The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-16 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1846.

A Parliamentary return, which has just appeared, fur-
saishes some curious, we may almost say startling, informa-
tion about these terra incognitce, the Universities of Oxford
rnd Cambridge. It is a return of various particulars relative
•t o certain professors in the two Universities, and. among
ether particulars, of the number of pupils attending their lec-
tures. The professors included in the return are the Regius
Professors of Divinity, Physic, Civil Law, Greek and
Hebrew, the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, and the
Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic in both Universities,
the Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ecclesi-
astical History in Oxford, and certain professors, to whom an
annual stipend is voted by Parliament, and who, we gather
from the return itself, are paid by Parliament, as follows :
OXFORD.

Modern History, Dr. Cramer........... £37l
Geology, Dr. Buckland lOO
Mineralogy, Dr. Buckland
Chemistry, Dr. Daubeny... lOO
Botany, Dr. Daubeny
Experimental Philosophy, Mr. Walker lOO
CAMBRIDGE.

. History, Mr. Smyth
Anatomy, Dr. Clark
• Chemistry, Mr. Cumming ... lOO
. Botany, Mr. Henslow
Natural Philosophy, Mr. Willis lOO
Mineralogy, Mr. Miller lOO
The sums voted by Parliament are certainly not large, but
the question is, whether for the good which these professors
Seem to do they are not paid dear at these small salaries ;
probably, the inefficiency of the professorshipsis to be
traced to the smallness of the emoluments ; and if so, we
ethould by all means say, pay the professors better, and make
them more efficient. At any rate, the present state of things
Is indefensible. Either give no money, or give enough to
do good.

The celebrated Dr. BUCILLAND holds the two
hprofessor-
.- "hips of geology and mineralogy in Oxford; and
; yupils does the reader think that this phil.osoowphineranoyf
•
European reputation has had in both classes during the last
follryears? 107, says the return. That is, less
sn averagea
of len for each class in the year! Dr. DAUBEI:Ya'
andoaverages
rfoo
oeshtewmv
twenty_
annual number for his botany class is six,
eleven ! The Professor of Modern History
• Four; while the Professor of Experimental Philosophy beats
sdl his colleagues, having had, in 1842, seventy-five pupils;
in 1843, ninety-one; in 1844, sixty-two; and in 1845, eighty.
• live. Bv.t there may be, and probably is, some special reason
far tboie larger numbers, as we tee by the returns that a
. considerable proportion comes each year from one college
(Claist Church), where probably some regulation exists for
enforcing attendance.
" In Cambridge things are no better than in Oxford. The
Professor of Anatomy had only six pupils last year, and the
Professor of Chemistry only ten : the average number of
pupils with the Professor of Botany is only to enty ; the PCO-
- Solar of Natural Philosophy has only ten to fiften pupils a
year; the Professor of Mineralogy cannot state the number,
however:, we may safely conclude, because they are too
twrnerous to count; and the Professor of Modern History has
• given nq lectures at all for the last four or five years, " not
in; I:e' (we quote from a letter written by the professor
gehiel is quite a curiosity in its way), because I had
br:ome deaf and old, but because I found that I had lost
audience, and that if my lectures were to
have any chance of doing good they must be
priblished, which was accordingly done, precisely as I had
been accustomed to deliver them." To the loss of his uni-
"f2:,ritty audience, then, the public is indebted for Professor
s works on " Modern History," and the " French
X .vo ution." But why did he lose his university audience?
rwirrVne,efoneusmoblneer
years,
rsf
pupils," he says, " that used to attend
70t090 ; but when the exatnina-
n, called the Little-ongo,' eras instituted, I lost a consider-
*? :e part of my audience, one-fourth at least. My audience
at erwards dwindled down to about 18 or 20," believe
th.,t with most professors, as with Professor ilklYlN:e
rir, recent

changes in the educational system at the Universities, which
have the effect of absorbing more and more of the time of
the young men in claTsical and mathematical studies, have
been the cause why their lecture-rooms have been emptied.
This is the explanation given by Mr. LYALL in his strictures
on the English University system, in his work on America.
But what can justify to foreigners, whatever there may be
to explain, the desert state of lecture .rooms presided over
by such men as Professor SMYTH and Professor BUCKLAND

