The Sun.
London, England, 1826-01-30 00:00:00

[MORNING lIERALD.3

The abrupt retirement of one of the Members
for the University of Oxford from its representa-
tion in Parliament (respecting which various con-
jectures are afloat, and which it would have been
as well perhaps for all parties had it never exist-
ed) imposes upon that body the task of setting
an example to the rest of the kingdom in the ex-
ercise of the highest and most inestimable right
which devolves upon the members of a free state.
The two Universities observe a marked difference
of action in their mode of 'exercising this right—
at Oxford the seat in Parliament is perpetual,
while at Cambridge it is open to constant
change and contest. The first has a dignified
consistency about it, which only wants the
stamp of reason and common sense to sanc-
tion it ; while the reasonableness of the
latter is lost in the obviously corrupt and venal
manner in which it has, from time to time, been
exercised. Oxford has been contented with its
first choice, though dulness and inanity may have
marked its every stage ; while Cambridge has as
uniformly changed as often as its change of suf-
frage would secure to its members the fruits of
patronage and power. It would be well for the
cause of learning and religion if public, virtues
were always to be found in their train ; but,
unfortunately, such is the frailty of our na-
ture, and to so common a level do the baser
purposes of life reduce us, that we too often
witness the greatest dereliction of principle in
those whose minds have received the highest
and the best impressions. To this degrading
cause we must attribute the way in which the
elective franchise has been too often exercised by
both, but particularly by one of the learned bo-
dies we allude to. The University of Oxford
have now an opportunity of doing themselves ho-
nour in the sight of the world. There is one in..
dividunt who stands marked out and alone as the
person who ought to till the seat which has been
.so long virtually vacant in its representation—
that individual is Mr. Canning. But instead of
doing so, we shall, we fear, witness the oppor-
tunity of thus distinguishing itself lost, first, by
its obstinate adherence to a principle which ought
not to weigh a feather upon the occasion—we
mean Mr. Centring's sentiments upon the Ca-
tholic question ; and, secondly, by an absurd
local regulation, which says that the two Mem-
bers must not be both Christchurch men. Of
Mr. Peel, the other Member for the University
of Oxford, no one can speak but with respect ;
but if Mr. Peel had no other pretensions to re-
present the University than those which flow from
his opposition to the Catholic Question, we should
say, that on a point upon which the wisest and
the best men of all parties in this country so
widely differ, they would do just, as much credit
to Old Sarum as to Oxford. But as a gentle-
man, a scholar, and a statesman, Mr. Peel is the
fittest representative of a learned and a liberal
body that can be found, except that individual
whose intellectual attainments, it is no affront to
Mr. Peel to say, are superior to those of any
permit now existing in these dominions. If, then,
the University of Oxford would really do itself
honour—if it would convince the world that it
knows how ,to estimate the qualities developed
in manhood which it inculcates in youth, these
are the two teen whom it should be
proud to send to the Senate. And are

We to be told that this obvious course is to

be defeated by some ridiculous spirit of local
jealousy, which says, " It Is true that all the`
men of high attainments have been educated at
Christchurch, but only one from that College
shall be a Member for the University at the
same aloe ?" The idea is in itself so ridiculous as
to bring nothing but contempt upon the place
end persons from whom it can originate. With
as much grace and consistency might both the
Universities withhold their academical honours
from any two or more students of the same Col-
lege who should happen to surpass those of any
other. Still less ought the. Catholic Question to
be any bar to Mr. Canning's election upon this
occasion. It is one, probably, on which the
University, like the rest of the kingdom, is
pretty equally divided. As far as any actual
test upon the subject exists, the election to the
Chancellorship in the person of Lord Grenville,
and the rejection of Lord Eldon, might lead one
to conclude that the Anti-Catholic feeling was
not then at least predominant. At any rate, to
assume that the man who holds the first rank in
the Councils of his Sovereign, tit] well as in the
estimation of his country and of all Europe, can
be disqualified in any way from representing the
University, of which he is the brightest living
ornament, in Parliament, is a paradox too absurd
and preposterous to be entertained by any but
those who, wedded to prejudice, see error in
nothing but that which opposes their own in-
, veterate dogmas.