The Sun.
London, England, 1809-12-09 00:00:00

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UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

41 SECOND LETTER TO TUE mEmitrßs OF CONVOCA.•

TION, vßog AN INDEPENDENT MASTER OF ARTS.

Oxford, Dec. 5.

Mr. myletter; inserted a few trays j
since in your Paper," requested the attention of the
Mernhers of Convocation to the temoustrances of
the University againit the doctrines of Lord GREN-
vieLze It,appeared evident from them; that he and
we were 'completely the antipodes of each other:
that when we thought it our duty to travel One road
'his Lordship took another, 'nod dire6tly the. oppo-
site. My chief reason for the publicstion. ol" that
letteemas, because I was satisfied; as I -s:ill. ant; that I
many hundreds of our absentee .Members Were not';.;
folly informed of.these proceedings. They are now''
brought under notice; and their :weight will be..inst-:
ly appreciated. . It will :be remeinbered that a non
plaeet has been three timesexpiessecl:against the
priticiples of Lord GaeNvieeE;byeti-tiee solemn and •
unanimous votes passed- iu the- Convocation
Hoe se of the .Univereity: -Whoever thinks of this
mill pause a -few' minutes,: and, must feel' himself -
under the urgency •of nothing short-" of iintnedtate
and uncontroulable necessity's- -(such are Lord
GRENVILLE'S words), if he can be induced to.enter
the walls of the same Convocation House; and de-
clare that man -deserving of the confidence, the I.
University, against whom such resolutions ..are re- j
corded. What has his Lordship, done to retleeni 1
himself, and work out the reversal of his academical
attainder ? -lie refused to give the KING a pltclgeei
:let to renew the Catholic Question. Has he given I
us that pledge ? No ; for I here 'publicly assert;„ I
that his letter to the Principal of Brazen Nose-most
positively refuses it. What is his Lordship's merit 1
then at this moment ? That of stubborn inflexibi-
lity ;—a whimiical reason this for our submission.—
After giving you 'this caution not to surrender your
consistency and characterto the GRENVILLJTE, let
me intreat -you next to take care' lest seize; and
run away with your privileges. I will xpleid.what
I mean. I rather think that'. manyTof, us are not
quite apprized of the power, belongingfo the office
of our Chaucellor. I • have not time 'to examine
into ail of them; but I will seleti one es aipecimen •i
—Our Chancellor, be it recollected;
,is the Keeper 1
of our Seal, the right of possess:en and dominion
over which belongs exclusively aitd solely to him, I
though he may delegate its use if he pietism Should
Lord GRENVIL Ls be raised to this, office,,,only consi-
der how the privilege of addressing and -petitioning
will he elected. Do you suppose his Lordship will
allow the, 'Seal to' be affixed to a petition directly
and personally levelled against him Self ? t" go, no,.
will his Lordship say, ycu have petitioned enough
Already, and until you understand- good- breeding bet-
ter, eild are brought a little more to your senses, I
shall lock up the Seals in my .strong box at Bocon-
neck. In the mean time; what becomes of this
privilege of thinking and speaking ? Are you cer-
tain you can get the better of iris Lordship ? Be
Dot too confident,of this. But if relief may he bad,
how is it to be got at ? - Through the medium of a
struggle wills your own
,Chancellor in 'Westminster
Hall ; N law-suit, to rescue from violence that first I
article in the Academical Bill of .Rights, the right of i
declaring your sentiments; an idiot' against the i
-Keeper of the Conscience of the University for run- i
wing; away with it. Will you deliver your Seals,
then, to Lord GRENVILLE, for the purpose only of
:disarming yourselves of your only weapon of de-
fence against his attack's ? If you can do this, oh
lepidos homines, your under graduates will applaud 1
his Lordship for thuS plucking you.
, I shall proceed now to the examination of a point 1
of infinite itisportance to the interests of the Univer-
sity, namely, what would in reality be the effect of
Lunt GRENVILLE'S system; and the operations of
the repeal of the Catholic Test Laws, so far as the.
University is concerned, for the discussion of this
tneesure in all its bearings would revire twenty
letter's instead of one. Let us laeketherefore; at its
peculiar bearing on ourselves. You are aware that
#t present the principal barrieri which prevent the
*mission of Catholics into employments under Go-
vernment arc, the sacramental test, and the oath of
abjuration ; these, with some .others -of the same
nature, Lord' GRENVILLE proposes to abolish, and
in the place of them to substitute an oath or pro-
testation, worded according to the taste of the Ca,
' iholics, which in substance is supposed to be a re-
nunciation of the temporal power of the -See of
Ilome in this country.- Upon this new qualification
the Catholics are to be equalized-.with the members
of the Established Church, in admissibility tti the
-legislative, as Well as • to every. civil, military; and
executive fufsetion whatever. Yea-are also-'well
aware that at present the two barriers,- and-the only
two, which by local Statutes-of the- University 'stand
in the way of Catholics, are the "same oath of abju-
ration, and the subscription to the thirty-nine arti•
0:s. Now, I will ask any man, whether he can
possibly believe that these religious tests and quali-
fications can be kept on foot in the University, when
the very same,. and all others of similar import, have
been suppressed and -abolished in every department
of tke State. Will' Lerd GRENVILLE allow the Ca--
tholics to be PRfCKED AND TENZED by these briars
and thorns at Oxford, which he tins cut up root and
tbranch in every other part of the King's dominions ?
Do you really think that after his LOrdship has, taken
dewn the doors of all the Courts of Justice, of the'
Heise Guards, the Admiralty, the Parliament House,
the council Chamber, and the Closet of the Sove-
reign, for the introduCtion of Papists, that the Uni-
Versiiy alone will be indulged With their exclusion ?
When this public Equalization' Law has passed,
ytps4r College gates will tumble from their rusty,
tiny hingee with a single kick. 'The Catholics
Will not take the trouble of picking'the lock, though
in the reign of JAMES 11. they were not
,inexpert at
that work, and, as we recollect, got possession of the
.clo'isters at Magdalen. 'Assert it then to. he a con-
sequence directly and nee•essarjly flowing from Lord
RENVILLE S equalizine- Lassen principle, that Catholic
• • h
, en'Will obtain a right o. -matricu.anon in the.
Vniv'ersity: How can it be refused to them by
lord GRENYILtE, consistently with his own hypo-
thesis? But if • it should, will they put up with a
refusal ? No; they will react..to his Lordship his
ree.'n protest, and possibly they roay• throw it in his
ace,' as a voucher to prove that whatever they
demand they must have. If 'the piiblic law is
gifted to their wishes, will' the private law remain
v.ro.tved If the Constit.ution of the State itself is

