UNIVERSITY COURIER.
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3
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was furious against the professors of Magdalene College because they refused to obey his royal commands, they believing the same to be contrary to their inauguration oath, and to the laws of the college and state.
In everything the king seemed to lose sight of the interests of the people, and looked only toward his own exaltation and that of his church. It is almost impossible to give a correct idea of the manner in which he oppressed and harrassed a vast majority of his subjects. And these very subjects would gladly have done him honor had he but acted half fairly. There seemed no hope of an accommodation with the king. All means failed, and some of the principal men of the nation invited William, Prince of Orange, who was then at the Hague, across the English Channel, to come and deliver the country from such religious and political intolerance. William, for some time, had been anxiously watching the course of the English Government. He was closely related, by marriage, to it, and desired to see England the foremost nation in Europe. He was a man of modest and reserved habits. He seemed to have but one great aim in life, and that was to free England from the grasp of France and the power of the Romish church. When this invitation was received from the chief men of the nation, he thought the time had now arrived for developing his plan, and he very soon had everything in readiness for the carrying out of his project. With a well disciplined army of fifteen thousand Dutch troops, under skillful commanders, he set sail for England. He landed at Torbay and soon reached Exeter, a place of some importance, where he remained for awhile. At first he was a little discouraged at the tardiness which the leading men seemed to manifest in rallying around him. But one by one they came, until very shortly they crowded around him so that he felt that they really were in need of a deliverer.
During all this time James was more severe than ever, and appeared more unreasonable. When William advanced to within a few days march of London, he made a stand, for the purpose of negotiating with the king. A commission was sent to confer with William, and he acted very deliberately. He was willing even now to withdraw from the country, if the king would only promise to respect the former laws. But the king was deaf to all entreaty, he would make no concessions, he was sorry for nothing in the past, and would make no promises for the future. He really banished himself from the throne; he tried once to escape, but failed, and the second time he succeeded in reaching France, where his wife and child had preceded him. Meanwhile, William advanced to London, and exhibited that calmness and soundness of judgment for which he has become noted. He assembled the House of Lords and Parliament, which had been dissolved by James, and informed them that he had come over not with the intention of driving the king from the throne, but that he had wished to deliver the people from their oppressive bondage. After a few days of deliberation in the Parliament and House of Lords, it was decided that the Prince and Princess of Orange should be declared King and Queen of England, and that the crown should be conferred on William, who should rule during his life. Of course this procedure may be censured by some, but we believe it was the best thing that could have been done.
In this, as in every great event, there was a reaction, some thinking that possibly they had done wrong in thus permitting their poor king to go away into exile. In one day they could
forget all his past severity and wickedness. In a single night his distance from them seemed to inspire them with the idea that probably he was doing the best he could, and he was not so bad after all. Like the Israelites of old, when delivered from a desperate bondage, it was but a short time until they wished to be led back to the flesh pots of Egypt. But aside from the murmurs and complaints of many, there were those who could see into the future and predict for England a brighter and a better day. This revolution exerted a good influence over all Europe, and was one of the turning points in the upward progress of civilization and religion.
We will all, no doubt, remember the name of William, Prince of Orange, with many feelings of delight. A man who had the love of humanity and his country at heart, and who acted a noble part in his nation's history.
SPECIAL STUDIES.
SENEX.
President McCosh, with his characteristic straight forwardness in the denunciation of everything that tends to injure the cause of higher education, has recently aimed a blow at the English university custom of organizing small classes expressly for those who prefer to make a specialty of some particular branch of knowledge. He quite sensibly takes the ground that every student should complete a comprehensive curriculum of study before attempting to specialize.
Dr. McCosh has undoubtedly expressed the sentiments of the large majority of the educators of this country concerning this great and growing evil. While it is utterly impossible in this age of the world for one individual to master every branch of science and art, it is, nevertheless, essential that he who wishes to succeed as a specialist should first acquire a certain amount of general knowledge. Such is the mutual dependency of the various departments of science, that a fair knowledge of each is not only desirable, but absolutely necessary for the specialist. It has been through the labors of broad-minded specialists that the sciences have been made to harmonize with one another, and the greater the amount of general scientific knowledge acquired by future specialists, the greater must be this dependency and the consequent advancement of science.
The absolute specialist must necessarily acquire a narrow-mindedness deserving of the contempt of every true friend of science. The cultivation of specialties alone tends to isolate the sciences and retard their progress. The advancement of science demands that the sciences continue to work together in harmony, and to this end it is necessary that our scientists be men of broad and enlightened views, not blind, narrow-minded specialists. Who are the most successful specialists in science to-day? It is hardly necessary to answer that, with scarcely an exception, they are men who have devoted a large portion of their time and energy to the acquisition of knowledge outside of the departments with which they are immediately concerned.
Such is the present state of science that to be a successful specialist in any one branch requires a knowledge of all the others. Thus, to make a success of chemistry or astronomy, a knowledge of mathematics, physics, mechanics, &c., is necessary.
It behooves the educators of this country to enter their protest against this tendency towards narrow-mindedness which is gradually finding its way into our higher educational system. The aim of our educational institutions should be to furnish the student the means of laying a broad foundation. Those designing to make specialists of themselves should be taught that the broader and deeper the foundations the better qualified will they be for their specialties.
SPECIALIST.