The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 17, 1867.

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1101 V ORARY DEGREES.

(From the Nation.)
In a college calendar July may be called " the
month of degrees." The present season has been as
prolific as any of its predecessors in these academic
distinctions. Not only has there been the staple
harvest of bachelors, and a full assortment of mas-
ters " in course" and " out of course," " honorary"
and " ad cundern," but there has been, considering
the cool weather, a very fair crop of honorary
democrats in law, medicine, and theology, with
some show of frait, as the gardeners would say, in
the varieties which have been newly introduced into
this country—the democrats of philosophy and
music. One institution which, so far as we know,
is not distinguished for its advantages in the way of
instruction, has bestowed, for several years, more
honorary titles than it has numbering students in
its graduating classes. For some time past we have
watched these coronation ceremonies, when modest
worth and ambitious intrigue are both rewarded
with university distinctions, endeavouring to dis-
cover the law of selection by which some men come
to doctorates and other men do not. Our curiosity
has at least been repaid with amusement. Knowing
some of the managers of our oldest and most
honoured institutions, we have been favoured with
glimpses behind the scenes, and have learned a little
of the arts which are employed to secure the docto-
rates
in divinity and law, these being the grand
prizes in the commencementlottery. We have followed
the steps of one candidate and another, and have
sometimes seen the same person doubly dubbed
with the mystic initials bestowed on two different
colleges, by a surprisingly simultaneous recognition
of his merit, when all the world was wondering
that he was dubbed at all. The conclusion to which
we have come is this, that the mode in which hono-
rary degrees are conferred in this country is a
sham and a shame. Institutions of learning,
which should be vigorous and independent
enough to resist abuses, are led by the fashion, or
by the demands of their graduates and friends, con-
sciously or unconsciously, to perpetuate an evil
which has gradually crept in, and which is fast
becoming a positive nuisance.
To understand how these modern abuses have
grown up, we must bear in mind the history of
academic titles. Our fathers brought them to this
country from England, where they formed a part of
the paraphernalia of mediaeval society. A college
was an association or guild. None could enter it
except by conforming to the prescribed formalities.
Once admitted, various privileges were open to the
scholar, and the diploma ho received conferred in
fact, as well as in form, Jura, Insignia, Ilonores,
Privilegia, Dignitates. Many positions in life were
accessible only to those who had;passed through the
academic portal. In this literary guild were
grades or ranks. The bachelor had the right
prxlegendi, or of teaching with a text-book ;
the master had the right pro.fitend;, or of being
a professor, and of teaching. without a
ruan-
nal his .own accumulated.. wisdom.. Gradually the
doctor's rank became even higher than the master's,
and was considered as the mark of superior distinc-
tion in some branch of learning. Like the lower
degrees it was conferred upon examination, and was
the certificate of the college or university which
conferred it that the recipient was a proficient in
medicine, divinity, or law. In accordance with the
years, conferred at all. Even the
modesty which distinguished the foundation of our
oldest Americain colleges, honorary doctorates were
not, formany
honorary master's degree was sparingly bestowed.
After a while, when the primitive simplicity of
manner was yielding to the dignities and forms of
the revolutionary period, doctorates of divinity and
law were freely bestowed on men distinguished in
church and state—never, we believe, in this coun-
try, for merit in examination, but always honoris
causa. As letters became a profession, the docto-
rate of law was conferred on men of scientific and
literary attainments, without reference to their skill
in juriorrudene._ Whilo thu pnpulation was scanty,
and the colleges were but half-a-dors,n in number,
no great harm came from this bestowal of degrees.
The colleges were chary of their honours, and the
