MISGOVERNMENT OF THE LONDON UNIVERSITY.
THE case of Professor PATTISON at least shows one thing clearly enough—that the London University is unhappy in its constitu- tion. The great legislators who combined to form its laws, how- ever well some of them may have been qualified to guide and pro- tect the large interests of a state, appear to have been wretchedly ill-qualified for founding a plan of education. There is, doubtless, much ingenious machinery in the organization of the London University, and a vast power at command ; but, unluckily, the wheels do not cog. One clever contrivance runs against another ; instead of combining, the forces resist one another, and some are spent wholly on air. After this very ingenious machine had been set up some time, it was discovered that the largest and most ex- pensive wheel of the whole concern turned round and round for nothing but its own amusement, bore upon vacuum, and spent its power in simple gyration. This wheel has been taken out, and the expense of greasing it, which was 'enormous, saved ; but the cor- rection of one folly was not likely to restore harmony in a case of great complication and most admired disorder. Professor PATTISON has been discharged from the London University, because his pupils were riotous. This is the spirit of the times : it is on the same principle that the Duke of BRAGANZA visits this happy country. The proceedings in this case are not interesting merely as they are connected with a case obviously of gross injustice, which we trust may yet be rectified, but because they lay bare the original sin in the constitution of the University. Pupils commit disturbances : the skill of the lecturer is allowed, his character stands high : in this case, what would com- mon sense dictate as the appropriate course of proceeding ? The Professor, supported by the possessors of authority, should detect the ringleader and fix upon the principal disturbers; and, after admo- nition had been tried in vain, expel and brand them by public advertisement. 'What is actually done ? An inquiry takes place, as between two parties : the Professor is acquitted, like one accused. The annoyances are naturally repeated and increased, under the influence of spite and the feelings of disappointment and revenge. What then ? Do the Council at once dismiss them ?—No such thing. On the contrary, they write, or at least their officer writes, an invitation to the students to come forward with fresh charges ; and, of course, that invitation is obeyed ! Was there ever any thing so monstrous? Whatever injury the University may have sustained from the disturbances in the Anatomical class, we are entitled to ascribe to the conduct of the Council. But for the countenance the Council gave to them, they would either not have existed, or have been suppressed in a couple of days. Nevertheless, the Professor, it seems, is to be dismissed to atone for the Council's imbecility—or something worse. Who, that is not destitute of every feeling of independence and self-respect, would hold a chair in an institution so conducted ? Unless it be reformed—reformed radically—it will be abandoned by every one fit to be intrusted with the education of youth. In the London University, the pupils are.a more powerful body than the Professors : no wonder that the Professors are trod un- der foot. The authority is placed in a Council, composed of men who are necessarily less fitted to govern a place of education than teachers and professors, and who, by their connexion with the 'world and the multiplicity of the calls upon their attention, can give but little of their best thoughts to the institution: and such an institution, where hundreds of busy • little minds, just shooting into vigour, and restless by the very action of growth, are to be kept in order, requires not merely the meeting of an occasional board of occasional counsellors, but the daily thought, the daily presence, and the perpetual vigilance, of persons of authority, wholly given up to the University. Appoint a Master, himself a Professor,—and • let the whole body of Professors sit as a cabinet to rule the affairs of the institution, reserving certain rights to a body of visitors,— and we should hear no more of disturbances and of Professors dismissed because pupils were naughty. The proprietary body, through their representatives the visitors, would preserve the same advantages, the same pro:,pects of interest, except that they would be greatly increased : the Secretary could manage all the pecu- niary affairs of the institution, and he would be the medium through which all the business part of the transaction could be managed with the great body of the proprietors at their appointed meetings. This one constitutional measure would be the parent of number- less others. An immediate and important consequence would be, the diminution of the fees ; which the Professors must be aware are enormously high, and which destroy all prospect of exten- sive audiences. Let the proprietors, who are anxious for returns, recollect that they are undersold in the market. King's College is in the field, with instruction at two-thirds the price : Glasgow and Edinburgh give instruction, the same or better, at half the price : .nay, we verily believe that the old Universities of Oxford and Cambridge * are not so extravagant in their charges as the new institution, built by and for the middle classes ; and which ought to be, if any place can be, adapted to the wants and wishes of the age. Some of the Professors of the London University; on occasion of this late proceeding,-have declared the causes of the disturb- ances to lie in the want of a better academic discipline. Our ob- • The rates of tuition in the old Universities are, remarkably low. The expensiveness of Oxford and Cambridge chiefly arises from'the voluntary and uncontrolled extravagance of the students themselves. servations are a commentary on this phrase, which perhaps might not have been fully comprehended except by those who have lived under academic discipline. Members of Oxford and Cambridge well know, that without the authority vested in Tutors and Proc- tors, confirmed and supported as it is by the Senate, composed of men of their own body, neither University could exist for a week. If Tutors at Cambridge and Oxford were the mere hired lectu- rers of a Council removed from the University by other pur- suits, and having but little sympathy with their professors and teachers, but rather holding themselves as judges and censors over them, ready to catch at their failings, or listen to cone- plaints against them, then these venerable institutions would quickly become scenes of disgraceful riot and confusion : they would get an infamous name, be avoided and abhorred, and disap- pear like Sodom and Gomorrah, if not consumed by fire from heaven, by the sure process of dry-rot and crumbling decay. We are very glad to hear that a requisition has been signed (and the two manly Members for Westminster stand among the first of the subscribers) for the purpose of assembling a general meeting of the proprietors to consider the case of Professor PAT- TISON. The proprietors must read the Council a lesson. The latter solemnly acquit Mr. PATTISON of all blame ; and at the very same instant they do this, they deprive him of his situation, and of the means of subsistence ! The glaring absurdity of. such conduct is only to be equalled by its injustice. The very existence of the University depends on its being redressed.
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