The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-22 00:00:00

OXFORD UNIVERSITY REFORM.

We learn with much gratification that Ministers are
prepared to introduce considerable modifications into
those provisions of the Oxford Reform Bill whioli affect
ti tenure of Fellowships. On more than one occasion
we have played this important subject in all its various
bearings before the eyes of our readers. The object
aimed at by the clauses in question is the prevention of
certain indefensible and notorious abuses. Fellowships,
in some cases, are both acquired and retained without
any advantage accruing to the public from the endow-
ment. The acquisition of these appointments is to be
regulated for the future by arrangements to which we need
not at present refer ; but, besides this, the tenure also is to
be determinable by conditions of greater stringency than
have hitherto prevailed. Up to the present time a Fel-
lowship has been considered as a reward for service per-
formed ; but it is now proposed to charge it with certain
duties, and to tolerate the omission of these duties only
by special license, and for a limited period of time. The
duties in question, according to the original scheme, in-
volved residence in the University for 24 weeks in the
year, and habitual devotion either to study or tuition.
Exceptions were allowed in favour of Fellows desiring
to travel, or engaged in other liberal professions else-
where, but the license granted for these purposes was
never to extend beyond a term of five years in the whole.
Practically speaking, therefore, no Fellowship would
have been available for more than five years in any of
the pursuits of active life, and, as such a period would
be notoriously insufficient is the majority of cases to
give any secure footing, it followed that Fellowships, as
incentives to study, would loss a great part of their
• public value.
It will now, we believe, be proposed to extend the
period of exemption to eight years, instead of five, and
to make the exemption. rather a matter of right to be
claimed by any Fellow at his discretion, than a matter
of favour to be determined by the College. These mo-
difications are undoubtedly steps in the right direction ;
;but, while acknowledging the spirit of conciliation by
- which such concessions have been dictated, we are still
compelled to doubt whether too many restrictions are
not left behind, and whether the large public utility of
these endowments is not damaged by the very pro-
visions designed to improve them. We observe, for
instance, that the eight years' leave of absence from the
University is to be granted only for exercise and prepa-
ration in the " professions of holy orders, law, or
physic," or-" for employment in the education ofyouth."
But what reason can be shown for such limitations as
these?? Why should a Fellow of a College just entering
on active life, and bringing his approvedlabilities to the
service of the world at large be restricted by such
conditions in the -choice of his calling ? No doubt,i
the old statutes of Colleges, in providing for such
employments, specified law and physic as the per
culiar branches of learning which might share with
theology the attention of College Fellows, but thi
was because these three faculties then constituted,lP
in reality, the only three liberal professions. Nowl
however, the case is widely altered. A score of callings
equally liberal in character, and equally valuable in re-I
sults, invite the devotion of the young and energetic.
Civil engineering in all its branches—literature and:
science in their thousand departments—are but speci-
mens of the pursuits which every man's reflection will'
suggest to him. Why should College Fellows be
thrown into two professions exclusively, and especially'
into those two which can certainly be studied to very
good effect elsewhere than at the Universities ? The
very excellence of a University education consists in
its general rather than its special character—a charac-
ter fitting the proficient for almost any pursuit of active
life. Under the proposed regulation, however, a Fel-
lowship will be useless to any person not intending to
make himself either a clergyman, barrister, physician,
or schoolmaster. He cannot become an engineer or a
Mechanician, an artist or a lecturer ; he cannot carry
his talents to the direct service of the State, or turn
them into any newly-discovered channel of promise.
Even his travels cannot be extended beyond two years ;
and, though few callings can be conceived more laudable
than that of a missionary, he could not devote himself
and his stipend to this unexceptionable duty. A fellow-
ship could net so much as be taken after the eight years
have elapsed to eke out the income of a poor curacy or
vicarage, and thus provide a destitute parish with effec-
tive teaching and superintendence.
We are strongly of opinion that all these restric-
tions should be given up, and that the holder of
a Fellowship should be left to select at his dis-
cretion the most promising field for his exertions.
We do not see why even the military or naval ser-
vice of the State should not get the benefit of such
accessions of ability. The engineers in the former and
the scientific department of the lattter might be all the
better for such infusions of talent. In the Peninsular
war Government actually made applications to Cam-
bridge for such assistance, and at this moment, if we are
not misinformed, a surveying vessel is under the com-
mand of a Fellow of a college distinguished for his
mathematical attainments. All this, however, is matter
for private discretion. We are now arguing solely for
the fellowships themselves, and for the public purposes
to which these endowments may be turned. It is quite
evident that if Fellowships constitute, as they de, the
real motive power of the Universities, this power will
be greater and more effective in proportion to the con-
vertibility of the endowment. It should never be for-
gotten that Fellowships are not ends, but means, and
that, as such, the more negotiable they are the greater
will be the competition they excite, and the greater, con-
sequently, the benefit of the University and the nation
at large.
We must repeat our belief that the provisions of the
Oxford Bill in this particular were based upon an assump-
tion not substantially sound—viz., that Colleges, and
therein the University, had direct and paramount claims
to the immediate services of all their own Fellows in the
form of tuition or residence, and that, wherever these
conditions were not fulfilled, special cause should be
shown. Whatever may be the theory on such points,
we are perfectly convinced that these views could not be
carried out without injury to the colleges themselves.
As far as we are aware, no instances have occurred in
either university where any colleges have suffered from
a want of resident Fellows to fill college offices ; on the
contrary, these offices are invariably regarded as exceed-
ingly eligible situations. This much, therefore, we
think, may be taken for granted—that no legislative
provisions are necessary for securing good or sufficient
college service, but that such service will always be
rendered without compulsion. After this, it appears
to us to follow directly that the residue of power,
that is to say, the abilities of all the I ellows
not engaged or required in college offices, should
be made as available as possible for the general
service of the country—a principle equally conducive to
their own advantage and that of the nation. To keep
all Fellows of Colleges in Oxford would be nearly as bad
as keeping all missionaries at home. Their duties may
lie abroad, and can be performed abroad without the
smallest detriment to the society to which they belong
—Timm