recipients were commonly men who were, at least,
as worthy of academic distinction as any in the
land. The college managers were respnsiblc also
to public sentiment. But now the number of col-
leges has largely increased. No one pretends to
keep the run of them. The doctorates which they
confer are innumerable. Designing men are con-
sequently enabled to make use of their academic
titles to impose upon unwary people. They use
their degrees to sell their literary wares, puff their
schools, and secure consideration from their neigh-
bours. The real distinctions of scholarship are
popularly underrated, and many modest and emi-
nent men of letters are depreeiated because their
more pushing neighbours have borne away the en-
dorsement of their colleges. We hold, therefore,
the older colleges ought to recast their mode of con-
ferring degrees. Let llarvard and Yale inaugurate
a change, and the smaller colleges will follow suit.
There are several considerations which ought to
be borne in mind in thinking of such a change.
In the first place, all the colleges of the land, some
hundred in number, claim the same privilege of
creating doctors. A " female college" out West,
or a chartered corporation without any students,
can furnish the same brand as Harvard or Yale.
" LL.D." looks just as well at the end of a name,
and the "Reverend Dr." sounds just as well for a
prefix, when the degree is conferred by the unheard-
of university of Montana, as when it is received
from Oxford or Cambridge. The public are very
forgetful, and though the dons in our older colleges
may scoff at the degrees of their younger sisters,
there is no one else to care. Again, all these in-
stitutions, old and new, "male and female," bestow
their honours, so far as we can discover, without
any grinding principle. Certainly there is no avowal
of reasons, nor any show of examination, nor any
publicity of discussion. At the close of commence-
ment exercises the gaping assembly is astounded by
the announcement that A, B, and C are constituted
doctors of theology or law, and this grave distinc-
tion is telegraphed at once, through the associated
press, to every city in the land ; but no key is given
to the proceeding. Who can tell why Professor
Pierce was honoured this year at Cambridge, or
Secretary Stanton at New Haven ?
But this indiscriminate bestowal of titles by well-
known and unknown colleges is not the worst evil.
It is so easy to get a degree, so many men of slight:
acquisitions have obtained degrees, that it is now
the way to apply for these honours ; and if the
secret sessions of college corporations were made
public, there would be an astounding revelation of
intimations and open requests and indorsements.
Members of the faculties of colleges are constantly
applied to to lend their influence to secure a doc-
torate for this person or that. By designed coin-
cidences letters are sometimes received from dis-
tant points and from very different writers, calling
attention to the peculiar merits of this or that can-
didate, and recommending him to favourable con-
sideration.
What now is the remedy for this state of things ?
Three occur to us as possible. First, the older and
firmer colleges might refuse to give honorary doc-
torates under any circumstances. The smaller and
younger colleges would be likely to follow the ex-
ample. Or, secondly, doctorates in law or theology
might be given on examination—the candidate of-
fering himself, like the candidates for the baccalau-
reate, openly and honourably, with a thesis or trea-
tise which should exhibit his attainments. This is
the usage of some of the foreign nniversitie.3. Or,
thirdly, a college might declare its pnrposl to ad-
vance its own graduates to honorary distinction:; on
certain recognised principles of promotion—the
publication of some scholarly work, the accom-
plishment of some literary task, or the attain-
ment of some high position. In every case the
reasons for bestowing the degree should be openly
avowed. If a man is made doctor of laws, the
public have a right to know whether it means he
has fought a battle, or is on the right side in polities,
or is a donor to the extent of 44 five thousand dol-
al ra and upwards."
At present everything looks accidental. Two
yeara ago, General Grant, ou his way to Canada,
happened to take a commencement dinner iu a town
down East, and came away LL.D. General Meade,
on his retarn from a wedding, yigited Cambridge,

