Itttrr to tbt aitor. UNIVERSITY REFORM.
SIR—I see in your last number a letter from a young gentleman in statu pupillari, signing himself "D.," and attacking somewhat fiercely my last letter, as "illogical," "rant," &c. &c. I have reread it, and cannot find anything therein which can deserve those names ; a point on which I may very probably be a better judge than the young gentleman. Will you permit me through your columns to inform him, that there i may be facts n existence and influences at work, even hi the University, which have not yet come under his notice, and very probably may never come under it at all; for "the eye only sees that which it brings with it the power of seeing." Next, that when he is a little older, he will probably learn logic enough to know that "young men" and "the young men" are not identical terms; and that to sulistitute one for the other in answering an argument is al- ways a mistake, and may be a dishonesty- I am as well aware as "D." of the fact that "frantic earnestness" is not the characteristic of the young men of the Univenity ; I am as well aware as he is of the general cynicism, deadness, and flatness of Cambridge thought," which he so naïvely confesses. But if he denies that "young men "—i.e. a large number of young men, and those mostly of the superior class of intellects—are in a miserable state of doubt, and wandering away faster and faster year by year, either towards Straussism or towards Rome, all I can say is, that I am not sur- prised at his denial—he does not seem to be the sort of person to whom a compeer would confide his secret doubts and struggles. "I only pray God (though I presume that he will call that expression also rant) that he may never have to endure what I have seen endured by others, when the crust of that "quiet respectable orthodoxy" of which he speaks breaks up on a sudden under the pressure of sorrow and temptation, and the mean finds that as a youth he has been taking into his lips for years the most awful truths as be might a lesson in classics or mathematics—receiving them on trust and learning them by rote, without any living heartfelt belief in them or in their practical power, but only a dead heartless belief that they ought to be believed.
Next, when he grows older, be will learn to be a more wary as well as a
more correct reasoner, and not admit, in his hurry to defend his cause, every charge which I bring against it. If his confession of the general state of mind in the Universities, its "indifferent calmness," "cynicism," "deadness and flatness„" "absence of energetic personal influence in the older members," and above all, the exquisitely naive statement, in which I most fully con- cur, that in an University founded in the name of God, governed by clergy- men of the Church of England, with its 134 Colleges, bearing most of them appellations the most awful and sacred, "the universal English ambition, the spirit of getting on in the world, has made itself so powerful, that a good degree, as leading to a College fellowship and to promotion in after life, is the most attractive object of zeal and contemplation." If these, Sir, do not prove me to be somewhat in the right, what proof can be conclusive ? Is the young man a member of the College of "the Magdalene" ? or of that of" Saint John" or of " Corpus Christi," or of that of "Jesus," or of that of "the Trinity" ? At least he has heard of their existence. Did it never strike him that those names might have some meaning for Protestants as well as Romanists; and that if they had, they., with certain other features of the University constitution, might pro- bably point to some higher "objects of zeal and contemplation " than "a College fellowship and promotion in after life"? Certainly, while this is the temper of the University men, I shall agree with him that it will be im- possible for the authorities to develop chapel-keeping into anything living and practical. But I, and I doubt not your readers also, will respire no more complete proof of the evil influence which the present University sys- tem exercises on the minds of the young than B's unconscious display of his own utter ignorance of the first principles and purpose of a Christian education, in confessing its "highest object of zeal and contemplation" in the minds of a large class to be a selfish pecuniary advantage.
Lastly, "D." asks, "If these things are so patent, the Commission must
know of them already ; and if they do not, are they God, to give hearts to those who have none r" Perhaps the Commission do know of them already ; perhaps that 18 the very reason why they were sent. But when "D." is older, he will learn that private surmises are not enough for constituted au- thorities ; that evidence must be formally collected, printed, and published, in order that the Government may act on it, and public opinion have satisfactory grounds whereon to help out the inevitable shortcomings of the law. I have in my last letter expressed my fear that the Commission, however well-intentioned, will not be able to strike at the root of the evil, just and because, as "D." says, they cannot give hearts to those who have none. But this at least they may be able to do : they may, by compelling (as I hope) the Universities to reform themselves, give more free scope and fair field to the many who have hearts, but are now crushed and hampered by the weight of indolent formality above them, and by the misgovernment and temptation round them ; one feature of which
" Cantab" points out in the excellent letter following that of "D." - And one more important thing still they can certainly do : they can draw up such a "blue book" as will show English parents how their sons are "educated" just now, and awaken public opinion to enforce, under pe- nalty of stopping the supply of young men, those improvements which all parents are beginning to desire.
And as for proof that the evidence of undergraduates ought to be taken, I want no stronger proof than D.'s own letter; which, I am sorry to say, I should honestly wish to see printed in a conspicuous place of that same blue book, as a specimen of the state of courtesy, modesty, logic, and noble ambition, among some at least of the young men who are satisfied with the existing system at Cambridge.
A CAMBRIDGE FIRST-CLASS-MAN AND COUNTRY RECTOR.
[The pressure of intelligence during the Parliamentary session, which has delayed this letter for a week, compels us here to close the correspondence on the subject, at least in the present stage of the University inquiry.—En.]
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