The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-21 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

THE COMMEMORATION.
OXFORD, June 20.—The conversazione in the Rad-
cliffe Library last night was attended by large numbers
of the leading resident and non-resident members of the
university.

' At 1.1. o'clock there was an exhibition of the electric
light on the aide of the dome of the Library, looking
towards St. Mary's Church, which attracted thousands
of spectators. This was followed by a splendid display
of fireworks, by Darby—the best ever seen in Oxford.
The grand Masonic ball at the Town-hall was attended
by a distinguished company numbering upwards of 600.
Dancing was prolonged to a late hour.
This rucroing the annual enccenia, or commemoration
of founders and benefactors to the university, took place
in the Sheldonian Theatre, every part of which was well
filled. The upper gallery was crowded with undergra-
duates, and the usual outbursts of health and spirits
evinced themselves. The name of the Queen was re-
ceived with a shout as loud and as hearty as we ever
beard.
On the arrival of the Chancellor (Lord Derby) accom.
panied by the Vice-Chancellor, Heads of Houses, &c.,
the Convocation was opened. A Decree received the ap-
proval of the House, accepting from the Earl of Stan-
hope (who has, during the last term, undertaken the
office of Senior Examiner in the Law and Modern
History Schools) an annual donation of 201., during his
life and bequeathed at his death, for the purpose of
founding a prize, for the best composition on a modern
history subject. The Chancellor then read over the
names of the distinguished individuals on whom it was
proposed to confer the honorary degree of Doctor of
Civil Law, and as each name was mentioned more or less
cheering followed.
The following were the names as put seriatim for the
approval of the house: —The Hon. Jas. Buchanan, Minis-
ter of the United States ' • Le Comte De Montslembert,
a member of the French Academy ; Sir John Beverley
Robinson, Bart., Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and
Chancellor of Trinity College, Toronto ; Lieut.-General
Sir John Fox But Boyne, G.C.B. ; Lieut.-General Sir
De Lacy Evans, K.C.B. ; Sir William Gore Ouseley,
K.C.B. •' Sir Charles Lyell, got., F.R S., M.A., Exeter;
Richard Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P.; Colonel Sabine,
F.R.S., of the Engineers ; Thos. Graham, Esq., F.R.S.,
Master of the Mint ; the Rev. Humphrey Lloyd, D.D.,
Trinity College, Dublin ; Philip Bury Duncan, Esq.,
M.A., late Fallow of New College ; the Rev. Frederick
Willirni Hope, M.A., F.R.S., Ch. Ch. • Alfred Tenny-
son, Esq., Poet Laureate ; George Gabriel Stokes, M.A.,
F.R.S., iLucasian Professor, and Fellow of Pembroke
College, Cambridge ; John Couch Adams, M.A., F.R.S.,
Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge ; John Muir,
Esq. There was scarcely a dissentient voice, but as the
veterans Burgoyne and De Lacy Evans mounted the
platform to take their seats as Doctors, they were greeted
with the most vociferous and enthusiastic applause, which
lasted several minutes. The reception of the poet laureate,
Alfred Tennyson, Esq., was scarcely less enthusiastic.
The annual Crewian oration was then delivered by Mr.
Mitchell, the public orator, after which the prize composi.
tions were recited, and during the recital were loudly
cheered. The Newdigate prize, " The mosque rising in
the place of the temple," received the greatest applause.
At its conclusion the Chancellor dissolved the convoca-
tion.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE NEW MII-
SETIM.—The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of
the new Museum took place at half-past two o'clock.
After the formalities usual on such occasions, the Earl
of Derby, in a short but appropriate speech, mentioned
the objects which had led the University to found the new
museum, viz., the increasing demand for knowledge of
the natural sciences and those studies which were so
so indispensable to the rising generation, which enabled
them to form an estimate, though comparatively small.
of the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of
God. Much as the University bad expended upon the
building of this vast work, viz., 30,0001., still that sum
had nothing to do with furnishing and decorating the
interior, which must be left to the contribution
of private individuals. The 'intention of the
University was to have the pillars along the corridor to
give instruction to those who studied geology. In the
interior of the building would be pedestals fur statues of
men who had spent the whole of their lives for the ad-
vancement of science and the development of those
theories which had been first surmised by ancient philo-
sophers. But the company were to bear in mind that
inbgust
eodf thefive tufntib'vueer;
this project could be only accomplished by individual
donations. It was with great pleasure that he (the
Earl of Derby) had to communicate that the Queen, in
Univer-
sity, care
,a nfrdomparhteirciopwatniovnuirnset,hecofenetlri
acting under
nadnedr2otohebasacmheelorfseeolfinagr,tshaandd
etltruted t'wo
undergraduates,
manner so suitable for so great an occasion
d—viz., more. As they had commenced this good work in a
—he hoped that no ills would befal it,
years the architect might have the pleasure of beholding
a building which, for magnificence of de and for con-
venience, could not surpassed, rearedsiingnsight of those
old towers which fill them with for-their pious
benefactors. The reverencesinging
company then dispersed, after
i prayertvo
the National Anthem.