and bore away the same diploma. General Howard '
left the Freedmen's Bureau to visit his home, and
the nearest college christened him doctor of laws.
General Terry, on the other hand, came out a simple
master of arts at New Haven, on the principle that
a prophet is not without honour save in his own
country. A few years before, a professor of Greek
found himself proclaimed at Cambridge a doctor of
divinity, when he had not even been ordained as a
minister. Bismarck is announced as having just
been made a doctor of philosophy in one of the Ger-
man universities. George Peabody is doctor of civil
law at Oxford. The newly arrived minister from
Greece has turned up an LL.D. at New Haven.
How many of the corporation could tell his name?
So it goes year after year. Take the lists of any
respectable college, and see whom they have ho-
noured and whom they have not. One hour's
scrutiny would be sufficient to show that the whole
system, as at present maintained, is full of fraud
towards the public, unfairness towards men of let-
ters, and dishonour to the name of learning and the
thought of academic honour.

VIE REFORM BILL.

(From the Times.)
Speculation has often busied itself about the feel-
ings of a man under sentence of death, and novelists
have found in the Last Days of a Convict opportu-
nities for minute analysis of character, harrowing
descriptions, and sensational situations. The result
has never been satisfactory. Fine writing has been
powerless to describe the dull inability to under-
stand his situation which appears to befall the ordi-
nary man left for execution. We are now, however,
entering on a period having no remote analogy to
the last days of a criminal's life. For the next 17
months we shall have opportunities of watching the
behaviour of constituencies under sentence. The
existing constituencies of England are condemned.
Execution is, indeed, deferred until the Ist of
January, 1869. Until that time comes all casual
vacancies must be filled up, and a General Election
—should by any unforeseen chance a General Elec-
tion be held—must be conducted as if no Reform
Act had been passed. But in 1869 new classes of
electors will be invested with the power of election.
What will the old constituencies do in the interval?
There must, according to the ordinary law of
chances, be forty or fifty vacancies before 1869.
Will the £lO householders make their peace with
their future masters? Will they court the favour
of the multitude ? Will they attempt to disinte-
grate the formidable mass so as to retain some of
their present influence in the future? Or will they
die hard and unrepentant ?
The first note of the first contest after the pass-
ing of the Reform Act has been sounded. Mr.
Poulett Scrope has retired from the representation
of Stroud. It has been known for some time that
Mr. Scrope would not seek re-election, but the
announcement of his immediate withdrawal from
Parliament seems to havesurprised his constituents.
Stroud is a borough -which was called into existence
by the Act of 1832, and almost from the date of its
birth Mr. Scrope has represented it. He contested it
in 1822 ; he was returned in 1833. He has been
one of its members ever since. Ile has been the
colleague of Lord Russell ; he is the colleague of
Mr. Horsman. Through the long and unbroken
period of his political career he has always voted
with the Liberal party, and on economic subjects
he has been an authority. But the Stroud created
in 1832 is about to be merged in the Stroud created
in 1867 ; and Mr. Scrope takes the opportunity of
retirement. We can well understand his feelings.
Stroud, though called into existence in 1832, is a
rural borough running into many parishes, and it
was, according to rumour, made so extensive with a
very definite object. But though thus enlarged,
and though Lord Russell has sat for it, its popnla-
tics has dwindled and is dwindling. It has fallen
off about 121 per cent. since 1832. It had, how-
ever, last year within its limits 1,483 £lO house-
holders, and of these no lean than 1,400 appeared
on the register. These are the electors who re-
turned Mr. Scrope. But the male occupiers in the
borough are 6,927. The Small Tenements Act was
never adopted, except in a small part of its area,
and more than 6,300 of the mile occupiers have
