The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-19 00:00:00

Dil
tended to do that which was sought for by the
Renters, as no doubt he did, why did he not franks) lesee
the House and the country that such was his intention!.
These Commissions, however, to inquire into their teel
versities were not a new project. IQ 1647 a Cornel':
,ion was instituted by Parliament with a view to abolisn
the ststutcs of the universities, in order to
more extensive, and a Prime Minister of that d of Na
eeak enough to commit. himself to that proceediagl
But his conduct had been Commented on is the avenge!!
terms by a great historian; for Lord Clarendon
the
that the visitation which then took piece lasted till Ind
following 3 ear, when the Earl of Fembroke the Ler
make then
Treasurer, and who, as Chancellor of the
of Oxford, took the usual oaths to defend its righk.
the weble
and privileges, had, in consequence
Iniserau
twos of his understanding, and the
a part witht)
compliance of his nature, taken
in order
Presbyterians, the Commissioners and Prelate • "nvited
the universities. These universities were 1
reform • • •
though strictlyub.
to submit, but having met in convocation, niversity,
guarded with troops and the King in prison, they P is.
lished declaration denying the power of the come: _
sioners, in consequence of which 'they preseet.
office. That, however, could not be done in the
then th,een de.
day ; but they might adopt the expedient
sorted to toe ards persons whom were ejected ell!
Anthony We(
scribes es " a pitiful set of men called seekers." el
laugh.) It was also said of these Coo:llhissiollers.
not only did they ceok to possess themselves of the Tee
bre
venues of the university, but they commenced akiesd
the fiddles and destroying the garlands which theY f°eD t
in those establishments.—(A laugh.) Another virtuatterePo
was made when times became more liberal, and by
of royal authority, as in the present instance. nee `test
Stuart), as a lawyer, denied the legality et, , the
authority. Parliament certainly had the power,ell" eh
Crown had not an inherent authority to institute etheer
a Commission as the present. In 1687 znenis.
Commission was issued, and an attempt to instal a A,
to senter in Magdalen College; but that also was resist:li.
w ee
and the consequences whic followed were known
That was a college, the endowments of which erof
perhaps the least devoted to purposes of educstielteo.
any other in either university; but they refused t 0.00,131
ply with the wishes of royal authority, and he Deed of
refer to the passage in Mr. Macaulay 's
England," where their conduct and public Petrie° Ise•
were described in the most eloquent and glowieee the
guage. It was that resistance which establisheuf tee
liberties of England, and led to the expulsion 0 to
King as well as hie Minister, Lord Sunderland, weebe(lbfer,
as weak as the Earl of Pembroke in 1647. eee
Stuart) had to apologise to the House for detitielnst
them, but he submitted that all the authorities Mesita
"
issuing the Commission were with him, and beesrifeoll
conclude by submitting his motion to the tionsiee*-1
of the House. tie Right
t
Mr. H. DRUMMOND thought that if t-
Hon. Baronet (Sir G. Grey) was right in congratultdtio
the House upon the advantage derived through the re-
beelloe
of this debate, and the tone with which it bed
opened, alluding to the speech of the lion. end Dear tre
Member (Mr. R. Palmer), the House might be elghl
tulated also upon the altered tone taken by the oat
lion.
