On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    April 28, 1860.J The header amd Saturday...

  • 

    THE SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES. rg^HE late sp...

  • 

    ¦JMIBNIG-UT MEETINGS. MIDNIGHT meetings ...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    The Post-Office. Rphe Public Feels Tho C...

    carriage of letters , therefore , were hi privafe hands , or ni the hands of companies Inning large establishments desirous of increasing 1 their gains , the fifth part of the sum which the Government annually gains would amply reward individuals and induce them io extend postal accommodation . Merchants : and manufacturers overcome enormous difficulties to extend the markets for their goods , and they have gradually lowered prices and increased their business . It cannot , therefore , be doubted , that were the carriage of letters in the hands of individuals , . the . motives' to extend postal communication , { aid all the conveniences " of the post , would be much stronger than they can be in the servants of the monopoly . From the obvious reluctance expressed in the example quoted to extend postal ac-. couimodation to rural districts because it does not now yield . 50 per cent ., we may be quite sure that , the Government system stands much in the way of great and Coiitiuual improvement .

    " We have only adverted to two considerations . The public , and especially the commercial public , can scarcely fail to take a deep interest in this matter ; and it will find an abundance of evidence in relation to foreign and colonial postage corroborating our view . The subject is unquestionably of great importance , and , as a means of gratifying the ever-expanding wants of civilization , deserves attentive consideration . ,

    April 28, 1860.J The Header Amd Saturday...

    April 28 , 1860 . J The header amd Saturday Analyst . 897 *

    The Scottish Universities. Rg^He Late Sp...

    THE SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES . rg ^ HE late speech of Mr . Gladstoxk at Edinburgh , considered in X itself , in extremely suggestive of comment and ' criticism . It -furnishes more than one separate and independent topic on which there are " some , differences of opinion , and still more-numerous differences of view . But it is not our present object to consider the corrcctn . . s-qf his retrospect of the relations of universities to Christianity , civilization , liberty , learning , and culture ; . ~ J STor shall we linger over the themes still more tempting- to literary journalismthe consideration of the best means for keeping the dignity and -efficiency of academic institutions abreast of unaeademic and outside advancement and discovery . "What we may call the personal ' asjiect of Mi-. GtADsrbsE ' s address might also have well detained us . No one can have failed to remark the contrast between the reeeiit

    performances on the large parliamentary arena ., in which Mr . Gladstone lias been . rather the only than the . merely prominent performer , and the appearance at Edinburgh , hi the opportunity furnished by the jEaster recess , amid old , congenial , academic associations—those of the speaker ' s ancestral laud , if not of the Alma Mater of his own training . There must have been a welcome relief , an enjoyed restoration to congenial fields , after long incarceration among " corks squared for rounding , " and "brown muscovado ; " after the hard fight with intriguing paper-makers , the harder fight with blustering publicans and their ' ' teetotal allies . This sentiment , present in all , our minds , prepared us for what the speech discloses—^ a refined but perceptible tinge of that grave sadness which grows year by year upon every large-souled man , to whom more and more contact with

    the actual world divorces further and further the high ideal of the aspiring start in life from the rough realities of the working world . All these trains of reflection which the speech so amply suggests we abstain from following , that we may give bur attention to one theme more , 'within ottr fair scope , more present and practical . Mr , Gladstone ' s speech , and the occasion of its delivery , constitute the first marked phenomenon which counts for tangible evidence as to the working of the legislative change , now about two yenrs old , in the constitution of the Scottish Universities . That of Edinburgh was the one of the four in which the reforms caused the largest change . It is the most important in respect of the number of its students and graduates , and of th . o fulness of its professorial staff

    It is situate in the metropolis of the country . It has the most illustrious history . Altogether , we may accept the facts disclosed about the change as affecting it , as representative , if not conclusive , as to the influence of the alterations as affecting Glasgow , Aberdeen , and sleepy , backward St . Andrew's . We seek for facts to help us to si conclusion on this practical point , not so much in the report of tho oration given by Mr . Gladstone , as in the report of the meeting of tho young Council of tho University , at which Mr . Gr . ApsxoNU presided . ... . That mooting' represents the issue , as-fur as it has hnd time to develop itself , of n radical and somewlmt daring change . Mr . Gladstone himself knows this . At the very outset of his oration

    he said to his audionco-r-tHe majority of thom . it may bo necessary to say , lads under twenty ; the constituents of Mr . Gladstone , and counting 1 as one of throe constituents with equal ^ power iu the government of the university— " I cannot estimate- lightly tlio occu * sion on which I meet you , especially as it regards the younger and the larger part of my academical audience . The franchise which you have exorcised >» my favour is itself of a nature to draw attention ; for the Legislature of our own day has , by a new tloliborativo act , invested you , the youngest members of the University , with u definite and not inconsiderable influence in the formation of that

    court winch is to exorcise , npon appeal , the highest control over its proceedings . " These •< ] nddias" have now some shnro m tho appointment of their own professors . Perhaps tho nnprovnl of " bumptious ' prccooity which chnrnotcrimes tho Scots hurt something 1 to do with tire enfranchisement , for such avduoiiB funqtionH , ot Youjig- Scotland . Porhaps—anil wo incline to t )> is vio \ v- ~ it was ft . lt that any olectornl body was bettor than the illiterate tradesmen who constitute tho Town Council , and who wore formorly tlio solu elector , except in tho few instances of " Regius" or Stato-nppointod professors , it nmat not bo imagined thnt tho students exorcise thoir franchise directly . Tho principle of double representation—m most

