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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
o £ this office hate uaifbrmly beeft Stjfch US :. WBfB TJXGvfrtitoGifof } $ i& ^ % & A tin | youthful minds of the students « some eminent claims to distitiction ii
rank and station , or in science and literature , in legislation , ill the useful arts , in the science of ifoveirtiment , or in some department of piAMc business beneficial to the country-. Is it nothing that the youths of this University
should be trained in their earlier years to exercise those functions of duty which they may in maturer years be called onto practise , iir \ fhe election of the magistracy of ^' w ^^ llBtpy , ' or of the . framers Of ttiejfe ^ i which it is the peculiar blessifig of our happy
constitution that the people are supposed to be privileged to exercise ? This early acquaintance with the rights of freemen qualifies them to use them without any tumultuary or disorderly feelings , as habitual rights Which lead to no disorder in their future exercise .
whenever . they have opportunities of using die elective franchise in any of the various forms which our constitution provides . It has ever appeared tamo , that by this excellent Institution the youth who are thus graciously entrusted with the choice of their
aoadeiaical . magistrates , are consoled for their subjection to the academical laws , and are more submissive to the necessary discipline of the University , than in other situations where they ed of of
^ re depriv every » power electing their magistracy . So wisely had tht * election been managed by the yotttlis of the University , that he was almost overwhelmed by the talents and worth of his celebrated
predecessors . The youth of Glasgow had shewn the highest veneration for the productions of genius ; be , too , could revere the * philosophef , and admire the poet , aaa yet he still thought that due applause should riot be withheld
from those wfeoge lives hind been spent in studying the nature and utility of Government . In the year 1784 , when , from the state of political affeirs , it would 4 iflve seemed percilmdy jfoticate
for any literary body to have * Bstin * guished a person so strongly opposed to the administration of the day , this University elected , to be Lord Rector , Edmund Burke , who h « d been called the most philoaopliical or « lor of his d * T > tatt whow J ucauW mffii # ^ eacribe
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^ the most eloqwHit « polidc ^ ^ Mlo- ^| g ^ of modern tifnej - mmM > : ' - « pn to enga ^ -yo ^ r ^ atteiitioopfe ttmt of a countryman engaged in 3 &-borious public pursuits , I ain Well
aware that I have no other pretensions than the love of letters ^ My life has beeii variegated , and has left little f € «^ the prosecution of promts that were formed in my early life , and tlie" 6 ge of repose has been converted into f « i ¦
age of anxiety . I would advfee those Who are masters of their own time , that they would confine their life to one object , and not be distracted by diversity of pursuit . I would observe , Gentlemen , that the national partiaKty which we in Scotland feel for ofte
another , may have had some sb ^ re in this election . This has been considered by some as a reproach . But it is a singular circumstance , that one of the greatest writers of antiquity
represents this quality as predominating among the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Italy . It is designated as ' fautrix snorum regio / to which some in modern times have
made an approach . "I should think myself culpable * Getitlemen , were I to pass overia few of the extraordinary honours that have distinguished this university in ibrtner times . It was founded by the Roman Catholic establishment—was coeval
with the artof printing—with a period when a few mechmiics , by finding out the means of inventing a new copying machine , changed m some measure the whole system of tetters , and almost of civil society . It is a curious fact , that this discovery was
made at the period of the evacuation of France by the English tro ^ This was an event that wae ejcpetetbd to work out a wonderful change On Continental politics . The other event
was hardly known . Yet , m the course of so short a period , we now find it a difficult matter to settle the precise time of their leaving France—itr is ^ 1 * ivolved . in obscurity , and interests no one . But this mechanical art has
been extending and i 0 > proving the condition of mankind—has been jper forming its part with , silence , rapidity and secuiity' * ---andv will / n © veiA p « pa | i tf& long > as man exists to b « betteflt « by tt k . -J . ' ¦ ' - - ¦¦> ;¦ ¦> ) ^ ..- - .. 'J . « :. ¦ -- - ¦ '
Untitled Article
Lord Uzctor&fthe Unwertitp ofGiasgot * . 4 $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1823, page 45, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1780/page/45/
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