2, il2tß ODI.P 3, litl
GN-ucNOrraTuRAGF,ED SCHOOL AND GIRLS' REFUGE,
S LFIELDS.—A Ladies' bazaar
of useful and ornamilLiTtarlwAork was held yesterday at
the institution, under the immediate patronage of the
Countees of Shaftesburry,' and other ladies of distinction,
for the purpose of raising a fund for liquidating the
debt incurred by the recent enlargement of the pre-
mises .The school room was tastefully decorated on the
occasion, and well provided with a profusion of elegant
articles Of needlework, and throughout the day a con-
stant succession of visitors assembled. This institution
was one of the first established in London, and is cer-
tainly an effectual medium for ameliorating the condition
ofthe
topoor.
About By
30
0 its a
n, instrumentalitytgterty:girls,
are
adna d
tyraainfnrded t
o f-
e infants,e inomsrttohr sr
rriiitecoleitwai
t instruction
in:n
times iEs
given i
daily, and twice. on Sunday, and a home is provided for
106
'beni continuedwhich h
girlsTh e sale under
s

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1855.

May we be permitted respectfully to suggest
that his Royal Highness the PRINCE CONSORT WO
labouring under some unaccountable misapprehen-
tion, on the 9th of June, when he intimated to
his brethren of the Trinity House that, in the
instance of the present War with Russia, a heavy
trial is now being passed through by our Consti-
tutional Government ? The trial, we would ven-
ture to hint, is not by any means a test of the
strength or weakness of our Constitutional Go-
vernment itself, but rather an ordeal for those
who palter with it—a path of burning plough-
shares to be traversed by the leaders of our aristo-
cratic cliques, the champions of our patrician
coteries, the chiefs of a dominant oligarchy. It
has not been left for us to prove the soundness or
the unsoundness of those grand root principles
which form the very basis of our Constitutional
Government. Century after century the Constitu-
tional Government of England has been tested,
and has not been found wanting. It has grown
with our growth—it has strengthened with
our strength. It has survived the hurricanes
of more than one revolution. Whatever a
Prince of the house of Saxe-Coburg may
think to the contrary, it is not now that
the palladium of our national liberties, the an-
cyllm of our popular rights, the charter of our
insular freedom, have to be weighed in the ba-
lance. Their ponderable worth has loug since,
we take it, been calculated by preceding genera-
tions. It has not been left for us or for our children
to decide whether or not the somewhat essential
principle of vitality is anywhere discoverable in
our Constitutional Government. The struggle
now taking place on the shores of the Euxine is a
heavy trial no doubt—but it is a trial of our
administrators, not of the whole scheme of our
political constitution. Already the system of
popular government in the United Kingdom is
fully comprehended and entirely appreciated. It
does not admit of any fresh test, or trial, or ordeal,
or scrutiny, or analysis, or criterion. All such
have been long since exhausted. What the people
of these islands are at present aspiring to bring
about are certain administrative reforms—not any
radical change, or fundamental modification in the
elaborate fabric and complicated scheme of our
vast Constitutional Government. It is idle,
therefore, for any one to talk nowadays, midway
in the nineteenth century, of a war like the one
at present waged against Russia, being a "heavy
trial " undergone by our Constitutional Govern-
ment. As well dream of some mighty oak of a
thousand years' standing being imperilled by a
night's frost, like the tenderest sprout just grafted,
or the most delicate seedling just budding through
the mould. There are but three tests for such as
this Oak of England. It may wither out after the
lapse of ages, crumbling into gradual decay out of
the fullness of time, from having passed the
limits of possible survival. Or it may be laid
low by the axe of some new ALARIC, some
" Scourge of Gen," some appointed Destroyer.
Or it may be struck down, reverently so to speak,
by the "stretched-out arm" of the ALMIGHTY, by
the lightnings of HEAVEN, by the thunderbolts
of His awful Providence. Not by any frivolous
ordeal, such as that of a single campaign, or even li
of a sustained contest—the ordeal rather of an
unconstitutional Afinistry than of a Constitu-
tional Government. Again, therefore, we insist
upon the extravagance of any one talking of the
present War with Russia, be the speaker Prince
or Peasant, as a " severe trial" which is being
undergone by our Constitutional
Government.
It was no less unfortunate, we cannot but
think, that his Royal Highness the
Prince
Con-
sort should, during the course of the same speech
to which we have already here alluded,
the speech
delivered by him on Saturday se'ennight, the 9th
of June, 1855, have given utterance to an extra-
ordinary sentence like the following—[His Royal
Highness, it will be understood, while speakingthe
words hereinafter subjoined, referred to the recent
exposure by the Press of the late mismangement of
our army before Sebastopol]—" Yo mistake," said
the Prince "however want
trifling, can occur, no
or tveakness exist, which I •
S not at once denounced,
and even,
sometimes exaggerated with a kind of
morbid satisfaction;'
Language, we repeat, which
we cannot but d • esignate as somewhat extraordi-
nary under exerting '
cucurmitances. In testimony

