Untitled - Electric Scotland

i849-53] OXFORD UNIVERSITY COMMISSION 157
Commission should issue. No hint of this intention had
transpired, and the announcement took the House of
Commons completely by surprise. At the instance of
Mr. Roundell Palmer, the debate was adjourned for some
months, that the friends of the Universities might consider
the situation. Lord John, however, without waiting for
a formal decision of the House of Commons, wrote
privately to Dean Tait, and to one or two other friends
of the Universities, to ask whether they would be willing
to serve on such a Commission when appointed.
Tait at once replied as follows :
" MY
T/te Dean of Carlisle to Lord JoJin Russell.
"CARLISLE, ^th June 1850.
LORD, I shall very gladly undertake the duties which
your Lordship s letter, received this morning, intimates your wish
to impose upon me. The deep attachment which I feel to the
University of Oxford will make me most anxious to fulfil zealously
and to the utmost of my ability any of the duties that may be
assigned to me. I am unwilling to conclude without expressing
that the best
my conviction, if your Lordship will allow me,
friends of Oxford ought to feel deeply indebted to your Lordship
for having undertaken and persevered in the appointment of this
Commission ; and my belief that, notwithstanding the present
symptoms of opposition, the wisdom of the course adopted, as
conducive to the best interests of the Universities, will in time
be acknowledged by all who are anxious for their welfare."
In a subsequent letter he adds :
*
I fear it is hopeless to expect to secure anything like a cor
dial reception for the Commission from the Heads of Houses,
but I shall be very much surprised if we are not welcomed by
those who have much more real influence in Oxford than they ;
1 mean the most active and intelligent of the College Tutors."
Meantime the opposition gathered strength and
volume. The Heads of Houses at Oxford were almost
unanimous in their denunciations ; pamphlets and pro-