The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY REFORM.

•
The following letter has been forwarded to is for
publication :

" , Dec 12.
"Sir,—Her Majesty's GovernmentWhiteha havlle had. before
them the letter addressed by my predecessor on the 4th
of October, 1852, to the Chancellor of the University of
Cambridge.
" Your Royal Highness will, without doubt, remember
that her Majesty was pleased, in her speech from the
Throne, on the 11th of November, 1852, to acquaint
Parliament that she had caused to be transmitted to the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, respectively,
copies of the reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry
upon those Universities, and had called the attention of
those Universities to those reports with a view to a de-
liberate examination of the recommendations contained
therein.

"A statement was subsequently made to the House
of Commons, that the Government thought it desirable
that ample time should be allowed for a full examination
of those matters, and that it was not intended that any
legislation on the subject of the recommendation of the
Commissioners should be proposed to Parliament during
the then current session.

"At the same time, though it was not deemed ex-
pedient to discuss the various details connected with
subjects so important and diversified as the matters in
question, yet reference was made to some essential
points, with respect to which Her Majesty's Govern-
ment conceive that it would be the desire and expecta-
tion of Parliament, with a view to the public welfare
and to the extension of the useful influence of the Uni-
versities, that plans of improvement should be enter-
tained.
" These points were :
" 1. An alteration of the constitution of the Univer-
sities with a view to the more general and effective re-
presentation of thelseveral main elements which properly
enter into their composition.
" 2. The adoption of measures which might enable
the Universities, without weakening the proper securi-
ties for discipline, to extend the benefits of training to a
greater number of students, whether in connexion or
not with Colleges and Halls, and also to diminish the
relative disadvantages which now attach within Colleges
and Halls to students of comparatively limited pecuniary
means.
" 3. The establishment of such rules with regard to
Fellowships, and to the enjoyment of other College en-
dowments, as might wholly abolish or greatly modify
the restrictions which now, in many cases, attach to
those Fellowships and endowments, and might subject
the acquisition of such Fellowships and endowments
generally to the effective influence of competition.
" 4. The establishment of such regulations with re•
gard to fellowships thus to be acquired by merit as
should prevent them from degenerating into sinecures,
and especially the enactment of a provision that after
fellowships should have been held for such a time as
nnglit be thought reasonable as rewards fir early exer-
tion and distinction. they should either he relinquiSbed,
or should only continue to be held on condition of resi-
dence, coupled ',vitt] a discharge of active duty in disci-
pline or tuition, or with the earliest pro,ecutiun of pri-
vate study.

"5. And, lastly, the establishment of provisions under
which colleges p,itiossed nF meal's either particularly
ample, Or now only partially applied to the purposes of
education or le,:riiing, might, in conformity with the
views which founders have often indicated, render some
portion of their property available for the general pur-
poses of the University beyond as well as within the
college walls, and might thus facilitate the energetic
prosecution of some branches of study the importance
of which the University have of late distinctly and
specially acknowledged.
" It is obvious that for the attainment of these ends
provision must be made for the careful adjustment of
existing statutes and for the abolition or modification of
certain oaths which are now periodically administered
in some of the colleges.
" There are other changes tending to the increased
efficiency and extent of study which would naturally
accompany or follow those to which I have adverted,
but what I have stated may be enough to explain the
general expectations which her Majesty's Government
have been led to form under the influence of their sin-
cere desire to acknowledge the services and to respect
the dignity and due independence of these noble institu-
tions, and to see their power and influence enlarged to
the full measure of the capabilities indicated by their
splendid endowments.
"Actuated by these views, her Majesty's Government
did not hesitate to determine that, so far as depended
upon them, a considerable interval of time should elapse,
after the reports of the commissioners had appeared, be-
fore any specific propositions should be discussed as to
the degree and nature of the legislation respecting the
Universities which it might be requisite to submit to
Parliament.
" Her Majesty's Government, however, feel that the
time has now arrived when it will be due, both to the
country of which these universities are such conspicuous
ornaments, and to the well understood interests of the
universities themselves, that these questions should be
decided.
" I
capacity of Chancellor ofthe Universityof Cambridge,
rtherefore request that your Royal Highness will, in
yaovn
goodness to take an early opportunity of inform-
einte what measures of improvement that University,
the
our)gso far as your Royal Hi6lness's knowledge extends,
any of its Colleges may be about to undertake, and
and what aid they may. desire from Parliament in the
form either of prohibitions, of enabling powers, or of
new enactments.

"Her Majesty's Government are anxious to receive
this information in such time as may enable them to
give to this important subject the careful deliberation
it demands, and to be in a condition to advise her
Majesty thereupon, if possible, by the month of
February.
"Her Majesty's Government, however, have no hesi-
tation in avowing their opinion, that repeated and
minute interference by Parliament in the affairs of the
Universities and their colleges, would be an evil, 'and
they are desirous to maintain the dignity of these insti-
tutions and to secure for them the advantages of free-
dom of action. For these reasons, therefore, as well as
on other grounds, they earnestly hope to find, on the
part of these bodies, such mature views and such en-
larged designs of improvement as may satisfy ie rea-
sonable desires of the country ; and by obviating the oc-
casion for further interference, may relieve those per-
sons in the Universities who are charged with the
weighty functions of discipline and instruction, from
gohe thes
distraction which the prospect of such interposition must
d r s
necessarily entail.—l am, sir, your
R
uti ful servant,

(Signed)
" PALMERSTON.
"To Field Marshal his Royal Highness Prince Albert,
&c., Chancellor of the University of Cambridge."

COLLISION ON THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.:--
Yesterday morning an accident happened to the 9 50
Great Northern mixed express, due in London at 4 p.m.,
a short diStance south of the Doncaster station, which
has resulted in the demolition
of some of the. com-
pany's rolling stock, while the passengers had a very
narrow escape. The train arrived in Doncaster with-
in a very few minutes of the time at.which it was dne,
and after it had proceeded about 400 or tOO yards south
of the station, it came into violent collision with a mine-
ral train, which was crossing from the main line into a
siding to allow the express to pass. The express train
ran into the third and fourth waggons of the mineral
train, and they were smashed to pieces and thrown
on their side. The fifth waggon from the • engine• was
broken, and the buffer planks of the express engine were
shivered to pieces. The passengers were very much
terrified with the shock which they had received by
being thrown from their seats, but we did not observe
any that were injured. Mr. Johnson, the locomotive
superintendent, Mr. Mullens, the station master, Mr.
Middlemess, the mineral agent, and several other offi-
cials, were immediately upon the spot with an efficient
staff of labourers, and the line was sufficiently clear in
about half an hour to allow the express to proceed on
its destination. The down line was cleared in about
an hour afterwards, so that the ordinary passenger traffic
was not further interrupted.