Nothing can be more lamentable than the frequent occa-
sions in which, of late years, public attention has been drawn
to the serious delinquencies—to use the mildest term—of
which, in our courts of law, the clergy of the Established
Church, whom, from their position, we are taught to regard
as the appointed instructors in both moral and religious edu-
cation, have been found guilty. Our columns of Friday
contained the:report of the second day's trial of an action for
damages, in which a reverend gentleman, a doctor of di-
vinity, an incumbent, haying the cure of souls, and the
recipient of a large income, figured as the defendant, and in
which the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff. We are not
about to descant upon the evidence upon which this verdict
was obtained ; suffice it to say, that a special jury, composed
of men of property, education, and intelligence, whose sym-
pathies, if they could at all be supposed to sway;theirjudg-
ment, would be far more likely to be entertained on behalf
of the reverend defendant, a gentleman iu: their own rank
of life, and moving in their own circle, than of his accuse:,
who had been his menial, found the charge to be true,
although this divine enjoyed all the advantages which
wealth can afford, especially in securing for him the
services of the Attorney-General, who has made himself so
distinguished an advocate in cases of this peculiar description.
Thus, then, has another instance been added to the black
catalogue of clerical offences. Are these shocking errors
traceable in any degree to the loose manner in which the
Universities educate, and the hierarchy suffer, candidates for
holy erders to be inducted into the Establishment? How
notoriously loose is the life too generally led by young
men at Oxford or Cambridge; and where is the restraint
upon the destined and youthful recipients of clerical prefer-
ment from following in the crowd of his dissolute com-
panions ? Once formally through his degree and the subse-
quent nominal examination of the bishop, he immediately
acquires, without test, let, or impediment, the full enjoyment
of his family patronage in the Church, the emolument of
which he has been taught to regard, from his earliest years,
as being as much his own as that of the ancestral domain is
of his elder brother. How different is the probationary
course with the ministers of other persuasions. The evidence
of their fitness for the sacred office must be well established
previous to their entrance upon it by a long course of
arduous study, supported by a life of irreproachable purity.
Surely the time has come when some better means should be
adopted by those seats of learning for grappling with the evils
by which the public mind is, as it were, gangrened and
which spring, too, from the very sources which are regarded,
and which they boast, to be within their own special juris-
diction. For years have the Dissenters claimed the right of
admission into the Universities, which bigotry and spiritual
monopoly have, as yet, unfortunately too successfully resisted.
This narrow-mindedness is reaping the penalty of its own
selfishness, for we are constantly witnessing the unhappy
fruits of the education pursued within the college walls;
whereas, if the doors of the national :academies had
been long ago, liberally thrown open;as they ought to have
been, to the disciples of every creed, bigotry and superstition
would have soon become shrouded under the auspices of that
enlightenment which is the sure result of permitting all
classes to mingle together, and generously to com-
pete for the honours of the state as well clerical as laical.
No doubt much has of late years been done by the Legisla-
ture towards eradicating in part, and more in amending,
many of the administrative evils of the established religion,
but it is greatly to be regretted that so little has been
effected towards improving the constituted ecclesiastical
tribunals for visiting in a more efficacious manner the recog-
nised functionaries of religion with the severest penalties
when they have been adjudged guilty of such atrocious
charges as have, unfortunately, within the last few.years:been
so frequently brought against them. To the exemplary
manner in which the ministers of the various classes to which
we have referred have discharged their solemn vocations,
are we indebted that the State religion has been compelled to
adopt even such partial and scanty reforms as those to which
we hare alluded, and we do sincerely hope that the example
furnished to us by the Scotch Church, in the investigating,
and (if guilty) punishing such ministers of religion as sacri-
fice their high calling to the gratification of their lustful pro-
pensities, will soon be followed, and its spirit incorporated in
our statute-book. In that Church, should a complaint be
made against one of its pastors, it is in the first instance ad-
judicated on by the Presbytery, from thence an appeal lies to
the Synod, and thence to the General Assembly, the
court of final resort, whose decision is binding and con-
clusive. To a tribunal so constituted there can be no pos-
sible objection ; every one must be satisfied of the impar-
tiality with which its judgment is arrived at. The wise
provision of our British constitutional law, that every con-
tested fact in which the life, the property, the reputation of
any man is involved, shall be left to the decision of his peers,
is there acted up to, and the public, satisfied that strict jus-
tice is done, at once acquiesce, without cavil or complaint,
in the ultimate decision. Such, however, cannot be the case
when the entire matter is to be investigated before a single
judge, whose prejudices and feelings may possibly lead him
to take too lenient a view of the circumstances, and it is to
the comparative impunity with which so many grave of-
fenders against all that is sacred, against all that they
have so solemnly undertaken to fulfil, and by pre-
cept and example to inculcate, have been suffered to escape,
that the confidence of the public mind has been altogether
shaken in the decisions of the clerical courts of judicature.
The force of public opinion is ever the herald to salutary re-
formation; and it is the duty of the journalist to give this
opinion a faithful embodiment; and, certain that we are only
correctly pourtraying the public feeling when, we urge the
necessity of stringent and immediate measures for the cor.-
struction of a proper tribunal for the investigation of these
serious charges, and the purification of the altars of religion
from such polluted excrescences—we shall not cease to urge
the adoption of a different system from that which now pre-
vails, to the end that, on the one hand, the disgust engen-
dered by these repeated exhibitions of clerical demoralisation
may be removed ; and, on the other, that by a salutary
change, the approbation of every well-regulated member of
society may be secured.

