It is not to be supposed that this great class would suffer and starve in silence.  On the contrary, they were continually proclaiming their woes; the papers were filled with letters and articles.  ’What shall we do with our boys?’ was the heading that one saw every day, somewhere or other.  What, indeed!  No one ventured to say that they had better go back to their trade; no one ventured to point out that a man might be a good cabinet-maker although he knew the Integral Calculus.  If one timidly asked what good purpose was gained by making so many scholars, that man was called Philistine, first; obstructive, next; and other stronger names afterward.  And yet no one ventured to point out that all the Professions—­and not science only, through the Universities—­might be thrown open.

Sooner or later this suggestion was certain to be made.  It appeared, first of all, in an unsigned letter addressed to one of the evening papers.  The writer of the letter was almost certainly one of the suffering class.  He began by setting forth the situation, as I have described it above, quite simply and truly.  He showed, as I have shown, that the Professions and the Services were closed to those who had no money.  And he advanced for the first time the audacious proposal that they should be thrown open to all on the simple condition of passing an examination.  ‘This examination,’ he said, ’may be made as severe as can be desired or devised.  There is no examination so severe that the students of our Polytechnics cannot face and pass it triumphantly.  Let the examination, if you will, be intended to admit none but those who have taken or can take first-class Honours.  The Poly students need not fear to face a standard even so high as this.  Why should the higher walks of life be reserved for those who have money to begin with?  Why should money stand in the way of honour?  Among the thousands of young men who have profited by the opportunities offered to them there must be some who are born to be lawyers; some who are born to be doctors; some who are born to be preachers; some who are born to be administrators.’  And so on, at length.  It was not, however, by a letter in a paper, or by the leading articles and the correspondence which followed that the suggested change was effected.  But the idea was started.  It was talked about; it grew as the pressure increased it grew more and more.  Meetings were held at which violent speeches were delivered:  the question of opening the Professions was declared of national importance; at the General Election which followed some months after the appearance of the letter, members were returned who were pledged to promote the immediate throwing open of all the Professions to all who could pass a certain examination; and the first step was taken in opening all commissions in the Army to competitive examination.

The Professions, however, remained obstinate.  Law and Medicine refused to make the least concession.  It was not until an Act of Parliament compelled them that the Inns of Court, the Law Institute, the Colleges of Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecaries consented to admit all-comers without fees and by examination alone.