The Express.
London, England, 1851-10-29 00:00:00

numerous, perhaps, of any middle-class party--still
exists ; hut without a leader it is nothing, and since
l'Er.t.'s death it tow had none. 1$ =Sy look with as
eye of hope to the future of his sou, but it has not yet
raised him upon the buckler. At present Mr. P;.liL
stands alone: 1w his neeeptanc• of the Under-Socru-
! taryship of the he has added one to the min-
isterial ranks—that is all.

Prone attention has lately
.been directed, by means
of leading articles in certain newspapers, and cor-
respondence excited by the same, to the fact of the
sad condition of parents who have just now at the
commencement of the university year become seri-
ous placers in the desperate game in which the souls
' and bodies of their children arc staked against some
imaginary prizes in the shape of " university ho-
' flours" and "aristocratic connexions." We have
already said something on the matter, but there re-
mains still more to be said, and as the question of
university education will most certainly come before
parliament in the ensuing session, we should wish
our readers to be put in possession of as many helps
towards forming correct opinions on a Yery.impor-
Cant subject as we are able to furnish them with.
Now, in the first place, we would ask a question,
which, it answered in a proper spirit, will smooth
away much of the difficulty with which the problem
is encumbered. Do parents in general send their
children to the great universities for the sake of the
education to be obtained there? This question we
most distinctly answer in the negative. At Uni-
versity College, at King's College, at numberless
institutions throughout the country, from a countless
number of private tutors, education of a fur higher
grade than that given at the universities can be ob-
tained at a far cheaper rate. If any pen on denies
this, we pledge ourselves to overwhelm him with
proofs of our assertion. This being the ease, it remains
to be considered, what is the inducement which is
strong enough to decide parents to incur an ap-
parently unnecessary expense, and a fearful risk.
ciseiy that, we answer, which has been at work
in every society since time began, in which the
influence of wealth enables its possessors to put for-
ward pretensions to occupy the same ground which
had heretofore been the exclusive property of the
aristocracy of birth. It is an old story, but we will'
go no further hack than the time of IlintAex for an
illustration. He was a rorremu, doubtless, hut his
father determined that by hook or by crook he should
get into good society. Hoesce does not hesitate to
tell you that his father was nobody.

:son prtre preetiro, sed vita et vector, puro.
Nevertheless he says that this father did every-
thing for him.
Causa Nit pater hi., qui, macro pauper agello
Nuluit in Mari ludum Ole nuttere.

