The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-18 00:00:00

GENERAL ELECTION

ItNITERSITY OF LONDON.
The Duiversity of London elected its first par
liaineetery roe assn yesterday in tbe person of the
Right Hon. Robert Lowe, to whose return there was no
°Frontier'. The election was conducted in the partially
essaphited building, Bar There was a
levee attendance, and Mrs. Lowe with one or two other
tidies was present.
VieteCbantellor Omits, the returning officer, in open-
ing the proceedings, congratulated the elector, upon the
awykkous epoch marked by this novel ceremony 311 the
history of the University, which was now just thirty
years old.
The Wm/nem' reed the writ, and in the most formal
manner the election of the candidate was moved by Mr.
Anne GOLIMID, M.A., and ereended by Dr. Quent, IP. R.B.
These being no other candidates the election was pro-
aniseed hy the V' ee-Chaiteeller;ateidst general cheerieg.
Mr. Lowe, who bad been hitherto in an adjounag
mesa, Was conducted to the front of the phatforrn amidst
kind the
from the upritandieg audience. Ho com-
menced his speech by thanking the cammittee of OODTIXII.
tios for relaxing the striatum* of their rules so far all to
allow him to appear and return thanks for the great
honour and kindness he hail received at then
hands. One favour the electors hail conferred
epee him which they would never be able to
confer ups n any one else—be was the first member of the
nate. He congratulated them that they were meet-
tag to perform this duty for the first time in a house of
their own. For a long time they were an airy nothing,
then they became a name, and now at bast they hal a
local habitation He had the honour of addressing a ow-
ttituency whiCh might claim comparison with any
to the l'itited Kingdom, the offer universities
not covered. The Deau of Christ Cherish toll
a committee of the House of Comment he con-
sidered the Oxford pass degree was now alisolutsily worth-
; it was poor in quantity and most indifferent in
malty.. (Laughter) 'The same, with very little differ-
ence, might be said of Cambridge. This, however. was
not the care with the tin-:verse,. of London. Tine was
when they had n• contend with prejudice, bigotry, and
ioneerance : but that l.ad long gone by, and they were now,
beaked of an object of attack, an example by which all
salvers ties. not excluding the older 0044 might callus
your to fashion themselves. (Cheers) Having attained
the pris deg( of represeutation, he felt sure the electors
would not abuse it or subject the university to
the evil which had attended other university re-
presentations. (Cheery.) The University of Ox-
ford. notwithrtanding its brilliant reputetion, had
become a byeword of mockery, because it was
hi the bandit of pi rions who cared nothing for and knew
nothing of the University of Oxford Beef. (Cheer..) It
Ile wanted to know what the men living in Oxford
thought—the men who made her what she was, and kept
up her reputation—go and inquire what the opinions
et her members were, and then take the reverse
of them. (Laughter and cheers) Oxford as a
teaching body ICILE. not merely not represented, but the
representationalwave returned members who thwarted in
every way the wishes of the men to whom she owed her
powers and her reputation. (Cheers.) He hoped, too,
they would never get into the position of the Iruiversity
of nubile, and become a close borough for successive law
officer, of the crown ; be believed there was independence
enough in the University of London to keep them clear
from that shoal. (Cheers.) Of course it was not to be
expected that one who had held so many decided opinion,
upon so many cud jects as he had, would escape the criti-
anm of a body so eminently arable of exercising
that fuculty. It had been raid and written of
him that he wee a foe to what was called
higher education, that he looked at education
from a mean and sordid point of view, and SA a
mere way of getting money and getting on in life. This
arose from a speech he made at Edinburgh on middle-
elase education. in which he recommended the young
people who left school at an early age to learn in the first
place, things that would be useful to them in the reacted
to they would have to follow, aril secondly to train
their minds to suit the pre ition in life they would be
celled to occupy. Of coure he might have male the
usual clasewal references if he had chosen, but amongst
his sine cant bad never been included. (Cheers.) He
bed no idea of wading pen* rules when they wanted a
shirt. (Laughter.) He therefore said if they could sue-
seed in teaching boys what would be useful to them in
their particular position in life, they would do a very good
thing. Inderil be would go as far a- Cobbett, who, when
tome one said he wished to see every poor man's child in
England read Bacon. replied, I would rather see him
eat bacon." (Loud laughter.) He denied, then. that he
was a decrier of the higher kind of education. Mr.
