r 4l3A!Nfl-3\\v <5tfEUNIVER% tg >i \ r^t T> o THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CHARITABLE ENDOWMENTS, ESPECIALLY FOR, PURPOSES OP EDUCATION. A PRIZE ESSAY READ IN THE THEATRE, OXFORD, JUNE 20th, 1860. BY THOMAS EESKINE HOLLAND, B.A., FELLOW OF EXETEE COLLEGE. OXFOED: AKD G. SHRIMPTON M D CCC LX. CHARITABLE ENDOWMENTS. Stack nne " Gratias agimus pro omnibus Benefactoribus nostris." MAGD. COLL. GRACE. |f HE opposition between the theories of ' laissez faire ' and ' paternal government ' strikes its roots deeper, and has a far wider extension, than might at first be suspected. Transcending the sphere of politics, it appears as much in the relations of citizens to one another, as in those of the state to its subjects ; it emerges in every science of humanity : in jurispru- dence as the contrast of law and equity, in ethics as the struggle between casuistry and moral impulse, in metaphysics as the rebellion of ' common sense * against the deductions of logic. The opposition being in every case between a system of laws on the one hand, which commend themselves to our reason, and to which circumstances seem bound to conform, and, on the other hand, repugnant facts which refuse to be reconciled with the theory. In the ultimate analysis, the contrast is between the understanding and the emotions, the under- standing, or intellectual element, accurate as far as it goes, but confined to a narrow sphere, enouncing the laws of phenomena ; the emotions, or moral ele- ment, though unable to refute the understanding, yet often rebelling against its decisions, and ofteu rightly feeling the relations of man to man in a truer way than the understanding can see them. Intellect is the clearer and more impartial; but feeling is both subtler and wider. Most of the social institutions which we inherit from the middle ages, must be regarded as the out- growth of the Feelings, each called into being by natural human impulse, and harmonized into a whole as well as might be by the prevalence of sentimental ideas, each as chivalry, loyalty, the law of honour. Each institution had its own end and was good as it fulfilled this. Religion is a good thing, said they, let it be endowed ; starvation is bad for the button- sellers, let them be protected. We see the end selected as good by the common verdict of the times, then the simplest means adopted to secure that end ; and by the intuitive true insight of the emotions the system worked well for a time, it had a root in the human nature of that age at least. It was reserved for modern times to take a wider view of consequences, to enquire, not only how cer- tain measures would produce a certain good result, but further, whether that result good in itself would be good in the long run, good in its ultimate effects. It is as chief minister in this enquiry that political economy has been called into existence, by w r hose aid we are enabled to trace, not merely the immediate effect of a measure at home, but also its results abroad, and its rebound again at home. Now it is evident that in any long chain of deduc- tions, logic must be largely called into play ; demand- ing clear and definite data, and assuming their abso- lute truth, and an absolute consistency in the use of terms ; hence the reasonings of political economy bear to human nature much the same relation that those of geometry do to the actual figures of physical bodies. Bacon truly declared of external nature, that it far surpasses the wit of man in complexity ; still truer in this of human nature that miracle of com- plexities, which, far from being reducible as a whole to any system of Positivist Causation, can, even on its most calculable side, its pursuit of wealth, be only hypothetically represented by the axioms of Political Economy. Accordingly, admiraVe in many ways as have been the results of this science, its conclusions are far from being received with unqualified submission ; its hard verdicts are brought home to us, not merely when we read of the machine breakers, and the unhappy mason the other day who declared that ' if Political Eco- uomy was against masons, masons must be against Political Economy' for here we see that in the conflict between the perception of immediate evil and an unpalatable injunction brought from a dis- tance as the conclusion of a long train of reason- ing, the right is on the side of the reasoning; But also, by the the London courts where needle- women starve on fourpence a day, and by many similar cases, where though the results are scientifi- cally legitimate, we yet feel their extreme hardship. Thus we become aware of the existence on the one hand, of the demonstrations of Political Economy ; on the other, of our impulse to relieve want by Charity, A rigid adherence to the rules of Political Economy and bare justice, would not, at any rate under the present relations of capital and labour, provide any solace for the miseries of the majority, and without some check on population no conceivable distribution of wealth could secure happiness to all. It almost seems as if for the well being and progress of the whole state, it were necessary that the lower strata of society should ever maintain a doubtful combat with starvation. And it seems that besides the necessary evils which Political Economy points out, it is still more opposed to Charity, because both Political Economy and Political Justice assume the perfect freedom, knowledge, and health of mankind ; where- as mankind actually are coerced, induced, ignorant, diseased, and liable to frightful accidents. Here as Equity redresses the errors of Law, * where it falls short through its universality,' so Charity steps in to heal the wounds inflicted by the Juggernaut car of Political Economy. We have been using c Charity' in its widest sense, meaning the causing a man to reap where