STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF COUNCIL. 353 



liberals, that they are jealous of clerical influence in education. 1 1866. 

 Such a jealousy is the usual concomitant of religious equality. 

 When the University of Sydney was founded, the authors of it 

 entrusted the selection of a Principal and Professors to a com- 

 mittee of gentlemen in England, informing them that, in conse- 

 quence of the equality of religious sects in the colony, they 

 would prefer that none of the Professors should be a minister of 

 any religious denomination. Their committee found it impossible 

 to discharge their trust to their satisfaction within this limita- 

 tion ; and as the instruction to them was not imperative, they 

 selected as Classical Professor and Principal the late Rev. Dr. 

 Woolley, who was a clergyman of the Church of England. The 

 appointment of Dr. Woolley was received at first with some 

 suspicion and dissatisfaction ; and it was not till the people of 

 Sydney became convinced by personal knowledge of the Tin- 

 sectarian character of his mind that they were thoroughly 

 reconciled to it. We by no means wish, nor would any judicious 

 friend of our College wish, to exclude all ministers of religion 

 from all Professorships ; but we mention this instance to show 

 that the advocacy of religious equality does not compel its 

 advocates in all cases simply to shut their eyes and ask no 

 questions as to the religious position of persons with whom they 

 have to do. In the last number of the Athenceum there is an 

 article upon the approaching Special Meeting of the Proprietors 

 of University College, in which the principles of the College are 

 thus described : ' There was a universal belief created by every 

 kind of declaration on the part of the promoters, and fostered by 

 an unflinching adherence, that no disqualification on religious 

 grounds was to be tolerated, whether as to teacher or pupil. 

 The best Professors were to be chosen, independently of their 

 faith, and of their notoriety as followers of their faith.' This is 

 quite true as a general description, and we trust that it always 

 will be true. But the writer does not perceive that the two 

 clauses of his last sentence may be inconsistent ; and if he insists 

 upon the literal application of this rule in all conceivable cases, 

 he is a slave to the letter, and blind to the spirit of the principle 

 which he advocates. The College will appoint a Professor of 

 Anatomy, or a Professor of Latin, or a Professor of Natural 



1 According to my recollection the reproach against the Council was 

 that they were sensitive only on the score of an unpopular clerical in- 

 fluence. It was not implied that they would as a body have shrunk 

 from the appointment of a liberal Churchman. S. E. DE M. 



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