The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-24 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY TESTS BILL.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL moved the second reading of
this bill, and in doing so said he hoped and confidently ex-
pected that if the House should pass the measure into law
it would favourably settle, at once and for ever, the great
religious difficulty in the universities and col-
leges of this country, and that question once
put out of the way, the universities would be
able to go forward with these educational and academical
improvements, which he thought no fair man, especially
with the event of the last few weeks in his memory,
could deny to be wanted. The bill, if made law, would
altogether receive parliamentary protection from the
Church of England, and it would throw open to the univer-
sities, and colleges, alike to the whole of the people or
rather it provided that in future no well-affected subjects of
the Queen should, upon the grounds of religious opinion
alone, be debarred from the opportunity of sharing in the
great advantages of those magnificent foundations, and
their great and ennobling associations. The Church of
England would have to rely upon her inherent strength •
In fact, the Church of England never was, or, at all
events, it was undeniable that for many a
long year she had ceased to be the exclusive
religious communion of the whole people of the country,
and discussing the alleged effect the abolition of the tests
would have upon the Established Church, he asked if
the Church were so weak and Dissent so strong that it
could only flourish by parliamentary protection, and that
if that protection were withdrawn, the one must fall and
the other triumph ? He did not think so, but believed
that the most just and magnanimous policy would turn
out to be the best and wisest. With regard to endow-
ments, he said no one would pretend to say that endow-
ments were or ever could be perpetual ; and as no one
had attempted to draw the line upon the one side on
which it was right to interfere, and on the other upon
which it was wrong to interfere, the matter was re-
duced from a question of right and wrong to one of ,
expediency, wisdom, and equity. The fellowships had
been excluded from the operation of the bill. If the mea-
sure were passed a new life would be breathed into the
old, but still grand and vigorous institutions, and it could
satisfy the just and reasonable aspirations of many men
who were now unrighteously kept out of the benefits to
which they had a fair claim, without any corresponding
advantage to religion.

Mr. WALPOLE complained that the bill gave no guaran-

tee that the religious character and teaching of the
colleges should not be impaired. He had a great objection
to the present bill, because for the first time it treated
both the universities and colleges combined; but such a
proceeding was not embodied in the bill of last year. It was
teen open to those who objected to either of the propositions
to raise the question at one or other of the points in the
bill, and in the event of the bill passing
a second reading, it was also open for them
to make certain alterations in committee, but the
arrangement of the measure now under discussion precluded
such being done so that it left those who objected to the
measure but one course open, and .that was to move
the rejection of the bill. The proposals of the pre-
sent measure as now framed were mere than
usually objectionable, because as the clauses now
stood it was quite possible for Nonconformists to secure
all the highest honours in the Universities, a step that he
could not for a moment consent to. The hon. gentleman
then proceeded to contend that most of the foundations
of the different colleges where private and not State be
quests, and therefore it was most improper that the wishes
of those who made them should be set aside by an Act of
Parliament. He would give to every person the benefits
which would be given ja respect of education either of
the universities or colleges, but he contended for securities
being given that the religious character and teaching of
the institution should not be impaired. He pointed out
that by one clause of the Bill a Roman Catholic would be
enabled to hold the mastership of a college. This being the
case the measure could not be considered a conciliatory one.
In his opinion the bill would be the commencement of the
disestablishment of the Church of England. The bill
would divorce religion from learning, and he moved that it
be read a second time that day six months.
Lord E. FITZMAURICE supported the bill.
After some remarks from Mr. C. Raikes, Mr. E. J.
Sartoris, and Mr. Moubray,

Mr. GLADSTONE addressed the House. In the course
of his speech he said that the general object of the bill left
the college to the operation of the statutes which de-
pended for their shape at the present time, and
for the modification they might undergo from time
to hime hereafter, when the joint action of certain
powers, who were on the ono hand the members of these
venerable corporations, and en the ether the political
authority entrusted by Parliament, with power to control
that action. The proceedings that might be taken in the
exercise of these powers were sure, humanly speaking,
to be a fair representation of public opinion of
the country. If the Church of England retained
that place in the affections of the country he believed
she now held there would be her security for retaining
an adequate influence and position in the universities. If,
on the other hand, happily as some might think, but un-
happily as he should say, the day arrived when the
Church of England, either through her demerits
or divisions, should lose that position in the
affections and convictions of the country, in vain
would they surround her with factitious barriers of statutes
and laws, because these barriers would inevitably give
way before the pressure of altered public opinion. The
effect of the bill was not to destroy those provisions which
the statutes might contain for the religious worship, dis-
cipline, and teaching, except only in so far as they con-
flicted with the personal equality of individuals, where they
required the imposition of tests, where they confined the
admission to power and functions in the universities adn
colleges to members of the Church of England, there the
statutes were repealed.