TOPICS OF THE DAY.

THE UNIVERSITIES OF SCOTLAND.

TliE progress of the movement for University Reform in Scotland was strikingly shown by the tone and substance of the speeches at the great meeting at Edinburgh, over which Lord Campbell presided, and of the resolutions passed, of which we gave a brief abstract a fortnight since. Though there has been a good deal of writing on the subject, the objects of the movement are still so imperfectly understood in England, that probably there is no shorter method of making the whole subject intelligible, than to copy the leading resolutions in full. They were as follows.

" 5. That the Universities of Scotland, in their present condition, do not afford sufficient encouragement to the attainment of high excellence in literature and philosophy ; and that it is matter of national concern that they be strengthened and improved, so as to meet the exigenfcies of the tines, and enter successfully into com- d irhabil: that meas. ties be adopted with a view to raise the petit2ionitthtwoltdrerigrieas tessc oo o standard and increase the efficiency of professorial instruction, it is in the highest degree important that these objects should be effected. in such a manner as to pre- serve the distinctive character of the Scottish Universities.

" 3. That it is expedient that an increase be made to the endowments of such of the existing Professorships as are not at present adequately maintained, and also that retiring allowances be provided for aged and infirm Professors..

" 4. That it is expedient that new Professorships be established in seine depart. meats of public instruction, of obvious utility and importance, which are not at present provided for.

" 5. That it is desirable that the Graduates in each University should have some share in its government, and that they should by this and other means be led to re- tain a permanent interest in its prosperity and advancement. "6. That it would tend greatly to the benefit of our Universities were an ii- proved system of examination adopted, with a view better to test the progress of the students, and to enhance the value of degrees.

"7. That in order to give additional value to University degrees, as well as to increase the efficiency of professorial instruction, where that may be found neces- sary, some endowments are desirable for assistants to the Praessors in certain existing chairs, such assistants to be selected from among the Graduates."

The excitement which this question has called forth in Scot- land, and the (not much better, we fear, than) curiosity which has attended its progress in England, are natural enough, not to say characteristic of its different relations to the two countries. For more than a century and a half they have worked together harmoniously in legislative harness ; but how much they have still to learn of each other's social condition and national pecu- liarities, is amusingly exemplified whenever a discussion of this kind turns up. The great pains taken by all who spoke at the meeting of the 30th December, to disclaim the remotest intention of superseding "the professorial system, " shows that considerable alarm pre- vails in Scotland on that head. Tolerably well convinced that their Universities are not altogether what these altered times re- quire, the people, naturally jealous for the democratic basis on which education has so long been placed in their country, are in dread lest, before they know what they are about, they may find established among them some such strongholds of aristocratic ex- clusiveness, somnolency, and pedantry, as they know by tradi- tion that the English Universities were in the last century, and do not know that, stimulated at the outset in a great degree by Scotch sarcasms, they have gradually ceased to be.

In England, on the other hand, many people suppose that the Scotch have grown so enamoured of the English University system, that they desire to transplant it bodily into their own country. Hence great hilarity. among gentlemen of that claw who conde- scend to know nothin about Scotland except that they occa- sionally spend a shooting-season there. The Times, as in duty bound, ministers to the satisfaction of this class, and, in the face, not merely of the universal protests of the leaflets of the move- ment, (for those might be open to suspicion on account of their very intensity,) but of the facts makes merry with the folly and audacity of those plebeian wretches the Scotch in fancying that they are entitled to or could profit by the sublime educational privileges which are reserved for well-born, heavy-pursed Eng- lishmen.

But what is the consideration that, in our opinion, renders nugatory at once the anxiety of the Scotch people and the af- fected amazement of the Times? The simple fact that the money is not forthcoming ; and that every one who reflects on the sub- ject for one minute must know that there is not the slightest chance of it. The tutorial system as established in Oxford and Cambridge, and with certain modifications in Dublin, is one which presupposes not merely an income of that affluence and splendour which only hereditary endowments of great antiquity confer, but a hierarchical system, to cement the University sys- tem, administer its revenues, monopolize its chief prizes and gra- dually incorporate it with itself, in a manner from which other professions merging in active life are by necessity excluded. Either of those wants settles the question of feasibility. It would take nine times the annual grant now asked for, or an endowment of 90,0001. per annum, mtuvalent to a grant of 3,000,0001. of Consols, to place the Universities in the four Scotch cities on the modest footing of Dublin University in point of that income, independent of fees, without which an adequate establishment of Fellows and Tutors is impracticable. To raise them to the level of Oxford and Cambridge, many times that amount would be required. Why make a noise about a result demanding such preliminaries ? The Times may make itself merry with such a chimera ; but surely Scotch people do not exhibit their ordinary good seaee in • the fear of it to hamper the movement tiffRVOUT of a reform whroh mere consifleraticassi of cost are oertaii-40,keep with- in safe /1318 vitolesorne Atid "ohaie that may arise in Soot& nalvenity- educatiow.o4 prooeid aori dereeh

and will require, as the first condition of its existence, cordial sup- port and great pecuniary liberality on the part of the Scottish public at large. Another mistake very generally prevails in England, and per- haps to some extent in Scotland, which the Daily News has op- portunely set right. Teaching by Professors is not of very an- tique institution in Scotland. Both the name and the functions which it describes took their rise in that country since the Union. Previously, the teachers were called by the English name of Regents, and the teaching was some such modification of the tutorial as the circumstances of the country admitted. Simultaneously with the development of the professoriat, the cus- tom of taking degrees began to fall into disuse, until what is the • um mobile of university action in other countries fell into that condition of ignominy which Lord Campbell humorously de- scribes as existing some fifty years ago. No feature of the Scot- tish system occasions such surprise to Englishmen and Irishmen as this. But we cannot think it would be accurate to impute it merely to accident or neglect. Any one who, having some know- ledge of the Scotch people to begin with, attentively examines the mode in which professorial teaching works, and the immense benefits which it confers on the people in the widest sense of the word people, will easily be able to account for degrees falling first