of which let us examine this sentence for a
moment piecemeal, it scarcely matters how cur-
sorily. "No mistake" it begins—rather a
mild phrase by which to specify those wan-
ton blunders, those altogether monstrous and
egregious short-comings which have already cost
the country in round numbers, as Mr. BRIGHT
took occasion to remind the House of Commons
only the other evening, between 30,000 and
40,000 men, and between 30,000,0001. and
40,000,0001. sterling 1 "No mistake, however
trifling"—Good GOD, is the loss of an entire
army in a single winter trifling ? Is the destruc-
tion in one season of some 30,000 men trifling ?
Is the squandering of revenue to the amount of
30,000,000/. sterling trifling ? Nevertheless, to
proceed in the obvious analysis of this unlucky
sentence. "No mistake, however trifling, can
occur, no want or weakness exist, which is not at
once denounced." Not so, we protest ; not so—
the word is altogether rashly and inaptly selected.
It is not the want which is denounced, it is not
the weakness—it is rather the inefficiency of those
shameless Ministers whose bungling caused that
want, whose timidity and vacillation originated
that weakness, that the press of England has been
all this while so loudly and earnestly denouncing.
Flowbeit, to give once more this unfortunate
sentence in its entirety. "No mistake, however
trifling, can occur, no want or weakness exist,
which is not at once denounced, and even some-
times exaggerated with a kind of morbid satis-
faction !" As to the " exaggeration "we leave
the settlement of that question to the result of
the evidence taken from the lips of somewhat
credible witnesses, in "number seventeen," before
Mr. ROEBUCK'S memorable Committee of Inquiry
into the State of the Army before Sebastopol.
Corroborated as that ex cathedra evidence is by
the ex officio testimony of men such as S. G. 0.,
or as the Times almoner, or as the Hon. Member
for North Northamptonshire. While in reference
to the unjust statement that these denunciations
have been sometimes " exaggerated" —how ?—why,
actually, it is said, " with a kind of morbid satis-
faction"—THAT we leave implicitly to the conscience
of the country, to the sense of justice of thirty-
seven millions of our fellow-countrymen ! Sub-
mitting it simply to the nation at large, as we do
so, whether a brand-upon-the-patriotism like this
is precisely the meed which has been deserved by
that free Press of England, which was the first to
lay bare the deficiences of our noble army in the
Crimea, the first to disclose betimes the exceeding
peril of its position before Sebastopol. Whereby
—from the open speaking of the Press in the
sorest time of need the English soldier ever had
to encounter—the remnant at least of our first
heroic band of warriors was preserved so as to be
the nucleus for the formation of a second arma-
ment. Enough. It is sufficient for us that we
have here selected for analysis but a single
phrase, but one solitary sentence from the remark-
able harangue delivered in the Trinity House, on
the 9th inst., by the Prince Consort. That single
phrase, and that solitary sentence, we content
ourselves with particularising as we have here
particularised them, to the end that we may thus
earnestly regret the untoward circumstance of his
Royal Highness having expressed sentiments so de-
rogatory to his high reputation for prudential fore-
thought—implying, as the language of the Prince
does, but as we cannot induce ourselves to belies e
his Royal Highness could possibly have intended
it to do, a doubt as to the patriotism of our jour-
nalists, and as to the stability of our Constitu-
i tional Government.

