34 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION, 



"lish, they are involved, I think, in the very word 'Brit- 

 "ish,' which is used in speaking of our colonies. Here, in 

 "England, we Englishmen are sole masters; in our colonies 

 "we are only joint masters; and I cannot, without direct 

 "injustice, make the half right as extensive as the whole 

 "right. But, whilst I acknowledge the equal rights of 

 "the Church of Scotland, I acknowledge no right in any 

 "third system — for a Church it cannot be called — to be 

 "dominant over both the Church of Scotland and us. . . . 

 "Now, I confess that what I should like best of all would 

 "be to see two colleges founded, one an English college, 

 "the other a Scotch college, each giving its own degrees in 

 "divinity, but those degrees following the degrees in arts 

 "which should be given by both as a university. . . . This, 

 "I think, would be my beau ideal for Van Diemen s 

 "Land. . . . The decisive objection to this, I suppose, 

 "would be the expense. You can only have one college, 

 "and, I suppose, may be thankful even for that. What is 

 "next best, then, as it appeal's to me, is still to provide 

 "for the equal, but, at the same time, free and sovereign 

 "and fully developed action of both Churches within me 

 "same college, by the appointment of two clergymen, the 

 "one of the English, the other of the Scotch Church, as 

 "necessary members of the college, always with the title 

 "of Dean. . . . Iti might be possible to put the office of 

 "Principal altogether in commission, and vest it in a 

 "board, of which the two Deans should be ex officio mem- 

 "bers, and three other persons, or one, as it might be 

 "thought fit." 



"I believe that I see clearly, and hold fast the prin- 

 "ciples on which your college should be founded ; but dif- 

 "ferent ways of working these principles out may suggest 

 "themselves at different times, and none of them, per- 

 "haps, will suit your circumstances ; for it is in the appli- 

 "cation of general principles to any given place or condi- 

 "tion of things that practical knowledge of that particular 

 "state of things is needful, which I cannot have in the 

 "present case. Still, the conclusions of our local observa- 

 "tion must not drive ns to overset general principles, or to 

 "neglect them, for that is no less an error." 



Arnold, however, found his noble but Utopian dream 

 of religious instruction without sectarianism, and of an 

 ideal college in which each denomination might teach in 

 absolute harmony with the rest, a very difficult one to 

 reduce into a feasible scheme. It is curious to observe 

 how, bit by bit, he almost unconsciously gave up hi.? 

 cherished ideal as practically impossible. His pupil, Gell, 

 who had to face the practical difficulties on the spot, had 

 plainly come to the oonclusioii that the College must b© 