into disuse and then into contempt. The poverty., the energy, and the practical turn of the Scotch people, combined with the great

earnestness and efficiency of the professors, all contributed to this result. The prizes did not exist to which degrees are the stepping- stones in less democratic countries ; the people were too poor to pay for degrees even if they had been of use • best of all, a large majority of the students were anxious to try ;heir fortunes in the world. What the Scotch have always wanted of their Universi- ties is, not to breed pedants, or drones, or puppies, but men of the world. In this, it cannot be denied, they have succeeded better • than most.

Nevertheless, it has long been evident, that with vastly in- creased employment and wealth at home, and spheres of adven- ture abroad at once wider and more accessible than formerly, the old stimulus to self-improvement, which enabled degrees to be dispensed with, has diminished. Formerly, the young Scotch- man required a certain amount of cultivation, if it were only to master a language which was not his vernacular one, and to qualify him for a struggle which was in some respects such as hard- ly any perseverance but his own could have overcome. Now, the demands of industry and commerce mitigate his anxiety as to his future, and too often absorb him before attendance at the uni- versity has had time to produce any good effect. Obviously, therefore, it is an object of the first importance to bring an artificial stimulus in aid of the natural one. The Faculty of Ad- vocates is stated to have taken the initiative in according to gra- duates the same privileges as are afforded by the English and Irish Inns of Court ; and we make no doubt that the heads of the Scotch Church would do well to require a university degree of

all candidates for the ministry.. Students of medicine and sur- gery have always graduated in their own faculty ; but a com-

bination of general with professional studies would be a de- cided advantage to them. On all accounts, therefore we heartily concur in the general wish expressed at the meeting, that university education should be made homogeneous and sys- tematic, by having in the enforcement of graduation a definite and appointed aim, which the great majority of the students will have adequate motives to pursue. Concerning examinations at entrance, we believe opinions are more divided. The Scotch people imperfectly understand what the words mean ; and the poorer among them are naturally ap- prehensive of the bar they may oppose to the access of their chil- dren to the Universities. For our part, we look upon entrance- examinations as even more essential than degrees. The latter af- fect only the progress—are chiefly concerned with the regularity and completeness--of study in the Universities themselves. The former would be a potent stimulus to the parish and, burgh schools throughout the country ; and countless thousands of those who never go to a university would benefit by the emulation which it promoted and the new methods of learning and standards of at- tamment which it introduced. Of course, we take it for granted that an easy curriculum and moderate standard of excellence will be adopted at first, to be raised as the schools improve. Scotch parents of all classes ought to be made to understand, that wherever such examinations are in use the amount of knowledge requisite for mere admission is of the most moderate and accommo- dating character. None but the most incorrigible booby or idler need dread such an ordeal.

Altogether, we look upon entrance-examinations and degrees as the alpha and omega of Scotch University Reform—or as the pro- moters, with a sedulous respect for Scotch prejudices prefer to call it, "University Improvement." As in attaching the chains of a suspension-bridge to the embankments at each end, this connexum once effected, the rest of the structare will be com- paratively easy. And it is well worth remarking, that, so far as we are aware, there is no need to wait the pleasure of Parlia- ment for ri change of this kind. Would it not, thee, be the best plan to proceed with it at once, and allege it not as a thing con- templated, but a thing done, when asking an annual grant from Government ?

With regard to the schools throughout the country, they are, we believe, generally admitted to be in an uneatieftteterY state. A great deal of the benefit of university reform will be lost if steps are not taken to increase the stipends of the schoolmasters, and introduce improved methods of teaching. It is a general sub- ject of complaint in Scotland that the requisitions of the schools in that country are not understood by Englishmen. Here the dif- ferences of national character come into play. Many of the humbler classes of Scotch and Irish are ambitious of classical attainments, while Englishmen in the same rank of life never think of such a thing. A taste of this kind is one of the best evidences of a natural capacity for civilization in the race that manifests it. We have always thought it a great mis- take in the National system of education in Ireland, that no provision is made to gratify even in an elementary, way the thirst for classical knowledge. The consequence is, that clever lads of the humbler class, who formerly used to learn at a hedge-school enough tol fight their way to college, are now altogether shut out from a university career. We hope that care will be taken to prevent a like result in Scotland; though we are not precisely able to see how all that Dr. Candlish stipulates for—which seems to be little short of raising every parish school in Scotland to the rank. of an English gram- mar-school—can be effected. Both in Ireland and in Scot- land the close connexion of the national clergy with the schools, combined with their great influence over the people, offers facilities for the cultivation of classical knowledge at a small cost, which do not exist in England ; while the moderate expense of university education in both countries affords opportunities of turning that knowledge to account, which in England are out of the question. This is an element in the discussion to which Eng- lishmen do not attach sufficient weight. In England, university education that really deserves the name is a privilege of the aris- tocratic and the wealthy. In Ireland, and still more in Scot- land, universities are entirely in the hands of the middle class, with a cordial participation of the benefit for all who can fulfil a few not very onerous conditions.