Bright had said that he (Mr. Lowe) had been undergoing
a O.Urf e of repentance in rakcloth and ashes during the
last two years. He was not an 'Acetic, and sackcloth and
ashes were not to his taste—Laughter)—acid although Mr.
Bright might know more about him than he did himself.
be Lad never said. thought. or written anything that would
autliorire Mr. Bright to place him in that peniteutial
c!itn. What he had done he had done : he dial it
y arid sincerely. and time would ash .w whether he
wee wring or right. Hews theirs to retract n
to explain away nothing, and to affect penitence for
re thing. (Cheelie) He thought Mr. Bright and he
might trend their time better than—he in unavailing
egret. sod Mr. Brtglit In not very sincere coagratula-
Vous. (Cheers) He would point out in what
mariner. He agreed with the e who thou rht that
• very coneide•alie change hail lately taken place
in tie coining...in of the (-wintry. Mr. Bright said the
gov. rnini. canes Lail abdicated their functions, and Mr.
A illi. re at Wolverhampton said the people had got power
now and inn u-e it. His (Mr. Low i's) online was
It at by the recent changer what he might tali the centre
al windy of thing% in Oil, country lumlbeeu altered, he
would not say whether for better or worse, hot it hied
been aitered, and it would le as glint nn error to stand
with one's hands folded sled ruoporie everything would
go MI as tefore, it would le• to after the e nitre of
greedy of a vigil body nod suppose it would not fall
nukes it were :Alien d to its altered eirmenstanuer.
Power had been taken from one clamed persons and given
to at other, mid we must now try to adapt things
to the charge. Thee was nothing more fallacious
than to create a great change and then deliheratey shut
our eye- to it and pretend there was no change at all.
Admitting thou the change that had occurred, it would be
wise to consider what other changes were rendered neces-
sary. He was veryanxinus not to over-estimate the change,
nor lad he the lear-t wish to egaggerate anydifficulty there
might be. The problem he set himself was simply and
honestly this—•• Can we do anything to make the change
that bar been made work smoothly and beneficially *r" He
likened the government of the country to a ship on a
mountain lake. The lake had broken out at the end, and
the water rushing through the passage ran out on to the
sea. The ship of state must descend through the aper-
ture lately made until it reached a yen democratic form
of government. The question he 'Caked himself was
by what human means could we make that dement as
safe as poesible—how could we beet protect the ship of
the state from injury in the course of that transition state
which after what had been done was inevitable Y Accord-
ing to the recent government there had been no change.
They went on to-morrow as to-day ; they talked of no
popery as if they lived in the days of Lord Gordon • all
the old cues, watchwords, and policy of bigotry and in-
tolerance were uttered as if we lived before the 'rest and
Corporation Acts. (Cheers.) There is nothing changed
but the basis of ev-thing, and that the government
ignore. (Laughter and elmere This wet • course of pre-
sumptuous folly, and he invitedthe elector., in no spirit of
carping arid looking back, but in the spirit of carry-
ing on the progress of the country in the
direction which, for evil or good, it had new antlered, to
consider the problem. The "(nest thing to do was to leek
to America, and see if we could net learn romethmg from
Ler— not, as usually held up, by way of warning to deter,
but as an example to imitate. beer'..) The constitu-
tion of America was framed by great and wise men ; and,
if we compared it with that of England, we shnirld ion
startled to see how many safeguards there were which we
wanted. It was well worthy the cousideration of every
intelligent man to take the constitution of America in rum
band, and the ennstitution of England Man-ghee and eon
it he could not import, at any rate, the spirit of those in-
'Admire.' to moderate and facilitate the working of the
changes we had introduced. (Cheers.) 'The flag thing
that struck one was tie power of the Senate
which was co-ontuate with the power of Ur;
lower Horne. It was an elective body of
the first weight, elected on the princielei of fedent-
ton, it prrisersed the merged weight in the conditiition
of America, and exercised even impo.tant executive func-
tions. Again, the Congress of Amman did not exercise,
like our parliament, plenavy powens of administration, but
only delegated powers. The power was not in one hand;
it was divAlfril with a pi oper machinery to apportion it.
Am. ri. a having given equal institutions, and placed man-
kind em an equality, had not stopped there, but had
formed a self-working machinery through the ceases, by
which the country, Wing once divided into electoral dis-
tricts, was kept equally babinced, so that all parts were
elected alike. America, too, hada ry,tem of education sup-
ported by rates. (Cheers.) Lastly, Amerien Lot iontrival
to disentangle herself completely of that fruitful source
'Of trouble—mention relating to religion. (Cheers.)
