It appears to me that what I have ventured to lay down as the principles
which should govern the relations of a university to education in
general, are entirely in accordance with the measures you have adopted.
You have set no restrictions upon access to the instruction you propose
to give; you have provided that such instruction, either as given by the
university or by associated institutions, should cover the field of
human intellectual activity. You have recognised the importance of
encouraging research. You propose to provide means by which young men,
who may be full of zeal for a literary or for a scientific career, but
who also may have mistaken aspiration for inspiration, may bring their
capacities to a test, and give their powers a fair trial. If such a one
fail, his endowment terminates, and there is no harm done. If he
succeed, you may give power of flight to the genius of a Davy or a
Faraday, a Carlyle or a Locke, whose influence on the future of his
fellow-men shall be absolutely incalculable.
You have enunciated the principle that "the glory of the university
should rest upon the character of the teachers and scholars, and not
upon their numbers or buildings constructed for their use." And I look
upon it as an essential and most important feature of your plan that the
income of the professors and teachers shall be independent of the number
of students whom they can attract.
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