triter to the thitor.
THE CHANCELLOR AND HIS DOCTORS.
Trinity College, 18th May 1853. Sea—You will hardly need to be told that Oxford is assuming its best ex-
te'rnal countenance in honour of the approaching Installation ; and that the eyes of the Chancellor will be greeted with an amount of fresh paint and whitewash, which perhaps he will inwardly wish he could apply to the da- maged reputation of himself and his faction. As my Lord Derby, by some process or other, is Chancellor of the University, I suppose it is only fit to allow respect for the office to throw for a while into the shade the demerits of its present holder; but I wish to call your attention to a proceeding on his Lordship's part which renders it exceedingly difficult so to do. You know that on these occasions it is customary to create a considerable number of honorary Doctors, and that it is also usual to accept a portion of them at the nomination of the Chancellor. Now, considering the position of Lord Derby both as regards the country and the University, one would have thought that, had he possessed any portion of good feeling or good taste, he would have endeavoured, at least, not to entangle the University more than he could help in the condemnation which the country has pronounced upon himself. The noble Earl knows very well that he owes his election as Chan- cellor partly to a Hebdomadal trick in the dead of the long vacation, partly to a dread of somebody still worse, (a contingency hard to realize,) partly to the usual apathy of all Oxford proceedings. That he is the real choice of the resident working portion of the University, he could hardly have flat- tered himself at any time; and if he did, the late Senior Proctor took care speedily- to undeceive him. Again, since his election, his political position has considerably altered for the worse : before he was only suspected, now he is found out ; before he was on his trial, now his day of probation is over and he is found wanting ; he comes before us as the head of a defeated and profligate faction, the bitter opponent of a patriotic Ministry, among whom Oxford's real choice fills one of the first places ; and all this with the sins of his Staffords and his Bereafords hanging about his neck. In such a position, it would have been only graceful to have selected for the proposed compliment men who could have given offence to none—men of con- firmed literary or scientific reputation, whom all would have delighted to honour. Two names at once occur, intimately connected with the studies of the place : the University ought to throw her scarlet mantle over the shoulders of Mr. Grote and Colonel Mere, and it would not be difficult to find them worthy colleagues in other branches. But no ; Lord Derby's notion is to console himself and his party for their defeat in London by an ova- tion in Oxford, and to drag the latter into a portion of the contempt he has himself incurred. The exact list has not transpired : it is said to contain one or two appropriate and honourable names; but it is also known that it is chiefly composed of Lord Derby's political adherents. Whether Mr. Staf- ford and Major Beresford, Colonel Sibthorp and Mr. Paul Foskett, Mr. Ball and Mr. Booker, Mr. Frail and Mr. Flewker, or even Mx. Duffy and Mr. Lucas, are among the selected band, I cannot yet inform you ; but I believe there can be no doubt that Mr. Disraeli, Lord 3rIalmesbury, and Mr. Henley are to be proposed for our glorification! Of the first of the three I need not speak : I leave it to the Quarterly on the one side and the Edinburgh on the other to teach us who is "the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever was" ; •I leave my friends of the Theological faculty to decide how far the famous chapter in the Life of Lord George Bentinek is to be reconciled with the Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies of the Church as by law established.; one might even ask whether the residuary re- putation of a novelist is exactly that which the University would select for the greatest honour she can ordinarily bestow. For Lord Malmesbury's cre- dentials we had best inquire of his Imperial patron over the Channel. Mr. Henley is, I doubt not, a very respectable country gentleman of the county of Oxford, but we of the University know him only as a constant opponent of our illustrious representative; the country at large knows him only as a member of that imbecile and unscrupulous Government which our represent- ative has scattered to the winds.
I would ask most seriously of the members of Convocation of this Uni- vetaity, whether these are really the men whom they will, I cannot say honour, but allow that others should honour in their names ? Shall it go forth to the world that the remnants of a disgraced faction, rejected by the Parliament and the country, are received with open arms by one of our an- cient seats of learning ? What better means could be taken to confirm all the accusations which our enemies bring against us ? Now the normal state of thing!' here is this : an usurping ohgarchy, as you know, has left us the simple right of rejecting their proposals ; opposition is but an invidious task ; and the whole tone of the place tends to an apathetic dislike of exertion—a suspicion of every man who puts himself forward out of the usual routine. In this case, as in every other,—as in the trick by which Lord Derby him- self was palmed upon us,—men grumble, but will not stir : so long as it is not themselves by whom the mischief is directly done their consciences are quite at rest. I would rather say, a spirited remonstrance against the proposed insult may cause even the ex-Premier to pause : if he remain ob- stinate, the degree may be rejected ; if it be carried, at all events those who vote against it have clear consciences. Nor is it any argument, that if we take a Chancellor we must take his following. Bad as the Derby of 1852 was the Derby of 1653 is immeasurably worse. We have spoken by re- electing Mr. Gladstone ; we have pronounced in favour of the present Ifinis- try : shall we draw back and pronounce in favour of the late? For, at all events, Lord Malmesbury and Mr. Henley can only be proposed on political grounds; their literary or scientific eminence is unknown to all but the Chancellor himself. The reelection of Mr. Gladstone settled the question of Coalition as far as the University is concerned : were it otherwise, I should really think it disposed of in an old nursery rhyme- " And why may not I love Johnny? And why may not Johnny love me?
And why may not I love Johnny,
As well as another bodie?" I am, Sir, your obedient servant, E. A. F. P.8.—You may perhaps know that verses in Greek, Latin, and English, to be recited in honour of the Chancellor, were advertised for some time back. Of the responses in the Greek tongue it is tenable that the Doric style of the bucolic poets is that found most adapted to the praises of our agricultural Chancellor. No reader of Aristophanes need ask the cause : ax.xa KIEL Tod' lycoya a'ay- • • • -Faro, •rija bopouotas • clo ciptioviav ls waist ct airro• Oal yap almov of oirrov ou Eiirrai p.aeri i v wader of Euvucp,ofroal fi Ili A to (3 o &moist. • riv p trl twiny/bap- -p.47-reo4at &alai Thu ?Opal,.
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