The Sun.
London, England, 1836-04-02 00:00:00

not farmers know their own business, is another affair.
That most of them do know it, is proved by the high
state of cultivation throughout the country.—Morning
Chronicle.

Last session a B;11 was brought into Parliament by
Mr. Bannerman, of Aberdeen, which, under pretext of
miting and reulating the University institutions of
ihat city, was in reality a measure' for detaching these
institutions from the Scotch established Church, and for
throwing them ultimately into the hands of your no-
thingarians, or advocates of the voluntary principle,
comprising, among other insidious proposals the virtual
suppression of King's College ; the consequent over-
crowding of the remaining classes in a degree highly
injurious to their efficiency : the repeal of the existing
obligation, whereby Professors, previous to their induc-
tion, are bound to sign the articles, and declare their
adherence to the worship of the northern Church esta-
blishment ; and, filially, the appointment of a new
rectorial court, whose members, though invested with
the power of controuling professors in their mode of
teaching, fixing the price of tuition, adjusting all in-
ternal regulations, and disposing of college-exhibitions
to the amount of 3,0001. per annum, were neither
required to possess any mini/mon of literary compe-
tency, nor to be responsible to a superior tribunal of
any kind, nor to be attached to any religious deno-
mination whatsoever ; this very liberal Bill of Mr.
Bannerman's, instead of having received favour in the
eyes of the shrewd Aberdonians, wasresisted by them
with such indomitable spirit, and exposed with such
masterly power, that after biting his nails and scratch-
ing his head in no small perplexity, the honourable
ultra was at length compelled to withdraw it. But
the important surrender to the movement party which
that measure involved was not to be so quietly got
rid of. As tributary to the systematic warfare now
waged against every British institution calculated to
maintain sound religion and temperate liberty, this
Aberdeen affair was shortly afterwards taken up by
Government ; and accordingly one of the first things
we heard of during the recess was, that his Majesty's
Lord Advocate having a little leisure to spare from
his favourite Sunday evening recreations at backgam-
mon, had set out upon a missionary tour for the fur-
therance of religion and learning in the various Uni-
versities of Scotland. A fitter person for dealing
with such subjects could not possibly have been
selected : that is clear. His Lordship's acknow-
ledged weight in the country (somewhere, we ima-
gine, about eighteen stone odd) ; his large philosophi-
cal views as an eminent Parliamentary expounder, and
defender of national improvements ; his consistent
piety as a Presbyterian elder, procuring annually an
attestation from Lochmaben, that he duly performs
family worship, and regularly attends divine ordinances;
his eminent scholarship and exact acquaintance with
the most approved plans of modern education ; his en-
lightened and punctilious homage to public morals ;
above all, his total exemption from ecclesiastical par-
tialities as exemplified in his selection of :professional
men for the Scotch Church commission, whereof the
majority were the Church's avowed foes :—these things,
we submit, plainly point out the present Lord-Advo-
cate as the individual of all others pre-eminently qua-
lified to remodel the Universities of Scotland, and to
divorce them from that alliance with religion which
such novices as Knox, Buchanan, and Melville con-
ceived to be their highest glory. Laboriously di-
ligent as we know his Lordship to be, albeit, like,
alas, some better men, getting somewhat obese of
late, he set about this consistorial experiment for
the separation of religion and learning with his
wonted alacrity. Journies were made to university
scats, inquiries were instituted, interviews held, circu-
lars despatched, schedules filled up, and we know not
what all. Then followed two or three months of in-
termediate gestation : and the result is, that his Lord-
ship undertook to bring forth in the House of Com-
mons, a bill or bills for the better regulation of the
Scottish universities. What the precise novelties are
which this distinguished senator means to astonish the
country with, or what alleged abuses he may have de-
tected to furnish scope for his expository and remedial
powers, he has had the discretion to keep a profound
secret. But as Dissenters have free access to all the
northern colleges, without let or hindrance ; as no test
