The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 5, 18 5 :3.

various reforms in the universities. I will not state any
particular scheme which it is the intention of the Govern-
ment to adopt. On the contrary, her Majesty's Government
• are of opinion that they would not fulfil their duty in the
• best manner if they proposed any particular scheme for the
adoption of the house until the matter had been much more
• maturely considered, and until tho universities had had
the opportunity of giving their suggestions and their ob-
servations, and adopting such measures as they may think
• it desirable to adopt on the subject of the changes sug-
gested. Speaking, however, of the University of Oxford,
there are in the first place some points upon which the
commissioners have touched, with respect to which I think
it is but fair that I should state what are the views of her
Majesty's Government. The first subject with reference
to Oxford, and which is of the highest importance, is the
constitution of the government of the university itself.
(Hear, hear.) We are of opinion that very considerable
change is required in the constitution of that university.
(Hearo hear.) We think it desirable that there should
exist a greater power of introducing into the governing
body of the university persons who, in the station of pro-
fessors, are engaged in teaching in the university, and into
the several colleges those who are engaged in teaching in
those colleges. What should be the particular form of
that governing body is a matteropon which, as I have in-
timated, we are not yet prepared to decide. What we
say is, that it is a subject to which we shall look, to which
our attention will be directed, and upon which wo shall be
ready to receive any suggestion which may come from the
university itself. But if these suggestions either do not,
come, or if they should fail to meet what we think the cir-
et-tin-stances of the case require, it will then be necessary to
come to Parliament and submit to it proposals of our own
on the subject. (Hear, hear.) There is another matter
upon which our opinion is no.less decided with respect to
i
0, (
rinitiaehrotai mshrsni
eetcoplyrec
country,
purpose
giultopi
hl
tsll
tryee
ytt°lb, andleayb
ni
liffhert
tvaiehi
treated,
that
ttttiadmissionehhttdhae,wytewill
hir
ave
iebvbns
eee:
itbsut
etehenei
been
nvusheteoor principle,ufoniegtlahsiaeettftisoetrwouy tgeeabhraneeeer and that
fib.
ttntiehhltieaFelntluaoediurtdes be
necessary that there should be a power of admission, and
of attending the teaching of the university, and of acquir-
ing those privileges by means other than those of belong-
ing to, or residing in, colleges. (Hear, hear.) Whether
the recommendations of the commission on the University
of Oxford, or the different recommendations of the com-
mission on the University of Cambridge, should bo taken
on the subject, I will not now pretend to decide. Any
change which shall effect the object, and effect it without
endangering the discipline of the university—because that
point must be kept carefully in mind—will be favourably
considered by us, and will be one which we shall be ready
to adopt. (Hear, hear.) Another subject in connection
with the present state of the University of Oxford is the
amount of restriction which is placed upon the attainment
of fellowships and emoluments in the university. (Hear.)
Many of those restrictions, it is true, claim for their origin
the statutes of the university, or the wills of the founders,
but we have to consider that if these statutes and these
wills were to be literally obeyed, we should have, not the
present state of the universities, but a state very much
different, and one which it would be impossible to maintain.
I will not upon this point express any opinion as to the re-
commendations of the commissioners—whether all restric-
tions as to place of birth, or the county to which the persons
belong, should be abolished, or whether persons belonging
to that locality ceteris paribus should have the advantage
—all I say is that merit, industry, study, and ability ought
to have their due reward. (Hear, hear.) I may say fur-
ther, in respect to another topic of great importance, that
a greater part of the incomes and revenues of the colleges
should be devoted to purposes of instruction, such as to
giving additional incomes to professors, or applied in other
modes most conducive to giving instruction in the univer-
sities:- No doubt, we must keep in mind on this subject,
as in other trusts, the purposes for which they were created.
