20 NOVEMBER 1875, Page 3

Hertford College, whose denominational tendencies we mis- trusted at the

time its transformation from Magdalen Hall was still in course of incubation, appears to be justifying our mis-

trust. On Saturday, 13th November, there appeared the following announcement :—"There will be an election to a fellowship in Hertford College on December 21. Candidates must be members of the Church of England or Ireland, or one of the Protestant Episcopal Churches of Scotland, the British Colonies, or the United States of America." Either, as Mr. Lyulph Stanley points out, that is in direct defiance of the University Tests Act, or if it be not so, Mr. Mowbray, in bringing in the Bill which consti- tuted Hertford College, was himself deceived, and also deceived others, when he assured the House of Commons that there was no intention in the Bill to evade in any way the provisions of the University Tests Act. Whichever alternative we take, it is clear enough that the proposed limitation on the candidates for the Hertford-College fellowships ought not to be permitted. Either it is illegal, and the law should be enforced ; or if it be legal, the House of Commons has been taken in about the drift of the recent Act constituting the College, and the law should be promptly altered.