or subscription is interposed therein, except for princi-
pals and professors ; as their charte,s require-these
learned persons to belong to the established Church, a
requirement which in practice is often judiciously re-
laxed in favour of such as sign the confession of faith,
arid declare their determination to uphold the Presby-
terian establishment ; as the college bursaries or exhi-
bitions to poor scholars have heretofore been awarded,
by comparative trial, only to the most deserving candi-
dates, wholly irrespective of political influence ; and as
the University senates have hitherto been quietly ele-
vating the educational and moral character of their
country, without rendering the leant service to the Whig
party or to any political party whatever; the presumption
is, that this state of things, either wholly or partially, is
now to be put an end to, or, in other words, that we shall
have a sort of Bannerman redivivus bill ; that rectorial
courts of Whig-• Radicals shall henceforth have an ar-
bitrary and irresponsible rule ; that the exhibitions
shall in future be made serviceable for purposes of po-
litical partizanship, just as the chairs have been at St.,
Andrew's ; and that the professorships, withdrawn
from connexion with the Established Church, and
thrown open to the principles of voluntaryism, or any
other ism you please, shall in time to come be made
subservient to the inculcation of those liberal opinions
among youth which will best accelerate the march of
movement, without prejudice to a game at backgam-
mon of a Sunday evening. Be this as it may, the
confidence which enlightened Scotehmen feel in the
Lord Advocate is such, that the very prospect of his
meddling with their academical institutions, has given
rise to a very able and spirited little work, entitled
" The Aberdeen University Magazine;" the answer-
ing of
one of whose articles, published in January
last, on '' University Reform," must doubtless furnish
his Lordship with a singularly agreeable pastime.
With a power of analysis and generalization very
rarely surpassed, with a thorough knowledge of all
the modern theories of instruction and their esta-
blished practical results, with a candid estimate of the
various systems propounded by such educational opti-
mists as Bourignon, Rousseau, Fellenberg, Godwin,
Owen, and the founders of the London University, the
writer of the article we allude to has constructed a
moral demonstration on the social, political, and spi-
ritual evils of throwing our colleges loose from the
superintendence and restraints of religion; which no-
thing but an incurable passion for Sunday backgam-
mon can by any possibility resist. The only fault we
find with it is, that its materials are so compactly and
connectedly put together, as to render quotation almost
impracticable without doing injustice to its integrity.
But as we shall very likely have occasion to recur to
this subject after hearing the details of the Lord Ad-
vocate's bills, we may then perhaps present a short
abstract of its principal reasonings and results. After
all, we perhaps shall never have an opportunity of
seeing the bill, or of hearing a speech detailing the
projected regulations ; for the notice which stood on
the House of Commons' paper on Wednesday morning
has disappeared, and left not a trace behind.—Times.
`We are glad to find that the subject of poor laws
for Ireland is attracting attention in Ireland. A meet-
ing was held on that subject in the city of Dublin, the
particulars of which will be found, under the proper
head, in another part of our Paper. It will be col-
lected from the speeches delivered on the occasion,
that an attempt was made to frustrate the object of the
meeting by proposing the question of adjournmrnt.
"F he question of adjournment, however, was scouted
by the general voice, and a petition to Parliament,
praying for the adoption of a system of poor laws,
was agreed to almost by acclamation. Of the three
Bills now before Parliament, that of Mr. Poulett
Scrope was avowedly the favourite of the meeting,
because it went further than either of the ()thus to-
wards embodying the. principle of the 43d of Eliza-
beth, which ensures " protection to the sick and em-
hi
of Mr. Scrope's Bill comes at
ployment to the strong." tea
place
rseopoanr a
at of
treyr ttoheits e
cde
si ssc.o s
to n,
stimveortylY
augursnt,
I
who iipenwph favourts
opportune
ell noto
er
timetake
causenel - their com-
parative merits, are already before the House. We
should certainly have preferred a Bill brought in upon
the responsibility of Government; but as that has not