4. Professors appointed by great officers of Church and

State.

ap

4. The fourth existing mode is that which vests the pointment of Professors in the hands of limited bodies of eminent persons, external to the University. Of this the only instances are the Savilian Professors, who are elected by certain great officers in Church and State, and the Professor of Botany, who is appointed by the College of Physicians. "The names of Briggs, Wallis, Halley, Wren, Gregory, Keill, Bradley (says Mr. Temple),* show how "carefully the selection has usually been made," and prove the success of Sir Henry Savile's experiment.

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Review of these different modes of appointment.

These are the modes of appointment actually existing in the University. The first and last are, on the whole, strongly recommended in the Evidence, the second and third are strongly condemned. Yet to vest all the nominations in the Crown and in great officers of Church and State, would be unsuited to the character of the University; and it is undoubtedly desirable that some at least of the appointments should be in the hands of the University itself. Moreover, a variety of modes offers the guarantee of a mutual check, and opens avenues of advancement to some persons of merit, who might be overlooked, or be set aside for religious or political reasons. A similar opinion was expressed in strong terms in some of the Evidence submitted to Your Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry into the Universities of Scotland. It is there stated, that the division of patronage at Edinburgh between the Crown and the Town Council incited both one and the other to select the fittest person; and that the appointments of the Town

* Evidence, p. 129.

+ Report on Univ. of Edinb., evidence of Prof. Leslie, p. 153; Mr. Jeffrey, p. 389; Mr. Thompson, p. 410.

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Council, being made on the advice of persons best qualified to judge, often proved better than those of the Crown itself.

Recommendations with regard to the modes of appointment.

We are, therefore, disposed to recommend a variety in the nominations to the Chairs at Oxford. The appointment to new Professorships should, we think, be vested in the Crown. But we would leave the present patronage in the hands in which it is now lodged, except in those cases where the mode of appointment is manifestly open to grave objections. That such is the case with regard to the nominations by Convocation is universally acknowledged With regard to these we have already expressed our opinion that they should be transferred to the House of Congregation, constituted as we have recommended. Such a body would really represent the University at large, in the best sense of the word; whilst by its more select character it would be free from the more serious evils which beset a popular academical assembly.

If, however, these evils, which no doubt must be found to some extent whenever Elections are entrusted to a large body of Electors, should be thought to impair the chance of fit appointments, it will be easy to provide a remedy by entrusting such duties to a Delegacy, permanent or fluctuating as might be thought desirable.*

With regard to the appointments by small academical bodies, though the constitution of those bodies for such a purpose is, as we have seen, open to grave objections, yet most of the Professorships vested in their hands are not important enough to be worth a change. But where these Professorships are increased in value by grants from the University, the University ought to claim a voice in their appointment. The same may be said of the Lee's Reader in Anatomy.

* Compare evidence of Sir C. Lyell, p. 123.

The Margaret Professorship of Divinity, and the Ireland Professorship of Exegesis, being of greater importance than those to which we have just referred, seem to form exceptions to this general rule. The appointment to the former of these Chairs ought certainly to be removed from a body open to the strong objections which may be urged to that of the Graduates of Divinity, as at present constituted. The most obvious change would be that this Professorship should, like those of which the nomination is now vested in Convocation, be transferred to the remodelled Congregation. The same rule might be followed with regard to Dean Ireland's Professorship.

With regard to the appointment of the Assistant-Professors or Lecturers, of whom we spoke above, we are of opinion that this should be vested not in the Professors themselves, but in the Boards with which they would be respectively connected. We propose that the Lecturers once appointed should themselves be Members of the Boards jointly with the Professors. This mode of appointment would be secure from undue influence on the part of the Professors, and would therefore promote a wholesome competition between the Lecturers and the superior Teachers. The Congregation should determine when new Lectureships of this kind were needed, and when they should be discontinued, so as to prevent the creation of these offices from personal or other unworthy motives.

The first appointments, however, to Lectureships, before such Boards were fully organised, would be with advantage vested in the Crown absolutely.

3. Removal of restrictions on Professorships.

We next proceed to speak of restrictions on the office of Professors.

Nine Chairs appear to be entirely open, namely, those of Astronomy, Geometry, Natural Philosophy, Arabic, Ancient History, Music, Chemistry, Sanscrit, and that of the

REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS.

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European Languages. But the holders of the two lastnamed Professorships must be matriculated Members of the University at the time of their admission. All the other Chairs in the University are subject to limitations, which in some cases, however, are slight, such as the necessity of having taken a Degree either in Arts or in the Faculty to which the Professorship relates. Some are loaded with restrictions of great minuteness. The most remarkable are those imposed by Dr. Rawlinson on the Chair which he founded for promoting the study of Anglo-Saxon. It is bestowed by Convocation; it becomes vacant every fifth year; it must never be given twice successively to the same College; and the fifth turn is reserved to the Founder's College, St. John's. It cannot be held by any married man; by any native of Scotland, Ireland, or any of the Plantations abroad, nor by any of their sons; nor by any member of the Royal or Antiquarian Societies.

Several of the Professorships, which are otherwise unrestricted, lose much of their usefulness by the precariousness or the shortness of their tenure. This remark does not apply practically to the Professor of Music, though he is to be elected annually; nor to the Margaret Professor of Divinity, though he is elected every two years; for in these cases re-election is not prohibited, and the offices are usually held for life. It may, however, be stated that some years ago, when party feeling ran high in the University, there was an apprehension that the Margaret Professor would not be re-elected.

The Professor of Poetry is elected for five years, on the expiration of which time he may be, and has usually been, re-elected for a second term of five years, but never for more. The Professor of Political Economy is elected for five years, and is not re-eligible till after the expiration of two years. In this manner the office has twice been held by the present Professor. The Professor of Moral Philosophy is to be elected for five years, but cannot be re-elected except for some grave and urgent cause. The merits of the pre

sent Professor have been regarded by the Electors as justifying his re-election.

These restrictions are exceedingly various. Some are hardly more than nominal; whilst others, such as those imposed on the Chairs of Moral Philosophy and AngloSaxon, combined as they are with a scanty endowment, seriously impede the usefulness of the Professorships.

It is evidently desirable that no qualification for the office of Public Teacher in the University should be recognised but that of character and fitness for his office.

The solemn injunctions of Sir Henry Savile show the spirit which ought to animate every Elector :

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"The Electors are either to proceed forthwith to the "choice of a new Professor (conformably to the conditions "and qualifications above specified), if a proper Professor can be immediately found, or rather (if they think good) 'they may wait for a certain time, say six or eight months, "until they understand, from messengers sent by means "and diligence of the Principal Secretary, or otherwise, to foreign nations, whether in the Universities beyond sea, "or beyond their walls, any eminent, mathematician can be "allured hitherward by our terms to undertake the Pro"fessorship, and the costs for the above purpose are to be defrayed out of the proceeds accruing during vacancies. "But I would in all humility beseech the above most distinguished gentlemen to elect, without any regard to retainership, and without any discrimination of Univer"sities or Nations, those persons alone whom they deem "best qualified to meet the requisitions of the office."

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Yet Sir Henry Savile himself imposed restrictions on the Chairs of Astronomy and Geometry, which have in some degree limited their usefulness. The prohibition against holding any Ecclesiastical or Academical emoluments, which seemed a natural mode of securing the undivided attention of the Professors, acts as a serious inconvenience by confining them to the resources of the endowment which are now inadequate to furnish a proper income. The spirit of