1 873.] Sects and Science. 293 



and shadow as the universities — dreary and dull. The evil 

 is already showing itself, partially because as concentration 

 goes on sameness increases ; do not let us increase the 

 evil. The man who can examine the young men of a 

 college in metaphysics long enough to influence much of 

 the habits of the teachers who send pupils to the colleges, 

 and long enough to accustom them to his text books, has 

 a power over the generation coming such as no other man 

 has. A Prime Minister is nothing to him, and all the 

 powers in Church and State must eventually yield more or 

 less to his authority, although they may not know it. The 

 examiner eventually directs the leading minds. In them 

 we must consider real power to lie. It once lay in the 

 army, it once lay in the song-makers, some one says ; it lies 

 to a great extent now with the reasoners, in all cases where 

 they do not oppose the men of business, and the choice of 

 modes of reason is with the examiners. 



The genius of this nation has arisen in a great measure 

 from the diversity of its population ; this diversity has pro- 

 duced difference of training as well as difference of con- 

 stitution. One great difference, that of training, would be 

 removed by the one university alluded to, a system which 

 has never been shown to produce good results. 



It is not merely that there is no competition allowed by 

 it, although that maybe a loss, but there is no diversity; 

 and there is no true freedom of thought where there is no 

 diversity ; and above all, there is in the exclusive character 

 of the intention no sufficient breadth. 



As proposed in Ireland, the narrowness was such as to 

 reduce it merely to a school of certain branches. 



It is greatly to be wished that no such schemes may be 

 attempted in England, and it is equally desirable that no 

 experiments of this lowering character will be brought into 

 Scotland or Ireland, but that we should retain our uni- 

 versities founded on the structures laid not merely by the 

 men of yesterday or the men of last century, but the great 

 of all centuries, so that we may have institutions in which 

 the wisdom and science of modern times, the devotion of 

 mediaeval ages, the strength of Rome, and the thoughtful 

 searchings of Greece shall be side by side with the 

 spiritual character and the search for holiness produced 

 and hitherto producible only by the teachings of the East. 



vol. in. (n.s.) 2 Q 



