To this latter suggestion the Board agreed. They were still determined that pending the completion of the proposed building, Collegiate teaching should be undertaken at once in Burnside House. But it was first necessary that the Principal give up the house. A dispute then arose between the Board and the Governors with reference to the responsibility for the repairs to the estate. More money had been expended than the Board had authorised. The Board contended that the Principal should make an allowance for rent of the house, which he had occupied for nearly two years, and they refused to pay the account submitted for the expenses incurred. The Governors declined to admit the justice of this claim. The Principal had already written to the Board in January, 1839, stating that he would "keep possession of Burnside until his full account was paid, and that he would vacate the premises when required to do so by the Governors."

The Board then agreed to pay to the Principal the whole amount claimed by him, "however liable to objection, with whatever deduction for rent he himself should agree to," if he would consent to vacate Burnside House. The Principal, in a somewhat scornful reply, declined for two reasons, first that this proposal implied the necessity of bribing him to vacate the premises; and second that by accepting it, he might be considered as selling for the settlement of his account the possession which the Governors held of the premises by reason of his occupancy. But he again stated that he would vacate the premises when ordered to do so by the Governors. The result was a protracted and bitter discussion between the two bodies, with many recriminations on both sides and more frankness than tact. The Lord Bishop of Montreal, the Rev. Dr. G. J. Mountain, who was Principal of the Royal Institution and formerly Principal of McGill, naturally interested himself personally in the discussion. On February 25th, 1839, he wrote to the Principal, saying, "I will tell you unreservedly what I think, which is that ... you are apt to give colour to the transactions in which you are engaged.... I say this without reserve because if you will receive it in good part I think it may be of use to you and save upon occasion hard constructions being put upon your proceedings.... It is very unwillingly indeed that as Principal of the Board, I have been drawn into any sort of collision with you."

To this the Principal promptly replied, accusing the Board of gross neglect and unnecessary delay. "Indeed," he said, "their zeal for the interests of the College has for some time past chiefly manifested itself in their efforts and schemes for dislodging me from Burnside and in their proceedings they seem to have adopted the favourite peroration of Cicero which may be freely translated thus, 'and Bethune must be ousted.'" He added: "I can afford to forgive the Board for any hard constructions they put upon my proceedings; they may be necessary for their own justification." To this Bishop Mountain replied: "I have had quite enough of this painful collision."

The Principal declared his intention of remaining in possession of Burnside House, and he wrote to the Board that "no precise period is fixed for my vacating the premises." The Board contended that they "desired an amicable adjustment of such differences as had unfortunately existed"; but for several years no adjustment was made. It is unnecessary to enter here into the details of the subsequent dispute between the Board and the Principal and Governors over the occupancy of Burnside House. It was but one of many unfortunate disagreements in which each side contended for what they believed to be just. The Principal's account for repairs to the property was in the end paid and in November, 1839, he vacated Burnside House. But the controversy between the two bodies did not then end.

In the summer of 1839, the Governors decided to ignore the Board and to seek direct aid from the Provincial Government. They asked for a grant of L5,000 for building purposes and L5,000 for the purchase of philosophical apparatus, furniture and books for a Library. They included also L100 a year for a Professor of Classical Literature and L100 a year for a Professor of Mathematics; L50 each for two Divinity Lecturers, one of the Anglican Church and one of the Church of Scotland; L50 each for three Medical Professors; and L50 for a Professor of Law "much wanted." They expressed their desire, if the building fund was granted, to rent Burnside House and with the proceeds therefrom to pay for a building in town for the Medical School. "The Medical Faculty," they said, "could then go into immediate operation, and all the other Professors, with the exception of the Principal, could also commence instruction at their respective residences." Apparently it was their opinion that the Medical School had not yet begun to operate as an integral part of the University. For obvious reasons the above appeal failed. The Government declined to interfere. The grant was not made and the Governors of the College turned again with reluctance to the Royal Institution.

There was likewise further difficulty in connection with the amended Charter, which the Home authorities had not yet ratified. The Board of the Royal Institution had been asked by the Governor-General for their detailed opinions and suggestions on necessary amendments. The Board was slow to answer. The delay was preventing the appointment of Professors and the growth of the College. The hands of the Governors were tied. On August 11, 1839, the Principal wrote to Sir John Colborne, the Governor-General, protesting against the continued failure to decide the issue. "When I agreed to the appointment of another Principal in my room," he said, "it was in the confident expectation that the amended Charter would have been in our possession before this period. By that Charter I should retain my office of Governor of the College even if vacated by my resignation of the Office of Principal, but as obstacles are thrown in the way of a speedy accomplishment of the wishes of the Governors in respect of the amended Charter, I feel myself constrained to retain the office of Principal until the Charter shall have been procured." He also objected on behalf of the Governors to the appointment of any Professors and to the opening of the College, except the Medical Department, until approval was given to the Charter. Possibly the fact that the amended Charter permitted the acting-Principal, after his retirement, still to be a Governor of the College as Rector of Christ Church, Montreal, influenced the Board in their disapproval of it. For the quarrel was not always above personal prejudices, to which the advancement of the College was often unfortunately sacrificed.

On August 17th, 1839, the Board at last broke their silence, and in a letter to Sir John Colborne they gave utterance to their reasons for opposition. They blamed the Governors for not having first submitted the Charter to them before sending it to the Colonial Office,—and in this they were well within their rights. They had not, they said, even seen a certified copy of the document. They now agreed, however, that the existing Charter required alteration. They suggested that all the Governors of the College should be residents of the Province, but they objected to giving the Governors power to fill vacancies as they occurred, as this would lead in the end to a clique or cabal rule which would lead to abuses in the management of the Institution. The number of Professorships should, they thought, be left unlimited, at the joint discretion of the Governors and the Board. The Governors were to be subservient in power to the Board, and all appointments were to be ratified by the Crown. There should also be permission given for the granting of Honorary degrees. The Visitatorial duties and powers of the Royal Institution should be more clearly defined. "The Board," the letter stated, "also think it important, seeing that the declared object of the Royal Charter was the promotion of true religion, that the body of the Governors should be Protestants, and they beg leave also to call the particular attention of your Excellency to the necessity of introducing some provision into the amended Charter for requiring not only the Principal, Vice-Principal and Professors, and all others engaged in the instruction of youth in the University, but also the Governors themselves before being admitted to office, to make and subscribe a declaration of their belief in the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God, and in the doctrine of the Trinity of persons in the Godhead, as held by orthodox Protestant Churches."

To the majority of these suggestions the Governors agreed. But they denied the right of the members of the Board to exercise so great a power as such suggestions, if carried out, would give them. They protested against the necessity of having appointments ratified by the Crown. There was a rapid cross-fire of correspondence to the Governor-General, in which the various suggestions were presented and answered by each of the contending parties. But into the details of this long-continued and at times bitter correspondence it is unnecessary here further to enter. Meanwhile the Charter waited.

In the autumn of 1839, the Medical School was in need of funds. They appealed to the Governors. The Governors had no money, but they voted L500, and on September 19th, they applied to the Royal Institution for a grant of that amount "in order to enable them to commence a course of Medical Instruction." The Board refused in the following letter forwarded on October 12th: "The Board resolve with regret that they cannot give sanction to this vote of the Governors, as they conceive themselves bound in the first instance to apply the means at their disposal for purposes of general instruction, and those means are so limited as to render it impossible to grant the sum demanded by the Medical Faculty without sacrificing general to one branch of professional education.... The Board are, however, fully aware of the advantages to McGill College and to the public generally which the proposed course of Medical lectures cannot fail to be attended with." They hoped at a later date "to be able to entertain the application," if the appeal for funds recently made to the Government should succeed.

