THE OLD UNIVERSITIES. •
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] [To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Sta,—The writer of the article on the old Universities printed in your last number is evidently not in close touch with them, and his remarks require some emendation. He says that the Universities " seem inclined to ask for a Royal Commission." Both Oxford and Cambridge have through their governing bodies agreed to welcome Commissions as proposed by Mr. Fisher: Your correspondent suggests an appeal to friends of the Universities for funds, being apparently not aware that already at Oxford there is an Endowment Fund administered by a Committee, though of late it has received small accession. It ought to be better advertised. But the class which has hitherto provided Oxford's endowments is greatly impoverished; and the new wealthy class will be little disposed to give until a Commission has overhauled the University. AS to Government grants, the prospect is not hopeful while the State receives two millions a day and spends four. As a minor correction, Mr. Marriott is not the representative of the University but of the city of Oxford.
Most moderate people at Oxford will welcome a Commission. It may do harm as well as good, but we must run the risk. The dominant fact is that in recent years many attempts have been made by Liberals to introduce reforms in the University; but they have usually failed because when every College has a veto it is impossible to bring them into line. Instead of being an organized body, Oxford is for many purposes, and especially in finance, a loose confederation of Colleges. And as the Colleges are rich, while the University is poor, the machine is always jamming. To take an example, some of the Colleges have pension funds for teachers, some have not; the University has none at all. Surely in such a matter uniformity is desirable. Classical and historical teaching is arranged by the Colleges; teaching in science and modern languages is concentrated in University institutions, The Museum and the Taylor Institute. Oxford machinery is so cumbrous and out of date that the University cannot take its due place in the organizing of education; there is nowhere any power of initiative. And instead of a tendency to simplify the labyrinthine maze a committees and boards, there is a constant fresh creation of new bodies. Hence never-ending friction and infinite waste of time. Nothing can cure the congestion but outside help and advice.
Your correspondent fears that the old Universities may cease to be predominantly humanist. This is, of course, an urgent danger. But it has to be met. It is useless for Oxford and Cambridge to ignore the great changes going .on, and to hide their heads like ostriches in the sand. They must gird up their loins for battle. A fine lead has been given them by Sir Frederic Kenyon's humanist committee, which has done, and is doing, admirable work. I am sure that Mr. Fisher sympathizes; and any Commission now appointed will have sympathy also. How a Commission appointed a few years hence may feel is a far more doubtful question.
Of the dangers of inertness we have of late had ample proofs. I am no believer in the efficiency of democracy; and I do not see how any student of history can be. But at present democracy is dominant. And our political economists have allowed the economic instruction of the workiiig-man to fall into the hands of a set of wild extremists, clever and unscrupulous theorists, whom the working-men suppose to represent advanced Scientific thought. This is just one of the matters in which a properly organized humanist University ought to be able to spread more accurate and wiser views. In the general flux of demoralization which we see around us there is a great need, that Oxford and Cambridge should become more and more the homes of steady ,thought and research in every province of knowledge, -natural and humanist. And this is a process which is more likely to be helped than hindered by a Commission: at least, that is our earnest hope.
That Oxford and Cambridge have nobly done their duty during the war is beyond question. But the dangers of peace are as great as those of war, and call for a different set of faculties, moral, spiritual, and intellectual. Many changes are being forced on the Universities; and if they are really to rise to the occasion they will need not only more money, more teachers and researchers, more students and better apparatus, but also better organization and greater practical efficiency.— I 'am, Sir, &c., DOCTOR OXON.
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