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The object of the science of POLÍTICAL ECONOMY is to ascertain the laws which regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, or the outward things obtained by labour, and needed or desired by man. It is now too justly valued to require any other remark, than that the occasional difficulty of applying its principles, and the differences of opinion to which that difficulty has given rise, form new reasons for the diligent cultivation of a science which is so indispensible to the well being of communities, and of which, as it depends wholly on facts, all the perplexities must be finally removed by accurate observation and precise language.

For the studies which are necessary in all the branches of the PROFESSION of MEDICINE, London possesses peculiar and inestimable advantages. It is in large towns only that Medical Schools can exist. The means of acquiring anatomical knowledge, medical experience, and surgical dexterity, must increase in exact proportion to the greatness of the town. At this moment the great majority of those who are called general practitioners, who take no degree, confine themselves to no single branch of the profession; but in whose hands the whole ordinary practice of England is placed, receive their systematic instruction from Lectures in London, during one or two years, while many of them are attending hospitals. The annual average of such students is about seven hundred. Many of the Lecturers have been, and are men of very eminent ability; and the practitioners thus educated are, generally, most respectable for information and skill. It is no reflexion on either body to affirm, that Medical Education would be improved if the teachers of most distinguished ability who are now scattered over London, were gradually attracted to one Institution, where they would be stimulated to the utmost exertion of their faculties, by closer rivalship, larger emolument, and wider reputation. To what cause but to the present dispersion of eminent teachers can it be ascribed, that the greatest city of the civilized world is not its first School of Medicine?

The young men who are intended for the scientific profession of a CIVIL ENGINEER, which has of late been raised so high by men of genius, and exercised with such signal advantage to the public, have almost as strong reasons as those who are destined for the practice of Medicine, for desiring that a System of Academical Education should be accessible to them where they can be best trained to skill and expertness under masters of the first eminence.

To these examples might be added, the obvious and striking case of COMMERCE which would be of itself sufficient to show the advantage of bringing literary and scientific instruction to the place where diligence and experience in liberal occupations are acquired. By the formation of an University in this metropolis, the useful intercourse of theory with active life will be facilitated; speculation will be instantly tried and corrected by practice, and the man of business will more readily find principles which will bestow simplicity and order on his experimental knowledge. No where can every part of information, even the most remote and recondite, be obtained so easily as in a city which contains cultivators of all branches of learning, followers of all opinions, and natives of every quarter of the globe.

The Council are rather encouraged than disheartened by the consideration that their undertaking rests on the voluntary contributions of individuals, to which, after a season of public difficulty, they now appeal with firmer assurance. They are satisfied, that experience of its advantages will, in due time, procure for it such legal privileges as may be found convenient for its administration; and they are not

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unwilling that the value of testimonials of proficiency and conduct, granted by the University, should, at least in the commencement, depend on the opinion entertained by the Public, of the judgment, knowledge, vigilance, and integrity, of the Professors. For the good effects expected in other Seminaries from discipline, the Council put their trust in the power of Home and the care of Parents: to whom, in this Institution, which is equally open to the youth of every religious persuasion, the important duty of religious education is necessarily, as well as naturally, entrusted. That care, always the best wherever it can be obtained, will assuredly be adequate to every purpose in the case of the Residents in London, who must at first be the main foundation of the Establishment. When its reputation attracts many Pupils from the Country and the Colonies, those means of private instruction, and domestic superintendence, may be adopted, which have been found in other places to be excellent substitutes for parental care.

Finally. The Council trust, that they are now about to lay the Foundation of an Institution well adapted to communicate liberal instruction to successive generations of those who are now excluded from it, and likely neither to retain the machinery of studies superseded by time, nor to neglect any new science brought into view by the progress of reason; of such magnitude as to combine the illustration and ornament which every part of knowledge derives from the neighbourhood of every other, with the advantage which accrues to all from the outward aids and instruments of Libraries, Museums, and Apparatus; where there will be a sufficient prospect of fame and emolument to satisfy the ambition, and employ the whole active lives of the ablest Professors; where the most eminent places in Education may be restored to their natural rank among the ultimate and highest objects of pursuit; where the least remission of diligence must give instant warning of danger, and an attempt to pervert its resources to personal purposes cannot fail to cut off the supply sought to be perverted; where the inseparable connexion of ample income, and splendid reputation with the general belief of meritorious service, may prove at once a permanent security for the ability of the Teachers, an incentive to their constant activity, and a preservative of the Establishment from decay.

I. LANGUAGE.

1. Greek Language, Literature, and Antiquities. 2. Roman Language, Literature, and Antiquities. 3. English Literature and Composition.