    cases-. most dan-gf / rpus and prolific of evil—is a safeguard 'here . ' The students , or University Council , appoint . four delegates to ro-yr . ' . 'senb them in the electoral body , to ¦¦ ¦ which : the ' Senates and the Town Council have equal rights of delegation . . It appears tlint ! . 1 ) C bc 5 ystuclenl ' . s have shown a wisdom and solf-abnegation in the exercise of this irresponsible function to which tlio conduct of the . Town . Council present ' s a most diametrical and- phnniefui contrast .- The students elected Mr . Gladstone ' himself ; Mr . Slum :, Lord Advocate under the D . eeby Government ; and the Sqlicitor-Grxkral—not one of the three , we believe , themselves member ' s-of" the University . The Town Council , on the other hand—although at the time of the election a small but respectable minority among them strove hard to have such men as the ¦ -reeontly-deee . a-s . ed . Colonel IVI . vbk , . ' Ahaji Black , and Robert Ciiajiueks returned- —persisted i : i returning not only members of their own obtuse body , but typical , i . e .. illiterate

    members of their own body , not one of whom , we bclis / v ; 1 , ran decline dominiis , or transcend flic 2 '> ' asinorum—a ccuph : of shopkeepers , an attorney of the second grade , and a half-pay naval officer . We can hardly wonder that the members of tlio juvenile council should have -been . regaled by their orators ^ with more , or less pungent protests against this sullen behaviour of the former monopolists of patronage . The speakers , who must have amused . Mr . Gladstone , accustomed to the stateliness of the Oxford Convocation , were tolerably representative . There were Mr . DAtcLKisir , a respectable Edinburgh pedagogue- Professor Ltqx Platfaiij , ' recently relieved from the duty of writing or touching up tho PiUNci : Coxsokt ' k speeches , and now holding G . iiF . GOKY ' s chair of chemistry ; the ] lev .. Mr , Pjhnx , a fiashy orator of the General Assembly ; and that ccceiidic , learned , popularity-hunting buffoon , Professor Br . ArKi . K . ¦ ¦

    The last-named interposed as a sort of . " buffer " . ' between the ire of the juveniles and their spokesmen ., and the belaboured . Common Councihnen . But if he was the . apologist , ami put the beat - aspect possible-: on the case-of his somewhat ironically advocated clients , what must , the case have been when put in a stronger and more antagonistic light ? . Referring to tlnv old system of patronage ( to which he owes his election to the Greek chair ) ,--the Professor said , " The only sort of disadvantage was , not that the men were shopkeepers , hot that they were not academical or literary enoughfor they had the common ' sense of Scotchmen—the only disadvantage was that there were too many of them at least for a jury , and you had * to go round , not only all of them , but also all their clergymen , all their wives , and all their wives' friends , and all their family doctors besides . " .-. ' -.

    From this prostrate condition did the Bill of the late Lord Advocate Inglis deliver the University of Edinburgh ; and the anticipations ofa beneficial change which he then expressed , and which we then seconded , are fulfilled , as fur as the time -has allowed . by the choice the students have made of a Chancellor and Hector . By the prudence which has characterized ' . their delegation of doctoral power , they are equally fulfilled , and our gladness at the e \ ango which has been effected is '" increased when we regard thu .-our and crabbed effort tho Town Council have made to stump with illiterateness their remaining share of patronage and power . ] f they can so stop tlic way now , when their powers are so curtailed r . ir . l filtrated , what must have been their repressive influence whin they weru autocratic ?

    ¦Jmibnig-Ut Meetings. Midnight Meetings ...

    ¦ JMIBNIG-UT MEETINGS . MIDNIGHT meetings of fallen women aro fast locnui ' mg an institution . Not that they will continue ) many niuulh .-i , or that they will have a very extensive or abiding in / luence , but they bid fair to bo among the mutters which , for a-tinny at least , occupy public attention , often io the neglect of more important things . We do not for a moment-question the Miicority or tho piety of those who aro promoting tho movement— -wo do not say that no good is done . We are quite accessible to the argunxmt , that the rescue of one ' woman from a life of vic-c and jni . si . Ty is well worth all-the time and all ' tho trouble that has been' jiiK-en , all tho

    money and all the tea , coffee , tousc , and muffins , into tho bargain . We would not , therefore , have what wo aro about to way misunderstood . If tho benevolent person ' s who hauo commenced these meetings choose to go on , wo hIiiiII ho among those who emsourugo mid wish them well , " but wo desire Unit any new ncruitn t . o their ranks should join with thoir oyca open , with hoiho conception , of tho evilI they aro about to combat imd tho condition of those thoy wish to assist . Very low porsons aro practically nwnreof the extent and character of tho ovil itself ; perhaps a few clci-gy , modical practitioners , and parish offiears would comprise the whole ; but wo shall lay before our readers a few facts concerning it , which will probably greatly modify their vieww as to tho immner in which it must bo thoso who

    treated . It is too often presumed tliat unhappy women jnfest our utrccts after nightfall aro for tho mowfc i > art victims ot Bed notion ; that thov wore onoo happy in all the surroundingu of a virtuolis homo , nnd looking ¦ forward to a life of honour and usefulnous . Then , to carry on tho title , camo tho opoilor , who , under tho KuIro of houournblo iill ' eetion , engaged the yoiunj and uiiHuspootuig heart , took a haao and unmanly udvantagw < Jf its woaknesH , ainUhon flung 1 the gathered flower to fade on tho common highway , bucli ia the talo ' on which Bontimontal pliilanthropy lovon to dwoll ; hucU narnitivos will ho poured into the oar of Hymj / athiV . iiiK' inquirers , nnd tho belief will bo spread that if an asylum could but bo ottered , hundreds and tliouHmida of fnlluu womon would cheerfully accept it . Now tho vojy rovorso of this is tho cauo j very fow ot tho elasa

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041860/page/9/