The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-19 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, MARCH 18.
The Rev. F. K. Leight6n, M.A., Rector of
Harpsden, and late Fellow of All Souls, was this
day elected Warden of that society, in the place
of the Rev. Lewis Sneyd, M.A., deceased.
Mr. Leighton was originally of Magdalen Col-
lege, which he entered in the year 1825. He
obtained the Chancellor's prize for Latin verse in
1826, and was placed in the Second Class in
Classics at the Michaelmas Examination iu 1828.
Shortly afterwards he was elected Fellow of All
Souls. In 1841 he accepted the College living of
Harpsden, or Harding, Oxon ; and in the same
year, and again in 1843, he was nominated one of
the Select Preachers.

In a Convocation held this day at 2 o'clock, the
nomination of the Dean of Christ Church to be
Curator of the University Galleries was approved
by the House, as was the nomination of Pro-
fessor Donkin to be Curator of the Taylor
Institution. The nomination of the Rev. R. C.
Hales, of Magdalen Hall, to be Curator of the
Taylor Institution was rejected.
The Rev. H. L. Mansel, 8.D., of St. John's
College, was declared by the Vice-Chancellor to
have been appointed by himself and the two
Proctors a Delegate of the Press, in the room of
Dr. Bull, deceased.
The Rev. J. Griffith, M.A., of Wadham College,
Keeper of the Achives, was elected a Delegate of
Accounts in the room of Dr. Bull, deceased.

THE DANGER OF READING FORBIDDEo

BOOKS IN RUSSIA.

A St. Petersburg correspondent of the Allge-
meine Zcitung, writing on the 15th ult., refers to
the case of Hofrath Muchinn, a respectable Russian
gentleman and official pensioner, who has just been
arrested and sent away from his home, because he
had been guilty of reading aloud, in public places,
certain tracts printed abroad, " of a criminal pur-
port." The correpponclenco adds—" I enclose to
you the extract from a Gazette, which announ-
ces that Hofrath Muchinn is to be sent, under
guard, away from St. Petersburg, to one of the
remote governments, and to be kept there under
strict police surveillance.' This means in other
words, to Siberia ; and the addition, under strict
police surveillance' is a very heavy aggravation of
the punishment, the real signification of which is
what people in the West of Europe can scarcely
form a► correct idea of. Th• criminal tracts,
printed abroad,' were the Kolokol (the Bell), which
appears in London, and a part of the 'Voices
from Russia" (Golossah is Rossiji), which are well
known as the revolutionary writings of Herzen,
printed in London at what is called the Free Rus-
siin Press,' No. 2, Judd-street, Brunswick square,
and whildi are circulated here in great numbers.
If the reading aloud or communication of these
writings merits such a penalty, and be it observed
that no limit is fixed to its duration, and the
strict police surveillance' may thus be continued
for life, whilst the remote government is not speci-
fied by name—then thousands of persons here in
St. Petersburg are equally guilty, for these writings
are actually passed from hand to hand, though in-
deed With greater circumspection than Hofrath
Muchinn displayed. You can hardly now begin
a conversation without its turniltg upon the
latest attacks made by the Kolokot upon
Sakrevvski, Bering, Orloff, Alderberg, and
even high personages. If any one has not
himself read them, he has at least heard of
them, exaggerated even by repetition, and the in-
adequacy of a police prohibition to put restrictions
on intellectual activity, has never been so com-
pletely exemplified as in the case of these papers,
brilliantly written and printed in the Russian laa-
guage. If the object has been to make au example
of Muchinu, and intimidate others by the sentence
passed upon him, I believe it will;produce no effect
but the observance of greater precautions and closed
doors when the same soft of thing is going on.