The Express.
London, England, 1850-06-13 00:00:00

blooms £14,433 8 Si

Chapel sad library — ----
£lB3 14 3
Mitcham
Hall mad pantry ..... 338 13 76
breviary ........ 1,001 7 10
Exchequer ..... .... 17 5 9
Portet's expenses ............. lB 10 601
Garden and liteliduill ..... " . .... . 89 13 5
Repair*, he. .......—...- 1,078 IS
Warden for hospitality . ..... . .. . ............. 589 6 7
beeewaryexpenaea and gifts —. .... ..—. 3,422 0 106
Liveries ........... 156 310
Namara of Stoke
Mill and water cooties
Legal espewes lOl 13 2
Salaries to modern, ebsplalms, sad shahs 439 17 10
Tuxes and tithes
Measengeni
Diatributlaa is ths parr ..... ....—. 38 6 9
9 9 Founder's Ma 3O 0 0
Entertainmel at the election mad audits 2,612 14 4

510,741 10 41
WINCHILSITH COLLSOII AS IT OUGHT TO BE.

The intent of the founder, one would think, was rendered
sufficiently manifest by these " That: all and singular
to he elected scholars into our college near Winchester be
poor and indigent." Words so clear and emphrtic seem to
defy misinterpretation or that no second meaning could be
attached to them. Such is not the case, the authorities
of the college bating adopted • mode of interpretation pe-
culiar to themselves—a mode which is approved of and sanc-
tioned by the Bishop of Winchester as ex officio the visitor
of the college. In some instances the warden and fellows
allow a meaning in strist unison with the manifest spirit
and intention of the statutes ; whilst in °tint- instances
they confine the 'waning to the literal statement,
although in that they grossly depart from that which was
inteuded by the founder. This may be seen by reference to
the parliamentary report on this establishment, from which
is extracted a portion of the evidence of the principal witness
examined before the committee, the Rev. Dr. Williams, the
present warden el Now C and at that time the second
master of Winchester College.
. .

" flow many boys ars three on the foundation i"—" There
are seventy scholars."
" What description of persons are they required to be 1"
" I know of no distincuon in the st antes but the words
pauperes et inaigeutes scholars," (the scholars to be poor
and indigent).
"It ripper,s by the statute Q oodque omnes at 'legal in
idem collegian nostrum props Wintoniam in 'legend: pau-
pers. et indigents' [that all and singular to be elected into
our college near Winchester be poor and indigent]. Is that
rule observed ? "—" I do not know how precisely to answer
that qug.tion : there are certain statuks which require that,
if a boy possess more then a certain sum, the icholarship
should tir. declared vacant."

" Is that statute to which you allude the 2ith Rubric,
' pistquani aliquis scholaru predietorum, nostril consen-
guinus eximptis possemicam spiritual.. cal temporaLA annul
valorls cerium solidorant pacific. &tiepins (tient et tool a
dieto 'metro collego expellatur • [or that if any 4 the aforesaid
seh,Aars, our relatives excepted, shall have peacefully ob-
tainsd spiritual or temporal poseestions of the annual Tittle of
a hundrid shillings, that henceforth he be expelled !tom our
college J That is to what I allude."
" How do 3 ou translate Umlaut *ohdo►rat ?"—" I believe
it is translated with refersaim to the changed value of
money."
" How do you translate it literally ?"—" I conceive the
literal meaning to be one hundred shillings."
" Row do you translate liberally ?"—" I cannot say, the
warden determines that matter; it does not peas under my
cognisance. Ido not know, but I believe there is a liberal
csn,ruction."

" Have you ever heard what the liberal construction is?"
"1 belitve 1 have heard, but I am not certain that my an-
swer will be accurate; I think the soliai are reckoned u
marks, but while laity that 1 may be in error."
" What do yen estimate the hundred marks at i"—" At
662. 13s. 41."

" Are there any boys on the foundation who hava more
than five marks a year ?"—" I cannot say."
" not the boys, at the age of fifteen, swear that they
have not wherewithal to spend above five marks (31.65. fed.)
sterling ?"—" I apprehend they do."
" Are the boys, in general, upon the foundation gentle-
men's sons 1"—" Yes, principally they are."
" Is there any one of the seventy boys upon the founds-
ticn, who is himself worth lea than five mark, a year i"—
" I do not know that any of them have any property what-
ever,"

" Is there a boy there who, from the circumstances of his
parents, is not in a situation to spend five maks a year ?"
" I apprehend that the statutes refer not to the circumstances
of the patents, but to the circumstances of the boys them-
selves. As to the circumstances of the parents, 1 do not

kepis what they can effird."
" Da you apprehend that it was the custom in England,
in the time of William of Wykeham, for children of 8 ;win
old to have fortunes of their own spiritual or temporal,
these being the wordsof the statute r-"i am not sufficiently
aequaiated with the custom of the country at that time to
:Answer the question; but I always considered the limita-
tion, with regard to the anomie* in the statute, to the boys
having in their own right certain pass( nions."
" Is that in practice so construed at Winchester ?"—" It is
construed to relate to the poesemions of the boys themselves,
I believe."

