Lord Rosebery, as Chancellor of the University of London, spoke
on Tuesday at the opening of the Congress of the Universities of the Empire which is now being held. He began by dwelling upon the immense growth in the number of universities during the last few decades. In 1830 such a Congress as the present would have contained only eight representatives, namely, two from England and four from Scotland, together with those of the Dublin and McGill Universities. To-day they were no fewer than fifty-three strong. Lord Rosebery went on to maintain that the most important function of the universities was to furnish the Empire with men to carry on its work. At the present time the whole world seemed to be going through a period of unrest in which the need was very great for men whose character and virtues could influence and inspire others. " I am looking to-day at the universities," Lord Rosebery concluded, "simply as machines for producing men—the best kind of machine for producing the best kind of men, who might help to preserve our Empire, and even the universe itself, from the grave conditions under which we seem likely to labour."
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