Page:Carroll - Notes by an Oxford Chiel.djvu/63

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HEBDOMADAL COUNCIL.
13

And thus the friends that we have tempted down
Oft take the two-o'clock Express for town[1].
This is our danger: this the secret foe
That aims at Oxford such a deadly blow.
What champion can we find to save the State,
To crush the plot? We darkly whisper 'Wait[2]!'
My scheme is this: remove the votes of all
The residents that are not Liberal[3]
Leave the young Tutors uncontrolled and free,
And Oxford then shall see—what it shall see.
What next? Why then, I say, let Convocation
Be shorn of all her powers of legislation[4].
But why stop there? Let us go boldly on—
Sweep everything beginning with a 'Con'
Into oblivion! Convocation first,
Conservatism next, and, last and worst,

  1. A case of this kind had actually occurred on the occasion of the division just alluded to.
  2. Mr. Wayte, now President of Trinity, then put forward as the Liberal candidate for election to Council.
  3. 'You and others suggest, as the only effective remedy, that the Constituency should be reformed, by the exclusion of the non-academical elements which form a main part of the strength of this party domination.'
  4. 'I confess that, having included all the really academical elements in Congregation, I would go boldly on, and put an end to the legislative functions of Convocation.'