At the same time, I do not think it possible to lose sight
of the times in which many of those foundations were
made, and the views entertained by those who founded
them—views which were entertained naturally and pro-
perly according to the belief of the times, and, perhnps,
according to the circumstances of the times, but which no
longer apply to the present period. For instance, it was
thought at one time that it was most desirable that num-
ber of studious men, 'perhaps of the ecclesiastical profes-
sion, should devote their time to study and to prayer, and
that they should remain in seclusion from the rest of the
world. Far be it from me to state that those who devoted.
their means and their estate to that purpose took a mis-
taken view of the benefits which might thereby be ob-
tained. I believe that at a time when no man's house was
safe, when armed knights were frequenting lanes and val-
leys to save the peace of the country, and there was no se-
curity for life or property, the sacred character given to
these institutions enabled the men thus secluded to pre-
serve the works of learning ; it enabled them to preserve
those great classical works which at the time of the revi-
val of letters were found in the monasteries and convents,
and which, amid the din of arms and amid a state of ig-
norance which might have led to barbarism, yet kept alive
that sacred flame rrom which we have derived our civilisa-
tion. Far be it from me, therefore, to say that they were
short-sighted, and still less to say they were not benevo-
lent. But the circumstances of the present day are utterly
altered in that respect ; and those same men who, ani-
mated by the love of knowledge, made those foundations,
would probably, if they lived in these times, be the first
to say that instruction of another kind ought to be given.
(Hear' hear.) There is another view, likewise, which they
might have entertained with regard to the localities to
which they confined their endowments, It might very
well be that a man of property, seeing that his county was
in a state of ignorance, and entirely deprived of the light
of letters and science, might have thought that if he found-
ed in the University of Oxford or in the University of
Cambridge a fellowship devoted to the inhabitants of that
county, it would turn their minds to the acquisition of
knowledge, and thereby he might increase the general cul-
tivation, and so civilise the county. Ido not say that was
not a wise view ; but what I say is, that with our present
means of communications and with the present circulation
of knowledge through the country, a reservation which might
be wise at the commencement would be exceedingly unwise
at the present moment. (Hear.) These, then, are four of
the objects which we shall endeavour to keep in view with
regard to the University of Oxford :—First, the improve-
ment of the governing power or body ; another, a larger
admission of students without belonging to a particular
college ; third, the removal or modification of the restric-
tions which now exist in regard to the attainment of the
rewards and honours of the university to a particular county
oe
nr
dl oo caw
n' iiteyn;t
saldaof
propertyt th,th e.
fpa
tphlei ccaotliloeng
eosf
tsoo The. parrpit p ofos
eo
thef
instruction in the university, which are now not given for
any purposes of instruction whatever. Another object
which I think we should have in view is, that when fellow
ships are attained by students, the distinction should not
be held for life, but only for a certain period. Thus we
shall have a constant stimulus to and a constant system of
promotion. (Hear.) Sir, I will not go into the recom-
mendations that have been made by the commissioners ap-
pointed for the University of Cambridge. They recom-
mend, in a similar spirit, that those restrictions which I
have mentioned should no longer exist, but they state that
the university itself is continually, from time to tune,
adapting its institutions to the present state of knowledge
and the present state of the country, and they expect that
further improveieents will be made in the same direction.