he has not sowed. It would therefore evi- dently include both the liberality of individuals, and also all bounties and endowments set apart by the state, even for purposes not generally considered cha- ritable : in short any gratuity for which no equivalent work has been done, or where work is done, where the gratuity does not come from the parties benefitted. Any interference with the action of supply and de- mand. The subject in this form is one of the most vital importance, but, being at the same time of the most vast dimensions, must be considerably narrowed for the purposes of our present Essay. The difficulties however on the large and on the small scale are really the same. If you leave society alone, (though strictly all society is an infringement on perfect supply and demand) it does in an unerring manner regulate it- self : it works with little waste, and ruthlessly mows off exactly the amount of population which is super- fluous ; it might even be urged that such a state of things would tend to the improvement of the human race, by weeding it of the infirm poor, and by their removal making room for more effective members of society. It is needless to say that such a state of things is impossible in modern Europe; perhaps Greece saw the nearest approach to it, where statesmen and phi- losophers COnClllTed in theory iarodviiOKeiy Zr rovg armrovg : But in modern Christendom both private benevolence, and, taking its tone from individuals, the State, have stepped forward to alleviate every kind of misery, and to remedy many of the evils of poverty ; we have hos- pitals, asylums, schools, churches. The montrosity of a rigid adherence to demand and supply in all matters is obvious. But the interference system is not without its evils too. We have only to turn back to the writers of fifty years ago to see the deterioration and ruin which a too attractive poor law was bringing not only upon the country at large, but also upon the recipients of her ill judged bounty. The poor law of Elizabeth, rendered necessary by the alienation of what would now be 5,000,000 worth of monastic revenues by Henry the Eighth, had in conjunction with the increase of population brought England to such a pass that at the time of the French Revolution her paupers were estimated at one-twen- tieth of the population. A ' Comit6 de Mendicite ' reported in 1792 that from one-eighth to one-ninth of the population of France were paupers. And so far did the convention find it necessary to carry their opposition to Charity, that by a decree of 1793 both alms-begging and almsgiving were made penal.-* If See ' On Hospitals in France,' Johnston, M.D., p. 485. the subject were not too trite a one, pages might be filled with extracts from our Poor Law Reports, and from numerous other sources, demonstrating the very injurious effects of a too indiscriminate assistance to the poor.* The effect of the interference system, or ' Charity,' is to lessen the check upon population, and to blunt incentives to industry. The problem then is so to temper Free-trade with Charity, as to make compen sation to its victims, without impairing its efficiency. In the matter of food and population, the new poor law seems on the whole to have successfully solved the riddle. The ranks which stand face to face with starvation are protected from it, but yet, by a kind rigour, not in a way to encourage them to place more in the same predicament. It seems pretty generally agreed that interference so far as the prevention of starvation, and the pro- vision of medical assistance against disease and acci- dent f is not only no injury to the general working '* See ' Essays on the Principles of Charitable Endowments.' Lond. 1836. The Appendix to the Poor Law Eeport. Ed. Rev. especially vols. xxviii. and xxix. f Hospitals seem not to be older than Christianity, It is not certain that the Taberna Meritorum at Rome was of this cha- racter. De Quincey gives the glory of originating them to Constantino, (works viii. p. 159) but at the Council of Nice (325.), they are spoken of as common. Valeus founded a splendid one at Ctesanea. 8 of the state, but is equitably due to the lower orders, in a state of things by whose imperfections they are unavoidably victimized, and the only objection to such charity is soon answered; It is true that it would be better and would produce more self-respect among the poor, if the enormous funds now spent directly by individuals in charity, or paid by them indirectly to the State in rates and taxes for the sup- port of the poor, were employed instead in the pay ment of higher wages by the employers of labour, and of higher prices by consumers, but unfortunately with increased wages population would expand, the margin between comfort and starvation would again be filled up, and our bowels of compassion would have as many calls upon them as ever. The existing contrast of rich and poor acts as a wholesome check on population, while the rich re- fund a portion of their excessive wealth in such a manner as to cure or instruct the poor, without ex- panding their numbers. It is quite possible up to this point to be an advo- cate of a mixture of Charity with the principle of supply and demand, but here to break off to say ; ' the State has now secured the existence of all its members, the mode in whieh they are to exist, and their subordination one to another, may surely be left to arrange themselves.' Omitting for the present all mention of private beneficence, we here stumble upon a very difficult question: namely What is the final cause of a State? Is there any one final cause assignable a priori ? Is there any ' Idea of the State,' of which we have heard so much from the Coleridgean school I Does the State exist merely T ov tft>, or also T ov d ^v fvtKo.'