The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY MORNING, MAY 13, 1844.

LONDON UNIVERSITY.
[Owing to pressure of other matter, and also to the
severe strictures contained in the following letter
from an old and intelligent correspondent on men
who have done much for the middle classes, we have
kept it Lack till now. Some parts of it are not in ac-
cordance with our opinions, but, on the whole, the
good far outbalances the bad, and we let them go
together.—We may remark that our able correspon-
dent pays a far too high compliment to Oxford and
Cambridge. Canning was a wit and an eloquent
orator. Peel, with all his sterling qualities, is neither.
They were both University men. Pitt and Brougham
never entmed Oxford or
.Cambridge. Does our cor-
respondent wish us to draw the contrast P—ED. Sun.]
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUZ%
SIR, In your report of the 'meeting for the distri-
bution of prizes in the London University., Lord
Brougham is represented as saying—" In all, nearly
50,000/., which was now at the disposal of the Coun-
cil. He had no doubt whatever, at any rate, he
would recommend it to the Council, that that great
building should be now completed. He now came to
the darker side of the picture. Instead of being the
first, theirs was undoubtedly the last institution of
the kind in reference to science and literature," &c.
Although there is much in the above extract that
may be disputed, there is the one great fact on which
his Lordship's testimony is sufficient authority, that
at the end of fifteen years the attempt to establish in
London a college for general education, unshackled
by the fetters of religious bigotry, has proved a
failure. But if this failure should cause an inquiry
into the circumstances that have conduced to this
want of success, the attempt will not have been made
in vain. I doubt not but that persons who have
more ability than I possess, and who have some leisure,
which I have not, will bring this subject before the
public in the manner that its great importance de-
mands, but, in the meantime, I beg to offer a few re-
marks on his Lordship's speech.
First, his Lordship recommends that the 50,0001.
at their command should be used to complete the
building. There is already more room than they
want, and his Lordship recommends them to pro-
vide more. Money will employ masons, although
the advantages of the institution will not induce
pupils to enter. When his Lordship subsequently
speaks of " their magnificent establishment," he must
have been thinking of the vast lonely, silent structure
which is to cast a gloom on one part of London.
You, Sir, justly censure the Bishops for their ex-
cessive zeal for church-building, as contrasted
with their care for our mental, moral, and so-
cial culture ; but this eagerness to raise
buildings made with hands has been the
curse of every age, joined as it has too often been
with apathy and inability to elevate men to their due
grandeur. We have not to dread the crimes which
attended the building of the Egyptian pyramids, the
temple of Solomon, nor St. Peter's at Rome, but our
generation is likely to be remembered rather ?or the
edifices raised, than for the noble institutions to
render our fellow citizens what Englishmen ought
to be.

Secondly, his Lordship speaks of the cheapness of
his goods, and wonders they do not sell. He tickets
them thus :—" A great sacrifice, 2001. or 3001. worth
of Oxford or Cambridge education for 251." This
cannot be of use. No one has complained that the
University College is too dear. The Londoners do
not want education for their children without paying
the full price, but they have doubted the goodness of
the article offered to them. His Lordship's
contrast is inaccurate. The education at Oxford
or Cambridge does not cost anything like the sum
mentioned. Compare the expense of a College edu-
cation in Dublin. The University there is in a
capital city. No religious tests are forced on the
students. An education of the highest order is pro-
vided for the sons of the citizens for 15/. a-year.
In the third place, the education is said to be of
the same class and quality as at Cambridge and
Oxford; and again, that better teachers were not to
be had elsevihere. It would be sad news if this were
true—if men of the highest attainments in science
and literature could be engaged on such terms as
those offered the professors by the London Uni-
versity, and if educational establishments could
be raised and conducted as easily as the Council
of the London University appear to have imagined,
A comparison with Oxford and Cambridge is useless
and it is ridiculous. The London citizens cannot,
wish to devote as much of the time of their sons to
classics as is given to those studies in the old uni-
versities. And if they did the success would rarely
be as great. In Scotland much time is given to
classics and mathematics at school and college, and
yet it is not attended with the same results as at
Oxford and Cambridge, and Dublin. Mr. Fox Maule
tells us " that if they looked to those chairs which
include the teaching of classics in the Scotch uni-
versities, they all knewsvery well that the Heliconian
Spring did not exist in Scotland, and were they to be
refused the service of the distinguished members of
the other universities, &c. ;" or, as it is expressed by
Mr. Christie, " the universities of Scotland were in a
great degree dependent upon the universities of Ox-
ford and Cambridge for professors of classical litera-
ture." Professor Dunbar, of Edinburgh, accounts
for this :—" In England there are rich endowments
for the encouragement of literature, and especially a
great eclesiastical establishment, with different de-
grees of preferment to which ambition may look for-
ward; while in this country, no such aids and pros-
owledge have out t'hGer reaedkvalnittearagteuare.' which'
will justify
pros-
pects are afforded. There are not ten situations in
Scotland which require an extensive, or even a mode-
rate,
universitiesnt ,
The English
a rich man, who believes the creeds and articles, and
admires the spirit and practice of the Established
k
Church, for sending his sons to
those universities.
