348 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1866. a report so made is only an expression of opinion. The Council 

 retains perfect liberty of action. The choice of the Council is 

 usually in accordance with the opinion of the Senate. But 

 cases have occurred before in which the Council has exercised an 

 independent judgment, and departed from the recommendation 

 of the Senate, and the Senate has never felt itself aggrieved by 

 the exercise of such an indisputable right. 



In this particular case there is especial reason why the Senate 

 should receive with respect the decision of the Council. On 

 subjects of professional learning, and in several departments of 

 science and literature, it is likely that there will be men amongst 

 the Professors better able to form a sound judgment than any 

 members of the Council. But on the question of Mental Philo- 

 sophy we believe honestly that the members of the Council 

 generally are as fully competent to form an opinion as the 

 members of the Senate. 



Moreover, the relative strength of the recommendation of the 

 Senate has been misrepresented. It has been asserted that the 

 Senate ' reported to the Council that Mr. Martineau was incom- 

 parably the ablest candidate.' The first report of the Senate, in 

 which alone the qualifications of Mr. Martineau were discussed, 

 was not so unjust. The report examined the claims of Mr. 

 Martineau, as attested by his published writings, by the evidence 

 of his pupils, and by his Examination Papers, which he frankly 

 laid before the Council; and the conclusion was in these words: 

 ' All these considerations evidently lead to the conclusion that 

 Mr. Martineau is the most eligible candidate. He appears to be 

 at least equal to the other candidates in ability and learning , 

 while he is superior to them both in reputation, and in experience 

 and success as a teacher.' 



A still more flagrant injustice has been done to the other 

 candidates by the language of another writer, who chooses to 

 describe the Council as rejecting a first-rate man in order to look 

 about for 'a safe man with indifferent qualifications as a teacher,' 

 one 'obscure enough to be inoffensive.' It is not necessary to 

 insist upon the qualifications of the candidates whose names are 

 not public, except to protest against the injustice of a writer who 

 knows nothing about the matter using such disparaging language : 

 but in the case of Mr. Robartson, whom the Council have 

 appointed to the Professorship, it is right to state the conclusions 

 of the two reports of the Senate. The first report upon his 

 qualifications ended thus : ' Mr. Robertson is only twenty-four 



