The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-28 00:00:00

(From the Glasgow Courier of Saturday.)
This interesting solemnity took place within the College
Hall yesterday. The limited dimensions •of the Hall ren-
dered it utterly impracticable to gratify the eager desire of
multitudes who wished to be present ; but besides the Uni-
versity functionaries and students, it was witnessed by as
many as the space could contain. The doors were partially
opened a little before one o'clock, and at that hour the rapid
rush of the youthful electors into the ground area, presented
an animated scene, in which a buoyant spirit and emulation
for favourable if not distinguished positions, rather predo-
minated—as they always, on such occasions, do—over the
love of order. As the Hall filled up, the scarlet gowns of the
students, who were grouped throughout in every possible
variety of arrangement, intermixed with the more sober cos-
tume and sterner aspect Of their seniors, gave an effect at
once graphic and striking. The hour from one ;o two was
occupied in the constant accession of entrants ; and the
youths did not seem disposed to while away the time in-
actively, but amused themselves with proposing for approval
or the reverse, a variety of names, which had the intended
effect.
At two o'clock Sir James entered the Hall in his robes of
office, preceded by the mace, and followed by the Duke of
Montrose, Chancellor of the University, Principal Alacfar-
lan, and the Professors, in their gowns. The Lord Rector
took his seat in the Professori' Bench. In the cortege which
attended on the occasion, we observed the Marquis of Doug-
las, Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Muir, Sir C. D. Ferguson. Mr.
Forbes, of Callender, Mr. Smollet, of Bon-hill, Mr. Kirk-
man Finlay, the Lord Provost, Magistrates, &c.
After prayer by the Principal, and the administration of
the oath of office, the Lord Rector addressed the Professors
and alumni in an oration of nearly an hour in length.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM, on rising, was received with deafen-
ing shouts of applause. On the cheers subsiding, he said,
that when he considered the national importance of this uni-
versity—the aspect of the times in which they lived—the
danger of the country—and when he reflected on the honour
which they had been pleased to confer on him—when he esti-
mated its value, and the responsibility of the duties which
that office devolved upon him—when he thought of the com-
petitor to whom he bad been preferred, and the immediate
predecessors whom he had the honour to succeed—knowing
their strength, and conscious of his own weakness; and at
this moment, when naturally he was anxious to vindicate the
propriety of their choice, and to express his own sense of
gratitude, he was lost in the sense of his own inferiority.
He should be cold, indeed, if he did not feel that the present
was an occasion worthy of a free people. (Cheers.) Before
him stood the youth of Scotland, who had, according to an-
cient custom, chosen for the time being their Rector—not
dazzled by the glare of royalty—not allured by the blandish-
ments of a court—not crouching to the name of a prince—
they thought fit to choose as their Rector a country gentle-
man—a country gentleman unknown in pereon; known to
them only by his attachment to the civil and ecclesiastical
institutions of his country—(cheers)—and by the sacrifices he
had made, and was prepared to renew, in' defence of those
Protestant principles which were the firmest basis of our free-
dom. (Cheers.) Nor was this all. He knew the gracious
prince to whom be had been preferred ; it had been his good
fortune to receive from him many proofs of condescending
kindness. And such were the advantages of our free institu-
tions—such the respect for public opinion, even in the highest
quarters, that he was sure that gracious prince would regard
without displeasure the frank expression of their sentiments,
and that even he might approach the Duke of Sussex without
the fear of having forfeited any portion of his favour. Had
he followed only the dictates of vanity, or consulted the
natural impulse of his first impressions, he should have
rested satisfied with this cordial, but short expression of his
feelings; and shunning comparisons, in which he must appear
to disadvantage, he should have cut short his address, and
simply returned thanks, avoiding the beaten paths trodden
by his predecessors. But perhaps this silent reserve might
appear inconsistent with the respect he felt and the debt of
gratitude he owed them. (Cheers.) And if, from his per-
sonal experience, be could offer even one suggestion practi-
cally useful to any one of them—if, from the authority
they had conferred upon him in that place, he could inculcate
one solitary truth, or conscious interiority should deter him
from offering the only return he could give to the best of his
ability. (Cheers.) But novelty for that place was impossi-
ble ; the duties to be inculcated were invariable; the studies
to be recommended were the same; the truths to be euforced
were eternal. Should he wish to direct their attention to the
rhetorical art—to the advantages to be derived from the study.
of the great masters of antiquity—that was a topic which
from that place Lord Brougham bad touched with a master
hand, and with the eloquence which he could so easily wield.