Principal Bethune desired to procure a legal decision before a competent tribunal on the Board's refusal to make the above grant. The Governor of the Province was appealed to, but as he was about to leave Canada at the end of his term of office he again declined to interfere. He felt, too, with reference to a Provincial grant that he was only authorised to issue from the funds of the Province such a sum as was absolutely necessary to carry on educational work until a meeting of the Special Council could make provision for such an object and also for the voting of "a sum of money towards the erecting of McGill College." The discussion was finally closed by a resolution of the Board on the 4th of April, 1840, in which they said that in addition to having voted L8,000 for the erection of a building they had provided for the establishment of three Professorships with L300 a year for each chair, and an additional L100 for the Principal. "In these arrangements," they pointed out, "the Board did not lose sight of the necessity of subsequently providing for the instruction of students in the Medical and Legal professions, but they were clearly of opinion that in the actual state of the funds, these objects, however desirable, must be postponed for the opening of the Institution in the other branches of general education. To these arrangements the Governors offered no material objection and it was obvious that the resources at the disposal of the Board did not warrant any material increase of expenditure." With reference to the requested grant for the Medical School, they expressed surprise that such a demand should be made on their scanty and already inadequate resources, and they declared that they "would not be justified in the administration of their trust, in suffering their resources to be diminished for any object however desirable or important but that which they conscientiously judged the most desirable and important and primarily contemplated in the will of Mr. McGill,—which was the providing of collegiate education." There the discussion ended. The Medical School continued to be regarded as an independent institution, under the protection of the McGill authorities for the purpose merely of legalising their degrees. The Board had won in their contention, and the question was temporarily dropped.

In the meantime, during the brief armistice between the Governors and the Royal Institution, plans for the College building had been agreed upon and the contract had been let. The original plans had been greatly modified so that the expenditure might be in keeping with the funds available. But even with many changes the first estimate of L5,000 was soon found to have increased in fact to between L10,000 and L12,000. One of the original plans herewith reproduced, and typical of all the plans submitted, called for a large building in the form of the letter H. The two main wings looked east and west, instead of north and south as at present, and between them was a connecting structure. Rooms were provided for 100 students. The Medical building was to be separate. The College building was to have a Chapel, but it was also to have a large "cellar for beer and wine." Certain sections attached to the building were distinctly classified and designated "for Professors," "for McGill students," and "for servants and Medical students." It was found that such a building would entail too great an expense, and the plans were changed to provide two buildings, the present Central Arts Building and the present East Wing, or Administration Offices. The latter was intended to contain the Principal's apartments and rooms for Professors, and there the Principal subsequently dwelt for several years. Between the two buildings provision was made for a covered passage.



It was soon apparent that the cost of the new buildings would be greater than estimated. Before June, 1840, a sum of L2,783 had been expended and provision had to be made for the payment of a further sum of L5,000 in the following January. In order to secure this amount it was decided to advertise for sale certain lots adjoining the College site on Burnside Estate, and to procure plans for the laying out in building lots of all the land not in use. This was the beginning of the disposal of the unused part of the estate, a sacrifice which relieved the College from temporary financial embarrassment but which in later years, when real-estate increased in value, greatly depleted its revenue. The funds at this time were so low that the Governors could not pay a watchman or caretaker and the Board wrote to the Governors in October, 1840, asking, "Is any suitable person known to you who would consent to have charge of them [the buildings under construction] without remuneration, on condition of the requisite fuel being provided?" The gross annual revenue from the McGill properties vested in the Board for the support of the College was only L559. 6. 8. The Board again appealed to the Government for a grant of L5,000 to finish the building, also for "a very moderate sum to purchase the large collection of books formerly belonging to the late Mr. Fleming, the greater part of which would form a suitable foundation for a Library." This appeal was again unsuccessful.

During the summer of 1841, amidst many discouragements and financial worries, the erection of the buildings went forward. On October 21st, 1841, the Principal, who was one of the building committee, notified the Board that they were nearly ready for the reception of pupils. But their completion was for various reasons delayed several months. The Governors then decided to apply to the Legislature for a grant of L1,500 a year for current expenses and L5,000 for Philosophical Apparatus, the rudiments of a Library, and furniture; to ask also for the passing of an act repealing the Act of 1801, and vesting the McGill bequest in the Governors of the College; and to request that the Chief Justice and the Principal be authorised to communicate with the Royal Institution and to take steps to carry out this resolution. This application was again without avail, and the submitting of it was obviously not conducive to harmony and peace.

Arrangements were now completed for the sale of lots from the Burnside Estate. In all 251/2 acres were offered in small sections "as soon as Mr. Phillips' consent could be obtained to give one-half of the ground required for a proposed street," and negotiations were entered into for the leasing of any of the land left unsold. The Governors demanded that the Royal Institution should transfer to them the entire property, but the Board refused, claiming that they were prohibited from so doing by the terms of the will.

The Governors then devised an ingenious scheme to secure possession of the premises. The Principal proposed to the Board in May, 1842, that they lease the estate to the Governors for a period of 99 years. This the Board refused to do. They had obviously no desire to allow the Governors to get control. An endeavour to secure a lease was then made by a Mr. Pelton, and his application was recommended by the Principal. The Board replied that there were legal and insuperable objections to the granting of such a request and that they had no power under the law to give a lease for a longer period than 21 years. They agreed to give Pelton a lease for that period, and they guaranteed "that the same shall be renewed for each subsequent term until the whole period of 99 years shall be accomplished." The lease seems to have been actually entered into, but because of difficulty over the security offered, combined with legal obstacles, it was cancelled soon afterwards. It transpired later that Pelton was merely the agent of the Governors and that in order to secure possession of the property, they had engaged him to act on their behalf, on the understanding that he was to transfer the lease to them when he received it.

Of the Governors' connection with this plan the Board was obviously not aware at the time. The details were frankly and clearly outlined in an interesting letter written by acting-Principal Bethune to the Hon. R. A. Tucker, Principal of the Royal Institution, on November 4th, 1845, when Pelton tried without success to establish a claim to some of the property. Extracts from this letter give further indication of the bitterness and hopelessness of the controversy:

"After the sale of the 99 years' lease had been advertised, it occurred to me that a good opportunity was thereby afforded to the Governors of the College for getting the management of the property into their own hands, by purchasing the lease. I need hardly say that the difficulties which had occurred between the late Board of the Royal Institution and the Governors of the College with regard to the right of possession naturally led to such a desire. Being the only Governor then resident in Montreal, and His Excellency, the late Sir Charles Bagot, having left the management with reference to that sale to me, I took upon myself the responsibility of making the purchase for the Governors;—but I felt convinced that if I did so in my own name, the Board of the Royal Institution would throw difficulties in the way. I therefore employed Mr. Pelton to purchase the property for me, and he did so on the perfect understanding that the property should, in the first instance, be conveyed to him, and afterwards by him to me, as he supposed, but really to 'the Governors, Principal and Fellows of McGill College.' In that transaction therefore Mr. Pelton acted as my agent; and continued to do so, placing only such tenants on Burnside as were approved by me, and collecting the rents for and paying them to me until the 1st May, 1844, after which he refused to continue to pay them to me. Immediately after the adjudication of the property, a correspondence took place with the Royal Institution about security for the payment of the rents, before it was discovered that a 99 years' lease could not be granted, and Mr. Pelton took upon himself without consulting me to offer security, which he said was accepted by the Board; and then, knowing that I had not offered any security, proposed to me to let him be the bona fide purchaser; but I refused, saying that I supposed the same person who was willing to be security for him would also be security for me. It was immediately after this discovered that the Royal Institution could not grant a lease for a longer period than 21 years, and the whole affair was considered by me as at an end, that is, that it was no sale, because the Royal Institution could not be expected to do that which they had no legal authority to do...." The lease was subsequently cancelled, and it was shown that Pelton had no legal claim upon the property.