Destitution, disease, and want of employment, are spread-
ing with the most alarming rapidity throughout Ireland.
Even the veriest sceptics of the misery germinating among
the populace of that doomed country find it no longer possible
to hesitate in acknowledging the present emergency. Sir R.
PEEL, in his character of Prime Minister, has demanded in
the most solemn language the assistance of Parliament
for those millions of starving Irish. Mr. O'CosixErx
has pronounced the condition of his fellow-countrymen as
requiring one immediate help from Government, if the legisla-
tors would comply with their responsibilities as guardians of
the multitude, or, in fact, if they would fulfil the most be-
nign precept of Christianity by feeding the hungry. Pro-
fessors KANE and PLAY FAIR have given us the detailed
statistics of that deficiency in vegetable food, which is now
tending to debilitate, if not to exterminate, a fearful portion of
the population of Ireland. The Legislature also has acted a be-
coming and merciful part on this occasion ; the ordinary routine
of Parliamentary business has been interrupted to afford an op-
portunity for expediting certain measures likely to entail
ma eh benefit upon the sister island. A preference has been
given to questions hinging upon Irish matters. Indian
corn to a considerable amount bas been purchased
with our national funds, and shipped for the principal ports
of Ireland. as much to preserve the scanty crop remaining
of sound potatoes to be employed as seed for the next barves t,
as for the purpose of placing wholesome provisions at a
moderate charge within the reach of the sufferers. 'Parlors 1
modes have been devised and mooted, both within and with-
out St. Stephen's, by which remedies might be applie d
to an extensive and importunate and spreadir,g
evil. Some of these devices have been adopted. But
while arrangements are thus making tardily and with hes i-
tation, the penury and helplessness of those four or five
millions of human beings are daily becoming more and more
dire, and hopeless, and awful. Each packet is the bearer of
still more calamitous intelligence, the harbinger of yet
darker days. Starvation in some districts is not only
threatening—it has already commenced. Agents have
been dispatched to those scenes of want and idle- ,
ness ; their communications in return have more than
corroborated all the previous rumours of wretchedness.
Fever and dysentery--originating in tainted roots, or in a
total absence of nourishment—are prevalent to no unim-
portant extent in Several.of the towns and villages of Clare.
While the hovels, which in moments even of plenty are always
choked up with filth enough to generate a mallaria, are now
abandoned to a yet greater state of dilapidation ; the limbs
and muscles of their inmates rendering them by emaciation
but little inclined to exertion. Nor are these terrible grievan-
cies confined to the inner and more rustic parishes; the
dwellersfiercest on the sea-shore are beginning to experience all the
so hopelessa a pangs
gs of
-, privation. So extreme is their indigence—
men been trfuturre—o parttha future--that
witht
tmerelyheirliht
little
have poortchraepso f fisher-
compelledhouse-
hold furniture (such as beds) and their wearing apparel, in
order to appease for a time the hungertheir families,
but they have been driven to that of
final stress of a
necessity of raising a trifle of money upon their
nets. , theßy
these circumstances all opportunity of redeeming their
po-
sition is at for ever, unless some charitable interferer cemy
enable them to struggle again in their own calling for theira
livelihood. Seventy-five of these fishing-nets have been
staked away for food in the above manner on the
south-west coast alone ; and so urgent were the cir-
cumstances under which the bargain was struck, that
the pawnbroker of Kilrush declares his conviction that if
the unfortunate men could possibly
have conveyed their
boats to his warehouse, they would have resigned those instru-
ments of their industry into his possession for the purpose of
buying meal. That these significant occurrences may not
pass without the observation of Government, a petition from
the fishermen of Clare has, it appears, been drawn up, im-
ploring the Members of the Lower House to take the penury
o: the petitioners into consideration. And fain are we
to believe that that prayer will not remain long un-
answered. The dykes are breaking down; if they be
not speedily repaired, Ireland will be inundated with woe.
Believing, however, as we do, in the promptitude and justice
of Parliament, we cannot for a moment suppose that that au-

