PERSEVERANCE REWARDED AT CAMBRIDGE.
SOMEWHAT more than two months ago,* we bad occasion to an- nounce, in commenting on Dr. Whewell's pamphlet on the report of the Cambridge Statute Syndicate, that the refusal of that Syndicate to sanction any but a slight formal modification in the constitution of the Caput, and none at all in its power, had excited an amount of active indignation among the resident members of the Senate, that was likely to lead to practical results. A meeting of resi- dent members was in fact held, at which certain resolutions were passed, and a deputation sent to communicate them to the Vice- Chancellor. The resolutions expressed in courteous but well-un- derstood forms the determination of the meeting not to allow any of the changes recommended by the Syndicate to pass, unless the Syndicate reconsidered and modified their decision respecting the Caput. The consequence was, that the Syndicate did so re- consider and modify their decision ; and the result of their de- liberation under this unusual stimulus was laid before the mem- bers of the Senate last week, in the shape of a recommendation for the constitution of a Council, whose functions should super- sede those of the old Caput, except in the single and peculiar case of giving authority to graces for conferring degrees. The proposed Council is to consist of fifteen elective and two ex- officio members. The latter are the Vice-Chancellor of the year and his immediate predecessor. Of the former, the Heads of Houses are to choose three ; the Doctors of Divinity, Law, and Physic, not being Heads, three more; the Professors not being Heads, three more ; the Colleges, in the order appointed for the election of Scrutators, the remaining six,—three Regent Mas- ters, or Masters under five years' standing, and three Non-Re- gent, or above five years' standing. Of these fifteen, five are to go out of office every year—one of each of the five above- mentioned classes—but are reeligible. Such is the constitution of the Council. Its functions are precisely those of the old Caput with the single exception referred to. But there is a change in its mode of action, of the highest importance. The power of vetoing a grace is no longer vested in every or any single member of the Council, but in ordinary cases in a majority of members present, and in cases where the Vice-Chancellor and the majority present cannot agree, in an absolute majority of the Council. This Coun- cil is to meet at least once every fortnight during term-time. Such is the proposed change, which a morning contemporary, notorious for the hostile aniinus with which it regards the studies, the man- ners, and the men of the English Universities, denounces, in a strain of unmeasured abuse and ridicule, as worse than a sham, as a deliberate attempt on the part of the Colleges and the Heads to perpetuate in an aggravated form, under pretence of concession and improvement, the tyranny which they have long exercised over the University, for their own aggrandizement and the injury of learning and education! Were we quite unacquainted with the needs and wishes of Cambridge, we should conclude from the ve- hement anger of our contemporary, that Cambridge had in this measure taken a real effective step forward in self-reform. A prac- tical acquaintance with the University simply strengthens this conviction.
The monster grievance hitherto complained of has been, that the Vice-Chancellor, acting on his own opinion or as the organ of the Heads, could by his single veto in the Caput prevent Uni- versity legislation upon any subject, however strongly the public opinion of the body might run in its favour. Any other member of the Caput could do the same, but the Vice-Chancellor's in- fluence and action so preponderated, -that he stood in men's minds for the system of which he was the principal organ. It is obvious that, according to the proposed change, no single order in the University can successfully resist the public opinion of the whole body ; while on the other hand each order will be repre- sented in the Council, and will thus be enabled to bring for- ward its own peculiar views upon any contemplated topic of
• Spectator, 20th March.
legislation. Such an arrangement seems to exclude no inte- rest, and to . give to none an overwhelming preponderance. Were our opinion of its details founded simply upon exist- ing facts at Cambridge, we should object not to the influence awarded to the Colleges, which are actually the bodies in which and by which all the education is carried on, but to the place assigned to the Doctors of the three faculties, who diminished by those of their number who are either heads or professors can scarcely amount to a dozen persons in residence. But this part of the arrangement is prospective, and contemplates the revival of the special studies as an important element in University Reform, meanwhile intrusting the nascent interest of these special studies in University Legislation to those who will naturally know most about them, and whose professional sympathies will be engaged to promote them. In this particular the scheme bears directly upon what might be expected to meet with favour from our contempo- rary—the pursuit of studies which the Colleges have little or no- thing to do with, and the prevalence of which must increase the Professorial or University importance. Again, the Professors themselves, for the first time since the charter of Elizabeth, have a distinct recognition ; thus affording a still more emphatic mani- festation that the tendency of the change is to develop the action of the University, not to aggrandize the influence of the Colleges. A plausible objection might indeed be urged against the election by Colleges of the six M.A. members of the Council; but it would only be plausible to those who know nothing practically of Cam- bridge. Only such a person could ask why the choice of these six should be vested in a few College Fellows, instead of in the whole Senate of the University, or in the body of Masters of Arts ; be- cause, with the exception of the parochial clergy and a few gentle- men resident in the town employed in private tuition, the whole resident body of Masters of Arts does actually consist of these Fel- lows of Colleges, and therefore the election is necessarily limited to them,—unless, indeed, it be considered that non-resident mem- bers of the University, who may be presumed not to know quite as much of her affairs as those who reside and take part in her work, are better qualified for the function.
It is a noticeable fact, that among the names appended to the recommendation of the Syndicate is that of the Secre- tary of the Cambridge Commission. Perhaps it would not be too much to augur that the proposed scheme corresponds in the main with that which the Commissioners are preparing to recommend to the Queen. It must undoubtedly weigh with them, and in the ultimate settlement of the question, that such a scheme has already practically though not formally received the sanction of the University : and it cannot be too often or too strongly insisted on, that any effective reform coming from the Universities themselves, and approved by those who have ex- perience of the real needs and possibilities of the ease, possesses in that fact an incalculable advantage over such reform as can be im.- posed from without upon unwilling recipients. Not only is a sense of harshness, injustice, and violation of corporate independ- ence spared—and in any revision of our national institutions the irritation arising from these causes is found to generate a very serious amount of friction for the new instrument—but the work that is done is more effective and less liable to be marred by blun- ders, because the agents are both better acquainted with what can and ought to be done, and proceed to execute their projects with more good temper, more caution, and yet with a more earnest and persevering resolution, as concerning institutions which it has been the special business of their lives to understand and carry out, and in whose permanent interests their natural sympathies are power- fully enlisted.
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