The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-18 00:00:00

PRICE 4d,,
STAMPED sd.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS BILL.

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Yesterday a deputation, consisting of Lord Camp-
bell, the Hon. G. Brodrick, Sir G. Young, Bart.,
G. Shaw-Lefcvre, Esq., M.P., and the Rev. W. H.
Freeinantle, waited upon the Earl of Clarendon for
the purpose of ascertaining his lordship's views with
respect to the Public Schools Bill,

The deputation having been introduced by Lord CAMP-- I
DELL, his lordship addressed the Earl of Clarendon as fol-
lows :—ln appearing before your lordship as opponents of
the Public Schools Bill, wo disclaim all wish to thwart the
objects or disparage the conclusions of the inquiry you have
recently directed. The measure wo advocate in its place is,
according to our judgment (of which the grounds, with your
leave, shall be. submitted to you), the best if not the only
course by which the long and valuable labours of the Royal
Commission can be rescued from sterility. The argument on
which we rely may at once be made intelligible to your lord-
ship, and with very little effort, we think, substantiated.
It cannot have escaped you that the general adoption in the
other public schools of the improvements indicated by the
commissioners depends in a great degree on their establish-
ment at Eton. The competition of the other public schools
with Eton for the favour of society makes it indispensable
that they should equal, or rather to a slight degree surpass
her, in readiness to conform to the enlightened opinions of
the age on the subject of education, so as to balance the
advantage which her numbers, her position on the Thames,
her popularity, and antiquity have given her. While at Eton
modern tongues and science were ignored, at other public
schools they were imperfectly and scantily supplied. When
at Eton they were barely recognised, at Rugby they had
begun to form a part of education. When in 1860 military
drill was introduced at Eton in all the other public schools,
according to the limit of their means, it immediately became
fashionable. If at Eton no progress is secured towards the
educational reform specially insisted on by the commission, it
will be tardy and reluctant elsewhere. There may, indeed,
be at first a few spasmodic efforts of the new bodies formed
to govern the other public schools. But such efforts, how-
ever strenuous, will not. produce the requisite effect. The
history of our public schools is in a great measure the his-
tory of conflict between the governors and the head mas-
ters, in which the governors have yielded. The new' go-
verning bodies may certainly be superior in efficiency to
the old. But it will not cease to be found that a plurality
of wills cannot be invested with the firmness and energy of
a single one. As before, the consultative power will not
struggle permanently or effectually with the executive, and
non-residents will yield their own opinions to the greater
technical knowledge of those who live on the spot. Above
all, the high and honourable motives which, as we may as-
sume, would spur the new governors to exertion, cannot
(as your lordship knows from a study of the world at honile
and abroad) be equal in intensity or constancy to the more
ordinary influences which would bear against them on the
part of those whom they endeavoured to control. The other
public schools will therefore still look to the Eton standard,
to which they must in self-defence conform. Unless, there-
fore, the Eton standard is materially raised, the great work
of the commissioners, not for Eton, but for all the public
schools, will fail to be accomplished. If the Eton standard
is made to reach the point your lordship and the commis-
sioners have fixed for it, that great work is finished at a
blow, no matter what governing authorities Parliament
imposes on the ether schools, no matter in what way these
governing bodies may afterwards conduct their internal
affairs. Your lordship will thus observe that could we trace
the course by which alone the Eton standard can be ade-
quately raised, we shall trace the course by which the suc-
cess of the commission can most surely be rendered general
and lasting. The Eton standard cannot be adequately
raised by the existing governors, consisting as they do of
the provost and head master. This position your lordship
will no doubt consider sufficiently established by a refer-
ence to the working of the present system illustrated by
the evidence taken by the Royal Commission, and by the
inadequacy of the measures which have been under con-
sideration at Eton since the publication of your report.
The Eton standard cannot, we think, be adequately
raised by the proposed governing body. It is here,
and here only, we join issue with the bill. It would not
.be difficult to point out the elements of discord, the obsta-
cles in the way of action, which the proposed body would
inevitably contain. It would be more easy still to protest
against the power of the Crown to nominate objectionable
governors, were it not certain that such nominated persons
will always form a minority insignificant from their num-
bers. Such themes may be suited to Parliamentary at-
tack, but it is in another spirit we have ventured to ap-
proach you. It is more just to the commissioners, and
more conducive to a practical result, that we should limit
our criticism to this important point, viz., that under the
now system power would be concentrated in the hands of
the existing follows. The existing follows, as the bill lays