PARISH OF ST. MARY, LAMBETH.

ELECTION OF CHURCHWARDENS.

The contest for the election of Churchwardens for this
parish closed last evening at five o'clock. At that hour
a considerable number of electors had assembled in the
Vestry Hall. The Rev. Mr. Dalton declared the §tate
of the poll to be as follows :
Plews 1,370
Grey •• 1,326
Stratton 1,148
Barnard 692
The rev. gentleman then declared the election to have
fallen upon the three first-named gentlemen, viz., Messrs.
Plews, Grey, and Stratton. This announcement was
received with the greatest enthusiasm. This exciting
contest was thus brought to a close.
The following gentlemen have been elected survey-
ors :—Messrs. Hodgson, Price, Taylor, Doulton, Atlee,
Mosely, Hayton, Deacon, Mason, Jones, Wade, King,
Nott, Avern, Waddingham, Foster, Littlejohn, Pool,
Wells, Blackmore,

CKARGE OF FORGERY AGAINST A LIVERPOOL TEA
MERCHANT.---LIVERPOOL, Friday.--This afternoon, Mr.
William Haselden, a toa merchant of this town, and a
gentleman who has hitherto been highly respected, was
placed before the magistrates, charged with obtaining
the sum of 2,0001. from the Liverpool Borough Bank by
tea.re I
eans of a forged order for the delivery of 200 chests of
It appeared from the statement of Mr. Aspinall;
the barrister, who appeared on behalf of the prosecution
that in the month of February of last year the prisoner,
who is a tea merchant and broker in Liverpool, was de-
sirous of opening
a loan account with the Borough
Bank. On the 25th of February he applied for and ob-
tained anladvance
of 1 further application was'oo 01' On the Bth of March a
trade by the prisoner, and an-
other advance was made,
giving the bank as security the a prisoner, at the time,
delivery order for 411
Fry, te
chests of tea on Messrs.
advance, and
In may the
prisoner obtained a still further and the balance
against him kept increasing. 'some time in June the
authorities at the bank doubted the sufficiency of the
securities, and in consequence of this an application
was made to the prisoner for the securities to be placed
on a more satisfactory footing. This appueation aave
rise to the forgery on the part of the prisoner, of Which
the prosecution now complained. As he had already
stated, the delivery order on Messrs. Fry for the 411
chests of tea was given by the prisoner on the Bth of
March, and it appeared that at the time 200 of these
chests bad actually been transferred and removed to
Messrs. Littledale's, so that when the prisoner Was
called upon to give the bank more conclusive security
with regard to the 411 chests of tea, he was not in a
position to do so, inasmuch as 200 chests had already
been transferred to Messrs. Littledale's. He therefore
gave the bank a genuine order on Messrs. Fry for 211
chests of tea, at the same time giving them a further
order for 200 chests which were not in his possession at
all. The charge against the prisoner was that he had
uttered this last order for 200 chests (of the value of
2,0001.) knowing that it was a forgery, and it was this
forged order that was now the subject-matter of inquii7.
The examination was proceeding when the report was
despatched.
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH TO BALMORA.L.—Through the
liberality of Prince Albert, whose example in contribut-
ing 2001. towards the extension of the electric telegraph
to Aberdeen has been followed by the merchants and
manufacturers of the city, there is now a certainty that
the wires will be erected in the course of the present
summer. The directors of the Dee-side Railway Com-
pany are to have the telegraph extended to Bauchory,
and, as the distance thence to Balmoral is only about 30
miles, it is intended, we believe, to lay a wire to Bal-
aworal, oo that the Court may be in immediate communi- -
cation with London. The new palace at Balmoral -is-
pretty well advanced, buts though a, part of it 'will be
finished this summer, the Royal family will not occupy
t until the summer of 1855.