The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-28 00:00:00

COLLEGE AT HERTFORD.

Mr. DOUGLAS KINNAIRD rose to put a question in courtesy
o the Chairman, respecting a late unpleasant occurrence which
'was understood to have taken.place at the East India College
at Hertford. He had reason to believe that this matter had ex-
cited very general'interest. He was anxious on the present
occasion to avoid all allusion to the origin and nature Of this
College; and the policy of its formation, upon which so many
serious and conflicting opinions were entertained. He had his
own impression upon the,subject, as well as on the prospect of
rendering the College an useful means of beneficial education.
Whatever errors might attach to the system, he was perfectly
aware that the establishment of such a place must, under any
system of management, be exposed to great difficulties ; and
that would be too hasty to pronounce from these mischances a
final conclusion, either with respect to the system of education,
or the discipline or its attendant circumstances. Upon the ini-
portauce of the subject, however, and the necessity of a calm
consideration of it, he need only appeal to every father of a
family who heard him.
The CHAIRAIA.w was sorry to interrupt the Honourable Pro-
prietor ; but he could not refrain from pointing out to him the
irregularity of the appeal, and argumentative manner in which
he was proceeding. It would be time when both sides were
heard, to argue the matter. At present it was quite inexpe-
dient to dilate upon the circumstances of the affair alluded to,
as the information respecting it was not in a state of prepara-
tion ripe enough for conclusive decision. He was sure that the
Honourable Proprietor would see the impropriety of forming
opinions upon cx parte statements. All he (the Chairman)
could now with propriety say was, that the Court of Directors
were fully impressed with the importance of the subject, that
it was now under their consideration, they felt it to be a matter
of very grave nature, and upon it they had not yet arrived at
a definitive view.

Mr. DOUGLAS KINNAIRD said, that if the Chairman had
permitted him to finish his sentence, he would have found that
all he was desirous of was.to apologize for putting his question,
and to appeal, as his justification of the importance of early
attention to it, to the parental affections of those who heard
him, and to inculcate what they must feel of the prodigious im-
portance of the education of youth between the ages of 10 and
20, the period on the proper direction of which depended whe-
ther the child should be in future life a curse or a blessing to
his family. It was this consideration which must operate upon
the minds of those who originated establishments of this de-
scription, and impress them with the deep responsibility, at-
tending their steps. He disclaimed all personal feelings upon
the, present occasion ; but the subject being one so fraught with
important consequences to the individuals concerned, and to the
character of the Company itself--one in which the public were
likely to take so decided an interest—lie thought no time ought
to be lost in looking at it calmly and leniently, so as to give
general satisfaction. If lie were to estimate the interest of the
subject from general conversation and the growing operation of
public opinion, he should be disposed to infer that there must
be great errors in the original structure of the establishments,
which were,beyond the controlling force of palliatives to con-
trol ; and that it would be a too severe and harsh course to pur-
sue in such a situation, for in authority to make indivi-
duals ruinously responsible under such circumstances.
Mr. HUME had no intention of trespassing at any length on
the time of the Court ; but he was very anxious that the Court,
generally, should understand (for he confessed that he did not)
what it was precisely which the Chairman had stated the Direc-
tors intended to do.—(Hear!)—Though he himself pas neither
publicly nor privately connected with any individuals educated
in this College, his opinion decidedly was, that the Company
were educating a set of young men on an exclusive system—as
a distinct class or sect—they were sending young men out to
India without giving them the opportiMity of previously asso-
ciating with Englishmen so as to form themselves on observa-
tion of English society. These young men, therefore, were
sent off without being enabled to contract those ideas which he
.(Mr. Hume) sincerely hoped would ever be considered as pecu-
liar to the minds and conduct of Englishmen. He therefore
asked, whether it was the intention of the Directors to favour
the Court with any clear and definite statement of the facts in
this business, divested of all colouring and qualification ?
( II ear, hear ! )
The CHAIRMAN thought the Hon. Proprietor himself would
acknowledge that it would be extremely premature in the Court
of Directors at present to make any disclosure of facts to the ex-
tent desired by that Hon. Gentleman.—(Hear ! )—He felt au-
thorised at the same time to declare, that the best and most un-
divided attention of the Court of Directors would be imme-
diately given to this important subject. What course was to
be pursued, or what disclosures it might appear expedient to be
made, must of course be determined by the result of the Court's
deliberations.—(Hear !)-.The whole of, the matter had only
just come before it; (hear !) and consequently it would at this
moment be very rash in him (the Chairman) to say a word
upon it, excepting that its importance would be most deeply
and adequately felt by the Directors.
Mr. DOUGLAS KINNAIRD had full confidence in the as-
surances which had just fallen from the Chair, that the Gentle-
' men behind the bar were deeply sensible of the importance of
the subject; and sure he was, that if, in making known the re-
suit of their investigations, some censure should appear to be
implied on the wisdom or proceedings of the Directors themselves
in any former measures'that they might have adopted, yet they
might feel entirely confident in the warm and generous support
of all the Proprietors on such future occasions (Hear !), arisingl
from the feeling that they were embarked in the endeavour (he
hoped) to effect that which should- always be attempted—
namely, to protect youth from itself. That support'would cer-
tainly be given then, even in the event of any admission that
some errors, and their consequent mischiefs, were attributable
mainly to defects in the nature of the Institution itself, and not I
solely to the follies of the young men. Although the present
might not be the most convenient opportunity for mentioning
the fact, he did happen to know, that of those who had been
educating at the College, no less than 12 young men ,*ere at
this moment, in consequence of some recent proceedings,
completely ruined.—(Hear !)—The Hon. Gentleman concluded
by expressing his hope, that if it should turn out that they had
been guilty of follies of a mere childish or boyish nature only,
the Directors would throw around them the powerful shield of
their protection.
The CHAIRMAN supposed that the Hon. Proprietor was
aware that any appeal from a sentence of 'the College Council
iwhere that went to the extent of expulsion) must go to the
Bishop.—(Hear
!)—He himself had heard, that such an appeal,
in the case that had been just alluded to, was intended to be
made; but certainly the tribunal he spoke of was the only one
before which such an appeal could legally or properly conic.
The Court of Directors, such a sentence having--passed, had
no power or authority to overthrow it ; and to them, therefore,
no appeal for mercy or favour could with any effect be made.—
(Hear, hear !)—He hoped the Court of Proprietors -would do
the Directors the justice to believe, that on, their parts there
was no want of mercy or considerate feeling ; but that was not
a subject which could come before them. All that they had to
do, or could do, was to look prOspectively, and: to, apply, Ire
hoped, an effectual remedy for the future, againet those evils
which had taken place in the establishments.
Mr. RANDLE JACKSON understood the answer of the Chair-
man to his Hon. Friend's request of a succinct statement of
facts to be this—that the Court of Directors would, not pledge
themselves in any way at present, but would publish the facts,
as far as witlipfopriety they could. Ife would now request the
Court to recal to mind (for he should not press the reading at
present) the resolution of the General Court passed in 1809,