The fathers of Canning and Peel were but men of the
middle order, and few will think their sons would
have risen to the rank they
occupied, or done the
State such such service, had they been educated in
such an institution as the London Uuniversity
College.
I beg you, Sir, to keep the que • stion before the pub-
lic until we are informed as to the causes of the
failure of the University College.
On the Ist of October, 1828, the University of
London was opened. ".
Bell
, Professor of Phy-
siology and Surgery, delivered his introductory lec-
ture to an audience of 800 persons." Why did that
great man resign his professorship
P The chair of
Natural Philosophy is now vacant What is the
professorship worth ? How many Persons have al-
ready filled that situation' and what has been the in-
come of each that he has derived from the College ?
In Dublin they give, as I am told, 8001. a year, and
hence they boast of such professors of Natural Philo-
sophy as the Lloyds ; of Mathematics, as M'Culloch ;
of Astronomy, as Brinkley and Sir W. Hamilton ;
and have given Romney Robinson to Armagh. But
it is absurd to speak of the professors as if they were
the great props of the University, and the persons
most useful to the pupils. Look at the college tutors.
I dare not trust myself on such a subject. I should
trespass too far on your columns, if I wrote even the
feeblest expression of the respect, affection, and grati-
tude felt by his pupils for such a man as Dr.
M`Donnell. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed
since I was introduced to him. The London Univer-
sity has since. sprung up-s-one professor after another
has vacated his office ; but when I go to Dublin, I can
have the gratification of seeing my college tutor, now
one of the heads of the University, enjoying an ade-
quate remuneration, and adorning every relation
of life.
I think a judicious friend of University College
would not provoke a comparison with the old uni-
versities. The old universities, Oxford and Cam-
bridge, do not meet the demands of the day, but they
have advantages which are out of our reach. They
are closed against men of liberal politics, attached to
the right of private judgment. I
.ent. would not attempt
to justify a person who thinks as I now do, with re-
gard to Christianity, who would for. a moment think
of sending his sons to either Cambridge or Oxford—
I only object to his Lordship's "scorn and contempt"
for London citizens who may not be Dissenters, pre-
ferring, if they can afford it, Oxford and Cambridge
to London University College, with its poorly paid
professors.
No small part of the difficulty the Lon-
don University College has to contend with, is the
ignorance of the public, and the consequent apathy
on educational matters. The middle order have been
so entirely overlooked by the Government in every-
thing except taxation, that they cannot be expected
to see the deficiencies of a Squears or a Pecksniff.
They cannot be expected to come forward very,
promptly with support for an educational establish-
ment, even if it were really good. But to provide an
education for the middle order of England such as
their industry and their virtues merit, and sueh as
would qualify them for the
power they possess, is not
so easy as many persons imagine. But not to enter
on so extensive a subject, I will only add a few re-
marks on the absurdity of claiming support for a
University that either cannot or will not pay its pro-
fessors, and expects men with the powers of a Porson,
or a Poisson, to live contentedly in poverty.
It is to be hoped that some of your readers will
furnish us with accurate information as to the per-
sons on whom devolves the choice of the professors,
to whom the professors are responsible, and what has
really been the value of each professorship in the col-
lege for general education. What is the value of the
Professorship of Natural Philosophy ? If a well qua-
lified person should app.' and be appointed, how is he
to live ? Will he be able early and late, with a mind
free from care and anxiety, to devote himself to his
studies, and to making himself acquainted with what
has been done elsewhere, except when he is engaged in
the then delightful work of instructing his pupils in the
college ? Or is it true that he is to be wholly de-
pendent on his fees in an unsuccessful college, that he
must eke out an income with private teaching, or go
about as,a travelling lectnrer.in the proyincial towns?
Is he to stand day after day before the sons of rich men
as an exhibition of what a man in England will sink