ABSTRACT
The death of Maurice precipitated, though it did not cause, a crisis in the affairs of the College. For the first six years progress had been steady. The students had been earnest and devoted to their classes, in which sound work of good standard was done; the regular attendance and participation in the social life of the Common Room of Litchfield, Furnivall, Hughes, and Godfrey and Vernon Lushington had exercised a considerable influence on the students with whom they mixed; and the personality of Maurice, with his extreme tolerance and humility, had been a great unifying force among men of strong and differing persuasions. But from the mid-sixties there were signs that things were beginning to fall apart, that there were weaknesses in the College more serious than the disagreements hitherto described. The very success of the strong fellowship which had developed among the early students led to charges of cliquishness; the Volunteer Corps, while it increased the total number of members, actually hampered serious class work by bringing in men who had no real interest in study, and by drawing away some good students from their class work; financial difficulties began to beset the College through the cost of the new building extensions; many of the classes began to decline; and there were hints that some of the Founders did not come to the College as regularly as in the early days. Moreover, Maurice himself was not able to devote the time to the College which he had previously given. In 1866 he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge; and in 1869 he finally severed his connections with London by resigning his incumbency of St. Peter's, Vere Street. Realizing that he would henceforth be but an irregular attender at the College he recommended in a letter to the Council that they should appoint a Vice-Principal (an office which had not previously existed in the College), and mentioned J. S. Brewer, one of the teachers, as suitable. In October 1869 Brewer was accordingly appointed Vice-Principal.