When the College buildings were nearing completion, towards the end of 1842, the Board prepared the necessary documents for the transfer of the Burnside Estate to the possession of the Governors of the College. But they took care to safeguard their own powers. They retained the right to inquire from time to time into the management and administration of the University, to remove officers of the College for misconduct, to examine into the compliance of the Governors with the Charter, and to establish statutes and by-laws for the government of the College. In short, the Governors, although they were at last to obtain possession of the property, were still to be subservient to the Board.

This was naturally not satisfactory to the Governors. In accordance with the resolution passed on August 8th, 1842, they drew up a bill the object of which was "to abolish the Royal Institution, and to provide for the better government of McGill College." It stipulated that all the monies, goods and chattels of which the Royal Institution was possessed under the will of James McGill should be vested in the Government of the University. The Principal went to Kingston to endeavour to have the bill passed during the following session of Parliament but the abrupt ending of the session prevented even its introduction. He went to Kingston again in 1843, but he was frustrated by a similar cause. Against the bill the Board emphatically protested. They declared it to be an attempt to overthrow the plainly expressed intentions and directions of the testator, and an action "as unexampled in the history of British legislation as it is contrary to the first principles of law, justice and reason." They stated further that "they have executed the intentions of the testator diligently, faithfully and efficiently, so far as they have not been obstructed in doing so by the acts of those whose duty it was to have facilitated their proceedings." The bill was not passed. It helped only to shatter whatever hopes may have existed for the ending of the quarrel between the Governors and the Board as then constituted. It made it plain that there was now no possibility of an amicable agreement.

In the spring of 1843, the buildings were completed as far as the funds available would permit. Because of lack of money, the Board did not feel justified in making any outlay on the College grounds. Meanwhile, however, they had increased the value of the estate by giving to the City of Montreal the continuation lines of Dorchester and St. Catherine Streets on condition that the additional fences required on opening these streets should be erected at the expense of the city.

In June, 1843, it was decided to open the buildings for the reception of students in the first week of the following September. To this the Board and the Governors, strangely enough, agreed, but the agreement was only momentary. The Board asked the Governors for an estimate of the amount required for furniture for the buildings. The Governors refused to make an estimate. They were unable, they said, to do so; they desired a covering grant of L500 to buy what they needed. The Board suggested with some touch of sarcasm that they should get "a carpenter or a tradesman" to make an estimate if they could not make it themselves, but the Governors again declined. The Board contended that they could not make a grant unless they previously knew precisely the details of the proposed expenditure; and the Governors answered that they would borrow L500 if the Royal Institution would not give it to them. The Board then asked for an accounting of the money "already received and expended by the Principal in connection with the rents and products of the Burnside Estate." The Secretary was instructed to reply that no account would be submitted as the Governors felt that any money so received was but a very small remuneration for services rendered by the Principal. To this the Board rejoined with bitterness that the Principal had not been regularly appointed, that he had done no duty as Professor, that they had never authorised his taking possession of Burnside and that the products from the farm should provide for him more than a sufficient remuneration; they were determined, they said, to pay no salaries unless accounts were rendered to them and approved. Such, at this critical period, was the co-operation arising from a dual control!

On June 21st, the opening of the College in the autumn was approved by the Governor General. The Rev. F. J. Lundy (a graduate of Oxford) had been appointed Professor of Classical Literature in November, 1842. He had received, with the Principal, one of the first D.C.L. degrees conferred by McGill in the spring of 1843. In addition to his duties as Professor he was now appointed Secretary of the College, and was later made Vice-Principal. His appointment to the Faculty of Arts was not ratified at once by the Board of the Royal Institution, and they intimated that they would not pay his salary. The Governors voted L300 a year and fuel for a Professor of Mathematics. As a result of the Board's contention that the Principal had not been regularly appointed, a commission or warrant of appointment was issued by the Governors on July 12th, and on the following day the Principal was appointed to be also Professor of Divinity, at a salary of L250, "as soon as funds derived from the property shall admit of it." A Bursar, Secretary and Registrar was appointed at a salary of L100 a year and fees, to be later sanctioned, and a Beadle was selected at L30 a year and fees and board.

A Code of Statutes, Rules and Regulations for the government of the College was now prepared by the Governors. Without the approval of the Board it was forwarded to the Governor-General for submission to the Crown for ratification. Six years passed before these Statutes, with slight alterations, received Royal sanction, with the result that the College opened without definite rules for its guidance. The reasons for this delay will be outlined elsewhere. It is only necessary to mention here that the first difficulty in connection with the Statutes arose from requirements connected with religious instruction in the University. Two of these, which were later disallowed by Her Majesty's Government, provided first, that "no Professor, Lecturer or Tutor shall teach in the College any principles contrary to the doctrines of the United Church of England and Ireland," and second, that "on every Sunday during the term, all the resident members of the University under the degree of B.C.L. who have not obtained a dispensation to the contrary, shall attend the morning service in the Protestant Episcopal Parish Church of Montreal." It was also stipulated that "the prayers in the College Chapel shall be said in rotation by such officers of the College as shall be in Holy Orders of the United Church of England and Ireland." These provisions, together with the fact that the acting-Principal, who was also Rector of Christ Church, had just been appointed Professor of Divinity, gave rise to critical discussion, and made Lord Metcalfe, the Governor-General, pause before advising the Colonial Office to obtain the Royal ratification of the Statutes. He wrote to Lord Stanley, "The main point involved in these questions is whether the Religious Instruction to be given at McGill College shall be exclusively that of the Church of England....

"The grounds on which the Governors have adopted the affirmative of the proposition, and appointed a Divinity Professor of the Church of England, are ably stated in their letter to me. On the other hand, there are strenuous remonstrances against this arrangement on the part of the Ministers of the other Protestant persuasions in the Province, and a strong feeling against it in the community; and the design manifested to connect the Institution, in that respect, exclusively with the Church of England will most probably deprive it of that support from the Provincial Legislature without which it will necessarily be crippled. The opinions on this subject, understood to be prevalent in the Province, are likely to lead to discussions in the Legislature; and it may become necessary to modify the Institution so as to make it more suitable to public expectation and general utility. If, therefore, it rested with me to determine on this reference, I should be disposed, either to disallow the Professorship of Divinity, or to suspend the decision until it could be seen that the Institution can stand on the footing on which the Governors have placed it.

"I am, by the Charter, a Governor of the Institution, but have not acted in that capacity; at first, simply because more urgent business prevented my going to Montreal to take a part in the proceedings of the Governors; but subsequently, on reflection, for the following reasons:—I doubt the expediency of the Governor-General's taking a part as one of the Governors of an Institution in which he may be overruled by a majority, and apparently sanction measures which he disapproves. The perusal of the correspondence between the Governors of the College and the Royal Institution of Quebec satisfied me that I ought not to place myself in a position which would render me liable to become a party concerned in such a correspondence, and subject to the assumed authority and control of another Institution. The Income of the Institution having become a bone of contention between the Church of England and the other Protestant Churches, it appears to me to be right that I should perform my part as Governor-General without being embarrassed by proceedings to which I might be a party as a Governor of the College."

The action of the Governor-General was approved by Lord Stanley and consideration of the Statutes was consequently postponed.

In shaping the policy of the University the place of religious instruction and theological training received earnest consideration. On the necessity of including it in the College curriculum the Governors of the College and the Board of the Royal Institution agreed, but they differed on the nature of the instruction and on the theological creed which should dominate or dictate such teaching. It was recognised as a vexed question. The Governors attempted to explain and justify their attitude of alleged religious "exclusiveness" referred to above in Lord Metcalfe's despatch, and to give reasons for the Statutes already mentioned. The following extracts from a long and somewhat laboured letter forwarded by the Governors to Lord Metcalfe on July 15, 1843, are of interest. The arguments advanced in the letter and the frequent "begging of the question" need no comment. The Governors still pleaded for a Provincial grant, but they wished part, at least, of that public grant devoted to one exclusive form of theological teaching, and they were not averse to giving to the entire University a distinctively sectarian character.

