The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-13 00:00:00

University of Edinburgh.

ELECTION OF RECTOR.
The triennial election to the office of Rector of
Edinburgh University took place on Saturday. The
office, which is of ancient date in some of the Scot-
tish Universities, was first instituted in Edinburgh
by the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1859, and the
present is the third election that has taken place
under the Act. The electors are the students hold-
ing matriculation tickets for the year. The candi-
dates nominated on this occasion were Mr. Carlyle
and Mr. Disraeli, and on either side meetings had .
been held, and a spirited canvass was instituted on
the part of the committees. While, on the one hand,
Mr. Carlyle's committee boasted of their candidate
as a man of the highest literary powers, as a Scotch- .
man, and an airtimius of Edinburgh University, and
as oce who would attend the meetings of the Uni-
versity, of which the Rector is president, Mr. Dis-
raeli's friends set him forth as an eminent statesman
as well as an author, and as a member of Parlia-
ment, who would be well qualified to advocate the
claims of the Scottish Universities in Parliament.
But, apart from the merits of the different candi-
dates, the element of politics also intervened in the
election, the Conservatives warmly supporting,
and the Liberals as strenuously opposing, Mr. Dis-
raeli. Of the students who acted independently of •
party, the great majority espoused the Carlyle side,
to some extent from feelings of nationality, and to

a large extent from a sense of Mr. Carlyle's high
literary claims. Some excellent jeuzd'esprit were
issued on both sides, the Disraeli party giving a very
clever burlesque of Mr. Carlyle's style, and the
Carlyle party publishing a series of comical an-

nouncements in the name of Artemus Ward, as the

real " Konservativ Candid 8." For a day or two

before the election it was clear the Carlyle party
would carry the day, although the other side also ex-_

place between 10 and 12 o'clock on Saturday, in the
different class-rooms, the professors acting as poll
sheriffs. Of a constituency of 1,288 only 967 voted, a
great many of the law students being occupied in their
offices with the business of Martinmas Term, while
there was also a considerable number of electors
who would support neither candidate, believing that
the office would be better filled by a resident Rector.
While the poll was in progress the students amused
themselves in the vestibule and quadrangle by jost-
ling and tussling each other, peppering black coats
with flour, and knocking white hats in, and taking
other personal liberties with each other, while the
vocal accompaniments were various and loud. At
12 o'clock the professors closed the books in the dif-
ferent class-rooms, where the polling had been taken,
according to the numbers on the matriculation
tickets, and assembled in the Senate-hall, where the
figures were cast up and a large placard, indicating
the result, was prepared. About half-past 12 the
numbers were exhibited from a balcony to a great
assemblage in the quadrangle, the following being
the results :

For Mr. Carlyle 657
For Mr. Disraeli 3lO
Majority for Carlyle -347

The announcement was received with tremendous
cheering on the one side, and an almost silent dis-
appointment on the other. It was not expected that
the victory of Mr. Carlyle would exceed two to one,
and it was immediately felt by the Conservatives
that they had on this occasioned suffered the most
serious of three successive defeats. In 1859 (the first
election) the numbers were—for Gladstone, 613 ;
for Lord Neaves, 527—majority, 116 ; and in 1862.
the poll stood for the re-election of Mr. Gladstone,
644 ; for Mr. Stirling, M.P., 468—majority, 176.
At the Carlyle committee-room loud cheers were
given for the successful candidate, and in Mr. Dis-
raeli's rooms some hopeful words of future success
were spoken.

On Saturday Mr. David Masson was inducted
into the office of Professor of Rhetoric, Mr. Oakely
into the Professorship of Music, and Mr. Macpher-
son into the chair of Scots Law.