Erttrr to flit etttur.
THE UNIVERSITIES (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Edinburgh, 7 lh july 1858.
Siu—The Scottish Universities Bill has now passed the House of Com- mons, thanks very much to the assistance of your own and some other pa- pers sufficiently tar removed from heal influences to take an impartial and enlightened view of the subject. It has been very carefully and con- scientiously scrutinized by the Scotch Members in its passage through Com- mittee, and it goes to the House of Lords undoubtedly a better measure than it was at first. There are, however, two outlying matters which still re- quire to be attended to ; one as to the University of Edinburgh, and one as to the Scottish Universities generally. The first is that of patronage. The anomaly of the nomination cf pro- fessors by the Town-Council of Edinburgh was left untouched in the ori- ginal bill of the Lord Advocate, winch merely proposed to relieve them of the ordinary government of the University. This last the Council oppootiel with such indiscriminating violence, that it seems to have suggested to Mr. - Stirling, of Keir, and some other Members, that they were not very fit to have either of the two functions intrusted to them; and, accordingly, it soon became manifest that a majority of the House was quite prepared to sweep away every vestige of the patronage which for some centuries they have ex- ercised. Upon this the representatives of the Town-Council thankfully agreed to a compromise, which, like most hasty compromises, seems to- please no one. The Lord Provost called a public meeting this week to pro- test against its being held as conclusive, a petition to that effect has been sent up to Parliament, and the whole question of the patronage is once more thrown open. To whom should it be given ? The natural and obvious answer is, to the University constituency : but for various reasons this plan has not hitherto attracted the notice of our University theorists. Some of them have been intent on preserving it in the hands of the Town-Couucil ; others, like your contemporary the Doily 11-eits, were for giving it to the Boletus, i. e. the professors themselves; while the majority have preferred intrueting it to a select body like the University Court in each college, or to such a " cura- torial court" as is contemplated in the House of Commons compromise pro- posed by Sir William Dunbar, which now forms part of the amended bill. To all these plaus strong objections have been made, and the only course which is free from exception is to give it to the General Council of the Uni- versity, embracing all its alumni. In the controversy between the advo- cates of the Town-Council and of the University Court, each party has been strong in attacking its opponent and weak in defending itself. The Town- Council states that the Court is secret and liable to private influence; their opponents say that the Town-Council is unintelligent and obnoxious to public clamour. Both may be true ; but if the alumni of the University are made the patrons we shall have a body with the maximum of intelli- gence and publicity so numerous as to be free from all dangerous influences, so intelligent as to judge wisely and well among the candidates proposed, and having for their only bond of union a desire to extend the fame and support the usefulness of their University. So obvious and unexceptionable is this proposal, that souse explanation is required as to why it has not hitherto been brought forward ; and the reason (apart from the various i theories and interests above mentioned) is, that hitherto the number of those who graduated in a Scottish University has been so small in propor- tion to those who studied there as to be a very inadequate representation of I the learned corporation. While the present bill, however, has been passing through the Lower House, the Lord Advocate has agreed to amendments by which he throws open the " General Couucil" to those who have studied the requisite period, though they may not have gone through the ceremony of graduation ; and a most ample constituency is thus created to represent the University, and fitly to exercise the important function of the patron- age of the University chairs. If the subject, therefore, is pressed upon the attention of the House of Lords by either of the contending parties, it is to be hoped that on their falling out " honest men may come by their own" ; and the Upper House could confer no greater benefit on our University le- gislation than to introduce this important feature into the bill, in place of the Town-Council patronage on the one hand and the very questionable
and unpopular " Curatorial Court" on the other. •
The other matter of interest at present is the proposal of Mr. Gladstone to unite the whole colleges into one University of Scotland. The idea is one which has struck many persons as a fine theory, but of late the practical advantages to be derived from such a step have given it a stronger hold on our minds. It would have the best and most direct effect on the position of Scotch degrees. For many years the several colleges have been endeavour- ing slowly and gradually to raise the standard of their examinations, and in sonic cases with very marked success ; (at most of our colleges a pass is more difficult than at Oxford) : but the constituting of a central University ex- amining candidates from all the colleges, and ranking them according to their merits, would at once elevate the whole platform of graduation. The effect would be uo lesa excellent on the colleges themselves. A healthful rivalry would immediately ensue ; and the yearly competition and classifi- cation of the men would produce energy and attention on the part of pro- fessors. Nor would the thing stop here. It would tell even on the exercise of patronage ; we have no colleges that do not claim to be first-rite, and no one would dare to put a second-rate man into one of the rival colleges of the one University of Scotland. And this proposal, which would have such excellent and immediate fruits, is neither impracticable floret all difficult. The House of Commons seems already to have &Octet] in favour of it. In all probability, however, the colleges, i.e. the professors, would be opposed to it, from a feeling which we can all very well understand and may easily pardon. " I had rather be the first man in a village than the second man in Rome." But the members of the University, the students, the graduates, and the University public generally, will be all in its favour. And rightly —for this plan would tend as much to the healthful working of the details of our system as it would to add to the symmetry and stability of the whole.
I ame Sir, your most obedient servant, A ScerreneteN.
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