" l'auperes et indigentes (poor and indigent), are by the
statutes atone to be elected ; would not your construe:ion
go to !Plow that the children of all the nobility and landed
proprietors in England, M ith very few exceptions, &long to
the class paupers et irodigentes." "That inference might
follow if were to be conud•red as poor who have not pro-
perty of their own, or certain reversion when they come of
cgc ; bu• I cone( ire it is at the discretion of the electors to
&vermin, what boys fall under the description of pouperes
et imaigentes."

" Do you take that to be the meaning of the words of the
statute 1"—" That relates to a question which relates to the
spirit of the statutes, which I do not conceive myself comps
, tent (Irons my not having a sufficient examination of the
spirit of the statutes) to answer ; but I certainly suppose it
was not the intention of the founder to take the sons of the
nobility and most opulent gentry."
Wehave quoted thus freely, as the most unquestionable
method of showing by what interpretation it is that the
cLildron of the rich are allowed to enjoy the benefits which
belong exclusively to the obildrea of the poor. The warden
end fellows swear to observe the statutes according to their
Oda sense, common understanding, and grammatical and
lateral explanation ; and they contend they do, in the elec-
tion of the children whose parents poems their thou-
sands end ten thousands, because, forsooth, these children
Sue not as yet uncontrolled authority over a certain amount
of property, no matter what may be their reasonable ezpect
tation, or just tight to fortune hereafter. With respect to
other portAtua of the statutes, the warden and fellows have
not satrificed the plain sense and common understanding
to a 'lure literal interpretation. Thus, the statutes declare
that if any scholar came into patentee yearly of one hun-
dred shilling:, he shall be expelled; yet the warden and
fellows have changed the slim mentioned from shillings to
marks, because the value of money has undergone a change
Gime the days of Wykeham, sad a scholar must therefore
possess fa. 13s. 4d. instead of dl., to render him liable to ex-
pulsion. Again, the statutes declare that twys shall not be
admitted after the age of twelve years, but according to Dr.
Williams's evidence, boys are admitted after that age. In
money payments and allowances (except to the founder's
kin, which remains at one shilling weekly) the warden and
fellows have wisely deputed from the mere letter of the
statutes. _

With the adoption of these practices, with what con-
sistency can the warden and fellows persist in confining
to its mere li•eral expression the meaning of the statute
which, above all others, requires to be considered in its plain
sems anti unquestionable signification. It is no other then
a pen. rsion or the meaning of words to apply the term of
poor anti indigent to those whose parents can afford to ex-
pend from sixty to seventy pounds a year in maintaining_
them iit school. lu short, the whole matter resolves itself
into this—for what purpose did William of Wykshans
found and endow this college Was it for the convenience
of tho tich or the benefit of the poor?
It dose nut appi ar that Wykeham gave anv positive dime•
Lions fur an increase 01 the number of members of the este-

bliehnient, should Its meanie be greatly regained; but ea
fallow*. may be drawn that be dill Steal an inCVNISS of
meshes or would have given directions to that effect, mid
nveaer,dig
he have sappmed that so lame II Of illool4 SSW
have takes ples, lies the feet *Mae MSS a
Lrevritizeibiawhielt dM atti 811111,141 of
last ae; limo? may
aMr.
wade deities i'molohnhe eel dellebeles this if the mess-
-1 She sad eafelieetomes Semeeld deating, times *Mild be
Siegal fee tie been, eel the pmessaion, rest., and reve-
-1 sue of oar said taw theM, bY the Brea of God, Mao
receive a happy helms the ambit theemW, so es pre-
mimeo, fu the sail elin le be disaishhed, shall also be
augmented, nil shillibereme sestrileg to the herein
thereof, sad othemelle temin in all things aa be
The wades sad know" consider the number of fellows
sad 'Solaro to be positively weaned to ten of the former
end eemety of the latter, and that no Menem of ravines
gigots them any pwer of ineramieg the umber of scholars.
It is a question of doubt, Menses of opinion may be aster-
isked on the subject, end various lithium's may be drawn
hem it ; but honour different the "pillions are, and varies
as the inferenees may be, the warden and fellows cent be
here charged with wilfully departing from the Oslo gene* or
literal interpretation of the maltose. The Bishop of Win-
chester may, as visitor, require to give to this statute, in con-
junction with the app tjeet of the bender a liberal
coastruotion, which, without departing from the mirk of the
statutes, would extend the benefits of the instituttou to four
times the preeent somber of &holm%