The school of Flavius had the same terrors for the
emancipated flunkey (me tolerant, pare natum),
iiORACE.4 father, as the London University has for
the iu,piriag ~pirier of the present day. It was an
educational institution, where you had ?mating but
education for your money, and—tw "connexions."
Not an inkling could Ix, got there of what were the
pursuits of the equestrian or senator an orders.
The DE Mortr: tsst and the NEWMANS of the
time had something better to do than initiate
the alumni into the small talk of the fashionable
circles. The persevering father was not, however,
to he disappointed In his diligent search after the
entrance into the great equestrian and senatorial
elysium—he gave up the vulgar idea of innoculating
his son with " useful knowledge," but not before he
had made up his mind to place the boy in the most
favourable situation fur acquiring those arts which
might help him in his
"perilous voyage to the empy-
rean of " good society.
Red puerum swat e.t &wenn portarc doeendum
Arty, quas 'miens dommt .vase algae senator
St:lmA preauaten.
in order to do this, hurt we tells us that his father
did what numbers of English fathers are now doing
—he furnished his son with the means to compete
with his aristocratic friends. The equites and the
snuttnres, the members (as we should sav) of "both
houses" did no more fur their children than did the
freed man fur his son.
Vestem srrso.quc sequentes
In man° ut populo at quit .idia.et, avita
Ea re praeberi sumptu. mihi eredaret Blot.
You would have thought, he says, with a chuckle,
if you had seen me with my tribe of obedient ser-
vants around me, that they could only have been fed
out of the proceeds of Seigle large ancestral estate.
Who knows, says tuft-hunting SMlril of the present
day, whether or not they will not think my
boy's ancestors " canto in with the Conqueror,"
particularly if he calls himself Smythe
Now, Swttit's or Smirilifs children, going up to
the university, find exactly what they were seat to
seek. They meet with a large number of men of
high birth and good fortune. who come up to the
university in compliance with the Amity traditions,
which hand down to posterity that the aerptisition of
a university degree is incumbent upon scions of the
said families. The authorities of the university
being brought in virtue of their position into contact
with those families who occupy so distinguished a
place in English society, are hut too willing to for-
ward the views of their friends in levelling the path
which leads to university degrees. The demands
upon the intellect and the industry of the candi-
dates fur university distinctions arc, therefore, re-
duced to a minimum. An examination for the
degree of " Bachelor of Arts " equal in diffi-
culty to that of the University of London,
or, in fact, of any capital in Europe, would
frighten away five-sixths of the members of " good
families" from Cambridge and Oxford, and leave to
the tutors the ungrateful task of imparting useful
knowledge to the sons of men who have worked for
their living, and earned every farthing their sons
arc spending.
Is it wonderful if, in this state of things, SMITH
determines to become Smvritt: ? The University
authorities tell him that he need not trouble himself
about any more intellectual labour than is necessary
to place himself upon the lowed level attainable by
the aristocratical mind. Ile looks to the heads of
the University, and finds them with their heads
steadily turned towards the upper regions of society.
Ile finds that public opinion in the University
town is based upon the pleasant fiction that
each member of a college is, by virtue of
his membership, on a level, social and financial, with
the rest. Ile finds, therefore, that he has unlimited
credit. Is he to he blamed very much if he suc-
cumbs to the pleasing delusions naturally produced
by such a state of things? We think not. Ile be-
comes, like iiORICF., a toadeater and an Epicurean ;
but he has neither the learning, nor the wisdom, nor
the wit to save himself, ns the poet was saved, from
the evil consequences of servility and sensuality.
True, say the modern advocates of the uuiversity
authorities—but for all this it is not the heads and
tutors who are responsible, but the young men them-
selves. What say our readers ?

BRAINTREE AND BOCEINO AORICtLTURAL As-
SOCIATION.—On Thursday last the annual meeting of
this society was held at Braintree. Whilst institutions of a
kindred spirit base had to report a diminution either us re-
garded finances or competitors, this society can boast of a
lung list of candidates for it, awards, an excellent attend-
*nee of its friends at the annual meeting, and a balance in
hand to commence another year with. The ploughing
match excited much interest, the prizes being contestcd for
by 22 ploughs and the work, we were informed by an emi-
nent agriculturist, was exceedingly well executes', surpass-
ing that of any presiaus year. fhe collection of cottage
garden productions was also generally admired, reflecting
groat credit upon the industtial habits of th- humble coin-
'pa titors. lhe show of agricultural roots, compri-ing some
it ry line red and yellow inongold, attracted much atten-
tion. About half-past four o'clock between forty and fifty
gentlemen sat dusts to dinner at the Horn Inn, the High
sheriff, W. P. Honewirol. nresidint —Mr .•

• • -
C.arTION TO RAILWAY •.
TRATELLER4 Yesterday
•
Mr. Baker held an inquest at the Loudon lative
to the death of Win. nowel, aged 16, a memencer in the
service of the East and West India Dock Compary, who
met with an accident by getting out of a railway train while
it was iu motion. It appeared that on Friday morning
last deceased was a second ChM passenger by the Blackwell
Railway train which left l'oplar t t 6 a.m. for Fritchurch•
street; before reaching the terminus deceased opened the
doer and got on the step, the train being in mition, when
he lost his bold, and was dragged ten or twelve yards by
the side of the platform. lie was instantly conveyed to the
hospital in a cab, where he was min:thief by Mr:Johnson,
house surgeon, who found bath legs dislocated from the
eocketa and fractured. lie died the following day. Ver•
I:ct, Accidental death." The coroner said he hoped the
accident would operate es a caution to others.

attatisoN.—Major-General D'Agui-
e..lnael of the s.lth Feat, will take the command of this
garrison 00 the Ist prosinia during the three months' leave
of absence of the lieutenaut.covernor, Major-General Lord
F. Fazelnnate, 0.C.11.. at Madeira.