The Express.
London, England, 1851-10-24 00:00:00

7,...SEVEN or eight hundred fathers have had their
sons launched upon that perilous ocean—uni-
versity life. The anxious parent is brooding heavily
not only over the loss of his son, but the loss of his
money, which he has paid to the college autho-
rities under the mysterious title "arrears," consisting I
of items of " rent" which has never been incurred,
I and " tuition " which has never been received. Ills
I affections are wounded, and his pockets damaged,
I but the gloomiest thought of all is that the present
'is only the beginning of evils, Visions of bills to be
settled of escapades to be forgiven, of degradation to
be atoned fur, flock in upon the anxious parent's mind.
, His son may comeback to him ruined in estate, in body,
' and in soul. He indulges in some natural wishes
that the authorities who profit so largely by the
peculiarities of the university system would do
something for him—would exercise some o. that
influence of which they possess so much to
check the working of a process which meta-
morphoses a good son into a reckless, impeni-
tent, penniless debauchce. " Vain hopes,' he
is told, " that this improvement cannot possibly de-
pend upon those local authorities w ho are made popu •
lady chargeable with the !Bulb" Disabuse yourself
of the impression that " authorities" ever have any-
thing
to do with preventing those evils which they
arc " popular!) " supposed to be invested with power
to suppress. Just as the Austrian generals
had nothing to do with the flogging of
' Hungarian countesses, or as King BomBA
personally is not resrnsible for the murder-
ous
persecution of Neapolitan gentlemen, or
as l'iu NUM) has no share in the atrocities com-
mitted
by his satellites, so the " authorities" at
I Cambridge and Oxford have nothing to do with the
enormities perpetrated by the undergraduates en-
trusted especially to their charge. Where then,
asks the perplexed parent, am 1 to look for relief?
Where am I to find even this slightest shadow of a
guurantts: for the good conduct el my boy ? Am 1
to believe that the " master " of a college does not
govern : that the " tutors" of a college du not teach;
that the " dean " of a cullige his authing at all to
du with the religion and murals of a student ; that
the talk about "college discipline" is a monstrous lie;
that they arc nothing, verily and truly, but consum li
-
mate shams ? We are told that
The contagion at the univerdtits is nothing but what the '
student. them's:lsm in their numbers and their inexperience
bring with them to the place of concourse, and it is in the
improvement of their own social tune that the remedy must
by sought. No discipline or supervision can possibly con-
trol those who aro impelled by the immediate influences of
society in a contrary din etiun ; and it the rigour, indeed, of
the attempted superintendence is put in too strong a con-
trast with prevailing Opinions, it operate., as experience
has shown, not only fur nu good but fur positive harm.
l'idergrailuates, both in style and presumption, arc " men,"
nor ran they be treated as boys without egregious (mi.,
and mictamage to boot. It is J roma Mei, own ittiproriv
sense UAW!' thathuhatiiiitial reform, can he anticipated.

Ilow consoling this doctrine would appear, ap•
plied to cases of a cognate kind! A captain,
tor instance, finds adoat nith a muti-

noun crew, he determines to bring them to a sense of
their duty by employing those strong measures
which the law allows. For Heaven's sake, don't do

anything of the sort, says sonic friendly adviser, the
men are rushing to their own destruction, may per-
haps cut the throats of their officers. and run the
ship ashore, but you'll do no good by meddling; they
are " men," and "from their own ioiproring sense
alone substantial reforms can be anticipated." Has
the reader any difficulty in imagining the kind of an-
swer a good disciplinarian would make to such a piece
of advice as this