always been separately rated. There will thus be
no difficulty in the enforced rating of every occu-
pier. The future member for Strowl must, there-
fore, represent a constituency nearly five thins as
large as that which has so faithfully supported Mr.
Scrope, and any one canvassing the electors of to-
day must be anxious to consult the wishes of the
unknown electors of to-morrow. We can sympa-
thise with the daring candidates who are wooing
the electors of Stroud. Three of them arc already
named, and have issued addresses ; two others are in
partial obscurity, being only mentioned as aspirants
for the seat. How embarrassing is their situation !
They want to get in now, and, on the other hand,
having got in, they would like to stop in after
1869. They must court the voters who are at pre-
sent so powerful, yet they must beware of too
closely echoing their sentiments, lest the unenfran-
chised householders who two years hence will be
omnipotent should take umbrage at their conduct.
They are bound to respect the 6,000 or 7,000 men
of the future, and yet not too devotedly, lest the
£lO householders should be jealous. Perhaps, how-
ever—for these electioneering personages are far-
sighted men—some one or two of the candidates
are careless about the result of the present contest,
and merely wish to make their names known in
the neighbourhood, suspecting that the senti-
ments of the other member for Stroud may not be
altogether approved by the new constituency.
However that may be, the hazard, and doubt, and
difficulty of running at the same time with the hare
and the hounds at Stroud form but half the embar-
rassment of the candidates. They must be sorely
put to it on both sides when they have to explain
their parties and their principles. The expiring
Session has made terrible havoc with the old party
distinctions. We observe that a Mr. Dorington
has been put forward by what are called the Con-
servatives of Stroud, but Mr. Dorington makes no
declaration in his address of political principles.
How could he? If he called himself a Conserva-
tive, he might be asked on the hustings whether he
would vote with General Peel ; if he declared that
lie was a follower of Mr. Disraeli, he would be
asked whether he was prepared to secularise the
revenues of the Irish Church and to endow a Roman
Catholic University at Dublin. The Chancellor of
the Exchequer must in the ensuing recess invent
some formula for his friends. At present their
position is cruel. They have not that exceeding
power of words in which he rejoices, and when they
venture forth upon the hustings their nakedness is
discovered. Mr. Disraeli may boast that he has
destroyed the monopoly of Liberalism, and rejoice
that the House of Commons has been " renovated,
not reformed ;" but what are these dazzling ex-
pressions to MI. Dorington before the electors of
Stroud ? lie would most probably have been glad
had the monopoly of Liberalism been undisturbed.
It is odds that he dislikes renovation as much as re-
form. He can only declare that he is an independent
matt in favour of freedom and the British Monarchy.
On the other hand, it cannot be denied that a
decent Liberal is about as ill off as a decent Con-
servative. If the Conservative party have, as Mr.
Disraeli proclaims, no principles, the Liberal party
have no leader. The chaotic condition of the Op-
position is the single consolation of the Ministry.
The Whigs have been " dished." One hall of the
Reform question has been settled, and upon the other
half 1-4,m1 Mused and Mr. Gladstone differ ; and
the intelligence of the party supports the first
against the second. We believe Mr. Winterbothatu
cane before the electors of Stroud as a Liberal
candidate early in the year, . and at that time
his course may have been easy ; but the events
of the session and the convulsions of party must
test his independence and his firmness. Like
his Conservative opponent, he will be bound to
abjure persons and to renounce party ties, and he
may find it equally difficult to make a more definite
profession of faith than is expressed by a belief in
freedom and the British monarchy.
We suppose next session will remove some
of the difficulties of Parliamentary candidates if
it aggravates others. The more nearly we ap-
proach the Ist of January, 1869, the more power-

