DR. GRANVILLE AND THE LONDON UNIVERSITY. IN' our notice of
St. Petersburgh, a few weeks ago, we alluded to the charge brought against the Council of the London University respecting their conduct to Professor MECKEL. It was our im- pression at the time, that while the statements of Dr. GRANVILLE demanded an answer, that answer would be made without diffi- culty. The unsuccessful candidate for the chair of Midwifery evi- dently laboured under passions extremely unfavourable either to the reception or the communication of truth. The answer which Professor PATTISON has since given to the story of Dr. GRAN VILLE, sets the matter at rest as far as regards the London Uni- versity: Professor MECKEL and Dr. GRANVILLE must divide as they can agree the odium of misstatement between them.
It was alleged that the Council of the London University had elected Professor MECKEL without any communication with him ; and that when he consented to treat with them for the place, they offered him inadequate terms, treated him with neglect, and sanctioned their agent in writing letters to the Professor of a na- ture which he could not answer with any regard to his own re- spectability. These charges were arranged and coloured by Dr. GRANVILLE, in such a way as to produce their greatest effect, and he even answered for their correctness.
The letter and documents of Mr. PATTISON prove that MEcKEL in the first instance proposed to Dr. Seny., or at Any rate signified his consent to remove to London, on condition of re- ceiving adequate remuneration ; and that it was on this commu- nication he was elected : next, that extremely handsome terms were guaranteed to him by Mr. PATTISON, to the reasonable- ness of which he consented ; and it was only afterwards that he went from the understanding that had been established between Mr. PA.TTISON and himself, and demanded terms of a most exorbitant kind. Even then he was not altogether given up, but invited to come (from Halle) to London at the expense of the University, that an agreement might be brought about by negotia- tion, &c. This very invitation, which everybody else will consider as an honourable and advantageous proposal, is mentioned by Dr. GRANVILLE as one of the grievances.
The attack on the Council is of a piece with the fuss that the Doctor has made about his testimonials ; which, it seems, have not yet been returned to him from the office of the Council of the London University. No one else would regard papers which had failed of their effect—or at any rate, after discovering that Mr. BROUGHAM or somebody else had mislaid or lost them, would continue tormenting those individuals by letter, and call,and message —simply because the loss of the papers gives him a kind of hold upon parties he does not love. The Doctor's history of his per- secution of Mr. BROUGHAM for:these papers, though it must have been very annoying to that gentleman, is extremely laughable in the perusal. Wherever the learned gentlemen went, he found Dr. GRANVILLE demanding his testimonials:. if he received a note, it was an even chance that it related to the lost testimonials; if a friend called, the object of his visit was probably to intercede for the testimonials. It is another case of Monsieur Tonson. Such a tapage was never raised about a parcel of papers before ; and now we have the whole history of it, by way of appendix to the Journey to St. Petersburgh.
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