"Another reason which compels us," they said, "to commence on a scale so limited, is the scantiness of our means. At present, the resources of the College, arising from the property bequeathed by the founder, supply only an annual income of L560 Provincial currency, and that not clear of deductions. The Legislature has occasionally appropriated L500 annually, in aid of these funds, and though we trust there can be no danger of this assistance being withdrawn, after the College shall have begun to be more extensively useful to the Province, yet, it is incumbent on us, to consider that even this small aid is not permanently assured to the University, and that to enable us to go beyond what we have now proposed, it will be necessary that the funds should be very considerably increased.... To meet the exigency of the present moment, we earnestly hope that the liberal suggestion, in which the late Governor-General concurred, will be acted upon with effect by Your Excellency and the Legislature, and with as little delay as may be consistent with the unspeakable importance of the object to be obtained. In Lower Canada, which is supposed to contain a population of not less than 800,000 souls, there is at present (except in regard to the Medical Faculty) no seat of Learning, either Catholic or Protestant, in which a Degree can be conferred in any Art or Science. This is a defect which, we believe, has not existed since the era of civilisation among so large a community of British subjects, and we very anxiously hope that from this moment no time may be lost in establishing McGill College upon such a footing as may command the confidence of the country, and enable the Institution, though indeed too tardily, to answer the purposes contemplated by its munificent founder.... There is one point (and it is the last) upon which, from the interest naturally and properly attached to it, we are aware much discussion may arise, and upon which, from its paramount importance, we desire, above all things, to be open and explicit.

"It will be found, on examination of the Statutes now submitted, that no test of a religious character is requisite, either from the Teachers or Scholars. Persons of any religious creed may, therefore, dispense instruction or receive it, except as regards religion itself, the College being equally open to all. But it will be found also that it is proposed to be distinctly made a Statute of the College, that no Professor, Lecturer or Tutor shall teach within it any principles contrary to the doctrines of the United Church of England and Ireland.

"We have not been able to bring ourselves to take part in the establishment of an Institution for the education of youth without making provisions for their Religious Instruction, and for inculcating as a duty the worship of their Creator. We have therefore made certain Statutes respecting the performance of, and attendance at, Divine Service, and we have established, so far as our power extends, a Professorship of Divinity in our College.

"Taking these provisions in connection with the Statutes which enjoins that nothing contrary to the doctrines of the United Church of England and Ireland shall be taught within the College, it follows obviously (and this we wish to be plainly understood) that the Divine Service to be performed, and the Professorship of Divinity to be established, will be of the Church of England, and of no other. But we have been careful at the same time to exempt from any necessity of attending Divine Service, or of being present at the Lectures on Divinity, all such Scholars, being members of other Religious Communities, as may desire a dispensation.

"Knowing the diversity of opinions entertained respecting the footing on which religious instruction should be placed in Seats of Learning, and how futile have been the efforts made to reconcile them, we came to the consideration of this subject with a dire sense of its difficulty, and with much anxiety that we should ourselves arrive at the soundest and best conclusion, and that our conclusion may, for the sake of the Institution and of the Province, be sanctioned by that authority to which under the Statutes it must be submitted. We offer no further arguments for the propriety of not leaving religious instruction and public worship unattended to, or inadequately provided for, in a College which is destined to conduct in a Christian country the education of youth at a period of life when they are most exposed to temptations, and when, if ever, the attempt should be made to furnish them with the highest and most sacred motives to the discharge of their religious and moral duties.

"We do not believe that there is, rationally speaking, a choice between the two alternatives, of omitting wholly to establish any system of religious instruction and public worship in the College, or of providing for it by placing the Institution in strict and acknowledged connection with some one recognised Church or form of doctrine. Not assenting to the former course, we have unanimously agreed on the latter, and we have in favour of the course we have adopted the examples of the Universities of the Mother Country, which have been for ages looked up to with undiminished confidence and respect. We have also in its support the acknowledged favour of an experiment made in England under many advantages to recommend it to public favour, an University established on other principles; and we have, in addition to this, the very strong arguments to be derived from the well supported and most useful Institutions of learning established in Lower Canada in strict connection with the Roman Catholic Church, and from the efforts made by the Roman Catholics, the Church of Scotland, and the Methodist Society to found Colleges in Upper Canada as closely connected with their respective religious bodies,—Colleges in which there is not only nothing taught contrary to their respective Creeds, but in which the whole government and business of the Institution is carefully confined to those who profess the one form of Doctrine.

"We have considered, too, that while these Religious Bodies, comprising together the great bulk of the population, have given this strong and plain evidence of their conviction that this system is the soundest, they have not thought it unreasonable to solicit the aid and countenance of the Government and the Legislature towards the establishment of such Colleges, and have not found their solicitations hopeless. So far as regards our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, who form a great majority of the population in this portion of Canada, we do not apprehend that we shall be offending any prejudices of theirs, for we believe they would be as unwilling to throw impediments in the way of Institutions of Learning not intended to belong exclusively to their Church, as they would be reluctant to admit the interference of others in the management of their own valuable Seminaries where the exclusive maintenance of one form of doctrine and worship tends to secure in all respects the advantages of unity and peace.

"It then only remains, in the view which we have taken on the subject, that we should state shortly the reasons which have led us, where we thought a connection with some one Church should be established and acknowledged, to make that Church the Church of England.

"They are these:—1st. The founder, Mr. McGill, is silent in his will upon the subject of religion, and gave no direction to which these Statutes will be repugnant. He was himself a member of the Church of England, in communion with that Church. We do not feel at liberty to imagine that he desired religious instruction to be excluded, and we think it reasonable to believe that in selecting some Church whose ministration should be recognised in the College which he intended to found, he would naturally have desired the choice to fall on that Church of which he was a member.

"2nd. The Charter which appoints us to be Governors declares that His Majesty desired the erection of this University in order to provide for the instruction of youth in the principles of true religion, as well as in the different branches of Science and Literature; and whatever may be the honest convictions of opposing Churches and Sects, we think it right to assume that when the Sovereign speaks of the principles of true religion, he means that which is the prevailing National Religion of the British Empire, and which he must himself have solemnly professed. We consider, therefore, that in placing McGill College on the footing proposed, we have taken the only course which we could satisfactorily account for, whatever may be the opinions or acts of others, whom it does not rest with us to control.

"3rd. While other religious communities have their separate Colleges closely connected with their form of doctrine and worship and partaking of public support, there is none in the Province of Canada which is bound by plain and acknowledged ties to the Church of England. We have felt it not to be unjust or illiberal to allow to the members of that Church this advantage so desirable to themselves in an Institution founded by the munificence of one of their communion while the youth of all other religious bodies may, in the discretion of themselves and their parents, resort to it for instruction in the several branches of Science, with the assurance that no attempt will be suffered to be made to bias their religious belief; and with the satisfaction at the same time of knowing, that whenever instruction in Religion may be desired, it cannot be uncertain in what form it will be conveyed.

"We hope that our fellow-subjects of all persuasions will view, without jealousy or alarm, the provisions which we have proposed to make on this subject, and that they will carry their liberality so far as to give efficient aid to an Institution, founded, as we believe, on the only principles of which reason and religion can approve,—namely, the principle of giving it a known and acknowledged religious character. At all events, we have not refrained from adopting that course which our judgment has led us to prefer; we have had no difficulty in resting in the conclusion which we have come to, and no difference of opinion among ourselves. It now rests with Her Majesty to dispose of these measures, which we humbly submit to the Royal consideration."

Her Majesty's Government, however, on the advice of the Governor-General, ultimately withheld their assent from the controversial clauses referred to.