gust body will remain impervious to the lamentations of the
famishing. Let our legislators remember, however, that the
scarcity among the Irish is gradually dwindling down to
nothing : and that, after the warnings and supplications
which they have already received, they will be
answerable before Heaven for one single victim of
starvation ! In addition to the Government pro-
posal, there is the suggestion of the Premier, that private
charity should co-operate with the Legislature in finding sus-
tenance and employment for the poverty. stricken Irish.
This suggestion appears to have been treated slightly, or to
have been altogether contemned ; but fur ourselves, we
conceive it to he imperative upon every individual who is
competent, to join in some grand, national contribution fur
affording succour for the famished crowds in Ireland. A
mere mite from each would accumulate into a vast boon
for those destitute classes of our countrymen. By depriving
ourselves of not one single comfort we might ward off death
from the unfortunate. An emniscient DErrY has thought
proper to visit Ireland with one of his severest scourges: it
is the very moment, therefore, when England should follow
one amongst the noblest precepts inculcated by that DErry.
We feel assured that this recommendation from the lips of
the Prime Minister is not merely feasible, but that it is ab-
solutely requisite. Isdeed it is but reasonable, while coer-
cion is proposed for the suppression of Molly Maguireism,
of the Rockite factions, the Whiteboy conspiracies, and
those hideous agrarian assassinations which are unhappily- so
prevalent in our sister country ;—it is but reasonable, we say,
that this coercive system (abstractly so obnoxious to the
Irish tenantry, should be reconciled, in some measure, to the
populace, by simultaneous efforts on the part of Government
and of the British public, to employ the unemployed and to
feed the foodless. A community of action such as this would
be conducive to the welfare of the peasantry, while it would
enforce their revereuce for and obedience to the majesty of
the temporary law. As a co-operative measure, nothing,
however, would be more likely to ensure this happy consum-
mation than a strenuous movement on the part of the Irish
landlords—an interference on behalf of the labouring classes,
more natural than any interference of Government, or
of the English public, and one more certain of ensuring the
tranquillity and of compensating for the bygone miseries of
that luckless multitude. It was from a conviction of this
fact that Mr. WILLIAM SMITH O'Bnaus endeavoured to im-
press the necessity upon .the representatives and the Mi-
nistry ; it was from a conviction of this fact that Sir rlcumsr
PEEL immediately afterwards declared that "unless the Irish
proprietors can be induced to come forward and co-operate
with the Government, all that can be done will be almost
entirely useless." Surrounded, however, by those gloomy
signs of hesitation, and increased poverty, and contagious
maladies, let Ireland still remain patient and hopeful ; her
cup of sorrow is coming to the dregs; a happier epoch is
approaching.

In the midst of such scenes the very ingratitude of Mr. S.
O'BRIEN will pass by unheeded, and the ill-timed and in-
jurious remarks, which he made on Friday evening, be drow,n2d
amidst the cries of starvation from his countrymen.

