good in some other ways. But the _Spectator_
leaves it at least open to be inferred that a higher degree, or rather
the knowledge and consequent culture implied in the higher degree, does,
or ought to do, something different even in the political way. And such
an inference would probably be borne out by facts. If Lord Carnarvon
looks on all passmen as "men of literary eminence and intellectual
power," he must be very nearly right in his figures when he says that
three-fourths of such men are opposed to Mr. Gladstone. But those who
have really profited by their University work may doubt whether passmen
as such are entitled to that description. Indeed in the most ideal state
of an University, though it might be reasonable to expect its members to
be men of intellectual power, it would be unreasonable to expect all of
them to be men of literary eminence. If by literary eminence be meant
the writing of books, some men of very high intellectual power are men
of no literary eminence whatever. Without therefore requiring the
University members to be elected wholly by men of literary eminence, we
may fairly ask that they may be elected by men of more intellectual
power than the mass of the present electors. We should ask for this,
even if we thought that Lord Carnarvon was right, if we thought that,
the higher the standard of the electors, the safer would be the Tory
seats. But it is perhaps only human nature to ask for it the more, if we
happen to think that the raising of the standard would have the exactly
opposite result.

The evil then, to sum up the result of the _Spectator's_ argument, is
that the University elections are determined by the votes of the
passmen, and that the mass of the passmen are Tories. Now what is the
remedy for this evil? One very obvious remedy is always, on such
occasions as that which has just happened, whispered perhaps rather than
very loudly proclaimed. This is the doctrine that the representation of
Universities in Parliament is altogether a mistake, and that it would be
well if the Universities were disfranchised by the next Reform Bill.
And, if the question could be discussed as a purely abstract one, there
is no doubt much to be said, from more grounds than one, against
University representation. There is only one ground on which separate
University representation can be justified on the common principles on
which an English House of Commons is put together. This is the ground
that each Uni