Gentleman—a tone so totally different fro' (toed
in which the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Hey fro
00
the question, and, it must be added, froth tebee,eler
adopted by the Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell), neeeet of
the
ech more moderate this might have been 00 I"ed to
Hon. Gentleman.—(Hear, hear.) There seeleteeeet
be some confusion in the minds of many awselroelebyeigeudejoitifi
and intention of these universities. They'
not places of primary instruction. But it
.witstitbirie, Oaf
of the Government to do its best to warn the y s o
subjects of the Crown generally, against impostor
oil
every kind, and to provide a lace call it elliceerrovs
should
college, or what you would—where 17-03ine•
t. be known to undergo sufficient elthould
Lon in certain subjects, and that 00; that
receive something in the shape of a certifics.ewhich
they were duly qualifie.l for the professions end
they assumed to be learned, and io be the, gute:te, or
assistants of the people, whether in inedieeee, ;„;„ion
divinity.—(Hear, hear.) Whether the Ce113,-e-essite
which the Noble Lord had advised the anti
was technically illegal or not mattered eerYe- the
theco question turned more upon the colneesiti°njon td)
ft:mission, and the duties assigned to it, then eereoll'e
tof the Commission itself. He (Mr. 1)2.11,7 diov
confessed he was somewhat seetics!, soniewue-iej° Prfr
culty, as to the effect of it, when he referred te Pt°
readings of Whigs upon former similar 001°1;03 ine
with him a copy of a Commission sent VA' toes
lwhat they called "good old times"—`` g°(); late')
always meaning when Whigs acre in office.--(eeire int°
I 1690 they sent down a Commission to ieele"iooere
the universities of Scotland; and the Conemtnlesi,pror;
were to summon, warn, and charge the prineess,miso
fessore, masters, &c., to appear and answer an' u tb°
the
Commission, and likewise to summon, 11 the
lieges who had anything to object ageitille 1 opeitt,
to
said principal, professors, masters, etc.,
fi
and give in the same. In one of their were
acts the Commissioners stated that tbeY Were
come to try if any of the masters gibing
negligent; to inquire how many meetings for tea what
they kept in a day, at what time, and for how longed .
the
discipline they exercised, how often they exse3Lije
scholars, &c.; likewise to call for the foundstri° sty
laws, and consider how they were observed, aeun:tebc'e
how the revenues were managed, &c. The erseei ere",
published this—no doubt he must have beenP a siren P
Tory—(A laugb)—remarked how easy • t was
to reeliras
appear that the masters' greatest eriinel'A "astbeir
and preferments.—(Hear, and a laugh.) yen
indeed, would depend upon the persons appoioteejeeee
the same time this should be considered—if the to
assumed to herself, or that House to itself, the arty,c )er
by
inquire how these corporations used their proProta
what argument was the Crown itself to be proteotead her
a commission to inquire as to how the Q
property?—(Hear, hear.) The whole 77"ntte:sonlIrkrfear
very much as if she Noble Lord had fallen int° "eot to
into which heads of Governments were very ,:ttboet
fall, taking upon themselves affairs of this se° leo; le
consulting their Cabinets or any person OM Peeossiblie
inform them—(llear, hear)—for it seemed °en ate'
that any one who knew anything of what rr,,e,flottoes'el Of.
of the duties of these universities, ever could twee
sanction any such proceeding.—(Heir, ir, heate)eenetent %,-
versities were become, by lapse, totally inoweetee see,
discharge their duties to the public at large le carrel
inh which the public might be benefited—(Ho 0° be
tweitththtehewirayprtooperretmyeadnydtthhaetirwriagshtna.t(tuo
err, r 113)
to
ellell-1;11°:
Roman
we ought to do was either to open t'ee to 0,1
Catholics and Nonconformist., or vs° ivies"
one con seele
grants of public money to build colleges,'
the Catholics, and another for Nonconformists' Wh"e to e`:•
It degreeswasperfeeatnlyd
ihnlopnoosuarishloeffotrheuniversitiest.:geenthe °eft
them to con ,shte
versities merely as parts of the Church esl4hisl, est°.