! In plain language, is it the business of the State to provide simply for material wants and the protection of property, or may it attend to morals and religion also 1 and, if so, does it do this merely as a means of strengthening the cause of order, or does it inculcate these things, and the truths of science, for their own sake ; acting as a guide to the masses, and an agent for elevating them in all possible ways'? In our opinion any a priori Idea of the State is baseless; every age forms that conception of the duties of the State which is appropriate to it, and every age forms a different conception. The age that identifies Church and State and the age that preaches a mere ' laissez faire,' are equally justifiable. So we get no guidance from any a priori conception, and are thrown back on general expediency. Our crite- rion must be suitability to circumstances : in whose eyes? assuredly in the eyes of those who hold the power, yet must they carefully avoid shipwreck against the will of the subject masses. Primary edu- cation is for human beings little more than a neces- sary of their life ; just as provender is to cattle. It unlocks the doors of thought, and the strongest will 10 enter in, and become Stephensons and Clives. This, then, on the lowest grounds of interest, it is incum- bent on the State to organize. Into the complications of what should be taught, we cannot enter, but will merely remark that in the present state of religious parties, a non-religious education in rudiments is surely better than that a whole generation should remain uneducated whilst rival bigots quarrel who is to indoctrinate them with their special shibboleths. But the further we are removed from the bare necessaries of life, the more disputed does our ground become ; and it will be better at once to lay down a method to be pursued in our investigation. The two great questions in this higher stage of the controversy between Free-trade and Charity are : I. The utility of endowments for religious pur- poses ; II. Their utility for educational purposes. And in either case two lines of investigation may be followed up. It is not the same thing to decide that endowments are conducive to an object, and that it is the duty of the State to allow, promote, or pro- vide such endowment. The trust property of the Wesleyans may increase or impair the efficiency of that body, but should it be found to increase it ever so much, it by no means follows that it 11 is the duty of the State to endow bodies of religion- ists. We have then to consider under each of the above heads. (1.) Does endowment promote the object of en- dowment ] and (2.) "What is the duty of the State ? ought it on the proved inefficiency of endowments to discourage even private beneficence by a rigid law of mortmain ; or, on the supposition of their utility, should it besides encouraging private liberality, make grants in aid out of the public purse ] And first a few words on religious endowment, before passing to our more especial subject, the en- dowment of education. We may as well begin by stating the objections urged against it ; and these have perhaps never been more forcibly put than by Adam Smith in a cele- brated chapter of his third volume.* He represents an endowed clergy as learned but lazy, fine gentle- men rather than zealous evangelists, falling readily therefore before the assaults of a new and unendowed sect, which has the advantage of being unencumbered with the refinements of learning, and of sympathizing more fully with the lower orders. His general con- clusion is: the more dependent a clergy, the more zealous, the more independent, the more learned. * Wealth of Nations, vol. iii. book v. chap. i. art iii. ed. 1805. 12 Identifying fanaticism with religion, he regards it as rather a dangerous power ; though he seems to think that the subdivision of sects which would attend a system of non-endowment would teach charity and and candour to all (here he instances Pensylvania) * yet on the whole he shrinks from the probable effect of zeal without knowledge, and would institute ex- aminations in science with a view to leavening the ignorance of the raasses,f and even assents ironically to the expediency of an established clergy, quoting * by far the most illustirous philosopher and historian of the present age,' to the effect that the magistrate will find that in reality the most decent composition he can make with his spiritual guides, is to bribe their indolence by assigning stated salaries to their profession, and rendering it superfluous for them to be further active than merely to prevent their flock from straying in quest of new pastures.^: The end is bad (i. e. the promotion of religious spirit,) so he would rather use bad means than good towards its attainment. Adam Smith's point of view is quite that of his century; a view which subsequent Church history would at least have considerably modified, but which was nevertheless reproduced in the very last debate on Church Rates by a leading politician. Whether o Vol. in. p. 198 (ed. 1805.) f P. 202. + P. 195. Mr. Disraeli, 1860. endless subdivisions (in which Adam Smith rejoices as weakening the trength of fanaticism) would con- duce to candour and mutual charity may well be doubtedf, that they would conduce to rational and historical religion cannot be for a moment supposed. On the independent scheme, in its most rigorous form, the most prevalent sect would not improbably be that which pandered most to the bigotry and preju- dices of the masses ; Such would doubtless be the effect of a discouragement of endowment by private individuals, and complete isolation of congregations : some aggregation of congregations, and consequently some endowment, we conceive absolutely necessary as a nucleus for a religion existing at any great distance from its origin, and so requiring historical and ex- egetical training in order to unfold its real as opposed to its literal and prima facie meaning.