(Cheers.) He had showed that in every age and tongue
pure eloquence consisted in the natural flow of clear thought
and sound reasoning, in the full tide of harmoninous lan-
guage. (Cheers.) Should he wish to inculcate any of the
great principles of ethics, could he forget that a Mackintosh
had been their rector, who poured the full stores of eloquence
and learning on a topic on which he shone with power and
lustre ? (Cheers.) Should he presume to talk to theta on
matters of taste and polite literature, to offerany suggestions
on that subject,—Jeffrey was his predecessor—the refined,
the accomplished Jeffrey. (Cheers.) But should he pre-
sume still farther to talk to them of parliamentary excellence,
to speak of those qualities that formed public virtue, the
voice of Peel—(cbeers)—the voice of Peel and Stanley still
vibrated within those walls—men whom it was an honour to
have identified with the University. (Cheers.) He was re-
strained, however, from mentioning the whole of the great
names which had adorned the place he now filled, and he
would not give a studied panegyric: he would rather tell them
in the exercise of a sound judgment, to remember their pre_
cepts and follow their example. And he felt it the less ne-
cessary to enlarge, when be looked around, and saw himself
surrounded by learned professors, who sustained the credit
and reputation of that University, and who were conversant
in every brsnch of ancient and modern literature and eci-
ence—on whose stores of acquired knowledge they enjoyed
the inestimable benefit of drawing without stint—who were
anxious to stimulate without effort, to correct them when
wrong, and praise them when they excelled; and, before all,
to guide them in that way which led to virtue and fame.—
(Cheers.) When he looked around him, could be forget the
friend, whose voice was heard no more, who exercised in an
exemplary manner all the qualities which fitted him so admi-
rably for the discharge of the duties he had to perform—one
whom the Greek class, though lie was sure his place there
had been well supplied, would ever remember with regret and
affection ? (Cheers.) The right hon. baronet, after passing a
glowing eulogium on the classical attainments bf Sir D. K.
Sandford, proceeded to observe that he was far from wishing
to discourage them in their aspirations after present fame and
future knowledge. On the contraray, he would stimulate
them to increased exertion and well-regulated efforts . This,
they might depend upon it; teas the day-spring of their future.
fortune—the dawn of their future career; and he could tell
them from his own experience, that time wasted at College
would leave behind it that which would prove the bitterest
pang of after life, when it told of moments lost, and of time
misspent. But what a noble prospect was before them in the
great, and free, and happy country which they called their
own I for he would be permitted to express the opinion, that
in no quarter of the globe, and in no period of time, could
men live so happily than in our own country, whether blessed
with the favour of fortune or pressed by the severities of
poverty. (Hear.) If blessed with fortune, one had the most
ample facilities for obtaining in every elegant luxury, and all
the enjoyments that wealth could bestow. If not so blessed
with the gifts of fortune—if he minstered to his wants with
his own hand, and ate sweet bread of industry, there were so
many avenues to wealth and fame—such promises held out to
genius and enterprise—such compensations for honest labour
—that no man who was sound in judgment and opinion, and
had been blessed with health and strength, could complain
of want without reproaching himself in some degree with neg-
lected opportunities. (Cheers.) Keeping this in view,
and remembering the upward flight of those who were once
bumble students, might he not say that he saw before him
bands that might sway the rod of empires—hear voices that
might shake the senate? (Cheers.) There was nothing
which subjects might enjoy to which they might not aspire.
(Cheers.) Depend upon it, if they wished to build high, they
must dig deep; if they expected to reap the harvest, the seed
time must not be neglected. The present was the time and
opportunity for the formation of character, and the cultivation
of the understanding; and he would implore theta not to
waste it like children, but improve it like men. (Cheers.)
He might perhaps be overstepping the strict bounds of his
duty, and, if he did, he hoped the noble Chancellor wou:d
correct him; but he could not avoid that opportunity of de-
scending into particulars, and addressing them on a few lead-
ing points. In the first place, he would recommend to them
the study of geometry and mathematics. Here the right ho-
nourable baronet brought in review before his audience the
great names, both in ancient and modern times, whose genius
had thrown a lustre around those departments of study—in
the course of which he enumerated the many eminent men
who had adorned the University of Glasgow. He next recent-
mencreirth 6—Study ot t reteir
the pleasures of classic lore, and appreciated their heauties,
would, under any circumstances, consent to relinquish them?
Their study was not only an admission to all the learning of
the ancients, but an admission to the inmost recesses of the
thoughts of the greatest men—a participation in their noble
and generous sentiments. Our knowledge of their heroic
deeds, our communings with their struggles for freedom, and
love of glory—their passion for the arts—their taste for poe-
try, and their matchless eloquence—all these imparted to the
classic scholar a taste that never cloyed ; and as age advanc-
ed, the habit for it became more and more confirmed. It
had always appeared to him, that a knowledge of the classics
was a knowledge of the noblest sentiments of the human
mind, conveyed in the finest language that the human tongue
could utter. (Cheers.) But they might be the most accom-
plisbetl scholars--they might be the most prototpd mathema