We observe that Mr. PARKER, the Member for Sheffield,
has given notice of a motion on the subject of railway h gis •
lation, which wears much more of a practical appearance
than the proposed motion of Mr. MORRISON. Mr. PARKER'S
motion is for a Select Committee, " to consider whether pre-
cautions cannot be devised by which the effects of the rail-
way legislation, now pending, on the labour and money
markets of the country, may be provided against." This is
hitting the right nail on the head. Mr. PARKER'S motion is
fixed for Wednesday next. Before then weshall return to the
subject. Mr. Monmsox has fixed his motion for Thursday
next; but Mr. PARKER'S motion, on Wednesday, will pro-
bably lead to a debate that will bring out the views of
both Hon. Members, and render Mr MomusoN's motion
unnecessary.

We have received Madrid journals of the 6th, but they
bring no news. The Funds on that day were rather more
firm; the Three per Cents. closed at 291/4 for the 30th inst.
Nothing was done in the Five per Cents.

The Paris papers in general regard the Polish insurrection
as at an end, though some of more sanguine temperament
still entertain lingering hopes that in the distant provinces
the struggle may be carried en with some chance of success.
That, however, is neither the common belief; nor even the
wish of the best friends of Poland, and all that can be done
row; is to raise funds with a view to render some relief to
the devoted victims of this ill-judged attempt. All classes in
France have evinced their sympathy for Poland. Even the
clergy have come forward and mingled their prayers
with the sympathetic wishes of their countrymen for the
restoration of this afflicted people. The Bishop of Pen
has addressed the following appeal to the inhabitants of
his diocese :—" Beloved diocesans, we will respond to
the wishes of those brethren who by their impetuous valour
and the brilliant qualities of their hearts have desired to be
called the French of the North. Never, perhaps, was Polanl.
more worthy of the sympathies of all Catholic hearts. Be-
hold her in her hale, old age bringing forth martyrs, whose
heroism is no wise inferior to that of the first champions of
our faith. Poland, unhappy and beloved sister, you will not
have vainly placed your hopes in the Gallivan Church ; we
will all mitti,aer relief to your sufferings. The pontiffs, clergy-
men, and faithful unite their voices and hearts to implore peace
and mercy in your behalf. Our prayer will ascend to Heaven
with the still smoking gore of your martyrs, and the blood
of martyrs, mingled with the prayers of the saints, ever falls
as a shower of blessings on the land from which it rose. We
already descry, at no remote distance, the dawn of less in-
auspicious days, which the Loup reserves for that noble
land. The entire of Europe is attentive to the groans escap-
ing from the bosoms of your children on the icy shores of
Siberia. Everywhere generous voices are raised to demand
our deliverance, and everywhere those voices are rapturously
hailed by the sympathising nations." Nut fewer than 149
Members of the Chamber of Deputies have subscribed sums
for the relief of the insurgents. Most of the public schools
and the Parisian bar also have subscribed. The sums, it
is true, are small, but France is not a wealthy country,
and the universal feeling of sympathy only shows
what the people would do if they had the means.
The Polytechnic School has subscribed 50/. ; the Normal
School, 36/. ; the Central School of Arts and Sciences, 161. ;
and the Parisian bar, 381. The Government are anxious to
repress any popular demonstration which may give offence
to Russia or other powers ; but, as far as can be judged from
the official organs, even the Ministers feel great sympathy
in the cause. Some nights since police agents were sta-
tioned in the pit of the Opera to prevent any outbreak of
popular feeling, and, according to the National, the ballet of
Diable a Quatre was prohibited on Wednesday night,
because, the scene being laid in Poland, some noisy
demonstration was likely to be made. The same jour-
nal relates the following occurrence :—" As the KING to-day,
at three o'clock, was driving in his carriage across the Place
de la Concorde, on his way to Neuilly, a citizen took off his
hat, and saluted his MAJESTY with the cry of \rive la
Pologne !' This was immediately repeated by some five-
and-twenty persons, and it was sufficiently loud, notwith-
standing the noise of the carriage and the galloping of the
horses, to reach the ears of the KING, who, on hearing it,
threw himself back in his carriage." We have no later
news from Cracow in these papers, but the following details
of what occurred in the surrender of that town will be read
with interest. They appear in the Journal des Debats