down, aro to be at the outset the stipendiary governors.
They are to choose five of the non-stipendiary governors.
With fair and pardonable views they may be expected to
choose five on whom as supporters they can rely. The
three Crown nominees would have the weight, of a com-
pact and no doubt a conscientious majority to resist, with-
out the advantages of residence to facilitate their influence,
or stipend to increase their responsibility, in striving
against these fearful odds. No principle of human nature,
and no experience, appears to warrant the assumption that
a small unrequited, irresponsible, and non-resident mino-
rity of governors could effect at Eton the reforms which
the commissioners desire. One chance, however, of im-
provement would remain, if the proposed body did not
threaten to preclude it. At some future time, in some pos-
sible conjuncture, the head master might be a person
animated by a desire of walking in the very path which
the commissioners have traced for him. His mind and
powers might bo such as to draw the provost of the
day into full concurrence with him. Accord-
ing to the present system, faulty as it is,
much could under such circumstances be achieved.
But under the new body the head master awl
provost might both be paralysed together by the
crushing majority which the stipendiaries would command.
In spite of the ascendant usually obtained by the head master
over governing authorities, machinery so fitted for obstruc-
tion might have defeated the activity and perhaps occa-
sioned the retirement of Dr. Arnold himself. Imagination
may bo strongly taxed in conceiving a head-master able to
attach a provost, in his independent position, to the line of
the commissioners. It would be yet more fanciful to picture
the head-master impelling the provost to such a lino when
the united power of the fellows swayed him in an opposite
direction. But suppose the head-master and the provost to
be combined, in such a case even that combination might
be outvoted and powerless.
If the existing constitution is not adapted to reform, and
if the proposed body would have no tendency to forward and
fatal power to obstruct it, it has been plausibly argued, and
it is not our purpose to deny, that an executive commission
is the sole alternative presented to your lordship. The ex-
perience afforded by the University Commissioners, the
approval of several high authorities, and the acquiescence to
a considerable extent of public opinion might all be men-
tioned in its favour. It is, however, our wish to notice some
of the objections which as yet have been ambiguously urged
against it. It has been said that an executive commission
would not provide for a better government of Eton than
that which now exists, and that a change in the governing
body is no less essential than a change in the instruction.
But why should not the executive commission frame a go-
vernment for Eton as well as regulate its revenues and
studies ? According to the precedent of the universities the
task would be clearly within its function. Were it, however,
thought right to limit the executive commission to direct
reforms, it would not in any manner interfere with a sub-
sequent reconstruction of the governing body. If not itself
permitted to forma governing body, a commission cannot
be appointed to prohibit its formation by the Legislature.
That an executive commission would in either case be
willing to perpetuate the defects which exist in the go-
vernment of the college—and this has been objected to it—
is a bold paradox. It cannot have been seriously urged ex-
cept to serve the momentary wants of a Parliamentary dis-
paragement. It is alleged that other schools would be reduced
to uniformity of system if one executive commission were
brought to bear on all of them. It is true that such a
danger might attend a general commission. But no such
inconvenience would attach to the course of scuffing an
executive committee to deal with Eton singly. Nor need
it be accused of inconsistency. The special case justifies
the special agency. To give modern languages and science
their due position is allowed to
erxefieotrmingthgLvertlllie-
than at other places. New statutesbe maorree
rdreqffincir.ue% atht
eEretotno
meat o overcome oomf
Eton
to n peculiaris complications. existing
existing government of Harrow, Charterhouse, or Rugby.
r o dTuhcee
The Eton governing body proposed in the bill will have
less flt d t
stronger temptation to resist reform than the bodies which
are proposed for the other public. schools. Eton can best
afford to risk a change in education from the greater
security of her position. Eton is the best field for a new
experiment, because the numbers of the school and the dif-
ferences of age aro greater there than elsewhere. At Eton
modern languages will find a congenial soil, owing to the
encouragement the late Prince Consort gave them by his
prizes, and to the comparatively larger number of pupils
destined to those careers in which proficiency in them is
essential. Above all, to recapitulate the principal argu-
ment, the executive commission which raises the Eton
standard will indirectly raise the standard in other public
schools. Reform will thus be effected without danger of
producing an objectionable uniformity. The more real
though the less avowed objection, we conceive to be, that
a certain harshness towards the authorities at Eton would
seem to be implied in such a measure. Even if this
were so, should there be no other way of effecting the
necessary improvement'', a commission ought not to be