* * The further question, whether endowments being seen to be good for religion, the State ought therefore to encourage them, depends on the definition we give of the duty of the State, and on the value we attach to religion. t Bosuet. (see the oi'ations Funebres) on the contrary, thought toleration of sects would cause *un effroyable deborde- ment de millions de sectes bizarres.' A ludicrously exaggerated view of the benefit of inde- pendent endowment may be seen in the many ' Defences of Plu- ralities,' and such like works, in which the last century was prolific. There exists an elaborate book exhibiting the advan- tage to learning of Church and College preferment ' The Fruits of Endowments,' London, 184.0. 14 We have already hinted at our view of the end of the State, a view which has been well expressed by Armand Carrel : ' Every question of political form has its data in the state of society, and no where else.' If the State is concerned merely with the material part of man's nature, religion will hardly come under its cognizance. But if it be the aim of the State to develope the whole of man's nature, the point to be determined is in what does his nature really consist. If religious aspirations be an excres- cence and an illusion, the State should gradually dis- countenance them, as we discountenance Suttee : if they are an eternal necessity of the soul of man, the state must cherish them. Next, granted that the State should encourage private Endowments, is it bound to endow one or some or all of the religions <5f its subjects'? Many difficulties here present themselves, and greater than can be solved in the cursory way in which we are necessarily traversing this part of our subject. For instance: Whether under any cir- cumstances a Christian state should make provision out of taxation drawn from its Mohammedan or Buddhist subjects for their several worships ; Whe- ther a sect socially abnormal as well as religiously dissentient, like that of the Mormons, could ever be endowed by a European government, or, to come to what still more nearly concerns ourselves How far the Church of England is to be considered the 15 property of the nation, how far as having any dis- tinct individuality ; * How far the obligations of a young state starting in life differ from those of one that receives from antiquity a Church establishment ; How far a provision such as tithes, may be considered as less a trust for national purposes and as more of a gift to an independent corporation, than Church rates ; whether it is logical to proclaim the establish- ed Church the national Church, (which if so, is surely as much entitled to the support of every one as the national police stations, or national lighthouses,) and yet, as a sort of confession of the untenableness of its pretensions, to abrogate the Church rates, as a sop to that majority of our whole population which is excluded by the rigidity of its formularies from any participation in its benefits. Such are a very few of the dificulties which start up at the threshold of this part of the subject: but they occur chiefly in the secondary enquiry viz. as to the duty of the State. On the primary question, of the beneficial effects of religious endowments on religion our con- clusion can be but one. Even therefore on the supposition that religion is but a subsidiary device of rulers for the preser- vation of order, the end is best secured by endow- ments. And, though religion is more than this, The grounds on which the latter view may be supported are very clearly put by Mr. E. Freeman, in a letter in the Spectator, dated September 27th 1858. 16 we are too apt to forget how much it does in this direction, what an immensity of good is done by the ministers of religion scattered over the country (quite apart from any reference to spiritual matters and a future world) in promoting the temporal improve- ment of the poor, and in softening down the asperities of class, while on the supposition that religion has some deeper significance than this, in. crease of zeal would be dearly purchased, even if it were purchased, by loss of discretion. Religion now a days more than ever needs to be harmonized with the deepest secular thought of the age, and to be saved from those illusions of fanaticism which make it ridiculous in the eye of the rapidly increasing educated class. Candour and charity are indeed needed in our religious controversies, but to produce them we look to the progress of enlightened historical and meta- physical enquiry, the inevitable tendency of which is to increase the number of cases where men may agree to differ, and where therefore they may agree though differing rather than to the debilitating effects of infinite subdivision. Zeal in late years has not been lacking, though inspired by other causes than ambition or hunger. Thus much for permanently secured stipends for religious teachers. There is another class of endow- ments bearing upon religion namely, scholarships, 17 bursaries, and the like, which have been objected to as tempting too many to enter an already overstocked profession: On which it will be enough to observe that the fact of such over-supply once becoming known, works its own cure by deterring a sufficient number to bring matters to an equilibrium again; and, if the scholarships are given by merit, the Church is greatly benefitted by the transaction. Endowment then may be considered conducive to the interests of religion, and so (we may probably venture to add) to those of the State. The State then should encourage and promote religious endowments; though whether it ought it- self to endow, and how far, will in each case depend on the facts of its history. Endowments for educational purposes are the sub- ject of the next division of our inquiry. And