" The German papers and private letters we have to-day received
from the frontier of Silesia confirm the entry of the troops of these
protecting powers on the Republic's territory, and the occupation of
the city of Cracow. The intention of the inhabitants does not appear
to have been to offer any resistance whatever to the combined forces
of the three powers. As early as the Ist of March, two daya after
the re-capture of Podgorze by General Collin's troops, they had re-
moved the national red and white flag from the residence of the
Provisional Government, and substituted the white flag. Flags of
truce, borne by the most notable inhabitants of Cracow, repaired to
General Collin's head-quarters, in order to render the capitulation
of the city. The Austrian General, before all, demanded
hostages, the surrender of arms, and unconditional sub-
mission. Whilst • these conferences were proceeding, the
Russian corps was advancing by the Olkusz high road, moving
towards the north-east of the city, the part that can be least de-
fended. The moment General Collin heard of this mov lent, he
Ordered two battalions to cross the bridge and enter Crar e, which
they entered at the same time as the Russians. Wha
the Inhabitants will be who have taken part in the inst...
not yet known. It is to be feared that the instructions issued to the
Generals commanding the troops of occupation order them forthwith
to establish councils of war, and proceed with the utmost rigour. The
most compromised insurgents had left the city of Cracow almost Im-
mediately after General Collin's entry into Podgorze, and had striven
to cross the Vistula ; but the opposite baak was already occupied by
the Austrian troops, come to support General Collin. They therefore
repaired, on the 2d of March, to Neu-Berum, en the Silesian frontier,
where the Prussian troops were. The three principal leaders, Colonels,
Zhorowski, Wodzicki, and Bninski, after an interval with Generaide
Felden, laid down their arms on the sth March, and surrendered at
discretion. The insurgents delivered up to the Prussian troops alto-
gether 200 horses, COO scythes, but not a fire-arm. The Prussian
corps crossed the same day the republic's territory, and was to have
arrived at Cracow on the 7th. We yesterday reckoned the force of
the Prussian corps at 3,000 men. Having received large reinforce-
ments from Breslau it must amount to 7,000 men. The Russian
corps is of five thousand, as well as the Austrian corps, which
was partly to remain at Podgorze, facing Cracow. General
Collin, since he left Cracow, until his return to that place,
has received but two battalions of reinforcements. Thanks to the
strategic line of railroads, which now extends from Bohemia, Austria
could have easily assembled from 20,000 to 30,000 men in three days
on the Vistula. It is supposed that the reinforcements sent toaho-
neral Collin have been sent to maintain order and tranquillity in e
circles wherein the insurgents have striven to the insurrection."

At Dresden the fate of the unfortunate Poles has excited
the deepest sympathy; and in the Second Chamber, on the
4th instant, a strong demonstration was made in their favour.
M. DE GABELENTZ, in pursuance of a notice given the pre-
ceding day, asked the Ministry whether it was true that all
Poles, without excepting even those who had long been set-
tled in Saxony, had been ordered to leave the kingdom, and
if this were so, to explain the motives for such an extreme
measure, in order to satisfy those who feared that the sacred
rights of hospitality were not in any degree violated by
Saxony, which country had ever made it a point of honour
to observe them most religiously. The Minister of State,
M. DE FULKENSTEIN, declared that he was the more ready
to give the explanation demanded, as the measure had
been unjustly condemned. It was, he said, general, but was
taken in such a manner as to leave those affected by it
sufficient time to make every requisite preparation for de-
parture and arrangement: for the future. The measure,
though general, did not exclude exceptions, and the number
of Poles in Saxony whom it could be applied to was only
sixteen, but he could not make known in a public sitting
the motives which had induced the Government to adopt
it. M. DE GABELF.NTZ, then made a motion, that the
Chamber should insert in its minutes that it was confident
that the Ministry would modify the measure taken with
regard to the Poles in such manner, that those who were
able to prove they bad a legal domicile in Saxony should
continue to reside in the kingdom. Upon the motion of M.
DE LESCHAU, the Chamber went into secret committee.
This secret sitting lasted two hours, at the end of which the
Chamber resumed its public sitting, and after a further