THE LONDON UNIVERSITY.
OF this excellent institution—excellent at least ' in its origin and ob- jects—we are and have been sincere, steady, but impartial friends. We utterly despise the indiscriminate abuse to which it has been ex- posed hi certain quarters ; but we are no admirers of the indiscri- minate laudation which it has also received ; or rather, of the two, we consider the latter the more injurious to its interests. We should not, however, have/adverted to the subject, had it not been that the present condition of the University awakens most serious fears for its prosperity. The fact is—and it Cannot be too early known—the institution does not make progress ; except in the Medical classes, the number of students does not increase ; compared with last year, but more especially compared with the magnificent anticipations of its founders, the existing chime§ of Science and Literature may be vrononneed a. complete h.: lure. The- --k:. nnual General Meeting of the Wiareholders is to be held next Wet.s: ; and w earnestly hope that their most serious attention -will I be given tOr this fact—that they will not content themselves with the mere routine of auditing the • counts, and the pronouncing of a. barren panegyric on the exce_i- lencies of the University, but -that they will minutely and impartially examine into the defects of its working, and remedy them while they ,., admit of care. Happily, according to our view of the case, the remedy is not felti seek. • The fees must be lowered. At present, students, who I are not nominated by shareholders, pay, for each class about 71.10*. per session ; a sum three times as large as is demanded brthe Royal Institution, or any of the'public schools-of instruction in London; and though we admit the courses are more complete, the public, we are afraid, will select what is two thirds cheaper. This comparatively high charge does not, however, extend to the Medical classes, which are not higher than the similar classes at the great hospitals in town: and what is the consequence ?—the Medical classes are in the highest degree of prosperity, while all the rest are languishing—standing still, if not actual etro . „„,.. Some of the Professors have guarantees -*Rich ounci have resolved to withdraw; but it is evident that at the present moment it is more necessary to give than to take away. Until experience and time shall impress on the community at a just sense of the value of the University, the Professors of hilosophy and Literature must be enabled to give cheap instruction, even though their pupils be few. When an established reputation brings, as it will not fail to do, a numerous class, then the salary of the Professor may be properly reduced or withdrawn, but not till then. In i the mean time, it s a fair and proper question, whether, instead of at- tempting to save by the reduction of salaries, the Governors may not save more wisely and effectually by a reduction of Professors. We have considerable doubts of the necessity of Professors of the Modern languages in a great metropolitan school. There is abundance of pri- vate instructors, every way qualified for the task„ in almost every street in town ; nor do we see what superior advantage a teacher of French or Italian can possess from delivering his prelections in a class-room rather than in a common school. -If such appendages be thought convenient, all that seems to be required is to assign the teachers ar, room, and to see that their fees are moderate. It seems ridiculous to have a professor, in a great institution, of a language which is become familiar to every we" 'on-fed little girl and boy in the kingdom. We now come, however, to the most serious part of the question—. can the Council afford to do as we wish them ? The buildings.already erected have cost about seventy thousand pounds ; and to complete them according to the original plan, would cost some seventy thousand I more. Now there is not the slightest doubt, that had the Council been present wants and to all the wants they are likely to experience in that content with a plain, unambitious structure, adequate both to their (11Vay for a dozen years to come, they might have procured it for less than one third of what they have expended already. The University
\is a. handsome building ; but what the public required, was cheap and solid instruction, not architectural splendour. We are no enemies to the duke in universities or anything else, but we would have the utile 6rstIA We are.aware that our sorrow for the past is useless—we lament that it is so ; but it may not be useless for the future. At least let there be no more building till what is already finished is occupied. At pre- sent half of the second story is tenantless—let it be as full and hum- ming as a bee-hive before another brick be laid. It is always easy to enlarge. If any foolish love of the sublime and beautiful induce the shareholders to add the contemplated pair of wings, under the present circumstances of the University, they may rest assured they will fly away with the body ere they are well feathered. But something more than mere negative good may be effected, if it be heartily gone about. Why should the machinery of management be kept up at so great an expense? What is the actual worth of the Warden's services ? We have the highest respect for Mr. HORNER—• his labours in the cause of education in Scotland were most praise- worthy, and his very name brings with it a family claim to our reve- rence. But the:University is not an hospital for the support of men of worth and genius ; and therefore we ask, not what is due by the public to Mr. HORNER, but are the labours of a Warden so important to the University that it is necessary to purchase them at the rate of 1200/. a year? The thing is absolutely ludicrous ; and how necessary soever this functionary may be, if he get 400/. a year he is well paid. The whole of the staff, indeed, appears to be equally extravagant, compared with the scale of the University's income. Among other supernumeraries, we actually find a book-buyer !—and this in an institution where MACCULLOCH lectures on Economy, and the Mem- ber for Montrose is a Governor! We see nothing to hinder a Secre- tary and clerk, assisted by a gratuitous Committee of the Share- holders or Council, from effecting with ease and satisfaction all that is at present done by a complicated apparatus, which costs, if we are rightly informed, about 25001. a year. We have only to add, that whether our suggestions be attended to or not, we feel satisfied that we have performed a public duty in offering them to the meeting.
Previous page