here Primary Education stands upon a very different footing from the higher branches. We have already to some extent touched upon the former, treating it as a necessary, rather than as an em- bellishment of human life, and as coming therefore within the scope, even of a government anxious to avoid overgoverning. ' Without instruction a man whether born in a palace or a cottage,' says the D 18 Due de la Rochefoucauld*, ' is but a physical and material being; it is education that makes him a rational and sensible being.' That some endowment is essential to the existence of primary education, no one who knows the poor would deny. It has been said ; that as men make an effort to obtain food and the like, so would they of their own accord seek education if it were a neces- sary of their nature : But, replies Dr. Chalmers.f the cases are not parallel; the longer a man fasts, the more discontented he gets with his hunger, but the more ignorant a man is, the more contented is he in his ignorance. And the reply holds true gene- rally ; though exceptions must be made in favour of the few gifted with higher aspirations ; whence other- wise human progress? The arts arose not merely from defect, but also from perception of defect. Among the poor we have the same difficulty with education that Political Economy has with the standard of comforts ; The difficulty in either case is to raise the tone of opinion, and an external fillip is needed to effect this. While then, as has been well observed, the want of education for the poor increases with every genera- Discours a 1'Assemblee General de la Societe pour Insturc- tion Elementaire, 1819 f- On Endowments, their use and abuse. Glasgow, 1827. 19 tion, (because, while the higher classes are provided by the advance of civilization with more and more diversified objects of interest, the lower are more and more by the division of labour restricted to one no- notous pursuit) their zeal for education by no means increases in a similar ratio, and is in sore need of en- couragement from the resources of the rich. Such encouragement, though it has never been entirely wanting, has not till late years attained to any ade- quate magnitude or organization. Indeed the theory that some education is necessary for all is of compara- tively modern rise ; being a deduction from the prin- ciples of private judgment and free enquiry proclaimed by Protestantism.* Education in the Catholic ages was intended almost solely for the production of a learned clergy, this was the aim of trivium and qua- drivium; all was overshadowed by theology. And the teaching of the grammar-schools and other foun- dations of the Reformation epoch, followed by force of habit so much in the old paths, as to be nearly useless for those ' poor scholars ' for whom they were intended. The useful has only gradually won its way into education, by the exertions of such men as Locke, Rousseau, and the ' Illuminati,' of Germany. In England it was not till the commencement of the pre- sent century that the necessity of educating the masses, and the inadequacy of the existing appa- ratus for the purpose became fully manifest: The * Luther wrote a circular letter on the subject, and Knox ori- ginated the educational system of Scotland. 20 experiments of Lancaster and Bell led to the estab- lishment of the ' National ' and the ' British and Foreign' school societies (1808). It was in 1833 that the Privy Council began to make grants through these societies, and in 1839 the Committee of Council was formed and government inspection attached to government grants. From which time, and more es- pecially since Sir K. Shuttleworth's minutes in 1846, government has come forward more and more in edu- cational matters, and now extends its grants to all denominations. Still in this, as in so many other matters, the English system is a compromise ; public and private benevolence are working uiider it side by side, with much waste of power,* and with an organi- zation far from perfeet,f though with that spontaneity of growth which is the strength of our institutions. And here we naturally pass to the consideration of the propriety of a more direct State interference in primary education. We have already given Dr. Chalmers' opinion in favour of this ; but we may call a more unexception- able witness on the same side. Mr. Mill makes a special salvo to his general laissez faire principles in behalf of primary education ; he would have govern- For instance it is said that nine different species of In- spectors are crossing each others orbit throughout the country. j- In 1851 the attendance in schools of all sects was only 48-8 of the population between 5 and 15. ment make grants in aid of schools, and pay salaries to certain teachers, and then by compulsory examina- tions force all to acquire the rudiments of learning, though not necessarily to acquire it from the govern- ment masters *. Even Adam Smith himself advocates a partial state support to primary teachers f. In fact neither the good effect of ' endowment on the education of the poor, nor the duty of the State to provide at least partial endowment for this purpose will now be de- nied J. It is equally admitted that the more the poor can be got to come forward and bear a share in the salary of the teacher, the better both for teacher and taught. Into the details of the question how government in- terference is to be applied, it would be beside our present purpose to enter. Whether for instance the State should establish and manage the schools, as in Prussia and France, or should merely compel their establishment by the residents in all districts of a cer- tain size, as in America : or How far it is allowable to enforce on parents the education of their children : See Pol. Econ. II. p. 545, cf. -on Liberty' p. 190. 