Another obstacle in the way of the Marriage
Law Amendment Bill has been successfully en-
countered. The several amendments of which
Sir FREDERIC THESIGER had given notice, with
the view, nominally, of preventing the retro-
spective action of the bill, but really to impede
its progress, and cause its virtual rejection, have
been disposed of—after several divisions, with
majorities varying from 24 to 47—in favour of
Mr. HEYWOOD'S clauses. The day was, however,
consumed in the conflict against bigotry and
intolerance, and there has been a further post-
ponement until the 10th of July, when we sup-
pose, in accordance with the tactics hitherto dis-
played by the minority, the Fabian policy will again
be resorted to, with a view of retarding that which
oinnot be entirely prevented. It is, therefore,
indispensable that every friend of civil and reli-
gious liberty—every person who considers that
there should be no undue restriction on the most
sacred and highly-prized privilege belonging to a
free man, should exert himself to bring this un-
toward state of affairs to a speedy conclusion, and
to sweep away the last, but perhaps the bitterest,
remnant of religious intolerance, the foulest blot
from the national statute-book. Nay, more, the
Government, which professes great liberality, should
itself take up the question, and take care that the
forms of Parliament should not be resorted to in
order to defeat the passing of an act of justice to
a numerous body of religious and moral indi-
viduals.

The voice of public opinion has been long heard
in favour of the equitable demand. For a series
of years in successive Parliaments the question has
been decided over and over again in every possible
form in which it could be put, and if the friends
of civil and religious liberty were but one-half as
earnest and energetic in their proceedings as the
bigots who seek to bind the entire body of Dissen-
ters by a doubtful canon, which is not even ac-
knowledged by the members of the Established
Church, the measure would long since have passed
into a law. Unfortunately, however, there is a
degree of apathy and indifference amongst many
of those who feel correctly, but who will not
make any extraordinary exertion to carry their
views into practical operation, and thus it has been
that the opponents of the bill have been en-
abled indirectly to extend its passing. This
insouciance we desire to get rid of. We wish to
stimulate those willing to do justice to so nume-
rous and influential a body of their countrymen
into making the necessary exertion to see that
there shall be no further procrastination. This
can only be done by every man who asserts the
right of private judgment, and who refuses to
allow others to dictate to him on matters which
are between him and his CREATOR alone, firmly
resolving that he will not vote for any candidate,
no matter how high his other qualifications, who
will not solemnly pledge himself to the repeal of
the existing restrictions on marriages with a de-
ceased wife's sister—that he will not support any
Ministry who will not make it a Cabinet ques-
tion which they are determined to carry.
The theological part of the question has been long
since abandoned. None can venture to assert that
such connexions are prohibited by the clause, which
gives an implied sanction thereto, after the death
of the first wife. But as the restriction cannot
be justified from the text of " the Bible," it is
endeavoured to be sustained on certain canons,
which, as we have stated, are not recognised even
by the great
majority of the members of the
Church of England themselves. Now, whatever
authority these canons may have so far as Church-
men are concerned, they cannot exercise the most
remote influence on those who conscientiously
protest against the Articles and Canons of that