Nothing is so like this theory of the probable ex-
tinction of university irregularities as the suggestion
made by the ingenious Sir ABEL HANDY with re-
gard to the extinguishing the conflagration in a
house. Where are your hundred-and-ono remedies
against fire now, said his tormentors ? Have you
no plan to propose ? Have you nothing to suggest?
Yes, said the perplexed baronet—" Perhaps the fire
may yo ,'d qf dart/;"
Perhaps, too, university extravagance, idleness, and
debauchery m:iv •• gn out of themselves." Burglars, I
also, will doubtless cease to break into our houses,
prostitutes to defile our streets, nocturnal drunkards
to prevent our taking rest, swindlers to practise on
the unwary, when their tons ice/ roriv scow teaches
them to reform themselves, In the meantime our
property is to be insecure, our children polluted, our
rest disturbed, our incautious friends to be cheated
with impunity, until the refuse of society meet to-
getlwr to build up a Utopia!
The argument is too weak to need refutation, and
could only have been adopted in order to make a
mad crusade in favour of any and every atrocity
committed by " constituted authorities" all over the
world.

In direct opposition to this theory we most dis-
tinctly assert, front a thorough knowledge of uni-
versity life in all its phases, that the " authorities"
have more means in their power for the repression of
abuses than are possessed bv anv governing body in
England. To any person vilto has lived a university
life not hingran apiwar more ridiculously false than the
assertion that " the relations between undergraduates
and their academical superiors do not invest the latter
with any practical authority over the personal habits
of the limner." 150 tar is this from being true, that the
tutors introduce undergraduates to the tradesmen

with whom they wish t deal, they limit the amount
of the bill which undergraduates are allowed to run
up with the college cook, they " diseommons"
(Anglic,, rids) tradesmen who supply undergraduates
with forbidden articles, they impose arbitrary rules
' upon the exits and entrances of the undergraduates
at the college gates. These and numberless other
meaust hey have,andexercise freely.w hen what appears
to them a necessity arises. To enforce their decisiens
they wield an irresponsible power of tremendous
extent. For minor offences against authority, they
employ " rustication," or enforced absence from the
university—fur greater offences, expulsion. The
former punishment delays the period of taking the
degree, and thus hinders the sufferer from beginning
his career in the world at the expected time, and in-
theta a severe pecuniary mulct and much distress of
mind on his parents. Yhe latter is a complete bar
to all future success in lite to him on whom it is in-
dicted. Every avenue to distinction in the great
professions is closed to him for ever.
Parents, then, have some grounds for expecting
that their children should not be allowed to rush
headlong to ruin, with nothing but a possible volun-
tary reformation in their thoughts and habits to
I cheek them. The authorities who dare not say for
themselves what their apologists say for them, must be
brought to a sense of the duties their position lin-
, poses upon them, and the English universities must
be rescued from the opprobrium of being the only
I great institutior.3 of the kind in Europe where the
only chance of a moral reform in the conduct of
students is " in their own improving sense" of what
is right.

IsTUMUs or PANANA—ATTIMPTF.D PLUNDER OF
THU Astante\N SPRi:ll.—ln crossing the Isthmus of Pa-
nama, en the 24th of September, the tra;n of mules convey-
ing the specie, amounting to 2,800,000 d 01.., was attacked
by robbers shout six mile. from the town of Panama. The
news reaching the town the militia were called out, and
succeeded, after some hours, in capturiug two of the rob-
bers, who proved to be returned Californians. Two of the
muleteers accompanying the train hod been killed, and
others wounded, while one of the robbers had fallen in
return. The treasure, which amounted but to a few thou•
sand dollars, was also retaken. It is to be observed that
the remittance and treasure Will fur the American steamer,
and guarded by arm. d muleteers, on its passage from
Panama to Chas/res, while that of the English is unpro-
tech d : but ow in; to the narrowness of the road, in many
places but barely aide enou4h to admit the mule with his
burden, an attack is rendered comparatively easy, and the
wonder is that it is not oftener attempted. It is impossible
to exaggerate the badness of the road, if it may be so called,
which in the rainy season is city:able the whole way.
Some voyagers had been also attacked the day previously,
and robbed of 4,00 dole. Th.. was an attack by natives,
and one of the fellows was shot betye be could effect
his escape. We have been favoured with these particulars
by s passenger, who was crossing the Isthmus on the
day of the attack on the American treasure.