calling on the Court of Directors to make from time to time re. •
ports of all important circumstances that might occur, con-
nected with this establishment., When on a future occasion he
might move the reading of that resolution, it would be seen
Whether the Court would' feel itselfjustified in giving it so nar- •
row a construction—a construction, indeed, never intended,
either by the original mover, or the honourable seconder of that
resolution—as they would do, if they, should feel .satisfied that
they had sufficiently performed their duty by ascertaining what
progress the pupils had made in Greek or Latin, in the.orien-
tal languages, or in mathematics. It would be seen whether
they might, at their mere will .and pleasure' suppresi and con-
ceal those more prominent and important features of conduct
which must ever be considered as most strongly indicative in
young men of future character. The question of the propriety
of abrogating the law by which this Institution was governed,
would hereafter come before the Court. At present the law
was, that the appeal lay to the Bishop, who was the visitor; but
unless the statutes of the Institution, or the Act of Parliament.
in relation to them, was misunderstood, the fact was, that the
visiting Bishop had no more power to remit a penalty than any
of the Directors had. The situation of the Bishop in these
matters was a judicial one. It was his to determine whether,
according to the laws of the College, young men had acted im-
properly or otherwise. The Hon. Proprietor then deprecated
two of those laws, by one of which it was enacted, that if a
young man would not criminate himself by confession, he
might be expelled ; and by another, that if he would not, in
the same way, betray his bosom friend, he might also be ex-
pelled.
The CHAIRMAN was afraid that the fervour of the Hon.
Gentleman's eloquence was carrying him further than he him-
self• intended to go.—(A laugh.)—Really, the subject before
the Court had been lost sight of.
Mr. RANDLE JACKSON proceeded to complain of the College
statutes, in the particulars he had adverted to. The Bishop,
having determined whether or no the Council had acted rightly
in passing a sentence of expulsion, could not hear the pupil's
appeal, until after the young men had quitted tile College and
gone home, and the act of rustication or expulsion had been
completed.
A PROPItIETOR, whose name could not be learned, then
rose, and stated that he had intended to have opened this dis-
cussion ; but seeing how ably that-had been done by Honour-
able Gentlemen who had preceded him, he had desisted. He
did mean, however, even now to submit a motion for inquiry;
but not being accustomed to the forms of the Court, he would
take the opinion of the Chairman, as to whether it was in form cor-
rect or not. It was in substance this :—" That there be laid before
this Court, a copy of all the correspondence and proceedings since
the beginning of September. last, of the Council of the Com-
pany's College, in respect of the following Gentlemen : to wit."
(Here followed the names of 10 or 12 individuals.) His object
was to know whether that prudence and justice had been exer-
cised by the College Council, on a subject of recent occurrence,
which were naturally to be looked for from persons placed in
situations of such high and grave responsibility. At present all
that was known about the matter, was through the medium of
the newspapers, and they, like a squib, had merely afforded an
explosion, and nothing more.
The CHAIRMAN thought it would be extremely inconvenient
that the motion should now be put. A statute declared that a
period of two months should be allowed for the appeal of any
excluded Member of the College to the visiting Bishop. It
would be highly improper for this Court at present to interfere,
seeing that the Bishop had a right to call on the Council for all
their proceedings, within a stated time, and that that period (as
the Chairman was understood) had not elapsed since the call had
been made. _ _

Mr. ImPES.' thought it a matter of the highest concernment to
ever Proprietor to inquire how far the management of this Col-
lege might be improved, or altered, or even abolished ; but he
did think that a question like the one proposed, relating to par-
ticular facts, connected with the crimes, or follies as they had
been called, of the young men there-educated, this Court was
excluded by law from entertaining. It would be the most unfit
thing in the world for the Court to go into any discussion as to
whether the Council of the College had acted rightly or other-
wise in what they had done-
The Proprietor we before adverted to, and whose name we
had not the pleasure of learning, then withdrew his motion, ob-
serving that he had no wish to press it; and only begged now to
exculpate himself from anyimputation of disrespect to the Court.