They say that they think it would be a great misfortune if
the University of Cambridge should in any respect fall
short of that which is required from it by the moat en-
lightened view of the public interests, and the greatest ad-
vantage of the people of this country. At the same time,
with a natural pride in the university to which they be-
long, they say they are happy to think such has been the
case, and they fur ther think that it will continuo to be the
case hereafter; at the same time they state their firm be-
lief that the interposition of Parliament will be required in
order to enable the University of Cambridge to make ell
those reforms and improvements which, in their opinion,
ought to be made. (Hear.) Now, sir, may I venture to
say that the persons whom I had the honour of advising
the Crown to appoint to the commissions of Oxford and
Cambridge were men of very great distinction ; they were
men who themselves had attended those universities—men
who had attained to the greatest honours, some of them in
science and others in classical learning ; and that they ap-
proadhed the subject with that reverence for those great
institutions which such men were sure to feel ? When,
therefore, such men as these advise such extensive altera-
tions, and accompany them with such observations, I think
it is the part of Parliament, without reserve, and waving
every objection, to consider their different proposals, and
to legislate for the improvement of the Universities of Ox-
ford and Cambridge. (Hear.) I trust I have made it clear
to the house that we do not propose at the present time, or
without giving full means to the universities of considering
all that we ought to do, to introduce any bill to Parliament
on these subjects. At the same time we shall keep in view
these objects which we think essential. (Hear, hear.) If
the universities adopt them, and carry them into effect as
far as they can, and apply to Parliament for powers to
carry them out still further, we shall be happy to see them
arrive at that consummation ; but if they should not
do so, if there should be persons who are still deterred by
their prejudices from making any, even tho most useful
alterations, it will then be our duty, as the Government,
not to hesitate, but to bring in such measures as we may
think absolutely necessary. (Hear, hear.) Now sir,
having ventured to trouble the house upon this important
subject, I feel that, wide as the field is which I have had to
go ove., it has been quite impossible for me to give an ade-
quate notion to the house, either of the present state of
these questions, or of the measures which the Government
mean to propose. (Hear, hear.) But I have a firm belief
that the people of this country, who themselves have
founded these institutions—that the people of this country
who, in the course of the last half century have carried
day schools and the instruction of the poorer classes to
such an extent as I have shown—will supply any inade-
quacy which I may have shown, and will even supply any
defects they may find in our legislation. I feel that, with
regard to the great and most important subjects, that
will happen which we have seen happen in the material
world and in physical science. We have seen that which
beggars have passed unnoticed, and which was disregarded
converted into the means of giving brilliant light in our
streets and our houses. We have seen those powers of
nature which were usually considered noxious and destruc-
tive employed to carry to distant regions in a few minutes
intelligence which a century ago would require weeks, and
even months, to convey. We have seen other wonders of
physical science and physical study astonish, almost every
year, the generations in which we have lived. I feel per-
suaded that whatever may be the state of society in this
country at present, that there is a power at work which
will draw up from the dregs and the destructive part of
that society the means of establishing religion and mo-
rality upon a still firmer basis, and which will make reli-
gion and morality the crown of our social institutions.
(Hear, hear.) I feel, then, that this is even a nobler task,
that it is even a still greater achievement than those won-
ders which the acquisitions of science have enabled us to
effect. (Hoar, hear.) Imploring, then, this house to pay
the utmost attention to all these subjects, to take no word
of mine as sufficient for the measures that we have to pro-
pose, but begging them to keep in view these great objects
upon which the future happiness and welfare of this coun-
try must depend, I shall conclude by asking for leave to
bring in a bill to improve and extend the education of the
people in England and Wales. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME contended that secular education was the
only system of education which could be generally accepta-
ble in this country, and that the noble lord's plan would
be a failure if he intended to combine with it the teachin,,,
of religion. The principle of the division of shouldlabour
pursuits—the
schoolmaster '
clergyman that which was religious.
He
well could not com-
prehend why a schoolmaster should able to train a
bea pie d
communicating education as well eIl
secular a s t o all
n other l
wedge
andthe
his besocial
and political
boy up to the proper discharge of
dutie s
attended
as there were now,
made. There were as many sects then
alike. No religion
and the schoolmaster taught them all
which nobody could
hewassuorne
was taught except just those points
finstruction
Times
sl
wheererecoeellrteaciteeldy ethtaetrednonde7stibnuctiownhsewnehree
Saturdays.object;t he Catechism
That
that if the noble lord adhered to his principle there would
be no chance of improvement. At the some time, he -was
greatly obliged to the noble lord for having introthwa the
sy et was
worked esdubwj subject
, of