.Coald we do nothing of the kind here? Al we had
thrown in our lot really with America in the form of our
institutions, ought we not tit see whether we could not
mg, some of those safety valves that America bad found
so .useful I' It was no use laying that eideguerds would
bead aside. In America they had lived for 80 year
amidst grt at difficulties, and there mast therefore be some
vitality IP them. They had hinted in some degree to curb
and elieck the Mamma of democracy. and had stood the
Met of the will of democracy, and bad not been swept
sway by Rem. Turn now to the House of Lords. The
/question II to it. power was becoming more pressing, and
ernadkirlem isaggeations wore made respecting. it, Hier
• l'. lloramam, suggested that the piers
Lave the power of Warning a portion of the Il'.use
of Lards, and that we should turn out the Irish ms.
(Cheers) lie (Mr. Lowe) did not know whether that
world do much good or harm; but what wou'd be the
aloft of eleeting peens? They would be
the
like the
Hsieh end !Scotch peers-- all cm on.. aide—and the end world
Le the entireties of the liberal peers. The proposal to elect
a peer for life was sot a goat our. The position would
he an nephew/rat one; plenty of such peers might no
dool.t be obtained, hut not of qvery atirirsble class.

Another objection, of Bonne, was the swamping aro-
want. Every government that was in • minority wonted
create as many life peers as would obtain • assj seel
the whole lady would be brought into great
Ve hat then could we do P The senate of Rome was formei
on a sort of buresacretic basis. Any man who was sleeted
to a certain office obtained the right of sitting in the mash,
for life, and thus the senate was perpetually reumited by
men of practical experience who hail madmegam the ceded
of a popular elect: on, Thus, the
_very heart and elif
blood of the Roman youth were infused into the senate.
It amend to tom this was an admimbie eyekm Omald
we nut do something of that kind P Coreld we not ham •
scale of offices whica would slim • Man • seat in the
Route of Lon* not as Lord asi4e, bat as • WNW
tor sitting in hie own MOW? Then we should import,
habits of dibetem,e, business, and industry into the House
of Loads, witch would give it weight of the right sort.
Ihe thing could never work 131 its premed state. and he
would therefore offer another seggestion. The House
of Lords could not practically commence any ems-
puree, and bents it was condemned to eoesprelsory
idle DP!ts during the greater part of the maim. If the
staodtng orders were done away with this evil world be
remedied. Pawl from this topic he asked kis audience
to consider where America set us an maniple with regard
to the equathation of electoral districts. It was perfectly
me atrous to And after the changes we had made to
obtain equality that we were to have individual equality
among electors, under which the poor and rich voted
alike, w while we i reserved the same power as before in the
distribution of seats. Nothing showed the otter iguersaos
of the ie, smeut who rafted the measure more than
this. e &detained the equalisingof electoral
dietrata The rafegnsrds, as they were called,
which bad been kept, were like donee in the brook,
which might vex and irritate the merrent, and hinder the
tee image of the water, while they utterly faded to stop
the stomp. Then there was the eternal compound house-
holder,
of*
system was an instance of about the worst
kind of legislatioa there_ possibly °mkt be. When a
franchise was given it eliouM be adapted to the real rela-
tions and coi.d.tions of mankiusi, and net be made to
disturb and dottrel them in order to make way for itself;
ebe fire franchise was made a burden and nuisaisce instead
of a benefit. He hoped this faulty piece of legislation
would be abolished; but he would say plainly, be did not
accept the attenuates which had been surfeited. lie dui
not wish tosee householdsuffrage pure andainsple. (Hear.)
He did not with to go a hair's breadth back from what we
bad done, but Le must oaken himself favourable to Mr.
l'oulett Scrota's proposition (which workedinfloothindwad
Ireland) that a person rated below ef. was =eased from
mutts rates. After the steps that had biro taken in the
metier of education it was melancholy to see how really
little earnestness and sincerity there was in promoting the
peat cause of primary and popular education. Mr.
