The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD BILL.

Their lordships then went into committee upon this
bill ; Lord REDESDALE in the chair.
Lord CANNING moved the postponement of the
preamble.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH said it was very
necessary to postpone it, for unless the bill was mate•
rially altered it would be entirely inconsistent with the
' preamble. The preamble recited that the measure was
one for the "advancement of religion ;" but the bill so
far from promoting religion, contained some provisions
which might be considered to have an opposite effect.
(Hear, hear, from the Earl of Derby.) If the bill were
not very much amended, he should certainly move the
omission of these words in the preamble. (Hear.)
The preamble was then postponed.
On clause 1, •
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH moved the inser-
tion of the Earl of Harrowby's name in the first portion
of the clause, the object of which was to give precedence
to the noble earl over the rest of the commissioners.
The amendment was agreed to.
On clause 4, relating to oaths,
Lord BERNERS moved the omission of the words,
" And no oath which may have been taken by any such
officer shall be pleadable in bar of any authorities of the
said commissioners."
Viscount CANNING sail he must oppose the amend-
ment. It appeared to her Majesty's Government that
in dealing with this question of oaths, it was very de
sirable to remove every impediment which might arise
from motives of conscience ; and as the colleges had
administered oaths by virtue of authority given by the
state, so the state, being the dominant power, had a
right to absolve from the obligation of such oaths.
Lord BERNERS said he must persist in the amend-
ment.

Their lordships then divided—
For Lord Berners's amendment 64
Against 77-13
The clause was then agreed to.
On clause 5,

The Earl of DERBY observed that the new constitu-
tion was to come into operation on the very day when
the examination; were held, and when the annual ac
ounts of all the colleges were in course of settlement.
This would be very inconvenient, and it would there-
fore be better to postpone for a few weeks the coming
into operation of the new system. He would there-
f ire suggest that the words " on or before the 14th day
of December" should be substituted for the words
"upon the 14th day of Michaelmas Term." Again, 11,4
the bill now stood, the powers of the heb lonotdal board
were to be transferred to the new hebdomadal council
on the 14th day of Michaelmas Term, 1854, and by the
10th clause the members of the liefl,lomidal council were

to be elected on the 15th day of Michaelmas Icin;;;
that the powers of the present board were to be trans-
ferred to the new council before they were elected.
(Hear.) There was here a, jumble ,f dates which ought
to be rectified. The noble earl suggested an alteration
of the clauses which, without altering the object of the
Gov,rninent, would carry out their intention in a more
simple manner.

Viscount CANNING concurred in the propriety of
altering the arrangement of the clauses, which would be
an improvement.

The clause was then agreed to.
On clause 6,

The Earl of ELLEN BOROUGH called attention to
some verbal inaccuracies in the wording of this clause.
In a bill for reconstructing a university, the grammar
°net at least to be accurate. (Laughter.)
The Earl of DERBY said that in declaring the per-
eplearu person
6as had the
beenC Chancellor.
agreedcello r.
to, (L
they
per-
sons who were to constitute the new governing body,
(Laughter.)
the Government seemed to forget that there was such a
teen rm. )e
seemed
tf toe rh, a
ve however,
recol-
lected that there was such a person, for two additional
clauses . were added to the bill, in which
Lord Chancellor did occur. (Laughter.)
the name of the
to insert in the present clause beforei t,e,ri) Vice-Chancellor"
ancproposed
the word " Chancellor," which would obviate- theneell" neces-
sity of the two additional clauses.
Viscount CANNING, in seconding the amendment,
said his noble friend was well aware that he had not
been forgotten, because the bill empowered the Chan-
cellor to appoint one professor and oue head of house to
represent him.
Lord WARD proposed the insertion of the following
clause in lieu of clause 6 :—" The hebdomadal council
shall consist of the vice-chancellor, the proctors, six
heads of colleges or halls, six professors of the univer-
sity, together with -ix members of convocation of not
less than five years standing, to be elected by the con-
gregation hereinafter mentioned of the said university,
and the vice-chancellor or his deputy shall be the presi-
dent of such hebdomadal council." His object in pro-
posing this clause was, to bring about uaanim:ty of
action, and to make the principle of representation what
t should be, a free and fair one. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of CA.RNA.R.VON stiggeste I the introduc-
tion of the word "Chancellor" before Vice-Chancellor in

the new clause, and-the omission of the words "to be
clauseelected." was By
rendered ierwl dubious.retainingthose words the meaning of the
The Earl of DONOUG HIVIORE said that it was desir-
able that the six heads of houses should be elected by
those who were acquainted with them, and the s .me
reason hell good with regard to the professors. They
had to reconcile, he would not say conflicting interests,•
but conflicting opinions ; and this being so, it was not
logical that each body should elect the persons who were
to represent them on the council. Not being a member
of the University of Oxford himself, of which the noble
lord was a member for many years, he could not say
what was the object of the noble lord in proposing the
clause ; but there seemed to exist a feeling of hostility to
the heads of houses in the proposition of the noble lord.
(Order, order.)
The Duke of NEWCASTLE and Lord Ward rose
together, but the former addressing the house, said he
earnestly entreated that anything like personality--
(loud cheers)— might be avoided in the discussion of this
question. The noble earl, the leadez of the opposition
and the chancellor of the university, set them au admir-
able example, both last night and on the present occa-
sion, which he trusted would be steadily and implicitly
followed. (Cheers.) It the noble earl who had just sat
down had been a member of the University of Oxford,
lie would have avoided the observations he made, and he
hoped his noble friend (Lord Ward) woßld not reply to
these observations, because no one could impute to him
any other motive in the amendment he proposed than
the good of the univsrsity and of all classes in it, (Hear,
hear.) With regard to the amendment itself, he thought
the remark of the noble earl behind him (the Eta of
Carnarvon) was perfectly applicable, and that the clause
as it stood would not carry out the intention of his noble
friend. He hoped that the committee would concur in
the propriety of making the congregation the elective
body. They were of sufficient number, between 250 and
300, constantly resident at Oxford, and therefore well '
acquainted with the merits of those whom it was pro•
posed to elect. He thought there was much truth in the
suggestion of Lord Ward, that the heads of houses would
elect the six senior heads of houses. He should therefore
support the amendment of the noble lord.
The Earl of HARR° W BY opposed the amendment.
The Bishop of OXFORD said the object was not to
have in the hebdomadal council three sets of men repre-
senting different interests, but men chosen from three
different bodies, all representing their common univer-
sity. This was a vital objection to the clause as it stood.
Men might stand well with their limited circle, the heads
of houses, who had no peculiar qualification as men of
business for this office. Another reason in favour Of the
amendment was, that the heads of houses would not
have their proper weight in the hebdomadal council if
they were put in as nominees. (Hear.) This was always
found to be the case in bodies where there were nominees
of the crown and persons elected by popular suffrage in
the same assembly. The former did not enjoy the influ-
ence which belonged to them ; and the heads of houses,
if e'ected by thernselves, would be looked upon as the
representatives of a class. The effect of such a measure
would be to crystallise temporary antagonism, and fix
and perpetuate the differences of the day. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of PO W'S thought it moot undesirable thaw