ful must be the disturbing influence of the future
constituencies on the filling up of casual vacan-
cies. On the other hand, parties must be restored
to some semblance of their former organised con-
dition, and the candidates whose political dis-
crimination is confined to saying that they would,
if elected, support the leader of the Ministry or of
the Opposition may be spared the difficulty conse-
quent upon being asked to explain what measures
they mean to promote. At present elections are
Matters of chance. Some trifling element, ordina-
rily powerless to influence the result, decides the
day. It is anybody's victory. The best qualifica-
tion for success is probably the possession of local
connections, and we observe that all the five candi-
dates named and unnamed for Stroud are said to
belong to local families. It is desirable that this
clement should weigh in the judgment of electors,
but it is easy to overrate its importance. We
would prefer a proclamation of principles on the
hustings, but we arc conscious that to secure it we
must have clear principles enunciated by the leaders
of Parliament.

Ignorance of the Clergy in the Reign of
Elizabeth.

Early in the reign of Elizabeth the chaplain to
he Archbishop of Canterbury had occasion to ex-

amine the curate of Cripplegate, and by way of
testing his knowledge asked him the meaning of
the word " function." To this difficult question
the rev. gentleman, not having paid much atten-
tion to the niceties of language, was unable to
make a satisfactory reply. Several years later the
clergyman of Farnham, All Saints, was examined
by the Bishop of Norwich. The conversation which
ensued is deserving attention ; and it is preserved
by Strype, whose devotion to the Church of Eng-
land no one will think of questioning. " The
Bishop asked him the contents of the third chap-
ter of Matthew : he answered nothing ; and the
contents of the eleventh chapter ; neither could he
answer to that. He asked him how many chapters
the Epistle to the Romans contained, and what the
subject of that Epistle was. To neither of these
could he answer. And when he adventured to
answer, he showed his ignorance as much as by his
silence." But I might fill a volume with similar in-
stances, and I can only afford room for one or two
more examples. In 1574 a certain William Ireland
was presented •to the rectory of Ilarthill. The
Archbishop of York directed his chaplain to exa-
mine him. The chaplain first desired him to trans-
late an easy Latin sentence. This he was unable
to do ; but as such knowledge was not very common

in the clerical profession, the absence of it did
not amount to a disqualification, and the examiner
proceeded in his inquiry. He asked the rev. gen-
tleman " Who brought up the people of Israel out
of Egypt ?" He answered King Saul. And being
asked who was first circumcised, he could not
answer. It is not to be expected that men such as
these should display any remarkable ability when
they had occasion to mount the pulpit. Indeed
their apostolic deficiencies were so glaring that it
was found necessary to draw up sermons which they
might read to the people. But some of the more
adventurous of the sacred order, disdaining to
shine by such borrowed light, ventured to
address their parishioners in their own language,
and with their own ideas. One of them, with the
view as I suppose of moderating the presumption of
his flock, preached in favour of mediocrity, and his
sermon was considered such a masterpiece of
theology that it was repeated in two or three dif-
ferent parisheS. " God," says this great divine,
"delighted in mediocrity by these reasons—viz.,
man was put in medio paradisi : a rib was taken out
of the midst of man. The Israelites went through
the midst of Jordan ; and the midst of the Red Sea.
Samson put firebrands in the middest between the
foxes' tails. David's men had their garulents cut
off by the middest. Christ was hanged in the middest
between two thieves."—A Posthumous Paper by Mr.
Buckle in Fraser's illagazine for August.

LIBERTY BECOME LICENSE.—Week after week
our better taste has boon outraged by the appearance of a
scries of cartoons intended to heap ignominy on members

of the Royal family. These miserable prostitutions of
art are almost beneath our notice, and we do not envy