4. Oriental Literature, subdivided into,-

A. Languages from the Mediterranean to the Indus.
B. Languages from the Indus to the Burrampooter.

5. French Language and Literature.

6. Italian and Spanish Literature.
7. German and Northern Literature.

II. MATHEMATICS.

8. Elementary Mathematics. 9. Higher Mathematics.

10. Mathematical Physics. 11. Experimental Physics. 12. Chemistry.

13. Geology and Mineralogy.

14. Botany and Vegetable Physiology.

15. Zoology and Comparative Anatomy.

16. Application of Physical Sciences to the Arts.

IV. MENTAL SCIENCE.

17. Philosophy of the Human Mind.

18. Logic.

ས.

MORAL SCIENCES.

19. Moral and Political Philosophy.

20. Jurisprudence, including International Law.

21. English Law, with (perhaps) separate Lectures on the Constitution. 22. Roman Law.

23. History.

VI. HISTORY.

VII. POLITICAL ECONOMY.

24. Political Economy.

VIII. MEDICAL SCIENCES.

25. Anatomy.

26. Physiology.

27. Surgery.

28. Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children.

29. Materia Medica and Pharmacy.

30. Nature and Treatment of Diseases.

31. Medical Jurisprudence; together with

32. Clinical Lectures, as soon as an Hospital can be connected with this Establishment.

It is due to the Promoters of this Institution, to state the privileges and advantages to which they will be entitled in respect of their contributions, whether by subscription or donation to its funds.

The Deed of Settlement fully provides for the protection of the Proprietors from all liability beyond the amount of the sums respectively subscribed by them. While it confers large powers on the Council, it also interposes every proper check on any irregularity in the exercise of those powers, by the appointment of Auditors, and by General and Special Meetings of Proprietors for the revision of the proceedings of the Council, and the adoption of such new By-Laws and Regulations as in the progress of the Establishment may from time to time be required.

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The rights and privileges of the Proprietors under such Deed may thus shortly be recapitulated ;—

1. Absolute right of presentation of one Student, in respect of each Share, at such reduced rate of annual payment, and subject to such rules and restrictions as may be prescribed by the Council.

2. Interest on Shares not exceeding £4 per cent out of surplus income.

3. Privilege of Transfer and Bequest of Shares.

4. In cases of Ballot, a Proprietor of one Share is entitled to one vote; of five Shares, to two votes; and of ten Shares or upwards, to three votes, with privilege of voting by proxy at Elections.

Donors of £50 and upwards are entitled to all the privileges and advantages of Proprietors, except the transfer and devolution of their interest, and have no more than one vote on any occasion.

In addition, Proprietors and Donors will have the right of personal admission to the Library, and the various Collections of the University.

It is difficult at present to form any precise idea of the annual expense at which the proposed system of education can be afforded; but a confident belief is entertained that it will not be more than £30 per annum, for a Student admitted on the nomination of a Proprietor. In the early period of the Establishment, it is probable that no other Students than those presented by Proprietors can be admitted; and whenever the extended scale of the Institution will allow of a general admission of Students, their annual payments must necessarily be much higher than those required by the Nominees of Proprietors.

A Piece of Freehold Ground has been purchased, at the end of Gower Street, for the Erection of the proposed Building; and the Council have adopted a design of Mr. WILKINS, a Lithographic Sketch of which may be had by Proprietors, at the Office of the University. The Estimate for completing the whole Building, faced in Stone, is £87,000; but the Council hope to be able to finish so much as will be sufficient for the first objects of the Institution, for £30,000; and if the first Stone be laid in July or August, they trust that the Classes will be opened by the end of the next year.

(Signed, by Order of the Council,)

7, Furnival's Inn,
May 8, 1826.

F. A. COX, LL. D. Hon. Sec. to Council.
THOMAS COATES, Clerk to the Council.

Subscriptions for Shares of £100 (on which a Deposit of £25 per cent. must be paid) are received either at the Office of the University, 7, Furnival's Inn, or at the Bankers of the Institution, Messrs. SMITH, PAYNE, and SMITHS, 1, George Street, Mansion-house, and also at Messrs. COUTTS and Co. Strand; and all Communications may be addressed to Mr. COATES, 7, Furnival's Inn.

DECLARATION

OF THE

CATHOLIC BISHOPS,

THE

Vicars Apostolic and their Coadjutors

IN

GREAT BRITAIN.

LONDON:

KEATING AND BROWN, DUKE STREET, GROSVENOR
SQUARE, AND PATERNOSTER-ROW.

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