Bright declared against the rating system, sad war in
favour of the present voluntary system. urging that we
were rated eumgh already in other words, if it was
not the duty of the state to see that the poor were
educated, we were doing too much. and spending • million
a year improperly ; if it was its duty we were doing too
little because we did not provide that for which we spent
the money. (Cheers.) An illustration bad recently been
furnished of the working of voluntaryism in the ease of
the Duke of Beaufort, who refused to subscribe to the
schools in the parish because the clergyman had voted for
what the duke considered the wrong candidate. The con-
sequence was, that as the duke and the parson did not
agree on political subjects, the children of the poor were
not educated. (Cheers.) Lard Salisbury said the proper
course was to go to the central fund and nut the rotes,
his chief reason -being that there was no ottesion
for economy in matter of education. That was a
bad reason, and Lord Salisbury would be the first to
know that extravagance was no proof of efficiency. The
real problem was, how to supplement the existing system
without destroying it, and that could be done by giving
municipal or parochial bodies the power of making rate's
for education as a last resort, and schools supported
by compulsory rates should be macular. (Cheers.) We
could riot now go ou as we had done in the past ; we
mutt not allow people who were to exercise the franchise
to be brought up in ignorance. Whatever our insular
cote( it might prompt us to think, we could not do
nt this old country what America. with her untold
advantages, could not do—place the power of the
State in ignorant acid untutored heads. (Choirs.)
We were rod, however, prepared to follow America
in the paths of pure voluntary-ism, but having con-
ceded what we had done, we must further concede
another equality. The objections to tho Irish church had
always seemed to him unanswerable, but recent changes
Lad made them ten times more pooling, and yet the same
pork who by their own act had brought about a state of
things which made it impossible to maintain the Irish
church, were now taking their stand upon that very
church us the rock which could not be moved. (Laughter.")
The present government had undermined it, had put the
powder into the train, had put the match into our hands,
ar.d now actually took issue in the country as to whether
it rbeuld be li:own up. (Loud laughter and cheers.) It
was declared by the trios& of the Irish church that they
would maintain the equality that now existed, bit would
introduce into it • new equality ; they said, "The plunder
'hall TM sin where it is, but we will take care
it shall be equally divided amongst the plunderers."
(Renewed laughter.) He could not express the contempt
be felt for this. Ile had no doubt ample jetties wo odd be
dens to this I. ish church question Wire this work was
over. lie suggestions be bad to make were that we must
not only direndow and disestablish the Irish church, but
dietudowuretit and disectablishment must bo absolutely
eotenty.o: &Etats. The proposition to allow the livings to
fall iu cone by one was unjust and impolitic. The church
mist rely upon voluntary effort when state machine., was
entkl: San, and the people wanted the stimulus of a great
feeliug of excitement, which would be supplied if the con-
solute I tierces, church and state were at scree dostroyol.
if things were allowed to drop off out by our the church
would poi h of inanition; therefore, giving proper aqui-
silents, let tl.e matter be got rid of absolutely at once.
(Cheers.) Besides, we could not disestablish so lung as we
er pinned the endowments, as it would be the duty of the
state to see that the clergy it eudowel were rutting in
aces relatce with the tenure of their bolding. Let it also
be d.stiuctly underetood that, ono, severed, the connection
between church and state would not be renewed again.
lie heard a hint the other day ru the form of this questiin
—"What are to be the relations of church and state after
tie sepoution P" The proper answer was, X 0 relations
at all." (Chi era.) Ile hopeil the House of Commons
would mend their mariners in the coming session; he
hoped, for instance, they would nut allow • ununter to
my he had • distolutruu in his pocket, and would use it
when he pleated, according to the behaviour of
the house. He would say nothing as to how a
minister got that power, but it was a diusedit to
any body of men caking themselves a sovereign
legislature of the country to allow such language to be
held by anyone. (Cheers.) He hoped we had seen the
last of government by minorities. We blamed the govern-
ment for being extravagant, but we were really hard upon
there, for some of us had willed that they should exist for
years in the face of a majority. What could they do
they must live. ((Loud laughter.) They could not carry
things by majority in the ordinary constitutional way,
because they had not got them; so they reversed the
policy of Brennua. lie threw his sword into the scale to
eke out the money ; they having no sword, used the
money. (Renewed laughter.) The government, in
minority, in consideration of being allowed to retain
°See, place, emolument, and patronage, leased to
their antagonist', so long as they were undisturbed,
their principles, convictions, and traditions. (Cheers.)
Never in the history of England until the present time,
was it beard that a minister could oome forward in the
House of Parliament and boldly avow such& nefarious com-
munise of principle. (Cheers.) After some other strong
tapelike= condemnatory of the tor y government, the
right hen. gentleman hoped the new House of Commons
would at least. preserve a little decorum, and explode the
cynical audacity which had characterized the last few
months. lie resumed his meat 'Lenart prolonged cheering.
A vote of thanks to the Vice-Chancellor concluded the
cetodinga.