Fund should be formed against accidents at sea during given voyages, on the payment of the requisite premium, similar in principle to the annual travelling premiums of the Railway Accident Association.

7. That an association be formed for the construction of seamen's family lodging-houses, or marriedsailors' homes, for the especial use of the wives and children of those who are actually serving at sea.

8. The State having provided for the spiritual needs of all its subjects above low-water mark, but left those whose homes are outside the boundaries of our parishes and dioceses wholly uncared for, it is essential that other provision be made for the extension of Christian teaching to our seamen.

All thinking seamen are agreed that the moral dangers to which, as a class, they are exposed when in port, are far more destructive to health, and contribute far more to the shortening of life, than all the so-called perils of the deep. However much we may surround them with safeguards, and exercise a practical supervision, all such efforts must fail of complete success, if we continue to ignore the true basis of morality, soul-saving, lifetransforming Christianity. We do not under-estimate what is being done by the Thames Church Mission, the Mersey Seamen's Mission, the Seamen's Mission, and other excellent missionary societies, when we point out how desultory their best efforts must be, how rarely foreign-going seamen receive their instructions, and what ill-timed opportunities they have of impressing religious convictions upon ignorant and demoralised seamen. Much, doubtless, is thus done in port, but this great and good work cannot be efficiently conducted until owners and officers agree to do it

in the quiet times on shipboard at sea. It is satisfactory to observe that the shipowners of Liverpool liberally support the Mersey Mission, but it is equally sad to observe that the Thames Church Mission, and Seamen's Mission, and other associations, are chiefly worked and maintained by naval men and civilians wholly unconnected with the mercantile marine. It is also a

happy sign that the British and Foreign Sailors' Society has induced 432 captains to hold public prayers on board their ships, and to avow their proclivities by hoisting a white flag with a blue star when in port on Sundays. Many others. who have not thus registered their names are restoring this ancient Christianising custom, and we are not without hope that the higher tone of moral duty which has of late years been revived in the Church on shore may, ere long, find its way into the Church afloat. We have more faith in the fair dealing, thoughtful consideration, and high principle which true religion brings with it, than in compulsory legis lation. But in the meantime we must be glad of any measures which may give to well-conducted seamen and their families reasonable protection, and snatch the others from those degraded habits, moral and physical, which have made British merchant seamen a byword and a reproach throughout the world.

Note.-Since this article was set up the long-promised Amended Mercantile Marine Act has been presented to Parliament. It legislates for most of the points we have touched upon, but with what prospect of success we have had no opportunity of judging, as it is not yet (Aug. 19) in circulation.

which clearly perceives evils of which it does not understand the cause, and for which therefore it cannot suggest a cure.

But

One illustration shows the sort of error into which the public may fall. A perfectly just conviction prevails that the existence of nonresident fellowships is an abuse. The cure suggested is to enact that all fellows shall come into residence. That the proposed remedy would do injustice to men whose only crime is that they have accepted exorbitantly large prizes offered to them by the public as a reward for meritorious work is a trifling consideration. What is worth greater attention is that the proposed remedy does not touch the real evil. The thing to be complained of is not that some fellows do not reside, but that all fellows resident and nonresident alike hold sinecures. The fellow who resides in college may, it is true, be a college tutor. he may, and often does, do as little for his college or for the public as the fellow who resides in London. Moreover, the abolition of nonresident fellowships would, if unaccompanied by other measures of reform, create at least as many evils as it would cure. It would, for example, greatly narrow the character of the small bodies which at present distribute the most important academical prizes. It is much to be regretted that fellowships should, even as it is, be given away by a small body of electors with no special qualifications for selecting the right persons to fill fellowships. Matters would be still worse if, all fellows being compelled to reside, the electors to a fellowship should consist wholly of one class of men, that is to say, of that class who chose to devote their lives to the pursuits of the University.

A book could hardly be mentioned better suited for the instruction of all persons interested in the condition of the Universities, and espe

cially of Oxford, than Mr. Pattison's Suggestions. It is the work of a man pre-eminently well acquainted both by experience and by study with the subject of which he treats. It contains information which it is almost impossible to find collected. elsewhere, and, what is its greatest merit, it treats the University question as a whole. Few persons will agree with all Mr. Pattison's conclusions; but no one can read his work without great profit and interest. There is indeed some danger lest readers should fail to perceive its whole scope and bearing; for a want of systematic arrangement is the defect of a book marked by great beauties of style. The Suggestions are, or at any rate may be, considered as an elaborate reply to the three following questions, which must be answered by every one who attempts a syste matic treatment of what is called the University question. These enquiries are—

1. What are the defects of the present University system?

2. What direction ought a reform of these defects to take?

3. By what steps can a reform be effected?

The object of this review is to state and examine Mr. Pattison's reply to these inquiries and to offer some criticisms upon his proposals.

What are the defects of the present system?

The peculiarity, and, according to Mr. Pattison, the main defect of the English Universities, is to be found in their application of the endow ment fund. By the endowment fund' is meant all the revenues which an English University and its colleges dispose of for the bene fit of education. For some purposes it is well to distinguish between the resources of the colleges and the resources of the University, but in Mr. Pattison's view (and this is indubitably the right view) no distinction need be made between the