Before the College was opened the Governors made a final effort to curtail the powers of the Board of the Royal Institution. They considered that with the erection of College buildings the duties of the Board in connection with the McGill bequest were at an end and that with any other buildings which might later be erected the Board was not concerned. They wrote to the Royal Institution and to the Governor-General setting forth their views. "If the Board's power is what is stated and assumed," they said, "it will not be possible for the Governors to attain the object of the Charter." They deplored the spirit in which the authority of the Board had been exercised. They assumed that James McGill intended his bequest to be administered by the Board only until buildings were erected and a Charter granted to a Corporate body, for the Board's control was primarily over grants from the Crown and not from private individuals. The Board had now, therefore, no legal existence, for the objects for which it had been created were gone. It was clearly apparent, in their judgment, that when he gave control of his bequest to the Board, James McGill thought public funds would be added to his gift; this, they believed, was proved by the stipulation of "ten years" after his death as the required term for the erection of the College; hence he had given his bequest to the Board simply and solely because they controlled public funds given for education. But practically no public funds had been regularly given; hence the Board's control automatically ceased.

It is unnecessary to follow here the Governors' subtle reasoning. They seem to have forgotten the Provincial funds granted from the Jesuits' Estates, and to be unmindful of the fact that they were at that very moment still pleading for a Provincial grant, as indicated in the letter quoted above. They justly emphasised, however, the necessity of providing a convenient power of management within the College itself and the ending of the dual control. It was absurd, they rightly contended, that every cent expended for a piece of stove pipe or a chair should be first approved by the Board. The Governors resented, too, the visitatorial power of the Royal Institution. "In what spirit," they asked, "and for what purpose do they carry out the right of visitation?" Such power was useful, they declared, only for the purpose of interposing in the minutest details of the management of McGill College, although a Corporation and a board of Governors existed for that purpose; the Royal Institution, in short, was, in its connection with McGill, nothing more than "a source of interference and impediment," and the Governors asked that the Legislature should investigate the whole situation with a view to remedying it. This appeal, like the others, failed to make any impression on the authorities, and the causes of friction were not removed.

In this atmosphere of discord and dissension and disputed powers the College buildings were opened on September 6th, 1843, and collegiate instruction was at last commenced in accordance with the founder's bequest. Twenty-two years had passed since the College had been established by Charter, and fourteen years had gone since its actual opening. They were years of doubt and uncertainty, of protracted litigation and differences, even of virulent wrangling and bitter strife. But amidst it all and in the face of all its obstacles, the College had gone slowly but steadily forward. Its sign-posts had pointed onward. Reading to-day the troubled pages of its early story revealed in a mass of musty documents written by hands long since folded, or dictated by voices long since stilled,—which then helped to shape its destiny,—we wonder how it survived. The explanation lies in the fact that the men who guided it, whether of Governors or of Royal Institution, were men of unfaltering faith; they believed in the future of McGill; amidst their disagreements and their controversies, they never lost sight of the founder's hope although their ways for the fulfilment of that hope lay often painfully apart. From the struggles of its early years McGill now emerged to be an established fact. The first of its buildings, the present Arts or Centre Building, had been erected and opened. The College had at last an actual home. But the days of its travail and its worry, its poverty and its depression, its fight for life itself, had not yet passed.



CHAPTER VI

THE COLLEGE IN THE FIRST MCGILL BUILDINGS

The original College buildings were opened for the reception and instruction of students on September 6th, 1843. Only twenty regular students were in attendance during the first session, seventeen of whom took the Classical course and three the Mathematical course. Steps were at once taken to provide an adequate collegiate education as called for in the founder's will, and to organise the teaching and administration on as extensive and sound a basis as the available funds would permit. A few books and some scanty school equipment were received from the Normal School recently closed. The fees of students were fixed at L5 a year, of which L1 13s. 4d. was assigned to the Senior Professor as his portion, 6s. 8d. to the Bursar, and the remaining L3 to the "House Fund." In addition, each student paid to the Registrar who was also Secretary and Bursar, a matriculation fee of 10 shillings which that official was allowed to keep for his own use. The fees were reduced a few months later to L3, of which the House Fund received L2 13s. 4d., and the Bursar 6s. 8d. Students under fourteen years of age and over eighteen were not allowed to matriculate into the ordinary classes except in very exceptional cases. The matriculation examination was at first mainly in Latin and Greek Grammar and the 1st Book of Caesar's Commentaries. Students who failed to pass this examination were allowed to enter the College and were formed into a separate class. They paid an additional entrance fee of 10 shillings and an annual fee of L2, for which they were not to expect the attention given to other students. Students over eighteen were permitted to enter as "Fellow Commoners," and were allowed the special privilege of dining at "the high table." They paid a double matriculation fee, and their ordinary fee was twenty-five per cent higher than that of other students. For a brief time only there was a common dining-room, but because of financial storm and stress and the necessity for additional room this was in the end abandoned and the students boarded with the professors who had rooms in the College. Indeed, the willingness to accept students as boarders seems, in some cases at least, to have been a condition of appointment, and little choice in the matter was left to the professor. It was decided that all examinations for degrees should be held "within the walls of the College in the presence of all the officers of the University and College," and that every candidate for a medical degree "must forward his inaugural dissertation to the Principal before the last day of March."

Soon after the opening of the building, Principal Bethune and the Governors looked about for additional professors or instructors or tutors. In negotiating with prospective tutors it was pointed out that "no gentleman would be elected to a Tutorship who was not able to translate fluently the works of Horace, Xenophon, and Herodotus, together with the other Classical authors of that stamp; and that an examination of all candidates would be held." One candidate inquired about rooms in the College for himself and his wife, but the Vice-Principal replied, "I must inform you that there will be no accommodation for your wife in the College at present, but that you will yourself be expected to reside within the College. The Tutor is not allowed his board during the long vacation." In February, 1844, William Wickes, M.A., a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. He was promised L20 to defray his travelling expenses "as soon as it can be paid." Mr. E. Chapman was appointed Tutor, at a salary of L100 a year payable, it was hoped, from students' fees, and his board and lodging; and the Rev. Dr. Fallon was appointed Lecturer in Divinity.

Because of the shortage of funds it was decided that no further appointments could then be made and that only absolutely necessary expenses should be incurred. A valuable lot of scientific instruments, which would be of use in the Natural Philosophy classes, was offered to the College "for L70 if paid in six months, or L81 4s. 6d. if paid after that time." The Secretary replied that "they would take the instruments but they could not name any period of payment." The Governors were sorely pinched for funds during this first year, and the anxieties of poverty pressed hard upon the College authorities. In January, 1844, the Governors made a formal demand for the payment of expenses incurred by them amounting to L1,736, and also for the payment of all monies in the Board's possession. The Board had but little money at their disposal and they refused to grant the Governors' request. The gross annual income was then scarcely more than L500, while the salaries and fixed charges amounted annually to L730. The Board accused the Governors of having made "wasteful and extravagant expenditures without precedent or principle," some of which did not appear to have any connection with the opening or the carrying on of McGill; many of these, they said, were wholly unnecessary, and had never been authorised by the Board, whose consent had not even been asked. The expenditures for contingencies alone, it was pointed out, amounted in five months to more than the total income of three years. "It is obvious," the Secretary added, "that the Governors and the Board entertain views entirely opposite as to the nature of the trust committed to the Board and to the duties which that trust imposes.... There can be no proper understanding between the Board and the Governors until it can be authoritatively settled which view of the duties and the functions of the Board is right according to law. The Board has no desire to retain funds to which they have no right." In November, 1844, application was accordingly made to the Law Offices of the Crown for a decision, but as usual the decision was slow in coming. But pending the decision the Board agreed to liquidate the legal debts as far as they were able and they did so to the extent of L1,550. By so doing the Board reluctantly sacrificed a part of the capital of the trust and thereby diminished by L90 the annual income, which was already insufficient. But this payment was only a temporary relief; the debt was in reality over L2,500; other and larger accounts remained unpaid, and liabilities continued to increase.

