The Sun.
London, England, 1823-12-19 00:00:00

lAT'FlaitY NOTICE,.

•LETTT

to Lf3ltb oittNvtLLE.-

.it 'might hattitlidly imagined •that a•Letter
addressed to :str eir4Fient a Statesmen is Lord
Giterrmt.r,iesbEttlilh relate to the 'affairs of the
Country; orthe*etteral .situation of,Europe'; but
it appears that,it,toncerits his' Lordship merely
avihe Chantditorer.otThOxford.University. The
subject of the Letter kiln, recent. expulsion of a
grelltlernno mimed Ramr.tE from Christ Church,
Oxford. The Pamphlet. is. anonymous, but ob-
viously comes from' It friend of the gentleman
who has' been wt pelted. Judgiug from the get)e-
-• .ral tenor 'of this letter, the expulsion seems to be
a harsh mensure but as all the documents re-
Wine to this affair are not before the pnbiic, it
would be rash to 'form a decisive opinion on the
subject. The following is the state of the case,
as related this-pautPhiet
• "In last May, Mr. Baillie was expelled from Christ Church.
Colonel Baillie, his father, having in the most gentlemanly and
respectful manner, vainly endeavoured to procure a revision of
his son's sentence, resolved, most properly, to publish the car
respondence which passed between the Dean of Christ Church,
the Junior Censor, and himself, on this occasion. These Let-
ttrs ate the evidence on which this case must mainly depend ;
rood the general facts be gleaned from them are as follows :
Vor it Considerable tittle there had been manifested in the Col-
lege mach disorderly conduct, chiefly breaking out in nightly
•riotings, (though on this point rtoi.aeturate information. can be
-collected froin the Letters). The Dean had assembled all the
young men together in the hall, expressed his disapprobation
of thch conduct, and threatened severe measures in the case of
its being repeated. 'On the folloviing evening a party'of young
Men of the College met together in the rooms of one of them,
and probably drank to exeess. 'Of this party Mr. Baillie has
declared that he was one; but, in consequence of indisposition,
be drank very little wine: After these young men had left the
room in which they had been sitting, some of them, or perhaps
all, except Mr. Baillic, created a noise and disturbance in the
,College quadrangle. In this state they were found by the
junior Censor ; one of them, in his hurry to escape the Can-.
sees notice or pursuit, ran into Mr. Baillie's room, whither
that gentleman had previously retired ; here he was followed
by the Censor, who immediately pronounced on Mr. Baillie
the sentence of expulsion, which was acted upon on the follow.
lag 4y, and which the Dean subsequently refused to revise."
From this statement, a degree of severity seems
to have been exercised towards Mr. BA t.t.te ; but
Audi altiram purism iq a maxim that never should
-be disregarded, and therefore, till the public are
acquainted with the whole contents of the letters
alluded to, the matter must remain in doubt. It
seems hard that Mr. Bat t.r.te should be expelled
because he happened to be in company with riotous
persons, though he had retreated from them and
was quiet in his room, but :unluckily one of
the rioters, fearful of discovery, had escaped, and
was found in that room. Humanity, indepen-
dently of all friendly feeling, might be thought
to excuse Mr. BAILLIE for giving shelter to a
fellow-student, who might otherwise be exposed
to punishment. But Mr. BAILLIE suffers also
because he did not, before he left the riotous
party, exhort them to the observance of
good order. How is it known that he did not,
but that finding , his admonitions'of no avail he
left them As there had beeu a riot on the pre.7
ceding night, though an exhortation from the supe-
riors had taken place, it was indeed little likely
that Mr. BATLLIE'S exhortations to such a set of
revellers would have been more successful. Y.t ap-
pears that Col. Ban.Lte, the father of the expelled
fentleman, had, with parental anxiety, endea-
voured to procure BO annulment of the sentence,
but in vain. ft is, however, probable that Lord
GRENVILLE, as Chancellor, will deem the matter
worthy of investigation, and then, no doubt, libe-
rality as well as justice will regulate the decision.
ear are we from being inclined to weaken Att-
TtiOn.ITY, when properly 'exercised, hecauso we
know its importance in all the concerns of life,
and we are disposed,' without taking tiny part ill
this unlucky affair, to give all British Magis-
tracy, of every description, full credit for the in-
terposition of lenity, whenever it cannot be ap.
plied without hazarding the essential interests of
society.'