1 Wealth of Nations, III. p. 180. I We should hardly now a days find a man of eminence ar- guing in favour of a v&v iroXie : That education is of doubtful benefit to the poor : as does Playfair. Suppl. chap, to Smith * on Education.' 00 Perhaps our 'National' system in Ireland is, in theory at any rate, not far from the Ideal. On the whole, with the greatest respect for spontaneity, we would rather see goverment take a still more active part in these matters. Self-evolution is a good thing, but may be purchased too dearly, if we entirely sacrifice for it all the comprehensive views of states- men, and the intuitive prescience of great men, which might save us many a generation of better inductive experience. And now we arrive at the higher education ; and here even such unanimity as we have hitherto en- countered disappears altogether : Endowments, and legal privileges on graduation * are denounced as having a most deadening effect on the teachers, and as fostering a useless learning. These charges are argued by Adam Smith with some bitterness, and with an evident reference to the English University system f, He details the evil fruits of Endowment in its hypothetically worst form. As to its effect upon the teachers, he declares that A monopoly is practically an Endowment for instance : A Logic chair is endowed, when it receives as fees more than the fees would produce if attendance were not indispensable to a Divinity course, and that to a benefice. See ' The Use and Abuse of Charitable Endowments, ' by Dr. Chalmers, p. vii. f Vol. III. Bk. v. pt. iii. Cap. I. Art. II. 23 great objects without emulation are an ineffectual stimulus to exertion; That, when a teachers salary is wholly independent of his pupils' approbation, his interest is evidently to direct all his real energies into some other pursuit, which does repay increased activity by increased returns; That privileges on degrees bring about this state of things, since they force students to Universities independently of the merits of the professors ; That, in like manner, com- petition among Colleges is prevented by scholarships being attached to any one of them in particular ; Also, that the privileges of endowed teachers make it odious and unremunerative to be an un-endowed one. But Endowments, proceeds Dr. Smith, affect also the objects of study: The more richly endowed a seminary is, the slow r er is it to change its system, as being less amenable to opinion without. Hence the slow acceptance of the study of Greek and Hebrew by the old Universities women's education is superior to that of men, because it all tends to some useful end. In this last point, however, the present generation has not concurred with our philosopher; else why are we now founding ' Ladies Colleges,' and teach- ing them Latin, and several branches of abstract knowledge. But both charges must be admitted to have a basis of fact. It is undoubtedly true that the poorer a University, for instance, may be, the more likely is it to be influenced by the world without ; and the poorer the teacher, and the more dependent on his pupils fees, the more alert is it his interest to be, But there are counter-truths which must be re- membered. As to the teacher, we must put against the de- crease of zeal arising from a guarranteed revenue, that mere competion can never call out the highest kind of teaching ; such results only from a combina- tion of conscientious devotion, and a certain indepen- dence of position, which can only be found in some stand-point above the influence of the demands of the vulgar*. We do certainly occasionally get a Laplace to toil on at his sublime discoveries while writing almanacks for his daily bread, or a Haydon starving on high art, while he might make a fortune by portrait painting, but we must not expect any large supply of men so deaf to the Syren voice of the public. Again we may remark that endowed teacherships An illustration may be taken from the every day life of this place ; The private tutor system ensures the industry of the teacher, but tempts him to teach too exclusively with a view to the examinations. The College ttitor, though without so strong a stimulus to exertion, is able to take a wider view of the subjects of his lectures. 25 and scholarships alone offer a chance to gifted minds of rising from the ranks of the poor to such posts as are now thrown open to merit in our Indian Empire, The Scotch and German Universities have been called as witnesses against the English ; performing, it is asserted, with endowments far inferior, a far greater proportionate work. But, the relative riches of the English Universities have been somewhat exagge- rated,* and both the Scotch and German are practically endowed, by promotion both in Church and State being dependent on attendance at their courses. And, granting the justice of the charge, the Scotch have had the stimulus of comparative poverty, the German of rigid state supervision, one or other of which we should be the first to assert to be necessary to keep a body of public teachers to their work ; the only question being which of the two is pre- ferable. Poverty, dependent on the breath of public favour, and, Independent endowment, well watched over by authority, are the alternatives. In the interests of learning we would decidedly choose the latter. Change in the objects of study is no doubt re- tarded by endowments. They perpetuate the culti- vation of branches of learning, which, though evidently productive of no immediate practical re- Berlin costs 19,228 per annum. E suit, are yet praised and pursued by those who have been initiated into them, with a pertinacity and enthusiasm ridiculous to the world without. The outer world accordingly, impatient of all that is not visibly profitable, and ignorant that ' abstract' speculation is the salt of all the legislation, and all the contrivances, of