE, not
Whiggish enough for Lord JOHN. But, never-
theless, it is to its connection with the whole
body of Convocation that the University,
though not free from those impulses which
disturb and must disturb every free institu-
tion, has never ceased to maintain a strong
hold on the mind and affections of the coun-
try, and to sympathise, to a greater or less
extent, in the principles which animate it.
The tutors, who must, from the constitution
of the Congregation, bear sway in it, may be