Itittro to tYt
OXFORD UNIVERSITY REFORM.
27th December 1853.
813t—I am not going to rush into a masked battle with "Another Resi- dent Fellow " : but I have a few words to say in answer to his letter. In the first place,. I beg to assure him, that though my opinions are not those which predommate at the Hebdomadal Board, still I tun neither a "Dan- ton" nor a "Robespierre," and that I object to being put in such company. In the second place, it is not quite fair of him to say that I"seem to class in -point of importance" Infidel principles with moustaches and meer- schaums : I mentioned them simply as joint attributes of a purely ideal stu- dent, who is supposed to disturb the dreams of the Oxford gods. Will your correspondent forgive me if I answer his hint with a " to quoque," and re- mind him that misrepresentation, "though a much readier, is neither so fitting nor so effectual a weapon, as sound reasoning" ?
One word as to the self-called Moderate party in Oxford. Many of its members are among the most valuable and most working men in Oxford ; but it cannot be too much regretted that as a body they should have thought fit from the first to throw dirt at the Commissioners and those who agree with them. Germanizers—revolutionists—robbers—these are not conciliatory appellations ; and these are the terms which have been freely applied to men who, whatever may be their errors in judgment, are at least as much in earnest in their desire for improvement as their opponents. If, instead of vilifying the Commissioners and preparing "a report upon a report," the Oxford Heads and Tutors had set themselves to work in earnest to reform the University and the Colleges, they would not now have the mortification of seeing the Government about to take the mutter out of their hands.
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