the empirical many ; that it alone bestows that calmness and comprehensiveness of vision which prevents society from being led blindly by the attraction of the moment; continue to clamour against studies which are removed from the influence of their clamour. \\hen it is ob- jected ; * Take away endowment, and the higher learning ceases.' ' Perish,' reply they, ' this higher learning; If it would so cease, it evidently is not wanted.' But surely this is not so ; it would only be shown that people do not perceive that the higher learning is wanted. And we are involved in the question of what the educated class ought to do for the uneducated; should they give them equal power and swamp their own influence, or should they use that influence to guide them in the way they should go ; In fact, in the old question of ' paternal government,' versus ' laissez faire.' That the times are at all events not yet ripe for a consistent system of ' laissez faire,' is shown by the general complaint that the middle classes are incom- petent to distinguish a good school from a bad one, a complaint which has led to the recent scheme of Uni- versity visitations. But our opinion on this point cannot be better stated than by quoting the weighty words of Mr. Mill : * After describing the views of Turgot and of the French Revolution epoch generally as follows : ' They seem to have conceived the per- fection of political society to be reached if man could but be compelled to abstain from injuring man ; not considering that men need help as well as forbear- ance, and that Nature is to the greater number a severer taskmaster than even man is to man. They left each individual to fight his own battle against fate arid necessity with little aid from his fellow-crea- tures, save what he of his own spontaneous seeking might purchase in open market and pay for?' He adds : ' If this be a just estimate of the exigencies of human society; if man requires nothing from man except to be guarded against molestation ; us - doubtedly foundations and many other things are great absurdities. But .... the primary and peren- nial source of all social evil is ignorance and want of culture On what then have mankind depended, and on what must they continue to be dependent, for the removal of their ignorance and of their defect of culture 1 ? Mainly on the unremit- ting exertions of the more cultivated and instructed whether in the position of the government or in a Dissertations and Discussions. London, 1859. Vol. I Essay on 'State Interference with Corporate and Church Pro- perty.' private station, to awaken in their minds a conscious* ness of this want, and to facilitate to them the means, of supplying it. Here then is a wide field open for foundations.' We hope the justice of these observa- tions will be our sufficient apology for quoting the in at length. The objections to endowments of the higher educa- tion hitherto noticed have been chiefly directed against their inherent and necessary evils ; but there are other evils which arise only from their corruption . such as, mismanagement, malversation, unsuitable- ness of the terms of founders wills to changed circum- stances all of which admit, if not of a radical cure, at least of mitigation.* It might at first be thought that most of these difficulties would be obviated if the funds for such purposes were raised by annual sub- scription; but subscriptions have their own evils, especially the enormous expense of collection : more- over the thing would be two palpably a charity, and learning would lose its dignity. In France when these corruptions had reached their lowest point of degradation, when the Church, the Universities, the Hospitals, were hopelessly encum- bered and unsound, the whole system of Endowment It is from a detailed examination of these abuses that the writer (Turgot?) of the article 'Fondation' in the 'Encyclo pedie par une Societe de gens de lettres,' vol. vii. Paris, 1757, concludes by advising "renverser ces monumens stemriles, et remucr-les cendres des niorts pour nourrir les vivans." u as swept away.* We have awoke more gradually to the defects of our own institutions, which indeed have never been in quite so bad a state, and are busy in reforming them, one after another. From the 4 Registration of Charities ' Act, the ' Charitable Trust ' Act, and ' The Charitable Trusts Amendment ' Act, by which a commission was appointed, and from the various commissions on the English, Scotch, and Irish Universities, much good has resulted and much more may be expected. It is unfair to judge of the efficiency of our educational establishments, by the disrepair and torpor into which (in common with many other of our institutions) they had fallen ; and from the paralyzing effects of which they aie only now recovering. Those who have watched that recovery know well that the future state of our Universities will by no means correspond to the experiences of our worthy friend the professor of the Philosophy of Clothes. That endowments are conducive to learning, which even Adam Smith admits, has we hope been estab- lished. It remains, in accordance with the plan we have adopted, to enquire what are consequently the duties of the State. A State may encourage certain teachers and cer- tain branches of learning, either directly by grants Cf. Dr. Johnston. ' General view of Education in France.' Eclinb. 