The Express.
London, England, 1868-09-19 00:00:00

TUE PROPOSED COLLEGE FOR WOMEN.

MANY of our readers are aware that it is pro-
posed to build a college for women " in which the
" instruction and discipline will be expressly
" adapted to advanced students, and the results
" tested by examinations of recognised authority."
These examinations will entitle to certificates,
and will in fact be of as much service as a
university degree is to men. And the
students will not only acquire the know-
ledge afforded by a college but will
gain the advantages of a college life, since
for six months in the twelve residence will be
obligatory. Young women, therefore, who are
not satisfied with the routine of a school educa-
tion, may carry on their studies and gain mental
discipline at an age when the value of learning and
of intellectual drill is the most keenly appreciated.
The advantages of such an institution are obvious.
The education of English girls belonging to
the middle class of society is but too often im-
perfect and superficial. Much is attempted, but
little thoroughly achieved; and if the love of
knowledge has been gained at school, there is no
incitement to study. and nothing to arouse
ambition, after the school course is run.
Oue is accustomed to hear ad nauseam that the
woman's sphere is home, by which it is meant
that she should confine herself to home duties.
One is accustomed to be told, also, that her
aim in life is marriage, and that for her
the highest cultivation is that of the heart,
and not of the intellect. These are as-
sertions which need not be disputed. True, it
is that the goal of a woman's aspirations may be
to reign as queen of the domestic hearth ; true it is
that to her " love than knowledge is diviner
food"—but it surely does not follow that in
order to have a large heart a woman must have a
II
narrow and uncultivated mind, or that to rule her
household well she should be ignorant of everything
beyond it. 031 the contrary, we believe that there
an, few if any studies from which a woman should
be debarred upon the ground of sex, few if any
that will not be found of service in after life, and
tend to make her wiser, happier, and more com-
panionable. In this belief we look with no volu-
tion intenat upon the efforts that are making
to raise a College for women, which, as we have
said. shall be to thee' of the moue service as
Oxford and Cambridge are to men. and which, by
means of periodical extuuinations and certificates,
will enable the student to measure the progress
of attainment. And there is another benefit to
he conferred by the proposed College. " If, as is
'• probable," says the prospectus, " a certain
" proportion of the students, sooner or later,
" become teachers, either in the college itself, or
" in the higher class of schools, a double want
" will be supplied. The schools will be brought into
" close and friendly relations with a superior
" institution to which they may look up for
" guidance aid encouragement, while a body of
" cultivated women—whose fitness for the highest
" educational offices has been duly certified—will
" be gradually prepared for the work of teaching.
" The difficulty of discriminating between the fit
•' and the unfit in appointing to such offices is
" well known, and it seems reasonable to expect
" that the application of suitable tests by oompe-
" tent authority, will be as much valued by those
" who are interested in obtaining good teaching
" for their children, as it will certainly be wet-
" cowed by teachers themselves."
The ultimate success of the plan sketched out
in the prospectus can scarcely be considered doubt-
ful, since many of the meat prominent men of the
age, as well as ladies of high attainments and po-
sition, are enrolled on the committee. Meanwhile
there seems u reasonable hope that the buildings
will be speedily connuenced. A suitable site has
been selected in Hertfordshire, and while it is esti-
mated that ,50,0001. will be required to carry out the
project on an adequate made, it is determned to
commence building as soon as the sum of 10,0001.
shall have been raised. In order to facilitate the
work, it has been resolved to commence on a com-
paratively narrow basis. and to provide accommo-
dation at first fur one-third only of the probable
number of students. The sum required will be
raised by public subscription, and by the side of a
limited number of presentations. which will con-
fer a right of nomination on the purchasers. To
those statements it should be added that when the
College buildings are provides! " the students' fete
" will be fixed on such a scale us to secure
" that the institution shall be self-supportiug."
At the present time 1111 the proposed undertaking
semis to require is publicity. If once the merits.
of the plan are under/4044 it tun warmly fail to
be encouraged. We think the committee have
done wisely, however, in not depending too much
upon public genemaity and in offering rights of
prnantation in return for contributions. The
. difficulty of the undertaking °Avant to lie at its
commencement. When ones the buildings are
erected and the College fairly inaugurated, the
progress of the institution will be assured.

OUR CONTEMPORARINki.
(THIS DAY.)

The prospect of war, the (Ecumenical Council,
end the Lodger Franchise question. are among the sub-
jects discussed by the nom. One man. it is said, can
terminate all the direful calculations of a Continental
war in a minute. If the Enperor Napoleon decides for
peace there will be no war. It would not be worth a
war even to undo the effects of Endows, but it Is by no
means certain that they could be undone. France
would lose by failure far more than she could
gain by success. As to the council, which is to
meet at Rome, end in which the lay element is utterly
ignored, it is not at all unlikely that If princes are de-
barred frisk all influence upon the deliberations of the
council, they may consider themselves absolved from the
duty of recognising or enforcing the council's resolutions.
With regard to the registration courts, the Time. points
out the contradictory rules of practice which the deci-
sions of the revising berristeratehow, and suggests that
tie of Comourn:Pleas:shoukt select some of thigi
number to:devise rules under its own superintendence.
The Daily Pews points out 'props of recent speeches
lie assistance which Mr. Gladstone is likely to meeting
tram men like Mr. Childen and Mr. Mansfield. The effect
ir-&- Military policy of, the French government UT.
creasing the population is also dwelt upon.
The Post suggests that if some publisher would issue
at once, at a low price, Mr. Disraeli's bitter attacks
c.n Sir Robert Peel, every constituency in the United
Kingdom might now bo provided with the means of con-
fronting Disraelite candidates with their own chiefs in-
vective against apostasy, treachery, theft, petty larceny,
and burglary.