In May, 1844, in order to make the academic management of the College more democratic, the Governors made provision for the formation of a College Board which should hold weekly meetings. As early as 1841 the Board of the Royal Institution had recommended the formation of a College Council "for the ordinary exercise of discipline," consisting of the Principal, the Vice-Principal and Professors, the Rector of Christ Church, Montreal, and the Minister of the Church of Scotland, Montreal. This recommendation was not considered, pending the actual opening of the College buildings. The College Board now formed consisted of "the Principal, the Vice-Principal, Professors, and (until the whole number of Professors in the University be increased to six) the Lecturers in the Faculties in Divinity and the Arts, not under the degree of M.A., and of the person holding the office of Secretary, Registrar and Bursar, provided he shall be a graduate of some University in the British Dominions and not under the degree of M.A." This Board was called "the Caput"; two of the members, with the Principal or Vice-Principal, constituted a quorum. Its duty was to frame rules and regulations for the discipline and internal government of Lecturers, students and "inferior officers" of the College, to supervise the system of living within the College, and to consider applications for degrees, except honorary degrees. It had no jurisdiction over the Medical School.

The period that followed was a period of critical wrestling with financial troubles. The College was suffering from lack of funds. Part of the cost of the erection of the buildings was yet unpaid. An action was instituted against the Governors on account of the College furniture, the payment for which was long in arrears. Tradesmen and workmen were pressing for a settlement of their bills, and lawyers' letters threatening suits were daily coming in. The salaries of Professors were not paid, and in January, 1845, only L250 was given by the Board to pay the combined yearly salaries of Professors, Tutors and Bursar. The Vice-Principal's allowance of fuel for the entire year was reduced to "30 cords of maple wood and 2 chaldrons of coal." Frequently appeals were made to the Home Government for assistance, but the authorities disagreed in their opinions on the actual state of the College. They had little first-hand knowledge of the facts, and their attitude was one of indifference or at least delay. Lord Stanley wrote from the Colonial Office: "I cannot but regret that the circumstances of this Institution should have hitherto prevented the Province from deriving the benefit which its founder contemplated; and as the chief obstacle at present consists in the want of funds, I am of opinion that measures should be taken to procure the requisite assistance from the Legislature." On the other hand, Lord Metcalfe, the Governor-General, replied, "The financial prospects of the Institution appear to be more promising than was formerly anticipated." There the matter for the time ended, and while the authorities waited and differed, the future existence of the College was in grave doubt.

It was apparent, too, that internal dissension was growing within the College itself. Charges in connection with the administration and with the Principal's management were laid before the Royal Institution by the Vice-Principal, who seems to have had the support of certain other College officers, including Professor Wickes, and the Tutor, Chapman. As a result of these charges, combined with the hopeless financial situation in which the College was floundering, the Board of the Royal Institution determined to exercise their visitatorial power and to make an investigation. They would examine the entire working of the College, its discipline, its administration and also the methods of collecting and expending the rents and profits of the Estate of which no adequate accounting had for some time been received. The visitation was made on the 13th and 14th of November, 1844, and the meetings, not always peaceful, were held in the council-room of the College. The Visitors found that there were five Professors or Instructors, while only nine students were enrolled in the college, that there was a lack of harmony among the College officers, "some of whom were not on speaking terms with each other," and that the outlook was not promising.

The following official report was forwarded to Lord Metcalfe, the Governor-General, by the Lord Bishop of Montreal, the Rev. Dr. Mountain, Principal of the Royal Institution, on December 11th, 1844:

"The Board of the Royal Institution, at the request of Professor Lundy, Vice-Principal of McGill College, and in consequence of a variety of circumstances leading them to believe such a step expedient and necessary, met at Montreal on the 14th November, and, as Visitors of McGill College under the Royal Charter, entered into an examination of the whole affairs of that Institution.

"The general result of their investigation they are now desirous to lay before Your Excellency, both because it is to Your Excellency's interposition that the Board look for obtaining certain important measures, which appear to them indispensable to the prosperity of the College of which they are Visitors and Trustees.

"When the visitation of McGill College took place the Visitors found in it nine students (fewer by half than at the same period last year, and these, with one or two exceptions, boys) under the tuition of a Principal, who is also Professor of Divinity, a Lecturer on Divinity, a Vice-Principal, who is also Professor of Classical Literature, a Professor of Mathematics, and a Classical Tutor; the establishment having also the services of a Bursar, a Beadle and others. The regular expenditure for the College Establishment in salaries and contingent charges is two-fold of the income applicable to it; and the Governors have contracted a debt of L1,550 in opening the College, the various items of which expenditure appeared to the Board to be on a scale of extravagance and wastefulness entirely unsuitable to the pecuniary resources of the Institution. There is a great want of cordiality and harmony among the Professors and Officers of the College; some not even speaking to others. There are no Statutes in operation which are binding in Law.

"The Principal refused to acknowledge the authority of the Visitors, or to furnish them with any information. The united testimony of the College Officers induces the Board to believe that one main reason of the College having received so little support is that the acting-Principal does not enjoy that confidence on the part of the public of which an individual, standing in his position, ought to be possessed....

"The Board also had the testimony of the College Officers that the inefficiency and unpopularity of the College are also, in part, owing to the general want of confidence, rightly or wrongly entertained, in the Vice-Principal, Professor Lundy.

"The Bursar is the Rev. Mr. Abbott, who has a Salary of L100 a year, and is permitted to do his duty by Deputy. He does not, he says, understand accounts; nor do those of his Deputy appear to be regularly and correctly kept.

"There are only two Governors resident in Montreal—the Chief Justice of the District, and Dr. Bethune, who is a Governor in consequence of his holding the interim appointment of Principal. The other Governors, who occasionally act, are the Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and the Bishop of Montreal, both too distant from the College to take much part in the management of its affairs, and the latter having only very recently a title to do so. The Chief Justice of Montreal is unwilling, as a Roman Catholic, to interfere more than he can avoid in the government of a Protestant Institution; and the practical result of this state of things in the governing body is to throw almost the whole management of the Institution into the hands of Dr. Bethune, the acting-Principal. Both the resident Governors resisted the authority of the Visitors, and refused to co-operate with them.

"Between the Governors and the Board of the Royal Institution certain differences do also exist in respect of the possession of the funds of the College, now held in trust by the Board. The Governors are of opinion that such funds should be unreservedly handed over to them. The Royal Institution, acting on the opinion of eminent Counsel, and holding that in this course they are supported by manifest expediency, as well as Law, decline to make such transfer. The knowledge of the Public that such differences exist is also stated as one ground of the want of public confidence in the Institution.

"A more full and accurate account of the whole investigation, contained in the Minutes of the Board, is herewith respectfully submitted for Your Excellency's information; but such, we have to state to Your Excellency, is generally the disorderly and inefficient state of an Institution from which the public looked, and were justly entitled to look, for great benefits.

"The remedy for existing evils is, it appears to the Board of Visitors, to be sought in various quarters. In part, it rests with the Board itself to apply a remedy; and, in so far, they are prepared to act without delay.

"The differences between the Board and the Governors may be settled by an amicable suit in a Court of Law; or by the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown. The Board have repeatedly expressed to the Governors their desire to have the matter so decided.

"And the debts of the Institution the Board are also prepared to liquidate, though in doing so they must of necessity trench deeply on the capital in their possession.

"And the changes of the Institution itself, which the Board consider necessary, and which it is more immediately the province of the Governors to effect, are these:

"1st. To obtain the services of an able and efficient Principal, possessing the public confidence, who should reside in the College, and take an active part in the education of the students.

"2ndly. To dispense with the Office of Vice-Principal altogether, which, in that case, would be unnecessary, and to confine Professor Lundy's duties entirely to the work of Classical Instruction.

"3rdly. To dispense with the Office of Bursar, and require the nowise onerous duties thereof to be performed by some of the Resident Officers of the College.