their p-,rpetrator the reputation they aro calculated to
procure for him. They may perhaps find admirers
among the more vitiated classes of the people, and pos-
sibly a feeling of morbid curiosity may tend to a tem-
porary increase in the sale of the journal in which they
appear. We cannot sufficiently condemn the cowardly
feeling which conceived and caused to be executed the last
design. In the first place one would have imagined that
the sex and virtues of the high personage assailed would
have protected her from such dastardly attacks; but not
so, apparently. It is indeed valiant and honourable to
couch pen and pencil against those who, from their very
position, cannot notice the assaults of individuals so utterly
their inferiors. In making these remarks wo aro but
echoing the sentiments of the majority of the British
people.—Echoes from the Clubs.
NIAGARA FALLS.—TabIe Rock was successfully
blown away from the main rock on the 26th ult, by a
second blast of powder, which removed what a first blast
had left. Visitors can now reach the sheet of water at
the base of the Falls without danger from falling rock.—
Toronto Globe.
THE SCHISM AMONG THE MORMONS.--A few
weeks ago a shipload of 400 Mormon emigrants landed at
this port from England, and set out across the plains for the
city of Great Salt Lake. By all accounts it seems certain
that they will find their paradise in a sad turmoil when they
get to it, and the Faints in a most ungodly rumpus. The
schism to which we alluded a short time ago has become so
wide, and has made such an ugly wound, that there is but
little prospect of its ever being healed. Brigham Young is
boldly denounced. His followers have ceased to obey him;
his adversaries sot him at defiance. When ho falls the
keystone of the Mormon structure is overthrown.
The Latter Day Church cannot outlast its groat
prophet. It is said that Young is about to remove
to the newly-discovered gold mines of Utah ; but we
aro loth to believe that he so quickly gives up the right,
and it is more probable that he will make a determined
stand at his capital. At any rate the Mormon diffi-
culty, which has perplexed us for so many years, seems to
be rapidly solving itself without our assistance. In another
generation we may hope to see the polygamists of the
groat plains quietly absorbed by a law abiding and indus-
trious race of new settlers. If they withstand the com-
bined influence of internal discord, the Pacific Bailway,
and the tido of immigration which will bo attracted to
Utah by the discovery of gold in the territory, they will
show a stability and strength of character to which his-
tory affords no parallel.—New York Tribune.
The New York Times has contracted with Cush-
man Brothers, Amherst paper manufacturers, to take all
the paper they make, which will be just about half the
amount consumed by the Times.
An important Shaker case is assigned for trial
in the September term of the superior court for Tolland
county. Some years since Motes Terry, acting as trustee
for the East family at Enfield, bought a house and several
building lots, giving his obligations in payment. Zelotes
having grace died, Omar Pease, his successor in office,
refused to pay, yet keeps possession of the land, pays the
taxes, and receives the rent.
Some of the young men of Worcester are forming
a league to emigrate to the far West.
State Liquor Commissioner Baker has appointed
three sub-agents for the sale of liquor in Boston. Each is
supplied with a seal on which is cut his name and place,
and an impression on wax is to accompany each package
sold. This, it is asserted, will give evidence of the purity
of the liquor.
The Paris Prefect of Police has refused permis

siou to the International Co-operative Congress to meet.
This is the more strange as the co-operative movement
was taken by the Government under its own immediate
protection in the commencement. No reason is assigned for
this change of opinEn, which was intimated to the Presi-
dent of the Congress by a commissary of police.
[AnynaTISEMENTI—Avoid Medicines: they always aggravate
chronic complaints: but Du Barry's delicious health-restoring
It:felent a A rablea Food, winch yields three times the nourish-
,
mem. of the be:d. meat, raves 50 times its cost in other remedies,
and invariably restore.; perfect digestion, strong, nerves sound
lung:, healthy liver, pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional
regularity, and energy to the most disordered or enfeebled. We
extract a few out of 68,000 cures ;—" The Pope's health restored ,
by Du Barry's Food. Cure No. 63,113.—" "Reins, July 21,1866.
—The health of the Holy Father is excellent, especially since,
• abandoning all other remedies, he has confined himself entirely
to Du. Barry's Revalenta Arabica, Food, of a
which he consumes
a plateful at every meal. It has prodaced surprisingly
ficial effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot praise this excel
lent food too highly." FroM the "Gazette de Midi, July 25. Cure
No. 58,218, of the Marchioness Sc Brehanu,sness, of seven yea a
rs' liver
complaint, wasting away, debility, nervo with nervous
palpitation all over, bad digestion, constant
sleeplessness, and
the most intolerable nervous agitation.." ure No. 1,771; Lord
Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years'
dyspepsia. No. 49,832: " Fifty years' indescribable agony from
dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency,
spasms, sickness, and vomiting.—Maria Joly."—Cure No.
16,270: Mr. Janice Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years'
diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and
partial deafness. Important Caution.—Beware of the many
unsavoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, without
uthority, Baron Liebig's name is most audaciously attached
In tins at Is. 10.; 1 lb., 2s 93. 2 lhs,, 4s. 6d.; lbs., 11 s. ;
Li lbs., 225.; 21 lbs., 10s.—RuutY Du 13:tittlY and Co., No. 77,
at street, London; also Fortna,m and Mason, 182, Piccadilly ;
and at 61, Graceehureh-street; 4, Cheapside; 61, 150, and 289,
. Oxford-Weet ; 330 Strand; and all gorQc,cuanq