tact modelled because tbay require it, is it to he ima.
gined that their modesty, delicacy, or forbearance,
will abstain from insisting that the municipal Consti-
tution of the University should be:snrrendered to
them also ? -Very short-lived indeed will be" the
Lei Loci of tbe,Uoiversity when every public law
WhiCh a Papist obje6t4 to shall have been erased by
Lord GRENVILLE ' from the Statute Book. The .
Members of the CatholiC Communion may; froM
that moment, without difficulty,.be Undergradoates,
Fellows, and Heads of Colleges, Tutors, Professors,
'and Magistrates of. the, University ; nay, a Catholic,
might even become our Chancellor ; tot' if my sup
position of fad be true, that religious Tests will va-
,' nisi]. at Oxford, say they, must dO, as soon as
Lord GRENVILLE • has put an extinguisher Upon
them in'every other quarter of the -Empire, My de-'
ductiOn is indisputable, that every place and prefer-
1. meat in the University tenable by -a Layman will
instantly becoMe accessible to the 'Lay Catholic as.
well 'as to the Lay Protestant; for nothing as I have
before shewn 41'1-Odes the matriculation of Catholies,
except those religididtests, which, for all :CIVIL par-`
.poses, and in ALL 'Othei places throtighoLit the whole
Empire, are to be Superseded by Lord GRENVILLE's
system. haVe spoken only of the Lay or Civil
branch of the University, that is, of those who are
not hound to'take Orders by the StatUteS of the dif-
ferent. colleges all these, I say, might be'PapistS ;
a pretty considerable limb of the 'whole. IdO riot
stop here to aSk how -the branch of •it will
stand. its ground, " parses cum prozimas ardet."'
Whether 'Lord -GREtivit.ie •hat lhooglit • of 'these
things I know.nat,•btit if he has, they may be pre-'
cisely what-he-wishes ; he:may think' perhaps, that
the reformation itself is become obsolete, and ought,
like an' old:Worn out servant, Lobe, pUt upon the
superannuated list,. in order to make way for some
fiesh haads now .out of employ, but likely to be-
a little more bustling and active. We must pre,
pare ourselves for something splendid ; for Lotd
GRENVILLE. told the House of Lords; ." that tie
force of reason, like the rays_ of the sun, was •
breaking out upon _them." I do indeed expect
from his Lordship something very resplendent,
and so ought the. University- too : I can imagine
the illumioation Which•is to issue forth, 'and beam,
upon us from all the pores of bis threatened Ca-'
thoiic
,and have (feebly I admit) endea-
voured• to describe some few of its rays ; but
for one, I declare; that I dread the coming of
this solstice of lustre : know that it will bring
beat With, it,..as well as light, .and I. am alarm-
ed for
,myself and the whole University, least
it bd too much. for us, and affect us like :a
coup de soleil. When I observe the' extraordi-
nary confidence of Lord GRENVILLE,. and when I-
bear him treat as visionary those apprehensions
which till the present moment
.have been deemed
'well founded,. what have I for my security but his'
SPECULATION ? One of his Lordship's theories is,
that the Catholic .few cannot injure the Protestant
many; that their strength is insufficient though
their designs were radschievous be ridicules the
idea of numbers being overruled, and supposes that
the mass of •a People may repose with 'safety mole
sua. To this maxim of Lord GRENVILLE I shall op-
pose the wisdom of our iIIUeTIOUS CLARENDON, for
whose, chair his Lordship is so vehemently strug-
gling, lam told by that great man,, an eye-witness
to the troubles of former times, that the disasters
which he relates 'were not' produced by a general
combination and universal apostasy of the iclzoteria-
tion from their . religion and allegiance. I learn
from him that a country may be overthrown, horn
causes limited'and partial, against the real voice of
the people, and the preponderancy' of, mere num-
bers. Lord GRENVILLE tells us, that we want no
protection from the Catholics; no bolts or bars, no
-.boundaries or separations between Its ; that we have
nothing more to do, is hen .bis Catholic Bill has
passed, than to go to bed without a safeguard; in
the same security as our forefathers did with it, re-
posing in the consciousness of our own innocence:.
but the Noble Historian, who has better explored
the springs of public mischief and, disturbance„
structs us, that one main source of the commotion
he saw was, the " permitting the innocent to be
" possessed with laziness and sleep in the most visible
" -article' of danger." Against this, lethatiy, I for
one will 'keep my eyes open. In the election of
Lord GRENVILLE to be oor Chancellor; quod .Deus
avertal, I can 'discern the seed plot of nature mis-
fortune: to University, and every branchof our
existing establishments.. As far as I can, there
fore, I will resist the GRENVILLITI:g j for it is the'
conviction of my mind, 'thatlf the University once
submits to the dominion of GRENVILLISM, the day
is not far distant when it must stoop the head 'under
the yoke of Catholicism. - •