"4thly. To dispense with the services of a Classical Tutor till the attendance of students render them necessary, which, at present, is manifestly not the case.

"Preparatory, however, to these changes, and without which, indeed, they cannot be carried into effect, there needs, the Board would humbly represent, an interposition of Her Majesty's Government for the removal of the present Principal, and for an addition to the number of Governors resident in Montreal.

"The Board of Visitors believe they are by Law entitled to remove the Principal from his Office on the sole ground of his contumacy in refusing to appear before them; and they have restrained from depriving him of his Office by their own authority, simply by a consideration of the still greater disorder which must have been the result of the College.

"The Board of Visitors would, however, represent to Your Excellency that, in their judgment, such removal is indispensable to the well-being of the College; and that as Dr. Bethune was never appointed, except temporarily, and his appointment has never received the necessary sanction of Her Majesty's Government; if that sanction were refused, the office would be forthwith vacant, and it would be competent for the Governors to appoint an able and efficient Principal in his stead.

"Even such removal, however, would serve but little purpose, greatly as the Board believe it would contribute to restore public confidence, unless an addition were made to the number of Governors resident in Montreal. If three or four enlightened and intelligent men were united in the government of this institution, who, from their residence in Montreal, could give a fair share of their attention to its interests, the most beneficial consequences might be expected; and the public confidence would be greater if, in the selection of these Governors, regard should be had to different Protestant bodies in the Provinces, none of which (except by such limitation as may be conceived to be included in the words 'sound religion') are, by any Clause, either of Mr. McGill's will, or of the Royal Charter, excluded from the Offices, Honours, or Benefits of the College.

"May it therefore please Your Excellency to use your influence with Her Majesty's Government to refuse to sanction Dr. Bethune's appointment, and to give, as speedily as possible, a Supplementary Charter, making an addition to the number of resident Governors in Montreal. The Board are persuaded that the result of such action on the part of Her Majesty's Government would be to rescue the College from its present disorderly and inefficient state, and to render it, according to the intentions of the benevolent founder, a public benefit."

Against the justice of this report the Governors entered a vigorous and emphatic protest. They denied the right of the Royal Institution as Visitors to investigate College conditions. They contended that McGill University was a private foundation, and as such might only be "visited by the legal representatives of James McGill and not by the Sovereign Lady the Queen, her heirs or successors, or by any person or body appointed by the Crown as supposed and assumed in the Royal Charter incorporating the College." As the Statutes had not yet been approved, they forwarded at the same time a resolution to the Colonial Office declaring that "the College being a private foundation has the undoubted right and power as such to make its own Statutes, Rules, etc.," and that they would therefore no longer wait for the Royal sanction. They also made representations to the Legislative Assembly asking support for their contention that "the provision of the Charter by which the right of the Crown is reserved to disallow the appointments made by the Governors is an assumption of power inconsistent with the very nature of the Foundation and is absolutely null and void in Law." They sought legal means for obtaining from the Royal Institution all rights and titles to the properties and monies in their possession belonging to McGill University. Their main argument was that the University was a "private institution." But their protests were of no avail.

The Governors then summarily dismissed the Vice-Principal and Professor of Classics, the Rev. F. J. Lundy, mainly because of the allegations he had made before the Royal Institution. His dismissal caused further trouble, not, however, without its lighter side. Dr. Lundy appealed to the Royal Institution from the Governors' decision. In his petition he suggested that the Governors who dismissed him were not a representative body and that their action was illegal. He stated that "the Chief Justice of Montreal and the Rev. John Bethune, two of the Governors of McGill College, did proceed to hold a special meeting in the parlor of the residence of the Chief Justice and not at the College; that ... without previous summons or notification he was there informed ... [on being called in] that his further services were not required in the College, and that he was accordingly dismissed ... without any semblance of a trial or investigation. ... That on asking for an explanation he was informed that no explanation would be rendered and that he would not be allowed a hearing in the matter." With his appeal the Royal Institution, in the absence of Statutes and Rules, was powerless to deal. Dr. Lundy was dismissed on the 4th of January, 1845. He was allowed to retain his rooms in the College until May 1st "because of the inconvenience to his family of moving in winter," but he was considered "as removed on and after the day of his dismissal." In June he was still occupying his College rooms, and he was told by the Governors to vacate them or he would be ejected in fourteen days. In July he was still there, and the Governors again told him that if he was not out at the end of two days they would remove him, "using no more force than might be necessary for that purpose." He went; and the controversy ended.

Professor Wickes then became Vice-Principal, but he retired two years afterwards. Chapman, the Tutor, became Lecturer in Classics, but he retired a few weeks later. His salary was long in arrears and he could not collect it, and when he left he had to be content with a return of the money he had expended "in making a window into a door in his room." The Beadle was also dismissed, and the entire personnel of the College officers was soon changed. Other appointments were made and were approved by the Royal Institution. In making the appointments provision was made for "a Librarian," and the Rev. Joseph Abbott was selected as the first Librarian of McGill at the beginning of 1845. The Royal Institution considered the Governors' actions to be growing daily more drastic and intolerable, and they urged the Home Government to take steps to end the struggle between the two bodies. On January 13th the Lord Bishop of Montreal, the Rev. Dr. Mountain, who had meanwhile become one of the Governors of the University, again wrote to the Governor-General, Lord Metcalfe, as follows:

"It is with extreme unwillingness that I obtrude upon Your Excellency, with the purpose of their being submitted if you should see fit, to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, any representation relating to the affairs of McGill College, in addition to those which are already before you from other quarters; and it is with feelings of a nature more seriously painful that I find myself compelled to state to Your Excellency the conviction at which I have arrived, of its being inexpedient for me to take my seat at the Board of Governors of that institution so long as the Rev. Dr. Bethune, in virtue of his acting as Principal of the College, is also a member of the Board.

"Your Excellency will readily believe that unless I had strong and what I conceive to be imperative grounds for my proceeding, one of the last things which I could possibly be prompted to do would be to bring under the notice of Her Majesty's Government any disadvantageous exhibition of the management of important public interests in the hands of one of my own Clergy, and one who occupies so prominent a position in the Canadian Church as the Rector of Montreal.

"I have, however, long felt that the College could never prosper while presided over by Dr. Bethune. And I should have been impelled before this day officially to submit my views upon the subject to Your Excellency had it not been that I had no seat among the Governors till after the passing of the Act of the last Session, which confers upon me, as Bishop of Montreal, all the legal powers vested in the Bishop of Quebec; and, moreover, that having all along regarded the appointment of Dr. Bethune simply as an ad interim arrangement (in which I believe there are abundant means of showing that I was perfectly correct) I anticipated that his retirement would have taken place in time to save me from the necessity of making official statements, from which it is sufficiently obvious that I must desire to be spared.

"When, however, I consider the general character of Dr. Bethune's proceedings in those matters connected with McGill College which it has devolved upon him to conduct, or in which he has taken a leading part, and more especially in the intercourse of business with the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning; when I consider again his too evident deficiency in very important points of qualification for his office, such as academical experience (for he never studied at any University), actual classical attainments of the nature and extent which the case requires, and I am constrained to add, such temper, such discretion, and such weight of personal influence and possession of public confidence, as must be necessary on the part of the Principal, to preside with effect over an infant University in a country like this, or to execute his part in recovering it from the utterly inefficient and discreditable condition in which it now lies, I am brought to the unavoidable conclusion not only that his appointment ought not to be confirmed, but that every delay in the disallowance of it opens a door to some new mischief within the Institution; more particularly as the powers committed to the body of Governors, in something more than their mere ordinary exercise, are, from peculiarity of circumstances, in a manner left in his hands. The long continued ill health and infirmity of the Chief Justice of Montreal, the consequent seclusion in which he lives, and the fact of his not having either the sort of interest in the Institution or the opportunities of familiarly knowing the relations subsisting between Dr. Bethune and other parties concerned which he would naturally have if he were of the Protestant religion, appear, I may venture to say it, to justify the conclusion that the proceedings of the Governors resident at Montreal are to be regarded as little or nothing more than the decisions and acts of the individual filling the office of Principal, at the same time that they have in several instances involved a result of which I can hardly be persuaded that two Governors were sufficient to dispose. These proceedings have been recently crowned by the summary dismissal, without a hearing, of the Vice-Principal and Professor of Classical Literature, under circumstances with which Your Excellency, as I am informed, has recently been made acquainted. I feel that I am now called upon to state to Your Excellency both as the Head of the Body of Governors, whenever you may see fit to take part in their proceedings, and also as the Head of the Government, that till Dr. Bethune shall cease to occupy a place at the Board of Governors I must abstain from attending it, persuaded as I am that I cannot do so either with the hope of advantage to the public or with comfort to myself.