after they had themselves destroyed that Chure'll Pr
°:
leisalasement, and after that House, containing se °if pagii
t d enemies to the establishment, sat nightie' 't/,broegee-
inent upo it.—(Hear, hear.) A great fallacy raerl 'open},
the argument of the Honourable Gentleman lee tangle
this debate as to the things which ought to eefes P-
at the universities. The two principal Patr, 1.11;
alluded to were modern history and enedee by
-
guage. With respect to modern history, e,eaot is
Drummond) did not exactly know what was leeepble'
it. Whigs were famous fur writing political P!ceet he;
which they called histories—(A laueh)---ene,1331,,° to °A-
gin with Fox's " History of James," and go ontleeei
latest that had come out; and if the Hoe• tielete°
meant that it was very important that the be
should be taught to the rising generation, eeeeeieeee-
Drummond) must differ from him—Ulcer.) eee-seeetee
it was a matter of taste.—(A. huh.) With ri- " err-
modern languages, the Hon. Gentlemang was -nof °°le
There was a great advantage in the knowledge e oeOP,
dern languages to those who had to mix with jertue
among whom they were spoken; but it was 1111°elef est:
neousadv to suppose that you could ever derives ett- of 0.-;
eienatntage from the study of modern languag auoiei•
as .—(Hear, hear.) There was a little error, lleof leee
to the object to be effected by the teaChia £0
guages at the universities. It- hled no 01ere ttg-I
We de
with the subsequent use to be made of those h d e'
than the learning to fence or to dance Panott !)-
with the subsequent walking. You were -04
cause you had learned •to fence, to ge ecoil tht
carte and tierce through the world; tellth„4 Stir'
not proper power over your limbs un'eiatite/se
in these exercises. So with the learning eenioe Bnf
gnages; the great advantage was that the 7,df
thereby exercised in a way iu which it couldnetTio ie"
other means. Illustrations might be fell°„; fief t
House during the last century; let any
one pe:lectereP)
eminentlyw those had been distinguished le eeee-f(eleeet'
Theho had been most learned at college' see- e
knowledge of German
.°°
had been 'Artie f per oil
Pied. You would find a greater nuatheer c'tbaso,oloo;
ewvtioeydwfihnedreßanbgrloisand well versed in English
gages, and the reasonPeopalsesiwgenleldvearhsreodadinvfaosetlrta,%o 00016;
literature was not only so much richer, buh-ni ebifeet
expurer, that English was necessary for those wh-thetytie
e!Fised themselves in light reading, becansed Tie; el
__reading on the continent was so corrupting °le el"r- re
Now, there were many persons here exceedlgteeey
at the introduction of Popery. Elan re elga of
right instead of wrong, in point of fact, theoeetectieeeoe
greater danger to this country from the iletr, test . of
German literature, filling people's minds wit"euerteeeer•
minable system of neology. If there Was tee of seed)
which we ought to be jealous, it was the It en-ril 00-00
many, and especially Prussia. He (gr*:-tllOOl
very much disliked everything that can:lee:oe lee
quarter.—(A laugh.) In politics Prussia `I f Sh° or
treacherous of all countries during the whole °Or/ If'
war; it as the most base; it followed tbis °for if °Ol
France, according as it could obtain something that frai,
It was a Minister of Prussia who was the Is,l coeTe,"
convicted of receiving money to betray e' et, orre.ost
of Prussia was the great centre from which all ,t" fed
w_
_Eehurope came forth. If there was one thief', itse of
chei
suffering
universities ought most to be Warr ettsiele
nffit,rruientgLoGneromf aßnulgitleiarhatuyroeuttho.—be(come t,,ep
r.)
the was
i
was exceedingly glad the adjournmentilor 11il'ejlevegbaaetefieitibe;
moved. [An HON. MEMBER.—" That motion mild veto
drawn."] It was • it fie. gee"
to be moved wol); "-
Ministers an opportunity of remembering
thoughts were best."—(l.lear hear.) fibet;
-a Opt t wir
Mr. E. BUNBURY said the first queetion done
Cher the Crown had the power to inquire into I", efeettee
remedy' ehmitgthhhoatateetxhdeiesrfteeeitna thhe universities, wi.tilietiol/"teil4
believedee
werefor ,
that power in the creation of the Coneenissoeyed re, or
inquiries and report the measure of reenie'll-issieeeti'
was afterwards fuunded, and also on the Cone° tow ie
Eee ee
Inquiry which preceded the formation of tile of ill
precedents for leiftire%der gic`t;
cal Commission. Now be said,' for the eseeeet tb
versities themselvee, it was most desirable tile be ego°
merous and grave charges against them she° chsi eer
f the et
investigated. He believed that many oil 11,
which were made against them were baseda
neous ideas as to the nature and constiltir