1827, p. 1UO and seqq. and ' On the Hospitals of France.' London, p. -180. of money, or indirectly, by conferring privileges on the alumni of certain seminaries *, or on those who pass examination in certain subjects. There is something imposing in the notion of a grand system of education entirely supported and controlled by the State; and it has undoubtedly many advantages, is more complete, and more pene- trating in its operations than a more spontaneous system can pretend to be. Still more imposing is such a centralization of education as prevailed in the Catholic times, when the same Bull from Rome ordered the establishment, of a professor of oriental languages at Bologna, at Paris, and at Oxford. The Church was indeed in those ages a ' clerisy' in the Coleridgean sense. But such systems possess also all the evils of centralization. A throughly paternal government, even if its cares were certainly efficient in pro- viding better articles and better services for the people, might still do more harm than good, by causing them to disuse their own powers of judg- ingf; while, when the government is an unscru- The monopoly of the ecclesiastical courts by the D.C.L.s' and the licence to hold a plurality of livings to D.D.s were a real endowment of the Universities. f Is not this to some extent true of Prussia~and of France ; whose in many respects excellent law of 1833 was founded on the report made by V. Cousin (at the request at Guizot) 011 the German and Dutch system .' pulous tyranny, we get constant parallels to the injunction given by the Emperor of Austria to the professors : ' Gentlemen your first care must be to produce loyal subjects.' But even supposing the government to be efficient, and to have the best intentions, and besides to be the exponent of the will of the people ; as has been well observed, it does but re- present the majority, and should leave some initaitive to the minority, which often comprises the wisest citizens ; nay in the earliest stages of an opinion must comprise them ; ' for all improvements, either in opinion or practice, must be in a minority at first. We would then far prefer to see Universities autonomous corporations, though under strict govern- ment supervision, than piurely goverment insti- tutions. Yet, where a country is in a backward state, it may be necessary for the government to come forward, as ours has done in founding the Queen's Colleges in Ireland. One way or another the State should see that endowed teacherships and endowed studenships exist: they are necessary to a full development of the competition scheme for public posts ; without them the competition will be practically confined to the class already in possession of education and position, and that circulation of ranks, that chance for the humblest of rising to a peerage, of which we are accustomed to boast, must remain little more than a boast. As to indirect endowment, we have the advice of Mill* (following Humboldt) for the encourage- ment by government of different branches of study by examinations in the higher subjects, which are however to be merely voluntary, and not to give any legal privileges to those who pass them, but he would leave all to choose their own teachers, government only providing instruction in primary subjects f. Smith J would even make the passing a preliminary examination in science a necessary step to entering on a profession, leaving the choice and payment of teachers entirely to individuals. This he proposes as an antidote to the enthusiasm and superstition which he allows would result from minute sub- division of religious sects. The need of some government imprimatur to the members of particular professions for the protection of the public is indeed generally acknowledged : Such imprimatur is more especially necessary in the case of Physicians, and its want was severely felt during the temporary disorganization of the medical profession at the French Revolution. The only questionable point is whether government should confine itself to recognizing the results of certain authorized examina- ' On- Liberty,' p. 90. f Here apparently rather attenuating the doctrine of the ' Discussions.' } Wealth of Nations, III. p. 202. See ' General View of Public Education in France.' John- ston, p. 103. 33 tions, or should grant a monopoly to any one set of teachers. On the whole then we consider that Endowments are beneficial, and deserve the encouragement of the State ; That their defects are nearly all remediable, and are then largely counterbalanced by their excel- lencies ; That certain cautions must however be ob- served with reference to them namely: That in dealing with the necessary wants .of human life, the State should keep the management in its own hands ; (for instance, it will watch jealously over the growth of a pauper population, so alleviating its distress as not to trench upon the rights of able-bodied industry :) That in providing for the higher wants of the nation, while it thankfully avails itself of the existence of in- dependent and corporate foundations, it should both exercise a vigilant supervision over them to prevent their being diverted to purposes of private gain, and cause the combination in them, as far as possible, of the incentive to industry derivable from voluntary fees, with the authoritative and dignified position be- stowed by secure endowment. In short, that neither Charity nor Free-trade ought exclusively to predomi- nate. People are neither wholly fit judges of their interest, nor utterly incapable of self-guidance. Man is not altogether the being supposed in the reasonings of political economy. He is capable of a finer and less selfish tendency; this however is a 34 plant of somewhat tender growth at first, and endow- ments are of great use in assisting its earlier stages ; but when once the love of any kind of knowledge for its own sake has been planted and sheltered till it strike root, it may safely be left to hold its ground against even the luxuriant wild-growth of natural selfishness. THE EoSD, ERRATA. Page 2, line 15, each read such. Page 7, line 6, read the. Page 12, illustirous read illustrious. Page 28, note stemriles read steriles. Page 31, line 12, " minor " read minority; OXFORD : PKINTKD BY W. MANSKLI.. ^E -UNIVERS/A 30 C_ UTHEBNREGIONA UBRAflYFAaUTY