"With reference to the question intimated above, respecting the competency of two Governors to dispose of some matters such as have actually been disposed of by that number only, Your Excellency is aware that the number to whom the wisdom of Government had originally within their particular province confided the interests of the College was seven, and comprised the highest functionaries of Upper and Lower Canada: and I conceive it to be necessary for those interests, not to say for the very existence of McGill College, that an efficient Body of Governors should, as soon as possible, be given to the Institution.

"I have only to add, although it is not within the more immediate scope of the representations here submitted, that the observations which I have made with reference to the inexpediency of Dr. Bethune's retention of the office of Principal, will manifestly suggest reasons of at least equal force against the confirmation of his appointment to the Professorship of Divinity."

This communication was forwarded by the Governor-General to the Colonial Office, but over a year passed before definite action in connection with it was taken by the authorities.

Meanwhile the Governors carried on the work of the University, harassed always by debts and by insufficient revenue. The Medical School now sought a closer union with the University. Its connection with the College since the latter's establishment had been more or less nominal; it was at least indefinitely hazy, other than in the mere fact that it was "engrafted," and in the imprimatur of its degrees. Since its request for a grant from University funds six years before was refused, there was little actual intercourse or connection between the two bodies. They worked, on the whole, independently, although the legal incorporation of one with the other was recognized. The Medical School had carried on its work in temporary quarters. It had begun its work in 1824 in a building at 20 St. James Street, on Place d'Armes. Its Statutes, Rules, etc., had been approved, as already seen, in 1832. About a year later the School was moved to a larger building near the present Bank of Montreal, where it remained for more than two years. It then was again moved to a building on St. George Street, not far from the corner of Craig Street. In 1843 the Medical Faculty applied to the Governors for a piece of ground on the Burnside Estate, near the recently erected McGill buildings, "for the purpose of erecting lecture rooms." The request was granted and the giving of sufficient ground was approved by the Royal Institution. But like the College, the Medical School had no funds. The grant asked for from the Provincial Government by the Board of the Royal Institution to help "in bringing the Faculties of Law, Theology and Medicine into actual operation," and partly promised, had in the end been refused. The Royal Institution, as we have seen, did not feel justified in giving the Medical School assistance from the funds already inadequate to provide for Collegiate education, as called for in the bequest. As a result, although ground for a building was willingly given, the erection of a building had to be indefinitely postponed. The Medical Faculty then applied for permission to use any rooms that might be available in the College buildings. On September 16th, 1845, the Governors agreed—and the Royal Institution later approved their action—to give the Medical School the refectory or dining-room for its exclusive use—as the students were now for the most part boarding with Professors or outside the College—together with the southwest lecture-room as a lecture-room and museum, the private room of the Bursar for the Professors' office, and two small adjoining rooms "for anatomy and dissecting rooms." Medical students, too, were to be permitted to reside in the College, on condition that they were to be under the same discipline as the College students. The Medical Faculty accordingly moved to these rooms provided in the McGill buildings, and a closer contiguous connection with the University was thereby established. There the Faculty remained until 1851, when because of its growth and the inconvenient distance from the city and the Hospital, it moved to the building at 15 Cote Street, erected for its use by three of the members of its staff.

Efforts were made to increase the attendance in the College and students from the French-Canadian Colleges were admitted to equal standing with McGill students. The need for funds became gradually more acute. The Royal Institution would not listen to the Governors' demands for the payment of salaries and contingent expenses. In December, 1845, they again appealed to the Governor-General, Lord Metcalfe, but he declined to interfere, pointing out that the Royal Institution were the trustees of the Trust; that all the Statutes, Rules, etc., of the College should be confirmed by Royal authority before they became law; and that as the statutes under the authority of which debts had been contracted by the Governors of McGill had never received Royal sanction, these debts had no effect in law. The Governors were therefore themselves liable. But the Governors had already borrowed L500 from the Bank of British North America to meet necessary and vital requirements. That amount had not yet been paid off, and they naturally were not disposed to assume the responsibility for further personal indebtedness.

All the correspondence in connection with the whole situation, in addition to the various petitions and appeals, was forwarded to the Colonial Office, with which the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone had meanwhile become connected as Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was hoped that Mr. Gladstone would display more interest and energy than his predecessors, and that a decision would soon be reached. The College authorities expected that the Provincial Legislature would be asked to make an investigation by Committee. Accordingly, on April 15th, 1846, they issued instructions "forbidding officers and members of the College from answering any summons from a Committee of the Legislative Assembly acting on the petitions of Chapman, Wickes or Lundy." The excuse for not answering was that "McGill College was a private foundation and was therefore not liable to the action of the Legislature." But their expectations were not realized and no investigation was held by the Assembly.

It was clear, however, that action was soon to be taken by the Colonial Office; the Governors were not aware of the precise nature of the action, but they felt that the Home Government would support the Royal Institution. Before the decision was received, a final effort was made to give to the University a more pronounced character of "religious exclusiveness," a tendency which the Governor-General had already deplored. In October, 1845, this desire had been indicated by the making of a rule requiring that prayers in the College were to be said "by a College Chaplain appointed by the Governors, or by any other person appointed or approved by the Principal, he to be a member of the Church of England"; a sum of L50 was voted for such Chaplain. On April 25, 1846, at a meeting attended by two Governors—the Chief Justice of Montreal and the Principal, and two Fellows—the Rev. J. Ramsay and the Rev. J. Abbott, it was resolved on motion of the Principal to ask that the Charter be amended in the following particulars: "That the Governors of the College consist henceforth of all the clergy of the Church of England now holding or who may hereafter hold preferment in the Parish of Montreal, and of a certain number of laymen of the Church of England resident in the aforesaid Parish to be named in the Charter. That vacancies occasioned by the death, resignation, etc., of any of the lay Governors shall be filled up from time to time by the majority of the Governors present at a meeting. That the Bishop of the Diocese shall be the Visitor of the College. That appointments to office in the College are not to be subject to disallowance by any other authority than that of the Governors. That the Statutes, Rules, and Ordinances made by the Governors are to be in full force and effect until disallowed by the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench for the District of Montreal. That a committee be appointed to draft a petition to Her Majesty the Queen with reference to this resolution, the Committee to consist of the Principal, the Vice-Principal, and the Professor of Classical Literature." The Professor of Classical Literature was then the Rev. W. T. Leach, who had been appointed on April 4th preceding. The Vice-Principal was the Rev. J. Abbott.

A few days later, and before this resolution could be acted on, however, Mr. Gladstone's despatch disallowing Principal Bethune's appointment and asking for his retirement was received. In forwarding it to the Secretary of McGill on April 24th, 1846, the Civil Secretary wrote: "I have only to add the expression of the hope that the Governors will forthwith proceed to replace Dr. Bethune and that in so doing they will anxiously endeavour to secure the services of a man in all respects qualified for such important posts." Mr. Gladstone's despatch, which embodied in the main the suggestions of the Lord Bishop of Montreal, the Rev. Dr. Mountain, quoted above, was written on April 3rd, 1846, and was as follows: